#the other one got blown up 14 years ago

[faejilly]

holy shit y'all, Thing 2 just found a promotional thing for DA2 hiding in some corner of the house and so now he has inflated a toy sword that is almost as old as he is and is attacking the corners of the basement which is HILARIOUS

[ultram0th]

December 24: Cody Christian

00 │ 01 │ 02 │ 03 │ 04 │ 05 │ 06 │ 07 │ 08 │ 09 │ 10 │ 11 │ 12 │ 13 │ 14 │ 15 │ 16 │ 17 │ 18 │ 19 │ 20 │ 21 │ 22 │ 23 │ 24

Hunky actor Cody Christian wore a deep frown on his handsome face as he got dressed into his clothes for the photoshoot. The stud buttoned up his shirt, taking time to admire his form in the mirror.

He’d spent years working out religiously in the gym, making sure to build up his muscles to a decent proportional build. It had gained him loads of fans and even offered numerous roles. His pecs popped nicely, yet modestly. His biceps had a nice curve to them, illustrating that he could play the tough guy roles due to the strength they exuded. Lastly, he never neglected legs, ensuring that they matched the rest of his toned body perfectly.

And yet, the photographer of the shoot had had the nerve to suggest that Cody try to work out some more and gain some size when he’d shown up.

“I don’t need any more size,” the actor grumbled under his breath. He was already big enough, so he figured that the photographer had no idea what he was talking about. “He probably wants me to look like one of those roided freaks…”

The moment the words left Cody’s full lips, he began to feel a tingling sensation ripple throughout his body, making him break out into goosebumps. Before he could react, Cody gasped as he saw all of his body hair beginning to pull inwards.

The stud ran a disbelieving hand over his now smooth body, shocked that he felt as if he’d just freshly shaved all over. Cody was never really hirsute, but he wasn’t too into manscaping.

Cody didn’t have time to voice any of his confusion or even try to come up with an explanation before his whole body tensed up, all of his muscles starting to inflate to obscene proportions.

Cody’s calves inflated to the size of footballs, his thighs growing to such wide sizes that they pressed against each other, forcing him to widen his stance. His jeans tore to shreds, landing on the floor in a tattered mess at his feet. He blushed as his butt puffed out, resembling enormous beach balls that were attached to his lower back as they jutted out. The growth traveled upwards as his shoulders broadened to a wide degree. His traps inflated, swallowing up his neck. Arms that were previously toned and proportional were blown out of sync as his biceps rounded out, rivaling the size of bowling balls. His bigger arms rested on lats that flared out, forcing them to hand akimbo at his sides. Cody’s modest pecs ballooned outwards, blocking his view of anything below him. His nipples stretched out and puffed up, looking large and nubby from the huge growth. His shirt followed suit with his pants, leaving him in nothing but his stretched out underwear.

As a final touch, Cody’s stomach dropped as he watched his stomach begin to balloon out too, forming a large roid gut. It continued to bubble out, jutting far out in front of him, with his enormous muscletits resting on top of it. He couldn’t even see his cock and balls that were hidden beneath his rotund belly.

The tingling sensation ceased, and where a toned actor had been stranded a minute ago was an over muscled bodybuilder with a massive roid belly.

“Wh-what the fuck happened to me?!” Cody panicked, his voice sounding much deeper now than it used to. There was no scale around, but the inflated hunk estimated that he must’ve gained at least one-hundred pounds of pure muscle. He looked like a freak!

“Cody Christian to the set, please!” the photographer called out.

Thanks to his panic, it took Cody a little bit to realize that his inflated body had started to move on its own accord. Cody’s face was bright red as his walk resembled more of a waddle as he struggled to move around with such bulky muscles hindering his movements. His thighs kept rolling over each other, and his arms were stuck out at his sides, making him lumber about.

The stud huffed annoyedly when he tried to exit his dressing room, but his broad shoulders both banged against the doorjamb. He had to turn sideways and squeeze himself through the door, his big roid gut making it difficult to fit.

He waddled out onto the photoshoot set, his heart racing in his beefy chest.

The photographer was all smiles as he looked up at the bodybuilder Cody. “Perfect!” he beamed. “It looks like you took my suggestion to heart.” He raised the camera and started to take pictures of the massive muscleman.

On instinct, Cody began to run his hands over this smooth muscles seductively. He ran his hands over his huge roid belly before massaging his inflated pecs. He tried to stop himself, but it was impossible. The hunky actor paled as he realized that not only had his muscles and gut been inflated to incredible proportions, but he couldn’t even control it anymore.

Cody lifted both of his massive arms above his head, forming a double biceps poser. As he flex, he kept his handsome smirk on his face while his big belly jutted out in front of him with every pose and flex he made for the camera.

“You look like such a big, roid-abusing muscle freak,” the photographer laughed as he continued to take pictures of the new bodybuilder. “Maybe you should consider getting even bigger and bigger…"

-- -- --

[Video source: https://x.com/MusclegodMass1/status/1618698609159196673]

[platonic-writer]

Them harbingers (yes include elf man— I dont see much of him— and the unplayable and playable harbingers) with a gn! Reader thats chubby, and an A B S O LU T E gremlin. But its ok to them since you're the sweetest creature in their eyes. That. Is. True.

Like one time you asked them what that smell is *ehem* blood and they were going batshit crazy at how much of an innocent little bean reader truely is. Thats totally not one of the infinite reason as too why they wanna protect reader- nope!

(Reader is like, idk— 9-14 years old—)

OMG THATS SUCH A GOOD IDEA!!! I plan on writing elf man this month!

You're Request has been made (￣ε￣＠)

CHUBBY/GREMLIN GN! CHILD READER & PLATONIC FATUI HARBINGERS

♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤♤

One day while the Fatui harbingers had a meeting the Tsaritsa came personally to tell them something

Imagine their suprise when they saw a chubby kid

"This is GN!Reader, my child, i have gathered you here to discuss something you will have to do."-Tsaritsa

"My grace, you have a... child?"-Pierro

"HELLO! IM GN!READER YOU ALL LOOK SO PRETTY(≧▽≦)/" -you

The first meeting was a bit chaotic?

Well... you did rip the coat from childe😬

..you did also kind of steal some mora from Pantalone

Lets not talk about how you broke Scaramouche's arm- (Puppet arm?)

Anyways, the meeting was about having to take care of you for some months

Imagine their own suprise when you began wormimg yourself into the hearts of them 💀

The first one to fall was obviously Childe, you were just so cute! Look at those cheeks

The last one to fall was Scaramouche, he was petty because you broke of his arm, he began to like you after he realized that you were so innocent

The meetings became something all of them looked foward to because they could see you

Everyone in the Fatui knew you as a destructive kid, i mean you did kind of blow up one of the archons statues

"Mr.Pulcinella the child you've been taking care of has blown up our base where we reside."-Fatui Agent

" Aw! Gn!Reader probably thought you were gonna hurt us, such a sweet child, i have to tell the other Harbingers about how sweet you are ( ◡‿◡ *)" -Pulcinella

When you first met them you were quite chubby

You're now chubbier because the Harbingers always give you food

You need healthy food? Pierro,Dottore and Arlecchino got you!

Oh you want something sweet? Childe, Pulcinella got you!

You want money? Pantalone will give you a castle if you just ask!

Who needs real people who serve you? You have your own roboters from Sandrone!

Capitano is your protector, why would you need to fight if he's there?

Childe would take you around the World, Liyue? Sure, lets go! He will buy you toys and make you weapons if you want any!

Columbina sings you to sleep every night, she wants you to sleep peacefully

They all think you're the most innocent bean they've ever met, that's why they will always protect you!

"Mister Childe? Why are you covered in Ketchup? Did you play with your food?(・・ ) ?" -You

" *Every Harbinger stares at him* (ᓀ ᓀ)"

"UH YEA I ALWAYS PLAY WITH MY FOOD! ITS quite nice....?" -Childe

" oh! I see, but you have to wash up now!<(￣︶￣)>" -you

Months later Tsaritsa came back to take you, they were all sad but the Tsaritsa told them that they would see you more because you now live with them in the castle!

Scaramouche has made you your own hat because you like his a lot (You still don't know it was him who gave it to you)

They all get cute agression from you so half the time they will either be hugging you or squeezing your cheeks

Signora has 100% told you about her backstory and sees you as her own child, she knows that you're the kid of Tsaritsa, but she can't help it. You're just so nice and sweet. You remind her of her Lover years ago

Summary: They all see you as a child that needs to be protected, you may already be over 8 years old but you're still so innocent. You're not corrupted from the people of this disgusting World. They all love you a lot, you can ask them anything and they shall give it to you.

××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××××

Thank you for reading, i hope you liked it! 。.:☆*:･'(*⌒―⌒*)))

[ghnosis]

*rips bong* (this is my bong in case you're curious)

so some of you have asked me, over the course of the 80-someodd interviews I have so far conducted, why I am doing my PhD on Ghost.

tonight a participant asked me in a manner that sort of finally clicked for me - because I assume all of you live inside my head with me and know why I do everything.

Rose, why are you doing your PhD on Ghost fandom?

when I was 12, American Idiot by Green Day came out. I lost my mind immediately. Green Day were my first hyperfixation. I promise if you ask about "Green Day Girl" to people I went to high school with, they would remember me. not only did Green Day teach me about the Iraq War, and American progressive politics in general, they also taught me, a bullied and weird child, what it meant not to give a shit. someone thinks I'm wrong/bad/inferior? cool! I don't fucking care. "now everybody do the propaganda," etc.

if I kept talking about everything I learned from Green Day, we'd be here all night. but. Green Day *also* taught me that music didn't have to sound like pop, or like country. that music could be written because someone felt something. that music could be used to express rage, a thing I felt in spades.

so from Green Day, my door is blown wide the fuck open and I get to learn about Dead Kennedys, about David Bowie, about Nirvana.

the other thing I know I love, back then in 2004, is learning. and teaching.

fast forward 15ish years, give or take (or pack me a second bowl and I'll tell you the middle), and I'm looking, halfheartedly and in a bummed-out manner, for a PhD program. I have my master's, I didn't like the experience, but I want that Dr. I've been presenting at conferences and doing some piddly academic writing on video games and the use of games in education, and I'm on a listserv for other people writing about games. I get an email from someone at Falmouth University about a PhD program there in "Dark Economies." who's listed on the email? none other than Tanya Fucking Krzywinska, my number one academic girl crush (in my subject area. my actual number one is a historian)!!!!!!

so I read this email and it's talking about the intersection of the occult, video games, and heavy metal. as I said, I've been writing about video games. one of the things I'd been writing about was a certain thing that happened in that industry ooooh, 14 years ago now. something in my brain slots into place.

the occult: I know what that is. occult rock, certainly. I maybe could squeeze in some punk or pop punk. the goffik. we got some MCR.

heavy metal. well, I'm a punk girl through and through, but I used to date that guy in the metal band and have seen Slayer et al multiple times live. sure. I can occupy that world. wait a minute. Ghost.

video games. the thing I'd been writing about, specifically the mistreatment of anyone who wasn't a cis guy. you know what that sounds a lot like? sounds a lot like going to metal shows with my ex. WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE. GHOST??? on TUNGLE DOT HELL???

so I log my ass back on to this website and I look at you, at all of you beautiful people I'd been reblogging ass wobbling gifs with for years, and I said "oh my god. are they me? is whatever is going on in there just a bunch of me's, except it's Ghost not Green Day?

are all of you finding the most beautiful thing there is to find, namely, empowerment and freedom, in the goofy Satan band music band? was it the heaviest thing you had heretofore encountered? did it crack open a yawning chasm in your soul? were you hurting in ways you didn't know how to articulate? are you learning what it means to take up space, to demand rights for yourself and for others, to truly let your fucking freak flags fly? are you feeling the stirring in your heart that only comes from religion (read: witchcraft) or from seeing the most important band in the fucking world live, in the flesh, singing TO YOU, sweating FOR YOU? if you are, I think we are fucking important and vital. I think that we can tell our stories and make a bunch of other weird little girls realise that they, too, have rights - including to transition.

cos immediately in doing this research I found out - you're also NOT me, in some really important and specific ways. maybe being AFAB in the US isn't part of it. maybe it's bigger than that. and I feel so lucky, so truly fucking blessed and lucky, to have gotten to speak to over eighty of you beautiful people, to have been trusted with your stories. to learn what makes YOU ache in your soul and how it is different to but also the same as mine. I have to stop now I'm gonna cry!!!!

[asena-queenslayer]

2024 프랑켄슈타인 (dir. 왕용범) 10th Anniversary Review

Warning: possibly the longest post I've made yet lmao

I went to 3 performances in July: 7/3 YJS, 7/5 Kyu, 7/11 SSR and technically listened to most of 7/14 JDS

A little background that is completely unnecessary but I like dumping context anyway:

I went in completely blind, I've loved musicals since I was little but haven't been aware of the Kmusical world until a few years ago when I found there was a Korean version of the Count of Monte Cristo (one of my favorite novels)

So when I visited Korea last year I thought I might as well try and catch a show while I was there

I didn't know of any musical actors tho except for 김승대 bc Monte Cristo and 신성록 bc one time I saw that Master in the House clip of him singing Phantom of the Opera

So I was like okay might as well see if either of them are doing a show at the moment

Apparently 김승대 was in Notre Dame de Paris at the time but it was on tour and I just missed it by a hair bc I couldn't figure out the darn ticketing in time rip

And then 신성록 was doing Frankenstein

I didn't know anything abt it but I did know I disliked the novel when I read it in hs so I wasn't too excited lmao but I was like I'll go and say I saw SSR live at least & made a reservation for 7/11

So I looked up some clips

And went "wait I don't remember all this happening in the book" also "why did they make the creature hot I thought he was supposed to be made of corpses"

So I looked up the plot

And wow did I fall down the rabbit hole into holy shit this is all I can think about in my every waking moment hyperfixation

So I made an earlier reservation bc I was like I cannot wait until 7/11 to see this, I have to see it NOW

I got extremely lucky and found a seat in the middle section, 8th freaking row the morning of 7/3

and holy shit was I absolutely jaw-dropped, gobsmacked, blown tf away

...so naturally I ofc made another reservation for 7/5

and here follows my reviews of each Victor (and thoughts on the actor I picked for Henry/괴물 aka 박은태 bc holy shit was I also blown away when I first heard him sing) (was looking up clips of the Henry actors bc I was like I wanna see the best pairs possible if I only see this once, this man opened his mouth and I was like 👏 this is it. 👏 this is him. I don't even need to check out the other actors, this guy's got it) (and yeah now he's my fave musical actor) (as u can tell bc I went to see him 3 times) (the Victors change but the Henrys remain the same lmfao)

7/3 YJS

Yoo Jun-sang is the funniest Victor but the most disturbing to watch when he loses it imo, I think it's partly bc he's the oldest Victor actor and it's very pitiful? heartbreaking? to watch someone older mentally break down esp if they remind you of your own parent

has the most meta/4th wall-breaking humor moments

has a very "dad"-like vibe to him, specifically when 괴물 wakes up for the first time, he plays Victor like a dad encouraging their kid as they take their first steps and oooof 🥹🥹🥹

his Jacques is a bit flat imo since the voice he uses is still pretty similar to Victor so it kind of just feels like Victor in a purple wig

altho it could be a purposeful choice if 괴물 is projects Victor's face onto Jacques, 괴물 might also be projecting Victor's voice

at the same time I think it might be confusing for the audience if they haven't seen 프랑켄슈타인 or know beforehand that Jacques is a separate character but is also played by the Victor actor bc it really did just feel like Victor playing dress up rip

his singing isn't bad but it would be nice if there was more power behind it, same goes for certain places in his acting like when Victor yells NOOOOOO when Runge and Ellen die, his yells were more *tiny font* nooooo

then again

he IS in his mid-50s and honestly if I could run and slide around on a stage while singing for 3 hours at that age, that would be quite amazing really so he gets a pass

7/5 Kyuhyun

ah, 규 선생, 규 선생 👏👏 (iykyk LOL)

I think this was the one I was the most nervous about given the reputation of idol actors in musicals (I didn't have any previous Kyuhyun knowledge btw, only knew he was in Super Junior)

but I didn't need to worry bc holy shit he blew it out of the water

when I tell you the videos out there on Youtube etc. are NOTHING compared to hearing him do it live in person,, I mean it

Kyuhyun is the angriest Victor imo, much more serious than YJS who seems to have given up on life and is just coping through humor

kinda gives that angsty emo teen vibe out of the 3 Victors lol, has the fewest funny moments out of the three, the one I remember the most is the tavern scene where he gets drunk and breaks the serious demeanor a bit when he acts like he's about to throw up

there's a sort of emotional distance to him that manifests as physical distance, obviously he explodes at everything and everyone around him which naturally keeps people away, but even in the drunk dancing scene at the tavern, where YJS's Victor is practically hanging off of Henry, Kyuhyun's Victor keeps more of an arm's length distance even though he's drunk

I think he's suppressed his emotions and closed himself off from feeling anything so much that everything comes out as anger instead

more heartbreaking than disturbing to watch him lose it esp bc he reacts to the awakening of 괴물 as a friend returned from the dead and you get the sense he's a very lonely person deep down beneath that explosive exterior and Henry was the first person he ever really opened up to (but even then he still couldn't quite open up all the way even before Henry died, as mentioned in the tavern scene which is even more heartbreaking bc he finally found someone he could start to be vulnerable with and then it was taken away so fast)

his singing & acting were both great, his first NOOOO at Runge's death was tiny font lol but his second NOOOO at Ellen's was perfect

7/11 SSR

Shin Sung-rok my beloved (no I'm not biased wdym)

I know him as a side character from a couple of kdramas but wasn't too familiar with his acting otherwise

he absolutely kills it live holy shit

if YJS is the dad Victor, Kyuhyun the emo teen Victor, SSR gives the "child in a man's body" Victor

usually he portrays the facade of adult Victor very well but in his most vulnerable moments, you see the veil slip and the inner child that was never healed come out and it's very heartbreaking to watch

I think the effect is especially strong bc he's the tallest of the cast by far (you can tell bro is TALL even from the second floor) and when he just collapses to the ground like a small child and rocks back and forth hugging his knees, such as in 난 왜, the effect is that much more dramatic

if YJS is the best at portraying a Victor who's given up on life and is coping through humor, Kyuhyun at portraying a Victor who's suppressed his emotions so hard that anything comes out as explosive anger, then SSR is the best at portraying Victor's despair

he screams very well lol, both of his NOOOOOs at Runge & Ellen's deaths were both yelled, which really expresses Victor's sense of loss at those key moments and he changes the last note in his ending song in Act 1 to an explosive high note that leaves you with chills

I get the actors don't want to scream incorrectly and accidentally lose their voice during a performance which is totally understandable ofc but there's also ways to do it properly without losing your voice and I'm glad SSR can do that and really hit with Victor's despair in that way

his singing power isn't the most consistent however and sometimes I feel like he switches between singing and speak/shout-singing too frequently which gives me the impression of someone who can't sustain the power through a song to fully sing it (which was why I was surprised by his MMTG video bc he really mostly sang that one and holy shit is the 일어나리라ㅏ in that one of the clearest notes I've ever heard)

which is interesting because he clearly knows which parts hit and he hits them extremely well such as the low notes (the resonance of that bass sound in person is actually insane omg) as well as the high notes, but sometimes the in-between can feel a bit lackluster imo

similar for his acting, he does the emotional parts extremely well as I mentioned earlier but sometimes the in-between stuff can feel a bit inconsistent

for example in the North Pole when 괴물 dies, he lies down next to him and SOBS, god the audience and I were all damn right there with him

but in the same scene he also walks up and down that supposedly icy slope WITH A STABBED LEG??? without slipping and sliding the way YJS and Kyuhyun do which really helps impress the frozen atmosphere to you and the seriousness of the injury (the first time when he heads up the slope to confront 괴물, he slips a bit and has to use the cane to help himself up there, but the second time even though he was "injured" he just...went up like there was no problem so it was slightly jarring lol)

that being said, he's extremely funny and his Jacques is by far my fave of the 3

if he's great at the emotional parts and breaking the audience's hearts, he's also amazing with the humor

in the tavern scene he straight up lies down on the tables (given his very long self it's extremely funny LMAO)

and then he keeps dancing in the bar scene when Runge rushes in with the news of the undertaker who has a body for them to use, like all the Victors/Henrys do it but SSR is the type where he keeps doing it in a 4th wall breaking way where the audience realizes he's continuing it on purpose and laugh abt it

this one was great lol bc everyone copied SSR's funny arm/leg dance

Henry to Runge as he passes off paying the bill to Runge, Runge to the tavern owner while pretending like he doesn't know what a bill is, the tavern owner sarcastically copying Runge LMAO

we the audience were in tears from laughing so hard lol

SSR's Jacques is also extremely funny and ngl got that element of cute evil to him, he'll be dancing in the background while others are speaking for example, and he's just got these hilarious little exclamations and moments that make Jacques so endearing

SSR definitely also has the best evil laugh for sure whether as Victor or Jacques, esp in 위대한 생명 when he realizes he's successfully brought "Henry" back to life

Victors Review

by my personal standards I hold singing + acting and overall consistency very highly so by those standards even tho I hold SSR very dearly lol, perhaps surprisingly Kyuhyun is actually 1st for me since he's not only very good at both but has the most consistent performance all the way through

SSR is an extremely close 2nd however as he's also very good at singing + acting but less consistent. However if I prioritize the emotional & humor moments, I'd say he's 1st for knowing exactly where and when and how to hit the audience with those because wow

YJS is 3rd as the least impactful personally but not because he's a bad singer or actor in any way at all, it's more that SSR & Kyuhyun were THAT good. I want to be clear that he still absolutely holds his own as Victor, if 7/3 had been the only performance I watched, I still came away from it thoroughly impressed--that's why I booked 7/5 because I was so floored I was like I HAVE to see this again. Also he's one of the og Victors so he's one of the blueprints for every generation of Victors after

-----

we interrupt this review to bring you...JDS?

I really really wish I could've seen JDS's Victor in person as well but while I was there, every single of his shows that I might have been able to make was sold out ripp

I will say that I was there to hear the 7/14 performance though (you can sit in the lobby areas at Blue Square and just chill if you want even if there's a performance, even if you can't necessarily hear all the speaking, you'll be able hear all the singing at least on the lowest level!)

and I think it may have been an off-day for him unfortunately

his official soundtrack recordings are extremely good though so maybe he just isn't super consistent with high notes live

I don't follow him closely though and I'm sure there's a reason he has a large fanbase and a reason for his 프랑켄슈타인 shows being sold out although I am intrigued to see the difference between those and the numbers on the current run of J&H

in any case, from what I heard that day, he has great low notes and his yelling and evil laugh are also quite nice, wish I could've heard more of the speaking though since he definitely does sound like a great actor

박은태

ah yes 본진 aka the guy who made me go see this musical three freaking times in the space of a week

let me tell you this guy is absolutely insane live

I was like there's no way he actually sounds that good live and surely he isn't that consistent either because ofc it's live and that's pretty normal actually even for top musical actors

...yeah I was wrong

I was so wrong

even though he did sound a bit more tired in the 7/11 performance than 7/3 or 7/5, he still absolutely killed it, outsings like 95% of people I've seen live even when he sounds more tired

he plays off whoever does Victor extremely well

personally I like the chemistry he has with SSR's Victor the best (smth I liked about their MMTG interview, they're clearly v happy & comfortable around each other and it definitely translates live) for example with SSR's funny little improvised(?) (unique to SSR's Victor at least) dance in the tavern scene, ㅂㅇㅌ immediately picks up on it & copies it

Based on what I've seen, I believe whoever plays Victor affects how ㅂㅇㅌ plays 괴물:

YJS 괴물: the saddest & most innocent monster, ending of 난 괴물 aka the "why couldn't I have lived in that dream" line is the saddest & most wistful (similar to how he sings it in the MMTG video), uses the same innocent newborn voice he uses with Catherine when he's learning to speak, with the kid in the forest

Kyuhyun 괴물: angriest & most vengeful monster, ending of 난 괴물 was a shock because I had been expecting him to sing/act it the same way as 7/3 and so was definitely not expecting the amount of sheer rage I heard in his voice at that line, voice with the child in the forest is veiled and calculating with the appearance of innocence but it has this sinister undertone - as soon as you hear it, you know "oh shoot he does not have good intentions..." (whereas with YJS's 괴물 he sounds perfectly fine and so when he kills the kid that may come as a shock to the audience that isn't expecting that just from hearing him)

SSR 괴물: actually absolutely fascinating how this 괴물 is a mix of the two, similar to how SSR switches between the adult facade of Victor and the traumatized & unhealed inner child of Victor very well. I found it interesting that this Henry actually seemed a bit upset/impatient with Victor from trying to persuade him to claim innocence and not go to his death in the prison scene, whereas the first two times I saw him, he just seemed quietly resigned to it. I don't know if that's unique to SSR's Victor but because ㅂㅇㅌ's Henry is just such a total sweetheart 🥺, it's hard to imagine him getting frustrated enough to snap at someone and he comes very close to it there with SSR's Victor. I mean yes, I think it makes perfect sense in a life or death situation like that and I think either way of expressing Henry in that scene put different dimensions to the character that both line up with what we know of Henry,,, it's something I LOVE about live theater. You never see the same show twice. Anyway long digression lol. Back to 괴물... this one was a mix of the sad and vengeful. 난 괴물 ended sadly but the scene with the kid in the forest kept switching between the innocent and calculating voices almost as if vengeful 괴물 and innocent newborn 괴물 were glitching back and forth up in there in his mind like lights flickering. It's actually really creepy how he uses the innocent voice right before he pushes the child in. His dying laugh in the North Pole is also hella creepy omg, the hoarse and raspy "I may be dying but so will you, I've achieved my vengeance at last" type of laugh, BUT THEN he whispers "빅터" in Henry's voice and HOLY SHIT with SSR crying like that and the return of "Henry" AAAAAAAAA

yeah i was not okay and neither was the audience lol, so many people were crying together with them

we needed that curtain call lol (if you've seen the videos of it, it's the one where 박은태 runs and jumps into SSR's arms haha)

[gif & footage is my own]

If you made it this far, thanks so much for reading ^_^

[longitudinalwaveme]

Fictober 2024--Aurora Borealis

Day 14: “Let’s Try This.” 

It's the Len Snart as a Green Lantern AU!

Len Snart was sitting in his rundown motel room, flipping through a newspaper, when a particular article caught his eye. It was about the Flash, the superpowered crimefighter who had recently popped up two years ago in his hometown of Central City—and who was sure to be a real pain in the neck. Evading the cops was one thing. All that took was caution and timing (although having glasses that could intercept radio bands from squad cars definitely helped). Evading a man who could run fast enough to break the sound barrier? Len was no scientific expert, but even he knew that that was probably impossible. 

Impossible unless there was a way to slow him down…and this article said that some scientist types were publishing an article on the Flash’s speed. If Len could get his hands on that article, maybe it would give him some ideas of how to evade even the city’s new so-called superhero. 

Len snorted. Superhero indeed. Superpowered cop was more like it…and where had the cops been when his old man took a beer bottle to his shoulder? Or when he’d gone after his little sister with a lit cigarette?

Lookin’ the other way, that’s where. Because his old man had been a cop too, and even though he’d been kicked off the force, he still had enough connections to get them to turn a blind eye. And like as not, the Flash would be the same way. Which meant Len was going to do everything he could to stay out of his way—especially since the Flash had been the reason he’d spent the last couple of years in the state pen. 

He’d look into getting his hands on that scientific article tomorrow. But for tonight, he was going to suffer through tonight’s Cubs game. Len reached for the remote and was about to turn on the TV when he was suddenly enveloped in a bright green light. His motel room disappeared, and suddenly found himself standing in a large empty field. Central City’s skyline was still visible in the distance, so he hadn’t been transported too far away, but that didn’t explain how he had been in his motel room one second and outside of the city the next. 

And it definitely didn’t explain the wrecked spaceship, which looked like something out of the science fiction comics that his grandfather had given him when he was a kid. So either aliens were real, or some weirdo had blown a ridiculous amount of time and money on pranking him. The only way to find out which was to go into the spaceship. 

“I must be losin’ my mind,” Len muttered as he made his way toward the crashed spaceship. For all he knew, this might be some sort of alien trap—but while he’d always been cautious, he’d never been one to avoid a situation just because it might be dangerous. If he had, he’d still be under the thumb of his old man. 

“Come in, Earthman,” a voice suddenly said. Len followed the voice to see a pink-skinned, yellow-eyed guy, dressed in some sort of green and black uniform. He was basically human in shape, but something about him told Len that this wasn’t some guy in makeup. This was a real alien—and he didn’t look so hot. 

“Who are you? What’s goin’ on here?” Len asked. 

“My name is Abin Sur. I am not of Earth, but of a far distant planet. And I am dying,” the alien said weakly.

“Uh, if you were tryin’ to call a doctor, you got the wrong guy. I don’t know the first thing about medicine. If you need help, you should probably use whatever fancy tech you used to teleport me here to teleport us to Central City General Hospital,” Len said. The hospital might not know how to treat an alien, either, but they would be a lot more likely to be able to help than some borderline-illiterate ex-con. 

“No. It is too late to help me. Besides, I must speak to you on a matter of great importance,” the alien replied. 

“You’ve gotta tell someone about somethin’ more important than your life—and you grabbed me?” Len asked. He was starting to think that this alien guy must have gotten brain damage in the crash. 

“Yes. Look at this battery, Earthman,” the alien said. He pointed to his right, where Len saw something that looked like the old-timey lantern his grandfather had owned—only glowing green. 

“Looks like some kinda…. green lantern.”  

“Yes….in your words, a green lantern. But actually it is a battery of power, given only to selected space patrolmen in the super-galactic system, to be used as a weapon against the forces of evil and injustice.” 

“So you’re some sorta space cop?” Len asked. 

“Indeed. We call ourselves the Green Lantern Corps, and it is our duty, when disaster strikes, to pass on the battery of power to another who is fearless—and honest. The battery has already selected you as one who has been made immune to fear. Come closer to me, Earthman, so that I may use my ring to scan you and measure your honesty,” the alien replied. Len actually laughed. Was this alien really trying to recruit him as a space cop? 

“Much as I hate to disappoint you, pal, I think you got the wrong guy. Maybe your battery got damaged when your spaceship crashed or somethin’, I don’t know, but I’m an ex-con. Been in and out of jail since I was eighteen. I don’t think I’m somebody the other space cops would wanna take on as a rookie,” Len said. The alien didn’t seem to care, though, as he pointed his hand at Len, and a beam shot out from the ring on his finger—a ring that was shaped to look like a lantern. Apparently the space cops liked to stay on brand. 

“Hey! If you really are dyin’, quit wastin’ your time on me and teleport the Flash here. He’s all noble and upstandin’ and crap, and he’s even got powers. He’s the guy you wanna make a space cop.” 

“By the green beam of my ring, I see that you do not put up pretenses. You are exactly as you appear to be. So you pass both tests.” Len’s theory that the alien was brain damaged was becoming more and more likely by the second. 

“Sure, I don’t make no bones about what I am—but what I am is an ex-con! A cheap crook! And you’re tryin’ to recruit a new space cop! For all you know, I’ll use the badge as a cover to rob people blind without gettin’ caught!” 

“No. You won’t,” the alien replied.

“What’s gonna stop me? You’re about to kick the bucket, ain’t you?” 

“What’s going to stop you, Leonard Snart, is you. Though you have been a criminal and an evildoer, and thus have no love lost for the law enforcement of this planet, you still despise those who cover their acts of wickedness and evil with the badge of righteousness. You would not join their number—for if you did, you would be exactly like your father.” 

“How do you—”

“When the ring scanned you to measure your honesty, it also allowed me to probe your mind and learn of your history.”

“It did what?” 

“There is still much to tell you, and only moments left! My ship was battered…in the deadly radiation bands surrounding your planet. A terrible yellow light, similar to your aurora borealis, blinded me at the controls. Then I crashed.”

“And how does any of this make me a good candidate for bein’ a space cop?” 

“Only seconds left to tell you…once you have the battery, you will have power over everything—except that which is yellow!” 

“Yellow? Like, the color? 

“The unique metal which charges the battery with its wondrous power has a yellow impurity in it. Strangely enough, if that yellow impurity is removed, the battery instantly loses its power. It is this impurity in the battery which will make you powerless over anything yellow!” 

  “So the ring will let me read minds like a creepy weirdo and teleport terrible choices for new space cops anywhere I want, but I’ll be up a creek without a paddle if someone comes at me with a banana?” 

“Now, take my ring. Let me put it on you. With this ring you will drain power from the battery, effective every twenty four hours,” the alien said as he grabbed Len’s hand. If he hadn’t obviously been on his deathbed, Len would’ve socked him in the nose, but even he wasn’t quite low enough to punch a dying guy in the face. He took the ring from his finger and slipped it onto the ring finger of Len’s right hand. 

“Seriously, you should really go find the Flash for this. Or an Earth cop. Or anybody who, you know, isn’t a criminal,” Len said. 

“The battery has chosen you, Leonard Snart. I do not pretend to understand why, or how, but it has—which means there must be some good in you.” Len snorted. 

“Sure there is. Which is why I knock over liquor stores.” The alien fixed him with a really intense stare. 

“Your grandfather was a good man, Leonard Snart. For his sake, and as my dying request, I charge you: swear to use this ring to fight for justice, and to atone for the life of crime you have led.” 

Len had always known on some level that his grandfather wouldn’t be real happy if he had been alive to learn about the line of work he had taken up, but he’d never had anyone directly confront him with it before. The guilt that stirred up, combined with the force of someone’s last request, swamped his better judgment. 

“Okay, okay. I swear.” 

“In order to charge your ring, you must touch the ring to the battery and recite the oath of the Green Lantern Corps,” the alien said. Len walked over to the battery and touched the ring to it. 

“Now, repeat after me. In brightest day—” 

“In brightest day.” 

“In darkest night—” 

“In darkest night.” 

“No evil shall escape my sight.”

“No evil shall escape my sight.”  Len wanted to ask if that “evil” included him, but decided against it. The alien was about to kick the bucket, after all.

“Let those who worship evil’s might…” 

“Let those who worship evil’s might.” 

“Beware my power—Green Lantern’s light!” 

“Beware my power—Green Lantern’s light!” The ring and the battery both glowed a bright green, and Len suddenly found himself dressed in a black-and-green costume identical to the one the alien was wearing. The appearance of the costume was followed a few seconds later by a rush of energy that wasn’t like anything Len had ever felt before. If this was the power of a Green Lantern, no wonder the oath warned people to beware of it. 

The alien slumped, as though he had used up the last of his strength. 

“Now, I have told you all. Do not fail me.” The alien’s eyes closed and his body fell still, and Len didn’t need a super-powered ring to know that he was dead. Len wondered if the guy had an alien family. Since Len had apparently been chosen to be his replacement, was he supposed to track them down and tell them about his death if he did? How was any of this supposed to work? 

“Abin Sur leaves behind a son, Amon Sur, a sister, Arin Sur, and a niece, Soranik Natu,” a robotic voice said. After a few seconds of panic, Len realized that the voice was coming from the ring—which meant that the ring could answer at least some questions. 

“Am I supposed to—” 

“No. The news of Abin Sur’s death has already reached the Guardians of the Universe, to whom all Green Lanterns report. They will send a messenger to inform his loved one of his passing.” Len sighed in relief. The last thing he wanted was to have to tell a total stranger—a total stranger from another planet, no less—-that his old man had died. 

“They gonna pick up the body, too?” 

“No. Abin Sur considered all the planets in Sector 2814 as his own, and requested that he should be buried on the planet where he died,” the ring replied. Len swore. He didn’t particularly like the idea of having to dig somebody’s grave, but even he didn’t feel right leaving the guy’s corpse to rot. Which meant he was gonna have to bury Abin Sur. 

Two hours later, Abin Sur was buried, and Len used the ring to mark his grave with a glowing green tombstone. It wasn’t much, but he wasn’t an undertaker. Hopefully his efforts would keep the space cop from rolling over in his grave, at least.

“Rest in peace, I guess,” he muttered. Then he looked down at his ring. 

“You mind takin’ me back home? Standin’ around a dead guy’s grave is startin’ to give me the creeps.”. The ring enveloped him in the green light, and after a few seconds he found himself back in his motel room. The battery had apparently come along for the ride, since it was resting next to the bed. 

“And can I have my regular clothes back? You might’ve chosen me to be a space cop, but I ain’t exactly on the clock right now.” There was another flash of green light, and Len was relieved to look down and see that his clothes were back to normal. It would’ve been kind of hard to explain to the motel owner why he was wandering around in a green-and-black leotard. 

Len yawned, and decided that he could plan out his next move in the morning. He walked over to his bed, laid down on it without even bothering to take off his clothes, and was soon fast asleep.

****************************************************************************** When Len woke up, he rolled over on his bed—only to see the power battery. He swore. So much for his hope that his encounter with the alien space cop had been a dream brought on from eating week-old takeout. 

Which meant that life as he had known it had come to a very sudden end. Len sighed wearily and looked down at the lantern-shaped ring on his finger. 

“You have some sort of space cop manual or something? ‘Cause I ain’t got the foggiest idea of what I’m supposed to do now,” Len asked. 

“As a newly recruited member of the Green Lantern Corps, your first task is to report to the Guardians of the Universe on the planet Oa,” the ring replied. 

“Wait. I have to go to another planet?” Len didn’t even like leaving Central City!

“The journey will not be arduous. I am programmed to be able to transport you to Oa instantaneously.” Len’s first instinct was to say that there was no way he was leaving Earth, but then he realized something. If he allowed the ring to take him to these Guardians of the Universe, they would realize that the ring—or maybe Abin Sur—had been damaged in the crash and chose the wrong guy. Then they would give the ring to someone who would actually make sense as a space cop—someone like the Flash—and Len could go back to his normal life.

“Then take me there.” There was a flash of green light, and Len suddenly found himself standing in front of a massive building, one that wasn’t like anything he had ever seen on Earth. He was also back in the green-and-black leotard, but he didn’t really mind wearing it for the sake of the trip that would allow him to get rid of it. 

After a few seconds of wondering if he should go inside the building or wait for the Guardians of the Universe to invite him in, he was approached by a huge creature with a face that kind of looked like a cross between a pig and a bulldog. He had to be at least eight feet tall, and Len was tensing himself for a fight when he noticed that the creature was wearing the same uniform that he was. The bulldog pig was a Green Lantern, just like Abin Sur had been. 

“Are you the new Green Lantern from Sector 2814? Abin Sur’s successor?” he asked. 

“I guess so, yeah. I…wasn’t exactly expecting to be chosen for the job,” Len replied.

“I’m Kilowog, the Green Lantern of Sector 674. I’m from the planet Bolovax Vik, and I’m here to take you to meet the Guardians of the Universe.” 

“Len. Len Snart. I’m from the planet Earth.” Kilowog’s face seemed to scrunch up.

“Your planet’s named ‘Dirt’?” Len shrugged. 

“I didn’t name the planet.” Kilowog laughed. 

“Well, it’s good to meet you—even if I am going to really miss Abin Sur. He was one of the best of us,” he said. 

“He seemed like a decent guy. Even if I’m not sure that he made the right choice for a successor,” Len replied. Kilowog nodded. 

“Every Lantern feels that way when they’re first chosen by the ring. I know I did. I thought, I’m a genetic scientist. What do I know about fighting criminals? It took me a while to get the hang of the job, but I managed—-with the help of my fellow Green Lanterns, of course. And now I’m an instructor for the rookies.” 

“Which is why you’re takin’ me to the Guardians?” 

“Exactly. So, what did you do on Earth before the ring chose you as a Green Lantern?”

“I knocked over liquor stores.” Kilowog’s mouth dropped open. 

“You’re a criminal?” 

“Look, I don’t understand it any more than you do. The best I can figure is that either Abin Sur got brain damage from the spaceship crash that did him in and didn’t realize what he was doing, or the ring itself got busted and chose the wrong guy,” Len replied. 

“Come on. The Guardians have to be informed of this right away,” Kilowog said. His cheerful demeanor from earlier was gone, and he practically dragged Len inside the building where the Guardians of the Universe were, presumably, hanging out. 

“Guardians, I think something went wrong in the selection of the new Lantern for Sector 2814,” Kilowog said as he and Len entered a large, circular room. 

“Explain yourself, Kilowog.” It took Len a few seconds to figure out where the voice was coming from, but once he did, he had to stop himself from laughing. Whatever he had expected the Guardians of the Universe to look like, it definitely hadn’t been a bunch of short blue men in robes. 

“Tell them who you are,” Kilowog snapped at Len. 

“My name’s Len Snart. I’m from the planet Earth, where Abin Sur crashed, and I think that the crash that killed him must’ve also damaged his tech or given him brain damage or something, because he chose me to be the next Green Lantern of Sector 2814.” The Guardians of the Universe looked confused. 

“And why do you and Kilowog believe that this means that a mistake was made?” 

“Because I’m an ex-con—a criminal. I’m not exactly space cop material. So either the ring is busted, and it made a mistake, or whatever injuries did in Abin Sur also caused him to misunderstand what the ring was tellin’ him,” Len replied. 

“The ring does not have the power to teleport you to Oa against your will. If you are a criminal as you say, then why did you come here with it? Why did you not simply use its power to enrich yourself?” It was a good question. Why hadn’t he just done that? 

Except for the fact that it would make him exactly like his father, of course. 

“Because my old man was a crooked cop, and I’d rather die than be anything like him. I’m not gonna stand here and pretend I’m anything other than a thug, but there’s stuff even I won’t stoop to,” Len replied. The little blue guys muttered to each other, and then one of them stepped forward, pulled out some kind of ray, and shot a beam of light at Len.

“The ring is undamaged,” he said. 

“Okay, so Abin Sur hurt his head durin’ the crash or somethin’. I don’t belong here. Send me back to Earth, and let the ring choose whoever was actually supposed to be Sector 2814’s new space cop,” Len replied. 

“You don’t seem to understand, Mr. Snart. There was no mistake. As improbable as it may seem, the ring has chosen you to be our newest Green Lantern.” 

“But–” Len and Kilowog said in unison. 

“Leonard Snart, you have served your time for your previous offenses, and you are not currently wanted for any new crimes. As such, you are in effect an ordinary citizen of your planet—and eligible to be deputized as a Green Lantern.” 

“But I’m not—” 

“If you are caught using your power illicitly, we will confiscate the ring and punish you accordingly, as we would with any other Green Lantern. But as the situation currently stands, you are the Green Lantern of Sector 2814,” the little blue alien said. 

“And I can’t, like, give the job to someone who deserves it? Someone who’d actually want to do it?” 

“Leonard Snart, when I scanned the ring, it informed me that you promised Abin Sur on his deathbed that you would take up the position of Green Lantern in order to atone for your past crimes. Are you going to renege on that promise now?” Len swore. He had promised to do the job—not just to Abin Sur, but basically to his grandfather as well. 

“I’ll always keep you safe, Lisa. I promise.” 

He had broken that promise by leaving Lisa alone with their father. 

He couldn’t break this one. 

Which meant that he, Leonard Snart, a lowdown thug who distrusted cops on the best of days, was going to become a space cop. 

How did he get himself into these situations?

“I did promise. So— I guess if you’re really sure you want me, I’ll take the job. I’ll be the Green Lantern of Sector 2814.” 

“Excellent. Welcome to the Green Lantern Corps, Leonard Snart.” 

“Don’t tell me you expect me to baby-sit an ex-convict,” Kilowog protested.

“We don’t expect you to baby-sit anyone—but we do expect you to help train our newest corpsmember,” the little blue guy replied. Kilowog groaned.

“Fine. But I’m going to be watching him like a hawk.” Then he turned to Len. 

“Follow me, poozer. It’s time for you to learn what being a Green Lantern is really all about,” he said. 

“Come again?” Len asked. 

“Kilowog is our drill sergeant, and will be responsible for teaching you how to utilize your ring,” the little blue guy explained. 

“Wait. Nobody said anything about any kind of boot camp. I can’t just up and disappear from Earth for six months or whatever! I got bills to pay,” Len protested. 

“Then you’d better learn fast. You promised Abin Sur that you were gonna become a Green Lantern, and if you wanna keep that promise, you gotta go through boot camp just like the rest of us,” Kilowog replied. He turned on his heels and started walking towards the door, and, after a few seconds, Len reluctantly trailed after him. 

“Okay, fine. I’m coming.” As much as he hated the idea of being away from Central City for any length of time, he had promised Abin Sur that he would do this space cop thing, so he was going to do the space cop thing. Besides, it wasn’t like he’d never had to put his life back together from scratch before. 

“Your first lesson is this: there’s no room for rogues in the Corps. You’re obviously not much for authority. That’s gonna change right now, or you’ll never get out of boot camp,” Kilowog said as the two of them walked out of the room and down a hallway. Len swore. This was gonna be a rough couple of weeks. 

“Oh, and if I catch you breaking a rule—any rule—I’ll bust you down to basics again. Even if you’re about to graduate.” 

“Gotcha. So, uh, if you don’t mind me asking—when do I get paid?” Kilowog laughed.

“Lanterns don’t get paid, poozer. Especially not during basic training.” Len didn’t think that that was very fair. Did the Green Lantern Corps really expect their space police to work for free? 

“How’m I supposed to support myself back on Earth if I ain’t getting paid?” Kilowog just laughed. 

“I give it a week before you wash out,” he said.

Len was going to make Kilowog eat those words. 

******************************************************************************

Len graduated from space cop boot camp in five and a half months. It wasn’t a record or anything like that—not least because Kilowog had meant it when he had told Len that he would bust him down to basics if he broke a rule—-but he hadn’t washed out, and he had actually completed his training well ahead of schedule. 

“I’ll give you this, poozer. You’ve gotta be the most persistent cadet I’ve ever trained,” Kilowog said as he handed Len what Len could only describe as a holographic diploma—which, now that he thought about it, was the first diploma he’d ever earned. 

“And you’re the biggest pain in the neck I’ve ever met—-but you’re a good teacher. Anybody who could steer me to a diploma’d have to be,” Len replied. As much as he hated to admit it, Kilowog had really grown on him over the past few months. 

It had helped that, unlike a lot of the other Lanterns, he’d been upfront about the fact that he didn’t trust Len one bit. Since Len knew that most of them didn’t really trust the ex-con in their ranks, he’d appreciated that Kilowog had the guts to be honest about it. 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you just might have what it takes to make Abin Sur proud,” Kilowog said as the two of them shook hands. 

“Careful. You’ll make him roll over in his grave,” Len snarked. Even if he had promised to make up for his past crimes—even though he was going to do it—-he knew that he was a thug at heart. He would never be good enough to be a real hero.

Kilowog laughed. 

“Good luck out there. The first week of patrol is always a doozy,” he said.

“Thanks. See you around, Kilowog,” Len said. One of the Guardians of the Universe floated up to them. 

“Are you prepared to return to Earth, Leonard Snart?” Len had tried to convince the little blue men to just call him “Len”, but had gotten nowhere. 

“Are you kidding? I can’t wait to get back to Central City!” Len exclaimed. Lisa was probably worried sick about him by now….

“In that case, you are free to begin your first patrol, Green Lantern of Sector 2814—and may good fortune go with you.” 

There was a flash of green light, and Len was back in Central City. 

“Home, sweet home.” 

******************************************************************************

The first thing Len did after arriving on Earth, besides using his ring to change back into civilian clothes, was call his little sister on the phone. 

“Lenny?” Lisa asked. 

“Yeah, sis. It’s me,” Len replied. 

“Where have you been? No one’s heard anything from you in six months!” Lisa exclaimed. Len wasn’t quite sure what to say. 

“Sorry for not calling for so long. I was…uh…out of town on a job,” he said. Saying “I was in space cop boot camp on another planet” wasn’t something you could casually drop into a conversation. 

“Out of town? What do you mean, out of town? You never leave Central City! I thought you were dead!” 

“I’m really sorry, sis. It’s just…things came up and—-well—I had to get out of dodge for awhile.” There was a snort—the Snart snort—on the other end of the line. 

“If you’re on the run from the cops, you can just say so, Lenny. It’s not like I don’t know you’re a criminal.”

“Actually, I’m not anymore,” Len said. 

“I gathered as much, seeing as you’re calling me. I guess the heat died down?”

“No, I mean I’m not a criminal anymore.” 

“Wait. When you said you had a job, you meant that you got an actual job?”

“Yeah.” 

“What kind of job is it?” Another question Len wasn’t sure how to answer. Saying “I got hired by a bunch of little blue aliens to be a space cop” sounded crazy, and there was no way she would believe that he had been hired to be a regular cop.

On the other hand, he was going to need a second job. One that actually paid a salary. So maybe he could just make up a job and then go get hired in that position before Lisa could find out he’d lied to her. 

As an ex-con. With a felony on his record. That was never going to happen. 

Telling the truth it was, then. 

“Okay, first of all, you have to believe me when I tell you I’m not crazy.”

“Because that’s exactly what people say when they aren’t crazy,” Lisa replied. It was at this point that Len realized that he actually had a way to prove his sanity. 

“Sis, where are you?”

“I’m in my apartment. The one I stay in when I’m not on tour. Why?” There was a flash of green light, and Len materialized in his sister’s apartment. 

“Hey, sis,” he said. 

“Lenny? How—-how did you—”

“It’s kind of a long story, but the gist of it is that an alien space cop called a Green Lantern crash landed on Earth. He was fatally wounded in the crash, so he did a sweep of the surrounding area, lookin’ for people who don’t scare easy, and came up with me. Then he teleported me to him, passed on his power battery and ring to me, and told me that the ring—-it’s some sort of super-advanced tech the Green Lanterns use—had chosen me to be the next space cop of Sector 2814, which is where Earth is. It seemed totally crazy, but he was dying and really really insistent that I had to replace him, so I…kind of promised him that I would do the whole space cop thing. And then he died. I thought for sure that he’d made a mistake, so I had the ring take me to the Guardians of the Universe, these little blue guys who run the Green Lantern Corps, to tell them that they needed to find a new space cop, and I was transported to a planet called Oa.” 

“You went to another planet?” Lisa asked. 

“Yeah. It’s the one where the Guardians of the Universe live.” 

“And you’re sure you’re not crazy?” 

“Could I teleport before?” 

“Okay, fair point. So what happened after you got there?” 

“I told the Guardians that the ring had made a mistake, and they said that it hadn’t. I’ve technically served my time for all the crimes I’ve committed, and I guess that made me eligible to be chosen. But before I could be a full-fledged Green Lantern, I had to go through space cop boot camp—and that’s basically where I’ve been for the past six months. But I passed. I’ve got a diploma and everything. I’m a deputized space cop now,” Len said. He pulled out his holographic diploma, and was surprised at how proud he felt to be able to show it to his sister. 

“That’s actually really cool. I’m so proud of you, Lenny!” Lisa exclaimed.

“Thanks.” 

“Do you have a uniform? What does it look like? Can I see it?” 

“Sure, sis.” The ring glowed, and his civvies were replaced by the Green Lantern uniform.

“Wow! You look great!” Lisa exclaimed. 

“I dunno. I’m not crazy about the skintight spandex…”

“Trust me, you pull it off.” 

“If you say so.” 

“So, how much money do you make as a space cop?” Lisa asked. 

“Well, that’s the one problem with the gig. Green Lanterns get fed and sheltered on Oa, but they don’t get paid. Which means that, since I ain’t about to live full-time on another planet, I’m gonna need a second job,” Len said. Lisa grinned. 

“I know the guy who owns Central City’s ice skating rink. He’s been talking about how they need someone to run the Zamboni for months. If I recommended you, I bet he’d take you on,” she said. Len smiled.

“Well, I’ve always liked the cold. If you really think he’d hire me…that’d be great.”

And two days later, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 was hired to be the official Zamboni driver for Central City’s biggest ice skating rink. 

*****************************************************************************

“In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might beware my power—Green Lantern’s light!” The ring glowed brightly, and, now that it was fully charged, Len took off on his first official patrol. Since he had been out of the underworld loop for six months, he couldn’t exactly go chasing down specific crooks, so he was going to be limited to just sort of flying around and stopping whatever he came across, but he was definitely still  jumpy. This was his first day on the job, and he really didn’t want to make a total idiot out of himself.

And he really didn’t want to stumble across any of his former colleagues before he had some experience under his belt. Because running into them while he was still a rookie would be very awkward and might also result in him ending up very dead. 

“Guess nobody ever said this space cop thing would be easy,” he muttered to himself. 

The first hour or so of the patrol passed more or less uneventfully. Aside from some jaywalking, which wasn’t exactly the sort of evil that the power of a Green Lantern was intended to fight against, there’d been no sign of any trouble or anyone who was planning to commit a crime—and as an ex-con, Len was pretty good at spotting criminals who were trying to look casual before starting a job. 

He had been about to leave and head for a new city block when he suddenly heard a piercing scream coming from one of the apartment buildings. After using the ring to determine that the scream had come from an apartment on the third floor, he flew over to the window to see a man knock his wife to the ground. A little boy, no more than five years old, was standing nearby and sobbing. 

“Where were you today? Where were you?” the man screamed. 

“I was only at the grocery store, Ronald! I have the receipts—I can show you!” the woman pleaded. 

“Don’t lie to me! I know you were with another man! Who was it?” The little boy ran between his parents. 

“Daddy, please! Leave mommy alone!” he exclaimed. The man raised his hand, but before he could hit him, Len used the ring to open the window, and then to create an energy wall between the man and his son. 

“What the–?” the man asked. Len flew through the window and landed next to the man. 

“If you want a fight, why don’t you pick on somebody your own size?” he asked. 

“Who are you?” 

“Name’s Len. Len Snart. But to you, I’m the Green Lantern,” Len replied. 

“I don’t care if you’re the Flash. You ain’t got no right to interfere with my personal life.”

“Maybe not—but I ain’t gonna just stand by and let you knock your wife around and beat up your kid,” Len replied. 

“What I do in my own house in my own business.” 

“The man who slammed a beer bottle into my shoulder when I was twelve said the same thing. And I think you’re both full of crap,” Len said. He walked through his energy wall and extended a hand to the woman. 

“You okay?” The woman took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. 

“I…I’m fine. You should go, really. Ronald isn’t normally…isn't normally like this. He’s just had a rough few days.” Len knew it was a lie. He remembered saying exactly the same thing to social workers as a kid.

 And he also knew that there probably wasn’t anything he could say or do to convince this woman to tell a stranger the truth. 

“All the same, I’m not gonna leave until I’m sure that you and the kid’ll be okay when I go,” he said. 

“If you don’t get outta my house, I’ll have you arrested for trespassing,” the man spat. Len laughed. 

“Go on, then. Call the cops. I’m sure they’ll be real interested to know why your wife’s got a black eye—and why you’ve got a bunch of dope and a sawed-off shotgun hidden under your couch.” Len knew from his own time as a crook that no small-timer in this situation would call the cops unless they were absolutely convinced that they were going to die. The chance of getting arrested alongside whoever was causing you the problem was way too high. 

Sure enough, Ronald didn’t call the cops. Instead, he pulled the shotgun out from underneath the couch and fired it over the energy wall—only for the bullet to be stopped by a red blur. A red blur that solidified into the Flash. 

“Somehow I doubt that you have a license for that gun,” he said. Len dropped the energy wall, and the Flash zipped over to Ronald and grabbed the shotgun out of his hands. Len took the opportunity to pin the guy to the wall with a glowing green clamp. 

“Nice work. I didn’t know there was another superhero in Central City,” the Flash said.

“I’m…uh…kinda new to the job. I only became the Green Lantern of Sector 2814 a couplea months ago, and I basically just got out of boot camp.” 

“The… Green Lantern?” the Flash echoed. 

“Yeah, a Green Lantern. A space cop. There’s one for every sector of space, and they’re run by these little blue guys who call themselves the Guardians of the Universe. Abin Sur was the last Green Lantern of this sector of the universe—2814—and since he died on Earth, he passed the ring on to me, ‘cause I ain’t afraid of much and I don’t pretend to be anything other’n what I am. Or somethin’ like that. I’m still half-convinced the stupid thing was busted when it chose me, but hey, what’re ya gonna do? Somebody has to do the job, and I did promise the guy I’d do it,” Len replied. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you. What brought you to this apartment? I came running because I heard the shotgun blast, but you were obviously here before he pulled that out,” Flash asked. 

“I heard a scream comin’ from the buildin’, so I flew up to the window to see what was goin’ on. When I looked inside, I saw our pal over there knockin’ his wife around in front of his kid. The kid ran over to try an’ protect his mom, and I stopped the creep with an energy wall just before he could slap his son around too. He started givin’ me all the usual crap about how I should get out and mind my own business, and when I told him I wasn’t gonna just fly off and let him go back to beatin’ up women and little kids, he pulled the shotgun on me. Thanks for the save, by the way,” Len replied. The Flash looked horrified. 

“He was going to hit his own child?” Len nodded. 

“Hate to say it, but it happens all the time. My old man broke my arm when I was about that kid’s age,” he said. The Flash’s mouth dropped open. 

“My parents never hit me. I…I couldn’t even imagine.” Funny. Len could barely imagine what it was like to have parents who didn’t hit you.

“Not even when you acted up?” 

“No. Never.” 

“You’re lucky, then.” 

“Do you mind if I run this criminal to CCPD Headquarters? I can get him there faster than you probably can, but I can understand if you want to get the credit for stopping him. You did most of the work, after all,” the Flash asked. 

“I don’t mind. I figure if I keep up this space cop gig long enough, I’ll end up with more credit than I know what to do with. So go ahead and take him,” Len replied. The Flash disappeared, and then reappeared about a minute later. 

“Sorry it took so long. I had to tell the police what I’d arrested him for,” he explained. Then he turned to the woman. 

“Are you all right, miss? Is there anything I can do for you?” The woman responded by bursting into tears. 

“You’ve done enough! What are Andy and I supposed to do without Robert? He was the only one bringing in any money!” she cried. From the look on Flash’s face, it was clear that he hadn’t been expecting that reaction.

“Before you ask, that ain’t uncommon either. It’s part of why women like my mom don’t call the cops on the guys who beat ‘em up—-they ain’t got the education or the money to make ends meet as single moms,” Len said quietly. Instead, he pulled out his wallet, fished out some fifty dollar bills, and handed them to the woman. 

“Will this be enough to hold you over for awhile?” he asked. As much as he would miss his baseball tickets—and his beer—he’d be alright without the cash. And if he was going to do this whole hero thing, he might as well do it all the way. 

The woman looked up at him suspiciously. 

“What’s the catch? What do you want? I…I won’t testify against Robert. I…I can’t,” she said.

“No catch, lady. Just take care of yourself—and your kid.” The woman gave him a weak smile.

“Where do you work?” the woman asked. 

“At the big downtown ice rink. I keep the place in shape—and run the Zamboni,” he replied. 

“Then I’ll swing by once a week and bring you some of my fried chicken. Everyone says it’s the best in the neighborhood.”  Len grinned.

 “That’d be great. See you soon.” Len looked over to the Flash, who looked like he was going through his own pockets, and put his hand on his shoulder. 

“I know what you’re thinkin’, but don’t. If you give her money, it’ll embarrass her.” The Flash gave him a bit of a strange look. 

“You gave her money.” 

“I can get away with it. I’m a poor high school dropout too. She can repay me, one way or the other. But from you it’d be charity,” Len explained. The Flash nodded and stopped going through his pockets. 

“Miss, is there anything else you need?” he asked. 

“No. We’ll be fine. And—I’m sorry about yelling at you earlier. It’s just…I married Robert when I was seventeen, right after we both dropped out. He told me that he would take care of me, and that I didn’t need to work, and—and—I was just so scared of the thought of not having his support for Andy,” the woman said.

“I understand. You were worried about your son, and I definitely forgive you.” Then the Flash turned to Len. 

“If you’re okay with it, I can get the two of us back on the streets in a flash.” 

“Sure. Why not?” There was a rush of light not too different from the one Len saw when the ring teleported him, and then he and the Flash were standing outside of the apartment building. 

“You know, Green Lantern, while I don’t think that woman is any threat, I’m not sure if you should go around telling people where you work as a civilian. If that information starts circulating, criminals might get a hold of it and use it to go after you when you’re off the clock—or worse, to go after your loved ones.” Len shrugged. 

“I appreciate the concern, but seein as I ain’t married, I don’t got kids, my sister’s an ice skater who spends most of her time touring the country under a stage name, my mom’s been AWOL for years, and my old man’s on the Candy Man’s payroll, I don’t figure I’ve got too much to worry about. I can take care of myself pretty well, even without the fancy ring,” he said.  

“If Green Lantern rings are awarded on the basis of fearlessness, I can see how you earned one,” the Flash replied. 

“Don’t give me too much credit. Anybody’d be fearless after a childhood of bein’ smacked around by their father and a couple of years fightin’ off wannabe cell block kings in state prison. You survive that and there’s not much that’ll scare you anymore.” 

“Wait. You’ve been to prison?” the Flash asked. 

“Uh-huh. Did two years for robbin’ a drug store on Fifth and Main, thanks to a certain red blur,” Len replied. The Flash’s eyes widened. 

“That gang—the one with the glasses that let them intercept police radio bands! I thought those green glasses you’re wearing looked familiar!” he exclaimed. 

“You got a good memory.”

“Who are you?” Len snorted. 

“Weren’t you just goin’ on about how I shouldn’t be tellin’ people about myself?” 

“That was before I knew you were a criminal!” 

“I was a criminal—but I ain’t one now. I wasn’t lying when I said I worked at the ice rink. Or about the space cop thing, for that matter.” 

“You’ll forgive me if I’m a bit wary to trust someone I know I put behind bars, and who therefore has a good reason to hold a grudge against me.” Len sighed. Well, it wasn’t like he actually cared if anyone knew who the Green Lantern really was. 

“Name’s Len. Len Snart,” he said. 

“Leonard Snart, then. You’re twenty-five years old. Arrested six times, convicted four times. You spent three months in jail for getting caught with burglar’s tools when you were eighteen, eight months in jail for stealing a fairly cheap necklace, starting when you were nineteen, another eight months in jail for stealing a couple hundred dollars from a liquor store, starting when you were twenty-one, and then two years in prison for robbing a drug store, starting at twenty-two.” 

“And you’re either a cop, a lawyer, or a warden, because nobody else knows that much about the criminal record of some cheap thug,” Len replied. 

“How in the world did you get deputized as a police officer, in space or otherwise?” Len shrugged. 

“I have no idea. I told ‘em I was an ex-con—repeatedly, because I wasn’t originally too keen on the whole space cop idea—-but they said that since I’d served my time for the old crimes, and hadn’t committed any new ones, I could be a Green Lantern. And since I’d promised the dying Green Lantern who passed me the ring that I’d go straight and take up the job, well—I decided I had to do it. I have all the paperwork and everything if you wanna see it.” 

“So you aren’t going to try to put me six feet under for sending you to prison?” 

“Even if I was still a criminal,  I wouldn’t be tryin’ to put you six feet under for sending me to prison. No crook needs the kinda heat killin’ a cape brings down on you. It’d be like killin’ a cop—maybe even worse.” 

“A… cape?” 

“Yeah. That’s what crooks—-at least the low-level ones—call costumed heroes. Capes,” Len replied. 

“And you’re serious about turning over a new leaf?” 

“If you’d asked me if I’d ever say this a year ago, I’d have laughed in your face—but yeah. I’m turnin’ over a new leaf,” Len replied. The Flash grinned. 

“You have no idea how glad I am to hear that. It’s a nice change of pace to know a person I arrested is changing for the better instead of plotting ways to kill me.” 

“And you’re sure you don’t mind havin’ an ex-con runnin’ around playin’ super-hero in your city?” 

“It’s not my city. You live here, too. In my mind, that makes it our city—and if you really do want to help people, I’m certainly not about to stop you. Even a man as fast as I am can’t be everywhere at once.”

“Guess that makes us allies, then.” The Flash nodded. 

“It does—and, although I really hate to run off on you, I think I’d better get going. I have a date at 8:00 PM sharp, and my girlfriend will be furious if I’m late again.” 

“Then I hope you’ve got the money to buy her a nice gift, ‘cause it’s 8:25.” 

“It is?” 

“Almost 8:26. Do you not own a watch?” 

“Several, actually, but somehow it doesn’t seem to help.” Len shook his head. 

“Good luck with your girlfriend—-and hey, I guess I’ll be seein’ you around.” 

“Good-bye, Green Lantern, and stay safe. With any luck, I’ll be seeing you in the newspapers before too long,” the Flash said. Then he disappeared in, well, a flash. Len smiled. 

“Who woulda thought I’d ever work with the Flash?”

****************************************************************************

The Flash turned out to be right about the newspaper thing. Less than a week into his career as Green Lantern, Len stopped a crowded bus from crashing into a restaurant when its brakes went out, and suddenly his face was all over the newspapers—-and the TV channels, too. 

“Lenny, you’re famous!” Lisa exclaimed over the phone. She was in New York City with her ice skating company and had seen the reports about the rescue on the news. 

“I…uh…kinda noticed,” Len replied. 

“Everyone’s talking about Central City’s new superhero, even here in New York. And I swear, half of the people who skate for Futura want to know if I can get them your autograph,” Lisa said. 

“They ain’t the only ones. It’s getting a little overwhelming to go out in costume during the day, what with all the fans and all.” Lisa gave the Snart snort. 

“Welcome to the limelight.” 

“You got any tips for dealing with this sorta stuff?” 

“Of course. You’ve come to the right place, big brother.” 

****************************************************************************

After a year and a half of being the Green Lantern, Len fought one of the Flash’s supervillains for the first time. While Len fought crime in Central City whenever he was on Earth, since he was the Green Lantern of all of Sector 2814, he had to be off in space a lot to fight off alien invasions and to help stop crime and natural disasters on the other planets in his sector. Because of this, the costumed criminals—who had started showing up within a few months of his debut as Green Lantern—spent most of their time fighting the Flash. 

He was patrolling Morrow Street, waiting for the weekly drug-related shootout to start, when the window of a nearby grocery store suddenly warped and twisted, and a man carrying a pretty good-sized bag of loot, and wearing an orange-and-green costume, stepped out of it. As he looked at the guy—the Mirror Master, if he was remembering right—Len found himself revising his opinion of his Green Lantern uniform. He still thought the spandex looked stupid, but at least it wasn’t orange and green.

Len used his ring to create a giant green claw, and used it to grab the bag of loot from the Mirror Master, who let out a cry of surprise. 

“Green Lantern?” 

“That’s right. And from what the Flash has told me, you must be the Mirror Master.” The Mirror Master smirked. 

“The one and only.” Len tried to remember the supervillain’s civilian name, but couldn’t come up with anything. Whoever he was, though, he was very cocky—cockier than Len had ever been as a crook. 

“How long you been out of prison?” 

“A few weeks. State prison’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. So I arranged an early parole for myself. How long have you been back in Central City? Last I heard, you were in space,” the Mirror Master replied. 

“I got homesick, so after I stopped a flood on Agraria 7, I made my way back to Earth. I’ve been here for a couple days now,” Len said. 

“And you’re wasting your vacation on stopping me?” Mirror Master asked. 

“You surrender quietly, and that’ll open up a lot of free time for both of us,” Len replied. The Mirror Master laughed. 

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I don’t want the kind of free time I’ll end up with if I surrender,” he said. He pulled out a strange-looking prism, and, when Len fired a beam at it in the hopes of knocking it out of his hands, the prism didn’t just reflect the beam back—it split the beam into a rainbow of seven differently-colored light beams, all of which shot in Len’s direction. Len automatically threw up a shield, and realized a second too late that the yellow beam wouldn’t be blocked by the shield. This beam hit him square in the chest and sent him hurtling towards the ground. He managed to save himself from colliding with the ground by quickly creating a giant pile of green blankets, but the impact was still enough to knock the wind out of him—and to send the Mirror Master’s bag of loot flying out of his hands.

“My prism shield works even better against your Green Lantern beam than I predicted it would!” the Mirror Master exclaimed. As Len struggled to regain his breath and get back on his feet, Mirror Master pulled out another device, and suddenly there were dozens of Mirror Masters.

“As much as I’d love to stick around and engage you in a battle of light manipulation, I have places to go and jewelry to fence. So…catch me if you can!” All of the Mirror Masters started moving at once. Len blasted several to pieces, then realized that he was being stupid. If he wanted to catch the Mirror Master, all he had to do was command the ring to find the real one. 

“Mind findin’ the actual human in all those reflections?” he asked. A few seconds later, a green light appeared over one of the Mirror Masters. He was one of many who seemed to be carrying the bag of loot. He didn’t want to take any more chances with the prism shield, so instead, he grabbed the Mirror Master from behind with a giant green hand. The Mirror Master reached for what was probably another weapon he had hidden on his costume, but before he could get to it, Len ordered the ring to create a pair of green handcuffs around his wrists. Then, just to be on the safe side, he also ordered the ring to remove any hidden weapons from the costume. A few seconds later, an improbable number of mirrors, prisms, and ray guns were floating in the air, suspended in green bubbles. How in the world did the Mirror Master manage to fit that much stuff in such a skintight costume? 

Len then used the ring to lower the Mirror Master, his loot, and all of the confiscated weapons back to the ground. As soon as his feet touched the ground, the giant hand vanished, but the handcuffs remained, and the weapons continued to float in their green bubbles. 

“How’s that for light manipulation?” he asked as he started floating the weapons down to the ground. 

“Don’t break any of the mirrors! Don’t you know that’ll bring seven years’ bad luck?” the Mirror Master shrieked as one of the mirrors hit the ground. Len snorted. 

“It must really suck for somebody who fights using mirrors to be superstitious about breakin’ ‘em,” he said. The Mirror Master continued to struggle against the cuffs—and then, all of a sudden, his costume gave off such a bright light that even Len, with his goggles that were designed to filter out excess light, was nearly blinded. 

The costume was gimmicked—which meant that he needed to get it off of the Mirror Master before he got away. There was a flare of green light, and then Len could see again. Although since the first thing he saw was the Mirror Master wearing nothing but a gray undershirt, blue socks, and yellow polka-dotted underwear (seriously?), he wasn’t totally sure that was actually a good thing. 

“What did you do? Where’s my costume?” the Mirror Master screamed. 

“You were blinding me with it, so I told the ring to get it off of you. Believe me, I’m regretting it as much as you are. Who wears polka-dotted underwear?” 

“It was on sale!” As the initial shock of seeing the Mirror Master in nothing but his underclothes wore off, Len started to focus on the younger man’s features, which he could now see a lot more clearly. Perfectly styled brown hair, big brown eyes, ski-jump nose—-wait. He’d seen this face before, and not just on wanted posters. 

“And give me my costume back! You can’t drag me to CCPD Headquarters in my underclothes at two in the afternoon. I’d never be able to live that down.” 

“Sam? Sam Scudder?”

“Of course I’m Sam Scudder! It’s not like my identity’s a secret. Now give me my costume back!” 

The Mirror Master’s identity might not have been a secret, but it was news to Len. Apparently, while he’d been off in space, the pretty boy he’d had to save from getting shivved when they were in prison together had become a supervillain. 

“Do you remember a guy named Len Snart, by any chance?” he asked. Sam looked at him with obvious confusion. 

“Yeah, I remember him. He was in prison with me while I was serving my sentence for robbery, and he saved my life while he was there. If he ever shows up again, I owe him a favor—but why do you care about that?” 

  Len let the glasses vanish from his face. He was sure the Flash would probably blow a blood vessel in his brain if he saw him doing this, but hey—it wasn’t like his identity was a secret, either. 

“Because you’ve found him. It’s been a long time, Sam,” he said awkwardly. After a full thirty seconds of staring in open-mouthed shock, Sam finally found his voice. 

“The Green Lantern is an ex-con? An ex-con that I know?” 

“Uh, yeah.” 

“How did a convicted felon end up as part of the space police?” Sam asked. 

“I get asked that a lot. And I still have no idea,” Len replied. There was an awkward pause. 

“So, what’s it like working on the other side of the fence?”

“A lot more rewarding than I thought it’d be.” It was true. Even though he had promised to become a good guy, Len had initially assumed that it wouldn’t be very much fun. He had been wrong. Sure, there were still days—a lot of days, really—where he missed the rush of living by his wits, outwitting the cops, and taking whatever he felt like, but that rush paled in comparison to how good it felt to know that what he was doing was saving lives. To know that his sister could finally be proud of her big brother, and that his grandfather would be happy to see how he had turned out. 

“Rewarding?” Sam echoed. 

“Yeah. You probably won’t listen to me, because I wouldn’t have before I got a wake-up call in the form of a literal crashing spaceship, but—turnin’ over a new leaf and goin’ straight’s the best thing you can do for yourself—not to mention for everyone around you,” Len replied. A dark look spread across Sam’s face. 

“You want me to do what you did? Give up crime and become some sort of superhero?” he asked. 

“Why not? If I can do it, somebody with a brain like yours would have no problem.” Sam shook his head. 

“Because I know what being a superhero gets you in the end. It gets you killed.” 

“Is that a threat?” Len asked. 

“From me? No. Never. I owe you my life—and I’m not one for killing anyhow. It would take the glamor out of being the Mirror Master.” 

“Then why’d you say it?”

“As a warning.” 

“You got a funny way of warning people, Sam.”  The Mirror Master cocked his head and seemed to ponder something. 

“This isn’t working. So let’s try this. Since you’re determined to hear what I said as a threat, take it as a threat from the rest of the underworld. There are plenty of them who don’t have the standards that I have. If you keep interfering with them, eventually one of them will kill you. Growing up under the Candy Man’s thumb taught me that.” 

“I ain’t afraid of the Candy Man,” Len replied. 

“I know. You aren’t afraid of anything, if what I understand about the Green Lantern ring is true. But you should be. I don’t want to watch anyone else I know get killed playing hero.” 

“I’ll be careful. I always am. Now, let’s get you to CCPD before—” 

“Green Lantern! Green Lantern! How did you capture the Mirror Master?” 

“Before the paparazzi shows up,” Len muttered. As the cameras flashed, Sam’s cheeks went bright red, and he darted behind Len. The Mirror Master was still going to be on the front page of the newspaper in his underclothes tomorrow, but Len couldn’t really blame him for wanting to hide. 

“So, you know how I said I wasn’t going to kill you?” Sam hissed. 

“Yeah,” Len replied. 

“I meant it. But that doesn’t mean I’m not going to make things very difficult for you if we ever fight again.” 

“Hey, don’t blame me for this. If you had surrendered quietly when I asked, this wouldn’t have happened.” Sam gave out a sad little whine. 

“I’m going to be the laughingstock of the underworld…” 

*****************************************************************************

Len had thought he had done a good job at keeping in touch with Lisa. Over the seven years he had been the Green Lantern, he’d visited her every time they were both in Central City, attended at least four of her shows every year, and talked to her on the phone at least once a month. 

“I don’t care if he’s your partner, Lenny! I want the Flash to suffer—the way I suffered when he killed my boyfriend!” 

Len was starting to get the feeling that he hadn’t done quite as good a job of keeping in touch as he had thought. 

“You have a boyfriend? You never mentioned him before.” 

“I couldn’t tell you, because I knew you wouldn’t approve.” Len sighed. 

“Lisa, I’m an ex-con. Who exactly were you dating that I would have had a leg to stand on in terms of disapprovin’ of him?” 

“Roscoe Dillon—but you probably know him better as the Top,” Lisa said. Len’s mouth dropped open. 

“As in the supervillain who died of a brain aneurysm a few weeks ago? That Top?” Lisa nodded. Well, that explained why Lisa had thought he would disapprove. Even aside from being a supervillain, the Top had been a stuck-up snob—one who was freakishly obsessed with tops. Of all the Flash’s supervillains, he was one of the last ones Len would have wanted his sister to date. 

“Yes. Flash’s vibrations induced Roscoe’s aneurysm the last time they fought. He killed my boyfriend—and I’m going to make him pay!” Lisa shrieked. 

“Lisa, it was an accident. You know it was an accident. Nobody could’ve ever guessed that—” 

“What I know is that my Roscoe is dead because of him!” 

“It was an accident! If I had killed somebody accidentally, would you want their girlfriend to kill me?” Len asked. Lisa’s eyes narrowed. 

“Lenny, I didn’t come here for you to talk me out of this. I’m here to warn you to stay out of my way,” she said. 

“I can’t do that, Lisa.” 

“What do you mean, you can’t do that?”

“The Flash is my friend, and he’s a good man. I understand you’re upset about your boyfriend, but—I can’t let you kill him because he accidentally caused a supervillain to die.” Lisa burst into tears.

“Lenny, you don’t understand! I need this! I need to make him pay! Revenge is all I have left, now that Roscoe’s dead and you’re gone all the time!” Len swallowed hard. 

“Lisa, please. If you attack the Flash, I’ll have to arrest you. I don’t want to have to do that. I don’t wanna send my little sister to prison,” Lisa’s eyes went wide with shock.

“You’d side with the Flash over your own sister?”

“If it means keepin’ my friend alive? And keepin’ you from becomin’ a murderer? I have to,” he replied. 

“You promised you would always protect me! Are you going to break that promise again?” The words twisted like a knife in Len’s gut. 

“I promised I would protect you, and I will. I’ll never leave you alone again. But that don’t mean I’ll stand by and let you kill an innocent man!” 

“So that’s how it is, is it? You’re going to choose your cop friend over me?” Lisa demanded. 

“No, Lisa. But I’m not gonna choose you over him either.” The look of icy hatred in Lisa’s eyes sent a shiver down Len’s spine. 

“You’re just like our father. So I’ll tell you what I told him the last time I saw him. If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.” 

As Lisa turned on her heel and walked away, Sam’s voice echoed in Len’s mind. 

“Since you’re determined to hear what I said as a threat, take it as a threat from the rest of the underworld. There are plenty of them who don’t have the standards that I have. If you keep interfering with them, eventually one of them will kill you.” 

Len hadn’t been afraid of that prospect at the time. But back then, he had never thought that his sister would be one of the crooks trying to kill him.

He was more than scared now. He was terrified. 

******************************************************************************

Lisa was a Snart. When she attacked the Flash, Len had shown up to stop her—and she had kept her word. She tried to kill him, and, even though she hadn’t succeeded, she’d killed a part of him all the same when she’d forced him to fight against the little sister he’d only ever wanted to protect. 

It wasn’t quite enough to make him wish he’d never taken up the superhero gig, not with all the good he’d done, but it was still awful. His little sister was in prison, and she wanted him dead. How was he supposed to move on from that? 

Suddenly, one of the mirrors in his apartment warped and twisted, and the Mirror Master stepped out. 

“If you’ve changed your mind about killing me, go ahead. You’ll never have a better chance than now,” Len said weakly.

“I’m not going to kill you. You’re a pain in the neck, and your constant attempts to get me to reform and put myself in the line of fire are really getting old—but I still owe you my life. And for what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about what happened with your sister. You didn’t deserve that,” Sam said. 

“Why’re you here, Sam?” 

“I’m here to tell you that I’m going to try to keep an eye on your sister and make sure she doesn’t get into too much trouble–either while she’s in prison or when she escapes. Because you know she’s going to. She’s a Snart, just like you.” 

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. She tried to kill me when I got in her way, and I’m her brother. I don’t think she’d even pause before killin’ you.”

  “Who said anything about getting in her way? I’m no hero, and I’m not about to try to stop her. I’m just going to tip you off if she needs help—or, more likely, if she’s coming after you and you need to be on guard,” Sam replied. 

“Well—thanks, then. But this don’t mean I’m gonna just let you go the next time I catch you stealin’ somethin’,” Len said. Sam laughed.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way. Without you and the Flash, life would be far too easy—which is why I’m not actually here.” Sam suddenly shattered into a million pieces on Len’s floor. Len swore. 

Another mirror duplicate. 

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and Len went over and opened it. The Flash was standing on the other side, holding a gallon of Len’s favorite chocolate crunch ice cream. 

“I…I understand if you don’t want company right now, but I wanted to check in on you just in case you did. And bring you that ice cream you like,” he said. 

“Come on in. I could probably use the company—and I could definitely use your speed to help me clean up the mess my last guest left me with,” Len replied. The Flash glanced over to the pile of glass that had been the Mirror Master duplicate. 

“I take it the Mirror Master dropped by?” he asked.

“The guy can make holographic images that vanish without leavin’ a trace. Why does he always insist on sendin’ mirror duplicates that break into pieces when he wants to talk to me without gettin’ caught?” Len replied. The Flash promptly zipped over to the pile of glass, and after only a few seconds, all the glass was stored in some plastic bags and the bags were in Len’s trash can. 

“Thanks.” 

“It was nothing. Where should I put the ice cream?”

“The mini fridge is—” There was a red blur, and Len just barely saw the fridge door open and close. 

“You ever thought about hirin’ yourself out as a pizza delivery guy? You’d make a mint.” 

“If I ever lose my job as a police scientist, I’ll keep that in mind,” the Flash replied. Then he actually pulled off his mask, to reveal a blonde man with bright blue eyes. He was a lot better-looking than Len had ever been, and if he hadn’t known how desperate the Flash was to keep his identity a secret, he would’ve wondered why the guy even bothered to wear the mask. 

“My name’s Barry Allen, and I work for the CCPD’s forensics lab.” 

“You’re giving up your secret identity? Why now?” Len asked.

“Because you just risked your life to protect me from your own sister. If that wasn’t enough to earn my complete trust, I don’t know what else would be.” Len was suddenly struck by a horrible revelation. 

“Wait a minute. If you’re Barry Allen, then when Lisa was goin’ after Iris West-Allen, she was goin’ after your wife,” Len said. Barry nodded. 

“I’m afraid so. Len—I’m so sorry.” 

“You’re sorry? What are you sorry for? I’m the one who should be apologizin’! My sister was tryin’ to murder you and your missus!” 

“She tried to kill you, too. I know how much you love your sister—-and I can’t even imagine what it would be like to have my own sister try to kill me,” Barry replied. 

And suddenly the dam broke, and Len found himself crying for the first time in decades. 

When the tears finally ran out, he looked up at Barry wearily. 

“The funny thing is, the worst part wasn’t her tryin’ to kill me. It was when she looked me in the eye and told me that I was just like our old man. You…you know what he was like. That’s how much my sister hates me,” he said.

“You know, Len, if you wanted to stop operating as a superhero in Central City, I wouldn’t blame you. I can’t ask you to risk getting killed by your own sister.” For a second, Len seriously considered it. 

But then he thought about the people he’d saved, and the friends he’d made, and decided against it. As much as he loved his sister, and as much as he hated the idea of having to fight her again, he couldn’t leave Central City in the lurch. 

“You ain’t gettin’ rid of me that easily. Central City’s my home as much as it is yours, and I ain’t gonna abandon it just ‘cause things got tough for me.” 

**************************************************************************

Len had been Green Lantern for ten years when the Flash—Barry Allen— died saving the universe. 

The mantle didn’t sit vacant long. Barry Allen’s sidekick, Wally West, took up the job. He was still just a kid—barely twenty—and, though he’d had a good amount of experience as Kid Flash, that wasn’t quite the same thing as being the Flash in his own right. 

Which was why Len had to spend a lot of time giving the kid pointers—pointers which he more often than not ignored, and then fell flat on his face. 

If a thuggish ex-con like him had managed to become the Green Lantern, he had no doubt that the kid would be able to make his mentor proud one day—but sometimes that day seemed really far off. 

After an exhausting few hours of trying to referee a fight that had broken out between the kid and his current girlfriend, a police officer named Julie Jackam, Len was sitting at home and eating his chocolate crunch ice cream when there was a knock on his door. He took the ice cream with him as he opened the door–and nearly dropped it when he saw his sister on the other side. 

“Hi, Lenny. It’s been a long time,” she said. She looked older and wearier than he remembered her looking, but since she had spent the last three years in and out of prison and on increasingly-crazy revenge attempts, that probably wasn’t too surprising. He knew from personal experience—-a decade ago or not, some memories stuck with you—how exhausting being a crook could be. 

“Lisa?” he asked.

“I think this is the part where you close the door in my face. I tried to kill you, Lenny.” 

“Why are you here, sis?” Len asked. Lisa sighed. 

“I’ve spent the past three years trying to make the Flash suffer for hurting me. And now he’s dead, and I’ve got nothing to show for it. I’ve thrown away my skating career and my clean record, and I’ve burned every bridge I ever had—-and Roscoe’s still dead. I…I don’t know where to go from here, and, well—you’re the only person I know who might be able to tell me what to do next. Not that I expect you to after I tried to kill you,” she said. Len gave her a small smile. He didn’t know if he’d ever be able to trust Lisa the way that he once had—it was really hard to go back to baseline after someone tried to kill you—but Lisa was still his little sister, and he was very glad to have her back. 

“Lisa, I promised I’d always look after you. And I’m gonna keep that promise.” 

“You shouldn’t. Lenny—I was horrible to you.” 

“Can’t argue with that. But I ain’t got a lot of room to throw stones when it comes to bein’ a criminal,” Len replied. 

“You never did anything like what I did.” 

“I never had someone I love die like you did, either. If you’d died while I was still a crook, I hate to think what I might’ve done.”

“This was a bad idea. I should go.” Lisa turned to leave, and Len used his ring to make a green stop sign appear in front of her.

“We’ve already lost each other twice, sis. Once because I made a bad call, and once because you did. I don’t want us to lose each other again,” he said. Lisa spun back around. 

“You can’t save everybody, Lenny.”

“I know. But I’d be a pretty lousy superhero if I didn’t try to save my own sister. Want some ice cream?” Lisa gave him a small smile. 

“Is it chocolate chunk?” 

“It’s always chocolate chunk.” 

The two of them were sitting together on Len’s couch, eating the last of the ice cream, when Wally suddenly came flying into the room through the door Len had forgotten to close. And for some reason, he was in nothing but his boxers. 

“How did Uncle Barry do this?” he asked. 

“Is that the new Flash? He’s kind of cute,” Lisa said.  Wally’s face went as red as his hair. 

“Who’s she?” he asked. 

“I’m Green Lantern’s crazy sister. My name’s Lisa Snart, but you probably know me as the Golden Glider,” Lisa said. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Wow. You’re even more gorgeous up close,” Wally said. Len groaned. The last thing he needed was for Wally to decide to strike up a romance with his sister. That would only end horribly for both of them—not to mention Julie Jackam. 

“Kid, focus! Why the heck are you runnin’ around in your boxers and nothin’ else?” Wally sighed. 

“It’s Dr. Alchemy! He’s back!” “Which one? Dr. Albert Desmond and Mr. Element, or the creepy gremlin?” 

“The gremlin. He transmuted my costume into oxygen in front of everybody, and now  the whole city thinks I’m a total idiot!” 

“In that case, kid, maybe you should—” 

And Wally was gone. 

“This must be some sort of cosmic payback for the headaches I used to give Kilowog,” Len muttered. 

Still, he wasn’t surprised when Wally found a way to triumph over Dr. Alchemy a few hours later. 

“Kid’s got the makings of a great hero in him. He just needs to slow down and learn how to control that temper of his.” Lisa smiled. 

“Well, if anyone would know what it takes to make a great hero, it would be you, Lenny.”

[bones-of-a-rabbit]

status of babbit's life yeehaw

tl,dr: busy moving and a couple of other big life things that just complicate things, but well on the way to being back to normal! new fic chapters and better quality art coming soon.

tl,wr (too long, will read):

Helloooo what's up its me, Babbit. or Rabbit. or Bones. or Idiot Moron Menace Child, idk im not picky lol

i know a lot of you guys have been wondering wtf is up with my upload schedule lately and the extreme lack of even basic content and also i am extremely aware that i have not updated my fics in a few millennia and for that i am very, very sorry. this post is to answer a few questions you might have, if anyone was curious about the 'reason' instead of just the 'when.'

my family and i have had a hell of a year, y'all. like, jesus christ, i really hope things level out and calm down for a while once we're moved in to our new apartment bc god damn we are so tired. the list goes: 1. we got kicked out of the house we were renting-to-own bc we wouldn't be able to afford the new rate, so they gave us two months to find a new place to live (not long enough, it turns out) and then foreclosed to get us out. 75% of our belongings were still in the house when we had to leave. that includes all of our christmas ornaments- including the ones kept for decades, and the ones made by me and my siblings, and the fancy ones made from blown glass. 2. the first night out of the house, one of our dogs, freaked out by the strangeness of the situation, panicked and slipped her harness and ran off. that was over a year ago. we haven't seen her since. 3. my cat got very ill and became unable to eat. she passed away almost exactly a year ago. she had been 14-15, and had been my baby since i was maybe 8. 4. one of the tires on my dads car blew out. during the night, while it was parked on the curb so he could put the spare on in the morning, one of the in-tact tires was fucking stolen LMAO 5. we applied to rent at so many places and got rejected so, so many times. it costs money to apply, btw. we're talking like $200+. no, u don't get that money back. 6. i lost my job bc knowing i would have to work 8 hours at a job that stresses me out to the point of exhaustion (at a place where no one takes me seriously and would actively laugh at me when i try to express my need to step away for a minute) sometimes paralyzed me and made me sick to my stomach and made me feel unable to leave the house, and i called out one too many times. a day after my birthday, too! 7. just recently, like within the last week, my dad's car got fuckin totalled!!!!!

THE GOOD NEWS IS WE OFFICIALLY, FINALLY, AFTER A SOLID YEAR, HAVE AN APARTMENT!!!!! I'LL HAVE MY OWN ROOM AGAIN!!! THERE'S AN ENTIRE KITCHEN!!!!!!!

the 'oh god' news is we still have to move in, and replace a lot of the stuff that we just couldn't take with us when we moved out (mostly stuff like bookshelves, dining table, dressers, etc) AND get the few things we could cram into a storage center out and moved into the new place, which isn't a lot but at the same time is more than we can realistically handle on our own. and then, we have to get my mums cats (a pair of kitty sisters that we had to temporarily house with my aunt, who got tired of looking after them and let them outside to be outdoor cats a few months ago. yes, this was an extremely shitty thing to do, and we've been working hard to get them back safely) AND my gecko (who my cousin has been looking after, even tho feeding him worms freaks him out LMAO yes i plan on compensating him) moved in, as well... basically oh my god there is so much to worry about but at the same time it's nice to have to worry about it bc it means we're making progress sdkfhsjdkfhdsjfh

basically i am just so tired but so busy and also thinkin abt so much im so sorry for lack of stuff but i am so looking forward to being able to bounce back, pls stick with me, it'll be sorted out soon i think and then i'll hit y'all with some good stuff i promise!!!!!!!

anyway thank u guys i love u and appreciate u all for sticking around

[maxwell-grant]

🔥 X-men/Krakoa?

Allright let me swing at the hornet's nest here a bit: Krakoa was wasted on the X-Men, not the other way around.

Krakoa was, however problematic and shitty and complicated it might have been even from day one, was onto something enough to generate the intense interest and instant fandom it did, and it's biggest problem wasn't with the forgiving of unrepentant monstrous villains (because that door got blown open forever ago), or the no-humans-allowed policy, or the genocide in Latin America, or the pod people resurrection that took the bite out of every mutant genocide and death past and future, or that the entire premise was built around them trusting the funi haha eugenicist Nazi to build their paradise and let himself be stopped later, or that it kept revolving around the petty courtly intrigues of the arch assholes in charge with only like, two writers capable of propping up this to make it worth reading about. The central problem didn't have as much to do with the fact that the newfound central focus on shadowy detached superhumans huffing their supremacist royalist fumes 24/7 is precisely why nobody likes the Inhumans and especially why nobody liked them as a replacement to the X-Men, and you can't cobble a story out of Magneto/Emma Frost/Mr Sinister mean girl one-liners and hot takes even if that's all the fans want (yes, the X-Men are bastards and so is everyone in the MU, how cutting and insightful and powerful they are yes very impressed, but an Epic Bastard Moments compilation is still not a story). I don't even think it can be entirely blamed on the fact that they had the X-Men speedrun through the 14 rules of fascism as the opening act to a larger story only to decide that actually, we don't need that larger story after all, thanks Hickster but we can just take it from here and keep Stage One as is, everyone's gonna be cool with the cult shit if it still feels like it's going anywhere other than back to the school, we can keep this up forever now! This isn't even a bit, I don't think these things were the biggest cause of death for Krakoa even if they all were there.

I think the biggest problem is that, no matter how many cool or great characters they add to their ranks or what turns into epic pulp sci-fi bombast they take, the X-Men might just be foundationally, irreperably broken as a concept, smothered under the weight of the selling metaphor that just gets more dated and problematic and easier to tear holes into with every passing year, and Krakoa ultimately just elevated all these problems to center stage. There was never going to be a world where Magneto says something as full of shit as "There has never been a mutant war and we've never conquered or stolen land or made slaves and that's why we're better, by the way we're going to be your new gods now" with a straight-face and didn't have that proven immediately wrong (not counting all the people in the Council who absolutely did do all of those things). Krakoa couldn't be both the terra nullius dream clubhouse and the "queer separatist utopia" people desperately craved and a cult backed up by genocide run by self-destructive warmongering hypocrites and a next step in evolution and the headquarters to a superhero team you need to tell monthly exploding punchy stories about and a place that was going to live forever and lead us into the better future and a house of cards waiting to be toppled. It didn't have a future because quite frankly, the mutants don't have a future.

The mutants are, even after all this time, still a half-baked idea of people entirely defined by their oppression, by their death and torture and the hollow space where you're expected to insert your own marginalized traits to identify with instead of much of anything akin to how real marginalized identities are formed and developed and solidified over time. Pretending that the mutants can subsist forever on past shoddy worldbuilding and dated, vague parallels just gets more embarassing over time. It's not an issue individually cool comics or characters are going to fundamentally fix. Krakoa, to it's credit, was some way towards trying to define the mutants past their oppression, but they barely had a language or a flag, and even these attempts were smothered under the Claremontian shadow that's been choking this franchise forever and by the inability of The Big Two to truly hand the reins to anyone other than the same stables of white dudes who always get the final say in everything. Krakoa was Going Somewhere up until it wasn't, and the promise alone breathed a whole new life into the X-books, we really did get some very good comics out of this era, but it was always going to end the way it ended.

Actually scrap all of that, my hot take is, not for racist reasons or anything, but we should destroy the X-Men and replace them with big cool robots that can make us safe forever. Has anyone tried that already?

[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV S2 Ep4 Musings - Claudia

STUNNING. GORGEOUS girl, omg.

TELL IT, CLAUDIA! 😤

Please--Y'ALL owe Claudia an apology!

😱

Wicked Stepfather Armand has entered the chat!

Not Santiago being a better support system than Louis, I CANNOT.

Foreshadowing as usual, go awf. (Also: does Claudia live with the coven now?)

I cannot BELIEEEEEVE they have me about to LIKE Santiago of all people. My daughter needs a friend--did it HAVE to be this buffoon!?

Of all people, did it HAVE to be a Nazi sympathizer, AMC? 😩

They're slow-burning us with Claudeleine, and I really wanna like someone not from this effing coven, so chop chop, AMC! 😅

These Yellow Dress (TM) jumpscares are gonna HOSPITALIZE me!

2 years since Claudia & Madeleine first met, ok. 1947ish?

FINALLY SOMEONE MENTIONS HER RED EYES, THANK YOU!!! 😭 More windows!

MY DAUGHTER HAS SUFFERED MORE THAN CHRIST.

PLEASE don't gas her up to go and do something stupid.

Oh god no, my Memnoch PTSD war flashbacks! Lestat & Claudia have waaaaay too much in common! (Did Claudia ever get a period, even? I was 14 when I got my first one, so she very well could've died not having had one.) Run, Madz! XD (How the heck did she just sit there in a pool of her own blood like that though? God, life before maxi pads with wings must've been MESSY--I'd kms.)

Didn't Louis JUST tell you he doesn't like the way you treat his daughter?

Why're y'all always YELLING!? That's how you're gonna get caught, always talking about vamp stuff in friggin public!

True.

OML.

Um...NO ONE'S noticed the child abuse happening TWO FEET in front of you?

I commend how they're REALLY fleshing Armand out, making him more complex and multidimensional. But he's not beating the Wicked Stepfather allegations.

Pot meet kettle. At least she's out there looking--Lou's the type to just mope at home for another 6-7 years.

OOHHHHHH.She's who he was yelling at in the trailer! O_O (There he goes again with that nasty "Yeah, go get in the hole!" attitude from Ep1.) You just KNOW he's been holding that outburst back ever since S01E05--she left him LONG ago, and Lou NEVER recovered. But neither of them are exactly what the other needs. Louis wants/needs a HUSBAND, but he NEVER really "left" his daughter--she's the one who insisted on being "sister." In his head he never thinks of her that way. She ghosted him for 7 years while he was worried sick about her (as a runaway child, I'm 100% team Claudia, but omg my mom whined & complained about it, so I get the other side, even though I don't particularly CARE). She picked the coven, she was even ready to pick that Revenant! But Lou put her in the line of fire over & over--he let Les harass & abuse her; Armand disrespect & humiliate & exploit her; he let her walk into the lion's den not knowing their secret had LONG been blown. Like wtf.

😭😭😭 She'll always be her parents' daughter. 💔

Omg--Santiago's gonna read all that at the Trial. EFF! That's her very first diary after she was turned! The flowery one's the diary she had when she met Charlie, so at least Santiago doesn't have that ammo. But he's got her Kill Book with Les' blood! 😱

He knows everything about how/why "Uncle Les" made her. This is BAD. U_U

[officialpenisenvy]

confession, being an update regarding the guy i'm fucking who told his neighbour that i'm his son, and also some other crises:

first, i did actually end up calling him dad, it was on accident and in a stupid context and now he's mad at me (i was the cunt here). the incident being: we went out then back to his, i was about to blow him, but then he said something which reminded me of other guys who used to tell me that same thing, so i had a minor mental breakdown and called him a pervert and a homo (funny thing to call the guy you were about to fellate) and generally trying to macho my way into coming out of this interaction looking straight and normal (not possible). he tried to get me out of it by slapping me, i got more mad, at this point i'm trying to fight him but not doing a very good job (blind drunk, first attempt missed his face and hit the side of his neck, felt like a massive loser), also i'm calling him dad by then. now he's calling ME a pervert back and like yeah he has a leg to stand on here (i didn't) and then i throw up on his shoes and he kicks me out. texted him an apology a few days ago but it was atrociously bad because of my ego and he hasn't replied yet so unless i accidentally run into him while we're both drunk he should probably start thinking how to tell his nosy neighbours why his son doesn't visit anymore.

second, i am glad to announce i found the old keys to my dad's apartment so i went in while he was at work and took back my records that he stole from me when my parents separated. so i win. sadly i found out i owe him money which i won't pay but i'm mad like, conceptually.

third i'm back with my coach from childhood who in retrospect was highly inappropriate and also excessively violent with me but back then i thought it was normal because of, i mean because of my dad probably right, also the one time i can remember thinking something was off he said it was very normal between two men in sport and i fully 100% believed him for years and later got surprised when my football coach was just a normal man basically. but i quit that sport at 14 because i became attracted to him and thought that was gay of me so i legged it. anyway i'm back because he's the only guy training that style in my city so for a year now i'm grappling him or another trainee but under his watch multiple times a week more or less and wires get very crossed and he's still a pervert which is not good for me... advocating for pederasty to preserve my dignity here.

i feel i always unload a sack of rocks upon your blog but i'm bad at shutting up. in unrelated news - joined a band, doing a show tomorrow and opening with black dog which is fun. singer is in the habit of trying to shriek like robert while being... nearly a baritone, but i think it's beautiful when singers kill their voices while young so i encourage it. i hope the rest of your day is joyful........

mama forget the band i think you need to lock yourself in a cloister........ first of all insane way to break up with your daddy boyfriend and possibly the most heterosexual way it could've gone on account of the fistfighting and name-calling. second of all good for you on getting your records back 🥳 third of all im not going to advocate for it explicitly but let's just say i would welcome another ask from you in a few weeks detailing how you ended up getting your back blown out by mister coach. godspeed to you and your multitude of both sexual and antagonistic father figures 🙏

[piratefishmama]

I got tagged in a questions thingy.

by: @w1ll0wtr33  thanks sweets!

1. Are you named after anyone?

Nope, my name was in fact a mistake made by a nurse! It was supposed to be a hyphenated combination of my first and middle name, but the person doing the birth certificate made an error.

2. when was the last time you cried?

Like… fully? Uhm. August? The day before my dad got out of the hospital I had a full blown panic attack cause I knew I’d be alone in taking care of his asshole self and wasn’t prepared to do that. There was crying involved in that.

3. do you have kids?

I would sooner rip my own uterus and womb out, Netflix Witcher style than have children.

Storytime: My mum once bought me a £75 stroller and doll, an this was years ago, like, single digits age range so that was EXPENSIVE for the time (fuck man, it’s expensive now lmao), I… left it out as far away from the house as I, at my age, could... in the rain. An it was all silk and satin material so it was well and truly fucked.

They stopped expecting eventual grandchildren from me very early on in my life.

4. What sports do you/have you play/played?

Does archery count? I feel like archery should count lmao I do archery, and I used to do ju-jitsu, I have medals somewhere for ju-jitsu, god knows where though my medals were never worth keeping track of apparently. My brother's are in his old room.

5. Do you use sarcasm?

Fluently.

6. what’s the first thing you notice about people?

That they’ve invaded my carefully curated alone time and thus have become my enemy.

7. what’s your eye colour?

Hazel, with more green than brown.

They're also my favourite eye colour too! there’s so many variations of it, do you have more green or brown in it? is there a ring of darker colour around your iris or not? Hazel has so many variations it’s such a pretty eye colour to have and it changes. Hazel eyes are magic.

8. scary movies or happy endings?

Thanks to my truly stellar vivid imagination and Childhood Trauma™��, I cannot watch scary movies. At least not ones that have plausibility. Like they could happen. Because for some reason, everytime I watch one of those, my brain ever so lovingly decides to recreate the movie in the form of a nightmare where all the starring cast are people I actually care about an I’m just. watching them all die.

It's never fun. And I can never escape it. Even waking up, if I go to sleep, I will go right back into that nightmare, there’s no escape.

9. any talents?

Many! i have ADHD and autism, I have so many random skills. The only one I can reliably do on command though is writing. I can draw, paint, sew, sing, dance, and many others… sometimes, but the only one I can reliably do without fail, is write.

10. where were you born?

Britain. You don’t get closer than that I ain’t about to dox myself.

11. what are your hobbies?

Writing, reading, video games, creating shit.

12. do you have any pets?

Hope and Shadow are my two dogs, you all know them by now I’m sure. I have a shitton of tropical fish in tanks both upstairs and down, I did have a very smol bird but I had to put him up for adoption as unfortunately he and Hope simply did not get along, she made him very anxious and he made her hungry for bird.

13. how tall are you?

I’m tiny, 4’11.

14. favourite subject in school?

English. I had a great teacher. It would have been art but unfortunately I hated my teacher, and my teacher hated me and that made the lessons very uncomfortable.

15. dream job?

I would love to work with animals. Animals are easier than people.

And no, i'm not tagging people.

[golbrocklovely]

since i have nothing else to post right now…

here’s the last of colby’s tweets from 2020.

i don’t have proof that these are his tweets, but believe me, they are his.

if it’s bold and italicized, it’s someone’s tweet to him.

if it’s in (), that’s just me commenting lol

added bonus: if they have a * next to them, that means it’s been deleted

~~~~~~~~~~

Oct. 1 - love doing things for myself

Oct. 4 - i’m in so much pain. sos

fan: u ok?

poison oak. everywhere …. everywhere.

Oct. 5 - i like the simple things

Oct. 7 - less is more

Oct. 10 - i wanna make you happy

how am i so busy during the day but still manage to find 2 hours to mindlessly scroll through tik tok? i can’t be the only one

Oct. 14 - i care too much

Oct. 15 - somehow it wasn’t enough

Oct. 18 - fan: I CANT BE THE ONLY ONE WHO ALWAYS WONDERED WHAT COLBY SMELLED LIKE..I WANA KNOW WHAT COLOGNE HE WEARS

mayonnaise

(i hate this man so much lmao)

Oct. 19 - Justin Bieber’s new song made me tear up, that dudes been through so much. no one could even imagine what that’s like.. achieving everything and being in the biggest spotlight at such a young age.

Oct. 20 - @/samgolbach: less than 6 months ago i broke my back. and i decided to take that as a challenge to get healthy again. and today i ran the fastest mile i’ve ever run. so yes, i might be an idiot but i’m a determined idiot 🤘🏼🏃🏼

🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼 that’s an insane accomplishment ! i remember when it was a struggle to stand up out of bed

new day, same cycle

Oct. 21 - my mom is texting me all the young pictures of me and it’s bringing me memories i didn’t know i had

Oct. 25 - panic attacks late at night are the worst

Nov. 1 - @/colbybrockscar: reminder that it’s no nut November!!! @/ColbyBrock doesn’t even have to try. He’s got this shit in the bag. It probs comes out like baby powder if he tries

did my car just roast me ?

Nov. 4 - this is scary

cuties! all 3 of you! (reply to fan in merch with friend and cat)

Nov. 6 - @/GracynCarr: I can’t believe the audacity of a high school tweet to pop up on my timeline lmao.. miss u tho @/ColbyBrock :)

hope you're well xx

Nov. 8 - so much talent thank youu love (reply to fan's art)

fan: Um. So I tweeted this to you before but alot has also changed since then sooo wanted to say thank you 🖤 🖤 @/ColbyBrock

proud of you, and good luck with your dreams darlin 🖤 you can accomplish anything with the right mindset and hard work. i believe in ya

time flies, and i’m so scared of losing my youth. it’s inevitable i know, but damn makes you wanna cherish every moment you got

Nov. 11 - i hate when nothing is wrong but nothing feels right

Nov. 12 - the person who makes you forget about the rest of the world

Nov. 13 - today marks 6 years since we posted our first YT video on the MAIN S&C account .. 🖤 what a wild ride

Nov. 14 - promise you i’m a good waste of time

Nov. 15 - @/katstuartmusic: “sunday is my funday” - colby brock 2020

🥂💁🏻‍♂️💁🏻‍♂️

fan: Colby u get drunk off of one white claw

fight me

other fan: my money is on mags

round house kicks to the face don’t feel too good

(is it bad that i like when colby gets weirdly violent with us sksksks)

Nov. 16 - the Why Dont We dudes are some of the nicest people in LA

*Nov. 17 - @/gabytriana: It’s out! Sam and Colby were so much fun to work with, and despite what Colby said, I did not hate him when we first met! 😆 Both he and Sam are super kind, smart, generous entertainers who know how to tell a good story! I love them both!! Happy Book Birthday, @/samandcolby

hahaha thank youu so much for all the hard work ! so excited it’s finally here

(interestingly enough, colby didn't delete his tweet… gaby did)

Nov. 19 - went to a Pyschic Reader tonight. my mind is blown. im not a skeptic anymore, video coming tomorrow

fan: Get ready for religious people to freak out

the psychic i talked to was religious, i’m not sure how but i think the two concepts can exist at the same time

Nov. 21 - hard to trust

fan: @/ColbyBrock hey, i love u lots

love you 🖤

Nov. 23 - fan: imagine if @/ColbyBrock responded to this

could you imagine

Nov. 24 - fan: lmao okay so my friend put this together when I FINALLY received Colby's reaper merch yesterday and I had to laugh, I am actually stupid. But I thought it was a lil funny so y'all can see it too then xx

hahahha love it. thank you. you’re not a sack of potatoes in my eyes

Nov. 27 - happy b day @/SamGolbach you know this and imma save the sappy shit for your big 25th bday but i wouldn’t be here without you. you’re the most intelligent, deep thinking dude i’ve ever met and i feel pretty damn lucky to be able to call you a business partner AND best friend

Nov. 28 - take it easy

Nov. 30 - should i hop back on tik tok?

Dec. 2 - @/aaron_doh: At least I got a photo shoot out of it 😄

whaaat. dude i wish you a speedy recovery

Dec. 3 - it’s hard to move on

Dec. 5 - a nice escape is all i need

welp. i guess i’m a lightweight

Dec. 9 - miss you

Dec. 14 - all the baggage that comes with me

Dec. 15 - been workin hard for you , announcement tomorrow

fan: omg are you pregaganant

how'd you know

@/samandcolby: announcement tomorrow… 2021 will be the best year of our lives (and probably most difficult)

fan: are we getting married?? is that why?

yes

i hate how having anxiety makes me nauseous. it’s the worst feeling

Dec. 16 - it’s all about living in the moment and making every. second. count.

fan: yeah @/ColbyBrock how much are you charging for tattoos…

free for you

Dec. 18 - big tool pic but i’ve been workin hard

@/mannymua733: we absolutely do not mind

hahahaha

(god damn… this pic is still so good lol)

also cold weather always makes me want a special someone to spend time with. cuddle buddy is neeeeeded

fan: okay but can we just take a second to appreciate how hard colby’s been working in the gym because dayum

thank you sweeeetheart

fan: HELP COLBY IS TRENDING

yoo i love you guys 🥺

Dec. 20 - got tatted last night and i barely remember

how i feel this morning (pic of him floating)

fan: you’ve seen elf on the shelf… but have you seen cole in a hole? (@/ColbyBrock)

i’m mad i laughed at this

Dec. 23 - why’d ya have to change on me

so bittersweet saying goodbye to my childhood home of 18 years… i’ll only be back to kansas to visit and sleep in hotels from now on. strange feeling, but so happy for my mom and dad for taking a chance and moving

it’s like i don’t have a real “home” anymore. since i move so much anyways it’s hard to find a spot to actually call home

fan: i just want to say that colby has helped me through so much this year. i had a tough year as many others did but you’ve seriously have helped me through so much. i love you so so much @/ColbyBrock

awh that’s why i make videos in the first place. for people like you

Dec. 24 - addicted to you

my mom and i are the weirdest duo on the planet when we’re together i swear

fan: Make a video with her for Christmas

my whole family despises being on camera 💔

Dec. 25 - fan: momma brock is the sweetest ever

she’s my favorite woman in the world

Merry Christmas friends ! 🖤

i wish i could have face tats for like one week but it doesn’t really work like that huh

Dec. 26 - everyone’s battling their own demons

Dec. 28 - fan: Colby drinking wine but he's such a lightweight that he's probably drunk, lmao @/ColbyBrock

🤫🤫🤫

fan: the vibes are fucking ethereal i’m guessing @/ColbyBrock

you got it

[my2amgaythoughts]

Okay, so today is Eddie's deathday and I've been debating all day which way to take this.

March 27, 1987

Steve woke up to the light from the open window shining in his eyes. He felt warm all over as he settled into the familiar weight on top of him. Eddie was sleeping soundly, his mouth open with a line of drool leading to the wet patch on Steve's chest. His hair was loose, frizzing out in a wild halo that caught the morning sunlight and made him look somehow beautiful, even with the drool and snoring.

Steve wasn't sure how he'd gotten so lucky, but he was determined to never waste a moment of the miraculous time he had at Eddie's side. He thought back to that day, exactly one year ago, when he first realized how he felt.

"Harrington's got her, dontcha big boy?"

One stupid, flirtatious, dorky sentence had Steve spiraling into a full-blown gay crisis.

Thank God Eddie had listened to him about not being a hero. He shuddered to think where they'd be if he hadn't.

Steve had an image flash through his mind suddenly of Dustin, covered in blood and dirt, sobbing as he held a limp body in his arms.

He shook the image from his head. Everything was fine. Eddie was here, safe with him. He lowered his head into the other boy's hair and inhaled, the scent of leather and cigarettes reassuring him that he was okay.

Eddie started to shift, eyes opening and glancing around before falling on Steve's. He smiled up at him warmly, his eyes glassy with sleep.

Suddenly Steve's head was invaded by an image of Eddie's dirty, tear-streaked face with blood dripping from his mouth. His eyes look directly at him, but the light behind them was gone, leaving only a vacant shell, devoid of the vibrant life Steve had come to expect there.

"Everything okay big boy?" Eddie asked as the faraway look crossed Steve's face.

Steve shook his head again.

"Everything's fine," he smiled, "just thinking about how glad I am that you listened to me a year ago when I told you not to be cute."

Eddie pouted. "I'm always cute."

Steve couldn't disagree with that. He laughed as he pulled Eddie close to his chest and closed his eyes again, wanting to bask in the warm feeling.

Steve opened his eyes.

The room was dark and he was shivering. He must have kicked his blankets off in his sleep again.

Steve was in the center of his bed, body curled possessively around the denim vest he clutched to his chest. He checked the clock beside his bed.

12:14.

It was officially the 27th. It was one year today since they lost Eddie.

A few tears escaped as Steve laid his head back down, hoping that he could continue his dream.

[malevolententity]

PROJECT 14!! I TOOK A BREAK FROM PATTERNING RICHAS!!

oh boy!! this took all of quarentena part 1 to make!! its been a few years since i made anything mesh so whipping up this hat in? what 5 and a half hours? maybe 6? i have not checked the vod time and i was also Cooking Dinner during a portion of it so time is hard to judge on how long this actually took. but it was fun! it Did reawaken my urge to crochet a mesh shirt even tho i would never wear it because it would be so uncomfortable. but making mesh is just so very mindless in a way thats good for me. maybe i should make a mesh blanket to scratch that itch.

we have an array of models for this item! to try and show off the mesh say hello to the bobby i made back in? oh the beginning of april i believe? i dont think any of you have actually seen bobby he might have been a twitter exclusive, say hi to bobby. we also have green garlic my bulbasaur showing off the mesh the best i believe!

QUARENTENA SEASON THOUGHTS! YES I AM CALLING IT A SEASON THERES GONNA BE 2 EPS. SEASON 1 ONLY HAD 3 EPS. THIS TOO CAN BE A SEASON!

i am blown away by how fun this group is and the skills they all have to roleplay in a second or third language for like 6 hours with basically no breaks to speak their natural languages. that is taxing to do and to deliver a story on top of that? i am so proud and impressed with all of them. also holy shit????????? no one fucking died???? i was convinced when the oneshot, now season, was announced that it was going to be a dungeon crawl that ends in everyone dying. i cant believe theyre all still alive after that?? AND THEN THERES ANOTHER EPISODE IRL NEXT WEEK?? i cant wait for the tpk next week!

i love this entire cast of characters theyre all such weird fucking guys in the most complimentary ways. I LOVE THAT WE BASICALLY GOT A SAW MOVIE??? THRIVING!! in a move that shall surprise no one. diego is my favorite. look at him. he is guy of all time to me. BUT OKAY THEYRE ALL WEIRD and usually when you have a cast of weirdos theres always someone who doesnt gel but they all did!! they all fought each other!!! but they all still complimented each others insanity and. this is what the party comp is To Me

i am too lazy to open photoshot for this tonight. maybe you get it proper tomorrow<3

i loved the ending. i loved the slow realization on everyones faces that in saving themselves they might be killing the world and still themselves!!!! also i cant wait to see the fall out next week. i am so fucking upset my dnd game is scheduled for around the same time so i am going to miss probably the first 2ish hours but i know my dash and the official!!!! twitter updates account!!! will catch me up on those two hours so i can jump back in. but AAAA oh i loved this. i dont know if it was on purpose that this felt like a zero escape game at times but oh man the production quality in this vs where m at in season 2 is just mind blowing. i knew it got better once they started being in the studio but this was so great for a home game. ALSO YALL GO CHECK ON AMY??? GO GET THE KID??? YOU CANT JUST LEAVE THE TRAUMATIZED BABY ALONE AFTER EVERYTHING U DID TO KEEP HER ALIVE??? GO GET HER?????

AND ALSO?? STUDIO NEXT WEEK?? BRAZIL MEETUP??? OH I AM SO PLEASED TO SEE IT ALL AND WHAT HAPPENS. this is def my longest update for this silly crochet project i started just a few months ago and i apologize but also. i dont because this show does mean so much more to me than i know how to put into words. and its been a long time since i fell in love with a tabletop universe this quickly. and i feel so grateful that i got to be introduced to this ttrpg earlier this year, and got to pull some friends into watching quarentena tonight because theyve heard me gushing about how good this universe is and how i trust this to be satisfying horror which is so hard to do in ttrpgs, but thats another post for another day.

[dailyaudiobible]

4/16/2023 DAB Transcript

Josh 13:1-14:15, Luke 18:1-17, Psalm 85:1-13, Proverbs 13:7-8

Today is the 16th day of April, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian, it is wonderful to be here with you today, as we greet a brand-new, shiny week that is out here in front of us friends. Here we are sitting around the Global Campfire, looking out over this brand-new week and it, it's all clean and pretty. It's all out there, nothing, nothing has really happened yet, we haven't lived it yet. We will tell the story of this week, by writing it with our lives, with our thoughts and our words and our deeds. So, we are doing well to center ourselves in the Scriptures and take the next step forward into this week together. And our next step will lead us back into the Book of Joshua. We’ve seen twice now that a bunch of kings allied themselves together to attack Israel, only to be defeated. This is how most of the conquest of the Promised Land happened. Armies gathered together to eradicate Israel and then were unsuccessful, Israel, thereby taking over the land. And so, we will read from the New International Version this week and pick up the story where we left off, Joshua chapters 13 and 14 today.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for this brand-new week. And like we were thinking about at the very beginning, it's out in front of us. And we need You. We sit here out in front of this week and look into it and yeah, it’s shiny and sparkly, but we can make a mess of things. We have done plenty in our lives to make a mess of our days and weeks and so, we know what that looks and feels like. And yet, at the beginning of a new week, each week, here we can reflect upon what is out in front of us and choose to follow You, choose to slow down and consider where You are leading. And so, Holy Spirit, come and lead us on our steps, lead us in our interactions with others. Help us to remember that we are to love one another as we love ourselves. Help us to have that posture toward each other. This posture of humility that we were talking about this past week in the Gospels of humbly doing our service. Help us in the choices that come our way this week. Some of them may be really big and consequential, and some of them may be small that lead to big things and we don't always know, we need Your leadership. Help us in our communication, may we soften our hearts, so that our language may be softer and kinder, not just for the sake of aa humble posture, but so that we may bring life through our words and not death. Come, Holy Spirit, we pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Prayer and Encouragements:

Good afternoon, DAB Family. This is Justify Now in North Carolina. It’s April 7th, Good Friday. Just wanted to call in and say that I’m so grateful and appreciative for what Jesus did for us so many years ago. He sacrificed His life for you and me and He paid that price for our sins and I’m so grateful. And I’m so glad to be saved. Just wanna thank Brian for that wonderful commentary today about this hurricane of worry that we live in. It resounded with me so much. You hit so many points that was so spot on, Brian. That word says fear not what is blocked but ___ good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God bless you Brian and I pray for you and your family and all the DABers. Pray that ya’ll have a very blessed resurrection day. Love you now. Bye bye.

Hi, my name’s Andrea. I’ve been listening for a couple years, and I called in once before. I’m not sure if it got posted but I really need prayers for my son Jayden. He is 19 years old. He’ll be 20 in October. He’s away at college and he’s on his second round of Accutane. This isn’t a mild case of acne; it came out of nowhere the first time. We thought we had it under control. He went away to college and his face exploded. He came home around Christmas time and was put back on Accutane. His severe scaring from the first round and now his face is so blown up he can barely eat on either side of his mouth. They put him on a steroid to try to calm it down, they’ve lowered the dose, now they’re lowering it again. It’s just so bad that it’s causing him issues in his own life. I don’t even know if I could go outside the way he looks, it’s heartbreaking. He’s one of the kindest people I know and has a heart for God and prays. And my heart is breaking for him. No one should suffer like this, and I don’t know what’s causing it. They don’t know why it won’t stop. Just pray for my son. As a mother, it’s hard to watch your son struggle, being so far away, having to blood work and getting bloody noses and it’s just painful. Very painful to watch. Something is causing this, and they don’t know what to do. High doses of the stuff is dangerous for your body, long term. And the scaring is horrible. So, please I’m just asking that you would all pray for my son, Jayden, and lift him up. That God would heal whatever is causing this condition to happen in his body. I appreciate it very much. Thank you DAB family. I love you, bye.

Hi, everyone, this is Janean from Washington. I hope you all had a nice Easter. And this morning I wanted to lift up Garret in prayer. I was very touched by his call this morning. And so, Father, we just lift up Garret to You. Thank You for his life. I thank You for his desire to serve You. And I just thank You for his honesty in sharing his struggles with depression and alcoholism. And today, Lord, I just ask that You would pour out Your mercy and Your grace and Your love upon him. I pray that he would know how much You care about him, Father. And for all of us, You’ve removed our sins, as far as the East is from the West. And I thank You for that, Lord. And just assure him of that love and forgiveness that You have. And, and moving forward, Father, I just pray for just great strength for him as he faces different issues in life, as we all do, Father. Would You just give him the grace and strength to reach out to You and when the enemy tries to tempt him to turn to alcohol, Lord, just may he just run to You and to Your word, to other Christians who can support him. And so, Father, I just ask for Your grace and mercy once again, to be upon him today. And just strengthen him and encourage him. Thank You for his desire to walk worthy of the calling You’ve given him. I pray that You’d help him to do that, Lord, by Your strength and Your power. And we just lift him up today now, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Hello, Daily Audio Bible Family, this is Diana, His Dearly Beloved in Washington State, formerly from Minnesota. I just heard from Justin, which made my heart so happy. Justin, formerly of Southern California, now of Memphis. I’ve been praying for you for years, dear brother. And many others, that I keep waiting to hear from again. So, my heart was so blessed in hearing from you. I’m very sorry for the challenges that you’ve been having and, but you know, as you said, if you’re looking for truth, you’ve definitely come to the right place. So, I will continue praying for you. Super excited that you called in. And I would also like to ask for prayer for an upcoming surgery for me. I had a surgery last week. I had pancreatitis and had four stones removed from my common bowel duct, because I no longer have a gull bladder, that was removed in 2001. And now have a surgery for an abdominal hernia. I’ve had multiple surgeries over the last two years and, and I had a nine-pound baby in my past and I’m over 60. So, I’m now kind of struggling with some structural weakness of my abdomen. So, I’m gonna have an elective surgery to help put in a mesh binder to hopefully fix that. So, anyway, just wanted to, I was so happy to hear from Justin. I love you all. I hope you had a blessed Easter. Take care. Bye.

Okay DABers, this is Eyes of a Dove. I had to wait all day to call you guys. I’ve been fairly emotional, numb, kind of shell shocked actually. All be 47 years old this July. So, I guess I’m not a young one, right. However, I know that the Lord has designed me for eternity, and I don’t believe it’s my time to leave this earth, anytime soon. A couple days ago, I went in for my yearly mammogram. And this morning, Monday morning, I received a message that they have found a 1.3-centimeter mass in my right chest, with blurry edges, I guess, or uneven edges. It’s oval in shape. And it’s about half the size of a pea. I don’t know how to feel. It’s 30 days before my wedding and the enemy is just doesn’t want, doesn’t want this marriage to happen. Oh man, we’ve just had it. It’s just been overwhelming friends. Every single day there’s been something. Nearly semi-breaking down, trying to find a car for Braden, every car breaking down. The car we bought; they scammed us. And we’re trying to make the best of a situation, take it day-by-day. But this one just bulldozed me. I still have my young ones. It’s not time. And I know that that’s a small tumor, right. And I don’t receive that it’s anything but benign, in Jesus name. But yeah, I’m afraid. They can’t get me in until the end of April. And they would be one and half to two-hour extensive imaging appointment. But at the end, the doctor will give me results as to where I’m at. And I’m praying that I can get in sooner and I’m praying that it will be benign. And I pray for healing. Will you join me?

[slow-button-off]

Max was so calm because he knows all the other drivers will just let him pass like nothing (like every other time) and he'll be in the top 5 in like 2 laps lol and Ferrari will screw up with Charles so he won't be able to battle

The other drivers should start remembering that they are there to at least TRY and bring home points instead of just letting Max pass for fear of him pushing them into a wall

And you can't even say "they know their battle is not with Max" because last year they defended against Charles like crazy even though Charles was in another league, fighting for p1 and then p2, and there was no point in battling with him

They'll just let Max pass like always

I really hope we'll see the results of the penalties against Red Bull soon, when upgrades are required. Right now they have a rocket ship like last year. Last year they had some engine failures but still won almost everything. It's absurd that the penalties for cheating came so late and will probably not affect them until late this season. They cheated in 2021 and only suffer the consequences in late 2023 (but most likely 2024)? And in the meantime keep winning? While Ferrari was tanked and reduced to a mid team without proof after winning just 2 races in 2019? Absolutely ridiculous on the FIA's part. They were just tired of the Mercedes dominamce and couldn't stand Hamilton being the first driver in history to win an 8th title.

I've been watching this sport for 20 years and it's become such a joke. I thought we hit rock bottom years ago after the most infamousscandals, but apparently not.

I do agree that there are some drivers that defend weirdly hard against Charles (lando) overall it's the same for most drivers.

Max last year had by far the fastest car on the straights, there was no defending him because he just breezed past them on the straight.

Defending against Charles was a little bit more possible because he didn't just get to breeze past people with DRS.

But that's a car thing and not a Max thing. All of the Merc engines routinely let the Mercs past super easily. none of this is super out of the ordinary.

The whole Ferrari thing in 2020 with the engine was never an actual punishment. They just couldn't use that engine any more and therefore had to take those steps back because they didn't have a back up engine. The regs changed and for 2020 that 2019 engine was no longer allowed.

It's not completely comparable.

I am a little bit confused about your outrage over the regs change coming into 2022.

Regs change all the time. that's not some new thing to somehow shaft just Merc. And regs were changed anytime there was a more dominant period in F1. That has nothing to do with Lewis and the 8 titles.

To still keep it on topic with Lewis RB was super dominant with Seb and the blown diffuser and then the regs changed and only Merc got it super right. now Lewis and Merc had one of the longest dominant streaks in F1, which is something you should be aware of, and it ended like most others with reg changes.

Merc didn't get shafted mid season with new regs that was a scheduled regs change that even got pushed back. This wasn't about Lewis and specifically the 8 titles.

look at this collection of 2015 results:

Mercs 30s ahead

mercs 30s ahead of the Ferrari

Merc 40s ahead

this time only 20s

another 30s

and that's just from the first like 14 races and Merc won more that's just the ones with really big gaps.

This isn't the first time something like this is happening in F1 and it will not be the last time.

I would like for the penalty to be in effect sooner than later because I much like most people am not the biggest fan of dominance.

But this is neither unprecedented nor was there a conspiracy to keep Lewis from winning.

I can't quite believe that after 2.2 years people have forgotten just how dominant Merc was. But I think some also don't want to remember.