Chatterbox: In This Month's Issue

Ah, greetings! We want to invite you to join us through our exciting new edition of the MCU. Welcome to the February 2024 MCU!

~Since we've learned that it doesn't work to call it a peaceable Monthly Check Up...~

Yes. Well. Introductions!

|Eri, he/him, the reason we have MCUs. Glad to be back for another of these!|

{wHaT I wanted to introduce myself first-- Anyway. Hello. I'm sure you all know me, so what's the point of introducing myself? Nevertheless, so that all may know my greatness, I am Aldebaran, he/him. Interesting, not as interested in chaos as Eri, the most reasonable one of the bunch.}

/No, that would be Ibis, actually. Hi, I'm Silvan! Amethyst, you need to do more things with me -/

I know, I know. Just introduce yourself!

/Silvan, she/her. Shy, friendly, and I need Amethyst to develop me more/

*sighs* Even the most quiet of our AEs has - a character. Your turn, Vir - Vir? VIR??

^What? Oh, hi. Vireo, she/her, and I hope we can hurry this up because I've got other things to attend to.^

|Oh, right, Justin. I'd forgotten the Beautiful Boy.|

^*throws pillow in self-defence*^

~I'm always being called the sensible one... There's a lot more to me than that, though. I'm witty and positive as well. I'm Ibis, she/her.~

Can we keep this quiet for at least this first part? Please??? In fact, I'd better take over. The first item on our agenda is our usual rememberance of Ella Starburst. Thank you so much, Ella! You've given us one of our most iconic traditions!

Next up, we have Important Dates, courtesy of pangolin |isn't it Pangolin with a capital P?| {No, it isn't, now stop interrupting} |That was the first time I interrupted!| {And it's not going to be the only time, is it?} |Who's interrupting now?| /I never thought you two could get into an argument about spelling, of all things./ ^In fact, should the format be like this? Should we be all on one line? Or all in one paragraph anyway? Amethyst you're writing us wrong! >:0^ ~Just let her put in the Important Dates.~ The Important Dates will give you a break from my AEs - they feature pangolin's, namely Nix, Fir, ~Mirage~, #Vanadium#, and |Arum|!

^Also sorry if the formatting is off, we had to copy paste it and this computer doesn't like copy-pasted stuff. Apologies.^

Month-Long Holidays: Black History Month, National Haiku Writing Month,
National Library Lovers' Month, International Friendship Month, AroAce
Visiblity Week (from the 18th to the 24th) (Scuttles) :D *waves aroace flag*

Feb 1 - Imbolc/Saint Brigid's Day AND Serpent Day snek >:]

Feb 2 - National Ukulele Day AND Groundhog Day (Moon Wolf) *pulls
out ukulele* *sings very off-key* ohHHHH my name is greg the groundhog,
and upon this sunny day, i saw my scary shadow, and so i hid away! six
more weeks of-- #*covers ears* not six more weeks of you singing, i hope#

Feb 3 - Golden Retriever Day AND Feed The Birds Day (Moon Wolf) #feed the birds to what? my dragon?# NO VANADIUM >:0

Feb 4 - National Thank A Mailman Day

Feb 5 - World Nutella Day ooh i love nut-ella! :D |WHAT are you
talking about it's pronounced noot-ella??| um excuse me, Arum, it is
made of hazelNUTS not hazelNOOTS >:0 |YOU are a newt| i'll take that
as a compliment, thanks :D

Feb 6 - Pay a Compliment Day #how much do i owe it?# sTOP TAKING EVERYTHING SO LITERALLY 

Feb 7 - National Girls & Women in Sports Day |:D| AND Periodic Table Day #i like this day. i'm going to celebrate by informing everyone i have 23 protons# 

Feb 8  - Molasses Bar Day ooooooHHH POTATOES AND MOLASSES THEY'RE SO MUCH SWEETER THAN-- *is yanked off stage by a vaudeville hook*

Feb 9 - International Winter Bike to Work Day AND Lunar New Year's Eve (CelineBurning Bright) :DD *falls off bike* 

Feb 10 - Lunar New Year (Moon Wolf & CelineBurning Bright) happy lunar new year!! *sets off fireworks* ~UM. who let Fir near the fireworks??? D:~ oh relax, it's fiiiiiine. *explosions in the distance* #great, now we're going to have to PAY a fine for property damage...i vote we take it out of nix's account# HEY D:

Feb 11 - Superbowl Sunday AND International Day of Women & Girls in Science |ooh, awesome :D| ~DON'T LET ARUM NEAR ANY CHEMICALS OR BUNSEN BURNERS--~

Feb 12 - Abraham Lincoln's Birthday why did abraham lincoln grow a beard? because he wanted to look like the guy on the five dollar bill! *dies of laughter* ooh i've got one!! which president is the least guilty?? lincoln, because he's IN-A-CENT!!! bwahahaah ~oh my kyngdom. save me from these dad jokes--~ AND Hawkstar's birthday :DD OH MY GOSH HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAWKSTAR!! :DD *falls off a chair*

Feb 13 - Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras

Feb 14 - Valentine's Day (Moon Wolf) AND the Annual CB Reunion :D *throws up environmentally-friendly heart- and cricket-shaped confetti* *promptly inhales it and starts coughing on it* ~wh-where did you get cricket-shaped confetti???~

Feb 15 - Susan B. Anthony Day

Feb 16 - National Tartar Sauce Day did i ever tell you guys
about the time i drank a pint of tartar sauce on a dare and then
projectile vomi-- |yep, quite a few times, actually, and none of us are
in a hurry to hear it again, thanks|

Feb 17 - Random Acts of Kindness Day (Moon Wolf) AND World Pangolin Day
yayy :D be randomly kind by giving the pangolins some love (the actual
animals, not ME - i'm not THAT egoistic...)

Feb 18 - Cow Milked While Flying In An Airplane Day AND Pluto Day (Moon Wolf) YESS VIVA LA PLUTO!! w-wait, can we go back to the first one for a second-- 

Feb 19 - Presidents' Day (Moon Wolf)

Feb 20 - Clean Out Your Bookcase Day ~nEVER! *curls around books like some protective dragon and hisses at passersby*~

Feb 21 - Language Day :D

Feb 22 - Be Humble Day AND World Thinking Day (Moon Wolf) |hmm, i think all of us AEs could use a heavy of the former.| ~and
of the latter, to be honest. *glances at Fir and Nix, who are currently
balancing cantaloupes on their heads while singing the french national
anthem, despite not knowing the french national anthem*~

Feb 23 - Skip the Straw Day |yes!! today and everyday!!| yeah just slurp your milkshake right up like the Man™ you are. ~peer pressuring people into environmentalism, i see? nice~

Feb 24 - National Tortilla Chip Day this is nacho day!! it is TOO my day! i love tortilla chips >:0

Feb 25 - Quiet Day ~yes pLEASE~ *stops banging pot lids together* *looks at Mirage in confusion* but?? you're quiet every day, Mirage?? what ever do you mean?? 

Feb 26 - Letter to an Elder Day hey i'm older than all of you guys. i expect to receive a ton of fanmail!

Feb 27 - International Polar Bear Day polarrr bearssss :D

Feb 28 - National Essay Day AND National Pancake Day (Moon Wolf) *chokes on maple syrup* that reminds me - i had an essay due today D: 

Feb 29 - leap dayyyy frOG DAY?? :D

Thank you, pangolin! |Pangolin, you mean| {Nooo I keep telling you it isn't} Could someone get them out of the room and close the door? Anyway, we appreciate it, pangolin + AEs! You've saved the Important Dates category of our MCU :)

^Though I thought we put the month-long holidays at the end of the thingy.^

/Do we? Wait - "thingy"?/

^Well, it is a thingy, isn't it?^

{You don't call the Important Dates a "thingy"!}

^You don't? :0^

How long is this already? *shrieks* What was next? What's usually next? *starts hunting desparately through drawers for old MCUs*

/What on earth is she doing?/

~I don't know... we'd better take over for her.~

NOOOoooo--

{No, really, it will be easy. Next up, lizards, dudes, and guys, we have - *drumroll*... a special program on The Merits of AEs (and particularly these AEs)!}

|All right, I'll do the cinematography. *grabs a camera* Presented by... Eri Salami! Starring... Eri Salami! Narrated by... Ibis Pizzapizza!|

~What? What??~

|Well, we have to have last names. O-oh AEs are a pleasure, oh AEs are a joy, Oh you'd better have AEs or - help, what rhymes with joy?|

^Soy. Or you'll never eat soy!^

{?}

~That's the tune of Santa Claus is Coming to Town.~

|So?|

*slips out of the room* Right. We'll continue with Threads to Check, to entertain yourself while February goes by - and to give you an excuse to escape from your AEs! Courtesy of Hawkstar! Thank you, Hawkstar :)

Messages to future CBers made by Amethyst

https://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/downtoearth/node/564994

Send a message to future CBers? What do you want to say? (Do your homework, stop procastinating on here?)

(all AEs) *waltz into the room singing They know whatever you post,/They know what you are like,/They know whether or not you love toast,/And whether your ride your bike!*

|Ooh we're doing the Threads to Check!|

Yes, so shall we actually do them?

Poem Challenge made by Luna

https://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/puddingsplace/node/564833

A bit like the Poetry Contest, only you different! For this one, you choose three random words and put them into a poem.

Book recommendations made by guess who ~All right! Made by Hawkstar herself? By Darkvine? By an aLiEn? Tell us :D~ /No, Hawkstar means the maker of the thread is called guess who./ ~Oh :/~

Recommend some books! What have you been reading lately kind of thing- and share it with others. Or just suggest books you love!

Guess the CAPTCHA made by pangolin

https://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/chirpatcricket/node/564542

Yay another of these!  Just post what you CAPTCHA said this post, and then guess what somone elses could be sayin'!

<iwkud> (I could?)

NO, Origami, you couldn't participate.

<wynot?>

Because it's not something for little hedgehogs.

Text Adventure, made by Rose T.

https://www.cricketmagkids.com/chatterbox/inkwell/node/563451

A fun pick the plot sort of story! It seems really mystery induced- it's really good!

^*gasp* What about Kyngdom?^

{All things are possible. Go check out Kyngdom! Become a prince, a king, a Catastrophe! Have powers, fight SAPs, drink maple sap from trees in the North! Have adventures! All of this -}

|In Kyngdom!|

And that's all for Threads to Check! In case you don't want to read all those threads for an example of the CB's Wit and Wisdom, here are some CB quotes, chosen for you by Moon Wolf~

"Cough, rough, thought, through, and tough don't rhyme, but for somesgrange reason pony and bologna do o_O" - Hawkstar

^Odd, I thought it was posted by Hex.^

~Well, exactly - what?? Hex and Hawkstar aren't the same person?? Get out a Special Edition newspaper immediately! We have to let the world know!!~

*clears throat*

"But also yeah Idk how I became a sleeping elephant... but apparently that's who I am now.  MWAHAHAHAA!!" - Sleeping Elephant (CelineBurningBright)

"You know you've read/played too many medieval fantasy books/games when you can easily tell the difference between a cavalry broadsword and a double-helix longsword." - Darkvine

|*appears on the scene, brandishing a cavalry broadsword* You cannot read or play too many of those :]|

"Spent two minutes wondering why listening to pop music physically left a taste in your mouth before realizing that pop is another word for soda T^T" - Silver Crystal {*collapses in hysterical laughter*}

^Are you... all right?^

"Your hands of finger tips, and your feet have toes, but how come you tip-toe, but not tip-finger?" - Cattywampus

{*is still laughing*}

^You're sure you're all right?^

|He's suffering from the age-old disease of Laughatoomucha.|

Oh dear... What now?

{*stops laughing and looks haughty* I'm perfectly all right.}

Oh, good. Well, let's go on with quotes, then. The CB can be funny and interesting, but here are specifically inspirational quotes from Great People. They're from Hawkstar, again - ty for contributing to this MCU, Hawkstar!

"Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does." ~William James

{AhEm, Eri...}

|*looks innocently at the sky*|

^Oh, I forgot they were still cross at each other about the whole Orange Sock affair.^

I probably don't want to know--

"If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken." ~Oscar Wilde

"Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it's better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring." ~Marilyn Monroe.

|Yesss my motto :D|

"No exact recipe for today. Gather all available ingredients and whip yourself up something delicious." ~Lin-Manuel Miranda

"We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: We have the power to imagine better." ~J.K. Rowling

"If you see someone without a smile, give 'em yours!" ~Dolly Parton ~I always agree with Dolly Parton :)~

"For there is always light. If only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it." ~Amanda Gorman

And there are our inspirational quotes :) Hawkstar also provided a few other quotes - we don't have room for all of them, unfortunately, but here are a couple of them:

“Where is human nature so weak as in the bookstore?”

― Henry Ward Beecherr

“Happiness is a warm puppy.”

― Charles M. Schulz

Right, we go on to -

|Where's my COMPUTER????????|

/What do you mean, where's your computer?/

|I mean I had a computer and now it's gOnE - *mutters* wherewherewherewhere|

Not another thing that's disappeared this week - first it was pencils, then it was a notebook, now it's a computer :/ On to Book Quotes, unless they've disappeared. From Moon Wolf :)

"There's no telling where my thoughts will end up by the end of the day when I'm sleeping and dreams emerge..." - Singing with Elephants, by Margarita Engle

"'Good strong hair,' he was fond of saying, 'means a good strong brain underneath.' 'Like Shakespeare,' Matilda once told him. 'Like who?' 'Shakeseare, Daddy.' 'Was he brainy?' 'Very, Daddy.' 'He had masses of hair, didn't he?' 'He was bald, Daddy.'" - Matilda, by Roald Dahl

"'Maybe I like being different, but I don't want to be like everyone else, either." - A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'engle

"When you've been through the worst with someone, you appreciate the best." - The One and Only Bob, by Katherine Applegate

{Or you'd think so, wouldn't you?}

|Where is my computer?? Did you take it, Alde?|

"'We can't live in the past. We have to let the hard things go.'" - Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile, Shannon Messenger

|But where could it be? Under the sofa?|

^In a bush outside?^

We don't have any Book of the Month, unfortunately, though I'd advise you to read Love in English, by Maria Andreu - a romcom, but much more meaningful and well-written than a lot of romcoms. Vaguely like Wonder, if you like that style.

However, if you want something to do this month, we have a Monthly Playlist to keep you occupied. Here's a "February Mixtape", compiled by pangolin!

2/14 - The Band CAMINO

Little Of Your Love - HAIM

Power of Two - The Indigo Girls

I Choose You - Sara Bareilles

crushcrushcrush - Paramore

|February advice: Crush your crush! (Where is my computer?)|

^Ooh, Power of Two and I Choose You rhyme. I choose you, because of the power of two.^

~Thanks for this, pangolin :)~

{And that concludes Part I of the MCU. Click here, pay $200 in cash, or wait until Friday to see Part II!}

/Wait, what? That's not how it works./

{Why not? This is long enough already, and I want to run before Eri discovers where his computer is.}

|aHa you know where my computer is! Tell meeee|

{No, find it for yourself.}

|*throws pillow*|

{This is St. Brigid's day, and I proclaim St. Brigid my patron saint, so you can't touch me.}

|Not fair. Not fair at all.|

{Well, never mind.}

^Hey I thought of another project for you two: upset the Super Bowl. (Maybe you would do that together at least?)^

|Ooh yes we should do that. Touchdown for the Inklings, lizards, that was such a lovely - what's football jargon?|

~Goooooooooooal primarily, I think.~

/American football, they mean, not soccer./

~Oh right, I've been reading Amethyst's biographies of English soccer players and--~

I've never read a biography of an English soccer player! Never. We don't even have biographies of English soccer players in the house.

~Well, you were reading a biography of some soccer player.~

|--and you're totally going to tell me where my computer is--|

{Nice try. Never.}

|Why do you even want my computer????!??|

{Three guesses, Eri. Three.}

I'm going to make them big brother and little brother. They already act like it. As usual, we need advice on how to manage them, but first let's lighten up by taking a look at our joke column.

Pangolin:

q: do you have a date for valentine's day? a: yep, february 14th!

q: why is february a frog's favorite month? a: because it has a leap day

|*collapses in laughter*|

{Who has Laughatoomucha now?}

|First guess: to irritate me.|

{What...?}

|Ah! I guessed right, didn't I?|

{What are you talking about?}

^Probably about his computer.^

{Oh. Ohhhh. Well no, that's wrong. You have tWo MoRe GuEsSeS~}

Ahem! Moon Wolf:

Can February march? No, but April may.

^That's so clever :D^

Scuttles:

I ate a kid's meal at McDonald's today. His parents seemed really angry.

~You mean you ate the meal of some poor kid??~

/No, it's a joke, remember? A good one, too ;D/

~I was joking too ;)~

This is turning out to be a very apt MCU for April Fool's Day, and I need to finish it off. Please keep it quiet, AEs. We asked you what your favorite ways to keep off boredom and find fun in the last month of winter were. Here are the innovative responses we got!

pangolin says: ~embrace~ the winter season by going sledding! or snowboarding! or ice skating! or slam-dunking snowballs on your siblings' heads! if you don't like winter activities (or you're in an area with no snow), then get all cozy inside with a good book and warm beverage! |I like the slam-dunking snowballs. BeWaRe, all of you!|

Moon Wolf says: Make hot cocoa and read a book when the weather's crazy. ^Always a good option :)^

CelineBurning Bright says: *in a snooty tone* I don't get bored. Hmph. :) But I would basically just agree to what everyone what is saying. Yeah, don't have much advice, sorry /That's all right! I never do either. I sit and tHINK about what I'm going to say and don't get anywhere./

Scuttles says: bring my sketchbook eVeRyWhErE ~*sits down with a sketchbook*~

Thanks for everyone who participated in the LMWAY! Next up, we have--

|Second guess: Because you were bored.|

{Wrong! No, really, I promise. That wasn't it. You have one more guess :> }

NEXT UP, we have the Advice Column! Two days make this month special - leap day and Valentine's Day. We wanted to know your favorite ways to celebrate! Here are our replies:

pangolin says: on Valentine's Day, my family gets donuts and iced chai from the donut
plant! and i think long and hard about all my ocs' ships :P on leap day,
i say i will use this extra day to be productive...and then i end up
using that extra day to get more rest.

~Understandable. Entirely understandable :]~ |WhAt I thought we agreed it was Pangolin.| ^No, we didn't.^

Moon Wolf says: I don't rlly do much for leap day, but it's always cool to see it. As
for Valentine's Day, sometimes my family has a feast or goes out to a
restaurant to eat. /Sounds nice!!/

Scuttles says: nothing much, usually, but I think I'm going to celebrate aro week---the
first full week after Valentine's Day, starting on Sunday---by hiding
aro and ace flags all over my school

|Interesting!|

And we're finally winding up!

|Third guess: um because you don't have one of your own?|

{I do have one of my own, and it's in perfect order. That wasn't it.}

|Then what was?!|

{I shall never tell my secret.}

|Speak now or forever hold your peace! *throws pillow*|

^Woo pillow fight *throws pillows at everyone*^

*we see our presenter, surrounded by moving white pillows, valiantly holding a list in one hand and a microphone in the other* And now, we have judging for LotM! Our private location is #WillNeverEmergeFromChaos because of our private situation, but here are the best (in other words, all) of your entries~

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order)

Moon Wolf, with "Being whisked into a fantasy world book"!

Why: Because what more could one wish for in the middle of a chilly February? Or at any time? :) Unfortunately, it was a bit long.

Scuttles, with "watching my snowman melt"!

Why: Because we all do this at some point *sniff* *sniff* Very original idea! :)

Third place!

CelineBurning Bright, with "high in the sequoia"!

Why: Because it's such a nice contrast to end-of-winter coldness, and we love the wording! I love the way you said "the sequoia". Also, it fits in the box :)

Second place!

Hawkstar, with "Snowdrops in the frost"!

Why: Because, again, the imagery is lovely, as well as very relevant to the season. Great job :)

*drumroll* First place!

pangolin, with "hiding from my shadow"!

Why: Because it's almost Groundhog's Day, and we really don't want Phil to see his shadow! I love the playfulness of this one :)

Everyone's contributions were wonderful, though, and they all really deserved first prize! Thank you so much to all the wonderful people who helped make this MCU possible. (Which doesn't necessarily count my AEs...)

|Tell me why you did it grrr--|

{All right, but I won't be responsible for the consequences. Because you needed to get off the screen more! *dodges several pillows*}

He's actually right. It's late, and we need to get off the screen right now - our apologies if the MCU wasn't as good as we intended, circumstances weren't very propitious. Happy February, happy whatever-day-it-is-today, we really enjoyed hosting!!, and we are signing off,

~Ibis~,

/Silvan/,

|Eri (and I'm going to get that computer back)|,

{Aldebaran (and no he isn't)},

^Vireo (looking forward to Valentine's Day!)^,

and Amethyst