Yes, living as I do in a town that recently made national news because some fucksticks had a wedding reception during lockdown and, with utter predictability, a regional outbreak happened as a direct result of it, I must concur. We need to start seeing criminal charges for knowingly-committed spreader behavior, especially when it documentably leads to actual spread.

>I'm so sorry. I hope your mom will dodge this particular bullet.

Same here.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Yep. Trump gives people license to be their absolute worst selves, pretend that any inconvenience to them or consideration of other people is "infringing their rights", and so on.

... in Sweden? I mean I suppose it's possible, but...

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Ah, did not know that MoonEyes resides in Sweden.

Sorry!

Aside - a trip down memory lane....

Ah, but I miss my Granny's pepperkakers. She was Norwegian, I believe - a first generation American whose parents had emigrated from Scandinavia - and as such her recipe called for actual black pepper. It took my mom by surprise who, despite her Hispanic heritage, had never seen a dessert recipe use black pepper like that before. But Mom loved them as much as I did.

Granny's parents had kept close to their cultural roots, and as such so did the rest of the matriarchal line in my step-dad's family. As a result, he was pretty well steeped in the cultural foods and traditions.

One of the few fun memories I have involving my step-dad were the rare occasions he managed to get his hands on some *good* pickled herring. I was an utter black hole of a human being when it came to food - food has to be legitimately BAD TASTING for me to even consider snubbing it. But pickled herring was anything but bad as far as I was concerned. I mean it, I thought it was great - fish, but with a tangy, sweet brine. I don't know what other people's experiences with it has been like, but I think that my step-dad, having grown up with the correct cultural context for it, knew how to spot THE GOOD STUFF.

And we'd eat it in front of mom just to gross her out. Priceless!

I don't know why mom bothered to sit there and witness the proceedings, but in retrospect it was probably a combination of morbid fascination and being absolutely certain that all the fish had been eaten.

See, step-dad is the type of lovable-asshole with a mischievous streak a mile wide that would sneak a kiss onto his wife's lips right after eating something she absolutely detested.

But that's just my mom's tastes for you - she loves herself a bad boy. And really, would you expect anything less of Hatchet Lady?

(It's particularly telling that, without trying at all, her first and second (current) husbands both worked at the same installation at Lackland AFB - Security Hill, which is where all the cryptotechs work their magic upon the Air Force's radio equipment. Because of the things they know about and the clearances they held, both my biological father and step-father are on "In the event of >>>REDACTED<<<, shoot-on-sight" lists. Yeah, apparently her "type" really is that specific.)

"You're not kissing me with that mouth until that stuff wears off."
- Utena Tenjou

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

She's actually quite a good cook, it's just that she's also an alchemist with a mean streak. All those "accidents" stemming from her "ineptitude" in the old days? Not as they appeared...

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Ah yes. I remember someone commenting on Anthy's spell in Diqui, "The Assassin's Last Surprise", and that it was her mother that taught her the spell. Something to the tune of, "Where the hell did your mother come from!? Medieval Florence?!" "Something like that, yes~."

Point is, there's a REASON why Anthy can do malice so effectively despite looking like a shrinking violet - Svartalfs are some mean SOBs - even the "nice" ones. It wouldn't surprise me if she's keeping something particularly nasty in reserve for Akio on the off-hand chance she ever sees him again. Something that would make even Corwin and Utena go DAAAYYYYUUUMMM!!!

---
"She's old, she's lame, she's barren too, // "She's not worth feed or hay, // "But I'll give her this," - he blew smoke at me - // "She was something in her day." -- Garnet Rogers, Small Victory

FiMFiction.net: we might accept blatant porn involving the cast of My Little Pony but as God is my witness we have standards.

You know how the Doctor ended that one prime minister's career with the six words, "Don't you think she looks tired?"

Based on the corner of the yard I've been doing the most work in the last little while, I am now enjoying picturing the following as Anthy's own six little world-ending words:

"Have you met Corwin's new aunt?"

--G.
(door slams) ("Roundabout" starts playing)
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Sorry, but I'm pretty sure Corwin's most terrifying aunt is still Belldandy.

Even better, imagine them combining forces with Urd and say, Korra.

(Son, you done fucked up.)

Belldandy is disappointed with him; he was given, not a second, but a first chance at life, the opportunity to be more than the animate corpse of Dios. And he went and fucked it up by pursuing the same agendas and vendettas that ended his unlife.

Belldandy is going to be disappointed, and she's going to help fulfill Anthy's promise to Akio: "I won't let you suffer any longer."

Taking absolutely nothing away from the power of Belldandy's divine disappointment, there is something of a distinction here.

He may well be able to face angry women. He's not all that likely to be able to survive them.

	-={(Astynax)}=- "This Space For Rent."

That's ok, not like I shout it TOO much. But it's appeared here and there on the forum.

>Ah, but I miss my Granny's pepperkakers. She was Norwegian, I believe
>- a first generation American whose parents had emigrated from
>Scandinavia - and as such her recipe called for actual black pepper.
>It took my mom by surprise who, despite her Hispanic heritage, had
>never seen a dessert recipe use black pepper like that before. But
>Mom loved them as much as I did.

Yep, I have a couple of old-school recipes that call for either black pepper of allspice (which in Swedish is "pepper-spice", approx). Today, there's no pepper in the generally available stuff, it's basically gingerbread.

...!
Stoke Mandeville, Esq & The Victorian Ballsmiths
"Nobody Want Verdigris-Covered Balls!"