#Contrarian investing

[sgrji]

Mastering Intraday Stock Trading: Strategies, Tips, and Risks

Intraday stock trading, also known as day trading, is a high-stakes endeavor where traders buy and sell stocks within the same trading day. It’s a thrilling pursuit that requires skill, discipline, and a deep understanding of the market. In this article, we’ll explore the world of intraday stock trading, covering strategies, tips, and the inherent risks involved.### Understanding Intraday…

[literaryspinster]

I like J*yvik well enough, but the tumblr algorithm (since when is that even a thing?!) assumes I care about it WAY more than I do.

[contrariantrading]

Understanding the Contrarian Trading Strategy: A Profitable Approach

Are you interested in a trading strategy that goes against the crowd and has the potential for high profits? Look no further than the contrarian trading strategy. In this article, we will discuss contrarian trading, exploring its principles, and how to identify. Read More

[sakuratruther]

i don’t know how to explain but when people argue against x, y and z and bring up boruto receipts i don’t know how to react because in all honesty boruto doesn’t exist for me. i’m someone who cares a lot about canon but i can’t bring myself to care about that manga they managed to hit every “don’t do” thing in the list. not a fan

[wat3rm370n]

The tycoons are now demonizing remote work in government and planning a purge.

Government Executive -  Trump’s ‘DOGE’ commission promises mass federal layoffs, ending telework The incoming administration will handle large-scale RIFs with compassion, Vivek Ramaswamy says. November 18, 2024 01:40 PM ET “So this is a historic opportunity. We're not actually going to squander this.” He added that reductions to telework and relocating agencies would help motivate employees to leave government voluntarily. He called it a “dirty little secret” that most federal workers “don’t even show up to work.”  About 80% of the federal work hours are currently spent in-person, according to a recent Office of Management and Budget review, and more than half of federal employees do not telework at all because their jobs are not conducive to it. Of those who do telework, employees on average spent about three-fifths of their time on site.  “If you require most of those federal bureaucrats to just say, like normal working Americans, you come to work five days a week, a lot of them won't want to do that,” Ramaswamy said. “If you have many voluntary reductions in force of the workforce in the federal government along the way, great. That's a good side effect of those policies as well.”

The dirty little secret is that this anti-telework agenda is about tycoons who don’t want to pay their fair share after getting rich exploiting the rest of society. This agenda against work from home is about tycoons who are jealous that talented people choose to work for the government, doing work that is a benefit to society, and want to force them into bullshit jobs in private industries, just to avoid in-person office work for various reasons, including disability (declared or undeclared). This hostility to remote work is about commercial real estate wanting butts in seats downtown for the economic finances of real estate moguls and the investors that treated real estate investments like a casino. The pandemic accelerated a trend toward telework already happening, and ramped up real estate investor exposure to loss, and they want to socialize that loss. And this anti-telework agenda is about fossil fuel interests wanting everyone to continue arduous fuel-intensive pollution laden dangerous harrowing commutes to jobs that don’t need to take place in an office, and which are often done more efficiently remotely.

Return to office and dying on the job

Denise Prudhomme's bosses at Wells Fargo insisted that the in-person camaraderie of their offices warranted a mandatory return-to-office policy, but when she died at her desk in her Tempe, AZ office, no one noticed for four days.

That was in August. Now, Wells Fargo United has published a statement on her death, one that vibrates with anger at the callously selective surveillance that Wells Fargo inflicts on its workforce:

https://www.reddit.com/r/WellsFargoUnited/comments/1fnp9fa/please_print_and_take_to_your_managersite_leader/

The union points out that Wells Fargo workers are subjected to continuous, fine-grained on-the-job surveillance from a variety of bossware tools that count their keystrokes and create tables of the distancess their mice cross each day:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/24/gwb-rumsfeld-monsters/#bossware

Wells Fargo's message to its workforce is, "You can't be trusted," a policy that Wells Fargo doubled down on with its Return to Office mandate. Return to Office is often pitched as a chance to improve teamwork, communication, and human connection with your co-workers, and there's no arguing with the idea that spending some time in person with people can help improve working relationships (I attended a week-long, all-hands, staff retreat for EFF earlier this month and it was fantastic, primarily due to its in-person nature).

But our bosses don't want us back in the office because they enjoy our company, nor because they're so excited about having hired such a swell bunch of folks and can't wait to see how we all get along together. As John Quiggin writes, the biggest reason to force us back to the office is to get a bunch of us to quit:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/26/in-their-plaintive-call-for-a-return-to-the-office-ceos-reveal-how-little-they-are-needed

As one of Musk's toadies put it in a private message before the Twitter takeover, "Sharpen your blades boys. 2 day a week Office requirement = 20% voluntary departures":

https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/29/elon-musk-texts-discovery-twitter/

The other reason to spy on us is because they don't trust us. Remember all the panic about "quiet quitting" and "no one wants to work"? Bosses' hypothesis was that eking out a bare minimum living on from a couple of small-dollar covid stimulus checks was preferable to working for them for a full paycheck.

Every accusation is a a confession. When your boss tells you that he thinks that you can't be trusted to do a good job without total, constant surveillance, he's really saying, "I only bother to do my CEO job when I'm afraid of getting fired':

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/19/make-them-afraid/#fear-is-their-mind-killer

As Wells Fargo United notes, Wells Fargo employees like Denise Prudhomme are spied on from the moment they set foot in the building until the moment they clock out (and sometimes the spying continues when you're off the clock):

Wells Fargo monitors our every move and keystroke using remote, electronic technologies—purportedly to evaluate our productivity—and will fire us if we are caught not making enough keystrokes on our computers.

The Arizona Republic coverage notes further that Prudhomme had to log her comings and goings from the Wells Fargo offices with a badge, so Wells Fargo could see that Prudhomme had entered the premises four days before, but hadn't left:

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe-breaking/2024/09/23/wells-fargo-employees-union-responds-death-tempe-woman/75352015007/

Wells Fargo has mandated in-person working, even when that means crossing a state line to be closer to the office. They've created "hub cities" where workers are supposed to turn up. This may sound convivial, but Prudhomme was the only member of her team working out of the Tempe hub, so she was being asked to leave her home, travel long distances, and spend her days in a distant corner of the building where no one ventured for periods of (at least) four days at a time.

Bosses are so convinced that they themselves would goof off if they could that they fixate on forcing employees to spend their days in the office, no matter what the cost. Back in March 2020, Charter CEO Tom Rutledge – then the highest-paid CEO in America – instituted a policy that every back office staffer had to work in person at his call centers. This was the most deadly phase of the pandemic, there was no PPE to speak of, we didn't understand transmission very well, and vaccines didn't exist yet. Charter is a telecommunications company and it was booming as workers across America upgraded their broadband so they could work from home, and the CEO's response was to ban remote work. His customer service centers were superspreading charnel houses:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/18/diy-tp/#sociopathy

That Wells Fargo would leave a dead employee at her desk for four days is par for the course for the third-largest commercial bank in America. This is Wells Fargo, remember, the company that forced its low-level bank staff to open two million fake accounts in order to steal from their customers and defraud their shareholders, then fired and blackballed staff who complained:

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/26/495454165/ex-wells-fargo-employees-sue-allege-they-were-punished-for-not-breaking-law

The executive who ran that swindle got a $125 million bonus:

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/09/wells-fargo-ceos-teflon-don-act-backfires-at-senate-hearing-i-take-full-responsibility-means-anything-but.html

And the CEO got $200 million:

https://money.cnn.com/2016/09/21/investing/wells-fargo-fired-workers-retaliation-fake-accounts/index.html

It's not like Wells Fargo treats its workers badly but does well by everyone else. Remember, those fake accounts existed as part of a fraud on the company's investors. The company went on to steal $76m from its customers on currency conversions. They also foreclosed on customers who were up to date on their mortgages, seizing and selling off all their possessions. They argued that when bosses pressured tellers into forging customers on fraudulent account-opening paperwork, that those customers had lost their right to sue, since the fraudulent paperwork had a binding arbitration clause. When they finally agreed to pay restitution to their victims, they made the payments opt-in, ensuring that most of the millions of people they stole from would never get their money back.

They stole millions with fraudulent "home warranties." They stole millions from small businesses with fake credit-card fees. They defrauded 800,000 customers through an insurance scam, and stole 25,000 customers' cars with illegal repos. They led the pre-2008 pack on mis-selling deceptive mortgages that blew up and triggered the foreclosure epidemic. They loaned vast sums to Trump, who slashed their taxes, and then they fired 26.000 workers and did a $40.6B stock buyback. They stole 525 homes from mortgage borrowers and blamed it on a "computer glitch":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/29/jubilance/#too-big-to-jail

Given all this, two things are obvious: first, if anyone is going to be monitored for crimes, fraud and scams, it should be Wells Fargo, not its workers. Second, Wells Fargo's surveillance system exists solely to terrorize workers, not to help them. As Wells Fargo United writes:

We demand improved safety precautions that are not punitive or cause further stress for employees. The solution is not more monitoring, but ensuring that we are all connected to a supportive work environment instead of warehoused away in a back office.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/27/sharpen-your-blades-boys/#disciplinary-technology

[walking-loather]

"is anyone actually vers?" Idk maybe you can't be but I'm built different

[batsplat]

can we have a conversation about how much ktm is in shambles? cause i’m hearing they’re having so many problems financially and apparently even technically. it seems like they got stuck from the start of the season and they are just not progressing. i get that the last few circuits weren’t stop and go circuits that ktm prefers but the performances were really worrying. now, no offense to binder but he clearly has no backbone, but pedro already scolded them this weekend because they are not working the way they should, is there a chance they finally decide to take a risk and develop a project around him? because i feel like that’s what they need to do, a bit like yamaha or honda did for vale and marc. also i’ve thought about the fact that a lot of ktm engineers are leaving ktm for honda, if honda is actually working on a good project for 2027, is there a chance that perhaps a rider like pedro could get them out of the hole they got stuck into? cause i think that would be very interesting to see. of course only if he decides to leave ktm which i hope he doesn’t cause i’d like to see him become the first motogp wdc winner with a ktm. also i can’t really see where else he could go if one day he decides he’s unsatisfied with ktm

love asks that clearly come from the heart. I've been holding off on being too mean about ktm because in a way I do want to save it for after the NEXT race. we're in austria now!! ktm's home race! which they've actually been remarkably successful at, given they're the only non-ducati manufacturer to ever win in the modern iteration of this race in the premier class - first in that quirky last corner shoot-out courtesy of oliveira in 2020 and then in that bizarre slicks in the wet performance by binder in 2021. which, okay, unusual races and all that, but it's a track they should be doing well at!! binder got two second places here last year. if they flop here, then the alarm bells will really be ringing

I guess we can get into an argument about what 'flopping' would even look like. it's entirely plausible that, hm, the first 4-5 slots at minimum are locked out by ducati again - honestly, at the minute another ducati podium lock out feels like the expected scenario. I have heard there's a decent possibility of rain on sunday, but by this point of the year I've been promised rain quite a few times so I'll believe it when I see it. if it rains, sure, anything's possible. a positive result for ktm right now would probably be... a podium, right, which in itself is pretty damning - how are ktm still this bad at actually winning races? last year, binder got a podium at silverstone, which isn't a massively ktm-friendly track. this year, they didn't get even remotely close to that. the ktm defence argument goes 'well, look at what everyone else is doing'. silverstone is a very aprilia-friendly track and they had a pretty disastrous weekend themselves this year. the less said about the japanese manufacturers, the better. but... well, ktm was kinda supposed to take it to ducati this year. they finished last year on a very promising note, with what really should have been a 1-2 at valencia. (the fact that they didn't convert on that maybe should've gotten some alarm bells ringing about the ultimate potential of that rider line-up, but let's not get into that.) after binder's performance at qatar, ktm surely should have been determined to be in the title hunt. they are extremely not in the title hunt

the thing is, anon, ktm does know that pedro is their title winner. the idea of 'developing a project' around him is tricky - because to the extent that ktm is capable of that, they will do it!! they're not going to develop the bike in a direction that suits binder over him, for instance, or completely disregard his feedback or any of that. manufacturers can struggle with being reactive enough to rider concerns... my sense is that ktm likes to throw a lot of stuff at problems, it likes to flex its muscles and use a lot of data and come up with big update packages and all of that - and for all the progress they've made in their bike development, clearly all is not yet well on the in-season development front. (cf the whole chattering thing that ducati has gotten a handle on and ktm hasn't.) manufacturers do sometimes have a tendency to believe they know best and not listen enough to their riders, especially when there's a disconnect between the riders and 'the factory' that's actually designing the bikes. yamaha is an interesting example of that at the minute, where a lot of their current problems are so long-running that you can find their roots in stuff jorge and valentino were complaining about YEARS and years back. they've become a lot more reactive in recent years and did do a lot to tackle fabio's complaints about the bike's top speed... but by that point, they were in such a hole that just 'fixing the top speed' really wasn't enough to actually make a competitive bike. still, part of the reason why fabio's decided to stick with that project is he feels like yamaha is finally listening to him - and if they'd lost him, they'd really be fucked, so that has to count as at least a little bit of a W

in terms of the valentino and marc comparisons, they are just about different enough that it'll only take you so far. with valentino, the simple truth is that nobody today could do what he did for the yamaha project in 2004. he couldn't do that nowadays; it just isn't possible for a rider and his team to make that sort of instant impact anymore. motogp is so different now, with all the aero and devices and all the other stuff casey hates. the balance of power, if you will, has shifted pretty decisively from riders to engineers. also, valentino by that point was a fair bit more experienced and a lot of the credit has to go to his even more experienced team for what they were able to do with yamaha's carte blanche. a rookie, however gifted, just won't be able to provide quite the same level of direction. with marc... well, the honda was fantastic when he showed up! best bike on the grid! it's not exactly an analogous situation to pedro in that what honda needed to do was 'keep being good'. they did listen to marc's feedback and it did bag them enough titles to make it worth their while, but it also did not send their bike down a particularly happy development route for anyone else riding that thing - which ultimately as a manufacturer is not a situation you should want. honda was already losing the development arms race to ducati in the late 2010s, but giving marc a fast if capricious bike and relying on his natural talent to ride around the issues managed to disguise the problems for a while... or at least make them hurt less. all in all, I'm not really convinced 2010s honda is a model anyone should be particularly interested in copying

what ktm should do is listen to pedro, obviously. I assume they're already treating him as their championship contender elect, but if they're not then, yes, they'd be idiots. and given how long it took for them to actually confirm his place in motogp last year, I am open to the possibility that ktm are being idiots here. whether there's a workable system in place to actually make use of that feedback and continue to progress is more open for debate, and that's kinda what pedro went to the factory to check in on. pedro today was talking up a "big, big step" in the coming few races, in part due to the impact of their two test riders and the more ktm-friendly circuits to come, so it'll be interesting to see if it lives up to that. beyond that, who knows? ktm does have money and resources and a track record of success outside of motogp to give it faith, but of course this year has been a disappointment. (quick note: I have seen the stuff about ktm being in trouble financially and obviously that would massively change all of this, but at this stage it's quite hard to judge how seriously to take that - so the rest of this ask will assume that ktm will continue having a lot of money at its disposal. if they don't, my analysis is that they're probably fucked.) the first bit of the season made everyone doubt whether the bike was actually better than thought and the riders were simply not taking advantage of it - which a few signs last year like 'surely dani shouldn't be this competitive' and the whole valencia thing already pointed to. now, it's definitely less competitive than last year and even their superstar rookie can't do all that much with it, so that's not great. they do have a little time to play with here, but not that much. pedro's signed for 2025-26, but if ktm doesn't start next season more competitive, it won't take long for him to start looking around. and even though you can't do valentino 2004 things in quite the same way anymore, this is clearly going to be a project that needs an alien-level talent to actually get it over the line. they've kinda managed to fail upwards into a very strong set of riders next year and they should be able to extract a lot of them for bike development purposes, but also their rider management has traditionally been godawful so it remains to be seen how that'll work out

that being said, pedro will be fine! I mean, idk if he'll be ktm's first premier class world champion. if I had to put money on it, I'd say it's pretty likely, yeah? but the 'where would he go' thing isn't really a big concern. all the big names have kinda hunkered down (as have the teams who signed them) with two year contracts that take us very neatly to the next rule cycle kicking in, which everyone expects will majorly shake things up. while this whole japanese manufacturer situation is massively annoying, I would be shocked if at least one of them aren't regular race winners again in 2027, and hopefully will already be so before that. most manufacturers except maybe honda have at least one star rider they're intending to be a title contender in 2027, and ducati has two. they probably won't all stay in the same place (even if they all remain reasonably healthy in that time) and there's bound to be at least one manufacturer hunting for a big name. pecco will be in his late prime and possibly grey-haired, god knows what state marc will be in *taps wood*, we have no idea how the whole jorge aprilia situation will work out. maybe yamaha will be so competitive again that they actually decide they want TWO riders fighting it out for a championship and we get a proper throwback in blue to the good old garage cold war days - which is where my imagination sadly fails me because I can't picture fabio putting up a wall or yamaha not sucking. maybe, like you say, pedro is just what honda needs to... well, honestly I don't think he could get them out of this hole - but perhaps in a couple years time when honda is looking healthier again, he's the kind of rider that could make it a title winner again. it'll be a new world! if pedro is as good as we all think he is, then obviously any manufacturer would be thrilled to get their hands on him, not least to deprive the competition of having him. how old will he be in 2026? about nine years old, I think? if I had to guess, I do kinda see him being a title contender around 2026-ish, because I just can't quite picture ktm making the necessary leap by next year so 2026 feels like a good way of hedging my bets and trusting his sickening levels of natural talent to make up the bike difference. one of my big remaining doubts is... well, it's actually been quite a while since a new manufacturer has won a rider's title. the last time was ducati way back in 2007 when they nailed the new regulations cycle and also kinda lucked into signing the casey stoner, but ducati had already been regular race winners for quite a few years before that. capirossi was third in the championship in 2006. I suppose aprilia got vaguely close in 2022, but that was a chaos season we don't have much reason to expect to see a repeat of any time soon, and in the end they also didn't get that close. ktm really needs to be getting into race winning form soon if they want to be thinking about titles. it's ridiculous that it's been over three years since their last win in the dry, and nearly two since their last win full stop. if I were them, I would maybe consider winning some races, instead of continuing to lose them idk. let's see how they do on sunday, eh

[kc22invesmentsblog]

Unleashing the Power of Contrarian Thinking: Embracing Fear and Greed in Investments

Written by Delvin In the realm of investments, the pursuit of success often appears elusive. The markets can be unpredictable, governed by the ever-changing tides of sentiment. Amidst these fluctuations, one of the greatest investors of our time, Warren Buffett, offers a timeless piece of wisdom: “The wisest rule in investment is: when others are greedy, be fearful. When others are fearful, be…

[gayedmundo]

like honestly idk how the same people who claim to care so much about gay representation then turn around and mock people who point out RIGHTFULLY that eddie has been queercoded on purpose and insist he has to be straight just because they know if eddie were to be gay then their ship wouldn't last. it's so silly because eddie being gay would be great representation for the gay latino community and anyone who grew up in catholicism and struggled to accept their sexuality. and buck and eddie would be a really beautiful gay love story! but just because some people only want to hate on The Popular Ship and keep around their ship with less than 10 minutes of screen time, they ignore eddie's queercoding and mock anyone who cares about it. it's so depressing to me.

the way certain fans are so insistent on eddie being Canonically Straight despite the fact that we know the writers considered making him canonically gay TWICE now makes my eye twitch a bit

[txttletale]

how would you recommend watching doctor who? there are so many different guys idk how it works.

so the thing about doctor who is that there's two shows -- classic who (1963-1989, doctors 1-7) and new who (2005-2023, doctors 9-14). due to a renumber of the seasons and a change in production company, i think it's fair to call the upcoming version of who (2023-??, doctors 15-??) its own, third show. the reason it's been able to run for so long is that when the show's lead actor, (william hartnell as the titular doctor) had to step down in 1966 due to failing health, they made up some sci-fi bullshit: the doctor's species can 'regenerate' instead of dying, instantly healing but changing their appearance and some of their personality. this means that every time a lead actor has walked away (or, in one unfortuante case, been fired) the show's just recast the doctor and moved on, often with notable changes in tone and format.

the easiest option if you don't want to backwatch anything is to start with this year's christmas special, the church on ruby road (2023). it's an obvious jumping on point to the series, introduces you to all the basic stuff (the doctor, the TARDIS, the fact that it's a silly sci-fi show about fighting weird rubber prop critters), and presumably sets up the upcoming season 1 of the disney-bad wolf version of the show that's gonna come out in may 2024.

if you do want to backwatch, you have to decide if you want to start with new who or classic who. i personally would recommend starting with new who, because there's less of it, it's got higher production values, and (imo this is the biggest obstacle to getting into classic who) it's paced in a way that makes much more sense to a modern TV viewer (self-contained 45-minute episodes). also once you're invested in the show, its main character, and some of its classic elements, you get to soyjak at the screen whenever you're watching classic who and you get to see the oirign of a monster you already recognize. you can also skip classic who entirely and never watch it, they don't bring up anything from it in the new series without giving it a new explanation, but if you do this you hate fun.

anyway, starting points for nuwho: the most obvious one is rose (2005). it's the pilot episode for the new show and imo it holds up brilliantly -- it introduces all the most basic concepts of the show, but ultimately it's really all about billie piper and cristopher eccleston's performances and they deliver. the special effects are gonna be pretty terrible for a while because it's early 2000s cg. there's no jumping on point like it for the whole of RTD's run of the show (imo, the best run of nuwho) so if you want to watch seasons 1-4 you've gotta start on rose.

another episode that's written as a jumping on-point is (heavy sigh) the eleventh hour (2011). as well as introducing matt smith's doctor and his companion amy, this also does the whole rigamarole of introducing the show's core elements, giving a nutshell recap of its history in the form of the doctor's rooftop speech, and also signal what the oncoming moffat era is going to be like (whimsical, full of complex time travel plots, way more misogynist). i'm biased -- i'm a hater, one of this episode's central plot conceits sucks real bad and i also hate the eleventh doctor's whole run. but it is meant to be a jumping on point.

there won't be another one of those in nuwho until the pilot (2017). this begins moffat's final season with which he made the odd but extremely welcome decision to jettison all his convoluted continuity shit from the last five seasons and refocus the show with the doctor being a professor at bristol university with a mysterious secret. i think season 10 is a hidden gem and if you find starting from rose daunting this is the next best place to pick up. capaldi's doctor is a delightful abrasive eccentric with a heart of gold at this point in his run & the stories are wall-to-wall bangers with only a couple misses.

finally, you could start on the woman who fell to earth (2018), the first episode to feature jodie whittaker's 13th doctor and head writer chris chibnall. i'd recommend this even less than the eleventh hour, because while i actually like it more, i think it's a much worse preview of what the upcoming era is going to be like than that one. if you watch the woman who fell to earth and keep watching from the start of whittaker's run on the show off the back of it, you're going to be severely disappointed as most of the more promising aspects of the episode get instantly abandoned.

so, summary, if you're starting with nuwho, there's five jumping on points, which i'd rank:

rose > the pilot > the church on ruby road > the eleventh hour > the woman who fell to earth

but i want to start with classic who because i'm a contrarian

alright. classic who also has a few jumping off points -- before i mentioned them, let me just talk about that format thing i mentioned earlier. classic who doesn't have self-contained episodes for the most part, but rather for most of its run told each of its episodic narratives across between two and seven 20-minute episodes. this leads to a lot of weird pacing, forced cliffhangers, and infamously a lot of filler shots of the doctor running up and down identical corridors. so obvsies i'm recommending entire stories here nad not individual episodes. that said, let's look at where you could jump on:

an unearthly child (1963). this is, like, the start of the show. that said i don't recommend it as a place to start (funnily enough), for a couple reasons. firstly, because of dreadful fucking archiving by the BBC, a lot of episodes from the show's first six seasons are straight up missing. some of them have been animated by the BBC from surviving audio recordings, but some of them are just straight up lost -- due to the format, this means there's very few full complete stories, which makes this whole era really hard to navigate. if you don't mind that and really want to start in the black and white era, i'd still recommend the tomb of the cybermen (1967) instead -- hartnell's portrayal of the doctor as a haughty, slightly impish old professor is great, but troughton basically defined the character's core traits for the next sixty years.

spearhead from space (1970) is a pretty big format upheaval for the show and so serves as a pretty great classic jumping-on point. it's the first episode to be in colour, and sets up a new status quo for the doctor as being trapped on earth and working for an elite paramlitary organization called UNIT that operates out of a ratty office. it's an interesting premise that the show gets some great stories out of. the special effects are bad in the best way. pertwee has instant charm in the role and it's all around a banger by classic standards.

if you want to jump right to the one all the boomers are nostalgic for, you can also start with robot (1974). i wouldn't recommend it, though--tom baker is electric in the role from the start, but the episode itself kind of assumes a lot of the context of the third doctor's setup and supporting cast which you're not gonna have.

i wouldn't recommend anyone start at any point during the fifth or sixth doctors runs because i want them to actually like the show, so i guess the last jumping on point i could really recommend after robot would be, like, dragonfire (1987), which heralds the show's short-lived renaissance with the seventh doctor and his best companion, ace. but although you'd be watching some of the absolute best the classic show ever gets, it feels like it would be a weird and disorienting place to start.

finally, you could watch tales of the tardis (2023), a limited series produced to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary. each episode follows the same format: through a vaguely handwaved Palace of Memories plot, two much-aged characters from the classic series meet up and fondly remember one of the adventures they shared. the bookends with the original actors are mostly shameless fanservice, but the episodes they're reminiscing about are superbly edited down into a much more watchable format -- it works as a good 'sample platter' for most eras of the show (although, weirdly, there wasn't anything from tom baker's run!) and i think it honestly wouldn't be a bad shout to just start from tales of the tardis and then keep watching from whichever of the stories featured in it you liked most. that all said, if you want to start with classic who, i'd rank these jumping on points as follows:

spearhead from space > tales of the tardis > tomb of the cybermen > dragonfire > robot > an unearthly child

all that shit said it's fundamentally a very episodic show with very few exceptions like trial of a time lord and whatever moffat was doing seasons 6-7 so in the end you can basically just start with any episode and more or less get some of the idea. have fun and make sure to do the most important job of a doctor who fan, update the tardis wiki page for penis whenever one is mentioned

[salty-an-disco]

Ranking the voices for how good they are with kids:

- Hero: the perfect amount of fun and responsible. A child can easily trust him as both a playmate and someone who'll keep them safe.

- Hunted: always makes sure a child's needs are being met, including the need for fun and downtime. Very good with practical advice, and will always make sure a child has the proper skills to survive as they grow up. Not as good at giving social advice, but hey, emotional support hare-birb-thing

- Cheated: has a surprising amount of patience for kids. Treats them fairly and never talks down to them, making her a trustworthy adult in the eyes of a child.

- Contrarian: mini-people who are just discovering themselves and often do the opposite of what you say just for the heck of it??? He understands them on a fundamental level and often has a lot of fun just being silly with them. Not as comfortable in a more responsible role, but will try

- Stubborn: aside from overestimating a child's endurance and strength– he's pretty good with kids!! Play-wrestles with them and lets them ride on his shoulders while he runs around. Also great at giving pep talks, and will never let a child be put down by bullies in his watch

- Cold: much like Cheated, is surprisingly patient with kids and always talks on the same level as them. Is genuinely invested in what they have to say (kids say and do some of the most interesting things, after all), making kids very at ease around them. Do not trust it to properly take care of a child tho. It can barely take care of themself

- Opportunist: Talks funny and his exaggerated body language is very amusing to children. Makes them feel smart and respected when talking to them, and can even trick them into eating their vegetables. Do not let him stay alone with any child for long tho, he Will try to recruit them to help him with scams

- Smitten: while his mannerisms and general attitude means kids will love staying around him, he cannot be trusted to properly reign in hyperactive children. will encourage any idea they have no matter how stupid it is. needs to be supervised alongside the children

- Broken: similar to Smitten, though with much less energy. Won't stand up to even the most polites of kids, so can easily be walked all over by any 6yo

- Skeptic: Kids are…… way too unpredictable for him. Adults are easy enough to read and navigate a conversation with, but how do you even start interacting with kids?!?!? What if he says something wrong and sends them down a path of self-destruction??!? What if they pull off his hat and drool on it??? Better to keep his distance and let people with more affinity to kids do their thing–

- Paranoid: NOOOOOOOPE. NOT TOUCHING THAT VOLATILE SACK OF HORMONES AND HYPERACTIVITY WITH A SIX-FEET POLE–

[moonshynecybin]

would you mind sharing your marc marquez likes you power ranking?

im still working it out in my minddddd… so. with the caveat that i am just saying words recreationally:

alex

HUGE gap

aleix has known him FOREVER. theyre complex but im throwin him here bc there arent many men on the grid marc would let ass-lift him to the moon

im gonna say. fabio. traded helmets. always friendly. also fabio LOVES HIM and marc will usually match someone's energy…. have they hung out much this year? no. but we always have TOMORROW

enea… maybe… he’s ALSO known him about ten years by now and enea is like. the contrarian of the italians. friendly little guys having gay brunch together as ive discussed… again marc WILL meet your energy and i think enea is just kind of a dreamy lil sweetie sometimes and he can leave stuff on track pretty well. marc appreciates that i would wager…

about on par with enea if MAYBE slightly under him depending on who we’re talking about are the rest of the spanish/catalan riders... he helmet traded with jorge martin last year, he was teammates with joan... i think mileage varies depending on how long hes known em but we can go ahead and group them under distantly friendly but bonded by place of origin. pedro not really a marc fan but also a child so he maybe drops a few places but not too far.

luca. true neutral. would be friendlier but the vale of it all prevents them from wearing joint turtlenecks to some event in like. cunty solidarity

diggia? needs further investigation

pecco. do i think hes UNfriendly no. do i think they could easily GET unfriendly absolutely. they dont super jive to each other's jokes, pecco was mean to alex like three weeks ago, they genuinely would rather crash than let the other pass, and there's the specter of vale's little legacy coloring every interaction. that being said i think they are both VERY invested in not having the media recognize it as an actual personal rivalry and could play a game of cards in an airport waiting lounge if pressed. pecco i think in particular has this gentlemen's duel perspective, but marc simply doesnt want to get asked about it every weekend until he dies... pecco ALSO likes to get a lil bitchy in presscons and i think marc doesnt like that lol. have some couth. anybody remember BYE BYE HONDA ? not endearing

franky. marc and alex have had an INSANE relationship this year with franky including like. rushing to his aid in a medical emergency and numerous racing incidents where franky was low key being a maniac with BOTH of them. lots of that. franky had been around the longest of the academy kids so he has enough context to keep his cards relatively close to his chest but i get the sense hes a little WISER than some of these other punks so hes kind of an x-factor. ranking him below pecco purely bc i dont think marc in particular takes kindly to alex slander lol sorry 2 my frankyalex queens you are correct but MARC. is stupid thx

jack miller. called marc a whiny princess or something about his arm surgery that marc ranks among the most traumatic events of his life. im guessing marc did not enjoy that.

bez. no quarter for this clown.

[shyjusticewarrior]

Being very invested in the relationships between Jason & Tim and Selina & Ivy is rough. Those are the ones people hate on when they wanna be contrarian.

[fauxnotice]

ALIEN SKINCARE. v! blue lock/male! reader. originally posted on quotev. masterlist.

CHAPTER I. YOU JUST LOVE BEING NOTHING, RIGHT?

Your daily routine is a terribly ordinary, if not a rather dull one. 

That’s fine, however. Its normalcy comes from predictability, and with predictability comes a sense of control. Every and each new possible variant is easily molded to fit into what is already established. 

Days come and go, much like clouds in the sky, and you’re content. You love your painfully droll, boring routine.

Which would be a lie by definition, so to deny your restlessness would be the same as trying to deny that humans need air to survive. Or to deny that the Japanese football team will never win the World Cup. 

But alas, you live. 

One of your classmates, Hamada, you think pensively, since you make a passable effort at remembering names of the people you have to spend considerable hours of the day with, is acting rather friendly today.

You think he wants something from you. That’s probably why he’s asking you to go somewhere with him after school. Sadly, it seems he’s unaware of the few universal truths of life.

That is that you’re never free after classes. 

Everyone in your immediate vicinity is aware of this, so you’re led to believe that Hamada is extraordinarily out of the loop. Or maybe he’s being a contrarian just to appear unique in your eyes. 

Which is not working, by the way.

“Sorry, but I’m busy today.” You say, an apologetical smile creasing your face in a familiar way. 

“Oh.” He recoils, losing confidence at your rejection. “Maybe some other day, then?”

Whatever. He should just steal all of your money and fill your shoes with nails at this point. He should spit at you and kick you until you’re a stain on the floor. Unfortunately, you’re [L/n] [Y/n], so you nod. Kindly. With all the positive hidden implications in the world.

Hamada regains some of his previous enthusiasm. Thankfully, the teacher enters the room before he could take your politeness as an invitation to further communication.

Like a good student, you listen and take notes carefully. This teacher in particular talks very slowly and often loses track of his thoughts, which greatly gets on your nerves. 

That’s okay. You’ll live.

School time passes by comfortably. You demonstrate your gracefulness and virtue at every chance. Some students swoon. Plenty of girls, and curiously, a good chunk of boys as well. Some scoff at your supposed imitation of perfection. Talk about how you’re probably a faker, eager for attention and praise and whatnot. Not that you mind. They must think about you a lot, enough to start making theories on the topic of you and the nuances of your character. 

Not that they'll ever get any confirmation. You let the invested have fun. Do the divine throw bricks at the religious? No. 

Your school’s football team is having a game tomorrow. Obviously, you make your way to practice. Though, ultimately, you believe you’d be making a better use of your time by trying to fold a thousand origami cranes with just your feet and then wishing for a better team. Yet, here you are.

You move across the field like a corpse. Metaphorically, of course. To the other’s untrained eye, it looks like you’re giving it your all. However, in your head, you’re trying to to remember at least the first ten digits of pi (you’re failing), so you switch to creating a satirical retelling of some subpar movie you and Bachira watched at the premiere some time ago (you got reasonably angry at the mediocrity of the so-called social commentary that was flaunted around as “never seen before” and “a heart clenching story that dives into the complexities of our society”, and Bachira got bored, so you both ditched it, wasted money be damned). 

All that, and yet nothing of worth is happening before you. For shame, since you do think your teammates are decent people, in the same way drivers who stop their cars before they hit you are decent people. Except the probably forty something father of two who let you safely cross the street this morning probably had more ball expertise than these frankly appalling clowns throwing themselves around do. 

Of course, you pride yourself on your ever persisting decorum, so you keep your mouth shut as you pass the ball to the guy a bit to your left, since you’re a good teammate and teamwork makes the dreamwork and yadda yadda. Even with your absent minded play, he just needs to push the ball with some semblance of force and boom, it’s a simple and clean goal. 

But as if by some otherworldly intervention, the boy trips. Genuinely gets sent sprawling over the central object of the game. 

It takes you every drop of self control to not lunge at him with the intent of questioning just how does this happen a day! A day! Before the match. Now, keep in mind, this strange specimen is known for his blunders. At least to you, but the rest of the team and the coach seem to hold this guy in some type of high regard. Which is crazy, since you don’t think he’d be able to score a goal without you specifically holding his hand, making the whole predicament even more baffling since you’re the actual ace of the team. 

Now, you think this team could go places, if you had the time to score more, but you have to spend it making sure your companions don’t sabotage the game by playing like it’s their first time seeing a football. You surely have grinded quite a bit of your teeth mass down by pretending to be content with this charade, just so the court jester of a coach wouldn’t call you uncooperative or something similarly humiliating again. God forbid he sends you to meet the bench. 

The comically incapable guy turns to you, after all the shock and laughter has faded from the group. “Ah, I’m sorry for ruining your pass, [L/n]-kun. I guess my nerves have been getting to me, haha.” 

You wish it was “the nerves”. 

“Don’t worry about it.” You respond, channeling every bit of kindness you could find remaining within yourself. “I’m sure you’ll do fine tomorrow.”

Well, he doesn’t do fine, that’s for sure.

The morning of the next day came quickly. As usual, you woke up early, got out of bed, and went through your usual routine with the goal of looking the best you possibly could, which did turn out to be a rather lengthy process, although that was nothing new. You still thought it was an insanely long and dumb.

What meets you next is the sight of your legal guardian, sprawled across the couch, still clad in her work clothes. You conclude that last night was a busy one, so you sneak past her quietly. Making things worse for her is the last thing you want, after all. 

Next is making a nutritious breakfast. As a product of meticulous repetition, you’re quickly done with it, making sure to leave a portion for Sayaka as well, along with a note about your plans for today.

It’s a nice, sunny Saturday. So, like you always do, you set out on a morning jog. Chiba has quite a few pleasing sights, especially when there are no hideous eyesores scrambling around in the form of people. You specifically pick a time when the crowd’s minimal, right after the early workers leave for their job. Beautiful. The fresh air stirs up every fiber of your lungs. 

All this joy and wonder, you almost forgot about the match that’s supposed to be held in the afternoon. In fact, the memory of that shitshow of a football practice from yesterday almost entirely left your mind. From your increasing frustration, you don’t notice how your pleasant jog turned into a full blown sprint. After a good hour or so of this, you notice just how sweaty you were. 

Gross. You’d have to shower again.

Right as you’re about to open the gate of your residence, a weight slams against your back at full force. You remain entirely unbothered, however, as you’re already very well versed in such occurrences. 

Bachira Meguru has his arms wrapped around your back, clinging onto you much like an eccentrically colored koala. It seems like the fabric soggy with your sweat doesn’t bother him at all. He’s always been a bit strange like that. 

“Bachira-kun.” You smile. It comes easier to you. “Good morning.”

“Good morning!” He grins, lips pulling back to reveal the full expanse of teeth. “You didn’t invite me to go jogging! Again!”

Having a conversation in this position, with your posture being as straight as a tree and Bachira acting as some type of a humanoid backpack or a large parasite, would be inconvenient to most, but the two of you have long made this a part of your “normalcy”. 

“That’s because you’re never awake that early.” You retort easily, with a light teasing tone. “I’m surprised you’re even up right now.” 

“My monster got restless, so I wanted to play football.” He says, like that’s a totally normal thing to say. Like pointing out how the weather is nice or such. 

Listen, you genuinely do like Bachira (as far as someone like you is capable of liking), and you suppose he shares the same sentiment to some degree, because his whole “Monster” thing isn’t something that you talk about with just anyone, unless you want to be wheeled off to the nearest institution and shunned forever. You pride yourself on your patience and understanding, so you tend to brush this topic off whenever it comes up in a conversation. Mostly because you have no idea what to say that wouldn’t be extremely harsh. You want to honor Bachira’s companionship and trust in you, which means that him getting upset over something you stupidly spat out without thinking is not on your to-do list.

You do think that seeing a professional sometime in the future would do him some good, though.

Putting that aside, you nod in understanding. “I see. But-” You poke at his leg. “-Can you get off, please? I want to take a shower.”

Bachira hums a long tune, but he makes no move to do what you’ve requested of him. After a passage of silence, he asks a question, even if he knows the answer already. 

“Hey, can we play together? Just for a bit?” 

He can’t see your face, but he can clearly visualize the apologetic expression that graces it. It looks the same, every time he asks. “Sorry, but I need to save energy for later. Maybe next time?” 

There it is again. Despite it being a few years since you two met, both lovers of football and everything football related, you’ve rejected his proposal again and again. You always have an excuse, something about being busy, or not feeling well, or this and that. 

Bachira has been resigned to it. Yet, he still repeats the inquiry, like you’ll change your mind someday. Maybe next time? As if that will ever come.

He lets it go, as he always does.

Finally stepping down, he leans onto your side. He’s rather sweaty too, you notice. “Right! You have a match today! Make sure to score lots of goals, ‘kay? I’ll be there to cheer for you!” 

Bachira thinks you’re not aware of the fondness you let slip into your gaze. It’s for the best, though, since if you knew you’d probably try to mask it with some form of artificial politeness. He likes you the most when you’re honest, in these small tidbits of time, after all.

“Sure.” You say, simply, as some things are.

The tensions are high before the match. For what reason, you don’t know. The match is purely for practice, although you’re curious on how a low tier school such as Kagayaku High managed to schedule a match against some bigshot from Kanagawa. You’d think they’d consider it a waste of time, but you guess not. 

A notification lights up the screen of your phone just as you’re finishing putting your jersey on. 

Sayaka

I’m so sorry that I won’t be able to make it to your game!!!! Work is hell today 𖦹 ´ ᯅ ` 𖦹

But I hope your team does well! Do your best ৻(  •̀ ᗜ •́  ৻)

You snort at the woman’s usage of kaomojis. It was hard to imagine that she was nearly forty years old. Keeping your eye on the clock, you quickly type a response.

You

Please don’t worry about it! 

Take care of yourself!

Sayaka

You’re too nice to me, haha

The breakfast was delicious, by the way! It really made my day Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ

I’m gonna make us something to eat later, as a celebration and payback! ᕙ(  •̀ ᗜ •́  )ᕗ

You gnawed at your lip worrieldy. While you truly did appreciate the sentiment, Sayaka’s cooking skills … weren’t something you’d write home about. Her message truly left you worried for the safety of the stove. Before you could try to change her mind (and save the neighborhood from a possible fire), one of your teammates gestures for you to move.

Ah. It’s time.

You

The game is starting, ttyl

The match goes just as well as you thought it would. 

The opponent’s defense tears through the clumsy guy like a knife through butter within the first few minutes of the game. They’re not too shabby, you have to admit. But the more you watch them, the more holes ripe for exploatation you notice.

The rush of excitement still evades you, as you circle an opposing player who is attempting to take the ball from you. Your mind is still in its autopilot mode, where you make boring, yet entirely rational plays that have carried your team to where it is now. Move your leg and lean to the right, and when the guy is still thinking of his next move, kick the ball between his legs. A safe and classic nutmeg. After that-

A movement leaves you startled; someone dashes past you with unforseen speed and snatches the football right from your possession. You’re forced to be wide awake, left feeling like a bucket of icy water was thrown over your head.

Huh?

For what seems to be the first time in years, your heartbeat echoes loudly in your ears and shakes your very core.

You gape at the distancing back of the player who had just turned your world around. In bold letters, the name Itoshi acts as a mockery of you. Helpless in your shock, you can do nothing but watch as your newest adversary scores a clean goal into the net, while Kagayaku High’s goalkeeper does nothing.

For once, you don’t blame him.

The clowns of your circus are talking amongst themselves. You think they’re trying to include you as well, but you’re too busy rebooting your brain to care.

You wanted Itoshi gone. An irritation so strong its frightening festers under your skin as you stare, long and hard, at the intruder who had come to ruin everything for you.

But was he truly ruining anything? 

When a teammate of yours moves with the ball, you abandon all uniform strategy. This stupid team could go to hell. Both yours and the enemy’s. This game should be just between you and him. 

Much to the shock of your team, who had probably gotten too comfortable with your usually passive way of playing, you pick up the pace, with the speed and technique built up through many regular torturous sessions of trying to polish yourself to your extremes.

It’s something you had to do, lest you want to be left in the dust when the real threat appears.

Is Itoshi a real threat?

A wispy smile still hangs from your lips. It looks … out of place, possibly, as it’s no longer a carefully planned tool of deceit.

Astonished shouts of your team as you steal the ball from your own comrade is nothing but background noise.

There he comes. His gaze is glacier cold as he weaves between the humanoid obstacles in his path. Surely, he’s wholy confident in his domination of this match. You wait.

Itoshi moves with clear intent of making you crumble under his might. That won’t do. Who does he think he is? Who does he think you are? Does he think you’re a mere bug, a speck of dust on his road to victory? That doesn’t make sense at all.

“Pass to me!” Someone yells at you, as if you weren’t the damned ace, as if you weren’t the one who gave this shitty team the ability to get off the ground in the first place. 

You’re nowhere near the penalty area. The other team’s defense is scattered around, trying to cut off all your routes. Now aware of the possible danger you represent, Itoshi is right by your side, with his eyelash rimmed eyes watching you like he might tear you apart. At least he’s fast on the uptake, you muse, as you almost carelessly roll the ball across the grass.

The angle is terribly narrow, but it’ll do. 

Avoiding Itoshi’s attempt at ridding you of the ball, you raise your leg and deliver a swift kick to it, sending it flying in a rather flimsy arc (your brows furrow slightly at that), which manages to slam into the net at a spot left open.

1-1.

You stop and take a long look at the goal. That was a five out of ten. Hell, maybe even four. But it seemed like it was enough to make your current “rival” appear like he wants to explode you with his mind.

That makes you … giddy? Edges of your lips wobble as you attempt to keep your expression under control. Even if you just single handedly destroyed the foundation of your team as well as the way its members saw you, you still had appearances to keep. From the corner of your eye, you spot Bachira watching, with a grin so manic it bordered on deranged.

In the end, you lose the game. And yet, to you, it feels like a victory, sweeter than any other. You managed to keep Itoshi from scoring another goal (well, you didn’t score another one either, but that was fine), and you got the front seat to the slow unraveling of his stoic disposition.

His team manages to secure a victory with their goal. But their ace, visibly pissed, makes his way to you. His tone is biting, befitting of an untouchable beauty such as himself.

“Next time, I’ll crush you.”

And then he leaves. One for dramatics, that’s for sure. Mommy’s little edgelord. Deciding to play along, you wave at his retreating back, signature smile set in place. “If you say so, Itoshi.”

Pointedly ignoring the troupe of mongrels, you collect your belongings and make a swift departure. Of course, nothing is that simple for you, because Bachira is waiting for you outside. Predictably, he lunges at you, but is considerate enough to take note of your possible exhaustion and not jump on your back like he usually does, instead opting to sling an arm around your shoulders. 

“That was pretty insane, you know.” He begins, although you note the sharpness of his grin that was unknown to you, up until now. “I never knew you could play like that.”

Then, he goes on to speak more, but you’re already ensnared within your own mind. A familiar thing; anger, ire, all-consuming, starts to ignite your entire being. A combination of many factors give way to its rise, both from Bachira’s subtle and probably unintentional downplaying of your perceived capability, and from … well, everything about the game. Especially Itoshi. What, did they all think you were some insignificant ant? A poser, perhaps? Maybe a-

You pause all thought. Suddenly, your legs feel weak. Not from tiredness, of course not. Embarrassingly, the weight of emotions was always a bigger burden than anything of physical kind. 

That was your weakness. A flaw that you needed to demolish. 

“Bachira,” you gasp out, voice small and uneven. “Bachira-”

The boy in question tilts his head. “Huh? What is it?” 

“Hold me.” You say, just before you collapse.

[writingdevil]

Tongues and Teeth PT.5 (STP)

(Broken is the second voice I'm afraid I'll write incredibly wrong,more so than Cold,and I'm so sorry for that.Also,I apologize if the sneak peek in chapter 3 made anyone think it was Skeptic with Stubborn with the line 'listen to reason'.I didn't think about how that was more of a Skeptic than Hunted response.Sorry about that and I'll try not to mess up again.)

*

"This is bullshit!"

"You just need to think about it logically-"

"This isn't what we're here for."

"Alright,fellows,let's calm down now-"

"Fuck that!"Cheated exclaimed,grinding his teeth as he glared at a composed Skeptic.The inquisitive one had his hands on his hips,frustrated with Cheated but still somehow keeping a level of collected calmness about him,sharp eyes that glowed brighter than the stars now in the sky.

"Look!I'm just as worried about Hero as the rest of you,but we saw Stubborn chasing Hunted,so shouldn't we follow them first?"

Skeptic sighed,as they had had this conversation a million times since finding each other in the forest. He gestured with his hands as he spoke,"No, because they're not going to give us the answers we need."

"The answers to what?"

Skeptic started counting on his fingers."Why are we here?Where is here?What happened to the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound?What are those monsters?How-"

"How can we get back to our beloved Princess?" Smitten dramatically cut in,and Skeptic sighed,but nodded."Yes,that as well.Hero is who will give us those answers,not the others.You and I both know that he was the closer voice to Him,so if anybody knows what's going on,it'll be him."

"Yeah,but we shouldn't ditch the others just because of that!"Cheated argued,"Hunted looked terrified back there."

Smitten smiled at him in reassurance,one hand motioning theatrically about, while the other was busy petting Broken,who was pressed against Smitten's chest."We shouldn't worry about Hunted-I have faith in our most resilient friend and his abilities."

"Yes,Hunted will be fine,"Skeptic said,only making Cheated roll his eyes."The others all have a means of survival-"

"You think Contrarian has survival skills?"

"That's not the point.The point is,we should be focusing on what's really important-"

Cheated groaned in frustration,which grew into a full on yell.He glared at Skeptic as he snapped,"He isn't fucking here right now!There has not been a single Princess in sight!I want to understand what's going on as much as you,but I also want to find our flock,because they're the only thing that makes sense right now!"

Smitten's soft and loving smile finally dropped,and his feathers that puffed up around him and made him look more large and eye-catching seemed to wilt with his mood."Do not say that,"Smitten quietly pleaded,"do not say such harsh things about the love of our life.She was the only one that was with us to the end.What could be more important than reuniting with her?"

"Literally anything else,"Cheated bluntly said,not missing the flash of hurt in Smitten's shiny eyes,but he couldn't help it."Do you know who else was with Him until the bitter end?We were.We were there in His head,every step of the way,through whatever crap was thrown at us.But we're not in His head anymore,so-"

"Yes,but why is that?"Skeptic interrupted,only looking to get more invested the more questions were left unanswered."There has to be a reason for it all!"

"Who knows!"Cheated threw his hands up in the air,"Maybe one of the others know a thing or two. Let's go ask them."

"We just need to ask Hero.He'll know what to do."

"Yes,"Smitten added,his dramatic flare back in his voice,if a little softer now."Our chivalrous knight will be able to lead us back to our beloved."

Cheated sighed,giving both of them a heavy look of irritation.He could understand wanting to know what happened and where He went,but Cheated just didn't like the thought of simply abandoning the others for the sake of answers.

He looked down at Smitten's chest,then softly nudged Broken."Hey,what about you?What do you have to say about all this?"

Broken twisted his head just enough so that Cheated could see half his face,with an eye shining with disbelief,and Broken opened his mouth to speak,but then Smitten gasped loudly,wrapping his arms around Broken's head and shoving his face back into his chest.

"How dare you!Of course he wants to find the Princess just as much as we do!There was no one more devoted to her than him!"

"Yeah,I'd like to hear that from his own mouth," Cheated said,and motioned for Smitten to release him.Smitten only eased up on his hold,letting Broken take a step back,but keeping his arms slung over his shoulders.

Broken looked down at the ground,smaller than all three of them.His voice was low yet firm as he finally said,"She's not here anymore.She doesn't need us anymore."Cheated wasn't expecting this, but he was happy to hear the other's thoughts. Smitten and Skeptic though,looked less pleased.

"We're not worthy to be around her anymore," Broken shook his head to himself,"so who's going to protect us now?"

"Are you saying that...you don't want go find Hero?" Cheated asked,and Smitten looked appauled at the notion,trying to bring Broken closer as he said,"But what of the Princess?Don't you miss her?"and Broken actually glared into Smitten's chest,before firmly shoving himself off of him.

Broken ducked his head low,refusing to look anyone in the eye."I loved the Princess because I loved her power.I miss the safety.She chose the Decider over us,so I want to choose what will protect me the most now."

Cheated hadn't expected this response,but he's glad he asked now.He sent Skeptic a triumphant smirk,who just frowned at Cheated with a disapproving look in his eyes.

"See?"Cheated pointed out,"Not everyone cares about what the happy couple are up to now.Some of us just want to see our flock again."

Skeptic rolled his eyes."Neither of you are thinking about the biggest picture."

"Oh fuck your bigger picture!"Cheated snapped, taking a step towards the taller bird.Broken flinched,and Smitten reached out to embrace him again,but Broken stepped away from his grasp, hugging himself and inching closer to Cheated.

"All you two care about is getting back to what you used to know,and not the people around you who actually care about you,and that's not fair on them! So have fun chasing nothing-we're going to find our flock."

With that,he turned to Broken,nodding his head towards the distance as he said,"Come on little guy, let's get outta here."He turned around,marching away from Smitten and Skeptic,feeling Broken keep close as they walked,almost pressing up against Cheated's too small wings.

He felt Broken try to grab his elbow and he stopped,looking down at him softly.Broken tried not to look him in the eye,and Cheated held back his words of comfort,knowing that would only piss him off after the way Smitten coddled him.

Instead,he sighed and glanced over at Broken's wings,or lack of,he should say.The appendages were missing the majority of its feathers,leaving them bony and naked,and with Broken unable to fly.

"Would it make you feel more safe if I carried you?So that I can get us both out of danger if something happens?"Because Cheated couldn't fly either,because what was more unfair than just not having wings?Having wings that were too small to actually carry you.

Broken looked up at him in surprise,then seemed to be deep in thought about it for a few minutes, before asking,"I won't weigh you down?"

Cheated smiled."You could never weigh me down."

Broken quickly ducked his head again,but then nodded in acceptance,and Cheated easily hoisted him onto his back,giving him a piggyback ride.

Cheated didn't miss how Broken melted against him or how tightly he clung to him,but he didn't mention that.Instead,he said,"Great,now let's go find our flock."

*

"Hey Jitters,long time no see."

Jitters smiled tiredly as Opportunist approached, sitting down next to him on the makeshift beds that Hunted made.

After Hunted had calmed down,he was quick to fall back into his instincts and habits.He suggested that they make camp here for the night,and nobody objected to that,too tired after the events of today. Soon enough,they had a fire going,and beds made of grass and leaves to sleep on.

Opportunist's gaze wandered around the camp. Hunted was crouched low,staring into the fire,but whenever someone moved,his head was instantly turning in that direction,alert written all over his face.

Cold,who Opportunist hadn't expected to stick around-but when Jitters had come out of his chant, he gave Cold an almost defeated look and said, "Well,I suppose you'll leave,now that you've seen it." But Cold merely shook his head and replied with, "No.I don't think I want to right now."

Opportunist had no fucking clue what they were on about,but at least Cold was with them now.

The icy bird had merely looked at his bed in boredom,and was lying down,limbs and wings glued to his sides,and if you didn't know who he was,you'd think he was dead.

Contrarian was on the other side of the camp,using his bed as a place to rest only his head,as he was sleeping upside down,his body leaning against a tree.Opportunist had no idea how he was comfortable,or how he could possibly be sleeping in that position,but he hoped he got dizzy from all the blood going to his head.That would show him.

He still hadn't forgotten how Contrarian pushed him out of the way as Hunted and Stubborn ran past them.His brain had stopped working,and all he could manage to think about was the fact that Contrarian helped him.He could've let Stubborn run him over,but he didn't,and that scared Opportunist because he had no idea what that meant.

He understood the meaning behind Jitters trusting him-he showed him his true self,for only a few minutes,and they both came to an understanding that finding everyone was the top priority.Did Contrarian see that as well?Or was this entire thing a joke to him?

"Hey,"Jitters whispered,nudging him with his wing and bringing him back to reality."What are you thinking about?"

"Contrarian."

"Wha-Why?"

"He told an awful pun,so now he has to die."

"Ah,understandable."

They both caught each other's gaze,and then they suddenly burst out into quiet giggles,careful not to wake the other two up.

It felt-nice,to just sit and laugh about nothing serious for once.Opportunist wasn't used to it,not familiar with talking without a motive or a reason behind it,just-chatting.

Was this why Contrarian talked such nonsense?Was this why he said that terrible pun?To make everything not be so heavy?

"Good job on getting Cold on board,"he whispered to Jitters,"I'm honestly surprised he's still here."

Jitters shrugged,looking over at the bird in question,watching as the icy breath left his mouth. "I'm just as surprised as you are,but I guess I just had something he wanted."

Jitters looked back at him and said,"I take it everything went okay with the monster?"He nodded,and Jitters smiled,but now he was hugging himself and nervously glancing around them."Do you think more will show up?"

"I don't know,but I'm pretty sure Stubborn is the only pain we have to worry about."But that didn't satisfy Jitters though,who kept fearfully looking around him,hugging himself tightly.

Opportunist sighed,scooting closer so that he could drape his wing over Jitters,who froze,but didn't freak out at the touch.Opportunist quickly looked at the fire in front of them,so that Jitters couldn't see the nervous look in his own eyes as he said,"You should give us more credit,Jitters.Hunted alone could probably protect us from ten of those things,and hey-that clown and I managed to escape without a scratch.So I dunno,just-have faith in us."

He knew that advice like that was rich coming from him,but he wasn't used to comforting someone and trying to mean it.Usually,all he had to do was reassure the Decider that what he was doing was the correct choice,and in the end,it didn't really matter.

Opportunist had no experience with trying to make someone feel better because he wanted to,but judging from the way Jitters relaxed under his touch,he must've done something right.

They sat there in a comfortable silence,just watching the fire glow in front of them,until Hunted caught Opportunist's attention again.This whole time,he had been scurrying around,making sure the fire had enough sticks to keep it going,and that Cold and Contrarian were okay.Although Hunted's face did scrunch up in confusion at Contrarian's sleeping position.

But then Hunted silently walked over to Cold again, and he just stared down at him for a few seconds, before leaning down to rub his face against Cold's neck.

Jitters stiffened underneath his wing,and Opportunist just shared a look of bafflement with him,as Hunted gently rubbed Cold's neck,who did nothing but lazily reach a hand up to ruffle Hunted's head.

"What's he doing?"Opportunist asked,but Jitters just shrugged with an incredulous smile,watching as Hunted then went over to Contrarian.He actually looked a little bit hesitant at first,before ultimately deciding to cautiously rub his nose against his face.

Contrarian giggled,and soon enough,he was falling over,making Hunted jump back in surprise.But as Contrarian flopped to the ground,he grinned up at Hunted,reaching his arms out,as if inviting him for a hug.Opportunist saw the way Hunted's eyes lit up,and then he instantly flew into his arms,holding the other bird tight and rubbing his face all over his neck,face and chest.

Jitters giggled at the two,while Opportunist was just trying to figure out what was going on.When Hunted finished doing whatever it was,Opportunist lifted a hand up and whispered,"Psst!Hunty!"

Instantly,Hunted stood up,body alert and in a defensive position,until he realised that it was just Opportunist talking,and he pinned him with a gaze so powerful that Opportunist actually felt a little in danger.

"Hunted,what are you doing?"Jitters asked,but Hunted continued to stare at Opportunist,until the next thing he knew-Hunted was running straight for him.

Opportunist scrambled on the spot,but there was no escaping Hunted and his speed,and he let a loud,"Oof!"out as Hunted tackled him to the ground,followed by the cackling of Contrarian and even the light chuckling of Cold.

But Opportunist couldn't focus on any of that right now.

Because Hunted was gripping him by the shoulders,rubbing his face against his neck,not rough,just firm enough that Opportunist's head was being moved slightly from the action,and he sighed deeply,as if he had been waiting for this.

"Need to scent you,"Hunted whispered,rubbing his cheek against him and softly petting the feathers that Opportunist tried so hard to keep in place,but he could feel them all puffing up now and sticking out."Flock needs to be scented-so I know where you are-and you know that you are not alone."

Opportunist couldn't think.His whole body was frozen,while still heating up at the physical affection,and he stared up at the stars in the sky with wide eyes.

His body was shaking and his mind was full of mush,and there was no sweet talking or charming that could get him out of this-and a tiny part of him secretly wished it never end.

His breath hitched as Hunted rubbed closer to his neck,and he felt Hunted whisper against his skin, "Good-you're good here."

Opportunist has never felt anything like this before. He's never felt this warmth that was blazing beneath his feathers,setting every nerve alight,as if his body had been starving for something like this. For what,touch?Was he that pathetic that a single bit of affection felt this good to him?It felt like an explosion of heat and sweetness was whirling around in his brain,and all he could do was crave more.

Warm.Everything was so warm and soft and oh God he's never felt like this before-

A giggle pulled his out of his spiral for a single second.

Jitters was gazing down at him,a fond look in his eyes as he simply said,"Cute."and that was when Opportunist truly knew he was fucked.

He didn't have a mask on.Everything that he was actually feeling was just on display for the world to see.There was too much warmth to even think about putting on an act,or pretending that this wasn't affecting him.Opportunist was stripped bare of his weapons.

What was wrong with him?First he was laughing at Contrarian's jokes,and now he was getting overwhelmed from some cuddling.This was not how this was supposed to go.This is not the way he should be acting,or how to get people to trust him. Back in the cabins with the Decider,there was no line that he wouldn't cross if it meant keeping Him safe.He would deceive and lie and take control, because that was what he was all about-taking advantage to gain the upper hand,because that would keep them all safe.

But the Decider wasn't here anymore,and all that's left is Opportunist,and he doesn't know whether that's a good thing or not.

[phantombre]

3, 5, 11, 14 for the ask game? :D

ohboy,ohboy,ohboy,ohboy...

Ask Game Here: (Thank you, @pink-november, btw)

Warning: mild (but still existing) Pristine Cut spoilers

3.) Favorite Vessel?

The Razor. She's actually the first vessel I got when I first played the game. (Specifically, M.A.D. I think I would have gotten the Spectre if I hadn't fallen for the "this was too easy" trick.) Regardless, I'm glad I got her first. She's easily the funniest Princess. Her desperate attempts to quell suspicions in chapter 2 is fucking hilarious, especially the "I would like to go outside and see a bird" bit when Hero almost buys into it. Speaking of, it not only introduced Cheated, who in my opinion is one of the most relatable voices, it introduced EVERY voice, so I got a small taste of all of them.

Runner-ups would be Moment of Clarity, Wraith, Thorn, and the newly added Cage.

5.) Favorite Voice?

Skeptic. The beloved...

He definitely stands out from the other voices, by which I mean, he doesn't quite fit with the genre of the story. It's as if you took a 1940's film noir detective and put him in a dark fantasy setting without telling him that he's in a dark fantasy setting. Which (I think) is why he keeps trying to rationally explain his surroundings despite his surroundings clearly not being rational.

He's also kind of a dork. That segment when he "winks" honestly caught me off guard when I first heard it. Had me giggling throughout the rest of the chapter.

Runner-ups include Paranoid, Cheated, Cold, and Broken (especially after the Pristine Cut).

11.) Non-canon Vessel/ Voice interactions?

To be honest, I don't have any specific examples that come to mind. Maybe due to the fact that I'm not fully finished with my Pristine Cut playthrough and don't want to accidentally say something stupid.

That being said, from what I have completed, Smitten seems to be a very underutilized voice. (Yes, I have played the Happily Ever After chapter, so I do know about that... concept.) I mean I understand that his personality is applicable in very specific circumstances (i.e. the Thorn, the Damsel, the Razor). Like, I wouldn't put him with vessels like the Den or the Wraith or such. The Wild would be an interesting one, though. So would the Apotheosis. Hell, put him with the Eye of the Needle so that he and Stubborn can both gawk at the hot Princess. That'd be funny, I think.

14.) Favorite Ships?

oh boy...

To be honest, I'm not one for the shipping scene. At least not sexually. Maybe romantically? Ehh?? If anything, it would be platonic.

But...

The ones I see most are ContraHero, HuntCheat, and (from you, specifically, heh) ParaCold. While all the voices have interesting dynamics with each other, these specific pairings make sense to me personally more than anything else.

Case in point:

Ooh, what's that?! A voice sneak peek?!? eaoooaaag!!!

Personal head canons include:

- Contrarian and Hero constantly flip-flop between the best of friends and an old married couple who bicker a lot (also bushy hair supremacy!!!).

- Hunted is one of the only people who can make Cheated smile. Like a genuine smile, not a smirk. Mostly because he finds Hunted's animalistic behavior amusing.

- On the other side, Hunted is very particular about where he sleeps, only picking locations where he feels the most safe. And his favorite spot is with Cheated's company.

- Cold's general apathy towards everything, specifically staying alive, is greatly concerning to Paranoid, so he resolves to "make him feel". (I know, similar to what Smitten decreed. However, unlike Smitten, who used it as a threat, Paranoid is genuinely invested in what he sees as helping Cold.) Likewise, Cold is probably one of the best voices to easily quell his panic attacks (granted he could also be the cause of them, but still...).