#and then thursday + friday full days for the actual event

[day-mark]

sometimes i wonder how much money ive dropped on dream/dream related things

[greasegotahold]

Lots of debate on the timeline of events in the outsiders and ages fitting into that, but according to Hinton Pony was born July 22, and he'd been 14 for about a month (line in the movie) when the main events kick off. That would put the murder during late August, which is exactly when that schoolyear would be starting. They only hide out for 5 days, which would put them at early September when they end up back home.

The rumble, Johnny's death, Dally's death, and Pony's concussion fainting happens the night after they get home.

Ponyboy comes to after 3 days, then ends up on bedrest for another week, where he displays delusional thought.

The Juvenile Court hearing presumably occurs shortly after that bedrest, as Pony is still not considered fit to testify on the murder, placing it squarely into the month of September.

It's not super clear how long the depressive episode lasts for Pony, but it's long enough that he is failing his classes and Syme is offering to bring him up to a C. Recalling my high school days, overall grades for fall semester were usually evident by like mid October, so I would give Pony 2-3 weeks, maybe a full month before Syme reaches out.

However, we also know Pony was procrastinating on his assignment, it's part of Darry's nagging iirc, so that + the theme being a final project for the semester, it was probably due mid-late November/maaaayyybe early December.

This is where ages come in bc some of the ages we have from the TV Show Bible don't align with the story's events happening in August.

However.

We know that we are reading Ponyboy's theme. It ends cyclical to the beginning, and there's also evident effort on Ponyboy's end to avoid writing profanity into his recollection. He's 14, been to Hell and back, and also procrastinated on his essay. That is to say, I'd believe it if the argument was made that for some of the surviving characters, he just mentioned how old they were at the time of writing.

Side note, too, that the musical does corroborate the main events happening in late August imo, as it explicitly ties the Curtis Parents' deaths to Darry's birthday; Darry was born January 5, and they died 8 months before the story took place; 8 months from January is obviously September, technically. However. Looking at the calendar year for 1967 (the musical is bumped up 2 years), Darry's birthday fell on the first Thursday of January. If Pony's birthday is July 22nd and it's been a month (not confirmed in the musical to have been a month, but confirmed that he would be 15 next July), the Friday Night Drive-In encounter would have been August 25 (literally the first week of school), 7 months and 3 weeks after the crash; technically not 8 months, but extremely close. If we want to push it closer and move the events a week later, then the drive in would have happened September 1.

In conclusion, my proposed book timeline, cross-referenced with calendars and given school start dates:

Tuesday, January 5, 1965—Darry's Birthday, potentially also the death of Curtis Parents

Thursday, July 22, 1965—Ponyboy's 14th birthday

Thursday, August 26, 1965—Pony gets jumped

Friday, August 27, 1965—Pony goes to the drive-in, Johnny kills Bob (technically this happens in the wee hours of Saturday, but the jumping that led to it was a consequence of the drive in so I'm lumping them)

Saturday, August 28-Wednesday, September 1, 1965— (technically the actual time of Bob's murder) + Windrixville hideout + fire + Hospital reunion

Thursday, September 2, 1965—Rumble + Johnny's death + Dally's Death + Pony's concussion

Friday, September 3-Sunday, September 5, 1965—Pony in feverish delirium

Monday, September 6-Sunday, September 12, 1965—Pony on Bedrest

Monday, September 13, 1965—Juvenile Court

Tuesday, September 14, 1965-Depressive fugue begins

Monday, October 11 or 18, 1965—Mr Syme alerts Ponyboy of his failing grade+presents semester's final project in the form of a personal theme.

Mid November, 1965—theme is written

[lily-v-orchard]

Lily faked an Amber Alert for attention

So in Lily's most recent stream (Earlier today, November 24th 2024), at approximately 9:03 PM AST, Lily Orchard got an Amber Alert on her phone while on stream and proceeded to have a full-blown meltdown over it, screaming and raving about how terrible they are for the psychological damage they inflict on her, even saying they trigger her PTSD. Here's the thing, there was No. Fucking. Amber Alert.

I know this is fake because there is no fucking evidence of an Amber Alert being sent out in Halifax (the area where Lily lives) since November 22nd, the very same day as the day she complained about an Amber Alert on her tumblr. Nova scotia does not get Amber Alerts often. There was a reported test on November 20th, and the aforementioned incident on the 22nd but as far as I can gather, there were no other incidents throughout all of 2024. Having 3 different EAS alarm events within 5 days, 2 of them being Amber Alerts is very very improbable, but I can go deeper. You see there's a certain little Demonic man who just so happens to live in Halifax and be surrounded by other people who also in fact live in Halifax. According to himself and two people he reportedly asked, none of them got any sort of EAS alert today. How curious!

Why did she do this? I believe it's as simple as her farming for attention and validation for how triggering EAS alerts supposedly are for her.

Here's the full clip followed by a hodgepodge of evidence and credits to our beloved demon man below the break

From November 22nd, same day of the actual Amber Alert that went out in Halifax.

Granted, none of the government official accounts I have found mention any missing person on the 22nd, but given how there are several news articles, reddit posts, and firsthand accounts, it's absolutely confirmed that there was an Alert on the 22nd, but there is no post ANYWHERE about a missing person or any other EAS alert being sent out on the 24th.

Little bonus from our beloved molecule-sized Haligonian man poking his head out of Lily-retirement for us that I think is noteworthy enough to include:

Big props to Crim @crimsonender for providing several invaluable fact checking and information for this. Very important considering he is coming from the perspective of a Halifax local, go send him your support and watch his petscop stream and other non-Lily-centered content pls and thank u.

[mahs-dumpster]

Midnight Waltz – Prologue.

a/n: I'm so excited for this!!! I won't be writing the whole event actually, I just wanted to write the prologue because I thought it could be a fun introduction to my fan event :> if I feel creative in the future I might write a few scenarios of scenes I already had in mind (mostly daiggie scenarios).

cw: none.

words: 1244.

dividers.

“Come in.” Professor Trein came inside as he was told after knocking on the door, his cat walking right behind him. The old man had a few sheets of paper in his hand, which he promptly laid in the headmage’s desk, who immediately stopped doing his paperwork to take a look at it. “And what is this exactly, professor Trein?”

“Invitations for the Midnight Waltz next week.”

“The Midnight Waltz?” Crowley got curious, inspecting the papers on his desk. “And what about it? Are you asking for permission to go, Trein?”

“More or less.” He said, a faint smile forming on his lips at the idea of going to such a ball after so long. He had been missing his hometown. “I wish to visit my own hometown and take part in the Midnight Waltz, yes… however, I would like to ask for permission to bring a few selected students with me.”

“Huh? Why?” The headmage tilted his head. He couldn't imagine something more irritating and frustrating than having to deal with the selfish and complicated students of NRC outside of work hours… “do you not wish to take this opportunity to relax, maybe spend some time with your daughters?”

“My daughters are unfortunately busy this time of the year…” he sighed. He would be lying if his first thought upon receiving the invitations for the waltz weren't his daughters, but what could he do? They had their own jobs, their own husbands… no matter how much they loved him there was only so much time they could spend with an old man like him. “I thought that it would be a great learning experience for the students of our school to broaden their horizons. Crystal City is full of life at this time of the year, they would be able to learn about more important historical figures and different cultures.”

“Still, knowing you, you'd wish to go a bit before the date, am I correct?”

“Yes. The Midnight Waltz itself will take place on a Friday, however I would like the students to attend at least a day before to grasp more of the culture of the place and learn about the local dances.”

“Well, the students would lose a few days of classes since you’d have to go on a Thursday.” Crowley’s headmage mode was activated, he crossed his arms and put his hand on his chin. “Are you aware of that, Professor?”

“Indeed. Although you must remember that the Midnight Waltz is not merely a ball, but also a local competition…” Crowley pretended to not be affected, but Trein noticed how his interest piqued the moment he said the word ‘competition’. “There might be no prize, but I am very sure the title of the winner would bring quite the attention of the media and the city folk to Night Raven, if our students happen to win, of course.”

“My, my, why didn't you say so! I can even let you and the students you pick go two days early to fully enjoy your stay at Crystal City!” The headmage smiled greedily, the idea of the amount of attention and flattery his school — and by extension, himself — would get already filling his mind. Trein looked at Lucius and sighed, and the cat seemed to move his head in disappointment. The professor wasn't too sure if he should feel happy for the permission or disappointed at how easy it was. “Well then, which students do you have in mind?”

“I still need to think it over, but—”

A knock was heard on the door, followed by it slowly being opened, revealing a girl with blonde hair and a beauty mark beneath her eye, as well as her cat-like friend sitting on her shoulder. The ramshackle prefect and Grim.

“Mister headmage, did you wish to see me?”

“Ah, yes! I need you regarding a specific issue.”

“As usual, being the headmage's puppet…” Grim complained on Daisy's shoulder and the girl sighed in defeat, already seeing the trouble she would have to deal with, but first…

“It's a pleasant surprise to see you, professor Trein. How are you doing?” Daisy smiled warmly at the man, she always saw him weekly during classes, but she was always happy to see him outside of the classroom. He gave her a sense of comfort that not even Daisy herself could comprehend.

“Quite well, my dear, thank you. But Crowley—” the older one glared at the fae, who flinched at the sight of the annoyed look on his face. “—didn’t I tell you to leave the prefect alone? I thought I told you she would be under my care and you shouldn't bother her any longer.”

“I-I wasn't intending to ask much of her, do you have no faith in me?”

“No.”

“It's ok, professor, really! I'm quite used to it.” Daisy tried to reassure him, her hand resting on his arm and the old man couldn't help but smile at her kind and patient nature.

Daisy was different from his daughters in both personality and appearance, but there was a certain familiarity she gave him with how she talked and looked at him, it was as if he was raising his children once again. Perhaps it's why he felt so protective over the young girl.

Wait.

“Crowley, whatever it is you want to demand of the prefect you must find someone else to do the job. She's my first selected student to visit Crystal City with me and attend the Midnight Waltz.”

“Wh— are you kidding?!” Crowley stared at him in irritation, but ultimately gave up on seeing the look on his face. That old man would not budge… tsk. So much for wanting help… “goodness… Alright, fine, I understand. Since I am ever so kind I will allow it.”

“Wait, hold on. Midnight Waltz? Crystal City?” Daisy questioned, a bit confused, her brown eyes looking at both adults searching for an explanation. “I don't quite understand. Where are we going? And why?”

“Wait a waltz? Sounds like fun! Will there be food?” Grim asked, nearly making Daisy lose balance, so he had to jump on the headmage's desk, making him complain, but the direbeast didn't listen.

“Yes. The Midnight Waltz is a ball held in my hometown, Crystal City, and like every dignified ball there will have a buffet free for all guests.”

“Yoo-hoo, count me in!”

“Grim, manners.” Daisy tried to shush her friend, grabbing him and making him quiet down in her arms. “I'm sorry, professor but… well, I can't leave Grim alone at Ramshackle… I'd be too worried.”

Trein chuckled. “He may come as well. You and Grim are two halves of one student after all… but—” he looked at the direbeast very seriously. “—you must behave and listen to my every order. And I clear?”

“Y-yes, professor…” Grim squirmed in Daisy's arms and the girl simply chuckled at their interaction.

“Splendid. Now come along. I'll choose the rest of the students as I explain to you the details.” Trein began to leave, Lucius following right behind him, both paid no mind to the annoying headmage standing there.

“Oh, uhm… sorry, headmage. Maybe next time.” With that, Daisy bowed respectfully and left, Grim in her hands who kept snickering the entire time for being able to escape one of Crowley's irritating tasks.

The man groaned and sat down. Oh well, he could only hope his students brought the fame and attention he wanted.

[crusty-chronicles]

New event just dropped.

Introducing:

Smut Week

Every day for a full week I will be dropping a smut fic, whether it's a request from one of you or my own idea. Hopefully at least once a month or every two months. We'll see how it goes. Y'all know the deal, no minors. Characters we actually see turn into adults are eligible. And remember ☝️, reader will be afab unless specified otherwise.

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

This Week's Roster:

Sunday: Hiei breeding his stupid S/O

Monday: Love me like I'm your last p4

Tuesday: Sebastian with a stupid S/O

Wednesday: Pegging Ging

Thursday: Morel with his S/O

Friday: Kurama’s Heat

Saturday: Sandwiched between p3

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

Characters Eligible-

Hxh- Kurapika, Leorio, Kite, Ging, Morel, Knov, Meruem

Yu Yu Hakusho- Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, Jin

Jujutsu Kaisen- Gojo, Geto, Nanami

One piece- Brook(don't judge me), Franky, Robin, Luffy, Ace, Zoro, Sanji

Black Butler- Sebastian (that's it. Very good anime, but he's the only one I simp for.)

[ms-m-astrologer]

Transiting Venus enters Virgo

Monday, August 5 - Thursday, August 29, 2024

Full disclosure: this may not be a fun transit. There are plenty of challenges. Also, Venus is said to be in her “fall” in Virgo, occupying the sign opposite where she is exalted (Pisces). Astrologers March and McEvers likened this to “you’re staying in a strange house, and you don’t know the rules.”

My belief is that the planets all can stand to learn something when they’re in signs they don’t like - and in Virgo, Venus is working on her skills. Throughout her areas:

Art - working on technique is favored. That would be scales for a musician, for example. We could also work on developing healthy responses to criticism.

Beauty - looking like you’re in good health is usually sufficient - think Ingrid Bergman. Not a lot of makeup or “styling.” We could explore more of a thrifty approach to our clothes (like learning to sew a button back on, for example).

Love - keep aiming for being truly helpful. Sometimes we think we’re helping by pointing out everything wrong with someone, or by nagging. We evaluate relationships based on how willing we are to work on them.

Money - penny wise and pound foolish. The only placement that will blow its entire paycheck on vitamins.

If we’ve made any questionable choices over the past weeks (raises hand), we may just be in for a comeuppance while Venus is in Virgo. Where we’re lacking, will be made clear. Are we going to be humble about it and work harder, or are we going to skulk off in bitterness?

Monday, August 5 - Venus/Virgo inconjunct Pluto Rx/Aquarius, 0°33’. Adjustments. Cold indifference (regardless of its source, ourselves or others) makes us realize we need to recalibrate.

Wednesday, August 7 - Venus/Virgo conjunct Mercury Rx/Virgo, 3°43’. We may actually feel this one late on August 5, when the Virgo Moon will conjunct both Venus and Mercury. It’s charming and helpful and humble, but it’s also about a lightweight as astrology gets.

Sunday, August 11 - Monday, August 12:

Venus/Virgo trine Ceres Rx/Capricorn, 8°07’

Venus/Virgo (8°25’) sesquiquad Chiron Rx/Aries (23°25’)

Venus/Virgo inconjunct North Node/Aries, semi-sextile South Node/Libra, 8°59’

Traditional values. We are looking for practical, womanly solutions. Have a strategy for when this irritates people, and don’t be too perfectionist to ignore helping hands. Be patient.

Tuesday, August 13 - Venus/Virgo (10°26’) sesquiquad Eris Rx/Aries (25°26’). Angry women! Eris wants to throw Molotov cocktails but Venus wants to nitpick. Some of us will nag people so hard it will feel like a Molotov cocktail. Adjust your approach to addressing problems.

Saturday, August 17 - Monday, August 19

Venus/Virgo (15°17’) sesquiquad Pluto Rx/Aquarius (0°17’)

Venus/Virgo square Jupiter/Gemini, 17°21’

Venus/Virgo opposite Saturn Rx/Pisces, 17°29’

This is the biggest event of Venus/Virgo - having the honor (?) to help trigger the first (of three) of the Jupiter-Saturn squares. Mars will have set this off a few days earlier, making us feel like we want to get going on something right now but feeling held back and hampered - and we now find ourselves in a new situation (mutable signs) - remembering the “assist” from Pluto, which happens to be on the same degree as the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of December 20, 2020. Something is going to take more hard work than we anticipated, and it’s going to take longer. It’s important to blend optimism with being realistic - don’t feel you have to take on all the job yourself, but accept help - and don’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good.” Build up relationships by looking for common ground.

Thursday, August 22 - Friday, August 23:

Venus/Virgo square Mars/Gemini, 22°08’

Venus/Virgo semi-sextile Mercury Rx/Leo, 22°59’

Venus/Virgo inconjunct Chiron Rx/Aries, 23°11’

Venus square Mars can be sexy, but in mutable signs it feels more jittery and anxious. We could be trying too hard; we could be mistaken in how we interpret others. Watch your mouth.

Sunday, August 25 - Venus/Virgo inconjunct Eris Rx/Aries, 25°23’. Angry women time again. We want to be more effective about how we address our grievances, so we’ll need to adjust a bit.

Monday, August 26 - Tuesday, August 27:

Venus/Virgo sextile Pallas/Scorpio, 26°32’

Venus/Virgo trine Uranus/Taurus, 27°14’

Finally, some flowing energy. This will enable us to come up with very clever and unique solutions and possibilities. We may do a little mediating while we’re at it.

Wednesday, August 28 - Venus/Virgo opposite Neptune Rx/Pisces, 29°08’. Stones fan that I am, I’m pretty sure that as long as Neptune makes the final aspect, regardless of the circumstances, we’ll all be singing along with Mick, “You can’t always get what you want - but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” If we haven’t let “perfect” be the enemy of “good,” some precious illumination is in store.

———————————

Venmo @ Mary_Brack

PayPal @ MaryVBrack

Thank you!

[octuscle]

Hey support

So I decided to go to my first fetish event at a club next weekend, but being a shy always in my own head kinda guy I was a little anxious about the whole thing. So I thought, I might find some temporary presets or changes on Chronivac to last for the night to get me out of my own head and make me feel more at home with being at the event.

I think I messed something up though, cause although the changes are suppose to be temporary and only for the day/night of the event, I can’t put my finger on it, but things seem to be changing in my daily life right now, over a week before the big day.

It's Sunday morning. According to your memory, you had a quiet Saturday evening on the sofa. Chips, Netflix, a bit of wanking. A perfectly normal Saturday evening. But why the hell do you have this hangover? And the apartment smells of beer and cigar smoke. Full ashtrays in the kitchen. Empty whiskey glasses. Full condoms on the floor. A few jockstraps. Empty poppers bottles. What was going on here yesterday. And where did that hairy, snoring fellow on your sofa come from?

It's 6pm when you finally get rid of the fellow (hottest Sunday morning sex ever), you've tidied up and cleaned. Now you feel like a cigar. But not at home anymore. You've just got rid of the smell to some extent. But now you need a whiskey and a cigar.

You actually thought that the stranger on the sofa owned the biker boots and the leather jacket at the coat check. But he left your apartment wearing just one of the jockstraps from the kitchen floor and a pair of tracksuit bottoms. But now you're standing in front of your hallway mirror with one of the jockstraps, a 501, a white T-shirt that doesn't fit at all badly, the boots and the leather jacket. And you like what you see. There are cigars in the leather jacket. And as if remote-controlled, you walk through the evening streets until you find yourself standing in front of an inconspicuous door in the basement of a side street. You ring the bell. The doorman greets you with a fist bump and says it's good to see you back. Your regular seat at the bar is free. Your whiskey and ashtray are ready before you can even take a seat. You like Sunday evenings here. No curious tourists. No hustle and bustle. Real men who want their peace and quiet. And maybe a quick fuck. The fellow who disappears into the toilet had clearly made eye contact with you beforehand. You follow him…

Monday morning. Shit, you could have stayed in bed for another hour. But you have to look good at the weekend. And you have to go to the gym before work. And you're still wearing the urine-yellow and cum-encrusted jockstrap from yesterday. Your cock never gets limp when you wear it. Your PA shines through the stretched fabric. Fuck, you're so horny that you have to jerk off in the shower. And with every movement, your PA gets a little thicker. And your circumcised foreskin comes back. As you stuff your sweaty clothes into your gym bag and put on your suit, you think wistfully of your leather jacket. You miss the smell of masculinity in your work clothes… And the creak of leather.

On Tuesday after work, you get changed and go to your favorite barbershop. Hair radically short, beard in shape. On the Friday before the party, you only need to have the contours corrected once. You're actually always here twice a week. Great atmosphere. You're not the only man sitting in the styling chair in leather jeans. And with a cigar and a glass of whiskey, it's almost like being in your favorite bar. And once you've changed your clothes and had your hair done, you can see what's going on in the bar. As you might expect, not much. But Hendrik, the Danish barman, plays with your nipple piercings. And just before you leave, there's a submissive skinhead who first serves as your urinal and then gives you a blowjob. Good evening!

Yesterday was a normal day at the gym, but on Thursday you realize that the big fetish events are in town this weekend. There are more men than usual at the weights in the morning. And the men are bigger, more muscular and hairier than usual. It smells of sweat and musk. The air is full of testosterone. Damn, there's more than one ass you'd like to fuck. And a number of fellows obviously wouldn't be averse either. But you won't cum until tomorrow night. You want maximum pressure on your balls. You spend the evening with leather waxes, brushes and polishing cloths. Boots, pants, jackets, shirts, harnesses… There's a hell of a lot of black leather to polish to a high shine. Your new fullsleave has healed perfectly. The new sling is hanging, the St. Andrew's cross is fitted and tomorrow morning you'll swap the cotton sheets for black leather. You are a neat freak. But planning and preparation is everything!

Today is Friday, so you can wear leather trousers to the office. The dirty jockstrap and cock ring underneath. The white button-down shirt will be changed quickly later. You don't want to waste any time.

You change in the barbershop to the cheers of the other customers. Zac takes the opportunity to trim the fur on your chest. There are already long queues outside the club. You don't care. You just walk through to the entrance. You greet the doorman with a handshake and a French kiss. He returns the favor by grabbing your bulge. Fuck, your balls are about to burst. The party can start.

Pic found @my-gear-smoking-favourites

[bluelockhalloweek]

Blue Lock Halloweek 2023 Prompts are here—can’t wait to see what y’all create!

👻 Reblog with your favorites prompts & share with your Blue Lock crew!

👻 Find the event on Twitter @/BllkHalloweek

👻 See below for more info, typed-out prompts, & prompt examples if you need clarification or inspiration

👻 Feel free to mix and match, and take prompts as literally or as tangentially as you want!

👻 Work doesn’t have to be specifically Fall / Halloween themed as long as it fits a prompt. (If you’re writing a superhero fic for “Mask,” don’t feel like you have to stick a 🎃 in a corner unless you want to.)

👻 Work can be as lighthearted, scary, or spicy as you want as long as you follow the updated guidelines!

👻 Thank you to everyone who submitted prompts, & credit to the anons who suggested The Witching Hour & Mischief Night! A lot of suggestions were already on my longer list or were very similar, or might be better saved for next year. If your favorite isn't on the list, the “Free Prompt” finale is your day!

👻 Find event Archive of Our Own here!

👻 The event is on Tumblr, Twitter, and AO3, so share your contribution on all three!

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Blue Lock Halloweek (+ 2!): October 23 - October 31, 2023

Monday 23: Pumpkin spice + Do you believe in magic?

Tuesday 24: Masks + Heartbeat

Wednesday 25: Things that go bump in the night + Festival

Thursday 26: Firelight + Dark Waters

Friday 27: Paranoia + The Witching Hour

Saturday 28: Monster’s Ball + Hunter’s Moon (actual full moon date & name!)

Sunday 29: Angels & Demons + Castle

Monday 30: Spirit + Movie / Mischief Night (actual night)

Tuesday 31 🎃: Sweet Tooth / Sucker + Free Prompt!

-

-

Now for Prompt Examples + Explanations 

I’ve had people ask for prompt examples in past events I’ve hosted and this event is open to any language, so here you go! These are the quick brainstorming notes (now expanded with links & definitions) I took while narrowing down the list to be sure the final prompts were unique enough / without toooo much overlap, and covered enough areas. Only some of maaaany interpretations—go wild!

Your host is a fic-writer with ADHD, so…you’ve been warned.

Day 1: 

Pumpkin Spice: Cozy Autumn vibes. Putting up Halloween decorations, carving Jack-o-lanterns, coffee / tea shop, pumpkin patch, scented candles, baking, fall sangria, sweaters and beanies and flannels, momijigari (Autumn Hanami 🌸, basically) / admiring gorgeous fall foliage, fresh hot apple cider in an orchard. Itoshi Bros and their love of turtle/mock-neck sweaters. Pumpkin Farmer Aiku and Karasu scarecrow!

Do you believe in magic?: Revealing their magical powers for the first time. Crystal ball, tarot. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc. AU. Non-literal magic in relationships (feeling understood, chemistry, humor matching up perfectly, etc). Wands, spells, magical objects, magical creatures, etc.. Making a wish. Alexis "The Magician" Ness.

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Day 2:

Masks: Costumes, super heroes, putting up a front, acting like something you’re not, classic masked Halloween meet-cute, secret / concealed identities, spies, ninja and samurai and assassins (Karasu and Otoyaaa!) Niko hiding his eyes / face.

Heartbeat: Racing heart from excitement, fright, romance, spice. No heartbeat like undead, zombie or vampire, etc.. Skip a beat, beat faster, beat slower (calm and comfort). Chigiri on the run from zombies, zombie Lorenzo!

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Day 3: 

Things that go bump in the night: unexplained (scary or otherwise) noises in the night, whispers or voices, ghosts and other supernatural entities, haunted house / place, anything scary, …spicy. Spooky Owl outside Rin’s window. 

Festival: String lights illuminating festival stalls, costumes, traditional attire (Aryu looking stylish!), food and drink, games, Isagi devouring fried fair food. Fall Music festival. Mid-Autumn Festival (with all the pretty lanterns and mooncakes 🥮), Harvest / Fall Fests in general. Bobbing for apples, caramel / candy apples, carnival rides and games, Ferris wheel. Oktoberfest; Kaiser and/or any Bastard München player in Lederhosen—please, I’m begging!! Fun house / haunted house. Day of the Dead festivities. 

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Day 4:

Firelight: Cauldrons, brewing potions. Candles, rituals, bonfires. Autumn camping trip, s’mores, spooky firelight shadows outside the tent, got lost on a hiking trip & have to make a fire to keep warm! Torches, candles, lanterns lighting the way in a definitely not-haunted place. Hell, your favorite circle (Dante’s Inferno) 😈

Dark Waters: merpeople, sirens, sea monsters, kraken, pirates (Kurona and Raichi, Bachira 🐬!), sharks, shipwreck, ghost ships, stranded on a deserted island, haunted lakes, lake spirits, Autumn fishing trip, swamp monsters, bogs and marshes, willowisps, alligators, snakes. Loch Ness Monster

(Fire and water, light and dark)

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Day 5:

Paranoia: Fear and suspicion, feeling like someone’s watching and you just can’t shake it (...Ego and his cameras), feeling like you’re losing your mind, etc.. Doesn’t have to be all bad! Maybe there was a misunderstanding before a fun surprise. 

The Witching hour: Wiki / dictionary. Depending on whom you ask, the hour is either midnight or 3am - 4am. Supernatural entities / practitioners of dark arts are the most active and powerful. These entities might feel compelled / drawn out into the world. Magic and danger, inexplicable happenings! Humans ought to be at home and safely tucked in bed at this late hour, or else... Fun fact, the Orionid meteor shower peaks juuust before this event starts (in my hemisphere, at least) but continue until November, and the best time to view meteor showers is generally around the witching hour (after midnight / 3-4am). Can also mean the time in which people get up to no good or questionable stuff. 

-

Day 6:

Monster’s Ball: Monsters, creatures. Bachiraaa. Halloween party, masquerade, nightlife (going out in costume—or not—to bars and clubs). Reo buying a round. Literal ⚽ ball (Lil Isagi trick-or-treating in Noa’s kit), Halloween Practice (like in high school or college when your coach let you have a fun practice in costume before a holiday—absolute chaos and so fun!). Whatever chaos and debauchery y’all can imagine. Just follow the event guidelines and tag accordingly! Green eyed monster (jealousy), Cinderella’s Ball (Sae and Shidou!)

Hunter’s Moon: The date of the actual full Hunter’s Moon—lucky us! Sometimes called the Blood Moon. Full moon, werewolves, moonlight, on the hunt or being hunted, spells and rituals, Tsukimi / moon viewing + Tsukimi dango 🎑, moon myths and gods. Celestial things, Kurona and Isagi planetary hotline / astronauts, aliens.

(Monster vs Hunter day, ha)

-

Day 7:

Angels and Demons: Demon and priest, hell, listening to the angel or the devil on your shoulder (making a questionable decision because it’s tempting), devilish fun or spells, sin, temptation, a deal with the devil. Ohhh, Sae and Shidou, your night has come! 😈

Castle: fairytales, knights, vampires, dungeons, Royalty (King Barou, Emperor Kaiser!). Also super Sae and Shidou.

-

Day 8: 

Spirit: ghosts, haunted houses, GhostBusters, spirit entities like yokai, Ghost Adventures. Gagamaru as a friendly Yokai! Shaman. Possession, possessed or cursed objects. JJK. Ouija board game! Monk Igaguri. 

Movie Night: Watching a scary (or not scary) movie, series, anime, etc. So many movie/show Alternate Universes. Sendou living his Hollywood dreams. Barbie please!!! Nagi nodding off halfway through. The guys as a character from their favorite movie listed in the Egoist Bible.

Mischief Night: Wiki page. The night before Halloween for hijinks, pranks, scaring each other! Toilet papering Ego’s house. Can be more sinister, too. 

-

Day 9: Halloween!

Sweet tooth / sucker: Trick-or-Treating, candy corn, so much candy, caramel corn, vampires or anything with fangs, bite, ‘sucker’ like 🍭 or vampires, or…

Free day / AU (alternate universe) Palooza!: 

Whatever Halloween stuff you want that doesn’t quite fit a prompt! Just listing some of the things I would draw (if I could) or write (if i had time):

Video game au for Hiori! Pokemon! Ego as a gangly cowboy, ⚽️ bolo tie and all. Barou as the "Cowardly" Lion in the Wizard of Oz. And finally, artists, if you're reading this, please, please consider Noel Noa (of the 🇫🇷 French National 🥖 Team!!) dressed as Bonjour Man from Life Lessons with Uramichi Onii-san (clip, manga cap). Please Omg. This image has literally been haunting me since starting this event and the manga/anime (even the dub!) is soooo funny. And technically, Bonjour Man is a cursed spirit sooo 👻

Okay, that's it. Hope y'all have fun. Please reblog and spread the word 🧡🖤

[justice4billiam]

Math Class

So there was this one moment in time in high school where I actually liked a guy (I know, weird concept, just go with it) who sat in front of me in my math class.

Something you should know about me, I fucking suck at math.

Another thing you should know about me, I was kind of a dick in high school.

Okay, I’m still kind of a dick, but a nice one.

However in high school, I was extra dick-ish (I’m sure it had to do with all raging teenage hormones and a shit childhood)

Anyway.

I fucking sucked at math.

And what happens when you suck at math?

Your teacher assigns you a tutor to help “guide you to the path of success” or whatever she said.

Cool.

No big deal, right?

Wrong.

She assigned me to the nearest person to me.

The fucking guy I had a crush on.

Who thought I was the fucking worst.

Now you’re probably thinking nooo, he couldn’t possibly think that way about you. I’m sure it was all in your head

Well, you’re wrong. The guy hated me.

BUT for good reason.

He just so happened to be the brother of the girl I beat up half a week earlier in gym class.

NOW.

I didn't beat her up just because…no. She was an absolute terror to this disabled girl in said gym class.

She would verbally bully her to the point of tears.

But that one particular day she physically shoved her to the ground while we were all running the mile.

Remember how I said I was a dick?

Well, I used my powers for good. (mostly)

I watched that shit happen.

Then came strolling up to her while she was shooting the shit with her friends and shoved that bish so hard.

Her stupid unblended orange face (this was the early 2010s guys, no one wore the right makeup shade or blended their foundation into their damn necks) bounced off the concrete floor.

Let me just tell you…it was satisfying as hell.

It started a full on fight of which resulted in her getting her ass handed to her.

So you see, her brother hated me

And I didn't blame him

A sister is a sister.

You stand by your siblings, I get it.

BUT.

I had a big fat crush on him and now he was to tutor me.

Let me tell you, he was NOT happy about it.

I distinctly remember the look on his face the second the teacher called his name out to work with me.

It was the kind of face you make when you smell roadkill wafting through your car vents because you have outside air circulating while you're going 65mph(that's 96.56kmph) on a back road.

The look fueled the need to make him like me.

Those who know me now, know I'm a cheeky, flirty little shit.

So not to toot my own horn but it's hard NOT to like me.

(Is that my god-complex talking? Probably)

I can get along with just about anyone.

Not so surprisingly after about 30 minutes of flirting my way into his heart, I had him FLUSTERED.

I'm talking man giggling.

Blushed cheeks.

Couldn't even make eye contact with me.

FLUSTERED.

Don't like who?

Not me.

I'm sure you're probably wondering where I'm going with this.

Well, after class ended he invited me over to his house after school.

A normal person probably wouldn't go to the house of the girl you beat up and meet her parents while on her brother's arm.

I did.

I went.

I wish I had taken a picture of her face when I walked into her house. (she had stayed home the rest of that week because I beat her ass)

Honestly, it was a core memory.

The best part was her parents didn't know it was me who did it.

It was such an eventful week for me.

Monday: bully the bully

Tuesday: ice my hand from bullying the bully

Wednesday: suck at math

Thursday: rizz the bully's brother and come home with him to have dinner with bully and her family.

Friday: DATE THE BULLYS BROTHER.

Yep. You heard me.

That dinner went so well that the guy asked me out.

And I said yes.

I then proceeded to date him the whole year and become best friends with her mom.

Oh yeah, and I still failed math.

I'm gonna make this a series 🤭

@voyeurmunson im sure you'd get a giggle out of this. 😅🤭

[themswritinwords]

ALSO I'm once again going to be a panelist, presenter, and moderator at the LTUE Symposium in February!

LTUE is one of the most affordable writers'/creatives' conferences out there (extra discounts for if you're a student) while still giving you a massive bang for your buck. They have eight different 'tracks' for presentations and panels (writing, world building, art, TMA, academics, books, gaming, and professional development), but you can attend literally whichever sessions, panels, or presentations you want, so you can mix and match interests and professional goals.

It's super educational and I highly recommend it to anyone trying to go pro with their creative works, but it's also fun. Like obscene amounts of fun. It's all the best of a convention while also providing genuine professional opportunities. People come in cosplay, Sunday Best, and/or street clothes; I was on a panel last year next to an author with electric purple hair and a real silver fairy tiara whilst I was wearing a t-shirt with a sunglasses possum on it, and the guy on the other side of us was in a full suit and bowtie. There was a life-size Springtrap cosplay out in the main lobby. I pitched for the first time ever to 3 actual literary agents and got 3 requests. I got personal career advice from a 25+ year industry pro. A 12 year old with a "future author" pin asked me questions on my presentation and took notes, and so did an octogenarian in rainbow suspenders. I was taught how to write a professional query letter-- that has a 16% positive response rate, where standard is ~10%-- by a former lawyer in a pirate hat.

It's good vibes only, man.

But you'll also find professional agents, editors, artists, authors, directors, game devs and so on. It's a huge geek-fest that puts people at all levels of the professional world on equal footing. They've even got gaming events and filking circles.

In short, it's networking, fun, hyperfocus material, and professional-level education in equal measure.

I seriously can't say enough good things about it (and not just because I'm involved). There's something for every type of creator/creative out there, 11/10 highly recommend.

Anyway, here's what I'll be up to as a guest during all three days under the read more. (tl;dr conclusion, if you plan to attend and want to meet up, message me!)

Thursday

Original presentation (academics track): Folklore of the American South. An overview of myths, monsters, and old wives' tales from the rich storytelling heritage of the Southern States. AKA I finally have a platform to yell about my cultural heritage and by golly am I gonna yell about it! 10 am (yes it's a bit early, but I swear it'll be worth it! Y'all know you wanna hear about the Rougarou the destiny-determining powers of cornbread!)

Friday

Panelist: Shellshocked: Writing PTSD. Injecting realism into and dispelling myths surrounding characters with PTSD. AKA how flashbacks do and do not work, how to avoid making your character a caricature, and how to be sensitive so you don't use peoples' actual lived experiences as a sensationalist, reductionist cash grab. 10 am.

Panelist: Life After Coming Out. How to feature queer characters in more than just coming-out plots. AKA OwnVoices is not an excuse to exclude the reality of queer people in your built universes; don't write a story that's not yours to tell, but for the love of all things holy there's more stories to tell about queer folks than just The Big Realization! 11 am. (whew mercy, they gonna have me hoofin it all across that hotel RIP my ankles and my asthma)

Panelist: Fat Doesn't Mean Unfit. What it says on the tin. AKA a bunch of chubby folks are gonna demolish your fatphobia and why that's an important and good thing. Also I have a degree in health so I will be demolishing that fatphobia scientifically. 5 pm.

Saturday

Moderator: Dining Throughout History. A panel about how food, meals, and feeding communities did and did not work throughout history. AKA ancient Romans absolutely DID have takeout on the regular, and you're not a failure for not making 3 square meals a day at home with all-fresh all-natural ingredients. I mean, your characters aren't failures.... Yeah. That. 9 am.

Panelist: Nonnormative Relationships and You. The whats, whys, and hows of all the different non-romantic/nonsexual relationships your characters can find themselves in. AKA no shade to the romance crowd, but can we please stop forcing characters to kiss just because they're in physical or emotional proximity??? 11 am.

Moderator/Facilitator: Do-It-Yourself Medical Care: Hands-On First Aid. Come learn how to effectively injure and care for your characters by actually doing it! The caring part, not the injury part. We do not condone irl violence in the Marriott and as mod I will be obligated to fight you if you attempt to injure another participant. I can tell you right now as a both a stress crying asthmatic and the parent of a toddler with professional experience handling and subduing dangerous animals, it will be highly embarrassing for everyone involved. I seriously cannot tell you how excited I am for this one! It's me and four other authors who are also trained in medicine/health, so we're working hard to make this an informative and relevant experiential learning opportunity. They're only giving us 45 minutes, unfortunately, but we're already coordinating to try and pack in the most opportunities and most interesting exercises possible. It's gonna be so fun!! 1 pm, do not be late, we can only fit so many people and training dummies into the room!

Moderator: A Brighter Future: Solarpunk Fiction. A panel discussing the Solarpunk genre, why it's relevant, the ways conflict and worldbuilding would be different in a Solarpunk setting, etc. AKA a bunch of neohippies walked into a bar professional panel and decided to rant about sustainable living. 3 pm.

The rest of the time I'll be flitting around attending panels and presentations, checking out the art show and vendors room, socializing/networking, generally vibing, and maybe getting in a few pitch sessions. If you want to meet up, shoot me a message! I'm always open to Friending, and I know all the good places to grab lunch.

[cosmiccannibalcamille]

This Week's Astrology: Aug. 26, 2024

Have you HEARD the news? My debut novel, Jupiter Returns, is launching for pre-sale! Keep an eye on your inbox for sneak peeks, launch events, and more fun stuff. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating this long-awaited release. Anyway, onto the astrology!

     This week’s astrology is a primer for the month of September. Which, is just around the corner—and, while I’m on the subject, September is PACKED with astrology (including, but not limited to: eclipse season 😬). But it seems like this final week of August is helping to make the transition with ease. That’s not to say September is an easygoing, free-flowing month per se, but it certainly doesn’t look as chaotic as August was.  

     If you’re like me—i.e.: a mutable Sun / Moon, with a Fixed Rising sign—August was tough, maybe even the toughest month of 2024 so far. Even though Friday was “victorious”1, the days and weeks prior were less so. There was a LOT of tension, frustration, deceleration, and stress. I felt stuck, unmotivated, tired, exasperated, and like I (kinda) knew where I wanted to go, but wasn’t able to gain traction or momentum on anything; nor did I feel particularly confident in anything. Such is the case with square aspects in astrology. Me, pretty much all of August.

     These pesky aspects provoke, antagonize, block, annoy, and stifle you all at once. They can feel as thwarting and tiring as they feel aggravating, like life has crammed you into a garlic press and is squeezing with all its might to mince you. But at the same time, squares can also help you; because it’s in those times of frustration, forestalling, and feeling crushed that you can gain clarity on what you really want. Even if you don’t move forward with it right away, even if you aren’t 100% gung-ho about your desire, you know it. And knowing is half the battle. 

     Last week, we had not one, but four of those squares in the sky. And Mercury retrograde. And a full moon. So, it was an exceptionally charged week. Maybe, like me, you felt heavy, weighed down by all the things you want to do, but weren’t 100% certain any of them mattered; so you couldn’t decide what to move forward with. (That’s what mutable sign squares feel like, btw. Equal parts indecisiveness, derailment, and discouragement. I would know: my Sun and Moon are square in mutable signs 😬.) But in this final week of August, you get a much-needed reprieve—and maybe even some sweetness.

     This is a week to move forward—with both the project / goal(s) that had you stumped these last two weeks, and with fresh projects, fresh ideas. It’s a week that encourages indulgence, dabbling in creative activities, daydreaming, and/or reveling in some beauty. Tuesday fosters fresh energy, innovation, and giving/receiving a pleasant surprise. On Wednesday, there might be a little emotional fog, but Mercury stations direct, bringing confidence in communication and forward movement. Thursday has artistic, romantic, and maybe even justice-driven vibes, with a chance for powerful connections. 

     As the week winds down, September opens with two important retrograde movements involving outer planets Uranus & Pluto. Though outer planet retrogrades are totally normal (as many of those planets are retrograde half the year), they still pull focus. They still mean something. And they also set the tone for the rest of September, which, as I mentioned, is LOADED with astrology. Anyway, that’s the gist of this week. Here’s the actual astrology:

August 27th: Venus in Virgo trine Uranus in Taurus, 27°

August 28th: Venus in Virgo opposes Retrograde Neptune in Pisces, 29° 

August 28th: Mercury stations direct in Leo, 21° 

August 29th: Venus enters Libra

August 29th: Venus in Libra trines Retrograde Pluto in Aquarius, 0°

September 1st: Uranus stations retrograde in Taurus, 27°

September 1st: Retrograde Pluto re-enters Capricorn, 29° 

Read the FULL forecast for this week's astrology on The Cosmic Almanac:

[callgespenst]

It wasn't a hugely eventful convention or anything but I should probably still write up my Matsuricon 2024 report.

Thursday: Had a friend stay over at my place for the weekend. Pregamed the con by watching a few more episodes of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Friday: Cosplayed Soujyurou from Mahoyo, made the jacket and safety pinned my Robin plush to my shoulder. Showed up, grabbed my badge, ran our Lupin III panel for the first time in...four and a half years? Went out into the hallway to chat with people who attended the panel. Then suddenly it was four hours later and we went home.

Saturday: Went home early on Friday to be awake and in a panel room at 8 AM on Saturday to talk about robots for two hours. Midway through the 90s we realized that, despite getting the longest possible timeslot, we were still almost out of time, and had to blast through the last three decades. Haven't done that panel in a while either (haven't done too many panels in general since the pandemic).

Got lunch and looked around the dealer's hall for a bit. I got a rubber charm of Bocchi (of Rock) from a gachapon machine. Not a whole lot else I was interested in, but that's objectively a good thing. Then it was off to the YGO tournament!

I'd revamped my deck (again) because I had made a few key realizations. First, I don't know my opponents' decks well enough to effectively use hand traps to shut down a combo. Second, many modern decks are relatively unprepared to handle a board-clearing spell. Monster effects are simple to negate and counter with a full board. But spells, maybe not. And third, and this one is the most critical part: having a balanced deck of 50/50 monsters/spells and traps no longer matters. I was taking out a bunch of monsters that would never, ever actually be played to the field, their only point in my deck was to be discarded as a counter; to switch in three copies of Raigeki, three Dark Holes, and two Lightning Storms.

It wasn't a huge tourney, there were eleven other players, for what would end up being three rounds of single elimination. My first game, I played a guy who had some kinda deck full of Dinosaurs and counter trap cards. It was an interesting playstyle I hadn't seen before, but I won that 2-0. Second game, Kashtira. Won the first duel, lost the second, won the third. Third and final game, which I sure didn't expect to get to the finals, was vs Ancient Gears, another deck that prefers to go second. Lost the first game, won the second, and I might have been able to win the third if I hadn't let myself get psyched out. But I'm still pretty pleased with my performance, considering I've lost just about every other match I've played with my new deck 0-2.

The second place prize was a bunch of tournament packs, and first place was as well, plus a free badge for next year. The first place winner let me have his pack pulls, which was nice, I'm still building back up a selection of trades to have available. I didn't really need a free badge for next year anyway since I'm planning on paneling again, and my opponent getting a free badge means we can rematch next year! So honestly, I'm kinda glad I got second.

Also while everyone waited for the tourney to start, everyone was ribbing on one guy for his very expensive deck he was keeping in the world's most basic $3 deckbox, so that was entertaining. Reminded me of the fellas I used to play YGO with at the local library, where there was always some friendly banter back and forth.

After that I hung out with a few more friends, played some Melty Blood, and went home.

Sunday: The traditional day at a con where I play mahjong with the homies until we pack up and go home. I got in one whole game before we took all the tables back to our organizer's car (that took half an hour to find). That wrapped up the event and then I got home and conked out early Sunday evening and most of Monday too. I didn't even do a whole lot of running around or anything, I was just tired.

Also my last few conventions have been so overwhelmingly positive on the whole that I forgot that these events are also frequented by people who are weird in not-fun ways. That last mahjong game, had a fella start spouting off about he hates being referred to as cis, despite being a cis hetero male. I hit him with the "I hate the cis because they are led by the treacherous Count Dooku" and that worked surprisingly well at changing the subject, but it was still, terribly awkward there for a second, especially when another of our club's regulars at the same table is one of the most Gender individuals I know.

Anyway that's probably my last anime con for the year, but there's a new event coming to the area in April I think I'll hit up, excited to see what that's like.

[catofadifferentcolor]

Random Old Guard Thoughts (1/?): Movie Timeline

As I've often stated, loudly and repeatedly, I tend to hyperfixate on details very few other people would consider important. Case in point: What is the timeline of The Old Guard (2020)?

I don't mean the pre-canon timeline - what these characters were doing at any given point in the last thousand years, though that too is something I've given far too much thought to - but the actual timeline of the events of the movie.

Now, we can pretty safely say the events take place in early 2019, as:

In the scene outside the mine in Val d'Argent, Nile's phone gives the date as Sunday, April 21.

The Frank Ocean song "Godspeed" Nile listens to at Camp Leatherneck was released in 2016.

The years in which April 21 falls on Sunday after this song was released are: 2019, 2024, 2030, and 2047.

Presuming that the movie is set during the War in Afghanistan, which ended August 20, 2021, this leaves 2019 as the only possible year the movie could take place. (Or, since the war went on for nearly two decades and the Doha Accords were not signed until February 29, 2020, it could have been intended to be set in a possible near-future at filming, but that seems against the general historicity of the movie/comics.) This is also the year the movie was shot during, so it seems most likely.

Sunday, April 21, 2019 is coincidentally Easter, which seems like a good date to set events involving resurrection and immortality, as well as to sneak your unwilling human test subjects into your usually bustling pharmaceutical company headquarters. (Though why you'd carry out your morally dubious research in your HQ is another matter.)

Seems simple enough. However, the incident in South Sudan takes place during a full moon - there's a nice lingering shot of it early in the movie, so it's not just some stage light shining through a window - and the last full moon before Easter 2019 is Friday, April 19. (Good Friday, coincidentally.)

We do have a bit of wiggle room. The moon rising at 6:19 pm in Juba on the night of Thursday, April 18 probably looked close enough to full to count. The one rising at 5:25 pm on Wednesday, April 17 might've too. But the question remains: even if we push the rescue operation back to the night of April 17-18, is it even possible for someone moving covertly to get from a contested war zone in Central Africa to another in Central Asia in time to make it to Northern France the next night?

Because the way I see it:

Sunday, April 21 is the hard date. Andy, Nile, and Booker leave Val d'Argent around sunrise on this day (6:31 am) and drive to Copely's house in Surrey. Google tells me this is a 774 km drive, which should take 8:45 hours. There must have been some sort of border check regardless of whatever passports were used as the UK never was part of the Schengen Area - and possibly a stop for weapons after. (Even if we shave off a few hours speeding on empty holiday roads, London sunset was 8:06 pm that day and there's nothing to imply Nile and Copley waited overnight to stage their rescue. Andy and Booker can't have been in the labs longer than four hours.)

Andy, Booker, and Nile leave Goussainville at night. If they took the most direct route to Val d'Argent (and I don't see why they would), that is a 465 km drive, which should take 5 hours. They arrive at the cave in daylight - between 7 am and 9 pm that time of year - and Andy leaves again for the town at dark. This tells me their arrival in Val d'Argent is sometime Saturday, April 20.

It is night when the guard are attacked in Goussainville. This is likely the morning of Saturday, April 20, but can be any time between sunset (8:50 pm) the day before and sunrise (6:54 am) that morning.

Andy and Nile are shown arriving at Goussainville in daylight. This could, theoretically, be any number of days before the attack, but given the clothes it's probably Friday, April 19. Also, unless we dream each other isn't an every night thing, Nile would probably have gotten Quỳnh's story earlier if it wasn't.

It is daylight on a train in Central Africa when Andy, Booker, Joe, and Nicky first dream of Nile. This could, theoretically, be any number of days after the mission in South Sudan, but I get the feeling it's meant to be the morning after - which, accounting for the moon, would be Thursday, April 18.

Is it physically possible to travel from South Sudan to Afghanistan to France in, at maximum, 39 hours? Probably. If you managed direct flights it would be something like 15 hours total plus a couple hours driving. But can it actually be done? Can you jump off a train in the middle of nowhere, find a single woman on a military base in another country with nothing but a picture and half a name, and get yourself and your companion to another continent in what's realistically more like 30 hours? All while keeping out of sight of an ex-CIA operative and, presumably, the US military?

I don't know. It sounds like the start of a Top Gear special - and initially I was going to argue that it couldn't be done. I was going to argue that the South Sudan mission had to occur during the March 20 full moon for the timing to work... but maybe not. Maybe it can be done. I'd love to know.

Which, I suppose, is a long way to travel to determine the date of Nile's first death: some time between sunrise in Central Africa and sunset in Central Asia on Thursday, April 18, 2019.

[arlertdarling]

psa / update on 100+ event

ranting below! skip to the TLDR if you’re not interested in the details about my life lol

so i’ve just had my first week on my new full-time uni prep course. i’m planning on using these first weeks to decide if the course is for me and so far, i’m leaning towards staying, but regardless of whether i transfer or not, it will be really hectic and stressful and time-consuming etc.

the first half of my week was very tiring, while the second half was just... kind of a disaster.

on thursday, while we were out on a trip in public, i tore a split down the ASS CRACK of my favourite pair of trousers, that i’ve only worn 3 times, and had to make sure i didn’t flash my ass/underwear to my brand new classmates😭 (cause of the fabric and how it’s torn, it’s still undecided whether they can be saved, but i’m trying to have faith in my mother’s repair skills🙏)

then on friday, when on another trip out, due to workload and following my LECTURERS’ instructions, i ended up getting sunburnt for the first time in my life and almost cried because even when they saw that i was burnt, they had the audacity to say not to worry, you have time to finish your work, implying i should be staying despite the fact that it would be a risk of my health to do so? like my work’s not the priority here right now... also bear in mind i’d been stood up with little to eat for about 5 hours in direct sunlight, i was SHATTERED☹️

i actually wrote most of this post on sunday but because of the aforementioned workload and health, i haven’t actually had the time to go back and post it. even now, as i’m writing this, i’m exhausted despite taking a 3-4 hour nap😞

i know these first weeks are the hardest, since i spent the summer not going out or socialising much, and now i’m doing both, 5 days a week, and it’s all just a lot for me... so maybe, hopefully, once i get the hang of things, i’ll be able to balance everything better and find more time for my writing<3

TLDR

last week was super draining and exhausting, both physically and emotionally. i’m doing my best to take care of myself, but i’m finding it hard to balance my workload, health and what little free time i have for my hobbies and interests, such as here. i’m focusing on writing when and where i can, on what i want/have motivation to write, since i’m not in the right state to be doing it any other way at the moment. i hope you can understand!

i have a 2 week break in october, i believe, so if my heartless course leaders (/j) don’t swamp us with an overwhelming amount of work, i should be able to find the time to work on the requests then. i’m sorry it’s gotten so delayed, i’ve already passed another milestone, but i think i’ll be saving any more events for bigger milestones, so i’m not overwhelming myself.

ultimately, this is just a hobby and i’m a student in an awkward, transitional stage in my life. i know better than to fault myself, but as a people pleaser, admitting these kinds of things is still hard and any and all understanding and support is incredibly appreciated🫶

[leclercskiesahead]

Singapore Grand Prix: from the ground

Hello everybody this is gonna be a blog recap of what I got up to with F1 in my city.

(will update with pics later)

Pre-race events

Various racing-related pop ups started appearing even on Thursday or Friday the week before the race (aka during the week between Monza and Singapore). However the bulk of the events really only started from the Sunday before or Monday of race week.

There are some team-specific pop ups as well as general grand prix week events. Last year Heineken had a trailer that gave out free beer but sadly they didn't have it this year.

There are also lots of trailers around selling F1 merchandise - mostly team shirts, jackets, and caps. Prices are super high though. $90 for a cap...$200 for a shirt...it feels really jacked up and I've heard that if you purchase it directly from the teams pages or certain sites it is cheaper even with shipping. Even previous years' shirts are still going for like $60.

Wednesday

Arguably the biggest in town was Williams' pop up which took up a corner of a mall close to turn 9. They had 5 sim stations (you get three laps and it is free!), a reaction test station, as well as some activity with their team app where you go around the store to check in at various stations to collect badges. If you collect all the badges you get a pair of plastic Williams sunglasses. They also had quite a lot of merch and a display of some shoes from Alex's new range.

On Wednesday they had the meet and greet cum q&a session with the two drivers. To get into the m&g, staff would give out wristbands starting from 10am that morning. I had to go into work that morning, ran down at lunch time but the wristbands had already all been given out. Apparently people camped at the mall at 5 or 6am to claim their wristbands!

Anyway the same mall also had a Tommy Hilfiger pop up for Mercedes so I went to check that out. This was a lot smaller and mostly a series of photo ops, plus one sim station. There was a queue for the sim whenever I passed by so I never got to try it. They also gave out free postcards, and you can also get some stickers if you download some Tommy Hilfiger app.

I walked over to a different mall where there was a Ray Ban pop up for Ferrari where they also had a sim (1 free lap, if you make a purchase at the Ray Ban store you get another 3 laps and your fastest lap will be entered for some challenge with prizes to be won. but alas, these shades are expensive). However the highlight here has to be the full-length mirror with life-size cutouts of the two drivers in their sunglasses at the side of the frame. Amazing photo op. The pop up wasn't busy while I was there so the staffers gave me extra laps on the sim hehe.

Side track - Williams vs Ferrari sim. I dunno if the set ups have reflect anything about the actual racing cars but. The Ferrari sim had a looser steering wheel and I was crashing so much on that sim. Williams had gone ALL OUT with their set up with the full seat that's actually reclined at the angle the drivers sit at (Ferrari's was still a little high) and haptic effects and everything, and their steering wheel had a bit more resistance. I also don't know if there are any in-game settings that affect the drive. But I only crashed once on the Williams sim and found it easier to control. Or maybe it was just time of day, who knows.

After I walked to Marina Bay Sands, going along parts of the circuit in the process. The cafe in the lobby of the ArtScience Museum (the small building in front of MBS that looks like it has a hand or a lotus for a roof) had some racing-theme desserts and drinks but the menu didn't seem appealing enough at the price point so I gave it a pass. I strolled around the mall a bit - only found out at the end of the day that apparently Charles and Yuki had both been spotted that same afternoon around the mall! But sadly I did not see them. I went over to the hotel side of MBS where the SF-90(!!!) was displayed in the lobby. It had this year's livery pattern on it though. Carlos and Charles had both signed it.

Walked back to the Williams pop up and waited outside to catch a glimpse of the drivers. The team were staying at a hotel right next door so there was a walkway the drivers would come through and I got a spot there. Logan's event had already started, and we had quite a huge international crowd here. I later heard that the fans in the m&g asked him some stupid questions like "do you know the difference between km and mile" or "how does it feel to be the first f1 driver i've met" and the poor guy didn't quite know how to answer. He stopped at intervals on the way out to sign things and take photos. Then it was an hour wait for Alex's event to start and by this time, more people had ended work or school so a larger crowd had formed along the walkway. You could also see a crowd gathering outside the second entrance on the other side of the pop up, within the mall. Someone brought a giant Williams flag and was waving it around at the back.

Alex made a pretty speedy entrance down the walkway although he did stop for one or two quick pictures and signed some things for kids. Lily was there with him too! Then he entered the pop up and went over to the fans at the second entrance to sign some things for them, so the start of his m&g/qna was delayed. He finally came out like an hour plus past when the event was meant to end and stopped for EVERYONE along the walkway. I got a selfie with him :) a lot of people also wanted to say hi to Lily and she was very patient and nice.

On this night was when some people went to the track late and saw Carlos jogging around in his tank top 🔥 imagine seeing that in real life.

Thursday

Thursday afternoon had a few more public team events that I couldn't attend due to work. McLaren had an m&g with Lando, George had one with Puma, and Red Bull's drivers were expected to visit the team's Tag Hauer pop up. I heard a lot of people fainted while gathering at the RB pop up before the event because it was outdoors and the weather was just too hot.

Thursday night however was very exciting: I went to the Pit Lane Experience! This event has been going on for a few years now - on Thursday night they open part of the fan village and the pit lane while the teams may be working in the garages! The event is completely free, Singapore residents simply apply for a ballot. The tickets are given in pairs and I had no one to go with so I actually invited someone I was chatting to outside the Williams event while waiting for Alex the day before. We ran into someone they knew while in the fan village and those people had also ran into other people they knew so we ended up having this little group that went around together.

I have to say, the fan village was a tad disappointing? I don't think everything had been fully set up, but there was a store to buy merch

Already as we entered the circuit we saw Yuki whizzing by on a scooter. All the teams had people working in the garages this year (I've heard that at previous years some teams had not been around so the garages were closed) so we could all look in (they barricade it at a certain distance so you can't actually enter the garage). However, McLaren didn't have their cars in the garage so no sneak peek of the stealth livery.

Some teams even had crew members doing work at the pit wall. Lawson's car was wheeled up the pit lane at one point and then wheeled back down over an hour later.

Zhou, with his freshly announced contract, came out to greet the fans outside Alfa's garage. There was a large gathering at Ferrari's garage as the mechanics came out to practice pit stops (oh the irony) AND THEN CHARLES CAME OUT but I was too far behind in the crowd to see him 😭 he signed a few things and took a few pictures but went in pretty quickly. I waited outside the garage to see if Carlos would make an appearance too but no :( also I did not see Fusaro. You know, THAT mechanic.

Some people got glimpses of Pierre and Alex as they made their way out for track runs. Max and Fernando were seen having their seat fits. George and Esteban came out quite late on to greet fans. There was a crowd outside Red Bull that kept chanting Checo's name but he didn't make an appearance.

People were mostly waiting around outside RB, Ferrari, and Mercedes. I kept waiting outside Ferrari because I had some artwork I was hoping to give them but eventually someone got a call from a friend outside the circuit that the Ferrari and RB guys were all spotted leaving the track altogether.

I also saw pictures much later on that Lewis had also come out at some point to sign things for fans. I have no idea how that went under the radar because every time a driver appeared you would hear a cheer - as we got when George and Esteban came out late on.

Anyway knowing the Ferrari guys weren't around any more, I went to the end of the pit lane to take a look at the podium and the safety cars. As I was exiting the pit lane (although we enter in the opposite direction so this is actually at the entrance where the cars would drive in during a race), George came zooming out on his bike and he whirled around to wave at fans before starting his cycle round the track.

I forgot to take a photo with the DRS sign along the first straight.

I think around 10.30-11pm they started clearing everybody out of the track and pit lane. We saw Alex return from his run just before leaving.

RACE WEEKEND

Friday

It's Friday theeeennnnn... Of fking course I fall ill on this day. At the start of the race week. I had planned to see a few other race week pop ups before practice, maybe go back to the Merc/Tommy one to have a go on their sim and compare it to the other teams', but that was not to be. Luckily, I recovered in the late afternoon and headed out to a viewing spot.

The good thing about street circuits: if you don't have a ticket, there are lots of buildings around to watch from.

I watched FP1 and 2 from two different locations. No one around me had a stream on so I only found out the results a while after each session. Very happy with the Ferrari 1-2s and cautiously optimistic for tomorrow. In between practices, there was testing (I think) for the Porsche Carrera Cup, which was our feature series (last year we had the W series which was cool). The sounds of those cars were so different from the F1 cars, lower and a lot louder. You could almost feel them rumbling from where I was.

Saturday

I had personal commitments so wasn't able to see any of the sessions from near the track, but passed through the mall with Merc and Williams' pop ups on my way to one said commitment. Ran into one of the new friends I had made at the pit lane experience and we caught up for a bit.

Watched FP3 over dinner, went for my other commitment, which ended right around the time Lance crashed in q1. I went for supper with some people and there is one other person in that group who is also a Ferrari fan so we were both glued to our phones throughout. We couldn't make too much noise to not disturb other patrons but we were making all these tiny noises and gasps especially when Lawson improved his time to knock Max out of Q2. And then punching the air when Carlos got pole.

Sunday

I had a commitment in the afternoon and then immediately bolted to the malls so I could nab myself a good viewing spot. I went to the same spot I watched FP2 from as it is near a supermart so I could make a quick pit stop for food and drinks that needed to last me the next 6+ hours. My only mistake was I, much like Charles on a twitch stream, forgot to pee. So I had to ration my drinking before the race start.

Because I was there early, I watched the end of the Porsche race. Then we had the driver's parade! I think some of the drivers weren't expecting spectators at this part of the track because it doesn't have grandstands, but they didn't account for non-ticket holders gathering at the malls and hotels around. We were also close enough that if you yell, they might hear you, so you saw their heads all turning as they realised there were people calling out to them. A lot of people did the Piiiiieeeeerreeeee Gaslyyyyyy when he came by but I was the only one who did Nico Huuuuuuulkenberg.

Then we had to wait again before the race start and I ate my dinner. Some guys had been camping all day with proper foldable camping chairs and a large stash of mcdonalds that they were slowly making their way through.

About ten minutes before the race I tried to set up a stream on my tablet - I always do this when I go to watch the race from a viewpoint so I can still see what's happening once the cars have passed our section. However reception in that area was bad so I eventually gave up and resolved to just texting people for updates on the lap number - if I wasn't busy taking videos that is.

The viewpoint I was at, there's a linkway between two malls that the cars emerge under. It's really tall as there are some shops within the linkway itself, so your view is partially blocked. (However there's a decently long straight after that and your can make out the corner and run off area at the end if you tilt your head right.) You hear the cars approaching from the other side and hold your breath a bit wondering what order they will appear.

Because I didn't have a stream, I didn't know how the race start went. I was just praying that Carlos would get a clean start and keep his lead from George. I SCREAMED so hard when the cars emerged fro under the bridge and both red cars were at the front. That's how I knew Charles got the jump on George from lights out. I was so excited I almost didn't clock Lewis had come out in third.

Knowing my boys had a good start I half-settled a little bit - never fully because they were still so close together that I knew they would lose a lot of places when pitting. Yuki came by on the bike after his DNF. A few times I used the stopwatch on my phone to get their intervals myself, since I didn't have a stream to check it.

Some people were refreshing live blogs on their phones, plus an overseas friend texting me, and eventually word went around that Sargent had brought out the safety car. My heart fell when the pack appeared and I saw that Charles had lost places, plus Max was now right behind Carlos. I had honestly lost track of the laps so I didn't know how old the RB tyres were. Luckily, when the SC ended and we saw the cars again, Carlos was still first to emerge. We had a few overtakes or near-overtakes happen in front of us right after the safety car and everybody was really enjoying it.

Somehow, Valterri's retirement went under the radar until we saw him on the bike being escorted back to the garage. Because he has a blue helmet and Alfa Romeo also have black-based race suits, someone thought it was George at first and everyone was confused for a hot second.

Word of the VSC came around a bit late so I heard about it right as Carlos was already coming out under the bridge followed by Lando and Charles back in P3, with neither Mercs in sight. From that point, it was a nervy watch till the end watching the Merc closing the gap to Charles each time the pack came by, while Lando was keeping tail with Carlos. Once both Mercs had overtaken Charles, it felt like Carlos had managed to pull a gap on Lando. Then at about six laps to go they came by and Lando looked super close to Carlos again with the Mercs rapidly catching up too. Plus I was updated by text abotu Carlos saying on the radio that his front tyres were gone. I didn't dare film any more because I was so scared I would catch Carlos getting caught on camera. Each time I heard the cars approaching I held my breath and had to bang the railing in front of me to release the tension when Carlos still kept appearing first.

I was quite comfortable with the gap between Charles and the rest at first, but then Max got Pierre and was rapidly catching up and that made things even more nervy.

There were some screams and 'shit's around when George crashed out.

At the corner of the linkway there was an open-well staircase that was also packed with people trying to get a higher vantage point. Someone up there probably got a stream on because there was then a loud cheer - I wasn't sure if Carlos had yet crossed the line or something else had happened. Then Carlos zoomed past one last time, out in front, and everyone cheered for him, even though during the race you could hear people rooting for one driver or another. I was banging on the railing yelling YESSSSS VAMOS CARLOS VAMOS.

Surprisingly, the crowd dispersed pretty soon after. In previous years people have hung around to see the fireworks and watch the podium on whoever's device had a stream. I finally managed to pull a stream up on my phone in time to catch the top 3's interviews and just sat on the now emptier balcony watching the podium and finishing my food and drinks. Some people were also still sitting around, catching their breath. Everyone had been on their feet for near two hours getting our heart rates up. I might have cried except that I was sweating out all the moisture in my body.

And then I finally got to pee.

[hashimada-week]

We're less than two weeks away from our sneak peek day! We can't wait to see what everyone's been working on and show off our amazing merch! Who's excited?

Sneak Peek Day June 21st

On June 21st, tag any WIPs you have with #hashimadaweeksneakpeek2024 and we’ll reblog it here! Participating in the sneak peek doesn’t mean you have to post work in the actual event, or that you can’t decide to change your work/prompt to something completely different for the week day. It’s just a fun pre-event to get everyone excited!

June 21st is also when the designs for our sticker merch and the big merch surprises will be revealed! This year participants will be able to earn all 7 of the SFW stickers by submitting 7 entries and one of the big merch items. If you'd like the NSFW stickers and all of the big merch items, they'll be available for purchase in the Big Cartel shop (open July 21-August 21) at production rates. Participants will be eligible for free shipping, no matter how many prompts you submit.

Read the full sticker merch FAQ here and check out our pinned post for info about the event!

.🔥🍃.

HashiMada Week 2024 Prompt List

Sunday, July 21: First Impression | Second Love | Reincarnation

Monday, July 22: Eldritch | Mutual Destruction | Soulmates

Tuesday, July 23: Animals | Found Family | Cooking

Wednesday, July 24: Swords | Fans | Jutsu

Thursday, July 25: Memories | Love Letters | Courting Rituals

Friday, July 26: Sun | Moon | Stars

Saturday, July 27: Pirates/Mermaids AU | Free Day | Historical/Samurai AU

"Historical AU" can include any historical time period, not just Japanese ones.

[ID: A list of prompts for Hashimada Week 2024, which will take place during July 21-27. The background is white and features green icons in a tiling pattern: the Uchiha symbol, the Senju symbol, a leaf, and a flame. The prompts are written in a square colored in with a blue-to-green gradient. At the bottom of the image are two digital chibi-style drawings of Hashirama and Madara in their Konoha-era attire. Hashirama is smiling and is holding his arms together, Madara is frowning and is holding his gunbai. The text reads as follows. Sunday: First Impression, Second Love, Reincarnation. Monday: Eldritch, Mutual Destruction, Soulmates. Tuesday: Animals, Found Family, Cooking. Wednesday: Swords, Fans, Jutsu. Thursday: Memories, Love Letters, Courting Rituals. Friday: Sun, Moon, Stars. Saturday: Pirate/Mermaid AU, Free Day, Samurai/Historical AU. The tag "#Hashimadaweek2024" is written below the square. END ID]