#i did not have 60 pages left. more like 10

[bookwyrminspiration]

oh captive prince?? what are your thoughts on it, because i’m hesitant to read it because the reviews are pretty polar from what i’ve seen

I think you'll have to check back in once I've finished the series. I've finished book 1, and it's very much set-up for the rest of the trilogy. Establishing important people, important relationships and conflicts, etc.

So at this point it could go either way. I'll have to see how it plays out. Book 1 itself was fine, but you can just tell it's primary purpose is to lead into something more; evaluating it now feels disingenuous, like i'm missing a huge part of the picture

i shall keep you all updated and give thorough thoughts :)

[kerink]

i cant sleep so i wanna talk about the different ways i conceptualize cecil's age. to me there are 3 domains i consider: chronological, physical, and functional

for his chronological age, we know cecil was a teenager in 1745 making him more than 279 years old. this one's pretty straight forward.

for his physical age we have to do some math. i've broken it down in greater detail before, but the tldr of that post is that (in my estimation) cecil physically ages 4-8 years for every 49 years he's alive. given how much wtnv likes a 1:10 ratio, i'd actually be willing to bet my math in the original post is close but wrong and cecil ages at a 1:10 rate. if cecil was at least 15 in 1745, and if he was stuck at 19 for at most 100 years, that would make him around 33 physically.

cecil's functional age i've never seen talked about and i haven't had a lot of chances to talk about before, so this was the main motivator for this post. cecil isn't just a man, he is The Voice. and since huntokar found night vale after it was founded and didn't break time until 1983, we can assume there was something supernatural about cecil before her involvement.

leonard burton was host of nvcr for "an uncountable number of years" and cecil has said he didn't recall anyone being host before him.

cecil interned under him from at least 1745 until ww2, likely after pearl harbor (1941) since cecil stated america was involved in the war at that time. so cecil interned for ~179 years and has been hosting for ~83 years

it's unclear when leonard died, i've detailed the murky timeline on his wiki page, but cecil had been hosting for between 38-60 years when he did. when leonard died he was crossing the street outside of nvcr, which i interpret this to mean leonard was still involved even after he retired, likely continuing his mentor role informally or else helping cecil as a consultant.

no matter how long cecil had been hosting, 38-60 years is a drop in the bucket compared to "an uncountable number of years." cecil as The Voice was still very new, functionally very young, when leonard died.

this continues the theme of cecil's life: that he's abandoned too young and before he's ready. i read cecil's lack of on-air professionalism to be a reflection of that; just like how he struggled and lashed out and acted up after his mother left he's doing the same thing on the radio. he didn't have anyone to show him any better. we aren't seeing cecil the 279 year old immortal or cecil the 33 year old man, we're seeing The Voice who is still only a child

[bendersmind]

From '69 to Release (Giggity)

Is "giggity" still funny? Did I mention I'm fucking ancient? Because I am. I saw the premiers of South Park AND Family Guy my dudes. That's how old.

Speaking of cartoons, I've been watching "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?" for the past 2 days. You should too. It's on Tubi, my favorite source for both garbage films and weird cult shit that only I (and a small amount of freaks) watch. It's great. This has NOTHING to do with my Ghost post, I just thought you should know.

Well, not nothing. The relationship is that Scooby Doo premiered the night of the Ghost show where Nihil fucked everything up. Behind the cut you'll find some potential spoilers for "Sister Imperator #2" based on the released preview pages. If you don't want to read it come back to this post after it's released. It releases on April 16th and will make the following post ENTIERLY meaningless and wrong. So let me waste a bit of your time . . . under the cut.

Alright, so information from the preview is kinda iffy. The biggest thing, which isn't probably related to the plot of the issue itself (something about some suspicious dude following the circus Imperator is in) but it's important for lore purposes.

There are a few things we learn.

A man we presume is Nihil has been touring away from the main circus on and off for 2 years.

At this point in the story, Imperator has been with said circus for those 2 years.

The man we assume is Nihil has at least 1 brother.

Said brother has a bunch of kids already

Okay. So lets look at number 3 and 4 as being the "point" of this post. 1 and 2 set up Imperator and (probably) Nihil's relationship.

Nihil tells us that his brother has several "pups" when Imperator accuses Nihil of leaving a bunch of French maidens sad after he left. The implication is 2 fold, Nihil's brother is a ho (and I say that with love; nothing wrong with being a ho) and he doesn't wrap it before he taps it.

The last frame of our preview shows us a dinner table with circus folk and 3 women each with young children. 2 with babies and 1 with a toddler. This occurs sometime between '53 (the start of Imperator #1) and '69. It's not super clear how old Imperator is when the comic starts but she is probably 10-13. She leaves home after her stepfather murders her sisters and presumably when she was a teenager. It's hard to say when, but I'd say 15/16ish. This means she's somewhere around 20 when Nihil comes back from France. Per my timeline this would be around '60. Nihil would be around 20 then as well(based on his death being in 2020 at 80). Let's assume that they are close in age(and Imperator aged gracefully, Nihil . . . not so much).

The toddler looked to be around 3ish (I legit know shit all about kids so please correct me if I'm wrong) and is potentially Papa I (or maybe my favorite pre canon theory, Mystery Papa); the babies are likely Papa II and III. I'd like to correct my already partially incorrect post from a while back; Papa I, II, and III are confirmed to be brothers; and based on the current information we have, Nihil is probably their uncle. It'd make more sense as to why he was cool with just murdering them.

Sister Imperator #2 will probably give us more of an idea of the family structure for the Emeritus bloodline and exactly how many brothers Nihil has. Based on what I'm thinking both Nihil's father and Nihil's older brother are dead by '69. This would open the line for the next oldest son (or daughter; we actually don't know anything about female descendants in the church). That would be Nihil.

When Nihil's bid for fame failed miserably after the show at Whiskey A Go-Go he was clearly replaced. By who? Probably the next in his father's line. And so on up until the last son of his father and then on to the oldest son of the oldest brother of the last generation of Papas.

Lord in hell that's a clusterfuck of a sentence. Basically, it'd go to Nihil's older brother's oldest son. This could be either Papa I or Mystery Papa (2008 - 2011). We just don't know yet.

I think the most interesting part of this whole thing is the "old world circus" that the church comes from. The biggest question for me is where does the circus "end" and the church "begin". That is to say, how do you go from circus performer to clergy? Is everyone in the troupe an agent of Satan? Or were the Emeritus line stashed into traveling shows to hide them from potential assassins?

That would actually give us an explanation as to why Copia and Perpetua were split up and raised apart. The current theory is that Mrs. Psalterian is Marika from the comic and thus the person who raised Copia. But where was Perpetua? Someone suggested with all of his Venice carnival schtick he was raised somewhere near Venice. I think that's a fair assessment. While the Ministry is (in canon) located in Linköping, Sweden, Italy is REALTIVELY close. Also Europe has the fucking trains that get you goddamn anywhere so it isn't even like living on different coasts of the US. (Fucking Europe and your . . . excellence)

Anyway, the raising of the twins is neither here nor there; until we get some more about Perpetua we'll be lost in the surf. I really look forward to seeing how he works with the crowd. Whatever we get it will certainly be interesting.

Points of interest: What is the structure of the Clergy exactly? Why has Marika always called Copia "Cardi"? Was his name when he walked into the story we are seeing "Cardinal Cardinal Copia"? Is the circus "Cooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show" from "Something Wicked This Way Comes"? Does Nihil already know the nature of his family? Has the church always been hidden in a traveling circus or was it in other itinerant entertainer groups(bards, theater, fakirs, etc)? Was there a magician Papa? Please tell me there are puppets! I fucking love puppets.

[sleepy-space-bah]

This is NOT meant to sound rude or antagonistic or judgemental, just genuine questions:

Why commission you for a bah pack when you already take requests for free? And also, idk exactly how to word this but like- is it ok/ethical to sell these? The only time I've ever seen people talking about monetary payments for bah has been a post saying "that's not a thing, it's just something that anti endos made up and sometimes do in order to make fun of endos." I'm not saying that's your intention or anything, I'm just kinda skeptical because it seems weird to monetize something that's always done for free. Idk, again I don't mean to sound judgy, I'm genuinely curious. Sorry, I hope y'all have a great day (/gen)

This is actually how we felt at first too! So don’t worry about feeling like you sound rude, being skeptical is 100% valid. The thing that’s scammy from what we’ve seen is people claiming to “sell alters” that’s not my intention here, I’m selling a service. The majority of bah blogs aren’t making 60 headmates for one person, we’re more than willing to make individual packs for people who request, but anyone who commissions us is getting higher numbers of headmate packs in shorter amounts of time.

The creation of these packs is something that we do for fun yes, however, unfortunately we can’t just make everyone who wants something multiple of the biggest pack because that would take way too much time. I already spend the majority of my waking hours working on these lol.

Monetizing certain things ensures that over time,

A. I won’t need to find more work and therefore have less time to post in general

B. I won’t end up overworking myself by doing large requests for 40+ people in a week (that’s an average estimate of how many requests I get in a week)

C. People who can afford it can get bigger and better packs in less time, without having to worry about the blog closing or deactivating as they have other means of contact.

—

For reference, my first ever commission included:

35 large headmate packs

A Pinterest account with in depth boards for their inner world/headspace inspo, a small board for each alter, and a a board to show inspo for each alters house in the inner world

A map we made on inkarnate that took us multiple hours, which included imagery of each headmates home and labels for them

A playlist for each alter with 20 songs

Ideas for system names, collective names, and collective pronouns

And a custom id and flag for each headmate.

For all of that we only charged 25$ (we did however realize how much work it took and therefore slightly upped our prices, I’m immensely grateful for the $10 tip they left lol)

—

This morning our first commission after re-opening them was for

60 large headmate packs

A pronouns.cc page that includes collective names pronouns etc and a page for each individual headmate with the same info

A mini headspace pack

And a simple carrd page

That came to $46

—-

Finally, the other commission we received today included 15 large headmate packs, a mini headspace map on inkarnate, a mini headspace pack, and a playlust for the group of them, priced at $15

—

Although we wish we didn’t have to charge for all of this, if we didn’t charge

1. Almost Everybody would want a pack with everything, and that’s just not possible for us

And 2. People who do wish for large packs would have nowhere to go to access them.

We make sure we keep our prices low and fair, including making sure that we always have a $1 option, to keep it as accessible as we can, and in reality we’re less so charging for the things that other people can and will do for free, and more so the things that usually they won’t.

Thank you for being kind in your question, I hope this answers everything you were wondering, feel free to send in another ask if you have more questions!

[amourninghost]

Hi! I love your art a lot!

I saw a doodle page you did, and I’m curious how you got your brush to be darker with more pressure applied? (or at least that’s how it looked to me—)

aaa thanks so much!

first of all, i use Paint Tool SAI, so lemme grab a few screenshots of my brush settings. i made these for myself and @invadergrabass to use in order to blend our styles for collabs; theyre based on our combined preferences so they will more than likely require customisation if youre interested in using them. regardless, they will help me explain, since not everything is easy to put into words for me lol

to make my brush respond to pressure the way it does, i first start with a default brush tool as opposed to a pencil. i set the minimum density to a non-zero percentage (usually between 10 and 40) depending on what i want to use it for, and lower the pressure sensitivity to 60. (this may differ for you, since i know i have a heavy hand and ive set my tablet sensitivity to a custom value. but the minimum size is key here.)

heres a demonstration:

(the brush kinda thickens up when a texture is added, which is part of why i reduce the pressure sensitivity)

i find the brush tool feels a lot like a gel pen when being used for linework. this tool is called Butter Brush because its extremely smooth to work with for my partner and i.

heres a breakdown of each brush and how i tend to use it:

Butter Basic is an all purpose tool, i use it equally often for sketching lining writing and shading. it has a minimum size of around 20%

Butter Sharp is for writing and more bold linework. it has a low minimum size for detail work. i rarely use this tool for sketching but i do sometimes use it in shading, and i prefer it if i have to do a lot of writing on an image. its pressure sensitivity is at 100 so i see less of the texture when using it. (you can see the difference in the two drawn arrows above, where the left is at 100 and the right is at 60.)

Butter Soft is my favourite sketch tool, and predictably the one with the highest minimum size. it is also extremely soft, and cant easily be used for writing. i use it extensively for shading, more often than the tools ive made specifically for shading lmao. i sometimes use it for lining also, since it is the most comfortable for me personally to use.

i hope this helps you or anyone else looking for help with their art!

(note: in an earlier version of this reply i accidentally said "minimum density" instead of "pressure sensitivity" in Butter Sharp's description)

[9800sblog]

https://www.tumblr.com/9800sblog/752413680504897536/hey-i-love-your-readings-please-can-you-do-ateez?source=share

Can you do the same with Straykids?

stray kids tarot reading

current vibes

all

justice, page of pentacles, the empress, 7 of swords

like I said in yesterday's pick a card, pirates steal back what's theirs by right. they're having a sweet time being troublemakers, the shuffle song says everything, "if your beliefs are strict, I'm a villain", "it'll be remembered as a new era, unforgiven", also "my voice is kinda loud, I don't care, just shout it out". + "now all I think about is how my world turned upside down" from their latest release featuring charlie puth!

bang chan

3 of pentacles, ace of wands reversed, the hermit

"events eminent, 'where did we come from?'" isn't that the most stray kids thing another kpop group could do/say? he's very focused on work, different types of work he does, specially those he has consistent desire towards, ones that burn an eternal flame. he's in a bit of a meditative state, contemplating and planning, this clearly isn't something new, as the ace is reversed, "it's not a comeback, cause we never left" type of vibe.

lee know

queen of cups, death, ace of cups reversed

similar vibes, nothing new, more the rebirth of something everlasting. he seems very fulfilled, his life has faced tremendous change which he's dealing in a very positive way, an opportunist way. he seems less focused on work, more focused on hobbies and metaphorical spring cleaning.

changbin

the emperor reversed, king of cups, the hanged man reversed

very much "they see us as a bunch of troublemakers, it won't be an easy one to change their views", he may be finding delight in revenge lately. don't forget that hybe has been under investigation which includes the entire industry, since it's part of the korean government. he may be a little crazy, I wouldn't wanna be on his bad side, if that's the spread.

hyunjin

ace of wands, the hermit reversed, the fool reversed

this shuffled song is interesting since his spread has a similar message to mingi's part on the ateez reading of yesterday. a bit of an explosive type of vibe, impulsive, mostly, and I do mean if you irritate him he may punch you, the ace of wands literally has that image + something similar to police baton.

han

the devil reversed, 10 of cups, page of swords

"a can that's shiny on the outside, empty on the outside, kick it", stray kids' songs and music videos are great representation of their current vibes, this spread makes me think of s-class. having a great time with family and friends, probably, may be enjoying teaching children, cousins, nephews, etc. he's very hopeful of a good future with a smarter, easier generation.

felix

3 of wands reversed, 9 of pentacles, queen of pentacles, 4 of swords

have you seen this man in your dreams? frustratingly perfect would be a good way of putting it, cards took a while to fall as they were shuffling so systematically, unusual. he seems to have interest for the occult recently, literally what is hidden and scary, getting in your way may be his specialty. trouble kids being members of stray kids just make perfect sense, right?

seungmin

king of swords reversed, 3 of swords, the star, the fool reversed

like i said, this spread reminds me of maniac, "we're a group of maniacs", delighted for some broken opportunities? people that relish in mess and fear, he has everything he needs to end someone/something, including himself, and he's very haooy about it, that's all this spread is about.

I.N

10 of swords, page of wands, 6 of cups reversed, death reversed

what a messy vibe!! talk about keeping remorse. this spread + song makes me think of science and extraterrestrial experiments [cue stray kids - megaverse], it's giving 60's mad scientist vibes, "in your game, I'm a problem, such a freak, such a headache". nothing more standing out, he's clearly excited about experiencing some breakthroughs.

[terminalmistake]

Ok, so I'm gonna get brave because I have no one to talk to and I wanna yell about my Newsies OC. (Please be kind to me-)

If anyone feels so inclined you can ask questions about him, but no one is required to do so.

Tw: description of Transphobia/transphobic parent. (nothing in graphic detail, but just in case. If you feel something else should be tagged please send me a message and I will warn accordingly!)

Luke with long hair, and Luke after he gets his hair cut, images from Picrew, linked at the bottom of the page!

Luke Dawson

Age: 18

Gender: Trans Male

Sexuality: Gay (absolutely has a crush on Jack but that's cause I'm cringe.)

Backstory: Born Dorothy "Dottie" Lorens, Dottie was raised as any girl would be. Her father was well off, oil money, and has a snobbish attitude. Dottie never subscribed to what he wanted. She failed out of her etiquette classes for being "Boyish, bratty and crass", much to her father's dismay.

At age 15, Dottie told her father that she felt "More like a boy, than a girl." To which he reacted very negatively, threatening to send her to an institution, or even the refuge, just to keep her in control. It worked, though, not for long.

One day she just couldn't take it anymore.

Just before her 18th birthday, Dottie Lorens stole clothes from her brother's closet, money from her father's safe (around $50), and left.

While she had the stolen money, she was smart enough to know it wouldn't last forever, and now, being on her own she could be whoever she wanted to be. Didn't matter that she was sleeping in an alleyway, at least she could buy food.

She could also tuck her hair in her hat, and bind her chest with bandages, that combined with clothes that were a bit too big on her, made her look...like she wanted. Like a boy.

He is a boy.

And that was all he really cares about. He didn't really make waves, he didn't hang around other newsies, and no one even really seemed to know his name. He just got his papers and did his job.

He was on the streets for a little over a month and a half before having the fortune to meet one Jack Kelly on a rainy evening. When asked his name, he stammered, he didn't even come up with a new name? How stupid.

He glanced at a sign, and remembered his old dog. He'd gotten good at lowering his voice.

"Luke Dawson."

With a smaller frame and a babyface, Jack just assumed the hesitance was him intimidating a younger kid.

"I'm 18."

Not to the people on these streets he wasnt. 18, but could pass for 15, especially if he was pouty.

So Luke and Jack found an agreement, Jack would teach Luke everything he knew about sellin papes, and Luke would split the profits 60/40.

"I'm not stupid. 50/50 or no deal." Took some butting heads, but the agreement was made. 60/40, and Luke could come to the Lodge House.

Jack doesn't find out that Luke wasn't born a boy for a while, and when he does it's on accident, though it was well intentioned.

Sleeping in a lodge house with 10+ other boys, Luke doesn't take his binding off anymore. He doesn't want them to know.

Before he could tuck away in an abandoned building or some other shelter and at least breathe soundly at night, but with constant and dangerous binding, it was barely a month before Jack saw the boy pass out, and after waking up with an argument, and Luke passing out again, Jack dragged him back to the lodge house and wanted to check the boy.

He wanted to make sure he wasn't mugged, that he wasn't hurt badly.

What he thought was dressings for broken ribs turned out to be...not that.

"I thought you were a guy!" "I am!!" Luke hadn't cried in a while, but he was damn close then.

In the end, while he took a minute to understand, Jack ultimately decided that if Luke was a boy then...fine. Who was he to say otherwise? It's not his life. But he does haphazardly help Luke cut his hair, though when the scissors broke halfway through, he had to take him to Miss Medda to get it fixed and cut properly.

And he brings him up to the rooftop with him and Crutchie so he can unbind. Luke told Crutchie when he asked why he was staying with them. He trusts Crutchie.

They're the only two that know, and only because Luke trusts them. Otherwise he would've been gone the second Jack found out.

This is all I have for now! But I hope you all like him...I've been working really hard on him.

[filmnoirfoundation]

ASK EDDIE returns Thursday, September 21, 7:00 PM PT to our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/filmnoirfoundation/live

FNF prez Eddie Muller responds to film noir fan questions fielded by the Foundation's Director of Communications Anne Hockens. In this episode, we discuss Eddie’s short story “Doc’s Oscar”, the essential Italian noirs and film museums, the disreputable noir characters of wholesome TV icons, memorable bell tower scenes, and more. We wind up the show with a discussion of our favorite film noir openings. On the cat front, Charlotte and Emily are too tired to participate.

Want your question answered in a future episode? We solicit questions from our email subscribers in our monthly newsletters. Sign up for free at https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/signup.html

Everyone who signs up on our email list and contributes $20 or more to the Film Noir Foundation receives the digital version of NOIR CITY Magazine for a year. Donate here: https://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/contribute.html

Can’t join us on Thursday? No problem! A recording will be up on our YouTube channel, @NoirCity, on Friday, September 22: https://www.youtube.com/user/NoirCitySF

Note: Eddie will not be able to answer questions posted during the livestream nor ones left on our social media accounts

This week's questions:

In a recent episode, Eddie highly recommended the film ROSAURA AT 10 O’CLOCK [ROSAURA A LA 10]. Is it possible for ROSAURA to be restored by the Foundation and made available through Flicker Alley?

Michael, Post Falls, Idaho

Just read your short story, "Doc's Oscar", in the JEWISH NOIR VOLUME 1. Can you give us a little background on its origin? When did you write it?

Jay and Connie, Ann Arbor, MI

I'm planning a trip to Italy.  Please recommend your essential Italian crime/noir films.  Also, I hope to visit a museum dedicated to cinema. Any ideas

Steve in Mississippi

Have you read “Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City” written by Nicholas Christopher? 

Sean Land O Lakes, FL

For me one of the biggest surprises of seeing familiar actors in Film Noir was seeing Raymond Burr as the heavy. What other later-known actors are the biggest surprises for someone getting into Film Noir.

Carlton, Atlanta, GA

Why does Eddie sometimes use the alias "Eddy von Mueller" for some of his Blu-Ray commentary tracks?

David

The late-'60s and the '70's are thought of as the time of the great neo-noir films, but what about offerings designed to play at drive-in theaters or so-called grindhouses? I'm also curious about regional films or filmmakers since that era was rich with localized film production. Are you aware of any that could fall under the mantle of film noir?

Kathy and Michael, Rockford, Illinois

In the past Eddie has mentioned certain movies that he considers to be more “message pictures” than full blown noir for him. I would love to hear you both talk about what the difference for you is between movies like NO WAY OUT, CROSSFIRE, FORCE OF EVIL etc. and movies that have tinges of Noir but fall into the Message Picture category and maybe some examples of those and why they don’t make the cut. Thanks!

Nathanael from New Braunfels, Texas

I recently watched the Douglas Sirk 1951 film noir, THUNDER ON THE HILL, and noted the similarities between the bell tower scene in that movie with the great bell tower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 VERTIGO.  Are there other films noir that include a bell tower scene?  And, more generally, what other films noir have great staircase scenes? 

Cliff in Fort Collins

Wondering if you know anything about scenes cut from THE MAN I LOVE DVD. The film is listed as being 96 minutes long, but the DVD version is only 90 minutes.

Michael, Chicago, IL

My question is about some very difficult to find Alan Ladd titles, specifically, CHICAGO DEADLINE with Donna Reed and SAIGON. Are these Alan Ladd films tied up in litigation or bound in some type of financial dispute? Is there any hope for their release in the US?  

Don

Openings.  I have always been fascinated by the first 90 seconds of noir films and I’d just like to pay tribute to my favorite openings and listen as you add in yours as well.

Chuck

[tackyink]

Convention haul! There wasn't barely any BG3 merch and the only thing I was interested in was gone before I found the artist's table. Still, my poor wallet...

First is the last volume of a very cute fanzine I've been reading for years, two Ace Attorney prints and a DS charm with the least heterosexual lawyers ever, all by the Wonderpun folks, Paula and Diego, who I barely see once a year for five minutes but are really lovely and funny people. They are exquisite pun artists and regale us with fanzines solely dedicated to them, not to mention the constant stream Diego posts on Twitter. They also make assorted merch for Pokémon, Ace Attorney, Yakuza, Resident Evil... There's a ton, check them out yourselves. Here's their online shop. All the JJK stuff is from an artist that didn't include any kind of business card and now I can't send you to his social media. OTL The print and Geto charm are for a friend.

As if this were exonerating at all, I feel I should stress that the fanzine and all its extras were already paid for because I joined the crowdfunding campaign this summer.

I also picked up a cheap set of dice and Fire Emblem cipher cards because you know, it's been a long time since I spent any real money at a convention. Prices are inflated, you can buy everything off the internet nowadays, and I had left the Artist Alley pretty unscathed, so I knew I wasn't going to spend much more.

Then I found a retro videogames stand with Japanese imports. They had Vita games. Japanese otome Vita games.

THEY HAD THE ONE HAKOUKI GAME I'VE WANTED TO GET FOR 10 YEARS WHAT THE HELL

They also had Amnesia World for the same price and I thought about going back for it if I didn't spend a lot the following three days.

One shop had a bunch of YYH figures, including two I'd never seen of Hiei and Kurama that put together replicate the cover page of the Two Shots chapter, and sent a video to a friend who's a huge Hiei fan but couldn't make it to the con to ask if I should get it for her. She took three days to make a decision. More on this later.

After this, we found a place that sold vintage haori and I kind of fell in love at first sight with one. The sign said they were 30€ and up, but I have a vintage silk haori with some damage on the sleeves and that one was already 50€. I'd never seen one in good condition for less than 60€. Knowing that the price would be way out my budget, I asked anyway.

It was just 30€.

Excuse the shitty picture, but !!!! Those cranes!!! The lining!!!!!

And remember the lady who ran out of her stand to do my hair? This below was the result. 10/10 marketing tactic.

At this point I'm repeating over and over inside my head "This is fine" like the dog from the meme. I'm getting extra pay this month, no harm done, it's not like I spend money the rest of the year. This is it, I've already seen the entire venue, I'm immune to temptation, I'm probably not getting that second game. <-this is not foreshadowing

Before calling it a day, I asked my friends to try and find again the retro games shop to remember exactly where it was in case I wanted to go back, because the next days were going to be much busier and it's always difficult to move with so many people.

Turns out on the way there there was another import shop I had glossed over because it sold mostly trading cards and CDs, but I went to look at the table anyway because haha what's the harm you already know where this is going. (⊙x⊙;)

The harm was basically half the recent group discography of Quartet Night. ಥ_ಥ They were pretty cheap, but I painted over the price because I'm still embarrassed and pissed, why the hell did I have to look. I am now the not so proud owner of the Quartet Night single where they dressed the idols as bullfighters without shirts and I can't even be angry about it because the song was good. Look at this. The second hand embarrassment is killing me. Anyway! Not getting the game for sure.

The next two days passed without any further damages to my wallet, which were admittedly quickly forgotten as soon as I got tackled by the girl I totally don't have a crush on when she saw me dressed as Hancock and whose dinner I paid for only because she treated us to a lot of places when we visited her city this summer. That night, before the last day, I had to insist to my home-bound friend to make up her mind already because I couldn't be glued to the phone while wearing cosplay, pushing a wheelchair and socializing with people I only see twice a year.

I'd decided the first day I'd get the Kurama figure only if she told me to get her a Hiei as well. She sent me a text past 12 AM saying she wanted it. In the morning I receive a message from the friends I was arriving to the venue with every day saying that after three days they cannot fucking move and are tapped out. I cannot fucking move either because Hancock's shoes destroyed my feet, but I go anyway, as soon as I can, because I'm a woman on a mission to retrieve a friend's husbando.

I went straight to the shop before joining up with anybody else and the Hiei figure was gone from the display case, along with another Hiei, the only Kuwabara and one Kurama. Mission failed. I asked one of the sellers about the Kurama one and she told me all except the one on display were sold out, so there was no box, and it was for the best because I was able to store him inside my bag. Here he is. I'm jealous of his sweater.

After that, I joined my totally-not-a-crush for the rest of the morning and went to a panel where they gave us a bit of sake and Kobe beef while we waited for our other friends. The rest of the day went well, we saw a lot of people and said goodbye to everyone, and instead of going to the Korean BBQ place we had planned, the remaining four of us moved the dinner to the sandwich/pizza/crepe place across the street from our incapacitated friends.

I am now taking a vow of poverty until April.

[lostonehero]

More time travel

Just to preface this I hate security breech but I love the idea Micheal can't fucking rest and ends up as glamrock Freddy

Also Gregory is a spilt from Evan the crying child spirit robo kid

Anyhow let's go

Henry sighs as he parks in the diners parking lot. They had to shut down for the weekend, Henry couldn't run this place by himself, and William's youngest had a meltdown. He hoped it was just a meltdown. He didn't think he could get those screams out of his head. He sighs as he spots his partner heavy eye bags and a sleep deprived look with a warm coffee in his hands. "Is Evan ok?"

William frowns. "He stopped screaming, and he responds to Evan again. He isn't normal yet, but Clara is convinced it's Micheal's fault. She locked him in his room and hadn't been able to see him all weekend. He's 11 Henry, and he can't cause that kind of damage. Clara won't let me take him to the hospital."

Henry matches his partner frown. "We have to figure out what caused it."

"I'm going to tear this place to the nails and rebuild it so nothing ever happens again." William barely bites back a yawn.

Henry nods as he unlocks the door he only manages to take a few steps in before he can hear William shout.

"MICHEAL DAVID AFTON DID YOU SPEND THE WEEKEND HERE?" William shouts, and it barely stirs his son sleeping at the table. A notepad he got from the security office was next to him.

Henry picks up the notebook and starts to read through it. His eyes get wider as he keeps going. "William...." Henry grabs the taller man before he could shake Micheal awake. "William, look at this. Micheals is the same age as my girl."

William rubbed his temples. "Henry, I know that. Why are you bringing it up? Clara lied to me. Micheal never came home. She locked his room, and I believed her." He can't even spiral as Henry shoves the note pad at him.

"William read it now." Henry's tone doesn't leave room for argument. "I have to check...." He sinks into a bench. "Your son can't write like that, right?"

William can feel the panic and shame drain from him. Even his exhaustion was replaced with confusion as he flipped through the notepad detail sketches of designs he couldn't even fathom were on the pages, then drawings of human anatomy and changes. Then the writing the handwriting was too neat to be from a child, and too detailed as well. He sat next to Henry as both men read the notepad detail notes upon detail notes spread across the pages.

There was a list on the front.

1. You're alive. You have to eat, and (recharge was crossed out replaced with sleep)

2. Are you 11? 10? Doesn't matter you are a child.

3. Cleaned the diner. Didn't have to need something to pass the time.

4. Found fathers sewing kid fixed a unform for my body. (Body is then crossed out and replaced with you're alive. Micheal refers to yourself as such)

4. Eyes glow and change color based on mood did not have that when I was alive or a corpse.

5. Remember to eat and drink. You have bodily functions again.

6. (Medical scan is crossed out) Not a machine figure out what is different than your normal human you had 40? No 60 years ago before you were a walking corpse.

7. I fucking forgot about Gregory fuck (the name is bold and underlined)

8. Wait for father to return, I am a child, and it would be suspicious if I just left here by myself.

9. Scratch that recharge then leave when the sun comes up its the fucking 80s stranger danger isn't a thing yet.

10. Figure out how I got here, and again, check out my body. I haven't done that yet.

11. Am I too young to have coffee yet, I know physically, yes, but is that different if you have an adult mind?

(The rest is just general diary entries and extremely detailed notes of the repairs and fixes he has done around the diner as if he already knows how everything works. Along with detailed drawings and anatomy sketches of his new features that humans shouldn't have.)

William and Henry share a look at each other. Neither man knows how to move forward, and Micheal is still dead asleep.

Henry spoke up first. "I'm going to check the animotronics."

"I-i'll check the kitchen and security office." William stutters each man had to confirm what was written.

......

What both men found was that the building was spotless, and every single mechanical issue they had was fixed. Micheal even fixed the camera in the kitchen. They returned to where Micheal was still asleep as William gently shook him awake.

"Mmmh, five more minutes, need to charge..." Micheal mumbles and shakes slightly harder, and he screws his eyes shut. He huffed and opened his eyes they were glowing a bright blue. He rubs his eyes and sits up, cracking his back. It doesn't do much considering he is a child.

"Micheal...?" William cautiously spoke, not really ready for how Micheal was going to act.

Micheal yawned, looking over to his father. "Good morning, I assume you've read my diary." Henry stops him from grabbing William's coffee. His attention turns to his uncle. He wasn't exactly used to seeing him young and full of life. Charlie's death ruined the man, and he devolved into his work building a massive franchise at the cost of his sanity. The fake pizzeria was the last time he saw the man withered by age and depression. He didn't look any better, but still. Here was his uncle before the tragedy before the ruin. He flicked his eyes to his father. He wasn't his mother's puppet. He wasn't a drunk that was a slave to her control. He wasn't a corpse in that springlock failure. He was still him."

Both men stepped back as Micheal pushed himself out of the bench. He stood up and scratched his stomach. William noticed his nails looked pained and that his teeth were much sharper than they should have been, and white like ivory. "Micheal?"

Micheal looks up at his father and sighs. "Hello again father, it's been a while." He frowns at his voice. "I forgot how high pitched my voice before puberty. Doesn't matter." He wipes his mouth of the drool from his sleep. "I'm not used to having bodily functions again."

Henry raises his brow and gives a look to William, who merely shrugs. The notebook only referred to a corpse body, then that one of a machine. "Micheal, what happened?"

Micheal pauses. "I was running away from a woman named Vanessa protecting a child, his name is Gregory and we fell.... I woke up here approximately 56 hours ago. Everyone had left, which was odd because I don't recall that ever happening except.... that isn't important, but I woke up alone and confused. I'm not used to being small." He's not used to having strong emotions again either.

William reaches out and pulls Micheal into a hug, and he can feel Micheal start to cry he was silent, which threw up major red flags. "Hey, it's ok, how about we get breakfast and we can talk. How old are you?"

Micheal sniffs, clinging to his father. "I don't know, but it was 2036."

Henry's eyes widen. "I'll start my car, and we can head to the local diner since you did a very good job fixing up everything." He smiles as Micheal nods.

Neither adult knew how to handle this situation. William was at a loss for how he even forgot his son at their diner, and Henry could see the sheer amount of horrors Micheal ad faced with his thousand yard stare.

......

Micheal kicks his feet, staring at the menu. He looks confused and slightly overwhelmed. He grabs his father's arm when the waitress comes by.

William raises his brow but sighs. "I'll have the spinach omelet, and my son will have the chocolate chip pancakes."

Henry smiles. "Oh, I'll have the steak and eggs."

The waitress smiles. "Pretty late seeing you two here. Good morning at the diner?"

William nods. "Just a bit of maintenance, and everything is running smoothly."

"That's great to hear my little angel loves the place." She smiles and heads to the kitchen.

Micheal frowns. "I apologize. I haven't had to really eat in a long time. I think I've forgotten what I like."

William can feel his heart break. "It's alright. We can always figure it out."

Henry nods. "Micheal, is it ok to ask why you seem so nervous?"

Micheal shrugs. "I haven't uh been around a lot of adults in a long time, or people for that matter, I think I was 21 or 22 when I got scooped and became a living corpse couldn't really stay in touch with anyone after that. I was close to Jeremy for a while, but we got into a massive fight right before I got scooped, and I ran away like a coward." He messes with his hands. "Probably deserve it, though, I ended up killing Evan when I was 14 golden Freddy jaw can crush a skull." He bites his lip. "Lozzie died before that baby malfunction and stuffed her into her chest cavity." He stops seeing both men stare at him in shock and horror.

William clears his throat. "I..."

Micheal frowns, crossing his arms. "I'm sorry. I haven't, I uh..." He sighs frustrated his eyes flicker red. "This was easier before." He stops as his father ruffles his hair, and his eyes return to his normal blue.

"We have time to stop the tragedy." William pats his son's back. "Take a breath. We can do this."

Henry clears his throat. "Your father is right, but I do have to ask who Gregory is? Was he in the diner with you? Do you think he came back with you? If there is another child, I don't want them to be trapped there."

Micheal shakes his head. "I looked everywhere. I couldn't find him."

Henry nods. "Ok, we can search for him later."

The waitress returns with their food, and Micheal stares at his food, not really understanding how to proceed. He pokes at it, pulling off a piece and shoving it into his mouth. His eyes light up like they were glowing as he continues to rip off pieces eating his food like he hadn't eaten anything in years. William has to grab his hands.

"Micheal, please use a fork and knife." William looks down at his son, who seems to finally return to reality, and his face grows red, and his eyes glow a yellow.

"R-right, my apologies." Micheal cleans off his hands and eats slowly with a fork. "I think I like them."

Henry holds back a laugh as William wipes off Micheal's mouth. "You seem out of practice, I think I can help remedy that."

William gives Henry a look. "It is getting too cold for one of your cookouts."

"Bah, it's fine. we can have one." Henry smiles as William sputters.

Micheal smiles softly. "Can I go home? I want to see Elizabeth and Evan again. It's been a long time, and I have to apologize."

"Of course, after we finish, I'll take you home, and I have to talk to your mother.

.....

Micheal didn't recognize Evan at first he looked too much like Gregory, or was it the other way around. It didn't matter he nervously got closer to him. "Hello Evan." His moments were robotic, and he gave a half nervous smile.

Evan's eyes flicker as he takes a breath. "....Mikey?"

Micheal nods, and he can't control how much his eyes start to glow.

"Freddy?" Evan's voice changes it inflection to one Micheal recognized.

"Gregory....?" Micheal tilts his head.

Elizabeth tugs at Micheal's arm. "Are you a weird time person too?"

"What?" Micheal stared down at his sister.

Evan looks embarrassed. "I uh.... Mikey my uh.... my spirit split... my parts were reused to uh..."

"Gregory was an android?" Micheal pauses sitting next to his brother, and Elizabeth sits next to him.

"Yes?" Evan pauses. "I didn't know I could eat and stuff."

Micheal sighs. "Ok, it's ok."

"You were Freddy? How did you die?" Evan stares you at him

"I died twice." Micheal frowns. "I got scooped, and then I was burned." He sighs. "I'm sorry, Evan."

"Don't..." Evan leans against him. "We both have agreed that you're ok, but Gregory wants your foxy mask."

Micheal smiles. "Yeah, you can take it."

"But you don't have it yet." Evan giggles.

Micheal crosses his arms. "Then why ask for it?"

Evan shrugs.

Elizabeth gasps. "If you're giving away your stuff, I want your plushies."

"No." Micheal frowns. "However, you can paint my nails and do my hair whenever you want."

"Can you have tea parties with me?" Elizabeth smiles when Micheal nods. "Then you can keep them."

I'm so glad you won't take them." Micheal sighs and nearly jumps when the shouting starts. His eyes glow yellow and hold onto Elizabeth and Evan.

Elizabeth clings to Micheal's arm, and Evan clings to the other.

"Let's have a tea party in my room." Micheal gets up carrying both his siblings. He didn't really let either of them argue.

......

Micheal distracts the two long enough that they take a nap on his bed. He looks over to his door opening. He sees his father with a large gash across his cheek and a stab wound in his shoulder. "Father, you are injured."

William sighs, holding his shoulder. "Your mother...." He stops. "It was just an accident. I'm sure she was just threatened by me raising my voice."

Micheal knew that was a big fat lie, but he knew his father didn't know that. He takes a breath. "Father, you need to take us to Uncle Henry's now."

"Micheal, what are you..."

"Father, this is not a suggestion." Micheal stands up. "I know Mother hurts you if you do not follow her instructions. I also know mother has been killing the local pets and strays. I know you know this, too." He stares at his father. "Take us to Uncle Henry's."

William nods, picking up his two sleeping children as Micheal follows behind him.

......

Margaret answered the door and covered her mouth, William was covered in blood, and it looked like his shoulder was still bleeding, and he was swaying from blood loss. His three children were in front of him, and Micheal was holding onto his two siblings. "What happened?"

"Inside." Micheal mumbles, pushing past her, helping his two siblings inside. "Need string and a needle and a lighter."

Margaret shakes her head and drags William inside. "What the fuck happened?" The door slams behind her alerting her husband and daughter who just got back from school.

"Uncle William?" Charlie stops when her mother gives her a look.

Henry comes in right behind her and freezes. He was no stranger to a knife fight, and his partner looked like he had lost badly. "Margret, I can take him." He grabs William before he falls and motions for Margaret to grab the kids.

"Right, children, come on, this is an adult issue." Margaret is unable to grab Micheal, but she'll come back for him. She herds the other three into the guest room.

Micheal frowns. "Mother stabbed him after he tried to confront her about me."

"It was an accident." William slurs barely upright.

Henry shakes his head. "Micheal, there's a lighter in the front draw and grab a knife. I'm going to caturize the wound."

Micheal nods and follows his instructions as Henry straps his father's shirt off and heats up the knife.

His scream echoes through the home.

Henry shuts his eyes and takes a breath. "Micheal, how long?"

"They were arranged to be married, my father had no choice in the matter." Micheal frowns as he stares at his uncle, who was cleaning up his father's cheek. "You never knew. He never told anyone I found out going through paperwork."

"An arranged marriage?" Henry, stop and look over at his wife. "How much, did you hear?"

"Enough to know, I'm not letting any of them go back." Margaret crosses her arms. "I see enough of the outcome of abuse at work. I don't need to see it on people I care about." She sighs. "I don't even want to know how you know to catutrize a wound like that. Micheal, I don't know what happened to you, but I know you're different, but it doesn't matter." She sighs. "I'll get some of your clothes for him, and Micheal, can you help your siblings?"

"Yes, Aunt Margaret." Micheal runs off down the hall.

......

It's been a few hours, William was still out cold, and Henry was cooking a 6 course meal. She hadn't seen the children, so she walls down, and they weren't in the guest room, and she heard muffled talking from Charlie's room.

Micheal is standing on Charlie's bed with a handful of hand drawn pictures and notes on the wall tapped to the wall and crayon lines connecting them. Charlie was raising her hand. "So Uncle William kills me, and I become the puppet who's lefty?"

Micheal pauses. "Uh, I think a variety of Freddy you used to get around being in the rain. So to continue, after the fire and your father's speech, I woke up in glamrock Freddy." He points to the realize drawing of a colorful Freddy Margaret thinks. "Where I find Gregory aka half of Evan in my stomach hatch used for birthday cake and gifts, and it continues from there. There's the other security guard, Vanessa, who was possessed by our mother Clara, and developed a second personality that kills children, and she went after Gregory, who I know know was a very realistic android, and now understand why he looked so much like Evan. Then, somehow, in our escape, we ended up back in the past where we are now. We've already changed things."

Elizabeth raises her hand. "Did you ever see Jeremy again?"

"No, I did not." Micheal sighs. "I do miss him, but it's not important."

"You deserve to be happy too, Mikey." Evan mumbles.

"Jeremy's our age, so we just have to find him." Charlie gets up. "I vote we look for him since we know future events."

Elizabeth gets up and nods. "Yeah!"

Micheal sighs and covers his face. "That's not important. We have other things to be concerned about." He slams his hand against the wall of the pictures and notes.

Evan stands up. "No, I agree with Evan. we are finding this Jeremy guy first. We want to see your eyes glow pink again."

"Yeah, they were pretty." Elizabeth giggles climbing on the bed.

Charlie nods. "It's like a mood ring."

Micheal sighs and covers his face. "But we have to...."

Margaret clears her throat. "Um...."

"Oh hi, mom. Micheal was explaining the future to us." Charlie smiles. "We have to save the future, isn't that cool."

Margaret nods, straining a smile. "Uh yes, your father made dinner for all of you. Could you guys wash up."

Micheal nods, jumping off the bed and grabbing Elizabeth and Evan. "Time to wash our hands."

Margret stops. "Why is he carrying them like that?"

"Dunno?" Charlie shrugs following after him.

.....

[wondereads]

Weekly Reading Update (11/27/23)

Reviews and thoughts under the cut

Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare (6/10)

This book was just way too long for the story it was telling. It easily could have been 100 pages shorter. I did like a lot of the emotional moments concerning the romantic relationships, but there is so much filler that it just go incredibly boring at the end. Also, Cassandra Clare does this thing I like to call "no romance left behind" which is when everyone in a book is paired off by the end, even ones that don't really make sense or seem rushed, such as Gabriel and Cecily. The plot in this book was just overall lacking, coming off as extremely simplistic and far too convenient. Luckily, Tessa and her romantic relationships sort of saved the day; the epilogue did make me tear up, hence why this book is not dropping to a 4 or even 3.

Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire (9/10)

Continuing my Wayward Children run, Beneath the Sugar Sky is a really good installment. I love that we got the return of Kade and Christopher, who I missed, and the new characters, Cora and Nadya, are quite fun. Nancy was also there for a short time, and I loved seeing her in her element. I really liked Cora, who is great plus size representation and really addressed how being fat affects everything in our world and can worm into your brain. I am obsessed with the worldbuilding of Confection and the foray into how all the worlds are built and how they're laid out. I really hope there are more stories that involve visiting multiple worlds and exploring how they work.

Lodestar by Shannon Messenger (9/10)

This was an amazing installment in Keeper of the Lost Cities. It feels like something has truly changed for the first time in a while, instead of the back-and-forth that usually happens between the Black Swan and the Neverseen. Major developments occurred with terrible consequences for both sides, and we got what I would consider the first major character death as Calla in Neverseen had only been introduced that book. The relationship between Sophie and Keefe also developed quite a bit, and we got some real conflict within the group since the Alden debacle in Exile. Finally, there is some progress in the romance department. They're still, you know, like fourteen/fifteen, but considering how much this series hints at it, I'm glad we're starting to see concrete development. Finally, that ending had me gagged. Not only was the climax ridiculously tense but there is a twist at the end that made me immediately want to start Nightfall.

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (16%)

This book is hitting a little too close to home...as a goody-two-shoes reader who had like two friends growing up, Lundy feels like a callout. I am so excited to see a Goblin Market-based world, as I've read other books like that and they're always incredibly fun.

Cinder Ella by S. T. Lynn (8%)

This is part of a little project I'm doing, and I can't say much about it so far. I'm a little hesitant about the writing, as it has been clunky in a few places, but I'm really interested to see the story of Cinderella under a trans lens.

Rising Storm by Erin Hunter (7%)

I'm back on that Warriors grind, you guys. I swear I am going to read this entire series, even the later ones I never got to that are supposedly terrible. I also might be working on a project concerning them... Anyway, gotta love the Tigerclaw/ShadowClan foreshadowing.

Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett (3%)

It's always thieves in high fantasy novels. I'm not sure what the obsession with them is, but I feel like 60% of high fantasy protagonists are thieves. Anyway, I'm loving the magic system so far, so hopefully the plot and characters will hold up!

[teenz-stories]

Teen-Z: Forever Young #1: I Don’t Wanna Be Your Ex (Part 5)

Meanwhile Wiccy and Cody are inside the studio. Nerd girl now talks with the person who's seller of it. Finally Wiccy goes out.

Cody: And?

Wiccy: Three thousand Zeedollars if we want to borrow it for a month.

Cody’s eyes goes wide in shock

Wiccy: I have only 250 Zeedollars. Still I didn’t gotten my paycheck from my boss from that programing job I have.

Cody: I will check my donates but I don’t think I earned that much neither.

Wiccy: Donates? She raises her eyebrow up confused Wait. You’re a streamer?! Since when?

Cody: I thought that smoothie stand was earning kinda meh cash. So I started to do some game streams. Peoples pay me because they love seeing me getting mad over losing in the game. He checks his website 340 Zeedollars from four streams I did this month.

Wiccy: 590 Zeedollars. She smacks her lips It’s not enough. We gotta ask team. Or. She looks at Cody How much did you earned this month from that stand of yours?

Cody: looks at his pockets as he starts counting money Around 90 Zeedollars this week.

Wiccy: hisses between her teeth What about for whole month?!

Cody: shrugs laughing nervously

Wiccy: You spended all your money for the games,didn’t you?

Cody: I wanted to do content! Without any games my channel on ShiverTV wouldn’t make any sense!

Wiccy: starts calculating This makes 680 Zeedollars. We still need 2320. She pulls out her phone as she proceeds to call whole crew

After long moment of waiting whole crew appears.

Wiccy: How much did you all earned from your weekend jobs?

Mermaid steps out first showing her pastel pink wallet.

Mermaid: Well. From whole month working during weekends in the spa I earned 650 Zeedollars. It’s pretty good start,isn’t it? You need financial help from us to pay for the studio?

Wiccy: shyly nods

Mermaid: No worries. She gives Wiccy her money I have still money on my credit card.

Wiccy: again calculates This makes now 1330  Zeedollars. 1670 more. Who wanna help now?

Charlie steps out showing his dark-blue wallet.

Charlie: I work in tattoo studio.

Belze-Bob: nods showing everyone burning wheel tattoo on his shoulder He did awesome job last week on mine.

Charlie: I earned for this month 570 Zeedollars. He gives Nerd his money For the studio to give my girlfriend perfect music video.

Wiccy: Good. 1100 more. Who wanna share now?

Luvboy sighs coming to the front with his phone.

Alvin: I am amateur animator. And recently I opened on ICoffee my page where I post commission prices. The longer animation is,the more customer needs to pay. So for short clips I receive 20 Zeedollars. For 3 minutes long music videos you need to pay me 60 Zeedollars. However if you want to produce small episode of anything you like and it has over 10 minutes. Price goes already to 130 Zeedollars and more if you ask for details. So. For short clips during this whole month I gotten 120 Zeedollars. For music videos I gotten 300 Zeedollars. And from longer animation I gotten just 130 Zeedollars. One person only had guts to commission from me something longer. He then smiles weakly 550 for this whole month.

Wiccy: And by this we already get to 550 Zeedollars left. Who wanna help now?

Belze-Bob steps out to the front now showing his deep purple wallet.

Belze-Bob: I am grafitti artist in my free time. Government gave permission to me and Greeny to use walls in certain streets. I get from time to time requests. And I received for three arts just 160 Zeedollars. He sighs I'm sorry if this is too little.

Greeny: And I also earned same price for street art.

Belze-Bob and Greeny: Sorry if this is too small.

Both sighs in sadness as they both gives to Wiccy 320 Zeedollars.

Wiccy: Not everyone earns good cash from their weekend jobs. However congratulations. Only 230 Zeedollars left.

Light steps out next as he has in his hands his sombreo hat.

Light: I am street dancer. He laughs nervously You can check how much did I earned for this week.

Nerd counts the money as she takes in her pocket 140 more Zeedollars. She then takes from Creepy 90 Zeedollars.

Wiccy: confused Where did you get so much money?

Ninelle: shyly smiling Dark paid me for that Glitter High doll when I sold him.

Wiccy: Makes sense.

Seconds later she comes to the worker as she pays for the studio. Then she comes back with a huge grin.

Wiccy: Guess what. That previous guy wanted too much money.

Pinky: in fear And what? He demands more?

Wiccy: No. Don’t worry. Normally turns out this studio would cost just 900 Zeedollars. But by paying three thousand this studio now belongs to us!

Upbeat music plays as crew hugs themselves and do happy dance while Wiccy,Mermaid and Pinky stands at the back of the entrance to the studio smiling widely. Then Wiccy interrupts happy atmosphere.

Wiccy: This has a catch though. That guy said we can have it for good. But we need to pay them at least half of the price for Pinky’s songs.

Charlie: So he’s our sponsor?

Wiccy: You can say that.

Pinky: steps now to the front with confident stare Now,now! Break’s over! We have whole weekend to at least start something step by step!

Scene changes into already Monday. School’s bell rings for the break. On corridoors Pinky notices Alvin sketching final scene. Pinky bumps his arm gently.

Alvin: smiles gently Finished. I needed to drink coffee since drawing took me whole weekend. But it’s done.

He gives his sketchbook to Pinky. She gasps seeing results. Each drawing has detailed description at what happens on what time. Her admiring distracts Luvboy looking with sadness at her.

Alvin: Again I apologize for that mess I did on that Fashion Week few weeks ago.

Pinky: smiles gently Oh,Alvin. I’m not mad.

Alvin: I was this jealous that you didn’t spended with me time anymore. So I thought you don’t like me.

Pinky: hugs Luvboy I like you still. But now as friend. I got Charlie and... she tuts looking if he isn’t around He wouldn’t be happy if I would leave him.

Alvin: smiles through tears Still it’s good that you managed to even accept my apologies. Even if it was almost month after.

Pinky: lets Luvboy go So. Friends?

Alvin: takes Pinky’s hand Friends.

[deeisace]

I never really bothered looking up to see if I have American cousins from that branch, but I find it very funny -

If you go back to the 1880s, in my family, the Scarth branch from Orkney - John had at least 3 daughters and a son, right

I'm descended from the eldest daughter, who married an also-Scottish Liverpool dockworker, and I suppose partially as a result of that we have all following their line had lower-class lives generally - a billion children and not much money and,, variable general misfortune, y'know how it goes

But another of the daughters married up (or perhaps equal, where my grandmother married equal or down, I couldn't really tell you how middle-class-1860s-Orkney translates onto 1880s-Liverpool), to a carriage manufacturer, and then left sharpish for Chicago-ish, where they became so posh as to be wrote about in a society book about all the Illinois posh people - y'know, how they did in the 1910s or whenever

Hang on I have to refind that book, I can't remember the quote

Fuckin google won't let me see the page proper but here -

That says! "A lady of culture and refinement" - that's in print!! A "lady" who's sister was the matriarch of my rabble?! lmaooo

Anyway tho Aunt May seems like a pretty cool lady - her brother kept marrying progressively younger women who kept dying on him, and eventually in his 60s he married his maid, but anyway basically each time that happened it appears he had a child or two shipped over to May in America to bring up instead

That's maybe a very harsh way to put it - it could equally be that he was so devastated at becoming a widower (again) that he couldn't cope with the children and May stepped in to help. But I'm rather inclined to think him more callous than that, honestly

But it was very cool of May and Mr Johnston to do that!

Actually if you look a little further it seems like there was more stuff going on there -

So. Maria and Robert are my grandparents (a few greats). And Emma there is. Hmm.

Captain John Baikie does exist, so far as I can tell. There are lots, but only one who is a captain in the 1860s, and that is of a ship, not the army, and he is rather confusingly based in Sunderland - but he undertakes foreign trade, so it's conceivable for him to be in London and/or Liverpool, even for a one-night dealio

But Baikie becomes Emma's middle name, and she is thereafter Emma Baikie Fergus. I'm gonna take an educated guess and say that Maria Baikie is one-and-the-same Maria Fergus? Or Something's Going On, in any case!

Tho I'm very surprised to see the same curate/priest/whoever, on the same day - maybe it was a particularly busy city day, or they said oh one of the Maria's is ill at home post-birth, or the priest just wasn't so fussed - the way they were 50 years beforehand in rural areas, calling kids "baseborn" or "bastards" - increasingly often now (1868), you just get the mother listed with no father, without that bb/baseborn/bastard ("bastard child!!! the horror the shameeee") label, although there is still a considerable stigma to being an unmarried (or whathaveyou) mother, of course. Because Victorians.

But y'know just like clandestine marriages were a thing, priests (or whoever) could write whatever in the records, it's not like now where everything is triple checked and referenced to each other (tho I admit I'm mostly thinking of death records atm, it's true for all records).

Tho, lmao, even my own 1990s birth record is incorrect, nothing's completely infallible lmao - my dad is listed as "informant", because my mum was ill in hospital still and he went to do the forms already thinking of avoiding paying child support while I was dying - but that's not super relavant rn where was I

Emma!

Here she is, 1871 -

I promise you, to the best of my knowledge and 10 years worth of experience, that is the same kid, age 7 - and our James is 3, so he will've been the newborn one at the baptism above - often, families would save, and have 2 or 3 baptisms on the same day, so it's not very unusual that Emma will've been 4-ish at hers.

And, our Robert only married our Maria in 1875 - the records above have them "living in sin" lmao - "commonlaw marraige" is a bit more polite - quite something for the late-Victorian daughter of a cathedral choir master, I suppose, tho people can always surprise you can't they? I do wonder at their having waited til after her mum died, even tho they had 3 kids together. Hmm.

Back to Emma anyway,

I'm being recommended that she actually moved to America too, sometime in the 70s (she says 1876, making her roughly 13) - there is an Emma Baikie, the right age, in 1880 Oak Park Illinois (the right place), a servant.

I can't be completely sure of anything, as I can't find any immigration records, but were I to be fanciful - her parents marry, and she being a teenager finds out the truth of her parentage and I imagine is distressed, is sent and/or goes herself to her Aunt May (who seems to be the designated caretaker of all the extraneous children of her family, despite being on a different continent) - something interpersonal happens there too, or she just needs the money, and she becomes a servant - and then the next recommended document is

Well the recommendations are not always accurate, we are as almost always relying on some measure of context too, but

A marriage, of Emma J. Baikie age 20 (right name right age) to a John Brown - exactly by the dates because she was pregnant with Nellie, or soon to be (and they go on to have at least ..... 5 more kids)

In 1920, they are still in Oak Park Illinois, and John is a harness maker (perhaps he worked with/for Emma's uncle Johnston the carriage builder?)) - but 1930! They are in Los Angeles!

Unemployed in their 60s, so who knows I suppose, it's very frustrating to only see 1 day every 10 years :/

And also I haven't the slightest idea what this says -

Oh here look

It is the right Emma -

Scarth is correct (as correct as the automatic transcript ever is), and further proof that both those baptism Maria's were the same woman (and this therefore is the very same Emma)

Tho, I mean. There was Maria Mary and May (and Eleanor), so I suppose Emma's baptism Maria might actually have been May or Mary

[editorsusan]

Eight years ago today, my husband and I took a lovely trip to Fort Bragg. I had been under a huge amount of stress at work, and he wanted to take me away from all that for a few relaxing days. We spent lots of time just sitting and watching the ocean to give my psyche a chance to unwind a little. We also did some fun, touristy things like explore shops downtown and ride the Skunk Train.

We also didn't know on July 4, 2013, that I would be getting laid off from my incredibly stressful job in mid-August, about six weeks later, which was actually a blessing because I really didn't want to quit on my own, so getting forced out solved that problem. I had been with that company for eight years.

It wasn't long after that layoff that Anna reached out to offer me an opportunity to work at the Sacramento Bee on-call, which I gratefully accepted. I (like many others) felt honored to work for McClatchy Co.'s flagship newspaper, and I worked hard there, eventually getting promoted to permanent part-time status and then, later, full-time. I went from an on-call copy editor to a Copy Editor I and then Copy Editor II and witnessed many difficult changes as the Bee's copy desk was reduced from a staff of (if I remember correctly) over 40 people who produced not only the Sacramento Bee but also the Modesto Bee and the Merced Sun-Star and later added the Fresno Bee and the San Luis Obispo Tribune, and then was regionalized into a team called News Desk West, which added team members and more newspapers for us to work on from Washington state (with its papers the Bellingham Herald, the Olympia Olympian, the Tri-Cities Herald, and the Tacoma News-Tribune) and Idaho (the Idaho Statesman). In short order McClatchy would also regionalize its copy desk units of its Central region markets as News Desk Central and its Eastern region markets as News Desk East. This was all a leadup to the current consolidation of McClatchy's copy desk operations into a single unit headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., now referred to as the Publishing Center. After many rounds of layoffs and buyouts and downsizing/consolidating/"optimizing," the Publishing Center was comprised of about 60-ish staff members mostly working from home and scattered across every time zone of the U.S.

I had seen and also been part of many rounds of McClatchy layoffs during those years, but every time I always had some path provided to me that allowed me to return to work right away (maybe with a different department, maybe with a different supervisor, like the lovely Rita, etc., but there was always a way back in somehow, still with McClatchy).

And then we got word in March of this year that the Pub Center staff would be decimated once again as McClatchy would be outsourcing the page design tasks to a contractor called EKCS in New Delhi. Our team of about 60 would this time be cut to about 36. And this time I would be laid off with no apparent pathway to return to the team. After eight years with McClatchy my job would be coming to an end. Eight years after I was laid off from my previous job, where I also worked for eight years.

Eight years. Eight years. Eight years. It's like my working life is being carved up into these eight-year chunks. (If there's some hidden significance there, I have no idea what it is.)

I really wanted to make it to at least 10 years with McClatchy, but that doesn't look like it will happen. And I'm still more than 10 years from retirement age, so I'm going to have to find a new career path forward from here. (As of right now I have no idea what that will be, either.)

I'm mentally tired and overwhelmed by the unknown future. I feel relatively certain that things will work out in the long run, but the control freak in me doesn't like the current uncertainty. And I'm just so, so, so tired right now that I'm finding it nearly impossible to focus on looking for a new job while the countdown on my current job gradually runs out. (I think I have 29 work days left as of Wednesday, my first work day this week.)

This life transition is about the only thing that has been on my mind lately, but I try to avoid posting about it here (because if I posted about it as often as I think about it, that's all anyone would ever hear about from me … and that would get pretty darned old for all y'all pretty darned quick).

[televinita]

How many library items do I even have out? Let's find out together!

Books ready to return: 2

Books I need to review before returning: 3 (Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands; Carrie Soto Is Back; The Lily of Ludgate Hill)

CDs: 1 (1989 Taylor's Version. I'm not ready to hear it yet. but I would like the option to do so without Spotify ads. or streams tbh)

Aaand that makes 13 items left, very good. In absolutely no order because I'm just trying to make sure I know where they all are...

1. Cheap Old Houses - Elizabeth Finkelstein: a beautiful coffee table book, apparently based off an Instagram that I (per usual) have never heard of; I am almost done but have been simply luxuriating in the photos. Currently gazing at it on BookOutlet like "$15 is reasonable for a brand new copy of such a large and 5-star book I definitely have space for actually."

2. Another Good Dog: One Family & 50 Foster Dogs - Cara Sue Achterberg: I got about 60 pages in and am loving it, but it was SO GREAT! that I had to pause and put more middling books in front of it to process; been trying to get back for 2+ weeks. That said, when I finish it...

3. One Hundred Dogs & Counting - Cara Sue Achterberg: ...when I finish the above it'll be on to the next one! (maybe? or maybe I'll want to save this 2nd shot of joy for the future)

4. The Break-Up Tour - Emily Wibberley and Austin S.B.: this has taken WAY too much time and effort to get my damn hands on. And then I didn't even read it fast! I started and then got distracted, and only yesterday managed to get up to the halfway mark. At least the request list has cooled off so I will be able to renew it.

5. The Haunting - Natasha Preston: just stocking up some reliably good YA horror for when I really crave those in the summer. This is literally an I-love-cheap-thrills situation.

6. The Joy of Falling - Lindsay Harrel: a random impulse checkout because the cover was pretty and it's about 2 widowed sisters-in-law training for an ultra-marathon in New Zealand that their late husbands had been planning to do. Thought it might serve as exercise motivation.

7. Malibu Rising - Taylor Jenkins Reid: will this suck me in as fast as Carrie Soto did? I dunno, but this is the one I was originally more interested in, so let's see if this is the year we find out.

8. Heirloom Rooms: Soulful Stories of Home - Erin Napier: Speaking of coffee table books I was looking at on BookOutlet, this popped in the "you may also like wheel" and I saw the library had it instead. "a collection of essays walking us through every room in her home, telling the story of a family’s life, of the days that made their home the place she longs for when she’s away. We learn about when they became the new owners of Erin’s dream house from childhood in downtown Laurel, Mississippi, and explore the beautiful homes of family, friends, and projects past in photographs." YEAH!

9. The Wishing Game - Meg Shaffer: I forgot to re-freeze this hold so it came in at the WORST possible time. I've been waiting on this since January and refuse to be rushed or read it if the timing isn't Perfect, so instead I'm gonna be the jerk who keeps it 3 full weeks just in case I get to it; the waitlist remains at 50+ for 7 copies. My ace in the hole is that certain books are WAY less popular in the county next door, where we can dual-register, and they also have 7 copies but only 14 people waiting.

10. Homeward Bound: Why Women Are Embracing the New Domesticity: nonfiction from 2013 that I've been vaguely meaning to read someday. There's only 1 copy left in the system so I checked it out while I was at that branch, but 99% sure I will NOT be getting to it this round. 20 days til my renewals max out.

12. DVD: Northanger Abbey: the JJ Feild spiral I have been trying to find time for since March is clearly not happening right now because WOW Ryan Gosling spiral time instead. But I can't stop believing until my renewals run out, in 3 weeks.

13. DVD: Third Star: see above. somehow holding out more hope for this one, if only because Survivor has hella reactivated my Male Friendship radar, despite these being extremely different types of men. ...just noticed my renewals on this max out in 4 days, oops.

14. DVD: Ghosts (UK), season 3: I was on a hot watching streak and then I abruptly shifted gears to watch the U.S. version's third season instead (because I was too lazy to fight with our Blu-Ray player that throws a fit every time we tell it to play a DVD instead of its favorite format), and now I don't know how to get back in the groove. But I won't give up until they make me! (9 days from now when my renewals max out)

[stressedlawsecretary]

Today's Focus

04.03.24 - Well we're halfway through the week! I need sleep man; I need a vacation to like catch up with sleep - just sleep in every day for a week. I'm taking at least one extra day off per month in part for self-care; this month that day is the 21st. I'm planning a vacation for my birthday in July, but I'm also praying my spouse gets a job that requires training in another state so I can take an extra vacation.

Work - I left nothing for myself except reading a few press releases that came in. It's Wednesday so I'm remote and since the two people who usually rely on me (SJC and JJM) have been pretty self-sufficient I don't expect to have any real work to do.

Background Noise - Well since I'm remote, the real background noise will be the DVR; I'll do YT when I have some downtime.

I did like a dozen (12) videos yesterday, pretty much solely off my Watch Later. They're starting to get long (20-30 min) so I can't get through as many as I can when I'm watching shorter videos.

Study - Wednesday is visual study day, and I have a couple of CBS Sunday Morning programs to watch and like four 60 Minutes so add that to some Jeopardy episodes and uh...I can get off like 10 hrs if I try real hard. I have one Biographics to watch with my hunny, at least one somewhat 'educational' video, and I started a documentary on Hardy Amies and Operation Ratweek that I'd like to get through.

Yesterday went well! I finished the essay from 1945 on The Decay of Liberalism and I read half a dozen (6) articles each related to the IRA/The Troubles, the Horizon IT/Post Office scandal, Van Gogh's letters, and my saved 'good news' articles. I also read like seven different, random articles stumbled upon (this includes two press releases) and I got another 10 pages or so into the essay about the bride price in China.

Extras - Wednesday means I clean the catbox out again, and vacuum the rugs. I want to strip a pair of pants, clean a pan, spot clean my bedroom ceiling, and take out some recycling as well. It's takeout night at least (thank God) which should give me ample time to indulge in my shower/self-care routine tonight (and listen to more of The Great Post Office Trial podcast.) Two more episodes of Turboranger are on the docket tonight, along with the last episode of a surprise three-part Batman arc (they're in Londinium.) My mini-essay is on transgender legislation (again) and I'm working through that taxation essay as well.