#Aka just before Nothing Human happens on Voyager

[walkingstackofbooks]

I've just realised I've never posted about Tom Paris/Julian Bashir because I was avoiding posting about Voyager when I was watching it...

But yea - Tom/Julian??? They'd burn fast and hard but I think they'd have an absolutely excellent time of it while it lasted

Honestly it's mostly just vibes but also:

They'd both be as into holo adventures as the other (though admittedly they both have a bit of a problem not being the main character)

Common interest in 20th century media

Tom definitely wouldn't give a shit about Julian's augmentations, and quite honestly once he's done his research, I think he'd be pretty righteously angry about it all.

Both pretty happy to be left alone to their hyperfixation for a long time (honestly I can see Julian taking research to the cargo bay while Tom tinkers and both just doing their thing in silence)

Neither expecting anything more than a short fling (and are surprised when it lasts that little bit longer) (okay this isn't a good reason but tell me I'm wrong)

Bad at communication (it's fine if neither of them want to talk about their feelings right?)

No actually tbf Tom's kind of pushy about getting others to open up and I think Julian would genuinely appreciate it overall, even if sometimes not in the moment

Not sure how it would work vice versa but Julian's more amused by defensive secrecy than anything imo

I hate to say it, but lbr... doctor/nurse roleplay. (Hopefully not in the actual infirmary but if for some reason they were both on a long, dull shift, I'm not sure I'd count on their combined willpower to keep them out of mischief...)

(Of course because it's me the augment reveal comes out because Julian's volunteered himself to play Chaotica in the holosuite because it was quite fun the last time... The plot just happens to be about him trying to take over the world with genetically engineered superhumans, and yea, that hits just a LITTLE bit too close to home 😅😅😅)

[theangelwithawand]

Like Giants

Humans, Gods, and the Timelord caught between them:

AKA the beautifully optimistic view of humanity by a Time Lord

Nine says he would make a very bad God. Ten says a Time Lord with too much power would become vengeful.

They’re both right.

Time Lords are alluded to as very uncaring, very aloof people. By the Time War, they are apparently just as bad as the Daleks. The Doctor runs from them for a reason.

Because when they are Gods they are terrifying. But the Doctor’s terror always stems from too much emotion rather than too little. The end of Dalek is Nine’s darkest moment. He holds a gun on Rose while she is showing mercy because of the traumatic loss of Gallifrey.

Loss makes Ten in particular…frightening. After losing Rose he nearly commits genocide again in the Runaway Bride.

The moment of Godlike arrogance in “Christmas Invasion” where he changes the known future of Harriet Jones’ tenure has devastating consequences, allowing the Master to come to power. It’s a great reminder of what happens when the Doctor is given too much power.

The Time Lord Victorious is terrifying because it is the Doctor losing everything over and over after rebuilding himself twice.

For the first time, the Doctor feels like he is owed something.

But what is also terrifying is just how human the selfishness is.

—————

Of course there are moments when they are presented as Godlike that are purely heroic.

Ten’s in particular stand out against his almost unnerving humanity.

I love his “I’m the Doctor” speech in Voyage of the Damned. It’s clearly him doing the equivalent of psyching himself up before a game, because nothing he says is going to mean anything to the people he’s protecting. It’s a short, simple moment holding so much weight.

Nine has a wonderful way of pointing out the best of humanity to help Rose discover space to find empowerment, just as Ten does for Donna. Nine does it for the couple in Father’s Day. There’s a wistful, non-malicious envy in his reaction to the magically mundane story of how the couple in the church met.

Ten takes this wistfulness and runs with it. There’s something so beautiful and so deeply tragic that he is the Doctor who chooses shoes meant specifically for running.

There’s this sense with Ten that he not only loves humanity, but desires to be human. From embracing certain forms of domesticity, to the devastating way he processes grief.

Obviously, he knows when he is weird, he also just doesn’t care about social niceties. However, he might be a genius, but he doesn’t understand every intricate detail of human experience.

Although it’s usually called out for comedy, it’s best utilized for drama.

Nine has that beautiful “It was scared!” moment.

Sometimes it’s given less focus, and simply slipped into dialogue.

Nine calls humans stupid apes in high stress situations, and apparently he insults species when he’s upset. Even Ten, who is known to love humanity, also pretty regularly disparages them. In his first appearance he calls us monsters. He makes one-off comments disparaging humans in Rise of the Cyberman, Army of Ghosts, 42, Human Nature. and the Poison Sky.

Planet of the Ood is one of the rarer times that he goes out of his way to highlight human cruelty to Donna.

————

Series 3 has lot of interesting moments.

In “Smith and Jones” he has a long scene which he (intentionally) pretends to be human. He creates this domestic fantasy where he’s got a wife and a home where he brings people round for dinner. Even more interesting is that this is his suggestion to “help” the villain appear more human.

In Human Nature we see the Doctor literally become a human. He falls in love and allows himself to be a product of the times. His moments of heroism are supposed to be the Doctor leaking through, but are passed over off as “ordinary humans being capable of extraordinary things”. He also allows himself to be swept up by the environment as opposed to standing against it as the Doctor would. John Smith’s incredibly horrible treatment of Martha being the prime example.*

His stoic and remorseless punishment of the Family contrasts with his mostly sweet human persona. He tries to convince Joan that he’s capable of the same love and compassion but she disagrees. I agree with her, I think John Smith and The Doctor both want to be in love, John just didn’t have all the emotional inhibitions that the Doctor does.

She also points out the Doctor’s failure to account for possible casualties just so he doesn’t have to have more death on his conscious. Once again, I agree, this was a massive oversight on his part.

————

Midnight. This episode is genius for so many reasons. It is the Doctor’s most dire misunderstanding of humanity, as well as the Doctor’s most personal look at being on the receiving end of humanity’s worse impulses. He begins socializing like a normal, if enthusiastic person. But once the mystery begins…it is the best, most subtle example of the Doctor’s pathological need to understand things and his tendency to assume authority over others. Only this time he goes too far. His leadership turns to hubris. So many times, he goads people into risking their life to sate his curiosity. He knows humans are curious and takes advantage.

He keeps talking to the entity but declares no one else should. Part of it is that human bit, curious and wanting to help a possessed Skye who he bonded with earlier by talking about missing Rose. The rules keep changing though, and even he is scared. They call him out for his hubris, while growing increasingly paranoid, especially when discovering he’s not human. He gets frustrated at the descent into the worst of humanity and without thinking, he snaps “because I’m clever!”

He knows what he’s done so impulsively: thrown away the last bit of goodwill he had. He can’t talk his way out anymore.

And this is the most alone and most afraid the Doctor has ever been. It’s the most horrific near-death encounter for him: his inability to be enough like the humans he loves brings the absolute worst out of them.

—————

The Doctor says that it something human to believe two contradictory things at once.

The Doctor, ironically enough, believes two contradictory things about humans.

He believes, at least when disappointed in them or in his lowest points, that humans are monsters. (It’s the reason Fourteen gives that randomly cynical speech in The Giggle. It isn’t all humanity he believes this of. He’s talking to himself because he’s mid breakdown. He’s not 10, he’s softer and more splintered).

But he doesn’t believe that. Not really.

“I was made homeless…and there was the Earth.” - Voyage of the Damned

There’s a reason that the Doctor who has all of time and space always returns to Earth.

In the End of Time, Ten and Wilf have a scene where they sit and talk about their relationship and war and Time Lords.

And the Doctor tells Wilf he’d be proud to be his son.

It’s the Doctor’s most intensely vulnerable moment. He is so terrified that he agrees to carry a gun. (He also does this to make Wilf feel better. This is the last era that I feel understands how The Doctor feels about guns. It makes sense to the character and the arc he’s on at this point and this point only. He doesn’t even use it and ultimately won’t do anything against the enemies he’s facing).

This scene strips down the Doctor like no other scene. And it’s in this scene that the Doctor tells us the only thing you need to know in the end about how he sees humans. How for all he says otherwise, humans are the beings he sees as aspirational, the ones he, a Time Lord, looks up to.

Wilf says, “We must look like insects to you.”

Ten smiles tearful but genuine. He shakes his head slightly. And he says:

“I think you’re like giants.”

[clownsgobeepbeep]

Updated Clown Details

Cosmos still lives with his parents 'cause why not? He doesn't feel the need to move out and his parents are totally cool with it

Jelly moved out some time before Ula came into her life and has her own apartment (it has a spare room which was originally her guest Maggie's room but will be turned into Ula's)

Pepper also happened to move out because he has Jeff and Bubbles(he didn't want to burden his parents)

The story here is that Pepper actually had a partner who broke up with him because they deemed him too immature. However, years later and to his surprise the twins were dumped onto him because the ex couldn't handle them

Cosmos is harboring some slight feelings towards his best friend Cuckoo but it's nothing serious and he tends to push them away

The D'Vitt trio still works at the toy shop(I need a name for it). Cosmos is the current manager while Jelly is a supervisor being trained for more(aka inheriting the actual family business)

Jelly's very much sought out by suitors but none of them can really be considered potential suitors. They're attracted but are also interested in her future inheritance.

Jelly is still too heartbroken about her relationship with James which will have happened more "recently"

James never cheated on Jelly, it was simply a rumour that she just didn't want to believe. The truth is that while he was on his voyage, Missy found the right moment and made her daughte Evie end his life (and probably did so to the rest of the crew he traveled with to leave no witnesses to say anything to Jelly). Evie did it instead of Missy to strengthen the rumour that James ran away with another woman

Jelly not wanting to believe the rumour stayed many nights and days waiting for James. There came a point where she unfortunately just gave up and tried to forget about him, thinking that he may have forgotten about her and the rumours probably were true.

Cuckoo will still own their small antique shop

Ace works under Cuckoo in the shop and are even roommates because Cuckoo has continously insisted Ace have a place to live in

Ace does have feelings for Jelly but it's nothing creepy nor obssessive. He also does understand that she "recently" had her heart broken and she's not in the space for anything romantic

Ferry will be introduced much sooner. She is a deadlight who will have just recently moved into town after certain devastating events(her family's death which perhaps may not have been at her own hands but she still had some sort of influence)

Ferry is looking for a job and quite conveniently the D'Vitt toy shop is hiring

Pepper and Ferry will become friends much sooner because of their love for baking and sweet things(this is how he slowly develops the idea of his future bakery+flower shop which Ferry is co-owner of)

Ula is still her silent tiny self that is very much a momma's girl. She actually spends most of her time with Jelly + uncles at the D'Vitt toy shop. She just hangs out in the backroom and does her own things

This is how her love for Alice in Wonderland is developed, especially as Jelly uses her as inspiration for new products

I imagine some time later is when Atlas comes into the picture and meets everybody

One year later on Ula's birthday is when Cuckoo takes her through an alternate dimension and she receives an egg for her future companion Biollante, her domesticated Utahraptor

The D'Vitt toy shop and Cuckoo's antique shop have some customers that frequent the places a lot, easily recognizable by Cuckoo and the D'Vitt Trio. Two of these customers are Conllium and Nalia in human disguise. They are keeping a close eye on both their descendants and Elder associate Cuckoo(formerly Logium)

More to be added prolly...

[serinmatheson1]

Thank you for tagging me in the game @elephant-in-the-pride-parade This looks like fun.

Game: If the word provided is in your wip document, answer with the sentence (or more) containing the word.

The word I was given was "dream"

I have a bunch of Sandman WIPS so this came up a lot

Untitled Sandman fic where Lucienne dies

Dream sat before the table, staring at the figure that lay unmoving upon it.  There was the sound of heavy wings and his sister moved to sit across from him.  “Well?” he asked softly.

“I searched every inch of the sunless lands,” Death told him.  “I had my staff go over it with a fine toothed comb.”

“But…”

“There was nothing,” she sighed.

“Lucienne was human before she was my raven.  Whatever is left after the body decays must be somewhere.”

Untitled Sandman Fic where Lucienne has been kidnapped

“Lucienne, I call you to the throne room,” Dream intoned.  “I want to see you now.”  They waited with bated breath but no librarian appeared.  “Lucienne, I insist you come here now,” Dream called out in a sterner voice.  Still nothing happened.  Dream began to gather his power.  The stained glass shifted until it was a large picture of Lucienne with white surrounding her.  Dream’s eyes glowed starlight as black warped around him and every one of his creations sucked in a breath. “Lucienne,” he called in a voice that rumbled through out the Dreaming.  “Your Master, Dream of the Endless, commands you appear before him.”

A New Form (aka Lucienne gets her human body)

“Oh you’re just stalling for time,” she retorted.  Dream laughed his strange laugh.  Lucienne loved his laugh.  She loved his smile.  And the warmth that lit up the Dreaming when her Lord was happy.  She fluttered around his head, eager to hear more about her new body.  “Did you give it the pointed ears I asked for?  And remember, no hair.  I don’t want this rat’s nest to deal with.”  She tugged at a few strands of hair with her beak.

Dream held up his hand and Lucienne landed on his fist.  “I have heard all of your requests and I promise I will do my best to incorporate all of them.  But it will take time for it to be perfect.  And you want it to be perfect, don’t you?”

“I want it to be done,” she replied.  The let her body settle.  “Yes, my lord, I want it to be perfect.  I’m just excited.”

Untitled Avengers fic that I will probably never publish

A skeletal looking Tony Stark was rolled onto the porch.  He caught Stephen looking at him.  “What’s the problem, you never seen a human skeleton before?”

Wanda smirked at him.  “He’s wondering if you’re even real, bitch”

“That’s my line you whore,” Tony remarked.  “And I’m as real as anything else here.”

“Doesn’t tell him much,” Wanda snorted as she puffed on her cigarette.  “He thinks this is all a dream.”

“So did we all when we first got here,” Tony sighed.

“If only that was still true,”

And lastly untitled Voyager fic (titles are hard, okay?)

"You look like you didn't get much sleep," Chakotay noted.

"It woudl have been worse if I didn't have Shahrzad keeping the worst of the dreams at bay," Kathryn replied. "But that's what familiars do. Take care of you whe you need it."

"I thought they were for spells.'

"ONly for the superstitious."

I"m tagging @3988akasha, @jadedbirch @bea2me and @dragormir

Your word is Warm

[iknownothingihearnothing]

Game of Thrones 8.1 “Winterfell”

OMG.

ZOMGGGGGGGG.

Them dang ol’ dang ol’ Thrones are BACK!

It’s been twenty looooooooooooong months of GoTlessess. Winter came. And left. And damn came again. And now winter has come for our heroes in the glory of springtime. 

Can’t you just hear the little birdies chirping? The bees buzzing? The white walkers moaning as they shamble beyond the wrecked Wall in their endless quest for dominance and human flesh? 

You’d be forgiven if you don’t entirely remember what happened last season. Jon bent the knee to Dany after he and some of his Merry Men--the Amazing Tormund Giantsbane included--ventured Beyond the Wall to capture a wight in order to prove to Cersei that, yes, the undead were indeed real and not a conspiracy cooked up by Ser Alyx of House Jones in order to get her to let her guard down just enough for Dany and Co. to steal her crown and she sailed in on Drogon like a badass and rescued them. No damsel in distress here. So Jon lost his King in the North status but he gained a lady friend, and by “friend”, I mean--

After seeing the wight for herself, Cersei promised to send the Lannister army up North to fight for the living. But, you know...

Gratefully, our handsome Kingslayer, however, has some scruples. Finally having had enough with Cersei’s crazy bullshit, he tells her he swore to fight for the living and that is what he is going to do, damnit, and takes himself North-way, leaving his sisterlover and their maybe bun in the oven behind in the capital. 

The biggest reveal, of course, was the confirmation of the long running theory of R+L=J. AKA, Rhaegar Targaryen went off and married Lyanna Stark in secret, she got preggies with Jon/Aegon and, dying in the Tower of Joy, Lyanna made a young Ned Stark promise he’d always take care of her son. So he lied to everyone, that he was his bastard kid to protect him from the “all Targaryens must DIE” Baratheon rule (that non-Aryan head of hair helped, I’m sure) and raised him in Winterfell as a Stark but not a Stark. 

Now Jon Snow, who started the series knowing nothing, will soon know all. 

Including that he’s technically been fucking his aunt but what’s a little incest between friends on Game of Thrones? 

Oh and also Viserion was taken out and the Night King revived him to knock down the wall. We have an undead dragon, people!

Let’s get into it, shall we?

We gots a new opening, which is cool. The now defunct Wall looks like it is entirely made of ice cube trays.

We start in on a little boy who is trying to see all the hubbub but can’t glimpse over the adults, harking back to the pilot when the Baratheon-Lannisters visited the North to offer their thanks for helping overthrow the Mad King and to hook up Sansa and the Joff. Said “hubbub” being Dany, Jon, and their army entering the North. Arya’s also there, wearing a far less fabulous outfit than Dany is, frowning at the Hound’s appearance but relieved at Gendry’s. 

He has traded a small boat for a horse.

If you were taking bets on how soon Tyrion would make a junk joke, I hope you had down “within the first few minutes”:

Varys rightfully calls him out on his hypocrisy; he hates imp jokes but loves eunuch jokes. How can he be cool with that? 

Obvs, because Tyrion has balls and Varys doesn’t, duh.

#Woke, Tyrion is not.

 As the procession moves throughout the town, people are glarin’ and starin’ and Dany is obviously uncomfortable, poor lamb. Jon tells her that Northerners don’t “accept outsiders easily”. So, to use an analogy, Jon is the one guy from his small town in Pigeon Butt, Arkansas, who is welcoming to everyone when the rest of the residents are all “You ain’t from ‘round here, are ya?” *changes magazine in rifle*

I’d be annoyed if I were Dany. I mean, lugging my ass all the way up to the damn frigid North, freezing my tits off, with a fucking army and two dragons, all to save everyone’s asses, and they’re copping a ‘tude? Pfft. Y’all can kiss my Southern butt.

One of the dragons roars and Dany smiles because at least that is familiar to her, but of course the townspeople scatter while Arya stands there grinning in delight. Dragons! Cool!

The Lady of Winterfell, however...

The look to the camera she gives is like “Oh ffs.”

Jon rides into the Winterfell courtyard and when he sees Bran for the first time since he was a boy he, delighted, hops down from his horse to hug and kiss him. “Look at you! You’re a man!” And when the robot that used to be Bran replies “Almost” like the automaton he is, Jon’s face gets, well...

And, I must add, how WEIRD it is to me that, amid all these Qyburns and Sansas and Davoses, BRANDON is a popular name in Westeros/Ye Old Timey serfdom alterna-England. To me, Brandon is THIS guy:

Brandon is Jason Priestley and a delightfully 90s name, not to mention the moniker of way too many boys I went to school with. I keep expecting to see Nat round one of the corners of Winterfell with a megaburger. 

Jon hugs Sansa and asks after Arya, who is “lurking somewhere”, and hesitantly introduces his girlfriend to his sister. It’s the nightmare Meet the Parents except the parents are dead, everyone’s about to die, and it’s fucking cold as balls. 

Dany, the poor lass, tries to ingratiate herself by complimenting Winterfell’s “beauty” (eh?) as well as Sansa’s (yes, Sophie Turner is a fox and Joe Jonas would agree) but Sansa’s having none of it:

BranBot breaks in on the Mean Girling, telling Dany that the Night King has Viserion and the Wall has been de-Walled. At the Great Hall, Young Umber says that they need more men and horses “if it pleases my Lady. And my Lord....and my Queen. Sorry.” 

The Queen thing is, uh, gonna take some getting used to. 

Sansa tells Young Umber to collect his people and Jon is called “Your Grace” after giving an order and little Lyanna Mormont, that badass, rises slowly like a boss.

She continues like “Yo, we crowned you King in the North, you gave it up, wtf are you now? Just a regular old lord, I guess?”

And Jon busts out this truth--although he was honored to be crowned, the choice was either keep his title or save the North. He chose the North. I gotta side with Jon on this one, sorry, Lyanna. I love you, but y’all Northerners are being stubborn dumbasses. Crowns and titles reallllllllly don’t mean much in the wake of DYING HORRIBLY BY LEGIONS OF UNDEAD. 

Tyrion tries to calm the storm between the Northerners and the visitors, telling them that Jon risked his life to prove he wights were a threat; the Lannister army was soon going to join them in fighting for the Not Dead cause. There are grumbles amongst the peanut gallery and Tyrion concedes that they “have not been friends in the past”--

--but they all had to work together now. Sansa, still holding onto stubborn Northern pride, wonders aloud how the hell how they are gonna feed Dothraki, Unsullied, and two dragons? “What do dragons eat anyway?”

Dany: “Whatever they want.”

Booya!

Obviously, I would bend the knee to Daenerys. I likely fall over though. Hope she doesn’t mind.

Tyrion goes to speak to Sansa, whom he has not seen since season four, Joffrey’s non-wedding to Margaery, to be precise. You remember that.

Yes, Sansa, it indeed had its moments. Unfortunately, with Joffrey gone, we got Ramsay in his place so....

Sansa apologizes belatedly for bolting right after the Joff’s murder, which, admittedly, was a wee bit hard for Tyrion to explain, her being his wife and all. He kinda had to go to trial. Hire Oberyn to fight the Mountain for him. Again, we all know how that turned out.

Squishy squishy!

Sansa also can’t believe Tyrion truly is convinced the Lannister army is on its way to the North based on Cersei’s word alone. “I used to think you were the cleverest man alive,” she lays down before walking away.

Sansa has turned into Shade-sa. 

Now it’s time for a Jon and Arya reunion! Yay!

Jon: How’d you sneak up on me?

Arya: How’d you survive a knife through the heart?

Jon: I didn’t.

So Jon and Arya show each other their swords and Jon asks her if she has ever used hers and we the audience watching are like--

And then they talk about Daenerys. Jon is a wee bit pissed that Sansa is unappreciative of him risking his and his Merry Men’s asses to save the whole frigging kingdom, understandably so, and, fucking weak, Arya defends “her family”. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE HELLO DON’T YOU SEE THE BIGGER PICTURE?! NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR PETTY “I DON’T LIKE MY BROTHER’S GF, SHE’S NOT FROM HERE, SHE CAN’T UNDERSTAND US!” NONSENSE! THE DEAD ARE COMING, DAMNIT!

In K.L., Creepy Qyburn rushes to tell Crazy Cersei that the wights have broken through the Wall. Her response?

If there is one thing on this mixed up continent we can count on it’s that Cersei will do the most fucked up shit to keep that crown on her blonde head. Including letting ice zombies lose on at least one of her kingdoms.

Just off the coast of the capital, Yara is still being held prisoner of her Uncle Euron, AKA Guyliner Greyjoy. What is it with pirates and guyliner and leather pants? Euron, Captain Hook, Jack Sparrow...While poor Yara, the rightful Queen of the Iron Islands, is tied up, Euron introduces Crazy Cersei to the captain of the Golden Company, who promises all these men and horses and weapons and things. ‘Cept no elephants, much to Cersei’s dismay. They’re not good for long sea voyages. 

Euron wants to talk “in private”. 

Which in Westerosi-speak is:

Cersei tries to put him off; she told him after the war. “Wars can last years,” Euron counters. He’s given her weapons, the Iron Fleet, the Golden Company (whose captain is named Harry Strickland, that is so out of leftfield in a world of Eddards and Tywins), what else does he need to prove that he’s totally Team Cersei?

Well, Cersei doesn’t wanna lose the only ally she has left in this war she still sees herself fighting so...

Euron:

Elsewhere in the capital, Bronn is trying to get his offtime on with three ladies who cannot stop talking about how frigging cool and scary the dragons they saw attacking K.L. were and Bronn is obviously only an afterthought. A watercooler, if you will. When Creepy Qyburn interrupts and lets Bronn know that Cersei is looking for him.

The gist is Qyburn has been sent to hire Bronn on Cersei’s behalf to execute Tyrion and Jaime in case they don’t survive their “Northern adventures”. And she wants him to use a crossbow to do it because she has a keen sense of poetic irony. 

Bronn:

Bronn might be my favorite.

In Cersei’s chambers, Euron is getting dressed (because he just got Queened, you see; this show can never be accused of being subtle) and immediately asks her how he “compares to the fat king”. Cersei tells Euron that Robert had a different ladyfriend every night but still had no idea how to please a woman. Sad for Robert.

 Then he asks about “the Kingslayer” and Cersei wonders if he wants to lose his head. But he’s arrogant and she likes that (and he apparently doesn’t mind that she had a torrid affair with her twin brother; they’re either perfectly matched or perfectly psychotic). Just before Euron leaves, he says:

 Prooooooooobably not aware that Cersei’s belly just may be currently occupied at the moment.

Cersei smiles holding aloft her ever present goblet of wine as Euron leaves. IDK if she is simply humoring an ally or if she actually finds Euron grossly charming. I mean, he’s hot and all but he’s also a pig but hey I’m sane so what do I know.

On Euron’s ship, Theon and his buddies launch an attack against the assholes who have captured Yara. Theon unties her and she headbutts him for abandoning her like a sister would (”You left me, your Queen, to our bastard of an uncle! You dipshit!”), then extends a hand to help him off the floor and they say no more about it. 

Yara suggests they go back to the Iron Islands; they’ll all need a place to go if Dany and Co. fail in the North, a place where the dead can’t follow. But Theon obviously wants to go to Winterfell and fight for the Starks, to make up for betraying them and being an absolute fucklord, so Yara commands it. “What is dead may never die, but kill the bastards anyway.”

In the North, Dany is worried about Drogon’s and Rhaegal’s lack of appetites. They “only” ate eighteen goats and eleven sheep. IDK, that sounds like a lot to me but again, what do I know? I’ve never owned a dragon. I should ask the Munsters. 

Dany and Jon go visit the dragons, who are restless cus they don’t be likin’ the North. And why would they? They’ve been all over and in much warmer climes and now they’re stuck in some frozen over craphole where no one washes their hair and wears the same clothes for two weeks straight. 

Dany wants to fly them to give them some exercise and urges Jon to get on top of Rhaegal while she flies her trusty Drogon. Jon is, obvs, hesitant. He’s never ridden a dragon, he doesn’t know how. Well, no one does until they’ve ridden a dragon! So, Jon climbs on top of Rhaegal, braces himself, and off they go.

And it’s hilarious.

And Dany’s totally into it. Jon’s holding onto Rhaegal, screaming like a girl and Dany’s like “Oh YEAUH I’m all about this”. When they touch down at a really pretty spot in front of a waterfall to get bizzay, she’s looking like she’s falling deeper in love with him and the dragons are looking like, well, like they are watching their mom get bizzay. 

Kinky. You don’t see Dragon Mom-Dragon Cuckold-Ex King of the North videos on PornHub. That’s a niche they should tap into.

This scene was totally unnecessary for the plot and probably cost a lot of money to render and was hysterical. Who knew dragons had kinks? I mean, I guess they are entering their hormone-fueled adolescence and missing internet and Playboy outlets so...this is the next best thing?

Sorry about that, boys. 

Arya and the Hound run into each other for the first time since season three, where she left him to die but first robbed him. “You’re a cold little bitch, aren’t you? Guess that’s why you’re still alive.” 

She also runs into Gendry and asks him to make her a weapon, to which he hesitantly complies.

Inside Winterfell, Sansa receives a letter from House Glover letting them know that they wish the North luck but House Glover will remain in the woods. It’s a classic piss off. Even though House Glover promised to always stand by House Stark. No, Sansa denies. He’d stand behind the King in the North. They’re gearing up for another argument. Jon counters that they needed allies. He brought home armies and dragons! 

UGH!

Sansa, I love you, but Lort Almighty!

Yeah ok, the Mad King was, well, mad, but A) Dany is not her father and B) ICE ZOMBIES WITH AN ICE DRAGON ARE COMING! SOON! THEY ARE ON THEIR WAY RIGHT NOW! ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE BEING HARD-HEADED IDIOTS!

Dany and Jorah go to visit Sam to thank him for curing Jorah of his Greyscale. Dany asks Sam if there is anything she can do for him to repay him. Sam asks for a pardon for taking some books from the Citadel and a sword from House Tarly; it’s been in his family for generations. And that is when things get--

Daenerys explains that she offered to let Randyll Tarly keep his lands and titles if he bent the knee, but he refused, and we all know what happened to him. 

At the info that his daddy is toast, Sam seems to take in stride because Randyll was a dick but when Dany adds that Dickon stood by his father and was also roasted Sam excuses himself.

How good was John Bradley in this scene? He conveyed so much emotion in a single facial expression, just a shift of the eyes, a downturn of the lips. You could totally tell he was barely holding it together.

Sam goes outside and spots BranBot, who urges him to tell Jon the truth with his emotionless visage. After all, he’s not his brother.

He finds Jon in the crypt and they hug it out until Jon notices the look on Sam’s face. He thinks something’s wrong with Gilly or Little Sam until Sam confesses that Dany had Randyll and Dickon executed. Sam asks him if he would have done this if he’d been in her place. Jon argues that he’d executed men who had disobeyed him in the past, but he’d also pardoned men who refused to kneel. Jon parries he wasn’t a king like Dany is a queen. 

Sam claims he is. And he doesn’t mean King of the North.

He and Bran worked it out. Sam had a High Septon’s diary. Bran had...BranVision. Jon’s father was, of course, Rhaegar Targaryen and his mother was Lyanna Stark. 

He’s Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of his Name, Protector of the Realm, yada, yada, yada.

Jon’s like “You better not be bullshitting me, man!” And Sam’s all “Would Dany bend the knee and give up her crown to save her people like you did, bro?”

Jon:

On the grounds of Winterfell, the hunting party, consisting of Tormund Giantsbane, Dolorous Edd, and five times resurrected Beric Dondarrion (be careful, Beric, Melisandre isn’t around to resurrect you again), is, uh, hunting when half the party jumps out screaming “Stay back! He’s got blue eyes!”

Brienne needs to get on that. They’d make adorable, and huge, blue-eyed babies.

Eventually, they find poor Young Umber, the first casualty of this season, nailed to a door with his innards and body parts creating a spiral pattern around him. He awakens zombified and the party lights him on fire, causing the whole spiral of gore to become alight in flames.

Ugh.

Everyone has a fucking sigil on this show. Even he dead guys.

The episode ends with Jaime finally riding into the North, climbing down off his noble steed to fulfill his promise to fight for the living, and...

Your past sins have caught up with you, Jaime. 

[ignisgalaxia]

My thoughts about Seven being in the Picard trailer

I was gonna wait until tomorrow since my thoughts are all over the place, but I feel it’s important for me to get the raw impressions out now.

So, first things first, I FUKIN CALLED IT!!!!! I TOLD YOU WE WERE GETTING VOYAGER CAMEOS!!! This opens up so many possibilities!

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s do some analysis:

Damn this bish got some sass! Not that Seven didn’t have sass before, but she’s flaunting it here. And she only said two lines! Now that’s a first impression.

A big thing I took away from this 5 second clip was the fact that she looked a lot more human. Her hair was loose and she looked much more relaxed. It has been twenty years, so it’s reasonable to assume that she’s finally accepted being human. That does beg the question whether she still goes by Seven of Nine, or if she’s readopted her human name, Annika Hansen. I guess we’ll find out.

And now for the shipper tangent. If you don’t want to read this next part, I suggest you skip to the end.

OH GOD PLEASE DONT LET HER BE MARRIED TO CHAK. I AM SEVERELY WORRIED. You might think I’m getting flustered over nothing, but some might not understand.

C/7 in Endgame absolutely shattered my enjoyment of the episode (along with its other flaws). Pretty much 95 percent of the fandom agrees that it was a GIGANTIC mistake. If it so happens that this atrocity is still canon, I can assure you that there will be riots. J/Cers have been given a second chance. Our babies can finally be happy! I will literally scream if these people screw them over again.

I shouldn’t be worried. They’ve got fukin Kirsten Beyer on the writing staff, aka Our Goddes Who Made J/C SemiCanon. But I’m not sure if she’s a main writer. I just hope and pray that they will, at some point, righten the wrong that was created. One thing’s for sure, keep Berman and Braga as FAR AWAY FROM THIS SERIES AS POSSIBLE!!!

I think I might be overreacting. Oh well, such is the curse of being a fangirl.

Anyways, so these were my raw thoughts about our Borg Babe being part of the new series. I’m kinda disappointed that she’s the first one because it seems like all Voyager is represented by these days is Seven. Not that she’s a bad character, far from it, but hardly anyone else from the cast shows up at main conventions other than her and a couple others. I just hope they do her justice.

[laniakeabooks]

March Wrap-Up

I read books 17 books in March! I did post a few individual reviews and have tagged them here in case you’re interested.

Gemina by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

I just have so much love for this series. When I finally get to Obsidio and finish it (still waiting for the paperback), I’ll write a whole series review!

 Asteria: Into the Fray by Adrienne Enfinger - ⭐⭐

It's not every day that your suicide attempt is interrupted by a handsome archangel. But then, nothing remains ordinary for long on the day Asteria meets Micah for the first time.

Talking her down from the ledge, Micah reveals to Asteria that she is no ordinary young woman. She is the descendant of nephilim - part angel, part human - and her parents did not die in a car crash, they were killed by the fallen angel, Azazel, in the eternal battle of good versus evil.

Asteria finds herself thrust into the middle of that war and discovers that she is part of a prophecy that can finally bring about its end - if Azazel does not kill her first.

She soon joins forces with angels, good and bad, in an epic battle that could save mankind...

...or bring about its demise

Not great… it definitely read like a fanfiction of Supernatural and the quality of writing was… ehhhhhh it was weird like Enfinger was trying too hard.

 Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Moral allegory and spiritual autobiography, The Little Prince is the most translated book in the French language. With a timeless charm it tells the story of a little boy who leaves the safety of his own tiny planet to travel the universe, learning the vagaries of adult behaviour through a series of extraordinary encounters. His personal odyssey culminates in a voyage to Earth and further adventures.

Full review soon to follow!

 Little Pills by Melody Dodds - ⭐⭐⭐

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Navarro never asked to be anyone's hero. If you're a hero, your sister isn't supposed to hate you. And you're definitely not supposed to get hooked on Gramma's painkillers. Even so, Charlotte's sister's friend Mia looks at her like she's some sort of hero. As Charlotte starts taking pills more and more, she has to question how it could hurt herself and others, even Mia. Is it a harmless habit or a dangerous addiction?

Review here! Publication – 2nd April 2019

 You Do You by Sarah Knight - ⭐⭐⭐

Being yourself should be easy, yet too many of us struggle to live on other people's terms instead of our own. Rather than feeling large and in charge, we feel little and belittled.

Sound familiar? Bestselling "anti-guru" Sarah Knight has three simple words for you:

YOU DO YOU.

It's time to start putting your happiness first--and stop letting other people tell you what to do, how to do it, or why it can't be done. And don't panic! You can do it without losing friends and alienating people. Knight delivers her trademark no-bullsh*t advice about:

The Tyranny of "Just Because"

The social contract and how to amend it

Turning "flaws" into strengths--aka "mental redecorating"

Why it's not your job to be nice

Letting your freak flag fly

How to take risks, silence the doubters, and prove the haters wrong

Review

 Beauty Queens by Libba Bray - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The 50 contestants in the Miss Teen Dream pageant thought this was going to be a fun trip to the beach, where they could parade in their state-appropriate costumes and compete in front of the cameras.

But sadly, their airplane had another idea, crashing on a desert island and leaving the survivors stranded with little food, little water, and practically no eyeliner.

What’s a beauty queen to do? Continue to practice for the talent portion of the program - or wrestle snakes to the ground? Get a perfect tan - or learn to run wild? And what should happen when the sexy pirates show up?

Welcome to the heart of non-exfoliated darkness.

BWAHAHAHAHA THIS IS JUST MY TYPE OF HUMOUR!! Granted, my humour is a… specific brand so just beware going into this.

The Center of the Universe by Ria Voros - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

  Grace Carter's mother --- the celebrity news anchor GG Carter --- is everything Grace is not. GG is a star, with a flawless wardrobe and a following of thousands, while Grace --- an aspiring astrophysicist --- is into stars of another kind. She and her mother have always been in different orbits. Then one day GG is just ... gone. Cameras descend on their house, news shows speculate about what might have happened and Grace's family struggles to find a new rhythm as they wait for answers. While the authorities unravel the mystery behind GG's disappearance, Grace grows closer to her high school's golden boy, Mylo, who has faced a black hole of his own. She also uncovers some secrets from her mother's long-lost past. The more Grace learns, the more she wonders. Did she ever really know her mother? Was GG abducted ... or did she leave? And if she left, why?

Review here! Publication – April 2nd 2019

 ReWired by S. R. Johannes -  ⭐

Sixteen-year-old Ada Lovelace is never more alive and sure of herself than when she's hacking into a "secure" network as her alter ego, the Dark Angel. In the real world, Ada is broken, reeling from her best friend Simone's recent suicide. But online, the reclusive daughter of Senator Lovelace (champion of the new Online Privacy Bill) is a daring white hat hacker and the only female member of the Orwellians, an elite group responsible for a string of high-profile hacks against major corporations, with a mission to protect the little guy. Ada is swiftly proving she's a force to be reckoned with, when a fellow Orwellian betrays her to the FBI. To protect her father's career, Ada is sent to ReBoot, a technology rehab facility for teens...the same rehab Simone attended right before killing herself.

It's bad enough that the ReBoot facility is creepy in an Overlook-Hotel-meets-Winchester-Mansion way, but when Ada realizes Simone's suicide is just one in an increasingly suspicious string of "accidental" deaths and "suicides" occurring just after kids leave ReBoot, Ada knows she can't leave without figuring out what really happened to her best friend. The massive cyber conspiracy she uncovers will threaten everything she cares about--her dad's career, her new relationship with a wry, handsome, reformed hacker who gets under her skin, and most of all--the version of herself Ada likes best--the Dark Angel.

Uh yeah here’s my rant review. I just... yeah if you want to know what I thought just read the review I can’t be bothered to reiterate.

Zenith by Linday Cummings and Sasha Alsberg - ⭐⭐⭐

Most know Androma Racella as the Bloody Baroness, a powerful mercenary whose reign of terror stretches across the Mirabel Galaxy. To those aboard her glass starship, Marauder, however, she's just Andi, their friend and fearless leader.

But when a routine mission goes awry, the Marauder's all-girl crew is tested as they find themselves in a treacherous situation and at the mercy of a sadistic bounty hunter from Andi's past.

Meanwhile, across the galaxy, a ruthless ruler waits in the shadows of the planet Xen Ptera, biding her time to exact revenge for the destruction of her people. The pieces of her deadly plan are about to fall into place, unleashing a plot that will tear Mirabel in two.

Andi and her crew embark on a dangerous, soul-testing journey that could restore order to their shipor just as easily start a war that will devour worlds. As the Marauder hurtles toward the unknown, and Mirabel hangs in the balance, the only certainty is that in a galaxy run on lies and illusion, no one can be trusted.

You know what, not as bad as I thought it would be. I mean, it wasn’t anything special and I’m not very attached to the characters, but hey there are only two books so who knows maybe I’ll just finish the series.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded by so much death?

I knew I had a good feeling about this book. It’s eerie and I was stressing the fuck out the entire book about that dog’s wellbeing. 100% do recommend if you’re into brutal, creepy and dark books. Be forewarned, when I say dark, I mean DARK. Like zombie babies and children that are subsequently decapitated dark.

Losing Adam by Adrienne Clarke - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 What happens when the person you love most in the world suddenly becomes a stranger?

Adam and Jenny’s world is falling apart. Their dream of attending college together away from home quickly becomes a nightmare when Adam begins hearing the voice of the Snow Queen. Adam’s startling transformation from popular drama student into a withdrawn, suspicious stranger leaves Jenny frightened and confused. How can the person she loves most in the world suddenly become someone she doesn’t recognize? As Adam drifts farther and farther away into the Snow Queen’s mysterious world of ice and snow, Jenny believes she must fight to bring him back or risk losing him forever.

Holy fuck. This book probably has the most accurate representation of any mental illness I’ve seen in YA. Adam’s schizophrenia wasn’t watered down in the slightest and it wasn’t romanticized. I would have liked to read more of Adam’s perspective than Jenny’s since Adrienne Clarke writes mental illness so accurately. Does that make sense?

I liked that she gave us a look at how mental illness affects the individual in question, but also their loved ones. Although I would have preferred if we had focused more on Adam as for the reason above.

Whisper by Lynette Noni - ⭐⭐⭐

For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word.

As Jane’s resolve begins to crack under the influence of her new — and unexpectedly kind — evaluator, she uncovers the truth about Lengard’s mysterious ‘program’, discovering that her own secret is at the heart of a sinister plot … and one wrong move, one wrong word, could change the world.

Review Here!

 The Thirteenth Guardian by K.M. Lewis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Da Vinci’s secret pales. Michelangelo concealed an explosive truth in his famous Creation of Man fresco in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Everything we have been taught about Eve is wrong—she didn’t cause the fall of man. Instead, Eve carried a far more devastating secret for millennia; one that will change the world forever.

As the modern-day world suffers the cataclysmic effects of the “Plagues of Egypt”, Avery Fitzgerald, a statuesque Astrophysics major at Stanford, discovers that she is mysteriously bound to five strangers by an extremely rare condition that foremost medical experts cannot explain. Thrust into extraordinary circumstances, they race against time to stay alive as they are pursued by an age-old adversary and the world around them collapses into annihilation. Under sacred oath, The Guardians—a far more archaic and enigmatic secret society than the Freemasons, Templars, and the Priory—protect Avery as she embarks on a daring quest that only legends of old have been on before. Avery must come to terms with the shocking realization that the blood of an ancient queen flows through her veins and that the fate of the world now rests on her shoulders.

Release date – June 7th 2019

Review Here!

Angelfall by Susan Ee - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Yesssssss I like this. I find that many angel stories are overdone or hyper-religious, but this, this seems pretty promising.

Dead of Night by Carlyle Labuschagne – ⭐

In a dark and desolated After Earth, love still does exist, but the cost of bearing such a flaw is death.

World War III has left Earth in utter turmoil. People’s beliefs are said to be the cause of the worldwide destruction. After The Clearing new laws are set about - to show certitude in anything besides the law is weak and chargeable as mutiny. To be illogical and have faith in religion is illegal, to be limitless is dangerous. And Illness is seen as a defect – all flaws that are inexcusable.

But to love is the greatest betrayal of all man kind. It is a fault the world has long forgotten and punishable by death, a fatal risk Aecker and Opel are fully prepared to take - because in love there is freedom. But how far can they push back before it claims their lives and of those they care about?

This is the worst book I’ve read in my entire life.

Oh my god it was just so bad I don’t even know where to start. There is no plot, the characters are flat, every single scene was chaotic (I swear I got [metaphorical] whiplash), and it ends out of fucking nowhere. I thought I was missing part of my copy then ending was so sudden.

The world development was non-existent, and I was just confused all the way through.

I would write an individual review on this since I received it in exchange for an honest review, but honestly, this is all I have to say. I’m not even entirely sure as to what happened. 

Unfortunately, 0 stars is not an option on Goodreads, so I had to stick with one even though I don’t think it deserves it.

I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga – ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view.

And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod.

In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret—could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

Yessss another thriller. I love the internal conflict Jazz is dealing with and it’s expertly woven in with the plot. Would recommend, and will definitely be continuing on with the series!

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – ⭐⭐

Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.

You know… it’s a classic. I don’t really like classics. I feel like I need to read them you know? Oh well.

Everyone’s a Aliebn when ur a Aliebn Too by Jomny Sun - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Here is the unforgettable story of Jomny, an alien sent to study Earth. Always feeling apart, even among his species, Jomny feels at home for the first time among the earthlings he meets. There is a bear tired of other creatures running in fear, an egg struggling to decide what to hatch into, a turtle hiding itself by learning camouflage, a puppy struggling to express its true feelings, and many more.

The characters are unique and inventive—bees think long and hard about what love means, birds try to eat the sun, nothingness questions its own existence, a ghost comes to terms with dying, and an introverted hedgehog slowly lets Jomny see its artistic insecurities. At the same time, Jomny’s curious presence allows these characters to open up to him in ways they were never able to before, revealing the power of somebody who is just there to listen.

Oh my god this was just so cute and filled with so many important messages than hit very close to home. New favourite for sure.

Number of books read: 17

Number of pages read: 5806

Average Pages per Book : 341.5

Average rating: 3.4

Favourite book of the month: Gemina by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I love love love the Illuminae files! Definitely my favourite sci-fi series to date.

Least favourite book of the month: Dead of Night by Carlyle Labuschange. It’s just so bad, you guys.

[kmp78]

Honorary Estonia Chronicles

Today, September 28th, marks the 24th anniversary of one of the most horrific and traumatic disasters we residents of the Baltic Sea area have ever experienced:

The sinking of passenger ship M/S Estonia. 🛳️

From a human standpoint, the disaster was tremendous even if you did not know any of the victims. But I must add that to us Finns as well as Estonians/Swedes/basically anyone and everyone who sails the Baltic Sea daily in ships identical to M/S Estonia, the tragedy was truly shocking and humbling.

The reason I´m doing this post is partly because today is the anniversary of the disaster, but also because I visited the memorial when I was in Tallinn and thought it would be worth it to introduce this tragic event to those who were not around when it happened - because if it happened then, it could easily happen now.

To fully understand the impact the disaster had on Estonia (the country) in particular, it's worth remembering that Estonia had lost their independence in 1944 when it was occupied by the Soviet Union and only re-gained it back in 1991, so in 1994 when M/S Estonia sank, the country was still struggling trying to define its identity and get back on its feet after 50 years of Soviet rule.

Another worthy point is that Estonia is a very small country with a population of only 1.3 million. To put it in perspective: the city of Munich in Germany houses 1.4 million people aka the entire country of Estonia could fit inside Munich! This of course means that the M/S Estonia disaster affected pretty much each and every Estonian personally.

I know many people, myself included, have seen the movie Titanic and probably thought to themselves “That could never happen in modern times”, but alas...😔

The story goes as follows:

Passenger ship M/S Estonia was the "crown jewel" of the Estonian shipping company Estline - and essentially perhaps even Estonia the country as a whole - and had the capacity to transport up to 2000 people at a time between Tallinn and Stockholm which is an overnight voyage.

On the evening of September 27th 1994, M/S Estonia set sail on her regular route from the port of Tallinn on its way towards Stockholm, with 989 people on board.

The night in question was a stormy one, but definitely not hurricane-level. For all intents and purposes just your average late September evening.

The voyage across the Baltic Sea started off as planned. 

Passengers relaxed and nibbled on the bountiful buffet servings, maybe did some taxfree shopping, or enjoyed a sparkly drink and a spin on the dance floor in one of the ship´s bars.... 💃🍸 🎇

Nothing out of the ordinary as far as cruises go... Fun times, relaxation, enjoyment. Just living life and enjoying being alive.

If only they had known what was about to happen...

As night started to fall and the ship left the safety of the Estonian coastal area, the Baltic winds started to sway the ship more and more, and waves reached several meters. Some passengers started suffering from seasickness, but still this was nothing unusual for a rough night at sea in late September. 💨

As the clock started nearing midnight, many of the passengers started heading down to their cabins for some shuteye, even tho the storm was still tossing the ship quite severely and sleeping was probably going to be a bit difficult.

Shortly before 1 am one of the crew members touring the ship on his scheduled route heard a MASSIVE bang coming from the bow of the ship - and at the same time the ship itself met with a MASSIVE wave and tilted steeply. Way, way more than is usual for ships this size on open seas.

The officer naturally reported to his superiors about this anomaly, but the chiefs on the deck did not have clear visual on the bow and thus could not get a clear picture on what the hell that had been.

The noises coming from the bow were in fact so loud and so unusual that some passengers also left their cabins and headed upstairs to investigate the situation - a decision that proved to be quite critical.

Before we continue... 

What exactly had happened?! 🤔

Even years later, the source of that loud bang and the subsequent events have been debated big time, with several explanations and conspiracy theories ranging from explosions in one of the trucks being transported as cargo to the crew simply having forgotten to close the front gate of the ship.

The (real) main reason however is that the front visor had ripped open during that storm that forcefully pounded on the ship all evening long, and finally in the middle of the night tore off completely, meaning that the ship´s front was left completely exposed and water was free to gush in from the ice cold sea.

Tragically this happened in the wide open sea in the middle of the night instead of closer to shore where rescue operations would have been much easier to conduct...

Soon after the officers started getting more and more reports of water flowing on the ship´s floors, and this naturally started tilting the ship even more, slowly but surely. 

The crew tried furiously to steer the ship away from the wind and waves and pumping water from the engine rooms, but it was no use...

In a battle between humans and Mother Nature, there can only be one winner.

Rapidly an all-out panic started spreading among passengers who naturally by now had realized that something was horribly wrong - but tragically the strong tilt and raging ocean were proving to be too much for many passengers who had left exiting their cabins too late. Those who had left earlier had a much better chance of reaching the lifeboats, whereas those who had waited in their cabins too long were now trapped inside forever, simply waiting for the inevitable...

I don´t know about you guys, but for me that would have to rank as one of the most horrific ways to die! And not just drowning, but KNOWING you are eventually going to drown and there is no hope because you are trapped in a cabin and the freezing water level just keeps rising and rising...

That´s the stuff of horror movies. 😱

Sadly what most probably also contributed to the panic and distress inside the ship was the fact that the crew was seemingly caught completely off-guard and not able to take control of rescue operations. For example, there was only one, very faint, alarm being aired through the ship´s loudspeakers - but who even heard it amidst all that mayhem? Not many, as reported by survivors.

Some survivors later described that the scene inside the ship was a true definition of “every man for himself”, and how the smallest of decisions such as “Do I turn right or left at the end of this corridor?” was literally a life or death decision.

There were plenty of lifeboats for all on board so technically there was no need for loss of life unlike on the Titanic - but like I said, the situation on board was so dire and so chaotic, and only accentuated by the ever-rising water levels inside the ship which made it damn near impossible to move around, that many of the lifeboats and life-jackets sadly went unused.

And even more sad is the fact that due to the passengers being forced out into the freezing cold ocean in the middle of the night and in the middle of a storm, many who had managed to make it out of the ship later went on to die of hypothermia on the lifeboats or drowned in the raging sea while waiting for the rescue operation to commence.

The ship managed to send out an SOS and fellow cruise liners on the Baltic sea did rev their engines to get there in time - but the wrath of the ocean was too strong and time simply ran out.

In the wee hours of the morning, September 28th 1994, M/S Estonia finally fell on its side and sank to the bottom of the ocean, less than an hour after the front visor ripped off.

852 lives were lost on that night. 😢

Only 137 people survived, making Estonia´s sinking even more deadly than that of the mighty Titanic in 1912. 

A staggering 86% of M/S Estonia´s passengers never returned home again.

From personal experience I can say that waking up that morning to hear the news of something this horrific happening basically right on my “front lawn”...

Surely something like this only happens in movies?! A whole giant passenger ship sinking completely out of the blue like that...

No words... 💔

And speaking of Titanic: as is well known, Titanic´s wreckage has long been investigated by scientists and even extreme thrill-seeking tourists, and many artifacts have been salvaged from the bottom of the sea.

None of that is possible with M/S Estonia.

In this case, the governments decided that in order to prevent the wreckage from becoming a target destination for looters or tourists looking for macabre experiences under water, not only has the ship´s exact resting place at the bottom of the ocean been kept a secret... 

(basically she lays somewhere around the X mark)

... but also the hull was covered in concrete and thus getting into M/S Estonia the same way as into the Titanic via robots or divers has been rendered impossible.

This move of course caused massive controversy because as much as the concrete coating keeps looters out and protects the sanctity of the wreckage being the final resting place for hundreds of people, but at the same time it also prevented any efforts to perhaps salvage some victims for proper burials - and also meant that the the conspiracy theories still live on as to why this ship and almost 900 people had to sink 80 meters under water...

All the surviving loved ones of the victims now have are memorials for the tragedy - one of which you can naturally find in Tallinn overlooking the dock where the ship set off on her fateful last journey.

The memorial represents a “broken line” symbolized by the gap between two stone pillars reaching across a Tallinn park.

Next to the memorial stands a humble white cross reminding future generations of the tragic ending of M/S Estonia.

RIP M/S Estonia

[thebibliomancer]

50 More Days of Comics! 26/50: Alpha Flight #89 (1990)

This book’s marketing strategy: “HEY ANYONE LIKE THE ORIGINAL GUARDIAN? ANYONE? OKAY DAMMIT WE HAVE A WOLVERINE FOR YOU PLEASE BUY THIS BOOK! oh and Puck is back if that’s what you’re into…”

I know next to nothing about Alpha Flight.

I really should.

They’re the X-Spinoff that doesn’t put an X in the title. Someone on tvtropes was liveblogging it and I picked up a few unfortunate tidbits from that.

Recently Alpha Flight has gone from being my second favorite Canadian super-team to being Captain Marvel’s space team. Or Earth-orbit team. Since I happen to think, BENDIS, that a space team should be in space.

The bits of Alpha Flight I’ve read with them in this role I’ve liked. Although I can’t help but wonder if Carol just bought the team from Canada.

Anyway, I wish I knew more about the iteration of the team that’s in this book because it has the one-two whammy of being both continuity heavy and snapback heavy. Not only is current continuity a big thing, previous continuity is a big thing because its being returned to. Also part three of a four part story.

Which has several ongoing plot lines.

Eesh.

I know I say this a lot but this is what recap technology was designed for.

So in one plot line, Shaman, Talisman, Aurora, and Sasquatch are searching for their missing teammate Puck, who was taken by the self-titled Master of the World.

And, uh, they find him. He’s been given a kind of gross makeover with exposed veins and tentacle fingers. But they found him alright.

Sasquatch immediately suggests mercy killing Puck because I guess that’s what he jumps to but thanks to Aurora’s “cleansing burst of light” Talisman and Shaman are able to mystically touch his mind and discover what happened.

In a flurry of continuity, Puck was apparently a dwarf but then it was retconned that he was a dwarf because his body had a demon sealed inside it because of magic but he was injured by the Dream Queen but was healed through supernatural means but on Earth his body rejected the magic so he was dying but the Master of the World wanted to test the limits of the human form and also get revenge on Alpha Flight so he secretly had Puck injected with a genetic compound made of former Alpha Flight foe Scramble and a blood sample of Puck taken years ago when he was still a dwarf so the compound reshaped Puck into a dwarf again but did a bad job of it.

Phew!

Comics that are attempting to retcon things in always have too much information per panel.

Anyway, since Sasquatch used to be a biochemist he understood all of that and also poked around in the Master’s computers and discovered that the compound is still in Puck’s system. So with a little bit of reprogramming, Puck could be put back to normal but dwarf normal because that’s when the DNA sample was from, not whatever normal he had been recently. Sssssnapback!

Also, the strain of having his body restructured might kill him but Puck says to go for it.

So Puck is thrown into a science tube and Sasquatch lays down some technobabble that basically amounts to ‘hey y’all Puck will be a dwarf again and this will be permanent, swearsies.’

Just as the process is started, the Master of the World bursts in with his Remnant Men and scolds Alpha Flight for coming in without knocking, very rude, now gtfo and stop touching his things (explicitly including Puck in that).

Master (of the World): “I do not see this as a degradation then, but rather the contrary… I see this as a reaffirmation of my faith… Faith in pain.”

I know the Master (of the World) from two places: Carol Danvers shanking him during Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run and his run-in with the new Champions where he was rebuilding the melting glaciers by using human suffering. Or something. It’s a bit unclear.

Anyway, he’s a creepus and he’s sending his creeper army to attack the present Alpha Flighters.

But thankfully, just as they’re getting overwhelmed, Puck bursts healed, naked, and spread legged from the science tube with a convenient splash of censoring water.

Puck: “I’m back, eh? Now let’s make short work of this loser!!”

He gets to make short jokes.

Anyway, that’s the end of this plot thread in this issue but if Puck isn’t kicking the Master’s ass while bareassed in the next issue, comics as a medium have failed forever.

In the second plot thread, Vindicator and Wolverine are trying to track down someone named Wild Child who broke out of jail.

Wolverine manages to track Wild Child down to a run down Roxxon gas station bathroom and squats by the toilet to get some good whiffs (which most be horrible with his enhanced sense of smell) and determines that Gamma Flight was here with Wild Child.

Which presents a problem as Gamma Flight is a team and Wolverine and Vindicator are two people.

Vindicator: “Are we up against all of Gamma Flight?”

Wolverine: “Yup. Gotta give ‘em credit fer stickin’ together through this.”

Vindicator: “Credit? They were formed for all the wrong reasons and disbanded for all the right ones. Oh, what am I getting so upset for? I’m so tired – of everything… Why has this team become such a mess? Why am I doing all of this?”

But Wolverine believes in the him that believes in her, or something, and they continue on. At the very least, punching some people will be cathartic. Which I believe is at least 50% of how superheroes work.

Four hours later, they track Gamma Flight down to an abandoned factory. Wolverine immediately leaps into an ambush that he probably suspects is an ambush to force the issue and maybe as an application to the Teen Titans who never met a trap they didn’t waltz into.

Anyway, things get chaotic and incomprehensible for a bit, befitting an ambush. But Team Wolverine and Vindicator Is There Too handle the ambush with something resembling aplomb and when its over Gamma Flight lines up in a row so we can get a team shot and their leader Nemesis (who looks like a Lady Deadpool with a cape) monologues.

Nemesis: “Hello, Vindicator… Wolverine… What is it exactly that you’re looking for besides your own funeral? I hope it’s not Wild Child. I hope you don’t expect us to give him up after all the trouble we went through breaking him out of prison. Because if that’s the case then you’re going to have to answer to us. GAMMA FLIGHT – protects their own!”

Vindicator’s response? “I’m not going to disappoint you, Nemesis. We are here for Wildchild. And we’re going to get him… even if we have to roll over each and every one of you idiots to do it!”

Way to be outnumbered nearly two to one with also aplomb, Vindicator. But as appears to be the trend, if twice is a pattern which it probably is, we don’t get the fight this issue. That’s next issue’s deal.

There’s a loose page that roughly fits into this plot thread. Northstar and Persuasion (a daughter of Purple Man trying to be not a dick like him) are watching their friend Laura in the hospital. Laura was hurt badly by Wild Child which I guess explains why Vindicator is cruising to bruise him.

And Persuasion is sad because not only is her friend hurt but her stupid mind control powers couldn’t do anything to help her only friend.

And Laura is in bad condition. She’s lost a lot of blood and needs a new kidney.

But for arbitrary reasons, even though Laura is O-positive, because she’s a mutant she has weird blood and they need compatible family blood. But Laura sent her only known family, her sister Goblyn, to another dimension. For her own good.

JUST THEN, people claiming to be her parents walk in and ask if they’d be a suitable match. DUN DUN DUN! Dramaaaaaa!

And in tonight’s final plot thread, as the cover promised, the weird return of the original Guardian. His death was apparently one of the earliest big events of the book, happening in issue 12.

So why is he coming back after 77 issues and two in-universe years? God only knows but this is a hard snapback. And this is a hell of a retcon.

They played at bringing Guardian back before. For Reasons, in issues 25-28 per the editorial captions, a robot disguised itself as Guardian and claimed that the explosion that killed him had ripped a hole in time-space and threw Guardian through it. And that he was then saved by aliens and sent back to Earth and had to sleep for ten thousand years during the voyage.

Obviously, this was all a lie.

Samuel Higgins, Roxxon guy: “Ahem. Yes, well. A lie. Hmm. Ahem… well… that crazy story that the robot came up with? About Hudson getting thrust back in time and waking up on Jupiter’s moon – Ganymede – then sleeping cryogenically and getting sent on a spaceship back to Earth? That crazy, whacky, kooky story? Well… it was all true.”

I mean, that’s one way to do it. I wouldn’t personally but it is one way.

Once you start getting into “the lie was a lie!” territory you’ve convoluted a book up fierce. See also: Spider-Man’s Clone Sage 2: This Time Its 90s And Nobody Knows What They’re Doing.

Forge is on scene with Roxxon guy Windshear and Alpha Flighters Box and Diamond Lil and I think Forge puts it best.

Forge: “In this business, death has a habit of making a liar out of the truth.”

Anyway, the not-dead James Hudson aka Guardian is wired up underneath a Roxxon research facility and he’s putting out potent hacking waves that are causing the mechanisms of the facility to go haywire and attack people. And also causing Box to malfunction because he’s a guy in a suit who is a suit. Or something.

I’m not entirely sure. But he fuses with Forge so that Forge can override the hacking and reconfigure the Box suit to overcome Hudson’s various stratagems.

And with enough technobabble, it works! They close in on James Hudson’s cybernetic weirdly crucifix posed nearly naked body.

A lot of beefcake in this comic for people into that.

Box (Madison Jeffries) separates from Forge and attempts to monologue Hudson back to his senses.

Box: “Hudson – Jamie – it’s me – Madison Jeffries – you remember, right? You got me outta the V.A. hospital – told me what had happened in ‘Nam was cool – told me that sometimes things hit the fan and that’s the way it is. Well, I’m here t’tell you the same thing, Jamie.

“Mac – wake up, man! You’re messing things up bigtime here! C’mon – remember who you were – are – ‘member when you recruited me for Department H – I was only in Beta an’ you loved havin’ me hang around – cos’ we had one thing in common – we both loved machines… Guess we both took it sorta to extremes don’tchu think? Well, guess what? We have somethin’ else in common now… maybe we took that to extremes, too…

“Heather. Remember Heather? Yeah. I see your mental imaging. That’s how she looked when you first met her, eh? She looks so young, man… So innocent… beautiful… Uhm… I think I love her, too, now, Mac. She’s a special lady. She never gave up on yer dream when we though you’d died. She kept Alpha Flight goin’ – no matter how rough it got – all ‘cos o’ her faith and belief in your dream, Jamie – in you…”

And being reminded of his wife in short shorts and/or emotional appeal works because Hudson comes out from his stupor and tearfully and droolfully proclaims that he is alive!

Awww. I still don’t know who was clamoring for this character to be returned after so many issues but I’m a sucker for a big in-universe emotional appeal.

Still though. Trying to retcon the book back into shape is not a good environment to attract new readers.

But speaking of sexy Heather, she was drawn with nipple poking through her Vindicator costume in several panels so I’m going to side eye Michael Bair and Mike Manley super hard. It may be a spandex costume but there’s like twelve pounds of circuitry underneath, geez.

Though I guess they also gave the reader Puck lunging crotch first at the reader and Hudson hanging out in only his underwear. So an Attempt Was Made to be fair-handed, I guess?

[badbackgroundscience]

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

It’s the first BBS post without Stan Lee in the world. A sad time, indeed. He wasn’t a perfect man, but he brought inspiration to millions (perhaps even billions) of people with the characters and stories he helped create.

And thus we continue as always, this time with Marvel’s First Family - getting kidnapped by a Soviet cosmonaut and his band of mutant anthropoids* they last saw stranded on the Moon in F4 #13.

While we don’t get an explanation for how they managed to make it back to Earth,** we do get a correction in terms of the science between the two issues.

Previously, everyone was allowed to run around on the surface of the moon sans spacesuits. (Though, to be fair, that’s Uatu’s fault.)

Now, Ivan Kragoff - aka the Red Ghost (aka Beardless Soviet Santa) - plans on killing the team by smashing them onto the lunar surface and dying from the lack of atmosphere. You know...instead of the force of slamming into the surface.

As I mentioned in that previous post, there technically is a super duper thin atmosphere on the Moon, but it’s not made of anything you’d want to breathe. So Kragoff’s not too wrong.

Unfortunately for him, Sue manages to trap just enough oxygen in a forcefield before the crash (that they weren’t even injured by) and the Thing digs them over to Uatu’s house. 

And then they get to check out his toys.

Ah, another complete misunderstanding of evolution. It’s not like Pokemon (or that infamous episode of Star Trek Voyager) - it takes place over generations, not within a single individual.

The whole point of evolution is about small genetic changes that get passed down. Sometimes it happens in the “survival of the fittest” way, where a new trait makes it easier to survive (e.g. better access to food, better avoidance of becoming food) to the point where you can make babies and pass that trait down. Sometimes that new trait just makes you slightly more attractive to a sexual partner so you’re more likely to get some (and thus have babies). And sometimes a trait has no benefit but it gets passed down ‘cause it doesn’t kill you before you have babies.***

Now, technically, there are going to be cells in your body that have slightly different DNA than all the others. This is because every time your DNA gets copied to make new cells, there are always going to be errors. Your cells have a natural “autocorrect” proofreading that fix most of those errors, but it’s not 100% effective.****

Does that mean if you managed to live for 20,000 years, your DNA would be so different you’d grow large ears and a lumpy forehead? No. Modern humans have existed for hundreds of thousands of years, and we’ve barely changed in physical appearance. There are some differences, sure, but nothing so drastic.

Perhaps counterintuitively, our brains are smaller than what they were 100,000 years ago. This of course does not mean we’re dumber, as there are many animals on this planet with brains physically larger than ours that are not capable of sending members of their own species to the Moon.

We’ve also grown a lot more diverse in physical appearance, because as we spread around the globe we got exposed to different environments which favored different adaptations, from skin color to hair texture to nose shape.

[Bonus: I will point out that ever since we started regularly using forks way more people naturally have overbites. (Close your mouth right now. Are your top teeth resting forward of your bottom teeth, or do the tips of your teeth naturally touch?) That has nothing to do with genetics, though. So sometimes, changes in biology have nothing to do with genetic drift and everything to do with new cultural behaviors.]

Now, toy number two:

A planet 30 times larger (by which I take to mean “more massive”) than our Sun is - while maybe not impossible if engineered to exist - does not exist in nature. The only bodies in the known universe with the mass of a 30-solar mass star are, well, the pretty rare occurring 30ish-solar mass stars (e.g. θ1 Orionis C),***** and some black holes.

A planet with the mass of 30 Suns (i.e. 60 million trillion trillion kg) but the density of Earth would have a radius of about 2 million km, ~350 times that of Earth’s.

The most massive planet we’ve managed to find (in our limited few decades of exoplanet hunting) is many times that of Jupiter, but it’s hard to pin down exactly what body it actually is, because the line between “a failed star aka a brown dwarf” and “just a really fat gas giant” is ambiguous. For example, NASA’s exoplanet archive lists HR 2562 b, with a mass 30 (+/- 15) times that of Jupiter, as the most massive exoplanet, but it’s also classified as a brown dwarf.

The largest radius we’ve managed to measure is about 30 times that of Earth (specifically, 3 times that of Jupiter). Nowhere near 350x. And it’s, as you should expect, a gas giant.

No wonder Uatu bottled it like Kandor. That’s a really special planet!

[Bonus 2: I wrote about a much more extreme version (i.e. 2000 instead of 30x) a while back.]

* “Anthropoid” just means vaguely resembling the look of a human, and is used both to refer to apes and monkeys. I’m using it because the comic does, but really, almost all the aliens we run into in these comics are anthropoid, unless it’s a Skrull who shapeshifted into a cow.

** or why the gorilla, orangutan, and baboon have un-turned on their master

*** This is one of the arguments for why we still have butt hair.

**** From Nature:

“DNA polymerase enzymes are amazingly particular with respect to their choice of nucleotides during DNA synthesis...Nonetheless, these enzymes do make mistakes at a rate of about 1 per every 100,000 nucleotides. That might not seem like much, until you consider how much DNA a cell has. In humans, with our 6 billion base pairs in each diploid cell, that would amount to about 120,000 mistakes every time a cell divides!...Proofreading fixes about 99% of these types of errors...After replication, mismatch repair reduces the final error rate even further.”

***** The more massive the star, the rarer it is. Even stars with masses like our Sun are more massive than like 70ish percent of all the stars in the galaxy, if not more if you classify brown dwarfs as stars.

[hrrytomlinson]

Unique AUs I’ve Read

I have a list of fics on my phone that are so unique, so different, so specific to a certain theme/genre, that you could literally find nothing else like it on ao3 (in my opinion). When authors deep dive into a universe, the reader falls in love with the characters and plot. These plots are some of the most unique ones I’ve ever come across. Enjoy.

No Matter Where You Are (No Matter How Far) by @ceaseand-exist​, 35k

An Everest AU where Louis sets out to climb the tallest mountain on the world and meets a curly-haired guy named Harry who worms his way into Louis's life. It's not long before reaching the summit becomes the least of Louis's worries.

Behavioural Ecology by @turtlekz​, 81k

Louis Tomlinson is a primatologist working with the Jane Goodall Institute for primate conservation; and Harry Styles is the photojournalist sent from National Geographic to write a piece promoting awareness about the endangered species. They meet, and love is never, ever simple, as we know.

Featuring Eli the chimpanzee, bickering humans, storytelling, and five men who come to gain an understanding of what it means to be human; all stationed in the Republic of the Congo.

Coax the Cold by @mediawhorefics​, 86k

England, 1897.  

English Professor Louis Tomlinson’s passion for the occult has been a source of mockery and derision for most of his life. When he hears whispers of a travelling freak show newly established in London claiming the existence of a monstrous sea hybrid, half-man, half-fish, Louis sees it as his ticket to credibility amongst his peers. The summer he spends undercover working on the show, however, gives him much more than that.

Run Away Home by @hattalove​, 106k

Louis stands, in the middle of a clearing with his hands in his pockets, and stares. This boy—God, this gorgeous, gorgeous boy. He seems so clumsy, confused at the best of times, but there’s a wisdom about him as he speaks, a maturity that belies his age.

Louis is hopelessly, wildly attracted to him.

Or, Louis is a successful jockey down on his luck, struggling to get his life back on track after an injury. Harry has a horse, a house fit for a prince, and a broken heart.

It takes them a while to figure out that they need each other.

Above Your Head by @heypopstar​, 57k

What happens when an unstoppable object meets an immovable force?

Space AU. Louis is an astronaut. Harry works for Mission Control. They don't get along.

Paint The Sky With Stars by @icanhazzalou​, 62k

On 10 April 1912, Harry Styles boards the finest ship the world has ever seen. Still grieving the death of their mother, he and his sister are being sent to America to live with a callous uncle who cares more about his business connections than family. Harry prepares himself for a long, disappointing voyage alone in his stateroom.

Louis Tomlinson has borrowed and saved, and finally has enough to purchase a Third Class ticket to America. With all of his belongings in a single ruck sack, he boards the Titanic filled with hope for a brighter future. Never one to sit still, he can’t resist exploring the massive ship, and soon goes sneaking into First Class in a stolen steward’s uniform.

By a twist of fate, Louis finds himself in Harry’s stateroom, entranced by the most attractive man he’s ever laid eyes on. He keeps returning day after day, even if he doesn’t understand what it is about Harry that continues pulling him in. That’s all right; Louis has a week to figure it out, and Harry is plenty willing to help.

Except they don’t have a week. They have four days. Because on 15 April, their entire world will be turned upside down.

Or, the historically accurate Titanic AU with a happy ending.

Outwit, Outplay, Outlast by @lookatyourchoices​ & @winingandcrying​, 60k

“Tommo and Harry are gonna do it. I don’t know when, but they’re gonna do it. They’ve got the mattress, the pillows, everything’s in place, and they’re gonna do it. I really wish those two the best of luck.” – Taylor Swift, "Chapera"

Or a Survivor All-Stars AU in which Harry and Louis are just in this game to win the million dollars, but they end up with something better.

Featuring Harry's yellow swim shorts, Louis in snapbacks, and OT5 shenanigans.

Love Is A Rebellious Bird by @100percentsassy​ & @gloriaandrews​, 134k

AU in which the boys still make music. Louis is the concertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra, Harry is the New! and Exciting! interim conductor/ex-cello prodigy who "has made Mozart cool again" according to Esquire Magazine (Louis hates him immediately, which is definitely why he internet stalked him in his dark bedroom late at night that one time), and Niall is the best. Zayn and Liam are around too.

Don't hum Bolero.

7 Up by @cherrystreet​, 51k

Very loosely based on the British TV show "The Up Series" and somewhat inspired by the song “Something I Need” by Onerepublic, we follow the lives of Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson in an interview setting every seven years. They fall apart and come together, their lives and emotions recorded. Harry calls it a time capsule. Louis calls it a pain in the are.

Take My Breath Away by @realitybetterthanfiction​, 153k

There is a prestigious school in the British Royal Navy classified as Premier Delta - or as it is known by its flyers, 1D. These select pilots are an elite set of Naval lieutenants who are trained in the skill of aggressive aerial combat. They are instruments of war, trained in times of peace. They are dogfighters, relentless and fearless in their mission to protect their beloved country. From their lofty vantage, they are always watching, waiting, and ready to lay it all on the line.

Lt. Harry Styles, call sign Sparrow, is a prodigy when it comes to flying. The owner of an unrivaled Naval pedigree, being a pilot was always written in the stars for Harry. With his trusty RIO, Lt. Niall Horan, Harry has made an unprecedented ascension in the ranks of the Naval aerial combat elite, and has been recruited to the esteemed Premier Delta flight school, carrying on his family’s legacy. What he finds there are unexpected friendships, perilous challenges, and something beyond what he ever thought possible. Because as his father had always told him, before the great Captain Styles went tragically missing in combat, you don’t fall in love with the sky, you fall in love with what keeps you on the ground.

Be With Me So Happily by @briannamarguerite​, 42k

Harry Styles may have had his doubts at first, but by the time the gates to the elephant sanctuary came into view he was one hundred percent positive. Louis Tomlinson hated his guts. Like hated, hated. Like loathed-him-on-sight hated.

From what Harry could tell, he hadn’t even done anything close to insulting enough to warrant the disdain that was Louis Tomlinson’s default expression whenever he looked at Harry. It really wasn’t fair. Especially since he’d been lusting after the man from the second he’d laid eyes on that pretty, pretty face with those pretty, pretty eyes.

Or ... the one where Harry Styles has a bad reputation and a heart of gold, and Louis Tomlinson wishes he wasn't so enchanted by boys who looked like Disney characters and wore shirts with bumble bees on them.

Aka Louis is the director of the Styles Elephant Sanctuary and really doesn't want to babysit his funder's spoiled lay-about son for two months.

All I Wish Not to Remember by @avocadolouie​, 71k

What happens when all you had, all you loved, all you held dear is viciously ripped away from you? When your inner core, once filled with love and hope and light, blackens to raw, dark hatred?

What happens when your soul is hopelessly consumed and no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you attempt to shake yourself out, to rid your tormented mind of the opaque feelings that plague you, all you can see, all you can feel, all you can want is...

Revenge.

A modern adaption of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. A tragic tale of timeless undying love, merciless revenge, and selfless sacrifice.

Love Endless (The Road to Recollection) by @wubwubnparmaham​, 171k

The year is groovy 1973, and eighteen-year-old Louis Tomlinson is perhaps the gayest teen to ever grace the gloomy, hateful town of Fortwright. Would be fine if he wasn't so viciously bullied at both home and school for such a "harmful" sexual preference.

Yeah, yeah, we've all heard this story, haven't we? Believe him, Louis didn't think he was anything special either.

Until he found the mansion. The notoriously haunted mansion hidden deep within the forests of his tiny blip of a town in Bumfuck Nowhere, Idaho. No one with a brain ever goes near it, but Louis could use a little excitement in his life...and possibly a Band-Aid or two.

After discovering the mansion was less abandoned than he'd thought, he's now left with the most riveting mystery of a lifetime; every new finding leaving him with more questions. Who is this elusive owner, and why won't they show themselves? Why is there a set of journals in the same handwriting that span over centuries? Why in the world is there a padlock on the refrigerator...and who the hell is Alexander?

When We Were Younger by @waytoomanypeopleintheaddisonlee​, 76k

About a week after Harry started visiting this particular chat room, he was watching some kid argue with the whole room about football, personally disinterested as he tipped a bag of crisps into his mouth. He happily chomped on the crumbs, taking a swig from a glass of Ribena to wash them down, glancing at the screen and very nearly spat the squash back out again. His heart was pounding wildly. The display icon of the argumentative newcomer had caught his eye, and not in a good way. He gulped as he clicked the picture, and when it popped up in full resolution, his heart nearly fell right out of his arse. Sixteen year old Harry Styles’ world turns upside down when he logs on to gay teen chat to discover somebody has stolen his photos and used them as their own.

These Bountiful Silences by tommoandbambi, 123k

They live in a world where they can only say four words per day. Harry meets some people that don't want to live that way.

Once Upon A Dream by @louehvolution​, 33k

Louis is psychic and gets caught in the middle of a murder investigation led by FBI Special Agent Harry Styles.

Aka, the Medium/Criminal Minds-inspired AU no one ever asked for.

In the Clear by @thedarkestlarrie​, 80k

After Princess Gemma and her fiance Niall are captured by the witch from across the land, Harry and Louis are forced on a journey together to save them.

Featuring Lumberjack Liam, Magical Zayn, unsolicited tattoos, and untangling the past.

Also known as The Larrietale.

Down the Backs of Table Tops (and Ticket Stubs in the Attic) by @londonfoginacup, 7k

There's only two of them stuck to the house now, two souls tied to the walls and floor and pipes and appliances. Two souls stuck in a world that's moved on without them. Well, two souls and a cat.

He holds up the red fabric for Harry to get a good look at."We're going to decorate!"

Harry thinks this might be an odd shut-ins version of retail therapy, and he looks to Grimmy for guidance on how to explain to Louis that this will not at all help his cause.

The World Turned Upside Down by @dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram, 71k

In September 1984, Harry Styles starts at Manchester Polytechnic with two goals: to take pictures and to join the Lesbian and Gay Society. He’s never paid much attention to the news, but everyone he meets in Manchester supports the miners. He realises how right they are when he meets Louis Tomlinson, a striking miner who flirts with him. A month later they are both at the founding meeting of Manchester Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, trying to bring down the government. Through letters and visits they build a relationship, in a world very much not of their own choosing.

Manchester and Doncaster in the 1980s are grim, hopeful and alive. Niall is president of the Young Labour club, Nick Grimshaw is in love with the singer of an up and coming band, Fizzy wants to know more about the women of Greenham Common and Harry and Louis are brave.

A Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners/Pride AU.

Through Eerie Chaos by @mediawhorefics, 102k

For as long as anyone can remember, Old Hillsbridge Manor has always been believed to be haunted. Everyone in the village agrees and keeps a respectful, fearful, distance. New in town after a bad breakup and an internship that led to disappointment rather than a permanent job, Harry Styles figures taking pictures of the decrepit building could be a great new creative project. Or at least a much-needed distraction while he searches for a job and crashes at his parents’ new house. No one warned him about the apparitions though; about the music, the laughter, the people who flicker and vanish when you call after them, the echoes of a past that should be long gone… Harry has never believed in spirits but even he can admit that there’s something weird going on. What starts as mere curiosity evolves into a full-blown investigation and soon enough, Harry finds himself making friends with an aristocrat from the 1920s and struggling with finding the best way to tell him that he’s dead.

The Ghost Hunter AU where Niall lives to prove ghosts are real, Zayn is a skeptical librarian and Harry gets caught up in a century-old mystery and catches feeling in the process.

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How does she get along with Sir John? 👀

Send me crew members of the HMS Terror / HMS Erebus and I’ll ramble about how I think Pris gets along with them !! || ABSOLUTELY accepting!

“Within the course of but a few weeks, Sir John turned Priscilla’s blind reverence to disbelief and fearful doubt… to simmering bitterness and scorn - betraying her trust and condemning all their fates with which they had no choice but to obey his command.”  - this quote I did a while back basically summarizes it XD

My oh my is the acquaintanceship between Sir John Franklin and Priscilla an interesting one. Because the way it starts is so drastically different from how it ends.

So let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

For one, I WISH SO BADLY I knew what transpired between Priscilla & Sir John that permitted her aboard as a passenger on his expedition.

Did Pris manage to convince him by negotiation? Could it be the influence of the Kimbleton surname?

Was Sir John perhaps acquainted with Priscilla’s Uncle Charles or at least knew of his expedition work?

OR did Sir John just have so much confidence in the voyage he didn’t really care if there was a passenger or not? (Hence why he assigned her to HMS Terror so he wouldn’t be directly concerned about her well being and she’d be Crozier’s problem?)

I wish I had a straight answer for that, and might settle for the latter with a combo of the former ideas maybe, but I am all ears if y’all have any feedback or ideas!!

Regardless, Priscilla feels strongly indebted to Sir John. Why? As y’all know from her backstory of scandal - Sir John was her ticket out of England and away from all the drama! (Hence why she didn’t second-guess the consequences of volunteering herself for signing up for traversing to the Arctic.) Sort of like a runaway she had to jump on the quickest opportunity, so his expedition was her perfect escape before her newly stained reputation spread like wildfire.

In the beginning, she thought she would be safe - he was a prominent figure in the Royal Navy Discovery Service and a veteran explorer after all. And a certainly amicable fellow to boot.

Subconsciously I believe she was also looking for individuals to fill the void of mentors and protective figures since her Uncle Charles‘ disappearance. Naively she possibly slightly hoped Sir John could fill that role… it was a gamble, but she’d rather have someone than no one like she’d been coping with all this time.

So yeah! At the beginning, all is fine and dandy and she’s eternally grateful for his generosity to permit her aboard on such short notice. (Like literally the day of their departure this happens)

And everything continued to be great that first year as they sailed along Greenland and Baffin Bay! Many a time she’d even find days more entertaining aboard the HMS Erebus being around the likes of Sir John’s second aka Commander Fitzjames, the gentle-hearted Dr. Goodsir, and Lieutenants Gore & Le Vesconte.

Like if there was ever the shimmer of Royal Navy glamour on a ship, it was Erebus. Handsome officers? Check. Fancy ship with sliding wooden doors and more books than she can count? Check. Exotic pet monkey? Check. Costumes and musical instruments for winter Shakespeare performances? Check and check!

It felt like a privilege to Priscilla whenever she’d be invited to dine with Sir John and the officers aboard the HMS Erebus. (Of course that was the same for HMS Terror, But Erebus was where the expedition leader was so it held marginally higher importance on the pecking order scale.) Those dinner conversations were, of course, pleasant and full of happy memories. And Priscilla learned A TON about ship navigating and exploring more in one evening than ever before in her life. 

She’d listen with alertness and blind reverence to Sir John’s leadership, not really internalizing whether the decisions were good or bad per se because they were making such good progress with the expedition and everything was still relatively calm.

But once they left Baffin Bay and entered the straight, that’s when things begun to change.

Namely, the events surrounding David Young’s death - how uncaring Sir John was in response to even Dr. Macdonald’s & Captain Crozier’s objections about Young’s frail health and how ultimately they couldn’t object to Franklin’s overriding decision. This left Priscilla very confused as questions arose in her mind whether or not Sir John was everything she thought he was.

And it only went downhill from there.

She was no sailor, nor a leader in any way, but it was revolting to her witnessing the placement of one man’s glory higher above the concern of over a hundred others’ lives. And then it all went down the drain seeing his megalomania resulted in this catastrophe that even Captain Crozier couldn’t stop. Franklin commanded the ships straight into an ice pack and 6 days later they’re stuck in ice: doomed. Things are BAD. And Sir John’s refusal to even send out a rescue party for the sake of his own ego makes it even WORSE.

Priscilla did her best to make sure Sir John didn’t catch wind of her changing perception of him, and she was never before more relieved to be assigned to the HMS Terror instead of HMS Erebus.

When Sir John dies, she still has enough humanity in her to sympathetically pity his fate and ‘pay her respects’… but not without a slow simmer of underlying bitterness. If she could speak her thoughts aloud, it would consist of ‘he had it coming’ and ‘enviable for him to go so quickly, so he doesn’t have to further witness the consequences of his dangerous folly’.

The only person she ever did confide her gnawing bitterness towards Franklin was none other than Captain Crozier (who she at least found the feeling mutual ha) … and like this one time to Fitzjames after Sir John’s passing… (which probably wasn’t so mutual ha)In conclusion, in Pris’ own words…

“I know just as much as anyone here that we were all doomed to this frozen hell because of Sir John’s obstinate hubris. And what’s more - that man conveniently does not have to further witness the catastrophic outcome of his mistake. But we have to bear that burden? When this all could have been circumvented? I ask myself now - were we nothing more but considered toy soldiers on the scales of his fame and glory?”

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING MY TED TALK @terrorcaptain ! XD

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Studio Profile - Rich Weston, 9 Story Director

Meet Rich Weston, one of our 9 Story icons, who is currently manning the wheel as director on the new Magic School Bus series!

We caught up with Rich to chat about the importance of a creative team, his recent Canadian Screen Award nomination, and to get the lowdown on how daydreaming about alien worlds and galaxies far, far away led to a career directing all sorts of animated adventures.

1. What do you do at 9 Story?

I’ve been with 9 Story for around eleven years now, so I’m pretty much a fixture at this point: Doorknob, wall hanging, desk lamp, take your pick.  I’m also an artist and a director.  Most recently, I directed the prime-time animated comedy Fugget About It and I’m currently directing the reboot of The Magic School Bus for Netflix and Scholastic.

2. What do you love most about your job?

I love being part of a creative team.  I love storytelling and problem solving. The best part of my job is when I’m given something that on the surface may seem impossible to do, but then through brainstorming solutions with my crew, we come up with something incredible to make the impossible possible!  I’m constantly inspired and impressed by the talent around me.

3. What is your origins story? Aka, how did you get to where you are today in your career?

This is going to sound strange, but I owe much of the success I’ve had in my adult life to a single night when I was six years old.  My parents took me to a drive-in to watch Star Wars.  So that’s corny, I know, but I became fascinated by the film. As a kid I loved everything about it, and since my mother was working for a paper company she would bring home giant rolls of paper for me to draw on.  I drew endless scenes and characters from the film.  For months it’s all I did. Then my family moved and I transferred to a new school.  I had no friends and no connection to anyone.  On my first day I sat at my desk and started to draw Darth Vader from memory. Suddenly, one of the kids in the class pulled it off my desk and passed it around and I became ‘the kid that draws’. I continued to draw and eventually made a career out of it.  I’ve been in the industry for over twenty-five years now, I’ve made some great friendships, and even found my wife because of my decision to get into animation. None of which would have happened if not for those first few months and years sketching and daydreaming about alien worlds and galaxies far, far away.  See how corny that last part was?  

4. Who is one of your biggest influences or what inspires you?

My list of inspiration is too long to write out, but to break it down generally; mostly non-fiction science books, films, and old radio plays. X Minus One, Inner Sanctum, Theatre of the Mind.  Anything that lets me close my eyes and imagine a world.

5. What have you found is the most challenging thing about working in the animation industry?

I think the hardest part about working in the animation industry has to be how you deal with your creativity after hours outside of work.  I got into animation because I loved to draw, but once you’ve been in the industry for a while, sometimes you kind of want to find a different outlet for your creativity.  I’ve never really been the kind of guy who could draw all day, then go home and draw all night for myself.  I’ve always envied those who could though.

6. What advice would you give to someone looking to pursue a career in animation?

Stay flexible and take advantage of the time you have to practice.  Work on your visual library.

7. You were nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in an Animated Program or Series for Fugget About It this year, can you share your thoughts on the nomination?

I loved working on Fugget About It, we had a great team. So much of it was a collaborative effort between myself and the writers, the animation leads, the design and layout teams and the editor that I feel like there should be more than one name on the nomination.

8. Any great stories to share about working on the nominated episode “What The F#@k is the Grey Cup”?

First of all, I know nothing about football. If there’s a negative value for how much someone can know about a thing, that’s how much I know about football.  So I actually had to learn about it in pretty much the same way the characters in the show did.  I had to look at it like an educational show, but in this case an educational show with guns and vomit and explosive flaming diarrhea.

9. Final question about this episode, what’s it like to direct the most epic “puke” scene in animated history? (See a little sneak peek of the insanity here!)

The best part about it was how many times I actually had to act a few of the sequences out. Sometimes those are the best notes you can give.  

10. Outside of work what is your story? (Outside interests and pastimes)

I’m kind of a science geek and sculptor. In my spare time I’ll sit in my living room surrounded by my fossils and oddities (bugs, trilobite fossils, triceratops ribs, spinosaur, mosasaur and megalodon teeth, meteorites, ammonites, and various rocks from around the world) and read or sketch or write while watching science fiction or documentaries.  I sculpt and create masks and creature suits, juggle, and ride an electric unicycle. I’m probably the oldest ten-year-old kid you’ll ever meet.

11. And last up, could you leave us with a favourite quote before you head back to work bringing a certain magic bus back to life?

“The real voyage of discovery consists of not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

--Marcel Proust

For more examples of Rich’s incredible artwork check out his Instagram!

And here is a little bonus content, a list of just some of the odd things you might find in Rich’s house, or even possibly on his desk at work!

Rich’s Collection of Inspiration and Oddities:

Triceratops rib

Tooth from a Spinosaur

Tooth from a Megalodon

Trilobites (that I dug up myself)Tooth from a Mososaur

A meteorite that was found in Siberia in the 1800's

A bronzed human skull

A small piece of the moon (meteorite)

A piece of the great Pyramid

Sand from the floor of the Colosseum

A replica skull of a Paranthropus Boisei

Unicycles (electric and traditional)

Juggling balls and pins

Straight jacket

Silicone masks that I've made along with a full body Groot Suit and an unfinished seven-and-a-half-foot forest giant in my bathroom

Vintage comics

[crustaceans-and-fankids]

Trolls as Kekara

[Explanation; skip if you just wanna look at images]

So I edited my 6 Kekara as trolls and then theorized what the trolls would look like as Kekara, and now I’m doing the thing.  It’s going to look really weird to everyone since it’s not styles or colors they’re used to within the comic, but hopefully it conveys what I want it to.

For those who don’t really know, Kekarian society is crustacean-based, they idealize crab claws and that fits you into royalty, and they have a subspecies of people called the Jhinga which are literally shrimp people [which honestly will be the closest to resembling trolls since they have antennae and wear dark clothes and it really wasnt that hard to convert some trolls into Jhinga]. Other than that its fair game I suppose—4 arms, shells, crusty patches of shelly skin, varying shades of red, and all other sorts of things. As long as it’s a crustacean trait, it is acceptable, unless their trait is in an unusual place or they have very odd ones that don’t conform to their ideals or what is more constantly seen, therefore making them mutant. Mutants have a lot of freedom in how they can be designed, really. They don’t adhere too much to Kekarian society, they can have anything from purple blotches to goddamned crabby horns and blue skin [although ngl I keep drawing blue skin, oops]. Also the higher the tier the brighter the clothes they wear.  Mutants typically wear black to stay hidden, given in one timeline they were shunned, and in another they were exiled to death on a toxic surface aboveground usually when they are young because of really convoluted reasons I haven’t even posted entirely on the blog yet.  If you really wanna get into the specifics of my species, since this paragraph hardly scratches the surface of appearance, society, and caste, check out this post! Also if you get confused, there are Royals, Commoners [upper and lower], Jhinga, and then Mutants, all of which respectively have 5,5, 6 ,6-7, and 7 letters in their names as we go down the system. Royals have shorter names, mutants have long names, and there are no surnames/last names! Titles, maybe, but not surnames.

Anywho, I really had a hard time getting full-body or even waist-up images to work with for some, so a few trolls will have more than one image to better showcase their traits. This was especially infuriating given how much I love Nepeta and how little of her there was, hue. Also, this wasn’t supposed to be something I spent a lot of time on but I did. It took me a RATHER PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME and I really don’t understand why—These edits aren’t quality but they took me a lot more time than I expected and I kind of did sooome research on their crustaceans. Some were just picked because “haha that would fit throw it in there” but others kind of felt tied to their interests. Also I’m very glad I did this little project, since it even helped me explore aspects I hadn’t considered, such as eyewear, facial features, and capabilities for things like hobbies within the confines of their planet’s underground layer.

This is ordered by social status  (according to my species, not theirs) and is going to have to be split in 2 parts, but here we go:

Karkat Vantas: I mean, cmon you got a crab species and a crab-related troll of course he’s royalty. A prince, maybe! A woman will typically take the throne unless there is no other female in line or the queen dies and she had been married (could crabdad be crabmom then?) so its not taboo for men to take it on some occassions. Double claws, though—perfection in their eyes, although his attitude and general nature might not seem particularly admirable in some instances because Royal adults in the New-World timeline are conservative judgemental assholes who hate Kekarian youth tendencies. Also, fun little tidbit, the Kekara’s language is very similar in vocabulary to humans, although they do not have the word fuck! They use Snap, and it is equally as offensive and used in the same way as fuck. Oh my! Double claws, constant snapping? Ought to be something. He would hang in the Royal palace primarily, although it doesn’t mean he’s restricted to palace confinement. He’d probably see a lot of Kekarian Kanaya. Karkat’s name would have to be shortened a letter. Maybe mush his name together? Karva…Katva…Vatan..Katas…… ????

Kanaya Maryam: Maybe a dresser crab although I didn’t make that particularly apparent! She’s a royal, not of the royal family but in the royal Palace as a designer who will wear nothing but gold and silvers, caking her lips in gold dust. She has people scavange items for her to turn into paints and fabrics, and I’d assume those extra arms help her work more efficiently.  And with claws like those, you don’t really need scissors! Her name would have to be shortened to fit Royal namesake.  Maybe remove the K to make Anaya? Maybe.

Eridan Ampora:Loosely conveying the trait of the Arrow Crab Erdan is of Upper Commoner class and one who very much agrees with keeping each separate class in their respective places, even to a point that he prefers the elimination of Jhinga as well as Mutants. Despite being below Royalty, he dresses exactly like one. Similarly, his display of Royal devotion and his marksmanship have resulted in some Royal elders permitting him some perks he would have gotten only by being born top-class, such as the ability to engage in private court sessions and partake in other affairs typically done only by them. He is also permitted to sail to Jhingan Territory with members of the Royal Guard in order to secure trade with them, to see how the practice is done and to aid in enforcing law over them. He does not like Jhinga, and especially cannot stand to see Mutants alive, as he knows there are still some wandering the slums despite the law that casts them out to the planet’s exterior upon birth. His complex develops from Royal treatment (AKA being spoiled) despite the fact that he is still techncially beneath them. Given that he is often on the sea, he is likely to run into Kekarian Feferi [who is in the second post] who may in many instances latch onto his ship after swimming for so long. It is likely that he would feel similarly to her despite her being of a lower class, and in fact might consider her “Far too beautiful” to belong in such a place (could you attribute that to the fact she also has cranial protrusions when nobody else he knows does). When Eridan is not en voyage he goes to the palace, and is likely to see Karkat and Kanaya. In addition, he may know Vriska purely since she is often going back and forth within the city, Jhingan territory, and the Temple and is likely to have been on a ship once or twice, stowing away. Maybe the royal robe she wears was his and she conned him out of it? Who knows! As much as he despises Mutants, however, he has not taken any action against her despite threatening to, causing her to think he’s just all talk. Eridan’s name would have to be shortened by one letter. A smashing of his names might work to create Eriam, Edora, Danam, or a shortening of his names to produce Ridan, Ampor, or Erida

Equius Zahhak: Okay so I had a hard time conveying the multiple legs thing, but he has them! Equius is an Upper Commoner and likely we can just keep the whole technological motif and say he builds computers in this world instead of or in addition to robots. One question I had was on whether or not the Kekara would even drink milk given they themselves don’t produce it and a lot of their wildlife is remnant of what we would know but not necessarily what you would call mammalian. I opted to change the milk to some kind of fruit juice from a crossbred plant [whose color is akin to Cobalt Chloride] that is just as nutritious as a glass of warm milk, albeit less creepy to acquire. Equius was intended to be remnant of a Coconut crab although I had a bit of trouble conveying this without repeating all the previous traits I had used, so I opted for one I had never even played with before. I struggled to avoid having him do the same thing he did for Tavros in this universe, although given his robotics and the fact that such a thing can exist in this world, I suppose it is fair to say it could happen here as it did in their world. At the very least, he would then know Kekarian Tavros and Vriska, and subsequently Gamzee.  He would also know Nepeta—Because a lot of Kekarian foliage is metallic it is used for technological advancement as well, so oddly enough he would need to understand botany to understand computers and robotics. He might find much of what he needs in the forest where Nepeta resides, so they might become friends as a result of him going there often. Equius’ name would have to be shortened by one letter given his status, so I suppose Zahak could work.

Terezi Pyrope:  Sooort of based on Remipedes, although I wanted to stray away from just using multiple arms here since I’d already used those! (But imagine her with like 50 arms, jesus) The Kekara absolutely have a court system so I would imagine she would be able to retain her general personality in regards to justice here as well, although she would not be a Royal. She would be an upper Commoner, probably then very adjusted to Royal lifestyle without genuinely living it. Upper tier Commoners often are permitted to attend Royal parties and events, probably including courts if they are made public. Given there is a genuine and known lineage in Kekarian society she would have a parent or grandparent, or some Guardian at the very least that they live with who is Kekarian also. I could see her being related to someone directly involved in the Royal court.  As for her traits, Remipedes are blind and I figured she would be born this way, although this did become difficult given I didn’t have a system for eyewear  in their civilization. Likely it would be made of some metal element, like much of everything else they have. Royality, or anything near it, would be accustomed to golds, silvers, and platinums. “Sunglasses” seem counterintuitive given they live underground, but I suppose they could be used simply as a decoration, much like a necklace or a ring.  Terezi’s name would have to be shortened.  Remove a letter or rearrange the name? Erezi? Zitre? Zeret? Izete? Who knows!

Nepeta Leijon: Of the Lower Commoner class, she’d live by the forest probably. Having whiskers was a must, although I can’t say for sure which crustacean she would fall under since many have whisker-like appendages. She would probably hunt animals within the forest for food and then for sport, although that would be difficult to do well with such bright skin. Her whiskers and clothes may confuse other animals, but the bright red of her composition would cause some losses unless she moves quickly. Lower commoner class permits Nepeta to retain her trollian name as her Kekarian one!

Feferi Peixes:    She would be the Lower Commoner class, living  not too far a distance from the mercury sea but still within the city Slums.  Its shores particularly near the forest are a little sacred because of its childbirthing [or…egg laying, rather] purposes but its free roam at certain points where ships and such are designated for transportation of materials and bodies. She’s based off of the crustaceans Gribbles[Please look them up they’re cute and they eat ships]. I don’t suppose you could swim in that mercury sea because its meant to be full of many many hungry Kekara-eating creatures, though theoretically a swim is possible, just dangerous [And they like to eat Kekaras’ eggs so they’re accustomed to the delicacies of Kekarians and will seek them out as food, if not each other sea life]. She probably knows what she’s doing. Given the Kekara are also born of the mercury it does not hurt her nor does she need any eye protection to see [although you need some strong eyes to see through actual mercury. Maybe she has a keen sense of hearing to detect any nearby threats?] She wears jewelry of basic materials given its affordability to commoners of the lower class,  particularly those that clash and are typically worn combined in such a manner by elders—People her age find it odd. I’d imagine she likes to travel as well as swim, so she’ll latch on to any oncoming ships both out of curiosity for its cargo, and for a free ride  on its underbelly or sides if she gets winded. And given that lower-tier Kekara do not possess gold in any form, a gold trident would have to be a gift if anything. Guess wwho’s a nautical neighbor? Feferi could keep her name given her lower-commoner class.

Sollux Captor: Sollux is likely to retain his programming introverted motif, as well as his twin aspects. In this case it would be remnant of colors worn typically by upper versus lower classes, so not quite unlike The Tumor colors in the original source. I had debated on this—it is not uncommon for traitless Kekara to exist, although they are not considered Mutant so much as odd. Adding that to the fact that he is lower class but not undesirable as the other two bottom classes, then In this he would lie sort of in the middle of class-based assumption which I suppose you can say is like sitting in the middle of two separate halves. He is neither on one side or another but is simply there. And, of course, adding more to this motif is the fact that he was born with abnormal pupils, which while is likely uncommon, it is much like being traitless—unusual. Not necessarily something that can be classified as a mutation in the traditional sense of the word according to the Kekara, that which is beastly or grotesque. It is not necessarily idealized but it is harmless. His eyes and glasses are black and white, symbolic of what Mutants and even Jhinga are associated with, and what Royals and Upper-Class Commoners are associated with. As far as sociability goes, he is not utterly sociable with the entire group but is likely to have known Kekarian Equius given he is proficient with technology concerning building, and Sollux is more on the programming side of things. They may not get along all that well or even see each other, but they may interact on a more professional basis. Likewise, he may live within the slums of the City and may encounter Kekarian Feferi on her way to traverse the sea. Additionally, he may come to know Aradia as she is able to wander the city [under supervision since she is still a Jhinga]. Even though she is at Sage-level, she may find herself bored of sitting in the temple, and when she does meet him they manage to connect.  And maybe through her ties he might be able to connect to Karkat as well. Since the number of letters in Sollux’s name coincides with Lower-Commoner names,  he is able to retain it.

Aradia Megido: Debated on whether a commoner or a Jhinga, although with her horns I kind of liked the idea of her coming from the other side of things and being sought out by some Sage’s vision of a girl who would be able to communicate with the dead. She’d have to earn that power, invited to the temple to become one of the Sages. Probably in rags before she was adorned with a white robe and fit into Royal society for her contribution. She might be permitted to return home to Jhinga territory here and there or visit people with escort, but those of the Temple typically remain where they are.. Since her name has 6 letters Aradia works!

Tavros Nitram: Tavros is a Jhinga. I liked the idea of keeping his antennae at least somewhat remnant of his horns since seeing him without them/in a separate position felt very unsatisfying! For the most part Tavros lives by himself and does his own thing, although he may talk with the others online and partake in larp-esque activities in much the same way in spite of the fact he isn’t allowed to leave Jhingan territory. Since Kekarian vriska is often in the territory she might do so with him, although she isn’t the greatest of people here either! Also, that chest is very likely just fake knockoff gold since Jhinga people can’t really get their hands on it—at least not without some outside aid. I suppose Kekarian Vriska might have been able to get him some actual gold, but then he’d owe her favors. If anything she may have given him a knockoff chest and made him think it was real gold, since he’s never actually seen any.  Tavros may also know Aradia since she was initially a Jhingan resident in the territory before being inducted into the Temple. Tavros’ name could remain the same, since he is a Jhinga. 

Vriska Serket: Oh hey, she’s still blue. Mutant of course, probably a con artist or gambler—You can assume that coat is stolen from a Royal. Her makeup as well, is stolen [ Kekarian blood with a hint of carbon gives a nice dark blue color o boy]. Unlike most mutants she doesn’t wear totally dark clothing. The cloak attracts attention but I’d like to think she finds it more interesting to be known rather than try to blend in. Based a liitle bit on the Pram Bug. To keep in with the singular names I suppose something like Sereket given it sounds more in tune with the patterns of Kekarian namesakes than an alternation of the name Vriska. She was born with a pincer-like claw but its not one of Royal preference since its pretty tiny and misshapen to them. Again, they idealize them big meaty claws and they can discern the difference. Appearance aside, I see her running to the temple to claim sanctuary since nobody can really mess with the place, so if she ran from any Kekarian Royal Guard she’d run into Kekarian-Aradia a lot. She might also hop a ship into Jhinga Territory where Kekarian Tavros lives, where they may do their thing much like in the trollian universe.

Gamzee Makara: I felt like tackling the Mantis Shrimp although this  gave me a lot of trouble in what to convey and even then I’m sure the colors are a little off. I settled on abnormal skin as well as I did with Vriska, although he also has a discoloration of the sclera, a crooked sharp appendage, and sharp teeth which some Mutants do have (Kekara d not typically possess sharp teeth!). Although Blue skin is technically a rarity, I’d have to make an exception here with both mutants in the group possessing a blueish discoloration of the skin. Honestly it is possible for multiple to exist at a time, just depending on circumstance. I couldn’t say they would know each other on a personal level but probably at the very least have interacted several times before, given Mutants often exist slipping under the radar of other citizens and the Royal Guard and are likely to see each other here and there, if they aren’t hermits in their own homes. One thing I might have to sacrifice is his clown-like nature primarily given human popular culture and Kekarian popular culture are very different and advanced in different ways, and if any sort of circus-like influences existed, it would not necessarily reach a Mutant as that is an entertainment form probably more for the higher classes. One thing he may retain is his unstable nature, given both that he is a mutant which are sometimes prone to cannibalism either naturally or out of desperation, and that there is a form of drug available in Kekarian society, not super unlike sopor slime. However Its meant for temple use to incite hallucinations—It would be a lot to go through here, although the brief version is that to become a higher-up in the temple, a Sage, one must explore their inner mind through visions which usually entails exploration of some mental vision place until a certain thing is found, and the drug they use is meant to help these visions along until the hallucinations become lucid and controllable. Lower Commoner Kekara  who live in slums tend to make this drug although it is a less safe form of it, and while it is a relaxant, it also can damage the mind and the body if it is not prepared properly, even to the point of death. He may also know Tavros through Kekarian Vriska given she traverses Jhingan territory periodically to escape authorities, and  although the mutant pair don’t know each other on a personal level despite both being of peculiar nature, they would speak  on occasion given she is all over the slums and even closer to the palace, conning. Gamzee’s name would have to be elongated by one letter in his status. You could honestly just throw in another A to make Maakara.

[chalabrun]

dance to forget, sareth

Word Count: 1,840 Pairing: Jareth/Sarah Williams Rating: G Warnings: None Summary: Sarah and Jareth never did get to make up for that dance her university was hosting. Here, they get to make up for it in relative peace. A/N: If it isn't obvious enough, I only ship Sareth as they exist in Pika la Cynique's Girls Next Door and the manga sequel, Return to Labyrinth. I don't ship them as they appear in the original movie for personal, probably obvious reasons.

( READ ON AO3 ] 

Sometimes, it wasn’t unreasonable to feel as though Sarah Williams’ life deserved a season recap. After all, how did she describe the last few years? Going from childhood antagonist with the Goblin King and then his girlfriend several years later probably felt too quick to them. What was it, a year and a half? Two?

Regardless, there’d always be critics. People outside of the loop who’d criticize and say she forgave the man who was supposed to be her mortal enemy far, far too quickly.

Looking at you, Harry Dresden, Erik, Norrington, Raoul, and so on! Even if their fears weren’t totally unfounded if not completely coming from people used to the egotistical, pervy, stalker-y, immortal and magical—sometimes not—who comprised a unique kind of peanut gallery.

AKA, friends she was grateful for. The kind of conscience on her shoulder Jiminy Cricket could be jealous of. No one turned to wood here, no sir!

“Ow, careful, Chris,” Sarah hissed when Christina Daae gave an excited twist to her chocolate brown locks, having been brought into a casual up-do. Nothing that would give the impression of being a try-hard. Not easy to pull off given her somewhat recent history of rises made by a certain smug blond fae who enjoyed those kinds of reactions from her. “Not that it doesn’t look good, just…ow.”

Christine smiled sheepishly as she let fall the rest of the loose ends at Sarah’s nape, curling that which couldn’t be brought into the loose bun Sarah now sported. “Sorry, Sar! At least you look good enough for GK, huh?” the blonde prodded while admiring her own handiwork for her roommate. With good cause, too.

“Not that I owe it to that ass to look my best or anything,” Sarah groused beneath her breath, intensely scrutinizing her own reflection with a pout. It always was a game of tug of war with Jareth, and in this case, she’d earned major, major concessions this time around when Jareth had overtly announced their nascent romantic relationship to everyone and their mother in their apartment complex and beyond—via a highly publicized snogging, no less! Meaning, this date to make up for Dresden’s sudden interruption of their last one per questioning Jareth what had happened between Christine and Jareth after the masque wasn’t like it was a strike to her benefit in the tallies between them.

Just that he owed her a dance. Lucky her the dance seminar hosted by the drama club she was part of wasn’t a single night affair.

“Alright, all done! Promise me you’ll give me and Lizzy a total play-by, Sarah? Pleeeease,” the prima donna pleaded, all sweet-eyed and innocent. Easy to see through. Even if Erik was still completely weak to it despite dating Mags nowadays.

Sarah managed to crack an amused smile. “Alright, but you guys are paying for the booze, regardless of whether or not Lizzy’s swashbuckling friends decide to come gatecrashing or not.” That was fair. Jack Sparrow was one hell of a sneaky guy where reserves or rum were reserved.

The doorbell rang. Sarah felt her heart leap in anticipation and excitement alike.

“Why hello, Miss Daae. Might Sarah be around?” came Jareth’s usual flowery greeting. Not that it wasn’t a comfort to her these days. Not that she’d admit it, so forget that! He was still paying even for the pervy bubble-spy-crystals and Erik’s ingenious but equally perverted rats with mounted cameras.

“She’s right here, Your Majesty,” Christine chirped as she shepherded Sarah into the apartment foyer, pleased to show off her handiwork. “Have fun, you two! I’m going to be spending the night with Raoul, so bon voyage!” Small reason for her excitement. Ever since Jareth had granted her the crystal passage between one of the apartment closets and Raoul’s Paris residence as concession for the ballroom mishaps, of course she’d been over the moon. Anything if it meant being closer to her fiancé.

“Ah, merci Miss Daae. Happy travels, and all that.” It was an attempt at French, but points for trying. When her roommate finally vacated the premises, the hallway closet awash in an aftermath of glitter, it left Sarah leaning against the door’s threshold thoughtfully.

“So…” she began, glancing at Jareth speculatively, “I don’t suppose you’ll have any magical engagements keeping us from tonight’s date, or anything, do you?” It didn’t hurt to ask. Sarah’s arms were folded, studying Jareth inquiringly.

Jareth, in all his modern, understated aesthetics, seemed to internally flinch at the implications she was addressing. More of a deep sigh and pinching of the bridge of his nose, than anything. “Oh, of course, precious. I don’t suppose any of your friends have anything in mind? As much as I deeply tire with their interference…”

“To be fair, you’re not out of the limelight just yet, GK. Keep proving yourself, and maybe people’ll relent.”

This caused Jareth’s enthusiasm to sag somewhat. “And is it truly their business at all, Sarah? I understand…past events have embroiled them, true, but some affairs I might wish to keep between us. Is that truly so difficult to ask?”

Sarah gazed at him quizzically. Was she dreaming? Did the resident exhibitionist fae really want to keep things between them private? “Y’know, people would be more inclined to honor your wishes if you didn’t turn almost every little thing between us into a publicity stunt, Jareth.”

“I am aware, Sarah, however—aren’t your ilk the sort to have a…certain amount of publicity during dates? Such as our tango to come. Surely you won’t think of that as something exhibitionist.” Steps, baby steps. In mediating between differences between the fae and human, there had to be bits and pieces, she knew that now. Even if Sarah felt endlessly frustrated by concepts that should’ve been easily grasped, it was a start. Well, not a start, but somewhere far along the road they’d been traversing together.

“No, so long as you try and keep it that way. And Jareth? Try not to be too handsy. The last thing we need is people staring and me screeching indignantly, as I have every right to.”

Things had become unfairly tense between them, she knew. With everything going on, the ball having been an epoch of it all, what they had felt lazy and easy. Compared to what was, what could come, she didn’t want to think that far ahead in fear of jinxing them somehow.

Them. It was a powerful realization, but—Jareth loved her. How could she just turn her back to him and what was between them so readily? Regardless of all those past jealousies and the hell he’d put her through.

Forgiveness was hard. The guilty admitting to such was harder.

When they finally arrived on campus, an easier air settled over them. Members alike of the Wibsy and KISS clubs were congregated near a punch bowl and table saddled with many refreshments while the university orchestra was noisily tuning their instruments. Javert hawkishly watched from one of the gymnasium corners while Aziraphale and Crowley occupied their own shadowy corner, the demon inclining his sunglasses in a smug form of greeting.

Jareth and Sarah were still the hottest new item amid the complex, after all. Of course, the others would still hold a vested interest in their day-to-day.

God knew Christine was the leader of that pack.

As the announcer addressed the gathered crowd, Jareth turned to Sarah, taking one of her hands and gracing it with a delicate kiss. “Sarah, might you honor with me this dance? To make up for our last date, and all that rot.”

She had to admit, he was a peerless gentleman when he wanted to be. “I’d be honored to, Jareth,” Sarah simpered, feeling like her younger self. Feeling like that girl still enamored with fantasy and acting and escapism much like her own mother, Linda, was.

“Oh, Sarah,” Jareth said with a wolfish grin, “surely you cannot conceive of my being content with blending in as you like. If this is tango, we shall treat it as such.” A shiver trailed her spine, and by his smirk, the brunette could swear his satisfaction only grew.

“You’d better not get too handsy, Jareth,” Sarah hissed under her breath with a furious fluster, trying to swallow it down. “Like I said before we came.”

As true to his word as a pervy and possessive Goblin King could be, he kept his hands where it was somewhat socially acceptable—as could be where tango was concerned. Truth be told, Sarah soon forgot her inhibitions she was sure to browbeat herself for later in a way that she was swept into his ministrations and intense, mismatched gaze in a form and fashion.

Was this what it’d be like, she idly wondered. The sudden remembrance of his dire threat and fringing, villainous instincts harked to what Christine had gone through welled within her mind. Sure, he wasn’t crowding her space or snarling at any male attention directed her way, but that was because there wasn’t anyone else.

My will is as strong as yours, my kingdom just as great.

Those words beat in her mind like as a second heartbeat as Jareth dipped her dramatically, recalling all those Celtic fairytales her Irish grandmother used to tell her through her mother, Linda. How the fairies could use gratitude and those foolish enough to step into fairy rings against you.

Was this what it was like? To be taken by that legendary Unseelie Court as Jareth had both threatened and promised time and time again.

When the first set was finally concluded, Sarah had to blink away whatever bedazzlement she’d been capsized under and felt herself hauled back up after a dance number she should’ve had no business knowing, but the ineffable trickle of fairy magic seemed to diffuse from her bones like the passing of midnight.

Was this it? Had her glass slipper already shattered?

“…Whoa,” was all she could bring herself to say, blinking and breathing hard. “Did we really do that piecemeal?”

“Denying your natural talent as always, beloved,” Jareth said with a growing smile, “as much as you deny your natural latency for magic.”

Sarah scoffed and extricated herself from Jareth’s arms, huffing softly. “Admit it: I have two left feet and you used magic to make me more coordinated. You don’t have to flatter me, Jareth.”

Jareth’s pointed, dark brows bounced up in surprise. “Do you really think that’s what it is, precious? Just something of my doing? Why, I’m hurt,” he said with a faint smile, enigmatic. Sarah couldn’t tell if it was some admission of truth or not.

Part of her wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out.

“…I’m going to go get us some punch. Wait here.”

“But of course, Sarah. I shan’t move a muscle,” he said with that same smile, she unwilling to look at it. From fear? Uncertainty.

For once, even she wasn’t really sure. As conflicted as her feelings for him always were.