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theheadgirl · 2 years

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31 Days of Fear, hosted by @hp-fearfest

Day 14: A Seance (read on AO3 here)

CW: death mention

"This is pointless," Percy grouses, loud enough for Oliver and Audrey to hear, but too soft for the birthday girl, across the table, to pick up on.

"Be nice," Audrey scolds, giving his wrist a little squeeze. "Gemma was nice enough to include you, even though you're cranky. Don't spoil her birthday."

"I'm not going to!" he defends himself. "I just don't understand all the fuss. If she wants to talk to ghosts, I can think of at least six that are much easier to get a hold of."

"The point isn't the ghosts, the point is the fuss," Oliver says from his other side. "You're allowed a bit of spooky fuss on your birthday."

Before Percy can question that logic, the door to the room swings open, and the chatter in the room slowly fades. A woman steps in, dressed in a black flowing gown, and a silver scarf tied in her dark hair. Bangles gently click at her wrists as she comes to the table, standing next to the empty chair at the head.

"Welcome," she says in a lightly-accented voice. "I am Madam Lyashko. Tonight, we gather to speak to those departed. This is not an undertaking for the frightened or the skeptical. For the spirits to wish to come, we must be, as one, brave and open. They do not wish to harm us, but only to speak, and be heard. Now - " She gathers her skirts and sits in the chair, then gestures to the room. The lights dim by themselves, and there's a spike of whispering amongst the magical folk at the table. She is a Muggle fortune-teller, isn't she?

Madam Lyashko smiles, then continues. "Please take the hand of the person on either side of you. To call to the spirits, we must first gather the energy."

A shuffle of movement as everyone joins hands, and a little shriek from Jane as she finds that Maia's hand is ice-cold.

"We now begin," Madam Lyashko says, then begins to speak. The shape of it sounds Eastern European, Percy thinks, but he couldn't put a finger on where. His Bulgarian, from the time during the Tournament, is rusty and extremely limited.

There is a loud thump nearby, sounding like it's near the window. "Our first guest has arrived," Madam Lyashko reports. She hums softly, as though listening, and then aloud, says, "Welcome, Melanie."

Their first guest is the spirit of an unhappy bride, abandoned at the altar and unsure of why. They're then joined by a soldier from the first World War, and later, a man who seems to think he's still alive and isn't sure why it isn't still 1562.

"Ah, we have one more," Madam Lyashko says. She closes her eyes, hums softly. "He claims he knows someone at this table. Welcome, Fred."

Oliver feels Percy's hand jerk in his, and he glances at the other man. He's staring at the medium with a look caught somewhere between confusion and outrage.

"Fred says his … it's his brother, here, at the table. He seems surprised that his brother is here." A pause. "Has anyone here recently lost their brother Fred?"

Audrey can only guess that, judging by how tightly Percy is holding her hand, he must be nearly breaking Oliver's.

"I did." When he speaks, his voice is steady, hiding the tidal wave of grief and rage that's just behind it.

"Ah." Madam Lyashko turns to him, eyes still closed. "He says hello. Hopes that you are well. He asks …" She furrows her brow slightly. "He asks if Minister Peanuts is well?"

Oliver's hand is starting to go numb from the desperate grip on it. He can hardly move his fingers, but tries to give Percy's hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Yes." The steadiness is starting to waver, cracks in the dam.

Audrey suddenly remembers a well-loved, adorable plush elephant in Percy's room at the Burrow, perched on a bookshelf next to a picture of him at his first day of Hogwarts. Percy hadn't introduced them, but Minister Peanuts...

"Fred has a message for you," Madam Lyashko continues. Percy starts to shake his head.

"No, please, no, I - "

"He says thank you," the medium speaks over him. Percy subsides into silence, the dim light reflecting off the tears on his cheeks. "For sharing one last laugh with him. And … he says …" Another pause, and the whole room seems to hold its breath. "He says - he is being very specific about this phrasing - he never blamed you, you massive prat."

Oliver inhales sharply, looking over. Percy seems frozen, dumbstruck, unable to free his hands to wipe his eyes.

"Thank you, Fred," he finally says, voice thin, shaking. "You absolute terror."

The medium lets out a very Fred-like bark of laughter. "He says that's the spirit." A pause. "And he asked to make sure that you get it, the spirit."

Audrey starts giggling, too, and it isn't long before the whole table is laughing.

"Thank you, Fred," Madam Lyashko says. "You are so loved. Please, be well."

With her words, the lights rise again, and the room goes silent, then picks up in a storm of whispers.

"Perce?" Oliver says, uncertain.

"I'm okay," Percy replies. His face is wet, but the smile on his lips is the first genuine one Audrey's seen since Fred died. "I'm okay."

#hpfearfest2022 #31daysoffearfest #harry potter #harry potter fanfiction #percy weasley #audrey weasley #oliver wood #percy/oliver #percy/audrey #percy/oliver/audrey #cw: death

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blamebrampton · 6 years

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Eurovision 2018, Semi Final 2

I’m watching on replay and it’s getting late, so this is going to be as swift as possible. We open with a gorgeous montage and I really do feel like going to Lisboa after this week, were I not broke as a broke thing. The women are back and they look great. The NCIS one has come in an assassin’s cocktail dress, the saintly one is dressed like a tasteful wedding cake, the blonde has come over all black swan and the little one has picked up on last semi final’s sci fi villains theme and is cosplaying Servalan. They are doing nautical allusions again and I will continue to ignore them wherever possible. And also their jokes. They are lovely people, but I am here for the singing.

1. Norway, Alexander Rybak, That’s How You Write A Song. He’s back! With the air fiddle this time. In fact, a raft of air instruments that are animated in. Look, he’s still cute as a button and charismatic as a puppy, but this song is reminding me of Cliff Richard and that is not something I wish to be reminded of. It’s no Fairytale. ACTUAL violin has just appeared! About bloody time. He nearly transcends the song, but the song is well meh. Watch it win now. Backing dancers exist and are perfectly fine. Let’s move on.

2. Romania, The Humans, Goodbye. White dress, drink. No, it was a fakeout, the lead singer is wearing purple. She’s surrounded by band members in white with creepy white masks. And mannequins in in gimp suits, also with creepy white masks. I’ve got a real Bonnie Tyler vibe here, which is at least a step up from the last song. BIG power chords into the main body of the song. She’s exhorting the mannequins to live their best life and I cannot bear to break it to her. White dress girl is back, she’s the cellist and I respect a band with a cellist. BIG HERO NOTES! ooh, her purple frock has matching shorts. Nice. Song was OK, band was great.

3. Serbia, Sanja Ilic and Balkanika, Nova Deca. Pipes and wailing vocal intro and I am sold already. If I was up this morning, this would have had my vote. Soz, kids. Three girls wailing mystically with a man looming behind Rasputinly. Seriously, his whole outfit is mad monk. Big Taiko style drums with an enthusiastic man beating away — erm, on the drums — and now some dance beats to lift it. I have to say that I would love this on the club floor late at night when you want something a bit slower and trippier. The girls’ outfits are sort of earth goddess meets debutante. I’m not going to lie, I flipping loved this one.

4. San Marino, Jessika, featuring Jenifer Brening, Who We Are. Lead singer in a lacy red frock over undies. Two human girl dancers and a set of robot dancers. Look, Ive seen worse. Jenny B has just stonked out down the walkway rapping determinedly and it’s all … fine. It’s a perfectly fine song and there will be some young folks who love it. A robot is holding up body positivity messages, actually, the poor wee thing just dropped it, but now he’s holding hands with the singer. It’s a bit community centre talent night, but they’re enormously likeable and I wish them well.

5. Denmark, Rasmussen, Higher Ground. Sudden plunge into darkness. Faint mystic chord as of pipes over water. Dry smoke. Backlit bearded man standing on a ramp. Square sails and more bearded men. Yes, we have hit peak Viking for the night and there is chanting and stomping and more beard pomade than is probably safe in an environment with pyro. We’re singing about men laying down their swords and making their mark and it’s all very Scandirevival, but I have to confess I rather like it and they can all bloody well sing. I have a nose full of North Sea wind and my cheeks feel windbitten at the end of this song, Oh, look, a white flag of peace. Sure. Key change! Snorri Sturluson would love these guys. The boy Aussie commentator has just said they remind him of when Durmstrang walked into the Hall in Harry Potter and he is right on the money. Definitely a contender.

6. Russia, Julia Samoylova, I Won’t Break. Set design is from the cousin of whoever did Estonia, so it’s nice to have two iceberg singers in the one contest. Super dancers: ballet this time, with Russian technique, which is always lovely to see. Look, I disagree with her politics and her country, and the song’s another meh one, but I wish her well. Moving on.

7. Moldova, DoReDoS, My Lucky Day. They have brought a whole miniseries in the staging of this song. She’s seeing blue suit, but red suit behind his back. Now she and red suit are official, but blue suit is getting some on the side. Lots of comedy from the dancers in the background, who are working within a white box set. It’s silly, it’s saucy. it’s a lot of fun. It would absolutely be the theme song of a sex comedy from 1959 starring Sophia Loren.

8. The Netherlands, Waylon, Outlaw in ’Em. Steel string guitar, pulsing lights and wailing vocals. I’m sorry, I’m allergic to wailing dead dog country that uses gun metaphors, They’re very talented, just not my thing. I’m sure he’ll make a fortune in America and good luck to him.

Short presenter is down with the audience and why?

9. Australia, Jessica Mauboy, We’ve Got Love. Cards on the table, I love Jess. She is a super lovely person as well as a great singer. I don’t the song is quite as good as Dami’s Sound of Silence, but she can perform like a goddess. She is bringing her inner Beyonce with the hair and squats, and selling the lyrics, which are basically, ‘don’t give up, we’ve got love’ and look, sure, but this is a country that numbers Sia, Nick Cave and Kate Miller Heidke among its leading lyricists and I just feel we could have done better for our Jess. But she is putting it all out there, and getting the crowd in on side. The drapey bit on her minidress is a bit distracting, but who gives a proverbial, she’s a champ and she should definitely go through to the finals.No matter how absurd it is that we are there.

10. Georgia, Ethno-Jazz Band Iriao, For You. My first question is whether that is actually the group’s name or if they added a little descriptor for the booking agent once and it’s stuck. It matters not. Lovely quiet jazz piano opening, then classical vocals soaring over the top, dry ice already, and a chanting backing vocal that is somewhere between Gregorian monks and Il Divo, but entirely pleasant to listen to. The vocals are very tight and the arrangement intelligently spare and restrained in parts to show off the voices. I approve! There is a lot of eyebrow emoting, but I don’t mind that in a dark Eastern European man, it’s like queueing if you’re British or buying sausage sandwiches at hardware shops on weekends if you’re Australian. That was a good three minutes for me, I hope they get through!

11. Poland, Gromee, featuring Lucas Meijer, Light Me Up. They are wearing ridiculous hats. More Pharrel than Devo, but the sort of hat that will stand in for a personality when you’re young and nervous. Fair enough, some of them look about 14. Good performers, strong backing vocals and the sort of winning stage performance I would have loved the first 250 times I saw it. It’s not your fault I am old and jaded, Gromee, but I am. There is pyro, there is hand dancing, he is dancing with the audience, he is counting. It’s all fine. OK, bye.

12. Malta, Christabelle, Taboo. She is standing inside four big screens and now a heart is glowing against her black dress. People writhe on her screens and the world spins out from her hands. She is singing about the need to respect and support each other in a world that can be hard and cruel. I… I really like her. I’m not sure whether I also like the song or if I just find her so committed to it that I think I like it, but it doesn’t really matter. There’s a real dancer inside the screens now, and Christabelle loves us all. I love you too, Christabelle. I would totally invite you to my barbecue with Jess.

13. Hungary, AWS, Vislát Nyár. Going for the risky Lordi without masks vote, they drum their way in and then launch straight into rich, angry, headbanging lyrics that are upset about something but my knowledge of Finno-Ugric languages begins and ends with a song about little piggies. Another performance with sincerity rather than just polish, though, and that counts. CROWD SURFING GUITARIST! He’s been returned safely, bless you lovely Eurovision crowd. Angry shouting, epic pyro, lots of drumming. There we go.

14. Latvia, Laura Rizzotto, Funny Girl. Another red lace minidress, with a train this time. Actually, it’s more a shorts dress. A playsuit with train. She looks lovely whatever it is. Her song is apparently about a girl who just a wee bit of a stalker. You know you can tell a chap you like him and not just hang around waiting for him to notice you, yes? Some nice bits of tricky tempo and big hair singing. It’s not my cup of tea, but it is well brewed.

15. Sweden, Benjamin Ingrosso, Dance You Off. Brief moment to mention it is bloody freezing in Sydney tonight, for the first time in forever. This is another very polished performance from a skilled performer and it’s doing nothing for me. Might go and find a blanket for my wee toesies.

16. Montenegro, Vanja Radonovic, Inje. Man at piano, women in background, intense man in front, who is Vanja. He is upset. Possibly because some bastard has bedazzled the crap out of his suit. Nice vocals in the ballad, though. The girls are striding, the piano is staying still, which is as it should be. Ooh! The girls are playing statues. Nice. There is a lot of emoting, but the girls’ costumes and facial expressions make it a little unfortunately close to ‘help us, we have been enslaved by vampires and need you to stake us to free our souls’. Lighting and key change, but otherwise much as before. The girls are still suffering. It’s probably a complex retelling of current politics.

17. Slovenia, Lea Sirk, Helva, Nei. She has pink hair so I like her already. Backing dancers are muscular and fast, I like them, too. Do not bother any of these women or they will make you regret it almost immediately. Her frock is another curtain over undies number, but with more plastic than most others. Who can explain it, who can tell you why? Their music cuts out at one point and they get the audience to clap their beat and I am not certain that was real, but it was nicely handled. Confirmation that was a faux error on the music. Whatevs. As no-one says anymore.

18. Ukraine, Melovin, Under the Ladder. Before I hear a word, I learn he likes horses, David Bowie and Verka Serduchka, so we’re basically friends now. He opens the song in a crypt, which opens up in a cheerfully cheesy Hammer Horror way. He’s dressed like an old-school vampire and the crypt is really the inside of a giant piano at the top of a set of stairs. Clearly Dead or Alive were 30 years too early for this chap, but I am glad YouTube will let him experience them. As everyone guessed, he is back up the stairs to play the piano, soulfully. And now the stairs are on fire, and there’s random pyro everywhere. Of course there is. Vampires love fire. At least dress your backing singers as avenging villagers, who have finally arrived to free the girls from Montenegro.

And we are done! Voting is about to open. I am fast forwarding through this bit because life is too short. ESCLOPEDIA IS BACK! Hello bearded man! More clips from past songs, and an allegation that there is a link between Eurovision and fashion. That is A LIE. You know, Portugal, you’re no Sweden and the women are no Petra and Mans, but I respect that you have kept these interval bits short and cool.

I spoke too soon. Presenters are back with costume changes. NCIS is in a short blue cocktail dress, Blondie is in a pink line dancing dress, Saintly is wearing a costume from my Grade Two Tap exam and the little one is cosplaying Severus Snape. They are doing dance moves from Eurovisions past. The Little One is actually pretty funny, but you will have to download it as I am not up to describing that much physical comedy. There is a Riverdance moment. Which I believe is obligatory for every third Eurpovision.

They run through the acts again, and Denmark’s lead singer has brows you could crack nuts on. Walnuts. Not the other kind. Though he looks as though he would be against toxic masculinity, so perhaps that would also be OK.

Votes are closed. We are touring through Portugal. It is very lovely. The acts are ding the bits that have preceded every song and coming out through their doors and visiting locations and generally cocking a lot of it up, bless them. They look as though they are having fun.

Little presenter has just turned up at the Aussie table and is handing out pastéis de nata a la Oprah and Jess looks as though she is in heaven. Custard really is that good.

Saintly presenter is talking about Eurovision’s role in Portuguese politics! 1974, the year Sweden won with Waterloo, was the year that the Portuguese entry was chosen to be the signal for a revolution. It was played on the radio in the early morning as a signal to take to the streets and by the end of the day there were carnations in gun barrels.True story.

Black swan presenter has found British fans and I think they may have been on the drink, but they say lovely things about Portugal (and Jess), so well done, kids!

Bridal cake presenter is introducing the tracks from France, Germany and Italy and Little One is with them. The French performers are cute as, and sing last years’ winning song in French. Suck ups. But lovely voice. Ooh, NCIS has taken over with Germany. who looks a little like Josh Widdicombe. He’s doing a ukulele cover of Fly on the Wings of Love and I confess I liked it. The entry is nice, too. Look forward to the full version in the finals. And now it’s Little One again with Italy, who really look 100% drunk. But they have spectacular hair. And do a chorus of Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu, ‘Volare! Oh-oh. Cantare, oh wo-oh-oh’ They are SO VERY drunk. Or just exhausted after sitting through 17 hours of this.

Jon Ola Sand says the votes are in. Thank Zeus!

The winners are: Serbia! Fair enough. Moldova! Excellent. They were hilarious. Hungary, because all those Norwegian Death Metal fans were there for you. Ukraine, sure. Sweden. Really? Look, you’re a lovely country. Australia! YAY JESS! Norway, meh. Soz Sasha. I love your country. Denmark, which is entirely fair. Slovenia, which is good news. Last spot goes to The Netherlands, which is fine, the country and western people need something. That’s it till Sunday morning, Which will probably be Sunday night, let’s be honest.

#eurovision #eurovision 2018

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abumblebeeat221b · 7 years

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Sherlock and the Female Gaze

If anyone asked me to point them to the most revolutionary piece of media ever created I’d probably show them Doctor Who (because guys - nothing beats a show that is basically Sherlock Holmes in space and keeps reinventing itself every other year).

But the second thing would be Sherlock. Not Doyle’s original, not the Rathbone, Granada, Soviet, new Russian adaptations (even though they are dear to me). Just 13 episodes of a TV show that was only ever meant to win some obscure film award in Eastern Europe and became a success over night instead.

The fandom that does its research has spent seven years trying to pinpoint its secret and the only thing we can agree on are three little words: it looks pretty.

On a more serious note: it is probably the first thing which made male eye-candy unashamedly mainstream. It is the millennial version of Pride and Prejudice, of Mr. Darcy, only that this time society doesn’t expect the story to bore our boyfriends to death.

And I’m not even sure that was something Mofftiss and Co were aiming for.

You see. It is a truth universally acknowledged that men have no idea what women like. They confuse it with male power fantasies ALL THE TIME because that’s what the media tells them we are day dreaming about. They are shocked to learn that we think Loki to be the sexually most appealing hero villain in the Avangers, that we consider Rodger from the original 101 Dalmatians to be perfect boyfriend material, that yes, we’d happily choose a dog loving, kind individual (with great hair) over most more manly super heroes out there.

And Sherlock ticks all the right boxes for women to find him attractive, while most guys wouldn’t think that lanky nerd to be much of a competition for them.

The cherry on our metaphorical fandom-cake is that Sherlock is pretty much the first thing produced for a main stream audience I know of* which treats its leading male character as if he was a woman in order to cater to the female gaze (because the lgbqt+ community was not the only reason why the name Cumberbatch has showed up on most versions of the sexiest men alive lists since 2010/11).

Women look at Sherlock and think ‘sexy’ because we’ve been conditioned by the media to recognise this is what ‘sexy’ looks like.

And this my friends is where the magic happens.

You want the list? Here have the list:

A well-tailored suit is to women what lingerie is to men. And let me tell you Sherlock wearing suits doesn’t look like a coincidence from over here.

The coat. It’s like a cape. Only way cooler.

The buttons which deserve their own award™. We all know the story behind the coat™, but I’m not aware of the official one explaining why Sherlock couldn’t buy the purple shirt of sex™ in a bigger size (lucky us he didn’t). On a sidenote: too small dress sizes and strained buttons are exactly what actresses are expected to wear in front of the camera.

The white sheet of possibilities. Sherlock Holmes visits Buckingham palace wearing nothing but a sheet BECAUSE THE SCRIPT SAYS SO and I can’t be the only one feeling reminded of the long standing tradition of women having to take off their clothes for very important plot reasons™. Two series later, Moffat does it again, and while IMHO Sherlock should have kept his hospital gown on in His Last Vow, I’m aware that is a pretty problematic™ thing to say given how it belongs to the most beloved (i.e. gifed and photoshopped) bits of that episode. (While at the same time, apart from Irene Adler, we have no idea what the Sherlock ladies wear underneath).

The cheekbones. Oh. The. Cheekbones. It is shocking exactly no one that Carrie Fisher was asked to lose weight every time she played Princess Leia (yes, also that one). Benedict Cumberbatch lost weight for series 2, then went to play the villain in Star Trek: Into Darkness, came back to series 3 having to lose those muscles and some weight - which goes against the *typical* male beauty standards in the industry, just saying. (NB: I’m pretty sure he did it again for TAB and series 4, but series 2 and series 3 are the only instances I’m aware of him mentioning it).

The weapons of a woman. When was the last time the male hero was allowed to lose? James Bond gets the girl because he is the best agent out there. It’s always the best knight who slays the dragon and saves the princess. I agree today personality matters - but that just means that now he needs to slay the dragon AND be charismatic on the top of it.

Heroes aren’t damsels in distress, they don’t get favours because of their looks and smiles, they don’t rely on other people or need emotional support. They are lone wolves, strong and self-efficient in every possible sense of the word and they have more than just their muscles to show for it.

Not in Sherlock.

Odds (*literally odds*) are Sherlock wouldn’t have survived the first episode without John.

Here we have someone who manipulates Molly (and clients alike) using his charm to get what he wants. Sherlock relies on his social network all the time, his adventures are about showing us how being the Cleverest™, the Best™ does not equal success.

He gets saved, beaten and drugged by Irene Adler, and just in case we’d still have some illusions left, the script for that scene describes the leading male character with the words ‘weak as a kitten’. I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

In the same episode he wins a fight because of pepper spray.

He relies on his brother’s help to beat Moriarty. He shoots Magnussen because even Mycroft’s long arm doesn’t end up being long enough. The only reason he makes it out of that mess alive is his freaking sister he isn’t even aware of.

The point is. Sherlock is right when he points out the obvious: he is no hero, but a mess who solves crimes as an alternative to getting high. Yes, he is phenomenally good at what he does. But he also needs an assistant, someone who takes some part of the responsibilities off his not-so-bulky shoulders and helps him to win those victories.

The fairytale of the high-functioning sociopath. For some baffling reason, sometime between now and the dark middle ages humankind decided that European culture only ever allows men to seek companionship when somehow sex (or bragging about sex) is involved.

This is why “being friendzoned” is the worst that can happen to the modern man™. This is why they honestly don’t get the concept of just friends™. To a good deal of them female friends are like unicorns in that they don’t exist. To them the age old “if I’m not getting sex out of it then why should I bother?” argument works on both sides: “if you are not getting sex out of it then why should you care?”.

(Before you spam my inbox yes, I know Scrubs exists, I’m more than just familiar with House MD *laughs uncomfortably for ten years*. But. For every single piece of media that happens to get it right there are 10 AU remakes of Fifty Shades of Grey being published).

Now. What on Earth does this have to do with Sherlock?

NOTHING. We see Sherlock having more healthy relationships in every single episode (yes even that one) than Bond will have in a lifetime. And no matter how much Sherlock insists on being a sociopath, the hero in this story has friends, imperfect friends, and whether he likes it or not they do care about him. And he cares about them too.

Otherwise Mycroft wouldn’t need to tell his little brother that caring is not an advantage and Sherlock wouldn’t meet those words like an old friend.

On top of it, the writers never code Sherlock and John as gay. No, they don’t. To be fair, they also don’t say he’s straight. However, they do make him canonically fall for Irene Adler (FYI: if him going ALL THE WAY to Karachi for her sake wasn’t a big enough clue, then MP!Sherlock keeping a picture of her in his pocket watch should have been).

And while we do see Sherlock invested in plenty of typical male stuff (he fights, he wins, he plays the rude smart arse, the hero, the brilliant detective) at the same time he also accepts it when in TEH John decides he wants to keep his distance, and Sherlock leaves the matter in Mary’s capable hands, John’s love interest, the woman who should be traditionally the mortal enemy of male friendships.

We had a whole episode which was basically Sherlock helping Mary with wedding preparations and not (just) having a bad time.

The next episode has him do his best to save his friends’ marriage. It also has him fake a relationship with a woman (who ends up owning a cottage in Sussex that comes with bees). But he never takes advantage of her even though she wouldn’t mind being taken advantage of. And when she gets her well deserved revenge he admires her for her agency. That boy is so smitten by Janine Hawkins that the original shooting script for His Last Vow had them agreeing to marry each other should they end up without anyone else by the time they are old end grey (page 72, you’re welcome).

Sherlock gets his support system and it doesn’t ask for anything in return. He is allowed to struggle, to become emotional, to not deserve his victories and still be the hero of the show. Those 13 episodes have Sherlock stumble from one failure to the next but every single time we learn it doesn’t matter. He gets to learn from his mistakes, he gets to grow.

Yes, he has his ghosts and demons but he never needs to face them on his own, which is something I’ve only ever seen on this stupid show

_____ * If anyone wants to point out the masterpiece that’s George from the Jungle then yes, I’m aware of it (also, surprise surprise another film that was pretty popular with the LGBTQ+ folks). However, generally speaking it never became mainstream. Which is what I’m talking about here. And while Marvel’s Loki is mainstream, he is not the main character in The Avengers.

#Sherlock #Sherlock BBC #BBC Sherlock #Benedict Cumberbatch #Steven Moffat #Mark Gatiss #long post #now excuse me as I look for the alternative universe where Martin Freeman got to play Sherlock and Benedict Cumberbatch became his Watson

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grgop · 8 years

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Shirahama Sandanbeki Cliffs

Here comes the story and photos of visiting one of the most beautiful sightseeings and landscapes in Japan - Shirahama and its cliffs. I promised to deliver you special article regarding our trip to this amazing and breathtaking place. It happened on the Day 15 in the afternoon after a bike tour.

I have to say that there are more places with the same name in Japan and up to writing this article it kept confusing me as a week later with the Lions Youth Camp we visited again Shirahama but the Shiraham White Beach located near. I had no idea about that back on the Day 15.

By the way, this whole area and the name of Shirahama are one of the most famous places in Japan as well as one of the most beautiful ones.

Getting to Shirahama by car

We planned to go there after having lunch in the afternoon and were also accompanied by one friend of host family who spoke English. They asked her if she can come as my host dad spoke a little English and that are trip can be then much interesting. And that was a huge help as you are going to see (or read the article of Day 15). She also showed me a little photo album with the pictures of the paintings of one of the Japanese places (I am pretty sure it was one of those we had already visited or in the region) sketched and illustrated by the European travelers a hundred years ago.

I sat in the car on the left seat, dad Tetsuya-san was driving on the right and our friend behind. The trip was not that long, I think less than an hour on the high way and at first I had no idea whether we were going to the north or to the south. This place was apparently in south of Gobo. During the trip we were talking a bit of Japanese design and architect compared to one in Europe and in general differences between these two cultures.

The landscape again was pretty much the same like on the rest of the trips. The high way would go around the hills, through the valleys and with many tunnels. Again, you can see how they create and build the settlements in the vallyes surrounded with mountains. And all of that without the orange roos typical for the west. :-) Being close to our destination we passed by another greater town in the area called Tanabe. I remember seeing it once we did a circle around the bay. Yes, the city is situated in Tanabe bay where the coastline is pretty idented with several smaller island around. This city is the second biggest in Wakayama Prefacture with the population of about 80 000. I remember it looked much bigger to me from the distance.

We were approaching now Shirahama (according to our GPS haha) and I noticed we started climbing a bit up the hills and the scenery was now only about greenery. Lots of forest around and one more town in the valley where we had to go through. The road started climbing again uphills and I was really curious what this was all about. At few points from the hills and mountains you could see the ocean being a hundred or two hundred meters below us. That was fantastic.

Welcome to Shirahama Park

The landscape around me reminded me a lot of the one from the Jurassic park! The forest and the trees looked a bit tropical and at some places I saw the huge fence or walls. We searched for the parking lot along the road and found one not far away from the entrance.

I was excited to see what dad Tetsuya-san had planned us to see and started following them. We reached the entrance and step into about 500 meters long street thed led to the cliffs. It was full of little stores selling tons of souvenirs but also good food. There was plenty of diverse ice creams, hot dogs and hamburgers calling the visitors to buy them. We bought an ice cream on our way back to the car later as it was too hot .. and they were so attractive.

At the end of the street we found ourselves on a little circular square and had a few possibilites to continue further. But all we wanted at the moment is to go forth to the edge and have a view over the ocean. As you can see above on the photograph there is a wooden fence that goes as far as possible to the edge of the cliffs until it becomes really dangerous. Luckily, they said there was no danger of the cliffs collapsing down into the ocean. I was thinking about it a bit and thought it would not be nice indeed if it haha. And here is why.

The astonishing scenery of Sandanbeki and its story

Once we reached the wooden fence all my eyes saw were the huge waves hitting the cliffs and almost reaching us above. These were enormous cliffs and the height was from 25 up to 50 meters close to us. You can see the house on the other side and compare it (scroll down for the pictures of the moment when the wave hit the rocks).

The name of the place we were currently at is called Sandanbeki which means Three Step Cliffs. I think the coastline is about 1.5-2 kilometers long and with many caves within. Actually, on one of the photographs you might notice one entrance into the caves we were going to visit within 10-15 minutes. I tried to document everything around me as I have never been to such a place before with such giant waves. Speaking of the cliffs and the height I stood only at one place where the cliffs much higher then here and it was in Croatia where the maximum height of the cliffs above the sea level was around 160 meters. The sea there was pretty calm though.

The weather turned cloudy and here one could see the power of the ocean. I was observing the waves and far to the horizon and compared it with the ships travelling on. The Ocean was moving so fast and the waves that were being produced would probably break you and make you drown quickly. I was thinking about my possibilities to survive in the case I fell down (hoped not to be so stupid haha). In conclusion, even if I was 200 meters away from the cliffs the sea currents would either drag me quickly further around the coast or to the open Ocean (then I would probably get overrun by some Japanese or Chinese vessels) or most likely the tide and waves would bring me to the clifs within half a minute where even not dying when being thrown at the cliffs at a great speed I would probably get drowned after the waves starts returning back and sucking everything beneath the surface.

Papa Tetsuya-san thinking about life. :-)

They told me we were going to go to the other side. As I forgot to describe beneath our platform or viewpoint there was a vegetation, some bushes and trees that grew on the rocks and around. The much higher cliffs were to the left of us and had vegetation too. To our right side was a little narrow bay but a deadly one if you fell in. There one could have also observed how the waves were coming and leaving. I had fun trying to follow some waves and guess how big are they going to be. I think everyone around me was feeling happy too when we would notice 'the big one' and then the water-like fireworks happened! All in all, this was just like some of the Jurassic park movies or those about shipwreck and pirates. Pirates? Yes!

Notice the people up there in the corner to compare it it with nature. :-)

There are also stories and legends about the pirates hiding themselves here in the caves centuries ago. The two groups of them are Tagamaru and Kumanosuigun pirates who were hidding their ships in the bays of the cliffs and built the shelters and homes within the cave systems. These are not just pure stories and tales from the folk tradition as you are going to find out soon. And do not forget the cave that can be visible somewhere on the photo. If you cannot find it that it good as the pirates used them to hide from the unwanted eyes.

Going below the ground and visiting the pirate caves ... and pirates

Time to visit the caves and their secrets below us! And the old guys pirates. Who does not like pirates and stories about them?! The only better thing is to go, visit and walk around the places they had been inhabiting in the past.

We returned back and then entered the huge building you saw up on the photographs. After finding the entrance we went to buy the tickets for the caves and exhibition there. In the welcoming hall I saw many ship models and what was even more attractive to me - old samurai and Japanese navy armours. I will tell more of them (and photos) once we get back on the surface :-))

There was an elevator that went up to 2 floors below our level which means up to 30 meters. We went down and the elevator's doors opened.

Now this looked very interesting! We found ourselves in some bigger cave that used to be like a hall. There was a boat with several figures on it. As you can see on the picture the guys were wearing relatively light armour with a dress beneath, long sticks for hunting, there were also some blades and the samurai-like sword. On their heads they had those triangle-like hats which is from the Western perspective pretty Eastern Asian looking. In front of the boat were some other figures with heavy armoury, probably pirates and samurais, and you could put your head on their neck to take pictures. I wanted to do this but there was already one bigger group or a family / friends before us, some Americans, and it would take too much time waiting for them.

We made of course a tour around the whole place and checked everything they had. There are certainly two more things that remained in my memory as something totally awesome and like living the scenes from the adventure films.

Firstly, we headed into one hallway of caves to our left side. The ground was at some points pretty wet and I was careful not to be caught off guard and surprised by falling on my ass if the things get slippery. The thing was, one part of the ground we walked on were the old rocks and the wooden planks. But since it is almost all the time wet there you had to be careful. On our way to desired destination, and that was pretty cool and a thing you cannot feel and no photographs or videos helps unless you stsay there, we saw a few more exhibited figures, artefacts and parts of the boats of the pirates and some captains.

I am sorry for the bad quality and that some are unsharp, it was difficult there as it was in the dark...and my camera is not the best.

I have to admit that when I saw the armour on the first photograph above I immediately thought of the Lord of the Rings and some mixture between the golden Elvish armour for the chest and the helmets from Isengard. Instead of Saruman's white hand there was this red colour. :))

You can also notice the weapons behind the armour. All of that is pretty interesting you if you are this kind of a person. I might mention another story from Croatia that I was reminded of when listening to the tales behind the caves. In Croatia in the area of the town Omiš in Dalmatia it was also the place well known for the pirates of Omiš. They had there a bay and some caves and caused lots of problems to our neighbours from Venice. Long time ago.

And now comes one of the unique experience no camera or video on TV in front of you can describe and make you really feel it, experience what it is like.

Experiencing the real simulation of the Ocean waves hitting the ship

After reaching the end of the hallway the "ceiling" above us became now really close to our heads and I had to be especially careful if I did not want to hit something. I think it would hurt me more than the caves. haha

There were two more short hallways that went into a circle (as I found out later) but one in the middle of them was leading to the big entrance of the huge cave or actually the opening in the cliffs. As soon as we left the pirates 2 minutes earlier and started approaching this open area one could hear more and more the sound of the ocean and the smell of the salt in the air.

Then we reached something that I would describe as "a rock balcony of the ship". We were now staring onto the other side of this huge-cave passage that must have been around 6-7 meters high. In front of us there was the opening of our smaller cave we just came from and to each of my sides was then the rock climbing up 2-3 meters and then merging with the top of the greater cave.

Below us was the ocean water going inside the cave and out. We were not able to see the end of the cave as it probably goes 10-20 meters more inside the cliffs around the corner, who knows...but I can remember that the water was abotu 3-4 meters below us. The only thing that was protecting us from falling down was the improvised fence sculpted from the rock there and it was sculpted in the form of the ship's balcony of the captains quarters behind.

And here comes the finale!

While observing the place before my eyes and smelling the salt in the air suddenly the whole room darkened. As if something just closed the entrance of the cave outside. I got confused for a second.

And in the next one I started running behind. This something that closed the opening of the cave was the huge wave approaching. If I stayed there at the balcony I would have surely gotten totally wet. We tried to cover 2-3 meters behind but the water still reached us after the wave passed by and blasted the rocks. Haha that was an awesome thing! I could not leave the cave without recording this so we waited 2 minutes more until the next "darkening" and "the end of the world". I then ran just a bit behind but my camera got some drops on it. You will also see the video, just be a bit patient. :))

Shrine in the underground

We came back the same way, went through the hall with the elevator (those Americans were still there taking pictures of themselves disguised as the samurais and pirates). We entered another "room" after walking through a short hallway and this was now a bit different and not that wet as with the prior experience of running away form the wave.

This was some kind of a shrine inside and the air was filled with a smoke from the lit candles in the corners. It all looked pretty mystic and reminded me of the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End when they go to Singapur and everything is in smoke and fog, similar artefacts to be found in the room, flags, powder, candles and Kanji signs. We spent there few minutes and I was checking every corner for some hidden artefacts or if something else mysterious could be found.

Back on the top and Samurai armour

Good! We were done with out tour below and it was really fantastic. We went back to the elevator (the Americans were still there so I was fine with my destiny of no photos as a samurai or a Japanese pirate) and went up. After spending 20 or more minutes 30 meters in the caves and shadows things got much clearer above.

We moved on to the next exit and had to walk through a bit longer hallway. On our way there we found exhibited samurai and other navy armours and weapons. I mentioned above I was going to comment this later and here we go! I think everyone as a kid has always had a dream to be or at least see a samurai. I was like more than once to both see the dead one (his armour though haha) and a livign one in costume and talk a picture of him later (wait for the other posts ;-))

Everything looks cool but there was one thing that surprised me a bit and was laughing when I thought about the history. All those armours for the adult samurai warrios looked like they were made for children. Apparently, people used to be much shorter in the past (not to mention that even Europeans are short in many countries and regions) and this one guy who used to be a samurai was at least 2 heads, if not even 3, shorter than me. I tried to imagine what it was like to be that kind of a samurai and a 'silent warrior' sneaking around, stabbing people, throwing shurikens and so on... Surely they could have hidden much better than I would be able to right now if someone transported me back through the portal in time. Though the guys were dwarves from modern perspective the armour looked heavy.

Nontheless the outfit looked cool and I tried one samurai hat when noone looked. Time to move further!

The garden and hot spring onsen for your feet

We left the building in order to reach the other side of the cliffs (Senjojiki) where one had much more of freedom to walk around...and the first thing you see and enter is a traditional green garden with some sculptures. It looked pretty nice and decorated. There was even a garden pond . It all looked pretty hmm Japanese. What I liked where was the path made from stone tiles and wood. As well as small fence from wood as you can see.

But before we continued our journey through that garden to the other side of the Shirahama cliffs we stopped at the corner of the building at hot spring water or onsen. Dad Testuya-san and our friend told me it was very healthy for the body to relax there. Thus I was told to putt of my sandals, sit down and put my feet inside the hot water. At first I had to do it slowly to get used to it but afterwards it became a very good feeling. I spent about 5-10 minutes sitting there, watching the ocean and talking with them and it was difficult to get your feet out then. I remember, a year ago, when I was in Switzerland we did the same thing which was kind of a good thing for your health at one park in the mountains. But instead of the hot water there was the freezing cold one where firstly we had to put our hands inside with both hands until elbows were under the surface and survive. And then make a walk with your bare feet in the freezing cold lake where you did not feel your body party almost haha. This was a bit nicer experience though one has to try everything!

After leaving the divine water I took the handkerchieves to dry my feet before stepping into the sandals again and we continued further to the Senjokiki rocks.

Jumping around the Senjokiki rocks

It took us about 5-8 minutes until we reached the other side seen from the platform there (see the building up? There were we standing first once we reached the cliffs). To get there we went through the garden which led us then about 50 meters through the small "forest" of trees and bushes following the stairs made from rocks and wood. To our left was the edge with a fence and a 2-4 meters away started the fall. Noone tried to go there of course. Again, walking through this, listening to the waves, being surrounded with this kind of a flora and eventully sneaking around through the bushes I felt like I was with Frodo, Sam and Smeagol in Ithilien. And then the road started going down.

Now one here has much bigger freedom of moving around. After leaving the trees behind us the road turned into hmm rocks. There were gray-brownish rocks around and lots of other visitors going after us or returning back "uprocks". I noticed that I could use the chance to start running a bit and juping from one rock to another one at the same time, just for fun. That was my hobby in Dalmatia when I was younger (now there are too many people around so I would feel stupid) but here it was totally fine and one could not resist doing it.

There was also a fence marking the area and a line you were not supposed to cross. I paid attention to it for the most of the time. But once I needed some pictures I made an exception and crossed it. As I know my parents are reading this and I can expect angry calls from my mom - no worries, I was still several meters away from the edge and no danger threatened me. Unfortunately, my analog shots were the biggest failure in Japan and I learned the lesson of measuring the light better. The problem was - gray sky, almost white water because of the waves and just the cliffs were good so my camera and I were crazy.

I told the others that I will just go jumping around a bit more to check what else one can see and take more photogarphs. This whole place truly was amazing and one has to visit it if being in southern Japan. If I continued walking on this rocks I would get to those which are close to the ocean level thus going down and down more. Also, if one continues moving in this direction (to the north) one would reach the Shirahama city and the beautiful Shirahama White Beach. I had no clue about anything of that when we were there but we visited Shirahama Beach a week or more later when I was with a camp. Also, at the Beach and the place I was confused of hearing the same name for two different things and thought that we were not probably close to the place I visited with my host family. So you now now there are more Shirahamas around. :-)

And here is what you see when looking towards the horizon. Practically nothing except for the place where the dark blue sea and the sky meet. I also saw two larger ships on the horizon and wandered how much far away they were. Again, some fishermen boats or smaller ships were several hundred meters or a few kilometers away from the coast. And the ocean was moving fast. Then again I turned towards the bay and the place we came from and watched the waves hit clifs. One of them would practically reach us on the platform if we stayed there! (Check the photos below!)

Amazing, isn't it? Before being done with the tour of Shirahama and going back to our car I wanted to take a photo of dad Tetsuya-san. He was sitting on some rocks a bit far away and had his red shirt on. This looked like a perfect scene for a photograph. But as soon as I took my analog camera he got up and when seeing me standing there he started waving. In the end we have another historic shot. :-)

I took us about 15 minutes minutes to reach the parking lot as we also stopped in the street with ice creams and Tetsuya-san bought us some to enjoy.

Soon we got into the car, waited a little bit until everyone ate the ice cream and then left the Shirahama Jurassic World.

At the restaurant on the top of a hill

After getting into the car the two of my Japanese host started discussion some other possibilites, sighseeings or places we could visit while still here in the area.

I remember discussion involved some pandas but I was confused (we saw no pandas, no worries). Instead of going down towards the valleys we on contrary were climbing up the hills and the road was going zig-zag at times. I was then totally disorientated and had no idea where we now were. After 10-15 minutes of a ride we reached our destination. It looked like a huge building, some kind of a hotel and we found its garage and parked our car there.

As soon as we climbed up and entered this place I noticed some panda symbols on the souvenirs and the shop they had within the first hall.

We found one bigger hall which was decorated nicely and they had a piano in the middle of the restaurant. We were looking for the tables outside to sit on the terrace and found something. Standing there at the fence once could see pretty far away.

The first thing I saw was more or less what you see above on the photograph. Greenery everywhere and it reminded again a lot of building a Jurassic Park. It looks like the island of Sorna haha. Forest was dividing us from the Shirahama's rocks and cliffs we visited and there relatively far away one could see 5-6 kilometers away coast and the river of Kumano-Hwy. I guess nothing special.

In front of us there was this construction site, the whole terrain and lots of excavators. As it seems and looks like from above on Google Earth this place was going to be turned into a golf playground.

We were drinking coffee and started talking in peace finally. Our friend translator told me papa Tetsuya-san finally found time to talk with me as he was busy earlier (he also had to work at home in the office plus going to other towns and places outside Gobo to visit the construction sites). We chatted there for an hour maybe and talked about life in Japan, difference between Croatia and Europe towards Japan, life style, fun, history ... I was curious to know more about the local history and of the region Kansai. Somehow we also ended up talking about Yakuzas, the Japanese infamous mob with their headquarterts in Osaka. But dad Tetsuya said they are not like the others and in Japan they ever do harm towards the normal, ordinery people and "civilians" but are rather gentlemen and even participate in many open events and festivals without problems. They are only going to fight inbetween or with other groups.

Last few photos of the area and we headed back to our car. We came home relatively quickly now and then went all together to a restaorant for a dinner. Before that I also played a bit piano until Sumire came from her school.

In conclusion

I hope the photographs were worthy more than thousands of words I wrote. If you are ever going to have a chance to visit it surely pays off and is an unique experience. I am thankful to my host family and our friend for the trip!

Thanks for reading

#shirahama sandanbeki cliffs #shirahama beach #shirahama cliffs #wakayama #gobo #osaka #japan #trip #adventure #ocean

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