Magic and Moonlit Wings

So, ive written through the idea of Charlie breaking this sinner (I gave her the name Regina) with my friend @ordinaryschmuck , so I thought id put it here.

(Charlie sits in front of a fireplace in her office at her theatre, her staff laid across her lap and cheerfully patting her knees while humming a tune. Suddenly, the door opens and Regina nervously walks in. Charlie gasps excitedly and immediately stands up and comes over to her.)

Charlie: Oh my gosh, it is SO nice to meet you. You're Regina right?

Regina: Uh.....Yeah.....

Charlie: Well, come on, come on! Come sit down with me please.

Regina looks at her strangely but comes over and sits across from Charlie in front of the fireplace. Charlie pushes a plate of cookies forward on the table between them.

Charlie: Cookie? They're fresh baked oatmeal raisin.

Regina grimaced.

Regina: Im good......So....YOU'RE the....Sin of despair?

Charlie: The one and only! Now, what can I do for you today?

Regina: Uh...Well, I saw from one of your flyers that you...helped sinners who were looking for...help

Charlie gasped with excitement and her eyes sparkled with glee. She teared up slightly and clasped her hands together.

Charlie: You....you came here for my SERVICE?! You REALLY want my help?

Regina: Uh....Yes?

Charlie: Eeeee, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, thats so GREAT! I havent gotten a taker in FOREVER and I-*she takes a deep breathe* Okay. Easy Charlie. Easy Charlie. Focus. *She then looks at Regina, crossing one of her legs over the other and and pyramiding her hands together.* Alright. Why don't you tell me a bit about yourself. What was your human life like? How did you come to Hell? What's your time here been like?

Regina: Uh...Well....I died when I was in college. Uh, I didn't really do a ton on Earth. I spent a LOT of time going to parties, getting drunk, doing drugs. My....my folks weren't super happy about that. They kinda kicked me out of the house, so I spent a lot of time sucking or fucking to have a couch to sleep on. And eventually I took....too many drugs....

Charlie nodded her head and gestured for her to keep going.

Regina: Uh...After I got down here, I kinda ended up doing the same thing. Partying, fucking for cash or a couch to sleep on, doing drugs...and then....I got offered a job as a porn star by Voxtech.

Charlie; Oooh, that's really impressive.

Regina: No....It...it wasn't. It...it fucking SUCKED....

Charlie: What happened?

Regina: I...can't tell you...

Charlie: I can keep a secret-

Regina: No, I mean I LITERALLY can't fucking tell you, because they-!

Suddenly, a glowing purple clamp appeared over her mouth.

Charlie: Oooooo, okay. I get it.

After a few seconds the clamp disappeared.

Regina: Yeah. It was part of the contract I signed....But....I can tell you that I was EVERYWHERE, I was FAMOUS...and then...everybody hated me. I got so many hate comments online....People laughing or saying they'd seen my naked ass....It was...AWFUL And that was AFTER they fired me....

Charlie: Wow....After all that....You must feel like a HUGE failure, huh?

Regina sniffles but nods, staring at the floor.

Charlie: Welp...That's because you are!

Regina freezes and looks up at Charlie, her still smiling widely and munching on a cookie.

Regina:....What?

Charlie: You ARE a failure. And kind of a fuck up. And a bit of a loser from what it sounds like.

Regina: I-I don't understand-

Charlie: Did you READ the contract you signed?

Regina: I-Well-Well, no, I was just so...distracted by all the stuff and money they were offering me-

Charlie, still smiling and speaking sweetly: Right. So you signed a contract you barely understood to three OVERLORDS, who are KNOWN for being cruel and mean, not caring about the consequences because you were too busy staring at money and pretty clothes. Sounds KINDA like a fuck up to me.

Regina: That-

Charlie: And THEN there was your life on Earth, where you had to suck cock to eat and have a place to sleep and spent your time doing drugs not to think about how hard it must have been. And then DIED from those dame drugs. Like I said: Looooser.

Regina: B-But-

Charlie: And NOW, you're here in Hell doing the exact same thing, using drugs and parties and sex to ignore how sad and meaningless your life is, only NOW its gonna be even worse. Becausd not only are you repeating all the sad things that got you killed, but you also are gonna be known by everyone as someone who failed at Voxtek. They'll have seen you naked, maybe jerked off to what a failure you are, and just be laughing at you while you try and use as much drugs and booze as you can to numb the pain from their laughing.

Regina stared in shock as Charlie still kept smiling at her like they were having a friendly conversation about cats. Slowly tears began filling her eyes.

Regina: I....I thought you were going to HELP me....

Charlie, her voice gentle; I AM. But FIRST, you need to admit the truth: You were a drug swallowing loser in life, focusing more on partying and getting high then school, stuck fucking a roof over your head until ths drugs finally killed you. THEN you wound up in Hell, where you KEPT doing the things that killed you. And now, because you were too self absorbed to not read a contract, not only can you never FULLY explain what happened, but EVERYONE in Hell is laughing at you, mocking you, or staring at pictures of your naked ass. And you'll have to deal with that for, probably MILLENIA, trying not to think about how badly you fucked up your afterlife while drowning yourself in even more pills or powder or booze so you don't have to think of the FAILURE you became.

Regina:.........

Slowly she starts crying, at first softly, then turns into harsh, broken, body shaking sobs, her hands tightly clutching her face and a mix of tears and snot dripping into the carpet.

Charlie watched the whole display with wide eyes that sparkled with joy. After a good few minutes of watching, she snapped her fingers and conjured two mugs of steaming hot chocolate. Once Regina's crying turned to silent sobs that made her body gently quake, Charlie pushed a mug over to her.

Charlie: Here you go. Its made special in the kitchen. I don't usually have the ones for my guests have mini marshmallows. Never know if they like them or not.

Regina lifted her face out of her hands to stare at Charlie in confusion.

Regina: Wha-What?

Charlie: Well, a nice hot cup of cocoa is good when you're all cold and numb from sadness. And a great way to start trying to build your new life.

Regina: Why-**sniff* Why would I? What's the fucking point?! You're RIGHT! I'm a fucking failure! I fucked up my whole afterlife!

Charlie: Oh, there isn't really a point. But that's the beauty of it. You get to find or make one yourself.

Regina: B-But you said I was a failure, fuck up, loser....

Charlie: Well...you are. But so are lots of people in Hell. *Her smile turns sad and she runs the back of her head* Im...im one myself....But you can't let that stop you.

She gets up and comes over to gently placed her hands on Regina's shoulders.

Charlie: You're only a failure as long as you let yourself STAY a failure. You can work to try and be better. Maybe you can't unfuck your afterlife, but you can keep going DESPITE how you fucked up. You can get a job that's better than being a porn star....or, uh, if you DO want to stay in adult films, I know a lot of more respectable studios here in pride. You can try to move past your mistakes in life AND death. Try to be better. You could FAIL, obviously, but...you can still try.

Regina: B-But why not just tell me that!?

Charlie: How long have you been in Hell?

Regina: Wha-A-A few years? Why?

Charlie: And how many times have you CRIED about it? Not just the occasional tears here or there, but really just BROKEN DOWN and cried over how terrible things are and how much it all HURTS?

Regina: I.....

Charlie: EXACTLY. So many sinners like you are in PAIN, but they don't want to admit it. It's not good to hold all that in. Ya need to let it out. *Her smile falters* I...can't promise everything will be okay. That everything will get better. But, here's what I CAN do if you're willing to stay: Once you finish your cocoa, I can get you a nice room with a soft bed and some REALLY comfy pillows and you can spend the night crying into them and feeling terrible and just letting out all the pain and anger and loss and hurt you've felt...and in the morning, you'll get a hot breakfast, and meet some very nice people who've all been where you have. And we can start giving you some lovely activities that'll help you get over your pain AND start building skills that'll help you try and build a new life here. What do you say?

Regina:......

She slowly starts crying again, but takes the mug of hot cocoa and begins taking sips of it, Charlie smiling as she does.

Site where you can click to donate a meal to a shelter dog!

The Amur Leopard and Clouded Leopard (which recently celebrated its 50th cub born at the zoo!)

The Sumatran Tiger

The Red Ruffed Lemur and Ring-Tailed Lemur

The Cotton-Top Tamarin and White-Cheeked Gibbon

The Colobus Monkey and De Brazza’s Monkey

And the Mexican Spider Monkey!

Data centers have been recorded creating constant noise at a frequency outside the human range of hearing but which still causes severe issues. This could be even worse with animals that have more sensitive hearing than humans do.

We have Kea, Kākā, Kākāpō, and Kākāriki (of which there are 3 species).

Kākā are more olive brown than green but are really neat and beautiful birds and are growing in numbers thanks to conservation efforts.

Kea are mostly green with red underwings and b will pickpocket you, but then again so will weka. The bit about them stopping traffic is absolutely true - I have a friend who has witnessed this.

Kākāpō are, in the words of my ecology professor, “really bad at being parrots”. They suck, but endearingly so. They are so bad at being alive and climbing things and reproducing but you cannot help but love them. Again, they are green, but in a shambling moss pile sort of way.

Kākāriki are much smaller and are kept as pets internationally. The three kinds are the red crowned, the yellow crowned and the orange fronted. Of these, the latter is the rarest (currently critically endangered).

There are also several other species endemic to various outlying islands. We have, in total, nine surviving endemic parrot species and several subspecies of those.

and it's a painful distinction to make because that's a really strong motivator in its own right. like sometimes you'll ask yourself "okay well if I was going to make <insert project here> ONLY for myself, how would I do it" and the answer is going to be "I wouldn't" and that's a rough fucking pill to swallow.

on the other hand, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with daydreaming about projects you don't actually want to make, but which you like imagining Having Made. plan out a game you're not going to code. plot out a novel you don't care to write. Having Made Something is not the point of art.* rolling around in creative mud with no real objective has value god damn it

The heat’s been brutal this summer but we still gotta eat! If you’re like me, heat might suppress your appetite, and the last thing any of us want is to sweat over a hot stove and oven when it’s already boiling outside. Here are some of my favorite hot-weather recipes to keep hydrated and fed with when the weather is unbearable! (All recipes should be un-paywalled).

NYT’s best gazpacho (lives up to its name!!)

Persian cold cucumber soup (if you like tzatziki you will like this!)

Eric Kim’s cold noodles with tomato (infinitely riffable Korean flavor profile — for a creamier and less brothy take, try these cold sesame noodles too)

Vietnamese chicken and herb salad (this is an excellent time to get a rotisserie chicken so you don’t have to turn the oven on)

Radish sandwiches with butter and salt (and in a similar vein, if you dig this flavor combo you should try this Polish cottage cheese dip on some good rye bread or even crackers)

It’s still a little early in the season, but you can never go wrong with a BLT (or, if you don’t eat bacon, try this tomato furikake sandwich in its place)

Infinite iterations of pasta salad! You can use anything you got but here is a template I like.

Assorted dense bean salads. This back pocket canned salad is a weird combo of jarred ingredients but it slaps, this hoagie-inspired one is super satisfying, and cowboy caviar is a classic for a reason.

Poke bowls! Canned tuna mixed with some kewpie mayo and sriracha is a budget-friendly riff on the usual ahi and makes everything taste like a spicy tuna roll, but use whatever proteins you like, this is more of a loose template.