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Day 1: Love Notes

Kenma has never been a big eater, and most times comes home with left-over food in his bento, so the first time he doesn’t is a bit of a shock.

“Kenma did you eat all your food?” She can’t help but feel a bit incredulous. He’s a few months into his first year at high school, a bit more talkative compared to when he was younger, but he still shifts a bit and looks away before responding.

“No.”

“That’s ok, what happened to the rest of it?”

“I gave it to Kuroo.”

“You did? That was nice of you to share, but you know it’s supposed to be all for you, yes?”

“You always pack too much, and Kuro was hungry. He only ever eats bread.”

“Well, I guess it is tough when it’s just him and his dad now. Maybe we should help out?”

“We?”

“It’s about time you start making your own lunches now, and since you’re so worried, you can make a bento for Kuroo-kun as well.” This is met with much grumbling from her son, but the next morning finds her bleary-eyed son with her in the kitchen.

They work together quietly and efficiently, making the bentos for not only the boys but her husband as well. They’ve just finished up and about to wrap everything up when Kenma catches her sneaking a piece of paper into his dad’s lunch.

“What was that?”

“Just a little note for your dad,” she says as she finishes tying up the furoshiki.

“…you write Dad notes?”

“Of course, it’s nice, and he really likes them.”

“You don’t leave me notes,” She can’t help but giggle at her son’s pout.

“I was afraid that they wouldn’t be appreciated now that you’re in high school and all,” she gives him a peck on the check before continuing, “but I would love to add a note for you if you want one.”

Kenma hums in agreement, “Nothing too sappy though.”

She can’t help but laugh, “Course not, nothing too sappy for my little grumpy cat.” She playful squeezes his cheeks before grabbing another sticky note for his lunch.

“What about Kuro?”

“Wouldn’t it mean more coming from you? You did make him his lunch.”

“Mom, please, that would be embarrassing.”

“Fine, fine, all my boys will get a note from Mom.”

She quickly scribbles a message for each teen and tucks it in before Kenma can see what she wrote.

“Now off you go, I’m sure Kuro-kun is waiting for you.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

________________________________

It had been slightly embarrassing giving Kuro his bento outside the house, but he thinks he was able to play it off as “no big deal.” And he did make Kuro swear on his life to not gloat about it in front of anyone at school.

Later as they sat together to eat their lunches, Kenma pulled out the note from his mom, a mildly embarrassing ‘I’m so proud of you.’ He was softly smiling to himself when Kuro all but choked on his food at his note.

“What? What is it?”

“Nothing, nothing, just wasn’t expecting a note from your mom.”

“Uh-huh. Let me see it,” he swiped it out from Kuroo’s hand before he could pull it away. ‘You’re truly loved Kuroo-kun, treasure him’.

Kenma all but screeched at the message.

“I’ll be honest, of all the ways I expected getting a love note from you, I never thought it would be written for you by your mom.”

“Wha- why would I write you a love note?”

“Cause, you love me.”

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

“I don’t.” Kenma looked down to allow his hair to cover his blush.

“You do,” Kuro pushes his hair behind his ear, and taps his chin to make Kenma look at him. “Tomorrow, will you write it instead?”

“Ok.”

And that's the tea

The idea of Sansa being Queen in the North was so appalling that even Brienne Noped the fuck out and went south to be in Bran’s Kingsguard because she was just done with Sansa’s shit. 

DAGMARA BRYZEK - JADWIGA OF POLAND (Korona Królów)

She’s around 18-20 in the series, but if you’re looking for an QITN or Lady of Winterfell vibe, you can’t go wrong with her!

Arya Stark Fancast Resource

So I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been having a hard time finding age-appropriate actors in period costumes when trying to create any content that doesn’t feature the actors from the show (not that I don’t love them all, just sometimes a change of pace is nice). That’s particularly true for characters whose book and show counterparts are significantly different in age. I thought I’d start putting together some resources for fancasts that are reasonably accurate to book descriptions, particularly after I saw the incredible Sansa Stark resource put together by BookSansaDaily.

So yeah, let’s start with Arya:

“Nine years old at the start of A Game of Thrones, Arya’s appearance is more Stark than Tully, with a long face, grey eyes, and brown hair. She is skinny and athletic. She is generally regarded as plain, as exemplified by a nickname “Arya Horseface”, and is often mistaken for a boy.” (x)

RAFFEY CASSIDY - YOUNG SNOW WHITE (SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN)

Raffey Cassidy was roughly 9 years old when filming Snow White and the Huntsman. The costume design is appropriately medieval, and I’ve found it a particularly good resource because of the number of clips where Raffey looks disheveled and/or tomboyish. Best for AGOT and pre-ASOIAF content.

ANNA MAGUIRE - YOUNG DANIELLE (EVER AFTER: A CINDERELLA STORY)

I can’t find an accurate birthday for Anna Maguire, but given that she played a 9-year-old character two years after this film, I feel confident placing her at 7-10 during the filming of Ever After. The film is set in the Renaissance rather than the Middle Ages, but Danielle’s clothes are still reasonably appropriate. As with Snow White and the Huntsman, this is a good resource for both AGOT and pre-ASOIAF content, especially since it contains footage of Anna Maguire looking both put together and covered in mud. She’s not as long-faced as Arya should be, but she’s got the appropriate mischievous energy.

IVANA BAQUERO - OFELIA (PAN’S LABYRINTH)

Pan’s Labyrinth is set in the 1940s, well outside appropriate ASOIAF timeframes, so Ivana Baquero is best used for stills and closeups. However, the scene in which she faces the toad (pictures 1 and 4 here) has her filthy and in reasonably time-neutral underclothes, so I’ve found it useful before for the period when Arya’s on the run with the Night’s Watch or the Brotherhood. Ivana was 11 when filming, so that puts her at a more appropriate age for later novels.

ANUK STEFFAN - HEIDI (HEIDI)

Again, not a period-appropriate film, but Heidi does spend a significant amount of it running around in an undershirt, so that’s useful for taking it out of time a bit. Anuk Steffan was 10 when filming, and this movie has the added benefit of portraying her with both long and short hair, which makes it particularly ideal for content portraying both Arya Stark and Arry the Orphan. She even occasionally runs around in boys’ clothing, albeit 19th century boys’ clothing.

A FEW OTHERS

1. ARABELLA MORTON - GAEL (THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER): Arabella was 10 when filming the third Narnia movie. She doesn’t have a ton of footage, but there’s some material between her and her onscreen father that’s potentially useful for Arya and Ned, and she’s got a mischievous spirit that feels very Arya to me.

2. UNKNOWN ACTOR - YOUNG SOPHIA/ZOE (SOPHIA): I’m not sure who this actor is (if you know, please tell me!) but she plays Young Sophia/Zoe in the Russian series Sophia. Based on her height, she’s significantly older than Arya, and she only appears in one sequence, which can be found here. However, I think her face is uncommonly perfect for Arya, so I’ve used her both for gifs and for stills.

3. HARRY STOTT - LUPUS (ROMAN MYSTERIES): Harry Stott was 11-12 when filming the TV series Roman Mysteries. He’s a useful resource when fancasting Arya in disguise as Arry, particularly in the Season 2 episode titled “The Fugitive from Corinth,” where he wears the brown traveling cloak you can sort of see in the picture above.

4. TOM TAYLOR - YOUNG UHTRED (THE LAST KINGDOM): Another good Arry fancast. Tom Taylor was 13ish when filming the first season of The Last Kingdom, which has particularly good cold weather, fur-based fashion. Heads up that the character of Young Uhtred was recast for later seasons, and the other kid looks much less like Arya.

Anyway, I hope this is useful, and feel free to add any additional actors you like to cast as Arya! I’m planning to make several of these for different characters; the full set can be found here once I’ve made more.

So once the Thunderstorm soloist in Riverdance was performed by a woman and its the most epic thing I’ve ever seen

OUR QUEEN DOESN'T EVEN STAB HIM WITH HER DOMINANT HAND!!! LIKE THE BADASS SHE IS!!! ARYA MOTHER-FUCKING STARK!!!!

Kuroo and Kenma have been in this weird sort of in-between of Dating/Not-Dating. They act like a couple, but never really talked about it or made it “official.” After watching Kruoo struggle to answer his co-worker’s simple question of “Oh, is this your boyfriend?” Kenma thinks that this has gone on long enough.

“Thank you both for coming here, I hope the journey wasn’t too much of a hassle.”

“Kenma, I practically live here and you literally bought Hinata a first-class ticket to Tokyo for this. What is going on?”

“Ah yes, the agenda for today’s meeting is to discuss your promotions.”

“Cool! Not really sure how I can get a promotion when I don’t even work for you, but sounds fun!”

“Yes, that enthusiasm is exactly how you earned this promotion.” Kenma pulls out what looks like name plaques from his hoodie. “Congratulations, Hinata, you’ve been promoted to the position of my Best Friend.” Kenma hands him the first plaque, neatly inscribed with “Hinata Shoyo - Best Friend” on it.

“YES!”

“Hey! I thought I was your best friend!”

“You had a good run, Kuro. Truly you have been the best best friend I could have ever asked for. You’ve been so good, infact, that you earned you own promotion, should you choose to accept.” Kenma slides the remaining plaque over to Kuroo, the inscription of “Kuroo Tetsuro - Fiancé” making Kuroo’s mouth drop.

“Now, I realise we’re skipping a few steps, but I figured this would make up for the delay of a promotion. Do you accept?”

Kuroo is a sobbing mess, nodding his head ‘yes’ and not noticing that Hinata had taken out a camera to snap photos.

“Great, well with that promotion comes this,” Kenma says with a smile and a few tears in his eyes as he places an open ring box on the kotatsu. “And of course there is a stipulation that you will move in full time.”

Kuroo laughs through his tears, “I think I can manage that.”

“Great. I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

Atena Farghadani is a 28-year-old Iranian artist. She was recently sentenced to 12 years and 9 months in prison for drawing a cartoon.

This cartoon, that she posted on her Facebook page last year, depicts members of the Iranian parliament as animals. It was drawn in protest of new legislature in Iran that will restrict access to contraception and criminalise voluntary sterilisation. Atena’s charges include ‘spreading propaganda against the system’ and ‘insulting members of parliament through paintings’.

Last August, 12 members of the elite Revolutionary Guard came to Atena’s house, blindfolded her and took her to the infamous Evin Prison in Tehran. According to Amnesty International:

“While in prison last year, Atena flattened paper cups to use them as a surface to paint on. When the prison guards realised what she had been doing, they confiscated her paintings and stopped giving her paper cups. When Atena found some cups in the bathroom, she smuggled them into her cell. Soon after, she was beaten by prison guards, when she refused to strip naked for a full body search. Atena says that they knew about her taking the cups because they had installed cameras in the toilet and bathroom facilities – cameras detainees had been told were not operating.”

She was released in November and gave media interviews and posted a video on YouTube detailing her beatings, constant interrogations and humiliating body searches. She was then rearrested possibly in retaliation for speaking out and has been imprisoned ever since. In January, Atena went on a hunger strike to protest the horrible prison conditions. Her health suffered dramatically, and after losing consciousness and suffering a heart attack in February, she was forced to eat again.

The quote used in the comic is taken from the speech Atena gave at her trial. It has been translated into English by the Free Atena Facebook page. You can read the whole thing here.

Time is now against her, she has just two weeks to lodge an appeal. Michael Cavna, comic journalist for The Washington Post, has launched a campaign appealing to artists to help bring awareness to Atena’s case by creating their own artwork in support of Atena and using the hashtag#Draw4Atena. Can a bunch of artists and a hashtag really make a difference and put pressure on the Iranian Government to release Atena? Probably not. But just remember that Atena is currently in prison enduring horrible conditions, and if her appeal isn’t successful, she will be there for another twelve years. FOR DRAWING A CARTOON AND POSTING IT ON FACEBOOK. Don’t we owe it to her to at least try?

Alot worse actually happens out there.. once Being a soldier (which turned me into an activist) showed me..

Signal boost.

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