CW: this one's pretty gruesome. read at your own risk
Peter is a young child who's been kidnapped. His parents and/or his aunt and uncle were killed and he was taken. Along with a bunch of other little kids, he's been held captive and experimented on.
When the Avengers suddenly bust the kidnapping operation, the kidnappers try at the last second to destroy their research. They gas the small room where the kids are being held.
It's Iron Man who ends up blasting through. What he finds is horrifying. All but one of the children are dead.
The one who's left is just sitting among the bodies, crying, shocked, terrified. Iron Man carries him out of there, then once they're safe from the gas Tony steps out of the suit to comfort the kid while he's given oxygen.
Little 5-year-old Peter Parker imprints on his savior hard.
He just went through an unimaginable amount of trauma, then Iron Man burst through like an avenging angel. This is the first time he's ever felt protected in his memory. Tony holds the crying kid, and the kid can tolerate no one else near him.
This becomes a slight problem when they get back to base. But Tony can't find it in him to let SHIELD take the kid away, let them strip him of this one tiny bit of comfort. He keeps seeing all those other kids when he closes his eyes.
This one needs him right now. And if "right now" eventually becomes "this is my son," well. Who could've predicted that.
Okay y'all, this is it. The FINAL for the Mineral Swag Tournament.
Fluorite.
Fluorite is a fantastic mineral. It would not have gotten this far otherwise. It comes in a ton of colors, it naturally forms both octahedra and cubes (and massive deposits), and it show brilliant bright blue color under UV light. Fluorescence (the phenomena) is named that because of fluorite!
It also does this fun thing (that other minerals do as well, but it is common among fluorite) where it changes color as it forms because of changing impurities in the solution from which it grows! Elements like iron, copper, manganese, chromium (and more!) can replace individual ions in fluorite's chemical structure and cause the light to reflect different wavelengths and we therefore see that as a different color. This can also happen if a fluorite ion is missing because the sample has been irradiated (for example) and NOTHING replaces it and so the light still reflects in a different way! That is one of the ways we get purple fluorite and this method of producing color is known as color centers.
Of course, not all fluorite fluoresces. Not all fluorite forms cubes or octahedra. Some fluorite is colorless. Some of it looks like an ugly little piece of translucent rock. Or a vein of purple mineral in a crack between two other rocks. It would be irresponsible for me to insinuate that all fluorite is this majestic.
But there are some properties that you will always find in fluorite. It has four directions of cleavage. It is the defining mineral for a 4 on the Mohs hardness scale. It will always be made of calcium and fluoride in a 1:2 ratio. These things are some of what define fluorite as a distinct mineral!
Opal.
Opal is a beautiful gemstone. Please note that I did not call it a "beautiful mineral" because it is not technically a mineral. It is a solid, inorganic substance with a defined chemical formula, but it lacks the specific crystal structure which minerals MUST have to be considered a mineral.
This crystal structure is the entire reason why fluorite is capable of forming cubes and octahedra. And why garnet forms dodecahedra and beryl forms columns and so on. Opal only comes in those fun little oval shaped stones because it was cut that way! Fluorite forms cubes because it just knows how. Otherwise, opal forms shapeless masses that fracture rather than cleave (fluorite cleaves--four ways). That being said, opal's lack of crystal structure allows it to sometimes be iridescent.
After all, there is a reason opal made it this far. When it shines, it is beautiful. There are several varieties of precious opal (opal that displays its trademark play-of-color/iridescence) and they are all very fun to look at. These precious opals are made of microscopic silica spheres that light reflects off of in weird ways and causes opal to look like it is glittering with a dozen different colors.
However, one would be remiss to forget common opal! Some opal is milky white or a translucent blue, and if you're going to love opal at her fire opal, you better also love her at her common opal.
Here are some raw pieces of opal (common opal on the left). Note how they break irregularly. They have conchoidal fracture, which both quartz and normal glass (all of which are just silica) also have. I personally think conchoidal fracture is pretty neat.
Also, while the opals on the right would still be considered precious opal, they are what the average person is likely to find. Just little bits of iridescence here and there.
And, like fluorite, while not all opals have all of the cool features, they do have some similarities. They will always have conchoidal fracture if they break. And they will always be made of hydrated SiO2.
...That's all I have for these guys, I think! I hope I have been as impartial (and accurate) as possible while presenting these, your FINAL mineral swag contestants. If you have any questions or anything, let me know. The Rock Swag Tournament will start shortly after this concludes! Submit your rocks here! And specific rock formations or named rock varieties here!
Oh my god I woke up this morning and my Stardew Valley meta post had almost 150 notes????? Hello?????????? Anyways I started writing this last night because @moon-is-pretty-tonight left nice tags on the original so thank you so much!!
We know from the starting scenes of the game that the farmer's grandfather loved Stardew Valley. So why did he leave? Pelican Town is a good place to grow old; George and Evelyn are just fine. It's a fine place to raise a kid, but maybe he just wanted to raise his child closer to real schools and other children.
Or maybe, just maybe, he understood.
Was there a day when he was in his thirties where he looked at his friends and realized they weren't like him? That he could run faster than them, work longer, explore deeper into the hidden places of the valley?
Was there a day when he went to the wizard to ask him for help, for knowledge if nothing else? Did he learn then that his family was different? Special? Chosen? And how did he react? He couldn't possibly raise a child in the valley if they would be as strange and fey as him. He had to leave. There was no other way.
But years later, on his deathbed, did he regret that choice?
Is that why he gave the farmer the letter?
Is that why they went back home?
When the farmer steps off the bus that first day, the valley is still on the cusp of winter, just barely tipping over into spring. The flowers are starting to bloom, but a chill still hangs in the air. As soon as the farmer's boots touch the soil there's a change. The air gets warmer. The trees get greener. Not by too much, not all at once, but it changes.
The junimos watch the farmer as they do their work. They're new to farming, but take to it with frightening speed; their first batch of crops is perfect. None of the townsfolk tell them that parsnips don't normally grow in less than a week, that cauliflowers don't grow to be ten feet tall, that fairies don't visit when the sun goes down and grow potatoes and beans and tulips overnight. The junimos talk amongst themselves in their strange, wild language, and agree: this is the one. They're back. The valley recognizes its own, even when they've left for a generation. The farmers have come home.
Things change fast in the valley. The community center, empty and decrepit for so many years, is rejuvenated. (Lewis says it was abandoned only a few weeks after the farmer's grandfather left. Strange coincidence, he says, that it both came and went with the farmer's family.) The mines and the quarry, similarly abandoned, are explored for the first time in ages. The town becomes cleaner, brighter, more vibrant, happier.
And it is happier. Not just the environment, but the people. It's the talk of the town for weeks when Haley does her first closet purge. Leah's art show in the town square is a huge success. Shane's smiling for the first time since he moved to the valley. All of them, when asked, say it's all thanks to the farmer.
People love to ask why Lewis didn't fix the community center on his own. Why Willy never repaired the boat to ginger island. Why Abigail or Marlon never went down to fix the elevator in the mines, or why Clint didn't fix the minecarts.
But isn't it so much more interesting to ask how those things were there in the first place? How they got so broken down? If the stories the townspeople tell are true, the valley was once a beautiful place, flourishing and full of life; why did that change? When did it change?
Was it when the farmer's grandfather, the locus of the valley, its chosen representative, left town?
And if so, what happens when the farmer comes back?
And part of what I wanted to do to celebrate this year was to give back. Introducing * ~ a dipplinshipping birthday oneshot ~ * :
Rating: T
Summary:
Today was Kieran's birthday, but it was the last thing that mattered to him. In fact, he vowed it would never matter to him again. Instead, he would focus on things that would keep him strong: his battling, his strategizing, and his crown as the Blueberry Champion. His sister and the Elite Four won't stop asking him random questions, though, and if anyone brings up Juliana any more than they already have since she arrived as an exchange student, he's seriously going to lose it. But...why can't he stop thinking about her? And why is everyone acting so suspicious?!
A bittersweet birthday celebration fic for anyone who's had complicated feelings about their birthday. <3
Take this as a thank you to all of those who have followed my work and/or my Tumblr blog. I wouldn't have imagined having the support of this wonderful community on my last birthday, and I can't even begin to describe how encouraged and inspired I have felt to write since finding you guys. I have never written this much for this long, consistently, and your constant feedback and comments seriously brighten my day more than Juliana brightens up Kieran, LOL. Hope you enjoy this! <333
(And yeah, this fic is the "event based idea" that this poll was about. I thought it was so funny that some of you thought it was gonna be some devastating angst LMAOOOO. That's for after TTPD releases, tysm for the bday gift Taylor.)
if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?
I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.
Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.
Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.
Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.
Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.
Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.
If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.
So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.
It’s more Expectant Mareach headcanons. I’m. I’m so sorry.
(And because I feel like it never gets enough attention, it's all Very Early Lead-In stuff! C'mon, that's RIPE with fluff potential.)
✨ At the start, Peach is incredibly conflicted towards the thought of having children; she’s got so many doubts and concerns because who wouldn't with an upbringing and history of political conflict as unconventional as hers? And she spends a great deal of time kicking herself over her uncertainty, because Mario’s wanted kids pretty much his entire life. She wants to give him that, and frankly she does want to take this next step with him, and she wants so badly to just dive right in and trust that everything will work out, but she doesn’t know that, and it scares her.
✨ The thing is, no matter how badly he wants to have a kid or ten, Mario’s not about to pressure Peach into it. He loves her so much more than he loves even the idea of fatherhood. If she decides it's not something she wants or feels comfortable with? So be it! He’ll just get a side career as a babysitter or something.
✨ Sometimes Peach will bring up one of her concerns out of the blue, in the middle of the day or late at night in bed, and she and Mario spend hours talking over every possible angle for every topic she presents. She apologizes for her conflicted mind and for taking so long, but he promises he's happy to talk it through and urges her to take her time coming to a conclusion; he’d sooner she give him a definitive no than an uncertain yes.
✨ After many such conversations, counsel with friends to work through all of her thoughts, and entirely too many dreams about Mario snuggling and doting on little brunette and blonde babies that leave her heart aching long after she wakes up, Peach gives him her answer while they’re sharing a private picnic: she wants to raise a family with him, because now she can confidently say that their children will be safe and surrounded with love.
✨ Mario spends a few minutes prodding, making absolutely sure this is her own decision, she’s not just saying this for him, she 100% without a shadow of a doubt wants a baby, a family… and then he just tackles her in kisses. He would have loved and supported her no matter what she told him, but this? Hearing her laugh and repeat his many words of love back to him in the most elated tone while they roll in the grass and realizing she doesn't just want a family, she wants a family with him, and she wants it as badly as he does? It's a dream come true.
✨ Try for Baby #1 occurs about six minutes later.
✨ When Peach starts feeling under the weather round about two months later, and then wakes up at four in the morning violently ill, the possibility that they're officially parents-to-be doesn't occur to them for a few reasons: 1.) There's a Peach/Luigi is Hurt and/or Sick switch in Mario's brain that, when activated, shuts down all internal processing other than protect, comfort, secure, so babies are the last thing on his mind; 2.) Peach is too miserable to think about much other than, well, how miserable she is, and all she can suspect is that she's come down with a bug of some sort; and 3.) they figured it would take longer. Peach has literally only gotten her period once from the day they started trying to now... which, in hindsight, probably should have been a sign.
✨ Mario fills in for her so she can rest and be seen by the castle doctor, so he's not present when Peach gets the news. But rather than insist Toadette pull him out of whatever royal task he's been saddled with today so she can tell him, she instead asks her to fetch Toadsworth.
✨ I've written like two solid pages' worth of that interaction, so to summarize: Toadsworth's an emotional wreck for the next few days. All good emotions! Mostly good emotions. He's both happy and worried, okay? That's his little girl!
✨ She tells Mario that night while they have tea on the balcony. He almost shatters her favorite teapot, because he picks her up and spins her around as soon as it sinks in, laughing in joy and disbelief, and her foot just narrowly misses it. Neither of them notice.
✨ What a coincidence! Luigi arrives back in the Mushroom Kingdom for a visit the next day because he heard Peach wasn't feeling good and wanted to offer support. Mario takes him out to lunch in town, where every Toad within a quarter-mile radius is suddenly subjected to the sight and sounds of their king and his brother shouting at each other in their native tongue, shaking each other by the shoulders, embracing and whooping and jumping up and down and maybe even crying? It's one heck of a scene, but they both seem happy, so everyone assumes it's one of those weird twin moments and leaves them be.
✨ In the interest of keeping the media uninvolved and stress levels as low as possible for as long as possible, it's decided that Peach's pregnancy won't be announced until it starts becoming visibly obvious. Not that there aren't suspicions, of course. A palace worker claims to have seen the king and queen napping together in the shadows of the private garden, their hands conjoined and resting on her stomach. But hey, we all know how unreliable court gossip is, right?
was making an annoyed joke about people who are like 'velvette is like vox and val's daughter!!' by saying that 'yeah, it's super normal to call your father 'darling' and give him kisses through the phone' and my housemate just Looked at me and I was like well ok. fair. In Valentino's world that is completely normal, but statistics out of Val's porn studio are outliers that should not be counted
nobody ever talks about it,
but i feel like it's always important to remind y'all that the 10 episodes in which BotBots takes place in don't (usually) happen back-to-back, so here's a post about it because it's kinda fucked once you think about it.
TL;DR: the implications of how much time passes in this series are terrifying and the fact that the lost bots didnt lose their minds has me rolling a little
unrelated steak cuts pride hcz bc i need 2 spread more propaganda and also to catch your attention >:]
(Burgertron's are the butch, genderqueer, transbian and ADHD flags, Bonz-Eye's are the gnc, butch, nonbinary and autism flags!)
There's gaps in time between each episode, even with the half-n-half episode format, with very few exceptions.
Ep 1B, (Never) Be Yourself, takes place the very next night, right after 1A (Mall than Meets the Eye), and in episode 10 it's established at the beginning it also takes place the next night, after 9B (Shopping Brawl). Hell, Dimlit in Love and On the Bot Prom Dancefloor have a gap in time between each other-- Dimlit states it's been 6 days and 11 hours since he and Jackie started dating in OtBPD!
One of my friends, @knavewoods, did the math on it, and because the earliest date mentioned in the show is February and there's a Halloween/Christmas pop-up store, they estimated that by that point the Lost Bots had been at it for 7 months at LEAST, and that by the time of the finale it'd have probably been a year and a half because of the Science Alliance episode having a beach theme to it w/ the implications of it being summertime. (Not that either of us think that the Bots know what seasons are, but it's compelling evidence!)
A year and a half.
That is a LONG time to be isolated from literally everyone you've ever known and loved, and not only that but the Lost Bots are being actively BULLIED half the time. Sure, they have allies like Lady Macaron and Jackie, but like. There's no way that ISN'T insanely upsetting to any of them, ESPECIALLY Burgertron.
Imagine having your girlfriend play Hot-N-Cold with you for a YEAR AND A HALF. Idk about y'all but I'd be fucked up about that too.
And not only that, but the finale establishes that Spud basically had it out for BT from the start. Imagine trusting someone so much that theyre your BEST FRIEND and it turns out they hated your guts the whole time and was basically the reason everyone wanted you gone forever for a YEAR AND A HALF. I don't think i'd be able to recover from that for a while.
I don't know how to close out this post properly, so just. like. look at them and then absorb the words im saying into your brain ok? ok. bye :3
Okay Dean “You know I am not much for prayin’ ‘cause in my book it’s the same as beggin’” and “I prayed to you, Cas, every night” Winchester, I see you.
Btw, for the lovely folks who don't follow me but then come visit every once in a while to look through my things, know that I think you're neat and that I love you. The fact that you know you don't want to see my shit on the reg, (I understand, I AM chaos) yet still coming to visit is really nice💙It genuinely warms my heart and I find it really sweet.