A. Zap

I think we're all aware of the narrative weight of this panel, but let me talk about the fact the Iruma says it with a smile on his face, relaxed despite the situation he's in.

We've been explicitly shown that Iruma has always wanted to tell Azz and Clara the truth. He's been hell bent on being the one whom they hear it from and he has been waiting for the right time.

Currently, the time isn't right, at all. He wasn't ready and this isn't how he imagined it to go, collared and cornered. It's basically forced out of him, but I believe it's not, because telling them the truth himself is the one thing he has control on, and he chooses to do it.

Between "telling them" and "telling them at the right time", Iruma chooses the former because he can't have Azz and Clara being told the truth of his identity by anyone other than him because that's a promise he has made to himself. Because in the end the right time doesn't matter when it comes to his soulmates, they just need to know, and they need to know it from him.

July will be filled with kissing girls.

July will be filled with yuri.

July will be filled with kissing girls.

July will be filled with yuri.

July will be filled with kissing girls.

Chuuya exuded confidence as he walked towards Fyodor, hands in his pockets as if he's completely unbothered by the battle he just fought. In the setting sun, it looks like his hair is on fire, and he thinks he sees that his shadow has ram horns.

Ah. It seems that Fyodor is about to die.

He's not afraid though. Far from it, he's excited to experience the body of an artificial human. Advanced strength, resilience, an ability that is as powerful as it is versatile, and a deity trapped within it- for once, he is looking forwards to death.

"Any last words, Fyodor?"

He chuckles, still pinned by rubble and unable to move otherwise. "I could speak, but we both know they won't be my last words."

"Are you sure about that?"

The way Chuuya's eyes gleam gives him pause, and for a moment, he isn't gazing into the eyes of a person. He's locking eyes with the specter of the death itself- of an entity that is neither a deity nor a demon, something beyond even his own comprehension.

"Your ability is just that. An ability. It requires a brain, a nervous system sending signals to that brain, nerves to register your death and prompt those signals…"

"And what is your point?" Fyodor asks. "Thirteen milliseconds is still far faster than any conceivable way to kill me on this planet."

Arahabaki laughs, the entity's eyes flashing red. "Do you know how much pressure the Earth's gravity exerts at the bottom of the ocean?"

"I don't, actually."

Your new favorite musical opens in 1 month.

Get your tix now! 🎟️

Very much did in the sense that I literally do not know where my job is at the moment. But, for the time being I haven't been let go because nobody else including the store owner knows where it is either.

So, I don't wanna risk doxxing myself by posting pictures but goddamn am I tempted because this is not a believable event. This is a cartoon problem. For looneytoons.

But yeah, so, I work(ed?) at a kiosk selling boba tea, right? Freestanding kiosk in the mall with full water and electrical hookups and multiple fridges and sinks and a mini kitchen and the works. Fully functional tea shop. Very important to note that it was there last night, The work chat was discussing another issue last night at closing time. I'll get back to this.

It's been showing signs of being on the way out with how business is being handled lately and I've been considering other options, which is probably why I'm not as torn up about this as I should be, but maybe it just hasn't set in yet, but that's not the point. The point is there's been a lot of shit breaking and not being replaced and nobody mentioning anything about it until I walk into work in the morning and have to figure out why shit like the fucking cash register isn't there today. So I'm kinda used to having to ask questions about big things that nobody bothered to update me on. I was out for two weeks recovering from a surgery, so I came to work this morning assuming there'd be some kind of bullshit, yeah?

So, the question I had to ask the chat this morning was:

Not a text I ever thought I'd have to send in sincerity, but there it is. Because what I found instead was a fenced off patch of discolored tiles and a few holes in the floor where my entire place of employment used to be.

And the answer? Nobody knows! It was there last night when the mall closed, and every single trace of the structure and all its contents including drink making supplies and our safe and cashbox was gone when it opened again. And when I say nobody knows, I mean everyone from last night's closers to the actual (former?) owner of the store jad no fucking clue about this until getting that text from me this morning. For once I am actually the first to know. 🎉.

So. I guess I didn't so much lose my job as had it stolen. Not by AI, but good old fashioned hands-on human beings picking it up and carrying it away somehow. All mall security would tell me was that they were instructed not to tell me anything and have us contact our management. Who also don't know anything. And later on I came across some construction workers around the gravesite of the kiosk discussing filling in the holes, asked them about it, and was told that they "weren't at liberty to say".

So, not only is my job gone in the most literal physical sense of the word, but it was taken in some kind of super secret kiosk extraction in the dead of night without any warning or witnesses and nobody is allowed to speak of it. The store owner said she was gonna figure it out 10 hours ago and still no word back.

My mother in law thinks the FBI took it.

Not any of the other stores around the state. Just the one little kiosk.

Why? Because she loves a conspiracy and is just a little bit extra.

Also because she was around for the massive crackdown on Yakuza-owned businesses in Waikiki (in her homestate) that did actually involve the FBI seizing stores (no confirmation of making kiosks cleanly disappear in the middle of the night though).

Still no word from my job on what's actually going on, but the most likely theory so far is that maybe the kiosk was on lease and got repossessed? The mystery continues

According to the owner, based on what she's been able to find out, the kiosk was not removed legally and they're starting a potentially long process of legal action. I hope she gets to sue the shit out of whoever did it but for now at least I know for sure I'm unemployed.

Really hoping for more details in terms of who/why/how, so I'll keep updating if I learn anything.

For now the summary is: An unnamed entity that is most likely mall management (on account of mall security cooperating with them) stole an entire kiosk and all the contents including money and machinery with barely a trace in the middle of the night grinch-style, with zero warning or explanation, and ensured the silence of both security and the construction crew, in an action that was definitely preplanned and illegal, and as far as I know nobody knows its whereabouts.

Enjoy the unintentionally funniest text I've ever sent in my life

Aaand a close-up:

HEY HI HELLO THIS ONE'S MY FAVORITE

While a long hair had always remained a feature of historical fiction, the 1960s were just beginning to come out of a time when it was considered extremely juvenile and not really stylish or appropriate for adult women. Especially in the early 1960s, the idea of women having long hair much past age 20 was more counterculture than mainstream (although that would change as the decade passed and moved into the 1970s). I remember my grandmother, who was born in 1926, chiding my mother and older sister for continuing to wear their hair long well into adulthood

It almost feels like it's both situating her firmly in the past and the realm of what had come to be considered frumpy, grandmotherly styles- contrasted with Theo's hair, which is long enough to be put up but clearly about shoulder length and fashionably layered when it's down -and suggesting an immaturity and innocence to her despite the fact that she's 32 years old

“I’m not into Indian girls, but you look [other ethnicity]” you’re into Indian girls.

“Omg I love Indian food” and it’s just butter chicken or chicken tikka masala.

“Chandelier earrings” you mean my jhumkas?

“I love avatar/atla” you don’t know what the concept of an avatar even is.

“Your slums are dirty” tell that to the unusually low Covid rates in those slums.

“Indians don’t experience colourism” that is certainly an echo chamber chronically online take.

Exams during our festival season while every other religion gets their days off. Told to speak English when many of us in the diaspora already do (thanks colonialism!). Made to take English exams or considered international students on the basis of our names. Overlooked in job applications. Blamed for climate change. Blamed for lack of jobs. Blamed for crashing economy. Blamed for terrorism (more issues there). Random TSA checks. Random hate crimes. Stolen culture. Stolen property.

Uncredited for simple things everyone does nowadays. Coconut oil, miswak, mehndi, indigo, the number 0, banking cheques, chess, yoga, chakras, third eye, evil eye, turmeric, clean girl aesthetic, lost wax casting, bindis, kohl, dupattas, bangles, courtyards in houses, paisley, the very concept of rebirth and reincarnation. I could go on.

The racism towards Indians is so entrenched in every single western culture that nobody bothers to look twice when India suffers a heat wave. You all love Greece and Rome but did you know they directly benefitted from trade with the Indian subcontinent? Did you know Indians were taken as indentured labourers too? Did you know we were slaves too? And I’m speaking for South Asia as a whole here, did you know many of us are still slaves?