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upon-a-starry-night · 5 months

Text

Love Favors The Misfortunate

Natasha Romanoff x Gender-Neutral Reader

Natasha Masterlist Main Masterlist

Word count: 3.2k

Warnings: Minor Violence

Summary: Misfortune always seems to follow you no matter what you do. But where there’s trouble, Nat often follows, maybe love was on your side after all?

Disclaimer: This was part of a writing exercise I did so it’s kind of silly and unedited but enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Somehow you always managed to wind up in the worst situations that Earth could possibly experience. You wondered if you were just cursed or something considering last week you were present for not one but two bank robberies.

Maybe that was just the life of a delivery driver?

You hoped the lady behind the bank counters Caesar salad tasted better after death threats and salty tears of desperation.

This time, however, in the middle of checking the GPS during a stoplight, the sound of screams alerts you to the number of people ditching their cars and running past your motorcycle in fear.

Looking up you see the giant rip in Earth's atmosphere, monster-looking creatures spilling out of the hole.

Oh, Good.

You immediately kick your motorcycle into gear, walking the bike through the crowds of people until you can manage to make a U-turn and speed off, weaving your way through the panic.

You spare a few glances into your mirrors as more flying monsters spill out of the sky and it's during one of these glances that you fail to notice the giant alien who has just landed in the street a few feet ahead of you. By the time you notice him you only have enough time to attempt a full stop which results in your bike sliding from under you and skidding across the pavement. Ouch.

Much to your luck, however, the bike collides directly with the monster and sends it straight into its own spear. A weird purple liquid oozing slowly from underneath the unconscious body.

You frown, it was going to cost a pretty penny to get your bike fixed if it was even salvageable and now you definitely weren’t getting paid for the hamburger and fries that were probably still warm in your delivery bag.

Maybe you could see if french fries taste better after near-death and motorcycle debt.

Wincing, you feel your arms already bruising and your jeans have ripped through to your thigh, you're not bleeding as much as you probably should be from that slide but it still hurts like hell. Thank god you were wearing all your safety equipment.

A hand is extended out to you and you graciously take it, looking up to meet eyes with the prettiest redhead you’ve ever seen. She’s giving you an impressed smile and you feel like you could melt right then and there. Although that might also be from the burning pain in your leg.

You probably need to find a hospital. Or maybe you were dead and this was an angel.

You always figured they’d look like the horrendous abomination of eyes and wings that they were described as, not as pretty redheads with striking green eyes but you weren’t complaining.

“That was a good move” There are still people running past you screaming but it feels like time stops when she speaks to you.

“Yep. that was definitely something I did on purpose” Drumming your fingers on your thighs you watch her chuckle and give you a look that tells you she knows you did not, in fact, do that on purpose.

You glance between your bike and the woman in front of you, screaming civilians making the moment almost comical. You felt like you were in some kind of rom-com apocalypse.

Despite it being the last thing you should probably do, you extend your hand out to her and tell her your name. She gives you a very amused look and you shrug your shoulders as if to say ‘Why not? We’re here aren’t we?’

She chuckles again as she takes your hand, introducing herself.

Natasha. Derived from the Russian name Anastasia, which means resurrection. Maybe she was an angel. Damn.

Natasha nods her head in the direction of the crowd and smirks “Shouldn’t you be joining them?” You shrug. “Unless you know more moves like that?” She gestures toward your beat-up bike and you shake your head

“No. Unfortunately, I haven't mastered the art of more than one motorcycle trick yet” Not that you could get that thing to start back up again after that anyway.

She shakes her head with a laugh, glancing over her shoulder at the mess the city is becoming before turning back to you. “ Well I guess until you learn you should probably get running”

You nod, a little dejected, your calmness in relativity to the situation was likely the result of a concussion but you weren’t worried. Unless Nat was not real, in that case, you should be worried. Very Worried.

“Will we meet again?” it’s cliche and you immediately feel like a protagonist in a Disney movie but it’s a genuine question.

She smirks and looks around at the city again, gesturing to the absolute clusterfuck that New York had become “For your sake, I hope we don't”

You know she doesn’t mean anything bad by it and it’s your turn to smirk when you say “Knowing my luck, we will” You hope she finds herself near a few banks in the upcoming months…

She smiles at you and nods her head in the direction of the crowd and you understand what she’s trying to tell you. With one final wave and a small “good luck” you run in the direction of your fellow New Yorkers, occasionally glancing back to see her running in the direction of the main battle.

You didn't know who she was but Damn did you want to.

~~~

The next time you find yourself in a particularly unfavorable situation is not for months later. Minus that one time you witnessed two old ladies get mugged and that time you almost got hit by an ice-cream truck. But you got free ice cream from the second one so you weren't counting it.

You’d taken up a job in a small pizza place to pay for your bike repairs. It didn’t pay much but you didn’t have that many options after New York got attacked by aliens and half the businesses were destroyed or temporarily shut down. This is one of the few places still open which means on Friday nights you were busy as hell.

It was not a Friday night. It was a Tuesday afternoon and your coworker who was supposed to be on shift with you called out sick which meant you were manning the shop by yourself. Your stupid coworker was probably just off cheating on his girlfriend again but you didn’t care because the shop was empty which meant you could play games on your phone without his judgmental stare.

You’re struggling through level 5 of Candy Crush when the sound of breaking glass comes from the front of the shop and you sigh. You would be surprised but it was New York, more specifically it was your life in New York.

What you are surprised by, however, is the sight of familiar red hair covered in glass in the entryway, and you really want to rub your eyes with the squeaking sound effect like in the cartoons but the amount of microfibers that just got released into the air would suggest not doing that.

“Well well well” You realize you sound more like a supervillain than you intended and you freeze when she stands and sharply turns in your direction, gun pointed directly at you. You throw your hands up in surrender immediately. Goddamn supervillain catchphrases always making pretty girls turn their guns on you.

When she seems to recognize you she relaxes only for a man to jump through the already broken glass window and tackle her to the ground again. You want to help but considering you still haven't learned any more motorcycle tricks(or any tricks in general) you figure you would probably be useless.

You watch helplessly as she disarms and renders the guy unconscious in a matter of seconds and then stands and dusts herself off. The guy on the ground looks like some old-timey variation of Hitler and you're pretty glad she knocked him unconscious before he could even notice you.

You focus back on Nat who's looking at you like a wounded animal that could run away at any moment and It’s then that you realize that most people are not quite used to these kinds of situations. Clearly, you weren’t like most people. You point to the body in a trenchcoat on the ground as you crinkle your nose

“Are you taking that guy with you when you leave?” She huffs out a laugh and you feel yourself smile at successfully getting her to laugh again.

You, one.

Hitlerman, zero.

At least you were winning one game. Stupid Candy Crush.

She looks around the shabby pizza place and then zones in on your nametag, only them seeming to realize you worked there. She tilts her head, nodding to your flimsy little name pinned to your T-shirt.

“Why are you working here? Where’s the bike?” You sigh, you knew the question was coming but it’s still a sore subject for you. You internally punch a wall but on the outside, you frown just a little. It’s the saddest expression Nat’s seen on your face so far.

“She’s in the shop. Repairs are taking longer than I thought and now I’m forced to conform to my least favorite type of work just to get her back” Nat gives an understanding nod and then cringes a little, walking towards you until she’s right in front of you. She places a hand on your head and you inhale sharply.

A small frown forms on Nat’s face “You’re bleeding”

The feeling of her hand on your face confirms that she’s not an angel or a figment of your imagination and you don’t realize you’ve voiced that thought out loud until you hear Nat barking out a laugh.

“I’m flattered but, well-” She glances up, then behind her, then back towards you “I wouldn’t be so sure just yet” She smirks and removes her hand just as a ceiling panel falls from the roof. Dust flies into the air and you cover your face to avoid getting more shit in your eyes.

When the room finally settles Natasha is nowhere in sight but there’s a Captain America band-aid on the serving counter and you feel a small smile across your face. What a dramatic exit. Now who was the supervillain?

You take great notice of the fact that Hitlerman is also gone and you wonder how the fuck she managed to do that. But more importantly, you hoped this wasn’t coming out of your paycheck.

~~~

You can’t emphasize enough to most people how much you’re not even trying to be in the situations you get caught in. In fact, the one time you stayed home for a week you ended up catching the Flu. How the hell do you catch the flu from staying home? After that, you just accepted that you were a magnet for misfortune and there was nothing you could do about it.

Although, after meeting Nat you found yourself a little excited anytime something misfortunate happened and that was probably psychotic and you should definitely check yourself into a psych ward but you’d probably end up choking on a crayon and getting deemed a risk to those around you so what was the use?

Still, of all the robberies you’d been a witness to you’d never been a part of a hostage situation. Until now. Stupid Banks!

Usually, you’d assume that the police would handle a situation like this and you’d be stuck in this bank for hours until someone grew a dick and negotiated something but this time circumstances were a little different. To start, the guy who was currently robbing the bank was holding some type of gun that was the equivalent of real-life freeze tag.

Anyone who got zapped by the oddly blue glowing gun was frozen in place, which led you to problem number two.

The police had shown up nearly half an hour ago and someone must not have briefed them on this wacko holding you hostage because the second one of them snuck in the back door with a gun he was frozen in place looking like the idiot that he probably was.

You would attempt to grab his gun but you didn’t feel like doing that shit. Who were you to risk your life and try to be a hero for some money that this poor fellow probably needed considering New York's rent cost.

Maybe if the stupid fucker hadn’t frozen the one lady who knew the code to the very comically large bank safe he wouldn’t be stuck making stupid negotiations and holding people hostage.

Instead, you settled against a wall near a bunch of crying civilians and attempted once again to beat level 10 of Candy Crush. You give up after ten minutes and delete the app. Really you were just trying to kill the time until you-know-who showed up.

She and her band of merry men had grown a reputation for taking care of situations that the regular authorities couldn’t and that’s why you weren’t the least bit surprised when the room began to fill with a cloudy white smoke.

Others began panicking, fearing that it was some sort of poisonous gas and you rolled your eyes. This was not poisonous gas, you’d seen poisonous gas and this was not it.

This was a very dramatic entrance formulated by your absolute favorite redhead. God, you felt like you were in a spy movie. Any second now you’d see a faint figure slowly descending from the ceiling in all black with a gas mask on and spy music would start playing.

Any second now.

Aaaaaany second now-

A scream from beside you makes you jolt and you find the sobbing woman next to you with a hand over her mouth. A gruff-looking man is telling her to keep quiet and your eyes widen for a second as you think ‘Oh shit. Double robbery.’ But from behind the gruff-looking man walks a familiar figure and she pats him on the shoulder as she passes him.

You squint your eyes, what an oddly metal-looking shoulder. Perhaps you were hallucinating. Stress and all that.

By this point, enough white smoke has filled the room that the bank robber is wildly swinging around in fear as he squints to see. He’s probably more on edge after that woman's scream as well. Yeeeeah more of a horror movie than a spy movie now.

The reason you can see everyone so well is due to your superior eyesight and definitely not the science lab goggles that you had in your bag for no suspicious reasons. Hey, you had to be prepared for literally anything considering your luck.

Nat’s wearing some kind of night vision-looking goggles and a mask and when she passes you you poke her leg. She jumps a little, glaring at you until she seems to recognize you despite your flawless Lab Scientist disguise and her eyes widen. Her eyes seem to scream ‘What are you doing here’ but you feel it’s too obvious of a question to bother answering.

Instead, you give her the biggest smile you can muster and a friendly wave, mouthing “Hiiii Nat!”

She rolls her eyes but you can see the smile she’s hiding under her mask and you mentally fist pump. Three for three.

You point to the man wielding the gun and mouth to her “Go! Team go!”

She shakes her head, exasperated by your lack of fear and self-preservation but holds her finger up to her mouth telling you to be silent as she turns to sneak up on the man.

Your body does so love disobeying orders though, so it chooses that moment to sneeze, which has the man pointing the gun in your direction (not that he can see as his eyes are practically watering now) and Nat turns to you with a glare.

You raise your hands up in surrender and in an attempt to help, you throw the nearest object on the floor across the room. Oh, that was your phone- well, okay. Either way, it helps, the man swings back in that direction, blasting his gun in the air and Nat takes the moment to attack him from behind.

She disarms him easily, taking him to the ground and placing him in handcuffs. She inspects the device carefully, flipping a switch and aiming it at the closest frozen person. With a bolt of light, they unfreeze and gasp for breath. Good, at least the idiot had created some sort of Ctrl-Shift Undo button.

You're part of the first few escorted out of the building considering you weren’t frozen or in hysterics and the paramedics look at you a little funny but wrap a shock blanket around your shoulders.

Yes, shock. That's what you were experiencing. Normal people things. You twist back and forth and watch the shock blanket sway as you wait for Nat to be done with her serious business. God, serious business was boring and took forever.

When she finally emerges from the building she ignores the press and police that come up to talk to her and heads straight for you. Ha! Eat shit losers.

She doesn’t bother with formalities, why would she? It's you. Instead, she hands you a small black box as she takes in the shock blanket you’ve tied around your neck to look like a cape.

“Here’s your phone” You take the object from her hands and inspect it.

Oh wow, No cracks, that's great. Wait- “This is not my phone” You turn it over and inspect the Stark logo on the back of it. Yeeeeah definitely not yours.

“No, it’s not” She doesn't bother lying to you at least, and you hum in acknowledgment. Well, you weren’t one to pass up a free upgrade. You pocket the phone and stick your hands in your front pockets, flashing her a smile

“So… you come around here often?” She rolls her eyes at your stupid attempt at a joke. Or flirting. Either one works.

“How do you keep ending up in these situations?”

It’s your turn to smirk “Maybe it’s just an excuse to see you?”

She gives you a look that says ‘It better not be’ and you just shrug, your shock blanket falling to the ground. Fucker. Making you look uncool. You refuse to bend down and pick it up. Recovery blankets were for losers anyway.

Still, she smiles at you anyway and crosses her arms “I’m beginning to think the only way to keep you safe is to keep you with me”

Your heart leaps but you pretend to be nonchalant. You're only blushing because of shock or whatever. Play it cool “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea” A stupid smile forces its way onto your face despite your best attempts to repress it and Nat laughs at your stubbornness.

“But first I think we’ve got to teach you some self-defense” She nods her head indicating for you to follow her and you both begin walking in step to an unmarked black car.

Kidnapper car.

Cameras are flashing around you and you think about how cool you’ll look with Lab goggles atop your head and white smoke in your hair on the news tomorrow morning. The media was going to love you.

Turning to Nat on your way to the car, you have a question that’s been itching at you that you feel the need to ask

“Do you think your sugar daddy can help me fix my bike?”

She punches you in the arm.

A/n: This was initially a writing exercise to write the silliest short story I could think of, but I thought it was cute so I decided to post it~ Starry

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star-anise · 2 years

Note

Speaking of potatoes and fantasy worldbuilding and the impact that they have on a culture: You discussed how potatoes free a society from a lot of things that grain imposed. Including how potatoes are pretty much ready to cook/eat right from being grown. That had me wondering about potatoes in various worldbuilding projects which leads me to this: Is it as easy to turn a potato into a food item that will keep, potentially for months or years, as one can with wheat (see: Hardtack/etc, for an extreme example). Or is that actually an advantage of wheat over potatoes? Because your post kind of makes it sound like once a society gets potatoes, why would any peasant choose to keep growing wheat? Or is that the point, they really *wouldn't* choose to keep growing wheat?

I think modern society's uses of the two are pretty good illustrations. We like wheat, and we also like potatoes! Bread, but also french fries! Beer, but also vodka!

So it's not always an either/or choice: Homesteads that grow for their own tables tend to have their fingers in a lot of different pies, like livestock, dairy, poultry, field crops, fruit trees, and vegetable crops. This is partly an insurance policy: If one crop doesn't make it, maybe another will. Maybe it rains so hard your potatoes all rot in the ground, but your wheat finds a way to survive—or the storm is so violent your wheat is all flattened in the field, but your potatoes were perfectly fine.

But there's also the part where we humans tend to like variety in our diets, which is partly physiological (we need a lot of different vitamins and minerals, and which ones we need can shift with the circumstances) and partly psychological (because we can get really tired of having to eat the same damn thing over and over and over. Yes, samefood crew, we exist, but we're also statistically rare.)

But if you had to choose: If you intend to eat what you grow and you've got limited land and equipment, potatoes are the hands-down winner. It's really easy to plant a pound of potatoes and get five pounds back at the end of the season. Depending on storage conditions, you can keep them for several months.

However, if you want to earn your living by selling your crop for cash, it's a little more complicated. Potatoes, though lovely, are also demanding; they are prey to literally dozens of problems that range from "potato is being eaten by an insect" to "potato is being eaten by a fungus" to "potato did not get enough water" to "potato got too much water." Even when your potatoes are technically edible, they might end up harder to store, harder to turn into food, or just plain ugly, which makes people less likely to buy them.

Also, and maybe this is just my personal perception from trying to pick three acres of potatoes by hand when I was 13, harvesting potatoes is a pain in the ass. They grow down in the dirt, so to get them out again, you have to physically dig them up and shake them apart from chunks of earth. I've never harvested grain by hand so maybe I'm just ignorant, but to me that's a lot of bending, kneeling, crouching, and scrabbling through the dirt. Like, harvesting 1 potato plant? Delightful search for buried treasure. 10? Wipe sweat off your brow and feel very satisfied with yourself. But the year I was 13 we harvested at least 100 potato plants. It was the year we studied the Russian Revolution in school and I felt the peasants had a definite point.

(And then they weren't good enough to be sold as food crops. They stayed in our garage, a giant pyramid touching the roof, for half the winter. We ate potatoes every single day until my brothers campaigned for an end to it. My parents donated 10,000 lbs of potatoes to the local food bank and my dad bought a potato picker at an estate auction the following year.)

Wheat does not make a great home-consumption crop these days, since it takes a lot of work to process into flour. In the last decade I've seen some affordable home flour mills, and if you have a combine harvester that's actually doable, but when I was a kid, the nearest flour mill to us was 1000km away. Without a combine, you still need to thresh and winnow the grain. It's a whole thing.

On the other hand, if you have the tools and facilities to process it, wheat is generally simpler to grow, easier to transport and sell, and the straw it leaves behind* is a useful byproduct. And while I do love eating potatoes, and you can technically make cake and bread out of them, I, like much of the rest of the world, prefer to eat things made with wheat flour, and am also fond of other grain products like rolled oats, rye bread, and multigrain bagels.

(*Sidenote: Straw and hay are different things. Straw is the stalk of grain like wheat or barley. It has minimal nutritional value and is used for bedding and insulation. Hay is a nutritious blend of cut grasses and plants that are fed to farm animals instead of, or in addition to, access to pasture they can graze in. In case that's useful.)

In British history there IS a whole huge thing with the Agricultural Revolution where land use transferred from smaller peasant farmers growing food for themselves, to larger farmers growing cash crops to feed a mostly-urbanized population, which was part landlords kicking people off their land so it could be used differently, and part peasants seeing factory jobs in the city as a welcome escape from the backbreaking labour of farming. While I think the landlords shortchanged their former tenants, and the urban factory owners were horrible to their workers, I think we also need to remember that the peasants who said "Fuck this hoe, I'm off to town" had a very valid point.

#agriculture #medievalism #staranise original

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some-pers0n · 9 months

Note

So about that ask game you reblogged abt an hour ago

Opinions on The Spy TF2?

Ah, lemme think.

Favourite thing

I am in love with how in-game his disguise is just a mask with the class he's disguised as. It's so stupid and dumb and funny. In the lore it's probably just him being disguised as the character regularly without any mask, but it's still so funny. I also adore every gag of him ever where he's disguised as an object and has the object on that mask. It's priceless.

Least favourite thing

I do wish we got more information about him. I get his whole appeal is that he's this mysterious guy and all, but I do wish we got to explore his past a little. I think there's a lot of potential for James Bond type stuff there.

Favourite line

"26 years ago, I dropped a 'sex bomb' on your mother." I love it both for the comedy of it and also because UAGHHUAHHH HE'S TELLING SCOUT HE'S HIS FATHERRRR WAILING

brOTP

I think Sniper and Spy are really great friends. They get along quite well, despite their occasional squabbles. I don't think of them in a romantic sense, even if they are quite intimate and close. Good friends. I also really like Spy and Pyro. They're cute buds.

OTP

Hm, it's a toss up between Freedom Fries (Soldier/Spy), Practical Espionage (Spy/Engie), and Spoovy (Spy/Heavy). I also like Spy/Sniper in a romantic sense, but personally I prefer it platonic. Spy is a very shipable character.

nOTP

Well there's the obvious forbidden ship, which is a clear and obvious pick-me answer. Normal people should hate that ship. Uhhh,,other than that? I dunno.

Random headcanon

Utter coffee snob. He's pretentious and has like $50,000 dollars worth of equipment to make his prissy little mocha fraps.

Unpopular opinion

Spy isn't a jerk. Snobby and pretentious? Absolutely. I wouldn't say he's particularly rude though. No more rude and antagonistic than the others during their voice lines. In fact, canon material goes against this. He tries to organize a little bucket list thing before they all die. He spends what he believes to be his last few days alive helping Scout try and get a date with Miss Pauling. He is willing to do a suicide pact with Pauling so that they get out of being tortured to death. He sticks around with Scout after they're all fired to keep him and his mother afloat. Hell, he gives Scout closure when he seems to be on the verge of death. I think people assume French = jackass which means he's constantly insulting people and rude. No, he's not.

Song I associate with them

OUghhHH,, that's a hard one to think. Something Stupid by Frank Sinatra. I associate a lot of 1950s songs with him, and Frank Sinatra is perfectly romantic for a guy like him. I also think that him and Scout's Ma hooking up came around from him developing feelings for somebody he shouldn't have, for their own sake. He loved her dearly. Still does even after all these years. But, he can't commit. He doesn't want to settle down. He wants that honeymoon phase to last forever.

Favourite picture

Something about this picture is just really sweet to me. I think a lot of people forget about this comic and how Spy interacts with the boy, which makes me sad since he's...not that bad with him, ya know?

#ask #Sp-rambles #tf2

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pickalilywrites · 24 days

Note

Niccosasha fic idea: something to do with what you imagine to be Sasha’s strangest/most unusual pregnancy craving(s)

strange tastes

nicosasha. modern au. 1213 words.

Niccolo had believed he did his due diligence when it came to preparing for Sasha’s pregnancy. He had read every book, watched every educational video, talked to all of his friends with previous experience preparing for babies. He’s now an expert in fluffing pillows for maximum comfort, giving massages for ultimate relaxation, and setting the bath water to the exact right temperature for the best spa experience. As for the cooking ... well, Niccolo had reason to think that he was well equipped for any craving Sasha might have. He had gone through five grueling years of culinary school and experience working in different layers of hell that were the kitchens of fine dining restaurants. He figured that Sasha’s requests might be strange — the books had warned him of this — Niccolo just wasn’t prepared for how strange Sasha’s tastes would become.

It’s actually not all that hard to make the foods that Sasha craves. It’s typically just a mashup of things he can get at the grocery store or a nearby restaurant: cheeseburgers, potato chips, French fries. He just hadn’t anticipated how much of her cravings would involve mashing different foods together, especially foods that have no business being together in the first place. French fries sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with chocolate syrup, crisp apple slices with cheddar cheese, black pepper sprinkled on top of ripe strawberries. They’re so simple to put together that it would be an insult to Niccolo’s culinary skills if he were to make this for anyone other than his pregnant wife.

The cravings also come at the strangest times. It’s usually in the middle of the night or early in the morning before the sun even has a chance to rise. Sometimes it’s even after Sasha eats her fill and declares she can’t eat another bite only to look over at Niccolo sheepishly a few minutes later and mumble about how she might be able to manage a little snack of Cheetos and milk. The books had mentioned that pregnancy cravings like these would typically last until the beginning of the third trimester, but it’s past the seventh month and Sasha’s cravings are still going strong.

These days Sasha doesn’t even have to ask for Niccolo to know that the baby is starving for something to eat. He can tell by the way she stirs in her sleep, the slightest shift of the bed enough to rouse him from his own slumber so that he can tend to her. Sasha will wake quietly so as not to disturb Niccolo, oblivious to the fact that he’s already awakened. Even though he’s assured her multiple times that she can let him know anytime she needs something no matter the time of day, she’ll aways hesitate just as she does now.

Niccolo rolls over, draping his arm instinctively over Sasha’s stomach where the baby is steadily growing day by day. “What is it? Are you hungry again? Should I make you something to eat?”

“It’s really, really late,” Sasha whispers even though there’s no need. Her hand reaches over to cover Niccolo’s, squeezing it gratefully. “I think the baby and I can wait until the morning. You should get some more sleep. You still have work tomorrow.”

“That’s tomorrow. I can still make you something now. Besides, the baby is hungry,” Niccolo yawns. His words are muffled by the fabric of Sasha’s nightdress. He nuzzles his face against Sasha’s stomach affectionately. “It’s never any trouble. Just tell me what it is the baby’s craving and I’ll make it for you.”

Sasha’s hand finds its way to the top of Niccolo’s head and she giggles as she runs her fingers through his blond locks. It’s the kind of giggle she lets out when she’s about to request something particularly ridiculous.

“What is it?” Niccolo asks. He rests his cheek gently against her stomach so that he can gaze at his wife’s face in the dark of their bedroom. Even without the light on he can see the smile stretched across her face.

“Ice cream,” Sasha begins.

“Well, that doesn’t seem so bad.” They still have a half-finished tub of vanilla ice cream in the fridge.

“With pickles,” Sasha continues, and she lets out another little laugh when she sees Niccolo wince. She fails to suppress another laugh, which tells Niccolo that her request is not yet over. “... and drizzled with olive oil.”

He shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow he always is. He sighs through his nose before getting up, bending over to press a kiss against his wife’s belly and then the top of her head. “I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you!” Sasha calls as her husband disappears into the kitchen to fetch her strange request.

Niccolo comes back promptly with a bowl of perfectly scooped ice cream, dill pickles cut and placed in the shape of a flower on top of one scoop with a drizzle of olive oil on top. He presents it to Sasha who wiggles giddily in bed.

“Oh, that looks amazing,” Sasha breathes, which is not exactly how Niccolo would describe the dessert. She takes it from Niccolo’s hands and takes a scoop that has a little bit of everything — vanilla ice cream, olive oil, and a bit of dill pickle — and eats it eagerly. She savors the taste of it in her mouth before swallowing, humming happily as she eats.

“Do you like it?” Niccolo asks.

“I love it,” Sasha answers happily. She makes another little scoop just like the last one, but this time she holds it out to Niccolo with an expectant look on her face. “Your turn.”

It’s an unspoken rule that Niccolo has to participate in eating all of Sasha’s strange cravings with her. It had taken him off guard the first time, but he’s gotten used to it by now.

Niccolo leans over to take a bite and shivers at the cold of the ice cream. It’s a strange combination of flavors: sweet from the cool vanilla melting on his tongue, the tart flavor and the crunch of the dill pickle, and the buttery olive oil that slides down his throat.

“Do you like it?” Sasha asks just as Niccolo swallows. She scoots closer to Niccolo. “It’s good, isn’t it?”

Niccolo makes a face. It’s not a combination he would ever think of putting together, but he doesn’t hate it. It’s not bad. In fact, he would almost say it’s good but his culinary expertise wants to say otherwise.

Sasha reaches down to pat her belly. “Daddy loves the food you picked out, baby. You made a new dish that he loves.”

“I didn’t say I loved it,” Niccolo protests. “Why does this baby have the strangest tastes?”

“Come on, admit it. You love it,” Sasha laughs. She leans over and presses a kiss against Niccolo’s pouting lips. She still tastes of ice cream and pickles, and Niccolo enjoys the way the taste of it lingers on his tongue.

He doesn’t realize why Sasha’s still laughing after she pulls away until he catches himself licking his lips. Feeling the tips of his ears burning, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand in embarrassment. It turns out the baby might not be the only one with strange tastes.

#nicosasha #sasha braus #niccolo #snk #modern au #asks #answered #anon #anonymous #requests

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trivialbob · 1 year

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Today was scorching hot and very sunny. I doused myself with suncreen, filled a backpack with water, more sunscreen, and dental floss, and went over to the "Great Minnesota Get-Together," otherwise know as the annual Minnesota State Fair.

When I arrived at 10:00 AM the place was packed. If you do not revel in big crowds, sweaty people, fried food, food on a stick, high food and drink prices, farm animals, or tractors, this place is not for you. I can tolerate this mixture of things if I go to the fair every few years.

Lots of people. Did I already say that?

Getting there is easy if one takes a bus. $5 buys a round trip ticket from one of several park-and-rides around the cities. Both the bus ticket and the admission ticket can be purchased online ahead of time. Very easy.

People watching is excellent. Food smells are delightful. The assortment of eats is interesting. It would never have occurred to me to make deep-fried pickles. I didn't try them but I heard some people raving about how good they were.

French fries and huge tubs of chocolate cookies are popular and available in several stands. I shudder thinking what a nutrition label on those cookies would look like. It likely would indicate a serving size as "one small bite" just so the amounts of sugar, sodium, and fat didn't exceed 200% of the recommended daily allowance.

For my lunch I tried the HotDish-on-a-Stick. Hot Dish is a Minnesota thing, made with a tater tot topping over a mixture of meat, cream of mushroom soup, and maybe some veggies. The stand selling hotdish-on-a-stick didn't have a line of people. That is not a good sign. It did have a sign explaining what you got for $7 (a bargain compared to other food stands).

I liked the concept, but results didn't work for me. It tasted like deep fried batter. The mushroom-hamburger dipping sauce was too salty, and I only dipped into it one time.

Some food stands had enormous lines. There must have been 150 people waiting for a new-this-year doughnut stand. "The Doughnut" was $5. Based on the long line, they easily could charged more. The Peanut Butter Cream doughnut was $10. At that price I would have thought it would be served on a stick. This stand had me curious, but I wasn't going to wait in that line.

On Machinery Hill there were collections of vintage farm and garden tractors. Very cool. There were also lots of trucks, modern lawn equipment, side-by-sides, ATVs, and travel trailers on display. I sat on a swell little John Deer tractors and made revving noises with my mouth, much like I did as a 5-year-old in Sears stores long, long ago. I thought it was funny, but an actual 5-year-old boy today looked at me and backed away.

There are also a lot of the "as seen on TV" displays, selling items you didn't know you had to have!

The 4H people had farm displays. I like those kids. The Miracle of Birth Center had newborn calves, chicks, goats, and lambs.

After several hours of walking around my feet were burning and my back hurt a little. As I made my way back to the gate where the buses were, I stopped to try some deep fried mac and cheese bites and have a beer. Those bites were delicious. The beer, while a little pricey, was extremely refreshing and frankly worth the price in that heat.

I plopped into a seat on the articulated bus. The air conditioning worked very well. I actually started to nod off as we waited to leave.

Four blondes and a brunette get on a bus...

No, this isn't a joke. It really happened. As my bus started to pull away and take us back to our cars, an adorable young woman, the brunette, walked up to the driver.

"Wait, where does this bus go?" She apparently missed the large banners with park-and-ride names and the those same names flashing on the bus LED signs.

The driver explained that we were going to the Bloomington park and ride, next to the Mall of America.

The brunette turned to her similarly cute cohorts, the four blondes with nearly identical haircuts, who sat midway down the bus.

"What bus did we take to get here?"

The other four came up to the front of the bus. They discussed it. I heard one blonde say she was sure they had not parked in Bloomington.

"Ohmygosh, will let us get off this bus?"

We hadn't left the parking area yet so the driver politely said he could do that. The brunette turned to address the rest of the passengers.

"I'm so sorry you guys, to make you wait like that." (It had been under a minute.)

Everyone said it was no problem and wished them well finding the correct bus. I smiled, then dozed off for the ride to Bloomington.

#There was only one stop #So clearly there was no need for anyone to pull the bell cord #A mom told her young daughter she could still pull the bright yellow cord and light up the STOP REQUESTED sign as we got close to the stop #That was adorable too

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arctic-hands · 1 month

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PERIODIC PSA that if you have celiac or otherwise a severe reaction to gluten, rye and barley (and thus malt) are not gluten free. You WILL get just as sick as if you had just eaten wheat

To make matters worse, barley/malt and rye aren't declared allergens in the United States, so you won't get the big bold letter warning like you would with a wheat product. Hell, up until a few years ago Rice Krispies didn't even declare malt in their ingredients list at all, us with celiac had to figure it out by reporting on forums that the plain cereal and the rice krispy treats were making us mysteriously sick

Also, it's estimated that twenty percent of celiac suffers will have a reaction to oats. I myself do not react to oats unless there's been cross contamination (not just on equipment, but often oats are grown right next to wheat so there's contamination on the plants themselves even before harvesting), but for some it's just as bad as if you've eaten bread or malt vinegar French fries

I don't know why the barley and rye parts are always left out of the discussion–even by doctors–when it's just as dangerous. Yes, celiac is dangerous. For us just a crumb of gluten is potent enough to cause miscarriages in the pregnant, and for the rest of us it can still send us to the hospital and make us violently ill for weeks. Pay attention to the ingredients you're serving us and for the love of God stop fucking with our diets in order to catch us in a "gotcha!"

#celiac disease #coeliac disease #gluten #wheat #rye #barley #malt #bread #food allergies #not quite but almost #food intolerance #food

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katealpha · 2 years

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Many surprises filled the life of one Diane Foxington. Her sudden retirement from her life of thievery, her having to break the framed Bad Guys out of Jail, and now, the biggest surprise of all lay within her very own body. Three of them to be exact. Not too long after Mr Wolf and company were released from prison on good behavior, Diane treated him to a night on the town. This lead to drinks, fun, and sharing a hotel room. Nine months later, here she was, waddling down the red carpet and slowly up the steps of the Museum of Art, a paw rested upon her belly as the pups Wolf put inside her wiggled and bumped inside, excited by all the commotion outside. She waved and greeted the paparazzi, but wasn’t intent on sticking around.

Those in attendance however got a bit more time with her. The socialites and those who reserved seats who chose to approach her got to ask all about her predicament. She didn’t feel annoyed answering many of the same questions. In fact, despite the loss of her amazonian figure, she loved every moment of this on an almost instinctual level. She was taken aback by the occasional question about politics, and she’d make clear that even though she chose the life of her children, she’s still firmly pro choice and would be running on it for her next election. This of course would be followed by a selfie with whoever she was talking to, and a granted request to feel the baby bump. She’d never received so many compliments in her life, and it made her glad that she chose a bolder look. Her old strapless pink dress, ironically the same outfit she wore when she met the father of the pups inside her.

A good hour of talking and moving around the place left her a tad winded, and hungry. Diane’s appetite skyrocketed once she reached her third trimester, and the Good Guy’s crew would attest this to the many devoured pizzas, fried chicken buckets, and whatever the fox woman got her paws on once her cravings kicked in. It was happening again, and a paw pushed out from her dress as she moseyed down to the buffet table. Her lips licked across her muzzle as she equipped herself with a pair of tongs, and grabbed whatever looked appetizing. Exotic cheeses, grilled chicken, French bread, and other things you’d expect to be served at a fancy party we’re devoured over the course of the next fifteen minutes, followed by an innocent smile once she saw she was being watched.

“Heh, cravings and I right? Huurp..scuse me!”

Diane stroked her paw atop her now softly gurgling stomach as it started to digest the bounty of her cravings. She approached a very familiar looking Swan art piece as she stifled down a belch. Tonight shouldn’t let herself be too rambunctious, at least not until the after party where she’d probably get into another burping contest with Piranha, of which she’d been seeing herself win each time recently. A soft groan bubbled through her belly, and she sighed. Speaking to the little ones who made her so big and hungry.

“Can’t make too much of a pig of myself. I’ve got a dolphin to present.”

Suddenly, an all too familiar voice was heard from behind as a brown furred Wolf in a white suit and fedora walked over. He finally showed up.

“I don’t know, Governor. Choosing a pink dress isn’t really helping with that.”

Diane gasped in an almost offended manner. It was a really smooth comeback to what she’d said, and of course with it was the surprise of her lover having come to be with her on this important night. The fox swung around to face him with a raised brow.

“Very funny, Mr Poodleton.”

The two came together under the swan’s shadow and briefly embraced, kissed, and Diane stepped back so wolf could get down and show her swollen belly some much needed paternal love. He’s hood her bump with his paws and rub in circles as he face the middle of it a soft kiss. They moved and wiggled around under his paws, and both mother and father could feel their kicks.

“You three giving your mama trouble tonight? I hope not, or no golden dolphin for either of you!”

Wolf and Diane chuckled together as he stood back up, regarding her further.

“Seriously though, how do you feel? You know the doctor said you shouldn’t be doing this at week 38. You might actually go into labor on stage. In fact the guys are betting on it.”

The governess laughed and rolled her emerald eyes as she waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll be fine, Wolfie. I haven’t felt any contractions or hicks yet. Just cravings”

“And the hard to resist urge to burp your lungs out? I can hear your gut from here.”

“Wolf!”

“Hehe! Sorry Charlie.”

Both shared in a short bout o haughty laughter before their conversation was cut short by one of her attendants approaching and whispering into her ear. She’d nod before giving wolf a kiss.

“Okay then, I guess I’ll just have to tease them with a false alarm on stage. See you at the after party, Mr Poodleton.”

After her farewell, she’d waddle hastily around Wolf, give him a hip check, before disappearing belly and all into the museum. Wolf staggered before his tail found itself wagging again. He was left alone and just sighed, Diane on his brain.

“What a woman…”

————————————————-

Now THIS exquisite piece was brought to you by the extremely talented Bindy the Cat (@ bindweed on FA), who definitely delivered on Diane’s appearance. I hope the short story was able to match the magnificence of what they drew. Hope you enjoyed reading and expect more soon!

#animated movies #the bad guys #the bad guys movie #pregnant #pregnancy #diane foxington

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grizzlyofthesea · 1 year

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Dumb Vocaloid Headcanons Part 1: Internet Co.

All

Andriods/robots of various levels of human resemblance

Voicebank upgrades correspond to hardware upgrades.

Primarily made for music, but they also have combat skills.

Each one has a unique music-related weapon/ability, which I'll elaborate on in another post. (I got this idea from the manga Megu Megu Singer Song Fighter. It's...an experience. Kinda chaotic, and the translation I found isn't always the clearest, but it's cute, harmless fun focused on the first few Internet Co. Vocaloids. If you want to see himbo Gackpo in a fundoshi, this is the manga for you.)

Generally get along well with the Cryptonloids

One huge, generally happy family

Camui Gackpo (Gackpoid)

The most robotic/android-like of the bunch in terms of physical structure, but good gosh, does he have feelings

His "bodysuit" is just what his body looks like (he can morph it into a more human-looking appearance, though), and that weird glowy spot on his chest is his power core.

Can change his eye and power core colors at will

Has a whole army of eggplant horses

A chivalrous gentleman, but he has his goofy moments

An expert in hair care

Cishet ally

Dating/in love with GUMI

GUMI (Megpoid)

Huge science and sci-fi nerd

Has a visible battery gauge on each of her designs, which takes the form of a red jewel. It blinks when her battery is running low. (another idea from Megu Megu Singer Song Fighter)

BFFs with Miku, Luka, Lily, and CUL

Owns a carrot rocket equipped with missiles

Her goggles have several functions, including night vision, tracking, and looking cool.

Lives for the aesthetics of the 1960s-1980s

A little bit scatterbrained, but she tries

Hoping that everyone else (or at least Gackpo and Una) joins her on VOCALOID6 and gets an AI voicebank

Bisexual

Dating/in love with Gackpo

Lily

Beta/production name was Yuripoid (not actually, but in my headcanon). This didn't stick for multiple reasons.

Her tattoo doubles as a battery meter, "draining" from top to bottom as her power depletes.

Likes lollipops (yet another idea from Megu Megu Singer Song Fighter)

The "cool older sister" of the group

Infamous for speeding on her motorcycle

Keeps a couple of beehives, from which she harvests honey

Demi/heteroromantic asexual

Exchanges makeup tips with Gackpo

Ryuto (Gachapoid)

Obsessed with dinosaurs, to the point where he has memorized every species

Basically GUMI's little brother

His arm warmers serve to make his elbow joints slightly less obvious; his shoes do the same thing for his ankles.

Favorite meal is dino nuggies with waffle fries

Friends with Yuki and Oliver

Really wants a pet puppy

Favorite holiday is Halloween

Big fan of FNAF, even if it scares him sometimes

A little bit self-conscious about his buck teeth

Always carries a notebook and markers with him in his backpack

CUL

Huge Madoka Magica fan; cried at Sayaka's death

Doesn't always get along with her sisters, but she loves them all dearly

Gets into arguments with Gackpo over who "stole" the other's hairstyle

Her eyes double as cameras

Favorite foods are Pocky and tempura shrimp

Shops exclusively at thrift stores and Hot Topic

Knows all the jokes about her name's meaning in French; not amused at all

Lesbian; has a bit of a crush on flower

Secretly collects porcelain dolls

galaco

Huge space nerd

Loves to nerd out over space with GUMI

Has always wanted to be a princess

Has jet boots; can use them to float in place or skate around

The first one to lack any visibly robotic traits

BFFs with MAYU

Loves listening to video game soundtracks

Aroace

Plays a lot of TF2 in her spare time; mains Demoman

kokone

Kind of shy, especially around new people

Huge book nerd; favorite genre is fantasy

LOVES animals

Favorite food is raindrop cake

Surprisingly big fan of horror movies

Gets cold easily

Likes to do prank phone calls with GUMI; they switch places periodically, pretending to be the same person

Trans girl (pronouns are she/her); polysexual

Wants to write and illustrate her own manga series

Rana

Technically developed by We've Inc. as a collab with Internet Co., but since she's the only one from We've Inc, the Internet Co. crew includes her as one of their own.

Really wants to be a magical girl; has designed her own weapon and transformation device

Has a massive collection of teddy bears

Practically lives in her hoodie

Feels a bit weird about being literally 0 years old, but tries to ignore it

Sugar cookies make her life worth living

Carries a variety of glitter with her at all times

Chika

The mom friend

Has regular lunch outings with Mew and MEIKO

A talented tailor

Lives for vintage clothing

Has an entire cupboard full of various herbal teas

A little bit disappointed about her unpopularity, but she has mostly accepted it at this point

Tends a butterfly garden

Cishet ally

Really good at cooking and baking

Otomachi Una

Her hat is alive.

Views Rana as a rival; Rana doesn't really care

Looks up to GUMI

Can hold her breath for ten minutes

Tends a koi pond

Loves to experiment with different hair dyes

Sometimes wears fake glasses for the sake of fashion

Owns a swimmable mermaid tail (fades from indigo to lime green, then cotton candy pink); loves showing it off

Just beginning to question her sexuality

Will eat every piece of cheesecake in a five mile radius

ROSA

A CeVIO/upcoming SynthV vocal rather than a Vocaloid, but since she was made in collaboration with Internet Co. and CUL is her older sister, she hangs out with the Internet Co. crew often

Gets along well with Gackpo for their shared love of traditional Japanese culture

Insists that she "was born in the wrong generation"

Loves rose-flavored macarons, but her favorite food is salmon nigiri

Gets picked on by some of her older sisters, so she has learned to be a bit sassy as a defense mechanism

Genderfaer (pronouns are she/her and occasionally they/them); pansexual

In the process of collecting all of the Vocaloid Nendoroids (except the Miku ones; there are way too many)

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damnredthing · 2 years

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Destination Star Trek Germany – My recap (long post warning)

I attended the DST Germany last weekend (23rd – 25th of September 2022). It was my second convention ever (my first one was the Expo Con in Hannover in 2000). So I am really not an expert in attending conventions.

What was my motivation to go to this specific convention? 2022 has been and continues to be a horrific year for my family and myself; the horror started in October last year. In all honesty, I wanted to go to a place that surrounds me with things I enjoy in the hopes it would shake me out of my numbness. I wanted to see people, even if not to interact with them, but just to watch people and to see life. I hoped for some of that life to rub off on me again. I considered going to Fedcon, but that was too soon for me to accomplish after the horror climaxed in January 2022. I booked the tickets for DST Germany in May, thinking that September would be far enough in the future to handle it. Little did I know that just a week after I booked my tickets in May, the second wave of horror would wash over my family. I was very close to cancel DST, but eventually I went through with it anyways.

I am glad I did, although I am not sure it really helped me. Time will tell I guess. But as I went to the con, I can give my personal recap now. Sorry that I didn’t make many photos.

Facts first

The convention took place in the Westfalenhallen, hall 8 in Dortmund, Germany. The Westfalenhallen is a complex of multiple exhibition halls. They are right next to the Signal Iduna Park, which is the home stadium of the famous 1. Bundesliga football club BVB (Borussia Dortmund).

The Westfalenhallen are located perfectly for visitors. There were hundreds of parking lots all around the area. For those who come by train, there is a subway station right next to the Westfalenhallen with direct connection to Dortmund central station.

The exhibition area of hall 8 is 5,000 sqm small (which equals 70% of a football pitch or roughly 90% of an American football pitch).

The floor plan looked like this (plan):

Sorry, I only have this in German. But:

Vorstellungszone = Screening room (where episodes were shown on a small flat-screen TV)

Voyager Bühne = Voyager Stage (free for all stage)

Autogramme = Autographs (I guess you figured that out by yourself 😋 )

Info Karten = Info Tickets

Enterprise Bühne = Enterprise stage (main stage that required for the most part paid tickets)

The big purple area in the middle had a couple of vendors (which I’ll comment on later).

Floor plan (how it really was):

The southern fan zone and autograph zone in truth were switched.

Next to the voyager bridge photo zone was Café Acht, which was a seating area on floor level 2 (open only for Admiral ticket holders). Café Acht is part of the exhibition hall equipment. However, some benches were placed on ground level for everyone else by the con organizers. There was just one crèpes (sp?) booth in the corner, which resulted in very long queues because the booth was serviced by one staff member only. I am not sure who the booth belonged to, the con organizers or the exhibition hall owners.

Between the screening room and the autograph section in the north there was an exit to get to an outside area. There was one food truck (again, no clue who that belonged to) and a couple benches. Prices were astronomic:

“Fritten” are French fries. 0.5l soft drink bottles went for €5 on both booths. Again, I don’t know whether these prices were set by the con organizers or the exhibition hall owners (I heard it’s the latter but don’t nail me on this).

The time table kept changing during the event. With Ethan Philips canceled his attendance, his free for all talk on Sunday was replaced by Marine Sirtis’ one (which I missed). Connor Trinneer joined Anthony Montgomery’s free for all talk on Sunday (which I also missed).

All talks took place on the main stage, the secondary stage was for fan made talks like podcasts, auction, cosplay contest, audiobook presentation, quizzes etc.

There was one Voyager bridge setup which you could have your picture taken on (only you) or at specific times with the Voyager cast (which sadly only consisted of Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo and Finton McKeown).

And there was a photo op booth with a green screen setup.

Accommodation

Several hotels are located near the Westfalenhallen. I picked the Dorint Hotel (4 HRS stars) which is the closest and in view of hall 8. The hotel was very good, which is to be expected for the prices you had to pay there.

The hotel is a conference hotel. I arrived on Friday, which is when a conference took place in the hotel. It was funny to watch business people mix with Star Trek fans. I absolutely admire every fan who ran around in cosplay in the hotel and also on the exhibition compound. I lack the courage to cosplay. Whoever says that Star Trek fans are nerds and losers have no idea how courageous they are to show their love all in public, knowing that they might be ridiculed by idiots. Luckily I did not see any idiot in the hotel. But I did see some on the exhibition compound. A huge car components exhibition took place on the same weekend and some of those visitors obviously had to prove their masculinity by laughing at fans and calling them big childs or losers. IMO a loser is who has to ridicule another person in the hopes to appear strong themselves.

Anywho, to get from Dorint to the convention there was a huge obstacle to overcome:

This is the so called BVB-Bridge, which on Bundesliga game days is used by fans to get to the Signal Iduna Park. As you can see the slope is insane (I learnt while talking to locals that the bridge is going to be replaced because it is not considered barrier-free). Even for me the bridge was a challenge even though I am not disabled. Walking up the bridge wasn’t so much a problem, but if you suffer from arthrosis in your ancles and knees, walking down this bridge is like torture. I have no idea how people in wheelchairs (and there were a couple at the convention) managed to get over this bridge.

The con organization

Look, I know there has been a lot of discussions about the organization of this event and a lot of disappointment and anger. But I do not want to join into the bashing.

I had the misfortune of paying €1k for another convention 3 or 4 years ago (not Star Trek related) that got cancelled and for which I was never refunded. THAT is what I call a scam.

Even though a lot of guest stars cancelled their attendance for DST Germany and the whole convention setup appeared very low budget, I am still grateful that the convention took place after all and I was able to meet amazing guests.

I didn’t run into any staff member who wasn’t super friendly.

I heard on Twitter that the organizers even apologized on stage at the closing ceremony (I left the con around 1pm after Kate’s panel on Sunday) for how the event was not how they wanted it to be. To my understanding it was the last Destination Star Trek under official umbrella. There might be conventions in other form in the future, but not with official ties to Paramount/CBS anymore.

Tickets came either in packages or day or weekend tickets. I had the commander ticket which had 5 talks and 5 autographs included, plus a green screen and bridge photo (without guest star). Additional tickets could be purchased on the venue, but often the queue was way too long to service everyone in time.

On Friday I had the impression this is going to be a small and cozy convention with not too many visitors. When I came into hall 8 on Saturday morning though, it was jam-packed with people. I figured out later that the Lieutenant package only included entrance for Saturday and Sunday, so when they all showed up the numbers exploded.

My Corona warning app already blew up like a Christmas tree, so far my tests have been negative. Fingers crossed. But home office is in order this week. Better safe than sorry for my colleagues at work. 🥴

The guest stars

THEY.WERE.FRICKIN.AMAZING!!!

Every single one of them.

The guests stars saved the whole convention IMO. Even though each panel was only 30 minutes long (which I didn’t understand, because if so many guests cancelled, they could easily have doubled the length of each panel, especially as the guest stars themselves seemed disappointed when they ended so soon), the stars managed to get the audience excited in no time. The atmosphere was energetic and a lot of questions were asked.

I’ll try to stress my memory a bit with just some excerpts that stuck in my head.

* Kate Mulgrew

She is fantastic on stage. Funny, witty, self-confident and not shy to state her opinions.

She repeatedly (because she was repeatedly asked) stated that she doesn’t think it’s impossible anymore to see Janeway again in a live action project and that talks about this have increased. But she does not want to play second fiddle. It has to be THE Janeway show. She also reflected this when she answered a question about whether she would join The Orville season 4 as a guest star (if asked); she said let the 4th season of something be for other people, she would only do the Janeway show.

Kate also got very private and talked about her mom who had Alzheimer’s disease. She comforted the audience members who also have relatives with this horrible disease. Her advice is to stay with them, love them, never give up on them. But she also didn’t mince words when she said that this disease will not go easy, it will get worse and worse and end horribly.

In Kate’s opinion, Star Trek fans are the best fans of all franchises. They are the smartest, the most loyal ones and one more thing which I forgot (sorry, my memory is also ageing).

Kate hates her photo being taken. To assure us that this is a very human feeling, she asked the entire audience who likes to have their photo taken. By far the most hands stayed down, proving her point.

She also talked about why she opposed having a love relationship with anyone, especially Chakotay. She wanted Janeway to be a person of integrity. She can have friendships, even close friendships, but no relationships and especially no sex. She joked that it would give the ready room a whole new meaning “Chakotay, to the ready room!”.

*Robert Picardo

He is also fantastic and super funny on stage. He has the witty humor which I like so much.

I also had the impression that he remembers every take and every episode of Voyager. He often started with “Do you remember that scene when… “ or “Do you remember that episode where…”.

Bob often talked in German to us (which left all the non-German speaking folks in the audience a bit helpless, but moderator Benjamin Stöwe translated some of that, at least at the opening ceremony. Benjamin was an awesome moderator btw!). He joked how every time he speaks in German, people automatically assume that he also understands German (because his pronunciation is really good). To which he usually replies with “Ich kann Deutsch sprechen, aber ich kann es nicht verstehen.“ (I can speak German, but I don’t understand it).

He joked that he was on Star Trek and on Stargate. If he gets a role in Star Wars, then he has the trifecta completed.

He told the story how he suggested that the doctor should be a passionate opera fan and that he should listen to operas in sickbay. Months later he got a script in which he was supposed to sing an opera. He freaked out and protested, but he was told to just try it. If it works, it works, if not, they’d voice over the part with a professional singer. It turned out that he wasn’t too shabby at all. Of course he demonstrated some of his singing on stage, and the man still got it.

Bob shared with us that the episode “Life Line”, in which he met his “creator” Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, was his pitch, and he was very proud to share that it was the first time ever an actor’s pitch went all the way to a full episode and that he was credited for the story.

It was also his idea to teach 7 of 9 human social behavior after Kes was his mentor before. He said he thought it was a funny idea that of all people on board the Voyager, it was the only non-human entity to teach 7 of 9 human behavior. At a time when more and more people had their first personal computer in RL, it was a computer program that would teach human behavior on a TV show.

It is no secret that many Star Trek actors aren’t Trump fans and many are vocal about it. Bob is no exception but he had a very funny and charismatic way to formulate it. He said that the last time he was in Germany for a convention was 2018. At that time Trump was president. The next time Bob will be in Germany again, Trump will be in jail…. or he’ll be president again; that’s how crazy things are today.

*Marina Sirtis

She did one hell of a job to make this convention successful. She had by far the most panels. She had by far the most photo ops. And when she wasn’t at photo ops or on stage, she was constantly available to give autographs. She even prolonged her stay to Sunday, which wasn’t the original plan.

Marina is also not a Trump fan (to put it mildly) and she explained a bit why that is so (not gonna repeat it all, this is not meant to be a political post).

I honestly don’t remember much from all the Q&As because they came in like rapid fire. Some questions I remember are who is the better kisser, Worf or Riker (Marina complained about Worf’s teeth 😂). Marina also talked about how Troi’s relationship with Worf came out of nowhere and made no sense to her, and how she was glad to get back to her Riker. Worf later hooked up with Jadzia so he should be happy (“but oh yeah, we killed her off”).

I remember her funny statement that she is Greek, and no way she can be vegan. A Greek being vegan is an oxymoron.

Sorry I don’t remember more, I don’t know why. Marina’s was the first panel I attended on Friday, maybe that’s why I don’t remember most of it anymore.

*Chrissy Chong

I don’t think there was ever a moment when she didn’t look cheerful and smiley. She did an amazing job representing SNW all on her own and it was such a pleasure to see her being in the focus. It was also her second convention ever which IMO you’d never guess.

She was also very thoughtful and clever not to spoil critical parts of episodes as she was aware that the show hasn’t debuted in Germany yet. What she talked about was very interesting nonetheless. She talked about working with the AR wall and how it was a pain to wear the EV suits. They cost USD 100k each, which is why they were borrowed from the Discovery set (and thus didn’t fit perfectly). They were very heavy and hurt so much that they got painkillers (!).

She talked about having Runa on set and how that specific episode was so much fun to do because everyone had such a blast to goof off. She said especially for Babs it was difficult because he was the only one who was “normal” in the episode. He often had to laugh at the silliness of everyone else, which then resulted in laugh fits for all.

She told us that she lived in Germany, Essen for 2 years in the past when she was part of a theatre ensemble. She forgot most of her German skills though, but still had some bits for us.

*Armin Shimerman

What a funny and classy guy. He began his panel with a serious topic though when he remembered Louise Fletcher (who sadly just had passed away on the day the convention started). He and Louise were long time friends. He told us that when she auditioned for the role of Kai Winn, she asked him how much make up would she have to endure. She only wanted to accept the role if she didn’t have to sit too long in the make up chair. Armin told her not to worry as she’d only get a very small nose silicone piece. So she accepted the role. On set she then stormed to Armin and was complaining how he was right about the nose, but the damn wig and hood took 2 hours.

Armin also remembered Rene, who he considered his closest friend on set, and Aron Eisenberg and he thanked the audience for sharing this moment with him.

After this he turned into entertainer mode and took questions.

He told us how he involuntarily influenced the Ferengi to become more of a comedic species. He played the first Ferengi on the TNG episode “The Last Outpost” in a comedic way. He high pitched his voice and played his Ferengi like an idiot. The other actors followed his lead, which kinda cemented the species as a comedic one. The Ferengi were supposed to be as scary as the Klingons though. When Armin accepted the role of Quark, he wanted to correct this error.

During auditioning for Quark, he and Max Grodénchik were the only ones left to be considered for the role. While Max played Quark in a comedic way in his audition, Armin played him in a dramatic way and explained why he did that. The producers decided to go with Armin’s way and gave him less comedic situations than Rom. IMO it worked out perfectly for both roles.

*Connor Trinneer and Anthony Montgomery

Sadly I missed their panels. Connor’s panel on Saturday was not included in my package. I tried to get a ticket for it, but the queue for the ticket counter was INSANE (many folks tried to get tickets for Kate’s panel at the same time). I ran out of time.

I missed Connor’s and Anthony’s Sunday panel because I left the con around 1pm (I was too exhausted, mentally and physically, to stay one minute longer).

Photo sessions

I cannot tell you much about the photo sessions as I didn’t book any of those with the stars. Just like Kate, I also hate having my photo taken. It doesn’t help if I stand next to an awesome looking guest star. And I also honestly didn’t get the time table for the photo ops. One slot was sometimes just 10 or 15 minutes short. When I compared that time slot with the queue that built up for that slot, my mathematic brain couldn’t bring both together. I sincerely hope that folks who paid for an op and ended up in a long ass queue weren’t shooed away once the time slot ended before they got their chance.

The only two photos of me are me on the bridge alone and me in front of a green screen scene alone. I managed to sneak into both photo sessions Sunday morning, when the hall wasn’t busy and only very few peeps could have witnessed me with my mask off.

Autographs

The queues for Kate and Marina were at times very long. But with the right timing, you could catch them with a reasonable small queue. I tried to go to all guest stars when their queues were relatively small, so I could chat a little bit with each of them.

Again, I produce this all from my swiss cheese memory, so apologies in advance. I thanked everyone for attending and wished them all a great weekend, so I’ll not repeat that in all recaps.

*Kate Mulgrew

Before it was my turn I watched Kate talking to the two fans before me, who I think were a mom with her teen daughter. I didn’t overhear the conversation, but I noticed that after Kate signed their photo, the mom asked Kate to sign a red Starfleet uniform as well. The staff member next to Kate immediately kicked in and demanded them to pay extra for the additional autograph, but Kate signed the uniform for free and when the fans left the table, she told the staff member something along the line of I know you are just doing your job, but I don’t have the heart to say no.

When it was my turn I told her that I am very looking forward to Prodigy as it hasn’t been shown in Germany yet. Kate was surprised by that (despite the entire hall having billboards of the Nov 4th premiere date for Prodigy, but they were all in German so she maybe didn’t make the connection that the billboards were for the premiere).

She said she hopes that I’ll enjoy the show, to which I replied I am sure I will.

The queue was still very long, so I didn’t want to take too much time from all the other peeps waiting.

*Robert Picardo

Told him with me attending this convention, it’s coming full circle for me. The first con I attended was the Expo Con in Hannover in 2000, and that’s where I had seen Robert Picard for the first time. And now I see him again, 22 years later.

He said woooow! You look all the same, but I look older.

I replied that he looks the same, but I got older.

I forgot what he said next, sorry. ☹️ He seemed very jet laggy.

*Armin Shimerman

I said I am surprised that I didn’t have to pay (for the autograph) in latinum.

Armin laughed (I bet he heard this 'joke' a billion times already) and said well, the banks don’t accept latinum.

I replied well not here anyways!

Armin signed my picture with “Alles Gute”, so he noticed by my dialect that I am German. Very thoughtful guy!

*Connor Trinneer and Anthony Montgomery

They both sat at the same table with a staff member in between. So I could get both autographs at the same time.

I first talked with Connor and told him I love Enterprise (that’s the truth!) except for one thing. In my headcanon Trip never died.

To my surprise Connor didn’t know the word. Or he made fun of me cuz with my German accent I probably pronounced it as “headcannon”. I am not sure. But he looked over to Anthony and asked him whether he knows the word headcanon. Anthony said no. I didn’t even get to explain it cuz Connor got it, he said it’s like canon but like what’s canon in your head. Anthony’s face lit up and he said oh that’s awesome!

I then went over to Anthony and asked him whether he’ll one day be in SNW as guest star in some time travel episode or some such (Anthony looked amazing btw, he could jump into his role right away and would look all the same).

He said I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind. If we fans want it, we should let the studio know.

I said it would be cool to see you in a helmsmen match with Ortegas.

He said I haven’t seen the show yet, is it good?

I said it is absolutely fantastic, I love the show. I love it as much as I love Enterprise. I told him how sad I was that the series ended after just 4 seasons and that I didn’t understand why after waiting so long for a new Star Trek show, it ended so soon.

I noticed that Connor looked over at that. Both looked sad. Anthony said the cast also didn’t understand it and they were sad about it. But he’s happy that the show lives on in our hearts.

*Marina Sirtis

The queue was a bit smaller than a day before, but still considerably long so I only got a few words in.

I told her I am very curious about Picard season 3 compared to TNG. Marina said it’s going to be totally different.

That honestly surprised me, and I said OH! Now I am even more curious.

She said she hopes I’ll enjoy it and called me sweetheart. 😊

*Chrissy Chong

I was very much looking forward to meet Chrissy. Surprisingly a lot of fans queued up for an autograph with Chrissy (surprisingly because most German fans haven’t watched SNW yet). I noticed that a lot of guys got extremely excited when they talked to Chrissy. *grins*

I must say Chrissy is a fountain of joy. Her positive spirit is infectious. She also allowed fans to take photos with her at the autograph stand (I’ve seen Connor and Anthony do the same).

I had the longest conversation with Chrissy.

The moment I asked her “How is Runa?”, her already smiley face exploded into a supernova. You can tell she truly loves her pupper. She said she misses her so much as she was travelling a lot and bringing her to Germany was too much stress for her. But she hopes and plans to bring Runa to the Wales convention (hint, hint people!).

I told her that unfortunately I cannot go to Wales. I said I was hoping for her to sign my picture and have Runa add a paw print on the photo. Chrissy said she has special ink for that for Runa. So maybe you peeps who can go to Wales con… look out for Runa!

I asked Chrissy whether we gonna see Runa again (sorry, I fell in love with the pup). Chrissy said not in season 2 because the only (crazy) episode where Runa would have fit in had the same director (Amanda Row) as in Elysium Kingdom. The director was fine with having Runa on set for Elysium Kingdom but didn’t want to have the same stress again for the season 2 episode. Having a pet on set is more work apparently.

But Chrissy hopes (and pitches for) to have Runa in an episode in season 3.

I grinned at her and asked “Sooooooo, we do get a season 3?”.

Chrissy answered that nothing has been confirmed yet officially but come on, it would be a surprise if we wouldn’t get renewed, would it?

I said absolutely, and Paramount could expect a lot of fan protest.

Chrissy said if they get renewed they’ll start filming in April and it will take approximately 5 months to shoot the season.

So I said we’ll probably know by February 2023 whether there’s going to be a season 3 and Chrissy said yeah, around that time.

The vendors

There weren’t many vendors. Which is sad because they were one of the reasons why I was looking forward to the con. At such events I’d expect to find the most and rarest stuff.

The largest vendor was from Filmweltshop who had by far the most items, including many rare ones. I got to talk with the shop owner Martin Netter (who has been in the business for decades and organized the first DST event before management changed). I am not going to repeat what we talked about because that is his story to tell (he has a facebook page if you are interested). Just let me say that it seems to become more and more difficult for fans to collaborate with Paramount. Filmwelt also presented some exhibits from their Star Trek Exhibition, including the original Ensign Mayweather uniform (which Anthony spotted ).

There was also a shop in a trailer that seemed to be officially associated with Paramount (as they handed out Paramount bags) but I wasn’t sure what you could buy there as the presented goods were very limited. There was a book stand where you could buy all the novels and encyclopedias and whatnot. There were two vendors where you could get ship models (Revell and Blue Brixx) and Playmobil had a display with the Enterprise. That’s all there was for vendors.

Other things I’ve learnt

For DST being an official Star Trek convention, there was remarkably few branding and support from Paramount in the exhibition hall. The only advertisements I could see were for the Prodigy premiere on Nov 4th on Toggo (not even a Paramount company) and Timelines billboards.

There was no advertisement at all for the upcoming Paramount+ launch. There was no advertisement at all for the upcoming SNW premiere. Nada. Considering that Paramount+ is around the corner with a launch in December (though, I only believe it when I see it), this was a fatally missed chance to promote it with hundreds of Star Trek fans on the venue.

~~~

I was shocked how most peeps didn’t wear masks. I wore a mask the entire time. I had to at least try to stay healthy because I want to visit my very sick dad in 2 weeks and I don’t want to bring Corona to him. Maybe 5% tops of all peeps wore masks. Even the guest stars didn’t wear masks except for Robert Picardo, Armin Shimerman and his wife Kitty Swink.

~~~

Germans aren’t criminals. 😋 To my surprise, during Chrissy’s panel the audience was asked how many had (illegally) watched SNW already. Only very few hands rose (yes, mine too. I admit it). So most peeps in Germany haven’t seen SNW yet and will get the chance (hopefully) from December 2022 on. Wow. That astonishes me. I thought we were more savage fan folks.

~~~

I wasn’t by far the only one who is super introvert and visited the convention alone. And I am by far not the only one who has trouble connecting. I saw a hell of a lot of folks who were walking around all on their own and never joined a group of people to chat. This – in a very odd way – made me feel like I belonged.

~~~

I noticed a few visitors with bags from car parts manufacturers on the DST con. I guess some guests from the car parts exhibition sneaked into our con to have some real fun. 😂

~~~

The cosplay was amazing. I didn’t make any photos because I would never make photos of peeps without consent (except for the panels, because taking photos was allowed beforehand, filming btw wasn’t). But if you check out Twitter with the #DSTGermany hashtag, you’ll find lots of pics showing amazing cosplayers.

#DST Germany 2022 #Dortmund #Westfalenhallen #Destination Star Trek #Kate Mulgrew #Robert Picardo #Chrissy Chong #connor trinneer #anthony montgomery #Armin Shimerman #Marina Sirtis #last DST ever

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brookston · 1 day

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Holidays 9.20

Holidays

Battle of the Sexes Day

BIPOC Vamp Day

Celebration of Convictions (French Republic)

Constitution Day (Nepal)

Customs Officer’s Day (Belarus)

Day of Circassians

Dessalines Day (Haiti) [also 10.17]

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 10: Disarmament

Entrepreneur’s Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Farroupilha Revolution (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Freedom of Speech Day (Spanish-speaking Nations)

Gibberish Day

International Akathisia Awareness Day

International Children’s Growth Awareness Day

International Day of Peace

International Day of University Sport

International Magic Mushroom Day

International NFT Day

International Penile Cancer Awareness Day

Jour de Dessalines (Haiti)

Jump the Shark Day

Liberation Day (East Timor)

Mac Miller Day (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

National Addiction Professionals Day

National Bus Day (Japan)

National Canal Conservation Day (Thailand)

National Care for Kids Day

National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day

National Equipment Manager Appreciation Day

National Farm Safety Day

National Farting Sound Day

National Fitness Day (UK)

National Gibberish Day

National LGBTQ Veteran’s Day

National NFT Day

National Science Reading Day

National Silk Day (India)

National Youth Day (Thailand)

920 Day (Wisconsin)

Nuakhai (Odisha, India)

Oil Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Purple Bra Day (Australia)

Ragamuffin War (Brazil)

See Narayana Guru Memorial Day (Kerala, India)

Unification Day (Firefly)

Universal Children’s Day (Germany)

World Children’s Day (Thüringen, Germany)

World Day for the Freedom of Expression of Thought

World Gynecological Oncology Awareness Day

World Hydrocephalus Day

World Psychosynthesis Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Your Own Junk Food At Home Day

National Bakery Day

National Fried Rice Day

National Hard Seltzer Day

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

National Punch Day

National Queso Day

National Sour Beer Day [also 3rd Thursday]

National String Cheese Day

Rum Punch Day

World Paella Day

Independence & Related Days

Agber (f.k.a. Kolios; Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

Austenasia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Azzurrai (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Marxist Empire (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Mekniy and Lurk (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Sambidhaan Diwas (Constitution Day; Nepal)

South Ossetia (from Georgia, 1990) [unrecognized]

Transcaucasia (from Russia; 1917)

3rd Friday in September

Bright Pink Lipstick Day [3rd Friday]

Chästeilet (Dividing of the Cheese; Switzerland) [3rd Friday]

Clean Up the World Weekend [Begins 3rd Friday]

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Friday after 9.14]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Fondue Friday [3rd Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Friendly Friday [3rd Friday of Each Month]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition begins (Asheville, NC) [3rd Friday, through weekend]

Global Be(er) Responsible Day [3rd Friday]

International Grenache Day [3rd Friday]

Jeans For Genes (UK) [3rd Friday]

King Turkey Day Festival (Minnesota) [3rd Friday & Saturday]

National Black Voter Day [3rd Friday]

National Concussion Awareness Day [3rd Friday]

National Doodle Day (UK) [Friday of 3rd Full Week]

National Foot Drop Awareness Day (UK) [3rd Friday]

National 4pm Finish Day [3rd Friday]

National POW/MIA Recognition Day [3rd Friday]

National School Spirit Day [3rd Friday]

National Sunflower Day (South Africa) [3rd Friday]

National Tradesman Day [3rd Friday]

National #WhyApply Day [3rd Friday]

PARK(ing) Day [3rd Friday]

QuadWitch Day [3rd Friday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Friday after 9.14]

Raspberry Day (UK) [3rd Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 20 (3rd Full Week of September)

Clean Up the World Weekend (thru 9.22) [3rd Weekend]

Colorfest Weekend (Pagosa Springs, Colorado) [thru 9.22]

Festivals Beginning September 20, 2024

Applefest (La Crescent, Minnesota) [thru 9.22]

Arizona Restaurant Week: Fall (Statewide, Arizona) [thru 9.29]

Arizona State Fair (Phoenix, Arizona) [thru 9.27]

Arkansas Oklahoma State Fair (Fort Smith, Arkansas) [thru 9.28]

Baltimore Comic-Con (Baltimore, Maryland) [thru 9.22]

Benton County Fair (Bentonville, Arkansas) [thru 9.28]

Berea Spoonbread Festival (Berea, Kentucky) [thru 9.22]

Central Washington State Fair (Yakima, Washington) [thru 9.29]

Cherokee Strip Cook-Off (Ponca City, Oklahoma) [thru 9.21]

Chile & Frijoles Festival (Pueblo, Colorado) [thru 9.22]

Common Ground Country Fair (Unity, Maine) [thru 9.22]

Downtown Wine Stroll (Los Altos, California)

Egremont Crab Fair and World Gurning Championships (Egremont, United Kingdom) [thru 9.21]

Farm to Fork Festival (Sacramento, California) [thru 9.21]

Great Forest Park Balloon Race (St Louis, Missouri) [thru 9.21]

Green County Cheese Days 2024 (Monroe, Wisconsin) [thru 9.22]

Green River Melon Days (Green River, Utah) [thru 9.21]

Idaho Gourd Festival (Nampa, Idaho) [thru 9.22]

Lancaster Liederkranz Oktoberfest (Lancaster, Texas) [thru 9.22]

Long Grove Apple Fest (Long Grove, Illinois) [thru 9.22]

Marionville AppleFest (Marionville, Missouri) [thru 9.21]

Niagara Grape & Wine Festival (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada) [thru 9.29]

Picnic in the Park (Baltimore, Maryland)

Potato Days (Meridian, Idaho) [thru 9.22]

San Sebastian International Film Festival (San Sebastian, Spain) [thru 9.28]

Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival (Strasbourg, France) [thru 9.29]

Tater Tots Festival (Ontario, Oregon) [thru 9.21]

Uncle Pen Festival (Morgantown, Indiana) [thru 9.21]

Warsaw Autumn Music Festival (Warsaw, Poland) [thru 9.28]

Wet Whistle Wine Fest (Algoma, Wisconsin) [thru 9.21]

Whiskies of the World (San Francisco, California)

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Kim Taegon, Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, and companions (Christian; Korean Martyrs)

Birthday of the Sun (Inca)

Candle and Spell for Balance Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)

Confucius Day (Confucianism)

Dale Chihuly (Artology)

Deirdriu (Celtic Book of Days)

Donald Hall (Writerism)

Eustace (Christian; Saint)

Eustachius and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Evilasius (Christian; Saint)

Fausta of Cyzicus (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Korean Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Orlog (Deity of Destiny; Scandinavia)

Feast of Zywie (Goddess of Longevity; Poland)

Festival to Quetzalcoatl (Everyday Wicca)

Genesia (Festival to Honor the Dead, esp. those who died in wars; Ancient Greece)

George R.R. Martin (Writerism)

Glycerius of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Charles Cornay (Christian; One of Vietnamese Martyrs)

John Coleridge Patteson (commemoration, Anglicanism) (Christian; Saint)

José Maria de Yermo y Parres (Christian; Saint)

Keith Roberts (Artology)

Señor Canica (Muppetism)

Sophia Loren Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Telesterion begins (7th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries; Ancient Greece)

Théodore Chassériau (Artology)

Theodore, Philippa and companions (Christian; Saint)

Upton Sinclair (Writerism)

Vincent Madelgarius (a..k.a. Maelceadar; Christian; Saint)

Voltaire (Positivist; Saint)

Yummy Kippers Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [51 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 263 [56 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Alice’s Monkey Business (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1926)

Alice’s Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie (Album; 1967)

Anasazi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2005)

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Play; 1943)

Bird Scouts (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1935)

Calling Occupants if Interplanetary Craft, by The Carpenters (Song; 1977)

Call Me Maybe, by Carla Rae Jepsen (Song; 2011)

Canadian Can-Can (The Inspector Cartoon; 1967)

The Champ, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1931)

The Cosby Show (TV Series; 1984)

The Dandy Lion (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1940)

Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams (Novel; 1937)

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC (Album; 1976)

Downtown Abbey (Film; 2019)

The Fisher King (Film; 1991)

Fore, by Huey Lewis & The News (Album; 1986)

Firefly (TV Series; 2002)

Here Comes the Groom (Film; 1951)

Hey Diddle Diddle (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1935)

Injun Trouble (WB MM Cartoon; 1969)

The Jail Break (Mighty Mouse Cartoon; 1946)

Kitty from the City (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Lighthouse Keeping (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Merlin (TV Series; 2008)

Mike & Molly (TV Series; 2010)

Miss Saigon (Musical Play; 1989)

MTV Cribs (TV Series; 2000)

My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (Novel; 1941)

My Name is Earl (TV Series; 2005)

New Girl (TV Series; 2011)

No More Kings (America Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1975)

Popeye Meets William Tell (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1940)

Possum Pearl (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1957)

Rabbit Seasoning (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Real Gone Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1954)

Ringo the 4th, by Ringo Starr (Album; 1977)

Secretary (Film; 2002)

Simple Siren (Phantasies Cartoon; 1945)

Slap Happy Lion (Tex Avery MGM Cartoon; 1947)

Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Anime Film; 2002)

This Is Us (TV Series; 2016)

Touchdown Demons (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (Travelogue; 1961)

Viva Willie (Ub Iwerks MGM Cartoon; 1934)

Whip-Smart, by Liz Phair (Album; 1994)

Who’s the Boss? (TV Series; 1984)

Window Cleaners (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

Yogi’s Great Escape (Animated TV Special; 1987)

Today’s Name Days

Candida, Fausta, Susanne (Austria)

Andrija, Andrijana, Pavao (Croatia)

Oleg (Czech Republic)

Tobias (Denmark)

Kaubi, Kaupo (Estonia)

Varpu, Vaula (Finland)

Davy (France)

Candida, Eustach, Hertha, Susanna (Germany)

Evstathios, Stathis, Theopisti (Greece)

Friderika (Hungary)

Candida, Eustachiusz, Matteo (Italy)

Guntra, Marianna (Latvia)

Eustachijus, Fausta, Tautgirdė, Vainoras (Lithuania)

Tage, Tobias (Norway)

Dionizy, Eustachiusz, Eustachy, Fausta, Faustyna, Filipina, Irena, Oleg, Ostap, Sozant (Poland)

Ľuboslav, Ľuboslava (Slovakia)

Genaro, Jenaro (Spain)

Agda, Elise, Lisa (Sweden)

Oleh (Ukraine)

Eustace, Eustacia, Hailee, Hailey, Haleigh, Haley, Halie, Halle, Hallie, Haylee, Hayley (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 264 of 2024; 102 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 38 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 20 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 18 (Ding-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 17 Elul 5784

Islamic: 16 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 24 Gold; Threesday [24 of 30]

Julian: 7 September 2024

Moon: 90%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 12 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Alfieri]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 93 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of September

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 30 of 32)

#calendar #Holidays

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brookstonalmanac · 1 day

Text

Holidays 9.20

Holidays

Battle of the Sexes Day

BIPOC Vamp Day

Celebration of Convictions (French Republic)

Constitution Day (Nepal)

Customs Officer’s Day (Belarus)

Day of Circassians

Dessalines Day (Haiti) [also 10.17]

Eleven Days of Global Unity, Day 10: Disarmament

Entrepreneur’s Day (Kyrgyzstan)

Farroupilha Revolution (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Freedom of Speech Day (Spanish-speaking Nations)

Gibberish Day

International Akathisia Awareness Day

International Children’s Growth Awareness Day

International Day of Peace

International Day of University Sport

International Magic Mushroom Day

International NFT Day

International Penile Cancer Awareness Day

Jour de Dessalines (Haiti)

Jump the Shark Day

Liberation Day (East Timor)

Mac Miller Day (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

National Addiction Professionals Day

National Bus Day (Japan)

National Canal Conservation Day (Thailand)

National Care for Kids Day

National Crime and Intelligence Analyst Appreciation Day

National Equipment Manager Appreciation Day

National Farm Safety Day

National Farting Sound Day

National Fitness Day (UK)

National Gibberish Day

National LGBTQ Veteran’s Day

National NFT Day

National Science Reading Day

National Silk Day (India)

National Youth Day (Thailand)

920 Day (Wisconsin)

Nuakhai (Odisha, India)

Oil Workers’ Day (Azerbaijan)

Purple Bra Day (Australia)

Ragamuffin War (Brazil)

See Narayana Guru Memorial Day (Kerala, India)

Unification Day (Firefly)

Universal Children’s Day (Germany)

World Children’s Day (Thüringen, Germany)

World Day for the Freedom of Expression of Thought

World Gynecological Oncology Awareness Day

World Hydrocephalus Day

World Psychosynthesis Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Make Your Own Junk Food At Home Day

National Bakery Day

National Fried Rice Day

National Hard Seltzer Day

National Pepperoni Pizza Day

National Punch Day

National Queso Day

National Sour Beer Day [also 3rd Thursday]

National String Cheese Day

Rum Punch Day

World Paella Day

Independence & Related Days

Agber (f.k.a. Kolios; Declared; 1995) [unrecognized]

Austenasia (Declared; 2008) [unrecognized]

Azzurrai (Declared; 2016) [unrecognized]

Marxist Empire (Declared; 2022) [unrecognized]

Mekniy and Lurk (Declared; 2009) [unrecognized]

Sambidhaan Diwas (Constitution Day; Nepal)

South Ossetia (from Georgia, 1990) [unrecognized]

Transcaucasia (from Russia; 1917)

3rd Friday in September

Bright Pink Lipstick Day [3rd Friday]

Chästeilet (Dividing of the Cheese; Switzerland) [3rd Friday]

Clean Up the World Weekend [Begins 3rd Friday]

Comfort Food Friday [Every Friday]

Ember Day (Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches) [Friday after 9.14]

Five For Friday [Every Friday]

Flashback Friday [Every Friday]

Fondue Friday [3rd Friday of Each Month]

Friday Finds [Every Friday]

Friendly Friday [3rd Friday of Each Month]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Gee Haw Whimmy Diddle Competition begins (Asheville, NC) [3rd Friday, through weekend]

Global Be(er) Responsible Day [3rd Friday]

International Grenache Day [3rd Friday]

Jeans For Genes (UK) [3rd Friday]

King Turkey Day Festival (Minnesota) [3rd Friday & Saturday]

National Black Voter Day [3rd Friday]

National Concussion Awareness Day [3rd Friday]

National Doodle Day (UK) [Friday of 3rd Full Week]

National Foot Drop Awareness Day (UK) [3rd Friday]

National 4pm Finish Day [3rd Friday]

National POW/MIA Recognition Day [3rd Friday]

National School Spirit Day [3rd Friday]

National Sunflower Day (South Africa) [3rd Friday]

National Tradesman Day [3rd Friday]

National #WhyApply Day [3rd Friday]

PARK(ing) Day [3rd Friday]

QuadWitch Day [3rd Friday]

Quarter Tense (Ireland) [Friday after 9.14]

Raspberry Day (UK) [3rd Friday]

TGIF (Thank God It's Friday) [Every Friday]

Weekly Holidays beginning September 20 (3rd Full Week of September)

Clean Up the World Weekend (thru 9.22) [3rd Weekend]

Colorfest Weekend (Pagosa Springs, Colorado) [thru 9.22]

Festivals Beginning September 20, 2024

Applefest (La Crescent, Minnesota) [thru 9.22]

Arizona Restaurant Week: Fall (Statewide, Arizona) [thru 9.29]

Arizona State Fair (Phoenix, Arizona) [thru 9.27]

Arkansas Oklahoma State Fair (Fort Smith, Arkansas) [thru 9.28]

Baltimore Comic-Con (Baltimore, Maryland) [thru 9.22]

Benton County Fair (Bentonville, Arkansas) [thru 9.28]

Berea Spoonbread Festival (Berea, Kentucky) [thru 9.22]

Central Washington State Fair (Yakima, Washington) [thru 9.29]

Cherokee Strip Cook-Off (Ponca City, Oklahoma) [thru 9.21]

Chile & Frijoles Festival (Pueblo, Colorado) [thru 9.22]

Common Ground Country Fair (Unity, Maine) [thru 9.22]

Downtown Wine Stroll (Los Altos, California)

Egremont Crab Fair and World Gurning Championships (Egremont, United Kingdom) [thru 9.21]

Farm to Fork Festival (Sacramento, California) [thru 9.21]

Great Forest Park Balloon Race (St Louis, Missouri) [thru 9.21]

Green County Cheese Days 2024 (Monroe, Wisconsin) [thru 9.22]

Green River Melon Days (Green River, Utah) [thru 9.21]

Idaho Gourd Festival (Nampa, Idaho) [thru 9.22]

Lancaster Liederkranz Oktoberfest (Lancaster, Texas) [thru 9.22]

Long Grove Apple Fest (Long Grove, Illinois) [thru 9.22]

Marionville AppleFest (Marionville, Missouri) [thru 9.21]

Niagara Grape & Wine Festival (St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada) [thru 9.29]

Picnic in the Park (Baltimore, Maryland)

Potato Days (Meridian, Idaho) [thru 9.22]

San Sebastian International Film Festival (San Sebastian, Spain) [thru 9.28]

Strasbourg European Fantastic Film Festival (Strasbourg, France) [thru 9.29]

Tater Tots Festival (Ontario, Oregon) [thru 9.21]

Uncle Pen Festival (Morgantown, Indiana) [thru 9.21]

Warsaw Autumn Music Festival (Warsaw, Poland) [thru 9.28]

Wet Whistle Wine Fest (Algoma, Wisconsin) [thru 9.21]

Whiskies of the World (San Francisco, California)

Feast Days

Agapitus (Christian; Saint)

Andrew Kim Taegon, Laurent-Marie-Joseph Imbert, and companions (Christian; Korean Martyrs)

Birthday of the Sun (Inca)

Candle and Spell for Balance Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Carista (Day of Peace in the Family; Pagan)

Coleridge Patteson (Anglican Communion)

Confucius Day (Confucianism)

Dale Chihuly (Artology)

Deirdriu (Celtic Book of Days)

Donald Hall (Writerism)

Eustace (Christian; Saint)

Eustachius and companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Evilasius (Christian; Saint)

Fausta of Cyzicus (Christian; Saint)

Feast of Korean Martyrs (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Orlog (Deity of Destiny; Scandinavia)

Feast of Zywie (Goddess of Longevity; Poland)

Festival to Quetzalcoatl (Everyday Wicca)

Genesia (Festival to Honor the Dead, esp. those who died in wars; Ancient Greece)

George R.R. Martin (Writerism)

Glycerius of Milan (Christian; Saint)

Jean-Charles Cornay (Christian; One of Vietnamese Martyrs)

John Coleridge Patteson (commemoration, Anglicanism) (Christian; Saint)

José Maria de Yermo y Parres (Christian; Saint)

Keith Roberts (Artology)

Señor Canica (Muppetism)

Sophia Loren Appreciation Day (Pastafarian)

Telesterion begins (7th day of the Eleusinian Mysteries; Ancient Greece)

Théodore Chassériau (Artology)

Theodore, Philippa and companions (Christian; Saint)

Upton Sinclair (Writerism)

Vincent Madelgarius (a..k.a. Maelceadar; Christian; Saint)

Voltaire (Positivist; Saint)

Yummy Kippers Day (Church of the SubGenius)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [51 of 71]

Prime Number Day: 263 [56 of 72]

Sensho (先勝 Japan) [Good luck in the morning, bad luck in the afternoon.]

Premieres

Alice’s Monkey Business (Ub Iwerks Disney Cartoon; 1926)

Alice’s Restaurant, by Arlo Guthrie (Album; 1967)

Anasazi Boys, by Neil Gaiman (Novel; 2005)

And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie (Play; 1943)

Bird Scouts (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1935)

Calling Occupants if Interplanetary Craft, by The Carpenters (Song; 1977)

Call Me Maybe, by Carla Rae Jepsen (Song; 2011)

Canadian Can-Can (The Inspector Cartoon; 1967)

The Champ, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1931)

The Cosby Show (TV Series; 1984)

The Dandy Lion (Animated Antics Cartoon; 1940)

Descent into Hell, by Charles Williams (Novel; 1937)

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, by AC/DC (Album; 1976)

Downtown Abbey (Film; 2019)

The Fisher King (Film; 1991)

Fore, by Huey Lewis & The News (Album; 1986)

Firefly (TV Series; 2002)

Here Comes the Groom (Film; 1951)

Hey Diddle Diddle (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1935)

Injun Trouble (WB MM Cartoon; 1969)

The Jail Break (Mighty Mouse Cartoon; 1946)

Kitty from the City (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Lighthouse Keeping (Disney Cartoon; 1946)

Merlin (TV Series; 2008)

Mike & Molly (TV Series; 2010)

Miss Saigon (Musical Play; 1989)

MTV Cribs (TV Series; 2000)

My Friend Flicka, by Mary O'Hara (Novel; 1941)

My Name is Earl (TV Series; 2005)

New Girl (TV Series; 2011)

No More Kings (America Rock Cartoon; Schoolhouse Rock; 1975)

Popeye Meets William Tell (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1940)

Possum Pearl (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1957)

Rabbit Seasoning (WB MM Cartoon; 1952)

Real Gone Woody (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1954)

Ringo the 4th, by Ringo Starr (Album; 1977)

Secretary (Film; 2002)

Simple Siren (Phantasies Cartoon; 1945)

Slap Happy Lion (Tex Avery MGM Cartoon; 1947)

Spirited Away (Studio Ghibli Anime Film; 2002)

This Is Us (TV Series; 2016)

Touchdown Demons (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (Travelogue; 1961)

Viva Willie (Ub Iwerks MGM Cartoon; 1934)

Whip-Smart, by Liz Phair (Album; 1994)

Who’s the Boss? (TV Series; 1984)

Window Cleaners (Disney Cartoon; 1940)

Yogi’s Great Escape (Animated TV Special; 1987)

Today’s Name Days

Candida, Fausta, Susanne (Austria)

Andrija, Andrijana, Pavao (Croatia)

Oleg (Czech Republic)

Tobias (Denmark)

Kaubi, Kaupo (Estonia)

Varpu, Vaula (Finland)

Davy (France)

Candida, Eustach, Hertha, Susanna (Germany)

Evstathios, Stathis, Theopisti (Greece)

Friderika (Hungary)

Candida, Eustachiusz, Matteo (Italy)

Guntra, Marianna (Latvia)

Eustachijus, Fausta, Tautgirdė, Vainoras (Lithuania)

Tage, Tobias (Norway)

Dionizy, Eustachiusz, Eustachy, Fausta, Faustyna, Filipina, Irena, Oleg, Ostap, Sozant (Poland)

Ľuboslav, Ľuboslava (Slovakia)

Genaro, Jenaro (Spain)

Agda, Elise, Lisa (Sweden)

Oleh (Ukraine)

Eustace, Eustacia, Hailee, Hailey, Haleigh, Haley, Halie, Halle, Hallie, Haylee, Hayley (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 264 of 2024; 102 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of Week 38 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Muin (Vine) [Day 20 of 28]

Chinese: Month 8 (Guy-You), Day 18 (Ding-Hai)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 17 Elul 5784

Islamic: 16 Rabi I 1446

J Cal: 24 Gold; Threesday [24 of 30]

Julian: 7 September 2024

Moon: 90%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 12 Shakespeare (10th Month) [Alfieri]

Runic Half Month: Ken (Illumination) [Day 14 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 93 of 94)

Week: 3rd Full Week of September

Zodiac: Virgo (Day 30 of 32)

#Holidays

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