#Wolcott words

[z3r0-c001]

Had a dream that i started keeping rats. Just a couple rats but suddenly it turned into like. 15 rats bc rats were coming in from outside. Some of the rats could turn into people who I could convince to leave. The rest ihad to catch and throw out the window. The rats had some of the most strange and intense deformities I've ever seen on an animal.

[z3r0-c001]

take it

so uh. Was anyone going to tell me that the pink fairy armadillo is only six inches long

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

I'm still thinking about Death's words in Episode 1, and the way I think she was not just talking to Wilfred (the soldier), but indirectly, she was talking to Edwin and Charles too.

Let me explain...

"You've been fighting old battles for too long (...) you died over a hundred years ago"

"I came for you then, but you were so confused, so filled with anger and with hate, you seem a lot better now"

I wonder if they overheard her, if that's even possible, or if it was something purely directed to us, as an audience.

It just makes me think quite a lot, because her words were so on point for the way the boys' arc was going to develop. In one side, Edwin fighting against his own mindset in order to face his own identity and his feelings, and then Charles, facing his trauma, and the frustration and anger that he had been carrying since he died.

Oh, and then there's the poem:

They will come back - come back again, as long as the red Earth rolls.

He never wasted a leaf or a tree. Do you think He would squander souls?

[Source: The Sack of the Gods, Rudyard Kipling]

This is not the whole version, only the last verse that Death recites in that scene. I would like to mention the story behind it too, because I find the connections curious.

The Kipling Society refers that this poem—most probably—was written as a form of celebration, "in lofty cosmic terms" of Kipling’s partnership with his friend Wolcott Balestier, who died unexpectedly in December 1891.

Together, it passionately asserts, the two young comrades had fought to conquer the heights, an endeavour which seems long ago now that Wolcott is dead.

[Source: The Sack of the Gods – Background (notes by Jan Montefiore and John Radcliffe)]

Also, about the lofty cosmic terms, these are found in the following verses of the poem:

Under the stars beyond our stars where the new-forged meteors glow,

(...)

Dust of the stars was under our feet, glitter of stars above—

Wrecks of our wrath dropped reeling down as we fought and we spurned and we strove.

Worlds upon worlds we tossed aside, and scattered them to and fro.

I don't know if the connection between the poem and the song that plays in the background of Charles' memories in Episode 7, was intentional or no.

And it's something quite peculiar,

Something shimmering and white

It leads you here, despite your destination,

Under the Milky Way tonight.

[Source: Under The Milky Way - The Church]

But I think is beautiful, if you take into account that the meaning of that poem revolves around the idea of deja-vu, "hearking back to an experience in an earlier life, based on reincarnation"; and that there's always that possibility.

Is this something? Am I even making sense?

[trickphotography2]

First and Goal

Hangman hosts a college football day for the Daggers, only to have Payback bring a history making Angel. (Hangman x female Reader fluff, no use of 'you')

Completely self-indulgant college football fic after seeing Glen and Danny at the Texas and Miami games last week. Fic contains some trash talking of Miami and Alabama. No physical description of the reader, callsign is Syla (pronounced like Cilla) and she's a Florida State fan.

Word count: 1.5K

-------------------------------------------------------

Jake tore his eyes away from the television when the doorbell rang, huffing as the Game Day announcers stalled on making their prediction of who would win the Texas vs. Alabama game. Phoenix pushed away from the kitchen island where she and Coyote were grazing on the snacks he’d set out. 

“Come on, come on, come on,” he grumbled as two hosts picked Bama. Planting his hands on his hips, he pressed his lips into a thin line when Lee Corso called for the fight song to play, and the twang of Sweet Home Alabama started.

“Roll Tide, I guess,” came a sigh beside him. Jake’s gaze snapped to the woman, taking in her crimson shirt, Navy regulation bun, and furrowed brow as she watched the antics. 

“Hey, hey, hey! Oh no, wait a minute, wait a minute. That’s not the right song - play Texas’ song!” 

“Yes!” He pumped his fist as Corso put on the Hook’em head. 

“Thank Christ.”  

“Not rooting for your team?” he asked, facing her. She rolled her eyes, pointing towards the logo on her chest - a Seminole head.

“Might wanna get your eyes checked - garnet, not crimson.” A slight southern accent colored her words. “While I appreciate Bama for making Tim Tebow cry, their fans are insufferable. I’m ready for them to get taken down a peg. If the Longhorns are the ones to do it, I guess I’ll put up with more of the Gig ‘em nonsense.”

“Hook ‘em,” Jake corrected, and the smirk curving her lips made him think she knew exactly what she was doing. 

“Giving Hangman shit already, Syla?” Payback asked, tossing an arm over the woman’s shoulder. The woman grinned up at the pilot and raised an eyebrow. 

“I have no idea what you mean,” she laughed. Jake felt a shot of disappointment at the fond look that passed between the two. “But if you’re Hangman,” she added, turning her attention back towards Jake, “this is for you. Thanks for letting me crash.” She extended a bottle towards him - Wolcott bourbon, bottled in the bond.

“Thanks. Syla your name or callsign?” 

“Callsign.”

“You stationed here?”

“Soon, but I’m in town for the show.” 

“The…” he frowned, then nodded. “You’re a Blue Angel?”

“That I am.” The Blue Angels were the Navy’s flight demonstration team. Stationed at NAS Pensacola, they were the most high-profile squad that toured across the US. It’d made the news that they finally had their first female aviator on the team two years ago. “At least until the end of the tour, then I’m headed back to TOPGUN.”

“Oh, come on,” Fanboy grumbled, watching as the University of Miami quarterback was sacked. Across the kitchen, Syla pumped her fist and silently cheered while nursing her water bottle. Jake smirked into his beer. Fanboy and Syla had exchanged some good-natured shit-talking since Florida State and Miami were in the same conference and would be playing against one another later in the season. 

When she’d shared the story behind her callsign - Syla, short for See Ya Later Alligator - Fanboy had gone red in the face laughing as Jake chuckled.

“What’s so funny?” Bob asked. 

Heaving a sigh, Syla explained, “My team is FSU Seminoles. We hate the Florida Gators, and there was a Gators fan in FRS with me. Our COs got tired of us shit-talking the whole season and decided to punish us by making our callsigns have to do with our rivalry. So I’m Syla, and he’s Renegade after our mascot.” 

“At least it’s not Swamp,” Jake offered, thinking of how Gainesville, where the University of Florida was located, was nicknamed ‘The Swamp.’

“Yeah, that cost me 150 pushups.” 

“Run, run, run, run, run!” Syla screamed, jumping off the couch with Jake beside her. 

“Come on!” he yelled. When the player was tackled after a 40-yard run, he whooped and held a hand to Syla, who laughed and slapped his palm before leaning around him to high-five Fanboy. 

“Fuck. There’s three of them,” Phoenix grumbled. 

The afternoon passed into shouts of “He was wide fucking open!”, “No! Sit his ass down!”, “Where’s the damn flag?”, “Pass interference!” and “Find it! Find it!” During commercials, they quickly learned about one another - Syla was a Florida girl born and raised in Tallahassee. She’d graduated from FSU and attended as many games as possible during the last three years she’d been stationed in Pensacola. Touring with the Angels made it hard since she was on the road from March to November, but the constant travel was worth it to be the first female Blue Angel. She was looking forward to the stability of being an instructor at TOPGUN and not living out of her duffle bag.

Syla retrieved her uniform from Payback’s car at halftime and disappeared into the bathroom. “She’s nice,” Coyote told Payback as Jake stepped into his backyard. 

“She’s great. Pain in the ass perfectionist, but that’s what got her on the Angels.” 

“She’ll be a good trainer,” Phoenix added. “Have you seen that diamond maneuver they pull?” 

“So, how do you know each other?” Jake asked, glancing at Payback.

“We met in flight school and kept in touch from there.” 

“You guys…” Rooster cocked an eyebrow.

“Nooo,” Payback quickly replied, then shuddered. “She’s like a sister. A sister,” he repeated, pinning the other men with a stern, warning look.

A while later, the door opened, and Syla peeked out, her eyes meeting Jake’s. “They’re about to kick off.” 

“Be right in,” he smiled back. After collecting the empty beer bottles from his friends, he jogged back inside. Syla had swapped out her jean shorts and t-shirt for her dress white skirt, and white tank top. She declined another drink - she’d sipped a glass of bourbon earlier before switching to water, saying that she needed to be sharp for work later - but accepted a soda. 

The Daggers drifted in and out of the house, Payback sometimes joining them in the cheering squad, but Syla and Jake were glued to the game. When Texas threw a 39-yard touchdown to pull further ahead, Jake screamed and jumped around his living room, much to the amusement of his friends. Syla whooped and clapped, raising her hand for a high five. Their palms slapped, and his fingers curled around hers, giving a quick shake before collapsing beside her. His shoulders brushed against her as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, hands clasped and covering his mouth.

“We gotta head out soon if you’re gonna make the dinner,” Payback said as the game clock wound down. 

“Shit,” Syla groaned, glancing at her watch. Between plays, she quickly slipped on her blouse, lower lip between her teeth as she watched the action and did up the buttons. Jake couldn’t help but glance at her legs as she swayed beside him, their knees touching as she tucked in her shirt.

When the quarterback took a snap and dropped to his knee, Jake exploded off the couch, whooping as Texas won. Without thinking, his arms wrapped around a laughing Syla, lifting her off her feet as he celebrated his team beating the Crimson Tide on their home field.

“Syla, we really gotta go,” Payback said. 

“Fuck, okay, uh,” she said, stepping out of Jake’s reach and patting his shoulder. “Congrats on the win. It was nice meeting all of you. I’ll hopefully see you in a couple months if I don’t get reprimanded for being late for dinner with the top brass. Oh, and Fanboy - I’ll think of you when I’m in Doak for the game in November.”

Smirking, Fanboy held up his hands, his thumbs touching to make the Miami ‘U’ signal. She gave him a saccharine smile and did the same; all her fingers were down except her middle ones, so she flipped him off. “I’ll walk you out,” Jake offered, grabbing Syla’s bag from the dining room table. Payback narrowed his eyes at the other man. “It sucks you can’t watch your team play tonight.” 

“It’s fine,” she shrugged, “we played our hard game against LSU last week, and it’s an easy match-up this week. I’ll just duck into the bathroom and check the score every once in a while.” 

“What time do you fly tomorrow?”

“Gates open at 0800, and we’re the closer at 1520. Why, gonna come to the show, Hangman?”

“You never know,” he winked. “Heard the Angels do a pretty impressive diamond formation.” 

“18-inch clearance, wingtip to canopy,” she smirked. “If you come, I’ll be in the blue and yellow flight suit.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.” Chuckling, she took her bag, their fingers brushing and sending a pleasant tingling sensation up his spine. “Good to meet you, Syla.”

“You too, Hangman.” 

Payback paused beside Jake when she walked away and hissed, “No.”

---------------------------------------------------

Notes: The Blue Angels are based out of Pensacola and just welcomed their first female pilot in 2023 - callsign Stalin. I miss seeing them buzz the beaches and hear them practice in the afternoons. They tour the US and Canada, and the clips I've seen are phenomenal. If you haven't seen the pilot perspective of the tight diamond formation, I highly recommend it.

The 0800 and 1520 are military time, so it's 1520 is 3:20PM.

Read part 2, Overtime.

[thelivingmemegod]

Belief in wayward children is soooo interesting to me

Spoilers for Every Heart a Doorway and Where Drowned girls go ahead

The act of believing is absolutely integral to this series. On some level: everyone knows the doors are real,

The people at the twin schools believe this to be fact, even if Whitethorn is designed to brainwash the belief out of its students and the teachers are nameless.

The principal, real and fake, both believe these doors are real, the kids on some level, believe these doors are real.

Cora starts Where Drowned Girls Go fully believing in The Doors and The Moors and the drowned gods that haunt her, she wants that haunting to stop so badly that she goes to whitethorn. There, they begin “teaching her to forget”

And yet.

She never forgets, she aches and yearns like everyone else there. She aches to feel water surround her, but she believes this is “helping” in so far as the rainbows and voices are fading and that will keep being the case as long as she stays up for air. It’s illustrated when she’s listening to Regan struggle during her “graduation”.

“Cora wouldn’t wait to be a Jack-o-lantern. Anything that meant she was still Cora in some way, and not the puppet of the Drowned Gods. She listened to Regan and she yearned, wishing with everything she had to be in the other girl’s shoes.”

Everyone aches and everyone years until they can bend themselves into the box whitethorn wants and then they can leave. Maybe.

Then Sumi shows up. The ultimate, absolute immovable object. She believes in what she wants and will bend and snap any system like perfectly tempered chocolate if it tries to change her. She knows for full blown fact how her story ends, she knows she goes home and she can extended that knowing to others, Cora included.

Cora comes to be a little more like Sumi, believing that she is more than strong enough to face down the Drowned Gods and tell them no. And she is. She makes their rainbows her own and she stops hearing their voices and plots an escape route for them all.

Cora and Sumi are good case studies on what belief can do in this world and that brings me to the reason Every Heart a Doorway is in the spoilers.

Doctor Katherine Lundy.

Kade says during the first book that Lundy thinks in stories. She thinks in beginnings, middles and endings.

Lundy is given a very high position of power, Eleanor’s right hand and the kids therapist, she uses this power well and treats her patients kindly. The kids love her, Eleanor loves her, Kade loves her and she loves them all in turn.

Everyone trusts Lundy

Everyone believes Lundy.

So when she tells the kids that lightning is more likely to strike twice in the same place than they are to find their door home, they believe her.

This is a belief Lundy carries into her grave and I think it’s a belief that dies with her.

The Wolcott twins go home after she dies, Nancy goes home shortly after everything has settled, a door from Confection opens DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF THE SCHOOL at the end of Where Drowned Girls Go.

It’s easier to openly believe in an everyday nightmare then to admit you believe in a beautiful dream, so the kids took Lundy at her word and locked up any hope they had left. Especially when the only women with a counter opinion accidentally looks like a hypocrite because her door is literally still there waiting for her.

I think Lundy’s belief leaked out into the students and kept many of them there. Of course this doesn’t make her bad or a villain by any means. I think she’s a testament to words having mass, unintended affects on people. Affects so deep it can change the very world around them.

I don’t know how to end this ramble thingy but I needed to thought vomit about these books they make me crazzyyyyyyy

[nothwell]

Chapter Two of the YA rough cut for Theo - a transmasc reimagining of Little Women - is up on Patre♡n - a wholesome cozy Alcott pastiche that I absolutely could not keep up for the length of a full novel.

~

In the midst of this apple pie disorder, Leslie at once lost all sense of where he belonged and what he ought to be doing. He stood stock still and rather stupid in the precise spot where Theo had let go of him to go and take her part in the merry tempest. His presence must have disrupted the Wolcott’s routine—yet if it did, he never heard a word of it, for they all kept working ‘round him like clockwork figurines adjusting to a new cog in the chaos.

~

Joining me on Patre♡n will give you access to “drawer fic” – aka the 500k+ words worth of manuscripts that have been shelved until I figure out how to fix or finish them. You'll also be invited to join an exclusive Discord server just for patrons!

A new chapter will go up every week. Missing (unwritten) scenes will be indicated by brackets describing what would probably happen if the scene were written. Example: [in this scene Aubrey and Lindsey ride a carousel]

Currently posting… ♡ Theo. (transmasc historical mm romance)

Completed works... ♡ the Aubrey & Lindsey solar fantasy project (mm) ♡ A Willing Canvas - John Halloway x Lord Cyril Graves (mm) ♡ The Train Job - Rowena Althorp x Rebekah (ff) ♡ Hold Fast 2 - Hold Faster (mm) ♡ Vampires Vampires Vampires (mmm) ♡ The Sebastian Nothwell Contemporary Expanded Universe (mmm+)

See you on Patre♡n!

[dr-spencer-reids-queen]

The Big Wheel: Final Part

Pairing: Spencer Reid x Female!Reader

Word Count: ~2.3k

Summary: The case you’re on is dependent on a little boy who is blind who sees with more than just his eyes.

Warnings: canon violence, canon language, canon talk of death, methods of kill

Author’s Note: I do not own anything from Criminal Minds. All credit goes to their respective owners. If there are any warnings that exceed the normal death/kills from the show, I will list them. If you’ve seen the show, then it’s the same level of angst unless otherwise stated

x

You drive back to the police station and see JJ, Emily, and Penelope looking at the board with all the victims on it. You join the group and look at all the victims on the board.

"He sure does like his blondes. Not a good date, though. Too stabby," Penelope says.

"Less so with Michelle and the girl we found this morning. We profiled that he must have known her with the way she was found. I think she caught him in the act or even saw the report on the news. He had to have killed her to keep his secret," you say. "His name is also Vincent. He was caught on footage in a camera shop when he bought tiny cameras for his glasses."

"Every one of these murders happens during a month in Spring. Spring must be the stressor for Vincent."

"Do you think my video was done in the Spring?"

"There's a good chance."

"Okay. The 80s, Spring, and Buffalo. I will search for homicides and see if I can make a connection."

Penelope gets to work on her laptop.

"All of the victims except for Michelle were killed within a year of each other. Victim ten, Joyce Wolcott, was stabbed thirty-two times, and Michelle was stabbed just once two years later. What's missing from Michelle's murder is any sign of rage or overkill. Instead, on the tape we see signs of remorse. A complete and sudden emotional change. It's absolutely fascinating."

"I was just thinking the same thing," you grin at your boyfriend.

"I love you Reid and Y/N, but the stuff you find fascinating is sad. Okay, the woman in my video looks a lot like the ones on your board, don't you think?"

Penelope shows the clearest picture of the woman she can get.

"He's killing her over and over again."

"Guys, there was an actual witness in Joyce's murder. A young boy. Her son. His name is Stanley."

Penelope looks up the details of Joyce's murder as quickly as she can.

"Neighbors called the police when they heard her son screaming for his mother. They were both found in the backyard, and she was dead."

"He saw the whole thing?" you gasp.

"If he did, why didn't the unsub kill the only living witness? Did they interview him? Did he see the killer?"

"He didn't see anything. He's blind from birth."

"Where is he now?" you wonder.

"He was foster-homed after her death. His father died in a car accident years before this."

"Tell me he's still in Buffalo."

"He is. I'm sending over the address now."

"I'll call Derek and Rossi from the car. Thanks, Pen." You text Derek and Rossi from the car and meet up with them at Stanley's house. There is a young boy sitting on the front porch reading a book in Braille. "How's a going? We're looking for Stanley Wolcott."

"Who wants to know?"

"My name is Y/N. I'm with the FBI."

"FBI? Cool," he chuckles.

Something clicks inside your head, and you take a wild shot in the dark.

"Is today your birthday?"

"Can I help you?" Kate comes out before Stanley can answer.

Kate is Stanley's foster mom whom he's been living with for a while.

"Yes, I'm Agent Y/N, this is Agent Derek Morgan and Agent Dave Rossi. We're with the FBI. I'm sorry to do this today of all days, but we need to talk to Stanley. It's urgent."

Stanley and Kate escort you inside their house to talk in private.

"How long have you had Stanley?"

"Nine months. The adoption papers came through last week, so we're moving to California." Stanley walks away from his mom and clicks his tongue to navigate his way. "Uh, Stanley's been blind since birth. His mom didn't want him to use a cane, so he clicks. It's called echolocation. It's where the sound bounces off objects, kind of like a bat uses sonar."

"I'm the Batman," Stanley grins.

Derek walks over to him and kneels down to be on his level even though Stanley is looking nowhere near where Derek's face is.

"Hey, batman. My colleagues and I need to ask you some questions."

Stanley reaches out to touch Derek's face since this is how he sees what people look like.

"This is about my mom, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

"Have you found him? I can feel a lie."

"We're looking for him, Stan. We could use your help. Now, what I'm asking you to do probably won't be easy."

"Will it help you catch him?"

"It might."

"Are you sure about this?" Kate asks nervously not knowing exactly what Derek is going to do.

"It's okay. I want to do this."

"Okay, two years ago on that night, you were playing in the snow with your mom, right?"

"Yeah. She said my lips were turning blue. She told me to go in and get warm. She said it was getting dark. I went inside and started to take off my clothes to get warm, but she didn't come back in." Stanley is brought back to that night and looks distressed. "Mom? Mom!"

You get tears at the pain he must be feeling.

"Stanley, what do you hear?"

"The snow is so thick. It covers the house and the yard. Everything's so quiet. I called her but she doesn't call back. I thought I heard my mom."

"Is she talking?"

"Crying."

"What do you do now?"

"Go outside."

"You're doing good, Stanley. You're doing really good. I'm right here, okay? Can you hear your mom now?"

"No. I can't hear anything. I feel... Someone was there. I felt someone there. It's not my mom," he whimpers.

"Okay, that's enough," Kate says and steps behind her son.

"He saw me, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did."

Hotch calls Rossi to tell him there is another stabbing with someone that looks like Vincent. You hate to bring all this up with Stanley and leave him, but that's exactly what you do. Lynne and Hotch meet up with you at the location where Vincent stabbed someone and left a witness. Two men were going to jump and rob Vincent when he stabbed one of them but not before he was shot. The other one ran away before he was killed like his friend.

When you get there, Hotch and Lynne are talking to the witness who came back.

"He just came out of nowhere. He rolled up on us," he lied.

"Which way was he walking?"

"That way," the kid points east.

"He's heading East."

"So, let me get this straight. You and your friend attempt to rob the guy, your friend shoots the man, he defends himself, and you did nothing? You ran away and called 911?"

"I'm done talking, Fed. I ain't saying nothin'. I want my lawyer."

"You'll get a lawyer. Answer my question," Hotch glares.

"He shot him once," he sighs.

"Where?"

"In the stomach."

"What was he doing when you rolled up on him?" Derek asks.

"He had his head down and was walking real fast like he was late for something."

"When he didn't give you what you wanted, what did he do?"

"At first nothing. He just started making this noise with his tongue."

"What kind of noise?"

The kid shrugs and you step forward.

"Listen to me. Was it like this?" You click your tongue in the same way Stanley did.

"Yeah, just like that." You look back at Derek and Rossi worriedly. "Exactly like that. He slammed Jay with a knife and turned and came after me."

"It's called Echolocation. The tenth victim left behind a blind son who uses echolocation to get around."

"How would the killer know that?"

"Because he saw the boy was blind the night he killed his mother. I think that's why he didn't kill the boy. Today's that kid's birthday. He's the event."

"Henderson, get units to meet us at 6518 Cantwell Drive right now," Derek says.

You rush over there as soon as you can but Stanley is already gone. Vincent must have taken him right after you left. Kate hears the sirens and comes rushing out of the house with tears streaming down her eyes.

"He's gone! He's gone. I thought he was in his room. He said he was tired."

"When was the last time you checked on him?"

"Twenty minutes ago. I just don't understand. He would have had to pass me to get out."

"When you checked on him, was he asleep?"

"He was under the covers."

"Did you hear anything?"

"I heard a car horn beep twice. I looked out the window, but I didn't see anything."

"He's gotta have at least twenty minutes on us," Derek sighs.

"He's gonna kill him, isn't he?" she cries.

"Let's just take a look inside."

You walk inside the house and see Stanley standing by his door. When you walk closer to him, he walks further from you. Vincent is outside the window helping him through. Both of them run to the car that's waiting by the curb. Stanley didn't seem scared. He knows Vincent. You look down and see blood on the window sill.

"There's blood here."

"Oh, God," Kate whispers.

"No, it's not Stan's. I think the man who took him was injured. It's his blood. We think his name is Vincent."

"Vincent?" she gasps. "Stan knew him before he came to me. He's known him for over a year because Vincent was a registered helper in a mentoring program. He comes around from time to time to talk to Stanley."

"Which one?"

"Oh, God. Stan has belonged to so many programs. I can't remember where he met Vincent," she groans.

Derek calls Penelope for further assistance.

"Garcia, we got a name. Vincent."

"Morgan, I'm gonna need a surname, honey."

"She can't remember."

"Can you at least cross-reference Vincent's name with all of the mentor organizations in Buffalo?"

"I think we'll get more from the video."

"We're running out of time. He has the kid."

"Trust me, okay? Give me a second." Penelope types as fast as she can and gets an article published in the mid-80s. "That's her. That's the woman from the film. Her name is Kim Rowlings who was killed in her home. When police arrived, they found her son Vincent Rowlings sitting with the body of his murdered mother. Police believe that he sat with her for more than twenty-four hours."

"He was only nine years old," JJ says from beside Penelope. "He filmed his mother's murder and hid the tape from the police all these years."

"I found it. Vincent Rowlings, 5605 Pearl Street on the East side in Buffalo."

"Tell Hotch we're en route," Emily says.

"They found his address," Derek says to Rossi.

Hotch, Spencer, and Emily head over to Vincent's house, but he isn't there. They find his studio set up where he edits his murders, including his mother's. Penelope calls Hotch and brings in Derek so that you're all communicating on one line. Derek places her on speakerphone so everyone can hear.

"Hotch, you've got Rossi, Y/N, and Morgan."

"We have Stan's foster mother, Kate, here. Stanley is missing, and there's blood on the windowsill."

"Kate, did Vincent take Stan out? Was there a favorite place they liked to go to?" Hotch asks.

"No, I only allow him to see Stan under this roof and with my supervision. He's been coming around more since I told him we were moving away."

"When did you tell Vincent that?"

"Like a week ago. Why?"

"He killed Michelle a week ago. That must be the stressor that triggered Vincent's behavior change."

"Kate, Vincent wrote the number twenty-nine with a circle around it numerous times. Today is the 29th. We believe the circle may represent a specific location. They would have talked about it, or he might even have taken him there before. Did Vincent talk to Stan about adventures that they could take? Places they could visit?"

"I don't know," she sighs in frustration.

"What are Stanley's favorite things to do?" you ask.

"He likes to build things. Vincent used to help him."

Kate shows you the construction sets that are made from plastic. Among them is a ferric wheel that Vincent helped Stan make.

"The Ferris Wheel is a circle. When did they build this?"

"Over the last couple of months. He's been in here every night."

"Garcia, check Buffalo and the surrounding areas for any theme parks, permanent or visiting," Derek says.

"There's a theme park just outside of Buffalo that's happening right now."

"Does it have a Ferris Wheel?"

"Yes."

"Let's go."

Your team meets up with Hotch's team even though Hotch isn't with them. He stayed behind to go over the footage of who else could be victims at the hands of Vincent. There are a ton of people here but you know exactly what Vincent and Stan's energies look like. You don't waste time trying to find out where they are because you can just follow the trail.

"Follow me!"

No one argues with you and follows behind as you run through the theme park. The Ferris Wheel is in the very back of the theme park, and you stop once you reach it. You look to the top and see Vincent and Stan there talking. He looks over and sees the FBI. He knows he's not getting out of this, but since he has an untreated gunshot wound, you don't know if he's going to be alive for much longer.

"I need you to get this kid off the wheel. Do it now." The attendant moves the Ferris Wheel so that the car in which Vincent is in is lowered to the ground. You don't have to touch Vincent to know that he's dead. He knew he was going to die and wanted to bring Stanley here. "Okay, now open it."

"What's going on?" Stanley asks.

"Stanley, it's Derek from the FBI. It's okay. You're going to be okay."

"Vincent, what's going on?"

"Listen to me. I need you to come with me. Let go of Vincent. Just come with me. I'm getting you out of here."

Derek picks Stan up, but the small child looks to where he thinks Vincent is.

"Vincent?"

Derek brings Stan over to an unoccupied bench while Lynne checks to see if Vincent is alive. Kate rushes through the crowd and hugs her son tightly.

"Honey!" she cries.

Derek tries to leave to give them a moment but Stanely stops him.

"Derek?"

Derek walks back over to Stanely and kneels so that Stan can feel his face.

"What's up, kid?"

"Did he kill my mom?"

Stan can feel a lie so if Derek lies, then he'll have his answer. Though, he doesn't say anything to him. Stanley breaks out in tears and cries against his foster mom's chest.

"No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible." - George Chakiris

x

Follow my library blog @aqueenslibrary​​​​​​​​​​​ where I reblog all my stories, so you can put notifications on there without the extra stuff :)

[fuckyeah-beringandwellsfics]

Murmuration

submitted by: anonymous

Link and AO3 details: Murmuration (28090 words) by @roadien60

Chapters: 5/5

Fandom: Warehouse 13

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Relationships: Myka Bering/Helena "H. G." Wells

Characters: Myka Bering, Helena "H. G." Wells, Tracy Bering, Christina Wells, Warren Bering, Jeannie Bering, William Wolcott, Pete Lattimer

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction

Series: Part 1 of Seven Worlds

Summary:

Myka Bering has spent her entire life falling in love with Helena Wells. It took Helena much less time than that to fall in love with Myka. It's all relative, you see.

Please tell us why you like this fic so much!

It's an incredibly compelling AU that uses the time dilation of space travel to amazing effect. One of my favorite Bering and Wells AUs!

[fromashesweriseuphiddenones]

Day Sixteen

                Haytham Kenway would forever come to hate the day before his son Desmond’s birthday. He had been in the area, attempting to perhaps work with William Miles, to give the modern assassins an edge over the modern templars. It is why Haytham did not come alone. His father Edward Kenway was present along with Charles Henry Lee, Jeremiah Scudder, Nicholas Biddle, Christopher Gist, Jack Weeks, Shay Cormac, Matthew Davenport, and Victor Wolcott. The nine had their orders to remain civil with the assassins despite the tension. Everyone of the nine, except Lee, liked Desmond who was very respectful to them despite them being Templars. It seemed as if the boy realized peace between their factions would be better than no peace. However, as much as they tried, William’s actions would prove to them that he was unworthy of their aid and cooperation.

                Adéwalé had been the first to alert them that evening that William had gone nuts over the fact that Desmond simply held a different view than him. Haytham, despite his growing anger, calmly asked.

“Come again?”

“Mentor Miles was telling Desmond that he should always be wry of his enemies and those he calls allies. There is always someone looking to stab you in the back. Desmond retorted ‘what we even can’t trust your friends?’ Mentor Miles replied ‘Assassins can not have friends. It is a weakness. Family is a weakness.’ He then procced to trash Altair in front of Desmond, who did not take it well and called him a conspiracy freak.”

                Haytham’s eye twitched. He knew William was very temperamental. Without another word the ten templars, along with Adéwalé dashed off to the barren dirt ring the assassins used as their training arena. Adéwalé grew up a slave, so he’d seen worse than poor when it came to conditions, and this was somehow worse than that even. Never mind the fact that the sight that had met them was degusting. William Miles was atop Desmond, who was bleeding from a deep gash on his face, pulling his non-dominant arm behind his back as a means of control, looking for an apology to the sleight of being called a conspiracy freak, and that Desmond dared to have any opinion. Let alone suggest that Assassins should have friends and family. He’d tare the arm from it’s socket if he had to. Yet he did not see a very angry Haytham charge at him.

                That fight had been decidedly one sided. However, Desmond was in severe pain. Half his body felt numb while the other half screamed in agony. The sharp, burning sensation was all he could focus on. Panic slowly took over as, for a moment, a way out of this pain began to seem more and more unrealistic. The road ahead was a tough one and right now he wasn’t sure whether he were willing to walk it, let alone whether he was able. He was shocked the moment when Edward Kenway picked him up and rallied the other eight around him saying.

“Jeremiah Scudder, Nicholas Biddle, Matthew Davenport, and Victor Wolcott with me. The rest of you assist Haytham.”

“Yes sir.”

                They had all said. Jeremiah Scudder was pretty much the order’s equivalent to a Rafiq or Dai in the assassin brotherhood. A spy master who used his business as a merchant as a front that often funded money into the order. He was German and proud of it, often getting along with Edward with their parchment for strong drink. He however detests infamous Germans like Adolf Hitler and their narrow views on the world. Nicholas Biddle, is a competent sailor who recently earned the honor to captain the restored Jackdaw. Something he takes very seriously because he knows from his own experience what it is like to own a formidable ship. American he also gets along with Edward, since the man entrusted his first baby to him. Matthew Davenport is cold and calculating, he serves in his role fiercely, and is extremely loyal to his men, fighting with equal skill to that of his fine strategizing. He stands firm and strong eyeing the son of the Grandmaster in the arms of his grandfather, twitching in pain, struggling to keep from crying out in pain. Matthew with a bit of fatherly instinct leaking in encouraged.

“Let it out lad. Pain is natural, so is the reaction and want to scream and cry. It feels good sometimes too.”

                Desmond looked at him and only whimpered. Adewale looked from the boy to Matthew and said.

“That maybe the best you get out of him. He’s broken spiritually.”

“Understood.”

Matthew said. That left Victor Wolcott, a man after Garnier de Naplouse’s own heart who like the mad French Crusader was infamous for his experiments. That being said though he did not do those things on his fellow templars. And he was gentle in quickly getting an idea of what needed to be done to help Desmond recover. They got to their vehicle, a van, and got in and drove off with Desmond being tended to in the back. It took them roughly three days to reach the Chateau that Haytham Kenway owned and used as both a home and the base of their Templar activities. Once they had arrived, Edward carried Desmond inside, where Tessa was waiting with medical supplies. She and Victor worked together to clean up and bandage any wounds on the poor now sixteen year old boy’s body. Edward sat up with his sleeping grandson to ensure someone was there should the boy wake. He’d done it when Haytham had been sick in the past and now he would again. He turned his head only when Haytham, accompanied by Connor, surprisingly, walked in. Haytham smiled softly, a bruise clear on his face from a lucky shot from William that, from the bruising on Connor’s nucleus, sent Connor into a fury that the goal mentor dared lay a hand on his father. Haytham spoke softly.

“Thank you, father, for staying with Desmond.”

“You are welcome son. He was in shock most of the way here. When he was stabilized, he passed out and has been out since.”

“For the best, I suppose. It will allow his body time to heal.”

                There was silent agreement as Haytham took over, Edward went to bed, but not before acknowledging his older grandson. Connor walked with Edward to ensure his grandfather didn’t hurt himself on the way to bed. Connor then set to stalk the halls to ensure no one dared bother these men whom he’d come to view as part of his strange family.

[46ten]

Were some of AH's reactions over-the-top?

@icarusbetide wrote the following here:

and i'm paying attention to what you said about how "He viewed things differently than they because he had different motivations" - that's generally how i feel about the reynolds pamphlet, because i can very much see the reasoning behind why he did it, even if it was a terrible political decision. a lot of his actions can definitely be accounted for by thinking of his priorities, which a lot of scholars have nicely argued were public integrity, honor, fame.

do you think there is something illogical/irrational in a lot of his over-the-top reactions to slander, or do you similarly think they are ill-considered but still rational? i don't have an answer, because i think they make sense given his aforementioned priorities, but i've also seen people argue that that level of intensity and "rabidness" probably had some psychological basis. flexner in the young hamilton seems to lean heavily into that (i have grievances with that book in general so i'm not taking his word for it lol), arguing that hamilton would revert to this insecure, child-like mindset at crucial moments - this isn't really about bipolar disorder or ADHD, but i wanted to ask if you think there's merit in that general idea!

I hate Flexner, and others do, too. I think psychobiography is not at all helpful to history, as a discipline, as "facts" are made up to support the psychological speculation.

It's hard for me to come up with hard examples of AH behaving "irrationally" in his life - that was not his personality at all. He was overly rational, an over-thinker at times. And he was also decisive - he would take this risk if he thought that outcome was worth it, but he does not strike me as someone unaware of the pros and cons who was just marching on. (His rationality, his ability to see many sides, his clear-headed thinking and ability to move that to action, and then his judgement, are qualities his colleagues praised about him - which doesn't mean that he didn't have examples of what they considered to be poor judgment - hello Adams pamphlet.)

To discuss the Reynolds Pamphlet briefly, since this is often suggested as an example of how crazy and impulsive/reckless AH was, he spent at least a month composing it. It's long and detailed. He explains why he's writing it. Considering we have it - documented - that AH consulted with some of his friends about dueling Aaron Burr (another example where it's in fashion to claim AH was some crazy loner guy making bizarre choices), I'd speculate that he discussed writing the pamphlet with EH, John Church, Oliver Wolcott, and William Jackson almost certainly, maybe Fish, Troup, Clarkson....He may have discussed it with Philip Schuyler! [He didn't get as far as he did in military/professional/political life without understanding the idea of consultation and seeing all sides to the problem, even if he wasn't aiming for full consensus.]

Callendar's pamphlets (which we no longer have copies of - historians are working from the History...of 1796 and AH's quotes in the Reynolds Pamphlet) took aim at whether AH was a trustworthy public servant - the intent was to wound his public character. He is absolutely going to need to respond to that in some way. The way he wants to respond to it, however, is to have the editor (Fenno) disavow it, and then to have the men (Monroe, Venable, Muhlenberg) to whom he provided an explanation of the Reynolds Affair way back in December 1792 provide him with letters stating that Callendar's allegations are false. He is furious when Monroe refuses, esp when Monroe states that he didn't really believe AH at the time! He's pretty ticked off that he instead has to argue his own innocence himself, and he lets the reader know he's ticked off to have to do this. That's not reckless, impulsive, crazy behavior. The issue, really, is the amount of detail he provides: not only "I didn't do that," but "I instead was doing this...." He is "too honest," "MOST INDISCREET" as GM probably would have put it! But this was also him putting all his arguments out there - this is what you should judge me for, because I was innocent of that other thing - and besides politicians knowing since 1793, the general public already knew (it's in the press by 1795) that there were accusations of adultery around him. He really wasn't revealing anything except rather excruciating details of the affair, but that again, is his "too honest" style and his thinking like the lawyer he is - "I'm giving you guys all the facts!" There may have also been some thinking that by providing all these facts, it would shame folks in the future and he could avoid being the subject of similar attacks - he may have also wanted to correct people on the record about his adultery; it's difficult to say. (Maybe this link to all my posts on the Reynolds Pamphlet will work, for those interested.)

One of AH's best friends, Robert Troup, states "his ill-judged pamphlet has done him incomparable injury," and Webster's quotes are pretty well known - the common objection is sort of a "why respond at all?" Well, AH explains why he responded - it's not unreasonable.

Let me bring this back to Flexner and his speculation that this has to do with some awful childhood events (that we have no record happened) and his resulting insecurity from it. There's no basis for thinking this. No evidence, no assertions from AH that this is a concern for him - it's just a story to sell books (come on down, Chernow!) Now if we're going to argue that some of AH's defensiveness around attacks on his public character came from his being an outsider, so therefore often having to re-assert his position in the gentleman circle, that may carry more weight - and some scholars do argue that. But I don't think AH, through most of his life, thought of himself as an outsider on the American scene.

If you give me some examples of what you consider to be over-the-top reactions to slander, I may try to respond to a few. I am planning a response to your questions about AH's personality, if that's okay, which I will post in a few days.

[dreamerinsilico]

Fic writing questions

tagged by @yuniemaki - thank you for thinking of me!

how many works do you have on ao3?

67

2. what's your total ao3 word count?

344,183

Kind of wild to me, but the VAST majority of those words happened more than five years ago.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Mostly The Sandman right now, although I'm still a Hannibal person and I think I feel some BG3 coming on eventually. I've meandered my way through various video game fandoms over the years and am likely to return to Pillars of Eternity. Rather less likely for the Bioware stuff, but maybe the upcoming DA game will, in a stunning subversion of my expectations, make me care about Dragon Age again.

I really enjoy the Yuletide fic exchange, so I write for whatever small fandom I get assigned that year (so far I've done Wayward Children, Left Hand of Darkness, and Goncharov), and I'm hoping to get more into exchanges.

4. what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Constellations of the Things We Left Unsaid - multichapter Reaper76 thing I actually finished and was writing when Overwatch was popular

His Pale Steed - early Hannibal fic, I think it was my second

Best of Cruel Intentions - also earlyish Hannibal fic, and the start of my very excellent mutual betaing relationshihp with @tiggymalvern

Let's Try Another Kind of Peace - T_T WIP crawling out of the well to shame authorkind (also Hannibal. Yes, I still do have intent to get back to it.)

Solstice - Actually tickled and delighted this made the list; it's the second fic I ever posted to AO3, and it is Aela/F!Dovahkiin smut from the Skyrim kinkmeme back in the day

5. do you respond to comments?

A majority of the time, yes. Especially if I get a meaty one to actually talk about!

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

....yeah, not really any competition there, it's I Recall, which I wrote for a Pillars of Eternity minibang about my Watcher, Acantha's past-life doomed romance with Iovara.

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I'm not sure how to answer this one! I'm kinda all over the map in terms of the tone of the fics I write, and I don't know how to really differentiate between different happy endings.

But let's shout out You Sang Me of Some Distant Past (Dragon Age, F!Hawke/Morrigan, which canoe I will paddle until the end times) - this was my first ever big bang entry, and I'm still happy with it a decade later.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I think the closest thing to hate I've ever gotten was someone saying my Labyrinth fic had Sarah using too many big words in her head.

9. do you write smut? if so, what kind?

My AO3's linked all over this post, you can just go look.

But uh, lot of D/s, lot of knifeplay, I think are the two big themes.

10. do you write crossovers? what's the craziest one you've written?

I have written one (1) crossover! There's Someone Scratching Softly is a Hannibal/Wayward Children crossover where Jack Wolcott is in therapy with Hannibal. It's the leviathan shadow of a much larger AU Hannibal fic I've done a lot of brainstorming on, and I posted it on a whim one day (I hadn't originally intended to, when I wrote it) and was very pleased with that decision, because a few fans who know both canons came out of the woodwork to gush at me about it.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

No idea, but probably not; I don't write enough plotty epics to make it likely.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Not that I'm aware of. (A couple of delightful people have podficced some of my short Hannibal fics, though! I was very excited.)

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Nope. Wouldn't completely rule it out as a possibility, but not something I've done date.

14. what's your all time favourite ship?

I don't really do all-time favorites? I do whatever I've got the most brainrot about currently. I don't have a good way of ranking favorite ships relative to one another!

15. what's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Relentless Splinters I Recall is the parent fic, sort of, to I Recall, which I mentioned above. It was a very ambitious idea and I love what's there, but I will be very surprised and impressed with myself if I manage to pick that thread back up at some point. I don't think I'm really cut out to do game novelization fic.

16. what are your writing strengths?

Economy's probably the biggest one; I know very well that I can get a lot done in a relatively small number of words. I also really enjoy writing dialogue and like to think I'm good at it.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

I'm not the kind of person who can spawn wild AUs or plotlines easily, and I often wish that I was. (I don't think I'm bad at plot, but if I'm writing something plotty there is a lot of very deliberate brainstorming and probably workshopping with a friend or two, and it takes a ton of effort.)

Also just, you know, getting words on the page. (It's hard! It's hard! It's really really haaaaard! ~*)

18. thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think anything from a curse word to a short phrase can have a place, but usually find it obnoxious when writers put in whole exchanges in (usually google translated) Other Language.

There was a post going around at some point discussing how bi/multilingual people do and don't mix languages that was very good and valid.

19. first fandom you wrote for?

Labyrinth (1986)

20. favorite fic you've written?

Oof, that's hard. Something, something, can't pick a favorite child.

However, with the caveat that I have a lot of favorites for a lot of reasons, the Goncharov fic I wrote for Yuletide 2023 still pleases me to an outsize degree. Sometimes I think I'm funny.

Tagging @tiggymalvern @stylishanachronism @firebatvillain @xenosimp @pragnificent @softdedue @the-bees-patella @dsudis and anyone else so inclined <3

[z3r0-c001]

emperor so cool wowowww

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 1, Wave 5 Matchups

Luke Skywalker (Star Wars) vs Jimmy Kaga-Ricci (I Was Born for This)

Viktor (Arcane) vs Zofia Boguska (The Gilded Wolves)

Matt Murdock (Daredevil / Marvel) vs Lucius Spriggs (Our Flag Means Death)

Katsuki Yuuri (Yuri!!! On Ice) vs Lord Boxman (OK K.O! Let’s Be Heroes)

Mille Roper (The Arcadia Project) vs Wen Kexing (Faraway Wanderers / Tian Ya Ke)

Ling Chan (The Diviners) vs Henry ‘Monty’ Montague (The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue)

Jem Carstairs (The Shadowhunter Chronicles) vs Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe)

Baru Cormorant (The Masquerade) vs Wen Kexing (Word of Honor / Shan He Ling)

Day (Last Twilight) vs Prince Wilhelm (Young Royals)

Quinni Gallagher-Jones (Heartbreak High) vs Ricky Potts (Ride the Cyclone)

Keyla Detmer (Star Trek Discovery) vs Queen Shulamit (The Second Mango)

Alex Claremont-Diaz (Red, White & Royal Blue) vs Tedd Verres (El Goonish Shive)

Xiao Xingchen (The Untamed / Mo Dao Zu Shi) vs Jack Wolcott (Wayward Children)

Snake (Zero Escape) vs Melanie King (The Magnus Archives)

Seven of Nine (Star Trek Voyager) vs Kuruto Ryuki (AI: The Somnium Files- Nirvana Initiative)

Rose Lavillant (Miraculous Ladybug) vs Kessa (Rooks and Ruin)

Check out the other waves here.

[isfjmel-phleg]

February 2023 Books

Death by Disguise by E. L. Bates

It was a pleasure to spend time with Maia and Len again! I enjoyed the Cambridge setting. The magical elements of the mystery were intriguing. And I'm curious to see where the new developments of the ending lead the characters, who are about to experience significant changes.

Freddy Goes to Florida, Freddy Goes to the North Pole, and Freddy the Detective by Walter R. Brooks

Frequently humorous, but I don't think I would read this series three at a time again (which is not the books' fault).

A Box of Bones, The Inn Between, and The Doll's Eye by Marina Cohen

A Box of Bones was my favorite of these (dare I say I liked it a little better than the also very good Small Spaces?)--readable blend of characterization and atmospheric creepiness. Also major points for the Lake Champlain setting and the mentions of the small town where I was born! It plays a small but significant role in the story.

The Inn Between was effectively creepy. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending, which leaves the protagonist in a place where ideally she shouldn't be, but yet the wording subtly implies this could change?

The Doll's Eye had an absolutely horrifying ending. Yikes. It was well-written but yikes.

She, the Adventuress by Dorothy Crayder (reread)

I acquired a copy of this one a while back and wanted to revisit it.

The Princess Aline by Richard Harding Davis

This one has an interesting history. The fictional Princess Aline was inspired by Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt (the future Tsarina Alexandra of Russia), whom Davis was apparently infatuated with after having seen her once from a distance. Reportedly Alix's grandmother Queen Victoria and her daughters read and enjoyed Davis's book. Charles Dana Gibson's illustrations of Aline bear a resemblance to Alix too.

I liked the concept of this one better than the execution. An artist with rather shallow views on women becomes infatuated with a princess and follows her across Europe, only to gradually come to terms with the fact that she is unattainable and that he has actually fallen in love with a young woman he has been traveling with. I didn't care much for the protagonist, so it was difficult for me to get invested in anything he was doing, and the clarity at the end came maybe a bit too late to convince me.

The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo (reread)

Goodreads tells me I read this in 2011. I have no memory of it from then but liked it this time.

The Finches' Fabulous Furnace by Roger Wolcott Drury

A family moves into a house with a very small but potentially dangerous volcano in the basement. I was initially frustrated with Mr. Finch's approach to the situation; at first only he, his son, and the man who sold them the house know about the volcano, and Mr. Finch chooses to conceal this information from his wife and daughter on the grounds that it might worry them. The volcano affects significant things like the temperature of the house, and Mrs. Finch is naturally concerned, but her husband makes no effort to set straight her assumption that they have an unusual furnace. He and his son tie themselves in knots trying to conceal the problem rather than putting the problem out in the open and dealing with it. When Mrs. Finch and her daughter do find out, they have very realistic concerns, which the guys dismiss, and the daughter in particular wants to let the entire town know what potential danger they're in. By then, some important (male) figures in the town know too, and they also insist that the volcano be kept secret for the sake of appearances (heaven forbid a major town festival be compromised!). And it goes about as well as you would expect.

It seems to be a commentary on the importance of openly addressing problems with the people they concern rather than leaving people deceived/in the dark "for their own good." And that's a truth worth expressing.

Meet the Austins, The Moon by Night, and A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle (reread)

I didn't love A Ring of Endless Light as much this time as I did when I originally read (at what was just the right time--dealing with death was not so close to me this time around), but I do still like them, mostly for Vicky, who is very real and relatable in her struggles to figure out life. But I am begging this girl to, if she absolutely must date, date a boy who is a) her age and not a legal adult and b) not a condescending jerk. She repeatedly ends up with guys who are varying degrees of this.

If L'Engle absolutely had to keep bringing Zachary Gray back, I wish she would have just given him an effective, lasting redemption arc instead of handing character growth to him over and over on a silver platter and letting him reject it every. single. time. and keep on being The Worst.

The Boy in the Box by Cary Fagan

This was my Blind Date with a Book selection! I actually enjoyed it. The characters were engaging, and the world had that middle-grade-characteristic tone of being in reality (probably not magical) but just a little to the left in terms of bizarreness.

The Story That Cannot Be Told by J. Kasper Kramer

Middle-grade historical fiction set in Romania in 1989. I learned a lot about this aspect of history and enjoyed the narrative and its fascinating themes of the roles that stories take in a world full of surveillance and suppression and betrayals. Kramer weaves the young protagonist's retelling of a Romanian fairy tale in with the larger story to good effect.

And it had a happy ending! Stories in that sort of setting so frequently don't.

The Light Princess by George MacDonald

Enjoyable, in a Victorian fairy tale way.

The Faerie Door by B. E. Maxwell

Beautiful cover, and there was potential in the concept of a Victorian girl and a 1960s American boy having fantastical adventures together. Operative word being together, though. They got arbitrarily split up and the chapters alternated between each's seemingly unrelated adventure. Any chance for them to genuinely bond and affect each other's character development was gone, and the result seemed excessively long, derivative, and rather a slog to read, unfortunately.

The Little Princess of Tower Hill by L. T. Meade

What a difference over a century can make in how a story appears. I liked the protagonist, who wasn't really such a bad girl as the narrative seemed to think, and her male cousin, who is presented as a role model for her, comes across as condescending and obnoxious. There's a disabled girl from a poor family whom the narrative treats as only having worth when she can be of help/use/support to people with perfect health and/or more means. An interesting look at the rhetoric of children's stories of the time, but I can understand why this one hasn't been remembered.

Once on a Time by A. A. Milne

Very witty, as can be expected from Milne. The characters aren't always easy to like, but Milne does go out of his way to make them more than stock roles.

Along the Shore: Tales of the Sea by L. M. Montgomery

It was interesting to see some forerunners of characters and subplots from the Anne series (Montgomery was apparently straight up plagiarizing her own short stories sometimes).

Grounded: The Adventures of Rapunzel by Megan Morrison

Some of the action of this book dragged for me, but by the end it became a really interesting exploration of Rapunzel's relationship with the witch who exploited her. It's extremely difficult for this Rapunzel to accept the truth that she has been exploited by someone whom she considers a loving mother figure, and she spends a lot of the narrative making herself unpleasant and clinging to her delusions--they're all she has. Slowly, she has to accept the truth and figure out how to navigate the complicated feelings she has toward the witch. There's a surprising amount of nuance for a book on this age level, and I was intrigued enough by how this was handled to want to seek out the rest of the series.

The House of a Thousand Candles by Meredith Nicholson

There were some brilliant one-liners in this one. The Gothic-ish concept had potential. But the pacing didn't work for me, I couldn't warm up to the protagonist (what is it with the male leads from this era?), and it turned out to be much less of a page turner than I was expecting.

The Valley of Lost Secrets by Lesley Parr

Middle-grade historical fiction about evacuees in Wales during World War II--how two brother adjust to their new life and host family while getting caught up in some local mysteries, such as the identity of the human skull the elder brother finds hidden in a tree. (There are some similarities to the real-life unsolved case of "Bella in the wych elm," which I found fascinating.) Both readable and believable in its portrayal of the historical setting (which is of major importance to me in historical fiction). This author has a couple of other books, and I think I'll seek them out.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

Well, that was utterly devastating, but what else can one expect from Sepetys? I learned a lot about an event I had never heard of and am quite impressed by the amount of research that went into this writing. Sepetys's author's note provides additional background and even a bibliography.

Miss Buncle's Book by D. E. Stevenson

Loved the premise of this one. It seemed to drag or get redundant as it progressed, and I don't think I'll look for the other books, but some of the characters were delightful. I was reminded a bit of the Mapp and Lucia stories, if they had had a much less cynical worldview.

No significant comics this month, just bits of things here and there.

[welp-heregoessomething]

I had to google Gene and Grace Kelly too... the way it was worded made me go 'wait... are they related?' haha

my great uncle was into ancestry...sadly his main interest was in his paternal line, so he didn't get to learn about the family tree on his maternal line... and that is the one that I made HUGE discoveries on back in May 2020... and it left me mind blown because of just how much I discovered in like 4 hours after stumbling along the last name Wolcott.

Long story short: I'm an Appleton descendant and there is a 300 year old working farm with the same name that was started by a great grandfather and have English Royal and Noble ancestors.

I’m glad it wasn’t just me on the Kelly thing 😂

This is so cool! My family goes back to Prince Edward Island and not to brag but we have a liquor store 🤣 I haven’t started through my grandmas work yet so who knows what’s hiding in there!

[yatescountyhistorycenter]

How Yates County’s towns got their names

By Jonathan Monfiletto

Maybe I’m just a nerd (OK, I am a nerd and I admit it, but that’s beside the point right now), but I enjoy learning the origins and meanings of various words and phrases in the English language. That is particularly true when it comes to the origins of place names; I love knowing how certain communities around our state and country came to be called the names that they have.

So, especially as Yates County marks 200 years it was formally separated from Ontario County and established as its own county on February 5, 1823, I wanted to investigate the origins of the names of the nine towns in the county. Some of the towns, I already knew where the name came from; others of the towns, I thought I knew how they got their names. In both cases, I wanted to compile the official record of the namings as best as I could.

At first, I consulted former Yates County Historian Frances Dumas’ book “A Good Country, a Pleasant Habitation,” as I thought I had read a certain origin story in that book only to realize later I had seen it somewhere else. Though I did find several records of name origins in that book, when I couldn’t find a precise story, I look through our subject files on the individual towns. I even cracked open Stafford C. Cleveland’s “History and Directory of Yates County” to see what he had to say.

Then, of course, when I was researching a different topic in our collection of digitized newspapers, I came across an article written by Walter Wolcott – a historian of Penn Yan and Yates County – and published in several local newspapers in December 1920. The article is titled “How Names of Towns Originated: Names of the Nine Townships in Yates County Have Interesting History Information.” Voila, eureka, exactly what I was looking for.

With the information from Wolcott’s article and through research of my own in other sources, I now present the origins of the names of the nine towns in Yates County. Akin to what a playbill would do, I present these towns in the order of their incorporation.

Jerusalem, established as a town in what was then Ontario County in 1789, probably has the most well-known, and thus easiest to find out, origin story. As most people know, the Society of Friends, which followed the Public Universal Friend and became the first group to settle what is now Yates County, had a vision to create what they called the New Jerusalem – a place where they could set up their homes, their businesses, and their community. Though the territory of the current town is not where the Friends first settled, it is where the majority of the sect ended up and took its name for the vision they had for their community.

Middlesex was also organized as a town in 1789, shortly after the first permanent non-native, European settlers arrived on the western shore of Seneca Lake. However, at first it was called Augusta, though any source I consult indicates no one knows why that name was given. It seems another town in Oneida County took that name (possibly after this town was formed and possibly after a General Augustus VanHorn), so this town renamed itself Middlesex in 1808. This name apparently came from Middlesex County, Massachusetts where many of its settlers came from.

Benton was formed out of Jerusalem in 1803, though it originally was named Vernon (except a town in Oneida County took that name the year before) and then Snell (after Jacob Snell, a State Senator from Montgomery County who had no apparent connections to this part of Ontario County). It wasn’t until 1810 the town took on its current name; it could have been after Caleb Benton, who bought the title to this township and built a sawmill on Kashong Creek, or it could have been after his cousin Levi, to whom Caleb eventually sold the land. My sources point to Levi as the namesake.

Italy, even at its settlement, was the most remote and least populous part of what is now Yates County, and it remains so today. It was created as part of the town of Naples, which was organized as Middletown in 1789 and renamed in 1808, and Italy was split off from Naples in 1815. It is said Naples received its name from a surveyor who gazed upon the scenery around Canandaigua Lake and felt reminded of the seaside Italian city. When the town was divided, it is said, the decision was made to name the eastern portion after the city’s country.

Milo was formed out of Benton and organized in 1818, though it had been “settled almost as early as the very first pioneers came to City Hill,” according to Dumas. Its original name may have given Yates County another Italian flavor, as it was proposed as Milan after yet another European city. However, at the same time, a bill in the New York State Legislature organized a town of Milan in Dutchess County; thus, Samuel Lawrence, the Assemblyman for this area at the time, changed the name to Milo. According to Cleveland, the name could have come from a Greek athlete, a Roman tribune, or the Greek island of Milos.

We need to pause here for a moment and recognize Yates County, as these five towns alone made up the county as it was originally established 200 years ago. The name of the county is simple yet interesting – Joseph C. Yates was the governor of New York State at the time Yates County was formed. As Wolcott states, the governor reportedly signed his name on the bill creating the county “in a larger hand than usual.” Perhaps it was his exuberance for the legislation that led to the county being named for him or its being named for him that excited him.

Though they were not added to Yates County until 1826, Barrington was incorporated in 1822 and Starkey in 1824, albeit both were part of Steuben County at the time. Steuben County had been formed from Ontario in 1796, with Frederickstown – named after German immigrant Frederick Bartles – as its northernmost town. The town was enlarged in 1804, had Reading split off from it in 1806, and was renamed Wayne in 1808. Barrington was formed from Wayne in 1822, and Starkey was formed from Reading in 1824 when the latter became part of Schuyler County.

Like Middlesex, Barrington took its name from an area of Massachusetts – the town of Great Barrington – where its early settlers had come from. Starkey, meanwhile, was named for John Starkey, who had opened a store in 1816 and a post office in 1820.

Potter, which was “almost universally known as Potterstown,” even when its larger town was called Augusta, was officially established as its own town in 1832 and formed out of Middlesex. Finding the name origin of this town is almost as easy as finding the name origin of Jerusalem, and it is closely connected to that town. The Potter family, led by Judge Arnold Potter, were prominent followers of the Public Universal Friend and had purchased a tract of land comprising nearly the whole extent of the town. Judge Potter and his family also established the Potter Mansion, where they lived and which still stands in the town today.

Last but not least, Torrey has the dubious yet interesting distinction of being the site of the first permanent settlement of non-native, white Europeans while being the last town in Yates County to be officially incorporated. Its territory was taken from the southern portion of Benton and the northern portion of Milo, and it was named after Henry Torrey, the Potter town supervisor who was chairman of the county Board of Supervisors when the town was incorporated in 1851. Reportedly, the initial plan before the board to create a new town was voted down, but the board was persuaded to reconsider when the chairman got this honor.

Previous articles have covered the settlement and development – including name origins – of Yates County’s four villages, Penn Yan, Rushville, Dundee, and Dresden. And now you know the rest of the story on the origins of the towns’ names.