#tricking me into making plans around that and then blood ghosts so bad i cant keep my head up and am having constant nightmares

[bitchfitch]

I've enjoyed the reprieve from the seasonal affective disorder but i think we need to just go ahead and abolish spring. this shit sucks so bad.

[tumblunni]

Random headcanon: Dr Maddiman's heart is like a health meter. Contrary to what you'd think, the normal part is the illness and the green part is the health.

Cos it sorta symbolizes..like..how 'dr maddiman' he is. I had the thought that maybe zombie type yokai come from people who cant quite let go of their past life and accept becoming a yokai. So their reborn self is sickly and twisted. Maddiman is even more tied to the place he died, so his yokai form even manages to pull off looking halfway like a regular person, and he's able to morph back into not just an illusion of a human form but an exact replica of his human self. Though only while he's in the hospital and only for a short amount of time before he starts turning back. This is usually pretty traumatic for him because if he stays too long transformed he starts to fall into the delusion that he's really human. When he was working for mckraken and tasked with eliminating you in the first game he kept getting distracted going through the motions of normal day to day life at his hospital, when he could have just started the boss fight immediately and saved time. Of course the other conclusion is that he just likes doing supervillainous presentation, or that mckraken didnt have any confidence maddiman would actually win so he ordered him to do it this long way and act as a distraction instead. *shrug*

ANYWAY BACK TO THE MAIN HEADCANON wow i go off on tangeants a lot

So his 'health meter' is linked to how much he's able to let go of his past trauma and accept his new life as a yokai. Basically his emotional pain as a human correlated to illness, and the only cure is Help Sad Dad Be Less Sad. Heal his literal broken heart!

At the beginning his heart just looked like a normal heart, aside from obviously now being out of his chest as a weak point. For the first few years of his death he was practically on the verge of a second death! His mind was so clouded that he was practically like a feral animal, spending every day only walking in circles around his lab- picking up stuff and putting it back down again, tearing every book apart trying to read it, scratching at the glass of Hans's tank, scrawling formulas all over the walls and just generally being really goddamn manic. Just completely fuckin terrified constantly, tormented by hallucinations with noone there to help him. Constantly feeling this deadline hanging over his head for something he couldnt even remember. A deadline that he couldnt remember had already passed and he was already dead. So yeah...at this stage he was just the big scary ghost haunting this wreckage, blindly attacking anyone who strayed into his territory and unknowingly destroying his own hospital in the process. His health was super bad at this point and he had to constantly drain hearts to keep from fading away. Even the other yokai who came to haunt this place were afraid of him, since he'd attack indiscriminately. But at the same time the legend of this haunting would attract those yokai looking for a good hunting ground, and if you learned how to deal with the weird dude in the basement it was a pretty sweet deal. Plus his boss level power was a good defense against your rivals! What would eventually become maddiman's friendship with these yokai began as them running away from him and tricking their enemies into the path of his vampiric rage! (Madds apologised profusely for this once he was back in his right mind)

The company of other yokai slowly started to help maddiman become more lucid. But he still had no clue who he was and the only thing left in his heart was "i need to finish my work" without even knowing what it was! You'd think that not being able to remember why he was sad would help him move on, but the pain bled through even when everything else was lost. He just didnt know WHY he was sad, which made him even more desperate to finish his work! And these other yokai started helping him with it. Even if they also had no clue wtf he was doing, it was a mutually beneficial relationship to basically 'pay rent' to the boss of the area. Madds's requirements were a lot lower than most other boss yokai, i mean he never even wanted to be a boss yokai and didnt know any of the rules about it. Didnt even notice all these people moved into his house until now! This was also around the time that he started using that IV stand, before that he'd just nom on those lil cartoon hearts like the most adorable terrifying hellbeast ever :3 The IV stand works better for gradual distribution of emotion energy throughout his bloodstream, so he only has to steal one heart a day. And then once every few days, once a week, gradually gradually getting better.

A few years before the start of the game, he met McKraken! This actually helped him a lot, the big villain dude was kinda the closest friend he'd had in all these decades. McKraken had heard the legends of some super powerful boss yokai living in this hospital, and wanted to recruit it to his cause. But he was kinda flabbergasted to find this harmless-looking doofus sad dad who invited him in for tea and just generally managed to break through his grumpiness barriers and WHOOPS I GUESS FRIENDSHIP HAPPEN! Madds never actually really knew wtf mckraken's evil plan was, he was just like 'yeah sure i'll help with whatever the something, new best buddy!' Well, maddiman didnt really know much about the yokai world in general since he hadnt left his laboratory since he died. Mckraken started off like 'ehh i'll be friends with this guy if it means i can use him. Wow it sure is great ti have such an easily manipulateable pawn!' But oops alas his heart ended up being the easily manipulateable one, and before he knew it he was (oh no!) HANGING OUT AND STUFF! He'd do random lil chores of niceness for this dude who was too scared to leave his lab, even though lowering himself to the level of wearing a human disguise was the greatest of dishonor. But, yknow, madds likes that shitty human cola and uhh yeah hmm i just need to manipulate him yeah no affection here. And also i can imagine Maddiman obliviously hitting on him by accident, he's just like 'wow ive never seen such a rare yokai before, i need to research you!!' *buries him in compliments* *also takes several vials of blood and dandruff samples* And mckraken is like "fuck am i really falling for this idiot, he only wants me for my body (literally)" "LET ME HAVE A KIDNEY, I ONLY NEED THE ONE"

Anyway this has gone off on a real big tangeant but in summary maddiman makes even more friends and happy memories through the course of the games and someday he will be able to let go of his painful past. And its just my random headcanon that when that happens his heart will finish turning 100% green because itd be cool to have a symbolic signifier ykno?

Also maddiman x mckraken is a good ship but maddiman x ex wife is also a good ship and dammit why is this random potato dad so shippable???

[clown-bait]

A Very Monster Christmas (Monster Roommate AU) PT4

Jesus fuck its been awhile. Believe it or not I actually have 3 whole chapters written including the conclusion to the christmas series so hopefully when I finish one more in between chapter I can actually post weekly again. Think of it like constipation but for writing.

PT4 The Weather Outside is Frightful

“No.”

“Penny please I'm so bored and you could use the babysitting practice.” Leech bravely took her eldritch's gloved hands in her own. The clown was not moved.

“I just saved you three days ago. You are not to leave.”

The nosferatu frowned and dropped his hands. “You know I'm just going to find a way out anyway.” she grinned at him smugly while Pennywise's upper lip twitched over his fangs in annoyance.

“You try my patience little thing” he growled and moved closer to her till she could feel hot puffs of air on her cold cheeks.

“I'm not going alone anyway Fred, Chucky and Drac are coming with me.”

The clown’s eyes narrowed into slits “That makes it worse.”

“Junior let the blood sucker get some fresh air for crying out loud.” Uncle Penny groaned as he turned to Leech’s mom. “I swear he is the biggest drama queen you should have seen him when he woke up the guy put on the biggest tantrum.”

Pennywise snarled and turned to his elder half baring his fangs in warning.

“If you want me to stop then cut the theatrics kiddo.” the elder clown huffed and quickly motioned for the group to leave.

Leech was mostly out the door by the time Pennywise registered she had slipped out “Bye Love don't eat Chucky’s kids!” she called out to him as the old door slammed behind her. The clown’s eyes were alarming red and yellow facing completely different directions. Before he could react to being tricked he felt a harsh tug on the puff of his pantaloons.

“All right Jingles, your baby mama asked me to give you a crash course on how to not completely fuck up your family and my mother always said the best way to learn is to try it yourself.” Tiff began as she pulled the massive creature back into the living room. “Now I want you to sit down with Glen and Glenda and have a nice little chat with them.”

“Oh this ought to be amazing!” Uncle Penny laughed and got comfortable in his seat to watch the show.

-----

“So what's the plan boys local bar? Convenience store? I'm partial to crashing a house party myself.” The vampire said turning around to her ghoulish companions.

“I dunno Fangs whatevers closest its fuckin freezing out here” Freddy pulled his trench coat tighter. Dracula lagged behind slightly uncomfortable with the implications of their outing. Chucky who was being generously carried by Leech called out to him.

“Come on Drac you're lagging behind and getting laid takes time. We ain't got all night!”

“This is very generous of all of you but I do not need-”

“Yeah 200 years is a long enough of a dry spell dude, come on you helped me get my man I'm gonna help you.” Leech shouted over him as she pushed through some deeper snow.

“Woah there fangs let's not push through the deep stuff in a snow storm.” The doll gripped his friend tighter

“I'm leading this hunting party dont like it you can walk.” The vampire stated simply and pushed onward through the field.

“Yeah great idea to take a short cut into town through deep snow Fangs!” Freddy huffed.

“Well the three of you wouldnt let me take the trees and roof tops.” Leech grumbled and continued to push onward.

“Fangs do I look like I was built to Spiderman around? Good Guy dolls are made for hugs not acrobatics and you're too clumsy anyway.” Chucky grumbled while clinging to his friend.

“I've gotten better!” Leech shouted and Dracula coughed.

“Eh debatable apprentice.”

“Oh yeah and when's the last time you actually instructed me on anything” the younger vampire growled.

“Well after you cancelled the last three times to as you so artfully put it, marathon with your lover, I assumed you were far too busy for things like learning to survive.” a dark color tinted the nosferatu's cheeks as she nearly tripped in the deep snow.

“One of those times was for a legitimate movie marathon ok!”

“Yeah that ended in the other kind.” Freddy added.

“So what if my sex life is healthy.”

“Excessive is a bit more like it.” the doll grumbled.

“Ok Pen and I both have big appetites it works out.” Leech led her friends out of the deep snow as Freddy snorted.

“Yeah I'll say! Vampires man you all are in a constant state of horny I swear.”

“Excuse you flatmate!” the elder vampire called out in offense.

“Yeah you're not one to talk you told me all about your adventures before the “Mina” incident. Didn't you bang her friend in the form of a wolf or something?”

“DO NOT SPEAK OF HER NAME”

“Do you need to hold Chucky again Drac? He said it himself he's good for hugs.” Leech sneered holding her friend out as he thrashed angrily.

“Hug me and I'll remove your eyeballs!”

“Hey if I squeeze you tight enough will you say the catch phrase?” the vampire hugged the enraged doll despite his warning. Chucky went eerily still.

“Fangs if you weren't filled with a murderous fear God’s kids you'd be dead right now” he snarled. Leech laughed at the empty threat and patted her belly.

“Gotta love my little security blankets! I wonder how he's doing.”

“My guess is terribly.” the dream demon chuckled.

“I want to say I have faith in my mate but seeing how they're Chucky's kids...you're probably right.” leech sighed and stretched as they finally walked into town. Chucky straightened himself back out as his feet touched the ground.

“Just an fyi fangs you're paying for the therapy.”

------

“Whys your head so big?”

Pennywise grunted in response. He sat cross legged on the floor in front of two children who stared up at their natural predator with wide eyes. The little boy crawled forward.

“Are you an oni?”

“A what?”

“An oni”

“Kid wants to know if you're a demon junior.” the senior Pennywise shouted.

“I am much more than a simple demon child!” the clown snarled with malice

“Yeah yeah eater of worlds, be nice Jingles or I'll make sure you can't have any more kids” Tiffany growed as she sharpened a knife.

“You cant possibly kill me doll.”

“Wasnt talking about killing you” the dolls mother slammed the blade into the coffee table. The clown's golden eyes grew wide for a moment as Leech's mom gently spoke up.

“Pennywise try a more friendly approach with them!”

“HAHAHAHAH Sally baby I've been telling him that for 200 years. It's like menacing asshole is in his DNA.” his older self cackled nearly falling out of his seat.

“Thanks for making me a hit with the in law.” The younger clown grumbled under his breath.

“Why is your eye messed up?” glenda leaned forward crossing her eyes to imitate the clown who began to growl low as red tinted his irises.

“You're lucky I'm dieting”

“And Fangs is lucky you still have a functioning dick right now.” Tiffany warned as Sally cringed.

“Can we not talk about my daughter like that”

“Yeah uh how much do you know about your daughter dollface” Uncle Penny's fingers wrapped around the witch as he pulled his cigar out of his mouth.

“She takes after her father”

“I'm tempted to ask but I think Jingles is about to have a major breakthrough in positive child interaction”

“Mister Pennywise can I touch your nose?” Glen asked eyes wide

“Uh…” the clown glanced up at his companions who all enthusiastically motioned for him to agree. “All right child.” the clown craned his body close to what he usually considered an appetizer. Glen reached forward his small hand touching first the clowns nose then his cheek running his thumb on the smooth clay like skin.

“Its not paint?”

Penny blinked at the question. “No. It is not.”

“It feels like paint though how are you doing that?”

“I can do many things child.” the corner of the monsters lips tugged up with a ghost of a warm smile. This one wasn't so bad, it asked many questions but he could tolerate it. He could tolerate it till its sister began to speak.

“Can you make a balloon animal?”

“Oh course I can” Pennywise smiled wide and reached behind his back pulling out a giraffe

“Not with your tricks do it for real”

Pennywise stared at the little girl completely motionless. He didn't actually know how to make a balloon animal. His his uncle elbowed what be considered to be his mother-in-law with wicked excitement.

“Well? Can you do it or not?” the child asked impatiently.

“I..”

“Jeeze what kind of clown doesn't know how to make a balloon animal.”

Pennywise lunged forward teeth first “NO! I mean I can. I can do anything, I am all powerful and I can easily entertain two little brats.”

“Yeah right you're boring I can do better tricks than you!” Glenda sneered right back in the predators face.

“Oh boy here we go.” Tiff sighed and handed her son to Leatherface while moving to grab her daughter. “Glenda sweetie leave the clown alone.”

Pennywise glared at the child and snarled “Like what.”

“Like this.” Glenda shouted pulling a small knife from her pocket and stabbed the clown in the eye. Pennywise let out a horrible roar muffling the cackling from his older self as Tiffany dragged her daughter out of the grasp of the rampaging clown.

“I'm not paying for therapy.” she sighed as she dragged her kid out of the room.

---

The four monsters pressed onward into town the rising wind kept the wiser safe in their homes. These four were not among that category. Freddy wiped some frozen ice off his scarred skin and paused outside of the general store after seeing the “closed” sign hanging in the doorway. Up ahead of him Chucky groaned.

“Ugh this trip was pointless we're not gonna find anything open.”

“Then let's break in somewhere Drac can do a hypnosis trick or something.” Leech growled a bit her hunger getting to her as her mentor rolled his eyes.

“You could too if you practiced more.”

“Do you want me to help you get your dick wet or not Dracula.” the younger vampire hissed.

“Are you implying that I need help? My dear you realize I have seduced thousands of women.”

“And yet none of them stuck around.” the dream demon chuckled while elbowing his companions.

Dracula swore loudly in his mother tongue as his companions turned heel down an alley.

“Some of them were murdered!” he called after them then pulled his coat tighter hiding his dark cheeks. Dracula breathed in deep to sigh before proceeding forward when something caught his nose. It was musty, damp and beastial with a hint of the forest. The realization hit him too late….They had been followed.

[pinkletterday]

Laurel Lance, of all people, has somehow taken over A Stitch In Time. I'm toying with the idea of making a companion series for her that runs parallel to ASiT called The Cry Of The Canary.

My problem with this whole verse is that its so close to MermaidMarie's How To Be A Hero. Except this one has more bite. Hers was mostly soft and sad and lovely. Mine is full of people being...well, trainwrecks. Barry is absolutely not a sweet puppy and his and Oliver's relationship isn't remotely stable, unlike HtbaH where the only stable thing is their relationship. But some emotional beats still feel like retreading the same story.

Spoilers for A Stitch In Time under the cut:

I made the Arrow S3 plot a bit different (because I love myself). While Oliver and Barry are occupied with each other, Nyssa arrives in Starling with the news that Sara's gone missing. Laurel immediately calls the cavalry. Merlyn shows up, announcing that he's taken her hostage. Nyssa tries to kill him but he warns that should anything happen to him, the double blind system he's set up will make sure it kills her.

Merlyn wants his son back. He plans to resurrect Tommy in the Lazarus pit. For this he needs Oliver and Nyssa's help taking down Ra's Al Ghul. Everyone thinks he's crazy, but he guilts Oliver and Laurel, saying they allowed Tommy to die. Nyssa still wants to turn him down flat but Laurel stops her because she won't lose Sara again. Nyssa warns that Ra's is already on the warpath trying to find Merlyn and defying her father will bring down dire consequences for everyone.

Meanwhile Isabel Rochev, newly cured and who Oliver had allowed to escape instead of killing, turns up like a bad penny. She accuses Moira of being the mastermind behind the Brother Blood attacks, setting up Wilson and Blood to take the fall. She not only holds Moira's record against her but also claims that Moira herself orchestrated first Thea's then her family's own kidnapping, expressing disbelief that they conveniently escaped both times. Laurel obviously has to recuse herself from the case (in my verse that whole nonsensical prosecuting Moira thing didn't happen) but she then turns around and puts her career as the new ADA on the line to defend Moira. Turns out though that DA Kate Spencer, very much alive and on the cusp of becoming her own superhero persona Manhunter (the Latina badass from the comics, not the whitewashed version from Arrow), believes Moira, not Isabel.

Merlyn is meanwhile making overtures to Thea, despite Oliver threatening him within an inch of his life (except he's wrapped up in Barry drama and still cant focus on Starling). Thea is repelled but also fascinated by his offer to train her, the way Oliver and Roy refuse to do beyond basic self-defense. Thea still keeps having nightmares about being kidnapped and she is visited by an increasingly fanatical certainty that the "angel" rescued her to fulfill a higher purpose.

Thea and Oliver decide to keep Merlyn's presence a secret from Moira because they're sure she'll turn around and sell him out to Ra's, Sara be damned ( ntm this family doesnt learn anything and Thea is still slightly vindictive about having been kept in the dark last year). They turn out to be correct in this assumption; Moira absolutely sells Merlyn out after promising not to. Luckily, Oliver was counting on her doing exactly that ("I wish for once you'd surprise me, Mom.") and uses the opportunity to find a way into Nanda Parbat.

Laurel meanwhile is grappling with her demons. She's still struggling to keep sober (because addiction and depression just doesn't go away forever) and the hurt of being abandoned and derided by the people she loved when she needed them the most. She doesn't want to stay angry at her father after coming so close to losing him. She thought she had forgiven Sara, except the stress of her kidnapping has triggered all the memories of losing her the first time. Oliver is pulled in too many directions to give her much attention. Her mother she feels too betrayed by to even be angry.

It doesn't help that she's being dogged by Tommy's ghost. She believes Tommy died without knowing that she loved him as much as she loved Oliver. She tries to dismiss Merlyn but his plan to bring him back gives her hope.

Ironically enough, it's Barry she ends up bonding with. They both know what it is to feel hurt, angry and confused but not wanting to seem childish or ungrateful by expressing it when everyone wants so desperately for them to be okay, feeling rudderless in their own lives as a result. The more distant Barry gets from Oliver and Iris, the closer he becomes to Laurel. Unlike the semi-romantic bond Oliver has with Iris, Laurel and Barry have a sibling-like bond.

Meanwhile, brought together by mutual concern and love for Sara, Laurel and Nyssa forge a relationship just like Oliver and Iris's, with the same romantic overtones. This makes her feel guilty for having feelings for Sara's partner while wondering if this was the kind of attraction that drove Sara to get on the Gambit with Oliver. Laurel asks Nyssa to train her.

At the very end, it turns out that Merlyn's plan all along was to sacrifice Sara to get Tommy's soul back. Nyssa and Laurel, as the Black Canary, help Team Arrow fight the League. She comes close to letting Merlyn raise Tommy and exchanging her own life for Sara's, but changes her mind at the last minute instead. The Canary sisters kill Merlyn together. In the end, with Nanda Parbat collapsing around them, Laurel tenderly releases Tommy's body, bidding him farewell once and for all. Nyssa gathers Sara close and holds Laurel's gaze in mutual understanding, and they both wordlessly let the romance building between them go.

Back in Starling, Sara senses the bond between Laurel and Nyssa. She's trying not to be jealous, thinking she deserves this after the stunt with the Queen's Gambit. Laurel just laughs at her. She tells her that they're both too grown up to be fooling around with each other's partners anymore and reiterates that it's Sara she loves best and most.

Subplots:

- Laurel defeats Isabel in court and has her arrested into the bargain. She escapes and comes after Thea but she, Roy and Sin trick and trap her. As she is led away, Isabel snarls that Thea ruined her life and Robert would never have died if she hadn't pulled him away from her. Thea tells her that Robert was never the kind of man who would turn his back on his children, and even if he did, once he realized how selfish and vicious a person Isabel really was, he'd never have stayed with her.

When Oliver turns up to comfort her later, Thea looks at him through proud and happy tears and tells him that he was right. For all his mistakes, it is Robert Queen who was and always will be her real father.

[dirtdiggersanddinosaurs]

#Press Trip

Just So 2019 will go down in history, maybe because it was the 10th birthday of the now well established festival, but mainly because it was the year of ALL THE MUD! It certainly was NOT for the faint hearted! I‘ll quickly explain that this was our first time at Just So…and, did the conditions put us off? Did they heck! I’m not gonna lie, it made getting around the site with a trolley and a baby in a stroller much much harder, but we got a free workout (I used muscles I didn’t know I had!), and the boys absolutely loved doing their best ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ impressions squelching through the deep oozy mud!

In fact, from what I saw there were A LOT of mud loving littles about. I might suggest to organisers Wild Rumpus that from now on they create a mud pit area regardless of the weather so that we can chuck the kids in while us parents relax nearby on dry land!

We had an absolutely amazing weekend despite [or maybe because of] the mud. Full of magic, fun and laughter. Just So Festival really is the perfect place to spend some quality time together as a family.

These were our favourite muddy moments:

Dressing Up and Letting Go

We decided to go big or go home and threw ourselves into the craziness of the Just So tribal tournament, we were all kitted out as a shimmering shoal of five fish – read how I made our costumes here. For those of you planning a Just So adventure, I highly recommend dressing up letting go of your inhibitions.

Seeing herds of stags, swarms of bees and some roarsome lions strolling around the aptly named Spellbound Forest, really is truly magical. A sight you’ll honestly never forget, and your photos will look absolutely amazing too!

Feeding the fish

Eli small fry

It was like being part of a real life fairytale and really helped us to see the wonder of the weekend through our childrens eyes. Stanley really got involved and was instantly drawn to other fishy families, we enjoyed a game of Giant Guess Who with some fellow fish team mates and won a golden pebble in a wager! Woo hoo!

The humongous Tribal Scoreboard situated on The Village Green is updated throughout the weekend as golden pebbles are handed in to Tribal leaders and counted.

Keeping Score!

We earned pebbles for our costumes, picking up somebody elses litter when the wind blew it away, for the Guess Who game, and then for ingenious costume repairmanship using duck tape – note to self: need to vastly improve sewing skills! I’m still not sure if there are any hard and fast rules on how to earn pebbles but it’s certainly fun trying.

Meeting our Tribal leader blub blub blub!

Stanley really was rooting for the fish team to win and was cheering us on all weekend, he also got involved in some lighthearted taunting of the other teams too. We came 5th overall, the Foxes bagged 1st place this year! I think it teaches children a great lesson about competition, teamwork, loyalty and doing your best.

Getting Our Groove On

One of the things we all agreed on when we looked at the programme was that we wanted to take in as much live music as possible. We joyfully discovered at Timber Festival that we have two little groovers on our hands.

My little fish swimming at High Seas

The Footlights stage was at High Seas and after a true trek to get there via the mud (it was at it’s worst at this point), a toilet stop, more mud, then skirting around the field with the trolley, and a bit more mud we finally set up our ‘base’. After all that effort it made sense to stay put for a bit and it was a great excuse to enjoy the music, we were also reasonably close to a bar and some yummy food vendors – perfect!

The Baghdaddies’ exuberant and rampant brand of world music is an exhilarating cocktail of Balkan melodies, ska and latin grooves and sizzling brass played with furious energy and theatrical humour, making them as unforgettable on stage as they are when performing as wandering brass troubadours. They take themselves incredibly seriously so you don’t have to…

The Baghdaddies blew us away, they got everybody (including us) up on their feet and dancing! The lyrics are also hilarious, and you cant help but smile. It’s pure feel good music!

We also caught Harry Bird & The Rubber Wellies who again provided a very toe tapping mix of folk inspired sea shanties, Mexican rancheras and reggae. And finally Mr. Tea & The Minions for some gypsy flavoured party music. Not your average playlist eh?

One of the Baghdaddies songs included the line ‘Have a Tequila son’ which Eli took literally!

Oh, and just in case you’re wondering, YES mud does make dancing in a field absolutely 100% more enjoyable if your aged 5 and 2!

We also tried out the silent disco hosted by Our Kids Social in the Flamingo Lounge. My boys weren’t sure at first and found it all a bit odd, but they soon got into the swing of it for a bit of oops upside your head! There was a parents vs kids dance off battle that got very animated – think Dadtastic air guitar moves on one side with some fierce flossing on the other. Great fun!

And finally, it was a bit of a surprise when my cautious 5 year old wanted to try out Circus Swing! So on Sunday we had a lesson in swing dancing that included some neat circus tricks too. I only dropped him on his head once while he did the no hands cartwheel over my legs, so I’m calling that a win!

I love the fact that Stanley was willing to try out new things, James has experienced a silent disco at the ripe old age of 2 and that we all got to listen to some excellent live music.

Singing Along

Watching David Gibb perform in the natural amphitheatre of the Woodland Theatre on with Stanley was my highlight of the weekend. He’s not a big fan of sitting still but the combination of catchy tunes, audience participation and easy to remember lyrics meant that we made it through the entire performance with big smiles on our faces.

We learned all about bats, discovered that we (and the rest of the audience) couldn’t count to five, became roses and showed off our muscles. Stanley also became a huge fan of Teddy at the Disco and has been singing it on repeat ever since. We sat next to our good friends over at Typical Mummy (there’s nothing like sharing a plastic poncho to sit on, to really cement a friendship) and we were all happily singing along together.

It was during this performance that I experienced what I’ll always remember as the Just So spirit, a real sense of camaraderie. The steep incline of the Woodland Theatre plus wet ground made it more than a bit treacherous underfoot. Getting in and out was no easy task and to this purpose I saw children being passed along rows, hands and arms being offered to help steady balance and people sharing seating arrangements to ensure everyone had a great time. There was a real sense of we’re in this togetherness, the mud was not going to stop anyone having fun!

I’m happy to say we now have David’s new album Rolling down the Road (released 23rd August) winging it’s way to us (order yours here) and also Climb that Tree for our Teddy at the Disco fix – my car journeys are never going to be the same again!

Slowing Down

In a way the conditions did us a favour, it made us really think about what we wanted to see and do. Most of Saturday was spent in and around High Seas and the nearby Roll Up Roll Up simply due to logistics, we took in the music as I’ve previously mentioned but we also watched Clown about Town which thoroughly entertained the boys and only mildly terrified me (she was absolutely lovely but I’m not a fan of clowns!)

A clown on the run, wanted for a crime she didn’t commit. In trying to prove her innocence, she finds that the silver lining is daring to be yourself in a world that’s trying to make you like everyone else. A joyous celebration of what it is to be human with slap-stick comedy, puppets and silly dancing!

Even I admit that the overly theatrical blood scenes (not as bad as it sounds, honest!) were really funny! This then inspired Daddy and the boys to wade over to the big top to try their hand at some circus skills while I stayed with a snoozing Eli.

Again, after watching David Gibb in the Woodland Theatre we ambled to The Spellbound Forest via the Corn Shack and settled in to watch our old favourites at Campfire Stories. I’d been eyeing up the huge corn cobs all weekend and me and Stan treated ourselves on Sunday – they were absolutely delicious!

We love Ian Douglas and have been lucky enough to sit and listen to his stories at several different events so he was an easy and relaxing watch while we nibbled away.

Then it was onto our crazy haired friend Professor Pumpy-Knickers Pumpernickel who we first encountered at Timber Festival. Once again he was thoroughly entertaining, and made the forest come alive with explosive science!

Embracing the Eccentricity

Just So proved to be just as bonkers as we were expecting – we’ve experienced nothing else like it! One thing we definitely wanted to catch was the lantern parade on Saturday evening. We didn’t make a lantern at the workshop as we’d heard that it gets very busy but we were armed with our Jelly fish umbrellas which lit up and looked the part.

Well, it’s hard to describe the spectacle that was the lantern parade, there was a clog wearing lady singing and dancing with some enormous Ghost Caribou. Then, the Baghdaddies arrived, the Caribou suddenly lit up and off we went, following the craziness towards Footlights!

Over the weekend we also bumped into the Dream Antelopes, Boudicca in her chariot (the moving puppet/sculpture horse was AMAZING) and got soaked as water pistol wielding passengers sped past in Vesaqua, shooting at us as they went. What’s Vesaqua? It’s a bathtub on wheels attached to a 1966 Vespa of course!

Vesaqua

Anything We Would Change?

The weather played such a huge part this year that I’m not sure what a ‘normal’ Just So looks and feels like. I would have liked a few more seating areas – we took chairs luckily, but pulling them around in the trolley was really hard work because of the ground conditions. I’m assuming that there are usually more hay bales dotted about to perch on but again due to the weather these were probably repurposed as ground cover on the worst affected areas.

The golden pebbles – are still a complete mystery to us! I don’t know who can give them out, or what they can be earned for! Having said that I’m not sure if a full explanation of this via the programme or a information board would take the magic away? It felt like a secret that you had to learn about from fellow more experienced Just So’ers…but maybe that’s the point, to get people talking and build a community of seasoned Just So families? I will say this – once you’ve earned one it quickly becomes a quest to get more, it’s so addictive!

And Finally…

There you have it, if you want to let go of the stresses of everyday life then this is the festival for you. You can completely immerse yourself in a bubble of make believe for an entire weekend. Got kids? Then it’s a super family friendly festival (mud aside), it has everything to entertain little ones and baby changing, bathing and quiet areas too. We can’t wait for next year!

Earlybird tickets for Just So Festival 2020 (21/22/23 August 2020) will be available from TODAY (Friday 30th August). Visit the Just So Festival website to grab yours.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the team at Wild Rumpus, the volunteers and site staff who when faced with almost biblical conditions on Friday went the extra mile to ensure people got on and off the site safely and pushed cars out of the mud, all with a smile on their faces.

Disclosure: we were invited to attend Just So Festival by Wild Rumpus as part of their Press Team. Our weekend tickets were gifted in exchange for a review of our experience and promotion across my social media channels. All opinions are my own. All images and media are my own.

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