#and hes still alive!! at the age of 95!!

[sugarglider-s]

holy fuck the more I read about noam chomsky the more I love him.

[cassandracain52]

for some reason this question has been killing me this week and then suddenly i realized i should just run to your blog and ask you!! how old were tim and steph when they first met? my brain is giving me fourteen and fifteen but i'm now realizing i could have made that up instead of basing it in comics. (feel free to reply privately or publicly, dealer's choice)

Ah yes, the familiar character ages struggle😂

When it comes to comic characters (DC and Marvel especially) characters ages are rarely ever mentioned and when they are it’s generally extremely inconsistent

That being said, I don’t think Stephanie is even relevant enough for DC to have ever even mentioned her age definitely not that early in her appearances at least :(

However, I think it’s a fairly safe assumption to say her and Tim are the same age and his age is a bit easier to find or at least make an educated guess, and actually you pretty much got it!

Tim and Stephanie meet in Detective comics issue #648 which came out in July of 1992

In Robin (1993) Issue #9 which came out some time late 1993, we see Tim shopping for a car with his dad which implies that he can legally drive as a civilian which means he has to be at least 15 1/2 as that is the requirement in America for a driving permit. This is further supported when in Robin (1993) issue #116 we get to see Tim celebrating his 16th birthday (Which quick sidebar also tells us his birthday is July 19th!)

With that in mind we can reasonably place Tim at around 14 years old at the time he and Stephanie meet since the comics have a good bit of distance between them. And if we assume him and Stephanie are around the same age that would place her in that range as well

So yeah, saying they were 14/15 is a fairly good timeline even if you accidentally made it up😂! Hope this helped!🖤

[dronebiscuitbat]

Oil is Thicker Then Blood (Part 94)

It was N who took Tera in for her playdate two days after they'd dragged in the second pod. It wasn't at Delilah’s house, or even at his apartment, nope, it was in the same room the mothers group was held, and the moment he walked in, daughter in tow. (Wearing a brand new little hair clip made from his old hat pin.) He felt startlingly out of place.

For starters, he was the only male drone there. There was Delilah, Clover, Martha and Ginger; all names he'd heard in passing aside from Delilah, and a smattering of children of various ages, Zoey and Cain being the two eldest, playing together on a colorful plastic slide.

Bonnie and Axle were too young yet to play with the toddlers, so they were put up in cribs where they could do what pillbabies do… which at their age, that was mostly sleep.

But that left Toby and Kiara in a little playpen together, Toby ambling around, stacking blocks and… putting them in his mouth, and then knocking them over again.

Kiara was sitting upright, looking between Toby and her mother nervously, she looked upset-as always, even more so at being left alone in the playpen.

“Uh… Hello?” N called out, nerves laced in his voice as he sat a baby bag, with both toys and bottles for when Tera needed it, down next to an empty chair.

“Oh N! You made it!” Delilah was the first to greet him, coming up to lightly hold his arm while smiling brightly. “Sorry, Originally this was just supposed to be between Tera and Kiara… but then Ginger found out about it and-”

“- And I said why not have all the kiddies in one big playdate!” Ginger appeared before him, she was definitely Hals sister, even had a bit of the same accent.

“You must be Uzi's husband! It's nice to finally meet you in person! I'm Ginger!” She stuck a hand out and shook his hand firmly, he grinned awkwardly. “We're not- Uh, just N is fine.”

“And hello Tera! You're here with Daddy today! How exciting!” She turned to the toddler resting in his arm, who smiled back at her with a toothy grin.

“You can put her in the playpen with Toby and Kiara!” Delilah directed him over to the small playpen, And N and Tera exchanged a look.

“You wanna play with them baby bat?” He asked softly, and Tera nodded rapidly, grinning from ear to ear.

“Alright, just be careful with them.” N gently placed her down in the pen, she stood for a moment, wobbly before falling on her butt and moving into a crawl, exploring the pen and all its toys.

As Papa was dragged away by the other ladies to gossip, she wandered her way through colorful plastic balls, wooden blocks and plushies that had exchanged hands several times, she booped one in the nose and it's eye popped off.

She jumped when the button suddenly came off, hissing at it in warning before the fact that it wasn't alive registered in her still developing systems.

“Mmm!”

The sound caught the young droneling by surprise, and she turned. Kiara was clumsily crawling towards the edge of the pen, trying to get to her mom because clearly- she wanted nothing to do with all these people.

“Ma! Mama!” She called, but she wasn't quite loud enough for her mother to hear her over the sound of the other kids playing.

After a moment of trying, she seemed to realize she couldn't be heard, which made her more upset…

Tera could see it coming before it happened, Kiara's fist curled, her mouth turned down and her eyelights scrunched. She was about to start crying.

“Hi! Kia! Hi!” She belted, both as a distraction and genuine greeting, crawling over a quickly as possible, tumbling over herself to cross the distance faster.

Thankfully, that seemed to stop the outburst. Kiara whipping her body around to look at the source of her name being called.

“Hi…” Kiara replied, not quite making eye contact with her purple eyelights, she made herself look even smaller, looking as defeated as a toddler could.

“Feel bad?” Tera asked, her grasp of language was getting better by the week…

“Go…” Kiara muttered, though in tye context given Tera understood that she wasn't telling her to go away, and that she wanted to leave.

Not understanding personal space, Tera shoved her face through the arms blocking the other toddlers face, all but making the girl give her all her attention. “Why?”

Kiara looked at Tera's giant toothy grin, body wiggling like an excited puppy and giggled softy, breaking through her sniffles.

She shook her head, which only made Tera cock hers to the side and get even closer to the girls visor, vibrating.

“Loud.” Kiara finally said, covering her audials to try and demonstrate what she was trying to say to compensate for her lack of vocabulary.

“Loud.” Tera repeated, sticking her tongue out in thought before getting an idea and scampering over to the same plush from earlier and grabbing it with both her hands.

Since this teddy bear plush was bigger then she was, it took a bit of effort to pull it with her- even harder when she was used to crawling with all four of her limbs instead of just two. But she slowly dragged the heavy plush over, making tiny noises of strain before stopping right in front of Kiara.

“Teddy!” She said proudly, presenting the plush bear proudly.

Kiara blinked at it, hands clumsily coming up to grip the fur of the bear. She looked at Tera, then the plush, before slowly crawling on top of it, burying herself in it.

“Good now?” Tera asked after a moment, sitting like a dog, and her head cocked to the side.

“G-good now.” Kiara repeated, snuggling up the the bear for comfort, covering one audial up entirely. Tera grinned, feeling proud of herself.

“Yay!”

And that peace lasted for a good minute, maybe minute and a half before Toby got bored playing with blocks by himself, and began to waddle over to where the girls were. Kiara slowly calming down from being overwhelmed, and Tera happily entertaining herself pouncing on a plastic ball.

And he began to drag the plush bear out from underneath the toddler, either curious of it and wanting to play to or being just a little bit mean in the way toddlers can be.

“No! Bad!” Tera grabbed the other end of it with her teeth, growling as Toby smiled, pulling harder.

Kiara snapped up, looking between the two, gripping onto the plush harder as the ratted out thing got pulled in two direction.

For Toby, it was a simple game of tug of war. For Tera and Kiara, it was life or death.

Tera pulled and hissed and growled, using all four limbs to tug the foot of the bear in her direction, but found a good match in Toby using both arms and standing upright. Kiara whimpered, not wanting her comfort to be taken away.

They both pulled

And pulled

And pulled-

Riiip!

The leg Tera was pulling with her teeth came off abruptly, throwing Toby backwards onto his butt and Kiara off the plush and onto the floor.

Tera was confused on why there was cotton in her mouth and all over the floor for a moment before all hell broke loose.

Toby began to wail, being upset and confused about being knocked over suddenly, Kiara was next, her cry was peircing, and Tera winced, dropping the severed leg onto the ground, and looking guilty.

“Kiara? Oh! What happened?!” Delilah immediately turned from her conversation to peer into the playpen, Ginger and N following suit.

“Looks like your kids fangs ripped the stuffed animal.” Martha pointed out, it didn't help that Tera had made herself look small and very guilty.

“Now Martha, all these toys are old… we don't know-” Delilah was cut off by Toby.

“She hurt me! She broke it!” He cried.

Tera didn't know what to do, she hadn't meant to, she just didn't want him to take it from Kiara.

She opened her mouth, to try and protest, or even to apologize in her own unique way when he screamed again. “SHE GONNA EAT ME!”

She froze like she was made of ice, looking up at her Dad, who looked like his heart just shattered into a million peices. Ginger quickly got up and silenced her child with a quick tap on the bottom.

“Toby! You know better! You can't just accuse people of that! She's a baby!” Ginger looked incredibly upset, and Toby did too, still holding on the now amputee teddy bear and bawling his eyes out.

“Come here sweetheart… I'm sorry you got mixed up in that.” Delilah picked up her daughter, comforting her and coaxing her down from her tantrum, and N picked up Tera, who wouldn't meet his eyes.

“What happened…?” He whispered gently, but Tera didn't know how to answer that, she didn't have the vocabulary. So all that came put of her mouth was “Sowwy…”

“I think… I think we should go…I'm sorry everyone.” N began to pack up briskly, a million thoughts cascading through his head as Tera held back tears.

She wasn't gonna eat him.

Why did he say that?

Was there something different about her?

“N-No! N, stuff like this happens all the time. Toddler's are drama queens.” Delilah assured him, trying to defuse the situation but already having the sinking feeling damage had been done.

Kiara, now comforted by her mother, looked at both Toby and Tera, Toby was still bawling his little eyes out, while Tera was trying to do it silently. Little tears of confusion running down her visor.

“Mama!” She got her mother's attention and shakily pointed to the girl. “Good.” She said.

Then she pointed to Toby. “Bad.”

Delilah looked starstruck, and so did everyone else. Tera whimpered, sniffling and trying to bury herself into N's coat.

“Huh…” Clover mad a noise of intrigue.. and Delilah smiled.

“Yeah? Toby's the culprit Huh?” She asked gently, and Kiara nodded rapidly, looking at the green eyed toddler with a wicked glare.

“Ooh look at that face! She mad!” Ginger laughed, holding her own son loosely. “It wouldn't surprise me, he's had a habit of starting trouble…”

“Still, Tera probably scared him with her fangs.” Martha deadpanned. And N felt his soul drain out of him a little more.

“I still think we should go… I don't think Tera wants to stay after that.” He packed up his baby bag and made his way out the door, waving goodbye at the group while Tera curled into him.

“Bad? I? I Bad?” Tera asked, sniffling.

“No. No you're not bad, accidents happen.” He responded immediately. Closing his eyes as he gave her a swift kiss on the forehead.

Tera though… Tera didn't quite believe him.

Next ->

[conkreetmonkey]

So Jack Marston was 4 in 1899. He was 19 in 1914. This has some truly crazy implications about the time periods Jack could reasonably live to see. Despite the low likelihood of it given his lifestyle, let's assume he lives to die of old age.

(it's a long one under the cut)

Jack Marston would be 25 in 1920, meaning he would be in the prime of his life during the roaring twenties. He would be 34 on Black Tuesday in 1929, and live through the Great Depression, coming out the other side at 46 years old.

He would live through both world wars, so if we're assuming he's somehow cleaned up his name and is no longer n outlaw, perhaps existing under another identity, he would be drafted into at least one world war, as he would live through both WWI and WWII. Let's assume he either dodges the draft or survives the battlefield; likely the former, as he'd still hate the federal government with a burning passion, and is no stranger to evading their grasp.

When WWII ended in 1945, Jack would have been about 50. He'd have seen both gunslingers and nukes in his lifetime. He'd have watched horses be replaced by cars, and airplanes become a mainstream technology.

Jack Marston would be 55-65 in the 1950s. He'd witness the development and popularization of plastic, TVs pop up in every home, and hyperconsumerism become the norm as wrinkles set in and his hair started falling out. At this point, especially for the time, he'd truly be getting old. Maybe he'd have kids, or even grandkids by thus point. Would he be happy, having experienced the best and worst of America? He was probably too old to serve in Vietnam; there's no way he wouldn't have some sort of disability by this point.

Jack Marston would be 75 in 1970. At this point, death of old age becomes exponentially more likely with every passing year, but let's be hyper-optimistic just to push this to its limits. Jack would witness hippies. Would he like or dislike them, these men who despise the government-mandated bloodshed he'd lived through, yet resisted through bright colours, bongoes and weed?

Old Man Marston, if still kicking, would be 85 in 1980. Probably going senile by this point, but if still mentally sharp and with nimble enough fingers, Jack could have played Donkey Kong at 86. He could have set foot in an arcade, assuming he can still walk.

Now, as egregiously unlikely as it is, let's assume Jack lives to 100. An obscenely old age, especially given all the things he's lived through. The stress, the bullets, the cigarette smoke and lead paint... let's assume his body remains functional despite it all, some defiant force deep in his soul refusing to let him die.

If he lived to 100, Jack would have died in 1995.

Think about how insane that would be. A man raised by the last remnants of the wild west, fading out as the internet begins. He'd have seen the moon landing, and eaten at McDonald's.

Six more years, and he would have witnessed 9/11.

Jack's great grandchildren, assuming he and every child afterwards reproduced at age 30, would have been about 10 in '95. They'd have been millennials. They'd be 35 during the beginning of the Covid lockdowns. They'd be alive today, and remember their great grandfather. Perhaps they inherited a few hats and antique guns. Perhaps they now live in sprawling urban environments like Saint Denis or Blackwater, watching electronic billboards and anti-homeless architecture go up, rent go up 20% per year, and a sandwich go from $5 to $15. Maybe they'd watch Jack's now-senile firstborn lose money that used to, long ago, belong to the Van Der Linde Gang, falling for a Nigerian prince or Google gift card scam.

Or maybe Jack Marston's kid(s) died to Covid. It's entirely possible, nay plausible given the timeline as it exists. Jack was one generation away from possibly living to read Homestuck or watch Space Jam in the old folks home.

What do you think Arthur, John and Jack would think if there was an afterlife, looking down upon what America had become in 12 short decades? Would they relate to John's great-great-grandchildren, to living in a time and place that doesn't want you? To the impossibility of making an honest living, of escaping America's newest model of the Orphan Crushing Machine? Would they see Dutch echoed in Trump, Cornwall in Bezos or Musk? An empire they watched grow up begin to slow down from age, never ceasing in its quest to ruin as many lives as possible?

How would they feel, watching Jack's 9 year old great-great-grandchild, still bearing the Marston name, do active shooter drills in her classroom as the air turned to poison and the summer to a kiln? As men like Dutch prod her along into a life of miserable servitude to a gang of thieves, elevated to untouchable American royalty with Pinkertons and the law as their knights?

Personally, I think they'd be quite upset.

[liver-f4ilure]

Criminals Still alive PT 1

Including only murderers

(OLD POST REDONE!)

Adnan Colak

(AKA. The Beast of Artvin)

Age: 71 (September 5th, 1952, Türkiye)

Crime: killing 11 people via axe ages 68-95, 6 of which were women whom he raped before killing. The span of his crimes were 1992-1995 in the Turkish district of Artvin.

Convictions/Sentence: 6 death sentences + 40yrs imprisonment however it was commuted to life imprisonment when Türkiye abolished the death penalty in 2004.

Where are they now?: released in 2005 under a conditional release arrangement.

Fact: I really can’t find a single thing on how he killed them but he was named the ‘axe murderer’

Artyom Anoufriev

(AKA. Academy Maniacs)

Age: 29 (October 4th 1992, Irkutsk, Russia)

Crime: Artyom and the other member of the academy maniacs, Nikita Lytkin, killed 6 people via hammer, mallet, baseball bat or knife. Artyom said he administered the first blows while Nikita mocked the victims. The two would hit the victim 15-20 times before they passed. In total they had 15 victims with 9 of them surviving.

Conviction/sentence: 6 counts murder, robbery, abuse of victims bodies and organizing extremist activities. Artyom was sentenced to life imprisonment while Nikita was sentenced to 24 years which was then reduced to 20years. However on December 1st 2021 he was found dead via su!cide. He had 9 more years left in his sentence.

Where are they now?: still incarcerated

Fact: the case was the first one involving violent extremism in the Irkutsk Oblast that was solved using forensic science.

Beverly Allitt

(AKA. Angel of Death)

Age: 55 (October 4th 1968, Grantham, England)

Crime: killing 4 children via injecting large doses of insulin and attempted to kill 9 other children during her time as a nurse (aka angel of death)

Conviction/Sentance: 4 counts murder, 5 counts attempted murder. Sentenced to 13 consecutive life sentences.

Where are they now?: still incarcerated

Fact:During early childhood and adolescence she would do ‘attention-seeking’ behaviours including going to multiple doctors and getting her prefectly healthy appendix removed. her motive for her crimes was FDIA ( factitious disorder imposed by another) aka Münchhausen by proxy.

Catherine Brinie

(AKA.The Moorhouse Murders)

Age: 73 (May 23rd 1951, Australia?)

Crime: murdering and abducting 4 women (attempting to kill 1) all ranging in ages from 15-31 with her husband, David Birnie (1951-2005) almost all their victims were rapd. The couple gained the name ‘the moorhouse murders’ since they committed the crimes in their house at 3 Moorhouse Street.

Conviction/Sentence: She was sentenced to 4 terms life imprisonment with possibility of parole after 20 years. Her husband pleaded guilty to 4 counts murder, 5 counts abduction and 4 counts rape.

Where are they now?: still incarcerated

Fact: the couple only had 1 survivor, Kate Moir who was 17 at the time of her escape and wasn’t believed by police when she made the report.

Charles Cullen

(AKA. The Angel of death)

Age: 64 (February 22nd 1960, West Orange, New Jersey USA)

Crime: Cullen, a nurse, killed 29 with a suspected 400 more people by injecting lethal doses of insulin and Digoxin. His crimes lasted from 1988-2003 and through several medical centres in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Conviction/sentence: convicted of 29 counts murder and sentenced to 18 consecutive life sentences and will be eligible for parole June 10th 2403.

Where are they now?: still incarcerated

Fact: in 2006 during a sentencing hearing in a Pennsylvanian courtroom Cullen, for 30 minutes kept repeating”Your Honour, you need to step down” until Judge William H. platt had him gagged with cloth and duct tape. Yet through the cloth he still kept repeating his words.

David Berkowitz

(AKA. Son of Sam)

Age: 71 (June 1st 1953, Brooklyn New York USA)

Crime: killing 6 people (mainly couples) via .44 calibre gun, leaving 11 wounded and 2 via stabbing in ‘75. He also reported being apart of multiple unsolved arsons

Convictions/Sentance: 6 counts murder in the second degree, 7 counts attempted second degree murder. Sentenced to life imprisonment with possibility of parole after 25yrs

Where are they now?: Still incarcerated

Fact: Stacy Moskowitz was the only blonde victim of Berkowitz and didn’t survive. At the police station Stacy’s mother reported a detective called her ‘ms. Berkowitz’ instead of Moskowitz. He gained his name because of his motive saying his neighbours dog ‘Sam’ was the devil and told him to do it which he later claimed was fake. He also was apart of a satanic cult named ‘The sons of Sam’ but not any members have been found. He is the reason for a set of laws called ‘The son of Sam laws’ which prohibit criminals from profiting off media.

(I COULD DO A WHOLE INFO POST ON THIS CASE ITS SO INTERESTING!)

Dennis Rader

(AKA. BTK Killer)

Age: 79 (March 9th 1945, Pittsburg, Kansas USA)

Crime: killed 10-12+ victims all ranging in age (9-62) by suffocation or strangulation. First he would break into his victims houses (usually families) tie them up, torture them then kill them. He sometimes masturbated over his female victims.

Convictions/Sentance: 10 counts murder in the first degree (suspected more victims). Sentance to life imprisonment with possibility of parole after 175yrs.

Where are they now?: still incarcerated

Fact: Rader got so caught up in sending letters to taunt police that he sent a floppy disc which was traced back to him, leading to his arrest

Gary Ridgway

(AKA.the green river killer)

Age: 75 (Febuary 18th 1949 Salt Lake City Utah USA)

Crime: Ridgeway killed 49 woman minority of them prostitutes or underage runaways and would pick them up off the highway and strangle them to death via his own hands then would dump their bodies in the green river(coining the name ‘Green river killer’ or other forested areas and often returned to the scene to commit acts of necrophilia. His victims were found in both Washington and Oregon. His crimes spanned from 1982 to 1988 but it’s possible he was still attacking people up to 2001 when he was finally apprehended the same year.

Convictions/sentence: 49 counts aggravated first degree murder, 48 counts tampering with evidence and solicitation. Ridgeway was sentenced to 49 life sentences without possibility of parole.

Where are they now?: still incarcerated

Fact: Ridgeway would wet the bed up until he was 13. At 16 he led a 6yr old boy into the woods and stabbed him through the ribs into the liver, he thankfully survived.

Part 2 coming soon…

—

I DO NOT CONDONE!

-Vivi

[orange-peony]

Thanks for tagging me @artsyunderstudy and @blackberrysummerblog!

I've been working on my accidental baby acquisition fic, and I blame entirely @cutestkilla for this part (Simon's POV):

“You look truly scared for the first time. A lot more terrified than usual. Is it because of that?” the Humdrum asks, pointing at Lucy, who is still blissfully asleep in my arms. I hold her a little closer, wrapping my hand protectively around her tiny and defenceless body.

I won’t let the Humdrum hurt her. He will have to kill me first.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“What do I want,” he parrots with a little chuckle. He starts bouncing his infernal red ball and moves around the room, looking at Lucy’s things. He runs his hand on the neat pile of babygrows carefully folded on the sofa. He picks up one of her squidgy, colourful toys and says, “We never had any of this.”

I pause, and for the first time I really look at him. At how young he looks. How raw and famished, his eyes alive with the hunger and the need and the desperate rage I remember feeling at his age. I always felt like there was no hope for me. That no one would ever truly want me. That no one would love me.  

And a little drarry:

When he slides his hand at the nape of Draco’s neck, in that warm and silky spot where the last part of the braid unravels for him, Harry can feel Draco’s skin under his fingertips. He watches grey eyes fluttering close, pink lips parting on the tiniest of gasps. And then he feels it, like a stroke of lightening coursing through him. The old bond pulsates and sends a spark of pleasure through his body.

Draco’s eyes open in surprise, staring at him in shock, as if he could feel it too. And Harry thinks he shouldn’t, because this makes no fucking sense. The bond was dead when Draco left. Neither of them should be able to feel it after such a long time. So, what is this warmth spreading through his chest, threatening to make Harry fall apart and reach for Draco to press his mouth to his and feel that long forgotten and blissful tingling of the bond every time he kissed Draco?

Tagging (apologies if you've already done it and I missed it):

@pato-roldnart, @bubble-gumhead , @excalisbury, @pocketlessdruid, @itsphantasmagoria, @cutestkilla , @fatalfangirl , @hushed-chorus , @facewithoutheart , @thewholelemon , @alexalexinii , @you-remind-me-of-the-babe , @larkral , @letraspal , @regretfulcorrine , @rimeswithpurple , @leithillustration , @littlewinnow , @imagineacoolusername , @emeryhall , @shrekgogurt , @wellbelesbian , @mooncello and @j-nipper-95

[neersivu]

Beyond Time

So, I had this AU idea. The picture attached describes visually what happened in this story:

Steven left Beach City after his meltdown and the years went by. He started healing his inner self, and even if it wasn't a linear process, he kept getting better. Connie finished college, and they started living together in Empire City. They got married at 26, and life was full of joy. The Gems, Greg, and other friends like Lars and the Off Colors visited them regularly.

Steven had his 30th birthday, and things were going well, but as the years kept going, they started to realize that Steven wasn't aging anymore. It was like when he was younger again. Despite the efforts, he couldn't keep the aging pace with Connie or his other human friends. It was a total mystery; neither the Gems nor the Diamonds knew what the cause was. But times were still good, so even if they were worried, it wasn't a real problem, because the only thing is that he looked a little younger than his other acquaintances, right? That was what he thought the first couple of years.

5, 10, 15, 20, 25....30 years went by, and by the time Connie was almost 60 the difference was notorious. Lars and the rest of the Gems still looked the same. Greg was almost 80.

Even if they couldn't do as many things as they did when they were younger, Greg, Connie, and Steven still had fun. They played cards now and then, baked cookies, and reunited all together every Christmas in the Barn with Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth.

One day, at the age of 95, Greg passed away. Before the moment, he had given Steven clear instructions of not bringing him back with his tears: he was happy with the life he had and wished nothing else but rest, and who knows? Maybe he would meet his deceased beloved in realms who are still not known by neither humans nor gems.

Years kept going, and Connie's time came. Steven and her were peacefully dozing off in the bed of the house they purchased in Beach City after Greg passed away. It was after the Christmas party in the Barn. By the surprisingly old age of 98, after spending almost 85 wonderful years together with Steven, she died. She just didn't wake up. As per her previous instructions, Steven wasn't allowed to bring her back. They had discussed it after Greg's death. She had a wonderful life and wanted to preserve the memories of those years just as they were.

The Gems were there for Steven in these rough times, but he just wasn't feeling good by being there without his loved ones. He felt too much grief. So he decided to accompany Lars in his adventures with the Off Colors. He left the earth with his friend Lars, who only looked a couple of years older.

They had a great time in space; they met new creatures and visited other planets and galaxies. They were so long outside that they even managed to go to the place where the Diamonds were created.

After 500 years of being traveling in space, Lars suddenly started to decay. Lion passed away 200 years ago, so they all knew this moment would come sooner or later. Lars started to feel tired, so they stopped in Homeworld to rest. Lars died in the night in a cozy bed surrounded by his Off Color friends and Steven, who cried his death, but his tears were no longer enough magic to bring Lars back again. It simply wasn't enough fuel to make him alive again. Steven could only bring Lars or any other back from the dead once, and when the power ran out, that was it. There was nothing else to do.

Steven was full of sadness. He decided to keep traveling by himself. He took a small fast ship and went into space again. The Off Colors stayed in Homeworld. After a time of being here and there, he just couldn't find sense in being alone in space anymore. He had visited Earth and the Gems a couple of times, but he didn't really want to be there, not with the empty spots of everyone he once knew.

So, once again, he went to Homeworld and decided to take his rightful place as Pink Diamond, one of the four rulers of the galaxy. Together with the Diamonds, they managed the universe.

Nonetheless, even if he was really busy with his Diamond duties, he sometimes felt sadness and remembered with nostalgia the good old times. Those sad days, he would take his new personal ship and travel to Pink Diamond's former garden. From there, he could contemplate the Milky Way and the things that had been, as if it had all been a beautiful dream. Now that everything has changed and he has become royalty, what would the future yield for him? There were many things he would think there watching the dark sky, while he knew deep down that he would be stagnant in the age of 30 years forever, condemned to watch friends die.

He sometimes wanted to go and be friends only with the Gems and no humans, to avoid this suffering again, but it just was too much for him. He didn't want old memories back. So Steven just used to stay in the Garden until duty called, and he returned to Homeworld again...

Notes: I just like Steven in fancy feminine clothes okay? He is still a powerful Diamond and ruler of the Galaxy. He has embraced this stage of his life and wears something that makes him feel as such. Also, those pants and clothes are fresh and comfortable. :)

I also drew a little star bracelet. It represents that even if he wants to forget the pain, the memories will always be a part of his life, and he doesn't truly want to let them go away.

It is made in a big format with lots of pixels or that stuff, so maybe you can't watch everything clearly without having a tablet or something. Click on the picture to see the details! Or else, check some of them down here :]

Bracelet:

[thevioletcaptain]

⚡️🦇👻 Spooky Season Movie Recs 👻🦇⚡️

These are some horror (and horror-adjacent) movies I've watched or re-watched recently.

If it's on this list, it's because I had fun with it, whether that fun was derived from it being genuinely scary, kinda fucked up, visually impressive, funny as hell, just plain weird, or some combination of the above.

Late Night with the Devil (2023)

A live television broadcast in 1977 goes horribly wrong, unleashing evil into the nation's living rooms. Horror. 95 minutes.

I've been mentally referring to this one as The Tonight Show with Cousin Greg because somehow they made David Dastmalchian look like an aged-up Nicholas Braun. Despite this -- or perhaps aided by it -- this is one of my favorite horror movies I've seen this year.

Lisa Frankenstein (2024)

A misunderstood teenager and a reanimated Victorian corpse embark on a murderous journey together to find love, happiness, and a few missing body parts. Horror/Comedy. 101 minutes.

I've actually watched this three times since August. Kat Newton is a fucking delight in this role. Really feels like an instant classic to me.

It's What's Inside (2024)

A pre-wedding party descends into an existential nightmare when an estranged friend shows up with a mysterious suitcase. Sci-fi/Horror/Comedy. 105 minutes. Whoever wrote that logline should have taken another run at it, because it leaves out what I'm pretty sure is the main draw of the movie: it's a body-swap story. Except everyone swaps. Multiple times. Shockingly hetero considering the subject matter, but still fun.

Renfield (2023)

Having grown sick and tired of his centuries as Dracula’s lackey, Renfield finds a new lease on life — and maybe even redemption — when he falls for feisty, perennially angry traffic cop Rebecca Quincy. Comedy/Horror. 93 minutes.

This was everything I could possibly have wanted from a movie with Nic Cage as Dracula. It's goofy. It's gory. I had a ball.

Hold Your Breath (2024)

In 1930s Oklahoma amid the region’s horrific dust storms, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family. Horror/Psychological Thriller. 94 minutes.

As someone who experienced a dust storm as a child, this movie tapped into some long-buried fears, which is always a win in my book. Also, it has Ebon Moss-Bachrach aka Richie from The Bear in it. Double win.

#Alive (2020)

As a grisly virus ravages Seoul, a lone man stays locked inside his apartment, digitally cut off from seeking help and desperate to find a way out. Horror/Thriller/Action. 99 minutes.

Somehow this was written and wrapped production before the pandemic even started, and ended up being the most relatable zombie movie I've ever seen.

Additional movies under the cut!

I'll keep adding to this list over time, as well as my Letterboxd log now that I've remembered it exists, so definitely check back if you want more recs.

Don't Worry Darling (2022) Mystery/Thriller. 123 minutes.

The Night Eats the World (2018) Zombie/Horror. 94 minutes.

Longlegs (2024) Horror. 101 minutes.

more to be added here!

[boxboxblog]

A General History of F1: 90s Babies

The 90s was an interesting time in F1. It still had the flavor of classic F1, with drivers like Senna racing until the mid 90s. However, this was also a time of worldwide technological advancement. The cars started to become more and more like what we see today, and attention on F1 boomed. The television age lent itself to drawing in worldwide spectators, and F1 drivers become less like athletes and more like celebrities.

Legends like Michael Schumacher, Mika Häkkinen, and Jacques Villeneuve were starting to dominate, the beginning of the third generation rearing its head. In fact, it was during the season the racing world lost Senna that Schumacher won his first world title. If the world was a book, I would say that is a rather morbidly obvious way to display the death of classically traditional F1 and the birth of modern F1.

But I am getting ahead of myself. At least in the early part of the 90s, classic F1 was still alive and well. Senna, Prost and Nigel Mansell all held titles during this part of the millenium, and it was a time of rivalrous barbs, controversial driving moves, and much more. Most famously, Senna purposely crashed into Prost in order to secure his own championship. Perhaps Prost was right when he said Senna wanted to destroy him.

This was also the time that political clout became more paramount in the paddock. Wow, thats a tongue twister. But really, with how famous these men had gotten and how much money they were now dealing with, its unlikely they wouldn't try to take the advantage by using their clout. Thats how Alain Prost did it, anyway.

From the sidelines, after a terrible couple of years and the dropping of the famous rivalry, Prost used his influence with a few teams, plus favor from an admiring Frank Williams, to get himself into the best seat on the grid for 1993. The Williams seat. In doing so, he jumped up the grid again. Prime Prost was back.

This resurgence of the Prost-Senna rivalry was intense, and when the next year Senna set himself to be Prost's teammate yet again, Prost retired. Openly, he said he left because he could not do another partnership with Senna. And so the greatest F1 rivalry of all time ended with a whimper, not a bang.

Well Senna, Prost, and the Old World still had a grip on F1 in the early 90s, the latter half was where this New World took. So did also, new teams. Well, new old. Williams and Mclaren had major success in F1 for a while, but only Mclaren would stay afloat in the late 90s. At the core of this is young engineer Adrian Newey,

Many of you may recognize this name, but few pay attention to his history. Newey was a Williams aerodynamic specialists when he joined the F1 world in 1990, and was a tremendous asset. Under his guidance Williams saw multiple championship wins and he was seen as the core of their success. But in 1997, he left Williams and thus spelled the end of their major successes, switching over to Mclaren instead. His special brand of skill would win Mika Häkkinen his two titles.

But with the 2000s came the resurgence of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari. For Schumacher, he had not won a title since '95. For Ferrari, it was even longer than that. But for the next five years they will reign supreme. This will be longest period of dominance in F1 history until the future Mercedes Era.

Cheers,

-B

[fallloverfic]

So... on the subject of relative age in Delicious in Dungeon and Mithrun and fandom "jokes" I've seen folks complaining about. General manga and anime spoilers for character ages and names in the manga and anime below the read more:

On the one hand, I do get that people are (or at least were, I see it less these days) mad at the "Mithrun grandpa/old man" jokes/comments because "it's just cause he's disabled" and "relatively speaking, he's the same age as Chilchuck, and no one treats Chilchuck like he's an old man/something about how Chilchuck dislikes being treated differently, mentally, for his presumed age/state of mind".

Okay, yes. Relatively speaking, sure. There's a conversation to be had about the intersection of ableism and ageism and how we often baby (in a patronizing way) disabled people and the elderly, and how we prioritize youth and treat middle-aged people like their lives are over. (And maybe something about how he has silver hair, I don't know). On a more positive note, I love that, relatively speaking, possibly by Elvish standards, Mithrun is at/near middle-age (elvish age of maturity is 80 years, their average lifespan is 400 years), because that's a fascinating bit of world-building.

...On the other hand (please rest your pitchforks momentarily), Mithrun is literally 185 years old, he is the fifth oldest cast member for characters whose age we know as of the English release of the Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible (after the Elf Queen, who's 372, the elder Flokes, who are in their 200s, and Milsiril, who's four years older than Mithrun), and he is the oldest member of his group of the Canaries (he's literally 103 years older than his subordinate, Pattadol, and still 39 years older than Cithis, the next oldest Canary after Mithrun). And speaking of Chilchuck, who is, yes, a married father of multiple adult children... and also 29. Mithrun has lived over six times as long as Chilchuck has. (All ages come from Delicious in Dungeon World Guide: The Adventurer's Bible; Sissel + the other Golden Country residents don't have listed ages there, though they're at least 1000 years old, and the other elves don't show up). Mithrun was in recovery after the central watchtower dungeon for longer than at least five characters have been alive.

Age chart:

Elf Queen: 372

Tansu Floke: 210

Yarn Floke: 204

Milsiril: 189

Mithrun: 185

Cithis: 149

Otta: 137

Fleki: 130

Lycion: 126

Senshi: 112

Noor: 98

Totan: 95

Pattadol: 82

Gillin: 79

Brigan: 78

Holm: 76

Fionil: 62

Namari: 61

Daya, Invar: 58

Marcille: 50

Maizuru: 41

Chilchuk: 29

Laios, Toshiro, Hien: 26

Rin: 24

Falin, Benichidori: 23

Kabru, Mikbell: 22

Zon: 21

Kaka, Kiki: 20

Kuro, Doni: 18

Izutsumi, Inutade: 17

Leed: 14

Mithrun is older than Senshi, older than Marcille, older than Kabru's entire party, including Holm and Daya, and older than the oldest human we have an established age for, Maizuru (again, the first Adventurer's Bible doesn't list the Golden Country resident ages, and Mithrun is definitely younger than them, but also they're generally minor characters except for Yaad and Delgal). He's older than Senshi's former dwarf comrades were when they died. He's also apparently older than Flamela, the vice commander of the Canaries (she's 170, at least according to the fanwiki, which is possibly going off the Complete Adventurer's Bible).

He is of course younger than Obrin, his older brother, whose age we don't know, but we do know that Mithrun is the younger brother. He is also obviously much younger than the demon.

I also find it interesting that people are jumping to the big assumption that he's middle-aged (relatively) due to... I guess just chopping the average lifespan of elves in half and assuming that's what they think middle-aged is? We know the average lifespan of elves and when they come to maturity. We do not know what elves think of Mithrun's age or what their concept of being middle-aged is, if they have one. He could be considered young by elf standards. He could be considered old. We have no idea.

Thinking about the conversation in Volume 8, Chapter 51: Dumplings 2, it's just about total/average lifespan and how near the characters are to dying by average race age, not middle age.

Chilchuck on p.37: "What's the difference between our actual ages and how old we look?"

Laios: "Well, dwarfs do live two and a half times as long as tall-men."

Chilchuck: "If our actual ages affect our looks, then... ...I'm curious about remaining life. Will we age at the same rate we did before? Or will it match our bodies now?"

They never get an answer for this. We do get rough estimates for what one race's age means to another by comparing Laios' actual age (26) to what Senshi thinks dwarf!Laios is, age-wise (his 60s), and both ages put him near but not at assumed middle-age for the respective race (for tall-men it would be 30, for dwarfs, 100), but otherwise they don't come to many conclusions about anything. They just guess and try to change back before something worse happens. Marcille doesn't even say anything in this conversation about elf culture. She just panics because half-foots live shorter lives.

I would not personally call Mithrun a grandpa and I don't particularly connect with jokes about it. By Elvish standards, and relatively speaking, he is perhaps not, arguably, old. ...But he's no spring chicken, either, despite how strong and fast he is. By the standards of most characters he is interacting with in the story, he is the oldest person in the room, by a substantial margin (heck, the age gap between Mithrun and Cithis is more years than Chilchuck has lived). That doesn't make him a grandpa, either. But I do find people getting mad about folks pointing out this literally 185-year-old being is you know... 185 years old... odd...? Especially when he's around all these by and large substantially younger people (younger people who are adults by and large!!!) for most of the story. Again, there's definitely a conversation to be had about the intersection of ageism and ableism, and how we treat people who are middle-aged as if they're elderly even when they're able-bodied, and about the way other characters in-universe treat him (though the one time I think his age is pointed out, it's about the stuff he knows, not to mock him for it; mostly people treat him badly due to his disabilities (e.g., Fleki with his aiming in chapter 55, Cithis in the Adventurer's Bible), not because of his age)... but it does feel very much like people are ignoring that he is honestly one of the oldest characters in the story, and not by dint of being the oldest youth, but because he's a character who has lived to be nearly 200 years old.

[dragonclaude]

Can I ask what Omega Strikers are about?

I really like those two characters that you drew quite a bit of.

Sure!

Gameplay-wise, it’s 3v3 air hockey where you play as characters with MOBA-like abilities that help them uniquely attack or defend depending on their play style. Also, you can knock out players like if it was Smash bros xD

But lorewise: Imagine a sci-fi future where a new powerful, renewable energy source called “Omega energy” has been discovered and has turned the world into a utopic, hopeful and energetic place. Along with powering floating cities, one way it’s used is by turning a piece of energy into a puck that you can smack around that progressively gets faster and faster which just kinda became the world’s most popular sport. The characters are all currently in the pro-leagues.

Also, I imagine you’re talking about Atlas and Luna so I’ll touch on them:

These two siblings were born to the world’s most famous astrophysicists; they learned about hi-tech stuff at a young age and are quite smart. But at one point during Atlas’ teenage years, their parents went on a long space mission and suddenly lost all forms of contact after a few days….which meant he had to take care of himself and his sister all alone for years :[ 

[all images gotten from the wiki] 

While Atlas believes they are dead, Luna believes they are still alive. They have both come to the pro-leagues to test out their tech; Luna is testing rockets to be able to make a big one to go to space and find her parents herself while Atlas is testing spacetime tech (yes that is possible and he also made it himself) to be able to bring them back either from the past or another dimension. And I think that is really unique, they’re not here for becoming champion like 95% of the rest of the cast is, this game just happens to have a large concentration of omega energy and bodies to stress test that is useful to them :0

And they're my favorites, I love their dynamic :]

[moyokeansimblr]

Get to know you: Sims Style

Well I was patiently waiting to be tagged but it's not happened yet and @isimchi "tagged" anyone who hasn't so that means me 😁

What’s your favorite Sims death?

I mean, I have to say drowning. I have many a memory of my childhood best friend and I batch creating like 100 sims with the sole purpose to drown and make haunted lots... Surely we all did that though, right?

Alpha CC or Maxis Match?

These days I'm maxis match, and in particular my cc is 90-95% 4t2 stuff. Sometimes I miss non-clay hairs but not enough that I'd wanna switch back. I'm actually extremely happy with my game aesthetic at the moment. I see the appeal of alpha and I am alpha in sims 3 but I don't think I could go back to it in sims 2 anymore.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

Not directly... occasionally I've dragged needs up so a sim will exercise longer when they want/need a body skill because when it's not fall the body skill takes FOREVER to gain. So then they'll end up exercising so long that they get fit where they might not otherwise have. That's as close as I'd get to cheating their weight though.

Do you move objects?

I mean, yes. I both move objects and moveobjects. 😉 (although I've had the cheat alias "mon/mof" (yes, one f) for ages I don't even remember the proper way to type the cheat.

Favorite Mod?

Hmm that's tough. Some staples I couldn't live without are sim blender, ACR, monique's hacked computers, all the no regen mods, the auto saver, gussy up, and for some reason smonaff's period mod is the mod I've had in my game longer than anything else I have now. Been using that since the 2000s. Is it necessary? Probably not. Is it annoying? Yes but periods are annoying irl too. Would I miss it if I didn't have it in my game? Greatly.

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

My parents bought the sims 1 on release when I was 3, and then at some point shortly thereafter I ended up entirely hijacking my mom's computer. But while they did buy every pack on release as well, the earliest pack that I still have solid memories of playing is Vacation. Is that all it was called? I think non-US versions had a cooler name like On Holiday or something.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing?

Ya know... I've never really thought about it until now but both. Sometimes I say LIVE and sometimes LIV. I don't know what goes on in my brain to decide which one I'm gonna say at any given point but I know for fact I say both.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I've had many favorite sims over the years, most long lost into the void. But one sim I think about a lot is one of my old ts3 sims Levi Engle. He was one of my first truly evil sims and really one of my last proper edgy sims as well and I've not had anyone quite like him since. This was like 2016 I think? I'm still waiting to have a sim like him again, in either 3 or 2. "Made" is not quite accurate, he was born. But he's one of my own, not a premade.

Have you made a simself?

Oh have I.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

Red. Specifically since I prefer 4t2 clay hairs in EA's colors these days the red that's swatch 9. This one.

Favorite EA hair?

Hmmm... In ts2

And in ts3

Favorite life stage?

Young Adult, in all versions of the game. University is my favorite EP across the board.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

Gameplay. Every so often I feel build-y, and I have made entire custom worlds in ts3 and hoods in ts2 where I've build everything myself but mostly I prefer to just use other people's or the game's builds and just enjoy playing.

Are you a CC creator?

I sometimes feel kind of weird using the word "creator" since all I do is convert stuff but yes. I share cc.

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

I don't know? I have some mutuals that I go like 😁 whenever I see in my notifs or messages from. But I don't really exactly talk to anybody.

Do you have any sims merch?

I've got a blanket with plumbbobs on it and my brother's girlfriend got me a sheet of ts4 stickers I've not used yet. Otherwise, do all the old discs and prima guides count? My discs are the most important things I own.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

Not really. I have a youtube channel that's a hodgepodge for both my eurovision ranking videos and the occasional sims thing. But I'm not a sims youtuber at all.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

Oh boy, it has a lot. When I was a kid I destroyed pleasantview with fairy and mermaid cc from "UserDeb" on the Exchange and SapphireSims2 I think it was called? Mad emo cc and like households where it'd be two families living together so the teen girl and teen boy could secretly meet together in the dead of night in the bathroom. Back then lots of one-off totally unrelated families in an otherwise empty custom hood that I'd play for the duration of a random idea I had then drop. Then in the 2010s I had a long stint of this like making 8 YA girls and 8 YA boys and pairing them up and then graduate and marry and kid and then create 8 more YAs in CAS and repeat and that got like 15 generations once. I did that kind of not really playing but more just like breeding for years. Whereas whenever I'd stop playing 2 and play 3 instead I would "properly play" and have long ass legacies. I never touched the premade sims until I tried to play Pleasantview in 2020. I did have a few failed megahoods then. Now I am wants-based and I prefer to have as little control as possible over my sims. I could say a lot more here but I'm tired.

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Talk about a hard question! For times sake I'm going to say @deedee-sims because when I deleted my 48+ GB folder of alpha CC to start anew maxis match-y the first new CC I had was everything of DeeDee's.

What expansion/gamepack is your favorite?

ts2 University. I just love it.

-------

I don't know who has and hasn't done this since I feel like I'm late as I never got the tag. But since I really wanted to do it, I'm sure someone else who hasn't been tagged wants to too. So if you've not done it, go for it!!

[jelixpo]

So... did you like the movie? 😏

i thought it was really good! But I also joked with my parents that i probably would have enjoyed it regardless of what was on screen lol

my non-spoiler opinion of the movie is this

Mario and Luigi have a super wholesome relationship

Jack Black killed it as Bowser

Chris Pratt also did a really good job as Mario! I was surprised

Anya Taylor-Joy was just okay as Peach. Sometimes I thought her voice was a bit too deep in delivery for Peach but like 95% of the time I enjoyed it

I thought Seth Rogan was good as Donkey Kong but then again i'm not big into Donkey Kong so I might not be a good judge

also the movie seemed a bit short? And that's not just me saying that cause I wanted more, it felt like some scenes weren't fleshed out enough or had weird cuts between them. And I think I know who to blame for that (Mr 'let's remove all the story elements from Mario Galaxy 2 so it's basically just a Mario Galaxy DLC')

But!! Really enjoyable and I super recommend!

Okay, now under the cut I'll share my spoiler opinions

I'm gonna break up these bullet points differently cause like. It's a lot

THE BRO HUG AT THE END OF THE MOVIE. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!!!

I know we didn't get a lot of Luigi which is a bummer but omg when he was on screen he stole the show!!

I also really liked the scene where they showed Luigi being taken onto the blimp and him envisioning his life where he's always had to be saved by Mario, and now he's in a situation where he doesn't even know if Mario is alive or not. It was a very quiet and introspective moment that, while it was rather short, I thought was really inciteful into Luigi's character and his relationship with the idea of bravery and how he views himself in comparison to Mario. And then!! The pay-off at the end of the movie where Luigi gets to be the one who saves Mario!! That was very sweet and I love that they showed that just cause Luigi's scared, doesn't mean he doesn't have courage!!

I liked the backstory that they gave Peach! And also the movie directly confirming that Peach is human in canon since that has been a question for people for a long time. I loved to watch her bounce around and show off her moves. And i love that they confirmed she's the ideas person! If they ever make plans, Peach is the one to recognize what to do, how to do it, and when. She's a proper strategist. I wonder if her parents are still alive in the human realm? And since she's from Brooklyn (I'm assuming she is anyway and that the pipe in Brooklyn is the only pipe on Earth, but maybe not) I wonder if her parents would have seen her face in the paper? Stuff to think about

Mario and Luigi have more brothers??? Once the movie comes out on services I'll have to get a closer look at both them and their VA's in the credits. I'm interested to see the age gap between all of them, since it seems like Mario and Luigi are closest with each other and not anybody else, which leads me to believe they're the closest in age and therefore grew up together in a more literal sense than with their other brothers (I assume so cause my dad has like 8 siblings and he's closest with my uncle who's only one year younger than him. Sibling bonds strengthen when you go through those toddler years together)

Also the movie was just really fucking funny. The Bowser song?? (I'll swing back around to that) Donkey Kong was super funny. Bowser himself had a ton of great lines. The line that made me laugh the hardest was when Mario and Donkey Kong were in the belly of the beast and Donkey Kong laments that his dad thinks he's a failure, Mario repeats the sentiment about his own dad, and Donkey Kong goes "Oh yeah? well HE WAS RIGHT YOU SUCK" that shit had me rolling. Great set-up and bait-and-switch.

okay Bowser song? HOLY SHIT THAT WAS INCREDIBLE. IT WAS TOO SHORT. I WOULD WATCH A 5MINUTE EXTENDED MUSIC VIDEO OF THE SONG GIVE IT TO ME NOW!!! (Also i watched Pretty Woman within 24 hours of watching the Mario movie and the two piano scenes had me... thinking about things (bowuigi))

I like that they didn't directly set up for a sequel. Like there are elements in the movie that could easily set up for it. Like Bowser being small and only needing to be hit once to be made big again. Peach's potential parents in Brooklyn, a more Luigi-centric adventure that fleshes out his small but present issue with courage and bravery, the clear set up for Captain Toad and the Toad Brigade, the fact that there were multiple different areas they could have gone into in the pink cloud 'work between worlds' place. I doubt it, but it would be very nice

also the ending kind of threw me for a loop? Honestly with Mario taking the giant bullet bill towards the warp pipe I thought the story was going to be that he sent the bullet bill through and it destroyed their warp pipe back home. And then that would directly set up for a sequel to try and get back home and explain why they would choose not to stay in Brooklyn

Also, i'm not entirely sold on why Luigi would want to stay in the Mushroom Kingdom? Like yeah Mario chose to stay, but he got to frolic in fields, do training missions, and get with a princess. Luigi got captured immediately, beaten up and thrown around, then almost died in lava at the end. Where does he see the positives in staying in the Mushroom Kingdom? I don't believe Mario would have been entirely sold on staying either given Luigi being in peril there the whole time. For them to stay, it would have had to be a unanimous decision between the two of them that I couldn't really see them making? But i guess it doesn't really matter. They needed Mario and Luigi to stay in the Mushroom Kingdom for continuity, so i guess it's fine

Kamek was great. 10/10 best supportive dad. "Dress in drag to help my adopted son practice his date with the girl he has a crush on? Say no more. Get me a matching tiara."

okay i was surprised how much they directly talked about violence? Like i'm super used to children's media where they dance around the topic of death with different phrases. "She's gone. She was shattered. He was forgotten. He didn't make it." That sort of stuff. It especially threw me off when Bowser was screaming about killing Luigi and making Mario watch. Like, damn. Dude is sadistic. The line almost felt like something out of a fic? But honestly it worked to make Bowser seem like a villain that really shouldn't be messed with. I think Bowser is often seen as a bit of a goofy villain, especially in comparison to some of Nintendo's other villains like Ganondorf who are and were depicted as sinister from day one. But this movie? Bowser has guns. Bowser kills people. Bowser beats the ever-loving shit out of Mario the second he meets him. This Bowser is not a force to be reckoned with.

Also his line when he's beating up Mario "You ruined everything! I was FINALLY gonna be happy!" like yooooooo. That has Bowuigi potential fr fr. And it's also crazy that Bowuigi fans have been saying this for years? Like Bowser is a very lonely, touch-starved individual, even with having kids. Every Bowuigi fic i've read has this element in them. And this movie really confirmed that those theories are true and I love that

and i think that's it! Once it comes out on services i'll watch it again and probably have more points to give

[blood-darkened-moon]

Isolation

Chapter 2

December 22

I asked Doug about the Umbrella facility. He’s been there several times during all his stays here at the station, but never in the main wing, only in the building of the security service and in a break room in the workers’ quarters, which is located in one of the outer buildings. The first time he was there was four years ago, the last time just over a year ago. Aside from his visits, he was doing some research on our neighbors. Before I forget anything, I should write down what he told me.

The manager of the facility is called Alfred Ashford. He is a British aristocrat and multimillionaire. As the grandson of one of the founding members, he is also quite a bigwig at Umbrella, even if he largely stays out of their business and only really looks after his own affairs. He visits the Antarctic facility regularly every three to four months but rarely stays longer than a week. He only comes here unscheduled if something has happened. So, the likelihood of him being there during the virus outbreak is rather low. Doug spoke to him once on his first visit to the facility. He was in his early 20s then, so he should be about 26 or 27 years old now. He’s arrogant, condescending, and quite eccentric. He insists on being addressed as “Lord Ashford”. Apparently, he has a military fetish, even though he never served in the army. All the workers do is complain about him, what an asshole he is, that he punishes them harshly for the smallest mistakes and generally treats them like shit. Sometimes, workers just disappear. Supposedly, they were transferred, even if no one knew anything about a pending transfer. The first thing “Lord Ashford” told Doug was that if he or any of us visited the site, we had to report to one of the outer security buildings. They have instructions to shoot anyone who enters the site unannounced without warning. Nice. Are they even allowed to do that? On the other hand, it’s probably not too difficult to make a corpse disappear here.

Doug has said Dr. Edwards looks a lot like this Alfred guy, but he no longer has any close relatives. His only sister died years ago. On Doug’s last visit, however, one of the workers said that he was living with his sister, which left Doug rather confused. The sister is definitely dead, “Lord Ashford” told him personally. Why would he lie about that? Well, who knows, maybe he still has half-siblings, or the worker got something mixed up. I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Dr. Edwards is indeed related to him. A cousin, perhaps? She can hardly be older than her mid-20s. She’s probably just finished her doctorate. But Umbrella only takes people with a few years of professional experience for well-paid positions. Everyone else isn’t even invited for an interview, and the documents go straight into the trash bin. Unless she’s some kind of prodigy, I don’t know how else she could have gotten the job at her age except through nepotism or connections in the boardroom.

After some initial difficulties, the Umbrella facility was once a renowned research center from around the end of the 1970s to the beginning of the 1980s. Then there was a massive accident. It is also said to have been a viral outbreak that triggered everything, but the main problem was a malfunction of the security system that was supposed to prevent the virus from spreading. All the security doors closed while the researchers were still in the laboratories. Decontamination was then initiated, which somehow caused a fire to break out. Everyone who was still in there was burned or suffocated. Approximately 95% of all the scientists working there at the time, including Alfred’s sister. Being burned alive, what a terrible death. There was nothing left to save, scientists dead, laboratory rooms and equipment destroyed, and even the research data was largely lost. The facility was then temporarily closed and rebuilt to what it is today. It was reopened at the end of the 1980s.

Today, the Umbrella facility is intended to be a storage facility and logistics center. Products that are not sold immediately are brought there and shipped as required. In addition, Umbrella’s “special products”, which are not produced in bulk, are to be stored there. I wonder what they are? There are also various research materials, all kinds of cell cultures, strains of bacteria and viruses, molds, endo- and ectoparasites, and so on. The few laboratories they still have are only to be used for quality control. Maybe Dr. Edwards works in one of those. I guess it’s also possible that they check the viruses before sending them out to other labs for further research. Of course, this Alfred guy could have simply lied about what they were doing there to avoid pesky questions or that things have changed since Doug’s last visit, and they’re actively doing research again. Either way, the story Dr. Edwards has told us doesn’t seem entirely far-fetched. Still, there’s something fishy about it. Why is she the only one from the facility who has turned up here? Why did she refuse to say which virus it was?

December 22 Addendum

Harry went to Dr. Edwards today to bring her food and keep her company for a while, as well as can be done through a locked door with a viewing window. I grilled him a bit about her and especially her condition. At least the walkie-talkies are still working. So far, she seems to be fine. There are no signs that she is ill. We shouldn’t get too excited, though. Who knows how long the incubation period of the whatever-it-is virus is by default? Harry has asked her about it again, but she still refuses to talk about the virus. Trade secret. Guess there’s nothing we can do for the time being.

I just hope it’s nothing too serious. According to Harry’s description of the quarantine accommodation, it is far from ideal. David modified the door to Dr. Edward’s area yesterday so that it is relatively airtight. He also fitted an additional lock that can only be opened from the outside. All of us have a key for the door itself, but only Harry and Isaac have a key for the extra lock. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. Who would go to her voluntarily under the circumstances? But better safe than sorry. If Harry or Isaac give her something, they put it in front of the door, unlock it briefly, and maintain a safe distance so that she can get it. Then, everything is closed again, and the area around the door is disinfected. They don’t have proper protective clothing, just masks and gloves. She is only given food on disposable plates, which she has to throw in one of the waste barrels that are incinerated eventually. Isaac had also given her a change of clothes. Most of it doesn’t really fit her, but it’s better than nothing. She can’t walk around in that dress all the time. At least, she is very cooperative. The whole thing is certainly not pleasant for her either.

Apart from that, Harry said that he couldn’t figure out what was going on with Dr. Edwards. She gave him a very intelligent impression but seems to have been living under a rock for the last decade or so. She almost comes across as a time traveler, as if she jumped into a time machine ten or more years ago and landed here. She has no idea about current political events. She didn’t even know that the Soviet Union no longer existed. That was years ago. How can you not have noticed that? Even if you’re not interested in politics, you must at least know that, right? Besides, Umbrella opened several facilities in ex-Soviet states after the collapse. Shouldn’t she at least know that?

Aside from politics, she doesn’t know anything about movies, music, or other entertainment. The handful of movies she knew were from the early 80s or even older. So Harry tried to find her a spare TV and a VHS player but without success. Instead, he gave her a few books so that she wouldn’t be bored for the next two weeks. They are all from previous research teams who have forgotten or wanted to forget them here. I hope Dr. Edwards likes poorly written romance novels. Aside from the books, he also gave her a CD player with a few CDs. She didn’t know any of the bands. Harry said he wasn’t really interested in pop music himself, but even he had at least heard of most of them. She also got a Gameboy with some games. I think it was taken away from Michael* after he spent too much time on his Gameboy and too little on his actual work. I’m sure he doesn’t want it back now, which was probably Harry’s intention. She didn’t know what a Gameboy was either, unsurprisingly, at this point. Well, maybe she’s a bit too old for that anyway.

What a strange woman. What does she do all day when she isn’t working? Or does she work 24/7 with only a few breaks to eat and sleep? At least that she never picks up a newspaper, watches TV, or talks to people about anything other than work, maybe, is a more plausible theory than her being a time traveler. Maybe she can catch up on some everyday knowledge in her quarantine.

*Michael MacReady plumber

Start/←Prev/Next→

[dinoburger]

I'm trying to put together a timeline for TF2 in general but SPECIFICALLY the Conagher's family, what's interesting is that Radigan still looks considerably old when he initially agreed to create the machine keeping Blutarch and Redmond alive

so, in 1890, putting him at 60 maybe? generously? he could be a dubious 50 but he has snow white hair and a severely receded hairline even for that age

I have no idea where this comes from but one of the wikis, the unofficial one, puts Dell's DOB at 1925, 35 years later - but I'm inclined to believe it, like, I think he's hired as a mercenary in 1967 at 42, so that works out?

if Radigan is 60 in 1890, then he's 95 years old when Dell is born in 1925! As far as I know we don't know when Radigan died either, presumably there was some overlap between Dell and Radigan - it seems like from Dell describing him as "not a chatty man" rather than saying "yeah he fuckin died before I was born so idk"

we can probably apply TF2 logic and say being in contact with Australium prolonged Radigan's life somewhat and he maybe made it to 100+ and kept him a bit more youthful in his later years

because then there's Fred, I would be surprised if he's much older than 72 in the main comics and he didn't look super old as a mercenary in 1930, meaning he could've been born around 1900, but then Radigan himself would've been like 70 when Fred was conceived

but I mean. Look at this dude.

he's GILF-y tbfh. like he's a sexy 70 y/o.

anyway I could be completely off base but it's interesting to think about

[roman-catholic-mass-readings]

24th October >> Mass Readings (Except USA)

Thursday, Twenty Ninth Week in Ordinary Time 

or

Saint Antony Mary Claret, Bishop.

(Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: B(II))

First Reading Ephesians 3:14-21 A prayer that faithful may know the love of Christ.

This is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name: Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God. Glory be to him whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine; glory be to him from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 32(33):1-2,4-5,11-12,18-19

R/ The Lord fills the earth with his love.

Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just; for praise is fitting for loyal hearts. Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.

R/ The Lord fills the earth with his love.

For the word of the Lord is faithful and all his works to be trusted. The Lord loves justice and right and fills the earth with his love.

R/ The Lord fills the earth with his love.

His own designs shall stand for ever, the plans of his heart from age to age. They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own.

R/ The Lord fills the earth with his love.

The Lord looks on those who revere him, on those who hope in his love, to rescue their souls from death, to keep them alive in famine.

R/ The Lord fills the earth with his love.

Gospel Acclamation John 8:12

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the light of the world, says the Lord; anyone who follows me will have the light of life. Alleluia!

Or: Philippians 3:8-9

Alleluia, alleluia! I have accepted the loss of everything and I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I can have Christ and be given a place in him. Alleluia!

Gospel Luke 12:49-53 How I wish it were blazing already!

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and how great is my distress till it is over! ‘Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on a household of five will be divided: three against two and two against three; the father divided against the son, son against father, mother against daughter, daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

---------------------------

Saint Antony Mary Claret, Bishop 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II))

(Readings for the memorial)

(There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Thursday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise)

First Reading Isaiah 52:7-10 Rejoice, for the Lord is consoling his people.

How beautiful on the mountains, are the feet of one who brings good news, who heralds peace, brings happiness, proclaims salvation, and tells Zion, ‘Your God is king!’

Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices, they shout for joy together, for they see the Lord face to face, as he returns to Zion.

Break into shouts of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem; for the Lord is consoling his people, redeeming Jerusalem.

The Lord bares his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

The Word of the Lord

Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 95(96):1-3,7-8,10

R/ Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

O sing a new song to the Lord, sing to the Lord all the earth. O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

R/ Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Proclaim his help day by day, tell among the nations his glory and his wonders among all the peoples.

R/ Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Give the Lord, you families of peoples, give the Lord glory and power; give the Lord the glory of his name.

R/ Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’ The world he made firm in its place; he will judge the peoples in fairness.

R/ Proclaim the wonders of the Lord among all the peoples.

Gospel Acclamation Mark 1:17

Alleluia, alleluia! Follow me, says the Lord, and I will make you into fishers of men. Alleluia!

Gospel Mark 1:14-20 I will make you into fishers of men.

After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee. There he proclaimed the Good News from God. ‘The time has come’ he said ‘and the kingdom of God is close at hand. Repent, and believe the Good News.’ As he was walking along by the Sea of Galilee he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net in the lake – for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you into fishers of men.’ And at once they left their nets and followed him. Going on a little further, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John; they too were in their boat, mending their nets. He called them at once and, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the men he employed, they went after him.

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.