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elysieeh · 5 months

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Bulgarian Music in Studio Ghibli films

”Myth has it that Orpheus was born in what is now Bulgaria. It seemed to be fact, not myth, that his daughters are still singing there”

These words were written by the New York Times in the remote 1963 — the year in which the largest Bulgarian folk ensemble crossed the Iron Curtain to conquer an entire continent with its cosmic art.

The 1975 release of Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, a compilation album of modern arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs, further popularized Bulgarian music, and in 1977, a vinyl record featuring the folk song “Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin” (Eng: Come out rebel Delyo) began its journey aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecrafts.

From this point on popularity from the West spread to the East, and Bulgarian folk music made it to the entertainment industry, including legendary Japanese anime films, like the cult cyberpunk “Ghost in the Shell” or the heartwarming Studio Ghibli features.

In this short article I write about two occasions of Bulgarian music playing in Studio Ghibli’s films.

The record that inspired the creation of “Only Yesterday”

“Only Yesterday” is a 1991 Japanese animated drama film written and directed by Isao Takahata, based on the 1982 manga of the same title by Hotaru Okamoto and Yuko Tone. Set in rural Japan, the film draws parallels with the peasant lifestyle present in Eastern Europe.

The original work is a compilation of short stories about 11-year-old Taeko’s daily life in 1966. Director Takahata had a hard time making it into a movie since the manga, told in the form of a memoir, has no plot to hold a feature. Together with producer Toshio Suzuki, they came up with the solution of bringing the narrator of the story, adult Taeko, into the movie. But there is a curious anecdote about how this idea came to mind.

Taeko picks safflower as the Bulgarian song “Malka moma dvori mete” plays in the background. © Studio Ghibli

In a 2021 interview with students from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, producer Suzuki recounts how a record of Bulgarian songs performed by the children choir “Bodra Smyana”, introduced to him by director Takahata, inspired the creation of the movie. Moved by the cosmic voices of the children, they decided to make “Only Yesterday” a musical. He also recalls what a tiring process it was to acquire the rights to the music, but if you’ve seen the movie, I am sure you will agree that it was worth it; the haunting, beautiful songs with the pastoral images of farmers picking flowers contribute to one of the greatest scenes created in cinema.

Producer Suzuki showing the record that inspired the creation of ”Only Yesterday”. Source: Studio Ghibli’s Twitter

In “Only Yesterday”, we can hear two songs from the album Bulgarian Polyphony I by Philip Koutev Ensemble. The upbeat “Dilmano Dilbero” [Eng. beautiful Dilmana] sets a happy mood as the protagonist gets changed and ready to go on the field. As the scene shifts and Taeko starts narrating a sad story about the girls in the past picking safflower with their bare hands, the song and mood shift as well.

While the first song has a fast rhythm, with lyrics about pepper planting that can also be interpreted figuratively, the second one, “Malka Moma Dvori Mete” [Eng., a little girl sweeps the yard], is a ballad about a young girl who is forced into marriage but has never known true love.

Both compositions sing about life-cycle events like marriage and the regular coming of the harvests, with lyrics perfectly fitting the setting and plot of the movie, which makes me wonder if the filmmakers chose them by chance or if they had someone translate the words.

Bulgarian Cosmic Voices Enchanting Howl

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is a 2004 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, loosely based on the 1986 novel of the same name by British author Diana Wynne Jones. Set in a fictional kingdom the movie draws inspiration from various places in Europe. One of them being Bulgaria.

The story focuses on a young girl, named Sophie, magically transformed into an old woman, and a self-confident but emotionally unstable young wizard, Howl, living in a magical moving castle.

A sketch of a Star Child. Source: The Art of Howl’s Moving Castle

If you’ve seen the movie, you surely remember the scene when Madame Suliman ambushes Howl and tries to strip him of his magic powers. Star Children encircle him and his companions; their shadows grow big, dark and intimidating. They start dancing and chanting unintelligible magic words and are almost successful in their devilish act.

This scene, together with the music played in the background, have been a favourite of many fans of the film. Some even recount it giving them nightmares when they were children.

Star Children encircle Howl in an attempt to strip him of his magic powers. © Studio Ghibli

It turns out, however, that these aren’t any incantations, but the lyrics of a folk song. In Bulgarian. And a love song! Contrary to popular belief, the lyrics have nothing to do with magic and are actually about a boy taking his sweetheart, Dona, to the market to buy her new clothes. The excerpt used in the movie is very short and a bit altered from the original, but the words used go like this: Trendafilcheto, kalafercheto, Done mamino, translated as “the rose, the costmary, my darling Dona”.

I am planing a follow up article where I will post the translated lyrics together with a brief explanation on how they are related to the movies.

If you want to comment on or add something, I would love to hear!

Source

#studio ghibli #only yesterday #howls moving castle #Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares #bulgarian folklore #bulgaria #toshio suzuki #hayao miyazaki #isao takahata #bulgarian music in ghibli films #the boy and the heron #スタジオジブリ #ブルガリア #おもひでぽろぽろ #ハウルの動く城 #宮崎駿 #高畑勲 #鈴木敏夫 #bulgarian music

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audreyscribes · 4 months

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Ω PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS: ☀ APOLLO: God of Archery, Art, Music, & Poetry, Prophecy, Light & Sun, Healing & Plagues, Truth 🎶

author's note: I had a sudden idea about writing some headcanons Camp Halfblood demigods being claimed and what it's like for each respective god and cabin, followed by a small blurb afterwards. Thank you for reading and please like and reblog! The order is not in order of the cabin numbers. [PJO DEMIGOD HEADCANONS MASTERLIST]

When you get claimed, you're graced with a light haloing over you. It's so bright yet soft. You also feel warm but you somehow feel like its a warm hug and its Apollo secretly giving you a hug.

The Apollo cabin welcomes you happily and they all gather around, singing you a welcome song. Some of them break out into an Acapella, while some whip out their instruments out of thin air. You find yourself at least humming to the song and maybe even singing along, the words just coming to you naturally.

You’re shown the sleeping quarters that are nice and warm, and when you press your nose against them, you can smell the sun on them.

You’re also shown the ropes of the place, but most importantly where they treat the sick and injured. As children of Apollo, your natural gifts are used almost daily. If you’re not that hyped about seeing blood or the like, you’re moved away from the rotation and help out with other things: changing sheets, disinfecting, checking stock and getting stock, and so forth.

You’re still required to learn how to do First Aid though. Even if your godly parent is the god of Healing, you’re still going to have to learn how to do the mundane medical methods. Better learn how to do proper CPR just in case. Sure, you could heal any damages but it's better not let it happen anyway.

You just have candy in your pockets. You might think its odd but when you see a small camper hurt their knee and one of your siblings whip out a lollipop after patching it up, you realise you’re not just there to soothe physical wounds.

Plus, you have candy. What’s not to love?

Though, speaking of Candy, you didn’t know you had to help out in sorting candy and inspecting it. Especially any red candy or specific dyes used in them. You learn immediately that once ago, there was a period of time that the campers acted very intensely, and after an intense lava wall incident and an almost burnt down pegasus stall, it was discovered that some people had consumed certain candies containing Red dye 40 and was affecting the ADHD.

The Apollo cabin is the place to be for entertainment. There’s constantly music and art being produced. There are even beat poetry nights.

So many rap battles.

The Apollo cabin often has collaborative efforts with the Hephatesus Athena,Dionysus cabin. There’s always some big project happening and it’s always a treat.

Hamilition. Cats. Hadestown. Heathers. Highschool Musical- all the broadway shows and musicals you can think of, the Apollo cabin have it down pat. Along with the Dionysus cabin, you just perform and break out in song. Eventually Mr. D and Chiron let you guys perform actual broadway musicals or general theatre because there were too many impromptu moments that broke through the entire camp. No one has recovered from the D's (Mr. D, the Dionysus, and Demeter cabin) and the Giant Strawberry incident.

When you get claimed, light envelops you with a soft mysterious song playing. It was warm and you swore you could imagine arms hugging you lovingly. You’d imagine Apollo used the claim to at least give his children a hug. You hugged back and you felt the faintest squeeze back. Before you could dwell on it later, the light disappears leaving a faint glow on your skin.

The song you had heard had also drifted off as well, but it had spoken to your soul. Like it had been chosen for you. You saw a bunch of other campers stand around and begin going into verse, a choir of campers singing a song before you realized it was the same song from before. More and more people began to join in, singing in acapella, instruments being played, and people clapping along for the beat. You watched in excitement and you felt their music resonate with you, it went through your body, up your throat and before you knew it, you were singing along, leading it.

When the song came to an end, the singers cheered and clapped before you saw a boy with curly blonde hair step up, giving you a beaming smile. You thought he looked like a golden retriever.

“Hi! You definitely have the chords of a child of Apollo” he complimented, holding out his hand. You took his hand as you shook, “My name is Will Solace, and I’m the cabin leader of Cabin 7. Welcome to the Apollo cabin!”

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reasonsforhope · 5 months

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"On Monday this week [first week of December, 2023], workers in London’s financial centre were met with an unfamiliar sight – and sound. Around 100 chorists, some sporting bowler hats, had gathered at the headquarters of the City’s biggest fossil fuel-backing corporations to sing in protest.

The singers, encompassing a range of generations and vocal pitches, were part of the Climate Choir Movement, a network of choirs that officially launched in January 2023. While world leaders convened at the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai, they raised their voices in support of the Stop Ecocide campaign, which is working to criminalise the destruction of the environment.

The Climate Choir Movement’s co-founder Jo Flanagan first formed a choir in April 2022 with Extinction Rebellion to protest against HSBC’s fossil fuel investments at the bank’s AGM. Dressed smartly to blend in with shareholders, the singers rose up from their seats to disrupt the meeting with a rendition of the Abba classic "Money, Money, Money," the lyrics adapted to urge HSBC to finance renewable energy. [Note: A+ Song choice for this, tbh]

Flanagan had been inspired by a video of US activists singing as a flashmob in the middle of a conference speech to protest against greenwashing. “It made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck,” she recalls. “They walked out of the room in a very dignified way, still singing. I just thought, that’s the way I want to do it.”

Since then, the movement has grown from its first choir in Bristol to 10 choirs across the UK, with around 550 members at the time of writing. The local choirs organise their own rehearsals and protests, while all movement members can attend monthly sessions on Zoom where they learn new songs, to be performed at protests like the one in London.

For Ruth Routledge, who works as a singing for health practitioner and leads the Portsmouth choir in her spare time, taking part in this action was a “wonderful, uplifting” experience. “Singing and harmonising together is a very beautiful way to protest,” she says. “There’s something very gentle, very moving, and very powerful about it. It’s so vulnerable. There’s just a real naked, stripped back humanity that I think cuts through a lot of noise.”

The movement welcomes all new members, regardless of singing ability. Routledge was touched when some passersby – including “a couple of lads” – joined in with the songs.

She is eager for others to experience the sense of hope that singing together brings. “I feel very passionately about the state of the environment. I’m very concerned about my children’s futures, and I’m concerned about the whole world. It keeps me awake at night.

“Joining together means we’re not isolated, worrying that the world is on fire and no one’s going to do anything.”

For Flanagan, what sets the movement apart from other choirs that sing songs about nature is its targeted approach. “We organise very carefully choreographed, peaceful performance protests. We want to change hearts and minds.”

Seeing onlookers in tears illustrates to her what singing can achieve. “It reaches deep inside people in a way that other forms of protest can’t.”"

-via Positive.News, December 6, 2023

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from-izzy · 6 months

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that's him, that's just who he is | tbz kevin moon

» PAIRING: tbz kevin moon x gn! reader (proofread but lmk if i missed anything!) » TROPE/AU: childhood friends 2 strangers, highschool and slight uni au!, non-idol au!, idol au! (just kevin towards the end) » GENRE: once again...angst, fluff and comfort from the flashbacks, kevin being an extremely supportive friend, you're also an extremely supportive friend!, platonic 'i love you's being said, you both met at church, choir and ensemble singing!, you both are shy introverts that are only chaotic with each other » WORD COUNT: 4179 (2k word limit who?) » ESTIMATED READING TIME: ~15 mins » WARNINGS (lmk if i missed anything!): mentions of Christianity (not sure if it's a 'warning' but i felt like it should be mentioned!), swearing (b-word), mentions stress relating to: academic (high school), music and performing » PLAYLIST: you never know - HSMTMTS, you better know - red velvet, reflection - christina aguilera, steal the show - lauv, try everything - shakira navi/masterlist!! 🤍 series introduction 🤍 series masterlist

my second story for my project! this may be my favourite story ever ❤️‍🩹

ahhhh this got so personal so quickly 🥹 performing has always been for leisure for me, and for the same reasons in this story, i got so burnt out last year. writing this really made me realise how much i miss the stage. going from about 7 performances a year to only about 1 is to put it simply, heartbreaking.

but i learnt that there are opportunities. i learnt that i'm satisfied with just getting my voice out to the world whether it be through choir, the internet or on the streets. i think things will work out; time does help sometimes 🫶

for those who may not know, kevin's representative number is 16 🌙 and the meaning of this number is explained in this video! i did some research and found that it's from 1 Peter 5:6.

to my readers who are followers of God: I pray that you will always be filled with hope and joy as you advance in your daily endeavours. Believe that God has the best plans for you and that He will never leave you behind, especially when you are at your lowest. Confide in Him and love Him as much as He loves you.

“Can I sing this part with Kevin?”

The question is new to everyone who heard it. Did you just ask to do a supposed solo with someone else? No, you were not a greedy performer though you understood why most people would think that. The choir conductor looks to the other side of the ensemble where the group of altos stood. Including the older woman, all the children including the said boy stood there surprised at the request you asked for.

You’ve been singing in the church youth choir since you were ten and you were incredibly gifted. For example, you landed most of the solos and smaller ensemble parts whenever there was a chance. At first, you didn’t want to be in this church because you were shy (incredibly shy) and you never made a lot of friends in school and most definitely, outside of school. Needless to say, your parents were pretty worried but at the very least, they found that when you were asked to go to church events, you were able to talk with people, smile, and laugh but then you would go back into your shell.

Your parents met at this church through singing and performing together as part of the choir and the band. The children were around your age but you found that your interests mainly conflicted with them and it was hard to keep up with their conversations.

So, when a certain Moon family moved into your area and started attending their local church, Kevin, who happens to be a boy who is incredibly gifted in music, joined the choir with that unique, radiant, excited smile on his face. With a simple and friendly “Hello everyone. My name is Kevin, I’m fifteen and am very excited to be here!” Contrasting to his introduction, you found that Kevin was just as introverted as you were and with your courage to finally approach someone, you made your first friend. School life became better as well when you found out that Kevin attended the same school as you.

Going back to the first dialogue though, the duet did happen and the church community knew that you both were the perfect musical partners for each other. Your softer soprano voice complimented Kevin’s deeper alto voice easily. You both found yourself auditioning, performing, and showcasing your team work together in a bunch of school, church, and even the larger community-based musical events.

Now, after eight years of joining the choir, three after meeting Kevin, you were both in a state of uncertainty, distress, and frustration with the piles of sheet music that scattered everywhere to the point where it was almost covering the surface of your room’s floor. Your hair strands were everywhere and you were sick with the school uniform that you’ve had on since seven in the morning. You both have been secluding yourselves in your room, going back and forth with the arrangement of your final high school piece that you are going to perform with Kevin within less than a week.

The current situation in one word: messy.

It’s all a mess. About a week ago out of nowhere, your voice decided to have its own mind and leave for about a week. Kevin had a sudden test that his teacher thought would be fun to assign at the last minute. You also had this assignment that you were going to do but you found a mistake in the written arrangement, a note that was about a tone and a half out of your range, and since Kevin was better at rhythm, arrangement, and using the composing software, you could only sit next to his left in the corner of your room as he groaned at how the app was not doing what you both wanted to do.

So yes…it’s a mess, and it’s been around three hours.

“This is impossible.” A few more of your tears manage to trickle down your already red, puffy cheeks, “Okay you know what, I’ll just sing it. It’s fine. It’s not even two tones above what I usually sing in AND I’ve done it befo—”

“Lost your voice and felt lightheaded after.” Kevin cuts off your panicked rambles. No doubt, he’s feeling all the things that you are feeling right now but the only reason why he’s still able to muster up a smile and just ‘inhale, exhale’ through it all is because at the very least, one of you should be able to stay grounded, “We’re not going to put out a performance that we’re not proud of, okay? Especially when this is our last high school performance together.”

“We also said that we wouldn’t do any performances that were out of our capabilities.” At these words, you were both reminded of the promise you made to each other in front of your melted ice creams. It was an ‘oath’ that was made when you both realised you would be standing on the same stage, at the same time more often:

We will finish every performance to the best of our capabilities. We will focus more on quality rather than quantity.

At the new educational path that you were about to embark on, automatically closing this one that you’ve been on for just about six years, you were both starting to get greedy, wanting more than anything now to be on stage. With you both turning eighteen, you both couldn’t sing with the youth choir anymore. Taking music as a subject in high school meant there was a certain prerequisite in terms of how many stages you would have to perform; you and Kevin always exceeded this regardless with solos, duets, or larger ensembles. With graduation, however, the granted opportunity to perform would be taken away from you both and you were getting restless.

You were both greedy, forgetting almost all the other priorities that you had set out, and raked the internet for any chances to perform on stage. For the last two months, both of you have been juggling between your heavy study load, auditioning, composing, arranging, practising, and bowing at the end of it all. To the untrained ear, they could have probably missed the way you were momentarily out of tune or the way that Kevin missed his entry due to his fatigue. The greed consumed you both and most of the stages that you performed were nowhere near satisfactory for any standards that you both set for yourself. After the first performance that you were bashing yourself over, you rationalised that you would need to do another one to make up for the ‘loss’ from the previous one. That you NEED to go to another stage to make up for the ‘loss’ from the previous one.

That cycle is deadly and it keeps going for a while.

“Kev…I’m tired.” It feels like after a whole three years of back-to-back, almost seemingly non-stop performances in addition to the sudden addition from the past two months, you have finally hit a wall that you never wanted to admit. Kevin didn’t need verbal words to know the reason behind the lack of enthusiasm and the way the lyrics sing are no longer as projected and emotionful as before; because it was the same way to him.

“I know…” Kevin sighs. He finally relieves the downward strain on his neck, pulling it back up to rest against the wall. Offering you both comfort, he wraps his arm around the back of your shoulder, his palm pulling your left forearm to get you closer to him, “I’m sorry, I can’t get this right.”

“No, don’t say that.” You finally give in, plopping your head on his left shoulder in defeat, “I’m sorry. You’re doing your best.”

You let most of the silence fill you both, the hints of the trackpad clicking and the way the note that Kevin clicked would play out of his laptop’s speaker to audibly confirm the note that he just readjusted on the musical lines. Kevin’s left hand is maneuvering on the trackpad while his hand pats on your head that rested on his left shoulder, humming comfortingly while you calm your racing thoughts.

“But hey.” Kevin finally speaks up, “I just wanted to say that I like how busy this is making me.” Nodding to his own words, “It makes me forget the other subjects for a while.”

You exhale, knowing how much Kevin has been having a hard time with the other core subjects but still wakes up every day and chooses to smile courageously, “But this isn’t the right way. To forget other things, I mean.”

“I know, I know.” The boy lets out a little ‘aha’ when he finally finds the rhythm that you both wanted, playing the bar again and again, tapping his index finger on his thigh as he follows the 4/4 count, “But hey, thanks for accepting this performance even with all the final year-end exams. Or else I would REALLY be overthinking that recent chemistry test.”

“Love you, bro.” Reminding him thoughtfully to calm the noise in his head, “I’m always here for you.”

“Love you too, sis.” Playfully, he makes a fist and gently taps your forehead with his knuckles, emitting a laugh from you, “Just take a rest, okay? I’ll just,” Kevin adjusts his slouching posture, straightening his back fully against the wall so that his shoulders are higher and more comfortable for you to lay on, “be on another war with this app. You would expect I know all the tricks after using it for a year but guess not.”

So yes, it was a bit of a mess but on the bright side, you are both extremely proud of that final stage together as high school students. It earned a huge round of applause from the audience and many thankful regards were given by all the teachers in the department of music. It was a bittersweet feeling to see the head of music cry at the realisation that he would never see his two best students attend his class anymore but he made you both promise to visit once in a while.

But the performance being an open event, neither of you realised the opportunities or the types of people that would attend the concert. And so here you both are in an educational setting but with casual clothing unlike the blazer, tie, and the one hundred percent cotton blouses that you were forced to wear.

“Gosh Kev, you’re so funny!” Kevin smiles nervously, biting on his bottom lip as he refuses to look at you at all. You continued to laugh a little bit more, the tears in your eyes and the stitch on your abdomen growing with each breath you took. It’s when Kevin doesn’t laugh along or show any indications of joining in that you raise your eyebrows, some sort of nervousness in your eyes, “Wait, you’re being serious?!”

“It’s crazy, I know!” You just stare at him in shock, your mouth hanging wide open at your best friend next to you, “I think I’ll take the chance and university can wait. People can apply to university anytime but this?” He is finally telling you his worries and thoughts that have been running endlessly after two months of keeping it in, “It’s kind of time crucial.”

"Yes,” You understood his worries, knowing that the life of being a celebrity or an idol is quite limited. It has never been said explicitly but at least for Korean companies, there is a reason why there is always a certain age limitation when auditioning, “I get that but Kevin, are you sure? I get that you've always been into music and you've always been good at it! Trust me, I know! But you've always wanted to be here as well! You never really wanted to be a musical artist."

"That's why life is crazy right?"

You just finished your last class of the day and surprisingly Kevin shows up, waiting for you, looking conflicted and stressed about a subject that you obviously did not know about. His tired smile told you everything, you being able to read him easily like an open book. Kevin realises this, his shoulder slumping in defeat with how you look at him in concern and he feels your hesitation to keep the conversation going.

“Your ‘passive-aggressive tiger parents’ are good with it?”

“Well,” Reminded of the day that Stella convinced their parents to let him go with his path and to support his desires, “I guess so? They let me do everything and introduced me to music so it ain't my fault!" He finally turns to you for the first time after the laughing fit, "You’ll support me right?"

"Of course I will!" You confirm incredulously, both your eyebrows raising and the volume of the sentence rising with each word, “Damn we only met a bit over three years ago but it really does feel like we’ve been friends since birth.”

Kevin shrugs, happy with your genuine response to his uncertainties, “I’m just cool in that way.”

A roll of your eyes is your only response to him, “So, when’s the last time that I’ll see your ‘slay’ful face?”

He grimaces at the way you worded the adjective, “Ew, what is that word?” But then the truth had to be dropped someday; that being right now, “Y-Yeah about that.”

“Kevin Moon.” You frown at the way he just whistles to avoid the subject, an obvious action to buy time, “Kevin.”

"Not too soon! Like…like five days…"

Comedically, the crows on the campus made their signature noise and you took in the information slowly.

"WHAT THE BLEEP DUDE?!"

"OKAY IN MY DEFENCE I REALLY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO! YOU KNOW HOW INDECISIVE I AM!"

"OKAY BUT YOU NEVER BOTHERED TO TELL ME?!"

"I'M SORRY!"

Smiling at the obvious decrease in the stack of papers that needed to be marked, you decide to stretch your limbs and take a breath of fresh air before your energetic third graders arrive at school. You really left it to the last minute and you can’t wait to finish the last day of the week so that you can chill until another week starts. The weather was strangely gloomy, possibly due to the rainfall and the colder wind. You kind of regretted coming out, especially since the steam from your coffee no longer had that hypnotising white swirl in the air.

But you didn’t leave.

Instead, you even lean over the balcony’s metal railing. Even with the long sleeve covering your elbows, you enjoyed the contrast between your still-healthy body temperature and the icy surface. You weren’t sure why either but you just wanted to bask in the cold air and you can only pray that you weren’t going to get sick. The weather causes your shoulders to tense, bringing them towards the centre of your body to try and conserve some heat. It didn’t work that well but you were still feeling some sort of comfort with the morning weather.

You didn’t realise the time that passed by faster when you were practically doing nothing. The driveway, parking lots, and walkways eventually fill themselves with the diverse colours of school bags, shoes, and hair accessories. Mentally preparing yourself for the day ahead, you prepared your ‘teacher smile’, trying your best to hide your fatigue from the seemingly long week.

"Teacher, teacher!"

You finally lean away from the railing, giving a slight nod to the parent of your most energetic student, and the gesture is returned straight away. Crouching down to match his eye level, you put your palm out to him and he slaps his palm on yours, "Wow. Looks like someone had too much sugar."

"Teacher! Do you know K-Pop?" Your body froze just like the raindrops that didn’t make it to the floor, hanging solid on the rooftop’s overhang, "It's a huge thing right now!"

Oh, if only he knew…

"I can hear your rumbling thoughts like an open book." After his flustered state and a string of apologies that led you to put him in a joking headlock, Kevin grew quiet once again, letting his thoughts fill in the atmosphere between you both, "What's up? And don't lie because you know you suck at it."

The boy attempts to change the subject again, "If it's a book then wouldn't it be read instead of heard?"

"...ok smartass." You stare at him unimpressed with his attempt, "But no seriously, what's up? You know that it's okay not to be okay."

"It's just that…" He ponders, a sad smile on his face as he thinks about his current life situation, "My life is fine as it is right now. It's all great: I'm going to a good university, studying the course I want and I'm looking forward to being a teacher." An eyebrow slowly raised on your side, prompting him to continue, "Why is this happening now? Why is this happening when everything is going fine?" Kevin's facade finally breaks, his eyes pooling with tears with the many unanswered questions, "Why didn't this opportunity come earlier? Maybe when I wasn't in university? I can't even get a refund now…"

"Hey…" Kevin rarely cries in public. For one, you've only seen him cry twice and both times were because he dived in too deep with his plans, making him depressed and lost. You realised once again, with the tears that fell on his jeans that Kevin is not the happy-go-lucky guy who he displays himself to be most of the time. He's human above everything else and even though he always tries to see the best in every situation, it's moments like these that you see your best friend in a different light than the rest of the world, "Money is not all to life, you know? What's the point of stacking up money when you can't even do what you want?"

"But then why would people be so money-crazed then? People work for money…"

"To use it on what they love and need. Some people don't even feel like work is for money." Even though Kevin just stares down at the floor, swinging his legs in the air, you know that he's taking in everything you're saying, "But that's beside the point right now, okay? If making the stage your usual routine will lead you to happiness, then I want you to take it."

"But…why?" The clause can never be fully answered and Kevin knew that despite his multiple endeavours to rake for answers, "Why me? When everything is going well?"

"Because God has different plans for you." Inhaling the colder air, you told yourself to remember this moment between you and him, "I'm not saying you're pretending to be someone you're not. But the moment that you stop pretending, the moment you accept that something out there is better for you, I think will be the moment when you finally accept yourself."

"Are you positive that it'll come?" His voice decreased, along with the final bits of his self-confidence, "The journey of self-acceptance, I mean."

You both have been talking in hushed whispers, as gentle as the whistling wind. But you decide to finally add confidence into the conversation.

"Hey Kevin." The said boy looks up to you, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand…"

"...that he may lift you in due time." He finishes the biblical passage that he has been fascinated with for the longest time.

Satisfied, you nod, proud of him, "I can't answer your 'whys', Kevin. To be honest, I don’t think anyone can." You finally voice your opinion, knowing now that your time with him is limited, "But just know that even though you would have strived here in university, one of God's greatest gifts for you is your musicality."

Your words relieve Kevin of his headache, heartache, and the shirt that he has been clamping since the start of the day. You chuckle when Kevin asks for a hug, opening your arms wide to offer him the best comfort that he will forever cherish and be thankful for. Soothingly, you sway your body side to side, humming the melody to the latest (and last) song that you performed together. Kevin joins in with his harmony which has always left people in awe and starstruck.

"Maybe you're just meant to be up there and twerk in front of the camera and not just to our friends." You comment when the song comes to an end.

"Wow, alright." His sniffles didn't cease even when he dragged the final 'w' and 't'.

"You'll be okay, Kevin." The light but secure taps on his back prove your reassuring words, "I know you will."

"Surely…right?" It's the final question that he would ever ask you about this subject, "As we know, not everything we see on the screen is real. I just feel like I'll lose myself because the idol world wants us to be a certain way."

"No, I don't think you will." You pull Kevin away, pouting at his flushed cheeks and tired face, "I know it's stressful to keep up with society but I hope you know that there will be people that will love and support you. And if you make a mistake? If you lose yourself in shape, way, or form? Then you fight. You fight for your rights and fight for them righteously. You’ll fight because like you always say: learn from relationships. You learn the do's and not do's and still keep the relationship genuine."

“You have that much faith in me?”

“I do.” You tilt your chin high in the air, confidence finally reaching him in the form of a bright smile, "And for those who don’t,” You shake your head, flipping your hair back sassily, “those bitches can walk out the door."

You remember the memory somewhat fondly. To be honest, you found it a bit funny because you lost your best friend over music. You would learn after his departure that you would never find a friend like him ever again. Ironically, it was music that brought you two together—yet it was the same thing that drifted you both apart.

It took a while for you to bounce back. You grew bitter about doing music especially when Kevin no longer answered any of your messages anymore out of nowhere. When you bumped into Stella while grocery shopping, you found out that it was because of his phone ban as a trainee. You remember going home that day, feeling guilty that you blamed him, not considering his external situation; especially when you knew that Kevin would never cut someone off without an explanation. Yes, it’s been lonely; you did lose your best friend after all. At first, you regretted letting him go, you resented him for not texting you back and you avoided the stage because it reminded you of him.

But God had a different plan for you too. Because when you accidentally clicked on one of the recommended videos on your page, the satisfied smile, the happy tears and the relieved exhale showed your real feelings that you were merely in a phase of confusion. All the hate, all the resentment, all faded as soon as you heard the slightly changed vocal timbre that you unfortunately are no longer used to. You found peace with the person who dances happily underneath the flashing, colourful lights with ten other boys.

“Teacher?” The boy’s innocent head tilt pulls you back to the present time and he seems pleased with the way you nod to his question, “I like K-Pop too! I found this group! They’re called THE BOYZ!”

You were amazed at the stars that the topic put to your student’s eyes and you nodded intently to his excited story. It’s not long after when the mother pushes her child in, sitting him down so that you can get on with your priorities. You straighten your knees, standing back up, pushing your hips out side to side to stretch from the unexpectedly long conversation.

“Damn, Kev…” Your shoulders and chest rise at the deep breath and your hands find their place on your hips, “And after all these years…you’re still able to make me smile?”

The starting bell rang just in time for your last student to arrive just before you closed the glass door to block out the outside background noise. With the final student ready and set up, you stand in front of the electronic board that displays the first class of the day. Your mind begins to wonder again, particularly about the boy that you once shared a dream with. Routinely, you rhythmically clap to grab everyone’s attention, and surely enough, the conversations between the students die down, and you give back the fond look that your students gave you.

“Shall we start music class?”

The enthusiastic response answers your wondering thoughts and the question you asked yourself outside the classroom.

“Guess that’s just you, Kevin. That’s just who you are, Kev.”

navi/masterlist!! 🤍 series introduction 🤍 series masterlist tags (send a dm/ask if you would like to be here!): @deoboyznet 📢❤️ @k-labels 💙🤍 @k-films 🤎🎞️ @kflixnet 📺🍿

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purgemarchlockdown · 8 months

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Magic as a TV Show

(CWs: Child Abuse, Cults) (Edit: Did some light editing, still a bit messy but should be fine now)

So, it's not a secret that I'm a big fan of Magic. It's my favorite T1 MV and one of my favorite Milgram MVs in general. Even before Purge March I'd re-watch it over and over again just because I liked it so much.

One of my favorite things about it is the way the visual language and symbolism develops over it's runtime, and with Purge March it's gotten ever better so lets talk about it!

Based on True Events

So, Magic is the very cheery TV Show that is based on the horrors going on backstage, and it's also aware of it's own fictional nature. It ends with the real Amane watching the show. It knows it's a world created by a 12 year old who wants to be Good.

This causes something interesting when viewing it's imagery. As Magic depiction of events can be both very literal and very metaphorical at the same time.

For example: Something that surprised most people (including myself) is the cat being real, and while it is representative of Something (which we will get to) it is very much an actual cat that was killed.

Magic plays with what is real and what is fictional very loosely, and while certain things Happen in the real world, you can't really separate the real from the fictional here. It's too interconnected with each other and the imagery would lose it's impact if you did separate them.

So with that established it's visual analysis time!

The Set

So Magic is set in one place for the majority of it's runtime. This set! Which resembles a lot of educational kid's tv programs, usually ones for preschool and under.

Here's are sets from an early season of Hi-5 and Imagination Movers to compare.

You can see the similarities, it's heavy on bright colors and wacky designs, the logo of the show is plastered Somewhere you can easily see, and only some of the props can actually be used!

These two examples are also very music based. Both of them being shows starring children's musical groups.

The animals here (except for the Cat which is in a Complicated situation) are probably representative of the audience. The other people of the cult being taught along with Amane.

Audience Participation is a big thing for shows like this, you'll see them perform with a bunch of children on the side cheering and dancing. It's a fun time for everyone!

Going back to the set, while the main set only has the colorful stage we do see a few props in Magic. You can see a Choir book right here so the group can sing.

A Whiteboard to teach.

A Donation box to show your generosity.

And...

A Game Show Stage to see if you understood the lesson.

Age Rating

I've talked...extensively before on how Pain is handled in Magic and while that post is outdated because I posted it right before Purge March a lot of it still stands to some extent.

Amane's pain in Magic is downplayed in Magic, it's nothing serious. Even though this pain is something Inflicted Onto Amane Physically by Gatacha.

I was going to talk a bit about corporeal punishment in Japan before realizing that this isn't even something that is considered a punishment. It's just a finger flick. This is something your older brother does to you cause he thinks its funny. It's the lightest possible kind of "punishment" there is.

This makes Amane's reaction to it seem silly. An Overreaction to something that isn't even that bad. She has cartoonish swirls and falls over dramatically. It's...Immature of her to react like this.

Even though we know these are injuries are much more serious than they are shown here. Magic doesn't portray them as serious, and also portrays Amane as Immature for acting like this.

Which points to something interesting, as I said this show resembles a preschool show and it's strange that twelve year old Amane Momose, almost a teenager Amane Momose, is existing in a world like this.

It gets even weirder when we consider that, while Amane most likely hasn't been exposed to much media her mind still conjures up a marching band in Purge March and she talks very "adult" in both her VDs and hates it when people treat her like a child.

Not only that, but Amane Momose in both Purge March And Magic is drawn visibly older than she actually is.

It's not the easiest to see because I can't find a good picture but you can see it in just the face shape. Outside of Magic and Purge March Amane's face is more squishy, with less defined cheeks and bigger, rounder eyes. While Magic and Purge March have her face be more defined and her eyes smaller and sharper. Making her look more like a young teenager rather than the seven year old. She's even called Big Sister Amane in Magic's credits.

If Amane Momose's mind is depicting her as older than she actually is, and Amane Momose outside of it acts very "adult" and hates it when people treat her like a child. Why then does Magic portray her actions as immature? Why is she put in the spot of a preschooler learning from their teachers?

Why is Amane Momose, in her mind, stuck in a preschool show?

Well, there's two layers to this.

First of all, Good preschool shows are usually very empathetic to the kids watching them and good preschool shows don't patronize or talk down to the viewers.

Even if the problem is seemingly irrational or nonsensical.

It's important to be empathetic with your viewers.

And to treat it their problems and issues with respect and understanding.

A concept that would be very appealing to Amane Momose, person who gets tortured for even showing a smidge of "impurity."

Second, why...wouldn't Amane Momose be portrayed as the preschooler learning here? She's the one constantly messing up, still not a good girl even though she should have learned by now. She's immature by the standards of her cult.

She's the perfect actor for this role, a girl that cannot be a good girl but wants to be.

Only if, only if, only if I could be a good girl I hope, I hope everyone can be happy and smile Forever, forever together would be a dream

The big sister that everyone can learn from, a character who has to learn from the older more experienced folk in the cast before becoming like them. The one who fails so that everyone else can learn.

This is the role Amane Momose has given herself.

Well...that and one other thing.

Cast

Will I ever get over the cat parallels?

The answer is no, but ignoring that, Amane has gotten two acting roles! The cat here is both the actual Purge March cat but is representative of Amane. As seen by how the injuries on the cat are her injuries in Magic and Purge March and how the cat gets directly paralleled with her in shots. This cat is, for all intents and purposes, both The Cat and Amane.

This gives the scene where Amane helps the cat a neat double meaning. Amane is helping the cat but it's also symbolically her helping herself...and failing.

Because Your not supposed to escape your trial.

Amane: Both pain and illness are trials.

This is one of the worst things you can do.

Amane: According to our teachings, those who run from them are the worst evil there is. That’s one of the four great principles. No matter who you are, that cannot be forgiven.

Your especially not supposed to steal those trials away.

Amane: Oh – speaking of which, there is one among the prisoners right now. An evil existence that’s trying to steal people’s trials away from them.

The cat is Amane's sinful desires to escape pain and help people, because that's Bad Apparently. She is cast as both the sinner and the thing that tempts people to sin. The corruptive force and the one who falls for it.

If were talking TV: She's the one in those 90s PSA episodes who gets Wrapped up in a Bad Thing and also the person who's the gateway to the Bad Thing.

(Blueepink has a wonderful addition to one of my posts over here which elaborates on this and is what made me realize it in the first place. Go read it she talks about some fun animal symbolism in it!)

Amane does however redeem herself in the end. You can always learn to be better after all. Even if you are the Worst Girl.

But you can't get rid of the devil that easily, she had some help!

(You can't get rid of the devil that easily in general, but it's nice to imagine you could-)

Let's talk about the mascots!

And Crew

So as people have noted each mascot corresponds to one of the doctrines.

In Magic introduction order we have:

Gachata- ’Tis ordained, thou shall stay thine course, then perish Yuri- ’Tis ordained, thou shall deliver unto those thou believest in Gozake -’Tis ordained, thou shall discard vulgarity Riyone- ’Tis ordained, thou shall follow thine destiny

(Fun fact: The doctrines are introduced opposite to how the mascots are introduced in Purge March. I don't know what this means but it certainly is interesting)

Like a lot of children's tv show groups, each mascot seems to be focused on a specific task/idea.

Gachata is Teaching Yuri is Donations Gozake is Choir And Riyone is Complicated

Each design reflects this in one way or another. Gachata is a robot because robots are associated with being smart and logical. Yuri's clothes are patched up and he's wearing a bin making him look, well poor. Gozake is in priest's wear and has a Conductor's Baton and Riyone...

Well, she has bandage ears. But that's a weird design choice isn't it? Especially since the cult is so against medicine, or more accurately against escaping pain, that Wrapping a Handkerchief around a cat's leg is considered wrong.

Amane literally wants to kill Shidou Right Now for violating that rule...so why does Riyone have bandages?

The answer is she doesn't, this is Magic Exclusive Design Choice.

Here is the best picture of Riyone I Could get in Purge March.

These are not the same ears, their rounder and smaller and don't have the bandage holes at the end.

Do you know what else is weird about Riyone?

This sequence.

Because as Amane has stated in the T2 VD, your not supposed to run from pain.

So why is Riyone suggesting healing the cat's physical injury through prayer?

Especially since, presumably, the rule about pain is under her. She's the one representing it.

Well, this is Amane's fictional TV show. The one she's writing to bring herself comfort. Why Wouldn't she want Riyone to be a healer who could stop the pain?

You will note that this gives extra responsibility onto Amane for not following what is the obvious Good Action. Healing the Cat with Prayer would have Fixed everything but she had to go Too Far and needed to be taught a Lesson and now the cat is Gone.

Riyone is also paralleled with her mom.

This is probably due to the rule she's associated with, as that's the rule her mom punished Amane for breaking and the rule Amane punished her for breaking.

Amane has Not acknowledged that what was done to her was Wrong, she has just acknowledged the hypocrisy of the action. Riyone is portrayed as right for punishing her since it Is her doctrine she broke, while her mom is portrayed as wrong because she was not able to live up to her own standards.

This is probably why Riyone doesn't disappear in the end. As said above, Magic plays very fast and loose with what is real and what is metaphorical. Riyone represents her mom Yes but She's more representative of the rule, a rule that Amane still (wants to) believe in it.

For now at least.

Lighting

So I haven't mentioned the stage light yet even though it's a really important part of it, it's what sets off the chain of events that end in Winged Amane. It's the most real looking thing in this entire MV.

In a move I will find funny forever, this is one of the few things in Magic that doesn't seem to be connected to any specific real world event, object, or person. This stage light is most likely, purely a metaphor.

The way it disguise its nature is really interesting to me. Magic is so obviously fictional and fantasized that the real looking stage light stands out, especially since it hurts The Cat. It's unexpected and concerning, it feels out of place in this cheery world.

Except, I've mentioned it multiple times now that Magic plays fast and loose with the boundaries of fiction and reality. Magic is a show and it knows it. This Stage light was always apart of it's visual identity as a show.

This Stage light is the most obvious Show element out of everything. It's the lighting AND the inciting incident. An important backstage element and an important story element all wrapped up into one light.

This is also probably a reference to an early scene in the Truman Show.

The light falling is one of the first things that clues Truman to the nature of his world. It's the inciting incident because Truman starts noticing more strange things happening in his town, and an important backstage element, a star in the sky.

Plus, the stagelight was already breaking when we see it in Magic, we can see it flicker for a few seconds before falling.

It wasn't sabotaged with the intent to hurt. The light of this world is Literally Breaking. This image of stable happiness was never going to last forever and has probably been broken multiple times in the past.

It just so happened that The Cat was the one it fell on-top of this time.

Audience

I would go into more costuming or the storybook sequences in Magic if this post wasn't already so long. I think Magic is a deeply interesting MV and honestly it doesn't even feel like I'm scratching its surface sometimes.

I sometimes call it Amane Momose's self-insert hurt/comfort fix-it-fic because that really is what Magic is. It's her fix-it fic. Her TV series. Her maladaptive daydream that makes her feel like she still Has Something to hold onto.

Even I can say "I'm sorry" Even I have hope I swear! I'm going to be a good girl now! That's it!

This is actually something she shares a bit with Fuuta but if we talked about those parallels we would be here forever and it's also very much out of the scope of this post.

But, as I mentioned, we see Amane watching it at the end. She's an audience member for her own show, detached from all the silly, empathetic, understanding, fun events going on in that world.

Amane Momose is Very Aware that the world she wants isn't real.

But even so, that Want for it to be real is going to bleed into everything.

#milgram #amane momose #008 #milgram amane #milgram meta #milgram analysis #cw child abuse #cw cults #I COULD GO ON ABOUT HOW PURGE MARCH TREATS ITS FICTION BUT THAT WOULD MAKE THIS SO LONG-#SOMETHING SOMETHING 'IN PURGE MARCH THE FICTION BLEEDS INTO REALITY!' SOMETHING #ITS INTERESTING BUT I WANT THIS OUT OF MY DRAFTS ITS BEEN HERE FOR A WEEK #ALSO I CONDONE THIS MURDER BTW I THINK SHE SHOULD OF KILLED EARLIER-#IM JUST SAYING THAT THE FICTIONAL AMANE IS INDICATIVE OF A DEEPER ISSUE HERE #LIKE THE ACT OF VIOLENCE IS SOMETHING SO CATHARTIC THAT AMANE CANT IMAGINE IT AS SOMETHING SHE DID-#im not writing the post in the tags here

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love-for-burgundy-blog · 10 days

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I'm back with these!!!

Cilan is very protective of Burgundy. Literally, if someone insults her or if someone says that they dislike her, Cilan is crushed and will make sure that the people who insult his girl are repremanded. 💜💚

Burgundy is part of the PCA's Choir and Drama clubs. She's in Choir because she loves to sing and she is in Drama because she's always loved plays and musicals and also likes to be v e r y dramatic. She is pretty tight with the other students in those clubs and they all hang out a lot and travel all together to events such as conventions or theater shows sometimes, which makes Georgia kinda jealous.

Speaking of, after one of Burgundy's concerts or shows, Cilan will wait for her in the lobby of the concert hall at the PCA with a bouquet of flowers in his hand. When she comes out, she runs to Cilan who lifts her up in his arms and barages her with kisses. Burgundy is slightly embarrassed by these gestures since they are in public but also looks forward to it after every performance.

Georgia and Burgundy will go on joyrides together throughout the city. They of course take lots of goofy pictures, videos, and selfies and do lots of sightseeing. It's not uncommon for them to stop at a Starbucks or McDonald's to gossip about certain people they know. 😏

Burgundy's and Cilan's families have known each other since Burgundy was a baby so Burgundy would have several playdates with Cilan and his brothers as small children. They did a lot together which makes Cilan and Burgundy's bond even stronger.

@poliwhirl42 Please let me know what you think of this batch of Burgucanons. :) 💜

#pokemon #best wishes #pokeani #pokémon black and white #pokemon best wishes #anipoke #pokemon burgundy #burgundy pokemon #pokemon cilan #cilan pokemon #sommeliershipping #sourgrapesshipping #my headcanons #Burgucanons #Anna's silly Burgucanons #Anna's headcanons

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shewhoworshipscarlin · 3 months

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Doris Troy

R&B Singer Doris Troy was born Doris Elaine Higginsen in Bronx, New York, on January 6, 1937. Both a singer and a songwriter, her biggest hit, “Just One Look,” was released in 1963 and peaked at no. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Troy’s father was a Barbadian Pentecostal minister, and she began singing in the church choir. Her parents disapproved of R&B and rock ‘n’roll music and forbade their four children to listen to it. Despite their ban on that music, she became an usherette at the Apollo Theatre in Harlem where she heard and met many of the performers including James Brown, who was credited with “discovering” her.

In 1957, Troy formed a three-girl group named the Halos and began writing songs. A publisher paid her $100 for her song “How About That,” which became a hit for Dee Clark. To earn a steady income, Troy began singing backup and teamed with Cissy Houston and her cousins Dionne and Dee Dee Warrick for Atlantic Records in 1963. Calling themselves the Sweet Inspirations, they sang backup for The Drifters, Solomon Burke, and other established artists.

After writing “Just One Look” with Gregory Carroll in 1963, the couple took the demo to Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records who immediately signed them. The record was released under the name Doris Troy, as Higginsen changed her name to Troy after the legendary heroine, Helen of Troy. “Just One Look” was a smash success and was later recorded by The Hollies and Linda Ronstadt. Unfortunately, Doris Troy was never able to match her first hit.

In 1964, Troy visited London and became enamored with the British music scene. She moved to the United Kingdom in 1969 and signed with Apple Records, owned by the Beatles. Throughout the 1970s, she collaborated with British artists and developed a loyal following. She once did a live show backed on piano by Elton John, who at the time was not well-known. Troy sang backup on George Harrison’s hit, “My Sweet Lord,” Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” and Billy Preston’s album That’s the Way God Planned It. Returning to the U.S. in 1974, she shared the stage with Otis Redding, Rufus Thomas, and other noted artists.

Perhaps her most memorable stage performance was in Mama, I Want to Sing, a musical she wrote along with her younger sister, Vy Higginsen, and her husband, Ken Wydro. Based on Troy’s life, the musical featured Troy playing her mother, Geraldine. When it opened at the Heckschers Theatre in Spanish Harlem on March 23, 1983, it ran for 1,500 performances before going on a national and international tour. From 1986 to 1999 the musical toured Germany, Italy and Japan, and was performed at the West End Theatre in the UK. The musical was made into a motion picture titled Mama, I Want to Sing starring Ciara, Patti LaBelle, and Hill Harper and released on DVD in 2012.

Respiratory problems forced Troy to move from New York to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the dry desert climate. She continued to perform in supper clubs and casinos. Doris Troy died of emphysema on February 16, 2004, at the age of 67 in Las Vegas.

#black history month #historical #actress

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obbligcto · 2 months

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( cis woman . she/her ) - the new york city resident , clarissa dalton , was seen sporting erdem on park avenue today . the forty year old is a singer in the city & has been here for ten years . since being here , they have been told to be emotional , but also compassionate , who really knows ! according to nycslam , her management made the call to cancel the tour . anyways , guess we'll find out for ourselves ! [ kate , 26 , gmt , she/her ]

triggers: depression, abuse, mental illness tw

clarissa was actually born in york, yorkshire (but lies that she's a southerner and that's what's on her wiki page...). she’s the eldest of four siblings but the middle child always stepped up and outperformed her in every single way. her mother was a music teacher and her father a chemist. although she was inspired by music, she never decided to take up a music hobby like her siblings and was part of a swimming club instead.

clarissa had always been conscientious. a student, she’d get easily upset if she did anything wrong and would want to avoid any repercussion from it, even if it was as simple as a note being jotted down to say she’d forgotten one of her workbooks, she’d cry about it.

at school, she was the person who would sing in front of her peers in assembly and be bullied by people because of it. she had always been in a choir and had an excellent voice but children were cruel and that knocked her confidence massively.

she was around 10 when she decided she wanted to take up some music classes, however, the only one available was in choral conducting. she went from being in the choir to conducting it and she preferred her back to the audience.

however, she still kept up being in her church choir and being the only person under the age of forty, she was selected for solos with them. of course, some of her peers also attended church but it wasn't something that they broadcasted. she was fifteen when her choir were successful to sing at an event that would be televised. this was the point where clarissa was pursued by a label.

she was hesitant at it - she was going into her final year of high school before doing her a-levels and was worried about her exams. they assured her that it was possible to both study and record a debut album. her parents, being in their late fifties, were also cautious of the offer as they weren't in a position to travel with her nor were they prepared to leave their village where they had a comfortable house and living space for a flat three times smaller than cost three times as much - clarissa would go with the label that would put her up in her own apartment.

it was such a big jump too soon and it stressed her out massively. she had been well taken care of by her parents before attempting to do things herself. it was against the law as her parents thought someone would be staying with her and she was unsupervised. however, clarissa didn't know any different so just got on with it.

by the time she'd reached eighteen, she'd experienced burn out. her debut album had done extremely well - one that was in the classical realms - and the label could recycle the traditional songs and hymns into a rendition album but they always wanted more from her. it was another artist at the label that put in a complaint on clarissa's behalf, them experiencing the same mistreatment themselves. the label was shut down as criminal investigations took place.

clarissa, being a perfectionist, didn't want to cancel any performances she had lined up so proceeded to try fill those commitments herself. she loved her craft but was damaging herself by not taking the time to slow down. she would learn from this. a hospitalisation caused her to wipe her schedule and take it steady.

at nineteen, her old label mate mentioned they had a meeting at a different label and they kindly dropped her name on their radar. the rest is history. within a year of being signed, she had her break-out moment with a song of a soundtrack that topped the charts. her new label took care of her (they would be fools not to considering how much money she was now bringing in) and allowed her to flourish, to pursue the things she wanted for herself and allowed her to reject things she didn't (within reason).

clarissa dalton found her place in the market as a classical / pop singer she was all about her craft and kept her personal life private, something that she'd continue to do. while that was always going to be her plan, there were certain parts about herself that she didn't want her fans knowing about as she'd assumed most of her demographic wouldn't accept a certain part of her and her career would tank because of it.

it wasn't that she wasn't telling the truth, she just wasn't shouting from the roof tops that she was bisexual; in a perfect world, people would accept her but from the foundation that her career had been built from, it didn't feel like a viable option. the woman doesn't actively talk about it yet doesn't deny it either. she was in a relationship with a woman but she wanted to go public and more public than clarissa would have liked. when the other stated that there would be people that would accept her, clarissa shut her down - she wasn't yet willing to take that chance nor did she want to become some sort of poster child for a community she didn't even feel a part of. when the relationship ended, she presented the other woman with an nda. she feels terrible about this and it's probably the worst thing she's done...

clarissa has been very successful. she's rich, very rich but tries to keep herself as grounded as possible. however, she is aware that she's not accumulating new fans so would have to branch out a little to appeal to a younger demographic. she's not the best with socials either - she has them but nothing personal will be displayed on it and it's used for showing her practices, daily routine and outfits more than anything else.

she does love fashion - the beautiful, the ugly and everything else. it fascinates her so will have connections with a lot of top notch designers that either work for revolution or work outside of and who she frequently wears.

clarissa was always a highly strung person but recently, it was running her into the ground rather quickly. the woman worries a lot about the perception of her that others have as well as being perfect. her body then started to betray her, a then undiagnosed overactive thyroid, and everything seemed so much worse to her. it was particularly worse when she'd bottled the high note of her most recent release in a live performance twice - she was disappointed in herself but it was worse that others seemed more disappointed, that they were using that instance to completely tear down her career.

her entire self worth is based on what the public perceive her to be and that's a major issue/ as soon as she felt rejected, she completely broke down and felt like she just couldn't fix it, that people would never accept her, that she'd never be happy - she just broke - ended up in the emergency room. that night was so intense and everything just hurt. she's just lucky that her current management take care of here. they're on rocky terms at the moment, with them cancelling her tour but she'll eventually see that it was the right call.

her tour was cancelled due to her poor health and clarissa hates the assumptions that come with that but doesn't want to go into detail either. her management have advised her not to sign in to her social media accounts.

EXTRA NOTES:

he woman is not one to open up and she'd rather deal with her problems on her own - it also reduces the risk of anything leaking to the press as up until this point, her image has been squeaky clean. it was somewhat of a rerun of what happened when she was younger, only this time her mental state seemed much worse.

stage fright would be the wrong word but clarissa went to do some performances and both times she bottled the highest note, as in she just didn't even attempt to sing it. she could do it, she'd done it plenty of times before but something inside her felt like she couldn't. her fans were supportive, perhaps too supportive that then became aggressive enough to start fan wars, picking singers that lip-synced or used autotune to try and lift her up and that was the first major problem her public personal had.

although taking it easy, she's still practicing and drafting ideas for a next album (though needs a songwriters help to actually write as it would be all over the place if she was left to her own devices.

clarissa is a nurturer by default. she has a lot of experience in the industry and does want to help those who are struggling. however, she herself appears to be struggling and she's not used to that.

her voice is insured.

collabs - people that she's collaborated with in the past. i'm comparing her career to celine dion but she would have definitely done some cross-overs for a greater outreach and to keep herself engaged.

party buddy - that duo that always asks each other to come drinking with them and they almost never say no! messy times would happen and might have the potential to be toxic as they don't help each other with their issues, only enable and make them worse.

tba

#richfm:intro #depression tw #abuse tw #mental illness tw

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jknerd · 1 year

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Multiverse Character: Ichabod Crane

Full Name: Ichabod Crane Nicknames: Mr. Crane, Ickie, Widows’ Heartbreaker Gender: Male Age: 30s Occupation(s): School teacher, Music teacher/tutor, dance tutor, demon/ghost hunter (occasionally) Family: Katrina van Tassel (lover->wife), Baltus van Tassel (father-in-law) Likes: Teaching his students, reading, diverse cuisine, singing, dancing, composing songs, Katrina van Tassel Dislikes: Harmful Bad luck/supernatural beings, his students in distress Character Ichabod Crane is a new teacher from New York, teaching students in music and dancing. Tall—reaching to 190 cm—and lean, he is known for natural talent in teaching, singing and dancing. According to teachers and student parents, he has strange magic to change boring choir concert into enthusiastic and lively gospel performances, making students listen to him, and is always swarmed with his admirers. During weekends, he would help the single mothers by spending time with their children and singing for their babies, hence earning positive reputation. Female students would occasionally flirt with him, because he was unlike any “jocks” or “inferior wannabes” for they are fallen by his mature demeanor. Children likes to hear a lot of ghost stories, urban legends, and cautionary tales from him. Currently, he is married to Katrina van-Tassel. According to the story of him and his wife, Ichabod was once Katrina’s music teacher during her teenage years and she had enormous romantic feelings for him, dumping the jock student Brom Bones for him and would blush whenever Ichabod compliments her. Additionally, it was Katrina who asked him out when they met again after her graduation from university as her father approved of him. In Hey Arnelle AU: In episode “Hots for Teacher”, Ichabod Crane has become a substitute teacher for music/drama in behalf of Mr. Simmons and Arnelle—in her Freshman Year—has developed a huge crush on him. She would write his names on her music notebook and gets embarrassed when her friends teased her of her crush on Mr. Crane. Though, Helgo doesn’t show distaste towards the teacher as the said man appreciates his artistic talent. Eventually, it is revealed that Ichabod is married to a wealthy Dutch beauty Katrina van Tassel. Katrina bonded with Helgo as she confessed she loved her husband ever since she was his high school student. In Fairly OddParents AU: Mr. Crane was introduced as Mr. Bickles’ best friend during their school years and has willingly accepted the offer to help Dimmsdale school in drama production. Admiring him, Timmy made a wish that Mr. Crane becomes a permanent teacher in Dimmsdale. When her wish was granted, she struggled to find a right timing to impress him as he was usually surrounded by his admirers—female students & teachers, even the single mothers! Jealous Tristan, Vernon, and other boys—angry that Ichabod has stolen Timmy’s attentions—formed their organization to get rid of him. Alarmed, Timmy sabotaged them while successfully canceled her wish. When she admitted she likes him, Mr. Crane kindly thanked her for enjoying his class and she blushed as he kissed her hand in polite manner, provoking the boys’ jealousy. In Courage the Cowardly AU: Ichabod Crane was introduced as Uncle Fred’s schoolmate. He was in Middle of Nowhere to teach teenage choirs a song for Halloween and encountered Courage who found his missing musical notes. Recently, there has been incidents where people were disappeared without a trace except pieces of pumpkins left behind. Learning the legendary horseman was targeting Ichabod Crane, Courage decided to make a trap for the Headless Horseman, only to reveal it was Brom Bones who was jealous of Ichabod’s marriage to Katrina. Seeing his fair, Uncle Fred proceeded to trim all of Brom’s hair. In Grimm Adventures of Billie & Manny AU: Mr. Ichabod Crane has become a music teacher in Endsville and has gained huge popularity as most attractive teacher, much to Mindwell’s dismay. Brom Bones was portrayed as PE teacher who has known Ichabod Crane and was bitter about him married to Katrina. When the Headless Horsemen led the army of pumpkin-headed/headless zombies, Ichabod displayed a surprising combating skills, defending Endsville against them as his enemy the Headless Horsemen yelled “WHAT THE FUCK?! HE’S AN EMO! HE’S A TWINK!! KILL HIM!!”, but all his army were permanently dead. Grima was impressed as her boss was thinking of recruiting Ichabod Crane as new reaper if he passes away. In Camp Lakebottom AU: Ichabod Crane has a cameo appearance as camp choirs critic with connections to recording company. When Jorah and Sully’s choir team performed, he wasn’t impressed with it due to their lack of musical talent. However, when Mackenzie, Sakurako and Gregory’s team performed, he was satisfied with their passion and talent, thus, announcing the Camp Lakebottom as winning team of Camp Choirs competition. In Gravity Falls AU: According to this universe, Ichabod Crane was actually named after his ancestor who served in US Army during War of 1812 along with Pines Twins’ ancestor. Dipporah has developed a crush on him when he was teaching teenage choirs of Gravity Falls for the Pioneer Day, but was devastated to know he is married. In Danni Phantom AU: Ichabod Crane work as music teacher in Casper High, gaining popularity as attractive individual. Danni considered him as second attractive adult next to Vlad Masters. Noticing her singing voice, Ichabod offered her a solo part for the choir. However, as the Fright Knight continuously disrupt the students’ rehearsals fighting Danni, new masked ghost hunter in motorbike showed up. Danni was surprised it was none other than Ichabod Crane, archenemy of Fright Knight who would nearly gets successful in exorcise the ghostly knight. In As Told By Gin AU: Ichabod Crane work as music teacher in Lucky High. He became Carly’s crush when he overlooked her harmless yet practical jokes while complimenting her drumming skills. Also, he teaches Curtis, Mir and Miki with their chorus/vocal lesson after school. Though, Curtis pouts in jealousy when Gin blushed by Mr. Crane’s compliments. In Spongebell AU: During working hours, Octavia fell in love with Ichabod Crane who helped her up when she nearly hurt herself falling on a floor. She becomes more attracted to him as both share love for music as they become friends. While Larry was heartbroken by this, William was insanely jealous and attempted to sabotage the music teacher, believing Octavia will stop liking him once he “no longer able to sing”. However, William was brutally beaten up by Katrina, Ichabod’s wife. While heartbroken of this discovery, Octavia remained friends with Ichabod. It is further revealed that Ichabod loves the burgers, he become Mrs. Krab’s favorite customer. In An, Ann & Anny AU: As substitute teacher of Peach Creek High, Ichabod Crane has become a most popular teacher as An, Ann and Anny admire him, developing a crush much to Rolf, Kevin, the Kanker Cousins’ dismay. An attempts to impress him by carrying his heavy books, Ann tries by getting perfect grade in his class, while Anny does by trying to look physically attractive. However, they were disappointed once they realized he is married to a beautiful woman Katrina Van Tassel. In Disney Retelling AU - Legend of Sleepy Hollow: Setting in modern times, it takes place when he was hired as teacher in Sleepy Hollow High. Beloved by students of Elementary to High school years, he become a popular queen bee Katrina’s crush, much to Brom Bones’ jealousy. Then, it is revealed that Ichabod Crane is a believer of superstitions and legends. The episodes most likely shows Brom Bones attempt to sabotage or humiliate Ichabod Crane in order to taint the teacher’s popularity and have Katrina for himself, but always ended up have his plan foiled by every circumstances. In Spy X Family AU: In the universe of Spy X Family AU, Ichabod Crane is a music, performing arts teacher in Eden College. Formerly, he was a tutor of Eden college mothers’ choir and for Demetrius’ opera lesson. When he worked in Eden college, he formed a quick bond with children of Cecile Hall as he has good friendship with Henry Henderson who often compliments “VERY ELEGANT” at his antics. When Damian had a fight with other students to take a solo part in order to impress Anya, Mr. Crane gave him good advices to reconcile with them. When Anya struggled to learn how to dance, he held her up and dances much to her joy and Damian’s jealousy. Later, he was invited to have dinner with Forger’s family, but it was Loid and WISE’s plan to gather information of Desmond family from him. However, Ichabod Crane expressed suspicion as he asked Loid why he keeps asking about Damian and his family instead of his own child’s academic/social/health. Catching his suspicion, Anya told him about her first day meeting Damian and lied that she talked a lot about him to her father. Eventually, Ichabod let go of his suspicion. In human!Beastars AU: In Cherryton Academy, Ichabod Crane is portrayed as music teacher, supervising musical clubs, dancing clubs, and other artistic extra curriculum. When the Drama club is preparing for musical performances, they would ask for his help with soundtracks and songs. Two of Legoshi's roommates Miguno and Durham has Mr. Crane as their homeroom teacher. Legoshi couldn't help but seems similarities and differences between him and Louis; while both are attractive and popular individuals, Louis is more of a man with firm authoritative charisma while Mr. Crane is a soft-spoken and polite gentleman.

#The Legend of Sleepy Hollow #Fairly OddParents AU #Courage the Cowardly Dog AU #Danni Phantom AU #An Ann n Anny AU #Spy x Family AU #Spongebell AU #Grimm Adventures with Billie & Manny AU #Camp Lakebottom AU #Gravity Falls AU #Hey Arnelle AU #human!Beastars AU #As Told by Gin AU #Ichabod #Ichabod Crane #Multiverse #Crossovers

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tsunflowers · 5 months

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my favorite sentai character song will always be takeru shinkenred's bc his actor either could not or did not want to sing so they got a childrens choir to perform it and he just said samurai stuff every couple of lines

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justforbooks · 8 months

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Although there was never any such phenomenon as Whittakermania, Roger Whittaker, who has died aged 87, built a huge international following in a career that spanned six decades. As the Boston Globe noted of his stage performances: “No one gets high. No one gets hysterical with excitement. And yet Roger Whittaker is one of the most popular entertainers in the world.”

Whittaker’s smooth baritone voice and songs of love, loss and yearning endeared him to audiences worldwide. His best known songs, where his voice was invariably accompanied by keening strings, included 1969’s Durham Town (the Leavin’), I Don’t Believe in If Anymore (1970), which reached No 8 in the UK, The Last Farewell (1971, reissued in 1975 to become a Top 20 hit in the US and a chart-topper in 11 countries), and Wind Beneath My Wings (1982).

He also had a trademark whistling ability, which he used to perform The Skye Boat Song in a duet with Des O’Connor, reaching the UK Top 10 in 1986.

Though he did not rack up chart hits as prolifically as the Beatles or Abba, his frequent TV and live appearances made him a household name in many countries. In the mid-1980s, he was acknowledged as Germany’s most successful recording artist. He made several recordings in German, singing the lyrics phonetically since he could not speak the language.

He was never fashionable, but never out of fashion with his audience. When he recorded a song such as Green, Green Grass of Home, it lacked the drama of Tom Jones’s version and his treatment of Song Sung Blue was homelier and more avuncular than Neil Diamond’s original, but it all became Whittaker music.

He liked to say he represented the “silent majority”. He defined this as “the kind of person who when he marries becomes a parent and a taxpayer and devotes himself to bringing up his children properly – all in all, a pretty straight-down-the-line guy”.

In the 70s, when rock music was dominating the record industry, Whittaker was dropped by his label, RCA, despite the fact that he had sold several million discs. He decided to market his 1977 album, All My Best, on TV. “I was the first act to go on TV with records,” he said. All My Best sold nearly 1m copies.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, he was the son of Vi (nee Showan) and Edward Whittaker, who had owned a grocery shop in Staffordshire, but moved to a farm near Thika after Edward sustained serious injuries in a motorcycle accident and had been advised that a hot, dry climate would aid his recuperation.

Edward developed a new grocery business, while Vi worked as a teacher. Roger, who could speak Swahili before he learned English, attended the Prince of Wales school (now Nairobi school). He had begun learning the guitar at seven.

After school, where he had sung in the choir, he was called up for national service. He was posted to the Kenya Regiment, and for two years was involved in fighting the anti-colonial Mau Mau rebels. He subsequently attended the University of Cape Town to study medicine, but after 18 months he left and trained to be a teacher.

In 1959 he moved to Britain and enrolled at Bangor University in north Wales, where he studied zoology, biochemistry and marine biology. He also began to make his first moves into music, playing gigs to earn some cash and recording songs on flexi discs distributed with the university newspaper.

These provoked interest from Fontana records, and in 1962 his first single releases were The Charge of the Light Brigade and Steel Men.

He played concerts in Northern Ireland and appeared on the Ulster TV show This and That, and his career developed with constant touring around Britain.

“I learned how to entertain in the clubs of the north-east of England, the working men’s clubs where the miners go,” he said. In 1964 he married Natalie O’Brien.

By 1968 he was touring internationally and even had a TV showcase in the Soviet Union. At the 1968 Knokke song contest in Belgium, Whittaker performed If I Were a Rich Man, from the musical Fiddler on the Roof, and his own whistling composition, Mexican Whistler, helping Britain to win the competition, and both tunes were hits in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. In 1969 he scored his first UK Top 20 hit with Durham Town (the Leavin’), which reached No 12. Its easy-listening mixture of sentimentality and nostalgia, with its mournful references to war and bereavement, was typical of Whittaker’s work.

He revisited his African background in the documentary film Roger Whittaker in Kenya: A Musical Safari (1982), and in 1986 he published his autobiography (written with his wife), So Far, So Good. Three years later, he received the news that his parents had been attacked by a gang of robbers in Kenya, leaving his father dead and his mother brutally beaten. She subsequently moved back to Britain.

Outside music, Whittaker had a shrewd eye for antiques. His collection of paintings, furniture and works of art was auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1999 for more than £1m, at the same time as he sold his Herefordshire home and moved to Essex. Latterly he lived in the south of France.

He is survived by Natalie and by their five children, Emily, Lauren, Jessica, Guy and Alexander, 12 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren and his sister, Betty.

🔔 Roger Henry Brough Whittaker, singer and songwriter, born 22 March 1936; died 13 September 2023

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Roger Whittaker #in memoriam

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hiddenlittleoasis · 4 months

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Here's my first writing piece of this account! (Posted below)

Shoutout to @cysketch for creating this lovely piece that served as my inspiration💕

Early bird songs are carried away in the morning winds, but not fast enough to keep the whistling of the feathered choir from sharing their work with the ears of young Poca.

The rabbit boy stirs awake to start one of the last mornings left of summer, shivering as reminders of autumn gust through an open window and out another. Even knowing of the unlikely chance of getting a visitor today, he diligently gets up. He hurries to ready for the day: pulling on a sweater, descending the stairs, counting stock, and opening up the door to the little home shop.

Poca breathes in deeply as another chilled gust sweeps through his home, rattling the children's toys hanging on display. Like most things Poca has for sale, it’s only thanks to the winds that blow through the high-rise that a layer of dust hasn’t made its home on all the merchandise. Many times Cherrise, Poca’s neighbor downstairs, has told him how foolish a shop so hard to reach is. Many times Cedeir, the friendly delivery critter, has crawled to Poca’s door, gasping for breath through jokes equating the climb up Poca’s stairs to a hike up a mountain. Many times Poca has just smiled kindly, opening shop again the next day with the same vigor as the day before.

Today is no different.

Right on time, just as every day, a box rolls up the steps with a huffing and puffing Cedeir behind it. “Must you order so many boxes to the summit of your mountain Poca?”

And Poca politely smiles.

Not long after Cedeir has left there’s a rattling below Poca that pauses as a window is pulled open. “Are you still insisting on running that shop, silly rabbit boy?” Cherrise calls out.

But Poca just smiles.

Soon it is midday. Tiny mice hurry from their cozy homes, dug out of some of the many boxes in Poca’s shop. They greet Poca eagerly with many excited squeaks. Poca greets each back just as happily, not by name for they have none, but by giving each their favorite unique snack from his shop before setting down some of the aging snacks out in dishes for the friendly mice to feast.

The morning winged choir returns shortly after the mice have had their meal, singing to Poca with a familiar tune. He is no stranger to the daily performance that his feathered company puts on in hopes of earning their dinner for the day, and politely applauds as the show finishes before setting out more dishes of old shop snacks. The birds hurry to fill their beaks before taking off to hide on the roof. Poca’s gaze follows them until they disappear over the edge of the fading red tin, contently admiring the creatures much smaller than him.

A petal falls from a disturbed window box as fleeing wings stir the plant inside, drifting down towards Poca, gently settling between his ears as he turns his gaze to the soft clouds of cotton floating by. The color fading from the petals and browning in the leaves that Poca has so persistently cared for serves as another gentle reminder of the cooler season rapidly approaching. Meanwhile the colors changing on the clouds reflect the day slowly drawing closer to a close.

For a while more Poca keeps watching the sky around him from his favorite spot; in front of a display fridge with his own name printed on it, hiding memories of a paint-filled summer night. As Poca watches the fleeting moments of summer, cherishing the last few memories they’ll make with the critters this year, an evening autumnal wind sweeps past Poca’s high rise, rustling the tired plants and biting at Poca’s fluff through his sweater. The clouds hasten their drifting just slightly as the breeze urges them towards the horizon, to meet with the sun that is rapidly setting.

The sun escapes the sky much quicker than it once did, and the nip of the nighttime air ushers Poca back inside his little shop. He grabs a little broom to sweep, searching for some activity to serve as an excuse to keep the shop open just a little longer in case of any traveler in need stopping by.

A new voice, almost swept away in the winds, “E-Excuse me?”

Poca is quick to turn around, and his guest continues on hurriedly when they see they’ve gotten someone’s attention. “Do you have water? My family is traveling, uhm migrating, because of the cold weather and my grandmother is very old and thirsty and…” Poca smiles gently as they put bottles into a bag, letting the older bird child go on.

Before the bird child can finish their extensive plea Poca is already coming around the counter, kneeling down and offering the well packed bag. “O-oh thank you s-sir! How much do I need to give you? I have…” the bird child starts to ramble again, but Poca makes no requests, only insisting on giving them the bag.

Watching the eyes of the bird child widen as they finally understand Poca’s kind offer warms a deep place inside Poca’s chest, fighting back against the biting cold of the night. “T-thank you sir!! I…I’ll tell my family about you!! Goodbye!” The bird child grabs the bag and struggles to take off with the extra weight, but soon soars off into the distance until they blur with the dark of the sky.

Cherrise would ridicule him, telling Poca about how he can’t run a successful business by giving everything away.

Cedeir would question him, asking Poca where he gets all his packages from if he isn’t making a profit from his sales.

Poca wouldn’t mind though, he knows the warmth he feels inside from the grateful smiles pays for so much more than a few snacks and bottles of water.

Soon Poca shuts off the lights and closes up his doors, hurrying up to bed.

After all, tomorrow will be a busy day.

#writing #creative writing #short story #writing exercise #cozy reads

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