This is probably my last post on the whole “Liz is dead” situation but I want to talk about my great grandmother, who is currently 92 years old. When I was growing up, hell even now, she’d tell me a lot about her own stories, mostly about how terrifying life was under both the British Raj and Nizam rule (her side of my family is from Hyderabad - Google the Nizams and the Razakars if you’ve never heard about them, that’s a whole other thing of its own).
Something I remember very clearly is her telling me about this one song she was forced to sing in her school - she went to a Christian convent school - and the song was about the greatness of “George Prabhu and Mary Rani,” aka George V, Elizabeth II’s grandfather. Recently my mom was able to film her singing this song so that we could listen to the lyrics, which are originally in Telugu, and roughly translated it means “we’re singing in honor of George and Mary, who are the rulers of India and have brought great fortune to India, and we see them as our father and mother.”
This is just a really difficult reminder that when we’re talking about why Elizabeth II and the royal family don’t deserve our respect or condolences, many of us have very personal stories that run deep through our families. “But she was a mother, a grandmother, a person” and I don’t care because she and her family were in the business of dehumanizing and erasing the identities of millions of other mothers, other grandmothers, other PEOPLE. Why else would my great grandmother be forced to sing a song in their honor? “But she wasn’t responsible for India” fair enough, her darling grandfather had a great time doing that, but how about you go and talk to Kenya? Or anyone in Africa? Or the Caribbean? I’m sick and tired of being told to “not speak ill of the dead” when REALLY I and millions of others should be getting an apology from anyone who wants to “praise her legacy” and talk about how “revolutionary” she was.
edit: i got the george’s mixed up before. george v is elizabeth ii’s grandfather. george vi is her father.
Sebastian said: "You know what the real love story is? The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" and never looked back
…I keep doing it lol
previously in this series: Ryan & Shane
"Buck, wake up."
Gale whines softly and buries his face deeper into the pillow that he hugs with his arms.
"No, I don't want to."
It's such a perfect morning.
The sun gently warms his ankle, sticking out from the cocoon of the blanket, with its gentle morning rays and Gale is already on the verge of waking up, his feelings are gradually starting to return him to reality, but the veil of sleep has not yet fallen, his breathing is even and calm, as is his heartbeat, and he does not want to open his eyes and completely destroy the sleepy serenity.
He feels John's hand gently stroking his back. It is so big and warm, not heavy, but just a little bit weighty, giving a feeling of anchor, it gives him a feeling of calm, safety and home.
John's touches in the morning are usually not like this. They are persistent and greedy, he pokes his morning hard-on into his buttocks, and his hands shamelessly slip either into his underwear or under his T-shirt, persistently caressing his nipples, his lips kissing everything that gets in their way, be it Gale's face, his neck, hair, at the same time hotly whispering all sorts of lustful nonsense in his ears, just to quickly warm up sleepy Gale to a state where he will be ready to have sex.
But this morning John is not horny, he is gentle. "Well," Gale thinks, "and such mornings are supposed to be too." He feels so good now, he likes the way John's hand slowly strokes his shoulder blades, moves up and down his spine and gently rubs his ribs through his T-shirt.
"Wake up, sleeping beauty," John presses himself closer to him.
"Nooo, it's too early for sex, I need another hour of sleep," Gale grumbles into the pillow and his words can hardly be heard. For some reason, he wiggles his butt from side to side like a big NO, as if he thinks that words are not enough and it needs to be clearly shown to John, that he does not want to leave the embrace of sleep.
He feels more than hears how John quietly laughs next to him, "You'll be late for work."
Gale growls in annoyance, "Then I will certainly not get up if it is for work and not for sex!"
He hugs the pillow even tighter and thinks how did they manage to achieve all this - a house, a shared bed and gentle caresses awakening you from sleep on a perfect morning? How did they overcome all the taboos and barriers on their way to be here and now? It was hellish work, almost harder than both returning alive from the war. From the realization of how much they overcame to have their tiny piece of happiness, his chest begins to hurt and as if feeling it, John hugs him and presses him to himself.
"Baby, you have to get up."
"No."
"You have so much work to do."
"That's not the right motivation at all, Bucky!" Gale chuckles.
"You have a lot of things to do," John's tone becomes more insistent.
Gale groans.
"Buck!" There's a strange, tense ringing in John's voice and Gale doesn't like it.
"Oh, God, dear, why are you yelling like that, I'm getting up..."
Gale opens his eyes and looks out the window. It's gloomy and cloudy outside and it's probably going to rain soon. He looks at the gray, heavy sky for a moment and blinks in confusion. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong. How is this possible when just a few minutes ago he felt the warm rays of the sun on his skin?
Gale raises himself on his elbow, frowning. He no longer feels John's warm touch and he doesn't need to turn around to know that he is completely alone in this bed, like in this whole house.
John died many years ago.
===================
The ghosts of the past haunt Gale.
Inspired by these words
I made a baby blanket for a pregnant woman at work and I went back and forth about it like “is this weird? To like hand make something for someone when we’re like friendly acquaintances not like bffs. God why are you so fucking awkward.” Anyway I gave it to her and she said she loved it and in the back of my head I’m like yea she’s nice and probably just humoring the weirdo. Well she texted me a picture this weekend of a scrunchy faced newborn at the hospital wrapped in the blanket I made her. And I’m like. Wow. She loved it so much she took it with her! To the hospital! To give birth! She wrapped her newborn it! I am just so filled with love and joy right now.
People will love the things you make them. Because you thought of them and you cared.
Steven Lim: "we're hemorrhaging money every month I don't know if I can afford groceries at this point"
Ryan Bergara: "More than 20 people are financially dependent on me catching ghosts and my emotional relationship with a blue puppet, I'm so scared we'll fail"
Shane "meh we'll be fine" Madej: "meh we'll be fine"
So, our Lung is on fire.
It is already threatened by huge deforestation, to the point it lost 20% of its wildth in less than 30 years.
It’s been burning for around two weeks and almost no word has been uttered about it. I, sincerely, have come to find out about it just now. I’m shooketh ™️ because we’re really burning away this planet.
The Amazon Rainforest holds 20% of global waters, it’s an area of incredible value in termns of biodiversity and, nevermind, it’s a crucial climate regulator. Spread awareness, demand help.
I just want everyone to see how unrealistic some expectations are.
the scariest scene for me in the show is when annabeth is aggressive toward the police officer. i was so afraid for her life. because she doesn't know to be wary. because she and her dad never had that conversation. hand downs. scariest scene.
There's "committing to the bit" and then there's whatever the fuck Shawn Spencer and Burton Guster were doing on television every week from 2006-2014
ruth ○ she/her ○ 20s ○ peace sign bisexual ○ never really knows what's happening ○ will probably figure it out someday ○ maybe ○ hopefully
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