#LET'S GET THIS TRAIN CHOO CHOO-ING >:D

[mossmx]

Quick, while bbc merlin is trending!! have this random old study sketch I did of florist!Percival with tattoo-artist!Gwaine!!!

[willow-asin-winnie]

The German Dick Grayson Playlist

You guys missed me and my yapping yet? Well, good and bad news, one: I have enough stuff to procrastinate on to work on this again and two: I have so much stuff to do??? It's horrible. But! The yap-train is choo choo-ing again. Enjoy!

You can find the playlist here. If you wish to read it somewhere else, check it out on ao3!

The masterlist <3

Major Tom (…völlig losgelöst) (“Major Tom” (Coming Home)) by Peter Schilling

Some of you might actually know this song! Originally published in German and later translated into English to reach a wider audience, the lyrics have seen some slight changes to fit better into the song. I highly recommend listening to the German version and you’ll get my commentary of course :D

I think this song nicely reflects his evolution from Robin into Nightwing over the years. Batman is relying on him, but over time he recognizes flaws in Batman’s actions, choosing to separate himself from him, choosing to travel and familiarize himself with the people he wanted to save and protect. He develops his own views on his works, his own priorities – he let’s go of his earth’s orbit: Completely detached, regardless of his work as Robin. Also, drifting through space is a nice metaphor for him floating through the night skies, through the circus tent, no?

Notable lyrics (please notice I took the liberty to literally translate some of the original German lyrics, as they illustrate my point much better than the lyrics of the English version): “But what is it all for?’ Thinks Major Tom”: “Back at control, panic breaks out / The course of the space capsule is all wrong / Hello, Major Tom, can you hear me? / Do you really want to destroy the project like that? / But he can’t hear”; “Completely detached from earth/ the spaceship floats / weightless”

Egoist (“Egoist”) by JEREMIAS

Staying on the topic of him doing his own thing, I want to bring this song into the conversation. Now, I am aware not all of this fits 100%, but there’s some lines I think fit on Dick really well.

I’ve always thought of him as a freedom loving person, someone that wants to stick to what he thinks is right. And sometimes, you have to be a bit of an egoist to be that. Is that bad? Maybe, maybe not. But it is the way it is.

Notable lyrics: “It hurts to go now / but it’d be worse / to stay”; “I like the new streets and the smell / the stranger voices and the stranger air”; “One half ghost / one half child / I think my role model / has always been the wind”; “If it’s about freedom, I’m an egoist”

Echt (“Real”) by Glasperlenspiel

Nightwing’s relationships have been… rocky, to say the least. From breakups to situations with dubious consent, I can’t help but get the feeling he finally craves something perfect – something real.

Notable lyrics: “I can’t quite believe it yet / but you’re standing right here in front of my eyes / I want that everything between us isn’t just the heat of the moment / I want that everything here is real(ly) / perfect”; “And I believe that it’s better / if I can feel it / for just this moment / all my doubts are gone / because it’s real”

Lasse redn (“Let them talk”) by Die Ärzte

A song perfectly capturing not only how much people will gossip about Dick Grayson and Nightwing, but also actually reflecting how rumours spread and that it’s sometimes better to just ignore it.

I can’t imagine that being adopted by Bruce Wayne has gone down without a bit of gossip. Dealing with it is something that you have to learn and that also applies to him. Thinking back once again to his rather eventful and very imperfect relationship and sex life… The lyrics hit closer than you might think at first.

Notable lyrics: “You don’t even really know their names / while they run their mouths about you”; “Let the people talk / Most people have nothing better to do / Let the people talk, day and night / Let the people talk, that’s what they have always been doing”; “Did you hear and say, did you know? / Hear: You make your money via prostitution / You apparently stand in front of the bus station / the colleague of a brother-in-law saw you there”; “As long as people talk, they do nothing worse / you can afford a bit of pretense / stay friendly and say nothing / that’s going to piss them off most”

Ich warte auf dich (“I wait for you“) by Bosse

Dick Grayson is many things: Trapeze artist, hero, friend. But most of all, he is a (imperfect) brother. Far from perfect, but throughout the comics we see him trying, we see him giving his best. He will wait for all of them, keep a light on for them, no matter how chaotic their previous experiences with each other were.

He wishes so much for his siblings to accept that, doesn’t he?

Notable lyrics: “We loved, we hated, we made up / … / like pitch misses sulfur”; “I wait for you / I wait for you / For you the light will always burn in my hallway”; “Sometimes I hope so much, that the doorbell rings / That you stand there with your suitcases / As if you only went on vacation”; “Please come back and make peace with me / ey, come back and live with me / let’s go back to sharing everything”

Nur noch kurz die Welt retten (“Just need to quickly save the world”) by Tim Bendzko

Dick is stubborn, hard working to the point of overworking himself, he’s responsible. There is so much he wants to do, should still to. His standards for himself are high and while this song might fit on Batman too, I think it fits him better. Just see for yourself.

Notable lyrics: “I just need to quickly save the world / After I’ll fly to you / Just need to check 148 mails / who knows what’ll happen after, so much happens”; “Out there, they need me / They underestimate the situation / Maybe our life depends on it”

Luftbahn (“Air Train”) by Deichkind

Originally a song about death/suicide, I think you can also interpret this song as an appreaciation of the feeling of weightlessness. I can imagine Nightwing swinging through the nights, feeling like this song.

Notable lyrics: “We ride by air train through the night / The moon only shines for us / Shortly, we'll have made it / And all the problems  / On earth / Lie in great distance to us”

Allein in Amsterdam (“Alone in Amsterdam“) by Blackmonk

Full of fresh hope, Nightwing takes off to Blüdhaven. But is it everything he ever wished for, alone in the new city?

Notable lyrics: “Never stopping is draining one quickly / And I know you see how I leave / I drift away from time, stop walking / Look around and I realise what’s missing / But I go / And now I’m alone in Amsterdam”

Fern (“Far away”) by Streichelt

Notable lyrics: “ Maybe one day we’ll look at each other / Only to notice we are missing memories / of what was, of what pushed us”, “You’re always here / but never there / Yeah, you’re so far away, so far away, so far away, so far away”, “No talk of peace / War is everywhere”, “Do you still hold me dear?”

Bitch (do I really need to translate this?) by Von Wegen Lisbeth

Will I ever not have more songs about Richard’s fights with Bruce? Probably not. Because this is yet another one of them.

A lot of stuff happens all the time and you can always try to distract yourself with them. But in the end, you sometimes happen to think of *them* again. That’s the song, bitch. (There is actually much more subtlety to the song, but you know. The essence.)

Notable lyrics: “And what else happened? / When I went into the kitchen / Three minutes before half past seven / I didn’t think of you”, “Bitch, for you / I ran the whole way / the whole way alone”

Bruttosozialprodukt (“Gross National Income“) by Geier Sturzflug

Nightwing is a work human. He works a lot, he works well, he works. And although his nightwork might not be directly contribute to the GNI, it definitely does indirectly.

Notable lyrics: “The nurse gets a real fright / Another sick person is gone / She amputated his last leg / And now he's kneeling in again”, “Yes, then spit on your hands again / We increase the gross national product / Yes, yes, yes, now it's time to spit on your hands again” (Note: to spit in ones hand is an idiom to symbolize going to work without hesitation and with some sort of enthusiasm. Possibly translatable with “to knuckle down” or “roll up ones sleeves”.)

Du bist schön (“You are beautiful”) by Alligatoah

Here I am, once again, removing a song from it’s actual context. Oh well.

Nightwing is ruthless, let’s be real. Especially as Robin. Let’s not kid ourselves. And the cheerful tone while insulting someone as dumb? Screams Dick Grayson.

If you are interested, the song’s pretty genius and is about the clothing industry! It’s making it hard to translate too. “Dafür kannst du nichts” can mean both “You can do nothing” or “It’s not your fault”. Alligatoah does a lot of stuff like that, his songs are pretty interesting, even though he recently started pursuing a bit of a new direction with his music.

Notable lyrics: “You are beautiful / but in return know nothing / Not reading or writing or anything else / You are beautiful / but in return know nothing / and it’s not even your fault”

Honorable Mention: Atemlos durch die Nacht (“Breathless through the night”) by Helene Fischer

Now. Schlager is the German country. You either like it or you don’t or you’re a normal person and recognize there’s gems in every genre even if you don’t like it. Anyway, someone commented this on the last playlist and honestly? They’re right. Thanks @levysaurier for the suggestion haha.

Wild nights, baby.

Notable lyrics: “Breathless through the night / Feel what love does to us / Breathless, free of lies / Great show for us two / Today we're everlasting, thousands of feelings of happiness”, “We are inseparable, in some way immortal / Come take my hand and go with me / Come on, we climb the highest roof in this world / Just hold what sticks us together, oho oho”

(Have I ever mentioned my grandfather is a die hard Helene Fischer fan? He exclusively listens to SWR4 (Schlager radio station) as well.)

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed the playlist :D

[hiddendreamer67]

Last thought before I fall unconscious: human twins Roman and Remus find some tinies and treat them as toys. Roman dresses them up and makes them kiss like dolls. Remus straps them to the tracks of his toy train. Choo-choo motherfucker >:)

(that last line ‘Choo-choo motherfucker’ gets me every time oml XD anyways here’s the prompt for the week, posted a day early!)

Check out more of my writings at @hiddendreamerwriting!

Warning: gross. Remus being Remus again. Also injury.

——————————————————————————————————

“Alright you two, that’s enough!” Their mother scolded, nearly booting the twins outside the door. “Go play outside for a while.”

Roman glared at his brother. “It’s your fault.”

“My fault?” The child in question gasped dramatically. “You’re the one who wasn’t playing right.”

“Fairy tales are supposed to have happy endings!” Roman stomped his foot.

“That’s boring.” Remus groaned. “Why doesn’t the dragon ever get to eat the hero?”

“Ugh, you’re so gross.” Roman stuck out his tongue.

“You’re the one that’s gross.” Remus stuck his own tongue out. “Who cares about a dumb wedding? That’s a stupid ending.”

“You’re a stupid ending.” Roman retorted creatively. He dodged, watching Remus bring his tongue closer. “AUGH! Don’t lick me! MOM!”

“Mom can’t hear you.” Remus taunted.

“Well then she can’t hear you either.” Roman said, giving his brother a shove.

“Augh!” Remus panicked, grabbing onto Roman’s sleeve and unbalancing them both to go tumbling down the hill.

“Owwwww…” Remus whined, having crashed them both into a bush. Roman was rubbing at his head as well. “That one was your fault.”

“Remus, shhh.” Roman blinked, spotting something just beyond their crash landing. Remus was mercifully quiet, noticing Roman’s conspiring smile.

There, in a clearing just entering the forest, the twins spotted four individuals each hardly larger than their little hands. The group sat atop a circle of mushrooms, levitating tiny teacups between them and giggling as their wings danced in the sunlight.

“Fairies.” Roman whispered, as if it wasn’t already obvious.

“I want the green one.” Remus decided, pointing.

“That’s not green, that’s yellow.” Roman rolled his eyes.

“It’s green if I want it to be green.” Remus stuck up his nose.

“Uh oh.” Roman hushed. “I think they noticed us.”

Indeed, there had been a fluttering of wings, and now the fae were all glancing at the bush that served as their hiding space. The one dressed in periwinkle petals took a few steps forward, trying to peer into the darkness.

On three. Roman and Remus seemed to agree, nodding with their twin telepathy. One…two…

“AAAAAH!” Remus came charging out, startling all the little things so much that it was easy to dive and surround all of them. Roman lunged his arm out, grabbing the one closest to the bush in his fist.

“Don’t crush them!” Roman protested, standing to emerge from the bush. He watched as Remus scooped them all towards himself and made a sort of basket with the front of his shirt.

Remus giggled, his clothing wriggling as he held the makeshift pocket closed. “They tickle.”

Roman couldn’t help but agree. Just the one trying to flutter out of his hand tickled his fingers pleasantly with its nervous struggles. “Aww, you’re so cute!” Roman cooed, bringing the fairy higher. “It’s okay, little fairy, I’m not gonna hurtcha.”

“I’m gonna take these back to my room.” Remus decided, carefully beginning to waddle back up the hill.

“Our room- hey! You can’t have all three!” Roman’s arms swung at his sides, jostling the fairy as he ran to catch up with his brother.

“Finders Keepers.” Remus teased.

“Well, I found them, so then they’re all mine.” Roman argued.

“You can have one.” Remus relented, the twins by now used to sharing, even if Remus liked to take larger portions. “And not the green one.”

“Yellow one.” Roman stuck his arm out. “Wait, stop. You can’t go in the kitchen, mom will see us.”

“…to the window!” Remus cried instead, running towards the side of the house. Here the twins could look through the glass, seeing their room perfectly split in half. On one side the walls were red, with Roman’s golden bed pressed into a corner and an army of stuffies surrounding it like a true knight. On Remus’ side the walls were puke green, and had an assortment of beheaded stuffies that were both his own and any of Roman’s unfortunate enough to find themselves on Remus’ side of the bedroom.

“Ugh, it’s too heavy.” Roman grunted, trying to push open the window with one hand. “I can’t believe I’m saying this to you, but open your shirt, let me put this fairy in too.”

As much as Remus liked taking off his shirt, he shook his head. “No way! Then all of mine will fly away.”

“All of ours.” Roman growled, already sick and tired of how Remus was trying to claim his find. “So, then what are we gonna do? We can’t have this one flying away, but I need both my hands.”

“I know somewhere you can put it.” Remus’s tone was too mischievous to be taken seriously, and sure enough a moment later he opened his mouth wide. The fairy in Roman’s hand really began to panic then, its eyes wide and a string of chittering bell sounds frantically coming out.

“Stop it, you’re so gross!” Roman rolled his eyes. He thought about closing Remus’s mouth himself, but feared being licked. Remus just laughed, amused at both reactions.

“Alright, um…” Roman looked down at himself, trying to find a solution. His pants had pockets, but none with buttons so surely the fairy could just fly right out. Instead Roman set the fairy on the ground, raising his foot up. The fairy gave a shriek so high-pitched it hurt Roman’s ears, but he just gently set his shoe down so that he was pining the fairy by the wing.

“There!” Roman smiled, proud of his solution as he stood back up. Roman tried to keep his footing secure, not wanting to slip and fall onto the actual fairy as he pushed against the bottom of the window. Finally the panel slid open, leaving a gap big enough for a child to climb inside.

“Me first!” Remus declared, shoving Roman aside to clamber on in. Roman pinwheeled his arms, trying to keep his balance. The boy managed to stay upright, but in his fight to do so Roman felt his foot twist, and the fairy gave another wail.

“oh no!” Roman sunk to the ground, quickly gathering up his fairy. His heart sank, seeing there was now a large tear along what had once been a pair of beautiful, shimmering iridescent wings. “Oh little fairy, I’m so sorry…” Roman’s sadness turned to anger, the boy climbing through the window with the tiny person cradled to his chest. “Remus, you dung beetle, you broke him!”

“Not my fault.” Remus shrugged, looking unapologetic. “You stepped on him.”

Roman kept muttering curses at his brother, setting his fairy on the window ledge while he closed the window. At least he didn’t have to worry about him flying away again.

“Don’t worry little fairy, I’ll help you.” Roman assured him, rushing over to his crafting table. He shoved the mess to the side, clearing a space as paints and glitters tumbled everywhere. “Nurse!”

“Nurse yourself.” Remus responded, busy on his side of the room dumping the other fairies into a pillowcase. He tied it up, giving the container a few shakes for good measure.

Roman grabbed the craft glue, pining the injured wing down with his fingers. The fairy tried to pull away but Roman just shushed him, smearing the sticky substance all over the rip. “Ugh, Remy, you’ve ruined it! His wing doesn’t look pretty anymore.”

“Can I have it then?” Remy came over, peering over Roman’s shoulder. The struggling case was dragged along at his side.

“No, he’s still the prettiest.” Roman declared, pulling out some rainbow glitter. He opened the bottle, dumping the contents onto the glue. “There. It’s…better.”

“It looks gross.” Remus stuck out his tongue.

“Whatever, you’re gross.” Roman looked at the pillowcase. “Remus, let them out, they’re gonna suffocate.”

“You promise?” Remus teased, but the two boys went over to Roman’s bed that was much more clean for the occasion. Remus gave the bag another shake, making sure the fairies were disoriented before dumping them onto the bed.

“I call the purple one- OW!” Roman flinched back, cradling his wrist to his chest. “It bit me!”

“Good boy.” Remus gave a pleased smile, grabbing the purple one to dangle by its leg so its teeth were out of reach. His other hand had possessively grabbed the yellow one, pressing it happily to his cheek.

“Whatever, you can have your messed up fairies.” Roman grabbed the last one, all dressed in dark blue. He seemed to match Roman’s other fairy anyways, almost as if they were meant to be a pair. “Aww, aren’t you cute~? I’m gonna make a home for my lil’ guys.”

“They’re not gonna want to live in one of your creations.” Remus gagged, thinking of his brother’s gaudy structures.

“They’re not gonna live at all if you try to make them a home.” Roman had seen Remus’ handiwork in the past. His dollhouses tended to be more like deathtraps, while Roman liked to make them into mansions.

“Is that a challenge?” Remus smirked. He wiggled the purple one back and forth. “Wanna test your luck in the death castle, little fairy?” The fairy hissed at him.

“Now-“ Roman used his decree-ing voice, sounding very official as he carried the blue one back to the crafting table. “If you two are going to be living together, we simply must have a wedding first.” Roman wasn’t sure if that was a rule, but it certainly should be in his opinion. Who doesn’t want a wedding? Why aren’t there weddings every day, anyhow? Roman had been asking such questions ever since the family attended the ceremony of a distant cousin earlier in the month, and his parents never seemed to give him a straight answer.

“Those are both boy fairies.” Remus pointed out. “You can’t have a wedding.”

“Boys can love boys!” Roman stomped his foot. He would just have to improvise. Roman grabbed his wedding dolls from his bin, holding the dark blue fairy underneath his leg while he worked to undress the dolls. Satisfied, Roman took the fae and shoved him into the tuxedo.

“He looks ridiculous.” Remus gaffed, watching as he sat cross-legged on Roman’s bed.

“Get off my side, you cretin!” Roman screeched, pointing to the other half of the room. Remus rolled off the bed, hurrying over to his side.

“Now, what to do with you?” Remus hummed, holding out both his fairies upside down. The purple one had begun to look a bit purple in the face, being held upside down so long. In fact, like this, Remus thought he almost looked like a popsicle.

What do fairies taste like, anyhow? Remus wondered, turning his fists upside right again to gain a better grip. Remus was no stranger to putting things in his mouth; he was a very curious child and would often test what things were by giving them a good lick. It was not surprising by this point in his life that Remus had consumed quite a large amount of dirt.

So, once the question entered his brain, Remus knew he needed answers. He lifted both of his hands, weighing them like a scale to decide who should go first. Of course, it was really no question, considering Remus had a favorite.

“Ah~” Remus let his tongue hang out of his mouth, bringing the yellow-green one up to his mouth and giving the fairy a big lick. Remus recoiled at the bitter taste, but the fairy’s reaction alone made it worth it. His hair stuck up wildly from Remus’s saliva, eyes wide with shock and mouth forming a perfect ‘o’. Remus gave a large belly laugh, nearly toppling over in his amusement.

“Alright, your turn.” Remus taunted, raising the purple one above his head to dangle above his mouth. It was already flailing, and Remus felt pleasure in watching its struggles increase as he lowered it in.

“Your turn for-? REMUS!” Roman shrieked, looking over to see Remus sucking on something and a pair of purple legs kicking wildly outside his lips. “Spit him out!”

“Mm-mm!” Remus shook his head, and though he cringed at the terrible flavor Remus couldn’t help but smirk triumphantly at his brother through his pain.

“I am not letting you anywhere near mine if that’s how you treat them.” Roman huffed, turning back to his work. The injured one seemed to be glued to the table, and Roman was trying to scrape it up with the edge of a paintbrush. The dark blue one was impatiently waiting in the overturned paint jar, pounding on the glass to get Roman’s attention.

Finally Remus spat the purple one back into his hand. It shivered in the air-conditioned environment, probably extra cold now that he was drenched in spit.

“Alright fairies.” Remus used his own voice of decrees, stomping over to his train table. “I think I know another game we can play.”

“Again, if you lose yours, that’s it.” Roman insisted, shoving a struggling periwinkle fairy into a wedding dress. The outfit had once been white, but Roman had long since scribbled over it in a rainbow of marker to try to make the ensemble less boring.

“They can take it.” Remus shrugged, pulling out some string. He disconnected a piece of track, tying the fairies to it with practiced ease. This was a common game they played, with Roman playing the heroes trying to save the damsel dolls tied to the tracks and Remus being the constructor urging the train on. When they played on Remus’ half of the room, the dolls often lost.

“Wait a minute, I’m nearly done!” Roman whined, not wanting to miss it despite himself. He threw some paper confetti into the air, watching it sprinkle down. “Okay, you’re married. Nowwww, kiss.” Roman took a fairy in each hand, shoving their little faces together a couple times to imitate a kissing motion. Their noses scrunched up, but Roman thought their lips touched once so that was good enough. “Okay my hero husbands are ready!”

“And my victims are ready.” Remus placed the track back into place. He grabbed the controller, turning on the train. The lights turned on and the machine’s whistle sounded, making both fairies tied to the tracks begin to squirm.

“Hey, maybe they actually stand a chance!” Roman perked up, excited by the idea of a happy ending. “I’ll set my fairies down, and we’ll see if they can untie them in time.”

“Fine by me.” Remus shrugged, already chugging his train along at full force. The rumbles it sent through the tracks made the struggles increase.

“Alright, go little fairies.” Roman urged, setting his blue fairies down. Instantly both fairies began tugging at the ropes, trying to save their friends. “So, how do we know if they lose?”

“The train crashes into them.” Remus grinned.

“Remuuuuuus.” Roman groaned. “You can’t do that! We don’t want to hurt them.”

“It probably won’t hurt them.” Remus lied, pushing the train to go even faster. He pressed the whistle again, watching all four tiny people jump. The train was getting closer, the clacking making the fairies’ hands slip as they struggled to undo Remus’ solid knots.

Roman bit his lip, trying to judge how far away the train was. If Remus was going to act all stupid again, Roman didn’t want his fairies to end up in harm’s way. The train rounded the corner, and seeing that the knots were nowhere near undone Roman quickly gathered up his fairies for safety. Both of them struggled, trying to get back onto the tracks the silly things.

“Choo choo!” Remus declared, driving the train full steam ahead. In three…two…one…

“Haha!” “Aww….”

Both boys had very different reactions when the train rammed into the fairy’s side, only to harmlessly bounce off onto the tracks. Just like with the dolls, the train was just not strong enough to drive straight through and likely did no more damage than a little bruising to the yellow one.

“Fate chooses the side of good once again!” Roman gave a victory fist pump.

“For now.” Remus bent over, untying his living toys. He wasn’t that upset the train hadn’t worked; it only meant he could have even more fun with his fairies.

[jq37]

May we have a recap, please? :)

**spoilers for panic at the art show and home for the holidays**

OK people. I actually don’t have a ton of commentary on these two so I’m gonna try and keep it (relatively) short and sweet [Edit from Future Me: Failed Step 1].

Also, iirc, this is the week Dropout starts streaming new Fantasy High eps on Wednesdays which is very dope and I am very excited for. I probably won’t do full on recaps like I do for normal eps because, lbr, I don’t strictly have the time to be recapping these eps at all and it’s pure stubbornness that keeps me from making wiser time management decisions. But, rest assured, if I have an Opinion, you will hear it whether you want to or not. 

Anyway, on with the show. 

Last recap, I mentioned that this ep was giving me Aelwen house party vibes and now it reminds me of that ep in another way: Everyone rolled like TRASH almost the entire ep. It was so frustrating! They barely got any hits in until like halfway through the ep.

(Aw man, I just realized I’m gonna have to remember which spelling of Aelwen is correct again now that FH is coming back.)

I love how Murph is immediately like, “I need to make sure my wife doesn’t die during this fight avenging her fictional husband.”

Isabella also has Aelwen’s trick of poofing around the battlefield which is annoying as hell (ha) for the group.

Siobhan hilariously casts fear on Priya just to be spiteful. I thought she was doing it to help the evac process but no. It was a purely spiteful action. Bless. 

When Kug turns into an ape he, of course, turns into *the* NY ape, King Kong. 

“I roll a nat 20 on an epic shit.”

When Brennan was describing Kingston’s spectral New Yorker Guardians I was already thinking about that one part of Spiderman 2 (the OG Toby Mac version) and then he straight up said, “You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us,” and I lost it.

“Deny the stairs the pleasure of my feet.” Emily is a poet.

I want to know what makes a pigeon spicy more than anything. 

The fact that Brennan killed Ox AGAIN and then immediately looked into the camera and let the audience know the dog was fine because he clearly Oracle stared into the future between eps and saw the entire internet sharpening their pitchforks  was so funny. 

About midway through the ep, Pete tries and fails to send Isabella back to hell and Isabella starts monologing about her plans and connection with Robert Moses (she stole the list from Santa and is/was gonna marry Moses apparently). I wonder if Brennan was like, “These players are for sure gonna murder her without getting any useful info out of her unless she goes full Bond Villain right now.”

And, proving my point, Emily immediately does 56 points of damage, royally f-ing Isabella up. 

This is a really civilian heavy fight which feels weird in a way the FH fights never did. Like, these aren’t even civilians who live in an adventuring town in a fantasy world. These are just normal ass civilians in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

Pete fails a wild magic roll after failing to teleport into the building and then gets a choice of getting really strong (which prob would have let him bust down the door) or to teleport in (which is what he does and exactly what he wanted). Very clutch when the dice rolls play into the story like that.

Kingston lightning bolts Isabella’s hair off which is just malicious but also totally called for.

On her next turn, Sophie gets hurt on purpose to get low enough to activate her ring, lets her hair burn for long enough to shorten it to a cute bob, insults Isabella, then knocks her tf out. 

I love that Emily took one of her teeth (a seemingly crazy move) and when called out by Lou was like, “It’s a link to Robert Moses” (a completely reasonable answer). That’s the Axford one-two punch.  

I didn’t mention it before but, Willie the golem is here, first immobile but then brought back by Misty. Post fight, he says he was somehow brought here by one of the evil factions of the city and says they’ll talk about it later. Also, Misty makes out with him (DON’T KINKSHAME HER).

With a high insight roll, Kingston is able to deduce that the group was ambushed (though not by Priya) and that their victory was a really important one for the fate of the city. 

(Sidenote: The amount that Pete is Over Priya in this ep is so funny.)

Back at Wally’s (which is where Kug is now staying) Wally has gotten Kug a dog bed to sleep in and fancy charcuterie cheese because he and Ricky are the only pure-hearted people in NYC. 

At the same time, Pete and Kingston have a very sweet heart to heart and then settle down at Kingston’s place to chill and listen to jazz. Idk how else we expected this to resolve, considering this is a Brennan Lee Mulligan DM’d show where the sacred pillars are Teamwork, Friendship, Communication, and Making up an NPC on the Fly Because One of Your PC’s Decided to do an Insane Thing. 

Next up is the Christmas ep and Brennan, Emily, and Zac are in sweaters for the occasion. 

Well,actually it’s the 21st and Emily immediately clocks that that’s the solstice. 

Are cookies the good carb?/Absolutely not. But have fun with your life. (I love Ricky’s soft jock energy.)

“I run deliveries,” Pete says to Kingston’s parents, not technically lying but also not being completely truthful. Misty would be proud. 

Going over to Misty, it seems pretty clear at this point (and it’s confirmed in the promo for next ep) that Misty’s fairy business is some kind of de-aging/reincarnation for herself. I wonder how many of these she’s done so far. She said she’s been around for, what? 200, 300 years? Assuming she’s been doing then reincarnations at about 65-70 years old and she reincarnates to around 25? Maybe 6 times? Idk. Just spitballing. 

Saucer of milk to keep the faeries from stealing her (non-existing) children. Faerie lore is wild y'all. 

Did you take another level of warlock?/Yeah bitch.

The fact that since Sophie has joined a monastery, she’s only taken Warlock levels and no Monk levels is very funny from a story perspective. It’s like, she finally comes to this sacred place to be trained to her full potential and she’s just spending what should be her sparring time playing with her cat in exchange for spells. Wild. 

Emily’s cat-like, self-satisfied grin when Brennan is like, “So you just jerry-rigged yourself clairvoyance powers, huh?” is so good. 

And she did it on the fly because Emily Axford is winning D&D. There are no points but she’s winning.

So, uh, Emily does, two things, very in character right after the other:

Thing number one: She send her unseen servant to spy on her family. Her dad seems hardline, “F, Dale. Whatever. Family first. She needs to get over it.” On the other side of the spectrum is her mom who is very upset about the whole affair with her siblings falling in the middle. 

The second thing she does, very casually I might add, is have her unseen servant BURN DOWN HER HOUSE SO SHE CAN COMMIT INSURANCE FRAUD.

EMILY

Everyone loses their minds and rightfully so. What a wild-ass swing that no one could have seen coming. I love it. 

“I look in my backpack which is now my home[…]" 

I almost forgot that Ricky was a fire fighter who would not abide that nonsense until Brennan decided to cut to him. 

Ricky just dolphin swims across the Hudson in 2.5 mins to go put out the fire that Sophie set. Amazing. 

Ally mocking Emily/Sophie: Truthfully, I don’t know what happened.

"I love John McClane, because he loves his wife.” WALLY

Wally: Oh we’re gonna tell a lie on Christmas.

“This is what winning looks like.”

I would really like to know what trace stuff what on the drugs Pete got from 7 but Ally rolled too low to figure it out.

“I disassociate fully." 

Well it took him a long ass time but glad to have Pete on the selling drugs to kids is bad train. Choo-choo, dude. 

7 saying you can hack in real life in reference to his AK-47 has the same energy as Hardison using the word hack in literally any semi-weird episode of Leverage. 

SOCIAL MEDIA IS VOLUNTARY PANOPTICON

So Kug goes with Wally to David’s house disguised as a dog and, despite that, blurts out that he’s his dad immediately. Well, he tries to. The Umbral Arcana stops him, unfortunately. 

"I lick my son’s face.” KUUUUG. 

Sophie showing up with a raw goose and hellish rebuking it is so metal and it’s a shame no one got to appreciate it. 

Me when Sophie’s Mom changes into black top in solidarity for Sophie’s mourning: F EVERY OTHER NON-SOPHIE BICICLETA. I RESPECT YOU. 

Kingston is hustling very hard to get his man Pete a job which is a very Kingston move. That’s how guys like that show affection. 

Didn’t mention it before but Kingston’s parents and Mom specifically adopting Pete is very cute. 

Sidenote: Idk what 7 was talking about Pete trying to stay low profile. He wears a cowboy hat (now a ZEBRA STRIPED one, courtesy of Kingston). I think the subtlety train has sailed my guy. 

Esther shows up at the firehouse, carrying presents for her mom and grandma and looking for Ricky. The says that she’s kinda dealing with something and it feels good to be around him (beat) magically speaking. Sure. I’m gonna keep my Hercules soundtrack on hand just in case anyway. 

I think Ricky is the only person who, with no pretense, could give his crush a sexy calendar featuring him.

Anyway, turns out Esther’s mom and grandma are the furies of Tompkins Square and she’s fated to join them or something. 

Esther causally: I defy you, I defy the prophecy.

The fury thing would explain why Esther’s mom would have cursed Kug. They are famously magical punishers.  

Ricky is a magically certified Good Boy but we been knew.

Zac’s restraint to respect Esther’s personal boundaries in lieu of getting a lore drop to stay true to Ricky’s character is amazing. Mad props.

So we slide over to Misty’s Christmas party which Stephen Sondhein is attending and him having a character card kinda killed me. 

There’s a post on tumblr somewhere about playing faerie  incapability for impoliteness against a vampires need to be invited in and that’s what I thought about when Moses and his vamp friends showed up at Misty’s house.

Robert tries to talk Misty into striking a deal with him for protection from Titania. She’s very much not having it.  

“You know Robert, I love a comedy and I love a farce. I’d like to remind you of who it is that started this and it’s not me and it’s not my friends but I can assure you Robert Moses that we will be the ones to end it if you do not. Do you understand me?” Damn. That’s a mic drop from Misty. 

[As I’m editing this, I’m realizing I somehow lost a BIG chunk of text. I’m not gonna write it all up again but the Cliffnotes are as follows:

Between the Solstice and Christmas, the gang goes Grand Central Station to see the clockwork gnomes that live there because trouble is apparently afoot. Some size changing nonsense happens and Pete shoots a dog (with mini bullets, the dog is fine). Lou is enchanted even though Kingston is not (a common theme with him). Ally and Emily are on the same nonsense wavelength (as usual). 

There are dope magical dragon trains under Grand Central Station that go to the shadow realm which is a place I’d like to know about. Kingston has never seen these trains before even though you’d really think he would have.  

Murph says Gnome Rights which is wild if you know what Naddpod is like. 

Anyway, the high priestess of the gnomes passed out the other day and they figure out it was due to pixie magic which is suspicious. They also know they pixies have access to a “time stone” which leads me to believe that it’s Brennan and not Aguefort who thinks that Chronomancy is the most powerful magic of all. 

Sophie and Jackson go to Dale’s grave on Christmas. Jackson explains that the Order of the Concrete Fist is basically a literal school of hard knocks. A counterbalance to all the reach for the stars dreaminess that comes with NYC.

Dale was their chosen one who was supposed to stop the monastery from falling when some unspecified badness crossed over to this side, but when he went to the place where he was supposed to get guidance, there was no one there (clearly tying in to what Dale said to Sophie last time they talked. I wonder what she needs to get to the top of? Empire State maybe?).

Watching Murph watching Emily, his real life spouse, play at grief for her fictional husband and do some truly insane things is so funny because you can clearly see him thinking, “I am married to this woman,” which, in fairness, is probably the main thing he’s thinking when he’s playing D&D with Emily.

I’m probably missing something but that’s all I remember. Back to post-Christmas!]

So it’s opening night at Misty’s show and, somehow, Ricky’s first show ever. 

I love that Don Confetti is there because of Siobhan’s offhanded comment for a handful of eps ago about him being a supporter of the arts.

Anyway, everything is going great until the second act when Titania busts in through the mirror which is *not* is storage as Misty requested but on stage. It’s a theater fight, y'all! And not the West Side Story kind although if that doesn’t come up I will be very surprised. 

“Let’s kill Titania!” –Misty in the promo

Just going straight to 11, huh Misty?

See y'all then!