#pov you live in aragon

[interiorlulus]

Yesterday it felt like the world was an oven slow cooking me and today I'm low-key shivering from the chill in the breeze. WHAT is going ON!!!

[fideidefenswhore]

this is a book (the top review files it as a #wall-banger, appropriate, although i could not do this because i read it on my kindle through a loophole that didn’t return the library rental when it was due and had been meaning to finish it forever, and damned if i wasn’t going to finish my summit fever of this book of enthrallingly trashy mediocrity) about the poles, the ‘white rose’, so it’s weird that the exeter conspiracy and her own imprisonment is the most phoned-in part, the most static. even though it was fiction i thought it might give me some insights into that but it really...didn’t. so, i’ve been reading this other pop history book about the same (at least it’s not w/e/i/r but also i wish there was an academic one?) because it seems like the only one out there, apparently there’s an upcoming one but the release date is 2024.

what else, hm, it’s very...elastic, this ‘curse’. all the male heirs of the tudor line die, etc, well 1st...everyone dies, so. it makes this curse very hard to deny. henry viii has somehow escaped it because he’s not the heir, arthur was, so it hits him. does james v, who died around the age of thirty, count? does james vi/i? moreover, does henry brandon (he’s not mentioned in this book, one assumes because she likes his mother, and divides this world into good-- katharine of aragon’s friends and admirers-- and evil-- those that don’t deep-throat her toes)? the curse does not specify that the male heirs die before maturity or in their youth; there’s a brief pause where the fourth wall breaks down a little between the poles and they’re like oh, henry fitzroy has not died because he’s not an heir, he’s born outside of marriage, but then ofc he dies at seventeen and margaret is like ah yes....The Curse. there are no exceptions. so...idek. she should have just written an alternate history with magic, if she wants the magic to have been believably real, is what i’m getting at. plenty of bloodline curses in historical fantasy (there’s also some fourth wall breaking where the narrator considers that curses can be self-fulfilling, the duke of buckingham dies for hearing and believing in one, and the very weird, offhand remark that henry has ‘enacted’ his own curse because his daughter’s subsequent depression to his abandonment has made her ‘sterile’).

also going by the logic of well second sons can skip this curse but first sons are doomed, you would think edward vi might have lived into adulthood like henry viii....should they have specified something about being of different mothers, idk...

the depiction of princess mary was actually one of the better ones i’ve read. not very balanced, but actually very believably sympathetic, it’s refreshing to read her from the perspective of someone that adores and loves her. i actually found myself wishing that the novel had followed her instead (i found this with both TOBG and the kingmaker’s daughter, wishing it was from the POV of the ‘mean’ sister instead-- anne or isabel-- but be careful what you wish for; ik the queen’s fool was a mess, sooo...).

the depiction of the boleyns is about what one expected, myopic and yet ornately dressed inventiveness for fulsome moral comeuppance and scolding. thomas boleyn was apparently margaret pole’s ‘steward’ (there is a record of thomas boleyn being granted the reversion of bushey manor, but this instead being given to margaret pole in the year an act of parliament restored her, but none of him being awarded the stewardship, although he was awared others... ‘my former steward’ has more of a bite than ‘a steward’, one supposes, particularly since her own son was also...a steward...) so that her nose-holding at his rise is given some personal touch, george boleyn was ‘useless’, while at least mary boleyn was ‘fertile’ and the ‘sweeter of the two sisters’, anne boleyn’s banner and chariot and insignia are of her falcon ‘attacking the pomegranate’ (alright, i know where the origin of this ‘factoid’ on tudorstagram came from now, at least) rather than the only place that was ever found, the margin of one of her musicbooks, rather than her actual symbol, & every subject duly spits on the ground whenever this chariot passes, anne boleyn has no friends except for ‘other boleyns and howards’ (margaret lee, bridget wingfield,  and others do not exist), there are ‘no women of any rank’ and ‘none of the king’s family’ willing to attend her at calais (they included a duke’s daughter and two viscountesses, including his aunt-in-law) or ever acknowledge her (margaret tudor’s recognition of anne as queen is excised from the canon of this entire series), anne boleyn is a ‘commoner’ (the sting of this is somewhat weakened by how margaret pole also refers to margaret douglas, the daughter of a queen and earl, as a ‘commoner’), etc.

[chloerie]

(Soo like that SiX fic I mentioned like once? Yeah chapter one is done, this is it)

“Listen up let me tell you a story” SiX reincarnated AU

For a little more context: The kids were reincarnated 4 years before the Queens were and Mary found a place to stay and got a job with Lady Jane Gray(A/N: More commonly known as “9 Days Queen”)was reincarnated with the kids also: I don’t have a update thing 4 this one. Ao3 Wattpad & tumblr

I wrote some of this while ao3 was down lmfao

Yeet let’s go Jane Gray’s POV

I had just walked downstairs to make some coffees for myself and my cousin Mary(Cousins through Henrat’s sister or aunt Idek lmao) and saw… The ex-Queens!?

“HOLY MOTHER OF GOD MARY GET DOWN HERE” I yelled

“J WHAT HAPPENED!?” Mary yell-asked

“Mary? Janie? What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked

“Nothing Liz. Is Mae asleep? Do you need anything?” Mary questioned

“Mae is sleeping I’m fine.” Elizabeth answered

“Okay,” Mary replied glancing at the women in our living room “But if you need anything I’ll be here.” She continued

“Wait where’s Edward,” I said glancing panicky at Mary “Mare do you know?” I asked her

“Eddie is sleeping too,”Elizabeth said hugging Mary “Don’t worry Mar-Mar” She said giving her a-Sleepy-but-adorable smile(Author note: I’ll take any advice/art <3)

“Okay what is going on!?” A Queen asked

“Right. I’m Jane Gray Parr,” I said gesturing to said people(Myself and Catherine Parr) “Paid for my education”

“My name’s Elle!” Eliza said cleverly using the name we taught her to use if she was asked her name by strangers(A/N: BYE A LITERAL LIGHTING STIRCK JUST HAPPENED OUTSIDE MY WINDOW IT ALMOST GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK AGAIN IT HAPPENED)

“Hm. Your highnesses,” Mary said curtsying to them “I am Mary”

“Janie Betsy Mezza? What’s going on?” Edward asked

“It’s nothing Edward don’t fret over trivial matters-“ I said before remembering I was talking to a 4 year old “Right you’re a toddler. Don’t worry Ed it’s nothing.”

“Eddie! How was your nap?” Elizabeth said

“Excuse me,” A Queen said standing up and grabbing our attention “Who are you children and where are we?” The Queen whom I quickly realized was Queen Jane Seymour

“Well you’ve got me Jane Gray call me J,” I said picking up Edward rocking him and humming a Scottish lullaby to get him to sleep “This is my cousin Edward and his sisters Mary and Elizabeth.” I answered

“We also have another sister not biological though,” Mary said taking Edward from me “Her name’s Mary or Mae we just call her that to differentiate between me and her.” Mary explained, smiling

“Right. I am Queen Catherine of Aragon”(A/N: I don’t think I have to say who said this lmfao)

“Mami.” Mary said softly

“Mami?,” Another Queen asked hugging Aragon “Mary?”

“Hello Cat,” Mary stated smiling softly at Parr and Aragon “I need to put Edward to bed now so I unfortunately cannot stay here J can you help me out here please?” She asked me

“Sure” I answered sighing exasperated with the Queens already

“AH!” A Queen yelled, I was quick to notice, they had a beheading scar, like me. And had no head. Oof.

“Does anyone here know how to put a head back on!?” Another Queen, who looked like Her Royal Highness Princess Anna Von Cleves(A/N: Anna was literally paid to not say she was Queen and she was considered the King’s sister after her divorce, so I figured I’d give her that title lol)

“I can help? I was beheaded too.” I suggested, taking off my choker necklace and gesturing to my beheading scar, Mary looked down guiltily at the sight of it

“Mary, it’s fine you apologized, that’s enough for me.” I sighed exasperated with my cousin.

“I know J, I’m still sorry though..” She muttered, looking down in embarrassment

“Mare you’ve been forgiven, now that’s enough apologies from you young lady.” I scolded

“J, I’m older than you-“ I got as a response

“Oh, shut it Mary.” I muttered, rolling my eyes

A/N: I’m ending this chapter now bc I’m tired, it’s 11:40PM and I need to work on Reincarnated Maria Reynolds anyways this’ll be posted on Wattpad later

[a-couple-of-notes]

I love that line-up! I don't think you're wrong, but in an exercise of contrarianism, I'd like to offer a slightly different lineup:

Cassie's gotta stay Catherine Parr. Just from SIX's own interpretation of the historical figure, her song is based around acknowledging how much she loved Henry--but also how she can survive without it. (It'll never be better than it was, no, no / but I don't need your love). It fits so perfectly with late-stage Cassie, who has to reject a relationship with Jake in order to move on and preserve some of herself. It's got that kind of one-woman-army, do-what's-necessary firmness that's entirely Cassie.

I totally get Marco as Anne (although in a really ironic way--politics / not my thing is such a wild line for a Marco analogue). I don't think another song fits him better, but I will say the interlude Haus of Holbien strikes me as a very Marco song: flashy, yes, but concealing a sharp understanding of people and politics. Also, I think he'd have a lot of fun performing it.

Jake is Jane Seymour. As Jane must reckon with her complicated but enduring love for Henry, as well as the realities of the son she's responsible for, so too must Jake reckon with his stone-like loyalty toward his brother. Sure, Heart of Stone doesn't capture the usual traits we associate with Jake (his leadership, his strategic mind, his necessary coldness), but I feel like it does encapsulate his oft-overlooked naiveté/softness toward his family.

Ax is Catherine of Aragon. "No Way" is all about someone who has been unfailingly loyal to their partner; Ax has spent his whole life believing in the Andalite military culture. You've got me down on my knees / please tell me what you think I've done wrong / been humble, been loyal, I've tried to swallow my pride. Tonally, it's off for Ax (I could also see an argument made for Ax as Anne--kind of childish, chaotic, and his innocence about the Andalite military comes back to bite him in the ass; likewise, Marco could take Catherine of Aragon for its sassiness, loyalty, and Catholicism). Still, "No Way" lands very much lands in the crux of Ax's arc, which is like, where does the line get drawn? Where do you break, even if you've given this thing so much of your love and loyalty? I don't think book!Ax ever fully commits to saying "No Way," which is its own kind of tragedy, but hey, we're talking alternate universe wish fulfillment history here.

Rachel is Katherine Howard. "All You Wanna Do" is about a girl who, increasingly aware of the limited ways in which other people perceive her value, performs, and performs so well that she fools everyone else. The song is fun and girly but demanding, and hides the real darkness and mental strain beneath it. Both Katherine and Rachel desire normal lives--a real connection--but are denied that again and again, and in fact no one else really understands that that's what they want. Just as Rachel's death is sort of a climax to the Animorphs narrative, one potent beat that represents the magnitude of the toll this has taken on these kids, the end of "All You Wanna Do" essentially functions as the climax and turning point of SIX.

Unfortunately that leaves Tobias with Anna of Cleves, which doesn't fit at all, except maybe in the fact that both Tobias and Anna are sort of outsiders in their own narrative: Tobias by virtue of being a hawk, and Anna by virtue of having, like, the one good ending. That's a huge stretch, though, so I guess I'll just put him as the super-swing: apart from the rest of the cast but integral to the show working, able to see from everyone's POV while retaining a distinct sense of self.

I definitely think your picks are more solid overall, but this was a fun thought exercise! And I definitely enjoyed getting back to SIX. Lots of bops in there.

Animorphs but it's six the musical? I would love to see 5 of them trying to rip each other apart and the one person trying to have everyone stay calm.

I haven't seen Six. Anyone who has (and knows Animorphs) willing to weigh in?

[thirteenth-fangirl]

Y'all now this "Cause time wasn't in our favor, this isn't goodbye it's simply see you later" song? I decided to make a little bit of Araleyn with it. Enjoy!

Mention of Anne's death

Anne POV

Someone knocked on the door. "Come in" I said and Jane opened the door. She breathed in and looked like she was mentally preparing herself for something. "Miss Aragon ( AN : I have no clue how they would talk about her. If they would say "Miss" or something. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) is... " she made little break "going to d!e soon". I couldn't think of what I just heard.

Catherine. My beloved Catherine was going to d!e soon? "When?" I asked, holding back the tears. "Soon. Very soon. She barely has a few days" Jane answered, also very sad. Jane knew her. She came to court a few months before Henry divorced Catherine.

"I need to visit her" it was the only thing I could think of. I runned through the palace to the throneroom. "Darling, heard the news?" Henry said. "YES! And I need to visit her. NOW" I said breathless (It was hard to run in this dresses). "Why?" he asked. "Well, to bully her? TO SAY GOODBYE OF COURSE!" I yelled. It was a bit dangerous but I couldn't think straight. He looked at my and probably thought something like "Thats suspicious, Thats weird".

After a long break he finally said "Fine". I needed to get there immediately. And I did.

I opened the door to her room and she laid there looked so tiny and like it were so easy to hurt her. "Lina!" I said.

She coughed. "Anne..." she said powerless. I kneeled before her bed, tears running down my face. "Lina. Please, Please don't leave me...". "I love you, Anne" she said quietly. "Time wasn't in our favo..." she tried to say but death got her before she could end that word. "favor" I ended the sentence for her.

Why had they to keep her away from me? Why? WHY? I asked myself for the following days, weeks. I couldn't remember her funeral. The days went by slower. Every minute felt like an hour and every hour like a day. I began to eat less.

One day somebody knocked on my door. I waited a bit until I said "Come in". It was Jane.

"They want to behead you" she said. "Why?" I asked. "They accuse you of Withcraft and cheating" she explained. "Henry's the cheater" I mumbled knowing it could be another reason why to behead me.

(AN : Timeskip to her beheading bought you from my laziness)

I took of my wedding-ring before the beheading. I felt... free. I got up the stage and say the people cheering.

They hated me.

"This isn't goodbye it's simply..." I mumbled to myself as I laid my head down. I heard a hiss over my head and then the was darkness. And pain. So much pain...

I opened my eyes. I was dead. Of course I was dead. But I felt... alive. I breathed. "When do you think she'll wake up?" a voice asked. "I don't know. I hope soon. I -". "Lina?" I asked.

"Anne! Mi querida! (AN : my love in Spanish. Mi amor us also possible, but I decided to go with Mi querida) You're awake!".

"You were like two days longer asleep than her and she was alseep the longest from us five" someone completely dressed in pink gestured to a black woman in Red. "May I ask who you are?" I asked the pink woman. "Katherine Howard, that's Anna of Cleeves and that's Catherine Parr". Parr was dressed in Blue and Cleeves was the red one.

"Where are we?" I asked. "In a house. And now were in the living room. We all woke up here. I was the first." Jane said

Yeah, here I make a cut. If you want me to write more you can tell me.

[cynicalrainbows]

The Next Best Thing Pt 3

So this is a very long rambley chapter of this Catalina-adopts-babey-Cathy au. I’m not sure if I’m entirely happy with how it turned out- I was trying to do a few things, really: get better at writing from the POV of actual small children (which is incredibly difficult and also quite fun) and also have a go at describing what an absolute headfuck grief is.

Like, I cannot get over how when people die, you’re expected to get around the angry and sadness and confusion...and ALSO just sort of....live your normal life. And it’s especially difficult that those two things then get mixed up: I remember sitting by my dad’s deathbed and watching him die and just feeling sort of....fine? A bit numb but also very concerned with extremely mundane things like did I remember to say thank you to all the nurses and did I remember to wash up the cups we’d made tea in? And then the next morning, I was on the edge of going into the road to throw things at the inconsiderate bastards who were just driving around and going to work like it was a normal day. And then three months later, I was sobbing hysterically while I made paninis at work because of some minor comment my absolute cunt of a boss made. And even now, years later, I had a sudden moment the other week when it suddenly hit me that I was never ever going to be able to say thank you to dad for the lovely things he wrote in my birthday cards. AND a moment of anger that I was never going to be able to have it out with him for lots of stuff I’m still angry with him for.

And then to have to deal with that as a child? Sweet Jesus. I honestly don’t know how children manage.

I was also trying really hard to get across the absolute mindfuck that is just being a 6-9 yr old girl. Like...I only vaguely remember being seven but still. And watching the children at my work? Good god.

SO i hope you all like it. I probably went overboard with making Aragon soft but I refuse to apologise because soft Aragon is the best Aragon.

Enjoy!

****

She used to like school, back before, but that was back when everything was different, when she had a Mum to collect her like everyone else and when she could write about going to the park and the library and the swimming pool in her newsbook just like everyone else.

Catalina has taken her to the park, to the library- but she can’t let herself enjoy it now. She keeps hoping that her parents will bob up from behind a bush or a bookshelf and tell her that everything was just a big misunderstanding- but they don’t. They never do, but she can’t stop herself hoping it, even if doing so feels like prodding a wobbly tooth- just as painful, just as impossible to resist.

Even the idea of school feels wrong now- school belongs back then, toher old normal.

Now, normal is staying at home with Catalina, trips to bookshops (new ones with cafes and shiney displays, old ones where the books are tired and tattered, with yellowing pages that smell of old paper and dust) which she likes, trips to church (which she wishes she liked) and trips to see a therapist (her therapist) which she has decided that she definitely doesn’t like.

 She doesn’t like the stuffy waiting room, she doesn’t like the waiting room toys- the books with pages torn out and scribbles all over the cover, the sad barbies left lying with their legs splayed and half their clothes missing, the jigsaw puzzles where all the pieces are mixed together. 

There are better things in the actual therapy room- paints and a real easel, better craft supplies even than at school- but after the first session, when she’s meant to be fetching her coat, she hears the therapist lady (Doctor Jenny, she is meant to call her) talking to Catalina about her, asking how she’s settling, asking if they’re coping….and she hates the thought of being discussed so much that she decides not to talk there again. Not even for the sake of the easel, and she rips the painting she made in her session into pieces in the backseat of the car on the way home. She wants to throw them out of the window but that would be littering and she has sat through enough school assemblies about littering to know that it is one of the worst, worst things you can do (aside from drawing in library books and pushing people into traffic) so she doesn’t, just holds the balled up painty scraps of paper in her fists until she can drop them into the bin where they belong.

School isn’t her new normal- but now apparently Catalina has to go back to work and she has to go back to school whether they want to or not.

‘Can’t you keep teaching me here? I did all my workbook-’ She quite likes filling out the booklets that the school had sent ‘in the interests of not falling behind’, although it feels funny to fill them out sitting on the sofa and wearing her weekend clothes.

‘I’d like to, querida.’ Catalina looks tired- she’s been frowning and looking at papers, then typing, then frowning again and pressing the back space key very, very hard- but now she swivels her chair around to look at Cathy properly. ‘I really would. But we wouldn’t be allowed.’

‘Why not?’

‘It’s the law, you have to be in school...and I have to go back to work…before everything just completely falls apart without me….’ She looks at the papers, drops them back into the pile. ‘You’ll be able to see all your friends again- you’d like that, wouldn’t you?’

She shrugs. She would like to see Anne- but she hasn’t seen her properly since before then, only talked to her on the phone and Anne had kept talking about Anna, the new girl, about how she’s sitting with Anne til Cathy is back, about how she brought in a big cornet of sweets to share on her first day, about how there was something called Katjes that was really liquorice…. and even thinking about it makes her chest feel tight and scared because what if Anne doesn’t want to be best friends any more? (What if Anna is more fun?)

Catalina takes both of her hands in her own and kisses them. ‘It will be ok, querida. I promise.’

(Catalina always tells the truth but it’s harder to believe her this time.)

She watches from the doorway that evening as Catalina lays out clothes- stiff suits and high, high heels, skirt and blouse and school jumper- and feels sick.

She sleeps badly, picks at her toast and doesn’t hug Catalina back when she says goodbye. She’s not even allowed to go into the playground before the bell rings- instead, she has to go into the headmistresses office because there are ‘special circumstances’ (although what these are she isn’t quite sure.)

Mrs Jardin says things about grief and loss and settling in. No comment seems to be required from her so she stays quiet until the bell releases her.

Anne walks into the classroom with a girl she hasn’t seen before who she thinks must be Anna. This girl- this new girl- gives Cathy a friendly smile, as if she isn’t stealing her best friend while her back is turned…. and she pretends not to see. 

(She doesn’t know why she should smile at a friend stealer.)

It doesn’t feel right to sit in her old class, as if everything is the same….but then, a new teacher comes in to take the register and she doesn’t like that it’s different either. 

Anne whispers that she’s nice, that she let them make get well soon cards for their usual teacher rather than having to do the usual Friday spelling test, and  she thinks that of course that would make Anne like her.

(Unlike her, Anne does not enjoy the spelling test.)

There’s dinner money to hand in, then a boring assembly about road safety and looking both ways. There’s literacy hour, like usual; numeracy hour, like usual. No gold stars for anyone (although their old teacher always used to have them- this new teacher just does boring ticks in red pen)- and then a change: they’re going to make cards.

For Mothers day.

Which is in a week.

Suddenly, she feels very cold. Mothers day. 

She doesn’t want to think about last year- daffodils picked from the garden, carrying a tray not-to-spill-carefully into the bedroom, being allowed to boil the kettle and make the toast herself, the picture that kept coming out wrong and the poem she wrote herself in place of it. 

She wants Catalina to come- to take her home or even just to BE there… but then she remembers that Catalina has abandoned her, that she’s the one making her have to go to school at all.

(And besides, Catalina is at work now anyway, doing whatever she does at work. She pictures meetings and shouty phone calls and wavy lines in red on graph paper, like when she and Anne play office.) (She wonders what games Anne plays with Anna and decides they’re probably all boring anyway.)

The teacher finished explaining- about spelling and sharing the felt pens and taking turns with the glitter, as if they’re babies, as if they’ve never made cards before when everyone knows that even the Nursery school children make cards at Christmas and Easter….and she turns to her blank sheet of construction paper and wishes she could tear it up.

‘What are you going to do?’

Anne’s whisper catches her by surprise.

‘What do you mean?’

Anne looks uncomfortable. ‘Because- well-’

She understands what Anne means, all at once, and it’s like cold water being poured on her- of course she can’t make a card for mum because mum isn’t there to have it and she knows this, but this realisation still feels new and suddenly she’s thinking of all the other things she won’t ever be able to give mum or dad ever again, birthday presents and Christmas presents and-

Anne is almost quivering next to her, her hand waving high in the air, and Cathy just KNOWS what she’s going to ask- what about if you don’t have a Mum to make a card for? 

She knows that’s what she’s going to ask, and it makes her so angry (angry that Anne is asking, angry that it’s a question that applies to her now, angry that Anne and everyone else get to still have parents, angry that they have to do this stupid project in the first place when everyone knows that it’s meant to be history workbooks after break) that she’s burning hot all over.

The teacher suddenly stops her monologue on the necessity of Putting Lids on Felt Tips, as if she’s heard the question through the waving of Anne’s hand, and she smiles like she’s swallowed a tin of golden syrup. Her voice is syrupy to match.

‘Of course, for anyone who doesn’t have a mother-’ She pauses. ‘What I mean is, if you’d like to make a card for someone else- maybe an auntie….well, that’s fine’. 

She even looks at Cathy as she says it- but she doesn’t want to make a card for Catalina. She isn’t her auntie, she definitely isn’t her mum.

‘Because of course, you don’t have to be a mum to do mum-things!’

 (Her mum wouldn’t have abandoned her at school, she thinks first….and then she wonders if maybe her mum has abandoned her after all- except worse and more forever. It’s not a nice thought to have.)

‘People can be your mum in spirit and that’s fine!’

(Does that mean Catalina has to take the place of her mum now?)

Part of her still wants Catalina to come and make things ok again (although she’s not sure how she would)- but part of her is angry too.

She’s angry with Catalina, for doing all the ‘mum-things’, angry with herself that she’s been letting her. (Can her own mum see her letting Catalina tuck her into bed and run her bath and hear her spellings? Would she be cross if she could?)

She feels more mixed up than ever, and it’s all Anne’s fault, it’s all Anne’s fault (for asking the question, for putting the thought into the stupid teacher’s head, for liking Anna better) and when the teacher turns her back (because someone has somehow broken their gluestick like an idiot), the anger bubbles up and she kicks Anne as hard as she can under the desk. 

She’s not sure what she’s expecting- Anne to kick her back maybe, or to jump up and tell on her and get her into trouble, but instead Anne just bursts into tears.

Part of her wants to say sorry….but part of her thinks it serves Anne right for sitting next to stupid new Anna with her stupid shoes that light up and her stupid purse shaped like a dog. (They’re definitely not cool and she definitely isn’t going to ask for either for her birthday.) 

Within seconds, the teacher is bearing down on them both.

‘What on earth do you think you’re doing, young lady?’ (She thinks spitefully that the teacher has probably forgotten her name already, something that their usual teacher would NEVER do.)

She just scowls back.

‘You’re going to say sorry to- your friend’ (Clearly she’s forgotten Anne’s name too) ‘-and then you’re going to sit and get on with your card nicely where I can see you-’

‘I don’t want to.’

She folds her arms and the teacher huffs.

‘This is NOT the sort of behaviour I expect from children in this year group! Imagine what your mother would-’

She says it and then freezes, her face going bright red- and it’s this freezing that makes it worse, like a big loud reminder that mum CAN’T see her, that she’ll never see her again, that the teacher has made a big mistake by mentioning it…. And there’s a roaring in her head as she picks up her paper, rips it into pieces and throws them into the woman’s face.

When the teacher tries to take her hand and pull her to the front of the room, she pulls away and pushes all her things- her pencils and pens, her rubber that smells like strawberries onto the floor and stamps on them and feels the crack of plastic under her school shoes- until a hand closes around her wrist and she’s dragged away and deposited into the corridor.

(She’s never been put out into the corridor before because that’s something that only the really bad children have happen to them, and she’s never been one of them….except she also never used to be the child without parents, she never used to want to make Anne hurt, so maybe now everything is different, it doesn’t matter what she does because nothing will make it better, and there’s nothing to do but scream and scream and scream.)

**

She’s acting crazy, not like herself at all- and the scary thing is, she can’t seem to stop, though her throat is raw and sore and her head is aching. 

It hurts worse than when she had flu, and had to drink cups of lemon and honey and suck on horrible tasting lozenges (that didn’t taste anything like cherry no matter what the label said)...except when she had flu, she knes she’d get better but can you get better from something like this that isn’t an illness?

 It frightens her that she can’t stop but then perhaps it doesn’t matter because everything is ruined anyhow, her parents are never coming back (she knows this, she knows this), all her pens are broken, everyone in her class saw her tear things up like a really bad kid and Anne will sit next to Anna forever and Catalina will be so angry with her…...she’ll be in so much trouble and what if Catalina doesn’t want her any more, what if she decides that she’s too much trouble because of this-

The thought has her curled up into herself, her face pressed against her drawn-up knees because it’s so scary, scarier than roller coasters and dogs that bark and the dark space under her bed, scarier than the little bit of a horror film that Anne’s sister showed them once when she slept over with the man that had knives for hands, scarier than anything-

The click click click of high heels sound down the hall- and it’s a new sound to hear at school because those aren’t the sort of shoes that the teachers or the dinner ladies wear, they’re not even the sort of shoes the big grown-up girls in Year 6 wear, she only knows one person who wears those sort of shoes-

‘Querida-’

When Catalina crouches down in front of her and puts a hand on her arm, part of her wants to cling onto her and make her promise to not ever leave ever ever- but another part of her tells her that she’s being stupi,d that of course her godmother won;t want her any more, that she’s probably just come into school to tell her that- and so she pushes the hand away roughly and won’t look up.

‘What’s the matter?’

She says nothing.

‘I can’t help if you don’t talk to me, carino.’

She doesn’t want to talk.

‘I need to make sure you are ok, querida. Can you tell me what made you so upset?’

She doesnt sound angry, she sounds like she always does- and it’s all wrong, she shouldn’t even be here, school shouldn’t be calling Catalina . No one else has their godparents called into school….cxcept of course they have to because there’s no one else, there’s no one else at all-

‘I hate you.’

She even means it. Perhaps if Catalina wasn’t around to fill in and do all the mum things, then mum would still be alive (because how could she have died if there was truly no one else?)

‘Why querida?’

‘It’s your fault. You should have died instead of mum.’

She means that too, but as she says it, she hides her face in her arms so she doesn’t have to see if Catalina looks cross or sad or (and this would somehow be worst of all) like she doesn’t even care.

(Not that she cares how Catalina feels. If she hadn’t ruined everything by making her come into school- if she hadn’t ruined everything by existing at all-)

She wonders, in the darkness of her arms, what will happen next- shouting (except Catalina doesn’t shout, apart from at traffic lights that change too quickly or spiders that come out of nowhere) or just the click-click-click of her heels leaving...but there’s nothing.

Nothing at all.

Just quiet.

It’s so quiet for so long that she wonders if perhaps Catalina has actually left after all- it would make sense for her to leave- and the thought gives her a little frisson of fear. 

Despite everything….she doesn’t want to be all by herself. Not really. 

She waits for a long, long time.

Eventually, she risks a glance up- steeling herself for the empty corridor. 

But Catalina is still there, sitting on the wooden floor with her high shoes sitting next to her and the nail polish on her toes showing through her tights. 

She doesn’t look cross, only very sad and tired…. but she makes her face into a smile when she sees she’s being watched and the relief- that she isn’t being shouted at or sent away or hated is enough to make her start to cry all over again.

She knows she’s probably ruined everything already by saying those things- and she can’t escape the feeling that she’s doing something wrong by wanting by wanting her godmother in the same way she used to want her mum (like she’s betraying her, like she’s making her sad in heaven)......but she’s so very tired and lonely, and Catalina looks so warm and safe and comforting that she reaches out to her without meaning to, half wondering if she’ll be pushed away.

She isn’t pushed away.

Warm hands gently draw her close until she’s being held safe in her godmothers arms, one hand stroking her damp tangled hair away from her hot face while she tries to burrow far into Catalina’s smart silk work shirt and stiff black blazer. 

She knows she’s making them both wet and disgusting but she doesn’t care and Catalina doesn’t seem to mind either, just gently rocks her back and forth and murmurs things that must be in spanish but it doesn’t matter that she can’t understand, she just wants Catalina to keep holding her and keep talking because if she’s doing that, she can;t be planning on getting rid of her, at least not now, at least not yet-

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry-’

‘Oh querida. It’s alright. It’s all going to alright.’

She should explain herself- that’s what adults always say ‘explain yourself’, but she doesn’t know if she can and when she tries, it comes out wrong and she starts hiccuping in between sobs.

‘Shhhh, carino. You don’t have to talk yet.’

She whimpers and presses her face back into Catalina’s chest and feels a kiss be pressed into her hairline.

‘It’s alright. We’ll sort this all out, I promise.’

She’d like to say that some things can’t be fixed- but she’s too tired. She actually doesn’t feel very well at all, and now she’s noticing it- not just the way her throat is sore, not just the being tired, she feels sick too, and her head aches and she’s shaking a bit all over like she has the flu except she doesn’t- but Catalina’s arms are warm and safe and so she makes herself just think about that, about that instead.

A long, long time passes before she feels like she can talk again- there’s a heaviness all up her arm and legs and in her head.

‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.’

‘It’s alright, querida. Do you want to tell me what happened? What made you so upset, hm?’

She doesn’t want to tell her at all but Catalina won’t be able to fix it if she doesn’t so she does her best- the Mother’s day card and Anne trying to ask her stupid question, Anne sitting with Anna instead of her, the daffodils last year, never being able to make another Mother’s day card again, the way the teacher looked at her, the anger and Anne crying at being kicked and all her own pens being broken.

Catalina listens and nods seriously and doesn’t interrupt, even though Cathy knows it’s a bit jumbled and she has to keep stopping every so often to sniffle into the tissues Catalina hands to her from the little packet in her purse.

When she finishes, Catalina nods slowly, like she’s working it all out in her head.

‘That is….quite a lot, querida.’

It actually makes her feel a (tiny) bit better, that Catalina doesn’t laugh or tell her she’s making a fuss about nothing…..but she knows what it also means- it isn’t all going to be fixed right away. Perhaps Catalina can see she’s disappointed because she squeezes her hand.

‘Would you like to hear my thoughts so far?’

She would.

‘I think your parents loved you very, very much. And that if they can see you, they will be thinking how very proud they are that you have been so brave and done so well, even without them there. I think they’d be proud to see how well you’re coping with having to live in a new place and do things differently.’

‘You don’t think they’d….mind? Do you think they’d be upset that I- about today?’

It hurts to ask but she wants to be sure.

Catalina shakes her head.

‘I think that you are having to work through a lot of things that are difficult. Very, very difficult. There is no easy way to lose people. And sometimes it will make you sad, and sometimes it will make you angry….like today-’

There’s a tiny lightening in her stomach at Catalina says that. She doesn’t feel better exactly...but it helps to know that perhaps she isn’t a really bad person after all. That it’s not badness, just grief. That maybe it’s even a bit normal.

‘Does everyone…..feel like this?’

Catalina looks down at her. ‘In one way or another….yes.’

‘Do you?’

‘Sometimes...yes.’

The thought makes her eyes go wide. She tries to imagine Catalina throwing pens on the floor of her smart office and it’s almost enough to make her smile again. Almost.

‘It doesn’t make you bad, it just part of grieving, carino- the hurting’ She pauses. ‘Not that you don’t need to try and make sure you don’t hurt other people too of course. I think perhaps you owe Anne an apology, hm?’

She shrugs and burrows back against the blazer and it feels cold and damp. ‘I don’t think she even wants to be my friend anymore-’

‘I can’t believe that, querida.’

‘It’s true. She has Anna now.’

‘Well’ Catalina changes position, stretching a cramped leg. ‘Why don’t you ask her?’

She isn’t sure what she means- and then Catalina gives her a tiny nudge and she looks up to see Anne’s face peering anxiously through the pane of glass in the classroom door. When she sees Cathy looking back at her, she looks enormously relieved- before she stops herself and makes a silly exaggerated cross face instead and mimes hopping up and down in pain.

Cathy finds she’s laughing in spite of herself- and Anne laughs too and sticks out her tongue, before a summons from inside drags her reluctantly away from the door.

‘Seems like she still wants to be friends to me.’

And she thinks perhaps Catalina is right.

Perhaps things aren’t as broken as she thought.

(Perhaps she can live with Catalina and let her do the mum-things that her own mum isn’t around for, but also keep thinking of mum-as-mum in her head. Perhaps she doesn’t have to feel guilty for doing normal things- perhaps she can feel proud. Perhaps things will work out mostly alright- not as alright as they’d have been if mum and dad were still alive but….close. Close enough.)

(Perhaps she’ll even ask Anna if she wants to play one day.)

(Perhaps.)

[czuritaa]

Queens in the 21st Century

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Jane's POV

We all had a really confused look written all over our faces. I was the first one to snapped out of the trace.

- Why we have a second chance?

- Well, Jane. You had a pretty rough time back 500 years ago and I, with permission and the help of other angels, wanted to give you a second chance to live and make your lives happier this time.

- I don't understand.- Anne quoted while Kitty, who's holding onto her, nods with a confused look.

- Well, I know every single thing that happened to you.

All of us looked shocked. It's weird that someone appears out of nowhere and tells you that it knows everything that happened in your life.

- Everything?- Kat asked shyly.

- Yes little Katherine, everything.- she looked at her apologizing and guilty. As if she couldn't helped her or something like that. It also appeared an angry look, now I'm curious.

- I know you are all questioning of Howard's reaction and how I feel right now but it's not my committed to tell you. When she's ready to tell, she will.

We all nodded and Kat just snuggled closer to Anne, who just held her closer to her.

- I know it seems weird that out of nowhere appears someone and tells you all of this but, you just have been reincarnated five centuries in the future. It's hard to believe but this is real.

We all nodded again, understanding and believing what she was saying. The first time I saw her, I had the rush to run away but I couldn't move or leave any of the others here.

- I have a question.- Aragon raised her hand.- Which is our commitment here?

- Well, now it's your opportunity to reveal all the truth, so, I'm your manager and I want you to write songs about your life. Parr, you were a writer back then, can you help them?

- Yeah, of course. It will be fun.

- Do you agree with this project?

After Victoria had said that, we all nodded, agreeing to the project, all except Kitty who raised her hand slowly.

- It has to be about us?

- I know you want to tell everything that happened to you. You can write your song alone or asked just to one person to help. Before the first day of rehearsal of the show you can show the song to the others.

- OK...- she nods her head and turned to whisper something in Anne's ear who nodded afterwards.

- Alright, I'll leave you now.

- Wait!- Aragon got up.- What about the hotel? Or money to survive?

- I've got that covered up, don't worry. And the money, tomorrow you'll find a box or something here, in the living room, with money. I will give you a similar box each month.

She nodded and Victoria disappeared in a similar light that brought us here. We looked at each other in silence.

This will be interesting.

**********

We have been an hour sitting in the dining room with some food that was already made on the fridge. With it, it was a note where Victoria explained us a few things of the modern days. It helped a lot.

Excepting the part where Parr read the note out loud we didn't exchange any word. Kitty has been cuddling onto Anne since then, while Anne was whispering in her ear something to calm her. Anna and me have been writing down some ideas and planning the tasks for everyone and we looked for cooking classes on this new thing that people invented, thing that Aragon claimed being invented by Satan, Internet. Aragon and Parr started with the song of the first one mentioned.

It was getting late. Anna went out to the backyard for some fresh air. Aragon and Parr moved to a soundprofed room to start making the rhyme of the song. Anne went to lay Kitty down on her bed since she fell asleep on the couch.

I stayed alone on the living room reading a book when I heard footsteps.

- She's sleeping.- Anne's voice said while she approached to the couch and sat next to me.- Can we talk?

I closed the book and turned to look at her.

- Yeah, what's the matter?

She laid her head on my shoulder and I started to play with her hair. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

- I'm sorry for blaming you of what happened to me. Before you talk, I know it wasn't your intention when you told me to try and make him jealous to make sure he was in love with me. I didn't even try your advice when people started to say that I cheated to the king and my mind just said that it was you the one that spread that rumor.

I laid my head on hers before replying.

- I didn't know about that rumor until the king sentenced you to be beheaded.

She looked up at me in surprise.

- Really?

I just nodded and continued to play with her hair to calm her.

- Sweetheart, it's not the time to talk. Try to sleep a bit.

She nodded and laid again onto me, trying to sleep.

I sighed.

Tomorrow will be another day.

[charlicpace]

Tell me your honest opinion on Mean Girls’ tour changes, Vicki Manser’s third covers, what role you’d like to see Olivia Moore best in, and penguins!

SEND ME A 🔥+ A TOPIC, AND I’LL TELL YOU MY HONEST OPINION ABOUT IT. 

MEAN GIRLS TOUR CHANGES.

I do not understand how a show can just Decide to change massive sections of the show after the show’s been locked. It’s not even like the tour happened five years after Broadway closed and they thought they should change things. I know a lot of people who are, like, really into Mean Girls, were disappointed enough by the changes between DC and Broadway, and these further changes just made it worse for them ? But I don’t like most of the changes, so here’s the ones I do like:

1. Cady knowing she’s moving from before It Roars. I’m not sure which version of the song I prefer overall, but I do think the tour version helps with her character development ? I dunno.  2. Getting rid of “I like eating birthday cake around them, makes them crazy.” 3. BIG MISTAKE DANCE TEAM! 4. The attempt to foreshadow More Is Better, by Regina saying Cady needs more. I like the idea that the idea of “more is always better” came from Regina. It sets it up pretty well, I liked it. 5. The It Roars reprise in Fearless. However, Not Happy that it comes at the cost of the Someone Gets Hurt reprise. I DON’T GET WHY THEY CUT THAT. It was... dare I say, necessary.  6. “She left, just like my dad!” makes more sense to me !

I haven’t finished watching it yet ( I just got to Cady admitting she wrote that Ms Norbury is a drug pusher in the Burn Book ) but looking at this post, I definitely think I’ll like the changes to I See Stars. 

VICKI MANSER’S THIRD COVERS.

Vicki truly has the range. She’s one of the swings that I legit love in every single role, there isn’t a single one that I’m even indifferent to, I love her as everybody. I fully love her Seymour ( and I loooooove her hair for Seymour too ! ) and I think she’s incredible as her. It’s also super refreshing to have her just stand and sing for four minutes, and just enjoy her voice and the emotion, in comparison to the high-energy first covers of Boleyn/Cleves. I wish we got to see her as both Seymour and Aragon a little more, and she’d been able to go on for them earlier, but especially Seymour. I didn’t expect to like her as Aragon as much as I do. She and Collette are the only white covers I like in that role ( and even though they’re both very good, do I think any of the queens inspired by WOC should be played by white women ? Absolutely not ) and she genuinely sings No Way very, very well. Also, I know you’re of the onion that Vicki should’ve been first cover Seymour, but I do see why she wasn’t ! Possibly hot take, but I feel like it was Known that she could do Boleyn/Cleves better than Grace or Courtney could, and it wasn’t like she’d be the Less Great at Seymour out of the three of them, but more that she’d be the Better Boleyn/Cleves out of the three of them, ya with me ? And then same with second covers, they were best distributed elsewhere. But from a personal onion POV, I love Courtney Cleves, and I have such a soft spot for Grace Boleyn, but not the point ! But Vicki truly could’ve done Collette’s job imo.

ROLES I’D LIKE TO SEE OLIVIA IN.

Biggest ones right now are Cady Heron in Mean Girls, Nessarose Thropp in Wicked, and Katherine Howard in Six. I could also see her as a swing ( Howard/Parr, Seymour/Boleyn, Aragon/Cleves* ) and I’d just have to pray she never went on for Cleves, and if she were a U/S for Mean Girls, I could also see her covering Karen. I just think she’d make the most incredible Cady. You also know she’s my top pick for Riley for that Off West End production of We Are The Tigers at The Other Palace that we dream of -- I just don’t know how likely it is. Could also see her as Wednesday Addams, Ivy Robinson, Natalie Goodman, Wendla Bergmann, and basically all the ‘angsty teenager who belts her arse off’ roles. I can’t quite picture her as Lydia Deetz, but I think she has it in her. I just can’t see it in my head, but I know she could do it, y’know ? She can do angst very well, and does negative emotions very well, so I think any of those are perfect. Her only two professional roles thus far have been contemporary shows, but if we’re looking at classic ground too, she’d be a fucking marvellous Eponine. Liv has such a long career ahead of her, but I do really wish she could focus on younger, more youthful stuff for the time being -- she has so much time to grow into more mature stuff, that she then couldn’t go back to when older, so I feel like I really want her to soak it all up now. But she truly has the range, there’s so much she could do, I’m jazzed to see what’s next for her. Also if we’re talking in the future, Miss Honey in Matilda ?? Absolutely.  * possibly Howard/Seymour > Boleyn/Parr. Undecided. 

PENGUINS. 

They’re lovely ! I genuinely find them fascinating to watch. I love their lil waddles and the way they huddle together and put their babies on their feet to keep them warm. There used to be a wildlife park near where I live, and you could find the penguins there, I bloody loved doing that. They had a clear tank, too, so you could see them under the water, and they’re such graceful bastards, I love them. The biscuit is also very nice, too -- love that they have jokes on them.  

[frumfrumfroo]

Do you consider Rey to be the protagonist of the new trilogy? I know we see everything through her POV but... the lightsaber is Kylo's, the legacy, the family, the conflicts, the skills that she downloaded. Everything is about him and Rey is just there claiming those things because reasons. It's hard to see her as a non legacy character like that.

Yes? Thematically ‘everything’ is about him (in the same way that ‘everything’ was about Vader in the OT), but that doesn’t make her not the protagonist. She’s an outsider of humble origins come to shake things up and put things right. That’s a classic type of protagonist.

Like, for example, in LotR Aragon is the chosen one/exiled saviour/rightful king whose rule will restore the land. But Frodo is the protagonist. He’s this homey non-action normal person who gets sucked into the drama by circumstance, is specially able to bear the dangerous artefact because of who he is not what he is, and enables all of the characters with noble legacies and great destinies to fulfil their roles where they otherwise would have failed.

I don’t know about the ultimate fate of Anakin’s lightsabre and I agree with people who have questioned whether the way it was used symbolically in TFA (I haven’t answered your ask because I’m still thinking about it, btw) was consistent, but that aside, she doesn’t ‘lay claim’ to any of Ben’s legacy. She is helping him don his Skywalker mantle by confronting him with his identity and challenging his fatalism, but that doesn’t shift any of the burden to her at all. He carries it. You know, it’s like his redemption. She can and should help him every step of the way, but she can never repent for him or make the choice for him. Only he can do that.

Only he can restore and reconcile Anakin’s legacy. Her part in it is getting him to a position to be able to do that and probably rescuing him physically afterwards so he can live and finish his work. She’s the hero because she saves him and by saving him saves the galaxy (Luke also saved the galaxy by saving Vader, I do not want to hear one single thing about it being sexist for her big heroic act being to save someone with love- that’s how SW works), he’s the thematic lynchpin because he has the divine mandate and the legacy. The Skywalkers are the Fisherkings of the GFFA and this is exactly why it’s so necessary he be reclaimed.

This is Rian’s ‘two halves of our protagonist’ thing, because they split the aspects of a role that is often just one Chosen One. But in a technical sense, Rey is the protagonist. It’s not a status symbol and it doesn’t mean you get all the coolest stuff, it’s a descriptive term for position in the narrative. A tool based on how you’ve decided to tell the story. The ST is her coming of age story, it’s just that her coming of age constitutes getting mixed up in The Skywalker Drama and becomes the final chapter of that story because of its tightly paired development with Ben’s coming of age.

[alexenglish]

1, 16, 32? :)

1. Talk about the first ship you ever had.

I’m not sure if it was really my first but the one I remember was watching LOTR asking my mom if aragon and boromir were boyfriends because boromir’s death scene was the most tender moment I’d ever seen in my young life.

16. Talk about a ship you initially disliked.

uhhh I have a book series called shades of magic and like the MAIN ship I was not sold on until the very last book. I’m not even sure if I’m sold on it now but I respect the hustle.

32.Share five must-read fics. 

this is honestly SO hard for me, I’m just gunna go with my gut. I know so many good writers, narrowing it down to FIVE augh. I’ll try to get most of my major fandoms I’ve had in here!

I've Got Nothing To Do Today But Smile (The Only Living Boy in New York) by gyzym Inception, Arthur/Eames, T, a well-worn love, a comfort fic if you will. Inception is definitely a fandom where I prefer canon fic so of course an AU is going to be my favorite. I think it’s absolutely a necessary read if you’re in Inception fandom. it turned 9 this year, it’s got a lot of love attached to it.!

There's Monsters at Home by calrissian18 Teen Wolf, Sterek, E, monster of a fic, Spark!Stiles. every overdone cliche done to perfection, I think about this fic often and fondly. I thought the author captured Derek’s anger and trauma beautifully, and wrote Stiles into this AU in a way that was believable and enjoyable. usually overpowered versions of bamf!Stiles don’t do it for me, but I loved this fic so much. it’s my very last bookmark because it’s my oldest, most favorite fic on AO3.

it hurts to become by dinosaur, part of the infinity times infinity seriesOne Direction, OT5. finding this fic and @wepush felt like magic. I genuinely can’t describe the feeling I get when I read this fic, like hurty and healing and being seen in a way that feels wildly and uncomfortably intimate. I’ve thought about this fic so much, cried over it, loved it deeply. the first time I read it, I was filled with that soft kind of envy you get when you wish you wrote something. the second time, I was filled with relief that it existed and I got to read it. a must read for the poetry of the whole thing, the beautiful gender lense that Di brings to every fic, and the superior Niall pov.

What the Hell Do You Expect? Emotional Transparency? by clarz Bangtan, Hopekook. a masterclass in emotion tbh. I’ve waxed poetic about @clarz for years because I’ve had the honor of calling her one of my soulmates, brainstorming with her, and collaborating with her on a large scale projec, but this is another caliber of amazing. it was my first Bangtan fic and is still my favorite. Clara is an astounding, immersive, talented writer and it’s showcased in every word of this fic.

Protostellar by ninamonday Bangtan, Namkook, reincarnation/soulmate AU. my love of sci-fi, she prevails! this fic is absolutely beautiful. it’s stunningly written, and the plot is handled so well. I absolutely could not put it down. it’s just one of those fics that really stays with you for a long time.

[weekinethereum]

January 11, 2018

News and Links

Constantinople is coming. [Also, this is the January 11, 2019 issue but I can't fix the title without breaking links]

Upgrade your clients ASAP! EF FAQ and blog post. From MyCrypto, what users need to know about the Constantinople fork

Layer 1

[eth1] Rinkeby testnet forked successfully. Update your clients ASAP!

[eth2] What’s New in Eth2

[eth2] Latest Eth2 implementer call notes

[eth2] Validator economics of Eth2. Also a thorough Eth staking ROI spreadsheet model

[eth2] Discussion about storage rent “eviction archive” nodes and incentives

web3foundation, Status and Validity Labs update and call for participants on private, decentralized messaging, a la Whisper

Layer 2

Live on Rinkeby testnet: Plasma Ignis - often called “roll up” - 500 transactions per second using SNARKs for compression (not privacy), no delay to exit, less liveness requirements, multi-operator. Check out the live demo.

Georgios Konstantopoulos: A Deep Dive on RSA Accumulators

Canto: proposed new subprotocol to allow sidechain-like subnets

Fae: a subnet by putting Fae’s binary transactions in the data field

A RaidenNetwork deep dive explainer

Can watchtowers and monitoring services scale?

Counterfactual dev update: full end to end implementation of Counterfactual with demos and dev environment will be live on Ropsten in next 2 weeks

Stuff for developers

Embark v4.0.0-beta.0

Ganache v2.0.0-beta.2

ZeppelinOS v2.1

Updated EthereumJS readthedocs

Solidity CTF: mirror madness from authio

Solstice: 15 analyzer Solidity security tool

EVM code fuzzing using input prediction

Compound’s self-liquidation bug

Gas Stations Network, an incentivized meta transaction relay network, live on Ropsten

Understanding Rust lifetimes

How to quickly deploy to Görli cross-client testnet

Maker CDP leverager in one call

Codefund2.0 - sustainability for open source project advertising without 3rd party trackers

RSA accumulator in Vyper

Analyzing 1.2m mainnet contracts in 20 seconds using Eveem and BigQuery

0x Market Maker program. 15k to run a market making bot on a 0x relayer

POANet: Honey Badger BFT and Threshold Cryptography

Ecosystem

Afri’s Eth node configuration modes cheat sheet. A great accompaniment to Afri’s did Ethereum reach 1 tb yet?  The answer is obviously no, state plus chaindata is about 150 GB.

MyEtherWallet v5 is in beta and MEWConnect on Android

Ethereum Foundation major grant to Parity: $5m for ewasm, light wallet, and Eth2

Enterprise

What enterprises need to know about AWS’s Blockchain as a Service

2019 is the year of enterprise tokens?

Governance and Standards

Notes from latest core devs call, includes ProgPoW section. On that topic, IfDefElse put out a ProgPoW FAQ including responses from AMD and Nvidia. Also check understanding ProgPoW from a few months ago

Martin Köppelmann on the governance protocol of DXdao

Pando Network: DAOs and the future of content

EIP1682: storage rent

EIP1681: temporal replay protection

ERC1683: URLs with asset and onboarding functionality

ERC1690: Mortability standard

ERC820 Pseudo-introspection Registry Contract is final

ERC1155 multi-token standard to last call

Application layer

Demo testing on Kovan testnet of the Digix governance platform

Brave at 5.5m MAUs, up 5x in 2018. It also got much more stable over the year, and being able to use a private tab with TOR on desktop makes it a must (mobile has been a must for a long time). Here’s my referral code if you haven’t switched yet.

I saw some warnings about tokenized US equity DX.exchange that was in the last newsletter. I have no idea if they are legit or if the warnings are in bad faith but the reason that Szabo’s “trusted third parties are security holes” gets repeated frequently is because it is true. If you choose any cryptoasset that depends on custody of a third party, caveat emptor.

Origin now has editable listings and multiple item support

Nevada counties are storing birth and marriage certificates on Ethereum

Scout unveils its customizable token/protocol explorers for apps, live on Aragon and Livepeer

Veil prediction markets platform built on 0x and Augur launches Jan 15 on mainnet. Fantastic to see the app layer stack coming together. Not open to the USA because…federal government.

Gnosis on the problem of front running in dexes

Status releases desktop alpha, v0.9

Interviews, Podcasts, Videos, Talks

Joseph Lubin on Epicenter. Some good early Eth history here.

Curation Markets community call

Ryan Sean Adams on the case for Ether as money on POV Crypto

Nice Decrypt Media profile of Lane Rettig

Q&A with Mariano Conti, head of Maker Oracles

Andrew Keys on the American Banker podcast

Austin Griffith 2018 lessons learned talk at Ethereum Boulder

Starkware’s Eli Ben-Sasson and Alessandro Chiesa on Zero Knowledge

Nick Johnson talks ENS and ProgPoW on Into the Ether

Tokens / Business / Regulation

Paul Kohlhaas: bonding curve design parameters

Ryan Zurrer: Network keepers, v2

Zastrin to sell a tradeable NFT as a license to use its blockchain dev courses.

Sharespost says it did its first compliant security token trade of BCAP (Blockchain Capital). Link opens PDF

Actus Financial Protocol announces standard for tokenizing all financial instruments.

Missing DeFi piece: longer-term interest generating assets

Gemini’s rules for the revolution on working with regulators.

Blockchain Association proposes the Hinman Standard for cryptoassets

Blockchains LLC releases its 300 page Blockchain Through a Legal Lens

China released restrictive blockchain rules including censorship and KYC

Why Ether is Valuable

General

ETC got 51% attacked. Coinbase was first to announce it, though it appears the target was the gate.io exchange. Amusingly, the price hardly suffered. The amazing thing is that a widely known and relatively easily exploited attack vector like this didn’t happen during bull market when this attack could have been an order of magnitude more profitable.

Michael del Castillo tracks the supply chain of an entire dinner using blockchain products like Viant

Julien Thevenard argues Ethereum is on par or safer than Bitcoin in terms of proof of work.

Coindesk video interview of the creator of HODL. He isn’t at all convinced by Bitcoin’s new “store of value” meme. Very entertaining use of 8 minutes.

That very odd Bitcoin nonce pattern. Phil Daian says it is caused by AntMiners

Researchers brute force attack private keys of poorly implemented ECDSA nonce generation.

Dates of Note

Upcoming dates of note (new in bold):

Jan 14 - Mobi Grand Challenge hackathon ends

Jan 10-Feb7 - 0x and Coinlist virtual hackathon

Jan ~16 - Constantinople hard fork at block 7080000

Jan 24 - List of things for Aragon vote, including on funding original AragonOne team

Jan 25 - Graph Day (San Francisco)

Jan 29-30 - AraCon (Berlin)

Jan 31 - GörliCon (Berlin)

Feb 7-8 - Melonport’s M1 conf (Zug)

Feb 15-17 - ETHDenver hackathon (ETHGlobal)

Mar 4 - Ethereum Magicians (Paris)

Mar 5-7 - EthCC (Paris)

Mar 8-10 - ETHParis (ETHGlobal)

Mar 27 - Infura end of legacy key support (Jan 23 begins Project ID prioritization)

April 8-14 - Edcon hackathon and conference (Sydney)

Apr 19-21 - ETHCapetown (ETHGlobal)

May 10-11 - Ethereal (NYC)

If you appreciate this newsletter, thank ConsenSys

This newsletter is made possible by ConsenSys.

I own Week In Ethereum. Editorial control has always been 100% me.

If you're unhappy with editorial decisions or anything that I have written in this issue, feel free to tweet at me.

Housekeeping

Archive on the web if you’re linking to it: http://www.weekinethereum.com/post/181942366088/january-11-2018

Cent link for the night view: https://beta.cent.co/+81o82u

https link: Substack

Follow me on Twitter, because most of what is linked gets tweeted first: @evan_van_ness

If you’re wondering “why didn’t my post make it into Week in Ethereum?”

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[dannyphantomluver2]

American Victorious Twilight winx titans phantom book 1

Authors note -

Sorry for the long wait for A new stories don't hurt me! ( hides behind Danny)

this is based off A Larping thing me and my friends do.

MY FIRST CROSSOVER YES!

Danny Phantom Season 4 crossovers

I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING THEY ARE OWNED BY WHAT they're OWNED BY COPYRIGHT IS Nick, Disney, Rainbow,4 kids TV, cartoon network/boomerang, Summit Entertainment.

DP Winxclub ADJ L Victorious Twilight, Teen Titans

this has nothing to do with any of my other stories so Dani hasn't returned yet.

Danny - I HAVE COUSINS OTHER THAN DANI!

Me - Yes now shut up and let's get to it

Some are introduced before others

I've been trying really hard and I think I got the writing down, let me know thanks.

Post PP

6 months after PP

and after

ADJL Series Final

Twilight American Winx Titans Victorious Phantom

No one's POV

Amity Park

It was A Typical Normal Day In Amity Park. Kids heading to School People heading to work.Ghosts attacking, What!.? that's not normal?! you ask. Well, it is to me you see Amity Park is the most haunted city in the world.How do we protect ourselves you say?

Well we don't protect ourselves you see Danny Phantom does who revealed himself to being Danny Fenton the son of professional ghost hunters ironic, isn't it? He saved the planet from the Disasteroid and revealed his secret to the world. So let's see how he's doing.

Danny's Pov

Sam and I were walking to my house after our date at the Amity Bowling Alley, I won by two. It was Friday so that meant date night for us.It's just not as private since I revealed myself after the Disasteroid Incident. The Camera crew of Amity Park News was A few feet ahead of us. Which meant the Paparazzi and Fans weren't far behind. I grabbed the mail As we entered Fenton Works. Scheming through the mail I noticed A specific one with A Chinese symbol of A Dragon on it. It was addressed to my Mother. Sam looked at me concerned, I must have spaced out. ''What is it? she asks, ''A Letter addressed to my Mom.''What's that Emblem on the Envelope?. ''A Dragon I say still examining the Envelope, she gave me A bewildered look.'' I don't understand either maybe I should give this to my Mom and ask Questions later. Sam nodded in agreement and we headed down to the Lab.

New York

Jake's POV

''Yo Mom what's with All the Packing! I asked as I entered the house and stared at all the Clothing around the Living room.''We have A Family reunion at Aunt Kathy's my annoying goody-goody little sister Hailey said glancing up from her book. ''Whaaaat, I say glancing at my Mom. ''Now Jake I know you don't care for your Aunt Kathy or cousin Gregory.''Which I quite frankly agree with you about. '' But It would be A good gesture, besides certain family members I haven't seen In A long time will hopefully be there.''Who Mommy? my sister says in her little perky annoying voice. ''My Sister's Maddie Fenton, Miriam Sparks, and Alisha Wu.'' I haven't seen them in years. '' If you saw them you wouldn't think we were related. She said chuckling slightly.''We never told you this but your Grandmother was American. ''She was born here not one ounce of Chinese in her blood. ''Wow Mommy! that's interesting ! ''right Jake? said, Hailey. ''Ya whateves,' I said.''When are we leaving? ''Next Saturday she tells me. ''Do you know if they have any kids?Hailey asks our Mom with excitement in her voice. ''Probably honey but maybe around Jake's age. I saw my Eleven-year-old sis bow her head in sorrow before I said goodbye. ''Alright I'm gonna head over to Gramps shop see yaz. I tell her before heading out then Dragoning up and heading to Gramps shop.

AmityPark

Danny's POV

'' Mom? you down here?! I yelled down the kitchen stairs that led down to my Parent's Lab. '' Yes Sweety. I hear her say. As we head down to the Lab, where we saw her in her usual Jumpsuit with Hood and goggles on, tinkering with the Spector deflector. I shuddered hoping she modified it to work with me than against me. ''Uh?Mom? I yelled over Mom's fire flare. ''Sam and I just got here and I got the mail and theirs one that really got our attention! I finally got my Mom's attention when she stopped what she was doing and took off her hood to look at me with those Amethyst eyes. ''What got your attention? she asked. ''This letter it's addressed to you with some Dragon symbol on it. I said as I handed her the letter. .We waited while she opened and read the letter her eyes bulged as if something horrible happened. ''What's wrong Mom? I asked after two minutes of A very awkward silence. ''It's A letter from my Cousin Kathy theirs A Wu Family Reunion Next Monday and since it's Spring break we have time to pack but Knowing Susan she Probably already started packing. ''Really Should we start Packing? I said looking at her curiously. ''Yes it's Next Saturday.'' I'll tell your Sister when she gets home. ''Well Sam and I are going to go meet Tucker for patrol I said. ''Alright sweety Oh you still need to tell me and your Father how you became Half Ghost. ''I will after Patrol alright? I told her, ''Sure sweety she says. ''Bye Mom I said before grabbing Sam by the hand and leading her up the stairs. ''Bye Mrs. Fenton, Sam says as we head out the front door.

New York

Jake's POV

We were ready for the Reunion we just needed to pack all of Gramps Magical Mojo.''Yo G, I said while picking up A box.''What'sThe Deal with the Reunion! all of A sudden it's messing with my Schedule Rose and I were going to go on A Date? ''Young Dragon you and I both know that you as the American Dragon has many responsibilities even if it's sometimes not Dragon related. G told me.

in Jakes' head

It's hard to believe him he always looks like he's pulling something.

out of it but still spaced out

''Sometimes that includes Family get together's like this. ''Aya! '' Jake are you even listening to me! (back to Earth) ''Sorry G, it's just I don't want to see the same annoying Family we see every year. ''This reunion will be different young one. ''How? I asked. ''My Daughter's Alisha, Miriam, and Maddie may come this year. ''Why hadn't they come before. I asked. ''Alisha had no children and thought being A dragon was unuseful so she skipped her Generation like your Mother. ''Miriam and Aunt Maddie didn't but I don't think they use it much. ''But they have gifted Children Miriam with her Fairy abilities and Maddie with Brains much like your sister. ''Maddie went to Wisconsin University Where she met your Uncle Jack. ''Another son In law out of the Chinese line no Dragon powers. My Grandfather said disappointedly shaking his head.''Miriam went to Alfea school for Fairies. ''Wait wait wait fairies? as in this size fairies. I said demonstrating An inch the size of A toothpick. ''Well no human size but she can miniaturize. ''Did they have Children? I asked. ''They did Maddie and Jack has two kids Jasmine and Daniel Fenton. ''Really? ''Yes Jasmine is seventeen and Daniel is fifteen. ''Miriam soon left the Palace and Married King Oritel of the planet Sparks. '' ''Whaaaaat?'' King, Queen? I said confused by all means .''Oh, I forgot to mention you your sister and your Cousins are Royalty young one.''Sorry, we never told you but you were too young to understand. ''It's ok ''When's the Reunion? I asked. ''Next Saturday G said. ''Oh alright where's Fu? ''Out with A poodle G says. ''Of course, I say. ''Well catch you later G. ''Goodbye young one. He says as I head out the door to head to my Date with Rose.

Amity Park

Danny's POV

''I'll miss you. Sam tells me as we were packing the R.V to head to the Airport to go to New York. ''I'll miss you too, I tell her. ''You sure you and Tuck can handle AmityPark without me for the weekend? ''Of course, Go mingle with your Family. ''Alright I love you. she tells me. '' I love you to tell her. She then grabs the collar of my shirt and gives me the most passionate kiss I had ever felt from her since we started our relationship.

''See you soon. she tells me. ''See you, I say getting into the R.V sitting next to my Sister, Just as the R.V started up and we rode off out of AmityPark heading to the Airport to head to New York to meet my Mom's side of the Family. I hope they don't think I'm odd because of my powers. Because I know they heard the News after I saved the Planet.

Jake's POV

''I'll miss you. My Girlfriend Rose tells me. ''I'll miss you too I tell her.

She gives me A kiss and leaves. ''Come on Jakaroo my Dad tells me If you want to meet your new Cousins you better hurry and get in the car. ''Dad? ''You Just Found out six months ago that you married into A Family of Magical Reptiles.''You really want to go diving head first into it. '' I mean they're probably going to freak when they find out you know. ''Mom what about the Dragon Council? ''Well Jake I just don't know she tells me. Awwww Maaaannn.

No one's POV

Little Did the Ghost Boy and the American Dragon knew is that Prince Aragon and the Dark Dragon would team up to defeat The American Dragon and the Infamous Danny Phantom.

Author's note

HURRAY! MY FIRST CHAPTER OF MY FIRST CROSSOVER YEAH! MORE WILL COME AND I PROMISE IT WILL GET BETTER. THANKS FOR READING REVIEW! DANNY AND JAKE WANT YA TO.

Jake - Dooooooooooo itttttt doooooooo it

Danny - you know you want to. We know you want to right Cuz?

Jake - Oh ya yo press that fav and follow button!

Danny - Press it press it press iiitt!

Box Ghost - BEWARE! Do not press the mysterious button of horror!

Danny - Press itttt! SHUT UP BOXGHOST! BE RIGHT BACK ( BEATS UP THE BOX GHOST IN 15 SECONDS AND SUCKS HIM IN THE THERMOS) WHERE WAS I OH YA PRESS THE BUTTONS!

[ao3feed-tywin]

A Shadowed Path

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2vowJsd

by lostchildofthenewworld

The original heads of the dragon shared the same mother and father, so too must these new heads.

Princess Elia Martell returns to Dorne after having her marriage annulled and being publicly repudiated by King Rhaegar the First of His Name in favor of his new wife, Queen Lyanna Stark.

Dorne is at the precipice with their anger, the amount of disrespect shown to not only their beloved Princess but also to Prince Lewyn Martell who was slain in battle, not for his niece but for folly.

It has always been said that Elia has a sweet wit about her, but her time as a hostage to the Mad King has taught her many things. For the past year she has learned to walk in the shadows of the Red Keep in order to stay the ire of the Mad King.

Returning to Dorne is not the sweet girl that left it.

Words: 2376, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Series: Part 2 of The Sun & The Light

Fandoms: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, Game of Thrones (TV)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, Multi

Characters: Elia Martell, Oberyn Martell, Doran Martell, Mellario of Norvos, Arianne Martell, Obara Sand, Nymeria Sand, Tyene Sand, Sarella Sand, Rhaenys Targaryen (Daughter of Elia), Rhaegar Targaryen, Lyanna Stark, Arthur Dayne, Tywin Lannister, Jaime Lannister, Jon Snow, Viserys Targaryen, Rhaella Targaryen, Daenerys Targaryen, Original Characters, Jade Han (OFC), Mehmed Han (OMC)

Relationships: Elia Martell/Original Male Character(s), Oberyn Martell/Original Female Character(s), Doran Martell/Mellario of Norvos, Rhaegar Targaryen/Lyanna Stark (minor), Rhaegar Targaryen/Elia Martell (past), Doran Martell & Elia Martell & Oberyn Martell

Additional Tags: Elia Martell Lives, POV Elia Martell, Queen Elia Martell, Oberyn Martell Lives, Elia Martell-centric, Rhaenys Targaryen Lives, Rhaenys will be renamed to Deria (I'll explain in ch 1 I cackled), Dark Magic, Swords, Politically savvy Elia Martell, Justice for Elia Martell, Justice for Dorne, Dorne centric, OC Male Inspired by history: Mehmed the Conqueror/Cesare Borgia/Jaluudin Akbar, Elia inspired by: Margaret Beaufort/Katherine of Aragon/Joanne of Arc, Essosi Empire, Mother Rhoyne, Elia will be a queen, Anti Rhaegar Targaryen, Rhaegar Targaryen Being an Asshole, anti lyanna stark, If you are fans of either of them leave now this is Dorne return at your peril, Great Moraq centric, Machiavellian characters, Elia Martell & Deria Sand (Deria Martell), Elia Martell & Jade Han (OFC), Jade Han (OFC) & Mehmed Han (OMC), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Robert's Rebellion, Alternate Universe - Rhaegar Won

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2vowJsd

[moviesomnambulist]

THE MOVIE SOMNAMBULIST #27 -- Blood Mania

BLOOD MANIA is dead awesome at what it aims to be, and even better at the rationale I made up that they probably never thought about at all. The filmmakers clearly wanted a softcore nasty with lots of nudity and they got that. They also made a deconstructionist erotic thriller. It actually goes a bit farther than that. With a couple of exceptions, you have literally heard every single line uttered in this thing in a load of other movies. Even lines like "Didn't you know? I'm listed in the Yellow Pages under 'Sex'," or "Victoria, we're young souls; young and evil" might as well have been in a bunch of other movies. Now I'm going to tell you something that may freak you out a little. Lots of nerds (yes, like me) only recently became aware that an actress named Maria de Aragon played Greedo in Star Wars. If the thought of this turned you on even a little, this movie was made by God for you. Maria is naked all over this thing and she's pretty amazing. BLOOD MANIA was directed by Robert O'Neill, who also directed ANGEL and AVENGING ANGEL. He also wrote the classic VICE SQUAD. My Golden Age of Playboy Centerfolds alarm went off twice, after spotting Reagan Wilson and Vicki Peters. One of the two non-nude performances was by a lady I remember from a MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. episode (The Thrush Roulette Affair). The oddball connections almost knocked me clean over. The movie wrestles with its less-convoluted-than-it-looks plot and its goal of showing naked women in vaguely Argento-like lighting schemes and camera angles. There are a lot of what we now read as killer POV shots when the idea is merely to disorient. O'Neill seems more informed by Russ Meyer than Argento, and for this I thank him. It can only be an homage to RM when Victoria strips for the poolboy and we get a sudden zoom shot of Victoria's boobs. Even the sex and drug sequences have that Meyer sensibility, with quick cuts, gorgeous statuesque women and crazy angles. Victoria (de Aragon) kept reminding me of Erica Gavin. Heck, even the leading man was in VIXEN! But enough trivia; the plot's important! A rich old doctor is recovering at home from a heart problem. He has a doting nurse (the other non-nude actress in the movie) and Victoria to look over him. Daddy and Victoria hate each other. Whenever Dr. Cooper (from the clinic Daddy runs) comes to check on him, Daddy laughs at Victoria's efforts to get him into bed. In this respect, this is an anti-Russ Meyer film. It's a man's world even when the men don't amount to much. Victoria even tries to seduce the poolboy, but he runs in terror when she makes her move. Anyways, Dr. Cooper is happily married and isn't succumbing to Victoria's advances. But Dr. Cooper has a . . . say it with me kids . . . a deep dark secret. Plus he has a blackmailer, Mr. Mills, a tiparillo-smoking douchebag of the sort that Steve Coogan could play in his sleep. Turns out Dr. Cooper performed abortions while in Med School to make ends meet. Mills wants 50 thousand bucks in two weeks or he'll have Cooper arrested. BLOOD MANIA was made three years before Roe v Wade, see. Cooper confides in his wife during her second nude scene and she says they'll find a way to pay Mills off. Wait, no, he tells her during her third nude scene. Her second nude scene was during Cooper and Mills' conversation about the money. Cooper asks his wife to go into the next room while he and Mills talk. The acting's so dreadful and the dialogue so damn bad that we are treated to a cutaway of Mrs. Cooper eavesdropping on the conversation while stripping. This movie knows how to cover its shortcomings. Indeed, every time I started to write down crappy dialogue examples, one of the three female leads took her shirt off. This strategy has fallen away in recent years. But BLOOD MANIA doesn't waste its treasures, no sir. I lost track of the number of nude scenes, and yet it managed to keep the excuses fairly reasonable. But, I’m kind of a pushover. So Cooper is a good guy in a bad situation, right? Well, I suppose he is, right up until Victoria shows him a painting she made and then kisses him. Oh, and she says she can take care of the $50K. So, down the rabbit hole he goes. In bed, Victoria cracks a popper under Cooper's nose and triggers a psychedelic sequence. There's no real body-on-body business (well, a bit later on, but there's an actual plot reason), just fast cuts and lots of sexual touching while standing. The movie manages to feel pretty sleazy while keeping a mostly chaste gap between lovers--room enough between you for the Holy Ghost, as the nuns used to say at the dance. So Cooper tells Victoria that poppers are dangerous, especially if you have a heart condition. Victoria goes straight into Daddy's room and cracks one under his nose and he dies. Next scene, a lawyer tells Victoria that it'll be two weeks before the reading of the will, and you start to think the rest of the movie will play out in that time. Ha! It goes BAM, Victoria's sister Gail and her mature ladyfriend Kate appear and BAM, it's will time. There are a few lead-pipe hints that Gail and Kate are a couple, and Kate even warns Cooper off of Gail. Kate's pretty astute. There are later scenes where Kate, Gail, and the nurse are sitting around enjoying each other's company and you wonder what a film of that would have been like. They seem to genuinely like each other. Anyways, since there's thirty more minutes in the movie, Victoria's plans are thwarted when the nurse gets a small chunk of the estate and Gail gets the rest. Since Victoria can't give Cooper his $50K now, he immediately seduces Gail. Kate is powerless to stop this, because in this movie's game of cock-paper-scissors, cock beats scissors. Cooper takes Gail to a freaking REN FAIRE and scores, having sex with her in the living room that night. That's marking your territory. Kate knows she's beaten, so she packs and leaves that night. She does not return. Speaking of which, what happened to Mrs. Cooper? Well, Mr. Mills visits her to hear her offer: sex with her to let Dr. Cooper off the hook. He says sure and proceeds to rape her. Afterwards he says she wasn't very good and indicates that the money's still owed. For the sin of being an inadequate rape victim, the movie hands her a red card and she does not return. Yeesh. Victoria is now recovering from a wooly-headed freak-out she had at the will reading. She's in Daddy's old room, locked in for her own safety. The nurse mentions the possibility of putting her in a hospital, which is one of the more deliciously catty moments in the film because Victoria and the nurse hate the holy hell out of each other but they never quite have a big fight. It's the only unconsummated relationship in the movie, lemme tell ya. There's even a wild bit when Cooper is having sex with Gail on the living room floor that bears a bit of analysis. He's on top, all is well. But then Gail starts flashing back to a time when apparently Daddy used to rape her in the same position (hinted at in the confusing opening sequence but clear now). We flash back and forth between current nice sex and old bad sex and she starts to freak out. But Cooper doesn't even notice and soldiers on, and soon the flashes stop and she's enjoying herself. Cock beats everything in this movie. Victoria ends up beating Gail's brains in, but not before Gail strips down one more time. They do not miss a single opportunity in this movie. It wants to entertain you. Cooper comes over, freaks out at Gail's corpse, then decides that instead of using his magic dork to wipe the rape memories out of his own wife, he'll help dispose of the body and stick with Victoria. He puts Gail's body in his car and goes back in to give Victoria some instructions when AAAAAAAAAAA there's Gail's corpse standing by the door! After a second Gail goes thump on the floor and we see that she was being held up by Mr. Mills, whose price just went way up. More movies need to end with the "you're so screwed" moment. The 70s are full of them--think THE TAKING OF PELHAM ONE TWO THREE. Stayed awake for the whole thing because: "I did it for you." "For me?" "He was going to die anyway." "Victoria. That was your father." "Don't look at me like that." "How the hell do you want me to look at you?" Only here does the movie fail us by not having Victoria take her top off. Every other time, this movie pays like a slot machine. Six wide awake eyes for this one. (One eye equals 15 minutes of runtime.)

I jumped this entry up because of the impending Vinegar Syndrome Blu-Ray release of BLOOD MANIA. Synergy!

[czuritaa]

Queens in the 21st Century

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Parr's POV

I'm sitting in a bed that's in the middle of a room that was mainly blue. The last thing I remember was waiting for Howard and Boleyn to approach us, a girl appearing out of nowhere, a light and then waking up here.

I walk out of the room. There's a large hall with other three doors. I realized that there was another door inside mine, maybe that was the bathroom and that explains why the hallway is so big.

I went to the door in front of me where an "AC" was written. I knocked and opened slightly the door. Inside it was a nice mix of yellow, orange and red. On the bed was Anna laying.

I approached her and tried to wake her up.

- Cleves, wake up.

- Five more minutes mum.- she grabbed the blankets, put them on her head and turned her back to me.

I snorted and then I grabbed the blankets and pulled them. She fell after that to the ground.

She let something out in German, maybe a curse word, before raising her head up and send me an annoyed look.

- What?

- Did you realize where you are?

- I was sleeping in a soft... Bed?- she got up with a confused face and looked around.- Was zur Hölle?

- What?- now I was the confused one.

- What the hell.- she translated.

I just nodded. We went to the door next to mine where a 'J' was witten. I guess I know who is inside.

We knocked and a mumbled 'come in' was heard from inside. We opened and saw Jane sitting on the bed in a gray, but majestic, room. She was staring, deeply in thought, at the wall.

- Jane, it's us. Parr and Cleves.- Cleves stated for her. She looked at us and I could notice how the tense on her muscles was gone.

- Let's find the others.

We helped her to get up from her bed and in the hallway was my godmother, Aragon, with an annoyed look while Boleyn was holding onto her.

- Hi girls.- Aragon said in the moment she saw us. Boleyn turned fast to look at us.

- Did you see Kitty?- she said in a panicked voice.

- Don't worry, all of us had a room. She'll be in one too. I saw stairs over there before.- I said trying to calming her and Jane, who started to panic too.

- I came from there.- Boleyn continued.

- Let's look. Maybe there's another door you didn't see.

After I said that she nodded and we went upstairs. The first door on the right had an 'AB' on the door. I looked on the left where the door had a 'K' on it.

- Boleyn.- I pointed the door and she went the fastest she could to open it. Inside was a 'happy and funny' room. It was the definition of a teen room. A bunch of colors over a main one, a light pink in this case. On the bed was Howard starting to wake up.

- Annie?

- I'm here.- she approached to her and hugged her cautiously.- I'm here.- murmured this time.

Howard hold to her tighter. It was a cute scene.

We heard a noise from downstairs. Aragon and Seymour, being the oldest and taking the roles of mums to all of us, went down the first. On the first floor it was an open concept of kitchen, living room and dining room. On the couch was someone sitting. The girl from before.

- Who are you?- asked Jane in a calm voice.

She got up and stand in front of us.

- Nice to meet you. I'm Victoria, your guardian angel.

She had a purple sweater and black jeans, because they look like the ones I saw before around the street. Her short black hair remarcked her face and the gray glasses she was wearing gave her a serious face but I think she is funnier than she look.

- Angels do exist?- a shy Howard asked.

- Yes little Katherine. If you make me the favor to sit, I'll explain some things first.

We all took a seat on the couch and Victoria stood in front of us.

- First of all. Welcome to your second chance.

[czuritaa]

Queens in the 21st Century

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Aragon's POV

I woke up to silence. Yesterday was really weird, to say the least.

I got out of my room. The three rooms on the first floor were silent and with the door shut. I walked a bit upstairs to see Boleyn's and Howard's doors open but any sound came from inside.

I sighed, there was a really peaceful silence and I took advantage of it.

I walked downstairs as quiet as I could. I entered the kitchen where a silver box laid on the counter. I opened it to see money and a note.

Dear Queens,

I let some coffee and hot chocolate and something for breakfast. I hope you enjoy it.

Victoria.

Ha, guess it wasn't a dream. Instead to eat my breakfast I decided to wait for someone, mostly Seymour and Cleves, to wake up.

To distract myself until someone gets up I grabbed a book and went straight to the living room but what I saw shocked me.

I grabbed a camera, something that was explained yesterday, and took a picture of that.

Of Boleyn and Seymour sleeping together on the couch.

After letting my book and the camera on the coffee table, I approach to Seymour and gently wake her up.

- Seymour...

- What?- she said half asleep.

- What are you doing sleeping on the couch?

At that she opened her eyes completely and looked around.

- Oh goodness. Yesterday I was reading a book when Anne came to me, we talked for a bit but I told her to sleep and I ended up asleep as well.- she said with a sheepish smile.

- It's alright. By the way, I found the box Victoria told us yesterday and a note that said that she made breakfast. Do you want to eat now?

- Sure.

She got up gently, putting Boleyn out of the embrace they were in. Luckily she didn't wake up.

We headed to the kitchen and warmed up the coffee, as it was explained before to us in the note.

We took a sip of it. It's not that bad, I like it.

We grabbed some bread and sat on the table in the dining room.

I went to start a conversation with her when we heard footsteps coming downstairs. Cleves and Cathy appeared seconds after.

- Morning.- Cathy said with a yawn.

- Guten Morgen!- Cleves stated with a lot of energy.

- Morning girls.- Seymour answered with her typical sweet smile.

- Buenos días.- I got up and gave a kiss on my goddaughter head.- There's coffee on the kitchen.

They turned to me with a confused face and Seymour and I laughed at that.

We explained how to do it and Seymour offered to help them, doing as well two mugs with hot chocolate for Boleyn and Howard because, and I quote, "Kitty is too young for this and I don't want to look after an hyper Anne."

***********

We've been for a couple of minutes, 10 to be exact, when Howard appeared on the dining room at the same time as Boleyn.

- Morning sweeties.- How can someone be that nice in the morning? Oh, yeah... Seymour.

- Morning.- both said at the same time with a sleepy tone.

Seymour got up and warmed their hot chocolates a bit before coming back and give it to them.

- Thanks.- they said again. I think they have their minds connected.

They popped beside Seymour, together, and started giving small sips to their mugs.

- You look like twins today.- Thanks Cathy, you read my mind.

The cousins looked at each other and started laughing about the small coincidences they have been doing since they woke up.

- So,- Cleves started.- the plan of today is give the chores and start planning about the show.

Howard flinched at the mention of the show and got herself closer to Boleyn who embrace her in a side hug.

- Yeah, we can work out in pairs. Have someone to help you in your song.

When Seymour said that we all nodded.

- I think,- Cathy started.- that it's better to work with the ones we have more confidence right now.

- Yeah, Kitten asked me yesterday to help her with her song so we are working together.- Boleyn stated.

- Good. If you don't mind, I'd like to work with Cathy.

- Fine Aragon, I don't have any problem to work with Jane.- Anna turned to look at Jane and they smiled at each other as accepting to work together.

- Before we start. Next to my bed was a note from Victoria and said that we should start by just doing the lyrics or the idea of what we want to say and then work on the music.

We accepted the conditions that Cathy stated for Victoria and started talking about the chores.