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The PPC Constitution asks to keep our messages PG on the Board and in the server. You can run the more colorful words through rot13, but we all watch our language here.

I hope this post isn't too heavy or personal for this community, but this is something I feel I have to talk about somewhere.

Some of you who know me closely might know that I haven't been doing great this year. I've had my moments, but generally speaking, there were a lot more downs than ups, for reasons I shan't go into here. One of the things that has always been my crutch when I don't want to burden others with my problems is music. I'll listen to anything, but this year I found a new band that honestly changed my life - Depeche Mode. (There might be some reading this who already have an idea where this post is going.) I used to sometimes fall asleep listening to Violator back in high school after more stressful days, but it was this year that I truly discovered their catalog, and it bewitched me. Such a dark and beautiful soundscape, such a poetic lyrical world, so much talent and energy. Whatever one might think of their career, I feel like no matter what mood I'm in, there's a Depeche Mode song that can go with it. My mother used to be an absolutely rabid Depeche fan in her teen years - she told me of the Strangelove sweater she spent a week knitting as I showed off the three embroidered Depeche Mode t-shirts I have, each of which I made myself, with the lyrics to Personal Jesus, Black Celebration and of course, Enjoy the Silence. (I'm working on a fourth right now, with the chorus of Halo.) I translated song lyrics for her, and we squeed over concert recordings together. We have wildly different musical tastes, but this is something we could share. My closest friend is also a huge Depeche Mode fan, and I had the time of my life gushing to them about my favorite songs as I got lost in the DM discography.

Two days ago, I woke up at 3 AM, opened the news on my phone with eyes half-closed, and learned that one of the band members, Andy Fletcher, passed away at the age of 60. It was like a kick to the stomach. I've been having a pretty rough April and May to begin with, and this was just... My first reaction was literally "No".

It feels really phony to say that I took the passing of someone I've never met very hard, but this band is half my heart. So what I'm going to do is share some of their lesser-known songs I've been listening to, which soothe me even in bad moments. Right now is a very bad time for me (not just for these news, but like I said, I shan't discuss the rest), but hearing these songs calms me down. I'm very sad for Mr. Fletcher's friends, family and bandmates, and for all the fans who spent years loving this band before I was even born, but I'm so grateful to each member of Depeche Mode for all the amazing music they've created and for everything they mean to me and their fanbase.

Depeche Mode - Heaven

Depeche Mode - Precious

And finally... Depeche Mode - Broken

When you're falling, I will catch you / You don't have to fall that far / You can make it, I will be there / You were broken from the start

The rest is silence. But... enjoy the silence.

(I can only apologize for the dark and deeply personal tone of this post, but it feels healing to share my feelings with a community that has always been there for me when I needed it. Thank you if you've read my ramblings this far.)

Have an edible book made out of dark chocolate! (The Castle in the Attic, to be precise.)

...no one would object to Dark Bleepolate or Raspberry-flavoured Bleepolate...

Children's books

Fantasy

The Castle in the Attic, by Elizabeth Winthrop

A boy named William gets a model castle and a lead knight as a going-away present from his caretaker, Mrs. Phillips. The knight, a man named Sir Simon of Hargrave, comes to life, and William goes on a quest with him.

The Battle for the Castle, by Elizabeth Winthrop

The sequel to The Castle in the Attic. William comes back with his friend Jason, and they rescue the kingdom from a magical rat army.

The Last Treasure, by Janet S. Anderson

Roald Dahl

His books are funny, magical, and a little bit irreverent. He also has some books for adults, which are also good.

Poetry

Where The Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein

A very silly book of poems. I’ve had this since I was pretty little.

The New Kid on the Block, by Jack Prelutsky

Another silly book of poems.

The Tale of Custard the Dragon by Ogden Nash

This one is a single long poem about a cowardly dragon named Custard.

((You can find it here.))

((Thread is here.))

I'm thinking of making a little anthology series of Harry Potter fics written by One Piece characters. Maybe we could do missions of those stories for DONKs and giggles?

But maybe it could be an April Fool's mission?

Young!Linstar wrote the not-that-great complete original story “The Unseen”. Slightly Older!Linstar wrote the intentionally bad non-canonical fanfic(ish) “The Untitled”. Current!Linstar is wondering whether sporking “The Untitled” would be allowed if I post a slightly revised “The Unseen”.

The badfic with Ebony is unrelated. Hopefully I’ve cleared up any confusion as to what I was asking.

Do any oldbies wanna help us settle this discussion?

People used to write their own badfics to mission all the time. I don't personally think which continuity in even matters. Hell, if you wanna get technical, you could describe it as a Word World coming into being and slowly working out the kinks, like a proto-star on its way to initiate fusion.

I mean, Sier didn’t explicitly say it wasn’t open, so I’m just rolling with it being so. And if you need a character, another oldbie who can play M-T would be appreciated. ))

I’m just a bit overeager because more PGs=someone will be able to look over my Permission Request sooner.))

Just one link here, and a full set of links there. Definitely think it makes sense to do that.

—Ls

I've been trying to think of how to interact with this thread myself, but a) most of my characters got Poofened, and b) it's tricky to see people on the other side of a door. {= )

~Neshomeh

I'm personally quite busy for the next couple of weeks, and anyone else involved in the upcoming Gathering June 11-12 probably doesn't want to be thinking about travel plans and an election at the same time, either. Perhaps we could set the formal nomination-election process to start Friday, June 17?

~Neshomeh