#its a big mag/blog

[terracottahearted]

Stereogum posted a pic of my “Lesbians for Damon Albarn” sign :0

[thelostboys87]

point of postgrad unemployment where you're like i should really dive into content creation actually

[blubberquark]

Are Game Blogs Uniquely Lost?

All this started with my looking for the old devlog of Storyteller. I know at some point it was linked from the blogroll on the Braid devlog. Then I tried to look at on old devlog of another game that is still available. The domain for Storyteller is still active. The devblog is gone.

I tried an old bookmark from an old PC (5 PCs ago, I think). It was a web site linked to pixel art and programming tutorials. Instead of linking to the pages directly, some links link led to a twitter threads by authors that collected their work posted on different sites. Some twitter threads are gone because the users were were suspended, or had deleted their accounts voluntarily. Others had deleted old tweets. There was no archive. I have often seen links accompanied by "Here's a thread where $AUTHOR lists all his writing on $TOPIC". I wonder if the sites are still there, and only the tweets are gone.

A lot of "games studies" around 2010 happened on blogs, not in journals. Games studies was online-first, HTML-first, with trackbacks, tags, RSS and comment sections. The work that was published in PDF form in journals and conference proceedings is still there. The blogs are gone. The comment sections are gone. Kill screen daily is gone.

I followed a link from critical-distance.com to a blog post. That blog is gone. The domain is for sale. In the Wayback Machine, I found the link. It pointed to the comment section of another blog. The other blog has removed its comment sections and excluded itself from the Wayback Machine.

I wonder if games stuff is uniquely lost. Many links to game reviews at big sites lead to "page not found", but when I search the game's name, I can find the review from back in 2004. The content is still there, the content management systems have been changed multiple times.

At least my favourite tumblr about game design has been saved in the Wayback Machine: Game Design Tips.

To make my point I could list more sites, more links, 404 but archived, or completely lost, but when I look at small sites, personal sites, blogs, or even forums, I wonder if this is just confirmation bias. There must be all this other content, all these other blogs and personal sites. I don't know about tutorials for knitting, travel blogs, stamp collecting, or recipe blogs. I usually save a print version of recipes to my Download folder.

Another big community is fan fiction. They are like modding, but for books, I think. I don't know if a lot of fan fiction is lost to bit rot and link rot either. What is on AO3 will probably endure, but a lot might have gone missing when communities fandom moved from livejournal to tumblr to twitter, or when blogs moved from Wordpress to Medium to Substack.

I have identified some risk factors:

Personal home pages made from static HTML can stay up for while if the owner meticulously catalogues and links to all their writing on other sites, and if the site covers a variety of interests and topics.

Personal blogs or content management systems are likely to lose content in a software upgrade or migration to a different host.

Writing is more likely to me lost when it's for-pay writing for a smaller for-profit outlet.

A cause for sudden "mass extinction" of content is the move between social networks, or the death of a whole platform. Links to MySpace, Google+, Diaspora, and LiveJournal give me mostly or entirely 404 pages.

In the gaming space, career changes or business closures often mean old content gets deleted. If an indie game is wildly successful, the intellectual property might ge acquired. If it flops, the domain will lapse. When development is finished, maybe the devlog is deleted. When somebody reviews games at first on Steam, then on a blog, and then for a big gaming mag, the Steam reviews might stay up, but the personal site is much more likely to get cleaned up. The same goes for blogging in general, and academia. The most stable kind of content is after hours hobbyist writing by somebody who has a stable and high-paying job outside of media, academia, or journalism.

The biggest risk factor for targeted deletion is controversy. Controversial, highly-discussed and disseminated posts are more likely to be deleted than purely informative ones, and their deletion is more likely to be noticed. If somebody starts a discussion, and then later there are hundreds of links all pointing back to the start, the deletion will hurt more and be more noticeable. The most at-risk posts are those that are supposed to be controversial within a small group, but go viral outside it, or the posts that are controversial within a small group, but then the author says something about politics that draws the attention of the Internet at large to their other writings.

The second biggest risk factor for deletion is probably usefulness combined with hosting costs. This could also be the streetlight effect at work, like in the paragraph above, but the more traffic something gets, the higher the hosting costs. Certain types of content are either hard to monetise, and cost a lot of money, or they can be monetised, so the free version is deliberately deleted.

The more tech-savvy users are, the more likely they are to link between different sites, abandon a blogging platform or social network for the next thing, try to consolidate their writings by deleting their old stuff and setting up their own site, only to let the domain lapse. The more tech-savvy users are, the more likely they are to mess with the HTML of their templates or try out different blogging software.

If content is spread between multiple sites, or if links link to social network posts that link to blog post with a comment that links to a reddit comment that links to a geocities page, any link could break. If content is consolidated in a forum, maybe Archive team could save all of it with some advance notice.

All this could mean that indie games/game design theory/pixel art resources are uniquely lost, and games studies/theory of games criticism/literary criticism applied to games are especially affected by link rot. The semi-professional, semi-hobbyist indie dev, the writer straddling the line between academic and reviewer, they seem the most affected. Artists who start out just doodling and posting their work, who then get hired to work on a game, their posts are deleted. GameFAQs stay online, Steam reviews stay online, but dev logs, forums and blog comment sections are lost.

Or maybe it's only confirmation bias. If I was into restoring old cars, or knitting, or collecting stamps, or any other thing I'd think that particular community is uniquely affected by link rot, and I'd have the bookmarks to prove it.

Figuring this out is important if we want to make predictions about the future of the small web, and about the viability of different efforts to get more people to contribute. We can't figure it out now, because we can't measure the ground truth of web sites that are already gone. Right now, the small web is mostly about the small web, not about stamp collecting or knitting. If we really manage to revitalise the small web, will it be like the small web of today except bigger, the web-1.0 of old, or will certain topics and communities be lost again?

[elvain]

marvel's boys: from sidekicks to heroes

i've been seeing a lot of talk about my friend ray's post about the mentor/sidekick relationship in marvel as compared to DC (this post is specifically in regards to the movie portrayal of said relationships). find the post here. the discussion around this post has inspired some thoughts in me, so i thought i'd share them below.

steve and bucky's relationship as mentor/sidekick originates in the golden age as part of the "child sidekick/hero" craze phenomenon at the time. kids wanted to know they could contribute to the war effort in these years, that they could also make a difference when their fathers and brothers went to war. so the child sidekick was invented and at marvel, that was bucky barnes + toro raymond.

but even in the silver age, we maintained a younger sidekick mentality: rick jones, janet van dyne (until she turned out be old enough to marry hank pym), and i would even include flash thompson's brief stint as a fake spider-man in this category. but, yes, all these "sidekick" scenarios eventually winded down. but i don't think it's because marvel decided sidekicks weren't a worthy trend anymore. far from it.

i think DC's interpretation of the mentor/sidekick relationship becomes more paternal/familial whereas marvel's becomes centered around guilt and trauma (rick jones, primarily). i wouldn't say marvel hated sidekicks after the golden age; they just become heroes on their own (peter parker, the original x-men, nova, etc.) rather than relying on a mentor-esque figure. i think DC has clung to the paternal side of this trend more and maintained it - it's worked for them, so great. but marvel i think dived the other way which was also great.

i know about the "spider-man killed teen sidekicks by being both a young person and the main hero" take as well and i have some thoughts on that, too, if you'll bear with me.

i think it isn't that we started hating sidekicks. i think we realized that, after the golden age, the kids weren't just kids anymore. there is a genre of kid who was too young to fight in ww2 but who still dealt with that trauma and that kid was reading these comics, sending in letters, collecting stamps, etc. comic mags in the golden age used to be FULL of things like "if you see any war planes over your city, report it to the nearest military office!" or "you can collect scrap metal and donate it to the war effort, just like timmy here!" and after the events of pearl harbor, every timely comic had a big stamp on them, demanding that we "remember pearl harbour".

now its 1962 and that kid is 15 and he kinda doesn't NEED his dad as much cause he's either dead or he's been away for years fighting in the war. this kid needs to be his own hero. [gestures to peter parker, richard rider, steve rogers even if you count the origin story] like it isn't that spider-man killed the sidekicks - it's that he lost his father figure (ben parker) and now had to be his own hero and i think that would've resonated a LOT with kids of that era who had gone through a similar loss.

i think it shows in rick jones too - the reason rick just never REALLY "sidekicked" is because he was a reflection of the young boys/girls at the time who suddenly had no parents or elder figures bc of the wars. now they had to deal with it on their own and thats why he didn't stick it out with steve and why he became bruce's friend instead of the hulk's sidekick, cause he just didn't need that mentor and that protection anymore after what he (as a representation of kids from the after-war years) had gone through.

it isn't that the sidekicks died. it's that they were forced to grow up.

if you're interested in thoughts like this, i have some posts on my rarely used wordpress blog. The Golden Age: overview: how i started reading the Golden Age comics. The Golden Age: I: characters i thought i knew, but did not. The Golden Age II: think of the women and children!

[maggiemacabre]

SiIvaGunner SmashUp! Behind the scenes and post-mortem

Hello folks and welcome to my new Tumblr blog. I don't know how much I'm going to actually use this thing in the future but I figure if I need it, it's here. As you can probably tell by the title, today's subject will be none other than my most recent "work", the SiIvaGunner SmashUp!

The idea of a SiIvaGunner take on the concept of "Royal Rumble but full of stupid contestants" was in my head for a while, but the motivation to do it wasn't in place until I found Dead Meat's Horror Royal Rumble in August or September of 2023. The Jerma Rumbles and Vinewrestle were definitely also influences on the idea, but the Horror Royal Rumble was the impetus, and played a part in influencing some creative choices featured in the SmashUp (more on that later).

After running the idea by the team and the rest of backroom, I picked up WWE 2K23 (which fortuitously was on sale that weekend) and got to work. Going in, I had next to no idea of the ins and outs of pro wrestling, which meant that I had to do a lot of research into things like the wrestlers themselves, moves, terminology, different match types, general historical stuff, how shows are actually presented, etc. This put me in a very, very deep rabbit hole which I have still not crawled out of. I even went to two house shows!

Making the wrestlers was the first step and by far took the longest amount of time out of anything, since this was the first show of its kind on the channel and required the creation of 34 unique wrestlers. Some of them were easier than others (lookin' at you AMUNO), but others such as Ninomae Ina'nis took days to complete due to the amount of detail they required. This also isn't including wrestlers who were made that got cut; some of these exclusions include Bottom G, who was left out because Andrew Tate sucks, Elly from Touhou Project, who was replaced by Sumireko, and Wood Man, who was left out for lore reasons and replaced with 8-Bit Beast in a somewhat 11th hour decision. Maybe next year?

The decision to make Hot Cross Buns and Raft Ride into women also spawned from this period. Hot Cross Buns was made first and was originally meant to show up in the Grand Rumble, but after some time I ended up deciding to move her to her own match, which became a Women's World Champion match because lol. I had to use mods to make the men and women able to fight each other, so theoretically Raft Ride could have been a man, but women are awesome.

Being an egotistical maniac, I also included some references to things I'd worked on in the past. Totino's Stadium, the arena where the match takes place, was first mentioned in the FUMO JAM ad from the DJ Professor K Day stream, and Nu Grandiose City is the city where Woodyana is from in Woodyana Stones: Raider Made of Lost Bark. Also I guess this is why Elvira was included? LOL. Fun fact: The footage of "Totino's Stadium" is actually of Gazprom Arena in Russia.

Since I was involved with the channel's MAGFest panel in 2024, I was able to announce the show months in advance, although I'm not sure how many people actually paid attention at the time. Getting a logo ready between finishing CCC and MAG was a bit tight, but thankfully it was able to be done on time, and on top of that I was able to make the big card poster thing on my own. I actually designed it to be printed, and I proposed making it a sold item, although that idea was rejected. I also came up with the date during this period, choosing the day right before the WWE Hall of Fame show, and while things got a bit close to the wire, it was luckily able to make the date and time without a hitch in the end.

After all the wrestlers were made, it was time to record and edit. I was a bit worried about my laptop overheating while doing so, but I was able to get good quality 60 FPS 1080p footage recorded without any hitches other than some human error on my end. While the controversial ending of the Grand Rumble wasn't what I had in mind, I ended up leaving it as-is for time reasons and also because it felt like a funny troll ending. Which it was! Editing was not quite as smooth since I had to go through all the footage and edit it together into a cohesive product. WWE games don't allow you to cut to entrances during a Royal Rumble, which meant that I had to record and edit those in myself. The method I ended up using resembled the one from the Dead Meat rumble mentioned earlier with cuts to the audience as the buzzer rings, although I'd like to believe I did a better job than they did with their 2024 entrances where they awkwardly cut around shots of the ring. This is also where the fun facts come from, as they are actually covering up the nameplates that show up as an alternative to cutting to the entrances.

After editing was done I got some other team members to do commentary. Thankfully I was able to get someone with wrestling knowledge, which definitely added a dimension of realism and legitimacy to the project. I don't know if I can say who the announcers are because of leaks, but if you haven't figured it out, Randall Shields is a Smash Bros. reference. Also it was the first contribution to SiIvaGunner that had "Randall" made in about half a decade. What a return!

The premiere of the project was electric. Seeing over 1.3K people tune in and get hype over something I made was incredible and made my week, if not month. I did feel a little bad about the reaction when Dream came in (💀), but other than that it was awesome. And don't worry, he won't return.

In the end, I had a lot of fun with the project and it was awesome seeing everything pay off. I want to thank everyone who helped, including the artists who designed the logos and the people who did commentary. It couldn't have come together without help and assistance from everyone, and I hope that this becomes the first in a series of similar videos.

[meowmeow-motherfucker]

Covenant- Chapter 5

Summary: With the five year anniversary of the attack on New York approaching, Odin and Fury come to the agreement that an arranged marriage between Asgard and Earth would show good faith toward all future interactions. When Odin refuses Jane’s candidacy, Agent Coulson is tasked with finding a suitable wife for the prince of Asgard.

Pairing: Loki x OFC

Warnings: pot smoking, fluff, more fluff, flirting, pining, Asgardian pearl-clutching, more wedding prep and princess lessons, mentions of archaic wedding traditions

Taglist: @lokisgoodgirl @gigglingtiggerv2 @icytrickster17 @mysteriouslyfriedjellyfish @lokislilkitten @justjoanne242 @amlocked @ddmariegirl @mags-04-blog @sharris8 @meepycheep @iamlokisgloriouspurpose @the-fantasy-loving-angel @jaidenhawke @smolvenger

Back at it again after a break. Thanks as always for coming along on the journey!

Two weeks until the wedding

“Good morning, dear!” Frigga chirped as Claire stepped into the sitting room. It was early morning, the suns rays already casting golden beams on the walls. Outside on the balcony, a songbird praised the sun, its harmonious song adding a cheerful melody to the morning.

“Good morning,” Claire replied, remembering too late she was supposed to curtsy. Behind Frigga, Loki snickered as she gave an awkward bob. Claire glared at him over Frigga’s shoulder, and he grinned.

She looked beautiful today. Her official wardrobe had been completed, and today she wore the first of the dresses in her official court color. The lush fabric lapped at her ankles as she walked toward him, the full skirt accentuating the curves of her waist. The high-necked bodice had no sleeves, her bare arms protected from the early morning chill by a matching stole. Loki spied the ever-present silver band around her bicep.

She looked as though she belonged.

~~~~

The marketplace was busy as usual, crowded with throngs of people scurrying about. The crowd parted as they walked, bowing low to the prince and future princess, as well as the queen walking behind them with her attendants.

“This is so surreal,” Claire giggled, wiping a hand over her face. “We just met two weeks ago and here we are, on our way to pick out wedding rings,” she looked up at him with a shy smile. “If this was happening on Earth, we would have been on hundreds of dates by now.”

“Hundreds?” Loki chuckled. “Exactly what does one do on hundreds of dates?”

“All kinds of things,” Claire replied wistfully. “Skip school to go to the mall, arcade dates, spend the day at Santa Monica pier…”

“What is the mall?”

“Remember what I told you about a lot of stores being separate?”

“Of course.”

“A mall is the opposite. It’s a big building with lots of stores inside.”

“This all seems rather...muddled. Some are together, some are separate...what is the purpose of that?” Loki asked. “What is an arcade date? And this Santa Monica pier?”

“The pier is like the ones here, but instead of docking for boats, the Santa Monica pier has shops and restaurants. There’s a really nice Ferris wheel too. I had my first kiss at the top of that Ferris wheel.” Claire smiled fondly at the memory.

“Sounds dreadfully romantic.”

“It was,” Claire sighed. “It was sunset, the ocean was all sparkly...it seems like a lifetime ago.” she chuckled.

“And which of those was your favorite?” Loki asked.

“Honestly, all of them were nice, but the ones I liked the most were the simple ones. My boyfriend and I used to go to the drive-in on the weekends and hold hands. We didn’t have to talk, it was just nice to be together, you know?”

“I can’t say that I do,” Loki replied somberly, dropping his gaze from her lips. The berry shade she’d chosen to wear today was enchanting. “What was his name?”

“Mateo,” Claire said fondly. “God, I haven’t seen him in...twenty years?” she laughed.

“Not much time for romance while working for S.H.I.E.L.D., I imagine.”

“God, no!” Claire laughed loudly. “Not that I was particularly interested, but everyone gets lonely and a girl has needs.”

“Is that so?” Loki asked with interest. Claire’s eyes darted down to his mouth when he licked his lips. “Do tell.”

“A magician never reveals her secrets,” Claire turned away, a secretive smile tugging at her lips. “You’ll find out eventually anyway.”

“I think you’ll find I can be rather persuasive.” a flash of green pulled her attention back to him, drawing her eyes to the flower he’d manifested in his outstretched hand.

“Isn’t it better to learn from a source that hasn’t been persuaded?” Claire asked as they reached the jeweler’s storefront. Loki graced her with a smile, the flower disappearing.

“Indeed,” he opened the door and gestured for her to step inside. “My lady.”

Inside the store, they were guided to plush chairs and the owner presented tray after tray of rings for them to choose from. Loki and Claire sat side by side, Frigga and her attendants sat behind them offering commentary on the selection.

Many of the rings Claire was shown were too feminine for her taste, or were gaudy or just plain ugly. All of the offerings were gold with green stones, of course, to match Loki’s colors.

Claire felt annoyed that her ring had to be yet another reminder she was signing her life away, but pushed it aside and focused on finding a ring she liked. There were several that were beautiful of course, made with actual gold and sizable emeralds in impressive settings, but Claire had never been one for flashy jewelry. She would wear this ring for the rest of her life- it had to be right.

The owner brought out another tray, this time with less flashy offerings.

“Perhaps Her Majesty will like these better?” the owner said as he placed te tray in front of her. Claire felt an odd twinge as she realized he was talking about her- she still wasn’t used to people treating her special and that title-

“These are different,” Claire replied as she gazed at the tray. The stones were still green, but they were not emeralds. Opaque white stones with delicate tendrils of deep green sat in luxurious settings of gold, some clustered with smaller round diamonds, some with delicate looking details that seemed so fragile they would unravel if you touched them. “Is this moss agate?”

“Excellent eye, madam,” the owner smiled proudly. “My apprentice wished to make some offerings as well- he is not yet skilled enough to work with finer gems, but as nothing has caught your eye yet, I thought…” Claire spied a ring with a large oval cut central stone, flanked by crescent moons and smaller, teardrop shaped ingots of moss agate.

“This is beautiful,” she murmured, lifting it from the tray to inspect it more closely. “What do you think?” she asked Loki.

“Your opinion matters more than mine; you’re the one who will wear it,” Loki replied, but he leaned closer to inspect it nonetheless. “It is lovely.”

“There is another band that my apprentice designed to go with it,” the owner held up a second gold band, this one in a sloping shape to accentuate the first band. The band was decorated along the bottom, with a triquetra in the center and triple moons on each side. The center of the triquetra and the full moons were set with small diamonds, crescent moons solid gold, and tiny emeralds sat within the corner loops of the triquetra. Claire pressed the two bands together on her finger, her heart fluttering at the sight of them. They were absolutely gorgeous. “The knot in the center is not as popular in our culture, but the triquetra represents-”

“Past, present, and future,” Claire smiled at the ring on her hand. Claire had long been a believer that the universe would sends signs if one was simply willing to see them- she felt it was no coincidence that she was presented a wedding ring with the trinity knot on it. Whatever her misgivings about how she got here, this felt like a sign that she was in the right place. “I love it.”

“Is this the one?” Loki asked from beside her. Claire nodded, confident in her choice.

“Yep, this is it.”

“Excellent choice, Your Majesty,” the owner bowed respectfully. He whisked the rings away, Claire’s selection set aside for safekeeping. He returned with a tray of rings for Loki to choose from. Loki was not much for jewelry either, but one of them stood out as a clear match for the ring Claire had chosen.

It was a smooth, thick gold band with a thin seam of moss agate running through the center.

“What do you think?” he asked, offering it to Claire for her appraisal.

“It’s beautiful work,” Claire said, inspecting the ring from all angles. “And it would match mine. It suits you.”

“I like it,” Loki agreed, setting the ring aside on the tray. “This one.”

“Excellent choice, Your Majesty,” the owner said. “We shall have both rings ready in two days’ time.”

“Wonderful,” Frigga said from behind them. “I think it is time for some lunch before our afternoon outing.”

Lunch took place two streets away in an elegant restaurant that made Claire feel out of place. She looked the part, sure, but she still felt like Oliver Twist in a room full of rich people.

“Claire?” she felt the feather-light touch Loki’s hand at her lower back and she looked over to see him looking at her with concern. “Are you alright?”

“Sorry, things just got real,” Claire laughed nervously. “I'm feeling really nervous now.”

“Here,” Loki guided her to a seat, taking the space beside her. “What troubles you?”

“I was just thinking about the-” Claire grimaced, shrinking in on herself. “The wedding night.”

“Oh! I would never force myself on you,” Loki swore, pulling away from her. “You have my word.”

“No, no, that's- that’s not what I'm worried about, I don't feel threatened by you,” Claire said hurriedly, keeping him close with a hand on his arm. “I just remembered that the original plan was for us to-”

“Ah, yes,” Loki ducked his head, a frown marring his handsome features. “The lovely tradition of having witnesses for the consummation is both ancient and disturbing.”

“Yeah,” Claire gave a relieved sigh. “I rejected that part of the treaty real quick.”

“As did I,” Loki replied. “Not that I'm particularly shy, but whenever my mother talked about it I could tell it had bothered her to go through it and I didn’t wish to put you through that.” Their conversation was interrupted as their party was directed to their table. Claire and Loki were seated beside each other, with Frigga on Loki’s other side and the crones opposite them. As they were perusing the menus, Claire leaned over to keep talking to Loki.

“You talked to your mom about sex?”

“I was an inquisitive child!” Loki said defensively. “I also had a very negative outlook on marriage and thought it stupid. Still do,” He admitted, shaking his head. “But she was determined that Thor and I both learned the traditions and all of it, as someday we would have to go through it.” They were interrupted again as a server arrived to take their orders.

“Well that's cool. And for what it's worth, I also think marriage is stupid.”

“Yet here you are.”

“Here I am,” Claire replied. “Though I will admit I am feeling more...optimistic about it.” she smiled warmly as their food arrived, and their private conversation ended as they were roped into conversing with the crones.

~~~~

Frigga’s afternoon outing was a play- a retelling of an ancient tale of love and war. Claire read over the playbill with a mix of excitement and dread. She enjoyed theater, she supposed, in a general sense (S.H.I.E.L.D didn’t give much time off for attending plays) but she didn’t know what to expect from this. She’d come to learn that the Asgardians LOVED telling exaggerated tales of war and men occasionally would write poems for women they wanted to court. Claire was just thankful Loki hadn’t accosted her with a shitty poem- it would have been too difficult not to laugh in his face.

She liked his face, but romantic gestures were pushing it- devastating jawline or not. The thought of being surrounded by the vulturous young ladies of the court, all of them gawking at her while Loki botched iambic pentameter made her want to vomit.

She was grateful that she’d been seated next to Loki for the play though. It made it easier to have private conversation with him.

“Hey, thanks for refusing the consummation thing. It would have been difficult to pretend that I'm innocent.” she whispered.

“Are you not a good actress?” Loki whispered back with a hint of disappointment. “What a pity. I'd thought all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents were professionals.”

“Oh no, I'm very good,” Claire grinned wolfishly. “Just not that good.”

“If there is anything I can do to perhaps...make things easier for you-” Claire snorted, the sound decidedly unladylike.

“I’m not worried,” she smacked his arm with the back of her hand. “I just didn’t want an audience.”

“I see,” Loki paused before leaning closer. “Circumstances being what they are...we will still need to put on a bit of a show.” the low timbre of his voice gave her goosebumps, and Claire shifted in her seat.

“I know, your mom told me,” she murmured back. “I think it's dumb, but apparently putting a couple drops of blood on bed sheets is easier than accepting I'm a sexually liberated woman.”

“Liberated?” Loki parroted.

“Oh yes,” Claire grinned. “I do what I want, when I want. Or I guess more accurately, who.”

“A trait I can admire,” Loki replied with a smirk. “And does my oafish brother make the list? Were you disappointed-”

“Oh no, Thor is nowhere near the list,” Claire pulled a face, shaking her head in disgust. “You are, though.” she winked at him, meeting his gaze boldly as the lights dimmed. Loki's mind went blank, his brows furrowed as her words sank in. It was an unusual thing, to be desired so openly. He was not a stranger to being desired- as a prince, second or not, he was a desirable bedfellow- but more often that not, it was his status and what it afforded them that people were after, not him. His past trysts had been secluded in shadow, for his admirers never shared their affection once the sun rose. All the same, he’d accepted their suits; after all, he was a hedonist by nature and not one to turn away from pleasure.

There was something novel about this odd woman. The labyrinthine societal rules kept most wrapped in layers of deceit like fabric, suffocating any truth before it could fall from their lips. But not Claire- she had not yet been indoctrinated by the ridiculous rules of court, and not once had he sensed that she was lying to him. It was refreshing indeed, and Loki appreciated it more than he could say.

Loki clasped Claire’s hand in his own in the darkness, unwilling to give voice to such vulnerability. Claire settled her other hand on his arm, leaning into his side as the lush red curtain was raised. Rapt silence fell over the room as the play began, and Loki whiled away the first act tracing his thumb over the empty spot on her hand that her ring would soon occupy.

13 days until the wedding

Loki was lost in thought as he walked around the palace. It was now less than two weeks before he would wed, and although his future wife was an intriguing puzzle he longed to unravel, Loki still felt less than giddy about the event. Servants bowed to him respectfully but gave him a wide berth, afraid and unwilling to anger the dark prince. Loki was used to such treatment even before his incursions on Midgard, but he supposed his dark mood did nothing to dampen their fear of him.

He found himself in his mother’s garden, the tall flowers swaying soothingly in the breeze. Some of the flowers in the center of the garden were moving oddly, wiggling rapidly and disturbing the surrounding flowers. Loki ducked under the thick branches to investigate, picking his way to the center of the flower bed.

He found his future wife sitting on the ground, legs crossed in front of her. She had an array of things spread in the dirt in front of her, and she was smoking.

“Uh…hi,” Claire said, exhaling pungent smoke into the space between them. “What’s up?” Confused by her question, Loki looked overhead only to see the canopy of flowers with specks of bright blue sky peeking through.

“The sky?” he wagered. Claire laughed as he sat down in the dirt opposite her. Her shawl lay on the ground beside her, a soft blue that heralded her as a favorite of his mother. The silver band on her bicep matched the soft gray of her dress, sparkling sporadically as the flowers above them danced in the breeze and the sunlight shone through in minuscule rays.

His future wife was rather beautiful, Loki was man enough to admit it. Today her lips were tinted a dark grey which complimented the soft hue of her gown. She was slender in frame but well built from years of working for S.H.I.E.L.D.. In the short time he had known her, Loki had learned she was fierce with her words and her wit. She was shorter than him, but most everyone was. Her unbound hair hung down to her breasts, the thick chocolatey tresses practically concealing them from his gaze. Her eyes intrigued him- she was so young compared to him, but her eyes had seen much. The rich dark blue shade of them made Loki think of the sea, and sapphires. And she was…she was talking to him.

“What?” he asked stupidly. Like a fool, he’d been caught up in being able to actually look at her. They had spent time together of course, but always, always under supervision.

“I asked if you wanted a hit,” Claire repeated, holding out her cigarette to him. It wasn’t like any he’d seen before- the smell wasn’t as offensive and it was clearly hand-rolled in white paper. “It’s good stuff.”

“Is it tobacco?” Loki asked.

“No way, that stuff is nasty,” Claire replied, her nose scrunching adorably in disgust. “It’s pot.”

“I don’t know what that is,” Loki replied, accepting the cigarette and giving it a sniff. “It’s not as offensive as tobacco.”

“You guys don’t have weed here?” Claire asked in astonishment. “Damn, I’ll have to add it to my list of stuff I want brought here.”

“What is it?” Loki asked.

“It’s a plant. There’s different strains and they have different effects, but this is called Granddaddy Purple. It’s to help you relax.”

“Why are you smoking to relax?” Loki asked, even as he smoked from the cigarette. The smoke had a pleasant burn and a pungent aroma.

“Gee, I don’t know, probably because I signed my entire life away,” Claire replied sarcastically, giving him a judgmental stare when Loki choked on the smoke and started to cough. “Dude, don’t- hold it in for a second- wow, you suck at this.” she snickered.

“Believe it or not, I’ve never done this before.” Loki passed the cigarette back to her.

“You’ve never done drugs? Like, at all?” Claire balked, holding the smoke in her lung before exhaling toward the flower canopy. “But you’re- you’re old! You probably witnessed the big bang!”

“That was before my time, actually,” Loki laughed, his mind starting to feel a little hazy. “You’re upset.”

“You bet your ass I’m upset,” Claire’s nose wrinkled as she exhaled sharply. “No offense. It’s not you, it’s them. The crones.”

“I take it lessons are not going well?”

“I mean…” Claire shrugged. “They’re okay, if you like being corrected constantly. Everything I do is wrong, apparently, and I’m hopeless.”

“I’m sure you’re doing fine.”

“I’m really not. Ask your mom,” Claire sighed. “Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if they sent me home, the way they were talking.”

“You think they would?”

“I don’t know. And I don’t know whether I want them to send me back or keep me here. There’s a lot of variables.”

“I understand. I have...reservations as well.”

“Are we stupid for doing this?” Claire asked, exhaling slowly into the air between them.

“What?”

“I don’t know, sometimes quitting is the best solution to a problem.”

“You wish to leave?”

“Yeah, kind of,” Claire admitted. “I left everything behind to come here. What exactly am I getting out of this?” Loki began to count on his fingers.

“A considerably longer lifespan, immeasurable wealth and respect-”

“More like loneliness and a gilded cage.” Claire muttered.

“-Stability,” Loki countered. “Can I try that again?”

“Please,” Claire scoffed as she passed him the roach. “I’ve never been stable a day in my life.”

“An auspicious match, then,” Loki chuckled, taking a deep hit from the blunt. “Neither have I. At least, not that I remember,” He took another hit before passing it back to her, relaxing back into the grass beneath them. Loki took stock of himself, and he was starting to feel…something. “It takes a moment, doesn’t it?”

“Isn’t it nice?” Claire gave a dreamy sigh as she laid down beside him. “If you want it to hit faster, hold it in your lungs for a few seconds before you exhale,” she coached, giggling when Loki started coughing again. “Coughing also helps.”

“Does it?” Loki managed weakly.

“Oh yeah, it does,” Claire giggled. “It makes me feel all tingly and disconnected.”

“Doesn’t it make you feel…vulnerable?” He glanced over at her.

“I guess so, yeah,” Claire shrugged. “But it’s nice to escape reality for a while.”

“Do all Midgardians smoke this? What did you call it, grandfather purple?”

“Granddaddy,” Claire corrected with a laugh. “And no, not all of us Earthlings smoke the ganja. But there are lots of uses for it.”

“Like what?” Loki asked.

“Like I said, there are different strains for different things. You can smoke it, cook or bake with it, use the fibers to make clothing…this stuff though- it’s mostly for relaxing, but it also makes colors richer, food taste better…sex feel better,” Claire sighed wistfully. Loki looked surprised by her answer. “What?”

“I have never heard a woman speak so freely about such things.” Loki seemed genuinely scandalized by the idea.

“Dude, you’re cute, but you need to loosen up,” Claire cackled, propping herself up on her elbow to look at him. “It’s the 21st century, lots of women have recreational sex.”

“I am not cute,” Loki scoffed, his face scrunching with disgust as he said the word. “I am a god.”

“Yeah, y’are,” Claire said flirtatiously, short bursts of smoke escaping her nose as she giggled. “Maybe cute isn’t the most accurate word, but I stand by it.” Loki thought she looked enchanting, mirthful and sun-dappled beneath the flowers, and the now-familiar churning in his belly returned with a vengeance.

“I will never mistreat you,” he pledged, his eyes never leaving the golden shimmer the sun revealed in her lip polish. “You have my word.”

“I know.” Claire grinned at him.

“Do you?” Loki laughed.

“I fascinate you,” Claire shrugged, offering him another hit from the roach. Loki took it, enjoying the burn and the fuzzy feeling behind his eyes. “That and you think I’m pretty.” Loki snorted, a puff of smoke escaping his nostrils as he glanced over at her with pinkened cheeks.

“A bit of both.” he admitted.

“I knew it.” Claire said smugly.

“You are so self-assured!” Loki crowed indignantly.

“Well I was right, wasn’t I?”

“You were,” Loki agreed softly, turning on his side to stare at her fondly before seeming to come back to himself. “I should go,” he said suddenly, getting up from the grass. He made a show of brushing dirt off of his leathers to hide the flush taking over his face. He’d become overwhelmed with desire to kiss her, and now he was running like a coward. “We’re not supposed to be alone.”

“Right,” Claire rolled her eyes, inhaling from the roach again. “Propriety and whatnot.”

“Oh, she does have sense,” Loki replied sarcastically. “I’d like to leave our reputations intact, if at all possible.”

“Why do you care so much what people think of you?” Claire asked. “We’re getting married in less than two weeks regardless, so who gives a shit?”

“I do,” Loki dusted off his pants. Claire sat back and watched the show, enjoying the way the fabric clung to the muscle of his thighs. “Unless of course you decide to leave.”

“We’re still good, right?” Claire asked, looking him up and down. “Or did I cross a boundary?”

“We are fine,” Loki said shortly. “What was the percentage you gave us the other day?” Claire grinned, exhaling smoke through her nose.

“I predicted a respectable seventy percent, but it’s up to eighty-five now that we’ve smoked pot together.”

“I barely smoked any,” Loki argued weakly. Claire laughed loudly. “Perhaps another time I can try more.”

“Alright, it’s a date,” Claire smiled. “I’ll put in an intergalactic order for more kinds,” she snickered at her joke, which Loki didn’t understand. “Hey, don’t tell anyone where I am, okay? I honestly can’t handle any more princess lessons today.”

“It will be our secret.”

“Awesome,” Claire sighed, relaxing back into the soothing embrace of the grass. “I like secrets.”

~~~~

When Claire eventually emerged from the garden, she had just enough time to meet Frigga for tea. Claire liked the queen, but she was nervous about meeting with her, especially having cut out of princess lessons early that day. Believe it or not, Claire did not find needlepoint compelling. Her knowledge with ropes and knot-tying didn’t exactly translate, and Claire would rather stab her tutor with the needle than use it to make delicate flowers with thread.

Frigga looked radiant as always when Claire arrived. Claire had a passing hope that she didn’t smell like pot as she sat down to tea with her future mother-in-law.

“Hello dear,” Frigga greeted her with a warm smile. She got to her feet and gathered Claire in a warm hug, which never failed to prick at Claire’s heartstrings. “You look well. How are your lessons going?”

“They’re okay.” Claire offered with a shrug. Frigga picked up the tea pot to begin pouring tea.

“Are you certain?” Frigga asked knowingly as she poured Claire a cup of steaming hot tea. “Your tutors are of a different mind, especially your needlepoint instructor.” Shit.

“I mean...I’m definitely struggling. For all my skills, I can’t seem to do anything right here. It’s frustrating.”

“Every new venture is a challenge,” Frigga replied smoothly as she poured her own tea. “I too felt out of sorts when I first came to Asgard.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes,” Frigga smiled fondly at the memory. “Odin and I were betrothed from a very young age, and although I spent most of my youth preparing to take my place as his wife, preparing and doing were very different things. It is understandable that you should feel upset or overwhelmed.”

“I definitely feel overwhelmed,” Claire agreed. “There’s so much for me to learn, and just when I think I have a grip on things, something else gets added. And it’s also very frustrating that ever since I came here, I’m basically viewed for nothing more than my reproductive potential. I have so much more to offer than that and I feel like no one cares.”

“Childbearing is an integral part of our society, Lady Claire. All women have talents, this is true, but through our children our people survive. The children you have with Loki will ensure the alliance between Asgard and Midgard will endure for centuries to come.”

“But isn’t that degrading?” Claire asked sharply. “Not every woman wants to have children. Shouldn’t they be allowed to choose for themselves?”

“Perhaps, but that is not the issue at hand. You do not have the luxury of choosing, dear. You made your choice when you agreed to come here.” Frigga said gently.

“Well maybe I’m having second thoughts,” Claire set her cup down with more force than she meant to, the loud clink drawing a pointed look from Frigga. “This is not what I had in mind.”

“Is leaving truly what you wish?” Frigga asked. She could tell the young woman was discouraged, but much was at risk if she backed out of the treaty.

“I don’t know,” Claire spun her empty tea cup in its saucer instead of meeting the queen’s eyes. “I’m not sure I’m the right person for this. It seems like no matter what I do, it’s not enough.”

“I appreciate this is a tremendous undertaking for you,” Frigga replied gently. “What young women learn over the course of years, you must learn in weeks. I can also appreciate that my son is not the easiest young man to get along with.”

“Right,” Claire grimaced. Frigga knew about their spats; practically everyone in the palace did. “Maybe it would be best if I left.”

“Do you know what happens if you do?”

“I know this is to form an alliance, but Asgard and Earth aren’t on bad terms. There’s no threat of war.”

“There is not, that is correct. There is however, significant threat to Loki. Should this alliance fail, he will be returned to his cell in the dungeons.”

“I thought that was only if it failed after we married.”

“I’m afraid not, dear. I have tried to change the king’s mind, but he will not be swayed.” Frigga pursed her lips behind her tea cup.

“But-” That’s not fair. Why does Odin have it out for Loki? “This isn’t right.”

“No, it is not. One of the hardest aspects of being royalty is that we often must swallow knives to make peace.”

“So if I leave- even if Odin himself says I won’t cut it- Loki goes back?”

“Indeed,” Frigga replied, a sour look upon her face. “I’m sure I don’t need to impress upon you how vital it is that you and this marriage succeed,” she grabbed Claire’s hands in her own. “I am sorry to burden you with such responsibility. But I fear you are the only means I have to save my son,” Claire swallowed nervously. “I would beg you to reconsider. Please.”

Twelve days until the wedding

Claire struggled to sleep the night before, still trying to figure out why Odin was so dead-set on Loki going back to jail. Hadn’t he served enough time?

She wasn’t sure if five years equaled eighty deaths, but it definitely was unfair to release someone from prison only to throw them back in. Somehow Claire doubted whether Asgardian law had the concept of double jeopardy on the books.

After tossing and turning for hours, Claire had examined and re-examined the problem from every possible angle. She’d finally come to a solution- the only solution that didn’t leave her in an ethical quagmire and Loki in a jail cell.

She was going to stay.

Somehow, she would successfully finish her princess lessons and shove her success in her tutor’s faces. She would fulfill the obligations of the treaty and become princess royal of Asgard, and Loki’s wife.

Her mind made up, she’d finally fallen asleep for what seemed like five minutes before Ragna was waking her up for the day. She struggled to stay awake as her hair was brushed to perfection, the promise of seeing Loki at breakfast forcing her from her chambers. He was probably worried sick she was going to leave him to his wretched fate. She had to talk to him.

Except he wasn’t at breakfast. Ignoring the nerves upsetting her stomach, Claire forced herself to eat.

After breakfast, Claire set off with Ragna and a guard under the guise of walking off her meal. Loki was somewhere in the palace, and she was determined to find him.

~~~~

The hallways seemed to grow busier on the lower levels they explored, and Claire followed the crowds. People curtsied and bowed to her as she walked the halls, making her feel like a celebrity. She gave polite nods to everyone they passed, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Loki.

A flash of green caught her attention and Claire perked up, scanning the clusters of people for Loki.

There!

Loki stood with his back to her, in an animated discussion with two men she didn’t recognize. Without a thought, she dashed toward Loki, leaving Ragna and Gunnar in the dust. People parted like the red sea as she ran, gawking with dismay at the woman who dared to run.

Loki was in a discussion with two fellow council members when Claire raced up to their group.

“Hey,” she said breathlessly as she pulled him aside. “I’m sorry to interrupt. I need to talk to you.” The council members bowed to her respectfully as her hands clasped around his arm. She seemed genuinely upset, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she fought to catch her breath.

“Are you alright, my lady? Where is your escort?”

“Oh, um...somewhere back there,” Claire gestured over her shoulder. “I promise I’m fine.” Loki’s companions shared a concerned look at her boldness.

“A moment, please,” Loki said to the men he was with before steering her a few feet down the opulent hall. “What troubles you?”

“I wanted to clarify what I said yesterday.”

“My lady, we didn’t see each other yesterday.” Loki squinted at her in warning.

“Right, of course,” Claire winked. “But what I said, about feeling indecisive.”

“I see,” Loki nodded. “Then you have decided-”

“I’m staying.” Claire spoke over him.

“But you-” Loki blanched, clearly confused. “I beg your pardon?”

“I was freaking out,” Claire sighed. “I wasn’t kidding when I said lessons were going badly. It’s my fault...I- you know what, no. I’m not taking blame for this-”

“For what?”

“Everything about this just…” Loki looked concerned as she clenched her fists and growled angrily. “Goes completely against my feminist beliefs. Having to sit there and listen to those old bats go on and on and on about how my entire life is supposed to be about you! I’m supposed to let you make all the decisions about everything! Where we live, how many babies we have, you name it! I’m not supposed to have opinions!?” she threw her hands up questioningly between them.

“I suspect that would be like asking you not to breathe.” Loki joked, regret filling him instantly when Claire’s stormy eyes settled on him.

“If you think for one second that I’m going to be trailing after you like a lost puppy-” she jabbed a finger at his chest plate angrily, and Loki’s eyebrows nearly reached his hairline. “You’ve got another thing coming, pal. Either I walk next to you like an equal or not at all.”

“I would not want you to,” Loki replied slowly. “I apologize for your difficulty. I did not realize-”

“How sexist your culture is?”

“Madam-”

“What?!” Claire huffed. “Are you gonna tell me I’m wrong? Is that too strong of an opinion for you; because it sure is for everyone else.”

“I do not wish for any of those things,” Loki replied, a pinched look on his face. He sighed, glancing with concern at the people milling around them. Many of them gave the engaged couple odd looks at they passed. “It is difficult to discuss this openly here.” Neither of them could say what they really wanted to say with so many others around them, but Claire did not seem to care at all.

“Why? I don’t give a shit. You wanna know the truth?” she asked. “When you totally didn’t see me yesterday, I was fully prepared to cut and run. I had my things packed and ready to go. I was on board with stepping up for my people- I still am- but I draw the line at making myself small so other people can be comfortable.”

“I see.”

“But...then your mom told me what would happen to you if this doesn’t work out, and I don’t think you deserve that,” She placed a hand on his vambrace as she spoke, and Loki stared down at her for a beat, making her think she’d overstepped. He swallowed as she stepped slightly closer and if Claire didn’t know any better, she’d think he was nervous. “I’m still not vibing with all of this, but I think there’s more to you than what I’ve seen. I am trying to be as open about this as possible. I just need to know it’s not for nothing.”

“Thank you,” he said finally. “I still think this endeavor foolish, but it is far preferable to the alternative. That said, you are not alone in your concerns, and I would like to discuss them with you at length,” Loki grimaced as his companions summoned him. Claire offered a faint smile when his expression soured. “I’m afraid I must go. I shall see you soon, Lady Claire. I look forward to discussing this further. Do enjoy the rest of your day, my lady.” He drew her hand into his and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, keeping his intense eyes focused on hers and setting her heart to racing. His lips were soft and warm, his touch gentle. Something in Claire quivered and turned to a puddle as she fought back a swoon. How could something so innocent make her stomach clench and turn her knees to jelly?

She thought about it for the rest of the day.

~~~~

Long after a respectable princess-to-be should have been asleep, Claire sat awake in her apartment going over her notes. What little intelligence S.H.I.E.L.D. possessed on the god who had laid siege to New York lay in front of her. Claire had read the dossier back to front and at this point could likely recite it in her sleep. It was her personal notes that she scrutinized now, unable to make them fall in line with the printed narrative. The Loki written on the page was calculating, grandiose, and malevolent. The Loki she was coming to know was none of those things. Well, he was still grandiose, but Claire figured that was part and parcel of being raised as royalty. The man was literally a god, worshipped for thousands of years. Still worshipped, Claire corrected herself as she thought of his rapid fans who’d pledged their undying loyalty to him before the debris in New York had been cleared.

Claire had done research of her own before her arrival in Asgard, doing countless deep dives of obscure forums and social media, and had managed to unearth a small collection of personal accounts which had yet to be verified. One such account came from a subreddit, posted by a woman living in New York at the time of the attack. The woman claimed that Loki had pushed her aside as a large piece of debris had fallen, sparing her from certain death. If it true, perhaps her husband-to-be was not the monster that the people of Earth thought him to be.

Most of what Claire found was unhelpful. Comments ranging from the typical ‘I can fix him’, ‘he’s just misunderstood’ to pure filth about what the poster would do to the man if given half a minute with him. Claire had originally dismissed them all with a roll of her eyes- she might be a monster fucker, but having witnessed the carnage of New York firsthand she wasn’t ready to ride the man’s dick at the time. Now that she was getting to know him and riding on his dick was a fast-approaching reality, Claire wasn’t too mad about it. The circumstances, sure, but not the getting-to-fuck-one-of-the-hottest-men-in-the-galaxy part. The man was FINE.

And he wasn’t like S.H.I.E.L.D. had thought he would be. Bruce had described him as ‘bag full of cats’, but Claire felt she was beginning to see behind the curtain. Sure he was mischievous, and kind of a dick, but he was thoughtful, and gentlemanly, and at least willing to listen to her concerns about the rampant sexism. And so fucking tall.

Focus, Claire. She fought not to melt at the memory of him kissing her knuckles earlier. For all the smut she consumed, a kiss on the hand was what made her all gooey inside? What was she, twelve?

She blamed the forced separation. In the limited time they spent together, they were watched like hawks in the name of propriety. Would things change after they married? Claire quite liked the intense stirrings their interactions caused, and hoped the feeling remained after the wedding. Her eyes dropped to the hand Loki had kissed, her skin tingling as she remembered the feeling of his lips. She wanted another. Fuck it, she may as well admit she wanted him to kiss up her arm like Gomez Addams. She deserved to be loved like Morticia.

Claire sighed wistfully before pulling herself out of her rose-tinted thoughts. She could daydream about Gomez and Morticia later. For now, she needed to focus. Shaking her head, Claire pulled the dossier back in front of her, rifling through the small stack of photos inside. She’d already seen them several times, but this time she caught something she hadn’t seen before.

In many of the photos, the photo was blurry- having been pulled from subpar traffic cameras or someone’s shaky cell phone. However there was one, from his time aboard the helicarrier, where the image was crystal clear. In this photo, it was clear how haggard Loki was. Just like the times before, Claire noted the dark shadows beneath his sunken eyes, the grayish tint to his alabaster skin and how pale and chapped his lips were. In the margins of the glossy photo paper, Claire had made notes: -not sleeping? -drugs? Anything she could think of to explain his appearance. Prior to meeting him, Claire had had no way of knowing, but the biggest clue had been staring her in the face the whole time. Loki’s eyes were blue in the photo.

Weren’t his eyes green? Claire dropped the photo, thinking back to the times she’d seen him in the past few days. The marketplace, the garden, the hallway that morning, dinner...his eyes had been green each time. No blue whatsoever.

What the hell?

Just as she was scribbling a new note in the margins, a knock on her chamber doors startled her. Wasn’t it a bit late for social calls? Ever cautious, Claire closed the dossier and hid it beneath the couch cushion before she went to the door.

A handmaiden stood waiting, bearing a heavy looking tray of dishes and a cloche. The guard watched from his post beside the door, looking bored.

“The meal you requested, madam.” The handmaiden said, giving her a curtsy.

Claire hadn’t requested shit. She didn’t recognize the woman, but she was still pretty new to the palace. Just as she was about to close the door, the handmaiden winked at her. Claire paused, thinking for a moment that the wink looked familiar. The fuck?

“Right. Yes. Sorry, I must be more tired than I realized. Come in.” The guard relaxed, allowing the handmaiden to step inside and closing the door behind her.

“Do you allow anyone into your chambers, or am I special?” Loki asked from behind her, grinning when Claire whirled to face him.

“You sneaky little shit,” she hissed quietly, looking at the door in alarm. “You can’t be here! The paw patrol will be pissed!”

“Paw patrol?” Loki’s face scrunched in confusion. God damn it, he was cute. And in fewer layers than usual. His leather armor had been exchanged for soft looking leisure clothes, but his long limbs were still covered by dark fabric. “I am not familiar with this band of enforcers,” he set the tray upon the table in front of the couch. “May I sit?” he gestured to the couch.

“Never mind,” Claire sighed. “Yes, please.” his loose collar gaped to the side as he sat down, and Claire was granted a teasing glimpse of his collar bone. “Why are you here? Why is Gunnar not barging in to haul you back out?”

“Because princess lessons are going poorly, and you clearly need the extra help,” Loki sighed, brushing his hair back from his face and exposing a strip of skin at his waist. “As to your second question, the room is cloaked in my magic. Your guard will not be able to hear us. I’m not risking imprisonment again so you can learn how to properly curtsy.”

“Hey, fuck you.” Claire spat. It was nice of him to offer his help, but he didn’t have to be condescending about it.

“Not yet, darling,” Loki brushed off her words, clasping his hands together. “Now then, let’s get started.” He dragged the heavy table closer to them with ease, the fabric of his sleeves barely containing the muscles in his arm as they flexed.

“Oh goody.” Claire said flatly as she sat beside him. Loki shot her a dark look as he reached to pull the cloche off the gilded charger beneath it. He set it aside, letting her see what he’d brought. A small assortment of little sandwiches and what looked like miniature fruit tarts sat on the charger, waiting to be consumed. In front of the charger, he’d arranged a proper place setting and Claire was actually a little impressed.

“This is how the table settings are arranged for state dinners,” he explained, naming each utensil as he touched it. His thigh pressed against hers as he spoke, and Claire struggled to focus on his words instead of the steely muscle she could feel. This was the closest they had ever been and her body was intensely focused on that fact. “You start from the outside and work your way in with each course.”

“Yeah, I know,” Claire replied, pushing away her desire to ride his thigh. God, how good would that feel? “I’m a commoner, not an idiot.”

“Well how was I to know?” Loki chuckled. “Better to start with the basics and work our way up,” I’ve got something he could work up. “Focus darling, or we’ll never finish.” Claire snorted, drawing another ireful glare from her husband-to-be. He waved his hand and the dishes disappeared from the tray, replaced with a scroll of parchment.

“Aw, snacks.” Loki rolled his eyes, returning the charger with another wave of his hand.

“I swear you’re just like Thor,” he shook his head, taking one of the sandwiches for himself before handing it to her. “Now pay attention. This will help you remember the rank of anyone you may meet. It’s very important that you know how to address members of the court and in what order.”

An hour later, Claire was able to recite the flow chart back to Loki and had satisfactorily answered all of his questions on how to address the various nobles.

“Maybe I’m not such a shit princess after all,” Claire remarked as she rolled the scroll back up. The charger rested beside her on the couch, the snacks long devoured. “I’m definitely making flash cards.” Loki grinned.

“It helps to have study materials. No doubt the crones expected you to memorize it after hearing it once.”

“Pretty much.”

“Do you have any questions before I take my leave?” Claire’s eyes flicked to his as he looked up at her.

They were green. So why were they blue in the surveillance photo?

“Why are you helping me?” Loki licked his lips as he considered the question, his brows bunching as he met her gaze again.

“Because regardless of how we got here, our paths are now intertwined,” he said gently. “I will not let you fail, Claire. Even if it means risking life and limb to teach you.”

“Life and limb, huh?”

“Of course,” Loki nodded. “Should you fail, the alliance would be in ruins and you would be sent back to Midgard. I, however, will either be sent back to prison or to the executioner’s block. Most likely the latter.” Claire paled as the weight of their situation crushed her.

“Your mom didn’t tell me that part,” she murmured. “Fuck, I really am a get-out-of-jail-free card.”

“A what?”

“Remind me to introduce you to Monopoly,” Claire smiled weakly. “Actually, that would be a great way to teach you about capitalism.”

“A lesson for another night, I think. You should get some rest.” he got to his feet, gathering the tray in his hands.

“Probably,” Claire agreed as she yawned. She got to her feet as well, her back popping as she stretched. Loki’s eyes trailed over her body, lingering on the curve of her hips. “Will there be more lessons tomorrow night?”

“But of course,” he replied easily, his eyes darting up to meet hers. “I will be sure to bring snacks, since that seems to motivate you.”

“I was hungry!” Claire cried defensively, both of them giggling. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” Loki nodded as he made his way to the door. Suddenly, he wheeled back around to face her. “About what you said earlier-”

“Yes?”

“There are many things I would change, if I could,” Loki pursed his lips. “I may not ever have that power, but I will always treat you as an equal.”

“Wow,” Claire smiled, relief flooding her veins. “Than-”

“An annoying, hot-headed one, but an equal nonetheless.” Loki smirked as she scowled at him with annoyance clear on her face. “A jarl?” he questioned before she could speak.

“My lord.” Claire replied, giving a sarcastic curtsy. A corner of Loki’s mouth curled upward at her cheek.

“The second prince?” he pressed.

“Pain-in-my-ass,” Claire cackled. “Good night.” Loki’s half smile evolved into a full one, and before Claire could blink, the handmaiden from before stood where he’d been.

“Sleep well, my lady.”

[ambi-kiko]

MAG 3 Across The Street:

honnestly i found this one so hard to take seriously the first time i listened to it bc of the "oh yeah i was feeling eepy so i went. not to bed. but to go watch my neighbor. dw tho its not stalking its just a hobby ((:" LIKE WHAT. AM I JUST SUPPOSED TO BE OKAY WITH THAT??

and jon being like "yes well i was going to write it off but tim found *insert practically undeniable proof here* so im going to still think that its bullshit." his denial is so funny to me

and now for the spoilers! as always, s2~s3 spoilers, ill put big font like this when theyre done!

OMG THEY INTRODUCED THE NOT!THEM SO EARLY. WHAT. i remember the Buried being introduced early, but not this?? i really should have thought something about sasha... i wonder if ill notice the differences this time :D

ALSO THE TABLE?? i do recall the table being there. but how did some rando obtain it? did he know of the Dread Powers or was he like "ooo pretty" (probably the 2nd option) but either way, how did the institute get it after? SO MANY QUESTIONS (that probably have answers i forgot lmao)

AND FINALLY FOR THE SPOILERS: DID AMY JUST WITNESS SOMEONE BECOME A NOT!THEM?? like actively saw one of the Dread Powers at work. thats wild.

oh right my guess for which Dread Power! i think this is the Stranger, ofc (:

spoilers done!

ive been having more fun relistening than i thought i would. and for my offering of the day!

shitty pictures of me trying to draw jons hair (:

lately for today! should i make a blog just for these? then i can put other random stuff here

might just do it anyway (if i do ill keep my #coren's relisten! tag and ill put the new blog in my bio)

[introvertedlass]

Every time I come on here I see blogs fighting about a wedding and engagement lol.

You are one of the most level-headed blogs on here so I thought maybe you'd appreciate this. If you don't, totally okay as well.

I've been pretty convinced of whose behind the "not so" recent engagement/dating rumors but I'm also suspicious of one of the earliest DM Anons that started talking about them dating back in like Jan-Feb 2022. I hope someone somewhere has the SS of the DM who said, "Can confirm CE/AB have been dating for OVER A YEAR." I don't remember the exact phrasing, but they used the exact over a year term, back in Jan 2022. If my memory serves correct, this same anon alluded to AB's circle knowing about it bc it being known in PT.

Like 10 months later, the People mag announcement drops and literally uses the phrase "over a year." Except, This was like 10 months later, so over a year from Jan 2022, according to the DM anon, would mean they met back in like early 2021 or earlier (2020??) which would be virtually impossible due to Covid restrictions and the fact that there's concrete Justin/AB IG proof that she was entertaining Lucas Bravo during late 2020-2021. However, this DOES potentially support the theory that the earliest DM anon was pushing a narrative for AB/CE to go public maybe spring 2022 (like some ppl theorized, due to AB's Paris movie/WN supposed to be dropping earlier). That people announcement also steered 1000% in AB's favor. Yes, it's CE's teams go to mag, but the majority of the article was singing AB's (limited praises), saying she was some type of humanitarian and can speak so many languages, and all of his fam/friends adore her. All they wrote about CE was that he was the SMA (lol). It felt very much like we're doing this for you, AB - so you get the spotlight. And yes, her show dropped that same day.

I'm sorry...but this never really sat right with me. Her debut 1000% took away from CE's SMA announcement, and the fans went berserk and the GP was also pretty blindsided. Nobody was really happy about it but just confused and the fans were melting down and angry. The only person who really benefited from all this was AB, who - at the time, seemed pretty happy about all the new attention and followers she was getting.

Something somewhere went wrong to cause her to post her shower nightmare. But since then, the "engagement" rumors started to make traction - first, from the dumb Pantene twitter, and later, making its way to the lame radar online gossip rag. The radar online article ending with, "we have reached out to CE's reps and awaiting a comment or response." Interesting that nobody needed to ask AB's rep, just CE's. Either she's that irrelevant even to third rate tabloids, or...you know the rest. Every single time, the engagement rumors push "AB is so amazing, CE is so in love, all of his fam/friend adore her, she's so modest and private, but he wants to go big for her".

PT/Brazil tabloids keep pushing the narrative, and more and more ppl are supposedly confirming, including Justin's Dad? (LOL)

All people have to do is look at who is continuously benefiting from these rumors. Even if every single one of AB's family members and ppl she went to grammar school with "confirm" the wedding to tabloids, I'm still not buying it. Mostly because AB may literally be the dumbest human on the planet if she STILL thinks that getting every single person on her turf confirming/trolling on behalf of her, doesn't make her just as guilty. Girl...you saying nothing and pretending you don't care and don't troll, but your cousin's sister's fiancé's best friend talks to tabloids confirming your marriage...who do you think all of this will trace back to? (Why would CE's team need to ask your grandma's hairdresser to spill deets to a tabloid? They could literally just go to TMZ themselves LOL bc of his status in HW)

It's completely valid for team real to believe they are getting married. By all "appearances," it makes more sense they would be than not, simply bc they made the relationship public and their names are attached to each other, and neither has denied the rumors. So team real does have ammo, and the Queen blog believing their source doesn't make them liars, it just makes their source convincing enough for them to believe them.

But what I need people to remember is that there's one person who's benefiting from these engagement rumors and it's not CE. His family/friends have virtually gone into hiding to avoid having to be harassed every time more rumors pop up. His fanbase is the one threatening to drop him if he gets married to her. AB's fanbase doesn't seem to care, and if she married him, it wouldn't be bad for her career or image, it would only serve her good. It's pretty darn easy to figure out who's most likely pushing the rumors and continuously in the most roundabout and manipulative ways. Whose relevancy will completely fall back into obscurity if the rumors don't end up being true? Whose name has benefited from these rumors since late 2021, and now has ppl outside of PT talking about them, simply bc they "got into a relationship?"

Thank you for sharing this detailed ask. You bring up a lot of valid points that explain what many of us having been thinking since the start of this show. And, tbh there have been times where I can see why people could see this as real. Not judging them, people believe what they believe- me included. However there have been so many anomalies for me that it is impossible to believe that this is anything but a manufactured show. I appreciate you writing this in such a concise manner as it has reaffirmed my thinking. 🙂

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - Nick Mag Presents: Danny Phantom (Fall 2005)

Well, well, well, fancy meeting you here. Welcome back to my blog and the words that inhabit it. Today, Halloween comes early this year when we read through another exciting issue of Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, this time all about Danny Phantom. Boo! Trick-or-Treat! Deck the halls!

And not only is this edition of Nick Mag Highlights spooky, it’s also… pretty chill. Y’know? Just takin’ it easy, reading a handful of comics and probably a crossword puzzle or something. As much as I love researching the kind of stuff Nickelodeon Magazine includes in its articles, sometimes it’s nice to sit back and take things at face value and just see what the state of Nickelodeon was like at any given time, and these short-and-sweet issues of Nick Mag Presents are the perfect venue for just that.

But why exactly am I tackling this purportedly Halloween-themed issue in August? Well, mainly it’s because that new Danny Phantom graphic novel just came out… two weeks ago (oops). And I really enjoyed it! So I’ve since been in a big Danny Phantom mood lately. I even ended up re-watching the whole first season and had a blast doing so. This show was a real obsession of mine as a kid, so maybe this blog post is also a way for me to give it its dues.

This issue can be found online here, read along… if you dare!

Another Nick Mag Presents, another humorously wordy introduction. If you’re unfamiliar, basically all these Presents-styled issues have a panel on the first page with a character essentially advertising the book to you and talking about all the comics and activities included inside. This one here features Danny and an understandably perturbed ghost, for example. 

Since these issues were usually sold in stores as opposed to through a mail subscription, I suppose this is the issue’s way of hooking you in and explaining to you why you should buy it. I think a kid would probably be more inclined to just flip through the book and arrive at the same conclusion, but I guess this approach doesn’t hurt anybody.

But anyway, let’s see here… aw, only two wholly new comics? The Fairly Oddparents-themed issue I took a look at previously had five original comics. That’s a bummer, but at least we’ve still got variety… SpongeBob, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and The Wild Thornberrys, oh my! Even Tak makes an appearance here, two years before the premiere of his actual Nickelodeon cartoon, meaning this was an attempt to interest readers in the then-recently released video game: Tak 3: The Great Juju Challenge. Not sure if that worked.

And if you’ll take a look at that yellow, spiky bubble with words on the right there, this September 2005 issue is meant to coincide with the then-upcoming two episode-long Danny Phantom special, “The Ultimate Enemy”, which featured Danny taking on a more powerful version of himself from the future. Seems like the included removable poster is even themed around that very episode! Let’s just hope that poster is still left intact, eh?

So first up, we’ve got a page to get you up to speed on the main cast if you’re new to the show. It’s even got some new factoids for the already familiar superfans! For example: Did you know Sam is into anime? I sure didn’t.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where series villain Vlad Masters is, don’t worry, they go over him later on in the book.

On the right you’ll find an easy if not slightly amusing word puzzle, which tasks you with solving questions where each answer contains the word boo. Simple enough for a kid while still being worth the time, methinks.

Although all the stock ghost art on the page gets me wondering, how come most of the ghosts in the show manifest as typical-looking cartoon ghosts while others manifest in a human form? I guess maybe it comes down to the strength of your spirit. Who’s to say?

You’ve met the characters, now it’s time to meet the voices behind them! I’ll always take a side of interviews with my Nickelodeon Magazine, and this is no exception. The questions are cute, and I had fun reading them. Not much to say.

So we’re finally here at the first comic of the issue, and… not really a fan of this one! Yeah, sorry to start this retrospective off on a sour note but this isn’t really doing it for me. The main villain of this one is Youngblood, who already isn’t exactly one of my favorite villains from the series. But here they’ve got him and all the other characters stuck in a pretty by-the-numbers plot where Danny and co. get stuck babysitting the brat while he tries to maim them, with them of course unable to fight back lest they face the wrath of his parents (who are humongous lizard monsters, for some reason). 

If you’re even a little familiar with cartoons you’ve probably already seen quite a few takes on this formula already. And even if you like Youngblood as a character they don’t have him doing his usual pirate shtick he’s remembered for, so I’m not sure what anyone is getting out of this, really. What's especially not helping is that this goes on for ten pages, further dragging out an already tired concept. 

So there you have it, I guess. Done-to-death story with accordingly done-to-death jokes, a lame villain, and about two pages of action. I will say though, Danny and Tucker’s babysitting poster on page 2 did get a smile out of me, at least.

You’ve met the characters, and you’ve also met the voices behind them, now it’s time to meet… the rest of the characters! The villain ones! These guys really made the show for me, cause the team behind the show really just seemed to understand the assignment and made all of them really unique and memorable.

So we can see they’ve been ranked in terms of how dangerous they all are, which is a fun idea. ‘Course you’ve got Vlad at the top of, but then there’s Technus just behind him? I can’t say I remember him being notably more dangerous than any of the other baddies, I’m fairly certain he gets swept up at the end of his specific episode just like all the rest. I’m pretty sure Valerie gave Danny a bigger run for his money, and she’s down at #3.

Woah now, I’m starting to scrutinize the power levels of cartoon characters. Cartoon characters from a show I haven’t even fully watched all the way through since I was a kid, no less. Better put a stop to that before it gets ugly.

Cool little cartoons on the left there, that one on the top right is properly devious and I’m all for it. All the art is quite lovely too.

The right is… well, it’s Mad Libs, there’s no other way around it. Y’know the Mad Libs website refers to itself as “the world’s greatest word game” but I seriously think they need to take that up with Scrabble, or hell, even Hangman. Yeah I was never a big fan of this kind of fill-in-the-blanks stuff, but I guess it’s a pretty inoffensive activity to include.

Check out Danny’s dad rocking that emo hair.

And now we’ve made it to the second and last new comic for the issue, and unfortunately it’s only a two-pager. But hey, if my thoughts on the previous ten-page comic said anything, it was that I prefer quality over quantity. And this one is… okay. It’s funny enough, does what all it needs to with the concept, and it definitely doesn’t overstay its welcome. I’m again surprised by the lack of action in both of these comics, considering Danny Phantom is an action show, after all, but it’s not like the show wasn’t a comedy either, so it’s not that weird.

I guess while we’re here I could nitpick it a bit. The lineart here courtesy of series creator Butch Hartman* is a bit wonky at times. There’s the aforementioned emo hair Danny’s dad is wearing, but my main gripe is that dog robot just doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the artstyle. It being the only new original character design for this comic as well doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. I guess the team was fine with whatever Hartman drew because he made the show after all, so surely he knows what he’s doing, right?*

*Insert obligatory comment about how much of a loser Butch Hartman is here.

Just want to give a shoutout to this pretty creative puzzle here. It actually stumped me a little when I first read it! Those monster designs are pretty entertaining too. Solid activity overall.

Next up it’s an installment of Sam Shade, which was a short-lived recurring series in Nickelodeon Magazine. Apparently the series ran from 2002 to 2005, so this may be one of the last times a Sam Shade comic was ever printed in a Nick Magazine. 

These comics mainly consist of the titular Detective Sam Shade trying to solve some mystery, sleuthing around the area in a series of detailed, wordy scenes. Likewise, you as the reader are as well tasked with scouring the pages for clues to help deduce the culprit. Each panel here smoothly moves into the next, making for something like a Where’s Waldo puzzle but with an actual narrative. It’s a really good idea! A shame this series didn’t last longer.

Hey, is that Carl from Jimmy Neutron on the bottom right there?

Pretty nice My Life as a Teenage Robot comic here. Although that’s kind of unfortunate in a way, since that means I haven’t got much to talk about! It’s pretty much a 1-to-1 translation from animation to comic here. The artstyle and writing are both on point, it’s all just in a shorter, more paper-y format.

I wonder why the aliens’ speech bubble has flowers in it. Is that a theater reference, maybe?

The design of these fiery aliens are particularly awesome - simple but effective. I’m surprised they used such a cool design in a comic that was going to be seen by way less people as opposed to using it in the cartoon. Man, this show is so cool, even its supplementary media is stylish!

But anyway, do you want to know how this story ends? Read it yourself!

Ohh man, I distinctly remember this comic. I don’t remember what issue of Nickelodeon Magazine this one is sourced from, but whichever one it was, I had it. The story’s nothing to write home about really, It's another take on the age old tale of “Squidward yells at SpongeBob and Patrick for doing something annoying, so they inadvertently ruin his life”. Squidward must have a really good lawyer for him to be able to bounce back from all the crap SpongeBob and Pat get him into.

This version of the usual story has S. Bob and P. Rick making a cake in Squidward’s image. Mr. Krabs ends up mistaking it for the real Squidward, bringing it to the Krusty Krab, and having it run the cash register, obviously to disastrous results. It’s all pretty par for the course, and there’s some funny lines to be had.

Weirdly though, unless I’m blind, I can’t seem to find any credits for this one. Not in the comic itself or at the back of the book. I’m pretty sure the artist(s) behind this one did more SpongeBob SquarePants comics though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same writing team had a hand in them too. I distinctly remember one where all the characters turn into desserts. Or maybe it was an alternate universe where they’re all desserts? Something like that. Maybe I’ll find it and cover it on this blog someday!

And up next, it’s a Wild Thornberrys comic of all things (said with feigned surprise, having read the table of contents moments ago). And I’m just now realizing none of these comics have anything to do with ghosts, or horror, really. Quite the magazine you’ve got just in time for October, Nickelodeon!

But hey, it’s not right to judge a piece of art specifically by the context in which it is presented. Especially when it was originally published in a magazine that likely came out years earlier, probably not even around the month of October. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that, even when it comes to filling the pages of a magazine.

This comic is especially cool, anyway, as you can no doubt tell from its distinct shakeup in style!

The story has Eliza receiving some gifts from her Japanese friend, Mayumi (who was probably in the show, presumably), one of those gifts being a homemade manga. And while I’m not exactly an expert on the Japanese arts, I certainly find this art convincing and really appreciate the attention to detail. I bet any kids that were fans of manga around this time must have felt pretty seen to have one of their hobbies referenced in a rather unlikely place, and with such attention to detail no less.

One thing I can also appreciate is that this story really isn’t something they could have pulled off in the show itself (unless they studio really wanted to have an anime-themed episode and go through the undertaking of doing an episode in an entirely different, foreign animation style all on their usual budget), so overall this is a really fun idea done quite flawlessly. My only gripe is we don’t get to see a manga-styled Nigel Thornberry, but what can you do?

Oh boy, the Tak comic, cool. Now, I know these games have their fans, but I can’t say I’m one of them. I did watch the show a bit though, but I’ve heard it has nothing to do with the games, so I guess that makes me rather unprepared to tackle this two-page comic on an intellectual, researched level. I will say though that I think the Sam Shade comic from earlier pulled off this style of free-flowing, no-panel storytelling to a much greater effect. The amount of Taks they threw around the page makes it feel really busy and cramped, and they had to essentially remove the second character Tak is traveling with from the story since I guess they were strapped for page space.

But yeah, the colors are nice at least, and Tak media is especially hard to come by nowadays, so I suppose if I were more into the property, I might be more into this.

Last comic of the day, and it’s Jimmy Neutron. At least this one kinda fits the theme, I mean, aliens are almost in the same horror-league as vampires, zombies, ghosts, and all that. This is a pretty quality one to end off the book with, and in regards to Jimmy Neutron, this is one of the better ways these characters have been translated to 2D. Although the incredibly warm colors and harsh shadows throw me for a loop. Pretty good overall!

Before we wrap things up, I would like to mention that advert for The Nicktoons Film Festival on the right. I totally forgot these used to be a thing! From 2004 to 2009 Nickelodeon hosted a film festival and let viewers vote for their favorite animated short, along with letting proper animation people who know what they’re talking about vote on their favorites, too. Lots of great up-and-coming cartoonists took part in these festivals. This one in 2005 actually featured a short by J. G. Quintel that eventually was used as a basis for his own Cartoon Network show, Regular Show! You can check the short out below:

Neat bit of history there, yeah?

Even though I’m still a bit disappointed this issue didn’t include more original content, I still think this ended up being a fairly entertaining walk down memory lane. And hey, I hope you had a good time too. I’m doubly disappointed, however, that the archive of this issue didn’t come with that tear-out poster! Now we’ll never see it in its full hi-def glory.

As always, thanks for stopping by and checking out another bit of Nick history with me. Have yourself a good one, and I’ll see you all next time!

[desultory-novice]

Potentially dumb question for ya, if you don't mind, Dess. I can't remember which post it was but I saw you say that, in the crowned Mags fight, Kirby was aiming at the crown with the ultra sword, not Mags himself. Is that like... a headcanon or is that actually how it is? From my perspective it looked like Kirby was hitting Magolor pretty indiscriminately. Would be neat if that's just a detail I missed, gives Kirb more depth than people give him credit for if he understands the *crown* is the main issue.

No, no, no! Not a dumb question at all! I think that might've been in one of my posts on the novel translation blog? Maybe?

To clarify (or maybe I was just so enthusiastic about it that I totally misrepresented the fight, in which case, I'm sorry) I mostly refer to the very last ultra cinematic strike of the Ultra Sword. The BIG ONE.

(Yeah, you're right that Kirby totally beats the stuffing out of him up till that point. No holds barred.)

But that one at least you can definitely see that the sword stops at the crown, and the crown is where the "hit" animation plays...

[GIFs below]

[Original (Main) vs Remake (EX)]

.

Bonus Freeze Frame

[This is the frame the moment before the cross FX shows up. The sword doesn't move a pixel from this position, and its edge is stopped right at the crown, whereas all Kirby's previous strikes have cut through Magolor's body.]

I heard someone say that the hit SFX even changes to a more metallic sounding one. I wasn't able to hear the difference in the original, where the body slices pretty much sound the same as the last hit, but in the remake, the last hit DOES seem to have a slightly more metallic twang to it! So I think that's something HAL altered to make it more obvious? (Or more true?)

It is a detail I like very much. That from the beginning, Kirby wants to de-power him (or even knows to save/free him) without hurting him....too badly. Of course, the implication at the time of the original also seemed to be that final clash was the one that caused the crown to go berserk (the novel chooses that implication too) but I think the remake sorta implies it was going to always consume Magolor anyway!

[teenxskylar]

Ano ba talaga gender ni teenxskylar?

Back in 2015, I was a minor, blogging a bunch of heartfelt posts about my special person. I was scared to reveal my gender back then, given that the lgbt community was not celebrated pa that time. 2015 was the experimental year pa noon, tolerated naman ang karamihan na miyembro ng lgbt (hanggang ngayon pa rin naman, tolerated lang tayo, hindi celebrated, pero this topic is for another blog) and I wasn't ready to come out yet. Hence, I blogged anonymously and with that ang daming nang bobombard sa inbox ko noon. Kung babae raw ba ako or lalaki, kung babae raw ba ako bakit ganun ako mag blog parang lalaki raw yada yada.

I admit sobrang nakakapagod, I can't blog in peace. Hindi ko alam bakit dati kailangan ilabas ko pa gender identity ko para lang tigilan ako ng mga tao. Hindi ba pwedeng basahin niyo na lang ang mga kalandian posts ko back then huhu, gusto ko lang magkwento tungkol sa mga naging crush ko na hindi ko maikwento sa mga kaibigan ko kasi hindi pa ako out noon? Grabe sobrang big deal ang gender talaga noon 'no? Parang hindi nila mababasa ang blog mo if di mo i-indicate yata sa hashtag kung babae ka ba, lalaki or bading. Although I had my own faults din, nilito ko ang mga tao, pinaglaruan ko sila with my gender, minsan nagrereveal ako na babae ako, minsan lalaki, pero at the end of the day its not my responsibility to feed people's curiosity. Ika nga ni Jose Rizal, "my blog, my rules." eme

And I'm thankful na ngayon naging safe space ko na ulit ang tumblr, wala na ang mga toxic people noon na nang abuso ng pagkabata ko, they took advantage of my age knowing na madali akong maniwala pa noon. Kilala niyo kung sino kayo, pero hindi ko na kayo maalala hehe.

[saltymongoose]

Hihi! Im a bit new here (cough even though I’ve read like everything already cough) and i just wanna say i FUCKING, LOVE your depiction of grunts!!! Ive always felt they were more, animal like? With the paws and growling and purring and aaaa! /pos

But i do have a bit of a question for you!! You you don’t need to answer, and if you don’t want too you can just ignore this entirely! But i wanted your thoughts and opinions on this, do you think grunts have mating cycles? Aka, heats/ruts? Its been on my mind quite a bit, and as someone who doesn’t necessarily write fanfiction, i just wanted an opinion from someone who does on this little thought!!

Anyways!! I love your writing so much <3 and I’m glad you’re getting some more lenient time with uni and everything! Have a good day!!! And remember to drink some water or eat a snack <33

(If its alright, might I go by Pop Anon? :0 Or just Pop for short!)

(TW: A bit suggestive for the subject matter, but this reads more like a biology lesson/explanation than anything.)

Hello, Pop! Welcome to the blog, I'll make sure to add you to my Anon list. :) I'm also really happy you like the way I depict grunts; I've always tended to lean into a more non-human portrayal of them since I really like to explore the differences they'd have with us. (It also made enough sense to me with the paws they have and the purring hcs I'd seen before, etc.) Plus, I'm just a big fan of non-human characters and grunts can fit this really well, being the cross-faced homunculi that they are lol.

I'd also be more than happy to answer your question too. If we were to go even more into how animalistic grunts could be, to put it shortly, yes! I do in fact think that grunts would probably go through mating cycles. Or at least some of them would.

The reason I make this clarification is because of how generations and cloning work. Basically, my hc is that all Gens before G03s (G03LMs) would probably have these cycles, but after G03's, all of the new grunts are clones, which makes it more unlikely.

(Further clarification below with a little weird biology stuff I know fsr, this response got pretty long. 😅 I do include a note where the complicated stuff ends tho, if you don't care for reading it. 👍)

This includes G04s and MAGs, according to the wiki. Given how dystopian the Nexus Core and AAHW are (specifically the AAHW, with how a majority of them are also S3LFless), I think population control might be an element they'd include. Or at least they'd try to get rid of heats/ruts because it makes grunts "unproductive" or some weird corporate nonsense like that. 🙄 So I can see some genetic manipulation going on to sort of "erase" the behavior for the cycles.

Whether the later generations even have the capability of experiencing them depends on how this behavior is altered. Though if we go with genetics, and use the logic of pseudogenes (genes that are not "used" but are still there in the genetic code), then technically one could have a G04 experience a heat cycle/rut by sort of "reawakening" the gene. This could be by grafting a part of from an earlier grunt to them, fiddling more with their genetics, etc.

And even with pseudogenes and "dormant" traits, some clones would still probably exhibit mating cycles as the product of a flawed development cycle. (Called "atavisms" in biology, where ancestral traits occasionally make a reappearance in new lines.) If you want to go really far, all of this biology stuff could probably be applied to fertility as well in later clones (because population control ¯\_(ツ)_/¯), but I digress.

(End of In-Depth Explanation)

As you can tell, I've probably put too much thought into this lol. Basically, what this means is the following grunts would have mating cycles: Phobos (G01), Hank (G02), Deimos (G02), Sanford (G02), and 2BDamned (G02).

With G03LMs, they're stitched together corpse parts so I am undecided (I still need to figure out how that works lmao), but with all gens after 3 it's probably pretty unlikely. But not impossible.

(P.S. Thank you so much for your kind words, Pop, and I hope you have a good day too! <3)

[newmusickarl]

5-9’s Album of the Month Podcast – latest episode out now!

In case you missed it, it’s an exciting new era for the 5-9 Album of the Month podcast as last month we launched our official YouTube channel! Each month, we will publishing the latest full podcast episode as well as individual album reviews and our monthly highlights outside of the albums discussed. To explore all our video content so far, including our January, February and March episodes, you can find our YouTube channel here. And to help support the channel as we get it off the ground, please be sure to like and subscribe if you’re enjoying the content!

For those new here, the 5-9 Album of the Month Podcast is where I take a seat alongside 5-9 Editor Andrew Belt and Check This Out’s Kiley Larsen to review five high profile album releases from the past month in music, and ultimately name one as our Album of the Month at the end of the discussion. On the Spotify version, we also have some insightful background information to each album from Blinded By The Floodlight’s Matthew McMcLister and you can also hear our picks of the best songs from each record!

For our March 2024 episode, the five albums we discuss are:

Beach Day by Another Sky (poll winner, thank you!)

Mountainhead by Everything Everything

I Got Heaven by Mannequin Pussy

Playing Favorites by Sheer Mag

Where’s My Utopia? By Yard Act

If you want to listen to this or any previous episodes simply follow the links below, but also be sure to follow 5-9 Blog on Instagram, Twitter and now YouTube for more news and polls relating to the podcast.

Listen to the new episode on Spotify here

Watch the latest episode and subscribe to our YouTube channel here

Album & EP Recommendations

ACT II: COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé

Yee-bloody-haw!

It’s a Country & Western inspired New Music roundup this week, so it only makes sense to begin with one of the biggest album releases of the year thus far – COWBOY CARTER by Beyoncé.

I’ll be the first to admit that when ACT I: RENAISSANCE was cleaning up with the year-end awards amongst most music critics in 2022, I wasn’t as impressed. Whilst it was a fun project and certainly had its moments, I personally thought it failed to live up to its predecessor, B’s confessional masterpiece Lemonade. I also thought there were much better records released in 2022, to the point that RENAISSANCE didn’t even make my own Top 50. However, when I heard Queen B was following up her House and Dance-inspired record with a Country album, I was instantly intrigued.

Daddy Lessons off Lemonade had previously given us a taste of what a Beyoncé-Goes-Country track could sound like, but there’s a big difference between delivering one moment within an eclectic, genre-hopping rollercoaster and sustaining a whole album in that style. Even more so when that album is 27 tracks and 78 minutes long! But having seen very some positive reviews and my intrigue only heightening as a result, I dove into this one with the expectation that it would be another overhyped project – I was wrong. Whilst I wasn’t onboard with RENAISSANCE, I absolutely am with COWBOY CARTER.

Firstly, if the track length on this one is putting you off, don’t let that be the case. This album is such a fun, joyous time, that the 78-minute runtime just flies along. The album is also structured almost like a show you’d find on a Country Music radio station, with the legendary Willie Nelson himself guiding you through the “SMOKE HOUR”, with these interludes helping to keep the pace ticking along swiftly.

Most importantly though, the album is simply littered with stand-out moments from beginning to end. Singles 16 CARRIAGES and TEXAS HOLD ‘EM still sound great, but it’s the album tracks where the album really comes alive, with the likes of BODYGUARD, AMERIICAN REQUIEM, DAUGHTER and RIIVERDANCE blending elements of pop, soul and R&B seamlessly with the sounds of B’s Louisiana roots. There’s two instantly iconic covers as well that Beyoncé makes her own, turning The Beatles’ BLACKBIIRD into an empowering gospel anthem whilst switching the lyrics up on Dolly Parton’s JOLENE to reference Jay-Z’s infidelity – which also happens to include a blessing from Parton herself. To top it off, there’s also a bunch of interesting and worthwhile collaborations too, including country music heroes Linda Martell and Willie Jones, along with contemporary crossover popstars Miley Cyrus and Post Malone.

Overall, COWBOY CARTER is an album I’ve enjoyed much more than I was expecting to, so much so that I find myself returning to it fairly frequently. If you’re also feeling sceptical but slightly intrigued, I promise it is worth a spin. A really fun record filled with heart, soul, fascinating collabs and Beyoncé’s ever incredible vocal and genre gymnastics. Bring on ACT III!

Listen here

Bright Future by Adrianne Lenker

From Country to Folk now, with Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker donning her best Cowboy hat for the album cover to her latest solo outing, Bright Future. Whilst I can sometimes find Big Thief’s output easy to admire but hard to love, this one hit me in the gut straight away. Raw and impactful, it’s a collection of tracks where each song feels more emotionally devastating than the last.

Not only that but these are songs that feel instantly classic, with Lenker’s heartfelt songwriting radiating out of the music. The string-tinged melancholy of Sadness As A Gift is a big early highlight, whilst the lo-fi energy of Vampire Empire, heart-shattering piano ballad Evol and acoustic lament Candleflame all leave a strong lasting impression too, all in very different ways. Such is the emotional heft wrapped in these songs, by the time you reach gorgeous closing track Ruined, it’s likely you’ll be just that!

Whilst this is an album you have to be in the right mood for as it can be a hard listen at times, if it catches you in that opportune moment then the rewards are unparallelled to anything else released so far this year. Without a doubt, one of the best, most beautiful records of 2024 yet.

Listen here

Tigers Blood by Waxahatchee

When Katie Crutchfield, AKA Waxahatchee, released her sobriety-seeking fifth studio album Saint Cloud at the height of the COVID-pandemic in March 2020, she couldn’t have imagined the impact it would generate. Here was an album brimming with emotional turmoil, at a time when the world was dealing with just that. As a result, it was the perfect album for the perfect time, steering Saint Cloud towards a spot on many year-end lists and Waxahatachee gaining plenty of new fans to boot. 4 years on, and Tigers Blood finds Katie Crutchfield looking to recapture the magic of that record with another collection of country-infused indie and Southern rock jams. And just like its predecessor, I’m pleased to say its chock-full of outstanding cuts.

From the uplifting stomp of opener 3 Sisters, the bluesy riffs of Ice Cold to the brilliantly laid-back, MJ Lenderman-featuring single Right Back To It, you’ll find yourself wrapped up in the warming sounds straight away. However, it is the even more stripped-back second half where the strength of Katie’s raw, honest songwriting really shines through, with Crimes of the Heart, 365, The Wolves and the closing title track all hitting hard.

Whilst I can see some people being left lukewarm by this one coming off the back of Saint Cloud, for me personally I think I’m enjoying Tigers Blood possibly even more than that record. Whilst it still has the traditional melodies and relatable lyrics, it feels like Katie has stepped things up once again with her songcraft. Either way, this is another superb collection that I suspect will see her return to the year-end lists come December.

Listen here

All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade by The Libertines

Whilst they were a big part of my teens, I’ll be honest I had minimal enthusiasm when it came to hearing a new Libertines album in 2024. Whilst Carl Barât and Pete Doherty had previously reunited almost ten years ago on Anthems For Doomed Youth, it sadly sounded like two musicians trying desperately to recapture a long lost formula, at a time when indie landfill was hitting maximum capacity. However following a couple of decent singles, I decided to let nostalgia take over and give the quartet the benefit of the doubt, spinning this album with a completely open mind. What I found was an album that defied all my expectations, with The Libertines arguably sounding even more urgent now in 2024 than they did back in the early noughties.

With their ever-present Likely Lads charm, Barât and Doherty turn their pen onto the current state of Britain, through both politics and people. Their music is also richer and more textured than ever before, with their traditional indie sound bolstered by dramatic brass arrangements, sweeping strings and theatrical production. It all comes together to form arguably their strongest record to date, a dazzling 38-minute listen where the band sound more focussed, more interesting and generally just having much more to say.

It’s also got some of their very best songs to date, from singles Run Run Run, Night of the Hunter and Shiver to the raucous look at the Ukraine War on I Have A Friend and the jazz-infused Baron’s Claw. However, the album’s crown jewel is without a doubt Merry Old England, a powerful, orchestral ode to migrants coming to the UK that is as impactful as it richly textured, both sonically and lyrically.

This has been one of the biggest surprises of the year so far for me, an album I was never expecting to love as much as I do. My hat is well and truly tipped to Carl, Pete, Gary and John, who prove they are more than an old indie act trying to relive past glories. Whilst the nostalgia of the early records will always have a hold over their die-hard fans, there’s no doubt that if they look beyond rose-tinted glasses, they’ll see this is objectively their finest work to date.

Listen here

The Sunset Violent by Mount Kimbie

One of my most played albums of April thus far, Mount Kimbie recently returned with their first studio album in seven years, bringing with them a new line-up and a new sound. Back this time as a quartet rather than a duo, The Sunset Violent sees the usually electronic outfit dive into a more indie/alternative sound to great effect. With King Krule also showing up to guest on a couple of tracks, it’s a gorgeous 36-minute listen seemingly destined to soundtrack warm and hazy summer evenings. There’s plenty of highlights too, with Shipwreck, Fishbrain and Yukka Tree all utter bliss.

Listen here

Incommunicado EP by Express Office Portico

A bittersweet release this, as Notts indie-pop outfit Express Office Portico finally released their debut EP at the end of March. However, the release of the project also coincided with the news that lead singer Tara would be stepping down from the band. A huge loss who leaves big shoes to fill, Incommunicado thankfully manages to work as both a final chapter for the band at this stage, as well as an insight into their flourishing potential. Featuring five catchy and shimmering indie-pop grooves, its highlighted by No One, In Swim and excellent recent single He Said She Said.

Listen here

Field Theory by Melts

“Dublin psych-rockers MELTS are one of those bands that very much live up to their name. With the quartet binding together after leaving various dissolved bands, MELTS’ 2022 debut ‘Maelstrom’ was a bold mission statement for their kaleidoscopic, mind-altering sound. Landing them somewhere in the venn diagram of contemporaries such as The Horrors, Working Men’s Club and Nation of Language, while still very much forming their own identity, it was an impressive first outing that left fans eager for the next chapter. Now back with their sophomore effort ‘Field Theory’, it’s no surprise to hear MELTS mostly stick with their winning formula for album number two. Overall, this is another hugely impressive release from MELTS and one that expands the fluorescent sonic world that was laid out on their debut. You also can’t help but feel that these songs on ‘Field Theory’ are built to thrive even more in a live setting, with the Dublin outfit assuredly building a catalogue of soaring, mind-melting compositions that just scream to be experienced in-person. Due to hit the road at the end of the month, those joining MELTS at these shows be pleasantly warned – you may just have your senses steamrolled.”

Read my full review for Clash Magazine here

Listen here

Also well worth checking out:

Three by Four Tet

Audio Vertigo by Elbow

Interplay by Ride

Ohio Players by The Black Keys

Older by Lizzy McAlpine

Blessed EP by August Charles

Tracks of the Week

1+1 = 11 by Peggy Gou

For years, DJ/Producer Peggy Gou has been Queen of the Summer banger, releasing just one single every year to ensure an all hits, no misses ratio. From Starry Night and I Go to last summer’s monster hit (It Goes Like) Nanana, she’s been unstoppable. So, with the news that her debut album I Hear You will finally drop this June, my expectations are already sky high for the 10 tracks that I’m hoping will soundtrack Summer 2024.

Coinciding with the news is her latest single offering 1+1 = 11, the song which will close out her upcoming debut. With shades of York classic On The Beach, it comes accompanied by a dazzling video starring artist Olafur Eliasson breakdancing inside a light installation at his studio in Berlin. Check it out!

Watch the official video here

B2b / Von Dutch / Club Classics by Charli XCX

The biggest album announcement of the past few weeks, electro-pop phenomenon Charli XCX will be releasing her new club-inspired album Brat this June and then touring UK arenas at the end of the year. Coming off the back of her instantly iconic Boiler Room set, the three singles so far suggest big inspiration from the dance and electronic music scene and I personally can’t wait for it.

Listen here

House by London Grammar

Another big album announcement, indie-pop outfit London Grammar have finally announced the follow-up to 2021’s Californian Soil will drop in September, titled The Greatest Love. That record saw the band explore more electronic territory and if lead single / opening track House is anything to go by, it seems they will be building out that sound further on this upcoming effort.

Listen here

Curse by Architects

The metal world was shocked earlier on this year when Bring Me The Horizon announced back in January that longtime band composer Jordan Fish was leaving the band. Since then fans were left wondering where he would end up and but it seems he has wasted little time moving on, already producing several tracks for other genre heavyweights. The latest is this thunderous new single from Architects, which boasts polished production and an instantly anthemic chorus.

Listen here

Blue Jeans & White T-Shirts by The Gaslight Anthem

Back in 2008, rock heroes The Gaslight Anthem released their much beloved Señor and the Queen EP, with this song the closing track for the project. Now as part of their History Books (Short Stories) EP that was released to coincide with their recent UK tour, they’ve reworked the song so that it sounds even better than it did before – just gorgeous.

Listen here

How Can I Love Her More? By The Lemon Twigs

With anticipation for the D'Addario brother’s follow-up to their highly acclaimed 2023 album Everything Harmony steadily mounting, each new single release suggests another special project is on the way. Now this latest cut to be taken from A Dream Is All We Know (which drops in May) only hypes things further, an instantly timeless tune that draws heavy comparisons to The Beach Boys. Wonderful!

Listen here

Red Holiday by Dura Mater

And finally fast-rising Notts 8-piece Dura Mater, who draw comparisons to bands like Black Country New Road, Arcade Fire and Opus Kink, released their second single Red Holiday this past week, which is taken from their forthcoming Arable Ground EP that drops at the end of May. This latest single, which is inspired by coastal living, showcases their potential, bringing together ghostly vocals, ambient guitars and powerful orchestration.

Listen here

Also worth checking out:

Human After All by Blue Violet

First Song by Swim Deep

Flea by St. Vincent

Mama Say by Ibibio Sound Machine

Big Brown Eyes by Lola Young

Coming Back To Me Good by Kasabian

Midas by Wunderhorse

Favourite Songs by Maxïmo Park

REMINDER: If you use Apple Music, you can also keep up-to-date with all my favourite 2024 tracks through my Best of 2024 playlist. Constantly updated throughout the year with songs I enjoy, it is then finalised into a Top 100 Songs of the Year in December.

Add the Best of 2024 playlist to your library here

[itchyeye]

ive been keeping up with tmagp's transcripts, and i have been liking the case files/statements part of each episode, but regarding the main plot, I feel like it's going wayyyy too fast. we're barely into a quarter thru the season (cuz it's supposed to be 40 ep per season) and sam is already preparing to go to the ruins of mag institute and investigate. like what happened to taking your time in telling the story??

and it comes at the expense of properly developing your characters too. like w tma, there's a build-up in establishing the characters, and providing hints of their dynamics without outright shoving it in your face. the interruption where Sasha and Jon talk about the pronunciation of calliope in Strange Music was endearing, even for me when I read the transcript (yes I only read the transcripts, not listen- i'm not into listening to podcasts). and then in ep1 of tmagp, alice establishing herself as the "funny" character by saying the "Big Milk" line fell flat for me. It didn't even give me a sensible chuckle.

(although her calling the Martin-sounding voice a whiny toad actually made me at least smile, so ill give her that)

and as for the case files/statements part of tmagp, i actually find them interesting. they're not the statements from tma, but the new perspectives, per say, in reading of the horrors- through internet forums, blogs, and even coursework- I feel has a quite a bit of potential in portraying the horrors. tho, could just be me being starved for decent horror. i think my favorite case file from it is Running on Empty's (ep8): i know liminal spaces are a bit of a fad nowadays, but i still like em for how empty they are and should be: backrooms my beloathed. in general im hoping for more horrors revolving around architecture specifically (<- house of leaves fan)

sorry, had to get that all out. tldr: tmagp feels like its being rushed to hell and back good lord

i won't try and persuade you to listen to the episodes if that's not your thing, but if you ever did feel inclined to try a podcast i do think that tma is a really incredible example of a very very very well done audio drama. a huge reason i dislike most other longform podcasts is that i think their execution is just.... poor. whereas alex talks about studying the art of radio dramas to do tma and it REALLY. REALLY. REALLY. SHOWS. like just as an exercise of craft i find tma to be really uniquely exceptional in that way. even in the early seasons where the sound mixing is muddy because they had no budget.

and don't apologize, thank you for sharing your thoughts!!

[chloeinletters]

Hello! I'm wondering if you'd be willing to answer a couple of my questions regarding writing. I've been feeling so stuck recently since I've had to drop out of school for financial reasons :( P.S. I admire you and your writing so much <3

Do you consider your main genre of writing to be creative non-fiction? We have similar writing styles, but I've been unable to classify what I've been putting on the page.

What advice do you have for someone who wants to start freelancing with no article writing or blog experience? What kind of projects should I be looking for and how should I create a portfolio with nothing to show?

Thank you!

I'm sorry you had to drop out. That environment is irreplaceable but I hope you know it's not impossible to grow as a writer without it! It's just different! and I mean that in a good way. Most of my growth happened outside of school. I know it doesn't make it all better, but I wanted you to know that I had an unconventional journey as well. I dropped out for a year for mental health reasons and it took me six years to complete my degree. So you're not alone! Anyway to answer you questions.

I consider it creative nonfiction yes. Everything I write unless specified or obvious speculation is stuff that has happened to me. My mind doesn't really work to create fiction truthfully! Every creative writing class we had to do it in I was like banging my head against a wall.

My advice would be to write a few articles or pieces for your own personal blog so you have a bit of a portfolio. when I was taking courses my teachers were saying list everything when you begin. Like it doesn't matter if its your own personal blog or whatever just list it. If they check the owner of the blog they check but then you at least have something on a resume that says hey I have XYZ experience. Do not hold back on your experience. I also had someone write out my resume with me after I graduated and we started by listing like every possible accolade I could think of. Do that for yourself too you'd be surprised what you've already accomplished even if it seems to you insignificant.

Go to Chill subs and make an account. This is like the best possible resource I wish I had it when I first began. Its a database of like genuine publications that arent just going to have your stuff sitting in their submission database for 3 years. it's user-submitted and suggested and runs on donations. But it's phenomenal if you want to begin following and finding literary mags, zines, or websites taking submissions. You can sort it by prestige of the publication if it's intimidating to submit somewhere "big" they have like up-and-coming to Paris review level. There are a lot of filters its just great. That is the one thing I would truly take away from this. USE CHILL SUBS!

What to look for is an interesting question. Look for the projects that excite you. Often literary pubs will give a theme. Notice which ones get the gears turning for you. If you were to write something right now what theme would entice you? Love? Friendship? growing up? What stories do you like to read the most and what do they all have in common? Lean into those things and write as much as you want about what you uncover. tell the same story three times three new and different ways. There are people who have made careers out of writing about friendship. You do not need to venture anywhere you don't desire to go. Personally, I love writing about love and mundanity. The everyday is so boring to some people but to me its beautiful and I write about it anyway. it took a few years for me to realize this and to feel good about doing what I wished, but it's worth it. Any anxiety that I have about writing the same thing over and over is remedied by the fact that stories set in the more we tell them. They get better and more poignant.

Best of luck to you. You can do this. You already have everything you need to do it.

[gealach-in-a-misty-world]

Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, would love a nice, safe, comfortable life. After the death of his twin sister, he thought he was done with magic for good. But with the threat of a dangerous ritual hanging over every magician in Britain, he’s drawn reluctantly back into that world. Now Jack is living in a bizarre puzzle-box of a magical London townhouse, helping an unlikely group of friends track down the final piece of the Last Contract before their enemies can do the same. And to make matters worse, they need the help of writer and thief Alan Ross. Cagey and argumentative, Alan is only in this for the money. The aristocratic Lord Hawthorn, with all his unearned power, is everything that Alan hates. And unfortunately, Alan happens to be everything that Jack wants in one gorgeous, infuriating package. When a plot to seize unimaginable power comes to a head at Cheetham Hall―Jack’s ancestral family estate, a land so old and bound in oaths that it’s grown a personality as prickly as its owner―Jack, Alan and their allies will become entangled in a night of champagne, secrets, and bloody sacrifice . . . and the foundations of magic in Britain will be torn up by the roots before the end.

"Broken items wanted to be whole". Freya Marske's A Power Unbound sticks the landing with this exhilarating conclusion to the Last Binding trilogy. A new set of main characters takes center stage, but this time the protagonists of the two previous volumes are more entangled with the plot and even undergo more development as this big, queer found family races against time to unveil a plot that could destroy everything.

After the enclosed setting of the second book, we find ourselves once again in England, between estates and magical parliament; we also see poorer parts of the city as Alan, who was introduced in the previous book, is an immigrant with a big family he works hard to support. This allows the book to introduce themes of class and power dynamics that work very well in the general context of the series and give it more depth. The journalist who's secretly a writer of queer erotica finds his perfect partner in bisexual Lord Hawthorn, as the two of them slowly dismantle their walls over the course of the book and a couple of intense sex scenes.

Every loose thread from the first two books is accounted for in this finale that asks questions about family, power, and abuse. The magic is made bigger and more interesting as the roots of power are explained and explored; every character has a moment to shine, from the medium that facilitates a heart-wrenching heart-to-heart with a ghost, to the nobleman who once thought he wasn't as powerful as his peers, from the seer to the powerful actress to the one who got violently torn from his own magic. And then there's Alan, who isn't magical but who can disrupt magic, and the surrounding cast of magicians, friends and foes, enstranged family and abusive brothers, and mothers who'll tear the world apart for their children.

The book weaves a rich tapestry that's much more deeper for its focus on land and contracts, the places where we live that protect us, and the free contracts between two people. It's a honest exploration of unconventional desires, woven together by the books written by Alan and mentioned in the first two installments: a thread that slowly reveals itself and makes the whole series almost a metanarrative.

A Power Unbound is a powerful exploration of love and the ties that bind.

✨ 4 stars

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📚📚📚 IF YOU LOVE THIS, YOU MIGHT LIKE:

* The Magpie Lord, by K.J. Charles

for: Edwardian England, power dynamics

[You can find more of my reviews about queer speculative fiction on my blog MISTY WORLD]