#fifty of anna's ships

[hafanforever]

Royals’ Battle

Before I read the new post-Frozen II novel, Polar Nights, I was hoping that it would especially feature some new information about Runeard and Rita, and much to my delight, it did, and they played HUGE roles in the flow of the story, even as posthumous characters! 😁😁😁

In the book, Anna and Elsa learn from Kristoff the story of Princesses Sissel and her younger sister, Inger, who were from the neighboring kingdom of Vesterland. He says that the sisters hated each other and Inger wanted the crown for herself. About fifty years ago, the two sisters were visiting Arendelle regarding their kingdom being asked to contribute in funding the building of the dam in the Enchanted Forest. At one point, when Sissel and Inger were alone together near a rushing river, Inger pushed her sister into the river and Sissel eventually drowned when she went over a waterfall. A witness reported the murder to King Runeard, who banished Inger from Arendelle (and Vesterland) and put her on a prison ship, which went down in the sea, causing Inger to die by drowning, too. And despite her death, Sissel came back from the dead as a creature called a draugr, seeking revenge on those who wronged her.

Naturally, Anna and Elsa are shocked by the story, particularly by how their grandfather had done something good and just...

...but as the novel unfolds, the sisters discovers that the entire story surrounding Sissel’s death and Inger being accused of murder was a lie.

Halfway into the book, after the sisters have had several encounters with the draugr and deduced it is actually Sissel, Elsa conjures up the memory of what really happened on the day of Sissel’s death using traces of water that have remained in a locket that Sissel was wearing the day she died (brought to Elsa by the draugr itself). Elsa and Anna discover that, not only were Sissel and Inger very close and that Inger was more interested in science and the environment (and thus did not want to be queen nor aimed to steal the throne from her sister), but Inger had figured out that the dam would cut off the water flow and cause other environmental devastations to the forest. It would also affect Vesterland by depleting animals that the citizens hunt for food. She was arguing with Sissel over this matter by the river, and while Sissel understood what Inger was saying, she felt they would be powerless to stop Runeard since he would not listen to them and did not care that his desired project would negatively affect the Northuldra and Vesterland. Sissel was also terrified of Runeard so much that she feared standing up to him, as she believed arguing with him over the matter would only lead to him punishing Vesterland by cutting off their trading partnership with Arendelle, since Arendelle controls the port that allows food, medicine, and other goods to come in from other kingdoms and travel to Vesterland. But due to Inger’s persistence about how harmful the dam would also be to their kingdom, Sissel finally relented and decided to request another audience in Arendelle to tell Runeard that Vesterland would not help to fund the dam.

However, no sooner than the sisters were feeling better about the matter that a flash flood occurred. Inger got in the way of the rushing water as it headed down the river, and when SIssel pushed her out of the way to escape harm, she tripped on a tree root and fell into the rushing water. As she was pulled downstream, Sissel struggled against the strong current and tried to grab something to help her get back to shore. She yelled for her sister to help her, and Inger chased after Sissel on the river bank. When Sissel managed to grab on to a branch near the shore, the witness from Kristoff’s story, a shepherd boy named Stig Petter, raced to help Sissel. Sadly, with the branch breaking as she held on, Sissel accepted her fate to die. Before she let go and went over the falls, she told Inger that she loved her and was proud of her. As a distraught Inger mourned the loss of her sister, Stig vowed to help Inger.

Following the end of the memory, Anna and Elsa realize that the draugr of Sissel was never trying to harm them or anyone else, but rather has been trying to clear her sister’s name and has removed some memories of the Arendellians so that they don’t remember the false story regarding her death. Elsa and Anna search through Arendelle’s court records to find more information, discovering that Stig lied and said that Inger had murdered Sissel by pushing her into the river, and the court believed Stig instead of Inger. Upon finding and meeting the elderly Stig to get the entire truth, Anna and Elsa further learn that Stig was actually blackmailed by Runeard to lie and say that Inger murdered her sister. The former king of Arendelle told Stig that he had to lie or he (Runeard) would tell everyone that Stig helped Inger murder Sissel and he’d have him imprisoned, too (or possibly executed). This was because Runeard (presumably) learned that the sisters were planning to voice their opposition of the dam and would not let their kingdom help fund its construction. In doing so, they would have also told other kingdoms that the dam would actually harm, not help, the forest and convince these kingdoms not to help with building it, either.

Without enough funds needed to construct the dam, the project would never get off the ground, and Runeard could have been exposed as a liar and traitor. Even with Sissel dead, Inger would have never stopped fighting to make sure Runeard could not build the dam. But being the stubborn, xenophobic tyrant who was ruthlessly obsessed with protecting his power and set on destroying the threat he believed the Northuldra posed to him, Runeard refused to let his plan be ruined at any cost, even if that meant lying and causing harm to innocent people who got in his way. So even with a witness present to the real account of Sissel’s death, the king took advantage of the situation by framing Inger for murder and put her on a ship to get rid of her for good, eliminating the sole opposition to his goal.

Yet while Inger couldn’t save her sister or stop Runeard from building the dam, she did manage to escape the terrible fate that almost befell her. Having gotten to know both sisters during their visit, and knowing what a cruel man her husband was, Queen Rita was the only one (besides Stig) who believed in Inger’s innocence. Though she tried to defend Inger in the court, Runeard adamantly refused to let her speak and banished her to her chambers. Not wanting an innocent woman to be condemned for a crime she never committed, Rita secretly helped Inger escape the prison ship (and Arendelle) before it set sail (which was seen by Stig). She paid several men to take Inger off the ship and gave her safe passage to another. Inger was also warned by Rita to never return to Arendelle since she would surely be recaptured and put to death if she did.

All that being said, what this book revealed about Runeard and Rita’s relationship further reinforces what I have believed about them from Dangerous Secrets, but most especially the former in what kind of man he really was: a cold-hearted, selfish, bigoted, power-hungry scoundrel who never cared about anyone or anything other than his kingship and the power and authority that came with it. Runeard’s position as king made him believe that he could do whatever he wanted, that he was always in the right to do so, that he was never wrong, and he didn’t care how his actions could affect others unless they could still benefit himself. But most of all, as I’ve said before many times, Runeard arrogantly believed being a king meant that he was better and smarter than everyone else since he was in the highest place in society. He discriminated all other people as being beneath him, especially peasants (like the Northuldra and shepherds like Stig), and refused to treat them fairly or equally.

Such views are backed up perfectly by the fact that he laughed in scorn when Stig said he would tell others about Runeard’s threats. Runeard also said that no one would ever believe him because he is a poor shepherd, meaning that (to him, at least) no one would ever believe the word of a lowly shepherd over the mighty king of Arendelle.

But most importantly of all, Runeard’s behavior towards Rita completely support what I have said in “There Goes the Bride”. Being the king, it’s crystal clear that Runeard felt that HE had more power and authority than everyone, even more than Rita, the queen and his own wife. Therefore, only HE had first and final say in EVERY decision made, and that the opinions of others, including his wife and the people he ruled, were never important. The fact that Rita tried to voice her belief that Inger was innocent, but Runeard harshly silenced her and sent her out of the royal court (he probably even locked her in her chambers so she couldn’t interfere) reinforces what I believed in him trying to control her and having seen her as his inferior, not his equal partner.

Ultimately, Polar Nights helped prove that Runeard was so hellbent on creating the dam just to bring down the Northuldra that he sought to keep even Rita out of his way when she became a liability to his scheme. 😠😡

But since Inger managed to escape with Rita’s help, she managed to live a long life (though she never became the ruler of Vesterland) and had a family (including a granddaughter named after her deceased great-aunt). And in the end of the book, Inger returns to Arendelle and manages to reunite with the spirit of Sissel after the draugr sheds her form following the truth being revealed about her death. 🥲😭

Second image here is a fan art of Queen Rita, made by my dear friend @greatqueenanna. 

#Frozen 2 analyses #Frozen analyses #Disney #Disney Frozen 2 #Disney Frozen #Frozen 2 #Frozen #King Runeard #Queen Rita #Inger #Sissel #Elsa #Anna #Polar Nights #my stuff #mine

[suugrbunz]

꒰ Introduction ꒱ . .

Hello, my name is anna. There really isn't much to know about me. My favourite poet is mahmoud darwish. My favourite writer is franz kafka. I am a fairly withdrawn/quiet individual but i am willing to talk. I tend to abandon my blog without warning.

꒰ DNI IF ꒱ . .

You are antisemitic (go fuck yourself 🫶🏻), bigoted, yk the usual reasons why someone might lack morals.

꒰ Before you send in your ship read this!  ꒱ . .

When requesting a ship I do not find your appearance to be an absolute must. Especially if you are uncomfortable with describing your appearance. As for your personality, add some interests, perhaps your uni major, adding your mbti or enneagram won't hurt. Overall, I just recommend focusing on your personality and interests ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა

ships are currently open.

꒰ Postcards from Paris ꒱ . .

My original work // Navigation Post

꒰ Where Eagles Soar ꒱ . .

After Pearl Harbor, there was a call for Americans to volunteer for the military. Darkness had enraptured the European continent as Hitler's war machine continued to tear through its nations. Knowing he'd be drafted, Sam Spottedbird volunteered for the paratroopers. Leaving behind all he had ever known to carry on the fighting spirit of his people. All for fifty dollars a month and a pair of silver jump wings.

currently on a hiatus to focus on my original work. // Masterlist   ݈݇-

#hbo war #easy company #band of brothers #band of brother ships #band of brothers fanfiction #band of brothers x reader #the pacific #the pacific moodboards #the pacific ships

[fic-history]

2000's and Beyond: Modern Fic

In this iteration of Fic History, we’re going to be exploring the fic culture in mega-fandoms from the early 2000’s and beyond. That’s a big field to cover, I know, so each section is probably going to be a bit less detailed than usual in order to make things easier to digest. To begin, we’re starting with:

Harry Potter

I think it goes without saying that the HP fandom is probably the fandom of the 21st century. No book series has become so ubiquitous as HP, and there are still more HP fics on FF.net than from any other fandom. Since HP was published when the internet already existed, most of the fandom’s fics were published online, although a few printed fanzines were created. HP fic is also extremely varied, most likely due to the wide cast of characters and length of time covered by canon lore. You could find fic on anything from coffee shop AUs of the Hogwarts founders to explorations of the main trio’s children when they eventually attended Hogwarts. Like most fandoms with a large internet presence, the HP fandom had its own fic sites, some of which were dedicated to specific attributes like certain ships or tropes, but fic was also posted en masse to multifandom archives like FF.net and AO3. In fact, as of 2017, there are still more Harry Potter fanworks on FF.net than any other fandom.

Twilight

If HP is the fandom of the century, Twilight is probably the fandom of the 2000’s decade. At least in the media, Twifans were portrayed as either feral teenage girls or feral middle-age women, but the fandom is actually much more diverse. In terms of fanfiction, it goes without saying that the most famous fic within the fandom is probably Master of the Universe by Snowqueens Icedragon, more commonly known by its profic title of Fifty Shades of Grey. Snowqueens Icedragon, A.K.A. E.L. James, filed the serial numbers off of her fic and sold it as an original piece of fiction to massive critical attention and success. You can read a bit more about Fifty Shades here.

One Direction

This is the odd fandom out of the bunch, as it’s the only one listed that’s completely focused on real person fic, or RPF. According to FanLore, since there isn’t traditional source material to function as a canon to write fic about, canon in the 1D sense consists of “One Direction's members' original appearance on the reality show, plus their concerts, albums, music videos, video diaries, interviews, books, photo shoots, award ceremonies, other television appearances, band members' and families' personal twitter accounts, media gossip, authorized candid photos and selfies, and unauthorized candid photos by paparazzi and fans.” 

RPF already has a bad reputation in fandom spaces, but since 1D is an engineered boy band adored mainly by teenage girls (fandom’s least favorite demographic), the 1D fandom reputation is in the pits (Jamison 2013). Despite this, the fandom is still quite large, and produces a lot of fic, especially on Wattpad, where the fanfic series turned profic After by Anna Todd was published from 2013 to 2014. The most popular ship amongst directioners is Larry Stylinson, or Harry/Louis. 

Finally, we have

SuperWhoLock

Behind HP, this is probably the largest fandom on the list, simply because it’s actually three fandoms smushed together: Supernatural, Doctor Who, and BBC’s Sherlock. Fans in this fandom are called SuperWhoLockians. This fandom was especially active on Tumblr in the early 2010’s, and while the main form of fanwork was gifsets, lots of fanfic was produced in each fandom individually as well in crossovers. The most popular Supernatural ships were Castiel/Dean (Destiel) and Wincest (Sam/Dean, who are brothers, hence the portmanteau between Winchester and incest), while Sherlock’s most popular was Sherlock/Watson or Johnlock. Doctor Who is different, as each individual reincarnation of the Doctor is considered a different character, so each Doctor has different pairings, usually with their respective companions or the Master. SuperWhoLock has a reputation for being cringy due to member’s repeated hijacking of Tumblr posts with fandom related GIFs, but now that the fandom is much less active, the cringe has turned into a feeling of nostalgia.

There are so many more fandoms I could talk about, which just goes to show how fandom spaces have only exploded in size as time has passed. Even though these descriptions aren’t the most detailed, I hope you found them informative and interesting!

Happy reading,

-KP

#johnlock #wincest #destiel #supernatural #doctor who #david tennant #benedict cumberbatch #martin freeman #sam winchester #deancas #dean winchester #bbc sherlock #harry potter #potterhead #hogwarts #wizarding world #one direction #larry stylinson #twilight #50 shades of grey #bella swan #edward cullen #castiel #fanfiction #fanfic #ao3

[true--north]

The Polar Nights, more critique review than I expected + !spoilers and very long post hazard!

My rates of the book: ❄❄❄

First, for everyone who was worried about Elsa and Anna's relationship, now this issue is officially closed: the sisters visit each other, write letters to each other almost every day, Elsa still loves Arendelle and cares about its wellbeing. The sisters are named there as the rulers of the lands, queens, the Snow Queen, the Queen of Spirits, the Queen of People of Arendelle. Once or twice they said they loved each other. There were many phrases that two sisters can do everything etc.

Synopsis.

The Northuldra leave to roam(very conveniently, I should note) , and Elsa stays in Arendelle to help Anna organize her first holiday in the role of the queen-the Meeting of the Polar Night. The events of the book take place two months after the end of F2. Frohana gathers around the campfire to tell scary stories. Kristoff tells stories about Draugr, an undead zombie who can be awakened by telling about him on the night of his death. None of the friends believe in this at first. The scary story:

Fifty years ago, two princess sisters from a neighboring kingdom (similar to Sweden), Cecile and Inger, came to Arendelle. They hated each other, and the younger one, Inger, who was jealous of the older one, killed her by pushing her into the water. After that, Inger was sentenced by Runeard to the galleys or something like that. And Cecile now walks as a rather ugly described zombie with rotting teeth, green slime pouring out, naked ribs etc.

Believed they or not(Elsa felt something), at night Cecile wakes up by Kristoff's mentioning and a terrible blizzard begins, rain and darkness over the kingdom. Besides, everyone is starting to lose their memory, even Elsa. Worse, even her ice magic is weakening. They return to the kingdom and, leaving Kristoff in charge, go to Sorenssen to find out everything about what happened. On the way back, Draugr attacks Anna, howling "sister, my sister." The sisters spend the night in a hut in the woods, and when they come back, they see that Arendellians have only gotten worse, they have almost lost all memory-Kristoff, for example, does not remember that he knows Anna. The sisters go to the trolls and Pabbie tells them that they need to find out everything about Cecile and Inger urgently.

They search in the Secret Room, in the Wael Archive, in Ahtohallan(only Elsa), in the neighboring kingdoms, and in as a result, they find out that Cecile and Inger didn't really hate each other(it was stated that two sisters never can hate each other). Runeard wanted to take a loan for the construction of the dam from their kingdom and Cecile was not against it, because the alliance with Arendelle is important. But Inger couldn't agree, because she immediately realized that the dam is an ecological disaster and she persuaded Cecile to refuse Runeard's ask.

But Cecile accidentally falls into the river and drowns, and Runeard forces the witness to slander Inger in court and sentence her to a floating prison. But Queen Rita saved Inger by secretly giving her to another ship, and Inger eventually becomes a pirate queen. Elsa and Anna meet with her, she turns out to have been looking for Cecile's body all these years. Together they tell the truth everyone in Arendelle, the false witness confesses his evil deed, and Draugr turns into the ghost of Cecile. The sisters embrace and the darkness dissipates, the memory of everyone returns, because Draugr just wanted everyone to forget about the lies that were told about her. It all ends with the opening of a memorial at the site of Cecile's fall into the water.

My opinion.

Poor Arendellians, they are already been in trouble four times, and lost their memory twice 😎

I knew that I shouldn't expect big revelations or Journeys from this book, and so it happened. I lacked epicness, mystical and mythical depth(because it's more Arendelle-centric, and therefore, Anna's story?) I must admit that Benko's Forest of Shadows, although it followed a similar plot with a magic being threatening Arendelle, was deeper, more focused on the moves that happen in life of Anna and Elsa and was focused on Frohana in general, while at the same time properly expanding the Kingdom's borders.

I love the Polar Nights' authors other books–Dangerous Secrets and Twisted Tale, but here I was left a little unsatisfied. For almost the entire book, the sisters briefly traveled around several kingdoms(!) and places alone, from time to time exchanging wholesome phrases about sisterhood with each other (sometimes when they could even not do it. Some things were just weird but were meant to show sisterly love: for example, when Kristoff and Olaf went to their tent, Anna and Elsa just remained standing there smiling at each other.)

At the same time, the rest of the characters are just a shadow against which Anna and Elsa shine. Cecile and Inger are a projection of Anna and Elsa, even they themselves notice this, and Cecile and Inger's importance, the place they occupy in the plot is exaggerated. There was even a phrase that Cecile and Inger are so important to Arendelle (why would they?) and they did so much for their own Kingdom (what they did?) But Anna and Elsa did for theirs, and that's why Cecile and Inger should too. Parallels: Inger understood soils and Anna also liked to listen to reports on the fertility of the Arendelle soils. Cecile was shy as Elsa is shy. Arendelle citizens again were prejudiced against an innocent person, but they were taught a lesson in truth and justice.

The complete absence of Northuldra; one phrase that Ryder, Honeymaren and the others are introducing Elsa to the life of the Forest and that's it. The bunch of new heroes that weren't needed that much are here but the existed cool ones, the found part of the family, are left behind. The cultural appropriation thing? The given limits of the book in order to not spoil the F2 lore and a perspective of F3? They belong only to Lee and Buck? Probably.

I'm not saying this book is bad, I liked the parts of Elsa written by Mancusi (I like her style), but...nothing much for the further development of possible Frozen 3.

The book has a small perspective, I don't know how to describe it better. I dived not deep into its sound, I haven't lost all and haven't found all. The Polar Nights don't breath North the way F2 did.

In the end, there is became too much Cecile and Inger thing and praising of them and their story acquired notes of obsession. I think, it would be better if Runeard was Draugr and Anna and Elsa dealt with his memory once and for all than create completely new Cecile and Inger. I understand that they were created to emphasize Anna and Elsa's sisterhood mirroring them, but there was too much of them in the second part of the Polar Nights.

Perhaps my inflated expectations are to blame at the very beginning, when I just found out that a new book will be released. I knew and felt it coming, but the lack of something elusive and dreamy that still attracts me to Frozen 2 disappointed me in The Polar Nights. On the other hand, it's just a book, not F3.

But my main critique comes to the details of the lore while the story itself remains average nice.

First, Draugr, she was given too much power, it's almost absurdly. After all, this is just an undead zombie, but she was able to hit Elsa's powers, not even allowing her to normally see memories in Ahtohallan. Draugr herself took over Elsa's magic(!) and began shooting ice at her. Isn't that too much for a walking corpse? In general, Elsa's line is weak. It is stated that magic is very much important for her, but why she is more timid than she was two moths ago?

Secondly, the Spirits of the Elements are simply turned into almost ordinary animals who suddenly lost the opportunity to act in their own element because of Draugr or just like that-I didn't completely get it. Excuse me, the Spirit of Air, who participated in the creation of the world and keeps its part of the Nature's balance, cannot stop storm at least for a while-because what? Spirit is the ruler of something, an essence of a thing, after all. There was even a phrase like "ice magic would not help at this moment", and I wanted to say, pardon? The magic of Ahtohallan's ice is what made you control the Spirits in the past, Elsa, wake up from the zombie dream.

There were a lot of what I call artificial difficulties for the plot. At some moments, Elsa seemed to forget that she could use magic to resolve some issues. For example, she could send a letter to Sorenssen and the neighboring kingdoms instead of traveling to them through the rain, or create an ice cart and a living horse-something like she already did in Forest of Shadows. Or Ahtohallan showed her only a fragment of a memory, although she could show everything. But it was necessary to delay the time. Elsa, who swam across the Dark Sea(!), suddenly almost drowns in the river-all to create a parallel with Inger and Cecile. Nokk, the Spirit of Water suddenly needs to freeze water to jump on its surface, although in F2 he did not need it.

And such details that have personally faded my should-be-five-stars impression of the story-I can't rate it by five stars, no matter how much I want to. The stakes made by F2 were too high for me. But I don't want to paint the book in black either, no-it doesn't deserve it, being just a nice little story teaching girls not to lie and love their sisters. There are a dozen quotes and moments that I liked and I will publish them later.

I liked that Anna made progress: at first she continued to behave clingy and nervous, for some reason even capricious, but in the end she finally allowed Elsa to act independently and let the Polar Night Festival be not perfect, because the reason of the celebration is the people, not the ceremony itself.

I liked that Anna and Elsa talked about their childhood.

"You know, we don't often talk about what happened when we were kids," Elsa spoke up. "I understand that it's hard. But if you ever want to...You should know that I won't mind. Sometimes it's useful to look back. The past, even if it wasn't perfect, often helps in the present. Ahtohallan taught me this."

"We have left secrets behind and can speak openly."

"Sometimes I feel terribly sorry for the time that we lost when we were growing up." Anna confessed. "These are my erased memories, and those years when we did not communicate. I should have tried harder to reach you better..."

"I regret it too," Elsa replied. "I needed a sister then. But I pushed you away myself. I was afraid I'd hurt you again. And in the end I did it."

"It wasn't your fault. You were a child, a scared child. How can I blame you for anything? It's good that now you're not afraid of your gift. Magic is an important part of you. You're the Snow Queen. Powerful. Magical. But you will always remain my sister."

Elsa [] She wasn't always worthy of Anna's love, but she was grateful for it.

"And you will always remain my sister, Queen of Arendelle. Believe me, you deserve your title. We cannot change the past. We can only move forward. And create new memories together."

#the polar nights #polar nights #book #elsa and anna #frozen 2 #polar nights: cast into darkness

[fearsmagazine]

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures

SYNOPSIS: Based on a single chapter from Bram Stoker's novel “Dracula,” the film tells the terrifying story of the merchant ship Demeter, which was chartered to carry private cargo—fifty unmarked wooden crates—from Carpathia to London. Strange events befall the doomed crew of the Demeter as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a merciless presence onboard the ship. When the Demeter finally arrives off the shores of England, it is a charred, derelict wreck. There is no trace of the crew.

REVIEW: This project was bouncing around Hollywood for a bit till André Øvredal landed in the directors chair and it set sail. Over the years this chapter of the Stoker novel has been immortalized in several great films that have tackled the “Dracula” novel. In THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER we are introduced to the crew and passengers on the two week sail from Carpathia to London and the rise of Dracula.

Bragi Schut Jr. and Zak Olkewicz’s screenplay is a solid evolution of Stoker’s chapter. They jump right into the tale and the mythology as the Demeter quickly sets out of port. We are given a quick introduction to Clemens, a doctor and a man of science trying to get passage back to England. As the story progresses and we are presented more of his background story he clearly becomes a stand-in for VanHelsing, but a novice. There are a total of eight other men on the ship, a bunch of livestock, and a stowaway, Anna, who is a snack for Dracula. You could easily draw references to a classic haunted house tale or 79’s “Alien.” Other than Clemens and Anna we get a flavor for the other characters and a sense of dynamics of the ship. The film has a classic genre film feel and as such there is no depth of character that emotionally engages the viewer. The plot assumes we bring an awareness of Dracula and the rules. While the viewer might know the rules of the game, clearly these characters do not. I was surprised that Anna, who lived in the village under the shadow of Dracula’s castle, didn’t have anything to offer them to fight the demon. It does treat the material with respect and is a mature horror film that presents some of the issues presented in the novel but never fully embraces them. I think they take a couple of liberties with the vampire rules, but they are exploited in a way that I found ambiguous.

The production values are breathtaking. They built the Demeter’s interior in Germany and the exterior in Malta, and it was set in a water tank that looked out on the ocean. The ocean sequences look as good as any seafaring film with a larger budget. The creature design is a combination of prosthetics and visual effects and looks great, especially how they go about showing it the shadows and darkness, and it evolves. There is just the right amount of blood and gore, after all it is a vampire film, and it looks great. Director André Øvredal, whose credits include “Trollhunter,” “The Autopsy of Jane Doe,” and “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” is a fan and well versed in the cinematic language of the genre and crafts a thrilling and terrifying film. The score is by composer Bear McCreary, whose TV shows such as “The Walking Dead,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Caprica,” and films like “Happy Death Day” and “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” He delivers another amazing composition that enhances the atmosphere and tone of the film.

The film has a solid ensemble cast. Veteran actor Liam Cunningham as Captain Elliot presents a complex character who is thinking beyond the voyage and his future, but still presents the gravitas of a veteran sea captain. Doctor Clemens is played by Corey Hawkins, with credits on the stage and screen. He does a solid job creating the character’s troubled psyche and he is believable as a man of science struggling to deal with this supernatural entity. Actress Aisling Franciosi, who plays Anna, and the young actor Woody Norman, Toby, create these likable characters that offer the viewer the opportunity to feel a little sympathy for them. Both are fighters and I found myself rooting for them right up to their bitter end.

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER is an excellent high seas horror epic that does a terrifying job of expanding this segment of Stoker’s novel “Dracula.” It’s a solid addition to the evolving “Dracula” mythology. I know there are some Stoker and “Dracula” fans and scholars who might be put off by some of the liberties they take in the final act of the film. However, there is enough here and is well written that they should be happy with the majority of the film. Regardless, vampire devotees are sure to love everything about the film and it will be the hot topic of their discussion for the next few weeks.

CAST: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Nikolai Nikolaeff, & Javier Botet. CREW: Director - André Øvredal; Screenplay - Bragi Schut Jr. & Zak Olkewicz; Based on "The Captain's Log" from “Dracula” by Bram Stoker; Producers - Bradley J. Fischer, Mike Medavoy, & Arnold W. Messner; Cinematographer - Tom Stern; Score - Bear McCreary; Editor - Patrick Larsgaard; Production Designer - Edward Thomas; Costume Designer - Carlo Poggioli; Special Effects Makeup - Quantum Creation Inc. & Twilight Creations; Creature Makeup Designer - Göran Lundström; Concept Artist - Daniel Carrasco; Special Effects Supervisor - Uli Nefzer; Special Effects - Patrick Tatopoulos; Visual Effects - RISE Visual Effects Studios, MPC, Firebrand VFX; Halon Entertainment, Jellyfish Pictures, & Onyx VFX; Visual Effects Supervisor - William E. Garrett. OFFICIAL: www.demetermovie.com FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/DemeterMovie/ TWITTER: www.twitter.com/universalhorror TRAILER: https://youtu.be/4J2S6U87mQk RELEASE DATE: In Theaters AUgust 11th, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay), or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

#film review #movie review #the last voyage of the demeter #demeter #bram stoker #dracula #André Øvredal #corey hawkins #liam cunningham #aisling franciosi #horror #vampire #joseph mauceri #joseph b mauceri

[constant-and-immovable]

for when you wake up— I’d very much like to hear your Thoughts on what they could’ve done instead of Racism Island

Fun story, I have no self control so I DID see this last night, or rather early this morning, but I was on the app, and I hate hate hate hate hate typing on my phone.

NOW THAT I'M AT MY LAPTOP.....

Boy oh boy. The Racism Island bit felt like a really really really vague reference to the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea movie, but somehow worse, considering that it's fifty years later. It's the only thing I can figure! I'm not well versed enough in vintage pirate movies to know if that's where the trope originates from or not, since even Muppet Treasure Island did a highly questionable 'island natives' bit too--at least for their take on this ugly trope, they were done with puppets.

And even if the scene was interesting, it would still be gross, but the scenes aren't even interesting. Aside from the ''Jack can talk his way out of anything!...Or not,'' gag that the entire series post-COTBP seemed to want to beat to death, there's no joke? It's all. So. Awkward. Even if all the same scene beats happened in a white village, and it was some Wicker Man-meets-The Lottery kind of sacrifice that the crew had to escape from, it would still be boring.

So I don't understand it? There's no point beyond the cringe racism. Getting rid of surplus extras? Shrinking the crew to bare minimum for sake of writing? A plot hole to try and explain where Anna-Maria went? Fuck that, he got her a boat near the end of the first movie, and she smartly sailed away from all of their drama. I'll accept no other canon, thank you.

Like I said last night, I just end up. Skipping it. Admittedly, "time to go" was one of the many inside joke/movie references that worked its way into my teenage friend group's vernacular back in the day, but it had more to do with line delivery. But skipping it proves something else too: the scene is so fucking long. It's half an hour! What the fuck!

And I have a lot of thoughts as to what they could have done instead.

The crew of the Pearl make landfall on some nameless island. It's neither rich nor poor, pirate nor under the full control of the EITC (historical accuracy? we have zombies, we don't need any of that.). A large portion of the crew proves that they were what pirates were for the most part: men with few choices looking for a way to earn a quick buck. Most of that crew wasn't there at the end of the first film, and considering the run that they had from Norrington (back and forth across the Atlantic! At least once!) they've probably had enough. They leave, and Jack's left with the few who stick around because he thinks they're loyal (they're not, they just would rather keep chancing it with him/with the Pearl than anything else. They've lived through weirder shit.) Pintel and Ragetti could be small time crooks here--or even funnier--respectable shopkeepers. Bookstore clerks, even though neither one of them can read. It would be interesting to follow each of them through the town, get some more perspective on the characters, how they tick. This might bet quieter than the Racism Island but it would be REALLY interesting. Jack floundering on land, weighing his chances of going back to sea or drying up and dying like a fish in the sun.

More details on Will's adventures to find Jack. There's no FUCKING WAY this took less than two or three months--sailing around the islands of the Caribbean is a hat trick of navigation, sailing, and either owning really good (expensive) maps or going off your own experience. Some of the islands are almost impossible to reach by ship and have to be sailed to either by a smaller schooner, or accessed by rowboat. What islands did Will go to? Was he suspect for being a gentleman? He's not upper class, I'd be intrigued to see his recent developed pose as the governor's (almost) son-in-law fade back in favor of the blacksmith's apprentice. Did he ever loosen up a little when he realized he wasn't being watched all the time? Did he feel caught between two worlds, the gentry he was never part of, and the working class he left. He's no pirate! But how did he get along with fisherman, sailors? Wouldn't it be suspicious for someone who walks and talks like a gentleman, dresses like a common man, to be asking about one of most famous pirates of the time?

And this is my personal favorite: I want to see Elizabeth on that merchant ship. I want to see her board a ship shaking with fear and adreneline, steal a man's clothing and hide her dress, cut her hair and throw her curls out a porthole. I want to see her struggle on the ropes because despite dreaming of this as a girl, it's so much harder than it looks. Men asking her if she's never sailed before, her mumbling when necessary but otherwise keeping quiet to hide her voice. Someone asking her age, and her claiming to be a young boy tall for his age. I want to see her maybe get close to a sailor or two--maybe one clocks her, or maybe she clocks her, and another woman hiding among them (or transman! but this is Disney, and more than that I'm assuming I'm rewriting Disney in 2005, so worse) and giving her advice. I want to see her prove her mettle in a storm or a pirate fight, I want to see Elizabeth learn to sail.

Anyway, these are the ideas I always had, but I don't think that Disney would have given any of them a chance, except MAYBE the Will one. They didn't care enough about the secondary characters to give any of them a solo scene that wasn't a joke, didn't want to give any more character depth to Jack, and didn't seem to realize that Elizabeth was equally sharing the story with Jack and Will (even though in my heart she's the main character). I used to wish that they used the time to give us more back story on Davy Jones or how Norrington ended up in Tortuga, but I think it leaving both of them more up to the imagination works for them, and I know we all love Norrington, but I think the plot would have gotten bogged down by making him a fourth main. I think he sits will with Barbossa as 'just behind the main three.' I'm sure there's other bits that could have gone in here instead, or some combination of these three points, or variations on them, and I'd love to hear more "what could have been's" that people have instead of the racist cannibal island garbage.

#potc #dmc

[frie-ice]

This crossover ship collage was inspired by the YouTube video, ❛❛ Destino o Casualidad || Merlin x Anna || (Español latino) by ❦ ᴱᴸᴱᴷᵀᴿᴬ ᴴᴵᴸᴸ. I also saw this ship being featured in another video, ✯ Fifty Shades || MEP || Jelsa || For: Paris y Elsa by 𓆩𖤍𓆪 ᴛʀɪx ᴅᴀʀκ.

#crossover ship #crossover #crossover collage #collage #anna #merlin #frozen #red shoes and the 7 dwarfs #red shoes and the seven dwarfs #anna frozen #frozen anna #anna arendelle #prince merlin #red shoes merlin #rsat7d #rsatsd #merlin x anna #anna x merlin #shipping #non/disney crossover

[timeguardiansarchive]

⭐ (probably don't need to send this but why not? have fun with my fifty-seven official muses 🥰🥰)

The quickest answer is I want to write with ALL of them but I shall endeavor to give you specific dynamics. Keep in mind, this is not an exhaustive list--

Peggy Carter: with your Steve (Romantic dynamics), Soldiersof13 can be any dynamics, any of your muses from the Amazing spiderman, Top Gun, Titanic, Mulan Rouse. And like any verses, I am game for

Susan Pevensie: Broship with LUCY!!!!!!!!! Lord Su loves and adores her sister give them every verse imaginable. Maybe even with Tommy, Desmond or any Soldiersof13, or Eric?

Anastasia Romanov: broships with Gisele, Katniss (cause they both have tragic backstories), broship with Lucy Pevensie? Maybe testing dynamic with Eric?

Ariel: potential ship with Eric? Friendship with Gisele? Maybe an Au of any sort of dynamic with Tommy?

Scout Finch: younger sister dynamic to Katniss? Or to any of your soldiersof13 even if that requires bending the timeline.

Belle: broship with Katniss in any verse, dynamic test with any of your soldiers or Eric, or Nancy Drew blog?

Nancy Drew: any dynamics with your atacfiles and anyone else

Elizabeth Swann: Broship/platonic/familial with Katniss? and any other dynamic with any of your muses who like to be on the water?

Rose Dewitt Bukater: Any dynamic you'd like with Tommy, Broship with Katniss and to really upset her mother Warren Peace dynamics?

Melody: Daughter to Eric? And any other dynamics you want to explore

Missy Cooper: Younger sister to Katniss vibe? and any other muses? And her in a Hunger Games verse

Fem!Poe Dameron: to any maverick or marvel muses and any others

Anna of Arendelle: Broship with Eric and Gisele?

Anna Strong: Broship, Anna as protective elder sister vibe towards Katniss??? And any others you might like?

Samuel Tallmadge: BROSHIP WITH DESMOND!!! Broship with STEVE??? And your other soldiers????

#answered ask #*GRABBY HANDS FOR EVERY DYNAMIC* #mockingjaybroken #cause I absolutely adore you #I probably MISSED sooooo many

[writer59january13]

Incomplete metamorphosis of distilled adolescent...

therefore he characterizes himself as an anomaly...any idea why?

Mortified, petrified, stultified, et cetera sheltered,

and mortally wounded prepubescent,

I consider myself analogously buttressed, cocooned, garrisoned (for bing keeler), hardened, insulated, where cell baited jumping frog o' Montgomery County ne'er went leaving larvae stage,

now no divine providential power can assuage,

yours truly metaphorically locked within invisible iron bound cage

every occasion to shower validates steep wage

permanently doled out, yet tis futile to rage against this human machine i.e. body dielectric rampage clocking three scored

orbitz chronological gauge

forever fixed feigned fodder, when unlived uber story of mein kampf writ faint chicken scratch final page

gin hated anorexic regressive toddling cribbage

deadly game of mine Life pampered

post infancy attended

Aladdin (a lad in) his hermitage late childhood marriage

with grim reaper as coefficient co-inhabitant

feasting emaciated lovely bones

verily scrawny, puny, and nerdy, yea easy to lyft

courtesy lost livingsocial scrimmage

trademark spindleshanks -

stagnant embarrassingly useless two legged equipage at childhood's end..., me skinny package then weighing, eh no more'n half dozen stone,

these days when undressing to wash forced to espy physical

Homo sapiens wreckage

constant visual reminder

this spare rankled, stunted,

tendered ship of state, yours truly nah oh sage

enlightenment gleaned i.e. 20/20 hindsight kickstarted quickened, leveraged, mortgaged...,

principly unbalanced worthiness

anatomical disparity

impossible mission to salvage

accounting rent permanently askew fixed APR rendered amortization sabotage

irreversible penalty suffrage

escaping serfdom volunteering self as webbed vassalage

til death do me part.

Subsequently, his female persona pacified, but Willy Wonka who could offer

the golden ticket

to the chocolate factory

(and provide restitution

to mine childhood,

whereat I could select

the road not taken

setting me on a course

to healthy maturation

of body, mind, and spirit)

honest to dog housed somewhere in Philly within himself aptly, coed gently, optimally, suitably, verily, wonderfully called Anna Milly,

which readership reception might surprisingly please Billy me not intended tubby icy cold nor chilly...

After chugging, guzzling, sipping, quaffing... wine

bitter to this teetotaling (pharmacological medication dependent) tongue as quinine

undoubtedly equally unpalatable getting pricked with rusty nine inch nails, (thank you Trent Reznor) analogous to being crucified (been there done that)

inebriated self actualization regarding mine

mental clarity crossed

figurative thin blue line

abnormality dawned inside fifty shades of gray matter marinated these long years in brine,

which realization bubbled, fizzled, nudged, plastered, eventually spurred bile lent reflux

in short shrift generating poem without rhyme, reason, but essentially drivel concocted blimy verse unarguably asinine.

Just bear with me and

swallow this poetic bunk,

no matter (ah mint) absolute zero vodka drunk,

nor other alcoholic beverage (amber liquid of the dog gods) downed, despite feeling in deep purple funk

cuz that would wreak havoc courtesy grapes of

wrath fermented gunk

very little liquor necessary to plaster laughingstock (sand thrown in these myopic eyes) by any best buy, garden variety, home depot hunk treating me like unwanted, outdated, and housed née cooped (with toys in the attic) junk

enshrouded himself covered with dust evokes monk.

Quickly, mostly easily forgotten about

elapse of time promoted doubt

regarding, weekday, month, year... and purposeless either to twist or shout cuz pervasive fishy developmental gill tee subservience deeply affected him while trout fishing in America.

[donnellyworm]

Companies Saps South African Police Service

Gqeberha endocrinologist Dr Gregory Hough has been suspended from practising as a doctor for 18 months, reviews HeraldLIVE. He was discovered responsible by the Health Professions’ Council of SA on 5 counts of misconduct, together with sexual assault. Dr Gregory Hough Port Elizabeth 33 Privateers had been private merchant vessels authorised by or on behalf of the Crown by means of letters of marque to arm themselves and to seize enemy ships and goods as prizes. Given their - if not similar then certainly overlapping - jurisdictions in maritime issues, it's not shocking that the British Vice-Admiralty Court at the Cape got here into conflict with the native Court of Justice. Even after the institution of the Vice-Admiralty Court, the Court of Justice dealt incidentally - or possibly not so incidentally - with several vessels, together with some prize vessels which had been both additionally, or which extra correctly belonged, earlier than the Vice-Admiralty Court.41This conflict was exacerbated by the truth that the two institutions applied totally different laws and followed completely different procedures. However, it got here to a head only after the Second British Occupation42 and was never considered a problem serious enough to require specific consideration through the period under consideration. Although the last consignment of slaves, from the Collector, was confiscated by the Court of Justice and Hogan needed to repay the money he had acquired from the gross sales of the earlier ones, nothing more happened to him. Even though he had sought to persuade the authorities that he was not aware of the dealings of Smart and had genuinely thought that the slaves have been lawful prize items, there was little doubt about his involvement, but still he was not prosecuted. His captain, Smart, fled from the Cape when the inquiry was launched and before he might be prosecuted, and was declared an outlaw and banished from the colony. A particular commission of inquiry by the Court of Justice was reluctantly appointed by Governor Yonge to research the matter. After sitting from sixteen to 21 April, it discovered, on proof presented by Fiscal WS van Ryneveld, that the Vice-Admiralty Court had been deceived by false documentation and untruthful witnesses and that the Collector's transactions had been illegal. 55 For particulars of these native letters of marque, see NA, HCA 49/23, listing the authorised vessels with their commanders. Included have been two belonging to the local firm of Walker & Robertson, and several vessels owned or co-owned by the controversial native service provider Michael Hogan . 38 See, eg MT "Argun" v Master and Crew of the MT "Argun" SA 1 at 11 where, having referred to the fact that the civilian practitioners of Doctors' Commons had the monopoly of Admiralty follow within the High Court of Admiralty in London , the Court concluded that a procedural rule of civil legislation would have utilized in Admiralty courts (including in Vice-Admiralty courts) within the absence of any legislative provision indicating the contrary. As many as 80% of patients affected by sleep apnoea prior to surgical procedure, saw a remission or decision in their condition. Hough, who has been living in Pietermaritzburg since November, listened to the sentencing proceedings just about last week. In July he was found responsible on 4 counts of sexual assault and certainly one of performing a sexual examination without a glove. He was suspended by the HPCSA in September last yr after a minimal of 4 of his former patients laid complaints of improper conduct with the HPCSA. fifty seven See, eg, 6 Dec 1800 Cape Town Gazette ; 1 Mar 1801 Cape Town Gazette (account of sales of the L 'Eleonore and of the cargo of the Ladoiska); 30 Jan 1802 Cape Town Gazette (account of gross sales of several prizes, including the L 'Anna, La Diane, La Charlotte, the Courier de Seychelles, and Les Deux Cousines). A sexual assault criticism has been laid with the police against a prime Port Elizabeth specialist by one of his patients... Update your itemizing Manage your listing at your personal time and convenience through the use of our online self-service portal.Lost your password? “Obesity has reached epidemic proportions, adversely impacting the lives of an estimated two billion folks worldwide. It is a medical rather than a lifestyle problem, and ought to be handled as such,” says Dr Greg Hough, an endocrinologist who heads up the multi-disciplinary bariatric team at Netcare Greenacres Hospital in Port Elizabeth. He had then sent a first consignment house in the two vessels he had purchased, and transported a later consignment there in the Collector. Given that there was then a scarcity of labour on the Cape, the introduction of slaves on this style meant that they might acquire eager prices. If the Vice-Admiralty Court escaped comparatively unscathed from its confrontation with the colonial government in the Angelique matter, its conduct within the second of the notorious prize matters, the Collector affair,seventy six did its reputation infinitely more hurt and exposed it to extreme criticism. It was a matter by which the Court displayed an incredible naivety in failing to recognise an clearly doubtful if not unlawful scheme for the importation of slaves into the Cape. The naval captor, Captain Losack of the L 'Oiseau, in flip pointed out that there can be unnecessary expense, detrimental to whoever would finally be adjudged by the Court to be entitled to the proceeds of the sale of the ship and her cargo, but Dundas threatened to confiscate the whole cargo if it were not instantly re-shipped.

#Dr Gregory Hough Port Elizabeth

[genesbolly]

✧ fifty of my ships ✧

fourty one :

donna paulsen and harvey specter

suits

#the last series really was a blessing #it was what we deserved after so many serious of them pining after each other 🥺 #suits #donna paulsen #harvey specter #darvey #sarah rafferty #gabriel macht #fifty of anna's ships

[c-is-for-circinate]

The Mighty Nein have exactly three ways of dealing with enemies, and that is so fascinating to me.

Befriend.  Between Essek and Isharnai, this has been pretty front-and-center lately, but it’s not actually a recent development.  The M9 have been cozying up to potential threats and making nice as far back as Zadash, when they first discovered the Gentleman’s operations and then promptly decided to go to work for him.  It happens in Hupperdook, when they spend all day swearing bloody murder and hunting down the pickpockets who robbed them, and then promptly adopt four more children and nearly die getting their parents out of prison.  It happens in the Bright Queen’s throne room, when they walk into the innermost heart of the nation they’ve been told for fifty sessions is their enemy, and become heroes of the Dynasty.  There’s a tribe of giants who owe them their home and their gratitude and a band of no-longer-bandits who owe them their lives and their pants-wetting terror, because sometimes that is just how the M9 roll. There are so few people this party actually has a stake in killing.  Monsters, whatever, needs must, but like--who the hell are they to judge?  (The first monsters and enemies they ever made friends with, after all, were each other.)

All-out slaughter.  When the Nein do decide they really want to kill someone, they fucking go for the jugular.  True, murder is pretty standard in D&D, but the Nein often throw both caution and reason out the window when something hits their kill button.  This is almost everything about the pirate arc, starting that day in Nicodranas where they tried to talk threateningly to two guys and ended up committing domestic terrorism and then also murdering their way into ownership of a ship, ending that time they got kicked off Pirate Island in less than 24 hours because they decided to rend Avantika asunder the first instant they had the chance.  It’s their entire brief enmity with Lorenzo--they would not wait, they would not plan, they would not stop, and they would not under any circumstances, no matter what Matt wanted of planned, let him go. Hell, this is how ‘prank call Essek in the middle of a dinner party’ turned into ‘paralyze, kidnap, and interrogate’ in the first place.  This group does not do long games if they can possibly help it.

Absolute avoidance.  There are, sometimes, enemies the Nein dislike too much to befriend and aren’t strong enough to kill.  U’kotoa.  Trent Ikithon.  These opponents are relatively rare, because the Nein do absolutely everything player-ly possible to distance themselves from them at every opportunity.  Don’t want to unleash an immense immortal sea serpent?  Fuck just saying ‘no’, we’re headed to the opposite side of the continent from the ocean, and then we’re going to yeet that magic sword directly into a volcano for good measure.  You can’t threaten or blackmail me. This party is very, very good at avoidance on both a personal and collective level.  So much of the early game was built around getting the fuck away from the entire concept of war and law in general, once upon a time.  They have all of them stayed away from their own families, steering clear around Felderwin and Kamordah until they couldn’t any more, putting off visiting the Menagerie, sleeping on the boat instead of going back to Marion’s for one more night.  They run away from their own pasts and selves and inner demons.  They are not all entirely fond of mirrors.

The thing is, I’m always so fascinated by the moments when the party seems to surprise or vex Matt by derailing his plans, and while he’s generally so proud of them for it, what I’m thinking about tonight is his endless, futile attempts to give them a fucking nemesis already. I’m thinking about why it just keeps not working.  And I think it’s this!

This three-pronged approach to dealing with enemies, avoid-befriend-destroy, is basically a three-step guide to making sure you don’t have enemies any more.  In fact, I would say not-having-enemies-anymore is one of the highest priorities the M9 hold, and it has been, almost accidentally, since before the game even started.  The M9 have since the very beginning played what I can only describe as an extraordinarily defensive game.  They don’t go looking for trouble unless it’s specifically connected to some immediate threat to themselves or someone else.  The handful of mercenary contracts they’ve taken have almost universally been about, “hey, let’s do this thing for the Gentleman so he doesn’t decide to mistrust and kill us,” or, “let’s do this thing for the Gentleman so we can get the fuck out of town before they start conscripting to fight the Krynn Dynasty,” or, “hey, let’s do this thing for the Krynn Dynasty so they don’t decide to mistrust and kill us.”

And it’s not about trying to thwart Matt!  It’s about a party of characters who are all extremely defensive and avoidant in their own ways.  Some of it’s about the sheer trauma of everything to do with Molly, and some of it’s probably about the sheer trauma of everything to do with Vax and Raishan and Anna Ripley and every C1 mistake or villain that ever came back to haunt them, and some of it’s just baked into these new characters.  Everyone in this party is so fucking hurt and defensive before they even start.  The only thing that’s changed so far is the bit-by-bit careful broadening of their circle of ‘who to protect’ to include each other, and their friends, and maybe more or less half the world.

The one exception here is, of course, Obann, who has them on the ropes for almost 20 episodes--who they could not kill, and tried, and he had Yasha and they could not possibly join or befriend him, and he had Yasha and they could never forgive or ignore him, and he had Yasha and they could not kill him.  And the thing is, all I can remember right now is how painful so much of that arc was.  Everybody was so desperate.  Everybody was so miserable.  And still, and still, they could not think how to go around this problem any back way, could not recruit allies or head it off.  They could only just distract themselves with brief side quests in hopes that it might help them next time they hurled themselves head-first into trying all-out slaughter again, and again, and again.  It wasn’t like the Chroma Conclave.  They didn’t back out of the first desperate battle and decide to take the long way around on purpose, to measure and trick and evaluate and gather specific resources and plan.  They were so utterly lost.  They were so desperate.

I think that probably, Matt’s hope for Essek was indeed that he’d become the party’s long-term nemesis that Lorenzo and Avantika didn’t have the chance to be.  I think he was hoping the other night for Essek to get away and leave them all feeling suspicious and betrayed.  I think he was hoping a month or two ago that the M9 would head off away from the peace talks and never even find out about Essek until he tried to call in some of those favors for increasingly suspicious things or it all came back around to bite them in the ass.  I think he hoped for a very long time, maybe even a year ago when they met Essek in the first place, that this traitorous mole would become their Anna Ripley--the cold dark super-intelligent mirror to their own broken super-intelligent knifeblade of a friend, someone they could loathe and fear and despise and eventually, eventually destroy.

But the M9 don’t do nemeses if they have any way whatsoever to help it.  Good luck, Matt.  Pretty sure for this crew it is Trent Ikithon and U’kotoa and Tharizdun himself, and absolutely nobody else is big or bad enough for them to actually run up against for more than a single rematch, unless you get real fucking creative.

#CR spoilers #driveby meta attack #critical role

[etirabys]

I’m up to S3 in The Expanse and have Bobbie/Avasarala thoughts. Copied from Discord:

Bobbie/Avasarala such an interesting novel dynamic to me, and thinking about them is carving out a new archetype in my brain, which is not a sensation I'm used to in my late twenties after a decade plus in fandom. I tend to D/s-ship most of my pairings and I just can't do it with Bobbie/Avasarala at all. They're both bossy as fuck. There's the agegap but it's not obviously transmutable into the normal-to-me sexy agegap dynamics

A lot of my ships could easily veer into codependence and I like that, but this one can't – they are such obviously complete people on their own. Maybe Avasarala more than Bobbie. They have different life projects going on.

Avasarala to Bobbie is an individual symbol that there are people in power who are ~non-insane. Bobbie's personal experiences might have led her to walk away from serving greater structures because she thinks they're all rotten. Avasarala is right there being kind of, well, a complicated but good person!

B to A – I think Bobbie really catches A's attention when she defects. Bobbie is a very, very loyal person, and seeing her defect for her principles must have been striking. A is probably lowkey starved for moral individuals around her that make sense to keep around her? She can find them, but I don't see her recruiting e.g. Anna Volovodov, because Anna isn't useful.

Bet they are COMPLETELY NOT EACH OTHER'S NORMAL TYPES. This is a ship where early 2000s fandom "I'm not gay except" is TOTALLY APPROPRIATE. Well, Bobbie seems bisexual in an emotionally uncomplicated way but Avasarala is still an out of the blue crush. Avasarala hasn't bothered to think about her sexuality since getting married and in politics. They're both pretty 'wtf' about each other.

Haven’t quite figured out how they'd fuck.

I bet Avasarala hasn't slept with a new person in like decades. Possibly she's had a very small number of discreet flings approved by her husband – or not? – but she values her political career too much to have done it often, and it was a pleasure she gave up without much thought when she hit her forties or fifties... her confidence probably doesn't extend to newperson sex these days. Can't imagine her unconfident, though.

(after thinking about it a bit) Avasarala is the one who's ferally horny to be railed by the Martian soldier and Bobbie is the one who's like "what if... she put her hair down... and I touched it"

Don't want to shy away from the fact that Avasarala is definitely not the young musclebound type that Bobbie's used to fucking, and Bobbie probably goes through a lot of internal oscillation of "am I into this? No, I'm really not! Unless?? No, I shouldn't be into this. Think hard about how wrinkled she is and how much I don't want to bang her. Definitely don't want to bang her. She probably feels leathery. How leathery, though? Does she still get wet? I fucking refuse to google this. STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. Besides, she has no muscle on her. Don't know if I can get it on with someone if they're not bulky in the arms. She's probably super frail. Oh my god, she's super frail. Her arms are so thin. Her neck is so thin. Honestly, her neck looks pretty soft? It's definitely not a young person neck but I can see myself nuzzlin – STOP THAT BOBBIE. Saggy tits. Think about saggy tits. Wonder if her nipples are sensitive."

#rambl #the expanse #bobbie/avasarala

[lifewouldbebetteronmars]

lifewouldbebetteronmars’s Master List

These are mostly Thomastair, Joshwood, Gracetopher, and The Real Found Family™️

Thomastair and TLH Gang Fic Ideas

Fluff Prompts

Angst Prompts

Ships That Can Be Requested

Fic Request Reminders

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@meadow-of-rye - Naming Blog

The Last Hours Fics

Castle Towers Fall (Alastair is a Verlac™️ fic)

Just For A Moment (Missing scene from Castle Towers Fall)

Seasons of Love (Modern AU; Alastair dies, Thomas reminisces)

We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Modern AU; Christmas Card Inspired)

Always On My Mind (Thomas slips up while at Devil’s Tavern)

Everything is Blue (Modern AU; Alastair dyes his hair, Thomas loves it)

Mauve Is The Absolute Worst Color To Exist (Alastair hates the color mauve)

Where’s My F*cking Teenage Dream (Modern AU; based on “brutal” by Olivia Rodrigo)

Doubt Comes In (Modern AU; Thomastair)

You Were Just A Small Bump (Modern AU Gracetopher; Please read the trigger warnings)

The Left-Me-Wanting-More Feeling (When She Kissed Me) (Modern AU; Joshwood)

Charlie Boy (aka what should’ve happened to Charles in COI)

And Someone Will Love You (But Someone Isn’t Me) (Post-COI, new snippet theory)

I Still Remember The Third of December (sequel to And Someone Will Love You)

And I Got A Boyfriend; He’s Older Than Us (Modern AU; Alastair and Thomas meet again at a gay club)

Me And My Husband, We’re Doing Better (Modern AU; Please read the trigger warnings)

The War Outside Our Door Keeps Raging On (Sequel to Me And My Husband; Read the trigger warnings please)

Can We Skip To The Good Part? (Thomastair Angst; One dies and the other has to learn to live on their own)

Fire On Fire Would Normally Kill Us (Firefighter!Thomas AU)

Atticus (Pt. 1) (Theory time 😈)

Are We Too Wounded Now To Ever Come Down? (Modern AU; Risa snaps at Sona)

Would You Like To Hear My Story, Filomena? (Twilight AU; Please read the trigger warnings)

My Love Has The Power To Keep You Tied Down (Twilight AU; Sequel to Would You Like To Hear My Story, Filomena?)

Your Sugar Still Burns; Your Love Still Hurts (Modern AU; Filogenie Angst)

I Dropped Your Hand While Dancing (Thomastair set to Taylor Swift)

Kiss Him Goodbye (Thomastair; angst, if you didn’t already know)

You Bring Me Home, Sweet Creature (Modern AU; Alastair with a hint of Joshwood)

You See Me As Your Lifeline (Sequel to And I Got A Boyfriend)

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful Boy (Theory Time Pt.2 😈😈)

I’ll Die Like Dylan Thomas (Modern AU)

It’s Your Bed, Babe, It’s Your Funeral (Modern AU; Sequel to Are We Too Wounded Now To Ever Come Down?)

I’ll Cry You A River (Then Drown You In It) (Modern AU; Thomastair Angst, you all know the drill)

The Kingdom Will Fall For A Song (Hadestown AU; Lucelia)

Water Fountain (Post-COI; Anna featuring Joshwood)

If I Catch Fire, Then I’ll Change My Aim (Carry On AU; Please read the trigger warnings)

You Used To Love Christmas (Modern AU; Angstmas Finale)

A Rose And A Princess (Thomastair)

I Love You, But… (Thomastair)

No One’s Ever Gonna Hurt You, Love (Thomastair)

You Stopped My Heart From Fifty Feet (Thomastair; First day of Fluffbruary)

I Live For You, I Long For You, Esfandiyār (Thomastair, ft. Cordelia and Baby Carstairs)

There’s A Tea Party Along Down The Road (Thomastair, ft. Soraya Lightwood-Carstairs)

The Man Who’s Gonna Marry You (TLH Hadestown AU; Thomastair)

We Made A Garden Of The Love We Found (Sona x Risa, ft. Jordelia and Thomastair)

A Soldier’s Coming Home (Thomastair, Military AU)

I Could Be A Better Boyfriend Than Him (Lucelia, Herondale sibling/Jordelia angst)

Darling, You Mean The Whole Wide World To Me (Thomastair fluff, featuring babies)

I Have Emotional Motion Sickness (Carstairs Sibling Angst)

Remember Me Each Time You Hear A Sad Guitar (Thomastair Angst™️)

Before I Say Goodbye, My Star in the Sky (Thomastair, A/B/O AU Angst)

But You Show Up Today, Just To Ruin Things (Charlestair Angst, Read Trigger Warnings)

Everyone Hail To The Pumpkin King (Modern AU; Thomastair costume fluff)

How Many Miles To Wonderland? (Modern AU; Gracetopher costume fluff)

Her Exes Say She’s Wicked (Modern AU; Lucelia costume fluff)

I Know My Girlfriend Is A Witch (Modern AU; Joshwood costume fluff)

Hold Me Steady When I’m Freaking Out (Thomastair Angst; Between COI and COT)

My Time, My Wine, My Spirit, My Trust (My first Matthew fic!!! Angst)

I Always Felt I Must Look Better In Rearview (Thomastair angst; prompt based)

Friends Don’t Look At Friends That Way (Lucelia Angst; ft. Grace and Kit)

To The Brilliant, Kindhearted, Tortured Alastair Carstairs (Evelyn Hugo AU; Alastair and Kamala)

Hey Jude, Don’t Be Afraid (Matthew Fairchild, TLH A/B/O AU)

I Think He Did It But I Just Can’t Prove It (Did he do it? READ THE TRIGGER WARNINGS)

(I Stayed There) Dust Collected On My Pinned Up Hair (Grace and Thomas grieve Christopher)

I Swear Sixteen Was Yesterday (But Now I’m Closed To Twenty-Eight) (A look at two birthdays in Alastair Carstair’s life)

You Did Some Bad Things But I’m The Worst of Them (Alastair kind of sucks in this one)

The Infernal Devices Fics

If I Could Trade His Life For Mine (Sophideon Angst, ft. Thomas)

Ask Games and Tips

Tarot Ask Game (Still accepting asks!)

Writing Tips (To be added; can be requested)

Pick A Number, Get A Quote From My WIP (Have fun!)

Book Rec Ask Game (Always accepting asks!)

Playlists

Alastair Carstairs As A Villain

Masterlists/Indexes

TLH Tattoo Shop AU Index (Modern AU)

Riley’s Angst Wars Masterlist (Incomplete; Updated Regularly)

Angstmas Masterlist 2021 (Completed)

Fluffbruary Masterlist 2022 (Incomplete; Abandoned)

Summer of Angst 2022 (Complete)

Costume Party Fics 2022 (Complete)

Angstmas Masterlist 2022 (Incomplete; Abandoned)

Angstmas Days of Summer 2023 Masterlist (Complete)

Villain!Alastair/Morally Grey!Thomas AU Masterlist (incomplete)

Hadestown AU (Incomplete; out of order)

TLH A/B/O AU (incomplete; in progress)

#the last hours #alastair carstairs #thomas lightwood #thomastair #kamala joshi #eugenia lightwood #joshwood #grace blackthorn #christopher lightwood #gracetopher

[cristobalrios]

All of them. All of the joy. Spread it. Fuck you. <3

Spread the Love! Meme | Accepting!

This is an aggressive request to spread joy, but. I will take it.

Also, here's the jerk :p person who requested all of them I mentioned earlier.

1. What's a roleplay blog whose characterization you admire?

So we only have one thread but @therapardalis Thera is fun and honestly what Cris needs at this point in his storyline. He's in an extremely reclusive part of his life and Thera has quite honestly an excellent balance of light conversation ("light" as in small/not delving into details, not content-wise)/asking (and answering) questions and not pushing for details even though he's clearly got some Stuff going on. It's good for him to meet someone like Thera and know he's not the only person going through this kind of thing, and would be more so if/when he learns a bit more about her story and obviously their stories are not identical but they're similar enough in certain ways that it'll be good for him and make him feel less alone.

2. What's a roleplay blog whose writing style you admire?

@agnespjurati (@talvenhenki) Orion, both for Agnes when they RP her and the fics they've written. Also, I know this is stepping out of the RP sphere but shout out to @procrastinatorproject because I adore Lili's fics<3

3. What's a roleplay blog who always has the best plot ideas?

I'm saying Dean @assasenach again because we have the most threads and we talk ooc about ideas/headcanons all the time every day, so.

4. What's a roleplay blog whose artwork/edits/icons you admire?

@musikcr Nix! We just started following each other but her blog is so pretty, honestly. Like I said when I reblogged your promo, your edits are gorgeous.

@heartfledged Sarah's blog is ridiculously gorgeous and also her art is beautiful, whenever she'd post her stuff in the Discord I would have heart eyes. So pretty.

@assasenach Dean has great taste in aesthetic and it's simple compared to the other two mentioned but clean, efficient and pleasing, and I always like the edits he makes.

5. What's the roleplay blog you've been writing with the longest here?

Yeah obviously obviously that's Logan @manenimittliv, February was our, what? 7th anniversary of the first interaction between our first ship Erik/Anna with my Phantom blog @princeofconjurers and their OC (we'd interacted a little bit before that with their Raoul but that was like, a week or something before that, and then at sometime even before that very briefly with their version of Christine's father Gustave Daae but I didn't realize that until sometime later that that was also their blog). We've jumped multiple fandoms together and we pretty much autoship. They're my bff and the only originally online friend I've ever gotten to meet irl (three times) and I love them to death<3

6. What's a roleplay blog who's an absolute joy to talk to ooc?

The people I talk to ooc the most are @manenimittliv Logan and @assasenach Dean my current bffs so obviously I adore talking to them ooc (although I wouldn't say Dean is "joyful" talking to him does make me happy, so before you say anything, shush). I've primarily been talking with @iamselfmade PJ out of character but we're RPing now too but yeah, he's great and I love doing streams with him. I said Serena @empathicstars already for the "friendly mun" thing which honestly this question is rather similar to so maybe I should save some people for that question below, slkdjf

7. What's a roleplay blog you love whose character you didn't know until you started writing with them?

Well, besides OCs, I'm not currently RPing with any canon characters I did not previously know the character before I RPed with them, but I'll say Vasher back when Sarah @heartfledged RPed him on @cosmoshearted (which I would still love to continue/redo if/when you ever revive him as you've said you might do in the past, as well as the stuff with Resool, and I'm always up for stuff with Av<3). I did not know anything about that fandom but it turns out my brother-in-law loves it and he got my mom to start reading those books and I'm just like oh! I've heard of that! That's where Vasher is from (I realized it because my mom mentioned Kelsier who I also heard of from Sarah too) and I will get around to reading it at some point, I promise.

Also, PJ made a blog of a character I don't know and followed me on it and we talked about him and Elnor doing something so I'm gonna put @fifty-one-doc here too

Shout out to the OCs who of course I didn't know until I started writing with them but who I love, Anna @manenimittliv, Lorian/Paris previously Sylar @assasenach, Ellie @mclti, Manny @perfection-reached, Thera @therapardalis, Cheryl @ckingsbury1967, Av @heartfledged, any and all of my friends' OCs! Those are just the ones I'm RPing with rn. Give me all the OCs, I love them.

8. What's a roleplay blog with a friendly mun?

Dany hasn't really been RPing anymore but @empathyvslogic still counts. @heartfledged Sarah is great too. Jeanette @ltbroccoli, Logan @manenimittliv (yes I'm mentioning you again), Jamie @livedtough / @quantumstarpaths, Courtney @starsdestined, Eros @tongowheel, Hope @astraldestiny, Fool @strings-have-been-cut, Gin @alyafae, so many people I'm sure I'm missing some (as well as the ones mentioned above). Honestly everyone is friendly and I love all my mutuals<3

9. What's a roleplay blog whose dedication you admire?

So I've answered this question several times now but I know I did not include @mclti when I talked about multis and though I only roleplay with Ellie, Spyro deserves a mention for that "multis are so dedicated" thing I talked about here. I'm sure I'm missing things again too, but yeah. <3

Also, again I have to do a shout out to Lili even though it's still not RP because @mappinglasirena is a beautiful project and although it's technically more for fics, since that's what Lili writes, I as a Cris and Holo Squad RPer use it too, for RP purposes, so I say it counts as an RP resource blog like I did with the directory. And Lili is dedicated to this and I am here for it. I love our conversations about the tiny little details dearly.

10. What's a roleplay blog that always keeps you pleasantly surprised?

As other people have mentioned, this is kind of a weird question but I'm gonna go with Dean @assasenach. I'm not surprised by anything Dean does anymore, so "keeps" me pleasantly surprised isn't exactly right (although it is for certain things like whenever he compliments me I'm like ????) but this is here because the ship caught me by surprise. Like, OC/Canon (with me playing the canon) is my sweet spot when it comes to ships I fixate on, but I did not know they'd be shipped together until Dean posted a short fic about Cris and Raffi talking about then Sylar but now Lorian, Raffi asking Cris why he accepted his reassignment and Cris asking her what "t'hy'la" means and I was like Oh. Oh I like this, they're really cute (Note: I was already really liking their thread before Dean posted that fic, they had a great dynamic and chemistry and I was here for it) and now we're here.

11. What's a roleplay blog you admire from afar?

Good question. Umm, I'm going to say Jamie @livedtough / @quantumstarpaths because we've talked plenty ooc and we're in several Discords together, I love Jamie, but we haven't actually RPed together and I would love to change that at any time (we have talked about some things in the past throwing ideas around just never got to writing them).

Kame @cadetxtilly / @maldonadonco again we're in a Discord together and ze's really sweet but we haven't RPed, so

And just. Anyone in the Discords I'm active in that I have yet to RP with/have only RPed with a little bit. I love all of you.

#positivity #long post

[the-hilda-librarians-wife]

A Familiar Soul - Chapter Three

Summary: Hilda decides to be completely honest with her mother, surprised when she seems to be a lot more in on magic than Hilda had expected her to be.

With her daughter’s association with witches, Johanna is forced to face some secrets of her own, bringing her back to feelings and people she’d rather have left behind

Dealing with insecurities and inner demons of her own, Kaisa finds herself face to face with the very issues that brought her to be so displeased with her own abilities

Or: the one where Johanna is Kaisa’s familiar

Notes: I tried my best not to make Johanna’s parents downright abusive again but... that whole “this isn’t the sort of mum I wanted to be” breakdown Johanna had in The Fifty Year Night wasn’t something someone who grew up with good parents would do, I think. Hope you enjoy it!

Read it on ao3: (chpt1) (chpt2) (chpt3)

“Yep, this is certainly magical business just like you suspected, Frida. You can close your mouth now.”

At the librarian’s command, David closed his mouth and swallowed, feeling the bitter taste that arose every time he did so. He had been with his friends in the woods for a leaf identifying Sparrow Scout activity when he ate a berry that had evoked the most bizarre reaction from his body. Purple bubbles the same colour as the berry had sprouted on his tongue and made it feel like a dead slug inside his mouth, and as soon as the girls had taken a look at it they’d decided to go ask Kaisa what her opinion on the matter was.

“Am I going to die?” He whispered fearfully. David knew he could trust magic when it came from Frida, but aside from that his experience with it so far had been less than pleasant. Kaisa blew raspberry and swept a hand on the air, as if to brush his concerns away.

“You’ll be fine, don’t worry.”

The librarian turned her back to them and continued calmly typing on her computer behind the circulation desk, like she’d been doing when they arrived. Judging by the books on the counter, they assumed she was taking note of which tomes had been returned that day.

“Well?” Hilda shared a look with Frida as she asked. “What happened to him?”

The way Kaisa looked back at them and then to the side was uncharacteristic. She seemed to be battling with herself about whether or not she should answer them, which only made David worry that he was, indeed, going to die.

“He ate the berries of a bush protected by the fae people.” She explained at last, looking not at them but at the computer screen. “Terrible idea.”

“And how do we undo it?” Hilda stepped closer to the counter. The librarian placed her hand on top of one of the books, biting her bottom lip as she did so. Though she might not like Johanna, Kaisa wanted to respect her wishes as Hilda’s mother, and giving them what they needed very much went against them. It was the way Hilda was looking at her, with wide and hopeful eyes, that made her throw caution to the wind and give her the book. If the girl’s first reaction to disaster was looking for some random witch and not her mother, that was on Johanna.

“The potion is on page 63. It’s simple to brew, Frida shouldn’t have any trouble. Oh, and just for good measure, go back to the bush and place an offering on the ground for the faeries. They’ll enjoy anything sweet or shiny, as long as it’s not iron.”

“Thanks, Kaisa!” Hilda smiled up at her as she handed Frida the potions book. “You’re the best!”

The trio ran out of the library together, hoping to get started on their tasks as soon as possible. Until the doors closed behind them, Kaisa could hear Hilda talking about how she could handle the offering while her witch brewed the potion. She sighed and allowed herself to fall back against her chair, her head on her hands as she breathed deep.

The girl was too much like her mother.

_#_#_#_

It had been an extremely risky move on her part, but Johanna arrived safely on the ground. The palms of her hands were stinging from gripping her makeshift rope so tightly, and she looked up at the string of clothes she’d tied together in order to allow herself out of her room on the second floor of her house. As soon as her feet touched the earth, her best friend sighed in relief behind her.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Kaisa asked. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

Johanna turned to face the young witch with a bright smile. Since the day they’d met each other in the woods two years before, they’d been inseparable. And Johanna wasn’t about to let that change.

“A three pm curfew is ridiculous and you know it. I’m not letting you go on a cool magical adventure without me, Kai. Besides, they won’t even be home! I’ll be fine.”

Kaisa sighed. She had to admit Johanna’s curfew, as well as every other limitation her parents gave her, were very strict, but how fair something was or not didn’t change the fact that Johanna would be punished if she got caught. At least she knew Johanna was quite good at this: she knew exactly what to do to not be seen having fun. It was around this time in the afternoon that Kaisa got invited over to Johanna’s house to play on most days, since the girl knew her sitter would be too busy watching her soap opera to notice her sneaking another child in the house. Besides, it wasn’t like Kaisa could talk her out of helping her; when Johanna got something in her mind, nobody could stop her.

“If you say so.” She shrugged, turning her attention back to the book she was holding. It was wordy and hard to read even for an adult, but Kaisa rather enjoyed deciphering it. In its pages was all the information humans knew about the Draugen treasure. Tildy had assured her that it wasn’t real, nothing more than an old sailors’ tale, but Kaisa knew it had to be real. Out of the few things her mother had left her, this book was one of them, and Kaisa believed that her mother wouldn’t give her a book filled with made up information.

“So, where are we headed?” Johanna fell in step with Kaisa, trusting her friend to lead the way even if she occasionally had to point out a closed walking sign or stop her from hitting a person or a street lamp. Kaisa could get very distracted when she was concentrating on her books.

“To the harbour.” The witch said with confidence. “And then, to the Draugen treasure.”

_#_#_#_

Things hadn’t been as simple as that. Once at the harbour, the two children had to face the fact that they had no means to go underwater. Johanna knew how to swim, and she even offered to go and get the proof that Kaisa wanted to bring home to her mentor, but Kaisa declined, not only wanting to see the treasure herself but also knowing that no matter how good Johanna was at swimming, she wouldn’t manage to find the shipwreck.

Feeling stuck, she’d sat down on a bolster to think. Nothing in her book hinted at how to actually get to the treasure, she knew so because she knew each word in it by heart, and still she searched the pages hoping an answer would magically appear.

“It’s not too bad if we don’t find it.” Johanna cooed from where she was sitting on the sand. The disappointment in Kaisa’s face was something she didn’t like to see, and it made her want to hug her. “Even if you don’t have any proof to take to Miss Pilkfist… you know it’s true. That’s already enough, isn’t it? Plus, if we wait we’re going to see a gorgeous sunset from here.”

Holding her cheeks between her hands, Kaisa grumbled. “I guess.”

Even though she’d given up, Kaisa continued staring at the book. Until, that is, she heard her friend gasp.

“What a pretty seashell, look!”

On Johanna’s palm there was a pearly white conch shell, its shape a little too perfect for it to be natural. Kaisa hopped from the stone, extending her hand so as to ask Johanna to see it, but the girl didn’t notice. Instead, she chuckled as she took a better look at it.

“It kind of looks like a tiny tuba, doesn’t it?” Saying that, Johanna brought the shell to her lips and blew. Both of them shrieked when it made a sound much louder than they had expected, even the birds from nearby trees flying away in fright.

“What the heck?” Johanna looked to her left to check if Kaisa had also been as surprised by the vibration, but the witch was staring wide eyed at something behind her friend. Turning her gaze to the sea, the girl gasped as she saw a tower of water rise up, with eyes staring right at them. If a being entirely made of water could even look annoyed, Johanna was sure this would be it.

“A water spirit.” Kaisa whispered. “Johanna, you’re a genius.”

Johanna had no idea of what was happening, but given that Kaisa seemed to have she didn’t worry. Instead of running away like she imagined would have been the most logical decision, Kaisa walked closer to the spirit and uttered gibberish. At this point, Johanna had lost count of how many magical languages she’d already heard her friend talking in.

Apparently happy at having been talked to, the spirit shape shifted to the form of a bubble. Kaisa turned back to Johanna with a smile, offering her hand to help her get up from the sand.

“Come on, Anna. We’ve got a treasure to find.”

_#_#_#_

The underwater landscape was something they both knew they’d never forget. Miraculously, the water spirit had taken them, safe and dry, through the sea that connected their city to other far away lands. When Kaisa pointed out a picture in her book that showed a representation of the sunken ship, the spirit had set off to a certain direction without needing any further instruction, which left the two girls free to look at the fish that swam by them and the other strange creatures they couldn’t recognize.

Once they reached the boat, or at least what was left of it, they couldn’t help but stare in awe for a couple of seconds. As soon as the shock of actually having found it wore off of Kaisa, she fist pumped the air. She really had been right, and she’d prove it.

Aside from a single draugen who for some reason didn’t stop sweeping a broom around during the whole time they were there, no one seemed to be guarding the treasure. This allowed them to find the chests the book spoke of, filled with golden items and a variety of other items.

“We could be rich!” Johanna had said, touching the golden coins and chains as soon as the water spirit rolled forward so the chests were inside the bubble.

Kaisa shook her head. “I don’t think we should take any of it. Tildy says it’s never a good idea to steal from the dead. We don’t know what’s up with that Draugen there.” She pointed to the cleaner, who had explained his situation upon their arrival. “As far as we are concerned, he might have been cursed for trying to steal some of the treasure.”

The possibility made Johanna hastily drop the coins she’d been holding.

“Oh.”

“Besides, maybe someone else would like to see this in the future, and I wouldn’t want them to find nothing. “

Following that logic, Kaisa decided to take a chip of wood from the weak shell of the boat. Certainly, that was insignificant enough that they wouldn’t face any repercussions, and it still was something they could take home for her to show her mentor that she’d been right.

They were returned to the harbor by the spirit, who as kind as always nodded them goodbye. Kaisa stared at the spot where it had disappeared, thinking that now she’d have even more motivation to learn to speak Water Spirit. That one seemed like a good friend to have.

Just as the sun was beginning to set, the two of them arrived at Tildy’s home. The sorceress was sitting on her couch, crocheting something out of pink wool, and Kaisa knew she’d felt it when they entered the house even though she didn’t look up.

“Aha!” The girl cried triumphantly, walking up to her teacher and raising the chip of wood above her head. “I told you the Draugen treasure was real, Tildy! We’ve found it, and I can prove it!”

As serene as if she was going through a daily occurence, Tildy lifted her gaze up to her young apprentice and to her friend, who was just beside her.

“How lovely that you found a fun way to spend the day! And welcome, Johanna, I made a cake today thinking about you. Why don’t you put some water in the kettle and we can all eat it while having some tea?”

“Sounds delicious!” Johanna set off to the kitchen, having been there enough times to know where everything was. Kaisa was left standing in front of the woman with an eyebrow lifted.

“Thank you for this, dear.” Tildy said as she took the chip from her hand. “Just what I needed.”

She tilted her head to the side. “You’re not surprised? You believe me?”

“Of course I’m not. And you have always been more of an overachiever than a cheater, so yes, I do.”

“Wait…” Kaisa looked down with a crease between her brows, trying to put the pieces together as the mentor got up from the sofa.

“I do know the treasure is true. But you see, I needed something that belonged to a Draugen for a potion I want to make and that’s not really easy to get! So I thought I could count on you to want to prove me wrong if I said I didn’t believe in it.”

“Tildy!” Kaisa groaned. She wanted to be annoyed or angry but truly? She found her mentor’s behaviour quite amusing. Would she ever manage to outsmart the great arch sorceress, Kaisa wondered.

“Let’s go eat, now. You two deserve your cake.”

_#_#_#_

After eating, Kaisa had offered to walk Johanna back to her house. The days were getting ever shorter, and the wind was icy cold as they walked, but they didn’t care. Being with each other always made the rest of the world fade away, and once again Kaisa was grateful that Johanna had been so insistent on befriending her. They were laughing and shooting the breeze while they walked, until Johanna stopped abruptly and gripped Kaisa’s wrist so she would too.

“My parents are home.” She whispered stiffly, looking at the house’s garage, where there were now two cars. “They will probably have noticed I’m gone by now.”

“I’ll go with you.” Kaisa said immediately. “I’ll… I’ll say I pressured you to leave without supervision.”

Johanna gave her a sympathetic smile. There was evident sadness in her eyes, and she squeezed her friend’s hand.

“That’s exactly what I don’t want you to do and you know it. We’ve been here before. If they think you’re guilty of anything, they will want me to stop seeing you. Turn back now and it’ll be better for both of us.”

Kaisa’s shoulders slumped. It wasn’t often that something like this happened, but whenever it did, she was filled by a sense of helplessness before her best friend’s situation. Still, Johanna knew her own parents better than Kaisa did, so she always obeyed.

“Library as soon as you can?” Kaisa asked in a small, hopeful voice, knowing that Johanna’s parents wouldn’t allow her to leave the house at all for a while. It was their arrangement that whenever Johanna got grounded, Kaisa would be in the library at exactly ten in the morning every day until Johanna was allowed to leave, even if followed by her sitter, to tell her she was free to visit Kaisa and be visited by her.

Johanna nodded and let go of her hand, only heading toher house when Kaisa had already begun to walk away, so as to be sure her friend wouldn’t try anything heroic.

Her pace was closer to a run as she went back to Tildy’s. Tears stung at her eyes but she held them back. It wasn’t fair that Johanna would be punished if Kaisa was the one who had asked for company. It wasn’t fair at all. One day, Kaisa thought, she’d be strong enough to save her too.

_#_#_#_

When Johanna asked her how her afternoon had gone, Hilda had had to resist the instinct to say the first lie that popped on her mind. She was being honest now, she reminded herself. In the most calm and casual way she could, she narrated the events she’d gone through while her mother finished preparing their dinner, but it was easy to tell her mother did not approve of most, if not everything, of what she was telling. Her shoulders were visibly tight and her mouth was pursed, and the only reaction Hilda got were grunts. When the story was finished, the woman sighed tiredly.

“Hilda, I… I don’t know what to tell you. Sweetheart, you could have gotten hurt.”

“Mum” Hilda groaned, trying to make herself look taller. Why did her mother think she was so fragile? “I understand you’re scared for me because you just want me to be okay. But I am okay! This wasn’t dangerous, I promise. You had to see Frida, she was awesome! She’s so smart and skilled.”

Johanna took a deep breath as she took the pie away from the oven and over to the table. No, it wasn’t dangerous, at least what Hilda had told her wasn’t. She still didn’t like it, since her own experiences led her to be wary about that situation, but she knew making a storm in a teacup would only make it so Hilda never told her anything.

“You’re right, sweetheart. I just want to tell you to try not to rely on magic for everything. And Frida… she’s your friend, and a good girl, but do not idolize her, okay? She’s just as human as us, and you may not be able to count on her for everything.”

Hilda’s brow furrowed, thoughts about what it was that her mother wasn’t telling her clouding her mind. “She’s my best friend, mum. I know I can count on her.”

Johanna clenched the fist that wasn’t pulling herself a chair.

“I suppose you can. But listen to me on this, I don’t want you seeing the librarian again.”

Now sitting in front of her mother, Hilda blinked in surprise. “What? Why?”

“Anyone who feels this comfortable giving children magic is not to be trusted” Johanna answered simply, making her child sigh.

Getting her mother to trust her judgement would take a while.

#my fic #fic: afs #sketchbook ship #sketchbook ship hilda #sketchbook ship fanfic #kaisa hilda fanfic #johanna hilda fanfic