#anyways yeah we got a free flying bird and a princess of stars and the moon!! yippee

[arielluva]

using the dream i had where utena had white streaks in her hair as inspiration, i made these designs!!! i wanted to keep them recognizeable, but also have more fantastical elements to them. i dont know if their (mostly utena's) outfits make too much logical sense, but since they're inspired by a dream, do they have to be?

[tomorrowsdrama]

2020 Year in Thirst Pt. 2

Sometimes, I will watch a drama for the plot/premise/substance and be rewarded with a surprise hottie, and it’s the best feeling ever!  It’s like finding money in your pocket that you didn’t know about.  The following list of dramas can be described as:

Came for the plot, was rewarded with a surprising side of thirst

1. Flower of Evil

Brief Summary: Lee Jun Ki plays Baek Hee Sung and Moon Chae Won plays Cha Ji Won, his wife who is also a detective.  What Ji Won doesn’t know is that her husband, Hee Sung, is actually Hyun Soo, a man on the run from a murder that he did not commit and also a suspected accomplice to a series of murders committed by his father in the past.  Oh yeah, his dad secretly tried to groom him into being his protege/murder partner.  Because of how he was raised, HS believes that he has no emotions and is simply putting on an act as the perfect husband and father.  His “parents” are in on the ruse and are actually the ones who forced him into assuming their comatose son’s identity.  Anyway, of course things from the past start to catch up with HS and his wife is somehow assigned to investigating his old murder case.  She of course feels betrayed, but also conflicted as she discovers her husband is not who he said he was and a prime murder suspect.  Things get even more complicated as the real murderer re-appears with fabulous long hair and tries to frame HS for the murders.  In between all of this are delicious make outs between the couple and at least one instance where they banged so hard, HS was wiped out the next morning.

Surprise Thirst Factor: I checked out this drama fully expecting to drop it because the promos were so misleading and unappealing. But boy was I in for a pleasant surprise!  Not only was the drama super addicting, it also had some nice eye candy in the form of Lee Jun Ki being a completely unrealistic house husband who satisfies in the housework (The man cooks and does the laundry!), childcare, and bedroom and Kim Ji Hoon’s glorious mane of beauty making viewers have a moral crisis over lusting after a homicidal maniac (who turned out to be a real loser without murder daddy around to clean up his mess.  It’s ok, we’ll always have his hair).

Yes, work that hair honey.  It’s the only good thing you’ve got going on for you (the character, not Kim Ji Hoon)

The chemistry between Lee Jun Ki and Moon Chae Won was fire and the make out scenes were soo believable.  Like yes, these two beautiful people are really into being married to each other and understandably want to make out all the time. 

He’s the primary caretaker for their daughter and it’s just *swoons.*  Not all thirst traps come in the form of sexy abs (although I would not mind if he wanted to flash some).

2. Six Flying Dragons

Brief Summary: The story of young Yi Bang Won (who later becomes King Taejong) and the founding of the Joseon Dynasty.  As short as it sounds, that really is an accurate summary of the drama haha.

Surprise Thirst Factor: I started watching this drama because I heard it was a great sageuk and I’m a big fan of Yoo Ah In.  Even though I’m a fan of his acting, Yoo Ah In doesn’t necessarily get my hormones raging so I wasn’t expecting to be so thirsty while watching Six Flying Dragons.  But then.  BUT THEN.  Byun Yo Han showed up in all his scruffy tortured deadly killer glory and my hormones woke up and said hi, hello, who are you, what’s your name, what’s your sign, can I get your number?  The deadlier and more tortured his character got, the sexier he became to me.  Sorry Yoo Ah In, you’ll always be my acting boo, but Byun Yo Han’s got my thirst.  Byun Yo Han looks so good when he's sad and/or covered in blood, it makes me feel like a sadist for thinking that I wouldn’t mind if the drama made his character cry some more.

3. Ever Night S1

Brief Summary: As a child, Ning Que witnessed his entire household get massacred because of a prophecy that the child of Hades will be born from the house and bring about the Eternal Night.  Somehow, he managed to escape and was the lone survivor.  He finds a baby buried in a pile of dead bodies as he’s fleeing and names her Sang Sang.  The two orphans grow up inseparable from each other and do whatever it takes to survive in the harsh, cruel world.  Ning Que earns money by becoming a deadly mercenary and Sang Sang takes care of the household affairs.  At one point, Ning Que becomes a disciple of the powerful Fu Zi and somehow gets entangled in the struggles between the Holy Sect and Demon Sect.  A bunch of beautiful women fall for Ning Que, and the drama tries its hardest to convince us that he has chemistry with and reciprocates the feelings of one of them (i.e. Mo Shan Shan), but anybody who was even half paying attention knows that the only one for Ning Que is Sang Sang.  They are the OTP of all OTPs and take “ride or die” to a whole other level. Oh also, their height difference is the stuff manga dreams are made of. Ning Que is a “good guy” but also not a “good guy” in the sense that he is not above doing whatever it takes to seek revenge and is only out for himself and Sang Sang (and later, his older brothers and sisters from the academy).

Surprise Thirst Factor: Chen Feiyu is an attractive person but I could not in good conscience thirst after him because he was literally born in the year 2000.  It did not help that he was only 18 when he filmed Ever Night and looked every bit his age.  My thirst may have no shame, but it does have its own set of principles and one of those principles is thou shalt not lust after those born in the new millennium!  Luckily for me, Second Brother is played by Dylan Kuo who is a beautiful, elegant, tall man

and Brother Chao is exactly the type of rugged and manly that I am into.  

(you don’t have to be)

who looks better when wet

AHEM. Yeah.

Sixth Brother is also not so bad with his scanty pounding work attire,

4. Novoland: Eagle Flag

Brief Summary:  Asule is the prince of a tribe in the grasslands who is held as a royal guest (i.e. hostage) in the Eastland Empire.  There he meets his two future best friends, Yu Ran, a free spirited princess who is descended from a race of bird people, and Ji Ye, an emo neglected/shunned son of a concubine who is probably the best fighter in the empire.  Ji Ye loves Yu Ran who is a ball of sunshine to his Johnny Raincloud dark emo self.  Yu Ran loves Ji Ye back.  Asule loves both his friends and will do anything to protect them.  The world decides to fuck over best friends Asule, Ji Ye, and Yu Ran for no reason as they try their best to just live a peaceful life away from all the political scheming and fighting.

Surprise Thirst-worthiness: I was completely content with enjoying Eagle Flag purely for its story and substance.  It’s seriously a wonderful, yet heartbreaking drama and the scale of the production is amazing.  No cheap $10 costumes here.  Also, the direction is beautiful/artistic and not the run of mill “let’s shoot it and complete it as fast as we can.”  The two main actors were cute, but not really my type.  Then the drama decided to give Ji Ye the “Sexy Bloody Tormented Killer Makeover” and all of a sudden your girl was rushing to MDL to check Chen Ruo Xuan’s birthday and calculating his age.  I am simple, predictable, and consistent when it comes to my thirst and give a character some scruff, long hair, angst, and some bloodlust and I’m all yours.  I am literally:

Is it wrong that when Ji Ye showed up looking like this ready to kill his mother’s torturer

I thought, yes, can we have him kill another? 

5. Run On

Brief Summary: Im Siwan plays Ki Seon Geom, a national track runner from a rich family who is a bit of an oddball and marches to his own beat.  Although his words can sometimes be construed as rude since he has no filter, they are also completely honest and have no hidden meaning.  He also has his own personal code that he lives by and he will stick to it no matter how negatively it may impact himself.  He meets Oh Mi Joo, a translator with her own strange quirks and sparks fly as Mi Joo is assigned to be his interpreter.  

Surprise Thirst-worthiness: I kind of watched this drama by accident.  I had read about Im Siwan starring in a new drama but nothing I saw from the description or promos for Run On appealed to me.  Nor did it give me any information about what the drama would be about.  Then one day, I just happened to be browsing Netflix for something to play in the  background and decided on Run on since I thought I wouldn’t be that invested.  What a happy accident that turned out to be because I’m so in love with this drama right now.  This is a case where the thirst does not stem from the character’s physical appearance, but from the intensity/charisma the actor brings to the character and the character himself.  Ki Seon Geom is so odd, but so appealing at the same time and Im Siwan is so magnetic in the role.  Prior to Run On, Im Siwan wasn’t really my type physically.  In fact, I always scratched my head whenever people called him handsome in dramas (I know, I know, forgive me).  So color me shocked when I found myself swooning all over Im Siwan in the second episode of Run On.  Now, it’s like I have “Im Siwan is attractive” glasses on and he looks attractive in everything to me.  I want to gobble up all the dramas he’s been in.

[tokyoteddywolf]

Fishy Feathers Chapter One

FUCK YEAH I ACTUALLY GOT IT DONE!!!!!!! :D Here, have some cute baby Avian Lance and Mer Pidge! Aka Chick Lance and Guppy Pidge, for now. :3 ————————————— She hated thunderstorms. She didn’t like how they made the waves all out of control and rough. Her mother trilled worriedly as the sky darkened and the waves started turning choppy. They had been playing around in one of the rock formations near the coast, the rest of the pod in deeper waters, when her father called a warning about the incoming storm. She whimpered and clung to her mother, her guppy tail not exactly strong enough yet to swim through tough currents like the ones sweeping through the area.

Without warning, a huge wave came out of nowhere and slammed down on her, knocking her grip off of her mother’s fin and sweeping her away. She screamed in fright, her mother’s loud panicked calls fading as she vanished with the wave.

…………………………………………………

Lance whimpered, looking around the trees and cringing as another raindrop landed on his nose. He didn’t mean to fall from the nest! He just wanted to see that pretty bluebird again! The sky was still dark, the sun not quite risen yet, the storm fading into the distance with the occasional rumble of thunder. He didn’t know how to get back into the nest, his oversized brown and tan wings not quite able to lift him yet, so he stayed on the ground, sad and scared little chirps echoing from his throat.

His Mama was asleep with his siblings, his Papa out on a flight to the nearest human city to buy food. So nobody would notice him until they woke up. He folded his wings around his body clumsily, still not quite used to using them yet. He was only six, still a hatchling. He wouldn’t start flying lessons until he was at least ten or twelve. More droplets splattered his wings, and he huffed irritably. He figured there had to be a drier spot to sit and wait, so he got up and marched determinedly through the forest in search of a warmer and less drippy place.

He stopped at a hill of rocks that tumbled down to a beach, eyes wide. A huge body of water lapped at the white sandy ground and boulders, smooth and rough and his inner chick wanted to climb all over it! Chirping excitedly, he scrambled down the hillside, yelping when he tripped and landed face first into the sand, oversized wings flapping awkwardly in an attempt to stop his fall. He sat up, brushing grains of gritty sand from his cheeks and rubbing his nose with a soft whine of pain.

His head whipped up suddenly. He could have sworn someone had just gasped… getting to his feet, he shuffled forward in the direction of the noise, soft, inquisitive little chirps leaking from his mouth. His Mama always said to chirp before he talked, that way he could get attention on him when he spoke to an adult or stranger. There was a pause, and then something mimicked his chirps back! It didn’t sound like any kind of chirp Lance had ever heard before, it was kinda hollow and higher pitched than his own. Squeaky, like a baby pigeon. He clambered over the rocks to the source of the sound and…

He stared, star struck. Big golden brown eyes stared back, a soft pink mouth full of sharp teeth dropping open in surprise as the pale skinned, green scaled mermaid noticed the goofy, fluffy brown and tan speckled wings on his back. Realization registered to both children, and Lance shrieked and ducked back behind the boulders while the mermaid did the same, curling up into a scaly ball with fins flared and covering her non scaly torso.

After a few minutes of nothing happening, Lance peeked back over the rocks and scanned the ball of green fins warily. Mama had always said that an Avian who got too close to a Mer was sure to be dragged into the sea and drowned. But… then again, Mama said that the Mer were huge and vicious and would attack fearlessly… so why was this one so small? Smaller than him, actually? And… scared? Of him? Why? Plus the fact that she was several yards away from the water, and the rocks looked painful to lay on… and one of her fins, the webbed one on her lower back and further down was bleeding along the base, like something had tried to pull it off. He crawled over, carefully, because he was pretty sure this shaking ball of fish scales couldn’t hurt him right now, plus he couldn’t just stand by and watch her suffer! She probably had a family waiting for her, missing her!

He let out a soft, warning peep before he pressed his palm against the fin covering her face. It wasn’t slimy at all, actually kind of like the really fine spider silk his Mama bought for a dress once, super soft and smooth. The fin pulled back, and the mermaid was staring at him again. Lance offered a reassuring smile. “Um, hi! Are you okay?” He spoke up for the first time that day, words instead of bird sounds. It seemed to startle the guppy girl, because she clicked softly in surprise.

"So, uh, I’ve never met a Mer before, but you look kinda… dry? Do you need anything?” He asked, tilting his head and shuffling his wings nervously. Her eyes followed the movement before she swallowed thickly and blinked back tears. “Wah-der. ’M drai. Owie.” She whimpered, still too young to form proper words but trying to convey the message anyways. Lance recognized the babble as toddler talk, his little brother spoke in it currently. Which meant this Mer was at least two or three years younger than him. “Wah… der? Oh! Water! Okay! I’ll get you to the water then! Um… but first we should bandage your fin… I know!�� Lance reached behind his back and tugged at the strings tying his shirt together, the design keeping his front covered and his wings free.

Tugging off the thin fabric, he started tearing it into strips. “Wha’ birdy doin’?” The little mermaid whispered, confused. Lance smiled. “Makin’ a bandaid! Hold still, ‘kay?” He reassured the younger creature, clumsily tying the fabric strips around the damaged fin. He tied it off tightly, so it wouldn’t slip off, and brushed some sand off of the guppy girl’s tail. “Okay, how’s that?” He asked, the mermaid blinking and wiggling her fin experimentally. “Owie bedder!” She squealed happily, propping herself up on her hands to stare to the bandaged fin.

Lance preened, proud of his work. “Okay, let’s get you to the water! I’m gonna hafta carry you though, ‘kay?” The Mer nodded, and Lance wriggled his arms under her body, grunting as he somehow managed to pick her up into a princess carry. “For a small girl you sure are heavy!” He yelped, staggering down the rocks and boulders to the waters edge. She let out an indignant, offended, squeaky pigeon chirp and smacked his cheek with a webbed hand, pouting. “Sorry, sorry, I’m just not used to carrying smaller people with tails. All my siblings have wings you kno- AAAAH!” He cut himself off with a startled screech as he slipped on a particularly wet rock and fell forwards into the shallows of the sea, the mermaid sent flying before she plopped into deeper waters.

She surfaced quickly, worried about the fluffy winged boy, and promptly burst out laughing. High pitched, joyful, amused chirruping trills of mirth practically leapt out of her mouth as she took in the sight of the shocked and soggy birdy boy in the water on his hands and knees, wings puffed up in surprise. Lance blinked and sat back on his knees in the water, still a little stunned. It was wet, yeah, but a different kind of wet. Salty and moving and warm and almost alive somehow. And… he loved it! He made an excited little chirp and spread his large wings wide, sweeping them low and getting them wet. The pigeon chirping mermaid swept closer, still making those happy little giggles, and splashed him with more salty water. His face lit up and he splashed her back, laughing. This was so much different from the rain! The ocean seemed to play with them too, small waves crashing into him when he went too far out and pushing him back to shore, tugging lightly at his shorts and wings, splashing him and getting him thoroughly soaked as he chased the little mermaid around excitedly.

A few hours later the sun was fully up, and he was resting against a boulder with his wings and everything under his waist completely submerged, leaning against his new Mer pal. “So… I never learned your name, by the way?” He asked the tired out guppy next to him, and she hummed quietly. “Mom named me-” a series of clicks and squeaks followed her words, and Lance blinked. “-bu’ my Word name is Kadie.” The mermaid finished, smiling. Lance thought a moment. “Katie? Mm… doesn’t suit you. But Pidge does! Can I call you Pidge?” Lance asked, tilting his head towards her in order to gauge her reaction. Katie’s face lit up. “Like a birdy?” Lance nodded. “When you chirp, you sound like a baby pigeon. So, Pidge!” The newly dubbed Mer clapped her hands excitedly. “Pidge! Pidge! I’m Pidge!” She cried, absolutely thrilled with the nickname.

"I’m Lance! And you’re Pidge!” Lance introduced, Pidge grinning enthusiastically. “Lance! Fluffy birdy Lance!” She cooed, and Lance giggled. The happy fun time was interrupted by distant, loud, trilling calls from Pidge’s pod. Lance perked up at the sound of his Mama calling his name nearby. “Aww…. I gotta go home now…” Lance pouted, Pidge drooping as well. “Play 'morrow?” She asked the Avian boy, splashing him lightly again. Lance stood up and stretched. “Yeah! Course we can! But it has to be a secret okay? Nobody can know, they’d separate us.” He made a shushing sign with his hand, Pidge mimicking the signal. “Mhm! Nobody know!” She giggled, as her pod called again. “Bye Pidge! I’ll see you tomorrow!” He said, wading onto the beach as his fishy friend waved goodbye before diving into deeper waters.

…………………………………………………

Pidge pulled the shirt bandage off of her fin, swimming towards her mother. She was instantly engulfed in a crowd of worried pod members, her mother squeezing her tight and clicking furiously about how worried she’d been while her father and brother pressed in close, Matt examining her scabbed up fin. “Where have you been? We’ve all been worried sick!” The pod leader, Alfor, scolded her lightly, and she played with her fingers nervously. “Beached!” She shot back defensively, and gasps of horror echoed through the pod.

Many times a young beached Mer was either killed by drying out or by being killed because of another species looking for easy prey, as guppies hadn’t developed the shifting ability yet. The shifting ability allowed Mer to go on land, but only after puberty hit, around twelve years of age. The first time was pretty painful, and they resembled humans, which is why it was used as a last resort when beached.

Alfor softened instantly. “At least you made it to the water in time… I think you should stay in the cove until you’ve healed, alright?” Pidge nodded, already planning how to sneak out to see her feathery friend on land.

………………………………..

"Goodness Lance, you’re soaked! What where you doing out there, playing in the lake? And where is your shirt!?” His Mama berated him as she flew him up to the nest, his siblings already crowding around and chirping with questions. “Mama! I told you! My shirt ripped when I fell from the tree and I’m all wet 'cuz I fell into a big puddle!” He complained as she fussed over him, ruffling his hair with a towel and drying him off before she bundled him up in warm clothes and blankets, constantly checking for a fever.

His Mama sighed in exasperation. “My little chick, you’re too curious for your own good! Next time you fall from the tree, you climb the branches or wait for someone to come get you, understand? No more of this wandering off!” She scolded him, and he huffed quietly as she started working on drying out his wings.

Now to figure out how to get to the beach tomorrow…

—————————– Chapter one is done and I am taking a nap, goodnight- ugh- *flops onto bed and sleeps instantly* (The Shance comes into play later, I just wanna focus on the Pidge and Lance sibling dynamic for now ;3)

[thenewlittleprincess]

If It's Monday This Must Be Florida

"WHOT on a hot Miami morning, November 24, 2025, playin' the hottest hits with the hottest news and that was "Empatica" by Cumbia de Colombia, number 5 on our top 20 chart of hotties here at WHOT. This is Michelle Marlin gettin' you up on Monday morning.

"Yeah, well, Monday morning . . . That's as bad as it can be anyway . . .  

"But come on, you can do it!

"Anyway, here is a little light entertainment for you this morning: a surprising little girl, named The New Little Princess, is with us. She went viral last June with her 9th birthday party video, featuring four original songs and allegedly 'supersonic' piano playing . . . well, we'll see if she takes off this morning.

[Giggling in the background]

"She then pulled off another hit with her videopack  "Caribbean Princess", filmed on the beach at Livingston, Guatemala: the song you heard last August from it must have been 'Moon Kid'".

"Finally, after she was a hit with her original 'Frijos Frijoles', at Pina Colada's Lincoln Park Fiesta in Los Angeles last September, Pina Colada signed The New Little Princess as their newest Latin star.

"And you're still only nine years old, isn't that right, Princess?"

"Aye, and will be another nine months or so, I think,"  says the Princess.

"But what's it like for you, being a superstar at your age? I mean, do you ever get to play?" Michelle asks.

"Play? What's that?" the Princess says.

Michelle laughs.

"I remember I used to do it in Guatemala but I don't think I've played once since we moved to America last September, unless it were a piano or a synthesiser," says the Princess.

"But isn't that rough on you, at your age? Don't you miss it?" asks Michelle.

"If ya dunno' think about somethin', ya canno' miss it," says the Princess. "I just always have to be somewhere, doin' somethin' and that's what I am thinkin' about. I'm no' sittin' there sayin' 'Oh, I wish I could be playin' or somethin'!’. Haven't got the time."

"And you've been touring early morning radio this month," Michelle says.

"Aye," says the Princess. "Every morning I'm somewhere else. We dunno' even go back to our house in Crummer Canyon anymore. Just stay in hotels ridin' the bullet from one town to the next. If it's Monday, this must be Florida."

"Got it, Princess!" says Michelle. "Good guess. Well, I guess, as the Chinese say, Little Princess, you live 'in interesting times'. Now, you have a new song for us?"

"Aye," says the Princess.

"Well, what's it called?" Michelle says.

"Freedom To Dream," says the Princess.

"And what's it about?" Michelle asks.

"Well, at first it was just I wanted Mummy to let me sleep longer," the Princess says, giggling. "But now I think it means somethin' different. Freedom for everyone to dream their future. Even the people of Guatemala."

"Yes, I know you've been fighting for your country through songs the past few months. But it's not even really your country, is it?" says Michelle.

"Well, I weren't born there, if that's what ya mean. But 'tis my country now, 'cos I've been fightin' for it. And the last thing the Presidenta did before she died, on Independence Day, was to make me a citizen!" says the Princess.

"OK, citizen Princess! Take it away!" Michelle says.

A slide guitar leads, with bass and percussion. The Princess' electric piano cannot be heard.  The style of the music is like the first half of the video at the bottom of this page.

Then the percussion machine kicks in.

And then the Princess starts singing.

Somewhere, where the stars are brighter

Where the moon's light

Is a little more . . .  magical!

Somewhere, where the air is clearer

And the people are more sincere

In their pursuit of  justice.

Take us away from this

We wanna wake up in Wonderland

We wanna be free from the burdens of sanity

Just give us freedom to dream

We only want freedom to dream.

Please give us freedom to dream

We only want freedom to dream

. . . Sweet, sweet dreams

THREE ANGELS: Dream away, dream away now

Sweet, sweet dreams

THREE ANGELS: Dream away, dream away now

Sweet . . . yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Somewhere

Where the skies are bluer

Where the people are truer

In what they say and do

I'll be there

And when I get there

I'll be waitin'

Waitin'  for you!

Take us away from this

We wanna wake up in Wonderland

We wanna be free from the burdens of sanity

Just give us freedom to dream

We only want freedom to dream.

Please give us freedom to dream

We only want freedom to dream

. . . Sweet, sweet dreams

THREE ANGELS: Dream away, dream away now

Sweet, sweet dreams

THREE ANGELS: Dream away, dream away now

Sweet . . . yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Don't wake me up

THREE ANGELS: Wake me up, wake me up

Never wanna wake up

THREE ANGELS: Wake up, Wake up

There's so much to do I don't wanna do

Places to be where I hate to be

And you're the only thing that I wanna see!

Yeah, somewhere, at the end of the rainbow

At the end of all the trouble

At the end of the day

Yeah, yeah, yeah

Somewhere, at the end of the song

That's gone on too long

This is what I

This is all I want to say

Take us away from this

We wanna wake up in Wonderland

We wanna be free from the burdens of sanity

Just give us freedom to dream

We only want freedom to dream.

Please give us freedom to dream

We only want freedom to dream

. . . Sweet, sweet dreams

THREE ANGELS: Dream away, dream away now

Sweet, sweet dreams

THREE ANGELS: Dream away, dream away now

Sweet . . . yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!

Ends with, one octave apart: "Sweet . . . dreams."

"Wow, Princess, what a song!" Michelle says.

"Cheers, Michelle," the Princess says.

"And you thought that up all by yourself?" asks Michelle.

"It's not like that anymore. We all work on it together. We canno' say anymore, 'Oh, that's mine. That's his.'," says the Princess.

"And they get better that way, don't they?" Michelle says.

"Aye, truth be told," the Princess says.

"Here, have some Florida orange juice, Princess, to celebrate being here," says Michelle.

"Cheers,"  the Princess says.

"What d'you think of it . . . do people really call you 'Princess' all the time? I mean, you must have a name, don't you?" Michelle says.

"Yeah, the juice is OK. We have it in Guatemala, almost the same, not always so sweet. Well, me name is Mary Elizabeth MacAlistair-Castleton. In public, everyone calls me 'Princess' and I'm halfway kinda sorta gettin' used to it," the Princess says.

The Princess and Michelle both laugh.

"But me family and friends have always called me 'Mimi'," says the Princess.

"Wow, that's interesting . . . Mimi. You have more names than many people have credit cards," Michelle says.

"'Ve got nicks too," says the Princess. "Like, on the ICT, they call me 'the Altrincham Cat', because I grew up in Altrincham in England. In Guatemala, me friends called me 'Mimicita'. Dad calls me 'Little Bird' (mimicking his Cantabridgian accent) and Mum calls me 'Lassie' 'cos she's Scottish. And sometimes, what they call me on the ICT . . . I cannot say them now or I'll get a smack from me Mum, just there."

The Princess giggles again.

"Now, Mimi," Michelle says. "Is it OK if I call you 'Mimi'?"

"Sure," says the Princess.

"Do you wanna talk to your fans here in Miami-Dade County?" Michelle says.

"Sure. 'd love it!" says the Princess.

"OK, who have we got up first?" Michelle says. "Alexandria? From where? From Ft Lauderdale. OK, you're on Alexandria."

"Do you like to hang out at the beach?" Alexandria says.

"Aye," the Princess says. "And we've got the best beach in the world in Guatemala, called Playa Blanca, a pure deed knock-off of Heaven! We love to run our papalotes there along the sea and set them free to fly away."

"What are papalotes?" asks Alexandria.

"We fly them in the sky," says the Princess. "Uh . . . yeah, I remember! You call them . . . 'kites'."

"Oh, kites!" says Alexandria.

"Yeah," says the Princess."

"Did you ever go to Miami Beach? Or The Hub?" says Alexandria.

"No," says the Princess. "Dad and I used to go to Venice Beach when we first came to Los Angeles. We used to go there to laugh at the bampots. But now we're too far away and there's no time."

"OK, next question for the Princess," says Michelle. "Here is Tommy from the U of M."

"Hi, Princess," says Tommy.

"Hi, Tommy," says Princess.

"Look, you are doing these radio shows and singing these songs," Tommy says. "And a lot o' people like 'em. Hey, I like 'em too."

"Cheers, Tommy," says the Princess.

"Well, OK," says Tommy. "But do you feel you're getting anywhere? That junta is still in power in Guatemala and they even took over their neighbour, Belize, this month. I mean, don't you get frustrated? Are you going to accomplish anything?"

"Oh, Tommy, you dunno' know," the Princess says. "I sound happy, singin' these songs. And singin' makes me happy like it does everybody. But I cry me-self to sleep every night, in the hotels, sayin' 'how many people died in Guatemala today 'cos I wasn't good enough?' I'll tell you this. You say you like the songs. That makes me happy. Love to be loved. But if I were just doin' this for Pina Colada, for money, I wouldn't be so good. I'm singin' for me people. That's what  I want people to understand. I have to be the best. I get singin' lessons every day."

The Princess sings  "La, la,la, la, la, la, la," a C scale.

"Uh . . . a tad off there," she says.

" 'Cos me li'l voice isn't strong enough yet," says the Princess. "That's where I learn to do those one-octave stretches you've heard in me songs lately. And I work on breathin' . . ."

The Princess breathes  through her mouth, audibly.

"'Cos people's lives depend on it," the Princess says. "This is not just singin' 'round the school piano for a lark like we used to do in Guatemala City. If I'm off, people won't send e-mails to their leaders. They won't put  money in the Freedom Fund. And then me singin' is just backscatter, music to watch people die by. And I'd rather stand against that wall for fusilamiento in their place than do that!"

"But you can't overthrow a government can you?" Tommy asks.

"I know that," the Princess says. "But if I were single-handed, nobody would know about this, would they? Li'l girl, skrikin' on the playground. It's millions of you guys, la fuerza de los patojos movilizados, that made President Hemingway tell Congress what's happenin' in Guatemala. And I know, eventually, she and the other countries will do somethin'. You lot blocked up their inboxes last September with Guatemala messages, after "Elizabeth Rose" came out, they couldn't get any other e-mail: that's what we need, again and again. In my heart, I know President Hemingway, Prime Minister Benjamin, in Britain, all of them are good. They're just slow. We'll get them there. Keep the pressure on! And not only them because you lot dunno' have a junta: it's not just one bloke hidin' behind five. Me Dad explained this to me last night. You've got Representatives and Senators and all manner of things. Just like we used to in Guatemala. So now write to the lot: every one You've got to get all of them walkin' around your capital sayin' 'Guatemala, Guatemala, Gua-te-ma-la. Go and find out where that li'l country is and do somethin' about them.' Then we're in the road goin' ta freedom!"

"If anybody can get them there, little Princess, it's you," Tommy says.

"Och, chattin' macca: it's you - and millions like you. Never forget it!" the Princess says. "If ya ever start thinkin' the li'l 9-year-old patoja from Guatemala's gonna do everything - or anything - my people are a cooked tampado.  If anybody can get them there, it's you, Tommy - and your friends and neighbours and relatives. So, Princesisto, get in the road!"

"I'm gonna go send some e-mail to the President right now," says Tommy. "And also the two Senators from Florida and the Congressman from the University district and the Governor of Florida, too!" says Tommy.

"That's the spirit, me bessie!" says the Princess.