#is 47 too old for a first con?

[gutterballgt]

So I did a thing.

A weird and expensive thing. Let me explain.

No. There is too much. Let me sum up.

I’ve always wanted to go to a big fandom conference, just once. I know it’s too much (not to mention too expensive) to ever go again, but I always wanted to go the once. Experience all the things. ComicCon San Diego was my dream con, but I knew that one was out of reach. And all the local ones (I live in the middle, where there’s practically nothing) are small-time and not worth the money unless you’re just REALLY into the thing you’re going to see. Like Pacific Rim, which had no cons anywhere even remotely near here.

So I figured it was a bucket list tick that might never get checked off. No big, right?

Fast forward to Season 14 of Supernatural. I heard they were finally ending the series in the 15th season and thought, “Hey, they’re actually getting to wrap it up right instead of being cancelled. Maybe I should finally watch it.”

Yes. I didn’t start watching Supernatural until the last season was in the works. Sue me. Those TV bastards have burned me too many times on too many cut-off series, okay?

So I started watching and then... COVID hit. They stopped filming. The bastards got me anyway, dammit.

And then, after they started filming again, I found out how the show actually ended and balked. HARD. I’d already watched enough to know who was my favorite lead character, and I was not pleased. What was even the point? Why did I start this, anyway?

So I struggled through Season 7 (my least favorite except for all the Dick jokes and the introduction of Charlie), enjoyed the Mark of Cain and Demon!Dean and, of course, Rowena, etc. etc. But by about Season 13 or so, it started being so unrelentingly grim that I eventually stopped watching about halfway through 14. Especially knowing how it ended, I was just burnt out. Couldn’t do it.

Fast forward again to earlier this year. I’ve had a lot of big changes this year, as I mentioned a while ago. New job, new house, new insurance (which meant running out of my meds because it didn’t kick in fast enough to cover the gap, which meant me having a very bad month in there somewhere). In all the hubbub, I got to wondering about that last season of Supernatural.

I’m not a completionist. I’m really not. But I hate leaving something I’ve invested so much time in unfinished. I wasn’t a superfan or anything, but I do like the characters and the monster-of-the-week format and most of the overarching storylines, etc. It’s solid entertainment, and one hell of an accomplishment to have lasted that long and still have such a huge fandom.

So I went back to the beginning and started over. And this time, I got all the way through.

I won’t talk about the ending. It is what it is.

But because I just watched it again, my Instagram feed has been filled with Supernatural ads and posts, and I saw that there’s a Supernatural con in Austin, TX in August 2024.

Austin isn’t THAT far away. It’s the closest one all year, anyway. Driving distance, even.

And there was a sale on all ticket purchases before the weekend.

And I’ve always wanted to go to a con.

So I slept on it, then did the thing. I bought a ticket to go to a Supernatural con in 2024. I’M GOING TO A CON. FINALLY.

I’m trying not to be too excited too fast. It’s a long way off. Over a year. And I’ll have to miss the July writer’s con next year because I don’t want to take off too much time at the new job, even though I’ll have been there over a year by then.

But I’m still pretty stoked. I’m going to a con.

It’s not Pacific Rim, but it’ll do.

[virgincels]

tw - sa mention, noncon mention, dark content discussed briefly but not explicitly

hi okay sorry for the unfathomable amount of bullshit clogging the tags the past few days. i keep seeing it labelled as gilfhub drama which is pissing me off as i haven’t said anything at all, i’ve stayed quiet throughout unless you follow me and read my posts. while i haven’t outwardly inserted myself into the situation im the one being witch hunted ig, i’m making one last statement which sounds way too serious for this corny and unserious situation.

anyway, i'm mostly making this for my own benefit, because i would feel more at peace after posting this lmfao. first of all, I’m being called a pedophile which is a fucking insanely serious claim to make with no concrete evidence! i’ve never written underage characters. if you’ve mistaken my ddlg content as pedophillia i beg you to get your brain checked! your skull must be so thick it couldn’t be caved in with a baseball bat. other than that i mainly write about LEGAL age gaps bc I am 19 and leon is fucking 47 as of now he is the creep actually.

i’m being called a rapist and a paedophile and all sorts of shit. im a victim of sa, it’s happened both at the hands of someone i trusted and at the hands of those i didn’t know well. some of my writing is to cope with this, none of my fics have ever romanticised rape and made it seem like something flowery and cute and fun? i don’t know who pulled that out of their ass but my fics that involve this sort of content are usually about toxic codependent relationships, it’s quite literally about trauma bonding.

this moves me onto my next point - people say this content belongs on ao3 and ao3 only. i don’t know if you’re 11 and new to the internet, to re fandom in fact, as dead dove has been a consistent theme within re fics since forever. since i was a kid i saw fics like that and even as a fucking 10 year old i managed to scroll and mind my business. tumblr has always had dead dove, when it rebranded and the guidelines changed they messed up their tagging system. this means that even if you tag tw incest it’ll remove your fic from the TAGS not from tumblr itself but from the tags as a whole. however, if you tag tw noncon your fic will stay up, it’s glitchy and dumb and shouldn’t be seen as a reliable source on why dead dove isn’t allowed on tumblr. that’s never been the case ever.

people who write dead dove don’t have to be victims and they don’t have to be mentally ill, they are also normal people with jobs who pay taxes and have normal fucking lives. because it’s simply fiction. people who read/watch american psycho are not murderers or rapists. people who watch any form slasher horror are not murderers. people who enjoy resident fucking evil and like wesker don’t fucking believe in eugenics. i could go on and on and on and on about so many different examples in extremely popular franchises.

as aforementioned, tumblr’s tagging system fucking sucks, so to combat this i give a warning even AFTER i explicitly tag my fics correctly that says ‘tumblr has started to remove fics that use tw non-con, tw incest and any nsfw tags in general. for this reason, as i’d like my fic to appear in the tags so i can have the same reach as other authors, please understand that this fic contains dark content under the cut. reading this comes at your own risk.’ for some reason I didn’t specify remove from the TAGS not from TUMBLR because tumblr doesn’t care 😭 that was totally my mistake for not checking if that disclaimer made sense but i guess i hoped the following sentence (‘as i’d like my fic to appear in the tags’) made it clear that i was simply speaking about tags. not tumblr removing my content.

if you are genuinely adults on this app, you should know that on the internet sometimes you will see things you don’t like! because it’s the internet and everyone is on here with their own opinions and their own tastes. it is YOUR responsibility to cater to your own needs by blocking content you don’t enjoy. so what another dark content blog pops up? as soon as you see a content warning you don’t like, BLOCK THE AUTHOR? or ignore it! scrolling is very simple. it’s insanely easy to mind your fucking business.

i'm kind of tired of the endless harassment both in the tags and in my inbox! if you are genuinely doing this in the name of victims and in their best interest just know you’re harming other victims in the process 😭 i am not easily triggered but the shit in my inbox is really gross and i got called a racial slur like… is fictional content that’s easy to block so deep to the point where you have to stoop that low? everyone copes how they cope, it’s not wrong and it never will be, psychologists recommend dark content as an outlet, you can literally google this. therapy is not a fix, it can’t fix mental illness. sometimes it doesn’t help. in my case counselling made everything worse. the ‘get help, get therapy’ comment comes from a place of privilege, not all of us have the money, the support system it takes to get therapy. some of us have had experiences where therapists discriminate against us. in my case that has happened, im a woc in britain they don’t care about us not about our psychical or mental health LMFAO.

im sure im missing a lot of what i originally wanted to say here, but overall i honestly wanted to clear my name of the pedo allegations lmfao because i’ve never written anything like that about underage characters or readers. anyway if any of you have a brain you can block dark content creators in a few easy steps! sorry again for yapping in such a formless, inarticulate way but i'm kind of exhausted by all the stupidity 😭

overall, dark content creators shouldn’t be allocated a little hovel in the corner of the internet in which they should privately discuss matters. we’re allowed to post it freely because CONTENT WARNINGS EXIST. dead dove will always be a thing and always has been. just because i post my content doesn’t mean it’s open for harassment and death threats and rape threats or anything? you can be an adult and get on with your day! and if you really need an outlet go talk to friends with the same opinions as you! i see ooc leon fluff all the time everyday and i don’t give a shit, i move on because leon isn’t real.

i pride myself on characterisation and if you have so obsessively read my fics to point out and circle random words in red that don’t correlate like we’re in a fucking crime show, then you would know that half the time i actually flesh out his character, i hate posting smut alone. i simply like exploring topics that are dark both to cope with my own problems and because i think they’re interesting to write about. however, as soon as something is mildly dark and sexual you guys cry mischaracterisation. leon also isn’t lighting candles and throwing rose petals but I don’t fucking judge what people write because if I don’t like I don’t read!

i promise, posting screenshots of my fics untagged with no warning is more harmful as you’re showing it to people who didn’t ask to fucking see it. i promise that harassing me will do nothing for you, you’re literally just sending vile shit to a real person who has struggled with the things she writes about LMFAO sorry again for yapping. i genuinely want to move on and post my regular shit but this has consumed the entire leon tag and i feel like im partly responsible. if you did get through this thank you! it’s mainly just ramblings and not read over so excuse me once again

[ginger-lime]

Will Wood (and the Tapeworms) Songs as Ride the Cyclone Characters!

Recently decided to wade through Will Wood's discography more and I think some of the songs by the 30-something year old dude really embody them

How this half asleep rant will work:

[Character]: [Song(s)]

Explanation of why song is chosen

"Certain excerpts from the song I think embody the goober chosen"

Note: all songs wils be linked when they're written (mostly as youtube lyric videos), also this will probably be very long

Ocean O'Connell Rosenburg: The Main Character

Local ‘gifted kid’ teenager has yet to find out that the world doesn't revolve around her and stepping on anyone who doesn't fit in with her isn’t okay, more at 7

"I mean, imagine if protagonists just died in the first scene"

"I loot plot armor from NPC’s / Well, they are to me"

Noel Gruber: Suburbia Overture / Greetings from Mary Bell Township! / (Vampire) Culture / Love Me, Normally

This song (in my opinion) is really the embodiment of Noel's character. attempting to fit in, being told to "tone it down" by his mother until eventually arriving in the afterlife and essentially going "fuck it, we ball" with Noel's Lament (and Vampire Culture in this allegory) until eventually arriving at a state of peace with Love Me, Normally/It's Just a Ride

"a snowflake only matters in a blizzard"

Mischa Bachinski: 6up 5oh Cop-Out (Pro / Con & ¡Aikido! (Neurotic / Erotic)

6up 5oh with it's plot(?) of running from the police and proceeding to get mistreated by them is how Mischa is viewed by essentially everyone is Saskatchewan (and to an extent how he lets them see him). While ¡Aikido!, is more of his 'passion' side, specifically with Talia. The more aggressive reprise at the end of Aikido in the 2020 remaster also reminds me allot of the techno section of 'Talia'.

"It's never too late to embrace your fate"

"So we can touch instead of feel"

Ricky Potts: White Noise & Dr. Sunshine Is Dead

Imagine being so forgotten by everyone around you so the innocent bean stereotype is put on you automatically despite the fact that you’re real personality is far from that and then having a mini identity crisis over it

"You're not meant to sing along"

"I'm no one if I'm nowhere in between"

Jane Doe: Big Fat Bitchie’s Blueberry Pie, Christmas Tree, and Recreational Jell-o Emporium a.k.a. “Mr. Boy is on the Roof Again” (Feat. Pasta by Sneakers McSqueakers) [From “B.F.B.’s B-Sides: Bagel Batches, Marsh-Mallows, & Barsh-Mallows”]

No thoughts, story, or plot, just funky carnival music

Constance Blackwood: Falling Up

This song is essentially 'Sugar Cloud' but more melancholy. This is what I'd imagine a song about Constance's life before she died would be about, or Constance's Monologue in song form. What especially reminded me of her monologue was the rapid fire listing of objects and even the title 'Falling Up' being repeated in the song feeling like the roller coaster when it derailed. They're falling but being upside down it feels more like they're flying.

"You make a wish upon the dead, but turn and call it a weed"

"Much larger than life, 'cause from such height / Life looks awful small"

"Well, I cry on skies of blue linoleum, Clouds o' spilled milk"

Penny Lamb: Willard!

Aspiring animal conservationist doesn't know how to relate to "normal" people partially due to her upbringing. Parts of the song were the singer wants animal traits the make their life easier reminds me of Penny's whole "I vomit fire" thing before absolutely destroying JK-47

“Until frustration makes me wish my teeth were sharp as yours”

“I've never understood what humans do and want / It's quite confusing to me to try to connect / Never learned how I should feel, instincts somehow stunted”

Extra characters outside of the choir:

I'll go less in depth for these as i think most of these are self-explanatory

Karnak: Memento Mori: the most important thing in the world

funky sentient machine is constantly aware of his imminent death and decides to be a goofy goober because of it

Virgil: Tomcat Disposables

rat just wants to vibe and chew on a power cable. oopsies he's dead now

Monique Gibeau: White Knuckle Jerk & Front Street

oh em gee she's so gorgeous and dangerous and the world described in Noel's Lament is very gritty and a little gross

Ezra Lamb: Euthanasia (Live)

this mostly feeds into my hc that Ezra ditched school to go to the fair with the choir and had to see his sister get beheaded, being completely inconsolable, and not being listened to because he's "a kid looking for attention"

It's the end yay!!

That's the end folks! I really enjoyed making this (i am a very big fan of both rtc and will wood) there were a lot of other songs i wanted to include (skeleton appreciation day, i/me/myself etc.) but didn't because either

a. they fit too many characters for me to just pin one to them or

b. the character already had two songs assigned to them

i hope anybody reading this is having a good day/night and listens to will wood more in the future ig

[pandorasboxoftreasures]

When you realise in horror that we cheer Neytiri on, justifying her rampage because of her pain and excusing her threatening to kill Spider, while ignoring the fact that the Recoms have arguably endured more loss at her hands than she has at theirs before Neteyam even got himself killed. 

But because of both Cameron’s masterful direction, how the RDA has been established as a one-note big bad evil so far (even though they’re also a threat to the Recoms and their so far revealed motivations are reasonable but it’s their methodology that’s evil) and society’s poor treatment of and attitude towards the mental health of soldiers, we think them hunting Jake and his family even after they’ve fled is unjustifiable and “being petty”.

EVEN THOUGH FIVE OF THE CLOSEST PEOPLE THEY HAD TO A FAMILY WERE KILLED RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR EYES WHEN THEY JUST WENT OUT TO LOOK AT THE OLD SHACK TO FIND LEADS AND TEST IF THEY COULD GET PAST EYWA’S IMMUNE RESPONSE. THAT’S WHERE RECOM QUARITCH’S PTSD COMES FROM, TOO, SEEING WALKER AND FIKE SHOT. NOT FROM HIS DONOR’S DEATH THAT HE DOESN’T EVEN REMEMBER. THE MOVIE SORT OF UNDERPLAYS IT SO IT CAN BE MISSED BUT THAT IS THE ACTUAL ORIGIN OF HIS FEAR OF HER ARROWS.

EVEN THOUGH IT’S LITERALLY THEIR ORDERS AND THEIR ORDERS ARE WHY THEY EXIST AND WE DON’T KNOW YET WHAT HAPPENS TO RECOMS THAT REFUSE ORDERS OR FAIL TOO MANY TIMES THEY COULD BE STUCK BETWEEN GETTING JAKE OR BEING LOBOTOMISED FOR ALL WE KNOW.

If you flip the perspective, Wainfleet in shooting Neteyam (in self-defense I think people forget that yeah Neteyam and Lo’ak are children but this kind of thing happens in active combat all around the world and throughout time if a child has a weapon and is actively hostile and within range to attack it doesn’t matter how old they are they’re a threat you take them down or they kill you and Neteyam and Lo’ak had absolutely no business being in there just the two of them attacking and killing fleeing unarmed Cetops personnel and their guards taking Spider to a lifeboat WHICH ACTUALLY VIOLATES RULE 47 OF THE GODDAMN GENEVA CONVENTION) actually got his revenge for Neteyam killing Zhang.

I’m no RDA or Recom Wainfleet apologist but it’s an interesting piece of cognitive dissonance I’ve been observing and pondering recently. The ways Cameron and the whole team have been able to weave things just so in such a way as to balance the tragedy of the Recoms without triggering audience empathy towards them (yet), having them cheer on the protagonists doing violent war crimes with a higher total kill count and critiquing the pros and cons of absolute pacifism (Ro’a and her baby are dead, Payakan’s pariah status and if he didn’t kill the Akula Lo’ak would be dead but Neteyam got himself killed, Neytiri in killing Fike started off a new chain of revenge resulting in making it even more personal for Recom Quaritch and Payakan attacking ultimately resulted in more death and destruction and the loss of more Na’vi lives than if he didn’t act just like the first time he fought back but then Jake fleeing instead of fighting also brought death and/or destruction to innocent villages) is a damn chefs kiss.

[drsteggy]

I posted 1,166 times in 2022

406 posts created (35%)

760 posts reblogged (65%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@unmaskedcardinal

@drsteggy

@transformativeworks

@zeldaelmo

@silverjirachi

I tagged 517 of my posts in 2022

#legend of zelda - 120 posts

#my midlife crisis is more fun than yours - 115 posts

#my fic - 76 posts

#breath of the wild - 61 posts

#answered asks - 59 posts

#cosplay - 53 posts

#legend of zelda fanfiction - 52 posts

#link cosplay - 47 posts

#my writing - 45 posts

#the legend of zelda - 41 posts

Longest Tag: 90 characters

#massive brilliant final installment of the series you didn’t think would ever be concluded

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

I am feeling super frustrated lately so days must be getting shorter again.

I made this the other day because I had time to kill. This is two versions of my cosplay. Both were taken by pro photographers at cons. 2019 is by Ashton Williams. 2022 is Bryan Humphries.

I was very, very pleased with both versions of this cosplay. In 2019 I was at my third con in as many months. I’d made myself a shield and custom painted my sword. I was asked shortly after that image if I was gender bending Link or crossplaying and I didn’t have an answer for that, so I had to do a lot of thinking on the subject, and that’s been really interesting. I wasn’t wearing makeup or contacts yet.

That 2019 photo sits in my kitchen, where I see it all the time.

So yes, very pleased with it, but it wasn’t where I wanted it to be yet.

In the 2022 image, the wig is the same, though it’s better styled. The pants and gloves are the same (the 2019 photo was the first time I wore leggings with this) The belts, bracer and the sword are the same. I thrifted the boots, but the tops were recycled out of the old pair. I have colored contacts and started figuring out how to change my face a little, and to hold myself different,y (both works in progress). I’ve started to learn to sew and the tunic is the second version I made- it’s linen and it hangs to the right spot. I had to make my own to get one that went over my hips. I made the cape you can see, too. I’ve got arm wraps that stay in place finally, and that Shiekah slate I made holds my phone.

I love everything about this 2022 photo, too. I think I’m going to get it printed out to sit next to the other one in my kitchen. It’s still not exactly where I want it, but it’s all just little refinements. Well, I want to make my own pants because I could use some more pockets. Plus pants look like a challenge. I can’t wait to see where he’s at in another year.

I’m a very competitive person and when I started cosplay it was easy to see someone who had been doing it a decade and feel discouraged. I still sometimes do that. It’s better for me to see where I’ve been and where I’ve gotten. I sometimes see artists here who redraw an image a year apart to show their growth. I think this is the same

93 notes - Posted September 11, 2022

#4

See the full post

93 notes - Posted September 10, 2022

#3

See the full post

100 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

#2

I was out getting selfies with that guardian and several other Zelda cosplayers geeked out over my phone case. One of them asked if they could take a photo of me taking a selfie, so I obliged. Then they sent it to me.

I love this image, it’s pretty much a capture of my whole weekend

118 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I’ll throw all my photos of all the Zelda I’ve been seeing (so many koroks!) but this deserves its own post.

Low key terrifying to stand near

2,918 notes - Posted September 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[wcrlds]

I never should have gone to the surface. I’m too curious. I’m told it’s my worst failing.

Oh, she’s so… she’s so beautiful. Kes. I think one day she’ll see the sun.

Kes is an occapam. A series native to the delta quadrant, known for their strong telepathic abilities and short lifespan. Most occampans never see the sun, much less the stars, their planet was for centuries controlled by an alien. He gave them everything — food, energy, entertainment. It wasn’t enough for her. She was… curious, and everyone could see it. When she was born, her mother said: she is going to see the sun one day.

And she did. For the first time in centuries, an occampan left their underground home and reached the surface.The sun was glorious, more than she could have ever dreamed of. There, she met a man named Neelix. Kind, funny, he promised her he would take her to see the stars. But the Occampans weren’t the only people living on that planet. Another race, jealous of their prosperity and access to water, took her so she would show them the way to her city. She refused.

Eventually, she was rescued by the Starship Voyager, and there, among the aliens and the stars, she found her home.

If there’s one thing that this experience has taught me, Captain, it’s that there’s no time like the present.

occampan biology

body temperature: 16C (that’s why you often see Kes wearing several layers of clothes, tights under her dresses, boots to keep her feet warm);

lifespan: average of 24 years (they become adults at 5 and a half years old.)  The occampa, due to their short lifespan, have increased mental capacity, learning things very quickly so they can contribute to their society. Despite their rapid lifespan, they age very slowly for most of their life. Only during the last year of their life they quickly age up - a process known as the Morilogium);

eating habits: they are vegans and they require less food than the average human;

physiology: their average height is 5′2″;

sleeping habits: they only require three hours of sleep per night;

senses: similar to humans;

skin: it has a grainier quality than humans, not as soft;

powers: eidetic memory and general telepathic powers;

character sheet

She has a dazzling, ethereal beauty, waifish and fragile. But Kes is not frail: there is a dignity to her bearing, an alertness in her look, that suggests a being of powerful intelligence.

name: kes;

nicknames: sweeting (by neelix);

age: 5 + (roughly 20 human years);

weight: 47 kilos

height: 160cm

body build: slim, elfin, delicate

eye color: green

hair color: brown;

skin tone: brown;

predominant features: occampan ears, large eyes, slightly far apart;

hair style: kept in dreadlocks, usually styled in buns or large braids;

voice: low, husky, softly-spoken;

good personality traits: joyous, attentive, bright, assertive,

bad personality traits: secretive, abrasive, worried

mood character is most often in: “It’s a joy to pretend to be this extraordinary creature, so open and everything so new. No sort of cynicism or precociousness or pretentiousness or sarcasm” - jennifer lien.

It bothers you that I’m making friends of my own. You always have to involve yourself somehow.

neelix and kes: neelix saved her, and for that she will forever be grateful. i don’t acknowledge they had a romantic relationship, i see it as a more of a familial relationship – neelix as sort of an older brother figure who feels responsible for kes and her safety. he is still controlling, possessive; he sees kes eternally as a child, but there is no romantic undertone to it.

Look at me, Captain. I’m the same Kes you’ve always known. I haven’t lost my judgment. I’m not under some alien influence. I believe something crucial is happening to me and I want to see it through.

kes, janeway and tuvok: kes sees janeway and tuvok as parental figures, especially tuvok. he became her mentor, her friend, the person she can turn to when her mind becomes a hurricane she can’t control. he is usually the person who can bring her out of her head. his guidance is extremely important because when it comes to important matters, he doesn’t show where he thinks she should go, he allows her to make a choice. to put it simply, kes worships janeway. she sees her as something larger than life, she is the manifestation of the wonderful ship they are in, she is stronger than a planet but willing to change and adapt when given new information. kes wants to emulate her. she is also the person she feels most comfortable to speaking about personal matters.

Just let me stay for a little while. I haven’t seen you much over the past few days. I miss you.

kes and the doctor: she was the first person to see him as something other than a machine, a thing whose only purpose is to serve the voyager crew.  he was also the first person to see her as something beyond neelix’s companion. the sickbay was the safest place in the ship for her, just the two of them, discovering themselves in this strange new world. she adores him. they never have awkward lulls, conversation flows easily between them.

I don’t know what happened. I looked at the hypospray and it just came to me.

powers: oh, voyager, you really had to find the weirdest way to write kes out, huh. so, here is my whole spin on the whole thing. instead of her powers being something the writers can bring up from time to time for a plot line, I have that Kes is steadily working with them in the background. She takes a small break after she hurts Tuvok, but he is the first one to say that suppressing them will only lead to a more dangerous situation later. mastering her powers is essential to avoid a repeat of the incident.

teleknesis: the first one she masters, she is very proficient with it. most objects up to 100 kilos she can move without breaking a sweat, it takes more of an effort the heavier the thing is, but up to half a ton, she can usually do it. above that, it requires too much of her.

increased life span: as we saw in the other occampan group, using their powers, mastering them, increases their lifespan. Kes will live probably until she is 32, gaining 8 more years due to her increased control and contant use of her powers.

telepathy: its a work in progress, always. she struggles a lot in creating steady connections, slipping into other people’s minds, or overwhelming the other side with her emotions. she can reach the minds of people far away from her, up to one kilometer.

manipulation of subatomic particles:  she can create fire, increase the speed in which atoms are moving, making plants grow more quickly, and she can also reverse the process, making things freeze. metal turns to water, water to ice.

teleportation:  she can move herself, and objects (such as voyager) to par off places. it is not something she usually does, especially with objects, as it drains her. she can, however, teleport herself across short distances without much of a problem.

time travel + more complicated skills: the depth of her powers is never fully explored, she feels in her chest that she can do more, and she certainly wants to explore it, but she can see the fear in other people’s eyes when she uses her powers, it scares them so it’s never something that becomes a part of her life.

[waitingformyfavoritesongs]

17 March 2023 Friday 3:17 pmpdt

I think 🤔 my youngest sister pushed me away for too many years to really get to know me

She doesn’t really tell me much or talk with me much. I usually have to learn things second hand 🤚. If you asked her what classes I took in school 🏫 she probably would not be able to tell you. She would probably have to learn it second hand 🤚 like from a website or mom. 3:21 pmpdt I think 🤔 she never took an interest in me? 3:21 pmpdt I remember once when she came to visit in2009 or 2010 she said “I have to get out of here.” I thought 💭 she said that Bcz she didn’t want to be around me. I did visit her in New York but I don’t really recall many conversations than what I already put here + one more. There were a few short in minutes exchanges but I usually recall her running 🏃🏻‍♀️ out the door 🚪 to be with her best friends. 3:25 pmpdt

6:24 pmpdt incubus/miñion keeps attacking my vag w/ acid & then touched my tongue 👅. I don’t recall telling the last 3 guys how I felt b4 s*x or being pressured to have s*x. I want to remind the incubus miñion who conveniently forgets I hinted to my first boyfriend that it might not work out Bcz we did friends with benefits first, & b4 making it official I asked if we could still be friends if we break up 🆙. 6:28 pmpdt maybe that wasn’t fair Bcz I wasn’t clear enough. The second guy I told upfront I wasn’t ready for a relationship yet when he kissed me without asking. The third guy Scott cared to ask if he can have a kiss 💋 but he didn’t care to really get my verbal consent, but he didn’t ask first if I liked him. It was probably the second or third time we hung out one on one, I think 🤔 I remembered he didn’t wait very long to ask for it. Makes me think 🤔 he was hanging out with me for the wrong reasons. Early on he drew my name with backward 7’s & the first letter of my name looked like it was tripping taking a fall. 6:33 pmpdt I think 🤔 backward 7’s probably = not perfect. Bcz 777 = perfect. 6:34 pmpdt he is probably going to claim he was testing me but I think that’s a cover to get rid of women he uses for free or cheap s*x. 6:36 pmpdt

6:38 pmpdt he’s lucky 🍀 I am & always was afraid of sharp things & knives 🔪 & all I ever did was yell at him for having to take plan b 6:39 pmpdt. He’s lucky 🍀 I’m not Lorena bobbitt. He is lucky 🍀 I didn’t go down in his d*ck & bite it off yet this is how he repays me. Exploding my uterus & dissolving me with acid. 6:40 pmpdt he’s lucky 🍀 & im not. 6:41 pmpdt

6:48 pmpdt Scott might be secretly vicious even when he has everything & is happy. 6:50 pmpdt same with incubus. 6:50 pmpdt they like to vilify women & pretend they are clean angels. 6:51 pmpdt

6:53 pmpdt I am a sacrifice. They don’t plan to save me. When it was December 2001, 4-5 months away from turning 17 years old I think 🤔 “Brendan” started losing interest in me I suspect. & I suspect it’s Bcz he prefers them younger. 6:56 pmpdt & Bcz I didn’t bite his initial offer for him to buy me plane ✈️ tickets 🎫. 6:57 pmpdt

7:40 pmpdt I suspect Scott & incubus are expert con artist 👨‍🎨. But they can’t trick me anymore. What they did to me is unforgivable. 7:41 pmpdt

I never married anyone. I think 🤔 me & my first real boyfriend probably were afraid 😱 to be alone. The girlfriend he had before me went away for college lived on campus. 7:44 pmpdt I wish he never lied 🤥 to me about being crazy about me about being my husband about us having kids. Sam Levine doesn’t look like me. Liza Levine doesn’t look like me. I have no idea 🤷🏻‍♀️ what gio really looks like. They look like they photoshop everything. 7:46 pmpdt incubus attacked my vag with more acid b4 writing this & I had diarrhea (acid under skin of right arm pain 7:47 pmpdt).

7:47 pmpdt incubus is a heinous creep & I see no reason for him to do this to me other than to punish me for talking or writing ✍️ about Scott, Nick V./B., or 2001. 7:49 pmpdt

[crowned-ladybug]

For the writing asks, 8, 12, 21 for a fic of your choice, 40, and 47 for a fic of your choice because I think it's such a silly fun question!

Thank you!! <3

8. What song would make a great fic (to either write or read)?

I don't write nor read songfics nowadays but in terms of inspiration? Rubs my evil lil hands together. I love every excuse to throw songs at ppl

last to fall by starset, bc there's too many fics about ppl kissing and not enough fics about whatever the fuck is going on here featuring something ancient and lonely and benevolent

summer skeletons by radical face, which Yes i Have in fact used lyrics from as a title before, but like. the vibes. gimme fic with these vibes. this is what your childhood friends AU should feel like whether it's about lifelong friends or friends-to-strangers or whatever else

pay no rent by turnpike troubadours, with the knowledge that this song is about the artist's cool aunt so i need this to be Specifically applied to platonic/familial relationships for fic pls and thank you

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

I don't have a grand one for this bc for the life of me i can't recall doing a complete 180° on a trope like this, But: fake dating/fake married

Not bc i used to Hate it and now i Love it but more bc it turns out it's not all annoying always, the problem is that every damn fake relationship fic i met for years and years was specifically focused on awkwardness and pining and kissing for practice and then having to make a whole deal out of fake-breaking-up and-

Well turns out if it's instead about two ppl who, regardless of whether they harbour romantic feelings for the other or not, are having a grand ole time running this con they embarked on for the sake of necessity/spite/financial gain/what have you, it can be entertaining as hell. You just gotta write it right. It's not about the awkwardness and the miscommunication, it's about being an impossible lil shit

(The only two examples I had any hand in from the past idk how many years are unfortunately deep in the depths of my DMs with Dima, but trust me. We did it justice)

21. If you wrote a “missing scene” in so here's to believing in ghosts, what would it be?

Simply the first fic to come to mind with an actual answer, let's go

It'd be one of the very, Very few times Rafe found Nate, survived the encounter, and the two of them stuck together for a lil while. Because i feel like wherever that could've gone could've been Interesting, but it unfortunately didn't make the cut for the sake of the already bloated as hell scene count and the flow i was Trying to achieve

40. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

I am Big on rereading, both my own stuff, stuff of ppl I know, and select fics by strangers that Live In My Brain. I only started actually using ao3 bookmarks Very recently so a lot of stuff is kinda just lost to me in that regard now, but yes, fics get reread A Whole Lot

47. If i don't know where (confused about how as well) was a pair of shoes, what kind would it be? Describe the shoes.

It's like a pair of old sneakers that you really should throw out by now but also keep justifying keeping bc like Technically they're still good for gardening or something okay, yes i know that the sides are cracked all the way down to the soles and the fabric is starting to tear out and some of the rings lining the holes the laces go in have come loose, and you never quite managed to get out the marker scribbles from that one time in class and- okay. Look. It's old as shit and falling apart and you're Emotionally Attached to it bc you wore it for Years so even if you never wear it again it can just sit on the shoerack or in a hallway cabinet or something until it crumbles to dust

Which is fitting considering "true and tried and covered in mud" is also a p good way to describe Raz and Lili's lifelong friendship in general

-

Questions list

[trekkiedean]

also I said this on twitter too but: at the end of the day I cannot, do not, and will not regret or apologize for taking someone at his word when he said he was queer, and I am still really looking askance at everyone who was wringing their hands about how awful and unfair and horrifying it would be if people mistakenly assumed he was queer based on [checks notes] the fact that he told a room full of people that he was queer. no one misunderstood or willfully misconstrued what he was saying, and if you characterize this as fandom delusion, honestly, just. why. like. my crush on him is embarrassing, but even I’m not that far gone. the man is 47 years old, he has been doing cons for more than a decade, he knows his fans and how much weight his words carry with them, he knew that people were recording him and livetweeting the event. he fucked around and he found out. and one thing I can truly say for him in all this is that he had the integrity to acknowledge that! this is all on him, this is an entirely self-created problem, and he has admitted as much himself! the fact that he has acknowledged this therefore means that anyone trying to put this on fandom is even more of a clown than he is, and he is, as a friend said, a pagliacci-tier clown. he does not need defending, and moreover, if you really think that being mistakenly assumed to be queer is something a person needs to be defended against in the first place, that’s pretty telling. like, if you genuinely think it was worse that I and others took him at his word when he said he was queer than it is that he claimed to be queer for funsies, that says a lot more about you than it does misha or me or anyone else in fandom.

[winterwebs]

Text version under the cut

1. Sleigh ride

2. First snowfall of the year

3. Snowed in / power outage

4. Frostbite

5. Secret Santa / white elephant / yankee swap

6. Making a snowman together

7. Christmas tree hunting

8. Decorating for Christmas / Hanukkah

9. Menorah /Christmas tree mishap

10. Mistletoe surprise

11. Searching for the perfect gift/gift giving

12. Dressing up as Santa Claus

13. New year's kiss at midnight

14. Holiday tradition/trip/party

15. The Santa Claus AU

16. Chrismukkah

17. Sledding

18. Snowball fight

19. Sexy Santa suit

20. "Happy fucking holidays."

21. Winter storm rescue

22. Methods to keep warm / Sharing body heat

23. Sharing hot cocoa

24. Letter to Santa to meet Spider-Man

25. Fulfilled holiday wish

26. New Year's resolution

27. "You can jingle my bells / deck my halls, if you know what I mean."

28. Learning to ski / ice skate

29. A lump of coal

30. "I'm on the naughty list this year."

31. "Think Santa will get me one for Christmas?"

32. "Please take the Santa hat off, I can't take you seriously right now."

33. Slip and fall

34. A Festivus for the rest of us

35. "If I ever see Elf on the Shelf again I'm going to lose it."

36. Leaving cookies for Santa

37. "Have I mentioned that I hate winter?"

38. Ugly Holiday sweater

39. "I can't feel my fingers anymore."

40. "Are you sure that wasn't wrapped by a two year old?"

41. Times Square NYE

42. Holiday lights

43. Holiday movie marathon

44. "I don't really do festive."

45. "I thought holiday parties were for children."

46. Santa con / a little too much Holiday cheer

47. Peppermint sticks

48. Holiday Cooking / baking

49. Spidey parade float

50. spinning the dreidel

[the-acid-pear]

I did my homework and i did my chores, time to tackle on the third book of this series, Son of Ogre

Chapter 1

Okay but the fuck is Baki planning to do if he stops fighting? That's literally all he has, he's not smart

WOOH THATS A BIT REALISTIC

PREHISTORIC ELEPHANT?!

King just went to have a snack. Also FUCK does that meat look tasty FUCKKK

This baby so cute 🥺

I'm so glad Yuji is doing stupid hilarious shit again it had been a while

Congrats on Baki for that mantis

Chapter 2

Who tf is this kid?

Poor kid lmao, i assume he will meet Baki

Look at my boyyy

HSTSRFAYDF DON'T CALL HIM A MANLET

Imagine Baki actually kills this kid HSJDYSSHCBT

Third comment with a ton of likes is "we do not condone child violence. We do, however, find it hilarious"

Chapter 3

AH SHUT UPPP KIDDO

But i like Baki memeing a round a lil

Chapter 4

🥺🥺 that's so sweet...

HELLOOOO STRYDUM MY GOD YOUR TITS GOT FATTER SIR 😳😳

Yujiro is such a fucking threat to society lmao

I love seeing Baki with his eyes open, he's looking more like his old self

Oh, shadow boxing incoming, alright

Chapter 5

Yuri? 🥺 /j

THE RETURN OF IRON MICHAEL?!

Chapter 6

I love how there's our silly little mains after every cover LUV em <33

Baki just dissociating his ass out and using it on his favor, the king

Why is Baki eating sour prunes aren't those meant to be sweet?

We all salivating

Chapter 7

Love to see there are even more swears there now

I can put my face next to my foot too tho

FAGDRJSEHARD YUJIRO CAN BEAT THE CANCER HOW ICONIC 😍

Also i would LOVE to see Yuji fight an Orca

WHAT?!

I love how everyone in the comments is calling out Rumina for not seeing issue going down to a dark hidden basement with a shirtless man older than him

Chapter 8

"piggy back me" USHSYFLFUDSY

This fight is going to be good

Chapter 9

Imagine Baki dies right here right know against an imaginary mantis lmao

Okay Baki getting damaged makes sense but the WALL?

Baki's dead (GOD IT HAS BEEN SO LONG SINCE I HAVE SAID THAT)

Ffs it's true Baki COULD create himself a stand 😰

Chapter 10

OH FUCK IT'S TRUE

Chapter 11

This fight is so boring i had to take a 6 hour break

Baki just can't win against nature eh

This reminds me of Garland pulling a suplex on that Anaconda

Chapter 12

I can't wait for the main cast to ACTUALLY appear, instead of just, you know, them in the covers

This fight is slow but cool but slow

To fight a mantis you must think like a mantis 😎

Though it's true in this manga you will most likely win if you steal your opponent techniques so

Chapter 13

I MISS IGARI FUCKKK

This is so dumb i luv it

That mantis be swearing lmao

Love it when Baki goes full Yujiro

Chapter 14

TOBA...

Holy fuck do mantis fly?

Secret Chapter?

Is this how Yujiro got born?

Idk girl i would have killed him if i was you

WHAT.

I KNOW THOSE FROGS THEY ARE FROM PUERTO RICO I THINK

I might just be sleepy but this is so confusing

AKSHSKGSKSGSJSG JUST KILL THE BABY IT AINT THAT HARD

Chapter 15

GAIA...

Why is he like this?

Is "he" with us right now?

...gotta admit that IS true...

I love Strydum sksgwhwg

Yujiro really went XD

I don't think my man Arun in the comments is aware how gay what he said is, though maybe I'm wrong

Chapter 16

GOD THESE FUCKING COVERS MAKING ME SO NOSTALGIC, LOOK AT SPEC!

ANIME KENNEDY?!

I can't believe Bush is dead

AN ASIAN BOY HAS JUST KIDNAPPED THE PRESIDENT...

8 of January? My god he's a Capricorn

I'm sorry, what?

LAHQIGWKQFWKSFWIWG 😭😭

I love Baki so much, THIS IS THE KID THAT I MISSED SO MUCH

This explains why Baki was in prison clothes in the anime teaser

Chapter 17

BIG NUMBER

That one mf like 😐

Glad Baki is 18 now at least 😌

Love to see Oliva back

Chapter 18

This page not even bothering to charge the pages anymore

I'm sure there were better ways to go to jail, well, actually, no, but still

Toba used to just chew that off

Baki did that mantis hit you in the head too hard?

I. I watched way too many prison movies and shows. I don't like seeing someone as young and pretty as Baki in such a place. I rlly don't.

Chapter 19

Yanagi baby i miss you...

IRON MICHAEL?!

Mfkhsjsys 😳🥴

Eh got my hopes too high

CHE BAKI PIBE... LA PUTA MADRE NI ACA ME ESCAPO DE MIS COMPATRIOTAS

I hope he swears too i want to see a boludo o pelotudo PLEASE

I mean para pelotudos lo veo a Yujiro todo el tiempo pero igual JSGWKEGWG me pone bien argento ver al Che carajo

Chapter 20

HE SAID BOLUDO SUAHWKWGAKSGSKSGSKGD

I can't take this omfg new fav I'm sorry Doppo but he just said boludo 😭

Pendejo is more used as pibe here but i will let it pass bc idk the lingo in Cuba and he spent some time there so

Why don't i speak like this too ffs? All i do is say eh and call it a day

He's cocky enough to call anybody any age pibe so I'll let that pass too

Por favor no lo hagas che sksgwj

Chapter 21

Che, pibe, it's a good day to die...

Chapter 22

GSHAGSTSG he should have said "no boludo"

I'm falling in love with this boludo myself

That's talented and brutal

OH RIGHT YOU LOSE YOUR BALANCE WHEN YOU DONT HAVE THAT

Chapter 23

Hm that's, cringe

YESSS HE SAID PELOTUDO

OAHWLGWKQFSKSGSJS SIII ROMPELO TODO CHE, ROMPELO TODO POR DECIRTE YANKEE KSGSSJGS

Honestly i too get pissed off when called American or European, though i won't throw shit to Baki, he's some random 18 yo japanese boy, no way he would recognize latinoamerican lingo lmao

King shit Baki boy

Chapter 24

Oh that's why he's called Jun Guevara, that's fair

I like how they are mixing a bit of truth and a bit of lie it's fun at least

Chapter 25

I like how they are drawing nipples now, occasionally

I can't wait for Viêt to complain about propaganda in the comments

OH SHIT

😳 :Y

He's sooo nice 😍

Chapter 26

Only three? You mean the third is... 👁️👁️

HAHA YEAH YUJI-CHAN <3

I can't believe he works for the USA I'm crying and shaking rn

What a progressive manga, the three strongest and most dangerous men and none of them are white 😍

GET HIS ASS BAKI

Chapter 27

Why is this guy sweating sm?

LDYDYSUGFUDT BAKI PLS

I like how the only time Baki was willing to kill a person was when he thought Sikorsky had hurt his girl

Chapter 28

I feel like Ian will die

Man i love how Baki is drawn in this book

Ffs i called it, i have watched way too many prison things to know how shit goes down

I have seen these three before in fanart but I'm curious to see what they can do

Chapter 29

Their faces remind me of Doyle

OH I CANT WAIT TO SEE EM IN THE ANIME

ASSHOLE DON'T CALL ME STUPID 😢💔

I'm gonna struggle to tell em apart but i think I'll manage

Okay I'm not the only one who thinks they look like Doyle, fair

Chapter 30

The mouth vs Yujiro when?

Someone mentioned the have the same vibe as the dudes that worked with Gaia and like 👁️👁️

Chapter 31

Lmao someone in the comments recommended the same thing

These three must be great at sex (sorry)

KSHALDHDKD NEW FAV COMMENT: "go to Japan and look for the word "defeat". That way you won't feel cocky anymore"

Chapter 32

Hehe hello Junnn~

KSHAKDHKWGS

La luna

Chapter 33

LOS TRES...

Okay that's funny, hocico instead of mouth (hocico is used for animal mouths)

I'm so glad i know Spanish

The two things that drive me insane and make me ramble are Doppo's beauty and this stupid argentinian

OSHSKWGSKSG

Chapter 34

Imagine he's doing that illusion thing Dorian did

With his own blood, that's so cool...

Hoho...!

I did that once when i had a terrible nose bleed, didn't go well

Chapter 35

This book is fucking boring NGL

"now that you got no more urine left in you"

AH.

GAHDYR LMAO

Chapter 36

HO THAT TITLE, PLEEEASE I NEED SOMETHING, ANYTHING, TO HAPPEN

HHH he kinda cute...

Oww :(

JDJSJFRGAJ

God piantao is an old word i had never heard it before

AND he took a piss.

LOCO NO SEAS HOMOFÓBICO NINGUNA MINA ACA ES MEJOR QUE ESTE PIBITO TE LO ASEGURO SKSGSKGSJAAGS

Se me cayó un ídolo y yo que le quería dar 😔

ÑSHWQLSGOSGDKW

Let's see if he lied to Baki about just liking eh /j

Chapter 37

I luv Oliva lol

AJSGSKSLAGHS BAKI SNAPPED

I too wonder where the fuck Kozue is

Chapter 38

LSHSLDGSLSGSIEG

He is jealous of what you two have, it's normal, el Che just rejected his love after all ;/

Oliva is a king

OH A HANKERCHIEF I THOUGHT THAT WAS UNDERWEAR SHSGS-

Oh shit Oliva is like 45?! He looked so young

Te fuiste a la mierda, Che, el chabón estaba siendo re bueno con vos

Baki is just dead

Chapter 39

I love how realistic Che's fear is, he's rather smart, though not this time

POOR GUY AJSGSWJW

I didn't realize Che said "what more, it may be a woman!" but to be fair they ARE in jail so

Chapter 40

I'm feeling kinda bad for him ngl

I feel happy for him tho 🥺

Bruh they added one page after the ending of some naked anime girl tf 😐

Chapter 41

These prisoners having fun is kinda sweet

YO INSANE

Bitches be complaining about Maria's looks are just jealous 🥰

Chapter 42

Damn she lorge

He loves fighting naked eh

Only valid person is the one saying Oliva deserves better treatment which tbh true

Chapter 43

Fun fact i wear my jacket like El Che too, unless it's too cold

El che with the hair lose is so cute bro,,,

Something something fingering joke

Sikorski could fold a coin too

I bet the bandana will break

Chapter 44

I would have just fallen on top of him, how is he gonna counter that, eh?

Oh that super fun to know!

Oh the good ol dirty technique, i have seen this one before!

Chapter 45

NOOO MARIA DON'T DO THIS TO HIM

This fight is super cool tho i love these two characters

Chapter 46

They just keep changing the rules i think Itagaki is just flexing at this point

LAAOSFKAGSKAGSKAF???

Baki wants his protagonism back

I'm getting pissed off they keep putting semi naked underaged girls at the end of every chapter 😐

Chapter 47

Bruh just realized, the mouth got so hyped as this new cool villain and they died in their first appearance 😭

His damn bandana...

[lairofsentinel]

Ok since Mystra came back in 1487, and the game is about 1494, would that mean she immediately went after Gale? Like she was dead until 1487 so... if gale was 20 or younger, 18 when that happened he would be early 30s? I just want to know companions ages...

Ok, this is a long, LONG answer. I've been thinking about this like a month ago, when I was working on my fic. I will show you the different hypotheses I work with, their cons and pros. 

A warning: all this is my personal headcanon and my personal opinion, it doesn't mean it's the “truth”.

[Baldur’s Gate 3 Early Access, Spoilers]

I think you are using some dates a little different or the sources I'm using are wrong.

What we know as canon:

From wiki:

Mystra returned to the Forgotten Realms in 1479 DR. A vestige of Mystra had survived her death in 1385 DR, and was guiding her Chosen to aid in her renewal.

From Forgotten Realm wiki:

In 1479 DR Elminster and Storm restored the Simbul's sanity by feeding her a Blueflame item. After her mind was restored, she charged both Elminster and Manshoon to work to gather all the Blueflame items together, possibly to restore Mystra

Conclusion: Mystra returned in 1479 DR

Another bit of canon: Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in 1492

From Forgotten Realm wiki:

The game takes place as of 1492 DR, and is defined as the "current year", as is stated in a tollhouse ledger. The ledger can be found under the Order of the Gauntlet's makeshift base.

This is one of the “canon” inconsistencies that enrages me, since the game shows it takes place after “the descend to Avernus”, which happens in 1494. Therefore, Larian saying this is placed in 1492 when featuring the ending of the descend to avernus in it, only puts us in a situation with a strong problem in its coherence. I'm just ignoring this by now until Larian corrects themselves. Or  they say something on the matter. So far, I will stick with what the game and its wiki show.   UPDATE: Apparently the one with problems in their date is Descend to Avernus, according wiki: 

 Canon material provides two distinct dates for the events described in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus: the adventure itself, described in chapters 1 through 5, takes place in 1494 DR, according to events mentioned in pages 7 and 47, while the Baldur's Gate Gazetteer describes the city as of 1492 DR (p. 159).

Conclusion: BG3 happens in 1492 DR

Now we are going to proceed to the hypotheses:

Hypothesis one: Gale is around 40 years old.

Reasons: This is my personal headcanon. By the way his face wrinkles, I have the feeling he is closer to his early/middle 40 than his middle 30s. Those crow-feet speak volumes to me. It's true that wrinkles depend a lot of the type of skin you have, your nutrition, your health, your level of stress, and your genetic. There are people who has deep wrinkles in their 20 or a baby-face in their 50s. But statistically speaking, using the average concept of how population gets wrinkles over the years, I'm inclined to think he is in his 40.

If BG3 happens in 1492 DR, and he is 40 y/o, this means he was born in 1452 DR.

Mystra returned from death after 1479, when Gale was 27 years old. This means that Gale's involvement with Mystra happened when he was 27 y/o or older [nothing says that the affair had to happen in that same year, right there after she came back... it could have happened several years later]

Pros: This theory fits a lot more the wrinkles we see with Gale's current age, in my opinion.

Cons: 27 y/o is not “a young man” age in the sense Gale explained during his scene.  Also from a design point of view, and considering the amount of stress and fear that Gale has been living during his last decade [at least], he should be displaying some grey hair as well. First grey hair tends to appear [once again, all this is pure statistical observations in the white population] around their 35's. And it's also well known that constant stress tends to accelerate them, so more evidence against this concept: if he is around 40 y/o and lives stressed as fuck as he has explained, he should be displaying a good amount of grey hair. Maybe we'll see them in a future patch? Maybe not. Only Larian knows.

Hypothesis two: Gale is around 35 [30] years old.

Reasons: This headcanon implies that Gale has more wrinkles than the average of people in such age. But then again, we can't assume this is a rule set on stone. As I said before, skin and genetics depend a lot in the way we age. This age sounds adequate for not displaying grey hair yet, but then again, he is under a lot of stress. It would be expected to have premature grey hair under such conditions.

If BG3 happens in 1492 DR, and he is 35 [30] y/o, this means he was born in 1457 [1462] DR.

Mystra returned from death after 1479, when Gale was 22 [17] years old. This means that Gale's involvement with Mystra happened when he was, at least, 22 [17] y/o or older.

Pros: This theory fits a little less in the amount of  wrinkles we see with Gale's current age in my opinion. It justifies a bit better the lack of grey hair, even though I prefer the idea that, no matter his age, after the orb event, his stress is constant and that should cause premature grey hair. But this is personal taste.

Cons: 22 [17]  y/o is certainly “a young man” age in the sense Gale explained during his scene. I know 17 y/o may sound weird, but we can assume two things: 1) Mystra gave a shit about it [she is a goddess, she cares little for mortal details] or 2) Mystra waited a time before whispering in Gale's ears. Pick the one you prefer. In both cases, 17 and 22, fit perfectly the concept that he was too naïve and young to see the true weight of his involvement with Mystra.

Hypothesis three: Gale is ancient. As a wizard, he can extend his life with magic, artefacts, and potions.

Reasons: This headcanon implies that Gale has lived the Spellplague, and his affair with Mystra happened before 1385 DR and before her death. It could have happened at any age.

In this scenario, since he would be under some magical effect of longevity, we can't even guess his current age, and  his few wrinkles [for an ancient man] and lack of grey hair would be justified by such magical effects as well.

Pro: This theory fits well with whatever inconsistency in his design that could suggest or not certain age in Gale's apperance.

Cons: We are completely lost in the timeline, and we cannot make any decent estimation

I personally do not support this theory because 2 reasons:

When Gale narrates the story of “the little silly wizard”, he explicitly says “not so long ago” when he explained his affair with Mystra. On the other hand, when he explains Karsus' folly, he explicitly says “Long, long time ago”. It's evident in my opinion that he perceives the times of Mystra's death as something that happened too long ago, while placing his own youth in a more recent time frame.

If Gale were ancient, he would speak of the Spellplague time in a more dramatic way. Since Magic and Weave are so important in his life, that historical event should have scarred his mind deeply.

Final conclusion

I personally like the idea of Gale being around his 40. It's true it doesn't fit well when he describes himself as a “young man” during his affair with Mystra, but I think his current design fits more to a man in his early 40. If you read my DOS2 metas, you will also know that Larian is well-known to overlook details of this nature or simply ignore their own lore, so incoherence is something I always expect from them, especially when we do analysis with this freak level of detail.

Gale being 35 y/o or younger is also valid since it's an hypothesis that fits much better the concept of “young man”, though he looks a lot more aged than he should be. One could assume this premature ageing is caused by the stress of the Netherese infection in his chest, but in that case it should be fairer to add to his wrinkles a stronger presence of grey hair.

I don't support at all the theory of Gale being ancient.

[fancyfade]

so ive been debating editing chapter 3 on my fanfic to make 1 scene line up more from canon. (chapter 3 is this one, where the characters deal with the aftermath of battle for the cowl, Tim finds out Damian’s Robin, and Dick and Damian move to the penthouse)

I’m debating making the Tim finding out Damian’s Robin scene a little more canon compliant along what happened in Red Robin (link) for a few reasons, the main of which is in the scenes that I’m writing next (like... chapter 47 lol), Tim and Dick do have to talk about what transpired when Dick made Damian Robin. Potential reasons for change

In my fic Tim kind of just left on his own without a push, but I’m not sure if Tim would have left on such bad terms if there wasn’t the complication of Damian antagonizing him and him feeling as if Dick was picking Damian over him (even though in the comic we saw Dick trying to de-escalate and get Tim’s back, it still felt that way to Tim)

I dislike the way some of this was handled in the comic and I can’t really comment on it in my fic if I just retcon it out

it seems fair-er I guess if Tim is allowed to have flaws just like Cass and Damian and Dick all have flaws in this fic. i know many tim stans think otherwise, but punching a ten-year-old victim of child abuse in the face out of anger is wrong.

the con side is obviously this involves Damian getting hit and that kid has been through so much already. I’m really trying to figure out how it works with character dynamics vs like. give the poor kid a break-ness.

anyway if I did decide to replace the current chapter 3, this is what it would be replaced with (only the first scene, the second would be the same). If you are a reader of the fic feel free to leave your comments. I would do an “oh and I edited chapter 3″ note before the relevant stuff was mentioned if I go through with this, I wouldn’t like expect everyone to know what happened. Some of the dialogue is not like exactly like in canon (cuz thats boring and also to match with what I wrote the first time) but the feeling/ beats should be similar

Gotham’s finally had a bit of lull in the violence, and Dick is just wondering how he’s going to do this.

He’s accepted that Damian’s his responsibility – seeing the kid shot in the chest made that perfectly clear, as much as he would’ve liked it to be otherwise. He felt like he was way too young to be watching out for a kid in any capacity other than cool older brother, especially a kid who’s as difficult to get along with as Damian. He was a great fighter, of course, and he knew it – Dick’s not sure he’s ever heard the kid be humble about anything. To make things worse, Dick feels like he’s constantly stuck in the middle between Damian and the kid he actually views as his younger brother – Tim, who Damian tried to kill. Evidence in point:

“Robin?!” Tim asks once he’s gotten back on his feet and Dick's explained his plan – away from Damian, who's still recovering from surgery.

“You made Damian Robin?!” Tim asks again.

Dick sighs. He’s in the cave, in a Batman costume he feels doesn’t fit right at all with the cowl off, and Tim’s still in his regular clothes. He has no idea how to explain this to Tim – no idea how to make him feel like he’s not being replaced. Dick never wanted to be the one doing the replacing – he remembers how much it hurt to find out that Jason was Robin from the papers, and that was after he officially stopped being Robin. Tim never quit – and Dick’s not about to make him – but he has to come home to the guy who tried to kill him getting his name.

“Tim, I know this looks bad, but Damian needs this.”

“Remember when we thought Bruce was going to retire after Crisis?” Tim asks. “Batman and Robin was supposed to be us. You and me. Not you and the psychopath that tried to kill me.”

“Tim, you’re not my sidekick, you’re my partner – ” Dick takes a step towards Tim with his hand out, prepared to offer sympathy, but Tim shakes him off angrily.

“Obviously not!”

“And Damian needs me way more than you do. If we don’t keep an eye on him, he’s going to kill again.”

Tim scowls intensely. “That should really not be an endorsement for being Robin, Dick! He’s a killer! He belongs in jail!” Tim swallows a little and then lowers his voice out of shouting range. “Dick, he didn’t try to kill me because he for some reason thought it was the only way to stop me from doing something bad, as far as I can tell he just wanted to replace me. We’re talking about someone with absolutely no sense of right or wrong.”

“Of course he doesn’t have a sense of right or wrong. He’s a ten-year-old child who was raised as an assassin from birth!”

“Lots of our villains have really sad or sympathetic reasons for doing crime, that doesn’t mean we team up with them.”

“Are you serious?” Dick asks. “This isn’t the same, Tim.”

“How not?”

“Well for one,” calls Damian's voice from the stairs, and Dick can't help but cringe and think not now – “I'm a lot better than them.”

Dick's cringe only intensifies when he turns around to see what Damian is wearing. His new Robin costume.

Tim's hands clench into fists the instant he sees Damian. Dick knows he has to de-escalate things quick before Tim and Damian have another fight.

“Damian,” Dick says, trying to keep himself carefully neutral-sounding. “Shouldn't you be resting?”

Damian lifts his head up slightly so his nose is in the air, and walks down the stairs almost normally. There's only a little hesitation in the twist of his torso, a little stiffness of his right arm.

Either he's zoned out of his mind on painkillers or depressingly good at masking his pain for a ten-year-old.

“Please,” Damian says. “I was trained in the League of Shadows. Do you really think an over-the-hill ex-Robin could put me down?”

Tim's fist clenches further, and so Dick says, letting a bit more urgency slip into his voice, “Damian, shut up. Now.”

Damian puts his left hand on his hips and looks intentionally at Tim. He adds, “I'm not Drake – ”

He's barely got the word out before Tim leaps forward and punches him in the face. Dick's out of his seat, grabbing Tim to hold him back, who is still distressingly struggling against him, like he wants to keep up the assault despite the fact that Damian fell to the floor.

“My name is Tim Wayne!” Tim shouts as Dick is still holding him back.

Damian gingerly sits up. Dick prepares to release Tim, prepares to stop Damian if he has to, if he decides to get revenge. But he doesn't. He just briefly braces his right side with his left hand before wiping the blood off his face.

“I let you get that shot in, Drake,” Damian says, again dropping intentional emphasis on Tim's original last name.

As he does, Tim struggles forward.

“Tim, back off!” Dick says, because Tim still isn't cooling down –

“I want you to feel good about yourself,” Damian continues.

Tim seems to relax his stance slightly, so Dick, possibly in an error of judgment, lets Tim go. But Tim doesn't try to attack Damian again, he just shakes Dick off and starts stomping away. “You want me to back off? Fine.”

He's going for the exit.

If he leaves –

Dick can't chase him. He's not sure that he can leave Damian alone –

“Tim, wait!” Dick says, taking a step forward. “Bruce is gone. But I still need you.”

“For what?” asks Damian and damn it is there anything this kid isn't going to try to ruin?

“Shut up, Damian,” Dick says again, even though as far as he knows he's just going to wind up pushing Damian away too –

And Tim leaves.

Dick turns to look at Damian. The kid's already back to his feet, like nothing happened, and Dick takes a step forward to inspect the injury – though he's really more worried about the gunshot wound than Tim's punch. Both Tim and Damian had wound up injured pretty badly during the chaos that gripped Gotham in the rumors of Batman’s death. As his new and not-improved version of Batman, Jason had tried to kill them both, which Dick is way less than pleased about. He’d been kind of hoping that they could talk Jason down, but this seems like a line he doesn’t know if Jason can ever un-cross. He shot a ten year old in the chest.

Damian grabs Dick's wrist as he reaches out.

“Are you all right?” Dick asks.

Damian scoffs. “You're worried about Drake? I've been hit harder sparring my mother.”

“I was thinking about the gunshot.” Alfred had said the primary damage was blood loss and a punctured lung (well, traumatic pneumothorax, but Dick knew what he meant) and given the kid a minimum of four weeks downtime to heal.

It's hard to tell due to the domino mask, but Damian adopts the position of a kid who's rolling their eyes, head slightly tilted to the side with a loll. “It's not enough to impersonate Batman, now you want to impersonate my mother?”

Dick doesn't know how to approach the mother thing, so he doesn't even try. He just explains the logic for being Batman – (and there is logic behind it. It's not like he wanted this). “Someone has to step up and convince Gotham things can get back to normal,” Dick says. “And serial killer Batman wasn't going to cut it.”

“Did you at least take care of him?” Damian asks.

Dick knows that Damian isn't actually worried about Jason's wellbeing, so he says, “Do you mean 'did I kill him'?”

“Tt. Obviously.”

“Obviously not.”

Damian presses his lips together in a thin line.

Dick might as well get this out of the way now. He's going to have to sometime. “Alfred wants you out of the field for four weeks.”

“That's preposterous!” Damian shouts, and as he shouts, he coughs. He rubs his chest quickly and then glowers at Dick when he sees him staring.

“Damian, you could have died.”

“I didn’t.”

Jeez, doesn’t this kid have any sense of his own mortality? Though, Dick supposes, growing up around Lazarus Pits and a centuries old grandfather might make that impossible.

“I’m not a fool, Grayson, I know I’m not capable of healing instantaneously. I’ll take a break for one week,” he offers, like it’s a huge concession on his part.

“Four weeks,” Dick says.

“What about you?” Damian asks. “Didn’t you get injured?”

“Not as badly.”

“Are you taking a break?”

“Someone needs to convince Gotham that Batman’s not dead,” Dick says. Also, he doesn’t want to take a break. He doesn’t want to be alone with his thoughts. Losing Bruce. Failing Tim.

“Tt. Then I don’t need one either. I’m younger. I heal faster.”

Dick actually has no clue whether that’s true, because he’s not a doctor, but he knows that people usually say kids heal faster.

Dick swings his arms a little, trying to feel them out. They’re still stiff, and as they move, a jolt of pain shoots through him. Even when he’s not moving, his shoulder is still sore. He knows that he might get injured going into the field like this and that it’s not a smart decision – last time he went into the field while still healing, he wound up blowing his secret identity to Blockbuster.

He decides that at least if he’s going into the field, he won’t tell Barbara and Alfred about it. Okay, so that’s probably not the smartest of his plans. Most plans that you have to hide from people who care about you aren't smart.

“I’ll take a week long break with you,” Dick concedes. “And we can see how fast you’re healing.” The second part is a lie, of course. He's not going to supersede Alfred's orders on medical matters.

Dick sighs a little. He figures that while they’re both on bed-rest duty, though, he can try to figure out how to set things up so they can operate effectively once they get a clean bill of health.

“How do you feel about not living in the manor?” Dick asks.

“Kicking me out already?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, I wouldn’t be living here either,” Dick says. It’s true. He’d rather not feel like he’s living in all of Bruce’s old places, wearing Bruce’s old costume, … replacing him, essentially. He needs a place he can clear his head.

“Where would you live then?” Damian asks skeptically.

Dick shrugs. “The penthouse, maybe. Bruce already made a bunker nearby, so we could operate out of there pretty easily.”

Damian narrows his eyes. “Why do you keep saying ‘we’?”

Because you are ten and not ready to live on your own. But Dick just says, “Well, you’re Robin now, right? That means you’re pretty much obligated to team up with Batman.”

“Batman isn’t here, Grayson. He never will be again, no matter how much you play dress-up.”

Charming kid. Like Dick didn’t already know that.

“You know I operate effectively alone, right?” Damian continues. “I don’t need to be hand-held and babysat like all of Father’s previous partners.”

Dick figures that it’d be a jerk move to remind Damian he just almost died and therefore really shouldn’t be on his own. Instead, he says, “Well, Alfred’s staying with me, so unless you want to get all your food and clean the house by yourself, you have to put up with me.”

“Tt . I don’t need a servant. I’ll just eat at restaurants.”

“On who’s money?”

“In the event of his death, my father’s assets should have transferred to me. His blood son.”

Oh boy. Dick rubs his face. “Does this have to be a thing, Damian? No one’s doubting your capacity to take care of yourself but I think it’d really be easier if we were operating out of the same building. “

A long silence on Damian’s part. “Fine,” he says eventually. “I’ll allow you to stay at my penthouse.”

My penthouse. Of course. But Dick takes it. “All right,” he says. “Let’s move in.”

[slade-neko]

Saw this video game tag thing pop up on my dash a few days ago. Wanted to do it.

1. First game you played obsessively? Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, I believe I was 5yo. Still waiting on that FF7 Remake treatment.

2. A game that has influenced you creatively? Writing, drawing, etc. Well if I play a game and like it, then I'll create sims of it. Does that count?

3. Who did you play with as a kid? My brother from the day I was born.

4. Who do you play with now? My brother FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN.

5. Ever use cheat codes? I wasn't lying when I made this post. {link}

6. Ever buy strategy guides? Yes! Mainly to look at the artwork though. (Don't need no guide!)

7. Any games you have multiple copies of? Lots of games, most being Left 4 Dead with 6 copies (3 Xbox 360, 1 PC case, 2 PC digitally.) What can I say, its a GOOD GAME!

8. Rarest/Most expensive game in your collection? Gold cartridge Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (maybe that's rare?)

9. Most regrettable purchase? I don't regret my purchases, but I have received games I have never played like Cubix (PS2) no clue where that game came from, but I have it somehow. Madagascar (Xbox 360) came with my Xbox 360, never opened it from its case. And Monsters Inc. Scream Arena (Gamecube) or something... it was a gift.

10. Ever go to a midnight game release or stand in line for hours? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

11. Have you ever made new friends from playing video games? I'm only friends with people BECAUSE of video games, so yes.

12. Ever get picked on for liking games? No, that'd be ridiculous.

13. A game you’ve never played that everyone else has? Probably a lot, I'd say Call of Duty, but I technically played CoD 1, 2, and 4. The campaign mode was alright, but I don't really care for CoD games at ALL.

14. Favorite game music? Koji Kondo and Grant Kirkhope are two BIG ones.

15. If it was a requirement to get a game related tattoo, what would you pick? Triforce is the most basic option, but I'd rather not get a tattoo.

16. Favorite game to play with your friends IRL? Super Smash Bros. Brawl with hacks, but that was over a decade ago.

17. Ever lose a friend over a game? No, that'd be ridiculous.

18. Would you date someone that hates gaming? No, that'd be RIDICULOUS.

19. Favorite handheld console? PSP. 3DS is great, but PSP Monster Hunter has ALL of my portable gaming memories. Like playing in school after End of Grade tests with my friend.

20. Game that you know like the back of your hand? Sims 4 I like to think I know everything about Left 4 Dead. Quite a bit about Monster Hunter, more so of a series though than a specific game.

21. Game that you didn’t like or understand as a kid but love now? I'd say Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. I loved it as a kid, but had a lot of complex pen & paper RPG mechanics that I never understood. I understand a lot more of it now, but its still complex as all heck. I just know you hit things, they die.

22. Do you wear game related clothing/accessories? That's the only thing I wear.

23. The game that you’ve logged the most hours into? Not sure so I'll list a few. Sims 4, Smash Bros. Brawl, Monster Hunter (its a series though), or Left 4 Dead

24. First Pokemon game? Leaf Green

25. Were you ever an arcade game player? No, don't like paying to play.

26. Ever form any gaming rivalries? No.

27. Game that makes you rage? I don't get mad at games, but I had a custom modded Hard Eight mutation in Left 4 Dead that is absolute bullsh*t!

28. Ever play in a tournament? No, because then I'd have to interact with people.

29. What is your gaming set up? A giant wall of video game consoles spanning from NES to Switch, 4 TVs, but I sit at a desk with a PC.

30. How many consoles do you own? "I own every console that's ever existed." - I Don't Play Games When I Play Games (My STRENTH) original song by Smooth McGroove BUT no seriously I own 32 consoles including handhelds.

31. Does the 3DS and/or Virtual Boy hurt your eyes or give you headaches? Yes. 3DS gave me headaches though I only really played with the 3D feature in Ocarina of Time 3D. I think my eyes broke because I couldn't get my 3D to work very well after.

32. Did you ever play a game based on your favorite show/cartoon/movie/comic? Sure I play games based on a lot of things. Literally any anime game. If I had to pick Dragon Ball Xenoverse is kinda like a dream Dragon Ball game. Oh, Attack on Titan 2 is pretty neat too!

33. Did you ever have any bootleg games or plug-n-play games? Some SEGA plug-n-play thing once. Played it like once and now its lost to time (or my closet.)

34. Do either of your parents play video games? Yes. Mom and Dad played NES Super Mario Bros. My Dad went HARD at that game until he saved the Princess. Then he quit forever.

35. Ever work in a game store? Or do you have a favorite game shop? "Hi. Welcome to Gamestop!"I never want to hear that again, but it was my main store until I went full digital/ online orders.

36. Have you ever shed actual blood, sweat or tears over a game? No, I don't tend to get upset or emotional, but Bill dying in Left 4 Dead made me pretty pissed.

37. Have you played E.T. for the Atari 2600? Do you think that’s the worst game ever, or do you have another nomination? Never played it. I don't really play "bad" games, but maybe Sims 4.

38. A game you’re ashamed to admit that you like? The Sims 4

39. A sequel that you would die for them to make? Dragon's Dogma 2 WHICH I think is actually in development, so I'd have to say Fallout New Vegas 2. C'mon Bethesda you cowards, hand the keys back over to Obsidian so they can make another good Fallout game!

40. What to you think of virtual reality headsets or motion controls? Two part question, two answers. VR Headset to immerse in world, yes. Motion Controls, no.

41. A genre that you just can’t get into? MOBAs and MMOs. I don't like paying to keep playing.

42. Maybe it wasn’t your first game, but what was the game that started you on your path to nerdiness? Nintendo 64 opened me up to what video games could be as a kid. Sad to say my parents' NES didn't really do that for me. And years later Fallout 3 was a big game changer for me too.

43. Ever play games when you really should have been concentrating on something else? Every day of my LIFE.

44. Arcade machine that has consumed the most of your quarters? None. I'd rather emulate.

45. How are you at Mario Kart? Pretty dang good. 3-STARS MARIO KART WII, BABY!

46. Do you like relaxing games like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon? Yes, both of those. I preferred when Animal Crossing had more character to it. New Horizons looks so pretty, but feels so bland compared to classic AC.

47. Do you like competitive games? No. Not really. Usually amongst friends or if I can get competitive against AI Bots. I love my machine bot friends cause they don't cry like 10 year olds when they lose.

48. How long does it take your to customize your player character? Too long. I've seriously restarted games because I wasn't happy with my character's appearance.

49. In games where you can pick your class, do you always tend to go for the same type of character? Yes, I am always the magic man, my brother is always brute warrior, and my friend is the ranger.

50. If you were a game designer, what masterpiece would you create? I don't really know. Honestly, I'd rather mod already good games to make them better than create something completely new.

51. Have you ever played a game for so long that you forgot to eat or sleep? No, that'd be ridiculous. But I've had a friend fall asleep playing games at my house 3 different times and currently dozes off during our Minecraft sessions. So, maybe that's not a completely ridiculous thing after all.

52. A game that you begged your parents for as a kid? Kirby 64 apparently. My brother tells me we had to count out pennies to buy it. I must've been too young with no recollection, but I believe it.

53. What’s your opinion on DLC these days? It's good if its not in the game's files from the beginning and is actually developed AFTER launch... and pre-order bonuses should be standard DLC a month or two later. Some games have content lost to time because of that pre-order bullsh*t.

54. Do you give in to Steam sales? Of course. If you want a game and its on sale then why not? I typically wait just for Steam sales to get games.

55. Did you ever make someone you hated in the Sims and did mean stuff to them? No? I typically make people and characters I like in Sims. I've made villains like Dio, but he's an anime villain and I don't really HATE him despite the horrible things he's done.

56. Did you ever play Roller Coaster Tycoon and kill off your guests? No. Never played that game.

57. Did you ever play a game to 100% or get all of the achievements? I try to for all the games I really like.

58. If you can only play 3 games for the rest of your life, which ones do you pick? The Sims 4, Skyrim, & Fallout: New Vegas. Mods make them live forever. Left 4 Dead and Monster Hunter are good choices too.

59. Do you play any cell phone games? Those aren't games.

60. Do you know the Konami Code? No? But I'll take a guess. Is it make an IP and forget it exists?

61. Do you trade in your games or keep them forever? Keep forever... even the bad ones.

62. Ever buy a console specifically to play one game? PS4 Pro for Monster Hunter World. It was basically for early access since the PC version was being developed and releasing after PS4, but I don't like waiting.

63. Ever go to a gaming convention or tournament? Sort of. Been to anime cons and walked into the gaming tournament rooms only to walk out less than 10 minutes later.

64. Ever make a TV or monitor purchase based on what would be best for gaming? No, but I'm going to be doing that soon, hopefully.

65. Ever have a Game Genie, Game Shark or Action Replay? Did it ever mess up your game’s save file? GameShark for N64, PS2, Gameboy, and Action Replay for Gamecube, DS, 3DS. And no not really, I would cheat responsibly... but there was this one time at school my friend and I borrowed another friend's Gameboy game, loaded it up with my Gameshark, tried playing, it crashed, loaded it back up, save file corrupted... we just stared at each other jaws dropped, "Here's your game back, dude. Make sure you don't play it til you get back home!"

66. Did you ever have have an old Nokia with Snake on it? No, but I remember seeing them on billboards in the game DRIV3R on PS2.

67. Do you have a happy gaming-related childhood memory you want to share? Every game I play is filled with happy memories (mostly.)

68. Ever save up a ton of tickets in an arcade to get something cool? These tiger plushes. My brother got white and I got orange. They were the coolest. Got a butt load of tickets from some jackpot spinning light game thing as I was good at the timing with repeated jackpot hits.

69. In your opinion, best game ever made? I've played quite a few masterpiece games, but to pick one, I'd say Fallout: New Vegas

70. Very first game you ever beat? Super Mario 64. I was a mere child on a Sunday morning and ate celebratory pancakes made by my Dad.

Wow, that was long... I get the feeling this was supposed to be a "send me ask with numbers" thing, but answering all at once is more fun.

[novelistash]

Lex Evans

Continuing my compulsive catalogue of fictional lives that I didn't come up with.

After the wedding, Ayla took Lex golfing and admitted that she had created distance with Lex ever since she'd made a move on her. They became besties again. At the age of 31, Lex sold her town home, so she could focus on renovations on her and Ariana's equestrian ranch home.

Throwing party after party, Lex realized she wasn't just hilariously addicted to Bahama Mamas, but simply addicted to alcohol. She went to AA, but got nothing from it.

While long boarding and drinking Mai Tais Ayla admitted to Lex that she'd been offered opium and seriously considered using it. Lex said she was glad Ayla didn't go down that path.

At the age of 34, Lex became a Sr. Environmental Scientist, but her real job was dumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into Arian and Lex's mansion.

The days all started to bleed together, and Lex drove all the way to work before realizing it was Saturday. Lex suspected that the drinking was getting in way of her memory. Remembering her luck with spiritualism in the past, Lex found a Witch Doctor to help her with her alcoholism. She ate a raw Komodo Dragon Egg. After purging most of her stomach, the thought of liquor made her sick.

Ayla's continued drinking pulled Lex and her apart, and Clive became Lex's new bestie.

While at the record store with Ayla, she talked about opium again, saying that her new bestie was smoking it around her. Lex told Ayla she was glad she wasn't using it, but Ayla got quiet instead. Lex was pretty sure she was going to try it.

At the age of 39, Lex accidentally scored on her own goal while playing soccer. Everyone laughed for ten minutes. She sold her old BMW and bought a used Suburu. Ariana renewed their vows and adopted Carter, 3 year old whose father couldn't afford to pay for his medical bills. Lex bonded with Carter by doing yoga with goats.

Carter called out "mama" and Lex and Ariana laughed when they realized they didn't know who he was asking for. While buying new clothes, Lex tried on a stranger's coat. She was caught and left the store in humiliation.

Carter had his first day of school and Lex's niece Kylie was old enough to get a job as a receptionist. Lex reflected on how awesome human beings actually are. After playing laser tag with Carter and Archie's family, Lex and Archie became best friends. Lex's friend Eleanor talked her into crashing a wedding. She didn't remember how it ended, only that she was back at home puking in the garden bathroom so Ariana wouldn't know she was drinking. Lex went to a hypnotist to overcome Alcoholism and it worked. Picking up a bottle of champagne only made her think of maple syrup.

At the age of 42, Lex's niece Hazel graduated secondary school. At the graduation party, someone told Lex to shake her money making, so she shook Ariana. Lex gave her nieces $10,000 each. (Kylie getting money for the graduation she'd been too drunk to attend!) While playing bingo with Ayla, she admitted that she'd been cheating on her boyfriend. Lex told Ayla that she'd always be there for her.

Hazel became a Jr. Flight attendant and moved out of the house. Lex housed a celebration at the mansion and she was offered ritalin. Lex turned them down. Lex wrote up a will that named Ariana and Carter as the sole inheritors.

At the age of 44, Lex was sexually harassed at work. Her coworker Michael pulled her shirt off in front of everyone. The supervisor fired Michael. The Evans family started going house shopping.

At the age of 46, Lex's mother got very sick. She took her mom to Dr. Cooper and he treated her diarrhea, caused from contaminated lettuce. The lettuce outbreak had originated in Indonesia. This got Lex thinking about social responsibility, and she decided to run for School Board Director. She ran against Angus White and lead a clean campaign. After knocking on 1000 doors, Lex lost the election. Ariana took the family to Thailand to help Lex get past the sting.

At the age of 47, Lex had another brush with death! While hiking off trail, she slipped into quicksand! Lex remembered her swim team days and swam out of the pit. She was in there for 8 minutes. Contemplating life, she read her step brother Kobe's journal. Kobe found her and Lex apologized. Lex decided that she needed to downsize her life. She needed to get out of that mansion.

At the age of 49, Lex's mother passed away of natural causes. Lex and Kobe both inherited $2,618,526. Lex finally found a buyer for the manision, and sold the property for 4.3 million. They moved into a midcentury home with 3 beds and 2 baths. Carter was starting secondary school, and Lex gave him $10,000 to spend how he wished.

At the age of 50, Lex celebrated her 20th anniversary with Ariana. They laughed about the prenup. Ariana encouraged Lex to keep running for office and Lex realized she could do anything she set her mind to. Lex caught the flu, but recovered after a trip to the doctor.

Lex's niece Kylie married her college boyfriend. Though neither were unemployed, Kobe had the funds to pay for the wedding. Lex's friend Eleanor convinced her to start drinking again. Lex spent a lot of time with wannabe sommeliers, and dealt with a very real relapse. Lex went to AA and found the strength to throw out thousands of dollars of premier wine. Lex and Elanor got into a fight about the perfect crotch shape, but they both knew it was about drinking.

At the age of 52, Lex lost her step father. He had a stroke in the closet and Lex found him dead. The thought of dying alone in a closet haunted her, making her uneasy about staying in windowless rooms. Ariana talked to Lex about the future at a local park, and Lex decided to run for School Board Director again. She ran a clean campaign against Sophia Johnson, but someone called Ariana a biznatch! Lex called the man a troll and won the election. Lex held energetic rallies about education and the environment.

At the age of 53, a provocative intern tried to hook up with Lex while they were working late. Lex turned him down, but she had been turned on. She talked to her wife about the pros and cons of becoming swingers. That following morning, she planted a cucumber garden.

Carter graduated secondary school and Kobe retired. teen pregnancies were becoming an issue in Lex's school district, so she mandated contraceptives be available. Lex held a rally to dispel the myths about contraceptive encouraging pregnancies.

A friend of Lex's wanted Lex to put her on the payroll without having her do any work. Lex offered her a job as a lead janitor instead and she stopped talking to Lex. Carter asked his mothers if he could study finance at a university, and they encouraged him to live his life how he wanted. Lex went to a bar with Ariana, and was able to stop after one drink.

Kobe's daughter, Hazel, married Jayden Roberts, a restaurant worker. While dancing at the celebration, Ariana fell to the floor. After taking Ariana to the hospital, she was diagnosed with cancer of the buttocks! Lex renewed her vows to Ariana. Lex read Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason," and found little reason for cancer to exist.

While at a masquerade ball, Lex flirted with a politician to grease the gears of government. Ariana was furious, but no amount of trying to explain the situation helped.

At the age of 58, Lex fell out of bed and hit her eye. She could see for 6 days. Lex's term as School Board Director ended. Ariana's cancer went into remission. Lex and Ariana went to Osaka, Japan to celebrate. Ariana forgave Lex for flirting and encouraged her to run for a second term. After another clean campaign against Hugo Miller, Lex won re-election!

Carter graduated uni and became a Jr. Stockbrocker. After a trip to the gym, Lex was diagnosed with a staph infection.

At the age of 60, Lex and Ariana celebrated their 30th anniversary. Ariana vowed to make more time for their marriage, by finally retiring. During the party Lex caught Kobe sneaking around in her room and the two got into an argument. Lex was the first to apologize even though she wasn't at fault.

Carter got promoted to Stockbroker. Lex was diagnosed with hemorrhoids and cherished naps above all other activities.

Kobe's daughter, Kylie came out as gay. Lex was offered a $3 million bribe and turned it down.

Lex finished her second term in office with a 100% approval rating. As School Board Director, Lex Evans was known for her energetic rallies. She tried to run a clean campaign for Mayor of Sydney. When she didn't deny the truth of her past with alcoholism, the public sided with 79 year old, Eli Epping. Lex went on a vacation to Machu Picchu with Ariana.

Lex spent $754,000 on an unsuccessful campaign, and then at the age of 65, retired.

Ariana and Lex moved to France to get away from the public eye. They bought an art deco home! They adopted a cat named Zorro from the animal shelter. Lex bought a used tesla.

At the age of 68, Lex lost her step brother Kobe after a stroke. He had refused to seak medical treatment, even though his hearing was going out.

Lex's life was dominated by renovating the art deco home. She missed her friends in Australia. Lex and Ariana argued about the nature of reality. Ariana thought it was a waste of time to talk about things like that.

Lex got into a car accident on the way home from her 40th anniversary, her butt got cut. She visited her friend Ruby in prison. Ariana started withholding sex. They both opened up about their fantasies on a trip to Venice, Italy, and things seemed to be back to normal.

Shortly after Lex's 71st birthday, her cat Zorro passed away. Lex and Ariana moved back to Australia, moving into an adorable cottage with 2 beds and 1 bath. Lex sold her tesla and art deco home in France, and bought another used Suburu. Though the move back to Australia helped Lex's mood, it had done nothing to help her relationship with Ariana. They were getting into fights about everything from video games to fishing laws.

Forty-two years into their marriage, Ariana asked for a divorce. Lex begged Ariana to stay. Even though she agreed, she refused to go to marriage counseling.

The next year, Lex and Ariana went sky diving and slowly things started to improve. It seemed like Ariana was simply bored with life, so Lex would try to be more spontaneous.

Lex and Ariana renewed their wedding vows after volunteering at a retirement home, something they both hoped they would never be in. Lex gave 0.74 carat diamond earrings to Ariana. She said the gift was an insult.

The day after Lex's 78th birthday, she witnessed a bank robbery! Within a year, her best friend and first crush, Ayla passed away. The doctor's said it was, "her time," but Lex felt strong and happy. Lex lost two more friends that year, and wondered if she was fooling herself and started to think about her bucket list.

Lex and Ariana's 50th anniversary was a solemn affair, as Ariana was suffering from bronchitis. Someone hacked into Lex's instagram account, so she deleted all her social media.

The 82 year old millionaire, Lex, wanted to run for office again. Ariana thought it was a waste of time and money. Lex ran despite Ariana's objections and lost. Ariana was back to withholding sex and it was like their life in France had been forgotten.

Lex sold their cottage for a modern home. The change in scenery helped Lex and Ariana move on from the drama of the past, but their marriage had become a sexless one. Lex brought up having a threesome or an open marriage to try and bring some excitement back into their life and Ariana was furious. She moved all of her stuff into a spare room.

58 years into their marriage, Ariana said Lex was too old to be attractive, despite being named Sydney's most attractive woman over fifty a year prior. Lex confronted Ariana about her being faithful, and Ariana admitted that she was seeing someone else. The two got a divorce. Lex Evans was now Alexandra Miller.

[one-shot-plus-size]

True Love - Chapter 3

Something I published on my Wattpad account a few years ago, and now I've reworked and am publishing here.

Imagine :

She - a 23 year old girl who loves freedom and a man who will never be hers.

He - a 47 year old actor with a life that is not quite in order.

What happens when he realizes he has the diamond under his nose that he's been looking for all his life.

Pov Olivia

- Why did you take such a strange leave of absence? - Magda leaned out from behind the monitor.

- What do you mean? - I furrowed my eyebrows.

- Thursday is your last day at work, why not from Monday? - She was tapping her pen on the desk.

- Because on Friday I have a flight from Cracow to Chicago at 12:05, where I have to wait until 19:35 to fly to San Diego. There I am at 9:47 p.m., then back to my hotel and in the morning at Comic-Con.

- Well, that's logical - she smiled and returned to her seat.

- Yup - I nodded my head.

Friday 11:00 am

I sat quietly in the waiting room, pulled out my phone and turned on Whatsapp and a new message to Jeffrey. ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan).

💬 To Jeff : I am at the airport flying out in an hour, around 10:30 in the evening I should be at the hotel.

I scraped out a message to him and before I could put my phone in my pocket a reply came.

📲 From Jeff : Bubba is not expecting anything, he walks like a nailed dog even I feel a little sorry for him.

💬To Jeff : Just not a word, he wants him to have a surprise, calm him down a bit. I know you can!

📲 From Jeff : As always! I love you horrible woman ! 💙

💬To Jeff : I love you too old man

📲 From Jeff : Pff🤬

I laughed under my breath, put my phone in my pocket and headed to check-in after just a few minutes. Just to sit on the plane at 12. I had some time to sleep, put my headphones in my ears and drifted off. Nice lady stewardess woke me up before landing in Chicago. There I bought American phone card and went for a decent meal.

Pov Jeffrey

I looked over at Norman who was standing on the terrace smoking a cigarette. His thoughts kept running to Olivia, I could see it in his eyes. He was sad or maybe angry that she didn't want to see him. Sometimes it was hard to judge him, he rarely showed his true emotions. But his eyes betrayed him, and very often. I walked out to him and leaned my back against the railing.

- Dude don't worry so much - I looked at him.

- I'm not worried - he muttered under his breath and shrugged his shoulders.

- I can just see how you are not worried - I smiled widely.

- I don't understand why he doesn't want to come. We meet every year, every year we spend three weeks together, and this year she is somehow different.

- Maybe she fell in love and her partner doesn't approve - I lit a cigarette.

- I want her to fall in love, I want her to be happy, but I don't want a partner who forbids us to see each other. Who is this guy?

- Norman - I groaned - maybe he is jealous of you, look at yourself.

- I'm nothing special - he put out his cigarette - I'm going to bed.

I wanted to tell him that she would soon be in the same hotel as us but I promised to keep it to myself. At 10:30 I got a message.

📲Of Oli: I'm at the hotel, room 313.

💬 To Ola : I'm in 5 minutes.

He put the phone in his pocket and I put on my leather jacket.

- Bubba I'm leaving, I'll be back in a while - I shouted towards Norman's bedroom.

But no one answered me, Norman was probably either taking a shower or already asleep. I sighed and went to room 313. I knocked twice on the door and heard muffled footsteps and after a few seconds the door opened. Standing in it was Olivia, her blue hair flowing loosely over her shoulders. She was wearing a loose hoodie and tight jeans.

- Hey - she smiled tiredly.

- Hey baby - I took a step and hugged her tightly.

She cuddled into my body and a tired sigh came out of her mouth. I kissed her head and rubbed her back with my hands.

- Tired ? - I moved away slightly.

- A little - she breathed - Would you like something to drink?

- Maybe a quick drink? - I smiled widely.

- Fine - she nodded and moved towards the bar.

- Honey, you look good - I took off my jacket and threw it on the back of the sofa.

- What do you mean? - She opened the bottle of whisky.

- You just look good even though you still wear those baggy sweatshirts - I watched her movements.

- They're just comfortable and I don't have to bother choosing accessories. And I really don't feel like it lately - she sat down next to me with two glasses.

- Did something happen? - I took the glass from her and furrowed my eyebrows.

- Well, my ex turned out to be a dick and that's all - she shrugged her shoulders.

She leaned her elbows on her knees and drank the liquid from the glass in one gulp. I looked at the profile of her face, she didn't even wrinkle her eyebrows.

- Are you back to drinking? - I leaned towards her.

- Can we not talk about this now? I'm here for the first day and you're already doing my fucking interrogation - she looked at me.

- But promise me we'll come back to this conversation?

- I promise if you don't say anything to Norman - she stared into my eyes.

- I won't say a fucking word to him - I smiled slightly.

- Then we'll go back to this conversation - she nodded - how is he?

- He sulks like a teenager - I laughed.

- He hasn't replied to any of my messages, he's probably angry with me.

- I bet that when he sees you tomorrow all his anger will be gone - I kissed her on the temple - you know how he is when something doesn't go his way. And he really missed you and he's sorry.

Olivia took a breath and sank deeper into the couch.

- Hey - I poked her - don't pout yet you know that if you make puppy dog eyes he is able to forgive everything.

- I hope so - she smiled uncertainly.

- You know that if you make puppy dog eyes, he will be able to forgive everything - she smiled uncertainly - After all, he loves you - I poked her - and he can't stay mad at you for too long.

Olivia looked at me and I saw a blush on her cheeks. She set her glass down on the coffee table and snuggled into my side.

- I missed you, old man -  she whispered.

- I missed you too girl - I put my arm around her.

Her head was resting under my chin, Olivia may not look like a woman we were used to. She wasn't skinny, she wasn't tall but her character made up for all her flaws. A person stops noticing her larger body stature after getting to know her. But she had one flaw, she was morbidly shy and that is why many people abandoned her. I got close to her only last year and only then I realized how big heart she has. And I want to keep her close because it's really worth it. I glanced at her, her eyes were closed and her breathing was steady. As she fell asleep, I gently pushed her away from me. I set the glass down and took her hands in mine wedding style. I headed to the bedroom, planted her on the bed holding her with my hands. I took off her sweatshirt, socks and pants, laid her on the bed and covered her with blankets.

- Sleep dear - I kissed her forehead and left her room.

I closed the door behind me and went to my room.

Pov Olivia

When I awoke to the sound of the alarm clock. I wiped my face with my hands and looked around the room. I was lying in bed in the bedroom of my rented apartment. I hit the phone and the alarm finally went off. I groaned wiping my face with my palms, I must have been drowsy last night. I threw my legs off the bed and pulled hard. I picked my phone up off the ground and opened a new message from Jeff.

📲 From Jeff : Remember that at 3 in the afternoon is our show, remember not to be late lazy !

I locked my device and shook my head. This man was impossible but that's what I loved him for. For the fact that he could listen, that he had more experience in life and could share it. He was different than Norman but after all, no two people are alike. Grabbed my phone and opened a new message to Jeff.

💬To Jeff : I hope your old bones didn't suffer when you carried me to bed.💙 Thank you, I'm not late, I'm never late.

I put my phone down on the bedside table, grabbed my clothes and headed to the shower. I had to prepare myself properly to greet my long lost friend.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I was always careful about what I wore, I had to mask my excess weight somehow. I combed my hair and dried it into a bun.

Just a quick breakfast and I was ready to go. I took an Uber and after just a few minutes I found myself in front of the San Diego Convention Center. Thanks to Jeffrey's kindness I had VIP ticket so I could enter everywhere. Therefore, I went to the hall out of turn, hung around my neck badge with name and level of availability. The first thing that caught my eye was the amount of people dressed up. Cosplay was ubiquitous here, I slipped my glasses over my hair and admired their creators. People were really imaginative and I stopped at one or three stalls to buy some interesting things. Eventually I got to the place where The Walking Dead actors were, I kept my distance so none of them would recognize me. No one knew I was here, except Jeffrey of course. I watched Norman interact with the fans, his face lit up with a smile from ear to ear. He was snapping pictures with them, signing T-shirts and many other things. I smiled to myself, I loved how open he was with his fans. I took a breather and wandered around the neighborhood and at 2:30 I was already sitting in my seat in the hall where the conference was to be held.

📲Of Jeff : are you ?

💬Do Jeff : Third row, fourth seat from the left. From the middle aisle.

📲From Jeff : Divine, he wants to see Bubba's face.

I smiled under my breath, at exactly three o'clock the host started her show. She was smiling all the time under her breath, my hands started sweating strangely, I rubbed them on my pants. The first to enter was the director, then Andrew Lincoln, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and finally Norman Reedus, followed of course by the rest of the crew. I had the impression that Jeffrey immediately sought me out with his eyes. He smiled broadly and nodded slightly. I smiled back and also nodded slightly. Jeffrey looked up at me every now and then smiling. Halfway through the performance Jeffrey poked Lincoln and whispered something in his ear. Andrew lifted his head and looked around the front rows and a wide grin appeared on his lips from ear to ear. Lincoln slaps Norman hard on the shoulder, the man crouches down and mutters something under his breath. Andrew leans into his ear and whispers something. And his body tense up, he slides his hat down over his face and shifts his gaze around the audience. His eyes stopped on me, smiling broadly. Eventually, he smiled too.

Andrew watched his friend's reaction, smiling slightly. Norman pulled out his phone, and moments later mine vibrated in his pocket.

📲Of Norm : I'm gonna strangle you 🎈