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queenlucythevaliant · 2 years

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Professor Kirke remained at the small dining table after the last of the dishes had been cleared away, puffing clouds on his pipe. It was strange, thought Lucy: he had a faraway look in his eyes, as though some tiny aspect of his reality had shifted over dinner and he was struggling to accommodate it.

“I wonder what he’s thinking about,” murmured Lucy to the others. Edmund shrugged and Eustace (who had only met the professor that night) said nothing, but Peter chuckled merrily and patted Lucy on the arm.

“You’ll find out soon enough, that’s certain. He got that look in his eye when you were talking about the Island of Dreams, Lu. No doubt he’ll call you into his study for a lesson later on.”

It was a little more than a week later that Peter’s prediction came true. Professor Kirke seated himself across his desk from Lucy with an enormous tome of poetry spread out before him. “Have you heard The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?” he inquired.

Lucy shook her head. Yet rather than muttering about the state of the schools as she had expected, Professor Kirke simply smiled beneath his whiskers and began to declaim:

“It is an ancient Mariner /And he stoppeth one of three —"

Lucy leaned back in her seat and fixed her attention on the words as best she could. Once, she’d spoken in such a register as queen of Narnia, but now she was only a girl of ten and unaccustomed to the flowery language of Romantic poetry.

“At length did cross an Albatross,

Thorough the fog it came—”

“Oh!” cried Lucy. “Is that why you wanted me to hear this poem?”

“Just so,” the professor replied. “Your account of the Island where Dreams Come True bears a marked resemblance to The Rime, beginning with the presence of the albatross. In this poem, the albatross bears a symbolic connection to Jesus Christ himself.”

“How peculiar!”

“I thought so too. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote this poem in 1797, in a time when sea voyages to the polar regions were very much like your own voyage to the end of the world. The albatross had only lately been described in writing, but he wrote it coming out of the desolate fog to guide sailors to safety. And Coleridge was a neo-Platonist! Fog and ice are very much like darkness, the way he uses them here.”

“A neo-Platonist?” Lucy asked, wrinkling her nose.

And now came the Professor’s customary muttering. “Yes. What do they teach in these schools? You may read darkness and fog both in Coleridge as something between ignorance and innocence, with the Sun as a symbol of Reason. Does that make sense?”

“A little,” said Lucy, who privately didn’t think it made much sense at all but was eager for the professor to continue the poem.

“It ate the food it ne'er had eat,

And round and round it flew.

The ice did split with a thunder-fit;

The helmsman steered us through!”

Lucy hadn’t meant to interrupt again so soon, but the words were out of her mouth before she was really aware that she’d spoken them. “So it really is just like in Narnia! It guides the ship out of the ice like my Albatross guided us out of the darkness.”

“Yes.” Professor Kirke was entirely unperturbed by the interruption. “Precisely.”

“How lovely. Isn’t it interesting how you just know when birds are trustworthy?”

The professor chuckled. “You may change your mind in a few stanzas. Shall I go on?”

“Please.”

Lucy returned to her concentration as the mariner recounted how a good wind had sprung up after the Albatross and how it had stayed with the ship and perched on the mast sometimes for evening prayers. Yet the mariner must have looked unhappy, for the groom interrupted to ask him why.

“With my cross-bow/ I shot the albatross.” Professor Kirke paused here in his telling and looked very hard at Lucy.

It took her a long moment to understand. “The albatross isn’t dead, is he?”

“He is.”

“I thought you said he was like Aslan.”

“And didn’t you see Aslan die?”

Lucy opened her mouth, but closed it a moment later. Open again, “But why did the mariner kill him? Doesn’t he give any reason? The witch killed Aslan because she was evil and trying to conquer Narnia. Why would the mariner kill the albatross when it’s done nothing but help him?”

“Perhaps,” the professor replied, “the Gospels are a simpler comparison here. ‘I shot the albatross’ has the same kind of blunt irrefutability as ‘And they crucified him.’ There isn’t any excuse, which I think makes the confession all the more powerful.”

Lucy sighed. It was exhausting trying to keep this all straight. “I suppose that makes a kind of sense. But then we’re trying to think on three different levels of parallel—the poem, the Bible and Narnia—which isn’t very pleasant.”

“And yet, it’s necessary if one wishes to understand deeper meanings. We can pause for tea, if you’d like?”

“No, that’s alright. I think I’m keeping track well enough for now. I say though, is this what you do with Peter all day?”

The question seemed to catch Professor Kirke off guard, for he let out a sudden, loud burst of laughter as soon as Lucy asked it. “Yes, after a manner of speaking. Shall we go on?”

“Ah! well a-day! what evil looks

Had I from old and young!

Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.”

It was a difficult thing to imagine and Lucy wondered if Aslan’s albatross was unusually large. Aslan was always bigger than she expected him to be, so it would not be strange if he took the form of an unusually large albatross. Yet the more Lucy considered, the more sense the image made.

“It must have been at least three meters,” said Lucy. “The albatross, I mean. Mine was more like four, from wingtip to wingtip. It would be a dreadful weight, but I suppose that’s the point. The mariner can’t carry it, can he?”

“I think you’re right,” said Professor Kirke.

A smile tugged at Lucy’s cheeks. It was lovely to hear the professor give such an unequivocal endorsement of her analysis. Galvanized by the success, she continued, “I thought of a cross when my albatross appeared out of the darkness. There’s something in the proportion of the body to the wings, and in its stillness of it as it glides through the air. My albatross tore away the darkness. But here—it’s like the mariner carries his albatross like he thinks that act can save him from what he’s done.”

There was a glittering in the old professor’s eyes then, and suddenly Lucy realized that she wasn’t struggling with the poem’s language anymore. Maybe it was because she’d been listening to it for the better part of ten minutes, but privately she wondered if Narnia’s magic might be working on her somehow. Perhaps this poem contained some quality of the rich Narnian air.

“I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;

But or ever a prayer had gusht,

A wicked whisper came, and made

My heart as dry as dust.”

Lucy shut her eyes and remembered the fighting-top of the Dawn Treader. The night-mare life-in-death was a black abyss, and all her own nightmares had been there in it. There had been monsters, of course, and the idea that even if she ran down to stand beside Edmund he might become a monster himself. But somewhere in all that dark, there was a Lucy who never spoke to Aslan again. She’d imagined herself in Lord Rhoop’s place, trapped forever in a state of endless fear-without-courage, because she could not call him.

“That was my night-mare too,” she whispered. “Not being able to pray.”

She saw the professor’s lips thin beneath his whiskers and wondered at it. “You’re wiser than you have any right to be,” he murmured. “Ten years old and your greatest nightmare is alienation from God. What a marvel you’ll be when you’re grown.”

Well then. Lucy didn’t have any notion what to say to that. She half expected that if she tried to reply, she might start crying.

“Might I ask—what did you do then? Until the albatross arrived, once you realized that you couldn’t pray. How did you react?”

And that was a question she could answer.

“But I could pray! I did. I whispered, ‘Aslan, if you ever loved us at all, send us help now.’ And that was when the albatross came. I didn’t talk about it after—it was too much my own for me to share it, really—Edmund knows—but well…”

The professor made a sort of choked noise in his throat. “Perhaps it was the only nightmare that the island couldn’t bring true.”

“But there have been times,” continued Lucy, “when my heart was too dry to speak with Aslan. There were whole years when I was queen that he didn’t come at all.”

It was with a much softer voice that Professor Kirke resumed his reading.

“A spring of love gushed from my heart,

And I blessed them unaware:

Sure my kind saint took pity on me,

And I blessed them unaware.

The self-same moment I could pray;

And from my neck so free

The Albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea.”

Here, the professor lapsed into silence. Lucy thought that the poem might be over, but when she peered across the desk at the page there were columns of stanzas still left.

“Even after all these years,” he whispered, “some things still remind me of my own days in Narnia.”

He’d told the children his story before, of course: beginning with how he met Aunt Polly and concluding with the origins of the wardrobe. Aslan had not condemned him for bringing the White Witch to Narnia. Instead, he’d had loved Digory enough to shed tears and sent him home with an apple so beautiful that it healed his dying mother.

“Grace,” Lucy whispered into the hush. “Of course. Maybe this is the moment where Aslan leads the mariner out of the darkness.”

Professor Kirke exhaled heavily. The faraway look in his eye lessened a little bit, and at length he read on.

“The spirit slid: and it was he

That made the ship to go.”

Never had Lucy felt Aslan’s presence more keenly in his absence than during those last days as the Dawn Treader had sailed over the still, clear waters at world’s end; like Aslan himself had been drawing them towards himself by some great, invisible rope.

The closer they’d come to his country, the more tangible his spirit had been. When at last she glimpsed those green mountains beyond the waves, Lucy’s very bones understood that Aslan had made the still seas bring them there.

A voice spoke out of the air concerning the mariner, and Lucy remembered the piercing silence of the Last Sea. Of the voice, the mariner said, “He loved the bird that loved the man/ Who shot him with his bow.”

Not for the first time, Lucy wondered about Aslan’s father, the Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. What did he say to Aslan when he left that land of high mountains to return to Narnia and die at the Witch’s hand? What did he think when Aslan went flying across the lily-covered seas on feathered wings to rescue their little ship? If Lucy had crossed that final threshold with Reepicheep, would she have met the Emperor there?

“The voice is his father,” Lucy said, voice brimming with certainty. “The albatross’s father, I mean. The Emperor-beyond-the-Sea.”

“I know,” the professor replied. “And beyond the sea is just where our mariner meets him.”

“Do you think the mariner knew that the albatross loved him?”

The professor stroked his chin again, and a ghost of a smile played across his features. “If the mariner didn’t know it when he shot him, he certainly knows now. But come, we’re nearly at the end of the poem.

“Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,

Yet she sailed softly too:

Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze—

On me alone it blew.

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed

The light-house top I see?”

“There’s one more thing I haven’t told you,” Lucy said. “Something so bright and mysterious that I’ve not even told Edmund. When the albatross came, it—it spoke to me. And I wasn’t afraid anymore.”

Professor Kirke leaned forward, but his words were, “You needn’t tell me what he said if you’d prefer not to.”

Lucy nodded slowly. Somehow, she knew that if she tried to describe “Courage, dear heart,” she would fail. There was nothing, no word or image or music or poetry in this world or any other that could convey what that moment had been. To speak of it at all would be like dancing about architecture.

“I was the only one who heard him,” Lucy whispered. “It was my prayer, and he spoke to me. I wonder how this poet knows what it was like?”

“I think he knows the same way I do, in my own way. Coleridge lived a difficult life. He was a laudanum addict when he wrote this, for one thing. When the Divine voice speaks into our darkness and we feel his breath on our faces, it binds us together with every other person who has ever been rescued by an albatross that loved us. We don’t know what he says to other people, but we know how the breeze feels.”

The professor returned to his reading and concluded the poem while Lucy sat in astonishment and let the strangeness of the last hour wash over her.

“…A sadder and a wiser man/ He rose the morrow morn,” and with those words Professor Kirke shut the book. The heavy pages fell with a thud, and with bright eyes he looked at Lucy. “What do you think of it?”

“I think,” said Lucy slowly, “that it was a beautiful story. The very best kind.”

What she did not say, but what she was thinking, was that it reminded her of the story she’d read in the Magician’s book: the one about the cup, the sword, the tree, and the green hill. The two tales had no common points of reference, but they left her with much the same feeling.

“But why do you think Aslan came to me as an albatross?”

Professor Kirke harrumphed. “I have been asking myself that same question ever since you spoke of it. Why indeed? I wonder whether perhaps in part he appeared that way so that you would come back here and read ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,’ and come to know him better by it. If nothing else, I do not think it was a coincidence.”

Yes, perhaps, but the answer still felt incomplete. “Maybe it’s a stone in the bridge he talked about,” Lucy said. “Maybe he only wanted to show me—to show us—that he’s here too. In this world, in this time, and in all others. Maybe it’s like you said, and there’s an albatross for every person who’s ever been rescued from the darkness.”

#i have wanted to write something like this for a loooooong time #but kinda felt like i wasn't up for the challenge #i'm off for a few days so i finally got it in 'good enough' shape though i'm far from being totally happy with it #hopefully it will make sense to people who haven't read The Rime #though it was written with an assumption that at least some cultural osmosis will have gotten to folks #i go absolutely crazy for the way that Jack incorporated the albatross from Rime into VDT #it is so darn elegant #he both upholds and subverts the symbolism of the original #i love love love love it #and i wish someone would assign me like an actual academic essay on the topic #in the meantime we'll have to get by with literary analysis just barely couched in narrative #dear darling heart-daughter of aslan #the magician's nephew no longer #into light #(courage dear heart)#narnia #leah stories #pontifications and creations #also! i just cross-posted to ao3 if you'd rather read this there #i know it got pretty long #(and i skimmed over a LOT)#intertextuality #characters within a work notice the intertextuality #if this makes your brain hurt a little bit i think i did my job right

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liminal-zone · 11 months

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DEAR YULETIDE WRITER LETTER 2023

IT’S A YULETIDE LETTER. IT’S YULETIDE 2023, BAYBEEE. LET’S FUCKING GO.

2008. 2009. 2010. 2011. 2012. 2013. 2014. 2015. 2016. 2017. 2018. 2019.

HIIII. I LOVE YOU. THANK YOU. It’s yuletide; it’s the best time of the year. I’ve been gone for a minute but I’m back, baybeee, back with the matrix fandom amongst others. So let’s fucking go! Thank you thank you and thank you.

Likes (generally): I love kisses and angst and smut and darkfic and tension and hurt/comfort and a good adventure and heroism and sacrifice. I love every flavor of sexuality. I love women in dominant roles (including but not limited to domme). I prefer fics in canon or canon divergence. I enjoy the following kinks: enemies to lovers, sex pollen/fuck or die, Stockholm syndrome, voyeurism, fingering, conditioning. Dubcon and non-con and dead dove is always welcome (pls tag it).

Dislikes (generally): Watersports, scat; omegaverse; mpreg/pregnancy/breeding; submissive female characters; domestic fluff; kid fic and curtains; mundane AUs; super sugar ending; hurt no/comfort or utter hopelessness or despair as the final beat of the story (beloved in the opening or middle of a story!)

It’s Yuletide, baybeee, so if you want to write any of these prompts fully gen: I’m so happy to read it!!

THE PROMPTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Matrix (Movies)

Trinity

If you could please write me a character study of Trinity; dig deep into the character and show me something vulnerable and new and wonderful about her.

My favorite things about Trinity: she is powerful, vulnerable, steadfast, competent, anxious, loyal, brave, and a twinge of cunt. She’s my favorite character ever; a touchstone, a rock, an icon. Tell me a story about Trinity.

If the muse strikes, feel free to ship her with Neo, Ghost, Switch, Bane, or Groff!Smith.

Very emotional that The Matrix is a YT fandom for perhaps one reprise since ffn.net fics were thrown out re: eligibility. I’m a historied Matrix fandom old; this is bittersweet to be eligible again perhaps one last time. Hi, I love you, Matrix fandom <3

The Wheel of Time (TV)

Lanfear

If you could please write me a character study of Lanfear; dig deep into the character and show me something vulnerable and new and wonderful about her.

My favorite things about Lanfear: she is powerful, vulnerable, terrifying, terrible, cruel, full of desire, and that she’s a complete cunt. She makes my heart flutter. Tell me a story about Lanfear.

If the muse strikes, feel free to ship her with Lews, Rand, Moiraine, Moggy, or Ishamael. I don’t mind book spoilers!

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (TV 2022)

Galadriel | Artanis

If you could please write me a character study of Galadriel; dig deep into the character and show me something vulnerable and new and wonderful about her.

My favorite things about Galadriel: she is powerful, vulnerable, terrifying, terrible, kind, and sometimes a bit cunt. She’s the dom femme of my life currently. Tell me a story about Galadriel.

If the muse strikes, feel free to ship her with Sauron, Gandalf, or Celeborn.

IDK how TROP was eligible this year, but LFG.

Chronicles of Narnia (Movies)

Edmund Pevensie

Lucy Pevensie

Bless my problematic heart but I really want an Edmund/Lucy fic, like. In that way. Any canon era (I am partial to HHB).

If that’s too rich for your blood, forgive me, and write me a non ship duet about them. I WILL LOVE ANY FIC WITH THEM CODEPENDENT.

My favorite things about them together is that they are complementary; he is tainted and a spymaster and Jadis marked him, she is blessed and valiant and Aslan marked her. Tell me a story about Edmund and Lucy Pevensie.

If the muse strikes, and you need alt ships: throw in Caspian for either, and I have a soft spot for Lucy/Tumnus or Lucy/any woman. Edmund/Jadis is my true love.

A bit emotional that Narnia films are a YT fandom for perhaps one reprise since ffn.net fics were thrown out re: eligibility. LFG.

Willow (TV 2022)

Elora Danan

Jade Claymore

Kit Tanthalos

I am desperate to see Jade evolving into Elora’s General Kael; a glorious mirror of her father as a warrior, a leader, and an absolute terror.

Background (or foreground) Jade/Kit is wonderful, and mixing Elora in there is great if you enjoy that too! My favorite thing about Jade Claymore is that she’s surprise the new General Kael and I’m so obsessed with that concept.

Dune (2021)

Duncan Idaho

Paul Atreides

Bless my problematic heart but I really want an Duncan/Paul fic, like. In that way.

My preference is for the film character dynamic transposed into a book spoiler (so if you know it - that’s my dream; I’d love to see that), and I would also love something messy in current film canon.

If that’s too rich for your blood, forgive me, and write me a non ship duet about them. I WILL LOVE ANY FIC WITH THEM CODEPENDENT. My favorite things about them together is that Duncan is so loyal (and for what?) and Paul is so needy for that loyalty (and soon, for what?).

If the muse strikes, and you need alt ships: I also adore me some Duncan/Leto and Paul/Chani.

Xoxoxo love you forever!

#yuletide 2023 #the finals you sign up for #emotional about the matrix being eligible again #(also narnia)#my favorite thing about my yt history is how i started anti mlm and anti noncon #growth dot gif

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frozenflmes · 1 year

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🤍 - What would your character be like if they were a hero of a region?

[@pkmn-aide-mel]

//ooh, this is a fun one!

//see, the thing is snow was a hero, so this is less of an "if" and more of an opportunity for me to drop some lore. i've thought about making a fangame about this, actually, and i might do it at some point. name's already decided: pokemon genesis.

//in 2015, when snow was 10 years old, several members of neo plasma gathered again under colress, hoping to bring their team back to the prominence it once had. just general criminal activity at first, enough to give the group a source of income, but they knew from the beginning that they'd need to manage something big if they wanted to have a place in the world again.

//meanwhile, snow and its rival were both given formerly wild cubchoo who'd been directly affected by habitat loss by a galarian man named edmund caulfield, who also provided the necessary funds and supplies for them to be able to travel, with a promise to give any other support needed along the way as well (snow and its rival both got their passion about ice type conservation from talking to him). it wasn't just the two of them -- there were several other kids their age who also weren't in a position where they would be able to go on a journey without support -- but the other children aren't really important to this story.

//some time into snow's journey, the revived neo plasma stole a dwebble from a girl named flora. she asked snow for help getting it back, and a few battles later she and her pokemon were reunited. flora hadn't seen much reason to travel herself before that, but when snow returned with her dwebble she very suddenly thought snow was very strong and cool and wished she was that strong and cool and maybe going with snow would let her get stronger? and obviously there was no other reason that she really wanted to be with snow more.

//yes, they ended up dating. feel free to poke snow about its history there.

//snow helped a few other people with plasma problems along the way, and eventually it found something in one of the storehouses it broke into: a paper document outlining something called project regenesis.

//in short: plasma was trying to track down something they'd made in their previous incarnation. a pokemon. a living weapon. they had a device for the purpose, and were slowly closing in on its location.

//that's when snow started actively trying to seek them out in order to get in their way. it was in serious danger at multiple points, but it managed to avoid getting any injuries bad enough that it had to go to a hospital and couldn't just get help from a pokemon center's urgent care.

//and eventually, it managed to defeat colress in battle and destroy the device, allowing genesect to disappear once more.

//it got some recognition for its efforts, but not as much as the game protags get, since the situation was solved before any legendaries made actual appearances.

#lore

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croaken-the-oaken · 1 year

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Sploosh-o-matic — Minimum Range Morton

Neo Sploosh-o-matic — I’ll Be Over Here Harold

Splattershot Jr. — Chuck Bomb Billy

Custom Splattershot Jr. — Dance for Me Dylan

Splash-o-matic — Do It All Dan

Neo Splash-o-matic — Please Step Away Sandy

Splattershot — Basics Barry

Tentatek Splattershot — Aggression Andy

Hero Shot Replica — Hipster Harry

.52 Gal — Staying Power Segal

N-Zap ‘85 — Gamer Juice Jerry

N-Zap ‘89 — Chump Up Chazz

Splattershot Pro — Extension Edmund

Forge Splattershot Pro — Lockout Larry

.96 Gal — Power Suck Pete

.96 Gal Deco — Intimidating Ingo

Jet Squelcher — Respectfully Far Ferdinand

Custom Jet Squelcher — Area Denial Alfred

Splattershot Nova — I See You Stanley

Annaki Splattershot Nova — Out of Reach Otto

Luna Blaster — Big Boom Bolson

Luna Blaster Neo — Poppin’ Boppin’ Pablo

Blaster — Sneaky Shot Shane

Range Blaster — Sudden Death Dalton

Clash Blaster — Danger Zone Zed

Clash Blaster Neo — Personal Space Piper

Rapid Blaster — Hold the Line Herbie

Rapid Blaster Deco — Weird Angle Wilson

Rapid Blaster Pro — Distant Poke Perry

Rapid Blaster Pro Deco — Global Range Gus

S-BLAST ‘92 — Certain Coverage Calvin

L-3 Nozzlenose — Run ‘n Gun Randy

L-3 Nozzlenose D — Dash ‘n Splash Sadie

H-3 Nozzlenose — Field Support Franky

H-3 Nozzlenose D — Defense Mode Dimitri

Squeezer — Arthritis Angelo

Carbon Roller — Close Range Cory

Carbon Roller Deco — Quick Kill Kendall

Splat Roller — Bonk Head Bekowsky

Krak-On Splat Roller — Shuffle Around Sidney

Dynamo Roller — Massive Maximilian

Flingza Roller — Passive Aggressive Paulie

Big Swig Roller — This is My Yard Yorick

Big Swig Roller Express — I Claim This Cortes

Inkbrush — Speedy Sal

Inkbrush Nouveau — Can’t Catch Me Cooper

Octobrush — Slap Silly Solomon

Painbrush — High Exertion Edison

Classic Squiffer — Don’t Miss Dorris

Splat Charger — Sniper Stu

Z+F Splat Charger — Snipe Stopper Stuart

Splatterscope — Scoped Sniper Stu

Z+F Splatterscope — Scoped Snipe Stopper Stuart

E-liter 4K — Long Snipe Louis

E-liter 4K Scope — Scoped Slightly Longer Snipe Louis

Bamboozler 14 Mk I — Tap Tap Ted

Goo Tuber — Missiles McGee

Snipewriter 5H — Five Tries Freddy

Slosher — Over the Shoulder Oakley

Slosher Deco — Plop Plip Peter

Tri-Slosher — Wide Wendell

Tri-Slosher Nouveau — Sugar Rush Rudy

Sloshing Machine — Safe Angle Abigail

Bloblobber — Hitbox Huey

Explosher — Clear Out Clarence

Mini Splatling — Pesky Pendleton

Zink Mini Splatling — Bridge Troll Bailey

Heavy Splatling — Barrage Benson

Heavy Splatling Deco — Thought Ya Had Me Theo

Hydra Splatling — Extreme Overkill Olson

Ballpoint Splatling — All Range Albus

Nautilus 47 — Decently Devious Devon

Dapple Dualies — Hello I’m Back Harlowe

Dapple Dualies Nouveau — I May Die Decker

Splat Dualies — Missed Me Maxwell

Glooga Dualies — Wall Turret Terry

Dualie Squelchers — Right Behind You Benjamin

Custom Dualie Squelchers — Reinforcement Ralphie

Dark Tetra Dualies — Distraction Dance Doyle

Light Tetra Dualies — Look at Me Lenny

Splat Brella — Survivor Simon

Tenta Brella — Mobile Bunker Bastian

Tenta Sorella Brella — Army March Muldoon

Undercover Brella — Slippery Saul

Tri-Stringer — Chip Away Chet

REEF-LUX 450 — Sky Assault Stevie

Splatana Stamper — Jumbo Cut Jayce

Splatana Wiper — Slice and Die Samuel

Splatana Wiper Deco — Heavenly Hello Hamish

#splatoon #splatoon 3 #giving splatoon weapons nicknames based on playstyle or something

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dweemeister · 2 years

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2022 Movie Odyssey Awards

And now to (finally) cap off the 2022 Movie Odyssey, here is the annual awards ceremony. To remind you all, the films eligible for the Movie Odyssey are only those that I saw for the first time in their entirety over the last calendar year. Rewatches do not count. Other eligibility rules (such as whether or not a “TV movie” versus a “streaming movie” can count can be found here).

All of these films that were nominated or won (except for Worst Picture) are worth your time and are worth seeking. Even though some of them might be deeply flawed, there are redeeming elements to them that make them wonderful watches. And some, like our ten Best Picture winners - I never distinguish one above the other nine because it’s just too damn hard - are my highest recommendations of the year.

Best Pictures

La bestia debe morir (The Beast Must Die) (1952, Argentina)

The Doll (1919, Germany)

Drive My Car (2021, Japan)

Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)

The Ladykillers (1955)

Nightmare Alley (1947)

A Patch of Blue (1965)

Petite Maman (2021, France)

Sidewalk Stories (1989)

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

With the fewest movies I’ve seen on record in a calendar year since the blog began, this probably would mean that Best Picture would skew newer, as it does here. For the first time ever, Best Picture has more than three films from the current decade. Drive My Car seems to herald a return to form for Japanese cinema (whose live-action industry has lacked much appeal for international audiences until recently). EEAAO is an Internet favorite, and its fearless filmmaking has proven emotionally resonant while ridiculously entertaining. Little-seen Petite Maman is a low fantasy movie that looks at grief through the eyes of a child - and it is one of the finest films about children I have seen in years. The Tragedy of Macbeth was a stunner for its loaded cast and its deeply atmospheric black-and-white 4:3 aesthetics.

Outside of the current decade, Argentinian noir strikes again with the deliciously deranged La bestia debe morir, saved from oblivion thanks to collaboration of Fernando Martín Peña, the Film Noir Foundation, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The Doll represents Ernst Lubitsch at his early silent film best. It is an uproarious time complete with Lubitsch’s sly visuals, but I’m not sure if I could recommend to it folks who haven’t seen a silent film. The Ladykillers drips with British wit as hideous violence threatens to burst through its comedic facade, all thanks to a stupendous ensemble performance. Edmund Goulding’s Nightmare Alley is superior to the Guillermo del Toro remake in almost all the ways that matter. Tyrone Power’s perhaps career-best performance powers a moody noir that always feels a little off-kilter. A Patch of Blue is understated, but intelligent filmmaking by Guy Green. Compassionate performances from Sidney Poitier and Elizabeth Hartman will steal hearts. And lastly, Sidewalk Stories is a neo-silent film from African-American filmmaker Charles Lane as a tribute to Chaplin’s The Kid (1921). But it works beyond as a tribute to Chaplin.

What a slate of ten this was.

Best Comedy

Father Goose (1964)

Glass Onion (2022)

The Ladykillers

A Mighty Wind (2003)

Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953, France)

9 to 5 (1980)

The Oyster Princess (1919, Germany)

Pillow Talk (1959)

See How They Run (2022)

Start Cheering (1938)

As I say every year, this category is not so much looking for the “best” movie as it is awarding the movie that made me laugh the most. The Oyster Princess is the lesser of the two early Ernst Lubitsch movies I saw this year, but it was the more outrageous watch. This farce comedy sees an American heiress’ father attempt to purchase a husband for his daughter, but it does not according to plan. The Oyster Princess contained the best title card I saw in any silent film this year: “A foxtrot epidemic suddenly breaks out during the wedding.” Trust me, you have to see the film to get it. Just behind are Pillow Talk, The Ladykillers, and holiday phenomenon Glass Onion.

Best Musical

Babes in Arms (1939)

The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)

Big Fella (1937)

The Gang’s All Here (1943)

Ladies of the Chorus (1948)

Le Million (1931, France)

Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

Meet Danny Wilson (1952)

Oliver & Company (1988)

The Wiz (1978)

This category advantages original musicals, not musical adaptations. If it’s a musical adaptation, it better be superbly filmed/adapted or else I’m gonna have a hard time making a case for it. The Gang’s All Here is a 20th Century Fox musical that combines both original songs and songs from other films from Fox’s back catalog (which, before and after the studio’s acquisition from Disney, was always difficult to access). A musical riot, big splashy fun, somewhat thanks to Busby Berkeley’s direction and signature choreography (see: the reprise of “A Journey to a Star”). I also considered Babes in Arms and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (an adaptation) for this award.

Best Animated Feature

All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)

Belle (2021, Japan)

Flee (2021, Denmark)

Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko (2021, Japan)

Hilda and the Mountain King (2021)

Lightyear (2022)

Oliver & Company

The Rescuers (1977)

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

Turning Red (2022)

No contest here. Nominated at last year’s Oscars for Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, and International Feature Film (the first time any movie had been nominated for that combination of categories), Flee is about a man who shares, for the first time in his life, his experiences about fleeing Taliban-controlled Afghanistan shortly after the Soviet withdrawal from the country. A pseudonym is used to protect his identity. Some might have quibbles with the film’s artistic style, but I’m of the opinion that the way the story is told far outstrips any concerns I have about the animation itself.

None of the other nominees came close to matching Flee. But I would consider The Rescuers (the 1977 original) to be the runner-up here. In a stronger year, no way would the scattershot Belle, emotionally unengaging Lightyear, and narratively lacking Oliver & Company stayed in this category.

Best Documentary

American Revolution 2 (1969)

Antonio Gaudí (1984, Japan)

Children of the Mist (2021, Vietnam)

A Crack in the Mountain (2022)

The Donut King (2020)

Flee

The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)

Spellbound (2002)

Three Songs for Benazir (2021 short, Afghanistan)

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (2015, Ukraine)

Flee does the double. The competition here, however, is much closer than in Animated Feature. To me, the very close runner-up is the Grand Jury Trống Đồng Award for Best Feature winner from Viet Film Fest 2022 (yours truly is the Artistic Director), Children of the Mist. Hà Lệ Diễm’s feature debut follows the life of a 12, later 13-year-old Hmong girl living in far northern Vietnam. At 13 years of age, she might be subject to the tradition of bride-kidnapping in Hmong culture. The director is mostly an observer to what happens in the film. One wonders what would have happened to the film’s subject if the cameras were not there.

Next up after Children of the Mist would have been The Murder of Fred Hampton and the experimental Antonio Gaudí.

Best Non-English Language Film

Ala Kachuu – Take and Run (2020 short), Switzerland/Kyrgyzstan

La bestia debe morir (The Beast Must Die), Argentina

Buffalo Boy (2004), Vietnam

Drive My Car, Japan

Flee, Denmark

Ganashatru (An Enemy of the People) (1989), India

Loves of a Blonde (1965), Czechoslovakia

Memoria (2021), Colombia

Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, France

Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, Ukraine

Let’s spotlight a few others here I haven’t mentioned yet. Nguyễn-Võ Minh’s Buffalo Boy is a coming-of-age tale in far southern rural Vietnam that goes about its drama methodically, capturing a place and time so unlike anything you will find in the movies. Like an American Western, Buffalo Boy asks questions of morality and masculinity in an unforgiving landscape. Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot or Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday is Jacques Tati's introduction of his iconic character - the silent, pipe-smoking, behatted, clumsy M. Hulot. The best Hulot movie would come later, but so began the legend of one of the most important silent comic protagonists in filmmaking.

Best Silent Film

The Doll

The Oyster Princess

Sidewalk Stories

Three Women (1924)

I wasn’t too much a fan of Three Women, but I wasn’t able to get to many silent films in 2022. Hopefully that changes for the next year.

Personal Favorite Film

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970)

Drive My Car

Glass Onion

Go for Broke! (1951)

Hilda and the Mountain King

The Ladykillers

The Masque of Red Death (1964)

Misterios de ultratumba (Black Pit of Dr. M) (1959, Mexico)

A Patch of Blue

Time After Time (1979)

I’ll always point out that the films I considered to be the best of what I’ve seen in a calendar year aren’t necessarily my favorites. Too many film critics conflate the quality of the films they see with their personal preferences. There’s a strict separation for me. This year, Roger Corman’s The Masque of Red Death - starring Vincent Price and distributed by American International Pictures (AIP) - takes the cake as my personal favorite. AIP made eight Edgar Allan Poe adaptations from 1960-1964; each one directed by Corman and starring Price, each one not strictly keeping to Poe’s text. I’m a fan of Poe, and don’t expect a strict adaptation from the AIP/Corman/Price movies. The garish Technicolor? The complete commitment to character from Price though he’s surrounded by other actors who can’t act half as good as him? The sumptuous costuming and production design for this gothic horror movie? Couldn’t get enough of it.

Close behind were Glass Onion and the delightful sci-fi Time After Time, which imagines what would’ve happened if H.G. Wells actually built a time machine and transported himself to late ‘70s San Francisco. Now only if they can get a home media release of Misterios de ultratumba with English subtitles, because what a treat that movie was.

Best Director

Román Viñoly Barreto, La bestia debe morir

Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog (2021)

The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Edmund Goulding, Nightmare Alley (1947)

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car

Ernst Lubitsch, The Doll

Alexander Mackendrick, The Ladykillers

Céline Sciamma, Petite Maman

Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans (2022)

Jacques Tati, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday

This category usually aligns pretty closely with Best Picture. Never nominated in this category and having never won before, it’s Ernst Lubitsch who takes Best Director this year for his saucy and vivacious silent romantic comedy. Lubitsch was a foundational director when it came to comedies in cinema, and I don’t a lot of contemporary filmmakers know enough about him or appreciate him enough. What an achievement too, to have made The Doll only a year after the conclusion of the Great War and the economic turmoil Germany was facing then.

Runner-up would have been Hamaguchi, and perhaps Mackendrick after that.

Best Acting Ensemble

The Ballad of Cable Hogue

The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)

Drive My Car

Everything Everywhere All At Once

The Fabelmans

Glass Onion

The Ladykillers

A Mighty Wind

Nightmare Alley (1947)

9 to 5

Hats off to the gangsters played by Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Danny Green, and Peter Sellers. And a huge ovation for Katie Johnson, who plays the old lady who gives their “string quintet” lodging. She is incredible and terrifically funny in this. Perfectly cast, incredibly acted, dripping with comedic sensibilities threatening to explode into violence (at least from the men’s side of things), they take Best Acting Ensemble.

This was a close call though, as several others had a shout to win here.

Best Actor

Austin Butler, Elvis (2022)

Soumitra Chatterjee, Ganashatru (An Enemy of the People)

Cary Grant, Penny Serenade (1941)

Alec Guinness, The Ladykillers

Narciso Ibáñez Menta, La bestia debe morir

Hidetoshi Nishijima, Drive My Car

Sidney Poitier, A Patch of Blue

Tyrone Power, Nightmare Alley (1947)

Jason Robards, The Ballad of Cable Hogue

Denzel Washington, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Arguably Tyrone Power’s finest few hours in any movie. As the scheming con man who stumbles his way into a carnival, this film is extremely removed from Power’s roles as crowd-pleasing, romantic, dark-and-handsome, swashbuckling heroes at his home studio 20th Century Fox. Power said later in life that Nightmare Alley was his favorite of all the films he made, and it is easy to see why.

I was also strongly considering Chatterjee, Menta, Nishijima, and Washington as well here.

Best Actress

Joan Crawford, Johnny Guitar (1954)

Doris Day, Pillow Talk

Irene Dunne, Penny Serenade

Elizabeth Hartman, A Patch of Blue

Katie Johnson, The Ladykillers

Frances McDormand, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Tôko Miura, Drive My Car

Barbara Stanwyck, No Man of Her Own (1950)

Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans

Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once

So often the talk around Doris Day is to liken her to that “prudish innocent blonde that your mother/grandmother wanted to be”. That is reductive, and ignores her incredible dramatic (I almost double-nominated her here for Love Me or Leave Me, which was a dramatic role) and comedic talents. And she is something else here in Pillow Talk - a raunchy (for the time) romcom that helped contribute to the demise of Hollywood’s self-censoring Hays Code. Comedic timing? Perfect. Facial and bodily acting? Exactly what the part calls for and then some. Pillow Talk was the first of three groundbreaking romcoms she made with leading star Rock Hudson and supporting Actor Tony Randall (1961′s Lover Come Back and 1964′s Send Me No Flowers).

So many choices here, with almost every actress nominated here having a case to win it. This was a difficult decision.

Best Supporting Actor

Guillermo Battaglia, La bestia debe morir

Lyle Bettger, No Man of Her Own

Bobby Darin, Pressure Point (1962)

Troy Kotsur, CODA (2021)

Masaki Okada, Drive My Car

Nathán Pinzón, El vampiro negro (1953, Argentina)

Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Tony Randall, Pillow Talk

Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

David Warner, The Ballad of Cable Hogue

As I joke every year, this is the category that favors villains. The winner this year is no different. If you have seen Fritz Lang’s M (1931, Germany), then I don’t have to say much other than that Nathán Pinzón plays the Peter Lorre character in this adaptation of M. Pinzón was a longtime character actor well-known to Argentinian audiences, but virtually nowhere else. In Latin American cinema at this time, “melodrama” is not a pejorative term when it comes to the acting style. The default in this era is to be histrionic. So how startling it is to see Pinzón play his role - a serial killer - quietly, with sadness and pathos to spare.

His countryman, Guillermo Battaglia, also has a loathsome part to play in another Argentinian noir, and was close to notching this win. So too were Quan and Warner.

Best Supporting Actress

Gloria Castilla, El vampiro negro

Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

Kathryn Hunter, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Julie London, The Red House (1947)

Mercedes McCambridge, Johnny Guitar

Nina Meurisse, Petite Maman

Edna May Oliver, Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)

Park Yoo-rim, Drive My Car

Shelley Winters, A Patch of Blue

Fiery, antagonistic, scene-stealing. That’s Mercedes McCambridge in Johnny Guitar for you. In the battle of feminine Western intelligence and will, McCambridge’s character may be the loser in the end, but the performance is an absolute winner. Colored by repressed sexuality (which has lent many queer interpretations between her character’s relationship to Crawford’s) and a stiffness that works in the context of the film, this was a memorable performance from McCambridge. Condon, Ellis, Hunter, and London were my next choices.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nguyễn-Võ Minh, Buffalo Boy

Hanns Kräly and Ernst Lubitsch, The Doll

Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, Drive My Car

Satyajit Ray, Ganashatru (An Enemy of the People)

Miloš Forman, Jaroslav Papoušek, Ivan Passer, and Václav Šašek, Loves of a Blonde

Jules Furthman, Nightmare Alley (1947)

Guy Green, A Patch of Blue

Jane Campion and Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog

Nicholas Meyer, Time After Time

Alberto Etchebehere and Román Viñoly Barreto, El vampiro negro

A touching, meditative from Hamaguchi and Oe gets the Adapted Screenplay crown, over very stiff competition. Closest competitors, to me, were Loves of a Blonde and Nightmare Alley.

Best Original Screenplay

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Ron Shelton, Bull Durham (1988)

The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner, The Fabelmans

William Rose and Jimmy O’Connor,The Ladykillers

Colin Higgins and Patricia Resnick, 9 to 5

Jordan Peele, Nope (2022)

Céline Sciamma, Petite Maman

Stanley Shapiro and Maurice Richlin, Pillow Talk

Charles Lane, Sidewalk Stories

Steven Spielberg has become so legendary, he’s come full circle: audiences and critics and historians now take him for granted. The Fabelmans remains in theaters as of the writing of this sentence, and it’s going to make very little money (blame COVID, a moviegoing culture that only goes to theaters when it’s mainstream American animation or superheroes, etc.). But it’s a beautiful screenplay from him and Kushner, exploring how filmmaking was a means that allowed him to understand his friends and family, and all the childhood trauma that emanated from both.

After that, I might have given this to The Ladykillers or Petite Maman on another day.

Best Cinematography

Alberto Etchebehere, La bestia debe morir

Yves Cape, Buffalo Boy

Hidetoshi Shinomiya, Drive My Car

Bert Glennon and Ray Rennahan, Drums Along the Mohawk

Harry Stradling, Sr., Johnny Guitar

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, Memoria

Victor Herrera, Misterios de ultratumba (Black Pit of Dr. M)

Lee Garmes, Nightmare Alley (1947)

Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog

Gabriel Figueroa, The Scapular (1968, Mexico)

In his first appearance in this category, arguably Mexico’s greatest cinematographer ever takes the prize. Figueroa started out as a still photographer when, in the 1930s, he was introduced to filmmaking by his friends. He took some time in the late 1930s to earn a scholarship and study under Gregg Toland (1940′s The Grapes of Wrath, 1941′s Citizen Kane) for one year. He came home to Mexico and became a black-and-white cinematography specialist. And in The Scapular comes some of the most evocative, terrifying, and awe-inspiring images I’ve seen in a black-and-white film. All this after that format was already losing momentum in Hollywood itself. Fantastic work.

After Figueroa, I was thinking perhaps Mukdeeprom, Garmes, or Cape.

Best Film Editing

David Brenner, James Cameron, John Refoua, and Stephen E. Rivkin, Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Paul Rogers, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn, The Fabelmans

Ray Curtiss, The Gang’s All Here

Bob Ducsay, Glass Onion

José Serra, La bestia debe morir

Pamela Martin, King Richard

Miroslav Hájek, Loves of a Blonde

Nicholas Monsour, Nope

Joel Coen and Lucian Johnston, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Best to watch it yourself and see what I mean. EEAAO would be an absolute mess without its terrific editing. Avatar, The Gang’s All Here, and The Tragedy of Macbeth were next considered.

Best Adaptation or Musical Score

George Burns, Babes in Toyland (1961)

Carol Hall, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

Charles Henderson and Alfred Newman, The Gang’s All Here

George Duning, Ladies of the Chorus

George Stoll and Robert Van Eps, Love Me or Leave Me

Eugen Illin, Loves of a Blonde

Tom Halm, A Mighty Wind

Ernest Irving, The Proud Valley (1940)

George Parrish, Start Cheering

Charlie Smalls, The Wiz

In a category that advantages original musicals over adaptations and combination scores or original and adapted musical, it’s an original musical mockumentary that wins here. If I learned anything about my followers over MOABOS, it’s that many of them don’t like American folk music. Alas, for the amount of songs composed for this film, and for the instrumental fidelity to the American folk tradition, A Mighty Wind blows the competition away.

Well, mostly. The Gang’s All Here and Love Me or Leave Me had a decent chance, too.

Best Original Score

Terence Blanchard, The Woman King (2022)

Elmer Bernstein, The Black Cauldron (1985)

Bruce Broughton, The Rescuers Down Under

Simon Franglen, Avatar: The Way of Water

Michael Giacchino, The Batman (2022)

Jerry Goldsmith, A Patch of Blue

Marc Marder, Sidewalk Stories

Miklós Rózsa, The Red House

Miklós Rózsa, Time After Time

Victor Young, Johnny Guitar

Okay, some of my friends, family, and followers didn’t like “Johnny Guitar”. But Victor Young’s score to that movie incorporated the central tune gorgeously across the film’s runtime. A rumbling, dramatic dynamo of a score fits the action and dialogue scenes beautifully, and wins for the second time in this category in as many attempts (in 2013, Young won for his score to another Western, 1953′s Shane).

Rózsa for Time After Time, Blanchard, and Franglen were also under consideration as the winners here.

Best Original Song

“I’ll Never Stop Loving You”, music by Nicholas Brodszky, lyrics by Sammy Cahn, Love Me or Leave Me

“Island in the Sun”, music and lyrics by Harry Belafonte and Irving Burgie, Island in the Sun (1957)

“Johnny Guitar”, music by Victor Young, lyrics by Peggy Lee, Johnny Guitar

“A Journey to a Star”, music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Leo Robin, The Gang’s All Here

“A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow”, music and lyrics by Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole, A Mighty Wind

“Love Survives”, music and lyrics by Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn, Mike Curb, and Michael Lloyd, All Dogs Go to Heaven

“9 to 5”, music and lyrics by Dolly Parton, 9 to 5

“Someone’s Waiting for You”, music by Sammy Fain, lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, The Rescuers

“Tomorrow is the Song I Sing”, music by Jerry Goldsmith, lyrics by Richard Gillis, The Ballad of Cable Hogue

“Why Should I Worry?”, music and lyrics by Dan Hartman and Charlie Midnight, Oliver & Company

My thanks again to those of you who participated in the Movie Odyssey Award for Best Original Song’s (MOABOS) tenth edition. I certainly hope you all had a lot of fun listening and watching, and that you might have learned something or became interested in a film along the way.

Details for this category here.

Best Costume Design

Christof Roche-Gordon, Death on the Nile (2022)

Catherine Martin, Elvis

Shirley Kurata, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Eugene Joseff, The Gang’s All Here

Uncredited, Ladies of the Chorus

Laura Nightingale, The Masque of Red Death

Luis Sequeira, Nightmare Alley (2021)

Uncredited, The Oyster Princess

Kym Barrett, Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

Gersha Phillips, The Woman King

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

Pat McNalley and Ruth Sandifer, Babes in Toyland

Pete Altobelli, Cindy Baggett, Marvin G. Westmore, Irene De’Atley, and Barbara Lorenz, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

Michelle Chung and Anissa Salazar, Everything Everywhere All At Once

Guy Pearce, The Gang’s All Here

Helen Hunt, Ladies of the Chorus

Uncredited, Le Million

Evangelina Garibay and Agripina Lozada, Misterios de ultratumba (Black Pit of Dr. M)

Carolyn Cousins, See How They Run

Lesley Vanderwalt, Three Thousand Years of Longing

Babalwa Mtshiselwa and Louisa V. Anthony, The Woman King

Best Production Design

Kurt Richter, The Doll

Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, Ian Gracie, and Damien Drew, Elvis

Rick Heinrichs and Andrew Bennett, Glass Onion

Jim Morahan, The Ladykillers

Lazare Meerson, Le Million

Tamara Deverell and Brandt Gordon, Nightmare Alley (2021)

Rochus Gliese and Kurt Richter, The Oyster Princess

Wilfred Shingleton, The Proud Valley

Roger Ford, Nicholas Dare, and Sophie Nash, Three Thousand Years of Longing

Stefan Dechant, Jason T. Clark, and Christina Ann Wilson, The Tragedy of Macbeth

Achievement in Visual Effects

Avatar: The Way of Water

The Batman

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Nope

Robin Robin (2021 short)

Worst Picture

The Ancestral (2022, Vietnam)

The Black Cauldron (1985)

Don’t Look Up (2021)

Please no.

Honorary Awards

Aardman Animations, for their innovations in stop-motion animation

Sidney Poitier, for his trailblazing artistic and human accomplishments (posthumously)

FILMS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS (excluding Worst Picture; 56) Eleven: Drive My Car

Ten: Everything Everywhere All At Once

Nine: The Ladykillers

Seven: La bestia debe morir (The Beast Must Die); A Patch of Blue

Six: The Gang’s All Here; Nightmare Alley (1947); The Tragedy of Macbeth

Five: The Ballad of Cable Hogue; The Doll; The Fabelmans; Glass Onion; Johnny Guitar

Four: Ladies of the Chorus; Loves of a Blonde; A Mighty Wind; 9 to 5; The Oyster Princess; Petite Maman; Pillow Talk; The Power of the Dog; Sidewalk Stories

Three: Avatar: The Way of Water;The Banshees of Inisherin; The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas; Buffalo Boy; Elvis; Flee; Ganashatru (An Enemy of the People); Love Me or Leave Me; Le Million; Misterios de ultratumba (Black Pit of Dr. M); Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday; Nope; Oliver & Company; Three Thousand Years of Longing; Time After Time; El vampiro negro; The Woman King

Two: All Dogs Go to Heaven; Babes in Toyland; The Batman; Drums Along the Mohawk; Hilda and the Mountain King; The Masque of Red Death; Memoria; Nightmare Alley (2021); No Man of Her Own; Penny Serenade; The Proud Valley; The Red House; The Rescuers; The Rescuers Down Under; See How They Run; Start Cheering; Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom; The Wiz

WINNERS (excluding honorary awards and Worst Picture; 25) 3 wins: The Doll; Everything Everywhere All At Once

2 wins: Flee; La bestia debe morir (The Beast Must Die); Drive My Car; The Ladykillers; Nightmare Alley (1947)

1 win: The Batman; The Fabelmans; The Gang’s All Here; Johnny Guitar; The Masque of Red Death; A Mighty Wind; Nope; Le Million; The Oyster Princess; A Patch of Blue; Petite Maman; Pillow Talk; Robin Robin; The Scapular; Sidewalk Stories; Three Thousand Years of Longing; The Tragedy of Macbeth; El vampire negro; The Woman King

83 films were nominated in 26 categories.

#Movie Odyssey Awards #2022 Movie Odyssey Awards #My Movie Odyssey

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thomaslaurencetempleton · 2 years

Text

Fine, have a comic script. I can't find an artist anyway.

The Weird Go Pro: A Neo American Pulp Story

Character Summaries:

Professor Laban Shrewsbury

- Hunter S. Thompson style; brown khaki shorts, black socks, Chuck Taylors, printed button-up shirt covered by a khaki fishing vest with multiple pockets. His face is often mostly covered up by Aviator sunglasses, except for in one shot when he is festering, horrible, eyeless sockets, which are uncovered.

Beccah Meinard

- Similar to Bella Swan from Twilight Sagas, except she is chubby and poorly dressed. She wears jeans, a bad cardigan sweater over a t-shirt and sneakers.

Edmund

- A hulky monstrous brute with a face like a rat or a vampire bat. Instead of having the classic incisors, he has pointed buck teeth similar to some sort of strange rodent, in addition to having pointy ears. In one of the shots he looks like Edward from Twilight, except with comically large vampire fangs. His wardrobe is a simple v-neck t-shirt, jeans and sneakers.

Page 1: 2 panels. Panel 1: full page. Panel 2: small corner inset in lower right side of Panel 1.

Panel 1: High angle birds eye view of a school hallway. Nighttime, the walls are lined with lockers. Beccah is lying against a locker in the lower left corner of the shot. Laban is kneeling behind her, to her side, and over her.

Laban: Here, take this

Beccah: Uhmm....what is it?

Laban: It’ll help

Beccah: What is wrong?

Laban: Yer head is confused, this'll confuse it more, but it’ll help.

Beccah: It’s dark, I can’t see.

Laban: Here, I have a torch in my bag.

Panel 2: A comic “CLICK” runs along the left border of the panel. A close-up shot of Beccah’s face, twisted in discomfort from a flashlight beam being pointed at her.

Beccah: Who are you?

Page 2: 3 panels. Panel 1: 1/2 page. Panels 2 & 3: 1/4 page.

Panel 1: Close up of an illuminated shot of Laban’s face. He is not wearing his sunglasses, his dark, gaping eye sockets are visible and he’s grinning in a crazed heroic smile. A dramatic comic scream creeps up along the right side of the panel.

Laban: I’m Professor Laban Shrewsbury, Doctorate of Anthropology of the Weird.

Panel 2: A mid level pulled back shot of the hallway. Laban is on the left side, Beccah is on the right. A lantern is between the two of them. Laban is looking in a bag and grabbing his sunglasses out with one hand, his other is over a surprised Beccah’s mouth, and a comic “Gulp” is over her head as he is forcing something into her mouth.

Laban: Just shut up and take these, we don’t have time for you to start tweaking out this early.

Panel 3: Same shot as 2, Laban is putting on his sunglasses and Beccah has both hands over her mouth, looking shocked in the eyes.

Beccah: Just, what the frig! is going on here?

Laban: Your boyfriend, the Vampire, was about to drink your sweet, virginal blood, and I scared the rat faced bastard off. I’ve gotta get you clear-headed, and the fuck outta here.

Diary Page 3

I’ve been thinking a lot about death a lot lately. I mean I am only sixteen, but it’s beginning to fee all so real to me in all this shit called my youth.

So much Hank P and me got into a huge fight at lunch about it and broke up. He seemed to think we shouldn’t even be worried about it at our age, and I think that the more we keep it close the more we will enjoy the short span of time we have.

He may look cute with his glasses and shaggy brown hair, but who wants to hang out with some guy who’s daily highlights are playing some magic card game with his friends at lunch break is so LAME!

GODDAMN HE IS SUCH A WEINER!!!!

In other news, my Potter drought is BROKEN! Cheri on Facebook told me about this new book with Vampires. It’s gonna be a MOVIE! SQUEEE!

Page 4: 3 panels. Panel 1: 1/4 page. Panel 2: 1/2 page. Panel 3: 1/4 page.

Panel 1: Same shot as Panel 3 on Page 2. Laban is looking at Beccah, who is looking petulant.

Beccah: I don’t know what you are talking about...

Laban: Are you sure? Think of the boy that gives you that gushy feeling.

Panel 2: A bright, glittery face shot of a sparkling Edward Cullen, looking gay with fangs and a starry-eyed shot of Beccah’s fact in the lower right corner of the panel. It has a dream-like feel to it all.

Edmund: Beccah, let me bite you, and we’ll be together forever.

Beccah: Oh Edmund, you’re so beautiful!

Panel 3: Almost the same shot as Panel 1. Laban is walking away with his bag and lantern in hand. Beccah is still leaning against the lockers as she watches him go.

Laban: Yeah, thats what I thought. C’mon those drugs need to kick in soon and I need to rearm in case bat boy comes back. Let’s find the cafeteria.

Beccah: What were those pills anyways?

Laban: Adderall or Meth, same difference.

Diary Page 5

I spent Lunch with Cheri today. We hung out behind the field house with her “Crew” . Most of them smoked and were very “artsy” which felt so refreshing to me. I talked with a few of them but me and Cheri mostly talked about the third Vampire book which we both started together.

OH MY GOD ITS SO GOOD!

I envy her and her friends. They all seem to understand each other. They read such good books that reflect how dark life really is. Cheri shared her frappicino with me while we talked and I am totally addicted to coffee now, Yum!

Cheri was really popular with all the boys hanging out. I totally think she may have even had sex with a couple of them. I kinda jealous because they were all kinda cute and dark. I kinda wish I could be like her a little

Page 6: 6 panels. Page is divided into thirds. Top third is divided into 3 equal panels. Panel 4 is next 1/3. Panel 5 is 1/3. Panel 6 is last 1/3. Comic “Five Minutes Later” across top border.

Panels 1,2,3: All panels are tied together by one large word bubble coming from Panel 3. Panel 1: a close up of a Microwave timer counting down. Panel 2: Laban looking perturbed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Panel 3: Close of Beccah’s face, vertical, and open-mouthed, talking.

Beccah: OMG! I can’t believe you think that Edmund was gonna kill me! It’s totally not what you think! He’s beautiful and he never attacks humans. Just like that book, but only better, because it’s real!

Panel 4: A mid level drawn back shot of a school kitchen. A microwave is in the far left side of the shot. Laban is screaming petulantly, frustratingly. 1/3 of the way into the frame, at an incline, is Beccah, who is babbling, laying on top of a prep table in the right side of the shot. Beccah’s word bubble continues across the panel but half way through it is interrupted by a large comic “SHUT UP!!”

Beccah: I mean how surprised did you think I was.

SHUT UP!!!

Laban: Is everyone these days educated by pop culture, or are you an especially retarded example? Let me teach you something.

Panel 5: A close-up of Laban’s face looking quite serious. A word bubble goes into Panel 6.

Laban: Vampire is pronounced “Vam-pi-er”. They are not pretty. They are not sexy. They eat people and rape humanity. THEY. ARE. MONSTERS!

Panel 6: Same shot as the right side of Panel 4. Beccah is sitting up on her elbows (explain this visual better?), looking surprised in the direction of where Laban was in Panel 4.

Beccah: But Edmund twinkles in the light?!

Page 7: 5 Panels. Panel 1: 1/2 page. Panels 2 & 3 are 1/4 of page. Panel 2: 1/4 of width. Panel 3: 3/4 of width. Panels 4 & 5: last 1/4 of Page. Panel 4: 3/4 of width. Panel 5: 1/4 of width.

Panel 1: A waist up full shot of Laban yelled, frustrated with clenched fists, outlined dramatically.

Laban: REAL VAMPIRES DON’T SPARKLE UNTIL THE THIRD TAB OF MESCALINE!!! NOW, TAKE ANOTHER PILL!!!

Panel 2: A close up of microwave timer again, all zeros, with a comic “Beep, Beep”

Panel 3: A smaller version of Page 4.

Panel 4: Laban is slumping, looking defeated. Beccah is still looking at him, from her position, reclined on her elbows. A comic “Huff, Huff” is in front of Laban. In “telepathy” word bubbles, in the lower right corner is “Beccah, I’m here.”

Beccah: Why are you making microwave popcorn anyways?

Panel 4: A close up shot of an over-joyed Beccah’s face, with dramatic highlights.

Beccah: Edmund! He’s calling to me!

Panel 5: A larger shot of Panel 3. Laban is in the far left side of the panel, reaching out, and moving towards the right side of the panel. Beccah is hurdling off of the prep table, rushing towards the right side of the panel. A comic “Squeel” is coming from her.

Laban: Get back here you dizzey cunt!

Diary Page 8

I went down to the “Skid Hole” today to talk with Cheri about our book today, but she totally blew me off to make out with Phillip Hannigan. I don’t know why she likes him. He’s high all the time and smells like a skunk.

I ended up sitting against the field house wall, drinking my cold coffee, and talking with Chester Bennigan. At least I was trying to, while he sketched dirty pictures in his notebook. At least he was willing to say “huh” and “oh yeah” as I talked. I coulda been choking and Cheri wouldn’t have noticed. Chester heard about our book and thought it was “gay”, so I don’t know who to talk to about it.

There was a new guy at the Skid Hole too. He just kinda sat by himself over by the drainage hole. But, he kept staring at me all lunch. It kinda weirded me out. Chester said his name was Edmund and no one really knew him because he was new. I don’t know about the staring, but I can’t stop thinking about him.

Page 9: 3 panels. Panel 1: 1/4 of page. Panel 2: 1/4 of page. Panel 3: 1/2 of page.

Panel 1: Same shot as Panel 5, Page 5. An almost “time lapse” type shot of Laban grabbing a bag of popcorn from the microwave and then running out of the shot, to the right. He is bouncing the hot bag of popcorn in his hands. A word bubble is emanating from the last version of him, running off shot.

Laban: Get yer chubby ass back here. He’s not the fucking hero here!!!

Panel 2: Completely black, except for the word bubbles. Laban is on the left side of the Panel. Beccah and Edmund are on the right side of the panel.

Laban: Beccah, yer not chubby. I’m sorry. Get to college. I’m sure things will change. But for right now, at least get by me, if the drugs have taken hold.

Beccah: Oh Edmund, I’m sorry. I don’t think this weirdo understands. Just turn on a light and he’ll see you aren’t a monster.

Edmund: It’s okay Beccah, I’ll show him, he has no idea what’s going on.

Panel 3: Dark, no backgroud. All the light is emanating from lantern that Laban is holding out. Laban is hunched over, looking solemn, holding out the lantern on the left side of the shot. Beccah is holding herself against Edmund’s chest. Edmund is only visible from the chest down.

Laban: Beccah, you really need to get over here now before you see exactly what you are holding.

Beccah: No! You don’t understand. All you’ve done is confuse me with words, and weird pills.

Diary Page 10

Cheri totally called me up today to hang out at the mall. I borrowed my dad’s pick-up and we met in the food court and iced mochas, which is totally our new drink.

She told me her and Phillip are totally over. They were fun together, but all he wanted was one thing, and she didn’t want to be known for being some kind of whore. Even if she is, I am still kind of jealous. Most of my ex-boyfriends would have cared less about me. All the guys seem to just really want to be with her.

We went to Walden Books and I caught her up on our vampire book. The movie versions of the first book were on the shelves and the actors they chose were so PERFECT!!

The quiet guy from the Skid Hole, Edmund, was there. He kept starting at us (ME) and Cheri called him a creep. She says he has “rape eyes”. I think he’s just intense, and kinda cute.

Page 11: 3 panels. Panel 1: 1/2 page. Panel 2: 1/4 page. Panel 3: 1/4 page.

Panel 1: A dramatic action pose of Beccah and Edmund. Beccah is holding onto Edmund and screaming. Edmund is maliciously clutching her and looking like a fearsome monster. A comic “Ahhh” coming from Beccah.

Laban (the word bubble is coming in from off the shot): That’s why I’ve been giving you those pills, to break whatever kind of mind control he has on you.

Panel 2: Same style shot as Panel 3 on Page 6. Laban is still holding up the lantern. Beccah is in mid-frame, cowering in fear. Edmund is still in the same position as before, on the right side of the panel, except he is leaning over, looking menacing.

Laban: High doses of stimulants break the vampire mind control. You’re now seeing him as he really is.

Edmund: Hurrr?!

Panel 3. Same shot as Panel 2, except Beccah is contemplatively reaching forward towards Edmund. Laban is face palming himself.

Laban: You fat, dizzy, cunt!

Beccah: Oh my god Edmund! What did he do to you to turn you into this monster?

Edmund: Yes! Beccah!

Diary Page 12,13

OH MY GOD! I HAVE SO MUCH TO WRITE!!

I almost can’t believe what happened if I hadn’t seen it myself. It was totally poopie Sunday, raining and what not, so I decided to walk down to Wendy’s and get some nugs to eat and feel better on such a lame day.

I was walking across Wilmington Boulevard, when some dumb cunt in a mini-van hydroplaned coming up to the intersection. She was going to slide right into me at the crosswalk when I suddenly felt like I was flying. I was totally seeing my life flash before the backs of my eyelids when I felt myself land.

I opened my eyes and I was standing in the woods alongside Wilmington with Edmund. He was holding me, and looked so concerned! I was so surprised that I couldn’t talk! He said he saw me and grabbed me out of the way. I was so confused as to how quickly we got into the woods. I felt his hands on my arms. He was ice cold. I looked at his lips and saw fangs hiding behind them. Suddenly, the sky parted and the light hit his face.

HE SPARKLED!

I looked dumbfounded at him and could say only one thing, “You’re a vampire!”

He let go and walked away like I hit him. Then, he looked at me, and said, “Say Nothing.” Then he disappeared.

I can’t believe it! Edmund Is A Vampire!!

SQUEEEE!!!!!!!

Page 14: 5 panels. Page is divided into 3 panels on the top 1/4 of the page. Panel 4: middle 1/2 of page. Panel 5: takes up last 1/4 of page.

Panel 1: A shot of just Laban’s face, twisted in sick humor and anger.

Laban: Well, I guess I am not really the hero of this story now?

Panel 2: A close up of Beccah’s face. She is starry-eyed and full of adoration for Edmund.

Beccah: Take me Edmunch, and let’s show this creep how powerful our love is!

Panel 3: A close up of Edmund’s face. He’s excited, looking intense and tense with anger. Word bubbles are converging between Panels 2 & 3.

Edmund: Give me your virgin blood and I’ll be more powerful than you will ever imagine.

Panel 4: A dramatic mid level shot of Edmund biting Beccah’s neck, which is at a sick angle, her body is crumpled awkwardly in his arms. His eyes are locked intently, at the reader. A large come “BITE” is behind him.

Panel 5: Same type of shot as Panel 3, Page 7. Laban is hunched angrily looking at Edmund, who has Beccah hanging like a dead rabbit from his jaws.

Laban: I deserve better monsters than this... This has got to be the most sad-sacked pile of shit the agents of weirdness have thrown at me.

Diary Page 15

Edmund wasn’t at school today. It musta been too sunny for him, lol. I got home and did some vampire research. Not all of it jives with the books but I know not all of it is true. Like, Wikipedia says vampires are made by “errant spirits who enter bodies of the dead”, whatever. They also like the blood of virgins and sleep in graves. Edmund totally doesn’t do these things! I know it!

Oh my god, Edmund was just at my window. I guess you have to invited them in? But, my Dad only can do it, so Edmund says its best not to let him know. I told him about what I read on the net, and he totally says its all wrong! We’ve been talking all night, and he says that I am special. That’s why he was watching me all those times. We wants to be with me, but only if I am willing to give myself completely. I told him I need time to think. lol.

Page 16: Page is separated into 4 parts. Panel 1: 3/8 of page. Panel 2: 3/8 of 1/2 page. Panel 3: 3/8 of 1/2 page. Panel 4: 1/4 page. (did you do the math right on this, its fairly confusing?)

Panel 1: Same shote as Panel 5, Page 8. Laban is still hunched, and looking angrily at Edmund. Edmund is dramatically throwing Beccah’s crumpled up corpse from his jaws into the middle ground.

Edmund: Human! You have no idea the power of a Vampyre who has fed upon the blood of a willing virgin!

Panel 2: A close up of a very angry Laban Shrewsbury

Laban: Vampyre! I have fought gods and destroyed creatures fouler than some old world blood creature like you!

Panel 3: A close up of a very scary looking Edmund.

Edmund: What are you going to do? You’re an old man with no weapons, in the dark with a lantern, and not even the common sense to remove your sunglasses.

Panel 4: An over the shoulder shot of Edmund, looking at and even angrier Laban.

Laban: I am going to embarrass both you and me by throwing at you the dumbest thing I’ve ever used to defeat a monster, because humanity has yet again moved forward father than worthless monsters, such as yourself.

Diary Page 17, 18

I am totally done with Cheri! Remember how I wrote the other day, despite what Edmund said, I told her about what was going on between me and him? Well I thought she was gonna make fun of me and eventually once I gave myself to him, she would understand.

Well, being the bitch she is, she musta send an email about me to some “internet monster hunter.” She just wants to make fun of me and is just rubbing it in. This guy is the kinda weirdo they jokingly put on TV Shows to show how crazy some people can be. I mean his website must be from 1998 or something, on top of all the crazy shit he talks about. I mean, who believes in Bigfoot anymore?

He is supposedly a doctor or something and sent me a weird e-mail, warning me about how stupid I was being. Then, he went on about a whole bunch of mythical bullshit about how dangerous Edmund was. Cheri must be pissing herself with laughter right now.

I am gonna do it. I am giving myself to Edmund. Maybe after he makes me a vampire, I’ll got find Cheri and scare the crap out of her. I’ll find her in a dark alley and jump out of the shadows, be all pointy-teethed and screaming. I wouldn’t hurt her, naturally, because me and Edmund won’t be like that. We will go to Washington and live in the forest, and go to Seattle, hang out in the coffee shops and write real, but fictional stories about ourselves. I’m gonna call him and go to the school tonight.

Page 19: 4 panels. Page is separated into 1/3’s. Panels 1 & 2 are top 1/3, equal halves. Panel 3: 1/3 of page. Panel 4: 1/3 of page.

Panel 1: A close up of a bag of microwave popcorn dangling from Laban’s fingers. Bag is labeled “Movie Theatre Butter Blast.”

Panel 2: Another close up of Edmund’s fact, looking confused.

Edmund: Is that what you’re talking about?

Panel 3: Same type shot as Panel 1, Page 9. Laban is tossing the bag of popcorn, nonchalantly through the air. Edmund is still looking confused on the right side of the shot.

Laban: Here, catch.

Panel 4: Same shot as Panel 3. Laban is reaching into his front pocket grabbing something, on the left side of panel. Edmund is on the right side of the panel, juggling the bag of popcorn, which is spilling its contents all over him. “Ah” “Ah” “Ah” in comic style surrounds him.

Page 20: 3 panels. Panel 1: 1/3 of page. Panels 2 & 3: 2/3 of page, bisected angularly from the top right to the lower left.

Panel 1: A waist up shot of Edmund, shoulders slumped, looking defeated, and covered in popcorn.

Edmund: If this works, I am gonna fuck your corpse in hell...nightly.

Panel 2: A close up of Laban, shoulders up, smiling, lighting a 100’s cigarette, talking out of the side of his mouth.

Laban: Evidently, artificial butter flavoring is like holy water, garlic, crucifixes, and sunlight to you undead bastards!

Panel 3: Edmund is withering in pan, screaming at the heavens, bursting into flames, whilst covered in popcorn.

Edmund: THIS IS BULLSHIT!!!

Page 21: one panel, full page.

Panel 1: Laban is hunched angrily, taking a drag off of his cigarette. Walking towards the viewer. In the background, Edmund is burning horribly, turning disfigured and screaming. A comic “Scream” emanating from behind him.

Laban: If it wasn’t for naïve, insecure, school girls and fat, lonely, middle-aged secretaries, you fuckers would have died out by now.

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herwonderland7 · 2 years

Text

CHAPTER 2 ― DISAPPEARING STARS

CHARACTERS ― Moon Taewon Leon, Moon Taeri Celeste, Moon Taeoh Erwin, Moon Taeyul Edmund, Jung Jaehyun Yoonoh, Jung Junwon Peter Neolas, Jung Aeria Venusia Neolas, Jung Yoel Evander Neolas, Jung Jia Valentia Neolas

GENRE ― fantasy, nct!prince, nct!royalty, nct!as!vampires, nct!as!wolves

WORDS ― 1819

WARNINGS/AUTHOR’S NOTE ― Slight Angst.

SUMMARY ― The disappearance of the stars could be seen throughout Wonderland until it reached The Gods and Goddess of Constellations, who are searching for the Queen, unaware that trouble awaits them.

“I lost her.”

“What!? What do you mean you lost her!?!”

“I-I don’t know!”

“Taeoh! You had one job!”

“Well my job wasn’t the one who is supposed to transport her here! That’s supposed to be his!” The Aquarius god pointed to the youngest who was standing at the corner with a sheepish look.

Leon sighed loudly, looking at his siblings who were arguing – gathered in his room around the reflecting pool.

“Okay, Taegeun. You need to calm down, alright?” Taeri slightly glared towards the Scorpio God who was giving a side-eye towards his younger siblings – before turning towards the Aquarius God.

“Taeoh, could you try to track her again, please?” Taeri asked politely, before turning towards her youngest sibling. “It’s okay, Taeyul. You did great.” She smiled towards him, giving the little one a nod.

“Thanks, Riri.” He quietly said, before meeting the scariest God in the room – which was Leon. Truth to be told, the youngest of the Moon siblings is slightly afraid of the eldest when it comes to work.

Taeyul actually avoids working with Taewon – because he is afraid of getting scolded by the lion. He heard rumours that the Taewon will literally scold you till you cry.

That’s what Taeyul heard from the other gods and goddesses.

“Good job, Taeyul. I know you could transport the Queen from earth to Wonderland.” Taewon said with a slight smirk – patting the little one’s head. Taeyul just stood there, looking like he froze.

Before Taeyul could say anything, there were rush knocks that could be heard – causing the siblings to look at the door, to see one of the gods working for Leon.

“God Leon! Prince Jonah and Prince Joel are calling for you! It's about the constellation!”

Taewon looked towards his other siblings – he did not need to say a word. Along with Taegeun, both of them rush out of the room which only leaves the rest of the siblings.

Taeri’s moon bracelet was flashing in red – which was a sign that something’s wrong, terribly wrong in the Department of Wishes. “..This isn't good.” Taeri turned towards Taeyul who was looking at his older siblings worryingly.

Soon, it was Taeoh’s bracelet that had his Aquarius sign flashed in red, but he didn’t mind. He was still searching for the Queen, their father’s sister-in-law who is also known for lots of titles.

In a matter of minutes, Taeoh’s eyes shine in white. “I found Queen Aera!”

“Why are you grumbling, Speed?”

“He’s hungry, Yoel.”

“Exactly, my darling sister. We literally fed him minutes ago!” Yoel complained towards the younger one, who was smiling while looking towards the huge gryphon who was looking at its owner sheepishly.

The prince and princess of Neo Kingdom of King Jaehyun and Queen Aera’s children were walking Yoel’s gryphon, Speed, for its everyday night walk.

Speed was nudging onto the bright oranged girl’s side gently – huffing towards her as if it was speaking to Jia, which Jia understood.

“Yoel, Speed said he is hungry again.” Jia turned towards Yoel with a knowing look. Yoel could only sigh, before nodding defeatingly.

“Fine, I’ll give you more cabbages.” Yoel muttered under his breath, then hearing more screeches that sounded delighted in Yoel’s ears.

The three of them were walking back towards Neo castle when something caught their eye.

“The stars..” Jia looked up, to see stars basically appear to disappear. “Yoel, do you…”Jia’s words trailed off as she glanced towards her brother who was somehow looking up to the sky too.

“If you’re asking me if the stars usually do that or not, the answer is no.” Yoel answered while still looking up.

It was weird for them. Yoel had never once missed upon staring up to the night skies – where the moon and stars would reveal itself each night.

Yoel always had his alone time, where he would let out a wish when he sees a star appearing.

Today was different, the stars were playing hide and seek in different areas.

Just as they were admiring weird stars that were appearing to disappear, a strike of lightning caught the attention of the gryphon who was previously joining to look up to the skies and now had his guard up.

Speed let out a screech of waring; making Jia jump out of surprise.

“Huh!?” Jia frowned, to see a few strikes of lightning – indicating the bad weather. Yoel saw the lightning�� and surprisingly, a barrier suddenly appeared out of the castle’s compound.

“We have to go!” Yoel had already pulled Jia along behind him, as they got on top of Speed – the gryphon quickly flew off as Yoel pulled his feathers as a sign and they flew.

Jia had her arms held onto Yoel’s side, at the same time seeing the opposite of where they were from the top – to see more lightning strikes far from where they were, which was the dark sea.

'I hope Father, Junwon, and Aeria will return home soon.'

“I had informed the Generals in the palace about our arrival, your highness.”

“Alright. Thank you, General.”

Once the General went down the cabin, leaving the King of Neo Kingdom on the deck alone, Jaehyun finally had his shoulder slump comfortably — knowing he was all alone, and he could be at peace after a day being on deck, while keeping a look out for his crew members.

Nights would only be the time he could get his alone time — he would always come on the deck, and would look at the stars.

Recently, the stars were shining so bright that it made him wonder how it could happen — he wondered about other things too.

“Love, what are you doing?”

He saw his wife basically sitting on the dangerous concrequetes of his balcony room, which made him gasp in horror.

“Aera! Get down! That’s dangerous!” He had already had his arms wrapping around her waist, pulling her to the back.

“W-wha— Calm down, Yoonoh! I was watching the stars! Geez, relax!” She whined, frowning towards him. She slowly tried to pull away from his suffocating grip.

“Watching the stars? That’s a thing?”

“Yeah! You don’t do it here? It’s kind of therapeutic, you should try.”

Jaehyun closed his eyes, he could hear her voice clearly in his mind - as he went through memories with her.

It was tough to live without her, the hope he had on waiting for her to come back was slowly vanishing — yet, somehow his heart was still dangling onto the little hope.

Jaehyun let out a shaky sigh, not noticing two figures were approaching him.

“Father?” A deep, sleepy voice called, which another figure appeared as she sleepily rubbed her eyes, seeing their father standing on the rails of the ship.

“Father!? What are you doing here!? It’s cold out here!” A worried feminie voice was heard this time, then feeling a thick cloth being wrapped around Jaehyun’s shoulder.

Jaehyun turned towards the back, to see the two children, his two children.

“I think the two of you might have forgotten that I am a vampire,” Jaehyun joked before continuing, “Shouldn't the two of you be asleep by now?” Jaehyun eyed them.

The oldest, Jung Junwon Peter, who is 23 years old and had slightly dirty blonde hair with brown eyes — he is a grown man who had a similar strength as his mother. He is known as the golden boy, following the footsteps of his father.

Good looking, a gentleman, mature and not to mention — very brave.

He turned towards his sister who was a year younger, named Jung Aeria Venusia.

Jung Aeria Venusia was a duplicate of their mother physically, as well as powers, but of course, Aeria doesn’t have all powers that her mother had.

Aeria obtained force-field generation, where she had the ability to create any shape of high durable barriers. She could use it to grab as well as break apart targets.

Not just that, she surprisingly possesses cosmic energy — this was no surprise to her nor to her own family since her own mother had informed them beforehand regarding Aeria’s powers.

She is exactly described as her mother when she was young — beautiful, cool, courageous, compassionate.

Aeria grew up to have a motherly figure — she isn’t surprised because others would say that her mother was the same too.

“You know us very well by now, Dad… and we know you very well. Are you still thinking about her?” Aeria’s voice turned soft at the end, knowing who she was mentioning — Jaehyun knows.

Except for Junwon, he was rather clueless.

“...who..?” Junwon muttered towards Aeria, who could only look at him — wondering how clueless he is.

“...Your mother? Yes.” Jaehyun answered softly too, his eyes went towards the dark sea.

Junwon and Aeria could only look at each other, somehow they felt bad for their father.

He would always do this every night ever since they were given the job to sail to other parts of Wonderland to restore peace — which they successfully did after a few years.

But for some reason, peace doesn’t tend to stay forever in Wonderland and here they are needing to sail back and forth — and after a few months, they are going back home.

The two oldest Jung siblings would always remember that they would always be sent to either Aerina or to one of their uncles homes — back when they were young, to be taken care of due to their father being busy.

They didn’t feel bad, they just pitied him — being a father and being a King was never easy. But they were thankful to Jaehyun that he would never fail to see them from time to time, back when they were just kids.

And now they are adults, Jaehyun allowed them to tag along — knowing their capabilities and abilities on their fighting skills, but Jaehyun made a deal with them that once they returned back home, the two oldest Jung siblings had to resume their studies.

The two siblings agreed, settling the deal.

Aeria stood beside her father, rubbing his back in an attempt to sooth him — Jaehyun leaned on her head, his eyes began to feel droopy in feeling comfortable.

“...You really love mother, don’t you?” Junwon asked this time.

Though his father’s face showed extreme tiredness, he never failed to show his dimpled smile.

“She was and is still, my everything.”

Junwon smiled at his father’s words as he looked up, following his father who was admiring how the stars looked when he slowly had a frown on his face.

The stars were disappearing one by one.

“Urm… Is it me or…” Junwon’s words trailed off, his eyes glanced towards Aeria who was also frowning.

“That’s weird.” Aeria muttered. “Father, do you see it too?”

Jaehyun had a deep frown by now, nodding towards his daughters’ words.

“Yes.. Weird. This has never happened before.”