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punkscowardschampions · 3 years

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Liam & Edie

Liam: I dunno how to thank you for the surprise 🎁 as it’s still giving

Liam: what’s her fave scary movie? I never did get as far as jumpscares and chill

Edie: I wish I coulda taken 🧨 to her for you, see if she melted cool too

Edie: All I know is she hasn’t learnt a single thing from any of ‘em, which is unsurprising

Edie: Curtains open? ✔️ Door unlocked? ✔️ Home alone? ✔️

Edie: She should know only virgins survive 💀

Liam: asking for it from her hairsprayed roots to her painted toenails

Liam: but I left her standing for the 6 sequels

Edie: ☢️ fumes makes it even more of a shame

Edie: and that for her, alive, but at what cost

Liam: the twins play with dolls? you could melt her lookalike for me

Edie: I knew you’d like it

Liam: I like that she thinks it was me, that I’ve ever cared

Edie: Yes, you’ve really been biding your time in the shadows 🧛‍♂️

Liam: what shadows, you’re lighting everything up 🔥🎇🎆

Edie: That’s you

Edie: literally and you know, gay shit 😳

Edie: How’d I miss you, when did you drop the box off?

Liam: when I sent you hunting, in case the gay shit was turning too hardcore

Edie: Was it?

Liam: not for me

Edie: not for me

Edie: I’ve not stopped thinking about you since we met

Edie: as you can see

Liam: numbers don’t lie, you’ll see I’ve been listening to your tracks since you sent them

Edie: If I sing loud enough will you come find me

Liam: if I don’t show up rapid enough would you lose your voice

Liam: before that happens I wanna hear the thoughts you’ve been having

Edie: If that happened, I think I could still show you

Liam: what you could do is where my thinking stops

Edie: What are you doing today

Edie: Thinking is overrated

Liam: my dad unlocked his memories of me and wants to make more

Edie: Great timing

Edie: Is he at least taking you bowling?

Edie: The single dad’s first and last idea of what to do with their kids to seem ‘fun’

Liam: was about this time last year, scrolling back

Liam: he’s taking me ⛺️

Edie: Thank God for campfires

Edie: don’t forget your 🔦 for the scary stories

Liam: and the faked found footage

Liam: don’t forget about me

Edie: It IS a great location, give him that, but I’d need an invite for top marks

Edie: I couldn’t

Edie: How are you feeling about it though, really

Liam: scary stories do start with 🚗 and you’d fit in the boot easy

Liam: how long can you hold your breath?

Edie: [send a video as you did with the staring contest]

Edie: I’ll find the nearest body of water and work on it

Liam: long enough to fool him, but I’m not gonna tell you not to play dead in your 🛁 like a killjoy

Edie: What else can I do in your absence?

Edie: we’ll be having about as good a time as each other, that’s something

Liam: to Alexis or to me

Edie: Both if I do it right

Liam: how extra she is will make up for everything I’m not

Edie: you are everything

Edie: sorry

Liam: only from behind a lens or a screen, sorry

Liam: take away the sfx and yeah, we’ll be having as good a time as each other

Edie: Are you afraid?

Liam: I’m not anything, that’s what I’m trying to get across to you

Liam: you’ve got killer eyes with so much behind them, I don’t

Edie: There’s something

Edie: here, between us, even if it’s not of us

Edie: it’s real, we should follow it ‘til it isn’t

Liam: 🦎🧠

Liam: reflex behaviours ain’t enough for someone as braindead as Lex

Liam: you’re smart

Edie: they’re enough for me

Liam: if I had anything to give you, I would

Edie: I don’t want anything

Edie: I’m not like her

Edie: Whilst you’re around, I want to be around too, that’s it

Edie: you don’t have to do or be anything, I swear

Liam: I want to want things

Liam: but I don’t have the cheat codes for 🐒🧠

Edie: However small that bit of you is, it clearly exists, to even want it at all

Edie: I have nothing to lose with trying with you

Liam: yours is massive

Edie: I’m younger, there’s time for my hope to die

Liam: I’m not letting that happen

Edie: Protect me

Edie: and let me try for you

Liam: I have nothing to lose, already lost it

Edie: has it always been like this or could you access 🐒🧠 before

Liam: my ma didn’t raise a 👶 psycho, I used to react normally to stuff

Edie: You could again then

Edie: not saying it’d be easy or any patronizing shit like that though

Liam: but are you saying you’ll help me or any gay shit like that

Edie: Yeah

Edie: don’t worry, my god complex won’t make it culty

Liam: offer it me and I’ll drink it

Edie: Going ‘round acting like my cunt is magical seems like a Lexie kind of move

Edie: Everyone else is boring, you’re not, and I’m not, if nothing else

Edie: I’ll be better company than her or KM or any other twat

Liam: it was, doing the most to make herself killable is her only move

Liam: but I couldn’t do it and you were already better company anonymously

Edie: She’s a grief thief

Edie: and I’m definitely doing more than call her next time

Liam: she don’t matter, it was never about her

Edie: no, ‘course not

Edie: it’s about you for me though

Edie: I’ll fuck up anyone you want

Liam: start with my dad and I can skip this guilt trip

Edie: Okay, let’s think

Edie: it wouldn’t take a lot, if he only manages once a year as an average

Edie: has he got a new missus?

Liam: she wasn’t his but he liked my sister more, thinking about it

Liam: not that I know about, maybe it’s how short he is

Edie: a kid that isn’t here is easier to love because there’s less to do, nothing to do now

Edie: you reckon he’d call it off for a potential hook-up then?

Edie: might be desperate

Liam: there’s no calling it off, he’s too scared of my ma still and she’s had these days circled and !!ed

Edie: She’ll fuck me up if I ruin your bonding sesh?

Edie: I could catfish her instead but how exciting can a middle-aged man ever feasibly be 🤔😒

Liam: big tesco is gone, how many other places do you wanna have to avoid

Liam: I know something else you can do for me

Edie: I’ll take my chances 👊

Edie: Go on

Liam: if you set up to record and I stream it as often as the fucked wifi will allow we can kid ourselves I’m at your window 👀

Edie: We’re definitely doing that

Edie: You have the best ideas, seriously

Edie: not knowing when you’re watching and what you’re gonna see… 🥴

Edie: mine isn’t as good but [one of the nights he’ll clearly be away like if not tonight, tomorrow or whatever] you should be able to see this comet really clear at [a time] we can watch together

Edie: I’ll take the stream outside

Liam: your idea overtakes mine by miles, I’ll lose my dad in the woods or something before then

Liam: and if he stays MIA I’ll try and call you, when you’re not busy talking to Lexie

Edie: There’ll be a pub or something nearby, failing that, find a high point and push, you can be back by the time he regains consciousness

Edie: I’ll leave her alone now, if you want

Edie: I just don’t like her for you

Liam: she’s not for me, you can have her to do what you want with until I get back

Edie: 😈

Edie: She’s not invited to that either but I’ve got some ideas

Liam: me too

Edie: Surprise or secret?

Liam: neither, I wanna spend time with you, in person

Edie: When are you back?

Liam: 4 days

Edie: 4 days, I can do that

Edie: just about

Edie: patience isn’t my strong suit but I’ve been waiting a lot longer to meet you, it feels like somehow

Liam: when he drops me off, I’m yours

Edie: You won’t regret it

Edie: Summers not over yet, there’s so much we can do

Liam: I won’t regret focusing on you instead of school either

Edie: School is a different kind of torture

Edie: at least now I can see you every day

Liam: torture walking away after I have seen you

Edie: I won’t make you

Edie: we can stick together

Liam: we will

Edie: I miss you

Edie: even though I’ve not actually met you in person yet, and you’re not gone either

Edie: still

Liam: [send her your own version of the staring contest footage like I’m going nowhere bitch]

Edie: There’s something behind them, I swear I can see it

Edie: Do you believe me?

Liam: I said I’d keep your hope alive

Edie: It’s okay if you don’t, I know my 👀 don’t deceive me

Liam: your eyes are something else, they’ll wear my zoom and pause out on this 📷

Edie: I wish I had the words to explain how you made me feel, and I could explain it so good that you could feel it back

Edie: because it feels really good

Liam: we’ve got time, for you to find words or show me without

Edie: if 🎇🎆 wasn’t so overdone

Edie: or maybe when you’re on a 🎢 the second you drop and it feels like the world has fallen out from under you and there’s nothing you can do

Liam: when you’re finally coming up after waiting twice as long as usual for the 💊 to kick in and thinking you got scammed

Edie: exactly like that, but you’ve just taken a 2nd and you know it’s going to get even more intense

Liam: I’ll hunt for 🍄 while I’m here, you trust me not to accidentally kill you, yeah?

Edie: I do

Edie: have you done lots of 🍄s?

Liam: made tea out of some but fuck all happened, they were probably from big tesco, I was younger and didn’t know anything

Edie: 😆

Edie: Me either, but more because my dad only deals in synthetic crap, not because I’m young and don’t know anything

Edie: not a total drug noob, only hold my hand if you want to

Liam: I only got them up bc my sister wanted to put a twist on the tea parties she forced me into as a 👶 I was a drug noob

Edie: How annoying they didn’t work, that would’ve been fun

Edie: maybe more for your sister than you but still

Liam: she was 💔 but it ended up being fun after I cheered her up with my 👒👙 recreation

Edie: How could that not cheer anyone 😅

Edie: when you’re back I’m gonna need to see that myself, honestly

Liam: I’m not gonna fit in the one from then, but I’ll be able to get another 👙 close match to the 👶 pic or show you the vid of us if not

Edie: I’d like to see it, I bet you were real cute kids

Liam: she was

Edie: do you have lots of videos of you guys as kids?

Liam: not really, either they didn’t want it to be like they were hoarding the happy shit for when she wasn’t here anymore, or they thought they wouldn’t have to bc there’d be loads more of it, I don’t know

Edie: Either makes sense, you’re not planning for that to happen and then I can see why you wouldn’t want to when it becomes apparent

Edie: I wish I’d known her more than just another face and name at school, she sounds cool

Liam: you can get to know her, from me picking up my first 📹 there wasn’t much that didn’t get videoed, it was how she wanted it

Edie: I respect it

Edie: and you do have a good eye, you made me look 🤩 from the most basic footage

Liam: you don’t need editing, but I was trying to show off to you

Edie: I thought you were impressive before that point, but it still worked

Edie: especially when most act like face-tuning a selfie is a great feat of skill

Liam: [a selfie facetuned to a pisstakey degree so it looks wild]

Edie: [very much imagining that pillow face filter/handsome squidward]

Edie: 😱 catfished again, gdi

Liam: this has to work, me and you meeting, I can’t rewind to before we talked as if we never have

Edie: There is no going back

Edie: It will work, we’ll make it

Liam: it gets thrown out casually and fucking constantly, but I haven’t found anyone like you before

Edie: It has to mean something that it was you, and me

Edie: it’s so improbable, and we could’ve gone our whole life living in the same place and not ever getting to know each other

Liam: it means I’m not letting go of this, it’s me and you now

Edie: I want that too, I need to

Edie: nothing else makes sense, it’s not complete, it’s not right, I don’t want it

Liam: even if I’m 🤖 I’ll be trying to override my shite programming, harder than I’ve done, to do this right

Edie: 🍄💊 aren’t the only things that can rewire us

Edie: I’m not going anywhere, I won’t leave you, even if it takes forever, even if it never happens

Edie: trying with you is better than feeling like a failure with anyone else

Liam: anyone who’s made you feel like a failure is getting worse than the Lexie treatment

Edie: we’ll make sure the school doesn’t find the hit-list 😏

Edie: it’s like, everyone is so comfortable, and they do the same boring shit every day and never get tired of it, but none of it fucking matters

Liam: 🏫🔥

Liam: I’m down to make everyone uncomfortable

Edie: They need it

Edie: not that they’ll appreciate it but that’s not the point

Edie: I wanna make you feel everything

Liam: you’re so alive, that’s the point for me

Edie: I can be that

Edie: and I can share

Liam: I wanna be a reason you are

Edie: I’m so mad at your dad, full offense

Liam: get in line, but cut in front of me so I can 👀 at you

Edie: You can do more than look when I’m really in front of you

Liam: I keep thinking about what happens if I can’t

Edie: There’s still things we can do

Edie: that only require you to want to

Edie: and you can tell me if you don’t

Liam: I don’t wanna tell you things that’ll make you feel bad

Edie: I don’t wanna make you feel bad either

Edie: or force you to do something

Liam: you won’t, I’m not 😡 at my dad for forcing me to do this instead of being there with you

Liam: block works for negative emotions too

Edie: Okay, but still, it’d make me feel bad if you felt like you were performing for me

Edie: we don’t want that

Edie: when we do meet, you control it, okay?

Edie: Do what feels right

Liam: no crap ARG acting, I can agree to not do that

Edie: Good

Edie: so, you leveled up with drugs, what about girls or did that first nightmare put you off fully

Edie: I mean like, do you hook up with people or is it all ❌

Liam: she put me off, or how desperately I could tell she wanted me to want her did, she’d touch me and nothing would happen and she’d look at me like 🥺

Edie: It’s pressure

Edie: but I don’t think any boy has met her expectations, judging by how fast she gets through them so

Liam: pressure I piled on myself in the first place, thinking about my sister and how nobody ever wanted to touch her, like it was catching or when the lad she was into wouldn’t ask her out and I asked him why and he admitted it was bc he was shitting himself she’d drop dead, so I thought I should, bc she wanted to live those cliches and fucking couldn’t, I don’t know

Edie: People are shit

Edie: they don’t do or say the right things and they can’t handle the stuff you and your sister had no choice but to

Edie: and it’s fucking unfair there’s so much stuff she wanted to do and didn’t get to

Edie: of course the weight of that is going to make that near impossible

Edie: it sounds horrible but you aren’t dying though, and neither am I

Edie: so make the list, see it through, but the pressure is off with time

Liam: r/emo teens would have a post like, we are both dying, just at a slower rate than her

Edie: 🙄 they can do one, I’m never dying

Liam: yeah, please don’t

Edie: I promise

Edie: my ma’s wife died and I can barely remember her but enough that it fucks with my head

Edie: like she was always there, and some memories I have, she would’ve been, and it’s like, fragments, if I try really hard

Edie: but it could all be made up, I don’t know

Liam: I remember her so vividly I think I know what she’d do or say if she was in memories she’s not, but do I

Liam: or am I just lying to myself bc she should be there and it’d be less shit if she was

Edie: You were close, you did know her that well, that’s obvious

Liam: maybe she’d wanna tell me I fucked it and not to do all the shit I’ve done with her name attached to it

Edie: maybe

Edie: but right or wrong you’re the one that’s here and still has to do shit

Liam: if she becomes a fragment to me I don’t wanna be here

Edie: I don’t know if it’ll happen, I don’t think so though

Edie: I was a toddler, you weren’t

Edie: you have more to keep hold of

Liam: if I live for 50 more years then I won’t, I’ll have new memories pushing out the old and outdated tech

Edie: You aren’t relying on just your 🧠

Edie: You have 📷🎞📹📼

Edie: and you can make that last forever

Liam: do you have that of your step-ma

Edie: Yeah, she was more camera-shy than my ma, but there’s still lots of it

Edie: and she’s everywhere, you know, throughout the house and stuff

Edie: memories are important but so are those more physical, tangible reminders

Liam: my ma’s kept her room but she don’t exist downstairs, as if the 🚪 is to a hidden level and you have to earn your way there 💎💰❤️

Edie: It’s good you have somewhere

Edie: and your memorial

Liam: you should meet me there, my house, on day 5

Edie: okay

Edie: 😍😸🤩

Liam: pick a time bc I’ve stolen the place

Edie: I just hope it’s a time you’re there and not just your ma because who knows how much of me will be left to come back to at that point

Liam: I’ll be there to protect you, get used to that

Edie: I’ll try my hardest but wow

Edie: Right now that still gets me so

Edie: I’ve never had this before but I love how it feels

Edie: As for a time how’s [a time so early to prove how badly and ASAP we wanna see him] or [a more socially acceptable suggestion] if not?

Liam: [soz to his mother but we are obvs picking the early af time and so soz to his dad too if it means he has to bring you back early] is cool with me

Edie: Serious?

Edie: I’ll see you then

Edie: should I wear something so your ma doesn’t hate me forreal though

Edie: 👒👗🥿

Liam: she’ll be happy I invited someone over, wear what makes you feel how you want to

Edie: 🎩🦺👙🧤🩰

Edie: Cool though, I’ll bake her something, tell me if she has any deadly allergies or hates now, like

Liam: 🚫👓🕶🥽🤿 I’d hate it

Edie: I know what you wanna see, don’t worry

Liam: everything

Edie: everything

Liam: ㊙️

Edie: 🎋

Liam: I wish you were here 🌠

Liam: I could be filming you instead of what’s going past the car window

Edie: definitely B-roll compared to me

Edie: but think of all the laughable monsters you can stick in the frame 🏞👹��

Liam: I’ll think of you laughing

Edie: I won’t use my wish on hoping you think about me then

Liam: unless there’s another specific thing you want me to imagine you doing

Edie: If I tell you now, you’ll know

Edie: you’ll have to tell me what you thought about when you get back instead

Edie: see if it came true

Liam: or I’ll show you when I get back, make it come true

Edie: that’d be a lot of wishes coming true

Liam: we’ve got a couple of weeks before summer ends

Edie: There is a lot we can do in a couple weeks

Liam: even more if we don’t waste time going back and forth between my house and yours

Edie: Another thing I can do before you get back

Edie: find somewhere to stay

Liam: you won’t even have time to feel tortured without me

Edie: and where’s the fun in that, right

Edie: you still need to hurry 😜

Liam: it’d be popular on the thread, beautiful girl in ⛓ but I’ve probably got competition enough from other lads with your tracks blowing up

Edie: you have literally no competition

Liam: I still need to hurry though 😏

Edie: only ‘cos I only want you and I’ll be lonely and bored

Edie: some of these dms could fuel an incel-gone-rogue storyline though, they wildin 😅

Liam: I’m about to subvert the cliche and make my dad turn the car round

Edie: + XP

Edie: power move on 💯

Liam: [sends her a virus or something] don’t click it, but do what you’ve gotta until it looks irresistible to the 👹

Edie: the sexy singles in MY area have prepared me for this moment

Edie: not to hit you with the 🥺 but you’re so sweet sorry

Liam: if Lexie’s denied me 🥺 off you forever, I’ll hit her with a 🔨

Edie: Tempting, very tempting

Edie: [showing him the bratz doll she’s found in some charity shop moment]

Edie: 🍀

Edie: If this works as a voodoo doll she’ll be 🥺 for the 🔨 by the end of today tbh

Liam: I’ll be 🥺 if you keep working this hard

Edie: gotta make you proud

Edie: also if I can find a way to get it into her house when I’m done fucking with it it’s game over 🤣

Liam: [tell her about some way that you sneaked in so her parents didn’t know about it when you were going out so she can use that]

Edie: [pretend we are not thinking about that lmao] 👍👍

Edie: you wouldn’t even need a ladder

Liam: don’t be upset

Edie: I’m not

Edie: you’ll sneak in my window soon

Liam: we’ll have a place of our own, just me and you

Edie: what do you want

Edie: town, country, cursed, uncursed

Liam: pick the 🏡 making you feel like you’re home and you don’t ever wanna go

Edie: 🥰

Edie: no spoilers whilst you’re away

Liam: 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Edie: don’t break my willpower I barely have

Edie: I wanna give you all the surprises and it might be a fixer-upper

Liam: I’ll stop testing you, I know you’re gonna pass

Edie: You don’t have to, I can take it, like

Liam: you’re gonna say no spoilers on how you’re gonna prove it and break the 🖤 I don’t have

Edie: Never

Edie: I don’t quite know what you want yet but I’ll do anything you ask, you can test that

Liam: you’ll do anything for me

Edie: I will

Edie: I’m probably not supposed to say that, right

Edie: but it’s true and you should know

Liam: abusing what you’ve said would fall into letting your hope die, which you know I’m not gonna do

Liam: you can trust I’ll keep you safe

Edie: I trust you

Liam: that’s what I want

Edie: 🌠🧚‍♀️

Edie: Does your da still live in Dubo?

Liam: Greystones

Edie: Fancy

Edie: Not going to find anything like that for us

Liam: a holiday cottage that’s empty’s easy pickings

Edie: let’s go

Edie: this place is trash

Liam: when school starts everyone’ll have gone out of them all

Liam: and most don’t change their alarm codes from the default

Edie: we’ll have the whole town to ourselves between 9-5

Edie: can we can we 😍😍

Liam: Yeah, if they’re not gonna treat them like somewhere they wanna be more than a week out of the year, why shouldn’t we

Edie: so wasteful

Edie: why would you even want that kind of money

Edie: I want what you said, somewhere that feels like home and you never wanna leave

Edie: no matter how nice the location or whatever else of anywhere else, home is still the best

Liam: it’ll be homey, how you said, things around that remind you of me and the memories we’ve made in it

Edie: It can all be real, can’t it

Liam: or pretend if you want 🏠🧸🎠🍭

Edie: I’m never opposed to pretending

Edie: it’s weird

Edie: I feel like I know what I want already but that’s a new thing

Edie: like a ⚡️ hit and everything makes sense now

Edie: maybe it’s superpowers

Liam: what else do you want

Liam: a garden to bury Lexie in and

Edie: obviously 😏

Edie: NOT a basement to bury the kids in though

Liam: they’ll be with us, getting their wellies on so they can splash in the massive puddles

Edie: and go rock pooling

Edie: and then take the dog on a massive walk so we can come home and fall asleep on the sofa in front of an old movie

Liam: you’ll be watching the movie I’ll be looking at you

Edie: but then I’ll look up at you

Liam: and we’ll both be thinking about how we’re gonna edit the footage from today bc we don’t wanna cut nothing out

Liam: except maybe the dog getting bullied by a 🦀

Edie: 🤭 save his shame at the dog park

Liam: kids’ll have no fear

Edie: all they’ll know is love and good times and fun

Liam: we should bury something other than 💀🦴 they can dig up when they’re not 👶

Edie: an actually cool time-capsule

Edie: just with all the things we want to show them, that they won’t remember, or happened before them

Edie: if we get the right storage, we could even bury the 📼s

Liam: yeah, we can do it right

Edie: why not us

Liam: we’re different, we already know it

Edie: you make different feel alright

Edie: well, better than actually but you know

Liam: if I can’t do this with you, I’ll never be able to do it, more pressure than 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺 sorry, but if we’re keeping it real

Liam: this is the closest I’ve come to a rebooted 🧠 since it was fucked up

Edie: If we can’t we’ll just 💀💀

Liam: you promised you wouldn’t and I already should’ve

Edie: Then I can’t fail

Liam: you test too well

Edie: and we’ve got time

Edie: if you don’t feel it straight away

Edie: have to give me a fair chance yeah

Liam: I’m not just saying I’ll meet you bc I know you want to, that’s more of a chance than I’ve given anyone in years

Liam: and you can have all my time after if you ain’t decided you don’t want it, I’m not lying about handing it over to you either

Edie: The only way that would happen is if you were a massive disappointment

Edie: and I know you won’t be, so all I have to do is make sure I’m not

Edie: It’s going to work, I can feel it

Liam: [shows her that he’s been playing her songs over and over during this entire car journey because of course he has and also let’s pretend he’s rigged up some way of counting how often he’s watched those not blinking or breathing vids so he can show her that too bc he wants to feel something honey and he wants her to know]

Edie: 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Edie: I need to write you more

Liam: who sorts your shows for you, you should build on this hype

Liam: and give me a chance to see you perform live

Edie: I don’t have management, but I’ve done a lot of gigs with the same people at the same places so we kinda hook each other up, keep in the know

Edie: There is a show [a few days after his bday moment] in [a town a few over]

Edie: I weren’t sure if I could get there but we can, if you wanna see me

Liam: [deets of people he knows who might or might not be genuinely helpful for booking stuff and letting you play places cos might as well make use of all those connections boy]

Liam: cool, I’ll get us there, even if none of the @s I dropped on you go anywhere else longer term, but they should, you’re mindblowing

Liam: by next year they’ll have built a festival round you here and my dad will have to give camping a fucking rest

Edie: You’re actually incredible

Edie: No one ever takes my shit seriously

Edie: I mean family, friends, it’s just this fun thing I do to them

Edie: but you get it, there’s no alternative, I have to get this shit out, to say and show it

Edie: Only if he buys a 🎫 but he’s not getting VIP with you

Liam: I understand

Liam: nobody respects mine, which I get when there’s probably 45k off the thread running round with a camera and I ain’t got your talent with it

Edie: You do have talent though

Edie: but I respect it regardless

Edie: we have to make cool shit together

Edie: not just 👶👶👶👶👶👶👶

Liam: I’ll put together something to play behind you at the show, how long are you gonna be up there

Edie: it’s 15 if you’re lucky 10 if you’re not, so you need 5 songs prepped to go but you might only play 2 or 3

Liam: what songs, are you surprising me

Edie: [send him a list of 4 so clearly one is a surprise]

Edie: so you can compliment them with what you make

Liam: 🤩

Liam: wtf did I listen to before you hit me with your link

Liam: you’re fucking sick at this

Edie: idk but I can soundtrack your whole life now

Edie: all I can write rn is 🥰🥺 cos that’s how you’ve made me

Liam: I’m down but if we go with it you should probably have less 👶👶👶👶👶👶👶 to soundtrack the lives of

Edie: okay just one

Edie: the perfect 👶 with the perfect life

Liam: perfect bc she’s got your 👀 and 🧠 and 💓

Edie: so we might need to have two

Edie: I want them to be perfect like you

Liam: 👶👶 wouldn’t ruin you physically or musically, she can have a brother

Edie: 💕👦👧🐶🧒👱‍♀️💕

Edie: that feels good

Liam: I used to really want a 🐶 when I was younger and my ma got me one of those 🤖 ones, it's probably still barking in a box somewhere

Edie: Awh, we’ve gotta find him and free him!

Edie: I had so many weird robot toys but they’ve all been used for parts by now for sure 🤖💔

Liam: he's not been melted, gotta be some proof I felt things before

Edie: You did, you clearly did

Edie: when you talk about your sister, it shows

Liam: I'd offer to talk my dad about you and see what shows but he's too easy to trick

Liam: most people are if it stops at a convo

Edie: Not caring is more convenient

Edie: not even like people are trying to be bastards, but if they don’t know what to say or do then it’s easier to take you at that one convo and pretend

Liam: I don't remember him ever not being his own bonus level of crap, but it's like you said, nobody else is loads better

Edie: Did he stick around, when your sister got sick?

Liam: for a while, when hospital wards covered in shit like 🌞🌈🦋 wasn’t a fuck you and 👨‍⚕️👩‍⚕️ had answers he didn’t mind hearing

Edie: ��til it got really real and really hard

Edie: gotcha

Liam: he’d show up with a 🎈 before the end so that makes it alright

Edie: 🤡 energy

Liam: ordered pennywise but charlie chalk showed

Edie: [sad clown noise voice note like womp womp]

Liam: [a video or pic of his dad like putting the tent up or something with that voice memo playing over and his eyes crossed out like miss you because bringing that detail back from when we first did these two]

Edie: [it’s a good detail, so we must, just adding some more detail like a red nose or whatever so you can have a lil back and forth here]

Liam: [add clown shoes or something boy because we love a cute back and forth, very JJ of you]

Edie: [not seeing those parallels for no reason later lmao, fully clownify this oblivious man soz not soz]

Liam: [honestly deserved I’d rather have an Ian than such a wet wipe of a person]

Edie: [tbh, wet hen]

Edie: you were not lying though, your da is so short

Liam: not lied about nothing

Edie: I’d never guess you were related

Edie: too bad for mine we look like him

Liam: I’ll ask for the 🎁 of a tube full of spit but he ain’t as happy to do what I ask as you are

Edie: Spoilsport

Liam: won’t be harder to be a better dad than him, however fucked I am

Edie: that’s the thing

Edie: it doesn’t even take that much

Edie: I could do it better now

Liam: I’d stay, even when it’s ugly or I don’t know what to do, I could make you that promise now before we’ve met

Edie: Me too

Edie: It’s like, the least you can do and loads don’t even do that

Liam: maybe I shouldn’t bother getting my 🖤 back, keep caring about nothing instead of only caring about myself

Edie: you’re not going to be like that

Edie: you weren’t before

Liam: how are you this sure

Edie: I don’t know how I just am

Liam: it’s gonna be the longest 4 days

Edie: [a timer you’ve made as you can]

Edie: 🥺

Edie: make him keep you busy, and I’ll keep busy with all the plans and surprises

Liam: I’ll keep busy thinking about finally seeing you

Edie: and watching the stream when you can

Edie: I’ll make sure it’s entertaining

Liam: let me know when you’re set up

Edie: I will, not home yet

Edie: hope my fam only embarrasses themselves in entertaining ways too if you see them

Liam: not calling you an 🚑 but I’m calling it you’ll steal every scene better than they do

Edie: 😇

Edie: I better

Liam: at most anyone else is gonna register to me as a shite ARG sound effect 👻🚪

Edie: That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about my fam

Edie: they might disagree but that can be explained away as the wind or house settling noises

Liam: you’ve got my full attention, inexplicable at first but it’s making more and more sense

Edie: 🌌

Edie: Random or fate, I want it

Liam: there's nothing to convince you of

Edie: Nope

Edie: You’re perfect

Liam: I’m buffering bc I ain’t used to it but I don’t want you to ⏸⏹

Edie: I can 0.25 speed though

Liam: don’t

Edie: I 👂 you

Liam: seriously, I’m still here when I can’t work out what to say

Edie: I’d feel if you’d gone 👻

Liam: not a feeling you've gotta get used to, I'll stick with protecting you

Edie: Promise?

Liam: I've already committed to drinking whatever you wanna pass me and a drop of your blood ain't gonna make wine taste any worse but I dunno how you're gonna deliver it

Edie: You going to your dads 🏡 at all?

Liam: if I insist we’ve got to, to check the post

Edie: then do

Edie: no need to tell me his address though 🔎

Edie: it’ll be waiting

Liam: a drop, yeah ❌🧛‍♂️

Edie: it won’t be dripping out onto the carpet

Liam: the jumpscare my dad would get isn’t worth draining you

Edie: fake 🩸 for the scares only 🤞

Liam: there’s a bigger cliche that’d make this official whenever you want, but it’d only scare off the lads in your dms

Edie: do it

Liam: [idk how teens are making shit facebook official when facebook is dead but do something so people know you’re claiming her sir]

Edie: [probably a feed photo or something on insta I imagine, which would actually make you die because now it isn’t just private so clearly it’s not just a prank, han]

Liam: [yeah and probably also commenting on whatever she’s been posting lately in a way that’s obvious you’re a thing ™️ not just a fan of the bops]

Edie: [when I’ve already had to stop you saying ily, as if that’d be the wildest thing lmao but now truly 😖 we’re deffo crying wherever we are rn]

Edie: [do the same energy back because that’s your safest bet atm]

Liam: [loving imagining everyone’s IRL and online reactions tbh]

Edie: [it’s all the drama mick]

Liam: you’ll really have to skip big tesco now like

Edie: I’ll survive

Edie: you can forage for us 🌼🌿🍄

Liam: and if any families show up I’ll check their tents for 👶🐶

Edie: I bet there will be loads of cute 🐶🐶

Liam: when pick your fave out of the photo line up I’ll grab it

Edie: make sure it’s not a biter

Edie: you aren’t allowed to bleed out either

Liam: I dunno what being careful looks like, but to come home to you unhurt I’ll try copying what my dad’s doing

Edie: 🐒 see 🐒 do

Edie: evidence please

Liam: [all I can imagine is a David style wildlife documentary so do that please, soz not soz to his dad who is never gonna see this]

Edie: [that is literally exactly what I imagined too so yes]

Liam: [if the first time she hears his voice is when he’s doing a David impression though I will kms cos I think it is]

Edie: [lmaooooooooooooo oh you guys]

Liam: [keeping it #goals before JJ even exist as a couple byeeee]

Edie: [also the way we know your phone is blowing up right now, send the funnier ones through like]

Edie: 👀

Liam: [send the one from Lexie and the one from your mum for the very different but extra energies LOL]

Edie: Is she sOoOOoOOo happy for you

Edie: not your ma, obvs

Edie: missing those hands, barely

Liam: 😱 for you, I think she’s mixed you and the twins up and you’re 9 to her

Edie: 😒 She wishes I was

Liam: my ma is 🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳🥳 that’s honestly worse

Edie: I could be anyone, like

Liam: in russia

Edie: maybe she’s done some light stalking

Edie: not hard enough to find anything off-putting but enough to know I’m ‘real’ or whatever

Liam: done the ma version and asked her mates if any of their kids or kids mates know you

Edie: 🤞 no fuckers dobbed me in

Edie: prefer to make my own impressions, bad or otherwise

Liam: she don’t have many left who know what to say to her, you’ll be able to put either a good or bad word in for yourself

Edie: Did she go to any groups, during or after?

Liam: yeah, any of them gonna know you

Edie: nah

Edie: my ma did too but their timelines wouldn’t have overlapped

Edie: not saying they gotta go shop for hats right now

Liam: 🚫💍 with the 👶🐶 is it, you're gonna chuck me then

Edie: never 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Liam: she's been living in dubo since uni, she ain't gonna force us to march us down the aisle, but my ma's still northern irish enough to be pleased if we did

Edie: have you ever thought about it?

Liam: I had to when my sister brought it up, like loads of things I probably wouldn't have otherwise

Edie: You have time to think about everything important, that makes sense

Edie: what did she think about it? All the 👰💍🤵

Liam: it's on us, she couldn't think of anyone she'd accept a 💍 from

Edie: It is a pretty important part of it, when you really think about it

Edie: people who fantasize about it only think about the dress and the diamond and everyone staring at them

Edie: not the actual person they’re legally binding themselves to

Liam: she wasn't short of stares and you can wear what you want when you're dying 👑💎 everyday if you feel like it

Edie: Why not

Edie: though if you’re already sick of the stares

Liam: 👀 that weren't from a specific lad

Edie: What’s he doing now

Edie: he’d be out of school, right

Liam: [more deets than you should know or admit to knowing about this random boy years later because that's your brand]

Edie: She could do better

Liam: people are gonna be saying that about you

Edie: that you could, probably

Edie: I don’t care what they say

Liam: the lies they tell don't matter unless you think there's any truth to them

Edie: I believe you

Edie: and you say you want this

Liam: I can't do no better than you, Edie

Edie: There is no one else

Edie: even if I wasted my whole life looking from now, no one is topping you

Liam: even if you wanted to, I'm not gonna let you waste your life

Edie: I don’t

Edie: I want real and happy and you

Liam: this is real and I’ll keep you happy

Edie: I can’t wait to meet you

Edie: I don’t know how I haven’t seen you in person or heard you speak or all the things that come with it

Edie: I feel like I’ve known you forever

Liam: I should know more about you

Liam: what secrets are you keeping from the people who've known you forever, start there

Edie: Aside from the 💍👶🐶

Edie: Well, you know my dad is a dealer, yeah

Liam: I know he’s a dealer bc he’s supplied me at some raves and your dad bc people talk

Edie: Yeah, so the other’s dad is too, and they were raised together, which is like super fucked up of my ma, whatever

Edie: but if I’m getting stuff, I go to their dad and I hang out with him

Edie: he wants to be more involved, but they hate going to see him, it’s really sad

Liam: I’ve bought off him before too

Liam: don’t you wanna hang out with your dad

Edie: He’s not interested

Edie: And idk, I think my ma loved Caleb, but I don’t think she ever loved Drew

Liam: he don’t sound like he can love or be loved, anyone who could have you around and ain’t saying yeah to it is fucked

Edie: Maybe

Edie: his mum did leave him

Edie: I’d love to find her but there’s nothing to go on

Edie: Caleb is cool though, but they’d all be mad at me if they knew

Edie: Your turn

Liam: send me what there is and I’ll help you look, fresh 👀

Liam: my ma would be upset if she knew anything I’m up to

Edie: I feel that 😏

Edie: your secrets are safe with me

Edie: All I’ve got is a name, and when she was last seen, [give that info]

Edie: Maybe Caleb’s ma would know more, as she informally adopted them, but she also likes to pretend I don’t exist so

Edie: she’d not tell me

Liam: we don’t have to ask her, I’ll go round when she’s not in, see what there is to find

Edie: you’re so hot

Liam: what do you do when you’re hanging out with Caleb

Edie: smoke, usually

Edie: and ask him about when they were all kids, the cool shit they got up to

Liam: did he love your ma back

Edie: Yeah, they had the twins later so it definitely meant something

Edie: they’d probably be together but Billie’s ma had just died, it wasn’t good timing

Liam: have you ever tried to get them together again

Edie: not since I was a kid

Liam: now you’re not and you’ve got me, perfect timing for another go

Edie: you’d really help me?

Liam: yeah, you want happy and I said I’d keep you feeling it

Edie: [picture of your happy face ‘cos genuinely v overwhelmed]

Liam: [obvs put that as your phone background and show her and everyone else that it is]

Edie: [I definitely have a pic I can send you I wonder if there’s like a phone background generator ‘cos that’d be fun to do]

Liam: [oooh I hope so]

Edie: [If not we can change mine and screenshot fr though]

Liam: [unrelated but zeoob does fake tiktoks now btw so JJ and flatwhite energy will be even funnier]

Edie: [omfg, no way, gonna die]

Liam: [I haven’t found a background one yet though people be thinking I’m trying to design one for my phone, nay nay]

Edie: [yeah I don’t know how to search it either, we can just do it on mine though]

Edie: can I have a new one for mine?

Liam: [do send her one of the many pics of you I have where we’re on the grass]

Edie: I’ve never seen someone as cute as you

Liam: [send her her own pic back like HELLO look at you and this image]

Edie: you’re next level

Liam: your level but you completed it faster and unlocked more shit

Edie: [ARG where they make fake games as is a thing]

Edie: I wanna do this

Liam: so let’s do it

Edie: I’m home

Edie: just setting the stuff up and then I’ll storyboard as I stream

Edie: tune in when you can 💕

Liam: 🔁 bc you’ve said you’ll feel when I’m not

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tlparadigm · 5 years

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Stygian Paradigm

By tlparadigm, for Kindred Spirits it pertains to

-Prologue-

The end of the western world began Saturday, December 31st, 2011. Yellowstone Caldera last erupted 630,000 years ago. More recently, Mount St. Helens erupted March 20, 1980, and it killed 57 people. But in the final days of December 2011, Yellowstone became active and destructive once more, the governments of the world rushed to evacuate the citizens of North America and prepare themselves for the worst. An idea was born. A special type of geomagnetic device would be constructed to contain the blast like a vacuum, a bio-weapon. The device was supposed to compress the tonnes of ash bursting from the volcano; They failed.

December 2011 - South Dakota

Yellowstone Caldera exploded. The North American continent is in chaos, people are rushing to escape to the other side of the world, or accepting death and staying where they are. Thirty-three of us trekked east to Prince George, British Columbia to a large cave where we could hopefully survive for a few years. All vehicles had stopped working from the failure of the device so we would be walking all the way. We would arrive by early February, after a 2,430 km walk from South Dakota, where most of us had lived. What the governments did not expect, was that a backup geo-magnetic pulse from the device was so powerful that it caused ruptures in the ground which ultimately caused an eruption at Mount St. Helens as well. With ash coming from the volcanoes, chemically charged by the device, mutation soon followed in the animal kingdom and pure insane chaos in the modern world.

January 17th, 2012 - Medicine Hat, AB

After weeks, our group of 33 was whittled down to 17. We had all watched as packs of wolves and other beasts tore our comrades to shreds. We breathed ash as we walked through the streets of Medicine Hat. Our lungs slowly deteriorated. On one of the finals days a huge male cougar attacked our camp, it mangled 8 of our comrades. Their deaths were gruesome. 6 of us now remained, soon only 4 including myself. As I left my fallen comrades to nature’s merciless rage, I pondered the events of the past month, as soon as the new year hit everything had gone to hell. I was then reminded of the Mayan calendar myth, the calendar had gone for roughly 5,125 years but ended on December 21rst 2012, but it was only January. Why had both Volcanoes erupted, even though they were over 1,380 kilometers away from each other, could it have been a coincidence or some sort of accident? I doubted I’d ever find out the whole truth.

January 24th, 2012 - Jasper, AB

The four of us were anxious about going into Jasper National Park but so far the view was spectacular so we put up with the seemingly endless amount of walking. We occasionally passed trailers and cottages, if we were up to it we’d snoop around in and hope to find other survivors but everywhere we looked it was like we were in a ghost town, just without the town, only the highway which we traveled on and the forests around us, we would stay on the highway even when we passed various towns, since we no longer had the heart to search them. We had stopped just outside of Jasper, Alberta when we heard gunfire coming from the south where we’d soon be passing the town. The four of us grabbed our gear and started quickly moving towards the shots which were still sounding as we neared closer. Two of my three companions were a young couple named Ben and Samantha who had lost their house in the initial chaos of early January, they had nervous looks on their faces and I could tell that they were running through the possibilities of why someone was firing a weapon. The other was my good friend Daniel who I’d known since high school, we had survived in the wilderness before but that was for fun and we had more resources at our disposal but this was far different, this was life or death.

The man who had been firing the weapon seemed to be in his late 50s, with a messy grey-white beard and electric blue eyes with red lines around the edges which suggested lack of sleep or maybe some sort of drug use. He almost shot us as we approached but as the four of us looked around to figure out why he was firing we saw no obvious reasons. A creepy sparkle came to his eyes as he lowered his weapon, the woman of the couple asked the old man if he was ok but he seemed to ignore her question and instead exclaimed

“Welcome to Jasper! Now, where do fish keep their money, my friends?” We looked at each other confused and Sam slowly said “Uh hi, and is it the riverbank?” A wickedly crooked and chaotic smile came onto the man’s face and after a few seconds he finally said, “Ah you are a smart girl, the name is Lucien, this town is my town, I am its sole inhabitant.” A shocked look came to Daniel’s face, “It’s sole inhabitant? Jasper had around 5000 people living in it, they couldn't have all left!” he said, raising his tone a bit as he talked. “Take a look for yourself young man, but you’ll only find clues of the past.” We set up camp in Jasper and talked with the man, who seemed to be going senile which was surprising considering he only looked to be in his late 50s maybe early 60s. I didn't know why he had asked us that odd riddle but he was just weird. Ever since we had arrived in Jasper the man had been giving me a look, a sneer was always on his face when he looked my way, he gave me chills.

January 25th, 2012 - Jasper, AB

The next day, I found myself in an argument with Lucien, I’d caught him checking out our bags and holding our ammunition in his hands. He pleaded that he was innocent and he was only making sure we hadn't left our equipment somewhere that bears could access, but, I knew he was lying through his teeth. He was still arguing with me when suddenly stopped and went still, he started off at something behind us, we all looked but there was nothing, then there was a gunshot from beside us. Lucien had drawn a sidearm from beneath his long gray tattered trench coat and had fired at us but had missed very poorly even though we were only a couple of meters away from him. Reflexively Daniel grabbed his rifle from beside him and aimed at Lucien, seeing this, Lucien spat at Daniel for pointing a gun at an old man then he pointed an obscene hand gesture at him. So Daniel shot him in the right foot and returned the hand gesture. Swearing and screaming, Lucien limped off into town. Later that day we heard another gunshot coming from the part of town that Lucien hung around the most, we all went towards the noise to see what was going on. What we found we had not expected, but there, in a parking lot, in the western area of the town, lay the body of Lucien, a gunshot wound in the side of his head. I thought it to be an odd place and time to commit suicide. Especially when you have a whole town to yourself, but the man had been a psychopath, and it would be best not to question his final intentions.

January 26th, 2012 - Yellowhead Hwy, AB

Sam and Ben had stayed in Jasper so they could attempt to gather more materials and see if they could get a vehicle working again so they could meet Daniel and me later on. Later still, Daniel and I discovered that an aggressive, scruffy and scarred grizzly bear had been stalking us since we left Jasper. We were almost out of bullets and we were weak from days of walking. I watched as my close friend I’d known for 16 years was brought down by the 300 kg bear who had ambushed us that afternoon, I gazed at his face as his insides being torn open and as he drew his final breath, the bear looked at me. Its eyes glowed red, it growled, an unearthly growl. Then it charged at me but went off course and kept running past me further into the forest. In seconds, after horrible screaming and agony, Daniel, the guy I’d known for so long and became so close with, was gone and so was the bear; I was alone, and the nature of Jasper National Park was my only company.

January 29th, 2012 - Portal Lake, BC

I managed to find a rest area today, but also a final news report from earlier in the month which I’d never heard; the government's device and the double volcanoes had caused fractures in the earth's crust and were cracking the tectonic plates apart. More volcanoes were brewing just like here, earthquakes were destroying whole countries, hurricanes obliterated whole cities and the death toll was catastrophic. I came across a small aging wooden cabin in the woods, I found exactly what I needed, a better hunting rifle then what I’d taken from one of my comrades, along with ammunition and multiple food rations. Around 300 km until I reached safety, at least with this better gun I could avenge my fallen friends and comrades.

February 2012 - Moose Lake, BC

I was into British Columbia now, almost at Red Pass. I’d stopped to rest at the easternmost point of moose lake when I saw some sort of building across the Fraser River from where I sat on Yellowhead Hwy, I managed to half swim half trudge my way towards the building which I now saw used to be a lighthouse. The only thing was that the lighthouse had been destroyed somehow and only the bottom half was still standing, even in ruins. I stayed there for two days than in the night I was awoken by a spine-chilling howl. A wolf pack had arrived.

I could hear them outside, snarls and growling filled the gloomy night air. I didn't sleep again for the remainder of the night. Hours later, the howling had stopped. It was strange, they had me trapped but I could now see them retreating back into the surrounding forest. I slowly stepped out of the ruins to investigate, I had a bad feeling about this. Of course, the old bear eventually arrived to finish me off. With the rifle in my hands, I prepared for the worst. I had run out of rations, I was starving and that bear would be pretty dang good for cooking. I went to the top of the ruins to see if I could get a better shot but the stairway where the ruins ended were too narrow to get a good shot, so I went back down the winding stone stairs and crouched down at the door to ready myself. I waited for a while, then the massive bear charged towards my shelter. I fired two rounds at the beast, it didn't slow. I dove back into the ruins and the bear tore into the building. Moments later I was on the ground, punching at the bear’s mangled ugly face. I could feel sections of my torso being torn to shreds, I reached for my knife as the bear slashed at my blocking arm.

I drove the knife into its jaw, the creature roared in pain and trudged out of the broken lighthouse, but I knew it would soon be back. I was quickly losing blood, I crawled towards my backpack and the rifle which had been tossed beside it. I grasped for the painkillers even though I knew they wouldn't heal injuries of this magnitude, then I reached for the rifle and slowly stood up one last time to face the beast before me. There would be no survivors in this eternal fight between mankind and nature, and it seems, there weren’t, not really. Nature always wins, we can’t control nature forever. We just have to learn from our faults and remember our sins. I guess life as we knew it found a way to survive, and we didn't. Perhaps one-day mankind will go among the stars, and nature will lie in the soil, the air and the seas. But perhaps mankind won’t make it that far, maybe it will be nature taking back what’s rightfully it's own.

The End. “Welcome to the Quiet Apocalypse” - The Long Dark, Hinterland Games

#short story #the long dark #post apocalyptic #monologue #stories

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asterinjapan · 7 years

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A walk through history and the rain

Hi everyone, and late greetings from a once again rainy Tokyo! You know, I’d swear the rainy season should be over by now…

Today, I was meeting up with my Japanese friend again, this time at 10 AM. And oh boy, my Japanese has detoriated, it’s really embarrassing. I hope it’s because of the residual jetlag and general tiredness, but man, I had to think about every other word and felt like my vocabulary was on the same level as a one year old, gosh. Oh well, shikata ga nai, it can’t be helped; my brain just wasn’t cooperating for today. Luckily my friend talks to me in English, so it all sort of worked out.

Anyway, we were heading to Ueno today, one of the big and famous stations of Tokyo. It has a park nearby, fittingly called Ueno Park, which is home to several musea and a zoo. The zoo has a pair of pandas, and actually, a little baby panda was born a while ago. So no matter where you look in Ueno, you’re bound to find panda imagery there, haha. Barely any need to visit the actual zoo! That wasn’t the plan for today anyway. No, we went to the National Museum of Tokyo.

This was actually very interesting, the museum consisting of several buildings in total with different themes. We only had time for one, so we went into the main building, which has two pretty big floors. There were exhibitions on lacquer, samurai swords, masks, books from around the world about Japan in past centuries (including some Dutch ones!), screen paintings, the introduction of Buddhism in Japan, and even the earliest history starting around 20,000 BC, which has always really fascinated me. It wasn’t much, but there were a couple of figurines from that area and later. Oh, and a room on Ainu and the Ryukyu islands, in the north and south of Japan respectively, people and places with their very own culture separate from mainland Japan. Although it was mostly Ryukyu; information about the Ainu was suspiciously absent, considering the room was called after them (that part of Japanese history isn’t pretty, so that might be why).

After the museum, we made our way to Asakusa, part of Tokyo which is home to the temple Sensoji. I went there already last year, but today, the summer fireworks festival was held in the area, so I figured I’d combine them. You can just take the subway to Asakusa, but my friend suggested we’d walk there – it’s only 1.5 km, which is fine, but not if it’s 2:30 PM and you haven’t had lunch yet, haha. So we hopped into a convenience store for a bite and started walking.

Sadly, it started raining when we made the turn towards the temple, so we fled to a tree and waited it out. My friend treated me on shaved ice, which you can pour the flavors of your choice on, so I went with a rainbow of lemon, melon and strawberry. I don’t want to know just how much sugar I ingested that way, haha, but it was very nice.

For a little while, the skies cleared up, so I took the chance to take some pictures. We also went to the nearby Asakusa shrine. You see, the Sensoji is a buddhist temple; Senso-ji, temple of Senso (Senso is the same characters as Asakusa, but pronounced differently). A shrine is related to shintoism and is usually the place where you find those red gates, but it’s only been since the Meiji period (1868) that temples and shrines were forced to become separate entities. It’s not super rare for that reason to see a shrine on a temple complex, just like here. It’s just a small shrine, but it offers some interesting omamori, protective charms (usually small bags with characters on it indicating what it’s protecting you for or against. They get pretty specific, such as luck in school or easy childbirth or even safe driving). The one I wanted was here: the one that just says daijoubu, ‘it’ll be fine’, haha. I‘m definitely someone who needs to hear that, so I bought that charm in particular.

Since the rain had started again, we fled into the Sensoji, but alas, it was 5 PM. The temple closes at that time, which in practice means they ring the bells repeatedly and then start yelling REALLY LOUDLY that everyone should get out. I’d never been in a temple until closing time, I was super startled! Anyway, we waited outside under the temple roof, but the rain didn’t seem to stop and we started wondering if the fireworks festival would even be held at this point.

Eventually, we decided that waiting in the rain and maybe or maybe not watching fireworks while drenched wasn’t what we had in mind for the evening, so we went back to Ikebukuro. That sounds easier than it was, because we were not the only ones with the plan to leave early. The subway station Asakusa was super close, but thousands of others thought so too, so I got the lovely experience we all associate with Tokyo – being pushed into the subway! Fun! I ended up squished together so much that I could only stand on my tiptoes. Just a little more and my feet wouldn’t have even touched the ground, pff.

Luckily Ueno station was only a couple of stops ahead, and half the people inside needed to get off here too. From Ueno, we took the Yamanote-line to Ikebukuro, which was blissfully quiet. I mean, we still had to stand, but we could actually breathe and we’d fall over if the train suddenly moved, rather than being plastered against someone else’s back, so. (I’m not actually complaining, I mean, I knew what to expect when I went to Tokyo and I’ve experienced it before. I’ve had nicer train rides is all, haha.)

After dinner inside Ikebukuro station, we went to a karaoke building, but not to actually sing. No, here in Japan you can rent a room for as many people as you want, whether that’s one or twenty, and apparently you can even rent rooms with DVD players. My friend ordered one of those rooms for the two of us, so we could watch the concert DVD he’d brought from KOKIA’s concert in November last year. You know, the one I missed by a week… And now I’m even sadder I missed that concert, because it was amazing! I really hope to get my hands on the DVD myself, because wow. I could write an entire report on how much I loved a concert I didn’t even attend myself, haha.

Anyway, it was already 10:30 PM by then, so we walked back to the station so that my friend could take his train and I could reorient myself towards my hotel. I’m notoriously good at getting lost; even if I know my way somewhere, I usually stick to specific routes or I just get lost again, haha. Luckily, I know my way just fine inside Ikebukuro station, so that all worked out. We said goodbyes and see you next weeks, as on August 7, we’ll be meeting up in Sendai for the Tanabata festival.

And now I’m in bed, definitely ready to get some sleep. My legs don’t like me, but they definitely don’t like bugs either. Geesh, I have about a dozen bites on each leg, and my Dutch spray doesn’t work against them, pfff. I’ll get something Japanese tomorrow and take it easy. I was going to visit the Imperial East Gardens again, but guess what, they’re predicting rain, so eh, we’ll see. Otherwise, maybe a karaoke room to actually do karaoke this time? Haha, I’m keeping it calm walking wise, because Monday is Disneyland!

That’s it for now, good night!

#report #japan 2017 #report: Japan 2017

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i-am-always-lost · 7 years

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Day 23 | Ishikawa-San

I wanted to blog about this as well as my Your Name encounter because I felt the strong need to get this story out to the small amount of people who read my blog. Maybe you will read this post today and tell your friends and family around you about his story. After all, that is what Ishikawa san wants.

Today in media class, our lecturer brought in a guest speaker- a man who was wrongly accused/ convicted of murdering and raping a high school girl 54 years ago who also escaped death sentence and is awaiting retrial. It was the discrimination against the burakku-min that contributed to this outcome.

Transcript and summary of what I heard today in class:

Ishikawa san self admitted that he was a socially ignorant man who locked up for 23 years due to the lack of knowledge in the situation he was in - surrendering to a case that he did not commit on his innocent brother’s behalf as his brother was the breadwinner of the family. His brother was wrongly accused for a crime he did not commit. Ishikawa san was sentenced to death but escaped death.

Ishikawa san’s background:

He was brought up in a poor family. Had 10 brothers and sisters, none of them had higher education, and he envies at our privilege looking at us university students. As a result, they never had enough food for the family, and he grew up eating chicken feet. When he was in fifth grade, Ishikawa san sent to work in some business and was provided accommodation, he worked there till he was 18. At 18, he returned illiterate due to the lack of opportunity for education. After that, he went to employment agency and got a job, worked for four years. Got a girlfriend after that, and frequently worked overtime. His boss saw him as honest and earnest, and he was appointed leader of the shop eventually. Things seem to be going well at this point.

However, when you are in an responsible position, reports and paperwork are often required. Due to this illiteracy, his friend had to always help him. After some time, that was revealed and he was fired. After that, got a construction job where he didn't have to read or write. 6 months later, he was made into a rapist and murderer of the high school girl.

Prison days:

In prison, he met this ward officer who had a strong sense of justice and he learned how to read and write there for 8 years. He learned from the officers in the afternoon once he finds out that he does not get death penalty in the morning. Death penalties run from 9-12AM daily and if you didnt get to the chopping board, you get to survive the day. He lived like this for decades. Ishikawa san got his word out by writing letters to his supporters all over the nation to pass information on to the media. The media was more accepting towards him when they found evidence to prove Ishikawa san innocent and started changing their perspective away from the discrimination of burrakumin people as well.

Post prison days:

5 years ago went to UN Geneva and appealed the law of police restraining people for many days without being able to see their lawyers (when it should only be hours). The people in UN were surprised to find out that in Japan even if a suspect is not proven guilty, they would have to be locked up for 32 years (for Ishikawa san’s case), everyone at UN was surprised. He appealed them to talk to jap gov, and they did directly negotiate with Japanese government.

Thanks to science, tech and medicine, innocence proven by evidence. By the end of this year, he is expecting retrial is going to be granted. After his guilt is proven innocent, he would like to go to a night school and get education. He would also like to spend rest of his life studying and working to eliminate discrimination. If he live 32 years from now, he will be over 100, so he wants to be healthy in order to live past a 100. He is 78 years old now, and the way he sees it is if he lives past a 100, the amount of time that he was discriminated against would eliminate discrimination faced by his children and grandchildren.

Because of the injustive of Japanese law that made an innocent man locked up, there were angry voices reasoning with him and helping him fight the system. Would like to pay back the people that help, and he would want us(uni students who were his audience) to fight discrimination.

Sachiko ishikawa san (wife) gave a speech as well, following Ishikawa san’s speech.

She was honored that we were interested in her husband’s story and she would like us to take back the story to our respective countries and tell at least one person and spread the word . Her husband was sentenced to death only by six months trial. It has been 54 years since the case. Of the 54 years, locked up for 32 years and wrongly accused.

Surrounding this case, she highlighted two points:

discrimination against burakku community and

injustice

Discrimination against the Burraku community

Burakku discrimination is like the Indian class system. Class doesn't exist anymore in their society, but still has influence over job hunting and marriage based on family background. When this case was investigated, they believed criminal was from the burakku community cos that's what the media reported. Mainstream media believed that criminals were all born in burakku. However, this was 54 years ago. But now, people in the Burraku community are standing up and raising voices, to try to eradicate and work against discrimination in Burraku. They would have to continue this activism as there is still hate speech against minority community.

Her story:

Sachiko san was also born in burakku community (western Japan). Since young, her parents and people around her told her that she should hide the fact she was born in burakku. There wasnt much of a difference on the surface having the same skin color and all, so even if she hid her identity no one will know. Since she was hiding, she was able to get jobs - but she still faced discrimination while finding marriage.

She didn't have any means to protest against , and that's where she learned about ichikawa san's case. Learned that he was learning how to read and write through prisons, but his messages still got out of the prison and spread throughout Japan His message at that time was you can't possibly run away from discrimination forever, you have to stand up and face it one day. Because of his words, she learnt that she should not hide her true identity anymore and found a new way of living. That's when she joined the movement against the buraaku discrimination and the fight against the injustice faced by Ishikawa san.

There are still lots of kids in burakku community, so they will go visit them and tell them to get education as he did not want them to be in his position if anything similar happened to them. Another strong feeling he had was never to repeat admitting to wrong accusations.

It's very difficult to the wrongly accused to appeal to the justice system in Japan, even after 54 years they are still hiding evidence. Ichikawa san wants to tell justice ministry to have a fair trial and give away all the single evidences. They still go to Tokyo high court and have protest once in a while by demanding the prosecutor to give away evidence and have fair trial. They plan to do the same at January 26 and feb 2nd Sachiko san ended her speech by thanking us for having them there and she said that

No one should be locked up without any reason in any country

Q & A

Did you lose hope?

I never gave up hope, as soon as he learned he was wrongly accused and was determined to stand up and tell his story

Faith in the criminal justice system?

Judges in court houses only listen to prosecutors. Feel that judges don't listen to people's voices too often

Parents’ occupations?

Father hired by some other farmers, weed the farms

How did you adjust in society after being in the prison for 34 years?

Really surprised! When he went in, only pebbled roads, after he coming out surprised to see the development

Why are police still withholding evidence?

Yes, think it's true they have to save face cos it will be proven that he is not guilty

Did he ever get to meet the murdered girls family

Condition for his probation not to meet family of the deceased

Did any media get his story when he was locked up?

Earlier on, media were only writing negative things about him and burakku (first 10 years) Now they are writing positive things Saitama newspaper and Tokyo shimbun were amongst the first to report

During his prison days, were there any similar cases?

Yes, 4 people who were locked up life imprisonment, they were eventually let go though

How was the process of learning to read and write in prison conducted?

Yes, it was strict but at that time he didn't know. Was awaiting death sentence in mornings (9-12) - when they didn't come to get him, teach him how to write the person who taught him how to write and read saved his life If he was caught he would be fired

Why did he had to admit his crime?

have to say bc police made him say it "It must be your older brother," but his brother was bread winner, so he admitted

How do they look at him in the society?

Most people already knew he was innocent, so even he went back to his village, people were supportive

Any other evidence aside from the confession?

Most surprising thing: fountain pen was supposed to belong to the victim but it ended up in his house With the science these days, proved that the fountain pen did not belong to the victim, only found out last year!

Any evidence AGAINST him?

wrist watch that was handed to him BY the police

How they pay for legal proceedings?

Retrial- legal team of 30 lawyers mostly working as volunteers, national network of burakku community

Do you think the girl's family knows the story?

he doesn't know

What's his secret at looking good at 78?

10 years after he came out, running a few kms/minute 20,000 steps every day now!!

Pensions from the government?

How did the husband and wife meet?

Year after he came out, they met at a rally, started talking and hit it off

Has his brother told him not to take the blame

brother said he shouldn't do that, but they weren't able to meet for a long time, only after he visit him and had death sentence only his brother was allowed to visit.

Only interacted with other immates when he go out to field to do physical exercise.

END

After the class, I took photos with his wife and asked details for the court hearings that were going to be held a few days after this. Unfortunately I didnt go -- and I felt really sorry for not going. But here I am writing this to my limited audience, hoping that this can be spread to the people reading this. After all, it is a social responsibility.

#burrakumin #discrimination in japan

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survivorelara · 6 years

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Episode #8: “These horny ass giraffes” - Drew H.

Well, I'm a big flopping mess, I fell asleep and failed to vote. ADDITIONALLY, Dani was the one sent home, which nobody even told me was gonna be a thing. Like Loris mildly mentioned it to me, but I didn't take that to mean that 3/4 of the merge was gonna vote Dani out.

I realize that John and Dani didn't even vote Ci'ere which was supposedly the plan, so it's good to know that John is someone I can really rely on... NOT.

I'm more frustrated with myself though because I should be capable of more than I was. I'm feeling on the outs though, because I don't even know where the Roxy votes came from.

This game is a fucking mess for me.

https://youtu.be/0k5pTCBa_1M

"heuse1acToday at 10:42 PM No idea! The fact that john was put in the mix is really interesting though bc he easily could've just jumped the alliance i accidentally screenshotted a million years ago So that makes me think loris might be a part of that conversation bc he's the only one who would like have that mindset of including john bc he saw the flip firsthand And we all definitely used that joint tribal and the lie as a talking point so it'd be easy enough to say we still have emotions about it, even without proof That's just my read on it tho, i have no proof. But if it was him, that would explain why you were targeted of the 4 of us bc he really does seem to have something against you asdfghjkl"

why does this sound so fishy to me like he is hard core tunneling Loris. Makes me super sus nnn

"DrachusToday at 12:05 AM god If we go f2 somehow We'll be the most hated f2 I can't wait "

ok i love you drachus but fuck he totally plans to drag me as a gaot doesnt he lol

Okay, operation get Roxy to blame Loris for the target last night is in full effect. Do I think he's the one who actually put Roxy's name out there by spreading stories that she was targeting Ci'ere? Eh maybe, leaning probably not. But Roxy has it in her mind that Loris has a vendetta against her, and there is JUST BARELY enough loose strings to thread together into a convincing enough forgery. Loris being targeted eventually is needed because of how close he is with Andrea and how much I'm sure he will never give up resenting the fact that he prob would've been next on swapped Auva. And end of the day, if we fail, Roxy is the one who leaves and that opens a lot of doors for me that a "leaked alliance" is holding firmly closed.

I took a goodnight's rest before really pursuing making this confessional. Not getting rid of Sam earlier in this game was the biggest mistake of every player in this merge. I love Samuel to death, probably my favorite straight male ever (sorry Jack and Seamus), but the boy really woke up during the last 24 hours of this game.

Not only he successfully convinced everyone to vote his way, he temporarily bridged the feud between Ci'ere and Dani for a brief moment to get the numbers and all of the votes turned for Dani. He claims that he didn't know that Ci'ere will call myself, Drew H., Roxy and John out- but after that joint tribal- anyone who had any part with the old Zosma tribe is treacherous.

Where does this confessional lead? Well I tell you, Sam perfected the under-the-radar strategy during the premerge portion of this game AND got everyone to vote his way just so that he can get revenge for her bitchy attitude. I literally have to give any and all credit to that boy for that last round because that was pure genius because it got my Auvas and John to be EXTREMELY more pissed off at Ciere while he is controlling that emotional mess by the strings. Amazing. But it is time to plot his demise.

Everyone in this game is damned fake and transparent it makes me sick. I'm tired of people trying to pass off not being aligned with others when it's painfully obvious.

Drew H. tried to pass off him and Roxy being a 1 time thing... despite voting together the entire game so far.

Loris was briefly entertaining the idea of voting Ci'ere though he was obvious about reservations... 1 tribal later, Ci'ere is using an idol. (Though he didn't get any votes so it's whatever.) Now Loris is saying we need Ci'ere to stay. Which is whatever I guess, but to me it's like ok you two are clearly a F2 or something, there is more to this than I'm being told.

John, didn't even vote Ci'ere when it was his idea, but he hasn't told me anything about the past tribal which is beyond infuriating.

I feel like I'm floating, in the middle of the ocean without a raft, and I can swim and float for a little while, but it feels like the sharks are coming from somewhere no matter how I disguise myself in the water.

Noah fence but I wanted to get kori out since they’re so good at comps but now we might never get the chance :shrugs:

I don’t think anyone hates me so I think I should be good this vote ?? Watch me catch this blindside

i'm actually so mad right now, I knew one of those two had the idol... and ci'ere said he found it on his very first guess with 39. BITCH 39 WAS LITERALLY MY 2ND GUESS, HOW DOES HE GET THAT LUCKY IM SO SAD I WANTED THAT IDOL :(

Aye, Won a challenge, let's gooooo! Lol, thankfully there was a score reasonably close to mine, so I didn't look like I utterly destroyed the challenge.

I also got that idol clue, which I mean eliminated a ton of possibilities. Though it'll be hard to sus out which Non-American astronaut it is. (I'm hoping a future idol clue is that the astronaut isn't Russian so as to eliminate a ton more options.)

I think I'm gonna try for a Dylan boot, because the guy and I almost never talk, he won the last challenge so he's clearly capable in some regards, and he's on OG Auva, and if original tribe lines come up, that'd put us at 5v3v2, though I'm not banking on those lines given the way Loris, and John both act.

Ok so before the last tribal, I thought people would be wanting to vote for Ci'ere. Then later Ci'ere starts going off in the tribe chat saying to vote for Roxy because she has an alliance with the Drews and myself. And in his tribal question he basically calls me out saying tribal lines have already been crossed because of the fact that I voted against Revati the round before. BOI you weren't even there so stfu?? Yes there is an alliance but there has legit been no game talk in it, Roxy just made it to ensure I would vote with them, which I was going to in order to get Zach out anyway. I went to a few people to reiterate that fact. I wanted Ci'ere to leave before but now it'd be in his best interest to not speak to me.

Kori won immunity and I fell asleep early because I was tired afff. I wake up, seeing that Kori has apparently gone to all of Revati targeting Dylan. He knows that I really want to target Ci'ere, especially now that he doesn't have immunity, and that I want to work with Dylan. The problem I have with my Revati tribe is that I don't feel too much trust with them as of now. Emma doesn't talk to me, Loris doesn't as much anymore, Kori can be very controlling, and I don't know fully where I stand with Andrea. I will most likely not be voting Dylan out tonight, and if Kori really wants to go to final 2 with me he should respect that. Ci'ere would be my ideal vote tonight but if nobody is going to vote him out, I may end up voting for Emma because if anything I know I've got Drew H. Either way, I think at this point my messiness meter is through the roof so hopefully nothing comes back to bite me in the ass woooo

Andrea telling me that she’s not voting for Emma and that she also doesn’t know who to vote for. I love people indirectly telling me that they’re voting me out

I’m confessing so much but that’s only because I feel like I’m going home today and I need to make a lasting impression so I can win fan favorite 💅🏻💅🏻

Anyway I think I have the votes to stay but if an idol gets played then I’m going home for sure

The original revati idol was never played so I don’t trust this vote at all tbh

Hopefully this isn’t my last confession but if it is then goodbye xoxo

Emma has the idol and loris has the advantage. I am LIVIN I decided to just be honest to everyone and ya we shall see how it goes I still don’t think I can win and Emma told lORIS about to he alliance which is concerning but um idk ok we shall see

Well, it seems likely that John and I will be separating in the near future, he just isn't open to me like he was at the beginning of the game, and I just don't know if I can work with him.

None of my thoughts or ideas seem to gel with him, and it just doesn't seem to be working out.

If people are telling the truth than it should be Dylan going, from there ideally we vote out Drew H, who is a reasonable threat and it ideally throws that whole alliance into chaos.

From there I think I'd want Ci'ere gone, and after that maybe Loris? But we'll see how things go, immunity wins and other events are likely to shakeup the game, to which I'll have to be flexible, so I don't wanna start overplanning just for everything to be thrown out of wack.

yeah so this vote is clearly a Dylan or emma going home scenario. personally im voting Dylan mainly because we have no relationship at all game wise, and emma seems dead loyal to loris and me kinda, which is way more valuable to me than a guy the auva's wanna try and use as a "number." plus, people seem to think emma is kori's free number, which may be true but he was the one pushing for the Dylan vote, which will only turn him into a more visible character which I need in my life right now. yeah after last vote I definitely need to sit back and let other people drive, but I'm all for someone I know im not gonna work with going home this round. I know the drew's wanted emma gone, but I told them straight up I was probably voting Dylan since we have no relationship, but that next vote a green has to go and they seem all for it. so hopefully this is setting me up for a nice ride the next few votes? let's hope oh god inb4 I die next round before single digits ima kms

ALSO SUCK IT DANI MAN YOU THOOOOOOOUGHT I WAS LEAVING THIS ROUND HA BIHHHHH YOU CLUELESS SEE YOU AT FTC!!

man oh man ciere, you really trying it huh. over here threatening my man drew T that he'll be next to go if he doesn't vote emma? that also means ill be in the crosshairs too? nah bruh, we aint having any of it. Dylan is leaving this vote then guess what, you're gonna be blindsided, and oh my god I cant wait to see that happen. should've stuck with me, smh

ciere is REEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYY trying to take control of this vote and get emma out, bruh if that aint obvious idk what is, esp when he hasn't included me in it. why is he here and not toby.... :(

https://youtu.be/H3vuhKG9APE

ok so I swear I wrote this already but woooo Emma has idol I have legacy Andrea is a queen iconic trio I also have a deal to go to the end with Sam ??? Oops. At this point I just feel valued but it’s probably because they realise I’m useless and will not be able to write a speech at FTC and also I’ll just get fucked over because it’s live.... oh well. 5 more tribals to go!! well four but I’m writing this in the future

All my ladies pop your kitty like this, Shake ya body don’t stop don’t miss all mah ladies pop ya kitty like this justto it do it do it do it now do it good luck that kitty just like you should

Dylan is voted out 8-3.

#episode #flyinghigh

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