#there’s only one quarter or so of it left to go (not including a bunch of rewriting i plan to do for the prince justin + suliman plotline)

[cynicalmusings]

i’ve barely written any hmc today, which suffice to say isn’t great. i thought chapter sixteen would be easy to write, but that is not the case. the main thing holding me up is how to slip details, foreshadowing, exposition, etc. into the dialogue without it coming across as too obvious or unnatural. i’ll get it done eventually, but unless the writing gods shine every ounce of their power on me, it definitely won’t be by the end of the weekend.

[penny-anna]

travelling home after christmas today

checking my tickets this morning to make sure everything is in order. realise i somehow booked a 2-stage journey with a change at Doncaster rather than a direct ticket.

aw fuck. :(

report this to my sister who suggests trains might not be running as usual. assure her that it's definitely my fault

arrive at station. my train is at 13:03. there is also a direct Edinburgh train at 13:00. longingly watch the direct train depart. :(

my train is somehow running 5 minutes late in spite of starting at King's Cross?? wym you're running late. you haven't been anywhere.

anyway this is a problem bcos i only have 11 minutes to change at Doncaster.

train also doesn't start boarding until maybe 2 minutes before scheduled departure. there are around 200 people trying to board. we are not leaving at 13:08.

finally leave at around quarter past. yeah i am not making this connection. i didn't have a seat reserved so no great loss.

notice that the app now says my connecting train is delayed due to 'overcrowding'. ehh i don't think i want to get that train anyway.

the connecting train isn't delayed enough for my to catch it. phew, i think, bullet dodged!!

the next train to Edinburgh arrives. it was also delayed leaving Kings Cross for the same unclear reasons as my original train. it's booked solid but the screen says there are seats available in coach C so off i go.

attempt to board the train. the vestibule is so full of people that im honestly not sure i can fit.

manage to fit. oh fuck. oh this is not a good train to be on.

various people are scouting out coach C in seach of seats and come back without. decide to make a trip myself as they were a couple and i'm a lone traveller so might have more success.

i have my big rucksack on + an extra bag so im just barging my way through there. there's people standing in the aisle. way unpassable.

return to the vestibule.

someone has left a very large buggy in the vestibule, unfolded, seemingly abandoned, unbelievably in the way.

someone suggests that we could fold the buggy. everyone agrees this is a good idea but no-one is the buggy's owner.

i ask if anyone knows who the buggy belongs to and someone points to a woman halfway down the carriage, beyond a bunch more standing people.

people are needing to get through to the bathroom. attempt to put myself on the other side of the buggy to clear a path. almost get stuck bcos w all my bags i am just so so large.

manage to get to the other side of the buggy and take off my backpack so i'm not taking up so much space. add my backpack to the luggage piled in front of the luggage rack.

someone returns from the adjoining vestibule with news of more space for luggage, suggests we move the buggy

collectively manage to get the buggy's owner over. she tells us she is travelling alone with 5 children. now feel kind of bad about being annoyed by the buggy.

buggy is too wide to go to the next vestibule without being folded. she say she can't fold it because it's got bags in it and there's nowhere to put the bags.

it's pointed out that she can put the bags in the other luggage rack where there is (apparently) more space. the buggy is removed and we all have space to actually move around.

my rucksack is at constant risk of fallling off the luggage pile and it's on the other side of the carriage door so not much i can do. another passenger is kindly keeping it in place for me.

also a problem w standing on long haul trains is that they are just not designed for it so there's nowhere to hold on and i almost fall into people several times.

okay we are coming up on York. maybe, i think optimistically, a bunch of people will get off at York (it's a big station) and things will improve

ohh god things do not improve

more people pile into the vestibule including a couple with a very large suitcase and a baby

suitcase has nowhere to go except the middle of the corridor. couple debate whether they should just get off the train and find alternative transport. woman says (reasonably) that she doesn't want to stand holding the baby for 3 hours to Edinburgh.

before they can come to a conclusion the train leaves

predictably the vestibule is now home to a crying baby

a man comes out of the coach w a bag from the buffet service. asks politely if he can get through so he can go back to his seat.

oh we are SO sorry but you are going to be here a while :(

manage to get my rucksack properly onto the luggage rack :)

after a while the man w the buffet car bag says that at the next station he's going to get off the train and back on at the next entrance in hope of getting back to his seat

we wish him godspeed. he gets off the train. never see him again. i hope he made it.

we are now not far from Durham. very large man w a very large bag comes through, smacks everyone with his bag, and then almost dislodges my backpack taking his suitcase out from underneath it

announces confidently which side the train doors will open on.

ok we have a shot here. on my previous recce i noticed a whole group of seats marked reserved to Durham. tell myself that i must act swiftly and decisively when we get to Durham.

by this point im having significant foot pains from too much train standing.

we arrive at Durham. the big group mentioned leaves and then a reshuffle commences

family of 5 kids mentioned previously (remember them??) are moving to take over the vacated table. observing events it looks like there's going to be 1 free seat left.

there's 2 people closer to the seat and i can't just barge past them BUT they are together. ask if one of them wants the seat.

they do not want the seat!!

move swiftly & decisively to take the seat.

it is covered and i mean covered in popcorn but i will take what i can get at this stage.

from beneath the seats me and some other helpul passengers retrieve a dropped pair of gloves, a hat and a toy Sonic the Hedgehog which we return to their owners.

finally sit.

take off coat put in eye drops begin drinking delicious 7up i've been carrying since kings cross etc.

at the next stop the person in the other seat leaves and am joined by another of the group from the vestibule. we sit and quietly read our books :3

[roosterforme]

Always Ever Only You Part 1 | Rooster x Reader

Summary: As newlyweds, you and Bradley know what you want. But sometimes wanting something isn't enough when those things suddenly seem unattainable. But you do have each other, and you fight to try to remember that.

Warnings: Fluff, smut, angst, swearing

Length: 3600 words

Pairing: Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female Reader

This was written to accompany my series Is It Working For You? along with a bunch of my one-shots and other series, but it can be read on its own! Check my masterlist for the reading order. Gorgeous banner by @mak-32 (This story as themes of Bradley and his wife trying to get pregnant.)

You woke up too early for work. Bradley was still sound asleep as you carefully rolled away from him and slipped out of bed. The feeling of anxious energy flowed too fast through your veins. You'd felt like this every day for the past week, and you couldn't make it stop. 

There was too much going on with work and at home, and now you'd reached the last week of January. Your boss had assured you weeks ago that he'd be putting your paperwork through for a promotion this month. You were supposed to be included with the first quarter cycle. But he hadn't said a word about it in weeks, months. And now you were going to have to schedule a meeting with him and bring it up.

"Morning, Baby Girl," Bradley rasped behind you. He startled you even though you'd been standing in front of the bathroom mirror, apparently staring at nothing. 

"Morning," you whispered before turning to face him. "It's early."

Bradley grunted and wrapped you up in his arms. His hands were immediately underneath his soft UVA tee that you loved to sleep in. "Mmhmm," he hummed. "Was hoping maybe you got up early so we could spend a little longer in the shower?"

You looked up into his big, brown eyes and at his messy bedhead. He was honestly the most handsome man you'd ever seen in your life. When he reached for your left hand and brought it up to his lips, you nodded as he kissed your rings.

"You know what, Roo...that's exactly why I got up so early." 

He smiled against your fingers, his mustache brushing your knuckles. He was big and a little hard now through his boxer briefs. And somehow that's all it really took. The feeling of need started thrumming through your body, slowly replacing your anxiety with desire for your husband. He'd barely touched you yet, one hand holding yours and the other at your waist, but you felt so much more comfortable when his hands were on you. 

"Is that what you want?" you asked him, running your fingers along the waistband of his underwear. You had been trying to delicately add an extra layer of consent to sex with Bradley ever since he told you about his first time. Maybe he noticed, maybe he didn't, but he bent down and kissed behind your ear.

"Of course," he rasped, and you started reaching for the shower door handle. The tee shirt and Bradley's underwear ended up on the bath mat, but he carefully folded up your glasses and set them on the vanity. You ducked under the spray of warm water, and a few seconds later, Bradley was there too, lips on yours with your back pressed against the tile wall. 

You laughed softly as he used one big hand on your butt and the other between your shoulder blades to keep the cold sensation of the tile from your skin. "What's funny?" he asked before sucking so hard on your neck that your laugh was replaced with a little squeal. 

"I was going to say you're sweet, but you're a menace, and I love that, too," you moaned as your back met the tiles. Bradley was running his knuckles along your pussy, separating you with his index and middle fingers before slipping his cock inside you. 

He fucked you hard up against the wall, your body jerking with each thrust. "You're so fucking perfect," he growled, licking the droplets of water from your shoulders and collarbones. "So tight and warm."

Your moans sounded wild as the noise reverberated off the glass shower enclosure. "Roo," you whispered, grabbing onto his biceps to keep yourself on your feet. But he was unrelenting, and you could feel the tiles digging into your spine. You could feel yourself slipping, but he held you in place as he fucked you. 

It was unspoken now, but every time you and he made love, it was clear you were trying for a baby. And as much as Bradley tried to be encouraging, tried to tell you nothing had changed, you knew he wanted you pregnant. But you probably weren't ovulating right now, and you were sure he knew that.

"Fuck," he grunted, rubbing your clit with his thumb as he went a little harder. So maybe he wasn't lying when he told you every day that he was never going to stop wanting you no matter what. 

"You're so deep," you whined, feeling so much pressure as you started to clench around him. "Come on, Daddy."

And that did it. His eyes were half lidded as he pinched your clit and wrapped his other hand around your neck. You came hard for him, and the smirk on his lips as you called him Daddy again was lethal. 

"God, Roo!" you whined as he came inside you. When he released your neck, he kissed you there dozens of times.

"I love you," he murmured, slowly fucking his cum a little deeper before withdrawing and starting to use the shower for its intended purpose. He soaped up your skin while you caught your breath, his hands squeezing your breasts while he smiled. "I think I'm gonna have a great day."

Although you woke up so early, you barely made it to your office on time. Bradley insisted on helping you get your hair pulled back for work, which resulted in the two of you laughing hysterically in the bathroom. You ended up having to redo it anyway, but he was so sweet all morning. He even got your travel mug of coffee ready along with some toast once you both realized how late it had gotten. And your spine was still a little sore for him pushing you up against the wall, but it was a good kind of sore.

As you unlocked your office door, your eye caught on your name placard hanging straight as a pin on the wall. Bradley hated that you hadn't changed your last name yet. He was so annoying about it, he even went so far as to snap your name tag in half a few weeks ago when you were having sex. You were currently sporting your spare on your uniform. 

It wasn't like you were even taking Bradshaw as your last name now. You were going to hyphenate. You'd earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering with your last name attached to it! Your diplomas were hanging up in your office! You liked your name! But you liked Bradley's name, too. And if you had kids, you'd want them to be Bradshaws. 

And then you sucked in a deep breath and closed your door behind you. Getting pregnant was the last thing you wanted to think about right now. So you tried not to focus on that. You'd already sent in your name change paperwork; as soon as that was completed, you could update your name tag and door placard. 

But in the meantime, you had to get to your lab and set up a meeting with your boss. You thought you deserved a promotion, and now you were going to have to ask him about it, which you really, really didn't want to have to do. When you strolled into your lab, Sonya and Macy were in conversation with Cat Coleman. When Cat's eyes met yours, she smirked and turned back to her computer. 

You weren't late, not really. Was everyone else early? And then Captain Bickel walked in, and you were the only one standing there, awkwardly holding your computer instead of doing your work. 

"Lieutenant, see me in my office," he told you before turning back toward the door. Your belly lurched and you swallowed hard as you followed him out. For the past few weeks, you'd been feeling like an outsider in your own workspace. Really since you hired Cat. If you were about to get reprimanded, you were afraid you'd burst into tears. 

"Sir?" you asked, your voice coming out a little strained once you were alone in his office. 

"Have a seat," he told you. Oh great, he wanted you to stay for a while. You sucked in a deep breath and slid down into the chair opposite his desk. 

"Sir?" you asked again, biting your lip.

"I just wanted to keep you updated on a few of our grant proposals. I am going to need you to write another one for submission to Annapolis in the next four weeks. We can get together to start it next week. I also need you and Lieutenant Coleman to re-code the entirety of project 27.12 before we can turn that over for testing."

Your head was swimming. You wished you had brought a notebook with you. How were you supposed to remember all of this? And how were you supposed to bring up a promotion now? He wanted you to keep proving yourself.

"And of course your promotion was finalized," he finished, looking at you expectantly. You had completely zoned out.

"My promotion, sir?" you asked softly, afraid you had misheard. 

"Yes," Bickel said, giving you a funny look. "We discussed this before? You should receive some mail about it soon. I just wanted to let you know it was finalized since you were going to place an order for a new door placard and name tags. You might as well update your rank at the same time as your legal name."

You felt tears pricking your eyes for a very different reason. You don't know why you thought this was going to be an ordeal. This man always looked out for you and everyone else who worked directly beneath him. He hadn't asked you for any details before offering to remove Josh from your lab. He made sure you were always busy and challenged. He always remembered everyone's damn birthday for crying out loud. And now you wanted to hug him, but instead you stood and shook his hand. 

"Thank you, Sir."

He squeezed your hand and said, "You work hard. It does not go unnoticed Top Gun."

You nodded once and he dismissed you. And then you started crying in the hallway. You ducked into the empty ladies' room, locked yourself in a stall, and then let out a muffled scream before jumping up and down. The sound of your boots echoed through the space as you pulled your phone out of your pocket. 

Bradley wasn't flying today, and now you needed to see him as quickly as possible. You sent him a text asking if he was eating lunch in the cafeteria. If not, you'd have to go find him in the tower or one of the simulation classrooms. And now that you knew it was happening, you were itching to tell him. And then you could call your parents tonight. 

You screeched softly before heading back to your lab. 

--------------------------

Maverick would not shut up. Bradley's stomach was growling so loudly now, everyone else kept turning to look at him.

"What?" he told Nat with a shrug, getting a little snippy.

"Did your wife not feed you a gourmet breakfast this morning?" she whispered.

Bradley just smirked. You and he had in fact not had time to eat anything together since he'd kept you in the shower so long. That's why he was famished now. Luckily Mav dismissed them a few minutes later. 

"No, actually," Bradley told Nat as they exited the classroom. "I was too busy to have breakfast this morning."

"Eww!" she said, covering her ears and storming ahead down the corridor. 

"What's her problem?" Jake drawled from Bradley's other side. He noticed you had texted him asking if he was eating lunch in the cafeteria. 

Bradley texted you back as he told Jake, "I was about to tell her I was balls deep in my wife all morning and didn't have time to eat breakfast, but she didn't want to hear it."

"Eww!" Jake responded. "When it comes to you and Angel, I prefer to avoid explicit details."

He stomped down the hallway after Nat, and Bradley was delighted to have a quiet moment to himself. He just assured you he was on his way to the cafeteria, and you texted back a million smiley faces. Bradley smiled. You must be having a good day. 

As soon as he could smell food, his stomach started making so much noise, he was actually embarrassed. Hondo looked at him with concern as he entered the cafeteria. In a flash of khaki, he saw you running toward him. 

"Bradley!" you called, shoving past Jake to get to him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, reaching for you. But you were smiling, your face positively radiant as you slammed into his arms. 

Bradley held you tight against him as you wrapped your arms around his neck. "I'm being promoted!" you told him. 

"Promoted?" he asked, a smile blooming across his face too. "Baby Girl!"

"That's Lieutenant Commander Baby Girl!" you told him, and then his lips were all over yours. Bradley could hear Jake whistling and catcalling, but he didn't care at all. 

"Oh my god," he gasped between kisses. "I'm so proud of you!"

You wrapped him tighter in your arms, and the sound of your laughter as Bradley kissed your neck made him crazy. He was absolutely crazy for you. For his wife. So he kissed you in front of the cafeteria filled with probably hundreds of officers and ensigns without a damn care. 

"I feel so relieved!" you gasped. "Bickel called me into his office and told me earlier this morning."

"Did you call your parents?" he asked, cupping your face and kissing your forehead. 

"No! I had to tell you first!"

Bradley's heart swelled with love. You were his number one for good news or bad, and he was delighted to be your number one as well. "We can call them together later," he whispered against your ear. "I am so fucking proud of you, Lieutenant Commander."

You bit your lip and looked up at him. "It's a good thing I'm hyphenating my last name. Two Lieutenant Commanders Bradshaw would be very confusing."

Bradley wrapped his arms around your waist. He couldn't wait to see his name next to yours on your name tag. "I don't outrank you anymore," he said. "Soon you'll be an admiral. Admiral Baby Girl."

He watched you preen and lean up to kiss his chin.

"What exactly is going on here?" Jake asked, holding a tray of food and pointing to both of you with a fork. "Making out in the cafeteria? This is weird, even for you."

Bradley let you pull yourself out of his arms as you told Jake, "I'm being promoted! Lieutenant Commander."

"Well, shit," Jake replied, thrusting the tray into Bradley's hands and pulling you in for a tight hug. "Knew they'd get something right around here eventually. Congratulations."

Bradley listened to the sound of your laughter as you held onto Jake. After Jake kissed your cheek, he took his lunch tray back and said, "It's about time someone wasn't outranked by Rooster. Boss him around, Angel."

"I will!" you promised, pulling Bradley toward the food line. "Roo, you must be starving. I didn't have time to make you breakfast."

Good god, Bradley was so spoiled, it was amazing. He didn't have time for breakfast because he was dicking you down in the shower. He wanted to take you home and celebrate your promotion with you immediately. 

After he ate lunch with you, he made plans to pick up a few things on his way home from work. 

------------------------

"Oh, hell yes," Bradley growled, fucking you on the kitchen island while you held the bottle of pink champagne. You were wearing just the jacket to your dress whites, and both of you were a little tipsy. 

As soon as you got off the phone with your parents, Bradley popped the bottle of champagne and presented you with a cake that said My wife is a badass. Then he suggested you try on your dress whites since you'd need to wear them to your promotion banquet next month. And now here you were.

"Harder, Bradshaw! Harder, or I'll give you two hundred pushups!"

"Yes, ma'am," he grunted, slamming into you. His biceps were bulging as he held onto your hips, and you leaned toward him to kiss his tattoo. "You feel so good, Lieutenant Commander."

You moaned as he used your brand new rank title. "You don't outrank me any longer," you gasped as he went so hard, you had to hold onto his shoulders to stay seated. 

Bradley met your eyes with his hungry gaze and a smirk. "Are we racing to admiral, Baby Girl?" he grunted.

A laugh bubbled out of you before you moaned loudly. The thought of the two of you, decades from now, trying to one up each other and reach the rank of admiral before the other one had a chance... well, that actually sounded pretty perfect to you. 

"You're on," you told him, kissing his lips as he made you come on his cock. After he filled you up, he didn't move for a little while. He kept his hands tucked inside your white jacket, stroking up to your breasts and back down to your hips. His lips trailed along your jaw and neck as you casually sipped on the bottle of champagne. 

"So proud of you," he whispered. "You're so damn smart."

"Mmm," you hummed, letting the bubbles hit your tongue again. You couldn't think of anyone else you worked with who made it to Lieutenant Commander at age thirty one, except maybe Bickel himself. And you had just turned thirty one this month. You were pretty proud of yourself as you sat in a mess of Bradley's cum and ate some cake. 

"Sorry it's not confetti," he said, holding his hands up in surrender as you fed him a bite. "You could have given me a little warning if you wanted a better cake."

You laughed and said, "This cake is good. It tastes like success."

He smeared some of the frosting across your cheek as you gasped, and then he licked it off before kissing you. "Success," he murmured against your lips.

--------------------------

The following week, when Bradley had a little break in the middle of his day, he grabbed a cup of coffee and strolled out of the tower toward the main building with every intention of surprising you. If you weren't in your office, you'd probably be in your lab. Other than a meeting with your boss, Bradley remembered you saying you didn't have too much on your calendar for today.

Then he ran into Jake when he got out of the elevator, and he looked awfully suspicious. "What are you doing?" Bradley asked, eyes narrowing on him.

Jake just shrugged and said, "Uh... just going to see what Angel's up to. You?"

Bradley cocked his head to the side. "I'm going to see what she's up to, because she's my wife." Then he noticed the coffee in Jake's hand. "You brought her some coffee?"

"Yep," Jake replied, starting to walk toward your office, clearly unbothered that Bradley was there too. Bradley wanted to have a minute alone with you, but fucking Hangman had somehow mutated into your BFF. It was insane. 

"Can you say hi quickly and then clear out?" Bradley mumbled, stopping short in front of your office door. Jake strolled right in through the open door, and Bradley could hear your laughter. But his eyes were stuck on your brand new name placard. He smiled at your brand new title and your brand new last name. You'd been married for three months, and he'd been selfishly waiting to see Bradshaw after that tiny little hyphen. It looked and sounded perfect. 

When Bradley actually entered your office, you were sipping the coffee from Jake while he rambled on, something about at Cat. "I was thinking you might be in your lab, actually," Jake told you, "and your work is so interesting, so I was going to maybe stop by there for a few minutes."

But your eyes were on Bradley's before his gaze dipped down to read your name tag on your chest. He chuckled and rubbed his mustache. "Jake, get the fuck out," Bradley told him, never taking his eyes off your body.

You pressed your lips together and squeaked. "Jake, why don't you go wait in the lounge down the hall? I'll take you to my lab in a few minutes." 

Bradley watched you wrap one hand around his bicep and lead him out to the hallway. Then Jake turned around and looked back and forth between the two of you, his expression suddenly turning to one of disgust. "Seriously? I'll just see you tomorrow," he muttered, pulling the door closed behind him. 

And then Bradley was on you as you locked the door. "Lieutenant Commander Bradshaw," you gasped dramatically. "We can't be doing this here. It's strictly forbidden. Sir."

"Fuck," Bradley groaned, pressing his lips to your name tag before kissing your mouth and unzipping your khaki pants. 

"Do you remember, many months ago, when you swore you'd keep your hands to yourself at work?" you asked, reaching for his zipper as well.

"Yeah," he grunted, yanking your pants down. "But I fucking lied. Now bend over, Baby Girl."

And Bradley railed you over your desk while he repeated your full name and told you how much he loved you.

-------------------------

Thank you so much for reading another Roo and BG series! I'm so happy you are here!! Thanks to @mak-32 and @beyondthesefourwalls

PART 2

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[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Why do people still go to Mostro Lounge if Azul enslaved 225 students? Like how is he not out of bussines

I DON’T KNOW 😭 I’ve never understood that part???? And how easily everything is resolved????

The end of book 3 tries to hand-wave it off as, “well, Azul implemented a point card system/promotion that was just so good that it compensated for all the negative rumors about the bad things he actually did” but like 💀 even then, I never bought it…

Consider the prices plus how the point card system and its perks work:

Assuming that you need 50 points to get that consultation with Azul + the items listed here are the only ones that qualify toward the point system, that means you'd be spending at LEAST 250 thaumarks (which I'm going to consider the equivalent to 250 USD for the sake of simplicity), if not 300 thaumarks. That's not including any potential tax or tip they may charge on top of the cost of the actual menu items. If you're going for the three-point card perks, you're easily spending 750 to 900 bucks on the Mostro Lounge. Maybe that seems like chump change to some of the rich, privileged kids that attend NRC but that's still a considerable amount of money to spend at one establishment... I'll concede that the argument can be made that this investment is "worth it" because of Azul's consultation being such a useful thing. It seems like you could ask him for anything, so long as its within his means. So yeah, it’s true, his services can be an extremely powerful boon to have on your side (assuming, of course, that he's capable of granting your wish and you agree to the terms set). The issue then becomes a matter of trust between client and Azul.

I don't know about you, but I cannot believe that after Azul tricked and enslaved 220+ students (over a QUARTER of the total student body) with his promises that everyone would so easily forgive what he did and suddenly trust that he wouldn't try pulling similar shit again. And since I doubt any mob would drop 250-300 thaumarks in one day just to get the consultation ASAP (but a bunch of food he can't eat), the points system would be a long term commitment... meaning mobs go into this establishment regularly, knowing that it's run by a guy that would double cross them if it benefitted him, weirdly trusting that he wouldn't???????? Trusting that he had a sudden change of heart and wouldn’t revert back to his old ways???????? Not holding grudges??????? Nah, I don't buy that one bit. AZUL'S REP WOULD BE IN THE TOILET, AND I DON'T THINK A GOOD DEAL ON EATERY LOYALTY WOULD REVERSE THAT... At that point, the mobs are practically begging to be scammed… Also???? The only thing that Crowley technically told Azul he can't do is to take anyone's powers 💀 so literally nothing is stopping Azul from trying to one-up or cheat his clients out of other things... Agreements like the one where he tried to claim Ramshackle Dorm for himself would still be totally valid under Crowley's new but poorly defined restrictions. Why doesn't the headmaster just forbid Azul from running his shady side business altogether 😭 or at least revoke the manager position from Azul?????? The school gets 10% of the lounge’s profits, so maybe Crowley doesn’t want to lose that income—but if that’s the case, why not just put new management in charge and still reap the monetary benefits??? Even just upping the percentage the school takes from their earnings would be more of a punishment…

I'm about to cancel this man on Magicam for his crimes/j I guess this is easily explained by the mob students all being dumb/arrogant, but that’s such a cop-out 😭 My only hope is that volume 3 of the light novel adaptation will go more in-depth about the post-OB backlash Azul experiences (similar to how it did for volume 1) 💦 because the way the game presents it, it feels like he and the Mostro Lounge made an almost immediate comeback 😭 which isn’t realistic at all…

I guess all I have left to say is…

[thebaffledcaptain]

Things that happened at the 250th anniversary of the changing of command at Old Fort Niagara

as recounted by a humble fifer of His Majesty's 22nd Regiment of Foot, for his own records:

The unit got to sleep in the French Castle, which sounds much more luxurious than it was, but I’m still happy we had the chance to do it—it’s the main barracks building in the fort, with three stories that house officers’ quarters, mess halls, store rooms, and even a chapel. In period accurate style, however, the regiment was quartered on the third floor where something like a hundred soldiers would have slept on wooden pallets around the perimeter of the room.

Three of us, myself included, squeezed into the weird little nook between the two doorways and decided that was the most fun place to sleep.

In hindsight I can only assume it was not the most fun place to sleep because man was it hot in there. The site had the windows padlocked and some people had to go convince a staff member to open them so we wouldn’t suffocate the next night as well.

Two unfortunate souls swore up and down that they had an encounter with a ghost on the first night and immediately ran down to the chapel on the second floor. It was not until after I left that I discovered the site is rumored to be haunted by…. *checks notes* a Headless Frenchman?

There were a ludicrous amount of donuts for breakfast both days. Like, every flavor you could imagine, laid out across four modern folding tables. That was how the Fort justified not providing us with any sort of rations. Just… an absurd amount of donuts.

On the second day I ate my donut watching two highlanders struggle to set up a stretcher, assuming they were probably going to do some kind of medical demo with it later

As I’m walking back to the barracks with my friend I hear a voice behind me go “make way for the King’s donuts!”

I turn around and the same two highlanders are carrying eight donuts, each in a different flavor on its own individual plate, perfectly laid out in a line that spans the entire length of the stretcher. Here’s the visual because you need one.

Somehow I managed to lose the entire regiment on the first day. They said they were going off to drill and apparently went so far from the Fort that I could not find them until they returned—last out of every other unit drilling, of course

During this time the 54th doctor saw that I looked abandoned and offered me a seat next to his operating table and… dismembered limbs etc etc. I accepted for the shade though with some trepidation.

My fellow 22nd fifer abandoned me to be a man-at-arms this weekend. The 54th drummer and I got some quality bonding time as the only musicians in our battalion.

We did make kind of an executive decision to detach ourselves from the 43rd when we split into companies after watching them accidentally wheel themselves into a corner of some sort… but, you know. No one cares what music does anyway

In fact one of the 8th fifers aptly described our job as to criticize and/or commentate on the rest of the goings-on we had no part in, in a fashion I describe as being much like a bunch of little peacocks in the back. If I’m being honest that’s my favorite part of the role.

In accordance with this principle, my fellow fifer and I took it upon ourselves to put lavender sprigs in as many of the regiment’s hats as we could. We didn’t get very far but the sentiment was there.

Our sergeant took it upon himself to explain the origin of the word “cock” on multiple occasions because the fully grown adult men in this unit have the collective maturity of a 12 year old

Kind of disappointed with the tavern night (bad beer and not even in a historical part of the fort) but ended up having a long conversation with some 54th guys, so now I can say I was challenged to a duel by the 54th sergeant?

Alright, slight exaggeration there—both of us fence and while I saw him doing some friendly sparring with a few other people, we never got the chance for a bout, so now it's up in the air for the next event we're both at.

Also, he said "Spepsi" instead of "Pepsi" exactly one (1) time and I tormented him with it for the rest of the night. It's a good thing he's not my sergeant or I might be digging myself into a hole with that.

Watched two highlanders at the front of their files wheel decisively left when a right wheel was called and then sheepishly jog back to the rest of their unit

Greatly enjoyed hearing one of our guys’ “deaths” on the battlefield, which are famous for his Wilhelm scream-esque exclamations

On two occasions, the 54th sergeant turned to me (once on the battlefield, once in the middle of a very solemn memorial service) to tell me “it’s stinky over here”

I did not think this would be the event where I bonded with an NCO from a regiment I was not a part of but I’ll take it

The regiment bought $700 worth of Russian Drill from one of the sutlers. Cleared out his stock. Needless to say a pair of Russian Drill britches is in my future

On the second day for some reason the Drum Major decided not to do any kind of drummer’s call before forming up for battle and just told us musicians to be on the lookout.

I was there for that announcement and stuck with my regiment so I was fine. The 54th drummer, however, was not aware of this and the entire battalion marched past him as he was just sitting under one of the tents—I waved to him hoping he would join us but he just… waved back at me…

Cut to five minutes later—the 54th sergeant turns to me and goes “where’s [drummer]?” and I have to tell him we just… marched right past him. We give it another minute and suddenly, in the distance, the disheveled green figure of the 54th drummer frantically running to catch up to us… poor fellow. Not his fault nobody communicated to him. Which is a problem that could easily be solved by, you know, utilizing the Music (as would have been historically accurate), but apparently no one wants to do that…

I seem to be making a bit of a name for myself as the British Army’s Mandolinist in Residence, or, as some of my comrades have nicknamed me, “The Mandolier” (which. I have to be honest. Is a cooler term)

On Saturday night my fellow fifer and I stayed up until almost two in the morning singing despite the knowledge we had to be up at 6 to do reveille. However I did not regret this decision then nor do I now.

Nothing compares to the experience of singing Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald at midnight, sitting on a wall that drops off straight into Lake Ontario, at a centuries-old fort with no one around. This was Sunday night, when most of the units had left and we had the fort to ourselves and a handful of other souls who couldn’t bring themselves to leave the 18th century just yet—in fact, we had been about to finish our music for the night and our little group had been turning to leave when we started the song and the rest of them came running back.

Indeed, it’s been a week since and I am still not ready to be in the 21st century, nor am I ever, but of all the ways to end this event, I’ll take that one.

[bomberqueen17]

Big Easy

I am on vacation this week in New Orleans. There are many reasons for this but mostly they're not about me. I'm just here for the ride. Hilariously the one thing I found on on my own that I was like "oh i gotta do that while we're here" is also the thing that has been recommended to me by literally everyone i've spoken to including the Lyft driver from the airport, which is the WWII Museum, and conversely the more people recommend it the more I'm like :/ I might not enjoy this that much. WWII history was a childhood hyperfixation of mine but I've found the shit I was into about it is not the stuff other people like about it. This museum features a movie narrated by Tom Hanks so I feel like it's going to mm emphasize the bits I don't care about a lot. BUT I am going to go and I am probably going to devote a whole day. The upside of this is that probably Dude will not be deadly bored by it. He does tend to have the issue of not being into what I'm into sometimes... but this will probably be fine.

My hip is doing okay, the one I've been physically therapizing for ages? But what's popped up is that as the bad hip heals, the "good" hip starts giving me trouble-- I have prettty bad sciatic nerve problems on that side, and I didn't notice them so much because the cartilage tear on the bad side hurt enough to distract me. But lately it's like-- a little electric current of Badness inside the back of my right knee. No fun. But I've been doing physical therapy exercises for about fifteen weeks now (I just counted), three times a week, so I'd damn well better have seen some improvement LOL.

But mostly I can walk around, and I have a better idea earlier on whether walking is going to be good for me or not, so idk it's progress.

So far I have had a few bites of a shrimp po'boy (in the Atlanta airport, where we ordered something else and the waitress didn't hear us and just brought better food, no regrets on our part), some amazing gumbo, a bit of really good crawfish etouffe, and a really good Hurricane cocktail, and have seen the steamboat Natchez going up the MIssissippi with a brass band playing on it. Oh yeah there was a live band at the baggage claim? Apparently there were Many Doings in the French Quarter last night because of Cinco de Mayo, our Lyft driver was explaining they'd barricaded a bunch of the streets and she was delighted they'd moved one barricade because otherwise she could not have dropped us at our hotel. But by the later evening when we were out and about it wasn't quite so crowded but there were police cars and sirens and apparently some kind of disturbance a couple blocks away from our hotel. We kept walking because whatever it was was Not Our Business.

I'm mostly here for the food. I brought mostly me-made clothes. I was wearing a nice button-up shirt to fly in, and i sat at the gate during our layover and hand-bound two of the last three buttonholes on it (I'd cut and overcasted them at home but ran out of time). Relaxing and chill, honestly.

There are a couple of fabric stores I want to visit but apart from that I have zero agenda. Maybe Dude came up with something. I think he's mostly been researching restaurants.

I did not expect this, though: I know the names of so many of the places here from the news coverage of Katrina, and when I saw the Superdome in person i started crying, and had to explain to the driver that I'd been an airport bartender during that time and so had been stuck in front of huge TVs with 24h live coverage, and I'd had a bunch of online friends living there and I didn't realize until this moment how much it scarred me, so I could only imagine for the people here, and she talked about how she'd been a cleaner in an apartment complex at the time (I'd sussed that she was my age or older so I figured she'd remember it as well as I do, because to my shock that was 20 years ago now) and how many people had just left and never come back, had abandoned their possessions and just never came back for them because the power didn't come back on for two or three months.

She said "Now I know, when they tell you to evacuate, you get the hell out."

She also complained that nobody knows how to act, because it's all tourists. Which, fair.

... Anyway, anyone with recs for New Orleans feel free to tell them to me, I'm just here for the food and the vibes.

[wishing-stones]

hey there! first time asking and i am.. pretty nervous :') not sure how nightmare's body works for your au, but how would the boys™ react if nightmare was somehow weakened enough to have his passive body revealed under all the corruption and not die? (or yes die, if that's what you're about lol) thanks!

Awww don't be nervous! I don't bite.

Nightmare's body is largely permanently colored by the corruption, but it can weaken, and he's still a (mostly) complete, white-boned skeleton under it.

Without active corruption, Nightmare is around 5'6" (or your height) and has some damage around his right eye socket. The light still forms, but his vision isn't so great. (Still a far cry better than 'normal,' where he can't see at all). His eyelight in that socket is purple, and the one in his left is cyan, no matter what form he's in. Sometimes it'll be half-and-half, if he's especially weak or in his feelings, but he's usually got the full heterochromia thing going on.

Fortunately, it just kind of retreats into the inner void of his body/skull if it's too weak to fully encase him, so it's all or nothing with the curse/corruption. It won't kill him, but he is much more vulnerable when he's passive.

The guys would be surprised, to say the least, but they'd also make the (correct) assumption that he's not as sturdy as he usually is and should be guarded. Nightmare definitely tried to hide this, but with a bunch of intuitive, smart underlings, it's hard to maintain the illusion that 'everything's fine, I'm just going to stay in bed for a while.'

Still, no one's going to lose respect for him, or make fun of him (in any seriousness-- we all know Killer is Required By Law to give him some guff) in any real capacity. He'd get a little babied, actually, until he told them all to knock it off, and then it's only Axe who babies him. (He can't get Axe to stop.)

Everyone is sworn to secrecy, because he especially does not need Dream finding out about this. He'd never stop crying, and Nightmare doesn't want to deal with that, thank you very much.

This does happen every great so often, especially after things get reconciled with his brother. Without active malice and hatred to feed on, the corruption kind of ebbs away and 'rests' to regain strength, and then it comes back strong as ever. He's actually quite strong when it comes back because it's refreshed, and he usually feels his oats a bit when it comes back.

It's the only aspect of the curse/corruption that he can't really control. Since he doesn't have a ton of enemies anymore, or at least ones who would be able to take advantage of such a situation, it's just a mild inconvenience rather than a cause for alarm.

More little facts about this:

He sounds different while passive. If he tries really hard, he can get into his normal, deeper register, but it takes a bit. He sounds a lot younger (still an adult, but younger and higher) and gets a little bit sensitive about it, actually.

He's also sensitive about his height. He loses 8 inches or better, and he doesn't like it. Yes, he wears platforms to make himself at least taller than the others (save Axe) if he's up and about, and not sulking in his room.

He views it as an inconvenience, but he hates feeling vulnerable. He's worn the corruption so long, to not have it makes him feel naked, and it's not something he handles terribly well.

He's also more sensitive to: temperature, touch, elements, and Intent. He gets cold easily, so he's usually close to some heat source. This sometimes includes the boys, and they have cuddle-puddled to make him feel safer.

He will break out his crown and wear it. It's a newer one-- his old crown won't fit because it didn't grow with him. he wears a silver crown with a more elegant crescent moon fixture (not entirely unlike this, but solid and without decoration) with a three-quarter moon taking up the void of the crescent, leaving a small gap between the two. He also wears much less gold and much more silver, although he does wear gold with purple, since it's very regal looking.

Hand-in-hand with the above, he breaks out good fancy clothing, too, since he's not in danger of staining it, and it feels nice on not-corrupted bones. Silk, satin, velvet... very fine clothing.

He also wears a weighted cape. While he doesn't always have his tentacles out, he will over-correct for their weight when they aren't present, and he's fallen over before when turning because of it. (After Killer was done laughing, he helped devise the cape.) It's a lovely little capelet that hangs over one shoulder, but drapes otherwise evenly across the back to the small of his back.

He's usually passive for 1-2 weeks, and then it won't happen again for a couple years, if he's lucky, or 10-12 months if he's not. This only started happening once Dream broke out of the statue, so while it's a fairly new development, it's one that he's learned to deal with and has procedures for.

I mentioned it before with Dream in R&R, but his bones have kind of a pearlescent sheen to them. Dream's is warmer (like a cream pearl), but Nightmare's is cooler (like a silver pearl). They're both Demi-gods, after all.

Interestingly enough, I've been working with this idea recently.

[mayimkjs]

Microanalyzing MeMe

Taken from the FOOL's MATE research doc.

This includes theories and thoughts from a bunch of different people.

I will be separating some things into Trikoto and Twokoto variants.

The moon is in its First Quarter. It’s halfway between the New Moon, which represents the beginning of a new journey, and the Full Moon, which represents the end of something or rebirth. And thus, it can represent a difficult time where decisions must be made and a point where strength of will is necessary. This could seen as John making decisions with Mikoto being left in the dark. That would explain why the moon only shows up in relation to John.

This scene could represent how their future is scattered, uncertain and messy as tarot cards tell the future. 

Throughout the murder, he is wearing a beanie, as if to conceal his identity from the viewer.

Trikoto: These scenes are mainly green, his eye is red and the bulk of the eye shine on the bottom. I see this as John and Midokoto working together in some way shape or form to kill someone. John would be the one to kill someone and Mido would be the one to deal with the aftermath. They are working together to keep this from Mikoto. Another thing that contributes to this theory is that only one eye is ever shown. 

Trikoto: So going off of that, this scene would be Midokoto doing his part of the job and handling the cleaning up.

Trikoto: He points at his head 3 times. As if signaling to the viewer that there are 3 of them. When the scene swirls out, it has an RGB filter over it. Each color is associated with an alter. Blue for Mikoto, red for John and green for Midokoto. Bundled with the line that plays during this scene (Switch, Shake up that brain), it seems that this is referencing Mikoto, John and Midokoto.

Mikoto wakes up in his inner world confused. There are tarot cards scattered on the table, so he takes one. We then see 3 shots of tarot cards. Each shot contains the same 10 cards in the same positions except the 3rd where 3 are moved. It then jumps to the Devil card before his actual card is revealed to be a blank card.

Back to the murder, we see John looking over something, possibly his victim. He could also be burying him but, given that there's a phone pole in the background. I don't think that's what's happening here.

John or Mido puts the body or other evidence in a trash bag and throws it into a dumpster. Their sloppy work makes me think this is the first murder. They also throw the beanie away. Both of these shots show that he is not a calculated killer as the murder was very sloppy. He threw away trash in an area where illegal dumping would be reported and he left DNA evidence. I also don’t think that the bat is in the bag. It’s likely just the body and his jacket. 

In this scene, it seems that Mikoto could be dissociating. 

In the mirror in the real world, you see Mikoto looking around confused and concerned. In the inner world, John is in the mirror. This shows that John has now fronted. Maybe Mikoto knows that somethings up. There’s also a chance that these shots aren’t sequential. This and the next scenes could also be him realizing that the person ruining his life is both not him and him at the same time. 

Mikoto is startled by this. He then falls and is given a card. He receives The Devil card without having a choice while he's fallen down in a vulnerable position. The card then turns black. He drops it and the room turns red.

He panics and John/Mido appears behind him with his hands in the shape of a gun to his head as if to threaten him. 

The surveillance footage can be interpreted as the altars watching Mikoto. Mikoto is stressed. He has likely come from work.

Trikoto: This could be Midokoto dealing with the aftermath of another murder since he’s smoking real cigarettes. 

Twokoto: Some people say that this scene is a suicide attempt. Personally, I’m hesitant about that. The shower and mirror scenes often are paired with the last as well as the suicide atempt theory. In this theory, he’s losing consciousness in the scene on the right.

Mikoto is addressing the audience/Es.

Here, he’s stacking the deck up neatly. He's trying to take control of his own destiny. Control of his life is very important to Mikoto. Or, he’s shuffling his deck to properly understand what is going on.

He snaps then the room turns red. Mikoto has now fronted and John is back in the inner world. This could also symbolize a switch. 

Trikoto: We don't see his head in this shot so this could be Mido.

John draws a card and shows it to the audience as if to say it's not his. His expression goes from cheery to cold. 

John is seems to be having a conversation with someone within the inner world. He then draws 8 more tarot cards and the conversation continues. 

The paintings in the corner of the room are shown. These are not a part of the spread. The chair is then shown again.

Trikoto: This is possibly Midokoto as his hair is covering one eye.

John hands someone a card and puts in on the table.

The next card to appear is The Chariot. The Chariot card is interesting. Mainly the bikes. One of them is fine, the other is exploding. These bikes could represent Mikoto and John in relation to John’s actions. The mannequin has direct control over one of them. But the other is exploding and the mannequin has a mace in the same hand that shares the chains connected to that bike. John just wants to protect him, but he does so in a harmful way and it destroys the control Mikoto wants to have over his life.

The last card he puts down is Death.

Trikoto: The Kayano that is receiving the card isn’t wearing a jacket. This could very likely be Midokoto. 

During the last scene, “John” suddenly looks surprised. I see this as Mikoto either fronting for a few seconds or somehow seeing what John is doing. 

The fourth wall being broken at the end shows that the MILGRAM system may have found something that isn’t a memory, but a conversation between John and Mikoto or Midokoto in the inner world. 

This entire MV is very out of order. Here is the order I think the events happen in.

Trikoto

Timeline 1 (John/Midokoto)

Mikoto comes home from work and has a breakdown because of the stress.

John goes to Midokoto and proposes a plan to get some stress off of Mikoto.

John kills someone with Mido watching.

Mido cleans up and deals with the aftermath.

Timeline 2 (Mikoto/John)

Mikoto wakes up in his inner world and does not know what's going on. 

He eventually encounters John after he has killed someone. 

Mido quickly has Mikoto front to avoid any type of confrontation. 

Twokoto

Timeline 1 (John)

Mikoto comes home from work and has a breakdown because of the stress.

John kills someone. 

He then cleans up the aftermath. 

Timeline 2 (Mikoto)

Mikoto wakes up in his inner world and does not know what's going on. 

He eventually encounters John after he has killed someone. 

Mikoto then fronts, leaving John alone in the inner world.

Other Details

Framing of the events of the murders as a horror movie speaks to how Mikoto views his actions.

MeMe takes advantage of the assumption that there is one Kayano.

MeMe is generally told from Mikoto’s POV.

John is portrayed as scary and evil because that's what Mikoto assumes is happening. 

[queen-scribbles]

Finally, FINALLY had time with my brother to play more so we could do more Tala & Bottlen, and this time had everything; goblins, skin-of-our-teeth close calls, spiders, REVENGE, one very large bear, a devil we know(sort of), tadpole and dream guardian shenanigans, and MORE!

We left off last time right after luring Priestess Gut to her quarters so we only had to fight her and Polma. This time we worked our way through fighting small groups of goblins at a time :3 Like the rest of the main room crowd. Whereupon the game decided we'd avoided Raphael too long and triggered the cutscene... with just Gale.

Who got to pull his best ThisMightAsWellHappen.jpg face before going back and we resumed our goblin killing ways with Torturer Spike's gang when Bottlen got caught picking the locks on Liam's cuffs (oops!). And then fought the ones in the worg pens to free a certain bear bc Tala scolded them for throwing rocks. (Because I would have hijacked the game if it had taken any longer xD)

Which involved Karlach throwing a goblin child at another goblin child. And then--after that killed one of them--throwing the survivor at a worg, which killed both 😂😂😂

And then Bottlen STOLE the first conversation with Halsin, so Tala picked him up and threw him(with my brother's blessing) to see if it would break the conversation. It did not. But it was fine bc then Tala talked to Halsin and convinced him to join them (this would prove to save our bacon), so they had a gigantic bear to help with the Dror Ragzlin fight. Considering Bear-sin can one hit kill most of the goblins, this was very handy.

Especially after Bottlen got shoved down into the spider cave and Karlach went unconscious. 😅 Fortunately, Tala has both the boots and gloves that give healing boosts/temp hit points, so that was easy enough to fix. Gotta be honest, I think if bro hadn't flipped Bottlen from ranger to paladin, we probably would've died. Gale pulled off a sleep spell to take out some of the adds for a couple rounds before their friends kicked them awake literally, and Halsin took out a whoooole bunch thanks to the aforementioned oneshotting. Including!!! Ragzlin. >:3 so that was fun.

Minthara was, comparatively, very easy, even if she misty stepped to a spot that made her very hard to hit.

I was v happy the cutscene picked Tala to talk to Halsin after that, so she got to have the "praise you, my friend" conversation.

now kiss AHEM. Seeing as we were all basically out of spell slots, we cheated the system by then popping to camp for a long rest. We needed a break. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to have one just yet. :D

Lae'zel tried to kill Bottlen for having a fever rude and then came the Dream Guardians just to make things more interesting.

Because that's not a terrifying angle and it totally inspires trust when you look at me like that.

Finally finishing our rest, we popped back to start killing our way out of the goblin camp from the top down. Got all of them up top(again, if Bottlen wasn't a pally, we would probably have died. So. many. goblins.) plus the ogre. We were planning to go all the way through escaping and getting back to the Grove, but he had to leave bc there was something in the car his wife needed asap. So we're gonna finish tomorrow and maaaybe get to the gnolls if we have time. 🤞

[theuniversitychallengereview]

Dopamining

Yesterday I listened to a podcast about dopamine and the other 'feel-good' brain hormones oxytocin, seratonin and endorphins. It feels kind of like cheating to include endorphins as a single thing when there are actually a bunch of different endorphins, but it means you get to use the cool acronym DOSE so I can't begrudge the neuroscientists too much for it. Or should it be the neuropsychologists? The brain people.

We all know that we are on our phones far too much, and yet we continue to be on our phones far too much.

The little dopmaine hit you get from reading a tweet or scrolling TikTok or watching a hundred Instagram reels is a lot easier to get than the satisfaction you get from reading a book or practicing guitar, and it staves off the boredom that arises if you just sit there with, god forbid, nothing to do but think.

But you are never satisfied when you stop watching the Instagram reels, or when you finish a session of playing 5-minute blitz chess matches while waiting for the bus. You always want more. If you've played five matches you want to play five more. If you've watched thirty reels you want to watch thirty more.

This feeling then carries over into the moments when we are not on our phones too, because we have crashed our supply of dopamine meaning that it is harder to achieve the non-phone-based things we want to do, like cooking dinner or building a spreadsheet. So we go back on our phone and order something from Deliveroo then play a few more games of chess while we're waiting for the food to arrive.

We started the day with the intention of planning a holiday and assembling a bookshelf, but after we woke up and spent twenty minutes on YouTube shorts there was no motivation left for anything else.

Why, then, am I telling you this when I have posted this article on Twitter with the intention of hijacking your attention for the brief fix of a University Challenge review?

Because I am part of the problem too.

I am trying to steal your dopamine for my own selfish social media ambitions, to steal your motivation and get you hooked on these reviews just like Facebook is. The only difference is that I haven't used your data to become a billionaire.

So if you've come to me from Twitter then get off here now - leave your phone and your headphones behind and go find the nearest tree. Stare at it, touch it if you like, then come back and tell me how you feel.

Ah, I forgot one step - subscribe to the blog so that you don't need to rely on Twitter's increasingly spiteful algorithm to find me. Instead I will arrive fully formed in your email inbox and you can read me at your leisure.

Sign up for The University Challenge Review

Next week we can deal with oxytocin, but for now, let's get on with the episode.

Darwin College, Cambridge vs Birkbeck.

This is Darwin's third appearance on the Challenge, losing a tight semi-final to St Edmund Hall on their debut in 2019. Birkbeck won the trophy in 2003, but didn't appear again until 2020, and they have made two quarter-finals since then

Here's your first starter for ten

Darwin captain Whitaker takes the opening points with Where Angels Fear To Tread, setting the tone for the rest of the match. His team is made up of three women, and the Birkbeck team also has two women, meaning that the men are numerically outnumbered, which is quite a rare occurrence.

The picture starter also goes to Whitaker. That's three for him - it's going to get more difficult to keep trackas the show goes on.

Van Onzenoort bounces back for Birkbeck with elasticity, and they mixed up their answers on glass-making processes, giving super-cooling twice rather than tempering and annealing. A second for Van Onzenoort wins Birkbeck a bonus set on Sicilian foods, including one on cakes which Skidmore isn't much help on because he's 'not that into cakes'.

Hamilton gives Whitaker his fourth starter of the night, and Max Factor (who was apparently a real person, after whom the makeup brand is named) continues his streak.

Evans takes the music starter with Frank Sinatra, but they can't maintain the momentum and Whitaker returns with David Hume.

Van Onzenoort keeps Birkbeck in it with Bayes, and Evans grabs the second picture starter to close the gap even further. When Moorthy takes her first points with All Quiet on the Western Front they are only 25-points behind.

Whitakeover

But it is at this stage that Whitaker takes complete control of the match for Darwin, with four starters back to back on a wide variety of subjects (Venus, Albanian refugees in Italy, Salisbury Cathedral and the 800s).

Have you been counting? I might have missed one out so I'll just tell you - he finished with eleven (11!) starters, which is the highest of the series so far.

He was also the only person on his team to get a starter, which might be a record of some sort. Look out for him in the next round!

Darwin 205 - 110 Birkbeck

I hadn't realised quite how impressive Whitaker was until I saw all of his plaudits on social media, but eleven starters is a stonking performance, and Birkbeck couldn't keep up with him at all.

In fact, his points from starters alone would have tied Birkbeck's total.

See you next week (by which time you'll all have subscribed so you don't have to crash your dopamine supplies on Twitter) for Durham vs Oriel, a rematch of the 2000 Grand Final.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

Look! A Thing!

New Instalment this week! It's a web serial about broken people by a broken author on a broken website! I'm just yelling about it as hard as I can while everything burns down around me!

And the site itself!

You like obscure and indie? Just lookit these numbers!

Current known readers: 3 (hi!), 1st Goalpost: 10?

Current supporters: 2 (hi Kith and 5th!), 1st Goalpost: 5?

If you click this and you like it, you have the power to bring two of your friends and double my admitted readership! Hurry! Before success spoils me!

And I'm super distracted, so let me just snip an excerpt from today's thrilling chapter for your feed-friendly perusal!

Ann put up a hand. She drew Hyacinth farther from the door and lowered her voice, “John kidnapped Erik because they needed help and they knew we wouldn’t let him do this. Erik has been helping the Rainbow Alliance save coloured people and get them the hell out of this fucked up country, because Prokovia wants them dead, or… or worse…”

“De-magicked,” Maggie said. She took a sheet of paper off the bed. “It’s an apograph. Most of ‘em are, but you can read ‘em in the mirror. This is the important part. This is what Prokovia wants to do.” She held up the paper so both of them could see. It was divided into four equal parts, all of them moving and displaying text and images at once. “This is what happens when you try to take the magic out of an immie.”

In each quadrant there was a brief, animated snapshot, five seconds at most, followed by backwards text and further still images. They cycled endlessly, somewhat out of sync, as if whoever set them in motion had activated them one after the other, going clockwise from the top left.

The figure at the top left was a milk-white young man with threads of blond in his matching white hair. His complexion had the look of a broken mirror, with cracks running in every direction, except they weren’t open or bleeding. They were what Hyacinth couldn’t help thinking of as a normal human skin tone, but pale tan certainly wasn’t normal for this guy. He was smiling vaguely, almost vacantly, and holding politely still while the person with the camera moved to photograph him from either side. There was a round scar on each temple, just below the hairline.

The scowling blue woman to the right of him had a similar pattern across her face and bare shoulders, just a bit more fair. Her mirror had shattered more violently — there were patches of fair skin between some of the cracks, as if some of the glass had fallen out. She had a set of yellow hands holding her, and she was turning her head from side to side, not quite struggling but clearly uncomfortable. The five-second image ended with her swatting the camera and a split-second shot of a tile floor.

The orange child at the bottom left had no cracks at all, only patches, and much larger ones. The close-cropped hair suggested a boy, but it could have been either. Tears were welling in their eyes as they clutched a stuffed toy, curling their whole body around it and wincing from the camera’s flash. In the last two seconds, a brown hand intruded and gently nudged their head up, allowing a brief three-quarter profile view of a face with an olive-toned patch that included one dark eyebrow.

The final figure, another young man, did not seem to be coloured at all. His hair was dark, his eyes were blue, and his skin was fair. His hands were bandaged and bound to the chair he was sitting in. He was smiling, not unlike the other man, but his brief image also ended with the camera falling or being knocked over, for reasons unseen.

Honestly, the first thing Hyacinth thought was someone had painted up a bunch of coloured people for a weird theme party — except for the guy in the lower right. But then, as the image reset once more, she caught a thread of purple drifting across his face like smoke. It was gone so fast she wasn’t sure she’d seen it at all.

“What the fuck…?” She tried to pause the image and rack it back, dragging her finger from right to left, but it didn’t respond.

Maggie sighed. “It’s an apograph.”

“Smart paper has a backlight,” said the General. “It makes excellent apographs. Mr. Green-Tara seems to have figured that out at some point and copied a great deal of information he was certainly not supposed to keep, or share.”

“He did it for us,” Ann said. She touched the pile with the cardboard on top, but left it where Maggie had abandoned it on the bed. “It’s not much to read, it looks like he wrote it in a hurry, but he knew we’d come for Erik. He’s been trying to put things together for us, the whole time. The Rainbows haven’t told anybody because they don’t know who’s safe to tell…”

“I am the lone holdout,” said the General, “in insisting our government would not be complicit in an attempted genocide…”

“But they must know something is happening,” Maggie said. “They have intel. They’re not stupid. At the very least they’ve seen the ads, and they must know they’re not getting a bunch of coloured Prokovian tourists. It could be they don’t know because they don’t want to know. If they find out, there’s no guarantee they’ll help, and all this evidence is enough to blow the whole rescue operation out of the water if they take Prokovia’s side. The Rainbows aren’t wrong about that.”

“I am willing to admit,” said the General, “that it would be difficult to sell another war at this point, especially one with Prokovia, politically speaking.” She lowered her voice to a snarl, “Although it would be the only appropriate response.”

[Read More on my Disintegrating Website!]

[Or Read Soldier On from the Beginning, that's probably a more sensible place to start!]

[life-of-karma]

Daylight Robbery

The Market Hotel in Reigate, London 2002 was an unusual place to work as a Head Chef — only serving food for lunch and not on Sundays.

The manager was a paranoid, egomaniacal type who didn’t care about the staff. It was whispered that he had been robbed before, and now carried an alert button around his neck to call the police whenever pressed.

At night, the hotel was like a fortress; no one could leave or enter without setting off the alarm. Since I didn’t have access to the alarm codes, this meant I had to stay put in my room, kitchen and toilet facilities, so it felt like a prison.

One night I had my girlfriend over; when she left to go to work, the alarms went off, prompting the manager to come running — he yelled at us for leaving the door unlocked, so I could get back in.

He didn’t care much for me; it infuriated him when I won the competition hosted by the company that owned thirteen pubs in London.

At Christmas time, the chefs would compete to see who could make the highest profits compared to last year’s figures for each location. When I came out on top, I received loads of recognition from the owners, and a bunch of red and white wine was presented at one of the pubs. I gave those bottles away to all the staff.

He eventually got me fired when he learned that my girlfriend was expecting and we were planning to move to Australia in three months’ time. He used this as an excuse for dismissal, even though I had informed our superiors about what was going on.

On my final day of work, due to the terms of my contract they had to pay out a lump sum of 1200 pounds including wages and holiday pay. He pretended not to realize it was that day and said he didn’t have any money available.

I demanded my owed money from the manager, and with some subtle hints of how the money could be extracted, he knew I wouldn’t be leaving without it. He proceeded to frantically open cash registers and empty pokie machines of coins and I even made him empty his own wallet until he was still 60 pounds short.

I snatched up the collection of notes and coins without protest and headed for the bank next door.

The woman behind the counter raised an eyebrow at my bulging bag of money, then asked in disbelief if I had just robbed the pub next door? I told her ‘kinda’, then explained the whole situation.

She keenly assessed me before informing me that there was a 25 pound fee for converting currency at the bank but she had known the pub manager and her own words, he was an asshole and decided to waive it wishing luck to me and my new family on the way.

The same day I secured a chef job 30 minutes away, I started work in an opulent restaurant.

It looked like a lot of money had been spent on renovations, but the staff quarters was abominable. The walls were so damaged that you could have punched a hole through them, and mice ran around unchecked even in our mattresses at night.

Knowing I’d only be there for a few months, I got to work to save up for my trip to Australia. One unexpected benefit was that some of the staff worked cleaning at a local jail and would receive confiscated weed from prison officers, which they’d allegedly secured by flirting with them.

Despite feeling guilty about the inmates getting taken advantage of like this, it certainly livened up our nights! I ended up bumping into one of these co-workers five years later in Australia — we exchanged amazed greetings and shared stories before going our separate ways.

[voidselfshipp]

Birds of a Feather.

Summary: How James comes to know Jerico,and how their pirating adventures begin.

Cw: minor mentions of bad families. Mentions of nondescript injuries.

>only mutuals allowed to reblog. (Including non selfship moots)

Mary read Mary Read where Will you go?

Mary Read Mary Read,so far away from home

James sung to himself as he Walked up the stoney stairs. Ah Tabai patted the boys back,seeing Him so nervous and unsure- he looks twice as small curled into himself as he is.

--You'll do great,novice-- the grand master said with a warm smile.-- Here,stand in line and watch.

James settles in line with other novices, he sighed and fixed the scarf that held his hair in place.

--Bloody jungle humidity...--He complained.

--I know right? Its sticking to me-- A voice to his left said,childish and around his age. No older than fifteen.

He looks to ser a girl, greyish green eyes and pale skin,Brown and gold hair tied in a messy bun with baby hairs all over their face. She smiles,a little meek but welcoming.

--I preffer england's weather-- he half joked as the assasins began to pair up to demonstrate the first few fighting moves to learn.

--The weather in the spanish colonies is nice too-- The girl answered-- The colonizers? Not so much

The boy laughed,joyful and without a care in the world-- I feel you there-- he grinned-- Im James kidd,nice to meet you-- he offered his hand.

--Jerico Aquilar,nice to meet you too!--she shook his hand and grinned too.

--Jerico,I get the feeling we'll be really good Friends.

--Kids!--Ah Tabai scolded with a smile he was failing to hide. The pair giggle and turn their attention to the assasins,but James stands closer now to his New friend.

-♡-

James must have spent the whole day running around with jeri. Pairing up to train,eat lunch and mess around. By the end of the day,he was taken up to the quarters area,a bunch of tree houses well built and insulated.

--Jerico--Called the grandmaster-- James Will be your roommate.

Jer nodded,knowing they wouldnt fight him on it-- Alright,but is he comfortable? I am,well,a girl..

--He'll be just fine-- he reassured,pushing the boy in gently--Good night you two.

The Man left,and as the boy entered with his things carried over his shoulder,he looks at his New friend and says.

--Well,Jeri...uhm. Heres the thing-- he set down his leather satchels and looked away,unable to find the courage he usually carried back when he was a privateer-- I wasnt born a boy... I was a girl..sometimes still am..

The girl took a moment to register the words,but then she nodds and shrugs--Sweet. I feel like a boy sometimes,others I dont feel like a boy or a girl,just something else.

James deinflates with relief, he goes to set up his bed and drops on it with exhaustion.

--Man,my bones hurt

Jeri laughed and he began to laugh too-- Me too,christ-- she lays down in her bed. Her eyes settle on their friend belly flopped on the matress and she found it quite funny-- Hows england Like?

--Ppfffft youre not missing much-- he admitted-- im from a poor family, took a job as a privateer. --He rolled on his back and looked at his roommate.

Outside the air smelled of ashes and humid air,a little salty. Campfires were being put out, the stars and moonlight compensating for the lack of light.

It was silent except for the sounds of the jungle animals and birds. Its a cozy night,And right now they feel like the only kids on earth.

--How did you end up here?--James asked,his hands resting on his chest.

The girl shrugged-- Im a Runaway,my family sucks ass. I ended up here by pure chance,one of the assasins found me- Saw promise in me. And I wanted to get out of the shithole that was my home.

--Birds of a feather...--the boy had this certainty to his tone. He offers his closed fist.

--Birds of a feather-- She agreed,meetint his fist with theirs.

--Sweet dreams,mate.

--Sweet dreams!

Both settle to sleep,there in the night where it feels like its only them in the world out there. There in the middle of the jungle,theres a sense of home.

A sense they never felt in the cities they come from,or in ships and vessels. A companionship of someone who truly understands you,that makes the effort to,that tries for you.

-♡-

Not a day after they Turned sixteen,James had the brilliant idea to celebrate atop the tallest tree in the jungle. The issue wasnt getting up there,sharing food and the little cake Jeri had made for him. Nor was it tear up when she gifted him a friendship bracelet.

The problem was that both smelled of meat from their lunch,and that there was a pack of  baby ocelots trying to make them their meal.

The pair scream like children as they run through the jungle. They dash over rocks,tumbled trees and foliage as the tiny menaces Keep close behind.

--Did you know these things can climb up trees?--Jeri said,her mind trying to stay somewhat calm.

James gave her a hard look and said-- There was literally no worse time you couldve told me that!

--Sorry!

When they got back to the encampments, the guards keeping post freaked out thinking the kids were in danger. The adults manage to spook the ocelots away,but it gains the kid a visit to Ah Tabai's tent.

After explaining it all,the grandmaster let them go with a slap on the wrist and nothing more. Both returned to train,looking worse for wear but alive.

--We're so doing this for your birthday-- James teased.

--Fuck no. -- Jer said,horrified-- Dont even think about it, kidd-- he smirked,and they raised a finger--I fucking mean it.

The boy raises his hands in surrender but does giggle to himself. It does nothing to calm the girls nerves.

-♡-

At eighteen,both kids had made Friends of other assasin novices and kids they met along their training in other islands. And it was quite the thing,a band of kids large enough to pilot a ship. So joked the elders,accostumed to seeing Jerico at the helm of all the Shenanigans.

And this bad idea was Kidds. It was silly,they had sailed to Havana- the templars had little control over ot. And James thought it would be fun to gift his best friend a ship for their eighteenth birthday.

It was a mess.

There were little men manning the ship,but it was trained men against a band of novices. Kidd got out of it alive with a ship,but a myriad of scars(one across his cheek). He also got the scold of a lifetime,but given the fact that he was one of the best novices...Ah Tabai allowed him to Keep the ship...under a New name,and look.

--So...what are you going to name 'er?--He asked to his friend as both sat atop the crows nest.

--Ive been giving it some thought-- Jerico was drawing on her Journal,a beautiful design of an eagle with wings made of sunlight-- The Solar Eagle.

--I like that.

--Wouldnt you rather name your own ship,though?

James gave them a look-- I wasnt takin the piss when I said this ship is yours,I mean it. Ive been planning on it since we were chased by ocelots that one time...

Jeri looks at him in turn-- Dont you think this is a little too much for a gift?

--Ive never met anyone like you-- He began,putting a hand on their back-- And im lucky to be your friend. Youre unconditional,loyal,sweet and endlessly kind. This is my way of repaying ya for all the years of friendshipp. Happy birthday, mate.

Her eyes fill with tears,and brings him in for a tight hug. He hugs back and rocks them side to side. He giggles against his hair.

--Come on you sod, the others are waiting on yer captains quarters to celebrate.

She sniffs and squeezes him-- in a minute.

--'kay,cmon let it all out you Sap.

Eventually they do come down to the captains cabin,where all their Friends wait with a nice cake of chocolate and dulce de leche.

James raises a glass and says-- to the captain!

--To the captain!--Their motley crew cheers,and glasses are raised to celebrate.

The Next morning the sails are changed. Red with the golden emblem of an eagle with wings like the sun. All out of their own pockets,Ah Tabai would make them pay for their Shenanigans.

But there it sat,the Solar Eagle,eagerly waiting for adventures.

When it came the time for the maiden voyage,Jerico took the wheel and James stood with their good friend skully,another assasin trainee, and one of their closest Friends.

--Alright everyone! Full sail!--James barked, and their Friends got to do what they needed to do to get the Eagle away from the docks.

Jer waves goodbye to the assasins and their high mentor watching them go by. Itll be a few weeks,but nothing more.

--Can I tell you a secret?--James asked when they were on the Open sea,the blue Sky above and only the seagulls to join the slight singing of shanties on the deck.

The wind blows,salty and cold,pushing the waves to come to existence but remain calm. As If the world move to make this maiden voyage easy and calm on this New sea faring youth.

--Always,you can trust in me-- Jer answered as her friend leans In conspiratorially with that troublesome look in his eyes.

--With you by my side,I feel like I can do anything and everything in the world.

They grin-- I feel the exact same way.

--Onwards then!--James winked as he yelled at their crew-- To Havana! Lets show these arseholes what a good pirate crew we make!

The deck erupts in cheers and the wind pushes forward the Eagle. Both Friends smile and the boy pulls his friend for a side hug.

--Birds of a feather fly toghether-- He whispered,and jer pushed him.

--Saaaaap!

He chuckled and promptly cussed them off,all while both grinned. Two younglings,filled with possibility and promise. Expectant and excited for the years to come,bound forever in friendship and undying loyalty.

[the-firebird69]

This is all that's left of the tiki hotel and bar and a lot of people call it that they had a name but they should probably put it in with that name probably make a fortune but really they have a different design already and it is not the greatest design people are not going to like it it doesn't fit in that son thinks he saw it but it's not that one either and it's going okay we have a couple people that are getting affected by this stuff

--right now in town there's a bunch of radiation blowing through it looks like it's from more than the three but it's not they were steaming like madness and there's a ship above and it's one of the engines keeping the steam from coming this way but it doesn't keep the radiation out. Does blowing up here and it's up here now at about 1.7 rad it's been up here for about 20 minutes he's been outside for 20 minutes and people are following him around and they're getting sick it will go up to about 1.9 rad for 20 more minutes and it's an intense dose enough really for our son but he needs to clear some of this s*** out and it's true he's getting slightly bigger but it's not really that noticeable only if you have the right equipment can you tell and we we know where and he'll be surprised a little bit and he says it's forearm has changed a teeny tiny bit and bicep looks the same but the tricep is a little bit longer and bigger and those two things are true it's really hard to tell this kind of stuff it says something's going on with the lower legs they're clearing up a little bit and it doesn't look it but it kind of is and he's had that red stuff around most of it now it's disappearing it's a very good sign. After today because this is going to go on until probably 2:00 p.m. and it will go down and then it'll go back up at 4:00 p.m. he'll probably be inside at 4:00 p.m. if he stays out till 2:00 and it'll off gas tonight fairly quickly. He will be at 73% and we predicted 75%. So it's good it's still too high but we got to take it slow the radiation kind of leaves is the issue but overnight we anticipate the five quarter mile or better blowing up here at about 2.5 rad completa and in the apartment will be 1.5 rad for about 45 minutes and then another burst of 30 minutes so by tomorrow morning he'll be at 70% and it will continue along these lines that'll be Friday and he'll be inside no he comes out at 2:00 for 15 minutes and it depends which bus usually they have it on recycle and it gets reduced very low but does hardly any air so it's terrible but if it's one of the windows it's like 1.7 but they may not want to open it and throughout the duration of the ride some of them open the window if they do you'll have an hour of 1.7 and usually he goes inside cuz he's tired but they could be outside in the morning and then in the morning it's going to be 1.3 and Justin is going to start having a hard time and that will be and they plan on going to probably Perkins or the Olive garden and that will be about 45 minutes at 1.3 rad all together tomorrow night he'll be at 65% and it will continue to go down and about 5% today it's not really that much cumulative it is a little bit it goes away after a few days even if it accumulates more by the end of the weekend he'll be at about 45% and a few more days and we'll start to heal a lot more right now it's gross

--we have new figures for the day it's noon this morning we had figures of around 400,000 right now the total of the new Total but not in addition it's a new Total is 600,000 that's off of the original Macklemore lock hierarchy including a pseudo empire the numbers they were at 5.5 million now they're at 4.9 million and it's going down steadily and yeah some of them are real food cakes and think they're a big man they'll say have a similar shape and his part giant but he is not going to do well.

--we expect probably another 400,000 but our son says sometime in the afternoon it depends what they're doing but in the hospital they give way so it might change it's absolutely true it's a different time now and they're exhausting themselves and we do hear reports that they're a lot of them have accumulated in the bone and it keeps coming out but we have estimates from 400,000 to 1.2 million but our consensus is around $650,000 so that brings them down to 4.25 million and there leadership be about 2.1 no it's 1.9%. and they're fighting over going out there the pseudo empire is at 4.5% with today's losses so so far at the end of the day probably 4% and they're both doing miserably it's going to keep going this way and they're going to all have a lot of problems tonight these guys are sicker than hell and have to leave and they haven't but they plan to leave and they plan to try and run their plan which is to try and eliminate the weaponry by flooding the taverns and causing an explosion and riding the pseudo empire onto Tommy f and causing a distraction and he's not aware of who's moving in in a few days he won't have anything again and that's how it goes and we're pretty confident nothing will happen. But he probably won't leave until he's forced out completely and says it's natural law so our son says it depends who's forcing you out and he says yeah it's true so he's going to sit here until he's almost dead right now he has about a 70% chance of living and his son has a 65% chance of living and on today's standards and with what they do and by the end of the weekend they'll both have a 50% chance if they stay in those bodies more shortly

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera

[nightcall99]

Dream from 22.9.23

I’m staying in some strange in-between place, some kind of military base that people wait in. There's a camping area for my course and my classmates are here. I had just woken up and was getting ready for the day in our shared quarters. Then I go to the kitchen area to make breakfast and there are a bunch of people in there, including JD, who is sitting at the communal table. He is watching me as we make idle conversation. I know he is attracted to me, but his attention and hovering is getting annoying so I make an excuse to eat breakfast back in my room.

Then I go and spend some time with AJ. He is with his other friends and it feels weird between us. Something left unspoken. I'm glad to see him anyhow.

Then I am with my sister and there is a fridge of different ingredients (mostly different kinds of jelly), for a Vietnamese dessert named 'che thai', which is a kind of fruit cocktail with an array of toppings. It is the type of fridge that has clear sliding doors and opens from the top. It feels like we were only supposed to choose one ingredient and eat that on it's own, but there were a few trays inside of jelly that were left open and partly eaten, so we thought we might as well make a proper che thai, by adding more ingredients.

Then we felt someone approaching us, like a sergeant or one of the higher-ups in the base. For some reason, we didn't want to get 'caught' eating dessert, so we hauled out a bunch of bamboo sticks from somewhere and made out like we were busy laying them flat over the fridge compartment door, in order to make it light-proof. As if this was a job we had been assigned to do, and we were deep in concentration to complete it to the best of our ability. Each stick was of a different length and had a slight bend to it, so it was like arranging them in order in a jig-saw puzzle.

But then the sergeant man, who doesn't seem to notice, comes up to us and says we have to go now. We have to go via a helicopter and get out of here. He takes us to the launch-off spot, like an airport. I am waiting in a sealed-off compartment for the signal to get on board. I'm looking through the window at the tarmac.

[fanthatracks]

We have a stretch goal available for folks who have already supported the R2-KT repair crew, and it's a doozy. Over to Albin Johnson for more details on how to get involved. KT friends and family Phase One completed! Thanks to all you new Repair Crew members, Pat and Alex were able to complete phase one of restoration and are moving quickly to phase two. Meanwhile, a magical thing happened. Our friends in the coin biz were inspired by the Vader's Fist coins we did last year and whipped up a prototype of the first-ever R2-KT stained glass coin! The first prototype was rather plain (only the blue and gold spots were translucent). I asked them to make it FULLY transparent and the results are spectacular. I was so impressed I pre-ordered a bunch and WOW do these things look beautiful in person! Unfortunately there is a very limited quantity and the coins are 4x the cost of others to make, so I've wrestled with how to offer these in a future fundraiser. Instead, it made me think: how else can we make being a Repair Crew member special? So, I thought why not treat these like a "Stretch Goal" for this fundraiser, offering them to existing donors as a second tier. [gallery link="file" columns="2" size="large" ids="144844,144845"] And that's what this is about. Any R2-KT Repair Crew member who would like to claim one of these coins can simply bump their donation by $20 and we'll add a coin to your Repair Crew Membership kit. No additional charge for shipping, it will go out with your kit. Just drop $20 via PayPal to r2kt@r2kt.com and include the message "Shiny!" and I'll add a dazzling stained glass coin to your existing Membership Kit. Stained Glass coins are available only to Repair Crew Team members, because darnit you guys really came to the rescue. I'm so glad to share this news with you and I'm so happy to offer an exclusive to our Repair Crew members. Just another way for me to say 'thank you!' to everyone helping us with KT's long-overdue repairs!!! As always, please let me know if you have any questions. One week left and we close the fundraiser (June 15). So tell your friends if they want to join up. After next week the work continues on KT and I will keep you all posted on our website. As we said before, any funds left over (if any) after this project go straight to our Make-A-Wish fund which we can add to our fourth quarter donation to MAW. Win-win! So much happening and it is all exciting - and all thanks to you. Thank you and MTFBWY!!! [amazon box="0593597915"]