#but jacko first wow...

[lokh]

my god that was so exciting. why haven't I watched evo till now

[icecreamisbetterwithafork]

Happy September!

Things are certainly popping. The change of seasons is creeping in, and it is officially my favorite time to be home! End of summer, heading into fall, brings us San Diegans our true local summer. The crowds have gone home, the ocean is still warm, and the sunsets are fire.

The family and I have just returned from Yosemite, where we spent the last 3 weeks connecting with friends and family, soaking up nature, unplugging, slowing down, staring at the stars, swimming in the lake, fishing off the dock, wakeboarding, drinking the most amazing Mexican mochas from Mountain Sage Coffee Shop, making dinner together, gawking at El Capitan for the umpteenth time, swimming in the Merced, and paddleboarding on the lake—Jacko even got on the SUP! Though chaotic and full of ups and downs, it was just our souls needed before the new school year.

It took me almost 40 years to visit Yosemite, and it's become one of my favorite places to take Kylo. It also brought me much joy to witness my dad, in his mid-70s, take in the view of the valley for the first time. It truly is a magical place, and anyone who has ever visited can't deny it. While in Yosemite, my baby boy turned 9, and my new song, "Kylo's OP," was released into the world a few days later. As I was reflecting, I realized that some of the lyrics in that song came to me when I was driving back from Yosemite last year:

Everything that you believe, has already planted a seed, wow

Watching it all come to be, apples not far from the tree, now

A little full-circle moment for you! Now that we're home and the kiddos are back to school, I am looking forward to diving back into the garden—literally and figuratively—and working on finishing up a bunch of new songs that have been marinating. This process has been such an interesting one. Many of the songs were born in a day and are about 75% complete, but the final pieces have yet to reveal themselves. Patience is the name of the game in this case, and it has been a good lesson for me to practice once again letting go and trusting the process. I know the songs will "get done" when they get done. It's taken this long, so what's another little bit? I know I can never force it and have always felt that I would rather let the inspiration hit naturally than try to force it. Sometimes it seems like songs are just waiting for one more experience that leads to a thought or bridge that ties it all together. For instance, I saw Krishna Das this past year with my mom, which inspired the line in "Kylo's OP": “Everything that you believe has already planted a seed.” That took almost a year to come after the initial birth of the song. Either way, I can tell you this: I am sitting on a lot of new music and exciting projects that I can't wait to share with you over the next year.

So far the last couple of months have brought us:

A most beautiful song i had the pleasure of joining my friend Leonardo Prakash on, Bobby My Friend: listen here!

And my latest release, Kylo’s OP, out now: listen here!

So many of you have asked me what the "OP" stands for. Here you go: When I first met Trevor Hall in person, he was traveling with a mini synth from Teenage Engineering called the OP-1. He shared that many of the samples on his album IN AND THROUGH THE BODY and the intro song “blue sky mind” were created on the OP-1. Intrigued, I bought one and started trying to figure out how to use it—though I still haven’t completely figured it out! Fast forward a couple months later i went to Trevors studio in Colorado for the first time, I brought my OP-1 hoping to get some hot tips.

In the meantime, I always take little field recordings on my phone while hiking or out with Kylo, thinking they might be cool to use someday in a song. In this case, I had a recording of Kylo ringing his bike bell in a tunnel, and also a reel of him saying “hey mom” a bunch of times. Story of a mom’s life, right? #HEYMOM! MOMMMMM!

In the process of trying to show me how to use the OP-1, Kylo’s OP was born, using the samples I had taken and then importing and manipulating them with the OP-1. Trevor titled the song “Kylo’s OP” as a placeholder, but it just kind of stuck. I was curious about what the OP in OP-1 stands for, and when I Googled it, I found that OP is short for Opus.

In music, the opus number is the "work number" assigned to a musical composition, or a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's publication of that work. Opus numbers are used to distinguish between compositions with similar titles; the word is abbreviated as "Op." for a single work.

It seemed appropriate, and kind of random but cool, to leave it as Kylo’s OP, being that it’s the first song with his little voice going out into the world for the first time. <3

It also made sense to me to release this as the first song in a long while, because these last 9 years have been dominated by being fully immersed in motherhood while simultaneously being pulled to create. When I realized this song is literally me trying to be a musician and a mother wrapped up in a song, it made me laugh. Mothers know—the minute you try to do something for yourself, it's like your little one senses it and suddenly needs your attention! This song is the marriage of the two, also reminding us to stay curious, childlike, and remember to tap into that purity and time in your life when you were younger and didn’t have the weight of the world and all its responsibilities on your shoulders.

Before we grew up, and had places and people to be.

Of course, this is what it means to me, but I’m always curious how it lands and what it means to the listener—so if you have any insights to share, I always love hearing them. :)

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the bounty of September, Virgo take-over, and the change of seasons in bloom.

Xo,

TP

[carewyncromwell]

“You took a great risk, coming here.”

“Well, what’s life without a little risk, my brilliant Frenchman? ...Forgive me -- your Highness.”

“No. ...Forgive me, but...I never want to hear that phrase out of your mouth again, Mr. Knightly.”

“...Then I shall simply have to come up with others, my prince.”

In England at the start of the 20th century, a soft-spoken, intellectual prince with a love of academics and learning and a flashy, charming vaudeville entertainer with a tragic past carry on a secret whirlwind romance that comes to a head at a fateful royal ball, where the prince is expected to announce his engagement to a foreign princess and the young actor plays his part so well that no one would suspect his humble origins. 

xxx featuring James McAvoy as Jackson Knightly @carewyncromwell and Luke Treadaway as Montelimar “Monty” Bloom @cursebreakerfarrier 

[ordinaryschmuck]

Drabble suggestion: amity goes to luz’s house in the human world and Luz shows her her room and amity sees luz’s stuff animals that were on her bed in yl and Luz explains their names and stuff to them and like tells her about them

Memories and Plushies

Luz frantically zoomed around her room with a vacuum, sucking up every little bit of crump she could find.

"I'll admit, I didn't expect you to be so tidy," Vee said from the top bunk, watching her sister work, "Not after seeing the mess here you left for me to take care of."

"I'm normally not," Luz confessed, "But that's because I've never had a girlfriend coming over before. Amity already saw the mess in my room at the Owl House. Can't let her think I'm that much of a slob here."

"I feel like it might be worse that you're more of a slob in a stranger's house than you are in your own home."

Luz opened her mouth to retaliate, but the sound of the doorbell ringing cut her off.

"Oh, my gosh, that's her!" she ran to the mirror, doing some checkups. "How do I look?!"

"Like you always do," Vee rolled her eyes, "You should probably go open the door instead of leaving her waiting like this."

"You're...RIGHT! What am I thinking?!" Luz then bolted out of her room, zoomed down the stairs, and came to a screeching halt at the front door.

"Ok, don't freak out," she whispered to herself. Opening the door, Luz smiled brightly at Amity, who looked nervous as she smiled back.

"Hey, Luz," the witch waved.

"Hi, Amity!" Luz stepped aside and let her girlfriend in, "Welcome to my humble abode. Hope you're not disappointed."

"Well, I've been inside for ten seconds, and I already see a picture of you as a baby. So I say that I'm satisfied."

Luz curiously looked to where Amity was pointing and felt her blood run cold at the picture of a three-year-old Luz having a bubble bath. Instantly, she ran over and flipped it around.

"Ha! That's, uh...that's not for your eyes. Now, um, how about we head up to my room?"

Amity's signature flush grew upon her face.

"You're room? Now? Just the two of us?"

"Actually, Vee's there too. According to my mom, while she trusts me to not do something PG-13, she'd still feel better to have someone keeping an eye on us while she's at work. Vee'll do because it turns out she's older than me by, like, a month."

"Oh, good," Amity breathed a sigh of relief, "Because, um...that seems like too much for me."

"I don't know why," Luz took Amity's hand and led her upstairs. "I mean, you've been in my room a bunch of times at the Owl House."

"I know. But something about being in you're real bedroom, the room you basically grew up in, it...it seems different, I guess."

"Well, I hope it's easy to get through. Because..." Luz presented her bedroom, "Here it is!"

"Oh, wow. It is actually...just about as I would expect it to be," Amity said with a grin.

"Really?"

"Right down to the cute pile of stuffed animals. Although, I would not have predicted the bunk bed. Or the basilisk laying on the top bunk, for that matter."

"Hi," Vee waved in her basilisk form. "Sorry for the appearance. I just thought that this would look less weird than a copy of your girlfriend."

"It does, actually," Amity admitted as she strolled inside, looking at her surroundings.

"You're not disappointed, are you?" Luz asked with a twiddle of her thumbs. Amity chuckled at the apparent nervousness.

"Far from it," she sat down at the bed, waiting as Luz soon followed. "So...what do we do now?"

"Mom said no making out," Vee warned, to which Luz punched the top bunk in response.

"We can do whatever we want," Luz smiled at her girlfriend, "Aside from making out. Mom was very clear about that."

"I bet," Amity picked up a stuffed rabbit with a scarf. "This guy's cute. Does he have a name?"

"Uh, yeah, he has a name," Luz said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They all do. Wanna hear them?"

"Sure."

"Well, this little guy is Flopsy," Luz took the rabbit, "Because what else are you going to call a rabbit."

She then picked up the stuffed cow with a missing button eye.

"This is Killer. She got that name because her one eye makes her look cool."

"Why does she only have one eye?" Amity asked.

"It was always missing since my dad bought it for me at a garage sale. In fact, all of these came from him in one way or another."

Luz picked up an orange ghost-looking plush with a blue nose and then a plush jack o'lantern.

"Both of these came from two different fairs," she explained, holding up the ghost first. "Dad won me Danella from the Fourth of July fair when I was eight and bought be Jacko here when I was five, and he took me to a Halloween festival."

Luz then set them aside and picked up the stuffed turtle and snake.

"And when I wanted pets, but Mom didn't think I was ready, Dad bought be Terrance and Ophelia for my sixth birthday party. But it's Jorge that I really appreciate."

Luz picked up the big, white plushy with a greenish-blue face.

"It was the last gift he gave me before leaving. It wasn't for a birthday or even Christmas. He just said that he saw it, thought of me, and bought it because of that."

Amity took notice of the sad look on Luz's face and frowned.

"I don't think I have ever heard you talk about your dad before," the witch said, grabbing her human's hand into her own. Luz smiled at the contact, but it was noticeably lacking in its usual optimism.

"I, um...I don't like to think about it much. The fun times we had are always nice to think about, but it's not too long until they make me feel...I don't know what they make me feel, but I definitely don't like it."

"He sounds like a great man, though."

"He really was...But, sometimes, when I sleep at night with all of these stuffed animals he bought me...I guess...I guess it makes me feel like he's still here."

Luz went to wipe a tear, feeling Amity use a thumb to brush a comforting pattern over her knuckles. It was a peaceful moment between them...ruined by Vee sticking out from the top bunk.

"So that's why Mom looked so flabbergasted at me suggesting I should sell them," she said with a face full of regret, shocking Luz to her core.

"You were going to sell my BABIES!?"

"I didn't know they meant so much to you! Which is why when Camila looked at me that way, I just told her I was joking and put them in the closet. It still got me a weird look, but--"

"YOU PUT MY BABIES IN THE COLD DARK CLOSET!?"

"I'm sorry, ok! What can I do to make it up to you?"

Luz opened her mouth to protest further, but an idea popped into her head.

An idea that made a faint blush glow on her cheeks.

"You could...give Amity and me five minutes together," she suggested, "Alone. Without telling Mom."

Amity blushed as well, looking between both sisters with bated breath.

"..." Vee sighed, climbing down to the floor. "Fine. But only five minutes."

"Deal!" Luz and Amity exclaimed in unison, making both of their blushes grow darker. Vee only rolled her eyes and slithered out the room, shutting the door behind her.

Briefly, Luz and Amity just sat in silence, fiddling with their own fingers and looking anywhere but each other. When they eventually made eye contact, they both grinned excitedly at one another.

Amity was the first to lean in.

"Wait!" Luz protested. As quickly as she could, she then rotated her stuffed animals so that they would all look away from them. "Ok, now we can go."

Amity chuckled at her girlfriend's behavior, leaning in again to make the most of their five minutes.

[tsuki-sennin]

Halloween approaches in Oishi-Na Town!

Don't really have a lot to say, but as a little bonus, I had a dream last night where Amane wanted to did a backflip in her civilian state, crashed chest first into the ground and spent the rest of the episode lying there, refusing to get up in shame, so the rest of the girls had to convince her she wasn't cringe to make her feel better.

I don't remember the exact details, but it was literally the funniest thing ever to my dream self, but of course I felt really bad about it at the same time.

Anyways, spoilers I guess...

-Halloweeeeen!

-Costumes! Jacko! Candy! Horror Films!

-"I'm going to invite my parfait."

-Narshe! He's still in jail!

-A picky eater, taken to an incredible extreme.

-Narshe's logic is the most petty-ass thing I've ever heard and I love it.

-It fits very well with him trying to drag Amane down to his level.

-Oh shit

-...suddenly, I feel even worse about my Amane dream now, oh dear.

-Parfait get!

-Oh shit

-"Parfait good. Peace..."

-Amai-kaichou...

-Holy shit, she tore into that.

-Oh shit, she grab.

-Wow, I... I knew we'd be delving into Amane's character a bit more this episode, but I didn't expect a silly "just before Halloween episode" to have this kind of presentation. The colors are vivid, but the shots focused on Amane use more "natural" colors, focusing on the environment more than the buildings. Then when Mari-chan comes in, we see Oishi-Na's typical pinks and yellows, just barely out of focus. I'm not really an expert on framing or color theory, but I think these are really cool shots.

-Witch Mari. Let's go.

-Oh...

-Viewing yourself as a demon, huh Amai-kaichou?

-Pure, just, and beautiful! Gotta keep it up!

-Damn...

-Arigato, Mari-chan.

-Shut down.

-Jesus, the silence.

-Wow, that outfit gives me big Remilia Scarlet vibes. I dig it.

-Kanpai!

-Yuin's got that pumpkin vibe.

-Oh hell yeah, pie! Koko-neechan with the pie! Like the red riding hood look.

-Ran's panda look is absolutely adorable.

-Aaaaaaand Seccy's here! She seems to have gone into mass production.

-Recipumpkin Pie! Available for a limited time only.

-Lots and lots of Pumpkin Pie!

-Well, it was nice having Pumpkin Pie exist while it did, rip.

-Fuck it, this is our Halloween party now!

-Well crap,

-Ohhhhh, Amane... :(

-"Amane but fucked up isn't the Amane I know"

-Damn, Amane...

-Holy shit

-"You don't have to forgive someone who's done horrible things to you, but you shouldn't let the things they did affect who you are now." is something a lot of people don't get spelled out to them like this, so I'm very happy to see this message becoming more widespread in recent years.

-Become one with the Pipis once again!

-Sally forth, Cure Finale!

-Pretty Cure! Finale Bouquet!

-Kome about to Kome-Kome all over those guys.

-"Man, his mix-up game sucked."

-Amai-kaichou! It's time to f e e s t

-Ahhhhhhh, that frame! It's so pretty!

-Might have that as my new wallpaper for a bit.

-I enjoyed this episode quite a lot!

-It was a nice little exploration of Amane's less agreeable side, and... well, as I noticed, the way they limited the sound in certain scenes was a really cool touch. The message is very strong.

-Oh shit, GDILF.

-ODEN

-YUIN DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS WHEN YOU'VE HUNG OUT AROUND THAT FUNNY RED MAILMAN

-FUCK

-Anyways, yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to next episode. It'll be very fun, and if my next Donbrothers watch will be anything to go by, drive me absolutely insane.

[seacollectsrivers]

terror 6: a mercy

interesting that James wants to keep the rationing a secret by reducing it slowly

I actually really like dr mcdonald, we haven't seen much of him but he seems like a good egg

I get the impression that James Fitzjames has a certain hero worship of people who’ve done stuff like this before? John Ross for example. all your old ones who’ve written memoirs like

I also REALLY like Blanky. Good lad.

omg who brought costumes for an Arctic trip

oooh my god jopson combing crozier's hair im ;_;

literally bless jopson's heart

god not brains out man again

what are you doing hickeyyyy

I had to skip that gave me the creepsss

I get super worried seeing people eat from the cans now knowing what Goodsir is suspecting

a carnival!! fun

Mr Collins is having Bad Brains hours and I've a feeling dr Stanley won't be v sympathetic :(

oh no Mr Collins i know that too well :(

in any other circumstance, like a more lighthearted setting, I would enjoy the dr Stanley character so much. pragmatic no nonsense doctor, no bedside manners but he still supports the carnival idea. but in this particular setting I want to give him a stern talking to sksjhhsb

OH is THIS where all the James With A Case Of The Genders comes from!!! i LIKE it!!

oh no....... Worried.....

hairline bleeding is NOT good HELP

jacko! :((((

:D book lads are back!!

ok the thumb on his hand there not to read into things but i’m reading into things between the book lads

so lead poisoning also makes people go mad. cool great amazing i’m sure :^) this won't come up :^) in a traumatic manner :^)

no dress for James? awe

awww they've done it up with flowers and all!! lads!

even IRVING letting loose wow!!

blanky with the LEG STOP sjshhd

this feels unhinged this feels like a fever dream

o dear

im so fucking tense

DOCTOR STANLEY?????

HELLO?!?!?!?!

WHAT

Once more the music and I am still TENSE

did mcdonald die?????

book lads live

the absolute psychic damage of the fire + the first sunrise of the spring

my boy goodsir all alone now

i’m gonna go feral over this show are you kidding me

[c-atm]

Proudful Anniversary

"Hmm?"  Connie droned in concentration, looking at the assortment of choices in front of her, laid across her bed, arms crossed and head slightly hanging to the left."What would get him really, really rev him up?" 

She picked up a small black mesh teddy with a lacy ribbon before sighing and putting it back down. Her eyes caught an Icy blue babydoll with pink tanga panty.  "Hmm..No."

Maybe the green and blue corset, No. She turned, and her eyes broadened at the red ribbon bra and panty set. "Oh... That was a good time...The body painting, touching...So fun, but...This is a holiday special." She placed it down, fondly looking at it... 

It was one of her favorites...

"Dizzy? Jacko, maybe?" she'd put both costumes into consideration…"Doesn't feel right without him being Ky or Sol...or a camera." 

Connie groaned. He has been gone for a whole month and was coming back tonight...Hell, he might be on his way now, and she couldn't decide on what sexy thing she could put on go tease and please the love of this and every other one of her lives. 

"I know Mister won't care. I could be coming out of work at R&D...Wearing work from R&D, and he'd still see me as desirable... It's only right that I live up to it." She sighed as she fell back on their bed before turning to the closet...

Her eyes widened as she saw it. "That's it.."

It was sexy on her; it made her feel good when she wore it; it drove him batty with loving lust, and..it meant something to them both—one of their most precious remembrances. She smiled as said memory hit her and made her heart and pelvis warm. With a giddy smile, she bounced and from the bed to get the outfit.

Steven walked in a few hours later, finished making his rounds around LHW. Smile on his face as he saw the candlelit arrangement with strawberries on the living room table. 

"What is all this about?" He pondered, popping a strawberry into his mouth.  As he was about to pick another when warm palms blinded him, and another feminine warmth pressed his back.

"Guess who?"

Steven smirked as he heard the teasing sing-song voice of Connie. "Well, either a luscious lioness, a mischievous minx, or my naughty, playful Heartberry. It's a 20-20-60 chance that it is Heartberry, though."

"Congrats," She kissed the back of his head gently and snuggled into his broad back. "Welcome home, Mister."

"It's good to be home," He responded with a smirk. "So what's all this bout, Heart?" He pointed towards the setup. "And what are you hiding by the by…" He reached to remove her hands from obstructing his view.

"Wait!" Connie ordered as she removed her hands before holding him by the chest. "Don't turn around, not yet. I want it to be a surprise for you, Bisky."

"Oh. What's the occasion, Nini?" He popped another berry into his mouth.

She giggled. "Don't you know the date, or has all that traveling made you lost to time?"  She kissed his trapezoid tenderly, getting a bit of a shiver from him. 

"October 21st?"

"It's midnight," she kissed his spine, getting another shiver and sigh. "You were out all day, giving everyone your attention."

"So? it's October 22nd." 

She laughed into his back when the date left his mouth, feeling the shock and excitement run through her Mister. 

"The anniversary of our war game." His voice was full of fondness and admiration as he held her hands in his, kissing the palms. 

"Also, the anniversary of our time at Empire City." She added, holding him by the waist. "Been a year since then. We've done so much."

"True, we certainly have...We've gotten more intimate with each other." 

Connie gave him a bit of a nip on his tail bone due to his pervy tone, making him yelp " That's true," she chuckled. "Gave you a great birthday."

"Yeah, you certainly did. Kept me on my toes, running all over, playing your mad game. Like some birthday Riddler, or Joker."

"I prefer birthday dungeon master." She teased, "Besides, you got some cool gifts, and you loved it all. I got video proof." She retorted with a sigh, "Plus, you gave me one first. Cosplays, photoshoots, parades, chases through the city, meeting Wanda and Alex... "her grip tightened as her voice got a little more sensual, and her lips came close to his ear " The time in our hotel room... The night in our hotel room ."

"Which one?"

"Both."

The two laughed in quiet devotion.

"Well,you did ask me to sink it in."  His voice smug and relaxed, getting a slightly tighter grip from her.

"I did, and you certainly delivered...Cocky."

"And you love it."

She sighed, "Stars know I do…" She admitted, 

"Provocative Minx." He teased, getting a laugh from the researcher.

"I prefer Lubricious Lioness, thank you. Also, you are not innocent in that issue, hippy ." 

Steven scoffed. "Not my fault you have a majestic...Everything."

She smirked, "But you prefer my hips and my ' heart,' more than anything."

"Your fault, since that damn dance in your old room."  He argued weakly.

"Oh, you mean the one where you asked to live in between a wall and my butt...My 'heart.' She jest, "Who would have guessed you'd get your wish months after?"

"I figure the answer is you...You did give me keys, after all." 

"Best. Decision. Ever." She joyfully laughed. "I always get breakfast, lunch, and or dinner, just in case I miss any one of them." She hummed before going silent.

"Connie-?"

 "You take way too good care of me, Mister." Connie gave him another kiss. "I'm so thankful for you."

 "You don't have to thank me for that." Steven declared.

She shook her head. "You don't know just how much it means, the things you do for me. Definitely, this year. All the time, you were there for me. Rather it's with a meal, to talk to me, being that person I could lean on and vent to, keeping me from getting to wrap-up in work or reprimand me when I needed it." Connie laughed, sniffing a bit. "For the big things too like my birthday..and actually giving me Valentine's day I want to remember...For unknowingly accepting my invitation and moving in with me."

"Hey, where's all this coming from, now?" Steven asked, a bit concerned by the slight dampness of his back. 

"Nothing...No wait, it is something." She wiped her eyes. " It's a lot of things, but it easily boils down to one thing...I love you...You're my best friend, the best thing that ever happened to me. I appreciate you for everything you've done for me, with me- " 

"To you." He added with a slightly lecherous lingo.

She chuckled, "Yes. To me as well, my mischievous Mister. Though I always thank you for that." 

"You give as good as you get, Naughty Heartberry." He smirked. "I wanna see you...Know it supposed to be a gift, but I want to look you in those midnight eyes of yours."

"Mmm…Why do you have I be so..Charming " She released him and stepped back from her chuckling partner, with a blush as he turned around. It grew more when she saw his facial expressions. 

"Oh...Wow." Stevens' mouth went dry, and his toes curled at the visage in front of him as his heart rammed itself into his chest repeatedly, and his gem burned with craving and desire, the same as the last time.

The last time, when the outfit hung off her curves loosely, stopping right at the highest part of her thigh and made her look sinfully, innocently teasing. 

This time with her body a year fuller, a bit taller with lean muscle, with more pronounced curves, arches, and angles, that allowed her to fill out the outfit to the point it stopped right at her hip, giving a perk of what was under; she was honest to God temptress out of a fantasy, and just like last time.

It was effortless. 

"Happy Anniversary, Mister." She smiled innocently as she scratched the back of her head with sleeves a bit too long. "I know, it's a bit of a cop-out but.." she went low in tone. "It was what I was wearing in Empire City a year ago. When we started to get truly, physically intimate...and I ~mmmmm~hmmm~hmmm~ ! "  

She was interrupted by Steven sealing her mouth with his own. The feel of his right hand upon her cheek, of his bottom lip, finding its way between her own as he sucked on her upper lip, and his tongue as it gently massages her top teeth and gums. She couldn't help but swoon and melt for him, just like always.

'chu !' They broke the kiss, leaving her in a slightly, giggly love-drunk gaze.  

"Oh, wow, hehe." Connie grinned as she shifted in place. "All that for putting on your black turtleneck and green boy-shorts set." She teased, only to yelp in surprise when he lifted her over his shoulder and guided her to the couch. "My Mister's manhandling me," She laughed as he sat on the couch and straddled her upon his lap, facing him, his hands on her hips, hers own folded upon his nape.

"What's that look on your face, Hubby." She teased, resting her forehead on his, looking at his eyes. The impassioned gaze they held. 

 "Thank you."

"Hmm." She gave him a sly grin, "For what? The outfit? Eep! -Chu !- " That got her hip a pinch and her lips a peck, both she welcomed warmly.

"A bit " He grinned as squeezed her bottom, watching her chest hiked as Connie took a deep breath.

"A bit, huh?." She whispered in a husky tone, biting her lips.

"Well, more than a bit. -Chu- , but real talk. All playfulness aside -Chu- , Thank you." He caressed her cheek. "Thank you for all the fun memories. My birthday, the performance in new year's...For letting me pamper you on Valentine's morning....and your birthday." He gave her a fox grin, "Eh-hehe, for February 15th…"

"Yeah...Think I ended up enjoying that more than you, Bisky -Chu!- It was fun being your canvas...Letting you have your way and all." She poked his nose, getting a grin.

"I don't know. Complimenting you for two hours straight. Making you a blushing mess, that was a highlight of my year." He teased, getting a slap on his chest. 

"I think you just like making me a jumble of nerves."

"Turning my lioness to a cub. It's a joy to be embraced..." He laughed before stroking her ear with his thumb."Not to say, I don't like being your toy as well." Hearing her hum and lean into his machinations with a loving smile made his heart soar. "Thank you for that too."

"I love it when you call me 'Lioness' or 'Cub." She mewled, "Guess that makes you a cat-toy, though." 

"You certainly had the tail and ears to prove it at one point." He grinned. "Thank you for letting me treat you like this... "His grin dropped to a small smile " For letting me love you like this and for loving me. For all the affection you showed me. For all the times you dropped or worked remotely to spend time for me. All the silly games that remind me of our childhood. All the time, you helped me with my ambassador duties, helping me with my speeches and all..…. All the times you were there when everything felt too much; ...For giving me a home. Not just having a place to come to but somewhere warm and joyous- For..this." He waved his hand, "For doing things like this. it's really… Amazing."

He kissed her short and sweet. "You're amazing. Damn, you're so...Heart-swelling... Not only do you make me love you, but I'm proud." 

"P-Proud?" Connie stammered, turning her face away in a basement.

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?" He started, "I get to come home to my best friend. My wonderful, ingenious, strong, captivating lioness of a best friend."  He added, holding her chin up to face him. "Heartberry, being partners with you, is one of the greatest pride in my life." He declared, kissing Connies' forehead before she pulled the turtleneck up to cover her face and showing more of her green set.

"Connie, you ok?" 

She didn't respond to his teasing tone, verbally, but nodded on as she rested her head on his chest, humming as she rubbed her back." Punk." She said, muffled. "You know what saying that you're proud does to me." She lectured gently.

"Admittedly," He lightly pulled the turtleneck down to see her face, marooned with a pouty smirk."Small part it feeds that well-deserved ego of yours." He chuckled.

"I don't have an Eg- mmmhh~hmm!"

* CHU !*

Steven smirked, looking at her shocked but satisfied face."I know...All you do..all you have done and will do, never clouded your mind. Only serving to humble you more, and push you to your next goal." He nuzzled against the bridge of her nose. "It's one of the reasons why I'm proud to say that you chose me to share this thing we have with me," he grinned as he stole another kiss, " also, it gives me a whole bunch of reasons to brag about you." 

"You- you don't really do that, right?"  She blushed.

"Oh, you know, I do. You can ask Spinel and Yellow about how I talk you up to other delegates.

"Steven." She moaned in embarrassment as she snuggled closer. "Why?"

"Because you deserve to be known and acknowledged." He answered.

"But I am. The diamonds, The gems, Little Homeworld, R&D. They see me...More than that. ..You see me." She glanced at him. "You have for years...The very first person who saw 'me' ..." Connie laid her forehead upon Steven's, her married cheeks becoming more heated. "I want you to be proud of what you see… Just like I am when I see you." She confessed.

Steven's face took a shade of bubblegum before a smile split his face. "There's not a moment I'm not proud of you, little try-hard." He grinned before gaining a kiss from his Heartberry...

"Maybe, but your *-chu-* adoration is worth *-chu-* the effort.". she kissed him one last time before hopping off his lap to stand. " Speaking of efforts, let me show you the fruit of mines." She held out her hand to grasp, beaming when Steven took it.

"You seem eager," Steven commented with a playful husk as he followed a bouncing and strutting Connie up their stairs. "Making it kind of hard to concentrate, though." He added as his eyes got more than a bit of thigh, hip, and green cloth with each step.

"Oh, you're concentrating on exactly where I want you to." She smirked, putting a bit more twist in her hips to give him bit lips.

" Mm~mm ! Teasing Minx."

She did. "Like when you call me that too."

When they got to the top of the stairs, she led him past their bedroom and towards the recently installed 'room.' It's don't was reminiscent of the crystal gems temple door, sans gemstones.  In their place was a hard-light handprint reader. Pressing her hand inside caused the door to glow a bluish light before sliding open.

Within was a room that could only be described as 'Connie Maheswaran.' Inside was an endless hall of a traditional-looking south-Asian palace with perpetual sunlight gleaming through its windows; full bookshelves as far as the eye can see furnished the castle with it's red, gold, and yellow walls adorned with swords and violins.

"I always liked your room; it's like a fantasy ballroom library mixed," Steven said as he looked around. "Better than my pink clouds."

"I like how imaginative your room is," Connie answered. "But this isn't what I came to show you." She looked up taken a deep breath.

"Room: Oct 22!"

Steven watched as the room changed from a palace to a familiar setting. A very sentimental one. The king-size bed, the white walls with a flat-screen embedded in the northern border, the dresser and mirror on the east wall and the door to the bathroom on the west wall, and the ceiling mirror looking back above the bed.

"Is...Is this our hotel room from Empire City?" Steven asked as he sat in the bed. "This feels like the same bed." 

"Do you like it?" She smirked gently. " I know, we could have just gone tomorrow, no problem...But, I wanted to bring the memory to you. Since you just returned from traveling." Her smirk relaxed to smile, a shy one. " So...Did I impress you?"

Steven could only nod. "Did she impress me? She asks." He joked. A wickedly caring grin on his face, " Yes. Of course, you did; how couldn't I be impressed by this, by you…What's this about, Heartberry?

"It's simple." She walked up to Steven, straddling his lap, "My gift to you is the recreation of that night, that first time we gave each other our everything; it took a while... Been working on this reality since you left."

"A whole month?" He inquired with his eyes wide open as she nodded. "You took a whole month to recreate our first time?" He chuckled as he looked at her, drinking her image in. The way his turtle neck fit her, the way the light of the moon gave her a near ethereal glow, the carnal and passionate aura that radiated from her, just like last year.

Just more. 

"I'm your little ' Try-hard .' Remember?" She pushed him down onto his back, looking down at him with a loving and libidinous smile as she felt him palming her seat. "So, of course, I'm gonna try hard to give you the best anniversary ever.." She admitted as she bit under his chin, caressing his temple as she did. "To show you how thankful I am for this year."

Steven sighed at the feel of her manipulations, squirming under her a bit. "Now, well, I'd be remiss... Hhmmm~mmmm .. " He paused as to bask at the sound of her melodious giggle as nipped along his ear. " If I didn't meet you, half-way."

"Oh, you're definitely past 'half-way .' Not really hiding your ' pride' now are you, Mister." She teased as she pressed herself a bit more on him holding him close.

"Not trying to." He gave her a devilish smirk before turning over suddenly, positioning her under him, and him between her knees. He looked at her bit lip smile, her raven hair backdrop, the turtleneck that rode up to half her torso—his palms on her boy-short covered hips.

"You're quite proud , indeed." Connie arched her left brow.

"Of you." He started, tracing her lip with his thumb, dipping down to kiss her tenderly, "and I'm -chu- gonna show -chu- you, exactly -chu- how proud. -CHU !- It'll take the whole night, though."

"Show me." Connie implored, "You can start by doing that classic and beloved song and dance..and sink them in ."  she laughed before moaning as the telling 'shing ' of his teeth transforming, and the feeling of his fangs squeezing down her collarbone as his hands affectionately traversed her torso. She held him close by the back for his head and shoulder blades as she gave him more of her neck to please. Her knees, clutching his side. 

He took a moment to look at her as she did him. They exchanged no words, just a glance and a peck of their lips that soon developed the heartful nips, upon places other than their lips. Each field with the feeling of being missed and missing 'this' as they began their night of loving, carnal, and prideful anniversary bliss.

[lostinnebuloustime]

Margaret Mahy, The Changeover

The Changeover is a somewhat modest book in scale and ambition, and yet it does what it does with such fantastic style, wit, and sensitivity that the story ends up feeling more consequential than the sum of its parts.

Those parts were probably less familiar in 1984, the year it was first published, than they are today. Indeed, The Changeover is sometimes credited as the first example of the teen paranormal romance, which unfairly saddles the book with a lot of retroactive baggage. It’s true that the plot features many elements of the formula later popularized by Twilight, and, uh, most other teen novels published that decade. But a book isn’t merely about its plot or the tropes it employs. The Changeover isn’t just a coming-of-age tale about a broody but attractive boy, a supernatural evil, and a family of witches—it’s about the way Margaret Mahy writes about these things and brings them to life. And that’s what makes the novel special more than thirty years later.

I won’t spend much time on the plot because, like I said, it’s not really the point. Laura Chant lives with her mother and her little brother Jacko in a suburb of Christchurch, NZ. One day Jacko’s life is endangered by a fateful encounter with an ancient malevolent entity masquerading as a shop owner, and Laura must enlist the help of the supernatural Carlisle family to save him. The youngest of the Carlisles is Sorry (a nickname for Sorensen), the aforementioned broody boy witch, a prefect at Laura’s school, who is both sinister and alluring. And, well, there you go.

You might think this all sounds well-worn and perhaps a bit frivolous, which is, after all, how we as a society tend to view things written for or about young women. And, to be sure, there are indeed bad books with similar plots, and why shouldn’t there be, when there are equally absurd and far more ideologically corrupt potboilers written by and for men all the time. But I digress. The point is, Margaret Mahy is a superior writer, and she animates this skeleton of a plot, despite the decades of dust settled on it, with a magic that is very real, and in no way dulled by familiarity or time.

It’s telling that this was Mahy’s first novel for a young adult audience, because there is not a hint of condescension in the prose, which is subtle, sophisticated, and often dazzling. Here is a particularly virtuosic evocation of magic in one of Laura’s later encounters with it:

“Somewhere in the flesh of the earth the dreadful earthquake shuddered, the tide walked to and fro on the leash of the moon, rainbows formed, winds swept the sky like giant brooms piling up clouds before them, clouds which writhed into different shapes, melted into rain or darkened, bruised themselves against an unseen antagonist and went on their way, laced with forking rivers of lightning, complete with white electric tributaries.”

I mean, wow. “The tide walked to and fro on the leash of the moon”!! Sentences this fluid, this luminously poetic, are rare in mainstream adult fiction. And yet The Changeover is full of lavish descriptions like these, which never overstay their welcome, because Mahy also knows when to cut to the chase.

The supernatural elements of the story are made believable by Mahy’s sharp eye for detail, and her New Zealand suburb is rendered as lovingly as the Carlisles’ gothic farmhouse. The characters are not only lifelike, with convincing depths of feeling, but likable, too, thanks in part to Mahy’s exceptional ear for dialogue. Her characters are wittier and speak more fluently than people in real life, and yet she emulates the rhythms and patterns of real speech (real speech in New Zealand circa 1984) so uncannily, you can hear her characters’ voices in your mind, and never doubt a word they say. She treats magic with a similar confidence and authority, earning and maintaining your trust. If she says magic works this way, then sure it does, why not?

The only element of the novel to have noticeably dated (besides allusions to Space Invaders) is the relationship between Laura and Sorry. In many ways an excellent and complex character, Sorry’s conduct towards Laura is nonetheless inexcusable at times, especially considering her age. Mahy is such a fine writer, though, that if you are able to temporarily disregard real-life power dynamics, and accept these two characters as creations of her imagination, then it is possible to believe that Sorry and Laura are equals as she portrays them, rather than predator and victim. Because Mahy believes in Laura’s ability to hold her own, and in Sorry’s ability to be redeemed, she barely manages to elevate this uncomfortable dynamic, which might have doomed a lesser book.

The Changeover serves as a refreshing reminder that a novel need not have grand themes or an innovative structure to be brilliant. (I mean that it reminded me, specifically, as I tend to overvalue these things.) The story is as simple and timeless as a fairy tale—but a tale is all in the telling. If only Mahy’s way of telling a story, not her particular blend of genre ingredients, had spread like wildfire in the early 2000s! But storytelling of this caliber will always be rare.

[archivedatl]

AP web exclusive: All Time Low tour diary

Posted by Scott Heisel on 08-Dec-06 @ 04:43 PM

Last month, Baltimore pop-punkers All Time Low took to the road with Sugarcult for a series of shows on the West Coast. Here's some of what they saw, in words and pictures. Learn more at www.alltimelow.com.

#1------------------------------------------------------------ Ooohooo So last night we celebrated two awesome occasions...well 3 since matt's molars finally grew in...anyways yesterday was Haloween and our first night of our tour with Sugarcult. I must say, it is pretty strange touring with a band who I spent the better years of my middle school life watching on MTV. Regardless of where this band has been, it definetly didn't eff with their personalities. They were all super nice to us and each came up and introduced themselves. The show went pretty well but it wasn't a good judgement of our the whole tour is going to be because Sugarcult didn't even headline, the Eagles Of Death Metal did, and the tickets for $25 on Haloween night :) I'm sorry but I would never go to a show if those were the circumstances...I'd be out expanding my collection of holiday treats. Tonight the 'real' tour begins so we will see how it goes. We are playing Washington State University in Pullman Washington. We haven't done too many college shows, so this should be interesting...anyways before we got on the road a couple days ago we were couped up in Ben Harper's (formely of yellowcard, now in amber pacific) house/studio in long beach, CA working on our new CD :). We demoed some hot licks that were going to send over to our producer matt squire so that he can put in some input. I heard my blogs are going to be posted on the Alternative Press website for this tour, so if that's the case then...helll yeah! Well I just woke up from sleeping in the van so I am gonna walk out into the freezing streets of Pullman, WA crack my back and grab some Qudoba. Much Love, Jack --jbstar #2------------------------------------------------------------ Yoo dooodds, So I'm gonna update you guys on the passed couple shows...on Wednsday we played Washington State University. Those kids are freaking crazy! Everyone seemed to be having a good time and we made some awesome new friends. I cannot stress enough, how cool the Sugarcult guys are. Which is really cool because I have been listening to those guys since 6th grade! Anyways before we played, matt thought it would be a good idea to have a fork and knife fight backstage...yeah it turned pretty ugly and we should have some footage online soon enough. That night we partied at 'The Christmas House'. Lets just say that I'm pretty sure alex made out with a dog...I really miss Hit The Lights :( Anways...we played Seattle after the college show and it was offf the hoooook. Everyone in the room was dancing and it got pretty redic. As soon as we told them the alex/dog story they went nuts. We met up with the Pink Spiders that night. We were nervous about that because we've heard some stuff...but for real those guys are the shit. There all super nice and we have no complaints about them. We have yet to tour with a band who we don't get along with (fingers crossed). We also heard that we may be doing a few shows with Cobra Starship in Dec, if that happends that would be sick. I'll keep you guys updated. Someone made us a bucket of the craziest donuts ive ever seen at the portland show last night!! They were reallly good. Sorry for the lack of pics, I'll make sure my next post has more, its just hard to take good pics on a sidekick :). Talk to you guys soon!!Jacko #3------------------------------------------------------------ Yo Babaayyss, Last nights show was off the hook! I love playing at The Boardwalk in orangevale calii. The crowd was as wild as usual and a bunch of kids were singing along. A lot of the same kids who saw us there on the Amber Pacific tour came back. Its always cool to see so many familiar faces,,,cough cough hint hint nudge...you get the idea folks! The next couple shows should be interesting...reno and vegas. I wont be able to gamble but at least ill be able to look at a lot of lights. We all have family comming out, so that should be exciting. I havent seen my brother and sister in ages and i know their gonna be wasted so that means they will be even more friendly :) Also Meg n Dia join up in vegas which is sick, SO SIKED FOR THAT!!! We met them on warped and their super nice. anyways i think its time, i go to In and Out because after this tour im not going to be able to go back for a while :( im going to eat there everyday twice a day until we leave Arizona. Ive attached pics from our set on the Epitaph stage at this years Bamboozle Left and also some pics of our acoustic set the 2nd day! Thanks to everyone who watched us either/both days :) love you peace peace n a bottle o' hair grease, jack #4------------------------------------------------------------ Wow...vegas has to be one of the strangest places on this earth. First of all we showed up in Reno (shity city) only to find that only sugarcults crew was there and the show probably wasnt going on. We were welcomed by a hooker in a pink tanktop and no teeth asking if we had any shirts we could give her...Thankfully we have power windows and middle fingers. Thankfully zack was asleep or he might have took her up on some of her offers...he's getting desperate you know..just kidding! Anyways we decided to hang out with sugarcults crew for a little then start the drive to vegas early since it was 8 house. We got to go over the Hoover Damn which was sweet. It's seriously Vegas Vacation all over again! Anyways, we got to vegas around midnight and it was a fantastic site! My bro and sis were staying at the MGM so thats where i headed. Rian to the Excalibur, Alex and Matt to the Venecian and Zack to the Luxor. We all split up and hung out with our fam for the evening. My brother took me around vegas and boyyy was it interesting. I was approached by numerous drunk people. It was basically like an Ocean City, Maryland for older people. It's just a place for adults to drink, walk around drunk, act like teenagers and maybe gamble a bit here n' there. it was Akward to say the least. Anyways the next day was the show at the House Of Blues at Mandalay Bay...probably one of the nicest venues we have ever played. We introduced ourselves to the Meg n Dia folks and got to know our new tour mates as we shared a dressing room. We soon found they are awesome people and they share a love for getting wild! The show was pretty cool, and the crowd was big. It was weird though because the merch was not in the venue, it was in the cassino haha. Anyways Vegas was an experience we wont forget, and I cant wait till we go there again. I hope the next time we go, were 21...actually nevermind because that would be three years :)stay rad, Jack #5------------------------------------------------------------ Lame! Tonight was our last show on the Sugarcult Tour featuring The Pink Spiders and Meg n Dia :( Damone will be taking our place on this great lineup. I am jelous that they get to join up! Anyways we made some lifetime friends on this tour and it was a great experience for everyone. Every single show was amazing and the fans never let us down. Traveling to bumfuck arizona and hearing a couple hundred kids sing your song is the coolest feeling ever. Sugarcult was very warming towards us and their personalities suprised the shit out of me. they were such cool guys and even when zack was sick they made him soup and gave him Emergen-C. WHO DOES THAT !?!? Thats like something my mom does...so in a way Sugarcult are our parents. They actually reffered to us as their younger brothers on stage. At the last show of the tour in Little Rock, Arkansas us and Meg n Dia ran on stage during "Bouncing Off the Walls" and started bouncing around and took over Tim's Guitar n Mic, Marko's (my twin) guitar and Airens Bass. It was so fun to bro down with a band that ive been listening to since middle school haha. Alex also got to soundcheck with sugarcult at Texas AM College because tim was at the hospital taking care of his sickness (i think he had a nasty cold). It was so crazy to see alex soundcheck with a band who for the past few years have held a special spot on my ipod and in my cd player :) I attached a pic of him sound-checking for fun. At the end of the show we said our goodbyes and gave our hugs. This is'nt the end of these friendships though, only the beggining...now we head home to write a new cd. Catch us on the road in the northeast in december when we head out with Cobra Starship! Stay safe, Jack

[zebraslovescupcakestoo]

Happy Halloween Brawl!!!!

Jacko-Felix Vs. Count Bendy.

CB: “Wow! I didn’t know you were real. That’s great! Now let’s see if you can BLEED! You could be thankful of being my latest victim if you had a neck, but ya DON’T!”

JF: “Did you shape-shift your punchlines? Cause they mist and your skills are like your reflection, it doesn’t exist.”

I made a trace art from an old pose in the BBTIM AU.

I remembered the first Halloween special with Vampire!Bendy and Vampire!Boris. Plus there was the tradition with making a special banner...

But then again, there’s much bigger things going on in life and I respect that!

So I decided to give MY Halloween special! I did said the Pumpkin!Felix was my idea, but thanks to Mars bar, the outfit was the BOMB!!!! (I did kept my beloved pumpkin head.) BUT THANK YOU!!!!!

I also wanted to give a shout out to the YT channel of ERB with their latest rap battle with Vlad the Impaler Vs. Count Dracula.

Happy Halloween!!!!!

Humanized Felix and Bendy belongs to Marini4

[malicerewatchesdoctorwho]

The Underwater Menace - Episode Two

Written by – Geoffrey Orme Director – Julia Smith Producer – Innes Lloyd

Episode Two

(“Just one small question.  Why do you want to blow up the world?” – The Doctor to Zaroff about his plans.)

Likes

- I actually liked the priest, whose name is Ramo, in this episode.  He is a man who can think outside his otherwise small POV to see the bigger picture.  He thinks and observes, not just blindly accepts.  Nice.

- Ara helping Polly because she can tell Polly is a nice person.  Helping the Doctor talk to Ramo and giving them all food and clothing.  She’s a nice girl.

- A POC who has a pretty big role that has quite a bit of speaking involved.  That’s always nice to see.

- Polly having enough sense to keep quiet most of the time and hiding to keep out of the guards arms and therefore not turned into a fish for cheap labour.

- Ben and Jacko helping Jamie from where he slipped down the wall.  Nice bit of team work there. 

- How utterly mad Zaroff is.  He may be the bad guy and is quite obvious about it, but he is just so much fun.

- The Doctor and his absolute love of dressing up in costumes, especially if they have an elaborate hat going on.  He is probably enjoying this so much.

Dislikes

- I’m not too fond of Sean.  He seems pretty shifty to me.  I have no idea why I think that.  I just don’t like him I suppose.  Maybe it is him deciding to go off on his own while Jacko and Ben go to fetch Jamie...

- How small Atlantis is. Is the entire thing under this one volcano?  I expected it to be bigger.  It’s a city, not a village.

Awesome

- The constant sound of experiments and equipment in the lab. That’s a nice bit of sound effect going on there, like the beach in the first episode.  You don’t need music if you have sound effects in this show.

- The set of the temple. I really like that creepy idol of their god.  That’s nice.

- The caves in this one are, again, quite good.  This one is a hit for them.  I expect the caves will miss next time we see them, lol.

- The model of the city being risen by the water level lowering.  Just...lol  Nice.

- I really like the hats the women of Atlantis wear.  Look at Ara’s hat?  Just...I really like it and now Polly has one too.

- Okay, now I can see the priest hats properly, I actually really like them.  So Ramo’s hat is like a shell with tendrils, while the Doctor’s looks like a lionfish.

Shitty

- The noise of the drills or other equipment used in the mines.  It’s there whenever the workers are working in the mines and it is a terrible sound to my poor ears.

- It might sound a bit silly, but the guards’ outfits are horrible to me.  They’re just so plain while all the other uniforms and costumes are either normal clothes or elaborate dresses/robes. 

- Also, I thought Zaroff was supposed to have a pet octopus?  That is a lionfish, not an octopus.

In Conclusion

Maybe it is because this episode is in full motion, but I enjoyed it quite a bit.

I liked Ben and Jamie meeting up with Sean and Jacko and splitting up in two groups of two to find the best way to go and finding a secret passage into the temple.  Good teamwork going there.

I like Polly not being an idiot and keeping herself out of harm’s way by being quiet and hiding.

I love the Doctor being one to put on a demonstration of what Zaroff is doing for Ramo.  That was a nice little science thing to show the kiddies at home.  That pot so went boom.

I like how utterly mad the plot is, because mad scientist.  I think this is the first mad scientist story this show has actually truly done.

This episode is a huge improvement from the first one.  I look forward to the rest of this story now. 

Body count – 0 again. Wow, there is suddenly a lot of episodes with little or no body count!  That’s nice. 

[travelingxsong]

1, 3, 9, 11

[multimuse q’s - accepting!] @dilapsum

1. is there a muse that you wish gets more attention?

Lady Jane Franklin

She’s such a fascinating battle-axe of a woman that I’m excited to throw into more situations !! Pre-Franklin Expedition when she’s governor’s wife of in Tasmania? Or when she’s newly married to Sir John and traveling the world?? Or throwing her with some Jane Austen peeps and when she’s still Jane Griffin and so in love with Captain Franklin who’s only recently been paying attention to her?? (And I’m sure when I finish reading her bio and get to the chapters Post-Franklin Expedition that list will grow lmao.)

But to give the other muses a chance, Irving always deserves more screen time, and I haven’t really gotten the chance to explore Collins or Hartnell’s personalities at all yet. (Collins has gotten some attention, but Hartnell is a completely blank canvas)

3. which muse is the trickiest to get into character for?

Tied between Sir John, Collins, & Hartnell!

NGL, Franklin-Expedition-Sir John is a challenge because I’m not used to writing a character who’s an old exploration hero with wounded pride still recovering from losing his post as Governor of Tasmania and making bloody awful hubris judgment calls w/o his wife around. XD

Additionally, Henry Collins I feel I have to be in a certain mood to get his character. And that’s just normal scuba diver Collins. Him post-carnival is a whole ‘nother beast to itself.

And then Hartnell is tricky because I still have yet to fully grasp his character!

9. why were you drawn to each one of your characters?

I didn’t even really notice Lady Jane at first viewing of the TV show except for when she roasts the Admiralty and that sweet flashback scene w/ Sir John. It wasn’t until someone on tumblr said: “the REAL Lady Jane Franklin…” that I suddenly got all “Wait srsly?? WHO IS THIS LADY??” And then once I started reading up on her, she instantly clicked as a more ambitious more mature more badass and more adventurous version of my mainblog OC. And reading her biography only solidified it!

Sir John ironically didn’t draw me at all. But now he just suddenly showed up thanks to Jane! XD

Specifically, the scenes of Irving with Jacko and him singing at the carnival drew me to Irving lmao. He’s such a sweetheart, and apparently, the TV show made him out to be more on the assertive side compared to historic Irving or excerpts of the Terror book where he is literally sweet as sugar! (And described as : “… the bulky mittens, Welsh wig, and layers of cold-weather slops make young Irving look something like a saluting walrus…”) xD

Collins because he’s such a tragic figure and I want him to enjoy happier times and really enjoy his scuba diving for a change.

Hartnell, for the same reasons as Irving & Collins. Such a sweetheart and deserved better!! (And deserves a happy life with his new brother Jopson and dad Crozier)

V Adams & Eveline Johnson were actually the original muses of this blog before the Franklin Expedition peeps took over… oops! But they’re from a great mobile video game called Lifeline: Whiteout that I wanted to write it’s sequel to and someday I will finally get around to it! :)

11. Is there another muse you’ve been thinking of adding or writing for? who?

Oh wow, there’s so many!!

Lt. Hodgson, but he’s by far the most difficult out of everyone to get into character. Dr. Macdonald is another cuz he’s such a precious bean. And also Jacko/Neptune/Fagin. Once I thought of Goodsir but there’s already a lot of great Goodsirs here on Tumblr. And of late sometimes even Sir John’s daughter Eleanor has crossed my mind a couple times!

[carewyncromwell]

1, 8 and 10 for Jackson x Monty and Bat and Atticus?

1) The song that plays in the background when your ship first meets

Jackmon ~ I Can Hear the Bells from Hairspray. Monty developed a crush on Jackson pretty quick (because...well, yeah, Jacko's definitely a charmer), only for those feelings to deepen and become much more committed as they really got to know each other. Plus, I'm sorry, Monty, but hearing this song in my head alongside that first wonderful drawing Sky @cursebreakerfarrier did of you and Jackie?? It makes me giggle like an idiot. "Yes, he...bumped me! My heart was unprepared..." 🥰

Batticus ~ Gotta Be Somebody by Nickelback. I actually used this song as a theme for the very first part of my Reincarnation AU for these two!

8) First dance song at their wedding

Jackmon ~ Truly Madly Deeply by Savage Garden. Romantic slow dance x 500.

Batticus ~ I don't really see these two getting married and having a big wedding (it'd be a small and really informal event, if anything), but I reckon Better Place by Rachel Platten fits. Because for sure, in both of Grim's lives, the world became a better place once Bat came along, and Bat feels the same way about his dear pal Grim. 💙

10) Your ship is on a road trip. Where are they going? What song do they belt together, overdramatically, as they travel the open road?

Jackmon ~ They'd be traveling through the French countryside! As for travel song...gosh. I don't really see either of them being singer types exactly, but Jackson is a dramatic sort and in a modern AU, I guess I could see him loving musicals. ...Ooh, Dancing Through Life from Wicked! That would so fit!! Now I'm imagining Jacko-boy as Fiyero and wow, I'm in love with that concept.

Batticus ~ Geronimo by Sheppard! I actually love listening to this song while imagining Bat taking Grim on his motorcycle for the first time, blazing through traffic at 70-80 mph...maybe they're heading to London or some other big exciting city to go to a cool new museum or planetarium, or to try out this awesome new restaurant, or even just to do their Christmas shopping! ...Come to think of it, it'd also be hilarious, imagining them just listening to a Christmas radio station and Bat singing along to every single Christmas song, no matter how cheesy and vapid. Grim would probably be stuck between telling him to shut up and laughing so hard bc damn it, Bat's just so bloody happy, it's adorable.

Song Ask!

[jaywhitecotton]

Fuck Elvis

I used to play this terrible game with some monstrous friends at karaoke shows. It was all based on how Michael Jackson died at the right time and if he molested just one more kid we’d be screwed out of decades of music and nostalgia.

We’d then apply other artists to this molestation scale. Like if MJ set the standard at say 7 known kids we’re pretty sure he finger banged, how many could say Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler get away with?

Turns out - it’s one. One for sure, but I’m pretty sure there would have to be at least three before we as a society are willing to let go of Dream On or Bruce Willis’s meteor sacrifice.

Bob Dylan? So hard. Old white NPR people would blame the motorcycle accident and give up everything after to protect his earlier legacy, but comparing Michael Jackson to Bob Dylan’s importance? He’s got to be able to molest as many - if not three more kids - than the King of Pop, right? I mean Jewish or not, he is still white so that has to give him the edge over Jacko in what he can get away with.

Anyhoo

Comics have been acting like comedy has been bringing “truth to power!” and patting themselves on the back, but thirty years of Michael Jackson jokes couldn’t do what one documentary has done.

Proving if you really want any justice these days, you need to first invest in some production value and an editor who knows how to make criminal acts look especially bad.

The reactions are pouring in and people are very conflicted. Many questioning whether or not it’s ok to like an artist because of their lurid personal life.

Look, can we come to a consensus on just one thing?

Human beings have been giant flesh bags of hot garbage since the very beginning of our upright existence. We started out so bad, we’re not even sure of what are real beginnings were actually like.

And its not even people that are the worst either. Look at life itself.

Nature is gruesome and horrifying! Every nature documentary is inherently a horror movie missing the scary cello mood music. If you knew how much ducks gang-raped in real life you would burn any remanence of all those duck-themed shows from the 90’s.

Even the creation of space and time was the result of a destructive explosion that shit us out into the nothingness of space.

Disagree? Thinks humans are great? Cool. Keep in mind a lot of people watched a movie about a guy who sexually abused children and their first thought was “Can I still grab my dick and effeminately scream ‘ohhhhh’ whenever it gets super windy? Because I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t do that!”

To me anytime a person does something exceptional - THAT should be the thing that is celebrated. Like “Wow, you overcame being a piece of shit and had a moment of triumph for our species, well done ya piece of shit!”

Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, Gandhi and Civil Disobedience, Beethoven’s 9th have all stood the test of time and those acts are worthy of praise.

Are we going to really miss Ignition (remix)?

I’m not saying any of these people’s flaws should be ignored, but seriously - there were plenty of slave fuckers, wife abusers, and piss-on-tweeners out there who not only did that shit - but didn’t even have the decency to form an experimental democratic republic placing power in the hands of the people, much less write a catchy tune.

We have got to start holding a higher standard for what we consider legit and meaningful art.

Is Trapped in the Closet really an achievement for humanity? Is the cinematic legacy of Space Jam ruined by the tainting of I Believe I Can Fly?

Was American Beauty and House of Cards our civilization’s finest cinematic moments? Has there been nothing else to watch?

Can we no longer backwards slide dance at house parties because a guy who dressed like a sequined private eye slept with kids?

I’m not saying you can’t still enjoy those things, or even question your feelings about them. I’m saying don’t make those things more important than they actually are. You can both think an actor should be castrated and get lost in visualized fiction.

Just as easily as you can decide to never watch again. It’s all disposable.

To me the real crime is needing a movie like American Beauty to be the pinnacle of human achievement because you got your first handy in the theater when it came out or whatever.

Not that anyone is exactly saying that, but you big bad wolves get my straw house point.

What is the value of achievement? How do we measure what’s important? I’m not sure. Maybe it’s what the consensus decides should stay. Maybe it’s the individual.

Sometimes it feels like a lot of our general arguments are between the perspectives of group thinking socialists versus self-motivated libertarians. Maybe they’re both right, I guess it depends on the situation.

Personally I think most the arguments about entertainers matters most to the people who have a vested interest in brands and making it in the ‘look at me’ industry.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m in the thick of it having done music and standup most of my life and have the same guttural need for a stranger’s approval, but sometimes I feel surrounded by people who treat every moment of their lives like a biopic. Selling themselves on social media as if they’re the subject of their own Rolling Stone exposé.

People who define themselves by the most disposable of expressions and since trying to be good and known is so difficult, decided it’s easier to just simulate success instead of working harder on the mediums.

You know, frauds.

I’m surrounded by a generation of ‘fake it til you make it’ personalities who thrive on all the shit I find utterly useless, meaningless and the worst crime - boring.

Entrepreneurs in narcissism who communicate through gossip and trade in brand expression, littering the artistic landscape with recycled lateral thinking dog turds.

It’s exhausting,debilitating, and absolutely the future as AI replaces our normal careers, forcing all of us into becoming Instagram models and Influencers.

And everyday I have to have deep sobering introspection trying to figure out if I’m not equally culpable in this terrible trap of meaningless thinking.

Not that there’s anything wrong with meaningless. Not everything has to have as everlasting an impact as Ode to Joy.

I mean really, what actually matters if we all die and whatever impact we had becomes erased regardless of whether or not it takes years, months, days or even minutes after we are laid into the ground?

Most of everyone who has been born has meant nothing and left no trace or measurement that they even existed at all. Think of all the stillborn babies who didn’t even get the chance.

Nature the cold hearted bitch strikes again!

People call me jaded and bitter for these thoughts, but I promise you - I hold no anger or selfish need to compensate my own lacking by exclaiming ‘people are mostly shit and none of this will stand the test of time’. I’m very fun at parties.

It’s just the people desperate to matter that think reality is inherently mean.

Celebrate the achievement not the person, but also - let’s not over inflate the achievement to validate our own petty need for someone to hear our folk song about getting a handy while watching American Beauty or whatever.

A quick story.

One of the most talented people I ever met was a dude from Philly named Perone.

Perone played bass and was known across the city as being this incredible player who for some reason just never found a project he clicked with.

I met him when I was 18 and homeless, living in a 24 hour diner he waited tables at. Everyone loved this dude and for some reason he took care of me. Hooking up free salads, sodas, bread. He was the coolest dude I ever met.

I was learning guitar and we both loved 70’s soul and blues music so we’d jam together which in hindsight was wild.

I had no fucking idea what I was doing and yet here was this genius jamming patiently along.

Teaching me without putting in a show that he was actually teaching me, if that makes sense?

Was he perfect? No. Not at all. He was charismatic as fuck, but obviously weighted down with some demons.

The weirdest thing I could say about him - and I don’t know how to even properly frame this was - he used to draw on bed sheets.

For years he had a dream about a woman he never met and would paint her face on the bed sheets and attach lyrics to songs he was writing next to her face. These sheets hung all over his walls.

Keep in mind he was living with a girl at the time. He had a kid, yet here were all these sheets dedicated to a fictional white woman he was obsessed with, hung like championship banners across his entire two bedroom apartment.

My last conversation with Perone was perfect. I sat strumming his guitar while he smoked meth out of a can of Pepsi, telling me how Michael Jackson was the King.

Every click of the lighter, every inhale and exhale would punctuate just how much Michael Jackson meant to the world and music.

How Motown celebrated their 25th anniversary with a tv special and Michael Jackson came out and destroyed with the moonwalk.

“Dude, (click) black people loved Michael (inhale). White people loved Michael. (exhale)Young people loved Michael. (cough) Old people loved Michael. (click) None of this race or generation shit mattered. (inhale) It was because of the music and HE did that. (exhale) He bridged everything together in that one moment. (violent cough) Michael Jackson is and will always be the King. (click) Fuck Elvis.”

That was twenty years ago. I have no idea if he’s still alive, earned a living with his music or met the woman he’d dreamt and painted for years. Or if instead he succumbed to meth, took his own life and or manages an Olive Garden.

I don’t know and I don’t have to. I miss him and appreciate the things we shared that mattered and helped me grow as a person, but that’s all it ever will be.

Let justice be done and handled by those involved in their situation and value only the things and constructs that have some permanence or growth in your own life.

Either way you will still die, and wether it’s alone and forgotten or if it takes centuries for people to forget you were a miserable deaf cunt who wrote some sweet jams - you’ll eventually be nothing.

Fuck Elvis.

[storydani]

Kangu’s Adventures - Story 7 - Under Water

On the way home, Jacko showed him something very special.

"Hold on tight now, I'm going to jump out of the water and then dive under the water. But only briefly. Underwater, you have to hold your breath, you can't breathe in," Jacko admonished him.

Now, Kangu got quite palpitations. He must be underwater? 

Maybe you know this from a swimming bath. You're splashing in the water, then suddenly your head is under the water. Then you mustn't breathe. Once you've dived a few times, it's really fun. But like Kangu, you'll be mighty excited the first time.

Well, he didn't have time to think long. Already it started.  

Jacko took a mighty run-up and sped through the water. Then, after a brief moment, it went steeply up. Kangu saw the blue sky and clung tightly to Jacko. A few seconds passed before Jacko got into the horizontal position, then dropped diagonally down into the sea. When they plunged into the sea, the water splashed as high as a small house, for the whale was large and heavy.

Kangu held his breath. And because he forgot to close his eyes, he saw the underwater world. He had never seen anything like it! Fish in the most beautiful colors. Big fish, small fish, shells, even seahorses he saw. To their left, a small turtle hatchling swam away, frightened.

Surely you know turtles. Maybe you have one at home, or you've seen turtles at the zoo. But these are land tortoises. That is, they feel comfortable with us on Earth. Now there are also turtles that love the water. Their feet are like little shovels that allow them to swim perfectly.

Kangu saw exactly this. When Kangu smiled kindly at them, it lost its initial fear and swam alongside them for a while.

But already Jacko shot out of the sea to the water surface again. 

"And how did you like it?" he asked. Kangu was enthusiastic… This was an adventure. No, he had never seen such a world in his kangaroo life. Wow!

Because Jacko swam so quickly, they soon arrived at the spot where he had met Kangu. He gently set him down on the beach and said goodbye. Yes, both had tears in their eyes. But they promised each other to meet again.

Jacko had to go. He had to visit his uncle, who lived in colder waters.

With an extra-large fountain of water coming out of his head, he swam towards the sea. Then he dived into the deep sea and was no longer to be seen.

Kangu also jumped in the direction of home. When he got there, he had a lot to tell.  All his friends listened to his adventures - just like you. And they were happy that Kangu was doing well.

[hvzardly]

The Rush

It was sharp at midday when Medd texted; but it didn't take me a split second to know that it was a solid YES. Just had to check with Babymom if it was doable. She just had to sacrifice her salon chill session aka doable. Lol. So yeay; off me went to send le petite off, and to Wisma MBSA for the first time since that final night we were there together last two years. Hehe.

Met up with Medd for a bit in the parking lot. Inside Po. Me knew he needed that small chat amidst his craziest days. Medd's dad was just diagnosed with lung cancer. Stage 4. So now undergoing intense chemo. Some complications happened last Friday means he had to be under intensive care; and he has all the rights to insist to stay by le dad's side.

Then he asked me bout me new job, and me said me was not so sure anymore. Me told him about the political climates in me office. Medd just threw a small cynical giggle. Apparently, he knew Lil Dave. Little did me know, they used to work in the same company before, more than 10 years back before both joined Astro.

He was a prick since forever. He was so loud and ballsy but up to no real good, that their boss took him off the project he was producing - the biggest insult that could happen in our industry. That was clearly screaming "You can't do your fuckin job!" at your face.

Wow. Exactly what me thought; he was just being cocky about how he could lead the whole sea armada, while he had actually sank numerous ships. And there was no way me gonna stay in such ship.

Then at around 5pm liddat, me sat with Daus pulok. But me must have not realised how assured me have gotten after, getting to speak the same language with someone you technically grow up (career wise) together. Something me been missing much these days.

Me didn't really feel much at first. Didn't realise kot. But when suddenly someone asked me if I was bearing a good news or something because I was 'glittering' with smiles, me was like, "Erk? Was it that obvious?"

Then it stroke to me. And adrenaline and nervousness and triple heart beats and everything started to kick in. Everyone had been opening up like cray cray the moment me set my foot in there. Everything felt sooo familiar.

Damn.

Me was home.

Sweeeeeet home.

Me never felt so homely in quite some time. For the first time in months too, me knew exactly what me was doing, super surely; despite them saying that last night had the most number of items on the flow.

The rush in me was cray crayer than cray cray. In some discussions me was the usual participating me; while in some me was quiet and analysing. Honestly, in my head me was already scrutinising my career paths and calculating my financials.

Now. Let's talk about le plans that kept playing in my head thruout le nite. As of now, we would have a mini townhall meeting within our department with Jas. Me could feel, looking at all le signs, that she could be announcing Lil Dave as her successor to take care of our department in KL while she juggled between KL and Jakarta. It was so imminent.

And if my hunch was right (oh ya.. that too, me been missing), me could never see me working under him. Like me said, ours is an art for human; while he is too inhumane to do such art. So if she really announced that, me would leave immediately. That is for sure. But if he is not going to be there anymore (sent elsewhere tho with greater rank), we shall see.

If me was to stay, me would just come clean with Jas about me weekend GV plans (something me haven't gotten the chance to do just yet because of her busyness) and see if she is okay with it, which me seriously not sure if she is gonna be. If not, me have to figure out how to make up the extra couple o thousands for Babybear every month that me earning from le extra income me make from le current AVP seat. Some side jobs. Or some network marketing backup jobs that some strong company with strong products could offer me. Lol.

Oh by the way, me already hooked Medd up with Haza, so that he could help share le poor family with any product we can from 4Life. Hehe it is a we now hmm. Pray for me.. for us, baby?

And all these plans just kept running in my brain; gradually falling into places. All happened too rapidly, that at the end of the night when we lepak after the concert, me just knew.

If given the chance,which me am, me wanna stay at home.

And what made me so sure?

Nope. Not Medd. Not Daus. Not le homeliness. Not even Lil Devil Dave.

It was you, sayang.

Me could never be so sure without your words of encouragement, baby. Those few lines meant so much. Like me said, even just the first one was already enuf to set fireworks in me.

Because the person me gonna spend my life with, just gave le nod. Who else could me ask that from? What else do me need to be so sure? No matter what happens or gonna be announced tomorrow, me could go thru it with such a relief, knowing that you will always be by my side.

Thank you, Sayang.

She will be there, Jacko.

Me know.