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tipsycad147 · 3 years

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FULL STURGEON MOON – AUGUST,– PREPARING FOR CHANGE

The Full Sturgeon Moon observed each August gets it’s name from Native American tradition. In the areas surrounding the North American Great Lakes, native tribes would prepare for winter by catching and drying sturgeon, which were abundant and easy to catch in August.

What You’ll Need For This Ritual

Quarter Candles (yellow, red, blue, green) Anthame Large White Goddess Candle – I prefer a three wick candle to symbolize the triple Goddess Paper and pencils

Throughout this ritual, any text surrounded by these symbols < > should be considered instructional and not spoken aloud but done in accordance with the directions

Full Sturgeon Moon Ritual Begins

I cast this circle round and round from earth to sky, from sky to ground. I conjure now this sacred space, outside of time, outside of place. The circle has been cast, we are between the worlds.

Calling the Quarters

East From the East we hail and summon the mighty AIR spirits – come join us in this sacred ritual under the light of the full moon. We seek your guidance and knowledge in all things related to movement, communication, and freshness. Aid us in visualization of our future selves so that we may achieve our destinies. <light yellow candle>

South From the South we hail and summon the mighty FIRE spirits – present yourselves within this circle and all the spaces surrounding it. As the bringer of both destruction and creation, you hold sway over those who walk among us. Teach us to harness your unbridled energies but also to see the beautiful transformation in nature after the flames have passed. <light red candle>

West From the west we hail and summon the mighty WATER spirits – surround us in your glorious cleansing and wash away all that we carry into this ritual. We know that without water, life does not exist, but also that an overabundance can wash away centuries of work in a moment. Help us to find the happy medium that will balance our lives and our existence. <light blue candle>

North Finally, to the north we call out the mighty EARTH spirits – come gather among the living and share the secrets of the elements, the soils, the trees, and the herbs. Teach us to respect all things that you’ve provided and to conserve for the generations that follow. <light green candle>

Great Goddess, mother of all of us; hold us in your loving arms and help us to help ourselves and our own inner courage. Lend us your strength, your wisdom, and your sound decision-making, as we walk along our chosen pathways. So mote it be <light Goddess candle>

Introduction

The Full Sturgeon Moon name comes from the Algonquin tribes that surrounded the North American Great Lakes. Other tribes referred to this full moon by different names; the Green Corn Moon, Fruit Moon, Barley Moon, Grain Moon, and the Red Moon. Most of the names are directly tied to crops that would be harvested in different areas around the country. The latter name, Red Moon is due to the fact that the moon rising in August always seems to have a reddish cast to it. The Ojibwe called the August full moon the Blueberry Moon, while the Dakota Sioux knew it as The Moon When All Things Ripen.

Full Moon Musical Interlude

This month’s selection is called the Pagan Moon Goddess Song – it’s hauntingly beautiful and will certainly put you in a sacred moon trance.

Original Artwork by Sara Stevenson (June, 2012)

Preparing For Change

We celebrate each full moon with a ritual cleansing and a lesson on how we can improve our lives or learn some wisdom from nature. The full sturgeon moon of August gives us a unique opportunity to discuss the topic of change. We can see change happening all around us this month. The heat of the summer is finally starting to wane, the fields are ripe and full of miracles of nature. Fresh squash, berries, flowers, and herbs are plentiful and the green tops on our root vegetables and vines are gathering size in the sunlight. Our children are enjoying the last few precious weeks of vacation before the abrupt change of the morning school bell and the nightly schoolwork. We are looking in our closets for longer sleeves and jackets in the evening and planning for the coming cold ahead. We experience these mundane changes with little to no fanfare as if they’ve become a comfortable routine.

Yet, with all the physical changes that we are surrounded by, many of us forget that this is a time of spiritual change as well. Our bodies have been running at top speed for most of the summer; vacations, trips to the pool, hiking, and of course wild crafting our favorite herbs and roots. During that period, many of us have slacked off on our spiritual growth – it’s a natural occurrence since there are only so many hours in the day. Yet, after many months of putting things on the back burner, our spiritual plates are either filled with excess information or nearly empty. Once we start to finally slow down, we come to the realization that something’s amiss and needs immediate attention; thus starts the beginning of a huge change cycle.

The point of realization is also the point of a potential problem, if we aren’t prepared. Too much information leads to nothing getting accomplished usually; we feel overwhelmed and passive. Too little leaves us feeling directionless and easily led astray. But, if we’ve properly prepared for this change, then it’s business as usual. Ironically, just speaking about it is the first step in the preparation; becoming aware in advance that it’s coming gives us time to schedule, budget our time, and plan time for spiritual healing. Often we need to play “catch up” or often “pick up” from where we left off in the spring.

There are many methods to get back in the swing of things. Some people keep a personal journal of their personal growth while others go a step further and write down a step by step plan. Some use the cycle of the moon to measure growth in conjunction with their own spiritual cleansing. Regardless of what method you choose, remember that this is a marathon and not a sprint. If you are feeling overwhelmed with an overfilled plate, take time to organize, categorize, and prioritize. I’ll repeat those three key things, because they need to be put to memory. Organize, categorize, and prioritize; organize your life so that you have time to address things; categorize them into groups that pertain to the same topic or a group of topics, and finally prioritize them. What is most important? Which ones are “low hanging fruit” that can be dealt with quickly and free up time to focus on other things? Do you need help with some of them? By asking yourself questions, you can order things in a way that doesn’t seem overwhelming and actually make progress.

Another important thing to consider when you are processing a lot of information – it might sound like a good idea to just say you’re planning to get rid of everything and move on, but that will only leave lingering thoughts that may stick with you for a long time. Remember that cleansing and clearing go hand in hand – it’s not worth cleansing something if you can’t permanently clear it from your spirit. True healing and growth will only come if you release the negative fully and completely and refuse to give it any energy, ever again.

Cleansing and Clearing

As we do on each full moon, we gather together to release negativity; to burn that which needs burning, and ultimately to reduce mental clutter. We also search for things to refill that empty space – this is where understanding becomes so important. It’s not difficult to identify the things dragging us down; we may not show it on the surface, but deep down each of us knows exactly what is the root cause of our troubles. Unfortunately we don’t always do corrective action. We often opt for the easy routes in life, sometimes accepting or settling when we could instead be growing and languishing in a life which meets out spiritual and emotional needs. It all comes down to understanding, making choices, and refusing to compromise our core needs, for any reason.

So tonight, before we commence in our monthly cleansing through burning session, take time to think about our lesson on change. Are you prepared to sift through everything and weed your personal garden? Will you follow through and rid yourselves of anything that has no value? Also, think about how you can harness the positive energies coming from your harvests and late summer activities. Look for ways to keep that magick alive in your life during the hard months of winter. Bring some of the outside into your home so you’ll have a constant reminder of where your life is grounded. Look for ways to excel rather than just settle. Seek out those energies and store them inside your spirit, so that you don’t regress when things are dark.

Approach the fire and burn away that which no longer serves you !

Cleaning and releasing is only half of the job. Do not allow negative energy to refill the spaces you’ve created. Trade the bad for something better; something enlightening and pure. Leave here with a smile on your face, the understanding that there is more to life than just existing, and that change is always part of our lives, but also that you’ve got this! Change won’t stop you from growing. Stop sitting on the sidelines and engage with the things that take existence to living. Blessed Be!

Closing the Full Sturgeon Moon Circle

Spirits of Earth, guardians of the crops and the fields, we thank you for your presence in our circle tonight and for all that you provide us. As we watch the change from season to season, we shall again call upon your guidance to maintain our grounding and focus. <extinguish green candle>

Spirits of Water, cleansing, sustaining, and flowing, we offer our praises for your never-ending refreshment and thirst-quenching magick. We know our lives will rise and fall, just as the ocean tides do, but will trust in your strength to keep us from sinking. <extinguish blue candle>

Spirits of Fire, source of all passion, heat, and warmth, we are humbled by your collective energies gathered in this circle tonight. We sought to understand your many faces, so that we may work harmoniously with you throughout the changing seasons. <extinguish red candle>

Spirits of Air, where wisdom resides, and motion is never ceasing – we thank you for reminding us that change is inevitable but nothing is impossible unless we surrender our ambitions and choose to fail <extinguish yellow candle>

Beloved Goddess, Mother of all living things, we thank you for your comfort in times of sorrow; your compassion in times of weakness, and your never-ending wellspring of spiritual love for each one of us <extinguish Goddess candle>

This Full Sturgeon Moon circle is open but never broken!

By Thegypsy

https://www.thegypsythread.org/full-sturgeon-moon-2019/

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juni-ravenhall · 3 years

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my opinions on mistfall!

under a cut bc spoilers and/or not everyone wants to read :D

overall experience:

its fun that there IS a sso cartoon now even if its not exactly amazing quality, and im happy to see if there will be more series or movies after this. it was fun to watch and see sso things in cartoon form too and i wish that we had more already (of sso animation in general). imagine if there had been a ssl cartoon? i also kept thinking throughout this, that it wouldn’t be hard for me myself to make an animated series with around the same length episodes and in a similar quality to this (aside from voice acting and music production), which made me feel a little inspired.

favourite scene:

skye taking photos of blaze and hanging out

positive points:

i like the background art a lot, i think the style of it, and the colour schemes, helps give the series a specific vibe that fits for an sso series in my opinion.

i like the concept art (i assume) illustrations which we saw in the recipes and other posts on sso ig, i think it looks a lot better than the characters in the series, but thats normal for concept art!!

the music is really good quality (whether or not its your taste, the quality is good) which is ofc bc its sso - theres already good music and not something they only did for the cartoon but something they care about in all of the starstable media.

i think skye is a nice character (despite the series’ overall low quality writing) and i like her design. i also think rania’s cartoon design (visually) is cute.

skye and rania being a teensy bit gay (minus points for sso if they dont end up really gay in later canon)

i like that blaze wasnt actually like... mean or anything to skye, and i like that shes a mare since typical stories like this usually have stallions. but i just like that there wasnt really any “ooh difficult horse” things between skye and blaze in the current time of the story, blaze actually was sweet to her most the time. blaze seemed pretty charming whenever there wasnt “omg fire” drama.

the animation itself (not meaning the details of the drawings or scene timing, just the actual frame by frame / puppet movements) was fine! not amazing, but absolutely fine.

points i have constructive criticism for, which doesn’t mean that i expected more from the series, but that we’re all allowed to discuss the quality and our opinions of media regardless of the target audience, budget, etc:

the writing was childish and rushed - this is not to be rude, but a matter that affects a lot of “media for girls / kids”, and a topic talked a lot about by Lauren Faust (creator of the FiM reboot of MLP) who wanted to show that a show about rainbow ponies “for little girls” didn’t have to be badly written, and could be engaging and interesting. if you watch the older MLP cartoons and compare to the first season of FiM (where Faust was still on the team) you can see a huge difference in quality of the storytelling, characterisation, etc. Mistfall, so far, did not subvert any expectation in the quality of what typical “cartoons for girls” are like, and is reminiscent of stuff like “The Ranch” (french horse cartoon) which imo is so bad that its hard to watch. (and ofc... that goes for a lot of “cartoons for girls / kids”, but doesn’t have to be like that.) in order to improve on this, the writer has to study more on storytelling and study from better writers.

on the topic of being rushed: no, it’s not an excuse that the episodes are short: - you have to ADAPT your storytelling and writing to the length of the episodes, not do a bad job and blame the episode length. being able to adapt to different types of media is a necessary skill if that’s what you work with. this comes down to proper planning and structuring the story and writing in a way that works for the length of the episodes. i don’t think that was overall done well here (at times it was okay), and bc of that, it feels rushed and has exposition thrown in your face instead of being shown through better storytelling. the classic thing with exposition is “show, don’t tell”. this is what the writers/directors should study, or pay more attention to.

the timing (length of shots, length of scenes, or parts of shots, etc) was rly bad at times and overall unimpressive - this comes down to the skill of directors and editors. to improve this they have to study more on the topic. bad timing and pacing can really ruin a good scene or a good story and make it feel disconnected and hard to immerse in for the audience.

the artstyle of characters and horses is fine at times, but appears very low quality at others (skye’s childhood scene really bothered me bc her kid-self had really badly drawn eyes in my opinion). this, like everything else on this list, is ofc something that appears in almost every single “cartoon for girls” that ever existed. to improve on this, most likely it’s not a problem with the artists but with the budget and the production timeline (allowing the artists more time to produce better quality art and animation), and it can also be a problem with the art direction, if the art directors aren’t very skilled or experienced (i don’t say that they aren’t, im just giving examples of what could cause these problems.)

the character design for all characters that aren’t skye, rania, or blaze was very lacking. none of the not-main-3 characters looked interesting or fun to look at, they looked very dull and like the most boring NPCs you could think of. even though its understandable that the mainest-main characters would have the most interesting designs, that doesn’t mean everyone else has to look that boring. this is an issue with art direction or character design. i think most likely there was just very little time (equals money) put into designing the other characters.

the horse design could be improved for a cartoon that focuses on horses this much. like, horses are a big part of the selling point here, so make sure that their designs and art/animation is good. at times even blaze looked awkward and uninteresting, as did the other horses.

“alonso” looks nothing like sso alonso and i don’t like that they used his character if it’s not going to have anything to do with him. they should have given this character a different name if they wouldn’t make him seem like he had anything to do with the sso character aside from being a male ranger. (also in the game he’s like 22 or something, skye is 15...?)

why did they add a “he’s cute” dumbass fucking stupid hetero comment for literally no reason other than adding a dumbass fucking stupid hetero comment?

considering that they “can’t confirm whether a sequel is happening or not”, it seemed very meh to throw in druid cult magic stuff and not really connect to it and now the series ended? you would have expected to find out more about the cloaked people, the runes, the magic that the ranger guy did, and blaze’s magic in general, and skye herself, why her mom is “a witch”.... thats a lot to throw in while saying that you can’t say if there’s a sequel coming to answer all those questions. (it wouldn’t have been a criticism from me if they said “we’re working on season 2″ or “there will be a comic book that continues the story” or anything that told us that these questions, in this particular iteration of a story in jorvik, will actually be answered. - and i assume they ARE working on the continuation of the story, but i dont agree with that they’re not upfront about it, when they left so many questions unanswered.)

at times rania’s blindness was handled stupidly and i think they should have gotten more consultation from actual people with visual impairment, but i think its still good to HAVE a blind character in the main cast and that it’s not a big dramatic story thing but just an everyday thing. at some points it was fine though; and i personally don’t think the scene with rania being able to see blaze was necessarily a problem - because - a lot of blind ppl can see sharp contrasts in light and dark, and this seemed relatively realistic to me when blaze is on fire. (however, the way it was drawn as if she could see the whole shape of blaze and skye could be criticised for sure, and makes it feel more like “i can see because of magic” and not “i can see bc THIS MARE IS ON FIRE”).

personal opinion which i said before, but i don’t think rania’s voice fits her at all, and it’s not the voice actor’s fault (i’m sure they’re lovely) but the casting and the directors. from the sso character, rania would seem a lot more lively, quick and adventurous, and not as calm and gentle as she appeared here. she seemed a lot too sort of motherly or just adult, instead of an adventurous teen who runs off on her own to do whatever she feels like. compare in-game rania going “MC, thats a jorvik wild!!!” and alonso going “stop talking nonsense” (paraphrased), to Mistfall rania going “jorvik wilds are really rare...” (calm, sort of disinterested, doesnt seem like she cares that much about adventures)

the voice acting overall was meh. i see this as a direction problem, not an individual voice actor problem (and the writing didnt help - it’s hard to provide good quality acting with a poor script unless you can just toss the script aside and improv, if you have good actors). it felt childish and uninteresting at most points and generic low quality for “cartoons for girls”. from a voice acting perspective i think skye had the best result. anyway, the way to improve this is for the director in charge of voice acting to not direct the actors to perform in this childish manner. (again, refer to cartoons with better writing and better voice acting, that have a very similar target audience.)

ok, i think that was everything that i wanted to write about for now, might think of more later lol

#star stable mistfall #opinion #text post #long post

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thelastconfessor · 4 years

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This was a very dense interview so I apologize for any mistakes, I hope it helps @fishinthewater2611!

Let's start by talking about azulgrana news. With a general look at the club, do you think the women's project is one of the ones that works best?

V: It is one of the things that, without a doubt, we would put in the assets of this team. If I give you my personal opinion, it stands out more than you might expect. That is, I see it as something that in principle should be normal and not so exceptional. For me it would be even more so if, apart from all the great work being done, the results had been even better. Perhaps, as a counterpoint to other areas of the club, especially on the sporting side, we have to put it on the positive side of what has been done in recent years.

J: It's an area that works very well. I would point to the task of the first team in the professionalization, I think we are very advanced in comparison to other clubs in Spanish football. This doesn't mean there aren't important challenges in terms of coordinating the whole area and integrating the whole sporting model that we think the club should have. There are areas for improvement. But it is clear that this is one of the areas where things are being done very well.

If the model seen so far is still working next year, are you in favour of not changing anything or do you have your own project in mind?

V: Before Juli answers more focused on women's football, let me answer at a global project level. We firmly believe that one of the problems that Barça has as club and model of present management is that it creates dynamics that are very detrimental. That is, a new Board of Directors arrives and it seems that, by definition, everything has to be burned, regardless of whether it works or not. Therefore your question is very appropriate, especially because, if we look at recent history and not so recent, the one that comes in tries to start all over again. We know the different areas, even the people who are doing a good job and our will is to make sure that everything that works makes it work even better and not to make changes from top to bottom. This is true in general, but there are different parts of the project that we have worked on with specific people and we will want to push for changes, but in general we want to keep everything that works.

J: I completely agree. To put the icing on the cake, we would be in an intermission in this case. In women's football, to answer your question, we think there is a very solid structure. The way the first team is playing, I think we're making a good impression. We need to take another little step, we need another touch; there are many replicable factors in women's football such as more girls coming up from the masia, we also want to have more women in the executive structure of the 'mini-club' because we don't want to call it a section. Football is football, there will be a male and female part, but it has to be a club; basketball, another club with very horizontal and clear structures. In that sense, we think that things are being done quite well, in the executive structure, Lluís Cortés together with Markel Zubizarreta have professionalized the section in an important way and we are a reference. But, well, there are still touches and training of girls, besides that it is also requested that there are more women trainers, although it is really difficult to find them because there are not so many who train. Obviously, we want excellent training and the most important thing is that they have the skills to be able to train the players. We trust a lot of the structure there but we think there are areas for improvement.

What areas are you referring to?

J: There are 5 areas of improvement that we have in the women's. One is to generate more identification and illusion of the fans in any section. With the men's game it already is, but the idea is to have them go to the new Palau and the Johan Cruyff for the women.

Besides, we believe that we have to change the receptivity, make the teams train more. We need to work on issues of strength, gymnastics and reinforcing the women's game in cross-cutting areas at departmental level that will support any section. These are: nutrition, psychology, behavior, methodology and all the medical and physical preparation part. We would love to say names and some that we already have thought for these areas, but the time will come.

V: These 5 areas are in the whole sports project and they are transversal areas because they have to do with sports disciplines that are not necessarily technical or related to a specific sport but to the professional elite sportsman.

J: In this sense, today we talk about women's football, but in general women's sport is in our initial Decalogue. We want to double all the sections in women's sports, in all professional sports (basketball, handball, roller hockey and indoor football) to make a women's section from top to bottom, not just a first team. Besides, we are already developing some new amateur sections, of female sport; we are pioneers and we believe that with the Barça shield we will be able to get along very well.

In several interviews you have highlighted the importance of La Masia. Are these areas of improvement also designed to give the youth team a key role in the Women's Barça?

J: Absolutely. We are thinking about an executive structure of football that brings together both male and female and the model has to be the same. Women's football will have specific physical characteristics, systems, training, obviously everything has to be adapted, but the model of play, the way that made us a reference I think, at the level of women's, is being sought after. But at the formative level it is necessary to make a stronger bet so that more girls go up to the first team. Every time the level is more demanding and we have to promote the formative soccer of girls so that there is a better formation of players. It is also very important this jump from the Women's B to the first team. There are different formulas that we have to study very well, in the system of loans or better formations and make it so that this final jump is not as difficult as it is now.

A few days ago, in the podcast INSIDE Sports Business, you said that the men's team was in danger of becoming the new Milan. On an economic level, will the project that the women's team may have depend on having a powerful and successful male team?

V: No, we believe in the integrated multi-sport character of the institution. That is to say, the revolution or transformation that needs to be made in the economic model to make income grow and to be able to generate resources that will allow us to invest them later in key projects or to make all the sports projects beyond the men's football one a reality. What we would like is to be able to have the maximum or optimal budget in each of the professional sports in which we compete. In basketball, we would like to be able to compete against the Turks, Russians and Greeks, in women's football, we would like Olympique Lyon to not have a stronger team than ours, in handball we would like to compete against the French and the Germans, etc. For that we need resources and as we are a club with the ownership structure that it has, the transformation of the economic model and making income grow via new sources of income generation is fundamental. That does not mean that things like looking for a specific sponsor to whom the project attracts, are initiatives that we have to leave, but I think that each of the sections has to benefit from the power of Barça as a global institution.

We have millions of followers all over the world. Clearly one of the big reasons we have so many fans is Leo Messi, but it's not just Messi, it's also De Jong, Luis Suarez, and to a lesser extent Nikola Mirotić and the basketball section. The same thing will happen to us with women's football and any other sport where we want to compete globally for the top titles. So when we create exclusive content, we also want to create it with the players and cracks that we have in women's football or when we sell merchandise we don't want to offer only Messi jerseys, we also want to offer them for basketball, for the top players in women's football, etc.

In this same line, these last two years the femeni has been self-sufficient by itself. Is the idea that it continues to be viable or is a gradual increase in the budget being considered even though there is no guaranteed self-sufficiency?

V: On the issue of economic viability, depending on which items the income is difficult to allocate to a particular section, as it is very difficult to treat it as a profit centre. What we want is to have budget lines and for the numbers of the whole institution to add up. Therefore, our aspiration is to generate as many resources as possible as Barça, as a multisport institution and, as you say, to grow budgets according to the competitive level we have. In fact it already happens to us a little today. When it is said that the sections are deficient, surely they are that, but when numbers are given equal we are not 100% fair, because of what I say. When Beko signs a sponsorship with Barça and wants to be associated with the Barça brand, maybe there is also a part of this that does it because in Turkey there are many people who follow basketball.

To close the economic section and by way of conclusion, they say that Barça is now the leading club in Spain in women's football and this has to be transformed into being leaders in Europe in terms of the game, budget and in any area. Barça must be first in everything.

V: Without a doubt, this is the aspiration we have. And when you say or refer to the fact that women's football is self-sufficient you have to bear in mind what the economic conditions are in which professional footballers play, that we have had all the trouble with the agreement and if you look at the conditions that women footballers have... Of course, everything is relative in life and since things have improved a lot and perhaps quickly, sometimes people seem to think they have enough, but I think that we have to continue working so that the conditions continue to improve and there is not so much difference with men's sport.

J: And at this point, I also wanted to stress not only the players, but also the staff, the trainers. There is a reality that a women's football coach receives a third of the salary of a men's coach. Obviously, this should not be the case and the process should be gradual, but we would also like to achieve the goal of having the best coaches. If we want them and we want them to do the best possible job, we have to level the playing field between the men's and women's coaches.

Now that you've mentioned the collective agreement, does Barça, as a club, have to be at the forefront to achieve good health for women's football in Spain and be present in this fight?

V: Without a doubt. We have to be at the forefront of the demonstration. It is one of the things that our project has and that perhaps we have explained less. Those of us who have a role to play in this project are very excited about all the potential Barça has as an institution to make tangible and ambitious contributions to making relevant changes in 21st century society. We have great challenges, not only here in Barcelona or in Spain but all over the world and we believe that Barça as an institution can do even more than it does to promote and make some of these changes a reality. Logically, the fairer treatment of women's sport is one of these changes. We are seeing that in today's society it is becoming a reality little by little and Barça can do a lot to help accelerate this.

Changing the area, I would like to return to the idea of a 'mini-club' to find out how a management team, an organisation chart, is planned for women's football.

V: Let me start again with the more institutional side. The most important change is to ensure that the Board of Directors, which we call the Executive Council, has no executive responsibility for any part of the club, contrary to what has historically been the case. There will be no directors who are responsible for one area and feel like the executives who decide, on a day-to-day basis, what is done. We envision directors, executives who have relevant experience to make the big strategic decisions of the club at a sports, business and institutional level and we want to have people of reference to help the Board of Directors; then, empower the executive structure so that it has a lot of margin and autonomy to manage the day-to-day and there are not 20 people above that at some point can act as bosses.

In everything that refers to women's sport, we integrate into the Board people who have historical experience in what women's sport is, to help us so that the strategic decisions that we have to make in this field incorporate this experience. I do not know what history and experience Maria Teixidor had in women's football, apart from her personal worth and her common sense, and if she had it, and I am wrong to apologise, but in spite of that she has done a great job. We prefer to very clearly separate the mandates of the Board of Directors and the executive structure, so that we get the best out of each area.

And specifically for women's football, what is the organizational chart?

J: There has to be one person who brings all sports together, with the will that it be someone who comes from the world of sport and with a parallel education. The great key to what Victor said is that we want to change the decision-making system. The Board of Directors is a body that takes the big decisions but we will not have the best ones if every two or three years we are messing with the decisions that the organizational structure of each 'mini-club' or section has to take. We are thinking of a General Manager or sports management figure for the area, which would bring together this whole model from the top to the last step, supported by a good technical secretariat which would have a coordinator for training football or grassroots football below it. In this sense, we think that the femeni should develop a better scouting network, in two main areas. One at the level of territory, since I believe that Barça must have a better relation with all the surrounding teams. We believe that any girl is very excited to go play at Barça and we have to take advantage of it. Also we are looking, point by point, each one of the trainers of the soccer base, the Coordinator, the Femeni B, Youthful, Infantile, Fry, etc. We're thinking, without giving names, of a woman who will coordinate the whole area of formative football, who knows all the clubs in the territory, all the youth categories, and that has to make us recover the model for attracting talent in the territory. If Barça take a player from a club, we must have a way of working so that the surrounding clubs win and I think that with details or with some better relationship this link can be much better.

The other aspect would be to promote scouting at international level. The will is that more girls go up from the masia and that the signings are people that we see well, that will have a good integration in the club and in the model that we have. When we look at a player, no matter how good she is, we should study her environment and everything around her, so that she fits into the model we are looking for.

You describe how the executive structure and the profile of the managers should be. Are there names or is the profile only defined for now?

J: In some positions we have specific names, in others we are evaluating different options. In most cases they are people who are in this world, who earn their living in the world of sport and obviously, for reasons of discretion and confidentiality, I can't tell you. But really, the backbone of what the future of women's football should look like is becoming clearer and clearer.

Despite not mentioning any names, you have made a positive contribution to the work currently being done in women's football. Is it possible that some of those currently in charge are still involved in your project?

V: Yes, there are professionals who are working within the club now and at the end of the day we know them, we know the virtues of each one of them and we are basically putting the different pieces together.

On a sporting level, we have commented on the subject of La Masia. If we talk about renewals, the elections are in the summer of 2021 and the summer of 2022 the contracts of emblematic players are finished. In matters of contracts, is there any approach planned for this?

J: In this sense, the figure of the Coordinator of all sports and the link with the Board of Directors is important and I think that the club must have a very good planning. We are obviously not within the club and we can't influence it in any way. But, obviously, as a club I think a better job can be done so that what you say does not happen. The will is that the planning is better at all times, but we can't do anything about that now.

For the members, speaking of Camp Nou and Palau Blaugrana, there are season tickets to attend the matches. Are you considering the same season ticket for the Johan Cruyff Stadium? If so, would it be by team or would it include Women's, Barça B and Youth?

V: We are considering a season ticket for the Johan Cruyff Stadium. In the end we think that people like to go to the Johan Cruyff Stadium and we know that they are people who can go to see a match of either the Women's or Barça B or Youth. Therefore, it makes sense to raise the issue of season tickets at the Johan Cruyff Stadium as a whole.

To conclude, Barça's staff has always advocated filling the Mini, now the Johan Cruyff, and then thinking about the Camp Nou, but I want to ask. If Victor Font is President, will we see the Women's team at the Camp Nou?

V: It is an illusion and it will mean that the objectives we have for football and women's sport have been fulfilled, because we will have made the team grow continuously. I imagine a semi-final, not to say a Champions League final, if we could ensure it in the format, being played in the new Camp Nou. A final of Champions of the Femeni in the new Camp Nou could be a good objective to pursue.

#fcb femeni #futfem #*

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Zack Snyder’s Original Vision for Justice League Faded Long Before His Exit

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As Zack Snyder’s Justice League prepares to showcase the director’s true vision of the 2017 film long-sought by a vocal segment of the fandom, behind-the-scenes details have emerged about the director’s exit from the theatrical film, providing interesting context to its upcoming debut as an HBO Max miniseries. It seems that the official—devastatingly heartbreaking—explanation for Snyder’s departure from the film actually overshadowed some behind-the-scenes strife.

Picture this for a Justice League plotline: Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) falls in love with a recently widowed Lois Lane (Amy Adams). While the notion of a Batman/Lois Lane romance is not entirely unheard of in the annals of DC Comics, it might seem awkward for a film franchise that was still taking its first steps. Nevertheless, this was a major angle that Snyder intended to inject into the film, as revealed in a lengthy Vanity Fair exposé. Of course, the romance, which would have directly followed the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, obviously didn’t make the film, and—barring some secretly-shot scenes for the Snyder Cut—it is unlikely to ever happen. However, it was apparently typical of the now-revealed clashes that Snyder had with Warner Bros. in the lead-up to his 2017 exit.

“The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life,” Snyder explains of the idea that Warner nixed. “So, he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And, of course, that doesn’t work out for him.”

Backtracking a bit, Snyder—having come off hits like Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen—was auspiciously tapped to shepherd Warner’s wider aspirations for DC Comics films starting with 2013’s Man of Steel, which debuted Henry Cavill’s impressive iteration of the Blue Bomber. However, the film was a winding rollercoaster of dark drama that stood in stark contrast to the Marvel Comics movies against which it was designed to compete. Thusly, it banked $668 million worldwide—by no means a flop, but well short of Warner’s expectations, especially against the film’s $225 million budget. Regardless, the studio gave Snyder a mulligan and allowed his vision to further manifest mostly unfettered with 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which introduced Ben Affleck’s Batman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and—in a bizarre, context-deprived cameo—Ezra Miller’s The Flash.

Dawn of Justice would go on to gross $873.6 million worldwide—once again, not a flop, but nevertheless disappointing for Warner, who had maintained faith and even upped the budget for Snyder’s sophomore DCEU effort to $250 million. “When Batman v Superman came out and we did get a negative reaction from the fans, it was disheartening for all of us,” laments production head Greg Silverman. “Zack had made these movies, like 300, that were such crowd-pleasers. And that was our job—to make crowd-pleasers. And here, we have made a movie together, and it didn’t really please the audience.”

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Indeed, Batman v Superman was not generally regarded as a crowd-pleaser, and was instead widely lambasted by both critics and audiences alike, manifesting as a marathon of moroseness passing for poignancy, showcasing a titular conflict between the two heroes held together by flimsy load-bearing motivations, weighed down further with unexplained Justice League-foreshadowing scenes (notably the aforementioned Flash cameo and the “Knightmare” sequence,) referencing an imminent invasion from planet Apokolips. More importantly, it didn’t create the watershed cultural moment that Warner needed to effectively whet audience appetites for the Justice League team-up, which was clearly its main purpose. Thus, while Marvel continued to bask in billions with likeable icons—and even made icons of non-mainstream titles like Guardians of the Galaxy—Warner was stuck with DC movies permeating with unrelatable angry gods who hate each other.

Consequently, while the studio soured on Snyder by the time production for Justice League had commenced, there was an unfortunate fatalism, since the die had been cast on where the story was headed. After all, Snyder came into the film with a vision that was far too lofty even for a director who was still in the studio’s good graces, much less one perceived as having led it down the primrose path. Further tinder for this proverbial fire was scattered with a top-down edict from Warner chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara, who mandated that the picture would be only two hours in length, and that DC Entertainment creative chief Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. co-production head Jon Berg were to be on-set every day to, as Snyder puts it, “babysit” him.

“It was really tricky and not a position that I loved, to be honest,” Berg says. “I tried to be forthright about what I thought creatively. My job was to try to mediate between a creator whose vision is instinctually dark and a studio that perceived, rightly or wrong, that the fans wanted something lighter. I was respectful of the director and didn’t pursue things that were coming at me from the corporate side that I thought weren’t in line with what would make the best movie.”

Snyder maintains that having Johns and Berg watching over his shoulder didn’t bother him, and that “they weren’t that threatening.” Yet, they constantly pressed him to inject humor into his otherwise-serious content. “It wasn’t anything that was too outrageous,” says Snyder, but it nevertheless created a contradiction, especially as the ambitious designs Snyder teased in Dawn of Justice—many of which sidetracked that film—were being systematically erased. Thus, Justice League seemed to be a tug-of-war production, as Snyder moved ahead with his vision, only to see concepts nixed outright (like the Batman/Lois romance,) and even lose produced ideas like the spinoff-teasing romantic subplot between Ezra Miller’s Flash and Kiersey Clemons’s Iris West (the latter of whom was cut from the film altogether,) and a proposed return of Harry Lennix’s Man of Steel character, General Swanwick, who was to be revealed as a disguised J’onn J’onzz/Martian Manhunter; concepts that, for those in the know, represented the intended heart of the film.

The laborious process continued even after Snyder and wife Deborah (who serves as a producer,) were dealing with the passing of their daughter. Yet, Snyder officially exited Justice League in May 2017—two months after the tragedy, which was initially cited as the primary reason. “It’s such a lightning strike in the center of this whole saga,” says Snyder. “And in a lot of ways it has informed everything we’ve done since.” However, it was clear that the escalating acrimony between Snyder and Warner Bros. was the heretofore unspoken other reason behind the split, after which the studio tapped Joss Whedon—fresh from his own acrimonious exit from Marvel Studios—to pinch-direct the picture and have it ready for theaters by November. Of course, as Ray Fisher, and an increasing number of personnel now allege, that tenure led to a different—inherently toxic—problem.

Regardless of where one stands on the perpetually polarizing topic of Zack Snyder, his exit from the ambitious crossover film was undeniably one of the saddest stories to hit the industry in quite some time. However, its tragic aspect turned out to be the emotionally heavy straw that broke the back of Snyder’s rapidly weakening relationship with studio Warner Bros. Thus, with most of those studio restraints now shed, it makes the upcoming arrival of the labor of love that is the “Snyder Cut” even more intriguing.

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League hits HBO Max on Thursday, March 18.

The post Zack Snyder’s Original Vision for Justice League Faded Long Before His Exit appeared first on Den of Geek.

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residencesouth17-blog · 4 years

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Will be Buying a Condo to Live in an excellent Move?

The answer to that query is yes and no. There are a number associated with reasons why this is so. Yourself is one of the main determining elements whether it will be a good choice to suit your needs or not. It could be a good choice if you want to socialize because there are usually a lot of activities where you can meet in addition to socialize with the other locals along with amenities (swimming pool area, tennis courts, etc . ) you probably would not have inside your single family residence.

Yet another plus is that all of the servicing on the exterior of your home is cared for so you don't have to worry about cleanup gutters or painting. The reasons maintenance and landscaping is additionally taken care of, including clearing compacted snow. This is a real plus should you travel a lot because you need not worry about any thing happening in your exterior or landscaping. Several condo locations are in locations that are very desirable like close to the ocean or a pond. Many times a single family property in the same area could be out of the condo buyer's economic reach. You'll also find that many condo projects are less dangerous due to be fenced as well as gated with either a gateway guard or requiring an important card to open the checkpoint. Avenue South Residence Balance Units

Although condo living is quite similar to apartment living a loft apartment is an investment and will enjoy just like a single family dwelling. Condo will usually give you a lot more living area for your money because the price per square ft . is lower than a SFR. Often times the interior amenities are also excellent. Due to the fact that condo values normally lag behind single loved ones residences so even when sole family residential prices usually are increasing rapidly you can continue to find bargains in both fresh and resale condos.

You can also get a number of negative features for you to living in a condo including simply no outside area that you can phone your own. It's all held by everyone in the venture. This means you can't go out and also dig around in the garden. One of the biggest negatives to a lot of citizens is that you have to get permission to complete any modifications on the exterior, regardless of how small. Things you take for granted are extensive time not allowed such as a TV SET dish or possibly even clinging plants from the roof of your respective patio.

There are HOA (homeowners association) fees every month no matter if you use the amenities or value the landscaping. Many times these kinds of dues are not enough to try and do the proper maintenance to the home and then the residents acquire hit with a special examination which can totally destroy a family group budget. A gripe that numerous owners have is the HOA committee becomes a clique the location where the proper attention is not paid for to the good of the remaining portion of the residents. I was a real estate identifier for a number of years and often ran across any instances of that when doing remarks in a condo development.

A different big negative was that has been quite often litigation against the creator or maintenance people as a result of shoddy workmanship or not doing the project. Sometimes the actual builder went bankrupt along with left the project having the bag. Another without is the fact that condo values commonly start decreasing in price just before single family residence ideals and at a faster level. They also usually start raising in value after solitary family residences and at some sort of slower rate. Historically condo properties are usually harder to sell when compared with single family residences.

Should you be thinking of buying a condo you must do your homework, even more so in comparison with if you were buying a individual family residence. Before you also consider the development talk to as much residents as you can and ask these every question you can think of. A lot more people you talk to a lot more you'll learn about the project. Don't think everything you here though if good or bad. Make an effort to validate each persons thoughts and opinions by asking why they believe the way they do.

Talk to the particular manager, president of the HOA or anyone else is a placement of authority to find out when there are any special tests coming up, such as a roof substitute. It's not very pleasant to go in and a short although later find out you'll have to pay out a couple of thousand dollars to your share of replacing the top. Find out the amount of the HOA fees, when they last brought up and by how much, giving you an sign of the project's financial condition.

Locate how many vacancies there are and exactly they were caused by. If a lots of the vacancies are caused by property foreclosures it's probably a place a person want to purchase in. One of many problems with foreclosure vacancies is the fact less HOA fees tend to be coming in and there may need to be a special assessment for making up the money. With typical vacancies the owners in the unit will be paying the fees.

Other statistics you need to know are usually how many rentals there are in addition to determine what the ratio to help owner occupied is. When there are more than 40% nonowner occupied units you may have a difficult time getting a loan. Another part of information that will help you make up your mind issue place is for you will be how many units are for sale as well as why they're being sold. When other people don't like the undertaking you may not either. Determine if there exists any ongoing litigation? House projects often seem to be a new magnet for law matches. Many times lenders won't loan in a development if there is approaching litigation.

Check out the CC and also R's (Covenants, Conditions and also Restrictions). These are the rules you can living by so it will be a good idea to read them carefully although they are usually 2 or 3 in . thick. You'll probably find several sneaky little things within that you hadn't given the thought to. As you can see there are a lot of advantages and disadvantages to buying a condo and it absolutely isn't for everyone, although many folks swear by them. As an example if you're gone a lot this is certainly perfect because you don't have to bother about exterior building or lawn maintenance. Your place is relatively risk-free due to the proximity of your neighborhood friends. When you come back home all you need to do is relax. On the reverse side of the coin if you like puttering in your yard and sticking to yourself, you probably won't be also enthused about condo lifestyle.

If you really want to be sure regarding what you're getting into using a condo you might think about performing a lease with option to order instead of an outright invest in. Try not to put much lower for an option fee, get rent concessions and make typically the lease term short. If that turns out that condo dwelling doesn't really turn out as if you wanted, you can just vanish at the end of the lease without further expense. Condo stands for condominium and is described as any development where the owner of your units owns the interior involving his unit and the rest is owned by each of the residents as a percentage connected with however many units you can find. A townhouse is similar apart from the owner also owns often the land that the unit is located on.

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taurustarot · 5 years

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3/17/19-3/31/19

Use your Sun, Moon, and/or Rising Signs for your tarotscopes! The tarotscopes for 3/17/19-3/31/19 were done by using the Fairy Tarot Deck & Angels of Abundance deck. (I was gifted these two new decks which aren’t my usual but wanted to test them out, let me know what you all think!)

Aries: Ten of Spring, #6 The Lovers, #16 Life Experience.

Recently you’ve been learning how cooperation and relying on others - or delegating at least - isn’t a burden. You’ve finally had enough of not receiving what you deserve despite everything you do and take onto your shoulders. Good for you Aries! You’ve been dragging yourself along under the weight of all your responsibilities and constant seriousness of life and work instead of giving yourself time to enjoy life and reap the rewards of your work now. It might seem that life has been pretty dull for you lately and you’re getting stuck in a rut; but never fear! This time is serving you because you’re learning to play well with others and bring harmony into your life. Aries, a lot of you are starting to see signs of your life partner coming into your life and as an added bonus; they very knowledge of their existence is having you re-examine some old, dead weight beliefs. As we move out of Pisces season you’re experiencing a MAJOR shift. The blessings of your season - the astrological New Year - are not holding back on you. NOW is the time to unashamedly proclaim what you’re manifesting into your life with the utmost confidence that you are deserving of it, especially after how hard you’ve worked. Your season is bring you a lot of eye opening moments and one of them is a spiritual location catching your eye to invoke a desire to travel! Be ready to find your direction in life as well as the people who are meant to share it with you; if you don’t discover all of this within the next few weeks then be aware you are going to receive signs of them and information on them.

Attracting Money: Gratitude List. If you find that attracting financial wealth in your life has been pretty difficult it has to do with the message above. You’ve been working so hard you haven’t had time to stop and smell the roses. The Angels of Abundance Oracle Cards suggest you take time to write a Gratitude List - try to write down five things at least three times a week. Be as detailed as you can so when you go over the list again in the future you can feel the same joy! Writing this list will instantly raise your vibrations, keep you focused on that feeling of joy and even freedom you’re seeking to continue experience and most importantly: remind you that joy is all around you and always at the tip of your fingers.

Taurus: #14 Balance, Nine of Autumn, Prince of Autumn.

These next weeks as we go from Pisces season into Aries - the astrological new year might have you at a crossroads. You’re being faced with a decision or at the very least, a problem to solve that you feel could affect where you go in life. It’s not something to take lightly but it is something you need to be able to release if needed. There’s no need to make a haste decision; instead, seek out external sources who might be able to offer you some insight on the situation and how they view it with you. While no one knows you better than you know yourself, they might pick up on things and offer wisdom that you’re much too close to the picture to see! It’s your attention to detail that’s going to save your day here, Taurus. Additionally, those of you who are embarking or trying to raise up your own business are going to start seeing some of the rewards you’ve been waiting for - take this as a sign to keep going. Aries season will push you further than you would have initially thought to go but it’s a lesson your big brother is coaxing you into. A common theme along these cards is that only one being is present at the time; take care of yourself and know that while you are never truly alone - you are at your best when given some time to work through things on your own. Be careful not to over reward yourself for a job well done; stay humble.

Attracting Money: Moonlighting. Staying true to your roots and need for stability; the Moonlighting card offers one strong piece of advice. . . Don’t quit your day job (just yet!) As you reach for the Moon with your dreams, remind yourself that you do still have bills to pay and as an Earth sign you’ve got some hard work ahead of you to make your dreams come true. They will come true but it’s important to also stay in the present as you work towards them. Make moves full of trust towards your dreams and know that they will come to fruition but until then there are still responsibilities that need to be taken care of. Find balance between work and self-improvement.

Gemini: Ten of Winter, Six of Autumn, Princess of Autumn.

As Pisces season ends; so does their hold on your reality. During Pisces season you may have been affected through the things that Pisces rules: you may have been emotional, more prone to insomnia or restlessness, and may have even indulged in a vice or two. The bright side here is that the next two weeks will be moving you away from this time and will be ending any negative routines you’ve developed. Your problems are over, Gemini! You’re also learning more about karma and the fact that she’s been keeping her eye on you; the good you have done for the world will return to you soon but this doesn’t mean you should stop doing good or start doing it only for what it brings back. When you leave your pride and selfishness behind; you become blessed with the best karma there is. There’s a strong sense of job change - be it to another location, starting your own business, or even a promotion - in the air! If you aren’t working but are attending school then know you’ll be acknowledged with the possibility of a scholarship. Keep your head firmly on your shoulders because the next few weeks require careful thinking and planning.

Attracting Money: Dreams of Abundance. If you’ve learned anything from Pisces and their season; hopefully it’s how much power dreams have to them. Learn to daydream; learn to direct your dreams (perhaps sleeping with your intention under your pillow!). This card itself, “Dreams of Abundance” suggests that you take note of the dreams that come to you naturally because they might have some insight on what your missing or need in order to succeed.

Cancer: #7 The Chariot, Eight of Autumn, Five of Summer.

Cancer, the Astrological New Year is all about controlling yourself. The situations you put yourself, the situations you are put into it, the people you allow in your life, the way you treat those people and the way you set boundaries and limitations for how you can be treated. You’re getting touch with your beliefs again; especially the belief that every road leads somewhere, that there is a reason somebody is your life - even if you don’t yet know what that reason is. It’s because of that belief, you’ve decided to revisit something of the past. And for once, it really does benefit you. If you’re looking to go back to school, or start an internship, even giving love to an old project of yours or simply getting back into old hobby/routine that used to bring you joy then you’re on the right track! Stop focusing on the negativity in your present, all it does is invite it for the future. It’s okay to bring attention back to the negative aspects of your life but don’t let them control you, your life, your day, your relationships. . . You have the divine right to be free. Focusing on the negativity can cause you to miss opportunities in your life - especially once in a lifetime ones. When you harp on the bad you are prolonging your suffering and using it as an excuse to stay safe within your cracked shell instead of moving forward to softer waters with less rocks and enemies. These next two weeks will be about cleaning out the people in your life and setting boundaries. . . Finally you are focusing on providing yourself with a healthy lifestyle! Cancer, if everything has a reason then there’s a reason so much wasn’t meant to stay in your life, a reason you’ve been through so much pain. . . but how do you get there? To the revelation of it all if you aren’t willing to move towards it’s glowing light?

Attracting Money: Savings. Whether or not you’re making big life changes - moving out of your parents house, going off to college, paying for something to enhance your appearance, etc etc - the best way for you, Cancer, to not only attract but keep money in your life is to start saving! Do some savings challenges if you have to or at least start budgeting better so you can save a bit here and there. You can never tell when you’ll need them and if you don’t need them - you’ll have a hell of a vacation! Like attracts like, by having a smile on your face everything you check your bank account that actually has a decent amount of savings in it; you’re attracting even more money your way!

Leo: Two of Summer, #15 Ego, Ace of Winter.

During Mercury Retrograde, you have been a victim of miscommunication Leo. You might have said that came off much worse than you meant for it to sound or you might simply have let your temper get the best of you; regardless of what happen you stirred up some problems and have been involved in others. The good thing is that those problems are finally coming to an end, they’re being resolved and for the most part they are being resolved, even healed! The challenges you must face that have come to light have you wanting to run for the hills especially since they’re bringing up so many emotions that you simply feel you can’t handle them. . . Most of your worry stems from the material security you feel you must have in order to survive. Leo, you’ve placed a lot of emotions into your material items - no matter how big or small - but you’re in the process of a change; if you’re not physically moving than your spiritually and emotionally moving and packing your life up into boxes while being unable to take things with you can take a big toll on your energy: like a lion in it’s cage! While you fear this change at first, that famous Leo ego will step in and remind you: it’s not scary, it’s an adventure in the unknown. Be sure to communicate clearly or do your best to quickly clear up any misunderstandings; give people time to cool off. Admit your wrongs. Separate yourself from the material and learn to forgive as well as to ask forgiveness.

Attracting Money: Visualize Abundance in All Forms. Blessed by the rays of light from your ruling planet - the Sun - it’s time to focus some of the light rays into your hopes. Utilize them; surround yourself in it’s light as you visualize attracting, receiving, accepting, the abundance you need in your life.

Virgo: #10 The Wheel, Three of Winter, #20 Renewal.

As backwards as it might sound - and as backwards as Mercury Retrograde is - you’ve been putting yourself into the past a lot more lately but with the intention of reviewing it honestly in order to make a better future for yourself Virgo, and that is admirable. As you venture between the past and the present, it’s important for you to keep an objective in mind these next two weeks or you will lose yourself in it. It’s helping you to become a stronger person, someone who can handle more and someone who can lay their armor down one day soon and celebrate with their spoils of war! But until that day comes for you there is a lot of reflective work to be done; something that you, as the overanalyzer of the Zodiac hate and love to do. Beginning the 19th you’ll notice that you’re gravitating towards people more, especially ones who appear as the “mom friend” in your life. If you need to be comforted, if you need to be supported then don’t make yourself sick by denying yourself those comforts and simply asking. Trust that the people who care for you want to be there for you but that they need your permission - even with something as small as a smile. Continuing your journey . . with a hint of luck from the Irish it seems that the next two weeks following St. Paddy’s day brings some very good fortune your way. It’s not expected either as it all seems to be very spur of the moment; the wheel never stops spinning and so, life can be rather unpredictable at times. . . As the wheel of the world spins, the wheels in your life start turning as well and there’s no more time for waiting or postponing. Additionally, your freeing yourself from old mindsets here Virgo, and it’s because of this that all this luck is headed your way; rewarding you for learning from yourself. . . Blessing you for accepting those lessons and welcoming in your purpose on this Earth.

Attracting Money: Ask for Your Needs to be Met. While you learn to let others in and ask for help these next two weeks, your manner of attracting money is the same. Don’t be scared to ask loved ones for a little help here and there if it’s dire - but know that you can also directly as the source you believe in, or simply the Universe itself. Be honest and open about your needs. . . don’t plan for them to be fulfilled a certain way, simply accept that they will be fulfilled. Stand proudly as you announce, “I need help. . . I’m requesting help with. . .” because it mean you can finally trust that you don’t always have to rely on just yourself.

Libra: King of Autumn, Nine of Spring, Three of Spring.

There’s been a disturbance in the force, Libra. You feel it clear as day as you try to understand why you feel as though you’ve been pushed into survival mode or at the very least, that your survival instincts have kicked up and made you defensive of your work. In the past, you felt secure when it came to the place you worked, the place you studied, the place you socialized or presented in whatever way it was . . . But now you feel as though you’ve given a good thing up as you began to pursue higher blessings. . . Unable to force your life a certain way, you feel that it’s unstable, unbalanced even which throws you into fear. Breathe in deeply Libra, tell yourself that everything is going the way you need it to go because you are in control of your life and have a plan for it, even if the plan is as simple as “be happy.” Keep your wits about you as enemies make themselves known to you and are exposed for what they have done - especially to you - it can make them desperate. Protect your works, the “fruit of your labors” so to speak, and be patient! Keep planning for the road ahead of you while knowing that as you do good, so is good done unto you. Don’t share credit for your works either; if an idea is yours and you’ve worked hard on it while your partner goofed off and around, simply shading in a logo over and over again and driving you mad then don’t be ashamed to take the credit. It’s yours. As the month draws on Libra, you’re also finding yourself interested in doing things that benefit others and even the environment; you might find yourself recycle more, changing to green friendly, cleaning up a highway, donating to a wildlife foundation or so on. Know that if you do feel this desire; you’ve been guided divinely and should further research it - it may just hold the key to your next project.

Attracting Money: Declutter. Donations, Tithing, and Charitable Work. In order to bring and keep money into your life - especially during these next two weeks. . You’ll need to put in the work and declutter. (Konmari method, anyone?) Declutter everything; your room, your house, your life, your friends, your schedule. . . As these two cards came out together, you might find some good in donating things; instead of donating to a Goodwill your old hoodies, you might drive them personally to a homeless shelter and donate them there. . . Being able to see the people you are helping might inspire you or simply raise your vibration in knowing you’ve helped someone else. Your donations, your compassion; they send out energy into this world that can attract even more energy like it. Be kind and in particular for you these next few weeks Libra; be eco-friendly.

Scorpio: Four of Spring, Two of Autumn, Princess of Summer.

As we leave the emotional and self-reflective season of Pisces, a fellow water sign, and enter the the mountains of fiery Aries - you have a lot of emotions going around and the one that sticks out the most is the feeling that you have to catch up and put in the work to make up for the time out you took during Pisces season especially with the relationships that ended. It’s okay to slow down, giving yourself time to be proud of all you’ve accomplished even if it doesn’t seem like much. Some progress is better than no progress. Cutting ties with people over the last few weeks actually leads to you have a much brighter energy during these next two weeks; while you work to get them off your mind you do end up acknowledging you made the right choice by letting them go from your life - especially for those who were in situationships where jealousy played a big factor. On the other hand, the next two weeks require you to keep the same open mind and not force yourself into too many things at once in order to forget the endings you’ve undergone. Keep your time open a bit, be kind to yourself and compassionate to others because you’re social life will be flourishing as Spring makes it’s arrival known! Stronger friendships, wedding invites, party invites, family events, and even a new suitor are on their way. . . You have the next two weeks to get yourself together; opening up a space for these emotional connections in your life.

Attracting Money: Release Jealousy. Instead of looking at others with the desire to have what they have. . . be happy for them! Don’t feel bad for yourself, that you haven’t attained what they have. Everyone grows and flourishes at different paces and you are no exceptions. Stop blaming your mental health days and thank them instead, they’ve kept you sane enough to keep going! Being jealous sends out to the Universe that you are full of lacking with the intention of maintaining your lack. Be honest with yourself during this time. Do you want money? Do you want a vacation? Do you want an invention to take off? Fine. Fantastic! But why can’t someone else have it and you get it as well in your own divine timing? Why must it be one or the other? Be happy for others; their success paves way for your own.

Sagittarius: Eight of Summer, Prince of Winter, Three of Autumn.

Sagittarius, you’ve never been shy when it comes to celebrating your accomplishes but lately you’re wondering what you really get out of them? Where do they take you? In the end, what gets put on your tombstone? “Here lies. . . with X amounts of accomplishments.”? This revelation has even had you looking into the people in your life; who is dishonest? Who isn’t lying but isn’t open when you need them to be? Why do the people in your life make you feel isolated? It’s come to your attention that it’s just not worth it anymore; the natural clout that being a Sagittarius attracts just doesn’t hold the same appeal to you if it can’t be found on a deeper level and so. . . You invite these next two weeks into your life while you begin your transition to a more meaningful life. Focuses change, people leave and new ones are scarcely accepted. You’ve finally made and accepted the decision we spoke about in the last tarotscope and now it’s time to truly deal with the consequences of it. . . Sag, you’re thinking about all of this clearly and making the best intellectually based decisions you possibly can so be proud of that! You’re finally free Sagittarius. No more looking over your shoulder while you agonize over what could be a compromise; instead, you’ve decided to not compromise anymore and do what’s best for you with the knowledge that eventually, Justice is served. The changes in your life are coming and they’re coming quickly with almost no time to catch your breath. Take some of the time you use to think of the changes to think of what your talents and passions are instead, you will profit from them if you dedicate yourself to them now! Where do you want to be in five years? Ten years? What do you want your tombstone to say? The raw talent you have in you can’t be what you survive off; you deserve to thrive off your dedication. Get to it!

Attracting Money: No More Complaining. Sag, that wasn’t a typo. We all know you take a lot on your shoulders but you also have a tendency to cry about it in public - and quite frequently. Stop claiming the negative in your life, stop viewing yourself as the sole victim of things and decide that you’re going to look forward. Forgiving and releasing even if you don’t forget. In order to bring money into your life (or abundance of any kind) there can’t be traces of victimhood; you can reflect on your past to try to better understand it and you can feel hurt by people but you can not harp on it as though it’s your life purpose. Your life purpose is not to be a victim; so what is it? And how do you start getting there? What is your life goal? The next two weeks should be used to cut all negative habits and the prioritized one being to quit complaining

Capricorn: Six of Winter, Three of Autumn, Seven of Summer, Princess of Spring.

For you Capricorn, the cards suggest you’re being treated to a time of balance due to each of the suits being represented. As difficult as it might be for you; try to stay positive and dare it be said - optimistic! throughout these next few weeks; good things and great changes for you including a windfall of money! That’s exciting for you, isn’t it? You can finally free up that furrowed brow on your face and instead, welcome in the warmth of spring which is thawing out your life; bringing you little blessings. It’s essential that you stop putting things off during this time because the next two weeks are a time of preparation especially if you have any thing that will showcase your talents come up. Trust in yourself because your creativity will soar - and you might as well. . . literally! Travel is indicated with the Six of Winter which pictures a fairy on a little boat with only a light to guide him. . . The fairy, just like, is going somewhere that will light up his world. You feel guided to pursue your desires & dreams; to get yourself out there in the world and present who you are. Don’t fear being judged or that it might not be profitable. Tell yourself experience, learning things about yourself are just as profitable as some cold hard cash in your hands because eventually. . . that, at the very least, doubles your worth. Your task for the 17th-31st is to stop holding yourself back because of every little thing, instead; spread your wings and fly!

Attracting Money: Organize for Success. Capricorn, nobody takes profits as seriously as you do. So what are you missing? Why isn’t taking over your life just yet? Why haven’t you achieved your dream of being the Monopoly guy? Simple, you haven’t organized yourself. You haven’t planned for the life you dream of. . . Instead, you give off excuses to yourself like, “I just can’t right now. . . I’m too tired. I’m unmotivated. Uninspired. I’m hungry so I’ll do it later.” and so on. But do you ever actually get to it later? As an Earth sign, you suffer from the need to be surrounded in life’s luxuries and one of them is being able to take your time; yet, you put a deadline on yourself! So which is it? Consider this as you decide if you really do want to welcome abundance into your life and then settle down, creating a schedule for yourself. . . cleaning your room, your work space, getting an agenda and setting yourself up for success.

Aquarius: Queen of Autumn, Four of Winter, #5 Unity.

You may be called to become the living example of “Treat Yourself” but it would be unwise at this time. Avoid making any big purchases or indulging in the lifestyle you’d like to live; think of the Jay-Z quote, “If you can’t buy it twice, you can’t afford it.” You’re tempted to spend the money you have and the money you don’t have this first week, especially when a giving and even “stylish” person enters your life. The influence of the Queen of Autumn also doubles as a being who finds a financial supporter in a romantic interest, all of those “I’m going to become a sugar baby” jokes may have been taken seriously by the Universe - be on the look out! Continuing along the week and entering the next week; you have quite a lot on your mind because you’ve had to put off things due to lack of energy. Your need for sleep and being unable to focus because of your cluttered mind has you unsure if you should make any decisions at all - you would do best to take a small trip (perhaps to a local park or botanical gardens if that’s all you can spare resource wise), meditation,yoga, or even working out could help you clear your mind. Do not be ashamed to take a mental health day if you need it - even if you lay in bed all day. Whatever it takes to feel rested with a clearer mind, you should do. In order to make the best decision possible; you will need to focus on what the right thing is, not just the best thing. . . As confusing as that might be. Consider this: the decision is to buy a $3 ice cream cone or to spend the $3 to buy 3 different cans of food. You don’t get paid for another few days, what’s the best decision to make vs the right decision? The right decision would be to get the can of food - giving up a temporary pleasure for your well being or even your family’s, whereas buying the ice cream might be what you feel is the “best” thing to do because you’re craving it, enjoying it, and it would make you feel better for a bit. You end these two weeks with realizing that the past survived so long for a reason but it also belongs in the past for another reason. . . As the innovator and futuristic lover of the zodiac, you’re faced with the challenge of discovering the good and the bad of the old ways with the new ways; take both perspectives into consideration as you move forward to make these decisions and even more so if it’s something that requires compromise. Leave March with the satisfaction that you’ve learned to view both sides of the story. . . Utilizing them for the right and best reasons!

Attracting Abundance: Clean-Energy Food, Release Resentments about Money.

One very easy and quick way to raise your vibration & clear your energy is to be more conscious of what you’re eating. There’s a strong belief that certain raw foods (depending on their color although there are a few exceptions) correspond to your chakra. For example, if you need to work through and use your root chakra; you might incorporate cherries, blood oranges, red peppers, pomegranates into your diet more. Since “root” is a key word here; you might even look for foods that have been buried deep underground as they grew (potatoes or carrots, anyone?) Cutting out the sodas or the guilty pleasure food you eat nightly as opposed to once a week or less, could have a great impact on your energy which in turn would lead to you attracting abundance more easily. Another suggestion for you to attract abundance - money in particular - until the end of this month would be to work through the negative feelings you have towards money! Consider it; what beliefs did your guardians have about money while you were growing up? What was the financial situation like in your household? How are your savings? Don’t hate money because you feel there’s never enough, because you feel it is the key to happiness. . . Take a deeper look at it, see where your relationship to money began but more importantly. . how you can change it to make it YOUR relationship with money, the relationship you want!

Pisces: Seven of Autumn, King of Summer, #8 Justice.

As you’ve been working through your issues. . . You’ve also decided to take a step back from living your life. Despite the fact that this would be an issue for just about any other sign, you Pisces have found a way to make your detachment from reality a strength! It gives you a way to process, heal, and even grow. As you live in your fantasy world it’s imperative that you try to figure out whether you’ll be swimming along the ocean’s current or against it. Don’t allow your fears to control you, know that Justice is on your side in this matter so long as you keep yourself focused & with a clear mind. What this means for you Pisces is pretty simple: no more procrastinating out of fear! No more thinking until you you have to start the process over again and then hiding in your head until you feel all of your problems have passed - until you face them head on, they won’t! Be on the lookout for any projects that genuinely call to your soul or even festivals; there might be someone special waiting to meet you there! To survive these next two weeks as we leave your season and enter into Aries. . . make a decision to speak with the truth, with a kind and loving heart at all times and to do the best for yourself as well as others. Despite being the fish who constantly fights to not drown in the waters of their own emotions, you do have a tendency to take it out or even blame others. Make it clear to yourself you’re no longer welcoming that sense of victimhood into your life because you’re taking control of your own life. Be open to any observations or advice a soft masculine energy might provide.

Attracting Abundance: Positivity, Faith, and Optimism.

If you’ve temporarily parted ways with your belief - or at the very least, put them on the backburner. . . It’s time to welcome them into your life. Even if they aren’t the same as they used to be, that’s normal. . You’ve grown, you’ve evolved, ascended. But welcome faith and optimism back into your life; the emotions from your season are finally relaxing and you can come up to the surface for much needed air. As you do that though Pisces, take into consideration all the wonderful things you have in your life and could bring into your life if you could just manage to keep an optimistic view on life. . . Reprogram yourself to find the good in life; to look forward to what life brings you, especially when it’s something you’ve been hoping for. Remember not to let self-pity run your life because that is your biggest problem, biggest set-back. Free yourself from the shackles you’ve placed on yourself. When you live under the water your cup might not seem like it’s overflowing.

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atopearth · 5 years

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Higurashi When They Cry Part 7 - Ch 7 Minagoroshi-hen

As I thought, Rika was trying her best to save every world that existed, she always tried her best and yet she could never succeed past the “curse” that would fall on whichever character. It must have been so tough for her to watch all this, to die all those times and to experience that failure to save everyone each time. I’m happy to say that I noticed all the rules for the worlds! Please praise me hahaha. I’m just sad that Rika’s mental life span after experiencing all this is shortening and she’s going to mix up stuff soon, I guess that’s why you can tell after each succeeding chapter that she is revealing more and more things for you to unravel what exactly is happening. Well, it seems like this is the last chance for them all to fix everything in two weeks! Seems like it might be the last chance for Hanyuu (Rika’s sister? Inner self?) to rewind everything with the rest of her powers~ How will it go, I wonder~

Hanyuu is SO CUTE! Honestly, it was so heartbreaking to see Rika so disappointed that Keiichi couldn’t remember what he did in the last world, she really wanted to believe in a miracle happening, yet they wouldn’t allow that. Rika still has hope, so I really don’t want those hopes of hers to be crushed. I want her to finally win against this cruel fate… Satoko has an incurable disease?! Why is the poor girl suffering so much?😭 How has Rika been doing the same thing over and over so many times? Sure, there’s variations, but it’s crazy to think that she has to react similarly to her first when it comes to stuff that has happened before. I guess it’s finally causing a toll on her… It couldn’t be helped that she didn’t react properly to Satoko… In a sense though, with how Rika’s mind is breaking from being unable to cope with death once again and living the same life again, and with the end coming sooner than usual, wouldn’t she be the “cursed” one this time around? The thing is, Rika is always talking about how it’s fate that they’ll play this game at the toy store with Mion and them, but she’s forgotten that she doesn’t have to go along with this fate. She’s become so numb to it that she’s forgotten that she’s Rika, she’s a person in this world as well, she’s not an overseer, she could have rejected playing that fish game, she could have asked to play another, there are so many choices for her but she’s forgotten that just as there are these “rules” that have forced her to live these 100 years endlessly, she is also in control of what she can do in this world. So, I’m really glad that even though Keiichi may not have the memories she wants him to have from the previous world, I’m glad he said that he wouldn’t go along with her “predictions of the future” and that he would change fate. Even if everything happens as she says it does and the owner would give them that specific game, Keiichi can reject it and get another for his group. I’m happy that Keiichi showed her that this world doesn’t have to repeat and be boring like she thinks it will be. So it was really nice to see Rika be inspired and want to change her fate again, without complaining that two weeks wasn’t enough to change it when Keiichi changed it so easily in 5 minutes. I liked her initiative in telling her group she didn’t want to play the fishing game. C'mon, you’re Rika! Of course they’ll go along with you on whatever game you want to play, they all love you hahaha. I’m not sure what the point was for the “choice” with Rika telling Keiichi to give the doll to Mion or hoping that he would, but I’m happy that either way, in this world, Keiichi knows who wants the doll the most and didn’t cave to embarrassment or anything, he literally gave the doll to Mion. I’m so happy for Mion. It’s such a simple thing but I’m sure Mion would be so happy. Is it true that Keiichi is growing as a person throughout the worlds without consciously knowing? I prefer the music and the result of when Rika doesn’t try to tell Keiichi though, because it surprises Rika and she thinks of it as a miracle, she just sounds more hopeful and I like that haha.

I would have loved to see Keiichi playing that pop up pirate game, it would have been awesome I bet! But, oh well, the idea that everyone wants him to be a part of the Watanagashi Planning Committee to host an auction for donated items sounds cool! It seems that Keiichi is starting to get mixed up with his previous memories unconsciously now… Was ohagi the food that made Keiichi doubt Mion and Rena in the first chapter? It probably was… The first chapter always saddens me… The sewing needle story must have been traumatising for him as a kid, no wonder why he overreacted in the first chapter, or maybe he was just so paranoid about them, he imagined the sewing needle in the ohagi huh? Regardless though, it was nice to see Keiichi have absolute confidence now that Mion would never do such a thing. It was so wonderful to hear that Rena and her Dad are redecorating their house with new furniture now that he’s got a new job! Everything seems to be going well with them now! I’m so happy that they’re moving forward together. I’m also so glad that Rena could actually tell them openly about her parents divorce, I think the fact that she did makes it sweet to see how much she has also learnt to trust her friends. I kinda believe that they all possess the memories of the previous worlds as well tbh. Ooh so Rena saw her previous world memories through a dream, I guess that means that subconsciously, they’re all changing because of what happened before, so really, Rika’s efforts weren’t for nothing! Things are changing for sure!! I never really thought about or realised that Tomitake and Takano were like a protection for Rika, and that the main reason why she can be killed later on is because she loses their protection after their deaths, so in order to save this world, she needs to save them. It was also saddening to hear that back then, she used to try her best to save her parents from death until the point she became apathetic towards it, I guess that’s why her mother thought of her as like a monster? If what’s causing Rika to die every time is someone’s strong will for her death, wouldn’t it be ironic if the one that’s killing her was herself/Hanyuu? The future is uncertain, but the cycles of life they repeat are certain and similar, what if there’s a part of her that actually is really scared of the future and actually would rather repeat all these worlds “safely” and repetitively, having fun with all her friends even if it’s momentary?

Lmao at Rika saying Takano should take photos inside the ritual storehouse if she paid her 10,000 yen and she really did hahaha. It’s also funny that Hanyuu was against it until she gave the money and could eat more desserts with it lol! Well, this Oyashiro-sama (i.e. Hanyuu apparently appears every couple of generations or something?) is very chill as long as there’s desserts! It’s kinda cute how Takano really would do anything just to see the storehouse, and it’s also kinda weird going into this storehouse with such “fun vibes” when it was so scary the last time Keiichi and them went inside… Does that mean the “stomping” they all heard in the other chapters was Hanyuu hearing Takano badmouth her and she got mad at that since she never wanted these torturing systems, it was all the people just using her name to conduct such atrocities? So…the curse of Oyashiro-sama really is a disease that causes hallucinating etc when it progresses to the higher levels, and Tomitake is involved with people in Tokyo that are giving Irie and Takano the budget to cure it? And they’ll protect Rika hopefully… But omg! Akasaka is here too?! And this time, he actually listened to Rika and went back to his wife in the middle of his work so his wife and child are still alive! I’m so happy for them! Rika really is working in a world where all her efforts are bearing fruit! I guess you really can’t blame Rika for giving up when Satoko’s uncle came back. She’s tried so many things before in these 100 years and they never worked out after all… It was just saddening to see Shion acting like Keiichi back then when he murdered the uncle… Everyone cares for Satoko…but murder won’t solve anything because Satoko will just continue to blame herself even more… Sigh…

I love how they’re slowly progressing on how to help Satoko and are gathering people to the child consultation centre to kinda have like a peaceful mass protest. It was hilarious when Keiichi tried to get Kameda (the friend from the baseball game), and he described Satoko’s charm as a tsundere but when flipped, will be deredere lolll, and then when he said Satoko is just like the first and last half of Higurashi’s plot itself hahahaha, he’s so right😆😆 I must admit, Keiichi’s passionate speech about 2D and 3D girls was great, it was so easy to change Kameda’s mind hahaha. I love their friendship lmao. HAHAHA, I loved it when they said they needed more people than just Kameda’s baseball team and then he just shouts out to his comrades in Angel Mort (the cafe) who all love moe and 2D of the like, everyone is so funny but united in such weird ways, but I love it hahaha. I like how friendly Ooishi and Keiichi are, they bond over such silly things, it was also nice of him to give his warning/advice about the Satoko situation and how the child consultation centre is viewing everything. I knew Keiichi wouldn’t back down regardless but it was nice to see his resolve like that. I’m also really happy to see that everyone in Hinamizawa can be so united in a good way rather than the intimidating way it always was in the previous chapters. Also glad that Rika has finally realised that although it’s true that they can’t help Satoko as much as they want to unless she requests for the help herself, Rika herself has not been cooperative either. She’s merely watched over what Keiichi and everyone has done like a bystander when really she should be in this story as well! She can’t change her world to be what she wants if she doesn’t take an active role as well. Just as Satoko needs to realise that she needs to seek help from the others, Rika also needs to understand that if she can’t do it, she must rely on the others as well.

Although I do feel like Keiichi’s talk with the oldies and Oryou (Mion’s grandmother) was rather “easy” and smooth considering how everyone was once so adamant on thinking the curse would kill them or whatever for doing anything like this, or maybe because Tomitake and Takano haven’t died yet so they’re a bit more chill? Nah, I dunno, but I did feel like it was rather smooth sailing, but I guess in a sense, everyone wanted to drop the negativity towards Satoko just because she was a Houjou, so they really just needed someone brave enough like Keiichi to say that out in the open and make them change their stubbornness on the surface, they all already knew that they didn’t want to continue isolating her, they just needed a push from someone else. I always love Rena in these situations though, I feel like she doesn’t say much but what she says is always critical and to the point, and that’s why I think she’s a great match for Keiichi. Also love and think that she was one of the only ones that could really tell that Oryou wasn’t angry at Keiichi at all when he confronted her, she just had to don that aggressively angry persona to keep up with appearances as the Sonozaki family head. Not surprised that the child consultation centre isn’t gonna yield just because there’s a lot of outside pressure though. But I do think it’s about time they bother doing something like a reassessment rather than try and check the power balances between the village heads etc, like can you focus on the children? I don’t blame the centre for being busy and overwhelmed with such cases, and that the things our main characters are doing are merely putting pressure on them rather than providing proper evidence, but at the same time I want to cheer for our main characters for doing so many things just because they want to help their friend, and hope for the centre to finally understand that if so many people are willing to take their time out to protest about something, they should really learn more about this supposed guardian of Satoko’s, especially with his dodgy background and everything and the fact that so many people are witnesses of his atrocities last year and right now. And after all, I really do like Hinamizawa’s motto where if one person is hurt or whatever then two people should rise up and protect them and if there’s too many, then the whole village should, I think that sense of unity in Hinamizawa is its charm and I like it.

I’m happy that Rika was finally able to get through to Satoko. She’s right, Satoko is still the same as she was last year, enduring abuse and waiting to be saved. If she truly wants her brother to acknowledge her and come back, she needs to stand up for herself, especially when so many others are offering their hands to her, so I’m glad that Satoko has finally decided to face what Satoshi faced in order to protect her. I’m soooo disappointed that it’s the festival and we didn’t even get to see Keiichi actually host the auction! I’m so sad😭😭 I’m so sad that they cut all those slice of life moments (with summaries), they’re what really make Higurashi what it is as well! So it feels really incomplete without it… *Super spoilers from here on* I’m not surprised Takano was the one who killed Tomitake by injecting that disease into him, and I’m not surprised she faked her own death. She’s crazy enough to want the curse to be true and continue on like this. I’m not sure what they want to achieve though…like destroy Hinamizawa with this disease? Does she think of herself as part of the Demons and needing to cleanse Hinamizawa by killing everyone? Does she want Hinamizawa to live as some kind of legend without physical presence? How did this disease even come to be, and why does no one in Hinamizawa know about it when it’s something most apparent in their village? Btw I feel sorry for Tomitake. I still don’t trust Hanyuu though, I still think she just wants to live happily here with Rika forever repeating this same life however many times rather than going past June. I feel that since there are circumstances where she can be heard e.g. the stomping, she definitely is suspicious! I’m sorry Hanyuu if I’m wrong hahahah.

I’m glad that Rika finally found the courage within her to tell Keiichi and them everything, especially when she knows that she’s gonna die that night. Just wondering though, if villagers who leave Hinamizawa get sick quickly after and this is proportional to the distance from the village, what about Rena’s mum? So if “Tokyo”, the organisation trying to use the Hinamizawa Syndrome like a military weapon is Takano and them, then does that mean the reason Hinamizawa kinda gets destroyed later on is because they experimented on Hinamizawa to see how much damage they could cause on a community? Not sure I really get Rika being the “queen” idea but it seems that maybe the village is always destroyed in the end because Rika is killed and when she’s dead, the disease somehow spreads rapidly and makes everyone have that persecution complex to kill each other? I wonder if it’s really wise for the Mountain Dogs (secret military unit that Takano is a part of and is a part of Tokyo) to just kill Ooishi and Kuma like that, they’re policemen, it’ll definitely be investigated properly if policemen are killed.

Anyway, I’m not surprised everything ended the way it did considering how ill prepared they were to take on Takano and them, but I agree with Rika, it’s sad that everything ended the way it did, but the amount of progress that happened in this world was unfathomable and definitely hope for next time to be better and to be possible for them all to survive. Although I wasn’t fond of all the fourth wall kinda stuff talking to the reader and how they could talk to each other even though they died, I did enjoy the fact that they finally could touch Hanyuu and make her believe that there is hope, and that she shouldn’t be so passive like a bystander anymore, just like Rika, she needs to be a part of this story for it all to work as well. I think that was nice. Honestly, it does feel rather ridiculous and rushed for them to so easily agree to killing so many people that probably will exert these “terminal symptoms” when they just found out about this disease itself and what destruction it can cause, no one has even really shown the effects of it after losing the “queen” yet. And they let the villagers bring their bank books and cash? They trying to rob them while they’re at it? I don’t see how after all this that the Sonozaki family that is in Okinomiya wouldn’t react suspiciously to this “gas leak” considering how many of them there are and how powerful they are too. And Takano is ruthless and crazy as usual but for some reason I can’t really feel for her craziness? Like, I don’t know if it’s because things ended so fast or because I just don’t find it interesting that it makes me feel like this?

Overall, I think for once, I’m actually disappointed in the chapter! Lol! I feel so bad that I feel like that because maybe it’s because of my high expectations and how long I had to wait for this chapter to come out rather than the issue of the story itself. I’ll still try and talk about what I feel though. Another reason I might be quite sad is that I kinda missed the formula of Higurashi in the previous chapters, like, I always enjoy the slice of life games before the actual story and not getting that in this chapter made me a bit sad. I also felt that a lot of Rika’s thoughts were repetitive, like too repetitive, it’s kinda like when I’m reading To Aru Majutsu no Index and a lot of the time, the author likes to reiterate a lot of things for effect but it’s a bit too overused and it felt like that with Rika and Hanyuu. We knew how they felt and how much despair they felt having to relive all this so many times, so I thought it was unnecessary to keep mentioning it with the same words, I think if the despair could have been put in more different words or in a different way to show her feelings, it would have hit me more than just the idea that Rika is devastated and can’t find it in herself to move on or give up entirely. I’m also not a fan of stories breaking the fourth wall really, so the beginning of the chapter where it kinda “talks” to the reader felt a bit surprisingly unconnected to me, it kinda made the story of Higurashi feel a bit more detached to me, and it made me feel like a true “outsider”. I always read the story and engaged with the mystery as like a part of it in a sense where like a lot of the staff room rolls, you would think alongside the characters on how the story would unfold, and yet that beginning made me feel pushed out of wanting to find out the mystery of everything with them all. I also didn’t like how a lot of things were explained and told to you such as the summaries of what happened and the origins of the disease, rather than being shown through the characters and their stories. I liked the extra exposition and background of it, but I think that could have been done as a tip rather than as a part of the story. I guess my biggest complaint is just that as Ryukishi07 wanted, this was really an answer to everything in the sense like it was an answer key. You flip to the last page and it gives you the answers but doesn’t really show it to you in a way where you discover it along the way kinda feel, it’s literally just an answer. I enjoyed the previous answer arcs because you kinda go step by step into being enlightened to more things that happened from another perspective and I guess I expected that instead. I guess I also wasn’t a fan of the motives and how everything played out with Takano and their organisation, this is mostly my problem though, I just didn’t enjoy it being what it was?

However, I did still enjoy the chapter. I thought it was really nice to see how everything could be resolved for Satoko’s situation. I didn’t agree with everything that happened and how it was done all the time, in terms of the story and the characters’ actions but I really did enjoy the sense of unity from everyone. It really felt like a culmination of all the hard work in the other chapters, it really felt like everything was done to achieve all this and make these miracles really happen. It made me believe in them strongly as well haha. Rika’s monologues were repetitive but it really reflected how much she had suffered and how apathetic she was forced to become, so it was nice to see Keiichi break all that. Basically, I guess I am satisfied and dissatisfied with everything at the same time hahaha. I hope the next chapter comes out soon though… I mean, however everything ends up being resolved, I’d still love Higurashi just as much though. I’ve always been a person who loves stories for the journey rather than the ending, and I always appreciate the journey much more no matter what, but yeah, I still hope I’ll like this last chapter of the main arc much more than this one haha.

#higurashi when they cry #higurashi

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apparitionism · 5 years

Text

Helicobacter 15

I have very little idea who even sees what I post anymore, given Tumblr and its unparseable algorithms. Once again, in the interest of possibly appearing in search results, I’m going to eschew links to the other fourteen (!) parts of this story here in this post... but they exist and can be found! This piece mostly boils down to callbacks, so the previous parts are indeed important, in an inside-joke sense. Anyhow, with housekeeping out of the way, where were we? Previously on Helicobacter, Myka was happy, Helena was too, and I myself couldn’t be bothered to stitch some dialogue exchanges into a full scene. Did a little better this time, but it’s still sort of Frankenstein’s-monster-ish.

Helicobacter 15

Helena knew that what she beheld wasn’t real. She knew it, because this was a plan, because everything thus far seemed to be going to plan. But when she entered the hospital room and saw Myka in that bed—that hospital bed, which was so very much not the bed they had so recently shared—all of what she knew left her mind: the “you’re up!” text she’d just received in the parking garage where she and Steve and Liam had been waiting for their cue, the fact that Steve and Liam were indeed right behind her, the crush of people in the room itself. The full complement... Abigail, extravagantly “blood”-soaked; Rick and Varsha, exuding white-coated competence; Jeannie, wearing a stricken expression that proved she either was an extremely good actor or did not enjoy having to see her daughter this way any more than Helena did; and, finally, Jane Lattimer, with whom Helena had interacted in only the most functional of ways but who had maintained a commanding, severe aspect at all times. She now looked a bit like Helena herself most likely had, in that original, first hospital immediacy, her face a mix of “something is happening to which I do not have full access” and “how can I persuade my actual day to resume.”

These things left Helena’s mind, and what remained was Myka, in a hospital bed.

“It was you all along,” Myka said, and her voice was sweet, not weak. “It really was you.”

Helena had been working on a dramatic statement in the “yes, it was I!” genre in response to whatever she encountered, here in this little hospital-room playhouse. But “I’m sorry” she said instead. An inadequate apology for everything from the original sin of the textbook through to Myka’s having to lie here in a hospital bed again.

Myka said, “I’m not.” She smiled. “But we really need to stop meeting like this.”

Enough of Helena’s wits returned for her to observe, “Abigail seems to have got the worst of it this time.”

“Impressive, right?” Abigail said. “When she gets sick, she gets sick. Overachiever.”

Now Helena did try to “act”: “You told her,” she said to Rick, who nodded. “So you know everything?” Helena asked Myka.

“I hope so,” said Myka. “I want to.”

“I want you not to be sick again,” Helena said, and that was no act.

“I can see that. Come here. If I am going to be sick again, it’s where you belong.” Myka looked up at Rick. “Now I’m the one who’s sorry. I did think it was you. Before. That it was supposed to be.” Rick said a soft “me too,” and Helena saw that Myka’s words, and his, were indeed about before: before Helena. Months ago, she would have found such an acknowledgement exclusionary and enraging. Now it raised further gratitude in her. She found she could not quite remember how it felt to hate Rick.

She did remember, however, how it felt to go to Myka’s bedside and take her hand. “I didn’t think I’d be allowed to do this,” she said.

“Technically,” Myka said, now with a glance at Jane Lattimer, “you’re not. But isn’t there an initiative about to be rolled out? That might make it okay?”

Everyone else was now conspicuously silent. Helena was not at all sorry to have missed whatever histrionics had preceded her entrance, but poor Liam was likely to regret finding so little to work with, improvisationally.

“Initiative?” Jane asked, with an edge, and Helena began to worry.

“Sunshine?” Myka asked back.

Jane frowned, and Helena, her worry intensifying, said, “I don’t want to cause trouble. But at the same time, I’d be happier if I didn’t have to skulk in someone else’s emails. Even if he was kind about it. Thank you, Rick.” She meant it.

“You’re welcome,” Rick said, and he seemed to mean it as well. “Happier’s a good goal. For you and for Myka. I think we all agree on that.”

“We certainly do,” Jeannie said.

Her words made Helena remember that, given the situation, she wouldn’t know who this was. “Have we met?” she asked.

In lieu of a real answer, Jeannie ruminated, “Myka told me about you, the first time this happened. Of course she told me after the fact. About all of it. ‘Hi, Mom, hope bridge club was fun, and by the way, cancer.’ And even then she seemed more concerned about having decorated you with so much of her AB-positive... that was a little confusing, in terms of priorities, but the most confusing part is why nobody insisted on calling her next of kin!”

“Mom,” Myka said. “First, I wasn’t dying. And second, storyline, okay?”

“Fine,” Jeannie said. “Am I allowed to sigh and say words about destiny?”

“Like I could stop you,” Myka said.

Helena tried to walk a middle way with, “I wish the circumstances were better, but I’m pleased to meet you.”

“We’ll see if it’s likewise,” said Jeannie, with a bit of her familiar twinkle.

“I’ll try to make it so. If Myka will let me, now that she knows that my feelings belong to me, not Rick. And now that she knows that her feelings are for me, not Rick. That is, if she still has those feelings, given the revelation that they may be for me, not Rick.” Well, that had been a terrible improvisation. Helena wished some language-use fail-safe mechanism could have cut her off after the first “me, not Rick.”

“I have them,” Myka said, with admirable simplicity. To Jane, she said, “So could we?”

“Could you what?” Jane asked. She still wore a frown, but was that was from “when will my day resume” annoyance, or because Myka was on an extremely wrong track?

“Hold hands, now that we know who feels what for whom. Could we just do this, and not worry about our jobs? Given the sunshine, I really think we—”

“But Myka,” Jane said, her expression changing from severe to gently serious, “that isn’t how it’s intended to work. It’s intended, once we announce, to flush people out: ultimately, to be an even greater deterrent. To show that we can find problems and dispatch them. One of you would still have to go—the only thing the initiative does is provide for some negotiating and grace period. A softer landing, with associated publicity. For example, Helena’s firm could finish the library, but she’d be barred from city work after that. Or you could wrap up your projects, and then you’d exit with some sort of severance package.”

Myka’s small smile had vanished, and her hold on Helena’s hand had become progressively tighter through Jane’s explanation. “What? No... no, no, no! Blameless adorable girls!”

“What?” Jane said.

Myka turned to Helena and said, in a voice as tense as her grip, “I didn’t know.”

Helena said a quiet, “That’s your just deserts for reading things you shouldn’t. Draft memos... marked-up city planning textbooks...”

“I thought it was going to be perfect,” Myka said. Her eyes dampened, and she blinked fast.

“It is perfect, as far as the initiative goes,” Jane told her, “but it doesn’t get you the outcome you seem to want.”

Myka hates how red... they really could not move to Maine and refuse to fish for lobsters, so Helena was going to have to come up with something else, and she was going to have to do it quickly. “But not the outcome you want, either,” she said to Jane, buying time.

“How do you mean?” Jane asked.

“Do you want me to be barred from city work?”

“Of course not. I wish I could say there were plenty of firms in the sea that can bring work in on time and on budget, but.”

Helena continued, slowly, “And you can’t possibly want to send Myka off into the sunset with a severance package, because she’s exceptional at her job.” An even more salient through struck her: “And because you most likely won’t be allowed to replace her, will you? Given budgetary concerns.”

“That’s most likely correct,” Jane said.

And now Helena had to throw that last reasonable save-us-all possibility out the window as well. Not on impulse, but as an imperative: because it was no longer a reasonable possibility. She said, “I would swear to fall out of love with her, but I don’t believe I can do that. And you would have your suspicions, wouldn’t you? Regardless of what either of us swore.”

“‘Suspicions’ is far too mild a word for what I would have, if you tried to sell me that story,” Jane said. “That story.”

It was a clear request: sell me the right story. What was the right story? The current circumstance was once a different circumstance, Helena reminded herself, and then she began to remind Jane of it: “Let’s consider a hypothetical situation. What would have happened if she and I had been together before I bid on the neighborhood?”

Jane said, promptly, “You would never have been allowed within ten miles of that bid.”

“But remember, the process began before the current mayor took office. And Myka wasn’t involved, not initially. Under the previous administration, that was the functional equivalent of being ten miles apart, wouldn’t you say? Under the previous administration, our integrity would have been the stuff of legend. Perhaps even epic poetry, composed in Greek.” She glanced at Myka, who was not at all ready to smile. I will never, ever let this face be red again. Maine, lobsters, red. Everything connected. Fix it.

Jane said, “I have my doubts about the poetry, but in a general sense, yes.”

“And neither Myka nor I could have known that after my unfortunate incident with her now-former coworker, you would assign her to the project. Could we? She certainly didn’t volunteer for it.”

“No...” Now Jane Lattimer had a tilt to her head and a glint to her eye that suggested she was beginning to see Helena’s point: blameless adorable girls...

Myka was still blinking, and she was breathing hard through her nose: she wasn’t there yet.

“The timeline,” Helena said. “The timeline. You assign Myka to the project, having no idea that she and I are together in some way; we don’t say anything about it, because why would we have done, under the previous regime? A short time later, the new mayor takes office; new rules go into effect. Myka and I are now stuck: what can we do? If we reveal ourselves, either she loses her job, or my firm is dropped from consideration. We don’t want either of those outcomes, so for a brief while, we bide our time. Perhaps we’re trying to figure out a plan.” She looked at Myka again, and now Myka blinked again, but slow, an I trust you blink, an I still don’t quite see but I trust you movement of lids and lashes.

Helena, encouraged, continued, “We fail to figure out a plan before Myka falls ill, and we have our day in hospital. She conveys to you the basic facts of what happened—that she did fall ill, that I was there with her—because she could hardly conceal those facts. And you, following the guidelines, remove her from the project and install Abigail instead. We breathe something of a sigh of relief, but we also find ourselves consigned to secrecy. We’re trapped. We remain trapped, all this time... but, notably, I don’t attempt to influence any of Myka’s work, and she exerts no influence to benefit me. That is objectively the case.”

“The mayor wouldn’t bother to follow that story,” Jane said. “She’s busy; it’s lengthy. And I’m not persuaded it’s true.”

“It could have been true. Just as this story of emails and a relapse could have been true,” Helena told her—but having done so, she realized that she had fully confessed to the fictional nature of the current situation. Monumental error?

Apparently not; Jane’s posture relaxed, and she said, “So Myka’s all right?”

Myka squeezed Helena’s hand. “I’m all right,” she said, and Helena was so relieved to hear her sound like herself again that she sat down next to her on the bed, heedless, now, of all appearances, even of making it clear that she had indeed been with Myka, lately, in a better bed than this one. She noted that she was on the correct side of this bed. They had been in better beds, but at least she was in this one correctly.

“All right then,” Jane said. “Several things could have been true. What actually is true?”

The words “First there was a fountain” made their way out of Myka’s mouth before Helena managed to interrupt, “I don’t believe anyone’s life will be improved if we try to explain. Speaking of stories no one would bother to follow.” Myka’s theory regarding public shaming was all very well, but now they needed to offer something that made sense.

“All right then, “ Jane said. “We’ll save the truth for a less instrumental time. But what would you like me to sell to the mayor?”

Helena said, “Sell her this: a city employee and a contractor have a personal relationship that predates the current administration, but that relationship has never been allowed to influence their work. I think that says a great deal about how this mayor has managed to bring integrity back to governance, don’t you?” Jane began to nod, if still with bit of skepticism, so Helena went on, “If the mayor is indeed concerned about having nothing to disclose, then here is something that may be disclosed. If everything looks too perfect, here is a story in which everyone’s behavior, while not perfect, is undamaging to the work at hand. In fact the work at hand is being done rather well, and our conduct has been, all things considered, very nearly exemplary.”

No one else in the room had said anything for quite some time—poor Liam, Helena thought again. Everyone’s eyes were on Jane, who said, “It’s a shame you weren’t secretly married. I’d have a better case for having this new initiative somehow grandfather you in, given your ‘exemplary’ conduct.” Helena heard the quote marks.

“Hm,” Rick said. “How about if they were engaged?”

Jane tilted her head one way, then the other. “It couldn’t hurt.”

Rick turned to Myka and Helena and shrugged as if to say “well then.”

“There are several people who work at this hospital who would attest to that as fact,” Helena said.

Myka smiled up at Helena. “Plus it would help explain why you dropped everything to be here today—I mean, here, today, when I’m having this relapse—regardless of appearances.”

Jane said, “And I suppose it would explain why, here today, you were both unable to hide the ‘real’ situation from me. Given what a terrible actor Helena is.” She said this last with a “go ahead, challenge me” air.

“Terrible,” Helena agreed, not rising to the bait, if indeed it was bait. “Jane, I believe you’re the hero in this scenario, are you not? You offer the mayor an easy way to show a tinge of relatively harmless imperfection, and you keep all your personnel in place. No other department head could possibly have the opportunity—and ability!—to thread such a needle.”

“Don’t push,” Jane warned.

“I can’t help but push,” Helena said, because it was true. “Look at her.” She herself looked at Myka... and was struck by the fact of her. No more impulses; only imperatives.

“It’s fortunate you’ve given up asking me to believe that this romance is purely epistolary,” Jane said. “We do still have one problem, however, speaking of looking: going forward, there’s that pesky appearance of a conflict of interest. I’m not sure how I can talk the mayor down from that.”

Varsha said, “I have an idea. You see, I’m using this wallpaper”—she gestured at Rick—“to help my career.”

“Who are you again?” Jane asked.

“I am Doctor Varsha Parekh, but that is unfortunately neither here nor there in the present circumstance. The point is that the wallpaper is fine with it. He would most likely not be fine with it, however, if I hadn’t told him. If for example I told someone else and that news made its way back to him.”

“Full disclosure!” Liam said, with a florid melodrama that the current circumstance certainly didn’t warrant... then again, Helena did see that it was likely to be one of his only lines, so of course he would want to make the most of it.

His making the most of it startled Jane. “Who are you?” she asked.

“I thought,” Liam began, just as extravagantly—then Steve elbowed him and he calmed down—“well, I thought I might get to play a doctor too, but instead I’m ‘Assistant’s Boyfriend.’ Which is fine.” He elbowed Steve.

Jeannie sighed. “I’m still just ‘Mom.’”

Myka burst out with, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

“I know you did,” Jeannie told her, “and it’s fine, just as Liam said, but—”

“No, Mom,” Myka said, “I’m talking about disclosure. If I warn them, no one can say I didn’t warn them.”

Abigail mused, “It is a conflict of interest. Say it loud and proud, over and over, and eventually nobody’ll think twice about it; they’ll bake it into every single good word you might say about her. And every single bad word you might say about anybody else.”

“You will have to say it over and over,” Jane told Myka, “or everyone will think you’re joking.”

“I will be so happy to say it over and over,” Myka said. Her hand, still gripping Helena’s, was warm.

Jane said, “You’ve always been above reproach... are you ready to take that reputational hit?”

At that, Myka did lose a bit of her shine. Helena looked at Abigail, who shrugged and said, “She’s the one who keeps saying she’s tougher than she looks.”

“Think of it as a metaphorical pie in the face,” Helena suggested to Myka.

“I guess you did pre-apologize,” Myka said. “First thing when you walked in here.”

“And I felt I really did have to throw it. Well, to set you up for it to be thrown, I suppose. Unfortunately I don’t think anyone will bother hiding it in a bouquet.”

“Helena, I had no idea you were this strange,” Jane remarked.

“I’m not the one who—never mind. Yes, I am this strange. Now. I occasion the throwing of metaphorical pies. I personify the lessons of a koan that inexplicably involves a lobster. And everywhere I go, I find myself there under false false pretenses.”

“Not everywhere,” Myka said. “But speaking of false false pretenses, and why she goes places, I should make clear that regardless of when anything did or didn’t happen, I did all the pursuing, I swear. If she’s been trying to get me to wield influence on her behalf, she’s doing a terrible job. Gave me no incentive at all.” Myka accompanied this with an irresistible nestle against Helena’s side... a reminder that Myka herself had provided near-constant incentive for Helena to give up and give in. As she was now once again doing.

“Maybe she’s spectacular at reverse psychology,” Abigail said.

“Whose side are you on?” Myka demanded.

With a glance at Jane, Abigail said, “Good governance. I’m on the side of good governance.” She glanced down at the “gore” that decorated her. “I’m also on the side of clean clothes.”

Steve said, “She is not spectacular at reverse psychology. She’s not even very good at straightforward psychology.”

Helena sat there and took it, because really, what were her options? Her martyrdom was mitigated by the fact that she was still sitting next to Myka, holding her hand. With a modicum of hope.

Jane said, “Honestly, psychology aside, I wish you’d just come to me in the first place. My heart isn’t made of stone.” She shook her head in an exasperated chide.

In response to which, Helena had no choice but to muse, “How ironic it would be if someone had, prior to all this, suggested doing precisely that.”

Myka un-nestled herself and poked Helena in the side. “How even more ironic it would be if, after all this, someone else were to decide she’d changed her mind about wanting to be with someone.”

“I am having a sign made that says ‘point taken.’”

“Good investment.” Myka then re-nestled herself, as if it were a relief to have that settled.

And with that, Helena capitulated. Entirely: no part of her soul was divided. She would sell the firm to Steve if she had to; she would move to Maine; she would confront lobsters or any other monster from her childhood, from her subconscious, or from reality. She would maintain.

Jane said, “I need to make one more very important point, one that each and every one of you needs to take to heart: You’re all terrible actors—“

“Now, wait,” Jeannie said, and Liam added, “You should have seen me as Biff Loman three seasons ago at the Civic Theater.”

Jane rolled her eyes. “But since you’re willing to put on this ridiculous show to ‘help’ them, can I count on you to maintain the equally ridiculous position that they’ve been involved for as long as they have to have been, for this story to be plausible? A year? More?”

Helena, suddenly giddy at the idea of victory within their grasp, said, “We have known each other for more than a year and have been madly in love for twice that long. Wait, was that backwards?”

“Liar,” Myka accused. “Three times that long.”

Rick offered, “I am pretty sure Myka cheated on me with her.”

Myka raised a threatening hand to him. “Hey. Actually too soon on that.”

“Sorry,” he said.

Helena remembered how it felt to resent him. She glared.

“Very sorry,” he amended.

“Some secret engagement that you were trying to tell me some fake story about,” Steve said, contemplatively.

Helena recognized the phrasing. “You did say that. At the time.”

“I was all set to believe it then... so now I do.” His breathing was steady. Helena reflected that if she did have to sell the firm to him, everyone there would most likely breathe far more steadily, far more of the time.

“Wonderful,” said Jane. “And when I say ‘wonderful,’ I mean that if I hear one whisper of trouble about this, everyone in this room over whom I have any authority whatsoever is fired, removed, or otherwise penalized. Do I make myself clear?” She received decisive nods from everyone, even those over whom she technically had no power at all. “All right. Here is the ‘real’ story: you’ve been engaged since before the current administration came into office. I had no knowledge of this engagement. As far as I knew, you met on the day of Myka’s hospital stay—during which, I’m gathering, Helena represented herself as Myka’s fiancée.”

“I did,” Helena said.

“That representation of the situation was, if anyone asks from this point forward, true,” Jane told her.

Helena said, “It felt true.”

“It did,” Myka agreed.

“True enough,” Rick harrumphed.

Helena remembered yet more resentment.

Jane went on, “And I removed Myka from the project with absolutely no knowledge of this previously existing relationship. And the two of you spent a great deal of time fearing for your lives and livelihoods.”

“Also true,” Helena affirmed.

“Very,” Myka intensified.

“Because you didn’t know how magnanimous I would be in attempting to work out this grandfathering situation,” Jane concluded.

“I bet I suspected,” Myka said, with a bit of a wily smile, and she knew Jane better than Helena did, so she would know if that was all right, but Helena still had to resist a strong urge to shush her and tell her not to tempt fate.

Fortunately, Jane seemed not to take it amiss. “I haven’t survived as many administrations as I have by being unwilling or unable to do what’s necessary to get to my preferred outcome. You’re not wrong about the politics of the situation, Helena. I think this will let the mayor send a particular signal... I think it could, strangely, work. And work well.”

“So many of Myka’s ideas seem to,” Helena said. “Work strangely, I mean. And well. Although rarely as she intends.”

Jeannie said, “You probably wouldn’t be surprised to hear that that’s been true since she was five and decided that she wanted a pet. Her father wouldn’t get her a dog, so she used Pop-Tarts to train a raccoon to sit at the backyard picnic table with her.”

“And against its better judgment, it agreed to continue to pose as her fiancée,” Helena said, and she felt Myka’s body move. Laughter, accompanied by a mumble of “should’ve tried Pop-Tarts with you.”

Abigail asked, with enthusiasm, “Did it bite her and give her rabies? Ooh, Rick, is that why you decided to become a doctor? Seeing your little best friend foaming at the mouth?”

“Seeing Myka foaming at the mouth would’ve made me want to become an exorcist, not a doctor. Also, I thought Myka did have a dog.”

“Can you not tell dogs and raccoons apart?” Varsha asked, giving him a look. “That is so sad.”

“You are a fine one,” Helena told her.

“I know which one you are. If my grandma were standing here with a bowl of her famous lapsi, she would without doubt refuse to serve it to you. She’d train a raccoon with it instead.” She really was very matter-of-fact about it. Helena believed her.

Jeannie continued her story: “That well-fed raccoon spread the news about the Pop-Tarts far and wide. Myka’s father took the trash out one day and met up with eleven of them, sitting in a line, waiting for Myka and snacks. Reasonably politely, but still. He screamed—he’s never liked raccoons—but they were unfazed.”

“And?” Helena asked. Myka was still laughing against her, harder now, saying “Eleven, eleven...”

“And the next day, he brought home a dog to deal with our raccoon problem.”

Now Myka picked up the tale. “She was a Corgi mix named George Eliot—although I was five, so I thought that was all one word, ‘Georgeliot’—and I adored her. So did the raccoons, and vice versa. My dad felt so betrayed.”

“I begin to see why he spends so much of his time sitting in a boat,” Helena said.

“Also he thinks raccoons can’t swim,” Myka told her.

“Can they?”

Myka, solemnly: “Like little furry crocodiles.”

Helena did think she had gone all in, mere moments ago. Now, however, a small, final bit of her heart or her soul or whatever might have intended to hold out some possibility of defiant resistance dusted its hands, picked up its lunch bucket, and walked off the job. She sighed. “I suppose they’ll feel right at home in the fountain, then.”

“They’ll keep it lobster-free for you,” Myka assured her.

“Considerate,” Helena said. She closed her eyes and, for one breath, paid no heed to those surrounding them; she let herself revel in the physicality of leaning against inadequate pillows, atop an industrial-grade bedsheet. With Myka. Not the day’s inevitable outcome by any means.

Then Jane said, “I am now exiting this inside-joke snowglobe and going back to City Hall, where I expect Myka and Abigail to join me shortly. And I’d appreciate it if Myka and Helena would both be so kind as to continue behaving in your exemplary nonpersonal fashion until I’ve had a chance to talk to the mayor.”

“Should I be there?” Myka asked. “I really think I could explain—”

Jane interrupted, beating Helena to it by a nanosecond, “You should not be there. You should be at least half a world away.”

At this, Myka gasped, dropped Helena’s hand, and sat up extremely straight. She said to the room, “Half a world away! If everybody here isn’t thinking exactly what I’m thinking, I’m going to be so disappointed.”

Helena said, “I, on the other hand, will be relieved. Because I fear for our collective sanity if we’ve all started thinking like you.”

“I’m with you, Helena,” Rick said, and Helena felt her umbrage subside again.

Varsha said, “I’m inclined to agree, but for reasons of family and history, I’ll vote ‘present’ instead.” She directed an appraising gaze at Myka and asked, “Unless you’re thinking about rabies? It’s caused by a lyssavirus, not very interestingly shaped, but extremely—”

“Not rabies,” said Myka. Varsha deflated, and Myka said, “I promise to think about rabies some other time.” Varsha didn’t smile, not exactly, but Helena for one was amused to find that there was a facial expression easily legible as “pleased to have at this moment begun mentally assembling a PowerPoint presentation on the topic of lyssaviruses.”

“Clean clothes?” Abigail tried, to which Myka shook her head. Abigail glanced at Jane again. “But I still care about good governance.”

Liam declared, “I’m a dime a dozen, and so are you!”

Both Steve and Myka said, “What?”

“It’s from Salesman. I was thinking about that season at the Civic.”

Steve said, “I was thinking about what kinds of design projects we could bid on that might involve greenhouses.”

Jane said, “Hm.” Then she said, “Well.” Then she pointed at him and said, “You didn’t hear it from me, but there’s a public/private partnership being set up to fund a senior-housing complex. I heard the word ‘greenhouse’ mentioned as something to consider, in terms of providing resident activities. Then again I also heard ‘horseshoe pit’ and ‘pickleball court,’ so they may go sporty instead.”

“When we bid,” Helena began, but at Jane’s ahem hurriedly corrected to, “rather, if we bid, Steve will wax lyrical on the virtues of gardening and persuade them otherwise. Won’t you?”

“The virtues of gardening, but the virtues of gardeners in particular,” he responded.

Liam put an arm around his shoulders. “Aw. You’re not a dime a dozen.”

“Neither are you,” Steve said, with an answering embrace. Helena found them charming.

Myka, charmed or not, was undeterred. “What is wrong with you people? Half a world away!”

“Well,” Jeannie said, “my first thought was probably too stereotypical a ‘Mom’ line, given that it was ‘honeymoon,’ so—”

“Ding ding ding!” Myka shouted. “We have a winner!”

“Your thought was ‘honeymoon’?” Helena asked, and Myka nodded in dramatic fashion. “I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but I don’t believe we can go on a honeymoon.”

“Why not?”

She had to be joking. The guileless eyes had to be an act. Helena didn’t know what the purpose of this act in particular was, but she played along and said, “Those generally follow weddings.”

Still guileless: “And?”

“And—Jane, don’t listen to this part—as far as I know, we are not in fact even engaged to be married.” Something had turned slightly strange in the room; Helena looked to Steve, but he gave her very little in response, not a smile or a shrug, just a gaze. Abigail did the same. Helena began to worry again. “These things do tend to proceed in a customary sequence,” she said, as a last aren’t-we-on-the-same-page stab.

“Okay, then, let’s get our raccoons in a row.” Myka turned her still-upright torso toward Helena and took her hand again. “First step: will you marry me?”

TBC

#bering and wells #Warehouse 13 #fanfic #Helicobacter #part 15 #AU week #I am curious to see if this part shows up in searches or tags #because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to what does or doesn't anymore #this vestige of bering-and-wells land should be allowed to persist #even if tumblr is trying to pretend we don't/shouldn't exist #I thought that particular tactic vis-à-vis bering and wells was the bailiwick of a TV show #that sent the father of science fiction to Heteroville Wisconsin #for no reason whatsoever

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buddaimond · 6 years

Link

#Some of the answers I’ve read/heard during the recent Greece/Portugal film events. I have extracted out the new ones, overall it is a great read. Here for the full article/Q&A:

Q: People described this role as a reinvention for you. But aren’t you just a reinventor? Going from Twilight to David Cronenberg and Werner Herzog isn’t exactly playing it safe.

Rob: I suppose the other things I’ve done haven’t been contemporary, and I think because this was a really identifiable character type, people were like, “Oh.” People know that world. You can go to New York and see it, and I think people found it weird that I might live in it. If a part ever came where it was like, “You can play yourself,” maybe I’d find comfort in it. But I don’t think my actual personality translates particularly to a character type. I don’t really have a comfort zone. I keep thinking I’m trying to do the opposite of the last thing every time. I’d love to find out if there’s a comfort zone for me to fall back on. Maybe an incredibly insecure English person filled with self-loathing and doubt… I don’t know how many parts like that come along [laughs].

But perhaps living on the knife’s edge of unfamiliarity is exactly what you’re drawn to. It is your comfort zone.

Rob: It is. I feel like it’s always got to be on the knife’s edge. Though it also feels like you’ve just fallen into something by accident and you’re learning on the job. It does seem so random, whether something works or not. Especially if you’re not naturally a performative person. I’ve grown up thinking that excessive, outward displays of emotion are always fake. It’s so ironic that I wound up being an actor. Every single time I try and do something that feels too effusive, I feel like a fraud.

....

Q: At the same time, there’s humanity in there. Isn’t your character, Connie, just in love with his brother and wanting to protect him?

Rob: If you’re in love with someone, they’ll either not love you and you’ll realize and be heartbroken, or you’ll love them and it’s all wrapped up and everything’s fine. There’s also this other kind of love, which I thought was really interesting. You can not know what love is. You can think you’re feeling love. He’s like, “I love my brother, and therefore I know what’s best.” And it doesn’t fit. It’s a very one-sided kind of love, and he’s not even listening to what his brother is saying to him. He’s just a narcissist, but a narcissist still loves, too. The love, for him, is as real as any normal person would feel it. But it’s also this toxic, delusional kind of love. He does genuinely love his brother, but you really don’t want to be loved by someone like that.

Q: Didn’t the Safdie brothers send you to live in Harlem before the movie? Did that immersion help you feel like you understood this guy?

Rob: Yeah, I really like the way they work. It’s how I’d want to work with everybody, where the work never stops. It’s not like you clock off at the end of the day. Even a year after we’ve finished, we’re still talking about it, and talking about the next thing. That level of enthusiasm is really infectious. I can’t stand it when you work with a director, and you call them when they’re not on set and they’re just not into it. No, you have to be into it all the time.

....

So we went to this prison, and the guy who was supposed to show us around couldn’t show up, so they gave us the deputy. We were only supposed to visit one area, but when the deputy asked Josh, “Where did they say you were allowed to go?” He was like, “They said we could go anywhere.” So we’re going around every single f—king area of this prison and talked to whoever we wanted to. It was crazy. I like that audaciousness.

Q: Who did you meet?

Well, we didn’t really talk that much. I think everyone assumed we were working for the city. We had notepads and stuff. Everyone was asking for their lawyer; I mean absolutely everybody. We went to the women’s holding cells, which you’re not even allowed to go into if you’re a guy. I just knew, as soon as I walked in, someone is going to 100% recognize me.

Q: What happened?

We were with the same guide who was taking us everywhere, and he had no idea we were even doing this for a movie. I don’t even know what we were saying to them; we weren’t asking them questions, just kind of implying that we were doing some kind of survey. When we got to the women’s booking area, almost immediately people were like, “I recognize you.” I don’t even really know what kind of character I was trying to put on. I was trying to go in disguised—looking like a 15-year-old boy. Someone asked me if I was in there for Scared Straight [laughs].

The thing I really liked about working with them is that the line between the real world and the film world was so blurred. My last experience of shooting in New York was Remember Me, which was at the height of the Twilight stuff. It was fucking insane. We had paparazzi every day of the shoot. The 1st AD actually got hit by a paparazzo and was sent to hospital. The laws are quite strange. There would be a paparazzi who would be standing, following next to the camera, taking pictures. Every take. So he was literally just taking pictures of the movie. It was one of the most stressful experiences I’ve ever had in my life.

So I warned the Safdie brothers, “If we have one person who finds out, we’re f—d.” We were on such unbelievable lockdown, but I know we didn’t even get a single cellphone photo the entire shoot. It’s kind of crazy, considering.

....

Q: So was this a kind of De Niro, Day-Lewis, Method-style immersion?

Rob: I don’t really know how to do that. You kind of work with what you’ve got. It’s impossible to fully improvise. Everyone else was from Queens, and the main thing people talk about when they’re from the same place is shared experiences, and I didn’t know anything about that. You kind of have to make that part of the character. Where someone would ask, you end up pretending to be this arrogant guy who’s like, “No, I don’t relate to you. Just because we’re from the same place doesn’t mean I have to relate, so stop trying to relate to me.” Connie is kind of like that with everybody.

The Safdies are such good writers, too. The dialogue feels authentic to me. It’s interesting, but for all the improvisation, every single f—king line in the script is in the movie. To get to the lines we’d go all over the place. So we’d do lots of improvisation to get up to delivering the lines, but the actual improvised stuff is not in the movie. It just retains that flavor.

They also run a really loud set. I’ve never really experienced a set where it’s not like, “OK, everybody quiet.” I don’t know another word for it, but it just felt punk. Sean Price Williams, the DP, would occasionally even just push me into place to get the perfect shot. On a normal movie I’d have been like, “What the f—k are you doing? Stop pushing me.” But on that set it was great.

Q: It feels exciting that this form can inhabit that way of working, but also, your first big movie would have been Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and I would imagine that was a much more formalized experience.

Rob: Well, I find it interesting how even there you can have this level of confidence to just do your thing regardless. I remember Ralph Fiennes being born as Voldemort. I’d shot a lot before, and it was the first moment where everyone was kind of tense, because nobody really knew what he was going to do with it. He came out, and it was interesting seeing someone with that level of experience make it his own. Because you can have so much infrastructure around you, but to have someone come out and everyone be like, “What’s he going to do?” That was really exciting.

I was cast so young, so I had just sort of started when I did it. When I came to doing the first Twilight, I actually felt I had a lot more control over my performance, because I didn’t really realize what it was. And that was because of Catherine Hardwicke, as well—she made it so malleable, which it can be when nobody knows what something is. I really liked doing all of those films, but on the first one I definitely felt like, because we hadn’t set the footprint for the thing… I feel like, as soon as you set a footprint your instinct immediately is to want to break out of it, and you can’t. There are too many reasons you can’t just throw it all up in the air. The only hard thing about doing that series was doing the sequels.

#P.S (from a recent LEFFEST Q&A, Rob said Edward in Twilight was the hardest character he had to play when asked by the audience).

Q: Is one of the benefits of doing a series like Twilight that it buys you the ability to say, “OK, now I can help you get your film made,” to an independent filmmaker?

Rob: It’s great, and it definitely, definitely helps. But then the directors I’ve been working with recently, they’d get in financed anyway. Cronenberg, Herzog… Good Time was the first time I really realized that the money came from my casting. And also, the money was so low. So I don’t know. There’s a pressure that comes with feeling like you’ll help with financing, where you think, like, you didn’t really get it because you deserve it. That’s why I like doing work with small budgets, too, because it makes it easier when you really, really believe in something. I’m always plagued with self-doubt, and so I never really make requests of anybody when I’m going into something. I’m like, “Yeah, I’ll dive into your world.” I guess that makes it easier for directors as well. I’ll give whatever power I can give, but after that I don’t have any demands. I don’t think, anyway.

After Twilight, I really just wanted to go off and work with heroes, no matter how small the part was. With the Safdies, I’d really put them in the same category as the people I worked with before. Cronenberg, Herzog, and then a line to them. “Now I want to work with you guys.” I mean, what a perfect thing for me.

#Robert Pattinson #Deadline #Good TIme #Twilight

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