#unidentified rock formation

[sw5w]

Stay Close to Me

STAR WARS EPISODE I: The Phantom Menace 00:30:56

[lmk-aus-galore]

Cinema Sins/Wins Rip Off of Lego Monkie Kid.

Yeah yeah I’m back folks, I just decided to take a looong break.

Inspired by @satansaidmyturnintheh3||scape

Rules:

-I won't be counting Animation Mistakes, because Idk how to do that, and I myself am a beginner animator (more like incredibly amateur, to the point I'm asking my sister for help) Unless of course the Animation is obviously and clearly having a mistake for me to watch.(Or it is said in the wiki) The other reason is because I don't want to keep repeating a scene just to check for an animation mistake.

-!This is mostly for entertainment purposes, sorry if I sound too mean!

-I also won't be counting flashbacks as 'mistakes' because most of them are based on bias.

-I'll be formatting it like this

-Neutral

-Sin

-Win

Let’s get started.

——————————————-

-Intro.

._.

-Love how you can see where Mei, Sandy and MK are in this scene.

-On the other hand why does Pigsy have a random game machine beside his shop? I know there are apartment buildings on top of said shop but in Season 2 he actively has authority to remove it.

-Secondly is MK currently on break at the moment or is he just, ‘slacking off’ judging by his clothes he should be currently working.

-Dragon Horse and Stone Monkey.

-Ah yes the underrated trio. Sandy, Mei and MK. Please tell me this group has a name.

-Bad time to call your daughter.

-The way Mei is so nervous to talk to her mother and the way she talks as if her mother doesn’t even give her enough time to explain, like I think Mei’s Mother is cutting her off at times here and it’s not really okay. It feels like Mei is talking to her boss than her Mom.

-Sandy for the win.

-The finishing move is a spin of the staff and a hit to the leg…wow MK.

-I really love how Sandy is just casually friends with these guys. Like these guys just met Sandy a few weeks ago and all of a sudden they said ‘Let’s be friends’

-Ok MK you should really get social cues…or at least let Mei get a word in-

-‘I always wanted to see Mei’s secret Dragon House full of secret Dragon stuff’ makes me wonder why no one believes in the Monkey King stories. Either that or why Mei isn’t being worshipped like a deity by now.

-Also MK, kinda creepy…but to be fair Mei put cameras on all of you…

-BRO THIS BULL CLONE HAS EVERYTHING ON HER?!

-Why does this Bull Clone pull out the same Two Pictures twice?

-Mei doesn’t smile in her photo, along with the rest of her family :(

-In fact she looks kinda restricted.

-Also Key detail, looks like Mei’s little green hair things are dyed!

-PIF confirms that Sha Wujing’s spear and Zhu Bajie’s rake are Celestial Weapons that later tie into Season 4

-We also have the Calabash, PIF’s fan, Wukong’s staff, Nezha’s spear and two of the Samadhi Fire Rings…though I think by this time of development this probably is Nezha’s little ring thingys in his shoes? Not really sure. The only one we don’t know about is the unidentified sword and the random rope.

-Also is she implying that her own fan is a powerful artifact? I guess that makes sense…?

-Why does PIF’s animation always stretch her or squish her I can’t take her seriously XD worse that it’s usually the face.

-Mei wanting to be a normal child is so sad. On the other hand why don’t we have more fanfics of Mei and her family dynamic? Come on people the angst is right there!

-When you think about it, the High-Tech security might’ve been the reason Mei became the ‘Tech Girl’ in the group. Since her family dabbles in High-Technology it’s only obvious she grew curious of that stuff.

-On the other note, what’s with Ancient families and suddenly getting a grasp at handling High-Technology? Like bro Red Son and Mei have so many parallels to each other it’s insane.

-MEI THIS IS WHY YOU DONT LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN.

-You know Red Son you might need to double down in calling Mei a peasant because uhh…wow, the place is huge.

-Mei’s room doesn’t have a door, which shows how shitty these people actually are.

-Also Mei has a lot of rock aesthetic posters, including one with a spider meaning Mei canonically had a rock phase. That or a goth phase so goth Mei is probably canon.

-Why I thought of rock is because of the two sets of guitars she has, one being an electric guitar.

-Mei also has a skateboard indicating she used to skate.

-She has an indoor TV with two game controllers (Why didn’t they just play in her bedroom?)

-And finally she has some things I think her parents would’ve given her such has the pony statue and the meditation carpet on the floor.

-Also apparently she plays the piano? Or is that even a piano?

-The legend of Mei’s sword is kinda cool actually.

-WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED TO TOUCH IT?! HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO GETS TO WEILD IT THEN?!

-I have a feeling I know why no one has been able to hold that sword in like…ever (They all look so mean)

-‘You two boot up the old TV!’ What TV? There is literally no TV there? Is there a TV off-screen? Even so where would you put said TV? And again, why not your room?

-MK control your strength- how the hell does that even happen?

-Bull Clone literally just yeeted his hat at him.

-Said Bull Clone took the precious Dragon Sword despite the fact that he was struggling to get it off the statue

-Mei calls her Motorcycle like a horse, get it? Dragon Horse?

-Okay now I don’t blame MK I think that pinball machine is old. BECAUSE HOW DOES THAT JUST HAPPEN?!

-Mei this house should at LEAST take up a whole acre, HOW BIG IS YOUR HOUSE?!

-Mei fixing her bike is while she is chasing the Bull Clone is badass as hell. We do not talk about her enough.

-Pro tip: Never mess with Mei.

-This is why we need to give this family some doubt, okay if literally all her ancestors are dissing her and insulting her to her face because of the way she acts then maybe you shouldn’t turn a blind eye.

-‘You know what I am part of this family! I am Mei! Descendant of the Great Dragon of the West Sea, this is mine! And this is my House!” You go girl, show these guys a what you’re made of!

-A very good take on Mei accepting who she is despite her family’s expectations on her. She’s part of the family but she knows that she needs to stand up for herself. Good bravo.

-IS IT JUST ME OR IS THAT THING BIGGER THAN NORMAL?!

-I wonder what the parents’ reaction was, Holy cow this might’ve been QUITE the sight.

-Yep that Bull Clone is straight up dead.

-MK I think that machine is really just old.

-Lol, Sandy making sure MK doesn’t lose focus.

-‘Somebody forgot our luggage’ then she stares directly at the dad and said dad doesn’t give a damn.

-The fact that Mei has to apologize first before getting praised is messed up as hell. If someone is trying to steal a really powerful relic such as that, then obviously it’s gonna be chaos, but the fact she has to apologize first before they acknowledge she did something good is messed up.

-But to be fair I think they do love Mei, really, but the way they parent just icks me.

-And Mei’s mom sounds like she pulled that whole talk out from google.

-Mei’s dad sounds…familiar hold up-

-KNEW I HEARD THAT VOICE SOMEWHERE. (Also apparently Mei’s mom is the same VA as Mei, so Stephanie Steph is just talking to herself)

-Poor MK…

[nexoking68]

Prologue: Wishing Star

It was a sunset-lit evening off the coast of a beach town…

“Rob, stop!”, Naobi said while laughing. “Come on…It’ll be fun!” Robert said excitedly. They had both come home from their jobs, Med School and Farm work respectively, and were both enjoying the Friday night festivities they had planned for the night.

“Come on…not here…what if someone sees us?” Naobi said, her worry starting to boil over.

“Why not here? We've got this whole beach to ourselves! Robert exclaimed as they both had been looking forward to this day for months.

Naobi relented as she unpacked from the large backpack she was carrying, it was a tent, and a few other camping supplies. Robert also had a large backpack, containing supplies used mostly for food preparation, such as a pot and a portable campfire. They had been prepping to see a meteor shower that was about to happen a couple of minutes from then.

They retold some of the monotonous mishaps from their respective places of work as Robert made curry and rice.” After some waiting, the show was finally about to begin.

It was truly bedazzling. All the meteorites danced across the starry sky. “Wow, this is so amazing!,” Naobi exclaimed, “Especially that one!” Naobi points to a blue glowing meteorite that seems to be almost burning. “Yeah, it's really pretty! Almost like it's headed right towards us…” Robert replied, mildly concerned. “Yeah it's coming awfully close…”, Naobi said with a genuine sense of fear.

Naobi and Robert quickly ran toward the surrounding forest to avoid the blast of the free-falling meteorite. The burning meteorite reached the beach, and crashed violently into the water, causing tendrils of water to encircle the oval-shaped meteorite, elegantly illuminated by the full moon.

Naobi viewed this as an exploration opportunity and slowly stepped out of the forest to investigate this strange occurrence.

“Naobi! What are you doing!?” Robert whispered panickedly, scared that his wife was about to set off a possible nuclear bomb in the name of science. Though reluctantly, he eventually follows her.

When the water finally settled, a small crater of sorts in which blue crystal formations grew rapidly. Within the crater, there lay a large oval shaped stone with sharp crystal formations jutting out of the stone, with a star shape in the center, the same color as the surrounding crystal.

“Wha-what is that…It looks like an…egg…” Robert said in bewilderment.

Naobi came closer to this “egg” and went to touch it, “It feels…almost warm…like it's water flowing…I must study this!”

Robert questioned her sanity ever so slightly as he started panicking once again.

“Oh my God…this thing just came from the sky, sharp spikes coming out of it, you just said it feels water…and you want to take it home!?” Robert said, trying not to yell to his wife, “For all we know, we could hit a street crack and this thing just detonates!”

“Would you rather someone else find this supposed bomb?” Naobi said, subconsciously but fully ready to beg on her knees for this weird rock with a strange rhythm occurring within it.

“Hmmmm” Robert murmured, strained-like, knowing he's really got not much competition in this argument. “Come on…for me?” Naobi pleads, knowing she's got him hook-line and sinker.

“Fine…could you at least keep it in place with some towels under it,” Robert said, defeated.

Naobi immediately packed both of their bags and carried them to where they had parked their car, swaddling the stone-egg-geode thing and setting it ever so gently.

A few minutes later, they had returned home, Naobi cradling this unidentified object, the two had opened the door to find Lonnie, their 4 year old son, had gotten out of bed and had been fiddling with the remote, and somehow wound up on a very adult channel.

“Mommy, Daddy!” Lonnie exclaimed happily to his wide eyed parents.

“OKAY! Hey little buddy! Why don't we watch something else?” Robert negotiated with his sweet innocent son.

Naobi was still cringing at this crude content as Robert gave her the thumbs up that he would keep Lonnie distracted, while she walked out, stone oval in tow.

Naobi walked over to the garage, she opened the massive door to reveal her own personal lab, giant aquarium pictures and little picture frames of her family are scattered around. All the general lab equipment, microscopes, incubators, petri dishes, a centrifuge-her personal favorite, and action figures from when lonnie played in the lab a couple days ago.

“Ok strange object…”, Naobi sets it down on a table, puts on gloves and protective goggles, and whips out her trusty recorder and notebook, “Just what are you…”

Naobi performs her first test and first log…

Log Date #1 Time: 9:30 PM

Hello, This is Naobi Hutchinson reporting. Earlier this evening, during the meteor shower of May 14th, this strange, large, and relatively oval shaped stone, with sharp crystal protrusions piercing out from within its surface came into my possession. Judging by its faint glow, its approximately 67 degrees Fahrenheit temperature, and a beating rhythm from inside…I have reason to believe that this might be an egg of sorts! During this log I will be recording this egg's progress while I perform further tests.

Log Date #5 Time: 12:02 AM

Astounding! Brilliant! Absolutely Dazzling!

After spending just 1 hour within the incubator, I can feel the heartbeat within! The internal temperature shot up to 84 degrees fahrenheit, showing that this organism shows signs of life when warmed up! Whatever this organism is…it will make history…

Log Date #12 Time: 5:59 AM

A quite sad update…The egg suddenly stopped showing any signs of life…even despite my best efforts…or how many times I tried to resuscitate it…it seems to have died in the egg. I don’t know how this happened, the egg started burning brightly at a scorching 103 degrees fahrenheit, when all of a sudden the glow was confined to the star shaped gem in the middle…and then the heart beat stopped…I bet this was just a special effects thing…but why did it burn…This is Naobi Hutchinson…signing off…

Naobi fell asleep…dejected.

When the alarm clock struck 6:00 AM, the egg started glowing dimly again, cracks started forming around its surface, the pieces started breaking and chipping off. Suddenly it burst open to reveal a blue, large, two horned, and furry creature with the tail of a fish and the wings of a dragon…that crawled out of the broken shell and jumped down on all fours to the floor below as it scurried into the shadows…

When Naobi woke up again, the sun glaring in her eyes, she saw that her lab had been ravaged, but to her shock, the egg had hatched!

“YES! I knew it!” She exclaimed, but she quickly came to her senses to realize that the animal that caused the damage to her lab was likely what came out of the egg, and even more frighteningly, the claw marks and bites looked massive and were covered by that same crystal protruding out of the egg.

“Oh no…”.

She then heard a rummaging sound coming from a far corner of her disheveled lab, the creature that hatched from the egg was in her mini fridge. The creature was huge, its cruel tail flipping around, as it devoured her snacks.

Naobis fear instincts kicked in as she realized that this specimen was a lot larger than what she previously thought, given the size of the egg, and judging from how this thing was eating…she figured it was a matter of time before it developed a taste for her. She cautiously walked backwards to retrieve her ol’ reliable: Her baseball bat named Lord Anders the 2nd.

“Come on! Get out of there! You wouldn’t believe how much all that stuff cost!” Naobi said, confused as to whether or not she was scared of this large animal, or angry that her snack stash had been thoroughly raided.

Either way, she got what she had wanted, the monster’s attention, Naobi was sweating as she took a breath and held Anders in a batter's position. The creature started crawling slowly towards her…its claws seeming to make a grating sound, as its tail is up and waving back and forth. Naobi growled as if to intimidate this creature as she thought the creature was doing to her. The creature widened its eyes and its tail started wagging even faster as it started crawling even faster towards her. As the creature emerged from the shadows and Naobi was about to swing Anders across this monster's head…she came to find out that this creature…was actually a small, blue, furry, draconic alien.

I decided I should post this to tumblr, I wrote this a while back and I just recently unearthed it!

Tell me what you think!

Robert is a heavy set botanist with a beard, has Autism, has a slight southern accent, and he’s a hugger, Caucasian

Naomi is an ADHD Queen, she’s a doctor, and she’s also been in the local newspaper for her works in the STEM field, African American

[archiveoftheodd]

Happy Found Fiction Friday!

Go read Birdwatching Notebook Found on Colorado Trailhead by Gabrielle Bleu on our website.

Red Rock Canyon Open Space, Colorado Springs, January 12, 2019 Steller’s Jay (1) *Black-capped Chickadees (heard chicka-dee-dee-dee calls x 12 discreet times) (saw 15 or 20) *House Finch (8) (5 males; red heads) *Unidentified call (x 1 times) (shrill) *Rock Doves hanging out on red stone formations (maybe 2 dozen?) *Swallows flitting out of the little holes and pockmarks in the stone (20 or 30) Notes: Not sure what kind of swallows I saw. Barn, maybe?

[markonpark]

Peak Posers: Vintage snapshot photo of three women posed atop an unidentified rock formation. https://markonpark.etsy.com/listing/1549286070

[fruitymocha]

The Sky Project: Background

A Human Experiment Genshin AU

Warnings: human experimentation (obviously), bad conditions

A/N: for those who asked for the experiment au on my poll, here’s this little thing I wrote for it in the format of someone telling you a rumor. not sure if I want this to be a series or just a bunch of random scenarios/imagines with established continuity and/or timeline, but here, have a little teaser with background info :)

—-

Teyvat Laboratory.

A place that looks nice on the outside, but hides many secrets on the inside.

Or so the rumors say.

Would you like to hear what they say about Teyvat’s top secret laboratory?

Supposedly, there are 9 special rooms.

Those special rooms are for the special kids with supernatural abilities. They have recreational activities and opportunities to socialize with the other lab kids in there, but supposedly they don’t spend that much time in there.

You don’t believe in supernatural abilities? Well, maybe if someone triple dog dared you to sneak in and you saw it for yourself, then you’d change your mind.

But anyways, let me continue.

Kids with the power to control fire go to the Flame Room. A room with red as its color scheme, and fireproof walls.

Kids with the power to control earth go to the Stone Room. That room has gold as its color, as well as a rock wall and stone paths.

Kids with the power to control plants go to the Flower Room. It has green as its color and a few potted plants under a small sky light.

Kids with the power to control wind go to the Breeze Room. It has teal as the main color, and high quality vents that let outside wind in.

Kids with the power to control water go to the Raindrop Room. It has dark blue all around, and a mini fountain and waterfall curtain

Kids with the power to control ice go to the Snowflake Room. It has a pale blue motif as well as a constant cold temperature and automated sprinklers.

Kids with the power to control electricity go to the Thunder Room. It has purple everywhere and electric gadgets, wires, rods, and conductors.

Kids with unidentified, uncategorized, or versatile abilities go to the Star Room. Rumor has it, only five kids have ever been in there. And that room is just white.

As for the kids who have some behavioral issues, they go to the Butterfly Room. That room is bitterly cold, and hostile to any newcomer. There is nothing to do in that room, so those who enter often mess with each other to fill the hole of boredom. There’s always one senior member in there though. They always listen to him.

There’s also the Light Room, so that certain kids get enough sunlight.

But this place is meant to observe and experiment on their abilities first and foremost.

Your guess as to why is as good as mine.

How would I know all this?

It’s like I said.

They’re just silly rumors.

Right?

[the-real-satan-the-devil-of-hell]

I want you to remember this you souless heathen. Knowledge is endless, right.

Do we know if we run on or require electricity for our human body to run (as in electricity itself to charge us)?. As far as we know, no. Is there a cure for cancer, as of right now? No.

Now. There is a reason for this part here below.

You were born,out of your mother womb into this... Shitty gods' or big bang creation of earth. You weren't created like we create ai in the sense of knowing every little detail (the ins and outs), starting from scratch etc. we don't know how much storage a human has or equals too.

You little puny human, grew up. You evolved, you learned things. Like draw, science, maths etc. What is required for you to function? How much food do you need? How long can you survive?

Puny humans are efficient(keyword here). You were born very efficient.

Take your eyes. Let's say it takes a picture of what you see. What file format?. Let say raw. It captures every detail that is visible ax1at that position. File size is less than a byte. That kind of efficient.

A smartphone or camera can take a raw image (dng, nef etc). It's owns way of capturing (different lens, bayer pattern etc). That raw image, at the moment, contain large amounts of potentially redundant data. Size between 10 mb to 30+ mb for a single raw image. It's not as efficient as the way humans process it.

Now. I want stupid ai to generate a realistic image of 1971 Dodge Challenger.

First I going to create the ai. I have train the ai on data in order to create the prompt. It require data such as millions of images of 1971 Dodge Challenger. Remember how the image was take, what it contains and size of those images. And, if I want to generate random (like from different angles), take from different sides/angles.

The details of the images is not as full as the eyes see an actual 1971 Dodge Challenger.

The amount of data(size) is huge. The file formats are not efficient to where like 1kb contain the entire information of a 1971 Dodge Challenger car as like real scale model. More than millions of petrabytes of data stored on like a server. All just for ai to output with just a mediocre image of just 1971 Dodge Challenger. That's it.

Face swap. Put perfect scrumptious Chris Pratt face over mother's dog disgusting Eloné Muskay's face. The current hardware such rtx 4090 and i9 14th gen. About 1-2 weeks of training to then use that data to start outputting a 5 second video. And it's mediocre and not good enough for me to want to use the ai.

I'll do it myself as I have the necessary tools, eyes, brain etc. to do it and I am efficient at it as well as efficient at using my body's resources. I can cut out frame by frame, I can use little amounts of images etc. all by hand. It may take a while but the results are much better.

Heck, if there is a new unidentified object/thing and not much in our current huge ever growing collection knowledge of information can help us identify it, how the fuck is ai going to identify it. What?, then name the fat bug-like monster with juicy ass, "glorksi cockupiss" or this rock-mermaid-like "titty titty clang clang". Let me real here.

it's to much data, size, storage, hardware, hardware upgrade etc. and I mean way to much. It's not even possible for the hardware requirements yet, to output any prompt, for even one person, that would be worth using/pleasing/realistic.

Now imagine a million prompts per hour. The amount of storage. It's beyond yottabytes of training data. Constantly upgrading storage for more space every second. You would have to build a robot that would run so fast. Faster than flash. Faster than saving Barry's mom before Barry (aka flash).

Huge hardware servers. Extreme amount of cost every second that they would have to shut the ai down and bankrupting the company.

You humans are efficient. You guys take your time. There is a reason things are still around like Tumblr. There is enough time for advancement in storage and hardware etc. , for the companies to upgrade and keep up with us (our posting, our work etc.)

Ai is useless ass shit that is so inefficient.

AI hasn't improved in 18 months. It's likely that this is it. There is currently no evidence the capabilities of ChatGPT will ever improve. It's time for AI companies to put up or shut up.

I'm just re-iterating this excellent post from Ed Zitron, but it's not left my head since I read it and I want to share it. I'm also taking some talking points from Ed's other posts. So basically:

We keep hearing AI is going to get better and better, but these promises seem to be coming from a mix of companies engaging in wild speculation and lying.

Chatgpt, the industry leading large language model, has not materially improved in 18 months. For something that claims to be getting exponentially better, it sure is the same shit.

Hallucinations appear to be an inherent aspect of the technology. Since it's based on statistics and ai doesn't know anything, it can never know what is true. How could I possibly trust it to get any real work done if I can't rely on it's output? If I have to fact check everything it says I might as well do the work myself.

For "real" ai that does know what is true to exist, it would require us to discover new concepts in psychology, math, and computing, which open ai is not working on, and seemingly no other ai companies are either.

Open ai has already seemingly slurped up all the data from the open web already. Chatgpt 5 would take 5x more training data than chatgpt 4 to train. Where is this data coming from, exactly?

Since improvement appears to have ground to a halt, what if this is it? What if Chatgpt 4 is as good as LLMs can ever be? What use is it?

As Jim Covello, a leading semiconductor analyst at Goldman Sachs said (on page 10, and that's big finance so you know they only care about money): if tech companies are spending a trillion dollars to build up the infrastructure to support ai, what trillion dollar problem is it meant to solve? AI companies have a unique talent for burning venture capital and it's unclear if Open AI will be able to survive more than a few years unless everyone suddenly adopts it all at once. (Hey, didn't crypto and the metaverse also require spontaneous mass adoption to make sense?)

There is no problem that current ai is a solution to. Consumer tech is basically solved, normal people don't need more tech than a laptop and a smartphone. Big tech have run out of innovations, and they are desperately looking for the next thing to sell. It happened with the metaverse and it's happening again.

In summary:

Ai hasn't materially improved since the launch of Chatgpt4, which wasn't that big of an upgrade to 3.

There is currently no technological roadmap for ai to become better than it is. (As Jim Covello said on the Goldman Sachs report, the evolution of smartphones was openly planned years ahead of time.) The current problems are inherent to the current technology and nobody has indicated there is any way to solve them in the pipeline. We have likely reached the limits of what LLMs can do, and they still can't do much.

Don't believe AI companies when they say things are going to improve from where they are now before they provide evidence. It's time for the AI shills to put up, or shut up.

[bigfootbeat]

1985 North Carolina Bigfoot Sighting

On June 15, 1985, a 12-year-old boy was exploring a secluded mountain route in Franklin, North Carolina, when he came upon an unidentified bipedal creature in what would turn out to be a life-altering event. The young witness was living with his family at their cabin near the Cullasaja Gorge on Walnut Creek Road, which is close to the boundary of the Nantahala National Forest. Jeff Carpenter, a BFRO researcher, looked into the witness's account and found that the encounter happened on a clear summer day at around 2:00 PM. The creature was squatting by a creek crossing, presumably scavenging in the water, when the child, who was wearing a safety whistle as requested by his parents, walked along an old logging road. The witness described a brown-haired, roughly seven-foot-tall figure with noticeably lengthy limbs and broad shoulders. The child was especially surprised by the creature's apparent absence of a neck. The witness, frozen in terror for a few moments, finally hurried down the mountain, whistling frantically as the creature rose and turned its head toward him. It was theorized this was a Bigfoot. The witness was adamant that the creature was neither a bear nor any other known local fauna, despite his family's efforts to persuade him that he had seen something else. Steep terrain, mountain streams, caves, and rock formations define the area, which is well-known for its varied wildlife, which includes deer, turkey, wild boar, and crayfish. Despite not conducting any additional investigation at the time of the incident, the witness's recollection of the incident has remained unclouded for years.

Source: https://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=44354

[gossip-witch]

There’s something so exclusive about parties in the city during the summer. So intimate — with no unwanted guests. Well, or at least, almost no unwanted guests. And before social climbers and Elite-wannabes feel alluded, I’m talking about the paparazzi. Not that we don’t like to have our pictures taken, but it’s become increasingly obvious just how jobless and bored they are because they’ve been hounding the few people in town worth talking about — and even some unworthy ones like the Oliviers.

But summer and the beach go hand in hand, and I could never completely forsake the shore unlike that heartthrob actor D. Did you know he abandoned a lavish spread in the Hamptons (yes, he’s staying Stateside lately) to spend a steaming-hot summer in sticky London. Now that’s dedication.

Needless to say, across the pond we do things a bit differently. Admit it or not, here we like the whole royalty thing — especially a certain heir to the throne and his intellectual and super classy younger sister or most importantly, that French Empress we all know and adore. But I digress. Now that Wimbledon is over, I’m thinking of leaving town — no more of this popping back and forth on charter jets and helicopters. I know I said that things don’t get cooking in Capri for a while and I usually wait until August to hunker down for the season, but I’ve been getting reports about some intriguing activity out on the island. I might have to check it out myself. It’s so hard to be me: how can I be in two places — or three or four or five — at once?

But while I’ve got your attention, let’s check in on a few of our favorite people.…

A new couple?

There has been some speculation that the relationship between those two totally platonic “friends” is not just a school besties situation anymore. How shall we put it? Apparently, there’s romance involved. What’s the evidence, you might ask? My loyal sources report our Golden Boy and his darling “friend” D have been caught wearing matching, unidentified designer rings — details are scarce but we totally saw T flaunting what seems to be an alliance ring at the Royal Box in Wimbledon. And though many of D’s delusional fans don’t seem to be willing to give their blessings to the couple yet, we’re all here for it. Can’t you just picture them, cuddling on the sofa, trading their Gucci and Chanel, and just being absolutely adorbs?

And speaking of Wimbledon 

Is our favorite chanteur finally playing the Princess’ husband-to-be part? If we go by his most recent public appearance, we’d dare to say ouais! Our darling superstar was spotted at the Royal Box in Wimbledon catching the men’s finals. Yours truly and her private circle are still debating whether he was invited by HRH The Prince of Wales himself or if our PR Queen J just pulled some strings, but it was a start! Little M still has a lot to learn — he looked like a new money kid on his first day at Eton, dressed in an ugly Ralph Lauren suit and that lost expression — but we’ll forgive him just this once. Here are a few tips, M. Whoever respects themselves would never lounge at the Ralph Lauren private suite. And next time you try the GRWM format, skip the trad-wife-style voice-over, yours and Little T’s fans will thank you for it. 

L’été exotique

Last but not least, our dearest Empress and her hubby S are nowhere to be found. Rumor has it they’ve been holing up in a super exclusive and exotic private island that not even their closest friends M and J know the location of. It’s frankly a shame. We’d do nearly anything to see our Empress rock her summer wardrobe. 

But don’t think I’ll give up so easily.  I’m going to stay on the case and get some answers. It is, after all, my summer job, and I’m the hardest worker I know. 

Someone’s got to do it.

You know you love me,

XOXO,

— GOSSIP WITCH

[xasha777]

In the heart of the Bismarck Range, a remote and forbidding mountain range known for its rugged terrain and impenetrable forests, a team of scientists from Trinity College Dublin embarked on an unprecedented expedition. Led by Dr. Elena Kavanagh, a renowned xenobiologist, the team sought to uncover the secrets of a newly discovered cave system that emitted strange, unidentifiable signals.

The team consisted of experts from various fields: Dr. Liam O'Sullivan, a geologist; Dr. Aisling Murphy, an astrobiologist; and Dr. Conor Fitzpatrick, an engineer specializing in advanced robotics. Alongside them were a group of highly sophisticated androids, designed to withstand the harsh conditions of the Bismarck Range and assist in their research.

After weeks of grueling travel, the team finally reached the cave's entrance. As they ventured deeper into the darkness, they relied on the androids' advanced sensors to guide them. The walls of the cave were lined with an unknown, bioluminescent fungus that bathed the cavern in an eerie green glow. The further they went, the stronger the signals became, until they stumbled upon a massive underground chamber.

In the center of the chamber stood an ancient, alien monolith, covered in intricate carvings and pulsating with a faint, otherworldly light. As Dr. Kavanagh approached the monolith, she felt a strange, almost magnetic pull towards it. The androids' sensors began to pick up unprecedented readings, indicating the presence of a powerful, non-terrestrial energy source.

Suddenly, the monolith began to emit a low, resonant hum. The air grew thick with a palpable sense of dread as the ground beneath them started to tremble. From the shadows emerged a creature unlike anything they had ever seen. It was monstrous, with a twisted, sinewy body, glowing yellow eyes, and a maw filled with razor-sharp teeth. Its movements were swift and unnatural, as if it existed just outside the boundaries of their reality.

The creature let out a deafening roar, and the team quickly realized they were facing an entity of immense power and malevolence. The androids immediately formed a defensive perimeter, their advanced weaponry trained on the beast. Dr. Kavanagh and her team scrambled to find a way to contain the creature, using every resource at their disposal.

Dr. O'Sullivan's geological expertise allowed him to identify a series of unstable rock formations that could potentially trap the creature. With the androids providing cover, Dr. Fitzpatrick and Dr. Murphy worked together to rig a series of explosive charges. As the creature lunged towards them, the team detonated the explosives, causing a massive cave-in that sealed the monster within the chamber.

Breathless and shaken, the team regrouped at the cave's entrance. The monolith's energy readings had ceased, and the signals they had been tracking were no longer detectable. Dr. Kavanagh knew that they had only just begun to scratch the surface of the mysteries hidden within the Bismarck Range.

Returning to Trinity College Dublin, the team shared their findings with the scientific community. Their discovery of the alien monolith and the horrifying creature became the subject of intense study and debate. The expedition raised more questions than answers, challenging humanity's understanding of life, the universe, and the potential threats lurking in the uncharted corners of our world.

As Dr. Kavanagh stood before a packed lecture hall, she concluded her presentation with a solemn warning: "The Bismarck Range holds secrets that defy our comprehension. We must proceed with caution, for we have seen firsthand the horrors that await those who dare to delve too deeply into the unknown."

[lsd-lovelysweetdream]

a dream from april 2023 - sea serpent

I am standing under a broad leafy tree, like an oak or maple tree with bright green leaves. It is a sunny day, and I am in a nice suburban neighborhood. The tree is wide but low, the lowest branches only a few inches above eye level. I am standing in a crowd comprised of young people. One of them is a specific guy I was friends with as a child. I have a book in my hands, an antique hardcover with age-yellowed pages. It has architectural sketches of classic-style stone buildings, like you might see in a Victorian English city or historic New England town. I look up at the architecture around me. It is modern. The buildings incorporate glass and steel and some unidentifiable laminate or something. I remark to my friend how ugly I find modern architecture in comparison to classical stone buildings. I, him, and a few others break away from the crowd and go walking. There is a church nearby, and we are heading toward it. It is old and made of brick, and more appealing to my taste in architecture. It is a very strange church - just a single circular tower, very tall. With the tower still a long ways off, we are walking down a long steady decline in the asphalt road which is bordered tightly on either side by high, very very high brick walls. Against the wall on the right leans a ladder. I start to ascend the ladder, and the others climb with me. The wall is wide and high, inset with uniform rows of identical windows all the way across and all the way up. It looks like the side of a hotel or apartment building. There are also mossy rock outcroppings intersecting the wall, as if the building were built around them, without regard for these extremely craggy and uneven geological formations. The rock formations remind me of Scottish Highlands. I climb off the ladder and onto one of these rock forms. Then I climb in through the nearest window. Inside is a hallway. A row of outward-looking windows makes up one wall, and a series of doors to individual rooms make up the other. There is another hallway that runs away perpendicular to this one, forming a T shape. The other people have climbed in through the window and now stand with me in the hallway. There are several aquariums in the hallway. The smallest one, a rectangular prism, taller than it is wide, is fitted to a stand that brings its base to about waist height. The tank stands at the convex corner where one hallways runs away from the other. There are a few plants and small tropical fish inside the tank. Around the outside of the small aquarium is a planter growing decorative plants. At the corner opposite there are large windows through which I can see the interior of a darkened room. Inside I can dimly view another glass aquarium, much larger. There are bigger fish inside. Between the two corners, taking up a large area of the floor at the entrance to the second hallway, is a third, even larger, free-standing glass aquarium with schools of fish inside. There is another component to it, at its rear side - a wide, low, glass-walled pool. The water's surface is open to the air. At the bottom of the pool is a layer of light-colored sand, which can be seen in cross section through the glass walls. The water is only a little over a foot deep. In this pool lives an aquatic serpent. It is about eight feet long, with skin that looks smooth like the skin of a stingray. The serpent is very friendly. It lifts its head under the palm of my hand like a dog that wants to be petted. Its skin is smooth when you run your hand down its length, but rough and will graze your skin if rubbed the other way. It hurts a little, but it is hard to only pet the serpent the right way when it keeps moving around playfully. It has splotchy black, white, and yellow coloration, a snake-like head, and a long, featureless body. I think there was a sign saying not to pet the serpent, but it seemed to like being petted very much.

I dream about aquariums or strange aquatic creatures more often than I dream about anything else.

[spacenutspod]

From ancient cannibalism to stars made of dark matter, 2023 delivered several scientific claims that could shake up their fields — if they shape up to be true. Spark of life Early life on Earth may have gotten a boost from giant volcanic eruptions. A new look at debris from 10 eruptions millions of years ago suggests they contained a lot of nitrate that formed in the atmosphere (SN: 6/3/23, p. 7). The eruptions could have triggered fierce lightning that ripped apart molecular nitrogen, freeing nitrogen atoms to bond with other elements and form molecules useful to life — including nitrate. The same process may have happened billions of years ago, some scientists say, producing ingredients for early life. Scientists will need to account for the different chemical makeup of primordial Earth’s atmosphere to bolster that claim. Butchered bone Purported tool marks on a 1.45-million-year-old fossilized leg offer the oldest evidence of cannibalism among humans’ ancient relatives, researchers contend (SN: 8/12/23, p. 10). The marks on the bone, found in Kenya, could have been made by some unidentified hominid using a stone tool to carve muscle away from the shin of another hominid. But a few bone nicks do not cannibal table scraps make, some paleoanthropologists say. A roughly 1.45-million-year-old hominid leg fossil bears what some scientists say are stone-tool incisions, shown in a magnified view (right). The claim that this evidence points to hominids butchering one another is controversial.JENNIFER CLARK Overgrown galaxies A handful of galaxies from the very early universe are up to 100 times as massive as expected, data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope suggest (SN: 3/25/23, p. 14). The hefty galaxies not only challenge the idea that matter clumped together slowly over the universe’s lifetime, but also hint at some unknown way to fast-track galaxy formation. But the galaxies’ weights and distances must be confirmed with more detailed analyses of their light before astronomers rewrite cosmic history. These images from the James Webb Space Telescope zoom in on six bright, red, extremely distant galaxies that appear to be too massive to exist.I. LABBÉ/SWINBURNE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, CSA, ESA, NASA.  IMAGE PROCESSING: G. BRAMMER/NIELS BOHR INSTITUTE’S COSMIC DAWN CENTER/UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN Thymus rethink The thymus may not be inconsequential for adult health after all (SN: 8/26/23, p. 7). This immune system organ between the lungs is most active in childhood and withers with age, so it is often considered expendable in adulthood. In a study of more than 2,000 adults who had chest surgery, however, researchers reported that removing the thymus gland was associated with higher rates of death and of cancer within the next few years. Why thymus removal might be harmful remains unclear. The thymus (orange in this illustration) is an immune system organ that sits between the lungs, right in front of and above the heart. This gland might be more important for adult health than previously thought.JANULLA/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS Dead and buried? Honoring the dead may not be unique to big-brained hominids like Homo sapiens and Neandertals. Homo naledi, which lived around the same time as early H. sapiens but had an orange-sized brain, intentionally buried bodies in an underground South African cave, a group of researchers claims (SN: 7/1/23, p. 6). Other experts remain unconvinced, though. The supposedly buried bodies, which predate the earliest evidence of H. sapiens and Neandertal burials by 160,000 years, could have fallen through cave shafts or been washed by water into natural depressions in cave floors, skeptics say.  A proposed grave including the remains of an adult Homo naledi is shown in this reconstruction.L. Berger et al/bioRxiv.org 2023 Rocked to the core Separate studies both based on earthquake data are shaking up geologists’ concept of Earth’s heart. The solid inner core not only rotates but also appears to switch the direction of rotation relative to the mantle and crust every few decades (SN: 2/25/23, p. 7). The inner core may also have a secret chamber (SN: 4/8/23, p. 17). Other data, however, hint that the inner core reverses every few years or does not rotate at all. And the supposed discovery of the innermost core hinges on a type of seismic wave that bounces around Earth’s interior, becoming weaker and more difficult to detect with every bounce. Thankfully, whatever is going on down there does not seem to endanger life on the surface. Powerful earthquakes, such as one that occurred in 2018 in Alaska, can send seismic waves reverberating through Earth’s center (illustrated). Such waves reveal an innermost layer to the inner core, researchers say.DREW WHITEHOUSE, SON PHẠM AND HRVOJE TKALČIĆ Dark matter stars The James Webb Space Telescope may have spotted stars made of dark matter — the unidentified stuff that makes up most matter in the cosmos (SN: 8/26/23, p. 8). So-called dark stars are so far hypothetical, but JWST observed three objects giving off the kind of light expected from such stars. If they exist, dark stars could shed new light on star formation and the nature of dark matter. However, the pinpricks of light in JWST’s field of view could also come from normal stars, so astronomers will need more detailed data to tease out the objects’ true nature.  Three pinpricks of light in James Webb telescope images (one shown with a white arrow) give off the kind of light that dark matter stars — if they exist — are expected to emit.NASA, ESA, CSA, JADES COLLABORATION

[themousefromfantasyland]

The Creatures of Yuletide: The Giant Grýla and her dysfunctional Yule Family

Some days ago, I talked with @ariel-seagull-wings about how Ded Moroz, Grandfather Frost, and his granddaughter Snegurochka, the Snow Maiden, were probably the only holiday figures that were related. I WAS WRONG.

Iceland produced a family so colorful and dysfunctional that it’s a crime there are still no sitcoms based around them. Some members of this family are already famous, others not so much and will have a spotlight today. @thealmightyemprex, my dear, I think you are going to like this family.

Today, we are talking about the giants Grýla and Leppalúði, their yule children, and their giant pet.

Grýla is a giantess said to live in a cave in Dimmuborgir, an area of various volcanic caves and rock formations located in the Myvatn area of north Iceland. Others believe she and her family simply live in an unidentified mountainous area.

Always hungry, she senses the smell of naughty children all year, and during Christmastime, she leaves her cave and comes to cities and towns to haunt them. She collects children in an enormous sack, then brings them back to her cave. There she will cook them in a pot and turn them into a giant stew that will sustain her until the next winter.

Surprisingly, Grýla has been married THREE times, having KILLED her first and second husbands, and EATEN the first. Her third and current husband is the giant Leppalúði. Grýla is often shown beating and berating her husband that is described as being lazy, staying behind in their cave, while Grýla searches for food.

The relationship between Gryla and Leppaludi echoes many villainous couples in sagas and legends from Iceland that were composed of a cruel and bloodthirsty woman with a pathetic, spineless husband.

The threat of Grýla was a means to scare children and put them in line, since winters in Iceland were incredibly dangerous, and there was a lot of work that needed to get done before the darkest months set in, requiring effort from all members of the family. It was also a way of protecting children from wandering alone at night, as many disobedient children who went out in the dark and snow never returned home.

Grýla is originally mentioned in the 13th-century compilation of Norse mythology, Prose Edda but no specific connection to Christmas is mentioned until the 17th century.

In the thirteenth century, she was described as having fifteen tails. In the seventh century, she had a hundred bags tied to each tail, with each bag containing twenty naughty children for her pot.

The Yule Lads, are the mischievous offspring between Grýla and Leppalúði. They arrive one by one over the final nights leading up to Christmas, pulling pranks on the humans they find. Originally they were described as being far meaner and more evil, being as monstrous and deformed as their parents, representing the dangers and nuisances of Winter. But by the 18th century, a royal decree about religious practice and domestic discipline banned parents from disciplining their children by scaring them with horror stories of monsters, like Grýla and her family.

By the end of the 19th Century, wealthy merchants began hosting public Christmas tree balls, turning the Yule Lads into friendly old men who brought treats. These versions of the characters first appeared in towns and villages, while their original counterparts survived longer in the countryside. But by the 1930s their transformation had been completed as they begin making regular visits to schools and making appearances on the radio to tell children stories and sing Christmas songs. Today they are gift-bringers like Santa, leaving small gifts in shoes that children place on window sills, but if the child has been disobedient, they leave a rotten potato in the shoe instead.

Originally the personalities and number of Yule Lads varied greatly, but thanks to a poem from 1932 by Jóhannes úr Kötlum in the children’s book Christmas is Coming (Jólin koma), still very popular and recited in many Icelandic homes and schools in December, established what is now considered the canonical 13 Yule Lads and their names and personalities.

Here’s the poem, translated by Hallberg Hallmundsson:

Let me tell the story of the lads of few charms, who once upon a time used to visit our farms.

Thirteen altogether, these gents in their prime didn´t want to irk people all at one time.

They came from the mountains, as many of you know, in a long single file to the farmsteads below.

Creeping up, all stealth, they unlocked the door. The kitchen and the pantry they came looking for.

Grýla was their mother – she gave them ogre milk – and the father Leppalúdi; a loathsome ilk.

They hid where they could, with a cunning look or sneer, ready with their pranks when people weren´t near.

They were called the Yuletide lads – at Yuletide they were due – and always came one by one, not ever two by two.

And even when they were seen, they weren´t loath to roam and play their tricks – disturbing the peace of the home.

The first of them was Sheep-Cote Clod. He came stiff as wood, to pray upon the farmer´s sheep as far as he could. He wished to suck the ewes, but it was no accident he couldn´t; he had stiff knees – not to convenient.

The second was Gully Gawk, gray his head and mien. He snuck into the cow barn from his craggy ravine. Hiding in the stalls, he would steal the milk, while the milkmaid gave the cowherd a meaningful smile.

Stubby was the third called, a stunted little man, who watched for every chance to whisk off a pan. And scurrying away with it, he scraped off the bits that stuck to the bottom and brims – his favorites.

The fourth was Spoon Licker; like spindle he was thin. He felt himself in clover when the cook wasn´t in. Then stepping up, he grappled the stirring spoon with glee, holding it with both hands for it was slippery.

Pot Scraper, the fifth one, was a funny sort of chap. When kids were given scrapings, he´d come to the door and tap. And they would rush to see if there really was a guest. Then he hurried to the pot and had a scrapingfest.

Bowl Licker, the sixth one, was shockingly ill bred. From underneath the bedsteads he stuck his ugly head. And when the bowls were left to be licked by dog or cat, he snatched them for himself – he was sure good at that!

The seventh was Door Slammer, a sorry, vulgar chap: When people in the twilight would take a little nap, he was happy as a lark with the havoc he could wreak, slamming doors and hearing the hinges on them sqeak

Skyr Gobbler, the eighth, was an awful stupid bloke. He lambasted the skyr tub till the lid on it broke. Then he stood there gobbling – his greed was well known – until, about to burst, he would bleat, howl and groan.

The ninth was Sausage Swiper, a shifty pilferer. He climbed up to the rafters and raided food from there. Sitting on a crossbeam in soot and in smoke, he fed himself on sausage fit for gentlefolk.

The tenth was Window Peeper, a weird little twit, who stepped up to the window and stole a peek through it. And whatever was inside to which his eye was drawn, he most likely attempted to take later on.

Eleventh was Door Sniffer, a doltish lad and gross. He never got a cold, yet had a huge, sensitive nose. He caught the scent of lace bread while leagues away still and ran toward it weightless as wind over dale and hill

Meat Hook, the twelfth one, his talent would display as soon as he arrived on Saint Thorlak´s Day. He snagged himself a morsel of meet of any sort, although his hook at times was a tiny bit short.

The thirteenth was Candle Beggar – ´twas cold, I believe, if he was not the last of the lot on Christmas Eve. He trailed after the little ones who, like happy sprites, ran about the farm with their fine tallow lights.

On Christmas night itself – so a wise man writes – the lads were all restraint and just stared at the lights.

Then one by one they trotted off into the frost and snow. On Twelfth Night the last of the lads used to go. Their footprints in the highlands are effaced now for long, the memories have all turned to image and song

Okay, we have the abusive mother, we have the lazy father, we have the troublemaking sons, but we still haven’t talked about the pet. You know what I’m talking about. I think he’s probably the most famous one in this post, at least outside Iceland. Yes, the Yule Cat is their family cat.

The Yule Cat, Jólakötturinn, is a monstrous giant cat that devours innocent souls that have not received any new clothes to wear before Christmas Eve.

Jóhannes úr Kötlum also wrote about the cat. Here’s the poem, translated by Vignir Jónsson:

You all know the Yule Cat and that Cat was huge indeed.

People didn't know where he came from or where he went.

He opened his glaring eyes wide, the two of them glowing bright. It took a really brave man to look straight into them.

His whiskers, sharp as bristles, his back arched up high. And the claws of his hairy paws were a terrible sight.

He gave a wave of his strong tail, he jumped and he clawed and he hissed. Sometimes up in the valley, sometimes down by the shore.

He roamed at large, hungry and evil in the freezing Yule snow. In every home people shuddered at his name.

If one heard a pitiful "meow" something evil would happen soon. Everybody knew he hunted men but didn't care for mice.

He picked on the very poor that no new garments got for Yule - who toiled and lived in dire need.

From them he took in one fell swoop their whole Yule dinner always eating it himself if he possibly could.

Hence it was that the women at their spinning wheels sat spinning a colorful thread for a frock or a little sock. Because you mustn't let the Cat get hold of the little children. They had to get something new to wear from the grownups each year.

And when the lights came on, on Yule Eve and the Cat peered in, the little children stood rosy and proud all dressed up in their new clothes.

Some had gotten an apron and some had gotten shoes or something that was needed - That was all it took. For all who got something new to wear stayed out of that pussy-cat's grasp he then gave an awful hiss but went on his way.

Whether he still exists I do not know. But his visit would be in vain if next time everybody got something new to wear.

Now you might be thinking of helping were help is needed most. Perhaps you'll find some children that have nothing at all.

Perhaps searching for those that live in a lightless world will give you a happy day and a Merry, Merry Yule.

Of all the members of the family, the Yule Cat is the most recent one, with written accounts only as recently as the 19th century. The story was likely created by farmers to ensure their workers finished their weaving, knitting, and sewing by the dead of winter. The reward for those who took part in the work was a new piece of clothing. Those who were lazy received nothing. The Yule Cat was used as an incentive to get people to work harder.

Resuming, we have an abusive mother that haunts and eats naughty children, a spineless father who stays at home all day doing nothing, thirteen rebellious children who seem to have been hanging out too much with Santa, and a giant cat that eats people. I would give anything to see how their Christmas dinners are like.

[markonpark]

Peak Posers: Vintage snapshot photo of three women posed atop an unidentified rock formation. https://markonpark.etsy.com/listing/1549286070

[mccall-me-maurice]

So This is Just Me Indulging on That Superhero AU

Fun Fact: This AU is over a year old, starting in March 2020 and still developing. I will 100% be drawing this au, and probably making a comic series with it.

Side Note: This post is really long, read at your own risk. It also doesn’t include all of the information of the au, just what I want to elaborate on

Okay So Here’s some Background Information that I want to include because with the comic pages it will be mentioned, but not in the detail that I would like it to be:

AOE - Alliance of the Elements: Consists of Jack Merridew, Roger Volkov, Maurice Bellomo, and Robert Evans. Is Controlled By PotG

PotG - Protectors of the Globe. Global Alliance that trains those with powers and protects the Earth from Extra Terrestrial threats. Funded and run by a member of each developed country.

The Runaways - Those who left PotG in a illegal fashion, exposing secrets about the organisation as they left. Members Unknown, Ralph Allebach is the known leader and only identified member.

Each Characters’ Powers:

- Jack Merridew: The Element of Fire, When angered it comes in fierce blasts that burn anyone it touches who isn’t protected. His powers falter in rain or underwater.

- Ralph Allebach: Controls the Weather, whenever he cries the sky cries as well. He can overcharge when using too much lightning energy, causing a sudden collapse. He can fly as well, along with being able to manipulate Roger’s powers to an extent, if he is focused enough.

- Roger Volkov: The Element of Air, espionage, and infiltration. He is the combat trainer of the AOE and can summon tornadoes and extremely high winds.

- Dyria “Simon” Cortés: Dyria is an alien from the planet Nagneon, born as the heir to the throne. His planet differs heavily from Earth and the PotG gave him the nickname “Simon” and began using he/him pronouns instead of they/them due to Earth’s society. He can summon the energy of the star on his planet and use his body to project its energy. He is one of the things the PotG wishes to understand but never can, as he is too powerful for them to experiment on without catastrophic consequences.

- Maurice Bellomo: The Element of Earth. Maurice can cause Earthquakes, control rock formations, summon plants and control most aspects of nature as a fighting technique. His powers are ever evolving and he is widely considered to be the least powerful Elemental as he hasn’t reached his peak yet. The Earth heals him at high speeds and he causes craters when distressed.

- Sam Pinch: Can manipulate electrical currents with his hands and has super speed due to an Atomic explosion that didn’t kill him or his brother. He talks extraordinarily fast and can remain unseen by most. In order to make up for the calories he burns, he has to eat in high amounts. His super speed is borderline uncontrollable when he is outside of his suit, body moving faster than the mind can comprehend. When manipulating electricity, he causes a blip of energy in the surrounding area. The explosion caused him to have heavy hearing loss and he wears hearing aids.

- Robert Evans: The Element of Water. Robert tends to spend all of his time in the ocean, only emerging when he is needed as he is currently on the throne under the waves. He can breathe underwater and communicates with sea creatures, as well as controlling water on land. His main tactic of combat against his enemies is to remove all forms of water in the human body, however he is known to have summoned hurricanes and high ocean waves to wipe out places.

- Eric Pinch: Has Chaos Magic, which grants him with the ability to manipulate reality in any way he chooses and has electrical powers very similar to Scarlett Witch (Marvel). Was also given to him in the Atomic experiment gone wrong, his body absorbing a certain unidentified element. He can control his powers to an extent, intense emotions causing him to lose his mental balance and become a death machine.

- Peter Curtis - No superpowers, but is an incredibly intelligent hacker and coder who works for Ralph but is currently undercover as a PotG officer. He regularly sabotages the PotG plans to kill the Runaways and trades information with Ralph. He is skilled in manipulating others.

Details of Importance:

- The Elementals are each over 4,000 years old, coming from a long line of those with powers who have since died off. They laid dormant until absolutely needed, the prophecy stating “Those who control the elements laid in deep sleep, growing stronger each day and emerging when the world needs them most.” The elementals came from different areas that correlated with their powers. Jack from a Volcano, Maurice from a Crack in the Earth’s surface, Roger from the middle of a Tornado and Robert from the ocean’s tides. Their identities are kept entirely a secret through masks and identity manipulation tactics.

- Only one of the Runaways laid dormant for some time, his appearance being a mystery as only those who control elements are supposed to emerge from the Earth.

- The Runaways were all once part of PotG, identities and numbers still unknown. They lay as the elementals biggest target currently. One was found in the remains of a thunderstorm with such high winds that his house collapsed, one in the remains of an old minefield, supposedly dead, the other two in an old farmhouse, right after their mother exploded. The runaways hardly pose a real threat, but the leader of PotG wants them to be brought in.

- Chips have been installed in each elemental’s scalp to track their whereabouts as well as their health and stats such as heartbeat, blood pressure, etc.

- Ralph and Jack’s ancestors met once a year to discuss their futures and when they realised extinction was on the horizon, the two populations had Ralph’s biological mother and Jack’s biological father merge their blood together through a cut on their hands, so whenever either of their bloodlines was in peril danger, they could call on each other’s powers to save them.

- The Prophecy was predicted thousands of years ago, after the first extinction of elementals and those who came after found remains of their civilisations. It reads that “Those who must save the world are those who destroy it first - The beings who control the elements lay deep in sleep, growing stronger with each second humanity breathes, and will emerge when the world needs them most. The globe must burn before it can be reconstructed with fragile hands, sculpting a new childhood for the young out of clay. The world must end for it to begin again. It all starts with the flicker of the boy from flame.”

- The Inferia Crystals: The Inferia Crystals were crafted by the ancestors of the elementals and those who set up humanity to build the prophecy. 4 crystals were stolen by the runaways and 4 remain with the elementals. They control certain sectors of the Earth, split into 8 parts thousands of years ago, and help some beings gain control over their own powers.

- Each Elemental has been tagged with a certain number, the correlation of number to person still unknown to those who wear the tags. They come in the form of a dog tag necklace, and they were told to never take them off. Jack is #2098, Roger is #3092, Maurice is #4266, and Robert is #5609

Areas Of Importance:

- PotG base - Unknown location, Run by Roger Volkov’s adoptive father

- The Arena - Located in the centre of the PotG base, The Arena is generally used for entertainment of the wealthy. Prisoners are pitched into a dome, an audience surrounding them on all sides, and are forced to fight to the death or until Roger Volkov’s adoptive father calls it off. Competitors are given poorly crafted weapons and armour, the arena not built for those of great power.

- The Crystalline Cave: The cave in which the walls hold the Prophecy, carved into glass. Each elemental has an area with carvings that glows when they pass by, but it is unknown as to why or what it means.

- The Runaways Base: The Runaway’s base is in an unknown location, on the top of an unknown mountain. They have charms and protective spells up to hide them from the public entirely, area appearing as government owned property.

If you don’t want to see this au, please block the tag

#macksstories

Thank you!!

Let the End, begin

[vpofcookies]

Who cares about college stress look at this cool rock I got behind a Wal-Mart

Sorry for, like, weird posts and lack of art and odd rants.

College.

That is all.