Better Than I Was Yesterday

Ok, First of all, Dorothy Gale is played by a young Fairuza Balk.

These pictures do not do justice to the raw Traumatized Child energy she brings to this role.

A bit of plot: Dorothy Gale won’t sleep. She’s always talking about Emerald Cities and Talking Scarecrows and Ruby Slippers. At her wit’s end, Aunt Em decides to commit her to the sanitarium for electroshock therapy.

Disney made this.

This is where one of the core Uncanny elements of the film first appears; this movie does not share continuity with the 1939 Judy Garland film.

It is a much more faithful adaptation of L.F. Baum’s Books, but despite being a sequel both objectively and canonically, it really just pretends the ‘39 film doesn’t exist.

They land in a desert that turns people to stone called the Deadly Desert. They get food from a Lunch Pail Tree. The chicken can talk. The Scarecrow is King of Oz, allegedly.

But, like,

Here’s her house from the first movie.

The one that landed on a witch? Right smack dab in the middle of a whole dang Munchkin Village?

There was literally a whole song and dance!

Where did the Munchkins go, you might ask?

Well, while Dorothy was away,

There was an Apocalypse.

OZ HAS FALLEN

And this is where we meet the nightmarish Eldritch spawn of Roller Disco and David Bowie:

I don’t-

What is-

This is one of the Good Guys

He’s just a guy. Like, really, very much, Just A Guy of a character. His entire personality, such as it is, is comprised of

His quest to find his Mom (we’ll get back to that) and

Commenting on his lifelessness. For example, when faced with death, he comments calmly that he won’t miss eating or sleeping, since he does neither.

His mom ends up being this girl:

I LIVE TO PLEASE

Ahem. Sorry. Anyway.

So. I mentioned an Apocalypse.

Behold! The citizenry of Oz!

They have been turned to stone by the evil Nome King! Why, you ask?

For stealing his Emeralds, of course!

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I forgot to introduce The Army of Oz, affectionately referred to as Tik-Tok!

This guy

That’s… apparently the whole army?

He’s spring-wound. Has 3 winding keys: one for moving, one for talking, and one for thinking. At one point his thinking gears wind down while his action and talking gears are still tight and he creates a lot of trouble. He has a… spin attack…

I used get dad to rent this film for us when I was 8 or so. Mostly because I knew it was the only film my tough little sister was visibly scared of. Children are brutal.

This breakdown doesn’t even touch on Mombi, who scared the living daylights out of me. She is played by the same actress who plays the nurse at the sanatorium. And she is the reason the citizens of Oz up there are missing their heads. She keeps the still living heads locked in glass cabinets in her palace and swaps them out for her own head depending on her mood.

There is a later scene where all the heads are screaming as Dorothy makes a run for it. Mombi’s original head bellowing ‘Dorothy Gale!’ It is genuinely disturbing. I love this film so much.

because see it’s an adaptation of book 3, Ozma of Oz (which has very little Ozma in it) with random pieces of book 2, The Marvelous Land of Oz (Ozma’s origin story) jammed in at weird angles.

so like. the wheelers weren’t alarming, but the absence of the extended ‘besieged on lunchpail hill with talking chicken’ segment was a disappointment to me.

the retooling of Princess Langwidere of Ev into a Scary Villain rather than a lazy vain girl who accessorizes by changing her entire head was one thing, but giving her the name of the witch who raised Ozma was baffling and offensive.

Executive at Sunlight Entertainment: Hello Kang Sajang-nim! Did you have a good weekend?

Celine: Oh yes, it was quite peaceful. Rumi and I spent a day in the garden, then she had a long nap in the sun while I got some reading done.

Executive: Oh that’s nice! Good weekend with Rumi!

Executive, turning to his coworkers after Celine leaves: Ok Rumi… Is that Celine’s daughter or her cat?

Coworkers: *turn and look at each other with uncertainty*

Celine’s secretary: Wait no one knows?

Head of Marketing: I mean…she’s notoriously private.

Secretary: I think Rumi is her daughter. Spent the day gardening? You do that with kids.

Accountant: What if it’s an outdoor cat?

Marketing: Fell asleep in the sun? That’s a cat.

Assistant: Kids do that all the time. Mine did that just the other day.

Executive: Ok I guess we’re doing this. Time to play Cat or Daughter.

*Celine walks back in*

Executive: Hey Kang Sajang-nim, I was just wondering: what do you do with Rumi in the garden?

Celine: Oh not much. Rumi usually gets distracted by catching butterflies while I do most of the work.

Secretary: What’s Rumi’s favourite food again?

Celine: Kimbap, especially the kind with tuna.

Marketing: And how old is Rumi?

Celine: Six. Her energy’s finally waning a little but she still finds new ways to get into mischief. The other day she got stuck in a tree.

Assistant: Chasing a bird?

Celine: No I had left the back door open for a moment and she bolted. Started climbing immediately. Although once she realized her mistake she cried and cried until I climbed up there myself to get her down.

Executive: Ok this is getting us nowhere. Is Rumi your daughter or your cat?

Celine, offended: How could you ask me that? *storms off*

Mira and Zoey finding out post new Honmoon that Celine actually favors short sleeves, tank tops and the like. It's just well for a decade itw as easier to get Rumi to put on one of Celine's cardigans than it was to get her into her own long sleeve shirts and then it was a back up just in case.

One! Use the maps app for a generic “Gallery” search to find galleries in your area. Then select some and follow them on social media or join their email list. They will post about openings (and sometimes closings) where you can meet the artist and get said noms and dress up fancy.

Two! Follow local museums on social media. I know this is advocating art shows, but museums often have openings with similar food and dress code that are also often open to the public (and will post more about the ones open to the public). They sometimes also have educational talks that might be free and fun!

Three! If there’s a specific (local) artist you like, follow their accounts too! They will let you know where their artwork is being displayed! (And you can also use where they’ve exhibited previously as a list of places to follow for my first suggestion!)

Galleries (and museums) want people to attend openings and exhibitions! They often don’t have the marketing budget to make a splash and rely on word of mouth and their community! So if you want to attend openings, just following their social media is usually enough to become part of the communities who know about the events! ^_^

Zoey: The first few episodes of Percy Jackson! I read these books so much as a kid and-

Mira: Mmm-mmm. No.

Zoey: ?

Mira: You are pulling up Disney Plus.

Zoey: Well, yeah, that's where-

Mira: This is supposed to be a chill night, and Disney stuff makes Rumi cry every damn time!

Rumi: (not this again) It does not!

Mira: Overruled. Anyway, tonight was supposed to be fun and relaxing and there's nothing fun or relaxing about Rumi tears.

Zoey: Mir...you have nothing to worry about! These books are pure fun! The kid finds out he's a demigod and has adventures and goes to camp-

Rumi: Demigods go to camp?

Zoey: -and they are very much not Rumi-tears material

Rumi: Besides, I am not so emotionally fragile I'd cry at a tween novel about kids in camp.

Mira: Whatever you say...

LATER:

Percy Jackson's mom: You are not broken. You are singular

Zoey:...

Mira: (wait for it...)

Rumi: ...

Rumi: 😭😭😭

anyway i wanted a memento of my first pride, you know, and this one vendor was selling keyrings, and i liked it, so i bought one. do you remember those italian charm bracelets that were all the rage like 10-15 years ago? it was a keychain like that, and it had a rainbow rooster, a rainbow cat, and then just a rainbow, and so I bought it.

i run into my mom a couple of vendors over and she goes oh you bought something? what’d you get? so i showed her, and i was like, “I’m not sure why it’s a rooster and a cat. Seems kind of random. But I liked the rainbows.”

and my mom, who was some form of minister’s wife for most of my childhood and teenagerhood, stares at me like she thinks i’m joking.

“What?” i say.

…relic…

("It's part of the offering! Celine loves sugar cookies!" And Rumi can't argue because she does, how does Zoey know that)

And candles don't strengthen the Honmoon or it's Hunters! She's been connected to the Honmoon for almost as long as she can remember and has never once seen it react to a candle!

Zoey's a fanatic, though, and continues to religiously light the damn candle as "tribute." Rumi just accepts it as something she'll have to live with and looks forward to the day the candle burns down.

Until that night.

Celine got called away from the hanok by a pulse of pink, and three hours later she still hadn't called or come home. Rumi, naturally, starts to worry.

Four hours; no sign.

Five; she's run out of nails to bite.

The clock hand is creeping towards two in the morning, six hours since she left.

And with ten minutes to two, Rumi caves.

Furtively checking that Mira's asleep, she creeps into Zoey's empty room (she’s not home, family visit or something), finds the candle, and lights it.

She doesn't do anything weird; she certainly isn't going to pray to it. But...she does think about Celine as the watches the flame waver and dance to its own soundless music. About how she was scared for her, about how she wished she was skilled enough to come with her, about how much she...loves her.

Half an hour later she hears the door open, and flies into Celine's embrace.

“It was a bad one,” Celine says heavily over a cup of tea as Rumi helps patch her up. “I…they came close.”

Rumi shivers at what lurks beneath her words. But harrowing as that is, it’s what she says next that causes her hands to shake.

“Then…I’m not sure what happened, but the Honmoon seemed…stronger, all of a sudden. And I was able to keep going.”

“When did this happen?” Rumi asks, breathless.

“Hmm…about half an hour before I got back.”

Have the actual fic form of this idea! Gifting this on ao3 to @frozenwolftemplar for enabling this idea with the above additions!

Fic - Light a Candle