#joshua bristow

[elevant39]

It´s a wizard and fairy kinda thing

So... I decided to drop another post here... I am so sorry it´s so long... This time about the connection between Wizard 1 and Pixy. (I will refer to Wiz 1 as Lucan for the rest of the post) Mostly because for how little we get, the implications do have a pretty big impact on Pixy as a character (his motives to join AWWNB specificaly). At least that is what I believe. So once again I am need to reference the perfect guide: https://www.skywardfm.com/aczpg-ace-pilot-profiles Now let´s get started. Connection between Pixy and Lucan Thanks to the Perfect guide we can get a really important clue about Pixy and Lucan right from the start. And that is that they are a long time acquaintances. This on it´s own gives us a verry important info about Pixy´s idiology. Pixy most likely had anarchist views before the start of the game. We just never heard about them before Directus because well... Up until that point Pixy didn´t really have a problem fighting in Belkan war. It´s only after he is kinda forced to be part of the counter attack (aka he is on the offensive side) he starts to talk about some of his views. Mission 7 and 8: "Nuclear inspection”, huh? What a joke…"; "Hey Cipher, you hear me? Just look at the view. There’s not much difference between those countries from up here." This does kinda beg the question about how they know each other: Are they long time acquaintances because Pixy always had anarchistic views? Or are they long time acquaintances because Lucan was the one who introduced Pixy to these views? Unfortunately we can only guess because this is all we get from their past. That being said it´s obviose that Pixy does trust Lucan, now I personaly can´t say how mutual this is with Lucan acting like a cult leader and all that. But concidering that Lucan is the only person who calls him by his 1st name in the middle of combat (a furrball no less). And this is the only time something like this happeneds in the game. I honestly wouldn´t be suprised if it was mutual (not to mention with the whole Larry thing it almost feels like Pixy is getting some special treatment from Lucan). However another factor in this is that Pixy is a Belkan war orphan who grew up in a foreign orphanage. Who after leaving became a merc pilot. Meaning that Pixy most likely doesn't have a secondary education, and might not even have primary one depending on how much access to education the orphanage he lived in provided. To tie it back, it makes sence that Pixy would probably trusts Lucan with some of his more philosophical ideas, since Lucan is described as "A deep thinker and has philosophical thoughts. Often pulls quotes relating to philosophy from books and poems." And that is not mentioning that there is 10 years between them. This leads to another conclusion. Lucan is clearly the one who has more intellectual influence in this dynamic. We can actually see this influence if we look at how Pixy talks before Stage of Apocalipse and later in Avalon. Before he is more straight forward with Cipher and PJ. While in Avalon he starts to use more metaphor and more symbolic language (like Lucan). Notebly Lucan and Pixy are the only members that talk about how they will cause a lot of destruction to create the new world. Lucan with his whole "new creation of destruction" and Pixy with his "reset to Zero". Gault 1 mostly talks about his problem how politicians are the one in control and how they never had to go through what they did, Sorcerer 1 is mostly concerned about how borders will create new conflicts in future and how getting rid of them will libare them..

Another interesting connection is that both Pixy and Lucan are the only enemy aces that will use obvious technological advantages against the player in Zero (when I say this I mean something only Belkan magic can explain). Lucan with his Black Widow YF-23 (which somehow has the power to be invisible?) and Pixy with Morgan (I don´t even want to get into to levels of Belkan witchcraft needed for that ECM system).

Now am I saying that Pixy was brainwashed into joining AWWNB? I am honestly not sure, but I would have to say no. Mostly because I think that Pixy is not a case of brainwashing but a case of slow radicalization and how his few connections and world around him as well as his past shaped him into thinking that lauching V2 was a good and moral idea (from his point of view). But that is only how I see it. With all of this out of the way I will focuse on their 2 conversations and what they mean. In game interractions 1) Mayhem Wizard 1: Wizard 1 here, the enemy has broken formation, take them out. Larry, can you read me? Pixy: Looks like you’ve still got the touch. Wizard 1: It’s happening just as you thought, it’s about time we got out of this dead-end job. Pixy: Not just yet. So this one tells us that they know each other but there is something more important. Lucan already gave Pixy an invatation before this mission to join AWWNB and Pixy is considering it. And not turning it down. Meaning that he was probably thinking about joining AWWNB before Hoffnung. That being said just look how casualy this is said in the middle of a giant furball. Implying that they might be more in contact that we think and this is not the 1st time Lucan is suggesting this to Pixy. Also notice that it almost feels like Lucan is trying to push Pixy to accept his offer. Another interesting fact is that after this conversation Pixy´s and PJ´s talks about fighting for peace takes place. If you do keep in mind that Pixy is thinking about joining AWWNB the convo creats another dimension to it. Mostly that PJ is kinda accidentally acting like an intrusive thought to Pixy, basically telling him all the reason why Pixy should join AWWNB while Pixy is trying to grownd himself with every exuse he has. 2) Stage of Apocalypse Wizard 1: Larry, can you read me? Your fairy godmother’s here, Cinderella. Pixy: How could you after what just happened? Wizard 1: [laughs] Today is your lucky day, Larry, just like your birthday. Pixy: And you’re here to pull me off in a magical carriage, huh? to hell, I suppose…

So this dialogue is important because when exactly it takes place. It mostly happeneds right after the 7 nukes are set of, but more importantly it´s also probably happened in the moment that Pixy is most likely in the worst possible psychological state he can be (with Hoffnung before and all that). And right at that moment Lucan just appears out of nowhere and (at least how I read this) starts to reassure Pixy that everything will be alright now that his fairy godmother is there to make things right and pull him of on that carried to that beautiful ball in that fairytale castel that is Avalon. Just like Fairy Godmother did with Cinderella. In her darkest hour she just appeared and helps her and reassures her that everything will be right now that she is here. This is where I once again do need to get into more of a interpretation territory, from what I can come up there could be 3 explanation why Lucan appears at this moment: 1) Pixy already contacted Lucan that he would be joining Meaning Lucan was there to ensure that Pixy would be able to not only join but also to leave to AWWNB,it's just that 7 nukes worked in his favor. 2) Pixy still hasn´t decided yet and so Lucan wanted to give him one last chance to choose and it was an acident that he just so happened to arrive at the perfect moment when Pixy would be most likely to join him. 3) Lucan already somehow (most likely his connection to Gault 1) knew what will happened and just wanted to make sure that Pixy would be in a state where he will not refuse his offer to join AWWNB. Unfortunately this really is up to how you see it. It could be one of them, or a combination of all of the, or it could have been something completely different. I personally fall into a mix of 1 and 2. But this is most likely because of my own personal reading here. That being said every outcome ends the same. Pixy does accept "help" from Lucan and joins him and his organisation. Bonus mission 16: In Wizard squadron fight (knight route), Lucan does mention with his line Pixy, implying that they did talk to each other. "It's just as he said. He flies with aggression." Interesting thing is that only Lucan said this implying that Pixy might have out of the 4 squadron leaders only talk to him about Cipher. With this I believe I already said everything I could from the text it self. However I would still like to talk about some other interesting parallels between Pixie and Lucan that I found.

Parallels of this relationship Morgan and Merlin It´s interesting that Pixy and Lucan seem to mirror the student/mentor aspect of this relationship. Not only is Pixy parallel to Morgan, but Lucan does share some similarities of Merlin too, with his Nick Name “the Blue Magician”. Combine "Often pulls quotes relating to philosophy from books and poems." As well as the fact that you know he literally has Belkan witchcraft on his side (I still have no idea how you can even explain the invisible jets). Cinderella and Fairy godmother I already mentioned this connection in my dialogue 2. I just wanted to mentio it here. That being said this again goes back into the idea that Lucan is the one who holds more authority in this dynamic. Like a guardian over their and ward (at least at that moment). ACE Combat 3 spoiler START Rena and Dision So for those who haven´t playid it. I will be droping some important spoilers here so... yeah.... It´s interesting that they do seem to hold similar position in their organization respectfully. Both Dision and Lucan are leaders (well in Lucan´s case we can only believe that he is, but even then HE is the one who actually has connection to all the interview pilots so make of that what you will). That want destruction of the world Dision for his revenge and Lucan...honestly I do personally believe that he really is just that zealot and believes that is will create a new better world. And Rena with Pixy being the pilots of Super Planes (Rena being the one in charge of Night Raven while Pixy is the last plan of AWWNB with Morgan). The more interesting parallel is also that both Rena and Pixy are recruited and how.

Rena was groomed (and later even brainwashed) to join Ouroboros and be the pilot of Night Raven. Simular thing could be said for Pixy that he was slowly radicalise by war and probably Lucan to join AWWNB and was later choosen to be the Pilot of Morgan. And this is all I could find since I unfortunately have´t played AC3 fully (this is all that I could find from essays and wiki) ACE Combat 3 spoiler END

Ok so another thing my sleep deprived brain forgot to say is that there is also another parallels in how they are after Avalon and their interviews. After Avalon They are both the only members that still try to somehow continue in the ideology of AWWNB. Gault 1 is death, Espada 2 only was there because of Espada 1 and Sorcerer 1 gave up and lives a normal life (as normal as being watch by Osea can allow). On the other hand Lucan continues in his ideas same as before. Even trying to recreate AWWNB and even trying to assassinate the President of Osea. But was later lock up and turned kinda insane. Kinda going deeper into the dark both metaphorically and literally.

While Pixy thanks to seeing ground Zero and help from people (and probably the fact that he no longer is in contact with Lucan) is able to reflect and learn from all of this. He realizes that V2 wasn't the solution and that to fully understand the situation he needs to learn more about why borders exist and why people creat them. He in a sence returns to light (like there is a literal shot where beams of light are shining on him his last speech)

So yeah I somehow forgot the one thing that make me create this post..... sorry about that....

This is really the end (I hope this time), I hope that you all liked reading this brainrot of mine. So yeah... thanks for reading all of this and sorry for how long this was... and how I forgot to put the last part here Have a nice day

[mt10lt20]

Ace Combat Zero - Crack sketch of a WTF dream ft. Cipher, Pixy and Joshua Bristow aka Wizard 1 aka why Larry shouldn’t let his ex and ex-ex meet, on the ground or in the air...

On second thoughts, having them meet on the ground is better as a frying-pan bonk is preferable to having Joshua’s F16XL blow up again. No idea why Cipher had a frying pan XD but the Demon Lord is one of many surprises.

[sgtgrunt0331-3]

Capt. Stephan Bristow, a company commander with 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2d Marine Division, conducts a tactical movement during a Marine Corps Combat Readiness Evaluation (MCCRE) on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, May 21, 2023.

(Photo by Lance Cpl. Joshua Kumakaw)

[nooomeru]

I'd like to see Joshua Bristow(Wizard1) in Spare Squadron. This life sentence prisoner will increasingly think Osea sucks.

//

「オーシアはクソ」はそこにいる全員が思ってることだから問題ないしタブロイドと政治犯同士仲良くなりそうだよね(言い方)

テロリストで危険思想の政治犯だけどオーシアのエースだったことは間違いなさそうなので、逮捕後懲罰部隊にぶち込まれてその腕前だけオーシアのために有効活用みたいな感じだと独房に閉じ込めるよりもこいつの尊厳を一番破壊できそうだなと

思想家から思想を奪って、ただ命じられるがままに空を飛べと

[elle-thereafter]

Fanfic Tag Game

So @blorbologist tagged me in a thing where one goes to their current/main AO3 account and looks up various tags. This is somewhat less exciting for me with the AO3 account I use now because, well... there's only 3 fics in there, they're all for the same fandom and same pairing. It would make for quite a boring round of this game.

Because I've been in fandom of some sort since 1996, I have fic sort of all over the place. I have an OG and much older AO3 account which I don't post to anymore, but since my online fic publishing predates the existence of AO3 by, like, 13 years, some of my published fic is in standalone, fandom-specific archives, some of which (shockingly) still exist, while others have shut down.

So I'm going to honour the spirit of this challenge rather than the letter of it. I've consolidated all my published fic data and crunched the overall numbers. Just for funsies! The fics that feed into these stats were all published publicly somewhere, at some point, spanning from 1996 thru 2024. Also I'm playing fast and loose with the game rules because who needs rules.

What ratings do you write most of your fics under?

General: 8

Teen: 13

Mature: 0

Explicit: 3

Different archives have different rating systems, but they all map reasonably onto AO3's system so I've translated them across. Apparently I can't be bothered to write anything between T and E. And yeah, those 3 E's are all in the Critical Role fandom: I've been writing smut for years, but only recently started publishing it anywhere.

What are your top three fandoms?

Harry Potter: 10

Gargoyles: 4

Critical Role: 3

The West Wing: 3

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: 2

Angel: 1

Leverage: 1

Screw top three, it's more fun to see the whole list! As you can see, even in all these years I am not what one would call "prolific". As with everyone, the published works are only the tip of the iceberg of the many, many, many unfinished bits and bobs I have floating around in my writing archive. But I'm also a pretty slow writer all things considered, and there was a good 10 years or so where I didn't publish anything. I kept reading a lot of fic and still occasionally wrote some for myself, but from something like 2012 thru 2022 I wasn't posting anywhere.

It’s kind of tragic I can’t add The Magnificent Seven (TV series) to this list. I wrote so much when I was in that fandom but never quite finished anything so nothing ever got published. I have one that's almost 20k words and probably 3/4 finished but I never got it over the line so there it sits in my archive, forever incomplete. Other fandoms in my "never published" bucket include Alias, X-Men and Star Wars.

What is the top character you write about?

Original Characters: 10

Remus Lupin: 5

Sirius Black: 5

Ensemble: 4

James Potter: 4

Lily Evans Potter: 4

Percy de Rolo: 3

Vex'ahlia: 3

Joshua Lyman: 3

Owen Burnett: 3

Peter Pettigrew: 3

Severus Snape: 2

Tom Riddle: 2

I narrowed the list to just folks who appeared in more than one fic. And, yeah... look: it turns out I've been writing lots of original characters in my fic for a long, long time, so really the OCs in Gate Building probably shouldn't come as a surprise really. But this time I wasn't planning on them, they just kind of happened!

Also, look at all those snarky brooding men with tragic/complicated pasts and questionable morals! If we expanded this to include my “never published, just for me” list we’d get to add notorious gents such as Jack Bristow, Ezra Standish, Brooklyn, Charles Xavier, and Rupert Giles to the list. I have a very clear type; I’m fine with it. 😄

What are your top three pairings?

Gen/Ensemble: 8

Joshua Lyman & Original Character: 3

Percy de Rolo/Vex'ahlia: 3

James Potter/Lily Evans Potter: 2

Owen Burnett/Original Character: 2

Remus Lupin & Sirius Black: 2

The list above isn't comprehensive, I just included the ships and friendship fic that pinged more than once. Historically I didn’t write a ton of romantic/ship fic. And often where there was a ship it wasn’t necessarily the focus so even what’s listed there is probably a little misleading. Like, the James/Lily stuff just inevitably kind of happens when you write Marauder fic whether you're going for it or not. 😄

I was notably quite fascinated with Remus and Sirius' friendship in a fandom that was convinced they were fucking. I'm not saying they weren't fucking, but I was personally more interested in how on earth they managed to repair their friendship after PoA. There is a lot more unfinished stuff relating to that friendship in my various archives.

The OC paired with Owen is 100% a Mary Sue: a pure, trope-defining, text book Mary Sue plucked from the depths of my teenage brain. The West Wing OC was a childhood friend of Josh's with no romantic intentions toward him that I used to prod at various character study themes.

What are the top three additional tags?

This one is tricky because A) the non-AO3 places where my fic was posted didn't have the robust tagging features AO3 has; and B) I wasn't historically a big user of tags in my original AO3 account beyond characters and pairings of note. But since that's not a terribly interesting answer, I went through the list of 24 fics and tried to at least throw a few tags on them that could be relevant, just to see what might shake out. The top "tags" that jumped out after the exercise were:

Before Canon: 11

Character Study: 8

Kid Fic: 4

Missing Moment: 3

None of those are particularly surprising. A lot of my Harry Potter stuff was Marauder Era fic, and I do have a fascination with going back to when characters were kids/teenagers to explore formative experiences in their lives. And after I got the Mary Sues out of my system for a long time I pivoted pretty hard into gen, friendship stories, and character studies.

I don't know why I like writing about kids. I just like the way their little unfinished brains work, and their POVs are such an interesting place to be as a writer. They tend to have interesting, unusual opinions and make choices an adult brain would never make. Also people kind of forget they're there sometimes, which means they bear witness to all kinds of things even if they can't quite fully understand them. There's something about a character study baked into a formative childhood experience that just gets me.

Does any of this surprise you?

Maybe the preponderance of OCs in my fanfic. I knew there were a bunch but seeing that no-contest dominance at the top of the list is pretty hilarious, ngl.

I am so, so tempted to repost some of my old Mary Sue stuff to Wattpad just to see how it would do in 2024. 😁

[officialtokyosan]

[heroicmeep]

ace combat tumblr sexymen

abyssal dision

yellow 13

pixy

joshua bristow (he would be shipped with pixy)

hamilton

schroeder

torres

[scullysflannel]

I tried watching Fringe when it originally aired and couldn’t get past the first few episodes. Should I go back and try again? I’m inevitably disappointed when shows are compared to The X-Files because the parts of txf that shows pull from usually aren’t the parts of txf that speak to me. I do love parallel universe shit though!

yeah, the first season of Fringe can be kind of X-Files lite. it doesn't really start cooking with gas until late season 1 — not to knock the character work in the first season, but I think the characters in Fringe are at their most human when the plot is at its most bonkers, because the story gets so personal. after season 1 it gets a lot more serialized and stranger and more affecting. the parallel universe mythology is fully its own thing, so as soon as it gets into that territory it mostly stops feeling like an X-Files wannabe (they actually moved filming from New York to Vancouver after season 1, so there are winks at The X-Files, but it's more homage than imitation).

I don't usually go looking for shows that are trying to be like The X-Files either. nothing that's trying to be The X-Files has what The X-Files has. but I was raised by JJ Abrams, so if you give me a show that's half Alias half X-Files, I'm gonna watch. for me it was worth it; I love Fringe. ultimately the things Fringe does well and the things The X-Files does well are almost totally opposite: Fringe is great at serialized mythology and usually just fine at monster-of-the-week episodes (as a rule; obviously there are some great ones). and the characters aren't anything like Mulder and Scully—they're Alias characters; at one point Olivia repeats a Sydney Bristow line word for word. it's not like I ever stopped comparing them, but comparing Fringe and The X-Files only made me appreciate both shows more. they have different strengths. and for what it's worth, Fringe is the most invested I've been in a fictional relationship with relatively good communication skills. credit to Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv.

if you're into parallel universe storylines you might want to give it another try; I can try to give you a list of the most important season 1 eps if you want, but no promises that I haven't forgotten what becomes important later. but it's not like it's a must for X-Files fans. it's just a fun dessert.

[dreamblasterharuka]

So Glad (Solo Wing Pixy x Reader)

Sorry it took so long, I had to move at the last second between writing and editing this. Probably super OOC.

Also on AO3!

@acecombatmutual

You don’t think you’ve ever seen the airport this packed. Everywhere you look, the Osean flag is waving. White and blue hangs from wall to wall, on streamers and draped down the escalators where those returning would descend from. Families and friends crowd around terminals, waiting for loved ones to arrive. You can barely hear the PA system over the excited chatter. It’s not surprising. The war with Erusea had ended only a few weeks ago, and many of the soldiers were finally coming home. It’s not like you’re in any position to judge, anyway. When your heart isn’t rising in your throat, it’s trying to burst out of your chest. Flying through tunnels at supersonic speed? No problem. Picking up your former wingman from the airport? Terrifying.

Of course, it was still way more complicated than that. Your entire relationship with Pixy was way more complicated than that. 

Back in your mercenary days, you were infamous for being quiet and stand-offish, working with others only when the mission called for it. When Pixy was assigned to your wing, you had expected no different. You assumed the partnership would last a mission or two before being sent your different ways. To your surprise, he called you buddy and from that moment on, the two of you were attached at the hip. He managed to drag you out of your room to share meals together and get you to actually interact with the people you worked with outside of battle. In exchange, you got him to join you in reading almost every single book in the tiny library in the town outside the base. He had been your first friend in a long, long time, and, eventually, that friendship evolved into something more. What started from wandering eyes slowly turned into lingering touches and flirty one liners. No one was surprised when the two of you shared a tipsy victory kiss when everyone was celebrating after Directus. 

You become a mercenary because you didn’t have anything left. You had no home to go back to, and no family to call your own. The sky was the only thing you had and you had been content to keep it like that. The time you shared with Pixy changed all that. Suddenly, you were thinking about your future. Wondering what would happen to you when Belka finally surrendered. Wondering where Pixy was going to go next. Wondering if you could follow him, wherever that would be. You had even wondered if the two of you had to be mercenaries anymore. It was human nature to fight with each other, but maybe the two of you could find a little peace.

His betrayal destroyed you. You barely remember the trip back from Waldreich, the details getting lost to the fuzz of time and trauma. You do remember the nukes going off and the blinding light, and then Joshua fucking Bristow’s voice over the radio. You hadn’t paid attention to what he was saying, too busy trying to make sure that everyone was still alive amidst the screaming of all your warnings going off at once. You remember the missile striking your plane, the only one that could have fired it having a bright red wing. You remember everyone yelling at him to stop, to think about what he was doing while you had to take evasive maneuvers. To this day, you wonder if you could have shot him down then. He was outnumbered, but if it came to it, you don’t think you could have pulled the trigger.

In the end, you didn’t have a choice. Pixy was willing to murder his former comrades, willing to destroy the world, and there was no one else who could stop him. Maybe you could have talked him down then, but the rage you had felt had been blinding. You weren’t sure if you were going to survive the battle, but at that point you didn’t care anymore. One of you was going to die. No matter what happened, no matter what you chose, your world was ending. If this was your last fight, then you were going to win. And you did.

That night had not been a pleasant one. You spent most of it standing vigil at PJ’s bedside, until Mallory, his girlfriend, and the rest of Crow Team had arrived. They hadn’t kicked you out, but they were nearing the occupation limit and you figured that he would be better off with his friends and loved ones and not someone who had completely failed to protect him. The rest of the night was spent in the dingy little bar they had on base, doing your best to drink the rest of the year away. It was strange, drinking alone while everyone around you was celebrating. Celebrating you, specifically, even. You never liked the attention, and you just wanted to mourn. Nobody else would have.

A little girl barrels into your leg, dragging you out of your less-than-pleasant thoughts. She’s closely followed by her mother, who gives you a rushed apology before chasing after the excited toddler. You have to fight the giggle, but you can’t hide the smile. Of course, the world didn’t end that day. PJ proposed as soon as he woke up, ironically forgetting about the flowers again, and when he was healed up, the two of them got married. They even had a kid. Madison was only about seven, but she already had a good head on her shoulders, so you didn’t feel any guilt when Mallory joked about how you were spoiling her. What could you say? She was your only and favorite niece.

You managed to make a normal life for yourself. Technically you were still a mercenary, but you had worked for Ustio and Osea almost exclusively as a “strategic advisor.” Currently you were stationed in North Point, assigned there in order to teach the new ace Mobius how to deal with Yellow Thirteen. From your understanding, you had been trained by the same man, though you had left Shilage in the eighties. It was a steady, mostly safe job. You had an apartment that had more than just cardboard boxes in it, and you even managed to maintain normal, healthy relationships with those you worked with. You hung out with Crow Team when they were in town and only got blackout drunk on New Years. Time had passed, and you moved on. At least you thought you did. 

That documentary flipped your entire life on its head. You hadn’t even planned on watching it, the idea of someone idolizing the Demon Lord made you sick to your stomach. You weren’t proud of your actions. But PJ had been interviewed by that Brett Thompson guy, and had been sent an advanced copy of it. He insisted that it would be fine, it would only be people that knew you were the Demon Lord, and you all would get a couple of beers and poke fun at it. The mood was good, everyone ready for a bit of fun, but everything changed when the first words were spoken.

The drink slipped out of your grip, the can thumping to the ground. Even after so many years, you recognized him immediately. Even though the last time you had heard that voice was during a screaming match, it was the same voice that haunted you every time you woke up from a nightmare. Even though they didn’t show his face, you had that smile memorized, tucked away in your happy, quiet dreams. It couldn’t be. You had shot him down yourself, watched as his plane exploded. You swore that you didn’t see a parachute, knowing that he was too proud to do anything but die for his ideals. But there was no doubt about it. He was-

Pixy was alive.

What the fuck.

You spent the entire movie staring blankly at the screen, just letting the shock roll over you. What exactly were you supposed to feel at this moment? Hatred? Terror? Did it make you a horrible person to be relieved that he was alive, and that he at least wanted to see why borders were so important to people? You were never particularly good with your emotions, and right now you were feeling all of them at once. The paralysing shock didn’t leave your system until Pixy had said his last message of “Thanks, friend. See you soon.” 

See you soon? Yeah, you could arrange for that. You knew people. In fact, you probably knew were he was at this moment. Assuming you weren’t going crazy, he was in Usea. Somewhere in Delarus if you were right about the language on the signs. That was hardly an exact location, but you knew he was near a border, likely also fighting Erusea, which narrowed it down significantly. Even if he wasn’t on the border exactly, Delarus was a small country. You grew up near there, in a country that hadn’t fought against the Erusean takeover. You could figure it out. Hell, if you timed it right, nobody would even know you were gone. Unfortunately, Crow Team had gotten to know you too well and stopped you on your way out, claiming they didn’t want “another Bristow Incident” and “you were still needed for the war.”

Admittedly they had a point, so instead you had called an old friend of yours, Harrison Sharp. He was the one who helped you become a mercenary, and who negotiated most of your contracts. If anyone could help you hunt Pixy down, it would be him. The man was practically an encyclopedia of who was who in just about any military. Claimed that it was to keep an eye on potential talent, should they become disgruntled with how the higher ups were running things. Sharp himself remained almost completely neutral, so the price you paid for the information was that you had to wait until the end of the war, and that Pixy knew that you were looking for him. Much to your surprise, he had agreed to meet you in Osea.

And so here you were, waiting at a terminal in the civilian airport with a sign that had way too much glitter on it. Madison had overheard that you were picking up a “pixie” and insisted on it. PJ also insisted since he thought it would have been hilarious and you went along because you couldn’t resist the Combined Beckett Puppy Dog Eyes. And because you were still feeling a little malicious towards your old wingman, even if you were pretty sure you were past wanting to murder him. At least not in front of all these witnesses.

You didn’t know what flight he was supposed to be on, only what time he was supposed to arrive and what terminal he was supposed to be at, so you had been sitting there for about an hour. The nervous questions you had been asking yourself for the past month continue to bubble up in your stomach, despite knowing that they were logically improbable. What if he didn’t actually want to see you and had just left while you weren’t looking? What if something had happened and he actually died before the war ended? What if it had all been some guilt-induced halucination and you really did murder Pixy ten years ago? The questions keep flowing in until you finally see him. The tall figure standing at the top of the escalator, with the light brown hair and the same beat up uniform he was wearing in the documentary. He’s also frozen, and just as in awe as you are to see you again.

You kind of want to hug him. You also kind of want to strangle him. Either way, you’ve realized that you were not emotionally prepared for this. It was one thing to know that he was alive, but it was another thing entirely to see him standing right in front of you giving you that same stupid, cocksure grin that he wore when you were partners. You both make your way towards each other, only breaking eye contact to avoid obstacles. Every time you lose sight of him a jolt of panic courses through you, and you fear that he’s just going to disappear completely, just like he did all those years ago. Those fears only seem to alleviate when you finally reach each other, standing only a few feet away.

He looked different. Older, and more tired, but he had the same smile. When the two of you lock eyes, you recognize that he has the same clever glimmer in his eyes. Pixy’s grin softens into something more, the rare little wisp of a smile that barely tugs at his lips but is far more genuine. Something he only shared with you. “Hey, buddy.” 

And like that, the dam broke. The mask of cold indifference you had carefully crafted and held in place for the past ten and a half years finally cracks and comes crumbling down around you as you march right up to him. Impulse overtakes logic and you slap him as hard as you physically can. Without giving him a second to react, you grab him by the collar of his jacket and drag him down until you’re the same eye level. 

“YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE! I thought you were DEAD! For TEN YEARS! Then you fucking pop up in a documentary of all things, and it turns out that you, Mr. Borders-Are-The-Root-Of-All-Evil, finally figured it out, and instead of apologising like a normal person, decided to head for the single most dangerous battlefield in order to make up for it!”

People are staring now, and you’re making a scene, but you can’t find it in yourself to care. You’re panting and shaking but you just can’t let go of Pixy’s jacket, even as he rises back to his full height. Tears are falling, and you don’t even realize until he gently brushes one away and rests his hand on your cheek. His other arm is wrapped around your waist, and you’re not quite sure if it’s to be closer or to make sure you don’t just topple over. You hate that it’s comforting.

He looks you dead in the eye. “I wanted to apologize. I shouldn’t have done the things that I did, and I shouldn’t have said those things to you.”

Despite everything, you can’t fight the weak little smile gracing your lips, and you can’t help but lean into his hand, still resting on your face. “Larry. You are the most stupidly reckless man I’ve ever met.”

“I know.” He tightened his arm around your waist, drawing you closer. When he leans down, he brings himself close enough that you can see the slightest bit of green in his eyes, and you can feel the warmth of his breath on your lips.

“I love you.” And with that, you tug on his collar, and he gladly goes with it. Your lips meet in the middle, and though it’s almost more smiles than kisses, it still leaves you breathless. Through the whistles and the cheers of the still onlooking crowd, and Larry’s laugh rumbling in his chest, mixing with your own, the only thought you can really put together is how you are so, so glad the both of you are alive.

[andrasta14]

~2021 Reading Challenge~

~Books Read~

Nonfiction

Methodism: Empire of the Spirit - David Hempton

Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket - Richard Holmes

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the present day - Peter Ackroyd

Down and Out: In Eighteenth Century London - Tim Hitchcock

London’s Sinful Secret: The Bawdy History and Very Public Passions of London’s Georgian Age - Dan Cruickshank

Warfare in the Eighteenth Century - Jeremy Black

Empires of the Imagination: Politics, War, and the Arts in the British World 1750-1850 - Holger Hooch

The Medici: Power, Money and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance - Paul Strathern

The Romanovs: 1613-1918 - Simon Sebag Montefiore

The Habsburgs: To Rule the World - Martyn Rady

The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women - Rosalie Gilbert

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage and Manners - Therese Oneill

The Splendid and the Vile - Erik Larson

Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage - Alfred Lansing

Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind - Yuval Noah Harari

Nature’s Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present - Philipp Blom

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - Jared Diamond

A Natural History of the Future - Rob Dunn

American Pandemic: The Lost Worlds of the 1918 Influenza Epidemic - Nancy K. Bristow

To Marry an English Lord - Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace

Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty - Anderson Cooper and Katherine Howe

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth - Reza Aslan

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things - Jenny Lawson

Broken (in the Best Possible Way) - Jenny Lawson

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened - Jenny Lawson

I’m Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: One Introvert’s Year of Saying Yes - Jessica Pan

The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to follow the Bible as Literally as Possible - A.J. Jacobs

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain

The Highly Sensitive Person - Elaine N. Aron

ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction from Childhood Through Adulthood - Edward M. Hallowell, M.D. & John J. Ratey, M.D.

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear - Elizabeth Gilbert

The Hilarious World of Depression - John Moe

Hunger - Roxane Gay

The Comfort Book - Matt Haig

How Democracies Die - Steven Levitsky

The Day the World Stops Shopping - J.B. MacKinnon

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - Marie Kondo

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and their race to save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts - Joshua Hammer

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket - Richard Holmes

Queer City: Gay London from the Romans to the present day - Peter Ackroyd

London’s Sinful Secret: The Bawdy History and Very Public Passions of London’s Georgian Age - Dan Cruickshank

The Romanovs: 1613-1918 - Simon Sebag Montefiore

The Habsburgs - Martyn Rady

Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind - Yuval Noah Harari

Nature’s Mutiny: How the Little Ice Age of the Long Seventeenth Century Transformed the West and Shaped the Present - Philipp Blom

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain

The Highly Sensitive Person - Elaine N. Aron

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth - Reza Aslan

Classic Literature

Great Expectations - Charles Dickens (1861)

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell (1854)

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graham (1908)

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (1868 & 1869)

The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane (1895)

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (1937)

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (1847)

The Scarlett Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850)

The House of the Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne (1851)

Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne (1872)

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)

Persuasion - Jane Austen (1817)

(Wow, I really slacked on my Classics this year...! 😳 Shame on me!)

My Top Five Faves (in no particular order):

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

Persuasion - Jane Austen

The Scarlett Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell

Fiction/Literature

(I confess I’m too lazy to separate the books further into different genres.😊)

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon

The Henna Artist: Bk 1 - Alka Joshi

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur: Bk 2 - Alka Joshi

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Malibu Rising -  Taylor Jenkins Reid

Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

Red, White & Blue - Casey McQuiston

My Policeman - Bethan Roberts

The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donohue

Act Your Age, Eve Brown - Talia Hibbert

Year of Wonders - Geraldine Brooks

Once Upon a River - Diane Setterfield

The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion - Fannie Flagg

The Soulmate Equation - Christina Lauren

The Dating Plan - Sara Desai

The Flatshare - Beth O’Leary

Second First Impressions - Sally Thorne

Anne of Manhattan - Brina Starler

The Cafe by the Sea - Jenny Colgan

The Lost Apothecary - Sarah Penner

The Dutch House - Ann Patchett

The Trouble With Hating You - Sajni Patel

The Paris Apartment - Kelly Bowen

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

Cloud Cuckoo Land - Anthony Doerr

No Offence - Meg Cabot

Beach Read - Emily Henry

The Duke & I: Bridgerton Bk 1 - Julia Quinn

Romancing Mister Bridgerton: Bk 4 - Julia Quinn

The Forest of Vanishing Stars - Kristin Harmel

Just Last Night - Mhairi McFarlane

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah

Very Sincerely Yours - Kerry Winfrey

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman

To Have and to Hoax - Martha Waters

A Curious Beginning: Veronica Speedwell Mystery #1 - Deanna Raybourn

A Perilous Undertaking: VS Mystery #2 - Deanna Raybourn

A Treacherous Curse: VS Mystery #3 - Deanna Raybourn

A Dangerous Collaboration: VS Mystery #4 - Deanna Raybourn

The Last Chance Library - Freya Sampson

Objects of My Affection - Jill Smolinski

Always in December - Emily Stone

A Holly Jolly Diwali - Sonya Lalli

The Party Crasher - Sophie Kinsella

Shopaholic to the Stars - Sophie Kinsella

Christmas Shopaholic - Sophie Kinsella

Wedding Night - Sophie Kinsella

I’ve Got Your Number - Sophie Kinsella

I Owe You One - Sophie Kinsella

Love Your Life - Sophie Kinsella

The Paper Palace - Miranda Cowley Heller

The Matzah Ball - Jean Meltzer

Just Haven’t Met You Yet - Sophie Cousens

The Lonely Hearts Hotel - Heather O’Neill

The Library of Legends - Janie Chang

Twice Shy - Sarah Hogle

The Christmas Bookshop - Jenny Colgan

The Dreamers - Karen Thompson Walker

The Holiday Swap - Maggie Knox

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

The Forest of Vanishing Stars - Kristin Harmel

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah

Red, White & Blue - Casey McQuiston

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall

Second First Impressions - Sally Thorne

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon

Science Fiction/Fantasy

The House of the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

His Majesty’s Dragon: Temeraire Series Bk 1 - Naomi Novik

Throne of Jade: Temeraire Series Bk 2 - Naomi Novik

Black Powder War: Temeraire Series Bk 3 - Naomi Novik

Empire Of Ivory: Temeraire Series Bk 4 - Naomi Novik

Victory of Eagles: Temeraire Series Bk 5 - Naomi Novik

Tongue of Serpents: Temeraire Series Bk 6 - Naomi Novik

Crucible of Gold: Temeraire Series Bk 7 - Naomi Novik

Blood of Tyrants: Temeraire Series Bk 8 - Naomi Novik

League of Dragons: Temeraire Series Bk 9 - Naomi Novik

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Circe - Madeline Miller

Firebird - Mercedes Lackey

Gwenhwyfar - Mercedes Lackey

Dune: Bk 1 - Frank Herbert

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

The Rules of Magic - Alice Hoffman

The Book of Magic - Alice Hoffman

Foundryside: Bk 1 - Robert Jackson Bennett

Shorefall: Bk 2 - Robert Jackson Bennett

Catherine House - Elizabeth Thomas

Arabella of Mars: Bk 1 - David D. Levine

The Midnight Bargain - C.L. Polk

The Midnight Library - Matt Haig

Star Wars: Master and Apprentice - Claudia Grey

Star Wars: Darth Plagueis - James Luceno

Star Wars: Ahsoka - E.K. Johnston

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms: Bk 1 - N.K. Jemisin

The Broken Kingdoms: Bk 2 - N.K. Jemisin

The Kingdom of Gods: Bk 3 - N.K. Jemisin

The Angel of the Crows - Katherine Addison

The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires - Grady Hendrix

The Clockwork Dynasty - Daniel H. Wilson

Black Water Sister - Zen Cho

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - V.E. Schwab

Everyone Knows Your Mother is a Witch - Rivka Galchen

Switch - A.S. King

The Jasmine Thorne - Tasha Suri

The Two Towers: Lord of the Rings Bk 2 - J.R.R. Tolkien

La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust Bk 1 - Philip Pullman

The Secret Commonwealth:  The Book of Dust Bk 2 - Philip Pullman

The Scribbly Man: Children of D’Hara Bk 1 - Terry Goodkind

Hateful Things: Children of D’Hara Bk 2 - Terry Goodkind

Wasteland: Children of D’Hara Bk 3 - Terry Goodkind

Witch’s Oath: Children of D’Hara Bk 4 - Terry Goodkind

Into Darkness: Children of D’Hara Bk 5 - Terry Goodkind

Good Omens - Terry Pratchet & Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman

The Ocean at the End of the Lane - Neil Gaiman

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars - Christopher Paolini

Rose Daughter - Robin McKinley

Mistborn: Bk 1 - Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension: Bk 2 - Brandon Sanderson

The Hero of Ages: Bk 3 -  Brandon Sanderson

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge - M.T. Anderson

Three Parts Dead: Bk 1 - Max Gladstone

A Darker Shade of Magic: Bk 1 - V.E. Schwab

A Gathering of Shadows: Bk 2 - V.E. Schwab

Gideon the Ninth: Bk 1 - Tamsyn Muir

Assassin’s Apprentice: Farseer Trilogy Bk 1 - Robin Hobb

Royal Assassin:  Farseer Trilogy Bk 2 - Robin Hobb

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao

The Lighthouse Witches - C.J. Cooke

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

Circe - Madeline Miller

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The House of the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

Temeraire Series - Naomi Novik

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms Trilogy - N.K. Jemisin

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - V.E. Schwab

Children of D’Hara Series - Terry Goodkind

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge - M.T. Anderson

YA Books

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

We Hunt the Flame: Bk 1 - Hafsah Faizal

We Free the Stars: Bk 2 - Hafsah Faizal

Cinder: Lunar Chronicles Bk 1 - Marissa Meyer

Winter: Lunar Chronicles Bk 4 - Marissa Meyer

Stars Above; Lunar Chronicles Collections - Marissa Meyer

Uprooted: Bk 1 - Naomi Novik

Chain of Gold: The Last Hours Bk 1 - Cassandra Clare

Chain of Iron:  The Last Hours Bk 2 - Cassandra Clare

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue: Bk 1 - Mackenzi Lee

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy: Bk 2 - Mackenzi Lee

The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks: Bk 3 - Mackenzi Lee

Timekeeper: Bk 1 - Tara Sim

Chainbreaker: Bk 2 - Tara Sim

Firestarter: Bk 3 - Tara Sim

Scavenge the Stars: Bk 1 - Tara Sim

Honey Girl - Morgan Rogers

Autoboyography - Christina Lauren

A Great and Terrible Beauty: Bk 1 - Libba Bray

Rebel Angels: Bk 2 - Libba Bray

The Sweet Far Thing: Bk 3 - Libba Bray

Come Tumbling Down: Bk 5 - Seanan McGuire

The Gilded Ones - Namina Forna

By the Book - Amanda Sellet

Rogue Princess - B.R. Myers

The Evil Queen - Gena Showalter

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - Suzanne Collins

Instructions for Dancing - Nicola Yoon

Dark and Deepest Red - Anna-Marie McLemore

Excuse Me While I Cry Ugly - Joya Goffney

Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale

Eve of Man - Giovanna & Tom Fletcher

The Cruel Prince: Bk 1 - Holly Black

The Wicked King: Bk 2 - Holly Black

The Queen of Nothing: Bk 3 -Holly Black

Gods & Monsters - Shelby Mahurin

Six Crimson Cranes - Elizabeth Lim

Spin the Dawn: Bk 1 - Elizabeth Lim

For the Wolf - Hannah Whitten

The Library of the Dead - T.L. Huchu

Three Dark Crowns: Bk 1 -Kendare Blake

Wicked Fox - Kat Cho

Entwined - Heather Dixon

Chaotic Good - Whitney Gardner

If the Shoe Fits - Julie Murphy

Every Day - David Levithan

Blood Like Magic - Liselle Sambury

Prudence: The Custard Protocol Bk 1 - Gail Carriger

The Raven Boys: Bk 1 - Maggie Stiefvater

The Bone Witch: Bk 1 - Rin Chupeco

Strange the Dreamer: Bk 1 - Laini Taylor

Muse of Nightmares: Bk 2 - Laini Taylor

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

We Hunt the Flame Duology - Hafsah Faizal

The Last Hours Trilogy - Cassandra Clare

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue Trilogy - Mackenzi Lee

Timekeeper Trilogy - Tara Sim

A Great and Terrible Beauty Trilogy - Libba Bray

The Cruel Prince Trilogy - Holly Black

Six Crimson Cranes - Elizabeth Lim

The Lunar Chronicles - Marissa Meyer

Strange the Dreamer Duology - Laini Taylor

Middle Grade/Children

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey: Bk 2 - Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Bk 3 -  Trenton Lee Stewart

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages: Bk 4 -  Trenton Lee Stewart

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict - Trenton Lee Stewart

A Tale of Magic - Chris Colfer

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane - Julia Nobel

Stuart Little - E.B. White

The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Graham

The Peculiar - Stefan Bachmann

The Whatnot - Stefan Bachmann

Cinders and Sparrows - Stefan Bachmann

Liesel & Po - Lauren Oliver

The Wishlist - Eoin Colfer

The Barren Grounds - David A. Robertson

Stay Alive: Breakdown - Joseph Monninger

Strangeworlds Travel Agency - L.D. Lapinski

The Scarecrow and His Servant - Philip Pullman

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L’Engle

A Wind in the Door - Madeline L’Engle

A Swiftly Tilting Planet - Madeline L’Engle

The Amulet of Samarkand: Bartimaeus Series Bk 1 - Jonathan Stroud

The Golem’s Eye: Bartimaeus Series Bk 2 - Jonathan Stroud

Ptolemy’s Gate: Bartimaeus Series Bk 3 - Jonathan Stroud

The Ring of Solomon: A Bartimaeus Novel  - Jonathan Stroud

The Last Siege - Jonathan Stroud

The Screaming Staircase: Lockwood and Co Bk 1 - Jonathan Stroud

The Whispering Skull : Lockwood and Co Bk 2 - Jonathan Stroud

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

Bliss - Kathryn Littlewood

Reverie - Ryan La Sala

The Case of the Missing Marquess - Nancy Springer

The House of Secrets - Chris Columbus & Ned Vizzini

The Unwanteds - Lisa McMann

The Doldrums - Nicholas Gannon

The Doldrums and the Helmsley Curse - Nicholas Gannon

Magyk: Septimus Heap Bk 1 - Angie Sage

Flyte: Septimus Heap Bk 2 - Angie Sage

Physik: Septimus Heap Bk 3 - Angie Sage

Queste: Septimus Heap Bk 4 - Angie Sage

Siren: Septimus Heap Bk 5 - Angie Sage

Kiki Kallira Breaks a Kingdom - Sangu Mandanna

Lintang and the Pirate Queen - Tamara Moss

The Mouse with the Question Mark Tail - Richard Peck

The Oddmire: Changeling Bk 1 - William Ritter

The Hidden Oracle: The Trials of Apollo Bk 1 - Rick Riordan

The Dark Prophesy: The Trials of Apollo Bk 2 - Rick Riordan

The Burning Maze: The Trials of Apollo Bk 3 - Rick Riordan

The Tyrant’s Tomb: The Trials of Apollo Bk 4 - Rick Riordan

The Tower of Nero: The Trials of Apollo Bk 5 - Rick Riordan

The Sword of Summer: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Bk 1 - Rick Riordan

The Hammer of Thor: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Bk 2 - Rick Riordan

The Ship of the Dead: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Bk 3 - Rick Riordan

The Lost Hero: The Heroes of Olympus Bk 1 - Rick Riordan

The Son of Neptune:  The Heroes of Olympus Bk 2 - Rick Riordan

The Mark of Athena:  The Heroes of Olympus Bk 3 - Rick Riordan

The House of Hades:  The Heroes of Olympus Bk 4 - Rick Riordan

The Blood of Olympus:  The Heroes of Olympus Bk 5 - Rick Riordan

The Blackthorn Key: Bk 1 - Kevin Sands

Mark of the Plague: Bk 2 - Kevin Sands

The Assassin’s Curse: Bk 3 - Kevin Sands

The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlestone: Bk 1 - Jaclyn Moriarty

The Whispering Wars: Bk 2 - Jaclyn Moriarty

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating - Adiba Jaigirdar

Alone - Megan E. Freeman

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

The Mysterious Benedict Society Series - Trenton Lee Stewart

A Tale of Magic - Chris Colfer

The Mystery of Black Hollow Lane - Julia Nobel

The Peculiar - Stefan Bachmann

The Scarecrow and His Servant - Philip Pullman

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L’Engle

Bartimaeus Series - Jonathan Stroud

Lockwood and Co Series - Jonathan Stroud

The Trials of Apollo Series - Rick Riordan

The Heroes of Olympus Series - Rick Riordan

Graphic Novels/Manga/Comics

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Search - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Rift - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy - Faith Erin Hicks

Amulet: Bk 1 The Stone Keeper - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 2 The Stonekeeper’s Curse - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 3 The Cloud Searchers  - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 4 The Last Council - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 5 Prince of the Elves - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 6 Escape from Lucien - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 7 Firelight - Kazu Kibushi

Amulet: Bk 8 Supernova - Kazu Kibushi

Snow, Glass, Apples - Neil Gaiman & Colleen Doran

Monstress: Volume 1: Awakening - Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda

Daredevil: Ultimate Collection Bk 2 - Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev

Pashmina - Nidhi Chanani

Smile: #1 - Raina Telgemeier

Sisters: #2 -  Raina Telgemeier

Guts: #3 -  Raina Telgemeier

Earthian: Volume 4 - Yun Kouga

Shuriken and Pleats: Volume 1 - Matsuri Hino

Shuriken and Pleats: Volume 2 - Matsuri Hino

The Story of Saiunkoku: Volume 9 - Sai Yukino & Kairi Yura

Sailor Moon: Short Stories Volume 1 - Naoko Takeuchi

Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden: Volume 1 - Yuu Watase

Fushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden: Volume 2 - Yuu Watase

Everyone’s Getting Married: Volume 1 - Izumi Miyazono

Everyone’s Getting Married: Volume 2 - Izumi Miyazono

Everyone’s Getting Married: Volume 3 - Izumi Miyazono

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Promise - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Search - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: The Rift - Gene Luen Yang

Avatar the Last Airbender: Toph Beifong’s Metalbending Academy - Faith Erin Hicks

Amulet Series - Kazu Kibushi

Snow, Glass, Apples - Neil Gaiman & Colleen Doran

Monstress: Volume 1: Awakening - Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda

Daredevil: Ultimate Collection Bk 2 - Brian Michael Bendis & Alex Maleev

Earthian - Yun Kouga

The Story of Saiunkoku - Sai Yukino & Kairi Yura

Poetry

Crush - Richard Siken

Depression & Other Magic Tricks - Sabrina Benaim

(I read much more poetry than this over the course of the year, of course, but these two were the only collections I read in their entirety.)

LGBTQ

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The House in the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

Chain of Gold: The Last Hours Bk 1 - Cassandra Clare

Chain of Iron:  The Last Hours Bk 2 - Cassandra Clare

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue: Bk 1 - Mackenzi Lee

The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy: Bk 2 - Mackenzi Lee

The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks: Bk 3 - Mackenzi Lee

Giovanni’s Room - James Baldwin

Timekeeper: Bk 1 - Tara Sim

Chainbreaker: Bk 2 - Tara Sim

Firestarter: Bk 3 - Tara Sim

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

Red, White & Blue - Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

Honey Girl - Morgan Rogers

Autoboyography - Christina Lauren

My Policeman - Bethan Roberts

A Great and Terrible Beauty: Bk 1 - Libba Bray

Rebel Angels: Bk 2 - Libba Bray

The Sweet Far Thing: Bk 3 - Libba Bray

The Rules of Magic - Alice Hoffman

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao

My Top Ten Faves (in no particular order):

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue - Mackenzi Lee

Timekeeper Trilogy - Tara Sim

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Written in the Stars - Alexandria Bellefleur

Red, White & Blue - Casey McQuiston

One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

DNF’ed Books (did not finish)

Fix Her Up - Tessa Bailey

My Top 25 Faves Overall (in no particular order):

Little Women - Louisa May Alcott

Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte

The Scarlett Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

The House of the Cerulean Sea - T.J. Klune

Temeraire Series - Naomi Novik

Mistborn Trilogy - Brandon Sanderson

The Song of Achilles - Madeline Miller

Circe - Madeline Miller

Timekeeper Trilogy - Tara Sim

Boyfriend Material - Alexis Hall

Red, White & Blue - Casey McQuiston

Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade - Diana Gabaldon

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue Trilogy - Mackenzi Lee

Lockwood and Co Series - Jonathan Stroud

Bartimaeus Series - Jonathan Stroud

The Trials of Apollo Series - Rick Riordan

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo - Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge - M.T. Anderson

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking - Susan Cain

The Nightingale - Kristin Hannah

The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern

We Hunt the Flame Duology - Hafsah Faizal

The Peculiar - Stefan Bachmann

(Okay, fine, I lied! lol My Top 26 Faves Overall, because I just COULDN’T find one more I could bear to take off the list. ^.^)

(My End of the Year Book Asks here.)

[tabloidtoc]

Us, January 6

Cover: How Brad Pitt won Jennifer Aniston back 

Page 4: Who Wore It Best? Sutton Foster vs. Elisabeth Moss, Candice Swanepoel vs. Iman, Cate Blanchett vs. Camila Cabello 

Page 6: Loose Talk -- Kumail Nanjiani, Scarlett Johansson on Colin Jost, Cole Sprouse on his resemblance to Daisy Ridley, Mindy Kaling on Sacha Baron Cohen, Elizabeth Banks 

Page 8: Contents 

Page 10: Hot Pics -- Kelly Clarkson and The Voice winner Jake Hoot, Kelly Clarkson and husband Brandon Blackstock and John Legend and Chrissy Teigen and Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani at a finale party 

Page 11: Hogwarts reunion -- Tom Felton and Emma Watson and Evanna Lynch and Bonnie Wright and Matthew Lewis, Kourtney Kardashian and Younes Bendjima, Kelly Clarkson and Mark Consuelos, Queen Elizabeth during the State Opening of Parliament 

Page 12: Katie Stevens of The Bold Type and guitarist Paul DiGiovanni celebrate their honeymoon in Mexico, Sarah Hyland, Taylor Swift at the NYC Cats premiere 

Page 13: Kim Kardashian West on Ellen DeGeneres, Rachel Lindsay and husband Bryan Abasolo in Miami 

Page 14: Wine Time -- Tyler Stanaland and fiancee Brittany Snow and their dog Billie, Erin Foster and Dasha Zhukova, Gabrielle Union and daughter Kaavia, Kaitlyn Bristowe and boyfriend Jason Tartick 

Page 16: Let in Snow -- Kylie Jenner and daughter Stormi in Aspen, Tan France in Salt Lake City, Jade Roper Tolbert and son Brooks in Keystone, Cassie Randolph and Colton Underwood in Steamboat Springs, Lea Michele in NYC 

Page 18: Stars They’re Just Like Us -- Rachael Ray cuddles a puppy, Brian Austin Green and Ian Ziering, Kevin Jonas shops for holiday gifts, Caitlyn Jenner drags her own suitcase coming home from Australia 

Page 19: Neil Patrick Harris, Juliette Lewis 

Page 20: Burnin’ Up -- Josephine Skriver does Pilates, Jana Kramer, Olivia Culpo and sister Sophia

Page 21: Pregnant Ashley Graham, Lucy Hale does the plank, Debby Ryan, Josh Duhamel, Chris Pratt in Warrior II pose 

Page 22: Love Lives -- Jonathan Scott and Zooey Deschanel 

Page 23: Hailey Bieber and Justin Bieber for better or worse, Demi Lovato and Austin Wilson had a Disneyland date, Jodie Turner-Smith and Joshua Jackson are married and have a baby on board 

Page 24: Hot Hollywood -- Liam Hemsworth’s life after Miley Cyrus includes new girlfriend Gabriella Brooks 

Page 25: Marc Anthony’s $7 million yacht caught fire, Katharine McPhee will star in a Nanny-like Netflix sitcom where she’ll be Southern and there will be singing, Jessie J and Channing Tatum are over 

Page 26: What’s in My Bag? Camille Kostek 

Page 27: Star-o-Scopes 

Page 28: Cover Story -- What’s really going on between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston 

Page 32: Christina Anstead -- inside my crazy happy life 

Page 34: 2019 Do You Remember? 

Page 58: Fashion Police -- Candace Cameron Bure edition 

Page 60: 25 Things You Don’t Know About Me -- Carla Hall

[spaceexp]

Citizen Scientists Find New World with NASA Telescope

NASA - K2 Mission logo. January 8, 2019 Using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, citizen scientists have discovered a planet roughly twice the size of Earth located within its star's habitable zone, the range of orbital distances where liquid water may exist on the planet's surface. The new world, known as K2-288Bb, could be rocky or could be a gas-rich planet similar to Neptune. Its size is rare among exoplanets - planets beyond our solar system.

Image above: The newfound planet K2-288Bb, illustrated here, is slightly smaller than Neptune. Located about 226 light-years away, it orbits the fainter member of a pair of cool M-type stars every 31.3 days. Image Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Francis Reddy. "It's a very exciting discovery due to how it was found, its temperate orbit and because planets of this size seem to be relatively uncommon," said Adina Feinstein, a University of Chicago graduate student who discussed the discovery on Monday, Jan. 7, at the 233rd meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle. She is also the lead author of a paper describing the new planet accepted for publication by The Astronomical Journal. Located 226 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, the planet lies in a stellar system known as K2-288, which contains a pair of dim, cool M-type stars separated by about 5.1 billion miles (8.2 billion kilometers) - roughly six times the distance between Saturn and the Sun. The brighter star is about half as massive and large as the Sun, while its companion is about one-third the Sun's mass and size. The new planet, K2-288Bb, orbits the smaller, dimmer star every 31.3 days. In 2017, Feinstein and Makennah Bristow, an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina Asheville, worked as interns with Joshua Schlieder, an astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. They searched Kepler data for evidence of transits, the regular dimming of a star when an orbiting planet moves across the star's face. Examining data from the fourth observing campaign of Kepler's K2 mission, the team noticed two likely planetary transits in the system. But scientists require a third transit before claiming the discovery of a candidate planet, and there wasn't a third signal in the observations they reviewed. As it turned out, though, the team wasn't actually analyzing all of the data. In Kepler's K2 mode, which ran from 2014 to 2018, the spacecraft repositioned itself to point at a new patch of sky at the start of each three-month observing campaign. Astronomers were initially concerned that this repositioning would cause systematic errors in measurements. "Re-orienting Kepler relative to the Sun caused miniscule changes in the shape of the telescope and the temperature of the electronics, which inevitably affected Kepler's sensitive measurements in the first days of each campaign," said co-author Geert Barentsen, an astrophysicist at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley and the director of the guest observer office for the Kepler and K2 missions.

Kepler Space Telescope. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

To deal with this, early versions of the software that was used to prepare the data for planet-finding analysis simply ignored the first few days of observations - and that's where the third transit was hiding. As scientists learned how to correct for these systematic errors, this trimming step was eliminated - but the early K2 data Barstow studied had been clipped. "We eventually re-ran all data from the early campaigns through the modified software and then re-ran the planet search to get a list of candidates, but these candidates were never fully visually inspected," explained Schlieder, a co-author of the paper. "Inspecting, or vetting, transits with the human eye is crucial because noise and other astrophysical events can mimic transits." Instead, the re-processed data were posted directly to Exoplanet Explorers, a project where the public searches Kepler's K2 observations to locate new transiting planets. In May 2017, volunteers noticed the third transit and began an excited discussion about what was then thought to be an Earth-sized candidate in the system, which caught the attention of Feinstein and her colleagues. "That's how we missed it - and it took the keen eyes of citizen scientists to make this extremely valuable find and point us to it," Feinstein said. The team began follow-up observations using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, the Keck II telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory and NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility (the latter two in Hawaii), and also examined data from ESA's (the European Space Agency's) Gaia mission. Estimated to be about 1.9 times Earth's size, K2-288Bb is half the size of Neptune. This places the planet within a recently discovered category called the Fulton gap, or radius gap. Among planets that orbit close to their stars, there's a curious dearth of worlds between about 1.5 and two times Earth's size. This is likely the result of intense starlight breaking up atmospheric molecules and eroding away the atmospheres of some planets over time, leaving behind two populations. Since K2-288Bb's radius places it in this gap, it may provide a case study of planetary evolution within this size range. On Oct. 30, 2018, Kepler ran out of fuel and ended its mission after nine years, during which it discovered 2,600 confirmed planets around other stars - the bulk of those now known - along with thousands of additional candidates astronomers are working to confirm. And while NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is the newest space-based planet hunter, this new finding shows that more discoveries await scientists in Kepler data. Ames manages the Kepler and K2 missions for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation operated the flight system with support from the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Related links: The Astronomical Journal: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-3881/aafa70 K2 mission: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/nasas-k2-mission-the-kepler-space-telescopes-second-chance-to-shine Exoplanet Explorers: https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/ianc2/exoplanet-explorers NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/index.html W. M. Keck Observatory: http://www.keckobservatory.org/ NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility: http://irtfweb.ifa.hawaii.edu/ NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite: https://www.nasa.gov/tess-transiting-exoplanet-survey-satellite For more information about the Kepler and K2 missions, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler NASA's Kepler space telescope: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/main/index.html Images (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Ames Research Center/Alison Hawkes/JPL/Calla Cofield/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, by Francis Reddy. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

[sayyeah02]

ウィザードおじさん。 ジョシュア・ブリストー （Joshua "LUCAN" Bristow） オーシア国防空軍第8航空団第32戦闘飛行隊「ウィザード隊」隊長 年齢：36歳 階級：大尉 TACネーム：ルーカン （Lucan） コールサイン：「ウィザード1」 ピクシーことラリー・フォルクとは互いの腕を認め合っており、彼をファーストネームのラリーと呼ぶ仲。クーデター軍「国境無き世界」の創設メンバーの一人と考えられている。 戦後はウィザード隊の隊員からなるテロリストグループのリーダーとなり、テロを計画していたが逮捕され、2005年現在はオーシアのランドフォード連邦刑務所に服役中。（wikipedia） 「生かして帰すな、コクピットを狙え」

ウィザードおじさんってピクモル披露するとき絶対「お前にピッタリのガラスの靴を用意したぜ」って言ってると思います。

[nooomeru]

Joshua Bristow (Wizard 1)

I don't like him.

(Because he tried to sacrifice a lot of people without hesitation. He can only see the world from inside books and from above the sky.)

But drawing him is a lot of fun for some reason.

Have mixed feelings about him…🧐

Cipher's good archenemy. He is a character that makes me think about many things.

I kind of think he's a necessary part of the story.

…When I play M12 and M16 (Knight), though I think "I have to kill this guy👹"!!

Also I prefer the Sorcerer's speech to his that.

▽ If Wizard 1 was friend

Looks like a reliable fellow…🤔

▽ looks like be on Sand Island (AC5)

[officialtokyosan]

[heroicmeep]

joshua bristow looks like fucking jerma and i cant get over it. hes fucking jerma. every time i see his picture i think its a picture of jerma

THIS IS JUST FUCKING JERMA WITH A BEARD. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA