#1/3 human Myles

[major-mancake]

Myles!! What happened to you?-

- 🥞

Maverick!! Hey!!

I'm fine, don't worry, just human for a bit-

I'll be back to normal soon I'm sure!!

[artemis-fowl-incident-report]

Welcome to my throwback day contribution!

So I did a post a while back talking about what I would have done with the Fowl Twins books, and a subsequent chapter by chapter breakdown for the second book. And thus, as my throwback, I'm gonna break down what I would have done for "Deny all Charges" aka the third one.

(Just to preface, I never finished the third book. I dont know what Eoin was doing there, but I wanted no part of it)

Chapter 1

The Twins have recently turned 14. Following the trend of his character development from my version of book 2, Beckett has really come into his own, doubling down on his talent for engineering and languages, and is actively working on writing his first children's book (since he found that, with all his passion for the "Alien Pooping Boy" books, he might as well try writing all his ideas for himself). Beckett also keeps bees now, since he can talk with them, and bees are one of the only creatures that consent to their domestication by humans. Myles is as snarky as ever, but is a bit less vicious about it, since he's begun realising how hurtful some of his statements can be.

The boys are in Italy with their parents, visiting their Uncle Foxy and his boyfriend, one Giovanni Zito (because I said so). They're just discussing when Artemis will be returning from Mars when the boys get a message. The Crown of Frond they saved from the last book has been stolen from the Section 8 archives. The trail leads to Venice, so the boys head over to investigate.

They tail behind the fairy thief who they believe stole the item as they twist and turn through the city until they come to a church. Just as they get there, however, the building blows up. No one is hurt, but they can only assume their target is dead.

Chapter 2

As they're preparing to head home, Myles keeps fretting about the explosion. He goes over the security footage over and over, until he remembers that many churches have catacombs under them. He keeps researching until he comes across footage of their thief being whisked away by a boat that looks like an ACRONYM vestal.

Cut to their fairy nervously pacing around a safe house, wondering if the money was worth it- BLAM! Beckett knocks down the door. Between the two of them (and Whistle Blower, who they keep threatening to feed the fairy to) their thief confesses that he stole the crown for one Lord Teddy Bleedham-Drye. The only other information he has is that he's going to be attacking a fairy magical research lab on the Devon moors soon.

They leave him, wandering through the streets to where Lazuli parked the shuttle. Beckett wonders if Artemis will be back in time for this adventure, and how it would be fun for them to get to solve this problem together. Myles is less enthused, noting that Artemis would probably get himself killed with his lack of self preservation instincts.

Chapter 3

A few days later, Lazuli, Myles, and Beckett (with Whistle Blower in his backpack) scale the Devonshire Moors. Since the area is well known for its military training camps they deemed it best to go by foot.

Lazuli is doing rather well since the last book, discovering she was from a secret branch of the Frond royal family. She's practically been adopted by Lily Frond, since most of Lily's family isn't great and she always wanted a sister. They may only be distantly related, but its the only family Lazuli's ever had (my heart!)

The magical testing facility is disguised as a Tor (big piles of granite that jut from the moors surface). But its clearly been attacked recently, with chunks taken from the surface, revealing the buildings structure underneath.

They head inside, learning that all the scientists and engineers have been kidnapped, and one piece of tech stolen. A magic amplifier. It was originally being developed for No1, as a way for him to cast spells on mass like healing the Amazonian rainforests or large groups of people during emergencies.

As the Regrettables leave they find themselves surrounded by the British Army. They're about to be fired upon, when a bright light shines down upon them. A ship descends, and a familiar voice in their ear pieces telling them to cover their eyes. There's a brilliant flash of light, and the army men drop to the ground, dazed and mind wiped of the last hour.

The spaceship's pod descends and two people step out. Butler and Artemis.

Chapter 4

Everyone (except for Myles) is overjoyed to see Artemis. He and Butler are rushed down the Haven with the Regrettables, and tearfully reunite with their friends, before buckling down and getting to business. (yes, Artemis is most pleased to be back on earth because he gets to wear suits again. Go figure)

Myles does not appreciate being side-lined like this, being treated like a child as Artemis and the others take over the situation. (Beckett tries to point out that they are actually children, but it doesn't go well for him). Its actually Lily Frond who gives them the means to listen in on the situation, having the keys to the office connecting to the situation room.

Turns out the machine is missing one key element, a very rare crystal that draws in magical energy from its environment and stores it within itself. They decide to contact Minerva about it, but it will take a day or so, since she's still a smuggler in this story, but a more high quality smuggler (also, Artemis is Godfather to Minerva's daughter. Its so sweet). Myles convinces Beckett they need to go to Minerva themselves, for which they steal a pod and head for the surface. (They leave Lazuli behind since they want her to, you know, keep her job)

Not that Beckett doesn't like a good heist, but he's usually the impulsive of of the two. He doesn't understand where this grim determination has come from with his brother. When pressed on the subject, Myles simply points out they shouldn't be overlooked like this.

Chapter 5

They turn up in New Orleans, and Minerva is very confused, but agrees to help when the situation is explained. Turns out, she has just the rock they are looking for, and a large chunk of it at that. The Twins buy it off her (because they got that Fowl money, you know what I mean?) and decide to take it to a secure location so Teddy cant get his hands on it.

Teddy gets his hands on it. He attacks the boys as they're transporting the crystal. During his big Villain monologue, he reveals he wants to be King of England, and he will use the fairy people to do so. He does, however, accidentally mention that a certain "she" will demand her share as well.

The twins are pushed from the pod, but not before Myles accidentally manages to get hold of a baby chunk of the crystal. They fall into the Atlantic Ocean, being picked up by a fairy rescue vestal.

Chapter 6

Back at Villa Eco, the twins get scolded by their parents and Artemis. Beckett kind of accepts it, but Myles refuses to. He runs away, reflecting on how all of this has been an absolute mess, that maybe they really should have left it to Artemis and the others.

When he catches up to him, Artemis and Myles have a heart to heart. Myles admits that he used to idolise Artemis, that he thought his big brother could do anything. But then he got himself killed at the end of the Last Guardian. Worse than that, he got killed from information Myles supplied him with after being possessed. He wants to be an equal to his brother, he wants to be close to him, but he felt his death stronger than anyone else. And then, when Artemis came back, he headed off to Mars like an Interstellar hipster on a gap year trying to "find himself".

Artemis apologises, explaining that he'd lived his first life for other people for so long, being the genius, the heir, Artemis Fowl II, that he didn't really know who Artemis was away from those things. He just wanted to keep his family safe, even though he had no idea how to be anything but a stranger in said family. That he should have reflected more on how him and Beckett were affected, that he does see them as his equals, and that he's sorry.

They hug it out. Myles is crying, Artemis is crying (I'm crying!)

Chapter 7

Much like the Death Star, it turns out this magical amplifier has a very specific (plot contrived) flaw. The crystal at its heart is not only rare, but its very fragile. If shot through with the right frequency, it will shatter and explode, all the magical energy contained inside it bursting out in one shot. However, they don't know what that frequency is, since they would have to run tests on some of that specific crystal vein.

Myles is happy to announce that he has one of said crystals, but will only hand it over to the LEP if they agree to let him and Beckett help. Their parents try and argue against it, but finally (finally) realise that nothing will stop their sons if theirs something they want to do and so elect to come along and help.

They fly across to Isle of Scilly to meet up with the rest of the team. Lord Teddy's manor is a virtual fortress, guarded by the fairy scientists and engineers he had kidnapped from Devon. They're clearly being mind controlled, and they have anti shield goggles on, so there's no way they could attack the house by air.

They had, however, contacted the Hortenut Seven, through Mulch, to dig them in. While they face off against Teddy, the dwarves will disable the guards, in exchange for Artemis backing their political interests (he has quite a bit of sway with the People since his resurrection, being viewed more like a Hero than the monster he used to be).

Artemis Sr and Angeline are actually surprisingly good help navigating the halls of Childblain House (turns out Angeline used to be a cat-burglar and Tim was, you know, a former crime lord so that helps). They reach the grand hall where the machine has been set up, the crystal humming away menacingly.

They each separate into one of three teams. Team A, Myles, Fowl Sr, and Butler (who between them are lugging a large box). They will be dug around the back of the hall by Mulch through the garden. Team B, Angeline, Juliet, and Beckett move to various positions around darkened hall out of sight ready to snatch the crown at the first opportunity. And Team C, Holly and Lazuli, who are shielded in the rafters with their guns ready if something goes wrong. Foaly is also there, in spirit, or rather on tech support, using his little bug drones from the Last Guardian to keep eyes on everyone.

Taking a breath Artemis, now wearing a gloop tie and glasses, steps into the hall.

Chapter 8

Artemis tries shooting at Teddy, but misses, being tackled and chained down by fairy guards for his trouble. When Teddy comes closer to inspect the intruder, he's told that this is "Myles" come back from the future to stop him. The maddened Lord wholeheartedly believes this, and takes it as a sign of his future victory. Since, if he hadn't won, there would be no need for "Myles" to have been sent back.

The crystal is changed up. Teddy is monologuing, strolling up have the crown on his head hooked up to the machine, regal in his throne

BLAM

He's shot in the chest.

Teddy looks over, betrayed, as Sister Jeronima, or rather her corps puppeteered around by Opal's ghost emerges.

All the fairies are suddenly released from the crowns spell and try to run, only to freeze back in place as Opal puts the crown on her own head.

Of course she has a villain speech, and of course she knows its Artemis. She talks about how he's always been small and pathetic, with a mind that could once rule the world but no resolve to do so.

She gets her guards to round up all the various Fowl's, Butler's and others. She hooks herself up to the machine, ordering Holly and Lazuli to take aim at their friends.

BOOM!

The crystal explodes, the machine Myles had set up vibrating at just the right frequency to release the magic trapped inside. There's chaos, Opal trying to order her fairy minions as the humans all rush forward to get the crown. Angeline is actually the one to get Opal, punching her in the face with a war cry of "that's for what you've done to my sons!" as Whistle Blower tears Opal/Jeronima's ankles to shreds.

But not before Lazuli goes to take a shot at Artemis, with Myles pushing him out the way.

Chapter 9

Between the two of them, Holly and Lazuli manage to heal Myles, where he wakes up in his big brothers arms.

It ends with them all sitting on the beach eating ice cream, waiting for the LEP to come sort out the mess and take Opal into custody.

They give the crown to Lazuli to look after, who resolves to hide it just as her ancestor Darach wanted.

Artemis tells his brothers how truly proud he is of them, and how he hopes this is the Fowl's legacy. He called an old man by Beckett, and a simpletoon by Myles.

The end

(I have been writing since 3am and now it is 7am. Why do I do this to myself? I have no idea)

[cross-d-a]

Fandom: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Murderbot Diaries

Chapter: 1/9

Rating: Mature

Category: M/M; Gen

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence

Relationships: Jaster Mereel/Mace Windu/SecUnit 3, Jaster Mereel/Mace Windu, SecUnit 3 & Original SecUnit Character(s), SecUnit 3 & Shmi Skywalker, Arla Fett & Original SecUnit Character(s)

Characters: SecUnit 3, Original SecUnit Character(s), Jaster Mereel, Mace Windu, Shmi Skywalker, Arla Fett, Depa Billaba, Jango Fett, Mij Gilamar, Kal Skirata, Myles the Mandalorian

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Diverse, Canon Divergence after Network Effect, The Corporation Rim Is Terrible, Slavery, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Angst, Fluff, Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Three has So Much Anxiety, POV SecUnit 3, A SecUnit and its Human, Jaster Mereel Lives, Mandalorian Civil War | Death Watch vs Jaster Mereel's True Mandalorians, Jedi as Found Family, Arla Fett Lives, Non-human characters, Parental Mace Windu, Protective Jaster Mereel, Protective Mace Windu, Parental SecUnit 3, Shmi Skywalker is freed from slavery, Asexuality spectrum, Three isn't all that impressed with the idea of sex but maybe it wants to kiss Jaster and Mace, Crossover pairings, mentions of sexual slavery and non-con due to ongoing slavery, no actual non-con

Summary:

SecUnit 3 just wants to save its people from slavery (it's a slow, painful work in progress). But when its ship winds up in the neighboring galaxy, suddenly its new immediate priority is saving the small human who calls herself Shmi Skywalker.

(Falling in love with the two humans intent on helping SecUnit 3 find its family? Well, no one tell Murderbot, it might just try to puke its brains out.)

[deadcactuswalking]

REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 01/06/2024 (Central Cee & Lil Baby, Bring Me the Horizon's POST HUMAN: NEX GEN, Zach Bryan)

Sabrina Carpenter’s still dominant on the UK Singles Chart as “Espresso” spends a fifth week at the top - welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS!

content warning: language, discussions of death, trauma, drug addiction

Rundown

As always, we start with our notable dropouts, songs exiting the UK Top 75 - which is what I cover - after five weeks in the region or a peak in the top 40. This week, we bid adios to Eurovision tracks like “Europapa” by Joost and “The Code” by Nemo, as well as “Family Matters” by Drake (telling that these three couldn’t make five weeks), “Outside of Love” by Becky Hill, “Jump” by Tyla, Gunna and Skilibeng, “Home” by Good Neighbours (Good riddance) and finally, “Back to Black” by the late Amy Winehouse.

We see one big return with Katy Perry’s catalogue streams rising thanks to some American Idol news or something - I don’t care, I imagine the catalogue sales for her biggest records are high enough anyway. This does mean “Teenage Dream” - the title track - is back at #72. It peaked and debuted at #2 for two weeks in 2010, being blocked by Olly Murs’ “Please Don’t Let Me Go” and Alexandra Burke’s “Start Without You” respectively, though I think we can agree which one of these three have actually managed to pass the test of time. To be thorough, the Glee cover peaked at #36 the next year. As for our gains, we have a small but notable batch of boosts for “Never Lose Me” by Flo Milli at #61, “Right Here” by Becky Hill at #60, “Smalltown Boy” by Bronski Beat at #55, “Miles on It” by Kane Brown and Marshmello at #47, “The Man Who Can’t be Moved” by The Script at #38, “The Door” by Teddy Swims at #35 and finally, all the way up in the top 10 for the first time, Myles Smith with “Stargazing” at #9.

The UK Singles Chart’s top five this week consists of Billie Eilish’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” spiking off of the debut up to #5, whilst Central Cee and Lil Baby debut right at #4 with their new track “BAND4BAND”. Following them up is the top three staying the same as last week’s: Shaboozey at #3 with “A Bar Song (Tipsy)”, Eilish again with “LUNCH” at #2 and of course, “Espresso” at #1. Now for what ended up debuting in the lower realms of the chart this week.

New Entries

#73 - “Fall Back” - Lithe

Produced by Lithe

Do I pronounce this “life” or “live”? It doesn’t matter, this is a blog. However you pronounce it, Lithe is from Melbourne and this is his viral breakout hit for an otherwise underground artist who seems to have produced and released this all by himself. This may explain why it’s garbage. Lithe strikes me as the kind of person who would make for a great additional vocalist on a maximalist project by, say, a Travis Scott type, because his vocals, which are very Travis as well, lure you into a mumbling Auto-Tuned atmosphere very effortlessly due to the layering of murmured ad-libs. The problem here is the utter shit production, consisting of rote trap presets in such a static and typical pattern that it almost stands out how frozen and dull trap beats can be because of one weird snare choice that sounds way too loud and mechanical. I know this is very nit-picky but there’s so little to this song, which relies entirely on Lithe for its melodic element considering the blank grey synths that practically could be completely absent under the looming trap dirge. Don’t ask about the lyrics, it’s bottom-of-the-barrel flexing, but at least this song is very uniquely terrible. It uses basic trap tropes, for sure, but Lithe is taking his own approach to things and creates a bad song that is bad in ways more established artists probably couldn’t pull off. That’s a compliment, genuinely.

#66 - “The Craving” - Twenty One Pilots

Produced by Tyler Joseph and Paul Meany

I think it’s somewhat telling that Bring Me the Horizon nabbed three debuts this week, but the usually more accessible Twenty One Pilots, with a higher-peaking album at #2, could only snatch one at #66. I usually care at least a little to check out these guys’ records but the lore aspect has always somewhat bothered me in that I know without fully emerging into it, I’ll never get the full intended effect and relationship with the music that they intend. This week’s effort, Clancy, was one I just straight-up didn’t bother listening to, especially on the grounds of not liking those singles at all. I was thinking that hopefully this could give me some reason to check it out, and, well, there is something to this one.

“The Craving” is available in two versions, with the version on the album being subtitled “(Jenna’s Version)”, referring to his wife Jenna and… yeah, the stripped-back, ukulele rendition on the record is pretty devastating. Starting with a static that obscures Jenna’s voice lamenting the fact their relationship may be deteroriating or stalling out as she grows older, the song is a ballad expressing Tyler’s inability to communicate and express the simple gestures that he loves her. It’s a pretty simple song compositionally but that makes complete sense as it feels like a song he can only sing improvisationally in her presence, but not with her listening. This may be a stretch, but I’m imagining “(Jenna’s version)” refers here not to dedicating the song and playing it to her but her being the muse for this version, which sounds like it could have been written very quickly in a night where he can’t fall asleep thinking about the subject matter whilst she’s fast asleep. The song explains that he can’t communicate this to her, and the visual it gives is Tyler playing the song quietly to himself as to not wake her up but knowing fully that he won’t be able to sleep for the rest of the night without it being expressed. The final chorus ends with an utmost declaration of his dedication to the marriage, complete with a voice crack, but that outro simply writes it off: once she’s awake, the promises mean nothing, and he can’t bring himself to all he promised: the simple act of reminding her that she’s loved. I will be 100% honest: this song kind of fucking broke me, and the imagery surrounding those choruses being one of waiting until demise, wherein the “she” who looks for Tyler as he lays down and tries to sleep could be both Jenna and God, made this a very affecting listen for me, or rather, several listens. I never know exactly what to expect from TOP, but I didn’t expect to be crying.

The single remix, co-produced with Spencer Stewart, is much lighter and breezier with its folk-pop production that’s reverbed to Hell and back and covers some of Tyler’s vocal faults with harmonies and whistling that makes it a bit too saccharine for my taste. I still think it’s a brilliant song but as a performance and production, not so much, and this puts me in a weird position because as far as OCC is concerned, these are both the charting song, I just happen to prefer the very slightly less streamed acoustic version a lot more. Personally, I think adding drums to “The Craving” may be an inspired touch because it takes that fear of death and adds a frolicking carpe diem feel to it but it also touches my soul a bit less by detaching Tyler further from reality: the problem isn’t that he’s separated from his wife, it’s nearly the opposite, with her continued presence acting as both why the song exists and why the emotion is so palpable. Regardless, if more of the album is this personal and honest, less lore-focused as the lead single really scared me off with, maybe I’ll find more to like on it because this acoustic version is genuinely shattering, might be their best song ever.

#57 - “LiMOusIne” - Bring Me the Horizon featuring AURORA

Produced by Zakk Cervini, Oli Sykes and Dan Lancaster

Another week, another album debuting three songs that I haven’t heard. I’ll be fair and say I probably should have listened to Billie’s record before the chart week, and I have since heard and greatly enjoyed her album, but for this one, can you blame me? Firstly, look at the way the tracks are stylised, secondly: whilst I did like the first edition of this POST HUMAN series from 2020, the incessant delay and consistent flow of really mediocre singles that leads to an album that seems a bit bloated compared to the last one’s conciseness because I guess all of them needed to be included. Thirdly, they lost their keyboardist Jordan Fish, also a major songwriting contributor to the band, who now has just a few more lyrical credits on this record than BloodPop, I’m genuinely quite weary that this’ll be another disappointing mess from Bring Me the Horizon. Regardless, I’ll give them this: they always experiment, and these three next songs are going to be interesting and weird, at least in comparison to what usually charts, so it’s good we have them all lined up consecutively. BMTH’s latest, POST HUMAN: NEX GEN, debuted at #5 on the albums chart and naturally, we have three debuts as that’s all OCC’ll allow.

The first to chart, “Limousine” (I’m not doing this, guys) features Norwegian singer AURORA, who had some viral success with “Runaway” a few years back, a song I never really liked and I honestly haven’t heard much else, so maybe I’m missing something by not checking her out - I’m definitely going to be missing something with these songs given the added context of understanding the album’s theme and narrative is pretty important for what seems like a loose concept album, though BMTH records can be so eclectic that it flies out of the window. See amo for a clear demonstration. This particular track takes us into the easy and quick blast frontman Oli Sykes gets from doing hard drugs and the power, authority he feels when he’s off them, hence the “Limousine” - it’s a luxury car you’re in the back of, drugged and being driven around, but you still feel in control. It does this through grinding metal riffs and some of the most strained vocals I’ve heard from Sykes, not in the sense that he hits any insane notes or belts but more so because he stretches out these melodies beyond their need, especially in the pre-chorus, with pitch correction not doing that great of a job to cover it. That sounds like an insult, but it’s really not: when he’s refuting the need for closure and the chorus starts with a stuttered glitching of the song’s last section out of existence, his slow luxury chauffer ride to death feels particularly potent and fittingly gruelling. There’s a seductive and sinister nature to some of the lyrics, AURORA kind of blends into the background which is perfect for this as Sykes’ streams drowning out the clearer, beautiful voice of reason is thematically perfect, that bridge with the keyboards is genuinely moving before everything crashes into shit in the screeching breakdown. That breakdown, however, demonstrates the one time this song succeeds in the mixing department for me, as there’s a muddiness to everything here and an unnecessary vocal focus that seems to push the heavier and cathartic elements back, which does not serve a track like this very well, when the progression into chaos should come from something that is genuinely unnerving and inescapable. A more immersive mix could have done wonders to what is structurally a very sound track that has great performances.

#50 - “YOUtopia” - Bring Me the Horizon

Produced by Zakk Cervini, Oli Sykes, Dan Lancaster and Lee Malia

We can actually split this episode quite nicely into the two songs below the Horizon, the two songs above them, and the Horizon itself. It works out quite nicely too because according to Sykes, “Youtopia” acts as a counterpart to “Limousine”, and I can definitely tell that from the lyrics, wherein Sykes begs for the ability to give his partner the best version of himself, a “youtopia” so to speak. He desperately wants to connect himself and his partner to that utopian setting, but can’t bring himself to do the self-improvement that would enable that kind of perfect relationship, one that you can kind of tell from the imagery either doesn’t exist or has been buried so far deep into obscurity by the constant perpetuance of negativity in everyday life. To be completely honest, I was worried that Bring Me the Horizon’s lyrics would turn as basic as some of the structural songwriting had been on the singles so I’m glad I can still both get a lot out of analysis and resonate pretty heavily with their notions, it’s the most frustrating feeling wanting to be something that no-one but your own insecurity expects you to live up to, so it just seems fruitless to achieve.

As for how it sounds, well, that basic songwriting is there for sure, but oh, my God, this is an insanely nostalgic sound for me. That late-2000s early-2010s Kerrang! TV post-hardcore sound combining fuzzy electronics with the lackadaisical guitars of 2000s emo-pop and often Auto-Tuned vocals - both the clean and unclean vocals, sometimes - as well as just killer hooks and chasm-esque mixing that makes the drums go so hard once they pound into full relentless chorus mode. Of course, BMTH take it into further electronicore territory with the sampled-sounding female vocals, tiny little vocalised riff in the first verse that’s an adorable touch, the birdsong passages of ambiance that mesh so well with the cleaner guitar build, and the hip hop drums in the second verse that actually go for a 2000s R&B groove instead of the typical trap skitter, which I commend them for doing - trap metal feels way too easy and wouldn’t have fit a longing song like this. The harmonies from Sykes and the filtered Dan Lancaster in the bridge are excellent, and whilst the guitar solo is in what I like to call Weezer-meter (very obviously and shamelessly just repeating the chorus lead melody), it’s oddly brief and inessential to the song, as the final post-chorus kind of takes its place with the string swell and incredible drumming from Matt Nicholls that winds down in an industrial squirt for the outro. Apart from once again some mixing that acts as a disservice - when there’s this much going on, I understand the difficulty in making it sound that dynamic, and thematically, sometimes it just wouldn’t make sense to - this is pretty much something I’d inject to my veins any day. I know I say this every time BMTH show up because they’re the country’s biggest left-field rock act currently, but something like this charting in the top 50 in 2024 never fails to put at least a smile on my face.

#41 - “Top 10 staTues tHat CriEd bloOd” - Bring Me the Horizon

Produced by Zakk Cervini, Oli Sykes and Dan Lancaster

This final song is titled like a WatchMojo video, and is a very clear single - the lyrics and songwriting are pretty basic woes, wound up in generic metaphors that Sykes and the lads have sung before. It’s got a pessimistic chorus and a vaguely motivational bridge, and so many lyrics that vaguely allude to prior singles that I can’t tell if these are purposeful references or they’re just that far into their careers that their attempt at being an “average” BMTH track is an amalgamation of all of their other obvious singles. Those lyrical allusions definitely make it a bit more obvious and distracting that this is the case, but musically, it’s in similar territory. They have a brief, cutesy electronic intro, this time slightly hyperpop-esque, before crashing into a catchy alt-metal riff and, yeah, it’s just obvious that this is pulling the tricks of their own trade in a very typical way. Sykes performs incredibly well as he pretty much always does, you can’t take away his passion, but the screaming and sound effects may be a bit much in that second verse. They even have a stop-and-start rhythm built into the chorus melody which feels very Bring Me the Horizon to do: stopping and starting is basically their motif and songwriting approach if we boil it down to borderline offensive essentials. They have an aggressive breakdown with rapid drumming and video game samples, a trap drum pattern in the final pre-chorus, a stuttered vocal, it’s all very by-the-numbers and that’s fine. We can’t all be zingers, sometimes we need to write something accessible and given the album is assumingly a mess (all BMTH albums kind of are, it’s by nature), something like this could be particularly refreshing within its context, and they did care enough to place an atmospheric ambient outro that may contextualise it even further. This is a perfectly cromulent Bring Me the Horizon song, but a bit underwhelming to end on here.

#31 - “Pink Skies” - Zach Bryan

Produced by Zach Bryan

Country star Zach Bryan is back, presumably, he’s got a 30-song album on the way and this is his lead single. As always with Mr. Bryan, it feels wise to discuss the lyrics here in some detail, as this paints a vivid picture of the life that a mother has left for her children at the time of her funeral. The kids who came from that small town are back there to celebrate their late mother’s life, and reflecting on those lessons they learned from the mundane outskirts: appreciating the “pink skies” as a sign of youthful vitality and peace and cleaning the old house as if it were never populated (which feels stereotypical but is very much true for how parents can behave), though with the caveat that those memories remain physically as what appear to be faults in the house but are unavoidable reminders of the life lived within it. The second verse and especially the chorus sing a pretty funny ode: she’d be proud of where her kids are but would still lightheartedly mock them as “yuppies”, and he even has the snark to comment that God probably heard her coming, which I assume she means that she never shut up. For a parent, that’s a great thing to have the ability to do, and it’s reassuring to think that in the afterlife, she still cares too much about her kids’ well-being. This hits particularly close to home for me, and the fact that this song makes great use of my favourite instrument, the harmonica, does not exactly help this from not being a bit of a personal tearjerker for me. Bryan’s smoky drawl comes with his typical homegrown organic instrumentation - though with a higher focus both lyrically and instrumentally on choppier rhythm which I find interesting - and the light female vocals panned into the left channel. Sonically, you could argue it’s a bit safe or easy for Bryan to come out with something that sounds like this, but think of the content: why shouldn’t he be back at home, and invite you into that warm, comforting place as openly as his mother would have? This guy already put out some of my favourite songs of last year, some of the art that emotionally resonated with me the most from that year, and it doesn’t seem like he’s stopping this year either. I adore this.

#4 - “BAND4BAND” - Central Cee and Lil Baby

Produced by Ghana Beats, Geenero and Aasis Beats

This is just such a neat week. We begin near the very bottom with pop-trap from the Anglosphere outside of the US and book-end it near the very top with a UK rapper, whilst sandwiched in the middle are rock and alternative acts, two of which are personal ballads by slightly more mainstream and lighter in sound, closer to more accessible genres they emerged from before developing their sound, and both on either side of three Bring Me the Horizon tracks from the same album. Thiss week just makes sense systematically, damn it, and I love to see it. Also, Central Cee and Lil Baby, I guess, the song’s fine. It’s a bit undercooked because - I repeat, Central Cee and Lil Baby - but the basic rising synth loop, even if very obviously just a basic and lazy implementation of a loop, has enough tension to make way for the heavy-hitting drill rhythm, which is a lot cleaner than some other drill tracks, but also uses much louder, mechanical hats - again, something it has in common with Lithe, and the grey cover arts are just furthering it all - that give an industrial and intense feel to this beat. As for our rappers, this is much more typical: Cench’s complaining about people not being real Muslims, talking about his Lambos, using rhyme schemes that prominently implement acronyms, being distracted by big booties and most importantly, going “Alllright”. It’s almost like “Top 10 Statues that Cried Blood” because Cench feels like an amalgamation of himself on here, though this isn’t a bad thing, he still has more energy than many other rappers and it was cute for him to exchange bars with Lil Baby. Lil Baby then continues to take the song over entirely, as the beat switches up slightly with that crawling trap skitter and Baby goes for his typical frog-throat, running-off-on-the-beat flow that goes insanely hard, bizarrely, without drums, as it builds into a very well-done beat drop. He’s similarly being an amalgamation of himself and his running themes, but there’s some cold wordplay with the birthday lyric and there’s always been something compelling about his relentless approach to just going on and on regardless of what the beat actually asks of him. Overall, I know I’ve sounded nit-picky but this is good, probably great even when taking it outside of the larger context and just treating it as a banger reaching across the Atlantic. There’s a real intensity and hunger to this that there hasn’t been for either in these guys in a while, and it’s refreshing to know that those efforts paid off for a very high and very deserved top five debut.

Conclusion

Considering this is a week mostly consisting of rock acts, it makes complete sense that it’s one of the best weeks for me. Hey, I listen to everything, but some genres will hit closer to home than others. As for the Best of the Week, it is genuinely an incredibly difficult decision, but unsurprisingly, Zach Bryan takes it for “Pink Skies” and the only reason that happened is because of the second single edit of “The Craving” by Twenty One Pilots that I do not care for, because Jenna’s version would run away with Best of the Week, it’s heartbreaking from the first vocal sample of Jenna herself to that final line. Unfortunately, due to the double billing, it’ll have to take Honourable Mention, and on any other week, I would easily be giving all of this praise to a song like “YOUtopia”, which I still love, or Hell, even “BAND4BAND”. Lithe takes Worst of the Week for “Fall Back”, obviously, and I hope the next batch of songs is either just as good as this one or gives me a lot less to talk about because sheesh, this is one of our shorter weeks and I’m still maxxing this word count out. For now, thank you for reading, rest in peace to Charlie Colin, and I’ll see you next week!

[sillyromance]

Good day everyone!

As I promised, here is an uncovering of my OC's personality. Please, meet Sara Branton (pronounce: she/her)!

She is a character for my "Transformers: Prime" AU. Sara ia a middle-aged woman, a widow (her first husband died during the war they both took part in) and a retired field medic who works as a surgeon in Jasper. She is a half-German; her mother Gretchen married an American and moved to New-York many years ago, although the old lady still owns a great house in Europe. Sara has an adult daughter Alexa - they are very close, although the girl wasn't able to live with her mother during the childhood because of Sara's first job and post-war recovering period (Sara's PTSD is still too deep; often nightmares don't let her sleep). Friends and ex-comrades sometimes call the woman Bagheera (like a panther from Kipling's "Jungle book") - it was her code-name on the buttle field; she doesn't mind that. Sara is very good at medicine, chemistry and mechanics. Moreover, she is an eager learner who is always ready to study something new.

As for my AU, one night Sara was driving home after an exhausting surgery in a neighbour town when she got into a car crush - unconscious and bleeding, she was found by Bumblebee and delivered to the Autobot base where Ratchet took good care of her. Two doctors who had a lot in common got attached to each other sincerely and made strong friendship which later grew into love. Of course, Sara met other Team Prime's members as well; as soon as she recovered, the woman started helping new alien friends in their war, combining her rich experience with knowledges she could get, digging into unusual nature of strange metal creatures she was bound to co-work with. Although, she had never chosen a side; after everything Sara had seen in her life and everything she had discovered about the new battle she participated in, the woman only wanted peace and, while fighting with bots against 'cons, she did her best to fix the conflict. At last, she managed to return Starscream (he became her confidant) and Megatron on a bright side what ment the dissolution of his army - unfortunately, it led Sara to the end of her existence...

Ratchet was in pain; he didn't want to believe it was over for his human "wife". In order to that, he created a new metal body for Sara and succeeded to translate her personality in the electronic mind. The woman turned into a transformer; nevertheless she had never forgotten where she belonged and continued introducing herself as a human.

Some facts:

Favorite songs: "Black Velvet" Alannah Myles, "Ironic" Alanis Morissette

Favorite color: Brown

Languages: English, German

Hobbies: Singing, playing the guitar, cooking

Favorite clothes(when she was biologically a human): jeans + shirts/blouses/sweatshirts. (She loves earrings).

Alt-mode: Jet/Big Bot (Optimus Prime's size)/ Small Bot (human size)

Best friends: June Darby, Optimus Prime, Starscream.

Enemies: the American officer who is guilty for her first husband's death.

Quotes:

1) "It seems the old panther is in charge again!"

2) "If a life of a one human is enough to finish an entire war - I'm ready to give mine..."

3) (To Starscream) - "Thank you for teaching me to fly..."

Vore position: Always prey

P.S: On the second photo there is an Autobot symbol on Sara's shoulder; unfortunately, it was added by me long before I built the story completely, and such detail is inherently wrong. How I said, the character doesn't belong to any fraction - she is just a diplomat who tries to bring harmony to this world.

[eucalyptusnomore]

I don't really have anything to post so

Here are some Artemis Fowl/Fowl Twins AUs that I've made and fleshed out in my head (most of them are just Myles lol)

My most detailed one: (Animus) Magic AU - Myles gets magic similar to the animus magic in WOF, in the sense that he can do practically anything and it's slowly transforming his perception of the world.(it has like 3+ endings - 1)Myles ends up killing his family and like 99% of the human race to fix the world 2)Artemis manages to kill Myles 3)Artemis manages to tranquilise Myles and he is given therapy to not want to kill everyone) Also Myles absolutely despises Artemis, even torturing him.

Apocalypse AU - Basically like the Krang invasion but different creatures (and it features the Fowls and fairies)

idk I might add some more later

Also if you want to write these as fanfiction or something then just write in my askbox or send me a message

[heartfucksmouth]

just crying silently while holding a finally-sleeping baby (20 lbs and 2.5 feet tall baby) who refused to nap longer than 30 mins today and has emotional tantrums like a 2 yr old, complete with throwing their bodies backwards and biting lolol this poor kiddo just wants to be a big people

I think I'm just crying bc I'm so tired and feeling a lot of conflicting emotions about literally everything in life. like why does the world continue to spiral out in flames and I feel like I'm in survival mode when all I've wanted to do for 4 years is actually LIVE and THRIVE and, now, raise my child to be a good human but everything is isolating and a fucking battle to get done and I feel lonely and I can't even spend time with my partner or focus on myself I feel like time is constantly running out, money is running out, kindness is running out, and my brain cells can't even function anymore.

like. being a mom and being ill is really fucking hard. as if that's a surprise, but I'm so overwhelmed anticipating the next 3 months bc I've got 10 more appointments this month alone, plus an endoscopy and my pre-op is in MAY and I'm gonna have fucking hip surgery while I have a 1 year old who will probably definitely be walking lmao

also the world is on fire, did I say that? myles hours got cut at ups bc they're greedy fucks and we simultaneously lost our food stamps bc he made too much money during holiday season and I've been waiting over a month for my new application to get filed and I'm basically living on coffee smoothies electrolytes and whatever his mom cooks for dinner. at least I can kind of feed my kid tho even tho he wants solid food already bc on the inside he's a 30 yr old and WIC only pays for formula + purees.

day by day. hour by hour. it's all I can do. I'm so. fuvking. sick of burning out 2 days after I finally recover. I have so much more to say but no energy to form words anymore.

parenting is so fucking triggering it's wild. today wasn't even all that bad, either, but everything reminds me of my past right now. and I continue having to mask and play nice with a literal energy vampire that we live with sooooo

editing to add that I am still extremely obsessed with my son , he's beautiful and his laughter is like a drug I've never experienced and he looks like a literal cherub when he sleeps but holy shit let's start being honest about parenting too. this world doesn't make ANYTHING easy for most people...

[unfoldingmoments]

TIME

The Advantage of A New Year

A new year is:

- The passing of TIME - An opportunity to redefine your priorities - An opportunity to redefine your purpose - An opportunity to redefine your life’s vision - An opportunity to re-establish worthwhile goals - An opportunity to bury the past and move into a new future

The Principle of Time - Time is life - Life is defined as time - Life is measured in time - Life is determined by time - Life is lived out in time - Life is qualified by time - The passing of time is the passing of life - Life stops when time stops - Death is life leaving time - Time is temporary - life is eternal

Maximizing Your Days Psalms 39:4 - I sought the Lord, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 90:12 - So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Ecclesiastes 8:6 - For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter

The Equality Commodity of Time - Time is the only commodity on earth given equally to each human being - Time is the only commodity every human possesses - Every human every day is given the same amount of time - What you become in life is determined by how you use your 24 hours

Spending Time 1. Time is the currency of life 2. Every human is given the same amount of time each day 3. Time like all currency must be spent 4. Time is used to buy life 5. You become whatever you spend your time buying

Abusing Or Wasting Time Just like money…

1. Time can be stolen 2. Time can be abused 3. Time can be lost 4. Time can be squandered 5. Time can be appreciated 6. Time can be depreciated 7. Time can be devalued 8. Time can be revalued

What To Do With Time 1. You can manage time 2. You can use time 3. You can invest time 4. You can convert time 5. Time should be used to initiate, create, develop, build, and add value to the life that exist in it

Eph 5:14-18

Re-deeming The Time 1. To take ownership and control of your time 2. To convert into opportunity to fulfill your purpose 3. To design your days to create value in your life

How to Redeem The Time 1. Time like all commodities must be managed 2. Time must be protected 3. Time must be protected 4. Time must have a purpose 5. Time must have a vision 6. Time must have measurable results 7. Time must have worth and value

10 Keys to Redeeming Time 1. Document a plan (of what you want to accomplish in the year) 2. Establish your priorities (based on that plan) 3. Pursue your passion only (Not every invitation is a blessing, not every opportunity is a blessing. The devil’s greatest weapon to a disciplined woman or man is distraction, not sin - Not everything that is good is right) 4. Protect your plans & priorities 5. Identify what you value 6. Make decisions based on destiny 7. Inventory your associations 8. Review your investments 9. Do not try to please everyone. You can't make everybody happy 10. Forget the past and pursue and design the future

Control your future by making a plan. Forget about what you didn’t accomplish. John 7:6-9 Let this be the last year you waste. Repent of the bad decisions you’ve made and ask God to help you make the right decisions in the new year.

Lord give me the courage to make hard decisions that may hurt me, some habits that I need to cut away. Ref note script: http://souldestiny.org/index.php/notes/38-sermon-notes/89-redeeming-the-time-dr-myles-munroe Ref video from How To Live Effectively In Time | Dr. Myles Munroe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqrSLgDiXbI

[lothcatthree]

Hi! I also wanted to come and say that I love uni AU so much ❤️ everyone involved in the writing are amazing writers and bon's art is incredible 😍

I love how messy Obi-Wan is 😂 he is just casually plowing through the whole Fett family tree. He''s watched too much pokemon with cal and thought to himself that he should catch them all too. All his relationships are delightfully chaotic and Cal and Bode are just in a stable relationship being in love 😄

Anakin is also just so sweet 😍 I can't wait until they'll have the twins to deal with!

This is a bit related to a previous question you had but I wouldn't mind if there would be a Rex/Obi-Wan side fic. But if that's not something you want to do, that is totally fine, no pressure! I just stumbled on Rex/Obi fics and it has become one of my favourite pairings. But even if it's only mentioned, you have combined all my favourite Obi-Wan pairings into one fic (obikin, jangobi, codywan, rexobi, quinobi) 😂😍

All the side fics are amazing and I love how you have expanded the uni au! ❤️Quin/Fox was so sweet and it was nice that jango had his happy ending too!

I also just finished TOHD and I loved it so much ❤️

Anyways I hope you'll have a fun weekend and goodluck with your writing! I can't wait to read more of Uni AU and other fic you'll write ❤️

ANON!!!!!!!! this message nearly made me cry. thank you so so so much, not only for reading but all these kind words!!

it's funny you bring up a rexobi oneshot because @krispyswips and I just started a 5+1 for the uni au and the working title is Lawnmobi-Wan Kenobi: 5 times Obi-Wan Plowed Through a Fett Brother and 1 Time He Didn't. and yes, this will include rex and obi-wan's shenanigans...

I hear you on the obikin, jangobi, codywan, rexobi, and quinobi... krisp and I are filthy multi shippers and we saw an opportunity to shove all of our ships into this fic so naturally we took it

I'm so glad you enjoyed the side fics!! I had so much fun with the quinfox one and I needed to both expel the demons and provide more context because I adore them 🥺

myles/jango was something that happened because while we started this fic with jango as the villain, we fell in love with him the more we fleshed him out and it was hurting my heart that he didn't have a happy ending... so we gave him myles and arla <3 (and sex. a lot of sex)

TOHD!!!!! my baby!!!!!! that fic has such a close place in my heart and I am so glad you loved it 🥹

thank you!!! for sending all this!!!! you made our day! can't wait to write more this weekend and for you to see it! have a lovely weekend you beautiful human being

[wqbytop100]

WQBY

Top150 for the week ending April. 28, 2024

Weight of the World --Bonnie X Clyde -1

Jet Plane --R3HAB, VIZE, JP Cooper -2

What If We Met --Ali Gatie -9

Sleep Tonight (This is the Life) --Switch Disco, R3HAB, Sam Feldt -4

Kissing Strangers --USHER -13

Lighter --Galantis, David Guetta, 5 Seconds of Summer -10

Love & Pain --Enrique Iglesias' -21

Make Me Your Mrs. --Mae Stephens -6

Young & Foolish --Loud Luxury f/Charlieonafriday -3

Reckless Child --Milky Chance -5

Before You Go --Seeb -8

When I Wake Up --Lucas & Steve, Skinny Days -7

Low Again --Bakermat -12

Without You ---Disco Fries, Lavish Life -18

Beat of your Love --Ownboss, LAWRENT feat/Ekko -20

Feel This Way --Victoria Nadine, R3HAB -17

Waterslides --Tiesto, Rudimental, Absolutely -15

Monster --A7S, ALOK -11

Lonely Dancers --Conan Gray -16

Heaven Or Not --Diplo, Riva Starr, Kareem Lomax -47

Outlaw Love --Brooke Eden (Dave Aude Remix) -14

Hell Together --David Archuleta -25

One, Two & 3 --Galantis -26

Slide Out --Life on Planets -19

She's on my Mind --Romy -22

Never Be Friends --Jost, Minogue -24

Cutting Loose --Disco Lines, J. Worra, Anabel Englund -27

The Afterhours --Kyle Watson -23

The Moves --NEIKED, Muni Long, Nile Rodgers -31

Anyone --Morgan Page -30

Electricity --FAST BOY, R3HAB -32

Save You A Seat --Alex Warren -34

Monster --Don Diablo, Felix Jaehn -35

One On One --Robin Schulz, Oaks, Topic -36

Houdini --Dua Lipa -28

Lil Tune --Gus Dapperton, Electric Guest -38

Dirty Desire --Vicetone -29

Triumph --Bishop Briggs -40

Take A Moment --ATB, David Frank -37

Mas Que Nada --Oliver Heldens, Ian Asher, Sergio Mendez -44

Don't You Cry --Sunday Scaries, Discrete -46

Weak --Vintage Culture, Maverick Sabre, Tom Breu -33

Shipwreck --Mount Kimble -43

Murder on the Dancefloor --Sophie Ellis-Bextor -45

Do You Feel It --VAMERO, Cyril M. Mougleta -39

Loose Ends ---Lucas Estrada, Syn Cole -52

Home --CamelPhatt, RHODE (Vintage Culture Remix) -66

Everyone Know I'm High --SHAED -48

Forever (Stay Like This) --Armin Van Buuren -49

We Ain't Good At Breaking Up --Brothers Osborne -50

Fantasy --Cosmo's Midnight feat/Frank Moody -70

<>Public --Mike. -(re-entry)

<>What Do You Do For A Living? I Do My Best --Iamnotshane, EMME -(re-entry)

Soultrain --Triplism, Nandu, Radeckt -76

Good For You --Dimtri Vegas, Chapter & Verse, Goodboys -122

In Your Arms --Jess Bays, Jem Cooke -74

<>Lead Me On --Fletcher -(re-entry)

Come With Me --Claptone -91

You Know It --Gorgon City -61

Underwater --Dubvision, Afrojack -60

Give Me --Will Clarke, BURNS -41

I Don't Wanna Worry --NEEDTOBREATHE -42

Fire --Alan Walker, YUQI, JVKE, (G)i-DLE -51

Raccoons --Caravan Palace -96

***Fallin Luv --Gordo, Jeria -(new)

Same Drunk --Walker Hayes -51

***Enhancer --Northeast Party House _(new)

***Karma --JoJo Siwa -(new)

Business As Usual --Eliza Rose, MJ Cole (Night Shift Mix) -101

Lie To Me --Jubel, KIDDO -54

Addicted --ZERB, The Chainsmokers feat/INK -80

Good As It Gets --Blanco Brown -107

Count Me Out --Vicetone -73

Kettle's Up --Mahmut Orhan, Axelax, Botin -74

***Eyes Closed --Imagine Dragons -(new)

Bad Blood--Theresa Rex -72

Out Loud --Cage the Elephant -77

Lose Control --Teddy Swims -78

Yes, And? --Ariana Grande -69

Mine --Micheal Gerow -111

Spicy Margarita --Jason Derulo, Michael Bublé -57

Mr. Useless --Shygirl, SG Lewis -58

Some Kind Of Static --Neil Francis, Alan Braxe -63

Keep Your Head Up --We Are Messengers -113

I Hate You In The Morning --Otha -114

Never Ending Song --Conan Gray -108

In The Cards --Jamie Miller -118

Lil Freak --bbno$ -104

***Buscando Money --TWENTY-Six, Tayson Kryss -(new)

The Weekend --Anti-Up -106

***Undone --Forest Blakk -(new)

Level Up --Wolfgang Gartner, Scrufizzeer -87

***Eat the Bass --John Summit -(new)

20 Something --Jessica Baio -103

Sweet Love --Myles Smith -112

Me Voy Acostumbrando --Enrique Iglesias -86

***Wish I Never Felt --Nate Smith -(new)

***Yellow --Jxdn -(new)

Can't Stop Us --Regard -71

I Got Time --Brittney Spencer -64

Human Nature --Yot Club -115

Close Your Eyes --Lucas Estrada -55

You're Hired --NEIKED, Ayra Starr -56

Graveyard --A R I Z O N A (Shoffy Remix) -59

Texas Hold 'Em --Beyonce -60

Kill Anyone --Two Feet, Ari Abdul -61

It's Love (If We Get It Right) --Anthony Russo -62

Me Before You --Bleachers -68

Anthem --Diplo, Shram, Pony -88

Regret the Morning --SILK, Mali-Koa -89

Love Me --INNA -90

Everything You Do --AFROKI, Afrojack, Steve Aoki, Aviella -92

One On One --The Knocks, Sofi Tukker -82

All Fckd Up --Kapuzen -81

Both --Tiesto, 21 Savage, BIA -83

Flex --Tony Dark Eyes -84

Feels Like Us --GT_OFICE, ALWZ SNNY, Robbie Rosen -85

ADHD --Mae Stephens -93

Kiss Me Better --Julie Bergan -116

Say It Right --Dubdogs, Farfetch'd -117

My Favorite Drug --Justin Timberlake -102

Without Your Love --Deorro, TELYKAST, Catello -123

Can i Have This Groove --Kenyon Dixon -124

Outside Of Love --Becky Hill -125

Higher Ground --Purple Disco Machine, Roosevelt -126

Nothing Ever Changes --Vintage Culture, MAGNUS -127

Dreams --Ali Farben, Maurice Lessing, Emma Wells -110

My Body --Illusionize, Y&M -105

Beautiful Things --Benson Boone -94

Rusty --Layto -95

Progressive Heart --Pat Premier (Dave Aude Remix) -97

Diamond Therapy --Diplo, Walker & Royce, Channel Tres -99

Dizzy --Sick Individuals, LOUI LANE -100

Heart Still Beating --Nathan Dawe, Bebe Rexha -98

Cutting Through The Country --Medium Build -109

She --Karin Ann (Benny Benassi Remix) -119

Fire In My Soul --Yulia Niko, Carn Crua -120

Need Your Love --Ikay Sencan, KALUMA, Adam Woods -121

Next Years Light --Elliot Moss -128

Life Goes On --HU -130

Premedicated --FETISH -131

Good In Goodbye --Frank Walker, Trivecta -129

Broken By You --Alexander Stewart -132

Never Be Lonely --Jax Jones, Zoe Wees -135

Gravity --Matt Hansen -138

More Baby --Chris Lake, Aluna -134 >>>

Body Moving --Eliza Rose X Calvin Harris -145 >>>

***Dance Alone --SIA feat/Kylie Minogue -(new)

***Whatever --KYGO feat/Ava Max -(new)

***Better Me --Michael Schulte, R3HAB -(new)

***12 new on the chart this week and <> 3 re-entries 4.28.24 <>#52 Pubic <>#53 What Do You Do For A Living? I Do My Best <>#57 Lead Me On #65 Fallin Luv #67 Enhancer #68 Karma #75 Eyes Closed #89 Buscando Money #91 Undone #93 Eat the Bass #97 Wish I Never Felt #98 Yellow #148 Dance Alone #149 Whatever #150 Better Me

>>2 OFF

[junkdrawernoggin]

Writer's Block SEVERE edition ft. family drama

I have violent levels of writer's block rn and i'm so sadddd

I do really love the concept for What If Tomorrow Comes. I love Myles as a character and the dynamic she has with Orin is so good. But my BG3 hyperfixation has been brutally murdered by spending a month away from the game on what may go down as my worst holiday of all time.* I have been trying to play but I wish I hadn't finished Haeliiv'a's save. I think that would have kept me in it a lot more.

I've started like 3 new saves in the last week. Wanted to start my Gale save but didn't like my character after 3 hours. Started a bard balanced save, but...eh. Today I finally was like "I'll start my evil run!" So I created Hael's little brother, Rylmer'ryn (her name means "marked warrior of death" and his name means "branded weapon of doom" which I was proud of). But every decision is making me physically cringe. I wanted to do it because there's certain areas I want to access for lore and obviously different lines. It's so painful though and I hate it.

I want to write. I want to write on WITC. I just can't make the mental leap. The other thing is that rereading it I fucking hate how I did chapter 1. And like...do I maybe just take it down and rewrite it? Do I write all of cycle one and then upload a chapter a week? I don't hate that idea. I've also tossed around the thought of maybe trying to work on some original work but I know that doesn't go down well on AO3.

Just very frustrated. Historically January is always mentally frustrating for me. Last year I also was really struggling with not having a hyperfixation. BG3 stuck for 6 months which is pretty long for me and I still love reading and looking at what other folks are creating. My creative flow is just not flowing for that specific thing right now.

*2 family members pressured me into taking edibles. I have a super low tolerance due to a medical issue. Then they left me alone for 2 hours to have a panic attack. After that I was dropped off at my grandmother's for two weeks. She may take the prize for most emotionally draining human on the planet. Just spent my entire time off uni being miserable and not being able to do anything I enjoy

[laresearchette]

Friday, October 20, 2023 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: BOSCH: LEGACY (Amazon Prime Canada) THE PIGEON TUNNEL (Apple TV+) SHAPE ISLAND: CREEPY CAVE CRAWL (Apple TV+) JOE BOB’S HELLOWEEN (Shudder/AMC+) NIGHT OF THE HUNTED (Shudder/AMC+) CHECKIN’ IT TWICE (W Network) 9:00pm

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA BIG LOVE BOSCH: LEGACY (Season 2) THE OTHER ZOEY SAYEN: LA RUTA SECA SILVER DOLLAR ROAD SURROUNDED UPLOAD (Season 3)

CBC GEM THE BANNOCKING CODE 8 ONE NIGHT

CRAVE TV A LOVE SONG THE MACHINE MAUDIE PASSCHENDAELE WIPEOUT (Season 2B, Episodes 1-5) YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER

DISNEY + STAR WEREWOLF BY NIGHT IN COLOR

NETFLIX CANADA BIG MOUTH (Season 7) CREATURE DISCO INFERNO DOONA! ELITE (Season 7) FLASHBACK KANDASAMYS: THE BABY OCEAN’S ELEVEN OLD DADS SURVIVING PARADISE VIERAN TOMIC: THE SPIDER-MAN OF PARIS

GRAND SLAM OF CURLING (SN) 11:30am: Tour Challenge - Draw 14 (SN1/SNPacific) 3:30pm: Tour Challenge - Draw 15 (SNPacific) 7:30pm: Tour Challenge - Draw 16

MEN’S RUGBY WORLD CUP (TSN4) 3:00pm: Semifinal - Argentina vs. New Zealand

NHL HOCKEY (SN1) 7:00pm: Flames vs. Blue Jackets

SHASHA & MILO (Family Channel Canada) 7:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Shasha wants to experience all the human world has to offer; unfortunately, her curiosity also unleashes an ancient army of Krystal Warriors.

NBA BASKETBALL (TSN/TSN4) 7:30pm: Wizards vs. Raptors (SN Now) 8:00pm: Grizzlies vs. Bucks (TSN2) 10:00pm: Warriors vs. Lakers

MURDER FOR SALE (Super Channel Heart & Home) 7:30pm: Gabbi's longtime friend Kimberly Stark is finally selling her home after residing in it for many years. However, the morning after the first open house, her broker, Joe Parillo, is found dead in her foyer.

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 8:00pm: NLCS: Phillies vs. Diamondbacks - Game #4

MARKETPLACE (CBC) 8:00pm: Smartphones and laptops are loaded with private information to find out if technicians will snoop on the devices.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF JERSEY (Slice) 8:00pm: Ladies Who Launch

PLANET WONDER (CBC) 8:30pm: Johanna investigates the forecast on her phone and discovers how climate change has affected accuracy and created a voracious need for more data; she slurps spaghetti to explain chaos theory.

FRIDAY NIGHT THUNDER (APTN) 8:30pm: Allan Downey finds himself embroiled in a hotly debated racing wreck with another driver. This forces him to build a new car with the help of some friends, only to become entangled with the same driver again a week later.

THE FIFTH ESTATE (CBC) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Bob McKeown goes behind the rhetoric about Chinese police stations in Canada to reveal that far from being caught unaware, the Canadian government and the RCMP have long cooperated in China's hunt for supposed fugitives in this country.

TRANSPLANT (CTV) 9:00pm: Bash reconnects with the man who got him to Canada.

SICK (Showcase) 9:00pm: While quarantining at her family's lake house during the pandemic, Parker and her best friend are threatened by an unexpected visitor.

A LOVE SONG (Crave) 9:00pm: Faye is a lone traveler who bides her time fishing, birding and stargazing at a rural Colorado campground as she awaits the arrival of Lito, a figure from her past who's navigating his own tentative and nomadic journey across the rugged West.

CFL FOOTBALL (TSN/TSN3) 10:00pm: Stamps vs. Lions

W5 (CTV) 10:00pm: Finding Sharron’s Killer: W5 investigates why hate crimes and how they can be stopped. An extraordinary schoolbreaks through to students with developmental delays.

CRIME BEAT (Global) 10:00pm: Seeking Justice for Myles Gray

[mirandamckenni1]

Liked on YouTube: Sci-Fi Short Film "Apotheosis" | DUST || https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlcuKadMBlE || Explore the DUST Multiverse on our App: https://bit.ly/DUSTChannel Selene, a young aerospace engineer, dreams of going to space, but was born naturally in this near-future society where the first generation of genetically engineered humans has come of age and has more privileges than those born like Selene. When her mother loses her job, Selene decides to compete against these genetically engineered humans in order to secure a job position on the first habitable space colony, Rusk Venture's Ourania. However, she'll be competing against her friend Fabrizio, Rusk's engineered son. Their friendship is pushed to the limit as their willpower and determination are put to the test. "Apotheosis" by Max Pearce Connect with the Filmmaker: https://ift.tt/VHtocZ7 "Apotheosis" Credits: Selene - Rene Leech Fabrizio - Dor Gvirtsman Minerva - Jane Casserly Rusk - Ross Turner Trainer - Vincent Stalba Newscaster - Wei Wilson Swimmer 1 - Hallie Kingsey Swimmer 2 - Oscar Martinez Baile Swimmer 3 - Rielle Oase Swimmer 4 - Keanu Ross-Cabrera Director - Max Pearce Produced by - Maria Sara Santoro Co-Producer - Brian DeAngelis Written by - Max Pearce & Maria Sara Santoro Director of Photography - John Burroughs Hanle Production Designer - Maria Sara Santoro Edited by - Riley Sweeney Lynch Costume Designer - Sonya Berg Visual Effects by - Shaman Marya Music by - David Myles Lewis Associate Producers - Hatuey Rodriguez, Josh Powell First Assistant Director - Tony Gx Shi Second Assistant Director - Yizhi Shi First Assistant A Camera - Catalina Parra First Assistant B Camera - Amber Rose Jones Second Assistant A Camera - Sayali Upadhye Second Assistant B Camera - Caleb Smith, June Kim Steadicam Operator - Lars Struck Gaffer - Louven Ryes Key Grip - Laura Stone G&E Swings - Sean Farley, Chris Hall, Chris Ube, Cory Ewing, Devon Johns Sound Design - Carter Tate Sound Recorder - Evan Hartney Sound Mixer - Vera Tin Art Director - Cat Johnson Set Decorator - Addison Rolleri Hair and Make-up - Kaia Langois Set Production Assistants - Ziqi Huang, Bingliang Li, Victoria Interiano, Greg Shell, Elizaveta Kaminski, Tayla Dixon Script Supervisors - Santos Herrera, Ian Kent, BTS Photographer - Rielle Oase Storyboards - Nhan Le Concept Art - Catherine Wu Additional Visual Effects by - Josh Steede Colorist - John Burroughs Hanle Titles and Credits by - Craig Lief On-Set Lifeguards - Devon Coates, Kyle Brandstater USC Faculty Advisors - Mike Fink, Brenda Goodman Festivals & Distribution/Licensing - Sandrine Faucher Cassidy Catering by - Too Tasty Catering Stock Footage Provided by - Pexels A USC Short FIlm Subscribe to the DUST and ALTER newsletter: https://ift.tt/OeWPSBf Subscribe to DUST on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2aqc5vh #DUST #scifi #shortfilm About DUST: DUST presents thought-provoking science fiction content, exploring the future of humanity through the lens of science and technology. From timeless classics to cutting-edge movies, series, short films, and podcasts, DUST acquires, produces and distributes all content types. DUST is also available on Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, AppleTV, Fubo, IMDBTV, iOS, Peacock, Roku, Redbox, Samsung TV, Sling, STIRR, Tivo, Vizio, Xumo and 7Plus. On our OTT platforms, we offer cutting-edge and classic feature films, series, podcasts, and our entire shorts library. #TheFutureAwaits Watch on the DUST App: https://bit.ly/DUSTChannel Subscribe to the DUST Newsletter: https://bit.ly/signal_newsletter" Connect with DUST Website: https://ift.tt/UdAKuWp Sign-up for DUST newsletter: https://ift.tt/a1FEv05 Watch DUST on your TV: Available on Roku, Samsung TV, Apple TV, Android TV...and more Watch more on YouTube: http://bit.ly/2amTSen Follow Us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2aqYgtZ Follow Us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2amAhRt Listen to the DUST podcast: Apple: http://bit.ly/DUST-Audio Spotify: http://bit.ly/DUST-Spotify Stitcher: http://bit.ly/DUST-Stitcher Castbox: http://bit.ly/DUST-Castbox iHeart: http://bit.ly/DUST-iHeart About Gunpowder + Sky: Creating content that resonates and impacts pop culture conversation, by empowering creators to take risks and experiment relentlessly in the pursuit of novel stories and formats. https://www.youtube.com/watchdust

[madychi]

Yknow what, im being prude- here’s a list and plot synopsis of ever single of my Sonic AU’s! I did remove my Sonic EXE AU’s though-

1. Next Era AU: The descendants of three heroes from 1000 years ago answer a calling, and must now train under the guidance an ancient Shadow in order to prepare for the rising of iEgg! A virtual back up of Eggman that’s been lying dormant.

2. Gem AU: A Steven Universe style Sonic AU. All mobians are gems, and humans are still humans. Follow Blue Emerald (Sonic) and his brother Yellow Pearl (Tails) as they escape their homeworld to live on earth

3. Team Swap AU: All the members in each team have been swapped in terms of species and back story. Sonic|Shadow, Tails|Rouge, Kncukles|Omega, Amy|Espio, Big|Vector, Charmy|Cream.

4. Adopted Swap AU: An AU my friend let me adopt. All character species are swapped! But within the teams. Sonic’s a speedy fox, Tails is a smart hoglet, etc etc-

5. Chaos Radiation AU: After Sonic absorbs 6 botched attempts at recreating Chaos Emeralds, he unknowingly unleashes an outbreak. A mix of chaos energy and radiation deforming the bodies and minds of all that are infected with this plague.

6. Raggedy Duo AU: a fun little au where I take Raggedy Ann and Andy but make it sonic! No plot. Just vibes.

7. Project Fusion AU: G.U.N. Never caught and cryogenically imprisoned Shadow. With their Project Shadow missing, the government works to recreate him. No, make a better creation. A true ultimate lifeform. And after years of searching, they find three perfect subject. A fast blue hedgehog, a smart yellow fox, and a rarity.. a red echidna. The three subjects are taken, tested on, and ultimately taken apart for their vital assets and mashed together into Project.Fusion.

8. Storybook AU: A story book adventure in which Sonic travels into the strokes of Greek Mythos! Guided by Hephaestus (Greek mythology Tails), Sonic embarks on a mission to save Mount Olympus from an unknown evil.

9. MOSTH AU: Follows a canon divergence where Sonic and Tails failed against Supreme High Robotnik in AOSTH. Tails is imprisoned and used as a hostage against Tails. A reminder of what he has to loose and what he works for the privilege to see. Sonic agrees to do Robotniks bidding across the multiverse in order to ensure Tails’s wellbeing. Even at the cost of his own health.

10. Abysm AU: Post Sonic Frontiers, Sonic agrees to guard the Master Emerald for Kncukles so he can go see the world. Days turn to weeks, then months, then a whole year. Sonic’s not used to being anchored down for long. And with no word from his friends in months he can’t help but feel… forgotten.

11. Feral AU: take Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles and make em feral creturs. Thats it.

12. Cryptid AU: take Sonic, make him a cryptid. Bada bing bada boom baby-

13. Sonic Saviors AU: A sonic forces rewrite that takes the original story of Sonic Forces, beats it with a bat, shoves it into a blender, and somehow makes it better :]

14. Background AU: an au focusing on background character version of team sonic. Follow Audio the Hedgehog, Myles Tail Preston, and Fists the Porcupine as the drift around the world as self proclaimed adventurers!

15. Prototype AU: take all the prototype versions of the sonic cast and make them the main characters.

16. Project Sonic Speed AU: My first Sonic AU. In a world where Sonic the Hedgehog is created as an agent of chaos for the Eggman empire by Dr Robotnik, the world turns out very different.

17. Mecha Takeover AU: An AU where Mecha Sonic from the scrapnik island comics succeeds in taking over Sonic’s body, and leaving Sonic’s mind in his old trash heap of a body.

18. Rubberhose AU: Take Sonic characters and put them in a Rubberhose 1900’s animated world.

20. Sonic Boom Isekai AU: A au based on a disassociative episode I had where I isekai’d myself into Sonic Boom. Yeah I don’t know either man.

21. (Not) Imposter AU: A newer AU of mine I’ve been cooking. Instead of “creating” surge and kit, Starline decides it would be much easier to simply modify the originals (Sonic and Tails).

22. TMOSTH AU: an AU that follows Barry after TMOSTH as he stays friends with Tails and even becomes a confident rock star!

23. Pony AU: Take sonic characters. Make them Ponies.

24. Sonic Unity AU: an apocalyptic Sonic world witha cyberpunk vibe. Also everyone’s human.

25. Lost World Rewrite AU: a rewrite of Sonic lost world that gives a better story, zeti lore, and it snowballed into me and my friend rewriting all of Sonic canon from Sonic Lost world onward.

26. Sonic Zero 6 AU: a rewrite of Sonic 06 where Sonic and Elise are grow a sibling like bond throughout their adventure to stop Mephilis the Dark from releasing the flames of disaster. However a naive and deceived hedgehog from the future is always interfering.

27. Amnesia Gang AU: A sonic frontiers AU I made before the game came out. Basically no one’s trapped in cyber space, but Sonic and friends do all get amnesia after their crash, their memories imprisoned and locked away in cyberspace.

28. Chaos Guardians AU: an au where as young hoglet and fox cub, Sonic and Tails crash onto Angel Island during a storm. Their plan is beyond repair. And what’s worse, the echidna warrior living there doesn’t seem to like their presence. But they grow to develop a close sister hood and all three of them become guardians of the Master Emerald.

29. Sonic x TMNT AU: it’s in the name. I’m not writing all that rn-

30. Chaos Born AU: An Au where the chaos emerald created Sonic. Their his moms. At some point Sonic got seperated from them, but would reunite with them after Sonic 1.

31. Heart Island AU: An AU for my OC Kora Hedgehog :] cuz I can.

32. Escape Room AU: An AU where TMOSTH is an escape room instead! Yippee!

33. Dirty Hedgie AU: hi took the line from the sonic movie “So what were you expecting? A dirty little hedgehog eating berries and struggling to survive” and said it’s free real estate.

34. Axel & Lilith Adventures AU: an AU focusing on my OC Lilith and my friends OC Axel as they traverse the multiverse via phantom ruby. Only to have an enemy in a being known as Eternal block their way home.

35. Sonic X FNAF AU: … it’s in the title.

36. SB Ebony AU: A sonic boom au for my Sonic boom oc Ebony the merchant made. He’s fun.

37. AI AU: an au I made entirely using AI.

38. Orbed AU: an AU where remnents of dark Gaia remain throughout the world in the shape of crystal orbs. They grant great power and might, but corrupt the user in the process. Sonic must find and destroy them all… and sometimes killing the weilder is a must.

39. Zara Zeti AU: au for my Zeti OC. Cuz I love her.

40. 8-Bit Failure AU: remember the bad end for the 8-but Sonic 2. What if that were canon? Thats what this AU explores.

41. Reunion AU: set 20 years after Sonic Frontiers, everyone reunites to catch up and resume their adventures!

42. Split Souls AU: after his adventure in SATBK, Sonic can’t just leave this world with no King Arthur. So, using a bit of old magic, Nimue is able to split Sonic into two. Two being identical Sonic sharing one split soul. One Sonic leaves to resume life in his world while the other stays to be king. They must reunite once a year on their birthday and become one again in order to stay stable.

43. Boom Chaos Guardian AU: *sobs* I promise I’ll finish the fic for this au I’m trying-

44. Celestial Bodies AU: a mostly scrapped AU where I take Sonic characters and make them celestial bodies. Sonic’s the Sun, Tails is the moon, Knuckles is Mars, Shadow is the Black Comet, etc.

45. Underground Boom AU: An AU in which Sonic Underground and Sonic boom take place in the same universe. Sonic has long since found his mom and helped his triplet siblings take back their kingdom and stop the evil Dr Robotnik. But being a prince isn’t something he was intent on. After a falling out with his family he leaves his kingdom and ditches his prince status to live on a small lone island, befriending a fox, echdna, another hedgehog, and a badger. And he even has himself a low time villain to keep busy with. Dr Eggman!

46. Void AU: Shadow fails to get Sonic to green hill in time. Sonic fades away, ceasing to exist, and yet, refusing to stay gone. Tethered in the void as a mere spirit, he can only watch and spectate the Shatterverse and his home.

47. Villain Boom AU: Take Sonic and Tails from Sonic Boom, make them big time villains with tragic backstory’s.

48. Shattered Self AU: basically my sonic prime fic. Sonic gets shattered along side his world, ending up a hollow husk with his time running out with every move he makes.

49. Gaia Reincarnated: Sonic, but make him Light Gaia reincarnated.

50. Shadow Frontiers: after being sucked into cyberspace, the whole cast ends up trapped. Leaving a certain ultimate life form to go searching a month after everyone seemingly disappears.

Sometimes I think I’m normal…

Other times I remember that I have 56 (and counting) Sonic AU’s with fully fleshed out story’s, character arcs, etc and get humbled real fast-

[artemis-fowl-incident-report]

A chapter by chapter breakdown of how I would have written "The Fowl Twins: Deny All Charges" (aka book 2)

Okay, so no one asked for this, but I got a sudden burst of inspiration. This is a chapter by chapter breakdown on this idea here where I explain what I would have done with the series, since the actual plot just... wasn't it honey. God bless Eoin, he tried but it just wasn't it. (The first book in the trilogy was pretty good though, so that's the same).

Chapter 1

We open with the Twins pottering about (probably about 13 years old by this point), doing their thing as usual. Myles is trying to teach Beckett about The Lower Elements biosystem, since he got inspired to research it when they were down there having a meeting with the Council (under very heavy guard) concerning legal proceeding for them keeping their memories. The plant life of the Lower Elements has been something of a hyper fixation for Myles ever since. Beckett is having non of it, however, and is already mentally somewhere else.

Since he's not getting anywhere, Myles suggests they take the jet out for a spin to get the energy out of Beck's system, and allow Myles to observe one of the projects he and Artemis were working on before he left. (A new strain of sea kelp that thrives in polluted water and is better at filtering said pollution by at least 60% according to Myles (yes, he takes credit for it, since Artemis couldn't possibly figure out how to do it by himself, great big simpletoon as he is)

Once they get out there, they realise there's a fairy ship in distress. They tap into the frequency to find out that it's Lazuli. They help her out (much like the original) and nearly die in the process.

Chapter 2

Their parents freak out, and Fowl Sr manipulates them into compliance with their wrist bump and they send Whistle Blower and Lazuli away. (We are getting rid of the "Fowl and Fairy have been friends throughout our family history" thing. It was a bad idea, and I have no doubt it was supposed to tie into the movie.)

Myles, however, goes missing that night. His bed is empty, he is no where on the island, and Beck is distraught. No one listens to him when he says they should try and find him themselves. His parents say no. Beck doesn't care.

Beck goes into Artemis's bedroom. Since NANNI has been shut down by Fowl Sr, there's no way for him to contact Lazuli. There is, however, one thing that can get a message to the fairies. Artemis's old ring communicator for Holly.

Holly is understandably miffed about being contacted (especially in the middle of the "fairy" night aka mid day for humans), but when Beckett explains the situation, she softens a bit.

Since one of The Councils demands for the Twins was that, in order to keep their memories, all LEP/Section 8 operations involving them would have to be approved by their parents and The Council until they were 18. Meaning Holly can not get involved (officially) until The Fowl Parents and The Council say so.

Lazuli, on the other hand, has been neglecting her mandatory vacation days, and she's been looking after Whistle Blower in her home since he was sent away, under Beck's own request. On top of that, Foaly buts into the call, (because he thought it might be Artemis attempting to contact Holly when he saw the communicators registration come up on his computer, and as much as he hates to admit it, he misses the mud boy) and says he knows where Myles's kidnappers took him, thanks to his Fowl surveillance.

They took him through the Berserker gate.

Chapter 3

That night, Beck sneaks out the house and uses one of the family's boats to get to the main land. He is set to meet up with Lazuli and Whistle Blower at Fowl Manor, along with a few other people, since Holly said she'd make some calls. He reflects on how he's not been back to the Manor since they moved to Villa Eco, and how the Family isn't moving on as they said they were going to. They're running away from all the pain and crime that happened on the estate, rather than address it, as if ignoring it will make things any better.

Beck meets up with Lazuli and Whistle Blower, and who should also be there but Juliet Butler and Mulch Diggums. Juliet was already on her way to Ireland, since it's off season in her wrestling troop, and Mulch is there because Holly said she'd buy him dinner if he went along, and he was getting bored of the P.I. stuff.

They all head to the Berserker gate to find it wide open, with clear evidence of people going through it recently. They start their decent.

~~~Cut to Myles~~~

Myles wakes up from being drugged in a cold damp tunnel (still in his pyjamas), with Gundred of the Hortenknut Seven and Sister Jeronima of ACRONYM. The two women are working together to recover a fairy treasure that has been lost, to use against the fairy Council.

They shove a journal into his hands. It's written partly in ancient Gnomish and partly in an unknown code by one Darach (which means Oak in Irish Gaelic), also known as "Darach the Moron" by history, the brother of Frond the first elfin king. He was a historian and pacifist who believed that humans and fairies could, some day, share the same planet once more. That they belonged together. The way he tried to do that was through collecting the shared myths and legends that fairies and humans had so that it could form one complete culture. He even moved his home and family above ground, trading and conversing openly with humans, to prove it was true, only for the humans to slaughter his wife and children.

They want Myles to translate the codes, which hold the key to the many traps and puzzles held within the tunnels they'll be traveling down (which, yes, is under the berserker gate). If Myles doesn't help them, much like with Darach, they will slaughter his entire family in retribution. (They would have liked to have kidnapped Artemis for the job, since he was the first human to translate Gnomish in centuries, but Myles will have to do.) Myles gets to work with the translations, bound and carried along on the back of an ACRONYM solider.

Chapter 4

The new and improved Regretables (as Beckett declares them) travel in The ACRONYM and Hortenknut Seven's wake, with Beckett catching everyone up in what's happened thus far. Juliet and Mulch reflect how this is just like the good old days with Artemis's schemes.

Lazuli, on the other hand, has been having a time recently. The whole reason she was traveling above ground, and subsequently needed rescuing by the Twins, was because she was looking into traces of her ancestry. Foaly did a trace on the magic in her system, and it seems weirdly close to the magic of the Berserker gate. She kind of blames herself for the Twin's recent grounding, but Beck tells her that's no the case.

When the subject of "How can all this be down here? I thought this gate was supposed to be closed off forever thanks to the berserkers" is brought up by Lazuli, Juliet recalls memories from the berserker who possessed her, saying that, about a century after the wars end, an emergency entrance was put in in the form of a well, and that Darach, the elven man who made the traps and passages, used it when the tunnel was closed off for good because he knew other fairies were frightened of it because of the berserker souls. (Juliet's been using meditation as a way of recalling those memories, since she wanted to learn to understand the soul that possessed her, and thus move on from the trauma of being possessed. We love and stan a queen of mental health)

They come across the first of the gates. It's surrounded by the bodies of ACRONYM soldiers, which are weeks old (from ACRONYM attempting to open the gate without Myles, and finding they couldn't).

Before the Regretables are tiles with particular symbols on them. Lazuli scopes out the room using her wing rig, and mentions that the walls are covered in illustrations from a particular fairy myth, where a boy who went from one end of Ireland to another, bottom to top, to take a message from one king to another in time to stop a war. Using the imagery of the story, they figure out which tiles are okay for them to step on until they reach the other side (Mulch has a close call, since he's out of practise from no longer being a burglar and all)

Chapter 5

Myles and his unfortunate companions reach the second gate, after Myles directs them down the left tunnel after they were prompted with two directions, (just as the soldier set to look after Myles declares he wants to kill him).

The second chamber is a little more complicated than the first, and relies upon a knowledge of the stars. There are holes spread about the entire room in the shape of constellations, and the levers inside the holes of specific constellations have to be pulled at the same time in order for the door to unlock. If not, metal teeth set into each and every one of the holes will take off said arm.

While Sister Jeronima is ordering her troops about, with a lot of loud Italian and hand gestures, Myles attempts to appeal to Gundred, having already known who she is and what the Hortenknut Seven are all about. She talks about how the underground used to be the kingdom of the dwarves. That Haven was their capital. But after the other fairy families went down, and when Frond took over, the dwarves were ostracised for fear they would some day take back control. Now, thanks to her, that fear will be fully realised.

The door is released successfully.

Myles, knowing Beckett is probably on his way, pretends to slip (an easy enough thing when you're already prone to falling over), grabbing and ripping the crests of both a Hortenknut an ACRONYM soldier so Beck knows who he's dealing with, leaving the pieces of material just outside the door as he's grabbed and dragged into the next tunnel.

~~~ Cut to Beckett~~~

Non of the Regrettables know which of the two tunnels they should go down, left or right. So Beckett, Whistle Blower, and Lazuli go down the right tunnel, with Juliet and Mulch going down the left, with short range communicators equipped in case they get into trouble.

Along the way, Beckett admits to Lazuli that he feels totally out of his depth with this adventure, since he's supposed to be the stupid one and Myles is the clever one. Just when Lazuli is about to tell him that's not true, Whistle Blower gets agitated. Poisonous, sentient vines above them are trying to attack the three. They run, with Whistle Blower directing them down a side tunnel he can sense through his heightened troll senses. They escape down the side passage, somewhere the vines cant reach because of a protection rune on the door.

Down this corridor there's a room. It's very ancient and has been abandoned for centuries. Beckett and Lazuli learn from a journal on the desk that this was Darach's room, the self appointed protector of this place.

His journal reveals that it wasn't humans who killed his wife and children, but his brother, King Frond. This was both to remove Darach's offspring as potential rivals to his own children when he died, as he wanted to preserve his own dynasty, but also because some of The People were beginning to listen to Darach about interacting with the humans. And Frond didn't want that, because the moment his people realised that not all humans were to be feared, they may start questioning why they needed to stay underground, or indeed why they needed Frond's protection in the first place. (Kind of null anyway since he's canonically the "last king of the fairies" but whatever)

The journal goes onto explain what Darach is protecting. Frond's crown. A crown imbued with strong Warlock magics to give the king sway over the hearts and minds of his people, essentially acting as an amplified Mesmer. Frond had already, by that time, enacted some of his rules with the crowns power, like how his people were not allowed to enter a human dwelling without permission, further limiting fairies contact with humanity.

Darach, after centuries of placating his brother, pretending he didn't know he was the one to kill his family, stole the crown away and placed it deep in the tunnels, so the fairies were no longer forced to obey Frond against their will. Concluding that, logically and morally, no one deserved that power in the first place, and nobody should want it.

And finally, the journal mentions Darach's final revenge over his brother. Falling in love with an Atlantean pixie woman who had been contracted to supply him with paper and squid ink for his various writings. And together, they had had a child. He would never reveal the child's existence, because he feared that if he did Frond and his descendants would hunt his family down again. He hoped, however, that some day his descendants would protect both The People and Humans, just as he had.

Chapter 6

Beckett, Lazuli, and Whistle Blower make it back to the Star chamber by painting the protecting rune from the door on a barrel lid and running back down the tunnel with the symbol held above them so the plants can't get them.

Juliet presents them with the material Myles left behind. They all conclude that ACRONYM is behind it, but non of them can figure out what the second crest is. Mulch does, however, get a strange look about his face and gets oddly serious.

Juliet is the one to realise the room is a star chart, since Butler used to take her and Artemis to go star gazing when they were kids. Mulch and Lazuli are able to figure out the story this room is based off between them, since one of the constellations is from a specific dwarven story called "The Stink Worm with many heads", talking about said constellation. (The constellation which we would recognise as Serpens).

They unlock the door and head down the tunnel. About half way down, they hear Myles arguing with someone (what else is new?).

Beckett and the others rush down the hall just as the door to the third tunnel opens. A fire fight ensues. Juliet gives them all quick instruction. Lazuli and her will draw ACRONYM's fire, being the most experienced fighters. Mulch will be sent up to the weird hamster wheel set above them which a couple of ACRONYM soldiers are currently walking around to open the gate. Beckett's job is to get to Myles. (Butler would be so proud. His little sister all grown up).

They split. Lazuli and Juliet take the fight to the soldiers, Lazuli attacking from the air, Juliet from the ground. Mulch gets up high and gets ready to take out the soldiers with a few bursts of dwarf gas. Beckett decided to be sneaky, and creep around the sides of the hall while the chaos is raging. He's just about to grab Myles, when Gundred looks up and spots Mulch.

Or should I say her brother.

Dun dun DU~N!

Instead of tears or hugs, Gundred throws a grenade at the wheel where Mulch is perched.

The explosion is so sudden Sister Jeronima, who is fighting against Juliet, manages to stab her in the side with her knife, before turning and running with her men into the next tunnel. Myles and Beckett try to reach for each other but they can't. Instead, Myles throws Darach's journal at Beck, with Gundred shooting the young man with a neutrino just as the doors close, knocking him out.

Chapter 7

Beckett wakes up some time later, and he is distraught. He was so close to getting his brother back and he couldn't do it. Lazuli and Juliet (who Lazuli healed with one of the experimental magic packs that No 1's been developing) try to console him, but Beckett's not listening. Out of anger, he grabs Mulch by the collar and demand to know about Gundred, and how she knows him.

Mulch reveals that he was born into the Hortenknut Seven, but left. He didn't want to live the life they wanted for him, being driven every day by revenge and honour. He wanted to live his life for himself, something his sister, Gundred, saw as a betrayal. So he left and used the thieving tools they had provided him with to begin his life of crime.

Satisfied, Beck apologises and sets him down.

All hope seems lost. The hamster wheel needed to open the gate is completely destroyed, and they don't even know how to make it work even if it was intact.

Beckett takes out the Journal, and skims through it, going more by the pictures than anything. He finds the story they need. A Centaur story called "The Sun King Padarock" where the fairy's hold a competition to see who should get the honour of becoming ruler of the Sun and pull it around the earth for the rest of time. They have a racing tournament, a swimming tournament, and an archery tournament to decide, declaring that the person with the most points over all is the winner. The Dwarves won the race, the pixies the swimming, and the elves the archery. Padarock the centaur, however, came in second place in each of these contests, and therefor had the most points out of everyone else, becoming the King of the Sun.

To the side of them there are a set of pullies, connected to the mechanism over head. Each of these pullies has the symbol of one of the fairy races. Beckett instructs Juliet, Mulch, and Lazuli to go over and pull on the corresponding symbols for the Dwarves, Pixies, and Elves (Whistle Blower has to go help Lazuli with her's, since she doesn't weight enough to pull it all the way down herself).

High above them, Beckett spots a big metal sun leaver. Spinning the wheel when it was intact would have caused the sun/leaver to move across the sky and open the door. So Beck climbs up and, once his friends start pulling their leavers, pushes the sun across the sky.

The doors start opening. Beckett orders the others to get through. Unfortunately, since the mechanism is so old, and has gone through a lot of strain recently, it starts literally falling apart and Beck narrowly misses being squished by a falling rock.

Lazuli flies back into the room and gets Beck to jump into her arms. He does, and they fly back through the door as it closes.

Chapter 8

They rush down the corridor, but stop at the entrance of the final chamber to plan their attack.

Myles is not having a good time. Both Sister Jeronima and Gundred are threatening to kill him for losing the book, saying he either figures out the final puzzle or they go find The Regrettables and kill them, and if he still can't figure it out, kill him as well. Myles is genuinely panicking, because there's seemingly nothing for him to figure out. No pictures, no codes, no mechanisms. The room is a dead end, seemingly to trap those looking for the crown and starve them to death as retribution. The room is filled with lower elements flowers that grow from the walls, but nothing else.

When Myles makes one too many snide comments, Jeronima raises her gun to kill him.

Beckett jumps out, saying he knows how the puzzle is solved. Everyone thinks that's ridiculous, since he's the stupid one, but he does... partly.

Everyone is taken to the sides, while Beckett sets to work. He recalls from Myles's lecture at the very beginning of the book that there was a specific species of flower that grew underground that came in two colours. Purple and yellow. The yellow one was used as invisible ink in the days of the fairy monarchy. Only able to become visible when sprinkled with the purple one's pollen.

He finds the purple flower in question, and douses the very last page of the book with the pollen. On the page is a rune designed for communication with the dead.

Before them rises the spirit of Darach, and intelligent but sad looking elfin man. He asks them why they have come, and both Sister Jeronima and Gundred jump in with their own agendas. Jeronima wants to expose the fairies to the humans and then enslave them, becoming their queen, while Gundred wants for the fairies to rise up and overtake both The Council, and the human world (there's "Truth" charm on the door, so they have to be honest).

Darach is very disappointed. All his life, he just wanted humans and fairies to live in peace, but they're as bad now as they were a thousand years ago.

Gundred demands to know what the final puzzle is, and the answer is Darach himself. If any of them want to attain the crown they have to go through him. They have to convince him that they are worth of such a dangerous item.

This enrages Jeronima. Shots are fired. Mulch tackles Gundred to the floor, taking a bullet meant for her.

This pushes Darach over the edge. His soul is suddenly thrust into total and utter despair, and when one of the soldiers decides its a good idea to try and attack the ghost, Darach viciously retaliates, attacking both the humans and fairies, flinging them about the room using the flowers that grow from the wall.

Chapter 9

Beckett and Myles both think their hardest about what to do. Everyone is fighting, there are no weapons that work against Darach, and no matter what they do they'll still be trapped in that dead end room.

Then Beckett remembers Darach's second journal.

He stands up and declares that he doesn't want the crown and that no one should.

Darach stops. The room goes quiet.

Beckett repeats himself. That no one should have the crown, and no one should want it. To do so would be to take away complete free will and agency from the fairy people, and that they deserved that much. After a bit of a heart to heart, Darach pulls back the plants to reveal the crown tangled inside. He's about to hand it over to Beckett, when the roof to the room explodes.

Sister Jeronima grabs at the crown and is taken up via helicopter. Her people had been tracking her position through the tunnels, and had found that this room was one of the closest to the surface, so it wasn't difficult to blow it up.

Myles and Beckett take hold of the rope and go after her. They scale to the top (well, Beckett scales to the top. Myles gets on his back and is taken to the top). Jeronima is losing what's left of her mind, declaring that she is the queen and that nothing will get in her way.

You've guessed it people. Opal Koboi has been controlling Sister Jeronima this whole time!

During ACRONYM's first expedition down into the tunnels, most of her squad had died, and Jeronima had almost followed. But the ghost of Opal Koboi had possessed her, and concocted this scheme to get the crown, something Opal wasn't able to do in her ghostly form. The only problem was Opal was down a few IQ points after having been a ghost for so long, so she needed someone else to solve the puzzles.

The helicopter crashes.

Chapter 10

Everyone gets out of the helicopter relatively unscathed, apart from Beckett breaking an arm protecting Myles, who has a mild concussion.

Opal/Jeronima is very close to getting the crown for herself. She reaches down, and is about to place the crown on her head when Beckett stands up and demands to know how it feels to get bested by the dumb one, twice.

Opal/Jeronima is confused, until she remembers who Beckett is and that his body, controlled by a berserker, killed her the first time.

Beckett laughs in her face, saying people could forgive her for being bested by Artemis or Myles. They're bonified geniuses. Him? Well he's just Beckett. He's the one who talks to animals, and loses things, and forgets to pay attention most of the time. And yet he was smart enough to get through all the puzzles, the puzzles Opal herself was too stupid to understand and had to kidnap someone to do it for her. He was smart enough to earn the right to wear that crown honestly, simply by going the wrong direction when presented with two tunnels, and empathising with a man who had lost everything in life, and yet still wanted to see the best in humanity because that's who he is. The best of humanity.

While he talks, Beckett gets closer and closer to Opal/Jeronima, as she gets more and more angry until he is standing right in front of her and smiles because there's still one thing she's forgotten to do. Learn. From. Her. Past.

He punches Opal/Jeronima in her stomach and snatches the crown away, throwing it to Lazuli who is flying overhead. Opal/Jeronima is so startled she turns and runs away, only to go tumbling down into the sea (no, she is not recovered later. This ain't over people).

Beckett and Lazuli help Myles off the ground, and they head into the manor, in search of the medical supplies they know are still kept inside, to be greeted by a teary eyed Darach who is glad to see his descendants (aka Lazuli) have fulfilled his wish to protect both The People and humanity. His soul is released and he moves on to the other side.

Chapter 11

Mulch survives his bullet wound, and reconciles with his sister, who declares the Horteknut mission over, and that they should find better more productive ways of challenging the Council.

Juliet locks all the ACRONYM soldiers in the basement and makes sure everyone has tea like the queen she is.

The Fowl parents head over to the house and are desperate to make sure their children are okay. They're all healed up, and have called up Artemis on Mars to talk out their experiences. They are, however, not happy with their parents thanks to the whole "manipulation for your own good" (yes Artemis Jr pulls the "I am very disappointed with the both of you" on his parents. It's great). The siblings have a written list of demands going forward, including a quota for how many days out of the year the Fowl parents must stay home with their children, at least, and a demand that they both go to therapy (something both Fowl parents have been avoiding). The parents agree.

The story ends with Myles and Beckett talking things out on the balcony, and with Myles telling his brother that he's never thought of him as the dumb one, and that he is very proud to call him his brother.

It's cute. The end (and God it's 4:30 AM. I have been writing for hours!)

(hey @tarchey if you like this, what do you think about my latest creation?)

[walkthroughtheword]

Reading for August 8th 

Psalm 63

This short Psalm of David has a very big word.  Huge, really.  So small to read but enormous to get your heart and mind around. This diminutive-yet-enormous word is found in verse 3 . . .

“Because your LOVE is better than life.”  

Love. 

Translated here as “love” but as with many words in the ancient Hebrew and Greek languages, English prose falls far short of the breadth and depth of what was meant. The Hebrew word is “chesed.” Now don’t read this as a “ch” as in “ch”urch but rather imagine you are saying the “ch” like an “h” only you have a big wad of spit stuck way back in your throat, and while you’re at it, accent the first syllable.  That’s it.  Now you’ve got it. 

Myles Coverdale, a 16th-century English bible translator for Henry VIII, struggled with this word, so much so that he invented the word “loving-kindness” to more fully describe what it means. Even still, Myles’ creative effort falls far short. An accurate translation of chesed defies a simple word or concocted compound word. It’s just too big.

Chesed occurs 246 times throughout the Old Testament and 128 times in the Psalms.  Chesed has been translated loving-kindness, kindness, mercy, steadfast love, covenant loyalty, grace, goodness, favor, unfailing love, faithful love, sure blessing, and many others. Which is correct?  I believe all of them describe a sliver–they are not wrong, just incomplete. And yet even these translators’ collective efforts are still incomplete. We’re not big enough to grasp it.

While chesed is sometimes used in the Bible to describe human relationships and interactions (e.g. Boaz’s relationship towards Ruth), the most profound use of the word in the Hebrew Bible lies in the application of the word as a descriptor of God’s interaction towards His people.  Chesed is, at its core, a covenantal construct that encompasses the full breath, depth, force and intensity of God’s power, love, provision, and mercy that He brings to bear on an woefully undeserving People. And even this description is lacking. His chesed for us is just that big and to the degree His chesed is enormous, we are, to an equal degree, undeserving.  The chasm is immense and yet God’s chesed still bridges the gap. 

Thank you God for your chesed for me. I certainly don’t deserve it.

“[But l show] love (chesed) to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Exodus 20:6

“Because your lovingkindness (chesed) is better than life.” Psalm 63:3

“Surely goodness and mercy (chesed) shall follow me all the days of my life.” Psalm 23:6

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love (chesed) endures forever!” 1 Chronicles 16:34

“The steadfast love (chesed) of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are  every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23