#balloon ranger recordings

[robmoro]

RobMoro TV | Ane Brun - 'Hand In The Fire'

Ane Brun has unveiled a new track, ‘Hand in the Fire’ which is taken from her upcoming album “SONGS 2013-23”. The album title is a nod to marking ten years since the release of her first album, “SONGS 2003-13”, and further cements her position as an iconic figure in the music industry. This song provides motivation to those who feel trapped by something that prevents them from reaching their…

[anakinstwinklebunny]

To Infinity and Beyond..

SAM MONROE didn’t exactly get hyped about birthdays. Not his own, not anyone else’s. But Vinnie's? His kid, the one who’d somehow turned his whole world upside down in the best way possible? Yeah, birthdays became a big freaking deal.

That’s why, at midnight, he was sitting cross-legged on the floor of Vinnie’s tiny room, surrounded by Toy Story action figures and a tangled mess of balloons. The figures were brand new--Buzz, Woody, Jessie, even Rex--and Sam had saved up for months to get them all. His job at the auto shop didn’t pay much, but every spare penny went into making sure Vinnie had the best second birthday possible.

“Okay, Buzz, you better stay put this time,” he muttered, pressing the figure down onto the floor. Buzz tipped over again, taking Woody with him, and Sam groaned quietly so to not wake up the little guy before rubbing his face with both hands. “You’re supposed to be a Space Ranger, man. Act like it.”

Finally, after what felt like hours of rearranging and tying earlier blown up balloons to the toys, Sam got everything set up just right. Toys posed around Vinnie’s bed, with a colorful balloon floating above them. Sam couldn’t help but feel a little proud of himself.

“Kid’s gonna love this,” he mumbled to himself, standing back to admire his work, hands shoving into his pockets.

When morning finally came, Sam was already awake, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. He’d spent half the night checking on Vinnie, and the presents, making sure he didn’t wake up too early and ruin the surprise. Now, with the sunlight streaming through the window, Sam stepped closer, gently waking the little guy by patting his chubby cheek. After a short while, little boy stirred, tiny body wiggling under the covers.

Vinnie blinked sleepily, big eyes landing Sam first. He let out a huge yawn, tiny fists rubbing his eyes as Sam began mumbling first «happy birthday». When Vinnie finally grew a courage to stand up, his mouth dropped open in a loud gasp before he let out a delighted, “Buh! Buh! Woooo!”

Sam grinned, scooping the boy from the bed and setting him on the floor “Yeah, buddy. Buzz and Woody showed up just for you.”

Vinnie sat up, curls sticking out in every direction, and pointed a chubby finger at Buzz Lightyear. “Buhhh!” voice high-pitched with excitement. “Buh buh go sky!”

“Yeah, Buzz goes to space,” Sam crouched down next to the boy, tone failing down to a soft whisper. “He told me he wanted to meet you with his friends. They said you’re the coolest kid around.”

Vinnie giggled, immediately reaching out with pudgy hands to grab Buzz by the legs. The balloon attached to him bobbed wildly as Vinnie held him close to his chest. “Buhhh mine!” he declared proudly

“Yeah, he’s yours, buddy,”

Vinnie’s excitement only grew as he noticed, and then groped on, the other toys, clumsily crawling/walking across the room to grab Woody and Jessie. Little mouth never stopped moving, babbling gibberish that Sam could only half understand.

“Yeh!” the boy grabbed Woody and lifted it up to Sam with wide, expectant eyes.

“Yeah, that’s Woody,” Sam mumbled, taking the figure and pretending to make him walk across the floor. “He’s Buzz’s best friend. Kinda like how you're my best friend.”

Vinnie giggled again, joy so pure it made Sam’s chest ache. He didn’t care that the whole setup had taken him hours, or that he’d spent most of his paycheck on the toys. Seeing Vinnie this happy made it all worth it. The boy clapped his pudgy hands, immediately getting on Sam's lap to inspect other toys properly "Happy birthday buddy" Sam whispered, kissing Vinnie's temple

Sam’s mom appeared in the doorway, her phone in hand. “Oh, Sam, this is perfect,” she said, smiling as she hit record.

“Mom, c’mon,” Sam grumbled, cheeks turning red. He scratched the back of his neck, trying to hide his face from the camera while on the other hand, Vinnie was proudly grinning to it. Immediately wobbling to his grandpa, with arms outstretched, showing a new toy with a giggle

But at the end of the day, Sam would do anything for his little guy. Even if it meant having to be recorded in every occasion and learning how to tie balloons to Space Rangers at three in the morning.

TAG LIST: @kingdomhate @divineani @haydensprettyprincess @skyguys-princess @catnipaddictt @heartscone @haydensbbg @inneedsoffanfics @jediavengers @literally-izzy @anisluvrgirl @slutforfinnickodair @xhunnybeeex @fuckmyskywalker @gallerygourmet @deceptiive @ysrjune @anakinskwkler @bimbo-baggins17 @cookybananas @emotionallybruisedx @diorvalentina @sevinax @throughparisallthroughrome @aniiuv @ritosparty @ninastyless @lily-strnlo @thesassypadawan @awhhayden @sydkneez @anisangeldust @l1ttle-misssunsh1ne @anakinca

[carlos-in-glasses]

Happy New Year darlings. I hope 2025 is gentle and nourishing, fun and memorable in a good way.

Kicking off WIP Wednesday bright and early with something from the final chapter of Rhythms, which will be posted on Sunday. With this, I want to say another enormous thank you to everyone reading or who will read, and for all the support and encouragement. I began work on Rhythms in summer 2023, so it's been part of my life for a long time and it means a huge amount to me on a creative and personal level. I feel highly emotional about bringing it into 2025 and then having to let it go. Readers, take good care of this Carlos for me 🧡

Carlos nods and stands. As he stands, it’s like the world drops away from him. Everyone is staring up from far away, like he’s a balloon someone let go of.

As he walks to the microphone, Carlos becomes uncomfortably aware of his size. He’s a big guy, standing at a sturdy six-foot tall, statuesque and hunky. A former wrestler. A Ranger now. A weight-lifter, a treadmiller, a rowing machiner, an exercise biker, a kick-boxer. Name the gym equipment, and he’ll tell you his speed, his endurance, what he lifts – and it’ll impress anyone. But right now none of that counts for biscuits. On his way to the microphone, in front of everyone he knows and a whole bunch of strangers, he is trudging and lumbering, dragging his knuckles along the floor like an orangutan. He sees himself, huge of body but puny of mind. A friendly yet foolish giant who with one wrong move will make every shelf in this bookstore topple.

When he arrives at the microphone he clears his throat. The sound of him grunting fills the room. He makes eye-contact with Tommy, who cringes a little but nods him on encouragingly. She’s a performer. She sang beautifully at their wedding. Being Alive – Gwyn’s favorite song from the Company recording.

He feels like an utter oaf. A buffoon.

What he is doing?

Tommy – an amateur musical theater person, yes, but still a masterful singer – is about to watch him bumble through his poems. A disaster before it’s even begun.

But then he detects a movement in front of him. TK raises himself up in his chair, sits up straight, gazes at him intently and with wonder. Carlos scans the rows around him. Everyone who has come to support him tonight looks just the same. Ready for what he has to tell them.

Someone to crowd you with love

Someone to force you to care

Someone to make you come through

Who'll always be there.

As frightened as you

Of being alive.

Open tag and tags below:

@paperstorm @thisbuildinghasfeelings @lightningboltreader

@bonheur-cafe @goodways @alrightbuckaroo

@cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @welcometololaland @rmd-writes

@heartstringsduet @strandnreyes @reyesstrand

@herefortarlos @mikibwrites @irispurpurea @liminalmemories21

@lemonlyman-dotcom @ladytessa74 @orchidscript

@honeybee-taskforce @theghostofashton @sugdenlovesdingle

@freneticfloetry @chicgeekgirl89 @emsprovisions

@tellmegoodbye @sapphic--kiwi @ironheartwriter @carlos-tk

@carlossreaders @the-126-family @henrygrass @everlastingday

@whatsintheboxmh @futures-tense @rangersoup (if you don't mind me tagging you!)

@nancys-braids @captain-gillian @butchreyes @literateowl @hereghostslive

@kiwichaeng @pimento-playing-hopscotch @eclectic-sassycoweyes - If you want to share/haven't already. No pressure ever! ❤️🩷🧡💛💚💙🩵💜

[gaykarstaagforever]

Alright. I have to talk about this.

I always thought Smokey the Bear was a bear cub someone rescued from a forest fire, and then someone else decided to make him a mascot for fire prevention. Fine. Good on you. Everyone wins.

I thought this because in 1976, Disney republished a Little Golden Book from 1955 about Smokey the Bear, paired with a 33⅓ record that read the book to you. I grew up with these "record books," so this was the version of the story I knew.

Except that isn't what happened.

Smokey the Bear - an adult bear in jeans and a park rangers' cap, who warns everyone about fires - is a thing from World War II, specifically 1944. The Japanese had decided that a cool way to terrorize America was to launch fire balloons into the Jet Stream, to set California's forests on fire. And they almost did it, a couple of times, and killed like 5 people. Plus the war was on, so all the regular burly firemen who would fight any forest fires were off shooting Nazis or Japanese soldiers. So Smokey was created to remind the public to be particularly vigilant about preventing and reporting forest fires.

This is the original poster from 1944 by Albert Staehle.

In 1947 they came up with "ONLY YOU!...CAN PREVENT FOREST FIRES!"

Notice how none of this has anything to do whatsoever with any real-life goddamn bear.

In 1950, firefighters rescued a BLACK bear cub in New Mexico, who had climbed a tree to escape a fire. They named him Hotfoot Teddy and a forest ranger took him home as a pet. At some point before 1955, they had renamed him to Smokey the Bear, and he was sent to the National Zoo in Washington D.C., where he lived for 26 years.

The Little Golden Book version only shows him as an adorable BROWN cub: the age makes sense, because by 1955 he would have still been a roughly 40 lbs sub-adult. That is, the "REAL" Smokey the Bear, who people recognized from the papers.

...Except that was a black bear. But I guess newsprint is all black and white so...?

But this record book version is from 1976, ironically, the year the real adult bear died. I always remember thinking it was weird that he was a cub in this version, because other than this, in my world of the early 90s, he was always just the big bear in the hat.

I just...I thought he was a real bear first. Like...I feel betrayed, here. And stupid. This isn't secret knowledge. Wikipedia explains it. I had just never Googled Smokey the Bear.

Because I should not have had to.

Also I didn't know the US government had enslaved a bear for propaganda purposes for 26 years. Probably should have rehabilitated him and either released him into the wild, or if he couldn't handle that, a quiet bear sanctuary.

Did they even have those in the 50s? Probably not.

At least in 1984, they gave him a fake tree filled with honey and berries:

[spacenutspod]

3 Min Read NASA’s Scientists and Volunteers Tackle the October 14 Solar Eclipse In this image captured during the October 14 annular solar eclipse we can see that the disk of the Sun was almost totally blocked by the smaller dark Moon. Between the horns of the crescent is a Baily’s Bead, a spot of sunlight peeking through a valley on the Moon’s apparent edge. Credits: Clinton Lewis, West Kentucky University Did you see October 14th’s solar eclipse? Most of the time we can easily forget that we are on a planet spinning and orbiting in space with other celestial bodies. Watching the Moon move across the face of the Sun reminds us of our place in the solar system.  Several NASA science teams and many NASA volunteers used the October 14 eclipse to collect data and test observation protocols, software, hardware, and logistics. They met enthusiastic crowds of people taking in the spectacle and making unique observations. The October eclipse was an “annular” eclipse, meaning that some sunlight always leaked around the edges of the moon. The next solar eclipse, on April 8, 2024, will be a total eclipse. Total eclipses are rare scientific opportunities, so NASA teams used the October eclipse to practice and prepare for the upcoming April eclipse. In New Mexico, the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta rolled right into an Annular Eclipse event! An estimated 100,000 people took in the view of the annular eclipse of the Sun from Albuquerque, which was directly on the path where the eclipse reached its maximum – the path of annularity. The crowd gathered for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and annular eclipse. Credit: Heather Fischer The 3-D NASA logo sits outside an exhibit tent at the Albuquerque Balloon fiesta and subsequent eclipse viewing event. Credit: Heather Fischer Elsewhere in New Mexico, the Eclipse Soundscapes team gathered in the Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary in Sante Fe. The project team deployed eight AudioMoth recording devices the day before the eclipse and retrieved them the day after the eclipse to support research on whether or not eclipses affect life – and sounds – on Earth.   They also recruited staff and visitors to the nearby Valles Caldera National Preserve to participate in Eclipse Soundscapes as Observers. Many folks used the prompting worksheets – and eclipse glasses – provided by Eclipse Soundscapes to record and report their multisensory experience of the eclipse.  Eclipse Soundscapes Team members Dr. Henry “Trae” Winter and MaryKay Severino, getting ready to deploy an AudioMoth device at the Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary in Sante Fe, NM Credit: MaryKay Severino Valles Caldera Park visitors used the Eclipse Soundscapes worksheet and eclipse glasses distributed by Park Rangers to learn more about the Eclipse Soundscapes project, take notes on what nature changes they heard, saw, or felt during the annular eclipse, and then use a QR code to submit their observations to the project.  Credit: MaryKay Severino The SunSketcher team gathered in Odessa, TX, together with other eclipse chasers,  to test their new cell phone app. This app will allow volunteers to help measure the size and shape of the Sun during April’s total eclipse. Credit: Clinton Lewis, West Kentucky University In this image captured during the October 14 annular solar eclipse we can see that the disk of the Sun was almost totally blocked by the smaller dark Moon. Between the horns of the crescent is a Baily’s Bead, a spot of sunlight peeking through a valley on the Moon’s apparent edge. Credit: Clinton Lewis, West Kentucky University The Dynamic Eclipse Broadcasting Initiative was also on the move. Project leader Bob Baer, student Nathan Culli, and collaborator Mike Kentrianakis gathered in Midland, TX, for a good view of the annular eclipse. They tested their set-up and managed to successfully broadcast their telescope view from sunny Texas back to their home institution of Southern Illinois University in cloudy Carbondale.  The DEB Initiative set up for testing pre-eclipse. Credit: Bob Baer and Mike Kentrianakis Members of the DEB Initiative under their reflective tent in Midland, TX, ready to broadcast their telescope view of the eclipse back to the stadium at their home institution of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Credit: Bob Baer and Mike Kentrianakis. Members of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society, NASA volunteers and others gather in anticipation of the October 14, 2023 annular eclipse. Credit: NASA volunteer Danny Roylance All in all, the day was a great success! On to April 8, 2024 and the total eclipse! More information:  Curious about the other eclipse science projects that you can join? Check out this website https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/programs/citizen-science/ and this cool video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1713910355842257261  Want to know more and keep up to date on all the Heliophysics Big Year events? Follow @NASASun on X.  Want another chance to see the October 14 annular eclipse? Check out the recording of NASA’s live stream of the eclipse at https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1zqKVqymlNPxB M Websites: https://debinitiative.org/ https://eclipsesoundscapes.org/ https://sunsketcher.org/ NASA’s Citizen Science Program:Learn about NASA citizen science projectsFollow on XFollow on Facebook 

[radioeuroextasis]

Ane Brun - Hand In The Fire

Diez años después de marcar su primera década como artista discográfica con el lanzamiento de SONGS 2003-13, la distinguida y platino ANE BRUN ha anunciado el lanzamiento de una nueva canción, 'HAND IN THE FIRE', que se incluirá en SONGS 2013-23, una celebración de su segunda década como una de las artistas contemporáneas más condecoradas de Noruega. Al igual que la canción, la compilación de 16 pistas es lanzada por el propio sello independiente de Brun, Balloon Ranger Recordings, hoy, disponible en CD y LP, así como a través de todos los DSP. Escrito en Toscana en 2022, 'HAND IN THE FIRE' presenta a la violonchelista Linnea Olsson (colaboradora habitual de BRUN) y Samuel Starck, quien desempeñó un papel importante en After The Great Storm de 2020. y Per Eklund, quien actuó en eso y el mismo año en How Beauty Holds The Hand Of Sorrow, sin mencionar It All Starts With One de 2011. En la verdadera tradición de BRUN, la canción ofrece aliento, esta vez "a alguien que se siente incapaz de liberarse de algo que le impide alcanzar su potencial". Muestra los encantos orientales que han influido esporádicamente en otras canciones, entre ellas 'Worship', su dúo con José González en It All Starts With One de 2011, y fue mezclado y masterizado por Prash 'Engine-Earz' Mistry. La canción está acompañada por un impresionante video coreografiado con los bailarines Einar-Anton, Aas Nikkerud, Janine Koertge, Rachel McNamee y Hiroki Ichinose de la Compañía de Danza de la Ópera de Gotemburgo. Dirigida por Shruti Ganguly, una nueva amiga, cineasta, escritora y directora a quien Ane tuvo la suerte de conocer en Oslo en los primeros meses de la pandemia. "He estado ansioso por trabajar con Shruti y el video se convirtió en un proyecto perfecto para que lo hiciéramos juntos, en nuestra nueva ciudad natal, Oslo. El video no existiría sin mi experiencia con "12 Canciones" en 2023 con la Compañía de Danza de la Ópera de Gotemburgo". (Una actuación escénica para música, orquesta y danza de Kenneth Kvarnström) explica Brun. "Fue una experiencia muy especial para mí. Estaba rodeado de estos bailarines de clase mundial en el escenario, e interpreté las versiones orquestales de mi propia música al mismo tiempo que era una parte integral de la coreografía. Se convirtió en el desafío artístico más increíble de mi carrera hasta ahora. Así que cuando estábamos produciendo un video musical para la nueva canción "Hand in the Fire", quería invitar a algunos de los bailarines a expresar la complejidad interna y las emociones contrastadas de las que trata "Hand in the Fire". Quería que fueran mis tentáculos emocionales. Los bailarines y yo comenzamos el trabajo improvisando la canción en un estudio de danza en Gotemburgo, y continuamos la exploración de los movimientos mientras grabábamos el video en Oslo. La coreografía en el video es improvisada". 'HAND IN THE FIRE' ABRE SONGS 2013-23, QUE SE BASA EN LA SEGUNDA DÉCADA DE BRUN COMO UNO DE LOS ARTISTAS CONTEMPORÁNEOS MÁS CONDECORADOS DE Noruega. Con tres Grammys noruegos y dos Grammys suecos entre los múltiples premios alineados en su estantería, ha visto florecer su reputación internacional en el transcurso de los últimos diez años gracias a giras mundiales y prestigiosos conciertos, sobre todo con la Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio Sueca (que dio origen al álbum Live at Berdwardhallen de 2018, su tercera colección en vivo). También ha contribuido a múltiples bandas sonoras de películas, entre ellas una colaboración con el ganador del premio Emmy Dustin O'Halloran en Puzzle OST de 2018, ¡e incluso disfrutó de un improbable éxito Top 5 en el Reino Unido en 2015 cantando en Dr. Kucho! y 'Can't Stop Playing (Makes Me High)' de Gregor Salto, que, por cierto, ella coescribió. Y todo eso sin mencionar el sMall Matter de sus invitaciones para actuar en la Cena del Premio Nobel 2017 y la Ceremonia del Premio Nobel de la Paz 2018. Hay, es justo decirlo, mucho que celebrar. La voz pura y seráfica de BRUN, con su aleteo tranquilo y distintivo, siempre ha sido crucial para su atractivo, su tono sugiere a alguien que no solo ha soportado su propia parte de sufrimiento, sino que también está, como declara 'Don't Run And Hide', "aquí para ti". "Creo que gran parte de mi música se trata de ser libre", dice, "ser auténtico contigo mismo, estar abierto a la vida, al amor, a experimentar todo lo que la vida puede traer, y pasar por todas sus transiciones. Se trata de lo que nos detiene, y de aceptar que la vida tiene oscuridad pero que siempre se mueve hacia la luz. Y se trata de esperanza. Mucha esperanza". Como enfatiza SONGS 2013-23, es innegable que hay algo emocionante en escuchar a un artista en la cima de su juego, especialmente uno tan dispuesto a desnudar su alma. SONGS 2013-23 sigue al lanzamiento este March of Portrayals, una colección de doce de las versiones más aclamadas de Brun. Contiene las siguientes canciones: The Hand In The Fire / Directions / Don't Run And Hide / Crumbs / Lose My Way / Take Hold Of Me / Honey / You Lit My Fire / All We Want Is Love / Trust / Hanging / Black Notebook / After The Great Storm / Closer / Fingerprints / Last Breath BRUN también ha anunciado una serie de espectáculos en toda Europa a finales de este año como parte de su gira del 20 aniversario. 22.09 HELSINKI Casa De La Cultura 27.09 ESTOCOLMO Cirkus 29.09 JÖNKÖPING Spira 30.09 MALMÖ Live Konserthus 01.10 GÖTEBORG Konserthuset 06.10 SKELLEFTEÅ Sara Kulturhus 14.10 LONDRES Shepherd's Bush Empire 17.10 BERLÍN Admiralspalast 20.10 AMBERES De Roma 21.10 PARÍS La Cigale 22.10 UTRECH Ronda 24.10 HAMBURGO Fabrik 25.10 COPENHAGUE Tienda Vega 26.10 AARHUS VoxHall 04.11 ÖREBRO Konserthuset 05.11 UPPSALA UKK 08.11 BODØ Svømmehallen Escena 09.11 TROMSØ Driv 11.11 TRONDHEIM Tapperiet 12.11 MOLDE Bjørnsonhuset 15.11 OSLO Sentrum Scene 16.11 OSLO Sentrum Scene 17.11 STAVANGER Konserthus 18.11 KRISTIANSAND Kilden 19.11 BERGEN Grieghallen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIbTYJtFabg   Read the full article

[disastardly]

More Mystic Force (and some slightly more general PR) thoughts because they're my Roman Empire:

As the closest thing their team has to a "tech guy", Nick gets invited to the semi-annual Ranger tech summit. Unlike Rangers like Cam or Billy, Nick's work is more intuitive and mechanical, so he's pretty in over his head. Only after chatting up Damon and commiserating about all the brainiac talk does the event really turn around for him.

A few non-Ranger folks attend, apparently with some connections because how else would they be there? They ask a lot of questions about morphers and the Grid. Nick is less surprised when he sees them at the cookout in the following years.

There's an annual Ranger cookout over Memorial Day weekend. Tommy usually hosts due to his connection to so many teams and his house being both very remote and on a good-sized piece of land. (As the years go on and team sizes balloon, the size of his land really starts to matter.)

Leanbow is immediately integrated into the Team Dads at the grill.

Leelee hits on every Red Ranger there. Phineas eggs her on. (When you can find him.)

Things start to get wild at the cookout as the day goes on and the day drinking really sets in. Teams with unusual civilian abilities (ninjas, magicians, aliens, etc.) cause the most trouble as they start trying to pit their powers against each other. Tommy's house has been set on fire more than once. The fire department has a pre-recorded message just for him.

Maddie builds her career on documentaries, but her love for goofy horror movies is a terribly kept industry secret. When Chip mentions he's been writing scripts in his free time (what free time??) loosely based on their adventures, she jumps on them, and thus the Hydra Worm movie series is born.

In addition to all of Chip's ventures, Xander acts as Vida's manager, and helps Maddie with the business parts of the film industry. He'd help Nick with the shop too, but it pretty much runs itself at this point (according to Nick).

Xander also runs a greenhouse in parallel with the farm; despite being it's own business, it's almost too relaxing for him to even consider it work. (Which is good, because he's almost as busy as Chip with all the managerial work he gleefully takes on.)

Per this post, Chip and his actual play series really blow up online, and that means that the internet slowly but surely start digging into him. What they find is both utterly charming and inexplicable. He lives on a farm. His entire family died in a house fire when he was seven. He will eat anything once (with the disgusting photos to prove it). He's banned from Medieval Times. He's a professional vampire hunter and advisor to the Queen of Vampires. He has the most awful mustache any human being has ever grown. He can drive, but should never under any circumstances be allowed to drive. He swears he can fly but no one can find any record of him every getting a pilots license.

Once magic becomes common in the city, trees become protected infrastructure. In a mid-sized Californian city, the ability to teleport between any tree rooted in the ground makes life infinitely easier. Cutting down a tree big enough to connect to the network takes *a lot* of bureaucratic red tape post-2007.

TMZ (or the PR-verse equivalent) is constantly trying to figure out who Vida Rocca is dating. There's evidence pointing toward her manager Xander Bly and evidence pointing to TTRPG media madman Chip Thorn, and competing stories make it seem like she's two-timing them. She thinks it's hilarious.

(They're actually all dating each other, but Chip doesn't even register the scandals and Xander thinks it adds to his "mystique".)

Buzzblast once did a series on all the Briarwood superstitions. The footage data wasn't corrupted, but somehow it all rendered at Patterson-Gimlin film-level graininess. Reporter Amelia Jones is both baffled and thrilled by this result.

The Mystic Mother dressed up as herself (Rita Repulsa) for Halloween one year and nearly got the National Guard called on her.

Have an assortment of Mystic Force headcanons that I've accumulated since I started rewriting CoD/CoL (now known as Emergence and ???):

Madison is an unabashed niche horror movie aficionado. This always surprises people, but she could talk about early 90s SOV, giallo, or the evolution of the slasher film for ages.

Her happy place in Briarwood is an old movie shop. They know her by name there, and always have recommendations among the new finds.

Briarwood itself is a super hippie town. Drum circles in the park, vegan bakeries, a huge pride parade every year. They're on the forefront of both marriage equality and cannabis legalization, even by California standards.

Nick has lived EVERYWHERE. His parents moved for work constantly, and so he and his sister have lived on every continent except Antarctica.

Xander and Chip are incredible cooks. Nick is pretty good too. Maddie is passable, and Vida is a complete disaster. Do not let Vida near a kitchen.

Leelee inherits the Vampire Queen throne after Necrolai/Nikki is turned human. She's surprisingly good at it. After some bumps, her rule becomes an unparalleled time of peace for vampires.

After high school, Chip tries a million things, and he's pretty successful at most of them. He takes over his uncle's farm, starts a meadery, does freelance alchemy, runs the local COUNTV chapter, and helps train new knights and wizards, and that's just the everyday stuff.

Leelee works to improve human-vampire relations, and teams up with Chip to help smooth things out. He begrudgingly helps, but warms up to it eventually.

Maddie and Xander are the only ones of the core 5 to go to college. Maddie studies film and Xander gets a business degree (so he can manage Chip's constantly-growing sprawl of ventures).

Vida goes on tour. She wins her first Grammy a year or two later, and eventually goes the Trent Reznor route of scoring films. It starts with Maddie asking for help with a hard-to-score film and spirals from there.

Nick gets taken on as an apprentice at a body shop. He's a prodigy with fixing things, especially vehicles, and when the owner decides to retire, Nick buys the shop off him. They mainly fix cars and motorcycles, but if you have something no one else can fix, he'll take a crack at it.

Maddie's first film does numbers on the smaller festival circuits; her second film is screened at Cannes and wins a Palme d'Or.

In Briarwood, everyone knows they're the Rangers, but the knowledge doesn't travel very far outside the borders. A few people know, but it's such an open secret that it almost never comes up. It's just a fact of life in Briarwood, so most people never really mention it.

[nofatclips]

Live piano version of After The Great Storm by Ane Brun from The RMV Sessions EP

[half-a-tiger]

ANE BRUN - “We Need A Mother”, from ‘After The Great Storm’, her 8th studio album out October 30th, 2020, and first of two upcoming albums to be released in 2020 via her own Balloon Ranger Recordings.

[underachievers-please-try-harder]

Track of the day // Ane Brun - Take Hold Of Me

[youremyonlyhope]

Starship Rewatch

10 years ago today (well, yesterday since I’m posting it a day later), 15 year old Hope curled up on her couch to watch a new StarKid show called Starship right as it dropped. This was the first time I got to watch a show when it was posted since I didn’t become a StarKid fan until a months earlier. I was so excited.

And now, I’m rewatching Starship for the first time in full in at least 5 years I think. I listened to the soundtrack twice earlier today, singing along at my desk at work (thank god no one else was here tonight to judge me). I still know so many of the lyrics. And so many little jokes and stuff were flooding back. Starship was my favorite StarKid show for a long time, so I’m so excited to watch this again to see if it’s still my fave.

This post ended up being really long, so you’ve been warned. But it also includes pictures of the crocheted Roach and Bugette plushies that I made as a teen.

OH. THE OLD LOGO. AHHH. I already have so many feels. The future is now! I can’t handle this. The nostalgia! The Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration. My facebook account to this day says I am a Starship Ranger at the G.L.E.E. because I’ve never bothered to change it. Also, shoutout to anyone from the StarKidPotter FB and EFST days if you’re reading this. AHHH IT’S CHRIS AND ERIC. Ok I might have to pause 20 thousand times during this Starship Ranger ad to acknowledge all the StarKid cameos. Tyler! “We come to conquer... in peace!” Tyler I love you. Brian and Richard! I forgot they painted Richard BLUE. Britney and Ariel! Nicholas Joseph Stauss-Matathia! I see that StarKid’s website has shortened his name to just Nicholas Strauss but remember the days when we’d purposefully say his full name? Anyway, I literally just screamed “NICK” when I saw him because he was always one of my faves. The Old Snatch was and still is iconic. Devin and Lily! The Wizard God himself, AJ Holmes. God... remember those AJ Holmes appreciation days where we’d make Chuck Norris-like memes about AJ? So much is rushing back from the depths of my mind oh my god... It’s been so long yet it feels like yesterday... “Someone really *static* F- *static* -ucked up big time” Love it.

2 minutes and 22 seconds in. I’ve written so much. I had to pause before Joey started singing to take a moment. I love this show so much. I love these goofballs so much. And they’re all so young. Most of them are younger than I am now. This is insane.

Ok I have to promise myself not to pause as much now. *Spoiler, I failed*

“I’ll fight off this gamma radiation if it’s the last thing I ever do!... We’re going down! This is the last thing I’ll ever do!” Oh my god. Look at baby Joey. He hasn’t even graduated from college yet. And that Bug puppet! Someone remind me to dig up the pictures of my crocheted plushies of Starship puppets since I made Roach and Bugette and gave them to the StarKids at SPACE and Apocalyptour. (I also did Rumbleroar, but the bugs were my own pattern I made so I was more proud) The camera is focused in on Bug instead of Joey’s face. I love it. So much. Brannnttttttt. My god. Am I gonna freak out over every single entrance? Roach pretending to die, he’s the best friend ever. “The needs of the many bugs outweigh the needs of the few bugs.” “Or the one bug, I know.” Oh man, when that line comes back... “Dirt eater” “Exoskeleton polisher” “I wanna build honeycombs” “The bug that ruins your picnic” “A fly on the wall!” That line came back to me earlier today and I died. Remembering that line was like 50% of the reason I listened to the soundtrack today.

Nick Lang! Julia! LAUREN LOPEZ. THERE SHE IS. Lovebugs, I can’t. *Sentimental music* “You could come over to my nest and I could... tear off your head and let my larva devour your body?” How did I forget that line? The way Lauren has to kick Bugette’s larva sack to walk. But the way that it also works so well with the character. I can’t. The Mosquito Brothers!! I forgot they show up so early. “This is our sister, Sweetheart” “...YO.” I CANNOT HANDLE JIM POVOLO. The “zzzz”s like buzzing as backing vocals instead of the usual “ahs” and “oohs.” The things you don’t appreciate until years later. Darren, you genius. That is such a good detail. For a second I couldn’t remember who the Overqueen is played by. 99% sure it’s Jim (It is). Also. Overqueen like ovary... and it looks like a giant vagina. That had to be pointed out to me later. “FLATTERY WILL GET YOU... everywhere.” Why did I forget that line too? “I’m a starship ranger” “Quiet you, you’re drunk” “No I’m drunk!” I remembered that line probably like... 2 minutes earlier when I noticed Joe huddling in the background and realized that line was coming up. The way Joey lets go of the puppet so both he and the puppet walk away with their arms limp... so cute.

Before even pressing play on part 3, I can hear February saying “Let the record show I am super ahead of schedule.” and I’m dying. I forgot about Brian as the escape pod. Denise Donovan! That Star Trek prop. I’m dumb so I can’t remember if it’s a communicator or what. But I know my Uhura Barbie had a mini one that I lost within a month probably. “OxyGen” “Schience” I can’t. “Mission Log... I think I just heard a spooky noise.” How am I forgetting all of these amazing lines? “Pika-pi!” AHHH I JUST SCREAMED. “My stars, I seemed to have landed in a field of these aMiNals!” I can’t. “Can I tell you guys something?” *port de bras and falls gently to the ground* “Hello!” “TOTORO!” I’m dead. The balloon mechanism on the mosquitos! I forgot about that! “HOLY SHIT IT’S A BUUUUGGGGG” Ok something I noticed but didn’t mention earlier. The bug puppet that Joe uses when he says “I had my heart set on nourishment” is the same one red and pink one that Julia used when talking about wanting to be nourishment. When Julia actually gets eaten, she’s using a different bug puppet, the green and pink one, but the same character voice. So, I can’t tell if they intentionally had her play 2 bugs so Joe could be one of them later, or if it was a mistake. I might also just be overthinking things. “ME THINKS IT WENT THAT-A-WAY” I cannot handle Jim Povolo. That scream Joe does as he slimes her. Woah I originally wrote “There seems to be no signs of intelligent lifeforms anywhere” earlier and then deleted it since I don’t know why I found it remarkable. And then looking at the comments of this part I see someone mentioned a Toy Story reference. So that’s why that line stuck out to me. Aww StarKid. There are so many Disney references in this show.

THERE SHE IS. THERE’S MY GIRL TAZ. The pew pew effects how could I forget that!  “Hey Taz. You’re pretty tough for a chick.” “I was just going to say the same thing about you.” “Woahhhhhhhh” JoMo oh my god. “My spectrometer readings are off the wazooooooo” That line kills me. Why am I JUST NOW noticing, 10 years later, that Tootsie enters this scene with his gun facing the wrong way. Oh my god. “I saw the empirical proof that science killed god. It’s comforting to know he was once alive though. I like to think that when he died, he went to heaven.” Oh Tootsie Noodles. “...What the hell kind of name is that?” “He’s got bear hands??” Why do I forget all of these lines??!? That record scratch and freeze frame to go “BOOOOOO” oh my god I forgot that. “Like the other day, he was in the cafeteria, just cah-rying in front of everybody.” BOOOOOOO. Here we go, Taz’s amazing Up monologue. “And when Up, cuts an onion, the ONION is the one who cry.” HELP. Also 99% sure I used that joke for AJ appreciation at least one year. “Now take a walk off my knife” What a line. So awesome. I remember having a profile pic on FB that was the text of that monologue and the image of Lauren screaming “WALK IT OFF” I’m still convinced that first “WOO” from the audience that we hear when Up enters is Darren. “I do not peepee sitting down” “Huh??” JoMo’s face as if he’s trying his hardest not to laugh and I can’t tell if that’s him breaking character or if Krayonder is actually trying not to laugh. “I peepee like big boy, deadgoddamnit. So stop making fun of me because it hurts my feelings” I’m dying. Also, deadgoddamnit is amazing. “if you don’t go out there and die for something, then I will kill you for nothing.” I remembered the mirror scene, just seconds before it started and already started laughing. “You’re not a failure, overall.” “Allow me to introduce you to the final member of your team. MegaGirl!” I forgot how DRAMATIC that was. I also forgot that’s how MegaGirl comes into the story.

I need to stop pausing every 5 seconds oh my god I’ll never finish this tonight if I don’t.

“All hail AstroBoy” That was the funniest line. “MegaGirl, can you kill humans?” “No. But I’d like to.” I can’t handle it. “A horse ate my cousin! Me and horses got a feud.” #1 MegaGirl doing the “I’m watching you” hand sign. I can’t. “Hey. Miráme. *Slaps* NOW ESCHUCHAME” amazing. “Or that time. You taught me calculus... CALCULUS WAS TOUGH.” I never went past pre-calc. Nope. Ah. Get Back Up. One of my fave songs. “And now we dance.” Dylan’s “OW” as they lean back. “Ok Idiotas. Say something nice. Or I will kill you.” It’s all so iconic.

“So you still think being an egg planter is lame?” “...Yes.”  The larva oh my god. I forgot we see one before the end. That’s Jaime playing the larva I think. Life is definitely one of my all-time favorite StarKid songs to this day. I wish it was longer. I love it so much. And I love that its instrumental is scattered as a motif throughout the show. “It’s a short, small thing we lead. With so much potential, pointless or essential, which one can I be?” Wow. Near Pippin levels of giving me an existential crisis. Also wow Joey improved his singing so much between AVPS and Starship. “My name’s Bug” “*Gasp!* Like a bug??” “Uh... no.” “Good. I’m February, like the month, but a person.” I should start saying that honestly. “I’m Hope, like the concept, but a person.” “You boldly go where every man -hey- woman -bark woof- or data dog has ever gone before! Sorry K9DX” Adorable. Joey’s subtle little double nod he makes the Bug puppet do when he’s shocked she thinks he’s a Starship Ranger. Amazing. Ah he said goddamn not deadgoddamn! February should have known right then he wasn’t human! “Take my claw” that too. "The only thing that needs to rest are your jokes, because they are so tired.” “Woahhhhhh” No but like... why don’t I use that line in everyday life... “Now I am slightly less weak.” “Ok. I’m going to shoot this metal bitch!” I’m dying. How did I forget the Taz/MegaGirl rivalry?? “That thing is a R-O-B-O-T man” “Can’t fool me with numbers, Krayonder.” I’m dead. “The stack of hay was my cousin!” #2 The way Meredith says “barometric pressure” is great. And Tootsie saying “Well you must take real good care of it, because I never would have guessed.” He’s such a sweetheart. “Nobody shoot dammit, nobody shoot.” “KILL KILL KILL” I never really liked Hideous Creatures but it’s so cute to see MegaGirl do the choreo robotically. I love that the Gap hasn’t changed. “Cool it skank, you do not know me.” Another line that I forgot until a split second before it was said. I’m so glad whoever edited this added some pews going in the wrong way for Tootsie’s gun. I know I definitely noticed Tootsie’s gun was backwards during this part, but I don’t know if I noticed it was backwards in that very first scene too. I forgot about MegaGirl tossing out Specs. That “MEGAGIRL!!!” scream from Joe though.

“Never in my 6 long days of life.” Underappreciated joke. Also, I think this is the 4th unique upright bug puppet. We got red/pink, green/blue, green/pink, and now red/blue. Also, Nick Lang is a great puppeteer. “Yes, I helped her escape. But I swear, never in a million years, did I think I’d be caught and yelled at for it!”  Oh I forgot Bugette is the witness. Jaime’s angry face behind Joey is killing me. “He didn’t know the humans were evil.” “Oh, they’re not.” “Shut up!” Humoons and hoomans. “And no more singing or dancing” *gasps of horror* “The Overqueen has overspoken.” “Well, that’s not gonna help your chances with Bugette” Oh Roach. “PERHAPS.” Jim destroys me.

God the 4-person Pincer puppet. Amazing. Dylan’s arms being strong enough to be above his head for 10 minutes straight. Amazing. Also, Nick Lang is so emotive as a claw. It took me a sec but yeah JoMo is the tail. “There were? Where are they?” Joey’s face. “Tell me all about her” The claws under the chin I can’t. Hey StarKid, I see you throwing in an ad mid-video before Kick It Up a Notch. You’re lucky I love and support you guys. “Put ‘em together and what have you got?” bibbity boppity boo. More Disney references! This scene is full of them. Man, remember when we were all blown away by Dylan’s voice in this song the first time? Like we could tell he could sing in AVPM/S, but his songs were just so jokey and only his long “Welcooooooooooome” showed us his talent. But then Kick It Up a Notch happened. And we FINALLY appreciated Dylan’s beautiful voice. “I pushed it to the limit.” and “To coin a phrase, be a man.” more Disney. I might be overthinking this and will have to rewatch Life to confirm, but I think the camera zooming out as Pincer reprises Life is just like the camerawork when Bug sang it originally. If so, then wow even when filming their shows StarKid really thinks it all through. (Update: It totally is referencing the original zooms for Life and that’s amazing. Except it’s zooming out instead of in. I LOVE the attention to detail even in filming the show. I’m gonna guess that’s Liam’s doing.) All I can see when I hear Bug’s chorus of this song is Jaime and her SPACE tour dancing, which they incorporated in Apocalyptour as actual choreography. Because they’re goofballs. The kick line. Love it. God. Even though it’s not my favorite song from Starship (just because I love Life and Beauty more), Kick It Up A Notch is one of the best StarKid has ever done. I really has everything. Dylan’s gorgeous voice. Not one but two reprises of earlier songs to throw Bug’s own words back at him. Jim’s bass line. Awesome puppets. Disney references. It’s so amazing. I love how all the comments are either about Dylan’s voice or Dylan’s ability to hold his arms up for a 10+ minute scene or both.

"Gameover man, gameover!” “I feel like cutting open your belly, and filling it with jelly” *Gasps* Oh my god, I put on the captions for a second, and  the caption said *Sad spayed puppy noises* “I am in charge of this mission now.” How did I forget about the mustache until 2 seconds before it happened? “She’s got the mustache now. *Kisses head* I love you” Oh my god Tootsie. I FORGOT ABOUT THE SECOND STACHE. There’s an ad right when we see Bug’s human form and I can’t even care because look at him! Ahhh. And the blue headband! Ahhhhh. Joey you’re so adorableeeee. “Bug? Well that’s a fine name.” His concerned face then the relief. Adorable. “Thank you sir. I am a tough bitch.” “Getting nothing but bug muff?!?” I love the slight delay the audience has before laughing as they realize what was just said. “Bug. You hard, ese. You flame.” I die. “Up there. In Space!” *dramatic pointing* No I totally didn’t just do the dramatic pointing with them... no that’s not in my muscle memory from 10 years ago... why would you think that. I’ll rave about Status Quo after it’s done. “But, what if I miss you?” Awwwwwwwww. And that “Just look up.” screenshot was used for “This.” memes in the fandom for years.

Oh Joey. Status Quo is such a good song too. And he really did improve as a singer to sing it. Earlier this week I remembered that this week is also the 10th anniversary of that time Darren was hopping from city to city every single day to promote the Warblers album. And at one point in that week he did a livestream that I remember rushing home to watch. In that livestream, I am 99% sure he sang Status Quo as a little sneak preview for Starship being released later that week. (Just checked, yep he sang it in a livestream on April 20 2011) God I love this song. Then the version the boys all sang for SPACE Tour was beyond beautiful too. Ahhh I love this musical.

Ok. It’s almost midnight. I started this 3 hours ago. I’m probably not finishing the show until 2am at the rate that I’m pausing and stopping to comment. But OH WELL.

“Dr. Spaceclaw” wow. “Leaving them behind was of little consequence, but a pleasure.” Oh Megagirl. “You did a very good job today too, son.” “*Gasp* Thanks dad.” That Star Wars fake-out though. Speaking of Star Wars, I really need to rewatch Ani now that I’m actively a Star Wars fan unlike last time when I still wasn’t invested in the movies I just watched them. How did I forget about Jaime playing Junior’s new mom?? ...Does Junior get an alien incubating in his chest... is that foreshadowing... I can’t remember. (This was like... half a foreshadow) This scene is funnier now that Breredith is married. The way Junior says “Phew” I’m dead. I remembered how they restrain MegaGirl once again 2 seconds before it happened oh my god. “We deserve bubbles on our skin.” An iconic line. “Well thank the long dead god you made it, Bug!”  The crunching of the handshake, I can’t. Oh someone in the comments pointed out that Bug and February are doing the Tarzan hand thing while Up’s asking Taz to see a movie. Adorable.

Get yourself a man like Tootsie who won’t stand for you talking down about yourself. “Maybe this was all part of God’s plan. He made before he died.” I love the dead god jokes. I remember years ago some kid on facebook was like “The dead god jokes are offensive” and I was like “It’s a sci-fi musical about a bug in a human body but sure worry about god being dead.” but probably in an even more immature answer. I’m just mesmerized by Tootsie and MegaGirl’s verses. God. The first Dylan and Meredith duet. Amazing. And MegaGirl’s confused face is great. “Don’t press that button, or we’ll all be sucked into space.” So... Can anyone tell me what foreshadowing is? Oh shoot... ok wait no I’ll comment on that when we get there. God that is such a cute love song. I wrote barely anything just because I love that song so much. Would love to know where Tootsie’s taking her though.

Oh my god this scene! I forgot about this. How could I forget this. “Well the world always looks a little bit brighter, from on top of a lap.” I had remembered Bug sitting on Up’s lap, but not Specs. This is the part I forgot. Adorable. Ahhhh so cute. The Specs/Krayonder relationship was apparently cut from the filmed version, but was present if you saw it live. These moments are adorable. And I love how this is the second person JoMo’s had to carry in this show since he also carried Denise earlier. “Why if it isn’t Bug, my oldest friend.” and “Don’t say that, my dear.” are adorable. Oh wait. Up sat on Bug’s lap. Not the other way around. Ok. I didn’t remember this scene as well as I thought I did. I’m dying. I didn’t want to write anything during this, but oh my god “That son of a bitch Optimus Prime” I forgot that. I love the audience’s reaction to “The entire right side of my body, it’s a robot” because they all gasp, and then laugh at themselves for gasping. I knew there was something he couldn’t do without crying. I didn’t remember it being “Sir I Wanna Buy These Shoes” Christmas Song. It’s ok Up, I haven’t listened to that song in full in years. I can’t handle it. But Christmas songs in general make me cry too. Oh Up said goddamn instead of deadgoddamn too. Hmm... Aww the mother spider story. “I think the old you was just killing out of hate.” “Oh I was.” I’m dying. Awwww the nose kiss. I definitely remembered that. “Deadgodspeed soldier!” The way Joey misses catching the keys and also Darren’s “Woo!” in the audience again. So great. That 12 minute scene is just adorable and the Up story is so dramatic and hilarious.

Hmm finishing before 2am might be ambitious... “Hahaha. Then I’ll shoot him!” “Taking care of my business down on the planet is that cool with you?” Brian’s delivery of that line has always intrigued me. “How much I care about my MegaGirl unit’s survival is also a percent equivalent to zero” Rude. “You are nothing like my boyfriend, Tootsie Noodles.” “Yes, well - wait WHAAA” This scene is so different now that they’re married. “Ha. Ha. It was cute.” “You’re... a toaster.” *Slaps* Ok 1) I used to use that insult all the time and only half ironically. I was a strange teenager. 2) She just hurt a human... isn’t that against programming, or can she just not kill humans? Evil angry Brolden is something we need more of. I love Brian as a villain. More please. “You stupid goddamn robot” So I guess they say goddamn and deadgoddamnit. I’m overthinking the evolution of language in this universe. Also Brian’s screams while being choked are amazing. I’ve never forgotten those, if anything they’re better now.

AHHHH I REFRESHED AND DELETED ALL OF MY STUFF FOR BEAUTY. Kill me. I’m so mad. Let me try to recreate it but I hate myself. I was saving this draft after every part but OF COURSE I don’t save after my favorite song and then refresh.

Oh poor Meredith. Her white wig doesn’t let her blend in as much when she’s in the hoodies playing a bug. “Oh hey Bugette, we’re just trying to get Bug laid!” That bug had to know about Bugette’s crush though? That’s just cruel. “The ending is killer” ruuuuuuddddddddddeee. I know I had at least one more point, but that’s lost to the ether. Beauty is probably my fave, if not tied with Life. When I was listening to it earlier, I was overcome with emotion because it’s just such a joyful song. These days I cry over happy stuff almost as much as I cry over the sad. And these lines just hit so hard... I love it. I love this song so much and this scene so much. “Bug. She excreted her filth for you. WE DID IT!!!!!!!!” Brant Cox is so good. It really is a shame he’s not in anything else besides AVPSY and the 10th Anniversary with everyone else. “I do accept you for who you really are. A genius.” Well February, you’ll be glad to know that you thought of that, so you’re the genius. Wow. Junior’s 25, Brian was 25, and now I’m 25. This really was perfect timing for the 10th anniversary. Also I do not feel 25. “Suck off!” amazing.

I’M SAVING THIS TIME.

Ok next part. Luckily I was only 1 minute into the next part when I refreshed. Still so mad at myself... “Someone really firetrucked up big time” (Dead)God I love that line. I also used firetruck unironically. Once again, I was a strange teenager and I didn’t like cursing and I still don’t. “This is so weird, I’m so used to the scrambly version.” (It was while writing this line the first time that I refreshed and lost Beauty....) Ok as I watch AJ, it’s hitting me that he almost definitely came to the set during rehearsals and filmed his part since it’s not a green screen like the rest of them. “The hunters have become the hunted, and it’s wabbit season.” “That was a good video, until the end when it got sad.” Thanks Bug. “I think, I just had a think” See February’s smart. “I’m in a weird situation” Love that line. “Bug is a BUG!? I DON’T BELIEVE IT” Oh Junior. Dylan’s insulted face at “I am not... a dumbass.”  So I can’t tell if Brian forgets he’s trapped when he moves his arms into a more relaxed position to lean on the column and then puts them back, or if it’s purposefully staged that way. Brian’s acting while he pretends to be shy and embarrassed about his evil plan is amazing and adorable. Brian has a good evil laugh, why don’t we get him as a villain more often? Also I was gonna make some sort of joke about Nick as Pincer’s left claw vs. Robert as Snarl’s left paw, but I’ll leave it be.

I FORGOT ABOUT THAT WEIGHT TAZ WAS LIFTING JUST FLOATING UP TO THE SKY WHEN SHE LETS GO. I just laughed out loud. “Damn that G.L.E.E. They’re always making twisted abominations of everything!!” I cannot handle it. And the wink. Poor Darren but also not poor Darren at all. I was just now WRACKING my mind for who could possibly be playing Pincer’s tail if JoMo was being devoured by mosquitos. It’s Brant. Literally the entire cast is currently onstage. Ok Krayonder’s been getting his blood drained for 3 minutes, why is he alive? OH I FORGOT KRAYONDER GETS UP AND SHOOTS THE BUGS. Ok and he gets chopped by Pincer’s claws too so HOW does he survive? StarKid answer!!! I forgot how dramatic this musical gets when you got both the bugs and MegaGirl coming after the humans. Aww the Vulcan salute from Specs. “I changed my name. To Tootsie... MegaGirl.” I love the reactions of the people in the audience who immediately realize what that means. I hear at least one “oh my god” that sounds like sobbing. Awwwww Tootsie’s “that’s real” speech and “I’d love you if you was the horse that ate my cousin.” (#3) just... get yourself a man like Tootsie MegaGirl. He is perfection. God the downloading love scene is so cute. I can’t handle it.

The Up saving Taz scene is so dramatic. Then Brian and Jim just calmly walk offstage. It kills me. Also why did Jaime just continue to lie there? “I just needed to learn how to kill with my heart.” Not exactly what Bug meant, but it works. God Taz climbing onto Up’s back is still the most hilarious thing ever. Whoever thought of her climbing that way was a genius. So funny. I always wanted to try it. Holding the gun up to her head like a blowdryer always gave me anxiety. Making the door out of a scrim that can be backlit was genius. Oof and bringing back “The needs of the many bugs outweigh the needs of the few bugs. Or the one bug.” just hurts. Poor Bug. My heart. This is probably the line that sticks with me to this day and I do think about sometimes.

Ok it’s now 2am and I still have 2 more parts.

I sorta love that Joey didn’t have the time to change into his blacks so he’s still in the Starship Ranger suit while playing the Bug puppet. “Save the Overqueen. I love her.” Awww. “Roach, I’m gonna get the job done if it’s the second last thing I do.” Love it. That Kick It Up A Notch Reprise though. Brian, you should play villains more often. Also remember all of us being like “LUPIN CAN SING?!?!?!??!!” “Lucky for me, God is dead. When you see him in hell, tell him Junior sent you.” Deadgod I love that line. This whole deadgod thing was just leading up to that amazing line. Oh no Bugette! Bug saying “maestro” oh my god. “DFSDSJFDSJKFDS... I’m dead.” I forgot that part! Oh my god the way Brian flicks the glasses back down on his face. Ok so I saw Lauren wiggle her way behind the mucus sac, but I didn’t see Nick come onstage. I rewinded, and I guess the zoom in shots on Brian and Joey were timed so we can’t see Nick join Lauren to be the first larva to come out. Oh well. And I love the crowd cheering as Junior dies. “And bingo was his name-o” That callback though. I forgot that the Overqueen eats Bugette’s body while crying. “Or Bugette! Oh...” Also god Roach is adorable.

Last part. 2:21am. Here we go. Krayonder got his blood sucked out by giant mosquitos and was cut up by a giant scorpion, but all he needs is a bandage around his head. Awwww the soft “I Wanna Be” playing the background as Bug begs the team to accept his bug form. Bug being so mad “It’s that bastard Pincer isn’t it?” and then being so happy that Joey does the little nose scrunch thing. So cute. JOEY’S FACE WHEN DENISE KISSES THE BUG PUPPET. Cannot believe I forgot that until 2 seconds before it happened too. “I now pronounce you man vs. machine. Fight!” WOAH. Why in the WORLD did “eep op ork ahah” come back to me. I was able to say it WITH Joey. That was straight from the DEPTHS of my teenage brain oh my god. I forgot about that oh my GOD. THAT’S INSANE. I FORGOT SO MUCH STUFF BUT I REMEMBERED HOW TO SAY “I LOVE YOU” IN BUG.

And the Beauty reprise.

God I love this musical. It’s still my fave StarKid show I think. And I’m horrified to see that it has only 500K views for the last part, so only 500K people have watched it all the way through after 10 years. That’s disgraceful. It’s amazing. Watch Starship.

It is 2:32am. I started at 8:50pm. Got sidetracked when I had to rewatch the Beauty part of Act 2 again to make sure I got my notes back in the post. Took a few bathroom breaks. But this is mostly because I paused every like 10 seconds to make a comment, so it took 5 and a half hours to watch a 3 hour musical. This why I take forever to watch things while liveblogging. I take too long to writing notes.

I’ll probably just post this in the morning. Gotta proofread for mistakes before posting.

Ok it’s the next afternoon. This post is literally 5,000+ words and takes 20 minutes to read according to a online word counter. I’m sorry to whoever read this entire thing. Your reward is the pictures of the Starship plushies I crocheted when I was 15 and 16.

(Ignore the bad lighting and my horribly chipped paint. That’s the only picture I have of the Bugette one since I gave it to Lauren Lopez a day later. I started making another for myself shortly after but never finished. Maybe I should finally finish the second one... hmm...)

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 8.22

392 – Arbogast has Eugenius elected Western Roman Emperor. 851 – Battle of Jengland: Erispoe defeats Charles the Bald near the Breton town of Jengland. 1138 – Battle of the Standard between Scotland and England. 1485 – The Battle of Bosworth Field, the death of Richard III and the end of the House of Plantagenet. 1559 – Bartolomé Carranza, Spanish archbishop, is arrested for heresy. 1614 – Fettmilch Uprising: Jews are expelled from Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, following the plundering of the Judengasse. 1639 – Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers. 1642 – Charles I raises his standard in Nottingham, which marks the beginning of the English Civil War. 1654 – Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam. He is the first known Jewish immigrant to America. 1711 – Britain's Quebec Expedition loses eight ships and almost nine hundred soldiers, sailors and women to rocks at Pointe-aux-Anglais. 1717 – Spanish troops land on Sardinia. 1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, and claims the east coast of Australia for Britain as New South Wales. 1777 – British forces abandon the Siege of Fort Stanwix after hearing rumors of Continental Army reinforcements. 1780 – James Cook's ship HMS Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage). 1791 – Beginning of the Haitian Slave Revolution in Saint-Domingue, Haiti. 1798 – French troops land at Kilcummin, County Mayo, Ireland to aid the rebellion. 1827 – José de la Mar becomes President of Peru. 1846 – The Second Federal Republic of Mexico is established. 1849 – The first air raid in history. Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice. 1851 – The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America. 1864 – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention, establishing the rules of protection of the victims of armed conflicts. 1875 – The Treaty of Saint Petersburg between Japan and Russia is ratified, providing for the exchange of Sakhalin for the Kuril Islands. 1894 – Mahatma Gandhi forms the Natal Indian Congress (NIC) in order to fight discrimination against Indian traders in Natal. 1902 – Cadillac Motor Company is founded. 1902 – Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first President of the United States to make a public appearance in an automobile. 1902 – At least 4,000 people are killed by the 1902 Turkestan earthquake in the Tien Shan mountains. 1922 – Michael Collins, Commander-in-chief of the Irish Free State Army, is shot dead in an ambush during the Irish Civil War. 1934 – Bill Woodfull of Australia becomes the only test cricket captain to twice regain The Ashes. 1941 – World War II: German troops begin the Siege of Leningrad. 1942 – Brazil declares war on Germany, Japan and Italy. 1944 – World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German forces. 1949 – The Queen Charlotte earthquake is Canada's strongest since the 1700 Cascadia earthquake. 1953 – The penal colony on Devil's Island is permanently closed. 1962 – The OAS attempts to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle. 1963 – X-15 Flight 91 reaches the highest altitude of the X-15 program (107.96 km (67.08 mi) (354,200 feet)). 1966 – Labor movements NFWA and AWOC merge to become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee (UFWOC), predecessor of the United Farm Workers. 1968 – Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogotá, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America. 1971 – J. Edgar Hoover and John Mitchell announce the arrest of 20 of the Camden 28. 1972 – Rhodesia is expelled by the IOC for its racist policies. 1973 – The Congress of Chile votes in favour of a resolution condemning President Salvador Allende's government and demands that he resign or else be unseated through force and new elections. 1978 – Nicaraguan Revolution: The FLSN seizes the National Congress of Nicaragua, along with over a thousand hostages. 1978 – The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment is passed by the U.S. Congress, although it is never ratified by a sufficient number of states. 1981 – Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes in Sanyi Township, Miaoli County, Taiwan. All 110 people on board are killed. 1985 – British Airtours Flight 28M suffers an engine fire during takeoff at Manchester Airport. The pilots abort but due to inefficient evacuation procedures 55 people are killed, mostly from smoke inhalation. 1989 – Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5,000 strikeouts. 1991 – Iceland is the first nation in the world to recognize the independence of the Baltic states. 1992 – FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shoots and kills Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. 2003 – Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building. 2004 – Versions of The Scream and Madonna, two paintings by Edvard Munch, are stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway. 2006 – Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes near the Russian border over eastern Ukraine, killing all 170 people on board. 2006 – Grigori Perelman is awarded the Fields Medal for his proof of the Poincaré conjecture in mathematics but refuses to accept the medal. 2007 – The Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 30–3, the most runs scored by a team in modern Major League Baseball history. 2012 – Ethnic clashes over grazing rights for cattle in Kenya's Tana River District result in more than 52 deaths.

[araluenrangerdanger]

Karate club AU

Modern AU

The club's called Ranger corps. Naturally

The Rangers have all black or brown belts, except for the apprentices. They must pass their exams first (each year they can complete two exams, most wait a year or two between their exams)

There are two instructors - Halt and Crowley. The club is their passion but they also maintain normal jobs and the club is just their side-hobby

Halt is the knowledgeable and grumpy type of instructor who is hard on the trainees but is secretly just a big softie who downloads funny videos to show them to whoever asks during summer camps. He also works in computer programming.

Crowley is the clown instructor, kind but can and will hurt you if you’re doing what you’re not supposed to do. He’s also a teacher in a kindergarten 

Breaking wooden plates with their palms. Halt explains how to do it correctly, but Will still does it badly. He has a nasty bruise for the next two weeks. 

Sometimes they have kendo lessons taught by Gilan who used to be in a kendo club but then transferred. 

Before every holiday, Halt and Crowley do a less serious lesson. They get nunchakus, skipping ropes, candles and newspaper. With nunchakus, everybody smacks themselves at first, but eventually there are members who get really good at it. For the older members, it’s not difficult to put out a lit candle, but it’s hard as hell for the apprentices. Also, piercing newspaper with just your palm isn’t as easy as it sounds.

The club members regularly participate in competitions. The Temujai and Skandia clubs can never learn their lesson, it seems. 

Every summer, there’s a two-week training camp. Crowley always orders T-shirts in a color that everyone votes for every year (they all have yellow, pink, white, blue, green T-shirts etc.) and everyone wears them proudly. 

SUMMER CAMP

There are a lot of activities during the training camp. Physical activities, puzzles where you have to use your brain,... 

Every night, the club members keep watch. They do this in pairs, but it mainly consists of them going around their designated area once in a while, otherwise they keep to a cabin that’s in the very center of the camp. Halt and Crowley always get snacks during the day, the last wave of snacks comes after dinner, and the members who keep watch can eat them

Usually, it’s one sandwich = one karate club member, but Gilan and Will are both able to wolf down 4 of these sandwiches each.

There is a “path of courage”. In the darkness of the night, the members have to go some 2 kilometers to a designated area (usually just a memorial deep in the forest) and along the way, other members jump out to scare them. They wear masks or disguises and many of the younger members actually return back to the camp where Halt is waiting and he will go to the memorial with them. 

Gilan always goes with Will. He’s not scared of the “ghosts”. Gilan is the one who scares THEM. If the “ghost” screams at him, Gilan will scream harder. All the other members who are on the path are just like: “This is really a hunted forest.”

There is a whipped cream fight near the end of each camp. They all get whipped cream and fill some balloons with water. It’s absolute chaos. Halt never participates, he records it on a camera so he can put it on the club’s website, but Crowley enjoys it immensely. 

They play a game of “smuggling”. The club members get on two teams. One team is the police, one is the smugglers. Halt gives five little cards that symbolize drugs to each of the smugglers and they have to hide them in their clothes, hair, wherever. They then set off to a forest where they hide. 

The police are trying to find them. If they find someone, they are looking for the cards. The winning team is determined by the number of cards they manage to get back to Halt. The losing team has to run 3 kilometers in the morning. Another night, the roles reverse. 

Will wouldn’t have been caught by Liam if Gilan didn’t hide in some drain. He saw a snake and screamed. That’s how Liam found them, but Will was still able to secure a victory for his team with the three cards Liam didn’t find.  

When Halt and Crowley had had enough of members not listening to them and watching their mobile phones instead, they take the phones and let the members (mainly apprentices, the adults have a little more common sense) write a really long sentence about how they shouldn’t leave their magnificent, amazing, and wonderful phone unattended and definitely shouldn’t watch cat videos on it during practices, 50 times. They don’t get their phones back until after they’ve written it. 

There’s also karate things. Competition in katas and kumite (training against an adversary). Will is really afraid to go against Harrison, one of the older members, but Alun, also one of the older members, tells him that he should push Harrison to the corners of the training field. Since Will is so young and small, Harrison will underestimate him. Will nods and tries. He still loses, but gets praising pats on his back for the next two days. 

There’s a campfire one night where they roast sausages and tell stories

Will gets hurt jumping on a trampoline. Halt takes him to the hospital. 

Doctor: this type of injury usually happens if there are two or more children jumping simultaneously on the trampoline. Well, Will, how many of you were there? 

Will: Fifteen, probably.

Halt just grins under his hoodie. The doctor needs a few minutes to get over this revelation 

During the last night of the camp, Halt and Crowley wake up all members in the middle of the night, they go practice some katas and then they jump into a swimming pool. In their kimonos. It’s fun

[fancyfade]

[image: a comic panel showing Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, and Dick Grayson in a car. Dick is wearing the suit he used to parachute from the stratosphere, tim is wearing a white shirt and brown jacket, and alfred has goggles, a grey jacket, and beret. Alfred is driving, Dick is in the passenger seat, and Tim is in the back. dick is smiling and holding a pendant that says “Space ranger #1″ and Tim is grinning as he pumps his fist and says “You broke four world records, Buss! The free fall altitude record, the human balloon flight altitude record, the longest free fall and the fastest free fall -- what’s next, dick grayson?” end image]

mostly posting this to document a) dick jumped from space like he wanted to (think it was 25 miles up)

and b) someone got him that space ranger amulet which seemed charming. or who knows, maybe he gifted it to himself

[radioeuroextasis]

Ane Brun - Hand In The Fire

Diez años después de marcar su primera década como artista discográfica con el lanzamiento de SONGS 2003-13, la distinguida y platino ANE BRUN ha anunciado el lanzamiento de una nueva canción, 'HAND IN THE FIRE', que se incluirá en SONGS 2013-23, una celebración de su segunda década como una de las artistas contemporáneas más condecoradas de Noruega. Al igual que la canción, la compilación de 16 pistas es lanzada por el propio sello independiente de Brun, Balloon Ranger Recordings, hoy, disponible en CD y LP, así como a través de todos los DSP. Escrito en Toscana en 2022, 'HAND IN THE FIRE' presenta a la violonchelista Linnea Olsson (colaboradora habitual de BRUN) y Samuel Starck, quien desempeñó un papel importante en After The Great Storm de 2020. y Per Eklund, quien actuó en eso y el mismo año en How Beauty Holds The Hand Of Sorrow, sin mencionar It All Starts With One de 2011. En la verdadera tradición de BRUN, la canción ofrece aliento, esta vez "a alguien que se siente incapaz de liberarse de algo que le impide alcanzar su potencial". Muestra los encantos orientales que han influido esporádicamente en otras canciones, entre ellas 'Worship', su dúo con José González en It All Starts With One de 2011, y fue mezclado y masterizado por Prash 'Engine-Earz' Mistry. La canción está acompañada por un impresionante video coreografiado con los bailarines Einar-Anton, Aas Nikkerud, Janine Koertge, Rachel McNamee y Hiroki Ichinose de la Compañía de Danza de la Ópera de Gotemburgo. Dirigida por Shruti Ganguly, una nueva amiga, cineasta, escritora y directora a quien Ane tuvo la suerte de conocer en Oslo en los primeros meses de la pandemia. "He estado ansioso por trabajar con Shruti y el video se convirtió en un proyecto perfecto para que lo hiciéramos juntos, en nuestra nueva ciudad natal, Oslo. El video no existiría sin mi experiencia con "12 Canciones" en 2023 con la Compañía de Danza de la Ópera de Gotemburgo". (Una actuación escénica para música, orquesta y danza de Kenneth Kvarnström) explica Brun. "Fue una experiencia muy especial para mí. Estaba rodeado de estos bailarines de clase mundial en el escenario, e interpreté las versiones orquestales de mi propia música al mismo tiempo que era una parte integral de la coreografía. Se convirtió en el desafío artístico más increíble de mi carrera hasta ahora. Así que cuando estábamos produciendo un video musical para la nueva canción "Hand in the Fire", quería invitar a algunos de los bailarines a expresar la complejidad interna y las emociones contrastadas de las que trata "Hand in the Fire". Quería que fueran mis tentáculos emocionales. Los bailarines y yo comenzamos el trabajo improvisando la canción en un estudio de danza en Gotemburgo, y continuamos la exploración de los movimientos mientras grabábamos el video en Oslo. La coreografía en el video es improvisada". 'HAND IN THE FIRE' ABRE SONGS 2013-23, QUE SE BASA EN LA SEGUNDA DÉCADA DE BRUN COMO UNO DE LOS ARTISTAS CONTEMPORÁNEOS MÁS CONDECORADOS DE Noruega. Con tres Grammys noruegos y dos Grammys suecos entre los múltiples premios alineados en su estantería, ha visto florecer su reputación internacional en el transcurso de los últimos diez años gracias a giras mundiales y prestigiosos conciertos, sobre todo con la Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio Sueca (que dio origen al álbum Live at Berdwardhallen de 2018, su tercera colección en vivo). También ha contribuido a múltiples bandas sonoras de películas, entre ellas una colaboración con el ganador del premio Emmy Dustin O'Halloran en Puzzle OST de 2018, ¡e incluso disfrutó de un improbable éxito Top 5 en el Reino Unido en 2015 cantando en Dr. Kucho! y 'Can't Stop Playing (Makes Me High)' de Gregor Salto, que, por cierto, ella coescribió. Y todo eso sin mencionar el sMall Matter de sus invitaciones para actuar en la Cena del Premio Nobel 2017 y la Ceremonia del Premio Nobel de la Paz 2018. Hay, es justo decirlo, mucho que celebrar. La voz pura y seráfica de BRUN, con su aleteo tranquilo y distintivo, siempre ha sido crucial para su atractivo, su tono sugiere a alguien que no solo ha soportado su propia parte de sufrimiento, sino que también está, como declara 'Don't Run And Hide', "aquí para ti". "Creo que gran parte de mi música se trata de ser libre", dice, "ser auténtico contigo mismo, estar abierto a la vida, al amor, a experimentar todo lo que la vida puede traer, y pasar por todas sus transiciones. Se trata de lo que nos detiene, y de aceptar que la vida tiene oscuridad pero que siempre se mueve hacia la luz. Y se trata de esperanza. Mucha esperanza". Como enfatiza SONGS 2013-23, es innegable que hay algo emocionante en escuchar a un artista en la cima de su juego, especialmente uno tan dispuesto a desnudar su alma. SONGS 2013-23 sigue al lanzamiento este March of Portrayals, una colección de doce de las versiones más aclamadas de Brun. Contiene las siguientes canciones: The Hand In The Fire / Directions / Don't Run And Hide / Crumbs / Lose My Way / Take Hold Of Me / Honey / You Lit My Fire / All We Want Is Love / Trust / Hanging / Black Notebook / After The Great Storm / Closer / Fingerprints / Last Breath BRUN también ha anunciado una serie de espectáculos en toda Europa a finales de este año como parte de su gira del 20 aniversario. 22.09 HELSINKI Casa De La Cultura 27.09 ESTOCOLMO Cirkus 29.09 JÖNKÖPING Spira 30.09 MALMÖ Live Konserthus 01.10 GÖTEBORG Konserthuset 06.10 SKELLEFTEÅ Sara Kulturhus 14.10 LONDRES Shepherd's Bush Empire 17.10 BERLÍN Admiralspalast 20.10 AMBERES De Roma 21.10 PARÍS La Cigale 22.10 UTRECH Ronda 24.10 HAMBURGO Fabrik 25.10 COPENHAGUE Tienda Vega 26.10 AARHUS VoxHall 04.11 ÖREBRO Konserthuset 05.11 UPPSALA UKK 08.11 BODØ Svømmehallen Escena 09.11 TROMSØ Driv 11.11 TRONDHEIM Tapperiet 12.11 MOLDE Bjørnsonhuset 15.11 OSLO Sentrum Scene 16.11 OSLO Sentrum Scene 17.11 STAVANGER Konserthus 18.11 KRISTIANSAND Kilden 19.11 BERGEN Grieghallen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIbTYJtFabg   Read the full article

[welllpthisishappening]

The Period of the Long Change (3/15)

It’s quick. One second she’s standing there and everything is fine and then Emma looks up and it’s not. It’s awful. And the lights are too bright and there are too many rooms and too many opinions and her phone won’t stop ringing because everything seems to be changing all at once. She’s never been great at coping with change. But, maybe, if she can just figure it out and stay right where she is, with Killian Jones, captain of the New York Rangers, at her side, it’ll be alright.

It’s slow. One second he’s standing there and everything is fine and then Killian’s breath catches and it’s not. It’s terrifying. And the noises are too loud and there are too many questions and he can’t find the right answers to any of them, not sure how to cope with everything changing all at once. That’s never really been his forte. But, maybe, if he can just figure it out and stay right where he is, with Emma Swan, director of New York Rangers community relations, at his side, it’ll be alright.

It’s another season and another challenge and Emma and Killian are both struggling to get over the boards.

Rating: Mature Word Count: Like 8K. The explanations. They’re here. Kind of. AN: Thank you to everyone for clicking and reading this story. I really, really appreciate it a lot. Let me tell you though, trying to find Once characters that I haven’t mentioned already is becoming more and more of a challenge. If you missed it, I totally made the press release Ruby sent out because I can’t be stopped and any message I get about this story warms my whole soul. 

Also on Ao3 and FF.net and Tumblr if that’s your jam.

She couldn’t stop moving.

Emma was certain she’d walked the same path eighty-six times now, short little steps that weren’t doing much for her balance, but might have been doing something for her nerves and she felt like she was drowning a little.

Or suffocating.

Neither one of those things were particularly good options.

But the walls in that doctor’s were getting closer, she was positive, and oxygen was apparently some kind of irregular commodity on the Upper East Side that afternoon.

Suffocating.

It was definitely suffocating.

Emma took another step, spinning on her heels and marching out to a rhythm she’d apparently decided on at some point, and she kept staring at her shoes, refusing to meet Killian’s gaze because Killian had only just gotten back to the room after another round of tests and an MRI and probably a CAT scan and she didn’t know if those things were the same thing.

She should have known if those things were the same thing.

She should have asked Ariel when they got home, but Emma’s brain was clearly suffering from oxygen deprivation across the city and Matt’s eyes kept widening, like he knew far too much for a four year old and there’d been turbulence on the flight, which made Will’s eyes widen like he was also a four year old and Roland had been disappointed about leaving early and-- “--Swan,” Killian said sharply, catching her around the wrist. His thumb worked under her laces, tapping lightly on her pulse point and Emma’s shoes made an absolutely God awful noise when they skidded across the linoleum.

“You’re making me dizzy, love,” he continued. Emma narrowed her eyes.

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” “A fairly bad one, huh?”

“Terrible.”

Killian scoffed, but he didn’t let go of her and if her feet had been tracing some invisible path, then he was beating out some kind of staccato rhythm that might have matched up perfectly with her heart.

So she’d really just dissolved entirely into sentiment at this point.

And complete and utter worry.

He didn’t look bad. Really. He looked absolutely unfairly good, if Emma were being honest.

Killian had been skating well all season, not closing in on any sort of scoring record, but there’d been a fifteen-game point streak in November that garnered plenty of headlines and Regina was working on some branding deal that included commercials and Adidas endorsements and maybe specialized t-shirts or something.

It was going to be worth an absolutely incredible amount of money.

Regina’s words.

It hadn’t been perfect, but it had felt pretty damn close and they were sitting in second in the Metro on the other side of the break and Killian was sitting in another doctor’s office and Emma hadn’t taken a deep breath in the last seventy-two hours.

They had a game the next night.

She still hadn’t really been paying attention to her phone.

“You’ve got to tell me what you’re thinking, Swan,” Killian muttered, like he couldn’t bring himself to make his voice any louder. His thumb must have had a mind of its own.

“Way too many things,” Emma admitted. “Do you know what the differences between a CAT Scan and an MRI are?” “Aren’t they the same thing?” “Shouldn’t you know?” Killian shook his head slowly, lower lip jutted out slightly and Emma wondered if there was some kind of mass production for whatever tissue paper they put on examination tables. “I really don’t think that’s in my wheelhouse of knowledge.” “Did they tell you what they just did?”

“I believe that was an MRI.” “But you don’t know for sure?” Emma pressed. She wanted to start pacing again. Maybe she should get tested for restless leg syndrome while they were in this office.

The Rangers had brought in some neurological specialist from Tarrytown – an announcement that made Killian blanche slightly when Victor called the night before and Victor was there too and Emma half expected both Robin and Will to show up at some point, because she was leading the worried race, but they were both doing a pretty good job of tying for second.

She was surprised Will hadn’t demanded constant updates.

Emma had a few suspicions about that, but she couldn’t seem to linger on one thought for more than a few moments.

“It’s all been a bit of a blur, Swan,” Killian said, another quiet admission that was almost worse than the attempts at jokes. “But, yeah, an MRI. Something about checking…” He trailed off, lips pulled back behind his teeth and eyes staring at anything except her. His thumb didn’t stop moving.

And Emma was going to chew her tongue in half.

Or start running a marathon in that office. That probably would have been impressive.

“Checking what?” Emma asked, and she didn’t entirely appreciate the way her voice cracked over the words.

“The phrase traumatic brain injury was used several times.”

Emma was never entirely sure what sound she made. It didn’t sound entirely human. It kind of sounded like she was a balloon – and had only recently been popped.

All the air rushed out of her lungs at once, eyes widening and mouth hanging open and she was glad Killian hadn’t ever let go of her wrist, because she wasn’t confident she would have been able to stay upright otherwise.

Her knees buckled, knocking against each other painfully, and she could feel the tears in the corners of her eyes as soon as her mind processed what those three words meant in that very specific order.

She’d bit her tongue.

There was blood in her mouth.

“What the hell does that even mean?” Emma asked, but it came out more like a screech and she’d lost complete control of her limbs. She was jumping, actually jumping up and down, like she was standing on some kind of trampoline and she could see the muscles in Killian’s throat move when he swallowed.

“I don’t know,” he whispered. “But I’d imagine it’s not very good.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” “I wouldn’t do that. Not about that.” “I need you to tell me what happened,” Emma seethed, and she’d jumped from worried to furious rather quickly. Killian still couldn’t hold her gaze for more than three and a half seconds. She kept counting.

So, really, she’d lost her mind.

“With the MRI or…” “Oh my God! No, what happened in New Jersey. I need you to tell me what happened in New Jersey and why you wouldn’t...why you didn’t--”

“--Tell you?”

Emma nodded, stiff and awkward and she was still bobbing on the balls of her feet. Maybe that was where Matt got it from.

She felt like she was a live wire, with especially frayed ends, cut apart and prone to electrocution and she had so much to do before the game and explanations to send out because they’d blown off three fan events in Nashville and Zelena probably wanted to talk, but Emma hadn’t answered any of her e-mails or given Merida any kind of instruction and Ruby had been picking up so much slack, she’d have to buy something for her too and maybe she could give her and Will a joint gift and--

“Swan,” Killian cut in, nerves obvious in the sound of her own name. “You’re really making me nervous, love. Lucas is taking care of things for the time being.” Emma blinked. “How could you possibly know that?” And, really, she should have expected the smile.

She should have expected the slow curl of his lips and the flash of something that might have been amusement in his gaze, a hint of blue and want and it had been years and two kids, but he looked at her and Emma consistently and regularly melted.

Or something less disgusting.

Something more romantic.

She really needed to take that deep breath.

“Give me a little credit, love,” Killian mumbled, tugging lightly on her wrist and she moved forward without a word. “And you’re doing that thing with your nose.” “Excuse me?” “You scrunch your nose. And your eyebrows twist. You do it every time you’re trying not to show how worried you are.” “I don’t think that’s true.” “I can guarantee it.” She scrunched her nose. And probably twisted her eyebrows.

Killian chuckled under his breath, pulling her hand up and brushing his lips across her knuckles. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, not bothering to move his mouth away from her skin. “I didn’t think…” “Yeah, that seems kind of obvious,” Emma interrupted.

“That’s fair.” “What happened?” Her voice cracked again, eyelids fluttering shut so she didn’t do something absolutely absurd like start to cry when Killian looked vaguely terrified she was going to scream again, and Emma’s live wire had, effectively, fizzled out.

She had no idea what kind of metaphor she was trying to make anymore.

And she should have known something was wrong.

She should have known him.

Maybe terror and worry and anger were all just synonyms for guilt.

“It didn’t before,” Killian said, grinning slightly when Emma’s eyes snapped open. “The, uh, the passing out thing. That didn’t happen before.” “You should mention the mind reading thing to the doctor whenever she decides to show up again. It’s pretty impressive, honestly. Maybe that’s a sign you aren’t concussed.” “I think that’s what the MRI was for.” “You’re really heinous at telling this story.”

“That’s because it’s a pretty shit story.” “From the top, Jones.”

He smiled again, hair falling dangerously close to his eyebrows when he tilted his head to stare at her. He held her gaze for six seconds and, like, one solid breath before he opened his mouth.

“That hit in Jersey,” Killian started. “Was...not great. I don’t think that kid...what’s his name?” Emma rolled her eyes. “Absolute shit at storytelling. Magren. His name is Magren and he’s not a kid. You’re just old.” “He’s barely been in the league for three years.” “The fact that you just used that sentence at all proves my point.” Killian huffed, but he’d never actually let go of Emma’s hand and she might have been counting that too or counting on that and this doctor had clearly fallen in a black hole somewhere. Maybe that’s where all the oxygen went.

“Anyway,” Killian said pointedly. “He came in, way too fast and shoulder lowered and I think he kind of messed up my calf too because that bruise lasted for, like, a week and a half.” Emma glared at him, trying to pull her hand back to her side, but she didn’t want him to rip her laces and Killian’s grip tightened.

“You know all of this,” he muttered. “Magren got the boarding penalty and they made me come off the ice and they brought me back to the locker room to do tests. But, uh, well, I told them not to. And Victor wasn’t around yet. He would have killed me if he knew.” “That’s the part I don’t understand,” Emma said. “Why wouldn’t you want to get the test? And how did they just let that happen? That’s not how the league operates. There’s--” “--Protocol, I know.” Emma nodded, not sure she could say anything else without yelling it. “They didn’t let you back on the ice though.” “That was a precaution. They didn’t think I was concussed. I was still coherent and cognizant and answered a few questions.” “But?” “But,” Killian repeated slowly. “It hurt like hell and I was honestly a little worried about the state of my neck after getting slammed into the glass like that.” “That’s not an answer.” The words came out like an accusation, sharp and a little aggressive and Emma had to keep blinking. She could hear her phone vibrating somewhere.

Killian sighed, an absolutely ridiculous display of right arm strength when he pulled her closer to him. He ripped the tissue paper, sliding to the end of the table and Emma had moved in between his legs before she’d realized what was going on.

She didn’t argue.

He kept one hand laced with hers, thumb, somehow, still moving and tracing out a pattern she was almost convinced he could see at this point, but his left hand landed on her cheek and Emma could just make out the glint of light reflecting of his ring.

She’d put it back on on the plane the morning before, quiet smiles and nervous gazes and she’d been convinced her heart was going to hammer out of her chest in the moment.

That probably would have fucked with the air pressure in the cabin or something.

Will wouldn’t have been able to cope with that.

“I didn’t want an MRI,” Killian said. “They checked some things. An MRI would have just been overkill or something that doesn’t sound as absolutely terrible as that word in this situation. I’ve been hit before. I’ve been concussed before. It didn’t feel like that.” “What did it feel like?” He shrugged. “Like shit,” he laughed, but there wasn’t much humor to the sound and Emma’s pulse thudded in her ears.

It drowned out her phone. She kind of appreciated that. She was going to have to buy Merida the biggest gift of all for dealing with everything.

Hopefully.

If Ruby gave her the right instructions.

God, Casino Night was in three weeks.

“And the training staff in Jersey was just cool with that?” Emma asked, well aware of the disbelief in the question. Killian shrugged again. “They don’t have to worry about Ariel killing them. I’m going to lead the charge. With pitchforks, maybe.” “I think you might have to get those special ordered.”

“You’re not nearly as funny as you think you are.” “I realize that.” “Ok, ok,” Emma said, waving her free hand through the air. “Let me get this straight. You get hit, you think maybe it’s a concussion, and you don’t want the MRI because…” Killian didn’t answer immediately, tongue flashing between his lips, and he closed his eyes before he said anything. “Because we’ve been winning, Swan,” he whispered. “We’ve been playing well and Gina’s got all this stuff set up and Mattie hadn’t stopped talking about that one goal for days.” “It was a good goal.” And it was. Really. Between his legs and around two defenders and that had made SportsCenter too, which really just seemed unfair now, but both Matt and Roland had tried to recreate the move in the back corner of the restaurant for most of December.

They cracked a chair leg in the process.

“Exactly,” Killian said, one side of his mouth tugging up. “I didn’t want it to be a concussion. I didn’t want it to be anything, honestly.” “Did you try and go out for the third?”

He nodded. “They put their foot down on that one. Victor too, once he finally got back into the training room.” “And where was he this whole time?” “That’s a question for the ages, but I think he was dealing with something from in between the second and the third. Sean hurt his knee blocking a shot or something.” “All he’s good for,” Emma mumbled, and Killian laughed under his breath. “Alright, alright, so they didn’t let you out for the third, but they didn’t make you get an MRI or anything more than the, literal, most basic injury checks and no one confirmed whether or not it was actually a concussion then?” “All caught up to speed, Swan.”

“That’s ridiculous.” “Me or them?” “Both of you,” Emma said almost immediately. “Equally and separately. The NHL doesn’t do that, though. If they believed you might have been...there’s protocol.” “Eh,” Killian contradicted, and Emma resisted the urge to smack his shoulder. He might have been concussed. He was definitely concussed. “Yes, there’s concussion protocol and rules and a whole schedule of things they’re supposed to do. But I was ok when they saw me. Not wobbling or slurred or anything. They checked some things. That was enough. All signs pointed to absolutely, positively normal.” “But you had suspicions?”

Killian winced, and Emma didn’t think he meant to squeeze her hand like that. “I had concerns,” he amended. “And some decidedly painful memories that I didn’t want to dredge up for anyone.”

Emma blinked, confusion rattling down her spine, and she hadn’t really slept much in the last week, was far too preoccupied with All-Star events and Casino Night prep and there was a trade deadline in there somewhere too, and the few hours of uninterrupted rest with her kid’s right knee in her liver had been the best she’d had in far too long.

So, really, she could almost rationalize it.

And then she realized.

And she couldn’t rationalize anything.

Because she should have known. From the very moment Killian got hit.

“Oh shit,” she breathed, and, that time, she was the one who squeezed his hand. “It’s not the same, Killian. It’s not.” “That’s true. No one hit me in the back of the head with a slap shot.” “Killian.” “I know, Swan, I know, but it’s a, uh, sore subject.” “Was that another joke?” “Not intentionally.” She scoffed, but his eyes were distractingly blue and staring at her like he was imploring her to understand and she should have known. “And you’re you,” Emma added, a rueful tone in her voice that might have been how obvious it was that Killian Jones was the entire goddamn face of the league. “If you told them you didn’t want the MRI or the CT Scan or whatever you’re supposed to get, no one’s going to argue with you.” “I don’t think I have that kind of clout, Swan.” “And yet here we are.”

He hummed, thumb brushing over the back of her palm and the ridges of her knuckles, lingering just under her ring. The whole thing was kind of ridiculous and a little heavy-handed, but Emma was still surprised she wasn’t crying, so really, the whole thing kind of made sense too.

“Not every concussion is the same,” Emma said. “You know that right?” “Yeah.” “Once more with feeling.” Killian rolled his eyes, tongue pressed into the corner of his lips, and Emma wasn’t sure how much more her body could take, bouncing between emotions like she was the puck in some kind of elaborate passing drill.

God, that was an absolutely terrible metaphor.

“I thought it would be fine,” Killian muttered, and his fingers moved away from her cheek to trace along the curve of her shoulder and the blazer she had on because she did, eventually, have to go back to the office and probably provide Merida with several IVs of the caffeinated beverage of her choice.

“I feel like repeating myself is just kind of redundant at this point.” “If I say I’m sorry again is that also redundant?” Emma shook her head. “Not really. But you said the headaches started the very next day.” “That’s because they did. I didn’t lie about that, Swan.” “Pulling at straws,” she mumbled, the words tumbling out of her without her express opinion, which, all things considered, was completely unfair, but Emma kept pressing up on her toes and falling back on her heels and there were tears on her cheeks.

“I was fine.” “No,” Emma objected. Her hair hit her face when she shook her head again, twisting her neck quickly and, maybe, a little violently, but she was experiencing every single human emotion at once and she couldn’t really handle the look on Killian’s face.

Like the entire world was falling apart.

Or the ice was melting.

She’d circled right back around to drowning.

“No” she repeated. “You weren’t. You...you were acting like you were fine and ignoring something that could…” She couldn’t finish, the words getting stuck in her throat and that was probably for the best because Emma couldn’t give a voice to the worry and the ideas and her lips felt dry.

She was breathing through her mouth.

“Emma--” “--No, no, no,” she snapped. “That can’t be how this works. I...I watched you collapse on the ice, Killian. You were there and then you weren’t and I’m just supposed to be ok?” “No,” he said. “No, you’re not.” “Why didn’t you tell me about the headaches?” “Because I could still play. I was still scoring and we were still winning and then All-Star noms came out and Mattie was so excited and you were so excited and we were…”

He didn’t finish.

Emma wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

Probably bad.

This whole, entire thing felt incredibly bad.

The door opened, a woman and a white coat and a clipboard that looked official, and Killian’s arm wrapped around Emma’s waist. She felt him kiss her shoulder blade through her blazer.

“Mr. Jones,” the doctor said, flashing a smile and Emma couldn’t remember her name. Ruby had definitely told her. But that was in between schedules and plans and they needed to do something about that one roulette table that had, somehow, sustained water damage in storage.

Emma despised the entire state of New Jersey.

The doctor’s name was Tocorro. Her last name, at least. Emma didn’t try to remember her first name.

“Mrs. Jones,” Tocorro continued, still smiling and her teeth were almost blindingly white. There was probably a medical reason for that. “From what Dr. Whale has told me, we’re dealing with the lingering effects of concussion-like symptoms.” Emma swallowed, biting back several scathing retorts that were as far away from professional as she’d been acting since they left Nashville. She nodded instead. “We think the concussion might have been misdiagnosed,” she said, and she could feel Killian inhale behind her.

The tissue paper was in shred by now.

“Yes, that certainly does seem to be the case, doesn’t it?” Tocorro asked. There was a forced brightness to her voice, a sound that didn’t ring quite true and set Emma’s teeth on edge. “It’s unfortunate, but it does happen sometimes.” “Does it?” Tocorro shrugged, hooking her foot around a stool. “The NHL does its best to monitor head trauma, but there are some cases when things do fall through the cracks. There is, of course, human error to consider. “

If Emma never heard the word trauma again, it would be far too soon.

“What does any of that mean?” Emma asked sharply, and Tocorro stared at her like she was asking to be let into Fort Knox and possibly on the next trip to the Moon. She tried not to blink.

There were still tear stains on her cheek.

“It means that there are signs here that there was, in fact, a concussion and it went undiagnosed. For more than a month now.” “And?” “Swan,” Killian mumbled, but she was already shaking her head and ignoring whatever her pulse was doing and maybe she’d run back to the Garden. She didn’t have the right shoes for that.

The door opened again.

It was going to fly off the goddamn hinges.

Victor looked a little embarrassed, shuffling into the room with his eyes on the ground and a goddamn stethoscope around his neck, like he was playing dress up, but Ariel was a flash of red hair and almost palpable rage and she didn’t shy away from smacking at Killian’s shoulder.

“Are you kidding me, Cap?” “You’re going to have to be more specific than that, Red.” Ariel scowled, mouth twisted into something that looked a hell of a lot like disdain and felt a hell of lot like the several thousand emotions coursing through Emma’s veins. “You know Anna called me. Several times.” “I think she’s going down a list.” “Should I be offended that I’m not further up the list?” Killian made a contradictory noise, ignoring whatever Tocorro and Victor were mumbling about on the other side of the room. “I don’t think she’s playing favorites. Did Liam e-mail you?” “Yeah, was that weird? He knows he can communicate with me verbally, right?” “I’m not sure he wanted to actually say those words out loud.” “Ah, yeah, that makes sense,” Ariel muttered, exhaling loudly when her eyes flickered towards Emma. “Hey,” she added. “Ruby’s on several different war paths right now, so you don’t have to worry about anything. At least hockey-related. Well--”

“--Red,” Killian warned, but she brushed him off and for as much as she’d moved before, Emma suddenly felt as if she were rooted to the spot and possibly made of marble.

She needed to call David back.

He’d left several very detailed voicemails on her phone that morning.

After he promised to pick Matt up from pre-school. Mary Margaret was going to get Peggy from daycare. Emma needed to make a list of all the gifts she had to buy.

“Shut up, Cap,” Ariel hissed, not taking her gaze off Emma. “I’m pretty positive between you, me, Ruby and Regina we could get those Jersey guys fired. Regina is already in full-on research mode.” “Research,” Emma echoed. “About what?” “Malpractice or something. She’s determined to get someone’s license revoked. I think it’s a matter of pride at this point.” “That’s dedication.” “Yeah, well, she’s pissed at Cap.” Emma nodded, more words and feelings getting stuck in her throat and settling in the pit of her stomach and Killian’s arm sounded like several enormous rock slides when it fell back to his side.”I’m thinking we should all get membership cards to that particular club at some point,” Ariel continued, a glint in her eyes when her mouth twisted again and Emma let out a noise that might have been a laugh, but might have just also been exhaustion and she hadn’t eaten all day.

She’d honestly forgotten to eat.

“Alright, Cap,” Victor said brusquely, and Emma reached back for Killian’s hand before she could think of all the reasons she shouldn’t or didn’t want to and there weren’t many of those second ones. His fingers laced through hers immediately.

“Yeah,” Killian said warily.

“We’ve got test results back.” “I figured that would happen at some point.” “Killian,” Ariel chastised, but he didn’t look at her, just ignored the real name and kept staring at Victor like he was waiting to hear his career was over.

Emma counted heartbeats.

There were way too many.

She was sure.

She wasn’t a doctor.

Killian squeezed her hand.

“You should have said something, Cap,” Victor said. “It’s...that was incredibly stupid.” “Did Anna call you too?” “Yes, several times on Saturday night. Both she and Regina threatened to sue me as well, but then Regina remembered we’re all on the same team, literally and figuratively and--” “--Fucking hell, Victor,” Emma yelled, and several pairs of slightly stunned eyes snapped her direction. Killian didn’t let go of her hand. “No one is threatening your medical practice. You work for an NHL team! Get to the goddamn point!”

Victor blinked, exactly, six times, head tilted slightly and a vaguely impressed smile on his face as Emma’s shoulders heaved. “Sure thing, Emma,” he grinned. “Cap was concussed in Jersey. Not bad, borderline, really, but if they’d done an MRI they would have seen.” “Seen what?” “I’m getting there, Emma.” “Get there faster.”

He held up both hands, and she was going to strangle him with his stupid, fucking stethoscope. “At first I was worried it was a brain bruise, but--” “--What?”

“Emma, seriously, this is not going to work if you keep shouting things at me.”

She rolled her eyes, and stuck out her tongue, God, but she couldn’t actually curse Victor to several different hells and the neurologist, specialist, whatever looked a little stunned by whatever was happening in front of her.

“Come here, love,” Killian muttered, pulling lightly on the back of her blazer and it suddenly felt very hot in that office.

Ariel was texting.

Anna probably demanded updates.

“I don’t need to be coddled,” Emma growled, not turning around, but he really was absurdly strong. And she wasn’t sure how much longer her legs would continue to function like actual parts of her body.

“Yeah, well, maybe I do,” Killian said. His hand found its way over her shirt, moving over the ridge of her spine, and Victor didn’t object when Emma moved onto the table next to him, knees bumping and feet dangling a few inches over the floor.

“Keep going, Victor,” Ariel mumbled, not taking her eyes away from her phone. “It’s really not the worst thing in the world, Cap. You’re just an idiot.” Killian scowled. “That appears to be the general consensus, yes.”

“Are we all done now?” Victor asked, exasperation clinging to every letter. “Because I’m sure Dr. Tocorro would love to get out of the city before she has to deal with traffic.” “It’s three in the afternoon, Victor.” “And,” Ariel added. “You’re going to hit traffic no matter what you do. It’s New York. Don’t argue with Gina like that when she tries to take your medical license, you’ll lose that fight.”

Tocorro’s mouth was practically on the floor.

Emma sighed. “It’s not a...God, brain bruise is almost worse than traumatic brain injury isn’t it?” “That’s the general term for all concussions,” Victor mumbled. “I need you not to say anymore words, Dr. Whale.” He saluted. And Tocorro closed her mouth. Before opening it again. To agree that traumatic brain injury was, in fact, the general term for all concussions.

“I was worried, because of the headaches and the spotty vision,” Tocorro started, eyes widening when Emma’s head jerked towards Killian. He tried to smile. It absolutely didn’t work. “The  occasional spotty vision,” Tocorro amended. “That we were dealing with a brain bruise of sorts, which is certainly very serious, but the MRI didn’t show that.”

“Which is good, right?” Emma asked, the question sounding dumb even to her own ears. “Decidedly. But there is a reason Mr. Jones lost consciousness the other day.” Emma waited for the explanation, doing her best not to be too frustrated that this specialist seemed to thrive on a bit of drama and Ariel’s nails were going to drive her insane.

“Which is?”

“Post-concussion syndrome and nerve damage. Basically the nerves have been structurally damaged and they’re kind of firing at nothing now. That’s why the headaches keep happening. If the concussion had been treated, we probably would have been able to prevent this.” Emma was glad she was sitting on slightly torn up tissue paper. She felt her body sag forward, several different weights and emotions landing with what she was sure was an audible thump in her stomach, and she knew Killian shifted before she heard him, a soft rip and creak of the table and his lips were soft against her cheek.

There were tears there again.

“Which means what exactly?” Emma asked, the question shaking its way out of her.

“It means that Mr. Jones suffered a concussion in that game, but it was left untreated and, coupled with still playing, the damage only worsened over the last five weeks or so. That’s why the headaches haven’t disappeared and things took a turn for the worse this past weekend.” “Yeah, you can say that.” “This isn’t as bad as it could be.”

Emma scoffed, and she wished her shoulders would stop moving before she was entirely prepared for it. It hurt. Everything hurt.

Melodramatic idiot.

She was still crying.

“What’s as bad as it could be?” Emma asked. Victor clicked his tongue, but his lips twitched when she turned towards him, and Emma could almost hear her own glare.

“No bruising, no lingering damage to the actual skull, no internal bleeding.” “What?” “Emma. The yelling.”

She was only slightly worried her face was going to get stuck that way. “You know you really suck at this Victor,” Ariel muttered, finally stuffing her phone in her back pocket and resting both her hands on Emma’s shoulders.

It was a weird twist of limbs – Killian hadn’t moved an inch, didn’t appear to be breathing that much, honestly, but his arm was pressed flush against Emma’s and he didn’t pull away when Ariel tried to join whatever triangle of human they were apparently building there.

“If this had been diagnosed immediately, Cap would have sat for a couple of games, maybe missed a road trip or two, at most,” Ariel started, and Emma tried not to wither under the scrutiny of her gaze. “But it wasn’t and no one pushed for more tests or keeping Cap off the ice.” “They’d have to drag him off,” Emma mumbled. “I think our combined strength might be able to accomplish that. You know that adrenaline kick? Like people lift trucks. I bet we could do it. And El would totally chip in.” “I’m sitting right here,” Killian grumbled. Ariel grinned. And Emma almost felt better.

“I know you are, Cap, but if you think that’s going to make much of a difference, you’ve got another thing coming.” “So what happens now?” Emma muttered, and eventually, she was sure, she’d run out of questions. Maybe when she went to sleep.

Killian sat up straighter, shoulders rolling back and chin jutted out and Emma had never seen that look before.

She’d seen worry and fear and concern, occasionally directed at her because he was a great, big overprotective idiot who had spent most of the night pacing in a hospital room when Peggy was born. She’d seen disappointment and frustration and anger because no one was more competitive than Killian Jones and no one wanted to impress his kids more.

No one wanted to win more than Killian Jones.

They’d been winning.

And he’d already seen what concussions could do to a hockey career first-hand.

“No skating,” Tocorro answered, tone clipped and professional and Victor was staring at the ground again. Ariel squeezed her eyes closed. “Nothing. No ice. No practice. No...any of it. For at least three weeks. Minimum.” “Minimum,” Killian repeated.

“Minimum. I’d lean more towards a full month, honestly. You’ve been hit since the initial injury, Mr. Jones. You’ve got to give your body some time to recover.” “But that’s just practice. Right?” “That’s no skating,” Tocorro corrected, and Emma’s eyes widened when she saw Killian all but deflate next to her. She kissed his shoulder. She couldn’t reach his lips. His whole head had drooped forward. “I didn’t say anything returning to practice.” “How long?” “Cap,” Ariel wavered, but his eyes flashed and he looked at Emma. And she realized, rather suddenly with a sinking feeling that felt a bit like several different universes ending, she’d never seen Killian hurt.

Not really.

“How long?” Killian asked again.

“No practice until mid-March, at the earliest,” Victor said. “Maybe some solo skate closer to the deadline if the symptoms don’t return.”

“Games?” “Cap.” “Games?”

Victor sighed, rocking back on his heels and stuffing his hands in his pockets. “Back by playoffs,” he shrugged. “Maybe.” “Maybe?” Killian balked, both Emma and Ariel moving to keep him from jumping off the table.

“It was misdiagnosed, Cap. We all fucked up and we should have known what was going on with you, but you should have said something about the headaches. You shouldn’t have still been playing.”

Emma didn’t mean to make whatever sound seemed to fly out of her – a mix of a groan and a scoff and her own sigh – and she felt Victor’s disbelieving stare on the back of her head. Tocorro probably wanted to study her right there.

Killian looked at her when the noise seemed to linger in the air around them, an apologetic look that was bigger than that because there’d been talk about a Cup run and possibility and he couldn’t get on the ice anymore.

Not for three weeks. At least.

“It’s not the full season,” Emma whispered, like that made a difference.

Killian’s expression didn’t change. “True.”

It was a lie. Was a pretty terrible lie, honestly, when his eyes kept darting across Emma’s face like he was looking for some guarantee that this would be fine or better or she wasn’t so disappointed she was sure she was aching with it.

She should have known.

Her phone started ringing.

There was more talking, Tocorro explaining things about the brain that Emma couldn’t even begin to understand, all the reasons it was so important to take it easy and maybe stay away from the Garden for a little while, but that was like trying to tell a bird it couldn’t fly or something equally ridiculous and maybe it was a bit like telling Matthew Jones that his dad wouldn’t be playing for several weeks because that was absolutely worse than anything else they’d done...ever.

Mary Margaret tried to get them to stay for dinner.

“It’s fine,” Emma promised, but the lie was so obvious it should have come with flashing lights and sound effects.

And she knew her smile didn’t reach her eyes the rest of the night, an absolutely devastated and exhausted four-year-old between her and Killian in the middle of their bed.

It didn’t get much better the next day either, a to-do-list that seemed to grow by the moment and a flustered assistant who, at that point, probably deserved an Edible Arrangement, like, every day of the week.

Possibly twice on Sunday.

With the chocolate add ons. Or a stuffed animal. Or something.

Emma’s desk phone kept lighting up, a mess of colors that wasn’t doing much for her blood pressure, and no one had taken care of the roulette table.

She needed to get out of her office. She needed to get downstairs because it wasn’t a press conference, per se, but there was a game that night and an announcement and the New York tabloids would have several different field days if Killian Jones wasn’t on the roster without an explanation.

“This is the explanation,” Ruby had explained earlier, and she’d brought Emma hot chocolate. And a croissant. “Cap said you didn’t eat much yesterday.” “He needs to stop gossiping,” Emma grumbled. She took the croissant anyway.

“It’s not gossip. It’s worry. Because you’ve got a million things to do and now so does he.” “That’s not true at all. He’s got negative one million things to do. Doctor’s orders.” “You know what I meant.”

Emma sighed, croissant crumbs landing on her legs, and she did know, was well aware of how little sleep Killian had gotten the night before, flat on his back with Matt curled against his side and an arm flung over his stomach and that endorsement deal had probably fallen apart.

It would after the explanation.

Emma was so busy retreating back into vaguely depressing memories, Nashville and those facts feeling like a lifetime ago, that she didn’t hear the footsteps or the knock and Mary Margaret didn’t really need to knock.

On, like, anything ever.

“Merida said you were probably still up here,” Mary Margaret said softly. She had a cup in her hand too.

“Did you and Ruby coordinate that?” Emma asked.

“Not at all, if you can believe.” “I can, actually.” Mary Margaret smiled, stepping into the office and glancing around at the not-so-small explosion of team merchandise and post-it notes. “And,” Emma continued. “I really shouldn’t be up here. I should be downstairs. Loitering.” “I don’t think it’s loitering if you’re there to support your husband. Ruby told me about the presser,” Mary Margaret explained before Emma could ask. “So, technically, we did coordinate this wave of consistent support, but not the hot chocolate onslaught.” “That sound kind of violent.” “That’s the opposite of what we’re trying to do, honestly.”

“They’re going to ask a ton of questions.” “Who?”

Emma shrugged. “Everyone. Media and probably several dozen league reps and then media again and maybe Mattie.” “Was he upset?”

“Yeah,” Emma mumbled. “But Killian was good. I mean...as good as could be expected, I guess. Explained about getting hit and getting hurt and it totally sucked, but we did ok, I think. He kind of cried himself to sleep. God, that sounds horrible when I say it like that.” “No, it doesn’t,” Mary Margaret countered, handing over the hot chocolate cup and sinking into the one chair that wasn’t filled with paperwork. “You want to tell me what’s really going on with you now, though?”

“You know. Killian’s concussed and passing out on All-Star ice and Mattie spent most of last night crying, which I think may have actually been worse than the no-skating for three weeks, minimum, decree and now Killian’s got to answer questions and Ruby’s got to release official statements and I think he actually turned off his phone at some point and, oh, shit, we didn’t tell the Vankalds.” “What?” “I haven’t...I’ve been ignoring my phone too and, can you tell David I'm sorry for not listening to any of his voicemails?” Mary Margaret’s laugh was shaky and slightly watery, but her smile was genuine and she’d gotten Emma hot chocolate. Ruby had gotten her hot chocolate. “He understands,” Mary Margaret promised.

“You guys are other level.” “We’re your friends, Emma.” “Other level.”

Mary Margaret shook her head – nose crinkled, and maybe that was where Emma learned it. And she was almost angry she hadn’t realized before. “Shouldn’t you be at school?” Emma asked. “Molding young minds or whatever?”

The silence in her office was deafening.

Almost silence – her cell phone kept making noise.

“Reese’s,” Emma pressed. “Did you blow off school to come cater to my emotions?” “It sounds absurd when you ask it like that.” “Yes or no question.” “I took a half a day,” Mary Margaret answered. “As soon as Rubes told me they were going to make an official announcement about Killian’s injury.” Emma was hopeful, eventually, she’d stop crying. But there was rapidly cooling hot chocolate on her desk and she needed to get out of her office and Mary Margaret’s hand was warm when it landed on hers.

“It’s going to be ok,” she said.

Emma shook her head. “You don’t know that. This is...he didn’t say anything, Reese’s. Almost a full month and all those games and those hits and do you think that’s why he wouldn’t drop gloves with that guy in Tampa?” “You should probably ask him that.” “He already didn’t tell me this. I thought...that’s not how we operate. Not anymore.” “I don’t think he was lying on purpose,” Mary Margaret reasoned. “And certainly not to try and hurt you. The opposite, in fact.” “I know,” Emma grumbled, twisting her laces between her fingers. “I know. And I...I almost get it. I do. Everything that happened with Liam and he’s never going to be over that, I don’t expect him to be, but this is...what if it was worse and I didn’t ever notice?”

Mary Margaret blinked. Emma bit her lip.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Emma said. She nearly knocked over hot chocolate, waving her hands through the air in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

But Mary Margaret had taken a half day and she’d offered them dinner the night before and, with the absolute exception of the professional hockey player she was married to who, at that moment was explaining everything to a media horde in front of his locker, no one knew Emma better.

“This is not your fault,” Mary Margaret said, an edge in her voice that was almost out of character. “You are not a mind reader.” “I should have known. I should have known something was wrong.” “You can’t think that.” “Too late.” “That is not how this works, Emma. You can’t blame yourself because something went wrong. Something that, by the way, is a very normal hockey injury.” “So long as it’s diagnosed the right way,” Emma argued, and she was going to miss the entire goddamn presser. She hadn’t had any of her hot chocolate. “I knew it was bad, Reese’s. I knew...the night before skills, we were in the hotel and something was wrong. He kind of wobbled and shook a little and I should have done something.”

“What could you have done?” Emma didn’t have an answer. She kept replaying that very specific question on loop, trying to come up with something, anything she could have done or said or noticed and she couldn’t come up with a single reason that didn’t make her feel like complete and utter shit.

“Something.” “You couldn’t teleport to New Jersey, Emma. You couldn’t be on the road in the last series. You probably would have gotten fined if you tried to get on the ice and stop that guy in Tampa from doing whatever he was trying to do.” Emma’s laugh grated on her ears, but she almost meant the smile on her face. “That was actually kind of funny, Reese’s.”

“He thinks the entire universe rotates around you. He doesn’t think any of this is your fault,” Mary Margaret said intently, and she’d never moved her hand. “You know he doesn’t.” “Isn’t that worse?”

Mary Margaret opened her mouth, and Emma didn’t know if she wanted the hope speech, but her cell phone vibrated almost violently and she was sure it was either Ruby or Merida wondering where she was and why she wasn’t downstairs.

It wasn’t either of them.

“Emma Swan?” a clipped voice asked on the other end, and Emma’s eyes darted to Mary Margaret out of instinct.

“Yes,” she said slowly. “Can I help you?”

“My name’s Tink Glas. I’ve been trying to get in touch with you for a few days, but you’ve been dodging my calls it seems.” “I...I’m sorry, Ms. Glas, who exactly do you work for?”

“Tink, please. And it’s understandable of course,” she said, ignoring Emma’s question completely. “What with everything that’s been going on with your husband, but I’ve heard it’s not a full-season lost, is it?” “I’m afraid you’ll have to talk to our team’s media relations department if you’re looking for a quote.”

Mary Margaret’s eyes snapped up, and Emma nearly yanked the phone away from her ear when she was met with a laugh that could only be described as fairy-esque. She might have been dreaming.

“Oh that was good,” Tink said, still laughing slightly. “And I’m certainly not looking for a quote. I’d get that from Regina if I needed it.” Emma hadn’t experienced any of those adrenaline rushes that Ariel had been talking about the day before, but she was suspicious she was at the moment, certain she could lift her desk with one hand, fueled solely on the rush of frustration moving through her. And it took, exactly, seven seconds for her mind to catch up.

“You’re the one Ruby and Gina were talking about,” Emma said, and Tink laughed again. “I don’t...if you’re not media, who do you work for and why were you trying to talk to me?”

“I work for the league.” “What?” “The league,” Tink repeated, and Emma scowled at open air. “The one that runs this whole hockey thing.” “And you want to talk to me because…”

“I’ve seen the work you’ve done in New York over the last few seasons. It’s impressive, but it’s contained. It’s focused. You could be doing so much more with a bigger audience to work for. You could be affecting the fanbase on an international level.” “I don’t understand.”

That was a lie too.

The presser was probably over by now.

“I work for a branch of the league offices in Toronto,” Tink said, like she hadn’t already said that enough already. “The league-wide community relations office to be specific. The one that tries to build the brand, to get kids on the ice, to work with Adidas to lower concussion rates in youth hockey.” Emma scoffed, but Tink wasn’t done. “And, like I said, we’ve noticed the kind of work you’ve done in New York. We think you’d be an asset a little further north.” “If I say I still don’t understand are you going to laugh at me?”

She did. Mary Margaret’s hand tightened around Emma’s.

“The reason I’ve been trying to get in touch with you,” Tink said lightly. “And even going so far as to get your personal number from Regina and try and talk to Ruby is because I’m offering you a job.”