Columbina is attending Sandrone's tea parties less and less. Sandrone assumes it has to do with Dottore, and she's right, but not in the way she thinks.
Dottore isn't trying to prevent Columbina from hanging out with other Harbingers. She's just decided herself she prefers Dottore's company. Scaramouche and Pantalone's, too.
She enjoys the other ladies' company, too, but it's just not the same. Plus, their badmouthing of Dottore is getting tiresome.
They tell her not to hang around Dottore too often, and their worry is genuine. Columbina knows Dottore isn't a good person. But she can't bring herself to care. He's nice to her, he understands her, and he accepts her just the way she is. That's all Columbina could ask for. Plus, he's quite an interesting man, all things considered.
Still, Columbina has to admit she misses the tea, snacks and even the social aspect of the tea parties. So, she asks Dottore if they can have their own tea parties. At first, Dottore scoffs, moreso out of surprise than disinterest. Pantalone, overhearing the conversation, chimes in and says it would be a great way to unwind. And an excuse for him to break out his favorite tea set.
Columbina adds that since it'll just be their little group, all the segments could join instead of just one. At that, a few heads perk up in the lab, and Pantalone chuckles.
The tea party takes place in Pantalone's quarters. 8 quickly takes the seat between Columbina and Scaramouche. Pantalone's made himself in charge of the tea selection. He also made some Medovik for everyone to try. 18 and 25 also made some sweets.
Scaramouche declines the offers of sweets, sticking to just the tea. He mutters something about this all being pointless and insults Pantalone's choice of tea, to which the banker takes humorously great offense to and challenges the puppet to do better next time. Meanwhile, the other segments heavily judge 18 and 25's baking skills and respective choices in Sumeru desserts. Something about saffron ice cream and deep-fried pastries being unfit for a tea party.
Arguments break out over who can make the best sweets and which sweets would be more fitting, but the atmosphere remains oddly lighthearted. And apparently, at some point, it was decided that the tea parties will be a reoccurring thing from now on.
The next tea party, everyone brings their own homemade sweets, except Scaramouche who settled on bringing some Inazuman tea just to prove to Pantalone his taste in tea is better (it is). Columbina and 8, neither having baked before, had teamed up to try and make something that even Scaramouche could enjoy. The result was unsweetened, slightly burnt scones.
The Balladeer's verdict: "They're not terrible, I guess. I'm just impressed you two actually managed to make something edible on your first go."
Meanwhile, Pantalone nearly chipped a tooth trying to bite into one.
Bringing the Scrapyard-verse au to life one carefully manipulated sound bite from the game at a time! 💪😤💪 I have the power of photoshop, sleep deprivation and autistic hyperfixation on my side - I am unstoppable!
This took the better part of a week to put together, but I'm so excited to finally be able to share it. Look at them actually talking!
Look how proud she is! Look how proud he is!
Just imagine where they'll go from here!
Dottore: Oh, we have got to get your hands on some human samples. God remains, maybe..? Have you tried building a mechanical god yet..?
Aino: Hmmm... could it run on krumkaker and shoot fireworks?
Hi everyone!
This is an illustrated guide I made as part of my co-admining work at The Middle Eastern Feminist on Facebook! It will be published there shortly.
The technique that is displayed here is a genuine one used in psychology - I forgot the name and couldn’t find it again so if you know about it, feel free to tell me!
Some could say: “Yes but you can use that technique for instances of harassment other than Islamophobic attacks!”, and my reply is: Sure! Please do so, it also works for other “types” of harassment of a lone person in a public space!!
However I’m focusing on protecting Muslims here, as they have been very specific targets lately, and as a French Middle Eastern woman, I wanted to try and do something to raise awareness on how to help when such things happen before our eyes - that way one cannot say they “didn’t know what to do”!
I’d like to insist on two things:
1) Do not, in any way, interact with the attacker. You must absolutely ignore them and focus entirely on the person being attacked!
2) Please make sure to always respect the wishes of the person you’re helping: whether they want you to leave quickly afterwards, or not! If you’re in a hurry escort them to a place where someone else can take over - call one of their friends, or one of yours, of if they want to, the police. It all depends on how they feel!
For my fellow French-speakers: I will translate it in French and post it on my page as soon as I can :)
Please don’t hesitate to share this guide as it could push a lot of people to overcome bystander syndrome!!
Lots of love and stay safe!
PS: I you repost this cartoon of mine on twitter or instagram, please add me in the post so I can see it, with @itsmaeril :)
Image description: a digitally drawn comic style illustration titled “What to do if you are witnessing Islamophobic harrassment”, subtitled “a bystander’s guide to help the person who’s being targeted”
The drawing shows a person holding on a bus pole looking worriedly to their left where someone is angrily and aggressively shouting at a muslim person wearing a hijab.
Four panels follow. First says “1. Engage in conversation, sit beside them and say hello. Try to appear calm, collected and welcoming. Ignore the attacker (capitalized)”. It shows the previous character, the bystander, smiling and saying “hi, how are you?” To the muslim person.
Second says “2. Pick a random subject and start discussing it. It can be anything: a movie you liked, the weather, saying you like something they wear and asking where they got it…”. The image shows the bystender sitting next to the woman idly chatting, saying “the weather lately is so… My sister told me about this movie…” The muslim person is smiling while in the foreground, the attacker is fuming, a writing on them says “ignored’
Third says “3. Keep building the safe space. Keep eye contact with them and dont acknowledge the attacker’s presence: the absence from response from you two will push them to leave the area shortly.” The panel shows the bystender and muslim characters talking while the attacker walks away angrily. A text on then says “irrelevant”
Fourth says “4. Continue the conversation until the attacker leaves and escort them to a safe place if necessary. Bring them to a neutral area where they can recollect themselves; respect their wishes if they tell you they’re ok and just want to go.” The panel shows the bystender and muslim characters smiling at each other, with the bystender’s arms around the muslim person’s shoulders.
A credit line below says “this guide was written and illustrated by Maeril | @itsmaeril - translated in english for the Middle Eastern Feminist”