#trying. which is much more on par with being drafted into the military and even then it's not a perfect comparison.

[butchford]

The way the Canaries are structured is interesting when you think about the fact they basically consist of people deemed both useful and expendable to elf society. Most of them are prisoners on forbidden magic charges for any reason you can think of. The wardens are nobles' kids that more often than not are their least favorites (Mithrun being an exception thanks to his brother being physically unfit to take the job). They're formally called the Dungeon Investigation Unit, but widely referred to as Canaries on account of the fact they're basically a suicide squad and the apt description of Canaries in a coal mine when their boats' bows are marked with birds being right there. Like. There's a lot to be said about elf society given the fact that the people sent to be on the forefront of dangerous situations on behalf of the queen are all people considered to be disposable in one way or another.

[demcnwrought]

JULIEN'S POWERS, SKILLS, && ABILITIES .

i don't think i've talked all that much about julien's skills or powers on this blog, so i wanted to make a post describing everything that he can do naturally or after years of learning. he doesn't use his powers very often, but this list should generally serve as a warning for any of those who wish to pick a fight with him or harm anyone he cares about. a lot of these are inspired by the nephalems' abilities described on the gods & demons wiki and are therefore extensions of the powers i originally drafted him to have and be able to use. verse-dependent skills and abilities are listed at the very end. as always, these are subject to change.

PRACTICAL SKILLS .

these skills and abilities are learned, developed, and maintained throughout julien's life, not natural to his very being but often are defining parts of the culture he was raised in.

writing . julien loves writing and journaling about anything that has his interest, be it a new species, a plant, a rock, a magical ability, his interests, and even things about himself and his family. it is a hobby of his that he usually rushes to directly if he has some downtime. over the years, he has crafted and honed his own unique writing style, which is rather mystical and difficult for beings not raised among angels to understand. he is comfortable teaching grammar rules and helping others with projects they're working on that require a lot of writing. he is also a rather skilled rhetorician, not being all that interested in debate but able to quickly come up with arguments and play devil's advocate when appropriate and comfortable for him. he does the majority of his writing in aetherian, not english.

sleuthing . born out of his interest in detective novels, julien has found a love for sleuthing and is a rather skilled detective, able to track, find, and analyze clues that aid in new discoveries and mysteries. he was able to uncover the mysteries of his birth on his own due to these skills.

research . another skill that has aided julien in his discoveries of his birth and his family's past is his interest in research. along with his interest in nature and architecture, he has had to write his fair shares of research reports and papers. he is good at finding supportive available evidence, knowing what methodologies are fair and which are poor, and if the recorded outcome of data is supported by that which has been collected. he is probably the best research partner you'll ever find in aetheria.

architecture . julien has always been interested in architecture and architectural engineering, finding out how to craft designs for buildings and other crafted material that make up cities and thickly-settled areas like towns. along with his years of interest in architecture and architectural engineering, he is a rather skilled builder, inventor, blueprint maker, designer, and mathematician. he'll often be tinkering with things in his room or parts around his home in aetheria to try and improve them.

martial arts . all angels are trained in basic aetherian martial arts practices from youth to teen years, continuing lighter and less intensive training throughout their adult years, especially if they decide to enter the aetherian armed forces or military. having gone through all the years of training, julien's skills is on par with, or perhaps better than, those who have black belts in karate, taekwondo, and jujitsu. aetherian martial arts uses its own forms and movements, but all are just as effective as the three other martial arts forms mentioned previously.

hand-to-hand combat . julien is also trained with basic fighting techniques less formal and more on-the-go than aetherian martial arts are known to be. if he's on the move during a fight, he's more likely to go for hand-to-hand combat techniques than martial arts techniques.

swordsmanship . angels also learn how to use weapons like swords, battleaxes, maces, hammers, spears, tridents, blades, whips, javelins, staffs, shields, and throwing weapons like shurikens. julien is trained to use all of these weapons, but his go-tos are his staff and throwing knives.

marksmanship . angels' main marksman weapon of choice is a bow-and-arrow, but they are also trained to use weapons like crossbows, slingshots, harpoons, and bolas. in his modern verse, julien learns how to use modern guns, particularly hand guns and ar-15s. his main weapon of choice, more so than his staff and throwing knives, is his bow and arrow. he will always go for his bow and arrows if there is ever to be a fight.

instruments . julien knows how to play the lute, piano, violin, and guitar, and has been playing all four instruments for several years. as to be expected, being raised among angels, his favorite instrument is the lute. he also picks up harp sometime down the line.

NATURAL POWERS .

these powers are natural and are not affected by julien's decisions, behaviors, or beliefs. julien's ability to use his magic is affected by verse. before he learned about the secret of his birth and his family, his powers were more internally-based, but after embracing and learning to live with the secret in happiness, he grew able to much more easily use his powers externally. for example, his ability to manipulate reality was always there, but was not as easily wielded for external purposes before learning about the secret than it was after.

energy manipulation . julien has the ability to create, manipulate, use, and bend natural forms of energy, like sound waves, elements, and any form of specialized collection of atoms at his own whim. a few examples of the creations and manipulations he can hone are:

dynakinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of natural energy and forms of energy itself, including but not limited to gravitational energy, electromagnetic radiation, object elasticity, positive and negative charges, pure elements, compounds, and chemical reactions.

pyrokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of fire, natural fire, and pure elements, compounds, and chemical reactions aiding in the creation of certain flames.

aquakinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of water, natural water, and water molecules.

cryokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of ice and frozen materials, including the ability to freeze other beings and objects on command.

electrokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of electricity, natural electricity, and electrical waves, charges, and lightning.

photo-umbrakinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of light and dark, natural light and dark, and the forces behind natural causes of the presence of natural light.

acoustokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of sounds, natural sounds, and forces used to create and measure sounds like sound waves.

quiekinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of silence, natural silence, and the complete manipulation and/or potential eradication of any forms of energy that disrupt said silence.

biokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of biological beings, natural biological beings, and all processes that occur within any and all biological beings. this power can affect things like fertility, sleep, digestion, and other biological processes, systems, and chemical reactions that occur within biological beings.

geokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of the earth and aspects of the earth, including rock, sand, stone, lava, dirt, and other minerals.

atmokinesis / genesis . the manipulation and creation of aspects of weather, such as wind, thunder, rainstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, and monsoons.

enervation inducement . the ability to cause extreme exhaustion and fatigue with no more than a simple touch on another.

telepathy . julien can communicate his own thoughts via supernatural forces and connect to the minds of others with a simple touch. the best way for him to reach one's mind is for him to use both hands to touch the temples of a person and the back of their heads to trace their brain patterns, extrapolate their thoughts, and mentally experience what the other person may be experiencing. this technique to the aetherians (and in star trek) is known as mind-melding.

conjuration . julien has the ability to make objects appear out of nowhere for him to manipulate and use, mainly for demonstrations of ideas he has running through his mind. the objects he can conjure include things as small as pebbles and other things as large as buildings. he can also create false manips of people, animals, and mythical creatures for him to use for his own manner. as soon as he gets his magical abilities under control, he can also perform more permanent conjurations, such as those that allow other supernatural beings to enter his home or even his body and mind.

essokinesis . julien can bend current reality and make his own, mainly within the form of changing the orientation of things around him, and at a more extreme level, imagining and sometimes even being able to briefly create and ultimately destroy an alternate world where the roles of angel and demon were swapped (just as one example). his ability to bend and create realities mostly come in handy when he's performing a mind-meld, where he controls his own mind and the mind of the person and allows both of their souls to be transported to a small, usually calming space, only accessible to the two of them where they can talk things out without the outside world interrupting them or being able to reach them at all. on the outside, when julien is mind-melding, the two figures will appear frozen, julien's eyes and the eyes of the other glowing a pure white, their connection unable to be interrupted unless extreme blunt force runs into the two. however, mental weakness like dizziness, exhaustion, strongly-felt electrical impulses, and sometimes even nightmares related to the events of the mind-meld will occur in both julien and the other following this type of interruption, often for several days at a time.

shapeshifting . julien can bend and shape his form and parts of his body to whatever form he feels like. he usually stays in his general form, for extreme shapeshifting to things like other animals and other people tend to take a lot of energy out of him. his main ability to shapeshift include him taking his 'angel' form or his 'demon' form. the former change his appearance to being dressed mainly in white and gold and with a visible halo, the latter gives him dark black clothing, two pairs of horns, and dark red eyes, and present in both are his jet-black feathered wings. the main abilities his shapeshifting powers give him include but are not limited to:

mimicking . the ability to take the form of another biological being.

voice manipulations . the ability to create and manipulate his own voice and the voices of others to sound like animals, other people, or inanimate objects, often used with the purpose to control other living beings.

vocalizations . the ability to copy the sounds of things around him, like the sounds of animals and inanimate objects.

essence reading . while not telepathically communicating with another person, julien can get a sense of what kind of person they are just by being in the same room with them. he picks up on their natural 'essence,' which is broadly a description of the energy they give off, the emotions that create that energy, and how their posture and bodily movements are affected by those emotions. while this may sound like simple empathy and the ability to 'read' others, there is something much deeper, spiritual, and slightly telepathic that julien must use his mind for during this process. his mind reaches out to the other person, reading what he can from their brain activity to determine their true emotions and what they may be thinking about. if he believes he should be involved further, he may suggest a mind-meld.

enhanced senses . julien's five senses are much more in tune, much more accurate, and much more sensitive than those of the average person. for example, he can hear things as far as a mile away (as long as there are no walls between him and the other conversation), withstand sounds up to a thousand decibels, see in the dark, block out blinding lights, and taste poison in beverages and food.

sonic scream . developed as a defense mechanism among both angels and demons thousands of years ago, julien has the ability to scream at volumes that may deafen the average person upon first hearing it. the scream he can produce can get as loud as 360 decibels, which is three times louder than the volume that generally starts to cause hearing damage among humans.

super strength . angels and demons both are extremely strong, much stronger than the maximum weight known to be lifted by one human. julien alone can lift structures and living things up to 8,000 pounds (about 3629 kg).

immortality . being a nephalem, julien will not be able to die of natural causes and will outlive the majority of humans he'll ever meet or come across in his lifetime. he is also over 500 years old.

invulnerability . traditional means of killing or wounding do not work on julien. any attempt at shooting him, slicing him open, targeting a major blood vessel, poisoning him, drowning him, running him over, choking him, starving him, or cutting off his water supply will not work. he will be able to quickly regenerate his own skin and move around parts of his body using his reality warping abilities, give himself something to eat or drink, dissolve the poison, or change the size of his body to escape the body of water he is submerged in or escape the choking attempt.

spatial-temporal lock . if so desired, julien has the ability to stop time and space from affecting him personally. naturally, time won't age him or pull him closer to death, but he does have the potential to stop extreme natural disasters, especially those that are astrological.

flight && speed . julien's jet-black wings have a wingspan of about fourteen feet and give him maximum maneuverability and flexibility while flying, especially if he remains in neutral form. he found that he has an uncanny ability to fly at record-breaking speeds, his dive-bombing abilities bringing him to over 200 miles per hour and his general speed being up to 180 miles per hour.

magic && spellcasting . along with some of his natural magical and supernatural abilities, julien learned to manipulate already existing forms of magical energy. a lot of the spells he learns he can do himself naturally, but much of what he casts results in a temporary change that he can undo either with another spell or sometimes with a snap of his own fingers. he prefers to work with magic and spells rather than his own abilities, despite the latter needing to be honed and controllable so he doesn't cause any accidental damage and regardless of the former's difficulty or elementary nature compared to his own abilities.

[mst3kproject]

Battle of the Worlds

Several times on this blog I've featured movies that have more than one title.  In almost every case, the new titles were better than the original one, and this is not an exception.  Battle of the Worlds is fairly bland, but it tells you that you're going to be seeing a movie about some kind of space-based conflict, without giving away the details.  The Italian title was Il Pianeta degli Uomini Spenti, which is a fucking spoiler.

An earlier draft of this review contained a couple of jokes about the classically phallic 60's spacecraft in the movie, but I went back and took those out.  Bezos has really set a whole new standard for Giant Dong Rockets and I can no longer accept anything less.

A group of astronomers have just discovered a rogue planet, which they have dubbed the Outsider, is entering our solar system. Everybody is worried about it hitting Earth except for nasty old misanthrope Professor Benson, who says it'll be a near miss.  As it turns out, nobody's exactly right – the Outsider doesn't hit us, but it doesn't just pass by, either.  Instead, it settles into orbit, and when humanity attempts to explore it, it responds by sending out squadrons of flying saucers to blow our rockets out of its sky!  After one of these crashes on Earth, Benson is able to learn how to deactivate the Outsider’s defences and land on it, where humanity can finally confront its inhabitants... or can we?

Well, if you speak Italian, you already know the answer, because this is The Planet of Extinguished Men. The aliens are all long dead and their spaceship has been following its programming for millions of years without them, including the part telling it to destroy the Earth.  Bummer.

I actually have quite a bit to say about this movie.  It centres around some interesting musings about human emotion and curiosity, though it never comes to any solid conclusions.  As a movie, unfortunately, it's not very well-made.  This is a story in which the world as we know it nearly comes to an end more than once, and yet very little seems to happen in it.

The opening sequence is terribly clumsy and does very little to place you within this world.  We start off with two characters kissing and being excited about starting a new life together, but we have no idea at this point who they are or why they want to leave this place. When the Outsider is discovered, the scientists beat around the bush and try to keep it a secret, even from the audience.  Only Benson is willing to be upfront about it.  This does establish him as a realist while making his colleagues seem spineless, which is what the movie wants, but it's also terribly frustrating for the viewer.

Later there's a sequence in which a craft attempting to land on Mars is nearly destroyed by the gravity of the Outsider, and some quick thinking saves the astronauts' lives, but this is directed like the battle sequences in Invasion of the Neptune Men. We have no idea where any of these craft or planets are in relation to one another, and have to rely on characters sitting at desks to tell us what's happening.  Even worse, we never see the chaos the looming end of the world wreaks on society.  Astronauts who have recently returned to Earth note that they've heard there have been suicides and riots as people fear the Outsider will impact our planet, but we never see any of this.

The movie does a little better later, when the Outsider's close approach causes disastrous tidal forces... these are represented by black and white footage of floods and volcanic eruptions tinted red to try to make it match the rest of the colour film.  As always, this fails, but at least they tried. Other special effects are equally pathetic.  There are the inevitable plastic model kit rockets with their flame exhaust that rises in what's supposed to be a zero-gravity vacuum.  The 'flying saucers' the Outsider launches to defend itself look like nothing so much as giant fried eggs.

The Outsider itself is particularly sad to look at.  They have a model they use for it in a few shots, but this is about on a par with the original MST3K spaghetti ball.  In other shots, the Outsider is represented by a photograph of the Moon.  Absolutely no attempt is made to disguise it, and so of course the effect is a dismal failure because everybody knows what the goddamn Moon looks like. They couldn't even, I don't know, turn it upside-down or something?

On the other hand, the inside of the Outsider is actually pretty cool.  The sets aren't exactly believable, but you can see what they were going for.  Upon entering the caverns, the explorers find themselves in a series of tunnels full of strange red tubes and textures that look more organic than geological. Entering the Outsider is like wandering around within a living organism.  My favourite part of this is that absolutely nothing we see here is comprehensible.  Professor Benson, the genius, claims to be able to figure out what's going on, but his declarations seem arbitrary and nothing we're looking at makes visual sense.  Even the aliens don't look like anything in particular.  Were it not for Benson, we would not recognize them as living (or dead) creatures.

Like First Spaceship on Venus, Battle of the Worlds is much more interested in its ideas than in anything else, including what is supposedly its plot.  The characters are important mostly as the embodiment of those ideas, rather than as people in themselves, and the ideas the movie wants to study are about logic and emotion and how they affect human priorities.

The character of Dr. Fred Steele finds himself facing the potential end of the world, and decides that the most important thing to him in this situation is the love between him and his fiancee, Eve Barnett. Professor Benson, on the other hand, thinks the most important thing is to understand the threat they're facing.  Partly this is so that humanity can save itself from destruction, but knowledge for its own sake is also important.  In between these two men is Eve herself, who thinks love and science are both important and tries to find some middle ground between the two.  This is difficult for her, because Benson wants her to stay at the observatory and assist him, while Fred wants her to leave with him so they can get married.  When Eve tries to convince Fred to stay with her, both men see this as her having chosen Benson, and it poisons the relationships between all three parties.  Only with Benson dead are Eve and Fred able to strike a balance again.

But the movie doesn't want us to think that there is no middle ground.  The movie's other romantic couple are the two scientists from the Mars Base, Bob and Cathy.  They got married because they were both lonely and a psychological evaluation suggested that they had compatible personalities.  As the story progresses, however, they find that they have indeed fallen in love and want a future together that would include things like children – but this is ultimately denied to them, as Cathy is crushed by falling debris while exploring the Outsider.

Benson dies when insists on staying aboard the Outsider to try to decode its computers despite the fact that the military is about to destroy the entire object.  As the others escape, Fred intones the movie's beauty killed the beast line: “poor Benson, if they opened his chest they'd find a formula where his heart should be.”  And yet Benson died happy – as the Outsider explodes he is triumphant in his ability to understand its secrets, and laughing at the foolishness and cowardice of his fellow man.  It is the survivors who are miserable, mourning the loss of Benson himself as well as of Cathy, whose death was entirely meaningless.

I'm not sure what the movie is trying to tell us about these different approaches to life.  It seems to present them as ultimately incompatible, that attempts to give logic and emotion equal weight can only end in tears.  Only Benson, who was unswerving in his devotion to science, is ultimately satisfied. Perhaps the take-home message is that whatever your principles are, happiness lies in following them to their conclusion.

There's a second message, too, in different approaches to science itself. Modern physicists will often describe themselves as either theoretical or experimental... the two fields do compliment each other, but they often take place in different rooms, and one will be seen as leading the way for the other.  The search for the Higgs Boson was theory-led: people were pretty sure it existed, they just had to find it.  A great deal of astrophysics, however, is result-led: what we see tells us that there are things going on, like dark matter and dark energy, that we know nothing about, and the theorists must do their best to figure it out.

For most of his life, Benson has been a theorist.  He sits in his greenhouse chalking on the floors, spinning theories out of other people's results or out of pure mathematics.  Until the arrival of the Outsider, he had no interest in going out and exploring or experimenting.  But it quickly becomes clear to him that he cannot understand the Outsider through pure theory, as his calculations cannot account for the decisions of its makers.  In order to know it, he must see it for himself, so he grandly announces his intention to leave his 'den'.  Nobody ever asks him if it was worth it, but his maniacal smile at the moment of his death suggests that it was.

Battle of the Worlds had potential to be a really interesting movie, but ultimate the way its shot and edited make it mainly a very dull one.  Like its own characters, it fails to find the balance it needed.

[misslisterkeepsajournal]

1826 Wednesday 5 April

6 11 1/4

Wrote the rough draft of index from 18 March to 1 April (this month) which took me till 8 3/4 - Went out at 8 55/60 to William Keighley and his son William who have this morning begun to cut and lay the fence at the bottom of the wood, in Mitholm holm - came in at 10 5/60 - took a turn or 2 on the terrace - then came upstairs - my long expected Letter from Mrs. Barlow (Paris) 3 pages the ends and under the seal - great deal of useful information respecting our journey, and a pattern of corded muslin to match for Madame Galvani - must not travel veturino - must not go to Bordeaux - one or other will not suit my aunt at all - the livre de postes very correct - follow this and cannot go wrong - Par poste (of 6 miles)

'1/50 for each horse, that is trente sols par cheval - trente sols par postilion, to the latter you give an additional dix sols, par poste, as 'un pour boise' or etrennes for himself which brings it to 2 francs for the postboy - they will often charge you 15 sols greasing, mending etc. which you can look to'.....'Captain Droz calculates the expense of posting from 9 to 10 francs par poste'....'Mr. and Madame Droz seemed to recommend Montpelier - a great many good physicians reside there also should I be in Paris when you visit it you will call on me or not just as you please'

She then proceeds to tell me of having been at a call at Mrs Kidds her Mrs Kidds society improved etc etc. such is all the notice taken of my seeing her or of my returning her letters etc. her letter is mere chit chat and about our travelling and as cold or rather as indifferent as possible never once addresses me by my name pointedly avoids any address at all concludes with

'did Madame ever tell you that she had passed fifty six at the abbaye saint germain (military prison) with her lover and that she had spent a thousand francs per day in giving dinners to his friends etc. etc. wishing you a long continuance of happiness and prosperity and that every blessing may attend you hereafter allow me to remain your very sincere friend CMB'

What a letter her style how altered is she then going to be married that her being in Paris in the autumn is uncertain my heart misgave me as I read her pages I felt I know not what my aunt asked if I had had a letter from her she wished to speak of her I said her letter was deadly cold I knew what she meant did not blame her it was my then mind not to call on her and I turned the subject I could not speak on it my heart was full tears were almost rushing to my eyes and all my blood seemed in my head perhaps she will not write to me there will be little more intercourse between us a feeling of desolation came over me tho I thought of Pi [Mariana] she must go back to delta [Charles Lawton] we will hurry thro Paris I will see no one there my mind seemed unstrung unable to attend to anything how can she be so cold so soon

I hurried up from breakfast at eleven and a quarter said to my aunt I would write my journal it always did me good

Came upstairs at 11 1/4 - have just written all the above of today - it has done me good my mind is more calm I begin to feel as if I could care less about it I will not write to her from the impulse of the moment I begin to reason on the altered style of her letter the change is too sudden the last was all religion this all indifference I cannot help returning to my old thought she is deep she wants to catch me is it not possible the change in her manner is studied she expects and means me to notice it I will take my time and muse upon it and play cautiously I will lay my feelings aside if she really did love me as she said she cannot be really indifferent so soon I will be calm and composed I have always had flying doubts of her we shall now see and try the truth - poor Pi [Mariana] I can trust her and she will suit me best perhaps after all I have known and tried her long my journal has indeed done me good the tyrannous feeling of the moment of mortification and I know not what is passing by God be thanked oh that I was better better in the eye of heaven -

Mrs. B- [Barlow] says,

'with vetturino horses you travel ten leagues a day, neither more nor less, you are not permitted to stop where you please, and the postilions always take you where their horses can be best accommodated, and this generally proves to be the worst and dirtiest Inn for the travellers to travel post, or vetturino, will come to much about the same expense, but the latter can only be tolerated in Italy'....Travelling post 'is just once again as expensive as the diligence conveyence; besides that, you will find their charges at Inns much greater; and also, if an accident occurs to their carriage on the road, you may detained on your journey a fortnight or more to get it repaired'.....

Vide line 13 et sequiter of the last page - I am much better she answers all my questions about travelling so particularly or I should begin to feel rather indignant at 'should I be in Paris when you visit it you will call on me or not just as you please' - Mrs. B- [Barlow] met Madame de B- [Boyve] at Mrs. Kidd's - very civil to her and most attentive -

'She never pronounced your name' - 'Monsieur de Cussy said you would require 4 horses, so did Monsieur Droz - the latter calculated that it would cost you from 800 to 1000 francs to get to Montpelier or a similar distance' -

Had just finished the above of today at 12 40/60 - Whitley has sent me a wrong periodical this morning 'the Edinburgh Journal of Science', conducted by Dr. Brewter, instead of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal conducted by professor Jameson - my father came - downstairs about an hour - gave him money to pay the men Riley and company who will have finished walling tonight at Northgate - From 2 1/4 to 3 40/60 wrote the latter 1/2 page 3, and the ends, and under the seal, very small and close, of my letter written this day week, and on Saturday and finished today - very kind letter - tell her of having hired Mc.D- [Macdonald] say today whether she suits us or not we shall always be equally obliged to her Miss Mc.L- [Maclean]

'If we like her the credit is yours; if we do not, the responsibility is our own - Never have a fear when you are good enough to do anything for us - we do not measure intentions by their success' - Bad her not fidget herself about that over which she has no control 'and if the interest of the debt does not amount to more than half your income never mind it her brothers good management may bring all round - I wish you could make over all your cares to your brother, take a certain income, be it what it might, and go, and be wherever suited your father best' - Our plans uncertain - 'we shall go to Paris in the 1st instance, and thence, I think to Montpellier - we should fix upon Florence for the winter, but I am doubtful how my aunt will be able to bear so long a journey - Dr. Scudmore says Nice' - ask her advice and to get us what information she can - 'I have not yet read Dr. Clarke on the different merits of these places - If it should turn out that my aunt is not able to go abroad (and Heaven only knows what will be the event), we must try Bath - You know it is not my custom to look on the dark side of anything; but, turn which way I will, the prospect is unclear and cheerless - Never dream of saying too much on the subject of your health to me - I think of it perpetually with much anxiety - Except on this account, you Sibbella, are the only one of my friends who has never given me a moment's uneasiness; and my regard for you is perhaps better, and steadier than you think - You will take my letters as they may be; and I will keep my promise, and write 'pretty frequently' - It is not in my heart to disappoint you in anything - 'Incomparable woman!' I write as in the person of your niece - Find fault with her and not with me - I think of you when I am happy - I think of you when I am not so - I seem to remember you only as I saw you at Esholt - Now and always, here and even where, it would delight me to see you and those who love me best, love you for my sake, till they love you for your own - I have thought more deeply than you may have fancied, on the contents of your last - I, too, have been, perhaps foolishly, plunging myself in debt by a very dear purchase which, somehow, I could not resist - but there are melancholy contingencies which seem as if they must happen, that, with economy, will clear me in 2 or 3 years after their occurrence This is not so much my reasoning, as my aunt's, whose conduct towards me is, in everything, most kind, most liberal, and most admirable - Our income will be lessened I know not how much as yet' -.....

''I will allow I am not congenial to Miss B-' this makes me smile - Poor Miss B-! she does not much suit either you or myself - I sometimes think, how nearly she had prevented all lasting intercourse between yourself and me! Sibbella! Could she have recompensed you for the loss of one whose regard for you will endure unaltered to the end? - Now that you understand me better, and know me well enough to believe me reasonable, and have forgiven me the sins of dress and address, I will acknowledge, there was, and is, and ever will be a tinge of romance in the colouring of my regard for you - But does it offend you Sibbella? or do dishonour to your judgement, or injustice to your heart? or have you even one prejudice that it would alarm? There is little, perhaps too little of romance in my feelings towards the world in general - My great regret is, that I did not know you earlier - A bulletin of your health at the end of your letter, if you please - and you, too, have dreamed of ossification! - you are right - What matters it how we leave this world, so our passage to the next be smooth? Good bye, Sibbella! May we meet there where consolation is not wanted, and, while we are here, may you believe me always very faithfully and affectionately yours AL - Tell us your opinion - Montpellier, Nice, or Florence? I think it will be Montpellier' -

Twenty minutes reading over my letter then From 4 to 4 3/4 wrote the last 41 lines of today - wrote the rough draft of the index of these 5 days of this month - wrote a note to Mr. Whitley to go tomorrow to desire him to send me the right Edinburgh Journal, and returning him the wrong one - Read over Mrs. B-'s [Barlow's] letter again - I feel quite composed about it now and quite reconciled-

Dressed - Dinner at 6 1/4 - tea and coffee at 8 1/4 - In the evening looking over and burning papers out of the cupboard opposite the door - after my aunt went to bed and to have her bath at 9 1/4, sat up looking over the top middle drawer of my uncle's bureau - burnt my uncle Samuels pocket book full of orders payments and patterns and burnt etc. etc. - Fine day, tho' a little damp and rain early in the morning and about noon and towards evening - Barometer 1/2 degree above changeable Fahrenheit 49° at 10 35/60 at which hour came up to bed - wrote the last 4 lines - hurried into bed having to curl my hair - E..O.. -  

Reference: SH:7/ML/E/9/0080 - SH:7/ML/E/9/0081

[anne-lister-adventures]

Monday, 10 February 1840

8 3/4

1 1/2

Dawdling writing bit of rough draft of note to Countess Panin snowy morning Reaumur 8 1/2º in my room at 9 a.m. – Breakfast at 10 in about 40 minutes – 

Hardly over before Colonel of the Engineers and Mrs. Gottman nice intelligent people called, and then Mr. Baehr, and then the General Gouverneur’s nephew and aide du camp Mr. Tolstoy and then the Prince de Georgia or properly Gurinsky so that it was 12 10/’’ by my watch (and as it appeared afterwards to be 3 hours instead of 2 1/2 hours too late) and 12 40/’’ by the day here the carriage having waited 3/4 hour – 

Mr. Tolstoy had met us the evening we spent chez la Princess Tcherkasky – And saw us (tho’ we knew nothing about it) when we drove to tea at Aleschkowo (vide p.[page] 10) and told George to desire our Courier to bring us here in the part of the Town where all the nobility lived and not take us to any of the Inns in the basse ville – Tolstoy a gentlemanly intelligent fast-French-speaking young man – 

Drove directly across the Oka (the verst-long bridge of boats taken away in the winters) a busy enough scene of laden traineaus and people – To all appearance terra-firma – Merely its valley-form to indicate the bed of the river – Drove straight to the Cathedral Church of St. Macaire – Lofty light and handsome rich handsome Iconostase and altar of solid silver given by the merchants that frequent the Fair which begins 15 July and lasts till 25 August O.S. – Large candelabra also en argent massif – Pavement of about 18 in.[inches] squared iron flags – Passed thro’ to the winter church in the large neat building the residence of the clergy at the back of the cathedral – The winter church a beautiful chapel covered vaulted roof painted in imitation of a lightly clouded sky – Effect warm and admirable – Here too rich, beautiful iconostase – Did not go to the Armenian church or Mahomedan Mosque – 

The Pechersky Ascension Monastery (in the background), where the Church of St. Macaire was located.

Then to the Governor’s apartments – Large handsome house – The bel étage on a forest of open arcades – Then along the Dvor (Gastinoi Dvor) – Went into one of the shops – Consisting one large room below and a small one and above a good sitting room, and a small bedroom? and a cabinet – This shop lets for 800/- for the whole time of the Fair – But there are still better situations which let for 1000/- - the frontage seemed to be 3 arcades on one side and 2 on the other – 

The merchants live in their shops – 2635 shops en pierre, and as was said afterwards chez le General Gouverneur 2600 en bois – All the pillars supporting the galleries of the Dvor are en fonte (cast iron) – And said the General Governor at dinner the length of the Dvor is just one English mile; and a person going into every shop and perfectly well knowing his way (so as not to go out of his way) will have walked 40 English miles at the end of his journey! 

Extraordinary ville de boutiques – Bazaar par excellance ou se fait un commerce qui valait l’année passé £8,000,000 said the General Gouverneur at dinner for he said the rouble ought to be 25/- per 1£ but Mr. Marc would certainly be right in giving only 21/- this depending upon circumstances – But said the Governor the merchants always cachent la valeur actuelle – One might add 1/2 to their statement ∴[therefore] instead of 8 millions one should say 12 millions Sterling! – Could not imagine why the merchants should try to hide the real amount of value – No reason for their doing so – It made no difference to them – But they always did hide it – 

Lower Bazaar in the Nizhny Novgorod Kremlin (c. 1872)

The large handsome salle at the Governor’s apartments was intended by General Betancourt (a Spaniard the planner of the Dvor) for a Bourse – But no! That did not take – The merchants liked to settle an in their own private rooms; and some 8 or 10 millionaires in settling the price of the Tea, settled the price of every other article – People bought and sold according to the rate that should be fixed for the tea some much p.[per] c.[cent] without at all knowing what that would be till at the last – There were merchants that regularly bought tea to the amount of 6 or 8 millions, each! – The principal business is in tea, iron, and cotton –

On entering the winter church Tolstoy pointed to the height to which the waters rose in 1829 – Apparently about 3 ft.[feet] up the door-jamb – The damage done was considerable – But such a great rise was extraordinary – It had been once thought said the Governor (at dinner did not see him elsewhere today) to place the Dvor on the Kremlin Mountain (did Madame B-[Baehr] say it it was 75 or 175 ft.[feet] above the level of the rivers?) but this would not have suited the merchants – They could not have landed their merchandise with sufficient ease – Betancourt was was misinformed that the waters only rose 3 ft.[feet] above the present emplacement before its being raised but instead of raising 3 ft.[feet] it has been found necessary to raise 20 ft.[feet] in some places at an expense of 11,000,000/- but the present Emperor has been here twice and was so pleased with the Town ville, its situation, prospects &c. that he has taken it under his especial protection and spares no expense 17,000,000 more are now in progress of laying out in a large handsome house palace for the General Governor to be finished next summer (we saw it in the Kremlin) – 

One beautifully proportioned Corinthian columned salle de reception) – entrepôts – Sundry additional levellings (gigantic ones already done) the new chaussée &c. &c. the chaussée to be finished in 2 years from this time – Done as far as Vladimir, and part done here – Begins by a magnificent quay along the Oka – The quays here and cloaque can only be seen in summer – The ville on one side the Oka, the Dvor on the other and then the Volga – 

For the moment my idea of the ground and the junction of the 2 rivers is not nette (not quite clear) – But the ville as we looked from the Dvor and crossed the river is very picturesquely drawn in a long line along the high bank of the Oka crowned gits picturesque Kremlin – At the Kremlin, not a large enclosure, no cannon or sign of a fortress – 

Saw the new Cathedral built in the old style and in commemoration of the old venerable cathedral containing the tombs of many of the princes of Souzdal and of Cosma Minim Souk-Hourouky, the patriotic butcher, stirrer up of the people and Prince Pojarski who rid their country of the Poles (about A.D. 1612) – A copy of the banner of the patriot troops marched under (a virgin 1/2 length with an inscription in substance pour la foi et pour le roi) hangs up en face du tombeau de Minine or rather of the inscription for the tomb is just below in the catacombs substantial lofty brick vaults, 3 corresponding to nave and side aisles – On the chalky rock, and dry as possible – We walked thro’ them – 

This Cathedral lofty and handsome and très bien eclairée – The domed ceiling (the domes) in a blue pattern upon white (good effect) the side walls covered with fresco painting which contrasts well with the snow white polished scaglinola of the plain square huge Corinthian pillars that support the roof – The Iconostase rich as usual – 

The  Saint Michael the Archangel Cathedral of the Kremlin in Nizhny Novgorod. (image  © A.Savin, WikiCommons)

We peeped into the Military Hospital room for 550 – About 450 patients there – all cleanliness and neatness here as in the hospital for poor old people of both sexes, and in the maison des fous – About 15 or 20 men and as many women there in all? – No noise – All still and orderly as if the patients were as reasonable as their keepers – One of the men on our going up to his room (the rooms perhaps 5 yards + 4 yards) came to the door-window (a glass window iron barred in each door) and said in Russian very quietly Ah! Je croyais qu’il était le General Gouverneur, mais ce sont des vagabonds!” – Mr. Baehr had joined us in the Kremlin Cathedral and went with us to the Hospitals – Very civil and intelligent – It seems he is Procureur – 

It was now 3 by the Town clocks – Obliged to return – Home at 3 10/’’ – Dressed as quickly as we could – The carriage waited for us – At the Governor’s house at 4 1/4 or I think not later – The femme du General Gouverneur an agreeable, nice, good sort of aimable person – Dinner soon announced – Very nice good dinner soup and pâtés – A Marinade de Poisson – Round cotelettes de boeuf round a centre of spinach and little roast potatoes as big as marbles – Then Sterlet du Volga (stewed – Excellent garnished with pieces of lemon which one takes to correct the richness) then roast poulet or game and cucumbers handed round at the same time (salés) – Then a jelly – Then 2 plats of sweet meats (a large long excellent sort of plum and cherries), and then a little tumbler of chill-taken-off water in an empty glass saucer (nobody seems to wash anything but the mouth)and then retired to the salon – Coffee immediately – Sat a few minutes – Quite long enough for Madame B-[Baehr] evidently wished to retire to take her siesta, and said we should want repose – 

Home about 6 10/’’ – Sat slumbering dared not undress immediately for fear of anyone’s coming – Tea about 8 – Had Domna put away all my things and it is now 12 25/’’ by the Town clocks just as I have written so far – Snowing in the morning till about or after 11 – Afterwards fine – 

The 3 Lords Paget Clarence and 2 others were at the marriage of the Princess Marie and then here at the Fair last summer and afterwards with the Emperor at Borodino – 125,000 reviewed – 2 corps of the army – But very few of the guards there – The Lords P-[Paget] bought a great deal at the fair – Delighted with it – sorry they could not stay longer than 3 days – Promised to write to the B-s[Baehrs] but had not written – Mr. B-[Baehr] gave me a little set of views of the Dvor and promised me a feuille of the business done at the Fair last year – Very civil – 

Reaumur 10 1/2º in my room now at 12 1/2 tonight – Mr. Tolstoy said we had more than Reaumur -20 on Thursday night – Thinks we had even as much as Reaumur -25º - no greater cold here than Reaumur -30º to 35º - No greater in Siberia than Reaumur -40 and difficult to measure this – Mercury freezes did the Governor say at Reaumur -35º and spirit of wine only marks 3 or 4 degrees plus bas –

[symbols in the margin of the page:]         ✓c       ✓c       ✓c

[in the margin of the page:]             Gastinoi Dvor at Nijeni

[in the margin of the page:]            Nijni Gastinoi-Dvor

[in the margin of the page:]             Kremlin at Nijeni

[in the margin of the page:]             new cathedral service 1st dome in it 27 years ago

[in the margin of the page:]             Dinner chez le General Gouverneur

Page References:  SH:7/ML/E/24/0009  SH:7/ML/E/24/0010 SH:7/ML/E/24/0011

[eternalwritingstudent]

Spiritocalypse Chapter 4

Sorry that I haven’t posted or updated this story in a while. I’ve been in editing hell. I decided today to try to get at least a small chapter of this written and posted for those of you who are following it. 

For those new to the story you can find the other chapters below. Also, a reminder for those reading, this is a rough draft. Chapters are posted as I write them pre-editing. I will be editing them once completed and self-publishing later on.

Part One

Part Two (first half)

Part Two (second half)

Part Three

Callie Moodboard

 Chapter 3

“No, I can’t promise you when she’ll wake up Agent. You’re lucky she isn’t in full on comma.”

I knew the words should bother me. I needed to wake up. There were insane things going on and I needed answers. I wanted to understand what happened to me. What doors had that crazy doctor been trying to push open. Somewhere in my mind, I understood I wasn’t fully awake. I could best describe it as the sensation right before you wake up, when you can hear things around you, but you’re still dreaming. I couldn’t shake myself all the way out though.

“Oh, no you don’t Callie. You need more rest.” Katick’s voice came loud and stern in my ears, almost fatherly.

I had a sneaking suspicion that he wasn’t even in the room with me. I couldn’t open my eyes to check, but my mother always told me to listen to my gut. I felt myself sink down again, the words and blurred reality fading as the dreams took me again.

“She’s going to be fine. She just needs to rest and let her mind and body heal from what she went through.”

I appreciated the familiar comforting tones of Franny’s voice when I woke up again. I wondered who she was talking too. I felt more grounded this time. The voices didn’t feel like a dream or far away.

“We saw people never wake up at all though, doctor.”

The way the woman said doctor told me exactly who it was. The Spanish tones of her words had always delighted me when we spoke online. I started to open my eyes, but I lay still a moment longer, listening.

“I understand, but she has no serious brain damage like the records show for the others. I’m so sorry that lunatic got hold of you kids before we got here.”

The empathy in Franny’s voice felt sincere to me. She had come across short tempered and almost distressed on the plane, but I had to imagine that dealing with cops and military troops were a lot different from civilians. Civilians might be more inclined to listen for all I knew.

“Many of us are not kids, doctor, but yes. It was awful. My friend Sawyer has been having nightmares since he woke up.”

“Sawyer? Is he alright Adelaide?”

The two women turned to look at me. Franny frowned, giving me similar frustrated looks to the ones on the plane. I had pressed up partway at the mention of Sawyer, but I sank back down grinning sheepishly.

“Hi. I’m awake. Thanks for taking care of me Franny. You’re the best.”

“I can see that, Callie. It’s not nice to eavesdrop you know, but yes, Sawyer is physically fine. I think everyone is having some sort of fall out mentally, but that is to be expected.”

I let out a sigh when Franny didn’t tear into me. Adelaide moved to the side of the bed, smiling and brushing my hair from my face. I smiled at her, reaching to put my arms around her. When I moved the alarms in the room began to go off, the sensors stuck to me pulling free of their leads.

My eyes cut to Franny, smiling as sweet as I could as everything blared loudly. The doctor sighed, moving to the machines. As she stepped around my bed, the door burst open, Agent Wild standing in the door. His chest heaved and his wide eyes darted around the room.

“What’s wrong?”

I buried my face in Addy’s side, trying to hide my laughter. Addy stood, letting me fall to the floor. She lifted herself off the bed, smiling as she put hand on her perfectly curved hip. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes as she tossed her black hair. How did she look so perfect in a situation like this? The only thing I saw missing was her sharp winged eyeliner.

“Nothing at all now.”

Wild looked at her and began to relax, but I couldn’t help being surprised as he ignored her coming to the side of my bed. Addy didn’t seem bothered and I wondered how often she got blown off by a handsome man. I noticed she continued to frown at him and I had to reevaluate why she had stood up. Addy had always been a flirt. She flirted with everyone, so I had assumed she would do the same with Wild, but perhaps it was something else. My brain didn’t exactly feel up to par at the moment and I had been unconscious. Who knew what I had missed?

“How are you feeling?”

I hadn’t really taken stock of my body. My eyes closed as I went over aches and pains. “I’m sore. I’m still tired. My headaches, but I’m just happy to be alive.”

Wild smiled at me when I opened my eyes. “Good. That doctor is locked up. I’m not entirely sure that what she was doing here was legal. She was to test people, but not to the extreme she did. I’m sorry, Callie.”

“It’s not your fault. She’s a mental case.” I glanced around, almost expecting Katick to be lurking in a corner. “Where’s Katick?”

“He’s in a holding room. Away from everyone. Why?”

“He’s not going to hurt anyone Wild. He saved my life with the doctor. If she had kept using her test on my brain, I’m sure I would have ruptured something.”

“That doesn’t excuse all the people he’s killed, Callie.”

I shook my head. “I don’t think he did it.”

“You’re still recovering. Not thinking straight.”

I lifted my eyes to him. Did I trust him? Did I tell him what Katick told me? Did I dare open up and chance that he was a bad guy like Katick feared? My lips felt like sandpaper as I licked them.

“I am thinking straight.” I glanced at Addy and the doctor. “Could we get a moment please? I’ll be glad to be check out and visited with after Wild leaves.”

The two women exchanged a look, but turned to go. Addy pointed at her eyes with two fingers then back to Wild in a warning as she disappeared out the door.

“Alright, I’m missing something. What’s going on Callie?” Wild pulled up the solitary chair in the room, sitting down with his arms laying on the side of the bed.

I didn’t know where to start so I just dived in. “I knew that these kinds of things were happening here already Wild. The stuff the doctor did. It’s been going on a while.”

“And how would you know classified government information, Callie?”

“Because Katick has been put through all sorts of tests. He didn’t kill anyone, Wild. They framed him so that they could bring him into the government facility without anyone questioning his disappearance. Ask him about it. Ask him about the tests and the things they put him through.”

“How do you know he’s not lying?”

“Because I just went through it, Wild. She nearly electrocuted me trying to ‘open the doors in my mind’! If Katick hadn’t stepped in, I probably wouldn’t have survived her, let alone the attack afterwards.”

“Why did he not tell me this?”

“He doesn’t know if he can trust you.”

“But you do?”

I stared at him for a moment, then nodded. “I do. I think if you knew what happened at the facility where Katick was held, you’d be upset. You’d be worried they would take your sister. You don’t want her to go through what I did today, Wild.”

“Four days ago.”

“What?”

“You went through that four days ago.”

I stared at him, trying to process that I had been unconscious that long. “I was in worse shape than I thought.”

“Franny couldn’t figure out how your brain was functioning at all after the level of current the doctor put through you.” Wild reached out and took her hand. “Listen, I have to give you some bad news about some of your friends.”

I stared at him, the emotions coming off him perfectly clear to me. I’d always been somewhat empathic, but now that Katick unlocked my mind it had increased. I looked away from him down at my other hand knowing what was coming.

“Who died?”

“No one, yet. One is in comma’s though. Franny doesn’t know if they’ll ever wake up.”

“Which one?”

“Delilah, I believe her name is. In her thirties, blonde.”

I nodded. “Yes, that’s Lilah.” I leaned my head back looking at the ceiling. “Let Katick look at her.”

“You keep talking like he’s a hero, Callie. You know he’s probably lying about what happened to him.”

I looked to him sharply. “I don’t think he is. I know what he can do. He could do a lot of harm with his abilities, but he never has. Let. Katick. Help. Her. Please, Wild.”

Wild kept his eyes locked on mine. I wanted to look away, but the intensity of his gaze wouldn’t let me. “Alright. But you can’t get mad at me if he ends up hurting her.”

“I would never, Wild.” He started to stand and I held onto his hand. “I’m trusting you not to tell your superiors about what Katick told me. Check it out if you want, but please…”

I wanted to say ‘please don’t be a bad guy’, but I didn’t. Either I trusted Wild or I didn’t. I knew it was insane to trust Katick, but he had saved my life I felt like. He didn’t have to. I knew he might have done it to get me on his side, but with his abilities, he knew I would be able to read him better than most.

People had always come to me to talk and get advice, even with my young age. I was always told by my friends and family that my empathic abilities drew people in. Now that Katick had opened that door as well, I figured I should brace myself for the fall out. I would either find that people I cared for were horrible people, or I would be swamped with people wanting a friendly ear. I didn’t mind the latter so much, but the former would be very disappointing.

Wild felt no different to me, except I could tell he felt worried and nervous. I gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m fine, Wild. Go ahead. Help Lilah if you can.”

He nodded after a moment, letting go of my hand. “You rest. I’ll have Katick brought by to see you.”

“Oh, take him to see Sawyer first.”

“Should I ask why?”

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

“Fine, but you’re running out of favors, Callie.”

I smiled at him and nodded. “I know. I’ll try not to ask for anymore.”

He stopped at the door, looking back at me. “Just try not to die again and I’ll be happy.”

I smiled as he disappeared. He really needed a new line of work. He just seemed way to nice for the FBI or whatever secret agency he really worked for. I felt drained now that everyone was gone. I laid my head back, deciding to sleep until Katick arrived.

@aschenink @pheita @ramblingsofabourbondrinker @pigeonbooks @homesteadhorner @youdontneedoxegyntoburn @wildwestiewrites @romanthewriter @maxseidel @byrdwriter @pagingdrsleep @verazelinski

[anneapocalypse]

RvB 16.04

Episodes continue to be right in the ten minute range, about the same as last season, so if Joe’s journal still holds true, we can probably expect some pretty long eps in the back half of the season.

I really enjoyed this one. I’m especially thrilled that I was right about Tucker and Kaikaina and the stable time loop! :D My extra-convoluted sub-theory didn’t pan out, but Tucker did indeed cockblock himself and I’ll take it.

Joe’s Tucker writing has been hit or miss, but his Kaikaina writing has been about 95% slam dunk, and I am absolutely loving her presence this season, with so much personality and even character development. It was very cool to hear why she decided to take a break from the music festival business for a while, and to see her and Tucker share a relatable moment of wishing things could just be simple again. I really loved that.

I also couldn’t be happier that everything between Tucker and Kai this episode supports the way I have long seen Tucker in Blood Gulch: young and a little insecure, a little overeager to prove himself and be liked, and underneath all his swagger, a little nervous. I love that he says, “I’m basically the new Church.” Tucker thought Church was cool! He saw Church as someone to aspire to!

And he bungled what was possibly his first attempt at having sex, because he got nervous that he was being watched! “Thanks for the... tip” might be the greatest pun in RvB history. Also, “You wanted a slice!” because slice... pizza... heh... get it... both of the Grifs want a slice... yep.

We also learned that Tucker’s mother is dead, which gave me a sad.

And Tucker is now also a teamkiller, which is about par for the course for Blue Team and time travel.

(Incidentally, it’s not RT’s fault but god the shoulder emblems are ugly. At least present!Tucker actually looks teal again in Blood Gulch.)

Sarge’s cavernous lack of self-awareness is alive and well, as it should be. This episode seems to confirm that the battle of Broken Ridge was in fact a Red vs. Blue battle, not a Human vs. Covenant battle. So Sarge managed to get himself a demotion in a sim trooper battle. That’s... fairly impressive.

I’m liking the Grif and Doc interactions a lot. Poor Grif deserves all the pizza. And hey, Doc managed to save Grif from his own grenade, meaning that Doc has technically saved another life!

Which brings me to... have Grif and Doc just traveled in time, or have they hopped universes? Because for pizza to never exist in their universe, someone would’ve had to go back and change the past, and everything points to that being impossible due to the Law of Stable Time Loops. So the only explanation is they accidentally jumped to another universe where pizza was never invented. Which certainly does complicate this storyline further!

Oh, and we’ve now learned that Grif was in college and dropped out right before he enlisted. There’s Word of God from Geoff that Grif was drafted, though I’m not sure if that’s ever confirmed in canon material (the word “draft” doesn’t show up at all in a roostertooths search, and it’s not in the book either; I checked). It’s not necessarily incompatible with this new information, though. Being enrolled in college can get you a deferment from the draft in some cases, so it’s possible Grif dropped out knowing he would have to enlist if he quit school. Maybe he had a reason to think the military couldn’t be worse than his final exams. 

And well, thanks Doc for lampshading the problem with a time travel plot I guess. You all know how I feel about that lampshading thing when it’s to the effect of just highlighting narrative issues instead of solving them. At least Grif’s response is in-character for him. It’s other characters I have questions about.

Speaking of which, remember Tucker’s mom? His exact words were: “Before she died, my mama always said, ‘You can’t unwind the clock.’ Wait ‘til she sees my time machine!” What if Tucker’s planning on going back to see his mother? What if he’s planning to try and save his mother?

Ouch.

And therein, I think, we’ve found the real reason Joe felt it necessary to get Carolina offscreen. There is no character on this show with more personal regrets, more things she wishes she had done differently, more people she feels personally responsible for not saving. (And don’t tell me “Wash.” Wash might have the same number of dead friends but Wash has never felt the kind of personal responsibility and shouldered the kind of blame for his past that Carolina does.) You hand a time machine with seemingly unlimited power to Carolina and what will she do? Go back and try to save the rest of the Freelancers? Try to warn the ones Temple killed? Try to save her mother, for crying out loud? You can’t tell me none of that would at least occur to her.

With the Blood Gulch characters, and even with Wash, it’s much easier to play off the serious implications of things for laughs. With Carolina it’s always more difficult to do that. 

But damn it, she’s part of the main cast now and she has been for years and I wish the writers would do the work of finding a way to integrate her into their stories successfully from the start, rather than just writing her out for half the plot because it’s too much work and they can’t be bothered.

That part really burns my bacon, to be honest.

Nevertheless, I did enjoy this episode and I look forward to seeing where we go next.

[echodrops]

Home and Half Bios: Xerci

I got super carried away with Xerci’s bio since I was having so much fun. OTL

Because there’s not much to say about babies, a lot of Xerci’s bio focuses on his biological parents and what he’ll be like when he grows up.

Therefore, his bio is NOT spoiler-free!

Name: Xerci Kul Kogane

Age: 2.2 (Galra years)/20 months (Earth time)

Birthday: 40th of Catik, E11304 (Galra cal.)/October 13th (Earth cal.)

Height: Getting him to hold still long enough to measure is a difficult thing, but Xerci is about 24 inches tall (67 ri) currently. He will not stay this way for long.

Weight: 15.6 vit/75 lbs. A bit chubby. He won’t stay this way for long either.

Species: Half Galra, half Ixillis. Like the other two Galra children, Xerci undoubtedly has ancestors from other species across the universe, but his father, Myvon Vulis Khaez, was an unremarkable looking man who easily passed for a full-blooded Galra.

Family Story: Unlike Dulsara’s mother and Niresh’s parents, Myvon’s ancestral line was from the near south, on the temperate mountainous border between Daibazaal’s northern desert and the frigid southern shadow; therefore, like Kolivan and many others, although he was a furred Galra, his fur was very short, to the point that in many places it might simply be mistaken for purple skin. Possessed of a mild and unambitious temperament and from a low-to-midling family in the Galra social hierarchy, Myvon was a fairly low-ranking soldier with no real interest in being part of the military. He lacked any special loyalties to Zarkon, and took employment in the armed forces only because it seemed like the easiest career to pursue after having just graduated from school with nothing more than mediocre grades to show. This is not to say that Myvon was unintelligent or incompetent in any way; rather, he was a sensitive but pessimistic young person whose drive and motivation were deeply eroded by the terrible reality of life in the Galra Empire. Why bother trying for any other career when you’re liable to end up drafted anyway? Why bother studying hard when the military will take you even if you can barely read? Why bother putting in effort to rise through the ranks of soldiers, when low-ranking soldiers get assigned to peaceful, meaningless bases far, far from High Command, where nothing bothersome ever really happens?

Despite (or perhaps because of) his lack of dedication to the Galra Empire, good luck seemed to follow Myvon wherever he went: he was accepted to a non-combat routine maintenance position immediately after graduating, on one of the most desirable outposts in all the outer rim of the empire: Ixionide, home to the ethereally beautiful Ixillis, whom not even the empire wished to attack. Although he felt like his own looks and even personality were nothing to write home about, within mere months of service on the base, Myvon found himself in the clutches of Celandine, an Ixillis woman of unsurpassed beauty but a tragically fickle heart.

As a race, the faun-like Ixillis are best described as a perfect product of their planet’s environment: Ixionide would easily suit the human definition of paradise. Prior to the Galra occupation, the Ixillis were Ixionide’s only sentient race and the only large mammalian species on the entire planet. Gently rolling hills, lush forests, and crystal clear rivers coat the landscape, locked in a seemingly eternal spring, with no deep winter to wither the flowers or harsh summer heat to crack the soil. The planet is home to no native venomous animals or poisonous plants, no towering cliffs to fall from, no volcanoes to erupt... Essentially, before the Galra arrived, the Ixillis dwelt in an extremely safe realm in which there were no natural disasters, no natural predators, no endemic diseases, and a virtually never-ending supply of food and other resources, preventing any need for conflict.

This total lack of threats profoundly affected the evolution of the Ixillis species. They are a race entirely without fear—they simply cannot feel it—and thus they behave in ways that seem unspeakably reckless and even negligent to other races. They do not build permanent homes, trusting that there will never be weather poor enough to require a roof over their heads. They have no form of government, nor do they even have a concept of private property—they simply wander wherever and whenever they like, living in and off of the planet’s endless bountiful forests. They have no need to band together for safety or to consolidate resources, and therefore maintain relatively solitary lives, greeting other wandering Ixillis they encounter like happy accidents, well-met fellow travelers on the road of life. They adopted clothing only after the Galra arrived—not because they suddenly felt it necessary to cover up, but because they found the concept so hilariously novel. Ixillis have no need to work and therefore no form of currency. They do not barter or trade, but will happily accept gifts, up to and including the “gift” of a Galra base…

Unfortunately for Myvon, monogamous relationships are unheard of among the Ixillis. They fear no jealous lovers nor incurable diseases, feel no need to “make a home” anywhere, and do not worry about their offspring’s futures; therefore, they drift from lover to lover just as easily as they drift from meadow to meadow. The Hippies of the American 1960s wish they’d achieved love this free. The very idea of “settling down” is entirely laughable to the Ixillis—they genuinely do not understand how remaining with one person, in one place, for any extended period of time, could possibly have any meaningful benefits.

Ixillis children experience their parents’ carefree lifestyles from the moment they are born, and have also evolved to suit: it is extremely rare to find an infant Ixillis still in the care of its mother past one month old. At just two weeks, they can already crawl and eat solid foods, and because foraging is spectacularly easy on Ixionide, children as young as three weeks of age can typically find sufficient food on their own. Despite this prodigious ability to feed themselves, however, Ixillis children develop very slowly in all other regards. They do not need to master language, mathematical reasoning, or any higher brain functions for a long period of time—they don’t even need to learn how to run, because there’s nothing on Ixionide to chase them. Given that long lifespans are simply par for the course where Ixillis are involved, slow mental and physical development is of no concern. They all have time.

Naturally, none of this coincides very well with the regimented, traditional lifestyle of the Galra Empire. Myvon met Celandine when she simply wandered through the gates of the Galra base because she wondered what she’d find inside. He was immediately taken in by her otherworldly beauty (Ixillis have plenty of time to spend making themselves pretty, since there’s nothing much else to worry about!), but the most charming thing about her was her utterly dauntless curiosity, which no number of stern warnings could dissuade. No matter how many times Myvon tried to tell her she couldn’t stroll about naked on the base, that she couldn’t just ask whatever questions about their operations popped into her head, and that she most certainly could not just… just… touch without permission, Celandine could not care less about the great and terrible “Emperor Zarkon” and the empty threats that accompanied his name.

For someone like Myvon, who lived his whole life just going with the flow, not sticking his neck out at all, Celandine’s audacity was equal measures terrifying, exhilarating, and irresistible. But although his growing admiration for her was genuine, Celandine had no special interest in changing her ways and planting roots in a dark metal military base, far from the freedom of the sunlit forests. Perhaps secretly, Myvon may have thought that having a child would encourage his flighty mate to settle, but though Celandine showed her newborn son as much affection as any Ixillis parent could, her fascination with the Galra eventually waned, taking with it any reason she could see to linger on the outpost any longer.

Xerci was less than two months old when Myvon woke and discovered Celandine was gone, wandering out of his life as suddenly and surely as she had wandered in. Faced with the task of raising a hybrid infant on an empire base without assistance, with minimal understanding of Ixillis development and needs, and at the risk of being discovered by any of the numerous less sympathetic higher-ups taking their vacations on the paradise planet, Myvon called in an favor and sent a communication to an old friend, once former member of his coalition: Yedgi Kir Ne Ven.

With Yedgi’s (and Ulzrani’s) help, Myvon’s transfer to Pishkos was approved quickly, and Xerci immediately attached himself to his new babysitter and the other Galra children on the base (much to both Dulsara and Niresh’s deep regret).

Xerci’s mental development is faster than normal Ixillis, but still noticeably slower than Galra. Unlike most Galra children, who by 20 Earth months old would already be speaking in simple sentences and forming rudimentary episodic memory, Xerci will not really have the cognitive and linguistic capabilities to form even semi-coherent long-term memories until he is at least three or four Earth years old. Unfortunately, this means he will never have a single memory of his biological father—or that he even used to live somewhere else before coming to the Castle of Lions. For all intents and purposes (no matter how much Dulsara tries to correct the impression), even in his earliest memories, the only father Xerci is ever going to remember is Keith.

Appearance: At the moment, Xerci resembles nothing so much as a small purple watermelon. He is a round little baby, with a penchant for curling up like an armadillo when left to his own devices, furthering the image. Currently, his deer-like ears are slightly oversized for his head, as he hasn’t grown into them yet. Although he has Galra hands, his claws are notably smaller than a full Galra’s would be, and his feet do not resemble normal Galra talons at all: he has dainty little cloven hooves, just like his mother (though with his boots on, no one notices). Unlike Dulsara and Niresh, he does not have a Galra sagittal crest. Big-eyed and perpetually grinning, but with a baby fang or two still not erupted, Xerci has an air of saccharine sweetness about him that leads everyone who sees him to assume he will grow up into a short, soft, squishy sort of adult who will always have his arms open for a hug.

And they would be very, very wrong. The only one of the children to be removed from the heavy Pishkos atmosphere and limited military food rations at an early enough stage of development, Xerci will eventually achieve the height of an average full-blooded Galra male, at least seven feet tall, and in the process lose all his baby fat, trading it for the broad shoulders and whipcord lean muscles of healthy Galra adults. Yet he will also grow gracefully into the regal looks he inherited from his mother: the same shapely, curving eyes under heavy lashes, narrow elfin chin, high-bridged nose, delicate line of his neck, textbook symmetry and proportions, with velvet suede fur, a prim little tail, and a perfect crown of jet black antlers settled around his somehow artfully tussled, wisteria-colored hair—in short, Xerci is going to grow up to be devastatingly beautiful. (And thanks to Lance, he’s absolutely going to know how to use it. His white, wicked grins? They warn their girls about those on more than one planet.)

Strengths/Skills: As of right now, Xerci doesn’t have much in the way of strengths or skills, unless you count being cute, which he is good at (at least occasionally, when he isn’t being clingy as a purple octopus or whiny as a War’yanian sqwogbom). But life in the Castle of Lions, with so many different sources of guidance (plenty of it conflicting) and near constant exposure to new sights, new cultures, and new customs is going to ultimately shape Xerci into a truly unique young man. Spending all his formative years leaping between alien races, each with their own complex patterns of communication, ways of expressing emotion, and senses of morality will give Xerci stunning insight into people—why they act the way they do, what motivates them, what they really mean when they obfuscate, and how genuine they might (or might not) be. Although Xerci will never be as book smart as Dulsara nor as observant as Niresh, his emotional intelligence leaves both of them in the dust, even given Dulsara’s advantage of being slightly empathic. Xerci is going to grow up dangerously street wise, with a keen understanding of what makes people tick. Within seconds of meeting someone, he’ll already know how to make them laugh, how to bring out the best in them, how to win them over (…or how to break them down completely). Like Lance, Xerci is a people person who loves to be in the spotlight. Nothing makes him happier than commanding other people’s love and awe—or manipulating that awe and respect to get exact what he wants, exactly when he wants it.

Because Xerci is cunning. With just the flash of a pretty, cleverly affected grin, he has the universe wrapped around his little finger, right where he wants them. Perilous social interactions and intricate machinations are like candy to him, and he delights in running rings around less socially adept people (up to and including poor Keith). Anyone he turns his charms on can’t help falling for his guileless, well-meaning façade, his friendly touches, his casual flirtations… And Xerci not only enjoys the effect he has on others, but has weaponized this innate magnetism to make sure that he (and anyone he considers his own) comes out ahead in every situation. Xerci is the consummate diplomat: charismatic, refined, conciliatory, extroverted, just the right degree of self-deprecating, with a keen sense of witty humor and an evident hunger to excel. If peace needs to be made between the bitterest rivals, he can make it. (And if the smoldering embers of revolution need to be fanned back up into flames, well… he can do that easily too.)

But Xerci is not malicious, he’s just a born actor. Putting on a charming persona is as automatic to him as breathing, and even if his performances aren’t genuine, Xerci does genuinely have fun fooling people and stealing the spotlight, so long as it’s harmless… or, barring that, at least done in the service of the greater good. Xerci carefully reserves his tricks for people who won’t be hurt by them—or for people who deserve to be hurt by them. Though Niresh’s stealthy ability to observe unnoticed is a prime skill for espionage, Xerci’s ability to ingratiate himself to anyone and everyone actually makes him one of the most effective spies in the entire greater alliance.

Unlike Dulsara who struggles to handle people’s capricious whims, or Niresh, who doesn’t care to bother in the first place, Xerci knows that true power isn’t fists or fighter craft—it’s who you know.    

Weaknesses: Although Xerci is a natural extrovert, his friendly exterior belies a more unsettled inner-life. Xerci is actually a fiercely private person who never lets anyone get too close to his “real self” (wonder where he learned that from). He’s the type of guy you’re best friends with for ten years before you realize that you don’t even know his favorite color, let alone where he actually stands on any matters of deep importance. This extreme discomfort in putting himself out there, coupled with his natural ability to throw on a distracting mask without even blinking, means that it’s sometimes hard for Xerci to actually let people in, even when he actually wants to. Frequently the team has to remind him that, as much as they enjoy his impish act, it’s okay if he’s lets it go every once in a while and just relaxes. Even more than Dulsara, Xerci despises feeling vulnerable, and he’s become so used to hiding behind an outgoing persona that anyone who gets “too close” runs the risk of being perceived as a threat. Xerci’s so-called social circle spans from one side of the known universe to the other, but as for real friends… he doesn’t have very many. (No matter what anyone says, Keith blames himself for this, and the accompanying guilt puts a strain on his interactions with Xerci sometimes.)

Although Xerci is clever enough to avoid getting himself into trouble so deep there’s no way out, drama is his guilty pleasure, and so, in the course of his work, he frequently ends up in the heart of political and social scandals that could make even Coran blush. And despite the fact that no one can ever quite recall Xerci having any actual romantic relationships, 90% of the alien races he meets with are convinced that none of their girls should ever go unsupervised with such a handsome rogue, a fact which has made peace talks on planets with princesses particularly troublesome many times.

At the end of the day, Xerci’s worst flaw is that he grew up being absolutely, horrendously spoiled by every single member of Team Voltron, even Shiro and Allura. Whatever he wanted, he got. Whenever he craved attention or affection, it was freely and immediately given. Nothing he asked for was ever unattainable, and if one person (cough, Keith) told him no, he’d simply work his way down the list of team members until someone finally told him yes. Although he’s less obnoxious about it as an adult, Xerci is still very used to people bending over backward to serve him, and he’s definitely not afraid to wheedle, trick, whine, and moan his way to whatever wants.

Favorites:

- Food: Ixillis children have no drive other than to ensure their own survival by eating anything and everything they come across. Xerci, despite being half-Galra, is no exception to this instinct. He is a completely un-discerning eater and will devour everything put in front of him—sometimes even when what is put in front of him isn’t actually food. If it looks remotely edible, you can bet that Xerci will attempt to eat it, much to the horror of many small alien species Team Voltron came across in the early years. Ixillis are largely herbivorous, while Galra are primarily carnivorous.  Xerci falls somewhere in-between, a true omnivore, and is therefore able to eat and enjoy a much wider range of food than Dulsara and Niresh, who are mesocarnivores. An un-picky eater, it’s difficult to tell whether Xerci has any favorite food at all, but he absolutely never turns down anything with sugar in it—the sweeter, the better.

- Color: Cool green-blues and dove or gunmetal greys, although he also knows the value of a flashy entrance and often dresses accordingly instead. Despite the fact that it looks terrible on him, Xerci still has a soft spot for “the crimson of House Kogane” (or maybe it’s just that he enjoys teasing Keith about it? Hard to tell.)

- Smell: Money. >_> Okay, being serious, Xerci is definitely a lover of luxury and extravagance. With a less sensitive nose than the other children or even Keith, Xerci can put up with many bold smells that other Galra wrinkle their snouts at. Scents that might waft around the palaces of princes and queens are par for Xerci’s course: jasmine, sandalwood, patchouli, allspice, cinnamon, orange, myrrh, chai.

- Animal: As a child, Xerci was the sort of oblivious boy who could barely telling living animals from stuffed animals. They were never really big on his register—even growing up, he got much more enjoyment out of being near people. Xerci can be cordial with animals, particularly calm ones, but (perhaps a bit ironically) dominant and noisy animals bother him. Has a long-lasting and disproportionate grudge against Kaltenecker, who has done no wrong ever. Xerci will leave the husbandry to Niresh, thanks.

- Voltron Lion: Like with real animals, Xerci’s ambivalence toward things that cannot hold active conversations with him extends to the Voltron lions too. He digs in his heels at the Red Lion’s pushy attitude, the Green Lion’s assertive curiosity, and the Black Lion’s ever-watchful eye. Though Lance insists the Blue Lion loves Xerci and his goofball nature, Xerci himself was never able to relate to its role as the team’s selfless emotional pillar. So, Yellow Lion it is. Still, there’s something about the Yellow Lion’s gentle, modest nature that appeals to Xerci. Not to mention Hunk and Yellow can make the exact kind of Big Damn Entrance Xerci loves to delight people with sometimes.

- Pastime: Shopping, and he does not care at all how girly you think his hobby is. Or how many bitter tears Keith has cried over his “mysteriously” emptied wallets over the years. Allura is Xerci’s worst enabler; their habit of buying each other extremely tacky jewelry is a running family joke. Unironically owns a pair of Gucci shades. He’s on first-name basis with salespeople at twenty different space malls.

- Place in the Castle of Lions: Wherever Keith is, always. All the time. 24/7. From the time he was tiny. Naturally he grows out of this as he gets older, except… not really? Even when he’s grown enough to tower over everyone else in the castle, the first place anyone looks for him is wherever Keith is currently haunting. For a while, this was a source of extreme hilarity to everyone else, watching Keith being trailed by the universe’s tallest, purplest duckling. On his part, it took Keith a very long time after Xerci’s growth from bean to beanpole to realize that Xerci still wanting to spend so much time with him might look weird to other people. To Keith, Xerci’s constant pestering presence is just… normal. It’s the times Xerci’s not around that feel strange.

Dislikes: - Any sort of serious verbal conflict. Getting chased out of a foreign palace by aunts wielding hatpins by incensed alien chiefs is one thing (which Xerci would call fun), but actual person-to-person arguments deeply disturb him; once the screaming and hurling insults starts, Xerci is immediately gone. His poor pacifist Ixillis heart can’t take it, and being yelled at by any of the few people he actually cares about can make him physically nauseous.  

- People who refuse to play his intricate games of aristocratic intrigue. Boring.

- Being touched by people he doesn’t deeply care about. He puts up with it for the sake of his everyone’s-best-friend persona, but he really doesn’t like it. Even as a tiny child he was this way.

- Buy one, get one half off sales. THAT’S NOT A REAL SALE, DAMMIT.

- Being told what he can and cannot eat. (Who cares if that might be poisonous? I want it.)

- Kaltenecker.

- The fact that he has to get every pair of pants he buys tailored because almost nobody sells Galra-shaped pants with the appropriately-sized tail hole.

- Being ignored. The face of true evil is a baby with claws who isn’t getting enough attention.

- The fact that royal purple and gold don’t look good on him, no matter how much he tries to dress them up.

Weirdest quirk: Ixillis, deeply attuned to nature, travel, and the movement of life energy in a planet, are always aware of which direction they are facing. Even on planets with reversed magnetic fields, bizarre alien geometry, pure and utter darkness with no light to see by, while blindfolded, after being spun around in dizzying circles… It doesn’t matter, Xerci can always find true north instantly. He’s essentially a living compass, an extremely useful skill to have while lost on missions. However, being partly of a wandering breed, Xerci did not inherit the Galra homing instinct, and therefore even if he knows which direction he is going, he often does not know which direction he should be going. Niresh is not helpful in the slightest, but they make frequent roaming partners. For a while Lance sewed “If lost, please returned to” tags inside all of Xerci’s uniforms. And you know, sometimes getting lost leads you to the very best adventures…

Just for fun: - Hogwarts house: Slytherin (A friendly Slytherin, truly dangerous…)

- DnD class: Bard

- Favorite Disney movie: Aladdin

- Earth Horoscope/Chinese Zodiac signs: Libra, Fire Monkey

- Lucky number: 9

- Best Earth school subject: Government

- Earth Spirit Animal: Egyptian Mau

- MBTI personality type: ENFP – The Campaigner

- A vice and a virtue: Gluttony and Charity

- K-pop image song: ROAR- SF9