#FUCKING LANCE DANSE????

[slocumjoe]

On the note of Danse, I said yesterday I usually don't like the idea that Danse is a surname, because if he had a first name, you'd think they'd say it at some point so the SS can be on a first name basis with the guy they're marrying, but what really turned me off the idea is a fic where Danse's first name is Lance.

Lance Danse.

LANCE. DANSE.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Arthur's chapter. That's it. That's the tweet.

THIS BOY IS GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME ISTG.

Also, the song rec ma'am. the song!!!

“Jaden,” Lance said. “Shut up.” This man gets me in ways I can't explain.

Love me how from all words he still chose David😭

“He just needed to relax a little. I think it got triggered by anxiety,” daddy told them. “My brother used to get them when he was a kid.” I am so normal about this piece of information 🙂. Definitely not screaming

Istg this boy can't get any cuter!!🥺🥺

WEL IDK ABOUT DAVID BUT MY HEART IS HURTING AFTER MAX CAME SAID SOME BEAUTIFUL SHIT AND LEFT :))

“See? I didn’t know any of that,” Jaden said. “I don’t speak French.”

“That sounds like a you problem,” Lance pointed out from the kitchen.

I sometimes wish I could be there and do many sassy comments to Jaden, but no need to worry because Lance has my back 😍

Are you kidding me??? Dernière Danse is one of my favorite songs!!!! ARTHUR SINGING IT SOMEONE HOLD ME

Fist of all, fuck Victoria. Second of all, Kincaid and Arthur>>>>

They are so cute and innocent they make my heart ache ok?!?😭😭

I will protect Harry with every inch of my body from now on😌

Love me some good communication and parent-kid interaction!!! Also, my boy is smart!! He knows something is up!!!.

AJ and Magnus: David doesn't hate you. People don’t write shows about the people they hate

David: I don't hate you

Max: ....Yeah, he definitely hates me

THIS IS FOR LEGAL REASON A JOKE

Arthur being a swiftie is a knowledge I will hold close to my heart 😍

Nooooo!!! Arcaid!!!! I have met this ship five seconds ago and they are already suffering??? In more than one universe??? 😭

Istg, my boys are hopeless romantics😔 Lance I love you but wtf?

LIGHTWOOD-BANE SIBLINGS ARE MAKING ME CRY AGAIN!! There's something so personal with siblings saying "hey" "hey" "I love you" "love you too". No I will not elaborate

“Will you solve my case?”

“I will try.”

They are going to find out and tell Max and it's going to be a big thing right?? I am so scared and excited omg

Song rec: fingers crossed by Lauren Spencer Smith

FIRST OF ALL, THAT SONG IS IN THE IALS PLAYLIST AHHHHH.

Arthur, wherever he is, brings a certain sense of softness with him. It was much needed. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Fun fact: The song is one of my favorites (way before it for popular because of young royals) and was always my choice for Arthur. He has a lot of angsty song recs lol.

WE ARE SO CLOSE TO THE UNRAVELING OF THINGS AND I AM EXCITED TOO.

[galen066]

Ain't That A Kick In The Head - A New Vegas June Six Ficlet

Benny Gecko was chatting with one of his bodyguards about the take from the night's one-off performance in the Aces Theater when the young blonde woman in the red satin dress approached. Benny waved off his guards to let her come closer.

"Benny, we need to talk. Now."

The leader of the Chairmen stared at June Six as shocked recognition hit him in a rush. "Ding-dong, hello! That was you coming out of the Lucky 38?" June's calm smile did nothing to reassure Benny. "Either I need to work on my aim, or you're the luckiest person alive."

June crossed her arms and shifted her hips. "Don't you think this is a bit public to talk about things?"

"If you think I'm going anywhere alone with you, sister, that bullet really did scramble your brains!", Benny observed.

"Look, Benny, I get you're a bottom-line kinda guy. Things happen, and it's just business", June said calmly. "I wanna offer you a proposition. But not here. In private." June nibbled the tip of her index finger suggestively.

"Tell you what. I'll set you up in the Presidential Suite", Benny offered. "Comp you everything. You go on ahead, and I'll meet you there."

"Benny", June admonished gently. "You shot me in the head once, and I'll be damned if I let you shoot me in the back. How about we go up to your room, have a drink and...get to know each other better. A lot better."

A bead of sweat rolled down the right side of Benny's forehead. "I oughta have the rocks in my head examined, but you gotta be the kinkiest dame I've ever met."

"Well, you're not exactly like any man I've met before. It's enough to change a girls mind", June purred.

Benny swallowed audibly. "Chico, Danse, you make sure we're not disturbed. For any reason, capishe?" The bodyguards glanced at each other, unsure, but nodded.

Benny slipped his arm through June's and led her to his private elevator. The ride up passed in electric anticipation, and when the lift doors opened, June allowed herself to be escorted through the door into Benny's suite. The interior was still stylish after two hundred years, and while in better shape than many places in the Mojave, she had to admit she was expecting something a bit less shabby.

June smiled primly as Benny took her right hand and started kissing seductively up her forearm. "What about those drinks?", she reminded him. "You fix those while I go get ready." Benny grinned like a shark as he slipped behind the bar, flipping the switch on the radio as he passed.

While June busied herself in the bathroom doing whatever it was women did in there, Benny considered his options, including g cutting his losses and running like a coward. He scoffed, dismissing that thought as soon as it arrived. He could handle one little dame, and one in a red satin dress at that.

"Well?", June announced. Benny felt his jaw drop. All the Courier was wearing was a pair of midnight black satin panties, a matching black garter belt, and mostly intact silk stockings. A pair of old world police handcuffs dangled suggestively from the index finger of her right hand.

"Ring-a-ding-ding!", Benny exclaimed as he rounded the bar, closing in for the kill. "How's about giving those charlies a shake for the Ben Man?"

June chuckled throatilly as Benny reached for her. She flipped the open handcuff bracelet into her hand, and had snapped it into place around his right wrist before he could react, before ducking under his arm, twisting the arm as she went into a joint lock, kicking Benny in the back of his knee, driving him into the carpeted floor with a knee strike to his back, before catching his flailing left leg and ratcheting the 'cuffs closed around his left ankle. June extricated herself from the Benny-pretzle, then flipped him on his back with a strength that surprsied him, lances of pain shooting from his wrist and ankle. June straddled Benny's hips, and punched him hard in the gut and then the solar plexus, leaving him gasping as she stripped off his tie, looping a quick slip knot around his left wrist and binding his hand to his bicep.

"Wha-what?", Benny gaped helplessly as June casually slipped her hand under the lapel of Benny's checkered suit jacket, and removed his 9mm pistol from it's holster.

"Nice. Pretty", June said, hefting the handgun, looking at the Virgin decorating the grips. "This what you used to shoot me the head, you fink?" Benny could only nod helplessly, wide-eyed in fear as June cycled the action and aimed between Benny's eyes. June's left hand searched Benny's pockets, retrieving the Platinum Chip. "This is mine, by the way." June slipped the chip into a pocket cunningly sewn into her garter belt.

"God, you really are a heartless bitch!", Benny muttered. A hard, dangerous look flashed in June's eyes just before she pistol whipped Benny in the face, breaking his cheek and nose. "The fuck did you just say to me?" June racked the pistol's slide back, and locked it open, before tossing it on the bed, and slipped the straight razor hidden in her garter belt out, opening it slowly, letting Benny see the light glitter off the silvered, mirror-polished steel blade. "Say hello to my friend 'Sweeney' ", June husked. "Sweeney and I want to know everything you know about the chip, and what you planned to do with it."

June kissed the fingertips of her left hand, pressing them to Benny's lips. "Just so you know, sweetie-pie, Swank knows all about your backstabbing Mr. House."

*-*-*-*

Two hours later, June settled on a bar stool beside Cass. Once again in her red satin dress, not a hair out of place.

Cass stared into the mirror behind the bar, a shot of whisky in her hand. "Didja fuck him?"

June lifted the shot out of her girlfriend's fingers, sipped delicately, deliberately before answering.

"Only in the head, mi Corazon."

@cyndercrys @vkm11 @worthlesssix @saberwriter @wailful-waffle

[viesainedynamique]

You know this boogie is for real

Milieu de l’été, bord de mer, c’est un soir de concert. Un choc en arrivant, la moyenne d’âge est 40-50 ans, le coup du miroir non souhaité, c’est un coup de cafard intense. C’est un concert de vieux, nous sommes vieux. Au fond rien d’anormal, c’est le public du groupe mythique des années 90.

Première partie, une DJ quasi androgyne que je pense londonienne d’après son style. Elle a les épaules larges, de larges avant-bras, des tatouages, une frange, un tee-shirt-jupe Tom Ford. Elle mixe bien, musique de club sur samples funk-soul, set superbement effectué, mais pas très fun quand on est en fin de jeudi, debout, sobre et entouré de quadra en bermuda. D’ailleurs, ça danse peu dans la fosse, alors ils projettent des prises de vue du public sur les écrans géants afin que les vieux se voient en train de faire des cœurs avec leurs doigts, ça a l’air de leur plaire, j’ai envie de boire.

Fin du set, on attend la seconde partie, la vraie raison de notre venue, le show qui remplacera ce soir la série pondue par l’algorithme Netflix (zombie + sexe + braquage + etc.). Mais le groupe se fait attendre, normal pour des stars. Presque 22 heures, le public râle « fait chaud », « qu’est-ce qu’il fout ? », « il doit être bourré », « je bosse moi demain », … L’effet de la bière et/ou du rosé commence à descendre et la fatigue semble prendre le dessus dans un public qui ne va plus trop à des concerts et qui confond avec une séance de cinéma.

22 heures, ça y est, les musiciens du groupe Jamiroquai s’installent. Applaudissement nourris, accueil chaleureux, mais quand même, merde ils sont vieux. Vieux, mais le style reste cool.

Puis Jay Kay arrive : short de sport Boss, baskets et haut de survet’, comme d’hab. Mais pas vraiment, car Jay Kay a cinquante ans et un sacré bide. Son casque hi-tech, inspiration coiffe indienne, à LED, cache à peine, sur les écrans géants, son visage bouffi.

Les premiers morceaux commencent, Jay n’arrive plus vraiment à danser, il fait des pas de salsa type fin de soirée. On voit son visage sur les écrans, chaque note chantée appuyée est un supplice. Merde, je n’aurais pas dû venir. Parfois, il faut rester sur une bonne impression, et laisser les années 90 où elles sont. J’assiste à la déchéance d’une de mes idoles, je me demande même s’il ne va pas mourir sous nos yeux, à Jazz à Juan, l’équivalent d’une salle des fêtes au vu de sa carrière. Je croise le regard de ma femme, elle pense comme moi, fous rires nerveux pour dédramatiser, mais je suis dégouté et j’ai envie de partir, et puis…

Et puis, le groupe commence un autre morceau, que je connais, que tout le monde connaît. L’intro au synthé de « Space Cowboy », et Jay Kay qui lance le premier couplet. Ça y est, il vient de mettre tout le monde d’accord, Jamiroquai est toujours là. Le public fait un voyage dans le temps et chante, danse avec lui. Le concert commence enfin.

Enchaînement de tous leurs morceaux, « Love Foolosophy », « Virtual Insanity », « Seven Days In Sunny June », « Cosmic Girl », et j’en passe. On se souvient alors du nombre incroyable de tubes à leur actif. On se souvient que ce sont de très bons musiciens, bridge prolongés, solos … Le public danse, chante, transpire, applaudit, hurle. Plus personne n’a chaud ou bosse demain, on est tous, à nouveaux, retournés à l’époque où boire trop n’était pas vraiment grave. Les capacités de l’esprit sont incroyables, et les influences de la musique nous dépassent car tout a basculé mentalement pour des milliers de personnes après l’écoute de simples notes de musique.

Jay Kay est à l’agonie tout le concert sur le souffle, sur la danse mais je ferme les yeux et la voix est toujours la même. Il s’accorde même le luxe de fumer une cigarette, mort de rire en plein milieu du concert pendant que ses choristes meublent sur scène et je compris.

Je compris que Jay Kay pouvait se permettre de débarquer en short baskets parce qu’il était toujours le taulier. Il nous dit « vous êtes venus pour notre musique ou pour mes fringues ?! ». Fuck Instagram, le look de merde à la the Weeknd, fuck le contenant, écoutons le contenu.

Jay Kay traverse les époques tout droit sorti des 90’s, comme une nouvelle forme de résistance. Il est encore là pour nous, il ne nous oublie pas. Il est le leader du culte, en ces temps où nous autres sommes perdus dans le véganisme, l’androgynie et le cross-fit. Il se présente à nous, somptueux, en emmerdant l’époque dans laquelle nous sommes, nous disant : « you know this boogie is for real ». « Vous n’êtes pas seuls, je suis là. ». Il lutte, il souffre mais il reste sur scène pour nous accompagner encore un peu

Beaucoup de funk sur deux heures, comme une grande respiration, après la longue apnée du quotidien. L’espace-temps s’est figé, “I know all we're doing is traveling without moving”

[bxttlecxps-blog]

The Glowing Sea[sick]

A fic I wrote for @nyanshadowforce stimming from her post here. Lightly hinted Male Sole Survivor/Paladin Danse Danse and Nate go on a mission in the Glowing Sea. Danse thinks he will be fine without his power armor helmet. He is wrong.

Nate and Danse looked out over the Glowing Sea from their recon position. It looked… well, dead. No movement save the rare radscorpion and the kick of dust as a bolt of lightning struck the ground in the distance.

“We have about an hour before sunlight,” Paladin Danse said, lowering his night vision binoculars, a gift from Nate. “Then we’ll move out.”

“Are you sure we shouldn’t find you a power armor helmet first?” Nate moved to pick at the seam of his pants, a nervous habit from before he was frozen, then dropped his hand when he remembered the power armor encasing him.

“Negative.” Danse put the binoculars down carefully. “I appreciate your concern, Knight, but my power armor and the RadAway I’ve taken will protect me sufficiently from radiation.”

“If you say so.” Nate grinned when Danse cut him a pointed look. “If you say so, Sir.”

The Paladin made a soft noise that Nate took for approval.

Silence stretched for a few minutes, comfortable and welcome. Danse was a man of few words and Nate never minded, preferring to hear himself talk.

“Mission report,” Danse said expectantly.

“Collect several soil samples from the Glowing Sea to give to the science division to continue monitoring the effects of the radiation,” Nate prattled off immediately. His stomach flipped when Danse’s mouth twitched into something like a smile, but it was gone as soon as it had arrived.

“Outstanding.”

He hated the Glowing Sea.

When he had first unthawed and Preston told him about ground zero, he decided he wanted to see it for himself, up close and personal.

Preston had nearly busted a gasket when Nate entered his power armor, grabbed a handful of supplies, and announced that he was going to make the several day trek alone.

He had hated it then, the crater that had ended his world and started this new one, and he hated it even more now as he was bent as far as the power armor would allow him, scraping hardened dirt into test tubes.

This was ridiculous, but as long as it kept Danse happy it kept him happy.

Nate looked over at Danse and watching him make a slow 360 turn, rifle raised, making sure nothing would disturb them. His face was considerably paler than it had been when they had set out half an hour ago.

“D- Paladin Danse?”

“What is it, Knight?”

“Are you alright?”

Danse looked at him and nodded curtly.

“Fine, thank you. How many vials have you collected?”

Nate paused. The paladin was looking right at the ten tubes on the ground. He decided against saying anything. Maybe Danse just wanted to test his attention span. Again.

“Ten, sir. I’ll only need five more.” Nate moved as fast as the power armor allowed. He didn’t like how Danse looked, and he liked it even less when Danse began compulsively clearing his throat and losing track of what he was doing halfway through doing it. Nate noticed him squinting into the distance and flinching when a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky. Not very Paladin Danse of him. The man could face down a deathclaw with barely a twitch of his facial muscles, but flinched at lightning? No.

It took about five more minutes to scrape enough of the dirt to fill the five remaining vials. Danse did another quick 360, almost lost his balance, and started back to their recon position.

Neither of them talked as they walked back so when Danse broke the silence almost at the edge of the Glowing Sea Nate almost shot at him.

“Knight…” Danse turned to look at him, blinking rapidly, and Nate took a step towards him. Nate checked his Geiger counter. It had all but stopped clicking. “Nate, I’m… I don’t feel so…”

The ground shook as Danse hit the ground, crushing his rifle.

“Fuck!” Nate exited his power armor as fast as he could, almost falling in the process, and ran to Danse’s side. “Danse? Paladin Danse!” He slapped at the armor, hoping to rouse his commanding officer, but to no avail. “Shit. Pack. Where’s my pack?”

He retrieved a bottle of buffout from his pack, took two dry, and hefted the power armor onto its back when they took effect. As he took Danse’s pulse, weak too weak, he pressed the radio system on his Pip-Boy.

“This is Scribe Tara.”

“Scribe, this is Knight Lance, I need immediate medical evac from my position, my commanding officer, Paladin Danse, has passed out from overexposure to radiation in the Glowing Sea.”

There was the sound of clicking against a terminal keyboard and the Scribe cleared her throat.

“You’re at the edge of the Glowing Sea, correct?”

“Correct, yes.”

“We have a bird about five minutes from your location, Knight. Is the Paladin in his power armor?”

“Yes. Yes, he is, he doesn’t have his helmet, he forgot it in Sanctuary before we left.” Nate’s chest ached in a way he couldn’t quite place, and the edges of his vision were blurry, focused entirely on the man before him. “Is he gonna die? He can’t die.”

“Knight Lance, please remain calm. Try to get him on his side so that if he vomits it won’t constrict his airways.”

Of course. Nora had had to do that with him several times when he was sick.

Nora would know what to do. Nora was the soldier. Nate was the lawyer.

Nate pushed the Paladin onto his side, wincing when his rifle crunched pathetically, and Danse coughed almost immediately afterward, expelling the contents of his stomach. Nate tried his damnedest not to do the same.

“Come on, Danse, stay with me,” Nate said, rubbing at his back. He knew the Paladin couldn’t feel it through the armor, but he hoped it was the thought that counted. “You’re okay. You’re a tough guy, remember you always telling me ‘keep your chin up, soldier’? Come on. You can pull through.”

Danse mumbled something and vomited again in response. It was streaked red with blood and then Nate started panicking.

“Where’s the fucking bird? We need evac right now as in immediately, please! I don’t want to lose him! I can’t lose him, too.” He knew he was saying too much, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

“Knight, keep your cool,” the Scribe said, voice cracking uncertainly. “Please use one of your flares provided for you so that the vertibird can hone in on your exact location. It should be about two minutes out.”

Nate rustled around in his pack, tears blinding him, trying to find the correct flare. When he couldn’t he took a Minutemen flare, ignited it, and held it up to the sky.

One tense minute later during which Nate prayed to whatever God still roamed the wasteland, there was the drone of propellers coming towards them.

When it touched down and medics crowded out Nate didn’t know whether to kiss them or cuss them out for taking so long, so he stepped back and let them take care of Danse.

“Will he be okay?” he asked when one of the medics came close enough to hear him.

The medic smiled.

“It’s gonna take a lot more than some radiation poisoning to take out Paladin Danse, Knight Lance. It’s a good thing you called when you did, though, he should be fine.”

The ball of dread didn’t leave his stomach.

When they arrived at the Prydwen the medics moved Danse into the hospital wing quickly, ordering Nate into a separate station to be examined by a doctor. Nate tried to wave their concerns away, wanting every available person keeping Danse alive, even though they assured him that Danse was stable. They insisted that they look him over.

Besides a bit of dehydration, he was fine. They hooked him up to an IV and one of the nurses brought him reports on Danse whenever she could.

Two hours later she returned to tell Nate that Danse had woken up and that she had a bit of bad news.

“Blind?” Nate nearly screeched. He barely managed to keep his voice in check. “He’s blind?”

“Temporarily,” the nurse corrected him. “Exposing the retina directly to radstorm lightening has known damaging effects. They always fade with time, maybe a week or two depending on the severity and time of the exposure. Given that you were only there for a half hour, I would say he will be fit for duty again in a week.”

“How’s he taking it?”

The nurse glanced around and then grinned at Nate.

“All he has asked about since he woke is you.”

Nate hoped that the blush on his cheeks and neck isn’t as visible as it feels.

“When can I see him?”

“You can come on back now.” The nurse stood and pushed the curtain back to allow Nate to pass. She lead him to another bed on the far side of the hospital.

Danse was sitting up, still a little pale, with patches over his eyes. His head cocked to the side when they approached and he put down the cup of water in his hand.

“Knight Lance?”

“Yes, sir. How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine. Did you collect the vials?”

Nate smothered a laugh. Danse could have died and all he cared about were Nate and the damned vials of soil.

“Yes, sir. I gave the vials to one of the scribes to take to the science wing as soon as we arrived.”

A ghost of a smile tilted Danse’s lips and Nate had to bodily keep himself from kissing them.

“Outstanding.”

[sneakyhomunculous]

Last PT Report PT 2

Day 2: After day 1 we went to a nice dinner, 5 of us somehow spent 600$ [it may have had something to do with Rocky ordering 3 Apps a Salad a Soup 2 Entrees 3 Sides multiple glasses of wine and dessert) and we ended up staying pretty late. Continuing my hot run I got to pay for the whole thing! I didn’t get to bed until 12ish and unfortunately woke up around 4:30 to some obscene snoring. By around 5 it calmed down and I was able to sleep until 7:30. I woke up OK, but not fresh like the previous day. I went through the same routine as before and managed to catch the shuttle at the last second with Wily Edel and fellow Embercleavers. Draft 2, Pod 1 Featured Pod I was excited going into this draft because what I percieved as the toughest players Eli Brad and Hauck all drafted non blue decks day 1. In fact in all the drafts I did with Brad over the years he was basically never blue! He’s allergic to non green cards. I sat down to find the seating. Hauck was on my left and Brad and Eli were sort of across the table. Max Mick was feeding me, and I knew very little about him. Hauck and Brad’s drafts were both covered and you can watch them on the VOD. Unfortunately there is no draft viewer. They recorded every pick from every player, but unlike the old days they don’t really post the draft viewers anymore. It’s hard to do these draft caps off memory but I will do my best. The draft starts with a high, as I see many blue backgrounds on the magic cards in my first pack. Charmed Sleep, SecretKeeper, Didn’t Say Plz, Apprentice, and Vantress Gargoyle. I like Gargoyle more than most (I always have at least 4 cards in my hand) so I take it hoping one of the 3 good cards will wheel. There was a RW knightlord and not much else in other colors so a bit worrysome of a signal to send (and in fact Hauck 2nd picked the Charmed Sleep) Pack 2 was one of the worst packs I’ve ever laid eyes on. There was a steelclaw Lance and a B and G Paladin, and luckily a Frogify as the clear best card (Frogify isn’t very good). I take the Frogify Pack 3 is interesting; outmuscle improbable alliance tome raider covetous urge. It’s not that interesting, covetous Urge is completely busted. Alliance is a bit overrated and just fine, I do always have lots of opts and tome raiders so I like them I have it, but I know I will never play less than 11-12 blue sources and Urge is just so good. 4th pick Opt!!! This is the only blue card in the pack that otherwise really stinks. It was the last card I looked at and a huge sigh of relief for me. 5th pick didn’t say please and sage of the falls, a good sign. This is somewhat of a close pick but I value hard counters very highly and sage is just a much worse draw 3 scry 3. Take the counter 6th pick only one blue card tome raider, there is a henge walker as well but otherwise a weak pack. I take the raider as it sends a better signal and I don’t see myself being particularly aggressive after this start. I honestly don’t recall the rest of this pack but I know none of the 3 good cards tabled. I think maybe the overwhelming apprentice did but I don’t find that much of a playable magic card. I got a few playable like wishful merfolk and a forever young etc but nothing exciting. Pack 2 is where we make our living. Now I don’t want to go divulge off into a long theory piece, as this is supposed to be a silly fun report that is already bound to go absurdly long. But I have to say this. (and boy is it going to be fucking long. I just came back up to add this disclaimer. I am about to go on a massive rant about throne of eldraine limited. About how good Blue is. About how good unexplained visions is. About the theory of everything, and how Ben Stark is sometimes even wrong. If you don’t care about it you can skip past it. But you do care. That’s why you clicked this. Read it. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn something too; I think.) Rant on Drafting and Eldraine and Theory- Shoutout to Ben Stark the 🐐, and all the lovers of booster draft out there. Ben is great and much better than me. Shoutout to Marshall and Eduardo. They are both great players and great commentators as well, and they definitely understand limited and booster draft on a deep level. That being said... Ben Stark may tweet PT trophy records and shoutout his piece on “drafting the hard way”. Eduardo and Marshall may mention it multiple times during every draft. [See almost any draft ever, or specifically see Haucks draft on day 2 where he is completely handcuffed on my direct left “staying open” while ending up with a really embarrassing collection of cards after pack 1.] Multiple times throughout his draft Eduardo mentions how he and other good players and great drafters like to “stay open” by taking the “best card” in every pack. Well you see what Eduardo didn’t tell you and what Ben stark didn’t say in his trophy tweets or his piece on drafting the hard way is that... EVERY DRAFT FORMAT IS EXTREMELY UNIQUE [bolded and italicized for effect, but idk how] (Again Ben, Marshall, Eduardo, Riley, and Paul are all great. Commentating is absurdly hard and they do an unreal job. This stuff I’m talking about is way too deep for live on air stuff, and I can tell you that all 5 of them know most all of what I’m about to say already. “Drafting the hard way” is a great lesson for drafters, even experienced good drafters can learn a ton and will do well to remember it.) Throne of eldraine happens to be very dynamic. There are a TON of viable color pairs and options and “decks” but the thing is, some of them fucking suck. Shoutout again to Marshall for letting everyone know that RG was not really a thing when Brad was taking red and Green cards. Now we just need to admit that all the non U color pairs are not things either! The other thing is, a ton of the decks are really reliant on very specific cards. And of course the decks all have varying degrees of malleability. The fact of the matter is, 2 color decks just almost do not work at all. GB food is not a deck. Shoutout to Collin for somehow drafting it every time GW adventures isn’t a deck. RB and RW and BW knights are not decks. GR grumgullies isn’t a thing. UR draw 2 isn’t a deck. They are all complete traps and most people sort of understand this, but they don’t seem to know what to do about it. What you need to do is focus on the good decks, and then develop a draft strategy that gives you the best chance to end up with a “good version” of one of the [playable at all] decks. Now I’m not going to sit here and pretend like it’s easy. A magic the gathering 8 man booster draft with 3 of the same large set packs is one of the purest art forms to ever exist in our universe. Eldraine draft is mostly dead, but I’ll give you the [short; for how much I could write about this format] rundown anyway. It may help you develop a strategy in future formats. I can only hope R&D continues to make formats even close to as good as this one or Khans or Ravnica City of Guilds. Rule number 1: Blue is so much better than every other color. It would honestly make the format super awkward/Interesting if everyone was aware of this, but what I gathered before the PT and certainly during it, was that most people are not aware of this. And that’s despite the arena bots being so bad they force everyone into being blue every draft, and all the spreading of that info and complaining on Twitter still led to no1 really figuring it out. Rule Number 2: The color pairs are traps, fixing is very scarce and also very good, many cards look good but are TRAPS as early picks because the completely pigeonhole you into only 1 or maybe 2 playable decks/archetypes whatever you want to call it. If you watch theHamTV draft you’ll see him say it all the time. He first picks a card, and then by pick 2 or 3 he’s already tilting off because he says “I am never going to play these 2 cards in the same deck” this is not standard for a draft format by any means, but Throne is its own animal. Searing Barrage isn’t good unless you are Mono Red. That isn’t intuitive at first glance. Red white or Red Black are just not playable as color pairs. Same for Red Green or Green Black or Green White. You can obviously always splash, but the mana requirements are too heavy and the incentives to staying mostly one color are so high. This means you cannot afford to first pick Bake 2nd pick Charmed Sleep and then decide to take like Outmuscle over decent artifacts and U or b cards, and then decide to take Lochtwain Paladin over other blue cards and artifacts. The Paladin and to a lesser extent Bake are only good in mono black exactly (Bake is fine in UB). If this is the way the packs break that’s fine, what can you do? But Christian had a few better options I believe, and then soon I think he takes a red card. And then a malevelont Noble, And then another green card and then maybe a white card!? And look, I feel for him. The packs were weak overall and Throne of Eldraine is hard. He was also on my left, with Max on my right. Max and I both drafted Mono U. Christians draft is a perfect example of what many poor players drafts would look like if everyone realizes how good blue is. We probably don’t have time for it all here. But I’ll give you the short rundown. Exhaustive list of playable decks in throne of eldraine limited. Uxxxx Unexplained Visions Bury Their So Tiny Asses Alive I try to force this every single draft, but I do it in a delicate manner making sure to keep myself open to any of the other 10 or so good decks. After all we may not open any Vision, and they may not get passed to me. I sure as hell wont pass one. This deck is a malleable machine. It is so good because you can just take whatever nobody else is taking. If you get late pixies, you go green, if u get late mad ratter or alliance, u play those, if u get late Wicked guardians or a 6th pick lochmere Serpent or u open epic downfall and Bakes, you play those. If you get danse and have artifacts, you go dansing in the wind. If u get secretkeepers and counters you go mill. If you get stuck with Fae vandal and henge walkers and Vantress paladins you can even salvage with some runnaway together and tempo them out with fliers (I don’t recommend this tempo plan, but some drafts 5-6 people are blue and u gotta make it happen anyway. Your deck will still be better than the average deck in other colors) But ultimately all this deck truly needs is 2-4 visions/into the story (visions strongly preferred. Story only great if u have 3+ secretkeepers and or didn’t say please type stuff) You also would like some number of opts and witching wells (not necessary though). I’d play 6 opts at least and usually 2-3 wells. The less visions and into the stories you have the more wells I’d play. But even with 3 visions I’d play 4 Opt and a well or two. Any cheap magic cards that preferably block really well or gain more advantage in themselves like opt witching well clockwork servant wicked guardian etc etc, and then stuff like secretkeeper so tiny Charmed Sleep 1/4s and 3/2s for 2. and finally some good way to end the game (this doesn’t need to be a traditional big flier. It’s nice to have lochmere serpent or something absurd and easy to kill with, but a few secretkeepers and didn’t say pleases and mystic sanctuaries also works just fine, or some weird danse kill, or ratter/alliance army (watchout for revenge of the ravens!)) The real beauty of this deck is getting absurdly mileage out of other players dregs. Lochtwain Gargoyle is just actually a good card in this deck usually. Crashing drawbridge type stuff is not ideal, but totally serviceable. Corridor monitor and wishful merfolk can both be fine to actively good. You can see quickly how easy it is to consistently end up with this deck when you can play 5-8 cards nobody else would ever even take and other people are passing visions and playing non blue decks. Just wait until you hear what BEN STARK thinks about Unexplained Vision Ux Mill This is usually splashing black, sometimes mono. You know the deck. The arena bots give it away. In real life it doesn’t actually happen, a pipe dream. Sometimes my Visions Bury em decks end up winning via mill, bc secret keeper is just a fine to good card if u have drown in the Loch/into the story/ lots of visions and need 1-2 drops/the combo didn’t say pleases and no good finishers. But sure if no1 takes any secretkeepers and u get lucky clover or Folio and lots of didn’t say pleases this can be a great deck that’s hard to beat. Ug This is usually splashing for some very specific cards like maraleaf pixie, trail of crumbs, some rares I’m not thinking of, maybe Edgewall inkeeper/maraleaf rider and some eggs and some weird 3 color thing. I’ve had some wonky decks like this. It doesn’t come together often but I’ve had at least 3 drafts where I get multiple maraleaf pixies for free bc no1 can ever take them, and you can see how having an early trail of crumbs/outmuscle can lead to some weird mono u splash these cards shell Uw This deck has multiple different routes, you never want to shinechaser really, but you certainly always want owl. I think the best versions play a few plains for things like all that glitters and trapped in the tower or Danse of the manse type stuff. It’s silly but realm cloaked giant or that archon are other good reasons to end up this deck. Emry and eggs and witching wells any cheap artifacts you know what I’m saying. Ub This is mostly just an extension of the bury em visions deck. One note almost all of these decks want 11+ blue sources. Mystic sanctuary is busted in all of these decks. Clockwork servant type stuff is busted. Blue is completely busted! Now I know all these decks I just mentioned are sort of the same thing. But they really aren’t. And the big takeaway is that blue has all the best cards, and is also the deepest color by a lot, while also being able to support 3-4 different types of strategies in a single draft. It’s a crazy revelation when you realize it. Blues 8th best common is better than the 2nd best common in all of the other colors. Syr Elenora Urge Loch dragon Owl Snapper Vandal all great, so many more I’m leaving out basically every blue card in the set is a dreamboat. Tier 2 decks Mono Red aggro Searing barrage and embreth Paladin are not good in any other deck, but great here. Same goes for weaselback redcap and oftentimes even fling. The issue is lots of people don’t know that about searing barrage, so u may not get them for free. This deck just wants to curve out but have some serious burst potential with the haste Paladin/fling/barrage and then just fill in with any of the henge walker/joustin dummy type stuff and play redcap raiders/barge in/scorching dragonfires etc. I find it’s hard to get enough early creatures so prioritize them when you can. Mono G aggro This is a spicy deck that lots of people considered the best and so it’s well known and out there how to draft it. Go to Hamtv on twitch to watch Kyle play it all the time. Green has some good cards that no1 else wants like wildwooftracker the halberd gingerbrute maraleaf rider garenbrig Paladin etc. and while people do want outmuscle and Witchstalker, those are really strong. You can splash here, but you would almost always prefer to not have to. Henge walker etc can help you avoid having to. Mono W or Wx aggro. Tactician and cheap plays. White has no shortage of 1-2 drops and good value pump spells like guidemother and the squire. Flutterfox with some things to turn it on happens often, I think Banner and Wheel are just always great but they shine here in the flutterfox versions of this deck. Fliers/evasion is massive to get around my pesky corridor monitors and wishful merfolk and sectretkeepers. You can certainly have a knights theme and even splash black or red for some knights or removal/good cards. But you really want to prioritize actually being able to play your cards and being able to pick up Hybrid WWWWxxxx uncommons and cast henge walkers and ritual and Paladin and stuff with adamant. Same goes for all the mono color aggro decks, you really have to do your best to stay as mono as possible throughout the draft, and ultimately you don’t ever want to end up with a 10-7 or 9-8 manabase. It will obviously happen and with fine to great decks sometimes, but it’s super rare and you should actively be trying to avoid it. Some players have success with Knight strategies. I believe they need lots of uncommons and rares and then to get lucky to end up with a distribution that lets them play 11-6 to have good mana. I’ve 3-0ed with quite a few mostly white knight decks that splash the drain guy, epic downfall, reave soul, maybe some black rare idk. Things like that are fine. But taking the RW Knight uncommon 2/2 or the steelclaw Lance are recipes for disaster. I didn’t see Eli’s Draft, but see our round 10 match for an example of a steelclaw Lance deck. Mono B value/midrange I haven’t drafted this much but it’s mostly self explanatory. Usually it comes about by first picking bake into a pie or getting passed an ayara in a weak pack and just having black be wide open. You play the Lochtwain Paladin and the reave souls and bakes and whatever Hybrid Uncommons u can find and usually some rares and fill in with dummies and henge walkers as needed. Can splash for things like garruk or serpent obviously, and this comes up quite a bit, this is another good reason to try and stay mono going into packs 2 and 3. That is the end of the playable throne of eldraine draft decks list. Every other deck is a pipe dream. They do exist, but rely heavily on exact uncommons/rares like troll king or savy hunter in BG food. And even if u get them you will still lose to an average U deck with 3 unexplained visions. Avoid like the plague. Ok yeah, rule number 3 time I promise this is the last rule. Draft as though you know what the good decks are and you know how the format works. Stop acting like everything is a vacuum and Throne of Eldraine limited is just another Magic the Gathering Set that can be easily mastered by following the guidelines outlined in Ben Starks Timeless Piece “Drafting the Hard Way”. Taking random ass cards in different colors throughout pack 1 bc they are powerful is a recipe for absolute disaster in this format. It is true that Ben is right about draft theory in general terms, and in most formats drafting by taking the “best cards” you see in the first few packs is a sound strategy. Because you wait for a “signal” and then u move into what deck you are “supposed” to be in for your seat. Losing a few early picks is nothing when you end up in the perfect color pair that neither of the 2 players on your right or even the player on are touching at all. Right??? Yes it’s right, but not in throne of eldraine. Throne rewards cutthroat discipline of sticking to the blue cards and artifacts. You want to leave yourself open to being able to draft blue as long as possible, while at the same time not forcing it in case it just isn’t there. It’s very delicate and not easy, but some sample picks could probably illustrate my point better. Maybe review my 2 drafts from the PT and checkout my decks. I’ll try and post the pics again underneath the tweet linking these. Im exaggerating blue (a very small amount, it’s the best by miles), but sticking to cards that are good in multiple decks is huge. Youthful knight and flutterfox and tactician and guidemother and any other fine white card are fine white cards. There is only one deck that wants fine white cards. Mono white aggro. If this deck is not 100% wide open and you are taking these cards you will train wreck. I have drafted mono white 5+ times, but it was always because I started with a blue card, an egg, a banner or spinning wheel, a henge walker or dummy, and then started seeing late trapped in the tower or tacticians and the flutterfoxes or other white commons tabled. So this being said if you are faced with the decision of outmuscle or Tactician or Scorching Dragonfire or Even Reave Soul/Bake VS golden egg or banner/spinning wheel/Fabled Passage/clockwork servant always take the latter card. In their respective mono color decks the top cards are a bit stronger than the bottom cards. The problem is this isn’t a normal format. When you take a tactician in a normal format u can play it in 5-6 different decks. Any white deck. There is only one white deck here but 15 other decks. Don’t take tactician until it’s clear u are the only white drafter. Take opt. Or take run away together. Or if you’re lucky take spinning wheel. If you’re the luckiest person alive take Unexplained Vision The player on my direct right was Mono U in this day 2 draft. I drafted Mono U right behind them and 3-0ed with a great deck. It isn’t because I got lucky. The pack distributions were kind of ugly, and many players were blue or taking blue cards. None of my cards tabled. But it doesn’t matter. I stayed strong and took artifacts and fixing high, and I never let a good blue card go by. It’s a simple strategy really, but certainly hard to execute perfectly Some weeks before the PT, shortly after I had come to the realization that blue in throne of eldraine was approaching mandatory force levels; I saw Ben the 🐐 Stark first pick Emry Lurcher of the Loch and then 2nd pick a BOG NAUGHTY over a DRAW 3 SCRY 3! The best limited player of all time!! I certainly believe Ben is unbelievable and a very strong player and incredible mind. His willingness to search for the truth above all else is what I believe really makes him special. But Bog Naughty is not remotely pickable in any early pack 1 scenario. You have to be mono black and also have some food? It’s just not reasonable. GB food again isn’t a thing, and even if it is it’s likely heavy green. If it’s heavy black sure u can use the naughty to some good fun magic. But even if you do it’s like a slightly better card than what a filler card like henge walker or tempting witch? Don’t take Bog Naughty if you want to win your matches. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing anything so I asked him about it. I said “Yo Ben, you passed the literal dreamboat card for a Vantress Paladin that cost 5 mana double black after first picking one of the most busted rares in the set that is guaranteed to make your deck after first picking it, being as it is in the best color and it’s now so easy to prioritize artifacts in the draft.” What gives??? His response: “Not a big fan of vision. Especially when you already have Emry milling 4 giving you a source of end ess card advantage. I’ll play 1-2 copies of vision in my deck if I don’t have other card advantage, but it’s near unplayable vs mill and aggro and I don’t draft it highly.” Now I always look to give someone like Ben the benefit of the doubt. And this is twitter where nuance is obviously lost easily as we are limited to a few sentences. But breaking down what he said; he starts with saying he’s not a fan of visions, later saying it’s near unplayable vs mill and aggro and that he doesn’t draft it highly. This is when I realized I made a mistake asking him about it. The PT is still 3 weeks away and I don’t want him to realize he’s wrong and teach all of his friends. It is true that Visions have diminishing returns. Most decks can not afford to play the 5th, or even 4th copy. A lot of decks may end up not really wanting a 3rd either, but I think that is extremely rare. This is such a minor thing though, and it’s the literal most important card in over half the blue decks. You don’t say “oh I’m not going to take the best card ever because I can’t play more than 3 of them”. Like imagine a 5 mana card that said draw 10 cards. Sure you cant fill your deck with 8 of them. But now you want to fucking pass it because of that? No you fucking slam it to guarantee you have it. And if you get more, you slam those too and you play those too. And yes, once u get your 4th or 5th copy you can chill out, or you can bear down and play those too while figuring out a way to find some cheap shit to stay alive until you cast your first draw 10 and win by default . But the fact that you have this card, combined with the mere fact that it exists and you value it highly (properly) means you can now literally draft whatever u want, so long as you draft a sufficient number of cheap/defensive cards. More about his statement. Just because you have 1 Emry doesn’t mean you can’t take more card advantage??? He says Emry is an endless source. Yes it’s a 1/2 that needs an artifact stream and you also have to draw it and have it live. I would prefer to have 10 Emry type cards in every deck. If you’re tired of reading about this I’m truly sorry, but not really sorry because there’s no fucking way anyone is still here this deep in and not absolutely loving it. “It’s near unplayable vs aggro and Mill”. While the card is usually somewhat weak against mill (it actually ends up being the best card against mill a bunch of the time. I say this because I have a ton of experience with visions against busted mill decks in the arena streets. If you have 2-3 visions and you play against mill; There will obviously be games where visions is awful and you cannot even realistically cast it. But in the other games, the games you actually have good chances to win; you usually do so by burying your opponent in cards and killing them by default before they can mill you. No slow blue deck is going to aggro through a secretkeeper deck. You beat it by hoping they draw too many secretkeepers/defensive weak cards and don’t draw the counterspells. Mill vs U Visions control literally comes down to who resolves the visions! (I will concede that drafting like this means you are absurdly soft to Folio of the fancies/didn’t say please/Mystical Dispute and any really fast milling. But this is why I prioritize the counterspells very highly myself, along with cards like covetous Urge and cards that can kill efficiently thru walls of defense and kill alone like Syr Elenora/ratter/alliance and sB options like Vantress Paladin/steelhaze griffins or forever young, and also sbing in 8 more islands and 6 more blue cards if I need to.) But saying it’s “bad vs aggro and mill” is just silly. On its “bad vs aggro”- “Aggro” is a weird concept in limited. You really want to avoid being pidgeonholed into “aggro” at all costs. Being aggro means you are relying on having a strong opening hand with a good curve while also relying on your opponents to not have sufficient defenses against your onslaught. In theory this sounds like a fine strategy when executed properly. You fill your deck with powerful 2 and 3 drops with high power or menace or flying or haste or first strike, maybe even some one drops. Cheap burn and plays that help removal blockers/push through damage. And then u top it off with whatever powerful finishers you can find. In reality this is an inferior draft strategy to taking cheap/defensive cards, card advantage, and busted magic cards like the RARE MYTHIC RARE and UNCOMMON type cards. The reason is twofold, the draft portion + the games portion. In the draft, ending up with a great aggro deck is hard. You have to be in the exact right color for your seat, get the necessary amount of aggressive 2-3 drops, the right pump/cheap removal/burn/reach and the right mana base to be able to function well. In the games you have to avoid mulliganing, avoid stumbling on lands, and avoid drawing your 2 drops on turn 10 when you need your few finishers. Meanwhile you have to also avoid your opponent having any of the Stonewall Jackson type cards you dread facing. Like say Corridor Monitor into Clockwork Servant into Wicked Guardian. But this is the beauty of drafting. In a perfect world, we’d sit down for an 8 man where most of the players agree that being “aggro” is inherently bad, and we all lean towards being defensive and open to whatever the best ways to gain incremental advantage we can come up with in the draft. In this world the player(s) who recognize what’s going on and moves into the aggro lane will be rewarded and end up with a completely busted deck that has the highest win expectancy at the table. In many formats, this is actually exactly what happens. Aggro is [slightly] worse than just drafting a good defensive curve removal busted cards and card advantage. So if no one is drafting aggro you will end up with a broken deck that should crush everyone. That hidden factor is that you still have to avoid mulliganing and or flooding/stumbling/drawing weak cards in the mid game/overcoming stonewall Jackson so despite maybe having a slightly higher winrate than decent defensive decks, you still have to run well in your games and the medium deck can still stonewall you. You’re often prone to flooding as well. Look, I’m not saying aggro is unplayable. But I am saying you should do everything in your power to not draft it. Now back to the point. I would argue that visions is the BEST possible common you could ever have against aggro. (I wouldn’t actually argue that, I’d prefer wrath of god and moat and shit... but it is a very sound and good strategy of playing defense and then burying them with one broken draw spell. And this card is really really good, even vs aggro) Ben has this notion that in limited magic, card draw is often cheapened because of the low value of extra lands. I challenge this proposition in most scenarios, as finding a use for extra lands is easy when you are drawing tons of cards. And “getting past the lands” to find your specific answers/good cards is often very useful. But that is not super relevant here anyway. Visions isn’t just a draw 3... You then scry 3!! It’s a fucking common!!! Personal wheel of fortune!!!! End Rant Recap I have Hauck now feeding me for pack 2 My picks so far are Vantress Gargoyle Frogify Covetous Urge Opt Didn’t say please Tome raider Forever young Wishful merfolk Some dregs I forget Pack 2 I think I opened Fae of Wishes and 1-2 other decent cards. Fae is Busted so I slammed it. I am passed a pack lacking in good cards. It has a pixie, a queen of ice (not a good card, like the 10th best or worse U common) a Corridor Monitor (a good card, but obviously not happy to take early) and luckily a Fabled Passage that I slam! 3rd pick is full of busted stuff. Charmed Sleep So Tiny Danse of the Manse Trail of Crumbs Pixie (have to consider the other pixie tabling now) Ultimately I settle on charmed Sleep. I like So Tiny more in some decks, but you need multiple visions and preferably some mill stuff before I start taking my first So tiny over my first Charmed Sleep. 4th pick Covetous Urge number 2 over Opt and Mystic Sanctuary Urge is completely busted 5th Charmed Sleep over So tiny and Egg 6th pick So Tiny! Over wishful merfolk (Sorry Max) 7th pick Loch Dragon! Over So Tiny (You’re Welcome Max) 8th Pick Castle Vantress over nothing (Truly Sorry Max) 9th Pick Skullknacker Ogre over nothing (I boarded this in vs Brad who was Gr with no pump spells no removal. He had 2 Syr faren a few merchant of the vales and a bunch of Fierced witchstalkers a henge walker etc. I drew it and played it t4 and won bc of it!) 10th Pick the pixie tables but I’m Worried about my cheap creatures and plays and feel it’s unlikely I play G at this Point. I honestly may be confusing a pick in the draft and may have already had a mad ratter or improbable alliance bc I somewhat confidently took queen of ice over this pixie (2 Urge and Loch dragon mana requirements also weighed on my mind) 11th pick the other Pixie tables too. And I am on massive tilt bc I just pulled up the viewer to check this pack thru Christians eyes. There was a so Tiny in this pack he hate drafted here 😂😩😬 12th Pick he hate drafts Opt 🤦🏻‍♂️ But there is a mystic sanctuary anyway! He hates a Runaway Together with 3 cards in the pack and I don’t get anything Pack 3 I open a weak pack but it has a secretkeeper and an Into the Story. I timebanked this pick to the max and wasn’t confident. I really need early plays but also really need some more ways to draw extras. Bc of my two urges giving me some advantage in long games I decide to take the secretkeeper and pray I’ll see an Unexplained Vision Pick 2 Max does me a favor and passes me Syr Elenora. There is like a slaying fire and Yorvo as notables. But Syr Elenora is preeeeemium. Pick 3 I think I take either Mad Ratter or Improbable Alliance over Animating Fae and Nothing. Pick 4 Mystical Dispute over Moonlit scavengers Pick 5 Tome Raider over Queen of Ice Pick 6 Either Improbable Alliance or Mad Ratter (I ended with 1 of each, forgot which was which pick they are the same card in my brain) over Merchant of the Veil no Blue cards Pick 7 Opt over nothing Pick 8 Run away Together over nothing Pick 9 Into the Story Tables!!!! I end up deciding it’s my best Fae of wish Target and I only have 1 secretkeeper one Didn’t say please to mill, my removal is 2 Charmed Sleep So Tiny, so I figure the Into the Story being in my sideboard makes a lot of sense. I end up wishing for it 3-4 times and it was gas. Final deck is 12 islands 1 Mystic Sanctuary 1 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 2 Mountain 2 Opt 1 So Tiny 1 Merfolk SecretKeeper 1 Vantress Gargoyle 1 Fae of Wishes 1 Wishful Merfolk 1 Queen of Ice 1 Improbable Alliance 1 Run Away Together 1 Frogify 2 Tome Raider 2 Charmed Sleep 1 Didn’t Say Please 1 Mystical Dispute 2 Covetous Urge 1 Loch Dragon 1 Mad Ratter 1 Syr Elenora 1 Steelhaze Griffin (23rd card and I was torn on this. Card is whatever not good at all, but it can block and it can attack) R9 Dylan Lerch (The only White Drafter) Because we were the feature pod, we exchange pools. We don’t have decklists, but pools of all 42 cards drafted. Quickly I see that Dylan has a completely busted mono white deck, well likely splashing red. Dylan was two on my left. I figured Hauck was probably white, but since he wasn’t it all got to Dylan. Dylan was certainly the only white drafter. I am trying to imagine my gameplan for beating this deck, and I’m failing to come up with scenarios where I win any games. 4 Fairie Guidemother 2 Giant Killer 1 Worthy Knight 2 Youthful Knight 1 Inspiring Veteran 1 Shepard of the Flock 1 Glass Casket 1 Ardenvale Tactician 1 Clockwork Servant 1 Linden the Steadfast Queen 1 Brimstone Trubuchet 1 Slaying Fire 1 Outlaws Merriment 1 Archon of Absolution 1 Resolute Rider 1 Oakhame Ranger 2 Fireborn Knight 13 Plains 4 Mountain I know I clown aggro, but this deck is no joke. My wishful merfolk is downright embarrassing vs this. My queen of ice too. My charmed sleeps aren’t very good vs 1/1 fliers. As a matter of fact without Fae of Wishes I don’t see how I stop this onslaught. Game 1 starts off about the only way I could ever imagine for a game that I’ll win. I play turn 2 Fae of Wishes after Dylan played a turn 1 Fae Guidemother. Soon after he plays out a giant killer, and then some 2 power thing. He starts tapping my Fae and Building a force, but I find some tome raider chain into some real cards I can’t remember exactly, but I know I stabilize and then bounce my Fae with Run away Together and then Granted for Into the Story. I draw 4 then covetous Urge him a little bit behind now and at around 8. He still doesn’t have a mountain, so his Outlaws Merriment is stranded and I kill him with it over a few turns after I stabilize around 5 life. I feel I got very lucky that game with his draws being poor and being able to steal his merriment. G2 he plays 1 drop 2 drop turn 3 2 drop plus giant killer and turn 4 I am left conceding with no outs. Disgusted while shuffling for G3 I wonder where it all went wrong. How is Dylan’s deck so good? Why am I paired vs him now? I know I can beat the other 6 decks! I have a decent hand but slow, luckily he makes no play turn 1. He plays a few creatures over the next few turns and misses his 4th land drop. I have a singleton medium blocker I forget what it was but it’s getting tapped bc It’s facing down vs his now worthy knight giant killer Fae guidemother and I think Youthful Knight plus 1/1 as i cast my Covetous Urge, assuming I am just dead with no outs. Dylan is stuck on 3 plains and reveals his hand of fireborn Knight Outlaws Merriment another 2 drop anddddddddddddddddddddddd Archon of Absolution hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaa I go ahead and take that. He doesn’t draw a land and makes some attacks putting me to 12 and plays another 2 drop. I untap and casually place his protection from white ghostly prison into play hahahhahahahahahah he has 7 creatures and 3 plains and draws land, but it’s plains. So all he can muster is fireborn Knight. He plays it then lines up attacks and there is under 10min in the round and a big crowd is watching. After a bit more of him thinking about who to attack with I just finally say you cannot attack they all cost a mana and he realizes it and shakes his head and passes. I untap and covetous Urge him again and take Merriment! His only out from here is mountain then slaying fire, but he doesn’t find them. I actually cast didn’t say please the next turn after playing Merriment and he mills a mountain and the slaying fire! Turns out Archon of Absolution is good against Mono White aggro 1 drops and tokens!! 8-1 and ecstatic to steal one. Round 10 Vs Eli Kassis on RB ~18 Playables??? Eli and I are featured as the backup match and a few parts of our games ended up on camera. When we exchanged pools we have 1 minute. I scan through and see he’s clearly black. He has rankle malevelont noble and some random assortment of ok black cards. He has Covetous Urge and Memory Theft. He also has like 5 red cards and a Steelclaw Lance. A crashing Drawbridge and maybe one other artifact. But overall if he plays every single black card artifact and red card that I deem playable it wasn’t even 20 cards. I ran out of time confused how he built his deck. It seemed that he was in fact just red black so maybe I miscounted or missed something. The games are somewhat interesting. Game 1 I kind of flood and awkward covetous Urge his hand of covetous Urge and weak cards, and he already has some 4 power attacker and shortly produced another. I had to urge his urge and I eventually get to Urge again to play something OK but I am just a little to much behind and can’t get a foot on the game before I’m forced to chump and then die. I’m still confident as his deck seems weak. Games two and 3 are pretty straightforward. He keeps drawing crashing drawbridge and steelclaw Lance and I’m Able to deal with his actual cards one at a time while producing a board of stupid little fliers. I did get lucky g3 on camera. His t2 crashing drawbridge I t2 Vantress Gargoyle He t3 memory theft and my hand is 6 spells no land. But it’s wishful merfolk Fae of Wishes charmed Sleep Run away Together tome raider and something else cheapish. So I don’t really need lands too badly and I also don’t have anything that broken. I think he takes my Fae or maybe a diff good card, but I immediately peel a land and tome Raider. I draw into another raider. He t4 covetous Urge off quad swamp and takes my Charmed Sleep and uses it on my Gargoyle the next turn. I’ve been milling with Gargoyle and I play tome raider 4th land go. From there I don’t miss lands for a few more turns and end up burying him beneath fliers once i draw Loch dragon and he only has some anemic beats with a solo rimrock Knight. 9-1 2-0 in the draft At this point I know Brad is playing vs Max Mick and I’m really hoping Brad wins. Max was on my right and I know he’s mono U with Folio gadwick. Unfortunately he won. But the good news is Brad Started 8-0 so he’s also 9-1, and we get paired!!! R11 Mike Sigrist on Gr Monsters His deck is a steaming pile of large creatures and bad mana. I kept going over the list looking for a spell and all I could find was a crystal slipper, 3 Fell of the pheasant, a Sundering Stroke and a Thrill of possibility. He’s mostly Green with 2 Syr Faren 2 Fierce Witchstalker 3 Garenbrig Paladin. He has a henge walker and a rosethorn acolyte, and then like multiple merchant of the Veils and Ogre Errants. I don’t even see how he has 23 cards either, he must be playing all these pheasant plummets (he is) We are main feature match. The whole thing was on camera. Brad won the die roll and mulligans to 5. I have 3 lands perfects with like a tome raider charmed Sleep counterspell and some 2 drop. I sort of draw only lands for the first lot of turns but Brad has a mono green deck and starts mountain mountain mountain henge walker. I charmed Sleep it. My plan was to save those for paladins, but with his mull to 5 and triple mountain start I figure I can race easily. He does put up some fight but I just take it slow and have Dispute and didn’t say plz and eventually find like an Urge and or a Loch dragon to close the game in short order. Game 2 is really interesting as I have to let him filter 10 times with merchant over the game but I maneuver my way to a winning position eventually on the back of both my Covetous Urges. 3-0 GG Y0 10-1 I know it’s way too late for subway or anything as the lines will all be unreal. So I pack up and find a message from Collin that he is grabbing convention center pizza. He grabs me a slice and it’s so terrible I can’t take more than a few bites. I’ve been staying really well hydrated and eating a decent breakfast at least, but these no lunches are brutal. Luckily I’m riding the adrenaline today and feel completely fine. R12 Vs Josh Utter Leyton on UG food Josh has 4 Growth Spiral instead of paradise Druid and is playing 2 Kraul harpooner I think. He has 25 lands but is on a pretty normal list otherwise. No Mass Manipulation or anything. Game 1 he’s on the play I think but starts tapped land tapped land goose. He has a turn 3 Oko I think but I have a decent hand with vraska and grasp and I think I end up vraskaing his Oko and Grasping a nissa and winning with my Own eventually. G2 is blurry but I think he mulliganed and or had a bad hand. I do remember having to take a big risk though. I could use my vraska and make a big attack to guarantee his nissa died, and he had no hand, but I would leave myself dead to a topdecked nissa Oko or aether gust. I decided to go for it anyway as I didn’t see any other way to guarantee nissa dying. He drew a kraul harpooner which was not good enough and I got to untap and put the game out of reach with a krasis or something. 11-1 I know that one more win should lock top 8, and I have at least 3 rounds to find it, maybe even 4. No pressure. I honestly didn’t it feel much. I’ve been here before after starting 8-0 in a PT a few years back. That time I went 1-1-1 in the draft and started 2-2 in constructed so I had a win and in the last round, and lost it in rather unfortunate fashion. But I didn’t really feel too nervous that day either. I think it gets to me more when my back is against the wall. When I’m just winning every round, I just keep going! R13 Mack Smith Bant Food He is playing Stock Bant from the European GP. 3 Maindeck Mass Manipulation Growth spirals etc. G1 I get ahead and I think I am fading mass manipulation in the later turns (nothing I can do about it) but he doesn’t have it and I win. G2 I feel ahead but have no answer to manipulation and the turn I thought he would play it he didn’t so I got excited, but he played it the following turn and I died. G3 i play t1 goose he t1 goose. I play Druid t2 and he just untap and says go. I go for t3 Nissa but he has a Negate to counter, down to just goose forest no food though. I think I have to spend a turn doing not much because I may be missing land as well, and he actually discards to hand size and then I wolf his goose. I win that one a couple turns later 12-1 and locked with 1 more match point. I feel like I would have been more excited if it were a few years ago. My first PT Top 8! But honestly it felt all a bit weird. The PT is moving to the Players Tour, and so much history is fading away. This PT top 8 literally means nothing if I don’t win first place. Just 2 years ago a PT top 8 would mean almost all the points you need for gold and over half of the way to platinum. Getting 2nd in a PT would all but assure you could make Platinum if you played some magic. Plus everyone was around and into it, the hall of fame talks etc etc. Now with the MPL and the PT going away everything is a bit cheapened and everyone is sort of automatically Jaded and unsure of the future. I was still feeling good; I just expected to feel more. I also know I still have to find a draw. My instinct says even if I lose r14 I’ll get the draw R15 with another X-2 though. R14 Andrew Cuneo on GW adventures This match was main feature and all on camera. Cuneo is great and we have some banter before the game about die rolling procedures. He also tilts off when I mulligan and say I’m going to keep before putting a card back. That’s not actually how that works he says. What does work is noxious grasp maindeck against GW little kid. I play multiple and Andrew draws plenty of lands and dies. In game 2 I keep a very sketchy hand of Wolf Massacre Girl Krasis 4 lands on the draw. I only have 1 Massacre Girl, He mulliganed, I’m locked for top 8, what the fucking hell could go wrong K3333pp! He puts a card to the bottom and announces keep. OUAT finds inkeeper, forest inkeeper. I draw land 5 and say to myself u are the dumbest fucking shit in the 7 kingdoms for keeping this. Land go; He untaps, aggressively pushes his inkeeper up at me and I right the 1 life, he shuffles his hand briefly and says GO. Wait what? He took inkeeper with OUAT and then didn’t play a 2nd land turn 2. How unlucky can this guy be??? I continue to draw only lands and he does hit a land next turn, but it’s a forest and no play. He eventually does find plains and puts up a fight. Eventually marching for 5 or 6 and convoking loxodon with a card still back. I have tons of Mana at this point, still have Massacre girl and can cast it + wolf to wrath everything. But I drew legions end the turn before and realize there is no reason to kill my own 6/6 krasis, just legions end the tokens and I’m ahead on board anyway. He dies shortly after. 13-1 R15 ID with Louis Deltour! 13-1-1 1 Seed Locked up R16 vs Paulo Vitor Damo Da Rosa Right before the match I had been talking with Tom Ross and I see the pairing and he says you should dream crush no? He won’t make it if you beat him. I honestly hadn’t even looked at the standings and wasn’t considering playing before talking with Tom. But then I started thinking. This last Pro Tour Ever here... it is so Top Heavy. True winner take all scenario. What do I have to lose by playing and trying to knock out the best player in the room? Well for starters I like Paulo. He’s just really likeable, and has always been friendly with me. I know he will be upset, and it will cause some drama as this type of situation is rare and they have probably already considered him in after seeing pairings. But the more I think about it the more it makes so much sense to play. I don’t owe Paulo anything, and this old mentality on the etiquette of IDs/Scoops makes a lot of sense in the old Pro Points/Level System. Or when PT top 8s really meant something. But what the hell does letting Paulo in the Top 8 actually do? Make it that much more unlikely I win the tournament is about all I can think. Greg Kowalski and his non green deck will be in if I beat Paulo. If I draw with him Paulo and his perfect mass manipulation gadwick list will be in. So anyway, I tell Paulo I want to play. He is obviously a bit surprised. And a huge crowd is forming. Shahar is behind Paulo and giving me the absolute stare of death throughout the whole thing. I tell Paulo the truth. I think he is great, and a random player making t8 would be very beneficial for me. I said this tournament is winner take all for me. If I go on to get 2nd not one person will care. In 6 months no1 will remember my name. They won’t know I got 2nd. I’ll get my 42 Mythic points and they will be worth nothing. I’ll be qualified for the next PT only and that is it. 20k and a fuck you have a nice day. But if I manage to win? 50k an invite to worlds (62,500$ in equity). All the clout, the trophy. There is an Arena PT in a month I’m Not qued for. Odds I get invited if I win? Not as high as Ondrej’s odds since he won (100%) but pretty high. You get the point. Winning first matter a lot. I told Paulo this. I said 3 years ago we would high five he’d say yay PT t8 number whatever triple digit number. I’d be happy I’m locked gold tons of pro points everyone cheers everyone happy. But we ESports baby. T8s don’t mean shit. So I ask to see his list and of course, it’s great. I told him this isn’t looking good for you. U got mass manipulations no shitty colorless land only 2 temples this shit is perfect. Let’s play. But I was not in it. I felt a slight bit of pain for Paulo in the moment, and I also was just tired. LSU was beating up on Alabama and I had planned on watching the 4th quarter before Tom mentioned I should play. But at this point I felt I had to at least go through with a game or two. I may just write ID on the slip even if I win, we will see. He beats me in a game 1 where I play ok, but not great. It’s a short game and I go to put my Sb Into my deck. As I’m shuffling through trying to find cards to cut I realize I forgot his SB. And I also can’t even think and don’t care anymore, so I offer him the draw and of course he happily accepts. I tell him I just couldn’t do it to him, sorry I made him sweat! 13-1-2 1 Seed going into Sunday. Paired vs 8 Seed Sebastian Pozzo on stock UG food, Paulo V Cuneo are the other match on my side. I will write about day 3 and the T8 games in another post. This one is a LOT of words and it’s unreal if anyone read this whole thing straight through with no breaks. I’ve been typing this all day, and I don’t feel like proofreading. Thanks for reading; GG Yo

[revuedepresse30]

Vince Staples à l’Élysée Montmartre, déjà l’un des concerts de l’année

Véritable extra-terrestre comme le hip hop américain peut en enfanter parfois, Vince Staples ne cesse de surprendre et prend un malin plaisir à se positionner là où on ne l’attend pas forcément. Personnage imprévisible, expansif, instable, perspicace, presque philosophe, le rappeur de Long Beach aime incarner cet épouvantail qui choque, intrigue, fascine, échappe aux étiquettes et rit au nez des stéréotypes. Vincent interprète son rôle d’anti-héros pour forcer l’Amérique à se regarder dans le miroir et contempler les sévices de son triste reflet. À travers neuf projets, dont deux albums, il devient l’instigateur d’une exploration sociale et identitaire sans compromis, tout en explorant également les vastes perspectives du hip hop californien.

Summertime ’06, qui paraît en 2015, après quatre ans de recherche artistique, place Staples à l’avant-garde d’un rap expérimental et activiste. Un double album où son auteur prend de l’épaisseur et de la hauteur sur des nappes évolutives, tantôt denses, tantôt vaporeuses, tantôt rugueuses, tantôt souples. Puis, l’EP Prima Donna sort en plein été 2016 et amorce une transition musicale audacieuse : Vince Staples flirte avec l’électro avant de l’embrasser lors de son deuxième album, The Big Fish Theory. Au-delà du mystérieux titre, le gangsta rap de Los Angeles est noyé, broyé par des effluves techno et dance nerveuses et tapageuses sur douze morceaux. Une fusion sonore qui prend toute sa dimension sur scène : de nombreux extraits qui traînent sur la toile laissent entrevoir un show minutieux aux ambitions théâtrales, notamment le passage remarqué au dernier Coachella. Alors quand Paris Hip Hop a annoncé le crips repenti à l’Élysée Montmartre, assister à son concert mercredi soir relevait de l’obligation.

Vicelow tout d’abord

Dès 19 h 30 l’édifice à quelques pas de Pigalle ouvre ses portes aux plus ponctuels, qui montent les escaliers donnant à la salle de concert. Une quinzaine de minutes plus tard, ils retrouvent Vicelow, ancien membre du Saïan Supa Crew, pour une première partie plutôt anecdotique. Le rappeur de 40 ans présente son nouvel EP MID et interprète plusieurs morceaux du Supa Crew face à une foule quelque peu apathique, déjà la tête au concert qui va suivre… Vicelow chante, danse, blague, interpelle, rappe au kilomètre mais rien n’y fait, il n’y en a que pour Vince Staples ce soir. Seuls le technique X Raisons puis le sombre MBB, qui requiert la participation du public et clôt une performance généreuse, remuent l’Élysée Montmartre. Après avoir chaleureusement remercié les spectateurs, le rappeur français quitte la scène sous les applaudissements. Place maintenant à l’homme que tout le monde attend.

Party People

Il faut patienter une trentaine minutes et quelques teasers publicitaires, dont un pour G-Shock starring Médine, pour que les lumières s’éteignent et que l’instru du virulent Get The Fuck Off My Dick inonde la salle. Enfin, Vince Staples se montre, calme et concentré, portant un t-shirt orange vif à manches longues et son habituel gilet pare-balles (en référence aux trop nombreux jeunes noirs américains abattus par la police). Derrière lui, l’écran géant, divisé en plusieurs rectangles animés, diffuse simultanément vidéos, clips et séquences de films qui mettent en scène les vices majeurs de l'Amérique moderne : la drogue, le matérialisme, les armes, l’individualisme, la cupidité ou encore le racisme. Autant de thématiques auxquelles Vince fait face au quotidien et tente de déconstruire par la seule force de son propos. Le son est pur et les basses frappent, percutent à intervalle régulier, pourtant ce n’est qu’un avant-goût de la longue déflagration qui va suivre… L’athlétique Big Fish gronde et fait trembler les murs. Le visage fermé, Vincent débite avec rigueur un flow sans faille.

Little Bit, produit par les floridiens GTA, suit et nous immerge dans les tumultes d’un rap rythmé par une techno écrasante. Staples choisit la fin de ce titre pour se présenter sobrement et brièvement, il n’est pas là pour ça. Prima Donna puis Samo prennent le relai et Opps, issu de la bande-son du Marvel Black Panther, ainsi que le remix de Ghost par Major Lazer alourdissent l’atmosphère par leur étouffant métissage polyphonique qui convoque le dancehall, la house ou l’EDM. Ces deux morceaux explosifs et déstructurés nous amènent peu à peu à The Big Fish Theory. L’écran animé derrière Staples poursuit son périple visuel et réunit Chief Keef, Rick Ross, Louis Farrakhan, mais aussi des femmes dénudées, des organes, différentes parties du corps et un extrait de Black Panther. Entre toutes ces références afro-futuristes et transhumanistes, Señorita rugit.

Tout en maîtrise 

Vince Staples prend alors le temps de remercier ses fidèles qui continuent de le soutenir alors qu’il “raconte toujours les mêmes conneries”. Le voyage électronique qui se dessinait un peu plus tôt peut enfin commencer. Les fougueux Homage et Party People submergent de ses vagues puissantes et brutales une foule surprise par cette déferlante : le grandiloquent Smile, l’électrique Lift Me Up, l’acide BagBak, qui ravit les fans, bras en l’air, et l’urgent Ascension, en collaboration avec Gorillaz, sont des entrechoquements cinglants et saccadés. Ces vrombissements débridés, bruyants, étourdissants par moments, s’enchaînent sans interruption et hypnotisent de force. Seuls le ronflant 745, imagé par une balade en voiture au milieu d'un paysage aride, et le brumeux Rain Come Down, illustré par de courts extraits pluvieux de Blade Runner, Les Évadés, Singing In The Rain et V Pour Vendetta, apaisent cette cacophonie inarrêtable.

Le hip hop pur et dur est de retour lorsque les sirènes agressives de Blue Suede retentissent et que Vince interprète ensuite le chaloupé Norf Norf, une publicité Sprite avec Lebron et Lil Yachty en fond. La fin du concert est proche, le rappeur l’annonce, toujours aussi imperturbable, et lance Yeah Right pour une ultime secousse faite de basses saturées et de rythmiques tribales. La conclusion dantesque d’un show fidèle à l’univers sonore détonnant de The Big Fish Theory, mécanique et industriel. Vince Staples, en interprète mi-homme mi-robot, offre une performance maîtrisée de bout en bout. À la seconde près.

from Les Inrocks - musique https://ift.tt/2JxkChY via IFTTT

[wearfutch-blog]

Modèle: Morgan Rolland de Meurville

#4 The circle

Elle est là. M’ignore ? Oui surement. Ou peut-être qu’elle ne m’a pas vu. Ou juste fait exprès de ne pas me voir. Mais elle est là. Ma meilleure amie, Camille, l’a bien vue aussi, elle qui connait tout sur moi. Elle me souffle dans l’oreille « elle va au toilette… », ok je dois y’aller. Sûre de moi. Oui très sûre. Je trace un passage parmi cette foule de femmes, dans mon élan une amie m’intercepte. Enfin une amie, une connaissance plutôt. Je la prends dans mes bras pour lui dire bonjour. Puis m’échappe rapidement. La fille est surement déçue. Bref, j’arrive à la toilette. Il y a une ligne. Zoé est là, adossée au mur. Je m’avance à ses côtés. Elle me regarde : « — Hey ! Ça va ? — Lui sourit et dis, ça va bien et toi ? — Ça va ! » Oui, pas de rapprochement. Non rien. Une fille sort des toilettes et me regarde de haut en bas avec un sourire, lorsqu’elle passe devant elle me fait un clin d’œil. Heu !!! Mais voyons, de quoi j’ai l’air ce soir ? Elle m’a littéralement dévorée des yeux. Je regarde Zoé et elle éclate de rire. Oh, fuck son rire. Moi je fonds devant elle au lieu de rire. Elle s’approche de moi, nos bras se touchent puis elle me dit : « —Faut que t’arrête d’être aussi hot. — Hein ?! Bin là… lui dis-je avec un clin d’œil ça va être dure ». Je pouffe de rire, what (?) je suis sérieuse là ? Ok, Joy, concentres-toi et dis un truc intéressant s’il te plait. Seulement la file avance et elle disparaît dans une toilette. Je me lance après elle et je nous enferme dedans. She looks like surprised, so I take her head in my hand and kiss her. Elle ressert notre étreinte pour m’embrasser avec plus de vigueur. Ah… I wish, I wish to do that, but I don’t. C’est mon tour puis je rentre dans la toilette. Ah oui j’oublie que je n’avais pas envie de pisser. So, I just take my time and think to say something to her, but I can’t focus, I have this scene in my mind qui entraîne une chaleur en moi. Then I go out. Elle est en train de se laver les mains, on se regarde dans le miroir et on sourit. God! say something Joy! Tabarnak! Je ne suis pas capable. Mon cœur est déjà à mille à l’heure, si je parle je m’évanouie, I think. Je la suis dans la salle et elle s’arrête. Nos mains s’effleurent un moment. I take a big breath puis elle prend ma main pour la serrer fort. Et elle s’évanouie dans la foule. Je retourne danser avec mes amies. Camille me fait des gros yeux qui dirent : ALORS ? Je lui dis dans l’oreille : « Du Zoé, encore. » Elle souffle, puis m’entraîne par la taille pour danser avec elle. On s’enivre encore, je danse avec une ou deux filles qui se sont furtivement approcher de moi. Au bout d’un moment je me lasse, I don’t want more, because the only thing that I want it’s Zoé. Alors je quitte mes amies pour aller dehors. Je vois Zoé au loin, nos regards se croisent et je lui fais signe que je vais fumer. The air is warmer outside than inside. Je m’assois sur le muret. J’allume ma cigarette puis en relevant la tête elle se retrouve devant moi. Ces cheveux blonds presque blanc sont coiffés sur le côté pour laisser apparaître son rasé. She’s wearing a big white t-shirt with a khaki skinny pants with torn holes. Je peux deviner la forme de son corps en dessous, androgyne et musclé. Elle me regarde avec cette intensité qu’elle a toujours, this one that, I can’t resist. I give her a cigarette. Je sors mon lighter pour lui allumer. On continue à se regarder, elle me demande de mes nouvelles, and then I ask her back. We finish, je commence à me lever, mais elle s’approche de moi pour me barrer le chemin. Je me retrouve nez à nez avec elle. Nos respirations s’entremêlent et on commence à s’embrasser doucement. Oh my god… Toute de suite mes sens deviennent flous, comme à chaque fois. It’s the same thing. It feels so right to kiss her. When it’s happening, I don’t think about any other person. J’ai juste envie d’elle. J’ai envie de l’entraîner avec moi loin de tout le monde pour la faire et l’entendre jouir. Notre étreinte devient plus forte, on est comme imbriquer dans l’une et l’autre. Je sens ses seins pressés contre les miens. I can’t resist. But the problem, it’s the end. I explain, we will come back inside, drink and dance, we will kiss again, we will stay close and when the lights come on. On va se séparer. Et il n’y aura aucune suite à cela. Parce qu’après toute mes propositions, les possibilités qu’on aurait pu finir quelque part d’autre, juste elle et moi, she answer no and she won’t say why. She will say good bye. And tomorrow she’ll text me and ask if I had a good night. We will text for few days and then remain silence for a while. Until that moment that we will see each other again. Like a circle. She makes me so crazy. So, I come back to reality. Je me retire de ses bras. Elle me regarde interloquée et me demande : “Qu’est-ce qu’il y a ? - I don’t know Zoé, à toi de me le dire ? -Hein ? -C’est quoi le deal après ? I don’t want to waste my time anymore with you if it’s for nothing else. “Oh my god, qu’est-ce que je dis. Of course, I want to waste my time to kiss her all night. Je vois qu’elle ne sait pas quoi dire. J’aimerais tellement que son silence puisse parler, alors j’ajoute : “Ok, I see.“

[slocumjoe]

I don't know if you do romances companion requests but if you doooo.....

Could you do ram Lance's companions reacting to a sole with tattoos getting their name as a tattoo?

I...didn't realize it was a typo, and googled 'ram lance fallout 4 companion mod'...

I've said this before, but I'm solidly in the camp of "this is the final groan before it all collapses" in regards to getting tattoos for/with your s/o...so, maybe a little biased here

Cait; Unhealthy relationships + Sole is the only person who's ever treated her decently = she's the type to enjoy this. That sounds incredibly brusque and cold, but c'mon. Have you heard a romanced Cait? Girl is over the moon obsessed, has nothing but schmoopy heart eyes. Sole letting everyone know fuck you, I'm hers, they can expect Cait to cash that metaphorical check in. Immediately gets Sole's name tattooed as well.

Curie; ...it's a sweet sentiment, but...how positive were they, that the equipment used was clean and the artist reputable? Curie is a hygiene freak. Tattoos, even without the liability of being in a rusty, dusty apocalypse, can get pretty fucking gnarly. They need constant maintenance and care during the healing process, and infections can kill. Septic shock is nothing to wave off. She'll think its sweet for maybe three seconds before panicking.

Danse; Exactly like Curie. Very sweet, speaks to their devotion to him and them (as a couple), and then squints. Hey, love of my life? You got that professionally, right? Outstanding, outstanding...but what does 'professional' mean in a wasteland? Didn't realize tattoos bleed, so the first time that happens, straight to the most reputable doctor (Curie), completely convinced Sole is dying because of him.

Deacon; Not into it. Not even a little. They're spies, presumably. Having a big identifying mark on your body? Bad. Having a big mark on your body that identifies Deacon? Worse! They may as well have gotten a tattoo of his face, age, weight, and height on a wanted poster, are you kidding? Sure, cover it up, maybe, but its still there. There's still an artist somewhere who knows what Sole looks like, knows what tattoo they asked for, probably knows who it refers to. This isn't even getting into the commitment and vulnerability part, that's a whole other thing. But no, Deacon is actually rather horrified.

Gage; The same as Deacon, but less about commitment. If you've got Gage, you've fucking got him. It's the information of it. Sole is putting a weakness on a silver platter for anyone to take advantage of—displaying that Gage is something close to them, something that matters, and vise verse. Raiders are fucking vultures, they'll use that. Gage will offer to get matching tattoos that are undetectable as matching tattoos, something that a third party wouldn't know were half of a set. Like...Sole gets an evil eye, referencing Gage's situation Up There, Gage gets moving gears for Sole's status as a Vault Dweller. Shit like that.

Hancock; Into it as well, no drawbacks. Well, there is one, if Sole tattooed Hancock and not John. If they got Hancock, is a little weirded out that they got the name of a historical figure tattooed on them, that's kinda odd to him. Yeah, it's referring to him, but Hancock is only Hancock because he's trying to be–...John...Hancock...wait, so even John isn't...he's...

Has a mild identity crisis.

MacCready; He's 22. Yes he's into it. Yes I say this with derogatory intent. MacCready might not be okay with needles himself, but he thinks its cool that Sole is. And got his name done. That's...that's a solid way to commit, huh? He's more likely to carved their name into his gun than go under a needle that isn't a stimpak, but appreciates the thought.

Nick; He's an older man. This is the kind of thing that most people age out of, and Nick is one such person. Tried to get a tattoo for a guy he was sweet on in High School, at least, OG Nick did. Couldn't, being 15, but the tattoo artist didn't just turn him away, she explained why it wasn't a good idea. That stuck. Now, with Sole...he's more open to it. It's Sole, his partner in crime-fighting, someone he trusts deeply. They want to express their love for him like that, sure. He thinks its kinda crazy, but hey, this is the same person who tries to have sex with a robot with no dick, tongue, and barely touchable hands.

Piper; Piper knows all the tea, everywhere, all the time. She probably knows many people who've done this, only for the relationship to implode. So...Sole shows her, and Piper grins real big, says its sweet, immediately wants to have a Deep Discussion about their relationship. Did someone tell you this was a good idea? She likes it, very sweet, but seriously, this is the first cut of a thousand. It's possible to win her over, Sole just needs to reassure her that it was genuinely out of affection and commitment, not...like, getting out of the doghouse, or whatever.

Preston; Is neutral to it. He doesn't have the Dark Knowledge that people like Nick and Piper do, but he also wasn't ever...worried, I guess? Preston didn't need a sign like that. It's a take it or leave it thing. He thinks it's sweet, but it's not like he would have been worried if they didn't/wouldn't have gotten it. Also down for matching tattoos, though. Those tattoos wouldn't be as discreet like with Gage, far more uniform and clearly a pair. Maybe one of them gets the rifle from the Minutemen logo, and the other gets the sword?

X6-88; Coursers canonically have 'synth' tattooed in binary on their neck, so it isn't a stretch to think they also just have their...names? Labels? Tattooed as well. So, he's entirely confused as to why Sole tattooed his name on them. That's...his name. And it's not even in the right place, it goes on the collarbone...why did you do this? As a romantic gesture? Getting the same tattoo as your partner a sign of affection, then? But...his is his designation...wouldn't it have made more sense for Sole to get their own name tattooed on themselves?