#connor being a literal Disney princess

[howtotrainabraincell]

A Day at the Critter Shop

for @a-little-buggy the first one to ever make a request

The first thing that Desmond had thought when Connor had been transported to the future was...better left unsaid lest Connor's ears be violated again. The man of course was no stranger to strong language, but to hear such things upon his arrival on top of being disoriented and confused about where he was? Give the guy a break.

When they had realized that Connor had some way, somehow been brought to the future by Desmond's visits to the past, Desmond instantly felt guilty. He couldn't imagine how it felt to be ripped out of your own century and thrown into almost three hundred years in the future. He had of course immediately volunteered to take full responsibility for his ancestor and help him as much as possible. Though the nerd known as Shaun had wanted to pick Connor's brain to build a better psychological profile of him.

Desmond had thrown a package of pop tarts at him and told Connor to RUN.

Within a week the two had found themselves building quite an amicable relationship. They had more in common than they would have thought - having been born over two hundred years apart. The Bleeding Effect helped of course. Being someone and taking on their mannerisms certainly made it easier to understand the actual person.

The two men had a lazy slow afternoon about a week after Connor's arrival, with the colonial era assassin taking the news with some surprise but mostly ease. He had questions of course but he wasn't panicking the way Desmond had been. The. Whole. Entire. Time.

The guilt of the younger man was immense. He felt like it was his fault Connor had been misplaced in literal time. In experiencing the side effects and cons of the Bleeding effect, Desmond had however been able to offer the man some sort of comfort by speaking in his mother tongue to him. The two men were conversing in Kanien'keha:ka when Desmond got an idea. It was a bit wild because it involved taking a man from the 18th century out into the 21st century world, anything could happen and in Desmond's case...it usually did.

"Do you like animals Ratonhnhaké:ton?"

The man's eyebrows peaked up in interest before he answered a piece of toast halfway to his mouth. "I do. I've always felt fondly for nature and the creatures that inhabit it. Comfortable. I was raised to respect the animals in nature, even when it comes time to hunt."

Desmond nodded in understanding. "What about pets? Have you ever had one?"

"No. We usually ate the animals or came across those in the woods that were too wild to be tamed." He paused, "Can you do such a thing? Do people have...pet wolves in this century?"

"They do actually. But it is extremely rare, and they usually just nurse them back to health and then release them back into the wild." He thought about his offer and decided it was now or never. "Would you like to go to a place where they have animals available for adoption?"

His brows furrowed. "It sounds interesting."

"If you trust me, I think you'll really like it. You'll get to see as many animals as you want and you can be friendly with them."

"They won't get scared and run away?"

"No. They're used to humans normally. Some can be skittish, but you just need to be gentle with them. Come on." He grinned grabbing his keys. "I'm taking you to a pet shop."

After making sure that they wouldn't be recognized in public by any freako Templars, they headed out and twenty minutes later reached their destination. The place was huge and there was a glass display at the front of the store, filled to the brim with little puppies in one and kittens in the other. Desmond grinned excitedly, "Hey! They're having an adoption event for a few new arrivals today."

"How does one do this? Do you just go in and claim the one you want?"

Heading in with Connor close behind weary and ever alert of their surroundings, Desmond answered. "Pretty much. Only you have to sign adoption papers and you usually have to pay a fee, and sometimes buy a couple of things from the store to take care of them when you get home."

Connor nodded in understanding as he brought his hands behind his back. "What would I get?"

"Depending on the animal you could toys, collars, beds. You have to have food for them, and you can get dishes to put the food in. Every animal is different so there's different things to get for different ones. My advice? Go with either a cat or a dog."

Connor eyed a pink sparkly rhinestone collar with a look of WTF and Desmond snorted. "That is...abhorrent to the eyes. Why...would one torture an innocent animal with such a thing? It would die of embarrassment. To say nothing of not being able to blend in with their surroundings."

Desmond laughed at Connor's honesty. "Well typically a pet is kept inside your home. Most people don't want their animals getting torn up by other animals that aren't domesticated or people who are missing more than half of their marbles. They think of them as a family member."

Connor had frozen staring down into the glass encased pit and it was then that Desmond instantly knew. Connor was a dog lover confirmed. An adorable little german shepherd had its tiny paws up on the glass yipping its heart out at the tall man, who just stared curiously in response.

"What...does he want? I have no meat for him, and I didn't touch his territory." He narrowed his eyes at the little furball, "If you bite me, fair warning dog I will bite back."

Desmond snickered and came closer smiling down at the little thing. "Hey little guy. Do you like my friend?"

The puppy whined in response and Desmond had to stop himself from letting out an audible 'awww'. "The puppy wants your attention Connor. You should pick him up and hold him."

"I can hold a... what I think is a wolf pup? Its fur is unlike any that I've ever seen..."

"It's a german shepherd. A breed of dog. Not a wolf. Perfectly safe to hold. They wouldn't sell wolves in a pet store, that would count as an 'exotic animal' and you would need a license, and you have to pay fees... it's a headache basically."

Connor continued to stare at the puppy hesitating before leaning over to gently reach in and scoop the puppy up in one of his large hands. He gently brought the animal to his chest and cupped its head with his other hand hoping not to drop it. "Is this good?"

Desmond nodded smiling like a dork at the sight of such a tiny puppy in the large hands of a man who was built like a roman brick wall. "It's great man. You're doing great."

The puppy began to lick Connor's palm and the man smiled. The stretch slightly hurting his face because the muscles were unused to being used, but Connor was actually happy. Or he seemed to be. Desmond couldn't read his mind.

"If you think this little guy is cute wait until you see the other animals in the store."

The puppy by now had propped itself up to lick Connor's cheek making him smile even more and speak softly to the puppy. "You look like a wolf, but you are much nicer you know that? So soft too."

Giving the little creature a pat on the head Connor let him down back into the pit to play with his littermates. Various other puppies were there ranging from little yorkies to sassy sausage dogs and a few golden retrievers.

"Well at least we know that he'll be easy to find again. Come one we still have the cats to look at too."

When they got to the kitten pen Desmond reached in to gently offer his hand to a tiny black kitten with green eyes, which curled up in his hand, tucking their little tail in as they waited patiently for their ride upward. Connor had secured an orange tabby kitten...which was currently biting the h-e-double hockey sticks out of his hands.

Petting the cat, he winced as he watched Connor get mercilessly attacked, by the feisty little thing. "Ow! Does that not hurt man?"

Connor shrugged. "No." He studied the cat as it continued to attack his hand with the same vigor he once went after Charles Lee with when he was younger. "I'm still trying to figure out if it's trying to be intimidating..."

"I think they're playing. Cats do that. Dogs play bite and cats do too. Cats however... tend to hurt more."

Suddenly the cat overestimated its balance in Connor's hand and toppled over the side, hanging on for dear life. The kitten mewled as its tiny little body dangled from Connor's large hand, and Connor just watched with slight amusement.

"See what you this has gotten you? You bit me and now you are stuck. You reap what you sow you naughty...not mountain lion but sharp clawed creature."

Desmond wheezed laughing at Connor's sass toward the kitten for play biting him. "Here try this little one. Boy cats tend to be more aggressive, and I got a girl."

The second the two men traded cats, the orange kitten took to chewing on Desmond's hoodie strings with a fiery wrath, and the black kitten looked up at Connor. The two studied one another for a moment, before the kitten reached its paw out and batted the air like it wanted something.

Connor brought the kitten closer weary after the first encounter but was pleasantly surprised to find that the kitten wanted his braid. He felt the beads in his hair tap gently against his jaw as the kitten played with them with jovial fascination.

And he smiled. Genuinely. For the first time since - well ever entering the 21st century Desmond supposed. Connor wasn't really known for smiling even back in his own time, and Desmond would especially know having been in the Animus experiencing everything that his ancestor had. He couldn't blame him though. Connor hadn't really had anything to smile about for a good portion of his life.

He chose to change the subject. He wanted to help Connor feel comfortable, not make him upset.

"Wanna go see the fish? They're usually pretty cool to look at."

Connor opened his mouth confusion written on his face but shut it and nodded. They headed over to the fish section where there were endless aquariums filled with as many fish as you could imagine. There were small, medium and large fish

The goldfish stared at Connor through the glass before blowing a single bubble at Connor.

Desmond smiled and puffed his cheeks out back at the fish in return. "Aww. He just blew a bubble at us. I think little fishy likes us."

The tall man next to him nodded and crossed his arms, the cat on his shoulder beginning to chew on the end of his hair peeking out from the end of the colored beads. "And I like fish."

He felt hope that maybe they would be taking an unexpected pet home today. A cat or dog he had expected, but a fish was unexpected. "Oh really?"

"Yes." There was a brief pause. "With hoecakes. Or deohako. Or even sofkee. Especially grilled over the fire. These ones are scrawny though... they would hardly make a mouthful for a child."

Desmond stared at him in fascination before laughing and moved him along to another part of the store. Reaching a small section of bunnies munching on cabbage leaves and sleeping in their little huts all huddled together, Connor joined him and scoffed.

"I thought you said that this was a 'pet shop'."

Desmond frowned turning away from the cotton ball with eyes. "It is."

Connor gestured to the bunnies munching peacefully on their snacks. "Then why did they put food in a place where you adopt animals to be your pet?"

The tattooed man's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Huh?"

"We eat those as well. In my time. All the time. They're delicious. I made a pair of fur lined boots for my mother when I was boy with a creature that looked exactly like this one. It was one of my first kills actually."

Desmond smiled nervously and moved along. "Ooookay next animal coming up."

Walking around the store they came across a case with multicolored small snakes. Until one caught Desmond's eye: the Western Hognose snake. "Oh cool!" Reading the handling information he carefully opened the case, so he didn't startle the snake. He slowly stuck his hand in the snakes' path, and it slithered right into his hand, making Desmond make a face at the feeling of its slippery underbelly. He gently lifted the creature out of the case, supporting it with both hands and turned to Connor.

Where he was met with a face of abject horror.

Desmond snickered. "What? He's cute right? Look at those little beady eyes."

"How... are you not being bit or strangled right now?

"You wanna hold him? I'll take Signora whiskers on your shoulder for a second if you do."

The man backed up clutching his small furry companion closer as if for comfort, before he pointed at Desmond completely serious. "If you put that slimy slithering henchman of satan near me I will end you. Descendant of mine of not."

Desmond grinned and leisurely set the small snake down back into its enclosure, where it slithered slowly back underneath its little palm tree. "Okay not a fan of snakes. Got it." He looked around before his eyes lit up at the small creature on the other side of the store. "Let's check these guys out."

Connor reluctantly followed as he grumbled to the kitten. "Only good snake is a dead snake little one. Dead and turned into jerky. Because while dangerous, they are delicious."

They headed over to the next display where various different types of gerbils were moseying about with their own agendas, completely oblivious to the humans ogling them. Connor peered into the glass with curiosity before quaffing in surprise. "What the... what is this - is this a mouse? Why are they selling diseases carriers? These things kill people." He frowned in disdain. "They get into your grain supply too and contaminate it."

"Not these little guys Connor. They're perfectly okay to have as pets." He opened the latch and gently offered his hand to one of the gerbils. It came closer sniffing his hand before hopping on and scampering up his arm, making him laugh. "See? Completely harmless. Just be gentle with them because they're so tiny."

Suddenly the gerbil jumped from Desmond's shoulder to Connor's jacket, clinging to the fabric for dear life, before it attempted to continue its journey. Connor's voice pitched in alarm as the gerbil launched itself onto his forearm, from his jacket, and the man was quick to grab it and stop it in its tracks. "Why can it jump like that?!"

Mouth hanging open in surprise he answered, "That's what...they do...?" Desmond genuinely knew nothing about gerbils. He had always thought they were just a form of domesticated mice. Noticing a plaque in front of the cage he began to read from it absentmindedly as the gerbil ran amuck in Connor's palm, climbing his fingers as he let the animal run between his hands.

"The Mongolian gerbil is one of one hundred ten species of gerbils and have proven to be a popular pet. The tend to thrive in arid and hot types of climates such as deserts and sometimes rain forests. They are commonly found in India, Asia, and Africa and have long hind legs, that allow them to execute a unique type of leaping to get around. They make good pet and get along with other animals. It is not recommended to have a gerbil and a cat in the same house - for obvious reasons. Annnndd they have an average lifespan of two to three years out in the wild, but can live anywhere from four to five years, with proper care if domesticated."

Connor frowned at the gerbil in his hand currently busy with the task of licking its hands and cleaning its little head. "That is sad. They live for so little time. Many people in my tribe live for a very long time, upwards of a hundred years."

"Yeah. Unfortunately, animals just don't live as long as humans do. That's one of the sucky parts about having a pet. You stick around longer than they do." He grinned, "But you have a bunch of centenarians in your tribe? That's cool."

Connor's mouth twisted in thought. "Centenarians are...?"

"People who are one hundred years old and older. You become an ultra-centenarian if you're well over a hundred years old. Like one hundred twelve or something like that."

He nodded in understanding catching the kitten without any thought as she slipped from his shoulder, before bringing her down to his chest. Connor looked sheepishly back to the puppy he had played with earlier as he simultaneously cradled the kitten closer to himself.

Desmond smiled in understanding. He asked anyway though he already knew the answer, his fellow Assassin would give. "You want the dog and the kitten, don't you?"

The elder assassin didn't take his eyes off the dog, two pairs of brown eyes looking deeply into the others. They were looking at each other like they were soul bonded, and Desmond knew that dog would be the latest addition to the family. "We bonded. And dogs are known for their loyalty..."

Desmond paused before a devious grin spread across his face. "We can train it to bite Shaun when he acts like a jerk and goes on his 'I'm smarter than you' rampage."

Connor made a face of consideration. He did think that this Shaun could be quite annoying. Maybe a bite here and there could convince him to be a bit less snappy, and a bit more happy. "While devious... I like your way of thinking." He looked down at the kitten and smiled once more, as she gave a tiny little meow up at him. "She is very sweet too." He scratched her little head behind the ears making her purr loudly. Desmond was surprised to hear such a loud sound come from such a tiny little cat, and it amused him to think that if she meowed it would probably wake Shaun out of a dead sleep and annoy him.

He nodded in understanding. Shaun certainly wouldn't be happy, but Rebecca would be ecstatic about the little guys. Besides with the stressful work they were doing all the time, what could it hurt to have some cute animals running around? They all deserved a break. And Desmond would never admit this out loud... but he wanted a snuggle buddy. "Okay we'll get them and get what they need and then go home. Does that sound good?"

Connor grinned and gave a single nod. "Sounds good."

Twenty minutes, some paperwork, and money later they walked out the new co-parents of two adorable bundles of fur.

"Let's go home so we can get these little guys settled huh?"

Connor nodded content to not say a word as he watched the small dog gnaw on his finger in delight without a care in the world. He looked down at the kitten sleeping peacefully in the blanket against his chest and he smiled.

Both animals completely happy and ready to go to their forever home.

NOTE! 'deohako' meaning 'life supporters' refers to the "three sisters" crops of corn, beans and squash. These were staple foods for the Mohawk people. Alongside 'sofkee' (also known as 'sofgee') was a corn porridge that the Mohawk people often ate as well.

ALSO - Sorry that this is kind of long I got carried away, but I hope it's enjoyable nonetheless!

[dragons-and-magic]

What made you ship all of them, lol?

Especially Sonny x Rebecca?💙💛

HOOOOOO BOY. This is gonna be a long one! Lol! Honestly, most of the reasons is just liked them. I saw some fan work of them and they just clicked with me. I don't know. I'm not very complicated when it comes to shipping.😅 But I'm super excited to talk about my ships, so I'll try to give some more thoughts on them than that. Let's get into it!

Sonny x Rebecca: I will admit, I didn't ship these two at first. But, after I saw some fan content of them, I was hooked. I think they would have really good dynamic. We all know it's implied that Sonny has had a very rough and frankly traumatizing life. I feel like Rebecca could be good for him. Her joyful and sweet personality might just be what he needs to heal. Plus, they give me sun and moon vibes.🌚🌞 (P.S. I almost forgot. Watching Gordon take in the fact that his daughter figure/apprentice is now dating this "thieving rapscallion" would be absolutely hilarious.)

Thomas x Ashima: I've been shipping these two for years! I mean, look at the the way they look at each other and talked about each other in a few scenes! And how Thomas really wanted her to stay with him longer? Saving each other in the competition?? Or that one BWBA episode where he fantasized saving her like action hero??? That's so frickin cute!

Another thing! Thomas is used to having to prove he's worthy for all sorts of things. Ashima thinks he's already worthy. She literally looked at him and said, you don't need to change. You're perfect being yourself and I like it.😭💖 I personally feel like they're soulmates! And make a really good team! I really wish they had done more with them in show. I was hopeful when they announced they would be putting her in more episodes. But alas, nothing really happened.

Frankie x Hurricane: I love me a good villain couple, m'kay? Also, the tragedy??? Think about it, since they're working on the mainland, they don't know about steamies and diesels finally getting along. (We do know that things are the mainland didn't change as quickly.) So picture this. Back then, when the mainland engines found out that steamie and diesel had fallen in love, all hell broke loose! So, the poor ostracized couple left to escape the hostility, and went where they could never find them. A big steelworks, in the middle of nowhere... Anyways, they would totally be an awesome Disney level villain couple. I know it.

Emily x Connor: This one has what I call "I take a tiny moment and blow it up into a huge thing!" Lol. Basically, in one episode, Connor very subtly flirted with Emily and I found it interesting. It may or may not have been intentional, but either way I thought that it could be really cute. They give me knight and princess vibes. Also, I love Caitlin and Emily's relationship. (Healthy female friendships! My beloved!) Having her as a wingman (wingwoman???) for Emily and Connor sounds all too adorable. Although admittedly, this ship is definitely not my favorite on the list. I used to like it more when I was younger. Recently I got into Douglas x Emily, which has way more hints than this ship. And that one is slowly creeping up higher on the list. So we'll just have to see with one comes out on top.

Edward x Boco: SUCH A CUTE COUPLE! I didn't ship these two at all, until start reading fic's for them and saw the fanart. Then I realized these two might as well be married! Just two nice old guys, raising three rambunctious children together.🥰 Also, it seems nice that Edward finally has someone tough enough to help him wrangle in the twins when he's feeling worn out. And their personalities fit really nicely together too. Somebody put it better then me, right here. But yeah, these two are adorable! Easily one of my top favorite ttte ships!

Belle x Flynn: Honestly, I have no reason to ship these two, other than I just think it would be cute. No canon event inspired it. No fanart. Nothing. It just popped into my head one day and I decided to roll with it. Lol. I think it would be fun to see.

Daisy x Ryan: I'm not to sure what to say about these two either. Other than they give me vintage movie vibes. (Maybe it's Daisy. She reminds me of a few female movie stars from the old days of Hollywood.) And as a vintage movie fan, I really like that! Also, it's worth mentioning she literally flirted with him in one episode. That was a surprise! It was convince him to do some jobs for her, but whatever. Lol. Also Ryan was almost completely oblivious to it. My poor Gold Retriever Boy. It didn't fully compute. 🤣🤣🤣 Still, I think it could possibly work. Especially in the later seasons.

James x Nia: YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS ONE IS MY FAVORITE RARE PAIR!🤩 I've talked about it so much now! But, here's a few more thoughts on them! They actually have a few traits in common. They're both playful, fiery, and outgoing characters. And they both seem to be very loyal as well. Oh, did I mention that their matching color scheme is perfect. And I feel like Nia would help James loosen up a bit and get even more adventurous. So while definitely a rare pair, I think they're neat and should be explored more!❤️🧡

Toby x Henrietta: If Thomas and Ashima are soulmates, Toby and Henrietta are champion soulmates! They're such a husband and wife duo. I loved every episode they had together. The way they talked to other and how much they disliked being separated? Adorable!!!😍🧡🧡 Sometimes they remind me of my own parents.😂 Whoever came up with the idea to finally give Henrietta a voice and an actual face? I salute you. You were a true genius. Now I can hear their realistic husband/wife banter in it's full glory. Lol.

Well, that's my thoughts. I'm not very good at romance anything, so I hope this will suffice.😅 Thanks for the ask!

[vicea]

dream merch discord recap (june 12, 2021) - disclaimer: i may have missed some things or mistakenly heard other things, apologies in advanced for that!

he has not played the new minecraft update

dream “knows” the date george is coming to florida but he’s not saying it :p

dream doesn’t have anyone muted on twitter

dream guesses his favorite disney princess is belle

sapnap has seen dream’s feet before

he’s not actually connor’s dad in the dsmp lore

dreamnap do not have nicknames for each other D:

dream likes olives but especially black olives

his mother makes homemade pickles

he doesn’t have a phone case

he has dropped his phone from his ear onto concrete in the parking lot before and the screen didn’t crack

dream has six fingers /j

he pours cereal first not milk when making cereal

dream calls sapnap nick most of the time :D

what’s your dream car? “idk the one that gets me to point A to point B consistently”

he finally fixed his sleep schedule, woke up at 8 am today

mrbeast owes dream a tesla because he never sent dream the audio file

dream is a very analytical person - he thinks with numbers/data

creativity is one his strengths that he is the most proud of

3 to 4 years ago, dream used to say george looks like shawn mendes a lot, now he doesn’t resemble him as much

patches is currently sleeping <3

swimming is very relaxing to dream, he swam the other day!

many houses in florida have pools than other places, even the cheapest houses in orlando have pools

dream has merchendise defects (misprints on merch) + milestone merch and he wants to give them away to those who live in orlando (probably to anyone but the event will be held in orlando) though he doesn’t want it to be a covid super-spreader thing so once you pick up your item you gotta dip. just all an idea though

he has been donating them to charity too though :)

dream has likely read Heroes of Olympus before a long time ago

he says that he’ll do a give away of his childhood books with his signature on it

he was obsessed with the series (Percy Jackson) 

he really liked the Alex Rider series

has all of Maximum Ride books, 39 clues books

has read the legend series, the twilight series, and the maze runner

has all/read of the harry potter books, divergent, eragon

he would read all the time, to the point he would read more than one book a day (a book worm he says)

dream had a goal to read 200 books in a year and he wind up reading about 150

he doesn’t want to call it a library but- growing up he had something like that that had 600 or 700 or more books in it (privileged he admits it)

he has not read a book since he started youtube (about 2 years)

dream has a folder called Book that has his own writing in it

word count: 76000 words for one of his stories 

another one he wrote 5 chapters of

he sounds very excited/embarrassed talking about the stories he wrote he’s so endearing

the very first paragraph of one of his stories (he was young when he wrote this) “What exactly is darkness? is it the lack of light? is it a pit of nothingness? ... your mind is full of darkness...” then he couldn’t continue.

the story is about a kid who wakes up in a cell and has no idea where he is with other people who are in the same situation

dream has a world building document

he has a sequel to the first book he has ever written

he found a query letter that he wrote because he wanted to get his book published- he finds it very funny

he’s calling himself a nerd but idk it’s kind of endearing

“as you can tell i’ve always been incredibly cool and not a nerd at all! ever.”

he cringes at his own old videos

dream took a lot of inspiration from witches and wizards by james patterson for writing

the story is written in a way where the main character is actually writing the story so you’re getting input from the main character during it. there’s a lot of sarcasm in it and it’s making dream laugh

very first person narrator

he feels like it’d be very cool if he were to publish his works he wrote when he was 16 on amazon or something but he probably never would because he’d have to read through all of it and it’s just embarrassing for him

dream used to video call sapnap fairly frequently- even before youtube

he strictly remembers, a very long time (at least 7 to 9 years) ago he was at his old childhood house he video called sapnap. he was wearing a (technically) suit and he remembers specifically that he was giving sap a tour... 

“snazzy in a suit”

he had no reason to put on the suit (wow time is a flat circle huh)

drista is pretty close to sapnap’s height, she’s like 5′7″ but sap is still taller than her

dream filmed the whole thing when he and sapnap met but... it’s... gone because when he was clipping that one clip for twitter... it edited the whole video

he’s sure when they meet up with george they will film that too :D

DREAM IS PRETTY SURE THAT HE AND GEORGE WILL MEET THIS YEAR-- HE SAYS A 95% CERTAINTITY the five percent is like either restrictions or visa issues

dream does not play any instruments but he had a guitar hanging on his wall when he was younger...

dream is convinced they’re the same height but also sapnap is probably taller??

they had george compare his height to a door frame and dreamnap were googling for any doorframes to find any possible chance that george is taller than 5′8″ ... nothing came up

there’s a chance they’re both lying about being 5′8″

sap and george will literally just show up in stilts to prove they’re taller than each other /j

dream without shoes is between 6′2″ and 6′3″ with shoes he’s 6′3.5″

dream is talking about awesamdude’s fake height arc again LOL

dreamnap are very private people so they don’t bother each other but george doesn’t care and would just barge into their rooms and start bothering them- they were all joking about that over a voice call

he will visit europe

he thinks that greece would be a cool place to visit because sapnap’s family is from there :) so it’ll be like a nice “treat” to go back with sap :D

dream isn’t entirely sure that the dream team meet up will happen this year but he’s working out the details because he wants to make sure it’s safe

he’s talking to youtube about his face reveal

it’s up to george if he wants to eat healthy when they finally move in

dream just has a lot of meat and vegetables in his house

spinach with chicken is good

not much fruit (only apples and tomatoes)

“DRISTA IS 5″ is trending on twitter LOL (her height got cut off)

dream doesn’t want people flying to different places because he doesn’t want to encourage travel so he wants to do all of the meet ups with a two day heads up at most

he thinks that it’s awesome that ranboo and tubbo are meeting soon !! :D

it’s very cool to dream to see how far everyone’s has come since the beginning of the dsmp. everyone has done so much

dream finalized his youtube plan a couple weeks before he uploaded his video and he was talking to drista about how he was gonna be a big youtuber in a parking lot :”)

she was the first person he really ever talked to about it

dream would love to teach george how to drive it’d be really funny :D (a very good video or a livestream idea) 

dream knows how to ride a bike, he used to have to bike to school

he can’t explain dnf.gay he has no clue he is not responsible. sapnap was the one who found it LOL. he is adamantly exclaiming that it was not him

dream doesn’t worry about views/likes/dislikes a lot- mainly views but that’s for the new uploads

he hasn’t uploaded in like a month and a half (*cries*)

he wants to stream at some point but he doesn’t know when 

he wants to play geoguessr but not now... he doesn’t want to alt stream rn- maybe tomorrow!

he is insisting that the splash text on his minecraft home screen is by callahan

he asked callahan to send him bunch of text files that are dream team related so that the splash can rotate through it but callahan thought it was funny (it is) to put only dreamnotfound <3 so it doesn’t ever change at all and dream doesn’t even know how to change and he has asked callahan to change it but he said no (even though dream pays him LMAO)

the video referenced in the padilla’s video is still in the works, it might be handed over to sapnap though !

he has no idea if he will be in MCC pride yet

padilla got dream’s input for the video, dream found him to be a very nice guy ! :) it’s the first interview that dream did that wasn’t by a person with a negative opinion of dream

dream felt relaxed doing the interview with padilla 

?????? he’s blaming callahan for his “dnfisreal” nickname in bedwars 

he’s blaming callahan for a lot of dnf-related stuff

callahan runs the dream fanart account thus the liking of dnf content

he’s so insistent that it was callahan

dream admits that he was lying about the twitter and other stuff but for sure callahan did code the splash text in LOL

dream liking that tweet “the chances of george doing a hot tub stream is the same of dnf dating” was “funny” he wasnt trying to do any commentary...

the inside joke of “oh it’s all just a joke to you” originates from george and sapnap actually always fighting (like them yelling and shouting at each other) and george said something really mean and sapnap was hurt then geroge said “it was just a joke” and sapnap replied with that line and ever since then it’s been a meme LOL

he says that everyone does the hand-on-the-passenger-seat-while-reversing thing

dream is offline raiding with his chat with 6k people

dream appreciates us and will talk to us soon! 

[phcking-detective]

I know Sixty is a fun edgy “blank slate” character so people like grouping him, Connor, and Nines together as triplets, and for most shit posts if I say “the RK boys” I mean those three BUT

the real actual brother trio is Connor, Nines, and MARKUS. in actual fics and stuff I put effort into, those are always going to be the three siblings

because he’s also an RK!! the first one

and there’s SO MUCH sweet juicy angst--especially in human AUS--for the three of them specifically and who is Amanda’s golden child of the day and who’s the scapegoat, and it changes constantly

Markus for being the oldest, the first born, and in human AUs, her biological son who is also black and can relate to her the most on that front; points taken away for being low drama and maintenance so Amanda knows she can ignore him without consequence except then he goes and leads a fucking revolution against her?? >:/

Connor for being the Youngest Baby. I really don’t give a fuck about birth order, he absolutely has Little Sibling vibes imo, and he WILL socially manipulate the FUCK out of his siblings and give Amanda big brown eyes(tm). Amanda respects the Machiavellian bullshittery; points taken away for helping Markus, having his own opinions, and “wanting to be good” like he’s some sort of little Disney princess just because he met one (1) hot older male authority figure

Nines for being competent and obedient. In my actual series, the Amanda AI also “helped” him through his alpha testing phase by traumatizing him the most to give him the tools to repress any signs of deviancy while still maintaining an actual core identity; points taken away for still having an identity around Her too, and whatever the FUCK is going on with that nasty little white boy

and obviously Sixty can fit in here, especially in human AUs if you want to do adopted triplets, but in the actual game, I feel like the real RK progression is Markus (RK200), Connor (RK800), Nines (RK900)

aaaand--not calling anyone out here--we shouldn’t be leaving out a black man, who is an actual main character (arguably THE main character??) to sub in a white character who is literally a clone of that one other white character

I just think it would be nice to think of Markus more often and include him in stuff about “the RK boys” because he IS an RK, he’s an actual main character, and fandoms in general already have a bad habit of shoving characters of color off to the side to elevate minor white side characters

[wolveria]

I love the hc of Connor and nines being able to befriend literally any animal bc they’re like Disney princesses 😭

Headcanon confirmed

[intcthatgoodnight-a2]

my muses and what pets they should have:

booth: this man needs a dog. why doesn’t he have a dog? c’mon man, you got the wife, the kids, the white picket fence, get a golden retriever or german shepherd 

angel / angelus / darla / connor / sam: do not give them animals. it won’t end well. maybe connor with a dog, but only like post season 4 connor.

kathy: she just needs a farm okay. get her out of the city and get her some horses and goats and chickens. really though, she’s going to find a stray dog one day and just bring it home without asking or telling angel

cordy: a cat. my first thought was one of those little dogs, but no. a cat.

fred: also a cat. or maybe a guinea pig or a hamster

lucy: realistically the best for her would be a dog. a big dog. ideally though, ferrets. those crazy little noodles just have the perfect energy for her.

delia: she’d be fine with anything really, but i can see her being a cat person.

angela: she already has a cat named duck

connor: literally one of his most iconic lines is “I like dogs.” get him a dog. though you know he’s constantly around hank and sumo

chloe / 60: they have no interest in animals.

gavin: i love the fanon that he is a cat person who probably has multiple cats. but i can also see him with a pitbull that he treats like a big baby

dexter: do not leave him alone with animals. 

eleven: you really think the doc could be trusted to take care of an animal? no. his companions are basically like pets anyway.

amy: a cat. i think it was mentioned in an ep that she had a cat as a kid. 

mr clever: just no

sansa: she already has a direwolf that is totally alive and well, okay i don’t know what you’re talking about, lady is alive

ginger: she would literally eat it. so no

abigail: i can see her liking dogs, though maybe this is just because i want her to hang out with wills dogs.

will: he is a known dog hoarder. 

harry: he already has an owl. at least before DH (cries). but i can see him as an adult having a few pets for the kids. but also i love the idea of harry having a pet snake. like a little buddy that wraps around his wrist or in his pocket and they talk to each other and freak everyone out

tony: surprise farmer tony with his alpaca and chickens. but i can also see him with a cat

elle: she wants a dog

friday: has no interest in animals

luke: picture this- there’s tooka cats that live at the temple. he lets the younglings take care of them / feed them, they wonder wherever they want. you can find him doing his meditation, floating a few feet of the ground, with a tooka cat asleep on his lap

han: i mean...han is the pet. between him and chewie, han is the pet

obi wan: this man is like a disney princess okay. animals are just drawn to him. that big lizard thing Boga that he rode in rots, yeah thats his now.

anakin: no. this is a bad idea.

[dcvmpbell]

natalie montgomery, 24, nyu art student, v. pedretti

a resentful member of the infamous montgomery clan you see on tv / got straight a’s all through high school and then decided to skip the whole college thing and jumped straight into world travel / to say that she’s white, rich and privileged is an understatement / thinks she’s better than you because she’s Seen the world / will always argue like she’s right and you’re wrong, even if it’s really her that’s wrong / considers herself cultured and worldly / eventually rounded back to new york to study art at nyu, mostly because she wanted to avoid being stuck at home with all of the cameras her mother keeps around for their ridiculous show / studies art, hopes to maybe make money off of her paintings one day but she’s a pessimist and doesn’t hold her breath / bratty, pretentious, anything you can do she can do better

connor edelman, 22, pace fury, n. peltz

the product of a very religious household, her mother catholic and her father jewish and the two of them both Very serious about raising their children with values / one of eight kids, you can imagine the chaos / always had money, wanted for literally nothing but being one of eight kept her humble enough / both of her parents are credible in their own right, their social circles brushing shoulders enough with those bigger and bolder than their own — this is all to say that they have a presence / connor has always worked hard to pull through school with top grades and enough extracurriculars to fill up her resume before college rolled around / is always busy doing one thing or another, it’s amazing she has time for a social life at all, let alone a love life / is one of the pace furies trying to crack down on who the hell is behind the oracle, which has only come back to bite her in the ass now that they’ve outed her for having a relationship with a woman / it’s not that she’s ashamed to be gay, it’s that her parents would be ashamed that she’s gay, which is exactly what happened once she was outed / they’ve disowned her because it’s a Sin to be a homosexual, and she’s handling it just! fine! / jk she ghosted her girlfriend and is obviously in the middle of a crisis / ambitious, juggles a dozen things at once, wears her heart somewhere between her chest and sleeve, doesn’t always make time for the things she actually wants to do with her life in favor of doing the things that she’s “supposed” to do with her life to please her parents / really fuckin mad at herself for ghosting her own girlfriend, who does that???? is she gonna do a damn thing to change it, tho? nope!

blair reisse, 25, graphic designer, m. mitchell

manhattan native, born to a mother that has never once given a shit about being a parent and a father that does the job of both parents all by himself / she’s an only child, no siblings or notable family around her age to keep her company so she latched onto her father pretty hard / her mother has always sort of resented her, and blair will joke that it’s because she ruined her mother’s body with that c-section scar, but the truth is that blair has no idea why her mom is such a bitter bitch / she’s used to spending most of her time on her own, has always preferred to be by herself which hasn’t helped her develop the best social skills / it’s not that she can’t be social, it’s just that she generally doesn’t like to be surrounded by a lot of people, which is why she mostly sticks to herself / she went to college in portland, oregon to study graphic design / i’d say that college is where she became more comfortable in her own skin / got a job here in nyc working at an advertising agency on the graphic team / recently found out that her mother is having an affair and she doesn’t know if she has the heart to tell her father what she knows / accidentally a little prickly, sort of sarcastic, minds her own damn business, would die for her father, once went on a tinder date with a boy that wanted to eat food off of her feet at the end of the night and swore off of dating 

anastasia volkova, 21, nyu literature student, r. nagioff 

chicago born and bred, only hopped over to new york city to study literature at nyu / has always dreamed of being a new yorker, watched so much gossip girl that she manifested her very own chic manhattan life / it’s not really that chic, she’s up to her ears in loans and has a roommate that is nocturnal so suffice to say she’s really roughin it but hey! it’s new york, baby! / a sweet baby ray of sunshine, very social and active within whatever communities she can get her hands on / i dare you to dislike her (i mean you can, but then i just wanna know why and who hurt you) / for someone with such a big heart, she’s got some Trust Issues with dating because she’s a child of divorce and has only ever experienced unsuccessful relationships / if you ask her, no she is not in a relationship with that freckly boy you always see her with! thank you very much! (yes she is, they are literally dating without admitting it’s dating) / kind-hearted, kind of a disney princess, not so sure what she wants to do with her degree but she’s happy to be here!

[fallish]

bird is the word (the witness, actually)

Pairing: Connor/Gavin Reed

Summary: Connor gets an animal companion, and Gavin claims that gives him disney princess privileges. Connor has no idea what Gavin is talking about. They solve a case.

AO3

As the detective arrived at the scene, Gavin noticed that despite the call for backup being just a mere two minutes ago, the precinct android detective had already made it to the scene. Connor appeared to be cupping his hands to create a two toned bird call. He put his hands down, frustrated as none of the birds seemed inclined to come near the investigation, a few seeming hesitant in the presence of all the humans.

Gavin stepped out of his car to approach the scene. “Hey, anyone wanna tell me what the emergency was here?” He approached the detective who appeared to be crouching near the front of the floral arrangements boutique. “How about you, Snow White? Wanna tell me why you need the birds? Can you do that with all the little forest creatures?” he snickered.

“No, but I can imitate many animal noises,” Connor declared as he studied the tracks in the wet soil scattered over the sidewalk again. “I am certain I can identify the person who stole your arrangements, Miss Ozwell. I need to  find the birds who were here when the perpetrator was here.” He stood, turning to face the owner of the shop before walking a few feet away from the police tape, his LED cycling yellow. “I am never going to have a chance with all the people here, though.”

Gavin raised an eyebrow. “Uh huh, tin can. What exactly are the birds going to tell you? They gonna tweet the name of our perps in your ear?” He laughed at his vision of the scenario playing out, Connor calling out for the birds and then one just squawking in his face, flying away, taking a shit somewhere inconvenient, leaving the detective android humiliated and disappointed.

“Very funny Detective Reed, however, unlike you, I have some animal handling knowledge. Also, what you just stepped over,” He gestured to the spilt soil, “is evidence, with which I can say with 98% certainty, the bird that was here when the store was robbed was hurt by whoever committed the crime. That bird is a witness, believe it or not. We can get evidence from the cameras in the store, but we can get positive identification of the criminal from the bird. It will, at minimum, buy us time to find hard evidence that whoever it was did it actually did do it.”

As he spoke, Connor already appeared to be distracted, ducking under the police tape surrounding the shop and stepping out further away from the main roads, towards the minimal tree line of a nearby park. “Detective Reed, I will meet you back at the station if you would like to stay and collect statements. Otherwise, I invite you to come find the birds with me.” He turned and began to walk away, leaving Gavin to scramble together his belongings.

He turned to the uniforms at the scene, noting that two remained. “You guys can finish up here right?” He waited for them to nod before taking off after Connor. “Take Connor’s car back, leave mine here. Wait up, princess!”

Connor was well into the area where the birds appeared to be gathering. He sat down in the grass and cupped his hands to let out a whistling tone. Delightfully, a bird landed on a branch near his spot and echoed his tune. Gavin caught up and had to stop in his tracks. The birds flocked Connor, landing on his legs, on nearby branches, and even in his hair. The incredible picture they all made was enough to keep him from interrupting and to pull out his phone to start recording.

“I can help, but I can’t until I know who’s hurt. Can you help me find them?” Connor whispered at the birds. There’s no fucking way, Gavin thought. The birds fluttered up and surrounded an uneven patch of leaves. Uncovering the small creature, Connor sighed with relief. “Thank you, little birds! Detective, we can return to the station now.”

An hour later and he still couldn’t fathom what was happening before his eyes. Gavin let his jaw open in awe. That did not happen. No way! He thought rewatching the clip on his phone while observing the crowd of uniforms peeking over at Connor’s desk. Connor literally tweeted at birds until he found the damaged one and was now nursing it back to health in the middle of their office.

“I suspect that the man who robbed the store we were looking at is the same man who has been robbing stores run by androids from the original Jericho. We have been looking into this man for a month at least.” Connor pulled up a middle aged man with patches on his head and light, but bloodshot eyes. “According to our system, he was only arrested once, a possession charge for red ice, and his sister-in-law posted his bail. DPD lost track of him. I put a notification out to all police on patrol and our friends in New Jericho. All we have to do is wait.” He smirked at Gavin and took a seat. “Case almost closed.”

Gavin rolled his eyes, “You’re allowed to say that once the guy is in jail. You said you could make that bird a witness, but I’m gonna see if we can get a warrant for wherever this guy’s is staying, if he’s even staying anywhere.” He turned to his terminal to fill out the required work. “Until this comes back, you can work on fixing that bird.”

Quite frankly, Connor had become somewhat of an attraction. In the three days it took to find the man, Connor had been carrying around a little bird in a sling around his neck. Despite the obvious difference in species, the office seemed endeared by the duo. Pictures were floating around, and even Hank was softer around the little bird by the third day.

The nickname “princess” was also catching on, but Connor seemed completely oblivious as to why it was catching on. Gavin seemed especially exasperated, having coined the name for the android. “Have you never seen a disney movie? Did CyberLife not equip you with disney movies?” Connor just shrugged. Gavin let it go for the time being.

The bird, being well enough to cause a small ruckus with its version of chirping but not well enough to fly, was given entry to the suspect lineup from beyond the mirror. For the first fifteen candidates, the bird showed little to no reaction, besides turning to Connor or Gavin and chirping curiously here and there.

Then the last five men walked in. Immediately, the bird screeched and tried to fly out of its sling. Gavin just barely managed to catch the bird before it hurt itself even worse. “Which one, little bird?” He held the bird to just the first man. Nothing. The second. Same again. The third. A shrill, piercing shriek came from between his fingers. “Okay, yep that’s our guy. ID match?”

Connor looked over his notes. “Number 562375 is indeed our primary suspect.” His little grin took up his face, “I believe I can now say, case closed.” Carefully, he took the bird back from Gavin and put it back in his sling. “I will hold on to little bird until he is fully healed.” His LED lit up yellow as he communicated the identity of the man to Jericho. “We should be covered until then. Nice work, Detective.”

Gavin shrugged, “You’re weird animal powers helped too, I guess. Speaking of animal powers, do you wanna come over some time? I can show you what I mean by disney movies. There’s a shitton of animal companions, pretty much the exact same as little bird, trust me you’ll love it. Or not. Whatever.” He rushed through the last bit. Connor was thrilled to say the least.

“Hank tells me about those all the time. Especially this week. I don’t really get it, but I would love to!” His excitement was infectious.

“Great, so Saturday?” Gavin ventured.

“It’s a date!”

End A/N: Gavin is wondering what in the world he just got himself into and it is great.

[sagebaileyspeaks]

Boy this is gonna be a long one...

American Royals was a book I received through an ARC giveaway with Penguin Random House and I have some thoughts about it. 

The premise of the book is interesting but the execution leaves a lot to be desired and let's start with the biggest elephant in the room: it's about the Washington family reigning in a monarchy over the United States. This novel is almost painfully white and off the bat presents the unsettling question of, "So...the enslaved...where are they?" 

We can't deny the fact that George Washington owned people of African descent. Even in an alternative future, if there was a Revolutionary War, there were enslaved people but this is never mentioned - not even in passing - in the novel. It's as though Ms.McGee didn't think that people would notice. Now there are two characters who could be people of color, Nina Gonzalez (a main character) and Himari (a side character) but there's no confirmation of either. And there's really only two ways to look at it: a) the author was trying to be "colorblind" or b) the novel is implying a white supremacist country. 

And I'm more inclined to believe that it's B because the antagonist is a woman with white skin, green eyes and holds herself up as "the most beautiful" and "the most suited to be a princess" and actually calls Nina Gonzalez, one of two possible women of color, "trash." 

This text is a lot more racist than the author likely intended. 

That aside I have very complicated feelings about this book. The narrative moves through the perspective of four characters: Nina, Sam's best friend and Jeff's love interest; Sam, youngest royal daughter and twin to Jeff; Beatrice, first Queen of America and older sister to Jeff and Sam and Daphne, Jeff's ex-girlfriend. 

Daphne and Nina are interesting. Sam and Beatrice are not. 

Beatrice isn't interesting because she's a one-dimensional character. She's the young princess being forced to marry who has to one day be queen but oh no! She's in love with a commoner, will she choose love or duty? She chooses duty - and I'll come back to that. But Beatrice literally does not do anything the entire novel except internally complain about how hard it is to have to be perfect. Sure she lusts after her guard Connor, but at no point does she actually assert any agency - given that she's about to be QUEEN and is the most passive character I've read in recent fiction. 

You know who was a better-written character in an almost identical situation? Princess Jasmine. She had personality. She had goals. She had agency. Beatrice has none. 

Now Sam, on the other hand, is one-dimensional in a different way. She's the younger sister, she has no responsibility, no one pays attention so she acts out! Is she going to straighten up or continue her partying ways? It's neither. You know who was a better-written character in a slightly different situation? Cindy from Seeds of Yesterday (the movie, not the book.) 

The two of them are so flat but Sam's chapters were much easier to read than Beatrice's. Nina's interesting because she's innocent. She's a character that has been sucked into the world of the elite but not in any way influenced by it. She remains humble and plain in the wake of all the royal family's splendor and it's because of her humanity and realness that you want the character to succeed. And let's face it, Daphne is just flat out evil which makes her interesting. She's like an old Disney villain who just revels in being evil for the sake of it and I loved it....until the ending. 

Now here's the thing about this book: despite the cheesy prologue and somewhat racist implications of the world as established - I could not put this book down. Of course, I was certain of how it was going to end. Sam with Teddy. Beatrice with Connor. Nina with Jeff that's what the novel was working towards: the ability to choose and go against tradition. Except at the very last second, it does a complete 180 and turns into a different novel that seems to be telling you that "this is just how royalty works." 

And here's where the turn begins: out of nowhere the dad gets cancer. Why was this necessary? What did it add except an arbitrary deadline for the novel to be finished? So the King gets cancer tells Beatrice she can't marry Connor because it's not right for "America," Daphne straight up THREATENS Nina and instead of fighting for the relationship, Jeff accepts the breakup and seemingly ends up back in Daphne's arms after it's revealed how she fucked up her prior friend, Himari. Sam doesn't do anything and the novel ends with Beatrice becoming Queen on her father's deathbed. 

We spent a whole novel with these characters hoping for some type of growth and change but no. Sam is still a party girl. Beatrice is still being a dutiful father. And Daphne is back at Jeff's side. Now I'm not saying that Nina needed to win, I'm just saying you can't have all this buildup to what is the novel's natural conclusion, throw in cancer and then go in a different direction. 

The ending feels fake and unearned because if the author wanted to tell a story about how the royal family was fake and superficial she could've done that but she didn't. These aren't irredeemable people who relish in their higher status. These are people who want to get out of it so that they're free to make their own choices but in the last twenty pages regress to the point of being stereotypes. 

There so many love triangles, so many lover's quarrels, so many "but we can't marry commoners" and you know what novel handled this so much better? Crazy Rich Asians. Crazy Rich Asians is a novel without a moral that is pure sugar and absolutely insane but there's still a...point. This novel lacks a point. And it's frustrating on top of all of its other problems to have an ending that feels so disconnected from the rest of the story. 

Would I re-read this? Probably. Again Daphne's great and sometimes I just need trash and scandal, but I'd be lying if I said that this is a great book. 

Three out of five.

⭐⭐⭐

[metalandmagi]

August Media Madness

Well, August may have sucked for me personally, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t keep track of all the media I consumed this month! And spoiler alert, I watched a lot of movies involving adorable talking bears. Although, I have a feeling that as soon as the fall television premieres start, I’ll be watching a lot less movies.

July’s media

Movies!

Dear Evan Hansen

Thank you bootlegs. This isn’t a movie, but I didn’t want to make a separate category for plays when I’ve only seen one this month. Anyway, if you haven’t heard of it, Dear Evan Hansen involves an incredibly anxious teenage boy who is tasked by his therapist to write motivational letters to himself. Unfortunately, Connor Murphy, an angsty boy who goes to Evan’s school sees one of the letters, takes it, and promptly decides to kill himself, with the letter still on his person. Everyone ends up thinking he and Evan were friends and that this letter was a suicide note that Connor wrote to Evan...and a beautiful fake gay relationship friendship was born. Call me basic as hell, but I’ve watched this show twice now, and listened to the soundtrack more times than I can count, and it’s turning into my favorite musical. There are so many important messages in it, and it takes you on a roller coaster of emotions. Every character does good and bad things, and no one is blameless or innocent...except maybe Zoe Murphy. If anything just listen to the soundtrack. 10/10

Night on the Galactic Railroad

Cats...on a mystical train...This seems like the kind of movie they would show you in film school. Very dull plot and characters with the themes being the main takeaway. What even is the plot of this movie? Darker, grittier, furry version of the Polar Express? Incredibly boring slightly more religious version of Over the Garden Wall? I just kept watching it because the main character looks like a cat version of Kagayama Tobio in middle school...cat-gayama. 4/10

Paddington

An adorable bear from South America travels to London and gets into all sorts of trouble with an English family. It’s very charming and sweet, and the aesthetic in this movie is on point, like Wes Anderson directed a children’s movie. This is one of those movies you hear about where everyone loves it, and you think it can’t possibly be that good, but then you watch it and you were wrong! So wrong! 10/10

Paddington 2

Naturally. This time an adorable South American bear goes to prison, and his family tries to clear his name. Again, A+ aesthetic and imagery, but I think I preferred the plot of the first movie a little more because everyone was all together. 9/10

Christopher Robin

Do you like Winnie the Pooh? Do you like jaded adults finding happiness in their lives again? Do you think the movie Hook had a good premise but was extremely long and kinda boring and could have been a better movie with a little tweaking? Well this is the movie for you! Christopher Robin has grown into an overworked adult, and his old friend Winnie the Pooh inadvertently helps him reconnect with his wife and daughter (and also his inner child) just by being the sweet, clumsy, dry humored bear we all know and love. I was so skeptical of this movie at first, and I was absolutely blown away by how funny and meaningful it was. 100/10

The Road to El Dorado

Two lovable Spanish con men named Miguel and Tulio are accidentally swept away on a journey to the fabled city of El Dorado, where everything is made of gold. Once they reach the city, the locals believe they’re gods due to an (un)fortunate series of coincidences, and the con men try to keep up the charade with the help of the best character in the movie, Chel (who I’m pretty sure caused an entire generation of lesbians’ sexual awakening). This is one of my favorite animated movies of all time and one of the reasons I wish Dreamworks would go back to their 2D animation days, where the visuals and music were just as stunning as 3D movies are now. This movie is a classic, and I desperately want a sequel! 10/10

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before

When Lara Jean thinks it’s a good idea to write 5 secret love letters to 5 boys that she’s had crushes on over the years, everything is fine until her little sister mails the letters to all the boys (because even a 6th grader knows Lara Jean is lonely and emotionally stunted as fuck). This is a Netflix original movie that was adapted from the book by Jenny Han...which I haven’t read, but now I really want to. Overall, this was super cute, but I wasn’t really crazy about the boys. They weren’t horrible people or anything, and they never pressured Lara Jean or made fun of her for being “innocent”, but they were just kind of bland. I’m much more interested in the other boys we didn’t see in the movie! But the family relationships were so heartfelt, Lara Jean’s fashion sense is AMAZING, and the acting/casting was awesome. 8/10

Summer Wars

I...don’t even know how to describe the plot of this one. A teenage boy named Kenji goes on a country holiday and pretends to date an acquaintance of his in order to impress her enormous family...but it’s really about an AI that becomes sentient and wants to mess up the world through this universal internet program called OZ that’s kind of like a mashup of Facebook and Second Life...but actually no it’s about family sticking together and using a Japanese card game to save the world…but apparently it’s got the same plot as the Digimon movie because they’re both directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Yeah...

Guys, I have a confession to make...this has always been my favorite Mamoru Hosoda movie. Everyone falls all over themselves saying Wolf Children is the best Mamoru Hosoda movie, and that’s great for them but it doesn’t even come in second for me. Summer Wars means a lot more to me personally because I come from a big extended family, and when I first saw this movie, I was blown away by how accurate the family dynamic was. There are so many characters, but everyone has their own personality. Not to mention the music makes the summer atmosphere so on point. And I’m not going to lie...I bawled like a fucking baby the first time I saw this movie. So anyway, I like Summer Wars more than Wolf Children, thanks for coming to my TED talk. 10/10

Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Unappreciated researcher Milo Thatch goes on an expedition to find the lost city of Atlantis.

Okay, there are two kinds of Disney fans in this world: Treasure Planet fans, and Atlantis fans. And I will support Treasure Planet as the best underrated vaguely steampunk inspired Disney movie until you can pry my 15 year old dvd copy away from my cold dead hands. But Atlantis is pretty good too. I could write essays comparing the two and why both of them should be successful but weren’t. My main problem with it is that the characters are great, but I feel like we don’t see enough of them, and as a kid a lot of the humor went by so fast that I completely missed it. Also the glowing eyes and spirits taking over the Atlantian princess’s body freaked me the fuck out as a child. NEVERTHELESS! This really is a great movie, with extremely well developed lore and well designed characters that chills me to this day. 8/10

Deadpool 2

The merc with a mouth is back, and man there’s so much going on in this movie I won’t even try to explain the plot. I literally had to go back and add this in because I was so into this movie when I was watching it that I forgot to write it down! Even though I really liked this sequel, I think I liked the first one better, just based on how much I laughed. There was so much going on plot wise, but it really seemed to work for this movie. There were also a lot of great new characters (Domino is my favorite character of the franchise now), but since there was so much stuff going on, a lot of jokes and plot lines were sort of hit and miss. Anyway, I’m sure everyone’s seen this one by now but just in case, I highly recommend it. 9/10

Books!

The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel: Here There be Gerblins by Clint McElroy (technically all the McElboys) and Carey Pietsch

Yeah yeah, for anyone who doesn’t know I’m Adventure Zone trash okay. TAZ is a DnD podcast where 3 brothers and their father create one of the most famous campaigns in history involving three idiot adventurers going on a quest to find a missing person and getting sucked into a much larger grand plan to protect the world. This graphic novel is a visualization of the first arc. I don’t even really like Here There be Gerblins all that much, and yet here I am. Oh well, the art was amazing, and of course I already knew the story. But it was kind of hilarious to see the name changes they had to make to some of the characters and places. I was a little disappointed that the ending was so rushed, and we don’t really spend time around the moon base before The Director is in our face changing the Lunar Interlude parts but whatever. 10 dead gerblins/10

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

When a disease that only affects children kills off nearly all the kids on the planet, the survivors are left with supernatural powers and are taken away to concentration camps in order to “protect” the public. I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time, and since the movie just came out I thought it was the perfect time. This is one of those books that some people adore and some people hate. I thought it was just okay. For everything that I didn’t like, there was something to make up for it. Personally, I felt that Bracken focused on the wrong part of the story. Everything takes place years after this disease has come, and I think it would have been more interesting to see everything from the children’s points of view when this disease was first starting. I would focus on each different character as a child and how they wound up in their respective camps. Oh well, there’s way too many pros and cons  that I could delve into, but you like the YA dystopian genre then I say go for it. I didn’t like it enough to read the other two books (not yet anyway). 7/10

TV Shows!

Camp Camp

You know how there are summer camps that specialize in science, or acting, or space, or whatever? Yeah Camp Camp is about a summer camp that throws literally everything you can think of into one summer camp. If you don’t believe me, just listen to the theme song. Seriously though this is one of the best shows I’ve watched all year, but boy howdy this is not one for young children. It’s like Gravity Falls and Rick and Morty had a baby! Anyway, the characters are both surprising and hilarious. David the camp counselor (voiced by Miles Luna) is genuinely likable when you think he’d be the most annoying person on the planet, and the kids are so accurate it’s scary. Also Yuri Lowenthal is in it. And Griffin McElroy has a recurring role where he plays A GHOST! I’ve never been into Rooster Teeth stuff, but they have a winner with this one. 10/10

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

After her husband leaves her, Midge Maisel gets super drunk, goes on stage, and gives a hilarious rant about her relationship at a small comedy/talent club and somehow gets sucked into becoming a rising comedian as a woman in the 1950s. It’s good. Great acting pretty funny, but Midge and her agent/manager Susie are the only likable characters. Everyone else just kind of...sucks 8/10

Voltron Season 7 (spoilers)

Okay, I know everyone had mixed feelings about this season, but I did come out liking a lot of it. It had a lot of flaws (I really thought it would be Shiro’s season, and man was I wrong), but this is the sort of thing we can’t really judge until the last episode of the series is finished. I like to think of the positives: the action was amazing as usual, HUNK IS GETTING MORE AND MORE DEVELOPMENT EVERY SEASON, I refuse to believe the team introduced Adam just to have him killed off immediately so he’s still alive in my mind, we get to see everyone’s reunions with their families, the lost in space episode was cool, and say what you want about the game show episode, but I loved it! There were a lot of good things so it was easier for me to look past the...not so great aspects of the season. 7/10

Galavant

A musical comedy mini series involving a renowned medieval hero named Galavant on a quest to rescue his ex girlfriend from her “evil” husband King Richard. But maybe she doesn’t want to be rescued. Well, that’s just the first season. It’s best to go in knowing as little as possible. I remember liking it when it first came out, and it’s still pretty cute...but sometimes I feel like it’s trying too hard. A lot of the music isn’t really...memorable, but the characters are likable so it’s still worth the watch. 8/10

Disenchantment

Speaking of medieval comedies...Princess Bean doesn’t want to get married, mystical elf Elfo doesn’t want to live in an enchanted forest where everyone is happy all the time, and Bean’s personal demon Luci just wants to watch people suffer. Honestly, I wasn’t very into this show at first, but something compelled me to just keep watching, and by the end I was totally into it! This is one of those shows where you think there isn’t going to be a plot, but then the last few episodes come up and smack you in the face! 7.5/10

Round Planet

A documentary parody...mockumentary...satire...That’s really not a great way to describe it. It’s a nature documentary with funny commentary. I like nature shots and animals so I liked it, but there’s a lot of tangents and running jokes and British references that sometimes don’t land. Oh well, if you like unconventional documentaries, just watch it. 8/10

Honorable Mentions

DnDnD: I don’t think I’ve ever talked about this podcast before, but there’s a DnD podcast made by Practical Folks (aka the Drunk Disney youtube channel). It’s pretty good! I want an Adventure Zone crossover now!

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Every time I think I’m out, it pulls me back in. I finally got the DLC and spent most of this month playing this freaking game AGAIN!

The Heathers soundtrack: I finally listened to the Heathers musical soundtrack...and I didn’t love it. There are some good songs in it, but overall I’m unimpressed. And I never could really get into the plot, I’ve always thought it was really weird and over dramatic.

Legendary by Stephanie Garber: I’m about halfway through this book, which is the second in the Caraval series. And it’s pretty good! More on that next month.

[kimbayskafe]

An excerpt

The apartment is dark when Kevin gets back after work and tosses his keys onto the side, so when he hears a voice cut through the black greeting him, he very nearly jumps out of his skin.

“Jesus, Connor,” he says, flipping a light on and seeing Connor grinning back at him, curled up on the couch with his phone in hand, “you scared the shit out of me. Almost had a code brown.” He squints at Connor and sighs. “Why are you just sat in the dark like a murderer, huh?”

Connor shrugs. “I got all comfy and didn’t wanna stand up to go flip the light on,” he says, and wiggles his feet under the comforter he’s dragged from his bedroom for emphasis. Kevin raises an eyebrow, but has to admit that he does look very snuggly. “How was your day?”

Kevin drops his bag on the table and comes to perch on the arm of the couch. “It was alright,” he says, because it was. “Nothing much to report. I can’t be bothered to cook,” he adds, and Connor looks up from his phone and smiles at him sympathetically. “Wanna order takeout?”

“And you say I’m the enabler,” Connor replies, but when he turns his phone screen around, Kevin sees that he’s already gotten a takeout app open. “I’m thinking that Vietnamese place that just opened down the street looks good.”

They bicker over what to order for a little while (Kevin wants to go in on a deal but Connor insists that he’s not hungry enough to eat that much food and points out that Kevin is on rather a more substantial wage than he himself is), before they settle for two pho dishes and some rolls to share.

“Wanna watch a movie?” Kevin asks after they manage to scramble together enough change in preparation for paying the delivery boy. He’s managed to steal half of the comforter, stretching his legs out against Connor’s as he watches his roommate text at the other end of the couch.

“Sure,” Connor says, not looking up from his phone. Kevin thinks he must be texting Steve, because he has a gooey expression on his face. “Nothing too heavy going, though. I’ve got a bit of a headache.”

“We could watch a Disney movie,” Kevin suggests, tone light, and he begins to prepare a list of his top five to try and narrow it down. He imagines they’ll be debating for hours; all Disney films are excellent, after all.

“Oh, God no,” Connor says with a laugh, still engrossed in his phone. “I can’t stand Disney.” He must sense that Kevin is staring at him, because he looks up after a second and raises an eyebrow. “What?” he asks, confused.

“You can’t stand Disney,” Kevin repeats, feeling faint.

“Well, no,” Connor says, shifting in his seat, “not really. Like, it’s fine, but it’s all so twee, and every story is the same, and the songs are like, fine, but they’re just very sub par. And the princesses have like, no personality, and the princes are so unattractive. I mean, like, there are fences with more personality than some of those princes.” He frowns. “Kevin, you okay?”

Kevin is gripping at the arm of the couch as though he has just been fatally wounded. For all intents and purposes, he has been. “How,” he says, voice weak, “can you hate Disney? How can anyone hate Disney? Disney is great. Scratch that, Disney is one of the best things about this poxy little planet.”

“Wow,” Connor says, and he’s raising both eyebrows now, looking a little shocked by Kevin’s outburst. “Okay. I didn’t realise you had such strong feelings about Disney.”

“How can you say that the princesses have no personality?” Kevin all but exclaims, and Connor jumps slightly. “Moana! Merida! Anna and Elsa! Sure, a couple of the princesses were a little two-dimensional -”

“Literally,” mutters Connor.

“- but in recent years, Disney has just produced triumph after triumph after triumph!” Kevin continues, ignoring Connor’s comment. “This is - you know what, I can accept you not cooking, and being messy, and the fact that you blatantly ignore my no shoes rule -” (Kevin doesn’t miss the fact that Connor tucks his feet under the blanket some more to hide the fact that he’s wearing those battered Converse he can’t bring himself to part with) “- but not liking Disney? That’s too far, McKinley.”

“You can’t kick me out now,” Connor replies, and Kevin can tell he’s trying hard not to laugh. “I’ve got pho on the way.”

“You can finish your pho,” Kevin tells him, and Connor blows him a kiss, “but then you’re out. I can’t believe you don’t like Disney. You’ve obviously not seen Big Hero 6.”

“We’re not watching Disney, Kevin.”

“You’ll love Big Hero 6.”

“I don’t want to watch a Disney movie, Kevin!”

“I’m putting on Big Hero 6 -”

“For the love of God, Kevin, fine.”

Kevin studies Connor’s face the whole way through the movie, determined for his roommate to enjoy it, although that doesn’t stop Kevin himself from ultimately tearing up several times throughout it. When Connor doesn’t, Kevin kicks him under the blanket.

“You are made of stone,” he tells him defeatedly through stinging eyes, and Connor shuffles round to put his arm around Kevin, making a cooing noise. Kevin pretends to fight him, calls him heartless, and then turns his face into Connor’s shoulder as Connor rubs circles into his arm soothingly with his fingers.

He loves Disney still, even if Connor has no taste. 

(And even if Connor has no taste, that doesn’t mean that this doesn’t feel really nice. Kevin blinks that particular confusing thought away with the itching in his eyelids.)

[ring-anon]

Princess: Albert Kleinman x Diana Murphy

A Dear Evan Hansen Parent AU fic

Warnings: Drunk girl tries to seduce a character, brief mention of a car accident, questionable treat of a person with a disability- not slurs or abuse, just kind of falling into the whole pity mentality if you know what I mean

A/N: My first fic ever! For those that are new to my blog, Diana is Connor’s daughter, Albert/ Al is Jared’s kid. I want to make this a short series, but don’t expect anything soon!

W/C: 2,075

When Diana was 12, she told Al she wanted to be a princess. Al raised an eyebrow at the idea. “Diana, you know this isn’t Disney, right?” Al argued.

“No no no, not like a magic princess. I mean I want to marry into royalty, like the British Monarchy or something.” She explained “If I marry into a family like that, I wouldn’t have political responsibilities or anything, but I could use my influence to change the world for the better, y’know?”

Al shook his head and exhaled deeply. “Okay, like what?”

“I dunno. Maybe start a few charities. Abolish shoulder-based dress code rules. Y’know, small stuff like that” she replied nonchalantly.

Diana was full of spontaneous ideas like that. But the thing is, Diana was the kind of person that could make those ideas come to life.

That’s why Albert Kleinman was severely in love with Diana Murphy.

“Al, I swear you are the only person that would skip a high school football game to read The Hobbit.”

Al groaned. “Dad, I’m really close to the end. I really REALLY would appreciate it very much if you left me alone right now.”

“…Scratch that. I know one other person. That person would be ME my senior year of high school” he remarked. Al planted his face into his book. “Hey bud, I wouldn’t care if you didn’t say last Wednesday that you were going with Diana Murphy. Did you cancel or-?”

“No, but she’ll understand if I can’t go” Al snapped.

Jared sighed. “Al… is this for the reason I think it is-“

“No! …Somewhat? Maybe?” Al closed the book and turned to look at Jared leaning against his door frame.

“Albert Kleinman, you are not going to keep pining and doing nothing about how you feel. It has been since the summer before junior year-“ he lectured.

“End of sophomore year, if you wanna be technical-“ Al added, sliding his hands through his hazelnut locks.

“That’s not better! It drives me and this whole family nuts. If Wiley wasn’t in college he’d be pulling his hair out. And frankly-“ Jared moved to sit on Al’s bed “It kills me to see you so-so- I don’t know, insecure about this? Because I know this seems like a huge conflict, but I promise you, it’s not” he assured. Al looked up at the ceiling, as if he was searching for a reply up there.

“Al- you’re a smart kid. And you two are best friends. Even if she says no, you two have a strong enough bond to make things work out okay in the end. Just- don’t let one challenge stand in the way of you being happy. I’ve let that happen before- believe me, it’s not a good idea.” Al breathed. His dad could be an asshole, but the worst part was that he was usually a correct asshole.

“Well…alright, I’ll go. I’ll text you when I’m there and leaving and such. Also-uh...thanks” Jared smiled and patted Al on the back.

As Jared left he shouted from the hall: “Remember, no matter what happens between you two don’t piss off Mr. Murphy! I learned MANY times firsthand that’s not a good idea!”

The marching band played the fight song. Some trombone was blasting much louder than they needed to be.

“Okay, Al, you’re the one with the musical brother, so… technically how good is our band?” Diana asked. Al shrugged, straining to avoid eye contact with her.

“They’re okay, but Wiley would probably say they were better when he was there. I’d say they look less crowded without his ego on the field.”

Diana scoffed. “You’re not wrong there…” she tapped him on the shoulder “…Hey, you ‘ight?” Al was first to turn his head towards her. Her honey-colored eyes shined under the lights, and her coffee brown locks framed her round face like a painting. Even worse: when Al realized how cold it was outside, he offered her an extra sweatshirt in his car. It was a little big, so Diana hid her hands in the sleeves. Fuck… she’s fucking adorable fuck, Al thought to himself. Diana waved her hands in front of his face. “Earth to Al, we have lost the signal, I repeat, earth to Al!” she teased.

“Huh-uh sorry Di” Al murmured.

Diana crossed her arms. “Al, what’s up? You’ve been off all week. Not coming to my house at all, paying zero attention in English- I repeat, ENGLISH, you damn bookworm- nearly blowing through an intersection, and you always keep your eyes on the road-“

Diana was prepared to keep going but Al interjected: “Okay, okay…you got me. I’m- well…” he figured it was time to be honest “it’s- uh- you.”

She tilted her head. “Me? I don’t understand.”

Al’s stomach turned. “Well, you know, its- I just- you know… it’s your ex.” He was kicking himself in his head at this point.

Diana tilted her head at an even stronger angle. “Um…what? I broke up with Layla months ago, and on good terms. She was going out of state and wanted to start fresh. How is that something to be worried about?”

“Nonono! I mean… do you think you’re gonna start dating again?” Al asked, immediately regretting his decision “Waitno that sounds bad sorry Imean um-“ he stammered.

Diana laughed dryly “Oooh I see. You think I need someone to be a knight in shining armor? Come on Al, you know better than that.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Al sighed. “I mean, I dunno, you seem like you’re interested in someone… maybe?” You are a garbage liar he criticized. He began to glare at his shoes, not wanting to say much.

“Is it that obvious?” Diana asked. Al immediately perked up his head. Diana sighed. “Well… you know Brenda Nox? She gestured to a brunette cheerleader waving her pom-poms. “She..she does things to me.” Diana crooned, followed by burying her face in her hands.

Al smiled softly and patted her on the back. “It’s okay. Unrequited love sucks…” Al swallowed harshly “…but you’ll make it work.”

“Thanks Al…but that’s not all. See, there’s another person I like too” She mumbled.

“Who?” Al questioned.

“I-I can’t even say. It’s really embarrassing, because I like them a lot, and I know they do too-” she confessed.  “-But I want to wait for them. Because I know they can say it. And frankly, I think they should, because they need to know that if they want something…well, they should go for it.”

“Couldn’t agree more. And I hope this person gets their act together.” Al declared, even though her words made his heart sink. Yet, even so, something about her words made Albert have a small, hopeful voice say two words in his head: It’s you.

Al went into concessions to go to the bathroom. He thought he knew the terrain, it was his own high school, but that damn step down before he got to the bleachers always tripped him up- literally. He fell on his knee, catching the attention of a few girls from the visiting school.

“Ohhh wowww are you okaaay?” one of them slurred. When they offered their hand to help him up, he could smell the beer from the ground. He decided to pass and get up himself. “Are you okaaay? You gotta be bllleediiing or somethiiin’” she supposed.

Al took a couple of in-place steps. He knew such a small fall couldn’t affect his legs, but he had a habit of checking. The one girl that offered to pick him up still looked concerned and invested in Al for reasons he didn’t understand. “Oh! I’m fine! I have prosthetics, see?” he lifted his pant leg, then turned to the bleachers.

“Woooah wait. How’d-how’d that happeeen?” she asked, taking a wobbly step closer to him.

Great, he thought. Just try and make this quick. He inhaled and began. “I was in a car accident when I was 5. I was sitting behind the shotgun seat, and the crash impacted there the most. No one was sitting in front of me but the chair was thrown back and crushed my legs. Now if you’ll excuse me I-“

“O-M-G that must have been aawfuuullll!” she squealed a little too loudly, making Al wince. “You poooor thing…well I gotta say-“ she purred, taking a step towards Al. “-you still look preeetty tough to me.” The girl placed an arm on his bicep, causing him to freeze. She was obviously too intoxicated to put together a coherent thought, but he needed to get back to Diana. “Saaay if you feel like it, you aaand your prrreeetty blue eyes could maaaybe drivvve meee hooome, aaand-“

“You know, you’re not supposed to have alcohol on school grounds. There are teachers swarming the place, so I’d suggest you leave.” Al had never been more relieved. Diana was standing behind the girl, arms crossed.

The girl looked at Diana, then back to Al. She scoffed. “Guess I’ll leave you with your giiirlfriiiend.” she sang as she walked away. Al beamed at Diana. He saw her cheeks were pink, probably from the cold.

“Cocoa?” Diana asked. Al gave her a cup. Her smile returned.

“Come on, we’re at 3rd quarter already. We’re losing, but there might be a turn-around, you never know!”

The car ride home was silent, but Al’s mind was screaming. The incident with the girl left Al with a lot of questions. Was she jealous? Or was she just helping you as a friend? Or…both? Frankly, Al didn’t care anymore. At this point he didn’t think he would get any answers to his questions.

“Woah…Al, roll down the windows!” Diana commanded.

Her words got him out of his own question-spiral, but they led to yet another question. “Why the flying fuck would I do that?” he lashed out.

“…to look at the stars. Sorry, Al I didn’t mean to annoy you. Gotta love a short attention span…” her voice trailed off.

Al felt his stomach drop to the lowest it had this evening. He was practically sinking in his seat. “No…Diana you’re good. That one was on me.” He admitted.

Then, he got inspired.

“You don’t have to be home for another hour right?” Al asked.

“Hour AND a half! I made a case to my dad and he caved” she beamed.

“Okay, we’re gonna make a detour then” he declared.

After fifteen minutes of Diana’s nagging, they finally got there: the field where Al’s dad took him and his siblings as a kid to go stargazing. The best part is that he didn’t even have to take the time to get out of the car. He let the sun roof down, and Diana’s mouth immediately went agape. The black sky was littered with stars.

“…Al, you are really something, you know?”

“I mean...I guess I try.” Al took a deep breath. “Diana, there’s- there’s something I wanted to talk to you about” he stammered. Somehow, in exhaustion and hope, he thought this was a good idea.

“Oh jeez, did I do something? Look Al I know I’m blunt but if you ever get offended by something I say you know you can always tell-”

Al’s face turned red “Nononono you didn’t do anything wrong, I just-”

“Al if it’s about the girl earlier, you looked like you needed help.” he was now highly confused. “…It wasn’t me trying to be a knight in shining armor or pity you, I was just acting like I do- y’know, trying to help others when actually-“

“You’re really something else.” Al whispered, his face becoming much closer to hers than it was before.”

“What…what are you…” Diana tried to speak, but she was soon interrupted by Al’s lips slamming fiercely into hers. Al thought Diana tasted vaguely like cherry chapstick, but mostly hot chocolate, and he figured she thought the same. That was the last thought he had before succumbing to full bliss. Al’s hands were shaky, but they eventually found their way to Diana’s waist. Diana ruffled her fingertips through Al’s messy locks. He didn’t even feel this. He also didn’t feel his face burning up at her touch, or any other sensation. All Al felt in that moment was Diana’s lips pressing into his.

 Al had never kissed a princess before. But once Diana left his car that night, after a silent-but-content drive home, he never wanted to stop.

[efnewsservice]

November 17, 2017

Mekia Cox interview 

The timeless lyrics of the Disney song “When you wish upon a star… anything your heart desires will come  to you” notwithstanding, actress Mekia Cox, who plays Princess Tiana on the ABC series Once Upon A Time, believes "You are what you attract.” She explains, “I believe in creating goals and focusing on those goals. You shoot for the moon and you land among the stars. I happened to shoot for the moon and landed among the stars twice." She believes that it is a less a celestial body and more perhaps a heavenly spirit that brings her good luck. “I will also say my father passed when I was seventeen, and I do believe I have a guardian angel up there looking out for me. Just because these things are so specific to me, I do think he is working his magic up there and allowing me to get these specific things that I wanted in my life.” Still, we all know that luck is nothing without preparation and Cox has been working and preparing for literally her entire life. She has been performing since she was three years old, and was working at Disney World at the age of seven. Born in St. Croix, Cox and her family moved to Orlando, Florida just before Hurricane Hugo hit in 1989. “Apparently, afterward things were pretty bad down there so my family that did live there went back to Barbados and some went to Miami.” Cox’s family was originally from Barbados. Since then, every time I go back to the Caribbean, I go to Barbados.” She has never been back to St. Croix, arguably the most popular vacation destination in the U.S. Virgin Islands, but it remains in her heart. She says, “There’ve been times that I tried to go back but something always comes up and kept me from going. I grew up in Christiansted. I feel like I remember it like the back of my hand. I love that little island.” In Orlando, Cox began working at Disney as a dancer at age seven. “After I moved from St. Croix, I moved to Orlando, and my very first professional job was dancing at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. For me, of course, being seven years old at that time that was a huge deal. I did that when I was seven then once again when I was nine.” Not surprisingly, she ached to play a Disney Princess and planned on doing so until an uncomfortable realization hit her. “I had heard that when you were sixteen you could work at Disney as a Disney Princess and so was excited to do that. Then I remembered, ‘Wait a second. I can't work as a Disney Princess because there is no Disney Princess for me to be." Though African-American singer and actress Brandy had played Cinderella in the 1997 film, there were no black Disney Princesses at the time Cox worked there. Even when society became more enlightened, Cox's dream seemed to still be out of her grasp.  She recalls, “Back in 2009 when The Princess and The Frog came out, I remember thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, some little girl's dream of being the princess at Disney World in Orlando can actually come true now.’ I thought I had passed my prime for that to be able to happen.” Not wishing on just one star though, Cox was also passionate about dancing for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Incredibly, that happened for her. In 2008, she was chosen out of a field of 500 dancers to go on his This Is It tour. She has said in a previous interview that the experience, “Probably always will be one of the best times in my life and sort of the pinnacle of my dance career.” She then moved on and began acting in shows such as Secrets and Lies, Key and Peele, and Grey’s Anatomy. In 2016, she nabbed a recurring gig on NBC's Chicago Med as Dr. Robyn Charles. Robyn is the daughter of head psychiatrist at Chicago Med, Dr. Daniel Charles and the love interest of Dr. Connor Rhodes. That episode is worth watching just to see her truly touching, nuanced performance as a young, beautiful, brilliant doctor who grapples with issues of mental illness in her career and personal life. Cox encourages us to tune in to see if she appears after that first episode, which airs November 21.   One of the best parts of working on Chicago Med for Cox was her co-star S. Epatha Merkerson. “She's awesome I love her so much. She’s Just a joy to work with and funny! You don't really get to see her be funny very funny, but in person, she is actually a really funny person.” Cox had tried out for the part of Sabine on Once Upon A Time, having no idea (because showrunners kept it a secret) that Sabine was also Princess Tiana in the fantasy series. Once Upon A Time has dual storylines taking place in a fairytale world and a real world. Cox plays the character Sabine in the real world storyline and Tiana in the alternate storyline. She says, “I was auditioning for Sabine. I had no idea I was auditioning for Princess Tiana. It was only afterward that they let me know it was for Princess Tiana and I was like ‘Oh, that’s really kind of cool.” It seems her guardian angel came through for his little girl once again. “Eventually, we were told that I booked the role and I was extremely excited and turned back into my 7-year-old self.” Though acting takes up much of her time, when she isn’t doing that, Cox tries to engage in some of her old hobbies. “I just picked up my guitar the other day and realized that I had not picked it up in some years and so I’m getting back to learning guitar.” Painting does double duty as both hobby and reverie. “I was painting for a while and it’s a form of meditation. I can do it and not realize that hours have gone by.” Photography connects her to memories of her father. “My father was actually a photographer and I didn't know the gene was passed down to me until I picked up a camera and realized that I love being behind the camera.” So far the actress has gained plenty of fans of her work as Sabine/Princess Tiana. Only seven episodes in, there is already fan art dedicated to her online. Says one fan Jennifer, who has been watching the show since it began seven years ago, “I like Tiana. She has a can-do attitude, even though things are tough for her in both worlds. She’s just interesting to me.” Cox likes the similarities between herself and the character(s) especially capable yet vulnerable Sabine, which has a surprising payoff. “She’s got similar characteristics to me so it’s easy for me to learn her lines.” Cox hints that there will be a romantic storyline coming up for her character in the near future. Cox’s Princess Tiana isn’t the only princess of color on the show. Afro-Latinx actress Dania Ramirez plays Cinderella/Jacinda who is Sabine’s best friend. Beyond considerations of diversity, the casting makes a point about freedom in artistic choices. She says, “You know, I think what can be interesting about these fairy tale characters is they can really be whatever you want them to be. I think that's what they're trying to show you. I was happy that there is actually now a black princess that I can play, but it’s not like The Princess and The Frog originated as a black princess. She happened to turn into that in 2009 with Disney. I really love that they’ve also shaped this character in a little bit of a different way and given her a different backstory. It’s great and it has needed to happen for a while now.” Ironically, though Once Upon A Time is a fantasy rife with characters ripped from fairy tales that are over a century old, the show has a decidedly feminist bent. Much of the action and story are driven by women. The women on Once Upon A Time tend to have strong personalities and well-defined agendas. Says Cox, “To have such strong female characters in one show but also bringing diversity and bring in different minorities from different areas is important because that is a reflection of what we see in America or internationally.” For most of television history, these roles simply were not an option for actors of color no matter how much skill, experience, or beauty they had. Those jobs were in effect, closed to them. On the flip side, there were fewer aspirational characters for viewers of color. Like many others, Cox also thinks it’s important for young people to see these images on television. “I also think it’s really good for young people to be able to visualize themselves in a different way.” She says, “To see these actors who look like them on screen and think “Oh I could do that. I can be strong, I can be entrepreneurial, I can be nurturing. To be able to actually see someone who looks like you do those things makes an impact on your life.”

[starlightervarda]

Back off of Wonder Woman

Did James Cameron seriously try to come for Wonder Woman being beautiful and kind?

“All of the self-congratulatory back-patting Hollywood’s been doing over Wonder Woman has been so misguided. She’s an objectified icon, and it’s just male Hollywood doing the same old thing! I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie but, to me, it’s a step backwards. Sarah Connor was not a beauty icon. She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit. And to me, [the benefit of characters like Sarah] is so obvious. I mean, half the audience is female!”

Source

Then he had the nerve to say:

“Being attracted to strong independent women has the downside that they’re strong independent women – they inherently don’t need you!” he says with a laugh. “Fortunately, I’m married now to a strong independent woman who does believe she needs me.” 

Just because Sarah Connor was a hardened woman who was turned cold by her circumstances and was a terrible mother doesn’t mean every single female hero needs to be that. Wonder Woman doesn’t need your fucking approval.

Stop invalidating beautiful women. Stop invalidating kind women. Women don’t have to be tortured, messy and violent to be strong or admirable or heroes.

I’m really tired of men trying to sound like big-time feminists by criticizing Wonder Woman’s costume, or any female character’s softness or beauty. You’re beyond missing the point.

You’re saying that female heroes can’t be taken seriously unless they’re as aggressive, messy, violent, unstable and ugly as the male ones.

And Diana’s costume is a Greek warrior’s armor. The men wore the same thing! Kilt, chestplate and all!

I hope all the people complaining about Diana’s costume complained about Brad Pitt’s in Troy :)))))

Patty replied though:

The same reason we talk about toxic masculinity is the same reason we needed Diana! Why need Elle Woods, Disney princesses and why we loved Sailor Moon, the Powerpuff Girls and the like.

Telling girls - and boys - that strength and toughness is being emotionally-stunted, cruel and brutal is unhealthy. Writing your usual grizzled, cranky, closed-off warrior man and making him a woman is not progress.

Diana is beautiful, Diana wears dresses, Diana is kind, Diana loves babies, children and women and men alike, Diana fell fast and hard for Steve Trevor and still pines for him. She can do all that while being adventurous, tough, well-trained in combat and ready to kick your ass to the moon and headbutt tanks.

Diana hates carnage unless it is necessary and will only run headfirst into it if it lowers the risk of even more death. That’s why she’s a hero. That was why her movie took place in World War One, arguably the most pointless was there ever was.

She was literally created with the theme of her character being love and truth. She will never be Sarah Connor, and we don’t want her to be!

Like, thank you for Terminator, and most importantly Terminator 2. But kindly fuck off.

[canaryarrow]

Morgan's OUATCHI adventure (that literally nobody asked for)

Hey, guys!

SO I am still very much fangirling over all the things that happened this weekend, so I'm gonna make a post about it 😊 

Adventures under the cut!

 After @starslikesatellites and I got to the hotel on Thursday, we met up with @jennifer-morrison and @outlaw-queen and got dinner. I'm just gonna get it out the way now and just say how awesome these ladies are. The con definitely would not have been as fun without them and I'm so happy I got a chance to get to know them. We also befriended Danika (who is not on Tumblr) and we jokingly referred to her as our "con mom". She was super sweet and I just loved our little convention squad so much ❤️ 

Friday definitely turned out to be a lot more amazing than I expected! Michael Coleman started off the convention by singing a bunch of Disney medleys and it was so cute. After that was Gil McKinney's panel, and he sang quite a bit this weekend! His voice is honestly incredible. And his panel was so sweet and he talked about he wished he could have been in more episodes and how he liked doing scenes with Joanna. When I got his autograph later, I asked him if he ever thought about doing Broadway and he said he loves theater, but he doesn’t want to move to NYC. 

I didn't see any of the other panels that day (probably because I was hungry and/or tired), but D was like "we should do karaoke for the party tonight!" and we were like "sure!" 

When we got there and I took in the scene, I realized that the cast members would be singing WITH US and I was SO SHOOK. We sang "Sugar, We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy and Gil sang with us while Michael danced with his daughter on stage. Afterwards, Gil told us it was "good shit" and that we picked a great song and hugged all of us! Beverly Elliot was also there and she told us we sounded amazing 😭 

Later when Gil was singing, Connor cheered really loud for him and HE HEARD HER AND HE MADE THIS EXACT FACE -

- followed by cutest smile ever. Also, when I tweeted about it later, Gil liked my tweet and Michael Coleman said we were rockstars and that we made his weekend!

So that was Friday! Saturday started bright and early with a photo op with Colin! It went by very quick, but he was very sweet and asked how Connor and I were doing and thanked us afterwards. After that, it was his panel with Lana and I actually managed to ask them a question! I was the one who asked about their favorite plot twists on the show. When Lana answered, she kind of looked out to the general audience BUT WHEN COLIN ANSWERED, HE LOOKED DIRECTLY AT ME FOR THE ALMOST THE ENTIRE TIME AND I WAS NOT PREPARED. And his answer made me smile because his favorite plot twists just so happened to be favorites as well ;)

After that, I got Colin’s autograph! The girl in front of me had him sign adorable CS art and he said “Aww, look at this!” in such a cute voice! Colin continued to be his sweet self and he put a personalized message on the autograph I got (which I will reveal at a later point in time because I got it for someone else and I haven’t given it to them yet!).

After getting his autograph, it was time for Emilie’s panel! The room was packed for her and a lot of people asked her questions and it made me super happy. She was so adorable in her panel! After her, it was Colin’s panel! He seemed a bit nervous at first being in front of so many people, but he did such a great job answering questions. When his panel ended, I decided to go downstairs to check to see if my photo op had printed yet...and Colin was just there? Like I was walking by and he opened the door and popped his head out and my sister and I did a double take hahaha. We talked very briefly - I said hi and thanked him for being here and he said “Thank you so much!” :)

After that little surprise, Connor and I went to Emilie’s private meet and greet! This was honestly the best part of my weekend. She was so real and sweet and real and I can’t believe it happened? AND SHE SAT NEXT TO ME THE WHOLE TIME AND I AM SO PROUD OF MYSELF THAT I KEPT MY CHILL. 

Connor’s favorite princess has always been Belle, so naturally she’s a big Emilie fan. After the meet and greet ended, Emilie kinda lingered a bit and talked with us some more and I almost started crying because my sister is my best friend and I love her so much and she deserves good things and to see her meet one of her favorite actresses and to see how sweet Emilie was with her...it just made my heart burst. I always was an Emilie fan, but I love her so much more now that my sister and I got to spend 30 minutes with her.

OH AND EMILIE POSTED THE GROUP PIC OF HER AND EVERYONE IN THE MEET AND GREET AND I AM STILL SO SHOOK TO THE CORE ABOUT THIS.

Once the meet and greet ended, we got autographs with Emilie, Lana, Lee, Keegan, and Karen. When we got to Lana, se saw our names on our post-its and asked us “Are you guys Morgan and Connor?” and I said, “Yup! My dad gave all of his daughters unisex names on purpose.” And then Lana said “Oh, that’s cool! Is there a Charlie in your family?” And Connor and I were like - 

BECAUSE THAT IS LITERALLY WHAT I AM GOING TO NAME MY FIRST DAUGHTER. And we told her that and we had a laugh about it.

Keegan was a total sweetheart! When she signed autographs, she drew a little wand on every picture. When she was signing my sister’s pic, she drew the wand in gold, and I was like, “Oh cute! You got a different colored wand!” And then Keegan was like “WAIT” and she took my picture back and added gold sparkles to my wand :’)

Karen was super nice when we met her! She made out my autograph to “Queen Morgan” and I was like “QUEEN?” and she said, “Yes, dear! I’m a princess, I know royalty when I see it!” and I giggled like an idiot.

Lee and I had a nice conversation about family, we both talked about our dads, and he talked about his kids.

AND THEN, WE WENT ON TO EMILIE. When we got to her, I was like “Wow, long time no see!” and she laughed and said, “I know, right? Feels like it’s been years!” Connor had her sign her Belle music box and Emilie was really enchanted by it. When Connor mentioned how the box played “Beauty and the Beast” and had a little dancing Belle when the box was opened, Emilie wound up the box and listened to it and got the biggest smile on her face. She asked us where we got it and we told her at Disney in Orlando. Then she told us, “I’ve seen so much Belle merchandise over the years, but I have never seen this! I need to get one for Vera!” THEN Connor gave her some artwork that she made! She painted the chipped cup with the quote “the best tea cup is chipped” and she stayed up all night painting it and she was so nervous and shaking, but of course, Emilie loved it and told Connor she was a good artist. I’m honestly so surprised Connor didn’t die this weekend haha. After that, we went to the concert and then called it a night.

Sunday started off with a panel of Bex, Victoria, and Jaime. And I was cracking up the entire time, THEY WERE HILARIOUS.

Then we went to Bex’s solo panel, AND SHE STARTED OFF BY SINGING THE ENTIRETY OF “WICKED ALWAYS WINS” AND I FREAKED OUT SO HARD. SHE SOUNDED AMAZING GUYS AND I CAN’T BELIEVE I GOT TO WITNESS IT. And the rest of her panel was just as great. She’s so entertaining. 

After her panel, we got a photo op with her and once it came out, I posted it on twitter with “when the whole squad looks good” AND SHE LIKED IT AND I WAS SO BLESSED. And later we got a photo with her and Victoria and they were so fun and such good sports with everyone’s poses (mine included haha).

The last thing we did for the con was getting Bex’s autograph. D got in line in front of me and she was having Bex sign her photo with her, Nel, and Victoria. When Bex was thinking about what to write on the picture I was like “Squad goals!” and she said, “Oh my god, I was literally about to write that! We’re so twinning right now!” and she wrote “Squad goals AF!” on D’s pic. When it was my turn, I told her how much I loved the Wizard of Oz as a kid, and I never expected to love the Wicked Witch, but she made that possible. Then she said, “And look at us now!” and I said “character development!” and she laughed. She then wrote “#SquadGoals” on my picture with her and I died :)

So yeah, that was pretty much my weekend! I had the best time, honestly. I love all of my new con friends so much and I know I’ll keep these memories for the rest of my life. Thanks for putting up with my shenanigans this weekend <3

[one-more-miracle-gatsby]

I just finished Impyrium by Henry H Neff and I’m gonna talk about it because I have a lot of feelings so spoiler warning

-I completely forgot the demon’s conditions for the Red Winter Treaty so I saw the Prusian Sea on the map and I was like “huh I wonder what the crafty bastard did to get an ocean named after him” and then I got to the line about underwater demon kingdoms and I was like THAT’S RIGHT THEY BANISHED HIM TO THE SEA and of course he still managed to go make himself a successful kingdom like ffs Prusias just enjoy retirement.

-Sigga Fenn is my new favorite character. What a bro. I mean yeah she played Hob like a panther stalking a rabbit and absolutely would have killed him in an instant and we don’t still know what her exact orders are but there are times when she does seem to be as sincere and friendly as she can professionally be and like honestly it’s nice to have such a chill agent. Disguising herself as the old lady was hilarious like that was so unnecessary Sigga you didn’t have to steal her dessert

-I love the dynamics between the triplets. Isabel is great.

-homunculus breeding is fascinating oh my god

-”Hazel saw that Harkün had also drawn a dagger with a wavy black blade” TFW you’re such a die-hard Cooper fan you can recognize his weapon 3000 years later

-speaking of the devil, I hope that Mystic with mismatched eyes was a descendant of who I think she was because please imagine Hazel Cooper’s reaction to finding her greatx3k granddaughter gambling with a domovoi

-Like. I know Prime is not going to turn out to be Cooper but there’s a tiny part of my sappy fangirl heart going, “if anyone were to volunteer themselves to be turned into a statue for all eternity to protect Rowan it would probably be him”

-Hob’s sass is beautiful can he give me lessons

-THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SHROPES COOKING AT ROWAN

-I love the quotes at the start of the chapters, not only did they bring more meaning to the chapters but they also provided some context and backstory, like how old David lived to be.

-Honestly Hazel’s mentality was so unapologetically realistic like she was so innocent and oblivious but then she started learning things and I love her revelations that she can take control of her own life. But like she was still allowed to be delicate and cry and sleep with a stuffed giraffe and it wasn’t depicted as weakness.

-I will be forever be impressed at the all the political webs Henry weaves

-Montague’s character development

-I wonder what Ember really did with Mina like did he really eat her or is she chillin in his mouth under the sea

-The two perspectives were so great and it was awesome because you can’t trust the Fellowship and you can’t trust the royals, you can only trust that the main characters themselves will see the faults of their respective sides and make the right decisions. I love how they opened each other’s eyes to new things.

-It’s so cool because The Tapestry was so heavily based in Irish mythology and now Impyrium is based in Tapestry mythology like the original series became the mythology of the new series, which means that our world is part of that mythology. I remember Henry saying something about how The Tapestry was partially a story about human perseverance and that really spoke to me in some parts of this book too. That ancient, scratched-up, barely-working Disney film was so unsettling but so wonderful. Burke’s line about “would you believe we lowly little humans once walked on the moon?” The part where the Fellowship is explaining about how humans once built flying ships and split matter to its smallest components without any magic, just with the sheer power of their minds. It’s inspiring. And it was interesting seeing that different perspective of the destruction of the Book of Thoth, like we were just starting to explore the heavens themselves and then that technology was taken away from us. But like it said, at least we’re still walking on the Earth. It’s surreal reading this and realizing that in this book we are the ancient civilizations. Much of our history is either not known at all or considered a nonsensical fairy tale. But Disney films and the Brothers Grimm tales still exist. Stories persevere, no matter how rare or expensive or illegal they may become. Getting even more meta, it’s just like the stories of the original series becoming the mythology of this one. Stories stick around, no matter how much they may change, and apparently the same applies to humanity.

-I would love to talk to someone who read Impyrium without reading The Tapestry first and find out what that realization was like, when it suddenly dawned on them that this had once been our world.

-It’s also really interesting and kind of funny seeing the empress and the princesses have the whole week-long pilgrimage and put themselves through such physical and mental duress to go worship this mysterious scary god-king from another world when those of us who have read The Tapestry know that this all-powerful warrior is the same guy who got repeatedly bossed around by a talking goose and once used magic to leap 20 feet in the air because he got startled by a robot centipede. The Hound of Rowan, everybody. One thing I always admired about Max’s character was that no matter how much he grew and changed the core of his personality, his kindness and his humor, stayed the same (and even when he went full supernova god in the Workshop he was still able to keep from destroying everybody because of the love he felt for his friends). And I’m glad that even just from that little glimpse we got of him we can see that he still holds that same personality, that he was so eager to help this teenage girl that he forgot about the FATAL WOUND that would literally kill him if he went through the gate like Max never change

-I was not expecting this story to give me so many Max feels like I thought I was over the end of The Red Winter but apparently not. I actually laughed when they brought out the lyrmrills as offerings because it was so beautifully nostalgic and sentimental but also like, what else would it be? The man loves his lymrills.

-Speaking of Max getting bossed around by Hannah I seem to remember her saying she was immortal at the end of The Red Winter so are she and her goslings still wandering around the Direwoods oh god

-Again it must be such a different experience reading this without the context of the first series because that whole Direwoods field trip was kind of a punch in the gut. I remember in The Hound of Rowan reading about the abandoned charges wandering the Sanctuary and forgetting that humans ever cared for them and I thought that was so sad and now the entire Sanctuary is like that. The Sanctuary was such a beacon of hope and peace and now it’s just a creepy haunted forest where little rich kids are afraid to get their feet dirty. Who knows how long selkies live, that could have been Frigga or Helga in the lagoon being so glad to have some humans to play with again. And the ruins of the Warming Lodge and the dvergar brother’s forge. Dude that one classroom had Nile Croakers and domovoi and stuff in cages and the selkies were described as “water beasts” like that was so sad it feels so wrong and it’s such a good representation of how the culture has changed

-Like honestly it’s just such a message about the nature of history. It reminds me of Church’s monologue from the end of season 13 of Red vs Blue, where he talked about the hero never getting to know if his sacrifice was worth it. Max didn’t know what became of his friends or the world he left behind presumably until David’s death (and don’t think I don’t have a fanfic idea about that), and then Max and David and everyone presumably don’t really know what became of their world 3000 years later, like they know the gate and the dragon exist and they know about the Faeregines coming on pilgrimage every few years, but I guess they probably don’t know much beyond that. They never get to see the long-lasting effects of their efforts, and they don’t get to know the perspectives with which people view them and the legends they’ve become. They didn’t want Rowan to become a place for snobby elites, and they didn’t want nonmagical people to be discriminated against, but they can’t do anything about it. Because we can act to change our history, but in the long run we never know how our stories will end up being told. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take action to better our world for the present and the foreseeable future.

-I love all the subtle parallels, intentional or not, between this story and The Tapestry. Kids sneaking out at night for a sleepover on a ship, kids sneaking out for a duel. A man losing his face. Workshop specimens getting stolen. Being betrayed by a friend (honestly, I didn’t suspect Viktor at all until he suggested that they collect firewood and then my mind immediately went to Rolf and Connor for some reason even though there was no real connection). The illustration of Hob outside Hazel’s tent with the House Blade next to the fire reminded me so much of Cooper sneaking into Max’s tent with the poisoned Atropos blade, and it was Scathach the shadow who saved Max and Sigga the shadow who saved Hazel and Hob. History repeats itself. No matter how much some things change, some things still repeat.

-Olly was such a great character, like he had flaws but he acknowledged and apologized for them and he was so great. Sniff.

-Seriously Sigga is that teacher who’s like “I know you’re going though a lot so I’m going to conveniently forget to close the submission box until a while after the due date so I won’t know if you turned the homework in late but if I do catch you turning it in late I gotta fail you sorry”

-Also can we talk about the fact that Ember apparently fell in love with Astaroth’s hell dragon that he conjured from dead people like oh my god Ember plz you guys almost killed each other

-I feel like remember Henry saying something about us eventually getting to hear more about the grymholch from Prusias’s arena and the world it was from and I hope that happens