march

April 01, 2023

Things I enjoyed in the month of March:

 Ilona Andrews', Blood Heir:


I am Shinar reborn. I do not submit.


...
I have made a monumental mistake.

And the worst thing is, I knew exactly what I was doing while I was doing it.
What's my number one rule for reading a series? Wait at least three to four books before starting to avoid the agony of next-book-purgatory.
How many books are currently in the Aurelia Ryder series? ONE. SINGULAR. THAT'S ALL THERE IS NERDS.
Which wouldn't be a problem if it wasn't so godsdamned good.
I haven't felt this way since I first cracked open Magic Bites and my literary world was shifter paw-swatted on its axis, yet to recover.
Blood Heir is the book I've been craving and struggling to find since I turned the last page on Magic Triumphs just over a year ago.
(After the sobbing finished and I could form thoughts again, obviously)
It's familiar, it's comforting, it's exciting, and awash with the grimy, crumbling magic I love so very much about Urban Fantasy.
But what was I expecting? House Andrews to suddenly lose their ability to navigate the magic-swamped avenues of post-apocalyptic Atlanta? To forget how to write intelligent, belligerent, big-hearted heroes with salty-mouths and breathtaking battle prowess?
Of course Julie's book was going to knock me on my ass and make it feel like a cuddle, it couldn't have been any other way, this is my literary utopia, the safest of safe houses, my book home.
And holy shit, it feels so good to be back.
Just to warn anyone reading this, I won't have a single bad thing to say, so if you're averse to emotional gushing, I'd start to back away swiftly, things are about to get gushy.
...
Julie Lennart Olsen, you've had my heart in a headlock since the moment you walked onto the page all those years ago, and my devotion has only grown, but I'll be honest, I was scared as hell to read this book.

Irrationally - very, very irrationally - I had this terrible thought that maybe the Julie I knew and loved from eight years ago would have turned into a facsimile of Kate, that her own voice would be missing and this new foray into Atlanta would essentially be a Kate do-over but in the body of her daughter.


The city looked the same as when I left it. It felt the same too, dangerous, indifferent, watchful, yet somehow still achingly familiar. Home, despite all the years I'd been gone. I'd been almost eighteen when I left. I was twenty-six now. It felt like a lifetime ago.
I never meant to be gone this long, and this wasn't how I wanted to come back to Atlanta. My biological family was dead, but my found family was alive and well, and they'd wanted me back for a long time. In my mind, I would've called ahead, and they would meet me at the ley line, mob me, hug me, and we would all go home. That was the original plan.
But if I went home now, I'd be signing they death warrants.


I was both right and so wrong.
It may be glaringly obvious who's kid Julie is, it's in her voice, her calculations, her actions, the way she rides her horse, you can't escape the intonations of the people who raised her: Kate's snarky wit, Curran's cool menace, Andrea's striking fury, Erra's comedic regality, Hugh's unhinged menace, but ultimately, Julie couldn't be more herself.


She walked me through through the front hall and a long hallway to Nick's office and pointed to the chair in front of his desk. "Sit. Stay. Wait."
I sat and held my fists in front of me like paws. "Woof!"
"Perfect."


Headstrong, bolshy, kind, chaotic, passionate, and with the same habit as her mother of naming her weapons inappropriately:


This morning I had opened the smaller weapons crate and pulled out two knives identical to the one I lost yesterday. I also carried a leaf short sword, with a twenty-two-inch-long blade that was about two point one inches across in the widest part. At a pound and eleven ounces, it ran on the heavy side, and the weight and the leaf profile made it a good slasher. The cloak his all that, but it couldn't hide Dakkan, my spear. My grandmother had a huge problem with that name, because the closest translation of it to English would be "Stabby". She claimed it wasn't a proper name for a weapon, so after the first Dakkan, I offered to name the new one Sharpy McStabbison, the Son of Scabby, after which she groaned and left my quarters followed by a throng of her advisors all giving me reproachful looks.


But this grown version of Julie now comes with the confidence of having struck out on her own and fought for her own place in a story she was, although lovingly, thrust into.
Throughout the Kate books, Julie wasn't resigned to the sidelines but she wasn't necessarily given as much airtime as, say, Andrea or Derek, so our perception of her is very much how Kate and Curran perceive her: the powerful kid they love more than anything but would please like the mood swings, slamming of doors and bunking off school to stop at some point for-the-love-of-the-gods-make-it-stop.
Typical teenage sensate, that's our Julie.

There was always more to her, though, more to her reactions to things, her devotion to her adoptive family, her curiosity in the arcane, but we weren't going to be granted access to the depths of that until she was a protagonist in her own right.
Blood Heir grants us that entry, it gives us ample access to the inner workings of Julie Lennart Olsen, or at least a satisfying glimpse - it's been eight years, we've a lot to catch up on.
But all that inexplicable worry I had over this story being a Kate-but-Julie repeat was, as my catastrophising brain knew but outright refused to acknowledge, completely unfounded.
This is Julie's story.
This is Atlanta on her terms.


A raspy sound broke through the priest's teeth, a half-groan, half-snarl, so weak I had to strain to hear it. "Glory to the King of Fire..."
"You god isn't here," I told him quietly. "He doesn't care. He won't save you."
"He'll come for you. You belong to him. The world belongs to him."
"The world belongs to me and my kind, ma'avir."
I plunged the knife into his chest and twisted. The priest convulsed, agony twisting his limbs.
"Tell me why you are here, and your death will be quick."
The ma'avir rasped again, "Mercy..."
"You serve the god who feeds on children burned alive in his fire. There is no mercy in the world for you."
I twisted the knife again. His shriek lashed my eardrums.
"Tell me."
"The priest's killer," he whispered. "Moloch wants it."
"Why?"
Fiery eyes stared past me at the piece of the sky through the ruined skylight. the magic that gave the ma'avir his perverse unlike was bleeding out. He was done.
Words of an ancient prayer in a language dead for thousands of years hissed out of the creature's mouth. "The Great Moloch, God among kings, I come to you..."
No. I leaned close, so close I could feel the dying heat rising from the priest and whispered into his ear in the same tongue as his prayer. "There will be no death rites for you. Die and become nothing."
I rose, set the brick on the creature's face, and stomped down on it.


Rewatching Buffy – A Top Ten List | The Confusing Middle

This is obviously very familiar.
Yeah, I know, I said it wasn't a repeat, but actually, that's not entirely true.
This absolutely a repeat.
Let's break it down from their beginnings:


Kate: hiding out in Atlanta, trying to avoid being recognised at all costs because if dogmatic Daddy dearest gets wind of her whereabouts, prophetic hellfire be acoming. 

Julie: arrives back in Atlanta with a new name and face, forbidden to see her family because if she does a prophecy of Kate's demise by an ancient, child-eating deity will come to fruition.


Four years ago, she'd called me in the middle of the night. Sienna had foreseen disasters before, wars, plagues, dragons. Nothing rattled her, but that night her voice shook. She told me that an elder god had been reborn as an avatar in Arizona. Moloch, the Child Eater, the deity of the Canaanites condemned in the Old Testament, who took his sustenance from infants burned alive in the fires of his forges and metal bulls. For nearly three decades he had been building up his domain, preparing to expand, and that night Sienna had seen his first target.
Moloch would kill Kate. The woman who raised me as her daughter.
[...]
Kate would not die. Not while I was still breathing.


Seems familiar, let's continue:


Kate: encounters a Beast Lord with unmatched power, antagonises him (here, kitty, kitty), proceeds to spar physically and verbally, the inevitable happens (apple pie, anyone?).

Julie: runs into Derek, the shifter she's always loved who's mysteriously, insanely powerful now, perhaps even godly(?), pretend not to know each other, bicker-flirt like champs, declarations are made.


Yup, yup, yup:


Kate: rescues Julie when she's a street kid, discovers she's more than she seems, adopts her, trains her, loves her, wishes her nothing but love as she goes off to train under Erra, becoming the heir to Shinar.

Julie: rescues Marten/Deira, has suspicions she's a little magical, essentially adopts her but sends her off to be safe in Shinar with her great uncle who will apprentice Marten/Deira as the greatest thief that's ever lived!


We're not done:


Kate: has two options, according to Daddy, stand by his side and reign in unspeakable power, or get deaded. Kate's response: 🖕

Julie: has two options, according to Moloch the child-eater, stand by his side and reign in unspeakable power, or get deaded. Julie's response: 🖕🖕🖕


"YOU BELONG TO ME. COME TO ME, PRINCESS OF SHINAR, AND KNOW PARADISE."
"Go fuck yourself."
 

She's her mother's daughter, and absolutely on the same path.
You'd think this was lazy writing, that House Andrews couldn't be bothered to think up an original storyline, but it's so brazenly clever I can barely stand it.
We all fell in love with Kate in that first book, we fell in love with her world, her struggles, her joy, it's why we love the series, and HA have effectively thrown us right back to the origins of our love, to its first kindling, but with Julie at the helm.
...
The generosity in this is staggering.
(Also the entire existence of this story originating from a desperate plea from an ICU nurse needing something from the fictional world she loves so much to get her through the horrors of the pandemic. ... I repeat: staggering generosity)
If there is one thing I wish I could achieve as a reader, it's to be able to go back to the start and experience everything for the first time, to feel that flash of this is a bit of me, a fragment I was either missing or lost along the way, but now it's back and now I'm whole.
And I honestly didn't think there was a way to achieve this other than to create an Eternal Sunshine machine, wipe those stories from the brain but leave just enough of the memory of it, and start over.
...
Which is obviously impossible, especially when you're a technological, scientifical, engineerical cretin like myself.
But HA did it, they've actively taken me back to the start and provided that impossible second chance.
...

And better than that? It may be a "repeat" but it's not the same.
We know Julie, we know her heritage and we've spent years watching Kate and Curran raise her; she isn't a new character, and she isn't Kate.
She isn't being hunted or hiding out the same way, she isn't alone, she isn't unsupported. Julie knows who she is, she's claimed it, claimed her place in Shinar, claimed her powers and then some, and the only reason for secrecy is to protect those she loves (a little herself from heartbreak).
This isn't the same Julie who left Atlanta.


The high priest showed me his teeth, blood-red fangs made of fire. "I can hear your heart flutter. I watched you walk around this city you used to call home, wearing pretend arrogance like armor. Now you understand. He is a god and you are still an abandoned child craving approval and shivering in the dark."
The fear crystalized into a new emotion and I let it fuel me. "Fear isn't the only thing that can make a heart flutter."
"What else is in your heart, orphan child?"
"Rage."



And by fast-forwarding eight years on from Magic Triumphs, HA have made Julie, Derek, and Ascanio, et al., a mystery again.
Aaron taylor johnson GIF - Find on GIFER

This huge chunk of time in which they've aged, grown as people, faced things that have fundamentally changed them, and now they stand before us both achingly known and entirely unknown.
Aaron taylor johnson GIF - Find on GIFER

...
It's so fucking clever and simple, I'm screaming with joy.
And it opens up so many new questions:

⚔️ What are the extent of Julie's new powers?

⚔️ What exactly is Derek to be able to perform magic and scare the shit out of a child-eating deity just by bearing his teeth? Did he eat gods like Curran to steal their divinity?

⚔️ Why would Derek ever leave Curran?

⚔️ Are Julie and Derek gonna do the apple pie dance?

⚔️ How exactly did Barabas and Christopher become dads? Surrogacy? Magic? I need to know!

⚔️ Who's Marten/Deira's daddy? HA wouldn't just throw that in without it meaning something more, right?

⚔️ What happened to The Pack to make them so lax in protocol? Is Jim okay? Is Dali okay?!

⚔️ Stella. There's something going on there. Doesn't ever get sick? Suspicious!

⚔️ What did Derek see when he but into the Sphinx's heart?

⚔️ Why did no one question Julie every time Shinar was mentioned? It's Kate's family, wouldn't they at least think, Huh? Maybe I should as Kate about this strange new person with ties to her aunt?


...

I'm going to be overusing ellipses throughout this entire review as a signifier of my brain buffering with narrative aftershock.

...

SO MANY QUESTIONS!

So many I'm bursting with them and like the idiot I am, I have to wait until HA release the next chapter to get any closer to answers!

Which, I'm obviously happy to do; bullying authors for new material is gross and disrespectful and wholly ignorant of the creative process; artists aren't AI machines, you want the good stuff, learn some fucking patience.

But I will be fiercely ruminating until book two makes its way into my greedy paws.

Hoping beyond all hope that at some point someone gives Julie a cuddle because the homesickness she's drowning in hurts so much to witness (when she calls Kate and Curran, mom and dad ... *choked sob*).



Suddenly I wanted to go home. It scraped at me like claws, ripping through my resolve to the vulnerable soft place I'd been trying to armor. I could picture it in my head, the sunlit kitchen; Curran gliding through the house, quiet like a ghost; Conlan leaping over the fence after running in the woods next door, the big, smelly poodle trailing him; and Kate standing in the kitchen, cooking something, her sword within reach. I wanted to go home and hug the three of them. I'd been  gone for eight years. Talking on the phone wasn't enough. Meeting Conlan in Roland's magic prison was nothing compared to getting a hug in person. I was so homesick, if I were a wolf, I would've howled.



Wishing hard that after the longtime needed purge of feelings was laid out like a gauntlet between Derek and Julie, that the apple pie dance does indeed occur (so glad it didn't take five books to get to this point like Mrs and Mr His Furriness. I enjoyed every minute but hot damn, the instant gratification in this one was sat-is-fy-inggggg), and is just as messy and satisfying as their chaotic role models' courtship was.



He leaned close, resting his forehead on mine. No rational thought remained in his eyes. Only hunger and need. Mayday, mayday.

"Stop."

He took a deep breath, sampling my scent.

"Stop! Derek!"

Oh shit.

He leaned back an inch. A slow smile stretched his lips but there was no humor in it. It looked harsh and bitter. "Well, look at that. The illustrious Julie Olsen remembered my name."

Cold drenched me. "You knew."

"Yes."

It had to have been the blood armor. "Since when?"

"Since the beginning. I saw you ride into the city."

"How? My face is different; my scent is different."

He leaned closer, his lips almost touching my ear. "I don't need to see your face or smell you. I could tell it was you by the way your rode your horse."

My brain screeched to a halt.

He straightened, giving me more room, and I saw his eyes. They brimmed with cold fire. He was pissed off beyond all reason.

Really? He was mad? He had some nerve.

"You knew and you didn't me. Was it fun?"

He pondered me. "Not sure. Let me think about it."

"I sense some hostility."

He pretended to ponder it. "Really? Now what could've caused that, I wonder?"

"Why don't you tell me? Just lay it all out."

He bared his teeth. His voice was a snarl. "You left. No goodbye. No explanation. You fucking left me behind like an old knife you didn't want."

"You could've found me any time you wanted. I called home. I told them exactly where I was. If you wanted to talk to me, all you had to do was pick up the phone."

"And said what? Please come back? You made you move, I made mine. I waited for you to come back. You didn't. You made it plain you didn't want anything to do with me. Was I supposed to wait for you here forever like a good boy?"

"Was I? I was in love with you for five years and you couldn't even be bothered to look me up."

"You were a little kid!"

"And if hadn't left, I would've stayed a little kid in your head forever. I grew up. I thought that if I left, eventually you would track me down. Things would be different."

"Things were fine! We were a good team."

"I didn't want to be a team! I wanted to be a couple!"

He stared at me.

"My gods, how can you be so dense? If I stayed here, we would still be a 'good team.'"

"That was enough for me. I liked having you close. I liked knowing where you were and what you were doing."

"It's not always about you. If I hadn't left, we would still be right where we were before, with me hoping and hoping and you never making up your mind. Nothing would've changed."

"You didn't give me a chance," he snarled. "You left."

"I left because I had a gaping hole in my soul from the severed binding. I didn't ask you to come with me, because for once in your life, I wanted you to show me that you loved me. I wanted you to fight for me. I wanted you to do the ridiculous werewolf mating thing, where you bring me food, and flirt with me, and growly at any other male who tries to hit on me. I had these ridiculous fantasies of you dramatically showing up out of nowhere. When you left Atlanta, I thought you were coming to find me. I waited by the fucking window like a moron every morning for three weeks."

"I left Atlanta because I had to fire out what I was. It had nothing to do with you."

"Nothing you do anymore has anything to do with me. I don't even know why we're having this conversation."

"We're having it because I want some fucking answers."

"I got tired of waiting for you, Derek. You have done quite well for yourself, Beta of Ice Fury. You became the man I always thought you would be if only you got out of your own way. That man didn't want Julie Olsen, but here we are, with you staring at me like you need me to keep breathing. What? Am I finally pretty enough for you?"

He stepped away from me. His gaze was impossible to hold. "Okay. I hear you. Be careful what you wish for, Princess."

He turned and walked to the sphinx.

"That's right," I called. "Keep walking."

He swiped her heart off the floor, turned to face me, and bit into it. Blood dripped down his chin. For a moment Derek froze, encased in moonlight, looking at something a million miles away with glowing eyes. A feral wolf smile bent his lips. He turned away and walked out.



...

image



Wondering whether Ascanio's going to get the good spanking he so clearly deserves (I love the idiot bouda, but the testosterone poisoning is... yeesh. Somebody clearly needs Kate around to keep his ego in check).

Questioning how in the holy hell the second gen are going to defeat a gilded, eighty foot tall, immortal god who regenerates even after having his head hacked off and has a hard on for our girl Julie (I'm thinking it's going to have something to do with Derek's mysterious new powers, but you never know with HA, they wrinkle my brain without breaking a sweat), all the while keeping Kate out of the loop? (I know Kate knows something's up, because Kate's an unholy bloodhound and a mother, of course she knows there's something wrong with her kid. And I don't believe for one minute HA would kill her, but does that stop the worry? *laughing into the abyss*)

But most importantly... will Marten/Deira be back? I need her back. Only HA can make me fall stupidly in love with fictional, mischievous, sprite-like children.



I walked into the Order's chapter carrying my saddlebag.

The female knight who had originally escorted me walked out of the nearest office. A slow smile stretched her lips.

"What truck ran you over?"

"Did a child come here looking for me?"

The female knight nodded. "Follow me."

I followed her into her office. Marten sat in a chair, munching away on chocolate chip cookings and drinking from a large mug. She saw me and grinned, presenting me with chocolate-stained teeth.

[...]

Stella glanced at me. "She showed up here about two house ago. She's eaten three giant cookies and drank almost a quart of milk." She looked at Marten, "Where is it all going?"

"In my tummy." Marten rubbed her bloated stomach and smiled.

[...]

[I] walked back to Stella's office.

Marten crouched on the chair, crestfallen.

"What is it?"

"She eaten all the cookies," Stella said dryly. "Now she has a tummy ache."



...

She's so fucking cute.

Chocolate-wasted GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY



I really have made a mistake, here.

The waiting's going to be interminable.

Why did I do this?

And why will I do this again with the post-finale Kate novellas HA are currently releasing?

And again with whatever they release?

...

Because this is my favourite world by my favourite authors and not even Julie herself could keep me from it.

...

But let's just hope it's not too long.

Sanity, y'know?

Wondering Nacho Libre GIF - Wondering Nacho Libre Wonderbread - Discover & Share GIFs



Ps. I knew that little fucker wasn't dead.



 "Well," Saiman said. "I suppose it had to happen sooner or later."





Pps. Conlan and Julie's relationship. That is all:



I cracked my knuckles.

A dark shape lunged at me from the left, flying through the air as if he had wings. I sidestepped, gripping the intruder by the arm, and flipped him in midair, using my entire weight to drive him down. His back slapped the limestone. He flipped, legs over shoulders, bounced up like he was made of rubber, and crouched ten feet away, a big grin on his face.

Damn it, Conlan. "You need to work on your pouncing."

Grey eyes laughed at me. "You need to work on your hearing. I stood five feet behind you for a whole minute before I walked into your house. You never turned around. [...] Do you have food?"

And he was a nine-year-old were lion. "Maybe."

I headed to my fridge. Tamyra Miller had stocked it to my specifications. Let's see. What could I make that would be fast and filling?

"Ham, chicken, venison?"

"Yes!"

"Normally I charge one hug per meal, but for you it's free."

I wasn't a fan of forcing hugs on children. If he wanted to give me a hug, he knew I would welcome one.

He pretended to sigh, came over, and hugged me. He did it very carefully, using a fraction of his strength, aware that he was hugging a human. I'd finally seen my brother in person after eight long years.

"Hey," I told him.

He grinned and broke free.





Ppps. The parental woes of Uncle Hugh:



"Hold on a second. PUT DOWN THAT COW! [...] Boy! Yes, I'm talking to you. What did I say? [...] OR WHAT? I WILL SHOW YOU WHAT. YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT, AND YOU WILL TELL YOUR MOTHER THAT YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF."



Poor Uncle Hugh.

#the tudors from 🧦The Smutty Sock🧦


Anyyyyytime HA wanna release the next Iron Covenant book is fine my me.



Pppps. #teammetalrose forever, the bathtub scene nearly gave me a fucking coronary:



"It's you."

"It's me."



night triumphant. — { Aaron Taylor-Johnson Gif Hunt }




Baby amount of fanart because the artists aren't reading KD (wtaf?):

Sophia

And of course, the gorgeous illustrations created by Luisa Preissler for the book itself:


Our baby Julie, all grown up.


.............................................

Matteo Roversi's grayscale suburbia:


And a "resting" bird:

My brain automatically translates colours to grayscale when I'm drawing.
I don't know why, it just always have.
(If anyone knows why, please send an email to whyamilikethis@ineedtoknow.com)
But these please my brain immensely. So soft. So grainy. So monochromatic.
Yum.
...
My-brain-my-brain GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

My brain also does this:

Ouch, Clarice Tudor, right in the feels.


Bonus:

...
Garbage Bag Inflate GIF - Garbage Bag Inflate GIFs

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ezzakennebba's South Park redraw:

I don't know why, I just can't handle this.
Stan's face is perfect.
Damnit Stan Marsh GIF - Damnit Stan Marsh South Park - Discover & Share GIFs

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Warrior Nun:

I'm actually kinda sad this got cancelled, now.
After a disappointing but semi-intriguing first season, the creators really amped up their game in their second foray into the supernatural conventual.
Better graphics, better fight scenes.

Better acting, more cohesive storytelling.
#warrior nun from paint me with your lies

And finally making the queer couple we all clocked from the beginning canon.
#warrior nun from no more utopia

And then it was all ripped away!
With a massive cliffhanger!
Because Netflix are afraid to commit longterm!
Fucking Netflix.
They only sporadically let us have nice things.
Warrior Nun Ava Silva GIF - Warrior Nun Ava Silva Sister Beatrice - Discover & Share GIFs


One fanart because I forgot to look...
sarrrdoodles

.............................................

Silvie Mahdal's hyperrealistic hair drawings:

Hyperrealistic art will always be something I love.
No matter the naysayers who proclaim but we have photographs, what's the point? or the art fanboys who see it as "soulless and lesser", I won't ever be able to agree because when I look at it, I just feel overwhelmed by the amount of skill and expression that goes into making something like this.
This wasn't a level I was able to achieve while I was at art school, or after, perhaps because watching Silvie Mahdal draw makes me realise there were secrets being kept from me.
I can't draw hair for shit but the way Mahdal does it... it makes so much sense, now.
What's she's doing is so simple but with devastating effect.
And all I could think was...
Finally GIF - Finally Ugh Relieved - Discover & Share GIFs | Giphy, Hbo, Finally gif

This is why I love Instagram, for all its flaws, because it's a place to not only have access to millions of artists work, but to learn from them as well.
Not one single art teacher taught me how to draw hair.
Mahdal might just've.

.............................................

Lisa Lloyd's paper menagerie:

All of these are made from individual, hand-cut pieces of paper.
My sister wrote about them in depth, here.
All you'll get from me is a...
Holy Shit GIFs | Tenor
So beautiful. | Adventure time gif, Jake adventure time, Adventure time

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The Witcher: Blood Origin rewatch:

I forgot to mention...
I love her:
We've Got Eternity In Our Hands — The Witcher: Blood Origin trailer (2022)

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Steph Rizzo's mint choc chip lion:

This is the only way to eat the best flavour of ice cream.
Oat Milk Cats GIF by Leon Karssen

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You season 4, part two:

...
There's Way Too Many Gifs // 54 Mini Reviews of All the Books I've Read This Year – Librae Paints Pages

I didn't think this show could get more unhinged, but I was delightfully wrong.
Has Joe finally ascended (or descended, depending on your viewpoint/morals/fucks given) to his true nice guy-serial killer-sociopath gentleman form?
Are we finally going to get the artful bloodbath we've all been waiting for in the next season?
I bloody hope so!


Ps. Tati Gabrielle's performance in episode eight was insane:

I really didn't rate her character before - a little bland, a little too good - but after that?
Badass.

Pps. I love reading reviews from people who take the show seriously.
It's meant to be deranged and silly and full of plot holes, you dopes.

Ppps. Loveeeeeeeee:
Love Quinn gifs | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumgik

Fuck, I miss her.


Fanart:
Connie Kang

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Felicia Chiao:

I don't like baths.
Do you know what this makes me want?
...

.............................................

The episode of Lore Olympus where they did the thing and I cried happy tears:

...
Can't talk. Too happy. My Babies.
Entertain yourselves with fanart while I get my shit together:
Bri

Cc E Hilley

Angel

Lissette Carrera

Lauren Airriess

QueenNerd

Mary Cagnin

.............................................

Xin Yingzong's Bad Girls Club:

Just hearing M.I.A on repeat.
Mia Bad Girls GIF - Mia Bad Girls Live - Discover & Share GIFs

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My gradual metamorphosis into the comfiest of bibliophiles:

Velaris sweatshirt available, here. 

Bookworm socks available, here.

.............................................

Patricia Briggs', Hollow:

⭑⭑⭑⭑⭐︎

What better way to end a collection of Mercy tales than with Mercy herself, battling ghosts, facilitating a romance, giving her husband the eight hundredth heart attack of his life since they met, and generally being the adorable badass I've been hopelessly in love with since the second book (first book jitters, it's a thing)?
#julia jones from how's the despair?

No better way.
And I knew immediately once I'd finished the collection, Fire Touched would be my next read.
Sorry, House of Earth and Blood, your behemoth ass will just have to wait, a certain trouble-attracting coyote shifter who I love more than reason needs my attention right now.

.............................................

People keep drawing my beloved floor troll, Rachel Maksy:
Brenna Cameron Lopes

Matti

Jenny Panush

Julia Korpushova

Katerina

Savannah Alexandra

Mae

Phillip Light

If you haven't watched Rachel yet, you might want to fix that.
She's the chaotic creator in us all.
#john seed from Just Another Perfectionist
#rachel maksy from detective beeeech

.............................................

A Sally Rooney rewatch double feature:
Normal People

Still beautiful. Still painful. Still not the last time I'll watch it.
If only for Paul Mescal's portrayal of mental health.
Normal People's Paul Mescal Talks About Portraying Connell's Depression | SPIN1038

But for everything else as well.


Conversations with Friends

Actually, on second watching, this really is quite poor in comparison.
Chemistry?
I don't know the man.
Conversations With Friends GIF - Conversations With Friends - Discover & Share GIFs

The only thing I can consistently commend it for is its accurately painful portrayal of Endometriosis, a condition routinely under-diagnosed by lazy physicians as "bad periods", who simply send those with a vagina on their way to just "get on with it."
If you're lucky you'll get a prescription for birth control which is the equivalent of slapping a bandage on a gaping chest wound with the added risks of depression, higher blood pressure, blood cots, and breast and cervical cancer.
...
Yay?
Joey Chandler GIF - Joey Chandler Friends - Discover & Share GIFs

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Aiwa's Ineffable Husbands: 

I dunno, I'm just kinda living for merman Crowley and harpy Aziraphale.
GIF Crate: Good Omens Was All That Apocalypse + More! | The Daily Crate

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Shadow and Bone season 2:

What the Kaz Brekker just happened?
It's been a while since I read both the series but... holy muddled timeline, Bardugo.
Nothing's occurring as I remember it, everyone's in the wrong place, and nothing makes the sense it used to.
...
Which I'm not wholly bothered by because the storylines are being weaved together really quite neatly, and Ben Barnes got to ham it up hard as the Darkling this season - the prettiest villain in fantasy? Perhaps.
Im Back Ben Barnes GIF by NETFLIX

I approve of many of the choices they've made, especially the arrival of Nikolai - that delightful bastard, I adore him, Wylan - adorable, but Wesper becoming on screen canon was way too fast, and Tolya and Tamar - tiny Tolya, so fierce, so fucking cool.

But I did spend 99% of the show hissing at the screen, daring them to enact the infamous Hellgate heist from Six of Crows.
#shadow and bone from CINEMATV

It's the best part of the whole bloody book and I need a whole season for that alone!
And of course to prepare for what comes next.
Still haven't forgiven Bardugo for that piece of heresy, and I don't think seeing it on screen is going to make it any more bearable.
Ladles and Gentlepeople, behold yet another case of a sobbing-induced migraine caused by authors doing the dirty on me.
Use your powers for good, not evil, storytellers, there are only so many drugs in the world to combat my cranial, literary distress.
alina's gif Tumblr posts - Tumbig.com

Onwards, to season three!
Please, Netflix...
Please Nina Zenik GIF - Please Nina zenik Shadow and bone - Discover & Share GIFs


Shoutout to Genya, my fierce beloved, for breaking my heart just as wonderfully as in the books:
#sabedit from total eclipse of the heart

I'm just waiting for those iconic seven words:
https://maddiebuck.tumblr.com/post/712215612466888704/na-razrushaya-i-am-not-ruined-eya

And David, lovely David, you better not have fucked this up, Bardugo:

.............................................

El dramas' starry-eyed floofs:

Charlie Bear's definitely the second black kitty.
Beautiful and stupid but with murder in his starry eyes.
funny cat black cat gif | WiffleGif

.............................................

Patricia Briggs', Fire Touched:


"Nudge."


For once, I don't think this is going to be an especially long review.
Shocking for me, I know, the Verbiage Queen.
But don't worry, it's not for want of loving the book - which I did, it's simply because from the moment I opened the first page of Fire Touched I was consumed by a feeling of care and empathy, to the point where the narrative of the story almost became a secondary thing.
It was of course there, leading and significantly important, but it was nudged back a step to make room for the healing Mercy and Adam needed to do after the traumatic events of the previous story.
When you're main character is at death's door with no chance of recovery, their partner already starting to grieve the loss of them and then suddenly a second chance is given, it's a shock to the system, a little defibrillation for the old ticker.
I was exhausted after Night Broken, truly heartsick for a minute because even though I know there's no series without Mercy, so the chance of Patricia Briggs killing her off is basically non-existent, the level of grief and anguish Briggs managed to portray in those last few chapters was devastating.
And then truly uplifting.
It was a whole seesaw of emotions.
And I would assume for most authors, the temptation to dwell on the aftereffects of such life-altering occurrences wouldn't be especially high, particularly in a fictional world like Urban Fantasy where everything's very go go go, monsters to kills, evils to battle and brownies to bake because all UF MCs seem to be excellent bakers!
Actually dealing with the trauma of their characters would slow that momentum down, so, logically, it would be better to have their protagonists move on to the next battle without much mention of what came before.
I don't particularly agree with this methodology, but I can see why it would be the more appealing narrative path to take, and if I'm honest, that's exactly what I was expecting from Fire Touched - not because I think PB is a shove-it-under-the-carpet writer, I just wouldn't blame her.
Another mystery, another battle, another stressful day out with the Hauptmans.
Which is, well, exactly what I got, but with a side of so much better, because Briggs didn't take the easy way out, she didn't forget that Mercy was slowly dying, or how broken Adam became, she didn't push the reset button and forget this painful moment in their lives.


"Sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night to listen to me breathe." I didn't tell her about the nightmares, or the times when he pulled me close to him to listen to my heart, and his skin was damp with the sweat of fear. Or that sometimes, in the darkness of our room, he cried. Those moments weren't for public consumption.


But she didn't torture us with melancholy, either.
It wasn't doom and gloom and endless pages of Mercy and Adam fighting their way back from what could've been, but instead a recall to their first days as a couple, the playful antagonism, the hot chases through the house, the endless teasing toned with notes of It would have killed me to lose you, I'm so happy you're still here, and I'll do anything to keep you that way.


Adam cleared his throat. I looked up to see him halfway down the stairs. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded as he did this best to appear disgruntled. But there was a cringe of a smile at the edge of his eyes.
"So," he said, shaking his head. "I'm too much for you. You should have said something. We might be married, Mercy, but no still means no."
I widened my eyes at him. "I just haven't wanted to hurt your feelings."
"When I give you that little nudge, hmm?" His voice took on a considering air. "Come to think of it, I'm feeling a little nudge coming on right now."
"Now?" I whispered in horrified tones. I looked up toward Jesse's room. "Think if the children."
He tilted his head as if to listen, then shook it. "They won't hear anything from there." He started slowly down the stairs.
"Think of Darryl, Zack, Lucia, and Joel," I said earnestly, "They'll be scarred for life."
"You know what they say about werewolves," he told me gravely, stepping down to the ground.
I broke and ran—and he was right on my tail. Figuratively speaking, of course. I don't have a tail unless I'm in my coyote shape.
I dodged around the big dining table, but he put one hand on top and vaulted it, right over the top of Medea, who was taking a nap on top of the forbidden territory. She hissed at him, but he ignored and kept coming after me. I dove under the table and out the other side, sprinted through the kitchen, and bolted down the stairs, laughing so hard I almost couldn't breathe.
He caught me in the big red room, tripped me, and pinned me against the floor. He kissed me chin, my neck, my cheek, and the bridge of my nose before he touched my lips. He put our game right out of my mind (along with any ability to form a coherent thought), so when he said, "Nudge," it took me a second or two to figure out what he was taking about.


forehead kiss gifs | WiffleGif

This is the ninth book in the series and I genuinely don't think the state of their relationship has ever been so balanced, so like a team.
It's in Adam's nature to protect those he loves, those in his pack, but especially Mercy, his mate; it's primal, inescapable, and takes great strength of will to fight against those natural instincts to shelter and protect others at the cost of himself.
And he's done... not a great job of it so far.
Old shapeshifters and new tricks, y'know?
I've been lowkey mad at him ever since Mercy and he became a couple, and even more so when they tied the knot, because he's effectively let his pack abuse her for not being a wolf shifter, for not being one of "their" kind.
He hasn't said anything, he hasn't admonished anyone for their treatment of her even when she's put her life on the line for them.
Not a damn word.
And I didn't get it.
I didn't get how he could just let it slide.
I do now.
Because he finally did it, said enough is enough and told the overgrown, speciesist toddlers where to shove their abuse.
He almost lost the love of his fucking life and his pack, his family, the people she was protecting couldn't treat her with a modicum of respect?
*cue alpha roar*


"We are here not here to discuss Aiden a the sanctuary he was promised. We are not here to discuss the fae in any way, shape, or form. We are here to discuss Mercy. And your attitude toward my wife. My mate."
He rocked to his feet and began pacing slowly back and forth. "Mercy is a tough, smart woman. She can defend herself—I do not have to protect her. She is not weak or dependent or needy. She doesn't need the taco. She doesn't need me."
I shot to my feet. "That's not true," I said hotly.
He tilted his head a little, his eyes meeting mine. His eyes softened. "I misspoke," he said in a steady voice. "She doesn't need me to make sure she has enough food or a place to live—that is my privilege, but she doesn't need me to do that. She doesn't need me to keep her safe or to make her a whole person. She doesn't need me to do anything except love her. Which I do."
Well now, I thought, abruptly breathless. I nodded at him and plunked down in my seat before my weakened knees gave out.
After I sat down, Adam started that slow pace and forth again. It was a hunter's gait. When he spoke, it was even more quietly than he had before. "When she agreed to be my mate and when she agreed to be part of the pack, I understood that she would not welcome my standing between her and you. She's defended herself all her life, and she is capable of defending herself from you when she cares enough to do so." He stopped and looked around, an eyebrow raised in challenge.
Warren coughed the words "blue dye" into his hand.
Adam's smile flickered into being, then disappeared. "She has rightfully earned the reputation, that goes back to her days in the Marrock's pack, of being someone people respected. No one in Bran's pack wanted to get on her bad side because Mercy always comes out on top. And she has acquitted herself very well in my pack, defending herself from whatever you've thrown at her. But today on the bridge, I discovered something."
He let the pause linger.
"I'm done with it." All hint of softness was gone from his voice. "I am done with listening to you attack my mate while she trying to save you. Again. I called this meeting to give notice. If I hear or hear about any of you saying anything to my mate that is in the least bit disrespectful, I will end you. No warnings, no second chances. I will end you."
And he walked through the aisle left between the chairs and out of the room.


...

But I get it now, why he didn't shut it down before, as much as he wanted to, why he let Mercy handle it: he knows she can do it herself and he respects her too much to get in the way.
Mercy would've headed straight for the hills if he'd taken that choice from her, forced people to his will to treat her as one of their own instead of an interloper.
If there's one thing Mercy demands, it's free will, especially when hers was taken so violently earlier in the series.
Cage her in, take her liberty, and she'll never forgive you.
And the only reason Adam can take the choice from her now is because their relationship's changed, they've been through so much in the short time they've been married and within that turmoil found a balance of trust and mutual respect.


Bran might have cut me loose, but Adam would never do that. Adam was mine, and I was his. Sometimes I chafed a little at all the belonging I'd been doing lately: belonging to Adam, to Jesse, to the pack, and having them belong to me in return. Oddly, the responsibilities of taking care of them didn't bother me at all; only being taken care of brought out my claustrophobic reactions. I had spent most my life being independent, and it took an effort to have to answer to other people, not matter how much I loved them. Loved him.


His bending of the pack's mentality for her now doesn't come with the same issues it did it before, it isn't charged with ownership and inequality because they're a team now, they're equals.
Adam may still want to wrap her up in cotton wool and never let her leave the house without him but he knows he can't, she needs to be able to charge into battle when its needed, to do her job without worrying he'll shut down her inquiries because he deems them too dangerous.


"Mercy," said Adam tightly. The last time we'd faced down a monster, I'd almost died. It had taken me six weeks to stand on my own two feet, and it hadn't been the first time I'd been hurt. The werewolves were two-hundred-plus pounds of fang and claw who mostly healed nearly as quickly as they could be hurt. I was vulnerable as any human. My superpower consisted of changing into thirty-five-pound coyote.
He still had nightmares.
I looked at him. "You're going to be a werewolf. Darryl is going to be a werewolf, and I'm assuming Joel is going to be a monstrous tibicena, spitting lava and looking scary. I think you need someone on the ground with the ability to shout things like 'Stop shooting, those the good guys.'" I took a deep breath. "I won't promise not the get hurt. I won't lie to you. But I do promise not to be stupid."
His cheeks whitened as he clenched his jaw. His eyes shadowed, he nodded slowly. That was the deal we had, the thing that allowed me to give up my independence and trust him. He had to let me be who I was—and not some princess wrapped in cotton wool and kept on a shelf.
"Okay," he said. "Okay."


She needs to be her own person, and that's exactly what happens in this book.
They care for each other, they respect each other, they've got each other's backs no matter what.
And it's not just them, the whole premise of Fire Touched is the protection of a human boy stolen who-knows-how-many years ago by the Fae, blessed with powers from Underhill (or the embodiment of), now seeking asylum from the creatures who tortured him for his secrets.
Mercy and Adam take one look at him, Aiden, and basically say yup, that's ours, we'll die for this grumpy old-man-kid-who-routinely-sets-his-bed-on-fire-while-he's-dreaming, touch him and die, and continue to follow through with it.


"We won't send the boy back," I said.
"Do you doubt me?" asked Beauclaire. He didn't sound offended, but it scared me all the same. It didn't change my opinion, but it did scare me.
"No," I said firmly. "But he wakes up screaming in terror on the nights he can sleep. He's afraid of you—all of you. If you'd stopped the Widow Queen and her ilk when he first escaped Underhill, if someone, if anyone had cared for him, he wouldn't have come to us. I don't think that he'll go back willingly. And I think he has suffered enough. I won't encourage him to go back. I trust you and your word, Beauclaire. But I don't think that he will survive if he's forced back to you. I won't force him, and I won't allow anyone else to, either."
Beauclaire turned to Adam. "Does she speak for you?"
"She speaks for herself," said Adam. "But I agree. He cannot go back."
"You will risk the survival of the pack for the happiness of a boy who will not be harmed," said Goreu. There was no judgement in his voice. "A boy who is not a child at all."
I looked at Adam.
He smiled.


Even when their home and their people are attacked, even when Aiden offers himself as sacrifice to stop all out war and the Hauptman's shut him down without blinking, without even consulting each other, because, I'm going to say it again, they're a team.
They don't need to ask each other, they just know.


"I will go back," [Aiden] said, turning to face us. He looked at Jesse for a moment. "She should be safe—and while I am here, she will never be safe."
And moments like that were why, even though sometimes he was very difficult, I still liked him.
"You're not going back," said Adam. "And are you implying I can't keep my daughter safe?"
"Or she can't keep herself safe?" Jesse said.
[...]
Aiden tilted his head, then shook it. "You can't stop me."
"Maybe I could," said Adam. "But I won't. I misspoke earlier. You can't go back and be our tribute for the fae so that they will sign a pact with us. You can go back. But we will tell them that you did it without our knowledge or consent, and so they owe us nothing."
I fought it for a second—but then I kissed Adam, the kind of kiss that made Jesses say, "Really, Mercy? Dad? Get a room."
I stepped back and met Adam's eyes. "You know I love you, right?"


I love them so much.
I love that no matter what life throws at them, they're a fixed point to the other.
Even in the simplest of actions they'll carry the weight of something they find burdensome: 

🐺 Mercy talking to Adam's ex-wife so he doesn't have to because she's an abusive dickhead and he's still recovering from what she did to him

🐺 Adam telling off the pack because it's about damn time and Mercy's ready

🐺 Mercy scaling an enormous crane to talk a suicidal werewolf off the ledge because Adam can't get there in time 

🐺 Adam seeing Aidan, his new ward/son, in distress and cradling him in his arms while he wept in fear.



"What would you do for one more night of safety?" Tad asked softly.

And Aiden broke. Completely. And he did it without moving for saying anything. Tears welled and slid down his face while he breathed as if it hurt.

Children don't cry that way. Silently. Without expression. His face was a stony blank, and only the tears betrayed him.

It was the first time I'd seen him look his age.

Adam moved first. He approached him and put a hand on the top of the boy's head. When no objection followed, he drew him against his chest and let him rest in the shelter of Adam's arms. It had nothing to with Aiden's child-like appearance, I'd seen Adam do the same for any of his wolves who was in distress. That's the base component of what an Alpha does for his pack: he provides a safe place to be. Touch is better than any word.

The boy's feet drew up and he curled into a fetal ball, still crying soundlessly.

[...]

Aiden was silent and tried silently to disappear into the safety of Adam. My husband looked at me with troubled eyes.

I said, "Look what followed me home. Can we keep him?"

Adam's eyes warmed, and he smiled. "I think we have to, don't you? Until we can find a better home."

[...]

He picked Aiden up, as if he were the child he looked to be. [...] Adam sat [down] and held the boy as if it were something that he was used to doing. [...] "I won't hand Aiden over to them."



Honestly, that last reason was the final nail in my Adam-shaped coffin.

I am absolutely obsessed with the man.

And not because I think the most basic act of showing care for another living being in anguish is something to be lauded, it isn't, but because it's Adam.

Big, slightly surly, literal leader of the pack, Adam.

He's always been exceptionally kind, a loving, involved father, and he instinctively knows how to be a good partner to Mercy.

He's a lovely, lovely man, there's no question about it - Top 5 UF male lead for sure; he's in good company with Curran, Derek, Tybalt, etc.

But within the series, aside from with Mercy and Jesse, I've never seen him be so unselfconsciously, physically kind to someone.

Someone he's known all of a day.

It probably shouldn't affect me so greatly; it is, as I said, the most basic of kindnesses you can bestow on someone, but I don't know, there's just something about a big old Alpha werewolf cradling a cantankerous ancient, firebug child while they sob years of abuse into his chest.

Honestly, can I blamed for this?

Are my ovaries' defences that lax?


Yeah... yeah, they are.

Adam Hauptman, I love you very much, please never change.

And Patricia Briggs, don't you hurt him.

Or, at least, not too much.

Although, with the current state of affairs in Kennewick, I'm not sure how many fingers I can cross to keep him and Mercy safe.

Fire Touched felt like turning point in the series, not only for the Hauptmans, but for the state of affairs between the Fae and the werewolves.

#maleficent mistress of evil from 𝖋𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖑 𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙


For the last few books it's been very Fae-centric, every battle a battle against them, every villain something eldritch and ethereal, which I love - the Fae are creatures always welcome in my reading time, but I was becoming a little tired of their one-note-ness.

Briggs' Fae for the most are very much:


We're ancient, we're creepily ethereal, and we enjoy the taste of children's blood.


Tumblr: Image

And I've been a bit like...

That's cool and all but really? All of you are shimmery bastards with no impulse control when it comes to dinner?
I need a little more complexity than that, and aside from Zee, it hasn't been provided.
Until now.
With the return of Zee and Tad, the return of Beauclaire and Maggie (find them in the short Fairy Gifts), and the introduction of Goreu, a Fae who travelled with and is related to King Arthur - the Once and Future is always welcome, the tides seem to be finally changing.
These five individuals aren't out for blood, they have values and respect for other life forms, and simply want to live in peace.
Not a child-eater in sight, and it's refreshing, to say the least.
But conversely, it does make me wonder what the trajectory of Mercy's story will now be.
For so long Briggs' has been building us up to the inevitable battle between the Pack and the Fae, and she hasn't been subtle about it, but with essentially a peace treaty between the two species now put in place, and Kennewick now a safe haven for any being in trouble, where does that leave the story?
Has Mercy just made them an even bigger target? And have her actions elevated an inevitable battle into an all out war?
Or will things go in a completely new direction?
...
I really don't know!
But I'm so happy to find out, deliriously happy, I'll go on this ride with Mercy for as long as Patricia Briggs will let me; even if it's in spinoffs, I just want to set up camp in the Hauptman's home and let Mercy feed me Chocolate Orange Brownies (oil, not extract, very important) until I pass out.
Totally normal behaviour.


Ps. Can we put our hands up for yet another of my favourite UF series having Baba Yaga in it and her being a fucking riot?


The witch, who was a Gray Lord, took the sides of her sundress, one side in each hand, and curtsied. "Baba Yaga, at your . . . well, not at your service. That would be a lie. Say rather I'm not opposed to you―or not as opposed to you as I am to some others who were in the hotel tonight." She dropped her skirt and held up a hand, displaying a business card with a cartoon Baba Yaga figure on it and a phone number. "For if they bother you, dearling. Just give us a ring" [...] She smiled "Just so." And she disappeared. No mortar and pestle this time, she was just gone."


Alexis Rose Schitts Creek GIF - Alexis Rose Schitts Creek Bye GIFs

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Kc aka. anelderlymeme:

I've watched this so many times I don't know how to conduct myself anymore.
Thank-you-lady-i-love-you-bye-bye GIFs - Get the best GIF on GIPHY

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Cyrano:

In my eyes the only perfect adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac is Roxanne.
End of story.
I can't be swayed.
And not even the combination of Peter Dinklage's charm and emotional range, Joe Wright's filmmaking, and The National's scoring could change my fealty.
(The National, though! I did a little scream inside when I registered the iconic tattoo of their music thumping along like a pulse to Cyrano's melancholy. And again when Glen Hansard made a singing guest appearance. And again when I noticed how very National-y Dinklage was singing his parts)
I'm am kind of obsessed with these, though:

And haven't stopped listening to the score for days, now.
But it remains true that as ambitious as Joe Wright's take on the classic tale of heartfelt catfishing was, it didn't quite have the joy I'm used to - possibly because I've never watched an adaptation that stayed true to Cyrano, Roxane, and Christian's needless, foolish, and heartbreaking end, and I've come to expect a certain amount of levity.
This is a musical full of purposeless woe swathed in beautiful scenery.
#cyrano from murder she purred (1998)

From the costumes (all the awards to Massimo Cantini Parrini and Jacqueline Durran), to the set design, to the choreography - I would say the music but the songs were sporadically beautiful (see: above); I'm biased, though, because sung-dialogue gives me the ick.


Everything is a battle:
Cyrano's kept-love for Roxane
(Which Dinklage did so fucking beautifully, his vulnerability is second to none, cast him in everything just so he can break my heart with a single, playful frown)


Roxane's anachronistic nature and craving for liberty
(I like Haley Bennet, and I couldn't help but be swept along with her innate dedication to joyful chaos, but I did find her Roxane a little innocent and flighty)


#Cyrano de Bergerac from as old and as true as the sky
Christian's infatuation and blindness to reality
(Kelvin Harrison Jr. is a new actor to me and his mix of innocence and arrogance as Christian drew me in without permission)


#filmedit from i love filmé
And their collective battle against De Guiche, the lecherous villain of the story
(Ben Mendelsohn is a past master at freaking me the fuck out)

This is dramatic, romantic, tragic storytelling at its finest and Joe Wright did it so beautifully, as I knew he would, I just wish I'd felt more, even if it was heartbreak.
Which, of course, comes at the end of the story.
#cyrano from Period Drama Source

All that passion a sigh of regret at the close of the curtain.
How did Cyrano put it? 

I was the the Queen of Almost (today... today...)

#cyrano from Skinamarink Appreciation Club Vice President

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Jawsum:
https://www.tumblr.com/jawsum/708638898918752256/adelaide-and-the-siren-bonus-how-she-got-her

Stop being such a useless lesbian!!!

...
Pedro Pascal Laugh GIF - Pedro Pascal Laugh Funny - Discover & Share GIFs


Ps. Jawsum makes some of my favourite Gideon and Harrow art:
https://jawsum.tumblr.com/post/676070168681758720/queen-of-bones-2021
https://jawsum.tumblr.com/post/704345296674701312/gideon-and-harrow-piece-i-made-back-in-september
https://jawsum.tumblr.com/post/682888941628801024/queen-of-the-9th-harrow
https://jawsum.tumblr.com/post/699934741666906112/flex
https://jawsum.tumblr.com/post/703384027868119040/daughters-of-the-9th-pieces-from-last-year-had

...
I've giving myself until my birthday (August) to read the next book.
I think that's about enough time to mentally prepare for a very depressed Harrow making soup whilst talking to "God"?
...

.............................................

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande:

So painfully vulnerable I thought I was going to squirm myself into non-sensory oblivion.
I genuinely almost turned the movie off half an hour in because I didn't think I could take the raw, open wound Emma Thompson was playing.
She's prickly, she's awkward, she's sporadically offensive; she's open, she's honest, she's a fragment of what its like to be a woman.

An important fragment that Thompson does an achingly wonderful job of portraying and tumbling you through around seventeen different emotions at one time as she backstrokes her way through a truly cringe-worthy encounter with the equally wonderful Daryl McCormack, the eponymous Leo Grande.

Their chemistry is both familiar and combative, a dance that changes on a whim and is at times tempting to edge away from, as I did at the beginning.
But it's worth wading through the discomfort to watch them go toe to toe over important issues:

- Sex for women past a certain age

- Sex for women in general

- Preconceived notions of sex workers and the treatment of them

- The importance of companionship without judgement

- Slut-shaming

- Abandonment

- The value women put on themselves in regards to how they look


Important, valuable things we need to speak about, delivered in the guise of an accidental four part play, acted out by two spectacular actors who hold nothing back.


Will I watch this again?

Maybe.

If I'm in the mood to watch something with my arm thrown over my eyes like some delicate, swooning debutante who simply cannot handle the cringe.

Then I'd totally watch it again.


.............................................

David Pavon:

Is this the most joyous Kirby to grace the planet?
Kirby Line Sticker Kirby Sticker - Kirby Line Sticker Kirby 星のカービィ Stickers


And would you look at those candyfloss clouds.
Squishy and delicious.
Candyfloss GIFs | Tenor

.............................................

Top Gun: Maverick:

How do you top Top Gun?
Give it a porn-stache:
#top gun from no.1 party anthem

Majestic.
Watched with the mater on Mother's Day.
She's the only one who shares my love for this camp-fest.
Love you, Mum
Anytime you wanna double feature it, I'm your girl.
Top Gun Maverick Sunglasses GIF by Top Gun


Ps. Badass Lady Gaga fanart for the theme tune:
Moy González


Okay, we're done, it's over, I have tendonitis in both hands and can't type anymore, so byeeeee...
Running Away GIF - Running Away Run GIFs


Wait, one more thing because that gif provided the perfect segue:

...
scott pilgrim vs the world gif | WiffleGif

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