#(although tbf i did love quite a few of these already)

[uhbasicallyjustmilex]

at this point my music taste is basically just alex turner's t-shirts

[reinedeslys-central]

when it's been so long since you've read a fic that you forget about it and you find it in the search tags and start reading it again

and it's great, if a little familiar, but you've read a lot of these sorts of fics bc you like this tag a lot, so you assume it's nothing

but then the deja vu starts adding up and you start to wonder

and then moments before the great big Plot Twist Reveal happens you're suddenly like ah hell this is the bloody sundial fic again isn't it

smh this has to be the fourth time yet

[it-brought-me-to-my-knees]

DIGICORE LOVE: MY FIVE FAVOURITE SONGS (AS OF RIGHT NOW) [#1]

recovery girl - "it’s love" / "it's love redux"

A big Hyperpop Moment for me, the loser who cares deeply about echoes of the past in the art of today: “wow this has the same chord progression as “Because The Night” by Patti Smith, that’s so crazy, I love that s- wait a minute, they’re ripping off the Cascada cover!!!”. The original is so stark that it reminds me of the days when “hyperpop” was often mentioned in the same breath as “deconstructed club music”, but it’s such a perfect pop song that it doesn’t feel like it needs anything more… and yet I’m equally smitten with the “redux” version that fleshes it out from a minimal pop song into a rock song that’s almost too much, the snarling distortion that crept at the borders of the original bursting through the walls: jazzy emo noodling, a roaring half-time breakdown, and a guitar solo that swoops in for just long enough for you to think “holy shit, a guitar solo!”. 

Man, that wacky bass intro - get a load of Tony Levin over here!

webcage - "0M61LY5M"

Makes me feel old that they namedrop Danger Days as an emo classic in this one. I mean, I like it, but my wife is an I Brought You My Bullets purist so DD is borderline verboten in our household.  But we did talk about My Immortal on the night we first met, so I’m sure she’d appreciate a hook as on-point as “Ripped skinny jeans, black nails and a septum / all the preps, all the posers, just forget them!”. 

Quite interesting to see how quickly and subtly nostalgic art can warp the recent past - I certainly don’t remember the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack being an emo touchstone, but tbf, the “MySpace rawr x3” vibe that I’m so fond of was already on the way out during my Peak Emo Years (‘10-’12), so maybe I’m equally guilty of sloppy romanticisation. Life is so hard for me, the oldest zoomer (27): the kids are a mess but if I try to join the millennials they might start gushing about “LCD Soundsystem”.

Another big moshy breakdown! Someone really needs to start a clubnight for cringe shut-ins like me, I can’t jump around to this in my bedroom.

SEBii - “STFU…ur done”

If you’re a fan of rap, you’re probably familiar with a few of the many, many “worst rappers of all time”; there’s a new one every six months or so. You don’t have to actually be a bad rapper to be “the worst”, you just have to somehow represent a threat to rap’s status quo (despite rap’s status quo being… already bad? Don’t overthink it, just open your third eye) - misunderstood innovators like Lil Wayne and Young Thug, “I’m not a fan, but the kids like it” oddballs like 6ix9ine and Lil Yachty, even fairly traditional rappers who committed the mortal sin of rapping over DJ Premier beats while not being Guru, like Group Home (one for the old heads there). 

A few years ago, if pressed, I’d probably have said Travis Scott, who is somehow like a less charming Drake - no charisma, no bars, barely anything that even resembles rapping, but his executive-producer role makes his fans worship him like the all-singing all-dancing second coming of Beethoven. It’s galling enough when they treat Kanye like that, and Kanye could actually sit down with an MPC and make great beats, once upon a time.

Nowadays, though, if you shift the goalposts just right and ignore the music itself, I think that SEBii might actually be the worst rapper of all time. In all my years suffering in the rap nerd mines I never, not once, heard an MC namedropping RhymeZone. Not even a self-admitted ex-textcee like Ab-Soul, and that guy once rapped “let me put my mouth where you potty, boo”. 

It’s hard to contextualise him, really. There’s a lot of black American artists and a lot of white American artists on this corner of the Internet but very few from China (shout-out to Alice Longyu Gao!). He looks like someone got the word “nerd” during a game of Pictionary and had five seconds to draw it, but he’s not nerdcore (although he does make anime references sometimes). He once intentionally mispronounced “chuckle” as “chickle” so he could rhyme it with “abysmal”... which he then unintentionally(?) mispronounced as “adysmal”. But as Guru once said, “it’s mostly the voice that gets you up”, and what a voice Seb has - a smirking prepubescent squeak, like a mischievous animal companion in a video game. 

He’s fully confident and capable with the instrument that God has granted him, flipping dextrously between flows, and thanks to his ear for melody it really clicks with his beats. On paper they should be typical modern trap/drill-influenced material, but they make great use of negative space - the texture of a typical SEBii song is very lean and deliberate without ever feeling *too* sparse, cycling through different combinations of thumping bassline, jittery synth lines and dynamic drum pattern, all three occasionally dropping out completely to let echoes of that voice linger in the virtual air. 

There’s a playful, colourful sense of melody to some of his beats—"TiiKKA MASALA" is downright jaunty—that wouldn’t really work with a rapper who was seriously trying to project menace instead of talking about shit like, Idk, Sword Art Online. I know I was shitting on Travis Scott fans for talking like this just a few paragraphs ago but the VVYELLOW EP is quite an impressive work of A&R, if I didn’t know better I could believe that every beat was the work of a single producer. Goofy music, but sleek and charming. Okay I immediately regret picking "goofy" as the adjective here, now I'm wondering if furry R&B is hyperpop (yes, obviously).

This is what real allyship sounds like btw.

threedimensionsapart - “dropdead”

I like how thin this one is lyrically - the one verse almost immediately shifts back into a chorus that gets repeated so insistently that a line as banal as “you don’t even follow me on Twitter” almost takes on mantra-like significance. And barely audible in the background, those warbling falsetto backing vocals! A stroke of mad genius. Feels like it should be laughable but tbqh he could do pretty much anything on the mic and it’d still be carried by this fucking beautiful glowing summer sky of an instrumental, an “in a dream you saw the pearly gates swing open for just a second and the tiny fragment you gleaned of the sights and sounds of Paradise was forever tattooed on your tender mortal brain” type beat. Dunno how to make those, I’m probably just not adding enough reverb.

wubz - “mania”

(That cat is so cute lmao.)

So many hyperpop/digicore artists are defined by their high voice - whether it’s trans women voice-training and pitch-shifting for obvious reasons or young castrato-sounding mfs like SEBii and kmoe who just sound Like That, there’s an abundance of countertenors and contraltos.

wubz, in stark contrast, seems to have gone “lol fuck that, I’m going the other way [devil emoji]”. I know “Pitched-down vocals? Wow!!!” is a funny thing to say about a rapper in 2023 but wubz never really sounds chopped-and-screwed to me - the vibe is closer to “original Japanese voice actor for an anime hooligan”, just like the angry schoolboy on the cover art for “walls”.

This description might make him sound less emo than his peers, but make no mistake: he’s emotional as FUCK, just like gruff emo OGs Guy Picciotto and Blake Schwarzenbach. (Those guys hate being called “emo”, which is how you know it’s a real genre. See also: Andrew Eldritch/Robert Smith/Peter Murphy and “goth”, everyone I mention on this blog and “hyperpop”). These emo ties are further reinforced by his affection for beats with prominent guitar - “FE4R” in particular is more like a rap-influenced post-hardcore song than vice versa, with actual (like, actual-actual. Like “skramz”.) screamo screams and violent lyrics that, in this context, feel closer to the noir-tinged moodiness of Senses Fail or Alkaline Trio than… who’s rapping nowadays, who do the kids like… Kevin Gates? Actually now I think about it Gates singing pop-punk hits in his croaky baritone kinda predicted this vibe… ugh, it’s so annoying that someone as deeply boring as Machine Gun Kelly managed to make “what if a rapper… went pop-punk” into a commercial prospect. Should’ve been a Deep South rap crooner. Please Rod Wave, consider recording a Victory Records cover album.

This blog is already dangerously close to me just saying “[new thing] is like [old music-nerd thing], probably a coincidence but pretty wild huh” fifty times in a row but the melodic feedback shrieks on this really do remind me of early Animal Collective. Hurts so good.

And that's all for this week! Maybe month, I find schedules scary! Byeee!!!!

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 11

and here we have to conclusion to the shadowplay arc...

clearly prowl hasn't seen national treasure smh

prowl, what exactly is confusing you about ‘secret government-sanctioned brainwashing facility’

the fact that prowl was willing to go so strongly against his morals to protect chromedome...oof bro 

so the senator is basically professor x and all the outliers are mutants. got it

senator shockwave was just a sexy thot who wanted justice....poor guy

so there ARE gloves on cybertron...am I to just assume that the doctors don't like using them for some reason????? I mean tbf I've known a few medical professionals who don't wear gloves during certain procedures, like giving shots which, imo, yikes I would never, even simple vaccines can cause bleeding, but to each their own...are ppe rules not strict on cybertron, or is there a low risk of infection transfer due to the nature of cybertronian diseases? ah, the real questions 

anyways. I should stop going on extremely off-topic medical rants

I relate to tailgate in his tendency to misspell. these liveblogs would be unreadable if it weren't for spellcheck

ouch, the fact that cd ‘never really forgave’ prowl for leaving the heist party w/out a word, even tho it turns out prowl stormed off w/a final request to keep cd safe and out of it all....cd and prowl are just a big tragic trainwreck huh

its interesting that skids used to be religious, when it seems like he isn't now. Wonder What Could Have Caused That Shift In Ideology! Hm!

oh my god I love how ironfist’s fanboy ranting about the primal vanguard is cut short just as he’s saying ‘a bomb disposal kit once used by-’ bc its like Oh I bet he was about to mention tailgate, yknow, the guy who (claims he) was the primal vanguard’s bomb disposal guy...that's such a great little detail

the stuff we hear from roller about senator shockwave is super interesting - it sounds like he’s been pretty aware of the state of society for a while, and has been trying to combat it from the inside...which isn't going so great, it seems, considering the state of society at the time. 

also the whole ‘modifying people to hold the matrix (sometimes without their consent?)’ thing he’s got going on is. interesting. again, is there any sort of ethics laws on cybertron, seriously guys,

oof, op cares so much abt senator sw :( they were in love okay 

red alert :( 

rodimus is such an interesting character AUGH the fact that he takes red alert’s potential suicide to be a personal failing on his part as a captain...which, yknow, that idea has merit considering rodimus’s part in the whole overlord thing, as well as rodimus having told red alert that ‘everyone thought he was losing it.’ yeahhhhh, that's not quite the approach to take w/someone clearly suffering from a paranoid breakdown

poor magnus has no idea about all the overlord stuff, which is what triggered red alert’s breakdown 

tho, magnus, idk that putting red alert in a cryofreeze chamber or w/e is the solution here. although maybe they’re all just at a loss bc cybertron’s only mental health specialist is current hanging out comatose in a bar

are we supposed to (retrospectively) read into rodimus and drift’s agreement to put red alert in storage as a way of covering up the overlord stuff? did they deduce that he figured out about overlord and that's what caused his breakdown? rodimus seems genuinely distressed about the whole cold storage situation, but is there more to it than ‘I failed as a captain bc this guy had a breakdown under my command’? I genuinely do not remember a lot about the overlord plot bc I was so confused the first time I read it and the second time I was too busy being extremely sad, so.

genuinely shocked that cybertron even has ‘health and safety inspections.’ it just figures that the one ratchet conducted wasn't an actual inspection, but an excuse to prepare for some good ole fashioned heisting

man I love a good heist/break-in

ok so skids rlly is just here for his grappling hook hvbhksddfjbjkdf my man

UH OH SENATE GOONS. never good

whoa, cybertronians have glenohumeral joints?? tho, ratchet says ‘glenohumeral socket,’ which doesn't exist in humans - we have a glenoid cavity/fossa/socket that articulates w/the head of the humerus to form the glenohumeral joint, so, close enough

anyways, that sure was a nonsequiter. ratchet busting out his lock picking skills is dope. do they teach that sorta stuff in cybertronian medical school? maybe its in place of the patient confidentiality lesson

seriously, ratchet sure knows a lot about bombs for a doctor. maybe they also cut out the courses on ppe and patient consent to make room for the cool stuff like BOMB CLASSES

op really DOES like jumping off stuff, doesn't he 

oh no senator :( 

JK HERES OP BUSTIN THRU A DUDES CHEST 

oh no roller :( 

‘remember me how I was’ NOOOO IM GONNA FUCKING CRY. SW AND OP MAKE ME SO SAD. GOD 

op yeeted that matrix bomb like he was trying to make a touchdown or...something. not sure why I chose football, the only sport I dislike, as my metaphor here 

lol it blew up a police station, nice

god, that reveal that the institute that we saw last issue was just one of many....and the one we saw was strikingly awful enough, so the fact that there's a ton more like that....oof

also, again, super interested in the fact that cd was involved in this arc where they see how scary and evil the institute is and then ended up working for the institute - well, the ‘new institute’ - later on

I'm weeping at the ‘big reveal’ for tailgate being that orion pax is optimus prime....its so funny that he didn't know that so it was a huge twist for him and absolutely nobody else hvbakdjhfbksjdf I love tailgate

also. is that the picture somebody drew of op for tg lmao

:D and then skids manages to wake rung up!!! all by getting his name wrong lmao. tho, maybe all the storytelling helped!

oh shit its zeta (prime?), here to talk to op, presumably about becoming the next space pope

HHHHHHHHHHHHHH GOD THAT REVEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!! BROOOOO the senator shockwave reveal slapped me right in the FACE the first time I read this, and that's saying something bc I seriously only understood like 40% of the shadowplay story my first readthru. but the shockwave reveal still had me SHOOK like oh god that was so fucking brutal. jesus

like the fact that the emotionless decpeticon shockwave used to have a completely different look and personality is already crazy enough, but then the tie-ins of empurata and shadowplay? brutal and amazing

like, this is the kinda retrospective backstory stuff that I love. it gives a lot of cool depth to both the characters and the world. I feel like it really helped cement concepts like empurata and shadowplay in the world 

and just, AUGH The Reveal still gets me...im pretty sure in my first readhtru I only picked up the fact that the senator PURPOSELY hasn't been named during this issue, and I was kinda ready for some sort of reveal but also figured it could be someone I didn't know bc of my limited tf lore knowledge, but even I knew who shockwave was and phew that blew me away 

that full-page art spread is fuckin banging also 

anyways, shadowplay arc! I really enjoy this arc and all its genre-hopping goodness, and the framing device of the characters telling a story is a lot of fun. plus we get to see a lot of cool backstory for many characters, and got tons of great worldbuilding for jro’s pre-war cybertron. 

I understood a lot more of the story upon my second (and now third) readthru of the series, which was super rewarding bc the first time I wasn't able to follow a lot of stuff (1st readthru I tended to assume that me being confused about something was due to my lack of previous knowledge of lore/story, so I didn't often analyze stuff seriously, or even employ critical thinking skills lmao). 

also some gnarly stuff went on w/the red alert b-plot, which we’ll pick up with later....

[moonaft]

The Winter Long - Reread

Rosemary and Rue

A Local Habitation

An Artificial Night

Late Eclipses

One Salt Sea

Ashes of Honor

Chimes At Midnight

Interlude : Full of Briers

As always, spoilers up to The Brightest Fell and October 2018 for the Patreon stories. No spoilers for Night and Silence, and at this point I think I’ll have finished the entire reread by the time I get my copy. Which is just as well.

First off, ‘the winter long’ is one line after ‘rosemary and rue’. Is the final book going to be ‘Grace and Remembrance’? 

I really like TWL. This was a good book, filled with shifting allies and cameos by my favorite people. It’s probably my favorite after The Brightest Fell and not just because of Simon. 

I am going to ignore the fact that the knowe is called ‘Muir Woods’ even before it was named that in 1908. Maybe? Maybe Arden took up the name really quickly. I can’t find a mention of it by name in Patrick’s first short story and I can’t dig up “In Little Stars” right now to check if it was called Muir Woods back then. Patreon’s search sucks.

Onto the ball! A good ball, in which no one gets poisoned or nearly assassinated and Toby doesn’t commit murder. Yeah, if I was her I also wouldn’t want to go to fancy balls. She takes after Sylvester in that regard. 

Speaking of, hi Sylvester! Hi Li Quin!

Arden has social anxiety and needs more friends than Madden. I am surprised no noble Daoine Sidhe have come a-courting. At least she’ll get Walther and Cassandra to take jobs at court soon. 

I love Arden subtly copying Quentin in table manners. 

Are Raven-maids and -men the opposite of Selkies, born birds and need the feathers to transform?  Jazz takes off her band to turn into a raven. Amandine doesn’t, but presumably her magic can force the transformation regardless. Though Amandine does imply that destroying the band will keep her as a human. 

Yes, it’s time to put everyone to bed. Meanwhile, Toby gets to pull some all nighters.

Hello, Simon.

I love how no one has questioned where he was since Late Eclipses, and that only as a brief mention. He’s the tragic backstory, not meant to show up in the present. Oleander was that too, but now she’s dead and can’t hurt anyone anymore. 

Yeah, she was really not expecting that. Why is it that the bad things only happen to Toby during the books? From the plot summaries, the time between the books is the only time she gets to relax.

Yes, that’s not Sylvester. 

It’s sad how much Toby has internalized him as her personal boogeyman. Dugan, Riordan, Samson, the false Queen could all be fought. It wasn’t easy by any means, but here Toby’s given up without a fight which just doesn’t happen. She’s already determined this is a fight she can’t win. 

I love that the first thing Simon does is praise her. He genuinely does not mean her ill-will.

So Simon has not seen Evening in years prior to TWL and did come to warn Toby about it. Or, turn her into a tree for a hundred years, but to him, that is helping. Evening didn’t send him so he must have gotten word somehow that she was returning. Where was he all those years?

Hello Jazz, you have great timing. Sorry that you are once again attacked in your own home.

Simon didn’t come in limping – Toby turning his spell back against him must have hurt him badly.

Why exactly does Simon have so many transformation spells? Is this his own flower-based transformation or something he got from Evening? It could be his own – he once transformed Patrick’s suit into something more modern and there’s no indication that eventually failed. And why fish? Could he have transformed Patrick into a fish so he and Dianda could spend time together in the Undersea without breathing spells? That would be so cute.

Good job on using your cats to warn Tybalt.

I think even May gets over her feelings by the time of TBF, or at least, she’s willing to let him try so they can save Jazz.

All in all, Simon’s going to get what he wants by the end of this book, namely, Toby’s safety. Sure, he’s elf-shot but so’s Evening. It’s TBF where he’s going to get his ass kicked repeatedly.

Same, Quentin – I too have an endless supply of songs about boats. Five bucks says you’re singing “The Mary Ellen Carter”.

Tybalt probably would still shred Simon to pieces given the change but he’s out of the picture for all of TBF.

Why do you think you can predict what Simon’s going to do, Toby? You know literally nothing about his objectives. He’s also willing to answer what he can of your questions and tell you things without being asked.  

The knowe is willing to let Toby through, and she is family. Would the knowe have let Simon through because he helped build it? What about August?

Way to mess it up, Sylvester. You definitely should have told Toby about Simon before you sent her after him. But that’s in the past and doesn’t matter, does it, Sylvester? Just like September, just like August. It can’t hurt you anymore, right?

I do believe the twins were close once, and by 1840 that’s no longer the case, but it doesn’t matter until 1906. You didn’t help enough to find August, or you encouraged her too much, it doesn’t matter. Simon wanted you to hurt the way he hurt, and if you can’t see that, you have forgotten too much.

Yeah, I can’t imagine Simon hurting Amandine unless it was in direct defense of August or Toby. Sylvester, you should know Amandine’s not going to let him back into her life without August present. You should know this, why don’t you know this?

Tybalt, you told them to run, that is not the Torquills’ fault. Hey, remember that decree that says if you want to marry one of the three, that one can’t refuse?

“I need you to live long enough to be cannon fodder when Simon decides to attack.” Quentin loves you too, Toby.

You are missing a vital, vital piece of why Simon was running around with Oleander. He’s not doing it for shits and giggles, Toby.

Poor Luidaeg. It sucks having the answers and not being able to tell them. Toby’s doing better on the questions this time around.

“At least we know that Simon won’t be able to come after us there.” One small problem with that, Toby.

Does each Library have its own library card, or is it an all access pass?

Mags definitely wanted Toby to show up after Simon left. Whoops. And Toby, you still owe her your mother’s history.

Hi again, Simon. Maybe this time you can actually talk?                                                                        

Yeah, the arrangement with Oleander is definitely non-con. Everyone is glad she’s dead except probably Evening.

Simon has three modes in this book: what he thinks will help Toby, what Toby thinks is helpful, and what he does as a servant of Evening. This is the middle interaction – useful information, no one is transformed or hurt.

Toby, remember you still owe Mags info on your mom.

Amandine definitely ruined your life, Toby, even if you don’t want to admit it.

Good job on raising the dead, Toby.

I guess Evening is a vampire? There’s at least one Snow White legend like that.

“Your lover was a Selkie; he told me quite a bit after he died.” How- What- Did the Luidaeg summon the night haunts to talk to Connor?

How long had Simon been sitting on Toby’s doorstep? He must have gotten straight to Shadowed Hills to get the roses and then back to her place. To the rose gardens at least, he couldn’t have gotten into the halls themselves.

This is the other thing – Toby stops again to ask her personal boogeyman for help. She trusts him enough to do that, which is something we don’t see anywhere else in the series. To be fair, Simon does keep insisting that he’s there to help, which is something no other villain does.

And Simon’s convinced she’s going to die.

May’s benched again, which is a recurring theme that she specifically acknowledges. Let this girl have a field trip with Toby.

Although not into the ocean because that’s where everyone ended up! Hi Dianda. Thanks for saving Toby from drowning.

I wonder what would have happened if Toby told Dianda that Simon gave her the warning. Probably nothing good – here’s yet another trusted authority figure who knew about that relationship and didn’t tell her.

Hello Evening. Hate to see you again. If only Dianda could punch you in the face.

Here her magic is roses and snow but I swear I’ve seen it described as roses and apples somewhere.

So where was she these past few years as she recovered? Does she have another knowe?

So why is Marcia not affected by Evening’s magic? Evening doesn’t recognize Marcia as anything other than changeling, I think. But Evening wouldn’t care that much. I really really want her to be Titania. Maeve would be cool too, but I want her to be Titania.

Good thing no one drowned in that little episode, including Tybalt and Quentin.  

Hi Raj! Everything’s ok!

Props to Toby for being willing to burn the Library down to get it to close, and kudos to Mags for listening to her.

And Simon’s playing double agent on the phone. Toby couldn’t have gotten through this book without him.

Toby hasn’t actually slept since before the Yule ball. How many days and nights has it been since then?

So why did Evening get Quentin sent to Shadowed Hills directly after Luna and Raysel’s return? How did they break free?

Riordan was once in Alameda – how did she move down to Dreamer’s Glass?

And how did Sylvester know they were coming? Simon must have told Evening, or maybe Evening assumed Toby would show up.

Hi Etienne, Bridget and Chelsea!

Yes, leave the boys behind to play Xbox games. Good plan.

Luna does have several points about Evening, Raysel and Karen. Why, exactly, does Stacy have two Seer daughters? She is also smart enough to get her favor from Toby before telling Toby what’s going on.

Is Toby going to have to do a favor for every ally she has?

You can take the Daoine Sidhe out of the Torquill but you can’t take the fox-fur hair and golden eyes.

Poor Raysel. I hope this helps her.

Huzzah, Toby gets to sleep!

Hello again, Simon. OK, Toby doesn’t think he told Evening that she called Shadowed Hills. And he’s back at the house.

There’s something to be said for the image of Simon petting Toby’s rosebush-cat for hours.

Yes, everyone needs group therapy, which clearly doesn’t exist in Faerie.

Correction: there’s nothing in his blood now that she could change. If Toby knew enough to look, could she tell immediately? Maida told Toby that she was once a changeling, and now Toby can look at Quentin and see those watermarks. She has since looked at Sylvester and Simon and been unable to tell that they had human blood once, but Toby misses a lot.

Hmm, Toby is not this… intimate with anyone else. Mind walking while riding Simon’s blood? She’s never done this with living people before. I think if he can be saved in the end, it will involve something similar.

Yep, the non-con is strong here. Simon is a fascinating villain.

So what exactly was Simon planning here? Toby is not a tree. She’s out for several hours and up again. Was Simon buying her time?

Hi Luidaeg! Glad to see you up.

Titania also sounds like a shit mother.

Septiminus was Evening’s grandson. He certainly didn’t get his coloring from her.

“Most of her children died young.” But there were enough grandchildren to establish several Daoine Sidhe lines. Aethlin and Maida aren’t closely related to the Torquills or Dugan or Rhys or Riordan.

Maeve took what vengeance she could against Titania for the Luidaeg’s binding and we don’t know what that is, yet.

Ok, yes. This is where the Luidaeg says Evening’s signatures are apples and roses. Her own magic is brackish marshes and ocean air. Toby doesn’t ask about this.

Elizabeth Ryan would probably argue that the Luidaeg stole her heart but she isn’t here right now.  

I am pretty sure Evening is older than the Luidaeg, but the Luidaeg implies Maeve could have had children before her, just not through Oberon. And none of them are living now.

The Luidaeg knows who Amandine’s mother is and can’t say.                                    

Yes Evening, we know you don’t like Dianda and Patrick’s marriage. You can shut up about it now.

Is Dawn one of the things the Luidaeg can’t talk about? She is not mentioned at all in this book, least of all by Toby.

And Simon’s under Evening’s control again. Poor Tybalt.

And Toby’s covered in her own blood again.

Dammit, Sylvester, Simon’s better at giving Toby answers than you are.

Yes, which of the Queens owned that key? And what exactly is it?

Oh you still don’t know better by now, Toby. You are still somewhat blind to what’s going on around you.

Nice job breaking Evening’s spell, Toby.

Oh Simon, you were so close.

Being stabbed with Simon’s elf-shot laced blood is enough to take out a Firstborn but somehow drinking Nolan’s blood didn’t put Toby out.

Though being asleep isn’t going to stop her…

Naww, Tybalt and Toby are cute together.

Man, I really want to see Dianda and Patrick’s reactions on learning that Evening is the Daoine Sidhe Firstborn. And why does no one seem to recall Dawn? Is there a world-wide “don’t think about it” spell? If so, who could cast it?

[thequietoftheroom]

Hi. Is this thing on? Lauren Graham said in her new book that we should write more so this is my attempt at that. Oh by the way, I started reading again. I write these for myself so why don’t I just use “we”, but that will probably be weird reading it back. I’ve read Feminasty: The Complicated Woman’s Guide To Surviving The Patriarchy Without Drinking Herself To Death, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice On Love And Life From Dear Sugar, and now I’m almost done with Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls To Gilmore Girls. I’ve gone through several lists to pick out the books I plan on reading in the next few months, at least if I can afford them, but I like to think the books I ultimately bought found me and not the other way around. I have been read cover to cover, my soul pierced, and my mind opened. Of course fiction books have a similar effect but I never thought I would be interested in what people had to say about this grand thing called life and I learned that I cared a whole lot, not because I wanted to model myself after them but because I care about people and reading their explanations on life is like suddenly remembering they’re my best friends and they’re just catching me up on little secrets that come packed with nuggets of wisdom. 

I got myself into several situations I never planned on getting myself into even though the red flags were there and even though the people very openly said “Hey, this is exactly who I am”, but you know how your mind works when you have anxiety and depression. You start to convince yourself the puzzle pieces you find yourself assembling are actually part of the picture even though they don’t fit because deep down you’re trying to finish the puzzle of your life and no one is giving you quite the right pieces. In other words, and to quote my friend Allie, I drank a nice glass of “dumb bitch” juice. Which lead me to want to consider joining a dating site sooner than I planned. I know these things take time but it’s been 3 days and I’ve sent 40 likes (I think that’s how okcupid works idk) and practically got 0 back. Here’s why that sucks. On okcupid they focus strongly on your personality and beliefs. So someone not only saw my face and said “yeesh no thanks” they took the time to get to know the information about myself I put on there and were still like “yikes I don’t think so”. So all in all this was an experiment in derailing my self esteem and increasing my depression. What crazy color will I dye my hair to suddenly avoid dealing with my problems? Or maybe I’ll give myself another buzzcut. Stay tuned!

On a serious note, a lot of the stories I’m reading made me SO relieved that at 27 I’m still very much single and have only had 1 relationship which wasn’t that great (it was both of our faults). There were so many stories and anecdotes about young love being messy and about true commitment coming in your 40′s. Honestly, idk if I can wait that long. If NASA and the CIA and the FBI were like “you have been randomly selected to test mating with androids” I’d be like “yes please but can I choose their face”. I mean realistically I’m in the worst position to be in a relationship. For one, I don’t have much money saved because I’m sadly addicted to ordering things online, most of which are either useful to me or to my job (and no I don’t get reimbursed but I think the prospect of waiting for something in the mail to kill time is momentarily greater than the prospect of having more money later). I still live at home. Obviously, that’s a hella yikes and tbf I’m reading to get the fuck out of here but {see A: i have no money} and I have no one to move in with. I keep doing extensive research but I learned that in 2018 everywhere is problematic. So as much as my love for NYC is slowly fading I also realize this is it for me! I’m a city gal who needs to be surrounded by diversity. I can’t do suburbs and I can’t do living near more than 50% white people. I’ll die. I know that’s discriminatory but we are in the dawn of BBQ Beckys so can you blame me when the majority of white people keep voting against my existence. So I’m stuck. Every once in a while I look up “most LGBT friendly places to live” or “least racist places to live” and hope there’s a magical place with both but there isn’t (especially since, hello, twinks are hella racist). But I’ve literally cuddled my body pillow to death: it broke apart and I need a new one. And I learned I can’t fall asleep unless I’m cuddling it because I’m that lonely.

Everything in life is so complicated. I hate not being out at work but at the same time everyone there is ignorant so I wouldn’t be any more comfortable having them walking on eggshells around me. I love the individuals though and sometimes I feel very motherly or big brotherly towards them and they make me REALLY love work. But I want to be me. And I want to get rid of my legal name. Every time someone calls me John I die inside. Sometimes I don’t even respond because I have to be like “oh shit that’s me”. Can I change my name now? Probably, just have to have the money and redo all my paperwork at work? Will i? No because then either a) the individuals will have to learn my new name and their lives are confusing as fuck as it is or b) i keep my current legal name as a nickname but then it will get confusing for paperwork. I don’t like inconveniencing people that much even for something super important to me. I’ll just die inside until I save enough money, do my last few undergrad psyche classes, and then get into grad school. So like in 5 years, knowing me.

I’ve developed some little crushes here and there but most of the time it’s people that live out of reach or are straight or bottoms or any combination of them or I can just tell they will never like me in that way. So honestly, why bother. I miss the days when I didn’t care about this and the only thing plaguing my mind was what show I should marathon while building in minecraft.

Speaking of games, I play a lot with my friend Sal. He’s like my best friend which is weird because he was my boss once on a minecraft server but now I can’t ever think of him that way? He’s more like an older brother now, even though he’s younger than me. We talk a lot and also enjoy a lot of silence, and introduce each other to different games and shows. But mostly games. We’re both obsessed with 7 Days To Die and I check constantly for news about the update (no set dates for Alpha 17 AHHHH). To fill that void we started playing Fortnite, which I know a lot of people make fun of but it’s actually fun. Here’s a fun fact about me: I can’t take serious games serious so if there’s no building element, or fun element, or explosives I can blow things up with, I won’t do it. I have 0 competitive bones in this body. I like to have fun. That’s why Fortnite is perfect because it is a competitive FPS type game but it’s also a parody of that genre and it’s so whimsical. Save The Day is a lot like 7 Days To Die so that’s been fun. Listen, when you play a game with someone and you beat it, especially a survival game, it’s such a relief and you learn so much and it’s like you went on a literal adventure with that person. Did Sal and I actually get stranded on an island full of mutants and cannibals? No but that’s what it actually felt like after finishing The Forest because it was that real for us. My love for Pocket Camp is fading because it’s the same stuff, new textures. I mean the prospect of having a cute camp is fun sometimes (fun enough for me to spend way too much money on it. HELP!) but now it’s like “oh they just stand there and I don’t really do anything”. ALTHOUGH they are saying that now they are adding a LOT more gameplay to the point that you need at least 1gb of space of the game so I’m excited. I’m still obsessed with minecraft so there’s nothing new there.

Here’s something weird. I spent much of my time, when I identified as gay, being annoyed at gay stereotypes and mostly twinks being like “if you don’t do x,y,z you might as well be straight”, so much so that now that I came out as queer those things still bother me and I have to be like “it’s okay that’s not you anymore you literally figured this out which is why you’re this person”. That’s how I should introduce myself tbh “Hi I’m the Q in LGBTQ”. I don’t care about fitting in but because of my lack of in person friends sometimes I worry that maybe I should care, just a little. I’m so tempted to try Tinder just for that but then I think of all the people who have Tinder that live in this building and I’m like God that is a huge mistake. I need a huge life change. I need someone to come in and shake up my life but no one has volunteered. I’m kind of regretting thinking of all those stupid romantic things like “Oh I want my future boyfriend to teach my how to ride a bike :)” “I want my future boyfriend to take me traveling” “I want my future boyfriend to serenade me”. I’ll just become a full on Capricorn and teach myself everything, travel the world alone, and serenade my goddamn self.

Speaking of which again, can my depression like.. not? I was so into learning and practicing chords daily and I just stopped? Like my motivation was like “It’s been a nice 1 week. back to not caring about anything again” I mean I started to try to learn Burn and Satisfied from Hamilton (well, “learn”) so I at least have interest and I still listen to classical music and jazz to light that fire under my ass but still. I’m just going to do what I always do and restart from lesson 1 and hope I make it to 3 although my extensive research of chords has already put me at an advantage for lesson 3, which is chords. Of course I would go and try to learn something in an unstructured manner because I have a problem with routine and authority even when that authority is me.

I should write me. Which reminds me I was going to write about this one dream I had on my regular blog. See ya!

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG Watchthrough Episodes 21-25. Final episodes of Season One.

Symbiosis: Remember kids, drugs are bad! Okay tbf this WAS back in the 80’s where crack and stuff were a growing issue and drug addiction episodes were not at all uncommon. Heaven knows that I saw PLENTY in cartoons from the time, such as Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue or a VERY infamous episode of Captain Planet that I’m shocked got by the censors. As with many of those cartoons though, this episode is... well, pretty preachy. Not as badly, they save it for just one scene for the most part, but still. I don’t think that tackling addiction in ST is a bad idea, but... well, 80’s. I guess if it educated people then that’s good. Frankly I was on Crusher’s side that they should do something, but they stick with the Prime Directive which I guess they’ve gotten a LOT stricter about since the TOS days. The ending is pretty depressing with the addiction continuing, the assholes continuing to sell it, and our heroes can only allow it to happen aside from depriving them of ships to stop shipments, leaving them to figure it out themselves. Hopefully one day things can get better for them. Otherwise, it was just okay. Not the worst drug PSA I’ve ever seen by a long-shot. Oh and apparently there was a Reading Rainbow episode where Levar showed the making of this episode, so if you can find it you should check it out~! 3/5.

Skin of Evil: So... I already knew going into the show that Yar died and Worf would take her place as Security Chief. It’s a shame tbh cause while underdeveloped, I really liked Yar and had she held out, she could have gotten some REALLY good development. But I understand why the actress was unsatisfied with being on the show and left, and I read that she does get to come back for an episode later on so that’s nice. I’ll go into how her death was handled in a bit. As far as the episode itself goes, we have a VERY creepy black liquid monster holding Troi hostage in a crashed shuttle and considering it just managed to kill a person, the danger is VERY real. And it did it essentially because it wanted to cause suffering which Troi senses, which makes it all the more horrifying. The tension and fear is very strong and them themes of a being that serves evil just because... yeah that was something. Picard causing it to break down was freakin’ awesome, Kirk would be proud! Now Yar’s death. The reactions of everyone were appropriate and the event was properly shocking. I went wide-eyed when it happened since I did NOT expect it to happen that fast in that kind of manner. The funeral was also properly sad and showed that Yar was a valued member of the crew and very much respected by her crewmen, and that she respected them in turn. The final scene where Data is confused if he missed the point by feeling lost and Picard telling him that he got it exactly right? That was a perfect note to end on, and by God is that the truth regarding grief/loss. That being said... while I understand why it was done as it was and can’t complain about the execution and tone, the abrupt end just feels unsatisfying. I hate character deaths like this because it makes the character feel wasted and robs them of a proper sendoff, even with Yar’s message. They just feel like fodder. So while it had the proper weight, I’m still unhappy with how it’s done and I hope that Yar’s later reappearance will allow more closure or her. Because even if underutilized, she deserved a better ending. Still, even taking that into account, the episode is dark, tense, and Yar’s death does leave a shocking impact that TOS never quite gave me (Spock got brought back so that doesn’t count, plus he got a proper sendoff that would have been satisfactory fi he hadn’t come back). 4.5/5.

We’ll Always Have Paris: So after major character death and evil tar monsters, we get an episode on Picard’s love life! I guess a pre-requisite for being a Starfleet Captain is to have a crappy one of those. Then again maybe Sisko will break the curse when I get to DS9, we’ll see. Anyways! As the title hints, this is essentially the ST version of Casablanca. Picard has an old flame who left him, got married, and now the couple are in need of help while that old flame between Picard and the woman Jenice (is Janice and variaiton fo Janice just... a REALLY common name in the future? There was Janice Rand, Kirk’s ex in Turnabout Intruder was named Janice, now in TNG we have Jenice, how is this a pattern?!). Isn’t love fun folks?! So the episode was... okay. The time distortion or whatever broke my brain so that didn’t help. Picard and Jenice... didn’t work for me? Like... I felt no chemistry. It felt like two people in denial about a flame that fizzled out ages ago than one that burned for many years but was lost. IDK fit hat’s on the actors, the script, and/or the directing but I felt nothing, plus Jenice flirting wih Picard while her husband was in sickbay possibly dying... felt pretty shitty. Oh and the Picard/Crusher ship tease also made me feel nothing. I like Picard. I LOVE Crusher. I don’t have any feelings for them as a pair especially considering that Crusher’s husband was friends with Picard and died on duty with him... which just makes it feel WRONG to me. And poor Troi has to deal with everyone being emotionally repressed idiots, the poor woman deserves a niiiice Shore Leave. So it was average, but the lack of romantic chemistry and me just being confued by the time distortions cause... time distortions just left me confused and uninvested. So yeah... that’s all I can say. 2/5.

Conspiracy: Well a title like that can only mean good things, right? RIGHT?! So... remember the brain slugs from The Wrath of Khan? Well they decided to bring that concept back! They’ve taken over the admirals of Starfleet and are taking over with our heroes having to try and figure out what’s happening and stop it. It’s an interesting one for sure. We have Picard on Earth with the admirals while Quinn from a previous episode is on the Enterprise and causing chaos on there. It’s pretty scary to think about, the higher ups being brainwashed and could have easily destroyed the Federation from the inside out if Picard hadn’t been warned ahead of time. When Picard is utterly surrounded and they were eating the worm things... God it was scary. Although Riker really DID fool me into thinking he was possessed, so I outright cheered when he pulled out his phaser. Badass! Oh and Crusher blasting Quinn until he was down was also badass. It was also shockingly graphic with the bugs and the one guy’s body that hosted the alien... how THAT got by the censors I will never, EVER know. In the end, we never find out about who unleashed the parasites (apparently it was going to be The Borg but it didn’t work out) or what they wanted, but it certainly left an impact. Plus I think the ambiguity makes it all the more horrifying. Someone or something almost took over... and they’ll never know who or what. Overall, really good episode. 4/5.

The Neutral Zone: Well they’ve mentioned then and hinted at it a few times, but at last in the season final, the Romulans have made their return. IDT thy’ve been major villains since The Enterprise Incident back in TOS S3. Speaking of TOS... I thought we were done reusing plots, but this is more or less Space Seed except the frozen people aren’t evil, bio enhanced lunatics. So not a direct reuse but it’s pretty hard to ignore the major similarity. Anyways, we have a bit of an interesting premise with people from the 20th Century being thawed into the 24th Century and letting them interact. There would be major culture shock and values dissonance because even compared to the 80’s and the 2020’s so many values and views have changed. So imagine how much changed in between four centuries with concepts like phones and banks no longer a thing. It was... eh? I like the idea but I just didn’t care for these people much? Well the one guy who is a walking Southern redneck stereotype didn’t especially when he... was alone with Crusher. I HATED that guy, and I’ve seen rednecks my entire life! The other two I at least felt some sympathy for especially the one woman, but not enough to get me invested in this particular plot. Though I WAS amused by some things like TV not surviving past 2040... yeah THAT I find difficult to believe. Ah, the irony of making TV shows set int he future when you have no way of predicting what will and won’t happen. But yeah I get the parallel they were going for by the end with the civilians and Romulans being out of touch with the Federation, but I just didn’t care enough. The Romulan half of the plot? The build-up to it was good with everyone on edge since this will be the first time dealing with them in over 50 years and who knows what they’re like now compared to the TOS era. And when we finally see them? Well they’re very much still intimidating and a sense of danger is very much still existent, though they do agree to share information on this one issue so they aren’t foolish. It very much brought back whatever investment I had in them back in TOS, Went hey said that they’re back, that was a promise and I am all for it~! As far as being a season finale goes... well TOS weren’t exactly great in that area so it being just fine is par for the course, but it is just fine. Really the Romulan bit was what helped this episode, otherwise it’s just okay, but at least the ending scene promises more to come. Not a bad note to end on. 3/5.

Well it took much longer than I had hoped, but we have finished TNG Season One! It was... rough, but I knew going it that it would be. There were some bright spots and it did well enough to get renewed, but clearly a lot was going to need to be done to fine tune the show and let it reach it’s full potential. Will Season 2 be an improvement? What changes will they make? Will they be good or bad for the show? Will Riker ever get his glorious beard anytime soon? We’ll find out in due time. So tomorrow I’ll do the Top 5 Best/Worst list for S1, then by Friday I hope to get S2 underway. For now one season down, six to go. The adventure continues.

[stephtastrophe]

I watched Bates Motel season 5 episode 9 “Visiting Hours” last night, the first one on an awesome 49″ TV! <3 and it was really awesome.

Emma came to see Dylan and stayed with him in the other motel, which has bigger rooms than most hotels over here tbh, definitely bigger than the b&b room I stayed in last week! They debated bringing the baby but she said it would be safer for baby to stay with her dad, something that is probably wise tbf.

The cops raided the motel and found Emma’s moms suitcase buried out front, and also the body of Chick, the one body/person not actually murdered by Norman ... bad Romero lol. I guess he couldn’t be bothered to dump the body, r thought he’d be seen with it so didn’t bother it.

Norma/really the Norma side of his personality got told that if he didn’t want to go to prison forever or a death sentence that he’d be better off putting in an insanity plea and going to a mental asylum again. I mean, technically he is and was on medicine which helped so he may as well, although I suppose being in a place like that when he already hated it after only a couple of weeks might be worse than regular prison or being handed a death sentence.

I don’t know where Dylan got all those cute happy family photos on his phone from as he was never there and when did those things even ever happen? There was like literally never any happy moments like that for them lol.

Dylan went to the hearing like suggested to make him appear more human to the other people there, so he doesn’t seem like such a murderous monster which is all they would see otherwise and he is his only remaining family.

Of course they were going to trial. He’s charged with 3 counts of murder and the worst he could get is death, obviously lol.

Madeleine asked Dylan outside how he didn’t know Norman being crazy, as she had only known him a few weeks so it was fair for her not to know, but she figured out Dylan had known for years and asked how he could live with himself which is a fair question tbh. I mean, she barely knew him, it was easy for him to act normal for the brief time she had known him but obviously you wouldn’t be able to hide it for years.

I also have no clue how he and Emma got to sleep in that motel room with the sign outside flashing on and off red every few seconds, I actually said “they are never gonna sleep” but then it looked like they showed them wake up and I thought, you’re better than me, I never would’ve lol.

Emma went and got her mother cremated at the same funeral home that did Norma’s funeral, and that girl working there definitely looked the part lol. I was like “exactly what you’d expect of someone working in a funeral parlour” lol. I didn’t know you could actually watch someone get cremated. I thought that might be considered too traumatising but apparently it’s a thing, at least in this show universe lol. I dunno, maybe you really can. Then she went and threw the ashes off in to a forest or something, not sure why she chose where she chose. She never gave any reason, usually they do in these shows. She also went to visit Norma’s empty grave, which she obviously doesn’t know is empty.

She also went to visit Norman and instead got Norma and realised, I was kinda surprised she realised although he wasn’t really acting like Norman, but weirdly she acted like it was all so normal which was weird lol. And Norma said her mother was a bad woman and Norman was sleeping and would be awoken to the smell of apple pie ... k lol. Emma said to tell Norman that she misses him, awww. After she’d said how sweet he was earlier to Dylan.

Romero came back to White Pine Bay after seeing the newspaper say Norman had been arrested. He was certainly on the war path, which is exactly what I thought when watching. He really does wanna kill Norman for killing Norma, he gon’ get murdery up in the hizzay. Wut? I dunno lol. That’s what Norman has been doing for 5 seasons though lol.

He went to see his friend again to borrow her laptop to find out where he was being held after the preliminary hearing using his cop credentials which still somehow work lol. I would’ve thought they’d have blocked his access, his username and password, although I suppose if they thought he was in prison they may not have seen any point lol.

He finally reached the station where he was being held, used Regina at gun point to get in and ushered all the other cops, after shooting one in the shoulder, to where Norman was,in his cell and told him to get out. He of course said no, he’d rather stay in there, which was quite amusing and understandable lol. But of course the cops shoved him out to Romero because they didn’t really wanna be a part of it when it was all about him. I can’t say I blame them lol.

As soon as Norman went out Romero started choking him, that was a little unexpected, I am surprised he didn’t shoot him right there and then, but instead he let him live for now and took him and Regina out to Chick’s car and they were going on a little field trip to where he put Norma’s body with Regina driving and those two in back so he can keep an eye on Norman presumably.

Little does Romero know that Norma is awake inside Norman, so things may not go quite as smoothly as he wants but who knows. We will have to wait and see.

I can’t believe the next episode is the last ever! the trailer looked awesome that was shown after this! I can’t wait to watch the next episode and see what happens and how it all ends! <3

But at the same time I really don’t want it to be over! I love this show! It’s one of my favourites! It’s so great all the time and hence why I have written about all the episodes, I love writing about all the episodes on here tbh. I will miss it when I no longer have any left to write about ;____________________;

Freddie Highmore and Nestor Carbonell <3

[troop2017]

It took a while for me to be persuaded to head out to Spain before Christmas and therefore to spend Christmas away from home, but once persuaded I did my best to throw myself into the preparations!

We knew where we were going to be – it’s necessary to make sure you book somewhere if you’re intending to spend christmas/new year touring in Spain; just to make sure.  So we had booked our pitch at Cabopino (as seen on Channel 5’s Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun – and yes we are friends with one of the couples featured, Roger and Jill).  This meant paying a deposit of 60Euros and losing it if (or rather when) we didn’t stay for the full 3 months.  However, we still averaged only 15.98Euros per night so we were perfectly happy.

We arrived on site on 6th December, caught up with friends who were already there (Steve & Denise and Jill & Roger), and quickly set about meeting new friends at the various events that you just can’t help joining in – such as Friday Happy Hour in Jorges Bar and live music in Andy’s Beach Bar on a Sunday afternoon.

Some of these new friends featured in our christmas and new year plans (Jim & his dog, Corrie; Alan & Tracy and Joe & Gayle).

We already knew that we were spending christmas with Steve and Denise (who we met at Cabopino back in 2017) together with Denise’s daughter Marie and her boyfriend (also Steve) and their other friends Sue & Pete (and Pete’s brother, John).  So we were already catering for 9 between 3 of us (me, Denise and Sue)!  But when we met Alan & Tracy who had just arrived and were on their 1st trip abroad with their caravan, we couldn’t leave them to be on their own on Christmas Day.  Then when we found out that Jim didn’t have anything arranged for Christmas Day we couldn’t allow that either – so now we were 12…!

We all put some money in the kitty and, even if I do say so myself, we produced quite the feast between us 🙂 We had the works!  Turkey, beef, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy and christmas pudding (provided by Denise & Steve), ham, yorkshire puds, pigs in blankets, carrots, peas, sprouts, roasted parsnips (& carrots) & 2 homemade cheesecakes (provided by me) and red cabbage, cauliflower cheese & roast potatoes (provided by Sue).  And we even had crackers (courtesy of Denise 🙂 )

My Cracker challenge was to take as many selfies with my christmas dinner as possible..!!

Alan, Tracy & Calv

Me and Marie

We set up a couple of tables and requisitioned several chairs in addition to our own and all fitted nicely onto Steve & Denise’s pitch (which was immediately behind ours.  Calv had ‘made’ a gate between the pitches so it was fairly easy to make our way from the van to the table (we had steps beside the 2 foot wall that we had to negotiate).

All cramming ourselves around the tables it wasn’t that much different to having a houseful at home tbh!  Unfortunately the sun didn’t really shine, but it wasn’t cold and we had a lovely time – it was, almost, like christmas at home!

When it got too cold we were down to 9 of us, so we were able to spend the evening in our van (we even all managed to sit down).  We got out the Chase card game and managed to get through it – taking it all a little more seriously after, young, Steve the Quizmaster, told us that ‘We could either play it properly, or not at all!!’  We gave in as he had a bad hip and was on crutches 🙂

So we then had a week to get over our christmas excesses (or rather add to them…) and prepare for New Year’s Eve.  We eventually decided that we would host at our van, but outside if possible.  Although the days are warm at this time of year in Spain the evenings really aren’t!

We set up with a couple of windbreakers, the table, some chairs, lights and lanterns.  We were joined by Steve, Denise, Marie & Steve, Alan (Tracy wasn’t feeling well) and Jim.  As it got colder I brought out all our woolly hats and gloves (which for some reason we have in abundance in the van – they came in very useful) and we just basically drank (6 bottles of champagne were lying on the floor in the morning – the boys weren’t drinking champagne….), sang, quizzed (with the same quizmaster..) and danced (my fitbit recorded me having 19 minutes of aerobic activity at 2am on New Year’s Day!) the night and the early hours away 🙂  We even managed to get in ‘the game’, which we play as a family every year (we managed this on Christmas Day as well 🙂 )

Before midnight we were joined by Joe & Gayle who had been over to Alberts to celebrate, but left early as their friends wanted to.  I do remember the alarm on everybody’s faces when it looked like I might try to do the ‘Dirty Dancing’ lift – to be fair Calv didn’t look scared even though I was running full tilt at him 🙂

Steve & Denise before it got too cold on New Years Eve

The woolly hats are out! NYE 2018

Alan on NYE

The end of the ‘evening’ NYE 2018 (3.20am 1.1.2019)

We turned the music off at the same time as the camp bar (2am) but the night eventually ended at 3.20am..  I must admit that I thought we were quiet after 2am, but apparently not.. Sorry (but it’s 1 night a year tbf)

In the morning whilst Calv remained comatose I started the clean-up, accompanied by ‘mornings’ and massive grins from our fellow campers.  It was definitely a night to remember!!

The morning after the night before – 1.1.2019

But our new experiences weren’t yet over.  There is a tradition at Cabopino beach of a mass swim on New Year’s Day.  Now you might think that this is a bit of a cop out being in Spain, but I promise you the water is not warm.  In fact it’s pretty cold!!

Down on the beach for the off at midday, we found cooking stations set up providing bacon butties and sausage sandwiches together with drinks etc.  This is all done by a group of residents and they won’t take any money for it – all they ask is that once you know about it you bring some supplies down so that the food will go further.  Wonderful.

There were hundreds of people thronged on the beach, most of them there to watch but probably about 60-70 of us went in.  You had to just keep running and get in as soon as possible or it would never happen – but once in it was really lovely 🙂  I was in treading water with a group of ladies (including Hannah from Cornwall) when someone notified us quite calmly that there was a jellyfish within feet of us – that was my cue to get out!

New Years Day 2019 – Cabopino Sea Dip

New Years Day 2019 – Swimming at Cabopino Beach

Cabopino on New Years Day 2019

  I’m a little disappointed that I won’t be there to do this again next year 😦  Maybe in a few year’s time though?!

Christmas and New Year in a Motorhome in the sun (sort of…!) It took a while for me to be persuaded to head out to Spain before Christmas and therefore to spend Christmas away from home, but once persuaded I did my best to throw myself into the preparations!

[seven-oomen]

Hi, Ben!  I hope you had a good day, and are finally managing some sleep!  Congrats on figuring some stuff out for that original novel you’re planning!  Also, I’m gonna have to go back through some of your posts about wolf behavior again, because I keep getting vague ideas of how to use some of the info, then not writing it down for later.  ’>.>  And I don’t know what that gifset of the two dudes dancing is from, but it’s definitely getting added to the “stuff to go over to get inspired to work on IYWTD again”

Also, wtf was up with the dumbass in the bay leaf discussion?  Did they actually read any of it at all?  Did they just see you say you were white and their brain function shut down?  I don’t understand why people have to react to everything with such rage and hatred all the time anymore.  Like, yeah, shit’s stupid crazy and rough for everyone these days.  That should make you kinder, not meaner.  Goddamn.

That gifset of Bucky from the Falcon and Winter Soldier trailer was so pretty, but also made me laugh because my brain would not stop playing “walk, walk, fashion baby” on repeat.  XD

And that story of your friend’s about Peter and chihuahuas sounds hysterical.  May I offer the idea of them being long-haired chihuahuas?  Especially if we’re talking a Peter with more of a Season One look?  Because, I mean, just look at these adorable floofs.  Can you picture Peter with a tiny army of those (especially the dark brown)?  He could get them all their own little v-necks.  They could all be named after Japanese movie monsters.  Or fashion designers.  Or, no, wait, the various Robins/assorted Batkids (how could he pass up an excuse to name one Dick? XD )  God, now I wish I could draw again, just to make a picture of him taking them all for a walk, them all in little harnesses that look like v-necks, him in one of those “I’m the Alpha” t-shirts, leashes in one hand, Starbucks in the other, not a single fuck to be given in sight.  XD  (And I know it’s intended as a Gen fic, but my brain can’t help but see Noah finding it equal parts hysterical and adorable, especially anytime Peter drops by the station to offer their services as sniffer dogs, and all the deputies lose their absolute minds over all the cuteness.  [Peter knows they would do an excellent job.  He’s trained them himself after all.]  Bonus points if he used the Bat-names and the one named after Barbara Gordon took an extreme liking to Noah. Stiles can always use a little sister.) @for-the-love-of-wolves

Sorry, perils of my job include going a bit overboard on things about animals…

And that new preview is SO CUTE!  Oh, Peter, you are so ridiculous, and so incorrigible.  Poor Noah.  XD  He is so put-upon.  And stronger than me, because how could you say no to that face?  XD  I’m SUPER curious to see how you’re changing and diverging from canon, and how it will affect everyone’s relationships.  Also how you’re bringing in Malia (at least, from the moodboard I assume she shows up at some point?)  SO EXCITED!!!

Also, I was thinking more about goth Chris, because my brain just won’t let things go (see: the whole lingerie thing), so I went looking for some examples of things they could get him to kinda sneak it into his wardrobe a little at a time.  Like this shirt (zoom in on some of the other pics to really see the pattern in the fabric) (also, damn, he’d look good in that shirt.)  Or this jacket in his more traditional style but a more luxurious fabric.  This seemingly simple vest with the detailing that can be hidden under a blazer or jacket, but he’d know it was there.  As he starts feeling more comfortable with adding it occasionally, maybe some velvet blazers in deep jewel tones to really make those eyes pop.  Maybe a few fancier items for date nights.  And maybe something like this (without the shirt under it of course) just for Noah and Peter to see (such a lovely visual, isn’t it? ;D )  Also, this doesn’t quite fit the same vibe, but part of me REALLY wants one of them to get him this coat, because I just can’t let the silver fox thing go, and lbr, it would look PHENOMENAL on him.

Also, during my search, came across this excellent option for Noah.

Anyway, sorry for all the links, I got a little carried away again (as one does.  Or at least as this one does…)  I hope you are feeling okay, and have at least managed some food and some rest (I still see posts popping up randomly, so I’m less certain about sleep, but rest can be helpful sometimes, too.)  I hope today goes well, and that you feel proud of whatever you accomplish (even if that’s just getting through the day.)  Take care, try to eat something and hydrate occasionally!  *Hugs!*

Hey B! I hope you’re doing alright and that work’s treating you okay. 

I definitely can’t wait to see what kind of shenanigans the guys are up to in IFWTD and I’m very curious about the construction chapter! Also yeah, writing a lot of that stuff down is probably a good idea (though I forget to do it too tbh XD).

Dude from the bay leaf turned out to be a self proclaimed Radfem adjacent SSA Gay? And had some very transphobic and Islamophobic language on his blog, so anything he says is no longer relevant or valid imo.

oh god now I’m hearing it too XD Tbf Sebastian Stan is very pretty and he’d walk it just fine <3

I have a feeling gushing over Peter and his army of chihuahuas is something we can all agree on is very necessary at the moment. (I have no idea if that is a sentence since my brain is just very- weird at the moment with the English language.)

But yeah that would be adorable really <3

I have about 2,000 words written for it and the way I’m diverting from canon is something I’m exploring right now. I think the best way to describe it is; Peter did not kill Laura himself (but he did want to confront her.) She was mortally wounded by hunters, got away briefly, found Peter in the woods and although he was angry he saw she was already dying from her wounds. Laura transferred her spark to Peter willingly to keep the Hale spark alive and died in Peter’s arms. 

Peter then ran before the hunters could get to him. Laura’s body was then mutilated by the hunters and cut in half. Confused and trying to hide, Peter ran into Scott several hours later and bit the boy in confusion. Turning him and setting the events in motion that we know off. Also dragging Stiles in everything.

Peter starts killing people as per canon, the police department starts investigating. And then Peter escapes the hospital and starts putting pressure on Stiles and Scott. In an effort to win Scott over he grabs Stiles and starts the whole spiel of trying to convince him to get Scott in his pack. But the sheriff catches on that Stiles is not where he’s supposed to be and finds him with a supposed comatose patient. He arrests Peter and brings him over to the station and that’s when we enter the scene I posted a preview for.

The sheriff learns about the supernatural in that interview and suddenly has a whole new world to deal with. 

I’m gonna write Malia and Cora into S2 in this verse, don’t know what I’ll do with Jackson though. If I’ll make him Peter’s son or not. And from that point on it’s Noah trying to rehabilitate Peter Hale, making sure he goes to therapy, and them trying to raise a pack and family.

idk that’s the whole idea behind it anyway? I hope that sounds good? 

AND MY GOD, Goth!Chris is everything and I love every single one of those pieces. Oh it would look so lovely on him, I can just see it too. My god how can Noah and Peter even take their eyes off off the man XD

And no joke, but I kind of want that shirt you picked for Noah but it’s like expensive and that’s not fair XD But yea, that would fit him extraordinarily well XD. <3

Hope you’re okay <3 Mo and I are holding on. Lots of hugs and take care <3