#part of me thinks they would let themselves have one kid they name matilda after the inside-joke

[fiveredlights]

happy 202-five 🥳🥂 (sorry i think i’m hilarious)

as it is new year’s day, it only felt fitting to write a little snippet of glitter on the floor max and daniel celebrating new year’s alone—or so they thought. (1.2k, G)

“I feel like we’ve forgotten something,” Daniel says as Max passes a flute of champagne to him. Below them, the hoards of people wanting to catch a glimpse of the fireworks over Port of Monaco grow louder, as the clock ticks down till midnight. “Or someone.”

Matilda’s stuck in London after her flight was delayed. Lucia’s out with Andie and their friends at some Michelin star restaurant somewhere. Gary and Steve are probably destroying the new chair they got after they destroyed the last one. Molly is sleeping soundly on the sim chair in their office. Daniel’s next to him on their balcony, curled up on the sofa with two blankets and a puffer jacket on him.

(Two blankets because Daniel still refuses to wear shorts even when he’s cold.)

“I think this is the first year in a long time we’re spending New Year’s alone,” Max responds, tucking himself between the couch armrest and Daniel. “So maybe that is why it feels so weird.”

“Yeah, the house is so quiet without the kids. Reminds me of when we first started dating,” Daniel says, balancing the champagne flute on the armrest next to him. “Could do whatever we wanted without two children bickering in the background,” he murmurs, turning to face Max and sliding his frozen hands underneath his shirt.

He nudges a knee between Max’s legs and slots himself on top of him, swinging a leg over his thigh and placing his weight on it. Max reaches up and threads his hands through Daniel’s hair, pulling him down into a kiss but it’s hard to take him seriously when his puffer jacket squeaks at every movement.

“Daniel,” Max murmurs in between their kisses. “Daniel, your jacket.” He tugs on the zipper, trying to get his husband to temporarily part with it when Daniel pulls back.

“Daniel,” he says again. “Your jacket. It makes that sound that you know I do not like.”

“Aw. But I like this jacket,” Daniel pouts, like he doesn’t know that Max has been trying to get rid of it for the past twenty years. Every time it’s in the donation pile it mysteriously finds its way back into their closet, front and centre.

From behind them, there’s a big slam from the front door, before a voice yells down, “I’m fine!”

Max is about to chalk it down to one of their neighbours being drunk and confusing the apartments for one another, when the voice comes echoing down the apartment again, with three knocks on the door.

“Papa! Dad! Can you open the door? I think I broke the lock.” Max and Daniel take one look at each other, before pushing themselves off the couch and making their way down.

Lucia is standing there with a sheepish look on her face, a box of pizza in her hand. Andie’s next to her with a nervous smile. “I tried the code and it wasn’t working, and I left the keys at Andie’s place. Sorry.”

Daniel waves them in, hugging them as they walk past. “All good Luce. Thought you two would stay out longer?”

Gary and Steve immediately saunter down the hallway, tails up in the air and weaving between them. Gary lets out a long perfunctory meow at Andie, who picks him into her arms, bouncing him like a baby. He can hear his purring, even from a distance.

“I just don’t think we’re fine dining people,” Andie explains. She has a finger underneath Gary’s chin, scratching him to his heart’s content. “Plus the restaurant doesn’t have Sir Gaga, does it?”

Lucia pulls a face. “Absolutely not. Sir Gaga is worse than Gazza. I am not letting you name our future children, your track record of names is terrible.”

“Don’t listen to her Sir Gaga,” Andie gasps in mock outrage, walking past her and out to the balcony. “You have a wonderful name, Lucia’s just jealous.”

Molly comes trotting out of the office, sitting herself right in front of Lucia. She shakes her head fondly, following Andie with Molly in tow. “At least you have a normal-ish nickname, don’t you Mozzarella?”

Daniel takes a moment to process Molly’s nickname. “Mozzarella?”

“You named birds, Daniel,” Max says bluntly. “So I am not sure you can talk.”

They’re about to move back to their outdoor couch when the sound of keys jingling in the lock plays. Max opens the door to find Matilda on the other side, two suitcases behind her and slightly frazzled.

“Did you know they wouldn’t let me into the street until I proved I lived at the apartment? And of course none of my ID showed this address—why would it show my parents address—and this cop was such a dick to me,” Matilda rants, yanking her suitcases inside.

“Oh my god, I am never travelling on New Year’s Eve again, that was horrible.” Matilda looks at the door behind her. “Did you change the code?”

Max waves his hand around. “Lucia timed it out. We’ll fix it in the morning.”

The broken door lock offender sticks her head out of the balcony door, pointing at her sister with the pizza box in hand. “Why are you here? I thought you were stuck with Riley in London,” she asks, using air quotes for her back half of the last sentence.

“No, I was actually stuck in London, don’t do the air quotes,” Matilda shoots back. “Why are you here, I thought you and Andie were at that fancy restaurant or whatever with your friends?”

“We got hungry, so we left,” Lucia explains.

“At a restaurant?”

“The portions were really tiny—look, shut up. Maybe I just wanted to eat pizza with my fiancée at home instead of wondering if I was using the right fork or not,” Lucia says pointedly, shaking the box. “Do you want the pizza or are you still judging my restaurant choices?”

Matilda practically vaults over all the living room furniture and snatches the box from Lucia, almost planting herself on top of Andie when she jumps over the back of the outdoor couch.

Andie slides a soft drink across the coffee table towards Matilda, who downs a quarter of the can in one sip.

“What?” Matilda looks around at them. “I refuse to pay for bad airport food, this isn’t a new thing about me.”

“Where’s Riley?” Andie asks instead, passing another soft drink across in preparation. “I thought you two were going to visit his parents in Colorado?”

“Left him in London,” Matilda mumbles through a mouthful of pizza.

“Matilda!” Daniel chastises. “Are you serious?”

“I did ask if he wanted to come, but apparently staying in a hotel overnight was more appealing than flying back here, so.” Matilda shrugs in a way that definitely tells him she’s annoyed at him over it. “Would rather spend the new year with you guys than in some random hotel.”

There’s a silent pact between them to not push too many questions about Riley on Matilda. Max could barely keep up with the way they were bouncing around each other at the very beginning.

They’re all saved from accidentally saying the wrong thing when the fireworks start. Daniel startles with the loud bangs echoing across the sky, scrambling to get his jacket off the floor and pulling the hood over his ears.

“Pretty cool fireworks, right?” Matilda asks, looking over at them. Max stretches his arm over Daniel, pulling them all closer.

Daniel slides his hand into Max’s underneath the blanket, squeezing it three times. “Yeah,” he exhales. “Pretty cool fireworks.”

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

No Mistletoe Above Our Heads

Summary: It’s the day of the Trolberg Winter Festival, and Matilda Pilkfist invites all her favorite people to her house to celebrate. Two of her guests, however, seem more interested in each other than anything elseContains spoilers for season 2

Notes: Did you know that legally you can post Christmas fics until the New Year? It’s right there in the constitution, I swear Jokes aside, I had two holiday fic ideas and only time to write one in time for Xmas and... that established relationship one won. Which, of course, didn’t stop me from wanting to do this one as well. Anyways this is set one year after the Trolberg Winter Festival that we see on season 2. Since we don’t know how much Johanna will know after the whole Troll business is over, I’m just making things up here.

Read it on ao3

The doorbell rang just in time for Kaisa to finish setting up the table, all the cutlery neatly in place.

“Oh, it’s the rest of our guests!” Tildy chirped. “You dears wait right here, I’ll go get them.”

Standing near Tildy’s table, the two of them watched the older woman walk to her front hall to open the door. There was a very strong scent of cinnamon in the air - Tildy had probably forgotten something in the oven.

“Do you know the other people she called?” Mr. Ostenfeld asked her, making her shrug.

‘Sort of. I’ve talked to the kids before. They’re okay.” Although she’d grown very fond of the children in the year she’d known them, spending the Winter Festival socializing with them was not a situation she was entirely comfortable with. She was sure she’d just be a wallflower and make them all feel like they needed to include her in their conversation for the sake of good manners, but her old mentor had insisted on her attending the dinner, so she’d given in. It wasn’t like she had any better plans for the evening, anyway, and she felt like she owned it to Tildy after spending years avoiding her.

“Frida, how delightful to see you!” They heard Matilda say from the doorway, and figured they should get closer to greet the guests as well. “And I’m so glad you two could come too!”

Behind Frida, there were two adults who resembled her a lot. Tildy let them in and pointed at them. “This is Peter, my boyfriend, and Kaisa. I used to be her English tutor as well!”

“Pleasure to meet you.” Mr. Ostenfeld said as Kaisa shook their hands. She had been warned, of course, that the adults didn’t know about the magic yet, but it still struck her as amusing to see arch-sorceress Matilda Pilkfist describe herself as an English tutor. She also wondered how her mentor was planning on explaining the skull on her wall, or the painting of witches around a fire, not to mention her hand mannequin for palmistry practice. Maybe she thought everyone had those things at home, that would be a very Tildy-like way of thinking.

After greeting Frida and her family, Kaisa brought her attention back to the other guests. She knew Frida’s familiar had also been invited. Tildy seemed to have taken a strong liking to her as well. What she hadn’t been expecting was to already know the adult who had come in with her.

Well, maybe know was too strong of a word. But she’d already met the woman at the library, where sometimes she’d go to look for inspiration for her work and Kaisa would help her, and sometimes they’d see each other around the city and wave. Still, it was enough for a noticeable spark of recognition to be lit on her brown eyes, even if she wasn’t the one who spoke first.

“Good evening!” Hilda greeted her happily. “It’s very nice to see you here!”

“Good evening, Hilda. How are you doing tonight?”

Seemingly unaware of how Kaisa’s gaze was straying to her mother behind her, the girl smiled. “Great! We just came from the bloom, it was so beautiful!”

“I agree. I was there long enough to see it, those flowers seem to get more beautiful every year.”

Though Hilda looked like she was going to agree, Mr. Ostenfeld approached them before she could say anything.

“Ah, so you two were invited! How lovely! Looks like you have already met my neighbors, eh Kaisa?”

“Good evening, Mr. Ostenfeld!” Mother and daughter said at the same time. Only now Kaisa realized that Johanna seemed to be trying to sneak glances at her as well.

“I already know Kaisa.” Hilda explained. “I don’t think mum does, though.”

With her hand on her hips, the woman rolled her eyes playfully. “Hilda, I’m not illiterate. I’ve already met Kaisa at the library.”

Hilda’s mouth formed a perfect “o” shape, her eyes widening only slightly. It seemed like an odd thing for her to realize her mother had a life beyond what they did together.

“It’s good to finally see you in a more social setting, Kaisa.” She said, raising her hand for the librarian to shake.

"Likewise." The woman’s grip was warm and soft, and something in Kaisa didn’t want to let go. “I don’t think I ever got your name.”

“Johanna.” The woman smiled. Perhaps the night wouldn’t be a waste after all.

_#_#_#_

Johanna never thought she’d be so glad to see the librarian.

When Hilda told her they’d been invited to Frida’s English Tutor’s Winter Festival dinner, she’d been skeptical at best. Not because she didn’t trust the woman, not even out of unwillingness to spend the Festival in a way so different from how she used to when she was younger, but because she knew Hilda would leave her alone, and she couldn’t blame her.

Being with her friend meant the girl would probably run off to somewhere private to talk to her alone, and Johanna would left to… mingle with the adults, something she didn’t quite know if she would manage. Her daughter had thought she had wanted her to make human friends for the sake of being normal. Truth be told, what she really wanted was for Hilda to have more social skills than she did when she grew up.

Her prediction had been proven true. The girls had gone to some other room in Matilda’s house at her invitation, and the rest of them had moved to a sitting room, where they sat down on the couches in pairs: the host and her boyfriend, Frida’s parents, and the party’s two outcasts, which had been left to sit together.

Kaisa seemed to realize they were the odd ones out - the only ones who weren’t there as a couple and who weren’t quite close to nearly anyone - at the same time Johanna did, and they smiled sympathetically at each other as they sat down on the bright red sofa.

Neither of them added much to the conversation; Tildy was able to carry it with her usual brightness and Frida’s parents seemed to be interested in adding their opinions as well, especially when the topic was their daughter’s incredible willingness to learn.

Not particularly interested in the dialogue, Kaisa let her mind wander elsewhere, until she felt Johanna tense up beside her. They weren’t close enough for her to physically feel it, but sensing her energy was enough for Kaisa to pick up something was wrong. She blinked and tried to remember the sentence that had just been spoken.

“It brings us a lot of pride.” Frida’s father had said, which made Kaisa assume the conversation still had been centered around Frida. “But it must be quite hard to have a trouble maker for a child, isn’t it? I imagine you’ve tried everything at this point to get Hilda to behave, and I should have expected Frida to have had a bigger impact on her, being the positive influence that she is.”

Johanna swallowed, and Kaisa could tell from the way her fist clenched on the hem of her sweater that she knew exactly what to answer, just as well as she knew she’d be beyond rude if she said what she wanted to.

“I don’t see what you mean.” As though they had forgotten she was there, and she wouldn’t be shocked if they had, all eyes turned to Kaisa with surprise in them. The only exception was Tildy, who had her typical knowing smirk on. “I’ve had plenty of opportunities to watch Hilda’s behavior, since she visits the library a lot, not once has she done anything that would have me describe her as a trouble maker. And trust me, I have seen some difficult children in my job.”

Looking quite flustered, the man tried to reverse the situation. “Well, surely you’ll agree-“

“There’s the basic, of course.” Kaisa didn’t let him finish. “She never yells or misplaces books, or returns them late. But even when she takes some actions that I suppose could be considered… off route, never has anyone been put in harm’s way by her that I know of, and all her actions are inspired by selflessness. Intelligence doesn’t only mean one thing, and I can assure you the girl is as smart as she is brave. It’s a shame not everyone can recognize it.”

Pleased when both parents looked properly chastened, Kaisa sat back against the couch and pretended to have stopped caring about the conversation again. Oh, if only those two knew the sort of thing their own child got involved with. She’d very much like to see their faces when they found out.

“I agree completely.” Said Peter from the other side of the room. “Never met anyone with better intentions.”

Tildy nodded at her boyfriend, even though her eyes seemed to stray away to the direction of the couch where Johanna and Kaisa were sitting. “Yes, she’s got a heart of gold, that one.”

Only when Kaisa glanced at Frida’s parents, wanting to see how they would look while trying to explain themselves, did she notice that Johanna was not looking at her daughter’s defensors, but rather at her. Her lips parted in a silent gasp when she saw her mouthing a ‘thank you’ to her.

Ignoring Frida’s mother’s fumbled speech as she tried to talk about the “value the school system gives to different learning types”, Kaisa whispered back at Johanna. “Want to get away?”

Though there was no clear answer from her part, no nod or smile, Kaisa didn’t miss the way her eyes lit up and her back straightened at the prospect.

“This is certainly a fascinating topic.” Kaisa blurted as she stood up, well aware that the sarcasm was showing in her voice. “But is it just me or is there something burning?”

Tildy sniffed the air and widened her eyes. Kaisa hadn’t even had to make anything up, something was burning.

“My korvapuusti!” Tildy gasped, but before she could move further, Kaisa gestured for her to remain seated.

“Don’t worry, I can see to it. Though I’m not much of a cook, so maybe Johanna should come with me.” She raised an eyebrow to the woman, expecting her to understand the cue she was trying to create at the same time she knew she was free to refuse it. “Hilda has already brought me some cookies you made, so I know you are skilled.”

“Of course.” Hoping she hadn’t been too quick to answer, Johanna got up and adjusted the hem of her sweater, sneaking a glance at Kaisa, who seemed to be as anxious to get out of there as her.

A dawning realization seemed to slowly replace the worry in Tildy’s face, and she smiled. “How sweet of the two of you to help this old woman. Thank you, dears.”

Kaisa nodded and went back to the entrance hall they’d been at some minutes ago, and Johanna fell in step beside her as she made her way through the house. She seemed to know where she was going, so Johanna didn’t question it, even as she spotted some frankly bizarre details in the house. Something about the way herb jars and crystals adorned nearly every surface was eerie, yet not unpleasant to her. And surely she was imagining the way the portaits’s eyes seemed to follow them.

“Thanks for that.” Johanna said when she had to do a little sprint to catch up with the librarian, a decoration that very much looked like a serpent with horns having had caught her attention. Kaisa slowed down her pace.

“Don’t think about it. There is something burning, anyway, and you very much are more more apt to deal than this than I am.”

“Oh, not that, though I am very grateful for the excuse to go away for a bit.” The lighting in that part of the house was significantly dimmer, somewhy being composed basically of candle light, and for a second Johanna was distracted by how their warm glow and the shadows they cast accentuated the sharp angles in Kaisa’s features. It was probably just the artist side of her showing. “I mean for defending Hilda like that. It’s good to know you have such a positive view of her and… I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t spoken up first.”

Kaisa smiled. This was something Johanna didn’t think she’d seen her do any time before that night. It had always been a certainty in her mind, though she didn’t know why, that the mysterious librarian didn’t show who she really was in the library. Now she wondered if she’d finally get to see more of Kaisa’s hidden side since they were behind closed doors.

“You would have been fine.” Thankful for the weak lighting hiding her blush, Kaisa answered. “At worst you would have told them what they need to hear.”

“That their daughter is going to develop one hell of a failure anxiety if they keep this up?”

“That she already has and Hilda is the positive influence that keeps her grounded. Those two really do a lot of good to each other, it’s a lovely friendship to watch.”

Kaisa opened a door and flicked the light switch up, making them both blink a few times since their eyes had adapted to relative darkness. The scent of burnt cinnamon and cardamom was much stronger there, and Johanna quickly spotted the oven and ran to it.

“You seem to know quite a lot about the children.” Johanna pointed out as Kaisa grabbed an oven mitt from the overhead shelf and handed it to her. Carefully, she opened the oven and was struck by a cloud of smoke and heat, holding herself back not to cough as she reached inside and pulled out the tray with the sweets on it. The cinnamon rolls were certainly a lot darker than they ought to be.

Kaisa waved her hand in the air, trying to make the smoke and the strong smell of burnt food fade, and with her other hand she gestured for Johanna to put the tray on an empty place on the counter.

“I don’t go out much.” She admitted half unwillingly. Admitting her lack of social life probably was not the best course of action to take if she wanted Johanna to be interested in befriending her, but she'd certainly figure it out in no time, anyway. “So when I notice recurring patrons that don’t irk me, I usually pay attention to them.”

“Pay attention?” Johanna asked as she tried to figure out how to turn off Matilda’s prehistoric oven before they both choked to death.

With a fork, Kaisa attempted to examine whether or not the confections were still salvageable. At first when she couldn’t poke inside, she thought maybe the crust of sugar and cinnamon had just gotten too thick, but when it broke with an audible crack before yielding she knew they were lost.

“I’m not-” She crossed her arms over her chest, biting her lower lip as she wondered if it was a good idea to answer that question truthfully. Due precisely to not having many friends, Kaisa knew she tended to overshare when people would listen to her, and it just made them go away. But there was something in the way Johanna looked at her that made her believe she genuinely wanted to know. “I’m not really good at talking to people. I seem to be the kind of person that is more interesting when watched from afar, anyway. So I tend to pay attention to visitors, as a hobby I suppose. You can tell a lot by people-watching.”

Johanna took off the mits and gave them back to Kaisa for her to put them in their proper place, and gave her a small nod as a sign to go on.

“I probably wouldn’t know this much about them, but curious as they are the children began to… talk to me.” Kaisa said. It wasn’t quite a lie, but she was sure the story would make much more sense to Johanna if she could mention the Committee and the magic. Though perhaps that was for the better, since that would also mean admitting to taking her daughter through a magical maze, not to mention the ghost situation and the tide mice incident. She highly doubted that Johanna would appreciate it. “And I suppose we just got along. They’re very sweet kids, the three of them, and their curiosity brings them to the library quite often.”

Rather than being disturbed by some of her closest bonds being with children she had no family ties to, Johanna smiled like she understood.

“They really are lovely.” With great difficulty, Johanna managed to unstick one of the sweets from the tray. “It’s a shame I don’t get to talk much to Frida and David, though. Hilda usually doesn’t want her mother bothering her friends. I guess it’s just signs of pre-teenagehood showing up.”

After bringing the korvapuusti to her nose and sniffing it, Johanna had to do her best to hide a grimace at the smell. “Oh, goodness, I hope Matilda doesn’t get too upset about not serving dessert.”

“Eh, she’s probably done another batch earlier.” Kaisa said as a way of hiding the fact that Tildy would probably use a revitalization spell and serve them anyway. Currently, the librarian was more interested in something else she’d just spotted on the counter.

It was a small jar, not much bigger than a glass of water and filled to the brim with a cream coloured paste. She grabbed it so fast that Johanna blinked with surprise, and thought for a moment that she was trying to hide something.

“Tildy made condensed milk!” Kaisa chirped, sounding very much like an excited child as she opened one of the drawers and took out two tablespoons. “I mean, of course she did. She always puts it on the table when she makes korvapuusti in case anyone wants to add it on top, but she made so much this time! How lucky.”

As Kaisa scooped a spoonful of the viscous substance, Johanna bit back a smirk. If people truly did think Kaisa’s uncensored self wasn’t as interesting as the image she first showed them was, the woman would have to disagree strongly. Every time she’d seen the librarian in her work place, Kaisa had set in her the desire to get to know her better, and now that she was seeing beneath the mystery and the quietness, nothing changed; if anything, Johanna was even more intrigued. In her mind, she compared her to a good brownie: once you got past the crispy crust it was warm and soft inside, and both parts were just as good.

“You seem very close to her as well.” Johanna pointed out. “Between her and the children, you’re probably better off in the friend department than I am.”

Kaisa stopped scooping a second spoon to look at her, her brow furrowed. “Really? You look like a very popular person.”

Flattered, Johanna chuckled. “What makes you say that?”

“You’re nice.” Kaisa shrugged. “Nice people usually have a lot of friends.”

“Well, I’m glad that’s how I come across. But I’m afraid I don’t really have any friends. None human, at least.”

Johanna looked away and cringed. Great way to get people to like you, she told herself. Make them see how weird you are. It was ironic, really. She’d insisted so much on Hilda making some human friends, and in the end she was the one drinking her afternoon tea with a nisse. If Kaisa had thought she was nice rather than odd, like most people did, it wouldn’t last if she continued talking so freely.

There was no judgement, not even surprise, when she looked back at Kaisa’s face, though. She looked like she thought that what Johanna was saying made perfect sense.

“Now you have one.” She had set down the jar again and was raising one of the spoons up for Johanna to take. “If I might call myself that, I mean.”

“Oh.” Johanna smilled, a cool sensation of butterflies in her belly making her fidget with the hem of her sweater. “Yes, of course. I’d love to be your friend!”

Kaisa’s grin widened, and Johanna spent a second thinking about how beautiful the dark lipstick shade she was wearing looked on her before realizing she was still waiting for her to take the spoon.

“Oh.” Johanna gasped again, mentally kicking herself from fumbling over her words so much. She wasn’t normally like this, but Kaisa had no way of knowing this and would probably think her a complete fool before the night was over. “Shouldn’t we wait until after dinner?”

“What’s the harm? Hilda isn’t here, you know? You don’t have to set a good exemple.” Kaisa said even as lowered the spoon, as if to show that she wouldn’t pressure her to do it. However, the argument seemed to have been a good one, because as soon as she brought her own spoon to her lips to taste the condensed milk, Johanna gave in and picked up hers.

“This is really good!” Johanna said regardless of thinking that it was maybe a bit too sweet for her to be able to eat a whole spoonful of it. Kaisa didn’t seem to be having any problems with it, though, and she didn’t want to let her new friend down.

Kaisa leaned her back against the counter, pleased Johanna seemed to have liked it. Figuring it would probably be inappropriate if she kept watching her as she licked the condensed milk out of the spoon, which she firmly told herself she’d only been doing because she wanted to catch her reaction, Kaisa ran her eyes around the kitchen as she concentrated on her early dessert. Until, that was, her attention was caught by something on the doorframe.

“Did Tildy seriously put mistletoe in the kitchen?” She sighed, more to herself than to Johanna.

“Not fond of them?” Johanna asked with her gaze also focused on the bundle of green leaves and pearly white berries.

“I’ve no ill will towards them.” Kaisa ate the last of what was left on her spoon and wondered if it was worth it to wash it and get some more condensed milk. “I just feel like it can be a really stupid tradition. Can’t be pleasant to be under the mistletoe with someone you don’t like.”

“Yes, it must be uncomfortable.” While she answered, Johanna turned to face Kaisa, who was washing the spoon in order to put it back inside the drawer, figuring out Tildy would notice if too much of the condensed milk was gone. Realizing Kaisa had some of it in the corner of her mouth, anything else she might have said was snatched out of her tongue as the sudden thought that it truly was a pity that Kaisa didn’t appreciate that tradition popped in her mind. Embarrassed, she shook her head as if to expel that notion, and put the spoon in her mouth to finish eating as well. “I wonder where on earth it came from. Sounds random to say the least.”

Kaisa hummed in agreement, and though Kaisa offered to wash Johanna’s spoon as well, she insisted on cleaning up after herself. After they were both done, they decided they’d probably been away for longer than socially acceptable. It was probably already time for dinner, at that point.

As they retraced their steps, however, the two women stopped in front of the first door frame after the kitchen's, staring at the same thing for the same reason.

“Curious.” Johanna hummed. “I don’t remember that mistletoe being there.”

It escaped Johanna’s notice, but not Kaisa’s, that there was something out of the ordinary with the sprig. After a few seconds of watching it, a glittering speck of green dust fell from it, floating all the way to the ground. The witch’s shoulders hunched forward like they tended to do when she was annoyed. An illusion spell.

“I don’t think they were here before.” She hissed through clenched teeth, low enough for Johanna to not hear it. Every other room they passed by was the same: a small mistletoe where before there had been none.

“It was probably the weak lighting.” Johanna said as they passed by their fifth mistletoe, although she failed to convince even herself with that explanation. Kaisa might not have noticed it since she had just been looking forward to where they had been going, but Johanna had been paying very close attention to her surroundings. Maybe that house’s nisse had decided to add some decoration?

Kaisa did her best to smile and say “Yes, it probably was.”, knowing it must have looked way more like a growl. Right when they arrived back at the sitting room, her suspicions were confirmed. Not only did Tildy have her hand inside the pocket where she kept her wand, but also the look of curiosity she gave them when they came back spoke louder than any words.

“You’re back! We were just waiting for you to go to the table.” Tildy chirped, looking deep inside Kaisa’s eyes, looking for something.

“Someone better go call the children, then.”

Tildy looked away at Kaisa’s unwavering answer. Whatever she’d been looking for, and the librarian thought she had a pretty good idea of what it was, she hadn’t found it.

“And the korvapuusti?”

“I’m afraid you’ll have to use your extra batch.”

“Oh, well.” She got up with her boyfriend's aid. “There’s always next time, isn’t there.”

Something led Kaisa to believe she was not talking about the confections.

_#_#_#_

“It was great to spend some time with you, Kaisa!”

The librarian tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, hoping she didn’t look too happy to be hearing that.

“Likewise, Johanna.”

Would asking to see her again be too much? It probably would, but she could think of nothing else to say. They just stood perfectly still as they looked at each other, the cold from the night outside creeping into the house through the open door behind Johanna. Holding her mother’s hand, Hilda glanced back and forth at both of them with a curious frown.

“I guess I’ll see you at the library, then?” Johanna said at last, and Kaisa nodded.

“Yes. That’s… that’s where I’ll be.”

“Well, happy Bloom again! And good night.” At this point, Hilda was already trying to subtly drag her mother away. For someone who always complained about the Woodman leaving the door open, she thought Johanna really should pay more attention to that sort of thing.

“Good night to the two of you.” Said Kaisa. Finally happy that Johanna had began moving out, Hilda smiled and waved at the witch.

“Bye bye, Kaisa! See you when I see you!”

When the door was closed at last, and Kaisa was the only guest left (it didn’t matter that she was one of the strongest witches alive, Kaisa would feel bad if she left an elderly lady to clean up everything alone), Tildy surreptitiously crept up by her side.

“Did you at least get her number?” Tildy asked with a sigh, which made her former apprentice remember why exactly she’d been mad at her.

“Tildy.” Kaisa groaned, putting her hands on her waist. “I know you mean well, but you’re going a little too far. I barely even know Johanna and you’re already conjuring mistletoes around the house?!”

Saying that, she pointed to the spot one of the sprigs had been just a few minutes before, even though there was nothing there at that moment. The woman giggled, kneeling down with some difficulty to pick her familiar up when it walked to her.

“Oh, but I’ve a good eye for this sort of thing!” She defended herself cheerfully as she petted that thing she called a familiar. Kaisa had never seen eye to eye with it. It had a tendency of eating her books which hadn’t faded with time. “I saw some sparks flying and I decided to help along! Such a shame you didn’t grab the chance.”

Kaisa pinched the bridge of her nose. Sometimes she wondered if age was beginning to get the best of her old mentor. “Okay, fine, I think she’s cute. You’ve always been able to tell how I feel and I won’t deny it. But we both know close to nothing about her! She doesn’t even like mistletoes-”

“This younger generation.” Tildy scoffed, interrupting her. “So unromantic.”

“And even if her feelings were reciprocal.” Kaisa continued with a glare, figuring it was better to pretend she hadn’t heard that. No matter how old Kaisa got, she was always part of the ‘younger generation’ in Tildy’s eyes. “We’ve just properly met! “that’s way too forward and you know it, so don’t try to blame me for not making a move in the first five seconds of knowing someone.”

“Oh, Kaisa.” The sorceress sighed as she began walking away to the kitchen, so they both could start and finish their washing as soon as possible. “No need to get so defensive. I was only trying to help you, but I apologize if it made you uncomfortable in any way. However, as someone who wants nothing but your happiness, I need to ask you to reach out to that woman as soon as possible.”

Kaisa hugged her arms around her torso. Somewhy that idea was enough to make her afraid, even if she couldn’t tell what of. “It’s okay, Tildy. You don’t have to apologize, but I think I’ll wait until Johanna goes to the library again. We can talk a bit and… and then when she visits it again it won’t be weird to try and arrange another meeting somewhere else.”

Tildy stopped right in front of the sink and narrowed her eyes at Kaisa. “Were you not listening?”

“I was, but-“

“No buts!” She exclaimed, throwing a towel at Kaisa. Whether she wanted her to do the drying or she was just exasperated and wanted to throw something at her, she didn’t know. “Do you know why I’m dating Peter?”

“Hopefully because you love him?” Kaisa answered, somewhat stunned at the sudden change in topic.

“Very funny, aren’t you.” Opening the sink to begin her washing, Tildy snickered. “I mean, why am I dating him instead of already being married to him? I did already tell you we met when we were young.”

“Because you’re both broke and can’t take a loan since the bank doesn't like you.” Kaisa joked, which resulted in Tildy shaking her weat hand on her direction to send a couple of drops of water at her. Laughing as her she shielded her face from the water, she quickly added. “I’m kidding! It’s because you two didn’t talk for very long.”

Tildy nodded as she went back to washing. There was something sad in her eyes, and anyone else might have missed it. Kaisa, however, had spent too much time with her, had shared too many conquests and downfalls with this woman to not be able to pick it up.

“We met one night and fell in love almost instantly. But we knew nothing of each other… I spent my life hoping he’d find me, and he spent his life not being able to because he didn’t know how. He spent his life regretting not having asked me out on that first night. Do you see what I’m trying to tell you?”

“Be grateful Johanna knows where I work and for modern technology?”

Tildy gave her a glare that made her sure that if looks could kill, she’d need a spot at Guglow’s. Even her familiar, who had moved to lie atop of her head, seemed to be staring at her with impatience, and Kaisa sighed in defeat.

“I understand the lesson, Tildy. And even though I don’t really agree in this ‘love at first sight’ talk and your extreme carpe diem mentality, I’ll… try to do something. So as not to become a target for your crossbow practice, if anything.”

Finally pleased, Tildy smiled.

“Smart girl!”

_#_#_#_

“Hey, mum, what are you doing?”

Slouched over a cookbook in her bedroom, Johanna hadn’t even heard it when Hilda opened the door. Her daughter sat near her on the bed and tried to take a peak at what she was reading.

“I’m trying to find any condensed milk recipes in our old recipe book.” She explained, though she knew that at that point she all but had that book’s contents memorized. “Kaisa seems to like it a lot… she was very kind to both of us at the party, I wanted to make her something as a late winter festival gift, even if it’s just a batch of cookies.”

“Sounds like a good idea. You could take the chance and ask if she has any recipes she’d prefer.”

Finally Johanna dragged her eyes away from the book, and noticed Hilda had a sly smile on. “What do you mean?”

“The doorbell rang, remember? She’s at the door.”

“What?!” Johanna jumped from the bed, wondering how Kaisa knew where she lived before remembering she could have gotten the address from the library records, or from Frida, Matilda, and even from Hilda herself. Before leaving the room, she glanced at the mirror to check her appearance, which made Hilda lift an eyebrow.

She was sure she wasn’t imagining the blush on the librarian’s face when she opened the door, but she was more worried about the fact that she probably had one of her own.

“I wonder where it came from.” Kaisa quoted Johanna’s words from the night before, from when they’d seen the first mistletoe on the kitchen’s doorway, and bit back a grimace when she realized she’d forgotten to say “good afternoon”. There was no coming back from that, so she continued. “That’s what you said about the mistletoe’s tradition yesterday. I, ah, got curious. So I did some research and found out it actually comes from mythology. And biology. The biology of the plant mattered too, you see.”

There was a beat of silence in which Johanna just blinked at her, and Kaisa was afraid she’d slam the door on her face for turning up in her house out of the blue to talk about mistletoe lore the day after a holiday. Instead, she opened a grin.

“That sounds fascinating!” Johanna said, feeling her heart pick up pace. Not only had Kaisa truly listened to what she said, but she’d had the mind to look for answers and to come all the way to her house to tell her what she’d found. “I’m working on an evergreens pattern for a series of products, I actually think knowing more about these aspects of them would give me a lot of inspiration!”

Standing up a little straighter, Kaisa couldn’t hold back a breathy chuckle of relief that Johanna seemed to be taking that attempt well.

“I was hoping you’d let me tell you more about it over coffee?” She asked as she bit down on her bottom lip. “If you’re busy right now-”

“No, no!” Johanna waved her hands in front of her. “I’m completely free.”

Perhaps that hadn’t been the best thing to say, since she had just informed her that she was working on a project, but Kaisa didn’t seem skeptical of her answer at all, only happy. Her grey eyes lit up, as beautiful as the snow outside when the weak winter sun shone on it.

“Oh.” Kaisa breathed. She seemed surprised, and maybe even amazed by the situation, and it filled Johanna with warmth. If she seemed awe struck by something so simple, she couldn’t possibly be used to being appreciated, and Johanna couldn’t wait to change that. Figuring Kaisa had already done the most of the reaching out just by going there, she spoke up again.

“There’s a pretty good coffee house in the centre square.” She said. “We could take the chance to pick up some fallen Sostansil flowers, I loved pressing them in my journal when I was younger. Plus, I’m pretty sure they sell their cookbooks there, and I just discovered I need a new one.”

As if by work of magic, confidence seemed to return to Kaisa’s stance. “That sounds lovely!”

“I’ll just check with Hilda if it’s alright to leave her alone and-”

“Don’t worry about me.” Both of them startled when they noticed Hilda had been standing a few meters away, in the kitchen. “I’ve got to do homework and walk Twig.”

“Hilda, it’s impolite to listen to other people’s conversations.” Johanna called out. All the girl did was mutter an amused ‘sorry’ and walk back to her room.

Since when Johanna looked back at the librarian she didn’t look put off by Hilda’s behaviour, she took a step back and pointed behind herself.

“In this case, I’ll just grab my coat and we can go. I’d love to hear all about what you found out.”

Kaisa’s smile was the last thing Johanna saw before she ran off to her room. It was intriguing, she thought, how the mistletoe hadn’t needed to be above her head to help her.

Maybe, from then on, she’d like it a lot more.

[regrettablewritings]

Animatic/Storyboard Music

Got bored/procrastinate-y on coloring in this ultra intricate card for my mom. So I’m just gonna make a list of songs I think make for good animatic material. Because why not/I wanna foist my musical tastes on people/ @locke-writes got me in a music binge. For the most part, it’s just gonna be me explaining the meanings or the vibe or what they generally tend to be used for, but really it’s mostly subjective so imaginate whatchu wanna.

“Trust Me” - The Devil’s Carnival Originally depicting a story about the Scorpion and the Frog, it’s the perfect song for when you want to depict the dynamic between a gullible or at the very least more grounded character and a figure whose intentions . . . may be less than pure. Or good for anyone, really.

“The Dismemberment Song” - The Blue Kid I have a playlist dedicated to songs whose content and sound are just . . . not married to one another, but got a weird flirtationship situation going on. Anyway, I’ve seen people say that they like to imagine it’s sung through the POV of a scorned housewife who’s finally Had Enough™️. And . . . They’re really not wrong for it. Really, though, it’s just the right song for when a sadist is just ready to gut a fucker but is disturbingly jolly about it.

“Love Me Dead” - Ludo Continuing with my trend of songs about people in less than ideal situations, “Love Me Dead” is straight to the point: The relationship is just awful and the guy gets nothing from it, but he can’t help but be hopelessly in a state of adoration for the woman he’s latched on to (“You’re born of a jackal! YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL!!”)

“Constellations” - The Oh Hellos There actually isn’t a plot to this song, it just feels really good (as all songs by The Oh Hellos are prone to be). However, if you feel a need to portray the concept of having to reorganize your thoughts after realizing that maybe they weren’t what you initially thought, and then coming to the conclusion that even though everything changes as a result, you’ll be alright? This is the song for you.

“A Kindling of Sorts” - The Oh Hellos An instrumental piece that is like . . . It’s related to another song of theirs about nationalism called “Torches”, so make of that what you will. (I personally have been using it to imagine storyboarding an opening for an animated The Witcher series.)

“The Other Side” - The Greatest Showman I know everyone and their mom has used this to portray situations like villains trying to get good guys to join their side. But I dun curr, it’s a fun song. That, and I like what Emilyamio did with her interpretation. It’s fun. For a basic rundown, know it’s another song about two characters’ dynamics being explored, with one coming to the other with a proposal that they join them in whatever endeavors they have in store. It’s often portrayed as something evil, but it really doesn’t have to be, as the original context was more about letting loose than anything.

“The Thief and the Moon” - Shawn James A much more mellow piece. Simple and straight to the point: A thief tells the Moon that he plans on stealing her light to shade the world in darkness. The Moon insists that the thief would only doom the world by doing so, to which the thief clarifies that he doesn’t care; if the world is shrouded in shadow, it means he will be able to steal with more ease (“My very existence is a race to attain wealth”). Disgusted, the Moon essentially curses the man with a warning that his greed can and will bring about his end -- and leave him to be forgotten by the rest of mankind, once it happens.

“Villainous Thing” - Shayfer James I’ve seen people say that this song is about singing to a cadaver but I can’t quite find anything confirming that (translation: I’m too lazy to look too into it). Regardless, it’s a fun ditty that yet again portrays someone with less than pure intentions encouraging someone to join him in some good old fashion villainy, as they’ve clearly endured their fair share of hardships and surely wanted to do evil anyway (“You’ll find no ever after here, it’s clear that isn’t what you came for“).

“Necromancin Dancin” - Bear Ghost Straight forward and fun as fuck: A necromancer apparently seems to cross classes and try his hand at barding by not only raising an army of the dead, but by also making them dance in order to make conquering the world easier. Because . . . a body doing Disco Duck isn’t scary, I guess.

"Aquaman” - Walk the Moon A song about one half of a couple wanting to become more involved in their relationship, but still having some nervousness about doing so. If you somehow haven’t heard this song yet, you gotta because it’s the cutest shit.

“Jenny’s Tale” - Ren I’ll be brutally honest, it’s about a woman named Jenny who just wants to get home after a long day of work and an unfortunate encounter with a 14 year old named Screech who gets way in over his head. As in, like, a death happens. That being said, I need. Like. An animated music video of this song. I imagine this shit in gritty charcoal or painted on glass, it just needs this. Somebody who isn’t me who knows what they’re doing, please look into this.

“The Curse of the Fold” - Shawn James As cheesy as it sounds, it basically boils down to not giving up or yielding. But what makes it so cool is the fact that Shawn James makes all his songs basically sound like a western gothic soundtrack. Which helps, because he admits that the title is also a reference to poker, in which giving up too often or too easily can often rob you of a delicious reward gained through perseverance and sacrifice.

“Thank God I’m Not You” - Himalayas I prefer to imagine this for an arrogant asshole of a character. Because that’s exactly what this song is about: They’re a liar and a thief, they’ve been called the son of Satan, and yet they consider themselves lucky -- ‘cause at least they ain’t you! If you have a character in mind who’s a delightful, punchable little shit, this is probably either their anthem or at least on the playlist you inevitably made for them.

"Passerine" - The Oh Hellos So there’s a common trend in The Oh Hellos’ discography that tends to explore the two founders’ experiences with faith and their growth in how they understand it or recognize it. With “Passerine”, the concept being explored is the experience they had when it came to taking a step back and realizing just how many of their supposed “fellow Christians” were actually doing some rather unchristian things, so to speak. When they “prune[d] their feathers”, it became clear that they had less in common with certain people proclaiming to be Christian while also spouting bigotry and greed. However, the desire to move away from such influences comes with the feeling of being torn, as moving too far away from the Bible leaves the singer feeling as though she is betraying something she holds dear. As a result, “Passerine” symbolizes not a breakage from faith, but a breakage from blind faith as they understood it, and the inevitable feeling of being torn that comes along with expanding upon how one views their beliefs and those around them. It’s therefore not uncommon to see Good Omens animatics using this song. (Something I also noticed is that throughout the song, you hear pieces of “Constellations”. TOH have a tendency to reference previous pieces, and considering “Constellations” is a song about changing perspective and the meanings we apply to them, it fits in beautifully with a song about reevaluating one’s stance.)

“Like the Dawn” - The Oh Hellos As stated before, a lot of TOH’s discography draws inspiration from their faith. In this case, it’s an outright retelling of the Garden of Eden, specifically when Adam awoke to find Eve had been created. What makes this iteration stand out to most, however, is that the singer is female, which seems to change the vibe you get. It sweetens the feeling of wonder we often forget the first man might’ve felt upon seeing somebody made for him, creating an air of beauty yet comfort with such lines as “And like the dawn, you broke the dark and my whole earth shook” or “You were the brightest shade of sun I had ever seen.” Even without the awareness or an interest in religious influences, it still manages to be a very feel-good song -- which is the mark of an overall good song in general!

“Confession” - RED Dealing with the constant battle of feeling ashamed that how you feel on the inside isn’t in sync with how you present yourself on the outside. That you should feel bad for smiling out at the world while screaming and thrashing -- like it’s a lie. But you can’t help it: It’s what you’re accustomed to. Though it does end on a hopeful note with the singer deciding that they want to reach out for help and rid themselves of this feeling of pain they have inside.

“When I Grow Up” - Matilda . . . Only if you want to cry. Seriously. When you’re a kid, everything seems difficult but you’re positive that once you grow up, everything will change: You’ll be tall enough to climb the trees you were too small to, you’ll be able to carry everything because you’re stronger, you’ll be brave enough to fight the monsters hiding in your room, you’ll finally have all the answers. . . . But life isn’t that simple. We wish it were, but it isn’t. There’s this bittersweetness about this song, about a sense of purity we unfortunately grow out of where we think things will be just the same enough for us to do what we want when we want, but things are more complicated than that. We still struggle to reach, to bear the weight, to not be afraid, to have even a fraction of the answers. But! We’re reminded that just because we’re told life isn’t fair, doesn’t mean we have to take it. After all, nothing changes when nothing happens. And even beyond that? It helps to remember that we’re never quite done growing up; there’s always more to learn, so remember to be patient with yourself.

“Hand Me My Shovel, I’m Going In!” - Will Wood and the Tapeworms This is . . . a song. The lyrics are honestly kinda all over the place and shooting rapid fire, making it a bit difficult to discern what exactly the singer is going on about. It makes for a pretty crazy song that suggests somebody’s going unhinged, which is apparently precisely the intention?? I’ve seen a lot of people interpret this as a song about a guy who is already at a low point in his life but nonetheless is going, “. . . I bet I can go deeper. Hand me my shovel.”

“No Reason” - Beetlejuice God if i had a youtube channel the segment i would spend on this song would be so juicy just ripe and thicc with thoughts and feelings i tell ya rich like a fresh fatty peach the apple that tempted Eve and gagged Adam yes ‘Nother song that explores the dynamic between two differing people and their worldviews. At its simplest, “No Reason” is about two opposite ends of a spectrum coming to a head: Idealistic and hippie-dippy Delia is convinced that everything happens for a reason, while cynical and depressed Lydia asserts that everything happens at random and it doesn’t matter anyway because we’re all going to die. And even though the delivery is ultimately a comedic one, you get more insight as to why one another feels the way that they do: Lydia, as we’ve previously learned, has recently lost her mother to an illness, which has left her depressed and feeling invisible (a theme in the show); whereas Delia’s failed marriage and desperate attempts to nonetheless be happy have left her dependent on the idea that these things had to have happened for a reason, otherwise, her pain would’ve been for nothing. What’s important is that neither side is actually appointed as the winner, with the song ultimately ending that the universe is random for a reason.

“Barbara 2.0″ - Beetlejuice Without spoiling anything (or at least too much), “Barbara 2.0″ is about growth. It’s about learning to put your foot down after a literal lifetime of being passive out of fear of what might happen and just accepting that nothing will happen if nothing happens -- but that doesn’t make whatever happens good.

“Bleed Magic” - IDHKBTFM It’s either about a killer or a vampire. No, seriously: When Dallon Weekes was asked about what the story of the song was, that was his answer. I personally prefer to think of it as a vampire or demon of some kind, given that the song came out around Halloween. Perfect for yet another example of somebody (likely supernatural) having an upper hand on an unsuspecting mortal. ...I have way too many of these on this list, I swear I don’t have a problem —

“Feel Good Drag” - Anberlin A toxic relationship of sorts. In that it shouldn’t be a relationship to begin with. Depicts the singer being approached by an ex, who seeks a one-night stand while her current boyfriend is out of town. However, the singer is aware that trying to continue anything regardless of the situation is a moot point: Even when they were together, their relationship was doomed from the start, and nothing about that is going to change -- especially now.

“Soviet Trumpeter” - Katzenjammer (It’s kinda difficult to work with this one but I’ve seen people work with less or stranger.) Based off the life of one Eddie Rosner, a Jewish Polish trumpeter whose fame within the USSR unfortunately faded due to the Soviet Union’s heavy censorship. Even if nothing is to be done with it, it still paints a melancholic picture of a talented man’s skills being largely unknown as a result of things beyond his control. All wrapped up in a song that denotes a strange deterioration in a way I can’t quite place.

“Apple Blossom” - The White Stripes On its face, it’s a very sweet song: The singer encourages his beloved to be vulnerable enough with him to tell him her troubles and to let him “sort them out for [her]”. She’s clearly saddened, and seeing so distresses him to where he insists that he will do whatever he can to make her happy. However, the tone of the song and certain lines make it easy to twist into yet another song of a character attempting to seduce somebody into a state of vulnerability . . .

“You’ve Got Possibilities” - It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman The one singular song people actually liked from this forgotten musical. Perfect for when somebody intends on giving somebody else a makeover. Y’know, after totally roasting them on their posture and clothing. If you want to add a lil something extra, know that the context is that a lady wants to give Clark Kent a makeover, insisting that in spite of his schlubby appearance, there’s gotta be something underneath. I repeat: She is telling this to Clark freaking Kent.

 “Still” - Anastasia In the context, the show’s antagonist (not bad guy, there’s a difference) finds himself torn between obligation and personal interest: Does he fulfill his duty and live up to expectations set upon him by his father and the society he’s been selected to help uphold? Or does he let a woman he has become fond of go? Is she truly as innocent as she claims? Or is she well aware of what she’s doing? And every time he thinks he’s reached a conclusion, he can’t help but thing, “But still . . .” Good for when you want to portray a character conflicted between obligations of politics and what their heart wants.

“Two Nobodies in New York” - [title of show] Two young men plan on entering an upcoming theatrical festival but struggle with what to even submit. This song in particular focuses on them trying to figure out what to even write, the concept of fame, and if wanting the certain things that may come with fame can mean anything from being sell-outs to getting a sitcom. It’s admittedly specific, but it’s a cute and funny interaction between two guys who are, for the most part, actually in sync with their thoughts and anxieties. For the time being.

“Into the Unknown” - Idina Menzel Look, I refuse to watch that movie. I just do. But I will take this song over That Other One any day. Mostly because I personally like to imagine that the singer in this song is about to embark on a Pixaresque journey after accidentally leaving her home during the night of The Wild Hunt, accidentally separating her spirit from her body and thus giving her a very limited time to get back to it before she remains a soul trapped in a whirlwind of ghosts forever. But first: Let’s sing about that strange howling that coaxes her so.

“You’re Gonna Go Far, Kid” - The Offspring I sure do long songs that can characterize a shithead . . . Anywho! The smoothest way to go is just to portray some cocky, manipulative shit who’s used to just lying and cheating their way to get what they want before slipping away without any consequences -- to a point. There’s the option of portraying the betrayer’s comeuppance, but there’s also the frustratingly delicious option of just letting them get away with whatever to lie another day.

“Why Should I Worry” - Billy Joel When in doubt, go to earlier Disney. Because like it or not, they had some bops. And when in the need of portraying a happy-go-lucky (probably idiotic) doofus and his more neurotic or cynical friend going about their life with the former just Mr. Magooing it while the latter suffers more realistic consequences? You go with this song. If you want. That’s just me.

“Transformation” - Brother Bear For when you want to invoke a mystical or otherworldly feeling. There’s really not much more I can say except to encourage you to listen to it and watch the scene if you can find it. You’ll get the vibe.

“No Girl’s Toy” - Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure It’s a big shame this movie is relatively unknown and never got a proper VHS release or anything -- mainly because the music in this cult classic is definitely stuff I could see becoming standards. I could see people performing “I Never Get Enough” for little shows, or recycling “Blue” for a different show. Thankfully, somebody was able to upload a clear enough sounding recording of “No Girl’s Toy”, so at least we have that. In context (just...follow me on this), Raggedy Ann’s brother, Raggedy Andy, has had enough of being subjected to “girly things” while in the nursery. Additionally, though, the way the song was written means it can also be interpreted as just a guy who refuses to let himself be yanked around regardless of how thick the sugar being laid on him is. . . . If you wanna poke fun as a character for trying to appear tougher than what he is, here’s the song. (That being said, Andy is a sweetheart at the end of the day. No amount of tough-fronting will hide that.)

“I Enjoy Being a Girl” - Flower Drum Song (It is by sheer coincidence that this song follows the above.) Really, it’s exactly what it says on the tin: The singer enjoys being a girl and what all it entails for her. She loves her feminine form, she loves the attention she gets, she loves dolling herself up, she loves frilly dresses, and she hopes to one day marry a guy who enjoys “having a girl like [her].” And honestly? Good on her! Love whatcha love, lovely! Seriously, though, it’s a cute song for anyone who just wants to indulge in some girliness.

“Chip on My Shoulder” - Legally Blonde Come on: It’s Legally Blonde. You know what this bop is, or at least have an idea of it. But since I love this song, I’ll indulge: Disheartened by her failure to both win back her ex and succeed in the fast-paced environment of Harvard, the normally bright-eyed Elle is ready to call it quits. That is, until junior partner Emmett gets involved. Unimpressed by her story, Emmett reveals that he got to where he was by busting his ass due to having a chip on his shoulder from his rough beginnings — and maybe a chip on the shoulder is exactly what Elle needs to survive. And as somebody driven by spite, I can appreciate that kind of message. Anywho, it all in all is a song about growth and learning how to be “driven as hell” to keep up with an opportunity that may not be easy to take, but is not one to be passed by.

“What Do I Need with Love?” - Thoroughly Modern Millie “What Do I Need with Love?” asks exactly that: He could date a different girl every night of the week if he so wanted, and never once had any desire to go steady before. He considers himself lucky to have never fallen for anyone -- until now. Which he’s not! He’s not in love. ...He totally is and, by his own admission, he’s got it bad it’s terribly adorable.

“Interlude IV” - Zach Callison The entire album is actually a narrative about a failed relationship of Callison’s and I’m sure the other songs are just as great fuel for animatics -- I’m just too caught up on listening to this one over and over. Sometimes, we just wanna listen to Steven Universe cuss and be openly furious. Seriously, though, even without the context of the rest of the story, you get the idea well enough: A spiteful Zach decides to get back at the one that broke his heart in such a painful way, whereas a well-meaning friend insists they just leave it be and move on. While this technically would be the better and healthier option, Zach is just too far gone with rage to let it go and decides to take care of things by himself.

“Evermore” - Beauty & the Beast Look, I know the remake wasn’t anything crazy. But also I don’t honestly care too terribly much. Besides, this song was nice and it really gets me after that key change. We all want a royal doofus to be enamored enough with us to let us go for our own happiness but still know that their life will forever be changed because they met us. Animate that shit. Over and over.

goddamn this list is long lemme just stop this now byyyyeeeee

[curiouscarllee]

Hello, I'm making a list of my OCs with a bit of art and information! I am doing this because I feel as though I post a lot about my characters without ever providing any detail, so, here you go :) On top of this, I'd like to state that I am always intrested in hearing about your ocs as well, you are more than welcome to send me an ask about them or about my own characters :)

Fairlynn: My Main

Fairlynn is a bosmer, he is the Hero of Kvatch and also Sheogorath. He is a tad unpredictable and has some mental issues in regards to mirroring the mad god and myself. Fairlynn was 28 when he started with saving the world, only 29 when it ended and full of grief with Martin's passing. This drove him to the Shivering Isles in hopes that he could persuade a daedric prince to revive his beloved. That's not at all how it went down, upon noticing this realm was not one of a stronger prince, Fairlynn was tempted to leave the plane but found himself infatuated with it instead.

After a few years, the princes sensed a danger approaching, one in the form of an imperial male that had the possibility of defeating them. Therefore, they agreed to send one of themselves down to nirn in an attempt to stop it. Unfortunately, they chose Fairlynn to get the job done and yeeted him down where the bosmer began to gather enforcments in the form of other people which he thought would become allies when they grew older.. But what he didn't expect was the imperial managed to befriend every. Single. One. Of the people Fairlynn had set on course to hate the man, none of them truly did. That's the exact moment where he went, "if you can't beat em' join em'." And promptly joined the group in his mortal form without revealing to them who he was. Instead the group thinks he's just a skooma addict that is talented in the ways of fighting. They have no idea.

Ragnar

This is that imperial male stated in the last description. This man is destined to destroy the influence of the daedric princes on the mortal people, however, he has the intelligence of a box of rocks and everyone doubts this prophecy to be true. The only time one can possibly think this true is when he displays his power in the midst of battle, he was blessed by the divines at birth, each giving him power to defeat the evil of the world. He his bound to use it.. But he never uses it for good, I mean,, why would he? He could kill anyone he wants! No way he's gonna be the "good hero"! (Basically, this was my brother's character and he used mods to make him op so I had to improvise.)

Past wise, my brother and I decided to intertwine him with the lore. You rememeber the song Ragnar the Red? That was Ragnar's father. In truth, his name should be Ragnar the second or Ragnar Jr. but his mother, Matilda, said "hahahaha, no, your father was a mess and you shall not be him." and removed the second part. After his mother died of a sickness, Ragnar hesitantly moved towns in search of work. He missed his mother greatly and would give anything to have her back.

S'arra

Meet S'arra, she is a khajiit female and the heart of the group (along side another who you'll meet shortly). S'arra is the youngest, she may be sweet but she'll rob you blind if she sees a chance. S'arra came from a happy family in Elsywer, she was the child of F'awn and Ja'zaka, two khajiit with completely different sets of morals. Ja'zaka was a born bandit, he was wild and carefree, F'awn (My friends oc :)) was a gentle and caring woman, she loved to live. When F'awn got pregnant, her brother, J'ar, lost his mind. J'ar was fueled with anger towards Ja'zaka and at one point made an attempt at his brother-in-law's life. It was at that moment J'ar was kicked from F'awn's life, he ran from his home and joined a vampire clan/bandit group in Skyrim.

Only months after her birth, Ja'zaka disappeared. He ran and never came back. F'awn tried her best to raise S'arra, but one morning S'arra was taken from her by a rabid animal that invaded the town. The creature took off with S'arra and lead the small khajiit to it's den where a caravan traveling to Skyrim would soon find her and take her with them, raising her as their own on the roads of Skyrim. The caravan was killed and attacked by a certain bandit group/vampire clan (hahaha, yup, the one J'ar is in). S'arra joined the group in hopes of revenge, although, she'll keep that bit to herself. ;)

Adoren

Now this orc, oh he's amazing. He is an old man, a precious old man with a past of pain and betrayal. In order to introduce his past, we need to introduce his adpoted brother first:

Zanik

This is Adoren's adopted brother, Zanik (grandson of Nellie), a not so nice older man. Zanik was thrown out by his father a young age, more precisely, he was thrown in a river by his father in one of his father's crazed fits. Zanik can't swim, he hates water more than anything else in his life. The dunmer was washed to shore near an orc stronghold where he was picked up by Adoren and adopted by the orcs family. Zanik and Adoren lived happily for many many years, one day they went on an exploration to scout for different hunting grounds. It started to pour causing the two to take shelter in a dwemer ruin. That's when they heard soft groaning and sounds of pain coming from down one of the halls. Hesitantly, they explored. Only to find:

Kidawe

My most lore breaking character! Meet Kidawe, a small snow elf from one of the last remaining villiages of falmer! Now, yes, I am breaking the lore because, since when has canon lore stopped me? Kidawe lived on top of the mountains to the north of Cyrodiil and the South of Skyrim. His village is small and portable, in case they need to move, the tribe of elves is shrouded in mystery, they've managed to live this long and refuse to leave their mountain. Kidawe doesn't listen to that, he runs off each night in search for dwemer ruins, things he find more then interesting. The young elf holds no fear when he's in his element, and he loves to explore. One evening, while in a ruin he is attacked by a vampire/bandit named Raeferth (the leader) who pushes him to join the group, trying to convince the snow elf that his expertise is needed. Kidawe refuses and then engages in battle with the nord, he looses and ends up pinned under a fallen pillar that crushes his arm.

Upon waking up after falling unconscious from the pain, Kidawe is met with the sight of Adoren and Zanik standing over him. After many many months of trust building, the two get Kidawe to befriend them. Kidawe uses their help to fashion himself a new arm from dwarven parts found in the ruin. After a few years, Kidawe disappears. He was taken by force by Raeferth (the others do not know this). Adoren and Zanik are heart broken. They miss their friend greatly.

Adoren/Zanik Pt.2

After losing Kidawe, these two go off and join a bandit group.. Yes the same vampire clan group. Adoren thrives in the group, he his strong and more then willing to get his hands dirty. Zanik.. Not so much. Zanik is only kept around because of Adoren. They all know not to mess with Zanik or else they mess with Adoren.

After spending a few years with them, Adoren decides he can't continue this. Zanik begs him not to leave, trying to make the orc realize that this group will not let them go without hurting them. Adoren doesn't listen and leaves the bandits, later that day the stronghold is burnt to the ground. Adoren looses everything in the fire, his parents pass away, his friends and family. Instead of processing lose normally, he makes it up in his head that the reason Zanik was warning him was because Zanik had a hand in it. Therefore the two fight and Adoren punches Zanik, he's wearing a ring that catches under Zanik's flesh and pratically tears off his cheek leaving the dunmer with a horrible scar. Adoren warns Zanik never to speak with him again.

Which of course doesn't stand because after they grew up into old men, they cross eachother's paths once more. They both join up with the good guy group at different times, Adoren joins first after he finds them in his house, and Zanik joins when he is once again found washed up on the shore.

Zorlin

Not much on this boio, he was my first oc in the Elder Scrolls. He's an argonian heavy set warrior. Zorlin is silent and cut throat, he is a part of the Brotherhood and only joins the good guy group after his brother, Tu'ru is 'murdered' by Raeferth.

Tristane

There is so much on him. I'm just going to do bullet points:

Born in Skyrim 200+ years ago. He never knew his true parents and was instead brought up by a wealthy noble family. They more kept him around for labor.

He befriends 3 local kids, Mayrn (breton like him), Raeferth (nord trouble maker), and Lynik (Raeferth's brother).

They all cause problems and Tristane falls in love with Raeferth :D

One day Raeferth claims to have found immortality, Tristane instantly says "No, I'm not doing this." And leaves the friend group, trying to focus on himself.

He is then framed for a crime he didn't commit and sent to Cyrodiil's Imperial Prison. Then he is bailed out by the Emperor and sent to Morrowind.

Morrowind happens, Tristane changes from whining child to even whiner child with the ability to cast spells.

After Morrowind, Tristane travels to Solstiem where he is confronted with Mayrn and Lynik (both as bandit vampires).

Mayrn and Lynik try to force him back to Skyrim to see Raeferth and join them. Tristane, as he said before, says "no". So they kill him.

Now they don't really kill him, they use a method I made up called Soul Gem Reflection. This is something I completely made up but I like it so sue me. I can write an entire post on this alone so we're just gonne say, "Soul gem reflection is a method in which the targets soul is directed towards an object they held dear in life instead of dying. They're life essence is held in the soul gem, but they live in the object."

In this case, Tristane was reflected in his journal.

Lynik felt horrible for doing this to his friend, he felt guilty and returned the journal which he unknowingly relfected the breton in, and gave it to Tristane's family who in turn stuffed the journal in the basement.

Fast forward 200+ years and Adoren buys the manor, finding Tristane's journal inside and opening it. Surprise! Out springs a ghostly figure of Tristane who then convinced Adoren to take him along with the group!

Other Characters:

This is J'ar. He's mentioned above.

Also, here's some more character that aren't affiliated with the group:

-Baendil and Baendal are bosmer brothers, they were abandoned by their parents and instead found by cranky altmer father Kornan. They're bandits (not related to vampires at all). They're bad, not morally wrong but actually just bad at being bandits. They couldn't rob you even if you asked them to.

-I will add more later I'm sure.

[chuffyfan87]

Hiding. Part 42b

Duffy sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. She'd almost dropped off to sleep when she heard giggling.

“Ssh, mummy’s sleepy.” Charlie whispered to Emily, coming back from the toilet.

"Everything OK?"

“Had poo.” Emily declared.

"Well done sweetheart." Duffy chuckled.

“Tummy no urt now!”

"That's good darling."

Emily reached out for her mum.

"Shall we have a little snooze?" Duffy asked as Emily clambered over.

“Ep!”

Once the little girl had gotten comfortable Duffy kissed the top of her head and looked over at the other children. "I'm surprised she's the only one that's woken up."

“Me too. Em’s usually a deep sleeper as well.”

"Probably the change in routine."

“Yeah probably.”

"She's doing so well all things considered." Duffy whispered as she stroked Emily's hair.

“Really well.” Charlie agreed.

"I can't believe she's completed a whole year at school already and that the twins will be going a couple of weeks after we get back."

“I know. It’s scary.” He smiled, “She's doing amazingly well. Better than we thought.”

"She's surpassed all expectations."

“She really has.”

"I still blame myself for all her struggles." Duffy whispered.

“Why?” He asked with a frown.

"I know everyone tells me that there's nothing I could have done differently but it's still there in the back of my mind. Especially these last few months..." She sighed.

“Em was premature because she was stubborn and wanted to meet her parents.” He smiled sadly, “You couldn’t have stopped that from happening. Em takes after you, she’s impatient.”

"I know, I know." She sighed, mentally shaking herself. "I just fear history repeating itself." She admitted.

“If we have another baby?”

She nodded. "We might not be as lucky this time."

“It’s understandable to be scared.” He reassured.

Duffy kissed the little girl's hair and snuggled the child closer in her arms.

“Do you want another baby? Despite all the fears?”

"You're asking me this now?" Duffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes.” Charlie tucked her hair behind her ear.

She took a deep breath. "I do. I'm just scared." She sighed. She mustered a small smile. "We can't really change our minds now anyway."

“Not when I’ve come in you, no.” He laughed gently.

"So vulgar!" She rolled her eyes.

“Wouldn’t have me any other way.” He laughed. They ended up falling asleep not long afterwards.

They were awoken a few hours later by the announcement that the plane was preparing to land. Duffy smiled as she noticed that whilst they'd been sleeping Charlie's hand had come to rest against her stomach.

He had a good feeling this time. He smiled shyly when he woke, realising the placement of his hand. “Sorry.”

"Don't apologise. We'll know in a week or two." She smiled shyly.

He smiled brightly, “Fingers crossed.”

"I'm feeling lucky this time." She smiled. She attempted to move Emily without waking her so that she was strapped in ready for the landing.

“Me too.” He smiled and helped strap Emily into her chair.

The next couple of hours passed in a blur as they landed and went through the various checks at the airport. Finally they arrived outside the house where they'd be staying whilst they were in Canada.

“Wow! This place is beautiful.” Charlie commented as he looked up at the house.

"I still can't believe we're here." Duffy replied.

“Doesn’t seem real, does it?”

"Not at all." She turned to look at the kids. "Right, everyone out!"

Everyone clambered out of the car.

They'd barely got the front door open before the kids were charging in to see which bedrooms they had. The boys were sharing one room whilst the girls were sharing another.

The girls giggled before they clambered all over their beds.

"So what's the plan now?" Duffy asked Charlie as they stood in the hallway surrounded by their cases.

“I didn’t get that far in thinking.” He admitted and laughed.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" She giggled. She bent down, opened their suitcase and pulled out a box of teabags. "Cuppa?"

“Cuppa.” He answered back.

She went through to the kitchen and fixed them both a drink. "When are we letting Louis know we're here?"

“Tomorrow? He probably already knows because I doubt Baz would’ve kept it a secret.”

Duffy made a rude noise of disgust. "You ask one thing of her..!" She rolled her eyes.

“I know.” He sighed.

"I was hoping she might have decided to put the past behind her by now."

“Me too.”

They walked through to the lounge and had just gotten comfortable when there was a loud bang from upstairs. Followed by a loud cry.

"Oh shit!" Duffy gasped as she put down her mug and made her way quickly to the stairs. Followed by Charlie. Lottie had fallen off the bed and was crying.

"What happened?" Duffy asked the other girls as she checked Lottie hadn't seriously hurt herself.

She hadn’t. She’d just landed on her bottom. “Lottie ell off bed.” Emily replied.

"Fell or did one of you push her?" She asked, eyeballing Tilly in particular.

Tilly frowned. “Not push her! She ell!”

"Matilda Fairhead the truth please!" Duffy warned.

Tilly stomped her foot. “Didn’t!” Lottie shook her head, “Tilly no ush. Ell off, backwards.”

"Lottie?"

“It ruth.” She replied quietly.

"Right, OK. I'm sorry Tilly. Are you OK now Lottie?"

Tilly nodded at the same time as Lottie.

"No jumping on the bed in future and then no-one will get hurt. OK?" She sighed as she got up and walked back to where Charlie stood in the doorway. "Not another girl this time ok?" She muttered with a grimace.

He smirked, “Why not?”

"I can give you three very good reasons..!"

“Go on.” He replied.

"They go by the names of Emily, Matilda and Charlotte."

He laughed gently. “Here’s hoping our final baby is a boy. A son.”

She turned to walk down the stairs, somewhat confident that the girls were behaving themselves again. "Its a cliche but vehicles do seem to equal boys." She chuckled.

He laughed gently. “Hmm, yeah.”

Reaching the lounge she stretched out on the sofa, letting out a sigh as she did.

He smiled as he watched her.

"We made here in one piece." She glanced towards the stairs. "Well, just about..!"

“Yep, just about.” He laughed again.

"Well here's to a q..." She paused and laughed. "Yeh, let's not tempt the fates with that word!"

“Please don’t.”

"Q... U..." She teased.

“Ssh.” He put his finger to her lip.

She licked his finger.

“If only you were licking something else.” He whispered.

She laughed before sucking his finger into her mouth.

“Duffy!” He groaned softly.

She drew back and smiled innocently. "What?"

“You know what.”

"I don't." She gasped, mock offended.

He smirked and gently moved to kiss her neck.

She let out a moan and pulled him down towards the sofa when suddenly the doorbell rang.

He nipped her neck and then groaned hearing the door. “I better go.” He pushed himself back up.

"Who knows we're even here?" She asked, confused.

He shrugged. He went to the door, opening it slightly. “Hello?”

"Daddy!" Louis yelled.

Charlie smiled brightly, “Louis!!” He picked his son up and hugged him tightly. “You’ve grown!”

"Mummy said you were here. Is everyone else here too?"

“Yes everyone's here too!”

Louis craned his head to try and see over his dad's shoulder to spot his siblings.

“They’re all upstairs.” Charlie kissed the top of Louis' head. “Do you want to go and play?”

"Yes!"

Charlie smiled and put Louis down on the floor. He laughed as he watched his son race up the stairs to join his siblings. He turned to Baz. “Hi.”

Hearing the commotion Duffy had come into the hallway.

"Hi." Baz replied shortly.

“Thank you for bringing him.”

"Well, I didn't really have a lot of choice seeing as how you all flew over here." She shrugged.

Duffy sighed. "Would it hurt you to be gracious?" She rolled her eyes.

“We came on a holiday. Is that so terrible for you, Baz?”

"Well, I had been planning to take him on holiday myself." Baz complained.

"We told you as soon as we knew we were coming here Baz." Duffy pointed out, a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

“Of course you were.” Charlie replied, “Well, he’s here now. Why don’t you go to work or something?”

“Shut up.” Baz said to Duffy.

"Can't hack it when it's not all about you?" Duffy goaded.

“I’m warning you!” Baz threatened.

"You honestly think I'm scared of a stuck up cow like you?" Duffy asked as she took a step closer.

"You're supposed to keep dogs on short leashes around here Charlie." Baz remarked sarcastically.

“I thought the only dog around here was you, but I was clearly mistaken.” Charlie answered back as his arm came to wrap around Duffy’s waist protectively.

Baz scowled. "I expect MY son home by 8pm." She insisted before storming back to her car.

“Fine!”

[northofsomewhererp]

Your Name, Age (17+), & Timezone: Meg, 23 (yikes), EST

Eleanor B. King turned 27 years old on March 7th. She a therapist and tarot reader in Greensville. Her face claim is Deborah Ann Woll.

Admin Note: I haven’t even finished Hannibal and I’m STILL upset about the cancellation! For Eleanor, all you need to do now is send in her account, and wait ‘til her follow’s up to start posting. And ... we love you too!

Bio:

Eleanor barely had time to take her first breath that her existence was almost instantly unwanted. Her father disappeared without a trace half an hour after holding her for the first time, and her own mother, Aimee, resented her ever since. The only person in her corner, for her entire life, has always been and will always be her older brother, Dexter. The bond they share is inexplicable, durable. Throughout their entire childhood, Dex was behind her, watching her back and protecting her. Whether it be from their own mother’s harsh words, or kids at school just being stupid, he never let Eleanor down. He was her shoulder to cry on, her rock. That was, at least, until the attack.

Nori was only 17 years old when Dexter finally decided to move away from Greensville. Although it took some getting used to, the mere thought of her protector being far away from her, King refused to be the reason her big brother wasn’t pursuing his dreams. She’d held him back long enough. But what she didn’t know was that the embrace they shared at the airport would be their last. The plane never even left the ground, hijacked by terrorists with excessive demands, as they usually do. Dexter, as heroic as ever, tried to stand up to them, and it cost him his life. He was 23 years old.

Eleanor’s life got entirely flipped upside down with the news of her brother’s passing. She found herself at the lowest she’d ever been, while only being at the beginning of her life. She felt lost, uncertain… Nothing made sense anymore without Dex by her side. Her mother got harsher, going as far as to blame his passing on her, saying she shouldn’t of encouraged him to leave. Needless to say, life at home was tense. And it was by dumb luck that Ellie stumbled upon a fortune teller’s store on her way home one day. Having nothing to lose anymore, she went in. But what awaited her behind these doors would change her entire life.

It was her spiritual awakening. Watching this mysterious woman shuffle cards and lay out her whole life in front of her very eyes, without any prior knowledge of her very own existence completely rocked Eleanor. She remained shocked for days on end, and was a believer since that very day. She began looking into tarot herself, even asking the fortune teller, Matilda, for some guidance. Which she gave, teaching her everything she knew. Ways to sharpen your intuition, how to manifest good things and how to use affirmations. Nori fell head first into this world. It was the first thing that felt right since Dexter had left. But all good things must come to an end.

When rumors started spreading that King was offering tarot readings to her classmates, surely it got back to Aimee’s ears, and she wasn’t too pleased. She wasn’t ever pleased with anything Nori accomplished, and so, gave her an ultimatum. Drop the “voodoo shit”, as she’d call it, or get the hell out of her house. Without a father or immediate family to turn to, Ellie obeyed and vowed to repress that side of her. She went on to become a therapist, a career she’d lusted after for a while now, but that had been sitting on the back burner ever since she discovered her passion for the mystique. But that always came second to her selfless nature, lending a hand to anyone that would ask.

Having earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and then her Master’s in Mental Health Counseling, Eleanor now strives toward getting her licence, to finally join a private practice and not have someone constantly peek over her shoulder. Even in her current work environment though, it’s known that she isn’t… traditional.

Activity (1-10): 6

Have you read the rules?: removed

In the event that you leave, can we keep your biography for future use? nori’s my baby! no touchie! Any comments/questions?: i love y’all and you are both sweethearts!

Sample( 2+ paragraphs):

“Alright Bradley”, she chirps, closing her notebook and offering her client the brightest of smiles, “your hour’s finished.” Eleanor stands up, dusts herself off a little before meeting the man halfway to rest a comforting hand on his shoulder. “I’m really proud of you, had a big breakthrough today, huh?” Bradley only nods, hints of sadness still linger on his features and it’s tearing her up inside.

“…I want you to come see me tomorrow, is that okay?” she’s already halfway in to grabbing her agenda off her desk when the lack of response rings in her ears. She searches for his gaze, but he absolutely won’t glance her way, ashamed.

“Bradley… You have my phone number, you know where my office is. Any time you need me? You call me. I’m here. I have other numbers I can provide you with, as well. You’re not alone… I know you hole up and think you are, but you’re not. Above anything, I’m here for you.”, she tries, but her client remains unresponsive.

“I know how tough it is to go digging around in all of this, but I don’t want you to do anything you’d regret. You’re making real progress here, we’re going somewhere… We can’t let up now, mhm?” Eleanor says soothingly. “I just… I don’t think this was a good idea. Dad said two sessions, that’s all I’d need. It’s been six now and I… I don’t want to.” Bradley’s eyes unwillingly fill themselves with unshed tears, and Eleanor’s heart breaks.

“I’m never going to force you to continue therapy, Bradley. You’re of legal age to make your own choices. So if you stayed this long, don’t you think it’s because… maybe some part of you, buried deep inside, is getting what it needs from our time together?” King bites her lip, very careful with her wording, as to not offend her already fragile patient.

All he offers in reply is a soft sob, one he’s so desperately trying to hold in. Eleanor tentatively reaches out for him, rubbing soft circles in the small of his back. “You’re gonna be okay, Bradley… Listen, I’m gonna put you up for tomorrow, same time. Just… give me a call if you can’t and we’ll try to reschedule, that alright?”

The boy finally calms down enough to nod, reaching to wipe his eyes. Dr King gracefully offers him a tissue, and that’s when a knock comes at the door.

“T- That must be my dad… Thank you, Dr. King… for everything. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He finally agrees, waving at her as he walks out the door.

The moment she’s alone, Eleanor lets out a soft sigh. The energy in this room was too heavy to bear, and with a 15 minutes to spare before her next appointment, she decides now’s as good a time as any to sage her space. She makes sure to write down a note concerning Bradley’s possible appointment as she approaches her desk, then puts her agenda on top of it. She scours through the drawers and pulls out the remainders of her previous sage, lights it and then begins to smudge the entire room.

A kind smile plays on Ellie’s lips as she waves the sage around, watching intently as smoke seeps out and swirls around the room. She immediately feels herself getting lighter, the dark energies fading away slowly but surely. When the room’s proper foggy and her sage runs out, she makes for the windows, cracking one open to bring in fresh air. One quick look at her watch reassures her that she still has 8 minutes before her next appointment and so, she paces to her desk once more. Her eyes flicker from her agenda to the tarot deck neatly sitting on the edge of her work space. Without hesitation, she grabs it, absentmindedly shuffling the cards and whispering.

“May I read these cards with the highest accuracy, the best of intentions, and for the greatest good of all.” Nori takes in a deep breath, only the soft sounds of cards filling the room now. “Please give me insight on a potential future for Bradley… if he goes through with therap-” she interrupts herself with a gasp, a card flying out of the deck on its own, face down.

She delicately picks it up, flips it around only to reveal:

“The Star.”

[quality-on-a-patch-of-awesome]

Who’s ready for some more headcanoning?

Now that I’m back home, here are some of the scenes I imagined up watching season 2 of Iron Fist. They’re behind a cut because of spoilers and because they got way more epic than I thought they would.

At some point, while they’re off on their adventures, Danny gets himself a bit beat up and Ward is cleaning him up (because the scene of that actually happening in the show was one of my absolute favourites), but Danny won’t shut up and sit still so Ward just kisses him. He doesn’t even realise that he’s done it at first because it just came so naturally to him. Then he notices that Danny has just frozen and it all hits him and he’s going to panic, but he doesn’t get the chance before Danny is kissing him. He worries that this is going to mess up the best thing in his entire life, though. He still worries, even when he and Danny are in bed together and only stops (a little, anyway) when Danny wakes up the next morning from where he fell asleep with his head on Ward’s chest (while Ward spent a few more hour panicking before eventually passing out from the stress) and then Danny looks at him like everything is right with the world.

They may or may not make it out of bed that day.

Alternatively, while Ward is patching up Danny, instead of kissing him, he’s just hit by the revelation that he’s stupid in love with Danny and probably has been for a while. He doesn’t take it too well (because this is Ward and feelings are notoriously hard for him) and shuts down.

Danny doesn’t take this well because he thought they were finally getting somewhere and how can that just go away? So he doesn’t stop bothering Ward about what’s going on until Ward has enough of the badgering and everything just spills out.

When Ward eventually stops talking (he has a lot to say and when he starts, he can’t stop), he stares at Danny, waiting for some kind of response, probably planning how quickly he can get out of there (he’s definitely expecting it to go badly).

“Thank god it’s not just me.” Danny steps in and presses his and Ward’s mouths together.

Ward will give Danny shit about that later, when he’s done finding out what every part of Danny tastes like.

Eventually, they have to go home.

The plane lands, but Ward doesn’t want to get off because how can everything be the same now? Things were good, while they were away, but things were so much less complicated when it was just them.

Danny calls Ward an idiot and proceeds to love him just as fiercely at home, in front of the whole world, as he did while they were away, when half the time it was just them.

Or, season 1 ended with Danny and Coleen going off on an adventure together and season 2 started with them living together. Maybe season 3 starts with Danny and Ward living together

No one knows what’s really going on. Maybe people think they’re already together. Maybe people think Ward invited Danny to stay with him, while he readjusted and found his own place, after his break up with Coleen. Maybe people think Danny is staying to keep an eye on Ward, in case he falls off the wagon again. They can’t be sure because Danny and Ward are the same around each other as they have been for months.

They don’t figure it out until Danny and Ward talk about going home and they leave holding hands or they talk about going to bed and disappear behind the same door.

Even then, people still aren’t convinced about what’s really going on.

Option 1 for Danny and Ward coming home.

They come back of their own accord and find everything has gone to shit while they were away.

They think about leaving again to escape it all, but Danny has a pathological need to fix things and they throw themselves into making everything better (Ward still can’t believe he’s doing that kind of good).

Option 2

Danny gets a call from Luke and/or Jess to get his dumbass back home as soon as possible because the world is about to end. Also, Matt’s not dead, but he won’t explain how or why until you get here, too, and we really want to find out what the fuck is happening.

They’re on the plane and in the air within an hour.

Danny isn’t mad that Matt is alive and has conveniently forgotten to mention it until now- he just pulls him into the biggest hug he can manage and asks so many questions that Matt barely has time to get a word in to explain.

Ward gets angry enough for both of them (and then some) because not only is he not a fan of people coming back from the dead (finding out that Matt was never technically dead is of little comfort), but he’s still pissed at Matt for how many times Danny went out into Hell’s Kitchen and nearly got himself killed trying to honour the promise he made to Matt.

They save the world and when they’re all exhausted and almost passed out afterwards is when all their feelings about what happened really come out (maybe before it was just Matt explaining what happened).

Option 3

Matt is the one who calls Danny to come home. (You have to imagine that this is a video call).

“But aren’t...” Danny frowns at the screen, like he’s not believing what he’s seeing. “How?”

“It’s a long story, Danny, and one I will gladly tell you as soon as you get home. We need you.”

“I...” Danny looks down. “I don’t know if I can. I have a lot of...”

“Were you not listening, asshole?” Frank’s face appears on the screen. He looks as if he’s ready for the fight (if he hasn’t already been in one). He does not have time for this shit. “Home. Now.”

Ward, who had been hanging around in the background, appears at Danny’s shoulder and glares at the screen.

“You’re supposed to be dead, too. I am done with people crawling out of the goddamn ground we put them in.” Ward had gone with Danny to Matt’s funeral and who hadn’t heard about Punisher? He didn’t think he would ever be ready to trust another person who came back from the dead, no matter the circumstances.

“Hey, asshole,” Frank scowled at Ward, “you don’t get a vote.”

“What the fuck...”

“Ward.” Danny puts a hand on Ward’s arm, which is enough to calm him down.

Ward glares at the screen one last time before wandering off into the corner of the room and pulling his phone out to start making arrangements for flying home (if there was a problem, Danny wouldn’t take much convincing before he was jumping at the chance to make it right).

“Danny, I know this is a lot to ask- I know you have your answers to get out there, but I need you to come home, Danny. It’s.... It’s Luke.”

“Is he okay?”

“No! He’s batshit insane.” The rest of Frank’s rant is cut off when Matt mutters something to him before he wanders out of frame.

“Danny, Luke is lost and I can’t bring him home by myself.”

“You’re not by yourself.”

“Frank is... Yeah, he’s a help and he might make choices that none of us could, but he doesn’t know Luke like we do.”

“Then call Jess.”

“She won’t get involved and she won’t tell me why. Danny, please. I need you.”

-

It all goes to shit, of course, and whatever Luke has been doing ends with them kidnapped or trapped or something. Ward might not be there with them, but it’s important that Frank is because Matt is bleeding, pretty heavily, and Frank has got to be there to cradle Matt and beg him not to die for real this time.

Danny thinks that this is it. There’s no way out. Matt is barely hanging on to consciousness and Frank is busy trying to keep him alive (he’s also probably injured). He’s the only fighter they have left and he’s only just hanging on. He squares his shoulder when the door crashes open again and almost throws a punch before he realises that it’s Jess standing in the doorway.

“Don’t just stand there.” Jess steps back and waves through the open door. “Get Murdock to the hospital before he bleeds out- Danny and I have got business to take care of.”

-

Whatever Danny and Jess do, stops whatever Luke is up to (I don’t know any of the details, it’s just important that it works) and they all wind up at the hospital, waiting for news on Matt (Frank won’t leave his side, even when Foggy and Karen show up).

Luke turns up, looking and sounding more like himself than he has in months, but no one is happy to see him.

Danny almost throws a punch.

Jess actually does.

Luke is sorry for it ending up like this because it was never what he wanted, but he can’t take it back now. He’s especially sorry that he made Jess choose Danny and Matt over him.

“It wasn’t a choice, Luke- you lost your damn mind. I don’t care who or what you are to me, if you do that again, I will not hesitate to put you down.”

-

The world nearly ends again.

Luke thinks sacrificing himself is the way to make it up to his friends.

Danny calls him an idiot, when he shows up, Matt and Jess trailing just behind him.

Luke doesn’t have words.

“You’re sorry.” Matt shrugs. “That’s enough for me. Not so much for Frank, though, so you should probably stay out of his way- I think he might actually kill you.”

“Not if Ward gets there first.” Danny grins and claps a hand on Luke’s shoulder before running ahead of the group. “Come on, guys- we’ve got a world to save.”

Luke looks at Jess, who stares back for a second before looking away.

“Can’t let you die- I’m not raising this kid alone.”

Danny is the only one surprised by that (Matt has been hearing the baby’s heartbeat for weeks).

-

They save the world. Everything is not fine, but they work on it. Danielle Cage’s middle name is now Matilda for her Uncle Matty. I just really wanted to have baby Dani in there, for some reason.

Frank hears Matt in the confessional and, as soon as Matt steps out the door, he has a whole lot of reasons of why Matt Murdock needs to be alive way more than Daredevil. He yells them all at Matt.

Matt doesn’t imagine that this will end with them falling into bed together, but he’s not exactly disappointed when it goes that way (he’d be lying if he said he’s never thought about that before).

Or Frank mutters his reasons for wanting Matt alive between kisses.

Or, my personal favourite reunion scenario, is that Frank and Matt have known that the other wasn’t dead the whole time. They’ve been keeping in touch- letters, e-mails, texts, notes around the city or whatever else- but when Matt steps back out of that confessional door and Frank is sat in the first pew, it’s the first time they’ve seen each other in whatever exact number of days they’ve both got memorised. There’s probably yelling (I always imagine there’s yelling at a reunion between Punisher and Daredevil) and clinging and the realisation that, somewhere along the way, they accidentally fell in love.

Maybe that’s how Matt finds out what’s going on with Luke- Frank has seen Luke go downhill and if this isn’t going to destroy the city, he should probably reach out to the people who might be able to talk some damn sense into Luke Cage. Also, he finally got too desperate to see Matt again.

[regnumrp]

WELCOME TO THE KINGDOM, SHELBY! YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO SEND IN YOUR BLOG. WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU!

OOC INFORMATION

Name/Age/Pronouns/Timezone:

Shelby/22/She/Her/EST

Activity

6? I try to be active and usually I can make a couple posts a day but I’m a full-time student and I start my program in August. I also run a Tumblr blog and Discord servers. The only time I should be completely absent is a week or two before finals typically and I always give warnings when I foresee myself being slow or absent.

IC INFORMATION

Introducing [Nezetta], the [28] year old [Governess.]. She is a [human] and bears a striking resemblance to [Matilda Lutz].

Biography:

Nezetta did not grow up associating with royalty. She was instead born the third of eight children to a farmer and his wife on the outskirts of a small town. Growing up, she often helped with the younger siblings and found she had a natural talent for entertaining and consoling them. When she was five, however, she lost an older brother in an accident on the farm and two years later, she lost her youngest sister at the time to an illness. Not but five years later, when she was twelve, her father died of a mysterious illness himself.

In the wake of her father’s death, Nezetta’s only surviving older brother took over the farm with the help of her and her siblings. She continued to work on the farm for the next four years but when she was sixteen, her brother decided he had enough of the back-breaking work of tending the fields. He wanted to be more and he gave them an ultimatum: follow him to the city where he would attempt to find work in the castle or stay on the farm. Her mother chose to stay. It was all she had known, but Nezetta knew they could not man the farm themselves. If she could get better work, perhaps she could send money home to help her mother feed the younger children until they were old enough to work or marry. Besides, her younger sister was old enough to takeover her role of caretaker, and so she and her brother set off for he city.

Her brother was unsuccessful in the work he found there though and prone to sneaking a few extra coins into his pockets when he could. His mild thievery still earned him imprisonment, and so Nezetta was definitely on her own. Still struggling to find suitable work for herself, she soon found herself near starving and desperate enough to perhaps steal for herself. That was when she met the Lover. He offered assistance and after speaking to her, set her up with a job in court as a governess.

Her life took a significant turn for the better as she settled into her new life at court. She met her best friends, The Dancer and The Mistress, and later married The Warrior after meeting him there too. The year after their marriage she discovered she was pregnant but it wasn’t to be. The baby was a stillbirth though they did learn it had been a boy. They named him Matteo and buried him, but after that, their marriage was never the same. A few years later, and she discovered her husband and The Mistress in bed together. The resulting falling out with both of them broke her heart but she is still too wounded by it to fully forgive. Still, she tries to justify her husband’s actions in an attempt to lessen her pain. Perhaps if she had delivered their son safely, perhaps if she had been able to provide another after, perhaps The Mistress is the real one at fault…but her husband seems as uninterested in her now and she is hurt by his betrayal and the narrative had not yet been able to recover.

Relationships:

I would like to know whose children she’s caring for and some information about that as it may come up in a scene or conversation but other than that and the relationships already specified, I’m okay with letting the other relationships develop on their own.

In Character Questions

What are your thoughts on being brought to the castle?

“It was a surprise,” Nezetta answered humbly, a soft smile gracing her lips. Her hands fiddled nervously with the ribbon adorning her sleeves. She wasn’t particularly used to being put on the spot like this and she most certainly wasn’t expecting an interview. “I wasn’t expecting to be brought along, but I am grateful to King Zosea and my mistress for the opportunity.”

Are you interested in winning the crown? Why or why not?

Was she interested in winning the crown? It was an odd question. She was but a governess, after all; a servant. Nezetta hadn’t expected anyone to look twice at her, nevermind concider her for such an important position.

“I wouldn’t say I was interested,” came her answer after a moment of thought. “I never concidered myself in the running anyways, no royal blood and all. Though, I wouldn’t mind someone I’m close to winning. I have a few suggestions - little ideas, nothing important - but I would like a chance to suggest them nonetheless.”

Do you think the magical beings should stay hidden or join the humans in the open?

This time it was not a smile she gave, but a subtle frown. A silent part of her felt a certain sadness at the thought that this was even a question. Why should they hide themselves? They were all more alike than they wanted to believe.

“If I may speak my mind freely, I don’t think they should ever have felt the need to hide in the first place. Fairies, mermaids, humans…we’re all alike in more ways than some want to believe. We all have the same emotions, the same ambitions. If you ask me, we’re all just…people, despite our differences.”

“That said,” she continued on, “I hope it’s safe for them…when they do choose to reveal themselves. I don’t want to see anyone hurt for something so pointless.”

Writing Sample (Optional)

This is just a recent RP post I grabbed off my public RP blog. I hope it works but if you need/want something else, just let me know!

Sympathy instantly crossed Roxane’s features, her hand reaching to take her hair behind her ear. Little strands of silver had woven its way through her dark locks over these last years. Her other hand moved to rest on Logan’s arm.

She understood Logan’s worry all too well. It could be so easy to feel like you weren’t good enough, that you weren’t giving your child everything they deserved. Hell, Roxane had lost one since this all started and she still blamed herself for it every single day! Even before that, though, there was always the question of whether she was doing right by her babies, even in this horrible, messed up situation.

“Logan,” she said, her voice coming with tones both soft and stern. It was meant to comfort, but it was also meant to make Logan pay attention, to make her understand. “You are doing an absolutely wonderful job with your daughter. She’s here, healthy and as happy as anyone can be right now. Best of all, you love her and protect her and she knows that. Maybe you can’t give her everything right now but that’s okay. You’re doing your best and that is all that matters.”

Anything Else?

Fun fact: I started dancing at almost 19! My two best friends have done ballet since they were kids and I always wanted to do it but never could so when I was old enough to afford it, I found a studio willing to accept adults and signed up for ballet classes. Now all three of us get to dance together!

[cover2covermom]

Hello bookworms!

Today I thought I would share a batch of mini book reviews of the audiobooks I’ve been reading with my children over the past few months.  Listening to audiobooks together with my children has been a delight!  BUT more on that in a later post 🙂

*Books included in this batch of mini book reviews: Frog and Toad (Frog and Toad #1 – 4) by Arnold Lobel, Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh #1) by A.A. Milne, Matilda by Roald Dahl, My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, and Amelia Bedelia (Audio Collection) by Peggy Parish

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» Frog and Toad (Frog and Toad #1 – 4) by Arnold Lobel

Recommend to: younger children aged 4-7 years old; fans of animal stories

Themes: friendship

This collection of Frog and Toad stories was the perfect little book to dip our toes into listening to audiobooks together as a family.  Since my youngest is 5, I wanted to start with an audiobook that was short & very easy to follow.   I wanted to gauge how well she was able to listen to an audiobook & follow along with the story.

This book is the perfect audiobook to listen to with younger children!  If you are thinking about crossing the bridge from picture books to short chapter books with your child, this is a great place to start.  I had my doubts about my 5 year-old’s ability to listen to an audiobook, but she kept up just fine.  I made sure to stop frequently to check her comprehension.

Frog and Toad is a feel-good book that the whole family can enjoy.  The stories are simple enough for younger children to understand, but still entertaining for every age.  We really enjoyed the dry humor of Frog and Toad, and found ourselves laughing at Frog & Toads antics.  It was a delight to read and amused us all, even the 12-year-old.

» Winnie-the-Pooh (Winnie-the-Pooh #1) by A.A. Milne

Recommended to: children aged 7-9 years old; fans of classic children stories

Themes: friendship & silliness

This one was not as big of a hit as our first read together book.   I think this has to do with it being published in the 1920s & the writing style.  The dialogue could be very long-winded at times, which caused both my kids to lose interest.

This book was a bit more challenging for my 5-year-old to follow because of the narrative structure.   The portions with Pooh & friends in the Hundred Acre Wood that are of told in 3rd person were easier for her to understand, but the portions where the narrator is telling the story to Christopher Robin were confusing for her.

Let’s talk about the audiobook format.  I really think audiobook, or at least the version we listened to narrated by Peter Dennis, is NOT the way to go with this book.  For one, the music in between chapters was WAY too long.  I’m all for a little music to break up chapters & enhance the story, but it did not work here.   I also found Dennis’ narration a a bit overdone at times.  The way Dennis snorts after every word Piglet says was WAY too much.  We found it very disruptive to the story, and frankly it was annoying.  I’m wondering if I would have acquired the physical copy with illustrations and read the book aloud myself if we would have enjoyed this book more.

Since I fondly remember watching the Disney adaptation as a kid, I can say that it was very true to the story.  Aside from the story where Rabbit comes up with the idea to kidnap Rue (I can see why that one didn’t make the adaptation lol) I recognized most of the stories.

Overall, this was a nostalgic read for me, but not a big hit with my kids.

» Matilda by Roald Dahl

Recommended to: children aged 7 – 11 years old; book lovers; underdog story lovers

Themes: justice, importance of education, loyalty, cleverness, and unconventional family

This was my first time reading Matilda, and I was so glad I got to experience it with my kids.  I was familiar with the story since I’ve seen the wonderful film adaptation that came out in the 90s, so there was definitely some nostalgia feels.  We listened to the audiobook, which is narrated by Kate Winslet, and we highly recommend it!  Kate does a wonderful narration, which wasn’t surprising at all.

I feel like one of the best parts about Matilda, is that at its core it is an “underdog story.”   From the very beginning, Matilda is basically on her own since her parents are not interested in caring for her.  Matilda learns to care for herself and even teaches herself to read.  Once she starts school, she must go up against her principal, the formidable Ms. Trunchbull.  Since Matilda is just a small child, she must use her intelligence to out-wit Ms. Trunchbull.

How could I write a review for Matilda and not mention Miss Honey?  Miss Honey is such a lovely character.  She is basically the perfect elementary school teacher:  she’s kindhearted, warm, and cares deeply about her students.  Miss Honey is the first adult that takes notice of Matilda and her special abilities.  The friendship that develops between Matilda and Miss Honey is charming.

Matilda is what I like to call a “bookworm’s delight.”  Matilda discovers a magical place: the library.  She sets off devouring one book after another until she’s made her way through all the children’s book and moves on to adult books.  I adored Matilda’s thirst for books & knowledge.   Books become Matilda’s escape from her dreadful family life.  Dahl perfectly captures the essence of what it means to love books.

The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.

Matilda is one of those books where child and adult readers of this book will have very different take-aways.  My kids thought it was awesome that Matilda was so independent & even able to walk to the library alone as a 5-year-old child.  They also liked the idea of Matilda getting even with the adults in her life that had done her wrong – her father & Ms. Trunchbull.  As an adult, my heart broke for Matilda and the neglect she suffers from her parents and principal.

The ending to this book is heartwarming and will give you all the feels.

Matlida was a bit over my 5-year-old’s listening level.  I think one thing that hindered her in particular was the fact that Roald Dahl was a British author, thus she was unfamiliar with the slang.  To offset this, I paused the audiobook often to help go over what was happening in the story.  After we finished listening to the book, I rented the film adaptation from the library and we enjoyed watching the movie together as well 🙂

» My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett

Recommended to: younger children aged 4-7 years old; fans of animal stories; fans of the picture book The Gruffalo

Themes: courage, cleverness, and adventure

This book was listed in The Read-Aloud Handbook as a good book to read-aloud with younger children, so I gave it a go via audiobook with my 5-year-old.

If you have a 5 or 6-year-old that is ready to cross over from picture books to short/simple chapter books, this is an excellent book to start with.  Like I mentioned, we read this via audiobook, however after reading some of the reviews, print form may be the way to go with this one as many of the reviews mentioned the lovely illustrations.

My Father’s Dragon is the story of a boy named Elmer who travels to Wild Island to save a baby dragon that has been enslaved by the animals that inhibit the island.  In order to save the baby dragon, Elmer must go up against the animals that are keeping the dragon captive.  With each animal that Elmer encounters, he must use his quick wit, and a little ingenuity, to distract the animals in order to continue on with his quest.

If your children enjoy picture books like The Gruffalo, where the main character gets themselves out of trouble by using their cleverness to trick others, then they will really enjoy this book.  My daughter highly enjoyed this one, even without the illustrations, and asked to read the other books in the series.

» Amelia Bedelia (Audio Collection) by Peggy Parish

Recommended to: children aged 6 – 9 years old; fans of off-the-wall characters like Anne from Anne of Green Gables or Pippi from Pippi Longstocking

Themes:  language/communication, forgiveness, and humor

I listened to this audiobook collection with my 5-year-old daughter.  We really enjoyed listening to this collection of stories about Amelia Bedelia.

Amelia Bedelia is the story of a young girl that starts working as a maid for Mr. & Mrs. Rogers.  Amelia takes speech very literally, which causes all kinds of problems for the Rogers, for example when Mrs. Rogers asks Amelia to “run an iron over the tablecloth” Amelia takes the iron and walks all over the tablecloth.  They quickly get over any of Amelia’s blunders however because as it turns out, she is an excellent baker.

Amelia is such an endearing character that you can’t help but love.  Actually, Amelia reminded me a bit of Anne from Anne of Green Gables. mashed up with Pippi from Pippi Longstocking.

Since these stories were first published in the 60’s and 70’s, the language was a bit dated, which made it a bit more challenging for my daughter to totally understand all of Amelia’s misunderstandings, but it was a great opportunity to talk to her about words & phrases with multiple meanings.

  Have you read any of these books?  If so, what did you think?

Comment below & let me know 🙂

      Mini Book Reviews: Audiobooks I Read With My Kids (April - June 2019) #BookReview #ChildrensBooks #Reading #Books #BookBlog #BookBlogger Hello bookworms! Today I thought I would share a batch of mini book reviews of the audiobooks I've been reading with my children over the past few months. 

[milliebobbybrownfan]

New Post has been published on Millie Bobby Brown Fan #MillieBobbyBrown #StrangerThings

New Post has been published on http://millie-bobby-brown.com/824-2/

Press/Photos: Millie for W Magazine

Nearly two years ago, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts tea in Los Angeles, Millie Bobby Brown, who was then only 12, was the sensation of the party. Stranger Things, a clever, supernatural homage to 1980s pop culture, had just become a hit, and her character, Eleven, an otherworldly, possibly alien, androgynous girl with telekinetic abilities and a diabolical stare, was the breakout star of the show. Unlike the misfit Eleven, Brown, who was born in Marbella, Spain, and grew up in Dorset, ­England, is bubbly, charming, and has a gift for socializing. On the day of the BAFTA event (and at most other ceremonies during the hectic awards season), she was leading her teenage male costars in a kind of nonstop Millie Bobby Brown parade. The four boys, who were dressed in formal clothing that they constantly seemed to be squirming out of, were content to joke among themselves or hover around the buffet, but Brown had other plans. Again and again, suddenly and swiftly, she would round them up and march her posse over to, say, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, or Justin ­Timberlake. Cheerfully, forcefully, Brown, who was wearing an age-appropriate party dress and strappy sandals, would extend her hand and say, “Hi! I’m Millie Bobby Brown. So glad to meet you!”

She was on a quest to meet her biggest crush, Leonardo DiCaprio, but he wasn’t there that day. Luckily, nearly every celebrity she did meet was a huge fan of Stranger Things and, especially, Eleven. But even if they had no idea who she was, Brown was unfazed: The future was, simply, hers for the taking.

According to her father, Robert Brown, Millie, who is the second youngest of four children (three girls and one boy), popped out of the womb in a confident state. “She’s always been a personality,” he told me during the shoot for this story. Brown, who is now 14, started auditioning for commercials, movies, and musicals like Matilda and Annie when she was 8. Her first job was a commercial for Publix, the supermarket chain. In the audition, she had to hold up some cupcakes and say, “Mom, can I have these?” Afterward, the casting director remarked to her father, “Your daughter is something quite unique.”

“When I got that first job, I knew right away that I was born to do this,” Brown recalled. She is now taller than when Stranger Things debuted, but she still looks the same: curious, hyper-alert, and appealingly wide-eyed. She was wearing fitted jeans and a pink sweater, but was barefoot. “Where are my sneakers?” she asked no one in particular. The entire Brown family has left England and resettled in Atlanta, where Stranger Things is filmed. Brown had just started shooting the third season, after Netflix signed her to a deal for a reported $3 million.

Like every teenager, Brown is umbilically linked to her phone. She has almost 17 million Instagram followers, who closely monitor her every post. When she met Drake in Australia last November, where both of them were on tour (she was promoting the series; he was performing), the musician draped an arm around her shoulder for a picture that went viral. “He invited me to his concert,” Brown explained matter-of-factly. “And now we talk all the time. I ask his advice.” Perhaps he has advised her to use her celebrity to draw attention to certain issues. When she won favorite TV actress at the Kids’ Choice Awards in March, Brown wore a denim shirt with the names of the victims of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting embroidered on the back. “I take my responsibilities seriously,” Brown told me. “I recognize that I have a voice, and I want to use it wisely.”

In 2015, when she auditioned for Stranger Things, Brown had no idea that it would become her launching pad. “I didn’t know anything about it,” she explained. “Every part of the show was top secret. I Skyped with the directors [brothers Matt and Ross Duffer], and we spoke about ’80s movies—E.T., Stand by Me, and Poltergeist. I flew to L.A. for a screen test, and the next day I got the job! I was 11. We did the show, and I went back home to England. I thought, Okay, it’s a little show. What’s next? And then we came to America for the premiere. Three days later, my whole life changed. People went crazy! My followers went up to 1 million in one day. Magazines wanted me. One of my goals was to be on the cover of W, and you see? Dreams do come true.”

After the first season of Stranger Things, Brown signed a contract with Calvin Klein and was nominated for an Emmy and a SAG award, while the show won a nod for a Golden Globe. (Last week she was nominated for a second Emmy.) Time magazine chose her for its Time 100, making her the youngest recipient to garner that honor. “I don’t think I’ve changed,” she said. “I’m not thinking, Oh, I know everything now. I still get nervous. I still get anxious.” That response surprised me: Brown has always seemed so confident. Was this sudden self-doubt part of becoming a teenager? “Maybe,” she allowed. “But I still love parties! Although, even back then at the BAFTA tea, when I met ­Justin ­Timberlake, I swear I could have fainted.” She smiled. “Ask me some questions,” she said, deftly changing the subject.

Lynn Hirschberg: Who is your girl crush? Millie Bobby Brown: Paris Jackson. She’s got great style. She’s like a sister to me. And she plays the piano!

Hirschberg: What was the first album you bought with your own money? Brown: Amy Winehouse. I was 6. I knew every single word to “Valerie.” My dad wouldn’t let me hear “Rehab”! There were definitely rules. Amy Winehouse was my go-to, but back then I sang “We Found Love,” by Rihanna, in the mornings. It got me going when I had to go to school.

Hirschberg: What’s your favorite Halloween costume? Brown: I’ve never been very good at Halloween. I play characters all the time, so what’s the point of dressing up as another character? The last couple of Halloweens, I saw a lot of people dressed as Eleven. Sometimes it’s comforting. But it’s also very interesting to see a 40-year-old man wearing the look of my 12-year-old character.

Hirschberg: As a child, what was your favorite toy? Brown: A microphone that had High School Musical on it. I could sing with Zac Efron! I watched High School Musical every single day. When I met Zac Efron, I could barely speak.

Hirschberg: What is the first e-mail you remember sending? Brown: I always wanted to be on Ellen, and that was the first e-mail I sent: to Ellen DeGeneres. I explained my life story and how I needed to be on her show. I never got a response. Five years later, I was on Ellen! She found that e-mail and showed it to the audience. Very embarrassing. I had made lots of grammatical mistakes.

Hirschberg: In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, your first film, which will be out next spring, you play a girl named Madison. Was it hard to act opposite a monster that wasn’t there? Brown: Godzilla was a tennis ball! I was always looking up. My neck hurt a lot, and I had to get dry needling. They stuck a really big, but thin, needle in my neck. Your muscle then spasms, and, eventually, you’re fine. After the dry needling, I had a great rapport with the tennis ball.

Hirschberg: Now that you live here, what do you like best about America? Brown: I love red Jolly Rancher candy. Cherry. They’re very sour. I’m not allowed to eat them anymore, because they color my tongue. Eleven is odd enough without having a red tongue.

As she stuck out her tongue to show its clean non-redness, Brown had to stop talking: It was time for hair and makeup. Without knowing her affinity for Amy Winehouse, the stylist decided that Brown’s hair should be teased into a version of the messy, high bouffant that was the singer’s trademark. Brown was thrilled. Her father, who was sitting nearby with her older brother watching Liverpool, their soccer club, defeat Roma, was smiling at his daughter’s reflection in the mirror. “You know,” he said, “Millie is all confidence and swagger in the world, but at night, at home, she can turn into a little, shy girl. It’s a side of her that only her family sees.”

As the makeup artist added a cat-eye tilt to her round eyes, Brown stared at the transformation in the mirror. I asked her if she ever felt like a typical restless teenager—did she ever want to go crazy, be rebellious, run away? “I can be rebellious,” Brown replied, carefully choosing her words. “But not so much. I’ve never been grounded by my parents. I’m a very good girl.” She paused. “But I do believe in making noise, in being loud.”

To play Eleven, Brown had to cut off her long hair and shave her head, which is something that would be traumatic for any 11-year-old. Her baldness instantly set her apart from, well, everybody. “The shaved head was a big deal,” Brown admitted. “On the one hand, it was cool. When you’re bald, rain feels like a head massage. I’d walk in the rain, and people would look at me like I was crazy. I’d be smiling—so, so happy to have the water hit my naked head. But on the other hand, people stared at me, wondering whether I was sick. Some would even laugh at me, without knowing whether I was or wasn’t sick. It was hurtful, but their attitude taught me something about compassion. In the end, being bald was the best thing I ever did—being different changed my life. I wanted to embrace my baldness and, hopefully, inspire people. And, now, that’s become my message to the world.” – Source

2018: W Magazine

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Press/Photos: Millie for W Magazine

Nearly two years ago, at the British Academy of Film and Television Arts tea in Los Angeles, Millie Bobby Brown, who was then only 12, was the sensation of the party. Stranger Things, a clever, supernatural homage to 1980s pop culture, had just become a hit, and her character, Eleven, an otherworldly, possibly alien, androgynous girl with telekinetic abilities and a diabolical stare, was the breakout star of the show. Unlike the misfit Eleven, Brown, who was born in Marbella, Spain, and grew up in Dorset, ­England, is bubbly, charming, and has a gift for socializing. On the day of the BAFTA event (and at most other ceremonies during the hectic awards season), she was leading her teenage male costars in a kind of nonstop Millie Bobby Brown parade. The four boys, who were dressed in formal clothing that they constantly seemed to be squirming out of, were content to joke among themselves or hover around the buffet, but Brown had other plans. Again and again, suddenly and swiftly, she would round them up and march her posse over to, say, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, or Justin ­Timberlake. Cheerfully, forcefully, Brown, who was wearing an age-appropriate party dress and strappy sandals, would extend her hand and say, “Hi! I’m Millie Bobby Brown. So glad to meet you!”

She was on a quest to meet her biggest crush, Leonardo DiCaprio, but he wasn’t there that day. Luckily, nearly every celebrity she did meet was a huge fan of Stranger Things and, especially, Eleven. But even if they had no idea who she was, Brown was unfazed: The future was, simply, hers for the taking.

According to her father, Robert Brown, Millie, who is the second youngest of four children (three girls and one boy), popped out of the womb in a confident state. “She’s always been a personality,” he told me during the shoot for this story. Brown, who is now 14, started auditioning for commercials, movies, and musicals like Matilda and Annie when she was 8. Her first job was a commercial for Publix, the supermarket chain. In the audition, she had to hold up some cupcakes and say, “Mom, can I have these?” Afterward, the casting director remarked to her father, “Your daughter is something quite unique.”

“When I got that first job, I knew right away that I was born to do this,” Brown recalled. She is now taller than when Stranger Things debuted, but she still looks the same: curious, hyper-alert, and appealingly wide-eyed. She was wearing fitted jeans and a pink sweater, but was barefoot. “Where are my sneakers?” she asked no one in particular. The entire Brown family has left England and resettled in Atlanta, where Stranger Things is filmed. Brown had just started shooting the third season, after Netflix signed her to a deal for a reported $3 million.

Like every teenager, Brown is umbilically linked to her phone. She has almost 17 million Instagram followers, who closely monitor her every post. When she met Drake in Australia last November, where both of them were on tour (she was promoting the series; he was performing), the musician draped an arm around her shoulder for a picture that went viral. “He invited me to his concert,” Brown explained matter-of-factly. “And now we talk all the time. I ask his advice.” Perhaps he has advised her to use her celebrity to draw attention to certain issues. When she won favorite TV actress at the Kids’ Choice Awards in March, Brown wore a denim shirt with the names of the victims of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting embroidered on the back. “I take my responsibilities seriously,” Brown told me. “I recognize that I have a voice, and I want to use it wisely.”

In 2015, when she auditioned for Stranger Things, Brown had no idea that it would become her launching pad. “I didn’t know anything about it,” she explained. “Every part of the show was top secret. I Skyped with the directors [brothers Matt and Ross Duffer], and we spoke about ’80s movies—E.T., Stand by Me, and Poltergeist. I flew to L.A. for a screen test, and the next day I got the job! I was 11. We did the show, and I went back home to England. I thought, Okay, it’s a little show. What’s next? And then we came to America for the premiere. Three days later, my whole life changed. People went crazy! My followers went up to 1 million in one day. Magazines wanted me. One of my goals was to be on the cover of W, and you see? Dreams do come true.”

After the first season of Stranger Things, Brown signed a contract with Calvin Klein and was nominated for an Emmy and a SAG award, while the show won a nod for a Golden Globe. (Last week she was nominated for a second Emmy.) Time magazine chose her for its Time 100, making her the youngest recipient to garner that honor. “I don’t think I’ve changed,” she said. “I’m not thinking, Oh, I know everything now. I still get nervous. I still get anxious.” That response surprised me: Brown has always seemed so confident. Was this sudden self-doubt part of becoming a teenager? “Maybe,” she allowed. “But I still love parties! Although, even back then at the BAFTA tea, when I met ­Justin ­Timberlake, I swear I could have fainted.” She smiled. “Ask me some questions,” she said, deftly changing the subject.

Lynn Hirschberg: Who is your girl crush? Millie Bobby Brown: Paris Jackson. She’s got great style. She’s like a sister to me. And she plays the piano!

Hirschberg: What was the first album you bought with your own money? Brown: Amy Winehouse. I was 6. I knew every single word to “Valerie.” My dad wouldn’t let me hear “Rehab”! There were definitely rules. Amy Winehouse was my go-to, but back then I sang “We Found Love,” by Rihanna, in the mornings. It got me going when I had to go to school.

Hirschberg: What’s your favorite Halloween costume? Brown: I’ve never been very good at Halloween. I play characters all the time, so what’s the point of dressing up as another character? The last couple of Halloweens, I saw a lot of people dressed as Eleven. Sometimes it’s comforting. But it’s also very interesting to see a 40-year-old man wearing the look of my 12-year-old character.

Hirschberg: As a child, what was your favorite toy? Brown: A microphone that had High School Musical on it. I could sing with Zac Efron! I watched High School Musical every single day. When I met Zac Efron, I could barely speak.

Hirschberg: What is the first e-mail you remember sending? Brown: I always wanted to be on Ellen, and that was the first e-mail I sent: to Ellen DeGeneres. I explained my life story and how I needed to be on her show. I never got a response. Five years later, I was on Ellen! She found that e-mail and showed it to the audience. Very embarrassing. I had made lots of grammatical mistakes.

Hirschberg: In Godzilla: King of the Monsters, your first film, which will be out next spring, you play a girl named Madison. Was it hard to act opposite a monster that wasn’t there? Brown: Godzilla was a tennis ball! I was always looking up. My neck hurt a lot, and I had to get dry needling. They stuck a really big, but thin, needle in my neck. Your muscle then spasms, and, eventually, you’re fine. After the dry needling, I had a great rapport with the tennis ball.

Hirschberg: Now that you live here, what do you like best about America? Brown: I love red Jolly Rancher candy. Cherry. They’re very sour. I’m not allowed to eat them anymore, because they color my tongue. Eleven is odd enough without having a red tongue.

As she stuck out her tongue to show its clean non-redness, Brown had to stop talking: It was time for hair and makeup. Without knowing her affinity for Amy Winehouse, the stylist decided that Brown’s hair should be teased into a version of the messy, high bouffant that was the singer’s trademark. Brown was thrilled. Her father, who was sitting nearby with her older brother watching Liverpool, their soccer club, defeat Roma, was smiling at his daughter’s reflection in the mirror. “You know,” he said, “Millie is all confidence and swagger in the world, but at night, at home, she can turn into a little, shy girl. It’s a side of her that only her family sees.”

As the makeup artist added a cat-eye tilt to her round eyes, Brown stared at the transformation in the mirror. I asked her if she ever felt like a typical restless teenager—did she ever want to go crazy, be rebellious, run away? “I can be rebellious,” Brown replied, carefully choosing her words. “But not so much. I’ve never been grounded by my parents. I’m a very good girl.” She paused. “But I do believe in making noise, in being loud.”

To play Eleven, Brown had to cut off her long hair and shave her head, which is something that would be traumatic for any 11-year-old. Her baldness instantly set her apart from, well, everybody. “The shaved head was a big deal,” Brown admitted. “On the one hand, it was cool. When you’re bald, rain feels like a head massage. I’d walk in the rain, and people would look at me like I was crazy. I’d be smiling—so, so happy to have the water hit my naked head. But on the other hand, people stared at me, wondering whether I was sick. Some would even laugh at me, without knowing whether I was or wasn’t sick. It was hurtful, but their attitude taught me something about compassion. In the end, being bald was the best thing I ever did—being different changed my life. I wanted to embrace my baldness and, hopefully, inspire people. And, now, that’s become my message to the world.” – Source

2018: W Magazine