#am i a bit cuckoo? absolutely.

[i-eat-deodorant]

Tell me about your onions.

here's an onion. i'm so funny.

ahem.

ok real talk though i've been doing a couple brief dives into the reincarnation aspect of buddhism/hinduism, which haven't been super applicable to COTL so far. which is a shame, bc it has such an interesting take on rebirth and resurrection within the nature of religion.

in COTL, death is seen as semi-permanent and a boon. lamb uses it to their advantage via the nature of game protagonists being able to restart from a save point when they died. the ritual of resurrection is groundbreaking for followers, and i headcanon that the ritual of rebirth is the main reason why TOWW got imprisoned. it is very much a loaded gun in the COTL world.

but buddhism treats rebirth as not only a nature of living, but something that needs to be escaped from. literally something that one must fight to be unshackled from, to break past samsara and reach ascension via nirvana. it's such an interesting viewpoint to consider and explore, especially bc my interpretation of lamb has them never being willing to become this resurrecting figure in the first place. as much as the red crown has been a boon for them, it's also acted as a bind. they will always have both their mortal and godly vices.

in both hinduism and buddhism there are multiple schools of thought that tackle the continuuity of resurrection, aka "what is carried over when one is reborn?"

now suppose narinder did not carry everything he had as TOWW to his mortal form. what is lost, and what is gained?

if i were to adapt samsara into my cotl fics i'd focus less on actual death and more on metaphorical ones. which, ok bear with me here, is a huge part of my personal philosophy.

humans are not static; we grow and develop, and in doing so we shed prior versions of ourselves like metamorphosis. a sort of ego death lite, if you will. when faced with a traumatic event, the person you once were is not the same as the person you are now. that is the kind of metaphorical death i'm talking about; the death of a former self.

but what exactly marks the new self and the old self? nothing, theoretically. we can make the boundary as low or as high as we want.

consider the ship of theseus: if a huge portion of my body is replaced every 7 years, can i definitely say i am who i was 7 years ago? what part of identity and self stays constant, when my personality's changed drastically? am i a stranger with the memories of someone else?

now narrow the boundary. if the self is physically static, then every time a cell dies, the self dies.

using that technical definition, technically i die and am reborn every single second. a metaphorical death and a metaphorical rebirth, and what gets carried over?

something something life and death are two sides of the coin of change.

that's why i kinda keep emphasizing lamb's impostor syndrome crisis about themselves dying in both soul and body during the execution. that's why i divide narinder's life into such stark epochs (mortal, bishop, imprisoned, mortal again). that's why i love treating their afterlife not as a continuity of their character development, but a second chance. ship of theseus, broken down and rebuilt anew.

it's not nirvana. but it's making the best out of your own personal samsara.

and just. there's something so poetic about narinder and lamb reincarnating as gods of death, because the only way to die repeatedly is to live again after each one. a taste of permanence in the impermanent, without ever reaching that finality that they embody as gods. they represent the very thing they are and aren't. it's a paradox that makes perfect sense the moment you remove the black-and-white boundary of life/death that dictates they must be opposites.

and this is what i love exploring. breaking down the barriers of identity and death in the metaphysical sense, in two characters who are defined by so much loss in their lives. (metaphorical) death, treated as redemption, treated as healing.

lamb, offering a hand up to a newly reborn narinder. i died, i got up, and i live.

[milfswriter]

Innocent

Alma Peregrine x Reader

Request by @queerpersonified: Peculiars assuming reader is dangerous and shouldn’t be around kids, when in reality she’s a very loving, nurturing supportive wife and parent (I have a feeling that would get on Alma’s nerves REAL FAST)

Notes and warnings: reader's peculiarity is being able to show memories (like transform the room into that specific memory? get it? and no it can't be tampered with lol)

You walked into Ditch house after finishing a shift with Sharon to monitor who enters and exits the loop through the panloopticon, sighing as you saw the children from different loops disperse at the sight of you.

It wasn't anything new, you'd been living here for the past few weeks and you should've gotten used to the weird looks and Ymbrines hiding their children behind them at the sight of you already.

But how could you? They were judging you based on a lie that the peculiar press has been spreading for the past 30 years. you bit your lip nervously, looking around the house for Alma or anyone you knew but you couldn't find them. You brushed it off and sat on a couch, reading a book before hearing someone clearing their throat.

You looked up to see a boy you recognized to be from Miss Cuckoo's loop. "Who allowed you to sit here?"

You raised an eyebrow, "Do I need permission to sit? I thought we shared this house"

He scoffed, walking away before Enoch stopped him with a hand to his chest. "Don't ever talk to Y/n like that"

_________________

You tried to ignore the staring as you carried Claire around the house, their wary looks making you feel like they were about to snatch her from you any second.

Later that day, you were invited by Alma to join her in the council meeting to discuss dealing with the desolations Caul has been causing. As you reached the meeting room, you knocked on the door hesitantly before coming in, a flood of relief washing over you as the first thing you saw was Alma's soft smile.

"Now that we're all here, I'd like to-"

"What is she doing here?" You turned to see Miss Cuckoo grimace at you, her cane hitting the table.

You stayed in your place near the door, waiting for Alma to kick you back out.

"I beg your pardon" Alma's questioning tone made you feel the slightest of relief before Miss Cuckoo made her way to you, pointing at you with her cane.

"For all I know," she spat, her french accent thickening "she's working with Caul! She shouldn’t be in here!”

"Isabel!" Alma's tone was hard, a glare burning holes at her friend. She couldn't understand her fellow ymbrines, why would they treat you like you were a time bomb, about to explode any second.

"How. Dare You!" you yelled, the room falling into silence once again. Even Miss Avocet was too shocked to say anything.

You were always respectful, holding doors for Ymbrines and bowing your head to them whenever you saw one of them even when the look of disgust was apparent on their faces, so seeing you yell at one was nothing less of shocking.

"I..have been trying for DECADES to rectify my mistake! it was an accident! I DID NOT CONTROL THAT HOLLOW! I did not order the deaths of those children!" you were fuming, you had enough.

"Y/n. That is enough" Miss Avocet said, moving her wheelchair as if she was about to ask one of the ymbrines to escort you out.

"No, it is not. I am sick of this treatment which I absolutely do not deserve! I am not a monster, nor a killer" you caught your breath before turning to Miss Cuckoo.

"And you!" you pointed to her, her face contorted in surprise "how dare you accuse me of working with the one person who ruined my wife's life? hm? you dare say that so openly, too"

"ENOUGH!" Alma's voice echoed through the room, you were waiting for her to kick you out of the room, but she herself left the room after pulling your hand.

You were following her silently. "This! is Y/n Y/l/n! an innocent woman who had done nothing wrong in her entire life! whatever lie you've been told has to stop. NOW!" the children watched with horror, whispering to one another.

"Show us" she told you, looking back at you as you stood behind her shamefully.

"Alma, you don't have t-"

"Show. Us" you gulped, closing your eyes as you began to remember that wretched day, sighing as you felt the room change into that dark alley.

You watched your past self's hands tremble at the sight of the children behind that hollow, you didn't know what to do.

"get away! run!!" you yelled but they couldn't hear you from the hollow's growls. You kept on screaming for them to run since they couldn't see the damn thing, but they kept in their place, looking around for any sign of danger but found none other than the sounds of the hollows.

You didn't have any weapons, you couldn't have possibly fought the beast by hand but you still tried to run.

You fell on you knees as you saw the hollow scoop the three children up with its tongues, closing your eyes as their screams echoed through the alley.

The memory faded as you hid behind Alma, whose hands were shaking as she closed her eyes. She's never asked you to talk about any of that, let alone show it.

The room was silent and as you looked up Alma's shoulder, they were all staring at you. Ymbrines children and even Addison, who's always told you he believed your story.

You looked at Alma's still-frozen frame, you'd scared her, you shouldn't have shown this memory. Your thoughts were interrupted by your wife clearing her throat, turning to look at you with teary eyes.

Your lips trembled at her stare, gulping as the older woman pulled you into her embrace, which elicited a soft sob from you as you clung to her for dear life.

"oh, y/n/n" she whispered, "I'm sorry you had to witness that" You shook your head, letting go of the woman in front of you and looking at the others.

"I was a hollow hunter" you admitted, "just like Abe Portman, but one day, things went wrong and..those children died. It wasn't my fault and I would never work with Caul Bentham even if it cost my life" you felt a tug at your pants to see Olive with tears in her eyes as she hugged you.

"I know you would never do that to us" she hiccuped, making you sigh as you leaned down and picked her up. You shouldn't have shown the damn memory, now you scared your children for others' stupid opinions.

Alma cleared her throat after seconds of silence, her hand resting on your lower back.

“I believe you all owe miss y/l/n an apology”

Taglist:-

@ara-a-bird @mmemalwa @multifandomfix @thenazwife @mistysswampmud @yelenablshop @acornacre @yourfavdummy @jestercat28

[writing-for-life]

Thessaly, Johanna and a weird meta about musical motifs (amongst other things)

Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!

As a little intro: A lot of people in the fandom want to see Thessaly cut from the TV adaptation, or at least see her changed substantially. I am not necessarily one of them because I don’t think it’s always necessary to blur the lines between fiction and reality that way, and I would be alright with portraying her in a similar way as in the Audible adaptation (where a lot of things have already been changed to make her character more palatable to 21st century audiences). It would also make Morpheus look a bit less morally grey (I mean, he falls in love with someone who is essentially a terrible person, knows it and doesn’t seem to give a shit. Then again, he often is morally grey, and people like to forget that ;)).

Having gotten that out of the road: I *do* think that “A Game of You” is hard to translate to the screen. I absolutely love it in the comics, but I think it’s one of those arcs that is tricky to do well for TV. I’d even go as far as saying it might be a dealbreaker for some people who haven’t read the comic/are show audience only, and it might jeopardise a potential S3. Not because of Thessaly or the plot as such, but because it operates on a similar plane as The Doll’s House, which was jarring to a lot of people in S1. And The Doll’s House has a far more straightforward arc and more Morpheus in it—AGoY has none of these things. I’d personally love to see it, but I would also love to see Morpheus’ full arc being brought to the screen, so I am a bit conflicted. I still think, and of course that’s just a personal opinion, that it would be best to just have little bits and bobs inserted into Season of Mists and do the whole Cuckoo arc as an animation, but that’s just me.

@tickldpnk8 and I already speculated wildly about S2, and sole speculation it is, but maybe you want to check out that post. I’m getting carried away here...

After that longwinded intro: Are we going to get Johanna instead of Thessaly?

What I actually wanted to write about is why the longer I think about it (and I’ve been thinking about it since S1, I'm really that sad), the more I can’t shake the feeling that they *will* replace Thessaly with Johanna. And the fandom is totally divided about it—some love the idea because they had undeniable chemistry in S1, others hate it for various reasons (doing Johanna dirty, keeping Thessaly "intact"--you name it).

I personally think it might actually elevate the story because it would make Morpheus look better (*if* that's what we want--I'm not really sure I do), and that’s what show-only-fans seemingly gravitate towards. As already hinted at, Thessaly/Murphy always seemed a rather unfathomable relationship, and it didn’t just make Murph look stupid, but also, as already mentioned, morally grey and not very discerning in his choice of women (hmm, maybe he just isn’t ;)).

Falling for Johanna wouldn’t be any of this. And it would be so easy to show why it went horribly wrong without making either of them look bad, and you could still feel for both of them. If we think about Johanna’s worst nightmare (literally), it’s what happened to Astra. So she would absolutely and unequivocally support someone like Lyta, who worries about her child. And she would do it for all the right reasons, and not because she’s a selfish bitch who just wants a longer life or is generally spiteful.

And it wouldn’t be hard for Morpheus and Johanna to hook up either. They could even leave the original idea intact: Thessaly just dreamed of him, and they started talking in dreams, bla bla bla. We already have the set-up for that in S1. Morpheus took away Johanna’s nightmare. She could just be grateful, relieved, whatever, and dream of him. Done. And we don’t even need to explain that at great length, because in the comics, we never really see them hook up anyway and just find things out after the deed. Although I personally *want* to see them get hot and heavy on screen, but that’s just me having my mind in the gutter because why would you not to show two sexy people with so much chemistry doing exactly that. However, I’ll survive the disappointment if they don’t—just 😂

But it’s not just the plot. It’s also everything we’ve seen in S1. I have already talked about this in other threads, most recently with @orionsangel86, but literally every shot with them in S1 was framed as a romance shot: the proximity, the play on height difference, the camera angles, the lighting. These are deliberate choices, either to hint at what’s to come, or to set up a distraction, MacGuffin, whatever.

Then the mention of “None of us can be trusted.”

Or the RAIN. I mean, I am so surprised no one has commented on that waterfall of RAIN when they say goodbye (or I’ve just not seen it). You cannot read the comics and ever believe again that Morpheus and rain, no matter where, doesn’t hint at terrible relationship outcomes.

Musical themes, oy!

But the thing that really got me was the use of musical motifs, and I am unfortunately showing my background from a former life here because I can never listen to a movie soundtrack without getting analytical about it. Johanna’s theme is called “Johanna & Rachel”, and it would be easy to just think of it as that. And yes, it is a love theme, but it doesn’t just play for Johanna and Rachel. It plays in Morpheus’ and Johanna’s last scene as well.

And here’s the kicker: Dream’s and her theme complete each other, as in: They both have what the other one is missing. They are musically extremely close, but not identical. Let me explain:

If you think of the opening lines of both of their motifs in scale degrees (like 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-(1)), they look/sound as follows:

Johanna (her motif begins right at the start, so I didn't timestamp it)

1-(minor3)-7-(2)-(1) | 1-(major3)-m7-1

If I put all of “her” scale degrees in a row, they are: 1-2-3-7

Dream (you actually hear his leitmotifs, and their subtle differences, best in his scenes with John Dee):

1-(7)-(6)-(5)-(4) | 1-(7)-(6)-2 (video is timestamped)

1-(7)-(6)-(5)-(aug4) | 1-(7)-(6)-2 (video is timestamped)

If I put all of “his” scale degrees in a row, they are: 1-2-4-5-6-7

Morpheus is missing the third (3). Missing the third, which s considered one of the most consonant intervals and DYNAMIC, also hints at his character, but that just as an aside.

Johanna has the third (both in its minor and major form). 

Johanna is missing the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Morpheus has them, in various forms (major and augmented—especially augmented intervals are highly unstable and create a lot of friction).

What they share/have in common are 1, 2 and 7:

The tonic (1) is what everything else hinges on. The supertonic (2) is musically fraught with tension and seeks to resolve into the tonic--back to base or a conclusion/resolution, if you will. The seventh (7), both as a leading note or subtonic, is also that: Tension that needs resolved.

So all they have in common is tension that needs to resolve into some sort of resolution.

(And before we are pointing out the obvious: of course both tunes have more notes in it respectively, but we are talking about the main motifs.)

What’s also super interesting is where their overall themes are going. Johanna’s is initially darker, but it actually has a lot of ascending lines and “light” before plunging back into darkness.

Morpheus’ seems a lot more regal (for lack of better term), but the lines are mostly descending. This becomes even more apparent when we are not just listening to the opening theme, but to the several variations of his theme (his presence can be felt literally everywhere, even in Desire's theme).

It just freaked me out majorly the moment I heard it for the first time in contrast. But I like to over-interpret musical stuff because I just hear it so clearly. I *do* believe that composers do these things on purpose, even if just subconsciously, because we can't separate what we know about a character from how we perceive them musically (I do it as well). Of course that doesn’t always mean that it’s exactly the purpose I am thinking of, or that it hints at whatever is to come. My brain tends to run away with these things.

But yes, musically, they are totally "on track", so let's run with it. I'll admit my embarrassment later when this all goes into a completely different direction ;)

(Also tagging @honeyteacakes in this since I encroached on your comments recently)

[mellarkably]

ur so right abt the way that scene between ben and devi was shot because every single moment when we see devi making out with someone (or about to have s*x) is so driven by her “horny side�� only, for paxton and des she just wanted to have s*x and get over with it and with ethan she just was on her horny and active rush which is good but the ben/devi scene, yes it was framed with a sense of urgency between them but also so much care and love. the lighting, the touches, the hands, smiling at each other and just everything about it was beautiful.

and call me crazy but i am happy the show didn’t do the typical “devi only has s*x with ben” narrative because i was about sure they wouldn’t have her have s*x with ethan and they did and was surprised because most shows don’t do that. ben and devi lost their virginity together and that’s already special but they didn’t have devi pondering around waiting for ben. she got to experience a little bit of fun and discover her preferences and be comfortable with it (and maybe ben did so too with margot) and then they get to make love to each other and know what it means and the differences in that and now they can start a relationship when there’s some level of experience and they can just explore what they both want.

some shows tend to do the opposite for “romanticism” so i am glad they did not.

OH ANON HOW I LOVE YOU FOR THIS BECAUSE CAN. WE. TALK ABOUT IT!

i already predicted a while ago that the show would have ben and devi make love again but this time it would be much more natural and easy for them:

i agree with you. i think it was important to show benvi's first time as being awkward, and having it pale in comparison to her next time with ethan, who is far more experienced. it allowed devi to have fun (and im assuming its almost certain ben also had sex with margot) while embodying the whole, fun time NOT a long time thing. im sure they both learned a lot about their preferences like you said during those respective relationships.

but going back to what i loved most about 410's sex redo - how it was the ONLY sex scene in the show that wasn't shot like a high school steamy fling type of deal.

of course, there's that big damn kiss that's been building up for four years with more steam needed to be released than pati's rice cooker, BUT, the lighting. the song, the actors' natural chemistry. the tone itself already feels so much more serious than any other romantic scene in the show.

i honestly thought it would end here, so imagine my surprise when they continued - and i think this second part is what sets it apart from all the other intimate scenes in the show.

henna shot. i fucking died. ive talked enough about this on twitter and im sure other people are talking about this but it is just so symbolic for devi as an individual, her relationship with her culture and how she doesn't have to separate that from her romantic endeavours because she is desirable as she is! s1 devi would faint! she absolutely would!

and now this shot, which is what the tags you're referring to were about, has me still going cuckoo bananas like. pulling away to smile at each other. they're literally in fucking love. this is love. this is not the show trying to gain an audience using steamy scenes, or devi being horny - not that there is anything wrong with that either - but she is so visibly content and comfortable and happy and you can see it in her smile. both of their smiles in fact.

that small moment is what makes this scene for me.

anyway sorry for the huge rant. if you couldn't tell already i really love this scene! it was very well done.

[swordsandspectacles]

Having some thoughts about Aura’s hair and hair length through the years.

So like. Absolutely unrealistically long in the cuckoo era, I have had hair approaching this length and I know what a pain in the ass to have.

Consider however:

- I like it

- messing with your hair is a great way to NOT go stir crazy if you have a lot of time to yourself.

Aura had some mixed feelings about the hair- pride in that it’s something she knows how to maintain, frustration at all the maintenance required.

Post first escape, it gets braided/put in a bun/pinned up like. 85% of the time. Maybe she’d pull the whole shebang out and aquaint herself with a straightener for Halloween, but other than that it’s out of the way- though she refuses to cut it.

How does it work with the sidestep suit? POORLY next question-

(Seriously though. Can’t have it outside the suit bc identifiable + grabbable … but shoving your hair down the back of your shirt isn’t it either.)

Mixed feelings about the hair aside… obviously, having your head shaved is fucking miserable.

When it’s growing out post-escape she fucking hates it, has NO clue how to style it (‘shove that shit in a braid, comb your fringe and let gravity do the work’ is a valid stylising method).

Logically she knows ‘frequent trims will help the hair grow healthy’ but she cannot bring herself to cut it, so it winds up sorta- scraggly. It’s too short to effectively braid, so she throws it in a ponytail if she does anything, which she doesn’t really like.

I 100% don’t think Aura’s connected her own feelings about her hair to her choice to give Maneater a fucking mane of jellyfish-tendril looking nonsense. Like if you pointed it out to her she’d go “oh you motherfucker that’s brilliant, I’m so good, goddamn-“ but in reality/internally it’s “what the hell how do you do that unintentionally aura what the fuck-“

Anyway. That’s enough of that. Maybe I’ll do similar for Melly. Matty isn’t getting one that man ruffles his hair in the morning and goes ‘eh good enough’ and only cuts it once it gets in his eyes.

Also yeah I drew these at like 3 am but auras expressions are fun to exaggerate a bit

[lithuanianking]

[Long overdue intro post]

Sveikas! I'm illya

(not actually I just don't wanna use my real name and that would have been my name and I've always loved it)

-I was born in 2008

-my pronouns are he/him/his (not they/them do not refer to me as that only he/him or maybe it/its )

- I'm a Lithuanian-American (unfortunately the American part of me is southern and I've picked up a bit of a accent despite now living in the mid-west)

-I have cerebral palsy

-I've been acting since 2013

- I am absolutely obsessed with little shop of horrors

- otther than that I like villainous,newsies,ride the cyclone,tangled the series,the 25th annual putnam County spelling bee, one flew over the cuckoo's nest,the giver,drawing,acting, building Lego sets,Spiderman, and much more

I'd like to intract with people on here but I have some kind of social anxiety when it comes to talking to people online lol.

But yeah that's kinda it (I think)

[runescapegnome]

erasing my family from my childhood memories and making the bits leftover shiny and beautiful. I am in a house that looks very much like my great grandparent's house, except it is warm. there are loved ones over for morning coffee. somebody is playing the electronic organ from the 80s, and the walls are wood-paneled, and the cuckoo clock is chiming at 10 AM. there are silly trinkets all over the shelves. no one will teach them that being a dyke is a bad thing before they even know what it is and no one will ever tell them that they're going to hell. they are standing in the kitchen. the canary is singing in its cage, and the prism suncatchers in the window are covering absolutely everything in rainbows

[notvictorhugo]

EDIT: Okay guys turns out that the video I watched was from a horribly pirated version. I am watching the movie once more and none of those constant cuts are there it's much more straightforward please ignore all I said about it being hard to understand I'm gonna look like a moron

So I absolutely ADORED the Cuckoo movie and I can't stop thinking about it at all.

Here's the thing. I'm not a big fan of the horror genre, mainly because Im a coward, but lately I've been tipping my toes in, and although I'm enjoying the experience im still somewhat of a newbie. From what I gather, horror films tend to be either the ones with jumpscares and blood and people screaming, the ones with Dread in it (like Midsommar or Alien) and the ones that are sort-of-introspective, meaningful art (not to say that the others arent, but I think you know what I mean even if what I say is wrong. I'm thinking of stuff like Lake Mungo or I Saw the TV Glow).

So I started watching Cuckoo thinking it was gonna be one of the first ones, having seen hundreds of pics of Schaffer covered in blood, but as time went on it became clear it wasn't. Given that there was also the weird gimmick about the cuts and flashbacks, together with the dead mum, I thought it was gonna be the third one instead. I laid back on the couch and got ready to take in The Vibes, relaxed, becoming one with the movie and Feel It. It's probably one of those things where the point isn't understanding, but rather feeling the mystery and the confusion and the fear of the unexplained.

BOY. WAS. I. WRONG.

Im not sure when it happened exactly, but I believe it was about the time when Gretchen got locked in the science room by Creepy Guy, or perhaps when the scientist started saying things like "Homo Cuculus" or something. At that moment everything clicked: this wasn't an introspective film about loss, this was an X-Files episode! (minus the sexual tension)

That whiplash, for me, was what turned the movie from good to great, and I'm not sure if I would've liked it as much had I had that idea from the start. From then on the movie was a puzzle, the weird cuts were not just some stylistic choice but part of the difficulty, and I felt incredibly proud after figuring out what was going on and explaining it to the friend I'd been watching it with. I felt even prouder (although maybe a bit disappointed) when I started reading reviews to check my answers and found out that most said it was incoherent, or plotless, or pure vibes, because it most certainly was not, only on the surface, but oh well.

I can't wait to watch it a second time this Friday knowing everything from the start. ANYWAY!

[slowroadtosantiago]

Day 31 - Santa Catalina to Foncebadon

Today was just over 10 miles without backpacks.

It ended up as just me and Jane in the dorm last night, very unusual but we weren’t complaining. We woke at 7 and were on the road by half past. The morning light on the street and our albergue was lovely.

It was cold walking. The temperature has fallen and we’re climbing higher. At one point a week or so ago I was thinking of getting rid of my sleeping bag as I was too hot at night but now I’m glad I didn’t.

We could see on the map that there was a village about 4K away which indicated that it had cafes or albergues so we thought we’d have breakfast there. As we approached we could see tepees where pilgrims could stay. Unfortunately when we got there nothing was open! Calamity! How would Jane manage without her coffee?

There was nothing for it but to carry on, which we did until we found a picnic spot and dredged up the last of the slightly stale small pain au chocolats we had left over from the Airbnb and downed them with water.

The landscape has changed completely, we can see the mountains in the near distance and our path is flanked by some amazing colours and smells. We have lavender bushes, white broom, yellow gorse and lots of different coloured heathers, and even a few bluebells. The pine forest scent has been wonderful. As always we’ve been followed by the noise of cuckoos.

As we walked towards Rabanal we came across a long fence into which people had woven wooden crosses.

Finally reaching Rabanal after 7 miles we had an extended coffee stop with tostada. In fact we had two coffees just to make up for earlier disappointment.

In the compound of the place we stopped were donkeys and across the road a field of long-horned cows. Rabanal village itself was very pretty with one main street winding upwards. We stopped briefly to have a look inside the church with its ornate altar piece.

We then had 3-4 miles climbing steadily upwards. It was a lovely walk, mainly away from the roads. But the path was stony so Jane had to take extra care where she placed her feet.

We thought we had left the Cymru Am Byth vandals behind but it seems that their pen having run out they bought a can of spray paint and it looks even worse than their black pen did.

It wasn’t long before we reached Foncebadon, our stop for the night. The hostel is full this time, and modern inside. We did try to get two bottom bunks but weren’t allowed, so this time I’m on the top bunk. It’s a mixed room of 6 with a very swish en-suite. The only problem is that the walls are not very thick so you can hear everything and also the noise from other bathrooms. Oh well, earplugs will be in use tonight.

They did a set pilgrims’ menu so we had that for lunch. We both though the pudding was the best, it was like a deconstructed cheesecake.

It’s very windy outside so I had a shower, washed my smalls and got them and my towel on the line while Jane had a chill.

After a few hours a coffee and some delicious home made orange sponge cake was in order while we had a chat about tomorrow and what we would do when we finished in Santiago.

Tomorrow we’ll be climbing a little bit higher to the Cruz de Ferro, the cross at the highest point on the Camino. The next part down to Molinaseca will be a bit more tricky as it’s a steep scree path over 7 miles long and about 900m descent in total. We’ve both got walking poles to help us and if it gets too much for Jane then there’s a village halfway down that you can get a taxi from. However, in the past we’ve been given scare stories on previous parts of the Camino and they have all been absolutely fine. I keep telling Jane it’s like coming down Machen Mountain 3 times, we’ll be fine!

[flockofdoves]

im going fucking cuckoo bananas. why is it so hard to fill my schedule to be a full time student for my last semester when i am infamously the type of person who wants to learn about everything ever and jumps at any opportunity to take random classes

have really really really wanted to take advanced spanish grammar for so long but every fucking semester i have a necessary class during that time (due to the epidemic of every class in the world being in late morning on tuesday/thursday) and this semester my One Singular Class I Absolutely Need To Graduate is at that time

so then i was like. oh well. i'll take italian 1 instead since my grandfather has been trying to plan one last trip to where his family is from and if i get to go it will be good to practice italian in a formal context

but then that trip fell through and i just really really want to improve my spanish so i emailed a class for heritage speakers to see if it would be appropriate for me and the professor got back to me and said i was welcome to come to the first class and try it out

and so today i went to the spanish for heritage speakers class and it made me so so excited to be immersed in spanish again and going over the content of the course, with the exception of how i don't really need much writing help since when i was learning all the basics of how to read and write i did that as much in spanish as i did english, all the grammar topics were exactly what i needed and the idea of a class where everyone talks at a high level and theres no english but you still get into the basics of explaining different grammar topics is so so refreshing!!!

and at the end of class the professor was like your spanish is at a high enough level for this class so if you want to take it then see you monday! and it got me so excited

and then the italian class was just really extremely basic. i understand basically anything said to me in italian and know a decent amount of vocab i just have trouble speaking but throughout my life i have at least studied basics like past and present tense and articles and stuff. so my goals were to learn more grammar and make my pronunciation better (i always pronounce everything so spanish and dont have a good sense for what words have which e or o sound)

but this professor was like yeah basically this whole course is just present tense and well learn the sinple past tense right at the end. but i already know that!!! and also unfortunately she has a noticeable american accent while speaking so thats not much help for improving my accent either

so i was like well whatever that makes my decision easy ill drop italian and take the spanish class. but still just in case i asked her about if i could take an italian placement test (was nervous about that originally because the next level up was during my necessary class again) and she was like yeah ive never had to do that before but i can figure that out for next week. which is a little nervewracking bc add/drop ends on wednesday. but whatever i was excited about taking spanish now

but then when i got home today i saw an email from the spanish professor (technically a grad student) like ‘i talked to my colleagues and even if your spanish level is high enough since you are not a heritage speaker here are some classes better suited for you [classes where you write huge essays in spanish which i do not have the time or desire for rn]’

and that was upsetting because i just really most of anything wanted to take a spanish class but then i was feeling a bit better because it turned out there was a new section added of the italian 2 class that fit my schedule and looking through that classes textbook it seemed the exact mix of easy but not boring because ill still actually be learning stuff that i needed. and i even called my mom (who used to be an italian language professor) and read the textbook units and she agreed it seemed exactly right for me

so i went to start writing an email to that professor to be proactive even before taking the placement test but in the fucking half hour since i had last checked the page rhat section of the class filled up with no waitlist

so i looked through the entire search of classes in a certain block of time not on tuesday thursday for my giant university and literally rhe only thing that seemed both manageable and interesting was an intro to japanese class. and i was excited like wow! how did i miss this when i was first searching for classes! only to click on it and remember i did see it and the reason it wasnt on my backup class list was because it doesnt allow seniors to take it

[adracat]

December fics-

It occurs to me I should use tumblr more... I promised to broadcast and talk about fics but I'm still relying on Twitter for everything. Ah well, I remembered finally. For this month I posted two very different fics:

Shall We Walk Together Again? ch. 6- https://archiveofourown.org/works/27330805/chapters/109875988

An Edeleth reincarnation fic with a few side pairs(Cathmir/Leobern/eventually Doropetra) included

This update was an Elaine-focused chapter with plenty of sweet moments and also the beginnings of the overarching plot. Adored writing Elaine be very smitten with her dashing Briar. But my overall favorite had to be her talks with Shiya. I am VERY fond of this forward and unbridled version of Shamir. I just think she should boldly wreck shit after a lifetime of guarding her thoughts.

The second fic is Honest and Wild-https://archiveofourown.org/works/43736268

A small little cathmir oneshot inspired by my AG Shamir musings. She's a bit of a freak over Catherine tbh.

I'm honestly tempted to make a master post of Hopes Shamir being absolutely cuckoo over the big blonde dumbo. It's the funniest thing about her and it should be immortalized. Anyway, if you enjoy Cathmir or are curious about my take on them plz give it a try~

And that's a wrap for December. Really want to do another holiday fic proper, but maybe one day I'll find the time.

[domjaehyun]

i am craving for a good fic ab hyucks big massive colossal huge dick not gonna lie, pretty exhausting even to think ab it. take ur time tho, theres absolutely no rush, we wait for u cuz we know damn well u always feed us a whole five-star course meal

-forgot my emoji but ill find it again [bear w my very oblivious ass pls]

why thank u omg and YEAH THINKING ABT HIM AND NOT WRITING ABT IT IS DRIVING ME CUCKOO JUST A LITTLE BIT 🤏 but thank you for ur patience while i figure out a new rhythm with work and stuff 🫡

[celtfather]

Kitty's Gone A-Milking #675

Songs of Ireland and more on the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast #675 . Subscribe now!

Tradify, High Octane, Sassenach, The Drowsy Lads, Altan, Brobdingnagian Bards, Louise Bichan, Hayley Griffiths, Toby Bresnahan, Natalie Padilla, Philippe Barnes, Tom Phelan, Jigjam, Lúnasa, River Driver

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VOTE IN THE CELTIC TOP 20 FOR 2024

This is our way of finding the best songs and artists each year. You can vote for as many songs and tunes that inspire you in each episode. Your vote helps me create next year's Best Celtic music of 2024 episode. You have just three weeks to vote this year. Vote Now!

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THIS WEEK IN CELTIC MUSIC

0:15 - Tradify "Molly Malone & Kitty's Gone a - Milking" from Take Flight

3:35 - WELCOME

7:12 - High Octane "Jurassic Reels" from High Octane

13:14 - Sassenach "A Chuachag Nam Beann/The Cuckoo of the Mountain" from Passages

16:30 - The Drowsy Lads "Up and About in the Morning (Jigs)" from Wide Awake

21:08 - Altan “Gabhaim Molta Bríde" from Donegal

25:32 - FEEDBACK

29:48 - Brobdingnagian Bards "Paddy McCollough" from Songs of Ireland

33:13 - Louise Bichan "Margaret's Walk to the Pier" from Out of My Own Light

39:36 - Hayley Griffiths "Loch Lomond" from Far from Here

43:45 - Toby Bresnahan "Crabs in the Skillet  -  Ten Penny Bit  -  Colerain Jig" from All In Good time

48:24 - THANKS

50:37 - Natalie Padilla "Immortal, Invisible" from Paths and Places

54:25 - Philippe Barnes and Tom Phelan "Midnight Accountant" from The Clearwater Sessions

58:10 - Jigjam "Bluebird" from Phoenix

1:02:23 - Lúnasa "Man from Moyasta" from Live in Kyoto

1:06:05 - CLOSING

1:06:53 - River Driver "Home" from Flanagan's Shenanigans! Live at The Celt

1:10:30 - CREDITS

The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather and our Patrons on Patreon. The show was edited by Mitchell Petersen with Graphics by Miranda Nelson Designs. Visit our website to follow the show. You’ll find links to all of the artists played in this episode.

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WELCOME THE IRISH & CELTIC MUSIC PODCAST

* Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. I am Marc Gunn. I’m a Celtic musician and podcaster. This podcast is for fans of Celtic music of all shapes and sizes. Not necessarily from Ireland or Scotland, but from around the globe. Because there is much great Celtic music from around the world.

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Your kindness pays for our engineer, graphic designer, Celtic Music Magazine editor, promotion of the podcast, and allows me to buy the music I play here. It also pays for my time creating the show each and every week.

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TRAVEL WITH CELTIC INVASION VACATIONS

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I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? Please email me. I’d love to see a  picture of what you're doing while listening or of a band that you saw recently.

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Jason Denen emailed this week: "Marc, I can't support the latest changes to Patreon, do you have a KoFi or PayPal I can use to send you some money."

Make a donation.

Éirinn O'Coscraigh (pron. pronounced Erin O - Cosgrove) emailed: "Dearest Celtfather and purveyor of fine Irish and Celtic music.

I and the Cosgroves have really enjoyed episode 660! I was cooking up a fine dinner with plenty of Irish stew while the episode was playing on the speakers... and the most common phrase we said was, "Who is this?" Wow. Eight debuts!!! from bands and performers never played on the show before and we have nearly never even heard of them before today!

The Low Kings, The Drowsy Lads, Fialla, The Crowfoot Rakes, Blackthorn, Conor Mallon, Fig for a Kiss, and Luas.... Love 'em all.

Thank you for turning us on to these and many others. We have a lot of favourites who are played regularly on the show.

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Go raibh maith agat!"

Mattie Dalton emailed: "I am always trying but thank you for letting me know about July.

Yes  I want a CD. I have been out of the loop for awhile due to illness.  I am doing well in recovery, which is slow... Anyway...love you and family much! Oh, do you have the same number as before you moved? Take care!"

GEOFFREY HUFF emailed: "Been listening to your podcast for 18 years or so. Thank you for staying true."

Bill Arnold sent a photo:

  Check out this episode!

[gryffindorhealer]

Hi! I'd like to know what your inspirations are when you write?

Thank you for the ask, Nony!

Inspirations. Well, they vary, of course, depending on the story I write, and even poems are stories just in a specific format. I'm also a visual artist (primarily photography, multi-media) and simply, some of my writing inspirations are visuals. Also, as an artist in general, I find music helps put me into the "zone" for creating.

So sometimes what I write is "songfic", even if I don't claim it as such. In fact, there's only two fics I consider to be songfic. However, almost everything I've written for fanfiction has a playlist which is the soundtrack for the story. I do the same for concept photographs.

Some inspirations come from a very simple question (though it may not seem like it): What if? What if Harry didn't go to his mental construct of King's Cross Station after facing Voldemort in the Forest? (Nexus). Other inspirations come from someone else's story, and it's spin from there, filing off serial numbers (as it were), yet still acknowledging those writers for their inspiration (Meanwhile, Back At the Burrow). It can even be a combination of both. I once asked Pottermum, after reading her story Living a Dream, "What happened to Older Ginny while Younger Ginny occupied her space?"

Pottermun's answer, "Sounds like you've got a fic to write," led to Dreaming a Life.

Animagii came out of a joke meme. Portrait is another "what if." Everyone knows what we know about his mother's (Walburga Black nee Black) portrait, in Order of the Phoenix because Sirius told us everything. What if Sirius, rebellious son that he was, didn't know absolutely everything about The House of Black, Grimmauld Place?

There's an old lesson about writing: Write what you know. Inspirations provide even small parts of a story plot. Ginny Weasley, like her closest in age brother, Ron, feels very strongly about needing to prove herself, as the baby of the family. So my HC is she's got goals to do that. One of them is to find and purchase her own house, without help from anyone. Except maybe a bit of help from Harry, because he'll be living there and frankly, "Harry's a better cook than I am." So she wants his approval on the kitchen.

My grandparents cottage provides the inspiration for the house she finds. Those visuals let me describe, no, show the reader what Ginny and Harry's home is like. Details like, a dozen cuckoo clocks scattered throughout because the Muggle that built the house initially loved them and worked on them as his hobby. And both Ginny and Harry decided to keep them because that man loved those clocks.

Really, then, inspirations are all around us. Open up your eyes, your ears, smell, touch. Listen to things. At least for me, that sparks ideas. And ideas grow.

[beautifulduckweed]

Get to Know Me Memes

Thanks for the tag, @afewbulbsshortofatanningbed! I'm procrastinating furiously, and I would absolutely so much rather do this than anything else right now.

Last Song: That Jack Harlow song except it's about chinchillas:

Favorite Color: Uhhh either hot pink, dark purple, or eye-searing teal.

Last Book: A Power Unbound by Freya Marske. This book has so many great bits, but also so many bits that were infuriating, inconsistent with established canon, broke previously established rules, or just plain made no sense, that it ended up being one of the worst books I've read in quite a while. It was at its best when it allowed the protagonists to be tender and intimate with each other, which meant that the last two chapters were the only ones that didn't make me want to thump my head gently against the wall.

Last Movie: No Time to Die. The tallwife and I decided it was time for us to finally sit down and (re)watch all five Daniel Craig Bond movies, and I gotta say, Casino Royale and Skyfall absolutely hold up---Skyfall in particular feels like a good movie, period, and the best Bond movie yet. The other three movies were entertaining but a hot mess. No Time to Die made many people furious with its ending, but I enjoyed Bond's character arc there, especially in the context of the four movies that preceded it, and especially because we'd watched the movies in rapid succession.

Last TV Show: Delicious in Dungeon, which is absolutely cuckoo bananas bonkers. Highly recommended. Anime on Netflix about a party of D&D-esque adventurers who are so broke that they have to make their way through the dungeon with zero money for provisions. The solution: cook and eat the monsters they slay! Every episode lovingly goes through the proper preparation methods and talks about the importance of eating balanced meals. If you miss original flavor Iron Chef and love D&D, you 1000% need to watch this show.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: Savory!

Relationship Status: Le married

Last Thing I Googled: That chinchilla Tiktok

Current Obsession: Trying to slowly and painfully wrench my wardrobe around from "buy whatever's cheap and sort of fits" into something resembling a coherent aesthetic. And my true loves---romance novels in general and KJ Charles romance novels in particular---are never far from my mind.

Looking Forward To: Visiting @theglintoftherail and @etoilesombre in March, aaaaahhhh it's gonna be so great!

get to know me(me)

Three Ships: Jerry Crozier/Alec Pyne from Any Old Diamonds. Utterly obsessed with their dynamic. Kim Secretan/Will Darling from the Will Darling Adventures, because what's not to love about a twisty secretive angsty shit + stoic oblivious dude with a boatload of war trauma? Also Arthur/Eames from Inception, I will never not love that universe in general and those two in particular. Just thinking about them makes me want to reread weatherfront's Inception fics.

First Ship: Man, it was probably Todd/Neil from Dead Poets' Society? I watched that movie when I was 11 or 12 years old, and it hit me like a truck, but I had no way to express the horrible yearning I had for Neil to have a different ending, and for him and Todd to remain VERY CLOSE FRIENDS forever.

Currently Reading: King Solomon's Mines. Hilariously, am reading this for KJ Charles reasons, because Think of England is set in that universe and I want more background info on Archie Curtis's adventure-loving guncles. I enjoyed this a whole lot as a child (I think I first read it when I was 11?) and reading it as an adult is...an experience. Colonialism: What a drug!

Currently Watching: Delicious in Dungeon; also slowly catching up on Lower Decks (which is proceeding at a snail's pace because we don't have Paramount Plus, we watch an episode or two every few weeks at a friend's house).

Currently Craving: A Cosmic Crisp apple and some cheddar cheese. For whatever reason, my body has decided that This Is Food and very few other things are. Fuckin' bodies.

As always with these things, I'm not tagging anyone. Feel free to jump in if you, too, are in the mood to talk about yourself and are trying to put off actually thinking about or working on something.

[lanteanserver]

I really hope I live long enough to read all your stories, because they've been very helpful in staying in a quantum superposition of sane and absolutely bugnuts cuckoo bananaface, but on Wednesday morning I will be lifting my news embargo and discovering what kind of a world everyone else made during the five weeks I spent concentrating on coming out of the box either alive or bloody furious, but not dead, not me, not yet.

I feel like Kamala doesn't wear a lot of shoes with laces but that just means the code phrase is even more obscure and therefore more effective. I love you all. Most of us need a bath-tism, probably including me right now tbh. But one death per lifetime and one horsepower per person should be enough for everyone; and if anyone can find my notes from the first night I was sectioned, I think I worked out the units for time and money and suffering and other stuff. We all get one lifetime worth of time, but we need to consider HQOL and other factors. All of this was in every religious text out there, btw. I'm not the one who set the test, I'm just invigilating and maybe doing part of the grading. But for the past almost-five weeks, I have been the Tabernacle, and I'm very much looking forward to not having to do that any more. They can't kill me in any way that matters because I'm the disposable part of the mycelial network right now; but I'm a huge manatee that wants to help humanity by diving for pearls of wisdom in the collective unconscious, and if people could stop loudly telling me how fascinating I am and how they could listen to me all day right before they get up and walk off and forget everything I've bloody said because dying is easy but living well is worthwhile... I would be much happier. I'm a lighthouse whose designated keeper is starting to experience negative side effects, so if anyone wants a working lighthouse to keep the rest of the fleet of arks from crashing on the rocks, maybe try to help him and/or me a bit more then ye have been. We're currently in the Forest between the Wilderness and the Garden, which is annoying because I was definitely in the Garden there for a while, but depending on other people's choices I might still get to spend my current lifetime at a fun party instead of having to go through a second Apocalypse in one lifetime.

I'm not surprised that I got timewarped by TTOU- I've binged a lot of webcomics at inadvisable rates.

I am surprised that so did everyone else.

I don't get it either. Apparently TTOU is just catnip for people with ADHD, people who are ill, and people who usually have trouble reading long fiction. I've never been able to figure out why this is the case.