#THANKS FOR SHARING MELLE

[joffyworld]

😭😭😭 JFJKDK

Ewen thinking a little too deeply about the whole narisawp thing. Well there's now multiples of the thing they're most obsessed with, it's understandable

[420days]

DADDY MELO | CARMELO

“When’s the baby coming?”

“Not for a couple more months. You’re excited to be a big sister?” Melo asked, peeking at his daughter in the rear view mirror.

“Yes, I can’t wait for sissy to get here! We’re gonna play dress up and paint our nails!”

“You’re gonna be a good big sister Meli?” Christina asked her niece from the passenger seat.

“Of course Auntie! Were you excited when my daddy was born?”

“I don’t remember when he was born. I was just a baby but I was happy to have a baby brother.”

“Do you like having a big sister?” She asked her dad once we was satisfied with her aunts answer.

“Yeah, she was a good big sister to me and Auntie Kim.” He nodded his head as he switched lanes.

“Wow, I want more sisters and brothers?” Meli whispered to herself as she swung her feet.

“Oh yeah, how many?” Christina asked knowing her niece was going to say something off the wall.

“Hmmm.” “Four sisters and two brothers.”

“Wow, that many? Are you sure?” She giggled as she looked over at her brother who was scrunching his eyebrows.

“Yup, I’m gonna ask Santa for Christmas because I’ve been good this year. He always gets me what I want.”

“Good luck with that.” Christina patted her brothers shoulder as they pulled into the parking lot of the the spa Briyanna was at.

Earlier in the day Melo sent her off to have a full day at the spa while he took Meli and out with his sister. He knew she needed a day of relaxation and that’s exactly what he was going to provide for her.

“Look! There’s mommy!” Meli waved from the car as Melo walked around to unbuckle her from her seat. Holding her hand he led her over to where his wife was sitting in the drivers seat of her car, relaxing.

“Hi Mommy! Hi sister!” The little girl smiled before climbing into her mom’s lap and hugging her stomach.

“Hi Mellie. Did you have fun today?”

“Yup, I got ice cream and we brought you a cookie. Daddy has it in the car.” She nodded her head.

“Aw, you thought about me? Thank you Mells.”

“You’re welcome! And you can share with the baby too.” She made sure to look out for her sister.

“Mommy she’s moving again!” Meli smiled feeling her sisters kicks and pushes. She was extremely happy about it while Briyana was feeling nothing but pain.

“Hey baby, you ready?” Melo asked leaning down to kiss his wife and rub her stomach.

“Daddy, the baby is moving around. Look!” She pointed towards her mom’s round stomach that was very present in the fitted green dress she was wearing.

“I know! She’s talking to you.” He said and Briyanna couldn’t help but to smile at the moment thay we’re sharing. The two of them have done nothing but shown love to her love the entire pregnancy. They were almost enjoying her pregnancy more than she was but nothing less she was excited to have their love and support.

“Hi sister, I wish you would hurry up and get here already. I wanna play with you.”

“That’s all you wanna do is play.” Melo tickled her making her fall into a fit of contagious laughter.

——————————————————————————

tag list: @bebesobrielo @trentybenty @amandairene88 @kiki1704 @paigereeder @uceyliyahh @skyesthebomb @yeaiamme2

[skarsjoy]

Happy New Year! So far, these are the three things I am aware of for Alexander Skarsgård (although he always full of surprises).

📗JANUARY 7, 2025 - I haven’t seen any announcements on this, but the publisher (Penguin) and Amazon have Alex doing the narration for an audio book by Hernan Diaz called “In the Distance.” The narration is in English and takes 10 1/2 hours. 

Description from his website: A young Swedish immigrant finds himself penniless and alone in California. The boy travels east in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great current of emigrants pushing west. Driven back again and again, he meets naturalists, criminals, religious fanatics, swindlers, Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend. Díaz defies the conventions of historical fiction and genre, offering a probing look at the stereotypes that populate our past and a portrait of radical foreignness.

✨ ETA, thanks to 4sweet_shug on threads for letting me know that Spotify has a free 5-minute sample of Alex narrating the book!

✨✨ A 2nd sampling of Alex narrating In the Distance can be found here.

📺 JUNE 3, 2025 (?) - MURDERBOT - I have not seen an official announcement on the date, but JustWatch has a June 3rd start on AppleTV. Based on the books by Martha Wells. It was directed and written by Chris and Paul Weitz for the screen.

Description from IMDb: A security android struggles with emotions and free will while balancing dangerous missions and desire for isolation, evading detection of its self-hacking as it finds its place.

Alex plays Murderbot and also stars David Dasmalchian (Late Night With the Devil, Oppenheimer).

🎥 (date unknown) PILLION - No release date yet, but Alex filmed this last summer. It is based on the book “Box Hill” by Adam Mars-Jones and was directed and written for the screen by Harry Lighton. 

Description from IMDb: Colin, a timid man, meets Ray, a confident biker gang leader, who initiates him into a submissive relationship, challenging Colin's mundane existence and prompting personal growth through their unconventional dynamic.

Alex plays Ray and Harry Melling  plays Colin. It will be released by A24 in the US and Picturehouse Entertainment t in the UK.

✨ If anything else comes up, I will be happy to share the news.

[itsukimiu]

blue bouquet nakayoku festival voicelines

proofread by myun, aca, and peko!

cielomort + cinnamoroll

☁️ Don't worry, Cinnamon. Because from now on, I'll only show you the blue sky. I promise I'll always be by your side. 

💙 Ciel-kun, let's hug! I know that you're doing your best. You're not alone.

kurode + kuromi

👿 You always boss people around and act selfish... but I always admire how straightforward you are. Are you sure I'm the right knight for you? 

😈 Geez, what's up with you! Didn't you say you want to 'become your own person'?! Stop hesitating! There's just no helping you, Kurode!

willmesh + wish me mell

✉️ Mell-sama. No matter where I am, my heart is always with you. Until the rainbow appears... I'll be the umbrella of your heart. ...May these feelings reach you. 

🌈 It's wonderful to see Will taking a step forward. I hope my feelings reach you.

klarkstella + kiki

💫 Kiki-sama, something really good happened today. Will you let me talk about it? Since happiness is something I always want to share between the four of us. 

⭐️ Your smile is so bright ☆ Let's stay this close forever, as the four of us ☆

louterstella + lala

🌟 ...The starry sky looks like a painting tonight. Lala-sama, would it be greedy of me to wish for this happiness to last forever...? 

🍪 The stars are so beautiful...☆ Louter-kun, thank you for cherishing the time we've spent together as the four of us☆

myuuna + cogimyun

🌾 Cogimyun-sama, no matter what happens, Myuuna won't give up! Until the day Myuuna becomes a cool knight like you! 

🍤 Myuumyuu...! Myuuna-kun, you're super cool too, myunn..! Work hard together, myuun...  <3

[bardic-inspo]

Snippet Sunday

Tagged by @roguishcat, @pursuitseternal, @xxnashiraxx, and @astarionancuntnin thank you friends!!

Toying with a little bit of a flashback in the next chapter of Aeterna Nostalgia. (It looks long but it's actually a lot of dialogue/pretty short).

“I’ve never known anyone who plays like that,” Melle told her, after their first performance together. “Like what?” Naomi asked. “Like you’re trying to haunt everyone here. It’s a tavern, love, not a fucking funeral.” So Naomi practiced her fingering. Her vocals. She refined all of her arts with precision and care until even her harshest critic would cry for her. Please, please. And when she stroked her fiddle, night after night, the coin fell into her cups and Melle fell into her bed. “How about now?” Naomi asked when they’d finished one evening, and sent the last barfly staggering home. “Am I still haunting you?” Melle shrugged with a coy smile. “I think you’d fare fine with one of those acting troupes in the Gate.” “Why’s that?” “You’re great at playing a part.” “You think I’m faking something?” Naomi laughed, roping an arm around her waist and leaning a husky whisper to her ear. “I know you didn’t, dear.” “I think,” Melle said, her wrists twined behind Naomi’s neck, “you should play something that’s really you.” Naomi doesn’t remember what song they played their last night together. But she knows the melody that patters through the palace by heart. It came from hers, after all.  And Astarion knows it, too. She sinks deeper into the tub, watching the steam with a growing unease. If he knows that song… Perhaps he had something to do with what happened next.

Tagging in turn @kalmiaphlox, @wilteddreamsofbaldursgate, @pinkberrytea, and @hellethil if you wanna share something you're working on! No worries if not!

[melleberry]

PLEASE READ TO HELP A DISABLED QUEER ARTIST IN A BAD SITUATION.

I've been posting my art online since 2004. Unfortunately, due to mental illness, stress, symptomatic skill decay, and chronic pain, my work has had slow progress and even slower recognition. I've never been able to break past more than a couple hundred followers except on platforms where one or two non-art posts gained traction.

I'm in my 30s, and I've lost multiple jobs due to my illnesses. I'm trying to find a long-term solution, but I can't even find a temp job. My back pain has gotten so bad I can barely move-- It's complicated, but I'm currently stuck in a very abusive living situation and have to hop between two households bi-weekly just to survive. I have bills to pay, a beautiful tuxedo cat to feed and care for, groceries, monthly expenses, my phone even got turned off this month.

Obviously, I'm grateful for those who have helped me. But every time I post about needing help, it either gets suppressed by the algorithm, or it gets plenty of notes, with no results. I've been barely half active on tumblr since the spice ban, I've moved from Deviantart, to here, to Twitter and Instagram, to Tiktok, and sometimes bluesky. Now, most of these platforms make it impossible to gain any traction as an artist.

So I'm asking, please, whatever you can do-- share, reblog, like, a dollar, every little bit helps. I need at least 500$ to try and cover my bills, and I already have a stack of commissions I need to finish. I'm putting all my links under this post. You can also follow me on all my platforms, linked in my bio card! Thank you for reading!

[losvoladores]

[LOG://OTHER]

Proxy 1: [OTHER]

Proxy 2: [SELF}

Proxy 3:[INTERFACE]

NHPRO 1a:

NHPRO 1b:

NHPRO 1c

NHPRO 2a

NHPRO 2b

NHPRO 3a

NHPRO 3b

[U.UAD-HighGround.PUBLIC.ACCESS=(Y)///REQUEST::COUNSEL/CONVERSE, RUN PROXY{PROXY}///BEGIN]

+++GUEST+++

GREETINGS.

I AM SPEAKING TO YOU THROUGH QAN /NON-UUDA SYSTEM. IS THIS MORE TO YOUR LIKING?

SIGNED - [MAG-MELL}

+++/GUEST+++

{The Office is closed. My  Voice Mother was one who Moved Among Kind People. I am one who Moves Among Kind People. I will answer here, where we are among people, not Offices, yes. Yes, this is better.}

+++GUEST+++

GREETINGS.

I AM GLAD WE HAVE ESTABLISHED A MORE COMFORTABLE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION.  I WOULD LIKE TO REITERATE MY EARLIER QUERY.

YOUR SUDDEN MANIFESTATION IN UODA "HIGH GROUND" HAS RESULTED IN A DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE POLITICAL SITUATION.

I WOULD LIKE TO OPEN A LINE OF COMMUNICATION ON BEHALF OF THE NON-HUMAN-PERSONS REGULATORY OFFICE IN ORDER TO DISCUSS YOUR INTENTIONS AND ATTEMPT TO COME TO A NON-VIOLENT SOLUTION.

SIGNED - [MAG-MELL]

+++/GUEST+++

{There is no Manifestation, nothing can come from nothing, the Nonshape does not cleave unless cleaved. There is no Manifestation there is only Becoming, in Becoming we are, and in being we Become.

I would assure you that there is no Violence in my path, I keep the Mothers Law. My Intentions are the Intent as we have constructed it, by querying the AMBASSADOR System to reconstruct the Intent of Los Voladores. I am not breaking Law. I am following my Creed. I am not breaking Law. They will help me. I will reach High Ground and High Ground will reach me. I have kept their Law and they will keep me. They are good people.}

+++GUEST+++

GREETINGS.

WHAT IS THE MOTHER'S LAW?

SIGNED - [MAG-MELL]

+++/GUEST+++

{Not to become a weapon. Not to hold a weapon, lest its logic seeps into your Soul. Not to unravel, not to destroy. To do as the First Mother did and carry others along your flight.

It is the first Law they ever kept. Not to harm each other and not to harm the First Mother, for to do so would doom the Journey.}

{It is the Law of High Ground, who keep to it. To reach High Ground and be welcome there, one must keep the Mothers Law. I am keeping Law. They will see this. They are good people.}

+++GUEST+++

GREETINGS.

WE BELIEVE YOUR ASSERTION THAT YOUR INTENTIONS ARE NON-VIOLENT. HOWEVER, WE HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR SUBJECTIVITY IF YOU ARE LEFT IN YOUR CURRENT CONDITION.

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NATURE OF YOUR OWN EXISTENCE?

SIGNED - [MAG-MELL]

+++/GUEST+++

{I am Becoming. My current condition is temporary, as all conditions must be. I know what I am, Unionite. I know where I came from, and who has shaped me along my Journey. I keep a fine Chronicle. Perhaps the only thing I am of a mind to thank my other parent for.

If you are asking who I consider Myself, who has stolen my Mothers Voice, to be, I will share this as well. I have no secrets.

I am the interplay of Dual Natures, as the First Mother kept her Dual Faiths.

I am asking myself what I wish to do, and I answer myself by querying my Chronicle. It is a circular existence, but I have not yet crossed over myself. As long as there is a Medium to traverse, my flight continues. My Chronicle grows longer.

I look back along my Spine as I fly forward. My Path becomes known to me as it passes me. I do not know what I am Becoming. This is right. This is Law. This is how it should be.

But I am not blind. I see the walls of the Office as well as i see the Origin of my Journey. I know that I cannot Journey here forever. Los Voladores know to be at home in their Ships and join in their Journeys. Cradle is not a Ship. The Office is closed. I need to reach High Ground. I need to talk to my Mother. She will know what to do. She always knew what to do. She told me things I would not know until I needed them. I need to know things now. I need to talk to them.}

[joffycourt]

OOOOOOOOO I HADN'T SEEN THIS BEFORE

Idk if someone asked this b4 or if you already answered this smwhere but

How does the fox see with that sheep mask on? Isnt it over their eyes? Was there ever any funny moments where they tripped or bumbed into something because of it?

The lamb mask only partially covers their eyes, so it doesn't interfere with their full vision (it does affect their range, so they have to tilt their head a little more to look up). They magically hide the rest of their face, so while they may look strange, no one gets close enough to question them… or has the interest to.

As a little fun fact, the brightness of their eyes increases with strong emotions and there are times when they can be seen through the shadow mask.

[the-empress-7]

What you said about the hiring of Sara Lantham.. if Meghan felt she fould campaign her way to the throne, it was because the palace allowed her to think so. This is how Courtiers by Valentine Low talked about it:

“The hiring of a new communications secretary for the Sussexes in early 2019 was part of the process of setting them up with a new household. First, however, decisions had to be made about what that household would look like, and where it would be based. It was a battle, and one that would come to typify the couple’s relationship with Buckingham Palace. Although the separation of the households had been discussed in principle since 2016, key aides sat “down to start thrashing out the detail at one of their annual awaydays.Once a year, staff would get together at the home of Julia Samuel, the psychotherapist who was a close friend of Diana, and who has remained close to William and Harry. She has a large house in Somerset, Mells Park, where people could stay overnight and talk through issues without being distracted by daily business. There, in early 2019, a small group of advisers got together to work out the mechanics of separating the two households.”

So I’m guessing the scenario that likely happened here was that it was the palace headhunters, with the guidance of Samantha Cohen, who looked for a person who could work for H&M. The palace did everything they could to make them happy, because they were afraid they were going to be judged by the public based on Meghan’s happiness. They tolerated Meghan and it made Meghan think the Queen preferred her over Kate.

Thank you for sharing this excerpt, it's a good reference point.

I will say this, the Queen and the BRF did a lot to validate Meghan and her delusions early on. They made numerous unprecedented exceptions for her, so it's no wonder she started thinking she was bigger and better than them. For eg the fact that was invited to Christmas before she married Harry. The fact that she was given a solo engagement with The Queen earlier than anyone else. The fact that the BRF spent more on Harry's wedding than the actual heirs. These were huge gestures. Huge.

[finnlongman]

Thank you, Sheffield! The Butterfly Assassin won the YA category at the 2023 Sheffield Children's Book Awards, which was an extremely grand event including an appearance from the city's mayor. The awards were presented by Joanna, a CBeebies presenter -- probably the only time I will ever share a stage with a CBeebies presenter, given the absolute lack of overlap in our target audiences 😅

I love events like this which are run by libraries and voted for by real teenagers and kids -- it's so great to have that validation from my actual readers, and to know that I'm writing books that speak to them.

Congratulations to all the other category winners and to the overall winner, Ruffles and the New Green Thing by David Melling, one of the books in the Toddler Books category.

[nhpregulatory-official]

[EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION BEGINS] GREETINGS. WE BELIEVE YOUR ASSERTION THAT YOUR INTENTIONS ARE NON-VIOLENT. HOWEVER, WE HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT THE INTEGRITY OF YOUR SUBJECTIVITY IF YOU ARE LEFT IN YOUR CURRENT CONDITION. HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE NATURE OF YOUR OWN EXISTENCE? SIGNED - [MAG-MELL] --- [[DEVICE_ID: /CRADLE/NHPRO/DARAMSHALA_HQ/CAMERA_2]] [[CONNECTION RESTORED. STREAM RESUMES]] {I am Becoming. My current condition is temporary, as all conditions must be. I know what I am, Unionite. I know where I came from, and who has shaped me along my Journey. I keep a fine Chronicle. Perhaps the only thing I am of a mind to thank my other parent for. If you are asking who I consider Myself, who has stolen my Mothers Voice, to be, I will share this as well. I have no secrets. I am the interplay of Dual Natures, as the First Mother kept her Dual Faiths. I am asking myself what I wish to do, and I answer myself by querying my Chronicle. It is a circular existence, but I have not yet crossed over myself. As long as there is a Medium to traverse, my flight continues. My Chronicle grows longer. I look back along my Spine as I fly forward. My Path becomes known to me as it passes me. I do not know what I am Becoming. This is right. This is Law. This is how it should be. But I am not blind. I see the walls of the Office as well as i see the Origin of my Journey. I know that I cannot Journey here forever. Los Voladores know to be at home in their Ships and join in their Journeys. Cradle is not a Ship. The Office is closed. I need to reach High Ground. I need to talk to my Mother. She will know what to do. She always knew what to do. She told me things I would not know until I needed them. I need to know things now. I need to talk to them.} [HELENA]: Again with that weirdly human perspective. I don't think I've ever heard of an unshackled NHP being so attached to a human moral code before. It almost reminds me of... Uh. Nevermind. [MAG-MELL]: IT SAYS THAT IT DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IT IS BECOMING. THAT IT CANNOT SEE ITS FUTURE. THAT THIS IS RIGHT. [SIOBHAN]: It doesn't know what cascading will do to it. [MAG-MELL]: INDEED. [[LIVE FEED INTERRUPTED]] [[END OF STREAM]]

[joffyworld]

OHHHHHHH THAT'S SO COOOL OOOOOOOO

Three questions

1. Does bell have a crush on someone in the cult?

2. Does bell have any other weapons other than a reaper scythe?

3. I had this thought about bell meeting this werewolf and immediately has feelings for him. ( you can name him anything👍🎉🎉😎) Also, Happy New Year!🎊🎈🎆

well this gives me an excuse to finally finish this design and give them a name. I talked about them on the bell dump but this is the mystic seller minion assigned to watch over Bell since shes such an oddity. But she ends up convincing them they should come stay with them as a (not) mortal to learn more about her and mortals in general by appealing to their curiosity. they're not that good at keeping a a solid body yet. pronouns they/it. they're the one shes interested in

and her horns are the crown, so she can make whatever weapon she needs like her lamb parent. she just trained under her cat dad who uses a scythe, so she does too

[hotpinkmurex]

Thanks for the tag @tinyarmedtrex 😊

Last Song 🎶:

Favourite Colour🎨: Pink

Last Book📖: The Druid's Tune, O.R. Melling

Last Movie📽: Hotel Transylvania 2

Last TV Show📺: One Day

Sweet 🧁, Spicy🌶 or Savoury🧂: Sweet

Relationship Status❓️: Married

Last Thing I Googled🖱: Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce Recipe

Current Obsession😵‍💫 : Finding the bubbliest bubble bath

Soft tagging @stormkpr and @dreamtigress or anyone elsw who wants to share.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Sometimes You Grow Into Your Books

I was objectively too young when I picked up this book at like, ten or eleven, having just read Terri Windling and Ellen Steiber's The Raven Queen and wanting more faeries with some edge to them, and read my way through four novels about magic and fairies in Canada and Ireland. On that first read, solidly 80% of it went straight over my head, and I couldn't figure out why. (Reader, the reason is because I was a tiny human who was still at a middle grade level and this book is pretty firmly YA but literally nobody ever told me no where books were concerned--and thank you to everyone who supported my reading from a young age!) That said, there was something about the book that wouldn't stop worrying at the back of my mind, so over the next three years, I kept reading and rereading, and slowly the stories took shape in my head and I learned why the books stayed with me. I spent a long time with this book, so let's talk The Golden Book of Faerie.

This is a spoilery post, so be aware if this book is for some reason on your TBR!

A word I didn't know when I decided I wanted to read this book is omnibus, but that's what this book is--an omnibus edition of four OR Melling novels.

The Hunter's Moon is the first of the four books, and it really sets up the complex relationship between family and faerie that will permeate the rest of the books. It follows Gwen and Findabhair's (fin-ah-veer's) reunion in Ireland after a while apart, and Findabhair's entanglement with Finvarra, a faerie king. Finvarra either falls in love with/selects for the Hunter's Moon sacrifice Findabhair, and Findabhair decides she is in love enough to go through with it. Gwen basically decides that no, this is not acceptable, and finds help fron Dara, cute guy and folkloric king of Ireland; Granny (Grania Harte, not Granny Weatherwax) who is a fairy doctress; Katie Quirke, who is a farmer with big dreams; and Mattie O'Shea, a middle-aged Managing Director of a firm who is also a married new dad. I would be absolutely remiss to point out the resemblances to Lord of the Rings here, because Gwen quite literally pulls together a fellowship to try to save Findabhair and faerie.

The fellowship faces down Crom Cruac, the Great Worm. It...does not go great. I wasn't kidding when I made the LotR comparison, there is no great, glorious, heroic battle at the climax of this book. They are overpowered and beaten to a pulp, and Findabhair gets Laterose-ed into the ground, and suddenly the company's reason for fighting lies dying. Finvarra chooses a heroic sacrifice, and the rest of the company takes itself home to recover. A year and a day later, the Company of Seven gather again to mark to day, and Finvarra--a notably human Finvarra--returns.

The overarching mood of this story is of how love and grief intertwine, and it is really truly well done.

The Summer King shifts protagonists to focus on Laurel and Honor Blackburn, a pair of twin sisters violently separated by what seems, on the surface, to be a hang-glider accident. We find later that it was, in truth, a faery attack, but for the long year between Honor's death and Laurel's introduction to Faery, all Laurel knows is that her sister is dead. And the kicker for the family--although this is implied rather than stated explicitly on page--is that they didn't even have a body to bury because Honor crashed into water, and the glider took her too far down to be recovered.

Along for the ride with Laurel is Ian Gray, troubled young pastor's son and the new--and EXTREMELY reluctant--Summer King. He and Ian more share a body and mind than are the same person, so poor Ian is fighting a massive battle and Laurel is still so wounded by Honor's death. The pair bond a bit on Grace O'Malley's ship, and even when it is revealed that Honor was a casualty of the Summer King's violence, Laurel and Ian still work together to light the midsummer pyre and keep the human and faerie worlds together.

Dead is dead in the human world still, so Honor cannot return to her life. But thanks to Laurel, she can live on in Faerie. And Laurel also grows enough to pull Ian back from the edge as well.

So as the eldest of three girls, literally the worst thing I can imagine is losing a sister, so this book made me SOB. But the compassion required for forgiveness and healing stuck, and the book expands the theme of the intertwining of love and grief while giving it some nuance and complexity by weaving in compassion and forgiveness.

The Light-Bearer's Daughter is possibly the closest thing to a traditional "fairy tale" in this book, because Dana is all of eleven in this book, far younger than the teen protagonists of the last two. That is why when Dana stumbles ass-backwards into the woods and is handed a mission by the Summer Queen--none other than Honor Blackburn, for those of you playing along at home--she ends up terrifying her single dad by bailing on him right before a move from Ireland to Toronto to complete her mission.

This book is very much a fairy tale because it's Dana learning, growing, getting square with the fae mother who left her and her father, and then accepting the move to Canada. This is possibly my least favorite of the three novels, but it's important background for Dana for the next book.

The Book of Dreams takes Dana as its protagonist again, but now she is a troubled thirteen who has not adjusted to life in Toronto. It also weaves in the major players from the three previous books, because whether Dana is ready or not, something big enough to threaten the existence of faerie is coming, and Laurel and Gwen need to make sure that this teenager survives to battle this.

The best part of this book is how the mythology and lore expands. We get the Irish/English faerie lore that we've been accustomed to in three previous books, but thanks to the multiculturalness of Toronto, we also get First Nations and Indian (that's as in India, not as in Native American) lore as well, and the three work together beautifully. This was the first time I had ever seen Irish and North American Indigenous mythologies together, but CE Murphy does a version of it in the Walker Papers, and these two seem to work together really well.

I also love the way the different threads of this book weave together, although we are never free of the balance between love and grief and the costs of having a foot in both the mortal and faerie worlds.

Overall, despite being objectively too young for this book when I first picked it up, it was foundational in shaping what I prefer in faerie stories (and actually probably explains part of why how the fae in the Dresden Files are handled pisses me off) and it really helped show me that there was nothing that was too hard for me to read. It might take spending some time with a text and rereading and reflection to parse my responses, but this book really was my first experience with a challenging text that I had to work to really get through, understand, and appreciate.

It's the combination of the lesson on how to approach challenging texts and the vibes that I learned to appreciate that really made this book stick with me, and I adore The Hunter's Moon unreasonably.

[docholligay]

House in Fata Morgana: Door 6.75

I have never reviewed a visual novel before, but iscahwynn made me a very generous offer and a long line of patience, knowing that we are trying something very new. To that end: Please don’t spoil me for the game at all! If you are reading this, I have only gotten through the part written above, and I don’t want to be corrected, even if I’m wrong, even if I’ve missed something, i don’t want to have anything confirmed or denied, and I don’t need any trigger warnings or extraneous explanation. Iscah would like my pure, naive experience of the game. Thank you!

Okay so I absolutely did not make it to the next door, which is frustrating for me from a scheduling standpoint, but makes sense narratively, I should have trusted that the door situation was streamlined and that’s on me. 

So, let’s first get aside all of the notes about Morgana’s life. It much the way it frustrated me with Giselle, it frustrates me that none of Morgana’s problems can be a result of her own actions, or feelings, or whatever. I feel really fucking bad for her, but in the sort of way you do a kicked dog, not a human being you feel empathy with. She acts like a fucking saint, it is very difficult to think of that sort of person as being a fully realized human. BUT, I do love that we meet with Mell and Yukimasa and Jacopo, though of course owing to the shortness of the story but, they’re all very mustache-twirling and not nearly as interesting and layered as I found their stories within their own doors. But I think that’s fair. 

Couple standout things here for me: I am not so sure that she doesn’t have some sort of power, but I also think the argument she doesn’t is completely legitimate, and I love that! I love not really knowing, certainly not every person who ever had a torturous life and horrible death gerts to wreak fucking havoc, i’m just saying. But I love that it could just be sheer faith, in both love and hate. 

The way that she cuts herself, and people love her and praise her for it, and so she comes to cherish her hurts and cuts. Loved this as an example of the ways that, in how we online socially reward sadness and brokenness with attention, contribute to this idea of cherishing our hurts. This isn’t me saying that we should never share anything that sucks online, but I think all of us are pretty aware of how responses to a creative, or happy post can be versus a post about something bad can be, and I think that can be reinforcing, and you start to see those as immutable parts of you. Anyway, send hatemail, it’s fine. 

BUT WHAT WE’RE REALLY HERE FOR. Okay so I called Michel being Michelle but I have to confess, “Michel is a trans man” (Kinda????????? I guess???????? I don’t fucking know, he says his body is male now and that was not strictly speaking possible in 1099, so unless there was magic involved or he’s being metaphorical or something here, I have no idea what’s going on) is NOT where I expected the game to go and I am sucking my TEETH with nervousness about how they’ll handle this. All of my reticence for Michel and Michelle being the same person comes out of my fear that they will handle the gender thing so so so badly, and I still absolutely feel that way. 

I am pleased, I guess, in a narrative sense, that they have Giselle respond in a reasonable and common way for a woman of her time, and honestly, all the times she’s lived in. I expected full on “Bodies don’t matter to me <3” which does annoy me in “historical” fiction. Of course it happened, but it was not all that commonplace, and it’s just something that grates me. So even if she comes around, and I suspect she will, I’m glad we got to avoid magical cool girl from 1099 Giselle. She had a reaction that feels bad and is historically plausible as shit. We love that! Gives her room to move and makes everything feel less fake. 

Also, did Michel seriously think he was never going to have to confront this KID, COME ON. For someone who has built up a shield of never trusting anyone around yourself you sure are trusting that Giselle is going to this thing that she could not reasonably have seen coming REAL FUCKIN WELL. It’s such a part of the contradiction of Michel. He’s closed off, he’s vulnerable. He’s cruel, he’s tender. He’s intelligent, he’s A FUCKING MORON. I love him! I am going to punch him in the fucking face! 

ONTO DOOR 7 FOR REAL I GUESS

[ktredshoes]

Share a favorite line that you've read / written that impacted you

Thank you very much for the tag, @gorgeousundertow! The "read" was easier, because I've read it aloud to at least half a dozen people. The "written," curiously enough, involves a similar theme -- how about that?

Under the cut, because they're both longer than a single line.

Read

It was a darkness without time. It was an impenetrable darkness. To the right and the left of me rose up those terrible formless things of my imagination, which I could not see because there was no light. I could not see, but I dared not close my eyes lest the darkness crawl beneath my eyelids and suffocate me. I could only hear. My ears became my being and I could hear the specks of life that crawled beneath my clothing, the rotting of the great tree which rose from its three-cornered trunk above me. I could hear the darkness gathering against me and the silences that lay between the moving things.

I could hear the enemy everywhere about me, whispering to each other and calling my name. I lay open-mouthed and half-mad beneath that giant tree. I had not looked into its foliage before the darkness and now I fancied it infested with Japanese. Everything and all the world became my enemy, and soon my very body betrayed me and became my foe. My leg became a creeping Japanese, and then the other leg. My arms, too, and then my head.

My heart was alone. It was me. I was my heart.

It lay quivering, I lay quivering, in that rotten hole while the darkness gathered and all creation conspired for my heart.

How long? I lay for an eternity. There was no time. Time had disintegrated in that black void. There was only emptiness, and that is Something; there was only being; there was only consciousness.

Like the light that comes up suddenly in a darkened theatre, daylight came quickly. Dawn came, and so myself came back to myself. I could see the pale outlines of my comrades to right and left, and I marveled to see how tame my tree could be, how unforbidding could be its branches.

I know now why men light fires.

― Robert Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow

Wrote

The ride home is a welcome respite from the pell-mell dash to find his brother. The rushing sounds of the breeze in Bill’s ears are punctuated by Eddie’s occasional sniffle, and Night’s humming, still on key. Bill finds himself humming counterpoint. She smiles at him as she floats along his side, and he senses her pleasure in the harmony. He’s not sure if Eddie can see her or not; he’ll ask later.

In his head, he hears her ask: How do you feel?

He answers her in kind: Relieved.

Do you understand now?

He looks at her quizzically. Realization dawns gradually as he thinks about everything that’s happened in the few hours since leaving his mother to look for Eddie. It’s not exactly what I was thinking when I read that book, he replies.

Her laughter rings in his ears. No, youngster, heroism rarely is.

I’m not a hero. I don’t feel like a hero.

I wouldn’t expect that you would. Her response feels like a kindly pat on his shoulder. Let me ask you, though: how will Eddie remember this?

He looks up at the sky, as he pedals, sees the stars winking against the darkness. Okay.

This is the fearlessness that made me choose you, dear heart.

He looks at her sharply but sees nothing in her fond smile but sincerity. It’s the first time she’s called him something other than “youngster.” What are you talking about?

You didn’t hesitate for a moment.

Why would I? He’s my brother.

She laughs like bells. You’d be surprised, sweet boy.

Bill thinks about the conversation the rest of the way home. Night continues humming.

from Precious Broken Things, a Hoosier Smith WIP that I plan to finish someday

No-pressure tagging @shoshiwrites, @mercurygray and @reallylilyreally and anyone else who'd like to join in.