#like we’ve been pals for a couple years

[fandomnerd9602]

Our First Thanksgiving

Bambi!Wanda x Reader

Gif belongs to @abimess

You couldn’t believe it. Halloween was a blast for you and your doe hybrid mate Wanda Maximoff. You and her had enter the ‘seasons of firsts’ as you would call it.

Thanksgiving was just on the horizon. Another first holiday for your doe and you. Honestly you loved having these firsts with her. It was like new experiences to share together, to feel the joy and elation that it allows was incomparable.

Your doe had traded her jean shorts for a comfy pair of PJ pants that she wore around the house. Her little deer tail popped out the back of the pants, in truth, it gave you another reason to stare at her perfect form.

One night, about two weeks before Thanksgiving, your mate in question came running into the living room and jumped onto the couch and into your lap.

“So what are we gonna do?” She asked, her doe tail wiggling with anticipation.

“About?” You asked her right back.

“Thanksgiving!” She exclaimed. “My family never celebrated it, you know being from Sokovia and all”

“Well it’s a feast,” you replied, “a time where we gather together and share what we’ve been thankful for over the year”

“She nuzzles you, her antlers fitting just over your head, “I think you know what I’m thankful for, my buck”

You kiss her nose in response. “I promise I’m gonna make this Thanksgiving a memorable one for you, my doe”

She giggles, “I know you will”

You had no idea where to even begin. Your mind races with ideas both good and bad as you walk down the hallways of the sanctuary.

“Hey boss,” Natasha said with a smirk, “need fuel? Your brain looks like it’s running on fumes”

Natasha, your ever loyal wolf hybrid pal guides you into the break room and pours you some coffee.

“So what’s on your mind?” She asks as she gives you coffee.

“Thanksgiving. I wanna make it special for Wanda.” You explain.

“My advice…make a few vegan dishes. She’s probably not gonna want direct turkey.” Natasha explains. “But prepare a small one for me, hey I’m a carnivore after all”

“Just inviting yourself huh?” You ask with a chuckle and a smirk.

“Am I not invited?” Natasha offers a mocking offense. “I’m your buddy, your pal!”

“Of course you’re invited Nat,” you smile at her, “you’re like my sister. Closest thing I had to a family for a long time, Yelena too”

Natasha smiles, her wolf tail wagging a little. “Make some turkey tofu for the future wife, some cranberry sauce, stuffing and a green bean casserole, you’ll be good”

“Future wife?” You look at her a little confused.

“Hey just calls it as I see it. I hear wedding bells for you and your doe in your future” Natasha laughs.

You couldn’t help but blush. You heard those same wedding bells too.

Thanksgiving had arrived. You worked on both the turkey tofu for Wanda and the regular turkey for your wolf hybrid pals. Natasha borough the green bean casserole. Yelena brought the cranberry sauce, joking that she got into several scuffles for it.

Tony handled thanksgiving dinner for the sanctuary. Doctor Strange led the festivities in your place.

You, Wanda, Natasha, and Yelena held a small intimate dinner at your apartment. You had a nice fireplace loop playing on your tv. Wanda and Yelena found themselves watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade while you and Natasha worked the kitchen. Eventually, everyone took their place at your small dining table.

Wanda sat next to you, holding your hand under the table. The dinner was nice and simple, conversations faded into something jovial. The wolves couldn’t help but embarrass you by telling Wanda all about your life before her.

Wanda couldn’t help but feel blessed. She had a small family there with her. She had two wolf sisters and the love of her life.

Little did she realize how quickly that little thanksgiving dinner set up would grow over time. Eventually Natasha had to bring a bigger fold out table.

Your first thanksgiving as a couple was also your first one as a family. And as far as Wanda could see, it was just perfect.

Tags @lifespectator @supercorpdanbeau @scarletquake-n7 @pinklawyerwinnerzonk @aloneodi @olsenmyolsen @russianredassassin @revanshand @texaswolf23 @multi-fandom-enjoyer @moonlit-imagines

[starpeace]

here for the mandalorian rant ☕️

um well the first episode of the brand new season of disney+’s flagship star wars show was entirely... filler. the dialogue was incredibly bad, not even written badly but as if no-one had written it at all. entirely flat and devoid of life, in a show with a faceless protagonist whose dialogue literally has to carry all the weight. din continues to have no opinions, no emotion and nothing to say

as for the plot, what even happened in this episode? we open with the mandalorian covert ritually giving a child their helmet, but this is not explored at all, it’s only there to be interrupted with a giant monster fight for absolutely no reason, as if this show has been written by six-year-old me livening up clicking my barbies together by grabbing my toy dinosaurs. din has conversations with the armourer and bo-katan purely to rehash the information we’ve already been given, partly because half of it was in a bad show the casual audience won’t have watched. neither of these characters is doing anything.

din visits greef karga, who is now discount lando “gone respectable” but instead of having personality he’s just really into gentrification and this is presented completely uncritically. din, a character most charming for being the beaten up mercenary underdog of the galaxy, suddenly hates pirates and disorder (well, hates would imply he shows emotion—dislikes pirates and disorder? is mildly perturbed by pirates and disorder?), and pals around with high magistrates who offer him a position as a cop/landed gentry (they actually use the words “landed gentry”). there’s a couple of meaningless unfunny comic relief scenes because this is all that grogu is here for now, complete with a reference to, of all things, the rise of skywalker. in what is apparently the main plot of the episode, which is, i repeat, the first episode of the brand new season, din takes up a fetch quest to get a random droid part for an absolutely laughable reason that does nothing but completely negate a character arc from season 1 and everything we have been shown since, just reminding you that not even death will be allowed to have emotion or narrative weight, or prevent disney from dragging back onto your screen anything that will sell. he doesn’t actually do this fetch quest, btw, he just gets given it, because apparently we have to do multiple episodes of this

did i get everything? was that the whole episode? oh wait there was the fight with the pirates in space. i forgot it because there was zero tension. those pirates also earlier wanted to... have a drink in a school with greef, i guess, in a completely baffling scene? i can’t imagine there was any point to this pirate bit except to put fight scenes into this filler episode and force the visual effects people to carry the entire lumbering weight of this show. one has to assume that otherwise the pirates would have had personalities or motivations. oh, also purrgils appeared in this episode, because this is the Star Wars Cinematic Universe, and you’d better watch all the interconnected shows so all your beloved characters can eventually come together to swap lifeless quips on screen, just like you always wanted.

a droid drops a statue’s head on top of a murder droid to stop it, purely so din can say, “now that’s using your head.” if you were wondering what i meant about the dialogue.

i don’t even need to get into the politics of the story they’re telling. i don’t need to humiliate it further by comparing it to andor. it’s just bad to watch on a basic technical fundamental level, and it’s not headed anywhere better, because they will be churning out this story for cash forever with no goal or meaning, under circumstances where i cannot seriously even imagine caring about star wars anymore. hope this helps!

[dragonnarrative-writes]

I had a dream last night that I was pen pals with slasher Johnny while he was still locked up and now I'm depressed that he didn't really show up at my door unannounced despite never having given him my name or address and he ate Chipotle with me on my couch before fucking me within an inch of my sanity 😭

You know what's absolutely hilarious to me about the whole Slasher Handler universe? I'm not actually a Horror Girlie. Having dreams about slashers showing up at my house - with or without food - sounds like the most hilarious nightmare. Soap???? John "Soap" MacTavish???? That unhinged motherfucker???? In my house??????!? Have a drabble. CW: Kidnapping/reader is taken hostage, implied stalking/surveillance, disrespect to a puzzle, implied dub/non-con

The knock at the door should have been the mailman. He was nice, a bit more chatty than you really wanted, but you never complain. It’s nice to have a friendly face while you adjust to your new city. But the man standing on your porch hadn’t been James, the affable, middle aged mail carrier.

Your whole body had locked up as blue eyes you’ve only ever seen through a google search met yours. You'd stopped sending letters two years ago, but you were undeniably face to face with John “Soap” MacTavish. He had grinned like a devil as he held up a wicked looking knife and a brown paper bag. Chipotle.

“Brought yer favorite!”

That had been two hours ago. Now, arms and legs bound to a chair in your kitchen, you feel almost calm. Soap sits across from you, sorting the edge pieces of one of your new puzzles and chattering like you aren't gagged and unable to answer.

“And then,” he declares, pointing at you. “Nae more letters from my bonnie pen pal! Figured ah was bein’ punished, that maybe yer letters were bein’ returned to sender. Nae yer fault, nothin’ f’r it. But in the last letter you said you was movin’, an’ ah didnae get the new address. Too bad, that!”

He puts his chin in his hand and taps the table with an index finger as he contemplates the box of the puzzle. Something in him shifts. The silence, the way his eyes go intensely focused, makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.

“Ye ken why ah like puzzles? Because all the little fiddly pieces fit together,” he turns the box toward you. “So why in the fuck would anyone make one with pieces that stick out the sides like this?”

He gives you a significant look, so you make a muffled noise behind the gag and shrug.

“Bonnie as anything,” he says, apropos of nothing, reaching out to take your chin in one strong hand. “Used to think about fuckin’ you all over that house of yours. Especially that old leather couch.” His grin turns predatory at the way you jolt, heart in your throat. “Oh, hen, the dreams ah’ve had of your old place. Used to jerk off to a picture of that laundry basket. Cute pair of black knickers right on top. O’ course, we’d’ve had to lock the cat out. Much as ah love an audience, ‘e don’t need to see his mam that way.”

You never mentioned a cat, or your furniture, or anything like that in your letters. Certainly, you never sent photos. The terror that had clenched around your heart while he bullied his way into the house and forced you into your kitchen comes roaring back.

Please, you try to say around the gag. What do you want?

“Ah’m only in town for a couple more days,” he says, carelessly dumping all of the pieces he’d separated back into the box again. He stands, one hand going to his belt as he gives you an exaggerated wink. “Hate to rush, but we’ve got to christen your new place. An’ if ah’m not back tomorrow, the Ghost will come lookin’.”

[saradika]

some thoughts and thanks and a wrapping up the year 💕

First off, I’ve kept a running tag of the fics I read this year, so I have been working on a couple rec posts to share tomorrow! 💖 so many of your fics have kept me happy and cozy and feeling loved this year, and I would love to help share them!

Next month I have an entry into PMAMC (so excited!) but I think after that I’m going to take a writing break (which I always say but never do! 😬). This year I wrote a little over 200k, and was really excited about tackling some series and AUs - something I never thought I would be able to do when I first started a couple years ago. Being able to explore some new ideas and really work on writing for myself this year has been really gratifying. And I’d like to spend some time catching up on the fics I haven’t gotten a chance to read!

And I really want to say thank you. To everyone who read my fics, left a kind ask, shared one of my graphics. Writing has become so important to me and I am still in awe that people might want to read my thoughts, and feeling lucky I get to say hello to so many writers I truly admire and look up to.

There’s so many of you that I am just so happy to know - beloved mutuals, the amazing tnbf crew, star wars pals, the harvmind, and new friends from tlou 💕 I won’t tag anyone (because I live in fear of accidentally forgetting someone!!), but if we’ve chatted or followed or sent asks or shared the same space I absolutely and truly mean you. Thank you for making 2023 such a nice year and keeping me company and sane through a number of considerable ups and downs. 💖

Hope you had a great 2023, and looking forward to kicking off 2024 with you! 🎉

Lots of love,

- j💕

[littlequeenies]

A STARR’S NEW PLANET

1991, July - People magazine (US)

Ringo Starr’s 20-year-old daughter, Lee Starkey, celebrates the styles of her pop’s generation in her new Hollywood shop.

A STARR’S NEW PLANET

Ringo’s daughter, Lee Starkey, slips back into the ‘60s at her transplanted L.A. store, Planet Alice

Lee Starkey was born in 1970 – the year The Beatles split up. She didn’t see the swooning fans on The Ed Sullivan show and never questioned whether Paul was dead. As far as she was concerned, her father, Ringo Starr, was just another guy in a rock group. “It wasn’t like a really big thing,” she says. “I went to school with lots of people whose parents were in bands. I knew one of the Hollies’ daughters.”

Even now, when other rock legend’s children – Chynna Phillips, Carnie and Wendy Wilson and Gunnar and Matthew Nelson – are building megacareers with their parents’ names, Starkey, 20, doesn’t call attention to her roots. “I generally don’t tell anyone who my father is,” says Lee, who was raised in London by her mother, Maureen, after her parents’ 1975 divorce. “I didn’t know that much about the Beatles, so I kept my mouth shut.”

Lee communes with Ringo at the boutique's opening bash. "When there's something going on, we're all there," she says of her family.

Starkey is more comfortable talking about her own burgeoning career as co-owner of Planet Alice, a psychedelic boutique she opened last month with partner Christian Paris on L.A.’s trendy Melrose Avenue. Though it is stocked with what she describes as “’90s interpretations of ‘60s styles,” Starkey says, “I didn’t consciously do this because it’s what the Beatles wore in their heyday, but it must have had something to do with it.”

For his part, Ringo is glad that Lee, who didn’t ask him for financial help, “finally found something to put herself into,” he says. “She tried acting school and decided she didn’t like that. She got her diploma from makeup school and wasn’t really enthusiastic about that.” She even tried the drums. “But I wasn’t too good at it,” Starkey admits. Older brothers Zak, 25, and Jason, 23, became the drummers in the family, while Lee persuaded her pal Paris to relocate his Planet Alice shop from London’s Portobello Road to Hollywood. Waiting for her on these shores was her mother, who moved to L.A. last year after marrying Isaac Tigrett, cofounder of the Hard Rock Cafe empire. (The couple have a 4-year-old daughter, Augusta) Lee and Paris, who say their partnership is platonic, are living chez Tigrett until they find places of their own.

"I've never read a book about The Beatles," says Starkey (sketching at home). "If there's anything I want to know, I can just ask my dad".

“We’ve always been very family oriented,” says Lee, who spent childhood summers with her father at his estate at Ascot, where she occasionally encountered the other Beatles. Her parents remain on friendly terms, and Ringo and wife Barbara Bach, as well as Maureen and Tigrett, were on hand for the Planet Alice opening.

For now, Lee is concentrating on running the shop. She has even arm-twisted Mom into helping out one day a week. Dad hasn’t made that commitment, but his presence will surely be felt every time the cash register goes ring-o. 

"I feel I'm very lucky at age 20 to find what I want to do in life," says Lee, at Planet Alice,where everything old is new again.

Photographs by Roger Dong.

[azlan-snow]

Broadcast Husbands

Chapter Eight: Sappy

(Told from Vox’s POV)

Charlie’s crying through the door was like a barrel of weight being thrusted upon me. I punch and kick the door down and rush to her, pain stalking my face intently. “Are you okay?!”

“Vox?” Charlie’s face was encased in tears, redness encompassing her eyes as she sat on her bed, cuddled in a small-ish ball. 

“Hey,” I say, sitting next to her and embracing her in a tight hug, letting her cry into me. We sat there for a solid 10 minutes, Charlie crying non-stop. My attempts to get her to speak were frivolous. Finally when she stopped crying was she able to answer. “This is all my fault.”

“What is, Charlie?”

“The extermination. If I hadn’t had a meeting with Adam, it wouldn’t have been moved up.”

“That’s not true. It probably would have happened anyway.”

“You think so?” Her puppy eyes shimmered at me and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yep.” 

“Thanks, Vox.”

“Welcome. You wanna come with me?”

“To?”

“V Tower. Al wants me to pick up his stuff for his radio show. And I have to film my broadcast.”

“I would love to!”

“You wanna make an appearance?”

“No. I am NOT in the right headspace for that.”

“You sure?”

“Oh yeah. Totally not ready. Maybe next time, when I’m ready.”

“Okay. But you’ll accompany me?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Get ready then.”

“Right now?” She looked flustered and surprised at the rudeness.

“Yeah. Come on. I’ll wait for you in the lobby, at the bar, okay?”

“Okay!” She immediately rushes off to her bathroom as I leave.

“Should probably get Al to fix that,” I say, looking at the broken door. I head down to the bar and find Husk, doing his usual, drinking and gambling with Angel. “There’s no way you can drink me unda the table, pal.”

“Husk can drink a lot, Angel. I wouldn’t suggest that. He drunk more than me.”

“Hey, boss,” Husk says, looking at me with a drunken smile. “You leavin’?”

“Yeah. Taking the Princess to the tower.”

"Oh? She might have fun with that.”

“She’s excited.”

“Hey, TV Head. I gotta question fo’ ya’. Why’d ya marry tall, dark, and creepy?”

“Because I wanted to. We’ve been in a happy marriage since we were alive. We already knew we were both going to hell, so we’ll be together here too.”

“Was he a killer up there too?”

“Yeah. I found out when I was out getting groceries for us. He was losing at the time before I helped him finish the man off. It was a gruesome one, I’ll tell you that. How did you think I ended up here?”

“Definitely wasn’t murder.”

“I’m ready!” Charlie appears behind me, a beautiful mahogany and bright blue suit on her body. 

“Damn, toots! Whose pants you tryna get in?”

“What?! Angel, that’s ridiculous! I’m just going with Vox.”

“How long has it been since you’ve been out for fun?”

“I don’t know, maybe a couple hundred years, if I’m guessing.”

“Couple hundred years? That’s terrible!”

“Not really. I’ve just been here.” 

“Ya provin’ my point, toots. Ya need ta get out more. Hit a club or somethin’.”

“No thank you. I’m not into that kind of stuff.”

“Ya sure toots? You would totally be a ladykiller.”

“Angel!” Charlie was flustered from head to toe at the comment, which I took as my signal for us to leave.

“We shall bid you all farewell.” I grab Charlie and walk towards the door, arms linked together like the gentleman me and my husband are. He used to scold me on it when we were alive, after all. 

[vlovann]

Twilight of the Gods: Mythosyns

(Inaccuracy & Stupid Shenanigans Countdown)

Rankings:

S/6 - This is actually in the mythology or accurate to our pagan ideas of the gods

A/5 - Passable; As they should, not going above and beyond; Doesn't break immersion

B/4 - Could've done better or more research; could've asked a pagan; will continue with caution

C/3 - True Neutral

D/2 - Don't like it; okay?; Breaks immersion

F/1 - Absolutely not

Misc: no = automatic 0, comment out of number, silly

goofy, +/ - (.5), E/1.75, etc.

Let's Benean - Episode 3: “You Will Gladden His Ravens”

(I need you readers to know, my girlfriend and I have been wanting to make a Loki story for…A WHILE basically since we’ve started dating a couple years ago…only 2 episodes in and I think we’ve found the push we needed…anyway

Onward, mortals!)

1. Made by a non-pagan, perverted man: Ew/6 (0)

2. Jormungandr is a sexy trans lady: A (for as they should)

3. Ew, Thor. Fuck off: F

4. Loki, the ominous cockblocking dad: S (for papa of slithery lil snek)

5. NO. NO. GOD. PLEASE, NO!!: F (for put that thing back where it came from or so help meeeee! So help me, so HELP ME! That thing as in Thor entirely)

6. Cheating on Sif: Unfortunate S for accuracy :(

7. bAldr? LIKE HE’S YOUR PAL-dr, bAldr????: NO! (0)

8. Kitty scruff Libzarb Loki: S (because he just rolls with it)

9. Accuracy of Freya and Odin’s relationship: S

10. Loki didn’t shapeshift bosoms when talking about bosoms: F

11. Loki drinks Freya’s breast milk: Ew/6 (0 for this isn’t even a chaotic extreme actual Loki would partake and he has been a milkmaid before. This was someone’s fetish, probably Zack Snyder’s, so…fire him)

12. Dwarves turn into stone when they die. This is accurate: S

13. The apples were not taken from the Vanir. They were a wedding gift to Idunn by Ivaldi, her father: F

14. Freya wasn’t the queen of the Vanir. She was traded as a hostage during the war, along with Freyr and Njord (Their father): B (for acceptable confusion, but come on)

15. Egill said the gods spit in a well, but no mention of Kvasir, God and Traveler of knowledge: B (for could’ve added, “[…] and with the birth of Kvasir, the war was over.”)

16. Bindrude on the weapons, but no explanation, so probably not a real or accurate bindrune: C

17. Oh now you say it right, Thor: Inconsistency/6 (0)

18. Roll Credits/6 (0)

19. Kid didn’t deserve that. Fuck you, Odin: L Odin (for 0)

20. Wow, Thor respects Sigird’s title more than Lief. Lief saw it as a sexualizing trait!: I’m not sure what to make of this/6 (D?)

21. Thor sounds (and looks) like a fake hippie guru: F (for he’s trying to sell me CBD oil and will not accept “I’m allergic” as an answer)

Mythosyn count: 53

Out of

6x21= 126

42% despite all the S’s, it has LOST points.

Verdict:

[ananeverlovedme]

not a vent but. story time lol!

basically i, a ✨female✨, have been friends with d, a ✨male✨ for 4 and a bit years now. we’ve never liked each other in a non platonic way, we’re just. pals~~

so.

d now has this girlfriend, v, who is a couple years older than us. and. i. i think she thinks i like d.

whenever they’re together and i talk to d — oh this is slightly off topic but v is like. intimidatingly hot. like oh my god did someone turn up the thermostat or did v just walk in. jeeeeesus christ i cant lie but she could do a lot better than d. anyway, — she just like. looks at me. and it’s fucking scary.

v. v, what is your problem. it’s like. this weird fake sarcastic smile. but also like. i can see the fucken malice in her eyes.

anyway. in conclusion v is insanely pretty but she’s also scary and hates me because she thinks i’m tryna steal her man. so.

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye Retrospective Season 1 Finale: Remain in Light (Patreon Review for Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy Autobots. It's been over a year, two spotlight issues, a two issue prequel, an annual and as of this review, 22 issues but we've done it we've reached the end of more than meets the eye season 1.

It's been a long project but one of my faviorites, one I always wanted to do but simply didn't have the time on my own and was more than happy when Brotoman commissioned these. I owe him a world of gratitude for his support and patience. Without him I woudln't of been able to talk about gay disfunctional robots every month and for that, i'm eternally grateful. This is one of my faviorite comics and re-reading it slowly and intently has only solidified that.

So a few things before we dive into this wonderful story: The first is something I forgot to mention last time that brotoman pointed out, something important I missed in my tired daze: How big a moment Rewind saying "I Love You" To chromedome is.

See before this, the series was coy about the two: It made it damn obvious the two were a couple.. but also used terms like them being "friends" and no one using words like couple, common law husbands or pound pals. The two were just a duo at first and if you were a mite thick headed like yours truly, who at the time I first read the comic didn't look for gay subtext like a bloodhound after a cheeseburger, you'd miss it. It was still obvious, the way they act around each other, their history, the way they fight.. the two are ENTIRELY an old married couple and act it and anyone looking closely could see that. But Roberts knew that those three little words were, to quote an interview with Sequart Orignization, a step up.

All that said, the Chromedome/Rewind relationship stepped up a gear – and moved fully into the open – with issue #16, when Rewind tells Chromedome (not for the first time, but it’s the first time we’ve seen it on the page) that he loves him. I was conscious that this was really nailing certain colors to the mast, and I was ready to make a case for those three words to stay in the script. But both John and Michael Kelly at Hasbro were incredibly supportive and encouraging, and the declaration of love survived the editing process. The reaction to the first Transformers gay couple was amazing – overwhelmingly positive. To be honest, I thought most people would be pretty cool with it, because most people are sensible and decent, but it was still encouraging to see. Hooray for Transformers fans."

I"m happy to hear that the reception was entirely positive and that Hasbro was supportive. I'm sure there are still a few idiots who were again it here and there, but like those who actively deny huntlow happened.. their a few idiots who can't accept objective reality and there's only one way to deal with them

Moving on to Remain in Light itself, We need to talk about the big shockwave shaped elephant in the room. Dark Cybertron is intended to be the finale for both this and Robots in Disguises' first season, a big epic crossover to shake up both series status quos and onboard us into season 2.

In practice.. it's the big showy finale to Robots in Disguise with the MTMTE cast guest starring. It's still VITAL to MTMTE, I would've simply recapped it like I intend to recap RID if that weren't the case: Nautica and Nightbeat are introduced, joining the crew in season 2, Megatron has his heel realization that leads to him also joining the crew, Cybertron finds out Prowl didn't kill MOST of the lost lighters (RIP Rewind I), and Chromedome powerbombs the motherfucker off a cliff.

I'll unpack this scene more when we properly get to it but I cannot see Prowl get powerbombed off a cliff while he's somehow SHOCKED this happened despite begging for it. It's Dellliccciooousss.

The fact is while a crossover was inevitable the death fakeout meant both books were completely isolated from each other, and thus their plots.. really don't intersect much. Prowl's actions have consequences and his baiting Chromdome leads to bad shit over in RID, but for the most part the two books are their own stories and their own spheres and by the time they intersect it works well enough... but it's clear they just work better on their own. It's likely why the third addition to this line, Windblade (both volumes) was made to stand on it's own while having an easier time intersecting back with Cybertron as our heroes are one teleport away versus the lost light being deep in space and in it's own character stuff. Windblade, btw is fucking great and I intend to cover it at some point, just not as part of this retrospective. It's it's own beautiful thing.

So while Lost Light was going to get into the Dark Cybertron hype, it needed to cap off it's own story first as it would've been a bit much to try and cram two series with a wide buffet of ongoing plots and plans together. So we get Remain in LIght where a LOT of character arcs are paid off, a few questions are answered, and a few things are set up for both next season and the eventual finale of the series. As usual it's remarkable how much Roberts set up, but here's where it gets to payoff more: last arc paid off the overlord conspiracy and rewind and chromedome's relationship, this one pays off magnus' breakdown, the circle of light and even where we found skids and just what was chasing him. It's a true epic and I can't wait to share it with you under the cut.

Part 1 picks up exactly where we left off: Tailgate is running to tell Cyclonus some "stupid news" while Rodimus, Blaster and Ambulon look over the security footage since Ratchet was busy telling Tailgate he gonna die. And to remind us Ambulon exists before the carnage to come.

For now Blaster's friend Mainframe is able to track the shuttle, so Rodimus is rounding up a crew to go find Magnus, with a determination we've scarely seen and a grimness we really haven't.

Meanwhile it turns out Tailgate's sickness... is cybercois, a condition that slowly kills the trnasformer, taking away their movement , speech and eventually memory.. and given memories of this place are all Tailgate really has he didn't take it well. Cyclonus urges tailgate to face his death with dignity and head on, agreeing to keep it secret and leaving... to mutilate his own face with a large scrap, enraged the one person he has on this ship is about to die and he can't just cut his diseas in half.

Hot Rod leads the crew to a big hole, making it very clear that he dosen't care what they ahve to say their going in... and for once his impusilvness pays off as what he finds is Luna 1, cybertron's missing moon which was mentioned before and I honestly forgot was the setting for this arc but it's a brilliant payoff and a way to have Rodimus have acomplished something big: he found one of the lost moons. Even if the quest has gone nowhere, this is still pretty damn big and he has perceptor confirm it. What's more curious, even if Perciptor dosen't buy it? Luna has a BILLION PEOPLE on board.

So Rodimus assembles his crack team.. and this is the first time we really see what we'll call Team Rodimus come together: While Rodimus has interacted with all these guys before, this is where it becomes clear how much he cares about them as more than just his crew:

First recurit is Rung whose surpised after Rodimus' outburst last time they talked. Naturally that's exactlyw hy: Rodimus flipped out largely because it was something he didn't want to hear... and with magnus gone he NEEDS that opposing opinon.

The rest of the team includes Brainstorm, whose happy to go and is already packed (holds up suitcase), Ratchet as the Medic, Perceptor as the more stable science guy to Brainstorm's mad scientest, and Whirl... who Rodimus flat out admits he just needs to throw a punch. Also going along is Chromedome, who Skids begs to help him: Since LUna 1 is allegedly's a giant treasure trove, Skids wants something to repair his memory. Swerve also wants to go but is harshly turned down by rodimus due to limited capacity, while Cyclonus agrees to go and take Drift's place as spirtual advisor, since he's the most religious person on the ship left, which he agrees to if Tailgate can come.

What I really get from this is while Rodimus is asking most on qulaifications, only being really straight with Rung.. like I said this shows who he really cares about: his team has to be small and he's a dick to swerve.. but it's likely more he knows Swerve might be in danger here and if there were room, skids and swerve would be along. These are who he can count on, who he's leaned on, who he needs without his two main supports on the ship. And this team will only grow as time goes on.

For now Team Rodimus heads to the planet, with Tailgate hoping to find a cure and Cyclonus.. thinking hope is a lie and telling him to never hope. And also he killed his puppy. He made him a puppy and then he stabbed it. A bunch. And then he showed tailgate the pictures.

Anyway our heroes land on the seemingly barren moon only to find...

IT's a hell of a reveal, and one that will be vastly important down the line... it won't really have any consequences for NOW but just remember this in a few years when we get to the final arc. For now jus tnejoy the sense of wonder on everyone's face: even Ratchet, the crankiest of crank and Tailgate who

We then find out what constructed cold means as Tailgate asks... granted I think I covered this definition back in chapter 1, but as a reminder; cold construction is making a cybertronian via "Spark splicing" using a bit of someone elses to craft a new one. This was in part due to demmand: Cybertron couldn't expand out into the cosmos if it didn't have enough people. Problem is as we've seen like any society Cybertron is quick to prejudice, and thus once Nova Prime who invented the process left, many a city started trying to "prove" constructed cold bots were inferior, something Chromedome is still bitter about and rightfully so.

It's about then things go to hell: On the ship commuincation is suddenly blocked between the bridge crew and away team, and Skids hears some clanking. on Luna 1, our heroes are soon swarmed by decepticons as Lockdown arrives

Okay probably not the right reaction but for those curious who this guy is, Lockdown was one of the handful of original characters from Transformers Animated, my faviorite transformers show and the one that reignited my spark for this fandom. And then this comic did it again, it's a bit cyclical. Point is even if I badly need a refresher on that series, Lockdown was their kraven the hunter, a bounty hunter who hunted down autobots for the decepticons, mostly working for them out of necisity and largely being his own man, so he fits for being a gun for hire for someone else. He sadly dosen't get as much to do here, at least in this season I can't remember if he shows up again, but it's just nice to see something from Animated imported as later installments tend to either make new transformers or stick with the core ones.

On the ship.. things are worse... Skids is confronted by those mysterious robots, who i'll just go ahead and call by their proper names: Legislators... only this time their giant sized and emerging out of the oil pool. What's worse is they soon creep up on EVERY deck of the ship, all shouting the same thing: 1984. Oh and in case you thought things couldn't get any worse as Team Rodimus flees... Ratchet is shot down and isolated....

We pick up from the siege in issue 2: the ship's overrun, our heroes are outgunned and only Swerve is able to land a solid hit as only one came to Swerves

... admitely I just wanted to show off the my first blaster. (Clears throat)

SAY YOU, LITTLE AUTOBOT. YOU WANT TO SHOOT THINGS WITH ALL THE BIG KIDS BUT YOU CAN'T FIRE THEIR BIG OLD GUNS FOR BIG OLD BOTS WITH YOUR WIDDLE BITTY BABY HANDS? TRY MY FIRST BLASTER! MY FIRST BLASTER IS A GUN DEISGNED FOR LITTLE FELLAS LIKE YOU. jUST POINT SHOOT AND MY FIRST BLASTER WILL TELL YOU IF YOU DID AND SUPPORT YOU IF YOUR NOT. MY FIRST BLASTER, FROM BRAINSTORM INC A DIVISON OF BRAINSTORM IS SMARTER THAN YOU LLC.

WARNING: NOT SELLABLE ANYWHERE EXCEPT THE LOST LIGHT. DO NOT GIVE TO BOTS UNDER 1. DO NOT USE WHILE DRUNK UNLESS IT'D BE REALLY FUNNY. COPYRIGHT VIOLATERS WILL BE HUNTED DOWN AND DIPPED IN ACID.

Meanwhile Skids continues his fight and easily wins using his super learning, able to predict his new foes attack easily and counter it.. the problem is while it's a great skill when your fighting a few of Legislators.. it's not so great when your fighting NINE of them and they'll likely keep coming.

So back on Luna 1.. it isn't much better. Whirl and Cyclonus get seperated from the group, and Rodimus, while finding out Ratchet got taken down from tailgate.. simply can't go back for him.

Rodimus then procedes to do some dope as hell sacrlige as he plunges into a titans corpse to give him more room to evade their captors. Sadly while his moves are dope as fuck and Lockdown is sure to give them the slow clap they deserve.. he's already gotten everyone else. After taking a second to tell pharma everyone else hates him, a worthy use of his time. What a legend.

So our heroes end up in a jail cell where, for the past two issues, Rodimus has been recapping these events to Minimus, his cellmate.. who looks an awful lot like someone a certain dead bot was looking for.. hmmm. Questions for later.

For now Rodimus admits they weren't just dumped in a cell first, as Rodimus correctly figures Lockdowns taking them to his boss: a long lost moon as a base, teleport tech.. all of this screams big bad.. and Lockdown is at the end of the day a guy just doing his job. Pharma mentioning a collective "lord and master earlier" already told us this, but it's a nice character bit, shows that beneath his reckleness Rodimus is far smarter than he appears and far more capable than most give him credit for. He's an idiot, sure, but he's one with great skill and intiution.

And sure enough there is a big bad behind all this.. and of all people it's..

I was as shocked as rodimus but it's a clever rug pull: We've seen Chief Tyrest brought up a lot, his accords are what Ultra Magnus is duly appointed enforcer of and back in Last Stand of the Wreckers, he's the one who oversaw the Aquetius trials. So seeing him show up is a suprise... but seeing him be BEHIND all this is a nice swerve. He also makes a perfect contrast to our crew: the embodiment of order and rigidity veruss our far looser, far more human crew. Metaphorically I mean thir still giant robots.

Tyrest is being an obstinante dick, proving he really is Magnus' boss, charging our heroes with crimes against creation. We find out our ambus ISN'T dominus, but his brother minimus, an allged energon trader who hasn't tried to escape because he's waiting for his day in court, a BIGGGGG honking neon sign of a clue at who this guy is. But more on that later, for now Tailgate has a bit of a breakdown, with no one knowing why since he didn't tell anyone present he's dying and could be trapped here for what days remain.

Meanwhile Ratchet.. is not doing any better, with Pharma torturning him, showing off his new shapeshifting hands which can become TWO chainsaws. That double groovey. He's no less stable than last time, but now he dosen't need to PRETEND to be and is honestly an even better villian on return: he has a joker style quality to him as he fiddles with his double groovy hands and plays with ratchet making him ask what's in THE BOX

Turns out 9 robots vs skids does just mean send more legislators and we get a nice speech from the guy, with him pointing out how the Lost Light took him in, cared for him and welcomed him no questions asked.. and

Unfortunately while Skid is totally badass.. he's also wiped.. and thus dosen't see this coming

We'll get into who this fine bastard is later, for now he knocks out Swerve too.

Back in Prison, Tailgate asks about tyrest, noting Nova Prime had a chief science offer of the same name.. the same guy. We get Tyrest's backstory: He was a nobody until the war when, with Dai Atlas' help , they helped 10,000 neutrals off world. Tyrest returned to TRY and broker peace, simply two city states, one for each side, but naturally since one of those sides was Megatron that never went anywhere. It instead lead to the Tyrest Accords, a series of rules of engagment the biggest being not exporting cybertronian weaponry. It's thanks to him the universe isn't a smoldering crater and thanks to Optimus he's chief justice.

As for what he's doing here... no one has a clue. He was last seen during the Aquetius trials, which Rodimus helpfully recaps: trials using a judging machine that 100% predicts guilt, and hasn't been seen since the trials. They also pass around energon sticks, something equivlent to either gum or cigarettes or autobot slim jims

Rung offers Minimus to snap into one.. then delberately spills it and spills it more, causing him to HAVE to get them off the ground and organized... and proving what Rung's figured all along:

Yup, while Ultra Magnus was indeed Ultra Magnus... he was also Minimus Ambus. It's complicated and naturally Hot Rod's a bit confused, so Magnus backs it up slightly: he war bought into luna one and reparied... then smacked in the face by tyrest.

Tyrest decides just bitchslapping Magnus PHYSICALLY isn't enougH: having read his logs and found his actions disgraceful, both the micromanagment and the various fraternizations, he disables the armor and left ambus as he was.

As for why Magnus was a fancy suit of armor, turns out Ultra Magnus is a legacy of brave autobots, all one percenters.. but smaller rewind sized ones, Loadbearers. So while their not super tanks from the start.. it means they can be heavily modified and thus wear the Magnus Armor. The Magnus Armor was forged after the original Magnus, a real brave bot, died: Tyrest saw what fear and awe he imposed and realized he could exploit that and thus created an "immortal lawman". If this is sounding very sinestro to you and making you nervous, that's the idea. As for why small transformers it's simply that most cybertronians can't get fancy armored add ons" too much and they freeze up. A loadbearer has plenty.

So our magnus, Minimus was the latest.. and seemingly last. He also has ten days left.. but it turns out Pharma wasn't lying: Tyrests doctors can work miracle.

Back in the flashback, we get a recontexulization of Magnus character from Tyrest, who isn't exactly reliable , hence why I didn't think too heaviyl about his words before.. but in hindsight.. they make perfect sense and the interview I mentioned backs it up: Magnus.. had a nervous breakdown.

For most of the lost lighters the war ending is a fresh start: the war is over.. but for the bulk of them the war wasn't something they fit into. They were fighting because they had no real choice or had been for too long. And in the case of some like Chromedome the war simply took one terrible thing they were forced into and swapped it for another. The war ending means a chance ot start over and do anything else.

Magnus... fit perfectly. He was a stickler for order, a natural talented combatant, and while he was the latest to wear this armor, he more than earned it. The war was chaotic and horrible, but it also had rules, a clear bad guy (even if this book shows there's still plenty shades of grey in the autobots), and a clear end goal. Life.. dosen't have those. LIfe is just doing your best and hoping today is good. It's not perfect, it's often messy, but it's just how it is. Magnus didn't really have to worry about small talk or what he does with the rest of his life.

It also explains why he took the lost light: it was seemingly close to what he'd been doing: going through space, righting wrongs, etc, all. Cybertron would've had more order.. but it was also filled with thousands of bots who resented him for everything he'd had to do over the war, and a new world he understood even less. It was the lesser of two evils, so he overcompesated by becoming anal retintive in the extreme. He's a soldier who simply couldn't cope with the war being over, a tale sadly as old as the nasty institution itself and didn't get himself the help he needed.

Magnus replacement.. was Star Saber, that guy we saw make Skids into a kebab. Magnus was mostly talking to them though.. because he was curious. He asked to be put in there as.. nothing is adding up: the decepticons, the titan, and now this "crimes against creation" charge that wasn't in the laws before. magnus, still being a tad naive even after all of this, goes to talk to tyrest.

While he does, WHirl and Cyclonus have escaped having killed a bunch of decipticons themselves and after their done getting to the numbers, see a cell block above... identified as such because it's directly over a giant smelting pool, as whirl puts it "a prison you can dunk" Whirl of all people is the logical one here: They need a ton of weapons to go rescue the others, and he can sniff an armory. Somehow. Honestly I'd question it but if anyone could find weapons through sheer force of will it's whirl.

Back with the head tha twouldn't die, Ratchet assumes this is about revenge.. and it is, Pharma wanted to hunt ratchet down, but his main goal

Thing is Pharma's a mite bit paranoid and hasn't removed them because their hard locked, and he assumes rigged to explode. Ratchet uses this to his advantage: he calls Pharma a coward, stating that he really didn't do it because he's scared he can't and essentially challenges him to a surgery duel: first to fix it win. Honestly Chicago Med and Grey's Anatomy could use WAY more of those. I'd watch every episode twice if it was a death sport race to see who can surgery faster. Get it on it Dick Wolf and Shondra Rhymes!

So back with the bicker twins, Cyclonus and Whirl argue, with Cyclonus pointing out byu this point.. Whirl could've had his own hands back and his face if he wanted, with Whirl genuinely worried if he stops being angry, he wouldn't be him anymore. Cyclonus gets stabbed from behind for our THIRD stabbing this story and our FOURTH in the last few issues, but it's not fatal, Whirl saves him.. and our dynamic duo find the prisoners: not our heroes, who are as it turns out somewhere else.. but the circle of light. It's why they have so many swords avaliable.

Back with Ratchet he made a bit of a tactical error.. while his gambit was clever.. he forgot that Pharma is basically the joker now and thus had ambulon and first aid brought here as swerve and skids were to Team Rodimus cell: their going to be the guinea pigs and despite ratchet's begging, he can't get the contest called off. This is happening. And unfortunately for ambulon instead of across the waist... Pharma decides to go lengthwise.

Semantics point is ambulon is super fucking dead and purple chainsaw blood is all over. It's a brutal, horrifying death.. and tha'ts really the only reason it works. That Pharma set up this horrifying death game, when he could've just done minor surgery and used one of the Legislators, since they aren't really sapient at this point anyway. Otherwise.. Ambulon is a guy we barely knew who disappeared entirely: Pipes was also mostly absent till his death.. but Pipes felt like an actual character and had enough characteirzation up to his death. Ambulon.. feels like he was kept on just for this chainsaw death since First Aid had more to give. It's not a bad death, I mean... look at that gore, but it's not as weighty especially coming after two big tearjerking ones.

Back at the cells, Swerve fills the rest of the crew in: the legislators have locked down the place, and he tells them about Star Saber, who it turns out in this unvierse is a notorious evangelical nutball who tried to do atheist genocide. So you know the MOST stable person to give a big sword. Star Saber being made into a villian.. was a bit contervseral according to tv tropes. Saber Originally was the optimus prime equilvent for one of the G1 animes, Transformers Victory, having a neat design and big old sword. So making him into a sociopathic religious nut wasn't the best for some. Me I think it's fine: the series already has plenty of heroic autobots and it helps reinforce the idea that being on the autobots .. dosen't make you a good person. Same with Tyrest.

He shows up to drop off a new prisoner.. and it makes Chromedome have a relization: when Skids memory was begging for estape it was asking for getaway... the autobot whose now being loaded into their cells.

Minimus goes to confront Tyrest who couldn't give a shit what Magnus thinks.. but is willing to explain what his grand evil plan is and why he's doing all this supervillian nonsense: guilt. Turns out Tyrest is one of the archetechts of Cold Construction, and instead of using sparks.. it used the matrix. This is a brilliant move and explains why, with cold construction only stopping fo ra bit because it was assumed the matrix was dry when really someone stole it assuming this was blasphemous.

And sadly. Tyrest has started to agree. The Aquetius trials drove him around the bend, with all the guilt and horrible actions of the autobots on trial getting to him.. to the point he started to drill into himself, hence the holes.. including one in his own head. Huh Egon WAS right it would've worked.. as Tyrest saw something beckoning him and thus the space bridge is a portal to cyberutopia itself. But being ... unhinged to say the least, Tyrest has decided he has to atone first... since all the criminals on trial were constructed cold, he assumes their an abomination and plans to use a literal killswitch to kill every last one tommorow. And beofre Minimus can stop this.. he has a legislator squish the poor guy's head.

Onto Part 4. After a reminder of the various gushers of blood abound, we cut to a fight with Whirl, Cyclonus and the Circle of Light. Turns out the circle had been cut down a bit, but is still a massive army, allowing for an epic battle while everything elses going on and the revelation that will come in hand in a bit that Cyclonus, being a true believer, can power their faithswords, which use energy from a spark to do something something something religion. Look I'm being as through as I can, but this is a MASSIVE story arc.

In the Cell Getaway TRIES to have a reunion with Skids, while also introducing his catchphrase bomp.. basically a sort of fistbump he used to annoy skids. At any rate Skids can't remember anything but Getaway can and fills the rest of the cast in on Tyrest's madness, which is a term I try to be careful with as someone with a mental illness myself.. but really appleis to a man whose drilled a thousand holes into himself and is trying to do holy genocide right about now. When Rodimus mentions Ambus not being back yet... Getaway drops the bomb on him baby, he drops the bomb on him... that Ambus LURED them here.

Back with Team Holy Genocide, Tyrest explains how the hell he knows this switch will work to someone who was there for it: He kidnapped Pharma because Pharma is apparently famous for being Forged, so he could prove it wouldn't kill Forged transformers. THe attack on the circle of light? A whole cities worth of test subjects, taking ten thousand down to one thousnad. Speaking of which given the Circle is a mite testy about the genocide, Tyrest decides to handle the situation by.. letting the equally religious genocidal monster he keeps on payroll handle it.

Skids has a bit of a breakdown over his missing memories so not wanting to see his best friend break down further, Swerve asks Gateway to fill him in on what he's missing. Skids and Brainwave were partners in the Dipolmatic Corps... which was really Autobot Special Ops. What good would being spies be if they broadcasted that fact? They had a similar job as the wreckers, impossible missions and such, but while the Wreckers were more Impossible MIssions Force, going in somewhat subtle and always ending loud and dangling themselves off cliffs, the ASO were more the stale beer type of spy: get in, do the mission, maybe surivive.

Their mission this time was to put a mind bullet in Tyrest's head.. not kill him, to Skids relief, as the binary gun, that gun Skids couldn't find when he was introduced, wasn't designed to kill, simply implant a thought, and a very simple one at that: Resign. As for why, while Skids boss didn't know the fulls cope of what tyrest is doing he got the feeling something bad was going down given he was chasing down titans and talking to the decpticons. Sadly .. Skids missed, Tyrest set his horeds on them and while Skids escaped, he followed one last protocol: after all the binary gun had two bullets... and the other was used on him to erase the mission

To no one's suprise, Prowl's the spymaster here and to even less shockity shock, him prodding the already deranged man with a god complex led him to speed up his plans. The good news of all this though is Getaway.. can get the mout. He's an escapeologist, a master escape artist, macguver as a transformer and the only reason he hasn't busted out? He didn't have a fresh set of keys.

While Getaway plans his way out, so does Ratchet, who has an argument iwth first aid: First Aid makes the valid point that Ratchet has a savior complex; he hasn't really retired.. because he dosen't think anyone else can do the job as well as him. Turns out this isn't it: Ratchet didn't let first aid help.. because Ambulon was long dead by chainsaw to the face, and he simply was stalling to weaponize his corpse, a nice little callback to drift doing the same. The two argue over what to do with Pharma, Ratchet not wanting to sink to his level and First Aid wisely feeling Pharma will just come back to haunt them again, if probably not the one to do it since i'ts clearly out of anger his friend we saw maybe once just got chainsawed in half by the guy.

The argument is interupted by Team Rodimus. Turns out the keys... were all the stuff on everyone and using Brainstorms breifcase straps (he had it on him as it's designed that only those who KNOW it's there see it) and Chromedome's fingers to create a dart gun, knock out the guard then have everyone use the sticks on the bars at the same time. THeir out, and Tailgate is hopeful he can find a cure. And what I like, and forgot to mention is HOW Luna 1's a treasure chest: it's not because it was lost. Luna 1.. is just luna 2 with a diffrent name. But since Tyrest took up refrence he also took every bit of treasure the magnuses had built up with him and thus he really CAN work medical miracles. It's juts without Pharma.. they might not be able to.

For now it's time to light up the stage cause it's time for a showdown. With team two guys , a religoius leader an an army it's not great as the legislators won't stop and there's a LOT of them, and Star Saber makes it worse. While Dai Atlas does his best against his polar oppiste.. Saber snidely tells him "Primus hates you and stabs the life out of him"

Team Rodimus don't have it much better.. they arrive, point a gattling gun at Tyrests face.. and tyrest simply activates his staff and the bodies hit the floor. It's a subsonic suggestion they can't move, so powerful they don't even belivie it when he tells them and with that.. he pulls the switch. Brainstorm and Chromedome start to fade.. and they aren't alone...

It's a brutal sequence ending with the scavengers... and with that tyrest has almost won, and all he has to do.. is step into the light of his portal as it activates.

So as the final chapter opens, Tyrest is about to get his big prize when...

It's a clever save: Tailgate's condition had been front and center for most of this arc, Ratchet outlined loss of functions.. it's poetry. I also love him jamming his finger in the head hole, it's a detail I did'nt notice till writing this but I love it.

WIth that the rest of the crew can rally.. but Tyrest uses tailgate as a human shield with Tailgate revelaing his condition so Rodimus can shoot.. but Rodimus has grown from the incident with fort max and can't bring himself too... thankfully..

Before we can process "how the hell is magnus still alive", we cut to the battle outside and we get an awesome fight with Cyclonus and Starsaber, with Cyclonus stabbing the fucker in the eye.. before he gets teleported away. Where? Well.. that's al ong ways off from being answered, but for now he's away from gutting people range so that's good at least. Back with Team Rodimus, Rodders asks what we're all thinking "What the hell". Turns out in a clever, if still somewhat labored twist... Minimus didn't tell them HOW many loads he was carring. This is as far down as he goes, but it still makes a lot of sense. Tyrest not KNOWING this dosen't, but we can handwave it as Tyrest assuming he got the heads and just.. not carring enough about magnus to double check the corpse, a mistage that made him into one.

Our heroes need to scramble to find someway to shut off the killswitch though as Tyrest was still sane enough to not put a shutoff on it. Before they can deal with that properlyt hough, Pharma heads into the portal with First Aid giving chase.. and Pharma saying far more than he needs to, chuckling and grinning about all the autbots at delphi and bursting into laughter about his lengthwise joke... and soon bursting from the head as first aid shoots him.. and then collapses, not able to deal with taking a life for the first time

It's a powerful moment. Pharma absoltuely deserved to get his head burst... but it's still a life and it dosen't, as first aid clearly hope, make the pain of everyone he's lost go away.

So while this goes on Perciptor has a hail mary: he hooks rodimus up to it, which MIGHT hurt him and will defintely destroy their matrix piece, using it to undo the code. While Rodimus makes a "there goes our map" quip.. it's very clear he has no intention of backing out: personal glory isn't worth the deaths of everyone.

So with Death on the way he decides to clear the air with Magnus, ask if he really betrayed them. Turns out.. yeah he entirely lured them out here, having become disturbed with Rodimus' increasing irresponsiblity. It wasn't a full trap as he had no idea Tyrest was so far gone, he just wanted him to give Rodders a lecture, snap him out of it, tha tsort of thing not you know, nearly kill them all and then try to commit genocide as an encore. It speaks to who Magnus is: he's orderly.. but he's not the zealot his former boss is. He just wants to do the right thing.

And so does rodimus..w hich leads to one hell of a confession

It's a powerful moment an da wakeup call for rodimus: while he's still carefree after this... it's him realizing he's been way too caviler.. and let his own ego and pride get people killed. And he needs to , instead of hiding from it like he did, face the conseqeucnes of his actions. It's also a nice moment in that instead of seeing his sacrifice as a way out or a glorious way to redeem himself as he might have before the incident... instead Rodimus just hopes he lives long enough to begin the real work.

As he writhes in pain, Tyrest.. turns out not to be dead and says one word: one... which sends all the legislators their way.

In the meantime Skids ends up on Cyberutopia.. yeah... in a big reveal it, or some form of it exists and skids ended up there due to taking the portal: it was blocking anyone who had guilt in them, and Skids.. finally felt free enough to try it.

What he saw there will be important later but for now the plan worked: everyone is saved and Whirl celebrates, deciding to put the past behind him and cyclonus... and after a quick murder fantasy Cyclonus agrees. He has somewhere more important to be.

Back in the control room the legislators swarm and Skids shows up to help.. while something takes Ambulon's corpse through the portal. No time to dwell on that setup now as the legislators need to be stopped..a nd it's tailgate who once again saves the day in a brilliant way too. Remember how Magnus had him memorize the law and just about everything including the dimensions of the kitchen sink? Well when finding out the law computer is right there, this allows tailgate to easily write a new one REPEALLING them all. the legislators freeze, our heroes win the day, and Tyrest vanishes. And sadly while Tailgate won the day.. he passes out.

Thankfully we have a solution: on his deathbed we get a very poginant line from Tailgate, the little bot who simply wanted to be special and important...

It's a small line.. but one that sums up the comic> life isn't about being a big hero or saving the unvierse, though our heroes certainly did that.. it's abotu living it. It can be hard, messy and often rediculous.. but it's more than worth it.. and with that Cyclonus gives Tailgate the gift of life.. by stabbing him in the chest

And for once.. IT IS HEALTHY as it was a way to do a spark transfusion, one Whirl of all people brought up. It was risky.. but it was worth it.

So as Rodimus decides to bounce, deciding this big discovery wasn't really wroth it with one crew member dead, first aid traumitzied and brainstorm in his lab, unknown to all having taken the super spark, and the rest of the sparks having gone quiet after the matrix became dust.. he's lost.

Magnus however.. is found. He may not know what his future is.. but he's finally at some sort of peace.. and has a ncie gentle talk with cyclonus

Remain in Light was one of my faviorite arcs of lost light.. and re-reading it only clinched that view: it's a tense epic that's fast paced but manages to cover a LOT of ground without anything feeling underserved, and the result is stunning. It's a worthy end to season 1.

And it WOULD be where we leave off.. but before dark cybertron we have one issue left, issue 22.

Little Victories is a nice Coda to the season, an issue I skimmed over the first time I read the comic due to the art... not being great. Artist James Raiz takes over from here through dark cybertron and his art style isn't bad, being kind of sketchy and gritty. Not my cup of tea but not bad art. The problem.. is that the art style dosen't fit lost light at all. I mean look at this panel with cyclonus

It's a good joke, but it looks just so dead serous and grungy. It just dosen't fit what's entirely a slice of life issue, showing a recuritment film Rewind made before his untimely passing.

That said giving the issue a second chance or two i've come around... once your ready for the jarring art shift, you can enjoy the story with plenty of fun documentary gags including Magnus having part of the film removed and getting editiing rights, as well as having Swerves swears censored.

There's two plots here: The first involves everyone being curious what Rungs alt mode is, with Swerve having a bet as to who can get him to show it first, leading to a really great, really stupid joke

I love this comic for it's deep characters, engaging plot and world building.. but I also love that a large part of the comic is just roberts letting these robots act like jackasses. It makes them so damn relatable. I mean someone had to try this.

The other is Thunderclash, what a guy. Thunderclash is a legendary hero and the king of the parody sues, a guy so noble and kind that even optimus looks up to him, a hero unparalleled. He's this series Ace Rimmer, and intentionally too as Roberts is a big red dwarf fan, something that isn't a huge suprise but is welcome.

For those not familiar with Ace, he's the alternate counterpart of Red Dwarf's Arnold Rimmer, an uptight attempted ladder climber who usually fails due to his own incomptience and ego, while Ace is everything Arnold WISHES he could be: Smart, handsome, good with a joke, beloved.

So naturually someone like Rodimus, full of ego and self importance himself, needed someone just simply better than him doing the same job who everyone on his crew unabashadely loves. Thunderclash is just.. that nice and I love the ways they bend over backwards to make EVERYONE fall for this guy, from him being one of the few autbots to be nice to cyclonus and earn his genuine respect with his knoweldge, to teaching Perciptor of all people something. It's just great fun and it's just as fun to watch Hot Rod gnash his teeth over someone else getting all the attention.

There's also a third kinda plot as the crew runs into the Ammonites, a group of robots fighting a forever war with some bug aliens that whirl seemingly end sin ten minutes. We don't know how and tha'ts how I sleep at night

All three collide at the end: Thunderclash's ship needs a jump, esspecailly since, while an epic hero of epicness, he's dying: the ship is Thunderclash's life support and being the autobot's own personal jesus, he's naturally using this time to save everyone he can. It's why his crew's behind on their own quest for the knights.

Sadly one of his crew turns out to be an ammonite spy and they turn out to not have been the good guys, thankfully Rung has an idea and turns into a blunt insturment. Or is it an object. point is he's blunt, hard and blunt. As for WHAT he is...

This will be important going forward, and in hindsight may be one of the most important little bits in this issue. Thunderclash will be too.

We then get the ending which is... eh in my eyes. I like Lost Light's comedy, I point you to just a few paragraphs ago with the stupid alt mode night joke. But this bit.. feels a bit of a stretch: it turns out the film was being screened to the circle of light who ALL, every one of them, boo hiss and complain about them all being fuckups. Besides being more than a little harsh... the film was made by a DEAD AUTOBOT. Rewind DIED before this was made and i'm damn sure they told them that. I like the jokes and I don't mind shots at how little the crews acomplished, it's a decent runner but here.. it just feels mean. Doubly so since the lost light JUST SAVED THEIR ASSES and the ENTIRE UNIVERSE, and not a one of them think tha'ts neat. We get a heartwarming ending showing how much it means but this joke.. just really dosen't work at all. One of Roberts rare misfires but boy is it off target.

That said the issue overall is fun and i'm glad I gave it a second shot. It's good stuff and like seemingly EVERYTHING before the finale itself, it's got a lot of setup.

Next Time: Before we can get to DARK CYBERTRON we have to see what everyone else has been up to

Thanks for reading

[dommesticpet]

Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms And Lava

It’s been a few years.   Like most of you, things sort of hit the skids in March 2020 - I just got back from a trip to the Ice Planet that is the East Coast, and we were all waiting to see if things were going to be OK.   And the answer is, at least for me personally, things moved along.   Sure, I may have flushed 10% of my lifespan so far down the toilet, but who hasn’t?

My best pal from way back in college died three years ago today.  It wasn’t COVID, it was most likely snowballing self-medicated depression with lots of empty bottles and other substances discovered by his ex-husband. Given I saw signs of problems when I visited him the previous November, I am still beating myself up a bit for not being a bigger tight-ass about all of this.  Take care of yourself, is what I’m getting at, because people will miss you terribly for the rest of their live if you don’t.  I admit, this and the general isolation from most people I know living 6 or more hours away have not lead to the last few years being exactly fantastic.  But hey, that’s about to change a bit.

The Dommestic Pet World Tour continues this week with the first business trip - or trip anywhere more than 100 miles away from home -  since February of 2020.   I’ve been playing “where is that cable?” this afternoon, and am so far mostly winning.  Sadly my plans for fun detours involving music stores and fried fish have been cut short by rescheduled business dinners and other things that are not me having fun for a couple of hours.   If there are interesting things open late at night near the hotel, though, I’m sure I’ll float around to at least one of them.  If nothing else, it is much cooler where I’m going than where I am right now.

We’ve dodged COVID so far.  I don’t know when or if we’ll ever go to a kink class thing.  Am I too old now?  I’ve probably regressed more than a bit, but as a wiser man than I once said “any crash you can walk away from is a good one.”  At least I’m moving around and I’m not wearing Kleenex boxes on my feet.

There are some of you I’m hoping to see again, although the last three years have not been great for the lines of communication.  I have no idea if my pals and pal-ish people are all still out there, but I hope you’re all doing well and hopeful that you’re having an excellent time doing whatever is going on out there, especially if it involves some sort of fried seafood.

See you out there!

[thatgirlonstage]

Hey have a fucked up TAZ thought for the day. Gently pushing aside Merle and Gundran somehow literally being blood related, the people that the seven birds like grew up with and knew before the IPRE obviously wouldn’t… exist on Faerun. Or even if we take Griffin’s hand-wavey explanation of Gundran and accept that there are some of the same people in this particular planar system, these versions of those people wouldn’t have the faintest goddamn clue who the birds are. From what we’ve seen of the voidfish, it will to an extent overwrite its own inconsistencies, but it doesn’t have the ability to implant totally false memories in disconnected people. Lucretia couldn’t have done that.

And I know we kind of generally agree that all of our birds are orphaned and generally solitary people, which is borne up by none of them (LUCKILY FOR GRIFFIN LMAO) ever randomly being like hey let me roll to see if my dear childhood friend Claire lives in Goldcliff now or something or otherwise referencing connections from their childhood, but like— they couldn’t possibly have known no one at all who was still alive and in touch with them when they blasted off to space.

So like. What if, after the destruction of Raven’s Roost, Magnus actually tried to do the healthy thing first. He’s devastated, he’s not thinking straight, but he’s not quite at fling himself off a cliff in despair levels, so he does what you’re supposed to do: he reaches out to a friend. No one from Raven’s Roost, obviously, but an older friend, someone he met on fantasy study abroad and had maintained a pen pal relationship with for years. He hasn’t written to them recently, of course, bc he’s been so busy with the rebellion, and Julia—he sent them an invitation to his wedding but they must not have been able to come. Or it got lost in the fantasy mail! Shit happens—but he feels sure they wouldn’t turn him away, certainly not in this state. They’d at least give him somewhere to crash for a week, let him sleep through some of the worst of the grief.

He turns up on their doorstep and they’re—not there. According to the gnome couple that live there, they’ve never been there. This has been the gnome couple’s house for 120 years. No one of the name Magnus is giving has lived here since before he was born.

He asks around town. Goes to the school he studied at and asks for records. Literally hires a divination wizard to try a scry because he’s fucking desperate at this point.

This person, this person Magnus got sloppy drunk with, who got into a bar fight back to back with him, who helped him struggle through Elvish grammar and cantrip lessons, who wrote to him about the gorgeous half-orc boy they wanted to marry, who sent him chocolate every Candlenights, this person doesn’t. Fucking. Exist. Has never existed, as far as Magnus or anyone else can tell.

Spooked, and grieving no less, and seriously afraid for his friend’s well being, Magnus thinks okay. Okay. He needs help. He needs perspective. He tries someone else, someone maybe a little more distant but still reliable. An old school coach, maybe. Someone who gave him his first sparring sessions when he was training to be a fighter.

That man did exist, but he’s been dead for eight years according to people in town. Which isn’t fucking possible, because Magnus saw him for lunch four years ago.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Someone else. Who else can he talk to.

He goes to a town where he once spent a summer interning for a dog trainer. He learned so much there. It would be good to be around dogs again.

The woman he trained with has no memory of him at all. She doesn’t recognize him, she doesn’t recognize his name, she doesn’t believe him when he says he knows her. She doesn’t recognize half the dogs he talks about. She chases him off her property, accusing him of trying to steal from her, although he hadn’t asked for anything.

The next one was dead too.

The next one didn’t know him either.

The next one didn’t exist.

Magnus’s family, friends, and acquaintances are a string of “dead” “don’t remember him” or “apparently, never fucking real” until he says fine, fucking fine. He’s not the type to spiral into despair. He’ll do some good before he goes out.

But he is going to go out.

Because if no one still alive even knows who he is, what is he living for?

[sitp-recs]

Top 5 wlw ships. Bc I loved your question. Lysm

Love this ask! Anything for you babes 😘

1. Pansy/Hermione: could I start with any other ship?? I don’t think so. We’ve been spoiled with top notch Pansmione content over the years, I can’t even. They’re my go-to ship when I’m in the mood for femslash in general, and enemies to lovers in particular. My favorites are Passion, Patents, and Pen Pals at the Ministry by yrfrndfrnkly, Pansy, Rows, and Mutual Wanking by violetclarity and Breaking Wild Roses by the love of my life @teacup-tai 😌

2. Ginny/Hermione: to be honest I haven’t read much but omg do I love the concept of slightly problematic friends to lovers sparkled with inappropriate attraction to your ex-sister in law (although why not throw Ron in the middle 👀). Green Light and Laundry Day are huge recs, breathtakingly hot and brilliant!

3. Ginny/Pansy: I’m not saying I project onto Ginny when it comes to this ship lol, let’s just say they got impeccable bitchy aesthetics and I see a lot of potential for feisty, chaotic power couple dynamics considering Ginny’s bold and athletic personality with Pansy’s insufferable arrogance. Love everything @lqtraintracks has written for this ship especially Rogue Waves, and I can’t not mention that fantastic art by @bluebutter-art or this one by @babooshkart that live rent free in my head, sigh

4. Tonks/Ginny: yet another Ginny ship that I haven’t explored much but definitely enjoyed the vibes when I did. Tonks is a great character that deserves so much more in fic, and I’d like to read more femslash with her. Writ’s Storm Chasers and @onbeinganangel’s Shake are both excellent, and I’ve had When we're winning by hippocrates460 on my to-read list forever, maybe I’ll give it a go this weekend…

5. Millicent/Ginny: listen, this is all thanks to the one and only fic I’ve read with these two - @writcraft’s beautiful Independent Love Song where Gin is all of us salivating over genderfluid tailor Millie, ty for your service Writ you genius 😔🙌

[magxit]

Matty played Madison Square Garden 3 months ago, so he was in NYC. He also was on the Johnathon Ross Show in England 2 months ago.// But Anon, Taylor was in LA and then Glendale in tour rehearsals during this time. There is absolutely zero evidence they were in the same city after the January appearance at the 1975 concert. I think people are getting tripped up by what we’ve actually seen versus that obviously false Sun article: there is atm nothing to suggest anything more than a fling/situationship is happening here. People need to get better at understanding the Sun often gets kernels of truth right but the details horribly wrong. As 2 people who were already friends and collaborators and had a history of 10 years, very little needed to transpire between them to get to a fling/situationship happening. Matty clearly is into her and has been and probably took his shot as soon as he heard the news. Not to mention her hooking up with someone else fresh off a break is her usual MO so I don’t get why people are struggling to understand how this could’ve happened? Also, people romanticizing him flying right after his gig to get to her: yeah cause he knew he’d get some (don’t underestimate what men will do for good sex) and once again, he’s been into her for some time and knew he needed to act fast here (he fumbled the bag previously).

The most obvious answer is usually the right one: Taylor’s first weeks on tour and then the switch to The 1 indicate the timing of the split and it being sudden. Obviously there were likely issues brewing for some time but you can’t ignore Joe was with her in LA until his film started and that he liked her pre-tour post and photo dumped himself at her Grammy party with Jack and the cats plus there were sightings of them in LA together through February). You also can’t ignore that it seems obvious something happened to cause her to pull the plug and that something made her friends immediately distance themselves from Joe too. Abi still follows some of the K family and Karlie and yet she immediately unfollowed Joe. I know some like to paint it like Taylor forces her pals to do this. But she clearly doesn’t make them choose based on multiple different connections several friends have to people who are on her shit list. So ask yourself why then did they all unfollow Joe so fast (especially since he’s rarely on SM)? And for those who say, why didn’t her pals know I’d ask have you been in an adult LTR? Issues or not, Taylor clearly believed she and Joe were going to make it (the house, her music, the likely engagement, etc). You don’t sell out your partner or share all the shit even with close friends when you expect to still be in the relationship - but also a legit source (People) indicated that pals did know they had ups and downs. But the biggest indication honestly should be how clearly Taylor is going through it in these past few weeks and even now (see last night’s show). We’ll see where this thing - whatever it is - between her and Matty goes. But with him back on tour shortly and her on tour too (plus everything she’s still dealing with) I’d be surprised if it goes on past May.

One last thing to point out: People is Tree’s go-to. When the Sun broke the TH news she didn’t comment and it played out as it did: a rebound or fling. When the Sun broke the Joe news, People had confirmation of the relationship within a couple hours because it was obviously something real. With this Sun article on Matty, People said nothing all week and then has only noted they were spotted together and the rumors from the Sun since. People would have gotten the confirmation this is a relationship if it actually was that. My guess is that we’ll see this play out like TH a bit and then it’ll fizzle.

.

[skunts-own-truth]

The first Saturday off I’ve had in a good long while is finally here, and with it the first session of my group’s Rogue Trader game! Since my last post about it, I’ve actually had a player drop out, but that still leaves me with a party consisting of a Rogue Trader, a Kroot, an Explorator, a Voidmaster, and a Navigator. Losing our Seneschal isn’t great, but we still have more than enough players to make the game viable.

This session will focus on player character histories and their relationships with each other. We know some bits already, but we’re going to be setting some ideas into stone. Once we’ve done that, I’ve spent the week highly modifying the RT demo adventure “the Forsaken Bounty.” The skeleton of the story is the same- a lost ship has been scouted by passing Imperial Navy ships, the ship is a vessel that once belonged to the RT’s dynasty (ours is the Mifune Dynasty,) and the local sector Administratum has granted our RT with a Writ of Claim over the discovered vessel with the condition that the RT themselves must be the first person from the dynasty’s salvage group to set foot aboard the old boat. Everything else has been changed, and some extra chunks have been added to make it feel like a full meaty adventure.

Other Warhammer related news from me-

I went ahead and got some Battlefleet Gothic minis off of Etsy. Not only because I’ve always wanted some dern BFG minis, but also to help with distance and positioning in Rogue Trader. I usually don’t use maps or minis when I GM, but when it comes to ship combat (naval or void,) I usually like to have something on the table to represent what side a boat is facing each turn. If this leads into my wife or any of my pals playing some BFG with me too, heh, net win for Dustyn.

I fell pretty hard into an Inquisitor hole. Read the rules, made a party, read some of the premade adventures. My buddy Nick, our local Dark Eldar player, talked with me about it for a while and became immediately interested at the idea of controlling what is essentially a full RPG party in a tabletop skirmish game. So even if I don’t get a bunch of players for this one, I know at some point good ol’ Nick has my back. We’d just need one more player. I’d probably GM, but I wouldn’t mind controlling one of the warbands myself.

I’ve also gone and finally finished Ravenor Rogue. Took me years to do it, I don’t know why. If I were to hazard a guess it’s because I read new releases pretty regularly, and get distracted easy. But finally, one of the biggest gaps in my Black Library reading has been filled. I’ve read nearly everything at this point! Only a few things I haven’t touched, like the Ultramarines omnibus stuff, post-3rd edition AoS stuff, and a couple of Warhammer Fantasy novels I haven’t been able to get my hands on. There’s more to the list of BL books I haven’t read, but at this point I have read most of the entries, probably to my own detriment.

I’m reading the Magos now. I’ve already read this one, but I haven’t gotten to the Bequin books yet, so I thought I’d read this one as a refresher first. Once I knock this one out, I’ll read the two Bequin entries, and probably take a small break from Warhammer books to read some classic literature for a bit. I’ve been itching to read Moby Dick and finish the Count of Monte Cristo.

[hardleyquinnn]

Febuwhump Day 1: Touch Starved

CW: Female Whumpee, android whump

She hadn’t felt anything in 2 years.

When she had first been taken, she had expected to be shut off, her memory core removed and searched. She’d managed to wipe the information about her team, and any important information about their mission, before they’d been able to take it. But they hadn’t taken it.

They took her to a room. She could tell it was pitch black when her eyes shifted to night vision. She did a quick scan of the room, completely bare, but a ring on the wall opposite the door. Her captors dragged her to it and attached the cuffs, before leaving her.

She immediately began searching her memory for anything that could lead to her...Something important. She knew there was something she wanted to protect, she knew she’d have wiped it as soon as she’d been captured.  Since she didn’t know what would lead to them, she focused instead on the feeling of loss, where that stemmed from, and worked on getting rid of all of it.

When she was done, she felt Empty. She must have wiped everything. All she could access was her base program. Obey. Protect. Cause no harm.

Before she could diagnose what that feeling was, her ears caught footsteps coming towards her.

The door opened, and the pain began. The pain began and it didn’t end.

They used blunt objects to beat her. After enough hits, her body would dent inwards and the pain would radiate through her, becoming a dull ache.  They uploaded things into her brain that sent random shocks through her whole system.

It happened after she’d been there for 5 months 4 days 7 hours 12 minutes 13 seconds, 14 seconds 15 seconds. They came in, 2 minutes before usual, each with a grin on their faces. She stared as they came nearer.

“We have something for you” The first one said, as the other shoved her head forward to get to her neck. “We picked it up after finding one of your friends, just sitting there in your little hideout. 

Of course we know you’ve already wiped your memory, so there's no point in telling you any more than that. You wouldn't recognize anyone even if we told you. That’s fine, we didn’t grab you for information on your group.”

A pulse went through her. Her Group?

"No, we've actually got one of your pals here, happily spilling it all. Well not happily, but willing as long as the pain stops." He continued talking, but that was when her pain started.

It was all encompassing. It was constant. She could feel every part of her body exploding over and over and over again. She couldn't do anything. She was broken. All she could do was feel pain. 

She knew if this went on too long she would lose herself completely, so she turned off her her pain receptors. The sudden stop left her gasping. She trembled with the memory. She couldn't do that again. 

For no reason

She started searching for and turning off everything. She didn't want to feel anything anymore. She didn't want to think anymore.

The next time her captors came in, she couldn't even hear the door open. They approached her, inspected her unmoving body. They spoke a couple words to each other, and then left. She did not care what happened to this body. She didn't even care what happened to her memory.  If everything that mattered was wiped, than nothing mattered.

And so she sat there. And she sat there. And time passed, and no one came.

She was a living corpse in the basement of people who only wanted to torment her. She wondered if they knew how even here, locked away from the world, she tormented herself. She could not feel anything physical. but she felt cold. She felt alone. She knows she has been safe before. She thinks she knows. What if they could alter memories? What if they had accessed her memories of her group, and then wiped it from her. What if she's gone through all of this and hasn't protected anyone

And there she stayed, rusting, silently screaming for anything, but too afraid to turn anything back on.

And it was like that, that they found her again. The door opened, light streamed in, and someone rushed for her. Their mouth moved, and she watched it. It kept making the same movements. She decided to think about what it was saying for a moment.

Div, Div you're safe now, we're here, we've got you, Div, Div can you hear me?

She wasn't sure how to respond. She couldn't respond, she hadn't moved in years. Her body was stiff with disuse and rust. She stared unmoving at them for a moment, reading the words from their lips over and over. She slowly blinked her eyes, and when they opened again the person was beaming at them. They turned 

and must have shouted something, a few other people rushed in, all of their mouths moving. The first person half turned their head and forcefully said Give her some space.

One person stayed near, and started speaking to her.  Their mouth moved differently. Accented. Hey Div, I'm just gonna look you over, try and figure out how best to get you out of here alright?

Her eyes half blinked.  She didn't care what happened to her anymore.  Living in this nothing for- she didn't want to think about the time. The second person grabbed her head, and moved her to look down. She couldn't even feel the fear of pain again.  Anything to bring her out of this empty hell. And maybe these people would help her.

That was her last thought before she was powered off.

The first thing she noticed was warmth. She felt- she felt warmth. Her eyes opened to see a room. Dark except for the fire she was laid beside. She was on a cot. There was a couch, a piano, and some covered things leaning against the walls.

She sat up, and a blanket slipped down her. A soft blanket. She squeezed it between her fingers.  It was soft, fuzzy, warm from the heat of the fire.

She swung her legs over the edge. Her bare feet hit the floor, and she stood. She walked around the room, the tiles getting cooler the farther from the fire she got. She stood at the only door in the room and listened.  She took the knob and twisted it, slowly pulling the door inward and peeking around it.

The second person stood up and walked over towards her.

"Div! You're awake! Well I figured you would be soon, but you took a bit longer than I thought you would! How are you feeling?"

Feeling again. Div stared at the person. Simply speaking, she felt. She didn't feel any pain, or discomfort. There was the feeling of the ground beneath her feet, the warring temperatures between the warm room, and the cool room.  She felt stared at, expected to respond in a way that wasn't her anymore.

"Listen," the person continued without Div's response, "I'm not sure what happened in there. When I ran some diagnostics I saw some terrifying shit, and I'm so sorry any of that happened. 

"What happened to the group?"

"We all got out. Then we lost Ryan.  We thought he'd be there with you but the place was empty. Save you of course."

"They said they had someone. Someone happily spilling it all to make the pain stop."

"What?"

"They said they'd found one of my friends and then they installed something that-" She didn't know how to explain it. There wasn't a word in any language that could describe the pain that put her through.

"Div, you're safe now" The person stood right in front of her. She started to jolt back, but something about the smell of them made her pause.  The person stood stock-still, barely breathing. Div stared at their eyes, and they held nothing but concern.

Div felt drawn in. Div felt the need to press closer to them. Div felt- flustered? She looked away from the person's face. She felt her face warm. For a moment she wished she could go back to the feeling-less place, shame quickly swallowing that feeling.

"Div," she spoke softly, "I reuploaded your memories. It seems like they're coming back, I don't want you to get overwhelmed, do you want to go lie down?"

"Noa" Div's mind supplied.

Noa beamed at her, still unmoving. Div was suddenly hit with a burst of feelings. Trust. Safety. Love.  She slammed full force into Noa, burrowing her face into her neck

She felt arms wrap around her, and she was warm and safe and home.

[maekkelae]

Spring 2023 - a short summary

21 June 2023

This is midsummer now. I mean the shortest night of the year. They're all going to go nuts up in Finland next weekend, you know, bonfires and all. Plus a yet to be defined figure of people drowning while having a piss in the lake dead drunk. There are statistics on that. Might go out for a couple of pints later, just to show my solidarity, but got to take it easy as tomorrow morning theatre rehearsals will go on 10 am. Premiere evening just around the corner. Eight days to go to be more precise. But that's not what I was about to write. Not yet.

It's most notably half a year I survived, half a year of playing, half a year of travelling, of doing what I'm doing but maybe, or rather most certainly on a level that's way up from what I'm used to. And trust me, my tolerance got quite high over the years.

January was, as always, that big black hole I inevitably drop into after ending a months long tour. No shows, a period of recovery you've been looking forward to, which never seems to bring the rest you’ve been hoping for. A period that always turns out to push you into a mood of doubt, despair and something like "oh gosh, this is the end I haven't got the power to go on like this". Just too much time to think about things. But you'll get over it. Of course you will, because there's no choice.

Gigs started again with a few warm-ups in February and from mid-March on it was all back in full swing. Started with some nice ones with my Folk's Worst Nightmare pal The Black Elephant Band, before hitting the road for the long one. Real long. 28 March a magic night sharing stage with the incredible Boucan at Kofferfabrik in Fürth, to move on just the next morning to pick up Nightbird for our ambitious challenge, playing 19 shows in 20 days. It worked out. Magic moments. A few desperate ones too but that’s part of the game. Glad and grateful for this fantastic, dreamy trip with a dear friend, amazing songwriter and singer and not least great tour companion.

Dropped Anna-Stina at Munich airport mid-April to dive right into the next one. Heading for my beloved Poland, Wroclav, Krakow, Warsaw, over to celebrate 6 years of Hajovna in Zilina with a bunch of fantastic fellow artists. Thanks Dasa! You made me fall for Slovakia years ago and thanks for that night in Zilina with Chorobopop and Exorcizphobia was a fucking blast! Again. Banska Bystrica. The Bosorka. It kinda became my home away from home. Lempi and Zuzana you're ace! Moved on to Prochot. Heard of Prochot? Or in other words: how would you feel staying at friends place in the backwoods of Slovakia. Friends who would feed you with a stew of their own goat herd's ram. Their own grown veggies. That tiny little farmhouse on top of the hillside overlooking the amazing landscape of this beautiful part of Slovakia. Playing to those friends and their family. Being fed by grandma after the show. Home cooking. See, it's a world you're not very likely to ever encounter. Moments that make up for a lot of shit you have to take living this life of a travelling songwriter/performer. Special. Heartwarming.

Got one on super short notice in Brno. Cafe Pameti Naroda. One of the nicest I ever played in that town and definitely the best time of the year to visit Brno. Can't remember seeing the city in full bloom. Everything flowering and me, fortunate enough to have an off-day, just by chance stumbled into a gig of Zabit Frantiska at the Tri Opice the next evening. Off to Ljubljana in the early morning. Another home town en route. The Jalla Jalla in Metelkova. After that it became a surreal fever dream...

Zoka messages me: you better make sure you're in Zagreb latest seven in the morning. We've got to leave for Split around eight to catch a boat for that first gig in Korčula. Whatever that Korčula was, I didn't know. Apparently on the coast, obviously an island.

So it's back into the car right after the show, taking the road to Zagreb to meet Zoka at the new Kulturni Centar Mesnicka. A good place to arrive, a place with a spirit. Hit the place around 1.00am, chatting with the waiter, good little talk with the painter who's exhibition started there today. A quick lesson in Macedonian history. My head is spinning with all the impressions. Where am I?

A short night's sleep at Zoka's place and back on the road, this time his car. Picking up Mieska the guy who'll be playing with me the next two shows. Good five hours down to Split. A new place to me, never been up this neck of the woods. For a first on this tour I'll see the mediterranean sea. That's something.

We're on time. It's hot down here, it's summer. Dragging our gear to the pier. I'm watching our pile of guitars, cases and amps, observing wealthy, fat, ugly tourists strolling the promenade of Split harbour while the other guys dump the car. I'm soaking up all the images. Some guy on a bicycle asks me if I need a ride, pointing at the instruments. Thanks man, might be a bit too much for your bike.

Still time for a coffee in the old town. Coffee. It's the thing here. Everything is discussed with coffee. Negotiations, arguments, plans. Business, family, weather. Coffee here is the glue of society. The black liquid that keeps it all running.

Embarked the shuttle boat to Hlav and Korcula that spits us out three hours later. We're picked up by two young lads, our tonight's hosts and promoters, who are taking us to their parents house where we're going to stay tonight. Amazing people. It turns out Zoran and his wife spent a decade in New York where he played with his band all those places... the CBGBS, Elbow Room, all of it. Anyone for coffee? Rakija? Sure. Any time.

The show is a blinder. Fantastic audience, great sound, incredible hospitality. Need to revisit. Split can't be better, how can they? After the first long sleep in a while we're heading back to Split. The Basket Bar. Man, what a terrible name. That's gonna be shite. But. It's not. The small bar turns out to be the hang out of all the musicians they've got in Split. At least that's how it seems. Another stonking show in a packed place and nice after show talks with the guys of the New Gondoliers. Check them out. Gorgeous stuff.

From here it's back to Zagreb. To Maribor and Vienna. Two more Czech shows in Ostrava and Milevsko, both of them awesome. Ending that spring tour with a late slot at the first ever Frankonian Anarcho Folk Festival and a matinee in Straubing wre just the right things to do before starting theatre rehearsals just the next day...