#i haven’t built a Lego set since i was a kid

[lucyllawless]

Saturday afternoons be like…

[catcake24]

It’s transformers time!

My dad got me this transformers Lego set as a birthday gift 0_0 I don’t even wanna know how much that cost!!

I just started, but it’s so cool! It comes with instructions that’s more like a mini book and like 10 different packages of parts. You can also build a little plaque for displaying him with!

Currently done package 3

I’m having a lot of fun with it! Haven’t built anything with Lego since I was a kid, but it’s pretty fun and the instructions are pretty clear :D

And I’m excited for the end, because you build him in alt mode and then you can transform him after! He actually transforms! That is just so cool!

AHHHHH I’m just so happy!! I haven’t been able to buy transformers figures recently, and I’m glad to have something as unique as this in my small collection!!

[jobrrr]

Hobbies and interests are weird sometimes.

Like sometimes you see something and you just know that’s what you want to do, and there is no looking back from that point. I remember seeing Magic the Gathering for the first time, and it was like 4th grade, I knew. And lo and behold, I'm 35, still playing magic. But like sometimes it just kinda happens by accident, like you don't mean to get into the thing at all.

I think it was mid 2021 and I just stumbled on the Blackwargreymon gunpla kit online. Digimon was a big deal for me as a kid, I was pretty young when it started, like 10?, and I have always had a soft spot for it. So this thing looked really cool, I didn’t really have anything on my shelf for digimon even though it was a big deal for me as a kid, and it wasn't that horrendously expensive, even marked up on amazon. I don’t think I had ever done a plastic model kit before, so I started poking around to see what it would need, and I found a pretty decent entry level set of tools, clippers, some tweezers, some sanding tools and so on. So I went, what the hell, I did something nice for the kid in me. I think it’s important to do a lot of nice things for the kid in you, just good life advice. So I took the plunge. The closest thing to compare to I guess was lego, it’s kinda the same process, you just gotta cut out your pieces and clean them up, but after that you just put it together. Lego was another thing I really liked as a kid.

This kit was so much fun, I went into it with the just expectation that it will look good, and it does, very good. Ok I have to stress this, I don’t think there is anything on the market that looks even a fraction as good as these kits do, and at such a better price, it’s ridiculous. But the Kit was so much fun to put together, it's just meditative, and very personal. You slowly work your way through it, learning how the plastic feels and reacts to the cuts, shaves and sanding you do, and you make mistakes, but you work through it and learn. It’s imperfect in a very personal way. And then I finished it. And sometimes you just finish something and then you are like, ‘this can’t be the only time I do this’. I knew I was kinda hooked on it.

Thankfully there was a bit of backlog on the kits available. I think at the time the upcoming one was Machindramon, and I ended up picking the other kits in the meantime, Omegamon/Omnimon & MetalGarurumon. And so over that year of the pandemic it was a treat for myself, as I slowly built up this shelf of great looking digimon figures that I put together myself. When I got the Gallantmon/Dukemon kit, I took an extra chance on it, and decided to re-paint it with my minis paint, giving it a more classic color scheme. It’s probably the most time I spent on one model, and I haven’t tried painting one again since them, but I’m still immensely proud of it, there was a lot of little mistake I made, and a spoke on his shoulder broke that I had to drill a metal rod to reinforce as well as putting some extra epoxy putty in, but it was more lessons learned. As a prep I spent a bunch of time looking up videos of people painting gunpla, and as a side note, some folks do amazing jobs with that, like absolutely fantastic.

I wanted more though, and I was waiting for new digimon kits to come out but you are waiting. I think it was around the time the pandemic restrictions were loosening, and I was starting to maybe just explore places a bit again. I went into a Game Stop for the first time in a while, and was surprised to see a gunpla kit there. It was the master grade Barbatos kit, and it was a very reasonable price, like I want to say 60ish CAD. I was paying more for the digimon kits cause I was mostly getting that stuff through amazon and often it was imported from japan and extra shipping fees etc. So I went what the hell? I never really was that interested in Gundam before, I had a friend who made me watch an Iron Blooded Orphans OVA, and I honestly could not tell you anything about it, I was so checked out. But it looked cool, so I took another chance. I figured it wouldn’t look bad on a shelf.

That kit is a killer kit. I remember being so impressed with it, when you are building it you start with a skeleton and then you put the armor on top of that. It was so novel, and so cool. It’s a master grade, which is kinda the 2nd highest tier of kits available. 

I guess as a little aside, the entry level is High Grade, HG, this is 1:144 scale, and is a great entry level, kits can be very cheap, as low as 15ish up to 30ish (CAD prices, your can figure out your conversion, USD is going to be less). Next up you have Master Grade, MG, these kits are 1:100 scale, sometimes they are different names but 1:100 is size. These guys are pricier, but a big jump in quality, not to say the HG are bad, HG are pretty impressive, but the jump is very noticeable. MGs are very nice, and the prices I noticed are usually 60 to 90. The next typical grade up is Perfect Grade, these are 1:60 scale, and very big, and very complex. I have only done one so far, the Exia. It was 280ish I think. For these kits I think the floor is around 200ish, and can go up quite a bit from there, I think some push 500+.

Back from that tangent, this kit felt like the perfect entry for a more experienced kit. I had already done quite a few digimon kits, and it's the same stuff, just different franchise. Like literally the same, Bandia makes both of these kits. So this was easy to get into. And it really was cool, to say it again. I was like damn, this is neat. So I let that stew, and for a while that was the only gundam I had and I was pretty content for that to be the case.

Then a new boon arrived, I found a local gunpla store. I had actually been there a few times before, but before It was more focused on anime, but I guess in my absence over many years it shifted, and grew its gunpla selection a lot, the wall of bluray and dvds became a wall of boxes of gunpla. And They had digimon kits too. And the prices were very good. I made the switch, as it became a lot more accessible, just even the ability to browse and not do shipping, chief’s kiss. So I picked a few kits I didn’t have, and continued to get new ones there. But I started to see the rest of the gunpla, and I knew the Barbatos was cool, and they had such a big selection, even a lot of older stuff. 

So I started picking up a few. It was kinda neat, just jumping into this franchise that I really only knew on a visual level. Like I know it’s been around for a long time, and there are a lot of series, like OG, Wing, Seed, ect. But after that, I know nothing about the Gundam, they fight in big robots, that’s it. So I was in the odd position where I was free to just pick them up blindly if that makes sense, I wasn’t beholden to any lore or preference outside of ‘it looks cool’ and wow I kinda realized I don't have something like that. Like how often do you enter a fandom in a backwards kind of way. Like typically you get into something because you are a fan of it, you like the story, setting, characters and then that kinda informs how you follow up everything after. Like you get the figure of the character you like. I’m sure I’m not the only person who just gets (outside of WFM lol) the kits as kits with no real attachment to the source, and I imagine it's not even that small of a portion. Like people don’t need lore to do train kits or w/e. Anyways it was just a neat perspective, and like I said, freeing. I was allowed to pick stuff from w/e series, and mix and match cause I didn’t care.

So yah, i just went on picking up more kits, the prices of HG were such a great thing too. Like on average 20 bucks a pop for a kit, easy sell for me. So I started having a gunpla shelf, and that was cool.

I guess the next phase kinda happened. I had heard of Witch from Mercury (WFM), way back when it first announced, and the only take away at that time I had was it was going to feature a female lead, I remember going, I guess that’s cool, but you guys have been doing this for how long, and this is your first? I had another thought but I will come back to that later. So I just kinda filed that away as whatever, I wasn’t really that interested in it as a show, Gundam as a series just didn’t really feel my thing, I am still quite ignorant outside of WFM, but I guess I have more of a sense of it now. Anyways it comes to the point years later, and WFM starts airing, I think I even had a CR sub cause I wanted to watch spy family. I slept on the first 2 episodes. I had just met with a friend again that moved back, and he mentioned it’s queer, that Suletta gets herself engaged to in the first episode.

What. This was not what I expected. The point I mentioned before? So I'm a sucker for W/W ships, always have been. I very much had a thought when I first heard WFM years before, ‘it's not going to be sapphic though, it’s going to be some hetero stuff’, and it was a pessimistic take at the time, but I just felt burned out from everything being like that. Everything is fucking straight all the time. Like I just want more queer stuff, I hope everything ends up being queer, but realistically it’s not. And it’s Gundam, this is a big franchise, It’s not going to push further than female protag, so I just stopped my expectations there. But is it? And well fuck, I have to give it chance now. And it was, like not even in the subtext kind of way. Suletta was Miorine’s groom. The show had Utena in its DNA. I was very cautious though, feeling like this isn’t going to happen. I felt like I was going to get the rug pulled out, there certainly were a lot of guys vying for either of the two girls at the beginning. But I stuck with the show, a bit of pessimism and caution, but wanting it to happen. 

And the little things started happening. After the third episode I think there is a shot of Miorine’s room, and it's a mess. I told myself, then, in a very gut feel way, If Suletta cleans her room, it’s real. I carried that thought going forward. Unpacking it later, I realized how true to the characters it was, Miorine didn’t want to be there, her room was a prison to her and she didn’t let anyone into her life. And then she asks Suletta to clean her room in ep11, and god that episode. I threw out caution, I was ready to sink on this ship if it would after that. And shit, 12 was a hell of an episode to finish on, and then the wait for the second cour. Ooof. Like it was real now, very real, feelings were vocalized and it wasn't just reading into characters. It was firmly the TEXT, no room negotiation. This show was very intentional about everything, I could start to see how everything was now feeding into the rest of itself. God this show.

The wait for the second cour took a while. I was talking about gunpla before, wow. Sure, let's get back there for a bit. I was pretty moderate with picking up kits, I got just Aerial, and Suletta and Miorine. I honestly felt a little embarrassed at the time, like it was an admission that, yah, I’m getting the feels hard now. But that was it, I got some more unconnected gunpla but I was mostly just stewing on my feelings till the second cour hit.

And wow, did those feelings come in hard once the show came back. Not to sound old here, i’m only 35, but it’s easy to forget what watching a show weekly is like with how much bingin it like with the netlix model of shows was the norm for so long. But letting a show really sit with you, to digest it, let it stew and think about before moving to the next episode. For some shows that can be magic, or at least that’s been my experience. I don’t think this would have been a good show to binge, and if anyone is going to watch it, I don’t recommend just burning through it really quickly. This is a show that really lets you take it apart and analyze the moments. It felt like everything could be read into for more meaning. Tomatoes, The move forward, gain one, the growth of characters, how Suletta and Miorine treat each other. It’s a gold mine for essay lol.

Or this whole ending credits to Red:birthmark. This is is basically the whole character arc of Suletta.

I guess that sorta leads to onwards. I had dipped out of tumblr way back when things went south and everyone dipped. Like myself maybe not right away, but like it felt like 90% of folks were gone and I was soon too. I would sometimes check back in, but never stayed. Then things started to just get real bad with twitter. Like i never liked it as a social site, or reddit. It just feels bad. I had only really started to use it and reddit cause tumblr died, and they did not serve the same way. Like there are few decent subreddits. But they never really did what I wanted. So I started to maybe check in here again, more frequently. Then I remember the day it really stuck.

Bees happened, Yang and Blake kissed. I was not super invested in RBWY, I bounced pretty quickly way back. I like the fandom though, it has always been strong and I'm sure people will have different feelings, but w/e. I always found them charming, and I think it was what made me try watching the show way back in the first place. So anyways Bees happened, that was a big surprise, and it kinda hit hard. Like it was beautifully awkward in a real way, it felt genuine. And I saw it here on tumblr. And good fucking win for the fandom, I tried watching some of the more recent episodes, and I am not going back to watch old stuff but boy does Ruby have some trauma to unpack. Whoof, even missing context that hit hard. The fanfiction is great. Dug around in there and there are some really good ones. Bless the fandom. I started with Bees stuff since obv, but I also dug around into Ice Rose too. Maybe it’s too much to hope, but that show will be cooking if it also does that.

Anyways I guess I was back on tumblr. There were a bunch of oldies still here, and I could dive into the tags. And It really made me realize how much twitter was kinda just making me miserable. Like there is just so much more positive here, and over there it’s just miserable. And WFM was starting up again soon. Perfect storm. I wish I had been here for the first cour. But I was here for the second cour.

I had originally joined tumblr way back after Korra ended. I was not ready to let the show go when it finished, and this was a good place to celebrate the show. It was so fundamental to my early days here, I followed so many people because of it. Fan art, people talking about the show, even years later, fan fiction. Like I said, it was a celebration of the show. I still treasure a lot of those old moments, and followed a lot of those artists onto twitter and pateron. Hopefully I will start seeing them here more as twitter implodes.

It’s been very nostalgic here again, as we finish WFM. It’s like being back to that moment with Korra. I loved seeing all the art here again. I loved seeing all the talks, musing and speculation as the second cour went on. I started to follow people again that I kept seeing popping in the tags and It reminded me what it’s like to slowly learn a bit of someone on this site. I missed that old bleeding of interests you get. The cross contamination of fandoms. I got to see someone younger share their experience with Sailor Moon in real time through this site. I love it, I was a kid when that show first aired, it is so cool to get these new perspectives. 

And now WFM is finished. I said this before, I knew at the start of the second cour that this show is going to stick with me for a long time. Remember the gunpla, well I have perspective now, I have been picking up more of those because I now have feelings to contend with, lol. Not a bad problem to have. It hit hard, the show, episode 16 left me heartbroken, god. And now we are here, they have rings, they had the wedding. Eri is the sister in law. God it happened and it feels like this was plucked from a better timeline. This show is such a fucking win, I’m not letting it go any time soon.

I never really did much of this before, sharing that is. This is a lot, hell I’m even considering if I will post this as I draft this. I mostly just reblogged things and avoided putting my own words on top of them. And that’s fine, but idk, it’s never too late to try new things right, and you can always do things at your own pace, so maybe I can share a bit and it resonates with someone, and maybe it ends up being no different than existing in the void and never being posted. I spent too much time being self conscious of the things I like. I want to spend more time just making the kid in me happy you know.

Being around this all again has been nice, I feel motivated to be creative, more so then I was before. I have always had ideas for fics just floating in my head, and I think I might actually post a Persona 5 fic at some point, it's in the works. I recently played through it again with the female protag mod, and bless that mod, but now I feel compelled to write something about Makoto. Hell, maybe even some WFM stuff later. There is a really obscure doujin that I want to write something for as it felt criminal that it only got one entry. If you made it this far, thanks. Let yourself enjoy stuff.

John

[archaeopter-ace]

Back in January I decided that my To Do list needed to be more ~tactile~, and since my new system has been working well going on four months now, I thought I’d share it here

[Image ID: a one-foot square of corkboard in a rustic brown frame, displayed flat on a surface. An eight-pointed compass rose has been painted on it in gold and dark teal, with a circle in the center left bare. At the points of the compass are tiny pins holding metal numbered circular tags in place; visible are numbers 9 through 12. Placed on top of the compass are an assortment of small objects; each object occupies no more than two halves of a point. Object include a Dirt Devil pin, a soda can tab, a yellow push pin, a frying pan and iron from a Monopolgy game, a brown fake leaf, a puzzle piece, a red carabiner, an AO3 Kudos pin, a tiny raven, and white buttons glued together with an charm-sized metal spoon. Off to one side is an upside-down 1.5 inch pot with a strawberry eraser on top. / End ID]

I painted a compass rose onto a square of cork that I had from a previous craft project (the frame is a super-lucky find from Goodwill!). Each point represents one hour, divided into half-hour increments. Number tags are used to indicate time, e.g. I set this one up to start getting things done at 9 AM. (I use a 24 hr clock, so 1 PM is represented with 13)

It only runs for 8 hours unless I go back and update it in the middle of the day, but 8 hours of being productive is enough to be getting on with, and if I don’t hit my targets, then there’s just flex time built in.

Every morning I populate my daily schedule with tokens from a pool of possibilities. And that’s one of the things I really like about this, over conventional To Do list making: I feel encouraged to vary my routine, do something different than I did the day before, give a token I like but haven’t used in a while a chance to come into play.

[Image ID: A large round wooden serving platter covered with small objects, like something out of a kid’s ‘I Spy’ book. Included are: various buttons, a tiny birdhouse charm, a mini Swedish Dala horse, LEGO Spider-Man, two disembodied hands, a 9V battery, toy Mini Cooper convertible I got out of a Kinder egg, white elephant bead, snowflake earring, plastic rat, carved wooden lion, chess piece, supermarket member token, piece of rose quartz with a wolf engraved on it, headphone, rubbed lizard, a 1 centimeter microchip, cardamon pod, fake yellow and blue flowers, plastic shapes, mini halogen bulb, pizza charm, brown glass apothecary jar, and an antique toy refrigerator for a dollhouse. / end ID]

The advantages I have found to using this system:

No red-text OVERDUE designation like on some to do list apps. I get done what I can and that’s good enough. And unlike when I was writing out my list on a piece of paper, it’s super easy to re-arrange as the day goes along.

A lot of people say the fun part of making To Do lists is crossing things off. That is only true if you succeed and actually manage to cross things off. Otherwise you are left with a lot of uncrossed items, which can make you feel worse. Under my new To Do list, the fun part is adding things to my list. I start my day thinking about what I want to fill my day with - fun leisure activities included - and even if I have a very unproductive day and hardly get anything done, just starting out the day every day with this attitude has been a tremendous help.

It only covers one day at a time. I save tomorrow’s worries for tomorrow, just focused on Today

It doesn’t tell me I need to complete given tasks, just that I need to work on them for the allotted time

Brains will read text automatically. I can’t look at a word and Not read it. Which means that with a traditional To Do list, I can’t help but look ahead and worry about an upcoming task I might be dreading. With this tactile to do list, everything is representational. It makes it easier to compartmentalize and deal with one task/activity at a time. Relatedly, it makes it easier to engage with tasks I really dread by giving them a cool token.

It’s flexible. Partly because it’s vibes-based and just needs to make sense to me, but also because I can combine established tokens together. So if I combine ‘Doctor’ with ‘Telephone,’ I need to call to my doctor. But if I combine ‘Telephone’ with ‘Friend’s Token,’ it means I want to call that friend, and if I combine ‘Friend’s Token’ with ‘Computer,’ I should email them instead. ‘Computer’ can be combined with ‘Organize Files,’ etc.

Fun Things and Chores are treated equally. They are all just how I want to be spending my time. This has helped me find time to draw and go for walks, instead of getting stuck in a rut of scrolling on my phone or reading endless fanfiction. There are many and varied ways to entertain my brain, and seeing the maximalist clutter of possibilities every morning helps to remind me of that.

[Image ID: The same board arrangement as the first image, this time close-up from a lower angle. / End ID]

This was my planned schedule for today.

9AM: Dirt Devil pin says clean up house. Paired it with soda can tab for take trash and recycling to dump, and the white buttons and mini spoon that means do dishes.

10AM: large flat brown leather button resting on a Lord of the Rings ring of power, with a one-inch miniature book on top. Go to library, I have some things I need to return. While I’m there, I can take advantage of the distraction-free environment to

11AM: paperwork. It was very satisfying to hammer that nail through a stack of scrap paper. 11:30 This is the token I made to represent Writing. A hexagonal piece of plastic covered in newspaper for the base, onto which I glued a circular bronze-colored button and topped with another button, this one with a swirly green gemlike qualities and gold accents.

12 o’clock: Lunchtime! It’s a frying pan.

1PM has a unicorn-head pushpin and a cast iron raven figurine, representing tumblr and discord, respectively. (For me, ‘tumblr’ here means ‘hey, how about finally getting around to reblogging things from my 4000+ drafts? Or the stuff I’ve been liking since Goncharov that I intended to reblog just as soon as I had the time to go through likes?’)

At 2PM brown leaf says go outside, red carabiner on top says go hiking.

3PM jigsaw puzzle piece says work on a jigsaw puzzle, that one’s pretty straightforward. 3:30 has the iron from a Monopoly game, so I will be putting laundry away.

4PM has an AO3 kudos tag, to remind me to leave one of those comments I’ve been meaning to get around to for ages...

And that’s my planned schedule for the day! If I get even half of these things done it will have been a pretty successful day, lots to feel good about.

[ID: The small brown apothecary jar, sitting in a sunny windowsill. Inside are what appear to be dead insects. /End ID] Bonus! A close-up of the jar of wasps I use to represent doctor business. I think it sums up how I feel about making appointments nicely. (Actually going is fine, finding a doctor and making appointments is the struggle).

[waitimcomingtoo]

Cool Kids

Pairing: Peter Parker x reader

Synopsis: you walk in on some domestic bliss between Peter and your little brother

Masterlist

“Oh, hey.” Peter noticed your brother in the doorway as he sat at your kitchen table. He was still waiting for you to come home, and he assumed he was home alone. Even though he’d been your boyfriend for over a year, he’d never actually seen your brother before.

“You’re Finn right?” Peter continued. “I’m Peter, your sisters, uh, friend. We were gonna study together but she’s running a little late.”

“Yoda.” Finn pointed to the Yoda pin on Peters backpack.

“Yeah.” Peter looked at the pin and nodded. “You like Star Wars?”

“Yes.” Finn nodded.

“I like it too.” Peter smiled. “I wish I had a Yoda of my own. Y/n is kinda like my Yoda though. She makes all my decisions for me, thankfully.”

“Y/n is my sister.” Finn recited. “She is 13 minutes late.”

“Yeah, but that’s okay.” Peter chuckled. “Does she ever watch Star Wars with you?”

“No.” Finn said simply.

“Do you want to know a secret?” Peter leaned on his chair, closer to Finn.

“Yes.” His eyes lit up and he clapped in excitement.

“She doesn’t like it because she’s not as cool as us.” Peter whispered behind his hand.

“Not as cool as us.” He clapped again. “Do you want to see my room? I have lightsabers that make real noises. I have two of them. One is red and one is blue.”

“Uh, of course I want to see your room.” Peter said like it was obvious. Finn turned around and swiftly walked towards his room, and Peter followed.

“You have to wipe your feet three times.” Finn instructed as he wiped his feet three times on the mat in front of his door.

“You got it.” Peter complied as he wiped his feet as well. Peter began to look around and smiled at how similar Finns room looked to his own.

“These are my Legos.” Finn said as he pointed to a shelf lined with Lego sets of all sizes.

“Woah.” Peter gasped as he walked over to the shelf. “You have the Lego Death Star?”

“Yes. It has 3803 pieces and it took me 4 days to make it.” Finn told him.

“You built this all by yourself?” Peter’s eyes widened with impression.

“Yes.” Finn smiled and clapped a few times. “Legos make me happy.”

“They make me happy too.” Peter commented as he gazed at the sets. Finn silently took two lightsabers out of his closet and held them out to Peter.

“Do you want to play lightsabers?” Peter asked him, and he nodded.

“Me too. But only if I can use the red one.” Peter smiled, taking note of all the blue clothes in the closet and assuming his favorite color was blue. Finn clapped again and gave Peter the red lightsaber before jumping into a battle stance. Peter lost track of time as they played with the various toys in Finns room. He was genuinely enjoying himself, and Finn seemed to be as well.

You stepped into Finns room and wiped your feet three times on his mat. When you looked up, you saw Peter swinging Finn around the room while making “pew pew” sounds.

“Hey Y/n.” Peter paused with Finn midair. “We were just…looking for my calculator.”

“Peter is telling a lie.” Finn said simply.

“I can see that.” You chuckled. “I just wanted to let you guys know that the pizza will be here in 20 minutes.”

“Pizza.” Finn clapped as Peter set him down. “The pizza will be here in 20 minutes.”

“Thank you.” Peter stammered, cheeks growing red in embarrassment. You smirked at him before leaving the room and returning to your own.

“I’ll be right back.” Peter said quickly as he rushed to your room.

“Um, hi.” Peter stammered as he leaned against your door. He knew you didn’t like to talk about your brother and he could only assume you were angry with him now.

“Hey.” You said without looking up.

“You’re home?” Peter asked as he sat next to you. “How long have you been here?”

“About an hour.” You shrugged, setting your textbook next to you.

“An hour?” Peter gasped. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You looked pretty busy so I’ve just been reviewing by myself.” You fought back a smile as you looked at your boyfriend.

“I wasn’t…I wasn’t busy.” Peter said sheepishly.

“Really? You seemed pretty busy playing with my brother.” You shrugged casually.

“I know.” Peter sighed. “I’m sorry if I overstepped a boundary but he asked me-“

“He asked you?” You were taken aback. “My brother asked you to play with him?”

“Yeah.” Peter apologized. “I told him I was there to help you study and he started talking to me about Star Wars and one thing just kinda led to another.”

“He doesn’t let me hug him and he was letting you fly him around the room like an airplane.” You looked at the ceiling as you let out a humorless laugh.

“Actually, I was flying him around the room like the Millennium Falcon.” Peter reluctantly corrected you.

“Peter.” You stood up and rubbed your face.

“I’m sorry.” Peter stood up as well. “He was just so excited to show me his legos and I got carried away. I’m sorry.”

“Peter, I’m not mad.” You told him as you turned around.

“You’re not?”

“No.” You smiled softly. “Not even a little bit.”

“But…” Peter looked confused. “But you never let me meet him before. I thought you didn’t want him to know about me.”

“Peter, my brother has autism.” You told him for the first time. Peter tilted his head in confusion and looked at you skeptically. He was pretty sure that was something you would have told him in the time you’d been dating. 

“What?” He asked softly. 

 “Yeah.” You shrugged. “He’s pretty much non verbal towards everyone but me and my parents. I never let you meet him because he doesn’t like strangers.”

“Oh.” Peter blinked slowly as he put it all together.

“That’s why I let you guys play.” You told him. “He doesn’t have any friends at school since he doesn’t like to talk to anyone. When I came home and saw you guys playing... Peter that was the happiest I have ever seen him. I didn’t want it to stop.’’

“Oh.” Peter said again, with a smile this time. “I had no idea.”

“Because he was so engaged with you.” You gushed with excitement. “I mean, he was talking, letting you touch him, making eye contact. Peter, he rarely looks me in the eyes. Do you know how comfortable he must have been with you to look you in the eyes? And the fact that he asked you to play with him? If he needs something, we usually have to figure it out because he doesn’t like asking for things. I can’t believe this.”

“He’s a really great kid. I could already tell that just from playing with him.” Peter smiled as he tucked your hair behind your ear. You smiled back, but it faded as a sadness settled in your eyes.

“He doesn’t hug you?” Peter asked suddenly as he drew back to something you had said before. You looked down and nodded before frowning at Peter.

“When he was little, we noticed he got really uncomfortable with certain fabrics and textures touching his skin, like the tag on his shirt or rough towels.” You began to explain. “Then it broadened to other forms of contact. He has sensory issues so he doesn’t like it when people touch him. I haven’t hugged him since he was two.”

“I’m sorry.” Peter frowned and kissed your forehead.

“It’s okay.” You sighed as you pulled him into a hug. Peter rubbed your back comfortingly as you squeezed him back.

“The pizza is here.” Finn opened your door suddenly. “The pizza costs $13.67.”

“Thanks Finn.” You smiled at your brother as you wiped a tear off your cheek. “We’ll be right there.”

“You’re crying.” Finn stated. “Are you sad? Crying means sad.”

“No, I’m not sad.” You wiped your face and smiled at him. “I’m okay. See? Happy.”

“Finn, why don’t you come in here.” Peter said suddenly as he opened his arms. You looked at Peter curiously as he scooped up Finn and held him on his hip. Your mouth opened a little in surprise, not used to seeing your brother touching people.

“You know how we said Star Wars were cool?” Peter asked Finn.

“Yes.” Your brother nodded.

“You know what’s even cooler?” Peter looked between you and Finn. “Group hugs.”

Your lips tugged into a smile as you watched your brother hang on to every word Peter said. Finn looked at you without making eye contact and slowly opened his free arm.

“Is the material of my sweater okay?” You asked him carefully.

“It’s okay.” He nodded, and that was all you needed. You stepped into the hug and wrapped your arms around your little brother. A tear slipped down your cheek as you rubbed his back, taking in the scent you hadn’t smelled in years. A small noise emitted from the back of his throat and you pulled away, knowing he was uncomfortable.

“Thanks Finn.” You smiled at him to show him you were happy. “Let’s go get the pizza.”

Finn ran out the the room, leaving you and Peter alone.

“I’m sorry if that was-“

You cut Peter off by pulling him into a kiss to thank him for what he had done. Peter happily kissed you back as he wrapped his arms around your waist.

“That was perfect.” You assured him in a whisper. “Thank you.”

Tag List 🏷

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[noblechaton]

I built my first ever model kit tonight!

riding that serotonin high rn so imma talk about it a lil and post more pictures below the cut 

so like admittedly I’ve never been massively into gundam but it’s been one of those things that have been in my cursory view since I was a kid and for some reason I always wanted a figure of the main gundam (or at least the mech I thought was the main gundam lmao) but never got one for various reasons like imported toylines selling out or flopping or just not having interest

I’ve also wanted to try building a model kit for a while now too! I’ve had an eye on them since Toysrus was still around (oof) and I’ve been seeing them crop up more and more as a result of my interests expanding and whatnot so when I saw this model kit the other day and at a super low price I decided to give it a go despite being worried about having shaky hands or otherwise messing something up

which is why I’m glad I found the one that came with some extras! I built these the other day as like a trial for the tools and my own ability and like..........it’s all I thought about since lmao. I knew I was hooked but I didn’t actually build the main kit till tonight

and boy. I loved every second of this. legit such a rush of serotonin doing this that I didn’t stop for more than a few minutes at a time lmao and even that was just to stretch my legs alil. the snippy and the clippy all just activated the almonds in just the right ways and while some snips weren’t perfect I gotta say I’m like heavily impressed with the end result

the main build is just so much fun to handle that I really haven’t set it down since I finished it like an hour or two ago lmao. I love the silhouette it cuts and how firm everything is without being so firm the thing can’t really move like idk how else to really say it but it was super satisfying and also as a long time hater of having to apply stickers to stuff I love that this set didn’t come with any lmao

tho some of the extra weapons are kinda dinky but then I love the main ones and the bazooka enough anyway and more stuff for cheap ain’t ever bad lmao 

but yeah! this was super fun lmao. like doing a lego set but like even more satisfying. I def got a new habit forming with this especially given I’ve already been eyeing up two more sets that aren’t too pricy either 👀

[timebird84]

🎄 PotO Advent Calendar 2020 🎄

By @notaghost3​

Summary: Christmas is fast approaching and Christine still has no idea what to get Erik for their first Christmas. However, when inspiration strikes, she didn’t exactly ask for help…especially not from the cat.

Modern AU. E/C. Set in my “The Belonging You Seek” Universe but can be read just fine on its own!

Tangled Up in You

Not A Ghost3

The fairy lights in the store window twinkled white as they walked by, Christine’s eyes lingering on the decorations just through the glass.

“…I mean it’s our first Christmas as married couple- what do I even get him? It can’t be tacky; I don’t do tacky. I was thinking a nice watch, but he already has one and…”

Christine sighed and resisted rolling her eyes as she wrapped her arm tighter around Megs elbow. The crosswalk sign blinked red in front of them as it waited for the cars to finish passing. 

She thought she might scream if she had to hear Meg contemplate what to get her dearest husband for Christmas again.

But here she was, and she wasn’t screaming.

She shook her head; her own willpower to keep their friendship alive really surprised her sometimes.

Instead of screaming she just nudged Meg playfully to the side- effectively (albeit temporarily) shutting her up.

“Meg,” she said, firm in her tone but a smile on her lips. “Raoul will love whatever you get him. Because it’s from you.”

She emphasized the last word with a playful wink, careful to hide the bitterness that built like bile in the back of her throat. It didn’t do any good to let the past control her present or her friends. 

At least that’s what she’d been telling herself. And it was working…to some degree.

“Yeah, I just want it to be perfect you know? It’s a special one, you only get a first Christmas together once…I want it to be memorable,” Meg replied, practically dragging her across the street as the crosswalk light signaled it was safe to cross.

Christine laughed at that, stumbling to catch her footing on the other side of the street. “However it turns out, I’m positive it’ll be memorable…this is you we’re talking about.”

Meg rolled her eyes and readjusted the purse on her shoulder. 

“I know, I know…” then Meg got that look in her eyes.

That mischievous, I-know-more-than-I-should, smirky look of hers.

“Well, let’s not forget that I’m not the only one celebrating a first Christmas together, hm?” Meg chided, wagging her finger playfully in front of Christine’s face as they walked to the next store.

Christine couldn’t help the blush that she knew crept on to her cheeks or the way that she glanced down to avoid Meg’s peering gaze.

It was true. It was a Christmas of firsts all around.

“Yeah, yeah…” she smiled, shaking her head in disbelief. It seemed like only yesterday had been February and today was a week and half before Christmas—

She supposed time really did fly when you were happy. 

“Sooooo…what do you and Erik have planned? Oh wait! Don’t tell me…uh…ice skating? No, no he wouldn’t do that…um—”

Christine laughed, cutting her off. “Erik wouldn’t be caught dead ice skating, not in public at least. You know him. He has social anxiety; he doesn’t like people.”

Meg cocked a grin then. “Well he certainly likes one at least.”

Christine shook her head, her smile growing larger. “Hey, he likes you too, and your mom!”

“Oh I know, I know…but you know what I mean…” she trailed off as she unwound her arm from Christines and opened the door to the jewelry store she had next on her list. “I will say, it was a little strange with you two at first…I mean he held me as a baby—”

“Erik is not that old—”

“Well I was practically a baby, Chris! I might as well have called him Uncle—”

Christine raised an eyebrow at that, never having heard that one before. “Are you telling me you’re going to start calling me aunt or something?” She barely got the sentence out through her giggles as she eyed a pair of sparkling earrings in their glass case.

Meg’s eyes were wide as she turned back to her, mouth open. “Are you trying to tell me…” instead of finishing the sentence she wiggled her left hand’s fingers, pointing to her own sizable wedding ring.

Christine picked up on what she was implying before she could say another word. “Oh no. No. No, I was just saying that. We haven’t…we’ve barely talked about it really ah…no. No ring,” she flustered, eyes quickly finding anywhere— anything— else to look at to distract her from Meg’s prying eyes and smug smile. 

She wasn’t lying. There was no ring, no promise of marriage, and they really hadn’t truly talked about it. The word had been thrown into the air a few times sure but…they hadn’t even dated for a whole year yet, really. She didn’t want to move too fast and jump into things; she’d done that before and paid for it. As Meg was a daily reminder of. But that was different, Erik was different.

She felt like wherever he was she was home, and that was a feeling she’d learned not to take for granted.

Maybe she did want to marry him, maybe she did want the ring and the house and the kids and the perfect little movie life.

But maybe Erik didn’t.

She didn’t know.

“It’s only been like eight months since we started dating, Meg…” she shrugged at Meg’s now somewhat disappointed look. 

“No, I shouldn’t have assumed, but you can’t blame me for hoping— I just want you happy, Chris!”

She gave Meg a small smile at that before turning back to the same dangling earrings from before.

“Any idea what you’re getting him for Christmas?” Meg asked, coming to stand close beside her.

Christine shook her head, moving on to look at the next pair. “No idea. What do you get someone who can already buy whatever they want?”

Meg nodded. “I know the feeling…”

Christine blew out a puff of air, making a loose hair curl fly up and then back down in front of her face.

“Well doesn’t he like those nerdy things? What about some…I don’t know…Legos? Is that even right?”

She laughed at Meg’s willingness to help and shook her head. “He already has too many of those in his basement. He is an architect after all. Besides…I want something better than that, something personal, y’know?” 

It was Meg’s turn to shrug then, picking up a bracelet off a display holder. “Well, I suppose there’s always a watch, right?”

Christine laughed, but on the inside sighed.

A week and a half until Christmas.

What was she going to get him?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Christine closed the fridge door as she felt a pair of hands come up behind her, snaking around her waist.

“Well good morning to you too,” she chuckled, turning around in his arms and pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

He was still in his flannel pajama pants and sweatshirt...it must be nice to work from home she supposed. She had dressed while he slept and she usually bid him goodbye while he was still in bed, his cat faithfully curled up asleep beside him.

He hummed against her.

“Did I tell you I found it?” He said, unlacing his arms and walking towards the laundry basket that sat in one of their kitchen chairs. 

She shook her head, popping the lid onto her coffee cup that she’d pulled out of the fridge. “No, what’d you find?”

He made a show of holding up his hand for her to wait as he dug through the laundry before raising a tattered clump of red yarn up in the air.

“Ta da!” He sang as he shook the yarn out, a long scarf tumbling out of the clumped form as he did.

“Oh Erik!” She exclaimed as she hurried over to the kitchen table, taking her scarf from his hands and wrapping it around her throat and tucking the ends into the coat she had already put on. (She was honestly running a bit behind and if she didn’t leave soon she would have to find a better excuse than “I lost my favorite lost scarf” because she’d already used that one and she didn’t like repeating excuses unless they were necessary.

“Yeah, I’m afraid Ayesha had hidden it by the washer with the rest of her treasures,” he chuckled, giving the cat that sat licking her paws on the floor the side eye.

Christine bent down and rubbed Ayesha’s ears (earning a side eye from the cat herself) “This isn’t a kitty toy, silly—” 

“Can’t really blame her, it’s just about in tatters, she probably mistook it for a ball of string.” He shrugged, straightening the clothes he had disrupted in the laundry basket.

She frowned at that, standing back up. “It’s not in tatters,” she was quick to defend the simple scarf around her neck, “it’s just…well-loved that’s all.”

She watched as he rolled his eyes and picked up the laundry basket of their clothes to go put away.

“Well loved or not, it’s looking rough. Why don’t you just let me buy you a new one?”

“No!” She said a bit too quickly, making him stop in his path on the way back to the bedroom of their apartment. 

“No, it’s special. My mom made it for me and…” she glanced at the floor, picking at the loose threads of her coat. “It’s really all I have left of her besides her locket. I barely remember her as it is and…”

She kept rambling until she heard the gentle clatter of the laundry basket being sent down and then there was a pair of arms around her again, holding her close. She didn’t cry, she usually reserved tears for when the pain of her father not being there anymore hit, but it still hurt.

A lot.

“Shh…don’t feel like you have to convince me. My own mother never made me anything, I didn’t even think about it. Don’t listen to me…” he trailed off as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then pulled back, holding her by her shoulders.

“Now you’re gonna be late if you don’t leave,” he reminded her, scooping the laundry basket back into his arms, and calling Ayesha to follow him. 

“I’ll miss you,” she smiled as she picked her keys up off the counter and watched him walk towards the bedroom. 

“I’ll miss you more,” he called over his shoulder before the door shut behind him.

But the words lingered in her mind as she opened the hallway door to her apartment and stepped out:

My own mother never made me anything…

She nodded to herself.

She had a very good idea what to get him for Christmas now. 

XXX

Christine had never knit anything before in her life. 

Never. 

But here she was, red yarn and steel needles in her hand, “how-to-knit-for-beginners” tutorial video pulled up on her laptop in front of her on her bed and bedroom door locked in case of curious well-meaning eyes.

She could do this.

She’d already watched the video and it didn’t look that hard. It was just loops. And more loops and more loops and then a knot — she could do this!

Her first attempt was…less than useful. Her stitches kept dropping and she couldn’t understand why in the world the yarn was so tight around the needles. It looked so easy when other people did it!

She’d just have to start over.

And she did. Three, four…eight more times until she got a steady start and a few neat rows of stitches done. She held her work up to admire it, the Sunday afternoon light streaming in through the window. She took a moment to glance out the window, watching the snow as it softly fell. Maybe they’d actually have a white Christmas this year. It seemed like the snow was just narrowly skipping around Christmas the past few years and it would be so nice to wake up to snow—

She felt her pile of excess yarn uncoil from her lap and then a tug against her knitting needles. She raised an eyebrow and looked down:

Her yarn was gone.

“What the…” she looked around herself but then followed the taught string to the edge of the bed and then looked to the floor beneath it.

Ah ha.

Blissfully tangled up in the dark red yarn was Ayesha, chewing on one end of the string and batting a bundle of it with her back paws.

“Ayesha!” She whispered harshly, careful to not be too loud in case Erik realized she’d locked herself in their bedroom on purpose. She hadn’t known the cat was in here when she came in, she must’ve been sleeping under the bed…again. 

Ayesha merely stared up at her from where she played on her back, still attempting to eat a bit of the string.

“Bad cat,” she scolded as she reached down to wrestle the thread from the cat’s grasp (not an easy feat mind you, Ayesha had claws like a bear) and pile it back up on the bed with her. She wiped the wet string on her shirt; Erik wouldn’t mind, it was his cat after all.

“There now,” she said to herself, situating herself back into an easy pattern of slowly knitting and eyeing the yarn.

She heard a familiar “meow” and then the rustle of the comforter as Ayesha leaped up on to the bed, determined to play with her newfound toy.

“Ayesha, no,” she said firmly, pulling most of the string close to her side. “This is for your daddy, not for you.”

Ayesha slowly blinked back at her.

She swore that sometimes that cat and Erik made the same faces. 

She settled on gently batting the actual ball of yarn around the bed after realizing that Christine wasn’t going to let her have the loose string that she knitted with. Everything was going okay then; Ayesha was being quiet, her yarn stitches didn’t look a total hot mess, and Erik’s new handmade scarf was slowly coming together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a few days before Christmas and she’d made good headway on the scarf, only having a few more rows to make and to be honest, she was quite proud of herself.

Maybe she should pick up more yarn and make him a whole set of things: a hat…gloves…a sweater…

She stopped herself there. Knitting a scarf only involved knitting in a straight line and maybe that was enough for her right now.

She pulled her coat tighter as she walked up the stairs to her apartment, digging around for her keys in her pocket as she neared her door. Erik was constantly thanking her for letting him move in, but she thought she might explode if she had to tell him one more time that she wanted him there. After all, she certainly wasn’t about to move in with Erik. 

He’d been living in his friend Nadir’s basement. 

Basement. 

Nadir had a wife and a baby nearly due and she was honestly the one who convinced him to move in with her. 

Though she knew good and well he still had a lot of belongings in that man’s basement. 

Nadir was a saint for putting up with him. 

She shook her head as she reached her door, putting the key in the lock—

She stopped.

She could hear a muffled voice on the other side — Erik’s — and some rushed footsteps.

Her door never unlocked slower it seemed.

Was something wrong? Had there been an emergency? She had just been thinking about Nadir and Mandy— had their baby come early?

“Erik?” She called out as she opened the door.

She didn’t see him.

“Erik?” She tried again, shutting the door behind her and poking her head into the kitchen. Not here either.

Her eyes roamed the living area until she saw it. 

A long red string. 

Christine’s eyes widened. 

She followed the trail of string all the way to the the bedroom door that was cracked open.

“No, no, no…” she whispered to herself as she pushed the door open, already dreading the sight of what she was sure would be waiting for her—

Instead it was Erik, back to her but facing the bed, Ayesha looking a bit too proud of herself perched on the edge of the bed.

“Erik?” She said again but was interrupted.

“Did you…” a swallow, “did you make this?” Erik asked softly as he turned around, half-unraveled scarf held gently in his hands. 

She felt the heat rising to her cheeks.

Of course the damn cat would blow her secret.

She nodded, coming to stand next to the bed with him. 

“Yeah, I…well it’s silly,” she tripped over her words as she sat down on the bed beside Ayesha, giving her a pat on the head to distract herself. “I was so sad that your mom had never made you anything and I treasure my old red scarf so much for that exact reason and well…” she looked up at him.

His eyes very nearly had tears in them, just waiting for the right moment to fall.

“I thought I’d make you a matching one,” she finished with a shrug before looking back at Ayesha. “It’s not that good, and this one keeps unraveling it and—”

“Hey,” his voice was low as she felt him take her hands in his. 

She let her eyes drift back to him and watch him kneel beside the bed, so he was eye level with her where she sat. 

“It’s perfect.”

And he looked so genuinely happy when he said it that Christine laughed in spite of herself and squeezed his hands. “Really? I can remake it—”

He shook his head as he put the scarf over his head then threw the other end around his neck, a purple knitting needle still hanging off on one end.

“How could I not love it?” Erik said, bringing his hands back down to hold hers. “You made it for me.”

Gosh she loved it when he smiled.

She bent forward and kissed him, still holding his hands tight in hers. “I just wanted our first Christmas to be special,” she breathed against his lips as they parted, feeling her own eyes start to well up with tears of her own (out of happiness or pent-up frustration that Ayesha had ruined her Christmas surprise she wasn’t sure).

“Christine any day with you is special,” he said in that tone of his that made her heart drop and knees weak.

She smiled and shook her head.

“Well, now I need to find you a new Christmas present,” she forced out a laugh despite the tears that now rolled down her cheeks.

Erik swiped at them with his thumb, holding her face in his hands before pressing a quick kiss to her forehead.

“Oh nonsense, this is Christmas gift enough…”

But then he winked and stood up.

“Besides, if you really feel like getting me something else, I’m sure Wal-Mart still has that Yoda Lego set I was eyeing up last week…”

[felicia-jollygoodfellow]

So I haven’t owned a Lego set since I was a kid and I haven’t built one since my nephew (who’s now a teenager) was too young to build on his own and still needed help. But I desperately wanted to have a Razor Crest model and it seems like Lego was the only option out there... So... Challenge accepted.

I wasn’t really sure to get her at first since I love building Lego but I’m not really fond of the look of it. But I love her. She’s huge, she’s beautiful and fully functional!

She’s a worthy addition to my Mando collection!

RIP Razor Crest

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The First Temple or Bessie and Joe: The New OTP

Hello all you happy people! Amphibia season 2 moves right a long and it’s time for some video game shenanigans as we enter The First Temple! Family drama, snail on bird action, and outhouses await you under the cut with a recap/review with full spoilers. 

So we open with the Plantars having chocopillbug pancakes. Ironically my mom offered me chocolate chip pancakes after this and thank god for that. This is a rare treat to the point Anne didn’t even know they had choclate, and is suprisingly not strangling Hop Pop over this. Unsuprisingly he broke out the good stuff to try and make up for hiding the box and things are still VERY awkward between the two, with Hop Pop walking on Egghshells around Anne and Anne doing the same when he brings it up with both desperatley trying to avoid the subject and Sprig not helping by bringing it up a bunch. 

I like this a lot and didn’t really think about the series continuting any tension over his decision.. but should have. Partly because this is a modern animated show and most of this wonderful new wave of shows have a LOT of emotional nuance. ANd partly because this show dosen’t forget things even most nuanced shows forget: the fact the characters cause chaos and learn life lesons is outright RECOGNZIED by the show as a pattern and brought up quite often, as are the patterns that lead to it, like mostly being sprig and anne, anne’s impulsivness that sort of thing. It’s the kind of thing you just gloss over in most shows but this one lampshades to hell and back for funsies so when something THIS important happens, you’d better belivie it’s not just going to disappear. 

The tensions thankfully broken by a new arrival, as a massive sparrow shows up in the yard. “It’s a giant bird with.. books on it’s back.. what. “ Great delivery from bill there. Naturally it’s Marcy! 

I missed this little goober. Such a joy to be around, and she of course marvels over the Plantar’s house before getting back on track: She’s found the first temple.. even though she sent a letter saying that and it’s not commented on that she did. It set off the whole previous episode Marcy... you okay Mar-Mar?

That aside though it’s time for the first temple and Marcy asks for the Box, with Sprig trying to make a joke about how good thing she didn’t ask for it a week ago. 

Polly rightly punches him in the ribs... do frogs have ribs? Hold on.. okay here we go

Huh.. so they do not You learn something new every day. Well lack of ribs or no our heroes are ready.. while Marcy’s sparrow Joe is also ready TO GET IT ON. Yes really, he does a mating dance for Bessie, complete with an intersumental version of “Sylvia” from last season. God damn that bird’s got game. The only time i’ve seen more game is THIS. 

 Marcy tells him to knock it off. Look marcy your a pet owner now and as a pet owner, it’s your responsiblity.. to let your giant bird do horrifying things with a slightly smaller but still giant snail. it’s what nature intended. Nature was doing a lot of cocaine that day but we still honor her wishes. 

But anyways Marcy’s figure out something intresting about the box.. by winding it just right the gems pop out, which allows her to take one, we later find out it’s the green one, to use in the temple. So off we go with Marcy and the rest of the kids up top and Hop Pop.. screaming in Joe Sparrows claws. He’s fine. 

So while they get ready, Anne worries about the amount of puzzles and hazzards Marcy’s hyping for this but Marcy shurgs it off and gives her own big boast about how may RTS she’s beaten.. suspciously like Yuaan as one post on here pointed out. Not a huge suprise though, to Marcy she’d just be the grand hero out of one of her rpg’s and not think of how many people she probably killed or who she’s working for.. though you’d THNK given all the RPG’s both tapetop and on her switch she’s played, that Marcy would see that “the benevolent king turns out to be the big bad” trope coming. 

But Anne’s worry is not on the big bad of the show but on Marcy who has a tendency to get so in the zone she ignores the world around her, which goes from focusing on her game while helping anne get softserve leading to a mess, not letting Anne down in a play and.. Anne catching Marcy on tv as all the snakes escape from the zoo. 

Regardless our heroes arrive and while the awkwardness between anne and hop pop continues, they find a majestic temple.. and what appears to be an outhouse. Hey we all gotta poop sometimes, even people making a majestic temple.  If you don’t it comes out like this. 

So they head in and we get our first puzzle, a mysterious cube that lifts you into the air and allows you to tilt the thing around. 

Those of you wondering why I have such a strong reaction have ever never played breath of the wild or played it with a pro controller, i.e. NOT having to tilt the very thing your screen is on because Nintendo has failed to grasp that MAYBE people don’t like that, that it takes you out of the experince and that it’s really hard to focus on your screen while having to move the fucking system about. And the plantar’s getting horribly jostled around as she moves it is EXACTLY how it feels to play a puzzle requring that shit. 

Next is a color based tile dungeon leftover from Link’s Awakening DX. As marcy figures out the reds do fire and the blues do crushing... but she reads the language (And as she put earlier “Guess who learned an entire dead language?” God she’s precious. ) and finds a green with envy pun (Which Hop Pop takes offense to.. several of his friends are green.). Which is curious as given several citzens of amphibia are green.. why would they make a green pun? So she gets on one tile and Hop Pop plans to take the risk of getting on the other green tile, but Anne does it instead.. and things get heated between the two as Anne reveals she no longe feels like family since he did what he did for polly and sprig and hop pop takes offense as she IS. Even if he screwed up with her. But Anne’s near death experince activates the tile. 

The final challnge switches us from Zelda.. to Harry Freaking Potter. 

Now I used to love Harry Potter, with all of my heart. Then JK Rowling turned out to be a transphobic piece of shit who thinks she’s an ally, but is really a bigot who wants to “accept” trans people without giving them any rights. So yeah while I still love the starkid musicals, ore more accuratley the music from them, and own a copy of lego harry potter I got as a gift recently as both parties had no idea she was a monster when this stuff was made. Still a sore subject though, but if I didn’t bring up the similiarties I wouldn’t be doing my job as a critic and this was likely thought up long before JK outed herself as well...

No no the great mighty poo respects all peoples.. and wants to take their heads and ram it up his butt. He’s an equal opportunity butt rammer. 

Anyways this is the frog equivlent of chess flipfrog, and just like with Wizard chess, our heroes end up as the pieces minus marcy.. and in a nice twist on that scene, Anne ends up on the other side. Marcy is a grandmaster at it though so after an hour or so of play she almost wins.. only for the king equilvent to refuse to be taken and the automatic board she’s up against to send Anne against hop pop, and with our heroes magically restrained and given stone weapons, this can’t end well. Eventually though Anne’s forced to hit HOp Pop multiple times and while he says “well isn’t this what you wanted”, she says no.. she didn’t want to phsyically hurt him it’s just complicated. So we get one heck of an emotioinal scene as Hop Pop just wants to help and wants this to stop and dosen’t knoow how to fix this which as someone who desperatlyt ries to fix most emotional situations right away this hit very hard.. and her response of needing time hit harder. The two while not reconciled, ar ecloser to it and Marcy realizes what she’s done getting so obessed with winning and forfits for thier benifit. Our heroes leave, seemingly having lost.. only to find glowing arrows to the crap hole, which turns out to be the pedistal. The temple wasn’t just an intellegence test but empathy.. and the temples are clearly built to specifically test each of the chosen three, our heroines, specifically. Marcy’s tested her intellegence.. but also her willingness to let go of cold clyincal thought to do the right thing. That earns her her gem recharged and a flash in her eyes and her gem starts pointing to the next. She needs time to triangulate and hop pop and anne are back on workable footing... though our heroes offer to take a break instead of going to the next temple. 

Back in Newtopia, Yuaan reports on the toads gathering.. but dosen’t get to mentioning sasha before Marcy’s letter interrupts and Andridas oddly and aburbly dimisses her.. and goes to talk to a watcher with a thousand eyes, his “master” who has plans to undo the prophcey and get their revenge. 

Final Thoughts: This was a damn fine episode that gave Marcy some much needed character development, and gave the reveals of last episode some more emotiional fallout.  It also had some really great jokes as always. Top notch stuf. 

Next Time: Marcy tries to win everyone over through science and we FINALLY get an episode with the Frog Robot apparently. Horay

Next on this Blog: We go into final space yo! It’s unexpected births, ho yay, and horrifying zombie gary’s galore! 

Until then if you liked this review, follow me for more, join my patreon, comission a review if you please and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. Play us out jeff... and I haven’t done THAT bit in a while but eh. This song was too perfect. 

[effieduan]

Dragon Pool Parties || SOLO

TIMING: July 22, 2006 - when Effie was 12-years-old.

LOCATION: The Duan’s old house in Portland.

PARTIES: @effieduan & a neighbor.

SUMMARY: All Scottish castles have dragons, and Effie is lonely.

CONTENT: brief mentions of heart attack. 12 year olds being 12 year olds.

Screams of laughter and splashing could be heard from over the tall fence. Effie sat on her on the back porch, facing away from the fence and her back pressed up against the railing. Her gloves - today a bright blue, like the sky - lay across her lap and her new lego set sat in front of her, only half-heartedly started.

Grandma was in town. Her mom’s mother, which meant she couldn’t spend all her time in her basement and had to go out and get ‘fresh air’ while her sisters, mom, and dad went to the pool party next door. Apparently, it wasn’t healthy for a 12-year-old to spend all their time in the basement tinkering with the ‘computer junk’, and she needed hobbies and interests beyond that.

That’s how the lego thing happened, and if she didn’t get this stupid castle built or at least substantially off the ground by the time Grandma tomorrow afternoon, she was going to be in trouble for being ‘ungrateful’ or ‘having a bad attitude’.

Effie heard a scream from over the fence, followed by a loud splash and laughter. She glanced over her shoulder, but couldn’t see anything over the tall fence. Technically, she had been invited to the pool party too, but she obviously couldn’t go. Effie didn’t remember what excuse her parents had used this time, but she hoped it wasn’t chickenpox again. It took ages for the Dugan boys to stop bawk-bawking at her every time she took a walk.

Grandma was supposed to be watching her play with her lego set - to spend time with her little darling granddaughter since “hardly got the chance”, but had wandered over to get some fun pictures of Ellie, Emme, Ed, and Eva in their new swimsuits. Her sister’s got new swimsuits and she got the lego set -- Effie still wondered what the hell her parents told Grandma to get her to go along with the gloves, and the homeschooling and whatever else. Her father had just gingerly patted her on the head and said “Don’t worry about it, we have it all taken care of.”

Effie ran her fingers along the smooth lego piece as she examined the problem in front of her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the lego sets - or, well, okay, she didn’t despise them like she did the stupid easy-bake-oven Grandma had tried the last time. It was just the pieces were so small and all of them were the same color. This was a castle, sure, but did all the pieces have to be grey?!

“Is that an English or a Scottish castle?”

Effie jumped, disturbing the little board she had so the pieces didn’t fall in between the cracks in the porch. There was a pop somewhere in the house that told Effie she would have to reset the breaker again -- fine, she’d do it later. But she was more preoccupied with the boy that wandered over from the party on the other side of the fence. He had dirt on his nose, held a soccer ball, and wore a power rangers shirt with black swim trunks.  Effie gaped as the boy peered at the lego box she propped up as a reference

“Who the hell are you?!”

The boy took his gaze from the box to her, scandalized. “You can’t say hell,” he said.

“I can so!”

The boy looked like he hadn’t thought of that. “Oh.” He stared at her. “I’m Michael.” He went back to looking at the picture of what her lego castle was supposed to look like. She realized he was a kid from across the street - not one of the Dugan boys, but he was always playing soccer on the front lawn with his brothers.

Nervously, Effie put the lego piece back on the corkboard and quickly went to put her gloves back on. “I’m Effie,” she said. “I don’t know if that’s a Scottish Castle or an English Castle, I don’t know what the difference is.”

“There are differences,” the boy said, looking at her knowingly. She believed him but had no idea what he was talking about. “You don’t look like you have the chickenpox.”

Effie bit back a groan. “I don’t.”

“That’s what your mom said you had. That’s why you aren’t swimming with everyone else.”

“Yeah,” Effie said, giving a non-committal shrug. She couldn’t correct herself and saying she did have chickenpox actually because that would be a lie - she couldn’t do that.  She could figure out some fancy wording as her dad taught her, but she wasn’t exactly keen on the neighborhood children thinking she had chickenpox again.

“Are you sick or something?” The question was blunt enough to make her stop thinking about hawking prepubescent boys.

“What?”

“Sick,” Michael said again. “Is that why you don’t go to school or come to parties or anything?”

Effie didn’t answer, and looked back at her lego set, reaching out for one of the larger pieces so she could keep her hands busy. It was harder with the thick rubber gloves around her fingers - it would be a nightmare trying to complete it with her gloves on.

“It’s just better like this,” Effie said, realizing that Michael hadn’t moved from the spot. More splashing and screaming from over the fence caught his attention.

“Why?” he asked, though he was craning his head to see if he could get a glimpse over the fence.

Annoyance crept into her. Why did he even come over here to bother her? “Can you go away?”

Michael looked back at her, surprised. “Why?” he asked. “You’re not contagious, are you?”

“No, I’m just trying to do my lego set.”

“You’re doing a bad job. You haven’t even started on the watchtowers, and you put the wrong pieces in for the draw bridge.”

Effie’s gaze snapped back to the set in front of her. “I did not!” Except there was a large possibility that they did. They all looked the same and were the same color. Whose bright idea was that? She frowned.

“You want to use the A-3467 parts, not those. I think my cousin has that set.”

Effie blinked, looking between Michael and the set. He was looking back over the fence again as someone turned the music up. Justin Timberlake grew louder. “Oh… So then is it a Scottish or an English castle?” Effie said.

Michael finally looked back at the box and looked like he was thinking very hard. Her dad would have joked that he could see the steam coming out of his ears. “English,” he decided, finally.

“Why?”

“Because it doesn’t have a dragon.”

Effie stared at him. “What?

“It doesn’t have a dragon. All Scottish castles have dragons.”

Effie didn’t know enough about English and Scottish castles to say otherwise, but she was pretty sure that wasn’t correct. Dragons didn’t exist… Right? She couldn’t say anything else though, because a bunch of boys was bellowing Michael’s name.

“Crap - I was supposed to get the ball,” Michael said, holding up the soccer ball. “See ya Effie, hope you’re not contagious for much longer!”

He was gone as fast as he came, running down the side of the house shouting to his friends, leaving Effie there alone with her lego set of a decidedly English castle.

She couldn’t explain why she started to cry, but she did. Something ached in her as she heard the party and the splashing and everything else on the other side of the fence. Effie wanted to play too. She wanted a new swimsuit and friends to yell at her because she took too long retrieving the soccer ball. No one should be able to stop her from having that. Effie could go march upstairs and dig through Emme’s dresser -- they were almost the same size, or so Emme said whenever she ‘borrowed’ her sweatshirts. She had tons of swimsuits. She could go. She should go.

Effie had half risen out of her little corner on the deck, wiping her eyes on her sleeve, when she realized what would happen if she waltzed over there ready to join in the fun. She couldn’t go swimming, but inevitably, she would be thrown in the pool and everyone in there would get electrocuted while she crash-coursed herself on learning to float.

Her neighbor with his eyes rolling back into his head as he fell, clutching his chest. The screaming from his wife and her mother’s iron grip around her shoulder as she pulled her into the house. What did you do? Everyone would know it was her this time.

Effie winced, and she sat back down, glowering at the lego set and the gloves that were still on her hands. She remembered the relief when her father put them on her. It was enough then to know that she wouldn’t kill anyone by shaking their hand. Effie checked three times to make sure she was still alone before she took off her gloves. She called it being thorough but knew she was just hoping Michael or some other kid would come back and talk to her.

A few minutes later, she was fiddling with the stupid directions again, trying to figure out how the drawbridge was actually supposed to look and trying not to think about how much more she wanted. Enough was all she needed, and she had better get used to it if she didn’t want a bigger body count. 

Now, if only she could find a dragon somewhere... 

[bitchme-2]

Pass the happy! 🧡 When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications!

Hey hey!

1. My fluffy black and white plaid pajama pants that are far to big for me (comfiest pants in the world)

2. Greek dance/music. Been doing it since I was a kid and let me tell you you have not lived if you haven’t gone to a Greek party or Greek festival

3. Pizzelles. They’re my favorite kind of cookie and my Yiayia makes them during the holidays every year

4. Sweet tea. I’m sorry, but I’m from the south in America and it’s delicious. Pure joy

5. Lego’s. A little self conscious about that one cuz it’s a bit childish but I love building huge lego sets (I built the 7,500 piece Millennium Falcon)

[tstarkapologist]

Home Sweet Home

Peter smiled mischievously in return. “Giving me chores now, Mr. Stark?”

Tony pushed himself off the door jam and made his way over to the kid to offer him help up. “Ya know, if you keep switching between Mr. Stark and Dad you’re gonna give me emotional whiplash.”

“Just don’t want to confuse Morgan is all,” Peter said with a smirk as he grabbed the hand being extended to him.

Tony hummed knowingly as he pulled the boy to his feet. “Morgan, of course.”

---

or the fam’s first day home post-endgame. set in the same universe as Somebody you should meet

---

Peter Parker & Tony Stark & Pepper Potts & Morgan Stark

1.3k - G - No Warnings Apply

Read on AO3

Home. Tony never wanted to leave again. And honestly, after saving the universe he was pretty sure he was allowed to become a hermit without judgment.

May had let Tony bring Peter home with him for the week now that he was no longer bedridden in the hospital and the man wasn’t sure he would ever be able to thank her enough. His little family of four had pulled up the drive of the rural farmhouse about 45 minutes earlier.

As soon as she had been freed from her car seat confines, Morgan had latched on to Peter and run off with him promising a tour. The two had started at Morgan’s tent and Tony was pretty sure he’d heard them in the garage at one point but for the last 10 minutes or so they had been in Morgan’s bedroom.

Tony and Pepper were in their own room finishing up unpacking from the stint at the hospital and goddamnit, he wanted some time with his kids. Closing the drawer he had been folding clothes into, he turned to Pepper. “I’m gonna go make sure they’re not plotting world domination.” He lifted his chin in the direction of the noises coming from down the hall.

Pepper smiled knowingly but played along anyway. “That’s a good idea.”

With a quick peck on her cheek on his way out of their room, Tony made his way to where Morgan was inevitably holding Peter hostage.

As he got closer to the open door he could hear Morgan’s tiny voice as she showed Peter around her room. “...that’s where all my stuffed animals go and these are all my books.”

“Wow," Peter said, sounding genuinely interested in the book collection of a preschooler. "That’s quite a collection you have.”

Tony leaned against the door frame and watched as Peter knelt next to his little girl. He was already so good with her it made Tony wish, not for the first time, that Peter could have been around since the beginning to watch her grow up.

Morgan, in a surprisingly humble move for a 4-year-old, merely shrugged. “I just started reading by myself and Daddy got really excited and got me a bunch of new ones.”

“Yeah, that sounds like him.” The kid let out a small laugh and glanced over his shoulder to shoot Tony an amused look; who, in his own act of maturity, stuck his tongue out at the boy. He should have guessed Pete would know he was there.

“Can we go to your room now?”

Peter’s head snapped back to Morgan at the girl’s words. “My room?” His voice was breathy and his eyes were wide.

“Yeah. Daddy keeps it locked for you, but I know he goes in there a bunch.” Morgan was brushing the hair of one of her dolls, clearly unaware of the effect her words were having. “But now that you’re home can I go in?”

Peter floundered, mouth agape, and Tony figured now would be a good time to step in. “Hey Morguna, I think Mommy’s making lunch, why don’t you go help her?”

Morgan turned to him with an adorable, scrunched up expression. “Why can’t Peter go help her?”

“Wow, we haven’t even been home for a day and you’re already pushing your responsibilities off on your big brother.”

Morgan nodded adorably and with far too much enthusiasm, apparently unaware that was the wrong answer.

Tony rolled his eyes. “I need to talk to Pete for a minute, then I’ll send him down to help too, okay?”

Morgan shrugged and stood up. “Okay.”

As she walked by, Tony reached an arm out to stop her and bent to plant a kiss on her forehead. He ruffled her hair for good measure before pushing her towards the stairs. “Go find Mom.”

Looking back into the room Tony saw Peter still sitting on the floor, and raised his eyebrows in question.

Peter smiled mischievously in return. “Giving me chores now, Mr. Stark?”

Tony pushed himself off the door jam and made his way over to the kid to offer him help up. “Ya know, if you keep switching between Mr. Stark and Dad you’re gonna give me emotional whiplash.”

“Just don’t want to confuse Morgan is all,” Peter said with a smirk as he grabbed the hand being extended to him.

Tony hummed knowingly as he pulled the boy to his feet. “Morgan, of course.”

The two stared at each other for a moment, neither wanting to be the first to break, before Tony sighed exasperatedly and turned to leave. “Well, come on then.” He started walking down the hall, listening to make sure Peter was following. When he arrived at the last door in the hallway he reached up to the top of the door frame and retrieved a key.

“That’s not a very secure hiding spot.”

“Yeah, well, the person I’m hiding it from is like three feet tall.” Tony rolled his eyes and turned the key in the lock. It should feel strange, bringing someone else into this room, but then, the room was Peter’s. Even if when it was built there was no hope it would ever fill its intended purpose.

Peter followed in behind him and Tony stood off to the side, letting the kid take in his surroundings. Tony watched as the boy’s eyes slid from the bed with its Star Wars comforter, to the desk outfitted with holo-screens and SAT prep books, to the bookshelf pilled full of books and DVDs and unopened Lego sets. On the walls hung movie posters and a Mets banner and a corkboard full of snapshots the kid had taken. There were ones of the two of them in the lab, some of Peter with his little nerd friends, and even a couple of the New York skyline that could only have been achieved by Spider-Man.

Tony cleared his throat, “I might have gone a little overboard. I didn’t exactly have anyone to ask for design input.”

When Peter turned to him, Tony saw his overwhelmed expression and the unshed tears gathering in the boy’s eyes.

Tony’s demeanor softened at the sight. “Come here, bud.” He opened his arms to the boy and let Peter fall into them. He was happy to be able to hold his kid, to provide some level of comfort.

With his face buried in Tony’s neck, the boy’s words were muffled when he finally spoke. “You made me my own room.”

“Of course I did,” Tony swallowed thickly around the emotions in his voice. “You’re my kid.”

He heard Peter sniffle and felt the distinct wetness of tears on soaking through his shirt. Tony angled his head towards the boy’s and placed a kiss on the corner of his jaw. They had only just started the whole hugging thing and if it were anyone else or had it been a couple of years earlier, Tony probably wouldn’t have done it. But now he was a dad. Now he recognized the swell of affection in his chest as the same one that would appear whenever Morgan reached a new milestone or clung to him when she was scared. Now he knew, blood or time be damned, Peter was his kid.

“You’re my kid, okay? Just like Morgan. Don’t ever forget that.” He allowed himself one last tight squeeze before pulling back. Using his sleeve, he dried the slowing tears on Peter’s face and smiled down at the boy. “Now, I believe I promised Morgan that we’d help out with lunch and she is not above threats, blackmail, and extortion if she doesn’t get her way, so we better get down there.”

Peter let out a watery laugh, just like Tony had hoped he would. “She’s four, Mr. Stark.”

“And?” Tony started guiding them towards the door, his hand buried in Peter’s hair with the boy tucked firmly into his side. “She has Pepper’s brain and my charm, we’re defenseless against her.”

[tanadrin]

Today’s project was reboxing the family Lego collection.

I really forget sometimes how much of my brain seems to be indexed by physical objects: memories and games and trains of thought that I can go literally decades without thinking about until something I’m holding in my hand reminds me of it--and I think that’s one reason that my current adulthood feels so qualitatively different from my childhood, is that I’m not constantly surrounded by the detritus of years of living in the same house, in the same city, for 18 or so years. I’ve moved on average once or twice a year since I was 18, and I haven’t lived in my current city for more than a few years, and even when (rarely) I go back to Nashville, the place has changed so goddamn much in the last 12 years that it’s basically unrecognizable. And anyway, the house has been sold, all the stuff that used to be in it thrown away, nobody I know lives there anymore, etc., etc.

So, the Legoes. Basically, for most of our childhood, Legoes were The Thing. It was what we asked for for Christmas, what we asked for for birthdays, it was our go-to when we were bored. Oh, sure, we had other games--there were four of us, three triplets and an older sibling less than 3 years our senior, so we were all very close in age--like the Creek Kingdom (the creek behind our house was the site of a powerful realm we ruled as tetrarchs), War (running around with sticks with the neighbor kids until somebody got whacked hard enough to go crying to an adult, and we had to play something else), Trial (the convicted person got trapped in the downstairs bathroom until they got bored of trying to escape), and so forth. But Legoes were the good shit, the sure bet on a rainy day.

And I think you can immediately understand a lot about my family if you know exactly how we played Legoes. Like a lot of kids, when we got a Lego set, we’d build it excitedly, and then eventually break it down for parts to build other things. All Legoes went into a common pile, and while in theory you still owned the specific Legoes that belonged to the sets that had been given to you, or that you’d purchased with your own allowance, owning a piece was not the same as having custody of the piece. Pieces that were in your custody were kept separate, in another little box or collection, and were usually rare and useful ones, or ones you were sequestering for a specific project or goal, and it was the norm (and expected) that these would eventually filter back into the common pile when you didn’t need them anymore. You could also trade them, which we did, and trading pieces was facilitated by a common descriptive language, which I think we basically invented ourselves (e.g., “stone” referred to any 1-stud-wide gray wall piece). Sometimes we would get really ambitious and draw up a list of the most-demanded pieces and a generally agreed upon value, either in Lego gold coins (of which we had very few in actual circulation) or another good (usually stone bricks, which were always in high demand, though quite common).

Our taste for factionalism and rivalry was expressed by things like the Lego parliament (our older sibling’s idea; and wisely gerrymandered by him so that he always had the most votes in it) and the epic spaceship battles, full of shifting alliances and sudden betrayals, whose conclusions were arrived at through a combination of arguing about whose spaceship had more guns and what would make for better drama. But for the full effect, you have to imagine, like, three eight year olds and their ten year old brother running around the family room making “pew pew” noises and imitating phaser blasts with their hands, and occasionally hurling a pirate ship hull studded with wings and various gun-like protuberances to the ground to watch it explode into dozens of little pieces.

And I would say that, much to the satisfaction of our younger selves if only they knew, that these are not games we ever really grew out of; they only found different expression as we got older. Now, we have things like the weekly sibling multiplayer game sessions, and the sibling Minecraft server, and (once upon a time) the World of Warcraft guild we started and wrote an elaborate backstory for, but even though I think there are some ways in which I’ve changed a lot as an adult, sometimes even for the better, I find it immensely satisfying that my taste for the kind of games I used to play as a kid is basically unchanged, if only now a little more sophisticated.

When Mom was getting ready to sell the house, she moved everything in it into a couple of storage units out in the part of town that’s all strip malls and gas stations and fast food places. The last time I was in Nashville (which was the occasion of the solar eclipse, and also when I got married without telling anybody), I had to spend a couple of days with my siblings and Dad going through all the things in there and deciding what we wanted to keep, what we wanted to throw away, what needed to be shipped to Berlin, and so on. It was frankly a little heartbreaking--like I said, a part of my memory has always felt extremely external, and throwing away even little nothing objects from your childhood is kind of a wrench when you feel like you’re also losing basically all the memories associated with that object. And a big chunk of the things I had to get rid of was my book collection. And I still have dreams filled with a deep sense of unease principally concerned with walking the halls of a ruined version of the house I grew up in, discovering more piles of my belongings that need to be sorted through, lest I lose some object of intense personal value forever.

My mother has many virtues, but even at retirement age is still, for lack of a better word, Weird About Stuff, in the sense of family objects, especially family objects which she has no moral (or sometimes even legal) right to. I don’t know if it’s a combination of being sentimental and not liking change any better than I do, or her deep-seated psychological need to be in control of everything at all times, but among the things she segregated in her own storage unit, with the intent that they remain with her in Nashville, were the twelve large plastic bins in which the Legoes were then stored. As kind of a last-minute stealth operation (and this incident has weird parallels to a much older family story involving my grandmother, a case of beer, and a dining room set that was hotly contested after the death of a great-great-aunt), we liberated the Legoes and stuck them in the back of Dad’s car to ship them to Berlin, where they have since sat in my older brother’s apartment. Hence the reboxing, since he needed to make some space for houseguests. If Mom noticed the Legoes were missing, she has at least wisely refrained from commenting on it, and of course, we have wisely refrained from mentioning it to her.

The flagship of my fleet (whether space age or castle) was always built on the hull of my favorite ship, the Renegade Runner. Happily, I found her wreckage, including both her original cloth sails (wrinkled but otherwise perfectly intact), while digging through the boxes, and it is now sitting on my desk. Next weekend I’m gonna go over and rebuild her, and I am way more excited about this than is probably reasonable for anyone whose 31st birthday is approaching as rapidly as mine.

[des-shinta]

So As I’ve been in a state of burnout for a significant sect of the year, I’ve been picking up number of Bandai models to relieve my stress, since building things I find a relaxing endeavor, and they’ve been making me feel better.

(no, most of these were not built this year.  Only 7 of them in the first picture were ‘new’.  The rest are bits and pieces of my older collection I’ve happily been able to unbox and display for the first time in years.  Also: Hi Zoids models that didn’t get enough love during their release tenure!) I’ve actually been building models and Figures for years and years--I started out Heavily as A Lego kid--and since Gundam Wing Aired on Toonami in the late 90′s I’ve infrequently bought bandai’s various models as well, but most of the ones I built back then were...well, demolished by my younger step-brother.   My first ones were low-grade 1/144′s ToysRUs’ Got back in that boom, and they weren’t sturdy at all, thus had no chance to survive.

They’ve since been replaced with all MG’s from that series. Well, except for that 1/100 scale HG Altron that was first released in 1996.  that P-Bandai one is stupid expensive, and Altron’s Endless waltz Redesign is the only one of them I OUTRIGHT hate. It was around 2005-ish when I got into it again, when my parents got me for Christmas the 1/60 perfect Grade RX-78-2.  It took me about Eight hours to build and I did it all in one sitting...but it wasn’t sturdy at all.  It couldn’t even lift its arm if the rifle was in it, it wouldn’t stay up.   All I had it do was just stand there...Menacingly.

So from there on out--with the rare exception--I started to intermittently find and get as Gifts ones from the 1/100 Master Grade line.  THOSE--for the most part depending on what types of hands the figure uses and how well they even hold weapons--have been more my jam despite their 50~ish dollar price point.  Large enough they’re not easily smashed, small enough that they’re pose-able and easy to display, and with enough Complexity in their construction with the various implemented gimmicks to give me an immense feeling of satisfaction to see them done and on Display.  Yeah, there’s a LOT more variety and accessories to be found in the 1/144′s these days--in part thanks to the Gundam Build Fighters series making customization even easier than ever between that scale’s market--but I just don’t get the same thing out of them, despite only about 6 or less MG kits being made a year, with some of them being Shunted off now to Premium Bandai’s services to become stupidly overpriced for what they are and what’s supplied...even though I DO have a few P-bandai ones as well.  Stupid obsession with the Astrays, Tallgeese III, and Form/Equipment change gimmicks...

Hell, I’ve even experimented from time to time with custom Color palletes, with one of the first to get that treatment being the sword Impulse that desperately needed more contrasting colors (also thank aura that bandai’s finally releasing the Blast Impulse MG...even if it IS P-bandai so the display isn’t oddly missing a mech).  I’ve got the MG of the Sengoku Astray still in its box (with a bunch of other Gundam seed Mechs I haven’t build yet ‘cause I adore Gundam Seed’s mecha design and will be using those to unwind between overtime shifts this December)  and when I build it, I’m going to repaint all its red parts yellow to Give the Gundam that kind of resembles Kamen Rider Gaim’s Kachidoki arms the full Kachidoki color treatment.  Think I have Enough spare pieces from wrecked stuff to try building it a Custom Tanigashima “DJ Gun” Rifle to go with it as well.

Also the Gunpla hobby led me to doing the papercrafting thing for cheap-to-make Figurines or accessories or even scale props like the scaled-to-figure Gurren Lagann Giga drill pictured above, which I’ve moved onto doing custom templates for on occasion--

--case in point, the 1:1 scale pepakura Pandora Box--

--And my Gate of Ouroboros Broadsword which was a papercraft template I mapped onto Foam to get it near-damn-perfect...after I made a MK 2 of the original ‘cause the original ended up way too heavy.  I can basically trace a lot of my fun crafting stuff to being inspired by the creativity that goes into this kind of thing, and the work of other crafters and cosplayers, and then seeking to try applying that myself from all my learned habits.

But outside of the expected Gunpla you can find in Hobby stores and...for some reason Barnes and Nobles, which has retained a market throughout that time despite Bandai of America’s Idiocy thanks to bluefin Distributions, I’ve started tracking down some of bandai’s other model offerings.  Specifically, the Figurise standard and Minipla lines.

For those not in the know, Super Minipla’s are basically model kit versions of previously released mecha toys, only with a far smaller scaling from their DX Counterparts which you then build yourself.  They seek to retain all of the originals play gimmicks where possible, but come off a LOT more pose-able by their end than the DX toy bricks. Featured above is the Minipla of the Super Galaxy Mega (Astro Delta Megazord) From Denji Sentai Megaranger/Power Rangers in Space.  and this thing is *PERFECT*.  Despite it being half the size of the DX toy, it retains *EVERY* single play feature the original had (transformation, combination, weapon accessories, the works), but has fully pose-able limbs in every single part of it.  The freaking thing cost me $80 when back in 1998 the DX toy versions cost a total of $60, and yet factor for inflation and the impossibility of re-aquiring the 20-year-old vintage toys and this thing was *SO* worth it to get back my second-favorite sentai/PR Mech.

Hell, it’s not just the DX toys they compete against.  On the Right is the Super Robot Chogokin Gaogaigar with Goldion Hammer, and on the left is the Minipla figure of the same mech and weapon.  Both actually retailed for around the same price points on release, but there’s a more distinct compare and contrast between them. The SRC one has better paint apps, is constructed on a metal frame and has metal parts all over it, has distinct limb joints and proper articulation with a screen-accurate scale structure to it and has some weight to it so isn’t likely to topple over easily.  Frankly of the two...it just looks better in person.  Whereas the super minipla, while not perfectly in scale and doesn’t have the brilliance of the colorization to help it, Retains the transformation and combination gimmicks of the original toys which give it a lot more value to collectors that can’t afford the Full DX figures which bear the same.  Its Joints are also a LOT Tighter so the feet and arms aren’t likely to slip, and while not as good as the SRC, the screen-accuracy is far better than the original Takara-based DX toys or even the later Bandai remakes of them after Bandai bought the rights from Takara.  And with the right hand and hammer being a hell of a lot lighter, when I get this thing on a display stand it’ll be able to do more than just stand with the hammer planted on the ground.

The Figurise standard line instead is a model kit version of an anime/live series action Figure--Mostly limited to Dragonball and Kamen Rider figures right now But Digimon ones for the line are coming soon-- with them ending up in competition with Bandai’s SH Figuarts High-quality-Figure line, albeit with a lower Pricepoint than the SHF since you make it yourself and some of the paint apps are replaced with stickers, and their ease of mass production makes them more available than the SHF’s by comparison. Sorry I don’t have the best picture of the figure on hand, but for those not familiar with the character, it’s the Pink/Neon green/black-colored character that’s surrounded by Gundams (the pic was taken in the midst of a bedbug crisis where we were packing everything up in our apartment so it wouldn’t end up damaged)  The Character is Kamen Rider Ex-aid action gamer Level 2, and up close it’s near indistinguishable from the SHF for the character. And yet...I kind of felt like I got more out of the FRS figure than the sole SHF I have, simply because I put my time into putting it all together.  Yeah, the markings are stickers instead of painted on, but if those fade or start peeling?  I can paint-app it myself.  It has all the details I want, it moves how I want it to, and it came with a great stand for it to be placed in a fantastic jumping pose.    I actually want to find more of those for Kamen Rider Figures from the series I like, as I think it’d be better than dealing with the SHF’s which...well, depending on the figure?  Are notorious for production line issues.  while some models can have loose joints or frail pieces (which can be fixed with an easy application of super glue.  And any other scratches, chips and imperfections?  Yeah, those will be my fault, and won’t result in me feeling as if I got gyped in the purchase.

Sadly though, these figures aren’t exactly created equal.  On a limb I picked up the super minipla Shin getter robo set After My Roommate showed by GR Armageddon and we loved it; and...Eeeehh.  They’re not terrible, but they’re lacking for the expectation I had with the Minipla’s.  I think Kaiyodo’s Revoltech Figure line did better with these guys--out of print as may of those figures are now.  Black Getter 1 (Left) actually does look great with the Ragged cape and gun and razor arm...but the ball joints It, Getter Dragon (center) and Shin getter 1 (right) are constructed with do NOT like to stay together.  I can’t pose them at all without risking them toppling over or falling apart.  I think the Revoltech ones are bigger as well, making for better display pieces than these guys who’d be beaten out by 1/144′s.

hell, this mazinger Z Model was a 1/144, and it’s in scale with the Master grades. ...Mazinger mechs be big. But that brings us to a more recent addition via Tsuburaya and Studio Trigger.

One of the newer Additions to the minipla Line has been the Gridman figures, thanks to the anime series SSSS Gridman putting that franchise back on people’s Radar.  I had Gridman’s toys (when the series was imported and adapted into the series Superhuman samurai Syber Squad) when I was a kid and adored them...

..and sure enough, when I built the Thunder Gridman one, it was like popping back to a little piece of my childhood.  Same play gimmicks to them, and while the scaling is not the same, the engineering is all there to invoke the proper good pieces of nostalgia. To the point it resulted in the best thing about these guys, and It almost didn’t happen. When SSSS Gridman was airing, I ended up enjoying myself so much by its end I jumped at the chance to preorder the DX mecha figures that Good Smile company was releasing.  Unfortunately, the seller turned out to be a con-artist, and never shipped me the figure...though i did get my money back thanks to buyer protection.  I saw vid’s on it, and it looked pretty good...but it was completely out of scale and reasonable relation with the old Gridman Toys.  So when I heard about the Minipla’s going out for a lot less than the DX’s original and jacked-up price points?  I put in an order with someone I knew who was reliable for these...and really, I should’ve done so from the start.

The super Minipla Gridman Figures...are all perfectly in scale with each-other, and share all the same connection ports. I can put the SSSS Gridman Figures into the older Gridman armors.  That’s Primal Fighter Gridman wearing the Thunder Gridman armor (right).  Hell, I can swap the arms of the Gridman figures so the effect components can be put in the older ones as well as they use common components across the board in their construction.  I think in the future I’m going to put PFGridman in the king armor (left) as well, as the SSSS-Gridman figure has slightly Longer legs which would make the King Gridman armor scale better.  Because of this, I ended up a lot happier with these guys that I would likely have been trying in vain to get another decently-priced DX one, or even the Actbuilder release of the SSSSG Stuff that did scale with the minipla’s. So Bottom line?  I really like models, they help me relax, and I’ve been discovering some cool stuff this year that Bandai’s done which I wouldn’t have if I weren’t trying to find a way to vent stress.  Thank you disposable $16+ an hour Income for making such possible.

[melonpanbread]

The New Girl’s Secret: Part 4 // Peter Parker (TH)

Ned stared at you and Peter with widen eyes, mouth opened from shock. From his shock, Ned dropped his Lego Death Star, which he built while waiting for Peter. The Lego Death Star completely shattered when it hit the floor and caused a loud crash sound. 

“What was that??” Peter’s aunt yelled. Ned stood up as Peter quickly turned around. 

“Uh, it’s nothing. Nothing!” Peter exclaimed as he turned back to Ned. 

“You’re the Spider-Man from YouTube.” Ned said in awe. Ned then turned to you. “And you’re... Well, actually I don’t think I know who you are.. But it’s still awesome, ___!!” 

“I’m not. I’m not.” Peter argued as he pressed the spider symbol. Peter’s suit became super baggy and fell off of his shoulders and onto the ground. Peter was now standing there in his boxer, completely forgetting that you were in the room. He was now more worried about May seeing him in his suit. 

“You were on the ceiling.” Ned commented as he pointed at the ceiling. 

“No, I wasn’t!” denied Peter. “What are you doing in my room!?” 

“May let me in. You said we were going to finish the Death Star.” Ned explained. 

“You can’t just bust into my room!” Peter said. 

“Someone’s coming.” you interrupted after hearing footsteps. 

“___, you gotta hide! May definitely can’t see you in your suit!” Peter whisper shouted. You frantically looked for a hiding place as the doorknob started to turn. You quickly dove under Peter’s bunk bed, after noticing the space. You were very thankful that the blanket on Peter’s bed was already hanging off so it added extra protection, but it you were still able to see what was happening. 

“That turkey meatloaf recipe was a disaster.” May laughed as she opened the door. Peter hopped back next to Ned and looked at his aunt. She was using a towel to swat away the smoke that came from the kitchen. May undid her hair as she looked back at the kitchen. “Let’s go to dinner. Thai? Ned, you want Thai?”

“Yes.” Ned said with a smile. 

“No, he’s got a thing.” Peter said as he looked at Ned and back at May. 

“A thing to do after.” Ned quickly added. 

“Okay.” May replied. She took a step back and pointed at Peter. “Maybe put on some clothes.” she said before closing the door. Peter blushed as he realized that you had seen him in only his boxer. He quickly grabbed a sweater off of his desk chair as you climbed out from under his bunk bed. 

“She doesn’t know?!” Ned gasped.

“Nobody knows!” Peter whispered as jumped in front of Ned. “Well, Mr. Stark knows cause he made my suit.” Peter quickly explained as he put on his sweater. You opened your mouth to speak, but Ned started talking before you could. 

“Tony Stark made you that!?” Ned said in awe. 

“Actually, I made it. Uncle Tony gave it to you.” you chimed in. 

“Wait!! You made that!! And Tony Stark is your uncle!? You’re a Stark?? Are both of you Avengers?” Ned asked all at once. 

“No.”

“Yeah, basically.” 

Both you and Peter answered at the same time. You gave him a weird look as he just shrugged back. 

“Dude...” Ned gasped as he grabbed one of the bars for the top bunk. Ned was in complete shock in this moment. His best friend is an Avenger and the new friend he made today was an Avenger AND related to Tony Stark. 

“Ned, you can’t tell anyone about this. You gotta keep it a secret.” Peter told him. 

“But why?” Ned said in a disappointed voice. 

“Cause if she finds out that people are trying to kill me every single night, she wouldn’t let me do this anymore! Come on, Ned. Please.” Peter begged. 

“Please, Ned. You can’t tell anyone about my suit or that Tony Stark is my uncle.” you added. 

“Okay, okay. I’ll level with you.” Ned said to you guys. “I don’t think I can keep this a secret! This is the coolest thing that has happened to me ever!”

“No! May cannot know. I can’t do that to her right now. With everything that has happened to her... Please.” Peter said. Ned looked at Peter before agreeing not to say anything. 

“Swear it?” Peter asked. 

“I swear. I won’t say a thing about anything, including you, ___.” Ned said. 

“Thank you.” Peter thanked as you sighed in relief. 

“Can I try the suit on?” Ned asked Peter. 

“No.” 

“How does it work?” Ned asked you, since you made it. “Is it magnets? How does Peter shot the strings? Hey, since you don’t have a super hero name, can I give you one??” Ned asked you. 

“If you don’t say anything, then sure.” you answered him. 

“Yes!!” Ned exclaimed as he gave a small fist pump. 

“I’ll explain it all to you tomorrow. ___ is going to give me her backstory.” Peter said a little too quickly as he put his hand on Ned’s back and pushed him towards the door. 

“Wait then.” Ned said as he stopped in his tracks. “How do you do this and the Stark internship?” 

“This is the Stark internship.” Peter answered after giving Ned a weird look. 

“Ohhhh.” Ned said as Peter pushed him towards the door again. “Wait!” Ned exclaimed again. “I want to hear ___’s backstory too!” 

“We can all meet for coffee tomorrow before school.” you said. “I’ll have Peter text you the details.” 

“Okay!” Ned said excitedly. “See you tomorrow then, ___!” Ned whispered before leaving. Peter closed the door and put his hands on his face in frustration. 

“___, I’m so sorry! I really didn’t know Ned was here and now two people know your secret too and I just blew my cover... Mr. Stark won’t trust me now..” Peter apologized to you. 

“It’s okay, Peter. It was something out of your control.” you replied to him. “This wasn’t exactly how I wanted to tell you about my suit or that I know you are Spider-Man.” 

“You knew cause you made my suit?” Peter asked. 

“Actually, I just made the suit without really knowing your identity. Uncle Tony asked me to help create a suit for a kid my age that can shot webs. I didn’t know it was you until I saw your web formulas in chemistry and you mentioned the Stark internship. I put the pieces together from there.” you explained. You put back on your hood and mask. 

“Wait, I thought you were going to explain everything else?” Peter asked as you walked towards his desk and wrote something down on a piece of paper.

“Ned wants to know too.” you said as you handed him the piece of paper and walked towards the window. “I will for sure explain everything over coffee before school. That’s my number, text me so I can have yours and I’ll give you all the info on where to meet and what time.”  

Peter nodded as he watched you open the window and climb up. You were about to jump off, before you looked at Peter. 

“And don’t worry, Peter, I won’t tell Uncle Tony about any of this. See ya.” you said with a smile before jumping off. Peter rushed towards the window, thinking that you have fallen to your death since he gave you a piggy back ride up. Just as he looked down to see if you were okay, you flew up to the window with your rocket boosters on your shoes. You gave him a small wave before flying away, 

Peter watched your flying figure until he couldn’t anymore. He grabbed his phone and texted you a simple. ‘Hey, it’s Peter.’ before getting ready for dinner with Aunt May. 

~

“What’s the matter?” May asked Peter over dinner at a local Thai restaurant. She watched Peter pick at his food. “I thought you loved larb. It’s too larby? Not larby enough? How many times do I have to say larb before you talk to me? You know I larb you.” May said to Peter as he looked up from his food. 

“I’m just stressed. The internship, and I’m tired. And a lot of work.” Peter sighed. 

“The Stark internship..” May said as she picked up a bite of food with her chopsticks. “I have to tell you, not a fan of that Tony Stark. You’re distracted all the time. He’s got you in your head.” May said before the new reporter on the TV caught Peter’s attention. 

“Delmar’s Sandwiches was destroyed in a fire after an ATM robbery was thwarted.” the new reporter said. 

“What is it?” May asked as she turned around to the TV behind her. 

“By Queens’ own crime stopper, the Spider-Man. The Spider-Man was also joined by an unknown hero in a black suit. As both heroes attempted to foil the robbers’ heist, a powerful blast was set off, slicing through the bodega across the street. Miraculously, no one was harmed.” the new reporter explained as the TV showed clips and pictures of the heist. 

“If you spot something like that happening, you turn and run the other way.” May told Peter sternly. 

“Yeah. Yeahyeah, yeah. Of course.” Peter agreed 

“That was six blocks away from us.” May said as she pointed at the TV. 

“I need a new backpack.” Peter said, changing the subject. May gave Peter a ‘really’ look. 

“What?” she said as she cupped her ear and turned it to Peter. 

“I need a new backpack.” Peter repeated. 

“That’s five.” May stated as a waiter came by and put down a plate. 

“Sticky rice pudding.” he said. 

“We didn’t order that.” May replied confused. 

“It’s on the house.” the waiter smiled.

“Oh, thanks.” May smiled back before the waiter left. “That’s nice of him.” 

“I think he larbs you.” Peter said with a small smile. Peter’s phone suddenly buzzed. Peter took out his phone and saw that you had indeed texted him. 

Meet at the Zuki’s Coffee Shop across the street from school. An hour before school starts. Don’t forget to text Ned.

Peter was going to reply back when he saw the message bubble pop up, indicating that you were typing again. 

Although it was a super crazy night, I did have fun. I hope we can team up more often and fight crime together and we can still hang out at school. Anyway, see you tomorrow morning :)

“Is that the new girl at school?” May smirked. 

“Wait, you know about ___?” Peter questioned, confused. 

“Yeah, Ned told me about her before going to your room. He said she was super nice and had a lot in common with you guys.” May said as she took a bite of her food. 

“Oh, yeah. We have a lot of classes together and she’s a part of the Stark internship too.” Peter answered. 

“How come you haven’t said anything about her before?” asked May as she smiled at Peter. Peter finally had met a girl that had a lot in common with him. 

“Well, she just started today... But we will be working together a lot.” Peter said with a smile. 

“Aww, I think you larb her.” May gushed. 

“What no! She’s way out of my league!” Peter stammered as May continued to gush. Peter remembered that he needed to text Ned where to meet and he didn’t reply back to you yet. Peter quickly texted Ned the information and then you. 

I had fun too. :)  I look forward to fighting more crime with you and of course we can still hang out at school. We’re friends after all.  See you tomorrow. 

Peter sent the message as May continued to gush, saying that she would love to met you and stuff like that. Peter was very excited for tomorrow morning. He would finally get an explanation for everything.

~ 

Tag List:

@spiderneds

@multifandombackpack

@angstyween

@cocastyle

@lltrashll

@fangirl-colo

@gerardway-has-socks-yeah

@hbmoore1986

[weknowgirl]

Sobbing at aquaria getting a pixie cut for remy 😭 great question anon. Here’s mine; what happens if the girls dad shows up to find bri and aquaria and the kids at the house together and starts acting all agro to them?

okay so!! my concept of maya and remy’s dad is sorta fuzzy, but i ended up really solidifying his character through this ask. i wanna clear up that he’s not an abuser or a huge dick or anything, just kind of an idiot straight man. without further ado, here’s a lot of stuff about the girls’ dad:

What had attracted Brianna to Jacob was that he was just like any other guy. Meaning, he was exactly the kind of man her mom had always wanted her to end up with: a nice Jewish boy, a doctor with a steady income, and with no family history of mental health issues. He checked all the boxes! Score! So, she let him take her on a few dates, and a few turned into many, and by the end of it all, they were great friends. The kind of friends who kissed each other and maybe a little more and eventually got married. The ceremony was very beautiful and very normal and as fate would have it, her wedding night was the night she got pregnant with Remy.

Their home life was pretty regular, too. All in all, Jacob enjoyed being a father and Brianna loved being a mother and she thought that was all it would take to hold their little family together. She loved putting Remy in little dresses (which, by the time she was able to speak, turned into little overalls instead) and hoisting her up on her lap during children’s services on Shabbos. She loved watching her kick off her little sneakers to go roughhouse with the boys in the sandbox, gracefully ignoring Jacob’s proud comments about how much their little girl already loved boys.

Maya was a surprise, but a happy one. She instantly got all the dresses and princess books and little tutus that Remy had discarded over the years, and she loved them. By the time Maya could be trusted to play with toys without sticking them in her mouth, Remy was heavily into her LEGO phase. Soon, the living room was full of baby pink sets of blocks built high up as far as Maya could reach, and Remy’s true-to-life red and brown block walls protected her sister’s pretty castles.

After Maya had consumed every second-hand item in the house, the novelty of being a father of two had worn off for Jacob. It’s not that he wasn’t happy: just that he had been putting off admitting to himself, and to Brianna, that caring for two kids was a lot, even if he was only doing it part-time. So rather than letting anyone know, he threw himself into his work. He stayed late hours at the hospital almost daily and started working weekends. He justified it to himself and to Brianna as him providing for his family, providing for the extra mouth they needed to feed.

Brianna grew very weary very quickly of keeping up a full-time job and taking on nearly all the kids’ responsibilities, so eventually she ended up quitting her job entirely and just being a full-time mom. Turns out, this cheesy kind of family lifestyle was very much for her. She loved getting to spend the extra time with the girls, but she didn’t like not being able to see Jacob as often as she used to. And she didn’t like that he was missing their children growing up.

It was little things that upset her at first. He didn’t take out the dishes because he was fixing someone’s file, or he left his band-aids out where Maya could get into them and Brianna came home to find her covered in princess bandages. But then, it started being big things too. He had to work an emergency shift at the hospital and missed half of Remy’s sixth birthday party. He “forgot” to go to Maya’s first dance recital, but Brianna checked his calendar and it happened to also be the date of an office party.

This went on for a long while before eventually, they sat down together and figured out a deal. They would separate, Brianna would live in an apartment across the city with the kids, Jacob would keep the house, keep working, and pay for both. Brianna would take a part-time job since Maya was entering preschool, and he would could visit her and the kids on weekends and holidays. Soon, they figured, they’d both miss what they once had and get back together. That didn’t happen. After a year, they divorced and Brianna hightailed it out of Seattle.

By then, the girls had been used to not seeing much of their father, so they didn’t really miss him when they moved away. He still flew in and visited on occasion, sometimes for a birthday, sometimes for a holiday, sometimes just because, and always by surprise. Which led to Brianna, walking hand-in-hand with Aquaria, finding Jacob in her front yard, sipping a beer and waiting for her. “So’s this my replacement, or just a friend?”

Brianna felt her face grow hot as she looked at her ex-husband. “A friend,” she stammered, just as Aquaria replied, “Your replacement.” An elbow jabbed lightly into Aquaria’s side and suddenly she was laughing like she’d just told the funniest joke in the world. “Just kidding? I’m a friend,” Aquaria said stiffly. When Jacob went back to his beer, Brianna pulled her aside and explained herself. “That’s my ex-husband. He doesn’t know I’m gay. He can’t know.”

Except of course he‘s going to find out because, surprise! He announces that he’s here for a full week to spend Hannukah as a family. Maya comes into the house, leaps into his arms and laughs as he spins her around and kisses her all over. Remy walks in the door after practice, immediately catches her father’s eye and their jaws drop at the same time. “Dad??” she asks, at the same time as he exclaims, “What did you do with your hair??”

He appears pretty cool with it on the outside but after they all spend dinner as a family, he asks Brianna about it. “So is our kid, like, a lesbian?” Brianna just shrugs. “I haven’t asked her. I figure she’ll let me know when she’s ready to, if she is.” He still looks incredibly confused. For the next five nights, he lets out a few teasing comments about the hair. It’s all good-natured, but Remy still fights back tears every time because all she can think about is those kids at school and Aquaria (who of course is invited to all holiday dinners) squeezes her hand under the table for the whole meal.

And then it’s the last night of Hanukkah. Jacob is all set to leave the next morning, and the girls have gone to bed. Brianna and Aquaria haven’t had time to themselves all week long so they’re dying to be alone. They creep out to the backyard together and step into the pool still completely dressed and just cuddle up close and eventually they’re kissing. They go on for a few minutes until they‘re interrupted by a low voice from the patio. “Just a friend, huh?”

It turns into a huge fight between them. Aquaria goes home to let them talk privately, and they sit out on the patio and have a couple of drinks to ease the tension. Brianna is trying to keep her voice level as she explains that yes, okay, she’s been dating Aquaria for a little while and she didn’t want him to freak out about it when he got here so she lied and said she was just a friend. He asks if he‘s really getting replaced, just like that. Brianna gently reminds him that it’s been almost three years now. She still likes him but she’s moved on from their marriage.

Too many drinks have been had. Too many years have passed between them. Eventually, voices are raised and accusations are thrown. “All I’ve done is try to keep this family together, and all you’ve ever wanted to do was leave it!” And then Brianna is crying which makes Jacob cry as he retorts, “Maybe it’s better that I left! At least I didn’t turn our little girl into a fucking dyke!” and he regrets it as soon as it’s out of his mouth but it’s too late because Brianna slams the door and leaves him on the lawn and stuffs all his things into his duffel and carries it out to him and slams the door again.

As the moon rises above them and she opens the doors to let him through, Brianna watches through blurred vision as Jacob rolls his duffel across the silent house, leaving through the front door this time, loading up his rental car and driving away without another word. She closes and locks the front door after him, curls up into a ball, sobs for a while, and dials Aquaria’s number. Upstairs, a very, very awake Remy cries herself to sleep.