I've Been Waiting And Hoping For Weeks For Malcolm's Weirdness Rating To Tip Over From 'aware But In

I've been waiting and hoping for weeks for Malcolm's Weirdness Rating to tip over from 'aware but in denial' to 'aware and convinced' ............ does it show?

Violent Malcolm safely back in captivity

What happened to the Malcolm who used to badger everyone else about following the rules? Now all it takes is one misunderstanding with Thora and he's smashing lamps through the walls and trying to flee the Big Brother house! Should we have let him back in at all?

Every turn before this one, I've been the first to go - so this was the first time I got to experience the fun of riffing off events someone else created, deciding how much to agree with and how much my account should conflict. You can do that all the time, riffing off things from previous turns, but this is the most engaged I've felt with that aspect of the game, and let me tell you, it's a blast

Is there anything Malcom won't complain about?

Another take on Plategate and we're no closer to knowing who chucked that first mug. And why on earth can't Malcolm just take the W when it lands on his ... plate? Just enjoy the pool, you big killjoy!

How does one hate a country, or love one? Tibe talks about it; I lack the trick of it. I know people, I know towns, farms, hills, and rivers and rocks, I know how the sun at sunset in autumn falls on the side of a certain ploughland in the hills; but what is the sense of giving a boundary to all that, of giving it a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one's country; is it hate of one's uncountry? Then it's not a good thing. Is it simply self-love? That's a good thing, but one mustn't make a virtue of it, or a profession... Insofar as I love life, I love the hills of the Domain of Estre, but that sort of love does not have a boundary-line of hate."

Therem Harth rem ir Estraven, THE LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula LeGuin

After the Strange and Norrell affair, and the coincident return of magic to England

1. Every time the York Society convenes to study Vinculus, he insists on discomfiting them all by disrobing in a decidedly ... sultry manner, involving lots of eye contact and visible tongue movement.

2. Having a mirror in your house is the height of risque recklessness. Lord Byron has one in every room, and five in the bedroom. It is not considered respectable for your house or your carriage to have clean windows. On mornings after rain, even the naturally antisocial look passers-by in the eye in greeting, rather than risk glimpsing a reflection in a puddle.

3. Bell Strange and Emma Wintertowne, the former Lady Pole, roam the continent investigating writings and sightings concerning Faerie. Others were imprisoned in Lost Hope; other faeries are surely abroad in England, making other bargains; and of course there’s Jonathan. Strange and Wintertowne have no intention of ever again being taken unawares. When eventually their quest takes them back to England, they’ll be prepared.

4. The Black King of Lost Hope observes their escapades through fountains and rain, looking forward to the day they find their way back to him; though he knows it will be, in the main, to ask service of him again. He hasn’t yet decided what his answer will be.

5. Many an adventurer has entered the house of Gilbert Norrell seeking the truth about that day. Many are still missing. Those who return, return to some degree mad. It seems that, absent Mr Norrell’s tending, the labyrinth around the library is growing wild. Its twists and turns are said to echo with the flutter of ravens’ wings.

6. Slowly, subtly, John Childermass cedes his role as ambassador-convenor of England’s magical societies to Segundus and Honeyfoot, and returns to the shadows. Attempt to abuse English magic - to use it to harm, cheat or control others - to bring it, in other words, into disrepute once again - and you are wont to discover a scarred man in the nearest dark corner, glowering. Show contrition and he will simply direct you to your local society, where you may learn honour from your betters. Attack him, and he’ll do you the honour of teaching you a little lesson himself.

I'm back on the hellsite, we're living through a pandemic and a cost of living crisis and I've lost what chill I ever had, what is upppp