#and making replicas to display in the museums instead

[heyclickadee]

Someone drop Phee in the middle of the Smithsonian or the British Museum and let her go to town.

[ew-selfish-art]

Dpxdc (sounds like a bad joke) AU: A Cat, an Amazon and an underage Dead kid walk into a bar...

Selina Kyle was on official Catwoman business on the Coast of Greece, though of course she told her currently on (off again on again) boyfriend Bruce that it was just a girls weekend away. A particular jewel came to mind and it needed to be hers, ancient Obsidian carved with symbols of power (and yes, one of the symbols happened to be a cat.)

Selina knew she was getting close to the artifact when Diana Prince showed up. The no-good goody-two-shoes museum curator seemed to have a will of iron, and each time they crossed paths, the tall beauty had some passing remark about Bruce (which was really starting to get under Selina's skin) and the fact that they were just friends. Who does this chick even think she is? Just because she can speak fluent Greek, knows Selina's boyfriend's favorite bedtime story to read his kids, and has an ass that just won't quit doesn't mean she's better than her!

Selina is going to (remind herself frequently that women in competition is just a factor of the misogynistic capitalistic society they live in) do her best to keep under the radar, steal the artifact fast, and then make Bruce propose to her.

But then this weird scrawny kid shows up and asks if she's seen something of his. Selina is on the street, sitting at a table outside the local cafe conveniently located across the street from the auction house holding the artifact, when he approaches. He looks like he could be one of Bruce's kids, made distinct by his very nervous demeanor and shrunken shoulder's attempting to make him look smaller. Briefly, he tells her about a piece of black glass that has a few drawings of his on it, about the size of his palm, and may or may not have some lingering ability to... he doesn't finish his sentence.

Diana was walking across the street to go into the auction house... but to Selina's chagrin, the tall could-be-a-model crosses and approaches them instead. Her eyes are settled on the young man, and he's nervously asking her something in Greek. (How did a kid with a midwestern accent speak fluent greek?) Diana explains that he must have gotten a replica of the item showing in the Auction house somehow, and the kid looks like he's eaten a sour lemon all of a sudden.

A projectile comes hurdling at them a mere moment after the kid's cold breath becomes visible in the hot greek sun- Diana braces the impact for them both, her golden bracers revealed from under her sensible work blouse sleeves.

"Oh! You're Wonder Woman!" The kid gleefully exclaims, which makes Diana and Selina both die a little inside, before adding: "Hey, no worries about this guy, I got 'em. But could you grab that chunk of obsidian for me? It's mine and I'm seriously in hot water for having broken my cro- er- for losing it in the first place. Thanks!"

He suddenly bloomed into white hair and green eyes, a dark suit appearing from nowhere, and flew towards the threat. Wonder Woman didn't spare a single word on Selina and chased after him into combat.

Selina sipped on her coffee and, upon finishing it- casually got up, went to the auction house, and stole the Obsidian. Finders Keepers.

It was the late afternoon when Diana walked into the Bar right behind Selina with the teen at her side. He looked nervous but was eye-ing the bottles on the wall as much as he was trying to look intimidating to her. Diana looked annoyed at best, and not just with Selina.

"I think we should have a little chat, sound good to you Kitten? Princess, did you want to stay to talk too?" Selina's famous cat like grin on full display.

[fintan-pyren]

Sometimes, life is busy. You shouldn't let that stop you from enjoying a good book, but who has the time to read the same words over and over again?

For your enjoyment and convenience, I have removed all duplicate words from the first Keeper of the Lost Cities book.

blurry fractured memories swam through sophie’s mind but she couldn’t piece them together tried opening her eyes and found only darkness something rough pressed against wrists ankles refusing to let move a wave of cold rushed as the horrifying realization dawned was hostage cloth across lips stifled cry for help sedative’s sweet aroma stung nose when inhaled making head spin were they going kill would black swan really destroy their own creation what point project moonlark then everblaze drug lulled toward dreamless oblivion fought back clinging one memory that could shine tiny spot light in thick inky haze pair beautiful aquamarine fitz’s first friend new life ever maybe if hadn’t noticed him day museum none this have happened no knew it’d been too late even white fires already burning curving city filling sky with sticky smoke spark before blaze miss foster mr sweeney’s nasal voice cut blaring music he yanked earbuds out by cords you decided you’re smart pay attention information sophie forced open not wince bright fluorescents reflected off vivid blue walls amplifying throbbing headache hiding sweeney mumbled shrinking under glares now staring classmates pulled shoulder-length blond hair around face wishing hide behind it exactly kind went way avoid why wore dull colors lurked blocked other kids who at least foot taller than survive twelve-year-old high school senior perhaps can explain listening your ipod instead following along held up like evidence crime though probably he’d dragged class natural history balboa park assuming his students be excited about all-day field trip didn’t seem realize unless giant dinosaur replicas came started eating people cared tugged loose eyelash nervous habit stared feet there make understand needed cancel noise hear chatter from dozens tourists echoed fossil-lined splashed cavernous room mental voices real problem scattered disconnected pieces thoughts broadcast straight into brain being hundreds tvs different shows same time sliced consciousness leaving sharp pains wake freak secret burden since fell hit five years old she’d blocking ignoring nothing helped never tell anyone wouldn’t you’ve above lecture don’t give asked pointed enormous orange duckbill center how lambeosaurus differs dinosaurs we’ve studied repressed sigh flashed an image card front display glanced entered photographic recorded every detail recited facts twisted scowl classmates’ grow increasingly sour weren’t fans resident child prodigy called curvebuster finished answer grumbled sounded  know-it-all stalked exhibit next over follow thin separating two rooms block muffled grabbed little relief nice job superfreak garwin chang boy wearing t-shirt said i’m gonna fart sneered shoved past join they’ll write another article child teaches lame-o-saurus still bitter yale had offered full scholarship rejection letter arrived few weeks allowed go parents much pressure young end discussion so attending closer smaller san diego college year fact some annoying reporter newsworthy enough post local paper chooses ivy league complete photo freaked wasn’t strong word more half rules unnecessary front-page articles pretty worst nightmare they’d newspaper complain editor seemed unhappy story run place on arsonist terrorizing trying figure mistake bizarre white-hot flames smelled burnt sugar took priority everything especially unimportant girl most ignore or used caught sight tall dark-haired reading yesterday’s embarrassing black-and-white looked seen particular shade teal smooth sea glass beach glittered flickered expression gaze disappointment decide shrugged leaning closed distance between smile belonged movie screen heart did weird fluttery thing is pointing picture nodded feeling tongue-tied fifteen far cutest talking i thought squinted brown uh yeah sure say reason felt conversation accent british somehow crisper which bothered know are suck words soon left mouth course boys cute made mushy perfect returned told hulking greenish standing albertosaurus all its lizardesque glory me do think that’s it’s absurd

isn’t see saw small t rex: big teeth ridiculously short arms fine laughed i’ll get meet turned leave just classes kindergartners barreled fossil crushing screaming knock step whole realm pain kids’ stinging high-pitched needles many once angry porcupine attacking hands darted rubbing temples ease stabbings skull remembered alone reaction locked forehead pained imagined seconds hushed blood drain mean created plenty racket shrieks squeals giggles plus sixty individual chattering away gasped solved earlier everyone boy’s distinct accented speaking totally completely silent possible whispered widened moved whisper telepath flinched skin itch gave can’t believe backed exit reveal total stranger okay holding sort wild animal calm afraid froze my name’s fitz added stepping name searching sign part joke joking thinking wobbled spent seven find someone else world tilted sideways steady here looking twelve we better question: want air jerked bolted door stumbling shaky legs rhythm sucked breaths ran down stairs burned lungs bits ash flew ignored wanted space strange come shouted picked pace raced courtyard base steps wide fountain grassy knolls sidewalk got inside because poor quality footsteps gaining wait pouring energy sprint fighting urge glance shoulder halfway crosswalk sound screeching tires reminded both ways terrified driver struggling stop car plowed right die second blur swerved missing inches jumped curb sideswiped streetlight heavy steel lantern cracked plummeted instincts hand shot pulling strength somewhere deep gut pushing fingertips force collide falling gripping extension arm dust settled floated feel weighed ton put familiar warned bringing trance shrieked dropped without hurtled watch yanking split crashed ground impact knocked tumbled body broke fall landed chest stretched flurry questions swirling coherent idea sat replaying sense need witnessed miracle tighten panic let’s overwhelmed plan resist street reached intersection north zoo where crowd during firestorm running missed hearing changed terrifying scenarios involved government agents throwing dark vans experiments watched road ready bolt anything suspicious zoo’s massive parking lot relaxed outside milling cars happen witnesses slowed walk breath promise sincere easier opened hesitated supposed am trust won’t considered father sent specific age observe report always talk frowned disappointed himself does means expected threw what’s wrong touched eyelids suddenly selfconscious figured again awe us stopped whoa hang ‘one us’ frowning spotted fanny-pack-wearing within earshot deserted corner ducking green minivan there’s easy we’re human stunned speak hysterical laugh escaped repeated shaking riiiiiight insane trusting kicked stomped telling truth minute last listen plea humans vanished gone reeling leaned argued taking clear set pole minutes ago almost three managed finally saying alien erupted laugher cheeks grew hot also relieved compose elf hung foreign object belong visions tights pointy ears danced giggling expect guess stick wavy spikes rock star good crazy agreed refused serious frodo ring save middle-earth toys hid corners showed oh ought folded slender silver wand intricate carvings etched sides tip round crystal sparkled sunlight magic asking rolled actually pathfinder spun latch top dangerous you’ll faded depends take concentrate matter happens proof prove whisk land curious harm someone’s willed palms sweat fingers laced stupid tingled everywhere scanning warning look scowled bit tongue concentrated racing seriously become those silly girls counted raising facet beam refracted tightened grip forward warm tingling million feathers swelling underneath tickling giggle melted goo keeping oozing blanket warmth wrapped faster blink eye might squeaked stood edge glassy river lined impossibly trees fanning emerald leaves among puffy clouds row castles walt disney throw rocks kingdom golden path led sprawling elaborate domed buildings built brick-size jewels each structure color snowcapped mountains surrounded lush valley crisp cool

cinnamon chocolate sunshine places exist less appear forgotten released realized hard squeezing unable castle towers oddly our capital call eternalia heard shangri-la lost cities you’d stories rarely ridiculous things elves burst quiet gentle breeze brushing soft murmur traffic hammering unspoken very silence rising tiptoes view streets ghost town building towered others stones emeralds banner flying tribunal progress everyone’s watching proceedings council basically royalty holds broken law they’re deal laws well shook wrap cringing question funniest glared funny regained control try cling remaining strands sanity sun casting ray onto leaping hitched ride headed impossible infinite travel haven’t theory relativity stumped dumbest i’ve albert einstein huh dumb argue confident unnerving harder waited feather sensation dryer scattering directions until rubber band later shivering ocean whipping glowed carved moonlight failed passed bring herself true science book read confused observed ‘hey learned smug grin best minds begin comprehend complexities reality elves’ ahead slowest trump proper education shoulders sagged sank four scenery blurred whether tears entire lie nudged hey fault believed taught i’d done works bells chimed large gateway floor-length velvet capes draped tunics emerged followed creatures marching military formation rocky pants muscles prominently flat noses coarse gray pleated folds armadillo goblins signed treaty hating trembling dressed forbidden lumenaria worlds gnomes dwarves ogres trolls mentioning focused motioned farther squatting betrayed ancient councillors intelligent rule planning war ancients violence disappeared forbid any contact devices working defend race famine problems chilled frigid wind licking who’d known must’ve after eventually evolved myths simple yes peeked glowing crucial identity clicked spinning thousand loud clang gate stepped shadows sleek cobalt home jolted mom bus bland boring stole incredible blinding swept smoky fresh surprised recognized plain square houses narrow tree-lined house ask lived coughed handle putting pollutes planet these aren’t normal chemical smells usually wildfires smell barbecue melting cotton candy burn rain arsonists admitted pocket hoping notice dad wants knows neither important meant mystery he’s happy careful please shown today thank act family doesn’t suspect squared courage telepaths special ability rarer ones thirteen six months corrected liking youngest manifest start reverberated scanned positive waking hospital moment forget hooked kinds machines hovering shouting barely separate hold happening group adults haunted worry brows narrowed doing extra private keep wall weak hated bossed answering concerned action worked imagining stretching shadow mine blurted pale process hardest worries live fumbled answers long trouble knees link amazing will tomorrow panicked battered cluttered living phone she’s receiver having reeled daggers calling wandering worried police sorry stammered convincing horrible liar scared mom’s anger concern nervously curly guy realizing lies based freaking walked trolley train teacher guard ugh complained closing adult rubbed wrinkle appeared stressed upset safe stand weirdo understood dangers teased tormented bullied deflate wish trailed close rest sister slipped pin painful tight hug welcome honey dinner ten amy upstairs kitchen unease twist stomach worn linoleum pastel tacky knickknacks ordinary glittering kissed cheek shabby briefcase table how’s soybean wink baby apparently pronouncing thousands times lid simmering pots garlic cream filled handed silverware turn crackin’ scooted plopped usual chair nine role mastered opposite lower average grades popularity sisters wondered definitely powers lowered breathing: inhale exhale repeat care nickname dizzy must lay should eat skipping acting fettuccine night favorite rich sauce sudden nausea tug eyelashes chewed bite swallow fork official thanks great homework sprinted bed hiss shattered marty pounding fluffy cat sitting tail slunk settling lap marty’s purring

confront downstairs settle explained blonde chubby brunette screamed throbbed deeper ripped apart blinked related change lots adopted poked brought e l fudges plate cookies milk getting sick palm fever tired cookie stumbled routine crawled blankets wrapping pillow dreams kissing tucked tradition breathe ella yep elephant stuffed sleep tonight um guys hugged tighter hours labor endured switched birth daughter doubt wondering anymore dreamed keebler perfected recipes liked oreos drown vat fudge woke overrated morning quick shower jeans shirt buttery yellow stripes item closet self-conscious wear gold flecks admit clipped toyed lip gloss snuck check crept yard blinking stuck contained next-door neighbor perch middle lawn forkle rearranging garden tableaux nosy checking effect beady bored hers loved sentences complaining 911 obligated gnome fraction inch gives headaches yapping interrupted ball fur streaked barking spandex jogging shorts chased grabbing dog leash clumsy lunge kneeled stroking wild-eyed panting creature drew growled strained mad sister’s hates displaying several halfmoon wounds bleeding scar suppose willing carry blocks seems winked piercing certainly yelled jogger guy’s louder chaos wonder grab drag should’ve trick react stopping tracks side man straightened height quite intimidating ordered glowered promised snorted grumbling moving explaining whenever appearance waiting incident eyewitnesses frustrating confusing bell rang lurking scream demanded loudly heads bad flashing cocky rush blush unanswered tries creepy snatch slow replayed scene remember growling forkle’s quietly quieter we’ll we’d eyeing suspected impending mischief leap english ditch yesterday strangle pull disappearing fail willingly use telepathy brushed whispering pushed further test tested permission assignment frustrated matters invading offense scrunch nod movement nearby oak drowned could’ve sworn jogger’s campus gestured tree either imagine adjusted shouldn’t anyway who’s committee sidelong heat breaking automatically furious enjoyed caused determines grinned future shield surveyed surroundings metal nearly everglen leading doors absorbs directly likes privacy stressful doubted king kong faint click swung inward striking clearing growing midnight cape fastened clasp diamond-encrusted wings lean vibrant resemblance alden introduced bow curtsy shake greet shy pleasure prominent kidding unusual flush smiled embarrassed fire alden’s injury muttered son shared kidnapping considering such might’ve paranoid has touch rude assure love kidnapper searched reassure kindness agree placed gently jacket ticked indeed fascinating sounding triumphant perfectly specifically nexus forgot covered dug cuff coat clamped bracelet wrist twisting fit snug comfortable accessory single jewel rectangle symbols letters spelled gibberish odd decorate finality safety precaution break particles carried concentration circumstances bare early fools overestimate skills fade cautious answered lose yourself able fully reform pulls forever goose bumps dimple cleared throat prefer reproving send mission collect long-lost guests wiped blooming red pink purple rainbow perfume flowers dizzying testing qualify foxfire paused fungus insulted prestigious academy named represents glow darkened comes ‘fungus’ strongest talent kiss goodbye excuse proud attend accomplishment earliest levels develops abilities continue studies elvin sneak work knowingly chills mixed night’s troubling revelation sickening councillor bronte difficult impress feels upbringing lack disqualify surprises existed miffed votes squat brown-skinned huge tended fairy tale plants slantways shuffled carrying basket twinkling fruit guessing pictured men hats statues servants stare choose safer gardens enjoy privileged taste gnomish produce lunch treat dig slimy tubers slugs hoped menu peeled meadow elegant manor entirely intricately numerous turrets gables rose tower resembled lighthouse braided foyer prism widest hallway fountains spouted streams colored water hall dead-ended encrusted jeweled mosaic

diamond unicorns amethyst spoke wealth squeezed formal dining sheer silk curtains drawing chandelier waterfall shimmering crystals platters fancy goblets figures jewel-encrusted circlets plush thronelike chairs surrounding curtsied necks clasps keys horribly underdressed fabrics except disguise kenric oralie football player toothy princess rosy ringlets met smallest cropped features finger pairs floor laughter squirmed joined pleased shape it’ll transformed noticing autorepeat: scooting oralie’s one’s died yet hurt immortal trace sorrow bodies aging reach adulthood wrinkles belongs yourselves guest uncovered grimace strips glop goop tasted juiciest cheeseburger stuff mashed carnissa root umber leaf tastes chicken animals tone ate toxic waste squirming grimaced vegetarians horror vegetables cheeseburgers tells swallowed mouthful thud discussing openly respond kenric’s jaws dry remembering warnings stay begun eight pass mentioned learn relax bronte’s icy gust common announced jaw flushing chagrined incredulous impenetrable key sentence ‘almost breached guilt conscience sounds infallible thinks likely exceptionally lift weight telekinesis recovering embarrassment shrank goblet accident raised lifting invisible scoffed unimpressed limitations unlike physical confidence clue giving blew pretending imaginary extend sharper worth saucers applauded excellent praise couple glasses determined stronger ounce core empty collective gasp including breathed celebrate cramped strain knocking thunderous collision open-mouthed shock hollered sealed clapped language guys’ enlightened leaped instinctive interesting babbling teasing noisy gripped ‘soybean’ mispronouncing blushed chuckled beside dusting waved insisted sighed suldreen stretch line rare species bird puzzle solve uncomfortable coincidence convince decision barked shoving moonlarks vote otherwise fight favor final fragile lovely empath emotions extended grasped delicate fear confusion sincerity describe azure settles revisited till adjust invoke demand probe planned arranged quinlin busy decipher fun training looks iffy ‘bothered’ dad’s reluctant emptiness exploded choked saving colder implications ditched stall punishment atlantis nowhere patch white-capped waves signs seagulls screech poop hardly continent tide pool triangular slip slick shoes match gown begged status noble members nobility offices empire waist beaded neckline dress costume seeing clothes: tunic embroidery edges pockets sewn sleeves exact size sit boots completed thankfully knowing biana comparison changing subject ledge engineered catastrophe compartment revealing bottles label bottle whirlpool uncorked flung blast whipped faces roar churning ladies suggested worse gulped maelstrom beneath salty sprayed jump push count dignity drowning flailing idiot formed tunnel dipping weaving craziest waterslide starting launched vortex sponge licked toe pack kittens minus kitten sprang cushion smoothed wet incoming rocketed slightly squishy packed sand gleaming metropolis dome beyond soared skyline bathing radiating spires network canals interconnected arched bridges pictures venice modern clean despite bottom underwater muted hum background seashell ear build stores power precisely amount changes plated reflect firelight illuminate sink wandered shops renaissance fair women’s gowns shifted advertised two-for-one specials bottled lightning fast approval spyball applications strolled hybrid chicken-lizard invented main canal hailed carriages floating almond-shaped boat rows high-backed benches elbow-length steered bench reins skimming surface eight-foot-long scorpion deadly pincers reared curled sting eurypterid stroked shiny shell eurypterid’s slice emitting low hissing petted harmless carriage quinlin’s yours fiber mutant insect doom probed gritted pressing hideous sonden’s office thrashed heebie-jeebies commute while secure needs protection file highly classified business district windows tracing bearing names treasury registry interspeciesial services unreadable random strings runes nonsense writing

alphabet clueless chin jumble nah affected gap kid option country tests dropping member broad kelp ornamentation precise read: sonden: chief mentalist cube swiped elbow ping assurances humiliating bypassed receptionist dim damp stone desk dark-skinned chin-length seat ceremony unique understatement squirm handing lick dna unsanitary tiniest hologram center: rotating unearthly breathing prentice sacrificed double helixes sacrifice reasons fears hundred seventy-eight murmured began pacing invaded she’ll greatest keeper older midstep record share trained charge protecting currently hidden karaoke game sing off-key notes clearly eavesdropping strip slid winding stairway climbed oval footage brush projected chill aerial southern california lines circle area images deepened valleys ruled reflections note interrupting communicate waving warn turning overreacting glancing shuddered desperate kidnapper’s threatened easily implied nameless faceless entity quickly threatening authorities would’ve shivered accelerant chemicals leads lighting spilling oil blowing investigate council’s position here: takes visit babysitter decent equally spying steam secrecy existence discovered hoax search updated slight bypassing distracted evillooking matches keepers lagoon glint shimmery dunes lake west shore statue topped hollow iridescent film shimmered loop apparatus resemble bubble lifted clung shrieking levitate forming touching bubble’s rumble coming geyser shoot eleven crash below bobbed where’s scary pure joy popped whisked glaring gates flash strode olive contrast youth shone nerve summoning personal shorter intimidated difference sooner exiled clench fists backward tiergan aware opinion summoned convinced tiergan’s fierce crumbled crossing expert inventory widening whatever foxfire’s newest mentor puppy officially weirding becomes provide retired given persuaded return resentment mixture surprise hone assistance reasonable restrictions pretend opportunity silencing bet terrible mood mumbling mostly irresponsible manage choice benefit stares notify dame alina returning kept bruise meantime session listed remedial schedule lessons dummies correct assumption warmed tuesday brilliant panel everglen’s grounds sessions study student subjects one-on-one nerves one-onone succeed mention level grade relearning self-doubt heavier fragmented disappear explanation aside pleasant dis arguing overstuffed armchairs woman squealed snickered wife della pinched gesturing dear vanishers smiling musical hint della’s beauty tossed pursed heart-shaped parents’ combined gangly troll interceded borrow errands frumpy files requested denied request approve grady edaline case torn radiant parcels strobe unwrapped packages clasped cord neck choker pendant elf-y anytime fund’s activated fund register money standard dollars lusters laughing luster dollar crinkled ew insult afford differently limited seventy eighty makes sad curved window overlooking silvery floor-to-ceiling aquarium wingback facing piled books scrolls anxiety remind stacks newspapers circled crossed news removed drawer theories irritation super stuttered discuss faced solution allow ours they’ve effective immediately too-simple accept kick constant discovery longer unbearable loneliness friends grasping overwhelm areas access severely restricted dead deciding gravestones became vivid: grave tearstained draw suffer struck complicated relocated jobs erase tear obvious believing shutting function erased armchair scrubbed forbade sob occurred risking twenty alert plans clothes sees wiping focus bent unshed horrors cringed buried trembled bouncing busted eavesdrop grounded hugging worrying pouted pettiness bratty obnoxious pain-in-the-butt embrace struggles play daughters mouths senses hook hurry daze rememorize room: dusty available quilt mother tripped furry crouching releasing pathetic meow disk sleeping gas release drugging physically ill backpack slung giggled elizabeth clutching anywhere couch fingered ordering thirty crumpled burying recognize crouched smearing drool snot drugged sobs

overcame jerk washers bags regret bear slept finish hawaiian family’s limp determination taken fourteen cried assured stranglehold haunting gets hope personally oversee relocation flared wrung guardians title selected enthusiasm strangers elwin’s blue-crystaled temptation shiver raked bones orphan conservatory lead backyard security choosing saved ache suffering gift raise ended abandoned wipe elwin physician medical hate doctors brave regular nightmares brief stays struggled dragging direction drop free implying biana’s glare escape punch bathed gigantic glued cushioned cot syringe goes fidget spectacles scientist snapped painless orb flasher manipulate skilled orem vacker show eclipse biggest celebrations traditions damage permanent tensed food chance innocent cells dashing depending orbs squinting lenses stunningly lit dramatic expecting toxins research rifled satchel vials liquids major detox braced medicine syrups nectar unknown fruits tingly drink youth legends enzymes essential health refreshing downed contents gulp drank medicines list follow-up checkup whistled sometimes heated lame stinky stegosaurus shame horrified production wimp doctor phobia jumping needle strap bunch shots allergic how’d concrete nine-one-one unconscious genes kicking trigger bedroom canopied chandeliers room’s gotten deserve ruined chanting mantra shut pajamas tuck asleep belonging alive twenty-five catch breakfast clock shop furniture detoxes materializing clutched ghostly exotic heartbreaker fitted glamorous shopping explosion behold wardrobe outfits extras pick beat-up sparkly casual packing leaked days unpack hungry knotted sadly dampened preserve havenfield exciting jolie deny loss wonderful booming fenced-in pastures spread scrambled versions rehabilitation centers sanctuary protected trap nessie artist endangered gorillas lions mammoths extinct thriving herd woolly colonies saber-toothed tigers slack exists rob qualities provides thrive feeding hunt diet steep cliffs caves flower-lined using ropes lasso lizard neon beast protest drama queen husky male commanded beast’s heave feat twice snaarrll bucked guardian lunged tangled writhed losing balance verdi tyrannosaurus comments meeting jaculus winged serpent feeds support contain bloodsucking snake claws snout tremble lowering fangs glinted slobber motioning glimpse dinosaur-riding chiseled feather-covered james bond robin hood balding relate handsome feathery banged pet rub rex’s stayed docile unblinking separated verdi’s wound plugged slime death rot tuna fish combination kelpie dung bites jar swear edaline’s grady’s wary compared palatial estate mansion standards columns cupola roof entryway central upper floors cascaded ceiling wispy fabric turquoise amber curls similar circles fluff presentable rex picking playing rodeo cowboy nope wash staircase sadness lingered tea mallowmelt insist gooey cake fresh-baked chip soaked ice frosting butterscotch dripping hasty slices served nook grazing linens painted china homesick woken lushberry juice pop possessed conjurer form teleporting objects coolest unfortunately scraggly slurps burps letting friend’s ached grieve fished imparter simply strangled pounded reassuring deafening third star-shaped dangled glittery weaved carpet scent canopy occupied dressing bookshelves brightly volumes bathroom bathtub swimming biting awesome assumed jolie’s tour awkward delicious soupy pizza unpacking wrinkled scrapbook wherever welled remnants dried sixteen sunrise streaks blending mirror darken awake finishing hovered doorway interrupt riser shades clap bruises conjured bowl spoon banana bread tempted impose sloppy handwriting upside symbol corner: bird’s beak tickled babble scare extremely documents cipher moisture particularly believable prescribed drawn eager fidgeting ruffles simplest bought hi kesler groaned island mysterium identical mold vendors spices sweets buzzed crowded sidewalks working-class social rank ‘talent simpler correspondingly unfair born lesser lives type designed village avoiding whispers ruewen pretended different

store crooked nursery rhyme burps: merry apothecary belched maze shelves pills laboratory beakers bubbling burners rainbow-colored lab skinny tousled strawberry periwinkle blob tubes add amarallitine dex tongs vial experiment poured beaker sparked plume dirty gag concoction exclaimed hello ‘hello impersonation sludge eda scrap sheet kesler’s brother-in-law nephew practically monday al freaks dimples burped beanpole hooded cloak vika annoyance handiwork written girl’s bald scalp meanwhile stina ’cause twitched battling sell solutions sasquatch dent bony appendages children throttle hairoids stock week wailed ogre wicked misses responsible friendly rage here’s spat helping customers potent hat flinch useless buy countered retort stina’s oooh slammed fist timkin heks helps situation traditional absolutely brings stuffy nobles happier grinning mess tweak supplies armful worktable sneaky beard dex’s evil mortar pestle teach tingle attempt fifty-seven solo property collapse practiced checked displayed sliver percent chose he’ll hawk mentors monitor weakness expelled pushes transferred exillium swallowing bile mounting attack messy juline riveted gossip interruption interest hilarious bookshelf mounted cover camera summer flipping pages naked mouse suit disneyland dizznee photos honestly movies outlets flipped technology solar powered rifling sir conley’s luck lady galvin highest rate rig calming flooded seventeen gadgets chimes arrive uniform skirt leggings shirt-vest-cape combo laceup jerkin long-sleeved slacks waist-length superhero captain blueberry rescue meaning order demonstrate rid wimpy halcyon mastodons mascot birds storm mastodon ceremonies costumes glad idiots appealing crest triangle heart: scarlet eagle soaring talons chemistry equipment theirs adopting adoption adopt temporary enrollment manticore themselves parties dies span cope calmed orphans wylie whose recover connection blames wylie’s hanging leapmaster 500 lucky authorized 250 tons rotated five-story pyramid sharply angled u stained seventh amphitheater extensive fields grass hopelessly prodigies uniforms building’s finding ducked starts orientation principal reads announcements attendance collar track peal close-up stunning porcelain caramel-colored foremost whoever reekrod weekend mark punished fullest extent threat dangle continued detect ah spotlight hissed viper’s nest ssssssophie hole crawl concludes today’s nearest exception divided wing banners bore midflight halls quad throughout sparkling sapphire chatted doorways lining atrium spectacle creating marked rune locker mirrored lock uses gross faculty picks flavors pepper sneeze croak yelped stench rotten eggs dash diaper muskog wheezy snicker whirled towering mass frizzy cackling hags stalking hairs shave earth serum friday retorted raven swishing behavior phasers ashamed apologize obviously spend detention alexine stinks beet minions kinda frog fumes catching jensi rapid-fire speech talked buckets redder instructed honest ‘human girl’ ‘sophie’ whim elementalism pride backtracked twists turns drops warped wooden session’s zapped ‘zapped’ thunderclap eighteen tray electrocuted quiver conley hitting fluted botched sending tornado tornadoes mastering elements entering foods series stalls court mall recognizable eaten tables cafeteria whom discourage joining verge perceptible message clear: focusing bigger jensi’s acne braces fairly slicked greasy ponytails drooled setting bang c’mon dude unison ‘e’ duh drooly volunteered singed universe daunting exaggerated messing ‘dude’ killing explode cough pixielike rescuing tossing petite balled braids suicide overeager marella mare nicknames obeyed enemies honored pucker licorice lemon fan prettypants rather grumpy brat brother’s dreamy willpower copying sip looped defending dizznees triplets says ‘bad match’ genetically incompatible inferior aunt uncle superstrange celebrities famous vackers superimportant marella’s sympathy grandma heartbroken helpless veins hopeless cases guarantee scooping mammoth shudder awful afternoon feared astronomical

learning astin whispery complex maps planetarium effortless excelled hour survived approaching dragon hateful invited feelings letters: extinguished stuffing fill animosity deck ‘nice uncanny royal highness bothers remembers talented ‘deck beaming nineteen thursday disaster goal sandwiched colosseum pe vanity near door: sneakers ponytail owned ship slap reply lasted compare redek squish may fool stops idle threats grouped twos tromps manifested fifty-fifty manifesting mysterious remark required variable reign terror ‘everyone’ impressive jolt supervise caton titan god informed channeling supereasy channel parts body: heights speeds normally unimpressive attempts threes bumped defense appetite startled spaceship unremarkable studying superintently snapping scraping probing concept unsettling establish forcing eighty-seven puckered brow assume cheerful scraped intended drained steadying suggest ethics attached meganeura exercise annoy fidgeted cocked wanna buzzing dived vulture-size dragonflies patted freaky-looking bug blown gargantuan proportions creepiest disco balls grown monster enclosure phys ed intense emergency weirdest part: proven trustworthy receive assignments lectured responsibility detecting discover elite avoided mesmer nauseated wow sheesh inflicting curiosity won causes dara lecture: pyramids tidal army hairy hollowing himalayas strangest mumble creeped exile interested dying supertalented fundamental guilty underground eternity ruin fluke churned abandoning illegal washer alter dump brother secluded sorted reminding effort flavored flumes spritzed shove disturbing failing smirked alchemy pupil encouraging cracking melody ominous ingredients trophies gilded items pointy-toed suspiciously midas milky liquid dancing rushing rustle red-brown updo hunter silky decorated patterns swished slightest alkahest universal solvent stored itself dissolves wood flesh taxes substance alchemist wise teaching masters tincture poultice basic serums yellowed box flask jars iron transmuting metals recipe formula labeled instructions fiddled rechecked mistakes plunged whip fizzed rumbled jelly galvin’s exquisite dissolved luxurious damaged salvage welt healing ma’am murder retrieve afterward muttering incompetence flunk sprawled hallways stark ditching keefe gulon disheveled untucked popular belva crush blame 90 certain paid accidentally cue epic alina’s ugly crying treated whiter phobia consisted rooms: treatment beds brewing physician’s paperwork slinky scurried bullhorn demented ferret banshee adorable fellow dramatically wanting seize mmm-hmm acid mimed effects destroyed salve measured whap wash present laughs clarification confirming twenty-one embellished version destruction joked bottling anwen multispeciesial 324 faxon metaphysics complimented requests brown-eye create overnight granted incredibly challenging explosions occurrence unlearn lifetime knowledge levitating rainbows constantly messed highlight skill effortlessly amazed unwanted transmit else’s psychic photograph needing patient plague suspicion snotty maruca i-hate-sophiefoster club reaching growl jealous prettiest bedlam subdue chasing rabbits antlers swinging trunk lump verminion pen boosted mammoth’s trumpeted earthshaking squeal ringing mound timid twig hiiiissssssssssss uncurled rodent bulging hamsters rottweiler-size hamsterzilla trample japanese hamster cooed snaarrrlll impressed chase steer dashed catches fifty stupidest clod mud nailed grooowwwwllll fatal flaw pinned grunted press snarling squeeze verminion’s unlocked assortment spewed whined pile gloves shed trade trudged oversize squirrels rats identify burlap sack quivering snarl steeled shriek batlike heaved wool scratches leg outbuildings carefully organized veterinarian’s laid sterile spreading limbs smeared eyedropper dripped creature’s rewarded squeaky rumbling crackly purr smiles cage barrel soapy chain-sawesque snores vibrating brattail tuber sausage imp guessed six-inch venomous stings snoring vicious describing tame yetis outnumbered conked chipper iggy strand swell

generous hugs touches gestures glistened dubious trails twenty-two sharing congested warthog roommate snuggly sleepless spoil caring ultimate splotching championship sacks cheered sympathetic secretly celebrating partnered naturally teamed splotcher splattered loses winners person wins marks smugly win splotch splat deserved colorful prize contest pardon hopes wonderboy gagging rounds beat opponent knots backing aim ow raw telekinetic flushed compliment disqualifies pumped victory hotter cheering opponents experience duel beginner’s talents mighty competition grumblings battle odds experienced evidently four: sixes trella dempsey paired hopeful muster bested winner fluttered appears competitors betraying butt preference keefe’s chant ladies’ float clenched adrenaline surged audience back-up splotches rebound phenomenon weightless collided simultaneous fate collapsed twenty-three placing compress wincing muscle injured whermiwhahapped worse: laying banshees mortal danger stirred lucid winced stiff glands zinged collected rebounded bounce specialized hammered controls actual mix matched draining practice evenly awfully sidelines wobbling auditorium applause teensy annoyed copied blushing elbowing ribs tie protested declared excused lesson rejoin splotchers acted delivered p congratulations confirm bath lathering bathers soggy instinctively besides creased drive twenty-four meter one-third younger that’d wonderboy’s precious midterms score seventy-five recommend nissa tutoring consider tutor projection gagged flavor yell daily tore prattle chewy caramel peanut butter pouch cracker jack horse mane prattles’ unicorn pins collection examined digital 122 185 number eighty-five super-rare bitterness vaguely compute unexpected development century too-little-too-late branch other’s replaced beeline simultaneously sniff aw stuck-up snob wasted invite humiliate walking ambush capable teeniest details clanged cricket chirped embroidered satin sash wringing exhaled seeming makeovers wrestling polite fortunately braid flutter dirt pitter-patter eh sayin’ shooting quest grateful team jealousy guarded raid questers tagged sentry tabs isolate general nail targets listened softer instantly presence tremendous connected forest thundered vision racked credible crashing bushes partner deceive insists hasn’t secrets toes staying chain apologizing visitors sulking funk snipe wagged there’ve weekly jokes havenfield’s defied exams panicking passing guide narrowing shipped exam brass copper transmutations ideas challenges thwarted spilled gashrooms reek pored frozen cause shattering cheated accomplished cheat ideal dreading twenty-six tri-angular apex streamed pane angle reflection examining confessed forgave neutral violated ethical regulations expulsion suggesting argument ruling obey flourish bother violating reporting stifle closely icily respect authority advises wedding flapped nor pointless cheating tolerated huffed regrets confess serve minimum assigning becoming theme slipping unnoticed what’d gloomy atmosphere desks thumbs-up siren song appreciation art nature clapping earsplittingly shrill whine whale nails chalkboard toddler uncover broadening horizons claiming repentant company brand torture ballroom belva’s sirens dances edwardian claimed valin ponytailed promenade dancers valin’s sweaty chime stars shined brighter spit wickedly slobbery octaves fanned hmm irritated flattered scored points empathy forked smirk ironing holes stack detained increased practicing leaps eyebrow empaths powerful mundane purification vein easiest transmutation lockers traded twenty-seven banging annoyingly caps disqualified chorus groans nonstop cap smurf amalgam telepathic integrity wrote essay betrayal over debate automatic 100 last-minute mentally repeating tips negative vibes stress ethic claim fame skipped skip supportive doubting brag mercifully stalled magenta berries rusty discipline chosen purify ruckleberries fifty-five nasty impurities elderly human’s alchemists methods dive knife pierced berry dribbled pinky haggard glacial quarters

deducted mediocre performance forth whirlwind crack exhausted brutal slamming slumped that’ll public hooks presents spine cards schools hassle babysitters edged obstacle tugging stressing rigid suitable gifts jewelry charms charm twenty-eight unrecognizable streamers shrub toilet-papered tinsel confetti bubbles prizes popping appointment teal-wrapped package uglier hurrying plowing regain literally prying trademark smirks spoken sapphire-encrusted navy-blue intently hairstyle contrasted pristine infamous deflated wilted father’s oily insincerity resigned flame cassius lord performing unremarkably radiated apologies fos er disappointing scores fake critical said: creeps prize-filled prattles dwarf lollipop topple snappy comeback comment loser fails organize overflowing half-empty month misunderstanding shushed slim parcel chiming signaled parent-mentor conferences celebration feast unwrap snatching self ‘dear dance sometime vice president boyfriend rattled reader tease ribbon tapped gadget fingernail speaker thingies coloring dunno disbelief variety edible glosses speckled spider snapper plant fed spiders riddler writes riddle miniature violet thanked showing misty seventy-nine improvement range sensing tomato congratulated comfort sobbing partying included sneer party note: f snap k sugarplums boy-craziness necklace cuffs wristbands vanisher platter customs gelled perfection gym ornate immaculate alvar talks often rumpling fizzleberry wine juggling girlfriends hero beamed piddly quicksnuff emissaries tend conspiracy possibility myself pieced undivided swan’s curve pattern term replied active recently unauthorized investigation frustration twenty-nine alternate spending smelling clues accomplish consumed trapped counting resumed vacation finals received eighty-one eighty-three unacceptable prepared chorused poufy thrown towel drooped oven roasted frosters transmitting charts transmitted peed suffered rested cryokinetics freeze manipulating pyrokinesis mesmers inflictors monitored pyrokinetics inflict fire’s unpredictable truly forbidding pyrokinetic library surely three’s librarian banned archives libraries bust problem: section dire wolves peek promising bins mountain littered haphazardly spaces scan unrolled flip papers helpful lacy dulled childhood: strung lanyards dolls framed bone picture: breathtaking tragedy drinking leftover junk trunks piles unopened bin disturbed murky midterm roll scroll shelf sample starlight moonglade: fireflies flickering stellarscope upside-down spyglass view’s billions wad tag amaranthis memorized fourth lambentine bag spout wider scope knobs cluster dials stiffened lever thumb clinked rubini orroro azulejo cobretola indigeen scratching spectrum rearranged indigo zelenie isolated this’ll bluff scrounging elementine adjusting fidgety hummed shining teared welts frantic thirty-one blackish-purple blisters pot burns sprinkled powder adventure soaking numbs balm miserably regulate temperature palace crown nicer handful roots mutilating blades destroying bashing stubbornness reappeared ointment knelt furrowed fingertip rags longest hottest soapiest griffins discreetly boring-looking firecatching bode bundle solid downright incoherently darkly quintessence fifth element myth truest conditions blow metallic-toned bronze wildly flamed audible unmapped locations merit thirty-two platform thrones remotely procedure involving throne cushions tourmaline sturdy polished dotted onyx heard: clarette velia terik liora emery ramira darek noland zarina flicked mere evacuated three-thousand-year task undisclosed location trial salivating convict straighter dozen marched stationed bodyguards swordlike weapons belts fanfare blasted crowned amateurs seated sapphires shall world’s ungraceful consuming detector fuzzy lying endlessly jell-o hobbled astin’s honesty assigned emery’s argento auriferria pennisi merkariron styggis achromian slower plotting map cowering submit lists convenient judgment frightening hardened remained expressionless mediates telepathically consensus united aspirin unanimous

rise violates actions intentional accountable foster’s involvement addressing agreement millionth wished exchanged dimpling kiddo thirty-three banks sienna bark paintbrushes purfoliage palmae calls pures filter pollution freshest crispest tinge fuzzed hesitation observant instruction lurched sunset farthest councillors’ steadied emerald-encrusted circlet bowed pleasing honor beg refuse descryer response delightfully potential clamoring backfired speaks beginning optional 327 sensed crane sweeping peacock log dream softly regularly useful one-armed fiancé’s projecting vividly replace album dinner’s stroke retracted apology hurting tricks arches replica model thirty-four planted curl plotted page difficulties rivaled protect quieted los angeles hollywood trash conspicuous spider-man batman posed mann’s chinese theatre blended beams issued ‘forgot’ oblivious ourselves stubborn softened unwillingly seeped ‘got of’ ant pavement explore warring hurried consequences captured pleaded mercy prentice’s behalf oversaw shatters society metaphor insurgents rebellion kindest whatever’s decisions encouragement revelations ability-detecting exercises cornered superbusy insistent significant elf-ish onetime played envy tracked master tracking switch spots conspiracies investigating headway ignorance ever: permanently jarred conservation legitimate scientific principle nagging elixir nogginease limbium mineral supposedly resisted bike wheels giddy week’s supply unnaturally syrup absorb nauseating unfastening vest skin’s collapsing allergy dimmed cradling thirty-five fluttered chafed sandpaper wildhaired soothed sensations spectators cleaned vomit upright moaned allergies wits bullhorn’s trite soiled airtight vomiting swollen blotch-free humiliated undershirt noticeably absent dazzling alvar’s raptor disgusting decade spare injected steroids tied budge scolded showers heels crisis ushered deathly tough disasters blankly rests brothy soup elsewhere shadowy comforting yawn snuggled thirty-six squealing hundreds eagle-size pterodactyl somersaulted screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech stability rein speed momentum gained screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeech torch pasture dispersed uncannily fried engulfed birdbath sparks jerking possess flareadon fire-resistant replay triggered animal’s cares octave higher killed resting flareadons volcanoes occur gildie strayed ‘flareadon female correcting wade debacle breaks wrestled socks shredded apparent vague emotion animals’ distances qualified lightened results defined iggy’s gildie’s paw tummy reward downy fury paled out-of-breath aura recoiling imperative vital violate risk humiliation fled her: cooperate freezing peered railing partial drifted bars errand thirty-seven mush nights begging blend processing forgetting tearing fluorescent locker: insider’s librarian’s timing shoe absolute librarians plastered sinking confirmed dog-ear chapter everblaze: unstoppable blind thirty-eight paper-strewn something’s ‘everblaze frissyn x stands detailed extinguish overruled excluded unheard indecision warred babies hatch extract unregistered code name: egg cast conventional purpose determine pregnant fertility posing implanted embryo manipulated outstanding retain discovering affects genetic anomaly renegades weapon ‘prodigy illegally forgiving messages suffocating choke word: controlled puppet issue triggers twilight proudly soothe facade crumble table: throaty fix drove wedge messenger delivering seal reseal rampaging limits chaise skimmed bead luminous nonluminous generated lumenite drilled clarify rip grubby paws riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip chunk possession skittered treasure retrieving tattered assess rug glue document accordance canceled thirty-nine heartbeat scrubbing choked-back muffle misery acknowledge gaping owe regardless charade  obeying command churn yeti ricocheted ooooookaaaaaaay slinking acknowledging attempting library-appropriate slothlike triple-check echoing phew scrutiny shrug candleshade overhead clipping playlist jarring numbness bass mature speakers bands sarcastic tune swirled seeping cracks triumphed

tiptoed rustled creaked padding crawling lonely forgive forty cheer stricken envelope headline: claims victims scrawl announcement corridor stark-white gulps sneaking suggestions weigh resolve admirer flood applying replacement heal eased uncertainty brothers recent discoveries recording spy undetected textbook dreaded licensed pathfinders restriction threatens ‘everblaze’ accusation fintan pricked balefire fintan’s requires fuel supported cosmic ‘fire ignite conclusive example surveillance ruining depths former dealing approved overrule objection trusted phantom rebels snatched emissary citizen confidential duly noted digging forty-one partly imprisoned sorting reminders pity tension distant lately preparing prejudice megacrush cave commands successful method unwrapping names: connor kate natalie freeman apply permit huddled thinner echoes evacuee note’s unquenchable abandon supporter afar forty-two stashed drawers ‘you threaten chaperone global dumped significance supplied clothing resistant fly willful punish facets stagger hills screeched tying pried displays seals survival glinting corneas swoop thickest raspy coughs locate singeing shift current overcome coughing inferno ouch thrashing clouded watery beads capped treats paced treating scorched angrier contorted squatted pee severe scalding plunked sticky-sweet healthy grim balled-up yelling homes camped affairs mesmerized desperation launching steal dumping tenderness justified reacts offer unintelligible agreeing concerns forty-three relatively illness actress w-what admitting lifeless freaky dumber connections traitorous resisting grasp peace decency furball storm’s appropriate cliff reveling shard clatter soothing relishing pulverized smithereens boulder violent frightened irrational fallen possibly smothered meaty cloaked swooped sickeningly nostrils sedative cursed rallied scuffle scuttled captor circulation rasped viselike lolled rescued forty-four bonds staging unfortunate complication fog scrambling muddled funerals pendants vise sweetness blackness necessary loomed constricted heaving choking gruff hyperventilating suffocates coated hacking nods croaked relocate stolen grunt syllable drugs mist strapped bound shivers eerie breathy wheeze venom trail gumption predicament footfalls disposed disappearance guts throb ignorant cackle toy reserve widen contorting poison ple clarity struggle overwhelming happiness rocked jostling rescuer foggy occasionally elevator altitude delirium parted flimsy fumbling promises caress weary forty-five searing heightened awareness sensory overload barrage cigarette butts alley surveying hideout interrogation kidnappers scoured alexandre desperately operates anyone’s him: upcoming rounded apologized broom peeking roofs yards landmark eiffel gaped graceful paris france french indian saris currency exchange robbing bank machine atm watches account measures ‘make work’ cameras covering buttons alarm bills robbed technopath froster internet café sandwiches cheese once-living boxy computers navigated web browser googled number-one result pont iii bridge seine lanterns shopkeeper sped excitement decorations horizon lamp nexuses lasts mathematics applied dawn forty-six melder stun evening strolls cloaks leader obscurer bends distortion coil rope goons goon pathways underestimate wire enhanced wishful swirl severing rapid duck whizzed seizure dusted flailed gurgling blank forefinger crescent shaped jagged cowl stumble scarred heft frenzy hatred writhing strengthened pumping pulse heavyset figure’s hideouts options battering crushed nearing tug-of-war lessened allowing glorious drift fading surrendered mind’s imagination funeral weariness overtaking hazy snow labored conscious sparkle freedom sweep forty-seven brightness peaceful wove persisted appeal surge newfound pooled aches splintered clearer enveloped strawberry-blond-haired numbing sedated tingles luxuriating gulping wetness numb shhh sniffled recognizing propped girly seasons faltered proves meaningful floppy snickers emergencies conversations flirting scratch

blasts streaking injuries concentration’s cell half-drained gaunt fleeing canceling flitted nuzzling scratched there’d yawned lights forty-eight covers washed sandor goblin bodyguard inflictor paralysis semiconscious incapacitated dormant trauma latent polyglot languages advance interrogated sandor’s bunny seven-foot-tall buffed-out overtime blindfolded seared monitoring proved arrested custody awaiting deaths tragic innocence error motivate condemning madness reluctance single-handedly now’s crescent-shaped recalled epiphany overweight swells digest explains operative guarding subliminal advantage activate developed who’ll address database detectives arson reigned supreme wisest greater questioned decades measure influential amok globe rejected imprison devastated uprooted supporters initiative resign outspoken recruited activity satisfied handled poorly kidnapped prisoner resolved disposal stamped justice voiced revenge birthday birthdays indefinite spans thirteen-year-old crushes plots rebellions grown-ups understands teenager accepted bargain relented insisting uncertain responding arrange forty-nine pedestal charges bylaws sub-bylaws committed transgressions minor tortured regal express safely accused drafting addressed firmly murmurs debated arguments raging attitude disrespectful rebellious overlooked gratitude however static rulers experiences inappropriate assign ‘already served’ sang admission din bursting provisional basis due aforementioned cannot proceed suggestion issues seats smoothing occasion fancier signaling require records indicate provided remain appreciated despised gladly nicely dipped textbooks someday squash toughest earn deserves murderous successfully fingering justifiably displeasure smirking retake propose alternative state events revealed therefore practical prudent career prospects shifting internal logical volatile qualifies majority erupting directing registered cuddly earned oneon-one immediate tangle concluded gathered twirling nudging trades sidestepped congratulate surviving multiple tribunals swirls diamonds feminine unlatch decides woven triply journey

[lacmene]

so i purchased some interesting dolls

I was thrifting with my wife when i saw these girlies, the outfits caught my eye immediately so i bought them. Let me tell you how actually interesting this find is.

These two are wearing a miniature version of the 2015 Qantas airlines uniform.

now this isn't that weird right? there have been lots of air hostess barbies over the years, except these were commissioned by Qantas. In 2015 to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the company's founding, Qantas hired designer Martin Grant to create a miniature version of the company's latest uniform to be displayed in the Qantas lounge and later the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences in Sydney to go along with a collection donated posthumously by John Willmott–Potts here’s an article with more info on that.

however Qantas also commissioned a small Adelaide based doll clothing artist who goes by Margellen to create 5 other replica dolls for their social media campaign.

According to Margellen’s blog the dolls were flown out all over the world to be photographed for Qantas’ social media. However the one in-front of the Sydney opera house is the only one i can find.

here are Margellen’s dolls reboxed before being sent out.

now the ladies i ended up with:

this one seems to be a finished doll, her dress is nicely lined so shes probably an extra or a doll that was donated after the media campaign ended right?

this is the other doll she was with, while they look similar there are actually a lot of differences.

her belt is a separate plastic accessory and not a sewn on ribbon.

the edges are raw and unfinished!!!

the black closure is glued on velcro instead of sewn on snaps

hand sewn darts probably done to adjust the pattern before the final

so i believe these girlies are prototypes of Margellen’s work, i have no idea how they ended up in a thrift store in Sydney but I’m very glad to have them in my life. The finished piece is so well made it feels better than some human clothes I’ve had.

Margellen’s socials haven’t been active in a few years so i hope she is doing well, if this post somehow makes it back to her i would love to hear more about her lovely creations. I haven’t given my girls a proper clean yet as i wanted to document them as they looked when i first got them, my plan now is to clean and display them together and find them some 2015 barbie style black pumps to match the original vision.

[fishrights69]

My Top 5 GARBAGE fish that suck

Here we go again. After receiving a very high ammount of notes!! (61 UwU) on the last fish list, here's another top 5 no one asked for. I've tried to use the reasoning of ''all fish are good'' but let's be honest, we'd be better off without these. 5. Monkfish🙏

So these things are weird as hell. Their ugliness alone landed them on this list. Not only are they ugly as shit, but they're also mean motherfuckers that eat basically anything. They like to cover themselves in mud and just chill there until something crosses their path which imo is fucking lazy. Some people do eat them as a delicacy apparently(ew?). Props to them for getting over the looks. Ugly/10 5/10 for laziness 4.Hairy Frog Fish💇‍♀️

If you wonder wtf are you looking at, this fish is the living embodiment of that feeling you get when you find hair in your food. This girlie loves to swallow as it's mouth can open to make space for fish almost twice her size so don't go sitting too close 💦 Still, it doesn't take away from the fact that she looks like a mistake. 4/10 appearance 8/10 for the deep throating skills 3. Goblin Shark 👺

First of all, these sharks look like if someone designed a fish based on a child's drawing of a shark. Instead of going the terrifying route and choosing one of these pictures, I opted for a derpy yet still creepy photo. Besides being quite good at ambushing prey, these dudes still tend to eat man made garbage which further argues their position on ''the garbage fish top5™''. They also are basically living fossils since they're old af and most of their body is atrophied. 3/10 appearance 6/10 for still living so long despite everything.

2.Bony-Eared Assfish🍑

This fish is for all ass obsessed fuckers. Grilling this baby and enjoying it counts as eating ass. Some cool facts about him: -The bony-eared assfish has the smallest brain-to-body weight ratio out of all vertebrates. -Assfish are soft and flabby with a light skeleton (so like a real ass) As for personality, they are not what I'd call assholes. They are quite sluggish as they prefer to sort of flap around with short bursts of energy instead of swim. They don't do much besides that which makes them a very underwhelming fish despite the sexy name :( Apparently they were given this name to make up for how utterly boring they are. 2/10 appearance 1/10 Interest in them or what they are good for (spoiler, nothing)

If you're a fish enthusiast, you probably know what's coming at nr.1 🥁 🥁 1. Ocean Sunfish☀️

There are far, faar too many reasons for this fish to be on the first spot. Not only are they the dumbest fish in the whole world, but they also are not good swimmers AT ALL (wtf is with these poorly designed fish who cannot swim??). Scientists are still perplexed at how this fish continues to stay alive. If you want more shitty facts about them, here's a link to a very famous post trashing these bitches. BUT, I have my very own reason to hate the sunfish. One cursed morning, I decided to go get educated about animals and visit Naturalis, a museum in Leiden, The Netherlands. I was having a blast looking at all the beautiful animals showcased, along with the cool facts and atmosphere. I excitedly get to the aquatic creatures floor and mesmerised, I try to take in all the beauty. At the long corridor nearing the exit, I look around admiring the fish that were displayed. Thinking I had seen it all, I move further when I turn a corner and out of nowhere.. . . . . . . . BAM

this GIANT motherfucker, hidden in a corner makes it's presence known. I'm not kidding when I say this thing is huge. Here's a picture of the replica from another angle for size reference. As you can guess, I was legit extremely spooked and actually screamed. :( 0/10 appearence 0/10 fuck this thing. useless and it gave me a heart attack

BONUS: I'm sorry but I think I've tortured myself and you enough, so to make up for it, here's a cute fishy instead: (take him)

Alright thanks for reading and follow for more fish content. Suggest me some more top5's I could do, be it fish related, or whatever your mind decides to curse me with. Still need to cleanse yours eyes? My top 5 coolest fish

[llatimeria]

my pipe dream that's never coming true is one day opening a combination art & natural history museum. instead of bare white rooms itd have displays like this

(from the isabella stewart gardner museum in boston)

but it's all stuff that looks straight out a victorian naturalist's wet dream; collections of taxidermied animals, bones, fossils, pinned bugs, lifelike replicas, other specimens, scientific illustrations, and other various educational bits and bobs;

a few displays of live aquaria, terraria, and aviaries thrown in for good measure, ideally mostly containing animals that are already well-established in captivity as pets, not anything too insanely exotic;

and it hosts arts & crafts classes for kids and adults where we make nature- or science-related art pieces like these:

you see my vision right. You See It

[thatrandomlemononyourcounter1]

Keepers of the Lost Cities Chapter 1

Here it is folks. The beginning. I really really hope this goes well ;-;.

UPDATE: I'm dropping the link to the fic on google docs so I don't abuse Tumblr :)

UPDATE UPDATE: We're up to chapter 6! Once we get to chapter 10, I might attempt to draw something. Sidenote, I might actually cry if someone made fan art of my oc or any of the 'bonus scenes' I add into the book.

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE: Y'all, we're at chapter 8 now. I might randomly post two chapters in a day, depending on the length of the chapters.

KOTLC BOOK REWRITE!!

Chapter 1

Sophie

“Miss Foster!” Mr. Sweeney’s nasal voice cut through Sophie’s blaring music as he yanked her earbuds out by the cords. “Have you decided that you’re too smart to pay attention to this information?”

Sophie forced her eyes open. She tried not to wince as the bright fluorescents reflected off the unnecessarily vivid blue walls of the museum, amplifying the throbbing headache she was hiding.

“No, Mr. Sweeney,” she mumbled, shrinking under the glares of her now staring classmates. She pulled her shoulder-length blond hair around her face, wishing she could hide behind it. 

This was exactly the kind of attention she went out of her way to avoid. Why she wore dull colors and lurked in the back, blocked by the other kids who were at least a foot taller than her. 

It was the only way to survive as a twelve-year-old high school senior. 

“Then perhaps you can explain why you were listening to your iPod instead of following along?” Mr. Sweeney held up her earbuds like they were evidence in a crime. 

Although to him, they probably were. 

He’d dragged Sophie’s class to the Natural History Museum in Balboa Park, assuming his students would be excited about the all-day field trip. He didn’t seem to realize that unless the giant dinosaur replicas came to life and started eating people, no one cared. 

Sophie tugged out a loose eyelash—a nervous habit—and stared at her feet.

There was no way to make Mr. Sweeney understand why she needed the music to cancel the noise. 

He couldn’t even hear the noise. 

Chatter from dozens of tourists echoed off the fossil-lined walls and splashed around the cavernous room. But their mental voices were the real problem. 

Scattered, disconnected pieces of thoughts broadcast straight into Sophie’s brain—like being in a room with hundreds of TVs blaring different shows at the same time. They sliced into her consciousness, leaving sharp pains in their wake. 

She was a freak. 

It’d been her secret—her burden—since she fell and hit her head when she was five years old. She’d tried blocking the noise. Tried ignoring it. Nothing helped. And she could never tell anyone. They wouldn’t understand. 

“Since you’ve decided you’re above this lecture, why don’t you give it?” Mr. Sweeney asked. He pointed to the enormous orange dinosaur with a duckbill in the center of the room. “Explain to the class how the Lambeosaurus differs from the other dinosaurs we’ve studied.” 

Sophie repressed a sigh as her mind flashed to an image of the information card in front of the display. She’d glanced at it when they entered the museum, and her photographic memory recorded every detail. 

As she recited the facts in a droning tone, Mr. Sweeney’s face twisted into a scowl, and she could hear her classmates’ thoughts grow increasingly sour. They weren’t exactly fans of their resident child prodigy. 

They called her Curvebuster. 

She finished her answer, and Mr. Sweeney grumbled something that sounded like “know-it-all” as he stalked off to the exhibit in the next room over. Sophie didn’t follow. 

The thin walls separating the two rooms didn’t block the noise, but they muffled it. She grabbed what little relief she could. 

“Nice job, superfreak,” Garwin Chang—a boy wearing a T-shirt that said BACK OFF! I’M GONNA FART—sneered as he shoved past her to join their classmates. “Maybe they’ll write another article about you. ‘Child Prodigy Teaches Class About the Lame-o-saurus.’” 

“Hah. You only wish they’d write articles about you Chang.” A short blonde walked up to Sophie’s side, tilting her head towards her. “Don’t worry about him, Soph.” 

Quinn Parker was a presence not easily ignored. She was also Sophie’s only friend.

They were both only twelve, and seniors in high school, navigating the world with strange abilities together. 

Quinn could feel what other people were feeling if she got within close proximity of them, and knowing what others were feeling was, to quote Quinn, ‘Not fun.’ 

Sophie figured that must be almost as bad as having to hear other people’s thoughts. 

She tugged out another eyelash. 

Quinn shook her head and grabbed Sophie’s wrist to stop her from pulling any more. “He’s stupid anyway.” 

“I guess.” Sophie whispered. 

“I’m serious. You’re way smarter than anyone else I know.” Quinn reassured her, not letting go until Sophie begrudgingly nodded. “Okay, well, I know you probably want some relief from your headache, so I’ll leave you be. Don’t do anything dumb.”

Sophie sighed as she saw Quinn approaching Garwin, and had a feeling that she was going to start a problem that really didn’t need to be started.  Even if Garwin really was being a jerk. 

Garwin was still bitter Yale had offered her a full scholarship while his rejection letter had arrived a few weeks before. 

Not that she was allowed to go. 

Her parents said it was too much attention, too much pressure, and she was too young. 

End of discussion. 

So she’d be attending the much closer, much smaller San Diego City College next year—a fact some annoying reporter found newsworthy enough to post in the local paper the day before—CHILD PRODIGY CHOOSES CITY COLLEGE OVER IVY LEAGUE—complete with her senior photo.

 Her parents freaked when they found it. “Freaked” wasn’t even a strong enough word. More than half their rules were to help Sophie “avoid unnecessary attention.” Front-page articles were pretty much their worst nightmare. They’d even called the newspaper to complain. 

The editor had seemed almost as unhappy as they were. 

The story was run in place of an article on the arsonist terrorizing the city—and they were still trying to figure out how the mistake had happened. Bizarre fires with white-hot flames and smoke that smelled like burnt sugar took priority over everything. Especially a story about an unimportant little girl most people went out of their way to ignore. 

Or, they used to at least. 

Across the museum, Sophie caught sight of a tall, dark-haired, sepia-skinned, boy reading yesterday’s newspaper with the embarrassing black-and-white photo of her on the front. Then he looked up and stared straight at her. She’d never seen eyes that particular shade of blue before—teal, like the smooth pieces of sea glass she’d found on the beach—and they were so bright they glittered. 

Something flickered across his expression when he caught her gaze. Disappointment? Before she could decide what to make of it, he shrugged off the display he’d been leaning against and closed the distance between them. The smile he flashed belonged on a movie screen, and Sophie’s heart did a weird fluttery thing. 

“Is this you?” he asked, pointing to the picture. Sophie nodded, feeling tongue-tied. He was probably fifteen, and by far the cutest boy she’d ever seen, so why was he talking to her? 

“I thought so.” He squinted at the picture, then back at her. “I didn’t realize your eyes were brown.” 

“Uh . . . yeah,” she said, not sure what to say. “Why?” 

He shrugged. “No reason.” 

Something felt off about the conversation, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. And she couldn’t place his accent. Kind of British, but different somehow. Crisper? Which bothered her—but she didn’t know why. 

“Are you in this class?” she asked, wishing she could suck the words back as soon as they left her mouth. Of course he wasn’t in her class. She’d never seen him before. She wasn’t used to talking to boys—especially cute boys—and it made her brain a little mushy.  

His perfect smile returned as he told her, “No.” Then he pointed to the hulking greenish figure they were standing in front of. An Albertosaurus, in all its giant, lizardesque glory. “Tell me something. Do you really think that’s what they looked like? It’s a little absurd, isn’t it?” 

“Not really,” Sophie said, trying to see what he saw. It looked like a small T. rex: big mouth, sharp teeth, ridiculously short arms. Seemed fine to her. “Why? What do you think they looked like?” 

He laughed. “Never mind. I’ll let you get back to your class. It was nice to meet you, Sophie.” He turned to leave just as two classes of kindergartners barreled into the fossil exhibit. 

The crushing wave of screaming voices was enough to knock Sophie back a step. But their mental voices were a whole other realm of pain. Kids’ thoughts were stinging, high-pitched needles—and so many at once was like an angry porcupine attacking her brain. 

So much for relief… 

 Sophie closed her eyes as her hands darted to her head, rubbing her temples to ease the stabbings in her skull. Then she remembered she wasn’t alone. 

She glanced around to see if anyone noticed her reaction and locked eyes with the boy. His hands were at his forehead, and his face wore the same pained expression she imagined she’d had only a few seconds before. 

“Did you just . . . hear that?” he asked, his voice hushed. 

She physically felt the blood drain from her face. 

He couldn’t mean . . . It had to be the screaming kids. They created plenty of racket on their own. Shrieks and squeals and giggles, plus sixty or so individual voices chattering away. 

Voices. 

She gasped and took another step back as her brain solved her earlier problem. 

She could hear the thoughts of everyone in the room. But she couldn’t hear the boy’s distinct, accented voice unless he was speaking. His mind was totally and completely silent. 

That had only happened with one other person.

“Who are you?” she whispered.

 His eyes widened. “You did—didn’t you?” He moved closer, leaning in to whisper. “Are you a Telepath?” 

She flinched. 

The word made her skin itch. And her reaction gave her away.

 “You are! I can’t believe it,” he whispered. 

Sophie backed toward the exit. She wasn’t about to reveal her secret to a total stranger. It had taken her months- no- years to trust Quinn enough to tell her. 

“It’s okay,” he said, holding out his hands as he moved closer, like she was some sort of wild animal he was trying to calm. “You don’t have to be afraid. I’m one too.” 

Sophie froze. 

“My name’s Fitz,” he added, stepping closer still. 

Fitz? What kind of a name was Fitz? 

She studied his face, searching for some sign that this was all part of a joke. 

“I’m not joking,” he said, like he knew exactly what she was thinking. 

Maybe he did.

She wobbled on her feet. She’d spent the past seven years wishing she could find someone else like her —someone who could do what she could. Now that she’d found him, she felt like the world had tilted sideways. 

He grabbed her arms to steady her. “It’s okay, Sophie. I’m here to help you. We’ve been looking for you for twelve years.” 

Twelve years? And what did he mean by “we”? Better question: What did he want with her? 

The walls closed in and the room started to spin. Air. She needed air. She jerked away and bolted through the museum, running straight into Quinn. 

“Soph? You okay? What’s wrong?” 

Great.  

Sophie couldn’t respond. She just ran, ignoring Quinn’s shouting for her to come back. 

Sophie shot out of the museum’s ginormous doors, nearly tripping in the process. She sucked in giant breaths as she ran down the stairs in front of the museum. The smoke from the fires burned her lungs and white bits of ash flew in her face, but she ignored them. She wanted as much space between her and the strange boy as possible. 

“Sophie, come back!” Fitz shouted behind her. 

She picked up her pace as she raced through the courtyard at the base of the steps, past the wide fountain and over the grassy knolls to the sidewalk. No one got in her way—everyone was inside because of the poor air quality. But she could still hear his footsteps gaining on her. 

“Wait,” Fitz called. “You don’t have to be afraid.” 

She ignored him, pouring all her energy into her sprint and fighting the urge to glance over her shoulder to see how far back he was. 

She made it halfway through a crosswalk before she heard Quinn’s terrified voice calling her name.

 The sound of screeching tires reminded her she hadn’t looked both ways. Her head turned and she locked eyes with a terrified driver struggling to stop his car before it plowed right over her. 

She was going to die.

And there ya go folks. Consider yourselves fed. No but fr I accept all criticism (unless you're being a douche) and I love knowing other people's opinions. (Please tell me if it sucks :)) One thing I forgot to mention is that I moved up the timing a bit, mostly so we could have newer music and a Nintendo switch in the fic. (I wanted the gang to play Mario kart don't come for me.) So right now the current timing is September of 2017.

[museum-spaces]

1500 follower 'special'

Hello Nerds,

Like I said a few days ago, we have broken 1500 followers on here. Which is baffling. However, it did make me want to reach back into my roots from 2019 when I made this blog; accessible museum reviews.

This is still a major challenge in my life because... I run the only museum in town and it would NOT pass any of my criteria for access - working on it but multi-year project to just get ramps in.

On the 17th, though, I had a work lunch in Vancouver. Ianto and I were engaged with the do or a training session until a little after 3pm, then we had our own time until about 5pm when our friend and ride picked us up. So I decided to do some googling on duckduckgo to find an exhibition that we could attend in the area. Unfortunately before I did that googling I saw a sign advertising 'National Geographic's Beyond King Tut' at the Canada Place convention centre which was practically across the street from where we left our trainer. So we went there.

Firstly, I assumed there would be some artifacts and/or replicas on display. There was not. This is the way it was set up; 1. walk into a 'theatre' with a short intro video, then a door opens up and you enter a corridor that takes you through 3 'stories'. 1; finding the tomb, 2. the life of Tut, and 3; Tut today. Then you get to the pop up gift shop and then you're done.

Going just of the name of the thing 'beyond tut' I was excited to learn new things about the Boy King. So Ianto and I went into the theatre and watched the intro thing. Already the soundscaping sucked balls. Everything was too loud. I put my NCHs on without playing any media. First red flag; the video introducing King Tut and his tomb showed many many shots of the Pyramids. For those of you who aren't aware King Tut was entombed at the Valley of the Kings just outside of Luxor, or ancient Thebes. The Giza plateau is a whopping 634 KM away or 7 and a half hours by car. So... not looking great on the accuracy of information or the deepness of exploration. But... moving on.

Inside the corridor I was greeted with digital screens and even more bad soundscaping. I honestly couldn't understand a word of the audio and only remember it as a 'noise' I don't know if it was music or words or sound effects to go along with the information in each corridor. The corridors were also incredibly dark. The only source of light were the screens and the floor/walls were black. If not for Ianto I would have lost my balance.

Story 1; your very basic rundown of events; carter running out of money, practically stumbling across Tut, finding a new financial backer and that's about it. That was spread across 3 or 4 screens and in between them were screens displaying historic photos, and modern images of Tut's gravegoods. But they weren't static photos. Instead they were covered in digital rocks that would crumble away to reveal a hidden treasure. Which is a neat idea... but these ones had Noise of Crumbling amidst the rest of the Noise and were on a very short loop.

The only new information I left that story with is that Tutankamun was the first example of modern egyptological finds that remained in Egypt's control. Up until that point all found items left the control of the Egyptian government. These days Egypt has very tight control on their national past - visitors and archaeologists can't even share unauthorized photos from digs.

Story 2; the life and death of Tut. By this point I knew I already knew all the stuff already so I focused on blocking out the Noise and training Ianto with the steps our trainer gave us less than an hour before. There was one 'cool' space - they marked out on the floor the size of each of Tut's sarcophagi and on the 4 walls they projected the story of his journey into the afterlife. However, the soundscape of that room was so bad that Ianto asked to leave. After that I remember walking through hanging 'bandages' with depictions of a few of the amulets found wrapped in with Tut.

Story 3; I have no idea what this story was about. I retained nothing. Except right at the end before the shop there was a huge room with a river boat replica in the middle, a bunch of benches, and all the walls - and the sail of the boat - were projected storytelling with lots of beautiful areal shots of Luxor and the surrounding area. When we walked in all the benches were full but noone was interacting with the Obviously a Replica Boat. So Ianto and I walked over and sat on it. immediately everyone else who was standing sat on the boat too. I thought 'they need a sign for this thing' because the sale being a literal projector screen wasn't enough for the others to figure it out. Ianto and I watched the photos for a bit. The Noise was still there. And eventually the swooping nature of the video was too much for my brain. We went to the shop.

The Shop; typical. There were 2 things I thought of getting; a button up tee covered in hieroglyphs and a bracelet with a cartouche that said 'love' on it. In the end I got neither because I paid for a ticket to enter, the shirt was a poly blend and cost 80CAD, and the bracelet was poor quality and cost 25CAD. I would have bought an insulated cup as mine recently broke but the seal on them wasn't what I wanted.

We left after that, caught the seabus across the water and met up with our friend for dinner before driving home.

So; getting there; pretty easy. lots of parking and at least 2 proper terminals for city transit within 2 blocks of the place. Navigating in Canada Place is very simple.

Price; as expected. I paid just under 40CAD with tax which is what I expected for a Canadian show. BUT it is not financially accessible.

Mobility; it was 100 per cent level from start to finish. The only seating available was at the theatre start and the boat finish. If you can navigate steadily for the time in between which is self paced... you're good. I didn't have a measuring tape so the angles might not be right for people of shorter stature or who use chairs to get around but the font was large enough to read at a distance. In the shop I was pretty zonked but I noticed a few items such as clothing and bags set on hooks too high up, but I think the rest of the shop was okay. I am concerned about the light distribution throughout the corridors. Someone with low vision, depth perception issues, or migraine disorders might struggle there.

Auditory; I wore my very expensive noise cancelling headphones over top of my Flare Audio Calmer-tm- ear plugs and it was still too much for me. I am relatively able to just deal with noise for the most part so I would not recommend this to anyone who struggles with street noises or movie theatres. It is also very hard on auditory processing. Mine is generally pretty good except when tired or stressed. But like I said above; this was just Noise as far as I could tell.

scent; fine. there was packed incense in the store but other than People Smell there was nothing in the corridors.

Washrooms; located outside the actual display area in the halls of the convention centre. there are many gendered washrooms - 3+ stalls per room with multiple rooms - but only a single gender neutral accessible washroom for each set of gendered ones. Ianto and I tried to use one of those because... dog... but it was occupied and I needed to pee so we went into the ladies. The stalls were very very small. We made it work because Ianto is 50lb and I didn't have a bag or bulky coat but... it was very tight.

That said, there are a lot of washrooms and we might have been able to walk for 2 minutes to an empty accessible stall.

I give this display a 2/10 for interesting museum experience... but for access;

It was not truly accessible for me, so for autism and related 3/10 - the shop was nice if expensive but for overall accessibility 5/10 because it is quite mobility friendly and they didn't make a fuss at all about my service dog.

[squadrah]

From My CuriousCat

"La Squadra goes to a museum… What happens?"

Even while dressed in ordinary clothes, Risotto is obviously drawing a lot of attention and wherever he goes, people are shrinking away from him and mumbling to each other. This eventually gets to the man so much he decides to turn himself transparent with Metallica; however, his outline is still visible in the sunlight as he moves around, so now visitors are whispering about a ghost haunting the museum and security is trying to follow the silhouette. Again, not ideal.

Formaggio and Melone seem to be cruising on the single fused brain cell because they keep playing off each other to goof on everything. Both of them know a number of surprising facts and trivia on the exhibit, but one cracks a pun here and the other a corny joke there, followed by self-satisfied chortles that other visitors and some of their teammates obviously don't appreciate. Formaggio took a picture of Melone holding his palms towards the statue of a naked man in an obvious offer to cup his balls for him out of pity. It's the best picture they took at the entire exhibit.

Pesci also knows some facts about the exhibit because he got one of the guide booklets and he's constantly reading out from it to Prosciutto as a means of calming him down and keeping his focus on the exhibit instead of murdering his friends for being assholes. Unfortunately, Pesci's volume and cadence does draw attention, so Prosciutto's blood pressure keeps increasing.

Ghiaccio tries to be appreciative of culture, but he keeps muttering under his breath like "What's so special about this?" At one point he gets into a heated argument with some guy that security has to break up. Ghiaccio demands that the guy meet him in the parking lot in ten minutes and the guy accepts. (Ghiaccio gets ghosted and he goes back inside even madder than he was before.)

Illuso complains from time to time about being bored and his feet hurting and there being too many people there, but nobody is really acknowledging his pain or the validity of his statements, so he needs to go the extra mile of walking up to individual teammates to complain at them in a more personalized way. He's not doing anyone any favors that day.

Gelato and Sorbet detached from the others at some point and are discussing the various displays among themselves, cracking jokes or saying things like "I'd get that for you if I could", and explaining how they would ideally get the thing (I'm talking very colorful heist scenarios getting tossed about). It's very touching, really, but they are making some of the security guards nervous.

Finally the team unites at the museum gift shop, where Prosciutto buys one (1) moderately priced thing to Pesci for good behavior. (Pesci is in tears wailing that he will treasure it, causing a minor scene and making Prosciutto regret he didn't wait until they got home to give him his prize.) When they all go home, Illuso and Formaggio reveal that they have shoplifted some trinkets, so Risotto is given a miniature replica of a cool vase. He sheds a single manly tear.

[ayliamc]

Italia

Day 8 - Art Fatigue

Steps walked: 22,802

Flights climbed: 44!

Vehicles ridden: 0

Points of interest visited: 6

Leonardos spotted: where one used to be

A truly luxurious morning today. Not even hampered by the discovery of tickets booked for an earlier time than we expected. ‘Twas a sunny and cool morning, perfect for our plan to hike up for a view of the city. Also our first [and only] time exploring the south side of the Arno. We passed by Galileo’s house. No big deal right? It certainly seems not to be. It’s just a building, now three townhouses, with a little plaque and a little mural. Otherwise unmarked, no pomp, no circumstance. We might have missed it had it not been for Google maps.

I can be seen here pointing at both the plaque and a cat who was walking by. (Have I mentioned I miss the animals?)

A little further up the hill was one of many botanical gardens. We got admission and marveled at the fact that they advertised wifi and offered the password freely, and the password was rejected about seven times before randomly being accepted. No one could make sense of this. But we wandered around the poorly marked garden and enjoyed nice views of Firenze despite my indignation that the map and signage was so senseless.

A little further up the hill was the Piazzale Michelangelo where yet another replica of the David resides, this one in bronze. It also provided a great overlook of the city — evidenced in part by the large crowd we had joined all seeking the same view.

It really felt like we could be looking out onto a city in 1475, the same city Leonardo loved and lived in. The same city that has produced so many great minds. The art mouth, where creativity and genius stems from the wellspring of the Arno.

We made our way back to our room — without using gps! — and had some leftovers for lunch before heading back out into the city.

We had seen signs advertising an exhibit at the Palazzo Strozzi by one of my favorite modern artists, Anish Kapoor. I learned of him in 2009 when we saw one of his exhibits while living in London and was captivated by his work. So I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see another, and bonus: introduce his work to Dan. The exhibit happened to open today! Despite my earlier belief that it opened the tenth of July because of European dating. How lucky that we happened to be in Florence on the opening day of the exhibit! I wish it had been bigger. There weren’t many pieces installed but the ones we saw were incredible, featuring a wax installation I had seen in London and some mind bending mirror and black pieces that made you feel like you were at once falling forward and that the world was shifting around you.

From there we went back to Universo Vegano for a quick snack where I got drunker than I expected from the Aperol Spritz I got in lieu of the hot chocolate I wanted (they were out) but thoroughly enjoyed the hazelnut croissant (Dan got tiramisu),

then back to the Museo Opera dell’Duomo, the museum connected to the Duomo. The museum is housed within the same building in which Michelangelo carved the David, close to its original intended location (the Duomo) and close to its original actual location (outside the Palazzo Vecchio, former home of the Medici family) and a short walk from its current location (the Galleria dell’Academia). Much to my disappointment they did not have his old workshop preserved or on display even. The museum is instead filled with numerous sculptures, most of which were originally built to be featured inside the Duomo. At some point, the put the original pieces in the more protected museum and replaced them in the Duomo with copies. Items of note we saw included:

- the Gates of Paradise, made by a bunch of famous renaissance artists, none of whom are particularly interesting to me

- Michelangelo’s The Deposition, a statue he originally meant to adorn his tomb. But in typically Michelangelo form he got frustrated with imperfections in the marble and smashed it to pieces, leaving it unfinished before it was reassembled after his death

- An altar piece that had some work done by Verrocchio, Leonardo’s first teacher

Our tickets to the museum also came with admission to the crypt below the Duomo so we circled the massive cathedral looking for the entrance. By the time we found it, I was eager to sit down. We had already walked a LOT. At the museum, they’d made me check my backpack (my tiny little bag), and reinforced that the coat check was “only for the museum”. Well I got to experience some more of that “don’t expect things to make sense in Italy” vibe when they turned me away at the crypt for my backpack again, and offered me no solutions as to where I could check it. So Dan went in without me because I was too irritated to deal with it, and I gave my ticket to another woman who wanted to see the crypt but they were sold out. We never even entertained going into the refractory which we also had access to with our tickets. All we wanted to see was the museum anyway.

From there we went to the nearby Palazzo Vecchio. (No backpacks again! At least they had a locker room I could leave it in. Somehow today is the day we visited all the “no backpack” museums. Annoying.) It’s a very old building and as the Medici family lived there, it’s naturally filled with art. Say what you will about the Médicis, but they put a lot of money into the arts. The 1% don’t do that so much anymore. Thanks to the patronship of the Médicis we have works from the likes of people like Leonardo and Vasari and Botticelli.

Leonardo had been hired by the family to paint the Battle of Anghiari in their great hall, but he got bored and frustrated and moved away from Florence before it was ever finished. The incomplete fresco was then ruined when they expanded the room and it was subsequently painted over by a new fresco. There are theories that some of Leonardo’s work remains underneath, Dan-Brown-style conspiracies fueled by the “look and you shall find” message painted into the new fresco.

We saw about a million and a half paintings by Vasari, the frames all Botticelli, and by the end of the tour experienced what I can only explain as “art fatigue”. When we went to Ireland, every castle sighting illicited excitement. But after a week it was like “cool, ANOTHER castle what’s special about this one…” It’s taken three days in Firenze to have the same feeling about 500 year old paintings and reliefs by the great Italian masters of the renaissance. We were a little overloaded with it, and numbed to the magic. We did see Dante’s alleged death mask-but-probably-just-some-sculpture. And another incomplete Michelangelo. And Machiavelli’s old office when he was the Secretary of Firenze.

We had some time before dinner so we went back to the apartment where we both groaned, collapsed onto soft furniture, and sat in near silence for a half hour before we went back out to dinner.

We opted to return to Nirvana, where we had our first meal in Firenze. I got the ravioli again (no regrets) and Dan got a really tasty tagliatelle with truffle sauce.

We’ve certainly made the most of our time in Firenze. And the location of our apartment was beyond ideal, paid for with shitty wifi and a shower that offered me two whole minutes of hot water that night. I will miss this city.

[urban-swan]

((TW: Rant))

Kim Kardashian and the Met Gala.

I know this is probably some old news for some, but I can’t just shake this from me; it’s bothered me so much how such a thing could happen. I need to get this off my chest.

So as most of you have already seen, Kim Kardashian had worn the authentic Marilyn Monroe "Happy Birthday Mr. President" dress which dates back to 1962.

Admittedly, she wore the dress for a few moments before changing into a replica of the actual dress, but that begs the question, Why didn't she remain wearing the replica of the dress the entire time?

Not only this dress one of a kind, it is also known to be one of the most expensive dresses in the world. And also a part of history. Marilyn Monroe wore the dress to signify Women's rights and the freedom women have to wear whatever they want. Because of it's age, this dress is incredibly delicate, fragile, and sensitive. Even needing to be kept under appropriate climate levels and humidity levels while in display so it won't disintegrate. These types of historical items are so delicate, some museums question whether it is worth damaging the gown by trying to put it up on display, and whether the damage is worth it or not.

Unfortunately, Marilyn Monroe had been a victim of exploitation throughout her career. And even after her death many years ago, she is still exploited. This dress is hers, it was made and tailored to her, and it should've remained hers. She should've been the first and the last person to wear the dress. But because of peoples entitlement that has change.

I am beyond disgusted with Kim Kardashian and Ripley's for letting such a thing happen. Ripley's are the company which bought he dress when it was auctioned and put it out for display. Although they are not an official museum. they have seriously violated the ethics of Museums by letting someone wear such a gown. So even if they were to ever wish to become a museum, they have destroyed all chance of that happening ever.

Marilyn was a petite and small lady, she had a 24 or 25-inch waist, but even she struggled to fit into the dress. So much so, they had to sew her into the dress last minute. This is in no way to body-shame Kim but since she is obviously a much bigger hipped lady compared to Monroe, it is clear she would of not fit into the dress.

When looking at the Met Gala photos, you can clearly see where the damage has been done. The gown has been stretched and even Kim has stepped on the him of the dress several times. She even had that white coat with her for photos to hide the fact the dress couldn’t properly hit her. You’d think if that was the case, something would tell her or someone else would say that this wasn’t a good idea or it wouldn’t work out. Although Kim is not entirely to blame, Ripley's should've refused the idea and Kim's managers (if she has any) to shut down the idea too and instead let her wear the replica instead. And that Kim would've used her status in the world the express the importance of preserving such important things.

However, this is not the case and I am deeply heart-Broken by it.

Kim was not wearing an antique, she was wearing an artefact. And also, Ripley's had gifted Kim a lock of Marilyn's hair which I am disgusted by, these type of people have let Marilyn down. To all the people who let such a thing happen, I hope you all have your heads bowed down in shame.

There has even been pictures circulating online of the before and after of the dress after Kim had wore it; it showed visible strain and pulling on the fabric and clips, several rhinestones and gems had also come loose and fallen off.

What makes this even more saddening, is that this gown was worn by Marilyn Monroe just a few months before her death. Meaning this is one of the very last things we had of her. Although this might come across as weird, she wore this dress nude underneath and so practically her sweat and her essence was on that dress. But it has now been lost forever after being re-worn.

Kim Kardashian also were the very same authentic green ivy dress Marilyn did at the Golden Globe awards. Kim even was seen clutching the very same golden globe award Marilyn Monroe was presented to on that occasion.

Fortunately, I am not the only ones who thinks this online.

I’m going to politely put this in the best way I can: Excuse my language but for Fuck’s sake leave the poor woman alone, leave her some goddamn respect and let her rest in peace.

Sorry for that overly-long rant, hope you all enjoy the rest of your day.

(I’m also aware this isn’t my typical content/posts, really sorry but bare with.)

[gemsofgreece]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2022/07/08/science/elgin-marbles-3d-print.amp.html

Not sure if they will eventually do it, but some say that there are already creating replicas of the Parthenon Marbles in Britain.

I am linking the article from the National Herald instead because the Times’ one has a paywall and, besides that, the Times make the unacceptable mistake to call the marbles “The Elgin Marbles”. It’s 2022, are the mighty Times falling behind like that?!

A quick summary by me; a professor from Oxford took the initiative to create very good replicas of the Parthenon marbles so they can replace the original ones that will be sent back to Greece. The British Museum did not agree to this so participants of the project pretended to be simple visitors and took 3D photos of the exhibits that would then be used by a robot in a workshop in Italy. Something that this article doesn’t mention, there are also Greeks among the technicians participating in the project, not on an official level though.

All good, huh? Well, not exactly.

The National Herald brings forward an ethical problem about this whole endeavour. While the intention is good, the Greek state has not been consulted about this. TNH says that the Greek Minister of Culture has refrained from commenting so far. Do you see the problem? We have two British sides that get to decide for Greece without Greece. The Greek state should have been consulted about its own plans and intentions before this project started. Greece might not be comfortable with ALL of the marbles getting top notch replicas. It might not be comfortable with the use of Pentelic marble for them (marble from a mountain in Athens which was also the marble used for the temples in Acropolis). It almost feels like bending over backwards to keep UK’s Greek display as valid and rich and exact as Greece’s Greek display. Why should they be absolutely equal? I don’t know, should they?

Perhaps Greece had different intentions, i.e providing replicas for SOME of the exhibits or lending original ones for regular short term exhibitions. On the other hand, Greece might find this idea good. I don’t know. The point is, Greece was not asked. The righteous Oxford professor apparently took for granted that of course Greece should be exhilarated about this.

We have two sides of entitlement here: old-school colonialist entitlement and modern woke entitlement.

[nyessasundries]

Lament for Gilgamesh, performed by Peter Pringle on a reconstruction of the Gold Lyre of Ur

From the video description:

This video is a performance of a Sumerian incantation and lament upon the death of the hero, GILGAMESH. For those who are interested, the translation and transliteration of the Sumerian cuneiform tablets can be found online at the University of Oxford website - The Electronic Text Corpus Of Sumerian Literature.

“The Gold Lyre of Ur” was unearthed by archaeologist, Sir Leonard Woolley, in the 1920’s during his excavations in the Sumerian city of Ur, in modern day Iraq. Unfortunately, as you can see from the photo at the top of the video, there was little left of the lyre because the Sumerians simply put it into the ground 5000 years ago and covered it over with tons of earth. In the intervening millennia, everything that was degradable turned to dust, and only the imprint of the instrument was left, along with the stone mosaic decorations, the four vignettes made of shell, and the gold.

Thanks to very careful measurements and photos taken by Woolley, museum curators have been able to reconstruct the fragile bits and pieces, and the instrument is now on display in Baghdad. What you see in this video is my own replica, made from cedar like the original. Needless to say, I used brass sheeting instead of gold, but it is unlikely that the ornamentation would change the basic sound of the instrument.

A lyre of this size, whose lowest note is the same as the lowest ‘C’ on a piano keyboard, would probably have been used as a drone instrument, and would not have been used to play melodies like a harp or a smaller lyre. The bench-shaped bridges used on these instruments, suggest that they probably “buzzed” like the modern Indian tamboura, or the Ethiopian “begena” lyre. The buzzing sound made possible by the wide flat bridge, greatly increases the volume output of the string, as well as the decay time of the vibration.

The large “balag” drum you see on my left in the video, is four feet (120 cm) in diameter, and was a common percussion instrument in Sumer, although there are none that have survived the ages. These drums were an integral part of ceremonies to summon the souls in the “Netherworld” because, as you can hear, they make enough noise “to wake the dead”! The belief in an afterlife was an integral part of Sumerian culture, and I highly recommend Dr. Irving Finkel’s wonderful book on the subject, THE FIRST GHOSTS.

The video of my full performance was too long, so I have edited it down to about 8 minutes (still too long IMO). Much of this sort of incantation was repetition, but I suspect the ancient Sumerians had a greater tolerance for long, drawn-out rituals than most of us do today. I chopped several minutes out of the middle.

We have the Sumerian cuneiform texts, as well as some of the musical instruments, but we do not have the melodies because the Sumerians didn’t write them down. I believe that the parts that were sung were probably largely improvised, just as they are today in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Ancient Sumerian teachers did not write down their music because they taught mainly by memory and by ear.

From the standpoint of a singer, I have performed these texts in a loud, declarative style. The Sumerians did not have amplification, and singers had to be heard by large crowds at temple gatherings, or sometimes outside.

[kyogre-blue]

I’ve technically filled out every area and realm of my teapot... but now there are some updates I’d like to make, heheh. It never ends. 

As a whole, there are three projects I still want to work on: 

Liyue mansion in Floating Abode. I originally intended to furnish it as a museum displaying the Traveler’s collection of special items, but it was just too empty and didn’t feel right. Instead, I’m doing a little build I call “how dare you come to visit” ie pine screen hell. Of course, getting enough pine screens is slow going... I also added the Liyue gift sets in, since that seems to be how I like to roll. 

Conch Court in Cool Isle. I do have a nice little boardwalk build that I can use (saved to replica), and it’s actually currently empty except for Faruzan’s outdoor set, since I don’t have anywhere else to put it. But I’d also like to build something based on the Silver Millennium from Sailor Moon. The Sumeru buildings are probably the closest we’ll get, but it’ll be challenging since I don’t have someone else’s base to start from lol. 

Madoromi in Silken Courtyard. At minimum, I want to redo the sealed shrine using dynamic linking (embeded sets? whatever it’s called) since the current sinking is just too bulky. But I’m also considering changing up what is above it. The current small shrine between sakura is a little too plain. I compensated by putting in way too many foxes, but it’s just not cool enough. I’m going to look at some replicas and think about the options for now. 

Once we’re past the new year, I’m also going to update the vista town in Emerald Peak, but that’s mostly for accessorizing, not any big structural changes. (Though eventually I also want to update the vineyard maze as well, but that will require more skill to get something I’m actually satisfied with. Also, a whole lot of load minmaxing.) 

[reallyprofoundkryptonite]

can we get an insight to any cool new aus you have? 😊

A few of these are going to be old (like, before posting on here old), just in the middle of revamps. Others, are old, again, and I haven’t mentioned or really said anything about them online except to close friends or in roleplays in private discord chats/on private discord servers. And finally, a few are actually very new and very fresh!

The first I’m going to talk about, with added concept art, is this:

There’s currently no name for this au, but I have spoken about it in the past few weeks to months. This au entails Snotlout having to take care of Krogan after a severe accident. Or, in other words, I was actually developing this into a more of a punishment gone wrong, wherein Krogan is basically thrown in a cage, shaved down, and burned/branded multiple ways. (I’m in the middle of debating if he should have his face branded so… 👉👉)

Thawed!AU (Temporary Title)

This au, has been on and off spoken about with friends on discord, and in a roleplay or two with a few close friends. I don’t have concept art for it (yet 👀) but, the temporary name of this au does have a lot to do with what happened. Since this is old, I have decided to change details around and warp it to, instead of Krogan failing to obtain a bewilderbeast, he is retracted from service in the middle of obtaining a second bewilderbeast for Drago, due to a made up rumor that Krogan had been seen smuggling weapons out of Drago’s armada, to another buyer (when, in fact, he was merely at a market where it was happening to buy rations for himself.)

And, as a punishment, Drago decides to “end” Krogan. By freezing him in a solid chunk of Bewilderbeast ice. However, due to a special adaptation in Krogan’s body, the lack of oxygen in the ice doesn’t kill him. Instead, he’s kept alive by a little bud of immortality. One that he’s always had, one that’s made him quick to heal from deadly wounds, and lack of oxygen, as well as fire, water, etc.

Krogan stays as a little trinket in Drago’s treasury for a while, until he’s dumped on an island with bewilderbeast caves after a few generations. Krogan stays there, frozen, basically asleep, until, in the modern age, he’s discovered by an amateur archaeologist, who thinks he’s simply one of the most well-preserved mummies to date- still having all of his natural skin color, his lips, eyes, teeth, tongue… nothing has rotted due to what he assumes is an airtight seal from the ice encapsulating him.

Once he’s brought to a museum, originally going to be put on display (or a replica) in a cold room, the scientists examining him realize that, once he’s been chipped out of the ice, that his eyes have retained their color, and are not glassy, if not a bit foggy from the 1000+ years of ice slowly creeping into them. He’s also got a very noticeable flush to his skin- as if he’s still alive- though cryogenic freezing is in the middle of being developed at this point, there’s no absolute way in their mind that Krogan could have absolutely survived being frozen for 1200 years wi thought needing any form of sustenance. So they brush that off.

Until, one comes in to find that not only is the supposed “mummy” both moving and breathing, but he’s also extremely agitated, confused, cold, and just about starving to death because his metabolism finally kicked in and said he needed food and that it was time to wake up. That and he also has just about scared the shit out of a janitor, and was partially in the middle of trying to interrogate him- if not for the massive language barrier- him speaking Old Norse, and not a single word of English, and the Janitor being a native English speaker.

Plant Creature! Krogan

This au is still in heavy development phases- don’t have an idea on looks, etc,or even a good background yet, but Krogan as a plant creature- a living plant, if you will. Debating on weather or not I want to make him look like a natural human or say fuck it and go all out with the whole plant monster designs I’ve been thinking about.

[globaloscillations]

Rediscovering New York

Quite a while back now we grabbed tickets to see John Oliver and Seth Meyers live in New York at the Beacon Theater. Back on March 9th we made that trip and it was our first time in New York City proper since 2015. 🤯 For this particular trip Kristen and I, because it had been so long, kind of wanted to rediscover things and get our bearings on our own terms. It's fair to say though that it won't take us almost another almost entire decade to make it back. Though it pains the 'Boston is better rivalry' part of my soul to fully admit it was a fun adventure and there's a lot to explore we left planning our next trip.

At least some of my mind-shift on New York is based on the fact that in a lot of the best ways it feels kind of like another country. We took the train there, there's a bustling transit network, a unique culture, lots of dining and pubs, world class cuisine (mmm bagels LOL), and a seemingly endless amount of entertainment, landmarks, museums, etc. to explore. Our trip started by hopping on the Amtrak Acela and heading down the Northeast Corridor for a quick 3 and a half hour trip, perhaps the most Europe equivalent train journey you can make in the United States. You'd be unlikely to drive it in that time with typical traffic and if you did you'd of course miss out on "train beers." 😉 As a transit nerd aside one nice thing about the BOS-NYC section of the Northeast Corridor is it has some of the fastest sections of track on the whole corridor (except you Connecticut come on get with the program!). We emerged into the new 'Moynihan Train Hall' Amtrak's primary station in New York City (more on that later) and made our way to the cab stand for a short ride to our hotel in Chelsea.

We had more extensive plans from Saturday evening but by the time we made it to our hotel room and got settled the rain had started teeming down and we didn't really have the appetite for traipsing across the city. So we made our way to the 'Barcade' located a few doors down from our hotel. Apparently these are a chain across at least the NYC are and they're a lot like what they sound like. Overall the beer selection was good with a bunch of craft beer options on draught and the selections of games was fairly solid as well. There were classics like Frogger, Galaga, Ms. Pacman to pretty wild things like Sega Time Travler, Tron DISCs, and a Trivial Pursuit in arcade cabinet form. For me the highlights were a version of Tapper with the proper Budweiser branding both on the cabinet and in game as well as the Asteroids & Lunar Lander with the proper vector displays. To me the most unique thing I saw was an Apollo 13 pinball game which was very well themed and instead of having the standard pull to shoot the ball it had a replica of the Apollo Command Module abort handle that you had to twist to launch the ball, very unique. Overall we had fun imbibing, vibing, enjoying some above average nachos, and alternating between our favorite games. All in all a pretty solid date night we'd have to work harder than walking a few doors down to achieve at home. I certainly forget at times the convenience of city level density, not that it doesn't come with its inconveniences to.

Sunday morning we headed uptown and stopped for what else? BAGELS! I got in the epic line to order and it took me a minute to figure out what I was looking at in the display cooler...cream cheese like I've never seen it. Mountains of it in flavors I wouldn't have dared to imagine. Pretty wild honestly. 🤯 I placed our order and took a seat at the table Kristen had found. After a few minutes a guy came over not sure if he was the owner, manager, or just MC it is apparently a thing most legit bagel places in Manhattan have someone out on the floor to kind of keep order, mingle with tourists like us, direct traffic, add some local flavor to the experience, etc. He asked where we were from and told us an amusing story about a family that had been down from Massachusetts not long ago and were very hesitant to reveal their origin. LOL. He was like "Hey own it!" Absolutely. Honestly I've never had a hostile reaction to being in NY and from the Boston area. Maybe some good natured ribbing but I'll be the first to admit there ain't much of a Sox/Yankees rivalry these days and that's in favor of the Yankees with the Red Sox lagging the last several seasons.

After some delicious bagels, no one does it better than NY, we headed over to the Museum of Art and Design for an exhibit they've been running on Taylor Swift's various concert attire, outfits, fashion, artifacts. The collection was donated and curated by Swift herself. It's always interesting to see the genuine article for stuff like that. After the museum we headed back downtown to our hotel and as Kristen had some work to finish up I went the next block over to Smithfield Hall which is a soccer pub in NY and often home to Manchester United fans in NY area. Sadly United weren't playing but I caught the tail end of the Liverpool/City game and had a beer so I could say I did.

By this point it was time to head to dinner. I'd picked a place I thought looked good and we hopped a cab. Unfortunately when we got there it was apparently trivia night and there were no tables. My suburban proclivities were caught of guard by the concept of a trivia night on a Sunday but hey who am I to judge the customs of another culture? Since the place happened to have a Cask Ale on I had one before we headed up the street to a different pub and were seated quickly without issue. I had a solid steak sandwich and ended up partaking in another unusual custom of this different culture something known as "happy hour?" Apparently the custom involves drinks being discounted, sometimes heavily, to draw in patrons at times when business might otherwise be slow. Truly this is a foreign custom! (Aside: I kid but for those not in the know Massachusetts has outlawed happy hour since the 1970s. There was an accident involving an attractive young woman being tragically killed in a drunk driving incident and people had had enough. It is not, as commonly thought, a Puritan thing but it does fit with that narrative. There have been some efforts to revive it but change around anything alcohol related takes time lots of time here in Massachusetts.)

Time for the main event, or at least rationale for this trip in the first place, some stand-up courtesy of John Oliver and Seth Meyers. I don’t think they need any introduction. John Oliver was up first and his set was more or less in the lane I would have expected. What I was most impressed by though is the absolute effortlessness and lightness he proceeded through his set with it. It was impressive and not unexpected but fun to see from a master practitioner of the art. Seth was up next and had a great set as well. His material was more centered on family and parenting vs. the well trodden path of ‘Closer-Look’ segments. Still a very funny set and fun to witness. Afterwards the two teamed up for a Q&A that was definitely worth staying for despite their insistence that all were free to leave and probably should (😂). Perhaps the best review/summation of the evening was Kristen who said as we were leaving “I’m pretty sure I just laughed for two hours straight.” I don’t disagree.

So here’s the thing reader... As travelers we aren’t great at the ‘last day’ of a trip. Monday morning we headed of for some bagels (obvi) and the made our way down to checkout some shopping in the area of the hotel. Sadly one of the places we were hoping to check-in on was the LEGO store and it wasn’t open. Also unfortunate the iconic Flat Iron building is currently covered in scaffolding. Which is a theme I thought about a few times over the course of the trip was how much work it is to maintain the iconic landmark buildings in and among all the new construction. Personally I’m glad the effort is made because there’s nothing I love more than some 1930s Art Deco architecture. The LEED certified glass monstrosities that Boston seems to throw up if it gets the chance just feel so uninspired in comparison. On our very wind walk back to the hotel we spied the Empire State Building poking out every so often and I thought about what it’d be like trying to dock a Zeppelin to the top in those winds! (Aside: the design of the Empire State Building was such that at Zeppelins might dock to the top of the building and man would that have been absolutely amazing to see!)

After making our way back to the hotel in the crazy wind we decided that we didn’t really have a strong plan for the rest of the day. With our train being at 5pm we could probably have made more use of the day but with the wind and lack of planning we didn’t have a strong sense of what we’d do. We ended up making our way over to Moynihan Train Hall and grabbing a couple of day passes to Amtrak’s “Metropolitan Lounge.” The passes are $50 bucks a day for the NYC lounge and you get a spacious private lounge that lover looks the train hall, a buffet of food and non-alcoholic drinks, private cash bar, and pre-boarding of your train. All in all it didn’t feel like that bad a deal especially when we got a private escort right on to the train platform a good 15 minutes before everyone else. This made an already pretty hassle free experience of boarding the train (vs. any commercial airline experience in the US) pretty much sublime.

We spend a fair bit of the day looking out over the relatively new (apparently it has been 3 years?!) Moynihan Train Hall the primary arrival in NYC for Amtrak trains traveling the Northeast Corridor. Honestly the facility is impressive and apparently at one point in time was the primary mail sorting facility for the USPS in New York. The impression the openness and architecture provides on first arrival in my opinion rivals most of what I’ve experienced in the UK or Europe. A realization that comes with a twinge of frustration because it takes so much to get big infrastructure projects over the finish line in this country but look at the result when we do! When they happen, all to rarely, they’re a reminder that we can achieve things worthy of the greatness we like to ascribe to the fragile experiment we call America. Then it was time for the rain ride home which was the same relatively three hour trip but no quite as fun. Did get to spend a minute looking out at the gridlock on I-95 from the bar car though.

It was a fun mini-trip and we hope to do it a fair bit more in the future explore some more and hopefully meet-up with friends in the are on subsequent trips!

“New York is not a city, it’s a world.” – Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958)