#keep your hands OFF time travel rachel

[genericpuff]

STAY OFF MY TERRITORY - Time Travel in Lore Olympus (feat. Springlock, our resident time traveller)

AH YES. TIME TRAVEL. BUILDING COFFEE TABLES FROM IKEA. BOTH A MESS, BOTH SOMETHING YOU SHOULD NEVER ATTEMPT EVEN AS A GAG.

THERE WILL BE FASTPASS SPOILERS IN THIS ANALYTICAL DISSECTION OF LORE OLYMPUS' TIME TRAVEL !!!

Let's establish the "time travel" in LO first of all - it's briefly introduced by Hecate, who says that Hades isn't in a 'where' but a 'when' , hahahaha i so love time travel jokes /s THIS ISN'T A LAUGHING MATTER-

We had already covered this in the criticisms that Kronos' 'dream comas' would have been better allocated to his time travel abilities, and it seems now Rachel is trying to make that a reality at the last possible minute. I'm going to completely tear apart that reality to present to you why it doesn't work in LO.

Aw, Kronos' time abilities are finite? Get on my level, sir.

The caveat is the existential toll that time travel takes on the jumper, and the fact that in most cases, it's impossible to perform due to paradoxes. And Lore Olympus' time travel presents a lot of paradoxes. No wonder Kronos went crazy, I'm going crazy just thinking about everything that's wrong with this.

So Hades is trapped 'somewhere' in time. This isn't something I haven't seen before, but the issue it presents is getting someone back to their present time, as it presents the first paradox -

PARADOX #1 - There are no accidents. If someone is to jump into a timeline outside of their own, even if by 'accident', that would still have to be predestined by the timeline itself. This is in line with the grandfather paradox, which I will let the almighty Google define for us all to keep things brief:

You cannot travel back in time 'by accident'. If you were to travel back in time, it would have been written into the script of reality already, so any effects caused by your jumping would be purposeful, even if they seem like 'accidents' to you - such as becoming your own grandfather, Philip J Fry.

Moving on, in the most recent FastPass episode, Melinoe reveals that she was taken from her timeline by Kronos.

PARADOX #2 - Which version of Kronos took her? Was it the present version travelling into the future to take her from her timeline into his present? Or was it some future version of Kronos who has escaped yet again at some point in the future and then travelled back into the past to interfere with the events of the current present, possibly in an attempt to rewrite the script? If it's the latter, this means that Hera and Persephone can't feasibly stop Kronos indefinitely, as to stop Kronos would mean that he wouldn't exist in the future to take Melinoe from her future timeline and thus this present timeline of events would cease to exist. If we want to get even more granular with it, 'present' Kronos is still 'past' Kronos as it's the Kronos from ten years ago who got his hands on a deity to help him mess with people's dreams, and that deity has been revealed to be Melinoe, who would have had to be ripped from some point in their future timeline. This falls in line with a temporal paradox, or as most people know it, the 'kill baby Hitler' paradox, which designates that one cannot go back in time to kill baby Hitler, as killing baby Hitler would remove all the subsequent events that would lead up to you deciding to build a time machine and go back in time to kill baby Hitler.

Melinoe claims she's only been here a few days. That would be all well and good, as time is funny like that - I've done my fair share of jumps into the distant past only to return a few minutes later - but what doesn't line up is the present timeline of events that would only work unless she's actually been trapped for longer than a few days.

PARADOX #3 - So it's only been a few days, but Hades and Persephone have known about this child trapped in Tartarus for weeks, and we know Kronos has had her since the dream diving arc back near the end of S2. So unless Kronos is simply jumping to different points in time to cause shenanigans - which leads to even MORE paradoxes as you feasibly cannot travel to your own past to change it due to it creating a different future - then it can't have only been a 'few days' for Melinoe, it would have been at least a few weeks, giving some wiggle room to the past events of her appearing before Hades in his dreams due to her being the goddess of nightmares. Kronos escaping Tartarus after using Melinoe to put people to sleep and possess them was not something that happened in a pocket dimension, it was very real and very present.

Hades commits an even bigger sin, however, and the biggest issue with this 'time travel' plotline:

PARADOX #4 - I truly hope 'home' means 'home point in her timeline' and not their literal home. Hades and Persephone cannot take Melinoe, for two reasons: they haven't had their daughter yet, and the future timeline versions of Hades and Persephone need their daughter back. If Hades and Persephone were to adopt this version of Melinoe in their present timeline, it would create a clone paradox, as they would have a duplicate Melinoe from the future, OR it would create the grandfather paradox if they opted not to try for a child knowing they already have Melinoe which would erase the whole sequence of events that led to future Melinoe's birth in the first place.

Ultimately Lore Olympus' time travel suffers from the same issue many time travel stories suffer from - not having consistent rules. It is choosing now , near the finale of the series, to introduce time travel, rather than establishing it back in Season 1 when Kronos was first hinted at. It's also still not clear in what Hades' role is in this, as him being taken to a 'when' could still be read as a dream sequence rather than actual time travel. After all, Kronos supposedly "exhausted" his time travelling powers centuries ago - surely as a way for Rachel to have her cake and cover for the fact that she's had Kronos in the series since S1 and never actually had him do what he's known for - but now she's trying to eat it too by just giving him his time travel powers again for no reason besides rewriting the dream diving finale from S2 but with ambiguous time travel instead.

It's all a huge mess and the best thing I can do for myself is simply not let it keep me up at night. I have enough time travelling problems to worry about as it is. I will be sticking to the Austin Powers method -

(I am not enjoying myself.)

[rei-ismyname]

Avengers Vs X-Men and the demonisation of Cyclops

Part 1

Avengers Vs X-Men, or AvX, was a Summer crossover event in 2012. The title is pretty self explanatory, but there's a lot more to it than that. It was a bookend of sorts of the Extinction era and a coda for Wanda (and her terrible characterisation) calling back to House of M, narratively undoing the Decimation and exploring Hope's role as the Mutant Messiah.

I believe plenty of the dramatis personae played idiot ball hot potato and acted out of character, especially Steve Rogers. However, I'll primarily be looking at the event through a Watsonian lens, except for discussing the setup and aftermath. Scott Summers struggled against many forces during the Phoenix crisis but I propose the narrative was the most powerful force that opposed him.

Logan is describing himself here, ironically. Scott is quite happy with Emma. He talks a good one about 'keeping the kids out of the fighting' but he's perfectly willing to kill Hope and his students fight constantly.

Wolverine and the Schism

To do a proper analysis of AvX and the central conflict, we need to examine the previous instance of the narrative defeating Scott - the Schism. The salient dynamic to carry forward from it was Logan and Scott falling out - or Logan throwing a hypocritical tantrum - depending on your point of view. Whichever you believe, it's undeniable that Logan resented Scott and managed to enlist a lot of people to follow on his campaign of 'anti-Scott.' He left Utopia and restarted the Xavier School, renaming it The Jean Grey School - both creepy and petty, in my opinion. The narrative and Cyclops' team kept all the genocidal threats away from the school, an editorial hand strengthening Logan's argument. Realistically the school should have been destroyed several times over.

My editorialising aside, Scott and Logan's relationship was not in a good place. They'd mostly kept away from each other, but Logan used his Avengers membership to escalate the Phoenix dilemma and poison the well re: the Avengers' approach to Scott. Aside from vague and fragmented warnings from Nova, Logan was The Avengers only source of information on the Phoenix - and he was heavily biased and objectively wrong. The somewhat one-sided rivalry from Schism had turned into outright animosity - telling 'everyone who'd listen ... that he was crazy.'

Phoenix Rising

The X-Men and Avengers both received confirmation of the Phoenix's arrival, though mutants in general had varying degrees of faith that it would come for Hope Summers specifically. As mentioned, Logan positioned himself as an expert despite Rachel Summers, long time Phoenix host, teaching at his school. Scott absolutely had an agenda, but it was reactive and had good reason to believe that the Phoenix had good intentions. Though even if he didn't, he didn't call the Phoenix to Earth. The bird does as it pleases. He certainly could/should have treated Hope like an adult and asked what she wanted, but at the same time she was a 16 year old in his care.

Scott's approach was to prepare Hope as best he could for the trial to come, admittedly quite harshly. He knew there was no getting away from the Phoenix, it's simply too powerful to evade or fight head on. He also should have consulted Rachel, though he corrected that mistake swiftly once things kicked off. Not only was he married to the Phoenix for quite some time but he's aware it's spent a lot of time on earth at least 6 different hosts and the Earth is doing just fine. Importantly, his time-travelling son had been to many futures where Hope was denied the Phoenix and they were ashes, the Earth a desolate wasteland. In futures where she did host the Phoenix, mutants were reignited. His extensive time travelling had yielded very reliable information in the past, his claim that Hope was the Mutant Messiah is not one Scott just took on faith. Cable is an expert in such things AND he raised Hope from birth.

He also had a personal connection to the Phoenix.

The Avengers' strategy was twofold - taking Hope into protective custody while Iron Man 'worked on a science solution' - and sending their most powerful members to go punch the Phoenix before it got to Earth. Operating off Logan's dubious intel, they packed every Avenger they could find onto a Helicarrier and headed for the mutant island proto nation of Utopia. They also didn't really share that apparently the Phoenix is just a fickle cosmic troll now, allegedly just blowing up planets on a whim. Yes, Dark Phoenix ate a star and genocided a planet, but that was after immense psychological trauma and needless escalation. Even then, it was nearly talked down (by Scott) until Charles Xavier butted in and tried to overpower it. Hopefully he's not arrogant enough to try that again (he is.) Since then, many mutants had hosted the Phoenix and they're all doing fine.

The Avengers had nothing but bad intel, whereas the X-Men had empirical evidence and decades of experience dealing with the Phoenix.

We need to take Hope

Member of the Illuminati's finest diplomacy

Neither man does a great job communicating here, but the onus is on Cap to explain why he's coming to take your granddaughter based on advice from the Stabbing Guy. He presents no plan (they don't have one) and ignores the suggestion that his expert is not an expert. Scott and co were preparing for what has historically been an internal mutant matter when an army arrives on their doorstep telling them how it's going to be. After a failure to reach any sort of middle ground (not that Cap was offering any) Scott responded to Cap's refusal to leave by blasting him non-lethally.

I wasn't asking

All other X-Men are being oddly timid here. Nice title drop, Spider-Man.

'Wants us to look like bullies' says Tony AKA the military industrial complex and founder of the Illuminati. The Avengers get their mandate from the United States and answer to the President and SHIELD, but generally act as they please. Their sense of righteousness is a constant throughout this event and they absolutely act like bullies from start to finish.

Magneto launched Colossus at the Helicarrier (that thing launching at least 12 jets with ~30 powerful superhumans on it) to deny them a force multiplier and press their initiative, though once all Avengers deployed the best they could do was hold the line while Hope was kept safe. The Avengers wanted Hope and the X-Men were determined to protect her.

Remember, dipshit? Stabbing the Phoenix isn't effective. You should know this.

Showing he'd learnt nothing from Jean Grey, any other Phoenix experiences, House of M, decades of knowing Rachel Summers, etc - and in a stunning act of hypocrisy - Logan snuck away from the fight to kill Hope. She manifested Phoenix powers (way before it reached Earth) and burnt him to a crisp. Spooked by the situation and guilty people were fighting over her, Hope fled and successfully sent everyone on a wild goose chase trying to find her.

While both teams were scrambling and pummeling each other, Hope found Logan and proposed a bipartisan plan - they'd travel to the moon and Hope would accept the Phoenix. If she could handle it, great. If not, she'd willingly let Logan kill her. The agreement was to keep the others out of it - she wanted agency over her life and didn't want brawling superhumans ruining her zen. Logan betrayed her and told the Avengers, of course.

Iron Man's genius science solution

The X-Men and Avengers arrived and really ruined the mood. Logan was straight up trying to kill Scott. Just as Hope was about to host the Phoenix, Tony fucking Stark displayed the Avengers' complete lack of Phoenix experience and his own personal arrogance by activating that Transformers-looking thing up there. Everyone held their breath while he shot it with a big gun and something unexpected happened.

Out of Hope

Unsurprisingly this unexpected happening was an utter disaster, splitting the Phoenix into five pieces that ended up in Piotr, Emma Frost, Namor, Ilyana, Scott (or P.E.N.I.S if you're puerile like me.) The Phoenix Five were born against their consent and now The Avengers had 5 problems to deal with instead of one. In terms of culpability it's important to recognise that none of the P5 planned for this or wanted it - The Avengers and especially Tony bullied their way into this situation. Unfortunately, The Phoenix is kinda like the mafia - once you're in you can't leave, so the P5 are stuck with the results of the Avengers' non-plan. In fact, everyone is stuck with the fruit of their arrogance and The Avengers especially do not like the bitter taste. As they're still making demands of them, the X-Men regroup to process what happened. They eventually reach consensus on how to proceed, and the Avengers antagonise them every step of the way. They're convinced that this means the Earth is doomed, and blame the P5 and especially Scott for being there when Tony tried to kill a cosmic fundamental force of creation.

Sure, they're talking like lunatics, kinda. Maybe like people unexpectedly possessed by a godlike being? Completely ignoring who caused this and forgetting how possession works, Cap doubles down on 'we're right and you're wrong.' The P5 are villains now, you can tell because they want to take Hope to help her 🙄.

In part 2, The Phoenix Five explore benevolent uses of cosmic power and the Avengers keep acting like paranoid control freaks. The whole world has to decide how they feel about that, and opinions are mixed.

[nanowrimo]

10 Tips for Fast-Drafting

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Freewrite, a 2023 NaNo sponsor, is a dedicated distraction-free drafting device designed just for writers. Today, author Ashley Poston and the Freewrite team share some tips for completing a first draft of your novel quickly:

Hello from the Freewrite team! 👋 Here at Freewrite, we love a NaNoWriMo challenge, because we’re all about getting words on the page. We asked Author & Freewrite Ambassador Ashley Poston to share her best tips for fast-drafting and getting that first draft DONE!

No surprise, one of her secrets is her Freewrite. But what else does Ashley do to get those drafts done fast?

Here’s Ashley:

I have a confession to make: I hate drafting. It’s the bane of my existence. If I could reach into my brain and take out my story, fully-formed, and just work on the editing bit? I’d do it.

But, alas, that’s not how writing works. (Which is a real pity because I really do love editing. The way you go in with a fine-tooth comb and just torch the entire novel, then rewrite it for the third time. It’s truly majestic.)

Though after ten years, I’ve yet to figure out a way to pull a novel, fully-formed, out of my ears. So, instead, I like making the part of drafting as painless as possible… by doing the most painful, maddening, infuriating thing imaginable.

In other words: fast-drafting.

I’ve perfected the art. I can write a book in a week if I have enough caffeine and a death wish, and with these ten tips, so can you.

1. Find your characters.

Truly, the most important part of fast-drafting is knowing your characters from the outset. In a first draft, you usually find your characters in the middle of the second-to-last chapter. (Or is that just me?) So it often helps to know your characters inside and out from the start. Not only that, but know how they’d react in certain situations, know what would be on their Spotify playlist, know whether they’d have a repertoire of Your Mom jokes up their sleeve. How do they take their coffee? If faced with ten seconds to live, who would they call? Most of these questions you’ll never answer in the manuscript itself, but it’s important to know these people in your head on an intimate level.

2. Use your time(r) wisely.

Setting a timer can be a great way to increase your writing speed. Start with a short amount of time—maybe 15 minutes—and write like the wind, Bullseye! Then shake yourself out, set that timer to 15 again, and repeat. (This is SO easy on my Freewrite Traveler, because it has a feature that keeps time for you, making 15-minute sprints easy-peasy.)

3. Outline.

In addition to your characters, you really should get to know your plot, too, and a great way to do that is making an outline! There are a bunch of different tips and tricks to outlining—I personally use Susan Dennard’s 1-page Synopsis whenever I need to hash out a plot, and Rachel Aaron’s 2k to 10k Blogpost from Ye Olde 2011.

4. No distractions!

Writing is already hard enough, but it becomes almost impossible when you have a cat pronking on you every chance they get. Sometimes, life can just be that—distracting—and you can’t do anything about it. But minimize distractions wherever you can, especially if you’re sprinting. Turn off your phone! Disconnect the internet! And here is where I tell you my Freewrite has saved my butt countless times. I’m horrid at the whole “cut distractions!” bit, but with Freewrite, it’s easy as pie. It’s a lot like a typewriter, so internet? Never heard of her. iMessages? iThinkNot. It’s just you, your words, and the mounting existential dread of existence.  

5. Compression gloves. (No, seriously, especially if you write every day.)

This is gonna sound like one of those weird ones—and that’s because it is. But if you’re planning on writing every day for at least an hour, please do yourself (and your budding carpel tunnel) a favor and get some compression gloves. Learn some hand exercises. We don’t call writing fast “sprinting” for nothing.

6. Don’t look back.

It’s so easy to get caught up in trying to perfect the prologue, but this can absolutely hinder you. Take it from someone who loves to make the first chapter perfect—you never will. I promise. Instead, focus on getting your ideas down on paper and worry about editing later. I promise that sentence you didn’t like will be there when you come back to it. It’s not going anywhere. This is another area where my Freewrite helps me focus.

7. Use prompts!

Sometimes, your brain gets stuck. If you feel stuck, or in a corner, use a writing prompt to get the creative juices flowing again! Maybe you’ll never use the scene, but that’s OK. If it means you get going again? That’s what matters. 

8. Stuck? Hit the bricks! Real winners quit. But like… not forever.

Writing can be mentally draining, so it’s important to not push yourself too hard, and to take breaks when you need it. Take a walk, stretch, dance it out to ABBA—whatever helps you recharge. And then when you come back to the scene, you’re refreshed and rearing to go.

9. Chunk it up.

Breaking up your writing into smaller, manageable chunks can make drafting so much less daunting. Instead of making the goal finishing the novel, just finish the chapter. Finish this scene. Sometimes, it helps if people set a goal for a certain amount of words a day, but I find that this often just leads to burnout a lot faster. Instead of a word count, set a goal for a scene instead. Turn off the word counter. A first draft doesn’t have to hit a certain number of words—it’s called a first draft for a reason.

10. Practice makes more practice.

Like anything else you do, writing takes practice. I know I can easily hit 5k a day, but that’s because I’ve been writing professionally for a decade now. If you’re just starting out, don’t compare yourself to anyone else. (In fact, this is a great rule of thumb regardless.) Everyone writes differently, and everyone writes in their own time. No one ever asked Van Gogh how long it took him to paint sunflowers, did they? No one told Monet he was taking too long on his water lilies. Writing is an art, so let yourself enjoy it.

I hope this helps you, at least a little, write your next sexy dragon-shifter book! (Or whatever you’re working on.) Godspeed, and just remember: only you can write the idea in your head. Different writers can be given the same exact prompt, and every single story will turn out differently. Keep your eyes on your own paper, your heart full of joy, and chase that story only you can tell.

It’ll be worth it, I promise.

—Ashley

Reminder: Camp NaNoWriMo 2023 participants are eligible for a special Freewrite offer. Find all the details here. 

Ashley Poston is the New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of The Dead Romantics. After graduating from the University of South Carolina with a bachelor’s in English, she spent the last decade working in the publishing industry before deciding to pursue writing full-time. When not writing, she likes trying various arts and crafts (she’s currently addicted to building miniature rooms) and taking long walks as an excuse to listen to Dungeons & Dragons podcasts. She bides her time between South Carolina and New York, and all the bookstores between.

Top photo by Djim Loic on Unsplash  

[talismns]

𝙵𝙸𝙻𝙴:/// 𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗬 𝗟𝗜𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗦𝗛. 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚞𝚜: alive.

(  kathryn newton  .  cis woman  .  she/her  )  .    ⸻  wendy walsh  ,  a  twenty-six  year  old  ,  has  survived  another  day  in  red  creek  where  they  have  lived  for  her entire life, until college  .  the  gregarious  is  known  for  being  energetic  and  dramatic  and  is  often  associated  with  smiling at strangers, pink lipstick kisses on a napkin with your phone number, and wild, unruly hair  .  in  a  small  town  where  they  work  as  a volunteer at red creek library,  word  travels  fast  .  it’s  hard  to  keep  a  secret  ,  and  it  looks  like  the  boogeyman  knows  that  [SIRENS BLARING].

𝗕𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗦.

full name. wendy lillian walsh age & birthday. 26 & september 28 astrology. libra sun, leo moon, aquarius rising sexuality. bisexual hometown. red creek, mi current residence. san francisco, ca traits. charming, energetic, sharp, dramatic, apprehensive, sensitive mbti. enfj-a, the protagonist alignment. neutral good temperament. sanguine references. erin quinn ( derry girls ), rachel green ( friends ), sutton brady ( the bold type ), andie anderson ( how to lose a guy in 10 days )

𝗛𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗬.

finn’s intro did a good job summarizing some of this stuff but if you want the long-winded version, then you came to the right place <3

wendy and finn are the luckiest mfers on the planet with the parents they got. henry and thea are kind, patient, generous, supportive, and about every other adjective you could think of when you’re trying to describe the world’s most perfect parents. like must be nice 😐 naturally, wendy grows up pretty fearless. she’s not afraid to ask questions, not afraid of laughing too loud — not afraid of being annoying, i mean. you can imagine what happens when she starts school :/

kids are mean! and wendy’s teeth are a little too big for her mouth, and her hair’s a little too big for her head, and she wants the gold star in every lesson every day forever, so she’s an easy target if i’ve ever seen one :/ the bullying is pretty severe, and wendy doesn’t have thick skin the way finn does. it doesn’t slide off of her. for most of her elementary school years, she comes home crying at least once a week. her parents try their best to console her, and even offer to speak to her teachers for her, but wendy knows that it’ll just be more ammunition to be used against her. so she just deals. she can fight her own battles! ( she cried on the grass every day during recess </3 )

middle school is probably the seventh circle of hell, and wendy is no exception. to make things worse, she got braces 😐 all this to say, despite the bullying, and despite how much of it wendy took to heart, she still never really backs down from being herself. she’s still the most eager student in every class, still the first to raise their hand at a question. and you bet your ass people hated her for reminding the teacher about the project presentations everyone was supposed to do. she spent all weekend researching her topic and making models! of course she wants to present! her room can’t have looked like a glitter bomb exploded in there for nothing

and now we get to high school where we really start cooking with gas. it’s a classic summer transformation. wendy hits puberty, her braces come off, she figures out how to manage her curly hair— it’s still curly, it just doesn’t look like a rat’s nest anymore. the teasing stops almost instantaneously. she gets asked on a date for the first time and wendy is so surprised, she says no. after the initial shock though, wendy begins to lean into it. she joins the cheerleading team, and begins to run around with that crowd. it isn’t her only focus though. she’s still her. so she’s in a million extracurriculars on top of juggling her now flourishing social life. her calendar’s a nightmare of sticky notes and color coded events. even her naps are planned. once she said “pencil you in” to finn and he flipped her off

all of it pays off though because she graduates with a near flawless gpa and is accepted into the university of san francisco with a full ride <3 she’s been in sf ever since because a year after graduating, she was offered her dream job with her dream company yay <3

( cancer tw ) wendy comes back to red creek frequently enough, usually at least the holidays and then she tends to try and make a few trips throughout the year but only for a week at a time. with her mom sick though, wendy’s taken a leave of absence at her job to be with her family and her beloved apartment is currently being subleased. so that’s why she’s back womp womp

terrible timing too because even though finn is happy to use the murders as a distraction, wendy is absolutely not like that. she LIKES her boring small town where nothing happens. she wants nothing to happen everywhere forever!!!!

𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬.

wendy’s full of a lot of life. she’s charming and bright and eager; one could argue that as a first impression, it can be a bit much. despite how extroverted she is though, she’s not too quick to trust people. she rarely trusts her first impression, having been all too familiar with a kind gesture or a smile being used as bait for something more sinister. she’ll trust her second though, and wendy doesn’t do anything without putting her whole heart into it. still, she’s the type who puts her career first— who lets everything fall to second position in her pursuit for success. she’s not really a #girlboss by any means, it’s just her favorite type of validation.

i think wendy tries as hard as she can to be kind to people and most of the time she does succeed! my sweet girl <3 she does have a bit of a superiority complex though and can think of herself as better than others and sometimes it rly shows :/ but for the most part wendy is never really mean spirited, she can just come off a bit arrogant sometimes. which, can you blame her. she tries harder than anyone else and literally always busts her ass

𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗖𝗔𝗡𝗢𝗡𝗦.

songs. rock with you ( michael jackson ), you're so vain ( carly simon ), vintage ( niki ) movie. notting hill show. sex and the city book. black swan, eve babitz season. summer color. pink

she has a little beagle named blue ☹️ and she brought her with him to red creek. he is not well behaved <3

funny combination of incredibly high standards but also desperate for love. she'll go on a date with anyone who gives her even the slightest bit of validation but it takes her soooo much to actually commit bc she's too picky lmao

very much an article girly 🫶 she has a subscription to the ny times, and i’m not joking she starts her day off with matcha and an article she’s also always sending articles to people, it’s her love language!!!

terrible terrible lightweight. will be under the table two shots in. but also an aggressive drunk who wants to fight everyone even though she's tiny and HAS gotten kicked out of bars for her behavior. also very prone to getting hurt while drinking. because she’s aggressive while drunk

sorority girl 😭 she joined during her second year of college and it’s where she met a lot of her closest college friends. the connections she made in it also helped her secure her current job !!

gets white coat syndrome. she’s still pretty good about getting a check up once a year but she dreads doing it and cannot stand the sight of blood or gore. it makes her queasy

wendy’s all time favorite show is sex and the city!!! she loves the girls, and she always tells people she can’t wait for her thirties when she can be in her satc era. and carrie bradshaw is the one who inspired her to embrace her natural curls <3

𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗞𝗦.

playlist. / pinterest.

[deathsweetblossoms]

Flower Face: an Elain Archeron playlist

This is my love letter to Elain Archeron, my interpretation of what she sounds like were she to exist as music. Consider this more as an experience and less a list of songs with lyrics that relate to Elain. @elainarcheronweek

My Elain is made up in part of deeply personal headcanons, plus versions of her in works by @bloomingdarkgarden (What Bloomed in the Dark Garden) and @thefangirlofhp (sillage). She is Danielle De Barbarac, a quiet girl with a rich internal world and a heart capable of feeling every emotion ten fold. She has one foot in The Dreaming world of the mystics, and one foot in her rapidly evolving life in Velaris. She wants to be seen for who she is and loved for who she is, gardening-scarred hands and all. She quietly yearns for someone she can't have, never once sharing her woes with any of her sisters. She brings things to life and values learning, creation, travel. This is a musical journey that represents my interpretation of Elain's soul, her internal world, her life in Velaris, her hopes for the future. (It is Elriel leaning, as a disclaimer, because ... I simply cannot help it.) I started off the journey with nature sounds, because Elain is so deeply tied to the land in my mind, and with lush, atmospheric music representing how she presents to the world. As the list goes on, we go deeper and more secrets are revealed until the songs become almost entirely instrumental (moody and brooding in nature to represent an emotional landscape). There are songs in different languages or without words entirely, to represent her displacement into an unfamiliar land, in a changed body, and the uprooting of her ingrained beliefs about that land and the creatures living there; about her integration into the Night Court and her insistence that she belongs. It ends with her prayer to The Mother.

SONGLIST

(Sometimes I will include my decisions for including certain pieces. Other times, I hope you can glean your own meaning &lt;;3) PART I

(nature sounds)

I often imagine Elain waking up at sunrise, before the rest of the city, and just imbibing the land, the birds, the flowers. Noticing things other's don't notice. Seeking solace among nature.

James Newton Howard - A Hidden Life (instrumental)

Mariee Sioux - Wild Eyes tiny darling ghost holder you our soft spirit breather... you plant your burderns way deep down in

Wickerbird - Llewellyn sleep, interred within old Avalon

A song that evokes visions, dreams, prophecy, distant lands

AURORA - Under the Water under the water, we can't breathe we can't breathe under the water, we die hearts will dream again lungs will breathe in feet won't fail you now arms won't let you down

This song has been on my Elain playlist since the start. I always reminds me of her journey into the cauldron, the terror and grief that befell her afterward, and learning how to keep going despite everything.

Flower Face - Cornflower Blue i wanna lay on the kitchen floor with you i wanna do all the things that lovers do bruised on your face like a watercolour bloom moonlight paints your skin cornflower blue

Elain develops feelings for a quiet Shadowsinger...

Steven Price - Ophelia (instrumental) Jean Luc Lenoir - The Mermaid's Croon (instrumental)

"The quiet dreamer"

Ane Brun - Joga (live version) all that no one sees, you see what's inside of me every nerve that hurts, you heal deep inside of me you don't have to speak i feel emotional landscapes

This is a quintessential Elriel song for me, so perfectly capturing how I believe she feels about him (how they feel about each other, honestly).

AURORA - Exist for Love and then you take me in and everything in me begins to feel like I belong

Joe Hisaishi - Heartbroken Kiki (instrumental)

Rachel Portman - Three Women (instrumental)

Elain, Nuala, and Cerridwen's blossoming friendship. Them in the kitchen learning how to make bread, them teaching Elain how to slyfoot, them whispering secrets about lovers and childhood to each other.

PART II (Powers Awakening, Hidden Secrets of the Magic of Velaris, Witches and Mystics)

AURORA - The Forbidden Fruits of Eden (an interlude)

Powers brimming just below the surface, unseen, but felt by Elain.

(nature sounds)

Elain starts visiting the Sidra more and more as her powers develop stronger. I just imagine her sitting by the water, with a scarf around her head, and a small picnic basket, just enjoying the quiet and thinking about her visions and dreams.

Thomas Newman - Starlit (instrumental)

Night-blooming Jasmine, Elain discovers her place in the shadows of Velaris

Karliene - The Fields of Ard Skellig

Elain digs her fingers into the soil of Velaris and night-blooming flowers blossom all around her. She learns the secrets of the mystics and how to control her powers. Our Lady Kingslayer comes into her own and surprises everyone with her strength of spirit.

The Naked and the Famous - Teardrop night, night of matter black flowers blossom fearless on my breath Runah - Witch how she bathes in it she never had a lover that said her name before the way it drops from his lips it's like she's never heard her name sound like a song and she craves it oh she has woken the witch she's becoming Kati Ran - Vinda slowly the journey goes like the walk of an old man seeking in waves and seeking in sand hear the psalm of the wind, its being sung over the mountain and you, will you listen to the melody in the evening Mykur - Nordlys (instrumental) Thomas Newman - Luthien Tinuviel (instrumental) Agnes Obel - Rosian (instrumental) Helisir - Brisingamen (instrumental) Johannes Bornlof - Wolfpack (instrumental) Honey Gentry - Aphrodite Aphrodite, hear my pain I want to fall in love again Not in love with a man of this world Fall in love with life itself

Elain's prayer to the mother

[spaceorphan18]

Ok if you were going to write one of these Glee/Bridgerton AUs, which would you pick: (1) It takes place in the Bridgerton world, but Blaine replaces Colin and Kurt replaces Penelope (2) it takes place in the Glee world, but Colin replaces Blaine and Penelope replaces Kurt.

Elaborations and tangents most appreciated!

Sorry, Nonny, I couldn't help it. It's been kind of hilarious as of late to realize just how much all of my favorite ships/stories have similar dynamics in them. And I'm not even trying!!

This is a fascinating question though...

Option 1: I still feel like I can write Klaine in my sleep, so this would probably be the easier one to write. However - this historical romance thing with them has done a lot, and I feel like I've read it a lot. Most notably, a fic I really enjoyed back in the day was The Gilded Cage which takes place in the late 19th century opposed to the early 19th century, but it's a really good exploration of what their dynamics might be like in a much earlier period of time.

Option 2: I don't feel comfortable enough with Pen and Colin to write them, but a modern day interpretation of their story would be fascinating. I probably wouldn't put them in the Glee world, though. Those poor characters do not deserve the Ryan Murphy treatment. (Though having Rachel Berry interact with anyone outside her own universe is always hilarious.)

You could do a rom-com thing with them though set in modern day that'd be a lot of fun. Their story would translate pretty easily and be a lot of fun to reinterpret. Like, they could have been friends growing up, and she had a crush on him in high school, and they go off to college in different places, and then end up back in, like, New York City or LA or something. And she'd work for some kind of tabloid and he'd be a travel writer and they kind of rediscover each other and there's professional jealousy and longing and Eloise and Cressida Cowper blackmailing them and omg, I almost want to write this now....

****

I can sketch you out a short little hybrid, though, of Kurt and Blaine's reactions to the show (because it was in my head)...

Season 1 :

Kurt: Oh my god these costumes are amazing! *claps hands* But why the fuck do they keep putting Penelope in yellow? Those dresses are hideous on her - don't they know Nicola Coughlin is a queen?

Blaine: I don't really understand how Simon would rather die than admit he's in love Daphne. Like, what even is that??

Season 2:

Kurt: Do you think I could buy one of the Queen's wigs on ebay when the show finally wraps?

Blaine: Why is Anthony even bothering with the sister? He clearly loves Kate. Why doesn't he just declare it and marry her instead?

Season 3:

Kurt: Cressida Cowper you conniving bitch I do love you, but what the fuck is on your head?

Blaine: I may be having an existential crisis - I think that when they wrote Colin they looked into my soul.

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

It's new year and Mundi is back to writing Titans!

I'm kicking off 2023 by going back to work on a big project of the current working title "Acrida" and it's an idea that's been living rent free in my head probably since season 1 but only recently took real shape. We have all my favorite things and tropes in it - there's time travel, Dad Grayson, his BFF Donna, a tiny, fussing baby with as much personally as her teenager self 👀, loads of humor and loads of angst! I've teased it before already, but since it's going to be a while before I actually start posting chapters (I want to have it finished before I post), I decided I'm going to promote it by dropping a fairly spoiler-free sneak peek whenever I write something I'm particularly happy about! And this nugget here is a result of today's writing session. Enjoy!

Donna rolled her eyes with a laugh, "You're silly. You know that?"

He was about to respond, though with what exactly he wasn’t sure, but then he noticed she was fiddling with something in her hands. When Donna saw his curious look, she flipped the item over so he could examine it from a different angle; he soon realized it was a cheap, disposable camera.

"I got this at a gas station,” she told him, spinning the camera in her hands. It was a standard black rectangle with the Kodak logo printed on it; she had one just like this when they were teenagers — their silly photos are still buried somewhere in a box deep in his walk-in closet at The Wayne Manor. 

Donna handed it to him and shrugged. “Not much compared to my stuff, but it will still do the job.”

“What job?”

Her face softened. “I figured you’d love to have some baby pictures of her. So your memories can be more than just, you know, memories."

Dick weighed the camera in his hand. He didn’t think of that at first, but now that Donna has mentioned it, he did want to have something that would keep the memory of baby Rachel alive. Back home, they didn’t have any baby pictures of either her or Gar, and it was never something any of them particularly cared about until Kory got pregnant and they came back home with their first ultrasound pictures of Mar’i. Kory got very upset that there were no pictures of Gar and Rachel when they were babies that she could add this one to. Dick remembered finding her curled up on the couch with them both with tears in her eyes as she asked them question after question about what they knew about themselves at that time, if they remembered any pictures ever existing, or what their parents had told them in the past. 

He blamed her emotional state on hormones then. But the thought of having to return home without tangible proof that he had held his adopted daughter in his arms when she was just a tiny, fussing baby was unimaginable to him. Now he understood Kory’s grief a little more.

He whispered a quiet "thank you" to Donna as his anger and embarrassment faded and turned into warmth. The silence was broken by an eruption of a sweet baby laugh coming from the other room, and Dick felt himself smiling.

If you want to see more, I'll be posting the sneak peeks under the "Acrida Fic" tag. And if you want to be tagged in sneak peeks and chapters when they come out, let me know! In the meantime, I have one more His Dark Materials sweet one-shot I'll be working on and some Dickkory spice coming your way 👀🥵 my besties put out VDay prompts and gears started turning 😏

[carmasi]

Mercenary For Hire: Legend of a Icy scale

Kyrius keeper, was a warlock, after she was rescue by her father and the man whom she thought was her previous lover, but turned out to be Noah, the Archbishop whom seem to be obsessed with her to a point were a glamor spell caused him to seek her out when she was staying  in Alberta for a while “I’m sorry” she apologize as she hugged a  Biochemist with green hair who smile sadly and shook her head in denial “ it’s okay” she answer as she took off. Kyrius smiles sadly,  the woman who just left was her wife, well ex wife.  During her altercation with Noah Lim the biochemist had come to her aid, she was already a good friend, but their friendship grew too close to something she had confused with love and Lim seemed to have been looking  at someone else as well, when she saw Kyrius. Kyrius sighs sadly as she waved and saw her disappear in the crowd.

Over the next couple of month she was determine to change, to do something different, she had given up on that which people called love and despite Noah still pestering her over his affection for her she just couldn't’ feel anything  for him  or anyone at this point, she still was her normal self and   her bright smile personality  never change , but she was loveless. She had  dedicated her time to being nothing but a  good warlock, and a great adventurer, she took quest after quest to keep herself busy. She had gotten  Runes on her body after all, as a high wizard to improve her elemental mastery, to the point where it was a piece of cake for her to involve a storm. But somehow she was still looked down upon; she still doubted her ability, and who wouldn't when your mother is the poster child for curiosity and invention, a Sorcerer who assisted and was the  second  most trusted advisor to the king. Now she knew how Saya felt.  She sighed,  seated at the  Bar as she went over their current quest list available. 

“If you’re looking for a quest some citizens in Rachel were impressed with your storm feast last, they may want to hire you again” the barkeep quipped as he cleaned one of the beer mugs she looked up at the gentleman with a kind smile. She had taken on that request upon a comment from a dear friend of hers, a high wizard as well “Thanks!” The man blushed, who could even resist Kyrius Keeper Smile?  She took on the quest and made her way to Rachel on the airship. Having some rain come from the sky wasn’t hard anymore,  just a combination of wind and water magic.  The quest was finished  quickly as she then made her way back to Rachel’s Inn where she was staying.  Compared to any other place this was a little  too spiffy, though the citizens were grateful to her “thank you~” she  smiled at the counter boy as he handed over a key to her room. She sighed, tomorrow would be a new  day and she’ll have to head back to Prontera. 

The following afternoon as Kyrius got ready to take the airship back to Izlude and then travel back to her Prontera home, she made a stop  “Hey gramps~” she cheered the man  that was  standing at the  corner of the main plaza  outside of the Rachel Inn “ Oh Kyrius, have you come to get me some of those wonderful Glaciar hearts” Kyrius smile as she nodded and  looked on her bag “sure am,  though you’re the one who’s giving me a good price for them” she explained as she rustle to get the item  requested “ oh yes yes” he cheered as he completed  the transaction, though he sigh “something the matter gramps?” she asked as she noticed the man “ oh ? I can’t ever get anything past you child huh?” she smiled  comforting “if there is anything I can help with i’d be glad” she  replied he shook his head “ oh no sweetheart  you’re a great adventurer but that which I seek  is too rare and too dangerous to obtain” Kyrius was intrigue “ really?” she asked, she has been trying to better herself and  sharpen her skills “ do tell?”  she  asked. 

“Well you see, deep within the ice caves, lives a creature of ice,  which scales are told to be nothing  but crystal, so thin they are almost transparent  and yet so strong and cold as a freeze of winter,  they never melt and unlike the glacial hearts which I get from you it is said to be safe to hold with your bare hands” Kyrius listened to the man  as he spoke “ I dreamed to  get my hand on at least one of those scales, but this creature is  quite  powerful, even  the best adventure struggle to face it”  Kyrius  raised a brown “ a creature in Ice cave which has scales as thin and cold… uhm.. I haven’t heard of such a creature… I will have to  investigate.. If I can help no doubt I will, and I will bring back one of those scales” she smiled as she  departed and made her way to Juno instead,  where she needed to check out some library books.

[teenageread]

Review: People We Meet on Vacation

Initial Thoughts:

This is a classic summertime read! Emily Henry held nothing back as this novel contained romance, adventure, traveling trips, and a lot of sun. What I loved most about this book was all the summer adventures Henry put on characters through, and how we actually got chapters dedicated to the previous summer. Alex and Poppy, friends from freshman year of university, had twelve beautiful summer adventures with each other, in which Henry starts the novel off with them not talking due to what happened two summers ago. This was the best part, and especially how these trips were realistic based on their age and what was happening in their life. There was no jetting off to Mexico fresh out of college, but a realistic mid-America adventure with cheap hotels and even cheaper meals. Henry wrote this novel moving between the present-day Palm Spring trips, past summer vacations marked by their year number, and slowly getting closer from summer 12 to summer 2 which is what ended our dynamic duo before the present day. This added suspense to this novel, as while you were having fun learning about the previous trips and current adventures, you were itching to know what happened during that summer, which made this novel fly through your hands.

Characters:

Henry wrote Poppy and Alex to be complete opposites in style and manner, yet kindred spirits in their hearts. When told from Poppy’s perspective, Henry gave us insight into our loud and colorful girl, who was looking for love in all the wrong places. Her cheery personality made the story shine, and you wanted what was best for Poppy, and supported her as she tried to make this disaster of a trip into the “good old days” despite being too old to go without A/C in July. Unfortunately Poppy is too stuck in the past to see what is happening in front of her, as she tries to make something that is clearly not working work, to hold onto Alex and get their friendship - or relationship - back on track. As we explore previous summers Poppy admits to herself when she first fell in love with Alex, and you can tell he was in love with her from the beginning. After all, how could Alex, our dressed coded, agenda planned, ruler follower of a human, agree to go on a trip that they definitely cannot afford, yet through the sketchy deals and Facebook groups, managed to get there on the cheap. Alex, despite his strictness to life and routines, is someone you can also easily fall for, and I loved that throughout the novel he is consistently nice and gentle in every situation. Side characters in this novel also really pop off, making this story enjoyable for all of Poppy and Alex’s relationships. I love Poppy’s best friend, Rachel, she was a delight every time I heard about her, and I loved how she brought out another side of Poppy that Alex did not. Poppy’s boss, Swpna, was also a delight who added more to Poppy’s idea of the future in a career, which this novel needed. Not many side characters stuck out from Alex’s point of view, besides his ex-girlfriend, who was only a character to give Poppy someone to hate and blame for Alex and her break up. Henry had a knack for characters, and I just loved the connections they built with them throughout the novel through great conversations, and plotlines that make sense, as this slow burn of a romance was built off of years of anticipation. 

Plot / Writing:

Again, I absolutely love the plot of this novel, the focus of two friends and their yearly summer adventures, that Henry actually gave us in every other chapter split from the present day (Palm Springs Trip), to previous summers, as we make our way to the end of the novel, where Henry finally tells us what happened that second summer, and we complete the romance of Poppy and Alex of if our two best friends are meant to be more than friends. With the switching between present days and summer pasts, Henry keeps the plot moving quickly, leaving you wanting to know what their next summer adventure is, and figure out if the tension will ever cool it in Palm Springs. With great banter between Poppy and Alex, the characters felt real, and thus the decisions they made mattered to you as a reader. Where there was a bit of sex in the novel, I felt it was fine enough and late enough in the novel to make sense, and where graphic, Henry made it appropriately timed to really add more flair to the story. With some unexpected twists happening throughout, this book reads and feels like a rom-com and is the perfect read for any summer vacation. 

Conclusion: 

Emily Henry wrote the perfect summer story of sunny beaches, adventures, misadventures, and a whole lot of romance and missed opportunities and Poppy and Alex, two summer best friends, finally open up about their feelings in the best possible way. Truly a summer rom-com in a novel, and I cannot wait for the movie to come out! 

[jrhughes]

Fear and Deliverance

Genesis 32:1-32

Sunday, January28, 2024

Golden Text:       And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. - Genesis 32:13-15

Introduction: Today we are going to study Jacob’s return to the promised land of Canaan to his father Isaac. Jacob originally left his family 20 years earlier after he and his mother had deceived Isaac and received a blessing for Jacob which Isaac intended for Esau. Esau was extremely upset and said that as soon as his father died he was going to kill Jacob.

It is interesting to note that this contest between the brothers started when the two of them were in the womb of their mother Rebekah.  There, there was a great struggle within her womb and when she asked the Lord what it meant, she was told that two nations were in her womb and she was told that the elder would serve the younger. It is interesting to note that God spoke to the family, in this case, though Rebekah the wife and mother, which was a bit unusual because God usually spoke through the father/husband.

Once the two young men grew, one time Esau was out hunting and Jacob was home with his mother as usual and was preparing pottage. Esau came out from hunting and was famished and Jacob, who is a deceiver and supplanter, took full advantage of the situation and said to the very hungry Esau, Sell me your birthright. Esau had been born first, only by a few minutes, but the firstborn was going to either get all of the father’s wealth or a large portion of it. Esau succumbed to his hunger and said to Jacob what good is the birthright, feed me that pottage, lest I die, in exchange for his birthright position as number one.

Although Isaac knew of these events, and that God had said the elder shall serve the younger, Isaac intended to go against the will of God and give the blessing that Esau would have had by being firstborn back to Esau even though God had clearly told them the elder would serve the younger. Rebekah and Jacob devised plans to deceive an older Isaac who had trouble seeing and may have had trouble in his tasting ability because when Rebekah made savory meat, she took the meat from the goats and made it taste like venison. Anyway they convinced Isaac that Jacob was Esau and Isaac blessed Jacob with the blessings of the firstborn.

Shortly after this encounter Esau came in and was told that the blessing that Isaac was going to gice to Esau was already given to Jacob and Jacob would indeed get that blessing. Esau was very, very angry. He literally cried and asked his father for another blessing. The father told him that he would give him a blessing but Jacob had received the firstborn blessing. That is when Esau became so angry that he threatened to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac their father had died.

Rebekah heard this and about that same time Esau had married another Canaanite woman as his wife. Knowing these two facts, Rebekah convinced Isaac to join her in telling Jacob to go to the land of her brother Laban and there to find a wife, who was not Canaanite.

Off to Haran: Jacob traveled some 500 miles and early on in the travels he laid down his head on a stone and that night saw angels going up and down a ladder from heaven to earth. Furthermore, Jacob had seen the Lord at the top of the ladder. And Jacob had made a promise that if God would keep him when he would come back, he would then serve Him as God.

Jacob went to Laban. The first meeting was with the daughter of Laban, Rachel, when Rachel came to water her sheep. Jacob told Rachel who he was. Jacob was very interested in the very beautiful well favored Rachel and had worked out a deal with his uncle Laban to serve 7 years to marry Rachel as agreed upon between Laban and Jacob. However, on the wedding night, Laban substituted Leah.

Apparently in the dark and with the bridal coverings and the veil Jacob did not know it was Leah that night, but discovered it the next morning. Jacob went to Laban very upset, incensed, But Laban had a deal for him. After Leah gets her week (honeymoon?) Jacob could serve Laban seven more years and after only 1 week Laban would give Jacob Rachel, also to be the wife of Jacob. Jacob had no other alternative but to agree and started working now for Rachel.

After the 14 years were up, Jacob asked Laban to send him away. In the meantime God had prospered the efforts of Jacob and Laban had gained much wealth and prosperity. Laban wanted to continue this so he told Jacob basically you name your price and I will agree to it.

Flocks and herds of sheep and goats were generally speaking white, without any other color in their coats at all. The ones with color in them were not highly regarded so Jacob said you give me those with color in them and I will serve you for them. And so he made the agreement. Ten times Laban changed the “deal” but each time he did so God countered it by having the stronger animals mate and come up with the better offspring.

After 6 more years of service the sons of Laban (who stood to inherit their fathers wealth) decided that all that he, Jacob, had earned through his labors really belonged to their father and they convinced their father who also began to believe perhaps the sons were correct and Jacob realized that he was (perhaps) about to lose everything that he had earned in the last 6 years.

Jacob then talked to his 2 wives out in the field where he was keeping his own animals and asked them if they wanted to return back to the land of promise with him. Jacob informed them that God had told him it was time to go home. The two daughters of Laban agreed that all that had been accomplished by their husband Jacob belonged to him and to them and their families. Laban shortly thereafter went to shear his sheep and was gone for a week.

During that time when Laban was gone, Jacob Leah and Rachel and the two handmaids and all the company and all the livestock that he had acquired left and went with him on the way back to the Promised Land.

Laban pursues Jacob: When Laban returned from shearing sheep he was told what had happened and he and his men went after Jacob and his company. Seven days later Laban overtook them. God spoke to Laban in a dream and told him not to be harsh with Jacob. Apparently Laban realized that he was not only going to have to battle with Jacob and his people, but God would be on the side of Jacob. Rather than take them all on he made a covenant with Jacob. They set up a pillar and neither one was to pass that pillar to do any harm to the other. Then Laban kissed his daughters and left and went back to his land.

Message Text: Genesis 32:1-32

1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 And when Jacob saw them, he said, This is God's host: and he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

The angels of God met him After God has told him to return to his home and his wives had agreed, Jacob went on his way. And to confirm that he was in the will of God, the angels of God met him. And when he realized these were the angels of God, he exclaimed this is God’s host. He called the name of that place Mahanaim. Mahanaim means “two camps.”

3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

Verse 3 tells us Jacob sent messengers to Esau. As you will recall, Esau is the older twin brother of Jacob. Esau had vowed to kill Jacob as soon as Isaac their father died. This was part of the reason that Jacob fled from Canaan in the first place.

We find out that after the return to Canaan, the two discovered that they had too much livestock to dwell together. Thus Esau (brother of Jacob) left the land of Canaan and then moved to the land of Seir in the country of Edom.

Seir means "hairy" or "shaggy" and Edom means “red.” The reason that is important is because that describes Esau. He was a hairy man who also had some redness about him. As you will recall, in the eyes of Esau, Jacob has stolen his blessing from his father and therefore had stolen the inheritance or goods that would flow to the firstborn.

4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye speak unto my lord Esau; Thy servant Jacob saith thus, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed there until now: 5 And I have oxen, and asses, flocks, and menservants, and womenservants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find grace in thy sight. 6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and also he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

Speak unto my lord Esau As you can see, he speaks humbly and in deference to Esau, calling him lord. It seems to indicate that he considers him above himself.

Jacob tells Esau that he had been gone for these twenty years working with Laban and stayed there until now. He had been gone for 20 years where he had worked 14 years for his two wives Leah and Rachel and another 6 years during which time, Jacob had acquired animals and wealth. Jacob said when he sent to Esau, “I now own or have oxen and donkeys, flocks of animals, menservants, maidservants. I have been prospered greatly and I said to tell this to you Esau it is my purpose to find grace in thy sight.”

Certainly the motivation for Jacob was fear. He feared for his life. He remembered how badly Esau had been hurt and felt betrayed by what he had done to take the blessing from Isaac unto himself. He knew that Esau was angry enough to carry out his threat to kill Jacob and to kill him as soon as their father died. Another thing we can surmise is Jacob was not sure as to whether or not Isaac was living or dead and if he had died, certainly Esau would be wanting to carry out his threat against Jacob.

The messengers of Jacob returned and told him more frightening news. When they met Esau, he wasn’t coming alone or with a small group to meet him. Esau had with him 400 men and we assume that the messengers meant 400 men of war willing to do the bidding of Esau. Jacob (falsely) realized at this moment that Esau was still intent on taking his life. If he hadn’t been afraid before now Jacob was certain, Esau had come with his men intending to kill Jacob and take all that he had.

7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed: and he divided the people that was with him, and the flocks, and herds, and the camels, into two bands; 8 And said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the other company which is left shall escape.

Jacob was greatly afraid It was clear to all that Jacob was greatly afraid. Jacob decided he would try to save at least some of his people. Jacob divided the people that were with him and all that they had into two separate bands of people. The one thing that puzzles me is if Jacob had all that he claimed to have he must have had a substantial group of men himself that could have fought in defense against Esau’s 400 men but Jacob wasn’t thinking.

Fear struck his heart. Jacob was distressed, upset, worried. Jacob believed Esau had only ill will toward him and Jacob expected the worst.

Jacob spoke to the two companies and said if Esau strikes one of the two companies the other should run for their lives and escape. That way at least half of the people would be saved.

9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee: 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands. 11 Deliver me, I pray Thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children. 12 And Thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Deliver me I pray Thee Jacob must have recalled that he had heard form God and it was God that told him to return to the promised land so Jacob finally does something wise. He prays and asks God to intervene. He wants to make certain that he is talking to the right God, the one true living God, the God of his father Abraham and Isaac. He reminds God that it was God who told him to return to his country and to his kindred. Then he thanks God and reminds himself how he is unworthy and that when he passed over Jordan to go to Haran all that Jacob had with him was his staff. Jacob came back blessed of God, prospered and there were two bands of people.

Then he again reverts back to fear and asks God deliver me I pray Thee from the hand of my brother Esau for I fear him. The fear was total. The fear was complete. It was controlling Jacob his life and his thoughts.

Then Jacob ends the prayer, interestingly enough, reminding himself that God was going to do him good and make his seed as the sand of the sea, perhaps reminding God that as a dead person that would not be possible. And then his prayer is ended.

13 And he lodged there that same night; and took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother; 14 Two hundred she goats, and twenty he goats, two hundred ewes, and twenty rams, 15 Thirty milch camels with their colts, forty kine, and ten bulls, twenty she asses, and ten foals. 16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by themselves; and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove. 17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee? 18 Then thou shalt say, They be thy servant Jacob's; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he is behind us. 19 And so commanded he the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him. 20 And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.

Now Jacob devises a plan. We don’t see any direction from God but he decides he is going to give a gift to Esau his brother and hopes to satisfy him so he will not take his vengeance out upon him as promised to do after Jacob had convinced Isaac that he was Esau so Isaac would give the blessing he intended for Esau to Jacob.

One only has to look at what Jacob offered to his brother to realize how God had blessed him. He gave him 450 goats and rams, 30 camels with their colts, 40 head of cattle, 10 bulls, 20 donkeys half of them having foals. This great number of animals was but a fraction of the wealth he had obtained and prosperity he had been given by God. It seems like he should have at least advised God of his plan to offer these to Esau, but we don’t see any evidence of that here.

Furthermore Jacob delivered them to his servants and commanded them to pass over before Jacob and put a space between those things he was giving away to Esau. Certainly his fear had driven him to the point of seeing if he could buy off his brothers anger.

He then tells them when you meet Esau my brother and he asks about these animals, you are instructed to say these were all acquired by and belonged to Jacob. They are a present sent to Esau, it’s for Esau. Then they were to say Jacob is behind us. Apparently there were three droves, I do not know if this was the number of animals in each drove or the total number in three droves. Whichever way it is you can see how blessed Jacob was by the hand of God.

Jacob tells his servants the purpose: Jacob wanted to appease Esau. Jacob hoped that Esau would forgive him and accept him and not carry out his plan to kill Jacob.

21 So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company. 22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. 23 And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had.

Jacob had sent the present on before him and he spent the night with his company of people. But apparently he could not sleep. He rose up that night, took his wives and servants (concubines) eleven sons and they all passed over the ford of Jabbok. He sent them over the brook probably for their own safety but we are not sure what was his purpose. Except Jacob wanted to be left alone or left alone with God.

24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a Man with him until the breaking of the day. 25 And when He saw that He prevailed not against him, He touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as He wrestled with him. 26 And He said, Let Me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.

After Jacob sent them over, Jacob was left alone. He wrestled there a Man but if one looks forward to verse 30, Jacob says for I have seen God face to Face. Therefore it is apparent to this writer that this was nothing less than a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. Jacob wrestled with that Man until the breaking of the day and then suddenly the Man touched the hollow of the thigh of Jacob and threw it out of place, perhaps indicating that really Jacob was no match for Him; and He could have stopped the wrestling at any point in time but He did not. The pre-incarnate Christ said to Jacob let Me go because the sun is coming up. Jacob protested no, I will not let You go unless You bless me.

27 And He said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28 And He said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29 And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray Thee, Thy Name. And He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My Name? And He blessed him there.

And the One wrestling with Jacob asked him what is your name. Jacob replied Jacob. He was told you are not going to be called Jacob anymore but Israel because I have now made you a prince and given you power with God and with men. In other words, God had touched Jacob in such a way his life was totally and completely changed. Have you received this touch from God?

Now Jacob asks the Person with whom he is wrestling tell me Your Name. And He said to him why do you ask after My Name? I believe that meant you know Who I AM. If we look at the next verse we see he did know Who it was. And the Wrestler (Jesus) blessed him (Jacob). Now we have an encounter with God by a man who is in fear for his life and has forgotten it was God who told him to come back to the land and we know that God will not send us into a dangerous situation unless we are so forewarned. He was not longer fully trusting in God because of his fear.

The Bible says fear hath torment but perfect love casteth out all fear. Who is the Author of perfect love? The Lord Jesus Christ.

30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. 31 And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.

I have seen God face to face Jacob called the name of the place Peniel. Peniel means "facing God." Here Jacob had come face to face with God the Son and he knew the Scripture which said no one has seen God face to face and lived. That obviously does not apply to the Lord Jesus Christ but God the Father only. God the Holy Spirit is the Spirit that is not readily seen. Jacob passed over Penuel which means "facing God," a derivation of the word Peniel. And the sun rose bringing him a new day. When Jacob walked he walked with a limp because his thigh was out of joint. Does your encounter with Jesus change the way you walk?

32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because He touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Verse 32 talks about a custom that had risen up in Israel. Because Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint and he walked with a limp, the people decided not to eat of the sinew (Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, a tendon; that which unites a muscle to a bone.)

We will find out in the next chapter what happens when Esau and Jacob meet. Were Jacob’s fears well founded? Tune in next week and find out!

Prayer Heavenly Father we thank You that You love each and very one of us. We ask You to cleanse us of all of our sin so that You may hear and answer our prayer. We learned to day how Jacob was gripped with fear believing the worst was going to happen by his brother who had vowed to kill him after Isaac their father died. Apparently he had forgotten it was God Who told him to go back to his family and Lord You are clear that You’re with us always, protecting us when we don’t even know it. Help us not to fear. As Your word says fear hath torment but Your Word also says perfect love casteth out all fear. That perfect love is the Body of God the Son the Messiah of Israel and Savior of all mankind who came to earth in the form of man. He lived a sinless life. He became the sacrifice to take away the sin of the world. So now those who trust and believe in Him and what He has done on the cross for them will one day rule and reign with Him in Heaven. God You are so good to us. We don’t deserve any of what You have given us. We certainly don’t deserve the death of God the Son in our place. We thank You and praise You and worship You. God the Holy Spirit thank You for bringing us into all truth teaching us Your ways. These things we pray in the Name of Jesus Christ God the Son Amen and Amen.

[bookclub4m]

Episode 165 - Favourite Reads of 2022

This episode we’re talking about our Favourite Reads of 2022! (Some of them were even published in 2022!) We discuss our favourite things we read for the podcast and our favourite things we read not for the podcast. Plus: Many more things we enjoyed this year, including video games, manga, graphic novels, food, and more!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jam Edwards

Favourite Fiction

For the podcast

Anna

Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez, translated by Megan McDowell, narrated by Tanya Eby

Episode 158 - Audiobook Fiction

Jam

Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg

Episode 160: Biographical Fiction & Fictional Biographies

Matthew

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, narrated by Nancy Wu

Episode 158 - Audiobook Fiction

Meghan

Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman, translated by Robert Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler

Episode 164 - Military Fiction

Not for the podcast

Jam

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

Episode 147 - Contemporary Fantasy

Matthew

Semiosis by Sue Burke

Meghan

Black Helicopters by Caitlín R. Kiernan

Anna

The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, translated by Philip Gabriel

Favourite Non-Fiction

For the podcast

Matthew

Soviet Metro Stations by Christopher Herwig and Owen Hatherley

Episode 141 - Architecture Non-Fiction

Meghan

The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers by Emily Levesque

Episode 149 - Astronomy & Space

Anna

Unholy: How White Christian Nationalists Powered the Trump Presidency, and the Devastating Legacy They Left Behind by Sarah Posner

Episode 162 - Investigative Journalism

Jam

Gods of the Upper Air: How a Circle of Renegade Anthropologists Reinvented Race, Sex, and Gender in the Twentieth Century by Charles King

Episode 145 - Anthropology Non-Fiction

Not for the podcast

Meghan

Fashion Is Spinach: How to Beat the Fashion Racket by Elizabeth Hawes

Anna

Strangers to Ourselves: Unsettled Minds and the Stories that Make Us by Rachel Aviv

Jam

Into the Minds of Babes: How Screen Time Affects Children From Birth to Age Five by Lisa Guernsey

Matthew

X-Gender, vol. 1 by Asuka Miyazaki, translated by Kathryn Henzler, adapted by Cae Hawksmoor

Other Favourite Things of 2022

Anna

Tasting History with Max Miller

Debunking the Myths of Leonardo da Vinci

Jam

Dirty Laundry/“Garbage Tuesday”

French tacos (Wikipedia)

Matthew

Unpacking

Meghan

Favourite manga: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, vol. 1 by Sumito Oowara, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian

Runner-Ups

Anna

Video Games

Crashlands

Wobbledogs

YouTube:

Ryan Hollinger (horror movie reviews)

Podcasts

American Hysteria

Maintenance Phase

You Are Good

Other (Audio)Books:

Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz

Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf (Wikipedia)

Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty

The Invisible Kingdom by Patrick Radden Keefe

Off the Edge: Flat Earthers, Conspiracy Culture, and Why People Will Believe Anything by Kelly Weill

I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara

Jam

Favourite classic:

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Episode 151 - Classics

Favourite manga:

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama, translated by Stephen Kohler (Wikipedia)

Favourite Album:

Laurel Hell by Mitski (Wikipedia)

Working for the Knife (YouTube)

Favourite AAA video game:

Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Wikipedia)

Favourite indie video game:

Wytchwood

Favourite Wordle spin-off:

Worldle

Matthew

Video game

Hyper Light Drifter

Manga

Dai Dark by Q Hayashida, translated by Daniel Komen

My Dress Up Darling by Shinichi Fukuda, translated by  Taylor Enge

lMonthly Girls' Nozaki-kun by Izumi Tsubaki, translated by Leighann Harvey

Descending Stories by Haruko Kumota, translated by Matt Treyvaud

Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma, translated by Amy Forsyth

Biomega, vol. 1 (just the first volume really, it does not stick the landing) by Tsutomu Nihei, translated by John Werry

Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service by Eiji Otsuka and Housui Yamazaki, translated by Toshifumi Yoshida

Disappearance Diary by Hideo Azuma, translated by Kumar Sivasubramanian and Elizabeth Tiernan

Graphic novels

Beetle and Hollowbones by Aliza Layne

A Gift for a Ghost by Borja González, translated by Lee Douglas

Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott McCloud

Books

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

Meghan

Favourite new-to-me author:

Zviane

Favourite work of translation:

The Route of Ice and Salt by José Luis Zárate, translated by David Bowles

Podcast non-fiction runner up: 

Raw Concrete: The Beauty of Brutalism by Barnabas Calder

Podcast fiction runner up:

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Non-fiction

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette

Sum It Up: 1,098 Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summitt and Sally Jenkins

Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan, translated by Annie Tucker

Runner up graphic novels:

Himawari House by Harmony Becker

Taproot by Keezy Young

Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu

Sunny Sunny Ann! by Miki Yamamoto, translated by Aurélien Estager (French)

L'homme qui marche by Jirō Taniguchi, translated by Martine Segard (French, available in English as The Walking Man)

Something Is Killing the Children by James Tynion IV and Werther Dell'Edera 

Le petit astronaute by Jean-Paul Eid (French)

Tony Chu détective cannibale by John Layman with Rob Guillory (French, available in English as Chew)

Radium Girls by Cy. (French)

Queen en BD by Emmanuel Marie and Sophie Blitman (French)

Memento mori by Tiitu Takalo (French)

Enferme-moi si tu peux by Anne-Caroline Pandolfo and Terkel Risbjerg (French)

Links, Articles, Media, and Things

Episode 140 - Favourite Reads of 2021

Episode 142 - Sequels and 2022: The Year of Book Two

ChatGPT (Wikipedia)

There no longer appears to be an easy way to find images sent through Google Chat anymore, so no screenshots of fake podcast co-hosts discussing reptile fiction. Sorry!

I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki (Wikipedia)

Brian David Gilbert - The Perfect PokéRap

24 Travel Non-Fiction Books by BIPOC Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

America in an Arab Mirror: Images of America in Arabic Travel Literature by Kamal Abdel-Malek

Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun by Faith Adiele

Due North: A Collection of Travel Observations, Reflections, And Snapshots Across Colors, Cultures and Continents by Lola Akinmade Åkerström

All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou

The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches by Matsuo Bashō, translated by Nobuyuki Yuasa

The Travels of Ibn Battutah by Ibn Battuta

Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana by Stephanie Elizondo Griest

A Stranger in the Village: Two Centuries of African-American Travel Writing edited by Farah Jasmine Griffin & Cheryl J. Fish

I Wonder as I Wander: An Autobiographical Journey by Langston Hughes

Red Dust: A Path Through China by Ma Jian, translated by Flora Drew

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

An African in Greenland by Tété-Michel Kpomassie

Blue Highways by William Least Heat-Moon

Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee

The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors by James Edward Mills

The Middle Passage by V.S. Naipaul

Travelling While Black: Essays Inspired by a Life on the Move by Nanjala Nyabola

Catfish and Mandala: A Two-Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam by Andrew X. Pham

An Indian Among los Indígenas: A Native Travel Memoir by Ursula Pike

Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria by Noo Saro-Wiwa

From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet by Vikram Seth

Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud by Sun Shuyun

Richard Wright's Travel Writings: New Reflections by Virginia Whatley Smith

Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain by Lori L. Tharps

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

Check out our Tumblr, follow us on Twitter or Instagram, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email!

Join us again on Tuesday, January 3rd we’ll be talking about Sports non-fiction!

Then on Tuesday, January 17rd we’ll be discussing our 2023 Reading Resolutions!

[unhingedexperimenter]

Hyde waited for the right moment to take advantage of Henry's state. As soon as the teacher entered the bedroom, the villain wannabe began to put his plan into action. He gathered enough of his energy and strength to take over their shared body. Henry's lovestruck expression was soon replaced with a mischievous one. It took a couple of seconds for Henry to realize what had happened. That he was no longer in control, but Hyde was. Hyde already had a vial of HJ7 in hand. "Hyde! No! They could still be out looking for you! What if they find you? You don't want to be put on trial. Right?" Hyde didn't pay attention to his counterpart's words. Instead, he brought the vial to his lips while able to. Chugging down the disgusting liquid they both had gotten used to. "HYDE!" All signs of the lovestruck expression on Henry's face disappeared. Now, he looked worried and unimpressed with Hyde's impulsive actions. "What? I told you I was tired of being cooped up. Besides, I'm going to prove to them all that I'm capable of being a villain. That I'm innocent of what they think I did. I'll show them all!” While he wanted to be serious, that just caused Henry to burst out into laughter. Even snorting a little bit. This made Hyde look very offended at that. “Oi! What are you laughing’ at! I'm the one who tricked you!” Henry shook his head. “You said you want to be a villain. Well you certainly sound like one. Or one of those mad scientists out to show everyone else that they're wrong about them. Seriously, Edward. You shouldn't go out tonight. I still need to do paperwork and grade papers.” Hyde rolled his eyes at his counterpart. “You got to have your fun, let me have mine!” Not that Henry would admit it, if he did Hyde would never let him live it down, Henry did find enjoyment in the blonds debauchery. In his crimes. He just didn't like the idea of being caught and potentially having their secret out in the open. Right now, the teacher didn't want Hyde to be caught by the EVA or the heroes. Yet here Hyde was, going right to them on his own free will. As much as he tried to talk the criminal out of it, he just hurriedly dressed himself up. Heading right out the window. It was his favorite way of leaving the apartment. He loved the feeling of sneaking out, especially when Rachel tended to keep an eye on him. “It's my night now, Jekyll. Get over it.” That earned him a defeated sigh. The teacher gave up. Deciding to let Hyde learn his lesson about not being careful. Hyde began to move from building roof to roof. Unaware that on his first night out, there were eyes watching out for him. The one to have spotted Hyde was Archie. “Holy moly, guys it's him. Edward Hyde is finally out in the open.” He spoke into a walkie talkie provided to him by Patricia. While they could have just called each other, the paranormal expert insisted on using walkie talkies. “Where is he?” Patricia spoke up first. After a moment Archie responded. “He's traveling by rooftop. I just happened to be looking at the right place at the right time. He seems to be…” Archie paused, confused. “He's heading right to the EVA. I think we should take care of this ourselves for now.” The others immediately agreed. “Dr.Two-Brains just had a date with Dr. Jekyll. I don't want to make him upset by bringing up Mr. Hyde so soon.” They were all happy for the villain. To have found someone who made him act like a teenager in love. “I'll cut him off before he gets too far. Hugh, stay at the warehouse. We'll be there. Everyone else just follow after me. Just in case he gets any funny ideas.” With that said, Patricia and Jenkins made their way to where Archie had spotted Hyde. Patricia managed to catch up with Archie right behind her. Jenkins was ahead of them and Hyde. Jenkins was in a high tech suit made by Dr.Two-Brains and himself. Before the accident had taken place. He had become fond of using the suit in situations like these. By the time Hyde noticed he was being tailed, it was far too late as the three surrounded him on all sides. “What the bloody hell is this? I have to go!”

@thecountoflondonfansite

(You can tag me on my tgs side blog. I also apologize but I know a few Scottish words. So to anyone reading this I apologize for the inaccuracy.) Becky Boxleitner noticed a change in the atmosphere as she and her pet monkey Bob walked into the sixth grade classroom. All of the students were excitedly chatting with one another. Becky and Bob exchanged confused looks at the scene. 'What is going on?' They both thought. Becky walked to where her friends Violet Heaslip, Rose Franklin, and Todd Scoops Ming were sitting, also joining in the excited yet low volume chattering. "Hey guys what's going on?" Becky asked her friends. They each turned their heads to greet their friend. "Hey Becky guess what, we're getting a new teacher for our class!" Scoops exclaimed. Becky looked surprised at the announcement. Bob also mimicked her facial expression. "Wait really? What happened to Miss Davis?" Becky asked, wondering what happened to their old teacher. It was just a week only into the new school year so a sudden teacher exchange was a complete shock to Becky especially since there were no announcements about it beforehand. "Miss Davis had to move back home because of a family emergency." Rose Franklin answered. "The principal had to scramble to find a new teacher to fill in for our class. It was all last minute stuff." Becky nodded in understanding of her friends' answers. It was a nice perk to be friends who were upcoming reporters. Soon the final bell rang which indicated for every student to take their seats. Becky took her place beside her best friend Violet and Bob plopped down next to her. Soon a man who looked to be in his mid 30s walked in and towards the desk. He had curly brown air, an arched nose, and reddish brown eyes. He wore a tan button-down shirt with a red vest as well as brown slacks and dark suede shoes. The man gave a pleasant and warm smile to all the students there. "Hello my name is Dr. Henry Jekyll and I will be your teacher for the school year." Becky and the other kids ears perked up as they took note of the man's accent. Even Tobey became slightly interested in his new teacher. None of them were sure where their new teacher was from. Dr. Jekyll gave a light chuckle as if he could sense their growing curiosity about him. He lightly clapped his hands together to gain their undivided attention and focus. "Well since this is my first time teaching here, why don't we all play a little game so we can all get better acquainted with each other. Here's what to do. One at a time, say your name and share a wee bit about yourself. Likes, family, interests and all that. I'll go first to show ya what ah mean. Again. My name is Dr. Henry Jekyll. I was born in Glasgow but ah moved to London where I attended university. I have a five year old wee lassie or daughter named Amber. I enjoy chemistry and reading on occasions. Now who would like to go next?" @unhingedexperimenter

Of course Tobey had taken the opportunity to place attention on himself and to have a reason to boast about himself. ���My name is Tobey McCallister the third and I will be the most intelligent student you'll meet here.” The others had rolled their eyes, used to this kind of behavior from their peers. Becky seemed to be the most annoyed by it. Having been forced to put up with his destructive tantrums in the past. Henry smiled just as warmly as before. Unbothered by the obnoxious behavior that the boy had been displaying. Tobey had been going on about himself for a good few minutes before the teacher finally spoke up. “Ahem, yes. Thank you for that Mr. McCallister. Would anyone else like to tell me a bit about themselves as well?” No one could tell that behind the facade, Dr. Henry Jekyll was becoming more irritated by the moment. Not by the child but by the pest that refused to leave him be. Scoffing within his head at what they just heard. He didn't share the disembodied voice's opinion but wanted to give the other children a chance to introduce themselves as well. To the others' shock, Tobey seemed to have taken this well. Quickly going back to his desk with no issues. Becky was relieved at that. Soon the other children had started to introduce themselves to their new teacher with little to no issues. He seemed genuinely nice enough to her. This new teacher didn't seem like most of the adults within this city. Some she had to define words repeatedly for. Dr. Jekyll knew what he was teaching and knew his vocabulary. It was Violet who had brought Becky out from her own thoughts, calling her name. Waving a hand in front of her face. “Becky?” The girl smiled in an embarrassed manner. “Huh? Yes?” Violet smiled, patient with her best friend. “Why don't you introduce yourself now? Nearly everybody else already did.” She had given a surprised expression. Becky hadn't realized that she was so lost within her thoughts until then. She stood up and began speaking. “My name is Becky Boxleitner and I also like libraries,reading and Pretty Princess.” The presence that was grating at the teacher's nerves had deemed this too dull to enjoy. Leaving Dr. Jekyll be to his teaching. Well, getting to know his students. He was happy to see that they were engaged in these activities that were meant to break the ice. Though one student in particular had caught his attention the most. Becky. While she did seem rather bright, there was something strange about her behavior at times. Pausing whatever she was doing at the time to listen in on something. Thinking it went unnoticed. Even once looking alarmed and she made an excuse to go to the bathroom. He had allowed it. Feeling that it would've been better to have let her. It seemed…oddly familiar. As if he had seen that behavior somewhere before but couldn't figure out exactly where from. When the school day was finally over, Becky had gone to go home like the others. Dr. Jekyll had of course stayed behind to set more things up within his new classroom. Making a plan on exactly what he'll actually start teaching the next day. Though, the grating voice had returned to be a thorn in his side. “Come on. Leave this boring stuff alone. Leave it until tomorrow. I've been pent up for far too long. Let's have some fun.” This had earned an eye roll and a loud huff from the teacher. “No, I've got to get this done now. You will have enough time tonight. Just be patient until then.” A shadowy figure formed in front of Dr. Jekyll. A frown on its face. “But this is so extremely dull. I want to stretch my legs. I want to make myself known already.” Dr. Jekyll glared. “And that is precisely why I'm so hesitant to let you out so soon. At least let us get acclimated to our surroundings first.” The figure let out an annoyed groan. “You know you want this as much as I do. Otherwise you'd never have any actual fun in the sad and pathetic life you call yours.”

@thecountoflondonfansite

[taleasnewastime]

Hello rachel! I hope it's okay for me to request these two quotes with jin : ❛ is that my shirt? ❜ ❛ i’m not wearing any underwear. thought you’d like to know. ❜. Thank you ❤️

Hello! Thanks for requesting, hoping you enjoy :) 

Warnings: swearing, smut, oral, blowjob. 

“Hey,” you give a gentle knock on Seokjin’s door before opening it. “What time are you finishing up?”

“Not for another few hours,” he replies, not looking up at you.

“You need a break, Seokjin.”

“I’m alright.”

“When was the last time you ate?” You ask, already knowing the answer but it seems he doesn’t, that or he chooses to ignore you. “Just take ten minutes. Even if it’s just to stretch.”

He’s been in there all day and you would be lying if you said you weren’t a little worried. You know his work is important, that he has a lot of important stuff on his plate, but that doesn’t mean he should practice self-care.

You push open the door enough to step inside. Seokjin still doesn’t look at you.

“Baby,” you plead, walking slowly towards him. “I might have to start insisting soon.”

“Y/N, I said I’m ok.”

“What about a small break in here?”

He doesn’t reply to that. You see his eyebrows draw together, confused. Finally as you near the end of his desk, he looks up at you.

“Is that my shirt?”

“Yep,” you smile at him as you round his desk. “I’m also not wearing any underwear, if you’d like to know.”

His eyes are firmly on you know, you have his fully attention. Standing beside him you push on his chair enough to get him to swing to face you. Placing your hands on his thighs, you spread them wide as you kneel down in front of him.

“You’re stress baby. I just want to help.”

He’s silent like before, only this time it’s a good silent. He watches as you run your hands up his thighs. Unbuckle his belt and unzip his trousers. You pull them all down enough to get his cock out. It’s not hard yet, but you’ll change that soon enough.

You spit on your hand, create some lubrication as you look up at him through your lashes.

“Relax baby,” you say as you take his cock and slowly start to pump up and down.

He sighs. The chair creaks as his weight falls backwards. His hands are clutching onto the arms of the chair, and you smile at the scene before you concentrate on his now hard cock.

You lick a strip up the underside of his cock before swirling the tip in your mouth. Keeping your lips there, one of your hands travels down to his balls, lightly fondling them as you lick along the slit of his cock.

He hisses above you, one of his hands going to your head. He doesn’t force you down, but the pressure on your head grows enough to show you he’s enjoying it. You smile to yourself before you take more of him in your mouth.

You start slow, take as much of him as you can. But before long he wants more.

“Use me,” you say when you take him out of your mouth.

Bracing your hands on his thighs you open your mouth and try to loosen your jaw as much as possible.

You hear a shuddering breath as you lower yourself down on to him. And then he lets loose. You gag as the tip of his cock hits the back of your throat. Feel your breath restricted as he holds you down. But you gain so much pleasure from it all. Love the way he starts to thrust into your mouth. Enjoy the way he grips your hair to keep you on him. Love hearing the chair groaning and creaking coupled with all of Seokjin’s moans.

Hot, salty liquid goes down your throat without much warning and Seokjin’s apologising when he pulls you off him. His head to the ceiling, the apologises come out more like prays.

You kiss his thigh. “Now will you leave your office for five minutes?” You smile when he nods. 

[saturnville]

so my darling.

pairing: tom!peter parker x black!oc(leo)

warning: MAJOR nwh spoilers under the cut.

content: can’t disclose ;) but very pg and my own spin on one of the scenes in the movie.

note: i saw nwh last night and my inner child is screaming so a couple of andrew!peter parker and tom!peter parker fics are going thru my head. hope y’all don’t mind. :)

song: so my darling by rachel chinouriri

divider by @firefly-graphics

The time stone had long been destroyed. At the snap of a metallic finger and thumb, the magic of the universe crystallized, was returned back to the core of the earth. Yet, it seemed to still have active control over time. It had slowed and moved slower than molasses. Everything around them blurred and sunk into a whole of nothingness. Not a thing mattered, save the few moments he had with her left.

His feet landed in front of hers and a sorrowful cry fell from his bruised lips when he looked into her tearful brown eyes.

“My baby,” she whimpered, gentle hands caressing his battered face. His porcelain skin no longer clear and fear from any worry or blemish, rather scratched, cut, and sunken in. Her hands traveled down his shoulders, exposed from the tearing of his suit. Blood puddled at the surface, causing her eyes to widen. She tore off her flannel and pressed it into his damaged skin. Peter winced.

“I…I have to—you have to forget about me.” The words tasted like sour milk in his mouth. He felt the need to vomit just at the forcing of them out of his mouth.

He watched as her face dropped and her lips quivered. The shirt fell from her hands. “W-w-what do you mean forget you? How does—“

“Everyone has to forget me so there can be some kind of normal here. Peter Parker caused this and Peter Parker has to disappear for it to go away.”

“Peter, please don’t do this, there’s got to be another way.”

His suit clad hand covered his mouth as he watched her breakdown in front of him. Her fingers tugged at the roots of her messy locs then scratched her tear stained face. Her lips were cracked and dry, and a string of spit dripped down the side of her mouth as she struggled to keep it together.

“You’re all I have, P, please don’t, please.”

“Leo, I am so sorry. I am so sorry.” The tightness in his throat worsened by the second and he struggled to make out any words. “You may forget me, but…I’ll find you, okay? I will find you and we’ll fall in love all over again, like nothing ever happened. I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine and everything will be okay, do you understand me, Leora? I will always be yours no matter what universe and no matter what happens.”

“Peter…”

“There’s not much time left, kid.” Peter turned at the voice of the sorcerer himself. “I’m sorry.”

Peter turned to Leo once more and took her face in his hands. She grabbed onto his wrists and squeezed tightly, not wanting to ever have to let go. “My darling, you are my best friend, you know that?”

Leo nodded.

“My baby, I will always love you. There’s always gonna be something pulling you back to me, I know it. Don’t ignore it, please, don’t ignore it.”

“I won’t,” she sobbed. “I could never forget you.” He pressed a gentle kiss on her lips. He shuddered as he tasted the salt from her tears fall down his lips. She broke away with a cry and pressed her forehead against his own.

“I love you, Peter Parker. For the rest of my days.”

“I love you—“

A shift in the atmosphere erupted. The split between universes had been mended, and no longer the chaos ensued. Rather, a calmness fell over the universe. Order had been restored.

An anxious Peter sped into the local bookstore where Leo spent most of her days working to save for university. With a racing heart and clammy hands, he opened the door. A small bell rang to announce his entrance, and he saw her head peak from behind the rusted counter.

“I’ll be right with you! One second, please.”

His heart fluttered. She sounded so airy and bright, like she was floating atop a cloud. “Sorry about that. Had to restock a new case. Anything you searching for today?”

She’d gotten more beautiful, if that was even possible. Her locs lay at her shoulders and they were now a ginger color. Her skin had cleared, but there were still small spots of discoloration littered around her beautiful canvas. How much she’d changed in all of two weeks.

“I-it’s fine. A friend of mine had a book she read often called Circe. I was wondering if you had it.” Peter rubbed his clammy hands against his pants.

“I do, actually. I have one copy left. It’s one of my favorite books; your friends has good taste.”

“Y-yeah she does.” Peter watched as she shuffled behind the counter and noticed a bandage around her wrist. She was cut on the wrist when she fell. “What happened, are you alright?”

“Oh,” Leo laughed. “just took a tumble. Doesn’t hurt much anymore.” She slid the book across the counter. “Is this all for you?”

Peter looked into her eyes and felt a jab within his innermost being. His brown eyes flooded with tears. “Yes, that’s all.”

Leo eyed him subtly but shook it off as she took the payment from his hand. When their fingertips brushed together, a small gasp fell from her lips and she pulled away. “God, I’m sorry. You just…you remind me of someone I can’t quite remember clearly. It’s been a nagging feeling.”

There’s always gonna be something pulling you back to me. Don’t ignore it.

Peter’s heart raced. She handed him the book and his change. “I hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable.”

“No, no, no. It’s okay, it happens. But, um, thank you for the book.”

Please, don’t ignore it.

Peter turned on his feet and took a step toward the door but stopped in his tracks when she called out, “Whenever you finish that book, let me know what you think. I’m here everyday around the same time.”

He smiled and turned to face her. “I will.”

Leo waved, “See you soon.”

Quietly, he replied, “see you soon, my darling.”

[weiisz]

cate-eblanchett·:

     well, honey, i fear to tell you that i am actually terribly old. the 90′s and early 00′s good old times. i was pretty savage back then, i still am but now i am more careful to don’t get home too drunk when the kids are there. so if you’d been waiting for a reunion it means there’s not a feud in your head against me or the other way round.  kidding!, i know there’s never been grudge feelings between us, funny how just life and work has kept us in different places during all this time, but i am aware about your extraordinary career.  you’ve decided that your fifties was the perfect timing to bring up to life the most alluring, scariest, seductive and complicated characters ever. i can’t  even imagine the hard work it was for you. oh, stop! my ego is being burst, i am going to tell the academy what you said about Lydia. thank you, i really appreciate it, rach. i miss her, weird, but i miss her. were you able to shake off your characters at the end of the day, rachel? i am still shook by them and i’ve seen only two episodes. trying to catch up with it but edith, my youngest one has decided that spending the night in my bed is much better than in her own room. i am still in England with the kids, yes, i spent most of the time here but i travel constantly to NYC and i am trying to spend more time there as well. Henry is sixteen already? wow!! he is a young man already! I have the image of him as an adorable toddler, I don’t know grace yet but i already know she must be adorable and surely gives you a lot of work, isn’t she? —so, there’s no a husband in the equation anymore? that’s quiet surprising, i did not have idea but i am sure it was the best for both of you, right? —i did the same a couple of years ago, andrew and i did not work as couple anymore, we were more like best friends and decided to part ways a while ago and since then, life has been pretty interesting and different to say the least. @weiisz·

                           Oh  pipe  down’  we’re  the  same  age’  unless  you’ve  been  lying,  and  encountered  such  youthful  secrets.  I  like  to  say  the  beast  was  ‘tamed’  the  second  i  had  my  son,  but  what  a  time,  less  we  forget  that  savage  side  of  our  youth  was  rather  thrilling  .  was  it  a  premiere  or  some  actor’s  event  we  met  at,  by  chance  ?    cause  my  mind  seems  to  be  betraying  me  with  fuzzy  details  lately.  Woman  can  remain  civil  after  all  these  years  ?  who  knew.  As  exhilarating  as  a  feud  would  be  to  the  media,  i’m  much  more  pleased  there’s  no  bad  blood.  Path’s  cross  back  around  eventually,  and  here  we  are.  Yet  rather  amusing  how  similar  those  paths  have  been,  you’ve  just  beaten  by  one  extra  academy  award,  blanchett.  I  don’t  think  i  can  catch  up.    wow,  I  may  have  to  quote  you  for  the  our  emmy  campaign,  that’s  incredibly  kind  of  you,  alway’s  had  such  a  master  play  with  words.  My  pleasure...  send  along  the  message  before  i  do  !    plus  nobody  really  understand’s  that  ‘longing’  for  certain  characters  until  you  lay  them  to  rest,  but  they’re  still  nagging  you.  I  get  it.  I’d  drink  several  cups  of  tea  to  wash  them  away,  like  a  mini  ritual,  especially  regarding  some  more  intense  days  on  set,  but  i’ll  keep  my  mouth  zipped  until  the  little  one  isn’t  ambushing  you.  How  old  is  she  now,  or  more  how  old  is  your  eldest  ?!  i  very  much  remember  him  being  so  incredibly  tiny’  so  i  know  the  feeling  how  strange  it  is  to  even  imagine  them  anything  other.    She  keeps  the  balance’  a  hand  full,  but  what  five  year  old  isn’t  ?  it’s  just  imaginations  24/7    ---  it’s  scarily  accurate  how  you’ve  easily  described  my  own  situation.  Myself  and  Daniel  still  co-parent,  still  very  much  confide,  as  if  nothing’s  changed  beside  the  ‘marriage’  title.  It’s  just  a  modern  day  way  of  life,  especially in this career path.  ‘Interesting’  as  in  another  suitor  in  the  equation,  or  is  “savage”  cate  back  on  the  town.. @cate-eblanchett

[lokilickedme]

So if you dropped all of your OCs onto a deserted island (and then handwave that they can’t get off of it for some reason), how would they do there? Would they survive? Make a little mini society? Who would be top (Tom) Dog if anyone?

I've been looking forward to having time to answer this ever since it arrived - I apologize for the delay, it's been a stupid busy couple of days :/

*rubs hands together and giggles gleefully*

Okay - so excluding the Lokis because they're technically not my OCs (which makes this easier because I don't have to sort out a reason why their magic isn't working on the island and they can't just *poof* themselves out) - the answer to the first part is:

How would they do there?

They would do...pretty good I think. We're talking about a bunch of highly capable people here, both the males and the females, and seeing as "they can't get off it for some reason" I'm assuming this means they'll be there forever, or at least for a considerable amount of time before the Lokis realize they're missing and come looking.

Would they survive?

You betcha. Look at who we've got on this island:

Chem!Tom (and Anja) King McClary (and Molly) Thomas Dowd (and Carly) Darcy Kendall (and Dougan Flannery and Bard and Candy) The Elementals (The Traveler, The Rockstar, and The Concierge) Jack Montague (minus Loki, whether this is good or bad is up for debate) Chief and the entire Department gang (plus Greta) Taliesin and Lealieh (gods! We have gods!) Pete, Jake, and Tatertot Tommy and Chloe Bragneire and Princess Anja (minus their Loki) Pasha and Kiran Dave MacDale the gang from Chemical Aleks and Cara (LOKI LEVEL MAGIC RIGHT HERE FOLKS!!) Rachel and Lani from The Puma Club (and Christian, who undoubtedly is wondering how in the fuck he got here lol) and TWO STRADA!! (and Holly)

So...counting out all the OCs in The Carmichael Addendum (because I'm assuming we're going by my AO3 stuff here?) I feel like we're doing pretty good. In that list up there are no fewer than NINE characters with powers of some kind. Since none of them can use them to escape the island (going by the rule you imposed) then I'm going to operate on the premise that maybe the island has something around it, and isn't actually nullifying their powers. We cool with this?

Okay, so provided the powers thing stands as-is, we've got:

Aleks Laufeyson, who can apparate, manifest items out of nothing, and make fire (usually on accident, but fire is fire and they gotta cook and keep warm, right?) He'll also be able to *poof* things for them, though he's not very good at it so they're likely to end up with stuff they didn't quite ask for, but he tries, give him a break. He can also take people from one side of the island to the other in a blink, though they're likely to be on fire when they reappear at their destination. Also there's a high risk of reapparating at the bottom of the ocean.

The Three Elementals, who don't actually have powers per se, but are immortal - and since they personify The Arts, The Human Spirit, and Mother Nature, the island inhabitants are going to A) be able to entertain themselves, B) never give up, and C) have direct access to the person in control of the weather and their gardens. Excellent temps and abundant crops as long as she stays happy, so get on that, folks. She likes threesomes.

Taliesin and Lealieh - gods from the Celtic pantheon, one in charge of song, the other a glorified babysitter but hey, it can't hurt to have a guardian angel in the village, especially with Dave MacDale wandering around.

The Strada - okay, Baltho and Keene being there is a big problem, because A) Keene doesn't like humans, and B) Baltho is batshit insane and easily bored. But they can fly, they're super strong, and Baltho can do that cool thing where he reaches into The In-Between to retrieve weapons. Which isn't really a bonus here because that's all he keeps there. A sword stolen off an 18th century Samurai isn't going to do them much good on the island, except maybe for clearing brush or cutting branches for shelters, but he's easy to look at and has some great stories so just stay out of his way and everything should be okay. Maybe.

Jack Montague - she's strong, but...she's half vampire, which means she can see in the dark (handy at night) but also needs blood on a regular basis (terrifying). She can also do the mental visitation thing, which would be super nice because she can place head-calls to everybody's places of employment to let their bosses know they're not coming to work ever.

And then of course there's King McClary, who may or may not have weird deities in his lineage way back, but whether he does or not doesn't really matter because the man's been living wild his entire life, nothing's gonna be different for him here except there's no sheep.

And finally,

Who would be top dog?

Easy. Rachel and Lani. They're middle aged moms, they know how to do literally everything, are skilled at getting people to do what they're told by simply raising their voices, and can organize, delegate chores, give instructions until they're hoarse, make dinner out of pretty much whatever the guys haul onto the beach, and probably scare Baltho and Dave enough to get them to behave with a single look.

Did you think I was gonna elect Chem!Tom? lol - he's too busy making booze out of bananas and coconuts, he doesn't want the job :P