#wednesday's got us seaing stars

[montereybayaquarium]

🎵 Twinkle, twinkle small bat star. Those tiny feet help you walk far! 🎵

Tube feet are noodle-like appendages with tiny suction cup ends that are characteristic of the critters in the phylum Echinodermata—sea stars, urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers. Those delightfully dainty feet are responsible for helping stars cruise along the seafloor, prying open shelled prey, and assisting in respiration. 

Sea stars pull water into their bodies through a hole on the top (the side opposite of the tube feet). By changing the water pressure in their bodies via this hole, called the madreporite, they can move their dozens of nifty noodle limbs. 

While our shooting stars may not be as swift as those in the sky, we shore think they shine bright!

[ofmdrecaps]

07/08/2024 - 07/09/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Rhys Darby: AfterMidnight; TheCryptidFactor; Taika Waititi; Time Bandits; Con O'Neill; Samba Schutte; Nathan Foad; Kristian Nairn: Beyond The Throne and Surprise Wee John Wednesday; Madeleine Sami: Deadloch S2!; Astra TV Awards Nominations; YouBearFineThingsWell Day 1; Gold Derby Voting Reminders!; Fan Spotlight: YouBearFineThingsWell; Cast Cards; Never Left Podcast; Sea God Ed; Non-Binary Awareness Week; Love Notes;

== Rhys Darby ==

Rhys was on AfterMidnight last night, and boy did he deliver! You've probably seen gifs, and images everywhere, and the list of links to youtube below are courtesy of the Rhys-Archiver Extraordinaire @wastingyourgum!

Part 1 - Intro

Part 2 - Tokbuster

Part 3 - Talk Show

Part 4 - Pop or Unpop

Part 5 - Hashtag Wars

Part 6 - Final

Please Note: That is a Great Big Cow Band T-Shirt he's wearing, talk about a Proud Dad <3

Source: AfterMidnight Instagram / Rhys Darby's Instagram

= The Cryptid Factor =

Video version of the new Cryptid Factor Episode is up their Patreon! Here's a preview on Dan's Schreiberland Instagram!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dan Schreiber (@schreiberland)

Source: Schreiberland Instagram

== Taika Waititi ==

Looks like the promotions for Time Bandits are finally here! First off is an adorable photo of Taika and the main kid of Time Bandits, Kal-El Tuck!

Source: Kal_El.Tuck Instagram

Apple TV released their full Promo Poster!

Source: Taika's Instagram

Next we have an interview with ScreenRant, Taika, and Jemaine!

ANNNND this article from Variety + more BTS Info from ScreenRant if you're interested.

Also, apparently I'm late to the game as Con has announced this before on WJW a while back-- so his won't be news to everyone-- but for those who didn't know-- Con will be in Time Bandits as well!

And last but not least, the full trailer with some amazing shots of Taika as the Supreme Being:

Side Note: There were some trolls out there on the Time Bandits trailer trying to spread some grump, and sassy Taika came out to play! Thank you so much to IBrokeCharacter on twitter for capturing this!

Source: IBrokeCharacter on Twitter

== Samba Schutte ==

Just a quick update from Samba in his Voice Acting adventures: "Sacré booth!🎙️✨🙏🏾"

Source: Samba's Instagram

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan out with friends looking cute AF!

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram Stories

== Madeleine Sami ==

FANTASTIC news! Mads is getting a season 2 of Deadloch!!

Source: Madeleine Sami's Instagram Stories

== Kristian Nairn ==

Can you believe it? Kristian's doing a signed version of his book that's coming out in September! It's even got a chapter about OFMD in it! Wanna get in on it? You can preorder them in the US/UK on his Linktr.ee!

AND THEN -- Last Minute Wee John Wednesday July 10, 2024 at 9 PM BST! Kristian and Nathan will be chatting about all things Beyond The Throne, Our Flag, catching up & answering questions!

Source: Kristian & Nathan's Instagram

== SO MUCH BELOW THE CUT ==

== 2024 Astra TV Awards Nominations! ==

Our friends over @adoptourcrew were kind enough to share that Our Captain has been nominated for "Best Actor in a Streaming Comedy Series!" at TheAstraAwards! Visit the article below!

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== REMINDER!: Gold Derby Voting ==

Be sure to get your nominations in by July 10, 2024 9pm PST!Rhys, Taika, and Our Flag Means Death are up for some more nominations-- this time the Gold Derby for best Comedy Series / Comedy Actors! It does require you to sign up, but if you'd like to add to the nominations you can follow this handy guide: Voting in Gold Derby | OFMD Renewal Repository

Thank you again to @adoptourcrew for sharing the GoldDerby information!

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== YouBearFineThingsWell ==

As you've probably heard, @adoptourcrew has started up celebrating the upcoming #HungryGames! Check out the daily plans! Fan contributions will be highlighted in the fan-spotlight below!

Source: AdoptOurCrew Twitter

Source: AdoptOurCrew's Twitter

== Sprizzy 'Arts & Crafts' Week ==

For all you Sprizzy fans out there, 16th-23rd July is Sprizzy Week! You can join the celebration by creating things with a general theme of Arts and Crafts (fic, art, craft, edits, music, cake… whatever you would like to make!) If you're interested, please follow the Sprizzy Week accounts below! Twitter / @xoxosprizzy on Tumblr!

Source: Sprizzy Week Twitter

== Gotcha For Gaza Updates==

The sign up period for Gotcha For Gaza has ended! Starting July 9 through Aug 9 you can donate to help raise money for Palestine (they must be to the specific causes listed on their Carrd) and submit a prompt to the artists and writers! Visit OFMD Action's Gotcha For Gaza Cardd for more details!

Source: ofmdaction's Tumblr

== Fan Spotlight ==

#YouBearFineThingsWell

Starting off the fan contributions of #YouBearFineThingsWell is our glorious crewmate Meaghan! Aka @ theMeaghan on twitter! I was seriously thinking about Paddington when this whole week as announced.

Source: TheMeaghan's Twitter

Next up is our fabulous crewmate Kate! aka @ Kaddele over on twitter! Never stop Kate! These are so much fun!

Source: @ Kaddele's Twitter

And how could we pass up an entry from one of our Gif-Master Generals @ofmd-ann!

Source: @ofmd-ann's Twitter

We even had a a fine video with the description: "This gentlebeard gentlebear 🐻 was SHOCKED" made by the spectacular Ashley aka @ Seven_Sugars on Twitter!

Source: @ seven_sugars Twitter

And last but certainly not least is the magnificent Sarah, aka @ chaotickraken91 on twitter! The bear family between the cake toppers really got me in the feels!

Source: ChaoticKracken91 Twitter

There were so many amazing submissions! I was only able to get permission for some but feel free to check out the hashtag on your favorite platforms for more! Great job starting off #YouBearFineThingsWell everyone!

= Sea God Ed =

As you can imagine, our fellow crewmates have begun to draw parallels between Time Bandits and our beloved OFMD! Another fabulous edit by the one and only Ashley aka @ Seven_Sugars on Twitter!

Source: Seven_Sugars Twitter

= Cast Cards =

@melvisik's back with Marcelo Olivas! Another frequenter to Spanish Jackie's in the Republic of Pirates!

Source: @melvisik's Twitter

= Never Left Podcast =

New episode of Never Left Podcast! This week is focused on micro motifs! Listen in on your favorite platform by visiting their https://linktr.ee/neverleftpodcast!

Source: Never Left Podcast Instagram

== Non-Binary Awareness Week ==

Happy Non-Binary Awareness Week friends! Sending so much love to all our Enby crewmates out there! This week is about celebrating the identity and experiences of all our non-binary friends, so as I find them I'll try to include some relevant articles as they roll in!

28 non-binary stars and activists making the world a better place

Source: Pink News Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey there Lovelies! Holy Moly! What a week it's been, and it's only Tuesday!! I cannot tell you how nice it is to see so many folks so excited! It's like we got an injection of pure dopamine from all the news, and I'm so happy it's helping everyone feel a little levity!

And you know what?

You deserve a break!

You deserve to feel happy!

It's been a lot lately, and some people might try to shame you for being happy about something while there's so much not so happy going on in the world, but please oh please remember, that you deserve to have happiness too.

Even if it's just a little here or there, or bounds of happiness -- you deserve a break from all the things you have to deal with every day. You deserve a chance to smile, and to laugh, and to enjoy this crazy life we live, and bask in the warm sun, or the cold wind.

You do not need to feel bad for enjoying yourself once in a while. No matter what it is-- even if its unrelated to the fandom, or anything that's happened the last couple days, please go out today or tomorrow and enjoy something.

Do you like tea? Drink a cup of your favorite tea!

Do you like going for walks? Get on out there and move those legs!

Do you like animals? Find a random neighborhood cat (not a wild one) and give it some much needed pets if it's friendly!

Do something that brings YOU joy, not anyone else. Take a moment to savor that feeling, hold it deep down in your chest where you can feel your breath coming in and out, and remember that you deserve to feel that joy, and you don't have to do anything different, or be any different to deserve it. 💖 Sending so many good vibes lovelies-- may your day be filled with excitement and wonder, or calm and love, whatever it is that will brings you joy. 💖

[missameliep]

WIP Wednesday

Thanks for the tag @lorirwritesfanfic 😊🩷

I haven't participated in a WIP Wednesday in soooo long!

I actually have some snippets to share; I'm going through my drafts and planing to post all of those fics that are near ready.

Under the cut are snippets for: Bonds of Sea and Fire - Part 4 (Blades of Light and Shadow); Once Upon a Summer (Desire & Decorum AU); Second Chances - Chapter 25 (Desire & Decorum AU) and The one who got away (Ride or Die).

Bonds of Sea and Fire - Part 4 (Blades of Light and Shadow)

“You cannot...” he paused, searching for the proper word, “...charm your way out of a confrontation.”  “Do you want to bet?”  Tyril scowled at the suggestion.   “I'm in!” Mal joined the conversation, jumping from the wooden crate and landing with a loud thump on the deck. “5 golden coins you can’t!”  “Do you even have that kind of money?”  “Won’t you like to find out?” He wriggled his eyebrows and smiled at her.  With a shake of their hands, the challenge was accepted. 

2. Once upon a summer - Part 1 (Desire and Decorum AU)

Amusing some of his teammates and the group of girls, Hamid was in the middle of telling a story, when someone knocked over a heavy object near the entrance. Hamid’s eyes flicked to where the noise came from and to the influx of another group of students coming inside to fill the stands, amongst them a very beautiful girl he’s never seen in school and instantly caught his eye.   Turquoise backpack hanging on one shoulder, she moved slowly, and her long curly hair bounced around her face. It was a chocolate brown hair with golden shades that seemed like the sun itself had kissed, or maybe had just been following her for the dramatic purpose of stealing teenage boy’s breaths away. Whatever it was, her beauty was so enthralling he couldn’t look away, appreciating the long hair and shapely lips and bright eyes. If this was one of the rom-coms his sisters love, there would be a bubbly pop song playing in the background while the girl glided in slow motion, and when the camera turned in his direction to do a closeup, he would be looking dazzled with mouth slightly parted while trying to catch his breath. Nevertheless, no camera could ever capture the way his heart skipped a beat at the sight of her.  “So, what happened then? Did his father notice you two were gone?” Theresa Sutton’s questions ringed after what seemed like a dramatic pause in the narrative but turned into a play’s intermission.  Stunned, Hamid blinked a few times and failed to remember what he was telling them. Offering a wide grin, he clapped his hands, “Well, this will have to wait. Now I have someplace else to go and a record to beat!”  “That’s cruel, Hamid,” Donna Bowman protested with a pout, but it didn’t deter him.   Bending, he picked up the ball at his feet, and sprinted to where Yusuf Konevi, his dearest and oldest friend in England, was doing warm-ups with some of their teammates, without tearing his gaze from the beautiful girl, who was glancing everywhere from the benches at the side of the court to the stands, possibly searching for someone, and not once looked his way. Thank goodness, he was confident enough to not let this hurt his pride, and persistent enough to change that game.  Throwing an arm over Yusuf’s shoulder, he threw himself at him in a playful way.   “Hey!”  “Glad to see our star is finally joining us!”  “We’re all stars here,” Hamid said, flashing a grin, “we shine brighter together.”  The other laughed. “Smooth. I bet they’ll make you team captain soon.”   Looking over his shoulder Hamid located his target, standing alone by the stands, and asked in a conspiratorial tone, “Who’s that girl? I haven’t seen her before...”   “Which one?” the other asked before discreetly peeking at the direction he tilted his head.   “The one who looks like an angel recently fallen from heaven…” 

3. Second Chances - Chapter 25 (Desire & Decorum AU)

While her body reluctantly woke up and her brain regained consciousness, she was confronted by confusion and immense discomfort all at once, reminders of the insane amount of alcohol she ingested last night.   Her head ached as if samba percussionists were beating repeatedly their instruments out of cadence to punish her. The parchedness in her mouth seemed like she had wandered the desert for days. Trying to alleviate it, her lips parted, but her mouth had dried out and it was difficult to swallow and get rid of the disgusting taste sitting on her tongue.   The buzzing sound echoed again, attacking her ears, and she realized it was probably the mobile vibrating with incoming messages over the nightstand. Even though she wondered what time it was, the identity of the caller or texter and their reasons to be trying to reach her in what she assumed was the middle of the night didn’t pique her interest at all, if anything it riled her up for disturbing her rest. Mustering the strength to reach the nightstand to turn off the phone, she tried to roll over, but something blocked her path and restrained her motion. Not something, but someone.  In the dark she couldn’t rely on her sight, but her other senses worked perfectly, collecting information of quiet sounds of breathing behind her, the light pressure of a body against her back, and the arm she finally noticed dangling over her waist underneath the covers. And lastly, the fragrance that reached her nostrils was unmistakable. 

4. The one who got away (Ride or Die)

Once upon a time in what seems like another life, no one would spare a second glance at the shy teenager with untamed curly hair and oversized sweatshirts walking down the fancy prep school’s hallways with the nose stuck in a book. Back then she was just Ellie, the sheltered daughter of an LAPD detective with a single goal in life: get into Langston.  But then a bad boy – that was not so bad after all – waltzed into her life and introduced her to a forbidden world of illegal races, crime and betrayal. A world she was not supposed to know about, let alone desire to take part in...   Then love was added to the equation.   She fell in love, but not with this bad boy.  The thrill made her heart race faster than all those tuned cars. Every discovery about her abilities fueled the fire within and added to her confidence.   The process of unveiling these parts of herself drew her closer and closer to another bad boy – one dangerous enough to doom her entire existence. One she’d loved wholeheartedly and would’ve followed to the ends of the world if given the choice…  

Tagging a few of you who might want to share your WIPs with us: @princess-geek @rosesnink @lilyoffandoms @aallotarenunelma @jerzwriter @peonierose

Also tagging @choicesficwriterscreations

[smaller-comfort]

Resh'an doesn't know much about music yet, but he has an idea he'd like to try out. B'st is always willing to indulge him.

Oh look, it's the story I was supposed to finish last month, before I got completely derailed by Save Scumming.

This is mostly silly fluff, or as fluffy as Resh'an ever lets things get. I am going to take all of my songster headcanons and continue to use them for evil. Happy Wet B'st Wednesday. (Only slightly moistened, really.) (It's still Wednesday in other time zones. It counts.)

[mysticstronomy]

DO SHADOWS APPEAR ON THE MOON'S SURFACE??

Blog#325

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2023

Welcome back,

The moon is utterly familiar. We see it all the time, in the blue sky during the day, among the stars and planets at night. Every child knows the outlines of the moon’s lava seas: they trace the Man in the Moon or, sometimes, a Rabbit.

This familiarity goes beyond appearances. The moon is actually made of Earth. According to modern theories, the moon was born some 4.5 billion years ago when an oversized asteroid struck our planet. Material from Earth itself spun out into space and coalesced into our giant satellite.

Yet when Apollo astronauts stepped out onto this familiar piece of home, they discovered that it only seems familiar. From the electrically-charged dust at their feet to the inky-black skies above, the moon they explored was utterly alien.

On the next sunny day, step outdoors and look inside your shadow. It’s not very dark, is it? Grass, sidewalk, toes–whatever’s in there, you can see quite well.

Your shadow’s inner light comes from the sky. Molecules in Earth’s atmosphere scatter sunlight (blue more than red) in all directions, and some of that light lands in your shadow. Look at your shadowed footprints on fresh sunlit snow: they are blue!

Without the blue sky, your shadow would be eerily dark, like a piece of night following you around. Weird. Yet that’s exactly how it is on the Moon.

To visualize the experience of Apollo astronauts, imagine the sky turning completely and utterly black while the sun continues to glare.

Your silhouette darkens, telling you “you’re not on Earth anymore.”

Shadows were one of the first things Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong mentioned when he stepped onto the surface of the moon. “It’s quite dark here in the shadow [of the lunar module] and a little hard for me to see that I have good footing,” he radioed to Earth.

The Eagle had touched down on the Sea of Tranquility with its external equipment locker, a stowage compartment called “MESA,” in the shadow of the spacecraft.

Although the sun was blazing down around them, Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had to work in the dark to deploy their TV camera and various geology tools.

“It is very easy to see in the shadows after you adapt for a while,” noted Armstrong. But, added Aldrin, “continually moving back and forth from sunlight to shadow should be avoided because it’s going to cost you some time in perception ability.”

Truly, moon shadows aren’t absolutely black. Sunlight reflected from the moon’s gently rounded terrain provides some feeble illumination, as does the Earth itself, which is a secondary source of light in lunar skies. Given plenty of time to adapt, an astronaut could see almost anywhere.

Almost. Consider the experience of Apollo 14 astronauts Al Shepard and Ed Mitchell:

They had just landed at Fra Mauro and were busily unloading the lunar module. Out came the ALSEP, a group of experiments bolted to a pallet. Items on the pallet were held down by “Boyd bolts,” each bolt recessed in a sleeve used to guide the Universal Handling Tool, a sort of astronaut’s wrench. Shepard would insert the tool and give it a twist to release the bolt–simple, except that the sleeves quickly filled with moondust. The tool wouldn’t go all the way in.

The sleeve made its own little shadow, so “Al was looking at it, trying to see inside. And he couldn’t get the tool in and couldn’t get it released–and he couldn’t see it,” recalls Mitchell.

“Remember,” adds Mitchell, “on the lunar surface there’s no air to refract light–so unless you’ve got direct sunlight, there’s no way in hell you can see anything. It was just pitch black. That’s an amazing phenomenon on an airleuss planet.”

(Eventually they solved the problem by turning the entire pallet upside down and shaking loose the moondust. Some of the Boyd bolts, loosened better than they thought, rained down as well.)

Originally published on universetoday.com

COMING UP!!

(Saturday, August 26th, 2023)

"WHAT IS THE GREAT SILENCE??"

[blackbloodteeth]

Okay so last night I decided to use this week's ficwip's Word Game Wednesday post as a writing prompt ("Magic"), especially since I was casually prodded into writing a snippet by a friend. However, I was apparently possessed by my sleep debt demons, and not only did this reach 2.6k, I didn't even use the prompt word at any point. Nice.

As said, this is a little bit of a long snippet and apparently awkward dialogue takes me places, but here's somethin' for today while I see if I got the spoons to finish The WIP™️ after having actually gotten some sleep today despite accidentally staying up 23 hours previously.

Reject normality, return to italics.

————

The feeling of sand continuously clops beneath each slow step as he quietly sighs again, looking down at the pitch-black sea stretching endlessly throughout the darkness surrounding him. If it weren't for his light keeping him company he wouldn't even be able to see his legs, and he's quite grateful for it as he holds onto it as the only thing he has out here, but… feels like the more he wanders, the dimmer it's been getting.

Another sigh drags on while he wonders how long he's been wandering, how much longer he has to go, and if his family even misses him right now. Do they miss him? I mean, they'd have to, right? Even if he's not… the smartest or the most talented… or…or……

He gives his head a good shake to toss those thoughts out when the darkness starts to creep across his steps, instead trying the best he can to think about their worried faces and his poor ol' nana… Well he misses them, even if they don't notice he's gone, right where he shouldn't've ran off to……

The ache in his chest weighs him back down to his light weakening up his arms, leeching the hope of finding his way along with it. If only he could say sorry. He's always been the cracked stone of the family, but… but…… maybe if he……….Huh? What's that?

His head suddenly perks up when he spots a different light in the distance, new and- and exciting, breaking him into a gallop just to catch up with it and finding a warmth he's never felt before begin to fill his chest when he gets close, its light glowing brightly against his body. He trots in place a little, curiosity practically bounding around it at this feeling it gives him, like… being strong? Brave. It looks kinda like… a star? Weird…

Lowering his neck, it doesn't particularly smell like anything, but somehow it reminds him of all the bright, warm days of spring as they lead into summer. It makes him giddy to think that this may even be some sort of exit, like a portal, and with an eager prod of his horn to investigate this theory, the contact instantly engulfs him with the same light and makes his mind go blank.

. . .

…Huh?

Suddenly his eyes are blinking open again, and here he is, sitting in some kind of… field? Or well, less sitting and completely slumped over onto the grass as he's overwhelmed by the sensation of a world around him, and soon the voice of someone right next to him before he notices they're there.

"Hey, are you okay?"

He jolts when the… girl? Bu-But not like him, with weird colors and front legs that reach up to him with small horns at the ends- "I said are you okay? Geez, you might actually have a concussion…"

Both his mouth and his stare are just gaping at her(?) and how flat and hornless her face is, with the only thing he really recognizes being the pretty mossy eyes and the mane dangling where her ears are supposed to be while her weird, furless face keeps moving around like that- Until he scrunches back when she tries to prod him with her freaky arm horns because this just too weird-

"Okay, now you're just being a jerk," she snorts, which he thinks might be a laugh?

Like you're one to talk, you're just being weird…

"…So, you gonna say anything, or…?"

Wait, what are you on about, can't you hear me?

"…Ooookay, guess not…" His head darts wildly up and down when the weird girl gets up- on just two of her legs?!? What the h- "What? Are you going to keep staring at me like that, or are you actually having a stroke or something?"

Frantically, having no idea how to communicate at this point given apparently whatever had just happened to him weakened his horn too much, he begins flailing around like any still-sane horn-haver would until, as it just so happens to turn out, he is not in fact still sane: Completely frozen in place after seeing his arms and… an-and they're not right in the slightest! They're just like hers, with- with the color hide over him and the freaky flesh horns and- what happened to his hooves?!?!?

"Okay, so this might be a stupid question at this point, but like are you actually okay; you're really starting to worry me now."

His face whips back up towards her, lungs breathing a gallop a second while he quickly reaches his hoofless arms into his mane and- Oh. Oh no, oh starlight where is his horn- No no no no no-

"Soooo… you did hit your head?" He completely ignores that as his twisted, messed-up flesh hooves jitter and tap all around his eyes and feeling everything wrong with his freaking face being flat and furless and- and-

When she goes to talk again he's cutting her off by slapping his hooflessness in desperation on top of his hornlessness, causing her to jump down to his current eye level and thrust her arm ends into his mane. "Wait, crap; Are you bleeding-"

Just like that, another wave of light from before swallows him like a current, whirling through his mind and body until almost just as quickly he's sitting again, but differently this time, held up entirely by her hands.

Wait. Wait.

"…Um."

Hands. They're called hands?

"Y…Yes?"

Wait, you can hear me now!?

"Oh good, so you do speak." The girl… Maka? How does he know this and that she's laughing because she's nervous- "Okay; one, um, step at a time…"

He sits there as he's told, partly because he's trying not to freak out right now, and especially because he's really trying not to freak out about how he can't move while avoiding looking at his body again so that he can remember how to breathe normally.

"Okay, so… Yeah, I'm Maka. I have hands, you're… currently in my hands… and I just met you after you suddenly bumped into me out of thin air, and for some reason I have a really big feeling you weren't a human boy before this." Human… Human, that's what… Why… "One step at a time. I've got this right so far?" …I think so. "Okay… So you're a human now, I guess, and just learned about hands and that you… don't have a horn anymore? I think??"

Deep breath, deep breath- Yeah. I have… I had a horn, and now it's gone because I guess I… turned into a human after touching that light I found, and I- I'm… Wait, why can't I remember what I'm named, Maka; I know yours but I-

"Okay, don't freak out. Just… I can kind of… see? That you were somewhere dark until you saw the light, and you got flashbanged by it, so I think…" That it made me forget some things when it changed me? "Exactly. Now that we're on… the same wavelength kinda, and know we both just met and are really confused and for some reason you can talk to me through my head because I guess you don't normally speak with your mouth…"

He lets Maka take a deep breath as the dread of their conclusion slowly lifts her hands to straighten his handle up.

"…Why did you just turn into a scythe when I touched you?"

Maka, I'd reeeeally love to answer that right now.

The dread fully plummets down his nonexistent stomach when she flops her forehead against him and he finally lets himself look at his body now being a metal pole and his horn… blade curves longer than probably even her size. It's black on top, and sharp and red on the bottom, which kinda isn't that much different from what his horn was like actually except its much more… vivid. Pronounced. Clear works, actually.

"God, this is so weird… Just like all the stories my papa used to tell me when I was a little kid……" Something curious bubbles up even through his deluge of anxiety and bafflement, making him interested enough to speak up a So you… have a family too? Like a human family? "Of course I have a family," she chuckles, at least until it snuffs out. "Had."

I don't think I'm supposed to ask, but somehow I feel a lot like you're feeling just now.

"Yeah, weird how I can feel that too… Do you have a family? Not humans, or…" Yeah, but we looked a lot like each other when I wasn't here. All of us have a horn and hooves, and a mane… oh, I guess you call it hair. 'Cause normally you don't have short fur all over you. "Yeah… Wait."

Somehow he can still move his eyes (although only at the same time and just one is facing her) to watch as Maka suddenly cranes her head up, staring at him with… wonder? Intrigue? Man, he's learning way too many words today- "Are you… are you telling me you're actually a unicorn?"

Images flow through his head like sand into water, of… horses, with long seashells for horns, and… That's… pretty close to how we look, actually. Is 'unicorn' what we're called to you? I don't think we have a same word for our family…

"Holy crap you're a unicorn…" she utters as if that somehow was any less strange than whatever the hornhole is going on with him right now, and also her. "All this time you're actually a unicorn, and now you're a scythe- and oh god, I must be dreaming. Hit by a car because I finally studied too much. I'm probably in a coma right now and this is all just a dream and you're just in my head, or an angel, or-"

Maka. One step at a time.

He feels her breath shudder when he does the same thing she did just now, playing his memories for her like reflections on calmed water of his brother and him racing through the burrows, and his nana humming her tune that turns the air into waves of starlight, and his ma and da greeting each other with their horns before he inevitably can't make his horn glow as strong as his brother's- Okay, maybe not that one.

A lighthearted giggle, like the fluttering wings of a bird taking off, raises Maka up onto her feet, looking right at him again with… a smile. It's so… warm, and… pretty? I like that a lot actually, it's a lot like when the sun hits the sea when- Oh my godlight, I just said that to you.

There's a way her face is turning red that he is just now learning is blushing and is the exact feeling of embarrassment she is showing by covering her mouth with one of her hands and not being able to look away while her voice goes soft from under her palm. "I've never been called pretty before- by a unicorn…"

We-Well you've never met a unicorn before so that makes it different and it's not like horn-sparking so just- I was just saying what I saw, yeah, he deflects, much like one deflects the dirt off of their shovel while digging their own grave. And yet somehow, mysteriously, he feels like he's deep beneath the ground where he could end up finding that dark place again at how she's… laughing? Happy? Entertained? This is too many words and thoughts to have in my head anymore.

"Y'know, when I imagined actually meeting a unicorn, this definitely wasn't what I thought of." Yeah that's one way to put it. I'd probably say the same thing if I even knew about humans first, and also hadn't turned into one. And then a scythe. "Well, um…"

Her smile falters when he can feel that the particular detail on the 'becoming human' bit also made him unable to think of what he's called (like as himself, not being a unicorn) so she has no idea what to refer to him as. "…Do you want a name right now?"

…I think that would make things a little easier, yeah.

"Okay, how aboooout…" Strange reflections ripple into him again, much faster this time so he doesn't have much room to grab onto any of them until they start to slow down, memories of some… movie? What's this fast-running pictures of?

"Oh sorry, I was remembering the time I used to watch The Last Unicorn when I was a kid; just trying to think of a name that would fit, sorry if that's offensive." He laughs, No, it's… interesting. I want to see it sometime, just maybe after I figure this out. "Yeah, alright. Let me try to actually pinpoint a name for you."

Words of stars and light rain like droplets through his mind, and strange words he could not possibly understand fall like pebbles, things that tie this earth to people and ones that reach the heavens, while everything in between- "Okay, potshotting now – How about Aether?" What a weird word. "I'm trying, okay- Grimm? Edgar? Stephen?" These are all weird words.

"Uggggh, fine," Maka rolls her head back, very much out of frustration until a moment of… something different goes through her head to him. "Okay, this might be a little stupid, but I think I have a good name…"

Should I want it if it's stupid?

"No, no; the name is fine, it's just the reason I thought of it…" A sense of interest looks at her with what he feels is called an eyebrow raise when another movie? gallops through his head, ushering her to well, tell me, then. "Alright hear me out, but… It's a name that's kind of similar to my dad's but I thought of it because there's a, um, horse movie with the same name, so I thought since you're like a horse- but cooler, I thought I'd give you… a name like that, but cooler than my dad, so…" he's on the edge of his what the hell is a seat when Maka takes a deep breath through her teeth and offers it up hesitantly. "…Can I call you Soul?"

…Y'know… I think I finally understand what grinning is.

Soul starts to get infected with her laugh as she readjusts his handle in her hands, the name likewise looked around in his head like he's had hands his whole life. "…So, I take it you want it?"

Yes, actually, this is like, the opposite of stupid. It's so cool even though I've never heard it before but it's cooler than your dad. Like cooler than cool, like- This feels like my name. Like you call me this and it's what I'm called- His feelings in his- his soul light up like they were his horn again, voice all giddy and practically leaping in place. Maka, call me it. I wanna be called it.

She can't help but chuckle, "Okay, okay; You're Soul. Nice to meet you."

Yeah. Yeah. That is so my name- THIS IS AWESOME!!

"Yeah! Yeah it is!!"

This excitement racing through them both is unstoppable and unlike anything he's felt before, almost like he is strong and bright, better than he ever could be on his own – but in a way that made him not alone, and like running across the world, also.

It's just something so unique and precious and he wants to hold onto it forever, much like the way Maka actually starts twirling him around while they both start whooping, until she pauses as a quieter thought rises up to the surface of even his mind. "…Hey Soul, if you came from somewhere else… what are you going to do now?"

And it just sinks into him for a moment while they're standing there out in the middle of a trail in the woods that he doesn't recognize.

…Huh.

[foxes-that-run]

Now that we don't talk

In the 2012-2014 timeline our girl went through it in the space a week. It’s like an emotional advent calendar and we get the prizes:

Sunday:  Harry misses his flight because he didn’t have his passport. Keep Driving: “Passports in foot wells”

Monday: New Year’s Eve 2012 – The world’s most public kiss

Tuesday:  New Year’s Day & they leave for the Virgin Islands

Wednesday: Taylor's hair pinned up for Right where you left me

Thursday: (maybe) Maroon's hickie & the wine soaked dress

Friday: Taylor's boat trip Say don’t go and Is it Over now?

Saturday (maybe) From the Dining Table, then Harry goes to Richard Branson’s island …and that’s what you missed on Glee.

Update: Thank you @this-daydream-is-dangerous-13 and their ace detective skills, NTWDT is copyrighted 2014, so updated here, the old post is here.

In the voice memo Taylor says:

Now that we don't talk is one of my favorite songs that was left behind it was so hard to leave it behind but I think we wrote it a little bit towards the end of the process and we couldn't get the production right at the time. I think it's the shortest song I've ever had but I think it packs a punch I think it really goes in for the short amount of time we have I think it makes its point.

The last tracks were between January 2014 (Say don't go) and 19 February 2014 (Style).

The period they didn't talk was a minimum of 3 weeks to the NRG awards, in HYGTG she said 6 months which is June.

For context, Harry was 18 and it appears all he did was post photos in a hot tub. It was a s***ty thing to do, but when the song was finally written they were freshly back together and he wrote Stockholm Syndrome with:

"Who's this man that's holding your hand and talking 'bout your eyes? (Oh-oh-oh) / Used to sing about being free but now he's changed his mind (Oh-oh-oh)"

From then he was then a giggling BF he's adopting kittens and continued to sing about her eyes for another 10 years.

Lyrics [Verse 1] You went to a party I heard from everybody You part the crowd like the Red Sea Don't even get me started Did you get anxious though On the way home? I guess I'll never, ever know Now that we don't talk

She did hear from everybody, it was huge news.

'Did you get anxious on the way home' got me in the feels, in New Years Day she talked of him squeezing her hand three times in the backseat to say it will be OK. This breaks my heart so much to think that song and this are about 1 week.

[Verse 2] You grew your hair long You got new icons And from the outside It looks like you're tryin' lives on I miss the old ways You didn't have to change But I guess I don't have a say Now that we don't talk

2 weeks after Taylor left on a boat, Harry acquired his Butterfly Tattoo on 22 January. A week later they saw each other for the first time on 27th January at the NRG Awards in Paris. The Cannes sunset photos are from the hotel they both stayed in. Part 2 of also within a week:

[Chorus] I call my mom, she said that it was for the best Remind myself, the morе I gave, you'd want me less I cannot bе your friend, so I pay the price of what I lost And what it cost, now that we don't talk

Bless Andrea Swift all she has given this world, most especially for comforting Taylor when 18 year old’s pop stars hang out with billionaires. Everytime I hear this I imagine Andrew saying "put it in a song!"

They later did bury the hatchet People now reports them as friends. They have also sung about their chemistry in relation to that friendship though in Delicate, nice to have a friend and Fine Line. [Verse 3] What do you tell your friends we Shared dinners, long weekends with? Truth is, I can't pretend it's Platonic, it's just ended, so

Harry and Taylor shared (and continued to) share a lot of friends, to me this line is similar to Maroon where she refers to Rubies she gave up, the Junior Jewels shirt refers to her friends as jewels.

Taylor and Harry go on to have a discography just about this very line, can they be friends when they have such great chemistry? I have a list in Glitch

[Outro] I don't have to pretend I like acid rock Or that I'd like to be on a mega yacht With important men who think important thoughts Guess maybe I am better off now that we don't talk And the only way back to my dignity Was to turn into a shrouded mystery Just like I had been when you were chasing me Guess this is how it has to be now that we don't talk

Harry has diverse music tastes, but does love Pink Floyd and has a Grateful Dead ring he wears often.

To me the shrouded mystery line is a mystery, Taylor was ending the Red World Tour and later in the year embarked on the most active publicity of her career and 1989 World Tour, but in the moment I guess. She and Harry did not speak for some months, by the end of the year they were saying they were on good terms and based on later songs we know were back together before the end of 2013

[mareenavee]

WIP Whenever~

Hi again! Actually posting this on Wednesday this week, heyyyy. Glad for that, had a weird couple of days, for sure.

I was tagged by the most esteemed @saltymaplesyrup, @thequeenofthewinter, and @tallmatcha !!!

Tagging: @paraparadigm of course, as well as @changelingsandothernonsense, @friend-of-giants, @elfinismsarts, @airiat, @rhiannon1199, @inquisition-dragonborn, and @the-storytellers-seer!!

Everyone is more than free to tag me a million times for this, no matter that I've already posted -- my notifs are messed up on Tumblr and I wanna read what you've got. :D If I missed you this week, consider yourself tagged!

But yes. Anyway. Here's a piece of an upcoming chapter 23 of The World on Our Shoulders just because this turned out cool and I like the weirdness. I hope you enjoy (:

23rd of Morning Star 4E 202

Teldryn trudged back through the snow back to Castle Karstaag, such as it was. He saw the glorified cave looming in the distance and paused only to adjust the bag full of snowberries he’d foraged and the singular rabbit he’d managed to catch. It wasn’t much for two people, but the damned things were fast and hard to catch. Hunting wasn’t really a sport for one-handed swords, anyway. He’d been lucky this one had absolutely no sense of direction. Who runs toward a hunter, anyway?

As he approached, he noticed the warm flicker of fire against the darkness. It was likely just past midnight, though it was difficult to tell with the sky as cloudy as it usually was this time of year. He sighed as the Candlelight spell flickered out over his shoulder. He adjusted all he carried and wrapped both cloaks closer around him once again and walked into the caverns.

It was too quiet. Nyenna was nowhere to be found. Instead, her Flame Atronach was twirling gently just past the entrance of the cave. What the hell had happened here? There was no sign of a struggle. Nothing like the mess any potential returning Rieklings would have left. Not a trace at all. He stared up at the Atronach, who floated over to him in her graceful, gentle way. She did not have eyes, and yet still seemed to stare straight through him. The fire that made up her form crackled as the wind drifted through the cavern. Teldryn felt almost paralyzed. She slowly lifted her arm and pointed out behind him, into the darkness. She drifted past him, leaving a trail of fire in her wake, arm still outstretched.

Was this normal? He couldn’t tell. He’d never had such a grasp over any Conjuration spells as to exert this kind of control over an Atronach, of all things. Nyenna had bent this one to her will entirely, and still held full power over it. He could hear the overwhelming the signature of her Magicka left behind. He stood next to the Atronach who had fallen still. She turned once again and reached out for him instead. Instinctively, he dodged out of her grasp. She let out a sound like a hiss of steam, like coals being doused with ice water, flames flaring brighter, angry. Teldryn took off his helmet and bowed his head in apology. She seemed to accept it, sounds returning to the calm and gentle crackling he was so used to. The Atronach pressed flaming fingers to his forehead. He thought it should have burned. It should have, but he was put in mind of wind off the sea instead. Of waves, cold and unforgiving. Of the crunching of pristine black boots over ice-rimed gravel glimpsed by eyes burning with tears. He could have sworn he saw a boat floating, tied to a pier. A hovel, all but collapsed under ice. Maps, keys and strongboxes glinting in the light of torches.

What madness was this? The Atronach withdrew her hand and held his gaze again as the images faded from his mind. He blinked rapidly, returning to reality. She turned and floated as far up as she could, facing west before she disappeared entirely from this plane, leaving him with only a shower of sparks and the light of the moons. Confusion washed over him like waves of icy sea water. West? There was a dock out there, wasn’t there? He’d been there, once, on a job protecting a fisherman who was harvesting pearls along the coast. Northshore Landing. It was only a few hours’ walk from here. Was she…calling to him? Was that…possible? Had it been real? He was cold. In his dreams he never was. He was here, surely. He brushed the sparks off Nyenna’s cloak. His fingers felt numb in his gauntlets. Yes. He was here. Good.

She wouldn’t have simply left, not in the condition she’d been in, he decided. Thunder rumbled in the distance, the edges of a blizzard hanging over the other side of the island. She needed his help, and quickly. Great Dragonborn or otherwise, she was still a person. An injured one who, considering whatever the hell that all just was, could possibly be exhausted of Magicka now, or beyond. Or worse. He turned, casting Candlelight as he trudged through the iced-over snow. The light bounced off it, crystalline and glittering in a million different colors in his wake.

[mashpotatoequeen]

You know how much I love your writing, so I immediately got extremely excited and my brain generated a bunch of MashpotaoeQueen-esque titles. Feel free to ignore any/all of these :)

Kismet

Rainy Days

Sea Salt and Shells

Firefly Nights

In the Atrium

Birds of a Feather

Under a Deep Blue Sky

Purple Prose and Pink Roses

Constellation Making

Dragon Scales and Fairy Wings

As I said, I got super excited, so my apologies for being crazy. I can't title my own stuff for the life of me, but your writing is so inspiring <3

I hope you're doing well!!

Hello My Friend!

Kismet

Okay so. You know me. I love writing fics about Sticky and then labeling them with obscure or peculiar words because it just tickles me pink. So Kismet would most definitely be a Sticky fic.

Maybe it goes like this: Sticky is able to see the strings of fate that tie people together. Like when you meet someone and you're talking and you realise, with all the strength of a sledgehammer to the face, that you're gonna be best friends. Like the ties that keep siblings who are at each other's throats every single day still completely and utterly do or die for each other. The little connection that keeps you calling your best friend even if you haven't seen each other in months. The ties that bind lovers and family and companions and all of it. All of them.

Sticky can see all of them, except for his own.

He gets used to watching them. These little strings of fate wrapped around people's fingers; some of them vibrant and hard as steel and some of them frayed around all their edges. Different colors, different sizes, different woven patterns. The string binding his parents together is a soft orange, almost amber. The threads are fuzzy with age but no less strong for it.

(He realises young that no one else can see them. He keeps his mouth shut. His own fingers are bare. )

Sticky wants to be wanted so damn badly, is the thing. Sticky is surrounded by the way people love other people, and sure in the knowledge that he's destined to have no one.

He's wrong, of course. It just takes new friends and saving the world to figure it out.

Constellation Making

This one immediately brings to mind an AU where Nicholas Benedict (and friends!) are literally in the business of the making of stars. They've got a workshop just south of the Pillars of Creation and a deadline for a new constellation every millennia or so.

Mr. Benedict is a being of magic. One of the Old Ones. He's got stardust in his hair and nebulas swirling in his eyes. He keeps getting chunks of meteors and comets stuck under his fingernails after gently guiding them on course. He sings lullabies to baby stars that are little more than superheated gas and has tea with old white dwarfs every Wednesday.

And then constellations start to go missing. One by one by one.

And that's where our adventure begins.

Bird of a Feather

This is DEFINITELY that wing fic I've talked about before. These winged humans, finding each other and finding a flock with one another, a family the can depend on.

Maybe this would be a one shot set in that universe, where all the Mysterious Benedict Society kids have odd conflated feelings about preening each other's wings. Maybe one of the Executives told them their wings looked messy and that's one of those rules that Are Not A Rule at the Institute- your wings can be however ruffled as you like, as long as the feathers are neatly groomed and in place. There's nothing for it. It's hard to groom your own wings, especially towards the back. They will have to help each other, even though preening someone else's wings is usually really intimate and reserved for close family and friends.

Reynie's never done it- and has never had it done to him. He's so so worried that he's going to do it badly, that he's going to mess it up. Sticky keeps remembering his parents grooming his own wings and feeling a mess of nostalgia and hurt and bone deep sadness. Kate's touchy about her wings, about trusting people with them- she can do everything by herself, she doesn't need anyone- and Constance doesn't even know how to start doing it. Because she is two. And her wings are almost entirely soft baby down feathers anyway.

(They all have soft baby down. They're fledglings at best. They are BABIES and it's very important to me that you know this.)

So anyway. It's a Mysterious Benedict Society Meeting. They are all so nervous. None of them know how to start. It's awful and tense in a way that their gatherings almost never are. But finally Reynie settles himself nervously by Sticky and asks for some help, his cheeks BRIGHT red. Sticky's hands are sort of shaking. He reaches up and starts gently shifting through Reynie's feathers anyway.

And it's- it's nice. It's really nice.

(They are all, coincidentally, also sort of touch starved.)

So it becomes A Thing. At Mysterious Benedict Society meetings, they sit and they talk, and they preen each other's wings. They don't mention it to the grownups, or make a huge deal out of it, but every last one of them definitely rank it as some of the best parts of their day.)

Sea Salt and Shells

I feel like a lot of the kids have never been to the beach. Like- yes. They've been to Stonetown harbour. But a harbour next to a rocky patch of grey city water is not a beach experience.

So I'd like to imagine that, after the events of the third book, the kids and their families go on a proper beach day. They load of the vans with towels and swimsuits and packed lunches stacked neatly into three separate coolers. They have to drive a solid three hours and Constance sings I Found a Peanut at the top of her lungs until Kate gets dangerously close to shoving a towel in her face for the sake of her sanity.

They arrive at the beach sometime around ten in the morning. The sky is clear and blue and the sun is shining and the seagulls are doing their best approximation of singing. It's a gorgeous sort of day that almost feels too picturesque- like it's something from a dream or memory.

But it's right here and right now.

The kids splash around in the water, wading deeper and deeper until their feet don't quite touch the ground and their past the point where the surf breaks. (Constance has a floaty, and a death grip on Reynie's arm. It took her approximately fifteen steps for her emerging doggy paddle to become a necessity.) They bob in the waves like little corks, laughing whenever one of their heads go under. Milligan floats a little ways a way with a set of sunglasses on, eyes closed. It's possible he's taking a nap.

They don't have any paddle boards, but they learn soon enough that you can catch a wave on your belly. Rhonda shows them how to dive under the bigger tumults of water so they don't get swept under, and Number Two hides under the largest sun hat known to man. Mr. Benedict's swim shorts are green plaid, and he's not much better at swimming than Constance - narcolepsy and big bodies of water don't tend to bode well- but he is having a grand time of it.

Reynie and Sticky make elaborate sand castles and Kate works on digging the deepest hole she physically can with a tiny plastic seahorse shovel. Constance, at one point, allows herself to be buried in it until only her head is visible. The others feed her chips one at a time and pour water into her mouth with a seriousness and dedication that defied the silliness of the situation.

(None of the grownups can look at her without laughing.)

They eat lunch on the picnic blankets. Sand gets everywhere, despite their best efforts. Sticky's father has to carry his mother into the surf, but she floats along quite happily once she's there. When Reynie next goes in, it's Miss Perumal who has a death grip on his hand while Constance clings to Kate's next as she cuts through the water like a knife. Sticky sits at the shore and starts identifying different types of seashells, happily mumbling to himself. He'll keep the best ones to be put on display in his room.

They go home wet and exhausted sometime around four, sand hiding in their swimsuits and salt drying on their skin. Most of them slip into sleep the minute the engine starts running, and wake up bleary eyed and starving some hours later. They eat leftovers for dinner in the front yard of Mr. Benedict's house, still in their swimsuits, and talk about going back sometime soon.

The evening sun dips low. The whole horizon is painted golden, and the family watching from below laughs and laughs and laughs.

[klcthebookworm]

WIP Wednesday: Sororal Lineality: Plans and High Command

Sororal Lineality series is an experiment to tell the whole story in short stories segments because I need to practice writing short. I have twenty-eight stories planned to cover everything. The series picks up after the Empire Strikes Back but there was a big change to A New Hope: Han returned to the Death Star and knocked the TIE fighters out of the trench before Biggs Darklighter was shot. The other change to canon is Mara Jade discovers she is a clone series designed to all be the Emperor's Hand, and the Force sent her to Luke Skywalker for help rescuing her younger sisters.

"Plans and High Command" is the fourth story and Wedge and Luke finally get to debrief.

They opened the cabin door. Biggs and Wedge were securing the deck plate around a new bunk above Biggs’ bunk. Biggs turned off his tool first. “Medical checks all done now? I figured this was easier than moving cabins, given how we probably won’t be with the Fleet much longer.”

Luke grinned back. “Good thinking.” They were all adults and could handle giving each other some privacy.

Wedge finished his deck plate and dropped off the wall ladder to it. “So you missed out on the last round of promotions and lost a body part. Let’s see it.”

Luke shook his head. “You Corellians are the rudest when you’re having tooka kittens by the litter. Mara, this is Commander Wedge Antilles and current Rogue Leader. Wedge, this is Mara Jade.”

Wedge nodded at her. “Pleased to meet you and welcome to the Rebellion. Now show, you Jedi smart-ass.”

Luke rolled the medical tunic sleeve with a sigh until the thin metal band where the prosthetic met flesh was visible on his forearm.

Wedge studied it critically before returning his gaze to Luke’s face. “And how do you feel? About all of it, Luke.”

“The pain is finally gone. You built the Rogues too, so you should be in charge. Getting Han back is going to be emptying the Dune Sea of sand. But I’m not in the brig!”

“Oh, like High Command would toss you in the brig even though you worried the hell out of everyone. What about Vader?”

Luke rolled down his sleeve so he didn’t have to look at Wedge or Biggs. “He didn’t want to kill me and the Force isn’t done with me yet. I will know more by the time I have to face him again.” Though he wasn’t ready to even consider what shape that knowledge would be right now.

“And Solo’s on his way to Jabba?” Wedge leaned against the wall.

Luke nodded, grateful to move onto the rest of the list. “Chewbacca’s off to find him before the delivery, but I have a feeling we will have to face down Jabba to win Han’s freedom.”

“Jabba put the highest bounty we have ever seen on Han Solo’s head,” Biggs explained to Mara. “And we’ve got the Empire’s most wanted in this Fleet.”

“There’s no way the Rogues can help with that, Luke. The Rebellion isn’t declaring war on the Hutts, as much as they deserve it.” Wedge sneered.

“Not asking you or them to. Tatooine has to deal with Jabba or it will never be free. I will come see all of you before we leave.”

Wedge picked up the tool Biggs had used and nodded at him. “And you can take this bush pilot with you. I don’t wanna deal with him worrying if you leave him behind.”

“I’ll bring you back some starshine this time, I promise.” Biggs laughed at the rude gesture Wedge made as he left.

[doctor-fancy-pants]

Wednesday Words

Messages

He sends her a message, and two miles away, her mobile chimes.

He wants to talk. He knows she’s busy. He’s worried, is all. When she’s got time.

She’s looking through the telescope, and ignoring her phone. Not because of him. She lost a friend, recently. She doesn’t know why. She asked, several times.

No answer.

No message. That, in itself, is a message, but it hurts, and it’s frightening. Now every delay from every message could be the beginning of a new message, a message of absence and silence.

She watches the stars. She thinks about radio signals, travelling through space.

It would take so long to get a message out there.

You wouldn’t know when to stop hoping, she thinks. People used to write letters, before the internet, the telephones, the telegrams. Letters, carried by ships at sea, or tiny reports on bloody homing pigeons.

What news from the front? she thinks, focused on a distant star. Who knows? Keep an eye out for pigeons. Or the postman. Or radio waves.

Now, you don’t know when to expect it, or when to stop expecting it.

You don’t know when the silence is safe.

She has her headphones on. The music helps. Songs have messages, have meaning. You can consider those at your own pace. They only go one way, and you aren't expected to answer, or know the right thing to say.

The music fills her head. She doesn’t hear her phone chime, another friend, sending another message, to let her know that he’s thinking of her, and he hopes she’s okay.

She is okay, in this moment. She doesn’t expect messages from the stars. Their silence has no weight.

They just burn. That is all they have to do.

I have a Wednesday night writing group. We do prompts, and drabbles, and it’s a good time. Everyone comes out with something so different! They’re short snippets – the drabbles are only supposed to be 100 words, a warm-up for the later prompt. I'm trying to remember to post my favourites as I go. This particular drabble prompt - Messages - hit something hard in my heart, and I didn't try to keep it to 100 words.

[elmaestrostan]

I feel like these sorts of articles coming out before tomorrow night are just inviting bad luck, but I guess they’ve got to drop them to print before we drop the ball.

Text under the cut (because ya girl did a Times free trail just for a Unai article and keeps putting off having to ring them to cancel it)

No one ever doubts home advantage. Playing at home gives teams an edge and if it doesn’t help at all then there is something seriously wrong. The home and away win-loss record of the reigning champions Denver Nuggets basketball team is particularly stark, at 9-0 and 5-7 respectively this season. It is hard to find a team that so heavily relies on home advantage but then again, it is hard to find a top-level club that is situated so close to the stars.

“Welcome to the Mile High City, 5,280ft above sea level” greets visitors to Denver, and opposition players frequently bemoan their struggles to last the game due to the high altitude.

Aston Villa are not even the highest club in the Midlands — that honour goes to West Bromwich Albion — but if Unai Emery’s side defeat Manchester City on Wednesday evening then they will equal a club record of 14 consecutive home league victories set between December 1930 and October 1931.

It is a tall order, of course, to outwit Pep Guardiola but there is an optimism around Villa Park that naturally develops as momentum grows. The more Villa win, the more the fans expect it — and that expectancy is felt by the team. It may seem as if the stadium has emerged almost out of nowhere as a particularly tough place to go but Villa Park was ripe for a sustained spell of significant rowdiness.

Andy Townsend, the former Villa midfielder, has been waiting for it to reignite ever since he was part of the infamous League Cup semi-final second leg in February 1994 against Tranmere Rovers, in which his team overturned a 3-1 deficit to reach the final after a penalty shoot-out. Ron Atkinson, the Villa manager, called it the most dramatic match of his coaching career and it was notable for the intensity of the home fans.

“I don’t know how many were in the stadium that day, probably 40,000, but it felt like 70,000,” Townsend says. “It felt like a giant stadium. We were 3-1 down from the first leg, against a team from the league below.

“I understood that day the sound of Villa Park. Even today it makes me feel tingly just thinking about it. There was an expectancy, not just about cheering, but cursing, screaming when you made a mistake. When the goals went in and then we won the atmosphere felt huge, it felt like the club I knew I was joining and had heard about.

The Holte End provide particularly vociferous support to Villa, and sport psychologist Barnes attributes this factor as a “negative appraisal” for visiting teams

The Holte End provide particularly vociferous support to Villa, and sport psychologist Barnes attributes this factor as a “negative appraisal” for visiting teams

JAON SUPER/AP PHOTO

“I’ve been to Villa Park with Emery in charge and have felt something similar. There is an expectancy. They can be a hard crowd because they had success years ago, they have won the European Cup [in 1982]. You feel like it’s a mature and knowledgeable crowd. They have been through some rubbish times and they couldn’t see the tunnel, never mind the light at the end of it. Now, they are progressing and there is a tangible feeling that something is happening.

“When that ground is full, it has a very special atmosphere. There is no doubt that emphasising the importance of being good at home is huge. I don’t know how Emery goes about doing that. What I am seeing, rather than individual tactical parts, I am seeing the tempo and speed.

“They are a match for anyone all over the park with the intensity in their game. I am seeing a running power and desire to run as long as they can. At home I have witnessed an intensity and urgency that means the crowd are all behind them and give energy back to the players.”

That relationship between the fans and the players cannot be underestimated, because not all noise is helpful.

• Premier League title race: where the top four can win (or lose) it

“The type of noise at Villa Park is positive and encouraging rather than getting on the team’s back and piling the pressure on,” Dr Luke Barnes, a lecturer and sport and exercise psychologist at Leeds Trinity, says.

“It’s about the interpretation of the noise, seeing it as positive about things that can be achieved and gained rather than worrying about what might be lost or a negative threat. It can be quite subtle.

“The role of Emery is to shape the appraisal and present it to the players and the staff. He will emphasise the history of the club, the goal of playing in Europe, of having a positive focus. It’s about not worrying about social judgment.”

Emery has an excellent track record across his career of making home advantage count. This was to be expected when the Spaniard was in charge of Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal but his record at home with Sevilla, Valencia and Villarreal was above the league average across all seasons.

“There is a contrast between Villa under Emery and Steven Gerrard,” Barnes says. “From the psychology point of view, you think about the strong, clear social identity and team cohesion and everyone uniting behind a shared sense of purpose and a common goal. This creates a feel-good factor and contrasts with a team such as Manchester United, where it feels like everyone is pulling in different directions.

“You think about teams going to Villa Park and the Holte End in full flow is very challenging. For away teams it is very daunting and about a negative appraisal. We call it a threat appraisal. It can become a self-fulfilling prophecy in the sense that the away team reduce their performance.”

City’s Jack Grealish is suspended for Wednesday’s match against his former club

CLIVE BRUNSKILL/GETTY IMAGES

Is the sound of Villa Park enough, though, to unsettle City, the Treble winners?

“There needs to be due diligence on the opponent but Emery should also be conscious of not changing a winning formula in terms of the way they approach games,” Barnes says. “They should go through a series of steps to get to a psychological state to compete. Players like John McGinn and Ollie Watkins who are used to playing at Villa Park will give a sense of robust confidence. A set routine that is proven is something I would encourage them to stick to, rather than make changes in line with the opponent.”

It is not all about the noise when it comes to home advantage. The silence is important, too. In the NFL, the home fans want to allow their own quarterback to hear the calls made by the coach and then in turn be able to convey instructions to the team. If the home fans do their job properly, the visiting team’s quarterback has to tap out the snap count in the huddle with his feet like Gene Kelly.

There is a potential paradox in football where the more famous the fans’ impact, the more likely the stadium is to be infiltrated by interlopers or tourists who come to be entertained and do not contribute to the atmosphere.

Ironically, given the raucousness that sets Newcastle United fans apart, after the win over Chelsea two weeks ago the club’s co-owners Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben posted on X, formerly Twitter, that noise levels had dipped.

“What a team #nufc we need to give these guys more support in the stadium, we need to be louder, we need to be the 12th man,” Ghodoussi said, with Reuben adding: “What a team and yes we need to match the intensity of the players with our support.”

This begs the question of whether Saudi investment and the desire to attract tourists ends up spoiling the best thing about the club

A variety of studies have shown that referees are subconsciously swayed by the ferocity of home support. That makes Villa’s present streak all the more impressive because VAR often rights the emotional wrongs. José Mourinho certainly thinks so. In 2005, Chelsea’s players admitted they were unprepared for quite how potent Anfield could be on a European night and they lost the Champions League semi-final to Luis García’s so-called ghost goal.

“Anfield is a magic place to play, it is a beautiful place to play,” Mourinho told beIn Sports years later. “They can even score goals that the players don’t score, like happened in 2005. It wasn’t García that scored the goal, it was the crowd that scored the goal, but now it isn’t possible with VAR and goalline technology.”

[dansnaturepictures]

Round up of my wild week 19th-24th March 2023

It has been another memorable week of wildlife and photos for me, and one that felt again an interesting week of transition with making the most of wild winter sights like Brent Geese at Pennington and Siskins at my local Lakeside, whilst also observing a delightful array of emerging spring wildflowers and seeing a butterfly again with stunning views of a bright Brimstone flitting around Abbey Gardens on Wednesday lunch time. 

Undoubtedly my star bird of the week was one of the best I’ve seen this year, the female Surf Scoter at Pennington which we saw on Sunday. What an honour to see this remarkable species so close into shore by the jetty, allowing for epic views to cherish. Just like the first I saw of the species a male at Stokes Bay eight years ago it is an enormous moment for Hampshire birding which I was overjoyed to be a part of. In another move into springtime Chiffchaffs just kept on giving for me this week as I saw so many and got some excellent views of these charming warblers on walks at Lakeside and in both Abbey Gardens and by the river in Winchester. My third star bird across the week again was of course Peregrine Falcon, in a momentous week where Winnie’s egg laying for this year commenced I was so happy to get to see so much of both birds at Winchester Cathedral on Wednesday and Thursday’s lunch breaks which is always so feel good and immersive. I enjoyed watching them on the webcam too: https://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/explore/peregrines/ 

On Thursday I certainly used the fact they’re more present at the cathedral now to indulge in Peregrine photos taking my long distance zoom bridge camera in my work bag for an office working day (the first subject I ever did this for which I now do regularly, and always the most thrilling I think), taking more photos than I ever had on a day before including the above. 

It was good to get this Chiffchaff photo by the river on Thursday too.

Leading the other avian highlights was another target bird seen of late seeing my first Eider of the year further out to sea than the socter at Pennington on Sunday, a welcome sight of a lovely bird. I also enjoyed seeing Mediterranean Gulls well, an array of ducks including Shelduck, Shoveler and Gadwall, a nice range of waders including delightful Ruff, gorgeous Avocet, Redshank well and Grey Plover and Ringed Plover and Skylark at Pennington with Cetti’s Warbler heard really well there; the five Great Crested Grebes seen so well across the week at Lakeside again as well as Blue Tit, Great Tit and Long-tailed Tits, Tufted Ducks nicely especially at Lakeside and Mallard, Buzzard and Grey Wagtail seen well in Winchester this week.

These Collared Doves were a good Lakeside sight this week. 

Finally the big point in my week of flowers are that as predicted based on past years as we got into the twenties for dates in March the snake’s-head fritillaries are out at Lakeside in their usual maiden spot in a year under trees in the southern fenced off area. It was a true joy to be spellbound by these marvelous and wonderfully coloured flowers. Seeing them is one of my favourite bits of spring and I’ve enjoyed them so much this week. Other brilliant flowers I liked seeing this week included the snowflakes at Lakeside again, hyacinth at Lakeside and in Winchester, green alkanet at both my first Lakeside sighting of any this year, speedwell, spurge, my first cowslips of the year, red deadnettle and daisy creating great scenes, a stunning spectacle of a bit of Lakeside covered in lesser celandine with this seen well throughout the week and some tulips in the grounds of Winchester Cathedral. I saw some nice fungi at Lakeside and out the front this week including hairy curtain crust and bees/hoverflies were nice to see too. 

Snake’s-head fritillary yesterday 

A glorious hyacinth at Winchester Cathedral on Thursday. 

Blossom has a great grip on the landscape now especially at Lakeside with buds so visible now too and they both created golden scenes like this one at Lakeside yesterday evening. 

It was good to be back at a place that inspires and connects me to nature so much the coast after a bit of lull in that when we went to Pennington, this one of a few nice views to take in, in a snatch of sunshine which has defined my photos on days a little of late. 

[tadwisethebrave]

Friday, I'm So High | One Shot

Post Swynlake Dream, Tad finds himself drawing back to a familiar feeling...

tw: drugs, mention of drugs

The urge started slowly, after that dream of heroes and Olympus and being a child of Dionysus. Tad had found himself spacing more than his usual trying to figure out what he wanted. Why things felt…different than they did before the dream. The vibes just seemed…wobbly, like the waves in the sea when a boat passed through, disturbing them more and more.

On a blue sort of monday, Tad went to class and got distracted on the way back by a familiar sight. He got so caught up with what they were doing, how happy they looked around their circle with their joints and laughter carrying throughout the area. It put a weird sort of ache in his stomach when he finally pulled himself away. He found his way back to the house he shared with his boyfriend way later than he thought he would.

On tuesday, he came across an old friend and they went to the same spot in town they used to go to for a good high. Tad’s friend offered him a joint so easily, so happily. Tad held the joint in his hand for a lot longer than he meant to. But he finally managed to hand the joint back to his buddy, his head and the world looking gray and empty as he made himself take off before the temptation could hit sky high. But the thought was vibrating in his brain. Why not? Why couldn’t he?

Wednesday brought the most unfocused vibe in his yoga room. People probably talked to him and he probably answered, but all he had in his head were thoughts of those friends and the vibes and how yoga wasn’t enough of the vibe. He stood on his head, he did the downward dog, he namaste’d it up. He was still buzzing. His vibes and brain thoughts weren’t shutting off the way that they usually did. He went right back to that spot on monday that he wanted to be in.

Thursday didn’t even start because he decided to stay home and try and sleep it off. If he slept through the day he wouldn’t want to do that stuff right? The vibes in his head and his tummy would get better. They’d have to get better. His daydreams and all were disrupted by the vibes and thoughts of his best high he’d ever had.

On Friday Tad went to his classes, but after he didn’t head back home right away again. Instead he tracked down that friend he’d met on tuesday. After a while of catching up, he found himself sitting with a joint in his hand again. His hands shook even as he watched his good friend take a breath in it all. The smell was all around him. It felt like home. It reminded him of days after school, coming to his parents in the backyard having a good breath of it in.

Days where Tad had felt the vibes were fine, he was fine, Galadriel was fine. His head built it all up that way, even when the truth of it was a good bit more messy. His uncle would probably have a lot of other stuff to say, but Tad wasn’t thinking of that. He didn’t want to. He wanted to have the same sort of fun vibe he had in a dream. He was going to just enjoy the vibes for a while.

Tad picked up the joint and brought it to his mouth, taking a good inhale before pulling it away, blowing out the puff of smoke and grinning. “Duuuude. Holy shit, I forgot how good this was.” Well, no he didn’t forget how good it could feel. But he had worked hard until then to do yoga and find other stuff to feel a good sort of high. But here was the true vibe: nothing felt quite as good of a high as a pot high. He tilted his head back and enjoyed the taste, the feel, the fuzzy way his head felt and the way stuff around him was both heightened and didn’t really matter.

Nothing really mattered. Tad took another good puff of his joint, grinning at the sky. The stars were extra twinkly weren’t they? He probably should do something, text somebody, say something to someone. But none of that really hit his brain. He just let himself vibe with his buddy and let the words flow out with him, waves of joy drifting through his open mind. It was euphoric. It was intense. It was his first real high in ages.

He felt unstoppable.

[dsandrvk]

Wednesday, August 7 - Ashmore Reef

Today our ship made the trek out to Ashmore Reef, which along with Cartier Island is an "external territory" of Australia. We sailed well over 200 kilometers northwest out to an area that is much closer to Indonesia and Timor than Australia, but it all seems to matter who claimed it first, in this case the British.

It is a beautiful area, and today it is a marine park, although small traditional Indonesian fishing boats are still allowed, as are Australian recreational fishermen. It is an important area for birds as well as marine life, and as such is a great destination, despite the distance out and back.

Another reason Ashmore Reef gets visited by ships like ours is similar to the Jones act in the US, where a ship not registered in the country (in this case Australia) has to stop at a port outside of that country, and for some reason, Ashmore Reef being an external territory fills that bill. Technically we left Australia, and will need to fill out another immigration card when we get to Darwin.

Ashmore Reef became controversial because its proximity to other waters made it a stop for illegal migration, since landing here one could demand asylum. Around 2001, Australia got serious about the problem, as it became a very political issue, and excised most external territories from the Australian Migration Zone, and the Australian Border Force regularly patrols for smugglers.

We had a choice of either a snorkel on the reef, or a Zodiac cruise to the island part of the reef, which is the main bird habitat. I chose to snorkel, as this will be our only chance in Australian (or semi-Australian) waters, even though it was pretty choppy with a strong current. Russ chose to go in the Zodiac, and the first two pictures are his. My pictures of the reef and the incredible corals down there are on my water camera, and I might be able to get them to the phone for a later post.

Suffice to say, I was glad to snorkel, as the reef here was unlike anywhere I have been. There was an abundance of bright blue sea stars, and many small fish, but it was mostly the variety of corals that got my attention. We were lucky, as this is the sixth visit for the ship this season, and only the second time the conditions permitted snorkeling.

Russ enjoyed his Zodiac trip, and saw lots of different birds. This is not only a major nesting location for Brown Boobies but also an important nesting area for Black Noddies and Frigatebirds.

We had a fairly early sail away, as we have a long way to go back to the mainland, and as always there were drinks, music and conversation. The entertainment is not the reason one does an expedition cruise, but it has been quite enjoyable. There is a great duo on board that entertained us one night in the club with songs by the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac, and yesterday evening they had Liar's Club, where various crew members gets to lie about the definition of a word (and one has the correct, if improbable answer). Tonight it was our cruise director's turn and he is an operatic tenor and has an amazing voice, even with more popular songs. He is also very funny and keeps us all in line during Trivia.

One of the other nice things is that it is a very friendly, social boat, and everyone welcomes others to their tables, and there are always interesting conversations. So far, the majority of folks we have met are Aussies, mostly because this is a convenient way for them to see a part of their country that's hard to access, and they also don't have to travel far. The mix of folks will probably change when we get to Darwin, as about half the people we have met are ending their cruise there. It appears our Trivia team will mostly continue on, at least for the next leg

Tomorrow we are in Vansittart Bay, with two landings planned - one to the site of a downed WWII plane, and a second to a rock art site on an island. Both should be interesting with wet landings and short hikes.

A note on the last photo. We almost stepped on this moth on the outside stairs, and moved his to a slightly better location so he might survive - ironically, it was moth week last week - who knew?

[miercolaes]

Star didn't see it happen, she didn't hear Wednesday's last breath, but oh, she felt it. It was like a small jolt of lightning had gone through her body the second it happened, and she knew what it meant; the Addams girl, who had been so curious, so open, to the supernatural, that she had allowed herself to become close to a vampire and her family. She hadn't it in her to tell the boys why she refused to leave her alcove, why she had to force a smile for Laddie when he asked if she was alright, and Star certainly had avoided David, but she knew he could feel her emotions enough to know. Star wished she had been there, that she and Wednesday hadn't had a disagreement about the girl being a 'walking blood bank' for her, but rather that she was right there, giving Wednesday her blood just to bring her back, dealing with the consequences of turning her later.

She could have followed the same code of moralities that she and the boys did, Star knowing deep down that Wednesday did have a moral compass. But that thought had now been days old, and even for vampires, there was no reviving humans, even with blood. Hugging her knees tighter to her chest, forehead resting on them as she sat just at the edge of the cliffs, waves crashing hard against the jagged rocks, Star wept. This was what she got for getting close to someone who wasn't immortal, someone who could get hurt, who could... Her sobs subsided as her head picked up, glassy brown eyes looking out onto the inky black water and sky, unable to distinguish where one ended, and the other began. This grief was unlike any other she had experienced before, different in ways that had even been with David; this was solidified. A hand tucked into the pocket of her navy jacket, only to remove a small pewter hatchet charm, Star holding it tightly in her hand before it was hurled into the sea below.

it's almost comical how tragic the ultimate demise is. all my life i've lived under the impression that carpe diem was my motto, living like there's no tomorrow... and, at last, tomorrow will no longer come. they say that life flashes before your eyes when your body fails to mend, but there was nothing. nothing came and nothing i became. still, i choose to carpe diem one last time, for the remaining fourty days i have to roam the earth. right now, i'm sitting by cliffs of what i used to call my second home. they didn't know it, but i deeply appreciated how unwelcomed i felt in their home. i see star standing by the edge and i approach. there is water oozing out of her eyes, akin to an alien creature excreting fluids. but deep down, i know what it is. and my thoughts immediately flow :

do not stand there and weep. i am not there, i do not sleep. i am the thousand typhoons that blow, i am the spilled blood in the snow. i am the sunlight that inflicts you pain, i am the callous, storming rain. as you awake with morning's hush, i am the swift, up-flinging rush of a murder in circling flight, i am the day transcending night. do not stand there and cry, i am not there, i did not die.

i watch you throw the last token of my memory into the blue inferno below. perhaps there are a few more words i'd wish to say, but my feeble existence does not allow it. there's always more to say when a door has closed, isn't it? and i, still guilty of being human, will revolt, even in death. your action a double edged sword : are you paying homage or are you throwing me away? either way, i'm grateful for your existence. we both knew how this was going to end. you were immortal, and i but a ticking bomb. despite centuries old curses, i was still human at my core. so fragile, so easy to fall prey into death's merciful claws that dug at me for the last time. not everything is meant to live forever and neither did i.

i reach out to you. what was supposed to be my hand trying to grip at your wrist. i wanted to scare you one last time, but this attempt failed before my eyes. now, i can only hope my memory will live long enough to terrorize you, even in my absence. for when the day comes when you'll walk my path, i'll be there, waiting, continuing my everlasting torment. until we meet again, you better not forget me, as i will not forget you.

  ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️  ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️  ️️️️️️️️️️️️️ ️️️️️️️️️️️️️in chaos we've been wrought, in chaos will we be dispersed.