Hi ho, hi ho... it's off to mock we go.

Tales of the weekend will be added tomorrow. Today. Whatever. Later. Mainly because I wish to include pictures of the carnage and I'm too tired to take the time to treat the digital camera like the lady she is. ;)



Loved Love's A Witch. Paige needs more episodes, especially where she gets to be bitchy to Phoebe and orb an apple into her mouth. Yes indeedy. More thoughts on that... later.

So why bother to blather on at all? Well, a couple of reasons.

One Amanda2 is back at TS3! :D yaaaaaayyyyy! This is happy making news, kay? Good. Celebrate!
Two I think I'm way too geeky for my own good. While over at Rosespaige.com, I looked through the unsorted section and could ID way too many of the photos from their various shoots and other things. Very, very unnerving.

Now, if you need me, I'll be somehow managing to keep myself awake for no reason until I pass out. Odd. I'll also be in mourning for my CD. Remember, pictures at 11.

Time

Her hands shaking, she quietly braids her long brown hair. She's managed to completely block all thoughts other than over, under, over, under, over, under. If she thought, really thought, about what she would be doing later that day, she might just give it all up and crawl back in bed, letting the world go to hell for all she cared.

So she didn't. Think, that is. Instead she concentrates on her hair and twisting her fingers away in time to avoid wrapping them up in a tangled mess. It seems to take forever, but she finally finishes. A quick glance in the mirror tells her that mindless braiding looks pretty much the same as spending forever trying to get it to look perfect. The only difference is that this way she's not nearly as stressed out.

With a sigh, she walks down the hallway to the front door.

"You ready?" a voice asks.

She turns to see her husband, soon to be ex, standing at the foot of the stairs with her son. Their son. The look he's giving her is one she's seen a million times before, only instead of making her want to smile and her heart skip a beat, she wants to cry. He's not hers anymore, and it's taking all her strength to not be selfish and demand that he come back to her. Deep down she knows he would, which makes this whole situation ten times more difficult.

So she forces a grim smile and says, "Ready as I'll ever be."

He smiles at her and walks their son over to her. He kisses Wyatt on the head and then looks into her eyes, and for a minute she wants to kiss him. Because it's what they would have done before, because it's what she should be able to do. But she can't.

"Take care of yourself," he says, effectively killing the moment. "It's cold out there."

She nods. "Of course. Thanks for watching Wyatt." She takes her son into her arms and holds him close.

"The car's all set up. You should probably go," her husband says.

So she does. She walks to the car and straps her son into his carseat before climbing into the driver's seat herself. It feels kind of weird to not just orb there with someone, but today isn't about magic.

They drive and Wyatt falls asleep on the way. She almost chickens out, but forces herself to keep driving. When they arrive, she manages to avoid waking him up. She pulls him close again, taking comfort in the soft baby smell that surrounds him most of the time.

"You ready?" she asks him as they set off. He doesn't even open his eyes.

The grass is crunchy beneath her feet and she tries not to think about the dying grass because then she thinks of death, and today isn't about death either.

It doesn't take long to find the place she's looking for, the place where she and her sisters cemented their involvement in witchcraft. Where Prue finally began to get over Andy's death, and where Piper knew her older sister used to visit when she was feeling guilty over losing an innocent. It's one of the few places that wasn't directly tied to the sisters that she felt closest to Prue after her death.

She sits down and manages to wake Wyatt up in the process, which is probably a good thing, all things considered.

Piper looks up at the sky and waves Wyatt's pudgy little baby hand. "Can you say hi?" she asks.

He blinks but says nothing.

"It was worth a shot," she says. She turns her attention back to the sky. "So, I know it's been awhile, but I honestly thought you'd be back by now," she begins. "But you're not, so I thought I'd bring him to you, since they still won't let us see you. I know it's not the same, but it's something."

She takes a deep breath before continuing. "Prue, this is your nephew, Wyatt Matthew Halliwell."

Wyatt blinks his large blue eyes and seems to focus on a cloud in the sky. She looks up to see it seem to stop directly overhead. Then she sees something twinkle and before she can stop to think about it, Wyatt begins to laugh.

"I guess she likes you, little guy," Piper whispers.

And just like that, things don't seem to hurt as much. The pain she's been carrying for the last three years seems to slowly float away. This isn't to say she's completely healed, because she's not.

The whole Leo situation still exists after all. But the guilt she's felt for living while Prue died? It doesn't seem so bad. The anger at Paige for existing and replacing Prue somehow? The resentment towards Phoebe for chasing after Cole and leaving her sisters unprotected? The frustration at being denied the ability to see her older sister immediately?

It's all going away, or will sooner enough. So maybe those quacks who said that time would make things better weren't as crazy as she originally thought. Or maybe her older sister is still looking out for her. There are worse things than that.

Love's A Witch, bitch.

Love's A Witch:

Pretty good episode, all things considered. So, I'll cut to the chase.
- Since when can witches throw energy balls?
- Since when do the sisters know of these plasma balls and have a test for them no less?

Good stuff:
- The constant Phoebe mocking. The annoyance references. The trying to get her to butt the hell out of other people's emotions. All good stuff.
- Paige saying wonky. I'm easy to amuse.
- Paige getting an episode and even getting to try and keep it all about her, despite Phoebe's best efforts at swaying things to her side.
- The camera work, for the most part. Wonky in a good non fairytale cutaway sort of ... way. ;)
- The darkness of the episode without sliding into all out melodrama. Nice touch, especially after last season.
- Olivia. Just rather spiffy, although I would have liked her to go non glowy for just a second, other than the picture.
- The quotability of the episode. Just don't ask me for an example right now.
- Piper/Leo tension. Something that's been missing for awhile. Too bad it was then followed by the...

Bad:
- Piper going ahead and attempting the divorce thing. I'm not even sure how the fuzzy they'll go about that considering it was a handfasting and I've got no idea what kind of legal paperwork, if any, that entailed. :p
- The Phoebe-locked in the attic, Piper's attempted peptalk, Paige's skirt at the end scene. It felt all kinds of forced, even by my beloved Holly. Nor did I like the demanding of the potion, but, hey. If it keeps tingly-Phoebe from invading other people's space for even one episode, I might get over it. ;)
- Phoebe's spell and inability to butt the hell out.
- All the energy balls and the fact that these fueding families would be considered even semi good witches, despite the fued and the death toll. Weird. Very, very weird.

Phoebe, to her credit, was mostly tolerable. Annoying at times, yes, but she got to levitate, be mocked, go without the baby voice, and not jump the first guy she saw. If she were like this, or better, more often the world might be a happier place.

And whoever thought up the apple bit? Give 'em a raise. Unless it was Kern.