#anyway...*mice circus playing*

[snowangeldotmp3]

THE PINK PALACE 🩷 if you want :)

LOUSEPH!! again apologies for taking so long with these and it is no longer wip wednesday (but lets be honest. has that ever stopped me.) anyway here is some pink palace for u <3!

“You’re not my mother. My mom doesn’t have buttons for eyes. And she sure as shit doesn’t make food like this.” Not Susan (with her beady little button eyes) smiles wider. It makes Max uneasy. Queasy, even. Makes her palms sweat and feet ready to go, go, go. Alarm bells blaring in her mind to get out, get out, get out. Max does not move. Her feet stay firmly planted in the lively dining room. “Max,” calls a voice so bone-chillingly familiar, that Max stops breathing. Heavy footsteps reveal a blond mullet and stupid, sad excuse for a mustache. And buttons for eyes. A smile (or a sneer? She could never really tell with Billy. It was always danger).“Max,” Not Billy says calmly and completely unlike himself. “Is that any way to talk to your mother? Come on, the food’s getting cold.” She watched him die. Not only that, he made her life a living hell. And now all of a sudden he’s playing brother of the year? Bullshit.

[oh-no-the-hyperfixations]

hi y’all you remember those tma flight rising fandragons i posted a few months ago? Well theres more- and i need your help to pick out the final fandragon for the original series ^^

Mild spoilers ahead

Nikola- i skried out them Ages ago and i had been searching for their specific color way for Months and months. I’m Very pleased with their genes and outfit. I thought jester gave a wonderful circus tent look, seeing them without their outfit is also quite neat because the Poison gene makes them look like they are smiling a big empty grin. I gave them soap as their final gene because it reminded me of the hard plastic they’re made of And it made them look like they have a clown nose

Jude perry- I wanted her to reference a moth to a flame and burning from the inside out. I tried some different colors and genes but eventually settled on this (i think she matches my agnes really well)

Andre ramos (homophobic vase guy)- i wanted him to look like shattered pottery as if he tried to smash that vase to get his husband back. Just because i thought it’d be fun visually<3 he’s such a fun character i just needed to have one of my own

Breekon and hope- i really wish there were burlier twin headed dragons but i’ll just have to cope with what aberrations give me</3 i gave him the primary gene wasp to look like a mannequin and patchwork to match nikola and the dark circus theme. Waiting for this color way took Ages too

Jordan Kennedy (exterminator ant guy)- he’s been one of my favorite reoccurring characters in the series i really really hope he shows up in protocol. It took like- 6 separate dragons and 2 months of breeding to get his specific colors with the plague eye type.

Georgie Barker- i thought she deserved some mice and her cat the admiral sitting on her shoulder i’m so happy with her colors and her outfit she Looks like a silly little ghost hunting podcaster. I gave her ghost as a tertiary gene to reference her affiliations with the end

Adelard dekker- i’m still working on his outfit (i just cant find anything i think looks good both with his colors and salvaging his “coated in concrete” look but i figured i’d show him off anyways cause he’s Severely under appreciated.

Now heres where i need your help- what should be the final character in my original series to fill in this missing spot? I wont be doing anything from protocol yet because i want to see more of the series play out before i make them fandragons (i might make an exception for mr bozo tho- bro has a cannon design which should be pretty easy to make)

[macaroon-sapling]

do you uave any funtime freddy hcs,,,,,,

Yes I do!! I love Funtime Freddy he is so silly. This'll have some Bon-Bon stuff too :)

Headcanons Request - Funtime Freddy & Bon-Bon ✷

Here are just a few thoughts on Funtime Freddy and his best friend, and hand puppet, Bon-Bon!

☆☆☆

❋ Funtime Freddy was created alongside Funtime Chica and Funtime Foxy for Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental. Originally, there was supposed to be a Funtime Bonnie as well, but by the time all the other funtime animatronics were finished, a certain Mr. Afton ran out of his already limited materials and was forced to create a Bonnie hand puppet instead (much to the sheer disappointment of the Bonnie-obsessed roboticist).

❋ When Funtime Freddy's right hand was removed and replaced by the adaptor for Bon-Bon, he was very annoyed and pouted about it a lot (understandably). He complained and whined to the other funtimes, who weren't much help. Even Circus Baby just told him to get over it, that it was just a new change out of his control. All was not lost of course, and very soon after, Freddy met Bon-Bon! His programming was lightly adjusted to accommodate his new friend, and Freddy's sour attitude quickly changed. Although he probably would've ended up liking Bon-Bon anyway, changes in his AI made sure they were the best of friends no matter what. Freddys and Bonnies just go together, after all!

❋ Freddy and Bon-Bon don't spend a lot of time with the other funtimes, who are more social with each other. These two prefer to be off by themselves, with Freddy often walking around in circular paths in the areas where there are messes of wires hanging from the ceiling in the Sister Location. They love to talk to each other about nothing in particular for hours on end as Freddy walks around. They never get tired of hearing each other, Freddy loves to hear Bon-Bon's squeaky and girly voice just as much as Bon-Bon loves to hear Freddy's soprano and German-accented voice. The other funtimes think they're kinda weird for isolating themselves (they're right), but these two really don't care what they think. They especially don't care when their loud laughing and giggling gets obnoxious and annoys the other funtimes.

❋ Although his personality is mostly very silly, bubbly, and even a bit clueless, Freddy can be very sadistic. He knows what he was built for. He actually enjoys the thrill of capturing children and bringing them to Mr. Afton. That doesn't mean he likes Mr. Afton though, Freddy finds him to be pretty intimidating and mean. He tries to stay out of his way unless he is needed for something.

❋ Freddy and Bon-Bon often "stay awake" for a while at close down after the other animatronics in the Sister Location have powered down for the night. This is because they sometimes like to keep talking, and Bon-Bon convinces Freddy to wait just a few more hours before powering down so their conversations can last longer without being disturbed. This is great and all, but it also leads to them being alone in the silent dark of the metal coated cave they call home for hours. There are mice and other creepy crawlies (including night guards) that make sudden loud noises that frighten Freddy, who hates sudden sounds and movements. Bon-Bon hates to see Freddy upset, and he uses his little paws to pet Freddy's face and talks to him comfortingly to distract him from the unpleasant noises. Bon-Bon will do that until he calms down and Freddy reassures him that he's fine now. It always works.

❋ When they're not being rented out for treacherous children's parties or finally talking to the other funtimes, Freddy and Bon-Bon like to play little games with each other. Their favourites are eye-spy (this one gets old fast since their area never really changes), 20 questions, and peek-a-boo. Bon-Bon often wins these games more than Freddy, and he gets easily frustrated. So then Bon-Bon starts letting him win, which Freddy is completely oblivious to (don't tell him!). They also like to sing together, doing mini performances of their favourite stage songs. And of course they're huge fans of knock-knock jokes. For being a sadistic robot bear and his hand puppet, they have fun.

[mcrizzystardust]

hi key!! i see we have several mutual special interests so i Must Know your favorites!

1. who is your favorite fnaf animatronic (mine’s glamrock chica and the puppet!)

2. do you have a favorite calico critters family (gosh those are so nostalgic for me)

and most importantly

3. who is the best owl house character and why is it hunter

hi bee!!! (omg i just now realized our names rhyme)

okay so, bear with me here. i never got into fnaf as a kid, but after the fnaf movie came out apparently everyone i knew was like "omgggg!!!!" and made me feel like i missed out on a cultural phenomenon. so i bought the first game (and i suck at it 😭), and ive been watching markiplier play through it so i know what to expect and to calm my paranoia etc :). im up to sister location, and shit is getting WILD. i know like, the basics of the lore and what happens but GAWDDAMN. anyways! in what ive seen so far, id have to say either foxy, mangle, or circus baby. yes, yes, shes evil, but a girlboss gotta girlboss /j 😭 (no but fr, i just love her backstory and like her character development and kabfjabdj!!)

i dont actually really know many of the families, but the marshmellow mice and the reindeer twins are so cute!!!!! i have two sets of families, i have the maple cats and the persian cats. my fave calico critters of all time are on instagram, @/emocritters!!! its this person who diys critters to look like various members of my chemical romance from their various eras :)))) theyre SO goddamn cute. @fairylittlebitch said he'd get me one once he has enough money and i am forever worshipping his existence, kissing the ground he stands upon, giving him a big fat (platonic and consensual) smooch.

OMG I LOVE HUNTER. hes so KFNKDBDJFH!!2&(!:$)3&3)4.

okay but also hear me out...... the collector. theyre so.

i just. i need to give him a hug. i need to be his friend. i want to comfort them. im !!/$;$&3@2@/'

[hannahhook7744]

Chloe Charming headcanons revised;

Chloe is Cinderella and Kit Charming's only biological child.

She is 8 years younger than her.

She is 18 by the time the pocketwatch takes place.

Her middle name is Cordelia after her maternal grandmother.

She is 8 in d1 and too young to go to Auradon Prep which is why the vks didn't know about her.

She's very athletic and loves fencing in particular.

Chad use to play them and other games with her before their grandfather died when Chad started middle school. Chad hasn't played games or really spent real time with her since. At least not as much as he used to.

Chloe is sickly and has a heart condition which takes up a lot of her parents' time and attention.

She's also small and frail for her age.

She is her parents' miracle baby since they thought they couldn't have bio children.

Which is one of the many reasons why Chad is the way he is.

She has a pet cat named 'Bumpsy'. Bumpsy is an old cat and one of the many children of Lucifer and Pom-Pom.

Chad has a kitten that is a child of that of one of Lucifer and Pom-Pom's litter, but he doesn't let Chloe touch it.

He doesn't let her touch his mice,horse, and dog either.

It bothers Chloe even though she has her own mice, horse,and dog.

Chad does love his sister but he can't help but resent her sometimes.

Chloe gets along with her cousins usually (if they're alive during whatever story I'm using her in, anyway).

Chloe has alot of stuffed animals that were her only friends for the longest time.

Her favorite is this werid, bat-thingy that she named 'Charm'.

She, like Chad, is wary of the vks because of the things they were told about them from adults around them.

She was homeschooled unlike Chad.

She also never grows out of being bored by council meetings.

She has quite the collection of swords thanks to her parents spoiling her every chance she gets.

She is a sweet and friendly but competitive, athletic girl who just wants to make her kingdom and parents proud.

Though in any other situation she is shy and nervous. Mainly because she hasn't been away from home that often.

Her favorite song is 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams.

Chloe is quite good at sports as well as dancing and singing.

Her favorite dances are the waltz and the polka.

She has a pink and blue phone that she loves dearly.

Not as much as she loves fairies and flowers however.

When she was little she liked to play fairies, which was basically pretending to be a fairy, since of course she's heard all about the fairy that granted her mother's wish, and she knows FG and Jane. She's very close to Jane, sort of like Dizzy and Evie.

She was at the coronation when Maleficent showed up and that scared her into never leaving her home for like the next few years.

It took hours for her very frantic parents and brother to find her.

It took her ages to not be afraid of Dragons after this.

Chloe is a quick learner and loves school as well as reading.

She loves corn, chicken, toast, and porridge as well as hot chocolate. It's pretty much all she eats.

Her horse's name is 'Speedy'.

Her dog's name is Bailey and she is one of Bruno's litter.

Her favorite color is blue.

She was homeschooled until she was 10.

She met Red Hearts, Danny Darling, Hadie Olympian, and Maddox Hatter— her future best friends—not long after.

She considers Prudence, The Duke, The Baker, and Fg her aunts and uncles.

She also considers Jane and Eliza her cousins.

She doesn't get the whole 'magic being frowned upon' thing.

She named her dolly 'Jane' and never changed the name.

She loves parades and carousels as well as other festivals.

She adores Chad despite his flaws.

In a world where he disappears she never stops looking for him.

Her parents take her to them often when she's well enough.

Her earliest memory is of her, Chad, and their grandfather at the circus when she was a toddler.

She has a small pastel blue and pink bicycle with a bell, basket, tassels, tail lights, and brakes.

Christmas is her favorite holiday and her least favorite is Valentine's day.

She hates her parents and brother being sad.

Her 2nd favorite color is pink and her 3rd favorite is gold.

The kingdom loves her. As does anyone who meets her.

She is allergic to hair dye and strawberries.

Her favorite aunt is Anastasia.

She hates Drizella.

She likes her uncle Hans and his brothers and her other uncle, Jacob, though.

She thinks the world of her parents.

Chloe is also a fan of chickens and has several pet chickens that run around the castle.

She loves musicals and balls as well as water fountains.

She grows up to be a famous fencer and horse racer and becomes a seamstress before taking the crown when her parents die.

Like her grandfather before her, she adores chocolate, elephants, stewed prunes, romance, bird watching, fencing, and beaches.

She eventually gets a pet elephant when she is a teenager and names it 'Circus.'

She use to watch the birds and go to Circuses with her brother and grandfather.

She was devastated when her grandfather, Prudence, and the Duke died.

She ends up being a fine Queen like her grandmother before her and there are statues of her, her cousins, her brother, and her friends all around her kingdom years after their deaths.

Eventually, after Auradon falls, an ancestor of her cousin, Dizzy, builds a mansion where their castle once stood. And has a son named Fred. And that's how Big hero six plays out in the descendants universe.

[fanmoose12]

i love laika movies so i offer today a coraline au (you can watch the movie on youtube)

levi moves in with his mom and uncle (he’s a sassy child just like kuchel and sometimes he swears; he learned that from kenny). anyways, since he just moved he is grumpy; he misses his friends, farlan and isabel.

kenny is being more annoying and snappy than usual and his mom is tired and moody because she is so busy working and trying to tide the place up (and forcing kenny to help because he can be lazy)

so levi ventures into the forest and meets hange. he dislikes this weird child who will not shut up and keeps asking him questions 😩 because her grandparent forbid her from entering the house (because of the door). but hange insists on being friends and he has to agree. hange also owns a car named erwin. levi hates him lmao.

he discovers the door and then meets his other mother (hell yes scary kuchel 😩) and his other uncle as well as the other neighbors. his other mother pays a lot of attention to him (even if his real mother is just busy with work and doesn’t have time rn, levi is just a little boy)! by the way in the real world i think pixis and zackly would be great neighbors? idk why lol i think they would be a cool elderly couple that bickers constantly. and the eccentric neighbor that lives upstairs would be mr shadis hell yeah.

the second night he meets hange again, and he meets the other hange as well. his other mother tells him that she “fixed” her which is why hange won’t talk or be too excited. levi is at first happy with this but then it kind of makes him depressed? because the real hange is so happy loud and sweet, while the other hange seems quiet. they go to shadis’ circus that night together and they eat candy and just have a good time 😔✌️

third night levi had rough day and a heated argument with kenny; kuchel asks him if he would like tag along with them to go grocery shopping and levi ignored both of them which made his mom sad, so they leave without him. when levi goes through the door, he is greeted by the other hanji, because the other kuchel asked her to take levi to the theater 🥺 (which is zackly and pixis bc i said so). oh the two of them have fun, hange throws roses at him but at the end of the night hange looks so upset to leave him 😭 bc she feels terrible but can’t do anything because they are all being controlled by the beldam.

then the other mother tries to sew buttons into levi’s eyes but he gets into an argument and ends up trapped inside a mirror where he meets the ghosts of the dead children, including hange’s relative. and he promises to save them. then!! the other hanji saves him by sneaking in and pulling him out of the mirror 🥺 but her face is all stitched up by the beldam. levi unstitched hanges face. and then she got levi to the other door, but levi won’t leave her because the other mother will hurt her again 🥺 but the other han can’t go because she’s just a puppet created by the beldam. levi is pushed through the door so he can escape, but then finds out his family disappeared.

hange is there and levi is actually happy to see her ok, but won’t admit it. hange then talks about her grandparent’s twin’s disappearance. and she wants to go with levi but levi doesn’t want hange to get harmed (bc of the other hans) 😭 he goes to sleep that night alone in his mother’s room(i like the part where coraline uses the pillows to pretend her parents are still there) so he grabs kenny’s hat and makes a pillow kuchel 🥺💔 then he gets woken up by erwin (kitty erwin) who shows him his family was kidnapped by the other mother.

he asks the beldam to play a game with him, and she agrees. he finds the eyes of the children with the help of erwin, and a witch stone. he is heartbroken when he sees hanges clothes hanging as a way to make him angry. he then tricks the beldam and frees his family (they manage to seal her away in the process). at night, the ghost children thank him, and tell him to throw the key.

the beldam’s hand got to stay in the real world so she tries to take the key and levi with her to her world. except!!! hange is there! to rescue levi!! and they managed to destroy the hand (they almost died ahaha) and to throw the key down the well. oh and of course levi is happy that they are all safe 🥺 they had that picnic with the neighbors the next day 🤧

that’s the abbreviated version lmao i missed a lot. including erwins dialogue because the sass and how calculating he is, plus the eyes? oh and then levi warms up to him. they are both sassy lmaoooo. and i love their friendship tee bee h. plus the neighbors! and how shadis warns levi that he should be careful! and his mice and how he calls them cadets lol. and pixis and zackly bickering and telling him he’s in danger! and giving him the witch stone? and more of kuchel kenny and more hange 🥺 at this point i’m just rambling shdhdbcjfj bye

oh!!!! i love this movie so much! and your au!!! i love it even more😩😩

also zackly and pixis??? that's surprisingly cute lmao

and little levi making a pillow kuchel and sleeping with kenny's hat??? too cute for my feeble heart 💔💔

and, of course, levi and hange being adorable kids and childhood friends 😭😭 that's one of my weaknesses

[witchesoz]

After Oz: Legends of Oz

I hesitated before doing this one, because this movie is mostly based on the book "Dorothy of Oz" by Roger S. Baum, and I haven't read said book. It is something that tends to get on my nerve, when people actually don't care about the original material an adaptation was based on, and consider the adaptation as its own entirely original piece of work, when in fact, a lot of it was taken from somebody's else work. I mean, the perfect exemple is Shining. Some people praise Kubrick for being a pure genius for inventing this story from A to Z, and consider Stephen's King television series a "poor attempt at a remake of the movie", when... you know, King originally wrote the Shining and Kubrick merely adapted it. In fact, people tend to forget most of Kubrick's movies were adaptation. Dr. Strangelove? Loosely based on "Red Alert". Lolita? Everyone knows it is Nabokov. A Clockwork Orange? Anthony Burgess. 2001: Space Odyssey? Inspired by shorts stories of Clarke, the co-author. Eyes Wide Shut? A 1920s German book, Traumnovelle. And so forth and so forth...

  Hum. Sorry for the rant. I just needed to explain why I always want to take in consideration the original material when tackling an adaptation.  But since I haven't read and can't get this book, I will mostly rely myself on the Wikipedia plot and other reviews I read. If you wonder, yes, Roger S. Baum is Baum's great-grandson (or great-great-grandson?), and he wrote "Dorothy of Oz" as a direct sequel to the first book, "The Wizard of Oz", ignoring all of the others, and... apparently he is not a really good writer. But anyway... I still decided to do a little something about this movie, because... well just because I wanted    Oh yeah, another thing... an elephant in the room I have to adress right now. I only discovered it this year, by doing research about the movie (because before I only saw it at the time of its released and then forgot about it). You can know it, or completely ignore it - yes, I know that this whole movie was the result of a huge scam that robbed hundreds of people out of their money, and that the case has been even brought to trial. But... well the movie is still here, people still saw it, it is still around, will be for still quite a long time, and it is now part of the Oz inheritance, that you want it or not. Anyway, a lot of Oz movies had a dark and troubled production. It seems almost like a pre-requisite: if you do an Oz movie, you'll never end happy. Maybe it is a curse? Who knows.

       So... let's get into the subject. Is "Dorothy's Return" a bad movie? (I'll use this name, because "Legends of Oz" was the name of the intended franchise of three, maybe ten movies). I wouldn't say so. A lot of people said it was crap, or worthless, but I wouldn't call it bad. People also said that it is a bland movie, and I would say yes - but only partially. I think a good lot of the extreme bad reactions were caused because of 1- people who just disliked the idea of more Oz adaptations, 2- people too old for this movie, because you have to remember that this is a movie aiming at children and 3- people who are hard-die fans of the MGM movie and not so much of the original Oz books. It may also play in account that Dorothy's Return was roughly released the same year, and played as a "rival" to "Oz the Great and Powerful".

    Now, note that it isn't a memorable movie (except for a few bits). It isn't an excellent movie. It isn't a cult classic (even though it may become it with the whole scam background, who knows?). It isn't something I would watch again and again with pleasure. It isn't something exceptionnal or groundbreaking, it is even quite generic. But, it has some good parts, and it manages to be entertaining, and honestly as a child I could have sit in front of it and watch it with no problem. Because, yes, it is a children movie. The action is rushed, the characters lack depth, some moments are too sugary-sweet or even cringy (for exemple the song "We'll work together". Seriously, I just looked away and sped up a bit because that was too sickening-sweet for me.) As a result, as a child movie they missed things that could have been really good (the old tree agreeing to be use for a boat, which is played straight up as him being killed, the characters even say so, but then it turns out he is still alive as a boat? You could have had a great, deep, fascinating almost philosophical moment, but you just waste it for a happy ending). Anyway, what was I saying? Yes, a children movie. As a result, some people called the movie "too simple". On the other side, people called the story "too confusing".

  To an Oz fan like me, it isn't actually confusing. It isn't at all - but indeed, for someone with a limited knowledge of Oz, it will be confusing. Because, while they base themselves on an Oz book that re-uses many elements from the books (the Queen of the Field Mices, the Sawhorse, the China Country...) it also decided to include a lot of elements from the MGM movie (the Wicked Witch of the West is the one from the MGM, Glinda is also quasi-identical from her MGM counterpart, the Winged Monkeys work with the evil people...). As a result, yeah, it may be confusing. But the inclusion of the MGM elements actually managed to correct some flaws of the original story. For exemple, in Roger S Baum's book, the Jester was merely a normal jester possessed by the ghost of the Wicked Witch of the West, through her magic wand. Wait, magic wand? There wasn't any magic wand mentionned in the original book! But in the movie, to use the broomstick of the Wicked Witch makes much more sense.

      I'll take a short time here to comment on the character of the Jester, who is, I think, the highest point of this movie. He is a good villain. A cliché but interesting backstory cashing on the idea of Oz vilains as siblings, a clear shout-out to the Joker which isn't so bad, interesting plans. He is also the provider of many nightmarish elements (the fate of Dorothy's companions, which I think was a very good idea, or the people turning into puppets and being used for a creepy dance) that made this Oz movie feel... well Ozian. Because a good Oz work is a work that will traumatize your kids! I guess a bit part of why the Jester works so well is that he basically repeats and remakes all his sister, the Wicked Witch, did in the MGM movie, and let's be honest, she was a great villain. (And this again makes sense when you remember the Jester is originally supposed to be possessed by the Witch's ghost). But at the same time he has his distinctive signature and style, with his Jester persona, his circus-related punishment and his personal plots to conquer Oz. [People noticed obviously the sweet irony of things in this movie. You have a double-character that, on the Earth world is a cheater and criminal trying to steal people of their houses and using several fake identities, while in Oz it is a villain that turns people into puppets he can manipulate and relies mostly on cheating and misleading Dorothy to her doom. Which is eerily similar to what the creators of the movie/franchise did with their financers and investors.]

  Talking about the Earth side... The whole "earthly" parts are all bland and not memorable. Just like Dorothy, who isn't really... anything to be honest. The songs sung aren't memorable either. All of that is a fail. A lot of people also considered the Earthly animation uncanny, or even disturbing, but I personally wasn't bugged by it at all. I saw much more uncanny animation.

    When it comes to the Oz part, I actually think they managed to create a perfect "Ozian story". As in, the general schema of the girl entering in Oz through an uncommon mean (here a people-eating rainbow, that I have to say was quite a scary scene to look at), then passing through many small kingdoms, meeting new friends, forming a team, discovering the villain and fighting him off - this plot was repeated by Baum times and times and times again, and probably comes from the original novel Dorothy of Oz. But it still works, as simple as it can be. Plus, the use of the China Country and the Candy County (I think its their name?) was quite a good choice. The China Country was one of Baum's earliest invention, while the Candy County (originating from the Roger S Baum book) is eerily similar to the Bunbury village, an invention of Baum, inhabited by living baked goods that also get angry at the protagonists for trying to eating them. Yes, all in all, the characters feel really Ozian. As for the other member of the team, "Wiser the Owl". Well... he had the potential to feel an interesting and Baum-ian character. But it falls flat because he just becomes one living fat joke. I mean, fat jokes can be funny. But when the character is mostly the joke itself well... yeah, not really working. He had a much interesting role in the prequel comic book.  

   Because yes, there is a comic book associated with this movie! As I said before, originally the project was to create a franchise of several movies, with toys, goodies, applications and video games. (Or at least that was the project the scam used). The comic is however found under the original title for the movie "Dorothy of Oz". I don't have much to say about it, outside that is was quite pleasing (even though it sometimes doesn't make sense when put in direct relationship to the movie), and that it introduced one interesting idea: that the magic of the broomstick/Witch relied mostly on manipulating the weather and nature. The Jester causes a flood to destroy the Munchkin town, he causes an earthquake to break the China Country, he uses heatwaves to melt the Candy County... And another interesting point, the role of Wiser. Indeed, in the movie he is presented as a "motor-mouth" that keeps talking about everything, knows a lot of stuff and has the tendency to finish other people's sentences. But it gets quickly overshadowed by the fat jokes (cause a big part of his character is that he used to be able to fly but now, because of his love for candy, he is too fat to fly). However, in the comic book he has rather the role of the one voice of reason and intelligence that offers down-to-earth, simple solutions to problems where the other Ozians search for more extravagant and magical possibilities. Exemple (SPOILERS: when trying to create a rainbow, the team searches everywhere, thinks of asking witches, wizards and candy makers. Wiser has to remind them that anybody can create a rainbow with just a good crystal and some light. SPOILER ENDING.)  

   (I actually read the comic book before looking at the movie, which may explain why I consider it better than the movie.) To return to my opinion on the movie... Not the greatest Oz movie, but certainly not the worst. Average, but on the good side. Entertaining and interesting, even though bland and generic. They got the feeling of an Oz story but they just didn't found a way to freshen up or make the story shine on its own. A good villain for a heroine easy to forget. Simple. Ideal for children, or to kill time, or just to inspire one for more Oz work.

[awesomehoggirl]

it’s wip wednesday so i thought i’d share a quick writing wip from my multi chapter fem howince fic which will maybe be done in 20 years ! it’s got 8 chapters and i am still on chapter 2 if this gets finished it’ll be a miracle. the fic is called eau d’bedroom dancing because i love le tigre and imagine how fantastic riot grrl vince would be ...

mentioning before hand that i write all my first drafts and oneshots with no capitals because i find it a lot easier but with this fic when i go back over i’ll put capitals in :) (also this is a section from chapter one not the opening)

—

her name is vincenzia mirabella lucie-marié le manteau rafflesia vaisseau-spatial noire (the longest name in the class, and the only one never written up on the ‘star student!’ chalkboard) but everyone refers to her as vince. she’s new to the school, and seemingly england, but her accent is pure south london. two teachers have quit because of her already. holly moon has never been so interested in a person in her entire tiny life.

oh, she’s read up on musicians, heard their stories, wished ever so slightly that her life would someday be just as interesting — did you know nina simone had seven siblings, that john coltrane was in the navy? but the weirdness that seems to just bounce off vince’s tongue beats every story she’s ever read hands down.

it quickly becomes apparent that she’s borderline feral: if the staff-room murmurs of the teachers are to be believed, she came from a ‘neglectful home’; if vince’s own word is to be accepted, she was raised in the jungle by a cast of rock stars, animals and french nobility. holly is sensible enough to doubt her at first, but before long (and after many demonstrations of her ability to talk to animals) she’s genuinely on board. they sit behind the ash tree at lunch time, out of sight from dribbling boys and disapproving teachers, and holly figures out that through half a chocolate bar vince can be coaxed into revealing all sorts about her unorthodox childhood.

‘dunno why you’re so desperate to know about my life,’ vince complains once, when asked again to tell the story about the great order of frogs and the backwards waterfall. ‘why can’t i hear stories about you for a change?’

‘all in good time,’ says holly, whose mother is a tax attorney married to a geography teacher. ‘plus, i know you love the attention.’

and so vince sits there and talks until she goes hoarse, or loses interest, or feels like changing the subject right at a crucial moment, or the school bell rings and they have to go inside. she talks about her house made of bus tickets and her animal friends, her french duke uncle who would come down on bank holidays and teach her table manners, about joining the jackals for hunts, about skimming the treetops in the claws of squabbling vultures, about the hoots and screeches of the monkeys as they chased her through the undergrowth on the back of a hippopotamus. and holly will listen breathlessly, trying to seem nonplussed when in reality she is clinging to every last word. (tell me again about the paper-mache tiger and the rhinoceros’ game nights. tell me again again again.)

because no matter how hard her sensible brain tries, she really can’t prove them wrong. vince is hopeless at all forms of spelling or arithmetic. she is genuinely flabbergasted when explained to that, in fact, biting and shoving are not always seen as ‘playful’ in the human world. she swears like a sailor (or perhaps a rockstar) would, until the little old lady vicar gasps, snaps her bible shut and refuses to read to the year six class ever again. idioms are beyond her, let alone algebra, and the teachers insist there’s no hope — but they can’t help liking her, despite it all. there’s something so genuine about her ever-present toothy grin, her bubbly demeanour, that they soon allow her to get away with anything.

and yet holly is her best friend. and the only person (maybe in the world) vince will tell her stories to.

‘once upon a time,’ she begins one lunch break, dipping holly’s generous sacrifice of a curly wurly into her pocket for later, ‘i was out with jahooli the leopard, who was my best friend — he’d give me rides on his back when i was really small, swattin’ the bloodsuckers away with his giant tail. he’d catch me fish in his big strong jaws, crush ‘em up so i could eat ‘em right, i was just a nipper, i’d not got all my teeth in yet, but he was a right sweetheart about that sort of thing. on the surface jahooli always seemed to be a reckless character, a real rough-and-tumble kind of cat, but i knew the reality: he’d lost his mate and his litter and he was gettin’ on a bit, i was all he had left in terms of fatherhood. it meant he did get a bit invasive at times, yeah, he could be real clingy. i didn’t mind though, see, i’m wise beyond my years, so i was quite good with all that stuff, i let him vent to me when it all got a bit too much for his poor leopard heart to handle. anyway, this one day he was lookin’ after me, on account of my foster father bryan ferry being away on tour. and it was a hot afternoon, this one. really hot.’ she sinks down on her heels. ‘the kinda hot that drenches you in sweat no matter how still you stand. the kinda humid that makes your palms slick and your eyelashes heavy. most of the animals were tucked away underground by midday, but the bigger sorts like me and jahooli, we couldn’t exactly join them. so jahooli said, why don’t we make our way down to the river?’

holly feels her spine prickle. it is eerie, the way her friend’s stories pull her in.

she follows vince along to said river, feels jahooli’s long speckled tail curling round her shoulders, bumping against her collarbones, keeping her close. feels the slick wetness of the air, feels the burn of her lungs as they work in shallow pumping gasps. breathes in the hot dark of the bush, the low chatter of the canopy. soon the lumbering gait of the leopard slows, the river is in sight — the banks are busy with boars, bucks and buffalo, sunning lizards and mice. slow-blinking crocodiles cruise in the shallows. vince is not afraid of them. (holly would be.)

‘is it true if you’re being chased by a crocodile you should run in a zig-zag pattern?’ she interrupts (not because the story is getting a little too tense for her or anything).

vince rolls her eyes, makes a face as if holly has asked her the stupidest question in the world (considering just yesterday she asked holly whether all numbers bite or if the three digit ones are just especially fiesty, they clearly have different opinions on what counts as a ‘stupid question’). ‘if a crocodile were to haul its fat arse out of the nice cool water just to give you a bit of trouble, you probably did something awful to deserve it. why? are you plannin’ to go pokin’ sticks at ‘em? cause if you are, insult their music taste, they’ll go absolutely mental. most crocodiles are obsessed with alice cooper, so there’s a good starting point, have that one on me.’

‘so what’s—‘

‘oi, hush! do you want this story or not?’

holly shuts up. vince lowers her voice.

the jungle is sweaty now, the riverbanks a dripping piccadilly circus. jahooli has left vince’s side, gone to make conversation with ranbir the great panther, so she ventures alone to the water’s edge (the animals watch over her, they all like her, tiny and pink and strange as she is) and dips her feet in. the water is so clear and cold it hurts, but soon the pain ebbs and gives way to a calm coolness. she sits down, slides in up to her knees, lies back against the soft mud

the jungle is treacle now, bubbling and pooling, thick. vince soon drifts off and the leaves behind her eyelids are red. the stars are wheeling gulls, the air is thick with salt-spit, her eyelashes tangle and she slips down into the mud. somewhere else, the dulcet waves begin to lap. the elephants have arrived. jahooli and ranbir share a look before they approach, hackles raised (they are not mean-spirited creatures, but they do like to play a prank).

the jungle is long gone now, and vince dreams of strawberry ice cream. somewhere else, jahooli and ranbir wind around each other dizzyingly, teeth flashing slick and sharp. somewhere else, the elephants are fussing, distressed by their feline dance, their ashy trunks whirling as they back up their feet. pelts twist and brush together before the big-cats turn, open their jaws and let out a combined roar that wakes vince, sends animals scattering, splits the sky in two —

and the jungle rumbles. and the elephants charge.

[princess-of-the-corner]

Guess what’s back??? Thieves in Time Rewrite Episode 4: Of Mice and Mechs!

Back to a somewhat-Canon chapter. Of course I'm changing some things because fuck what they did with Penelope in this. 

Anyway, like usual, the gang starts out doing recon missions! Sly's out and about, blending in. He's thinking about where to go next when he feels something. 

Someone is trying to pickpocket him. Which he finds hilarious, but also notes that the pickpocketer is good enough that if Sly wasn't a Master Thief he wouldn't have noticed.

When he looks to see who the pickpocketer is, he finds a ten year old Raccoon. The boy realizes he's caught and bolts. Sly figures that this isn't a coincidence and follows at a distance. Which lets the kid think he lost the trail, and the kid leads him right home. 

When Sly knocks on the door, it's an adult female Raccoon that answers. She dodges questions at first, but eventually Sly finds out that she's Sir Galleth's wife, Abigail. And the boy from before is their son, Merrin. 

The Gang already gathered that Galleth was captured and put in the circus. But they wonder how Abigail and Merrin evaded capture or even just guards on the house. 

Basically, they haven't. The Black Knight doesn't seem to care about them. Merrin even got caught trying to follow the Black Knight, but was released with a comment about "just a kid playing around and getting into trouble". The Gang finds this strange, considering the previous times the Villain was on the lookout for the spouses(or assumed spouses) and kids of the Coopers. 

Merrin is actually somewhat helpful in rescuing Sir Galleth. He already thought of a plan and a route to take, but he's not yet skilled enough to take that route as he's only ten. Sly though, he can do it fine. 

A lot of the rest of the missions would be the same, except Merrin tags along on Galleth and Sly's missions. He is helpful in distracting guards, pickpocketing, and crawling into small spaces, but isn't much for a fight. Though the guards ignore him unless he actively interacts with them. 

Eventually we get to the reveal of the Black Knight is Penelope. But the plot is different because fuck that. Even with the reveal, it's obvious that she's not evil. Everyone suspects that she's doing this against her will. 

Unfortunately, the only way to safely talk to her is the room where she’s staying, which is heavily guarded except for this one route that is too small for any of the adults to enter. After mentioning this, they notice that Merrin has gone missing. 

Penelope, meanwhile, is freaking out about the small Raccoon that just dropped into her room. Especially as he seems to know who she is. Merrin stole one of the communicators and encourages her to talk to the gang. She hesitates, but calls in. 

Everyone else says "first of all, Merrin, you're grounded. Secondly, Penelope what the fuck???"

Penelope confesses that months ago she began working for Le Paradox with the whole Time Travel project. He fed her stories about how it was for noble causes. Like, the guy runs a museum. Using Time Travel could help so many historians learn what really happened in the past! And if they carefully record things, it could make for one hell of an educational documentary! And okay yeah he was paying a lot of money which maybe blinded her to some of the sketchy stuff at first. 

She hid it from the rest of the Gang because she wasn't quite used to the level of trust they have, which she now realizes is a mistake. By the time she found out what Le Paradox was really up to, she was in over her head and couldn't escape. Which is why she suddenly disappeared.

But she could do enough to help them when they came to fix everything. Which is why stuff in this Time is a little easier for them, and why Abigail and Merrin were left alone. She fudged some records so Le Paradox thinks that Sir Galleth has yet to meet his wife and Merrin won't even be born for a few more years. And as a bonus she spills the beans on Le Paradox's motive of "his dad got arrested because of Sly's dad etc." Thing. 

The rest of the Gang decides they need to help her because she's family damn it! She made a mistake but you know what she's trying! 

Penelope warns them that if she tries to do something Le Paradox doesn't want, all the mechs in the area will be trained on her. But they're like "eh we've dealt with worse!". 

The bossfight is them breaking Penelope out, dismantling that giant mech and enough of the rest so that the town isn't completely fucked, and then getting the hell out of dodge. 

Unfortunately, "getting the hell out of dodge" includes a blind Time Jump, and they have no clue where they're going. Though anyone who's seen my posts does!! Episode 5 miiiiiight take a while to write out though. 

[poisindonottouch]

Dragon Heist: Niaba pt. 1

So, I plays lots of D&D, and recently, my roomie and I put together a table top group to play a game. 

(This is mostly world building background info.) 

Back up a bit more. About a year ago, my dad (with whom I play D&D every Friday night on Fantasy Grounds, along with my sister and brother), was telling me about Skyrim, and how much he liked the quests and the world building and how everything was interconnected, and the politics, etc. So I was like, I could do that. Homebrew a D&D world with intrigue and politics and story, not just a playground for murderhobos to run about. And so, the Sakhan Duchies were born. 

The Sakhan Duchies are four allied human duchies run by a council of dukes (a gender neutral term) with one Grand Duke out of the four to be the Duke of Dukes. Or something. So, the Duke of Fyley is currently the Duke, and the Duke of Yena wants the position. He sends out a proclamation: whoever can find and deliver the four dragon eggs of yore, the ones that contain an ancient artifact, will be generously rewarded. The duke plans to get the artifact, gain all the power, and depose the Duke of Fyley as the Grand Duke. 

My game with the fam has been running for about a year now (both in an out of game, actually), and our heroes have found three of the dragon eggs. Will they defeat the githyanki and survive the red dragon? Will they find the last dragon egg? Tune in in a month to see! (read that like a 20s radio announcer). 

So anyway, that was the start of the world. But there are two more duchies, and one of them is Niaba. Niaba is a matriarchal theocracy, with the Duke of Niaba, Cateline of House Kalyan also being the High Priestess of the Temple of Volsini, my trickster deity of luck and chance. Volsini is depicted as a two faced janus sort, and their unofficial symbol is two six sided dice. 

Niabans love their spiced tea, quietly relish the fact that they are better than the other duchies, and don’t care for wizards. (It’s cheating, you see. You didn’t do anything to deserve that magic. You aren’t favored by any gods. You didn’t even make a pact with an eldritch horror. You just read it in a book. That’s cheating.) Clerics of Volsini are common place and run the town in their black and white vestments. 

So, back to the table top group. The roomie (Hi, @higgsboshark!) and I reached out to some internet friends of ours, (Hi @kissmeagainarthas & @hobbular), roped in my husband (Hi, @thenickallen!), and began a party. 

Every single character was chaotic neutral. 

DM:  *takes off glasses. Rubs bridge of nose.* 

The party is made up of:

1 human cleric who acts like a thief. She is a cleric of Volsini, and her hometown vestments did open a door or two for the party. 

1 kenku thief with delusions of being a medic. (I think the first medicine check was a 1.) 

1 gnomish bard who handily was sleeping with most of the major NPCs. (I know that’s a trope, but I’ve never had it at my table, and it was a lot of fun.)

1 tabaxi wizard who was in the right place at the right time to join this circus. (at no point did the cat actually eat the bird, though much hissing was exchanged.) 

And every one of them decided to be Chaotic Neutral. 

Running a campaign for a bunch of CN characters is kind of like herding cats, except none of them want to get their paws wet, or attack the handily placed mice. 

(I act long suffering, but actually I quiet enjoyed DMing this campaign. It was quite the departure from my usual groups, and pushed me as a DM to be way more creative.) 

[littlemicrocosims]

need to vent about chocolate real quick

okay so some of you may know that I used to work for choccywoccydoodah (if you’ve heard of it, great, if you haven’t, i’m also not surprised). Choccy just went out of business and I just need to vent because all the news coverage (the few bbc articles etc there are anyway) are making me SO ANGRY so if you want chocolatey behind the scenes drama and what it was ACTUALLY like to be employed by christine taylor READ ON

The entire news coverage for this business going into administration is solely ‘oh what a shame this awesome creative business is gone! noone could have predicted it! such a shock we all loved it!” lIKE NO FUCK OFF IF YOU SPOKE TO A SINGLE PERSON THAT WORKED THERE YOU WOULD KNOW THAT THIS IS NOT A SURPRISE AT ALL. This has been coming for YEARS. This company has been driven into the ground by Christine Taylor and if you ever watched the TV show i’m sure you have a little understanding as to why that is.

When I worked at the company (for about a year between 2016 - 2017), I was told many things by the owners. It’s a million dollar company, she said. It’s international. We make MAGIC. And yes, to an extent, they did make magic. The two Christine’s founded the company in Brighton in 1994 and carved a niche for themselves. They made amazing cakes for amazing people and I was so, so thrilled to be a part of it. The TV show had already ceased filming by this point, of course, and whilst the show was still running in some countries (the company was inexplicably popular in the Netherlands, I came to realise) the popularity of the show within the UK was something akin to marmite... Either you love it, or... well, you’ve never heard of it. I always knew the company and its running was unconventional - no safety training for the amount of physical labour you had to do, an incredibly stressful work environment, always expected to work unpaid overtime, the list goes on - but I loved it anyway. My manager was an amazing woman (and still is!) and I was keen to learn and master what I could. This is when the cracks started to show. Christine and Christine would make plans - we want to promote you, but we can’t promote anyone unless they’ve worked here over a year, we want to open a third store, we’re going to launch a side business, here’s a range of more affordable cakes that we are going to sell - but somehow, nothing ever followed through. They could barely afford to run two shops (one in brighton, one in central london, where i worked), let alone even CONSIDER opening a third. Their marketing relied solely on the now outdated television show and they refused to upgrade with the times. They weren’t without help - younger members of the team had plenty of suggestions and contributions but they were never recognised or accepted. I managed to convince them to invest in snapchat geo-filters (as all customers did in the shop was record and take photos). Not a huge step, but a small one in the right direction. This was once they actually ALLOWED people to film - for months part of my job was telling people to put their phones away! Why make edible art if you can’t even share it!? Their social media ‘team’ consisted of some guy who used to bake the cakes and got promoted to Christine’s PA. He could barely even spell, let alone maintain a facebook, an instagram, a youtube... To put it bluntly, they knew fuck all about promoting their own company and got complacent in how successful they had once been.

To compensate for this, the company began raising prices. The impractical “chunky bars” rose in price in the time I was at the company from £12.99 to £14.99, while cakes for 10 servings jumped from £35.99 to £40+. Commissions that staff had got and were promised for another quarter for bespoke cake consultations disappeared with no warning. They began outsourcing more and more chocolate, reducing the cocoa content of the chocolate they DID create, and staff began leaving. I thought the high turnover was normal. If you’ve watched the show, you know that Dave made all the magic happen. Well, people like Dave started leaving. Once the two Christines decided they didn’t like a member of staff, they would quietly sit and gather evidence of the smallest infractions until they had enough to fire you or play hardball until you quit before they could pull the trigger. I saw this happen to many, many members of staff in my time there. Luckily, they always seemed to like me, but I have a feeling that if I’d stayed any longer the same would have happened to me. It happened to their own son, who they demoted from operations manager in favour of the london store manager. He got no say in this. They never gave the new operations manager the payrise for her promotion for the year plus that she held the position (until closing) and they regularly expected her to work 6/7 day weeks as they refused to replace staff that were leaving. She was expected to continue to manage the london branch as well as manager the operations for the entire company. She HAD to work these hours just to make sure there was a senior member of staff in the building. This was around the time I decided the stress and constant crying when I finished my shift every night was too much, and I made the very hard decision to leave despite not having anything else lined up. I was in a fortunate position of living with my parents and having a safety net. Not everyone else had that. 

Since I left the company, things only deteriorated further. The Carnaby Street store (just off oxford circus, in central london) was deemed too expensive to rent, and they moved to covent garden, to a location my former manager oh-so affectionately refers to as “crack alley”. It was unsafe and I’ve been told that staff closing up in the evenings would regularly have to ask for backup as they would feel at risk within the store. The size of the team started to dwindle (the whole company was 50+ strong over both stores and the studios when I was there, it was 20-30 when it shut and the london store alone had 6/7 members of staff). More members of staff left without replacements. Then the inevitable happened - Dave reduced his hours, with an intention to leave, leaving very few people in the studio able to actually make the cakes (which were often dry and poorly made as it was, people regularly found bits of plastic in the cafe cakes and the cafes never even got what they ordered in the first place). Being incredibly secretive about her processes, Christine had staff sign an NDA to know the ‘secret formula’ for the modelling chocolate. Like it’s a goddamn krabby patty. So when Dave began to move away and the other staff from the studio moved on as well, instead of training anyone new to make the cakes, Chris decided she would just... price people out of them. She’d long since abandoned any premise of making affordable versions of her cakes for weddings and raised the minimum price of a bespoke design from £450 to £2,500!!!! The one thing her company was well known for and she priced everyone out of it. Just because she’s made a few cakes for celebrities (I helped design one for Jack Whitehall while I was there, but other big names include Tinie Tempah, Johnny Depp, Kylie Minogue, Boy George, the Game of Thrones launch party....) she arrogantly believed that her entire clientele could afford this, when actually her entire clientele was children who loved the show and their hard working families. These people simply cannot afford £50 for a 10 portion cake, or £30 for a slice of cake and a drink in a cafe. £5 for an outsourced chocolate coin! £20 for a bar of chocolate! She was out of touch, and arrogant, and stubborn. Other companies do it better and cheaper and she refused to ever acknowledge her competition, let alone follow through on any plans to be better.

The staff who were made redundant were barely even informed. No notice. They were told they had to vacate the building and haven’t even been paid for their last week of work, while the Brighton store continued trading for nearly a week. Because the company hadn’t gone into administration yet, they aren’t even able to claim redundancy from the government. Couples who have paid an eye watering amount of money for bespoke wedding cakes are being left up shit creek without a paddle while Christine retires to her bloody house in france to lick her wounds.

Other thoughts:

- Doggymoggydoodah was a shit idea, and poorly executed. - I’ve never met such a homophobic lesbian. She forced the manager to leave the building so she could drill her about her sex life without the repercussions of having these conversations inside the building because she knew she could get done for it if she did. - She’s a bully, plain and simple - the youtube channel posted a video YESTERDAY. who the fuck is posting on there? there’s been no action in 6 months and NOW IS THE TIME TO TELL ME HOW TO CUT ONE OF YOUR CAKES? - my old assistant manager literally robbed the company of several thousand pounds because she knew that christine couldn’t be bothered to get her security cameras fixed :) they couldn’t even get the proof to fire/charge her and had to settle for bullying her out of the company - christine would make us tell customers that we melted down display pieces to reduce waste but actually we just broke them down with a hammer and threw them in the bin. enjoy looking at that luxury easter egg knowing i literally stomped on it so it would fit in a binbag - that glitter on the cakes is not edible. it’s just non-toxic. - the chocolate they use for the modelling tastes vile. - the london stores had biiiiig rat/mice problems. We had to kill them ourselves! We trapped them in glue traps and stamped on them! I GOT PAID FOR THAT! - the brighton store was filthy and gross behind the scenes! If you’ve ever eaten in that cafe then I am sorry but the staff there didn’t like to clean :)  - that whole burlesque vibe isn’t child friendly, stop trying to combine the two, a cartoon drawing of your naked ass doesn’t belong in a cookery book you narcissistic twat!! - your chocolate is impractical and horrific to actually try and eat. there. I said it. it tasted good though. until you discontinued all my favs :(

THIS IS NOT A SURPRISE. THIS IS NOT A SHOCK. THIS BUSINESS HAS BEEN POORLY RUN AND UNABLE TO ADAPT FROM THE GET GO. Please don’t keep feeding this woman’s ego. She needs a sharp dose of reality and to face up to all the staff that she has let down. I was lucky to get out when I did but I know single mothers, people trying to afford to live in london who are now completely screwed over and out of a job. People who have given their lives to this dysfunctional company. I begged them to leave because I felt like this was going to happen but they were too loyal and devoted, and wanted it to turn around. My former boss is owed nearly £5k that she’s never going to get, and all those customers who put deposits down or heaven forbid paid the full balance on their cakes are without refunds AND cakes! Just please stop idolising Christine Taylor and look at the situation before you say how shocking and sad it is. 

Yes, this company was magical. But that ended a long time ago.

[kippersforbreakfast-billie]

“What were your biggest inspirations (artists, books, etc) while writing your newest album? How long did it take you to write the whole thing?”

Dear Erica,

This has been a very nice experience to look back and pick up the things you forgot actually, so thanks for that.

At the time it was just leaving spring and the weather was a breezy 19 degrees. I remember reading a lot as we had lazy mornings and good breaks so we could work in more of a concentrated environment at Ethan’s.

I remember before we started recording, he played me a few albums; the first being Elliott Smith’s Roman Candle (naturally), Simon and Garfunkel’s Bookends, and Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk.

All three, we agreed, were albums of classic recording technique juxtaposed with these mental, wrong or messy sounding idiosyncrasies that work unashamedly. The horrible chords and grinding electric on Roman Candle, the outrageous circus orchestra of Old Friends, the general synth push and drifting instrumental of The Rainbow - we wanted to do that or some digression of it with Seahorses. It was more of a mutual feeling we both got when we listened, this push of angst or aggression, something that tears you but you like it, they were the few references we subconsciously chose.

Writing was a different story, because it was so long and sporadic. The songs were picked up and put down, forgotten and neglected, but all very quickly done in terms of actual sit-down-and-write time. The recording process took 10 days initially, with 3 at Rockfield to put on some extra drums and synths and to get into the echo chambers, then maybe a couple more days to mix. All songs where done in 2 or 3 takes from live to 4-track, and we just built up sounds from there.

Songs like Betsy and Mice were all written maybe two years ago, I took myself off to Cornwall and came back with Mice but didn’t think it was any good at all. I later went in with my producer Rich where we recorded that song in one day and wrote Betsy the next, it felt immediately like a new wave of recording, and the start of the next album’s groove. We love it.

Listening to the voice notes now I actually recorded ‘it doesn’t really matter if I’m happy or sad’ when I was walking back from the beach one night, which later turned into the start of Cartoon People. Pieces like that always find a way in somewhere I guess.

Blue Sea, Red Sea was written when I just moved into my place in London, a really discombobulating time. I got a randomised and probably not healthy or conducive to writing job, I walked around a lot, got upset with the weather and all the snow, got angry. I sat down to write and reduced everything to the simplest melody and chord progression I could and thought “Fuck it, I’ll just make a pop album instead”. In reality it’s just a song of homesickness and convincing yourself to be a good human without others, “I don’t need you to love me” gets a bit defensive but it’s not directed at one human.

Books –

I read Joan Didion a lot, Deborah Levy’s, Things I Don’t Want To Know, Iris Murdoch’s The Italian Girl, and Nietzsche's Aphorisms on Love and Hate and I liked these pages – 

They don’t say much but they say a lot.

I wouldn’t say I have clear inspiration for making songs or albums, they are more of an accumulation of a general feeling that keeps repeating itself, in all parts of life, and you find that eventually presents itself in the music. I do like to read a lot during recording though, it completely takes you out of the room you’re in and it’s not as easy or satisfying as watching the TV. Reading switches you off by turning you onto something that takes time to understand, be it a storyline or a metaphorical image or some philosophy you’ve never heard before, it’s a short challenge for however many days it takes you to read it and at the end an accomplishment. That is why people buy more and are never satisfied with just the one. Your brain likes it.

Some songs were written earlier and the books were different too, more politically charged like Animal Farm (a narrative that made me write Blood Is Blue), and Heart of Darkness I read in the Philippines which lead me to write Anda.

Here are our coffee cups. I don’t like drinking coffee but apparently I did then.

Here are Ethan’s notes after our final session at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth – the greatest place in Monmouthshire. One day we got tired and grumpy so took a drive into town to get fish and chips and walk around, our engineer Dom bought a Little Feet record from the market man.

I went for a walk one morning and got chased by a herd of cows, but in the next field a bunch of nice people were putting up their hot air balloon out the back of a defender.

Anyway I’ve slightly ventured from the question but I hope I’ve given something,

Billie.

[fuck-bowers]

reality problem (henry bowers x reader) chapter two

ser·en·dip·i·ty (noun): the fact of finding interesting or valuable things by chance.

You woke up slow like a sunrise.

The light against your eyelids indicated it was morning. You’d slept hard and fast the previous night, having closed your eyes for only seconds in bed before falling asleep.

You were about to sit up and open your eyes, but you suddenly noticed how odd the bed felt beneath you, the once soft cot now akin to a stone army bunk. The room, without even having to look, seemed off. The air was different, smelled different, felt different.

Different from what, your old room in Baltimore?

“Hey!”

An unfamiliar and frightened voice cried out, only a few feet from you.

Jolting up out of bed, your eyes shot open and you sat up in the direction of the noise. You were given sensory whiplash.

You weren’t in your bed. You weren’t in your room. You were on the floor, beside a bed that wasn’t yours, in a room you didn’t recognize.

In this foreign bed sat a rotund boy with brown hair and hazel eyes, more green than brown. These hazel eyes were opened as wide as you imagined they could be, trained directly on you, and he was covering himself with the bedsheets in similar manner to a bathing woman whose shower curtain was rudely drawn back by a stranger. His expression was of utter shock.

Doing your best to recollect last night’s events, you realized what happened.

“Fuck.” You hissed, knitting your eyebrows in disbelief, squinting your eyes shut in frustration.

It’d been months since you’d randomly woken up miles away from where you’d gone to sleep. It was about as embarrassing a habit as an adolescent peeing the bed at a sleepover - yet certainly far more dangerous.

If this kid had been an adult instead, you’d probably be in the back of police car right now, just like last time.

What luck.

Scanning him over once more, you debated how easy it’d be to explain this and have him understand and keep quiet. After a moment of hesitation, you knew it would be near impossible.

Despite this reasoning, you stood up, dusting yourself off, and tried to do it anyway.

“This happens a lot. I’m so sorry.” You confessed, as if it was a common accident amongst teens.

Momentarily wondering why it was his bedroom you’d unconsciously teleported to, you remembered.

You had fallen asleep on the cot in your new room last night, in your new apartment. Your parents slept in the master bedroom with the door locked, silent as mice. You too had no problem falling to sleep that night, though your thoughts were occupied with Henry Bowers again, as they had been for a majority of the day since lunch.

There was certainly something special about him. Your former peers of the past who ogled you like a circus freak after you lifted a textbook with your mind, or broke a pencil in half without touching it, or convinced the teacher to let the class play heads-up-seven-up for the entire period without words were not as calm and collected as Henry had been. And sure, he was scared, but it was like he had a respect for what generated the fear.

You fell asleep while simultaneously trying to dig inside who he was, attempting to navigate the dank, dark room that was your natural born ability, feeling for personality traits, for history. Your consciousness slipped into the river of sleep right at the moment that you identified something. 

It was small, but it was something. He’d spat an insult at someone that day, that morning, right before he sat at your lunch table.

“Fat fuck.”

Exiting your memory, you audibly gasped. The boy backed up as you stared at him, but he hit the bedside wall. His gaze never left you.

“You’re that kid.” You murmured. It was probably rude to forego an explanation, but it was a whole lot better than saying, “You’re the fat fuck Henry was talking about”, for sure. Just by looking at him, with even a mere glance into his eyes, you could tell he was a genuinely nice boy. Henry had no business being a dick to him.

“What an asshole.” You muttered under your breath. You rose to your feet and moved towards the nearby window, brightly illuminated by the morning sunlight.

“Who are you?” The kid asked, a little loudly, likely feeling he was still in some sort of danger, considering you hadn’t answered a single question as to why you were unconscious on the floor. Considering you were muttering random shit.

You didn’t bother to turn and face him. Scanning the walls, you noticed an assortment of sketches hanging up depicting buildings, scaled and revised and erased and redrawn. They were paired with a handful of missing kid posters and the torn out pages of books. How interesting.

“I’m Y/N. I’m the new kid.” You told him.

What a way to introduce yourself, you thought.

Ben sniffled.

“I’m a new kid, too.” He noted out loud, as if to make you feel better about it.

Finally, you turned around to look at him.

“What’s your name?” You asked.

He gulped.

“Ben.”

You knew you shouldn’t still be talking with him, that you should be busy wiping his memory instead of interrogating him. The mind-wipe was pretty much unavoidable; he saw and knew too much. Even though it was your fault, Henry Bowers already impeded your fresh start; you didn’t need another Henry out there telling your secrets.

Walking towards him, you mentally primed yourself to force him out of consciousness, when his aura stuck out like a hand demanding you to wait.

Ben Hanscom was scared, not just in that moment, but all the time. Scared by the high school, a new school, with all these new faces judging him. The yearning for acceptance was still alive in his heart. Despite feeling like no one liked him, he desperately hoped someone would. 

The scattered remnants of childlike innocence, more than you’d seen in others, gave a luster to his mind. Henry Bowers, just one of a few bullies he’d encountered in his life, elicited genuine fear inside him, threatened to ruin that innocence. 

Derry itself made him incredibly uneasy, for a myriad of reasons. Ben felt there was something bad about the town. You agreed with him.

Dammit. How were you supposed to wipe his memory now?

Giving you the-deer-in-headlights look, you put a hand on Ben’s shoulder and rather than turning out his lights, you soothed him. As soon as you touched him, his eyes filled with fog.

“I’m sorry I scared you.” You mused. “I’m sorry Henry Bowers is such an asshole. I’m sorry Derry didn’t roll out their welcome mat for you. They didn’t roll it out for me, either. You’re a good kid, and you deserve much better than this.”

His eyes that glazed over with your words suddenly cleared like smoke in the wind, and he looked at you like you’d relieved all of his ills. Words escaped him.

Patting his shoulder with a half smile as a means of a shitty goodbye, you turned around and walked towards the door, decorated with a giant New Kids on the Block poster.

“Wait!” He called. You stopped in your tracks, closing your eyes and pivoting your body to face him with a cocked eyebrow.

“Are you going to school?” He asked, shyly.

You shrugged. “Yeah. I guess.”

Ben quickly got out of bed and motioned for you to leave. “Wait for me in the hall, we can walk together.”

Staring at him for a second more, you quietly obliged. A part of you wanted to groan at the prospect of having someone attached to you, and so quickly. 

Another part checked off this newly forged friendship like an accomplishment. You made a friend despite starting off on a terrible foot.

‘My second friend at Derry High’, you shyly thought with the ghost of a grin, shutting the door, waiting beyond the door like he’d asked.

“I haven’t made too many friends yet. You’re one of the first people to really talk to me outside of school. And I mean really outside of school.” Ben enthusiastically chattered.

“Yeah, it must’ve been quite a scare for you this morning.”

The two of you trudged towards Derry High, Ben flashing the occasional odd glance at you.

“I wish you’d tell me how you ended up in my room.” He begrudgingly added, like a child that was denied a bedtime story.

You cleared your throat, rummaging through your backpack mindlessly as you strolled.

“I sleep walk. When I was younger, I taught myself how to jimmy locks effortlessly, even while unconscious. You wouldn’t believe how many locks I can break through without trying.”

Well, it wasn’t totally a lie.

“That sounds like a lie.” Ben noted, smiling up at you. You shrugged.

“Believe what you want. I sleepwalk for miles. I collapse once I’m through.”

Ben furrowed his brow, pointing at your bag. “Hey, since when did you have your backpack?”

This kid was quick. Most people don’t notice stuff like that, you thought to yourself, almost in admiration.

“I’ve had it the whole time. Boy, are you paranoid or what?” You shook your head with a smile.

“Do you blame me, Y/N?” He asked, your grin apparently contagious, and you laughed out loud.

“Nope. Not at all.”

Henry thought of you the entire day since lunchtime, his conscious singed with the memory of that cigarette, lighting up brighter, the color changing like leaves in autumn, suddenly burning out like you’d personally delivered it a small winter.

You put it out yourself. Nothing could convince him you hadn’t. Eyes upon it, you snuffed out the fire. Cigarettes didn’t go out like that. He’d smoked plenty. He knew.

He knew. He wasn’t crazy.

But you weren’t either.

That was something else he knew, without debate or question. It was clear. The power you showed him was something so genuine and so fleshed out. You knew exactly what you were doing. You weren’t some crazy, bog-witch-wanderer babbling to herself.

Then again, you did set a house on fire on apparent ‘accident’. He’d seen you talking to yourself.

He didn’t know what you were.

The mystery kept him consumed all night until morning, in which it swallowed him up again. It was noticeable to the guys after lunch, as Henry stayed silent the entire time.

He wanted to tell Patrick about you. Of course he’d understand. He was basically crazy. He was the most likely to believe what Henry had to say, to believe who you really were.

Whatever you were.

Still, a small fear rested within the solution: Patrick was so crazy, that he might try to tie you up and experiment on you. Or at least try his hardest to get you alone and do… Whatever. He’d probably be desperate to fuck somebody who had special powers. Maybe worse.

Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.

Whatever. It wouldn’t happen. And he had to tell someone.

“What’s up, Henry?” Vic asked, his voice akin to odd background noise against the loudness of his thoughts.

Henry turned. “Where’s Patrick?”

“Must be sick or something. I haven’t seen him.” Vic answered.

Course. Great.

Standing outside the high school, right as the post-lunch bell rang, Henry suddenly spotted you, his lungs filling with invisible flame as he stared. You weren’t alone.

That stupid, fat, fucking-fuck new kid was with you.

The two of you looked to be laughing together. How on earth did Ben become friends with you overnight? Of all people, one of the dumbest kids at the school?

Thankfully, you and Ben parted ways after bidding an annoyingly long held out goodbye, and Henry saw his chance to strike.

It took a few minutes of following Ben to his next class, but thankfully it was gym, and the new kid wobbled off towards the secluded boy’s locker room.

Right before Ben could enter, Henry pushed him hard against the brick wall of the outer gym, tightly holding the sides of his shirt. Ben stared with shock at the bully before him.

“How do you know Y/N?” Henry questioned in a rush.

Ben opened his mouth, unsure of what to say, moreover, why it was being asked. He cleared his throat nervously.

“I met her just this morning on my way to school. That’s all.”

Ben was a terrible liar, bad enough that Henry could sense that it was probably made up on the spot. Still, it’d be a process to drag the correct answer out of Ben, and Henry was aware of that as well. 

It was much too early to be getting the knife out. What a fucking hassle this all had to be.

“Tell me the truth, fatty. Don’t you know she’s dangerous?”

Ben couldn’t help but crack a smile. Henry, of all people, wielding the word ‘dangerous’ in the same way a mother would warn her son or daughter against walking the streets at night.

“Dangerous?” Ben asked, his voice delicately suffused with disbelief, despite secretly knowing what Henry referred to.

Realizing how ridiculous it must’ve seemed to someone who hadn’t seen the same girl manipulate fire, Henry threw Ben back against the wall in utter frustration and walked off in a huff.

Patrick was probably playing hooky, and that meant Henry knew just where to find him.

chapter one

chapter three

taglist: @pinkey629

[catnippackets]

I can see that. So who all plays each role?

alright let’s go

Pidge is Coraline. her parents are her regular canon parents. they moved to the pink palace after a promotion her dad got so they can be closer to his work, but that means moving far away from the university Matt goes to, and Pidge is rly upset about that bc she and her brother are really close and now they won’t be able to see each other

Pidge goes out for a walk to check out the new area and runs into Hunk. Hunk tells her that his friend Allura’s mom owns the pink palace, and that Allura REALLY didn’t want her to rent out that place to Pidge’s family. Pidge is confused as to why Allura seems to have a problem with her when they haven’t even met yet

there is a little door in Pidge’s new house, but the key is nowhere to be found. Pidge, because she is Pidge, manages to pick the lock, and is disappointed when all her effort is in vain and just sees a plain brick wall. too bad.

so let’s meet her new neighbours: Mr. B (Coran), and Spink & Forcible (Lance & Keith, respectively)

Coran is very nice and very eccentric and has a mouse circus. the mice are very clever. although... “They do seem to get confused sometimes,” Coran tells her. “You know, when they told me about you, they even got your name wrong! They called you Katie, not Pidge! Not Pidge at all...”

in the basement suite of the pink palace are two college students sharing a livingspace named Lance and Keith and they do not have a hundred dogs and are also not musical theatre performers BUT they are both knife throwers for the sake of their creepy otherworld sequence

Pidge goes to bed and “dreams” for the first time of the otherworld. she meets her other parents, who are all cooler and nicer, and otherMatt is even there too. she has so much fun and wakes up feeling wistful

the next day she finds Hunk again and finds out that the reason Allura didn’t want Pidge to move in was because Allura herself used to live in the same suite before her father disappeared. “What, so she just can’t move on?” Pidge asks. “Not exactly,” says Hunk, wringing his hands. “She wouldn’t tell me the whole story. I know there’s more to it but I can’t get it out of her. Maybe you guys should talk about it.”

eventually Pidge and Allura do meet and talk, and Allura spills the truth: that she was lured into the otherworld as well, and when she tried to escape, the beldam took her father away. Allura managed to escape and lock the door behind her, but lost the key and couldn’t return to save her father OR the multiple souls still trapped

“Idon't know if it's a blessing or a curse that they key is lost,” Allura says bitterly. “I can't get in,but I suppose this means you can't either. I was terrified that you would alsoaccidentally be lured in."

Pidge tells her that she picked the lock and Allura is FURIOUS. now the door is open and the only way to close it again is with the key, which is still missing. she warns Pidge that the beldam will lure you in but eventually steal your soul, but Pidge doesn’t believe her, too happy with the otherworld and seeing Matt and superior versions of her parents.

Pidge continues going to the otherworld, being greeted by new button-eyed versions of Allura and Hunk (who cannot talk), watching Coran’s mouse circus perform and visiting Keith & Lance, who don’t bicker nearly as much as they do in the actual world

everybody in the other world is more attractive and charismatic and lovely and Pidge never wants to leave

despite being continuously warned by Allura that this place is bad news. she chooses to not believe it because she’s so desperate for it to be real

even the stray cat she’s seen around the house, the one she sees Hunk petting often, and eating out of bowls Allura puts out, is in the otherworld, and speaks to her, warning her away from this place. even then she doesn’t listen.

one day her othermother tells her that she can stay for good but only if she sews buttons on her eyes. Pidge refuses and runs upstairs to her other bedroom, but when she wakes up, she’s still in the otherworld, and finally realizes that she is in deep, DEEP trouble

Pidge makes another bid for freedom but is captured by her othermother, who is starting to look less perfect and more creepy, and thrown into a mirror into a secret room where three lost souls are trapped (Shay, Nyma, and Plaxum?) and she’s rescued by the OtherHunk and OtherAllura, who manage to break her back into the real world.

except when she gets back, her parents are missing

the black cat is there though

and leads her to a mirror where she can see her parents, and a man who resembles Allura, all trapped

Pidge, not knowing what to do, runs to Lance & Keith’s suite in tears, asking them to call Allura, and they take her in right away and call Allura & Hunk

Allura arrives right away and knows exactly what happened

the boys are still in the dark tho, and the girls finally explain. the boys are, obviously, horrified

Allura and Pidge immediately know they have to go back into the otherworld to save their parents, and Allura tells the boys to start looking for they key while they’re off in the otherworld. "Enlistthe help of every person in this town if you have to, you are FINDING thiskey," says Allura fiercely

Keith gives Pidge a special stone with a hole through it and tells her that it’s supposed to be good luck. “You’re supposed to be able to see faeries through the hole,” he says. “I don’t know if it’s true, but take it with you anyway. Maybe it’ll bring you luck.” “Yeah, we’ll be with you in spirit,” says Lance. “In your pocket.”

the otherworld sequences where they rescue the souls are p much the same as the movie except for Spink & Forcible’s bit bc otherKeith and otherLance do not have an army of vampire dogs but they do have their throwing knives and if you’ve ever tried to escape from a room full of living throwing knives that are flinging themselves at you, it’s not fun

but everything goes ok and Pidge & Allura save all three trapped souls AND the snowglobe with their parents trapped inside

the boys have found the key so they can finally lock the door for good

Pidge and Allura’s parents return, remembering nothing, and there’s a very tearful reuinion

Pidgegoes to sleep with the souls under her pillow and has a dream where they'rewarning her that she's in danger. She wakes up in the middle of the night tosee the cat there, looking agitated. She gets up and realizes that she needs tolose the key for good now. She wakes up at like 5 in the morning and decides todump the key down the old well. As she goes, the hand shows up and tries toattack her and grab the key, but Allura shows up at the last second to saveher, and the two of them throw the key and the hand down the well and seal itup. The evil is FINALLY DEFEATED FOR GOOD!!!!

and then there’s a cute garden party scene and Matt is visiting from university and Allura and her dad are there and everybody’s happy the end

[hxt-diggity]

@musxinquisitor continued from here.

Soon, music even followed played on trumpets and brass as more things to entertain people.Though it didn’t seem like anything was getting through to Basil. The last thing that was gonna get to Basil’s fun-center was a clown. If that didn’t work, then the circus as a whole has been defeated by Basil’s jaded tyranny.

It was gonna take their secret weapon to make that mouse crack a smile.

“Alright Dumbo! Up up and away!” Timothy commanded Dumbo to fly him inside the big top itself. Dumbo’s flying was graceful and effortless.   More effortless than when birds flew even, theoretically anyways. But the point is, it didn’t take a lot of muscles in Dumbo’s body to maintain flight.

Just a lot of ear muscles.

After Dumbo and Timothy had traveled by skys back into the busy main circus tent. Dumbo took a seat in his personalized elephant pen. Timothy went off into the audience in the meantime. The thankful part of being a rather small and unassuming animal is that most humans less they were afraid of mice treated you with just as much attention as a small dog running by their feet.

On his way into the audience. Timothy noticed two other mice. That was rare, and they looked like they were having trouble with the obvious amount of lumbering human beings in here. Timothy felt it his duty to aid his fellow rodent.

“Excuse me! Sir, you and your daughter can come right this way for a more safe travel.” Timothy beamed a friendly smile towards Basil and Olivia. They seemed like nice folk. Fully dressed. Brown-furred like himself. Though to say one of them looked out of his element would be an understatement.  “I’ll show you two to your seats.”  Timothy would show Basil and Olivia the respect as if they were guests in his own house.

[katherine-rambles]

good birthday! busy, but good! ty everybody for coming!!! ✨💖✨

this is a ridiculously long post, and it keeps getting longer. so, everything’s under the cut

on the day itself, in the morning, i went to petsmart because we found fleas on one of the dogs last night, so i (as the only one in town with money or a credit card) had to go spend almost all of my money between flea meds and flea shampoo. i was NOT expecting to spend ~400 bucks this week on doctor shit and flea shit. but i gotta, so... :/ and probably more in the future! gghuhugh

then i came home and did some more computer cleaning & organizing. i have... so much of that to do........ 

then @lordsoth42 came over! and we went to the mall and pizza schmizza (they got some, i got NOTHING because CURSE my stomach) and then got donuts. 

then we went back to my place and people started showin’ up fer my low-key party! @onilinkplus, @angrymamabear, @soycoffeewithcoffee, danny (i don’t think he’s got a bloggo here, but he’s got a twitch over at... um... kazstein), thank you all so much for comin’ and hanging out! and bringing food and gifts and stuff!

we got to play ARMS, 12 orbits, a lil’ bit of Once Upon A Time, Sumer (interesting platformer/boardgame mix), watch kody play Snake Pass, and see the demo of Octopath Traveller thanks to Danny having the energy to play it (which, by the way, that looks Goddamn Gorgeous!) 

then sleepover w/ tristan because Wow Eugene Is Far Away, Six Hours Of Driving In One Day Is No Fun! but also more time with tristan!

on the 25th i woke up super early again thanks to Stomach Hates Me Syndrome and i got to cleaning up, which was nice. i still have some more to do but i figure i may as well do that after everything is over this weekend. but i did get like. all the plates and shit put away so there’s tablespace again.

some lowkey hangouts with tristan before they went home and I went to hang out with @jirajara at the woodburn outlet mall to find shoes for her... i did fairly good in not spending money, by which i mean i was very thankful she & her crew paid fer my lunch, and i avoided spending money on trinkets and shoes and this one FUCKING BEAUTIFUL pleather light pink jacket.... anyway it was fun, if tiring. i forget how tiring Looking For A Good [insert specific item here] can be when you’re not doing it over like... years... on the internet..... 

then today i got to go to an actual SPA with super swanky everything and have a MASSAGE for the first time ever w @becna n’ @keketar. the wet sauna is not an experience i’d pay to repeat but the dry sauna & hot tubs? good stuff. burn my skin off. and the massage was really great! my masseuse was really fun to talk to and we just talked about all sorts of stuff and the back & head parts of the massage i could definitely see being useful in a headache/chiropractic sense in the future. 

sarah got me a Gay Flag Colored Lovebird bag......;;;; i love it.......;;;;;; 😍💖✨💯🐦

an’ then sarah n’ i went to my place and had a low key Craft Party wherein we tried to get each other hooked on anime we haven’t been able to talk to anyone about: me w/ revolutionary girl utena and sarah w/ voltron:legendary defenders. what I learned is, I love pidge and am totally down for this mystical bullshit AI tiger mech thing. my headcanon so far (probably easily proven wrong, i’m on like episode five) is that a lot of the “mystical” connection is [a.] propaganda (what better propaganda than DESTINY?) and [b.] a result of a networked/distributed intelligence not unlike the geth from mass effect.  

but also early utena episodes are so lighthearted! i always focus on the later stuff and forget how... innocent it seems at first. additionally, paying extra special attention to chuchu and anthy after reading a bunch of meta is a fucking TREAT like? episode four with the lil’ elephant doodle?? anthy!! an’ nanami is great also, and just how EXTRA all these highschoolers are.... my poor children....

i also learned/recalled that needlefelting... is a lot... of work...... i’m basically going to have to reskin my needlefelt mew entirely to make it look decent again. it does look REALLY nice again once i do that, but s’just gonna be a lot of work. (maybe this time i won’t like... have it on my bed and in high-use areas. there was so much pilling, oh my god.) 

oh! and sarah’s being so nice and letting me share her netflix! and merlot’s gift was adding me to her fam for the nintendo subscription service!! this is a good year for me & freeloading media, i guess :P (but srs, thank yooou both!) 

anyway now i have a lot to clean up, and work tomorrow. hopefully i’ll be able to vacuum once i get home: we NEED a big vacuuming. ‘specially since the doggo parasite circus is in town...

and birthday celebrations are extended because i’ll see becca on monday and there may or may not be a present involved there, but there sure as heck will be cute lizards, and really, what else could a girl ask for? 

then it’s tuesday and the.... ct.... and man why is medicine so expensive

but. overall.

i’m so glad to have my vivacity, my motivation, my drive and passion back. last year on my birthday i hadn’t planned anything really and it just happened to be a nice coincidink that sarah was headin’ down to eugene for a concert anyway. when i’m under like 70% planning things, hosting things, going to things is just... so... too.... much.... but when i’m 100% (mentally, at least, lmao i hate my stomach right now) it’s one of my FAVORITE things to do. people!!! friends!!!!! happy making!! i just feel... very satisfied and content in a way i haven’t been able to access in a while. s’a shame that my stomach has decided to stage a civil war on my esophagus, but... it’s discomfort, something i have to live with, not a drain of my life that i’m living. ya feel me? 

like, FUCK! this linked post was my birthday two years ago. it wasn’t weird because ANYTHING except depression! depression fucked me up! i didn’t spend it doing things i love with people i love because i couldn’t DO love! 

the b-day before that was good but lowkey because i couldn’t plan much, and it was surrounded by me just being.... tired... which was depression shit

and i think... the b-day before that was before i’d gotten depressed? i think late 2014-2015 was my first Major Episode... but i’m not sure because i started this blog sept. 2014. i do distinctly remember my internal grade-o-meter being off as like... an early sign of my troubles. 

this ended up so long haha

i’m so grateful that all y’all awesome friends of mine (both who i mention here because i saw them this past few days and those who are not mentioned) stuck with me despite the Depression Fog. y’all deserve the best and i’m honored y’all let me into your lives.

i’m so happy i have so many projects i’m jazzed to work on, even though the work is sloggish and boring i can DO IT and BE HAPPY that i’m doing it?!? it’s been so long since i could do that

lately i feel like a little kid who cries because they learned that those cool snakes have to eat those sweet little mice. everything is so new and fresh and lovely again.... like rediscovering your first favorite teddy bear or something in the closet. just a persistent strong warmth

i’m so lucky 💖