#hdm series 2

[clonerightsagenda]

My mother does not want to watch L&Co with me so I can proceed through it at my own pace, which means I should be done in time for the Uglies movie release. (8 episodes for 2 books? HDM showrunners take notes.) If I have time before September 13 I should really reread the series and make a tumblr poll for top TallyShay toxic yuri moments. IDK if this is accurate but I feel like they really set the trend for horrible YA wlw situationships even if unintentionally.

Hang on I should actually watch the Netflix trailer to determine how much of a shrine to haterism this blog is going to be when that happens.

[pherryt]

Crossovers

Who loves crossovers? I love reading and writing them! So much so, I've been nicknamed the Crossover Queen in one of my servers. And now I'm curious -

My fellow writers: If you write them, how many Crossover fics do you have? How does that work out in percentages? Do you stick with the same fandoms or do you dabble in many? Do you find you have one or two main fandoms you like to mix with everything else under the sun? (Looking at my own list, that's exactly what *I* do lol)

Stats: Out of 443 works (over 3 million words which also include: 27 art posts, 10 podfics and 2 collabs), 47 of those are CROSSOVERS! (for a total of 612,031 words) hitting around 40 different fandoms?

(I lost track trying to break it down, especially with things that bleed into each other. Do I count each type of Star Trek as separate or as a whole?)

That's only 10% of my fics! And only 18% of my total words! But I still feel like I've written a ton of them!

What have I got? ALOT of different fandom combos:

5 Old Guard / MCU fics (same series)

2 Witcher / Zelda fics

2 One Piece / Witcher fics

3 SPN / Doctor Who fics (and one plus Torchwood but that one is unfinished)

2 Star Trek OS / AOS fics

2 Power Pack / Doctor Who fics

Then one each of:

Doctor Who / Star Trek OS / Next Gen

SPN / ElfQuest

Power Pack / ElfQuest

Power Pack / Venom

Venom / MCU

MCU / ElfQuest

SPN / BtVS

SPN / Scooby Doo

SPN / MCU

SPN / Old Guard

Star Trek / MCU

Witcher / Supernatural

Ranma 1/2 / Fruits Basket

Fusion Style Crossovers:

3 fics for SPN / Anne of Green Gables (same series)

SPN / Golden Girls

Witcher / Doctor Who

Witcher / Yuri on Ice

Witcher / Princess Bride

SPN / Mercedes Lackey (Lammas Night)

MCU / Pacific Rim

MCU / Alice in Wonderland

Insane Fics with 4 or more Fandoms:

SPN / MCU / Star Trek / Harry Potter

MHA / MASH / MCU / SPN /One Piece / Eureka / Witcher

SPN / One Piece / Warehouse 13 / MASH / Ranma 1/2 / Zelda /Good Omens / Knives Out

Witcher / One Piece / PotC / OFMD

One Piece / Ranma 1/2 / Zelda / Witcher / LotR / HDM /Old Guard / Doctor Who / Prydain / Fruits Basket / Slayers

In various stages of written/planning that I'm still hoping to finish:

Witcher / SPN

Witcher / ElfQuest

Witcher / MCU

Witcher / The Others

Witcher (AWAU Flavor) / MHA

MHA / Valdemar

[thealogie]

Speaking of Book of Dust, thoughts on Secret Commonwealth? I'm a huge fan of the original His Dark Materials trilogy, but I'm afraid to read Secret Commonwealth because it seems like a lot of fans hated it. I don't want it to ruin my enjoyment of His Dark Materials which has been a fav of mine since childhood. (I read La Belle Sauvage and liked it but it didn't have a huge impact of me). I'm not a big audiobook person but should I do it for the Sheen performance if nothing else?

The book of dust series is honestly only worth it as an audiobook. Like I'm not an audiobook girl either (I listen to some, but I'm incredibly picky with narrators and I would always prefer to read a book physically if I have time), and I am capable of knowing when something involving my little guys is not that good, but this is a case where the books are not that good but the reading is genuinely genuiely so good it makes you think the books are good. Like multiple people have told me it's their favorite audiobook even though they don't like the books that much. I know this is a big commitment but I would honestly re-do La Belle Sauvage as an audiobook. It is by far better than the secret commonwealth and it's actually the audiobook that got me go "ok I'm capable of enjoying audiobooks"

As for the secret commonwealth, there are a couple of missteps by Pullman that are genuinely surprising coming from him and considering the tone/intent of the original. Without spoilers I will say there's a weird inappropriate crush involved and then separately a scene involving sexual violence that seems pointless. That said, those missteps were just annoying and surprising - they didn't ruin the original series for me and I still found a lot to love in there. On a story level, not as tight as original HDM but I still care about Lyra and Pan and want to see how the story ends. If the third book is good, it could save a lot of book 2 for me.

[spnfanficpond]

New Member Spotlight - December 2023

The Pond is always growing and we want to make our new members feel welcome! Here’s a list of recent additions to our fishy family, along with a little info about them!

Guppies, Jellies, and Mutuals, oh, my!

@mayalaen -

Other SM names? - Mayalaen on AO3, Discord, Twitter, Bluesky, LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, etc.

OTP? - I'm a multishipper so no true OTP.

Other fandoms? - Mostly Stranger Things, OFMD, Stargate SGA/SG1, Star Trek, X-FIles, and Angel the Series/Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I'm interested in a lot of fandoms.

Looking for in the Pond? - I like to encourage people to write and create and I like to make friends in fandom. I was referred to the Pond for that by some members.

Something to signal boost? - I run a monthly writing/art challenge on AO3 called SPNColdestHits that you guys have already been boosting (THANK YOU!!). It's multifandom now and accepts art and original fic, not just fanfic. This is the AO3 collection link and of course, we're @spncoldesthits here on Tumblr, but we're also on Discord, Twitter, Bluesky, and Pillowfort.

Pairings you read? - I'll read pretty much any pairing, poly or otherwise. I'm not interested in reader insert, but I've read some.

Genres you read? - I prefer darkfic and/or kink, but I read anything.

Favorite writer(s)? - Xanthe Walter, but they haven't been active in fandom for about 2 years now.

What do you like to write? - My favorite is darkfic, D/S AU, and kink, but I also love writing crack and all other genres.

Masterlist!

Most underappreciated fic? - It's newer but it has the least amount of hits from the list of non-crack/non-gift fics and is an SPN/Blacklist crossover. Caging the Mongoose.

Something you haven't written but would like to try? Why not? How can we help? - I really would like to write some SPN/HDM fusions. I keep toying with the idea, but have never posted any of them. I always work better when I have prompts or ideas from others to spur me on.

.@leatafandom -

Other SM names? - @leatawrites, Leata (AO3 and Discord)

OTP? - Sabriel

Other fandoms? - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marvel, BBC Merlin, Star Trek, Doctor Who

Looking for in the Pond? - I could use some help with tags and challenging myself to write different things.

Pairings you read? - Ships, Gens, Poly fics

Genres you read? - Angst is my favorite but fluff and smut are always wonderful

Favorite writer(s)? - Yes, @idabbleincrazy on Tumblr or Gabriel_is_my_guardian_angel89 on Ao3

What do you like to write? - Angst, Horror, Smut, Bittersweet/Sad Things

Masterlist!

Most underappreciated fic? - My most underappreciated story is probably one of my original horror short stories. My most underappreciated fanfic is probably Becoming One,Two, and One Again.

Something you haven't written but would like to try? Why not? How can we help? -I really would like to write more horror however I feel like I struggle with expressing fear, scenery/detail descriptions, and word choice

@oganizediguana -

Other SM names? - Oganizediguana on Discord

OTP? - Destiel

Other fandoms? - I tiptoe through many fandoms, but SPN is my home. Good Omens

Looking for in the Pond? - I’d love to get encouragement for writing and the confidence to share my work. But I’d also love to just meet interesting people.

Pairings you read? - 99% destiel

Genres you read? - I read it all, but mutual pining slow burn is what makes me feel all the things. I love a good canon-compliant AU. I’m happy with anything that ends happily. Or at least hopefully.

Favorite writer(s)? - On AO3: NorthernSparrow, tenoko1, saltnhalo, there are so many amazing authors in this fandom!

What do you like to write? - Everything seems to turn into angst.

Something you haven't written but would like to try? Why not? How can we help? - I’d like the confidence to share what I have written.

@dragonslayer-5fanfiction -

Other SM names? - Ao3- Dragonslayer5

Other fandoms? - haikyuu, daria, lotr/the hobbit, tmnt

Looking for in the Pond? - I just want to make friends and read good fanfic. I like to beta read. Maybe write some fanfic, but I have writer's block rn.

Pairings you read? - Reader insert

Genres you read? - Fluff, crack. One bed, and arranged marriage forced proximity tropes.

What do you like to write? - Reader inserts. Fluff.

Masterlist! AO3 Works list

Most underappreciated fic? - Do You Think About Me? (not SPN)

Something you haven't written but would like to try? Why not? How can we help? -Honestly, writing two characters from the Fandom. I typically stick to reader insert, and I'm a little scared I won't get the characteristics right or the dynamic.

That's all for this month, folks! (If we're missing anyone, let us know and we'll add them to next month's list!) Make sure to say hi to the newbies and make them feel welcome! Thanks to all from @manawhaat, @mrswhozeewhatsis, @mariekoukie6661, @thoughtslikeaminefield, @katbratsupernaturalwhore and @heavenssexiestangel!

[flowerpotmage]

mist & rue

It is night in a new world, and you've lost a dear friend.

notes & etc: reader, lee scoresby, and john parry. oneshot. HDM series. canon compliant with events of book 2. ambiguous relationships. angst!! more writer commentary at the end. 584 words. on Ao3 here

It’s unreasonable to have expected your choices to take you down any other path than this. You were always going to find yourself here.

Mist touches your skin, permeating through the relatively thin layers of your clothing and down through to your bones. You’d like to say that the cold air numbs your distress, shocks you enough to calm down and jolt out of it, but… truthfully, it has little effect on why you’re here, crying and swallowing shaky gulps of air with your arms around yourself and a silver turquoise ring in your fist. You don’t notice the osprey dæmon that soars overhead.

The soft sound of familiar footsteps draws another shuddering breath into your lungs, your hand wiping shaky and surreptitiously—you hope—at your cooling tears. You want to greet him, as you normally would, but you know your voice would betray you. Although, if he’s here right now, he already knows, and you’re taking much too long to say anything anyhow, and he’d be an idiot not to know anyway—

He comes to a stop near your shoulder.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he says in that smooth, enigmatically charming voice of his. “Sayan saw you, and I thought you might appreciate an ear.”

Your dry chuckle is exceptionally soggy, and you take a deep breath to steady yourself, breathing it out through your lips with closed eyes.

“Jopari,” you greet, looking out at the foreign stars. “It has been an exceptionally trying time. I don’t think I was ready.”

“Ah,” he says, and you can hear the rueful smile in the sound. “I don’t think most of us are.”

You turn to look at him over your shoulder. “John.”

You’ve come to know him well over these last years. Sayan can journey far, that’s true, but even a shaman with a witches dæmon is reluctant to part too far with their own very self, and shamans and witches alike need unassuming individuals to be their knowing eyes and hands in far off lands. None of you would never have gotten this far otherwise. So you understand immediately.

“You knew Lee would…” your throat closes up on the words.

“I did. I'm sorry.”

The tears come fresh, the heat of the saltwater on your face due to more than mere thermodynamics. It’s as if the anger at the man by your side is finding the only escape it can, through the water of your eyes, leaving room for growing dismay.

“Come back to the camp,” he says, nothing but gentle. “You’ll catch cold and we’ve a ways to go yet.”

You turn away again, looking down at the small furry body of your dæmon by your boot.

“Ah, so I will be continuing on further?” You regret the spiteful comment as soon as it leaves your mouth.

“This is not the world you’ll stop in,” John Parry says, cryptic as ever.

You turn to face him, the stones making their small sounds underfoot. He looks at you, sharp eyes apologetic. “I know you were close with Mr. Scoresby,” he says. “If there had been another way—”

“Then we wouldn’t win, in the end, would we?”

One side of his mouth lifts, once again rueful.

You sigh, and nod. The two of you walk back to your small, humble camp, and John, Jopari, Stanislaus Grumman and all his names, sits with you in silence by the fire. Before you know it, he will be dead, and you will be left behind to tell his son about him.

---------------------------------

i have sooo much fun facts about this reader in my head all of a sudden. in my mind they were a little bit in love with lee (a longtime friend) and john (platonically? romantically? we'll never know about either of these for either fella and neither will they bc theyre kinda messed up about it all!!) and they work with john and the witches towards asriel's big plan to Kill God. yippee!!

[peetapiepita]

It's so frustrating that I can't just block out Everlark and Silverparry deniers/THG and HDM romance conspiracies with the sheer power of my mind.

First of all, love does matter in both of the series. It literally saves the world in both of them! Lyra and Will's love saves multiple worlds and Katniss and Peeta's love sparked the rebellion.

Second of all, I'm literally a ship blog. I have a pinned post saying I mostly post about these 2 ships and my icon and header are them touching each other intimately. If you don't like romantic love in these books, maybe just block me instead of trying to convince me to not talk about the ships????

I just can't take another lecture on how Everlark doesn't matter in THG. It's weighing on me.

[magpiefngrl]

10 characters and 10 fandoms

rules: name 10 of your favourite characters from 10 different fandoms, then tag 10 people to do the same

 @bloody-wonder thanks for tagging me! I love these kinds of lists ✨

Wei Wuxian (MDZS/CQL). I'd die for him.

2. Francis Crawford (Lymond Chronicles). He makes my heart ache.

3. Ronan Lynch (TRC). My first little tsundere.

4. Nico di Angelo (Percy Jackson). My other beloved tsundere.

5. Marisa Coulter (HDM). I can't think of another female character who is allowed to be so awful and complex.

6. Yuri Plisetsky (YOI). Look I have a type, OK?

7. Draco Malfoy (HP). I've spent thousands of hours of my life thinking about him.

8. Prince Jing (NiF). My sad angry prince <33333

9. Laurent de Vere (CaPri) aka Lymond-light.

10. Hua Cheng (TGCF). Just *gestures* everything about him.

Bonus:

Margo from The Magicians (TV series only). She's an ICON. I really want to rewatch this series just for her.

Tagging: @julcheninred @lettersbyelise @lqtraintracks @wolfpants @sitp-recs @coriesocks @laudh8 @potteresque-ire @shealwaysreads @hogwartsfirebolt @writcraft @decaflondonfog

[bramblepaws]

im really really glad that the His Dark Materials series got a show adaptation. seeing the world come to life and get fleshed out even more with the extra time they had, seeing the characters changed slightly but with so much care, and seeing the way that visual parallels were outlined and fleshed out... all of it is superb. the show feels like a love letter to the books. and as a nice bonus, the fandom got a good chunk of Stuff to chew on and create content for.

the magicians series, on the other hand, well. it's my other Favorite Set Of Books. and i think the show actively detracted from my enjoyment of the fandom. hunfortunately. the series definitely came from an active enjoyment of the books, but it changed things SO DRASTICALLY. and it makes sense, the books were very ... comfortable, in their original format? they were made to be books and to communicate things about books. it could have been adapted well, but it was definitely a difficult project, and I personally don't think it was done well. there was too much discarding of important character moments and traits, too much focus on bits and pieces that i feel the original story was explicitly trying to NOT say. and dear god, trying to look through the tag is impossible. it's either 10 different Book Tumblrs re-posting the same 2 quotes from the books, or 10000 posts about the quentin / elliot ship. and. where's that post about how sometimes the point of a piece of media is Not The Gay Ships--

im glad people are enjoying themselves over there, i just feel disappointed that there's no space for me to be like "hey the books fuck like hell RIGHT?" whereas there Definitely Is in the HDM realms (the forum, tumblr, various art places...)

[caddy-crystal-queen]

Moon Knight and Daemons

So I'm losing sleep over something and I wanna hear honest opinions.

Been back on a moon knight kick as well as a His Dark Materials kick. That being said, I've started to wonder: what daemon(s) would the Moon Knight system have? Now I have no idea how someone with DID would work in the world of HDM, so I'm kinda going on a limb here and assume that a system's daemon would also have alters and alternate forms. I don't actually know if that's how it works, so please please please PLEASE do not take my word for it. I'm literally just doing this for fun.

So...what daemon would each alter have? Well, I'm glad you asked. Let's get into it

1. Steven Grant

Daemon: the Kestrel

This bird is small. Like really small. I believe it's actually the smallest of the raptors, but I could be wrong so don't quote me on that. Either way, the bird is small and folks tend to underestimate it, the same way Steven is rather underestimated by his peers as well as the system at first. The kestrel, despite its size, is still a bird of prey and important to the environment, just as Steven is still important to the moon knight system.

2. Marc Spector

Daemon: the Timber Wolf

Yeah I knew this one right off the bat. Marc's daemon is a wolf and no one can convince me otherwise. Here's why: wolves can function fine on their own, but they work best when in a pack (something we'll also see with Jake's, but we'll cross that bridge in a minute), which I feel is something Marc learns throughout the Moon Knight series. Wolves are also highly misunderstood animals, being depicted throughout history and lore as monsters and villains. Who else have been depicted in a similar way? People with DID unfortunately. These people aren't monsters, they're human beings who deserve to be loved and understood. And again, like the kestrel, wolves are important to the environment (they're actually a keystone species if I recall correctly), and Marc is, arguably, the most important personality in the moon knight system (a keystone, if you will).

3. Jake Lockley

Daemon: the Meerkat

Before you get your torches and pitchforks out, let me explain, as I had a REALLY hard time figuring this one out. Primarily because we haven't seen much of Jake at all in the series, and I personally have not read the comics. Please take it easy on me yall. So I chose the meerkat for one pretty big reason: they are the most murderous mammals on the planet aside from us, and Jake is the most bloody of the Moon Knight system (as far as we know). However this does not mean that he's not important to the system, or can't work well in a group. Like the wolf, a lone meerkat can, and often does, function well on its own but it eventually does need a mob. If you've seen Meerkat Manor, you're probably very familiar with meerkat society and how it functions, and just how brutal it can be. I feel that Jake, if we're ever gonna get a second season of Moon knight, is probably gonna go through a similar arc as Marc, where he learns to get along with the other two in the system rather than pushing them away like he seems to. Honestly I'm all for it, so bring it on Marvel (well, after the strike of course). And seriously, I just love the idea of seeing someone like Jake with something small and kind of adorable. I'm a sucker for that trope, and plus I think he'd find a meerkat to be pretty damn useful.

And those are the Daemons for the moon knight system. This was actually pretty fun to write but I think I'm gonna try and get some sleep now! Leave honest thoughts in the comments or reblog if you feel so inclined! Have fun ^.^

[akajustmerry]

overall I think the his dark materials tv series is a very good adaptation, but if I have one major critique it's how they filled time with so many scenes of Evil Plotting Cardinals. sure, it's fine to have the necessary scenes about the prophecy, maybe even one showing how hypocritically snakeish they are to Mrs Coulter - but you can really tell when they stopped being able to pad out the series with scenes from further books they just opted for reminding people the magistirium is evil. I said this about season 1 as well, but hdm isn't long enough to justify 8-9 hours for every book. they knew that in season 1, which was why they included a build up for Will rather than introducing him cold and that was great. But season 2 and 3 has so much filler that's just Magistirium Is Evil™ which is time that could have been better spent on literally anything else because the magistirium seeming faceless and omniscient is the point. All these scenes with conniving zealous bald bitches are so fucking boring. like yeah thanks I'm aware the catholic church as an institution sucks because I live in reality you don't need to beat me over the head with how it also has found a way to suck in the fantasy world where people's souls chill out with them in animal form.

[browniefox]

Fanfic Director Cut: Gunsmoke and Daemons?

:D Gunsmoke and Daemons! I've been having so so so much fun writing this fic series <3 Some of the things I say here might've been said in the author notes too, but oh well lol. Time to go through the fics!

Souls from Earth

Chapter 1

Choosing daemons are always tricky, because you want to pick something that rally fits the character, but also sometimes you want to go a little more abstracted in the characters. The names were even harder; I always picked the daemon names divorced from the daemon's forms, because ultimately they wouldn't be related when the name was chosen. I usually tried to pick names I felt would be important to people in No Man's Land - things they're familiar with or aspects they want to instill on their kid.

(This'll be long so I'm putting it below a cut)

Meryl's daemon Caelum was chosen to be a black cat, both as a reference to Kuro Neko, and because I think giving her a somewhat 'plain' or common daemon fits Meryl's role in the story. Caelum's name just means sky.

Roberto's daemon Devana is also pretty straight forward; she's a bloodhound because of how Roberto is good at sniffing out people and tracking down and noticing things. Similarly, Devana's name comes from a hunting goddess.

Wolfwood's daemon Fenneke is a maned wolf. When I get to the second chapter of the Wolfwood fic I'll go into this as well. Maned wolves are neither foxes nor wolves - Wolfwood does feel he fits into things anymore. Her long limbs are emblematic of how Wolfwood literally grew up too fast. Her name means protection, something his parents would've wanted for Wolfwood and Fenneke.

One thing I'm always trying to make clear is how strange it would be for people to see Vash without a daemon. I guess this does mean it extends to all people who have insect daemons, to a degree, but it stands that not seeing one is like seeing someone inexplicably missing their head.

I'm also trying to keep the plot more or less the same, but also not just seem like I'm rewriting Tristamp word for word, but with 'and Caelum said hi' or whatever sprinkled through. In that vein, I like having the daemons be able to notice things before their human counter parts.

Chapter 2

According to HDM lore, humans can recognize daemons on sight, which makes writing Zazie tricky, so I just kind of have to hand wave that with 'well, it would make more sense for that worm to be a daemon, wouldn't it?'

Chapter 3

I really liked playing with the fact Caelum, being the small cat around canine daemons, can easily be pulled around by the others, and how Meryl and Caelum need to learn to stand up for themselves and not be pulled around, very literally. I think being yanked around by your daemon and range like that is super uncomfortable and VERY rude, but it's done by Roberto in an effort to save Meryl's life. Still, that doesn't mean it's super great to pull someone's daemon away from them like that.

The reaction Caelum and Devana have to Vash after he's accessed his gate kind of came to me while writing. It's like how animals are usually shown in movies to react to supernatural creatures; it's not so much that they think Vash is a threat, more that there is something Wrong going on there, and until they can understand it keeping the distance is safer. Fenneke reacts similarly, but more so because she's familiar with an Independent, and did not like her experiences with it.

Fenneke also hints at another thing I hope to go into in the Wolfwood fic: that he didn't not know, going in, entirely what Vash was. Finding out he's an Independent is shocking and is almost like betrayal.

We also get the great scene of Meryl having to fight to get Caelum to follow her to Vash, and her war between seeing something totally alien to her and wanting to help her friend, where the desire to help wins out.

Chapter 4

Similar to Zazie, people can tell that Pax is not typical flora right off the bat, but most people don't realize she's a daemon - or let themselves believe she's a daemon, because everyone knows daemons don't look like that!

Luida's daemon Wiglaf, named after a character from the Beowulf poem who kind of embodies the human and flawed hero that comes after the death of Beowulf. He's a gray eagle, which I thought looked cool and big :)

Brad's daemon is Arch, which means brave. She's a raccoon because she's smart and handy.

Chapter 5

I forgot to mention this, I'll probably finally mention it in the Wolfwood fic, but because Elendira's neither human nor Plant, her daemon is not flora nor animal: her daemon is cordyceps fungi that's 'infected' a tarantula (not really infected since uh her daemon came like that).

Having Meryl hold Devana before she died was a choice I struggled with, I was way overly worried how it would be received. But I felt like it was such an intimate moment that it warranted it. I'm going back and forth on whether I'll write the epilogue/Milly chapter, and if I do how I'll write it. one of the aspects that was considered to be included, however, was Milly being Roberto's niece or something, and Meryl telling Milly about this.

In general, with daemons deaths is so interesting; you know when someone is dead, because their daemon has disappeared.

I really liked the scene between Meryl and Wolfwood, mostly for their daemons being able to be more honest, to have the conversation that they themselves are unable to have at that moment. I've also by this point made a few references to Wolfwood and Fenneke's range. Another thing I hope to touch on in the Wolfwood fic, but to settle one question: no they are not separated, the Eye of Michael would not destroy someone as useful as Wolfwood like that. Their range has, however, been stretched from an incident.

While writing the scene with Vash in the tank, originally I had Pax growing just as much as Vash himself, but that never sat well with me. Pax represents Vash, but more than that she represents his soul. Conrad mentions that at the end of the procedure, Vash is a Plant, seeming to imply Vash is more like his sisters than before (in my opinion) and normal Plants don't have daemons, so I had Pax withering instead. On Ship Three, her bush is withering as well. Was the vines growing out of Vash also Pax, though? Honestly, I'm not sure if I'd say they are or aren't.

Pax does get to reach out to Meryl, holding onto Meryl a few times in a desperate effort to bring Vash some kind of strength, to connect with Meryl. After all, Pax has been there the entire time, she has come to trust and love Meryl and Caelum just as much as Vash.

The decision to make Vash's daemon a plant actually came from my sister, @the-east-art! For a while, we weren't sure how deal with her; obviously the range between Vash and Pax would be basically witch-like. At one point, she was just in one place, flourishing on a random spot of No Man's Land where she'd landed. Then there was her stuck on Ship Three. I really like the idea of the cuttings though that allow her to grow in different places, letting Vash keep a stronger and bigger form of her with Ship Three, but also carry her with him.

There was, for a bit, also the idea of adding a sixth chapter of Meryl and Wolfwood, post July, with Wolfwood escorting her back to November (where I'm saying the tabloid agency is). And then, at the end, she would've given him part of Pax and they would've both carried her. However, the idea of Meryl deciding to cut up Pax didn't sit right with me, and I think Wolfwood wouldn't have accepted it, not thinking he was right to carry Vash's daemon like that.

The Plant and the Flora

I've said this a few times now, but Pax's name means peace. He tells people her form is that of a wolf spider, which is a reference to the spider and the butterfly question. It also shows that Vash is not afraid to associate himself with humans or 'the spiders'. Pax's exact appearance is, uh, deliberately left vague. She's a fantasy plant.

Rem's daemon is Evander, which means strong man. I went with a black-footed ferret because they're similar to a pine marten. How much does the HDM canon fit here? IDK, but I like how it gives Rem a little more holy connection. At one point, I considered making Evander a spider as well, but ultimately decided I wanted something else, and that it would feel weird for Rem to have a spider and then for Vash to pretend Pax is one.

I don't really show it in the scene, but when Ship Five is burning, Nai does feel it as well, and it does hurt, but he sees it as him freeing himself. It does take Amare a while to bounce back from that, however, and I think she struggles for a while to completely agree with Nai about what he decided to do.

When Vash was found by Ship Three, Pax had fallen out of the pendant. For a while, Ship Three ran experiments, but when it became clear that Pax wasn't doing so well, they placed her in the Herborium in hopes it would help her to grow stronger and kept most experiments and sample-taking to a minimum. Still, Pax couldn't grow in Ship Three until Vash felt safe there. None of it was done with cruel intentions, but it still hurt Vash. But, well, Vash's trust in humanity means nothing if it doesn't come with struggle.

There's like one (1) person left on Ship Three who remebers enough about psychology classes to try and be a therapist, and that's single-mention Haru. Give it up for Haru, she's a busy lady.

I went back and forth on who would give Vash the Pax cutting, between it being Luida and on purpose, or Brad on accident. I decided it was much more likely Brad would do it in a panic, in a desperate act to make sure that Pax lived. And I think it's a good gesture for him, for Brad to give Vash back his daemon, as well as to officially untether him from Ship Three with the act.

Amare's name means love, but she and Knives changed it to Papilio, which means butterfly, as that's what Knives views himself as, doing what he has to do survive the spiders. She's managed to grow so big because of how comfortable Knives is with himself, and how strong his powers are (I'm also thinking she's grown thorns, but I never mentioned that). Pax and Vash, on the other hand, try to fit in, and thus Pax usually never gets bigger than a bush.

Because Pax is with Meryl and some of her is still alive on Ship Three, Eriks always a sense of love and comfort, because his daemon is in good hands <3

Eve and the Original Sin

To those (my sister) who were hoping to see a lot of Tesla, I'm so sorry, but I think the relationship between Rem and Mendel ends up being soooo interesting. The exploration of 'should you participate in something terrible if you think you can mitigate the damage, or should you stay to the side and still be complicit and still watch as terrible things happen - maybe even go worse because you aren't doing anything - but at least you're not doing it yourself'?

Fun fact! If I remember right, what makes a bonsai is how you prune it, which forces the leaves to grow smaller. So basically Rem if accidentally making Mendel into a bonsai.

When Rem plants Mendel in the herbarium, Mendel continues to live there. He does not grow any bigger or healthier, more or less in stasis with the rest of him and Tesla.

[clonerightsagenda]

HDM Season 1 Episode 2:

So far the child actors have been pretty good! That's always a crapshoot, and given the nature of the story, they can't age them up very much. I bet they had a blast shooting some of the early scenes running around Oxford. The children yearn for the catacombs.

(Speaking of which, Asriel bringing back (allegedly) Grumman's head makes a lot more sense with the reminder that scholars are buried that way.)

Outside of Oxford, the world looks very modern. It's not quite clear what era it is in Lyra's world since their tech developed so differently from ours. Are the calendars running in perfect parallel to Will's world? If they ever mentioned who's on the throne that would help, but I don't think they ever do. Is there even a king/queen, or is it just the Magisterium?

Following Roger's experiences being stolen and the gyptians' quest to find the missing children is a good adaptational move. In the book we're told the gyptians have been working on this, but here we see it, which reinforces that they don't just show up when the plot needs to get Lyra North somehow.

The show is doing a lot of work to set Mrs. Coulter up as a complex character early. She comes across as way more overtly villainous in book one. Frankly the actress might be overdoing it with some of her tortured pauses. Also lmao at Lyra getting hired/adopted and during her first breakfast her new boss/mom mentions she wants to kill herself sometimes. Lyra: … Anyway starts eating breakfast

While Mrs. Coulter seems to want Lyra as a decorative ornament in the book, it seems like she's more interested in training her as a minion here.

Ma Costa is a lot more distraught than she was in the book but honestly, fair. Her child is missing. And it's possible she just did a good job of hiding her emotions from Lyra so as to not stress her out more.

The religious symbol for the Magisterium looks quite sinister! And sort of like a biohazard sign. If this is a legit piece of Catholic iconography, sorry.

The show is drawing a lot of attention to Mrs. Coulter being able to go a large distance from her daemon. That's hinted at once or twice in the first book, but I don't remember it ever being explained? They're not severed, because iirc they almost sever them to power a bomb in a later book. Since the sequel series either retconned (uncharitable) or expanded (charitable) the lore about how frequent separation is, maybe that's the case here. She certainly has enough internal conflict for it to be a possibility.

Wow, we're dropping the Lord Boreal dual identities worldhopping situation early. I thought that would be a much later reveal. It explains something though - I thought it was odd that we didn't see his daemon much in earlier scenes, but I suppose he's in the habit of hiding it.

That's a different way of doing the dad reveal! Lessens the lore dumps later on, I suppose

Ok, they did the Mrs. Coulter scene later. I think that steals a lot of the punch, but it lets new viewers stew in trying to figure out how dangerous she is longer. I'm not sure why the kids would buy her sales pitch after they got dragged away with nets, though.

Whoah, they actually killed the journalist? Good way to establish the rules of killing someone's daemon, I suppose.

What's the deal with the hypnotic fox daemon? I don't remember anything like that.

[ttaibhse]

Top five scenes from books!

this was incredibly difficult thank you!! no particular order & also just the first five i could think of this is another one that would probably change depending on the day lol. spoilers for all the books :-)

the subtle knife, chapter 14

An­oth­er crack, and this time the bul­let went deep some­where in­side, seek­ing out the cen­ter of his life. He thought: It won’t find it there. Hes­ter’s my cen­ter. And he saw a blue flick­er down be­low, and strained to bring the bar­rel over toil. “He’s the one,” Hes­ter breathed. Lee found it hard to pull the trig­ger. Ev­ery­thing was hard. He had to try three times, and fi­nal­ly he got it. The blue uni­form tum­bled away down the slope. An­oth­er long si­lence. The pain near­by was los­ing its fear of him. It was like a pack of jack­als, cir­cling, sniff­ing, tread­ing clos­er, and he knew they wouldn’t leave him now till they’d eat­en him bare. “There’s one man left,” Hes­ter mut­tered. “He’s amak­ing for the zep­pelin.” And Lee saw him mist­ily, one sol­di­er of the Im­pe­ri­al Guard creep­ing away from his com­pa­ny’s de­feat. “I cain’t shoot a man in the back,” Lee said. “Shame to die with one bul­let left, though.” So he took aim with his last bul­let at the zep­pelin it­self, still roar­ing and strain­ing to rise with its one en­gine, and the bul­let must have been red­hot, or maybe a burn­ing brand from the for­est be­low was waft­ed to the air­ship on an up­draft; for the gas sud­den­ly bil­lowed in­to an or­ange fire­ball, and the en­ve­lope and the met­al skele­ton rose a lit­tle way and then tum­bled down very slow­ly, gen­tly, but full of a fiery death. And the man creep­ing away and the six or sev­en oth­ers who were the on­ly rem­nant of the Guard, and who hadn’t dared come clos­er to the man hold­ing the ravine, were en­gulfed by the fire that fell on them. Lee saw the fire­ball and heard through the roar in his ears Hes­ter say­ing, “That’s all of ‘em, Lee.” He said, or thought, “Those poor men didn’t have to come to this, nor did we.” She said, “We held ‘em off. We held out. We’re ahelp­ing Lyra.” Then she was press­ing her lit­tle proud bro­ken self against his face, as close as she could get, and then they died. there's an uncountable number of scenes from hdm that reduce me to tears but this is the one my mind always goes back to</3

2. the knife of never letting go, chapter 22

"Here," Viola says from somewhere off to my side. "They're singing here."

Theyre singing here. Calling it from one to another in their Noise. Here I am. Here we are. Here we go. Here is all that matters. Here.It's--

Can I say? It's like the song of a family where everything's always all right, it's a song of belonging that makes you belong just by hearing it, it's a song that'll always take care of you and never leave you. If you have a heart, it breaks, if you have a heart that's broken, it fixes.

It's-- Wow. I look at Viola and she has her hand over her mouth and her eyes are wet but I can see a smile thru her fingers and I open my mouth to speak.

same as above. series is full of scenes that tear me to shreds but this is one of the ones that stand out the most <3

3. the sisters brothers, part three

Warm was breathing his last. He knew this and was frightened. I thought, Will he turn religious at the end, and plead for a speedy entry into heaven? But no, the man was too firm in his nonbeliefs for any last-minute cowardice. He did not wish to speak with me but asked after Morris, having forgotten the man was dead. 'Why is he not here?' Warm gasped. 'He died this morning, Hermann, don't you remember?' 'Morris? Died?' His forehead accordioned and his mouth parted, fixed open in anguish, and I stared at his gums, shiny with blood. He turned away, inhaling choppily, haltingly, as though the passage were partially blocked. I shifted my feet and he turned to follow the sound, asking, 'Who's there? Is that Morris?' I told him, 'It is Morris.' 'Oh, Morris! Where have you been all this time?' His tone was so deeply relieved and moved, I felt a tightening of emotion in my throat. 'I was gathering firewood.' Warm, invigorated: 'What's that? Firewood? Foraging fuel? That's the idea. We will have a bonfire tonight, light up the entire operation. All the better to sort through our buckets of fortune, eh?' 'All the better,' I agreed. 'What about the others?' he wondered. 'Where have they run off to? That Charlie doesn't much like the hard work, I have noticed.' 'No, he would rather stand by.' 'Not much for cleaning up, is he?' 'No, he's not.' 'But he has turned out a good man, you can't say otherwise.' 'He's a good man, Hermann, you were right about it.' 'And the other, Eli, where has he gone?' 'He is out there somewhere.' 'Making his rounds? Securing the camp?' 'He is in the darkness, out.' In a lower tone he said, 'Well, I don't know how you feel about it, but I have come to like that one quite a lot, actually.' 'Yes. And I know he likes you, too, Hermann.' 'What's that?' 'I said I know he likes you, too.' 'Do I hear a trace of jealousy in your voice?' 'No!' 'I'm very flattered by it! All these men crowding around, and all of them so decent and honorable. I felt such the outcast, and for such a long time.' At these words, his lips curled in bittersweet sadness, and he closed his eyes; tears bloomed from the closed corners of his lids and I wiped these away with my thumbs. Warm kept his eyes shut after this. They would not open again. He said, 'Morris, if I shouldn't make it through the night, I want you to carry on with the formula.' 'Better not to think of it. You should only rest, now.' 'I had an idea that if you were to coat your flesh with pork fat prior to submersion, that would likely reduce the damage.' 'It is a fine idea, Hermann.' He gasped. He said, 'Well, I feel we have known each other a long while!' 'I feel just the same.' 'And I'm sorry about your dying before.' 'I am all right, now.' 'I wanted to help you. I thought we could be friends.' 'We are friends.' 'I'm,' he said. 'I'm.' He opened his mouth widely and there came a foreign noise from deep within his insides, as though a solid piece of him had cracked or popped. What was this? I did not think it hurt him, or at least he made no sound of pain. I held my hand to his chest and felt his heart flutter and drop. A column of air pushed from his mouth and his body lurched and grew still, and this was where the clock stopped for Hermann Kermit Warm. had to type out this whole thing because it doesn't hit the same without context. one of my favourite books ever.

4. tehanu, chapter 12

'But this isn't a quibble, I think. "A woman on Gont" can't become archmage. No woman can be archmage. She'd unmake what she became in becoming it. The Mages of Roke are men - their power is the power of men, their knowledge is the knowledge of men. Both manhood and magery are built on one rock: power belongs to men. If women had power, what would men be but women who can't bear children? And what would women be but men who can?' 'Hah!' went Tenar; and presently, with some cunning, she said, 'Haven't there been queens? Weren't there women of power?' 'A queen's only a she-king,' said Ged. She snorted. 'I mean, men give her power. They let her use their power. But it isn't hers, is it? It isn't because she's a woman that she's powerful, but despite it.' She nodded. She stretched, sitting back from the spinning wheel. 'What is a woman's power, then?' she asked. 'I don't think we know.' 'When has a woman power because she's a woman? With her children, I suppose. For a while...' 'In her house, maybe.' She looked around the kitchen. 'But the doors are shut,' she said, 'the doors are locked.' 'Because you're valuable.' 'Oh, yes. We're precious. So long as we're powerless... I remember when I first learned that! Kossil threatened me - me, the One Priestess of the Tombs. And I realized that I was helpless. I had the honour; but she had the power, from the God-king, the man. Oh, it made me angry! And frightened me... Lark and I talked about this once. She said, "Why are men afraid of women?"' 'If your strength is only the other's weakness, you live in fear,' Ged said.

even after loving the previous earthsea books this scene was like a revelation. 10/10 thank you ursula

5. the tale of the body thief, chapter 18

i'm not copying this one out because i'm tired and it's long but the whole scene where lestat can't compel louis to make his borrowed human body a vampire, and so when louis finally gets sick of him and walks off, lestat sets his house on fire. it's hilarious but also i think really peak lestat and a quintessential moment in their relationship. and just one of the most memorable vampire chronicles scenes to me for some reason lol

[casualavocados]

"current" tag game

@dribs-and-drabbles lin, thank you so much for tagging me!! im touched... i have so many other interests than bl and it's sweet of you to think of me for this 🥹❤❤ ily!!

current time: 4:37pm

current activity: i was reading not too long ago

currently thinking about: dnd scheduling...

current favorite song: Glory by ROY JUNO- this is entirely bc im reading the wheel of time series, and for me this is a mat song through and through. every line hits and i get to assign them to my blorbo. also it's just fun???

currently reading: The Shadow Rising by Robert Jordan (wheel of time book #4)

currently watching: Dangerous Romance, Only Friends, Home School, The Wheel of Time (season 2), Jujutsu Kaisen (season 2) and rewatching: His Dark Materials (as always....) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

current favorite character: this is so hard but seeing as the sw ahsoka show is currently airing - ezra bridger. im feeling a lot of extra love for him rn. also will parry (hdm) my most beloved Of All Time.

current wip: i have some andor and hdm gifsets on the to-do list (prepping for andor appreciation week in october!). we'll see if dangerous romance doesnt get entirely in the way of those plans...i follow where the hyperfixation leads, but i have comfort shows to fall back on!!

tagging: @coredrill @willsilvertongue @spook6 @stainedjar @justafriend-ql @birbling if any of you are up to it ♥️

[raviposting]

February Stats Books Read: 16 Average Rating: 3.44 Top Genre: Mystery & Thriller My storygraph if you wanna follow me and see my reviews (though I’ll link them for each book in the ratings) :) Currently Reading: Perfect Ruin by Claudia Tan, The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, and The Trials of Kate Hope by Wick Downing.

Standouts: So standouts for me don’t have to be positive, or even my highest ratings - they’re books that just Stood Out to me one way or the other, are in my memory, etc. so here we go lmao 

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris: 2.5/5 Like I said not every standout can be great and alskj;faksdf;j this is one of them. What really got me the most was how much these characters didn’t speak like real people. There was no depth, no real characterization, and the writing felt stilted and overly formal at times. But it left an impression I guess so yay for that?

Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister: 4/5 This book fucked. It’s such an absolutely unique concept to me, not only just doing a Groundhog Day thing, but going back further and further in time until you can solve what’s happening with the murder. I found myself really invested in these characters, and I still think about them (granted it’s been like a month out, but generally doesn’t happen to me for thrillers). Everyone should read this book. And if you read it and don’t like it asdfjkl: my bad. 

All Other Books: 

The Ultimate Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: 4/5. So the first book is definitely a standout to me, but the other books not so much. I think the first few books are really good and then it kind of meanders off, but I also read all these books after each other and it is SO possible I was just a bit tired of it lmao. 

And Put Away Childish Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky: 3/5. Releases March 28. 

You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard: 4.5/5. Releases June 13.

Read to Death at the Lakeside Library by Holly Danvers: 3.5/5. Releases August 8. Don’t be dumb like me a;sdlkfja;sdl this thing is like the third book in the series or something

All I Want for Christmas by Nora Roberts: 2.75/5

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: 3.75/5. I’m not gonna lie guys. If I didn’t know this was a Reylo fanfic I would have been all over this book. It honestly is pretty good, save for a line or two that made me howl lmao

The Night She Vanished by Wendy Dranfield: 2/5. Releases March 14. 

The Neighbors We Want by Tim Lane: 2.75/5 Releases September 5. I’m going to be honest guys out of all the books in this list I probably couldn’t tell you a single fact in here that wasn’t part of the book blurb. I read it like 10 days ago and it’s already just wiped from my memory

 End Game by Liz Mistry: 4/5. Releases April 14. Despite being the fifth book in the series I was able to get most of it! I also really enjoyed the diverse cast (despite the cop setting, which, blegh) - the author is white but the representation in this book felt pretty natural and the characters were nifty; I’m probably going to check out the other four books lmao

Northern Lights by Philip Pullman: 4/5. I really gotta check out the HDM show lmao but this was a fun time! Lots of worldbuilding here but it was worth it.

The Good Patient by Alex Stone: 3.75/5. Releases March 22

Kill Joy by Holly Jackson: 3.5/5. I mean like. It’s fine lmao.  Like read it if you love this series but I think she could have easily written a better story about something else in the AGGGTM canon 

Moonlight Can Be Deadly by Charlotte Stuart: 3/5 Releases March 14, fourth book in the series. There’s some things in this book that strongly threw me off of reading any other book in the series but if you’re interested I’d say read the others first lmao

You Are Here: Connecting Flights by Ellen Oh (and a bunch of other authors whose names I can’t find): 4/5. Releases March 7 

[mossyshadows]

omg u had a hdm blog that’s so cool 😌 i was also super obsessed with the series but then it turned depressing because it was so sad !!! also what did you think of the series? i just finished s1 and i loved it so much. made me incredibly emotional too Xx :,)

present tense blog possession @johnparry 😭 though it’s much less active obvi.. and hmm!! i’ve watched s1 and 2, and did enjoy it, its a really cool adaptation for sure!! im glad we have it, i like seeing their vision of it, but in particular lee scoresby + limited dæmons (i know… budget alas) + their version of lyra (like great actress, interesting interpretation which i can respect, but the casual MY FATHER IS A MURDERER HEHE liar lyra who is initially so self important childhood heroine of my heart where was sheeee) are like? I guess A little jarring with the version in my mind.. so less immersive than I’d have wanted but will parry and having it as a series do make up for ittt and it IS better than I ever expected so :-) yeah!! I appreciate it best when I remember it’s not MY version, which is obviously superior lol because I’m an annoying book fan who also has absorbed it into my personality for too many years