#also stuff the chinatown kid

[killmewithatophat]

I am now on an obsession with vigilante from DC (The Cowboy hero not the STUPID cyberish remake) and I want to redesign him sooooo bad, I'm thinking futuristic cowboy with robo-horse that transforms into his iconic motorcycle ill keep y'all updated.

[fly-boy-in-the-sky]

Banana Fish & Films PART 1

Recommendations based on aesthetics, themes, decade etc…

These are just my personal recommendations for movies similar to Banana Fish. Most of these films from 1960-90s revolving around some sort of street culture gangs, prostitution, trafficking, drugs all that good stuff…also a few of these I haven’t watched in years so the description may be a little off LOL

TAXI DRIVER 1976

“All the animals come out at night. Whores, skunk-pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies. Sick and venal.”

Taxi Driver follows a former Vietnam solider insomniac 26-year-old Travis (Robert De Niro) who takes night shifts as a cab driver in NYC. The story is mostly told through his inner monologue, where he talks about his his loneliness and depression along with telling stories of his interactions with his customers. He crosses paths with a 12-year-old prostitute Iris, (Jodie Foster) whom he tries rescuing from her situation.

This film was recommended by Yoshida.

THE WARRIORS 1979

“Since when the fuck are you a diplomat?”

After being blamed for the killing of a rival gang leader in the Bronx, the Warriors have dozens of New York City street gangs are out for revenge battling over turf that ranges from Bronx to Coney Island where the Warriors reside.

STREETWISE 1984

“No one to tell you where to go or what to do.”

A documentary on Street Kids in Seattle Washington 1984. Many of the teenagers do dangerous hustling gigs to survive on the streets.

There’s a story about a girl who is a prostitute with her mother’s knowledge, though her mother is against the idea she doesn’t stop her since it brings in money. Similar situation with Ash and his father..I have seen people say “I can’t believe his father would do that!” or that it’s totally unrealistic. Unfortunately these terrible things do happen, and even though Banana Fish is fictional and exaggerated, the crimes featured are really not far off for the time. Child exploitation human trafficking was huge, that’s one of the reasons how the milk carton missing persons started back in the eighties, especially through mafia/politicians in Europe.

PLATOON 1986

“Any way you cut it, Barnes is a fucking murderer.”

This movie was recommended by Yoshida.

Chris Taylor (Charlie Seen) leaves university to enlist in the Vietnam war. His experiences in combat fades his idealisms of what war is really about and what the troops are fighting this war for. His two Sargents, Barnes (Tom Berneger) and Elias (Williem Dafoe) are constantly arguing together over their morals. Barnes has violent approaches and believes the villagers are harboring Vietcong, while Elias has a more sympathetic view of the villagers and the war. Their disagreements began putting soldiers up against each other, as well as the enemies.

CRUISING 1980

“They told me that there was some... special assignment... and that I was right for it.”

Steve Burns (Al Pacino) is tasked to go undercover cop as a gay man infiltrating New York’s S&M clubs for a psychopath who’s been violently killing homosexuals. Steve begins immersing himself in the subculture and club hopping. While this is going down, he becomes increasingly distant with his girlfriend and the police forces homophobia becomes more apparent as the case goes on.

KING OF NEW YORK 1990

“ I spent half my life in prison. I never got away with anything, and I never killed anybody that didn't deserve it.”

The biggest Kingpin of the underground Frank White (Christopher Walken) just got released from prison. He’s different from most gangsters though. He shares his benefits with the poor, opening children’s hospitals and protecting the wellbeing of underprivileged citizens. Though the streets are much tougher than before. The mafia, Chinatown and Colombian gangs are running the streets partaking in child human trafficking and prostitution, unnecessary killings and racketeering. Frank’s not a fan of how they do business, and puts an end to it.

One of my favorites..the ending even ends similar to Banana Fish and there’s these two gay ass cop partners that the one kisses him towards the end (no spoilerrr) Frank is a super morally grey gangster and very similar to Ash in his beliefs. Film features many famous 90s actors. Must watch.

THE OUTSIDERS 1983

“I used to talk about killing myself all the time, man. But I don't wanna die now. It ain't long enough. Sixteen years ain't gonna be long enough.”

Based on the novel of the same name, an American classic most of us had to read in middle school.

A teenage gang in 1960s Oklahoma, the Greasers have constant clashes with another rival gang the Socs. When Ponyboy (C. Thomas Howell) and Johnny (Ralph Macchio) get into a brawl that leads to the death of a Soc member, they are forced to run away into hiding. With help from their friend Dally (Matt Dillon) he tells them a place out in the rural part of town they can hide until the situation dies down. They are eventually forced to return back to their town after a tragic incident with Johnny happens, and they’re subjected to the consequences of their violent lives once again.

[bookoftheironfist]

Please take a moment out of your day to check out this incredible 80s-style Iron Fist fan film created by @sky-liam! Sky very generously shared with me the inspiration behind the film, as well as insight into the filming process, fight choreography, and thematic sensibilities:

"As a former martial arts champion, I wanted to show authentic Kung Fu techniques (we were lucky to get an action coordinator who's worked on Chinese martial arts movies). I have a background in Shaolin Kung Fu and competitive Wushu, training and competing for many years, and living in China for a year-and-a-half as well (majoring in Chinese language in college). Going back to some of the original issues of Iron Fist, what really grabbed me was how Danny has trained so long with one goal in mind, and then feels completely lost when he isn't able to complete his revenge on Harold Meachum. I felt like this story was something that anyone could connect to, because so many of us have had that moment where we finished school, or got a 'good' job, and then realized that attaining that single-minded goal didn't actually satisfy us, and we were still searching for something. I also connected with moments from Iron Fist: The Living Weapon when Danny was practicing Kung Fu almost like a drug to keep himself sane. And I connected it to the idea of all those things we do without even thinking because they've become a part of how we define ourselves."

(Behind-the-scenes photos, courtesy of @sky-liam)

"What was most important to me was this sense of [Danny] not being compatible to the world around him; being the Living Weapon but having no target to aim at after Meachum died. Martial arts and fighting becomes a drug to stay above water instead of a means to preserve life. I started Shaolin Kung Fu as a kid and eventually studied Mandarin in college and lived and trained in China for a year-and-a-half, competing in tournaments and working in Kung Fu films there. I wanted to make sure Danny used techniques from actual Shaolin forms (similar to the kind of stuff he'd learn from the monks in K'un-Lun) and also spoke some of the language he picked up while living there. "I knew our fight director, Alfred Hsing, from the Wushu competition scene, and he had also trained in Beijing and worked with Jet Li for several years. He used a lot of 'in-camera editing' in his choreography - that is, setting up short sequences of the fight that were designed to be shot from a specific angle, thus highlighting the best stuff while eliminating wasted camera setups. Of course he also played a version of Steel Serpent in the final fight with Colleen and Danny. "Kara Wang, who played Colleen Wing (and not long after went on to shoot 'Top Gun: Maverick') trained for about three months to complete her fight scene. Our other actors were former athletes with martial arts experience and we also rehearsed choreography for several weeks before shooting. We were able to get many locations for free (the parking garage, the apartment, and the plaza in Monterey Park that doubled for Chinatown) through business and personal connections. "The original short film was about 15 minutes long, and had a lot of voiceover that gave an insight into Danny's inner monologue. We made a few changes to the costumes and events (such as Danny wearing clothes he bought off the rack after coming back to the States, Meachum dying from a drug overdose), which was similar to what was done for the 80s and 90s Marvel adaptations where certain details would be changed for budgetary reasons. In the end, there were some issues with some of the footage in the narrative scenes of the film, so I decided to recut it like a VHS trailer from the 1980s or early 90s would be. "My goal in the end was to highlight some of the grittier story elements of Danny Rand, and to show Iron Fist doing some legit Kung Fu. I hope fans of the character can enjoy it!"

A huge thank you to Sky for sharing this amazing project!

[hchollym]

Hello! So, this might seem like a weird ask. The whole thing is based on the canon world, that is wizards and stuff. Everything that's going on in the books is still happening! I just don't want you to confuse this with a Muggle/No magic AU.

My question is, if Percy—for some random reason please suspend your disbelief here—decided to become an EMT in the muggle world (without using magic that is), how would his family react to it?

Again, the things that happen in the books are still happening, the only thing is that Percy's decided to go into muggle EMT instead of the Ministry.

Like, would they be kinda mad because Percy is putting muggle stuff/outside stuff over the war they're fighting?

Or would they be much more understanding? Maybe think Percy's cooler? Ngl, I'm asking you this for the sake of my daydreams.

Sorry for taking so long to respond! 🙁

Oh wow! That is a very unique idea/question! 😄

Do you mean that Percy became an EMT right after Hogwarts (instead of working for Barty Crouch)?

That would be super interesting!

Hmm... 🤔 You know, I surprisingly don't think most of them would react badly.

Arthur

Arthur is obsessed with muggles. However, he does not seem to see them as equals. In his mind, muggles are poor fools that need to be protected. It's less like fighting for racial equality and more like people fighting for animal rights.

In Book 2, he states:

“Just Muggle-baiting,” sighed Mr. Weasley. “Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it.. Of course, it’s very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking — they’ll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they’ll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it’s staring them in the face…"

Then in Book 4, when Fred gives Dudley Ton-Tongue Toffee, he says:

“It isn’t funny!” Mr. Weasley shouted. “That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard–Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons —”

So he probably doesn't think Percy is making a good decision to actually work in the muggle world, but I don't think he gets too upset about it either. If anything, he may see this as an opportunity for him to learn more about a topic that he clearly enjoys, and it could potentially help his cause by having proof (from Percy's testimony) that muggles deserve to be treated fairly.

Molly

I definitely think Molly reacts the worst out of everyone. She doesn't hate muggles, but she certainly isn't overly fond of them either.

She definitely dislikes Arthur's obsession with them (though in her defense, that probably has more to do with him wasting money on it/focusing on it instead of helping her with the kids/house).

In Book 4, Arthur says,

“Ah yes, I can see the plugs. I collect plugs,” he added to Uncle Vernon. “And batteries. Got a very large collection of batteries. My wife thinks I’m mad, but there you are.”

Also, what's even more telling is that in Book 1, when the Weasleys are at King's Cross Station, Harry overhears her say:

"-- packed with Muggles, of course --"

I know that JKR included this line so that Harry could identify another wizarding family, but she should have used something else (like Platform 9 ¾) instead, because they are literally in a muggle train station, so the comment seems unnecessary and rude. Think about if you went to Chinatown and said "packed with Chinese people, of course."

Plus, Molly wants all of her children to work at the Ministry of Magic. This is a comment in Book 4 (about the twins):

“And then there was this big row,” Ginny said, “because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop.”

This is the same instance where she literally burned all of their order forms. She seems to have (sort of) accepted Bill & Charlie's choices, as well as Fred & George's joke shop (after they make a lot of money), but Percy is the child that she expected to go into the Ministry the most.

There would definitely be a massive row with her.

Fred & George

They likely wouldn't care much, because they clearly don't mind muggles either. In Book 4, after they gave Dudley the Ton-Tongue Toffee and Arthur yells at them, they say:

“We didn’t give it to him because he’s a Muggle!” said Fred indignantly. “No, we gave it to him because he’s a great bullying git,” said George. “Isn’t he, Harry?”

If anything, I think they love that Percy is now the family "disappointment" because they've spent so long getting yelled at by Molly that this is a nice change of pace. Plus, it takes the pressure off them. Even if they open a joke shop in the wizarding world, Molly still won't be as angry with them as she is with Percy.

Suddenly "Perfect Percy" isn't so perfect anymore, and it probably (ironically) improves their relationship.

Bill, Charlie, Ron, & Ginny

They are probably all rather incredulous about the entire thing and think Percy is mental for not wanting to work in the wizarding world (and Hermione encourages this idea because she clearly wants nothing to do with the muggle world anymore), but I really don't think they treat him badly over it.

They probably just think he's finally cracked under all the pressure he puts on himself, and if this gets him to loosen up, then it's not all bad.

I do think Charlie & Ginny would find it a little cool though, and they're both more likely to actually talk to Percy about his new life, whereas Bill & Ron will probably avoid the topic altogether.

Other Thoughts

One of the most interesting parts about this AU is that is has the potential to drastically change the story. If Percy doesn't work for Barty Crouch, then chances are, whoever is in his position doesn't do as good of a job running the department on their own, so people figure out something is wrong with Mr. Crouch much sooner.

Once that happens, they (i.e. Dumbledore) may very well be able to put the pieces together about Barty Crouch Jr., and then his plan fails, Harry never goes to the graveyard, Cedric never dies, and Voldemort never officially returns in a body. So is the war even going on anymore? Possibly not for a few more years while Voldemort tries to capture Harry!

Even if the war continues in the exact same way as canon, I think Percy's job in the muggle world could actually be beneficial. He could be there to prevent some of the damage & protect the muggles, and he could help muggleborns & their families escape through the muggle world in a way that wouldn't be traced back to them.

There's a lot of potential there for a great fanfic! 😉

Thanks for the ask! 😊

[fractualized]

Hoo boy. TMWSL #11 dropped a bomb today. Or a potential bomb? There's still one issue to go.

I'll just get into it.

(big ol' spoilers and SO MANY explosions)

We open with Sewer Rat Joker in the middle of kidnapping several Gothamites.

I'm not sure about that guy on the left, but the lil goon on the right is freaking Albert, the dying kid from the hospital, just… tagging along? I love it.

The janitor is loaded into a van with a few others, and "a few blocks away"…

LA Joker's got a bun now!

That is not Mr. Waffles holding an umbrella to protect the bun from the rain. Waffles is elsewhere on his own special task. At first it's like, aw, I'd like Waffles to be attending to the boss like this. But, uh, we'll learn soon it's actually better that Waffles is otherwise occupied.

Anyway, this Joker has been looking and looking and looking for his counterpart, who's managed to elude capture even while while most of his henchmen have been taken out. And this failure is not looking good on LA Joker, who is very frustrated!

It's so funny that the man they're looking for is nearby in an unmarked van. So maybe the goon who Joker threatened actually deserves it when Joker tells the others to throw him off a bridge. 😬

Joker goes back into the warehouse where Killer Moth is watching TV.

Come on, he's just putting on a show!

Before we find out what Sewer Rat Joker is up to, we cut to Manhunter investigating the van he was using. But he, his crew, and his captives are gone. Ravager is there with information from Jason.

Wait wait wait. Is… Is Jason gone because of the Gotham War thing? Are these supposed to be happening at the same time?? I know Knight Terrors indicated that the events in Batman happen around the same time, but this issue has to take place while Bruce is asleep for two months post Knight Terrors. Right? The goings-on in TMWSL couldn't have been paused for that long. It also doesn't make any goddamn sense, because in Gotham War Selina has supposedly enlisted like 95% of the henchmen, and Jason is acting like he has no clue what's going on with Joker, and nobody is talking about all this Joker-related stuff going on. Like obviously this was never going to end with Jason killing Joker, so I was just assuming Gotham War happens after TMWSL with Jason still on the hunt, but... Good lord, Jason better show up in #12, or I'm going to lose my freakin' mind.

We get a panel showing that Mr. Waffles is watching the two women before we cut to midtown.

Now you think, oh, Sewer Rat Joker is still clothed and not naked, so what's his plan? But then he unleashes a hoard of goons and mid-level rogues on the cops, and you realize this is actually LA Joker, suddenly dressed down in a very similar way to Sewer Rat Joker. I assumed this was for some sort of "Shoot him!" // "No, shoot him!" situation later, but… you'll see.

Hee hee, Moth is using his wings to protect himself from the rain and it looks so cute.

Aw, Joker. :( Don't be so mean to the henchmen. At least it wasn't Waffles.

We don't have to wonder what the purpose of the mess is, because back at the warehouse:

Distraction action! This is not a good issue for henchmen, I gotta tell ya.

Uh… sure, Albert. Good guys.

Also, regarding the newcast, is Joker somewhat diminished "in recent years"?? Joker War wasn't that long ago, even less long ago in-universe, I think. Maybe it just means more rogues are stepping up as larger figures, like Bane and Scarecrow, and I guess Failsafe the angsty robot since if that happened before Knight Terrors, then he's a known quantity here.

Meanwhile, the reportedly naked Joker is not so naked.

I'll never not enjoy confused conversations.

Killer Moth gets a report that the warehouse is radio silent, and that someone spotted the imposter in Chinatown at a hardware store. And then…

See, if Mr. Waffles had been hanging with Joker, he might be dead! For real this time!

This shit is why most henchmen must work with Joker because of obsessive reasons, not for money.

Joker and Moth's amazing escape is not very triumphant.

As they hurtle to the ground, we check back in with Manhunter at the warehouse.

Sewer Rat Joker has also done a costume change! Presumably it's part of him retaking his place as the Rightful Joker. So if there's not going to be outfit confusion, I suppose the other Joker just changed for… comfort?

But there is still confusion for Manhunter, who refers to events in Los Angeles, but if course this Joker says he hasn't been there in a long time.

Albert's parents really should have explained to him who the Joker is.

So LA Joker has forced Killer Moth to walk with him to Chinatown to pick up on the imposter's trail, and they meet up with their remaining henchmen. "Remaining" because of all the ones that died at the train wreck, and some other casualties. They also give Joker the bad news that, like Clayface, basically all the villains that were helping him (Zsasz, Firefly, KGBeast, etc) took off because of how badly this search is going. But Joker will press on! He orders the henchmen into the hardware store to get the imposter.

At least we're all having fun heading toward the finale!

Back at the warehouse standoff, Manhunter has a realization.

Joker has definitely murdered pizza boys. Also, aw, he misses Jason. :( Sadly, Jason isn't who shows up to Manhunter's rescue.

Seriously, if Gotham War is the reason Jason isn't here, and he's not present to close this title out, I'm going to be so annoyed. No shade on Ravager and Manhunter, but we started with Jason. This should finish with Jason. Jason helping Selina for nonsensical reasons is a terrible reason for him to not be here hunting the guy he's been obsessed with for 10 issues.

Sigh. Anyway, Joker sics some poor toxin'd doppelgangers on the women before he escapes with Albert.

Buzzing? THAT'S THE SECRET WORD!

Alright, because of the spy adventure, Mr. Waffles cut it a little close this time, but look at the bright side. Now he meets up with the real deal at last!

Ooh, more hints of the real story, as Waffles lore, heck yeah. The henchman was Mr. Waffles' buddy? Was it just like the "flashback" in the last issue, or different?

Wait, what? WHAT? WHAAAAAAAAAAAOkay okay okay okay. That's a big dang reveal, but there's still one issue left. Can't let the instinct to trust our beloved Mr. Waffles toss aside the options for the final issue:

1) This is all true. Sewer Rat Joker has actually been the imposter all the long, despite his elaborate dream with Batman making that seem silly. EXCEPT. John Keyser not knowing that Batman is Bruce Wayne would be an explanation for why he treated them as two separate people in the dream. Even though there was still an obvious link by putting Bruce in the TKJ outfit and having him behave erratically. Regardless, maybe Keyser really is that deep in. (Though if Joker used the brainwashing technology revealed in Task Force X, I think Keyser would know about Bruce Wayne, putting the explanation back at Weird Dream Thing.)

2) Waffles is straight-up lying to save his own life from a pissed off boss. The reason he's so buddy-buddy with LA Joker is because they were buddies before the transformation.

3) Waffles is being truthful, except something happened during the creation of the second Joker that caused John and Joker to switch places, and Waffles just doesn't realize it.

And I'm hoping #2 or #3 is correct. LA Joker had some fun moments (particularly his relationship with Waffles), but I'm definitely more attached to the underdog, the Joker who had that great nightmare and whose inner thoughts we've been privy to. I wasn't at all expecting Joker to have drastic character development or a heel-face turn or the like, but if it turns out that all those vulnerable moments treating Joker as a three-dimensional character instead of a flat, only-evil-and-nothing-but villain are not about him but some delusional henchman… Hrm. HRM. I know it's gonna bug me. It's gonna bug me a lot.

Whatever happens, I'm just hoping Rosenberg sticks the landing.

Oh, and as a side note, unless there was another henchman involved in this mysterious gas experiment, none of this appears to explain who the Joker appearing in Batman Inc was. Theoretically that could've been LA Joker having some fun on the side when he was away, but there's been nothing in the text saying so. I'm getting the strong feeling that, with how unconcerned DC has been with establishing a clear timeline for their intersecting titles, we're never going to get an answer. Or they'll somehow blame the damn omniverse.

[nerdsaura]

Hi! I bring you Chapter 6 of "The Nightmare Before Halloween - The Scarecrow and the Hatter"

It's a bit long, but I really like it and I hope you do too! 😁

+ Chapter 5 (Part 3)

9:29 PM - Apartment at Chinatown - 1 minute until the plan

The first apartment was really small. In the only bedroom was a camera in front of an empty chair. When Mad Hatter made our hostage, Tim Drake, come to me, I would make a live transmission asking for the ransom. I knew I wouldn’t get it, but that would leave the police (and now the Batman as well) busy with something else. I also placed my laptop on the kitchen table to track the rest of the stuff.

“It’s time.”

“Ready, Scarecrow?”

“Ready.”

“Turning the masks on in 3… 2… 1.”

I couldn’t see, but I can say what must��ve happened at that moment: everyone at the party stopped moving at the same time, dropping cups, plates or whatever they were holding. Then they heard Mad Hatter’s voice.

“What a beautiful party, such a joyous day! Oh, but you’ve already had enough time to play… Now without any fuss and without any delay, head over to the Central Bank right away!”

I told one of my henchmen to take the van to the Central Bank and wait for the loot.

Step two was bringing the hostage. Only Tim Drake heard what was said next:

“Except for you, little heir, you have somewhere else to go. Head to Chinatow first and there find the Scarecrow.”

And he began walking through the streets. In a couple of minutes I would go meet him and carry on with the plan.

To free Cameron Van Cleer of any possibility of blame or suspicion without controlling him, Jervis would use a random guest to ‘knock him out’. We apologized to Drury a hundred times for that. But now, thanks to an unexpected event, we needed to get Bruce Wayne out of the picture as well. The solution that Mad Hatter found was to knock him out with another guest. In this case, the guest was Jason Todd.

This time, just the two chosen ones heard the voice:

“Oh, you are strong, you’re staying then. Use your powers and knockout the rich men!”

Cameron went down immediately. But Bruce Wayne… It was a hell of a fight. Of course, there wasn’t anyone to watch, so he didn’t have to hide his true strength and abilities.

After 10 minutes, I was preparing to go down to the street when I heard the Mad Hatter’s angry voice:

“No!”

“What is it?”

“He broke the mask! Wayne freed Jason Todd!”

My heart raced. I went out of breath while bats flooded my mind.

“Scarecrow?”

I tried to breathe, but it was hard. I ripped off my mask.

“Jonathan! Talk to me! Breathe! It’s… It’s gonna be fine!”

“You’re a bad liar, Jervis!”

I spoke through my teeth.

“And what do you want to do? You wanna turn back? Now?!”

I looked at my mask on the table. I wasn’t going to quit now. My mind cleared, the bats turned to ash. I took a deep breath.

“No. Let’s keep going.”

I put the mask back on and left the apartment. The elevator didn’t work, so I had to take the stairs. In a couple of minutes I got to the ground floor, where Tim Drake was standing.

“Let’s go, kid.”

I grabbed him by the arm and guided him back up, taking him to the bedroom. I tied the boy to the chair with ease and then, using my laptop, connected the transmission to all of Gotham’s screens (thanks to Edward).

“Hatter, I’m turning on the camera.”

“Wonderful. I’mma put him to sleep. The guests just arrived at the bank.”

Everything was going fine. Ah, I wish.

The transmission started.

“Good evening, Gotham. My threat tonight is not directed to you, simple citizens, living your nightly lives. So don’t make me change my mind. I address myself to the Prince of Gotham, Mr. Bruce Wayne. It seems you have lost something quite valuable, Mr. Wayne. I made sure to keep it for you.”

I took off Drake’s mask, revealing his face to the camera. He was unconscious.

“I will be pleased to return the boy if you pay me what I ask. You’ll receive a call soon with all the information you need. I expect the money before midnight, or Gotham will hear him scream.”

As soon as the transmission ended, the time started counting. I would have approximately 10 minutes until the police or the Batman got the location and came to the building. I packed my things to leave after I made the call. Don’t ask me how, but Nygma got Wayne Manor’s number. I couldn’t use my cellphone, since they would surely try to track the call and I definitely didn’t want Oracle hacking it. So I used the apartment’s old phone. As I expected, the butler picked up.

“Good evening. Mr. Wayne isn’t home at the moment. Can I ask him to return the call?”

“Good evening, Mr. Pennyworth.”

“Oh, Dr. Crane? We definitely weren’t expecting any calls from you before the 31st.”

“I decided to advance the festivities. You weren’t watching the news, were you?”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“Interesting choice of words, Mr. Pennyworth. Well, I’ll get straight to the point. Mr. Wayne has until midnight to send me $500,000,000 if he wants me to give back Timothy Drake-Wayne. So I hope he returns the call soon.”

I hung up. I went to check on the boy and he was waking up.

“Oh, you woke up just in time.”

He tried to hide it, but I noticed he got scared when he saw me.

“What do you want now?”

“Don’t worry, what I want is already getting arranged.”

“How did I get here?”

“That’s for later. Now, unfortunately, I have to leave you. If you’re still here by midnight I’ll come back to see you. But I can guarantee you won’t want that.”

I left the building and got back in the van.

“I’m heading to the second location. Keep me updated, Hatter.”

[adachimoe]

Persona 5 IRL Stuff

Requested

The entry and exit to each floor of Mementos is based on the appearance of train stations, and the stamps you collect for Jose are seemingly the game's version of train stamps lol.

I'm not sure if this is still true, but train stamps were introduced to me as something that smaller kids will collect when they travel with their families, so it makes sense to me that the NPC associated with them is also a kid. As an adult tourist, I've never bothered with train stamps cause you really have to go out of your way to find some of them and when I'm at a train station my ass is trying to go somewhere lol. I suppose that even in real life, some of those stamp locations must feel like they're random spawns.

I have absolutely bothered with red shrine seals, though. Maybe Persona 6 will have the protagonist collecting those.

Ryuji takes you to a ramen restaurant in Ogikubo. Based on it being in Ogikubo and the appearance of the restaurant in-game, it's modeled after Marufuku Chinese Noodles near Ogikubo Station. The sign in-game just says "Chinese Noodles" without the store name. I'm not sure if this is a famous restaurant or maybe it's just one that Atlus employees like to eat at lol.

Ryuji also takes you to a monjayaki restaurant in Tsukishima during his Confidant. You go to Tsukishima specifically because Tsukishima has a line of restaurants called Monja Street that specializes in, you guessed it, monjayaki.

Akechi introduces you to a jazz bar in Kichijoji called Jazz Jin. The outside appearance seems to be based on Some Time which is also located in Kichijoji. Only the outside resembles what's in-game, though. The inside is different.

Yongenjaya isn't a real place in Tokyo, but it seems to be a renamed version of Sangenjaya - san means 3, yon means 4. I've not been to Sangenjaya, though I've heard that details like the laundromat, even down to the vending machine, looks nearly the same as it does in-game. (If you are interested in doing Persona 5 tourism around Tokyo, I've heard that the Sangenjaya locals do not appreciate Persona 5 tourism or related loitering in this area.)

Shibuya Station is pretty much accurate with how it is IRL. The green train car that you visit Tora at has been moved since the game came out, but the dog statue of Hachiko (or Buchiko as its known in game) is there, the 1000 stairs you climb to get to the Ginza Line, etc, is also all accurate.

When you touch base with Ohya, you unlock Shinjuku. The movie theater in-game is called Cult 9, which is based on an actual movie theater in Shinjuku called Wald 9. The other areas in Shinjuku seem to be a condensed version of Kabukicho (or Kamurocho, if you've played Like a Dragon).

Futaba wants to go shopping in Akihabara and Nakano. Akihabara you've probably already heard about as Nerd Haven. She also talks about visiting Nakano, likely to go shopping at Nakano Broadway which is home to a bunch of Mandarake 2nd hand anime/etc goods stores.

The "huge pancake" that Morgana was talking about is how Tokyo Dome looks from the outside. The pancakes he's comparing it to are the thicc souffle-style fluffy jiggly pancakes that you can get at various restaurants. (Also probably what Akechi thinks of when he hears delicious pancakes lol.)

The other areas and things, I'm really not sure there's much to say about them.

Ann takes you to Harajuku cause she wanted to eat sweets (this is really relatable btw)

Meiji jingu is also real and located near Harajuku

The buffet Ann takes the guys to is the Marble Lounge, but I believe it's since been remodeled

There's multiple museums in Ueno

There's a Catholic church in west Kanda but afaik the inside looks different than in-game

Inokashira Park is real and has swan boats and stuff

Ikebukuro's planetarium is in Sunshine City Mall

Chinatown is real but it's much further than the map makes you think (it's in Yokohama)

Odaiba Seaside Park is another real location

Miura Beach is also real, way down south past Yokohama

Jimbocho is indeed where you'd go to buy books

etc etc etc

[mogglewrites]

Jamie Lion dancing?

Since his main turf is Chinatown, surely there must be Chinese New Year celebrations. So Jamie can volunteer to be a lion dancer!

It requires a lot of strength and flexibility to carry the lion head/partner and do the acrobatics. If Jamie is the lion head, then he can play with the kids, nom at the red envelopes and asks for pets. Then when they do the acrobatic routine on top of the stepping poles, he can go all out with the jumps.

The only problem would be finding another lion dancer who can keep up with Jamie. It would be cute if the WorldTour mode avatar can do it with him. Teacher and student. But on the other hand, I wanna see Luke be the lion body/tail and lift Jamie 😂

The people of Chinatown are just wondering: what's this white boy doing here?? But he can keep up with Jamie and he's a good+polite boy, so the elders aren't upset. Luke would have fun with wagging the lion tail.

There's also a lot of opportunities for *stuff* under the lion skin. Luke would have his hands on Jamie's waist nearly all the time, and it gets sweaty under there. Some bonding during or after practice would be cute.

LukeJamie aside, Jamie getting to see Yun and Yang do lion dance together would be so cool. The twin dragons turning into one majestic lion! I'd love for all three of them to be able to dance together, but sadly one lion is only two dancers 🥹 Maybe they can take turns.

[uswnt5]

https://www.tumblr.com/uswnt5/755539780078567424/as-another-anon-going-to-london-i-also-would-love

I think depending what you like—if you like history then I would hit up the Imperial War Museum—2nd best museum I’ve been to in my life, and Churchill’s War Room. British museum if you want to see a bunch of stolen stuff 😏���it’s actually quite interesting and has some really cool stuff

Kensington Palace is nice, Harrods is worth the visit

Westminster Abbey Parliament and Big Ben a right next to each other. Trafalgar square has lots of protests at night—last time I was there it was when Russian invaded Ukraine so that was what the protest where about

Changing of the guard—but look at the schedule before you go—Windsor Castle is nice and a short train ride away and the town is lovely—there is a lady that works at St George’s chapel on the grounds of Windsor and she hates Megan!

Hamleys is a 6 story toy store and has nice small souvenirs if you’re bringing anything back for kids

All the little neighborhoods have different vibes

Shopping at Oxford street. Piccadilly if you want to see the tiniest version of Times Square ever

If you want to go to a premier league game I have used P1 Travel a few times—a bit pricey but you only get to experience that kind of atmosphere once. If you want to go to a women’s game tickets are super cheap—we went to both Arsenal men and women last time I was there and I’ve been to Tottenham since my son loves them🤮

Get the pass for the tube-it covers most of the zones around London

Skip Warner brothers unless you’re a Harry Potter enthusiast

A taxi is gonna cost a lot from Heathrow into the city so take the tube

Depending on when you go remember the time over there—it gets dark early in late fall and winter

If I think of anything else I’ll let you know

Have fun!

Ps they have a great Chinatown if you like Chinese and eat a roast dinner on a Sunday in a pub and try fish and chips!

Wow thanks!

How about restaurants and bars in central London? Near the river.

[nitpickrider]

Had a nutty idea. Which Golden Age, Silver Age, and Bronze Age characters would you want to write, assuming you found yourself thrown back to those time periods.

Oh boy you just love sending me the hard ones, don't you? Ok, breaking this up into categories below the cut.

Golden Age: This one is the hardest for me, the Golden Age is where most if not all of my obscure blorbos reside but if I had to pick it would be the one who has really captured the heart of myself and my followers over these last few months.

Greg Saunders AKA the Vigilante. Along with his sidekick Stuff the Chinatown Kid just have this wonderfully inexplicable energy about them. That simple fun of golden age comic adventures with their core relationship giving a whole lot of meat on the bones of what would otherwise be simple stories. I could wring a lot of fun, funky mileage out of the two of them and their pathos. Definitely next up on my to-fanfic list. Silver Age: This one is also a character I knew next to nothing about before I started posting about him.

Tommy Tomorrow of the Planeteers. I've really had fun with his soft and pulpy kind of sci-fi and his co-pilot Brent Wood gives him someone to sound off of more often than not. Lots of excuses to just come up with the most wild shit I can think of and run with it without slowing down. Plus I'd get the chance to make it SUPER queer one way or the other. Also very much on the fanfic list. Bronze Age: This one is less of a character and more of a team and one I've written about before.

DC's Global Guardians. There is SO MUCH to be mined here. I could write an entire fanfic just making shit up about each of these characters being criminally underutilized. I have this idea of a very sappy sister fic of just Owl Woman and Little Mermaid going shopping at the Mall of America and it's going to come out of my head one of these days before I explode. Sorry none of these answers are really surprising but at least you all know what my fanfic schedule roughly looks like after a wrap up with Stingray!

[plasticine]

tagged by @machinegirlboy ‼️‼️

last song I listened to: I'm back in my CD ripping era so I checked out a bunch of Putumayo CDs from the library heres one of the ones i got :)

Also lots of Dengue Fever since i got Escape from Dragon House on vinyl for my bday ❤️

currently watching: I just finished Better Call Saul so now I'm re-watching Breaking Bad. I used to disagree with the idea that Better Call Saul was better because when I watched the first 3 seasons back in 2019 I didn't really love it but it definitely grew on me. Now that I watched it all and I'm watching early BRBA again I see it. So much of BCS improves on some of the failures of BRBA, Kim and Nacho are the most obvious examples and character development on the BRBA charcters but a lot of technical stuff and framing devices. The flashbacks still annoy me though LOL there is literally a point where they have 70 year old Michael McKean's eyebrows pencilled in so he can look in his 40s.

currently reading: i finished these a little while ago but i looooved Chinatown by Thuận and Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain .... very different ends of a spectrum in books. Just finished the Hellbound Heart, I'm not a big Hellraiser fan ☹ but I do think the movie did fix a lot that didnt make sense. I did like the book a lot though, very nasty 👍 I started Ringu too! I like it so far and interesting to see what the movie changed.

current obsession: I started taking a creative writing class for children’s literature (pre-young adult; 12 and under)and it has been really nice to reread and watch stuff I liked when I was a kid & seeing what makes it work. Young children's media is very overlooked even though it can really shape you the most, in my humblest opinion.

Tagging @citybops @dughole @effemimaniac @ambienkitchen @loveshack @overgrownroot grins widely

[beardedmrbean]

Oh dear, two weeks of hospital food? Damn

Oh yes i understand white people don’t want to be told they are inherently racist just like I don’t want to be told I’m a eternal victim

Actually you help fixed some stuff with the native wizards

So most natives wizards are usually from or left the reservations, but still have strong tribe roots. And they have traditional garbs, but I decided use Victorian area because I learn many Native Americans adapted to that style of clothing and mixed it with their traditional looks. And my natives wizards are usually young to middle age. So it much easier to carry around colonial or Victorian style clothing for repairs to easily fix very old stuff.

Now they are full blown shamans, but they are usually old and often on the reservations. Now I don’t want to be rude, but my native wizards tackle modern topics of what the tribe is now vs what more can they do. I would also make sure to have proper consalutes to the individual tribes I use

Side note, the other disporia are taught their parents traditions. But of course over the generations and years they have been modified. Also they usually have…outposts, think of Chinatown. Now the outpost’s usually have to make a compromise with the American Wizarding system. Though the ancestral wizards are often under persecution and in hiding, but they can’t leave their sources of energy

Ugh shit I’m mumbling

Now for traditional garb for the wizards and magical users across the Americas perhaps a century prior to the American revolution and later the other countries. Realized they are too different from the magical users from the old world. And they say glimpses into the future the colonial empires will fall.

So it was decided to make local I want to guilds or societies as they were very different from the old world and can control local ancient beings better. IE the 13 colonies guild wanted to have the lovecraft users “loyalty”

Now these guilds eventually became American and Mexican wizards societies. Of course they had like local guilds that left, merge and such. So traditional garb….very from person to place

Like east coast wizards may have better connections to colonial era stuff. But…FUCK, word building hard. But it was decided that early modern age particularly Victorian. So the stand idea of an American wizard is Victorian-1920’s. Because I love art deco and the prohibition is where most of the country united against the government which created the proper American magic

Thanks for liking my jokes, see not all Gen z have that Whedon snark or Rick and Morty Nilihism

Oh here another one

Black American necromancer: Yes! I finally brought back my civil war ancestor! Now he can tell me how he fought for the…

Confederate zombie: ugh where am I? Wait is this yankee land?!

BN: W-What?! How?! What slave you force yourself onto?!

CZ looking at his descendant: Oh hey me and Susie kids did make it out alive!

BN: Is that the slave you abused?!

CZ: Huh? She was my wife!

The other American wizard who also a civil war historian: wait hold on let me check my records…oh I think I found your ancestor. Is this you?

CZ: yep

AW: Alright, do some echo magic…Ah! This soldier married a freed slave after the war. They had 6 kids, 4 that have modern offsprings. Huh it says here they lived for for 60 years

BN : HOW THE FUCK AM I RELATED TO A CONFEDERATE?!

AW: 🙄, many Americans have both union and confederation ancestry. It was called a brother fighting brother war for a reason

BN: We’re in New York!

CZ: Oh it is yankee land, my youngest son said he was going to New York for work. But after Susie died, I was heartbroken and died shortly afterwards

AW: Ah, this must be him, it says here after your funeral. He stayed and died in New York due to the difficulty of the Great Depression

BN: Wait that my great great grandpa! Why I wasn’t told this?

AW: Oh your family knows, but your father told me to come with you as it seem your family confederate ancestry is told when the children comes to age

BN: How can I live with it?

AW: The Chinese American wizards have to deal with cannibalism urges due to a stupid spell a sorcerer did. And Andre 3000 wore a confederate belt in the Ms Jackson music video

Sorry for the long dialogue, it seem that a lot of African Americans are getting mindfuck with the ancestry dna tests

Um my fellow blacks…not every white genes is because of slave owners abusing slave women…and while we are mostly black, we aren’t inbred as hell.

Ya I don't think there's much of anything that won't taste good after this

Oh yes i understand white people don’t want to be told they are inherently racist just like I don’t want to be told I’m a eternal victim

Now if only the people making media could figure that out, was watching a episode of the 2019 revival of Twilight Zone since Amazon took X-Files away from me, but the whole tone of the episode was so heavy handed with the racist white cop narrative in that one I had trouble enjoying it, Rod Sterling was a master of getting the point across without jamming it into your face, usually the one about the commies was pretty in your face.

Actually you help fixed some stuff with the native wizards ect.....

So it was decided to make local I want to guilds or societies as they were very different from the old world and can control local ancient beings better. IE the 13 colonies guild wanted to have the lovecraft users “loyalty” Now these guilds eventually became American and Mexican wizards societies. Of course they had like local guilds that left, merge and such. So traditional garb….very from person to place

That works, gonna need to be a "school" uniform but this is America we can be a bit unique in the working world, at least in some industries.

Thanks for liking my jokes, see not all Gen z have that Whedon snark or Rick and Morty Nilihism

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I will do my level best to treat people as individuals and not part of a group, unless they're scientologists because bleh, or communists because they've chosen to identify as part of a collective and respecting that means collective responsibility for the whole collective.

Oh here another one (scroll up to read)

AW: The Chinese American wizards have to deal with cannibalism urges due to a stupid spell a sorcerer did. And Andre 3000 wore a confederate belt in the Ms Jackson music video

Quality ending, wondering how this will work out, since you brought cannibalism into it, some of the various African wizards, potion makers really as well, no real gentle way to put it other than life would be hell for a albino African wizard, or complicated at least.

That or if they found a spell for regrowing fingers and such they could make a ton of money.

Suppose the choice would be if you wanted to go tragedy or comedy on that.

Cajuns in Louisiana probably would have a beef with the Haitians and possibly the Dominicans too.

Sorry for the long dialogue, it seem that a lot of African Americans are getting mindfuck with the ancestry dna tests Um my fellow blacks…not every white genes is because of slave owners abusing slave women…and while we are mostly black, we aren’t inbred as hell.

Jungle fever is a thing, also history goes a ways back and you really don't know who was trotting round in the Congo 2000 years ago, that and the Boers are a thing there was mixing there I don't care how racist people were or illegal it was, folks fall in love.

Humans been bumpin uglies a long time and if you think the only way it could happen between people of different skin colours was by rape you lack the capacity to understand love and are likely racist as well.

Come on now

Love these two

Most fun part is she's actually African so it's not like folks can speak over her on all the stuff she talks about

Video I saw "the coon and the colonizer" directed at her, they hate her cuz they ain't her.

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

Okay I have a LOT of untouched stuff to give as prizes the only issue is…

I am sentimental

Like

Look at this haul, it took me all of 10 minutes to get it out:

The only things here I’ve used is that black sketchbook set with the pencils (used it ONCE 3 years ago to do the Whouffaldi ballroom piece) and the mini watercolour set (white box next to the stickers)

However

The pink box of letter writing stuff? I’m sentimental because I got that on a trip with mum and her bff and yeah I’ve never written a letter with it but I COULD someday

It’s so cute 🥰

The pink notebook I’m a little attached to as well. Completely untouched because it’s only 100gsm paper and I can’t paint on that, but I got it in Philippines 🥺

The Chinese purse I got in Chinatown on my… first trip I think?

Nevertheless I think all of these will do very well for prizes

The only one I’m really hesitant over is the letter writing set because I could even use it for collaging and scrapbooking but it’s also such a nice gift idea

Also this is a lot of stuff yes but we’re doing two separate games of pass the parcel and you need like, 10 or so little prizes for a parcel until you get to the final prize and we’re doing one version for the little kids and one for… I was about to say the big kids when I realised me and my friends are all in our 20s now.

Welp.

I also have a few other bits and bobs I bought as prizes for my class so I’ll make that part of the kids parcel

[littleladymab]

FebruarOC - Quin

My other brand new character, along with Horatio, created with the express purpose of having some pining fae prince + bodyguard content. However I know even less about Quin than I do about Horatio. The problem with creating characters 1) out of spite 2) just to play around with in a sandbox is that it makes it real hard to force yourself to sit down and figure something out. At least for me -- there's less of a motivation since it's not for anything except my own amusement. 

SO! Let's uh, make some stuff up I guess! 

The most important thing to make up is: HOW DID THEY MEET and WHY IS THEY LIKE THIS? 

Easiest answer is that like, Quin's family is just one of the vassals of the seelie king, and Quin got the lucky job of being assigned as bodyguard to the prince. (What does being a vassal of the seelie king based out of LA mean? are you in charge of like, San Fernando Valley? Do the dukes of Fashion District, Flower District, and Jewelry district all duke (🥁) it out because their neighborhoods are so close together and bleed into one another??? Are Chinatown, Little Tokyo, KTown, Historic Filipinotown etc etc run by delegates of their own respective countries? Or is it done based on lines of governmental districts?? oh bOY) SO MAYBE NOT A VASSAL, that's too loaded a question for me to figure out. 

Quin's parents working as part of the king's court. Okay, easy. 

So what is it that makes Quin get picked? There's the possibility that there was like, a contest and he won? Or it was used as a punishment for his parents? It could even have been a punishment for Quin, if I want to rip the bodyguard plot from my SignetEcho fic LMAO He was caught doing A Crime and was given the opportunity to do fae jail time or serve as the prince's bodyguard? Either of those two brings in tension -- though I think that his parents being punished is the better option because it can bring on the difficulties of Quin having been lied to about the reason is there and blaming Horatio -- even if Horatio was unaware. We'll go with that! 

Quin, under the impression that he was chosen for idk like good grades and and performance at school or whatever the fuck the other kids in his generation were doing, was assigned to be the prince's bodyguard in secret punishment to his parents by sending away their eldest son for something they did. I'll figure that out later, it's not important right now. 

I think generally, he does enjoy working with Horatio, even if sometimes the prince (and the political scene in general) can be exasperating. 

His drabble is also part of OC Kiss Week, so you'll find that in a separate post! 

PS: full disclosure, when i'm plotting his relationship with Horatio, I may or may not be rotating this post in my head at WARP SPEED. 

[now-we-say-c0ral]

December 15, 2023

I'm off today until the weekend and it's the day the baby girls and I are going to have our Triple H (Hotel, Harry Potter, and Heaven). I'm excited for this. I went to the gym at 11am and did back, triceps, and some abs then I went to The DoubleTree in Holborn to meet the baby girls. We settled first before walking to Euston to take the Overground to Watford.

We got to Watford and free bus to get to the Universal Studios. I didn't read through the group chat enough and thought that we were just going to the Harry Potter thing near Wingstop at the junction heading to Chinatown. It was such a good experience. I remember that I could recite the Prisoner of Azkaban years ago because I watched it everyday when I was a kid. I was a crazy fan back then but not so much right now. The best thing about the whole experience was seeing Buckbeak and saying up and the broom raising. We bought some merch as well. I'm gonna give the Hufflepuff scarf I bought because he likes yellow stuff. We then took an Uber to the hotel and had dinner there. We freshened up before going to Heaven and it was so fun dancing and feeling the loud, young energy of the club. They played a lot of Rihanna and Christina Aguilera and that shit just keeps me glowing and youthful. I was on my 7th glass already and I'm still not drunk. I also saw Helric and we danced a bit before taking the bus to Holborn back to the hotel.

It was a super fun day and I'm glad that we got to celebrate Porcia's day with a blast like this. These girls will forever hold a dear piece of my heart.

December 11-14, 2023

I've procrastinated a lot with my blog and now everything that happened in the span of this time seems completely blurry to me but I'll try my best to write what I could still remember.

I was still in my neurosurgery rotation this time of the week and I think I scrubbed a total of 3 VP shunts and one mini craniotomy which I was really happy about. I met Martha which is the band 7 of their department and she's the kind of manager that I would want to work for. She just seems like an inspiration and she has a clear direction of what she wants for her staff to do to further their works for their department and so far I have heard nothing short of amazing about her.

The weekend that I worked a WLI which I was with Mark and Ate Imelda, apparently, Mark had been speaking behind my back about how "He has to teach me everything" and I see this as bullying at work. I confronted him and kind of gaslit me saying that he didn't mention all the things that I heard from Ate Imelda and Kuya Ernest about what he was saying about me. I was stern though. I told him, "Fine. If you have a problem about me and my work, you know you can talk to me directly about it, right?" I learned my lesson from how Banessa bullied me at work in Kingston. I will control the narrative this time.

That's about it that I could remember. The week was long and dragging, as usual.

[clunelover]

I’m SO HAPPY these days. Work is continuing to go great, but I am also fitting in time for cooking and lazing, as is one’s sacred duty when one’s boss is out of the country for two weeks. Friends and family stuff is going well…plans are in motion to do thanksgiving at stepmom’s house since I successfully alerted everyone that I wasn’t going to host both that and Christmas. Now, we shall see how that ends up - in the past she’s often had some sort of breakdown and/or medial emergency right around thanksgiving that have made it so I have to sweep in and do all the cooking. But, if that happens again, we will have that data for next year. Look at me, not worrying about it for now!

Jeremy seems to be extra loving and caring lately - like, he always has been, and we have always both been very affectionate, but it feels like he’s putting in some kind of extra effort to do things for me, or tidy more things up to have me in a better mood. He has scheduled a secret date for us on Saturday - a hold on the family calendar that says “don’t worry about it” lol.

Things with the kids are different one day to the next, but we’re coping and I just keep thinking, as C gets older and has more mastery over his emotions, things will only get better. We had their teacher conferences last week and they’re both very smart - C is a math whiz and E is a reading whiz. Sounds like they’re both doing well enough with their social connections and have friends (I asked E’s teacher about her reports of crying often at school and being called a “cry baby,” and she said the crying must be happening in other classes because she only saw it happen once, when E had to have school lunch and it was something disgusting that she refused to eat. And that even if she is crying a lot, it’s not holding her back from having close friends).

Things are going great with my new mycology habit, and I have started giving some away - excited to grow more and do more of that. Haven’t started microdosing yet, want to wait a full week since my macro dose last Friday.

I’m working out a ton.

The one thing that is stalled is writing. And I guess reading too! Although I just got a great new audiobook so that’s going to pick back up. I was struggling in part because I had my list of old books to try, and put a million holds on audiobooks via the Libby app, but then they all kept coming ready at the same time, so I kept trying to delay delivery, but some of them I didn’t get to on time so the hold completely lapsed, and then my library card expired so I can’t manage the holds at all so I must visit the library in person to renew my card. Oh and somewhere in there I did have The Magnificent Ambersons and was trying that but could not get into it, like I was an hour+ in and nothing had happened. This was part of why the other holds bubbling up had to be put back on hold. But anyway, I saw I think it was @frances-baby-houseman recommending Flux and saying it was like a cross of Interior Chinatown and [some other book that I didn’t recognize but I don’t care because I loved Interior Chinatown SO MUCH so that’s all I needed to know]. Anyway since that’s a new book I went ahead and splurged on it via Audible and now I have something to read again. Haven’t read much yet but it grabbed me right away.