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thenerdintheattic · 4 years ago

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DOOM COALITION

The Eleven - 4.5/5 : so having Seven at the beginning of this episode was a nice little treat. I really, really like the Eleven as a villain and as a character, Mark Bonnar is doing an amazing work. Also Liv totally unimpressed with the Time Lords, I stan. Excellent start for this range.

The Red Lady - 5/5 : Helen Sinclair is done with patriarchy baby! I was litteraly creeped out when I first listened to this episode (I think it was at night in my bed, in the dark. Not the best setting) but it's so good. The atmosphere is perfect, Helen Sinclair couldn't have dreamt of a better introduction, the Red Lady is SCARY. I love it.

The Galileo Trap - 3.5/5 : Galileo is an astronomer and he's a cute little old man, how can I not love him. I love his relationship with the Doctor (the man might be blind but he's not a fool) and with Virginia and the fact that he KNOWS that she's not his daughter but still needs the company (MY HEART!). I found Fortuna yelling "CLEEEEAVER" every two minutes really annoying though and yeah, I couldn't really be bothered with this plot

The Satanic Mill - 2.5/5 : So the Eleven wants to destroy the Earth (and the solar system) to get back at the Doctor. What else is new? The lack of originality really doesn't work for me so yeah... easily forgotten (although Helen and Liv kick asses so that's something I suppose)

Beachhead - 3/5: We're taking a break from the main plot for five minutes and that's quite welcome (for me and the Doctor). I liked the atmosphere, which reminded me of the third Doctor's era (Three who already came to Stegmoore, shame that I don't remember this episode). Eight has no problem causing the death of someone, not sure how I feel about that

Scenes from her Life - 4.5/5 : It's weird because every time I listen to this episode I keep getting interrupted. Anyhoo, I really like it and that twist! And of course Helen will relate to Caleera, of course she'll want to help. The parallel, the connexion, between them is interesting and I love Helen's characterisation.

The Gift - 4/5 : Eight is obsessed with getting a haircut qiqfhbfhw I love this idiot so much. I liked the idea of the gift and how it's linked to "real events" (the San Fransisco earthquake). I'm not really convinced with the Sonomancer's power though. And that ending!

The Sonomancer - 3.5/5 : Helen is a lesbian and she has a huge crush on River. So I liked River's interactions with Liv and Helen (especially kicking the Eleven's butt) but yeah, still I'm no sure about how I feel about the Sonomancer

Absent Friends - 6/5 : I could write an essay about how much I love this episode. It's very simple : weird calls from the dead, and it's not even a big threat keen on destroying the universe or something (well kinda but whatever) but the FEELS! There is a moment that will always make me cry, even more now - it's the call Liv gets from her dad and how she does what the Doctor tells her, how she is a good girl and doesn't disrupt the web of time and how she snaps at Eight after that because God does he deserve it! He had no right to to ask her to do that, to pick up that phone, knowing there might have been even a slight chance that it could be her dead dad and he does it anyway because he doesn't want to expose himself. And he also had no right to tell Helen off for going to see her brother because of course she does! Who wouldn't? And of course she makes a mess of it because he didn't take the time to explain to her what would happen. And it just gets me every time. How Liv and Helen take on in this episode, how travelling with the Doctor can be painful and hard, and how the Doctor is so different because he's been on his own for so long. It just breaks my heart for the three of them. And that call at the end???? I am very frustrated but also happy that the identity of the caller is left for the viewer to decide (LISTEN TO ME IT'S LUCIE BLEEDIN' MILLER)

The Eighth Piece - 4.5/5 : I love this treasure hunt thing, with Doctor and companions scattered across time. I'm having huge feelings for Brother Octavian

The Doomsday Chronometer - 4.5/5 : Yeah that was cool : Eight finally meets River (well Sister Cantica), the Doomsday Chronometre is done, THE EIGHT, Helen is more in love with River than ever. Also the Solvers are quite cool. And that ending : Eight ditches Helen and Liv to go fight the Coalition with River aka Melody Malone aka Sister Cantica; the Eight regenerates and Liv and Helen are stuck with the Nine, thinking he's the Doctor

The Crucible of Souls - 3/5 : To prevent Gallifrey from being destroyed, let's destroy the rest of the universe. I know Time Lords are huge drama queens but that's really over the top, Padrac.

Ship in a Bottle - 5/5 : I love the introspection into the team TARDIS's relationship and especially how Eight can be a bastard with his companions, which had already been addressed in Absent Friends. I love that Liv stands to him and takes him down a peg or two, how she stands up for Helen, because Liv has seen enough crap from the Time Lords, the Daleks and the humans to not be impressed. I love that Helen remains optimistic while Eight quickly loses his marbles and gives in to desperation like the big drama queen he is. Eight/Liv/Helen is one of my favourite team TARDIS, I love their relationship, the respect and the love they have for one another while they still remain honest to each other, and the found family vibe that breathes through all their interactions.

Songs of Love - 2/5 : This might be an unpopular opinion but I don't like this episode. I find it difficult to follow, too many Time Lords and I really don't like the Sonomancer and Padrac's "relationship"

The Side of the Angels - 3/5 : The Weeping Angels don't have the same impact on audio format, that's a bit of a shame. The Time Lords are being bastards again, nothing is new and the Monk is back.

Stop the Clock - 4/5 : This episode ties things up and concludes this range rather nicely. The Eleven regains a bit of his threatening aura, the parallel between Helen and Caleera ends : Helen deserves redemption after what happened to her family, Caleera doesn't. Padrac got what he deserved (and I liked the explanation for the Red Lady).

Overall opinion : A much better range than Dark Eyes with more consistency. I'm a bit tired with the Time Lord "let's destroy the universe" gig (they might as well be Daleks at this point), but they did give us interesting villains with the Eleven and the Sonomancer. I absolutely ADORE the new team TARDIS, as much as I loved Molly, Eight, her and Liv never really felt right, never really clicked. Family is very important for Liv and Helen which gives very interesting interactions between the three of them. Liv and Helen are also fascinating, clever, well-written women who both have very unique interactions with the Doctor. I also loved River, especially her relationship with Helen, and yeah, it was nice to link Eight a bit more to the new series

#doctor who #doom coalition #eight #eighth doctor #liv chenka #helen sinclair #the eleven #the sonomancer #the clocksmith #the monk #the nine #the eight #big finish

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odd-gelato · 5 years ago

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more of this:

goosewing and duckula should, can, will, and must have at least one homoerotically charged sword fight

some time after goosewing has stopped trying to kill duckula, a different overzealous vampire hunter shows up and tries to kill duckula. goosewing’s like “is this what i was like? yikes”

the tooth and jugular is owned by a pair of middle-aged punk lesbians who have been married for years. they��re the only ones in the village who can see thru duckula’s village-visiting disguises, but they don’t care. duckula has a tab w them he will definitely never pay but they can see how badly he needs social interaction so they let him keep coming back. i’m deeply invested in this now.

i haven’t read the comics yet but vanna is a recurring character, minus being a love interest for duckula.

just... more women in general.

the castle is its own character (similar to how the tardis is a character in dr who). if duckula slants a rhyme just a lil too hard it won’t move. sometimes it purposely misinterprets where duckula wants it to go (like when duckula says “take us somewhere nice” and they end up in nice, france). at some point, it’s revealed that the magic that powers it doesn’t actually require a rhyme, the castle is just kind of a bastard.

one episode is entirely about The Gang trying to get back to transylvania on their own bc the castle left without them.

i just had the funniest idea for vanna. gravity falls-esque, she’s a teen sent to live with her uncle for the summer. as soon as she gets to transylvania, goosewing’s like “ok hold this stake and put on this helmet. we’re going wampire hunting.” and vanna’s like “hell yeah, adventure!” but the first time they go into the castle together they get separated. vanna meets duckula and immediately realizes he’s harmless, so they spend the whole episode just chilling and being pals while goosewing panics and turns the castle upside down looking for her.

igor and nanny backstory. maybe they’re bound to the castle’s magic somehow and have been around since before the first duckula. the first just kinda moves in bc he’s looking for a new place and he’s like “oh sick a totally normal castle that comes with its own totally normal staff” and then... the rest is history.

#count duckula #cd reboot au #yeah i'm making a tag for it #i'm in this for the long haul now babey

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aviewfromthepanopticon · 6 years ago

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Doctor Who Short Trips: 1963

Big Finish’s summary: The Doctor takes Ian and Barbara back to London on 23 November 1963, where the clocks have stopped and the city is silent. Written by: Niall Boyce Directed by: Nicholas Briggs & Ken Bentley Release Date: February 2011 Series: Short Trips Volume II, Story 1 Read by: William Russell

The two most important takeaways of this story for me were:

Barbara Wright had a ~~~~rebellious phase~~~~ where she dated a boy with a flick knife

Barbara’s beloved Aunt Cecilia is a lesbian.

In this short story, the Doctor somehow manages to land the TARDIS just an hour after he kidnapped Ian and Barbara on November 23rd 1963. They are very surprised, but of course also delighted. Unsurprisingly, he messed up the landing, and the TARDIS is no longer maintaining the field that allows time to flow normally following her materialization

The Doctor describes it as a problem with the heartbeat of the TARDIS:

DOCTOR: When the TARDIS lands, it must continue traveling in time at the same speed as its owner. Too slowly and it would vanish into the past. Too quickly and it would hare off into the future. The heartbeat of the TARDIS works to synchronize the ship with its pilot’s timeframe. Now because of a flight mechanical fault, the heartbeat of the TARDIS began to skip. Hah! Become irregular.

When this happens the TARDIS lands at a single static moment, with its crew stuck in said static moment with her. This is to allow repairs to be made without the ship going anywhere.

Which is to say that time appears to be entirely and fully 1000000% frozen, and everyone and everything in London looks like a statue.

There is a lot to be said about this aspect of the story. One is still pretty unfamiliar with his stolen TT Capsule, and is figuring it out as he goes. He never even passed his flight test, and doesn’t yet have centuries of experience under his belt! I also really appreciate the idea that the London Barbara and Ian wish to return to is just a frozen impossibility. Obviously when they finish their travels they return to three full years after they left, but even putting that aside, neither Ian nor Barbara are quite the same people they were when they left. They’ve experienced so much, and and by this point (Vicki is with them so they are than a season into their travels) they really can’t just pick things up from their moment of departure. Instead they are separate from their home time, outside the field keeping the rest of London frozen together.

Yet even in that state they are together. It is together that Barbara and Ian go off into the city to explore, marveling at the frozen world around them.

As they explore London, Barbara remembers that she has a standing date to have tea with her Aunt Cecilia every year on her birthday, and November 23rd is her aunt’s birthday. She was going to go meet with her after she and Ian were done figuring out what was up with Susan, so her aunt is probably at their meeting place, wondering where Barbara is.

I love the idea that Barbara had someone waiting for her, it really drives home that she and Ian had full lives that the Doctor disrupted when he kidnapped them.

I also just love Aunt Cecilia, I really do.

Aunt Cecilia is in maybe three sentences total during this story, and her immense powerful lesbian energy shines so so bright, it truly is amazing. Seriously it is impossible for this woman to be any gayer than she is, she is at max gay, and I say this as a person committed to living my own life at max gay levels.

Before I get to the wonder that is Barbara’s very very gay Aunt Cecilia, I really do need to point out what we learn about Barbara’s ~~rebel phase~~~, which she mentions as she wanders around London observing the various frozen scenes:

NARRATOR: The man cowered before his attacker. His right hand raised to fend off the blow. The knife his assailant was using was familiar to Barbara. For a brief period in her teens, during what her mother called her “rebellious phase,” she had dated a boy who carried one. It was a flick knife. Its blade was folded in the handle, and released at the touch of a button.

I also want to point out that Barbara is starting to understand the Doctor’s tendency to travel with teen girls, when watching him interact with Vicki. Vicki is of course the very first teen girl the Doctor was not related to that he traveled with, and the third Human he’s been friends with overall:

NARRATOR: The Doctor and Vicki were waiting for [Barbara] [in the console room]. They exchanged a mischievous glance as she came in. It sometimes seemed to her that she saw the spark of a younger man in the Doctor’s eyes, whilst Vicki was the most precocious young lady she’d ever met! Perhaps, in some way, that made them equals?

This story also had wonderful character moments for Ian. Such as a scene of Ian irritating the fuck out of of Vicki by calling her Victoria, and being offended in return whenever she tried telling him that Vicki is her full and proper first name, it isn’t short for anything, and she really hates it when he does that.

Overall, Ian is such a loveable dork in this story, and I can’t with him.

NARRATOR: “This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper,” [Barbara] recited. “What’s that,” said Ian, “poetry?” “T.S.Eliot” “Oh,” Ian replied, “I think I prefer his stuff about the cats.”

And now the truly important part. Every mention of Barbara’s very gay aunt:

NARRATOR: “Wait a minute!” Barbara stood up, abruptly. She lost her grip on the smooth surface of the water. In an instant Ian shot to his feet and put out his arm to steady her. “What is it?” he asked. “The 23rd of November! It’s my aunt Cecilia’s birthday! I was supposed to meet her, I’d forgotten all about it!” “Where?” asked Ian. “Not far away, actually,” she replied. “There’s a Lyons on the Strand she always liked.” “I remember you telling me about her,” said Ian, “maiden aunt, wasn’t she?” Ehhhhh, not quite, thought Barbara… but kept it to herself. “Oh Ian, can we try to find her?” “It may not be a good idea,” said Ian, cautiously. “I want to see her,” said Barbara, “just briefly. Then we’ll go back to the TARDIS and see if the Doctor’s worked out what’s happening.”

NARRATOR: Fortunately the freeze had occurred at the exact moment someone was pushing open the door at the Lyons corner house on the Strand. It was a woman in her mid-twenties, holding the hand of a small child wrapped up in a duffel coat and woolen hat. Barbara and Ian stepped around them and into the interior of the cafe. At the nearest table to the door sat Barbara’s aunt, Cecilia. She was a woman in her late forties, with severely cropped dark hair, wearing a closely cut tweed jacket. She had a novel open in her left hand. Something called “The Price of Salt.” And with her right, she was raising a teacup to her lips. Her eyes peered over the top of her book. She was looking in the direction of the door, perhaps alerted by the sound of the woman and child coming in. Barbara had the strangest feeling for one moment that Cecilia was actually staring directly at her. That she was about to rise from her seat and deliver one of her usual sardonic remarks. “She was waiting for me!” Barbara whispered to Ian, “just like she did every year. But I never came.” Ian didn’t reply. “Ian,” said Barbara, “what is it?” “Do you realize,” said Ian, “that we don’t have reflections?” Barbara looked up. It was true! She was standing in front of a large panel of silvered glass. She felt suddenly as if her very existence was in question. That at any moment she might dissolve. She walked up close and tapped on it. “Ian! Barbara!” Vicki was leaning through the entrance to the restaurant. She looked flush and breathless. “Come back to the TARDIS! The Doctor’s figured out what’s wrong!”

NARRATOR: In the Lyons corner house on the Strand, a middle aged woman waited for her niece, who was late. Fifteen minutes late, to be precise. But the woman didn’t mind. She was quite absorbed in the book she was reading.

Overall I really enjoyed this short story, and Barbara’s role in it especially. Naturally as a huge lesbian myself I was fascinated by Barbara’s Aunt Cecilia, and would love to know more about the impact she has had on Barbara’s life, and what it meant for Barbara to have such an obviously queer family member in 1963, when homosexuality was very much illegal in Britain. For example, I am pretty sure Barbara spent this story worried about how Ian would react to her Aunt Cecilia. That how he acted upon encountering her was, for Barbara, an important test for him to pass as she finds herself falling for him. I am sure that when Ian was concerned about their lack of shadows, Barbara’s concern before Ian gave voice to the issue was that he might be repulsed by Barbara having and being close to a queer family member. Which is to say that it manages to introduce a whole lot of character background into a pretty short piece.

Generally I find that Big Finish’s Short Trips manage to pack a lot into their half hour to forty minutes of run time, and this story is no exception.

#Barbara Wright #Ian Chesterton #Doctor Who #Big Finish #Short Trips: 1963 #First Doctor #Vicki Pallister #Short Trips #The Doctor

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childoftimeandmagic · 8 years ago

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We Have a Baby?

AprilJILY CHALLENGE | @childoftimeandmagic vs @clarapotters Muggle World + “I cannot believe we have to do the stupid flour baby project” high school AU

AO3: X FF: X

“Please remember to turn your children in at the end of the day, for the most part, you have all managed this project brilliantly-” Slughorn’s voice broke through his thought as he looked up from where he was holding the doll that he’d been assigned, for the project. Looking at his partner who was sitting across the aisle from him and their ‘child’ he felt a pang of guilt. Looking back down at the black-haired doll who had green eyes just like hers, he was sad that the project was almost over.

James Potter was rarely sad about anything especially school assignments but this one had been different. For the past two and a half months he’d been taking care of a ‘child’ with his partner as though it was their own. Slughorn had been adamant that Lily and he work together. James, of course, had been thrilled for the chance to get to know her better, she hadn’t felt the same originally though he thought that over the last two months she’d warmed to him and his friends.

As he collected his stuff and handed the doll to Lily so she could take it to her next class he thought about how he’d have to ask her now or never. As she smiled and promised to give him back Harry after her period of gym, which three periods from then, he choked next time. His mind drifted back to when the project had started, he’d been late to Health from his gym period.

“Ah Mr. Potter you’re just in time, we were just discussing were to place you for the parenting project,” Slughorn said taking his tardy slip as James slipped into his seat and pushed his glasses up his nose and wrinkled his brow, “you’ll be paired with Ms. Evans and work with her for the remainder of the class.”

James for his credit didn’t look shocked as he looked over at Lily who managed a half grin before turning to listen to something Marlene had said. Turning slightly to look at Sirius who sat opposite him he raised his brow. Sirius for his credit just winked and went back to writing a note to Remus. As Slughorn went into the specifics of the final course project and how the dolls worked. James turned his focus onto figuring out how he’d been so blessed to finally be paired with Lily Evans. He was up and across the room almost next to Lily when Slughorn and the bell announced the end of class.

“Hey, so do you want to get together tonight after soccer practice and go over how we want to handle this project, -” His hands were sweating in his pockets and he was rocking on his heels. James was known for being one of the smoothest talkers in their year and yet when faced against Lily Evans his tongue was tied in knots. Clearing his throat, he continued to talk, “- or we can meet whenever you’re available I didn’t mean to assume that you had no plans. Because of course, you’d have plans.”

“James!” her clear light voice broke through his spiraling thoughts as she grabbed his arm. “Tonight works just fine, but we have to collect a doll, so why don’t we start with that.” She moved around him and towards the front of the room where a crowd of students were milling through the boxes of the dolls. As they neared the dolls and the crowd of their classmates, Lily went to grab the first one they came upon when a voice broke through the crowd.

“Lily if you wanted a white doll you shouldn’t have paired with someone like Potter,” James’ head shot up and the crowd quieted as Severus Snape stood in front of Lily who was standing there quiet and open mouthed. “You know genetics dictate that a child between you and Potter here wouldn’t be remotely white. Though you’re not one to be interested in men anyway so I guess this child won’t ever happen.”

“Severus, you should back up,” Marlene’s voice came above the silence as she started to move closer to Lily and the powder keg she knew was getting ready to combust. When Lily had come out a year ago as bisexual she’d been hit with a shit ton of backlash mostly from Severus her then best friend. She’d been outed because she’d been seeing a girl from across town and had brought her then girlfriend to the spring fling the year before. Severus had thrown a fit that ended with calling her a two-faced teasing whore. They hadn’t talked much since then and Lily had been clear that this was the end of their friendship when Severus refused to come around to her being bisexual

“Snape, I’m not sure what mental disconnect you’re having, but as I’ve told you a hundred times I am not a lesbian, and if I was that doesn’t mean that James and I couldn’t still have a child together. I’m fully aware how genetics work and I think that any child I would be blessed to have with James would be 100 times better than a child with you so it’s really not your concern is it?” he voice was barely above a whisper and if the crowd hadn’t been near silent James would have been convinced he’d imagined the whole thing.

“You’re really trying to tell me you’d sully yourself by-” whatever Severus was about to say was cut off suddenly. While no one had been, certain what had happened during the fight at the spring fling the spring before. This time though everyone in their class knew exactly what happened, Lily Evans the kind sweet pacifist who helped freshmen with their homework, broke the bigot’s nose.

“I wouldn’t finish your thought Severus, we’re all aware that you’ve adopted the Nazi Kool-Aid as gospel.” Turning she walked away from the dolls and the crowd leaving him to cup his bleeding nose. James was gobsmacked as he turned to chase after her. Stopping at the door he turned back but Sirius was holding a box and shaking his head.

“Don’t worry bro I got you and Evans, I’ll get you a doll.” Sirius, Remus and Peter along with Marlene had circled Severus, James would later find out, they made it clear that if he said another word to Lily about anything no one would ever find his body.

The stress of finding a doll now replaced with catching up with the smoking volcano he had torn through the crowded halls but she had disappeared. James spent the rest of the day with a small knot of worry growing in his stomach. As it turned out she found him holding their doll as he walked out of the men’s locker room after soccer practice.

“I’m sorry I bolted, I was embarrassed he got me to react like that, apparently though he told Slughorn he cracked it on a desk,” she held out the baby doll to James and offered him a half smile, “Marlene picked him out, she said that it made her believe that a baby between us would be hella attractive.” They both chuckled, each a little unsure how to go forward from this moment. Lily pulled the doll back to her chest and held it tight. “He’s just such a fucking jerk.”

“Hey, you were fucking brilliant, first you verbally ripped him apart and secondly you broke the nose of someone who was twice your height without hurting yourself,” he said softly as he gestured towards the car park. “Also, you defending me was pretty attractive-” her fist connected with his side not hard enough to hurt but hard enough to startle him, “-hey what it was, no girls ever defended me from a racist before.” She laughed at that and shook her head, James was starting to calm down and relax as they walked towards his car.

The drive to his parent’s house was quiet, Lily typing on her phone letting her mother and father know that she’d be home late due to a group project. He lived in the wealthy part of town, his parents being big in the technology and security firms had made enough money that it wasn’t a thing anymore. Lily bit back a gasp as they pulled through the hedged fence, it was massive, well definitely bigger than her attached two story that she lived in with her mum, dad, and sister.

“Before we go in, I should warn you that my parents are a bit much,” he said placing the car in park as he turned to take the doll from her hands.

“I’m sure I’ll be able to handle it,” She said shifting her backpack over her left shoulder as she pulled her hair from under the strap. James bit his lip and quickly looked away. It wasn’t an unusual thing to do, and yet as he watched her sort herself out his pulse raced. The evening sun igniting her hair. Shifting on his feet he walked towards the door and smiled at her. “I’m ready.” Her confirmation eased his mind.

“OI!!! Potter!” Sirius’ gentle and thoughtful tone rocked him from his musings on the first night of the project, shaking his head he looked at his friends who were watching him concerned. Sirius was sitting there, eyebrows raised and gesturing to him as though he’d missed an important question and he figured he had.

“What did I miss?”

“We were wondering if you had heard that Luke Grussman in class this morning saying that he was going to ask Lily to Prom,” Remus said not surprised that James had zoned out, he’d noticed his best friend a little distracted most of the day.

“He wants to whAT?!” his voice coming out strangled as his bespeckled eyes frantically searched the cafeteria for Lily and her friends. When he saw, them sitting at a picnic table outside he breathed a sigh of relief, she didn’t look any different. “Well I’ll just have to ask her first,” his resolution solidified and he stabbed at the samosa that his mum had packed in his lunch. A couple of snickers had him glancing up confused. “What are you pricks laughing ‘bout now?”

“Just that Luke was talking about Narcissa and we knew you hadn’t heard. You just confirmed that you’re going to ask Evans to Prom,” Peter’s voice was muffled by Sirius’ hand as the soccer team goalie looked like he was trying to strangle their resident good kid.

“You fuckers were trying to get me to spill if I was going to ask Evans to prom?” he was never shocked at how underhanded and sneaking his best friends could be sometimes.

“Well, you’ve stopped moaning and bitching about how she’ll never like you and your crush would never go away, so we figured we’d check.” Sirius nodded along as Remus explained their logic.

“I quit talking about it because for the last two months and change, Lily and I have been talking every day about the project, the match against Durmstrang Institute and the others we’ve had. She’s finally treating me like a friend or at least someone she doesn’t mind spending time with,” James grumbled as he flipped the bird to his best mates. “I think she’ll say yes, to prom, but I’m not sure that she actually doesn’t see me as anything but the annoying toerag I was to her since primary school.”

Remus and Sirius looked at him and shrugged as Peter offered a kind smile and clap on the back as he stood up to throw out his lunch tray. The group got up and wandered through the halls separating and meeting up with other friends as they went to their respective classes. James had 1800s political systems after lunch and he had it alone. The professor, Professor Binns was pleased to drone on and on for a period without engaging in his students. James’ favourite seat was by the window which overlooked the football pitch. He and Lily had spent an evening just sitting in the stands just a couple of weeks ago on the first good day out.

James was talking with his co-captain when Sirius their goalie and his brother in arms whistled at him flailing his arms as he tried to get James attention. Cormac Finnegan just shook his head and mumbled something about how Black had taken one to many balls to the head this season. James for his credit just snorted and jogged over to Sirius eyebrows raised. “You whistled?”

“I thought you’d like to know that you have a fan,” Sirius waggled his eyebrows and pointed to the spectator stands behind him. James followed his line of sight and shook his head before laughing. “She’s been here all practice reading and pretending to be taking care of your child.” This startled James, Lily had sat out in the cold temperatures to watch their practice.

“Wait she’s been here all practice?” his eyebrows couldn’t really encroach into his hair line any more than they already had. Sirius nodded and hefted his goalie bag over his shoulder. James was still staring at Lily who was holding the doll and waving one of its arms at his direction. “Are you okay getting home on your own?” Sirius had moved in the end of Freshman year after his mother had beaten him so badly that his parents had been called to collect him from the hospital. When his adopted brother nodded, he grabbed his own practice gear and took off to the stands.

“Aw hey son, did you like watching your old man play the game he loves?” he said deepening his voice and winking at Lily. Sitting next to her he bumped her shoulder and smiled at the doll who eerily looked the perfect genetic mix of his Indian and her Irish heritage. The doll was tan and had soft black hair with green eyes that were a dead ringer for Lilys. “You ever wonder if our child would actually look like this?”

“I think we’re far too young to be thinking about kids, and we aren’t together.” She said softly as she smoothed the dolls hair. She grinned at James and the poor bloke thought his heart was going to stop working right. “It’s so weird that this project is over in just a couple of weeks, this has been much nicer and probably the easiest project that we’ve ever had and to think we were all bitching about having to buy flour for this project.” She laughed at her memory and handed their fake child to James. “Here Daddy, you haven’t held him all day.”

James took the doll gingerly and looked at her smiling as he held the doll close and looked out over the pitch. He always hated holding the doll because he felt so awkward and scared of setting off the sensors and getting negative feedback sent back to the monitor that Slughorn had on his laptop. “Can you believe that in just two months we’ll be taking our final A Levels and going off on our separate ways.” The thought of leaving secondary school was still daunting for him though with the scholarship offers to play starting forward for a few good schools was making his decision easier.

“I can’t wait to go to university and study things that make me excited to get out of bed, work with similar people who care so much about history and civil rights like me,” she said softly looking out of the pitch her elbows resting on her knees as she leaned forward to put a book back in her bag.

“Lily are you going to prom,” he asked softly looking at their doll trying to figure out how to ask her, it was still two months away but it would be nice to ask her. He hoped the question wasn’t too obvious of his intentions and sounded casual.

“It depends, my dad’s chemo isn’t helping like they thought it would and money is tight. I might just stay home and avoid the hassle of picking out a dress and such,” her hair fell in front of her face as she ducked her head looking down at her hands. James winced as she mentioned her father, the man was a giant and the thought that cancer could fell a man so full of life and so strong was hard to imagine. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. She rarely invited him over lately, the stress of visitors was a lot for her mum to handle.

“I think it’s noble of you to forgo prom to spend time with your mum and dad while you can.” He said softly as they watched the sun sink behind the trees and he just held her close as she wiped a few stray tears from her face and relaxed against him. “At least we’ll always have Harry,” he joked softly squeezing her shoulders lightly. The pair wouldn’t move for another hour until the last rays of light from the sunset had disappeared through the trees.

James was nervous and he wondered up to Marlene and Alice in the hall before their second to last class and ran a hand through his hair anxious about what they might say. Alice and Marlene were formidable and intimidating girls in their own ways, and he was worried that they’d think his question insensitive.

“I was wondering if you guys knew if Lily had changed her mind about prom,” he pulled his glasses off cleaning them in jerking circles as he squinted at him.

“As a matter of fact we were just talking about how it’s such a shame that her parents pushed her to go to prom so late and now everyone is paired off, she’ll have to 7th wheel with us and Remus and Sirius,” Marlene said leaning against her locker looking at him eyebrows raised.

“Oh, be nice Marlene. James Lily’s dad heard us talking about how she wasn’t going to prom and told her that he’d love to see her in a pretty dress and it would make warm his heart to have happy memories for her to remember from this year,” Alice said placing a hand on James’ arm stilling his jerky circles of faux cleaning, “you should ask her before someone else does.”

James nodded and slipped his glasses back on. “You think she’ll say yes?”

“I think that the only way to know what she’ll say is to ask her yourself,” Marlene shrugged and smiled at James before spinning on her heel and walking away just as Lily appeared.

“Where’s Marls going? I thought we were going to walk to gym together,” she shifted her bookbag and her hold on the doll before looking from Alice to James, “oh hi guys, were you guys having a meeting or something, I’m sorry for interrupting.” She smiled at her best friend and James before holding out the doll to James. “Since I’m seeing you now do you mind taking Harry for the last three periods of the day?”

“Of course not, see you back at the Health room to turn Harry back into a doll,” he said winking at her. He waved goodbye to Alice and Lily before departing off for his maths class.

James felt a plan forming as he sat in Math with Dumbledore and as he texted the Marauder group chat asking if they thought the idea was good enough he barely noticed sitting through his study hall period or Literature with Minnie. By the time the end of the day had come around he had written a small note card with everything he wanted to say to Lily before asking her to prom. He grabbed his practice gear, their ‘child’ and his backpack and headed back up to the health room to return their doll together. Lily had Greek right next to the health room so her standing there waiting, her hair in a bun held together with a pencil he waved. All their friends were standing around waiting to return their respective dolls to Slughorn.

“Lily before we return Harry I need to talk to you about something,” his voice was shaky as he looked at her and bit his lip. “Lily Jane Evans will you go to Prom with me?” when her smile dropped he sped forward hoping he could make her see that they’d be a good fit. “Lily you are the most impressive woman I have the pleasure to know. You never pause to defend others from bullies and racists alike. I know you were wary about working with me at the beginning of the project and I admit I can be a prick with the best of them. You are so kind and selfless, never pausing to sacrifice your desires to help another person. I know that I’m not your ideal person, but I would love to be your date to prom…” James was flying through his speech and at some point, the speech wasn’t even what he’d planned. Lily for her credit was blushing and biting her lip. “Harry thinks we should go to prom too,” he concluded holding out their doll who was holding a poster between his hands that read. ‘Mom please take dad to prom, he’s a mess without you.’

Nothing, she was saying nothing. She looked like she might be about to cry now that he looked at her. Mentally cursing himself he took a step forward and held out his hand. She wasn’t supposed to cry, this was all supposed to make her smile or laugh. Walking closer he wrapped her into a hug, the doll trapped between them. “Lily I’m so sorry I thought getting asked to prom would make you smile, I had no idea the thought of going with me was going to make you cry.”

“For second in our class, you’re one of the dumbest people I know,” her muffled voice came from against his chest, she’d hugged him back without a thought and held on tight. James pulled away careful not to drop the doll, letting Lily take their doll before brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Then why are you crying,” he was now completely confused.

“You idiot, I was sad that our project was over. I was sad that we weren’t going to have a reason to sit after practice and watch the sunset. Or I wouldn’t have a reason to be sitting in your kitchen and talk to your mother for hours while she teaches me assorted styles of curry, korma, and kheer. I don’t want our movie nights to end and I knew that we’d stop hanging out the minute we returned Harry and-and-” her voice broke off as she burst into full blown tears looking at him hoping he’d understand just why she was so upset, these tears were no longer sad tears but rather happy tears.

“Wait you were going to miss those things too? I had no intention of letting our movie nights or after practice talks disappear, Lily for the first in our class you are rather dense. I’m in love with you, have been for the last seven years, since you tripped me on the playground for teasing Alice back in six year,” he said wiping her tears away. Her tears started to slow as she looked up at him and his unruly hair and his bespeckled eyes. She saw no hint of falsehood in his brown eyes, just the truth.

Neither one of them noticed that it wasn’t just their friends standing around them anymore. Teachers and other classmates were standing around them now too. Minnie smirked at Slughorn from across the crowd, before taking a hundred pound note from Trelawney and a fifty from Flitwick. They’d been trying to get the two kids together all through the last four years and it turned out that Slughorn and Minnie had been right about pairing them up for the family management project.

“So Lily, will you go to prom with me?” he asked again his voice soft and gentle as he took her hand in his staring down into her bright green watery eyes.

“I think that I would love to go to prom with you James, but also I’d rather ask you for something a bit more permanent. Will you be my boyfriend?” she asked softly looking up at him and grinning at him cheekily.

“Lily Evans I’ve only ever wanted to be your boyfriend,” he said and pulled her back into a bone crushing hug as cheers erupted across the hall. The most shipped pair in Hogwart Prep was finally together. All it took was a baby doll and some scheming professors.

Epilogue

Six years later, James and Lily had graduated university while also juggling their long-distance relationship. James had gone to UCL for pre-clinical medicine and was starting his first year of post-grad clinical medicine at Cambridge. Lily had gone to Cambridge right out of secondary school for law and was now starting her apprenticeship to continue pursuing her degree in law. Somehow, they’d not only excelled in their separate paths but also together. They were planning to get married when James finished his residency in four years, though that plan was probably going to be pushed up as Lily stared at the little stick in her hand. They were pregnant.

#jilychallenge #clarapotters #april jily challenge #muggle au #high school au #jily fanfiction #jily #james potter #lily evans #writing corner

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twentysomethinginorlando · 8 years ago

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MegaCon Part Two: Meet Your Heroes

New Post has been published on https://twentysomethinginorlando.com/megacon-part-two/

MegaCon Part Two: Meet Your Heroes

Memorial Day decided it wanted to be even busier than usual this year. Rather spending my Thursday night finishing my cosplay preparations, I found myself at a movie in full pirate garb with my friends before our trip to MegaCon on Friday. You can read about this, and the morning’s adventures in MegaCon Part One: But First, Cosplay.

Thankfully, it didn’t take me too much longer to find the most important booth at MegaCon: Karen Hallion’s. If you’re not familiar with her work, Miss Hallion does amazing art. She is most famous for her crossover art with Disney characters and Doctor Who, but she does so much more than that. Lately she’s developed an original character named Celara that I really like. My favorite part of her is this cute little orange fox/cat/critter sidekick who reminds me of a cross between Duffy and my cat. I can’t wait to see what kind of adventures the little guy goes on. I’ve met Miss Hallion at the last two MegaCons. She’s just the nicest person and takes time with everyone even though her booth is always slammed. The best part is I somehow manage not to turn to Jell-O when I talk to her. I picked up a print of Celara and the TARDIS. I was torn between that one and the Hamilton one, but that’s just because the little fox looks so darn cute in his outfit. I like Hamilton but I’m much more a Whovian. I asked her if the fox has a name yet, and she told me the two she’s debating between but she’s stuck because she wants it to be just perfect.

I completely understand. This blog had a whole lot of titles before I settled on this one.

As I was finishing talking to Miss Hallion and putting my print away, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around expecting it to be someone asking for a photo and there was a guy with a microphone asking if he could interview me. Okay. That’s different. Well, why not.

He asked me about why I was Korra with a keyblade, and then he asked me about how I felt about the lesbian undertone of the ending of the series. I might have slightly bitten his head off without meaning to when I corrected him that Korra and Asami are bisexual, not lesbians. I get really angry about that. I also talked about how annoyed I am that is literally all anyone wants to talk about now that it ended that way. The show stood on its own well before that final scene.

Frozen Gaming interviewing me.

I think my aggressiveness sort of scared him and the interview ended quickly. At least I think it did. Apparently I do better when you put a camera in my face than I do when trying to talk to celebrities. The guy with the camera man was dressed as Ash from Pokémon and he apologized for their ambushing me, and gave me a card with their YouTube information. Their name is Frozen Gaming and much like me, I think they’re just starting out and I wish them luck.

You can see the interview here, but they cut most of it. Warning: Some of the language in the video is NSFW.

The new print wouldn’t fit in the bag with the first two prints, so I stopped at a random booth to see if they had a bag. They did, and she was very nice, and I wound up buying three postcard prints from her. Pikachu and Barry Allen for me, the Punisher for Jay.

We wandered the floor until a little after two when I was starting to get over whelmed with the crowds. I have worked in one of the world’s busiest theme parks and yet MegaCon phases me, because that makes sense. We headed back to the food area to find a place to sit for a bit and I rechecked the schedule. I had forgotten about the Improvengers show and now it was too late to line up. There were only two other panels I wanted to see: the Hillywood Show and James Marsters’. Sadly they were within half an hour of each other, and James Marsters obviously won.

I wasn’t sure what the line would be like for his panel, but I remember how crazy the Firefly panel lines were two years prior so we went ahead upstairs to line up. Basically this meant we got to camp on the floor for a while and rest and recharge, and look at our phones for the first time all day. I reached out to a couple of friends I knew were there, but hadn’t seen yet, and we agreed to meet after the panel. I had also been looking for a particular booth all day in Artist Alley and hadn’t seen it, so I went to their Facebook to ask the booth number.

While we were waiting, I saw a Black Widow and Star Lord walk by with their own keyblades, and I had to chase after them to get a photo. I didn’t want to interrupt them before they got in line, and we got some nice person in line to take photos on both Black Widow’s and my phones. We compared construction techniques, and I have a few ideas I want to steal to improve mine in the future.

Kingdom Hearts crossovers are popular this year!

They let us into the room around 3:30, and, boy, do I like walking around a keyblade on my shoulder. It makes it really hard for people to move past you. Having an intimidating pirate next to you also helps. We wound up in the second row after the VIP section and I left the keyblade across our laps until the row was filled. We talked through what all we still wanted to do before we left and made a list so we wouldn’t miss anything.

The panel actually started exactly on time to my surprise. I thought he might be late again. They played a highlight reel of his many roles over the years, and I was extremely disappointed the shot of him jumping on top of the coffin in “Once More, With Feeling” was not in there. The host welcomed him out and went over the rules for questions. Before he took the first question, James asked everyone in the audience to put their hands in their air and “scream like your team won the thing”.

Someone asked about a charity he just won an award for, and he talked about CASA, which is an association that helps foster children. Someone asked about how he got into acting, and apparently when he was fourth grade he played Eeyore in a school play. The live action Winnie the Pooh film Disney is doing got brought up and now someone would want him to do Eeyore’s voice. His response was absolutely perfect, in the exact voice, “Oh, Pooh.” Now I will be heartbroken if anyone but James Marsters plays Eeyore. He was asked about his work on the audio books of the Dresden Files, which Jay tried to explain to me and I quickly shushed him. I have never gotten around to reading them, but I know about them. “I have no idea why Jim Butcher picked me. No idea whatsoever.” He was asked about the hardest episode he had to shoot on Buffy, and he talked about how difficult the bathroom scene was, and the toll it took on him. “It put me in therapy. Which actually turned out to be a good thing because I’m much happier now.” He talked about where that story line came from, and the struggle and triumph of Spike gaining his soul. He talked about some of the struggles of going from stage acting to film, and “trying not to lie to the audience”.

Someone asked about his role on Torchwood. He had been on tour with his band, Ghost of the Robot, and his road show manager refused to go out to dinner with him because Doctor Who was on. So they ordered room service and watched it in her room, and within fifteen minutes he was hooked. He went down to his agent’s room and asked him to try to get him a role on Doctor Who. Russel T. Davies said no, but they had a perfect role for him on Torchwood, and they had been looking for someone to fill it. He also talked about being interviewed by the BBC for the homophobic backlash against Torchwood, and his response was apparently, “We’ve got a backlash!? That’s great!”

He was asked his favorite role he had ever played. Without hesitation he said, “Spike. Absolutely Spike. If you asked me to pick between Hamlet and Spike, and Joss is good but Shakespeare’s just a little bit better, sorry Joss, but I’d pick Spike. Absolutely.” Then my favorite question was about his favorite episode, because it turns out we have this in common.

Apparently the cast was very nervous about the musical because they thought Joss was “flushing the show”, but they decided to do the best they could anyway and hope it didn’t suck. Well, it certainly doesn’t suck. It’s my favorite episode of anything that has ever happened.

He also loved killing the Anointed One.

The time was up far too quickly, but I’m so happy this was the one panel I made time for. Three years ago, I had never seen Buffy. Then I didn’t understand why Spike was so popular when he was such a bad guy, then I was cheering as he and Buffy kissed at the end of “Once More, With Feeling”. His line to Buffy at the end of the series about how he loves her was one of my favorite quotes long before I ever saw the show, and I was so beyond happy it was his line.

We filed out of the panel and I stopped for a picture with a spot-on Buffy cosplayer before we went to find my friend Kimberly. Sadly she was in the South Concourse and I was in the North, but she was leaving soon and I was determined to find her. Tradition must be upheld and I have pictures with her at every MegaCon.

It thankfully didn’t take us too long to get across the building and I found her as Black Widow with our friend Mihn as Chirrut. I finally got to introduce Jay to her and we talked for a few minutes before we headed back to the floor. It was already five and we still had several things to cross off our list.

Our first stop was the Hillywood Show table. I had been putting this off because I wanted to meet them, but didn’t know what to say. They’re two sisters who do parodies, and while they aren’t the only reason I started making them myself, they definitely influenced me. Going up and telling them that would be awkward though, and probably giving them too much credit. So I decided I would just ask for a photo, because then I could meet them and it wouldn’t be weird, right?

Wrong.

The only way to get a photo was to buy something, which is fine except they only had merchandise from their three latest parodies: Sherlock, Supernatural and Suicide Squad. Three fandoms I am not a part of to begin with, and I like their older parodies better. I told them as much when they asked which was my favorite, “Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2.” “Oh but that one’s so old!” Long story short, I wasn’t getting a photo without paying ten dollars and it just wasn’t worth what I make an hour to me. Not when I just wanted to talk to them for a moment. Lesson learned, never meet your heroes. (Well, sometimes. Miss Hallion and Robby Cook were great!) I tried not to tear up when I walked away. It wasn’t that upsetting, it was just a very long day without a lot of sleep and it hurt my feelings a little.

Author Nick Braker.

Our next destination was the booth whose number I had to track down on Facebook. Nick A. Braker is a science-fiction writer from my hometown, and his son Chris was one of my best friends in college. Last year I’d been posting on Twitter about heading to MegaCon and he’d texted me I should go see his parents. Well I did, and then I had dinner at their house when I was home for my birthday last year, so I wanted to go say hi.

He’s one heck of a writer. He’s turned out three books in a very short time and he’s got two more coming. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll hopefully be venturing back into video production to produce some book trailers for him.

Now all we had to do was find the three booths we wanted to buy things from and we could leave. This should have been simple. It was not.

I wanted to find Brandon Kenney’s booth so I could buy his Lilo and Stitch Splash Mountain print and the booth with the Disney Parks style buttons. Jay wanted to find the independent fairy tale comic so he could get the preview issue. After wandering in circles through the aisles for twenty minutes with no luck, I went back to Karen Hallion’s booth because I knew I could find her. She collaborates with Mr. Kenney on occasion so I knew she would know where his booth was and her sister and business manager gave me directions. Miss Hallion happened to be standing in front of his booth when I got there, and I said, “Oh, I could have just followed you!” I couldn’t decide if I wanted the big or small Splash print, and Jay told me to just get the big one. I also picked up the pack of three Stitch stickers he had.

We resumed our wandering and I still had the change in my hand, which proved dangerous as I impulse bought a big Pikachu sticker for my bullet journal. Well, at least it has a purpose.

I straight up lucked into finding the Disney Parks buttons booth. I even followed him on Instagram earlier in the day and wasn’t smart enough to look there to see if he had his booth number posted. They were two for five so I picked Gaston and BB-8. I could have happily bought them all, and some of his prints, but I was trying not to go overboard. The artist’s name is Joey Quintin and he had a series of Disney characters dressed as cast members that was just fantastic. I asked him why Anna got to be a Skipper, and admittedly his reasons were good. He asked who I would want to see. “I don’t know, but I am a Skipper so I’m a little picky!” “That’s fair.”

Jay was ready to give up on finding the independent comic booth, but I was determined. It was the only thing he had really wanted all day, and it did look extremely cool. One of the main characters was the son of the Big Bad Wolf and he was on the cover with a brunette Aurora. We thought we knew the general area and we knew they had black and white sketches hanging on either side of the booth, but of course after a while everything just blends together. We went in circle after circle, and I must have passed the Brakers ten times now that I knew where they were. I was getting increasingly frustrated, but I do not give up easily. The warning message played that the show floor would be closing in half an hour, so we were almost out of time. Neither of us had been smart enough to take a picture of the booth or the name of the comic to look in the program.

ARGH.

Hero Cats!

I got distracted by the Hero Cats booth and wound up buying a comic and a button, but it’s literally about cats saving the world so I feel like that was another good impulse buy.

After about fifteen more minutes of circling, I finally spotted the booth and raced over to them. “Oh thank goodness.” The artist had returned and I honestly think we confused him and the nice woman we’d spoken to earlier, but I was so out of breath.

They had two comic options, the normal one which was one out of five hundred, or the variant which was one out of a hundred. The normal was $10, and the variant was, well Jay heard $50 and I heard $15 and I don’t which one of us was right because I bought the normal one. It came with a free black and white print, but of course the one Jay wanted wasn’t actually a print.

It was an original sketch. He offered to make a print of it and we could pick it up at a future con, but I elected to take the Beast print home and buy a second comic in the future. The series is titled The Chronicles of Zelaria: Dynasty of Darkness and Jay now owns #106 out of five hundred of the preview issue. I haven’t looked at it much yet, but I am already looking forward to seeing more after the description the author gave us while we were there.

We could finally head out, and began the long trek back to the car. I had tried to be good about switching which shoulder I carried the keyblade on throughout the day, but my back was aching. Jay’s pirate boots were killing him, and we were very happy to start stripping off the outer layers of our cosplays. I hadn’t realized how little my vest breathed until I took it off.

I hadn’t wanted to try to carry Duffy and the keyblade so he had to stay in the car. He didn’t seem too mad at me thankfully, I did let him watch Pirates the night before.

MegaCon is absolutely one of my favorite things about living in Orlando. I’m a little sad I didn’t get to go more days, there were other celebrities I would have liked to see like the Flash stars and Stan Lee. I’ve seen Stan Lee twice before, and he’s wonderful but this is his final Florida appearance. Getting off work on a holiday weekend is just too difficult in the hospitality industry, but I’ll be there at least one day next year. I never plan on missing it.

A pretty good haul!

Cost: A one day ticket purchased in advance was $41 after tax. The four day option I was looking at previously was $99 before tax. My portion of the photo op was $35. I probably spent close to $40 on cosplay supplies, and another $30 towards the keyblade, but a good chunk of that was the jigsaw which we won’t have to purchase again. I came home with a little less than half of my original spending cash. Parking was $15.

Duration: All day, whether you go for one or four.

Value: Absolutely worth it. Can’t wait to see who they announce for next year.

Add Ons: There are VIP ticket options, autographs and photos. The prices change from year to year based on what guests are attending.

#cosplay #megacon #Adventure Report

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