#rux martin | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

binsofchaos · 1 year

Photo

Roy Finamore

https://www.stainedpagenews.com/p/remembering-editor-and-author-roy

Howdy cookbook fans!

Earlier this month, cookbook editor, author, co-author, and food and prop stylist Roy Finamore died at the age of 70. Finamore was prolific and accomplished: the list of cookbook authors he worked with includes Martha Stewart, Diana Kennedy, Jean Anderson, Anne Willan, Lee Bailey, Carole Walter, Tom Colicchio, Bobby Flay, Gale Gand, Jacques Pépin, Marcus Samuelsson, and Rick Moonen. He was responsible for acquiring Ina Garten’s first cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa, a book that changed cookbook publishing forever. He also authored several books of his own, including 2006’s James Beard Award-winning Tasty: Get Great Food on the Table Every Day.

Last week, cookbook author and Finamore collaborator Molly Stevens (All About Braising) reached out to make sure I had heard the news. When I offered to run a few remembrances from his friends, little did I know I’d soon have an inbox full of memories a few days later! I am running them below; if you knew Roy and would like to share some memories, I’m opening up comments to everyone on this post.

Roy was, without exception, one of the most creative and brilliant individuals I’ve ever worked with, much less had the good fortune to call a friend. Beyond his massive intellect, Roy was a gifted and intuitive cook with boundless curiosity around ingredients, flavors, and techniques. I believe he was happiest in the kitchen, especially cooking for those he loved. Over the past 25 years, Roy and I spent untold hours cooking together, and in between those times, we’d call, text, and email to scheme and laugh about cooking, work, and life. Roy was my favorite kitchen companion and always the first person I turned to for advice.

—Molly Stevens, cookbook author.

I don’t know how long Roy worked at Clarkson Potter but I first worked for him on a book by Lee Bailey with Ella Brennan called New Orleans in about 1991.

Lee Bailey, Lee Klein and I comprised a team that would invade various grand Garden District homes for a day. It was real location shooting, using the homeowner’s china and flatware. While the Lees set up their tablescapes, I photographed discreet snippets and interior details. The intention was to convey a hint of some longed-for mysterious South without revealing whole rooms. We were careful not to create a catalog wish list of art and furniture for those with thieving in mind.

At lunchtime food would arrive from one of three Brennan restaurants: Commander’s Palace, Mr. B’s, or The Palace Cafe. Then it became all hands on deck, as nothing would work right in a cookbook if the food didn’t. It was a good system made pleasant with competent people.

Publishers find it risky to hand out money in lump sums and photographers need it when they need it so I do recall a prickly phone call or two to Roy about these matters. Never about editing or cropping or any other visual nuts and bolts that you might expect. Through all of it Roy and I still had not met.

That book was successful enough that a year or so later we embarked on a second project called Long Weekends. Our locations were all over the country from Dorset, Vermont to Orcas Island, Washington. It was the same M.O., but this time we added chef James Lartin as chief cook and bottle washer. Still the un-met Roy was left pulling puppet strings from his office in New York.

Lee Bailey went on to do other books with other teams. I didn’t think of myself as exclusively a food photographer. I’d done books on Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg that were more architecture and interiors. I was working a lot for House & Garden doing fine gardens. If you work for “shelter” magazines you end up photographing whatever they put in front of you. But to stay in the swim you need to schmooze with editors. I’d been in Mississippi for ten years and it was time for some visits.

In 1997 I got myself a decent suit and did some rounds. Roy was one of the first I saw. Office buildings in New York can be a bit mind numbing (to the freelancer) and Clarkson Potter was no exception. Traveling the hall, most glass cage offices had the photos of kids and grandkids that you would expect, but then you’re at Roy’s door and in a different world. My memory is telling me there were even voodoo dolls with pins in them. It was all very civil but he didn’t have anything going on and I’m sure he was wondering who this guy in a suit across from him really was.

A year later Roy called and he had a book to do with Anne Willan at Château du Feÿ in Burgundy where she lived and ran a cooking school called La Varenne. The warren—as in rabbits. It had to start in 2 weeks on July 14th with the celebration of Bastille day. Would I be interested?

Thus began nearly two years of shuttling back and forth to Burgundy and the little estate surrounding the 17th century Chateau du Fey. Anne’s book From My Château Kitchen was as much a personal memoir as a cookbook. An Englishwoman’s transformation to being head of her own French cooking school in Paris to moving down the line into Dukes of Burgundy slow food territory. Right to the agrarian source of the food itself and along with it some of the more fanciful aspects of country life.

The château was set up with the center hall as communal (living, dining, and small kitchen), with the right wing as the school with industrial kitchen—with lots of rooms upstairs, and the left wing as Anne and her husband Mark’s quarters, a business office area, a phenomenal culinary library and more bedrooms. The surrounding courtyards and walled vegetable and fruit gardens and pigeonniers were functioning more or less as when built in about 1620. It was in many ways ideal for an extended house party, and that’s what we turned it into.

Roy was there for most of it, and he was very hands on this time. It was his baby and he had done his homework and was not just there for a mini vacation. He and Anne more or less invented the book as we were shooting over several seasons. Molly Stevens, then jack of all food trades—now well-established cookbook author and jill of all food trades—was there as Anne ’s right hand in all that you need a main droite for. Roy’s friend Marian Young, who had her own literary agency, came from New York and charmed us all. Randall Price, chef, writer, actor in PBS style travelogues kept the school in shape when not in session; regaled with his not always tall tales. Even my father George came one evening from Paris on the train and fit right in. There were numbers of interns who rotated in and out and participated in the work and the play.

We worked all day shooting dishes with the chateau as a backdrop or out into Burgundy proper at a Chablis winery, at the cornichon man’s farm, at a jam maker’s up in the Morvan, in a catacomb root cellar under a 13th century cathedral, or at an artisanal cheesemakers sterilized “lab” with the curds and the herds.

Supper time started with some libation and then we usually ate what had been photographed during the day or something being tested for the next day. Any given meal found 10 or 12 of us in lively conversation. Mark was an economist so he filled us in on the EU and the euro which were about to happen. How would I know which king was which without seeing them on banknotes, I wondered. There was internet but no twitter or smart phones so we were not buried in our devices. We pretty much enjoyed each other and everyone pitched in for dishes and cleanup. You were given your own napkin and ring for the duration. If du Feÿ was Showboat then we were one big happy family.

In the early 2000’s a woman from Memphis named Ellen Rolfes, whom I had only known socially, contacted me about a cookbook called Occasions to Savor for the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. Delta Sigma Theta was formed in 1913 at Howard University and currently has over 350,000 initiated members. Tempted by this (and spurred on by having 3 kids in private school), I called Roy. His tenure at Clarkson Potter was over so he was available. We needed to do it in sorority members houses around Washington, DC. so he found a local chef and we all met at Union Station for the first time.

I stayed in the attic room of photographer/sculptor Bill and Sandy Christenbury’s house on McComb Street. Roy stayed on a friend’s couch. Roy, a city kid, didn’t or wouldn’t drive so every day I had to go pick him up in my van. The van had a faulty sensor in the automatic transmission that prevented moving from third to fourth gear every third try. Not the best for Beltway driving, but it held lots of trays of food. It all started as a bit of a comedy of errors with two crazy white boys helming a cookbook for the most serious of black sororities which claim as one of several nicknames “Devastating Divas”.

In the end not so devastating once our team cohered and the mission became clear. Any pro will tell you that if you sign on, you do your damnedest to make it work. Everybody brings something. Despite his iconoclasm Roy was always serious about work.

A coda to my working life with Roy came on a one day project—again produced by avowed Elvis nut Ellen Rolfes in Memphis: Graceland’s Table. It was a book of recipes from Elvis fans—end of story. As ideas for a book go, it was nothing if not commercial. One featured dish was a coconut-encrusted chicken submitted by a thirteen year old. Graceland is a justly famous but oddly un-grand, suburban colonial with Southern columns slapped on as a porte-cochere. It is open every day of the year but for Tuesdays in January. Nevertheless, I tapped Roy, who corralled Molly Stevens, and we picked a day and went. And did it. In one day.

The Rendezvous BBQ where we repaired to lick our wounds at the end of that day was the last place I saw Roy until he debuted his own cookbook, Tasty, in 2006 at L&M restaurant in Oxford, Mississippi, an hour plus from me in Sumner. It was a big splash made more fun for knowing most of the guests. Roy was all over signing and schmoozing. He was having whirling dervish kind of fun.

Then this winter some of our same friends at that event told me of Roy in hospice in Brooklyn. I had to go to New York to photograph my third version of the 42nd street panorama. With that project in the can we traipsed out to say goodbye. His room reminded me of his office back at Clarkson Potter. He owned the place— with games and newspapers and magazines strewn about, but of course also now the tubes and wires. We talked a bit of old times but you can’t get too deep in 15 minutes. We traded Instagram pics of our grandchild and his grandnephews and grandnieces, who will never know him.

He was so proud of his new blue hair, saying: “At last I’m an old blue-haired lady”. I had to fight like hell with myself not to take a picture.

—Langdon Clay, photographer.

Roy was one of the best editors I ever worked with, and that is saying a great deal.

—Anne Willan, cookbook author and cooking instructor.

Among the great cookbook editors of our time, Roy Finamore was unique. A James Beard Award-winning author in this own right, he was also a versatile collaborator who captured the voices of chefs as diverse as seafood expert Rick Moonen, Harlem restaurateur Marcus Samuelsson, and pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini, cooking alongside them and then streamlining their recipes to make them friendly to the home cook. As if that wasn’t enough, he was a talented prop stylist who made the food of Jacques Pépin, pastry chef Gale Gand, and even Elvis Presley look timelessly beautiful. In all these roles, Roy had a consistent approach. He was first and foremost an artist.

So it was fitting that in the pandemic lockdown, he taught himself weaving and turned out artisan napkins and placemats. He was still working his loom from his hospice bed a few days before he died.

A long-time editor at Clarkson Potter, Roy brought his visual talents to the books of Lee Bailey, Martha Stewart, and Anne Willan. He had a nose for talent. His most notable find: he acquired and launched a book by a then little-known Long Island caterer. The Barefoot Contessa began with a tiny print run and went on to become a runaway New York Times bestseller, a perennial classic with millions of copies in print. Ina Garten remains the top-selling cookbook author in the country.

Roy became the impresario of every photo shoot he worked on because he understood all aspects of food and cookbooks. He could size up in an instant exactly how long a recipe would take, which dishes would wilt when they sat and which could hold, and how long it would take to get the photo right, from which he could calculate the order that the dishes should be made.

When we discussed the photography for his book One Potato, Two Potato (coauthored with Molly Stevens), for which he chose both the designer and the photographer, he told me he planned to put the vichyssoise in a white bowl against a creamy background

Wouldn’t it look better against something more colorful? It would not, he informed me derisively. The photo, still surpassingly elegant twenty-two years after it was published, became the cover.

His culinary apprenticeship took place beside his Italian grandmother, an exacting cook, beginning when he was about four. From her, he inherited an approach summed up in the introduction to Tasty: “Good, simple food is meant to be shared and enjoyed. Cook often.” That outlook, and the memorable dishes within, earned him a James Beard Award in General Cookbooks, the most competitive category, where Tasty triumphed over hundreds of other titles.

He was a craftsman in the kitchen, neatly squaring pastry off with his hands before rolling it out, nimbly pleating Chinese dumplings, jury-rigging a steamer for crabs from what we had on hand. He would arrive at Christmas bearing all manner of jarred and bottled treats he had made over the summer: sour cherries in rum, silky tomato passata, a phenomenal Worcestershire sauce. Then he would inhabit the kitchen for the next week, turning out three superb yet simple meals a day. Nothing made him happier than when people loved his food.

As a writer, he had a light touch on the page and a direct, knowing voice. Reading his recipes, you feel him looking over your shoulder, issuing injunctions, cajoling, correcting. He didn’t suffer fools. An editorial query reflecting inattention and a lack of rigor would be met with a stinging rebuke.

When he sent me the manuscript for Tasty, he enclosed a note. “I wrote a book. I hope you like it.”

I did.

—Rux Martin, cookbook editor.

#roy finamore #cookbooks #editor #ground-breaking #james beard #cook #pioneer #stained page news #molly stevens #langdon clay #anne willan #tasty #rux martin

0 notes

gasparodasalo · 9 months

Text

Johann Melchior Molter (1696-1765) - Concerto for Trumpet, Strings and Basso continuo in D-Major, MWV VI:32, I. Allegro. Performed by Hans-Martin Rux, natural trumpet, and Main-Barockorchester Frankfurt on period instruments.

#johann melchior molter #baroque #classical music #trumpet #orchestra #period performance #period instruments #baroque music #trumpet concerto #concerto #strings #string orchestra #rarely performed composers #brass #band

33 notes · View notes

wildwaxshows · 1 year

Text

Fr., 27.10.2023, 21:00 Uhr: THE EXBATS (US) + PAINTED AIR (HH) Komet Musik Bar, Hamburg

THE EXBATS

Not to be confused with The Shaggs, or The Osmonds (Partridge Family is okay) We, The Exbats, started with a daughter (Inez) and father (Kenny) listening to lots and lots of records and writing songs. We got lucky and caught the ear of desert recording guru, Matt Rendon (The Resonars, and as of 2021, the fourth Exbat!) and we put out our first tape in 2017. In 2019 we hit the jackpot again attracting Bobby Carleson Jr. on bass. Our latest record for Goner Records is the hyper-catchy sunshine-pop inspired Now Where Were We. It’s our favorite set of songs yet. We have evolved to the point where we are basically oblivious to modern recording trends, but the lyrics do a decent job reflecting very modern concerns. We live in Bisbee, Arizona. It’s way down in the south-east corner of the state by the Mexico border. It’s a sweet little arty hippy town. Come say hi! -inez and kenny mclain. The Exbats are Inez, Kenny, Bobby and Matt. And they are all a little worried but enjoy making songs.

PAINTED AIR

Painted Air from Hamburg-St. Pauli in Germany is hailing around since 1990 and thus, just attained full age. Before getting that fuzz-tanked-organ-driven sound, Painted Air started as a typical 60s garage punk combo and in-between flirted with 60s psych and krautrock. Over the years they shared stages with some of the most legendary bands around, like Dead Moon, The Fuzztones, The Cynics, Sick Rose and The Strange Flowers. Danish frontman Martin’s prominent voice is Painted Air’s trademark. Painted Air gets its influences through the other members though: 60s specialist Tripsi on drums gives the essential beat while Fuzzomazz’ (who writes most of the songs) punkrock heart pukes raw sounds, balanced by Olli’s melodic bass themes. Painted Air was joined in 2008 by French organ goddess Organella (Curlee Wurlee!), whose saturated Vox organ finished to polish the sound of their brandnew album “Come on 69”. She was recently replaced by Czerno from the band “Rock’n’Roll Hotel”, who makes the sound even more evil! “Come on 69” was recorded analogue and under live conditions in April and June 2008, and mixed in December 2008 by Dennis Rux (Trashmonkeys) at Hörwerk Studio near Bremen, and will be released by Green Cookie Records from Greece. Members: Martin Brujah (vocals); Czerno (organ); Tripsi (drums); Olli Engel (bass); Fuzzomazz (guitar)

#the exbats #komet musik bar #wildwax shows #hamburg #bisbee az #bandcamp #painted air

2 notes · View notes

lboogie1906 · 2 years

Photo

Anthony Dwane Mackie (born September 23, 1978, is an actor. He made his acting debut starring in the semi-biographical drama film 8 Mile; he was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor for his performance in Brother to Brother, and he appeared in The Manchurian Candidate and Million Dollar Baby. He starred in Half Nelson; he both appeared in the action thriller Eagle Eye and was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Hurt Locker. He portrayed Tupac Shakur in Notorious and starred in Night Catches Us, The Adjustment Bureau, and Real Steel. He achieved global recognition for portraying Sam Wilson / Falcon / Captain America in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the films Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame, as well as starring in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He starred in the period crime film Detroit, The Hate U Give, the science fiction film Synchronic, and The Banker. He has performed in Broadway and Off-Broadway adaptations, including Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Drowning Crow, McReele, A Soldier's Play, and Carl Hancock Rux's Talk, for which he won an Obie Award. He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in All the Way and starred in Altered Carbon. He attended Warren Easton Sr High School and the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and graduated from the high school drama program at the North Carolina School of the Arts. He graduated from the Juilliard School's Drama Division as a member of Group 30. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence https://www.instagram.com/p/Ci2R40iL4tL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

1 note · View note

tired-disabled-and-in-pain · 5 years

Note

S P O R T -rux

oh shit rux i’m sorry this took me so long to answer my brain decided to. Yeet today but!!

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

well,,, a lot of Not sfw ones,, but we’re not gonna talk abt that fgdkgfjflgjd, but literally domestic tropes make me so happy?? give me all the fluffy, we’re not family but we will be tropes

other faves: wingfics, darkfic, de-aged characters (bc it’s Chaos usually and i love it), disability fics, and anything with dogs

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an “architect” or a “gardener”? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

a bit of both!! depends on the fic. for my Service Dogs for Superheroes ‘verse, i am absolutely an architect, but for a lot of my other fics, i’m a gardener. if i end up with a story that’s nowhere near what i intended, then that’s cool!!

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

ooh, again, depends!! sometimes i get a plot idea and i’m like “i don’t know how i will use this but it will be FUN,” and sometimes i see a character and i go “i don’t know what’s going to happen to you, but let’s see!”

i think most of the times i’m a plot person, i get an idea and just. “anyone else writing this? hmm? no? maybe? well i’m gonna do it hold my mug--”

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

oh god. uhh yes, so many!! there’s a writer on ff.net that was the reason i started writing heavier topics, so shout out to author Tanglepelt on ff.net for their fic “The Weakest Link” that traumatized me and made my life better tbh

other fic writers that make me wanna do Better: hobbywriting on AO3 and their story “Fear”, arsenicarcher (Arsenic) on AO3 and their story “The Goat’s Back”, romanoff on AO3 and their story “The Draw”, and you, Rux!! your writing makes me wanna cry i love you

other writers that make me wanna do better: Lindsay Wilson (poet, i had him as a teacher!!), Mark Maynard (short story writer, i had him as a teacher too!!), Jim Butcher, Matthew Reilly, so many more i’m sure but this is who i’m thinking of currently

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

let me be the asshole to say it, but i fucking hate genderbend/genderswap as a thing. make them trans for fuck’s sake?? same with mpreg, they can be trans men!! goddamn!! in which case its literally just pregnancy!! i’ll scream i swear to god

also: slavefics (i... yeah, i don’t even know what to say about that one, i Can’t Stand It), crossovers (usually. just not my thing generally), and royalty aus (i don’t know why, just not a big fan)

thank you so much rux ily!!! 💕💕💕

#hi im the answeree #RUX I ADORE YOU

6 notes · View notes

bookish2597 · 5 years

Text

Most Amazing Books to Read

We've seen these rundowns previously - from Amazon to the Telegraph to Time Magazine and past. A lot of people have arrangements of the 100 best books ever, the 100 books you should peruse, and on. What's more, flawlessly, in spite of cover, they are on the whole unique. The magnificent subjectivity of workmanship implies that no two of these rundowns ought to ever be actually indistinguishable. So this is our own, our uncommon snowflake of a rundown, conceived out of our enthusiasm for books. We kept it to fiction this time. A portion of the normal works of art are there, close by some progressively contemporary passage. There is some sci-fi, some YA, or more all else, some remarkable stories.

Do any of the included titles stun you? Is it true that you are shocked by any oversights? Tell us what makes the cut for your main 100 books.

The Testaments: The Sequel to The Handmaid's Tale

Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale—which offers a nerve racking picture of an America under extremist principle—was a touchstone well before it turned into a hit TV arrangement, yet that additional perceivability implies much more individuals are envisioning this spin-off, over 30 years really taking shape.

Moved by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie

Carly Simon (the free-soul pop star) and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (the monitored previous First Lady) had an improbable fellowship, no doubt. Be that as it may, they met on Martha's Vineyard one summer, and the relationship developed into something the two ladies appreciated. In this journal, Simon expounds on the distinctions and likenesses that made for a one of a kind and paramount kinship.

The Water Dancer: A Novel

This first novel from the honor winning writer Coates, writer of the 2015 marvel Between the World and Me, pursues a youngster naturally introduced to desperate conditions yet presented with a remarkable power. It's a ground-breaking anecdote about what we can accomplish for ourselves and for our families in a world with which we're always at chances.

Red at the Bone: A Novel

The most recent from the National Book Award-winning writer of Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl Dreaming, this thin, ground-breaking novel jumps crosswise over time to recount to the account of a young lady in New York in 2001 and her mom 16 years sooner. Infrequently has such untidy, disturbing, and human story been told with such style.

Fantastic Union: Stories

At the point when a few creators move, the way of life moves with them, following each turn and change in their work with intense intrigue. Zadie Smith is one of those authors, and her first short story accumulation will be all the rage this fall. This volume assembles eleven fresh out of the plastic new sorts out with a portion of her recently distributed work.

Discover Me: A Novel

The account of Elio and Oliver—which started in Call Me By Your Name—proceeds in this continuation, which vows to be similarly as delicate, destroying, and arousing. We get a very long time later on when Sami, Elio's dad, visits him in Rome. In transit, he has a brush with destiny that changes his sentimental life until the end of time. Elio, presently an expert piano player, before long moves to Paris and has his very own issue. In the mean time, Oliver's life as an American teacher appears to be dull, and he recollects a late spring quite a while in the past, feeling a dismantle to a previous darling.

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement

While the consequential convulsions of the #MeToo development will change our reality for a considerable length of time to come, this book—by the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnists revealed the dim history of Harvey Weinstein's inappropriate behavior—graphs its beginnings and their very own unfathomable adventure to revealing a story many idea could never be told.

Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Arienne Brodeur's shocking diary is the sort of obvious story that makes you wonder for what reason we'd ever need fiction. Starting during her adolescence in a bohemian Cape Cod, the gimlet-looked at book recounts to the tale of her mom's everything expending issue and how Brodeur herself turned into an accessory to a falsehood that increased than anybody could have envisioned. It's a flawlessly composed, thoroughly charming story dissimilar to any we've perused previously—and will doubtlessly be one of the most discussed books of the year.

Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu

In this beguiling, zippy history of Palm Beach, Les Standiford graphs the goal's fortune from its establishing during the 1800s to the present day. The majority of the well-known Palm Beach characters, from Henry Flagler to Addison Mizner and Marjorie Merriweather Post, are available for a romping, enlightening exercise in land, American history, and recent developments.

Metropolitan Stories: A Novel

Christine Coulson went through 25 years working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so it's no big surprise her presentation novel is set in the background at the admired establishment. This arrangement of vignettes goes past what an easygoing guest to the historical center may see and offers a clever, agreeable take a gander at the exquisite and now and then unhinged world that exists with its dividers.

Precious stone Doris: The True Story of the World's Most Notorious Jewel Thief

It would be sufficient just to peruse the diary of one of the world's most notorious gem hoodlums, yet how might we oppose "Jewel" Doris Payne, who has said she found out about how to take the absolute best by perusing Town and Country? Her journal has everything, from her noteworthy accounts of experiencing childhood in Depression-period West Virginia to her most prominent heists, jail breaks, and endless other shimmering undertakings.

There's nothing we at T&C love in excess of a book about a private academy embarrassment. In any case, this most recent from Kevin Wilson, creator of The Family Fang, just utilizes that awesome thought as a bouncing off point for a confused, enchanting, and thoroughly engaging tale about fellowship, family, and the things we need individuals to think about us. Goodness, and furthermore individuals who can light themselves ablaze.

Year of the Monkey

Patti Smith's most recent diary is a thoughtful take a gander at her time of solo meandering in 2016. That year, obviously, brought monstrous political and social change to the nation, and Smith records it in her own expressive manner, alongside unique Polaroid photography. The American ordinance is covered with "excursion diaries," however on the off chance that there's a voice we'd need to add to that sort, it would be Smith, whose effortlessness and savvy reasoning is an appreciated analgesic during circumstances such as the present.

Up close and personal: The Art of Human Connection

Simon and Schuster

Brian Grazer, the Academy Award-winning maker behind films like A Beautiful Mind—composed this most recent book about the specialty of human association. Utilizing entrancing models from his own ritzy encounters with any semblance of Barack Obama, Bill Gates, and Spike Lee, Grazer discloses how to augment your effect on others by rediscovering a range of abilities about us all as of now have.

Sontag: Her Life and Work

In this doorstop of an account, Benjamin Moser—who has composed for T&C about his subject—jumps profound into the life of Susan Sontag who, in spite of being one of the world's most unmistakable educated people, has never been as altogether considered as she is here. This 800 or more page book, which discovers its subject at urgent crossroads in history from the Cuban Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall, probably won't be light perusing, however it's unquestionably fundamental.

Do You Mind If I Cancel?: (Things That Still Annoy Me)

You may know Gary Janetti from his extremely interesting royals-centered Instagram account, yet in this book he shares an alternate (yet likewise comical) side of himself. These papers investigate his fantasies of turning into a cleanser star, the battle of aching for an unattainable associate, and fantasies of impressive achievement and the vengeance it would permit are certain to fulfill Janetti's military of fans and enroll in excess of a couple of newcomers.

The Most Spectacular Restaurant in the World: The Twin Towers, Windows on the World, and the Rebirth of New York

Tom Roston's book about Windows on the World—the impressive diner that sat on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center—doesn't simply diagram the amazing opening and sad part of the arrangement feasting foundation. It additionally tells the ritzy, down to business story of current eating, American coarseness, and the stuff to make it in the hardest town on the planet.

The International Best-Dressed List: The Official Story

Since it propelled in 1940, the International Best-Dressed List has been the wellspring of amusement, interest, and shock among a portion of the world's most dominant—and sharp looking—individuals. In this official volume, list-attendant (and T&C giver) Amy Fine Collins uncovers the entrancing history of how the rundown became, what it implies, and the mind blowing lengths individuals have gone to be get themselves included.

This Tender Land: A Novel

Atria Books

This epic experience story pursues four runaway vagrants getting away from their grim conditions at a loathsome school in 1930s Minnesota. What pursues is a progression of contacting, convincing touches of destiny that take the children—and anybody tailing them—to sudden and energizing spots.

Antoni in the Kitchen

Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

You may definitely know Antoni Porowski as the hunky nourishment and wine master on the Netflix arrangement Queer Eye. If not, this cookbook—the writer's first—shares his trademark simple to-pursue plans with an eye for sustenance that is perfect for both engaging and Instagramming.

Commercial - CONTINUE READING BELOW

Life Isn't Everything.: Mike Nichols, as recollected by 150 of his dearest companions.

A large portion of us know Mike Nichols from his work—films like The Graduate, Heartburn, and Working Girl or plays including The Odd Couple, Annie, and Death of a Salesman. In this very much built memoir—told in the style of an oral history—individuals who really knew Nichols recall the man himself and remind us what a transcending figure he was in work as well as in life also.

Destined to Party, Forced to Work: 21st Century Hospitality

A-rundown party organizer Bronson Van Wyck is best known for tossing incredible

1 note · View note

joanthangroff · 5 years

Text

find out what we’re made of

summary: 4 times Scott is there for his pack members + 1 time one of them is there for him.

pairings: Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall & Malia Tate, Scott McCall & Malia Tate & Stiles Stilinksi, Scott McCall & Liam Dunbar, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski & Liam Dunbar, Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Scott McCall & Lydia Martin, Scott McCall & Theo Raeken, McCall Pack

warnings: references to death

notes: written for @rux-ian as a birthday present! Special thanks to @jonaskkahnwald for helping me get Stiles as Polish as possible.

{AO3 LINK}

#scottrecs #teen wolf fic #scott mccall #mccall pack #sciles #thiam #idek how to tag this #anyway! it's pack feels wrapped in a oneshot guys!#*fic

22 notes · View notes

hmhbooks · 6 years

Text

Jacques Pépin’s Roast Stuffed Cornish Hens

Serves 4

Nutty and wholesome, this bulgur wheat and leek stuffing works well with the hens’ juices. Cornish hens are more elegant and easier to eat when boned first, but you can skip the boning if you like. The birds are cooked at such a high temperature that most of the fat in the skin collects in the bottom of the roasting pan. The fat is discarded and combined with the remaining drippings and a little water to form a sauce that is delicious with the hens.

Try to buy your bulgur in a health food store, where it is usually of better quality than that sold in the supermarket. Be sure to buy bulgur, not cracked wheat. The latter is uncooked; the former is cracked wheat that has been steamed and dried, and it needs only to be reconstituted in water.

⅓ cup bulgur wheat 2 Cornish hens (about 1¼ pounds each) 2 tablespoons canola oil 1 leek (4 ounces), trimmed (leaving some green), split, washed, and chopped (1¼ cups) 1 onion (4 ounces), chopped (about ¾ cup) 2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped (about 1½ teaspoons) 1 teaspoon chopped jalapeño pepper (or more or less, depending on your tolerance for hotness)

1. Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in the bulgur and set the pan aside for 1 hour. Drain.

2. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

3. Bone the Cornish hens from the neck opening, without tearing the skin (reserve the bones to make stock or soup). Set aside.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet. When it is hot, add the leek and onion and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and jalapeño and mix well. Stir in the apple, ⅜ teaspoon of the salt, the pepper, and bulgur. Mix well and cook, uncovered, over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, until any moisture in the wheat is absorbed and it is fluffy. Let cool.

5. Stuff the boned hens with the cooled apple and wheat mixture and tie the hens with kitchen twine to keep the stuffing inside.

#cookbooks #recipes #chicken recipes #jacques pépin #poulets & légumes

24 notes · View notes

ko-chan-the-blueberry-donut · 6 years

Text

Quiescis Chapter 4 (Deaf Akko AU) Little Witch Academia Fanfiction

@witch19

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

—Martin Luther King Jr.

------------------------

Chapter Four:

Akko blinked, wondering why the blonde-haired girl was so shocked at the appearance of the Shiny Rod. Maybe it’s because she expected it to be with Chariot? Akko knew that what she was wondering herself.

“Why do you have the Shiny Rod?” the girl pointed at her. Akko tilted her head. She pointed to herself, mouthing ‘me?’ and the girl narrowed her eyes, becoming exasperated with her. “Yes! You!”

“Well, I didn’t steal it if that’s what you mean.” Akko signed feeling offended, and Lotte translated.

“Hey, watch it, you defect!” the redhead girl Akko recognized from when arriving at the Leyline terminal snapped, her face contorting into an angry expression. “Don’t you know who’re you’re talking too?!”

Sucy and Lotte narrowed their eyes at what Hannah called Akko. Sucy readied a potion behind her back and Lotte grasped her wand tightly. As for Akko, she clicked her tongue at the address, but didn’t lash out yet. She encountered ignorant people before—she knew this wouldn’t be the last time either.

“Of course, she doesn’t!” Barbara laughed. “She can barely speak English! She wouldn’t be cultured enough to know who the Cavendish family is!”

“Hannah! Barbara! That’s enough!” Diana chided them, uncomfortable with the way they were talking about Akko like she wasn’t even a person. She turned to Akko and bowed her head in apology. “I’m sorry. May I ask where you got that wand?”

“Come on, Diana! It’s just a toy! Chariot disappeared ten years ago!” Barbara said. Akko’s eyes widened when she read Barbara’s lips.

“Chariot’s missing?!” Akko signed.

“Ugh, she’s doing that dumb hand stuff again!” Hannah sneered. However, she yelped when Lotte seized the front of her uniform, pulling her closer, eyes alit in wraith.

“If you continue to insult my friend…” Lotte said calmly, “I will make sure you are haunted by malicious spirits for the next three years.” Hannah squirmed, sweating. Akko and Sucy’s eyes were wide with shock.

“Y-yes, ma’am!” Hannah squeaked. Lotte released her, Akko rubbing her back and Sucy giving her a thumbs up. Diana didn’t take her eyes off of Akko nevertheless through the whole exchange.

“Chariot is a disgrace to the magical world. It would be best to get rid of that wand.” Diana told her. Akko glared, a ferocity rising within her at the statement that her idol was being insulted. Birdy-san flapped angrily as Akko signed, Lotte verbally translating.

“’Chariot is the best witch in the world! Who are you to say she’s a disgrace when she made so many people smile? Chariot inspired me!’” Lotte recited as Akko vigorously signed. Diana sighed.

“For your own sake, you should get a new inspiration unless you want to fail like Chariot. It’s clear you have the odds stacked against you—don’t be stupid like she was.” Diana advised. Nonetheless, her eyes widened when Akko stomped towards her and pinched Diana’s cheeks. What the—

“Take back! Daiyana a meanie!” Akko growled, butchering her name. Diana just gaped while Hannah and Barbara gasped at the fact that Akko dared touch Diana like that.

“I—I beg your pardon?” Diana spluttered. Akko let go of her cheeks, Diana feeling a sting, and placed her hands on her hips.

“Meanie! Stupid! Chariot best witch!” Akko criticized, Hannah and Barbara still in disbelief how Akko was addressing the famous witch prodigy. She went over and retrieved the Shiny Rod, handing Birdy-san to Lotte. She readied the wand. “Will show!”

Akko took a deep breath, concentrating. She then waved the wand.

“Rux!” she commanded, everyone wincing at her pronunciation. Nothing happened. She grew frustrated, waving it violently. “Rux!”

Seeing that Akko was all talk, Hannah and Barbara smirked while Diana tried to compose herself from Akko’s brashness. Diana took out her own wand, demonstrating.

“Lux!” she commanded, the wand glowing brightly. Akko shielded herself from the light. Satisfied, Diana snuffed out the light, giving her a stern look.

“Take my advice—quit while you’re ahead. It’s clear you’re at a disadvantage with your poor communication skills. Maybe you should think of another path instead of being a witch.” With that, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara left them standing there. Sucy narrowed her eyes as they walked away.

“Somebody’s getting a contagious fungus in their food tomorrow…” she muttered. Lotte was worriedly watching Akko, who was looking down at the ground, her hair shadowing her expression from view. Birdy-san bounced to Akko’s head, peering at her in concern. Lotte walked forward, grasping one of Akko’s hands, intertwining their fingers. Akko glanced up, biting her lip. Lotte gave her a comforting smile, making sure Akko could read her lips.

“They don’t know what we know. You were able to do magic without incantations. You can do it again.” Lotte assured with confidence. Akko looked unsure, and Lotte squeezed Akko’s hand in a soothing manner before releasing her hand, signing. “I believe in you.”

“Let’s keep going.” Sucy told them, and they agreed, traveling further into the trees to prevent others from seeing them. They found themselves seated near a creek in a clearing between the trees. “Where do we start?”

“Let’s see…” Lotte opened a spellbook, scanning the text. “It is probably best to try something simple. Akko, is there anything in particular you want to try?”

Akko shrugged, not really picky. She examined the Shiny Rod, pondering if maybe it was a dud after all.

‘Or perhaps you’re the dud.’ Her mind chimed in mournfully. Akko growled, tensing up. She didn’t want what Diana to have said get to her, but it felt like an enormous elephant in the room inside her mind. What if Diana is right and she can’t become a witch due to her deafness? She never factored speech into her plans. Her Japanese was fine, but when she was learning English, it was exceptionally difficult to pronounce sounds from just reading it. Her parents and her didn’t really worry much about it because they had thought Luna Nova was proficient in signing, so she concentrated her efforts further into learning Sign Supported English. Seeing they were vastly wrong, however, presented to Akko an even further dilemma: if she sucked with her English, how was so supposed to even begin to comprehend pronunciation of spells? She can’t even say her “L”s right!

Birdy-san pecked her in the eye. Yelping, Akko glared up to find Sucy was holding Birdy-san out to her.

“I didn’t peg you for a quitter.” Sucy stated. Akko looked surprised, reading her lips. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’ve already done spells—you just have a different way of doing things.”

“Sucy’s right, Akko.” Lotte spoke as she signed. “Just because you can’t do something the normal way doesn’t mean it’s the only way to do things. It’s like math—there’s multiple ways of solving a problem—we just haven’t found the way that best fits you.”

Akko stared at them, registering what they said. She felt tears come to her eyes, smiling wide, as she spoke and signed.

“Thank you.” Akko said, gratitude overwhelming her. She appreciated how much Lotte and Sucy had so much faith in her despite only knowing each other for two days. She took Birdy-san from Sucy and plopped him on top of her head. Birdy-san pecked her forehead in thanks. She went over and hugged both Sucy and Lotte, the former patting her back awkwardly while Lotte embraced her snuggly. Akko released them, holding Chariot’s wand close, determination rising within her.

“Let’s do the light spell.” Akko signed. Lotte translated and Sucy and her nodded in agreement. They took out their wands and they each took a stance.

“How did you do it before Akko?” Lotte asked the brown-haired girl. Akko pondered hard, trying to remember the circumstances to non-verbal casting.

“I just repeated the words in my mind, imagining a poral to take us somewhere safe.” Akko answered with gestures.

“How did you know the words?” Sucy asked.

“A voice reminded me of the words spoken at Chariot’s show when I was a kid.”

“A voice?” Lotte questioned. Sucy sighed.

“She claims she heard a voice in her head even though she can’t hear.” Sucy explained. Lotte looked interested.

“How mysterious…” Lotte said. “We should try to find research into the Shiny Rod. See if it has any connections with strong magic…”

“Enough talking—I wanna try out this non-verbal magic.” Sucy said, readying her wand. Akko and Lotte nodded, readying their wands, and taking a deep breath.

They waved their wands, thinking the spell, but nothing happened. They tried again several times, but no results.

“Maybe we’re not doing something right…” Akko signed.

“It could be cause of lack of medium. Oral incantation is used to help a spell to become physical form—maybe just thinking the word isn’t enough to create a medium.” Lotte said.

“Let’s keep trying.” Sucy suggested.

------------------

Diana, Barbara, and Hannah journeyed towards where the Jennifer Memorial Tree was being held. They had caught wind of the tree’s condition from a staff member who had implored Diana to help. The Cavendish heiress immediately set forth to the Jennifer Memorial Tree, Hannah and Barbara tagging along, continuing to make fun of Akko.

“I don’t get why Headmistress Holbrooke let her come in the first place. It’s clear she has no magical prowess.” Barbara said to Hannah. Hannah snickered.

“Did you hear her accent? She can’t even say certain things right!” Hannah goaded.

“I know right? Daiyana? Imagine when we do actual spellwork! She’ll be a disaster!” Barbara mocked.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll get kicked out for failure.” Hannah said. Diana stopped walking and turned towards them, giving them a look. They flinched at her glare. “E-eh? Diana?”

Diana sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. She remembered Akko shouting at her, pinching her cheeks, calling her a meanie, and Diana felt something stir within her. She wasn’t used to such abrasiveness, nor was she accustomed to someone disagreeing with her so violently. Nonetheless, it needed to be said to the girl that she was at a clear disadvantage—someone like that couldn’t be coddled when they were pursuing magic. It was good she set Akko straight to look into other options. Being a witch wasn’t for the disabled.

‘Yet why do I feel like such a jerk?’ she wondered, guilt swirling in her stomach.

“Let’s focus on fixing the Jennifer Memorial Tree, shall we?” Diana suggested, and the two nodded. As they entered the sanctuary, they caught sight of Professor Finnelan, Professor Ursula, and Headmistress Holbrooke.

“I’d like to study it more.” They heard Professor Ursula say. Headmistress Holbrooke nodded.

“Please get to the bottom of this.” The headmistress ordered. Diana addressed the headmistress.

“Headmistress!” she announced their presence. “I can’t believe the Jennifer Memorial Tree has weakened like this.”

“Yes, Diana. Unfortunately, the tree is very old.” Holbrooke replied. She glanced at the rotting tree. “I’m afraid it might be getting close to its time. We must go now to see what can be done.”

With that, the professors departed, leaving Diana, Hannah, and Barbara to examine the tree. Diana had a pensive expression on her face, crossing her arms.

“This tree has been said to inherit the great witch Jennifer’s spirit.” Diana mused. “It is the tree of life of Luna Nova.”

“Let’s get started!” Hannah said excited. The girls began setting out stones around the tree in multiple rows. Barbara peeked around the tree to address Diana.

“I’ve finished this side.” She said.

“I’m going to try to use revitalization magic on this tree.” Diana explained. “It will give this large tree strong nutrients and revitalize it. This has been secret magic that has been handed down for generations by my family.”

Barbara and Hannah took a step back while Diana prepared her wand, the tip glowing as she readied her magic.

“Louperial Ral!” she shouted. Magic sprung forth, lighting all the stones, and igniting throughout the tree. Hannah and Barbara gazed upon the display of magic in awe. The tree’s branches perked up, the rotting wood repairing itself. Diana smirked, proud of herself.

“The nutrients must’ve been absorbed.”

“Amazing, Diana!” Hannah praised.

“Let’s go tell the professors!” Barbara suggested, the two racing off to find the headmistress, Finnelan, and Ursula. Diana pocketed her wand, smiling in relief. However, the relief was short-lived when she noticed something rising from the ground. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

---------------------------------

Ursula searched for information in the library, relieved to be doing something instead of listening to Finnelan’s screaming from before about how Holbrooke accepted a deaf student.

“Headmistress! What were you thinking when you told Atsuko Kagari yes to coming to Luna Nova?!” Professor Finnelan demanded. The other professors looked like they wanted answers as well.

“The girl could barely keep up in my class. She looked like she was giving herself a headache trying to read my lips all the time.” Professor Badcock chimed in. Lukic nodded.

“They have a point. No potion’s going to fix that mess.” Lukic said. Ursula felt bad for the poor girl. It’s clear she was here because she wanted to learn, but none of the teachers had any idea on how to accommodate her nor did they understand the headmistress’s decision to accept a student that would obviously struggle to the point of failure off the bat.

“Exactly! Headmistress Holbrooke, it goes against tradition! What can a witch do if she can’t hear how she is reciting her incantations? Not to mention she has no magical background on top of it! She’s useless in the classroom.” Finnelan complained. Holbrooke pursed her lip and gave the woman a stern glare.

“Careful, Finnelan. My father was deaf and nonmagical and was just as capable as anyone who could hear.” Holbrooke chastised the red-haired woman. Finnelan flushed, embarrassed by being called out.

“Is that why you accepted her? Because your father was also deaf? That doesn’t really seem like a good reason.” Badcock crossed her arms.

“This doesn’t really seem fair to the kid.” Nelson said.

“But we have a mute student—what’s the problem of having a deaf one?” Ursula decided to speak up for the girl. Finnelan scoffed.

“And she has resorted to magitek because she also has trouble with incantations! It goes against traditional spellcasting!” Finnelan said. Ursula bit her lip, narrowing her eyes at Finnelan, but didn’t speak against her. The other teachers were murmuring in agreement to Finnelan’s statement.

“Enough!” Holbrooke commanded. “Listen to yourselves! You’re acting like Miss Kagari has the plague! She is just like any other student who has come here to learn! Are we the ones to decide who can learn magic and who can’t based on our own bias?” Silence answered her. Holbrooke sighed, smiling tiredly. “I admit fault in not preparing any of my staff for this dilemma. In my arrogance, I did not realize that Miss Kagari would need extra accommodations or struggle. I was simply captivated by her spirit—her desire to learn. It exceeded anyone’s enthusiasm here, and I refused to tell her no just because of something she can’t control. I had thought many would think like myself.”

“But what can we do?” Professor Pisces asked. “We can’t pass her out of pity or favor with her. It won’t be fair to our other students or to Miss Kagari.”

“I have faith in Miss Kagari to succeed.” Holbrooke replied. She gave them a whimsical smile. “Those who are given the deepest despairs are those who shine with hope the brightest.”

Ursula smiled, glad that Miss Kagari was being given a chance by the headmistress. After all, Holbrooke was right—they couldn’t decide who could and could not learn magic based on their own bias towards disability.

‘I should offer to help the girl at least.’ Ursula told herself. ‘I’m sure she would appreciate it.’

Ursula turned the page of the giant tome, eyes widening when she caught sight of an illustration—the evidence she was looking for.

“It seems the miracle will be happening soon.”

-----------------------

“What interesting cards! How were you able to collect them all?” Lotte signed. The three witches were taking a break, eating snacks and playing with Akko’s Shiny Chariot card collection. Akko was grinning happily as she signed her reply.

“Yes! When I was a kid, Chariot was so popular they made a card game! Everyone I knew was collecting cards!”

She remembered when she was a little girl, excitedly buying booster packs to collect the whole set. She would often display them to her black cat, ‘Suppi’ Spinel Sun, and other classmates. Akko still kept her binder in good condition, making sure her cards were safe. Her mother and father encouraged her collection—happy their daughter was no longer despondent since the onset of her deafness.

“I just couldn’t find one of the premium cards, even though I really wanted it.” Akko continued to sign to her friends. Sucy picked up a card

“This mushroom card is supposed to reawaken romantic feelings.” She noted. Lotte examined another card.

“Ah! This one is a unicorn!”

“An eternal holy animal that protects the happiness of young women.” Akko signed.

“You memorized it?” Lotte asked, hand gesturing. Akko nodded.

“Of course.” Akko smiled. “I remembered everything! I am just not good with pronunciation of spells.” She hand gestured.

“I know this card—it’s a butterfly.” Lotte signed, speaking for Sucy to be kept in the conversation. Akko nodded, grinning with enthusiasm.

“P-A-P-P-I-L-I-O-D-Y-A.” Akko finger spelled, then demonstrated the sign made for the name. “It’s a butterfly that can fly across five continents! It hatches every 120 years and is said to give hope to anyone who sees it.” She explained, signing.

Suddenly, roots from the ground burst forth, scattering the cards. They scrambled up, avoiding being hit. Akko hurriedly collected her cards, securing them. Lotte pointed towards where the commotion was happening, and Akko turned to see a trail of branches leading somewhere.

“Let’s go!” Akko signed, gripping the Shiny Rod, and pointing to where the roots were bursting forth. Sucy and Lotte nodded, grabbing Birdy-san and leaving the clearing.

-----------------

Diana gasped as the Jennifer Tree became ashen. The ground was shaking violently, roots bursting forth all around her. However, she stood her ground.

“What is happening?!” she exclaimed. She heard footsteps running towards her. Her blue eyes enlarged when she saw it was Akko, Sucy, and Lotte. A root sprung forth, stopping them in their tracks. “Stay back!” she ordered the three.

“What’s going on?!” Akko signed. Diana was confused—she had no idea what Akko was saying and was frustrated she couldn’t understand her. Lotte grabbed Akko by the shoulder, pointing to something she saw.

“Look there!” she said to everyone else. The four witches were shocked to see glowing cocoons on the roots of the tree. There were hundreds of them!

“Looks like pupae.” Sucy said.

“Pupae?!” Lotte exclaimed. Sucy nodded.

“And they’re not ordinary pupae.”

“They were parasites in the roots!” Diana shouted. “My spell gave the nutrients to these vermin instead of the tree!”

The pupae continued to grow in size, the tree’s life being seeped away. Diana glared.

Meanwhile, Akko was ignoring the chaos around her, examining the cocoons. She furrowed her brow, pondering hard. She’s seen these before…

A shot of magic burst forth, cutting off her thoughts. She jumped away from the injured cocoon, pivoting around to see Diana shooting spells at the things. Akko resumed her thought process, examining one of the dead specimens.

‘I wonder… is it really?’

She looked towards Diana again, and realization hit her where exactly she has seen these things before. She ran forward, blocking Diana from eliminating all the cocoons.

“Wait! I think I know what these are! Don’t shoot any more of them!” Akko signed. Diana growled, flicking her wand.

“Get out of my way! I don’t understand what you’re saying, nor do I care!” Diana made gestures, hoping the dumb girl got the hint to leave. Akko stood her ground, spreading her arms wide.

“Wait! Diana, Akko’s trying to tell you they’re not parasites!” Lotte shouted, realizing what Akko had signed. Sucy surveyed curiously, wondering what was going on in her friend’s mind.

“I don’t care! She obviously doesn’t know what she’s talking about! I’ll show you.” Diana turned towards another glowing cocoon, getting ready to cast a spell. Akko felt her world slow down.

She needed to stop Diana! If this was she thought it was then Diana was making a huge mistake! Desperation clung to her, seizing her heart. She needed Diana to stop this! Diana had to stop!

“STOP!” Akko signed.

Diana felt her entire body freeze, locking into place. Her eyes widened in disbelief. Why couldn’t she move?!

She tried to break whatever was holding her in place, but nothing worked. She couldn’t even move her mouth! What happened?!

“Akko!” Lotte cried, Sucy and her staring at their friend in awe. Akko was panting, gazing at Diana’s frozen form in amazement. She fell to her knees, her friends and Birdy-san running towards her, steadying her.

“Woah—that’s some paralyzing charm you did.” Sucy whistled. Akko turned to them, frantically signing.

“It’s the Pappiliodya! That’s their cocoons!” Akko told them. Lotte gasped, understanding what Akko was saying. Sucy looked confused.

“These are the Pappiliodya cocoons!” Lotte shouted. Diana was shocked. Pappiliodya? This girl knew about the Pappiliodya?!

Suddenly, the Shiny Rod began to glow, and Diana felt herself be flooded with even more disbelief.

‘What’s going on? That wand didn’t work before!’

“Akko! You gotta cast the spell to save them!” Lotte signed. Akko nodded, grabbing the Shiny Rod, her friends holding her up from her weakness earlier. She took a deep breath. She then blinked, realizing if she couldn’t even pronounce a simple light spell, how can she sound out a complicated one like that?

“Papillio Fillio Nymphodya.” A voice sounded in her head. Akko’s eyes widened.

‘It’s you! That voice from before! How can I hear you?’

“Don’t worry about that right now. Do your thing, kid.”

‘My thing?’

“How you made the portal before! Jeeze, do I have to do everything?”

‘Oh!’ Akko realized, and concentrated on imagining the Pappiliodya being safe—being born and free so everyone can see them. Hope rose within her—she wanted to see them! She wanted to feel what only legends foretold!

‘Papillio Fillio Nymphodya!’ she and the voice shouted in her mind.

A tidal wave of light erupted forth—reviving the cocoons anew. The cocoons cracked, and the Pappiliodya emerged rejuvenated, their gold wings spreading.

The whole garden was surrounded by lights of gold. Akko, Sucy, Lotte, Diana, and Birdy-san watched in wonder at the sight. The Pappiliodya left the Jennifer tree, soaring off into the sky for the whole campus to see.

“Go see!” Akko exclaimed, bouncing up and down with eagerness. Nevertheless, she wilted, the energy leaving her. Sucy supported her.

“What about her?” Lotte spoke and signed, gesturing towards the frozen Diana. Sucy gave Akko to Lotte before going over to Dian and poked her cheek.

“Meh, she’ll unfreeze soon. I’m not really inclined to help her after what she said today.” Sucy shrugged. She then walked forward, grasping Akko from the other side, leading them away from the frozen Diana.

‘Wait—they’re just going to leave me here?’ Diana thought. She then recalled Sucy’s words of her actions and sighed. ‘I suppose to them I do deserve it…’

As she waited for herself to thaw, Diana let her thoughts about Akko Kagari run wild. How did Akko freeze her? She didn’t remember any incantation was said from the girl’s mouth, and how could she even accomplish such a high-level spell when she could even pronounce simple ones. And how did she come into possession of the Shiny Rod? None of this makes sense!

‘Her friends didn’t even question how she did it! They know something!’ Diana concluded. The more Diana pondered on one Akko Kagari, the more mysterious the girl was. She wanted to know the girl’s secrets. ‘Those three are hiding something!’

But yet… the more Diana thought of any likely explanation, the more confused she became. It just wasn’t possible to do what Akko did—especially the girl’s circumstances. But here she was, frozen, and her earlier treatment of the girl smacking her in the face, and the fact that she let Hannah and Barbara treat another human being like that was appalling.

‘I thought she couldn’t do any magic—that she was just admitted here out of pity.’ Diana mused, remorse seeping into her body. ‘I was proven wrong. No wonder they left me here…’

Feeling came back into Diana’s body, causing her to sigh in relief that the enchantment was wearing off. Once she was able to move her mouth and arm again, she undid the spell, still standing at the foot of the Jennifer tree.

‘Next time I see her, I will apologize.’ Diana promised.

“The memorial tree! How splendid!” Headmistress Holbrooke exclaimed. Diana jumped, pivoting to see the headmistress, Hannah, Barbara and Finnelan.

“Diana cast a spell on the tree to make it better!” Hannah explained.

“Thank you, Diana.” The headmistress said in gratitude. Akko’s face popped into Diana’s mind and she shook her head.

“No! I didn’t do this!”

“Who else could possibly do this other than you?” Finnelan praised. Diana stared at all their proud faces and felt sick inside.

“Excuse me.” Diana bidded farewell, not bothering to stay to hear a reply. She exited the garden house, looking up towards the sky. The glow of the Pappiliodya was still strong. “Is that…?”

And there was Sucy, Lotte, and Akko, flying in the air with all the Pappiliodya. An exhausted Akko was in between Sucy and Lotte as Lotte flew them through the orange sky. Diana gazed upon their expressions of contentment, and a sense of longing filled her.

‘I’m the best student at Luna Nova…’ Diana thought, smiling bitterly. ‘And yet those three have achieved something I’ll probably never have…’

---------------------------

There is Chapter 4! Please let me know what you think.

#lwa #akko kagari #atsuko kagari #lotte yanson #sucy manbavaran #diana cavendish #little witch academia #sukko #diakko #ankko #deaf akko #deaf au #deaf witch

64 notes · View notes