#tsv they could never make me hate you

[woodlouseonastring]

faulkners screams in episode 38. just stab me in the gut atp. sick and twisted

[pigeons-with-jello]

I LOVE PAIGE AND HAYWARD OH DEAR GOD THEYRE AMAZING

[moonward-bound]

The Silt Verses is an amazing podcast exploring loss of faith in a god as a metaphor for loss of faith in a cruel society that dehumanizes and grinds up human lives to keep itself going. Unfortunately the Trawlerman is tailor made for me, a sailor by trade who grew up on the Saint-Laurent and need to be by her side constantly or I get depressed, and who is normal about drowning also, to love unconditionally. RIP to Sister Carpenter and Brother Faulkner and especially Katabasian Roemont who could not recognize an ultimate expression of love even as it filled his lungs and gnawed at his bones but I am different and the River will always rise within my heart 💙

[catwyk]

tsv finale spoilers below. i wrote this during my first listen through. its long as fuck. im dead im ruined.

cull calling out to rane instead of faulkner.... rane is truly the real leader now

FAULKNER......

"katabasian rane? sister thurrocks?" im gonna be sick

"hes basically a cow" spit your shit carp

"people in my life keep leavin to serve a cause i just cant understand" BASHES MY HEAD ON THE WALL

"we must love them for fleein from our touch e must not run after them" oh baby :(

this is actually fucking destroying me right now oh poor faulkner. failed by the world.

"of course i recognize you. youre carpenter's ghost" // "yes. i am" // "that must mean that im being punished. arent i?" he sounds so small and young oh my god

"if this is my punishment, then why am i smiling?" OKAY PARALLELS TO HIS VISIONS IN S2. OKAY. IM NOT GOING TO CRY. I WONT.

his monologue is ruining me actually oh god.

"they invented their own faulkner. and they forced me to be him" THATS WHAT IM SAYIN

he called her his sister...

im sure hes gonna die

"you crashed a car??" // "yeeah. i crashed a car." i love her

"they need to fix you, they need to make you better, and ill, ill watch over your bed, ill be there, carpenter. ill pray, ill pray and pray for as long as i need to" christ alive. i need to lay down RIGHT NOW.

méabh de brún too good at acting like shes in pain im abt to dial an ambulance

EM??? EM MENTION. EM MENTION

ok this is fuelling my hc that faulkner reminded carpenter of em in some painful and undefinable way

"i should tell paige that story, if i get to see heg again"

"OUR paige?" CRYING FOR A MILLION YEARS. AND HIS "HUH" AS WELL WHEN CARPENTER CONFIRMS

twin mouths truther forever

"i hate you too, faulkner, i truly do. and i love you, too. in spite of everything" // "always on the very precipice of understanding one another"

faulkner's "DEAD, DEAD, DEAD!" is fucking me up b narr the voice actor everrr

SHES GONNA LEAVE HIM A CAIRN 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

"there'll be a place for you, and itll be beside me" DRIVING STRAIGHT INTO A LAMPPOST AS WE SPEAK

NO HES GONNA TRY AND KILL HER ISNT HE

"yeah. perhaps thats it. do you?" again. coolest fucking character on the planet

"this is when the waters parted, and at last..! at last he understood!" jesus christ. jon ware the writer that you are

"say you were raised in the service of a god of fire. so you feel like the world would be a much better place if more things were on fire" i busted out laughing WHAT a tone shift

"dennis duplace helped. hayward.. dad.. carpenter.. im leaving all of you behind" i am a husk of a person. lucille valentine knocking it out of the park

"best feeling in the world, seeing you walk away" holy fucking shit this is DAMAGING ME.

i wanna write every quote thats making my heart sting but the transcript is already up so theres no real point

every single va is popping the FUCK OFF by the way. i have to keep reminding myself theyre acting so i dont like. kill myself

val saving hayward was NOT on my bingo card what the fuck

"and before she died... she remembered who she was" OHHHHHHH MYYYYY GODDDDDD

hayward doing his own rites of the cairn maiden for himself :(

no gods coming for hayward but "fuck it. this one's not... for any of you. this ones for me"

WHY IS FAULKNER BACK. NONONO ITS ONLY GONNA BE BAD. PLEASE NO

i never realized the parallel between faulkner's gardener father and his gardener god

carpenter meant so much to him :(

"Sister! I love you! Where are you going? Dont turn your back on me! Dont you dare- Sister! I need you! SISTER! SISTER! MARCO! MARCO!" FAULKNER NO NOT LIKE THIS NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

FUCK YOU JON WARE (<- COMPLIMENT)

THE FAULKNER BODY FAKEOUT. SEE ABOVE POINT

carpenter's scream...... oh god.. oh méabh de brún the woman that you are

"he could be a face from my childhood. or his" charlie.......

HES BEEN BLOND THIS ENTIRE TIME????????????? i should have fucking known

"but no matter how it starts, no matter how it turns out for us, it can end with love, cant it? it can end with love. it can end with kindness." i said oh my god out loud

the delivery of "and then i let him go" why not just drive a railroad spike through my lungs

"the river is vast, and no dam can block every channel, and ours is a world of miracles." i said jesus christ out loud

i wheezed when she just. got back up this old bitch cannot die can she

not nana glass' song............

FUCKING TAINSLEY. CHEKHOVS TAINSLEY.

oh my god. a final heartbreaking credits scene

i had to just sit and lean back for a second. what a fucking ending. what a fucking podcast. this is one of those pieces of media that takes up residence in your brain forever. im never gonna stop thinking about this

[vestaclinicpod]

Audio Drama Sunday - 5th May ✨

There’s something so so satisfying about HFTH being on ep 150, while TSV is on 40 and Travelling Light (TL, if you will) is on 20 . . . the brain is going brrrr.

Here’s what I listened to this week! Spoilers ahead!

👻 @tellnotalespod (S2E9) oh what a beautiful episode 😭I’d like to bestow the highest accolade on Flo’s VA: hearing her voice and immediately casting her in an unwritten audio drama that will likely never be made. I have a theory about why Frank can’t just clear out the warehouse . . . but I really don’t want it to be true. 

🌲 @hellofromthehallowoods (150) You can also find me in Camp ‘Hate That Noise’!! Awful. I love this nautical storyline so much. It’s one thing to be told that Buck is now a renowned detective and another to see him in action. Sad that someone had to die but . . . I can’t wait to see the case unfold!! I’ve been trying to wrap my head around Shelby leaving the entire week. Yes, it makes perfect sense from a survival point of view but I don’t think I could have done it. 

🦀 @thesiltverses (40) what a good ep!! I’ve been so compromised by Carpenter this season. She sounds so very exhausted, even when she’s not being stalked by her god of death. I’m very concerned about ‘Verity’ who left the minute they arrived… did she recognise them?? Chuck Harm and Val are one of the most unexpected combinations of the year but I’m here for it. It is VERY interesting that Val is now suffering post-miracle. Is this a ‘gods need to feed’ situation or something else entirely. Working with God-killers worked so well for the government last time, so it’ll no doubt be over for her in no time . . .

🧳 Travelling Light @monstrousproductions (20) I can’t tell you how delightful it is that this show comes out on Friday and is exactly the length of my average cycle home!! It’s such a soothing way to start the weekend! There were so many banging lines in this ep, I love a spooky friend!

🏛 @the-mistholme-museum (CONCLUSIVE) You heard it on Mistholme first! People from Yorkshire (me) have the best voices. Like honey, chocolate and coffee all at once - so people say. I can’t believe this is the penultimate episode 😭

🖥��� The Magnus Protocol (14) snake friends! How delightful!! I feel a little guilty at how entertaining Alice’s jealousy is. I feel so bad for her, but the office drama is too hard to resist. 

🍎 @notquitedeadpod (XXXVII) my heart!! 💔 I had to laugh at Neige’s disdain for Alfie’s more intimate recordings right before expounding on his own experiences . . . including with their shared boyfriend! It’s a little petty. I love it. And, god, can we talk about this last line? ‘And when you call, I will come back to you because you have begun to feel like home.’ HELLO? Christ.

🌞 Small Victories by @wgc-productions (2.1) How many cosmic interventions will it take for Marisol not to make cosmically bad choices? I don’t know! I’m keeping a close eye on Summer . . . 

🧋 @hinaypod (3-4) Honestly, kind of kudos to Laura because if I went through what she did I would simply never touch an antique again… I really love Donner and Murphy’s rapport and how they recognise and respect Mari’s skills! 

Hope everyone has a lovely week! 🥰

I'd also like to highlight that the creators of one of my fave shows, Moonbase Theta, Out (@monkeymanproductions) , are crowdfunding for their next one! Throw some 💸 at these lovely creatives!!

[moonlit-dreamers]

*falls through the ceiling*

hey fuckers. im gonna talk about an au i havent talked about on tumblr yet bc iivvee been very focused on stl au lol (and i also just dont post often 💀) BUT! IM HERE!!

i came up with this au a while ago and i did kinda briefly mention it a while ago but that. doesnt fucking matter.

this is an au for the sun vanished! its a story on twitter that i became absolutely OBSESSED with (and still kinda am even after all this time). listened through the whole story from a ytuber nate at night. hes pretty good and i recommend you check him out

but a basic sum-up for ppl who may not know what the sun vanished is: one day the sun randomly vanished and never came back. it starts off with tsv (we dont know his real name) trying to reunite with danyon, his friend. we then also meet tucker and nat who are also trying to meet up. a lot of shit happens that i. honestly cant remember the proper order of. "dark water" is some kinda.. weird water that fucks with your body and mind. theres also "we the people" who is an organization that tries to "work with" the "invaders" by using dark water to make themselves invisible. later on tsv, tucker and nat join a group that is very much against wtp. that... should be all thats needed to know to partially understand this au >.>

so here we go! first up, nobody in this animatronics. with a lot of the events (especially with what happens to tsv) it wouldnt work the same if they were animatronics. so theyre mutants! bc i refuse to ever make them humans!

for who is who: sun is tsv with moon being danyon. while i will say that tsv and sun do differ a lot in personalities it just.. makes more sense with the situation. especially with sun being so desperate to meet up with moon despite all the red flags.

im constantly debating if tucker would be eclipse or solar. his behaviors is like a weird mixture of the two. more aggressive than solar but nicer than eclipse. but either way hes best friends with lunar (who is nat). he is.. very overprotective and lunar is frequently frustrated with his behaviors. while, yes, lunar is a kid (14 at the beginning), he still hates being treated like he cant do anything by himself. eclipse also despises moon and never trusted him in the first place. think he tried to kill him at one point tho i. cant remember >.> (its like 1am im half asleep cut me some slack)

jack would be theseus (previously known as half-crop). jack is a kid they (the other group) brought in and kept in captivity since they were unsure if he was infected or not. with the help of lunar being a persistent lil shit they managed to get proof that he was fully conscious (since he never talked). jack only has one functioning eye, the other eye seems to be... messed up in some way. but it isnt pretty. he mainly covers it with his hat (for his own comfort). hes semiverbal and selectively mute, only talking around lunar and maybe eclipse if hes lucky.

im thinking that wtp could be the creator council? or at least ran by a creator. maybe they somehow caused the sun to vanish and let the "invaders" in freely or maybe they want to study it and thats why theyre nonhostile (towards the invaders, that is. not to other ppl lol). that would also make it suck more since moon was converted/manipulated into joining them ;-; meanwhile the other group could be others from the plex, like roxy, chica, monty, freddy, etc. theyd be really minor characters (theres actually not many names mentioned anyway lol) so i havent thought about it much *shrug*

but i have. SO many thoughts about this au man. theres so many scenarios i imagine with them. like eclipse first finding lunar in his basement staring at the dead bodies of his parents (that he had to kill himself). sun drinking too much dark water and hallucinating that moon was with him and begging him to come back and that hes sorry. lunar finding a video sun took of him and eclipse dancing together. sun sending his last message to moon about how he hates him and that neither of them turned out to be the ppl they promised they would be then ending it by saying he loves moon and hopes he never sees the message.

idk man. kinda unwell over this

[eyesteeth]

tsv x ns but my tunnel vision is the same as ever

carpenter

familar is a big ol gray newfoundland named loam

magic color is gray. this leads many people to believe she is magicless, especially because loam only talks when in trusted company and is therefore assumed to be Just A Dog

people within the parish know that she’s extremely magically skilled however and she has a reputation for being a beast in combat

knows Instantly that faulkner’s faking his magic but isn’t going to call him out on it for Reasons

faulkner

familiar is a fish named bubbles

magic color is blue

THAT’S A LIE!! he is actually magicless and the fish is Just A Fish. as mr robin has said time and time again fish cannot be familiars. faulkner has a blue contact lens over his brown eye to match the fish, but the coloration isn’t the same if you look close enough. this is my au i’m keeping my design headcanons for these guys

some fucking how he has managed to flail himself upward into his current position and is put in the care of the far more competent carpenter, at which point he instantly starts trying to scheme

the mission theyre on is trying to find a particularly powerful husk for Their Purposes. however eventually they come to the discovery that what they’re seeking is actually a way to make husks and not a husk itself. neither of them like this and it runs close to tsv canon in this regard.

honestly this is pretty close to canon tsv except:

color coded magic system. and i love magic systems

faulkner trying Really Hard not to husk out (in ns canon non-magicians turn into husks if they become extremely emotionally unstable in a time of high stress so most of season 3 would be him trying not to turn into a beastie)

familiar stuff. yeah your sister says she hates you but also the dog that’s part of her soul has come over to you and put its head in your lap. you hold it close and her posture relaxes across the room. you don’t need to say anything. you both know.

(for context, if faulkner did get his magic in, his familiar would be a ginger domestic shorthair cat, and therefore him husked out would have him as a catboy. a traumatized, murderous catboy)

most saints would be husks in this.

charity, some kind of hunting dog saint. pink. follows canon pretty closely there

i think it’d be very ironic if the radio man’s familiar was a sloth so let’s go with that. dark blue. it’s 1am i can’t remember his name i’m a fake fan :pensive:

val, crane. she’s a crane to me idk why. red.

anyway. the other main characters. this post was not done in order lol i’m doing most this shit off the dome

paige: dove familiar named olive. magic color’s either a nice light blue or green. her whole prophet thing could mean she husks out in this au and just chills at tier one because she has the money to afford the gems to stabilize while other people who go husk (cough faulkner cough) are not financially stable enough to. i’m going with that. i’m not joking when i say i’m doing most of this off the cuff lol

hayward: basset hound familiar named columbo. magic color is a deep brown. one of the less respected guard members who does his best. once corruption is revealed in the heart of the administration, he is grabbed by a dove husk (paige) he is sent to kill and runs close to canon that way

shrue: shrew familiar named cashew. cmon. magic color is an uneasy orange. an overworked member of the administration who rose the ranks with the intention of undoing harm, but is instead walked over and talked over and makes very little change

gage & mercer: it’s canon that twins will have the same kind of familiar, so they both have deer - but only one has antlers. they never make it clear which familiar belongs to who. i have no clue what their magic color would be but theyd be slightly different hues off each other. they hunt husks, but they seem to like it a little too much, and they like to wear the remains of their hunts.

that’s all lol

[theboombutton]

Boohoo-Boohoo, The Thing In The Branches

So I relistened to The Silt Verses last week, and something from Chapter 6 that I had completely passed over on first listen has stuck in my mind: Not-Yet-Katabasian Mason's story of his childhood encounter with Boohoo-Boohoo, The Thing In The Branches.

(Interestingly, when I went to look for a canonical spelling, the name Mason gave the thing isn't in the transcript. Did Jamie Stewart improvise the name, I wonder?)

So, a quick summary of the story. When Mason was a child, he and his sisters discovered a Thing In The Branches that sang like a bird, but was not a bird. They fell in love with it, and tried to interact with it, but it was too quick and clever and apparently uninterested in them. So they interact with the songbirds instead - Mason calls them its "disciples" - killing them, destroying their nests, and generally being shitty little kids. This causes The Thing In The Branches to sing songs of mourning for the pain of the songbirds in its flock - and so we have the mocking name, Boohoo-Boohoo.

The children never hated The Thing In The Branches - they craved its love, but if they could not have it, they would settle for its attention. Because when you adore someone in that childish, selfish way, you'd rather cause them harm than have them ignore you.

Now, we have to assume that this story is relevant to the overall story of The Silt Verses. Because Muna Husen & Jon Ware could have filled that conversational space with anything, but they chose The Thing In The Branches. Why?

This story could be relevant mostly thematically. The theme of attempting to connect with something you worship, but are so fundamentally different from that it's almost impossible to really communicate, is obviously all over The Silt Verses. As is the harm people(?) will do in the name of their gods, just to earn their favor.

But I wonder if the greatest presence of this dynamic in TSV is the other way around. So much of the harm done to people in this show is done by gods at the request of humans. Maybe the gods crave the love of their worshipers, and the gods try to reach out and connect, causing devastation. Maybe over time the gods have come to understand prayer-marks as like, arrows drawn to show that if they throw rocks at that tree in particular, the humans will be happy, and will praise them. Maybe the gods are reaching out to humans just as much (or sometimes more than) humans are reaching out to them, and the destruction they wreak is their clumsy way of trying to love them.

Then, of course, there's the possibility that this is story is relevant less in broad thematic sense and more as direct foreshadowing. If Mason tried to connect with Boohoo-Boohoo by killing its disciples, and now he is a worshiper of the Trawler-Man in a position of power over disciples of the Trawler-Man...

And my last big takeaway from the story, which is less about relevance and more about worldbuilding, is that it is Big If True. Because if this story is literally true, the implication is that the young Masons found a local god of birdsong, with songbirds for disciples. Which. Uh.

I'm so used to stories involving objectively-real divinity drawing a hard line between sapient and non-sapient creatures that it didn't even occur to me to wonder if nonhuman animals could call gods into being. Once that possibility is in play, I have to ask:

Is the Trawler-Man originally a God of Crustaceans, adopted by the humans of the River secondarily?

No, really, hear me out. On top of all of the crab+ imagery associated with the Trawler-Man, in episode 8 Roake the painter claims that he learned the prayer marks of the Wither Tide by studying the symbols drawn into the silt of the river by actual, literal, not-supernatural-as-far-as-we're-aware crabs. And in episode 11, Brother Wharfing notes that the Trawler-Man is an especially strong god. But gods require sacrifice to stay strong - who made the sacrifices necessary to keep Him going through the decade+ after the Faith was decimated and the Parish scattered? Was it the crabs, making their little crab sacrifices, dancing prayer marks of worship into the silt?

And you know who I bet would reallly like the Wither Tide?

Pepe Silvia.

...

No, obviously it's crabs.

[jeessss]

An Actual Fic Roundup

Thank you to echo, the patron saint of kindness and getting people to write fic roundups.

I wrote 83k words this year. This was 16 fics, 9 of which were DnP. Fics below grouped by fandom below the cut and then some Thoughts

DNP

Thin Stripe of Skin, 873 words, rated T.  Dan is trying to get some writing done. But he can’t even get through a paragraph because suddenly there it is: the image of Phil with his arms stretched wide, shirt pulled up to expose a diamond in the center of his chest. You could just begin to see the shape of his pectoral muscles. That was definitely Not Allowed.

so much depends upon a cereal box web cam, 6k words, rated G.  Phil thinks fate brought the two of them together. Dan thinks Phil doesn't give him enough credit. Fate didn't bring them together; it was actually a lot of work on Dan's part.

How To Flush A Toilet: An Information Guide, 1.7k words, rated T.  How to flush your broken toilet AND deal with your emotional baggage in just ten easy steps.

Sutures, 2.4k words, rated E.  Phil returns to the forever home after a week away, just in time to pull Dan out of his negative thought spiral.

a thousand (four hundred ninety two) words, 1.5k words. rated T. Dan has developed a strategy over the years. When he wants to stare but not get caught staring, he’ll take a picture. He can look at Phil all he wants through a viewfinder or on a phone screen, and no one will bat an eyelash. He can analyze all the angles of Phil’s face, the shape of his lips, the way his clothing falls around his shoulders. He can take a picture, because it lasts longer.

The Sand, 7.5k words, rated M. Phil loves the kinetic sand, loves pressing it between his palm, loves running it through his fingers. He loves watching it fall from his hands bit by bit. He loves the sand and he needs to share it with everyone.

Kick Me While I’m Down, 14k words, rated T. Dan and Phil meet in an adult kickball league. Phil is just there to make friends. Dan is - not.

call me but love, 1.1k words, rated G. Phil can’t change his last name - Dan won’t let him. He’s been attached to that name since 2009.

Scars, 904 words, rated G Dan thought filming in his hometown would be harder.

Two Set Violin

(please stan tsv with me. did you see that virtual tour. i am dead.)

End Game, 2,7k words, rated T. Brett plays and he thinks about how the real Tchaikovsky would never be able to have this. Brett is glad that he does. A fic about Taiwan and the tour and Tchaikovsky

Oil on Canvas, WIP, rated T. Two Set But They Are Art Majors

Good Bad Ideas, 2.1k words, rated T. “Ah, shit,” Eddy says, hiding his face from the screen. “How did that get here.” He shouldn’t have agreed to take the photo or post the photo and now there it is, the consequences of his actions, staring up at him from their subreddit. AKA the photo and the conversation that came after

ok yes i wrote a hockey fic. it was a moment of weakness. it won’t happen again.

190 lbs, 1.4k words, rated T. Wade was used to Morgan kicking his ass in drills. He was not, however, used to being knocked flat on said ass.

(still the only morgan/wade fic on ao3 though. i am truly a pioneer)

F4 Thailand

listen, do not watch this show. we don’t need another boys before flowers adaptation in the year 2k21/22. but if you DO watch it, ship Gorya/Mira

Lip Gloss Shade, 2.2k words, rated T Gorya keeps a lip gloss ad of Mira shoved in the bottom of her drawer.

2gether/bw

More Than A Dozen Times, 8.2k words, rated T Five Times Sarawat Proposes to Tine And The One Time He Says Yes

the sleeping and the dead are but as pictures, 23k words, rated M Bright would do anything for Win. There are a line of dead bodies behind him proving that fact.

That is so many more things than I thought??? I only started writing in October 2020 so I still have some things I’d like to work on. I’ve been writing songs for many, many years so some of those things translate, but I would like to get better at things like scene transitions and Not Hating My Life Every Time I Write Dialog. But I wrote action for the first time this year! and horror!

Next year I would really like to write a DnP long fic. I just need to get over my fear of writing outlines. I think I've discovered that I’m the type of writer than needs to post WIPs as I go, otherwise the length seems too daunting.

Thank you to everyone who has said nice things about my writing! I am definitely someone who struggles with confidence, and every comment has helped.

[nana-glass-chillhop-radio-hour]

once I was a carpenter, and man, my hands were calloused (I could swing a metal mallet sure and straight)

At the request of @transfaulkner and in exchange for this delightful irritated Carpenter in a puffy vest (my beloved), here is a ~1k TSV modern AU where Faulkner is in training to become a carpenter. He's apprenticing with (you guessed it) Carpenter!

Overall, going into training to become a carpenter has been a good move for Faulkner. For one thing, he could move out of his dad’s house to a new town where he didn’t know anybody, and that made it a lot easier to transition socially. It’s a trade that involves precision, and he’s good at that, and it pays well enough that he can meet his basic needs and still be able to afford hormones and counseling for his OCD, no sweat. The only problem is his boss. They’re having some compatibility issues.

Truth be told, upon graduating his pre-apprenticeship program three months ago, Faulkner hadn’t been pleased when he learned that he was going to be apprenticing with one of the only woman master carpenters in their local chapter (did Mason think he was a girl?). But Mal Glass had pretty quickly won him over. Between the brogue and the acerbic wit, she made a strong first impression. She was knowledgeable and tough, and a hell of a craftswoman, highly accomplished for her age. He had heard that she’d personally restored the Gulfwalker Hotel after the tropical storm in ‘03, and it was still a point of pride for the union. The fact that she was openly queer didn’t hurt either – if anything, it was kind of reassuring to see that there were some gender non-conforming people who were successful in their trade. On a good day, Faulkner could even see them becoming friends.

The issue was that Mal didn’t seem to want an apprentice at all, and generally seemed to hate having him around. Her disdain made him make dumb mistakes at work, like last week, when she’d startled him and he almost dropped a circular saw. He’s trying to do better, but it’s not easy, especially on the days when half his brainpower is taken up trying to keep his dysphoria in check and the other half is trying to breathe through his compulsions.

“Good morning,” he tells Mal as they settle down in the office and wait for a call. They’re in between big jobs, so they’re on the emergency coverage rotation for the week. It’s been slow.

Mal takes a sip of her coffee. “I’d tell you the same, but if it were a good morning, Faulkner, I’d be fishing,” Mal says.

“You fish?” Faulkner asks, trying to make conversation.

“Just about every waking moment I’m not here,” Mal says. Faulkner remembers the time she’d shown up to a work site wearing a hat that said ‘women want me, fish fear me,’ and gotten a long lecture from Mason about professionalism and their dress code. It had made his day, though he wouldn’t have told Mason that. “Par for the course, in my family. You?”

“My dad used to like fishing, but I, uh – I mean, I never learned,” Faulkner says.

“He didn’t teach you?” Mal asks, sounding mildly indignant on his behalf.

“No,” Faulkner says. “I mean, he taught my brothers, but that was before I – I mean, I guess he thought I didn’t want to learn.”

Mal looks up from her phone and regards him for a long, uncomfortable moment. Shit. She hadn’t already picked up on the fact that he’s trans? He had just assumed that everybody at work knew, but apparently not. This was not at all how he would have chosen to come out. Stupid, he thinks. Of course she didn’t know, she barely pays attention to you at all.

“Sorry to hear that, Faulkner,” Mal says. Her tone is casual, but there’s a hint of meaning to it. “Shitty thing for a father to do, not supporting his son’s interests.”

He exhales. She’s not going to make a big deal about it, thank goodness. “Yeah,” Faulkner says. “I guess so.”

She looks at him for another moment, then goes back to tapping away at her phone. Faulkner is doing his best to forget about the whole conversation when she says, “what are you doing next Saturday?”

They don’t work Saturdays. Why is she asking him this? “Uh, nothing, probably,” Faulkner says. He’s only lived in Marcel’s Crossing for a few months, and he still doesn’t know many people.

“Looks like it’s a free fishing day that day,” Mal says. “So you can fish without a license.”

“I don’t have any of the stuff,” Faulkner replies. Not to mention, he doesn’t know how.

“You can use mine, I’ve got plenty,” Mal says. That doesn’t address the issue of him not knowing how to fish. Had she already forgotten the rest of their conversation? “I can pick you up at six thirty.”

“What?” Faulkner asks.

“I know it’s early, but they bite the most at dawn and dusk,” Mal says. “Plus, there’s more people on the river in the evening.”

“What are you talking about?” Faulkner asks.

Mal looks at him like he’s an idiot. “I’m taking you fishing,” she says. “That is, if you want to go.”

“Oh,” Faulkner stammers. “Really? I mean, um. Yeah. That sounds fun.”

She raises an eyebrow but doesn’t comment. “Is six thirty too early for you?”

“That’s fine,” Faulkner says.

“Then it’s a plan,” Mal says, like that’s that.

“Thanks, by the way,” Faulkner says.

“Don’t mention it,” Mal says. “You know what they say. Teach a man to fish, or whatever. It’ll be grand.”

Faulkner suspects Mal is only being nice to him because she’s clocked him as a baby trans guy who’s new in town with no family he’s on speaking terms with and has decided that that it’s her self-imposed duty as a middle-aged butch lesbian to adopt him. But when he thinks about it, he finds he doesn’t mind that much. It's nice to have somebody reach out.

They have a blast on the river that Saturday, even though Mal's waders don't quite fit him, and they don't catch anything. Afterwards they go out to for breakfast at the Riverside Cafe, and Mal insists on picking up the bill. They gossip about Mason and debate the merits of various home improvement store chains. Mal makes fun of him for ordering a green juice and then orders one herself. By the end of the morning, Mal has invited him to no less than three Glass family functions and a drag trivia night that she and her roommate Paige attend religiously.

Turns out, their compatibility issues aren't so bad after all.

[jamesgeiiger]

Ten stocks for 2019: What the pros are picking to outperform in the year ahead

The bull market ran into a brick wall in 2018, but that doesn’t mean investors should abandon equities just yet. With a new year dawning, the Financial Post asked 10 prominent portfolio managers and strategists to pick a single stock they feel has a good chance to outperform in 2019.

Jeff Olin — Vision Capital Corp.

The Stock: Pure Multi-Family REIT (TSV/RUF-U)

It’s defensive, it’s in high-growth U.S. markets, and most important, it’s “very, very cheap.” Those are the factors that make Pure Multi-Family REIT a buy for Jeff Olin, president and portfolio manager at Vision Capital Corp., in 2019. Pure trades on the TSX Venture Exchange but exclusively owns class A apartments in U.S. sunbelt markets such as Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Austin. Those four are among North America’s top cities for employment growth, he said, which is important in real estate investing because more jobs often means more housing is required. “Everybody needs a place to live,” said Olin, adding that REITs in general can be a balm for volatility in global markets. What makes the Pure Multi-Family REIT special, Olin said, is that unlike other apartment REITs on the market, it isn’t trading at a premium to its net asset value. “This one you can buy at a discount,” he said. Shares of Pure closed Friday at $8.21.

It could be worse: An optimist's guide to investing in 2019

Outlook 2019: Here's where the experts think the TSX will end up one year from now

The bad news is nobody made money in 2018; the good news, markets are expecting the worst

Norman Levine — Portfolio Management Corp.

The Stock: NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ/NXPI)

Shares of NXP Semiconductors NV were victims of a failed takeover bid from Qualcomm Inc. in 2018, and have fallen 26 per cent since the deal was vetoed by the Chinese government in July. That fall in value has drawn the interest of Norman Levine, managing director of Portfolio Management Corp. “We think it’s greatly undervalued because of the people who bought it just for the takeover and said, ‘Get me out’,” Levine said. NXP, he said, remains a takeover candidate in 2019 because, “if this was attractive to Qualcomm, it’s probably attractive to someone else.” Being a takeover candidate alone, however, wouldn’t be enough to convince Levine, a value investor, to jump on board. What really drew his attention is that NXP has remained relatively cheap while seeing its earnings grow and setting itself up to benefit from a growing automotive electronics market. Shares of the Dutch semiconductor producer closed Friday at US$72.13, well below the US$127.50 Qualcomm was willing to pay.

Brian Belski — BMO Capital Markets

The Stock: Bank of America Corp. (NYSE/BAC)

Investors are positioning for a recession and an inverted yield curve, according to Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets, and, he said, neither one is going to happen. Belski is bullish on 2019 and as a result is investing in Bank of America Corp. There’s a “generational opportunity” to invest in the banking sector, which investors often turn to when interest rates are rising but are risky when markets are slowing down. Bank of America hit its 52-week low — US$22.66 — on Dec. 24, a 31 per cent drop from a high of US$33.05 earlier in the year. “U.S. banks are uniformly hated, feared around the marketplace,” said Belski, but he’s not adding to the pile-on because “you have to buy when there’s blood in the streets … if you have fundamentals to back it up.” For Bank of America, those fundamentals, he said, are consistent cash flow, earnings and dividend growth. The stock closed at US$24.51 on Friday.

An Apple store in Hong Kong.

Greg Placidi — Equiton Inc.

The Stock: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ/APPL)

Investors who own Apple Inc. are going to benefit from two bumps to the stock in 2019, Greg Placidi, chief investment officer of Equiton Inc., predicts: One in the first half of the year, when he expects a conclusion to the U.S.-China trade war; and another in the second half, when the analyst community re-learns how to track the company. Apple has lost more than US$250 billion in market cap since the beginning of November — with shares plunging more than 29 per cent to close Friday at US$156.23 — as analysts responded to its decision to no longer disclose iPhone sales numbers by lowering target prices across the board. In Placidi’s view, analyst comfort levels changed because they no longer had the same tools at their disposal, and will have to learn to draw their conclusions in another way. Headlines suggesting Apple may have to move iPhone production out of China because of heavy tariffs are only adding to the sour sentiment, he said. None of that deters his belief that a rally is on the way. “There’s nobody really sitting next to them that’s going to be able to unseat them,” he said.

Joel Clark — KJ Investments

The Stock: Enbridge Inc. (TSX/ENB)

Joel Clark, CEO and portfolio manager of KJ Investments, says the economy is weakening, and with interest rates rolling over, too, he’s playing defence. Enbridge Inc. is a good choice for investors who want to transition their portfolios toward a defensive mindset, he said, because it’s a utility stock, which are known for outperforming most other sectors when markets slow. Enbridge also has a near seven per cent dividend yield, having announced in December that it would be boosting it to $2.95 per share annually. Closing at $42.16 on Friday, the stock is down about 16 per cent year-to-date — but that only means it’s now a value stock with further room to grow next year, Clark said. That growth may get an additional boost in the second half of the year if the company’s Line 3 pipeline replacement is completed as expected, something that can never hurt in pipeline-starved Canada.

David MacNicol — MacNicol & Associates

The Stock: Aurania Resources (TSXV/ARU)

“It’s either going to be a hit or wash out.” That’s how David MacNicol, president and portfolio manager of MacNicol & Associates, assesses the prospects of Aurania Resources, a junior mining company based in Ecuador. MacNicol is leaning toward the former because, with the market taking a defensive stance, he’s betting that investors will once again return to gold as a safe haven. Aurania has been narrowing down more than 200,000 hectares of unexplored land in Ecuador in search of the lost cities of Logrono de los Caballeros and Sevilla del Oro, two legendary cities known for their gold deposits. MacNicol admits the stock, which has been nearly flat year-to-date and closed Friday at $2.80, is “highly speculative” but could see its value double if the lost cities project is successful in 2019.

Michael White — Picton Mahoney Asset Management

The Stock: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSX/ATD.B)

For the past couple of years, Picton Mahoney Asset Management portfolio manager Michael White has been telling investors to steer clear of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Now, he can’t recommend investing in the convenience store chain fast enough. The company had seen its organic growth decelerate for multiple quarters in a row despite an aggressive M&A strategy. White’s concerns dissipated this year. While the company’s stock underperformed between March and July, trading between $52 and $55, it took off in late October and is now trading above $67.85. “Positive change often begets positive share price momentum,” White said. That inflection came with a “sharp reversal” in same-stores sales and organic sales growth on the heels of the acquisitions and successful integrations of CST Brands and Holiday. Convenience stores also function as a defensive choice for investors when markets are struggling, White said.

Amar Pandya — PenderFund Capital Management

The Stock: Maxar Technologies Ltd. (TSX/MAXR)

Maxar Technologies Ltd. “was a star company” on Bay Street, Penderfund Capital Management associate portfolio manager Amar Pandya said — and then it was targeted by short sellers in 2018. Spruce Point Capital Management accused the space-tech company of “overcapitalizing costs by inflating intangible asset purchases.” To make matters worse, the company reported an earnings miss for the third quarter, which immediately resulted in its stock cratering. Since the beginning of the year, Maxar’s stock has lost about 80 per cent of its value and closed Friday at $16.07. The stock’s performance has chased away investors — and that’s why Pandya thinks it’s attractive. Good news may be on the way in 2019 as the company is becoming U.S.-domiciled, which opens up opportunities to bid on larger U.S. defence contracts. Pandya said he also believes that Maxar will either wind down or sell its struggling GEO satellite production business, which management blamed for the earnings miss. “It’s the perfect setup, right?” Pandya said.

Dollarama would be more profitable if it hiked product prices to $5, says Izet Elmazi of Bristol Gate Capital Partners.

Izet Elmazi — Bristol Gate Capital Partners

The Stock: Dollarama Inc. (TSX/DOL)

Dollarama Inc. is close to reaching its floor after being targeted by short sellers, Bristol Gate Capital Partners senior portfolio manager Izet Elmazi said, and it’s offering investors an opportunity to buy low. On Oct. 31, Spruce Point Capital Management predicted Dollarama’s stock would drop 40 per cent because customers would push back over recent price hikes and the chain would not be able to keep the same level of profitability. The stock has since dropped about 13 per cent and closed Friday at $31.67. Elmazi expects Dollarama to introduce $5 price points as similar chains in the U.S. — Family Dollar and Dollar General — have done, but instead of suffering, he thinks it will improve their gross profit. Instead of making 40 per cent of a $1 item, a $5 price point would see them earn $2 for every sale. Same-store traffic, which declined in the last two quarters of 2018, concerns Elmazi. The fact that sales are up, however, may instead point to a trend of customers making fewer trips but leaving with fuller baskets. Growing sales would naturally lead to more stores opening — 60 per year over the next five years, Elmazi hopes — which has led him to believe the stock has a 60 per cent upside.

Talbot Babineau — IBV Capital

The Stock: Trinity Industries Inc. (NYSE/TRN)

Trinity Industries Inc. is flying below the radar for most investors, IBV Capital president and CEO Talbot Babineau said, and that’s partly why the company is so interesting to him. The mid-cap firm is the largest purchaser of rolled steel in North America, Babineau said, and uses it to manufacture 40 per cent of the continent’s rail cars. In November, the company split into two and the branch of Trinity that was focused on producing other infrastructure products became Arcosa, Inc. The split savaged Trinity’s stock, resulting in more than a 27 per cent drop from its 52-week high in October to its Friday close at US$20.43. Babineau thinks the company is poised to recover from its stock drop in 2019 and that rise may begin with its plan to raise US$360 million in debt to conduct an accelerated share repurchase program. Trinity may also benefit from the government of Alberta’s plans to spend $350 million on 7,000 tank cars, Babineau said. Investors may also be drawn to the company for defensive purposes: Trinity’s rail-car leasing program “acts like one big bond portfolio,” said Babineau, who added IBV Capital’s portfolio switched to defence more than a year and a half ago.

Ten stocks for 2019: What the pros are picking to outperform in the year ahead published first on https://worldwideinvestforum.tumblr.com/

[mikemortgage]

Ten stocks for 2019: What the pros are picking to outperform in the year ahead

The bull market ran into a brick wall in 2018, but that doesn’t mean investors should abandon equities just yet. With a new year dawning, the Financial Post asked 10 prominent portfolio managers and strategists to pick a single stock they feel has a good chance to outperform in 2019.

Jeff Olin — Vision Capital Corp.

The Stock: Pure Multi-Family REIT (TSV/RUF-U)

It’s defensive, it’s in high-growth U.S. markets, and most important, it’s “very, very cheap.” Those are the factors that make Pure Multi-Family REIT a buy for Jeff Olin, president and portfolio manager at Vision Capital Corp., in 2019. Pure trades on the TSX Venture Exchange but exclusively owns class A apartments in U.S. sunbelt markets such as Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and Austin. Those four are among North America’s top cities for employment growth, he said, which is important in real estate investing because more jobs often means more housing is required. “Everybody needs a place to live,” said Olin, adding that REITs in general can be a balm for volatility in global markets. What makes the Pure Multi-Family REIT special, Olin said, is that unlike other apartment REITs on the market, it isn’t trading at a premium to its net asset value. “This one you can buy at a discount,” he said. Shares of Pure closed Friday at $8.21.

It could be worse: An optimist's guide to investing in 2019

Outlook 2019: Here's where the experts think the TSX will end up one year from now

The bad news is nobody made money in 2018; the good news, markets are expecting the worst

Norman Levine — Portfolio Management Corp.

The Stock: NXP Semiconductors NV (NASDAQ/NXPI)

Shares of NXP Semiconductors NV were victims of a failed takeover bid from Qualcomm Inc. in 2018, and have fallen 26 per cent since the deal was vetoed by the Chinese government in July. That fall in value has drawn the interest of Norman Levine, managing director of Portfolio Management Corp. “We think it’s greatly undervalued because of the people who bought it just for the takeover and said, ‘Get me out’,” Levine said. NXP, he said, remains a takeover candidate in 2019 because, “if this was attractive to Qualcomm, it’s probably attractive to someone else.” Being a takeover candidate alone, however, wouldn’t be enough to convince Levine, a value investor, to jump on board. What really drew his attention is that NXP has remained relatively cheap while seeing its earnings grow and setting itself up to benefit from a growing automotive electronics market. Shares of the Dutch semiconductor producer closed Friday at US$72.13, well below the US$127.50 Qualcomm was willing to pay.

Brian Belski — BMO Capital Markets

The Stock: Bank of America Corp. (NYSE/BAC)

Investors are positioning for a recession and an inverted yield curve, according to Brian Belski, chief investment strategist at BMO Capital Markets, and, he said, neither one is going to happen. Belski is bullish on 2019 and as a result is investing in Bank of America Corp. There’s a “generational opportunity” to invest in the banking sector, which investors often turn to when interest rates are rising but are risky when markets are slowing down. Bank of America hit its 52-week low — US$22.66 — on Dec. 24, a 31 per cent drop from a high of US$33.05 earlier in the year. “U.S. banks are uniformly hated, feared around the marketplace,” said Belski, but he’s not adding to the pile-on because “you have to buy when there’s blood in the streets … if you have fundamentals to back it up.” For Bank of America, those fundamentals, he said, are consistent cash flow, earnings and dividend growth. The stock closed at US$24.51 on Friday.

An Apple store in Hong Kong.

Greg Placidi — Equiton Inc.

The Stock: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ/APPL)

Investors who own Apple Inc. are going to benefit from two bumps to the stock in 2019, Greg Placidi, chief investment officer of Equiton Inc., predicts: One in the first half of the year, when he expects a conclusion to the U.S.-China trade war; and another in the second half, when the analyst community re-learns how to track the company. Apple has lost more than US$250 billion in market cap since the beginning of November — with shares plunging more than 29 per cent to close Friday at US$156.23 — as analysts responded to its decision to no longer disclose iPhone sales numbers by lowering target prices across the board. In Placidi’s view, analyst comfort levels changed because they no longer had the same tools at their disposal, and will have to learn to draw their conclusions in another way. Headlines suggesting Apple may have to move iPhone production out of China because of heavy tariffs are only adding to the sour sentiment, he said. None of that deters his belief that a rally is on the way. “There’s nobody really sitting next to them that’s going to be able to unseat them,” he said.

Joel Clark — KJ Investments

The Stock: Enbridge Inc. (TSX/ENB)

Joel Clark, CEO and portfolio manager of KJ Investments, says the economy is weakening, and with interest rates rolling over, too, he’s playing defence. Enbridge Inc. is a good choice for investors who want to transition their portfolios toward a defensive mindset, he said, because it’s a utility stock, which are known for outperforming most other sectors when markets slow. Enbridge also has a near seven per cent dividend yield, having announced in December that it would be boosting it to $2.95 per share annually. Closing at $42.16 on Friday, the stock is down about 16 per cent year-to-date — but that only means it’s now a value stock with further room to grow next year, Clark said. That growth may get an additional boost in the second half of the year if the company’s Line 3 pipeline replacement is completed as expected, something that can never hurt in pipeline-starved Canada.

David MacNicol — MacNicol & Associates

The Stock: Aurania Resources (TSXV/ARU)

“It’s either going to be a hit or wash out.” That’s how David MacNicol, president and portfolio manager of MacNicol & Associates, assesses the prospects of Aurania Resources, a junior mining company based in Ecuador. MacNicol is leaning toward the former because, with the market taking a defensive stance, he’s betting that investors will once again return to gold as a safe haven. Aurania has been narrowing down more than 200,000 hectares of unexplored land in Ecuador in search of the lost cities of Logrono de los Caballeros and Sevilla del Oro, two legendary cities known for their gold deposits. MacNicol admits the stock, which has been nearly flat year-to-date and closed Friday at $2.80, is “highly speculative” but could see its value double if the lost cities project is successful in 2019.

Michael White — Picton Mahoney Asset Management

The Stock: Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. (TSX/ATD.B)

For the past couple of years, Picton Mahoney Asset Management portfolio manager Michael White has been telling investors to steer clear of Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. Now, he can’t recommend investing in the convenience store chain fast enough. The company had seen its organic growth decelerate for multiple quarters in a row despite an aggressive M&A strategy. White’s concerns dissipated this year. While the company’s stock underperformed between March and July, trading between $52 and $55, it took off in late October and is now trading above $67.85. “Positive change often begets positive share price momentum,” White said. That inflection came with a “sharp reversal” in same-stores sales and organic sales growth on the heels of the acquisitions and successful integrations of CST Brands and Holiday. Convenience stores also function as a defensive choice for investors when markets are struggling, White said.

Amar Pandya — PenderFund Capital Management

The Stock: Maxar Technologies Ltd. (TSX/MAXR)

Maxar Technologies Ltd. “was a star company” on Bay Street, Penderfund Capital Management associate portfolio manager Amar Pandya said — and then it was targeted by short sellers in 2018. Spruce Point Capital Management accused the space-tech company of “overcapitalizing costs by inflating intangible asset purchases.” To make matters worse, the company reported an earnings miss for the third quarter, which immediately resulted in its stock cratering. Since the beginning of the year, Maxar’s stock has lost about 80 per cent of its value and closed Friday at $16.07. The stock’s performance has chased away investors — and that’s why Pandya thinks it’s attractive. Good news may be on the way in 2019 as the company is becoming U.S.-domiciled, which opens up opportunities to bid on larger U.S. defence contracts. Pandya said he also believes that Maxar will either wind down or sell its struggling GEO satellite production business, which management blamed for the earnings miss. “It’s the perfect setup, right?” Pandya said.

Dollarama would be more profitable if it hiked product prices to $5, says Izet Elmazi of Bristol Gate Capital Partners.

Izet Elmazi — Bristol Gate Capital Partners

The Stock: Dollarama Inc. (TSX/DOL)

Dollarama Inc. is close to reaching its floor after being targeted by short sellers, Bristol Gate Capital Partners senior portfolio manager Izet Elmazi said, and it’s offering investors an opportunity to buy low. On Oct. 31, Spruce Point Capital Management predicted Dollarama’s stock would drop 40 per cent because customers would push back over recent price hikes and the chain would not be able to keep the same level of profitability. The stock has since dropped about 13 per cent and closed Friday at $31.67. Elmazi expects Dollarama to introduce $5 price points as similar chains in the U.S. — Family Dollar and Dollar General — have done, but instead of suffering, he thinks it will improve their gross profit. Instead of making 40 per cent of a $1 item, a $5 price point would see them earn $2 for every sale. Same-store traffic, which declined in the last two quarters of 2018, concerns Elmazi. The fact that sales are up, however, may instead point to a trend of customers making fewer trips but leaving with fuller baskets. Growing sales would naturally lead to more stores opening — 60 per year over the next five years, Elmazi hopes — which has led him to believe the stock has a 60 per cent upside.

Talbot Babineau — IBV Capital

The Stock: Trinity Industries Inc. (NYSE/TRN)

Trinity Industries Inc. is flying below the radar for most investors, IBV Capital president and CEO Talbot Babineau said, and that’s partly why the company is so interesting to him. The mid-cap firm is the largest purchaser of rolled steel in North America, Babineau said, and uses it to manufacture 40 per cent of the continent’s rail cars. In November, the company split into two and the branch of Trinity that was focused on producing other infrastructure products became Arcosa, Inc. The split savaged Trinity’s stock, resulting in more than a 27 per cent drop from its 52-week high in October to its Friday close at US$20.43. Babineau thinks the company is poised to recover from its stock drop in 2019 and that rise may begin with its plan to raise US$360 million in debt to conduct an accelerated share repurchase program. Trinity may also benefit from the government of Alberta’s plans to spend $350 million on 7,000 tank cars, Babineau said. Investors may also be drawn to the company for defensive purposes: Trinity’s rail-car leasing program “acts like one big bond portfolio,” said Babineau, who added IBV Capital’s portfolio switched to defence more than a year and a half ago.

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