#aka tidal creatures is out!!!!

[grayintogreen]

When I find myself in times of writer self-doubt, Seanan McGuire comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: Alchemical Journeys.

[dumbasswithapen]

Mechtober day 14 - AU

@mechtober-2024

a little unposted WIP snippet of one of the bonus chapters for Ties that Bind from my ttbw au (aka my mechs high school band AU that’s somehow acquired Carmilla as a main character)!

fic under the cut

Carmilla rubs her sleepy eyes, fumbling for the automatic door button. Exhaustion weighs in her bones, loosening her grasp on her motor skills and prying away all sense of dignity she manages to have retained, showing up to the hospital at one in the morning in full steampunk regalia. 

The due date wasn’t for another two weeks, and yet, there she was for the arrival of Tara and May’s first child, so obviously the kid had gotten bored. It checked out, given who her parents were.

“I’m here to see the arrival of my sister’s baby,” she tells the reception, the relation part being a convenient half-truth. “Sorry I’m late, I was at work.”

The receptionist’s eyes rake over her, and Carmilla vaguely recalls that most people’s work attire doesn’t include a patched waistcoat and an artfully (fake) bloodstained button down. 

“I’m in a band,” Carmilla explains, hoping dearly that the single sentence is enough to explain it. 

“And who,” the receptionist asks, “is your sister?”

“Ah,” Carmilla says. “Tara Elizabeth Moon.”

The receptionist types away at her computer for a moment before sighing. “Room 207, second floor and to your left. I’ll print you a guest pass, Ms…?”

“Carmilla.” 

She’s handed her guest pass, printed off a sticker maker easily. Carmilla quite likes technology, because it’s sped up this process considerably.

She limps to the elevator, hitting the button for the second floor with a clumsy palm and letting herself lean against the metal wall. She feels half-ready to fall asleep right there, despite the anticipation coursing adrenaline through her veins. 

Hospital elevators are, thankfully, quick little bastards, and she doesn’t have the time to drift off before she’s heading down the hallway. It’s late enough at night - or perhaps early enough in the morning, depending on how one looks at it - that nobody is there to see her nearly trip over her own feet, at least. 

She pushes open the door, heavy as always because hospital doors always seem to be weighted by fucking mountains, and for a moment the adrenaline and endorphins overcome her exhaustion in a tidal wave because Tara smiles at her, looking so deeply wrung out but happy, and a tiny bundle squirms weakly in her arms.

Carmilla limps over to get a look at the baby, and her eyes meet tiny, curious grey-blue ones, a shock of platinum blonde hair that peeks out from the blanket she’s swaddled in. 

“Her name’s Aurora,” Tara says. “My parents are coming, eventually, but she was early and you… you’re our first friend here, and that’s important.” 

She glances at her wife, and up to Carmilla, who barely notices the look. She’s enthralled by this child, Aurora, who’s so fragile it’s killing her but still, she can look up with the infinite wonder of a tiny little person who needs to know the world she’s only been on for a scant number of minutes and seconds. 

“Which is why,” Tara continues, “we’ve gone over it, and… we’d like you to be her godmother.”

Aurora gurgles, and Carmilla pokes a finger out to stroke the baby’s smooth forehead, enthralled. She registers what her friend had said, sure, but that means absolutely nothing in the face of this little creature who’s breathing and has a heartbeat and-

Carmilla’s higher mental functions briefly return, and she looks up to her friends in awe. “Wait, you want- I-”

“We want you to be her godmother, because we trust that you’ll take care of her like you did for us, when we first arrived, when we were the only lesbian couple in the art alliance and you greeted us with kindness, despite clearly having your own issues to deal with.”

“I don’t… I don’t know what to say…” Carmilla mumbles. “I just…”

“How about thank you?” May suggests. “Would you like to hold her?”

Carmilla nods, crumpling into a chair as the exhaustion returns in a sudden wave. “I… yes. Thank you.”

May settles Aurora into her arms, and Carmilla’s chest feels hot in a good way, for once.

“Hello, my little moon,” Carmilla murmurs. 

There is a world in which she never met this child, and that suddenly strikes her. That this baby, who is not hers but she is able to share in the first hours of, could have been a stranger. 

She tightens her grip. She isn’t ready for her own child, not yet, her brain is still screaming at her that she needs to destroy herself for this tiny thing and she couldn’t live like that for her own little one, but it’s enough for now to hold Aurora.

“Thank you,” she murmurs. “I’d love to be her godmother.” 

[1greenameba]

I read a blog that is doubting on it being bipedal ,

Or even being able to support itself on it's legs while on dry land :

The two favoured modes of movment for spino would likely have been :

1) bottom of the river running , like hippos

2) tidal current surfing : the rising tide rising in a river can cause the flow to reverse ,

And while it lowers out it causes the current to increase a lot ,

So spinosaurus could have used this like how salt water crocodiles in australia do ,

It could have also used this to ambush fishes and aquatic creatures carried in or out by the tide ,

The immense lenght , clawed arms , and the sail of spino would have allowed it do operate as a temporary dam and could have denied the escape of nearly everything in these rivers ...

To increase this : the moon was closer to earth during the cretaceus , meaning stronger tides ...

For land movment spinosaurus would have likely been belly sliding

Much like how other carnivorous amphibius animals do today ...

This is the blog from wich i got the notions ,

The antedeluvian salad blog is a good one i reccomand giving it a read since it just gives you a whole new prospective on how the past was working and even how today works

I saw the cool Spinosaurus model at the Aquarium in Bremerhaven today

[unhealthyfanobsession]

More jealous Cassian please😭 I loved the last one with tarquin, so it does not necessarily have to be jealous Cassian, maybe just Nesta and tarquin friendship and their shenanigans (with Feyre ofc)

Alright everyone here it is! Pt 2 of Nesta taking herself a damn vacation in the summer court (aka me writing the fantasy life I personally would be living if I was made Fae… hot take but Summer > Night for me I just love the water and sun!!)

Nesta might never go back to the Night Court, she decided. She decided this laying on the top deck of Sunchaser, Tarquin’s sleek and luxurious personal yacht. It was considerably smaller than the massive party barge he usually took guests out on, but faster and infinitely more comfortable.

She thought about never returning to the imperially beautiful city of Velaris as drops of turquoise water skidded off of her body and were absorbed by the plush royal blue towel she’d draped over her lounge chair. Soft as cashmere but insanely absorbent. Some special fabric Summer inventors had woven into existence. She’d already stolen countless robes made out of the material, and yet, every time she came to visit there was a fresh one laid out in her chambers.

Not so long ago Nesta had thought she was too dark and twisted and broken to exist in any court, even the one her sister ran. And now she had dedicated rooms in three different courts.

“I think this is my favorite court, Quin.” Nesta sighed as the High Lord of Summer waved a hand and her glass refilled. She took another sip of the slushy beverage that tasted like salt and lime and summer sun.

“You’re only saying that because I pamper you when you come.” It was true, in the years that Nesta had been using Summer as an escape, she and Tarquin had struck up a somewhat unlikely friendship. He’d remembered her speech in the High Lord’s meeting during the war. She remembered that he’d been one of the only people in the room who seemed to genuinely care about the humans. They could spend hours in the sun or with a bottle of wine well past dark discussing the best ways to shake up the entrenched systems of inequality that ran rampant through Prythian.

Tarquin wanted to change tbings. And he had already started in his own Court. He didn’t just talk. He acted. Nesta admired that.

He did go on about how complicated equality could be or the many reasons why certain citizens were living a better life in his court than others. He identified the problem, talked through a solution, and implemented change. It was refreshing.

“Helion pampers me too,” Nesta commented breezily in response.

“That’s because he wants to sleep with you. I merely ask for access to your brain in return for a place to escape.”

“Hmm,” Nesta hummed, “You ask for more. My brain is worth far more than my body.”

Tarquin nodded, “why do you think I pay you so handsomely with private tours of Dolphin Cove?”

“I believe last time I came, when I helped with the new tax system, I was promised I’d get to see a mermaid.”

Tarquin smiled, white teeth glittering in the sun. “Before you leave we will find one, I promise. They are such elusive, private creatures. Some put on diving gear and chase them beneath the waves, but I prefer to wait for them to surface. To see them when they wish to be seen.”

“You are a prince among swine, Quin.” Nesta swallowed, thinking about the males and men who cared not whether beautiful things wanted to be seen or touched when they reached for them.

“I do try. When is Cassian back from Illyria?”

Nesta smirked, “last night.”

“What a terrible mate you are, not being there to greet him.” Tarquin’s voice lilted up in a mock outraged tone that sounded a bit too much like Nesta’s youngest sister.

“I’m sure he will find a snowball fight or something to entertain himself.”

“You love that he’s in agony right now,” Tarquin laughed, stepping back behind the boat’s wheel to begin moving them towards shore. “You love making him jealous.”

“I love reminding him what he has and making sure he doesn’t take it for granted.”

“He doesn’t,” Tarquin smiled softly, just the tiniest fleck of pain shooting through his eyes. “He looks at you like the stars are caught in your eyes.”

“How very Night Court of you,” Nesta teased.

“It seemed apt.”

As the little boat pulled into the harbour, Nesta wrapped herself in the linen dress she’d been wearing before she jumped into the water

And accepted Tarquin’s hand to help her into the dock.

“High Lord! High Lord!” A paunchy little man that Nesta recognized as the most panicky of Tarquin’s advisors rushed up the gangway and came to a huffing, puffing, halt in front of them. “There has been a security breach!”

Nesta and Tarquin locked eyes, and Nesta’s hand was reaching for Tarquin’s once again before he could even set it to his side. Winnowing them both back to the Summer Palace.

“Where is the-”

“Cornelius was being dramatic as per usual,” Varian sighed, waving his hand. “Security breach is a bit of a strong word. I’d say… unwanted guest.”

Nesta rolled her eyes, “Cassian you are banned from this court!” She yelled even though she couldn’t see her mate. She knew it was him.

“About that,” Cassian sauntered into the room from behind a billowing curtain. “I’ve decided that since this city would be sunk into the ocean without me I am no longer banned from it.”

Nesta stared. Tarquin gaped. Varian laughed.

“You are still banned.” Tarquin said in his best High Lord voice.

“Cassian what game are you playing here?”

“Me?!” Cassian flung his arms out dramatically “I’m the one playing games? Listen, it’s one thing when you’re pissed at me and come here to punish me. Fine. I can take that. But when I come home after a whole week in Illyria and you’d rather be jumping into tidal waves with Mermaid man and Barnacle boy,” Cassian waved a hand to Tarquin and Varian, “that’s where I draw the line.”

Nesta put her hand on her hip. “You draw the line? As if my actions, where I go, who I spend my time with, are a decision for you to make?”

“Never said that. Just said that I’ll be there too.”

Nesta rolled her eyes.

“I missed you,” Cassian used the broad side of his wing to shove Tarquin out of the way and circled his arms around Nesta’s waist. “Come home, please?”

Nesta sighed, let herself get caught up in his puppy dog eyes and lean her head on his broad chest. She let him wrap a wing around her and waited until she felt him smirking against her hair to whisper, gently into his chest, “No.”

“Cruel!” Cassian accused.

“Go take a steam with Azriel,” Nesta snickered.

“That where your mind’s at, huh Nes? Come home with me and we can-”

“Banned!” Nesta pointed at her mate, a smile tugging on her lips. “You are banned, Cassian.”

“Banned from being happy, apparently,” he muttered like a kicked dog.

“Oh let him stay, Tarquin waved a hand. Cassian perked up, grinning madly.

“Traitor!” Nesta accused.

“What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic.”

[obscuremarvelmuses]

oK I haven’t talked about my guy Aqueduct, aka The Water Wizard, aka Peter Van Zante, in a moment and TV Tropes has reminded me why I love him look at this DRAG:

Butt-Monkey: He rarely appears without being manipulated and/or taken out like a chump. Dirty Coward: Frequently flees from combat rather than fighting. Evil Redhead: Has auburn hair, although he's not that evil when compared to other villains. Super Loser: He has great power, but no imagination to use it properly beyond petty crimes.

Now, let’s quote what a “Super Loser” is: “Part of the appeal of fiction is the conceit that gaining super powers, becoming a vampire, or generally just making contact with the Masquerade changes an ordinary character into a cool, debonair, threatening, or just generally badass version of themselves. No matter how mundane they were in life, the touch of the supernatural is the great cosmic equalizer. Yeah. Fiction doesn't always play that way. Usually getting superpowers or being Cursed with Awesome makes you, well, super or awesome. However, some characters are just so snot-nosedly uncool no amount of undeath, lycanthropy, cyborg implants, or Super Serum can change that. Maybe it's because they're too much of a Jerkass, not assertive enough or maybe they're hopelessly geeky/nerdy/ditzy. In any case, a certain Je ne sais quoi is required, and this character just doesn't have it. Rather than become a fearsome vampire, they won't even inspire fear in old ladies... who will kick their ass.” And like

guys Aqueduct has GREAT powers. Like, amazing. He’s a HYDROKINETIC. Quoting TV tropes on him again: “ Has the psychokinetic ability to control and shape all forms of liquid (including oil) for virtually any effect, such as rainstorms, floods, tidal waves, water slides, and mobile animated water creatures. “ Seriously, and that’s BEFORE he learns how to kill people instantly by dehydrating all the water in their body. He should absolutely be one of the most lethal villains on the planet, a deadly elemental close in rank to Storm or Magneto, right? And LOLNOPE he gets trounced EVERY TIME. And I just. I love that. I love him. Super loser indeed.

[wtf-triassic]

Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus

By Scott Reid

Etymology: Sickle Reptile 

First Described By: Pinna 1979 

Classification: Biota, Archaea, Proteoarchaeota, Asgardarchaeota, Eukaryota, Neokaryota, Scotokaryota, Opimoda, Podiata, Amorphea, Obazoa, Opisthokonta, Holozoa, Filozoa, Choanozoa, Animalia, Eumetazoa, Parahoxozoa, Bilateria, Nephrozoa, Deuterostomia, Chordata, Olfactores, Vertebrata, Craniata, Gnathostomata, Eugnathostomata, Osteichthyes, Sarcopterygii, Rhipidistia, Tetrapodomorpha, Eotetrapodiformes, Elpistostegalia, Stegocephalia, Tetrapoda, Reptiliomorpha, Amniota, Sauropsida, Eureptilia, Romeriida, Diapsida, Neodiapsida, Sauria, Archosauromorpha, Protorosauria?, Drepanosauromorpha, Elyurosauria, Drepanosauridae, Megalancosaurinae 

Time and Place: 212 to 205 million years ago, from the Norian to the Rhaetian ages of the Late Triassic

Drepanosaurus is known from the Zorzino Limestone and Dolomia di Forni Formations of Italy, and the Siltstone and Petrified Forest Members of the Chinle Formation in New Mexico

Physical Description: Drepanosaurus is the Titular Member of the Drepanosaurs, aka the “Monkey Reptiles”! These weirdos got their name for a reason - they were extremely well adapted for climbing trees, to the point of having prehensile tails like many monkeys. Drepanosaurus had a long, slender body, with a very long and thick tail for grabbing onto branches and moving around the forest. It had a long, thin neck and a small skull on the end of it, which was superficially similar to the skull of a bird - it was round on the back end, with huge eyes and a small pointed snout. Still, that head looked more like the head of a chick any number of nonavian dinosaurs, rather than like birds. It had long, robust limbs, with claws on the digits. Most notably, one front claw on each Drepanosaurus hand was huge, used for aiding in gripping branches more easily. It had an arched shoulder region, and in general very high spines on its vertebrae. This made it look quite odd indeed - a lumpy, lengthy reptile that sort of looks like what would happen if you tried to combine a woodpecker, a monitor lizard, a monkey, and a bison into one small reptilian creature that lived in the trees of the Triassic. It was weird, okay. It was just weird. The tail may have even ended in a claw - that’s right, a claw - to help it grab onto branches better. And all of this weirdness was packed into a body only about 45 to 50 centimeters long - a truly specialized representative of Triassic Oddities. 

Diet: Drepanosaurus was most likely an insectivore, using the claws to help get out various insects from tree bark. 

Behavior: Drepanosaurus was a weirdo, but a weirdo with a purpose. All of these weird traits came together in one wild animal to aid it in climbing among trees, gathering food, and moving nimbly in the forest. The small, pointed mouth aided in digging out food from crevices and burrows, which it could open up bigger using the large claws. Its long and skinny neck also helped it to reach spots where insects were hiding, rather than wasting energy to move its entire body to where food was on the tree. The large, splayed out feet and strong claws were able to wrap around tree trunks, gripping the wood tightly and helping Drepanosaurus stay stabilized. The prehensile tail helped Drepanosaurus go from branch to branch and move among the tree canopy, and the claw would help to keep the tail in place during particularly slippery or dangerous swings. 

Ecosystem: Drepanosaurus lived in a variety of environments, most importantly the Triassic shores of Northern Italy, around tidal basins and seasonal lagoons. In the Zorzino beach formation, it shared its home with its close cousins, Megalancosaurus and Vallesaurus; as well as the early Pterosaurs Bergamodactylus, Peteinosaurus, and Eudimorphodon; the very long-snouted Phytosaur Mystriosuchus; the marine reptile Endennasaurus; the Placodont Psephoderma; the Aetosaur Aetosaurus; the Tuatara Diphydontosaurus; the Tanystropheid Langobardisaurus; and plenty of fish such as Legnonotus, Gibbodon, Sargodon, Pholidorhynchodon, Parapholidophorus, Pholidoctenus, Dapedium, Dandya, and the shark Pseudodalatias. This was a very active and diverse fauna, placing Drepanosaurus in one of the truly uniquely Triassic locations of the end of the Period. 

Dolomia di Forni was no sneeze either, a Tidal Basin surrounded by coniferous trees. Here we have some preservation of things that Drepanosaurus was likely to eat, such as the spider Friularachne. There were also plenty of crustaceans, including decapods and crab like things that would have been crawling all over the tidal pools. Fish were very common too, such as the Coelacanth Holophagus, the sharp fish man Saurichthys, other Ray-Finned fish such as Eopholidophorus and Sargodon, the shark Pseudoalatias, and the Conodont Epigondolella. There was also the Tanystropheid Langobardisaurus again, as well as the other Drepanosaur Megalancosaurus. However, the true heroes of the environment were the early pterosaurs - the whole gang was there, including Preondactylus, Eudimorphodon, Austriadactylus, and Seazzadactylus. It was just a huge chaos of flying reptiles, which Drepanosaurus would have had a tough time avoiding! 

Drepanosaurus has also been found in the Siltstone and Petrified Forest environments of the Chinle Formation in North America. Now, even in the context of Pangea this was a long distance away, but it’s possible they migrated there during the end of the Triassic period. These were thick coniferous forest environments with a severely dry and severely wet season, indicating that Drepanosaurus really adapted to a new cliimate, and quickly. Here there were famous animals such as the dinosaurs Coelophysis, Daemonosaurus, Chindesaurus, Tawa, the Silesaurid Eucoelophysis, the Lagerpetid Dromomeron, Pseudosuchians like Hesperosuchus, Effigia, Vivaron, and the Aetosaur Typothorax; the swimming Archosauromorph Vancleavea, Tuataras like Whitakersaurus, Phytosaurs like Redondasaurus and Rioarribasuchus, and even other Drepanosaurs like Avicranium (which might actually be what all the specimens of Drepanosaurus in the Chinle are, so take this with a grain of salt). This is a very diverse ecosystem that has been touched on elsewhere on WTF Triassic, so I will leave it at that! 

Other: Oh ye Drepanosaurs. With heads so birdlike and bodies so weird. Much like other triassic weirdos, BANDits (“scientists” who insist, though literally all evidence points to the contrary, that birds could not have evolved from dinosaurs), you have been fodder for speculation for ages. However, you have almost nothing in common with birds - even the skull is only similar on the outside, and lacks many of the features seen in bird skulls (that are, however, found in dinosaur skulls). In fact, many of these creatures were grouped together in a group called Avicephala, which was eventually abandoned as it was found that most of them were not closely related. That said, it was then found that Drepanosaurs were Archosauromorphs, showing that weird arboreal lifestyles were a trend in the Ruling Reptile group, rather than a unique feature of the birds. Though, it is possible that Drepanosaurs are actually very early Diapsids (reptiles proper), and thus may have evolved as early as the Permian - and somehow survived into the Triassic. More fossils are needed, but for now, they remain a fascinating and unique Triassic group, highlighting the weirdness of this timeperiod in a way few other animals can. 

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut

Carroll, R. L. 1988. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution 1-698. 

Colbert, E. H. 1947. The little dinosaurs of Ghost Ranch. Natural History 59(9):392-399-427-428. 

Dalla Vecchia, F. M. 1991. Notes on the stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology of the Dolomia di Forni (Upper Triassic) of the Rio Seazza Valley (Preone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia)]. Gortania - Proceedings of the Friulian Museum of Natural History 12 (90) : 7-30. 

Irmis, R. B., S. J. Nesbitt, K. Padian, N. D. Smith, A. H. Turner, D. T. Woody, and A. Downs. 2007. A Late Triassic dinosauromorph assemblage from New Mexico and the rise of dinosaurs. Science 317:358-361. 

Harris, J. D., A. Downs. 2002. A drepanosaurid pectoral girdle from the Ghost Ranch (Whitaker) Coelophysis Quarry (Chinle Group, Rock Point Formation, Rhaetian), New Mexico. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 111: 247 - 264. 

Pinna, G. 1979. Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus, nuovo genere e nuova specie di Lepidosauro del trias alpino. Atti della Societa Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 121: 181 - 192. 

Pinna, G. 1986. On Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus, an Upper Triassic lepidosaurian from the Italian Alps. Journal of Paleontology 60 (5): 1127 - 1132. 

Pinna, G. 1988. Un nuovo esemplare giovanile di Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus del Norico di Val Preone (Udine) [A new juvenile specimen of Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus from the Norian of the Preone Valley, Udine]. Atti della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali - Museo civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 128:80-84. 

Pinna, G., and S. Nosotti. 1989. Anatomia, morfologia funzionale e paleoecologia del rettile placodonte Psephoderma alpiunum Meyer, 1858. Memorie della Società Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale de Milano 25(2):1-50. 

Pritchard, A. C., S. J. Nesbitt. 2017. A bird-like skull in a Triassic diapsid reptile increases heterogeneity of the morphological and phylogenetic radiation of Diapsida. Open Science 4 (10): 170499. 

Renesto, S. 1994. The shoulder girdle and anterior limb of Drepanosaurus unguicaudatus (Reptilia, Neodiapsida) from the Upper Triassic (Norian) of Northern Italy. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 111 (3): 247 - 264. 

Renesto, S., J. A. Spielmann, S. G. Lucas, G. T. Spagnoli. 2010. The Taxonomy and paleobiology of the Late Triassic (Carnian-Norian: Adamnian-Apachean) drepanosaurs (Diapsida: Archosauromorpha: Drepanosauromorpha). New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 46: 1 - 81. 

Senter, P. 2004. Phylogeny of Drepanosauridae (Reptilia: Diapsida). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology 2(3):257-268. 

Stefani, M., P. Arduini, A. Garassino, G. Pinna, G. Teruzzi, G. L. Trombetta. 1991. Palaeoenvironment of extraordinary fossil biotas from the Upper Triassic of Italy. Atti della Societa Italiana di Scienze Naturali e del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano 132 (24): 309 - 335. 

[specialsituationsgroup]

a Study of Discworld

Color of Magic, pt 11

The temple of Bel Shamaroth, and a hero.

1 The Dryads are an inverse of Pictsies, aka The Wee Free men: - they are coy but malevolent, where the Pictsies are rowdy yet decent. - they are mostly small females with a few big males, where the Pictsies are mostly tiny males with one big(ger) female.

2 Rincewind spoke of harnessing lightining - guess what the Igors will be doing later?

Note: This part is one big action scene, but so vivildy described and dynamically paced. I could have just copy-pasted the whole thing here.

3 The chief Dryad doesn't believe Rincewind is a wizard so she dares him to say a spel. Ironincally, the raw ambient magic is drawing The Spell out of him and he is trying not to say it. Since she said she can read his mind, he dares her to do it. She does - and freaks out!

4 The dryads create a hologram of / portal to, the inside of the temple. Seeing Twoflower there, Rincewind uses his ducking run to escape the he-dryads, slip under the circle of spining she-dryads, and gets teleported to the temple.

5 Meet Hrun the Barbarian - huge and mostly naked, with a mop of wild hair on a small head - "like a tomato on a coffin."

He spent all this time following the karmic ripples of Rincewind's lie back to the source. On the way, he stumbled upon the Luggage, then followed the gold to the temple of Bel Shamaroth.

Hrun has a magical sword Krieg (german for War.) Krieg talks. Nay, Krieg won't stop talking. Hrun regrets taking it.

6 The hallways in the temple of Bel Shamaroth are arranged like a hybrid of a spider web and a black hole. They're radial and concetric, but every path leads inward, and "looking at them made your head hurt."

Twoflower wants to find Bell Shamaroth and explain the missunderstanding. Bless.

7 In the center of the temple, Rincewind is freaking out. Meanwhile, Twoflower climbed the obelisk and is fiddling with his iconograph, trying to take a picture in the painful violet light.

8 Rincwind tires to warn Hrun and Twoflower to not say 8. Fortunately, Hurn is too dumb to figure out what the number between 7 and 9 is. Unfortunaltey, Twoflower is too naive not to wonder, aloud, what's dangerous about 8. Tentacles errupt out of the altar and grab Rincewind. Twoflower holds on to him while Hrun is busy chopping countless tentacles.

9 Rincewind wants him and Twoflower to take the oportunity and run for it, but Twoflower refuses to leave Hrun. Precious cinamon roll.

10 The flash on Twoflower's iconograph are salamanders - creatures that eat octarine and store regular light in their tails. When the tails are full, they expel the light all at once. And right now they are gorging themselves. In the last moment, the blinding light repels the tentacles, which spasm back into the altar.

Naivety caused, naivety solved.

11 Hurn breaks the altar, because "You find treasure under altars. Logic." Breaking the altar sucks Bell Shamaroth out of the temple, "somewhere that was both underground and Elswhere." The resulting gale force wind causes the temple to starts imploding.

12 Hrun summons his horse and saddles up, loads Twoflower in front of him, and lets Rincewind sit behind him. The horse bolts out of there, chased by monsters - a tripod and chest of sapient pearwood.

13 With Bel Shamaroth gone, Time, who was too cowardly to face it, catches up on all the missed work. Centuries pass in seconds.

An oak sprouts in the middle of the temple, grows huge, dies and rots; followed by two generations of beech. Entropy spreads like a tidal wave, turns the ruins into a an overgrown hill and destroy the magical forrest around it.

It overtakes our heroes but they escape unharmed, "being creatures of Time."

14 Twoflower is too dazed to take picures, which is a shame becasue they would have been "the most unique pictures on the Disc."

15 Rincewind realizes Hrun is much smarter and decent in his natural element (raiding temples and slaying abominations) then he is in the Broken Drum (getting into drunken brawls).

16 When they stop to rest, Krieg annoys Rincewind with his stories, because it's been a long time since he's know a man of culture. Well, known one "for any lenght of time." Lol.

He says he spent some time in a lake (King Arthur), and that a previous owner used him to cut silk scarves in mid air (The Bodyguard).

Krieg apparently wants to retire. He'd like to hang over a mantle, or become a ploughshare. He doesn't know what a ploughshare is, but he heard that it was a peaceful life.

Summary: - It is obvious that Prattchet had a blast writing this, everything is so energetic and fun. - There's a lot of thought put into this. From the biology, use and narrative purpose of salamanders; the character and effects of time (or lack thereof); to the parodies of other stories. - Having Twoflower solve the problem he caused, his naivety remains endearing instead of becoming frustrating. Even if the solution was unintended and indirect. - When not parrodied, the cliches are executed perfectly. An action comedy flick in book form. - We never find out why the Dryads wanted to sacrifice Twoflower to Bel Shamaroth. *shrug*

To be continued...

[thiswasinevitableid]

21, Indruck (for the Mermay minifics)

Note: Duck’s design is based on a Grouper (aka one of the strongest fish) and Indrid’s is based on an Oarfish.

Every mer in Kepler Cove knows not to go near the strange lights. Lights that glow bright orange or deep purple, flicker gold to green or fade from blue to silver. But Duck is desperate. 

And so when night falls, and all sensible creatures are safe in their beds or dens or buried beneath the sand, he swims across the flat, empty patch of sand to the cave on the outskirts of town, green lights guiding his way tonight.

The house is cluttered with bottles and shells, with drawings and discarded pufferfish quills, and all around him the lights swirl. They’re solid when they bump him, but when he holds one in his hand, it isn’t an object his eyes understand.

It’s when he looks up to find two red lights, glowing more dimly than the others, staring him down that he remembers the warnings.

“Uh-”

“I am surprised to see you, Duck Newton. In most future, you decided on the prudent option and stayed far away.” The mer comes into view, his silvery tail, streaked with a red fin, matching his silver hair. The tail is much longer than Duck’s own, even though it ends in a standard fin. And he’s grinning. It’s not a Great White grin, but it doesn’t put Duck at ease. 

“You gonna make me regret it? And how do you know-”

‘Your name” The mer says along with him, “I can see the future. Or futures, I suppose, churning and changing, flitting in and out of view like sardines in a school.” He circles Duck slowly, his form long and lean next to Duck’s, which is built for power and unassuming in it’s mottled green, black and white. He remembers the stories of sea serpents, of mers with strange tails and angular faces who would lure the unsuspecting out into the deep trenches, never to be seen again.

“Then you know-”

“-why you are here? I can see it coming, but perhaps you would like to tell me yourself.”

“Do you know what’s been happenin to folks around here?”

“The plague? Yes. I...I tried to warn your predecessor that such a thing might come on the tides. He chose not to listen. And now you are here, a new chosen guardian, forced to bear the results of his disregarding me.” 

“There ain’t any record of you tellin him that.” Duck says cautiously. 

“Is there mention of someone called Indrid Cold?”

“Yeah, now that you mention it.”

The mer points to himself without another word, then swims to his wall and removes several drawings, the images evaporating as he does. 

“Oh. Uh, didn’t know that’s your name.”

“Of course not. Everyone calls me the witch. Or worse. And only the desperate would seek out a monster mer, and I watched the futures as you narrowed your options little by little until deciding on me. This spell” he catches a smaller light in his hand, “will produce a special plant that when ingested will cure those who are ill. But it will cost you.”

“Ah. You’re that kind of mer.” Duck crosses his arms with a roll of the eyes.

Indrid whirls, knocking lights aside as he hisses, “No, I am not. This is how magic of this caliber works. It cannot be given for nothing, no matter how much I wish I could do just that. I do not desire anything from my fellow creatures other than peace and respect, and yet I must demand a great deal to deliver what they ask of me. The choice is yours, Duck Newton; seek my help or do not, but do not act as though I am some predator laying in wait in the dark.” He flicks his tail dismissively, goes back to what must be his desk, fin tense as he waits for Duck to respond. 

Duck looks at the spell, “What’s the price?”

“Ask it.” Indrid sighs, jerking his tail towards the spell.

Duck gazes at the light, repeats the question, and gets a flash of two luminous red pearls. 

“Ah fuck, those only turn up in the oysters near the damn Nettle Eels.”

“Unfortunate.” Indrid continues drawing, back resolutely towards him, “if you decide to attempt it, bring the asked for items here. Only then can you release the spell.” His fin is limp now, his shoulders sag. 

“I’ll do my best. And, uh, Mr. Cold?”

“Indrid is fine.”

“I believe you. About it not bein’ your doin’.”

With that, he swims back to town. But as he glances over his shoulder, still not certain if Indrid is dangerous, the other man is watching him. When he notices Duck has turned to look at him, he lifts his hand in shy wave farewell.

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

“You still got that spell?”

Indrid turns, knowing what he’ll see yet smiling all the same when he does; Duck Newton, arms clearly stinging, with two red pearls in his hands. He retrieves the spell, takes the stones and places them with other items the magic has demanded. As soon as Duck touches the spell, the light bursts into a thousand little specks.

“It is done. The grove of plants should be ready by the time you return to your home.”

“Thank fuck.” Duck slumps against the wall. Then he holds out his hand.

Indrid cocks his head, perplexed. Duck makes an awkward sound in the back of his throat, hand returning to his side. 

“I just, uh, wanted to say thanks. For helpin’ me. Lotta people are gonna be alive because of you.”

“More would be if I had convinced your predecessor of the severity of the plague.”

“Hey now” Duck swims closer, and Indrid finds he has no instinct to back away, “he was a dipshit. Don’t gotta take the blame for that.” He holds out his hand again, and this time Indrid takes it, shaking it. Duck smiles when he does.

As the other man swims towards the exit, he pauses, “There was another spell, wasn’t there? One that woulda cured it without the plant step.”

Indrid swallows, “Yes.”

“What was the price?”

‘I believe it requires a stone from the valley surrounded by the mer-eating eels. The one, ah, almost no one returns from.”

“That’s what I thought. Thanks, Indrid. Thanks for lookin out for me.”

Indrid wishes he could curl his tail all the way around him so he no longer has to deal with the sensation of Duck looking at him with unfamiliar kindness. 

“You are welcome. If you ever need my assistance, you know where to find me.”

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

“Damn thing bit straight through my sword. Minerva’s too.”

Indrid examines the snapped metal, then begins swimming between the lights, “Do you think an increased offensive capability or a defensive one will be better for ridding the reef of the Giant Scorpionfish?”

“Ain’t sure, futures don’t happen to have any clues?”

Indrid pauses, tail waving lazily, then shakes his head, “it seems the two show about the same outcomes of success.”

“In that case, let’s go with somethin’ that’ll keep us safe while fightin it. Don’t really feel like havin some super-powerful weapon floatin around after this is done.”

Indrid picks a golden light from the air, hands it to Duck. This time, he doesn’t immediately move away, instead waits for him to learn the price. 

Duck shuts his eyes, gets an image of deep blue eggs. Then he shivers, Indrid’s tail having brushed along his by accident.

“Eagle Ray eggs. Do you think it wants all of ‘em? Seems kinda rude to take the whole nest.”

“Hmmmm, looking at the futures, it seems two or three will suffice.”

“Gotcha. It may think that’s some tricky quest, but I happen to know where a lot of different nests are around here. I’ll be back in an hour.”

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

“Got your message, you said a tidal storm was comin?”

“Yes, we have about five hours at maximum before it hits here. I already found the protection spell and learned the price, to expedite things. It wants a black pearl, a rare red sea flower, and gold from a sunken ship.” Indrid swims back and forth between drawings, erasing and recreating as the futures change.

“Fuck, okay. Uh, I’m allowed to have help, right?’

“Of course.”

“I’ll send Juno after the flower, Dani and Aubrey can help her. And Ned’s real good at findin gemstones in a hurry. I know there’s a wreck about a two mile swim thataway, but it’s been picked over.”

“I may be able to help; we can use my powers to locate the stray, remaining gold. Come, there is no time to lose.” He darts out of the cave and Duck follows him, watches the light glint off his scales, the way his body twists and speeds through the water.

Even if they fail, at least his last mission will have had a hell of a view.

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

“‘Drid, I was wonderin if you...uh, didn’t know you had pets.”

“I do not. Or, ah, I did not, The Eagle Ray eggs hatched. The spells almost never want animals, so it never occurred to me that the eggs would remain viable--AH! Careful with that, I know you are getting used to your wings but those are fragile. Anyway, what do you need?”

“Not a spell, but could you use your future vision to see if the issues with the Kelp fields are gonna lead to somethin bigger?’

“Why Duck, are you really giving me the honor of being an advisor to a Chosen?”

“ Damn right I am. Also that ray is chewin on your desk chair.”

“AH!”

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

“Hey ‘Drid, can I uh, um, I need some help.”

“Of course, let me just finish feeding Spot and Speckle their dinner. Is it a spell or a future?”

“Uh, it’s, uh, fuck, a, uh, spell? Yeah, a uh, fuck, spell. I need some help findin my, uh, fuck, keys? No, fuck, I mean-”

“You don’t have a reason for coming, do you.”

“Nope.”

“There is no need to lie about one. Wanting to visit is reason enough. You are welcome here any time, my friend.”

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

“Nice, ain’t it?”  Duck stretches out on the warm rock, sun soaking into his chest. 

“Mmmmmhmmm.” Indrid hums beside him, long tail draped off the edge and into the water. 

“You said you don’t come up here much.”

“I had some run-ins with sailors I tried to warn off oncoming disasters. I became a bit of a local legend, an omen of doom, and so decided it was best to lay low.” The words are detached, but Duck rolls over to find Indrid staring wistfully up at the sky, “I do enjoy it up here. I like watching the stars, seeing all the snippets of a new and different world. Some days I think I love the surface as much as I love home. Perhaps that is silly.” 

Duck rolls onto his side, “Ain’t nothin silly about lovin’ somethin’ incredible. I mean look” he points the forest, the tangle of green looking down on the shore from the hills, “look at that. How does it grow? What lives there? There’s so much to know about nature, up top and below.”

Indrid is on his side now as well, “Thank you. It is nice to know I am not alone. In, ah, in my thoughts, that is.” 

Duck reaches for his hand, and when Indrid scoots close enough to give it, Duck presses their tails together. Indrid sighs at the contact, and soon his tail is draped over Duck’s, his fingers tracing abstract patterns up and down Duck’s arm. 

“‘Drid? Would, uh, would you ever wanna maybe...move closer to town? I know Barclay’s been visitin more, Dani too. Seems like you’re startin to know more folks in town. There’s, uh, a house near mine that just opened up. We could be neighbors?” The note when his voice turns up at the end is steeped in vulnerable hope that he prays Indrid can’t hear. 

Red eyes regard him, “No, Duck. I do not think I could be. I am a solitary creature. The spells I help usher into the world and keep safe can be dangerous in their demands, attract dangerous beings in search of them. I ought to remain so, more for the sake of whoever wishes to be close to me than for my own.”

“But-”

“I need to return home. Farewell, Duck.” He slithers off the rock, and by the time Duck is in the water there’s only a flash of silver, disappearing into the darkness on the edge of town.

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

“Barclay, you seen ‘Drid lately?”

“Uh huh, saw him yesterday when I ran some food over. I wanted him to try my new red snapper wraps.”

“Oh. So he’s, uh, fine then?”

“Seems to be. Why?”

“The last few times I gone to see him, he ain’t been home. I’m worried I mighta done somethin’ to offend him.”

“Nah, I bet it’s just a run of bad timing. Indrid likes you more than anyone else on this reef.”

“...If I send someone else to get spells or info, he’s always there.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.”

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

“Mr. Cold, I am here on the utmost urgent business.”

“Hello to you too, Ned, and Indrid is fine. What is…” He sees the oncoming answer and blanches from top to tail with fear.

“Duck is ill?”

“He hasn’t been able to get out of bed for a week. Barely consumes food or drink. The lovely Dani took a look at him, but it does not seem to be an ailment know to her.”

“Show me the way to him. Please.” Indrid follows Ned, and the lights follow Indrid, his foresight not showing him enough to know which spell may be needed. They wind through town, whispers darting from house to house as they do.

The night is only made worse by what he discovers when he reaches Duck’s side.

“He is heartsick. That is why Dani was unable to find means of healing him. Only one exists.”

“One of your, like, spells?” Aubrey asks hopefully, red tail twitching with worry.

“No. It can only be cured with a kiss from one who loves him. Romantically, I should add, as the illness is brought on by a romantic love that one tries to repress or destroy. Do any of you know someone who loves Duck that way?”

All heads in the room shake. He sighs, “May I have a moment of privacy to think?”

When they’re alone, he strokes Duck’s brow, tail curling protectively around him without him truly meaning too.

Then he leans down and plants a single, tender kiss to Duck’s lips. 

Mismatched eyes flutter open.

“‘Oh thank goodness.”

“Fuck, whole body feels like I just got over the fin-pox.” Duck rolls his shoulders. Indrid realizes he hasn’t moved away from him, can’t bring himself to do so.

“‘Drid? Did, uh, did you just kiss me?”

“I, I did. I am sorry, it was the only-”

He’s yanked into the bed, one hand tangled in his hair as the other traps their hips together. Ducks tail flaps excitedly and Indrid’s curls around it as many times as he can. 

“I tried so fuckin hard, darlin, I thought you were angry with me, or that you were pushin me away for my own good, and as much as I missed you I didn’t wanna push you so I tried not to think about you, but, but I, I just started feelin’ sicker and sicker whenever I pushed thoughts of you away.

“Oh my, love, I am sorry. I only meant to keep you safe. I never meant to hurt you so.”

“It ain’t your doin’; I’m the dipshit who couldn’t tell you how I felt. I know you didn’t want to be with anyone-”

“-you are right, I thought it would be dangerous. But, well, in the last few weeks, I have realized that while my powers make for an oft-dangerous time, so does your position in the reef. And I, I missed you terribly. I want to be by your side, Duck Newton, if you will still have me.”

Duck runs a firm hand down his tail, grinning brighter than the lights still spinning around them, “You know, darlin, I think I’ll do just that.”

[thecomicsnexus]

The Creatures from the Canyon

FLASH COMICS #9 SEPTEMBER 1940 BY GARDNER FOX, JOHN B. BENTWORTH, SHELDON MOLDOFF, STAN ASCHMEIER AND EVERETT E. HIBBARD

SYNOPSIS (MIXED WITH DC DATABASE)

Carter Hall's friend George invents or discovers Effluma, "the great fire that holds all power within it!" and from it develops a matter-destroying ray aka a "hard light gun."

From a canyon beneath New York Harbor emerge the Kogats, an evil apelike aquatic race of telepaths. They kidnap George, they read his mind, learn of Carter Hall's existence, then use telepathy and this hostage to bring Hawkman under the sea, wearing a transparent bubble helmet that allows him to breathe underwater. Hawkman meets their King Jupo, a horned Kogat more than 10 feet tall, who plans to conquer the world. Jupo vaporizes George with a hard light gun. Enraged, the Hawk quickly snatches Jupo's gun and holds Jupo at bay. While Jupo talks, other Kogats ambush the hero, and then throw him down a deep chasm from which no one can escape. But they (stupidly) let him keep the breathing helmet and (even more stupidly) throw a bar of Effluma down with him. At the bottom of the chasm, Hawkman winds up running into the god Poseidon, who puts him some knowledge about how to destroy the would-be conquerors and permanently grants the Winged Wonder the ability to breathe underwater.

The Kogat headquarters is a dwelling rock perched on top of a needle of rock, so by planting an Effluma explosive, and triggering an underwater avalanche, Hawkman does indeed destroy the needle, thus destroying the Kogat army, when the dwelling rock falls down far into the ocean. Kogats Ivor, Jgan, and King Jupo definitely die. The resulting tidal upheaval also results in an unknown number of ships being sunk.

Johnny Thunder tries to impress his mom by doing magic tricks, and without knowing it, he invokes the genie who gets him in trouble by producing an elephant out of nowhere, and together they help rescue people from a building on fire.

In the back woods of Canada, a scientist named Doc Tyler creates a toxin that can turn small animals into giants. After testing it on a Gila monster, Doc Tyler predicts it'll take a week for the lizard to grow. Doc Tyler then goes to a nearby town to gather supplies and boasts to a friend about his discovery. They are overheard, however, by a shady man who decides to investigate the matter.

Two months later, the Flash receives a message from his old college friend named Jim Evans who now works as an engineer for a lumber company. Jim Evans is requesting the help of the Flash about "strange deaths, queer footprints and bank robberies." The Flash runs across the border and arrives at the Mistawassini section of Canada where Jim lives. Jim shows him a plaster cast with a huge footprint belonging to a monster. Jim Evans tells him that criminals have taken control of the beast, and released it to cause panic while they rob banks. The Flash agrees to help and sets off to find the beast. He soon finds the beast's footprints and follows the trail to the monster. The Flash sees a giant Gila monster about to kill an Indian man. Acting fast, the Flash saves the man and gets him to a safe spot. The man tells the Flash that gangsters have shot him and had set the beast upon him. He also tells the Flash that they had many more giant Gila monsters that they were planning to use on bank heists, before dying of a fatal wound. The Flash gives him a decent burial at super-speed before following the monster and tricking it into falling off a cliff. The Flash notices it was going in the direction of a lone house in the distance and decides to investigate. Flash enters the house and escapes the notice of the occupants, a man named Yap and his friend, by going so fast he cannot be seen. Going through the house, Flash notices an empty laboratory. The Flash runs back to Jim Evans' house and shares his discovery with him. Jim concludes that the criminals must have kidnapped Doc Tyler, and were using his laboratory as a hideout.

The Flash transports Evans to the nearby town's chief of police office. They enter and tell the Chief of Police about the giant Gila monster, the laboratory and the missing Doc Tyler. As soon as they leave his office, a half-dozen giant Gila monsters arrive in town and start attacking the citizens. The Flash uses his super-speed to save as many citizens as he can. Flash hears gunshots at the bank and remembers Jim's and the Indian's info. The Flash interrupts the robbery in progress and disarms and confuses the criminals, who are revealed to be Yad and his friend. Yad runs outside and uses one of Doc Tyler's inventions, an "electric stick", to signal the monsters to attack the bank. Flash attracts the beasts' attention and manages to lure them away from the town and into the country, where he loses them. Going back, he learns from the Chief of Police that the criminals have escaped. Flash runs back to their hideout, where he catches them plotting to kill Doc Tyler to cover their tracks. The Flash disorients them, and makes Yad tell him that Doc Tyler was in a cave a mile down the road. Flash rescues Doc Tyler and gets him back to safety. The threat of the monsters is still out there. The Flash runs to southern Canada at super-speed and goes into a Royal Air Force Field, tells them about the situation, and gets a pilot operating a bomber to join him. The Flash finds the giant Gila monsters and the bomber drops a bomb among the group, effectively killing them all and saving the day.

REVIEW

This is DC’s first attempt at an underwater society (as far as I can remember), and this time it introduces Poseidon (who is still part of the DCU til these days). To my surprise, what this story claims is kind of truth. There is a canyon next to New York (the story says that the canyon is beneath the city). It’s called the Hudson Canyon and a landslide could leave a lot of people without internet (as undersea internet connections go through it).

Johnny Thunder still doesn’t know he has a genie... it is kind of funny, but at some point he has to realize that his life is a bit weird.

As for the Flash story... mmm... not really impressed by tha Kaijus in this story.

I give these stories a score of 6

[greetingfromthedead]

AU Bucky Barnes aka The Winter Soldier - A Kiss of Life

MASSIVE ENDGAME SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Reader gender: neutral

Summary: A special person with special purpose whose only family are the heroes and who’s in love with Bucky gets stuck in the middle of the events of Infinity War and Endgame.

Author’s note: So I think we can all agree that Endgame isn’t cannon and I can do whatever I want because this is my very own pocket dimension.

With just a flick of his arm, Thanos flings you into a tree nearly knocking you out. Vines tie you up as you walk the line of consciousness and darkness. Your ears are ringing as you look at the very last stand the Avengers can make. You see Steve standing his ground, holding back the titan, as you turn your head you see Bucky’s motionless body on the ground. You want to run to him, but you can’t move. From the corner of your eye you see Wanda, trying to destroy the last of the Stones. As Cap falls, she is the only hope, the last thing standing between Thanos and his goal. A shock wave knocks you again against the tree as the Infinity Stone is shattered. This time the darkness takes you. 

You can’t tell how long it has been as you open your eyes again, but the vines around you loosen and fall off. As you look around you see the Avengers gather up again. Their faces reflect only horror and shock.

“Where did he go? Thor?” you hear Cap as you stand up. 

You see Bucky walk towards you and feel relief to see that he’s still alive. You stumble forward to  take his outstretched hand.

“Darling,” the man says to you, but you hear a hint of something in his voice not understanding what it is.

“Where did he go?” you hear Steve ask again.

“Steve?” Bucky asks and you see his arm turn to dust just a moment before he falls to the ground and his whole body disappears.

You gasp in shock and horror. You too fall to the ground right next to the ashes. As your hands touch the ground the dust clings to your bloodied skin. And you look up. First your eyes meet Steve’s who has knelt down next to you, but then you look around. In the distance you see airships crash, you hear some shouts coming from the battle field. You see T’Challa helping up Okoye. They became your family when you spent your time here in Wakanda while Bucky was recovering. Okoye’s face reflects yours as the man disintegrates in front of her.

You hear more voices, the talking raccoon’s, the tree’s, Rhodey’s... You are paralysed as Steve offers you his hand to help you up. You look at the dust and blood on your hands.

“Bucky...” you whisper, tears in your eyes.

Steve realises that you don’t even notice him so he stumbles forward, towards Vision’s body. Everyone gathers around him and the realisation comes as a tidal wave - you had lost.

You sit on one of the fold up chairs on the balcony of the vacant home. Is it yours or does it still belong to the family who had lived here before? It doesn’t really matter at this point. It hadn’t mattered for a while because all hope of a home, of a family had turned to dust five years ago.

You hear a creak coming from inside the house, but you don’t bother to look who it is, you already know there is just one person who could find you.

“Hello, Steve,” you greet him as he sits down next to you.

“You weren’t easy to track down,” he says quietly as to not disturb the silence of the evening.

“Well I tried my best. Figured it would be easiest to just disappear like everyone else or maybe not quite like everyone else,” you say and tighten the blanket around you. “Why did you come here?”

“I came to tell you that there might be hope. Hope of bringing them all back and we could use all the help we can get.”

“Hope? It’s been five years,” you turn to look at him teary eyed, “Five years... but every day feels like a lifetime, even so, every time I close my eyes, I see them. It haunts my dreams, but I know I don’t have to tell you that. I would have given my life for his, but there was nothing left of him. I lost half of my family to a snap of the fingers. Bucky, Sam, Wanda, T’Challa, Shuri, Peter... And I just... I couldn’t bare the idea of losing any more of it so I left. I tried to find purpose, every day I tried, but I just couldn't see the light anymore. I live on borrowed time and I know it’s not mine to waste, but I can’t find a path. I already died once before, but They brought me back for a reason. I was just a kid when he gave his life for mine.”

“Who?” Steve wonders as he has never heard that story.

“I never did find out, but I remember seeing him in the Beyond just before his soul was reaped,” you look at your hands, “So tell me, what is this hope.”

You listen to him as he explains the plan. All this sounds insane to you, but at this point you’ve already had a giant purple man turn your happiness to ashes with a snap of his fingers so who is to say that time travel is the craziest plan out there.

“So then what? You get all the Stones, you build a new Gauntlet and then bring us all back to 2018?” you ask.

“No, we’ll bring everyone who was dusted back to today,” Steve clarifies.

“What about those who lost everything? What about those who took their lives, those who fell into depression and addiction?  What about the five years you’ll take from those who will have to come back to this messed up world?”

“We can’t save everybody, we never could. There are many people who have found a new life in this crazy world, who have moved on, who have families now, we would be taking that away from them.”

You nod silently, this is an impossible choice, one you don’t want to make so you just fall silent. Could this be your purpose? Or is this just empty promises? What could you possibly do to make a difference?

“Will you come with me? We could bring him back, we could bring everyone back,” Steve says insistently as he leans forward to look at you.

“I want them back. Whatever it takes,” you meet his gaze.

You are back at the compound. You are greeted by familiar faces, knowing nods. Everyone is focused and ready for what’s to come. This is it. The all or nothing time heist. You agreed to be left behind to watch over the machinery, to make sure everyone gets back. You watch out the massive window, or rather the glass wall. You overlook the grounds and see Tony. A little girl sprints into his arms and he picks her up. Pepper walks closer and Tony gives his girls a big long hug. At that moment you realise what’s at stake. 

You had hoped to get your happiness back, to give others their happiness back, but now you see that some people truly did find their happiness in the darkness. If the mission failed, if something went wrong, all the rest of joy would die with it.

“Are you ready?” Steve asks and you turn around to give him a nod.

“This has to work.”

“It will.” he says with determination.

Everything that follows seems almost a blur. The last preparations before they go to retrieve the Stones, for you their mission only takes a couple seconds, but when they return, Natasha has been lost, she had sacrificed herself for the grater good. That gives you a new blow, but you do have all of the Infinity Stones. Without a body to mourn the rest of the Avengers seem lost and so do you. With a heavy heart you sit by the little dock, commemorating what she gave up, but no funeral, not now, not like this. You glide along, mourning for the friend you lost, but hopeful as you are so close of possibly getting everyone else back. 

You watch the others work as they build the new gauntlet. They had brought the old and charred one with them, they studied it and also Thor’s weapons to be able to recreate the glove, but now it is ready. It feels like the world has gone silent. You see the others talking, but you know not of what, you only stare at the glove until Banner buts it on and snaps his fingers again. You just stand there, not being able to comprehend what is happening, not being sure what to expect, but all things considered, you did not guess that the building would collapse in on itself and bury you and the rest of the Avengers with it.

You fight for your life in the rubble, your communication device lost, all alone you call out for help, but know that you can’t be heard over the sounds of explosions coming from somewhere outside. You push aside the rubble, still coughing and choking. It takes you a long time to make your way forward, but eventually you find yourself face to face with a big concrete slab that you are not able to move. You look for another way out with no success, but then the rubble shifts and you are lucky enough to not get crushed by it, but instead you see light and you climb out to overlook the huge battlefield. You see golden sparkling portals all around you with soldiers and heroes walking out of them, you realise those are the people who were dusted and now they’ve returned. You see Thanos’ forces and are filled with new hope as the odds seem to be on your side. You look around hoping to see the one face you’ve missed the most, but it is impossible in this massive crowd.

You fight with all you have cutting trough the brutal creatures the titan sent your way. You get deeper and deeper into the battle field being surrounded by both enemies and friends. As is starts to rain down fire you find yourself under a golden shield. You keep fighting until you find your Bucky. You lock eyes and he smiles. Back to back you fight off the outriders. Everything will be alright now, you can feel it in your bones even though it gets harder and harder by the second. The dead creatures start to pile up and the savages leap towards you in greater and greater numbers. As it feels like you’re being overrun by the creatures they suddenly turn to ashes all around you. The fighting is over.

You turn to face Bucky and jump up to hug him he lets his gun fall to the ground as he wraps his arms around you tight. You can feel his relief and you almost start to cry. You have him back. Your happiness. You pull away and he gives you a heated kiss on the lips.

“We won,” you whisper and look around you. Then you notice the people standing together, heads lowered. You see Steve’s face, you see only one half of it, but it is enough to realise he’s crying. You take Bucky’s hand and hurry towards them. He follows you until you stop right next to Rhodey. You see Pepper crying over Tony’s dead body and your insides knot up. You remember so vividly him picking up his little girl, the love he had for them, for the world. “Earth’s best defender” Steve had called him. You see your purpose now, it never was about your happiness, it’s about the greater good, Tony knew it.

You turn to face Bucky again. This isn’t fair. You look at him, you imagine the life you always dreamed of, with him. A home, a family of your own, something Tony already had, something he gave up for everyone else. The true ultimate sacrifice. 

“I love you,” you give the man a deep kiss, “I’ll always love you, remember that. And please forgive me.”

Bucky looks confused and concerned as you let go of his hand and step away. You kneel next to the dead hero and take his hand.

“You deserve to live, the world needs you,” you squeeze his fingers and place a light kiss on his forehead.

You feel the strength go out of your body and everything fades to black. From the darkness stars emerge, you recognise this place - the Beyond. All around you is the vast emptiness of space and millions upon millions of stars. 

“Why did you do that?” you hear an almost accusing voice.

“I had to. You need to go back to your girls,” you smile a sad smile at Tony.

“What about Barnes?”

“I hope he’ll be alright, I hope he can forgive me,” you feel like you would cry, but not here, not with these being your last conscious moments.

“The universe will be a darker place without you,” he says right as your soul is reaped and carried off into a new life.

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[bestreasonstowriterecordreviews]

✰ BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2018 ✰

✰✰✰✰✰ 6th ANNIVERSARY  ✰✰✰✰✰

Neil Morris, speaking to Alan Lomax in 1959:

“Well, when I was just a small boy, Old Uncle Milt Oldfield…Billy Oldfield, the Congressman from Arkansas for so long, it is his father. He and my father are awfully close friends. And they were discussing music. They were music teachers both of them. 

“And uh, and they said, dad did and Uncle Milt sanctioned what he said, that MUSIC HAD NO END. That you could learn all the other guy [or girl] learned, and after you got that done they would then, something else would crop up. That uh, that you, that was the reason why that uh, music advanced. That’s why that you would get a better music in one generation maybe that is, uh, IT WOULD FIT THE TIMES IN WHICH THEY LIVED.” 

[Lomax: “What about music on the grapevine?”] 

“Welllll, they said that MUSIC GREW LIKE THE GRAPEVINE THAT IS NEVER PRUNED. That each year it’d…it’d put on a little bit more. That was what they said, now, about it. Any further questions?”’

It’s time to feast from 2018′s Grapevine That Is Never Pruned with 123 (+ 162 more) of the BEST REASONS TO WRITE FUCKIN’ RECORD REVIEWS IN 2018!

A prefatory note: The Best Reasons campaigns of our first five years endured critiques from far and wide about too many damn records listed.  Well...we can no longer countenance such reproach.  Every single one of these nuggets is an essential thread in the tapestry of 2018′s combustible sonic arts!  We here at FRR stand for ecumenicism and as such, consider the breadth of our listening parameters: Feeding Tube Records issued 74 items in 2018 (!), Clean Feed released about 80, and Astral Spirits about 30...that’s a lot potential gold in those three labels alone. Sure, it’s too much for any one person to absorb, but still... 

We all know that some combination of easy access to home studio tools, world wide web streaming, social media delirium, legacy record industry collapse, and artistic resistance to creeping authoritarianism has (somewhat paradoxically) unleashed a tidal wave of idiosyncratically great music during the past decade, so it should come as no surprise that such a list as this would contain nearly 300 essential items. Yea, it seems nearly everything gets recorded and released these days (especially the zonked improv/collagist /noise/outer limits realm), but whether or not we listen to such items as frequently as we consumed Exile On Main Street or Cosmic Tones For Mental Therapy back in the day is irrelevant...the time is now, and as far as wild sounds from the outer dimensions goes, now has unprecedented bounty...listen heartily, for tomorrow, who knows?

(...all long playing records unless otherwise noted...also, the list was made complete with links, but grrr they don’t show up, so point your browser as they used to say and happy hunting!)

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✰ ROSALI  Trouble Anyway (Scissor Tail) ✰

✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩✩

✰ BRIDGET HAYDEN  Pure Touch Only From Now On, They Said So (Early Music, Sweden) ✰

✰ YUZO IWATA Daylight Moon (Siltbreeze) ✰

✰ L$D FUNDRAISER  Witness Disco (CocoMuse, New Zealand) ✰

✰ MAXINE FUNKE  Silk (Feeding Tube) + Eternity 7” (I Dischi Del Barone, Sweden) ✰

✰ LONG HOTS  Monday Night Raw cassette (self-released) ✰

✰ BASIC HUMAN  Cassette (Meatspin, Australia) ✰

✰ LOOSE-Y CRUNCHÉ Unruly Top  cassette (Altered States, Australia) ✰

✰ ETHERS  Ethers (Trouble In Mind) ✰ 

✰ UNHOLY TWO  The Pleasure To End All Pleasures (12XU)

✰ ZAÏMPH  Rhizomatic Gaze 2LP (Drawing Room) ✰

✰ ALLISON COTTON  All Is Quiet At The Ancient Theatre (Feeding Tube) ✰

✰ CONSTANT MONGREL  Living In Excellence (Anti Fade, Australia / LVEUM, U.K.) ✰ 

✰ OTHERWORLD  (aka Kay Logan) Mad Wee Light  cassette (Kit, UK) ✰

✰ DUSK  Dusk (Don Giovanni)  & “The Pain Of Loneliness (Goes On And On)” 7″ (Dirtnap) ✰

✰ WENDY EISENBERG  Its Shape Is Your Touch (VDSQ) ✰

✰ THALIA ZEDEK BAND Fighting Season (Thrill Jockey) ✰

✰ EN ATTENDANT ANA  Lost And Found (Trouble In Mind) ✰

✰ MARK MORGAN  Department of Heraldry (Open Mouth) ✰

✰ MORE KLEMENTINES More Klementines (Twin Lakes/Feeding Tube)✰

✰ PATOIS COUNSELORS Proper Release (ever/never) ✰

✰ ANNE GUTHRIE Brass Orchids (Students Of Decay)

✰ STEFAN CHRISTENSEN  City Code (Knotwilg, Belgium) & Two Live cassette (The Loki Label)

✰ BB & The BLIPS  Shame Job (Thrilling Living)

✰ SAMARA LUBELSKI / BILL NACE Samara Lubelski/Bill Nice (Relative Pitch)

✰ The SEDIMENT CLUB  Stucco Thieves (Wharf Cat)

✰ BEAT DETECTIVES  Rhythms & Edits Volume 1 cassette (Altered States, Australia)

✰ The COWBOYS Live At Tony’s Garage  7″ ep (Feel It) & The Cowboys [3rd Album] (HoZac - 2017)

✰ SUSANA SANTOS SILVA  All the Rivers – Live at Panteão Nacional  cd (Clean Feed, Portugal)

 ✰ DIRE WOLVES Paradisiacal Mind  (Feeding Tube/Cardinal Fuzz, U.K.)

✰ SPECIAL INTEREST/S Spiraling  (Raw Sugar)

✰ JANUSZEWSKI & SZLAZAK Split cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ NYLEX  Nylex cassette (Tenth Court, Australia)

✰ CHARALAMBIDES  Tom And Christina Carter 2 LP (Drawing Room)

✰ CHRISTINA KUBISCH/ANNEA LOCKWOOD The Secret Life Of The Inaudible 2 cd (Gruenrekorder, Germany)

✰  HEAVY METAL Heavy Metal ep 7″ (Total Punk)

✰  LUJIACHI  Invisible Hands cassette (Altered States, Australia)

✰  OBNOX Templo del Sonido (Astral Spirits/Monofonus Press)

✰  PINEAPPLE RNR  Pineapple Rik N Roll 7″ (Lumpy)

✰  WILLIAM PARKER Voices Fall From The Sky 3 cd (AUM Fidelity)

✰  RON JONS SURF SHOP  Ron Jons Surf Shop Sampler cassette (Ron Jons Surf Shop)

✰ LUCY MILLER Lion's Heart : Demos & Early Recordings cd-r (Soleils Bleus, France)

✰ BLUE CHEMISE  Daughters Of Time (Students Of Decay) 

✰ EKIN FIL Maps (Helen Scarsdale) & “Windblow”  download (Longform Editions, Australia)

✰ COUNTER INTUITS Vietnamese Lighter 7″ (Total Punk)

✰ CHRONOPHAGE  (Minneapolis) Prolog For Tomorrow (Cleta Petra)

✰ HOBBS-WHITE DUO Hobbs-White Duo at Whitechapel Gallery, 10 June 1973H download (EMC, UK)

✰ CHRONOPHAGE (Austin) Give Chance A Peace download (self-released)

✰ CIA DEBUTANTE  Waves (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ WEEPING BONG BAND  Weeping Bong Band (Feeding Tube)

✰  COOLIES/The FUTURIANS Coolies/The Futurians split cassette (Uniform, New Zealand)

✰ QUIETUS Volume Four (ever/never)

✰ New Centre Of The Universe (Anti Fade, Australia)

✰ LISA CAMERON/SANDY EWEN  See Creatures cassette (Astral Spirits)

✰ BRUTAL BIRTHDAY “Commotion” + 2 7” (Total Punk)

✰ DE PONTI/MORETTI Before We Were Foam We Were Unbridled Waves cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

✰ DAVID NANCE GROUP  Peaced And Slightly Pulverized (Trouble In Mind)

✰ CRAMMM  Crammm cassette (Brainplan) &  Live 2018 (Brainplan)

✰ NERVE BEATS Nerve Beats (Fine Concepts)

✰ WILLIE LANE  Known Quantity reissue (Feeding Tube)

✰ The WAY AHEAD Bells, Ghosts And Other Saints cd (Clean Feed, Portugal)

✰ BADSKIN  Where Was I  (Brierfield Flood Press, Australia)

✰ The ANCIENTS Frozen Aisle (Tenth Court, Australia)

✰ METTE RASMUSSIN & CHRIS CORSANO A View Of The Moon (From The Sun) cd (Clean Feed, Portugal)

✰ SYLVIE COURVOISIER TRIO  D’Agala cd (Intakt, Switzerland)

✰ MOSQUITOES Drip Water Hollow Out Stone (ever/never)

✰ CHARLOTTE HUG Son-Icon Music: Orchestra And Choral Works cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

✰ RUSS WATERHOUSE  Amaro cassette (Gertrude Tapes)

✰ RICHARD PAPIERCUTS  Twisting The Night 12″ (ever/never)

✰ The COOL GREENHOUSE  “London”/“The End Of The World” 7” (Market Square Recordings, Spain)

✰ SANDY EWEN & CHASE GARDNER Transfusion cd (Marginal Frequency)

✰ AMEEL BRECHT  Polygraph Heartbeat (Kraak, Belgium)

✰ SUCCHIAMO Mani In Fuoco (Antinote, France)

✰ PORTRON PORTRON LOPEZ De Colère Et D'Envie (PoiL, France)

✰ TOM SMITH & MARK MORGAN Bones Sound Shipwreck cd (KSV, Germany)

✰ CIVIC New Vietnam 12″ (Anti Fade, Australia) & Those Who Know 7″ (Famous Class)

✰ CARLO GIUSTINO Non Uscire cassette (No Rent)

✰ DONALD MCPHERSON & TETUZI AKIYAMA The Kitchen Tapes, Volume 1 cassette (God In The Music, New Zealand)

✰ HORNE & HOLT Wires (Self-Sabotage)

✰ WOLKOROTS Don Treppenwitz cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

 ✰SAVAK  Beg Your Pardon (Ernest Jenning Record Co.) 

✰ The BALKANYS The Balkanys  (Toddi Records/Another Records, France)

✰ ANTELOPER Kudu cassette (International Anthem Recording Company)

✰ CLAIRE POTTER & BRIDGET HAYDEN’S I Am Come From A Place) cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

✰ LAURA LUNA CASTILLO Laminaires (Genot, Czech Republic)

✰ RST  Spectra  (\\NULL|ZØNE//)

✰ TORI KUDO ガラ刑GALAKEI  2 LP (bruit direct disques, France) 

✰ SIGNE DAHLGREEN  Kunki Snuk cassette (Astral Spirits)

✰ PIOUS FAULTS  Old Thread  (Feel It)

✰ MELFI  Four Concerns  cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ The EX  27 Passports (Ex Records, Netherlands)

✰ J.H. GURAJ Steadfast On Our Sand (Boring Machines, Italy)

✰ KUZU Hiljaisuus (Astral Spirits)

✰ WUSSY  What Heaven Is Like (Shake It)

✰ BORZOI  A Prayer For War (12XU)

✰ RAYS  You Can Get There From Here (Trouble In Mind)

✰ DELPHINE DORA  Eudaimon (three:four, Switzerland)

✰ LAKE MARY & M. SAGE  Lupine Deluxe cassette (Patient Sounds (Intl))

✰ ART GRAY NOIZZ QUINTET  “A Call To You”/”Won’t you Say It To My Face” 7″ (Robelion Music)

✰ VANILLA POPPERS I Like Your Band 7″ ep (Feel It)

✰ SOURDURE L’Espròva (Les Disques du Festival Permanent/Pagans, France)

✰ LOGARDECAY (Leslie García and Paloma López) FRGL cassette (Umor Rex, Mexico) 

✰ DE KLUMB  Con Pimiento cassette (U-Bac, Germany)

✰ MIDWIFE  Prayer Hands cassette (Antiquated Future)

✰ SALAD BOYS  This Is Glue (Trouble In Mind)

✰ RAMBLE TAMBLE Outlaw Overtones cassette (Eiderdown)

✰ ABBY LEE TEE  Imaginary Friends I cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

✰ INGRID LAUBROCK Contemporary Chaos Practices / Two Works For Orchestra With Soloists cd (Intakt, Switzerland)

✰ PATRICK SHIROISHI  Sparrow's Tongue cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

✰ FIA FIELL  All In The Same Room cassette (Nice Music, Australia)

✰ PREENING  Nice Dice 7″ ep (Fine Concepts) & Greasetrap Frisbee 7″ (ever/never)

✰ SABASABA  SabaSaba (Maple Death, U.K)

✰ HEADROOM/DIRE WOLVES Split (Pome Pome Tones/Centripetal Force)

✰ APOLOGIST  Houston  cassette (No Rent)

✰ The SITUATIONS  The Day After The Night Before cassette (Melted Ice Cream, NZ)

✰ WONDERFULS  Voices Like Rain cassette (Round Bale Recordings)

✰ TASHI DORJI & TYLER DAMON  Leave No Trace: Live In St. Louis (Family Vineyard) & Soft Berm cassette (Magnetic South)

NAUJAWANAN BAIDAR  Volume 1 cassette (Radio KHIYABAN, Netherlands)

LOUIS MINUS II  Je Voudrais Juste Dormir Pour Toujours cassette (Econore, Germany)

The OPAWA 45s Silver Screen Guitar cassette (Melted Ice Cream, New Zealand)

MT ACCORD Postcards From A Dream cassette (Czaszka, U.K.)

JONÁŠ GRUSKA Žaburina (LOM, Slovakia)

CHICALOYOH  Jaune Colère (213 Records, France)

MAMITRI YULITH EXPRESS YONAGUNISAN  Yulith  2 LP (bruit direct disques, France)

AONGHIS MCENVOY & TRISTAN CLUTTERBUCK  Duos cassette  (Fractal Meat Cuts, UK) 

IE Pone cassette (Moon Glyph)

MARILYN CRISPELL/TANYA KALMANOVITC/RICHARD TEITELBAUM  Dream Libretto (Leo, U.K.)

E  Negative World (Thrill Jockey) 

Wound 2 lp (Carbon Records)

DOMINIQUE VACCARO Close Distances cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

RIÑA  Aqui No Eres Nadie 7″ ep (Thrilling Living)

GÜNTER BABY SOMMER & TILL BRÖNNER  Baby’s Party cd (Intakt, Switzerland) 

TRISTAN MAGNETIC  Tristan Magnetique  triple cassette box (Otomatik Muziek, Germany)

FAMOUS LOGS IN HISTORY Famous Logs In History cassette (Fuzzy Warbles) 

LUKE STEWART’s Works For Upright Bass And Amplifier  cassette (Astral Spirits)

RADIANT FUTUR  Overdriven Youth download (Get Busy!, Russia)

LÄRMSCHUTZ TAFELMUSIK SEPTET  Vierte Tafelmusik  cassette (Katuktu Collective)

TERRESTIALS  Terrestials 12″ (Heel Turn)

ALEX CRISPIN Open Submission cassette (Constellation Tatsu)

MAAVIN Sunday Drive EP download (Get Busy!, Russia)

CHARLOTTE HUG & LUCAS NIGGLI  Fulguratio cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

NAMELESS FRAMES Already Inside + 3 10″ (Super Secret Records)

GÜNTER SCHLIENZ  Liederbuch cassette (Muzan Editions, Japan)

SCRAP BRAIN Scrap Brain (Thrilling Living)

WURLD SERIES Stately and Befrothed cassette (Melted Ice Cream, NZ)

ENDURANCE Celestial Governors cassette (Tymbal Tapes)

BRABRABRA  Lagooona 7″ ep (Kitchen Leg, Germany)

DAN MELCHIOR  ‘The Folksinger’ (Swashbuckling Hobo, Australia)

JEN KUTLER  Worth cassette (Never Anything)

Field Recordings from the Sahel cassette (Sahel Sounds)

MONNONE ALONE Cut Knuckle 7” (Lost And Lonesome Recording Co., Australia)

ANDREW BARKER & DANIEL CARTER Polyhedron cassette (Astral Spirits)

YVES MALONE  Aced (2014) cassette (Baked Tapes)

JOHN HOEGBERG  Motion Detecting Songs cassette (Ehse)

CHAOSOPHY  Who Are These People And What Do They Believe In cd (Discordian/Liquen Record, Spain)

ARIAN SHAFIEE A Scarlet Fail  (VDSQ) & Beauty Tuning (Hausu Mountain) 

AKIRA SAKATA & CHIKAMORACHI with MASAHIKO SATOH Proton Pump cd (Family Vineyard) 

LEA BERTUCCI  Metal Aether (NNA)

BIG SUPERMARKET 1800 (Hobbies Galore, Australia)

GARCIA PEOPLES  Cosmic Cash (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)

R.M.F.C. Hive cassette (Slime Street, Australia)  

BIKINI COPS Three 7” (Drunken Sailor, U.K.)

MUYASSAR KURDI & NICHOLAS JOZWIAK Intersections & Variations cassette (Astral Spirts)

P WITS Blonde On Blonde  double cassette (chemical imbalance., Australia)

FOLD Aegean Sea 12” (AUS, UK)

TASHI DORJI & DAVID GRUBBA  Fixed Entrance Derivatives cassette (Sky Lantern)

WET PISS Wet Piss cassette (Dumpster Tapes)

TIM & THE BOYS Growing (Meatspin, Australia)

DINO SPILUTTINI  Forever cassette (No Rent)

NEGATIVE NANCIES You Do You download (CocMuse, New Zealand)

MISSING PAGES  “Long Way Down” 7″ (12XU) 

SUNWATCHERS II & Illegal Moves 12” (both Trouble In Mind)

EYES NINETY Glaucoma Chameleon (Swashbuckling Hobo, Australia) 

PATRICIA KOKETT  Diabel 12” (Knekelhuis, Netherlands)

GEE TEE  Gee Tee cassette (Slime Street, Australia) 

C. WORTH  A Farther Sea cassette (Gertrude Tapes)

OREN AMBARCHI/KONRAD SPRENGER/PHILLIP SOLLMANN  Panama/Suez 12” (Ostgut Ton, Germany)

REX WONDERFUL & THE SILK SHEETS  Ego Death cassette (Tenth Court, Australia)

SARAH DAVACHI Gave In Rest  (Ba Da Bing) & Let Night Come On Bells End The Day (Recital)

PELVI$$  Pelvi$$ cassette (Fuzzy Warbles)

JEFF TOBIAS  Completely Phantom cassette (Baked Tapes)

BILL ORCUTT & CHRIS CORSANO  Brace Up! (Palilalia)

DONKEY BUGS  Ancient Chinese Secrets (Lumpy)

MOUNTAIN MOVERS  Pink Sky (Trouble In Mind) &  New Jam 12″ (C/Site)

MAbH  cinjusti cassette (Tymbal Tapes)

Bad Taste Vol. II - Another Collection Of Sounds From The NZ Underground cassette (chemical imbalance., Australia)  

TERRY I’m Terry  (Upset! The Rhythm, UK)

NYZ  RLD GLD ET AL cassette (Fractal Meat Cuts, UK)

THEE OPEN SEX White Horses (Sophomore Lounge)

DRUNK MUMS  Denim & Leather, Together Forever cassette (Slime Street, Australia)

JONES JONES [OCHS/DRESSER/TARASOV] A Jones In Time Saves Nine download (self-released)

IVAN THE TOLERABLE & FRIENDS Autodidact 10″ (Ack! Ack! Ack!, U.K.) 

DANIEL CARTER / WILLIAM PARKER / MATTHEW SHIPP Seraphic Light cd (AUM Fidelity)

PURPUR SPYTT Nitpick 7″ ep (POUeT! Schallplatten, France)

BLOWDRYER  Blowdryer cassette (self-released)

CHARNEL GROUND  Charnel Ground (12XU)

KAJA DRAKSER / PETTER ELDH / CHRISTIAN LILLINGER  Punkt​.​Vrt​.​Plastik cd (Intakt, Switzerland)

DRY CLEANING Sweet Princess cassette (self-released, U.K.) 

ELKHORN Lion Fish cassette (Eiderdown)

ROMAIN BAUDOIN  Bestiari (Pagans/In Situ, France)

SUNWATCHERS AND EUGENE CHADBOURNE 3 Characters 2 LP (Amish) 

FRANCIS PLAGNE Moss Trumpet (Penultimate Press, U.K. )  

SHITTY LIFE  Switch Off Your Head (self-released, Italy)

SICK LLAMA Stage Poison double cassette (unifactor)

ROCKET 808 “Digital Billboards”/“Mystery Train” 7” (12XU)

JON COLLIN What Is Thunder cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

CONCRETE LAWN Demo cassette (Urge, Australia)

BLANK REALM  Last Seen (Hobbies Galore, Australia)

DJ OVERDOSE  DJ Overdose 12” (L.I.E.S.)

LUDWIG BERGER & VERONIKA EHRENSPERGER  The Capacity Of Things To Act cassette (Dinzu Artefacts)

BRANDY Laugh Track (Monofonus Press)

PETER EVANS/ AGUSTÍ FERNÁNDEZ/BARRY GUY  Free Radicals cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

LES HALLES  Zonda cassette (Not Not Fun)

SAMARA LUBELSKI  Flickers At The Station (Drawing Room) 

PRANA CRAFTER  Bodhi Cheetah's Choice  (Beyond Beyond Is Beyond)

YLAYALI  Pumpkin Patch cassette (self-released)

DEAF WISH  Lithium Zion (Sub Pop)

ROSE THOMAS BANNISTER  Ambition cd (self-released)

MIDDEX No Home (Polytechnic Youth, UK) 

SEI A  Phase EP (Aus Music, U.K.) 

KALI MALONE Cast Of Mind (Hollow Ground, Switzerland) & Organ Dirges 2016-2017 cassette (Ascetic House) 

GERRIT HATCHER Parables For The Tenor cassette (Astral Spirits)

The 1902 Syntropic Seasonal 5 cd-r comp (Wist Rec, Ireland)

The LENTILS  My Pillow Lava (Complete Trilogy)  double cassette (unread)

SCY2E*GLOCHIDS*NURSE BETTY  Weird Ear's Fantastic Voyage (Autumn East Coast Tour) comp (Weird Ear)

the SHIFTERS  Have A Cunning Plan (Trouble In Mind)

CÉCILE CAPOZZO TRIO Sub Rosa cd (Ayler Records, France)

PROJET DE VIE  Vol. #1 EP cassette  ([Equilibre Fragile], France)

JAX DELUCA  Organs In The Wind cassette (ACR, U.K.)

LUCY CLICHÉ Cliché’s Principle (Fleisch, Germany)

JANO DOE( aka KATARÍNA GATIALOVÁ)  Duranzie cassette Genot Centre, Czech Republic)

KOMARE Komare cassette (Round Bale Recordings) 

COLLATE Liminal Concerns (self-released)

AREK GULBENKOGLU  A gift like a hollow vessel (Penultinate Press, UK)

BASIC HOUSE & WANDA GROUP  No Sympathy  (Opal Tapes, U.K.)

MANUEL TROLLER Vanishing Point (three: four, Switzerland)

STEPH RICHARDS/VINNY GOLIA/BERT TURETZKY Trio Music  cd (pfmentum) 

HEART OF SNAKE  Heart Of Snake cassette (Maple Death, U.K.)

SCHWEBEN Sketches Of Plains cassette (Otomatik Muziek, Germany)

GENEVA SKEEN  A Parallel Array Of Horses download (Room40, Australia)

IKUI DOKI  Ikui Doki  (Ayler, France)

CHARLES BARABÉ  De La Fragilité cassette (Astral Spirits)

MIDNIGHT MINES  Invisible Insurrection Of A Million Minds (The Loki Label) & Stations 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone, Sweden) 

DELACAVE  Window Has No Glass (POUeT! Schallplatten, France)

MARY LATTIMORE & MEG BAIRD  Ghost Forests cd (Three Lobed Recordings)

M/M  I Know You Are Thinking I've Said This All Before cassette (Czaska, U.K.)

The ATTACHMENTS  II cassette (self-released)

TYSHAWN SOREY  Pillars 3 cd (Firehouse 12)

JOËLLE LÉANDRE  Strings Garden 3 cd (Fundacja Słuchaj, Poland)

STONE WITCHES  Machine Efficient cassette (Slime Street, Australia)

CARA STACEY & CAMILO ÁNGELES Ceder  (Kit, U.K)

DIRE WOLVES (JUST EXACTLY PERFECT SISTERS BAND) One For The Heads cassette (Baked Tapes) & Earthquake Country cassette (Sky Lantern) & Shootout At The Dildo Factory (Eiderdown) 142

(this is a pic of DIRE WOLVES with their eyes closed)

GEN POP II  7″ ep (Feel It)

ANGLES 3  Parede (Clean Feed, Portugal)

FRANK HURRICANE Holy Mountain Coffee tour cassette (self-released)

CARROM  Prehistories cassette (self-released, Canada)

PARSNIP Feeling Small 7″ (Anti Fade, Australia)

ÁINE O’DWYER / GRAHAM LAMBKIN Green Ways 2 cd (erstwhile)

Longform Editions digital series, particularly: EKIN FIL “Windblow”, MARJA AHTI “Entering A Cloud” and STEAM VENT “Swells”

CLINTON GREEN Setting For The Iliad CD-R (Frustration Jazz, Australia)  

PETER EVANS & BARRY GUY Syllogistic Moments cd (Maya Recordings, Swizterland)

ETRAN DE L’AÏR  No. 1 (Sahel Sounds)

ALIEN NOSEJOB Various Fads & Technological Achievements (Anti Fade, Australia)

J.C. SATÀN Centaur Desire  (Born Bad, France)

NAGUAL & STEFAN CHRISTENSEN Third 7″ (I Dischi Del Barone, Sweden)

EXEK  Ahead Of Two Thoughts (W.25th)  &  A Casual Assembly  12″ (W.25th)

ARUÁN ORTIZ TRIO’s Live in Zurich (Intakt, Switzerland)

MIA DYBERG TRIO Ticket! (Clean Feed, Portugal)

LA DANTA Alpeis Καράκας cassette (Fort Evil Fruit, Ireland)

WEAK SIGNAL LP1 cassette (Reality Delay)

DISTANT STARS The Way Things Work cassette (Detonic, Australia)Field Recordings from the Sahel

MUDHONEY Digital Garbage (Sub Pop)

ROB NOTES & RYAN LEE CROSBY  Modal Improvisations on 34 Strings cassette (Cabin Floor Esoterica)

...all those LOKI LABEL boots...

[morganbelarus]

Over 50 Pilot Whales Found Stranded On Remote Icelandic Beach

Dozens of pilot whales have been found dead on a remote beach in Iceland. The animals were spotted by tourists and helicopter pilot David Schwarzhans during a helicopter sightseeing tour. It’s currently unclear why the whales died.

Describing the “very sad scene”, Schwarzhans told AP that the group counted 50 stranded long-finned pilot whales last Thursday, noting that “there might have been more. Some were already buried in the sand.” The whales were seen on a very secluded beach on western Iceland’s Snaefellsness Peninsula.

–

Long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) are technically a type of large dolphin, measuring about 5.7 meters (18.7 feet) in length and weighing up to 800 kilograms (1,700 pounds). As their name suggests, they have impressively long pectoral fins, unlike short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus), their close relatives. Long-finned pilot whales can be found throughout the Southern Ocean and in the temperate to cold waters of the North Atlantic.

Long-finned pilot whales are very social creatures, normally found in groups of between 200 and 150, but as many as 1,000 individuals have been observed together. Their social nature makes them more likely to strand in large numbers, as pod-mates become trapped together in shallow waters, unwilling to separate. In fact, the species accounts for the largest mass whale stranding ever recorded – 1,000 became beached on the Chatham Islands in 1918.

The causes of mass whale strandings are often unclear. The animals might be sick, disorientated, pursuing prey, or chased into the shallows by a predator. They might also be affected by human factors like the use of naval sonar, which can give certain whale species decompression sickness, aka the bends. Once stuck on the sand, beached whales often die from dehydration, collapse under their own weight, or even drown as the tide begins to rise over their blowholes.

As for the most recent casualties, marine biologist Edda Elísabet Magnúsdóttir told local news outlet RÚV that the whales might have been caught up in the strong tidal currents of the area, prevented from reaching deeper waters by the looming seabed. The conditions may also have impacted their sonar, which they use to navigate the world around them. These factors combined with a falling tide would have left them stranded.

Meanwhile, Ró­bert Arn­ar Stef­áns­son, director of the West Iceland natural history institute, told RÚV that whale strandings in the area have pretty much become an annual event, and experts aren’t sure why. It might be linked to a greater number of whales being present in the area or it could be to do with external factors like climate change, disease, or predation.

The stranding comes just a couple of days after a group of around 50 pilot whales were found beaching themselves on the coast of St Simons Island in Georgia, USA. A team of concerned lifeguards, beachgoers, and wildlife experts worked together to push the animals back into deeper water. Although at least two of the whales sadly died, the majority of the group were witnessed swimming together following the event. Scientists plan to conduct necropsies of the two dead animals to try to work out what happened.

–

Footage of the Georgia whales being pushed back into the water, captured by Dixie V. McCoy

Original Article : HERE ;

Over 50 Pilot Whales Found Stranded On Remote Icelandic Beach was originally posted by MetNews

[shannrussell-blog1]

Nestled just off the western coast of Lombok, the three Gili Islands sit like jewels in the Bali sea. Surrounded by stunning coral and green sea turtles, the islands are really a must-see.

Sadly, when most Australians say they are off to Indonesia for a holiday they are talking about the party/resort island of Bali. For the few that have their travel horizons set a little more zoomed out, the Gili Islands offer something for everyone. It’s also the gateway to the less crowded and gorgeous Lombok. 

How far away is it?

The Gili Islands remain within easy reach for Bali travellers and Lombok explorers alike. It’s 2.5hrs by fast ferry from Bali or 2 hours by minibus followed by a short local ferry hop from Lombok’s Praya Airport. 

I lived there for half a year, and so got to know all three of the islands very well. After 6 months on Gili Air, I was shocked to realise I had encountered just a handful of other Australians. I joked while living there, the sea must contain a swirling vortex that stops Aussies leaving the shores of Bali.

The Gili Islands are easy to reach if travelling to Bali or Lombok. 

Gili Trawangan (AKA Gili T)

Gili Trawangan (Gili T) is the party island. Apparently, it is becoming known as the Ibiza of Southeast Asia, with parties every night. It’s the island of choice for young backpackers seeking sun, sand and cheap Bintang Beer.

Gili Meno

If Gili T is the party island, Gili Meno is at the opposite end of the scale. As it’s the less developed of the 3 islands, it is also the smallest and quietest. We often joked that if you didn’t place a dinner order at one of the few venues by 7:30 pm, you had better like Pringles for dinner. It’s the home to numerous yoga schools and is a perfect location for those wanting to disconnect. Or to just soak up the sun and sand and maybe smash through those books on your Kindle you’ve been meaning to get to.

Meno also boasts some of the best snorkelling in the Gili Islands, with the north of the island home to a huge Green Sea Turtle population.

Gili Meno is the most chilled of the three islands. 

Gili Air

If you were looking for the perfect balance between the other two Islands, Gili Air is that island. Gili Air is perfect for families as the island is quite safe. Kids can ride their bikes or paddle on the shallow protected northern beaches away from the tidal channels of the east and west of the island.

Having two main beach parties a week, five nights for yoga and sunset drinks, not to mention great diving and great food… can you see why it was my home for 6 months?

Gili Air is a mix of fun activities and a relaxed atmosphere. 

Transport

All three of the Gili Islands possess their own micro-culture, with a common quirk of the islands being they are devoid of all motorised land transport. That’s right, no cars or motorbikes. The main modes of transport are either pushbikes or good old foot power. However, for larger items or groups there is the Cidomo or horse cart common to all three islands.

Far from being a tourist gimmick, these carts are vital for moving heavy loads like luggage or scuba tanks around the islands.

There isn’t any motorised transport – just these guys or pushbikes! 

4G and Wi-Fi service

While you can feel like a million miles from anywhere laying in a hammock watching the sunset with Bali’s volcano, Mount Agung, backlit by the setting sun, you can get 4G high-speed mobile phone service almost everywhere! At one stage, I was paying the equivalent of AUD$27 for 42 gigabytes a month. But on the flip side, Wi-Fi is available but barely usable.

Understandably, I rarely used the Wi-Fi and suggest it as more a source of frustration rather than a connection – you’ll be much happier just using the mobile phone network.

The Wi-Fi isn’t the greatest, but you’ll be able to disconnect and relax! 

Accommodation

Each of the islands has great options for accommodation – ranging from hostel dormitories, homestays, hotels through to resort style accommodation. With prices ranging from a couple of bucks per night through to hundreds. The islands live and breath TripAdvisor so that is your best bet for reviews on specific resorts or locations.

I was lucky to snag a home-stay with a shared kitchen, aircon and bathroom for $300AUD a month. If you do stay in a homestay, there is rarely hot water available. It’s the tropics, you just get used to ‘cold’ showers.

I stayed in home-stay accommodation, here’s a snap of my little bungalow. 

Money and payment when you’re there

One of the first thoughts I had, when I was planning my 6-month stay, was, how will I pay for things? Well, credit cards are available for larger purchases such as accommodation and scuba diving. The standard Indonesian 3% surcharge applies to all card purchases.

There are ATM machines available in multiple places across all three islands with bank branches scattered throughout neighbouring Lombok.

You can kick back and relax with a view like this on the islands. 

Food and cuisine on the islands

Unlike Bali & Labuan Bajo (the Komodo Region) the Gili Islands are part of the Muslim adhering area of Indonesia, so you would have to be quite lucky to find a BLT or bacon on the breakfast menu. When you do, it’s often “beef bacon”.

I have to admit I was a bit cheeky food wise. I found a great beachside warung (cafe/food seller) that made, by hand authentic ravioli with tomato sauce (paired with a coke for just $4.00AUD). That was my lunch most days. Dinner consisted of BBQ chicken, fried rice and sambal (local chilli paste) for around $3.00AUD.

While I had limited culinary adventurism, there is gorgeous seafood, bbq street food options through to finer dining on the beach… where the stars twinkle and the palm trees sway. 

A typical lunchtime view for me during my stay. 

Watersports and other activities

The Gili Islands are a watersports playground for parasailing, water skiing, snorkelling to scuba diving. The islands have a ‘pricing agreement’ for scuba diving so the prices are all the same (with a small environmental levy applied on Gili T, this is likely to also spread to the other 2 islands in the future).

I highly recommend one of the group snorkelling tours for the less adventurous water-goers. You will have the chance to see Green Sea Turtles as well as Hawksbill Turtles. A snorkelling visit to the underwater statues off the beach of Gili Meno is also a must-see.

A local turtle I spotted while snorkelling.

Diving

If you do wish to do some diving, there are three options. The first is you could already have your diver’s qualifications. The second is to do a ‘try diving program’ requiring only an hour or so of training then a guided underwater tour of a shallow dive site. Or the final option is to do your dive qualification. This takes only 3 days and at the end, you’ll have a lifelong qualification to explore the underwater world.

All equipment is provided by the dive shops so there is no worry there. I may be biased, but diving on the Gili Islands are the perfect mix of big turtles, deep reefs, a wreck to explore, as well as tiny creatures that never fail to amaze and mystify.

There are so many water activities to do on the islands. 

The Gili Islands really need to be added to your next Indonesian adventure, whether it’s just for a few days to detox from the craziness of Bali’s Denpasar or for a longer disconnect from the big wide world. I hope one day I meet you there!

The post The Gili Islands – There’s More to Indonesia than Bali appeared first on Snowys Blog.

[acrownofblueroses]

Klance Fic Recs- AU Settings Pt II

FANTASY

Mermaids/Sirens Watercast (WIP) by fishwrites Shiro has been a Galra prisoner for over a year; with his flight feathers clipped and unable to fly. Desperate to escape, he jumps overboard while being transported to the capitol on a Galran ship. Lance is a merman who saves him from drowning. Keith thinks Shiro is about to become mermaid dinner. Hunk just wants Lance to stop going to the surface all the time, dammit!

(AU where Avians (winged folk), Galra, humans and merfolk cohabit earth. Shiro and Keith are avian soldiers, Lance is the youngest son of a Queen, Hunk is also a merman and Pidge is still looking for her family.)

Pass Like the Weather by crxzy “What’s it like?” “What’s what like?” “You know, being a mermaid and all.” “It’s very wet.”

AKA- that vaguely sad, slightly angsty, mainly just cute and kinda strange mermaid AU that nobody asked for but me.

Moonset Deep (WIP) by MilkTeaMiku All his life he’d been told to make sure he was never seen – it was what all the children were taught from the moment they were born. Never let a human see you, never fall in love with a human, and most importantly, never kiss one.

For Lance, humans were a mystery. He'd lived beneath the surface of the ocean with his shoal his entire life, and had intended to remain there. He knew the danger humans posed to his kind, and what would happen if he came close to one. That's why, when he found one drowning, his first instinct was to save him.

He'd never been good at following the rules anyway.

To Resist the Siren’s Call (WIP) by leolovesnico Ever since the death of his mother, Lance McClain can't bring himself to love the sea as his father does- who knows what could lurk beneath the surface? With the threat of a war looming over his head, Lance needs to face his face in order to save their country from the Galra. (Fantasy au, mermaid au, voltron secret santa gift 2016)

the sea pronounces something by legendarydesvender “You’re the best we have.”

“Shiro was the best and we all know what happened to him.”

“That’s the thing, Kogane — we don’t know what happened to him, or the Holts, or anyone else who went in there and never returned. There is a good chance you won’t make it back either. But if you don’t give a damn about that, the mission details are in here.”

Keith shrugs. “Well, I’ve got nothing left to lose.”

***

AU where Keith is a sailor and Lance is the siren trying to drown him.

See You Tomorrow by Craptastic He stands frozen as a creature of magnificent beauty swims up to him with a smirk on his lips. The dwindling sunlight catches the creature's iridescent tail causing the colors to alter between shades of blue and green. The creature is a thing of fairy tales with half a body of a human and the other of a fish. The beauty that lays before him was from fairy tales, nothing in reality could be as beautiful.

It has to be a dream.

breathless by zxrysky "You shouldn't go out to the sea at night," their grandmother says. She's in a rocking chair, old and creaky, her withered body settled with a shawl around her shoulders, wrinkled fingers gripping the edges of the arm rest. "Don't risk it."

"Risk what?" Shiro asks, eyes wide. He's fourteen, just a young boy, on the cusp of maturity, arms wrapped around his younger brother as they sit before their grandmother.

His grandmother pauses for a while. "There is danger in the sea."

Going Under by sun_stricken Lance takes a dangerous spill in the ocean and is saved by none other than a mermaid with weird hair.

Or: a mermaid keith au, with not even gratuitous amounts of surfing sorry my bad

Seafoam Castles (WIP) by milkdromedas Lance has what one may be able to call a near-death, close-encounter experience with a mer...person.

No, really.

Elemental Powers (a la Avatar Last Airbender ish) Foundations by needchocolatenow When Keith met Lance, it was over a briny sea.

Soulmates I Will Follow by jamwrites Keith and Lance are bound by their soulmate tattoos, bound to meet again and again with each new new life. When lives hang in the balance, that bond will be sorely tested.

An explosion of golden pleasure and joy and love for Keith rushed through Lance’s body like a tidal wave, every bit as strong as when the flower had first bloomed. His legs suddenly were gooey; it was everything he could do not to crumple to the floor.

“Okay, okay,” Lance said, panting a little. “Sorry.”

But he was smiling while he said it, because now he wanted nothing more than to be close to Keith, and he could tell Keith wanted the same.

You don’t have to say “I love you”, to say I love you by haarucchii soul mate noun noun: soulmate a person ideally suited to another as a close friend or romantic partner.-In which Lance's soulmate, isn't really his.

A Shove Towards Love by General_Button A simple rescue mission turns into chaos when the species on the planet Novaria take an interest in the lives of two of its paladins.

In It To Win It by Lucy_Claire One of two things was happening right now, either Lance was having a heart attack on of the biggest day of his life, or he had just laid eyes on his Soulmate. _______

Competitive swimmer Lance McClain feels his Timer counting down right when he’s about to jump in the water and finish up his race. He’s faced with two choices in this moment: Continue the race and miss meeting his Soulmate at their fateful time or abandon his life’s work for someone he never met.Lance makes his choice and has to suffer the consequence of never getting back what he missed out on. Or does he?

Love and Other Questions (WIP) by squirenonny One week after news of the Kerberos disaster broke, Pidge receives a new Mark--proof that Matt is still alive. She breaks into the Garrison to find him, only to find herself caught up in the fight for the fate of the universe.Keith keeps his arms covered so he doesn't have to watch Shiro's scars compounding on his skin--but doing so means cutting off contact with his romantic soulmate, who greets him each morning with a new (and terrible) pickup line.

Shiro and Matt thought they were the luckiest people alive when they found out they were going to Kerberos together. But Shiro hasn't seen Matt's untidy scrawl on his arm in almost a year, and he has no idea if his soulmate is even still alive.

[Canonverse Soulmate AU with romantic and platonic soulmates (and some gray areas in between)]

daytime star by draconicwyvern Keith's neighbor across the balcony is annoying. And not just annoying — Lance is get-on-your-nerves, make-you-want-to-punch-a-wall annoying. So when Lance announces he's moving to Colorado, Keith finally feels as if the world is back to being just him and the night stars.

But things don't go as planned: the paper airplanes, the scent of coffee at 1:00 a.m., the words inscribed on Keith's neck, and the slow curl of a blue flame echoing in his chest. And maybe, just maybe —

— stars do exist in the day.

in between suns by drowninships Lance thinks he would always remember Keith like this; he would always remember the glow of his eyes, the fall of his hair, and the rhythm of his laugh, the callouses of his hands.

When he sleeps, it's all he sees. In his dreams, he would never forget.It's just that — every time he wakes, he doesn't remember a thing.

--

What do you do when you meet your soulmate in your dreams but can't remember anything when you wake up? What happens when you meet them and suddenly, the dreams stop?

(Soulmate AU!!!!!)

Fragmented by darkgaaraluver In a world of soulmates, Lance drew the short straw. The indelible marks forever marked him inferior to his soulmate, and the people around him, what made it even worse were the first words that pass Keith's lips...

The Marks We Make (WIP) by wittyy_name Lance McClain constantly dreams of the day he’ll finally meet his mysterious soulmate. They don’t say much, if anything at all, but they leave him with gorgeous paintings temporarily tattooing his skin. It’s not exactly the situation he hoped for, but when he feels the connection between them, he can’t bring himself to resent them. As much as he wishes his soulmate would just talk to him, he’s resigned himself to being patient. In the meantime, he has a loving family and good friends to help him get by.

Keith Kogane dreads the day he’ll finally meet his obnoxious soulmate. He’s just an art student who’s struggling to find his place in the world. There’s so much he hasn’t been able to control in his life, and the thought of having a soulmate, just another thing in his life which he also has no control over yet can’t do anything about, is a little terrifying. So he ignores the words that occasionally appear on his skin. He has other things to focus on: like being a new student at a big university where his childhood friend and step-brother go.

Witches Forget Me Not (WIP) by TheHomestuckWhovian There Keith was, surrounded by all his friends, a picture of total contentment. At least, he would be, if something weren't missing.

Keith agrees to test a spell for his brother's best friend and discovers a vaguely familiar boy who no one can remember. What follows is a series of magical shenanigans that will either be tragic or entertaining as hell.

The Quilted Lion (WIP) by geewillikers Keith is stuck in New York City barely making ends meet so he and Pidge can live in a decent part of the city close to her university. They scrape by on the illegal winnings Keith makes in street boxing matches, but his manager, Shiro, decides that it's time Keith gets a side job. He's whisked into The Quilted Lion café owned by the woman Shiro's been fawning over for over a year, only to find that he has more to worry about than his lack of magic and cooking skills-

-There's a waiter at The Quilted Lion who is entirely Keith's cup of tea.

Magic Me Some Love by KaSaPe When Shiro's arm gets cut off while he is trying to protect Keith, Keith doesn't see any way to save his life but to break into the Galra's castle and steal some of their magical medicine. But nothing goes as planned and when he exits the castle empty handed he is cursed to look like a Galra until he accepts his halfbreed status. He is convinced that he has condemned Shiro to death - and then he learns of a magician that might be able to help just in time.

Meanwhile Lance didn't expect a Galra to turn up at his door, demanding him to save his half dead (human?!) friend. And he certainly didn't expect to fall in love with him either.

throw fairy dust at me by zxrysky "Are you going to do the telepathic thing?" Lance asks, standing up and dusting stray hairs off his shirt. "Where you get into my mind which, cough, is my private space?"Blue opens an eye. "Yes."

Okay, Lance isn't going to argue with that. If he were a lazy cat, he'd probably do the same. But for now, he's going to go check out some clubs, make some friends, maybe hang out with some cute girls, and Lance is a Man with A Plan.He's going to enjoy himself.

-=-

Lance is enrolled into Altean Castle. It's filled with magic.

throwing shadows by ilgaksu “Dude,” Lance says, “It’s not my fault he does this!”

“Dude,” Hunk says, and leaves it at that.

What a Cat-Astrophy by annoyedraccoon In an unlucky turn of events, Keith gets cursed and transformed into a cat. To make his life even more miserable, one college kid finds him and decides to adopt him. And worst of all, that kid was Lance.

We’ll Stir the Stars (WIP) by Latios Lance is somewhat of a talent in a family full of sea witches; His usual days consist of practicing his element, flirting with mermaids, and helping his mother brew potions for the local myths around the island. Finding an injured and stubborn dragon named Keith isn't part of that routine, but definitely changes it—and sends him traveling across the sea to recover the dragon's one and only family who was captured by hunters.

Lance only hopes they won't bite each other's heads' off before they even get there.

Dragons He Who Fights Monsters by magisterpavus In a world where monstrous dragons terrorize humanity daily, the Garrison trains valiant Knights to slay the evil beasts and defend Earth. But when Knight cadet Lance Espinosa is kidnapped by a strange red dragon who kills its own kind, certain truths are revealed...and so are the true monsters.

Incubi Sure sounded good at the time by GemmaRose Keith believes in a lot of things, cryptids and aliens and conspiracy theories among them. What he does not believe in, however, are ghosts and curses and demons. Those are as fake as fairy tales. Except for the part where they're really, really not.

Crossposted from the Voltron kink meme.

Vampires one more off key anthem (let your teeth sink in) by maryams Keith sucks at being a vampire and Lance is going to hell. Nothing strange here.

or, supernatural boyfriends go shopping and are confounded by The Gayness™.

Ghosts The Quiet (WIP) by MilkTeaMiku Does he not realise he's dead?

Keith can see ghosts. As a part of his Garrison training, he's sent to a hospital to do one year of medical clerkship - it's there that he meets a charmingly irritating ghost who definitely needs to learn what boundaries are.

your favorite ghosts and planets by xShieru In hindsight, an asthma attack in the middle of the day wasn’t such a terrible way to give up the ghost.

Except this isn't how he imagined afterlife.

An AU about being dead.

[find-your-rp-partner]

PLEASE PLAY MERFOLK WITH ME :) >>>><

SETTING:

The world is mostly sea. Humans live on island chains far apart in the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet, and share their world with the people of the ocean. How they relate to each other largely depends on which area they’re in.

B.U (Before Unity) Setting - NORTH - In the cold north, the islands tend to be small, and most food comes from the sea. This, combined with the harsh weather, makes for tough, pragmatic humans, who tend to class anything moving out of the ocean as ‘fish’ and therefore edible, regardless of sentience.

The merfolk do not appreciate this, and tend to try and return the favour, although since they generally don’t like the taste of land-mammal unless there is little else to eat, they usually just drown them and leave them for the scavengers. In overfished areas, merfolk can resort to cannibalism and maneating, with the latter much more preferable than the former.

Coldwater merfolk use stone weapons and tools, and are literate in their own language – usually carving on stone or soft tablets made by mixing fish oil and sand. Few ever bother to try and learn any human language – they’re too busy ripping nets or overturning boats to get to crying merpups.

Northern mer give birth to one or two young each, and the whole pod will care for them for years until full adulthood, providing food and teaching life skills like hunting, weapon and tool construction and use.

They tend to be largely cetacean or shark-like in design, and their skin always matches from tail to nose. At their most showy they have barbed fins and glittering silver scales. They often wear belts with pouches and scabbards, and they can change genders depending on the population demand.

There are a couple of islands where the merfolk and the humans work together, but it’s a grim, wary allegiance. Any human that falls overboard and any mer that gets caught in the nets will still be killed if they can’t save themselves fast enough.

There are soft-hearted humans up here, of course, mostly scientists and conservationists. But captured northern mer in tanks, especially adults, tend to try and kill themselves or escape rather than stay in captivity, even when badly injured. Few humans from this end of the world know enough northern mermish to explain themselves.

Some northern mer have magic, mostly restricted to vague precognition and charms to call prey, but it’s largely up to the shamans of any given pod (usually a group of between six and twenty individuals, adults, adolescents, and young) to do the more impressive stuff. It’s usually their fault when sailors jump ship to drown themselves or a room full of marine zoologists, having captured one, go crazy and murder each other.

They tend to attribute their talents to their 'father’, Leviathan. No one knows if he actually exists or once did some time ago before the humans, but the merfolk say that he sleeps at the bottom of the ocean, guarded by the strangest and most monstrous of their kin, the deep-downers, the anglerfish and the gulper eels and the goblin shark-type mer.

The men of the north treat the mer of the north as terrifying creatures no more knowable than a hurricane or a tidal wave, but the merfolk of the bays and the relatively shallow coastal waters say much the same about deep-downers. They’re considered much the same as demons and bad spirits in human culture, alien and vicious, always hungry and a very good reason not to go into open water at night. Some of them follow their prey up in the darkness, and anything at all is food.

Mer that will fearlessly kill or drown humans without care for bullet or harpoon are stark-terrified of deep-downers, almost superstitiously so.

SOUTH – In the south, where both the water and the weather is warm and some of the islands are large enough to easily support crops and livestock, the relationship between the children of the land and the sea is very different. The behaviour of the seadwellers themselves is very different, as is their appearance.

For as long as anyone can remember in these regions, islander humans and merfolk of the reef and tropical shallows are usually friendly to each other. On some islands, it’s considered very lucky to have a lifelong friendship between a human and a mer, so often about once a year at the first spring tide, newly weaned merpups and human toddlers will be gently introduced by their parents in the shallows of the beach.

Nearly everyone is bilingual, and while southern mer have lost much of the need for their own writings, a lot of them can read land-basic due to having been taught by their humans.

It’s useful to have a friend who’ll save you if a storm washes you up high and dry on the land, or will keep you from drowning if a riptide carries you away. Human medicine is also more advanced than mermish, and it’s much easier to keep a southern mer in a tank if he knows you can get him well again.

Merfolk and humans often trade with each other – some types of southern mer have gained a taste for land-meat, so will happily swap a few legs of lamb for a string of still-struggling reef fish, and humans usually come to them if they need pearls or coral or large shells for jewellery.

As a result, southern mer actually have better weapons and knowledge of human intelligence and behaviour, although much less motivation to use it against them. Occasionally a heartbroken mer might drown their human friend for having chosen the land too much over the sea, but this is treated as a tragedy for both parties, and a symptom of insanity.

Such incidents don’t really happen more than once a generation, and are usually told as cautionary tales by the parents of both species. Merfolk have the same legal rights as men, and crimes against/by them are treated the same way as with humans.

Mer/human sexual relationships are not taboo, but since these mer can’t shapeshift except in extraordinary circumstances and are as unsuited for long periods on the land as whales and dolphins, as well as the fact that they’re simply not genetically compatible enough for hybridization, serious partnerships are not recommended. Usually it begins and ends with teenage experimentation, and anything more than that is highly unusual.

Jealousy of your best friend’s new mate/girlfriend/boyfriend is not uncommon, but acting on it without good reason is VERY frowned upon.

In appearance, southern mer are much more brightly coloured and more piscine than their northern or open-ocean kin, and tend to follow similar shapes and patterns to the reef fish and other species common to the areas they live in. Sirenia (dugong and manatee) and seahorse mer can be found on seagrass plains and near coastal mangrove forests, while cetacean mer, usually limited to dolphin and porpoise types in warm waters, can be found in slightly deeper water.

They’re more careless and happy-go-lucky on the whole, too. While northern mer stick close together in pods, the only time you’re likely to see more than one southerner, outside festival season, is if they’re a small family group – a mother and young, or a mated pair. Southerners don’t mate for life, although they can stay together for several years at a time.

Pups are usually born in twos or threes, and cared for by the mother or both parents, depending on the father’s personal temperament. A pregnant female mer or a particularly hungry adult or preadult of either gender may hunt and eat pups that aren’t theirs, not to mention the usual predators like sharks and toothed whales, so any lost children are advised to stay in the shallowest water they can and wait for an adult they recognise, whether they’re merfolk or human.

There is evidence that southern mer were once much more advanced even than their northern relatives – ruined cities and towers underwater, filled with carvings and frescos, old weapons handed down through matrilineal lines that are far more advanced than their age belies.

But whatever happened, southerners lost that, and only humans who study ancient merscript have any interest in the distant past. The brightly coloured denizens of the shallow water are very much people of the present; a common mermish saying translates as 'If you keep looking at the past, you’ll hurt yourself backing into the future’ – aka, it doesn’t do to dwell on things that happened long ago.

Most southern coastal mer are just as scared of open-ocean mer as they are of deep-downers, but since the latter are much more rarely seen than in the north (aka, about once a century) and southerners don’t write things down, they’re considered wraiths, bad dreams and boogeymen of fiction to scare pups with.

P.U (Post-Unity) Setting:

Set several decades at least after the above setting, during which a group of southern humans travelled north and worked with the scientists and conservationists there to bring a mutual end to the conflict between merfolk and men. It’s not perfect, but now that the northerners have accepted imported food from the south, it’s illegal to hunt and kill any mer.

The adults of either species are not yet at the point where they’ve forgotten the sins and horrors of the past, but the younger generation are definitely embracing the change and generally eager to learn about each other and make friends.

Northern mer, particularly those already interested in writing and carving, tend to be fascinated by the ruins in the south, and while they can’t physically survive in water that warm, waterproofed photographs and transcriptions cross-referenced with existing shamanistic knowledge is already shedding light on the distant past.

Some northern humans, particularly younger ones, move south altogether and often suffer culture shock and guilt with how vastly differently merfolk and menfolk treat each other down there.

-----

SO IF YOU'VE MADE IT THROUGH ALL THAT, WELCOME!

Hiya, my name's Mal and I'm a transgender dude living in the UK. (That's GMT time, folks.) I've been desperate for someone to look at and like this setting of mine as of late - it's an old one, I've had it going years, and I'm aching to find someone interested in thinking up some plots with me! Some classics I enjoy -

- Pre-Unity, a northern human and a northern mer are washed up and isolated on a tiny island and have to work together if they are to survive. (Favourite themes - language barriers, uncanny valley, alien POV, and foes to friends.)

- Post Unity, a northern teenage human and an adolescent mer start to make friends among all the mistrust and hatred left over from the decades of war and abuse.

- A southern inlander or a northern traveller come to a southern island in time for the Spring Festival (when young merpups are matched with human toddlers) and learn a lot about different cultures and lives.

- Or hell, just a beach bum and a southern mer making friends, that could be fun as well XDD

I know a lot of people are interested in the ruins and I am too, don't worry, but that one's a bit overplayed for me at the moment so I want to just let it lie. Oh, and to be clear about the non-human merfolk I like best, here are my notes for their natural history :3

If any of that remotely interested you, please drop me a line on:

My skype: lilacsofthedead (please tell me where and why you found my handle; I have issues with spambots and don't add automatically.)

Or my email: bastloki@gmail.com

I RP best via gdocs (ideal) or email, but I LOVE talking to people over IM. Please please please come and chat to me, even if you're not overly interested in actually RPing this setting and just want to hear more about it :D

Good Hunting!

[fyrapartnersearch]

PLAY MERFOLK WITH ME :D>>>< (see i got a tail and everything :P )

SETTING:

The world is mostly sea. Humans live on island chains far apart in the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet, and share their world with the people of the ocean. How they relate to each other largely depends on which area they’re in.

B.U (Before Unity) Setting - NORTH - In the cold north, the islands tend to be small, and most food comes from the sea. This, combined with the harsh weather, makes for tough, pragmatic humans, who tend to class anything moving out of the ocean as ‘fish’ and therefore edible, regardless of sentience.

The merfolk do not appreciate this, and tend to try and return the favour, although since they generally don’t like the taste of land-mammal unless there is little else to eat, they usually just drown them and leave them for the scavengers. In overfished areas, merfolk can resort to cannibalism and maneating, with the latter much more preferable than the former.

Coldwater merfolk use stone weapons and tools, and are literate in their own language – usually carving on stone or soft tablets made by mixing fish oil and sand. Few ever bother to try and learn any human language – they’re too busy ripping nets or overturning boats to get to crying merpups.

Northern mer give birth to one or two young each, and the whole pod will care for them for years until full adulthood, providing food and teaching life skills like hunting, weapon and tool construction and use.

They tend to be largely cetacean or shark-like in design, and their skin always matches from tail to nose. At their most showy they have barbed fins and glittering silver scales. They often wear belts with pouches and scabbards, and they can change genders depending on the population demand.

There are a couple of islands where the merfolk and the humans work together, but it’s a grim, wary allegiance. Any human that falls overboard and any mer that gets caught in the nets will still be killed if they can’t save themselves fast enough.

There are soft-hearted humans up here, of course, mostly scientists and conservationists. But captured northern mer in tanks, especially adults, tend to try and kill themselves or escape rather than stay in captivity, even when badly injured. Few humans from this end of the world know enough northern mermish to explain themselves.

Some northern mer have magic, mostly restricted to vague precognition and charms to call prey, but it’s largely up to the shamans of any given pod (usually a group of between six and twenty individuals, adults, adolescents, and young) to do the more impressive stuff. It’s usually their fault when sailors jump ship to drown themselves or a room full of marine zoologists, having captured one, go crazy and murder each other.

They tend to attribute their talents to their 'father’, Leviathan. No one knows if he actually exists or once did some time ago before the humans, but the merfolk say that he sleeps at the bottom of the ocean, guarded by the strangest and most monstrous of their kin, the deep-downers, the anglerfish and the gulper eels and the goblin shark-type mer.

The men of the north treat the mer of the north as terrifying creatures no more knowable than a hurricane or a tidal wave, but the merfolk of the bays and the relatively shallow coastal waters say much the same about deep-downers. They’re considered much the same as demons and bad spirits in human culture, alien and vicious, always hungry and a very good reason not to go into open water at night. Some of them follow their prey up in the darkness, and anything at all is food.

Mer that will fearlessly kill or drown humans without care for bullet or harpoon are stark-terrified of deep-downers, almost superstitiously so.

SOUTH – In the south, where both the water and the weather is warm and some of the islands are large enough to easily support crops and livestock, the relationship between the children of the land and the sea is very different. The behaviour of the seadwellers themselves is very different, as is their appearance.

For as long as anyone can remember in these regions, islander humans and merfolk of the reef and tropical shallows are usually friendly to each other. On some islands, it’s considered very lucky to have a lifelong friendship between a human and a mer, so often about once a year at the first spring tide, newly weaned merpups and human toddlers will be gently introduced by their parents in the shallows of the beach.

Nearly everyone is bilingual, and while southern mer have lost much of the need for their own writings, a lot of them can read land-basic due to having been taught by their humans.

It’s useful to have a friend who’ll save you if a storm washes you up high and dry on the land, or will keep you from drowning if a riptide carries you away. Human medicine is also more advanced than mermish, and it’s much easier to keep a southern mer in a tank if he knows you can get him well again.

Merfolk and humans often trade with each other – some types of southern mer have gained a taste for land-meat, so will happily swap a few legs of lamb for a string of still-struggling reef fish, and humans usually come to them if they need pearls or coral or large shells for jewellery.

As a result, southern mer actually have better weapons and knowledge of human intelligence and behaviour, although much less motivation to use it against them. Occasionally a heartbroken mer might drown their human friend for having chosen the land too much over the sea, but this is treated as a tragedy for both parties, and a symptom of insanity.

Such incidents don’t really happen more than once a generation, and are usually told as cautionary tales by the parents of both species. Merfolk have the same legal rights as men, and crimes against/by them are treated the same way as with humans.

Mer/human sexual relationships are not taboo, but since these mer can’t shapeshift except in extraordinary circumstances and are as unsuited for long periods on the land as whales and dolphins, as well as the fact that they’re simply not genetically compatible enough for hybridization, serious partnerships are not recommended. Usually it begins and ends with teenage experimentation, and anything more than that is highly unusual.

Jealousy of your best friend’s new mate/girlfriend/boyfriend is not uncommon, but acting on it without good reason is VERY frowned upon.

In appearance, southern mer are much more brightly coloured and more piscine than their northern or open-ocean kin, and tend to follow similar shapes and patterns to the reef fish and other species common to the areas they live in. Sirenia (dugong and manatee) and seahorse mer can be found on seagrass plains and near coastal mangrove forests, while cetacean mer, usually limited to dolphin and porpoise types in warm waters, can be found in slightly deeper water.

They’re more careless and happy-go-lucky on the whole, too. While northern mer stick close together in pods, the only time you’re likely to see more than one southerner, outside festival season, is if they’re a small family group – a mother and young, or a mated pair. Southerners don’t mate for life, although they can stay together for several years at a time.

Pups are usually born in twos or threes, and cared for by the mother or both parents, depending on the father’s personal temperament. A pregnant female mer or a particularly hungry adult or preadult of either gender may hunt and eat pups that aren’t theirs, not to mention the usual predators like sharks and toothed whales, so any lost children are advised to stay in the shallowest water they can and wait for an adult they recognise, whether they’re merfolk or human.

There is evidence that southern mer were once much more advanced even than their northern relatives – ruined cities and towers underwater, filled with carvings and frescos, old weapons handed down through matrilineal lines that are far more advanced than their age belies.

But whatever happened, southerners lost that, and only humans who study ancient merscript have any interest in the distant past. The brightly coloured denizens of the shallow water are very much people of the present; a common mermish saying translates as 'If you keep looking at the past, you’ll hurt yourself backing into the future’ – aka, it doesn’t do to dwell on things that happened long ago.

Most southern coastal mer are just as scared of open-ocean mer as they are of deep-downers, but since the latter are much more rarely seen than in the north (aka, about once a century) and southerners don’t write things down, they’re considered wraiths, bad dreams and boogeymen of fiction to scare pups with.

P.U (Post-Unity) Setting:

Set several decades at least after the above setting, during which a group of southern humans travelled north and worked with the scientists and conservationists there to bring a mutual end to the conflict between merfolk and men. It’s not perfect, but now that the northerners have accepted imported food from the south, it’s illegal to hunt and kill any mer.

The adults of either species are not yet at the point where they’ve forgotten the sins and horrors of the past, but the younger generation are definitely embracing the change and generally eager to learn about each other and make friends.

Northern mer, particularly those already interested in writing and carving, tend to be fascinated by the ruins in the south, and while they can’t physically survive in water that warm, waterproofed photographs and transcriptions cross-referenced with existing shamanistic knowledge is already shedding light on the distant past.

Some northern humans, particularly younger ones, move south altogether and often suffer culture shock and guilt with how vastly differently merfolk and menfolk treat each other down there.

-----

SO IF YOU'VE MADE IT THROUGH ALL THAT, WELCOME!

Hiya, my name's Mal and I'm a transgender dude living in the UK. (That's GMT time, folks.) I've been desperate for someone to look at and like this setting of mine as of late - it's an old one, I've had it going years, and I'm aching to find someone interested in thinking up some plots with me! Some classics I enjoy -

- Pre-Unity, a northern human and a northern mer are washed up and isolated on a tiny island and have to work together if they are to survive. (Favourite themes - language barriers, uncanny valley, alien POV, and foes to friends.)

- Post Unity, a northern teenage human and an adolescent mer start to make friends among all the mistrust and hatred left over from the decades of war and abuse.

- A southern inlander or a northern traveller come to a southern island in time for the Spring Festival (when young merpups are matched with human toddlers) and learn a lot about different cultures and lives.

- Or hell, just a beach bum and a southern mer making friends, that could be fun as well XDD

I know a lot of people are interested in the ruins and I am too, don't worry, but that one's a bit overplayed for me at the moment so I want to just let it lie. Oh, and to be clear about the non-human merfolk I like best, here are my notes for their natural history :3

If any of that remotely interested you, please drop me a line on:

My skype: lilacsofthedead (please tell me where and why you found my handle; I have issues with spambots and don't add automatically.)

Or my email: bastloki@gmail.com

I RP best via gdocs (ideal) or email, but I LOVE talking to people over IM. Please please please come and chat to me, even if you're not overly interested in actually RPing this setting and just want to hear more about it :D

Good Hunting!