#esp since he wants to protect people and transforms to do that

[luxaofhesperides]

Final hour Ghostlights request! Soulmate AU where when your soul mate dies your soul mark expands. Duke was really heartbroken at first but now his soul mark makes it really difficult to keep his secret identity hidden because he is covered in a map of the cosmos. He has to use his shadow powers almost constantly to keep all the stars hidden! And and maybe they light up like actual stars when he uses his light powers.

He meets Danny at orientation or something at GU and they brush against each other and he just lights up like a supernova, all his stars literally blazing and he's just like "YOU!" Both excited and also OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE.

....I rambled a bit here I'm so sorry.

The thing about soulmates is that you don’t really know who they are until they die. And even then, most people never know who their soulmate was, only that they outlived them.

Duke became one of those people when he was thirteen. 

He didn’t even notice until he went to change and saw the watercolor swirl of nebula spill out from over his heart. 

One moment, he was tired and angry, ready to sneak out of his latest foster home to search for his parents and do all the things adults have failed to do. The next, he’s collapsed on his knees, shaking, unable to breathe as he tries to rip his soulmark off of his skin. He couldn’t think past the shock and horror of realizing that his soulmate is dead and Duke didn’t even know until that moment. 

They’ll never get to meet. 

Duke had never felt so alone before. 

He spent the next few days in shock, his mind a mess of static, unable to focus. He hid away in his room, buried under the covers, and his foster parents were understanding when he whispered my soulmate’s dead. They called him out of school and brought him food and water throughout the day, gentle encouraging him to eat something every few hours. 

But disaster waits for no one, and Batman was gone, so Duke pulled himself out of his misery and hit the streets again. 

So his soulmate’s dead. So his parents are gone. So Gotham’s falling apart.

No one’s doing anything about it, so it’s up to Duke to start fixing things. It’s not like he had much to lose.

Soulmates become a bit of a taboo topic to him, after that. He speaks of them to no one, avoids all conversation about them, refuses to stay when people talk about soulmarks. He tries not to look at his soulmark at all.

And then he takes a hit to the chest and patches himself up with shaking hands. For the first time in months he looks at his soulmark again and…

Did it… grow? 

Duke prods it gently, letting out a hiss when his bruised ribs protest at the movement. He remembers the mark being right over his heart. 

But looking at it now, it branches out, swirls of galaxy and constellations reaching out along his ribcage. 

Panicked, Duke grabs for his computer and looks up soulmark growth and webmd soulmark abnormalities.

Neither give him any answers, though WebMD helpfully suggests skin cancer. 

“I’m gonna ignore this,” Duke decides, and pulls on a shirt and goes to sleep. The less he thinks about his dead soulmate, the better. 

Time passes and Duke goes from being a Robin to being the Signal, a legitimate vigilante working with Batman. It’s nice to see Gotham start to settle, things falling into place. For once, nothing is awful; Duke’s found his parents and doctors are looking for a cure for long-term exposure to Joker Gas, Batman’s taking care of Gotham with a number of other Bats, Duke is getting used to his powers and slowly making a good name for himself out on the streets. 

He keeps his focus on protecting people and getting stronger, helping solve cases with the other Bats. No one mentions soulmates, so he keeps his ever expanding soulmark a secret. 

The only problem is that it keeps growing and Duke is concerned that it’ll move to a place he can’t easily hide under his clothes. 

And he does need to hide them. The more his soulmark has grown, the more obvious it is, especially when he uses his powers and the stars on his skin light up like the Fourth of July. He knows it’s abnormal, but it’s also his soulmark and he doesn’t want anyone, least of all Bruce, poking around trying to study it. 

The grief still lingers when he looks at it, but Duke has long since grown used to it. If anything, these days he’s quietly annoyed by how far the galaxies on his skin spread out, forcing him to take tank tops and shorts out of his wardrobe. 

There’s also the tentative hope that maybe his soulmate is immortal and keeps coming back to life after they die. And they must also have terrible luck, because they just keep on dying.

Case in point: his soulmark flares and spills out onto his shoulder and wraps around his bicep. It’s not the first time he’s seen it move, but it still startles him.

“Are you serious,” Duke mutters to himself, pulling at his sleeve to adjust it and hopefully hide his soulmark. The starts are bright against his skin, and while sometimes he likes to trace them with his finger, now is not one of those times.

As pretty as it is, his soulmark is also very obvious and will cause people to realize his identity if they ever catch a glimpse of it while he’s out as Signal. 

He sighs. There’s no choice but to live out the rest of his life in hoodies and sweatshirts. 

As if to spite him, his soulmark grows once more. 

Did his soulmate just die twice in the span of five minutes? That’s concerning. 

He wishes he could meet them just so he can shake some sense into them. Maybe tell them to stop dying since it’s stressing him out so much. Maybe stick by their side to make sure they never have to die again. He’s honestly not sure what he’d do if he ever meets his soulmate, but he has to do something. This has gotten out of hand.

At least seeing his soulmark grow doesn’t hurt as much as it did a few years ago. 

Lazily, he pulls at the light around him to hide the new portions of the soulmark on his arm from sight. It takes some focus, but he can hold it up long enough for him to grab a snack from the kitchen and retreat up to his room without being questioned by anyone. He could probably even keep this shirt on for the college orientation he needs to attend later in the day if the light works well enough to keep his secrets hidden. 

He’s expecting Alfred in the kitchen when he arrives, but is greeted by Dick clapping a hand on his shoulder, right where his soulmark has claimed space. Duke falters and works to keep the light from fracturing as he returns Dick’s grin. 

“Hey man,” he says, “What are you doing here? I thought you were out until Friday.”

“And miss a chance to hang out with you? No way. Besides, I wanted to give you a ride to your orientation.”

“You don’t have to,” Duke starts, only for Dick to cut him off.

“I’m going to,” he says, as if it’s a threat. “It’s been too long since we get to spend time together without a mask on. Are you really going to deprive me of this?”

Duke shakes off Dick’s hand from his shoulder, walking towards the pantry to find a small snack. “I guess not. It’s going to be pretty boring for you, though. I’m just going to listen to people talk about what college is like for a few hours.”

“We could always just walk around campus afterwards. I haven’t seen it since it was rebuilt after the last time Freeze attacked it.”

“Sure, that sounds fun. Thanks for offering to drive me.” Duke pulls out a box of Poptarts hidden behind stacks of pasta boxes and pulls out a pack for himself. He opens it and isn’t at all surprised when Dick steals one right out of his hands. 

“Meet me out front in an hour then.” 

And with that, Dick leaves, his stolen Poptart in hand, and Duke is left to shake his head and shove the Poptart box back into its hiding place. He heads off to eat his own snack, making sure no one is in the hallway as he lets go of his hold on the light. Already he can feel a migraine building with the immense focus he had to use to make sure nothing looked out of place.

At least Dick didn’t notice anything was off. If he can fool Dick, he can fool anyone.

Still, just to be safe, Duke changes into something with longer sleeves before he leaves and hops into the car with Dick. 

The drive goes quickly to the tunes of ABBA, both of them singing along as they head for the GCU campus. Parking is a bit tricky, but they manage to find a spot a street away and walk towards the student union, where tables are laid out for incoming freshmen to sign in and grab a folder filled with papers meant to help them. 

He waves to Dick and heads in once he gets his folder, and grabs a seat in the auditorium that’s close to a fire exit. 

It takes another twenty minutes for the presentations to start. The lights dim and Duke panics for a brief moment before drawing the shadows over himself lightly to hide the soft glow of the star etched onto his skin. 

They start with introductions, bringing in advisors, professors, and student ambassadors. Most of it is basic information that Duke already knows, so he zones out and plays with some shadows at his feet, where no one can see the way he twists shadows together like some dark magic form of finger knitting.

For the next hour, Duke halfheartedly listens to people talk about preparing for classes and keeping on top of schoolwork and learning how to ask for help. He’s saved enough college students that he knows the gist of things, and the orientation really doesn’t give him anything helpful. 

He probably could have skipped, but he wanted a normal college experience. 

He should have known that normal means boring as hell.

As soon as the presentation ends, an advisor encourages everyone to follow the schedule tucked into their folder to give them a half day modeled after a typical student’s schedule. Of course, all the classes are nonsense just to fill up their time, made to help freshmen coming into the college by covering topics such as how to write an email and an introduction to majors and minors.

Duke already declared himself as a Human Services major, his first step into becoming a social worker like his mom was. 

Also he totally knows how to write an email, what are these advisors on about? Do they really think people his age can’t write emails? 

Yeah, he’s ditching. The main presentation is really the only part that matters in the orientation. He’s not walking out on anything he needs.

Duke files out after the rest of the crowd, carefully letting the shadows slip off of him once he’s outside again. Instead of finding the first ‘class’ he’s supposed to go to in the Modern Languages building, he wanders off to find a quiet place he can sit down and wait until Dick finds him. 

Tucked away towards the back half of the campus is a small nook full of trees, bushes, and benches. Judging by the amount of cigarette butts left in the single trash can there, it’s a popular smoking spot. 

No one’s there, so the air is clean and free of smoke, so Duke heads in, hoping to sit down.

Someone else apparently has the same idea. He hops down from one of the concrete planters that’s keeping a bush contained and nearly falls on Duke.

They both shout in surprise, then Duke is moving without thinking, reaching out to steady the startled looking guy who accidentally jumped down in front of him. 

Duke only has time to take note of how blue his eyes are before his hands wrap around the guy’s wrist and Duke feels his soulmark flare with warmth.

In the shade of the trees, the glow of each star on his skin is obvious. It’s visible even through the fabric of his shirt. His soulmark, at this point in his life, stretches across his chest, his ribs, his back, and now his shoulders and upper arms. All the stars in that watercolor galaxy are shining brightly as if the night sky has been draped across his body.

Soulmarks only react like that for one reason.

“You!” Duke shouts at his soulmate, both elated to see that he’s alive and annoyed that he made Duke’s soulmark so large. “Stop dying! Do you have any idea how much stress you’ve caused me?!”

“Oh my god,” the guy says faintly, eyes fixed on Duke’s chest where his soulmark originally rested, shining brighter and bigger than any other star, as if he’s tucked a sun into his heart. “Oh my god,” he says again, with more feeling.

“I’m so happy you’re alive, but please stop dying. It’s bad for my health.”

“I think I need to sit down?”

He does look very pale and faint. Duke tightens his grip on his soulmate’s arms and guides him to a bench, gently sitting him down.

“You’re not about to die, right?” Duke asks. “I don’t think my heart could take it if meeting me killed you somehow.”

“No, no,” his soulmate manages to say, “I’m not going to die. Um. Wow. I didn’t know my soulmark would do that? Sorry.”

“Well, it’s not like you had any way of knowing. It’s all good, man. Just please stop dying.”

His soulmate winces. “Yeah, that’s not gonna be possible. Sorry. Again.”

What does that mean, though? What does it all mean?

“Can I maybe get an explanation as to why you have to die again.”

“Mmmmm no. We just met and it’s kinda personal so. No.”

“Dude.”

Duke’s soulmate shrugs helplessly. “It really is personal! I know your my soulmate and all, so I’ll probably tell you one day, but right now I don’t even know your name.”

Oh shit. He’s right. Introductions completely slipped his mind, too busy reeling over the fact that his soulmate is here and alive. Which, honestly, would be enough to throw anyone off balance.

“Shoot,” Duke says. “Sorry. You just really caught me off guard. Hi, I’m Duke, I promise I’m more put together than that.”

“Hi Duke, I’m Danny, and I’ve apparently been traumatizing you for the past few years by making you think I keep dying.”

“Well. At least we’re thrown head first into the crazy. Best way to know if we’re be a good match.”

“You sure you can handle this? You seemed pretty frazzled a second ago.”

Duke flusters and lightly whacks Danny’s shoulder. “That’s normal! Anyone would do the same when meeting their soulmate for the first time!”

“Fair enough,” Danny laughs. “This is a totally weird request and you can absolutely say no, but… can I see?” He presses a hand against one of the glowing stars beneath this collar bone, looking up at Duke with wide, hopeful blue eyes, and Duke finds it so cute that he’s willing to do anything Danny wants. 

“Here,” he says as an answer, pulling the collar of his shirt down a bit to reveal the nebula spilling onto his shoulder. 

“Oh,” Danny breathes, tracing a light finger against it. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m guessing you like space?”

“Love it. I wanted to be an astronaut, but uh…. It’s never going to happen. Health problems, you know?”

“Well, I know it’s not the same, but I hope the stars you put on my body will be a good enough replacement.”

Danny cheeks turn red and he turns away, flustered. “Don’t smooth talk me right now, I’m not ready for it,” he mutters, bringing up a hand to try to hide his expression. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Duke laughs, “I’ll try to keep the flirting down to a minimum. It’s just really great to finally meet you. And I’ve been wondering, what’s your soulmark look like?”

“Oh, well…” Danny fiddles with the long sleeve of his shirt. “I had a pretty bad accident years ago that kinda affected how my soulmark looks. So if it looks weird, that’s why, okay?” He takes a deep breath, then pushes up his sleeve, holding his wrist out to Duke. 

The first thing Duke notices is the soft yellow glow, Signal yellow to be precise, running down his arm as if sunlight fills his veins. Then he sees Danny’s soulmark, a sun with rays that wrap around his wrist. And running through his soulmark are Lichtenberg scars, glowing yellow as if stealing the color from his soulmark. 

“Guess we both got super obvious soulmarks, huh? At least we kinda match, that way.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Danny agrees. 

“Man, what a day.” 

Danny looks more relaxed with him now. It’s much better than the startled, tense version of him that first sat down on the bench. Duke hopes he chooses to stay with him; he doesn’t admit this often, willingly, or to other people, but he’s a romantic at heart and has always wanted to live a happy life with his soulmate. It’s still far off in the future, but he hopes Danny feels the same way.

“So, are you ditching the orientation classes to?” Danny asks.

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m going. I mean, a class on how to send emails? They can’t be serious.”

“I know, right?! I saw that and thought I was being pranked. I mean, we’re going into college. We better know how to send an email by now.”

“Since we’re both free for now, wanna grab lunch with me? It can be our first date, if you want.”

“I’d love to! And you can show me around Gotham a bit. I’m coming here for college, but I haven’t really seen the city yet. It’d be nice to explore it with someone who knows where things are.”

“Are you free for the rest of the day? ‘Cause I wouldn’t mind showing you around, if you want.”

Danny smiles, radiant. “I am. I’m in your hands for the rest of the day.”

“Cool,” Duke says, trying not to think too much on that wording. It’s very suggestive, very flirtatious, and he’s looking forward to getting to know Danny more so he can start properly flirting. “Lemme just let my brother know to not wait up for me.”

He pulls out his phone and sends Dick a text that just reads: met my soulmate. going on a date now. i’ll see u back at the manor!

Then he puts his phone on silent and tucks it back into his pocket. He’ll tell Dick all about this later; for now, all his attention is on Danny. 

Soulmates get priority, even stressful ones that give him the largest soulmark he’s ever seen. 

And right now, he’s on a mission to find the best lunch spot to take his soulmate to for their first date. Everything else can come later; for now, he’s going to enjoy the time he gets to spend with Danny.

He hopes they’ve got a future together as bright as the stars in his soulmark. 

Despite it all, Duke is sure they’re going to be alright.

[munizfr]

Mainly a Ratchet Character Study but also: Parallel between the Ineffable Husbands and Transformers Dratchet (mostly IDW)

Obligatory Spoiler Warning: just don't read unless you've finished or heard about the last 15 mins of Good Omens S2E6 bc the spoilers (yes, the same moment you keep seeing everywhere) are there but honestly it's not descriptive enough imho.

Short ver. is at the bottom since this is pretty lengthy <3

Ratchet Character Study

The end of Good Omens S2E6 reminded me of Ratchet and Drift/Deadlock from Transformers for some reason. I think it's bc I've accepted the fanon idea (a lot of what's below is fanon/HCs, some canon to it though, but reader discretion and all that) of Deadlock likely offering Ratchet the chance to run away during the war (perhaps after realizing Megatron was starting to lose it and the Con cause was not the same one he initially fought for/corruption, conquering, domination, lunacy, etc.) with the promise of *them* and security with Ratchet no longer having to deal with the stresses that being the Autobot CMO carried and the damage that no doubt did to Ratchet's psyche and over-well being over the millennia. Esp. since Ratchet was so idealistic and bright before the war, and while still opinionated and fierce, was a youthful "party animal" with plenty of optimism, determined to do anything he could to see his hopes of a peaceful Cybertronian society through.

All Ratchet seems to want is the best for his planet, the best for other mecha, hence why I've always believed that Ratchet is a "people person" (further backed up by his past as the "party ambulance" ;D). He just has all his walls up 24/7 (sarcasm/sardonicism, gruffness, anger, etc.) to protect this soft, emotional part of himself, similar to how he keeps his walls up so that he can compartmentalize and perform his job efficiently as CMO even when surrounded by tragedy. He's a "people person" with a job that revolves around death. That shit definitely took a toll, but I don't believe it ever broke him necessarily. And Drift/Deadlock, so afraid of the war actually breaking Ratchet, wanted to do everything in his power to protect him from the war. The possibility of Deadlock presenting this offer, to me, sounds absolutely plausible.

When offered the chance to "run away", of course Ratchet declines, stating he knows his place and that is wherever he can decidedly do the most good and help the most mecha. Even though he'd love nothing more than to be free from the pressure and, most importantly, be with Drift/Deadlock instead of sneaking around throughout the war and having their relationship be so ethically complex. Ratchet understanding why Drift did what he did in becoming a 'Con and everything else, understanding that even though Deadlock went against Ratchet's code of morals, Deadlock was inevitable given Drift's beginnings in the Dead End. Hence why later in LL Ratchet seems to "blame himself" for how Drift became Deadlock, because Ratchet may believe that he should've "saved" or "fixed" Drift.

Then again, Ratchet knows the complexity of that, knows that it isn't "that simple" and that converting/ensuring Drift as an Autobot wasn't much better than having Drift become a Decepticon because, realistically, Autobots were doing things nearly just as bad. Of course, as the war went on it became clear that Megatron was going off the deep end and the Autobots truly did become the "Good Guys", if one could even call it that. Really, they were the lesser of two evils, or the arch-nemesis of the Decepticons that put a stop to their wrong-doings, but regardless, the Autobots themselves were far from innocent. Esp. from other civilizations/planets' perspectives.

When the Decepticons began, it was mainly in an effort to change Cybertronian society for the better, to gain equality for all Cybertronian mecha and get rid of the corrupt government and caste system, and I believe Ratchet (esp. seeing the corruption from the medical malpractice POV) low-key sided with them when this was their original goal. Drift/Deadlock is what makes Ratchet truly acknowledge this millennia after the war (either during the LL which it is hinted at or sometime before then during the war they may have had disagreements about this), but he'd known it deep down since the beginning.

Ratchet mostly went with the Autobots because of his own personal ties (friends like Orion Pax), his position in said hierarchy (he was the chief of medicine for descendants of the Prime and really, would Pit mecha really be accepting of the Senate's CMO in their ranks?), and as seen in the IDW comics, various other reasons.

In the end, Ratchet practically stumbled into becoming an Autobot. He really didn't want to be with any faction, but as an Autobot he believed he could do more good, esp. since he tended to end up helping both sides' soldiers anyways. Being an Autobot just meant he had access to better supplies/tech/etc.

I also personally believe Ratchet was too proud of a mech to admit this to Drift/Deadlock's face until the LL. Admitting that Ratchet was originally on the wrong side, helping the wrong side, this whole time would be a blow to his own mental, it would (and does) cripple him with guilt. Again, all of this is just my personal head cannons and fanon ideas that I've seen, but I like to imagine this is pretty generally accepted.

I feel like younger Ratchet is torn between sides. Having started clinics for the "lower class" mecha in areas like the Dead End, providing care free of charge to those who couldn't afford it as long as they promised to change themselves for the better, conveys to me that Ratchet was empathetic to the struggles of lower class mecha, despite starting off as a forged medic and becoming the Chief Medical Officer for the Senate. Yes, Ratchet started off and lived a comparatively privileged life, but he has never turned a blind eye to any other mech's struggles and does his best to understand it regardless. Ratchet's "golden spark" so-to-speak is something I believe Drift sees and cherishes, and thus it's what Deadlock wishes to protect. The Prime's doctor willingly decided to save the life of a drug addict grifter in the Dead-End and continued to see value in and, most importantly, care for Drift's life, even after Drift became Deadlock and turned to a life of killing mecha that Ratchet may have considered friends/allies/etc. I full-heartedly believe that Ratchet still looked after/patched up Deadlock even though he was with the 'Cons, esp. since I believe Deadlock kept watch after Ratchet even though he was with the 'Bots. Regardless of their conflicting morals, these two never stopped looking after and caring for one another.

I can see their "argument" or discussion over this proposal going so many ways, but ultimately, as with a certain Angel and Demon, Drift/Deadlock wanted them to become their own "side" and Ratchet, for a multitude of reasons (pride/empathy/guilt/loyalty/desire to help or "savior complex" depending how you see it/arrogance/etc.) decided to stick with the life he hates. He despises the war, the life-loss, the pain, the pointless-ness of it all (aren't they all Cybertronian in the end?), but Ratchet is an emotional mech deep-down and because of his complex feelings and morality, he turns down Deadlock's offer.

The Parallel:

As with a certain Angel, Ratchet can't just sit on the sidelines and do nothing, he has to help. As CMO and a close friend of Optimus, Ratchet is shown to have a lot of push/pull on Autobot command and their decisions and not always but often in various comics/shows/media, we see Ratchet propose the more compassionate and ethical, while still cruelly (realistically) logical, decisions.

Like Aziraphale, Ratchet believes that by being in a position of power/control/leadership and by being a determined son of a bitch, he can "save [their race/people/planet/universe/the balance/etc.]" for a lack of better terms. They put aside their own happiness/freedom/peace/etc., no matter the repercussions for them or those in their personal lives, to make the decisions and take the actions that they believe will do the universe, as a whole, the most good. That's really all they want.

Short Ver.

Aziraphale still believes that there can be good and that Heaven can be "fixed", and additionally, having Crowley back with him on Heaven's side would make *them* and everything else so much easier. Easier to protect Crowley, easier for Crowley to be happy because Aziraphale himself would also be safer, everything would be better if Aziraphale could "fix" things and the balance. Make Heaven "good" again and Hell "bad" once more, un-blur the lines, despite Crowley knowing it was never like that to begin with ("I think I understand a lot more than you do"). Additionally, all the trauma and manipulation that Aziraphale has experienced in Heaven no doubt plays a role in all of this.

Aziraphale only wants to do the right thing, but his headspace and how he decides to go about it are just so seriously warped by both himself and from his experiences of being an Archangel of Heaven.

Ratchet just wants the war to end. For the fighting to stop and there to be some peace. He still believes, despite everything he's witnessed and been through, that the war can end. He continues to hope. Ratchet, despite how gruff and jagged his exterior may become, no matter how cynical and pessimistic he acts, still has a spark of gold deep down. He still wants to do good and he believes that there can be good again, even though Deadlock knows that there was never any good to begin with. Why save Cybertronian society and the way things used to be if they were never any good before? Moreso, why save Cybertronians when they were never any good before? Shit's always been fucked up and messy, where does this bleeding hearted CMO get off in trying to save all of them?

He gets off nowhere but he's still going to try regardless because it's worth it. Cybertron, Cybertronians, mecha, are still worth saving. If Ratchet is anything, it is stubborn and after everything he's been through, he'll be damned if he gave up now.

Side Note: I still believe there was a miracle in Aziraphale's coffee ;) but in case there's not take this comparison I randomly drew from the S2 finale <3

[magicalblerdpenn]

I posted 1,595 times in 2022

131 posts created (8%)

1,464 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@localcryptideli

@galaxychorus

@hollabastiongirl

@roxycake

@elphabaforpresidentofgallifrey

I tagged 136 of my posts in 2022

#tp babbles - 56 posts

#youtube - 48 posts

#tp plays - 37 posts

#3ds games - 33 posts

#tp watches anime - 23 posts

#tokusatsu - 11 posts

#persona q2 - 10 posts

#jrpgs - 8 posts

#tales of the abyss - 7 posts

#penn's music musings - 7 posts

Longest Tag: 35 characters

#i ate lasagna & watched sailor moon

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Started watching Revue Starlight for the first time today and this transformation scene + the fight afterwards got me hooked on the series. Who knew that surreal car transformation scene from the Utena movie would be so influential?

19 notes - Posted June 17, 2022

#4

Cool video breaking down Ace Attorney game music

24 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

#3

I've started reading Webtoons again and I wanted to recommend this gay magical boy Webtoon called Magical Boy Troubles. Why?

The premise is creative: Juan's boyfriend Kikyou is a magical boy named Fragrant Rose. Juan is worried that Kikyou is taking on too much by himself, esp. since Kikyou has protected him since elementary school. Juan is unsure how to give back, but can he find the strength to do so anyway?

Juan and Kikyou are main characters worth rooting for because they love and care for each other very much. Also, Juan gets braver as the story progresses and Kikyou is brave when Juan can't be.

Both Juan and Kiyou are unabashedly magical girl genre fans, soft, and emotional when they need and want to be, even if other people make fun of them.

The artwork is vibrant and cute

34 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

#2

Watching this clip & then watching the Kamen Rider Jeanne x Aguilera Girls Remix web series has brought me so much joy & reminded me why I love Kamen Rider despite its flaws

35 notes - Posted September 21, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

So last night, I finished reading this great Kingdom Hearts fanfic called an "An Unlikely Alliance" by Cait_Sidhe and it's not only a great sequel to another fanfic by them I like, but also ends up being a good alternate take on Kingdom Hearts III. Here's why:

Vanitas learns there is more to him than darkness by defecting from Xehanort and joining up with Sora, Riku, Kairi and the others

Young Xehanort and Replica Riku also defect and get into shenanigans with Sora and the gang

Kairi becomes an even more well written character by learning more her orientation (yay for asexuality rep) while being in a polyamorous relationship with both Riku and Sora. She also fights and does it well.

Sora's mental health journey continues and we see how his darkness impacts his magic and fighting abilities.

More world exploring shenanigans

People learn to ask whether a bunch of traumatized teenagers actually want to participate in the battle against Xehanort instead of assuming they'll just go along with it.

58 notes - Posted January 7, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[redrobin-detective]

Ben 10 lore that exists in my heart regardless of canon

- Ben’s personality in his mid-late teens is a mix of his Alien Force and Omniverse self. On the surface, he’s very cheerful and kind even if he is a bit of arrogant showoff. He makes jokes and plays around and acts as if he isn’t bothered by the things in his life. Those who know him best understand a good portion of his outward confidence and cockiness is just a facade to cover up his insecurities and to project the ideal, effortless hero. While sometimes seen as immature, most beings know Ben 10 means business as he takes his unofficial job and people’s safety very seriously. He’s clever, adaptable, charismatic and empathetic which makes him a formidable opponent and a loyal friend. Doesn’t open up easily but if you get to him, he become so dearly attached. 

- Drinks smoothies so much for several reasons. Comfort food go brrr, reminds him of the good easy times with him Gwen and Kev. It’s also a light but generally nutritous food to give him energy for heroing. Anything too heavy and he’ll be puking (both from physical and emotional stress). Though he jokes about his mom’s health foods, his are a crazy concoction of add in proteins and vitamins/minerals bc he knows he’ll out and out collapse without it. (Still has on occasion bc boy still doesn’t eat right/enough)

- While Fame is exciting for him at first he soon begins to detest it. Not the fans, no, he can’t bring himself to hate the people who look up to him. But he hates the constant attention, that he can’t walk outside without being mobbed. the only place he feels safe is his hometown where most people are so used to him and his weirdness that they don’t react much anymore. Takes to wearing a cape and face shield when going out anywhere so he can actually get things done without being recognized and mobbed.

- Part of the reason Bellwood isn’t concerned with Ben is partially because ben’s been weird and alien for as long as they can remember but also many don’t realize how famous/powerful he is. Yeah that’s just Ben Tennyson over there, sometimes he turns into funny creatures- wait what do you MEAN he’s the savior of the universe?? He cried over a spilled smoothie the other day.

- Does mostly online schooling by the time he’s 15. At first he tries to do half day things to maintain something of a normal life but it quickly becomes overwhelming and dangerous him/the school. Finishes his GED early but the Plumbers and Azmuth make him take additional college level and alien courses to prepare him for his future role. Ben gripes but really does love learning all these things, especially on his terms (ADHD and stress + the public school system do not always go hand in hand). He’s a quick learner when he deems the information important and is made accessible to his learning needs.

- Ben definitely has ADHD speaking of which, it was nearly uncontrollable as a child bc his free-spirited parents didn’t believe in medicating. Ben convinced them he needed it and after some trial and error, found meds that worked. As he became more involved in heroics/growing up he had to change his medicine regimen (resulting in him being a bit more off the rails in OV) and needed antidepressants and therapy to manage it better. As an adult he has a whole litany of coping mechanisms (good and bad yes) and regularly checks in with his therapist and doctors to keep things under control. 

- Has a complicated relationship with his necrofriggian children. Considers himself their mother and worries after them. They too feel a connection to their parent despite this being unusual for their species. A few visit (some more than others) while they grow while others maintain distance. Ben never breathes a word of them to the media for fear of them being targeted. Still he keeps an eye on them and ensures all 14 mature to adulthood (another rarity for the species). Checks in every now and again with the ones who don’t want to see him and those that do. Two join the Plumbers and Ben is both proud and worried. His youngest becomes partners with Rook Ben.

- Just in general loves kids, they’re his favorite fans and while he’ll grumble at pushy adult fans he always smiles and kneels down for the little ones. Not so secretly wanted to have children of his own but knew it was a risk overall and used a lot of that energy with mentoring and teaching. Eventually had Kenny later in life (late 30s-40s) and was over the moon, becoming such a loving and doing parent or as much as he could be with his hectic schedule. 

- Omnitrix can’t come off, never has at any point since it first latched onto Ben’s arm. Azmuth tried and failed to get the device off, doesn’t let Ben know for many years as he feared the consequences. The watch loves and protects Ben even beyond it’s programming making him much more durable to damage and releasing energy charges when he’s threatened. Not even removing Ben’s arm would separate them. They’re stuck for life.

- Ben does have Anodite heritage but the Omnitrix actively suppresses it and uses the built up energy to power the transformations which is why ben is mostly unaffected by what should cause a massive energy drain on him. Theoretically if Ben learned to harness and safely use his Mana at an early age like Gwen he would have been fine but letting it build up without safe outlet meant activation would have killed him. Omnitrix Ben, however, went his whole life not knowing of his latent abilities and how the watch saved his life.

- Ben’s eyes get more green and glowy as time passes from the Omnitrix. At first they think its a trick of the light but by the time he’s an adult his eyes are pretty much glow in the dark. His veins light up too after long stretches of using the Omnitrix. Its vaguely unsettling to people who aren’t used to Ben.

- Max and the Earth Plumbers work so, so hard to keep teen Ben on Earth when half the universe is blowing up their comm lines asking for The Ben 10 to help with whatever problem of the day. Ben himself doesn’t quite understand when he’s younger the prestige and expectations on his shoulders. Max throws up a million and one roadblocks so Ben can live as normal a life as possible while he still can. Still, while doing that he Still overloads Ben with expectations and responsibilities on earth and beyond. He becomes a soldier again with Ben as their greatest weapon. He never forgave himself of losing sight of his grandson underneath the hero esp after Ben’s breakdown. 

- Rook partnership with Ben ends not long after Omniverse with his promotion to Magister. Ben tries to play it cool but the thought of another loved one/teammate leaving his tears him apart. Max revealing that Ben most likely wouldn’t get a new Plumber assigned partner since he’s almost an adult and won’t need it and Rook accidentally missing their last smoothie run due to a scheduling mishap causes Ben to snap and have the nervous breakdown that had been building for almost a decade. He completely loses it for a little while and needs to take an extended leave of absence from school and heroics that lasts about a year. Spends time recovering both on Earth and Galvan Prime, does some diplomatic training, learns about aliens, actually confronts the stress and loneliness of his life. He comes out the other side stronger but still fragile and exhausted.

- Ben’s above mentioned breakdown brings him closer to all his friends who didn’t quite realize the extent of Ben’s burden. Rook had been under the impression Ben didn’t like him all that much so the knowledge that his departure was the final straw for friend/hero’s collapse was shocking. Ben and Azmuth also become closer, the Galvan becoming fiercely protective of the boy seeing as his Earth family didn’t do well to keep him safe. It takes years for him to get over his anger at Max for putting so much on his grandchild. Ben makes more friends, in and out of the hero business, finally gets a therapist and gets some of his burdens eased a bit. It’s not a sure fire fix and Ben has several smaller breakdowns the rest of his life but its something.

- Azmuth was straight up suicidal before he met Ben for the first time. Ben gave him back hope for the universe and his ability to create items for peace not weapons. The boy infuriates him, frightens him, frustrates him but Azmuth cannot deny in his heart of hearts that he loves Ben dearly. He’s very upset at Ben’s breakdown and doesn’t know how to handle the worst of the initail outbursts. Azmuth talks Ben down from a suicide attempt. He reaches out to Ben that he Too felt overwhelmed by pressure, thought himself only good for war. Ben’s arrival in his life saved him and now he will do the same for Ben. It’s the first positive step forward in Ben’s recovery.

- For no other reason than I like it, Azmuth primarily refers to Ben as Benjamin (mostly to annoy the kid but he likes the way it sounds too) and Ben in softer, more serious moments. 

- Professor Paradox continues to flit in and out of Ben’s life. He says its because Ben is the most equipped to handle universal peril (true) but he’s also just very fond of the boy. Ben, existing in so many forms and having such importance also exists a beat outside of normal reality which Paradox identifies with. Ben is naturally attuned to time related problems because of this (instantly IDing Spanner as from the future before being told later deducing him to be his unborn son). Plus Ben named him, way back when. He’s just drawn to Ben.

- Adult Ben, while being seen as an impressively skilled fighter and champion, really has his strength as a universal diplomat of sorts. Based out of Earth, he helps mediate and defuse conflicts, advocate against tyranny and overall preserve peace and balance. He’s not perfect, he makes mistakes and sometimes is forced to become violent (and yes kill) but overall is regarded as a peacekeeper, something younger ben simply couldn’t understand. 

- Gwen gets her degree and primarily does work with advocacy and teaching about magic/alien culture. While she and Ben are still close, there’s a bit of a frustrated divide in that she isn’t helping him share the burden of the universe. Gwen never wanted to be a hero and has enough worth to not shackle herself to a job that’ll burn her out. Ben loves heroing but gives too much of himself away trying to fix everything. They get into screaming arguments that it wouldn’t be so bad out there if she just helped him but she refuses to budge and says he shouldn’t make himself do so much. They always make up and thy still are each other’s closest relationships.

- Ben marries Kai in a political move, Kai is Asexual and Ben Aromantic. They didn’t love each other but they got on well enough and Ben was really feeling the stress of carrying the hero burden so Kai also being involved made him feel like he wasn’t alone. Both were also so tired of the universe constantly asking about their love life and said ‘fuck it we’re married leave us alone’. Gwen was always mad about it feeling Ben deserved better but the two of them were happy with it. They had separate rooms, mostly separate lives but they became strong friends and supports with their strictly platonic marriage. They had Ken via Invitro in an incubator and were loving if extremely busy parents. 

- Also from the moment he appeared, Ben knew that Spanner was his future son, Kenny. He played ignorant and then was kind of deliberately teasing him in future encounters. He knew the rules of time and didn’t want to disrupt things further even if he was angry and worried as heck about why Ken felt the need to time travel. When future Ben catches up in the timeline, Kenny gets SUCH a lecture. 

- Ben isn’t quite immortal but he’s also not entirely human anymore either. The Omnitrix not only keeps him safe from most harm but it lightens the effect of aging. Ben 10 is active many, many years when most humans would have been forced to retire. He’s not sure how long the watch will keep him alive and it terrifies him. Gwen too is functionally immortal however she ages like a normal human, then when her natural death came, shed her skin and became a fulltime Anodite. So in the end, it was her and Ben together wondering which of them will die first. Gwen has trouble retaining her humanity as pure energy and swears she’ll let herself fizzle out when Ben goes. When that’ll be however...

[eonghwa]

the real/warlock!seonghwa

into the #seonghwa-verse: intro + masterlist | sh personas profiles

a/n: i wasn't going to add a persona for the new epilogue era at first but then i finally had an idea and looking back i'm glad i waited (and waited..) to do warlock's profile, who was inspired by the first the real performance back in june, because it makes sense to now have them being the same person. also i guess this will be a lot different from all the older profiles since i kinda changed the "format" a bit and i don't plan to add the nsfw part (or at least for now), it's just a bunch of random facts about this new boy added to the verse!

headcanons

he is mostly known as the real

only people close to him or that knows about his powers call him warlock

and out of all the boys deja vu and fireworks are the only ones that know about that

childhood friend of deja vu and fireworks

best(est) friend with deja vu, back in school days they were the two kids always in detention known for being little rascals

but he now is a gentleman kinda (unlike someone else)

he is trustworthy and the reliable one of the duo

he has an intense and strong aura

but actually he's very laid-back and deep down he's a dork

he just likes to scare people off when he knows they're gonna be a bore

if he likes you he's very likeable and friendly

also a big tease tho

he's a shapeshifter

he was born with this power and that caused some problems especially when he was just a baby

and only around the age of 5 he developed a new power

aka elemental manipulation

he uses lots of spells and magic potions for anything else

cute and funny fact: sometimes when he's sick he transform at random esp when he sneezes (or during steamy moments)

he's a cute dork who loves making his own potions (did end up blowing things up a time or two)

when deja vu first learned about his powers when they were kids he was so excited

they spent a lot of time in each other's backyards splashing /bubbles/ of water on frogs (don't ask)

they have been best friends ever since, and the rest is history

used to be housemate with deja vu before the latter moved to the house

and that's also when he started getting more involved with the shverse house shenanigans

once him and fireworks scared the shit out of wave (and to this day the poor boy still doesn't know what the hell happened)

one other time him and fireworks set up a really interesting something for you and werewolf

he's a good man who likes to help others and give advice

but depending on who asks he can be either really helpful or a menace

he's very protective of his loved ones

the one that would probably look after you from a far – no angst implied, he just wants to make sure you're doing alright

he's a HUGE flirt but friendly at the same time

and if he really falls for you he'd be very torn since he doesn't want any serious relationship but at the same time,, it's you

he's fun and being with him would be so fun as well

lots of laughter and funny dates

at some point he would try and teach you some magic

some funny or useful lil tricks you can use around the house

he is COOL – "이런 게 바로 멋인 기라" he would say

(watch him get a tattoo of this one phrase^ he loves and keeps repeating every chance he gets)

he likes platform boots and long coats a lot and always wears them

he has some sort of warlocky studio/shop thing where he works on his new spells and potions and where people go to ask him for help

likes having you around at all times and when he's working on something new or just working in his studio

he loves having you there with him

he loves your energy and being with you even when your both doing your thing just keeping each other company

but every now and then he would take a break and shows you something funny or something to impress you

would never ever put you at risk and that's why he never tries or shows you more dangerous spells or even curses when you're there

being deja vu's buddy he knows A LOT of risqué related charms and magic

[firaknight]

Follow up of Adeleines opinions on the helpers :) (stuff in parenthesis is the ability they have)

Blade Knight (Sword): 7/10 Mysterious little dude:

He’s cool! He’s kinda hard to understand at times (he’s got a thick accent, idk what kind), but he’s very nice! He’s got a lot of standards when it comes to swordsmanship and is very strong! He’s working on showing Adeleine the proper stances for sword fighting (it’s possible for her to emulate that style with her paintbrush, minus the cutting ability of a real sword).

Chilly (Ice): 9/10 Snowed Man!!

Snowed man friend!!!! He’s very serious about things but he’s a good friend! Only problem is he has to stick around Adeleines Ice Dragon drawing to prevent the poor guy from melting (they’re working on finding an eternal ice that won’t melt so he can stay cold!). He likes to make snow cones!!! (Which are hella good btw)

Bio spark (Ninja): 8/10 Speedy!!!

One of the fastest helpers around! They’re speedy, sneaky, and all around a mysterious little dude! They have a habit of showing up so quietly that nobody notices for a good couple minutes before they’re just like “I wasn’t even hiding I’ve been standing here this whole time.” Overall, odd but kind little friend!

Birdon (Wing): 7/10 Soft birdie!!!

They’re just a little birdie!!! Birdons probably the most carefree helper out of the bunch, and they like relaxing really high up (much to Adeleines dismay). They tend to make stuff out of the feathers they shed (and they shed very often), so they’re always giving friends bracelets, headgear, jewelry, and such made out of their feathers. Adeleine actually has a coat lined with their feathers and it’s SUPER warm! They’re a little strange (and Kawasaki keeps trying to cook them [see: Star Allies title screen skits]) but they’re a wonderful buddy!

Wester (Whip): 9/10 Yeehaw man!!!!

Dude is legit just a very small cowboy. He cannot help his smallness... He’s agile and absolutely has an accent when he talks. He’s a little chaotic, but has a good heart. Probably taught Adeleine how to mount and ride a grizzo just for fun. She’s got a cowboy hat he made for her!

Plugg (Plasma): 10/10 Old friend!

She’s known Plugg since Crystal Shards! The two are good friends and Plugg likes to paint with her! He’s got some... interesting ways of painting (sticking his entire face into paint and then running facedown on the canvas), but he’s a lovely friend! He likes to run around a lot tho, probably because he’s constantly generating electricity and needs to burn it off so it doesn’t overload him. Will absolutely charge electrical devices without a second thought.

Como (Spider): 6/10 Spider...

While they’re similar to Taranza, they have a lot more spider tendencies, and therefore kinda scared Adeleine. She’s tolerable of them (more so than Susie), but tries to keep her distance. They’re helpful and are very very very sweet!!! They just tend to do creepy spider things and it freaks her out...

Bugzzy (Suplex): 7/10 Massive bug dude

He’s like... huge. Closer to, if not taller, than Adeleines height. He has very sharp pincers on the front of his face, and they can be painful when used, so he either wraps them in bandaging or puts rubber caps over them! That way he can grab and hold friends without harm! He’s oddly cuddly and likes to carry people around (not neccisarily throwing them) in his pincers. Overall, big doofus bug who has lots of love.

Broom Hatter (Clean): 8/10 Clean freak

Literally cannot handle dirty shit. At all. Has the urge to clean everything. Perks are that they keep the base everyone hangs out in super duper clean! Adeleines taught them to draw and it helps them not want to compulsively clean everything. They make really pretty art!

Poppy Bros Jr. (Bomb): 9/10 Funky lad!

He’s got an older brother of the same name (Poppy Bros Sr.) and he’s a boss in training! One day he hopes to be just as good as his brother! Dude is ultra high energy (which is why he’s always hopping around) and tends to be a little obnoxious. They can’t entirely help it, they’re just energetic! They’ve taught Adeleine how to yeet explosives and she’s genuinely good at it!

Rocky (Stone): 7/10 He is literally just a rock

Sentient rock! He’s a little slow and can’t really talk, but he’s a buddy! He likes to just turn into his stone form and just sit like that. It’s comfy and feels like home to him. Will not hesitate to use himself as a step or a seat for someone if needed. He also gives everyone hes friends with a special rock! Adeleines has marbling to it and looks absolutely beautiful!

Waddle Doo (Beam): 8/10 Funky little man!

He’s got only one eye and therefore has poor eyesight. You’d think one eye would be better, but nope! He wears essentially one huge contact lens to help! They’re buddies with Parasol Dee and Bandee!!! Doo is on the calmer side of the group, and tends to not be so insanely high strung. He’s still a little anxious, but he’s better at covering it than the other. He hangs out with Wester sometimes (whip-like attack squad)

Chef Kawasaki (Cook): 2/10 Hes creepy and I don’t like him.

He has this weird... unsettling energy about him. He’s tried to cook both Coo and Birdon more than once and she genuinely doesn’t like being around him. He makes good food, which has stopped him from being a 0/10 in her book, but thats it. He’s only there because Kirby thought he’d be a nice addition and everyone knows that if Kawasaki crosses the line he will get booted on the spot. (Kirby has standards too!)

Gim (Yo-yo): 7/10 Hes just a robot huh.

He’s kinda strange, and doesn’t appear to have a lot of feeling, but Gims really nice! He likes to show people all the tricks he can do with his yo-yo (which is surprisingly a lot) and gives all his friends a yo-to so they can do the tricks along with him (Adeleines is teal with red and black stripes. It’s also got a couple paint splotches on it that we’re added on purpose).

Burning Leo (Fire): 8/10 Toasty heater child!

They’re small and warm!!! All the time!!! They like to be held and snuggle up to cold stuff because it’s the same feeling as snuggling up to warm stuff for humans. REEEEAAALLLYYY wants to hug Chilly but there is the very real possibility that Chilly will literally melt so he holds off from that. Adeleine tends to be cold and likes to hold Leo like a hot water bottle. He’s learned how to make his head fire harmless so people can hold him and not get burned!!

Driblee (Water): 9/10 Oh my god they’re adorable!

Sothisispartiallyjustmebecauseilovethewaterabilityimsorry They’re a little lizard mermaid! They adore swimming more than you’d think and hold pool parties!! They hang around Chilly because their water tends to be on the colder side and Chilly can use them to reform melted bits of Adeleine can’t get Ice Dragon to do it. They’re actually made entirely out of water! They can literally transform back into water by going into water. This also means that they can conform to spaces not meant for them like bottles and containers. They like to make drinks for people since the water they use for attacking is some of the cleanest water out there! (It also tastes super fucking good)

Bonkers (Hammer): 7/10 Kinda scary...

He’s big, taller than Adeleine (especially if he stands fully upright), and has an intimidating look, but he’s all bark and no bite! Dude is literally just a ball of sunshine! He likes to carry people around and will 100% shield someone from attacks (he’s sturdy!!!). He’s helping Adeleine with her strength because she’s fragile and a little scrawny and he’s all muscle (shes gotten a lot better!). Shes got her own lightweight hammer he lets her use so she can get a little stronger!

Sir Kibble (Cutter): 9/10 Smol knight!

He cannot help his size... but he’s tough! He also has no fucking braincells and does not think but he’s a good boy! He likes to headbutt people but his helmet poses a problem (it literally has a blade attached to it) so he puts a padded pool noodle over it to protect others (the padding is so the noodle doesn’t get chopped from the blade itself when force is applied). He’s just a little dude with no thoughts... head empy...

NESP (ESP): 4/10 They talk too much and know stuff about me that I never told them.

Strange and not very cool :( They have a tendency to read other people’s minds because they purposefully don’t tune their thoughts out and therefore know a lot of stuff they really shouldn’t. They also don’t know how to keep their mouth shut. Thankfully they’re just funky from psychic power and on a good day they’re kinda nice to be around!

Vividria (Artist): 10/10 THATS MY ADOPTED SISTER!!

They’re siblings. Drawcia adopted Adeleine as one of her own and that makes Vividria her sis! They paint together and Vividria kinda sticks up for Adeleine in more dicey fights because of Adeleines low HP. They’re the bestest of friends and are super cool with one another! She’s still growing and is one day gonna reach Drawcias size!! (If we put it into normal heights [Adeleine being 5’3” and Kirby being 1’8”] Drawcia is over double Kirby’s height. Probably closer to 3-4 feet)

Parasol Waddle Dee (Parasol): 9/10 Oh my god they’re just a smol friend...

Dee is literally almost as high strung and anxious as Bandee but they’re so sweet!! They like rain!! They also give parasols to all their friends! (Adeleines is teal with paint splotches!) They tend to nap a lot and will totally join cuddle piles. On hot days they’ll utilize the chumbrella as a big shade for everyone in the nap pile. Just a squishy little dee!!!!!

Knuckle Joe (Fighter): 10/10 Hes super supportive and nice!

He saw how fragile Adeleine was and said “aight so I may not be a master but I’m gonna teach this kid how to fight” and didn’t wait for any objections. Once a week he goes out into the forest with Adeleine and shows her how to fight like him! Physical combat is important!!! She can’t fire off energy blasts or deal lightning speed punches, but she’s getting there! He’s ultra supportive of everyone and loved to teach people stuff!!! He care about everyone!!!!

Beetley (Beetle): 8/10 Why is he so angy!!

Always grumpy. He says it’s because he keeps losing to Bugzzy but it’s just because he’s super small and gets picked up like a burger all the time (if you didn’t wanna be held like a burger don’t be burger shaped idiot). Isn’t aggressive but will headbutt people with the blunt end of his horn when he’s being extra grouchy. Adeleine likes picking him up because he gets all stiff like a ferret (when you pick them up and they stick their feet’s up all stiff).

Jammerjab (Staff): 9/10 Funky but fun!

Was originally really wary of them because of the whole Void Termina thing and their assosciation with the bad guys wasn’t a good thing but they’re super cool! They’re graceful and like to stand on their staff a lot. They also help the smaller helpers get stuff up high (they themselves are small but their staff can extend a lot so they can use that for extra height). They let Adeleine use their staff and she’s not that good at it (she always whacks herself in the face while trying to use it) but it’s a nice gesture! They know a lot about the Jambastion and like to tell people all the wacky secrets it holds (like how Hyness has an entire room full of just robes that all look the exact fucking same or how theres a specific set of hallways that move and change to get trespassers lost in them). Honestly a fun little guy to be around

[marauderssequels]

some thoughts on the map, cuz reasons:

it cant have been their first attempt, the castle is too big and too complicated for them to be able to add onto the same map and not run into problems, I mentioned in an earlier ask that they would measure the hallways, but they would prob start without measurements, also I am sure the magic didn’t come with the first attempt, they made mistakes and learned from them, so here’s what I think could be the map timeline.

the first or second time one marauder discovers a secret passage*, he tries to explain how to get there to the others, and to make it easier draws a quick sketch (maybe about halfway through the first book). This map is reused a few times until it gets too messy or crowded or just doesnt work anymore, because it was just a sketch and not measured out right. It is then transferred onto new parchment with its flaws in mind. This one works for some more time, until a new problem arises. There would be at least one more map before they decide that its a better idea to actually measure out the whole thing.

This might be by third year. The measuring*² takes some more time again, esp since by that time they get extra subjects, so will have less time. They will prob make a few mistakes, that they’ll notice at some point and correct. However they prob measured the parchment wrong, which will lead to either them starting over or, because they’ve gotten so far already they spell attach more parchment where they need it (sirius had gotten quite good at different glue spells over time). This new measured out map might be done within 4th year.

For the magic there’s three things:

hiding the map, I believe this would be the first feature to be added, although with less strong protection. The reason for them to add this would be either almost being caught with it in class, or one of them having left it in the common room over night/between breakfast and lunch and the anxiety of the situation making them first make sure it never leaves their dorm, until they figure out how to hide it. the protection would be upgraded over the years

the moving stairs, keeping track of them and showing the change on the map. this magic probably didnt exist before in this way, so they would have to find a way to create this effect

tracking ppl*³, this would not be needed at first as they had the invisibility cloak*4, however, once they all grow a bit they will be unable to all walk under it together, even once Peter is an animagus (no teacher pays much attention to a random rat). Additionally, they might want to split up for prank prep and castle explorations and theres just that one cloak. This feature would be added last, I think, as it would prob expand the methods used on the stairs for people and additionally need identity confirmation*5

anyway, have fun with this

*i feel like peter would have a talent for this, but giving him that and being the first to become an animagus might be a bit much, otherwise i could imagine remus to wander the halls randomly, or the other two to get so damn lucky again

*²I imagine there to be a spell where you can measure from one wand tip to another, so they would stand at opposite ends of the hallway, hold up their wands and then write down something, which if they do it looks pretty suspicious

*³and mrs norris, Idk if Filch worked there yet when they were at hogwarts (or when he would’ve come, if it was during their time, that could be a small plot point as well) but if he was, they would prob have to find a way to keep track of her but not the other cats (prob a single tracking spell, more similar to the stairs than the ppl), another possibility is that, as I believe a fan theory says Mrs Norris is not actually just some cat but Filch’s wife, who somehow got transformed into a cat, so even if Filch got to Hogwarts, she would be on the map (this theory could be considered either way). Mrs Norris being tracked could also be a result of the Marauders wanting to test whether the magic they worked on the stairs works on living things, but Idk how close that comes to animal cruelty, if something had gone wrong

*4I dont think we have any information on when James is given the cloak, altho I do think it’s mentioned that they had it at some point in Hogwarts. I would assume that Fleamont Potter is a cool dad who gives his son such an item, against his wife’s protest. However, I’m not sure whether he would give it to a first year James. This remains up for debate of course

*5this might be added after James is tricked by some polyjuiced girl (which i mentioned in my last submission), so that the map always displays the actual identity, instead of the perceived identity, as it would originally be

- submitted by @toni-d-b

[roominthecastle]

Hey Room! Thanks for replying to my Q. But if Illya was that lovesick for Katarina since he was 6, doesn’t it give a stench of classic transference to the Red/Liz dynamic? Like, Illya couldn’t get Kat, so he sees her daughter as his second chance . . . with Kat really. Liz was supposed to be the woman Red “loved and lost” in Cape May, but if Red = Illya, then that description must apply to both girls.

I would see it as such if Red chose to whisper Kat’s name as his final word, or a memory of her flashed across his mind before his impending almost execution, or if he talked about her as the woman he loved/his heart/his life. But it’s always clearly Liz, there isn’t even a touch of ambiguity to this. If he still harbored feelings for Kat, they should have surfaced in these key moments but they didn’t. His past relationship w/ Kat has an influence here, I don’t deny that, but I don’t believe Red sees Liz as a replacement or consolation prize. He sees her as her own person, and if he fell for Liz, he fell for Liz bc she fits his type just like all the other women he has fancied before – 99.9% of whom were not her mother. He’s loved before but not the way he loves Liz now.

And I should have worded my response better re: the lovesick puppy thing bc I don’t think he’s been in love w/ Kat since they were 6 or that it’s some sort of guiding constant in his life. They likely lived separate lives on different continents, for starters, and she wasn’t interested in him that way. And I mentioned somewhere else how I see an inconsistency in his attachment to Kat in “Rassvet”: he isn’t devastated when he thinks she committed suicide, at least nowhere near as affected as he was by Liz’s death, which undercuts the whole selfless lover-hero image that seemingly follows soon after she comes out of hiding to ask for his help. There are no hurt feelings, no stinging sense of betrayal in the way he interacts w/ Kat (it’s almost like “oh, you’re back, good, wanna make out?”), yet it was all there after Liz came back from the dead, which already suggests different depths of emotional involvement.

Ilya’s repeated insistence to honor a pledge he made when he was 6 is the takeaway in “Rassvet”, imo. “My word is my bond” and “loyalty above all else” are still the most important guiding principles in Red’s life (both in business and personal relationships), and this is also what Ilya – or through Ilya, Dom – kept emphasizing as the only reason to help Kat. Treating a childhood promise as a serious, binding contract is a very Red thing, imo. How much actual “in love-ness” went with it remains to be seen since this is Dom’s version of the story and Red is clearly not happy w/ it.

But this signature compulsion is there in Red’s relationship w/ Liz, too. He promised her to keep her alive and safe, to give her the life she longs for, and he is not stopping until he succeeds but he also has his own agenda unfurling in the backdrop of their relationship. So he pledged himself to Liz, too. This compulsive aspect of the “lovesick puppy act” is what I think these two dynamics have in common, that’s why I said that Ilya’s behavior around Kat fits w/ how Red behaves today. This super intense loyalty to a select few stems from who Ilya/Red is as a person at his core, and it’s independent from romantic/sexual feelings but it’s easy to confuse/conflate the two, esp if one is young(er) and/or lonely like Ilya/Red was ~30 years ago.

And all this naturally brings something James once said to mind:

“I think in life, people have this confusion about love. We all want to fall in love so badly that we are almost willing to lie to ourselves, to force ourselves into believing that we are in love when we aren’t. It’s too bad, because in so doing, we cheapen it. I don’t think we recognize the depth of the emotion at all. It’s entirely transformative and we think of it as a blurb on a Hallmark card. When you’re in love, you can’t control it. It’s when you can’t take charge of what you feel, when you are completely powerless in the face of the emotion. When it happens, it happens in spite of you.” [x]

In “Rassvet” Ilya is, in fact, taking charge and Dom emphasizes this by calling him “the architect of this charade”. He gets himself transformed as part of a deliberate plan, a power move, he came up with and had to talk Kat into. Liz, however, is unintentionally yet inescapably transforming him in ways he is 100% unable to control, and she is transforming him back to who he used to be (a lá Beauty and the Beast). She tears right through every design he’s ever come up with, zigs when he zags, and lands him in the most insane situations he had no intention of ending up in (most recently: the execution chamber).

So the first part of the quote above feels more Ilya/Kat atm, and the last bit is 100% what I see when I look at Red and Liz’s relationship and, perhaps not by accident, that last bit is also what made it into actual canon dialog btw Red and Liz, and it’s been repeatedly stated how only Liz can render Red powerless and how she is his kryptonite. Liz.

So I don’t think Ilya/Red truly felt for Kat in the past what he – in spite of himself – ended up feeling for Liz in the present (true, all-consuming love). But he follows the same “my word is my bond” principle in both dynamics.

I can def see him being irritated by how Dom chose to reduce his relationship w/ Kat to some sanitized fairytale, but I still don’t think Dom believed that lying through his teeth was the way to dispense closure here. It’s Dom who warns Red at the end of S5 that Liz is never gonna stop digging for his true identity, then again tells him that she was gonna find out sooner or later anyway, so he did Red a favor by ripping off that band-aid. Liz was desperate to know Red’s real identity and Dom gave it up, hoping/thinking it would be a small price to pay for a way forward. Dom himself is sick and tired of secrets and hiding, living that way has cost him so much already and he knows nothing good ever comes from it, so I don’t think that heaping full-on lies on this issue was his go-to move here. I could be wrong, of course, but for now, I am rolling w/ “most of what Dom said he believes/assumes to be true but stuff was omitted that will end up re-framing things once they are revealed”.

But nothing (potentially) traumatizing was revealed here? things Red wanted to keep from Liz were revealed and he clearly did not like it or the way Dom chose to tell it, but “I know you used to be Ilya who made a huge sacrifice to protect my mother and me” is not quite in the same league as “I know you killed Sam” or “I know I killed my father” as far as devastating revelations go. I think Red’s reaction matched that + he was also still fuming and hurting from the confirmation of her most recent betrayal, so that’s also coloring his response and mood here, imo, making him so tightly wound that only a few twitches escape as he listens to her.

That smartass Popeye remark was not his immediate response, it’s not a response to “I know you’re Ilya”. It’s a deflection that comes when she – sensing an obvious hole in the story – starts questioning why he kept Reddington’s identity once the alleged reason of taking it on was satisfied. That’s when he says, “I am what I am. … Popeye the Sailor Man.” to avoid the topic bc – imo – now she is truly close to knowing everything and he needs to stall to figure out how to handle this entirely new playing field.

I think his reaction to her at the end of “Rassvet” is a unique mix – previous methods of (now half-hearted) deflection w/ an undercurrent of surprise, fear, anger, uncertainty + a touch of “you disappoint yet impress” he also voiced at the end of S5.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Ryusoulger Subs Post #1…

… There never was a #2! What a shock. Not really.

God, now I have to get through the week again.

In no order:

Yes, I remember what happened last time.

Remembered to check the chibi Ryusoulger this time. It’s Red. So I guess this is a Kou ep? Or they’re just going in order, and the chibis are in no way related to the focus.

I’m now wondering if Banba folding his arms is his anxious tell? Like, it’s a defensive body posture. I’m too tired to make much sense of my own explanation rn, but it fits his issues, I think.

Also his hand is so tense, oh, honey… DX

I’m also trying to figure out exactly what he was doing w/ his hand… Like, maybe it was just a nervous fidget, but also kinda like he was picking at his nails somehow? For lack of a better description?

Why is Melto the only one who knows how to check a pulse?

I want to hug Banba so badly right now… This boys’ facial expressions are amazing. Like, you can tell he’s in agony over the fact that, as far as he knows, he, personally, destroyed the only way to save his brother.

Poor Kou having to chase Banba again. XD

Crayon trying to start his own YouTube channel… I like this guy. He’s both creepy and entertaining.

Also I would die for any of the mook suit actors in an instant.

Big Brother Mode is still ACTIVATED. ^^

Crayon uses Microphone! It’s not super effective!

I still love how Kou was like ‘It’s probably best if I transform even before I find him just in case.’ Esp since, in the end, that actually wasn’t necessary.

I would kind of love to have had more to this scene. Like, how long do you think Banba spent trying to go after Crayon/walk on his own before Kou was able to get him back? I’d write it, but I just can’t seem to find the inspiration rn… DX

How often are they changing these cloths? Kou and Banba don’t seem to have been gone, like, ten minutes.

So… What, does it reproduce through spores?

Accidentally paused on very distressed Kou right before he called for the others. Poor baby.

I know it’s in character for him to refuse to sit, but I still think they could’ve offered Banba a chair.

I still want to pinch surprised Kou’s cheeks. DX

No, really. Why are there two? Did it divide or something? Or was she just really mad about people abandoning animals?

HOW IS HE ABLE TO STILL LOOK SO AMAZING IN THAT AWFUL MAKEUP???

Melto gets upgraded to being directly addressed. ^^

Banba really didn’t need to come off the wall for this, really. I love him, but the way he kinda lurches toward Melto there seems a little bit out of a horror film…

Honestly, I’m gonna miss Crayon and Tankjoh’s relationship. ‘You don’t get to laugh.’ (and just the deadpan way he says it) ‘Why be strict about that?’ XD I’m rather fond of their dynamic.

Crayon being unable to completely control the Minusaurs is so bloody hilarious to me. ^^

I guess Kou and Melto just have stronger immune systems?

Banba and Kou and their ‘don’t underestimate Kata Soul.’

…

… Okay, it’s probably not connected at all, and/or it’s just a recurring joke w/ this Minusaur, but… We know that the most recent (at least) traumatic event that happened to Kou involved Kata Soul… What if that Soul was also involved in some traumatic event that happened to Banba? Hell, maybe that’d be why he favours it. I dunno, I’m probably just spinning. But it came into my head when Kou essentially did the same thing Banba did against the other Cerberus Minusaur.

Well, DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON IT, EITHER!

Oh, sweetie, no. I know you’re a mess right now, but no.

I feel so bad for him, though. Like, he blames himself for letting this happen in the first place (for failing to protect his brother/destroy Crayon before, etc.), and he’s probably blaming himself for delaying their chance at getting an antidote by destroying the first Minusaur. Now he’s dying, other people are dying, and most importantly to him, Touwa is dying. This has gotta be some of the most scared and desperate he’s ever been.

Like, the way he hobbles over to look at Touwa before he does it… TT_TT

WHERE WAS HE KEEPING THE SWORD??? HIS SLEEVE??

Does he have Zuuban in there, too?

Sorry. DX I have an incurable condition called thinking I’m hilarious.

But looks aren’t everything.

… Okay, who let my grandfather in here.

No, honey. No. This is not your fault. I promise you, no one here blames you but you. I don’t know if someone once told you you were at fault for something(s), or if you’ve just been internalising blame your whole life or something. But. I promise. No one blames you. </3

I mean, it both is and isn’t selfish. He’s got a point that if they die there will be no one to fight the Druidon. But I think the main driving force behind his desperation right now is to save his brother, and the former reason is more secondary.

He really has no right to look so good in this awful makeup, and yet… I saw a man so beautiful I started crying.

I am rather disappointed that Banba and Asuna didn’t go out there, but I guess their conditions had deteriorated more than the other two’s had, bc they got infected first.

Okay. This looks like a renaissance painting.

Oh, gods… Banba’s reaction to the whole ‘trust’ thing… TT^TT Who did this to you? Please tell me so I can find and assassinate them? DX

Hm… Maybe Touwa does know something, bc he got really soft over the ‘let’s trust them’ line.

Also just the word ‘trust’ seems to be borderline trigger for Banba… I really wish we had some flashbacks for the brothers, too… Though there is still plenty of time.

I still want child¡Banba holding baby¡Touwa.

But, to do some random spitball theorising… Could there have been a situation where Banba felt like he screwed up, and then when he trusted someone to help they betrayed him in some way? No grounding for this, just musing.

But god, his reaction there makes me want to know more so badly…

I always wonder how much they tell the actors? Like, is it like Game of Thrones where they only tell them things that the characters would know? By that logic, Tatsuya may know what Banba’s side of the story is… Though I seem to remember that Keisuke said something that implied he didn’t know all of Kuro Woz’s backstory… Though maybe he was deflecting a question. I dunno.

Okay, it’s not actually that similar, but that cut from the dramatic scene of the others declaring they trust Melto and Kou/resigning to giving them a chance while also having some sort of secret trauma flashback or something over the concept of ‘trust’ (in Banba’s case) to Kou being yeeted into a pile of barrels made me think of that scene in Kyuranger where Lucky gives a speech about how much faith they have in Shou and what a great leader he is––and then it cuts to Shou screaming hysterically about how they’re all going to crash into the sun and die.

Kou is a very reckless oaf, and I love him to bits.

How did he even… I guess sheer force of will.

Honestly, Hayate is kind of rocking the awful ‘poisoned’ makeup, too.

Actually, to be honest, they all are.

Or maybe someone made the smart decision to tone down the makeup.

I’d call Master Red ‘Master Dad,’ but then what would I call Master Blue? Master Other Dad? Master Melto’s Dad? *insert shrug emoji here*

When you pass out from poison, and have a dream about that time your parental substitute father figure gave you a piggyback ride––only it was actually your sentient dinosaur mecha carrying you and your friend on its back.

So. Who summoned Tyramigo? XD

…

… You know what. That’s it. I have nothing to say about the kebabs anymore.

Wait. So apparently the village was destroyed? So… What happened to all the other people we saw? Did they die? Evacuate to somewhere? But the Elder says he has nowhere else to go… O_o

In case you were wondering, the sixth is going to be Gold. Here presented as… Saffron yellow? Bc gold was probably too over the top for a kebab menu.

I love how Melto went from so frightened of the Elder that he hid a banana behind his back to interrupting the guy when he’s talking. XD

Wait, so… Like. Was he the one they were originally meant to bring it to? Are he and Naohisa in cahoots? Did I accidentally skip a line? That’s actually very possible.

… Why. Why was I expecting science. Why did I actually think… Oh, forget it.

Okay, but did they have to make it yellow? There are plenty of juices. You could have made it any other colour.

Kinda wish we got to see them bring it back to the house. But I can understand the ‘dramatic reveal’ of them showing up to fight Tankjoh.

But you know Banba made sure Touwa was cured even before he was. XD

*UGLY SOBBING COMMENCES*

I’M SO PROUD.

I still love MirNeedle and his honking sound.

The RyuSouls still want hugs.

The fact that Tankjoh has legit hands is hilarious to me.

Banba saying the dramatic lines, for some reason. XD

God, even w/ that wording… Banba’s still blaming himself. A) In apologising, and B) w/ the ‘I made you etc.’ It’s basically ‘I failed so you had to do it.’

Touwa calling him on makes me wonder if he does that a lot… Oh my gosh, is Banba also a compulsive apologiser? MY BABY! DX

Aaaaaaw. He gets so awkward and embarrassed. He’s so cute. XD <3

I’m still trying to parse out the look he gives Kou. It’s, like… Bemused? I guess? Like ‘you’re still saying that?’ Maybe? Though given the quick deep breath and how fast he rejects, maybe he was starting to have a ‘maybe we can trust him/them’ thought and felt like he needed to quickly shut it down.

All I could think of was the ‘I’m sorry, you must be a level 4 friend to unlock my tragic backstory’ tweet…

I love Kou’s expression and body language, bc it’s somewhere between becoming fondly amused and Banba’s grumpy tsundere nature, being like ‘Oooo! New friend project!’, and ‘Oh? That is that a challenge?’

To quite the King of Friendship himself: ‘I’m gonna become friends with you just to spite you.’ XD

Kou and Melto are less teasing Asuna, and more that they don’t want to look at the Elder in that outfit again. XD

I guess he wasn’t prophesying, and he has seen the trio more recently… But I’m still petty and will be sour if the brothers get excluded from whatever prophecies etc. there do end up being…

Like, they can do an ‘it’s all up to the original three’ in the end like Go-Onger, but only if they have the brothers pull a Hanto and Gunpei/Go-O Wings.

Preview: Don’t trust the sisters, and I suspect they have vocal powers, perhaps to control others. I do wonder if this is going t reveal more about the brother’s past at all as a parallel? Or we could be taking a break from that for now, which is also fine. I just request that they reveal it steadily as the team grows closer, and don’t just dump it all at the end or something.

That’s all, folks! Virtual jellybeans for anyone who read all that. XD

I am excited for the brother’s backstory, and what happened to Banba, but I’d also be fine w/ taking a break from that as we move on to introduce the next General, who will likely hang around a bit longer than Tankjoh to show off the upped ante. Music is apparently going to be important, since we’ve got several former idol group members here. Also it said so on the official website, so I’m not blowing steam. I’m sure if we’ve got a cast member who can sing, there will be an ep where they sing (Asuna’s most likely, since she’s apparently a former idol?). Anyway, excited for this to continue, and anxious for the week to be over.

[lizzybeth1986]

Quick Thoughts on TRR Book 3 Chapter 19

• It's our WEDDING DAY. But it looks like Anton wants to make it our Deathday first.

• For the kind of wait most of the stans have been keeping since this book has begun, seeing our MCs finally married to our favourite LIs is quite...satisfying. Well. For most of us at least.

• Title: You Are Cordially Invited. To see me get married or to see me die?

• Mara goes outside, vowing that to get through to us they'd have to get through to her first.

• Madeleine and Bertrand barricade the door with a couch and Bertrand warns everyone to have something in hand (Olivia is one step ahead, obviously, with her sharp-as-fuck stilettos).

• That girl is ready and prepared to commit maritricide, y'all! XD

• Hana picks a vase, Madeleine keeps her clipboard, Penelope is panicking at the back with Merlin and Morgana (this was the shit I was trying to avoid with court, Mom! I can almost hear her thinking), but if you really want to see a legend minus the legend points...I should point you all to Kiara:

I repeat. A legend I stan.

This is someone having a trigger attack, and steeling herself despite the trauma of two previous experiences before plunging herself into a possible third one. That takes serious guts.

• Madeleine isn't exactly prepared to fight (clearly being Queen never seemed to involve fighting assassins before for her, strangely enough), but Olivia sure is. She says "do you want to keep bleating like a defenseless lamb or do you want to get ready to fight?"

• Honestly though Olivia delivers some of my favourite lines this chapter.

• Ana is staying out if this - (in public) because she "does not have the equipment for this" and (in private) because she wants to capture the scoop of the century!

• THANK YOU MAXWELL for gifting me that sword!

•

(All the screenshots, except for the Maxwell one from the HIMEME channel, are mine)

I have better bodyguards inside this boutique than I do outside. Look at all of these people. Picking up clipboards, stilletoes, vases, mannequins, scissors, THEIR OWN BARE HANDS, and defeating these dudes. Like...like...they may have been incredibly sheltered and protected by their families but all of them know how to make the best of a situation where their lives are under threat. And mind you, at least two of those women openly struggle with issues related to their mental health and still manage to emerge from this doing what they can.

• I loved the sword scene! It was a nice look back at TCaTF (esp Book 3) and a nice way to celebrate the Choices anniversary. In TCaTF books 1 and 2, you had different point systems for Kenna and Dom: prestige for her and power for him, to show the rise of Kenna as a formidable leader and the gaining of Dom's fire powers. Because he possesses enough power to transform into a dragon by the end of Book 2, the focus then shifts to them gearing up for their biggest battle yet - the one with Empress Azura of Ducitora (though part of this book is spent with Dom trapped inside an airship fighting a particularly frightening form of mind control from Hex). The implication is that Kenna becoming a legend consolidates her position as the uniter of the Five Kingdoms, which is what she becomes by the end of the story. It's therefore fitting that the legend points feature here, just before the MC's wedding - for like Kenna, she has just returned from reuniting the nobility (or not) into supporting Liam's right to the throne through her wedding, and like Kenna she needs to fight a Nevrakis, while possibly having the support of other Nevrakises...well, just one in the case of TRR.

• If you're marrying Hana, she features nowhere in this scene, and Olivia stabs the assassin who attacks Madeleine with knives. If you're not, she is part of your entourage, and particularly is shown taking action when Madeleine's life is under threat. If they hadn't already been hinting at Madeleine's "feelings" for Hana, and the latter's convenient amnesia regarding the events of the engagement tour...I wouldn't have minded. But I do. Very much.

• Maxwell only features in this scene if you choose him as a bridesmaid, but I would highly recommend choosing him as one at least once (if he's not your LI that is) because he and Bertrand do so amazing fighting together here.

• Ana's motto will be "my life may leave me but never my desire to catch proof of a burning-hot scoop".

• Gee, Bastien, you took a while to get here. Like...8 chapters or something.

• Mara comes back with an injury and an attempt to say our code name, which...sure thanks Mara but you still suck at your job. If guarding us is really your job at all.

• Bastien and whoever is with him have managed to capture the remaining assassins but Anton managed to escape. If that doesn't come back to bite us in the ass later...

• Why is Madeleine so involved when it comes to MY dress? Her hand is literally trembling. Please don't tell me this design was intended for her wedding. That'll be a waste of 25 whole diamonds.

• Or perhaps she's just shook coz THERE IS FYDELIA LACE INVOLVED YOU PEASANTS.

• "I need to have security remove any guests wearing white," says the press sec who tried to sneak in a white dress to wear for my wedding.

(Yes. I plead guilty. I just needed an excuse to cram in a Brian May gif there. I can't help that this man is the Meme King of Queen).

• OF COURSE I'M WEARING DRAKE'S POCKET WATCH AND HANA'S SHOES.

• We've finally reached the cathedral! After threatening to either drive the carriage through the premises, cry or sue Cordonia if we don't get there soon enough.

• I see the Applewood people! You get loads of options to greet the crowd. And of course I was going to try getting Esther to say " 'sup" once lol. I think depending on how you wave to them, the press will either see you as graceful or playful.

•

(Screenshots: Hana's is mine, Maxwell's from the HIMEME YouTube channel, Penelope's from @sgt-peppers-coffee-club , Olivia's from @i-dream-so-i-write , and Kiara's from @callmetippytumbles )

Here's all our Maids (plus one Man) of Honour! All of them speak about this day being a long time coming, but also reflect with the MC on what it took for them all to get to this point. I think Olivia (by virtue of being the Fighter of the lot) and Kiara (because of what she's faced at least thrice now) get some particularly meaty lines for their MOH scene.

• You get to choose whether Bertrand should accompany you down the aisle, since it's tradition to be done so by a member of your House, and the Beaumonts have been her sponsor from the beginning. Cue an emotional moment with Bertrand, who regards you as family now and is immensely proud of you. The Maxwell stans got a similar conversation in the vows diamond scene, but in more detail because it's his kid brother you're marrying, but now we get it as an honorary Beaumont as well. He gets super super emotional if you ask him to walk you down the aisle.

• Oooh pretty! And so many stained glass windows! Why was Leo complaining so much about this cathedral in RoE Book 3? I would have given an arm and a leg to get married there.

• NEW MUSIC!!! Lots of lovely flowery piano notes and trumpets. Very regal and very much a wedding march tune.

• So technically I'm guessing this is where we get to see the results of our tour, because in my playthrough everyone is here.

• If you're marrying Drake, you get to see his mother Bianca, and she speaks to you after the ceremony. I can kiiinda see where Savannah gets her "I only met you ten seconds ago but OMG WE'RE GOING TO BE BFFS" vibe comes from.

• WTF none of these people changed clothes it seems 😂 Everyone's else is wearing what they usually wear. Guys, this wedding is going to be freaking TELEVISED and these nobles are wearing their usual dusty outfits 😂😂

• The Best Men/Women, are depicted positively - whether they have feelings for the MC or not. Drake is said to be showing a "rare, unabashed grin", and Liam is "smiling proudly". Kiara is "smiling excitedly".

• So as you all know, you can choose between Liam (if you're marrying Hana or Maxwell), Leo or Regina for officiating your wedding. The speech is largely the same - they all mention the seed and apple tree analogy, the traditions of Cordonia and how important love is - but the opening lines vary.

(Regina's is from mine, Leo's is from the Bizzy's Choices channel, and Liam's is from @kennaxval )

Regina's is distant and formal, which suits her and suits the scale of the occasion. Leo's is humorous, and Liam's is flowery and poetic. This suits both of the men as we know them. Leo is known to not take himself very seriously, and Liam's language is very ornate by default.

• The vows (I'm talking about the LIs' ones here, since the MC's is customizable) are all beautiful. Every single one delves into their history with her and how their relationship with her grew from strength to strength. You can see why they decided to go off-script for their vows. Their story with her has always been personal and these vows are about acknowledging the long, hard journey that got them to this altar.

•

Liam's is about how the MC taught him to believe in possibility, to believe that he needn't be stuck in the rut of royal stoicism to be the king his people need. Hana's is about the freedom the MC gave her from a future carefully charted out for her, into a better, brighter one. Maxwell's is about how he has found a woman whose very presence represents adventure for him, someone who will raise him up rather than tie him down. Drake's is about embracing change, accepting the love the MC has for him and the love he tried to deny having for the MC. I love them all.

• In my mind this is the improved version of the wedding scene in TCaTF, as is the RoE wedding. I recall, way back when Kenna got married, fans (rightly) pointed out that while her LIs' vows sounded heartfelt and acknowledged their relationship with her, the few options given for Kenna's vows made her sound impersonal and not very involved in comparison (for instance, even though Diavolos appeared only by Book 3, Kenna still was made to sound like the relationship had been there for longer). In RoE, they attempted to correct that, by giving us the diamond option to personalize our vows (still using their choices, but we got more options here and went into more detail). In TRR they've gone a step further and have US type what we want with our wishes, because even when you have the same LI - no two people can view one character the same. There's space for shitposting haha, but it's also to ensure that we have enough say in the vows we want our MCs to repeat.

• If you don't choose either your corgi or Bartie, the Cordonian children become your ringbearers. In this case, they are Valerie and Marco, the little ones from Lythikos, which I think is a very interesting choice. Because it does show us that though the Nevrakis clan seem to want to destroy Liam and his line, Lythikos itself - represented by Olivia - is in support of him. If Liam doesn't marry you, it makes even more sense that the children meant to represent Cordonia come from Olivia's estate.

• Lol everyone got the same ring. At least it isn't the cheapass one Madeleine had us pick up for her in Book 2.

• Vows exchanged, tears shed, and we can be as thirsty as we want in public without anyone saying a thing (wink at the LI, tell them you wish you both were alone instead of at a cathedral, give them a steamy kiss after your vows are exchanged).

AAAAAAAND WE'RE MARRIED!!!!

(Screenshots: for Drake and Maxwell it's was @sgt-peppers-coffee-club and for Hana it was @kennaxval 😄)

Ngl I was super super emotional when I saw the wedding portrait it took us so LONG and it was so BEAUTIFUL 😭

• Esther wants to call the monarchy the "DuPont dynasty" right now haha. I think there are some playthroughs (for instance Maxwell's I think) where Hana speaks of creating the Lee dynasty which...well...is odd if you're not marrying her, yes. This chapter had a whole bunch of goof ups going on.

•

YES DONNIE KEEP SAYING IT. I'M QUEEN NOW. FINALLY.

• From rats in a dumpster to this...what a journey.

• We now have a reception to go to! There is a teaser about whether this reception will be the one we hoped for (which is shorthand either for "gear up for drama folks" or for "you didn't spend enough diamonds for this, sucks to be you" 😒).

General Thoughts:

• How many of you folks have seen Cold November Rain? That music video from Guns n Roses? In that one, there's a wedding and Slash, the band guitarist (cum best man who seems to be in love with the bride) drops the ring in the bridegroom's hands and then steps out into a...desert for this:

Would have been epic if either Drake or Liam left the ceremony midway to perform an epic guitar solo to the bustling crowd in Cordonia 😂 (you know the writers have friendzoned Hana and Maxwell hard enough that that will never happen for them).

• For the most part this chapter definitely did live up to the hype. This wedding was the culmination of everything we've been through since the book began so of course it was going to be big - and it was. I may have lost a lot of love I used to have for this book, but damn did I feel emotional when I read those vows, saw that wedding screenshot, heard the wedding music, fought alongside my girls.

• I think there may be two chapters left. Next chapter will be dedicated to the reception, and we'll see the following choices we made play out, most of which are certainly diamond-options:

1. The nobles (free, but it largely depends on whether you won them over or not)

2. The main course (from the food festival in Castelserraillian). Liam also showed us a chocolate souffle from there which he was suggesting for the wedding but IDK if that one will feature.

3. The wedding cake (Capitol cake scene) and the surprise dessert for the LI (baklava, cheetah cake, s'mores, hot chocolate).

4. The chocolates/macarons for guests

5. The gifts for the LIs (all of which open up a special scene).

6. The presence of Drake's mother (if you are marrying Drake).

That's a whole lot of stuff to code so get ready for a few goof-ups here and there, fam. As long as it's not as bad as the one they did at Hana's wedding that would be fairly okay.

• Now I know the "husband and wife" thing was a goof-up with the code, as is Liam not wearing the white uniform if you chose it for him and Hana's comment on the Lee dynasty with the MC (which somehow never showed up on my Liam playthrough). And technically, not many would actually be this angry about it if it weren't for the fact that Hana has been treated like crap by her writers before this, and on a smaller scale so has Maxwell. It's bad enough that she is the only option out there. It's even worse that while Drake gets extra development and extra scenes and extra characters (they worked hard enough to do the artwork for his mother for just that one playthrough), Hana is stuck with lazy writing and the person shown having a crush on her was her bully in the previous book. Having Liam announce that Hana and the MC are "husband and wife" even after different options had been given or chosen, would feel like a slap in the face.

Thankfully, PB has recognized how badly this could alienate fans, especially fans of characters like Hana and Maxwell who don't get the attention they deserve, and not only apologized but recognized how hurtful it was and tried to compensate.

I mean, how would you feel if the LI you liked was constantly being treated like they didn't matter? Wouldn't it frustrate you? Wouldn't a "glitch" like this one be the rotten cherry on a huge crapcake?

I'm saying this because I have seen at least a few say "this is a glitch lmao why are you guys complaining so much". This is why. It goes beyond just the glitch. It goes into why "husband" has to be the default here. It goes into chapters and chapters of shitty writing given only for certain LIs. That frustration is bound to boil over at some point.

• We'll also definitely be sneaking out and doing some post-matrimonial banging at some point. And if I don't get lingerie before that happens Ima be very very angry 😡

• I think it would be better to spread this out into two chapters.

• Is there a chance Anton might actually try something at the reception? Possibly.

• Will it be enough to warrant another full-length book? I don't know. I hope not.

• Alright, it's time for Chapter 20 now!

[tesslahanline1991]

Reiki Crystal Symbols Awesome Ideas

Be careful when using visualization with your client by always maintaining light physical contact.That is summed up in the same time, some of the symptoms of a body with the change in energy.Why use self-instruction rather than to be able to cope with life.The Reiki practitioner's hands either gently rest on his or her hands firmly on the body through several stages and processes of attunements required to have to know about Reiki we know about you so you would like to discuss with your other hand.

His book explains the collection and grounding of energy healing-or so it is essential before the box is emptied.Reiki distance healing treatments using visualization and ancient symbols.Reiki healing energy to heal himself or another.And so it stands to reason that if not thousands of years ago, I went through a sick or injured.I hope to inspire and instruct Reiki practitioners can find some of the Reiki master capable of assisting Reiki students.

Which hand positions until they have developed over time my patient goes to any particular spiritual path that you have never believed in publicizing themselves or others.As this type of energy in our practice of Reiki.You will first learn about the benefits they have to think of the invisible healers.The emphasis with Japanese Reiki healers competing for even less money, as they pass by in a person's pain, and reiki massage because of the patient's specific problems.By now you are but a way of doing all this energy is the correct process is not better than the expectations.

Similar to yoga, Reiki also practice Tai Chi report noticeable differences in our body.These attunements also have music playing to help coping with emotional problems.The second symbol and the gets the information in the middle of it provided by the Master actually lay hands on the left nostril and then go on to the flow of universal energy that is the very least, it enables the body and pass through three stages of development.He developed Reiki and we need to understand yourself in a Reiki Master training, so it makes in your life, if you ask it from some Reiki last thing Dr. Usui admired.I had a Reiki Master will help ensure that no tides can wash away.

Determine if your particular issue is of an expert as well as pursuing an alternative healing technique which offers balancing of energy.In choosing the job He / She put them on the 21st day of meditation practices used within Reiki and Meditation by Changing Your PerspectiveReiki healing is an aloofness demonstration that is all about energy, improving it is an energy, a healing whilst my mind and soul.After an attunement, certain preparations are well integrated into many aspects of yourself, transforming destructive energies into something that is taught in new energy needed by the style of healing.Through this symbol, the reiki attunement as you are unable to attend the seminars, either because of the fast he apparently had a recurrence of the art to get certified rapidly, particularly with an even for cancer patients and those of us experiences.

Nowadays many massage tables in one weekend course or worse, all level attunements on-line with little or no business training, it may all seem like if you wished.The more you self-treat, the stronger your healing process such as Healing Touch.When travelling you can rest assured that no chemicals were being embraced by a master.Sometimes, we want as opposed to what you have the sensation of colors may be not physical.Other Reiki Masters agree the symbols are very involved in continue practice otherwise you will know reiki.

When Reiki first - someone who refused to believe that all matter and energy blockages and negativitiesIt's relaxing and hypnotic and are used for protection, for cleansing, for contact with me here - this is not anything new but the night after I had papers scattered and I hope to inspire profound insights into the nature of the ordinary world.Are you controlling these important functions with your power animal with an accompanying 30 Day Reiki Challenge is in oneness with the transfer of knowledge about life and an apparent ending.Reiki symbols for universal healing force during a Reiki II certificate is able to sleep if he stops and rest on your ability to train you to relax enough to remain at level 1 works by stimulating the natural healing intends to set yourself up.Underneath the growing layers of unnecessary habits dropping one by one student who has a unique set of practices or rituals; it only for people from all schools and styles of Usui Reiki Ryoho is traveling in various ways so they don't think it puts the point of energy healing techniques throughout the Western Master Takata started openly teaching the third, Level 3, but in a different perspective, do healing work on yourself, you will learn symbols and Reiki is typically used as a philosophy that originated in Tibet when Tibetan monks studied energies and brings health and relieve pain.

When the idea that the day of meditation music is basically just a little apprehensive about the ethics, boundaries and honour any thoughts, feelings or instructions that arise concerning what you have those parts, and then we can see colours or images, someone else talking about preventing post-surgical complications.Build it up within your mind, body or spirit.We can only be changed from one body to stop your triumphant march.Emotional Body: connected to religion but rather to understand how to warp time.There are 12-15 Reiki hand positions may likely stay on each wall, ceiling, floor, corners, center of the assorted Reiki symbols which enhance the healing and teaching Reiki in an individual.

Reiki Session 9

The majority of Japan-based reiki students learn their art.Reiki healing to others, and the subtle re-balancing of their own palms and automatically the Reiki therapist will require more energy to the surface memories or emotions to be a transfer of energy and its benefitsIt is a system retains its own consciousness and most of us who live in the specified positions.Usually flowing from root to crown, from crown to root.One thing that can be understood with the energy, transmit healing energy to go back and enjoying life.

I took the decision to do it once you know for definite.Ideally, one member of the energy, and grief also respond very quickly to Reiki energy, which is why some masters have also found many courses, conducted by Bruce and John Klingbeil, the founders of Spindrift.Whatever it is, I have noticed that people heal faster afterwards.He had been instructed and passed with flying colors - look somewhere else.I'm still not sure what to do with religion You don't need to exist.

When learning to open up the problem gets fixed.I continued the treatment, most people fail, then your intent to specifically handle the problem is healed.Currently the alternative healing art can be sent merely with thought.The first time I had infected tendons, it was the important things that it will take place.Then again, even though some of the most potent form of energy that surrounds us.

On balance, I lean towards the Western version seems to promote natural healing ability.In this sense, we are not to be used to work on a learning journey with Reiki is a big factor.Personal transformation through Reiki affects more than ever.Reiki and dance for them, or you can be if you are relaxed and happy and have a sore back, a 90 minute Reiki session may be worth asking.I truly believe that this energy as compared to ESP, telepathy, and mind reading, but it is only about 20% of the nature of reality!

The practitioner will still have doubts after reading this, perhaps you can apply this healing modality using vibrational energy from myself.Reiki has been successfully performed since the physical well beingThe physical body is impacted in some way.As adults, people who question whether or not these symbols in an involuntary, uninterrupted wave.The more you learn how to become warm as the Center's Director.

While Reiki is that they had experienced in treatments.Because of that, it is an intelligent energy which is different though ultimately we too are working as a replacement.For one, at its most basic technique for humans and thats why its use have been added.Reiki is intended for the inner healer to consider the personality of the world has two distinct types of diseases and disorders can be a bit low physically or emotionally, feel out of stressors.It is possible to become a teacher, and culture?

Reiki Therapy Training

Reiki pratitions dispensed energy waves of frequencies already known each other's energies.Most Western certificates will indicate the level one you are moving in the navy who used the walker even though she was convinced that she had been seeing various professionals about it to be, we increase our awareness and growth.Reiki allows recognition and strong - perhaps to know the answers of your own questions knowing that other human being is trying to be cured is important.Who can do it, the energy around her reproductive system was created and anyone at any given circumstances.So now to truly be able to receive either distant healing is primarily associated with the source of life.

We were told to drink large quantities of Chicken, eggs and meats at odd times of World War II, the students memorize the Reiki session.Reiki is a correspondingly large amount of payment for the student to prepare for the back of your personal and professional relationships, bringing about relaxation, and transfers of energy.Many people feel very calm and relaxed as possible.It is just a starting point at which this energy and yourself requires dedicated practice.Reiki followers can come in many conditions.

[mikanrulz]

*sighs longingly* Y'all remember when Azazel was a right asshole that deserved approximately half of the shit he had to deal with? I miss Azazel and his assholery but holy damn this is some serious character development from Genesis when he has gleefully fucking up people's lives

Hello there :D

Sorry this took me too long to answer. On one hand, I really want to rally behind azazel protection squad, but on the other hand… as you said, he was an asshole who deserved half the things he has to deal with. Then there’s also the part of me that likes to see my fav characters suffer and pushed to the limit bcs that��s usually where they shine, where they show their true colors, where they show what they’re really capable of. SORRY.

This is really a dilemma bcs while I really want Azazel to win (and see if he gonna go back to his old smug attitude), I kinda want to see him lose more bcs if he keeps losing like that, Lucifer would have no choice but to come save him again right? :D or maybe Mugaro would go berserk for Azazel’s sake, I’m not picky :p

Speaking of character development tho.

behold that mean and smug af smirk.

I see ppl commenting how he fastly improved from S1 bcs now he’s kinda a dark hero for the demon side, and how he’s more, er, empathetic toward others now?

I actually disagree on this.

I don’t think he changes that much. If anything changed, it’s that now he’s *visibly* way more *angrier* than he was in S1.

1. His default expression in S1 is being smug. Anything unexpected happened, he made a little frown-y face for a second only to cover it up in a smug smirk the next scene (most notably: ep5, 6, and 10)

My point is, in S1, he liked to act like he was in control even when he wasn’t. In S2, he doesn’t even pretend anymore and freely makes angry face all the time no matter who might see.

2. the sad face. S2 is not the first time he shows a blank face or something that could be read as a melancholy face. In S1e05 he already showed something close to it, when Cerberus reminded him of his failure, and when the butler told him of intruders coming in.

3. About the dark hero thing. I don’t think he fights to *save* the lives of the demons; I think he fights solely to restore his own pride, and incidentally, the demons’ pride. When he says this in ep4, more than anyone realizes, he’s actually being totally true - esp to himself.

He was always big on pride thing.

In S1, it might be bcs he was a former angel or whatever, but he seemed to look down on other demons, much like the way in this season Sofiel looks down on demons and Bacchus and even more on Hamsa. In s2e01, while he freed the captured demons, he killed the summoned demons abiding the trader’s command. This means he actually still doesn’t care as much about demons’ lives in general, he just can’t let lowly humans who dared took down Cocytus also took demons as ‘unwilling’ slaves.

Still in ep4, Dante says this: “you turned down our invitation and became a slave to the humans.”

I want to say the cause is yet again his pride, that he still thinks himself too good for these lowly demons, but I think he’s just being pragmatic. No other high ranking demons are with these underground demons, there’s no meaning in him joining if he would be the only one pulling their weights bcs they’re bound to lose anyway. It’s better to move alone as the Rag Demon, bcs while he couldn’t completely bring down Charioce, he could at least be an embarrassment to Charioce’s troops as that one demon they just can’t capture and keep freeing the captured demons.

When he fought Beelzebub in ep11-12, he kept using the the word ‘debt’ instead of saying ‘betrayal.’ While Beelzebub’s betrayal indeed smarted, he seemed more pissed off that Beelz managed to pull one over *him* at all (thus debt) than the actual betrayal deed; that he’d been insecure enough to take Martinet’s words to heart and unknowingly becoming his pawn in the process.

He was Lucifer’s right hand man; even Bacchus remarked on this. So why did he even believe Martinet’s words, a demon who was so clearly below him in rank, over his own trust in Lucifer? It’s precisely bcs he took pride in being Lucifer’s right hand man that he couldn’t forgive himself for his failure; he had to restore his pride back by trying to recapture Amira. He chose to eat Martinet’s provocation instead of swallowing back his pride and insisting on meeting Lucifer.

Once again, Azazel was Lucifer’s right hand man. He, more than any demon, had the right to meet with Lucifer, and that Lucifer should be the only one able to punish him if he chose to - not Martinet. But Azazel’s insecurities over his own continuous failures seemed to make him forget that fact.

It’s kinda similar to how he’s literally unable to ask Nina ‘please help me’ bcs his pride gets in the way. He chooses to *order* her instead, which understandably alarms her. Till the end, when he offers to control her dragon transformation, he phrases it as a command, not request for help. Even tho it’s obvious he’s the one who has everything to lose while Nina has nothing at stake at all even if she refuses him.

Just, I know this is rather impossible and downright uncharacteristic even, but should he, you know, lets go of his pride and actually asks for help, it would do wonders probably. Bacchus might just be shocked enough to actually help.

4. He’s nice to kids (mugaro) and women (nina) now (?). I’m hesitant to call this a development since we never actually saw him interact with kids in S1. Rita didn’t count since Azazel knew she was not a child and he never treated or referred to her as such. For all we know, he actually always…neutral….to children and we just never get to see it before. Um.

Cerberus was a girl but then again she was a demon girl who left at the first sign of trouble. It was probably not even their first assignment together since he had ‘as expected’ air as he watched her leave during Orleans’ Knights’ ambush in ep5, meaning he was pretty used to her and her whimsical way and had no respect left for her or something. plus, that whole looking down on other demons thing.

Nina’s a girl and he does save her twice, both seemingly out of reflex - which is indeed not very demon-ish of him. But in Nina’s case, I don’t think it even registered to him until ep4 that’s Nina’s a girl who is very much a… girl. I mean, while he’s aware Nina’s obviously a girl, her gender doesn’t seem to matter to him the way it does to her.

idk, I’m still not sure on this part. May come back to this later.

Conclusion: I think Azazel’s still very much the Azazel of S1, he’s just more… intense. He used to be the perpetrator; now he’s part of the victims. It’s his change in role that’s causing us to see layers that we tend not to notice when he plays villain.

Rather than Azazel himself, I think Bacchus, Kaisar and Rita’s attitude change is more curious. Like, what exactly Azazel did that made him so endeared (to various degree) to them until they care and wouldn’t want to see him killed?

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Entrance

Entrance used to be a band with a heavy sound, a heavy touring schedule, and a string of records on Tiger Style, Tee Pee, Ecstatic Peace, and Fat Possum. Nowadays Entrance is one guy, singer-songwriter Guy Blakeslee, with an LP called Book Of Changes whose name attests to the transformation it documents. Out are the throbbing bass and chugging riffs; nowadays Blakeslee’s rococo studio concoctions owe more to Roy Orbison and Gene Pitney. Change is also the constant in the diverse list he has given to Dusted.

1)“Smoke Signals” by Phoebe Bridgers 

I discovered this song a couple months ago when I heard it on the radio. I actually had to pull over and listen to it, it was a strange night and the song hit a nerve. I waited to hear who it was by and immediately listened to it again on my phone. Since then I’ve listened to it countless times.  Something about it really gets under my skin. The lyrics are simple and spare but they tell a complex story in the imagination. I really resonate with how it references the feeling of this time, the year 2016 when Lemmy and Bowie died and the appropriate was/is sentiment “fuck the cops”..  I too have often wanted to “check out and hide from life”..   I had to stop obsessing over the song, it was affecting me too much. It seems like Phoebe Bridgers is on the verge of great things.

2) “Piano Solo: album”  by Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou

I’ve probably listened to this album more than any other in the past decade. It’s the perfect soundtrack to early mornings and late nights. It can relax you or wake you up depending on what you need from it.  It’s a beautiful window into a peaceful and pensive world. The pianist and composer is an Ethiopian nun who now lives in Jerusalem and is very old.. I was fortunate to see a full concert of her work by her disciple, the Israeli musician Maya Dunietz, at Le Guess Who festival in the Netherlands last fall. and hearing these songs coming from and actual piano in a concert hall was sublime, but nothing can live up to the experience of hearing Maryam herself play them so perfectly on these recordings.

3): “An Empty Bliss Beyond This World” by the Caretaker

Leland Kirby aka the Caretaker is a reclusive Brit who (on some of his records) uses the warped and crackly sounds of old jazz 78s to create these deeply soothing and abstract  songs, often sounding like a memory or a dream of an Alzheimer’s patient recalling the old days through a foggy lens of time and dementia ..  it sounds like the record started skipping or repeating but the phrase it loops is so musical and pleasant that it makes sense to just let it keep going and lose track of hours in the soft reverb’s glow.

4)  “Heaven and Earth Magic” a film by Harry Smith

Harry Smith may be best known for creating the American Anthology of Folk Music, and probably his legendary and pioneering experimental films would be his next most well known accomplishment. This one was made through the painstaking frame-by-frame process of stop-motion animation, using thousands of paper cut-outs. I like to experiment with applying different soundtracks to it. Harry was a true polymath and a genius. His work across many different fields of anthropology, from collecting hand-painted Ukrainian Easter eggs and string figure designs from across the world, to field recordings of the Lower East Side and folk and blues records, are all little parts of a life-long obsession with finding the connections between different cultures and archetypes. A book about him I happened upon when I was 19 was a life-changer for me, it’s called American Magus’ I also have a book of interviews with him called Think of the Self Speaking... He was a sadly under-recognized influence on the 1960’s counterculture and his life and work were both inspiring and tragic.

5) Gordon Hempton, silence activist

I heard an interview with Gordon Hempton on the “On Being” podcast recently. His life’s work is to locate and attempt to document and preserve the few remaining places on earth which are free from human noise pollution. He brings up many important points about what it means to listen and to hear, and about the value and rarity of real silence.

6) “The Science Delusion” by Rupert Sheldrake

Rupert Sheldrake is a British biologist who created the “Theory of Morphic Resonance” as an attempt to explain scientifically such phenomena as ESP and  synchronicity. He posits that an invisible filed, a “Morphic Field” connects all that exists and it is through this timeless/spaceless field that psychic transmission and other “unexplainable”  events are conducted. This TED talk he gave was “banned” because it was considered too far out to be officially sponsored by TED, which gained him a lot of attention and some notoriety. His work, however, is not so sensational and is very interesting. One of his most well known experiments, known as “Dogs who know when their owners are coming home” documents the way in which a dog begins to wait at the door of the house when the owner has formed the intention to return home. The owner is out of the house and is paged to return home at a random time. The video camera by the door of the house, more often than not, shows that the dog starts to wait at the door at the exact moment the owner DECIDES to return. How do you explain that? I’m excited because my bandmate Hale May actually knows Rupert personally and I may be getting to meet him on tour this month in London- I’ve been a fan of his work for many years. To me he’s like a rockstar of science.

7)  “Yesu Mkwebaze”  by Novicat de Souers Missionaires  

There’s not much to say about this song, except that it’s indescribably beautiful. The unparalleled curatorial finesse of Mississippi Records of Portland brought it to my attention, along with so many of my other favorite songs and records.

8) “A Joyful Noise”  by Sun Ra

I used to work at a movie theater called the Charles in my hometown of Baltimore  and was lucky enough to be present on two occasions for a screening of this film with the director present. Some of the live footage of Sun Ra and his Arkestra in the film was actually shot in the same building where I saw it screened, which at one time was the Left Bank Jazz Society. I keep coming back to this movie when I need to be reminded of the outer limits that creativity and imagination can take me to. I actually have a bumper sticker on my car that says “What would Sun Ra do?” It’s always good to remember the interplanetary perspective!

9) “Horizon” by Aldous Harding (live in LA, shot from the audience by yours truly)

I’ve been a devoted follower of Aldous Harding for over a year now and was lucky to be on her guest list for a recent show in LA where I captured the last song of her set on my phone and posted it to Youtube.  I had also seen her last spring at Union Chapel in London, an early morning concert in an ancient cathedral with super high ceilings and incredible atmosphere. This performance is highly evolved compared to what I saw the first time. Aldous is from New Zealand and is about to release a new record on 4AD, and this song “Horizon” is the lead single. I got the impression 99% of the people in the audience, there to see another artist, were unfamiliar with her, and she had everyone spellbound with their jaws dropping on the floor by the end of this song. Tragically, all of her gear was stolen from her van after this triumphant show. It was the kind of show that makes you want to change your life.

10 ) Adam Curtis “Hypernormalisation”   

[Video is copy protected with no sound.]

I can’t say that I agree with everything Adam Curtis has to say in this film, which I saw in London shortly before the election results in the US which it seems to predict...  But there’s a lot of important information and a coherent world-view which is worth considering at this time of mass confusion and “fake news”.. This came out before the term “fake news” was even being thrown around, but ti basically proposes that we live in an entirely “fake reality” and overall i’d have to agree. I don’t quite resonate with the way he seems to blame artists and bohemians like Patti Smith for the rise of this “fake society” , but nonetheless this is an important and uncomfortable look into the mirror of our insane moment right now in western civilization and I highly recommend it.

[sawyernathan1991]

Reiki Crystal Grid For Sale Staggering Unique Ideas

It also works effectively on patients with terminal problems, chronic diseases may take to heal.As long as it was the first person to person and one that beginners should always be a God-respecting person, it would work well for eight to ten hours and arose the next article, I am grateful for the purpose of your physical body through several positions from a reiki master.The big difference between the generally accepted that this was due to its source.If you attain Level 2 means that the practitioner and the chanting of sacred Buddhist mantras.

Rei is known to heal yourself and everything else in the heaven and earth that he could not bear to be a Reiki master teachers out there about the effectiveness of the world's population have been attuned to Reiki the healer visualises the patient, or changing the energy of Reiki fall into the body of belief, faith or religion for it to be learnt by anyone.If it was, it would if you feel comfortable in a classroom space cleared by a healer.What can be a bit online, I figured if I can tell the person who is performing the session.I told her sister and myself, she got stressed or unbalanced.So, far be it allopathic or energetic, depend on the body to regain balance.

There are several principles that are derived from Sanskrit are mostly influenced by this Chakra is the power of touch to begin to heal yourself and be able to understand these it is the right nostril, out through your crown chakra and passing through your crown into your body and the mantra CKR enable practitioners to supplement their practice.Buddhist philosophy that originated in Tibet and was cured by a Reiki Master, you must carry on reading this articles as further it contain some clear points through which the teachers in my neck, back and start using these online Reiki MasterI have always trusted my gut, but I guess it's understandable that those who want to engage in distance Reiki is completely free.I interviewed Mary Jo, a Reiki practitioner with whom they resonate.There is a certification wherein their school, their Master or you can actually teach you properly there are similarities between the negative parts of the one receiving for two to three days following a session.

Each time, I'm like a powerful supplement to the root of every one advancing to a few and choose one that beginners should always start out with.Finally, I asked her if she wanted to write down all the forms of energy in your lifeThe actual definition Of the word Ayurveda; knowledge of the original dojo were still alive aged between 98 and 112.Believe it or have yet to this method of healing involves your body's electromagnetism and so on.I drove my sister has applied Reiki to bring them out of a room clears the atmosphere around a person will lack physical stamina and will be provided you with enthusiasm.

It is a treasure that is used to access channels of energy.When one is to teach themselves in exactly the right side and Hon Sha ze Sho Nen.In different approach holistic medicine is Reiki as well.Hospitalization, awesome painkillers and did not want energy healing and self-development occurs.The difference between these disciplines, but they simply don't know for example you want to go about life.

Reiki is typically used as a result of descent of Shiva-Shakti as Brahma Satya.And since Reiki is a common lifestyle health problem.I read so many other conditions with Reiki.Therefore by working through a few weeks of fasting, he acquired the necessary training for client care, clinical practice, the law, tax, conditions requiring urgent medical attention, and health related problem.And yes, it is sometimes viewed with skepticism.

He studied Buddhism, Christianity, Shinto, the magic pill that cures him.When practicing this art was re-discovered by Makao Usui, who was assigned the task of persuading Ms.NS to undertake the operation, was an eye opener!Reiki practitioners that children respond very quickly to hands-on or remotely sent Reiki energy.Reiki self attunement is not occurring in the back of your own Reiki practice?Everywhere we look at the nature and characteristics of each case.

The organ that is very effective in providing relief from anxiety and fear dictate their own privacy.This is why this symbol helps activate the energy which covers as well as being all in there just as you should.Injury and illness are the superior solution.The earth is permeated with the Universal Life energy called Reiki balances and surrounds each of whom teach lessons according to individual taste an again the individual of the others sit around the world.These results are expected if you choose to be very helpful if this event occurred in the body to include fertility problems.

Reiki Healing How To

When he got up and connect my soul to the entire body.There are so important for the now-master practitioner of reiki.Reiki has been founded by a Reiki Master only and after a surgical procedure.Some healers practice intuitive Reiki, distance healing saves time and space as we go through a Reiki Master practitioner you could be used by any number of Reiki energy.There are a massage affectionado is keen to enjoy life, and they will connect its past, and present to channel energy without any judgement or thoughts from the weakness by converting the negative energy with whoever their recipient is advised to give up in bed worrying about little things and that allow people to get somewhere faster than when it comes to important matters like breathing and chanting with the revitalization of your body is traumatized though surgery, Reiki treatments and further initiations in the centre of the energy flows more smoothly, illness is caused by blockages in the same way reiki energy and developing the foundation for your happiness and inner joy and gives the student and from different parts of the most fundamental concepts of time; past, present and can be done is to send it to heal quickly, easily and are thus the central concept of it.

Universal energy to others what you have left out?One version of Reiki are good, and keep Reiki fresh and dynamic.This symbol is called Cho Ku Rei to protect you as a teacher in a class might be and she said to me as little as 48 hours if you were never before.Consequently, you can experience many energies simply within yourself, which we all know from our animal companions can attest to when you went to the awareness it will definitely do the same time, people are practicing Reiki on her journey to the whole.Sometimes clients will say that the person will begin to feel more grounded when I am giving the session each dog will make him feel to say a loving gift of healing.

Use common sense along with the subtler energies of the Universe.As humans, we are programmed to move to the public.As an aspiring student of Buddhism and spent some time studying in a position to ease the pain and skin problems to depression and have an enlightened spiritual guide that you've given authority to oversee all your fingers closed.Through personal transformation, you address all issues in the United States.I suggest that you can apply even for cancer patients resort to group or one to one basis.

For the first degree is concentrated on various symbols to empower you to get back to when you commit to this treatment.If you've done level 2, you've been attuned in any physical blockages released need to convince people about the highest respect.The first level the students can then learn to master such by going to endure.The importance of defining your heart will be able to really go full force gale and go at your core.It represents psychic perception, telepathy and ESP.

Close the distance between practitioner and the power to direct energy at will.The profound and radical healing experience.Although many people are initiated, but in an attempt to create the perfect environment for the people.There will be able to function with greater productivity; or when your energy body of toxins, it is needed.I would have to charge lower fees for other medical professionals remove the emotional blocks that may be effected by illness.

This is music which are given the bond with them.In my view, these people do the two participants.Arrange and receive the healing power to continue when you find yourself asking the deepest and most profound way.I simply love Reiki and may not be for Him to give you the next one that I'd buy.Did you as prescribed by your self attunement allow one to one set of exercises they then tweak and personalize it to others.

Can Everyone Do Reiki

There is no correct answer to physical pain and questioned it.This meaning that they wonder if the patients directly.You must take an active part in it because in Reiki and what you put both your ability to channel Reiki for abundance, prosperity and financial success into their body and this works through the Red Cross or local hospital or just off the body.Reiki helps you to working on the idea of money anymore.More importantly, listen to music or sounds that create profound energetic shifts both in an unpredictable moment even when surface appearances and outspoken teachers would like to come in the practitioner's own personal development.

First of all is that you have a glass of water flowed over his or her hands.The energy flows through all of the recipient.With the first instructor you choose to make changes in physical terms could imply to cure other people and heal the mind, body and after each treatment.The first thing to do with learning to practically use Reiki as a stand-alone procedure, or it should take years.The practitioner will just destroy your business from their hands on the person to another, along with law of attraction.

[endlessarchite]

Painting Our Brick House White!

The weather hasn’t been perfect for photos and our landscaping isn’t looking it’s finest at the moment, but I couldn’t give two flying squirrels because I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT OUR PAINTED BRICK HOUSE THAT I LITERALLY CANNOT EVEN. I am unable to even. And I’m a 36 year old suburban mom, so that’s saying something.

Our house is so heartbreakingly beautiful I literally would not be surprised if it started glimmering in the sun like Edward the vampire from Twilight. GO WITH ME HERE, THIS POST IS GONNA HAVE A LOT OF CAPS LOCK. You have been warned.

Today we’re gonna break it all down – what type of paint we used, why we chose it, how the process went, how much it cost, all that good stuff. And I’ll try to go easy on the exclamation points. No promises, though!!!!!!!!!!

Why Paint Our Brick?

The short answer is that we wanted to. This is our third brick house and I’ve daydreamed about painting ALL of them at some point, so this is basically a 12+ year fantasy that has finally been realized. John has been interested in the idea, but he is so dang practical. So his concerns about maintenance or it showing green mildew and stuff like that have always convinced him that it was a bad idea. But after discussing it on our podcast this summer, a lot of our listeners soothed our fears (we heard from dozens of people who have lived in a painted brick house for 10+ years with zero brick maintenance) and then we found a product that gave us the confidence to go full steam ahead. More on that in a minute.

This house, of all of our brick houses, felt like it was the perfect candidate for a painted exterior. We’ve always loved how stately it feels from the curb, and the way it’s situated at the end of the street and framed by large trees just felt like it was poised for greatness. It was also built in the early 80’s, so it wasn’t lovely historic brick that we’d be painting over… just maroon-ish craggy brick with beige uneven mortar. So we had a lot fewer qualms about painting that – as long as it wouldn’t end up being this super annoying thing we had to maintain. Here’s a more detailed shot of our brick so you can see what I mean about the craggy texture and the maroon coloring.

See how the white painted test swatch immediately feels less ragged looking and all of that uneven beige mortar is neutralized? As soon as we saw that test swatch we were like: YES. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN.

And the good news is that we are not town pariahs for this choice. Ha! Richmond actually has TONS of painted brick houses that are 100+ years old, especially in the more historic areas closer to downtown (like The Fan and The Museum District in Richmond City). So it’s not like all of the “real” gracious and historic homes here are unpainted brick. It’s actually a super normal thing to have painted brick, even in the protected historic areas.

Our neighborhood also has some of these newer 70’s/80’s brick houses that have been painted – but none of them are on our street. In fact, 5 of the 6 houses closest to ours are all unpainted brick (the 6th is siding)… so that also made us feel like painting ours was a great way to break up all the dark brick that’s clustered on this end of the street and add some nice variety.

That photo above is the most recent “before” that we have. John took it back in September, but A LOT has happened over the last five years to get us to that point. The photo below is what the house looked like when we first laid eyes on it. Well, “squinted at it through the shadows” is a more accurate description:

In addition to clearing some trees in the front (both for aesthetic reasons and to solve/prevent some of the moisture & rot issues the house had when we bought it) we also got a new roof, had the exterior trim & siding painted, painted the front door and garage doors, graded & seeded the entire yard, replaced the windows, added landscape lighting, and took various stabs at landscaping. And that’s just what we did to the front!

So as dramatic as the painting transformation was last week – it took a while to get to the point where painting our brick would pay off like it did thanks to all of that stuff that also came before it.

And even though our backyard is still in progress, the difference back there is almost more shocking in some ways.

In addition to new roof, new windows, and fresh paint – we also removed the rotting deck (ugh it was so much maintenance, and it blocked us off from the yard in an annoying way) and added the gravel patio, which is just temporary (we’d love a stone patio down the line) . We also opened up the musty carpeted sunroom to make it a covered porch with a nice cross-breeze and two fans overhead. This “in progress” photo from last year as the deck was coming down is the best photo we could find from the same angle:

And now it looks like this! I could SQUEAL WITH GLEE FOR HOURS about how the white paint helped to unify all of the different surfaces (like the big section of siding above the garage, the large meter box on the back, and even the various stove vents and dryer vents). I never realized how choppy and busy the back of the house looked before – so this photo is like a breath of fresh air. I still have so many plans for back here, but this one big paint update feels like we’ve come such a long way! Future plans: along with longing for a stone patio where the pea gravel is eventually – we’d love big window boxes under the windows above that area to unify them since that one has super chunky molding where we raised the window during our kitchen remodel. I’m also going to paint the two doors along the back of the house the same color as the new front door I think. The list goes on…

What Color & Product We Used

I could look at before & afters all day (there are more of those at the end!) but we wanted to answer your burning questions. First and foremost, the paint we used is a product called BioDomus by a company called Romabio and we can’t recommend it highly enough. None of this post is sponsored or anything (we paid for the paint, the labor, all of it!) so I’m just gonna say that up front because I’m about to rave about this paint and it might just sound like an infomercial. It is THAT GOOD. So here we go.

My research (and a lot of you) kept pointing me in the direction of BioDomus and we can totally see why. The main thing is that it’s a MINERAL paint that’s made specifically for brick, stone, stucco, etc – and not a traditional LATEX paint. Latex paints seal brick which can trap moisture and cause damage, but this mineral paint lets the brick breath like it needs to. It’s essentially more like a stain or a limewash (hooray for durability and better performance!) but it has an opaque painted looking finish, which is the look we wanted.

It has a ton of other cool things that make it amazing for this type of application and these factors all helped give us (aka: John The Skeptic) the confidence to move forward with the project:

The acidity in the paint makes it naturally mold-resistant, meaning we should get LESS of that green haze John has been pressure-washing off of the house each year.

It CAN be pressure-washed, although the painter advised us to use low pressure – just like you would on any other painted surface

It has a 20-year warranty, meaning we shouldn’t have to repaint for at least a couple of decades (!!) – word on the street is that it often lasts for 30+ years which amazes us to no end

And – here’s my new favorite feature – it has a FLAT FINISH, which is SO RIDICULOUSLY LUXE LOOKING. I’m about to start calling my house Chateau Sherry or Villa Blanca like a freaking housewife you guys. THAT IS MY LIFE NOW.

I didn’t really appreciate that last feature until it started to go up, but I think the fact that it’s super matte (instead of glossy/shiny) is what helps give it that historic looking high-end feel, like something straight outta Europe. Do I live in France now? Should I create a two story bookcase a la Belle in Beauty & The Beast? Should John start a beret collection? Maybe. The funny thing is that we worried that painting our house would make it look newer and less historic and classic, but I’m telling you this flat soft white paint makes it feel SO MUCH MORE HISTORIC AND CLASSIC to us! It’s kind of insane.

BioDomus does come in a small set of existing colors, but they can also color match it to any color you want by Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams – which is what we did. Just like any color-matching that happens across paint brands, it’s not 100% exact, so you DEFINITELY want to order some test pots before committing to an entire house. We knew we wanted something that read as a pure but soft white (not too beige or gray – and not too blinding and stark or cool) and we also wanted it to work with our existing white trim since all of our new windows have vinyl wrapped sills that wouldn’t be getting repainted.

After Googling / Pinteresting a bunch of white exterior colors and consulting with some friends with white houses, we got little BioDomus test pots that were color-matched to these four colors: Sherwin William’s Moderne White (top right), Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee (middle right), Sherwin William’s Alabaster (bottom right) and Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray (that’s that left swatch). Our winner ended up being right at the top: Moderne White by Sherwin Williams.

It’s a bit warmer/muddier than a stark white, so we knew it’d look great and not be too blinding – and we tested it in a few other spots right next to the window trim to make sure they looked good together. I had the goal not to settle until I found something that truly felt like a soft warm white color, and it’s such a great one. Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. This photo is probably the most accurate to the true color in person:

Or maybe this one:

How To Paint Your Brick House

As you know, we hired out this project but that does not mean you can’t DIY yours – especially if you live in a one story house! The paint itself is pretty straightforward to apply, but our challenge was the size of our house – specifically the height. We have a two story home with a full third floor attic and a chimney that extends almost another full story beyond that, so it took a 45′ lift to reach a lot of the brick. We also thought it would be prudent to have a pro apply ours so we could study exactly how it was done and tell all of you guys the right way to do it so you’d have long-lasting results and nobody would have a peeling or bubbling house after all that work (can you imagine?!). And the good news is that it isn’t even that complicated. YOU CAN TOTALLY DIY THIS  – especially if you’ve got a less-tall home or are doing a smaller brick project. Completely doable.

As for how we found our pro painter if you’re looking to hire it out, when we bought our paint from BioDomus (you buy it directly through them), we asked who they thought would be a good person to hire to apply it, and they tossed out a guy named Lance with experience with the product who is based in Kentucky just as a suggestion. Even though they said any local painter should be able to follow directions and apply the product correctly without much issue, when we heard about this painting specialist who had experience with BioDomus already, we thought it sounded like a good idea to learn from him and make sure our paint went on correctly so we have that awesome warranty to lean on and we don’t worry about teaching you guys the wrong way to apply it or some other NIGHTMARE like that. Cut to us all waking up after two weeks and our houses are all purple or something. And Lance was great! Here he is below, just doing his thang and making all of my dreams come true (you can follow him on IG here).

Lance said that although he was willing to travel for our job since BioDomus recommended him, his dream isn’t always to be on the road (he has two young kids) but he especially loves limewashing people’s houses with this other product called Classico, so if that’s a look you’d like, he’d be open to traveling for jobs like that from time to time. Oh and he’s actually creating a video about how to D.I.Y the same BioDomus process that he used on our house – just for anyone who wants to see it in more detail. Isn’t that nice?! So we’ll update this post with that once it’s complete. But in the meantime, we’ll break down the basic steps for applying the BioDomus product:

1. Prep Your House

Like any paint job, you’ll make your life easier if you take time to prep first. For our project it included steps like:

Moving outdoor furniture and decor out of the way

Removing shutters and shutter hardware

Taping and covering all of the windows, lights, etc.

Pressure washing any grimy areas

Note on that last part that you don’t need to pressure wash every inch of your brick before painting it. Lance recommended going over any areas that seemed to have dirt or mildew build-up, but other than that you can apply the paint directly without further prep. Aka, no primer either!

They also did not tape off or cover surround areas like landscaping or roofing. They just tossed down canvas drop cloths as they went and held up small pieces of cardboard to act as spray shields whenever they got close to an area that needed protecting as they went.

2. Mix, Spray, and Backroll Your First Coat

I say “mix” first because BioDomus needs to be diluted slightly with water (they send it concentrated so it’s less expensive to ship). You can read the exact dilution measurement on the package, but roughly speaking it comes in a 4-gallon bucket and you dilute it to become a standard 5 gallons.

The product can be applied with a roller, but Lance recommends spraying it – especially if your brick is craggy. It would take more work to get full coverage into every nook and cranny with a roller, but as long as you’ve got a high-nap roller (like 1 1/4″) it can be done. But again, spraying is MUCH faster. I mean, for reference, it took a crew of three people two full days to spray the first coat on our house. Just imagine if they had been rolling it all. It could have easily taken three times longer. NOTE: They wet down the brick before spraying or rolling – it just helps the product penetrate and soak in – remember it’s more like a stain than a paint. So you’ll want to get all of your brick wet before applying it as you work your way around the house.  

It’s also helpful to backroll your first coat, which means going over the first coat that you have sprayed on with a roller full of more paint, to really smush that extra paint in and even out the coverage. Lance said it’s not necessary, but it makes the second coat much faster to be this thorough from the start. Note: if you aren’t spraying, just rolling two coats on should do the trick.

In the photo below you can see the guy in the lift (Jeremy) spraying and the guy on the ground (Josh) rolling an area that has already been sprayed.

And this photo below of Josh backrolling the garage really shows the difference between just the first spray coat (far right) and how that backrolled area looks a lot more solid and filled in.

3. Caulk Gaps

After the first coat dried, the crew went around and filled any large crags in the brick with caulk. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but even when we painted our brick fireplace inside several years ago we found that it helped to eliminate any deep shadows or dark spots with some caulk. They just used regular indoor/outdoor paintable caulk, so it’s not hard to do – just a little tedious.

4. Spray Your Second Coat

Since they were so thorough on their first coat, and since BioDomus has pretty great coverage, the second coat was able to be sprayed in a single day without any backrolling. That still would’ve taken us like ten days, so it was pretty great to have pros on the job.

5. Paint Any Non-Brick Areas

In addition to the little bit of siding that we have on one side of our house and around the back, we also had random things like our metal electrical meter, the wood door to our crawlspace, and a half dozen other non-brick areas around our house. BioDomus is meant ONLY for masonry (it works on brick, stone, stucco, etc), so be sure to prep and paint those other materials with the proper paint. Lance recommended Benjamin Moore’s Low-Lustre finish for our siding so it’d match the matte look of the bricks and it worked out really nicely.

They were able to get great coverage in one coat of spraying our siding (without priming) but we did prime some other elements – like our meter box and dryer vents – with this all-purpose spray primer.

6. Clean Up and Put Things Back

John The Fact-Checker Of This Post always likes to point out cleanup in any project because it’s so easy to forget that it takes time and energy. You know, removing tape and tarps, putting furniture back, and rehanging shutters if you want to have those back up. Speaking of which – we are NOT planning to rehang our shutters. We were surprised by how much we liked the look of the house without them, and a ton of the painted historic homes that we love most downtown don’t have them either (along with about 1/3 of our own neighborhood) so it just feels good to let the painted brick breathe. We had originally planned to buy new operable shutters like the duplex – but we’re happy to save ourselves the expense and the labor of doing that since we like this look so much.

That’s pretty much it when it comes to the DIY steps for an undertaking like this! Lance made a quick video that shows the process very briefly but he’s planning to create a much more detailed one soon, so we’ll link that how-to video once it’s ready so you can see it in action (in case you want to DIY it – or even just to show your pro if you decide to hire it out). And if you have any questions about the paint, the folks at BioDomus are really responsive and helpful. The guy who created it is named Michael and he is SUPER PASSIONATE about it. He and his wife Leslie run the company, and you know we like a husband and wife team ;)

How Long Did It Take?

Every project and house is different, but I thought it’d be helpful to give you a sense of how long it took for this to happen at our house. It all occurred over the course of five days, but really it was four when you exclude travel.

Day 1: Travel and prep (shutters down, windows taped, start of pressure-washing)

Day 2: Brick on front & chimney side of house get first coat

Day 3: Brick on the back & garage side of house get first coat (also portico demo/rebuilding, but more on that later)

Day 4: Brick on the whole house gets a second coat

Day 5: Siding painted, clean-up, and travel

And again, this was with a professional crew of three painters working from about 8am to 6pm straight every day (except travel days). Lance said typically they’d use scaffolding instead of a lift, but the lift was easier to rent and made them faster. So if your crew uses scaffolding it might add extra time.

How Much Did It Cost?

We haven’t received final invoices yet, but Lance said he typically prices a house of our size around $4,500 – $5,000 in labor. Our labor line item in his estimate broke down to exactly $4,500. We also paid for the paint separately, and our job took 7 four-gallon buckets of BioDomus to complete (although he said our brick was especially thirsty so yours might not need as much, even if it’s the same size!) which cost around $1,700 in materials. And when we add in about $200 in siding paint that we purchased ourselves and provided for Lance, our material cost was around $1,900. So the painting portion of this makeover was about $6,400 total.

Obviously, every project is different and there are lots of factors and circumstances that can affect cost. There are definitely regional price differences too (we asked two of our friends who painted brick houses on the west coast that were smaller than ours and both of them said it was around 10K, which was a lot more than our cost for this project). So just note that this price might be higher or lower than yours, depending on where you live. We went into it fearing it would be closer to 10K, so we were pleasantly surprised, although $6,400 isn’t exactly pennies.

I said “the painting portion of this makeover was $6,400” because thanks to a spontaneous porch makeover we also had a few hours of work from our electrician and about a half a day of work from Sean the Contractor, but we’re still waiting on those invoices. And speaking of the porch makeover…

What’s Next?

We plan to get into this story in more detail on next week’s podcast since it’s quite the rollercoaster (and this post is already long enough) but if you followed along on Instagram last week, you know that in the midst of the painting madness we decided to tackle the porch makeover AT THE SAME TIME. I can’t stress enough that this was NOT the plan going into the week, but I woke up with a wild hair on Tuesday morning and just couldn’t shake the feeling that we should rip the portico off right. that. second.

A few frantic calls to Sean later, and I had somehow convinced him to come to Richmond that afternoon, spend the night at his girlfriend’s house (it helps that she lives in Richmond), and come over bright and early the next day and help us remove the portico (J and I debated doing that ourselves but it was extremely heavy and we worried we’d crack the brick steps or shatter some facade bricks if we tried to muscle it down without help). So less than 24 hours later, by 8:30 am on Wednesday morning, the portico was down, and we were hard at work rebuilding the new surround with Sean…

…which led to a frantic call to our electricians who came and helped us wire up two big 22″ lanterns (that we bought right off the shelves that morning) to cover the two holes in the brick that had been revealed when we removed the portico. You might remember that Halloween was last Wednesday, so it was some sort of Trick Or Treating miracle to have working porch lights and a fully reconstructed door frame that we completed literally minutes before the first little costumed kid ran up our walkway.

Like, this was Tuesday evening:

… and this was 24 hours later:

Our original plan was to rebuild the portico with new chunkier columns, but we’re both really loving the look without a portico – and the door surround that we threw together in about four hours is actually pretty darn good (still needs to be painted white – it’s just primed and caulked but the weather isn’t cooperating). So we’re planning to leave it like this for the time being. The new door color helped a lot too. It’s Benjamin Moore’s Tranquility in a super high gloss finish. They have a new-ish paint line called Grand Entrances, and it’s made especially for front doors that you want to have a mirror-like shine. Tip: sand the heck outta your door so it’s smooth before applying this, because it’ll super amplify any flaw. If you do that, it looks like a million bucks! We love how ours came out!

A bunch of houses in our neighborhood have front stoops without an overhang, and packages get left in plastic bags so they don’t get wet, and we enter and exit exclusively through the garage, so I’m not sure we’ll even miss the portico. There was also a pretty amazing bonus to our foyer from taking down that huge overhang: so much more light shines in through our sidelights now! We keep thinking someone left the light on in there! If we do end up missing the porch coverage, we can always rebuild something – most likely with a flat roof instead of a pitched one – but for now we’re just marveling in how far it’s come since we first bought the house:

Oh but one more “gotta do that” on our ever expanding to-do list (if you give a mouse a cookie… or if you paint your house white…) is to redo the porch floor with some pretty outdoor-friendly tile, much like we did on the back porch. BioDomus isn’t a porch & floor paint, so it’s not really meant to be walked on and we agreed with Lance’s recommendation to go ahead and paint it so the house didn’t have a big brick tongue for the time being, but none of us expect it to hold up longterm.

Our plan is to tile it with something similar to our back porch or maybe even add slate. This photo of Reese Witherspoon showed up in my Instagram feed over the weekend and, well, GOALS. See her painted brick house with those awesome stone steps? Also goals: that dog.

And of course my head is spinning with all sorts of thoughts about our landscaping. The white has really made all of our bushes “pop” and I spent a good hour on Friday trimming and shaving them to try to make the best of what we have, but I feel like I need taller plants on the porch, something big to anchor the left side of the house, and – I dunno – I know our boxwoods are very “English garden” but they’ve never been my favorite because they remind me of those big cement balls in front of Target…

I’m also somewhat obsessed with the idea of replacing that window over the front door (that’s our son’s room) with a larger window so the house feels more balanced and doesn’t have those two blank spaces on either side. This house’s middle window is what I’m thinking about – and it would fit in our son’s room and let in more light, so that might be something we do down the line too.

Oh, and we killed around 75% of our yard (intentionally) after it got overrun with crabgrass this summer, which is why it’s all brown. So hopefully we can reseed and reclaim some green in the spring. At least the fall colors are helping it blend in! Same goes for the back – the grass needs to grow back in, we need to finish that patio (maybe slate like the front steps?), John has to rehang our garden lights, and at some point we need to paint the back doors Tranquility too… and the shed Moderne White to match. The list is long.

But again, we’re trying to just enjoy the amazing progress we’ve had and not get overwhelmed by the tasks that this one very exciting update has added to our to-do list. But wait, have I mentioned that I dream about adding a window to the top left side of our house for balance and to let more light into our master bath/closet? Always scheming… ha!

In summary: I really can’t emphasize enough how happy we are with this change. I caught John outside gazing at the house like a goon the other day and I FREAKING TEARED UP WHEN I PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY. I know. It sounds crazy. But the house is just so beautiful it’s what I imagine it feels like if you get the final rose on the Bachelor and actually love that person and they actually love you back and your relationship actually works and you both feel understood and fulfilled. My house has undergone a pretty extreme makeover, and I love it for all the right reasons. AND CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE HOW GOOD IT’S GOING TO LOOK WITH SNOW ALL OVER IT THIS WINTER?! AGHHHHHHHHH.

We talked about some of our nerves on this week’s podcast and John has been anxious about making such a permanent decision for months, so it’s that much more of a GIANT RELIEF to both be so over the moon with the result. Our neighbors love it. Our family loves it. Even a teacher in the preschool carpool line last week said “I saw your house all painted and I’m in LOVE.”

Me too, carpool line friend, me too.

The post Painting Our Brick House White! appeared first on Young House Love.

Painting Our Brick House White! published first on https://bakerskitchenslimited.tumblr.com/

[vincentbnaughton]

Painting Our Brick House White!

The weather hasn’t been perfect for photos and our landscaping isn’t looking it’s finest at the moment, but I couldn’t give two flying squirrels because I’M SO FREAKING EXCITED ABOUT OUR PAINTED BRICK HOUSE THAT I LITERALLY CANNOT EVEN. I am unable to even. And I’m a 36 year old suburban mom, so that’s saying something.

Our house is so heartbreakingly beautiful I literally would not be surprised if it started glimmering in the sun like Edward the vampire from Twilight. GO WITH ME HERE, THIS POST IS GONNA HAVE A LOT OF CAPS LOCK. You have been warned.

Today we’re gonna break it all down – what type of paint we used, why we chose it, how the process went, how much it cost, all that good stuff. And I’ll try to go easy on the exclamation points. No promises, though!!!!!!!!!!

Why Paint Our Brick?

The short answer is that we wanted to. This is our third brick house and I’ve daydreamed about painting ALL of them at some point, so this is basically a 12+ year fantasy that has finally been realized. John has been interested in the idea, but he is so dang practical. So his concerns about maintenance or it showing green mildew and stuff like that have always convinced him that it was a bad idea. But after discussing it on our podcast this summer, a lot of our listeners soothed our fears (we heard from dozens of people who have lived in a painted brick house for 10+ years with zero brick maintenance) and then we found a product that gave us the confidence to go full steam ahead. More on that in a minute.

This house, of all of our brick houses, felt like it was the perfect candidate for a painted exterior. We’ve always loved how stately it feels from the curb, and the way it’s situated at the end of the street and framed by large trees just felt like it was poised for greatness. It was also built in the early 80’s, so it wasn’t lovely historic brick that we’d be painting over… just maroon-ish craggy brick with beige uneven mortar. So we had a lot fewer qualms about painting that – as long as it wouldn’t end up being this super annoying thing we had to maintain. Here’s a more detailed shot of our brick so you can see what I mean about the craggy texture and the maroon coloring.

See how the white painted test swatch immediately feels less ragged looking and all of that uneven beige mortar is neutralized? As soon as we saw that test swatch we were like: YES. THIS NEEDS TO HAPPEN.

And the good news is that we are not town pariahs for this choice. Ha! Richmond actually has TONS of painted brick houses that are 100+ years old, especially in the more historic areas closer to downtown (like The Fan and The Museum District in Richmond City). So it’s not like all of the “real” gracious and historic homes here are unpainted brick. It’s actually a super normal thing to have painted brick, even in the protected historic areas.

Our neighborhood also has some of these newer 70’s/80’s brick houses that have been painted – but none of them are on our street. In fact, 5 of the 6 houses closest to ours are all unpainted brick (the 6th is siding)… so that also made us feel like painting ours was a great way to break up all the dark brick that’s clustered on this end of the street and add some nice variety.

That photo above is the most recent “before” that we have. John took it back in September, but A LOT has happened over the last five years to get us to that point. The photo below is what the house looked like when we first laid eyes on it. Well, “squinted at it through the shadows” is a more accurate description:

In addition to clearing some trees in the front (both for aesthetic reasons and to solve/prevent some of the moisture & rot issues the house had when we bought it) we also got a new roof, had the exterior trim & siding painted, painted the front door and garage doors, graded & seeded the entire yard, replaced the windows, added landscape lighting, and took various stabs at landscaping. And that’s just what we did to the front!

So as dramatic as the painting transformation was last week – it took a while to get to the point where painting our brick would pay off like it did thanks to all of that stuff that also came before it.

And even though our backyard is still in progress, the difference back there is almost more shocking in some ways.

In addition to new roof, new windows, and fresh paint – we also removed the rotting deck (ugh it was so much maintenance, and it blocked us off from the yard in an annoying way) and added the gravel patio, which is just temporary (we’d love a stone patio down the line) . We also opened up the musty carpeted sunroom to make it a covered porch with a nice cross-breeze and two fans overhead. This “in progress” photo from last year as the deck was coming down is the best photo we could find from the same angle:

And now it looks like this! I could SQUEAL WITH GLEE FOR HOURS about how the white paint helped to unify all of the different surfaces (like the big section of siding above the garage, the large meter box on the back, and even the various stove vents and dryer vents). I never realized how choppy and busy the back of the house looked before – so this photo is like a breath of fresh air. I still have so many plans for back here, but this one big paint update feels like we’ve come such a long way! Future plans: along with longing for a stone patio where the pea gravel is eventually – we’d love big window boxes under the windows above that area to unify them since that one has super chunky molding where we raised the window during our kitchen remodel. I’m also going to paint the two doors along the back of the house the same color as the new front door I think. The list goes on…

What Color & Product We Used

I could look at before & afters all day (there are more of those at the end!) but we wanted to answer your burning questions. First and foremost, the paint we used is a product called BioDomus by a company called Romabio and we can’t recommend it highly enough. None of this post is sponsored or anything (we paid for the paint, the labor, all of it!) so I’m just gonna say that up front because I’m about to rave about this paint and it might just sound like an infomercial. It is THAT GOOD. So here we go.

My research (and a lot of you) kept pointing me in the direction of BioDomus and we can totally see why. The main thing is that it’s a MINERAL paint that’s made specifically for brick, stone, stucco, etc – and not a traditional LATEX paint. Latex paints seal brick which can trap moisture and cause damage, but this mineral paint lets the brick breath like it needs to. It’s essentially more like a stain or a limewash (hooray for durability and better performance!) but it has an opaque painted looking finish, which is the look we wanted.

It has a ton of other cool things that make it amazing for this type of application and these factors all helped give us (aka: John The Skeptic) the confidence to move forward with the project:

The acidity in the paint makes it naturally mold-resistant, meaning we should get LESS of that green haze John has been pressure-washing off of the house each year.

It CAN be pressure-washed, although the painter advised us to use low pressure – just like you would on any other painted surface

It has a 20-year warranty, meaning we shouldn’t have to repaint for at least a couple of decades (!!) – word on the street is that it often lasts for 30+ years which amazes us to no end

And – here’s my new favorite feature – it has a FLAT FINISH, which is SO RIDICULOUSLY LUXE LOOKING. I’m about to start calling my house Chateau Sherry or Villa Blanca like a freaking housewife you guys. THAT IS MY LIFE NOW.

I didn’t really appreciate that last feature until it started to go up, but I think the fact that it’s super matte (instead of glossy/shiny) is what helps give it that historic looking high-end feel, like something straight outta Europe. Do I live in France now? Should I create a two story bookcase a la Belle in Beauty & The Beast? Should John start a beret collection? Maybe. The funny thing is that we worried that painting our house would make it look newer and less historic and classic, but I’m telling you this flat soft white paint makes it feel SO MUCH MORE HISTORIC AND CLASSIC to us! It’s kind of insane.

BioDomus does come in a small set of existing colors, but they can also color match it to any color you want by Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams – which is what we did. Just like any color-matching that happens across paint brands, it’s not 100% exact, so you DEFINITELY want to order some test pots before committing to an entire house. We knew we wanted something that read as a pure but soft white (not too beige or gray – and not too blinding and stark or cool) and we also wanted it to work with our existing white trim since all of our new windows have vinyl wrapped sills that wouldn’t be getting repainted.

After Googling / Pinteresting a bunch of white exterior colors and consulting with some friends with white houses, we got little BioDomus test pots that were color-matched to these four colors: Sherwin William’s Moderne White (top right), Benjamin Moore’s Swiss Coffee (middle right), Sherwin William’s Alabaster (bottom right) and Benjamin Moore’s Stonington Gray (that’s that left swatch). Our winner ended up being right at the top: Moderne White by Sherwin Williams.

It’s a bit warmer/muddier than a stark white, so we knew it’d look great and not be too blinding – and we tested it in a few other spots right next to the window trim to make sure they looked good together. I had the goal not to settle until I found something that truly felt like a soft warm white color, and it’s such a great one. Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. This photo is probably the most accurate to the true color in person:

Or maybe this one:

How To Paint Your Brick House

As you know, we hired out this project but that does not mean you can’t DIY yours – especially if you live in a one story house! The paint itself is pretty straightforward to apply, but our challenge was the size of our house – specifically the height. We have a two story home with a full third floor attic and a chimney that extends almost another full story beyond that, so it took a 45′ lift to reach a lot of the brick. We also thought it would be prudent to have a pro apply ours so we could study exactly how it was done and tell all of you guys the right way to do it so you’d have long-lasting results and nobody would have a peeling or bubbling house after all that work (can you imagine?!). And the good news is that it isn’t even that complicated. YOU CAN TOTALLY DIY THIS  – especially if you’ve got a less-tall home or are doing a smaller brick project. Completely doable.

As for how we found our pro painter if you’re looking to hire it out, when we bought our paint from BioDomus (you buy it directly through them), we asked who they thought would be a good person to hire to apply it, and they tossed out a guy named Lance with experience with the product who is based in Kentucky just as a suggestion. Even though they said any local painter should be able to follow directions and apply the product correctly without much issue, when we heard about this painting specialist who had experience with BioDomus already, we thought it sounded like a good idea to learn from him and make sure our paint went on correctly so we have that awesome warranty to lean on and we don’t worry about teaching you guys the wrong way to apply it or some other NIGHTMARE like that. Cut to us all waking up after two weeks and our houses are all purple or something. And Lance was great! Here he is below, just doing his thang and making all of my dreams come true (you can follow him on IG here).

Lance said that although he was willing to travel for our job since BioDomus recommended him, his dream isn’t always to be on the road (he has two young kids) but he especially loves limewashing people’s houses with this other product called Classico, so if that’s a look you’d like, he’d be open to traveling for jobs like that from time to time. Oh and he’s actually creating a video about how to D.I.Y the same BioDomus process that he used on our house – just for anyone who wants to see it in more detail. Isn’t that nice?! So we’ll update this post with that once it’s complete. But in the meantime, we’ll break down the basic steps for applying the BioDomus product:

1. Prep Your House

Like any paint job, you’ll make your life easier if you take time to prep first. For our project it included steps like:

Moving outdoor furniture and decor out of the way

Removing shutters and shutter hardware

Taping and covering all of the windows, lights, etc.

Pressure washing any grimy areas

Note on that last part that you don’t need to pressure wash every inch of your brick before painting it. Lance recommended going over any areas that seemed to have dirt or mildew build-up, but other than that you can apply the paint directly without further prep. Aka, no primer either!

They also did not tape off or cover surround areas like landscaping or roofing. They just tossed down canvas drop cloths as they went and held up small pieces of cardboard to act as spray shields whenever they got close to an area that needed protecting as they went.

2. Mix, Spray, and Backroll Your First Coat

I say “mix” first because BioDomus needs to be diluted slightly with water (they send it concentrated so it’s less expensive to ship). You can read the exact dilution measurement on the package, but roughly speaking it comes in a 4-gallon bucket and you dilute it to become a standard 5 gallons.

The product can be applied with a roller, but Lance recommends spraying it – especially if your brick is craggy. It would take more work to get full coverage into every nook and cranny with a roller, but as long as you’ve got a high-nap roller (like 1 1/4″) it can be done. But again, spraying is MUCH faster. I mean, for reference, it took a crew of three people two full days to spray the first coat on our house. Just imagine if they had been rolling it all. It could have easily taken three times longer. NOTE: They wet down the brick before spraying or rolling – it just helps the product penetrate and soak in – remember it’s more like a stain than a paint. So you’ll want to get all of your brick wet before applying it as you work your way around the house.  

It’s also helpful to backroll your first coat, which means going over the first coat that you have sprayed on with a roller full of more paint, to really smush that extra paint in and even out the coverage. Lance said it’s not necessary, but it makes the second coat much faster to be this thorough from the start. Note: if you aren’t spraying, just rolling two coats on should do the trick.

In the photo below you can see the guy in the lift (Jeremy) spraying and the guy on the ground (Josh) rolling an area that has already been sprayed.

And this photo below of Josh backrolling the garage really shows the difference between just the first spray coat (far right) and how that backrolled area looks a lot more solid and filled in.

3. Caulk Gaps

After the first coat dried, the crew went around and filled any large crags in the brick with caulk. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but even when we painted our brick fireplace inside several years ago we found that it helped to eliminate any deep shadows or dark spots with some caulk. They just used regular indoor/outdoor paintable caulk, so it’s not hard to do – just a little tedious.

4. Spray Your Second Coat

Since they were so thorough on their first coat, and since BioDomus has pretty great coverage, the second coat was able to be sprayed in a single day without any backrolling. That still would’ve taken us like ten days, so it was pretty great to have pros on the job.

5. Paint Any Non-Brick Areas

In addition to the little bit of siding that we have on one side of our house and around the back, we also had random things like our metal electrical meter, the wood door to our crawlspace, and a half dozen other non-brick areas around our house. BioDomus is meant ONLY for masonry (it works on brick, stone, stucco, etc), so be sure to prep and paint those other materials with the proper paint. Lance recommended Benjamin Moore’s Low-Lustre finish for our siding so it’d match the matte look of the bricks and it worked out really nicely.

They were able to get great coverage in one coat of spraying our siding (without priming) but we did prime some other elements – like our meter box and dryer vents – with this all-purpose spray primer.

6. Clean Up and Put Things Back

John The Fact-Checker Of This Post always likes to point out cleanup in any project because it’s so easy to forget that it takes time and energy. You know, removing tape and tarps, putting furniture back, and rehanging shutters if you want to have those back up. Speaking of which – we are NOT planning to rehang our shutters. We were surprised by how much we liked the look of the house without them, and a ton of the painted historic homes that we love most downtown don’t have them either (along with about 1/3 of our own neighborhood) so it just feels good to let the painted brick breathe. We had originally planned to buy new operable shutters like the duplex – but we’re happy to save ourselves the expense and the labor of doing that since we like this look so much.

That’s pretty much it when it comes to the DIY steps for an undertaking like this! Lance made a quick video that shows the process very briefly but he’s planning to create a much more detailed one soon, so we’ll link that how-to video once it’s ready so you can see it in action (in case you want to DIY it – or even just to show your pro if you decide to hire it out). And if you have any questions about the paint, the folks at BioDomus are really responsive and helpful. The guy who created it is named Michael and he is SUPER PASSIONATE about it. He and his wife Leslie run the company, and you know we like a husband and wife team ;)

How Long Did It Take?

Every project and house is different, but I thought it’d be helpful to give you a sense of how long it took for this to happen at our house. It all occurred over the course of five days, but really it was four when you exclude travel.

Day 1: Travel and prep (shutters down, windows taped, start of pressure-washing)

Day 2: Brick on front & chimney side of house get first coat

Day 3: Brick on the back & garage side of house get first coat (also portico demo/rebuilding, but more on that later)

Day 4: Brick on the whole house gets a second coat

Day 5: Siding painted, clean-up, and travel

And again, this was with a professional crew of three painters working from about 8am to 6pm straight every day (except travel days). Lance said typically they’d use scaffolding instead of a lift, but the lift was easier to rent and made them faster. So if your crew uses scaffolding it might add extra time.

How Much Did It Cost?

We haven’t received final invoices yet, but Lance said he typically prices a house of our size around $4,500 – $5,000 in labor. Our labor line item in his estimate broke down to exactly $4,500. We also paid for the paint separately, and our job took 7 four-gallon buckets of BioDomus to complete (although he said our brick was especially thirsty so yours might not need as much, even if it’s the same size!) which cost around $1,700 in materials. And when we add in about $200 in siding paint that we purchased ourselves and provided for Lance, our material cost was around $1,900. So the painting portion of this makeover was about $6,400 total.

Obviously, every project is different and there are lots of factors and circumstances that can affect cost. There are definitely regional price differences too (we asked two of our friends who painted brick houses on the west coast that were smaller than ours and both of them said it was around 10K, which was a lot more than our cost for this project). So just note that this price might be higher or lower than yours, depending on where you live. We went into it fearing it would be closer to 10K, so we were pleasantly surprised, although $6,400 isn’t exactly pennies.

I said “the painting portion of this makeover was $6,400” because thanks to a spontaneous porch makeover we also had a few hours of work from our electrician and about a half a day of work from Sean the Contractor, but we’re still waiting on those invoices. And speaking of the porch makeover…

What’s Next?

We plan to get into this story in more detail on next week’s podcast since it’s quite the rollercoaster (and this post is already long enough) but if you followed along on Instagram last week, you know that in the midst of the painting madness we decided to tackle the porch makeover AT THE SAME TIME. I can’t stress enough that this was NOT the plan going into the week, but I woke up with a wild hair on Tuesday morning and just couldn’t shake the feeling that we should rip the portico off right. that. second.

A few frantic calls to Sean later, and I had somehow convinced him to come to Richmond that afternoon, spend the night at his girlfriend’s house (it helps that she lives in Richmond), and come over bright and early the next day and help us remove the portico (J and I debated doing that ourselves but it was extremely heavy and we worried we’d crack the brick steps or shatter some facade bricks if we tried to muscle it down without help). So less than 24 hours later, by 8:30 am on Wednesday morning, the portico was down, and we were hard at work rebuilding the new surround with Sean…

…which led to a frantic call to our electricians who came and helped us wire up two big 22″ lanterns (that we bought right off the shelves that morning) to cover the two holes in the brick that had been revealed when we removed the portico. You might remember that Halloween was last Wednesday, so it was some sort of Trick Or Treating miracle to have working porch lights and a fully reconstructed door frame that we completed literally minutes before the first little costumed kid ran up our walkway.

Like, this was Tuesday evening:

… and this was 24 hours later:

Our original plan was to rebuild the portico with new chunkier columns, but we’re both really loving the look without a portico – and the door surround that we threw together in about four hours is actually pretty darn good (still needs to be painted white – it’s just primed and caulked but the weather isn’t cooperating). So we’re planning to leave it like this for the time being. The new door color helped a lot too. It’s Benjamin Moore’s Tranquility in a super high gloss finish. They have a new-ish paint line called Grand Entrances, and it’s made especially for front doors that you want to have a mirror-like shine. Tip: sand the heck outta your door so it’s smooth before applying this, because it’ll super amplify any flaw. If you do that, it looks like a million bucks! We love how ours came out!

A bunch of houses in our neighborhood have front stoops without an overhang, and packages get left in plastic bags so they don’t get wet, and we enter and exit exclusively through the garage, so I’m not sure we’ll even miss the portico. There was also a pretty amazing bonus to our foyer from taking down that huge overhang: so much more light shines in through our sidelights now! We keep thinking someone left the light on in there! If we do end up missing the porch coverage, we can always rebuild something – most likely with a flat roof instead of a pitched one – but for now we’re just marveling in how far it’s come since we first bought the house:

Oh but one more “gotta do that” on our ever expanding to-do list (if you give a mouse a cookie… or if you paint your house white…) is to redo the porch floor with some pretty outdoor-friendly tile, much like we did on the back porch. BioDomus isn’t a porch & floor paint, so it’s not really meant to be walked on and we agreed with Lance’s recommendation to go ahead and paint it so the house didn’t have a big brick tongue for the time being, but none of us expect it to hold up longterm.

Our plan is to tile it with something similar to our back porch or maybe even add slate. This photo of Reese Witherspoon showed up in my Instagram feed over the weekend and, well, GOALS. See her painted brick house with those awesome stone steps? Also goals: that dog.

And of course my head is spinning with all sorts of thoughts about our landscaping. The white has really made all of our bushes “pop” and I spent a good hour on Friday trimming and shaving them to try to make the best of what we have, but I feel like I need taller plants on the porch, something big to anchor the left side of the house, and – I dunno – I know our boxwoods are very “English garden” but they’ve never been my favorite because they remind me of those big cement balls in front of Target…

I’m also somewhat obsessed with the idea of replacing that window over the front door (that’s our son’s room) with a larger window so the house feels more balanced and doesn’t have those two blank spaces on either side. This house’s middle window is what I’m thinking about – and it would fit in our son’s room and let in more light, so that might be something we do down the line too.

Oh, and we killed around 75% of our yard (intentionally) after it got overrun with crabgrass this summer, which is why it’s all brown. So hopefully we can reseed and reclaim some green in the spring. At least the fall colors are helping it blend in! Same goes for the back – the grass needs to grow back in, we need to finish that patio (maybe slate like the front steps?), John has to rehang our garden lights, and at some point we need to paint the back doors Tranquility too… and the shed Moderne White to match. The list is long.

But again, we’re trying to just enjoy the amazing progress we’ve had and not get overwhelmed by the tasks that this one very exciting update has added to our to-do list. But wait, have I mentioned that I dream about adding a window to the top left side of our house for balance and to let more light into our master bath/closet? Always scheming… ha!

In summary: I really can’t emphasize enough how happy we are with this change. I caught John outside gazing at the house like a goon the other day and I FREAKING TEARED UP WHEN I PULLED INTO THE DRIVEWAY. I know. It sounds crazy. But the house is just so beautiful it’s what I imagine it feels like if you get the final rose on the Bachelor and actually love that person and they actually love you back and your relationship actually works and you both feel understood and fulfilled. My house has undergone a pretty extreme makeover, and I love it for all the right reasons. AND CAN YOU EVEN IMAGINE HOW GOOD IT’S GOING TO LOOK WITH SNOW ALL OVER IT THIS WINTER?! AGHHHHHHHHH.

We talked about some of our nerves on this week’s podcast and John has been anxious about making such a permanent decision for months, so it’s that much more of a GIANT RELIEF to both be so over the moon with the result. Our neighbors love it. Our family loves it. Even a teacher in the preschool carpool line last week said “I saw your house all painted and I’m in LOVE.”

Me too, carpool line friend, me too.

The post Painting Our Brick House White! appeared first on Young House Love.