#Short Trips: Erasure

[daily-time-lord-atrocity]

Erase people and civilizations from history on multiple occasions for crimes that may have not even been committed

.

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

The last of the Gallifrey short trips notes: Erasure

There are earthquakes on gallifrey (i mean idk why there wouldn’t be, planets are going to planet after all, but still feels like something to note)

Heartshaven has a wine cellar → there’s gallifreyan wine, wonder if it’s any different to human wine since human alcohol doesn’t really affect time lords, or is it just for the taste

Also why were they at heartshaven

The house is not well reinforced → commonality among houses, or just heartshaven

Narvin: says something heartfelt, narvin immediately after: i never said that

‘The rise of the killer cats of ginseng … the cia didn’t handle that one at all well, but luckily we made sure no record exists today’ → ??? please tell me more about this

‘A rare moment of a time lord cover up that actually benefited all gallifrey’ → i do wonder what the extent of what they had to cover up was, like did this involve just deleting some records, or deleting some memories (or maybe even people, let's be real here, though i guess they wouldn’t exactly remember if that happened since they would have never existed) and how did it benefit gallifrey, save them from embarrassment? Prevent it from destabilizing their society and/or government? What are we talking here

Loyalty meant everything → the blind trust of gallifrey and its institutions (this is somewhat just part of how narvin is, but also we see this with some other time lords in the invasion of time, so i wonder how common of a trait the whole blind loyalty thing is among time lords)

‘I don’t know how many years it goes back, i was younger then’ → i’m begging the writers to stop being allergic to telling me narvin’s age, please anything but he’s at least two hundred (my personal headcanon is anywhere from 600-900 by the start of the series, which isn’t exactly a small range, but it’s fine, i can deal with that) (← lies)

‘The high council had been monitoring a world’ → i wonder how much the monitoring of potential threats (and/or whatever is of interest) falls to the high council and what falls to the cia, when does it become enough of a thing for the high council to get involved vs when is it just something for the cia to deal with

There’s an apc net prediction, so maybe that’s when the high council gets involved, otherwise it’s just the cia monitoring things for themselves

‘Universes, all of them’ → the time lords have some amount of power and control over other universes, or at least have access to them, this would make sense as we see the everything with the axis

‘One of my seniors’ → narvin isn’t yet at the point of being only a step or two below vansell yet, but as is mentioned later, he’s above the status of junior agent (trying to figure out how the various agencies and organizations on gallifrey work one step at a time, this would be a lot easier if the writers weren’t constantly disagreeing on things, but alas, what else is to be expected)

‘Matrix keepers rarely got involved with the day to day running of the capitol, preferring to spend their days observing and seeking the ability to read truthful timelines from the cloister wraiths. For the head of their little clique to emerge from the catacombs was a sign, and not a good one’ → so yes the matrix houses all of time lord knowledge and can to an extent predict the future, but it seems that these things are very jumbled, the matrix keepers keep to themselves, presumably spending that time trying to interpret the matrix, because it seems that unless you have control over the matrix (like say the president would) it’s hard to navigate or get accurate information from (which would make sense given what we see of it in the show, it’s just a jumble of random things, bits of memories smashed together), also the ‘truthful timelines’ bit, does the matrix predict events along multiple timelines, can they see all the possible futures? I wonder what learning to differentiate between a possible future and a probable one is like, like what makes a future more likely to happen then another and how does one learn to discern that (also kind of love the whole ‘well if they thought it was important enough to actually tell us about we’re a bit fucked aren’t we’ like sure they might just use technology to communicate their findings/predictions, but it is a little funny to me to imagine that they stay down there until they encounter something possibly apocalyptic)

‘This was the sort of job for which you’d normally summon a junior grade time lord’ → i need to make a chart of time lord ranks or something (also the ‘give them a time ring’ part, junior time lords don’t have tardises? (i actually think i’d heard that somewhere before, but idk where it was) if this is the case, i think it makes it a bit funnier that vansell gives narvin the time ring here)

‘Be back in a nanosecond’ → again, don’t actually know where it comes from (if it comes from anywhere at all and isn’t just popular headcanon) but isn’t there something about time lords sticking to the passage of time on gallifrey even if they don’t other places, so like if gallifrey experiences a week of time they also do, unsurprising that the cia would be breaking this rule if it exists (also just like stick to the fucking bit and call things spans)

‘Gallifrey disappearing, indeed the entire rassilonian time era being lost’ → interesting the implication that if the rassilonian time era didn’t happen that gallifrey would just be gone (at least that’s what i’m taking this as, it could very well be that that era didn’t happen because gallifrey disappeared) (also when is the rassilonian era (the past???) i should maybe figure out the gallifreyan timeline, or like at least some of it)

‘It is narvin’s destiny’ → guy just wants to do his job, keeps getting sucked into prophecies and shit, this is so funny to me

‘Vansell was strange at the best of times’ → not really lore relevant at all, but i do love that they take pretty much any opportunity to insult vansell, designated guy that no one likes

‘He produced a time ring and slid it on my wrist’ → time rings bracelet sized then (or can they come in different sizes)

‘Very rudimentary time travel’ → like sure there are levels to all types of technology, but i’d love to learn about the differences between advanced vs rudimentary time travel, would i understand any of it, no i’m not a physics guy, but i still think it’d be interesting

And there it is, the whole ‘no one else can have this power but us’ thing, like oh these other people are using time traveling abilities to change history, they’re erasing people from existence, possibly even planets, can’t have them doing that, only we’re allowed to do that

‘Any measures’

Yeah if we can’t stop them from using time travel to erase people from existence we’re going to show up and use time travel to erase them from existence → it’s moments like these where i wonder if they even hear what they’re saying, or if they’ve just accepted that this is perfectly okay for them to do because they figured it out before everyone else and know how to use time travel responsibly (probably a mix of both honestly)

‘Time tots, no children, just children’ → okay yes, narvin not knowing what children are for a second is funny, but this does have some interesting implications, it could go one of two ways a) time tots are exclusive to time lords, so other species kids aren’t called that, which is likely for the obvious reasons of why would anyone else call their kids time tots, but then if this is true, it also feels like narvin would probably be less quick to correct himself (though maybe not because he’s cia and it’s his job to know about things, os it’s very plausible he would know this), or b) time tots and children are distinct things on gallifrey, time tots is used to talk about only those who are going to become time lords, and likely this comes with different treatment, time tots are meant to learn things for when they go to the academy, children however, well given how obsessed time lord society is with status, i doubt much care would be given to those who are predetermined to not become time lords

Time lords can identify species by telepathy (well, i’m assuming given the condition that they actually know the species in the first place)

Narvin also seems to be able to tell that the doctor is the doctor → time lords identify each other telepathically rather than by appearance (would make sense given regeneration) and given the doctor’s status as a renegade and ex president, it would make sense that a cia agent would know his psychic signature (yep, next line supports this, the doctor’s famous now, though i guess that happens when you air out your divorce across the citadel and then get the planet invaded after becoming president and then leave an alien there)

‘Arresting him, and taking him home, was very high on all cia priority lists’ → idk, the fact that i know narvin just isn’t going to even make much of an attempt at arresting the doctor is really funny to me, guy who simultaneously is good at his job and also sucks at it

Narvin just tries to tell him he’s under arrest ‘in the name of the high council’ → kind of interesting, just the assumption that most time lords would just obey something like this (at least that’s what it seems) and the bafflement when that doesn’t work (something something, your average time lord is very bad at thinking for themselves)

This is narvin’s first off gallifrey mission, yet he seemingly has passed the rank of junior time lord (wonder how one does that)

Time ring translates much like a tardis would (something something time lord technology very heavily built on the fact that they are a psychic species

Narvin briefly confused by the fact that the doctor is wearing colors that don’t align with his chapter → the institutions of time lord society are so baked in that he just doesn’t consider anything else could be true for a moment (this does make me curious about casual everyday clothes though, are they all in chapter colors? Also like what is narvin wearing, i truly just imagine this man in his cia robes 24/7)

Narvin’s never been off world before → i mean he did say this was his first off world mission so that makes sense, but idk it was technically a possibility

Also he just doesn’t know if colors exist on other planets → they aren’t told things about other worlds, they say that they sit and observe, but they don’t even do that do they, most time lords don’t learn much about worlds outside of gallifrey, why would they, that could make them want to leave

‘Who knew what similarities to time lord culture there were across the stars’ → similar to my above point, if they learn about other cultures and see that there are similarities it makes it harder for them to keep their status as gods over time, because they start to see that those people that they looked down on are actually people and not just lower beings

Has to cite legal clauses and all that, even if they mean nothing to the people he’s saying them to → something something it’s all about ceremony and tradition among the time lords

‘How much damage he had done to the reputation of the time lords and gallifrey’ → i’ve said this many times before, and i’ll say it again, but everything with the time lords is about perception, the actual reality of a situation does not matter as long as they can make the people they want perceive it how they want them to perceive it, and that’s the real reason that renegades are dangerous, not because they’re out there interfering with timelines and other species, the time lords already do enough of that (despite what they say), they’re dangerous because they are interfering in a way that isn’t approved of by the time lords, that doesn’t fit within the neat image that they have built for themselves

‘The only people responsible enough to utilize time travel’

‘Only time lords can sense them’ → something something being exposed to that much time energy changes the dna of a species and the time lords have spent so much more time around time than the other temporal powers that they are more adapted to it than pretty much any other species

‘Sub coordinator narvin’ → i forget what i was going to say here, something something rank, something something narvin’s timeline (?) (actually how does the doctor know narvin’s rank, i don’t think i remember him saying it, is there some sort of difference in the uniform, or does the doctor just know who narvin is (something in narvin’s psychic signature?))

Time rings can remotely access the matrix

Time lords can spot time breaches/scabs in time → though it does seem to need training to actually be able to do as narvin refers to have been trained to do it for the cia

Time lords can psychically translate things without technological assistance, but do seem to need to concentrate

‘Legendary time lord’ → they’re seen as kind of mythical creatures

‘As a member of the cia i’m not particularly trained in negotiation’ → you know narvin, i would love to know what you are trained in (actually it seems to be a lot of seeing through illusions and using psychic abilities to see and know things others might not, as well as intelligence gathering, timeline reading, and how to interfere in the timelines, but it is a lot more fun to make fun of them for being bad at everything for an organization that is supposedly very powerful)

‘What i am reasonably well trained in is being straightforward, blunt, and using the fastest solution’

‘President of the high council of the time lords’ → look i’m not going to write it down everytime they say the president’s full title (probably) but i would like to know just what being the president of gallifrey entails when it comes to who you rule over

‘Just pride at a job well done’ → time lords trained both to suppress emotion/empathy and see other species as lesser, so that they care less when they are responsible for their destruction

‘Over these past few years’ → how long of a period of time does the gallifrey series take place over, because that’s a hell of a lot of stuff to happen in just a few years

‘A better time lord, a better gallifreyan’ → little gallifreyans and time lords being different moment

[do-you-know-this-dw-story]

Erasure (Audio: 2018)

[raspberry-gloaming]

Listening to erasure -

Like everyone else I'm AAH-ing over those lines, you know the ones

[astonmartinii]

day ten: three (un)wise men | lando norris social media au

pairing: lando norris x fem piastri reader

christmas time is the one time of year oscar has some peace and quiet away from his teammate... or at least it was

MASTERLIST | TIP JAR

yourusername

liked by alexalbon, georgerussell63 and 671,209 others

tagged: landonorris

yourusername: the piastri house just got a bit busier

view all comments

user2: just take me out back and put me out of my misery

user3: add me to the list

oscarpiastri: i think you'll find it was quite busy enough

yourusername: boring, get a new routine bozo

oscarpiastri: i am not wholly opposed to this relationship but that was before he invaded our house and got mum to get rid of all of my salmon

landonorris: i am ALLERGIC

oscarpiastri: that's such a lie ???

landonorris: your mum believed it

oscarpiastri: you're just letting him lie to mum @yourusername

yourusername: he didn't lie he just embellished the truth

oscarpiastri: i'm telling mum we've just thrown out perfectly good salmon

landonorris: NOOOOOO

yourusername: well this isn't dramatic at all

oscarpiastri: @zakbrownceo lando just pushed me down the stairs

landonorris: snitches get stitches

oscarpiastri: i probably already need some :(

yourusername: you're literally fine osc let's stop being dramatic please

user4: my new years wish is to be in a relationship like theirs

user5: i think i would do anything at this point

user6: in brother's best friend we believe

oscarpiastri: BEST FRIEND?

landonorris: wow osc tell me how you really feel

oscarpiastri: i mean i like you, i tolerate your relationship with my sister but i draw the line at saying you're my best friend

logansargeant: logan sargeant erasure for sure

user7: so like now y/n is done with her degree will we get her in the paddock more

mclarenf1: not if this is what happens when she's around

user8: it's funny?

mclarenf1: oscar got thrown down the stairs over fish?

user9: they're called the three unwise men for a reason

landonorris

liked by oscarpiastri, carlossainz55 and 893,209 others

tagged: yourusername

landonorris: first christmas down under

view all comments

user10: why is this actually making me want a hot christmas?

user11: if it seems so wrong why do i want it to be right?

user12: i can't be sweaty while eating christmas dinner sorry

yourusername: that's not necessarily true

landonorris: oh! yes... hehehehe

oscarpiastri: SHUT THE FUCK UP

yourusername: why are you in our business ?

oscarpiastri: you're making it my business

landonorris: and how would we be doing that?

oscarpiastri: you're cuddled up like two ft away from me, giggling very loudly and saying 'what you gonna say to that osc'

yourusername: us? never!

oscarpiastri: i'm going to tear out my hair before the end of christmas

yourusername: with that forehead? no you won't

oscarpiastri: life was so peaceful when you went to lando's for christmas

landonorris: it might have been peaceful but you did miss us ... the phone logs prove it

user13: they gotta be so annoying for the other piastris

user14: idk i think they're like puppies that have to get all of their zoomies out and then just pass out on the couch

user15: more like lando and y/n are the big bumbling dogs and oscar is the one unimpressed cat who will on occasion chase their tails

carlossainz55: and yet you never made the short trip to spain... makes you think

yourusername: i'm way cuter than you

carlossainz55: is it just a piastri thing to be annoying

oscarpiastri: excuse me?

carlossainz55: you heard me the first time

yourusername: this is a crazy hill to die on considering lando will be a piastri in the near future

oscarpiastri: he basically already is

landonorris: omg i knew you guys loved me

carlossainz55: ew?

oscarpiastri

liked by yourusername, landonorris and 1,204,377 others

oscarpiastri: you know what they were right to call us the three unwise men because why did i come down to get a glass of water to see lando under the tree in nothing but a ribbon i NEED all three of us dead at this point

view all comments

user17: exsqueeze me?

user18: lord i have seen what you have done for other people

user19: my only thing is ... lando doesn't seem the most flexible how did he do the ribbon bows himself ...

maxfewtrell: most traumatic facetime of my life

yourusername: you can be angry about this, i personally do not give a fuck

oscarpiastri: that much is clear

yourusername: lando made it very clear that we had bagsied the living room for the evening

oscarpiastri: you have a christmas tree in your room? why didn't you do that there?

yourusername: you have an en suite you could've gotten a glass of water from there?

landonorris: i think i know the issue here

oscarpiastri: oh please do share your wisdom

landonorris: you seeing me like that changed something inside of you

landonorris: are you having an identity crisis osc?

oscarpiastri: no?

yourusername: good! he's mine!

oscarpiastri: i was in shock because i saw my future brother in law 90% naked on my living room floor

landonorris: i can see that

yourusername: omg look at us we're so good at talking it through - therapy who?

alexalbon: PLEASE STILL GO TO THERAPY DEAR LORD

oscarpiastri: i will defo still be talking to my therapist about this

user20: i know the caption is traumatising but also lets have a second to think about how oscar has just posted three memes of himself

oscarpiastri: i have a very expressive face i gotta use it

maxverstappen1: wowwowowow lando is stooping low for the mental games this season

maxverstappen1: let it be known lando, gay chicken is not very effective in psychological warfare

landonorris: okay?

maxverstappen1: it will just take your love away from you ....

landonorris: i don't want osc? i am very happy with the piastri i have

yourusername: i am the best piastri :P

oscarpiastri: i'm gonna ignore the whole slander in the comment above but are we all ignoring how max is lamenting over his loss of daniel?

yourusername: i think we should just leave him to it ....

yourusername

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tagged: landonorris

yourusername: i got my present this year, yes ribbon included

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user21: slowly but surely you guys are pushing me into my hater era

user22: if you're gonna brag about it can we at least get some photgraphic evidence

user23: PRETTY PLEASE

yourusername: that's for my eyes only

oscarpiastri: and mine apparently

landonorris: i gotta spoil my girl

alexalbon: but from what oscar's post says the present was you?

landonorris: well yes!

alexalbon: wow that must be disappointing i'm sorry @yourusername

yourusername: i can assure you i was very happy with my gift

landonorris: see alex !!!!

landonorris: i also got y/n other gifts

alexalbon: i should think so considering i've seen you in changing rooms :/

georgerussell63: another woman disappointed on christmas, not very feminist of you lando

landonorris: NO BODY SHAMING ON CHRISTMAS

landonorris: also WHAT?

user24: poor lando - he can't escape the bullying from alex and george even on christmas

user25: it's good entertainment tbf

oscarpiastri: i'm glad my trauma was a nice gift for you

yourusername: ur still whining about that?

oscarpiastri: yes i will whine until i die it was TERRIFYING

landonorris: you can keep complaining

landonorris: but i'll do it again next year

oscarpiastri: cool you can traumatise YOUR family instead

landonorris: oh you'll be there

oscarpiastri: huh?

yourusername: you guys are all coming to somerset next year!!!

oscarpiastri: i didn't consent to this?

yourusername: we can't split up the three unwise men :(

landonorris: please osc :(

oscarpiastri: fine.

landonorris

liked by maxverstappen1, yukitsunoda0511 and 982,309 others

tagged: yourusername & oscarpiastri

landonorris: no shrimps on the barbie at christmas i am very disappointed

view all comments

user27: didn't they throw out all the fish when lando arrived...

user28: let's sit back and watch oscar vs lando part 289 since christmas started

oscarpiastri: you raise a GREAT POINT

oscarpiastri: i got thrown down the stairs for no point?

landonorris: i fought you in self defence?

oscarpiastri: i didn't have any fish in my hands? STOP VICTIM BLAMING

landonorris: actually it was only like three steps

oscarpiastri: three steps constitute stairs

landonorris: nuh uh three steps does not a stairs make

user29: yall done?

yourusername: you don't even like fish?

landonorris: but i love YOU !!!

yourusername: i love you toooooo

yourusername: but you're gonna have to get over it because next aussie christmas i will be having my seafood

landonorris: i guess so

landonorris: but just for you!

yourusername: awwww this is real love :3

user30: i think we've just seen y/n tie lando down for life

yourusername: oh believe me i've tied him down before

landonorris: hehehehehe

oscarpiastri: idk i defo saw a shrimp ...

oscarpiastri: in a ribbon...

landonorris: well i was hardly ever gonna be excited to see YOU

yourusername: it's okay babe he's just trying to rattle you

oscarpiastri: i'm just stating what i saw

yourusername: that's it !!! the next time your next to stairs it's ME you should be worried about

oscarpiastri: well this is not very christmas spirit of you

landonorris: we got all our christmas spirit out even when you tried to cockblock

oscarpiastri: i'm going to block both of you

user31: three unwise men i love you all

user32: mclaren please never take them away from me

user33: @ mclaren please bring back unboxed with y/n as host please

yourusername: i only star in not safe for work videos with lando sorry

landonorris: :3333333

oscarpiastri: i'm going to kill myself

fin.

note: nearly done with this series woooooo!!!!

[zeroducks-2]

What's up with batman and the erasing of queer history? Sry I try to interact with fanon as little as possible

There is no simple or short answer to this but to try and not make it a wall of text - Batman/Robin has always been a staple of the queer community, so much so that to this day there are "brudick" graffiti in big cities and lots of older gay couples have been using them as a reference for solid partnership which endures in spite of adversity.

Originally there was no indication anywhere that Bruce and Dick were in the roles of father and son, rather they were partners against crime, one the shadow of the other, and they would share everything both when it came to crime fighting and in their everyday lives. They're shown sleeping together, going on lake trips together, finishing each other's sentences and Dick being viciously jealous every time Bruce would "replace" him with any of the women he used to have flings with such as Talia or Selina.

Did DC mean for them to be read as a queer couple? No, of course not. Bob Kane and others wrote a partnership, an unbreakable bond which would allow these two men to overcome any obstacle together, and queer people read into it as queer people always do.

Someone else read into it though: Frederick Wertham, who called Batman a pederast and used Batman and Robin as an example of how the evil comics would corrupt young minds to send them on the way of perdition and sin. He wrote all of this and many more infuriating shit in his book Seduction of the Innocents, which was then the major influence in creating the Hayes Code, which is the reason why we never had queer characters in comicbooks and movies and anything really for decades (and we're still struggling today).

Wertham and the Hayes Code did not stop the queer community from loving Batman and Robin though, therefore what started happening was the more subtle shift towards Bruce and Dick having a father and son relationship rather than a partnership. You can see this clearly with Jason Todd for the first time: Bruce takes Jason in and treats him as his own son, the narrative calls them father and son, and there is no doubt in the mind of who's reading that Bruce perceives Jason as his child. It all went steadily downhill from there.

Nowadays, writers have Dick say character assassinating things like "I love you dad" to Bruce, Tim saying "we will save our dad" to Damian, and everyone in the fandom acting like this has always been the case and actually you're weird and you should be sent death threats for shipping Brudick, because "UMMM that is literally his son?!??!?!?". DC has been pushing the idea that these folks are a nuclear family for a while now, but whoever has actually read the comics knows it's not the case, and it used to be very different before.

Brudick, among queer people, used to be entirely uncontroversial. While Wertham raged about how it corrupted the minds of young men and the Hayes Code prevented queerness to be anything but vaguely hinted and coded in the text, queer folks didn't care and kept having matching Batman and Robin shirts.

Today queer people will call you a pedophile and a groomer and try to doxx you for posting Brudick art because apparently they're doing the fascists' job for them, either because they are genuinely misguided or because they think that if they're enough morally pure they will have a spot among the chosen ones, hell if I know. What I know is that they'd suck Wertham's cock and balls if he wrote Seduction of the Innocents today, and it's DC's fault too with their erasure of every found family dynamic among the batclan, and the way they've been pushing the idea of a "batfamily" instead, in which everyone has a strict role of son or brother or father, and shipping them makes you the antichrist.

[joumanadraws]

Scene from the Short Trip story Erasure featuring everyone's (2nd? 3rd? 18th?) favourite Time Lord, narrated by Seán Carlsen.

[seven4asecret]

₊✩‧₊˚ Tipping The Scales Pt.1 ˚₊✩‧₊

Moonknight System x Layla x Gn! (Eventual Avatar) Reader

Content & Warnings: No pronouns, no Y/N, no Smut, descriptions of typical violence, eventual polyamory, & badly written fight scenes

A short fic following the show with a reader sensitive to otherworldly beings. I wrote this because I have beef with the show's Anubis erasure. Apologies for any errors & bad writing.

Ao3 Wattpad Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Chapter 1: A Dusty Ass Bird Man Won't Leave My Neighbor Alone

For as long as you can remember you've been able to see or sense things, whatever they might be. Spirits, guides, or guardians, you thought you had seen them all by now. It had become normal. Especially since beginning at the museum. It was common to see spirits watering around the exhibits. After all, the museum did house remains, and items of all sorts, each with a story. Even during tours, you would spot at least one person with some type of attachment. Perhaps, a deceased family member, a guide, or a protective spirit. So when you met Steven Grant and sensed the entity attached to him, you figured it was something similar.

As you spent time with Steven you were able to get a better feel for the entity, it became more tangible. It felt different, off in a way you hadn't felt before with others. So you waited, maybe time would allow your ability to reveal it. The entity hadn't appeared to be hostile, at least not yet. But you got a distinct feeling that it could be very dangerous if it wished, and it felt

very, 

very, 

old. 

 And it knew! 

It knew you could sense it, and it watched you.

When you were near it you found that it would respond. It would cause small, almost gentle gusts of wind, to brush against you, or the lights to flicker. You got the odd feeling that it was curious about you. Somehow, for some reason, you had caught the attention of something very old and powerful. You weren't quite sure what that meant.

Especially now.

Because it was looking right at you.

Across the museum showroom, it perched on top of a ledge. Whatever had clouded your ability to see it before had dissipated, leaving the entity finally visible. It was frightening, and unlike anything, you had seen before. It was a tall semi-humanoid skeletal bird, wrapped in old bandages, gripping a crescent-topped staff.

It tilted its head to the side, and your stomach dropped. You felt that it was examining you. Your hands shook, and you tightened the grip on your coffee. Your eyes darted to the right, catching a glance inside the nearby gift shop. Steven was there speaking to Donna. You looked back to the entity, only to feel its presence dissipate. Whatever it was, had left you for the time being. You let out a breath.

Donna passed you as she headed out, heels clicking against the tile floor. You took this as your chance. You stepped into the gift shop. Steven was sorting through the array of trinkets at the register, his curly hair a bit disheveled, and dark circles under his lidded eyes. You smiled fondly as you noticed the quirky Hawaiian-like shirt he wore.

You liked to think you knew Steven fairly well, despite you both working in different areas of the museum, yours being the Greco-Roman exhibit. Something about Steven caught your attention when you first saw him at the museum. Maybe it was because of the strange entity that followed him, perhaps it was because you could sense death at one time had a hold on him. Either way, your curiosity got the better of you. Your observations from afar eventually turned into conversations. It was tricky at first with how easily flustered he got, but you found it charming. He was a bit clumsy, often tripping over his own feet, and had a tendency to drift off in odd places. But it quickly became obvious how fond he was of Egyptian lore, you loved how happy and animated Steven would get when he talked about it. You found him enduringly awkward and made a point to speak to him when you could. It didn't take long for a friendship to form.

His face lit up as he saw you approach the register. Your heart skipped a beat at his smile.

"Hiya!" He gave you an adorable half-wave, "What brings you in here? Thought you'd be out touring by now."

You smiled, "I had a tour canceled last minute and made a coffee run. I thought you might want a little something." Steven had told you about his insomnia weeks ago as he walked with you to your shared building. You weren't surprised. You were a bit touched though. He trusted you enough to tell you about just how serious it was. While you couldn't do much to actually help him you tried to make work a little more bearable. And while you hadn't actually ever seen him drink coffee, you knew how he took his tea. He used a sickening amount of sugar and honey and- 

"Oh! You didn't- You didn't have to do that. But I- I appreciate it, really. Thanks." 

You handed him the still-steaming cup of tea. Your fingers brushed. You tried to ignore the sudden heat rising in your face. You hoped that he didn't notice.

"I don't mind. Gives me a chance to visit my favorite gift shop-ist." You caught a sheepish smile from him as he took a sip.

Your eyes scanned the shop, looking for a conversation starter. You spotted a sarcophagus poster behind him, and your smile widened.

Bingo.

His brows furrowed and he lowered his cup as he noticed the shit-eating grin on your face.

"Oh no, don't even think about it, I know exactly what that look means-"

 "What's a mummy's favorite type of coffee?" You paused for dramatic effect. "De-coffin-ated!" You attempted to make finger guns the best you could while holding your coffee.

Silence.

"That was-" He shook his head, smiling softly, "that was terrible." 

It was. But hey, you put a bunch of effort into researching Egypt-related jokes. It may have only been for Steven, but you were going to use them, even if they were terrible.

"I know, pretty bad. It was just too good to pass up." You take a sip of your coffee, suddenly a bit shy. "I um- I never got a chance to thank you for the book. It was nice of you to do."

A few weeks back you had mentioned to Steven that you had never gotten into Egyptian mythology. You knew barely anything about it, save for your fascination with the mummification process. You couldn't help but notice how fond Steven was of it. He would light up, eyes gleaming and gesturing excitedly as he mentioned historical facts. You loved to listen to him, he made it seem so intriguing. While you hadn't had any interest in Egyptian lore before meeting Steven, you certainly did now. When you told him about your curiosity on the subject he looked at you like you had made his day. And honestly, you probably had. On your next shift, when you opened your locker, you were surprised to find a book. 

'Egyptian Mythology: Gods, Goddesses, and Lore of Ancient Egypt'

It looked well worn, and very much loved. Its pages were a bit yellowed and curved, and its spine had lines. You could easily tell this book had been read many many times. You opened the cover and saw a name scribbled into the top corner. It was Steven's. Steven was letting you borrow his book on Egyptian mythology. You flipped through the pages briefly, a colored tab grabbing your attention. You stopped, and read the note:

 'Have a feeling you'll like this one' An arrow extended from the end of the sentence to the chapter title:

'Anubis: God of Mummification and Guardian of the Dead'

After this, you quickly developed an interest in the afterlife and Anubis. A bit morbid, but both fascinating and fitting.

"O-oh! It was nothing really," He blushed, "just nice to have someone else to talk about it y'know." 

You nodded and began to fidget with your cup. "I was wondering if- you don't have to of course, but maybe you'd like to talk about it over lunch sometime or-"

"Sorry, can you give me a second?" Dylan, another tour guide, asked you. 

 "Oh! Yeah. Sure, of course." You stepped away from the register.

She turned to Steven, "Hello!"

"Hello." Steven looked a bit taken aback at her sudden appearance.

"How's the sugar trade going?" 

 "I don't know what this has to do with Egypt really." You smiled at his exasperated explanation as he fidgeted with an item." They didn't have that back then, did they? No. They liked figs and dates, and-" 

 "My next tour's here but just checking, are we still on for 7:00 tomorrow?" Your eyebrows raised. 

'Oh. ' You glanced at Steven, heart sinking. 

 "7:00 tomorrow?" 

"Best steak in town?" 

"Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah? Okay." He laughed. "Sorry. But... What? Are you asking me out?"

She laughed, "You're funny. I'll see you then."

"Stevie," Donna suddenly reappeared, "you absolute rascal. I didn't know you had taken a crack."

"I didn't know either." He sounded genuinely shocked, if not a bit confused.

"Steven," you asked," aren't you vegan?" 

 "Yeah." 

"What in the world's a bloody vegan gonna eat in a steak house?" Donna said.

 "I don't know, Donna. Salad? Bread?"

They did have great bread…

 "Yeah, I can see why she went for it. Real catch you are." She rolled her eyes and left. 

"Well, I'm sure you'll have a great time." You smiled softly, ignoring the pit forming in your stomach. You weren't jealous, you told yourself, you weren't. Dylan was nice and super smart, they'd have a nice time. 

 Steven nodded.

You glanced at your watch."I-I got to go, my next tour is probably here. It was nice to catch up."

"Laters!" He gave a small wave, which you returned as you left the shop. As you rounded the corner your eyes widened and you had to muffle a cry. 

It was right there. 

The large bird-man stood against the wall next to you. Your heart hammered against your chest. It turned its head and you could feel his non-existent eyes on you. You should just ignore it. After all, your tour was waiting. Instead, for some reason you greeted it. 

"H-hello." Your voice shook. 

You got the distinct feeling you had surprised it. You had never tried to speak to it before. It said nothing, just nodded its head in acknowledgment. You used this as a sign to continue, walking past it quickly, eyes fixed on the tiled floor below.

 You took a breath in an attempt to settle yourself and walked toward your group. You introduced yourself and apologized for the delay.

"If you would follow me over here," You gestured with a sweeping motion, "you'll see the 'Pitsa pinakes', one the oldest known examples of panel painting in ancient Greece."

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

You walked through the building entrance, carrying a few bags. Your favorite tea brand had been on sale and you may have overindulged. But, in your defense, this particular strawberry tea was horribly tricky to find now. You sighed, pressing the up button. The elevator doors opened, revealing a familiar figure curled up in the corner.

"Steven?" You blinked in surprise.

He moved the hand that had covered his mouth, blinking a few times before giving you a small pitiful wave. 

"H-hello." He muttered a bit dazed as the doors closed. 

"Are you- are you okay? What happened?" His eyes were wide and he was trembling. You wanted to ask him where on earth he had been. Maybe mention the fact that he had missed his shift for two days, had you worried sick, but this obviously wasn't the time.

"Yeah...yeah I'm fine, thanks." He stood slowly, continuing to shake as he tightly gripped something to his chest. You pressed the button for the fifth floor.

"I don't want to bother you...but are you sure you're alright?" You knew Steven to be a bit jumpy, of course, but you had never seen him so terrified before. You hated seeing him this way. "I could walk with you, or just stay with you a for a bit... If you want. It would be no problem really." 

The elevator jerked suddenly, causing Steven to make a sound of surprise as it reached the floor. The doors opened and the lights flickered eerily.

"S-sorry. There was..." He sighed, running a hand through his hair. 

"Hey, its alright. Its okay. You're okay." You attempted to calm him, placing your hand on his arm. 

 "N-No. No I'm not." Steven shook his head. He looked at you, his eyes threatening to spill with tears.

"I'm not okay. I-I lose time and forget things. I go to sleep but only I'm not asleep. And the dreams- I can't tell if I'm dreaming or awake. I-I'm seeing things. And now there's this thing following me. I think- I think I'm losing it. I think I'm broken. I don't know what to do..." His voice broke, " I'm- I'm scared."

"Steven." You started softly, "I can't pretend I understand what you're going through... but you're not broken. You just need a bit of help. How about we go to my place? I'll make you some tea and you can tell me everything there if you want. Okay?"

 He blinked at you confused and a bit surprised, "Y-yeah. That'd be- that would be nice." 

"It's just down here." You adjusted your bags to one arm and took his hand with the other. You walked a few doors down the hall, pulled out your keys, and opened the door to your flat. You dropped his hand.

"Sit anywhere you'd like, tea will be just a moment."

Steven hesitated a moment before moving to the couch. He sat and began to fidget with his sleeve as he waited.

 Meanwhile, you quickly threw a kettle on the stove before sitting beside him. 

"Okay, tell me what happened, what's going on?"

 He took a breath, "I told you about the insomnia right?"

You nodded.

"Well, I- when I do sleep, I have a bit of a problem too. I sleep walk. End up in all sorts of weird places too. Used to be pretty bad but I've...I've had it under control. For a while at least. I had this crazy dream though! It felt so real. So I sit up, I have no idea where I am, and this voice keeps telling me to 'surrender the body'. I got no clue what it keeps going on about so I look around and next thing I know I'm being shot at-" Steven continues to explain this dream. It was definitely odd, and a bit disturbing. You weren't quite sure how much it had to do with him being huddled in an elevator.

The kettle screeched.

"I'm listening, one moment." You grabbed two cups and poured the tea. Three spoons of sugar, and two of honey went into Steven's tea. The man’s sweet tooth was horrid.

"Anyway, I wake up today and Gus, my fish, he's always had only one fin, right? But I wake up and see he's got two! Two! Crazy right? And I'm no expert on fish but I'm pretty sure they don't grow back fins, yeah? So I take him to the shop and I ask the lady about it. And she said that she told me yesterday that all the fish have two fins. Now I know I haven't been in there for weeks. I know I wasn't there yesterday!" Your brows furrowed at this as you stirred the ungodly amount of sugar into his cup.

"Then I look at the clock and it's six already! And that's not right 'cause I just woke up. Then I go meet Dylan and wait, and she never shows so I-"

You handed him his cup.

"Thanks. So I call her, turns out its Sunday. Our....our date was two days ago!" His voice wavers. " I think I've been- I don't know, blacking out? Loosing time? I get back to my flat, give not-Gus a few sprinkles, and drop the chocolates I got. Then I notice drag marks on the floor. And that doesn't make since. I never move that table. So I follow them, and poke around and found a loose board above me. I reach in and find a key and the phone here." He pulled the phone out of his pocket.

"I looked through it, just a bunch of missed calls from the same person. Layla. Then they call. I answer and she calls me Marc. Which is crazy right? Just like the dream! Of course I tell her I'm not him and she hangs up. Then I hear this voice telling me to stop looking, to stay away. I was sure it's was an intruder but I look in the mirror and my- my reflection shakes it's head. On. It's. Own."

He took a breath, "Then the wind started throwing stuff across my flat, and there was this awful looking t-thing chasing me and-"

Your stomach dropped. You knew instantly what he was talking about.

"Wait. Hold on." You set your tea down. In all the time you had sensed the entity you had never felt that it held any sort of aggression towards Steven. This was new, and this could be bad. "The bird-man tried to chase you?" 

 "Y-You've seen it too?" Steven looks at you, pure shock etched onto his face. 

Oops.

You didn't mean to say that, you didn't want to freak him out more.

You set your cup down and took a breath, cringing as you elaborated. "When I met you I could... sense the entity but couldn't actually see it- until recently. "

"And you've- you've never told me? Its been following me this whole time?" He looked down at his tea, hurt.

You sighed, " I wanted to. But it can be a bit hard to tell someone they have an ancient entity attached to them. It never seemed to have any ill will towards you, in fact I got the feeling it was more protective. If I'd have thought it would have threatened you I would have mentioned it. I'm sorry Steven."

He sighed. "No, its-its okay, just- its a lot. Do you-" he glanced at you, "Do you see... things like that often or..."

You nodded, looking down at your forgotten tea. "Yeah. I have... my entire life."

"So it's a bit like a 'Sixth Sense' thing is it?" He gave you a soft smile, his dark eyes glistening. You almost let out a breath of relief at this. At least he wasn't too upset with you.

"A bit, actually." You chuckled, before becoming serious again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Go on."

 "N-No its fine. It just- it chased me into the elevator. When the doors opened and you were there I thought...I thought you might have been it."

You couldn't for the life of you understand what could have happened to make the entity's behavior change so drastically. You had no idea if any protection you could offer would work against something so old.

His voice wavered when he began to speak. "But the mirror...and the dreams...I'm-I'm not sure how much I see is real anymore."

It hurt you to see him like this panicked, and scared, and that you couldn't do anything to help him. His eyes began to tear up again.

"How do I know..." He paused. "Are- are you real?" Your heart broke when he looked up at you, uncertain. You set your cup down and took his hand, beginning to caress the back with your thumb. His eyes widened a bit at your gesture.

"Yeah...yeah, I'm real." You weren't sure what to do. What if he wanted you to prove it? If his dreams or hallucinations were just as vivid as reality, you couldn't. Instead, he released a breath in relief and to your surprise let his head drop to rest on your shoulder. Your heart pounded, and you hesitated a moment before resting your head on top of his. 

You weren't sure how long you stayed like that, tracing your thumb against his hand, and listening to his breathing settle. You weren't sure how else to comfort him, but you wanted to do something. You hoped your company could at least provide him some comfort.

"This was...this was nice, having someone to talk to. Feels safe" He was tired. His voice was softer and slower, and his speech was more slurred so it would have been easy to miss what he said next:

"You make me feel safe." You were a bit surprised at his comment but relieved. You were glad you could do something for him, even if it was just that. Another moment of silence passed between you. 

"I-I should go." He suddenly lifted his head and stood up, suddenly flustered. 

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" You weren't sure if it was a good idea. What if he blacked out? What if the bird-man did something to him?

"Yeah...I'll- I'll be fine." You walked him to the door, as he fidgeted nervously. "Thanks. For the- well, for everything, really."

"I'm happy to help!" You opened the door, and Steven stepped into the hallway.

"Laters!"

"Steven, wait." You ducked back into your flat and grabbed a scrap of paper. You quickly scribbled on it. "I-if you need anything, or if something happens again, just text me okay?" You nervously passed him the paper. He took it and glanced at it, eyes widening a bit.

"O-oh." He blinked, "Yeah...yeah I will, thanks... Laters gators!"

"In a while, Crocodile" You smiled fondly at him as he perked up a bit at the saying. He gave you a wave, which you returned, and walked off towards his flat.

Ao3 Wattpad Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

[xx-vergil-xx]

Can I ask what pushed you to end Hounds the way you did? It's a fantastic ending, but I'm curious. I expected the Fates to revive Dream, or allow him to inhabit a new form (such as one made by Daniel, so that Dream becomes a dreamthing), etc. But instead, his death is made to have never happened. Which makes it partly feels like Hob's whole road trip journey was for nothing since he lost all those memories and connections with Matthew, the Corinthian, Delirium, Despair, Desire, Death, etc. (thank god he kept the farmhouse). But it's almost like he traded all those memories and connections for Dream. Unless I missed something while reading (I was crying very hard).

Again, fantastic ending, and I'm also glad it's a happy ending. But I'm curious as to why you didn't go in the other direction

howdy! thanks very much for the ask — an excellent query, one which i’m happy to answer

(verg of the future: this answer ended up long! there’s a short form at the top here and at the end <3)

in brief: he did make that trade you described! but not strictly for dream — it was the price of swapping genres!

an explanation:

what i had in mind while planning and writing was less the idea of erasure of prior narrative action and more a subversion of the expected genre, in particular the genre tropes that follow dream in the original arc of the comics, where his story is very classically tragic (with the understood weaving of hob into that tragedy, this being a dream/hob telling and all)

for reference, i also drew a lot of inspiration for hob’s road trip odyssey from the aeneid, an epic that is, yes, about the founding of rome but also (at least to my reading) a fundamental tragedy — the cost of founding rome is aeneas’ home, many of his friends, much of his core family, and the very end of the story is not some victorious depiction of the glory of rome to be (which we do get earlier in the book, with the ekphrasis on his shield) but aeneas, overcome with fury and loss, killing a man who begs his mercy. i’ve always felt that the aeneid, while certainly stepped in the expected amount of roman nationalism, is centrally about a single man and his singular suffering as an instrument of higher destiny.

i wanted to model hob’s arc around the aeneid (minus, y’know, some of the chunks that are strictly battle sequences <3) both because intertextuality is a huge part of how i wanted to handle hounds (story about stories, made of other stories, etc), but also because hob and aeneas are fundamentally parallel characters — nomads with exceptional ordinances, permanently displaced by the passing whims of higher powers, men who are made to reckon with both extraordinary wonder and extraordinary tragedy regularly while still, at their core, just being human. that’s what makes aeneas so compelling — he’s just a man. and so is our beloved hob — that’s his whole thing, his whole narrative function and his whole central ideal, humanity

so then, approaching hounds with both the thought of the sandman’s original tragic contours (see: the whole lead-in to daniel. christ above is the way that goes devastating to read) and the man vs fate core of the aeneid, i was considering a lot of things about how to mess around with both notions without gutting them entirely. i tend to dislike tragedies that become un-tragic without some sort of Serious Payment For It (not to say i don’t like happy stories because i very much do! but i get ticked off when high stakes get deflated too quickly) and i didn’t want to undermine the very real fact that the Fates are typically not versed in notions of empathy and/or leniency, and that dream and hob and those around them did experience and endure devastation and loss, and that death is a fact typically immune to argument.

the world of sandman is not one with easy answers, and to my mind there’s no such thing as a bargain with the Fates where you break even. for hob to get what he wanted, something had to be given, something dear and vital and real. there’s more to what hob actually gives the Fates than he verbally stipulates, which i tried to address largely via the corinthian and his perception of the situation, especially those last conversations with dream in the “swamp”. i have a lot of options about the corinthian in his function as “dark mirror” having a blistering clarity of understanding much of the time, which is why i foisted the onus of those complexities onto his dialogue, rather than hob, who (and i say this with love) is a creature of bias and often blinded to greater repercussions of his actions insofar as they extend beyond his immediate objectives/enjoyments, or dream, who can see the bigger picture but i think often really keeps himself from doing so when it comes to anything at all that’s personal (king of stories has a blindspot for his own). what hob gives the Fates actually costs him almost nothing, in the long run, if we operate with the idea that he cannot remember, nor is there any lasting effect from, his 600-ish heavily-relived years. there’s narrative and symbolic weight, of course — he gives them love as an oath and as nostalgia (sidebar: his driving force is an almost pre-nostalgia, a continual love of the moment as the moment is passing, but anyway) (cuff links), he gives them in a captured moment the lovely discomfort and simultaneous brilliance of being alive (the hook, the finger prick the blood), and he gives them a rich and complicated experience of humanity (those 600 years). but practically, what is actually taken from him that he doesn’t just get back?

only those few months — and in them, a web of real and known connections, all of which matter, and all of which change his understanding of and relationship to things like grief, and loneliness, and fear, and forgiveness. those are important changes, real changes, that would affect how he operates in the world going forward. that development is gone. he returns instead to the (of course, fought-for and hard-won) stasis of what was, which becomes what will always be. in making the Fates and their judgement more complex, he has actually made his own life less complex. now, i’m not going to sit here and argue that “suffering has inherent value” or some shit like that because i think that’s bullshit! pain is just pain. but he does lose experiences which would have shaped him in new ways, and, i think, good ways. even important ways

and he may well be shaped towards similar courses with dream (especially re: learning that lesson about loneliness — i think hob suffers from the curse of always, ultimately, being alone (immortality etc there’s so much discourse about this), and the road trip was in part about him learning that though it is the simplest path it is neither the sole nor the best path), but he certainly doesn’t learn them the same way, with the same faces, with the same acuity and clarity and intensity.

the thing with the Fates (to me anyway) is that you don’t ever just win. maybe you can get what you want, but it’s not easy (it make take a thousand repetitions of your lifetime until friction and the touch of your hands wears the sisyphean boulder down to a pebble — like the parable of the bird scraping its beak on the mountain), and it’s sure not free.

so yes, those months are lost. that’s a big part of the price. and we don’t know, at the end, how much of that thing he really gave ultimately comes back — his new relationship depths with deanna or cori or the other endless, those things aren’t seen. the main arc is resolved — hob and dream — but there are still pieces missing. he loses a piece of his human experience, he gets tossed back around through the wringer of his life (which is often distinctly not pleasant), and he is, as he ever was, a character with a path whose impetus and dictation rest heavily on external forces. even in attempting to channel his life elsewhere, he still has to bargain, and is still subject to the choices of the fates, and in some ways the story remains irrevocably a tragedy, in that one way or another it has loss in a central place. in the latter half of hounds hob really became my attempted version of an aeneas type — a man with a quest and a fated directive, a deeply human and flawed individual, who can alter the path and even irrevocably change the genre of his own narrative, but only at cost.

of course let’s be clear! some of all the actual rendering of this ended up as it did partly because i am not always a clean writer, and for that i apologize! but i did genuinely want that sense of gaps — of faces and voices given over to the gravitational well of the principal narrative arc of hob/dream versus the Fates. i think those things are gone. the narrative is forcibly re-centered around hob and dream, and in doing this — in shifting the story genre — other ties and bonds are not just cut, but unwoven entirely. when you change the kind of story you’re telling, the change is done at the expense of something else. kind of like how there’s a fixed amount of matter in the universe? you can’t create or destroy matter — to make something new you have to take from another place. (sidebar: wow i’m realizing something about my fundamental storytelling beliefs right now! laws of physics! anon your ask has really got my cylinders firing, and most sincerely thank you <3)

still, they might come back. though i didn’t write it as fully as i could have (i will freely admit there was a great deal of burnout at play towards the end there), i had a lot of thoughts re: repetition and density, namely that if you stack a thousand repetitions of a lifetime against each other it’s the equivalent of writing a word over and over and over on a page. when you erase it, the channels remain. language flows most naturally in the direction once etched for it. maybe hob learns those same lessons and knows the same people in the same way — maybe he and the corinthian find that odd patch of common ground, maybe he takes a long drive with delirium through rural maryland. maybe there are echoes. maybe even if it is gone what was still shapes the topography. maybe a kindness or a word exchanged still ring out when you can’t see them or remember them. while the milestones of our lives rippled the most visibly, i think we’re shaped a thousandfold ways by accumulations of small things we can’t distinctly remember. only a feeling of a thing, or the negative space it leaves.

well. tl;dr — i didn’t want to let hob get away without actually giving anything up, nor without his choice to bargain affecting others besides himself in equally irrevocable ways (sidebar: at his core is a selfishness that is both charming and ignoble — he wants to do a good thing for dream but also he makes a call that changes a plenitude of lives other than his own, and i don’t think he really asks, he just does — grey areas are his whole gig to me), because nobody makes a deal with the Fates for free, and changing genre has a price tag. it was my effort to make the tone of the whole beast more authentically sandman-esque, since sandman does a lot of that sort of water-muddying, especially when using understood narrative models/archetypes/etc etc

i am. sorry this was as long as it is! jesus! but i’m sending it off all the same. anyways, anon, thanks very much not only for your lovely kind words and the high honor of your tears (no pulitzer could mean more to me than knowing a thing i wrote really moved someone, seriously thank you) but also for giving me a blank check to go buck wild and ramble about my own damn writing and Things I Just Think <3 i hope you have a lovely day/morning/noon/night, and thanks a bunch for dropping by <3 <3 <3

[streetkid-named-desire]

Top 10 Albums

Ooh this is a good one and probably gonna be mostly nostalgia because I never really listened to complete albums.

I was tagged by @merge-conflict and I am tagging @byberbunk2069 because I KNOW that bitch got albums.

These are not going to be in any particular order like by favorite or anything, just the first ones that really come up for me.

These first two are going to be multiple albums.

1. No Thanks! The 70s Punk Revolution

My mom got this for me for Christmas when I was 13 or 14 and it introduced to me old early punk. She yelled at me once for playing "Oh bondage, up yours!" by The X-Ray Specs too loud. I had already liked some 90s/00s punk from my sister and the radio and stuff I found on Limewire, but this really started it all. It came with a little booklet that had a little mini history and anecdotes about all the bands. I really liked Iggy Pop a lot.

Also, I thought I was hot shit and Different from other punks and would spend hours in a Yahoo IM punk music chatroom arguing with people older than me about what real punk music was.

2. This 15 disc set of 80s new wave I downloaded off of whatever torrent program

When I finally got my first iPod and iTunes was a thing, BitTorrent was also becoming more in vogue and replaced Limewire for me. I only torrented entire discographies. There was this 15 album set of 80s New Wave music. So, both of these compilations are very important because my taste in music will always be punk and 80s new wave at its core.

This set introduced me to Erasure (and so did my drum teacher), Army of Lovers, all the classic stereotypical 80s pop hits and even some dark wave bands!

3. The Postal Service - Give Up

This was one of the first albums I ever listened to all the way through. I listened to it on my CD player when I was flying to Minnesota to visit my online boyfriend when I was 16 to lose my virginity. (Don't ask, my mom let me get away with some weird ass shit). And it was the first album that made me realize, most albums should probably be listened to all the way through because they have a whole story. This one is about a guy dealing with a bad break up.

4. Reel Big Fish - Cheer Up!

I don't care if it makes my a ska poser, I love this album. I think it's one of the albums I bought with my own money from Hot Topic. I just love all the songs on it and loved the album art. Drunk Again is a song very near and dear to me. That and their cover of New York, New York are my favorites to absolutely belt out in the car.

5. Fatboy Slim - You've Come A Long Way Baby

One of THE first albums I EVER bought with my own money (okay when I say "own money" I mean my allowance). I had to have been 13-15? At the Fiesta Mall (RIP) Hot Topic in Arizona with one of my friends. One of the other albums I bought will be next.

I only like Right Here, Right Now, Rockafeller Skank, and In Heaven (still get "Fatboy Slim is fuckin' in heave / fuckin' in heaven / fuckin' in heaven" stuck in my head.)

6. Short Music for Short People - Fat Wreck Chords Compilation Album

The other CD I bought in that same shopping trip. I later would go on Limewire and find the full versions of songs. It introduced me to a lot of my fave punk bands and I still get some of the little bits stuck in my head from time to time.

It was a promotional album released by the studio Fat Wreck Chords. The gimmick was 101 artists with 30 second or less songs.

It also introduced me to Gwar!

Unfortunately, the album isn't on Spotify but a kind soul curated a playlist with all of the songs that were on the album.

7. Slipknot - Iowa

My first kinda real boyfriend gifted me this album and a custom mix CD that included songs like Seether by Veruca Salt, a song by Matthew Sweet I can't remember and some others. We watched Cabin Fever at his house. He held my hand walking me home and it was very sweaty and clammy. He eventually became my biggest bully at school lmao

I listened to this album all the time at school/on my way to school in middle school when I was depressed.

8. The Distillers - Coral Fang

A BFF I met in middle school who was SO fucking cool and always had funky makeup, she was never shy to express herself. I love her SO much. My first kiss with another girl was my other BFF who has been my BFF for the longest since we were like 8. And then the other one was the first girl I ever fooled around with. We were watching Totoro while she was fingering me in bed at her grandma's house. We also made out and she fingered me while watching Braveheart.

ANYWAY, she introduced me to this album on that same trip. I wanted to sing like Brody Dalle and always wanted her haircuts too.

An honorable mention here is Tribute by Tenacious D, we shared earbuds while listening to it on my CD player and swinging in the hammock on the roof during a nice breezy summer night.

9. Weezer - The Blue Album

I was a HUGE Weezer fan when I was younger and I'd draw their little funky W on all my notebooks next to the anarchy symbol lmao

This album just has the most songs I like. This, The Green Album, and Pinkerton were my faves.

You can find me at karaoke belting out Say It Ain't So.

10. Cake - Comfort Eagle

Shadow Stabbing was the opening track in the film Orange County and I really liked that move as a kid for some reason. I love Comfort Eagle, Fashion Nugget, and Pressure Chief about equally. But just like the Weezer album, this one had more songs I liked.

I was like top 0.1% of listeners for Cake on Spotify Wrapped for like three years in a row. I know all the lyrics to almost all of the songs on those three albums and probably have the most songs out of any artist on my driving playlist.

[krispysweetrollenthusiast]

Controversial opinions:

Trump supporters have seriously damaged the economy. These electoral nominees are nothing short of ridiculous. Trying to harm other races, genders, etc., is not what Christianity is about. If the Bible is open to interpretation, then why choose the side that makes everyone your enemy? How could you be against gay people existing when it happens in nature? You don’t have proof that it doesn’t happen in nature, but we have entire encyclopedias that say it does. Christianity, to a non-Christian, now sounds like a death cult, which is particularly harmful because its preacher is an egocentric murderer who would punish you with a cold shoulder for not believing in them, despite there being no physical or metaphorical evidence they exist in that form. You can’t be a Christian and not be a pacifist—have you ever read a history book? Christianity and its denominations have persecuted more faiths and people than the number of ants that could fit between Earth and Alpha Centauri. So don’t talk to me about "Christian erasure."

When Trump was young, he admitted the economy was better under Democrats in an interview. Literally every claim he has made about immigrants or any other minority can be refuted. Schools having litter boxes? Schools say it was never a thing. Haitians eating pets (which is a wild and xenophobic claim)? EVERYONE in the town disagrees with it! Even the person who made the claim admitted lying. They literally helped fill the unemployment gap in a nearby factory (which is why they were brought here in the first place), and officials and citizens alike love them. Those talks about taking hotels? Straight-up false. They weren't involved in any major gangs nor were they carrying heavy weapons. I doubt they were even carrying any, but I would need to research further. All this man does is lie, and yet you still voted for him and his populist rhetoric.

Let me get this clear: Democrats were voting for everyone, even for things that probably wouldn't affect them. But Republicans voted because they hated everyone and wanted a man who would let them do whatever they wanted. They knew all along about Project 2025, which, if you actually read it, would affect you too. If you want non-native populations to get out of the country, then I hope you have a nice trip, you colonizers.

Oh, and a few more things: King James was Protestant, meaning he believed God was a God of freedom and that man has the choice to respond to His love or not. So I guess that blows away any argument you had about the Bible being unaltered. We would have no problem with you existing alongside us for a long time, but you decided our rights were worth less than the price of eggs. Have a horrible day with eggs that spoil too soon. And when we come back to this in a few years after the world takes a hit, I hope you have enough dignity to spare to get down on your knees. We could have had free healthcare and education, we could have had a approach to Gaza better than Trump's, we could have supported our NATO allies in the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine but all you did was ensure that noone different from you enters the country or could exist how they want to while you suffer for it! I hope you like not having a women president you worms, we could have for everything the founding fathers stood for, equality, freedom, and liberty bur you just had to mess it up because you lack the diplomatic skills to come to a consensus and were only driven by fear

[thistle-and-thorn]

5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 for book ask ‼️

Hi honey!

5. What genre did you read the most of?

Hmmm I think fantasy? I read a lot less non-fiction and theology than I have in other years and a lot a lot a lot of book with supernatural/fantasy elements to it.

10. What was your favorite new release of the year?

Oh good question! I don’t know—I’m not very keyed into what’s being published lol? I’m reading The Wood at Midwinter which is a short novella/graphic novel by Susanna Clarke that came out this year and it is a DELIGHT

15. Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them?

Not in this year but I read Small Things Like These which won several prizes I believe (and LOVED) and The Goldfinch which won the Pulitzer. Pulitzer books tend to not always be my taste, but I can appreciate them and that was consistent with how I felt about The Goldfinch (as opposed to Man Booker Prize which tends to have a shortlist consistently aligns with my taste). I could appreciate a lot a lot a lot about the book, but it didn’t make my personal top list of the year

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

I really had looked forward to Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (which the giant book I was lugging around France this September lol)…and I really enjoyed it. I am always left with some mixed feeling at the end of LG books and this was no different, but I like that he leaned into the absurdity and operatic comedy and pathos of the Arthurian stories. We love an author allowing himself to have fun !!!!!

I also was so excited to read Lancelot in November by @phoebe-woods and it was such a perfect vacation read. The atmosphere, characters, mystery were so much fun and it is such a joy to watch as she continues to develop her craft!! It is now becoming a tradition to have a Phoebe Woods book with me on our annual trip to my dad’s family/beach and I can’t wait for the next one.

Not a book release but slightly related because the movie came out this year: I had really, really looked forward to reading Erasure by Percival Everett after seeing the movie and all the hype about his latest book James and found it a little disappointing. It’s an excellent book, but I felt like the movie added depth and flavor to the books more minor characters and a much-needed warmth that, like salt in a chocolate cake, elevated the slightly nihilistic main character.

What reading goals do you have for next year?

To not set goals? I set a reading goal this year and I read less this year by like….dozens of books. I think there were some environmental factors….this year definitely a very busy year, especially professionally, and I didn’t have a ton of creative bandwidth or focus, including for reading. But I also think putting an expectation on myself to read a certain number of books led me to…like, procrastinate on my own hobby? I didn’t finish anything in the month of January and I think it was because I couldn’t get going on the tracker. So I’m not going to do that again while also intentionally carving out time to read/write/use my imagination.

I also think I didn’t buddy read that much this year with anybody! OR update my goodreads/reading sideblog that much and having people to read and talk about stuff with is nice! I’m glad we’re reading Laurus this year and I hope we do more of it!

What about you? How did your reading year go? What do you hope next year is like?

[the-worms-in-your-bones]

In general I’m not a huge short trips fan but man they really put something into erasure

[sunny-rose]

Watched the first episode of the PJO TV show and I have Thoughts.

Warning: this is long, entirely too nitpicky, and written like an English essay (sorry). It also isn't wholly positive so there's that...

I've come to accept that we'll probably never get a perfect adaptation of PJO but that doesn't mean I'm not slightly disappointed by the amount of small details that were omitted or outright changed for the television show.

It's very minor, little touches that at first appear insignificant or trivial but ultimately lead to a watered-down story and an experience that lacks the depth the books have.

The first thing that comes to mind is when Percy pushes Nancy Bobofit into the fountain. Not only could we have avoided the Disney Effect Budget rearing its ugly head, having the ambiguity from the book would have added a great layer of mystery to who Percy is and what his powers are.

In the books, Percy doesn't see Nancy go into the fountain at all. He states, "I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain" (9). I'm no film director, but a good way to interpret this scene might have been to have a quick cut - like implying that Percy blinked and she was in the fountain - instead of showing her being Force pushed into the fountain. It keeps Percy's powers ambiguous and continues to build up intrigue. It's about the suspense of that moment, rather than showcasing Percy as a demigod early.

Another detail I wish they'd left alone was the timing of Percy learning that he's a half-blood. I understand that they wanted the explanation to occur early in order to keep viewers watching and have them understand the premise but I think it was a mistake to have Sally bring it up on their trip to to the cabin because it ruins the tension. It's implied in the books that Sally knows something happened to Percy at Yancy, but she doesn't want to push him on it. And Percy doesn't want to mention it because he doesn't want to cut their vacation short: "But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that" (40). This is EXCELLENT characterization. We can tell that Sally is stressed, that this cabin is her escape. Percy mentions, "As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face" (37). Percy, sweet, kind, Percy doesn't want to ruin his mother. He knows this trip means a lot to her, that it's a brief moment away from Gabe and the complications of her life and he doesn't want to take that away from her. It's STRONG characterization and allows us as viewers to see Percy as something more than a trouble kid; he really loves his mom. Having Percy learn about being a half-blood at the cabin helps expedite the plot but it takes away from a genuinely sweet and good moment for him, takes something away from his character.

I'm not even going to talk about omitting the Fates I'm going to admit full stop that seems weird to me. It's such a small detail, could've been like a ten second scene that adds to the weirdness and mystery but they just didn't?? Go for it?? That's fine. (Honestly they probably should've cut out Grover telling the principal that Percy pushed Nancy into the fountain and replaced it with the Fates but hey. I'm just a uni student).

My final gripe about subtext erasure from the television show is, of course, Gabe. I can absolutely 100% get behind the idea of why they turned down the implications about Gabe. This TVLINE article by Keisha Hatchett contains interviews with the crew of the PJO TV show and in one of them, Rebecca Riordan explains that, "When you see it visually, it is triggering and difficult to watch. That is why we came at Gabe in a different way, because this isn’t supposed to be a horror show." I can absolutely agree that toning Gabe down was the right choice, especially considering the age range for the television show. I just wish it had kept a bit more of the subtext. Having Gabe shake Percy down to cash might've been a little much but there were smaller details in his conversation with Sally that could've been kept that would've flown over kids' heads but had allowed more mature audiences to realize that Gabe wasn't just your average douche.

In the books when Sally asks to go to Montauk, Gabe asks, "So this money for your trip... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?" (35). As a child, the implication of this completely and totally flew over my head. Even as a high school student this line didn't seem weird to me at all. It was only now, in my last year of university, as I was rereading the series, that I thought to myself, "That's so controlling wtf." To imply that Sally, a woman with a job, is being financially controlled by douchebag Gabe is pretty chilling and although it is undoubtedly still abuse, it's also something that I think wouldn't go too far. As it stands, Gabe feels a little bit toothless and if they stick to his canon fate, it'll feel a little bit unwarranted. In that same TVLine article, John Steinberg mentions that, "When you’re reading a story, you can read past the parts that could be upsetting if you’ve stopped to give them more thought. You don’t really get to do that with the show. It’s all in your face and it’s all presented in a much louder way.” I think that even keeping just this one line isn't too "in your face" but still gets across how much of an absolute jackass Gabe is.

I also think that although it was a strong choice to have Sally stand up to Gabe immediately, I do have a bit of an issue with her characterization. One of the first paragraphs you get when you meet Sally is Percy specifically stating, "I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even more or Gabe" (33). The books make it a point to show that despite Sally being on the quieter side, it doesn't mean she isn't an absolute badass. She's calm, rational, and cool during the Minotaur scene and then of course kicks ass during The Battle of Manhattan. The books have proven over and over again that Sally's kind, sweet nature is a strength and not a weakness. I can absolutely get behind seeing this side of her earlier in the TV show, I'm just concerned that they're forsaking her softer nature for something more "cool mom." Part of what I like so much about Sally is her kindness, the way she seems to be the embodiment of a warm hug on a hard day. It's not the vibe I got from her TV show counterpart.

Okay that's it, that's all my grievances. I've only seen the first episode and despite this mega page of my negativity I still think that the show is pretty good! It's infinitely better than what we got before and I can tell that there's so much passion and love put into the show. The young actors who are portraying the starring roles are absolutely brilliant, they're killing it, and I hope they have a bright future. I think the show looks great considering it's a Disney+ show (I've seen your special effects, Mouse) and I genuinely hope that the show is enjoyed by old fans and new ones. My brother said, "Hey, the first half was pretty cool" before the pacing kinda nosed dive off a cliff - high praise indeed.

I'm probably still going to watch the show, just to sate my own curiosity (though I'm probably NOT going to write another English essay on why I wish we'd kept some subtext) and I hope that everyone who's sticking with the show enjoys it. I don't think it's bad by any means, I'm just a pretentious literature nerd and this is how I digest media.

So yeah, here's to another decade of Percy Jackson!

[empressofthesix]

Pictures posted in Chronological order, DM then recount. Source of images will be linked at the bottom.

These are the sampling screencaps Lewis took from the document in order to make his counterpoints. His counterpoints are as follow.

His most recent defense ends here, before he deletes them across all platforms, detailing only the first quarter of a whole document that was put out to inform users of Lewis's behavioral trends and to show why many users who have heard of him or were directly affected by him are keeping him at a distance.

Why does his defense stop here? There's a whole document! This was only a single incident, and much of the context was omitted. The capped DMs almost immediately following the ones he pulled to make his defense would just as quickly rebuke some of his counterpoints.

In this chat, Lewis is feeling guilty over the VRChat incident. Would this not be the place to make his Bakugou avatar claim if people were mistaken about his outbursts, such as what he says in the third counterpoint?

Giving him the benefit of the doubt for a minute for the first counterpoint, maybe he was scared. But of what? This was a server mainly focused on the IP "Balan Wonderworld," a colorful cute platformer. Even without that, the server itself never had a cutthroat "Fail and Face Erasure" vibe. And everyone involved in the game understood that it was just a game, no hard feelings, no "if your character dies you lose rights to it forever" vibe, nothing that would permanently wound anyone involved, OC or creator. So the comment of being scared is just..."What?"

For his sixth counterpoint, Lewis seems to misunderstand that he is being reprimanded and given an ultimatum, not being manipulated by any stretch of the imagination. His behavior described by the users in the server, in this document, and addressed by Red would be unacceptable in almost any given community. He says he was trying to talk to Red about fixing his behavior, Red seems to reply in short, "Please do or I will ask you to leave." This should have come as no surprise to Lewis, whether he feared it or not, that his behavior was unacceptable and many would want to move from it. But as the sole disruptor of the harmony that the server had before, he would be asked to try and take care of it himself in order to remain.

Then there's the fifth counterpoint, "I lied about my temper." This...really doesn't help and could actually make the perspective so much worse. Red wouldn't be as concerned as they were if they weren't warned about it. (But then, why should it be the group's whole responsibility to placate the individual who fails to keep themselves in check?) By Lewis saying he never had a temper to begin with, this makes everything in this document here and henceforth a cruel game of emotions to him, building up to the climax that was his script of faking his missing persons and baiting Sue E. Seid.

If he had any true mental capacity, perhaps this is why his defense ended where it did before it was promptly deleted, but not before several individuals reblogged and put in their two cents. But had he continued to try and reestablish what his mood was at every slight to claim he was not angry, agitated, or put off in some form, it would take miraculous mental gymnastics to justify his plot to make the server feel immense guilt for simply asking him to correct his behavior.

[waitingforsecretsouls]

Catching up on Tower of God, and all these theories about how obviously Zahard is the one who did something to Traumerei’s memories and that’s the only reason he could possibly be loyal to him, and as soon as Bam or Gustang or whatever gives him back his memories he’s immediately gonna turn on Zahard are reeeaally weird to me, and diminishing to both Zahard and Traumerei as characters. 

Everything we’be been shown about Traumerei so far paints him as a huge cunt, by choice, who gets off on the suffering of others (which is why he’s a favourite, of course <3 ). When he’s not napping or dead inside he’s short-tempered, capricious and cruel.  A feature not a bug, if you will. While it’s true that we haven’t been shown the origin of his memory-and-emotion-discarding habit we have been shown occasions where he proactively chooses that course of action by himself-in the Yasratcha flashback, where he returned from the Nest to feed some more to Leviathan before dealing with Nen Nen and Wang Wang, and sometime after the incident, if you go by his distorted recollection of the event to Yasratcha. We know from Leviathan that Traumerei is the one who created him and kept feeding ‘filthy’ memories and emotions to him, in quite the amount from what it sounds like. These memories, going by what we know so far, would contain Traumerei at his worst, such as his punishment of Wang Wang, Nen Nen and Yasratcha for example, and likely be coloured by resentment and hatred rather than regret and sorrow (something soldified by Leviathans demeanour, imo) (meaning the current Traumerei is the ‘sanitized’ version).

That aside, how exactly would Zahard have found a way to force Traumerei to cut unwanted memories and emotions out of himself in a way that seems distinctly Traumerei (involving the creation of a Shinheu)? This is not the Hidden Floor, where they were simple data to manipulate and erase (without ill effects to their real/outside selves)! Why would Traumerei have kept up that coping mechanism over the millenia, if it was something forced upon him by Zahard? Why exactly would Zahard himself inquire after Traumerei’s memories, if a key piece of Traumerei’s loyalty to him was their erasure? Zahard himself is the one who brings them up in the first place! What seems like a realtively recent problem to boot, and in a way that seems more eager that he remember and out of worry for an old friend and comrade (’By the way, what kind of nightmares have you been having lately? Do you still not remember?’), (at the end of their strategy meeting, after the ‘business talk’ is already finished) than as some sort of insidious check-up to make sure that he doesn’t remember something from tens of thousands of years ago. It honestly feels like people projecting their dislike of Zahard onto Traumerei, when everything we’ve ever heard about him and are ever shown about him shows him as an ‘enthusiastic’ follower of Zahard and having an absolutely insane treshold of what counts as genuine loyalty. Heck, going by everything about him, it’s more likely that even if he had harboured resentment against Zahard, he would erase it himself to uphold the standard of loyalty he preaches!

In fact, I’d go so far as to say, in view of the Yasratcha flashback and obvious mirroring between him and Traumerei, that it’s far likelier that Traumerei came up with some weird revenge scheme as punishment for ‘abandoning’ him rather than simply being yoinked along by Zahard in something, and that, if he erased his memories because he found them unpleasant to deal with, it was not due to guilt or sorrow but anger and resentment (as we eg. see him exhibit in the flashback upon returning from a trip to the Nest, where he clearly has some leftover frustration).

A lot of fanon seems to view Traumerei as former emotionally softie of the group, who was a poor little meow-meow before he experienced a deep betrayal that emotionally hardened him. While I’m ready to concurr with the latter (and the general fact that the Great Warriors devolved into worse personalities with time) I’d like to point to the examples of what Traumerei perceives as ’betrayals’ in the story, and whether they seem reasonable and justified to feel betrayed by in the first place, or deserving of ‘punishment’, and then reflect upon the likelihood of Traumereis formative betrayal (assuming there is one, definitive one, or that it even involves the Great Warriors) being a cut and dry affair.

As for painting Zahard as the instigator of his unpleasant personality, it reflects an unwillingness to let people other than him be fucked up even though we already know plenty of other family leaders who are, as well as lack of consideration that Zahard might care about some people, like his oldest comrades, and they care about him in turn. Zahard confiding in Traumerei with regards to his views and plans in the first place, Traumerei going above and beyond his assignment to try to turn Bam against Gustang if he proves useful, for example. ‘But the order concering the Poe Bideau family!’- Gustang is the one who stirs the pot in the first place, the one who stole an item whose sole purpose is to defeat Zahard, the one who basically declared if not war certainly conflict, and let it be known that it’s not like Zahard put out a hit on Gustang (which would arguable be pointless, but we do know people as powerful as Eurasia Enne Zahard are capable of getting imprisoned) but merely his family, Gustang’s major instrument for affecting the politics of the Tower.

As of now it seems far more plausible to me for whatever leftover memories that are haunting Traumerei as nightmares to be something done by him instead of to him.

I think that it’s been set up that Traumerei is gonna remember something at the least, and likely something big (maybe eventually prodded by Bam, whom Leviathan told of at least some memories fed to him), but when he does it’s not gonna lead to a sudden heel-turn and alliance, problem solved, but instead a Traumerei actually out for blood, instead of bored and dead inside (anyone remember Bam’s refusal to let Leviathan go free bc ‘if I let it out [...] I’d be committing a sin against the world’ (TOG #531)? That Shinheu formed out of all of Traumerei’s most negative memories and emotions he discarded? That would presumably bubble back up inside Traumerei himself when he remembers?)

To close with a Maschenny quote that summarizes my hopes for Traumerei:

“Has it really disappeared now? That rage of yours? [...] Even if you say that rage has hardened and sunk in your mind, I don’t understand how it could just fly away in the wind like that. It gets more intense and clings to you even more firmly as time passes and you recall those memories. That’s the kind of emotion that rage is. And as long as that rage lives-war can break out at any time.”

-Khun Maschenny Zahard, Tower of God #390