#what i have to do to get it back) is like. zero. but anyways i have to go to college without a phone

[chaosandmarigolds]

(I NEED HIM I NEED HIM DAD!SOAP HAS MY HEART RAAAAAAH)

It was just like any other pool day really, and doll days are generally fun! Until your VERY competitive husband and daughter start having contests.

“Mum! You- you gotta judge.” Your daughter practically skidded to a halt in front of your chair, dripping wet and her hair stuck under her goggles.

With a look to your husband, who was stretching on the other side of the pool you tip your sunglasses down to look at her, “Our-well daddy’s gonna- he’s gonna jump in and you have to give him zero points-“

“oh I do?”

“mmhm, and when you do I’ll make sure all of my chores are done before you wake up this week.”

you blink slowly and then agree- maybe just so you get back to reading- until your husband came over, handing you a fancy looking mocktail and sitting down in the chair beside you.

“my love.”

with an exaggerated sip you look to him, “Mm?”

“Did Gale already come and talk-“

“no bribing the judge, MacTavish.” “Eh! Not bribing just having a talk with my very lovely wife who I adore oh so so much.”

To that you give him a look, and then think for a moment, “Alrigh, butter the pot- whatcha got?”

“back rubs, nightly.”

“just back rubs? Unless I say otherwise?”

he frowned, “Fine.”

there was another pause and you look at him, “And I what you to go on a two week leave in September.”

“Lassie-“ he met your gaze, “I’ll win?”

“by a landslide.”

“Yessmaam.”

….(I need this man. I need him I want him. Anyway feedback and comments mean the world to me!)

[leveloneandup]

Christen Press on potential Angel City sale: ‘It allows the club to continue to professionalize’

Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, are close to purchasing a controlling stake of Angel City FC. There’s no public timeline for when the deal will be done. Still, the new ownership group — and the numbers around their investment, somewhere in the ballpark of $300 million — has reignited discussions about NWSL club valuations and the rapid growth of women’s soccer here in the United States.

Angel City forward Christen Press, who was also the team’s first signing, spoke to The Athletic on her way to training on Wednesday morning. Immediately, she noted she was following the potential sale through media reports herself. Her reaction — and that of her fellow players — was one of excitement.

Press said those numbers shouldn’t be surprising to anyone. Not if you’ve been paying attention, anyway.

“When you start to see valuations as a player, and as someone who has a very vested interest in the business of women’s sports, there’s two things,” she continued. “First thing I think is, ‘Hell yeah.’ This is exactly how it should be, right? On our podcast, we just talked to Ali Krieger about how, as a novice broadcaster, she’s making more money than she did as a player. These types of sales and deals are working towards changing that.”

For her second point, Press said that Angel City has gotten a lot right through the first few years in the league. Whether that’s game day experience, business, or community, all of those things are already working.

“They also have a lot of things that they need to get right, and a sale like this is a lot of money to the club,” Press said. “It allows the club to continue to professionalize and push the envelope in terms of the expectations for women’s sports. I do think Angel City recognizes that they have a lot of room to grow on that end.”

Press called the team a “zero to one project,” but one that needs a different level of funding to go from one to two. That’s along the same lines as what one early investor told the Los Angeles Times in March when the news broke that Angel City was considering selling a controlling stake.

“What’s been built at Angel City in three short years is nothing short of incredible. And in high-growth companies, it is absolutely normal to step back and look at ‘what do we need to continue this growth?’” Sarah Harden, CEO of Hello Sunshine, said. “This board has determined that this is the right time to bring in a new major investor. That’s it. That is the story.”

Of course, Angel City hasn’t been the only NWSL team to explore a sale — though they have the more positive distinction of exploring a move willingly. Also in March, San Diego Wave FC made headlines for setting a new record, with the club’s principal owner Rob Burkle agreeing to sell to the Levine Leichtman family at a total valuation of $120 million. The valuations of NWSL teams are being watched on a global scale as well. For instance, Chelsea has started to explore the idea of selling a minority stake in their women’s team, using Angel City’s previous valuation of $180 million as their benchmark.

“All of the measures of women’s sports right now are growing, and I think the NWSL is at the forefront of a lot of that,” Pete Giorgio, who leads Deloitte’s global and U.S. sports practice, told The Athletic in March. “Those large valuations and these large transactions validate both the foresight, but also the investment that a lot of people made in the first place.”

As women’s soccer analyst Kim McCauley pointed out, Michele Kang received plenty of questions when she seemingly overpaid for the Washington Spirit in 2022. Kang had originally offered $21 million for the controlling stake in the team. She closed the deal at $35 million, which only two years ago seemed like an absurd number.

Seattle Reign FC finally wrapped its sale last month, with the Seattle Sounders and Carlyle Group taking over the club for $58 million (that club’s sale was the result of John Textor’s takeover of Lyon and a sole focus on the men’s team, with Olympique Lyonnais also sold to Kang). Before that, the sales of the Chicago Red Stars — a total bid of $60 million, with $35.5 million as the purchase price — and Portland Thorns FC at $63 million were also finalized, with both of those changes coming following the league’s abuse scandal.

“If you have an ownership group that needs to be out, it’s actually really hard to compartmentalize, and I think we’ve seen that in the Chicagos and the Portlands, how it’s affected the players,” Press said. For her, it’s different in Los Angeles, as she pointed to the regular presence of owners and investors at games. “For this, it’s only positive. We know our ownership group.”

The NWSL is going through an incredible transformation. Even with the positive impact of some of those changes and investments, it’s not hard to understand why some fans and supporters might get a little nervous about this much money coming in and how it might change the sport. Some of those changes are deeply necessary and some will absolutely affect the culture of women’s soccer in America.

Press has been part of what she called “a generation of change”, whether that’s on the USWNT with their fight for equal pay and a new collective bargaining agreement, or her NWSL career, which started in 2014 with the Red Stars. “I can’t even remember what that first field that I played on in Chicago was called, but I was driving out of the city for an hour and a half to get to some turf field.” The Red Stars’ home field was at Benedictine University; in 2014, the team had an average attendance of 2,949.

“I don’t think we want to hang on to those memories,” Press said. “There is absolutely a connection between those of us who have been fighting for improved standards in the league and our fans because the fans have had so much influence in that fight and our success. It really has bonded us with our community in a way that it feels like we’re all doing this together.”

Press isn’t worried about that bond being lost. She believes it’s trending in the right direction, especially as players have a lot less to worry about off the field and can step directly into stardom. Players that turn into superstars have to be supported though, by brands, by teams, through marketing and the media.

“That’s storytelling and that’s investment, so as it continues to grow, there is a huge opportunity for the relationship with the fans to transform. And because we continue to find ourselves in a fight for legitimate valuations and for fair pay and for equality, we’ll be able to maintain such a strong tie to the fans that help us achieve these things.”

There are more immediate goals for Angel City to accomplish, even with the potential sale to the Bay-Iger group in the works. On the pitch deck, acquired by Semafor, the first of the new ownership group’s guiding principles is “Improve team performance, player support and retention,” which also includes the tangible goal of building a new facility that could serve as the team’s HQ and training site.

While Angel City is currently in 11th place in the NWSL, they’re only three points off the playoff line cutoff. They’ll face Gotham FC in their final match before the league takes an extended break for the Olympics.

Press said the team can rely on the existing trust between the players and ownership group to allow the sale process to play out as it should and not have it overshadow the urgent need for three points on the field — at home — this weekend.

“The entire focus of the group is on the game,” she promised.

[panlight]

hi!! i’m so sorry to keep sending you asks (if you get sick of it please just let me know and i’ll shut up i promise!! 💕💕)

so this is re: the cullens being in high school, as per the ask you answered a couple days ago! i also always thought it was super weird, and i’ve been thinking for a while now that a MUCH better cover story would for them all (even carlisle and esme) to be grad school housemates (i say this as someone who has now spent two years in grad school and is about to be there for another five at least lmaoooo)

here’s why i think it would work:

1. the age weirdness wouldn’t be as obvious bc people of all ages go to grad school (i started when i was 22 and had classmates in their 40s)

2. related to age, the visible/physical age also wouldn’t matter as much since some of my classmates (me included 😭😭) looked like we could still pass as high schoolers while others gave off huge “kids and a mortgage vibes” even if they were just like a year older

3. the whole looking “off” and tired thing is just like. the grad school Look™️. the shadows under the eyes and general gaunt-ish appearance honestly wouldn’t stand out that much and if somebody said something about them looking “off” or whatever, they could just be like “late night studying” and the other person would be like “lmao so true bestie”

4. if they pretended they were all renting space in the same big house (and carlisle and esme just acted a little less parental), the whole “dating each other” thing wouldn’t be that weird at all. i feel like it’s not that uncommon for couples who get along to rent different floors or sections of a house, and if they didn’t pretend to be one big weird family situation and instead just acted like they all met each other at school, i don’t think people would even bat an eye

5. people go to grad school forever. like. for so long (i vaguely knew of someone who was in the eighth or ninth year of her phd). esp if they picked something like a big state school where the “kids” could go to undergrad first, they could realistically do four years of undergrad, maybe a two or three year masters, and then a phd of indeterminate length (usually at least five). that would allow them to stay in the same place for at least 11 years

and this is not an official point, but i will note that for carlisle to still do his whole doctor thing, i think it would be perfectly reasonable for him to have already “graduated” or whatever, but continue to stay with his “friends” for financial reasons, or just bc the living situation worked for everyone

anyway, i’m so sorry this was so long, and honestly i bet someone has already said this somewhere before, but it just struck me when reading the “why tf are the cullens in high school” post that grad school would be such a great cover story for them

haha anyway thanks for putting up with my ramblings and thank you for all the lovely work you do on the blog!! 🥰🥰

I've definitely seen "just put them in college!" before (and I have made that argument myself) but I don't know if I've seen the grad school cover story specifically before!

It would allow Esme and/or Carlisle to be the 'peers' of their children rather than some sort of guardian or parental figures. They could, as you said, all be renting a house together and Esme could be studying architecture or getting a PhD in art history or whatever while the kids study who knows what. Maybe there's a medical school as well and Carlisle can go back (it still makes zero sense that Edward and Rosalie go "to keep him current' like how is that supposed to work? They come home and just recite from perfect vampire memory everything that happened in calls? Wouldn't Carlisle be keeping current by like, idk, actually being a doctor, reading journals, going to conferences, and continuing education?).

A group of friends renting a house together as a bunch of couples makes way more sense than two parents barely visibly older than their foster/adopted kids who all date each other.

And, honestly, it's probably a better use of their time to get actual advanced degrees rather than stopping at undergrad? I know because of secrecy how they use their knowledge and skills is somewhat fraught but like, publish papers under a false name or let someone else take the credit or something and you can still contribute to the world of academia.

[rinxelea]

oh, darling, would you kill for me? | gojo satoru

wc. 1.3k

tags. forbidden romance, mention of guns and death, implied drugging, violence. a little dark ngl

preview. having been raised in opposite households, you knew that there was no hope between you and gojo satoru. but satoru keeps his promises, even if it means he has to put a bullet through somebody's head in order to kiss you.

it's a simple thing, really.

you rotate the words in your mind, trying to make sense of it. satoru's voice lingers like an echo, the tip of his tongue murmuring the silent words: "let me help."

there's nothing to help you with. satoru is the wealthy heir of a kingdom, and you are, well... you. still an heir, but in a far less...pleasant place. you hold power in the underground while satoru basks in the daylight: fancy halls, expensive wine, blithering nobles, and all. it's as simple as that.

you would have had to say goodbye eventually. it just so happens that satoru's advisors found out and forbid you to go see him again if you didn't want to see satoru locked away. you were young. you were in love. it happens.

you scoff to yourself quietly, anyway. as if they didn't already lock him away.

"if you would just let me help," satoru's grip on your arm is sure to leave a bruise. you can't look at his face. you can't see the desperation in his eyes, nor can you acknowledge that this will be your last goodbye. "i can help you, i can get you out."

you snort, rotating the barrel in your hands before pointing it at the shaking bastard kneeling between your feet. it's pointless to reminisce on old memories. what a fool. a lovesick, deluded fool.

"if you would just-"

"if i would just what? leave where i've come from, marry you, and live happily ever after?" the words fall out of your lips with bitterness, your restraint long gone. satoru looked pissed, a mixture of anger and wildness in his normally calm face. you wanted to apologize, but you knew you had to go back where you came from, go back where there was no satoru by your side. "grow up, satoru."

"yes! because i'll marry you in a heartbeat. fuck what they think." your lover ran his fingers through his neat hair, messing it up. if it were any other time, you would have loved to do it yourself. "listen. i'll come back for you. i'll come back, and we'll be okay. i promise."

you didn't say anything.

you didn't have to.

"i-i'm sorry!" the man wailed, a mixture of snot and tears running down his face. you click your tongue, pressing the gun to the man's temple. a spy, or at least you think so. even if you'll never admit it, you're more distracted by what happened than you thought, and your fingers are aching for something red. "please, i swear i'll-"

with blood coating your hands, you press the trigger.

...

3 years. 3 years, and satoru decides to come back in the worst fucking time, just when the two factions are in the middle of a squabble and the atmosphere tightened around them all like a vice.

"what the fuck are you doing here?" your shaking hands grasp the front of satoru's tailored suit, your eyes piercing through blue. there's a little, traitorous piece of your heart longing to get closer, to see if this was real, if satoru really came back for you after 3 years of separation. "you idiot."

the sound of gunshots echoes through your fuzzy mind, the blood loss from the gunshot wound acting up on you. you had to protect satoru from the blow. you had to. because the man apparently had zero self-preservation and deemed it alright to strut inside of your domain as if he wouldn't be eaten alive by the people there in a second.

"are you hurt?" you frantically pat satoru down, and let out a sigh of relief when you find that he's all in one piece. satoru is the one left to check up on you when the wound through your side acts up, pain permeating your every being. "fuck."

he says your name. satoru's voice passes through you like a gentle wave, cradling your head slowly, back and forth, back and forth. fuck. you need to focus. you need to get satoru out. he repeats your name, and this time, you can tell he's a little desperate.

"gojo." you hiss out, shaking your head as if it would make it any clearer. you groan when it only results in nausea. "we need to get out." you punctuate each word, wanting to make sure that satoru understands.

"okay." satoru says, gently. he's way too fucking calm for your liking. there's an arm around your back, now, supporting you as your surroundings ebbed and flowed like a blurry photograph. you vaguely feel getting lifted up, hearing some mumbled words and a ringing gunshot before you pass out in satoru's arms, the world fading to black.

...

there's no one and nothing there to notice satoru's smile.

nothing, except the innocent empty drink in front of your desk, and the corpse of the bastard who dared to lay a hand on what was his.

...

you wake up in an unfamiliar room, the lights almost blinding you when you open your eyes. the room is certainly lavish, gold and silver decorations adorning every corner, with silk sheets and cotton blankets all around you. you feel a deep urge to sink into the pillows, unsure of what the fuck happened but entirely too tired to give too much of a shit.

the moments pass in relative silence, until the door creaked, revealing none other than gojo satoru. despite expecting his appearance, you still feel surprised, though you're not sure if that's over his situation or the fact that satoru has grown...well.

fuck, who were you kidding. satoru looked delectable as hell. he's grown into his looks, it seems like, the youthful boyishness of his face being replaced by a more ethereal beauty. that isn't even mentioning his build, which was - oh.

when he says your name, you can't help it. your stomach is doing flips. it's still your favorite melody. you feel a little out of it, if you're being honest, your vision blurred at the edges. "how are you feeling?"

the bed dips with the extra weight as satoru sits next to you. your throat is dry, and your mouth is too heavy to speak. you op to nod instead, looking at the wall beside satoru's face. you're not sure if you could look at him. you know you'll break.

"here." you hastily drink the glass of water satoru hands you, your throat thanking you for the ailment. it makes your head a little clearer, too, and you're finally able to take a glance at satoru, able to see him here again up close.

satoru sighs, and you feel a pin drop in your stomach. why is he sad? you flinch minutely when you feel a gentle hand carding through your hair, but ultimately relax at the familiar hold. "i'm sorry."

"mhn," you groan out, your head still aching. what is satoru sorry for? how did you end up here, when you stepping into satoru's house should have been taken as a declaration of war by its other inhabitants? unless, of course, you were a captive. "what d'you mean?"

the hand in your hair pauses for a second, then resumes. "nevermind, it's nothing. it's okay." satoru says, and presses a kiss to your open lips. you want to retort, want to ask what happened, why you were here, but satoru swallows them all, makes a home out of your mouth once more. "i promised you, didn't i? i told you i'd come back, and we'd be together."

for once, you believe him. the questions can wait. satoru is more important. you lean into the persistent touches, a rumbling sound coming out of you like a purr. you look up in time to see the pleased look in satoru's face, and fully let yourself submit, let yourself sink in the feathery light feeling.

"we can be together now." satoru murmurs, his lips pressing a light kiss to your forehead. you preen at the attention, your body a livewire awaiting your lover's every touch. "it's okay."

"satoru." you whisper, your breaths intermingling with one another now that you're so close. satoru's eyes widen, and he kisses you again, and again, and again, until you're both breathless.

"i'm here." satoru promises you, a protective hand curling around your waist. it's an ocean wave, engulfing your body and cradling you like a lost, floating raft, finally succumbing. "i always will be."

[spaceorphan18]

Hi! You mentioned you were a bit disappointed by part 2 - what do you think could've been done better? Personally I needed more Colin, I felt like he got lost in the Whistledown plot

Hi Nonny!

Ooff, I have very complicated feelings about all of this, lol.

I was initially disappointed when I first watched because there are a lot of subtle emotions going on and it all goes by so quickly, and is in such short bursts that it's hard to unpack all of it on first watch. It also COMPLETELY plays with expectations and has them in the middle of a fight while getting married which is... so bonkers. So bonkers. And it is incredibly disorienting.

Having rewatched it (multiple times now) and having some MAJOR revelations about Colin (I mean I was casually watching two months ago -- I had zero real idea bout his character) I actually love a lot of the second half, and really appreciate what they were going for.

Is it perfect? No - there are still some issues (I'll get to that in a sec) but I appreciate the story that they were attempting to tell. Because it's fascinating. And there are a lot of delicious elements to it.

I think one of the biggest issues is that they were trying to cram this incredibly complex story into 8 episodes. And with the addition of the million subplots, it didn't fully work. Honestly, I wish we had gotten an episode or two longer just to let the full story breathe a little more.

I agree that, overall, they we needed a tad more of Colin's process. It's there but it's subtle. And I think his entire character arc, while there, is subtle. As just a casual viewer who hadn't watched the previous seasons - ngl, I felt slightly lost and slightly disappointed that we didn't get to see /more/.

Also it's hard. HARD. That they don't get to connect post-wedding, because Whistledown still hangs down over them. Because you WANT to them to have that post-wedding bliss. You WANT them to consummate the marriage and have that after glow and we don't get that. And my god, I really wanted to wake up in bed together, happy and blissful like we got with Kanthany.

But that's not the story.

I will say, once I unpacked it a little - the story we get is absolutely delicious. And I actually really love what we did get. There's this fascinating angst there -- where the characters are so IN LOVE and yet they both have their own journeys of dealing with the Whistledown of it all. And the fact that they do go through with this wedding, the fact that their their friendship means they have groundwork to get them through the nonsense, it's so good. I really love it.

But yeah, ultimately, I just wanted more of it. Because we don't get enough. But, honestly, I feel like we'd never get enough really.

About the side plots -- I haven't gone back and watch the first two seasons other than the rewatch I did a month ago. I'll have to see how many subplots are in those seasons, because idk know if there are /that/ many more. It's just that we're used to Polin being the subplot that it's odd when someone else takes that space.

About the ending -- here's where I feel like it could have been better. And here's where I think that maybe Season 4 can deliver on what was ultimately cut short in Season 3. I think Season 4 will have them be a united front and whatever Pen is going to go through they go through it together.

But we also get the happiness we didn't fully get at the end of Season 3. I hope -- would like to believe that Polin will settle into their comfortable roles as subplots again.

And maybe selfishly, I hope the show can keep Nic and Luke as long as possible because -- with their story being there from the beginning they have the chance to be a backbone of the entire show. And I mean, think about how much story that accumulates over all those seasons.

Anyway - I have more to say about the episodes, and maybe I'll kind of write up more on Season 3 as a whole, or episode by episode or something. Because, y'all who've been here with me know, media analysis has just become my second job. (I say as if I don't love every second of it.)

[magpie-trove]

*

[airenyah]

it's really funny seeing everyone salty posts about the hidden agenda finale and i actually agree with everyone but the thing is!!!! i'm just vibing!!!!

i went into this show with absolutely ZERO expectations (and in fact, i would have been extremely surprised if this show ended up being actually good dkfjkfddf), i've never given a single shit about the plot and/or the writing bc i came here for the joongdunk vibes and the joongdunk vibes alone and i had a blast watching this series

like, i'm not even gonna bother criticising this drama bc from the beginning i didn't expect it to be very impressive anyway and so i'll just keep sitting here in my pile of garbage and vibing with it <3333

[lovecolibri]

Unpopular opinion time maybe. But because I have BT shit blocked to hell and back and actively avoid seeing anything they're saying if I can help it, I seem to be having the opposite experience from everyone else? Because I keep seeing the "oh, T is getting praised and adored for things the female LIs were hated for. It's such a double standard! All those women deserve apologies!" And like, fair, that praising probably is happening? But from MY side? All I'm seeing is people hating T for shit they LOVED and still love and praise Tay Kay and L for. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Like, people are still out here claiming Tay Kay should come back because her and Buck would be besties and he needs someone to call him on his shit??? As though Hen, and Maddie, and Eddie, and Bobby, and Chim aren't all RIGHT THERE, loving Buck, and gently calling him on his shit when needed?? As though having someone who calls him "needy" around would be GOOD for him? As though that woman ever gave one single fuck about anything that didn't get her a leg up on the job? Like, you CANNOT complain that T is vaguely dismissive of Buck, and then claim to miss Tay Kay who was actively SO much worse to Buck and for Buck in every single way. And we all know the only reason the firefam wasn't allowed to actually say anything about her or mention Buck looking miserable all season 5 with her was because FOX shut down the planned storyline with bi Buck, gay Eddie, and Buddie and they needed to give Buck something to do and MW came cheap so they kept her on.

It's so weird to me that half of everyone is defending T for shit they hated with the other LIs and half are throwing T under the bus for things they actively encouraged from female LIs. Because I guess watching "strong" female characters "put Buck in his place" is okay and he needs to be brought down a couple pegs by them, but T is just a mean man and dismissive and poor Buck doesn't need that???

Sorry, but I don't enjoy watching a character like Buck who we KNOW has the issues he does be brought down, dismissed, and treated badly by ANYONE, regardless of gender. Sorry, I don't think it's funny and fun to watch women talk down to him and make him feel bad about himself. Sorry, I don't think dragging others down to pull yourself up makes you a "strong" female character. ESPECIALLY in a show chock full of ACTUAL strong female characters.

ANYWAY

I am an equal opportunity hater and I will absolutely call T out for the same exact shit I called out other LIs for because I don't have a double standard, and that's my salt gremlin thought for today.

[airanke]

Every day I sit here or lie in bed thinking about how much purity culture destroyed me.

[bibiana112]

There's nothing wrong with people having their dearest most specialest blorbo be Eric ztd it is unironically good for the ecosystem and I always love seeing the different perspectives from other fans but what I am here today to ask is why is no one like that about Mira. whatever happened to feminism.

[raksh-writes]

Maybe this doesn’t need to be said, but Im feeling awful about it, so -- to any mutuals that might notice Im not following them anymore, I'm sorry about that. I've just seen too many posts on my dash that I have no way of blocking because they're not tagged in any way and they're distressing enough it's turning one of the only places I considered a safe space not safe for me anymore. So for my own mental health, I had to unfollow. I Will refollow in the future and I still love y'all, but I just-- I can’t. Ive been noticing some very worrying stuff about my mental and emotional state and it's just too much currently. I hope it's at least an understandable decision, and I wish y'all are having a good day out there 💗

[galacticlamps]

actually ascension needs its own post since that's the one with the most details to speculate over and im starved for soho talk so i will talk to myself if need be

First the cover again, because I kinda can't get over it:

my only thing is that I had been hoping we might get Lizbeth on a cover again since she's never been on one of the boxsets before, despite being the 2nd person credited on all 4 of them (even if that's just alphabetical, still, she's the only one of the four main characters who never makes the cover)

But letting that go...

I know we already kinda knew the brief for this one but damn I didn't expect it to go quite this hard. Maybe that's just because the Parasite & Ashenden covers were (comparatively) similarish to each other and I was so pleased with Unbegotten's, and then got so used to it as the placeholder for Ascension while they kept postponing it, I wasn't expecting anything this colorful or detailed or with what I can't help but register as Fun New Outfits even though these are still like, pretty damn basic as far as costumes go. Still, it's a different vibe from everyone in suits and trenchcoats on every cover, technically. (Oh the woes of being an audio fan such that two characters owning sweaters actually does qualify as new information)

On top of just being visually delightful though, I know we knew religion was gonna be a fairly big part of this one, but I didn't actually expect to get quite this much of it - though I'm glad of it for a number of reasons. The BF twitter already made the ineffable joke so I don't have to, but also yeah I did very much spend all of season 2 episode 4 of good omens half convinced Samuel Barnett & Dervla Kirwan were about to pop up around any given corner (if you will go around being gay supernatural and horrible at your messy bureaucratic jobs in midcentury soho then I'm sorry, this is where my brain's gonna go) - so, fuel to that fire. But in terms of actual important things, at least one of my Soho wishes looks to be being granted because we have a Rev Edward Folgate on the cast list, which must mean we're finally meeting Norton's father, even if his mother & brother don't appear (which they could, technically, I've definitely seen BF not list all the doublings on their cast tabs before). Religion, domesticity, and the nuclear family are all things that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to Norton's character, so getting any amount of story involving his father & his church is something I've been actively hoping for for a long time now.

(I will say I'm a tiny bit bummed Saffron Coomber isn't on the cast list to play Mia again, but I kinda figured she wasn't going to be since Greg Austin's Armitage, who's making his first recurring appearance after originating in Unbegotten, was listed ever since the boxset was announced - presumably if she was also returning, that would've been handled in the same way. But since Unbegotten ended with Lizbeth and Mia going on a date, I still held out hope. Who knows though, maybe things did go well for them and Lizbeth just has a better work/life balance than Norton so she can date someone without them getting dragged into every scifi plot. I know that's not a very common accomplishment for any Torchwood agent, but a gal can hope)

At this point I know I'm completely in the realm of speculation & even wishful thinking, but I'm really really hoping we get some more clues as to Norton's overall timeline in this one, and I have a feeling that even if there's nothing as direct as dates given, the events of a plot like this one are going to heavily influence my personal interpretation of it.

To say that life & death are major themes for the soho crew feels wildly reductive, but even by Torchwood's standards and taking into account its origins as a piece of media with Jack Harkness & his newfound immortality at the heart of it, the living/dead status of this bunch has always been fantastically up in the air to me. Obviously Ghost Mission introduced Norton as kind of a ghost before revealing more obvious ghostly characters later on to which the title might have been referring, but his being from the past did beg the question of his survival into Torchwood's present era all the same, which Outbreak later alludes to much more directly, and his habit of showing up via hologram in multiple stories only further obfuscates any certainty we might have about where & when he definitely can be said to be alive and well. Then you've got Lizbeth and Gideon both being effectively 'brought back to life' via paradoxes that prevented them ever having died in the first place. Again, they are very very far from being the only Torcwhood characters this happens to (for a sprawling EU, it's really rather impressive how often & in how many different ways Torchwood as a whole manages to circle back to being about like. chaotic undead queers at the end of every day. though I suppose that consistency is part of why I keep falling in love with its different iterations again and again). That's without even getting into the question of Norton's dubious fate in God Among Us - and I say dubious because I know some people take that to be his ultimate death, but I personally think that reading something as vague as that as having any kind of finality rather goes against the spirit of this whole world/series, not just because I want him to live. (There are obviously other ways to make him survive/reappear, but I don't see this as a River Song scenario where we can safely assume one of his earlier-released adventures had to happen at the end of his personal timeline). But wherever God Among Us falls for him, he does very much meet God in it - or at least, a god, since the sentinel in Unbegotten is also described as a god of sorts, and even if he doesn't ultimately have the status of the god Jacqueline King is playing there, Unbegotten is still full to bursting with ghosts/undead/came back wrong/echo characters to continue underscoring that life/afterlife theme.

So all things considered, even allowing for the fact that we know Norton's twin hobbies are lying about himself and abusing time travel to suit his own ends/ever-shifting alliances, I find it difficult to believe we could get through a whole 6-part boxset about religion & death without something providing some kind of compelling evidence about where this adventure fits in among his other run-ins with apocalypses and gods and ghosts and dead-but-still-here characters/creatures, so I'm very much looking forward to any further exploration on that front.

And lastly, and least intellectually, I really want to know what the hell 20th-century Torchwood's obsession with Reginalds is. Reading through the cast list, I had to do two separate doubletakes over the character 'Sir Reginald Peebles' - firstly, because I had Reginald Rigsby on the brain, this being Soho (and the other Troughton brother being so active on BF's releases for this same month) - and secondly, because reading this in conjunction with the announcement for the July monthly adventure in which the new main Torchwood guy of the 20s is apparently called Sir Reginald Dellafield, there was a brief moment where I took that monthly release to be a tie-in with Ascension. I don't expect it to be, but damn. was it really so popular a name?

anyways, catch me thinking about those stained glass windows for the next couple months I guess (and knowing Torchwood Soho, for a long long time after it comes out as well lol)

[pigeunii]

i love blocking people <3 live laugh love the block button!! i don’t care if it’s just because they’re a bad person or if they disagree with me slightly, trust, they will be blocked 🩷!!!

[lucalicatteart]

Poll adventure (paventure? lol) Day 11: read the small story tidbit below the poll for more details, OR just vote based on initial impression

(✦ see past poll results + further information HERE (link) ✦)

Yesterday's poll decided that The Adventurer should curiously socialize with a few of the boat travelers ...

~

"The Adventurer grabs one of the ornate glass bowls near the buffet table, meekly gathering some cheese and vegetables as he scans the crowd. For the first 15 minutes of the lunch, he mostly crouches in a corner seat, nibbling on his food and nervously fielding the occasional drunken question from a passing party guest..

Knowing he should.. probably... actually socialize at some point, he begrudgingly chooses conversational partners, squeezing his eyes shut and pointing around randomly until he lands on someone.....

The first is a scrawny man in a flashy suit, wobbly from wine but still keeping a vaguely charming demeanor about him. He proudly introduces himself as a "legal expert", then goes on to ramble for a while about the laws in the area, how drastically they vary from city to city (plus a few veiled hints on how to safely break them), and that if you travel a lot it can be hard to keep up with it all.

He mentions, quite conveniently, that he's recently published a book on the topic, a legal guide for local explorers, and offers to give The Adventurer a copy for a special discounted price... but... then soon recalls that the crate of books he'd planned to sell on the boat sadly ended up falling into the river earlier during a "silly little mishap"..

In place of a book, he simply slides The Adventurer a glossy mint colored paper swirled with golden floral motifs, supposedly serving as some sort of business card, though the actual contact information seems obscured beneath the cluttered design. The Lawyer also pulls off his scarf as he rises to leave, wrapping it around The Adventurer's shoulders with a little waving flourish (not the first time someone has confused his anxious shaking for cold shivers). The Adventurer stutters out a confused thank you, then watches as the Lawyer stumbles off, mumbling to himself that he's been drinking too much and "truly must find somewhere to piss"......

The second person he approaches is an older woman, hunched over a table fidgeting with a handful of colorful glass dice, spinning and stacking and arranging them into patterns whilst her thoughts drift elsewhere. Initially, she gives evasive answers when asked personal questions, but soon grows more talkative once the topic of local flora and fauna arises. She apparently used to adventure as well, roaming the lands to document various elements of nature relevant to her mysterious "private research" - though, at her age, she's now resigned to casual boat rides rather than riskily hiking alone through uncharted wilderness. Gently laying a worn leather journal of watercolor paintings out onto the tabletop, she points at various berries, leaves, and animals, eagerly describing their significance...

After chatting for a while, she abruptly changes topics, mentioning that sometimes she can "sense things which she should not" (whatever the hell that means), then asks him to pick one of her dice. He hesitates, but she just stares, refusing to elaborate further.. Finding even 30 seconds of awkward silent eye contact physically impossible to bear, he hurriedly plops a finger down in front of an iridescent yellow die. She chuckles..

Scooping up all of the dice from the table, she rattles them in her clasped hands, then brings them up to her ear as if to listen... to something?? A few moments later, she turns back to him, speaking in a raspy whisper: "There are others, melding your footprints with their own, seeking a gift you do not yet know - this is what I see."

Before he can ask her for any elaboration, the Captain returns, grumbling that The Adventurer has already stayed 5 minutes past the time limit and swatting at him with a broom to shoo him off of the boat. Apparently an hour can go by fast....

After climbing back into his dinky raft, he sails mostly successfully down the river, finally making it to a point that, at least based on his map, SHOULD be where the main road picks back up past the detour. He crashes into a small grouping of rocks whilst trying to navigate back to the shore, but he was planning on disassembling the raft to get his rope and supplies back anyway, so.. aside from a scraped knee and possibly broken pinky toe, he decides it's actually fine. The cat is okay, which is all that really matters, anyhow.

By the time he's taken apart his boat, eaten a quick meal, and bandaged his leg, the sun seems to have nearly set. It's later in the night than he'd usually like to travel, but, where he's going is a pretty commonly used road, so maybe it's safe? He's exhausted from socializing, but could probably muster enough energy to walk for at least a while. Or perhaps he should just call it a night and find a place to sleep.. But.. where??? What should he do?

-

Additional information

acquired a long, warm, expensive scarf

acquired slightly increased knowledge of local plants

acquired vague information from the 'dice based fortune teller', or whatever that was meant to be

acquired a business card (+ ability to get away with one minor crime free of legal consequence)

acquired mild nausea for the next 5hrs from weird buffet cheese

acquired badly scraped knee and sprained toe (will walk slightly slower for the next 2 days)

the adventurer's current main goal: follow his map to reach the abandoned castle ruins and see the rare animal specialist about the mysterious egg he has

[random-human-being2311]

I love encountering the "I only like their '70s songs" queen fans because they're such a funny flavour of extremely pretentious

the way they talk about it you'd think their entire family was personally murdered by a synthesiser and/or a drum machine

[vote2]

i do acknowledge i need to watch what i say wrt gender women men cis ppl etc just augh.