In Which - Can We Just Unplug 2020 for Ten Seconds and Plug it Back In?

First things first: Rest in peace, Red October. You were a good car.

Red's transmission failed just before Christmas after eleven years and 175,338 miles. 

You have to admit, that's not too shabby. 

Now, meet Zira.                                                                                                                                         

Crowley has been giving my person a hard time about the gray, given that it's apparently quite popular. But she couldn't get the dark blue, didn't want another red one and didn't want black, either, so the gray it was. I kind of miss the sunroof and I think my person sometimes misses Red's CD player, since Zira's is a LOT pickier about which CDs will play and which won't. So it's mostly Sirius XM until it gets warm enough to sit in the car for any period of time and figure out playlists.

Zira is a 2019 Nissan Rogue Sport, BTW. And she's a really sweet little ride. If - big if - we could actually do any riding around right now, that is....

Freaking coronavirus.

We're not under mandatory lockdown, but we're on the very edge of the New York outbreak - we have one confirmed case in our county so far. My person thinks it will just be a matter of time - a short time - until her office is closed. The two adjacent counties have closed their DSS offices through the end of the month, and we rather expect ours will follow suit. We're being asked to limit unnecessary travel, so no outings. Plus, the nursing home my person's mom is in has banned all visitors for the foreseeable future. Apparently this virus is worse the older you are. Combine that with my person trying to navigate all the ins and outs of her mother actually having to be IN the nursing home in the first place - this all started in December - and the new car and all the usual stress and well - it's kind of complicated. She's even wondering if she'll be able to properly renew her driver's license at this point, since she needs to get an enhanced one, which will require a trip to the DMV.




"Dearest, I'm sorry it's all so complicated right now."

Aziraphale's sweet, he really is. He's been doing his best to help. My person promised that if she does end up having to stay home, which she probably will, she'll make him an outfit like the one he usually wears.















"Complicated? Angel, the word you're looking for is clusterfu--"

"Language, dear boy." Aziraphale scolded.

"Seriously? Caroline's person uses worse when her printer acts up." He's trying to put the Fear of Crowley into some of my person's remaining houseplants. Not many of them survived the winter.

They might have stopped the Apocalypse, but they apparently didn't foresee humans getting into fights over toilet paper.










"This is it, dear boy. The kitchen. This is where all the magic happens."

"I rather thought that was my bedroom, angel."

Celine, off camera: "Too much information, Uncle Crowley!"
















Celine went back to her natural blonde, BTW. Like father, like daughter.




















This is Celine's half-sister, Indigo - Indy for short. I didn't know Maddy had two daughters, but here we are. If I understood correctly, Indy, in her old life, was Maddy's son - the one her ex made off with. She ended up being raised by an aunt and uncle, who kicked her out upon her coming out as transgender. Having no one else to turn to, she - he at the time - Facebook messaged the mother who he'd been told didn't want him - only to be picked up ten minutes later via TARDIS and whisked back to the UK. I think the gender switch was done via regeneration, but Crowley also had a hand in adjusting Indy's DNA to no longer reflect any of her human father's. In other words, she's half-Gallifreyian and half-demon. Maddy said the Indy has her one mother's - Penthesalia's - complexion, more or less her looks and her father's eyes - kind of. And like her dad, she can shapeshift into a serpent, although she usually doesn't because she's afraid she'll forget how to change back.









"Oh dear, it seems to be snowing rather harder than expected."

"Ya THINK, angel?!"




















Pinky and Aziraphale's rather awkward first meeting. He forgot that he can't fly like he used to.





















Aziraphale: Nice reusable shopper.

My person: I thought so.

Crowley: Okay, I am much cuter than the bloke who played me.

Nah. I think they're equally adorable.


















Maddy rocking the Feral Sheep look. Although I think that hat is supposed to be a poodle.





















However, there is one bit of good news. The Psychedelic Furs are finally releasing a new album in early May. More on that to come....

In which....Angels and Demons and Time Ladies....

"Mom! What do you think? Not with these boots, obviously, but Uncle Crowley helped me pick it out!"

"I like it." Maddy nodded approvingly.

Maddy's been here just over four years, but this is the first time we've met Celine, her daughter, who's been attending St. Luke's University in London. Why not the Academy on Gallifrey, you ask? Well, there is the slight problem of Celine's parentage. Apparently if you're not fully Gallifreyian, you can't attend. And the thing is.....










"Dear, I really don't think that's appropriate for a proper young cherub.  It's quite revealing."

"Dad!" Celine looked around. "For one thing, it's not revealing. For another thing, I'm twenty-two. I'm hardly a cherub anymore."

"You're practically a baby. And I really don't think you should go out dressed like that. It's almost as scandalous as the outfits your mother wears. Why, not so long ago she would have been traipsing about in her undergarments..."

"Angel, knock it off. It's the twenty-first century."

Aziraphale looked around. "I can't believe you picked that sort of getup out for her. She's a cherub!"



















"She's twenty-two. She's an angel. And there's nothing wrong with it!"

"Crowley, dear, I know you were just trying to be nice..."

"Shut it, angel! I'm a demon. I'm not NICE!" I should point out that this time, Crowley was just trying to get Aziraphale in a position where he could kiss him to shut him up.

You rarely see an angelic facepalm in the wild, but there you go. "Dad, Uncle Crowley, you're both embarrassing. And I'm also wearing it." She was actually trying not to laugh. My person was, too, even though Crowley slamming Aziraphale up against her sewing machine had caused her to unthread her needle.

















"You're being rather bold for someone within kissing distance, dear..."

"You'll see how bold I can be, angel...."

























"Am I interrupting something?"



















~*~

I need to explain.

First off, Aziraphale (it's pronounced a-ZEER-a-fell) is an angel. Well, technically, a Principality, but let's go with angel for now. You might know him as the Angel of the Eastern Gate (which implies that there were other gates, although he says this wasn't the case) from the Garden of Eden. Or the one with the bookshop who helped stop the Apocalypse awhile back. Either way, he and his demon boyfriend Crowley sort of got "discorporated," as they put it, and ended up here with the rest of my person's crew, probably because of Maddy. You see, Maddy, as it turns out, had her own little secret. She was, for reasons she won't go into, forced to live on Earth as a human for quite some time. Along the way, she got married, which was a disaster, and ended up pregnant with a daughter about the time her husband left her. When she ended up incapacitated following an emergency C-Section, Aziraphale signed Celine's birth certificate - as Azira Fell. He and Crowley also named her - Celine Elizabeth Ashteroth Madrigal Jantonia Azira Baker-Fell. I think "Celine" was the only bit Maddy intended to use. I also have a feeling she wasn't too happy when she found out the true enormity of it. All of this was well and good until Maddy's ex showed up four years later and tried to take Celine away. The court ordered a DNA test since this rare book dealer from Soho was also claiming to be the baby's father. Aziraphale said he was trying to miracle the results of the DNA test, which I guess he kind of did, more or less. Except what he miracled was actually Celine's DNA. Remember how she was half-human and half- Gallfreyian? Well, now she's half-angel/Principality/whatever Aziraphale is and half-Gallfreyian. Yeah, he should have gotten in trouble for it, but somehow didn't.

And of course, there's also Crowley. So - apparently he's the Serpent who started all the trouble in the Garden. Except he really was as surprised as everyone else when all that happened. And he actually is really nice for a demon. He smuggled a whole bunch of kids aboard Noah's Ark on the theory that he was being evil and disobeying God by saving them, but he didn't have time to go back and get the unicorn that ran off. According to Aziraphale, he also didn't know why they needed two of them, which left Aziraphale having to explain the proverbial birds and bees to him afterwards. He still says he wishes he'd gotten the unicorn back. Maddy's gone back several times to try to find a few pairs, but hasn't had any luck so far.

He's also convinced that he can run my person's sewing machine, since the Scottish guy who played him on TV once said that driving the (gorgeous!) 1926 Bentley was like driving a sewing machine. Since that remark was in response to a mishap that broke the passenger door on-set, my person is understandably reluctant to let him near her Singer.

Aziraphale can be fussy and a little bitchy from time to time, but he's also really sweet. He had to raid the Pukifee clothing stash for sort of kind of anything that fit, although my person has promised to try to make him something like he usually wears. Although the turtleneck is really cute on him.

 Celine really is quite young for either an angel or a Time Lady. Neither she, Maddy or Aziraphale are entirely sure of what abilities she's inherited yet.
















Notes: Aziraphale is a Pukifee Jude and Crowley is a Pukifee Luna, And if you haven't checked out "Good Omens" (it's on DVD and Amazon Prime) yet, you're missing something really fun.

In which - a Siren. Like, for real....

Really, Her name is Harlow.

And she's cool. Like, really cool.

And yes, she can sing....

And like any self-respecting star, she has tattoos. 

And she's really sweet. And guess what? They don't just sing about sex, sex, sex. It's a lot more complicated than that. Because, as my person will tell you, desire doesn't necessarily mean sex. It can be a desire for - well, anything. Freedom. Justice. Equality. Education. A better life. A new start. Which, says Harlow, is why Sirens are so dangerous. Because they make humans want the things that perhaps, the Powers That Be, as she puts it, don't want them to have. They give us all the power to dream. To act. To believe that we can in fact make a difference. And when that power is held by a woman - even worse. 

But it's not just the Sirens who hold the power to speak directly to our souls. It can be anyone. Or at least that's what Harlow told my person when she asked if Mike Peters was one of Harlow's lot. She's been listening to the Alarm again. A lot. Because it was on a February night in 1984, in a music store in a mall that no longer exists, that she first heard a voice in the noise pollution.....

In which we're still here!

"For real? The camera battery is dead?"

"Shush," my person Maddy said. "Use my phone. It's just as good as my old point-and-shoot."

She is right, though.

We really haven't gone anywhere. It's just that with my person working full-time, it's been hard to find time to post. But we do intend to change that this year.

Speaking of which, my person just ran downstairs to see why the washer is starting another rinse cycle instead of spinning the blanket she's trying to wash dry.

"If she wants to, she can use the dryer in my TARDIS," the Lady Madrigal Baker, aka Maddy, said,

"You don't have a dryer in your TARDIS," I reminded her.

"Wait. Why don't I have a dryer in my TARDIS?" She looked at the Doctor, who just arrived from - I think she said Sheffield?

"Because you took it apart to make a jet pack for a Camaro," the Doctor said.

That sounds way cooler than a dryer, actually.....

"Nice kitty. Good kitty. Get out of here, kitty..." Daisy's voice alerted us to a minor crisis nearby.

"Gotcha, sweetie."

"Hey! Paradox! What are you doing out here? You're supposed to stay in the TARDIS!" Maddy hurried over, scooping up her cat. "I don't think he would have hurt you, Daisy. I'm sorry."

"No problem." Des, Daisy's rescuer, said. His lady Astrid moved here from Michigan back last March, and he followed her out here a few months later. He used to be in a band, but left just before everything went off the rails. They're both super nice.

"You didn't dye him, did you?" Astrid is a vet tech, works at a shelter, and worries about such things.

 "No, he's an Arcadian Ginsing Point," Maddy explained somewhat unhelpfully.

"He's from our home planet, Gallifrey," the Doctor added.

"Do they eat the same thing ours do?" Astrid said.

"Pretty much. Of course, Mr. Picky Paws here only likes Wild Endevour Chewy Kibbles," Maddy rolled her eyes.

"Where do you get that here?" the Doctor said.

"You know what they say. If you want it, KerBlam it."

Yeah, well, I hope there isn't any bubblewrap in those boxes.....

Our lovely Fawn is still very much here, BTW. She's currently rocking lighter hair.

These lovely ladies are Angelica (in back) and her sister Anna Miranda.

They're from a place called Dream Valley.

Angelica is almost completely blind - she can see light and shadow and some shapes. Miri is anxiously awaiting the arrival of what she hopes will be a guide fox for her sister. Yes, she said fox.

Clockwise from top is Piper, Willow, Chione (pronounced KEE-oh-nee) and Calais, Chione's brother.

Piper is technically an Ondine, not a mermaid. She's a river spirit. She is also insanely adorable.

And this is Iris. She's a chimera.

I think she also has a vlog called "Moose on the Loose."

We also have Devika, who also joined us from the Wylde Kingdom. She's currently grumbling over the sad state of this year's poinsettia.

Bonus shots....

Astrid modeling a new outfit and getting photobombed by a gerbil named Dagger

Maddy, Fawn and the Doctor about to get a shift on....

Angelica......

Anna Miranda......

And Des.

In which Howard gets schooled....

"Here it is," Lavinia said. "This is what I was looking for."

"Bizarre Plants?" Howard, aka HP Lovecraft said, looking over her shoulder. He's looking for a more "appropriate" body, but we haven't found one yet.

"Yeah. Maddy was asking about something - Gum Axtraxicia, I think. Something like that."

"Where is she?" I said.

"She and her sister went somewhere - I know, not a lot of help, right."

"In that time machine thingy?"

"The TARDIS? No. I think they took Aura's little car."

"I hope they got back before it started raining." It's been raining on and off - and more on than off - since Friday morning. We need it pretty badly, though. Everything was turning brown.

"Just made it!" That was Maddy. "Hey everyone, meet Bowie. She's the middle sister of the bunch."

"Sister?" Howard said.

"Yes. There are five of us," Maddy replied. "Myself, Sigourney, Bowie here, Swan and Alcyone."

"But she's...." Howard started.

"What? Black?" Lavinia stood up. "Oh for the Goddess' sake, Howard, don't start with that crap!"

"But - sisters? When they're....."

"That doesn't have a ****ing thing to do with it!" Since I'm trying to keep this somewhat PG, I'll leave some of Lavinia's language to your imagination. "When are you going to come to your damn senses and realize that we're all human beings, huh? It doesn't matter what color you are. I can't believe I even have to explain this to you. This is the twenty-first century."

"In our case, all Gallifreyians," Bowie said. "From the House of Jade Dreamers."

"We're sisters. We're all from the same genetic loom," Maddy added.

"Loom?"

"Our people lost the ability to bear children years ago. There hasn't been a womb-born child on Gallifrey for thousands of years now," Bowie said,

"And we're all the daughters of Cassilda, so shut up or else," Maddy added.

He seemed rather taken aback, but didn't say anything else about it. I think he has a lot to learn.....

Bonus pic - Maddy, me and Bowie.



















~*~
Note: HP Lovecraft's racism is pretty well-documented. I could only imagine what he'd make of Maddy and her sisters being such varied skin tones. And I can imagine Maddy ripping him a new one the instant he said anything ugly about them.

The reason I picked the four I did is because of the resemblance - and the fact that they were the ones of my crew who either didn't have backstories or didn't have well-defined ones. I think they look quite lovely together.

Bowie is a tan PKF Luna, BTW.