Photo Album Limbo
Grandma (or the Amazingly Embarrassing Parents) caught a new acquaintance of her younger relative (or a very unlucky random stranger) and she has a family photo album at hand. You already know what's about to happen: she will go over every page, cooing over each and every photo. This will be very awkward and very dull, will go on and on forever, give or take a hour.
Presumably, many an Embarrassing Old Photo and especially embarrassing baby pictures are involved, but as a rule they are specifically mentioned only if the hapless "model" is present.
And that's if the victim is lucky. Sometimes Grandma is not what she seems, and the album holds photos that are considerably less wholesome.
Examples of Photo Album Limbo include:
Literature
- Discworld demonology mentions Tshup Aklathep, Infernal Star Toad with A Million Young. It pins down travelers and shows pictures of its children until their brains implode (or they commit suicide to end this). It does not mean to harm its victims, but compulsively jumps on an opportunity for a conversation.
Web Comics
- Conversed in Freefall. Sam accidentally knocked out a new father. On the next page - "...let's go. This guy could wake up and start showing us baby pictures at any moment."
- Edmund Finney's Quest to Find the Meaning of Life has a variation - a lady who keeps "macabre photo album" and discusses it with hitchhikers.
- Golden Age of Adventurers Ciria accidentally provoked Ben to share some family pictures. Being a wizard, he shows these mind-to-mind. On the upside, others' options are limited to talking.
Web Original
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