#Double Dragon takeaway

[myemuisemo]

As part 9 of The Sign of the Four in "Letters from Watson" opens, I am immediately fond of Mrs. Forrester, the employer of the awesome and adorable Mary Morstan. Her reaction to Watson's news about the case, during his polite afternoon call is what charms me.

“It is a romance!” cried Mrs. Forrester. “An injured lady, half a million in treasure, a black cannibal, and a wooden-legged ruffian. They take the place of the conventional dragon or wicked earl.”

She's genre-savvy! I'm imagining a charming rowhouse, but Camberwell, like the Brixton/Kennington setting of A Study in Scarlet, is in a part of Lambeth that's seen a lot of reconstruction as housing projects. (I am distracted by the presence of a Korean fried chicken takeaway on Camberwell New Road. Sweet-and-spicy chicken sounds really good right now.)

Miss Morstan is, of course, a better person than anyone else in the room.

“It is for Mr. Thaddeus Sholto that I am anxious,” she said. “Nothing else is of any consequence; but I think that he has behaved most kindly and honorably throughout. It is our duty to clear him of this dreadful and unfounded charge.”

His family has done her a great deal of harm, out of selfish motives, and he's been set up as ridiculous in the audience's eyes -- yet her thought is for his being treated fairly by the law regarding his brother's murder.

Organized, practical, difficult-to-frighten, compassionate Miss Morstan may be intended as a model of Victorian womanhood, but she's in no way a delicate blossom. I adore her.

Meanwhile, Holmes is off in search of a steam launch. It belatedly occurred to me that I have no idea what a steam launch is, other than something boat-like. It turns out to be a medium/small boat with a smoke stack, a cabin for its workings, and an awning if there's anything that benefits from shelter. Thames Steamers are historic passenger steam launches, so they're painted up smartly -- but ordinary steam launches hauling this-and-that were a feature of the Thames from 1815 or so. After railroad service started, the proportion of passengers versus cargo shifted in the direction of cargo.

Holmes' "rude sailor dress" features a "pea-jacket," later more commonly called a "pea coat." The pea coat, a heavy wool double-breasted jacket that ends at about crotch-length, was a standard part of naval attire in Europe and the U.S. from the 18th century until very recently. It also had a huge fashion moment in the 1960s, thanks in part to the Beatles. Fashion-focused people wax rhapsodic about pea coats. Macy's has one in stock, appropriately made by Nautica. (Not a rec, not an affiliate, just looking for a harmless example.)

Then Holmes... then Holmes... *giggles*... puts my face in my hands to stop giggling... Holmes then... looks up spirit gum and grease paint, as I don't think you can get either off without some sort of agent like baby oil... aw, who the heck cares, Holmes fools Watson and Athelney Jones. The great detective has a sense of humor!

(I recently watched the entire run of The Pretender and am working on season 3 of White Collar -- so I am inclined to let things go for the sake of a charming con man working for justice. Which Holmes is. Jones is wrong. Holmes would never have joined the police. Too limiting. Had his sense of justice not led him into consulting, he would have been a con man.)

The meal Holmes promises his guests is another interesting combination of high and low. There will be oysters, which were so common and cheap that they are roughly equivalent to chicken wings today. The brace of grouse -- a bird that's hunted but not farmed -- suggests Holmes has a friend in the countryside or access to a butcher who does. And the "something a little choice in white wine" is absolutely high-brow, possibly a present from a satisfied client.

We are going after criminals in a fast steam launch later, so I have high hopes of pursuit and grappling.

[gothicprep]

i finished HOTD and here's my little review for it. my main takeaway from it is that i'm a little bit concerned about where the show is going because it's so heavy handed with callbacks to the GOT tv series. it doesn't feel necessary, and i think a lot of the reason why the fan reaction to this is as mixed as it is has to do with it serving up constant reminders of the season of tv everyone hated.

the spoiler-y version of my take is below the cut

one of the plot details in the show is that there's a prophecy which targaryens are aware of, and the reason why aegon the conqueror came to westeros is because he wanted to stop the white walkers. grrm is involved in this show, and this is such a bold choice that the idea probably isn't something the showrunner & writing staff made up on their own. not sure whether there is confirmation about where exactly this came from. that said, i feel like this is information that i'd rather not know. ASOIF danaerys has visions and prophetic dreams, so i'm willing to accept that some of her ancestors did too and about the long night... but that's more fun if it's left a bit ambiguous. especially with aegon i, because making a war of conquest somehow noble is narratively very weird. it can just be politics and power.

what makes this awkward is that we already saw the end of the long night depicted in GOT, and the night king is defeated by arya. the targaryens barely have anything to do with this. so it's a very strange choice for HOTD to double down on the targ/ww in light of that.

i also do not like that they're featuring the catspaw's dagger so prominently in the show, with the white walker prophecy engraved into it... you're going somewhere with this and i kindly ask that you turn the car around.

like, seriously, how are white walkers relevant to the dance of the dragons anyway? maybe this is all to say that this knowledge was all lost because of the civil war and this is another layer of tragedy. it's a concept that i wouldn't hate if it wasn't all based around the dagger that arya uses. if i hadn't seen GOT season 8, then fine. it might work. but i have so... eugh.

the white walkers we see in daemon's vision in the finale have the GOT season 1 model, which i think is meant to communicate that what's being depicted here is a separate story from the adaptation's ending, but this doesn't land well when the books are unfinished.

other than that, i think the show suffers a lot from the WB merger-related budget cuts. the pacing was undercut terribly and the season feels incomplete and empty because of it, in spite of it not having a single episode that i'd consider truly, capital-b Bad

[blurban-form]

Full list of top 100 episodes on the (Australian) ABC Bluey Countdown

(Courtesy of Reddit)

100 Mr Monkeyjocks

99 Fancy Restaurant

98 Housework

97 Omelette

96 The Quiet Game

95 Shaun

94 Charades

93 Featherwand

92 Obstacle Course

91 Teasing

90 Shadowlands

89 Magic Xylophone

88 Movies

87 Road Trip

86 Hospital

85 Work

84 Whale Watching

83 Daddy Putdown

82 Early Baby

81 Butterflies

80 Chickenrat

79 Copycat

78 Chest

77 Daddy Dropoff

76 Sticky Gecko

75 Daddy Robot

74 Handstand

73 Space

72 Dunny

71 Blue Mountains

70 The Beach

69 Muffin Cone

68 The Sleepover

67 Backpackers

66 Pizza Girls

65 Slide

64 Bob Bilby

63 Swim School

62 Rug Island

61 Magic

60 Stickbird

59 Smoochy Kiss

58 Calypso

57 Stumpfest

56 Family Meeting

55 Verandah Santa

54 Fruitbat

53 Pavlova

52 Dirt

51 Bike

50 Burger Shop

49 Cafe

48 Easter

47 Bus

46 Keepy Uppy

45 Curry Quest

44 Relax

43 Ice Cream

42 Double Babysitter

41 Flat Pack

40 TV Shop

39 Escape

38 The Creek

37 The Pool

36 Barky Boats

35 Mini Bluey

34 Dad Baby

33 Bedroom

32 Asparagus

31 Bad Mood

30 Fairies

29 The Decider

28 Takeaway

27 Duck Cake

26 Grandad

25 Born Yesterday

24 Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolfhound

23 Dragon

22 Fairytale

21 Onesies

20 BBQ

19 Turtleboy

18 Cubby

17 Bingo

16 Unicorse

15 Faceytalk

14 Hammerbarn

13 Pass the Parcel

12 Tradies

11 Army

10 Bin Night

9 Christmas Swim

8 Rain

7 Dance Mode

6 Camping

5 Grannies

4 Sleepytime

3 Granny Mobile

2 Baby Race

1 Cricket

[dewydemon]

summer games fest takeaways:

hyped: Life is Strange Double Exposure, Mixtape, Star Wars Outlaws, Wanderstop

cautious but curious: Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Fable, State of Decay 3, South of Midnight, Metal Gear Solid Delta, Perfect Dark, Winter Burrow

[laresearchette]

Thursday, September 19, 2024 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: HAUS OF VICIOUS (BET+) FRASIER (Season 2) (Paramount + Canada) JERSEY SHORE FAMILY VACATION (MTV Canada) 8:00pm THE PENGUIN (HBO Canada) 9:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT?: THE JANE MYSTERIES: MURDER AT MOSEBY (Premiering on September 27 on W Network at 9:00pm)

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

AMAZON PRIME CANADA PANCHAYAT TA A VERY ROYAL SCANDAL WNBA: INDIANA FEVER AT WASHINGTON MYSTICS

CRAVE TV INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS THE PENGUIN (Series premiere @9pm ET)

DISNEY + STAR REASONABLE DOUBT (Season 2, new episode)

NETFLIX CANADA MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ STORY THE QUEEN OF VILLAINS (JP) TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM TWILIGHT OF THE GODS

MLB BASEBALL (SN) 2:00pm: Jays vs. Rangers (SN Now) 4:00pm: Yankees vs. Mariners (SN1) 7:00pm: Phillies vs. Mets (TSN2) 7:30pm: Diamondbacks vs. Brewers

WNBA BASKETBALL (TSN3/TSN5) 7:00pm: Sky vs. Sun (TSN3/TSN5) 9:00pm: Wings vs. Aces

DRAGONS' DEN (CBC) 8:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Catching up with 13 companies that braved the dragons to find out what happens after the Den; the dragons discuss the key takeaways from the show and what its legacy means to them.

THE SUMMIT AUSTRALIA (Discovery Channel Canada) 8:00pm: A favourite is eliminated in a brutal blindside and Jai reveals a last-minute twist.

NFL FOOTBALL (TSN/TSN4) 8:15pm: Patriots vs. Jets

THE ANONYMOUS (E! Canada) 9:00pm (SERIES PREMIERE): Twelve players live double lives in the ultimate game of strategy and deception to win $100,000.

RUST VALLEY RESTORERS (History Channel Canada) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): A crew of car lovers at a garage in the Rocky Mountains transforms abandoned heaps of rust into collectible classics.

HOUSE OF ALI (HGTV Canada) 10:00pm: Ali gets personal in her latest design undertaking when one of her good friends engages the firm to renovate their home; while Ali is initially given creative freedom by the client, a special design feature ruffles feathers and is on the ropes.

GEM HUNTERS DOWN UNDER (Discovery Channel Canada) 10:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE): Following the highs and lows of sapphire hunters working in extreme conditions in the heart of Central Queensland, Australia.

CANADIAN REFLECTIONS (CBC) 11:30pm: Witch Woman/Talk

[charaznablescanontoyota]

“marn, i missed sgdq 2022! which runs should i watch?”

hello and welcome back to another rec list curated by me and my very subjective opinions. a couple weeks ago was summer games done quick, an annual speedrunning marathon raising money for doctors without borders and also a great way to get into watching speedrunning. a lot of their content is tailored towards being both clearly explained and fun to watch for an audience outside the speedrun community, so you can jump in with basically no knowledge besides “this person is gonna play a game really fast”. here are my personal highlights that i think you should check out!

kirby and the forgotten land: it’s always great to see a game that’s just been released in the past few months hit gdq!! this was my first time watching a forgotten land run and my takeaways were that: a) this game is beautiful and b) the runner was having a GREAT time sharing it with everyone.

spyro the dragon: spyro is one of those early games that has a lot of weird cool movement tech that is still being discovered to this day, and the fact that it shows up at gdq every couple years with some completely new strats to showcase is awesome, imo.

phasmophobia: if you are staring at this link wondering “how the hell do you speedrun the co-op ghost hunting game that relies entirely on randomization and luck”, just trust me and click it. the ghosts did NOT want to cooperate with these runners at ALL.

pokemon emerald randomizer (evolution chaos co-op): i am not usually a person who has the patience to sit for all 3 hours of a pokemon run, and i figured i would just tune into this one for like half an hour while i got some other stuff done, but i was immediately enraptured. it’s a modded randomizer where your pokemon evolves into something random Every Time it levels up, with 4 runners passing the controller around on every evolution. the game was not kind to these runners. it’s one of the funniest things i’ve ever seen at gdq.

donkey kong country: tropical freeze: spikevegeta’s tropical freeze run from gdqx a few years back is still The speedrun i love showing to people, but this one is an INCREDIBLY clean run that is just a joy to watch. spike is also a GREAT runner/commentator who you’ll notice pops up on a lot of gdq commentary couches, he loves to explain not only what’s going on in the game but little anecdotes and fun facts about the community around the game/speedrun.

banjo-tooie: i love duck and hagginator’s banjo-kazooie race from 2019 and have watched it multiple times since it happened and i am happy to see duck back at gdq running banjo-tooie. :) the community around the b-k games seems really nice and if i had to pick a game to get into running myself this might be in my top 5 choices.

mi scusi: you should watch everything from this early morning silly block, i shotgunned basically all the vods for it and loved them all, but this one was the standout. a speedrunner who woke up way too early in the morning plays a spectacularly broken, floppy physics game that was a student project that is about [checks notes] a guy dealing with the mafia, stealing the world cup, and going to space. if you like this one, watch the rest of the silly block, esp turnip boy commits tax evasion and jimmie johnson’s anything with an engine.

stepmania/noitg doubles showcase: what if dance dance revolution was evil and the only way to defeat it was a 45 minute synchronized dance routine

happy���s humble burger farm: stressed runner makes burgers as fast as he can while janky jumpscare horror game tries to give him the worst rng imaginable. i watched this one kind of on a whim because i like teddyras (the runner) a lot and his commentary is like. laugh-out-loud funny. if you have an hour or less to kill and want to watch one of these vods, this is the one. if you like this, you should check out teddyras’s run of gone golfing, a similar janky horror game set at a minigolf course (sort of).

control: this is an all bosses run and something about hearing the extremely sparse 6 am crowd politely golf clap after every boss fight just took me out. also this game has SO many cool out-of-bounds skips and sequence breaks that are SO fun to watch.

mario 64: m64 is basically a staple game at gdq at this point and because it’s basically the grandfather of speedrunning they often try to dress it up with new challenges like the runner being blindfolded, or the game being randomized, or it being a race. this is not that. this is a guy playing regular vanilla mario 64 very nearly on world record pace, pulling off tricks that have never been successfully completed on the gdq stage before, and casually showing the audience completely new movement tech and clips that have been discovered while the commentators lose their fucking minds in the background. also he never died a single time in this run.

mario maker 2 relay race: two teams of 3 highly skilled mario runners go head to head in a blind relay race of 9 extremely fucking difficult mario maker levels. it’s SO cool to watch them figure out routing and strats in real time, and the level designers shoutcasting the race have some really great insight into the design of the levels themselves.

[corinnesamuels]

Teddy Wants a Treehouse

(Or, the one where Harry has a minor bout of jealousy.)

When Andromeda Tonks asked Harry and Ginny Potter to watch 4-year-old Teddy for a week, the Potters accepted without hesitation. Andromeda had been playing a tug-of-war-like game with her last living sister, working to discover if Narcissa Malfoy still had traces of the person she had once known. It was decided—after a year of awkward silences, long-forgotten happy memories, and melancholy rememberings of what had been—that the two sisters would take a holiday. Maybe after being away from everything, they could find out one way or another.

At least, she hoped.

While she knew that her surrogate family would not become close friends of the Malfoys if she and Cissy were able to rebuild their relationship, they had respected her desire to try to work things out. It was decided that Ginny would watch Teddy during the days she wasn't in training, and on the days she had to travel to Holyhead, Harry would take Teddy to the childcare wing of the Ministry. Teddy had been before on just a handful of occasions but seemed to love it each time. 

Andromeda told Teddy of the arrangement a few days before she was due to leave for Italy, and he was ecstatic.

"I's gets to stay with Harry' n Ginny for a whole week?" He had asked excitedly in the middle of breakfast. Porridge smeared across his mouth, small clumps taking residence in between strands of shockingly turquoise hair.

He was as messy an eater as his mother had been clumsy. It brought a sad smile to Andromeda's face to think about it.

When Harry and Ginny came to pick Teddy up for the week, Andromeda couldn't tell whether godfather or godson was more excited.

Ginny had no trouble stating that it was Harry.

And as Harry looked up from blowing a raspberry on Teddy's stomach, the little boy still squealing with laughter, the look on the man's face proved that his wife was most definitely correct.

But neither Andromeda, Ginny, nor Harry expected Teddy to come down with dragon pox just two days into the week. Andromeda offered to come back early, but Harry promptly refused. He almost never took days off from work and had plenty of leave accrued to stay home with Teddy. Andromeda looked skeptical during their conversation over the Floo, but Harry assured her that if he could defeat dark wizards and live through three different killing curses, he could take care of his sick godson.

He'd call over to the Burrow and have Molly help, at the very least.

"Really, Andy, we'll be fine. Enjoy your time in Italy. Everything will be fine when you get back." Harry said. His knees were beginning to ache from having to crouch down by the fireplace. Reluctantly, and with many quickly given tips for treating dragon pox and reminders about what Teddy liked and disliked, Andromeda ended the connection. Harry stood up, rubbing his knees.

"Well, Ted, it isn't the week we had planned, but let's make the most of it, shall we?"

Teddy looked up from his place on the hearth rug and began to try scratching his irritated skin, foiled by the scratch-proof gloves he had been forced to wear.

"Itchy." Teddy said grumpily.

Harry managed to get an appointment at St. Mungo's that afternoon. Harry was happy to discover that while Teddy would be a little lethargic for the next couple of days, he would be back to his usual self and ready for all the things Harry had wanted to do before the week was up. The Healer gave Teddy a salve for the irritated skin, a potion to knock the dragon pox out altogether, and a lolly for his troubles. She also had the decency not to laugh when Harry took one as well.

Not an hour after Harry and Teddy returned to the house on the outskirts of Godric's Hollow, Molly Weasley arrived with an arsenal of sickness-beating supplies—enough soup to last a week, a salve she decided was much more effective than whatever rubbish they were passing out at St. Mungo's, and a fresh set of gloves for little hands that still tried to scratch at the pockmarks.

"Mrs. Weasley, I'm green! And itchy!" Teddy said as Molly bustled into the kitchen.        

"Well indeed, you are!" Molly replied as she poured bowls of soup for him and Harry. "But not to worry dear, we'll have you right as rain in no time. Eat up! You'll need your energy. You too, Harry, dear. You're looking quite thin. A good wind might blow you away."

Harry knew better than to waste his time protesting Molly taking care of the two of them, and after one sniff of the soup, he joined in with Teddy, eating hungrily.

"Thanks for bringing us soup, Molly. I really appreciate it. I was thinking that I'd have to order takeaway this evening."

Molly looked scandalized at the thought of a sick toddler eating takeaway. "Nonsense! I'll be sure to bring some more soup over tomorrow. It will make this little one start feeling a little more like himself." She gave Teddy a pat on the head and set the dishes to washing themselves with her wand.

Molly sat with Harry and Teddy at the dinner table for a while, going into exaggerated raptures as Teddy demonstrated his abilities to write his letters and numbers.

"How smart you are, Teddy! You'll be at Hogwarts before we know it."

Teddy looked at once proud and mildly embarrassed at the statement and looked to Harry for further approval. Harry smiled and ruffled Teddy's hair. After the dishes had been washed and dried, and the kitchen looked a bit cleaner than it had when Molly had arrived (though quickly she denied any additional spellwork and proceeded to change the subject), Molly stood to leave.

"Well, I must be off." She said as she double-checked her basket to make sure she had everything. "Arthur will be home soon, and I'll need to get dinner ready. Feel better, dear." Molly kissed Teddy on the top of his head and turned to hug Harry goodbye.

"I'll be around tomorrow to check on the both of you." She said as she grabbed a handful of Floo Powder.

"Thanks again for the soup, Molly. Teddy, what do you say?"

Teddy's little green face looked from Harry to Molly and then to the fireplace. "I want to go wif you to the Burrow! Can I?"

Neither Harry nor Molly had expected that response. A little surprised, Molly looked to Harry and saw him attempt to hide the slightly crestfallen look that passed over his face. Trying to avoid letting Harry know that she had seen it, she bent down to get a little closer to Teddy's eye level.

"You want to go to the Burrow with me?" Teddy nodded eagerly. "Well, Teddy, you know you're always welcome, but Victoire won't be there." She said, thinking that Teddy must have been missing his playmate. At this, Harry squatted down and placed a hand on Teddy's back.

"Is that why you want to go to the Burrow, Ted? You want to play with Vic?"

"I want to go see the treehouse. Harry doesn't have one." Teddy said matter of factly. Harry and Molly looked outside the sitting room window. There were several trees on the property, but as Teddy had mentioned, none of them held a treehouse.

"I don't, do I?" Harry rubbed Teddy's back, mulling things over in his head. "Molly, do you mind if Teddy and I come over and camp out in the treehouse today?"

Teddy gasped with excitement and threw his little arms around Harry's neck before looking back at Molly. "Please, Mrs. Weasley!"

Molly laughed. "Of course, you can. Arthur would love to see you both. How does treacle tart sound for pudding?"

"Excellent." Harry and Teddy replied. Molly chuckled to herself and straightened back up.

After Molly disappeared into the fireplace, Harry stood up and looked around. "Well, Ted, we'd better pack some things up for us to take to the Burrow. Go grab a few things, and I'll send a note to Ginny."

A few hours later, Harry and Teddy were sitting in the treehouse on a pallet of sleeping bags and pillows, reading the latest issue of Martin Migs the Mad Muggle. Teddy loved the silly stories and was sent into a giggling fit every couple of pages. He was right in the middle of one when they heard footsteps on the treehouse ladder.

"Looks like you two are having plenty of laughs without me. Did you save me any fun?"

"Ginny!" Teddy squealed as the redhead crawled over to them in the treehouse.

"Wotcher, Ted." She grinned before placing a kiss on his turquoise fringe. "Hello, love." She said as Harry leaned over to get a kiss of his own.

"How was training?" Harry asked, ignoring Teddy's groans of "yuck!" when the kiss lasted longer than Teddy preferred.

"It was good. Gwenog mostly had us go over some new approaches to next week's match. The Tornados' new beater is starting, and he's got a wicked aim."

"Can I go to the Quidditch match? I want to see the snitch!" Teddy asked as he crawled onto Ginny's lap. Harry beamed at Teddy's mention of the snitch and sent a smug look over to Ginny.

"We'll have to check with your Gran, Ted. But wouldn't you rather get more excited about the quaffle?" Ginny asked, glancing at Harry, whose mouth was now in a straight line.

"I like them both! But snitches are really fast and they get a bazillion points!"

"I suppose that to a four-year-old, 150 and a bazillion are quite close to the same thing." Harry said. "Nice try with the quaffle bit, though."

Ginny stuck out her tongue at him and then turned back to Teddy. "Is that your new issue of Martin Migs, Ted? Is it as funny as the last?"

After the rest of Martin Migs, a few dragon coloring pages, and one and a half rounds of Babbity Rabbity and the Cackling Stump, Teddy Lupin began to doze off. Ginny rubbed his back as Harry laid him down on the sleeping bag. "Poor kid. I remember when Ron and I had dragon pox. At least we had each other to play with."

"Yeah," Harry said as Ginny moved to sit on his lap. "When he mentioned that he wanted to come over, your mum thought that he wanted to play with Victoire."

"She also mentioned that you looked a little hurt when he said it."

Harry felt himself blushing subconsciously. "I had hoped that she didn't notice that . . ." He muttered under his breath. "I thought he was bored with me at first. Then he mentioned the treehouse, and I realized that it did seem a lot cooler than being cooped up in our sitting room all day."

"He adores you, Harry," Ginny said, pressing a kiss to his lips. "Believe it or not, even more than treehouses. And quaffles, apparently." She feigned a look of disbelief. 

Harry laughed. "Apparently."

Over the next few days, Teddy returned to his normal coloring and was ruled to be back in perfect health. Harry, still on cloud nine from spending the week with his godson, decided to stay home even on the days that Ginny didn't need to go to Holyhead and squeezed as many activities in as they could into their last two days together. They got ice cream at Florean Fortescue's, went to the joke shop to play with some of George's more toddler-friendly items, and went to the cinema in London. And then, almost too soon, Andromeda returned from Italy, and it was time for Teddy to go home.

The next weekend, Ginny awoke and instinctively backed closer to Harry, only to find that Harry wasn't there. She turned over and looked around where he should be lying and, confused, glanced around the room. She didn't hear any sounds of movement in the bath, and no sounds were coming from the kitchen. Getting out of bed, she pulled on her dressing gown and walked over to where they kept their calendar in the kitchen, but his work schedule showed that he didn't have to report to the Ministry today either.

Where had he gone off to?

She noticed a cereal bowl and a used coffee mug in the sink, the tea kettle on the stove, and smiled. She hadn't been able to pick up his coffee habit in the mornings and could only tolerate the stuff when she was in dire straits. But Harry had been there and grabbed a bite to eat before he went to wherever he had gone off to and had gotten the kettle ready so that she could have tea when she woke up.

Ginny pondered this as she poured a cuppa and heard a tapping noise. She walked over to the window and saw her husband standing on a ladder by one of the sturdier trees in their yard, hammering at a set of wooden planks. Wrapping her dressing gown more securely around her, she walked outside to the tree.

"I was wondering where you had gone off to."

Harry looked down at her and grinned. "I wanted to get an early start and didn't want to wake you."

"I noticed," she said, sipping her tea and smiling at him as he went back to working on the boards. This was one of the few moments outside of their time with their friends or family that he didn't look so burdened. "What is it that you are doing, exactly?"

"Teddy wants a treehouse." He replied simply. "Could you pass me that instructions page? The one by your foot?"

Ginny picked up the instructions page and handed it to Harry. She watched as he tapped it with his wand and caused it to hover in front of him. He squinted at it briefly and picked the hammer up again. There was a sudden intake of breath, and he stuck the pad of his thumb instinctually in his mouth before looking at it.

"Splinter." He said at her concerned look. Ginny examined his thumb as she pulled his wand off of the boards and tapped twice on the small sliver of wood lodged in his hand. The splinter shot out and into the air as the skin healed itself.

"I'm pretty sure you could have gotten one that was already made." Ginny said as she placed his wand back on the planks of wood that harry was assembling. "Or done it with magic."

He shook his head. "Some things are better done by hand."

"Your hands are quite capable, from my personal experience." She smirked before taking one last sip of her tea, noticing that Harry looked quite pleased with himself at the statement.

Read the rest on ao3.

[thessalian]

Molly!Warden vs the Architect’s Lair

Waking up in a jail somewhere

Molly: I ... am getting really sick ... of coming to in jail cells.

Sigrun: That’s your takeaway from this?!?

Molly: So I could focus on the fact that this darkspawn-feeling weirdo and a really badly tainted dwarf were apparently doing experiments on us--

Nathaniel; Sigrun: WaitWUT.

Molly: Well, I assume they were doing them on you guys too; I’m not going to pretend I’m so special that I’m the only one he’d poke at - though given Avernus’ concoction of ew, I figure I probably got double the poking--

Sigrun: Whose concotion of what? I’m pretty sure I read something about that in that Antivan smut in the library and--

Molly: Oh fuck no; he was a blood magic-supported fuck-knuckle and just no. Look, I will explain about supercharged Warden-juice later because it’ll probably have some bearing on things but right now I don’t want to focus on that shit because there are more important things.

Nathaniel: You are far too calm about this.

Molly: Yeah, and I’d like to stay fairly calm because I have got out of a lot of jails and I know from that asshole Leske that it’s hard to stage a jailbreak if you’re panicking. All right?

Velanna: Your ... being very strange. Is that due to being a Warden, or a dur’genlen?

Sigrun; Molly: Call it both; saves time.

Seranni: Erm ... if you’re done, can I get you out of here?

Velanna: Seranni! What did they do to you?!?

Seranni: Nothing!

Molly: We’re ... calling taint ‘nothing’ now?

Deeper into the mines

Molly: I understand it in Orzamarr, with all the old thaigs and everything. But not even surfacers can dig for five minutes without tripping over the remnants of ancient civilisations. Thedas as a whole is twisted, I’m telling you.

Nathaniel: We are charging through tunnels and ruins, trying to retrieve our gear from darkspawn--

Sigrun: Ghouls, technically.

Nathaniel: ...Yes, all right, fine, but in the face of all that, you’re talking about the architecture?

Molly: More the fact that there is architecture, but sure. It saves me from thinking too hard about the fact that my gear is the only gear we haven’t found yet! Leliana gave me that armour!

Sigrun: But ... you at least found better armour in that chest in the weird experiment room...

Molly: And if I was just retiring the armour Leliana gave me, that’d be great! But she gave that to me as a present and I got it enchanted seven ways to shit and now some darkspawn’s using it! And my sword! Alistair gave me that sword! He had it commissioned special and then I spent hours carving the runes for the enchanting and now some darkspawn’s waving it around somewhere and I’ve just got these basically serviceable blades I pried out of a hurlock’s cold dead hands!

Sigrun: ...Here. Take mine. It’s not the same, I know, but at least they’ve got the enchantments. I’ll take the darkspawn blades.

Molly: I ... don’t want to take your weapons, Sigrun; I--

Sigrun: No, really, go on! You’ve got skills I don’t, and deserve better than ‘pretty good’ weapons. Which these are, so I’m happy with them. Anyway, I like the idea of shanking darkspawn with their own weapons!

Velanna: Is there anything you dislike?

Sigrun: Darkspawn. I thought we covered this.

Nathaniel: Erm ... how are you on dragons? Because we are about to have dragons.

Velanna: ...Seranni?!? You’re going to let him throw dragons at me?!?

Molly: I mean, I have a sister and I get sibling rivalry, but this is ridiculous.

Stabnation: *ensues*

Following the dragon stabnation

Velanna: Make me a Warden so I can track the assholes who did this to my sister!

Molly: You do know that there’s a chance the Joining’s going to kill you, right?

Velanna: Now ask me if I give a fuck.

Nathaniel: I note you did not give that warning to the rest of us.

Sigrun: Yeah, didn’t you say something about it being a secret and everything?

Molly: Yeah, but three things. One: she was going to take the Joining no matter what I said so it wasn’t going to matter. Two: Nathaniel, you were going to be dead anyway so it wasn’t going to matter. And three: Sigrun, you consider yourself dead already and didn’t give a shit so it wasn’t. Going. To matter.

Velanna: And four ... I am Dalish. And your people consider me an apostate. And I am not ... erm...

Nathaniel: Personable in any recognisable way?

Velanna: That will serve, yes. So the fourth thing would be: who exactly would I tell? Trees, perhaps, but they are hardly scintillating conversationalists.

Sigrun: Surprisingly good murder machines, though!

Velanna: Ma serannas. ...I think.

Molly: Right. Okay. All aboard for Warden-Town, otherwise known as Vigil’s Keep. I want out of here before I get too tempted to scour this place top to bottom for my sodding sword.

Sigrun: We’ll talk to Herren. I bet he’d love to make you a better one!

Molly: I wonder what he’ll make me kill for the parts for that one...

((Something bugged out and Molly’s weapons and armour just kind of vanished into the void. So I headcanon.))

[morethanaprincess-a]

@electricea​ said:  ❤️ + 🎳

Send a heart and an emoji to go on a (platonic or romantic) date with Sonia!

“You know, I’ve never borrowed a pair of shoes before!” behind the three screens displaying scores, an in-alley video chat, and a game that involved defeating a digitized dragon with good bowling skills, Sonia chuckled as she waved to him. They were nearly midway through the game they’d started and each of her turns had been, well, rather terrible. But alongside having never borrowed a pair of shoes before, the Princess of Novoselic had never bowled before either. “It’s fascinating! I should’ve expected them to come from a vending machine but it’s still impressive that all one needs is a token and knowledge of the proper size. I’m always in awe of how automated Japan can make things.”

She hoped that statement wouldn’t apply to convenience stores, at least not in the near future and not the one he worked at. She could get her daily tea or a soda from a vending machine of course, there were plenty near her condo. But it wasn’t the same as going out of her way to go to Ryuji’s store specifically, to greet him that day and wish him well. Sometimes it was early in the morning and others, she sauntered in near midnight in cocktail or formal attire once again for a real meal or snack in takeaway containers. But mostly, it was to see him, a fact the blonde chose not to be terribly direct about. Such a thing was frowned upon in her home away from home and she struggled with such things now in her twenties. It was easier to be open about such things when she was younger, when there was less at stake. At least right now, all she had to worry about was defeating a digital foe over drinks and appetizers before they discussed what to do next.

On the screen, the virtual dragon let out a mighty roar as its health bar continued to decline. That meant he must have bowled particularly well on his turn to weaken their enemy. It had been her idea not to play against one another but with one another: something she’d seen in a recent drama and had inspired the interest in going bowling in the first place. That was how a lot of their outings came to fruition if Sonia was picking an activity: nine times out of ten, she’d seen it in a slice-of-life anime or a drama and wished to try it out for herself. Lucky for her, Ryuji seemed to be a good sport about it.

“Is it my turn now?” She asked, popping the last of a frite into her mouth. They’d likely both need proper sustenance at some point, but with ten floors of amusements to discover, Sonia found herself content with tiding herself over until a proper mealtime. A habit she never tried to partake in at home, but here, surrounded by sodas in dozens of flavors and comfort food? It was hard to resist. “I’ll give it my best try! Perhaps if I think of the bowling ball like a projectile? I simply seem to have trouble with my aim. I had no idea bowling balls were quite this heavy, and the actors made it look so easy on the show.”

It hadn’t occurred the Princess of Novoselic that, for the scenes when the group of friends go bowling and the lead characters shared a tense moment that involved form correction and the gentle touch of hips and arms, that stunt doubles were likely used. Or even professionals in the sport to make those who could bowl easily do so on screen.

[cardest]

Sydney playlist

And the winner is Si-da-nee! Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra, NSW...ah! The music from this part of the world is so good it is to be believed. I shared Melbourne yesterday and today (on Australia Day) I just had to go with one more. I know this Sydney playlist can reach 200 songs. It’s up to you! Let me know what bands or songs I missed. The songs branch out to Newcastle, Byron Bay, Broken Hill and down to Canberra and the Snowy Mountains.

SYDNEY

001 Icehouse - Harbour Town 002 Hard-Ons & Henry Rollins - let there be rock 003 Paul Kelly and the Messengers - Sydney From A 727 004 Cruel Sea -  4 005 Toe To Toe - Race Against Time 006 GANGgajang - Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia) 007 Celibate Rifles - Wild Desire 008 Johnny Cash - Fast Boat to Sydney   009 The Kinks - Australia 010 Rose Tattoo - Out of This Place 011 BB and the Blips - Lucky Country 012 Cold Chisel - Painted Doll 013 Mass Appeal - Inward Span 014 Mortal Sin - Women In Leather 015 HIEROPHANTS - Nervous Tic 016 Dragon - Blacktown Boogie 017 Mental as Anything - Blacktown To Bondi 018 The Scientists - Hey Sydney 019 Pat Wilson - Bop Girl   020 The Mexican Spitfires - Sydney Town   021 Arrowhead - Coven of the Snake 022 Models - Two Cabs To The Toucan 023 Box The Jesuit - Sleazo Peepshow 024 AC/DC -  Live Wire 025 Redgum - Parramatta Gaol 1843 026 Frenzal Rhomb - My City Of Sydney 027 Parramatta Hot Rod Man - The Satelite V 028 Radio Birdman - Murder City Nights 029 Bane of Isildur - Gates of Valhalla 030 Clouds - Bower Of Bliss 031 Lime Spiders - my favorite room 032 The Beasts of Bourbon - I’m So Happy I Could Cry 033 You Am I - High Chair 034 Louis Tillet - Carousel 035 Nic Dalton and his Gloomchasers - Okay Sydney You Beat me 036 The Saints - One Way Street 037 The Whitlams - You Gotta Love this City 038 The Executives - Summer Hill Road 039 Ratcat -  That Ain't Bad 040 Hoodoo Gurus - Leilani 041 Straight Arrows - 21st Century   042 Falling Joys - Parachute   043 Toys Went Berserk - Wheels In Motion 044  The Hummingbirds -  If A Vow 045 The Angels - Wasted Sleepless Nights Dark Room 046 Died Pretty - Stone age Cinderella 047 Sadistik Exekution - Mental Derailment 048 Newtown Jets team song 049 Do Re Mi  - Man Overboard 050 INXS - The Loved One 051 John Kennedy - Ghost of Newtown 052 Nazxul - Vow of Vengeance 053 The Go-Betweens - Streets of your town 054 SPY V SPY  - ONE OF A KIND 055 Tumbleweed -  Gyroscope 056 Kylie Minogue - Wouldnt Change A Thing 057 Mental As Anything - Live It Up 058 Divinyls - Good Die Young 059 Grungeon - Infernal Shelter   060 Hard-Ons - School Days 061 The Radiators - No Tragedy   062 The New Christs - Born Out Of Time 063 The Sunnyboys - Alone With You   064 The Triffids - A Trick Of The Light 065 The Takeaways - Sweet & Sour 066 COG - Bondi 067 Cold Chisel  - Tomorrow   068 Icehouse - Electric Blue   069 Midnight Oil  - Bring On The Change 070 Celibate Rifles - Darlinghurst Confidential 071 Radio Birdman - Do The Pop 072 You Am I -  Coprolalia 073 Cruciform - Sanctuary 074 Electric Pandas - Big Girls 075 The Saints - Just like fire would 076 Perry Keyes - The Day John Sattler Broke His Jaw Douly Stewart 077 The Bushwackers Band - Shores Of Botany Bay (double Douly Stewart action!!) 078 The Holy Soul - Family Magician 079 Mi Sex - Only Thinking 080 Beasts of Bourbon - Chase the dragon 081 Paul Kelly and His Messengers - Incident On South Dowling 082 Models - Out of Mind Out of Sight 083 Clouds - Alchemy’s Dead 084 The Go-Betweens - Lavender 085 Def FX - Surfers of the Mind 086 Skyhooks - Somewhere in Sydney 087 The Bamboos - Kings Cross 088 The Whitlams - Year Of The Rat 089 MINDSNARE - BURNING BLACK   090 David Bowie -  Let's Dance  ( Sean Steward ) 091 V Spy V Spy - Harrys Reasons 092 Hoodoo Gurus - Whats My Scene 093 Midnight Oil - Who Can Stand in the Way 094 Hard-Ons -  Girl In The Sweater 095 Goanna - Solid Rock   096 THY ART IS MURDER - Human Target   097 White Dog - Sydney Limits 098 Tumbleweed -  Hang Around ( Aje Morris ) 099 Mental As Anything - The Nips Are Getting Bigger 100 Icehouse - Great Southern Land 101 Divinyls - Only Lonely 102 Deborah Conway - Its Only The Beginning 103 Bastardizer - Up The Ante 104 Mi Sex - Computer Games   105 Sunnyboys - You Need A Friend 106 AC/DC - Heatseeker 107 Mortality - D. Form 108 INXS - Don’t Change 109 Naiad - Confidence 110 Crow - Railhead 111 Mass Burial - Etemmu 112 New Groove - Rockmelons 113 The Alarm   - New South Wales 114 Potion - Women of the Wand   115 Backyard Mortuary - Lure of the Occult 116 Girl Overboard - The Love We Make 117 Radio Freedom - I Can Feel It 118 Tex Perkins & Don Walker - Harry Was A Bad Bugger 119 Dragon - This Time 120 Slaughter Lord - Destructor 121 Alchemist - Dancing To Life 122 Happy Hate Me Nots - Salt Sour & Brighton 123 Downtime - Downtime 124 50 lions - To the test 125 Town Pants - New South Wales 126 INSURGE - Political Prisoners 127 GANGgajang - Gimme Some Loving 128 The Maviss - Thunder 129 MAD MAX 2 SOUNDTRACK - The Montage Main Title from the Road 130 Cruel Sea -  This Is Not The Way Home 131 Mortal Sin - I Am Immortal 132 Mad Max /Furry Road OST - Doof warrior   133 WHISKY SMILE - Old Mate Ernie Dingo’s Got My Baby 134 Falling Joys - Jennifer   135 Noiseworks - Burning Feeling 136 The Celibate Rifles - Tick Tock 137 Lime Spiders - scene of the crime 138 Died Pretty - out of the unknown 139 The Crystal Set - a drop in the ocean 140 Kings Of The Sun  - DROP THE GUN 141 Frozen Doberman - Dying Phase 142 Laura Imbruglia - Looking For a Rabbit 143 Scarymother - Lord of the Flies 144 Captain Cleanoff - Wizards Sleeve 145 Wa Wa Nee - Stimulation 146 Gods of Eden - From the End of Heaven 147 Rabbit - Too Much Rock N Roll 148 Balescream - Amnesia 149 Aeturnus Dominion - Aeturnus Dominion 150 The Screaming Jets - October Grey 151 Bob Hudson - The Newcastle song   152 The Poor Boys - Hey Man 153 Ilium - Orbiting a Sun of Sadness 154 The Seer - The Fall 155 Arse/Piss -  Churdburglar 156 Alchemist - Austral Spectrum 157 Redgum - Yarralumba Wine 158 Henrys Anger - Personality Test 159 Sidewinder - Titanic Days   160 Armoured Angel - Enigmatize   161 Midnight Oil - Kosciusko 162 The Church - reptile 163 Cog - Charades   164 Kim Salmon & the Surrealists - Lightning scary 166 Addictive - Pity of Man 167 Ilimitable Dolor - Soil She Bears 168 AC/DC - The Jack 169 The Angels - We Gotta Get Out of This Place 170 Celibate Rifles - O Salvation 171 Happy Hate Me Nots - Things wearing thin 172 Jack Forest - Every hour god sends 173 Mi Sex - But you don't care 174 Laura Imbruglia - looking for a rabbit 175 Hummingbirds - Blush 176 INXS - Kiss The Dirt (Falling Down The Mountain) 177 Yes I'm Leaving - Slow release 178 Rose Tattoo - Rock n roll outlaw 179 Asteroid B12 - True romance 180 Midnight Oil - bus to Bondi 181 Feedtime - Motorbike girl 182 The Bhagavad Guitars - I wanna know why 183 The Scientists - Blood Red River 184 The Crystal Set - cluster 185 Beasts of Bourbon - Chase the dragon 222 Deniz Tek - Run out of water 333 AC/DC - Jailbreak 666 TINA TURNER  -  We Don’t Need Another Hero (ThunderDome)

We are so close to 200 songs! Jump in and let’s fill the gaps together. PS: I don’t use Spotify because they don’t even half half these songs on their system.

[omnifatal]

Dragon Standard: Esper Control Deck Report

A friend of mine came up with an idea for a tournament some months ago. The concept was pretty simple, it followed the premise of the Khans of Tarkir block (minus the time travel, maybe): Dragons vs Everyone Else. It combined the aforementioned Khans block standard with the famous Dragonstorm Standard from Worlds 2007. The legal sets were:

Coldsnap

Time Spiral

Planar Chaos

Future Sight

10th Edition

Lorwyn

Theros

Born of the Gods

Journey Into Nyx

M15

Khans of Tarkir

Fate Reforged

Dragons of Tarkir

There were also some "Form of" cards legal, like Form of the Dragon, but I don't think anyone played them.

Pro Tour Dragons was one of the first I watched as a player, and I remembered the Esper Dragons deck from that year fondly and thought I'd replicate it in this format, with some powerful upgrades. I also really, really just wanted to cast Dig Through Time again. And so, the following list was born. (One of these days, I’ll figure out how to get the iframe to work). 

The person running the tournament (I use that term liberally, it was just the four of us playing here) did their own breakdown of my deck afterwords and I think they had a lot of good points. The biggest takeaway I had from the tournament was that making control in such an unknown metagame is really difficult. I drew inspiration (read: copied) from the successful Esper Dragons lists from the PT DTK era. Unfortunately, we were just a set or two off of the card that really cracked this deck in half: Jace, Vryn's Prodigy. 

As a result, I had to play a "gimped" version of the deck without the powerful Planeswalker, and many of the strategy and deckbuilding articles about Esper Dragons were from the Origins era, which didn't help me out. That said, I was pretty happy with my 75 going into the tournament. I'd known from previous times I'd played with this group to expect some kind of off-the-wall combo, hence the grave hate in the board. I wasn't super impressed by Anticipate, and I honestly thought Ponder would be enough card selection, paired with fetchland-powered Dig Through Time, to find me the cards I wanted when I wanted them. It turns out that wasn't the case.

As I said, playing control in a wide open, totally unknown format is tricky. This deck probably had the strongest finisher/anti-control tool in the format in Dragonlord Ojoutai, and in theory we had actual, factual counterspell in the form of Silumgar's Scorn. Crux of Fate could clean up any wide boards and Foul-Toungue and Hero's Downfall were solid removal options for big threats, and the former also doubled as a life buffer verses aggro. In hindsight, I was woefully unprepared for the aggro matchups, and I probably should have cut most of the walkers for more removal. Cryptic command, unsurprisingly to anyone who's tried to play triple colored cards in a format without the mainstay fetch-dual interaction, was hard to cast in a three colored deck. My mana base also ended up being a little too slow to keep up with some of the aggro decks, and while the life gain and scries were helpful, I felt like my scries often went to getting rid of extra lands and ended up making me too slow to actually be able to cast my sweepers and removal. Speaking of, who let me play 27 lands with only 4 Ponder as cantrips?!

All this is to say that the deck performed fine, but not fantsatic. I ended up taking second place to a super neat Naya Megamorph deck which very obviously poked at my lack of good removal and applied a quick clock with beaters such as Tarmogoyf and standard all stars Nest Invader and Den Protector to out-value my Digs and Cruxes.

In a reversal of the DTK timeline, the dragons lost this round. Although, to be fair, I was outnumbered 3 to 1. In the future, I'm probably not going to try and make a control deck for a pseudo-block format like this without a lot more thought, I really just stole an old list and shoved Cryptics and Ponders into it and expected it to work. This might have gone better if I'd just copied it whole cloth, as I'd at least have some better card selection and ratios of removal. But oh well, live and learn, right?

[matchamabs]

apparently theres some kinda ask meme going around and i got called the f u c k out by @pyrrhic-procastinator so lets see if i can do this right ok

1. List 3 things that make you happy.

im actually findin it hard to think of things christ. ok ok uhhh

1. buying old comics for my collection makes me pretty happy

2. crepuscular activities

3. drunk scrambled eggs

2. Which fictional character is most like you?

ok thats really hard bc there are lots of characters with lots of little snippets of me in them so its hard to find one that covers all bases but im gonna go with two that i think are the Most Notable.

- Asakusa Midori from Eizouken cuz we’re both raging autists with a trademark hat who acts like hot shit and then gets scared over absolutely nothin

- Jin Bubaigawara from BNHA n this one is like a special one to me ok cuz ive never seen a character (or anyone irl come to think abt it) who actually possesses one very specific quirk of mine n hes such a good depiction of what my daily life is like so i vibe immensely w him

3. What’s the thing you miss most since being in quarantine?

shaggin

4. Favourite snack?

i have phases of snacks tbh but i remember theres this one kind of christmas biscuit that they probably sold at lidls or smth and i havent eaten one in fucking y e a r s but i can still remember the taste and i could probably eat them forever

5. Describe your dream job.

Freelance animator for games and to work on my own series

6. Do you prefer being around people or enjoying your own company?

idk both but im normally more in need of alone time than together time so probably bein by myself right

7. What’s been the best day of your life so far?

last month i came 1st in tetris 99

8. Let’s get philosophical: what do you think happens when we die?

hole in the ground, black for eternity, family get drunk in a field for you, job done

9. If your house was on fire, what would be the one thing you would save? (The people and animals you live with are already safe)

i have this old double sided clock thing that belonged to my great grandma. its got a photo of her in it holding me as a baby. i dont think i could forgive myself if i let that get crispy

10. What’s the best way to win your heart?

cook with me, go thrifting with me, read comics with me and we’re probably already going out ngl

aw fuck i gotta tag ten ppl? i dont even know ten ppl. alright uhh lessee lets do @wrexingdrew my man aaaand @fucksplosion too ur sound as well lad @phantost how could i forget u but idk if this is still ur tumblr lmao. @frosty-tian idk if anyone else wants to take this on go right ahead but u better tag me ok

now for some questions hmm

1. whats ur favourite meme?

2. when u get takeaway, whats ur go to place to order from?

3. if u had to marry one of the wiggles, which one?

4. whats ur favourite type of weather?

5. what font do u hate the most?

6. if u were a dragon and had a hoard whats the hoard gonna be made of?

7. favourite studio laika film?

8. what decade aesthetic from the past century is ur favourite? (like roarin 20s or swingin 60s n stuff)

9. what shade of brown is your favourite?

10. would u like a jar of bees?

:))))) ur all mfin welcome lads. now apparently u gotta tag 10 ppl and write ur own 10 questions if u want but if ur lazy thats peng too 

[spiderdreamer-blog]

Addendum To Previous Dragon Prince Salt Post

-My intention is not to shame people who like the show, certain ships, or bits of representation, whatever my personal opinion on those might ultimately be (tldr: Runaan/Ethari is difficult for me to get behind because the elf cultures by and large are painted as needlessly dickish and I dislike them as a result, Janaya is fine but rushed/not developed enough onscreen thus far, Rayllum is mechanically fine but emotionally bland and ate up a LOT of valuable screentime this season). I like the show. I wouldn’t be so pissed/disappointed if I didn’t. If that was your takeaway, and you felt hurt, I apologize.

-It is technically true that there are two sides to any story of abuse, and that Aaron Ehasz may believe he did nothing wrong in the circumstances involving his various accusers. His belief, however, does not negate their belief that he caused them and others frequent emotional distress in the course of their various employments. Nor does it mean he is not currently attempting to manipulate the situation to his favor by dismissing the claims entirely rather than explaining his side in detail, which I quite heartily WELCOME, and further attempting to ingratiate himself into the fanbase by flattering them and blocking critics/dissenters. These traits can coexist.

-There is absolutely a double standard when it comes to content creators, particularly white cishet (afaik, Aaron doesn’t identify otherwise) men. Many get a pass on having personal or creative flaws that women, POC, queer, etc. artists, conversely, are absolutely savaged for or they just get shit made up about them. This is not to say something absurd like “those groups can never ever be criticized”, but many, especially on the Internet, ARE quicker to rake people/creators in those groups over the coals for real or perceived flaws than men like Ehasz. Many of those same creators also do not go to nearly the lengths that Ehasz has been proven to do in terms of interacting with the fanbase through social media in order to hype up the show. It is perfectly acceptable, to my mind, to answer public questions on platforms like Reddit, Twitter, and Tumblr, or say things like “hey stuff’s premiering soon, please watch!”. Things get much murkier when DMs or private chats get involved, and I find his habit for it troubling, to say the least.

-My goal as a self-appointed Fandom Elder is never to bully, but to educate. I’m not some Scroogeian miser shaking my cane from the uppermost window at people enjoying things that can have issues or the creators turn out to be not what you’d hoped. God knows I’m guilty of enjoying Le Artiste Problematique. And I know times are tough, that these works can bring joy to you if you’re in a dark place. My voice urges caution: do not let it become SO important that you minimize real harm it or its creators can do, even IF you might disagree on the particulars.

Stay safe out there, kids.

[simplyshelbs16xoxo]

‘The Adventure of Philip Anderson’ Chapter 8: Shot in the Dark

Through sickness, a second degree burn, and school draining my creativity, I finally managed to get this chapter written!

FFN | Ao3 | Buy Me a Coffee?

.

.

Sherlock was pacing back and forth almost manically. The wall behind the sofa was covered with crime scene photos, maps, and newspaper clippings. Molly even saw her own photo up there along with one awkward photo of the Holmes brothers. She was sitting in his chair by the fire, nursing a cup of chai and a book in her hand. Despite how much she tried, though, Molly simply couldn’t keep her attention on the story, having reread the last paragraph three times to make sense of it. A week had passed since the identity of the murderer was now known, and Sherlock had been working nonstop to track him down.

Molly shut her book closed loudly, a sight escaping her lips. “Sherlock, why don’t you take a moment away from the case, and actually eat something?”

“It’ll only slow me down—we need to catch Moriarty. He’s not as clever as his deranged brother, which is why he’s been laying low. Too much activity and he’s sure to be found,” Sherlock explained. He felt exhausted. The case was going nowhere. Feeling a bit lightheaded, he supposed Molly was right about him needing more sustenance—he hardly ate a morsel this past week.

“Your homeless network is scouring London for the man. Until he comes out from the shadows again, there isn’t much else to be done,” Molly told him. She stood up, leaving her now-empty cup and book on the table, and closed the distance between them. “Come to bed with me, Sherlock. You need some rest…we both do.” She was due to work a double shift starting bright and early in the morning.

He frowned in confusion. “I thought you wanted me to eat something?”

“I do, but if it’s between eating and sleeping, then at least get some rest if nothing else,” she replied, almost pleading. “What we need to do is wait until we get a tip from someone before he strikes again.”

“Order takeaway and eat it in bed?” he suggested.

“Best idea you’ve had all day,” she agreed.

.

.

“Mmm,” Molly remarked, happily swallowing the first bit of chow mein she ate from the carton, chopsticks in hand. “This was a great idea.”

Sherlock nodded in agreement as he ate, listening closely to the program on the small telly that now sat in his room. It was Molly’s, brought over from her flat. She was going to leave it, but Sherlock knew how she loved falling asleep to a favourite program sometimes, so he insisted they bring it along. They were watching an American show that could only be described as a conspiracy theorist’s wet dream. Despite the absurdity of the show, Sherlock found that he enjoyed it quite a bit.

“Do you think I’m spooky?”  The male protagonist—Mulder—asked Scully.

“We should do this,” Sherlock told her.

“Do what? Become FBI agents? Join the MI6?” Molly laughed.

“No—go out on the road, solving mysteries,” he explained.

“Isn’t that a bit Scooby Doo for you?” she asked, stuffing more chow mein in her mouth.

Sherlock smirked in amusement. “And for once, I got that reference.” He had loved the show as a child. It taught him that the real monsters were only human, and fed his compulsion to solve crimes.

They finished their food in companionable silence. When the episode finished, Molly reached out for her fortune cookie. She broke it open, her eyes taking in the words, a gasp escaping her lips. “Sherlock, open yours.”

“Molly, I don’t—“ His eyes widened when he read hers.

You’ll be next.

He scrambled to open his, forcefully breaking it apart. His fortune bore the words that the consulting criminal had spoken to him years ago.

I will burn the heart out of you.

.

.

Mycroft Holmes was having a fitful sleep. He felt as though something was wrong, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was. This brother of Moriarty’s that bore the same name—it was alarming. He was seeking revenge for his brother who he felt had died in vain all because Sherlock Holmes still lived. They were all targets supposedly, but it had been too quiet lately. Colonel Moriarty had been keeping a low profile, and rightly so.

His eyes fluttered closed in an attempt to fall asleep, and it worked for a bit until his mobile rang. Mycroft shot right up, noticing it was Anthea calling him. She never called him. He answered it, speaking her name in an uncharacteristically frantic manner. There was no direct reply, but he could hear her struggling, followed by a shatter of glass. She was fighting back whoever was attacking her. Mycroft didn’t wait another moment; he threw on the simplest outfit and was out the door in moments. The last thing he heard before the phone call ended was a gun shot.

.

.

Philip Anderson studied the wall of connections and theories he had concocted. It wasn’t dissimilar to the one he created whilst Sherlock was gone. What he had found out so far was that Colonel James Moriarty was a stationmaster up until three years ago when he had a psychotic break. It obviously runs in the family. He’s been taking out anyone who ever betrayed his brother. In Sherlock’s case, it wasn’t betrayal, but the fact that he was still breathing meant that Jim Moriarty died in vain.

If only he could discover where the stationmaster was hiding out, he’d have a lead for Sherlock to follow. He had a theory, but first, Anderson needed to find out the specifics from an expert. Who was that fellow that Sherlock and Molly spoke with for a case a while back? Philip wracked his brain, searching for the answer, and then it hit him. He looked up the number, dialing it into his mobile. “Ah, Mr. Shilcott, I have a couple questions for you.”  

.

.

When Mycroft arrived at Anthea’s home—a cosy little townhouse—he noted that there were no lights on from the windows he could see. The door had been left ajar, and he crept inside, making sure not to hit any of the creaky floorboards. He had memorised them from the many times he had been over here, needing a reprieve from reality. Just then, he realised that it wasn’t much different than Sherlock using Molly’s flat as a bolthole.  And just when he could possibly stumble across her lifeless form, Mycroft finally admitted the truth to himself: he loved her.

Please don’t be dead, he repeated in his head, silently mouthing the words. Little by little, he moved quietly through the house, his hand hovering above the pistol he never used, sitting in its holster that was clipped to his jeans. Soft sobs grew louder as he approached her bedroom door on the second floor, a dim light spilling out into the hall. He pushed it open slowly, and found Anthea, unharmed, crouched beside her bed. Despite the fact she had worked for him for years—almost fifteen now—Anthea had never been caught in the crossfire of a serial killer.

“Mycroft,” she called out in a broken whisper as the elder Holmes knelt down in front of her. “You need to be careful; he’s still in the house.”  

“I need to get you out of here,” he insisted. “I didn’t see anyone, but that doesn’t mean he’s not waiting around.” Mycroft attempted to scoop her up in his arms, but all was a blur what with Anthea screaming. A sharp pain ripped through him—well, not quite all the way through—and was that blood? He slumped forward, heavy footfalls running down the stairs and out the door most likely. The last thing he remembered was the warmth of Anthea’s tears splashing onto his skin.

.

.

“Oh God…”

“Less than an inch away!”

“…a lot of pain when he wakes up.”

“Don’t wait a moment longer.”

“Mycroft? Please wake up, darling.”

Bright florescent lights blurred then focused into view. Standing by the door was Sherlock in full crime solving attire sans Belstaff, and Molly only in her sleep attire, though his brother had thrown his coat over the pathologist’s shoulders to keep her warm. He felt a smoothness running over the back of his right hand, and turned to see the source of it. Anthea sat beside his bed, both of her hands holding his, her thumbs running across the back of it. Her face was blotched and swollen from crying, tears still running down her cheeks.

“Hey you,” she managed to choke out. “I thought you were lost to us.”

Mycroft finally remembered. “I was shot.”

“You were,” Sherlock’s voice cut through the tension. “The bullet was lodged within you, nearly missing your heart.”

“It was less than an inch away,” Molly added. “You were very lucky.”

Feeling his mobile vibrate, Sherlock answered it despite the name that popped up on the screen. “Anderson, what is it? There’s been—“ He listened closely to him, his face hardening. “I see. Good work, there may be hope for you yet.”

“What?” Molly asked. “What is it?”

Mycroft and Anthea only looked on in curiosity.

“Anderson’s found a lead on Moriarty—he may be hiding out in the old York Road tube station.” The station had been closed for decades—ever since 1932—but that was why it was a fitting hideout for a former stationmaster. “Don’t worry, brother dear, rest assured I will find him.”

Molly cleared her throat. “Don’t you mean ‘we?’” she asked. “I’m not letting you go this alone.”

“Molly, it’s too—“

“Dangerous? Risky? I know, Sherlock. That’s why you can’t go this one alone. You need backup—I know how to fight. You and Mycroft made sure of that,” she told him. “I’m not going to sit around and wait, wondering if you’ll ever make it back.”

Sherlock sighed in defeat. He knew she would just follow after him if they didn’t go together. And then what? They’d arrive separately, and it could put her in more danger than if she accompanied him. “Fine, but we’re stopping back at Baker Street first. You need a change of clothes.”

Before walking out the door, Molly turned back to Anthea. “Remember what Sherlock said…don’t wait a moment longer.” And they were gone, off to slay a dragon, as Mycroft would say.

“What did she mean by that?” Mycroft asked.

Anthea gave him a small smile, wiping at the tears that still stained her face. “I love you, Mycroft Holmes. Don’t you dare scare me like that again.”

A look of awe crossed his face, and though he didn’t respond verbally, he lifted her hand to his lips. It was enough to let her know he felt the same.

[sparda3g]

One Piece Chapter 956 Review

Wano Country Act II is over. It’s time for the next act that promised to be climatic and riveting. Before the chapter release, I had a hunch that perhaps Oda will shift the scene to elsewhere; taking a small break from Wano and begin building up to other world problems. Fortunately, my hunch was spot on, but the development is not what I’ve expected. It’s a whole lot bigger than I anticipated.

The chapter can be considered as intermission report. When it comes world building, leave it to Oda to overwhelm his fans with crazy amount of developments. When you have a chapter titled, “Big News,” it’s going to be far more than a character reference. As soon as the chapter opened up with Fishman Island, it hits me the notion that Reverie is done. It was bad enough that it shifted to Wano Country before the fun began, Oda continue to toy with fans’ expectations. After this chapter, it now occurred to me that Reverie wasn’t going to be full of reveals, but instead, full of secrets.

Garp continues to be the best man from the meeting with his kindness to escort Neptune and his family. They briefly discuss the meeting that can be best described as the usual government misfit or in other words, the usual day at the office. There’s a ruckus between countries’ leaders, which was expected. Funny how Oda drew a Hitler-esque character design for one of the leaders. Even if they join hands, it’s not like they hold back their ill intention. Based on the discussion, Reverie would have left off as a simple debate that has no need to be explored. Then, the real entrée appears with the reported incident that happened soon after it was adjourned, and it involved with Kingdom of Alabasta.

This one got me thinking like crazy. Worst of all, it’s not even addressed what exactly. My best guess is it has something to do with the World Government and Im. I remember vividly that he was carrying the poster of Vivi in his hand; highly foreshadowing his next action revolve with her. Not to mention, when he sat on the throne, we don’t know what he has in mind, but to me, it has to be about Alabasta. What is exactly? I don’t know. I have seen fans speculating Cobra was murdered or Vivi has disappeared. It’s extremely vague and I curse Oda for toying with my head. Not really, but damn, he knows how to temper fans’ feelings.

Morgans has been busy with tons of headline news and there’s no stopping. That is until an assassin, a CP member to be exact, from World Government threatens him to stop or else, well, prepared to die. Shockingly, Morgans is strong enough to beat up an official, so his words will spread on. There’s couple of takeaway from this. One is that he admits that he has spread lies in his news before, yet also decide when not to. You may be thinking, “That’s journalist for you.” You may be right, but the intention is whether to believe the next news is true or not. More on that very soon.

The second is he’s targeted by World Government. In a way, Morgans can be considered as a wild card, where he can report something valuable for us fans, or deceive us for falsified report. I guess you can say he will spoon feed us the plot whether it’s true or false. Lastly, the scene ends with a cliff note of him receiving another news from King Wapol. It could be important or not. Once again, it ended before anything was revealed. Speaking of unrevealed, the news that is spreading across the world is vague for fans, but more importantly, something has happened with Sabo.

There’s two important details to consider. One is Sabo was caught in the midst of Reverie. The last time we last saw him was him trying to sneak in. According to the news, Sabo was reported in a way that upsets the Revolutionary Army. It could mean either he is captured or worse, he’s dead. Going back to Morgans, he stated that he is willing to falsify news for sake of drama that ultimately translate to profit. Dragon wasn’t going to buy it just yet, but it is very alarming. This ploy is tempering the fans’ emotions. While I don’t believe it, it is hitting me with concerns. Poor Koala. Killing a pairing before it sets sailing. No pun intended.

The second important part is the world now knows Sabo is or maybe was alive. It’s why Oda intentionally showcase the world’s reaction towards Sabo. Now, everyone knows. If he returns, this will spark huge news. DoFlamingo can only laugh at the downfall of the world and that’s enough for him to be satisfied. So much for coolest guy ever idea, eh? The report on Sabo is a mystery and very concerning; however, that’s not all what Oda wants to exploit here.

I know I have said, “There’s couple or two” here and there, but there are tons of important key elements in this chapter. It’s mind-blowing to be honest. With that said, there’s more. While sailing with Marines, Coby is seen speaking to someone to update the status of the world and to me, it sounds like we only got a small portion of what transpired from Reverie. Wano Country may not be the focus here, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing crucial to learn here.

X Drake is confirmed to be a double agent for Marine; the man who is currently speaking to Coby. This blows my mind. I knew somehow the Marines would get involved with this arc and it’s only getting started. Now that he told them about the dangerous alliance of Kaido and Big Mom, they’ll take action. But the surprise doesn’t stop there. Apparently, CP0 member is in Wano Country right now. What the hell? Too much hype. But seriously, who can it be? Lucci? The point is, the Government is now invading Pirate-ruled country. Something huge is going to happen soon. Speaking of huge, there is one huge development. This series can’t rest at all.

I was confused when Coby said he was going to see Hancock and arrest her. This is clearly intentional to leave the fans going, “Huh?” Maybe the explanation would have been the Government learned about her helping Luffy. Then it gets more confusing when a person (nick) name dropped three Shichibukai members. Then, the truth comes out. The Shichibukai System is officially over. Now, that’s how you drop a major development.

The privilege for those pirates is over; like losing an insurance from a newly established law until the next passing. That one marine practically summarized Buggy with one line, “You’re now a lowly pirate.” You can say that again. Hilarious how Buggy acted like the boss, as if he is not intimidated, yet his inner mind is already set to escape, leaving his men to die. That marine fellow really hit the bullseye with that remark.

Mihawk is now targeted, though this excites me because now, he can roam freely. We can expect his involvement sometime later and that has me hyped. Imagine him meeting with Zoro with his new sword, Enma. Whitebeard Jr. is targeted. This is now a really good time to prove his worth. Is he strong as his name should be or is he just a fake, like I still predict he is? Lastly, Hancock is targeted by Coby. I really wonder who is stronger between the two. I wonder if the topic on Luffy will be brought up there. Perhaps it’s a way to excuse her if she somehow loses. So many expectations; the worst Oda can do is off-screen all conflicts. Sadly, I’m prepared for the likely direction.

This chapter was one massive info dump with tons of new developments. This series continue to build its world in a very exciting way, while also developing more excitement lurking within Wano Country. With the mystery of Alabasta and Sabo, along with the end of Shichibukai, it’s hard not be incredibly interested. I should mention about Blackbeard. It appears that he’s ready to recruit someone from former Shichibukai. This series just keeps on giving. Oda is set to obliterate Marineford War Arc, and if this is where he begins to build to that expectation, it’s going to be glorious. What a time for me to return to review.