#also feat. a lavender marriage which i love with all of my heart

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

so I have a story for the 24 hours novel challenge

GOOD news it is something that definitely has enough plot to make 50k in a relatively short time

BAD news is it's.... another new wip....

[lightsaroundyourvanity]

Bumbleby Big Bang: Nov 18-22

it’s been a crazy two weeks guys but sadly.......... the bumbleby big bang has come to an end (for 2020 at least!!) -- and WHEW. what an incredible ride. you guys have blown me away with your talent, with your enthusiasm, with your hearts. I never expected this little event to grow so big and so beautiful and like. wow. rock stars, every one of you. I can’t wait for next year!! 💕💕💕

Nov 6-9: Here 

Nov 10-13: Here

Nov 14-17: Here

The Festival of Fauna

fic by @dazzleyourmindseye

art by @askjar

Eager to share a piece of her culture with her team, Blake invites Yang, Ruby and Weiss to a festival on Menagerie - a night of dancing, bonfires, and celebration of faunus heritage. Afraid of moving too fast and fracturing their newfound romantic relationship, Yang has been struggling to reign in her intense feelings for Blake – both physical and emotional. Blake is unsure of how to help her girlfriend loosen up – but a night of romance by the sea and under the stars just might do it.

By The Stars

fic by @letsseethroughdaphneblue

art by @m-lahulia

Everyone’s looking for something on the Remnant Cross-Continental Trail. Hiking from one end of Sanus to the other is no small feat. Most seek adventure, some go looking for themselves. Blake knows she’s looking for the latter, while Yang has convinced herself adventure is all she’s after. Over what feels like the longest and shortest months of their lives they confront past demons and admit to harsh truths. They start to find themselves in the trail and in each other along the way.

Dance Partners

fic by @ginalcelah

art by triggerman_art

My entry for the 2020 Bumbleby Big Bang! A canon-compliant "what if," set in Volume 7 and following Yang and Blake as they make the jump into their first date. It's a long night as they dance around accepting their love for each other, while their friends all reflect on how far they've come...and how far they may yet go.

While this is a stand alone piece, I also intentionally wrote parts of it to call back to an older Bumbleby fic of mine. I won't drop the story name, but if you've read it, then maybe this will read as somewhat of a sequel. If you haven't read it, don't worry! I specifically made sure this story stands on its own.

Flight

fic by @pugoata

art by @sunnyteea

art by @6iirls

AU: Blake is disillusioned: with her career in the White Fang Ballet, with her oppressive boyfriend and ballet master, and her life in general. A chance visit to the Shattered Moon Circus, however, introduces her to trapeze artist and aerial dancer Yang, who offers to teach Blake how to fly. As she learns to let go and trust in the people who catch her, she falls in more ways than one when it comes to Yang.

“Blake,” Sienna says, calmly. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”

And maybe she has. After all, Blake can't just run away and join the circus.

Immolate My Devotion

fic by @sleebyswords

art by @celestialstariart

As the daughter of a Count to a nation of Faunus citizens, Blake Belladonna has to deal with blurry memories from a past life and finding an arranged marriage to protect her people from harm as their country’s King has been violently replaced and they are swept into an empire against their will.

Yang Xiao Long appears to be the only option Blake has left, but there’s something about her inky black hair and ferocious red eyes that seem unnatural on her. Yang is feared by almost everyone, but the more Blake learns about her new wife, the more familiar she becomes.

And why does Blake dream of golden hair and lavender eyes?

when i dream of dying i never feel so loved

fic by @thecousinsdangereux

art by @saigamiproject

Yang dies. She wakes up. She fights. She dies. The world stays the same, the situations barely change. Yang wakes up, she fights, she dies. She also falls in love — one repeated day at a time — with the one woman on Remnant who could possibly understand, even if her memories of Yang are erased with each reset. (Yang gets used to the dying, not so much the look in Blake’s eyes that marks her as a stranger.)

take it from your grave

fic by @twelveclara

art by @corvophobia

I’ll never leave you, even if it’s me. Yang makes a promise in spite of fate; fate makes her regret it.

Eight teenagers run away from home, bound by a duty to return for a ritual in which one of their lives will be traded for the rest of the world’s peace. At least, that’s what they’ve been led to believe since birth: Be strong, be smart, and be alone. If you are to die, it is an honor.

Or maybe it’s a lie.

Eight teenagers run away from home, and upon returning nine years later, they’ve broken a few too many rules to go quietly.

(Blake thought she was seeing things, then. Thought she loved a girl so much she made her a god, mythologized her, created a folktale so gorgeous and enormous it’d surpass the one they actually lived in. Now she knows she wasn’t.)

Eternity

fic by ace_hlnwst

art by @generalxiaolong

Yang Xiao Long is a captain in Vale's army. King James Ironwood is sending her on a dangerous mission after discovery of Yang's betrayal. An immortal beast lays in wait for Yang as she attempts to rescue missing people from the kingdom, rumoured to have settled in the middle of the forest under no rule. The more Yang learns about Vale and King Ironwood, the more she wonders if the missing people had the right idea, immortal beast or no.

From The Heart

fic by @softlighter

art by @yourfriendlele

Yang Xiao Long has seen it all at Patchwork Bakery. Engagements, graduations, birthdays, she’s baked a cake for it all. At least until she gets an order to celebrate the breaking off of an engagement. When she delivers the cake to a certain Faunus, she has no idea how her life will be forever changed. But life isn’t a recipe to follow step by step, and sometimes life requires baking from the heart.

[atamascolily]

Episode Review - Sinbad 1x01, “The Return of Sinbad, Part One”

In which there is much early installment weirdness, we meet most of our main cast for the season, there are some historical inaccuracies concerning fruit, and a lot of unfortunate fashion choices. Also, Firouz's workshop is the best, Rongar is a total badass, and Sinbad tries and fails to con his way out of trouble.

This is the first episode of the series, though a title like "Return of Sinbad" makes it sound like this is the season two opening -  but I digress.

I actually saw this episode when it aired as a re-run - my first episode was 1x08, "The Ties That Bind," - which is probably for the best, because Maeve is not in this episode at all, and I don't know if I would have been excited about this show without her. Also, the aforementioned early installment weirdness had more or less settled out by that point in the season.

(All images from Far Far Away.)

We open in a heavily photoshopped version of Baghdad, but don't worry, you'll see this image again!

This being a fantasy version of the Middle East, of course there are belly-dancers. Just so you know the '90s camp you are getting into here.

The camera spends a full minute panning over the marketplace, just to set up the scene before anything happens.

...Finally, we zoom in on our hero, Sinbad, trying to steal a loaf of bread from a vendor who threatens him at knifepoint.

Sinbad enlists a random cute dog to get some sympathy, but no luck. He does, however, attract the attention of the grand vizier, Admir, who is out looking for a wedding present for the prince of Baghdad's upcoming marriage.

There's some talking dog ventriloquism, and Admir is intrigued enough to buy the dog off from Sinbad. Neither Admir (who looks like a lizard) or the prince (dressed entirely in lavender) are amused at being tricked, or at Sinbad's attempts at witty political commentary.

Naturally, a chase scene ensues. Good thing the camera spent so much time foreshadowing this in the opening of the episode! Sinbad climbs on people and things, dodges guards and spears, backflips for no apparent reason, and walks a tightrope! Exciting stuff.

Somehow he manages to crash-land into the caliph's palace, where the ladies are happy to see him.

Of course, he doesn't get to enjoy it for very long before getting hauled into the jail for a few hours before he's executed as part of the wedding entertainment. But there's someone who's really happy to see him...

God, I love the look of pure joy on Sinbad's face here.

It's Sinbad's older brother Doubar, who is chained to the wall - but strong enough that he breaks his chains and races over to Sinbad! This is such an awesome moment we're going to see this in the credits forever.

They embrace and much needed backstory is exchanged. It's a lot, and complicated, so bear with me for a second while I fill you in:

Sinbad, a wealthy merchant, went down with his ship two years ago, and he woke up on a beach with no memory of what happened in the interim and a mysterious rainbow bracelet on one wrist (that his fellow inmates want to steal). Sinbad made his way back to Baghdad, but his house and property has been confiscated in his absence. Meanwhile, Doubar is in prison for a tussle with 20 of the prince's guards, and raging about how the caliph has withdrawn in grief after his wife died while his son Prince Cassib has been running amuck banning magic (including their wizard friend/guardian and the prince's tutor Master Dim-Dim) unless  bribed to look the other way.

(Yeah, that was a lot. Still with me? Whew.)

Meanwhile, Doubar's feat of strength ripped a hole in the wall of the jail and in the background, all of the other prisoners are climbing through the hole and escaping until guards come to stop them, and Sinbad and Doubar just chatter on, totally oblivious to all the drama behind them. I love this. 

Also, we meet Doubar's friend Mustapha, whose hobby is to walk up to people with a single demand: "Say something about my mother". When they oblige, with an insult, he punches them in the face and moves on. This guy, however, compliments Mustapha's mom and gets a reprieve.

Mustapha is presented as a "good guy," but with his mom issues and his tendency to try to beat up people who can't fight back, I am not really a fan. But that's okay, he's not in the opening credits, so how important can he be?

Mustapha is excited by the prospect of sailing with Sinbad, except that Sinbad's scheduled to be executed this afternoon. Sinbad vows to think of something.

Cut to the Caliph's throne room. This woman looks familiar, but I have no idea who she is. Also, those outfits (or lack thereof)... yeah. 

Here's Prince Cassib's betrothed, Princess Adeenah, just chilling. She seems like a decent enough person, especially compared to her asshole betrothed, except she has no lines and so we never find out anything about her personality one way or another. 

Then the dark sorceror Turok and his daughter Rumina crash the party. Turok is pissed that Cassib's not marrying Rumina. Cassib retorts that he's not interested in marrying the daughter of a man who practices black magic (despite the fact that he keeps taking Turok's money, which Turok sees as legit bribes to get him to marry Rumina).

The caliph, who's been out of the loop on all of this, is confused as to what the hell is going on. Me, I'm cringing at Rumina's outfit (or lack thereof). It gets better, I promise! 

When Cassib calls for his guards to escort the gate-crashers out, Rumina zaps one with laser vision and the rest think better of it.

Turok summons harpies to kidnap Adeenah. He issues a challenge to the prince: rescue her in two weeks or Adeenah dies and Cassib has to marry Rumina.

Well, fuck, says the Caliph. If only Sinbad were here...

Sinbad is about to be executed in the marketplace. He tries to make some quips, but they really don't work.

Specifically, he says, "You know what they say. It's not over until -- " and then we hear someone singing, totally randomly, and the camera focuses on the woman in question and then back to Sinbad. "Never mind," Sinbad sighs.

I did not get this joke when I was a child - my father had to explain it was an allusion to the old saw in opera "The show's not over until the fat lady sings". But a) it feels really mean-spirited here, b) is this allusion really common knowledge/obvious?, and c) it's just kinda randomly inserted here in the scene. Also, D) this show doesn't really have any other "Break the fourth wall" moments other than this one, so it's EVEN WEIRDER as a result. 

So, not a fan here - although I think the woman herself is AWESOME and it's too bad the script isn't fair to her.

Meanwhile, Cassib is trying to remember where he's heard the name Sinbad recently... oh, yeah, that guy who's about to be executed! Awkward - how to tell his dad that? One of my favorite exchanges in the entire series ensues:

"So does this Sinbad.... like boats?" "He's a sailor, of course he likes boats!"

The Caliph, angry and frustrated at his idiot son, yells at Cassib to start cleaning up his messes and go find Sinbad. Cassib, angry and frustrated and unclear exactly why This Is All His Fault, complies.

It looks like it's the end for Sinbad except that this show is named after him and we're only about fifteen minutes into the first episode of a 22-episode season, so there's no way in hell he's actually dying here.

Doubar and Mustapaha to the rescue! It's left unclear whether they planned this or just seriously got lucky. I mean, was Sinbad literally going to die if they didn't show up? Anyway, there's a fight and all the random passers-by - who were excited to watch the execution - are okay with watching a brawl instead.

Cassib runs up, panting, to apologize and invite Sinbad and Company back to the palace as honored guests. "LOL, sure," everybody agrees. No hard feelings, right?  

Mustapaha thinks about punching Admir in the face, but thinks better of it. This is HIGHLY IRONIC, considering what happens later.

The Caliph is a Reasonable Authority Figure. Sorry about my idiot son, Sinbad. Kids today. Can you help us out?

Sinbad tries to decline, but he's too much of a softy do-gooder at heart and the Caliph makes a VERY good offer: a boat, his own crew, and Cassib will sail under Sinbad's orders. So of course Sinbad agrees.

I can't help but notice the anachronistic pineapple in the fruit tray in the foreground, but hey, pineapples are great and I don't blame Doubar and Mustapha for chowing down. Free food, right?

As our heroes leave to get the ship together, ominous close-up on Admir, who is giving off Evil Lizard vibes, or at least some serious Goth get-up.

Oh, yeah and there's a harpy spying on Sinbad that he doesn't know about....

First stop: the port of Basra to pick up Firouz. Cassib and Doubar are sporting new outfits, but Cassib's is definitely the flashier of the two. And also... bright orange. I guess if you're wealthy, you flaunt it?

Cassib's not happy that Sinbad left him in the doorway, but Doubar advises him to be patient. Cassib's not very good at patience.

Meanwhile, Firouz is very happy to see Sinbad and wants his help setting up his new flying machine - basically a Da Vinci-esque hang glider. Oh, yeah, I thought you were dead, he adds as an aside. And before Sinbad can even ask, Of course, I'll come on this trip with you! I've heard all about it and I've already made preparations! Because Firouz is awesome like that.

Seriously I love Firouz. Sinbad's all skeptical about this invention, but take heed at the foreshadowing here, Sinbad, you're going to need it!

Truth is, Firouz is kinda bored and looking forward to traveling with Sinbad again. And there's also this other Rube Goldberg-style contraption he's invented....

... whose sole purpose is to fling a tomato at Prince Cassib and hit him in the face.

It's actually pretty satisfying.

Now, I agree that Cassib deserves it wholeheartedly, but can we stop it with the historical anachronisms concerning fruit here? 

Meanwhile, Mustapha has located his old buddy Rongar and wants to bring him along. Sinbad acts all friendly, and Rongar is aloof and seems standoffish and unfriendly until Mustapaha reveals that Rongar has no tongue. It was cut out "for betraying his brothers". Awkward silence ensues, especially when Mustapha admits that's exactly the reaction he was looking for.

I have SO MANY PROBLEMS WITH THIS SHOW AND RACE that are epitomized in this scene and with the show's treatment of Rongar's character, and this REALLY ISN'T OKAY, but I'll put that in a separate post. So, moving on.

Sinbad's like, Nope, we don't need a knife-thrower, no hard feelings, and Rongar just looks at him. Sinbad starts to walk away, Rongar throws a knife over his head, and Sinbad whirls, expecting an ambush.... and then all of the sudden, a hidden warrior falls dead. 

I'll note that Rongar was originally supposed to be a one-off character, but the writers were so impressed by Oris Erhuero, that they kept him on as a regular character (which perhaps explains some of the weirdness of this scene). Also, in a note of cosmic irony, Oris Erhuero went on to have the most successful acting career of anybody in this show.

Sinbad seems to think they've eliminated all of Turok's spies. "From now on, we have the element of surprise on our side." Cut to Turok watching them in a reflecting pool in his goth cave lair, laughing maniacally.

Okay, a) who is this random guy Rongar kills? Is he really one of Turok's spies? and B) Why the hell is Turok using real creatures to spy on our heroes if he can use magic instead? Don't expect answers from the show about this, is all I'm saying. Just roll with it.

Also, remember what I said about the goth cave?  I wasn't kidding. Turok and Rumina live in a SKULL OF DEATH on the "Isle of Tears," which doesn't sound ominous at all, right? Right.

Hey, here's the boat! It's called the Nomad, but nobody ever refers to it as such in the script until fairly late in the season. But just so you know. Pretty awesome, isn't it?

Firouz and Cassib are trying to figure out where the hell they're going. Sinbad's looking for Master Dim-Dim on the Isle of Dawn, which is... geographically fluid. Cassib doesn't take this well; for Firouz, it's just par for the course.

Also, Sinbad to remind Cassib who Dim-Dim is... which is odd, since "Dim-Dim practically raised you, boy!" and all that. Also, Cassib has the same response to Dim-Dim's name that I did, namely, WTF, are you serious about this, that's utterly ridiculous.

Sunset. Random close-up on a random crew-member at the tiller before the show remembers who our main character is and we cut to Sinbad.  

Rumina's watching the Sinbad channel, because she's crushing on Sinbad, Sinbad never has magical privacy shields, and Rumina has no sense of boundaries.

Turok catches Rumina watching the Sinbad channel, and is kinda amused and also like, Seriously, I want my daughter to do better than this - specifically, marry Prince Cassib and then kill him after the wedding to rule Baghdad with an iron fist. Priorities, am I right? 

Also, Turok pulls the Babel-fish a goldfish out of his sleeve and tosses it into the reflecting pool, muttering about stirring up a few "ripples in the water". Ominous laughter.

(Note: I headcanon from this that one of Turok's specialties is "sympathetic magic," though the show never comes out and says this outright. Or Transfiguration, in the HP system. )

Cut to the crew sailing under a full moon. Ominous music.

Firouz, Doubar and Sinbad are having a discussion about astronomy. Doubar's convinced a ring around the moon is bad luck, Sinbad thinks it's good luck, and Firouz theorizes it's a natural phenomenon involving ice crystals. Sinbad's like, Yeah, Firouz, that's great, more importantly, is it good luck or bad?

(Fact: I love this exchange so much.)

This Very Important Debate is interrupted when Mustapha spies something in the water...

Looks like that cute li'l goldfish got Transfigured into a GIANT SEA SERPENT!

Seriously, this particular CGI has held up pretty well.... and we'll definitely see it again because it was a significant part of the show's budget. 

Oh, crap, says everyone. WTF do we do now? ... and on that cliffhanger, the episode ends.

This is the only cliffhanger ending in the whole series - unless you count the last few seconds of the season finale.... but we've only assembled 4/5 of our crew and haven't rescued the princess yet, so they probably aren't going to die just yet. Still, it's a pretty good note to end on.

As I've mentioned, this episode has some serious Early Installment Weirdness and questionable fashion choices, but is mostly redeemed for me by Firouz and Rongar being awesome. I still don't think it's the show's strongest episode - not even close - but it works to get most of the characters assembled and On A Boat, so there's that. Still not sure I'd recommend watching it first, even so.