#Honestly that goes for most of void champions

[womenofwonder]

My Kaisa redesign but I can’t draw so I’m just writing it

The girl’s beautiful face had been split open like a meaty Venus fly trap, bloody flaps barbed with teeth. Her stomach appeared to have been torn, not by the monsters surrounding them but by her own clawed intestines, which were now curling around her in attempt to cover her naked body. Not that there was anything to cover, her body had the shape of human but little skin. Instead it was all exposed muscle or scab-like armor the same dark purple of a rotting corpse. He could see her bare lungs, studded with thousands of eyes, her ribs and shoulder blades have twisted upward to create two wing like growth that hovered above her shoulders, emitting a sickly purple. 

[ardbar]

Do you think Evbo ever gets cravings?

Sometimes I wonder if a diet of only raw meat mixed with the natural magic that would come from being so close to The Void 24/7 could change the Noobs biologically. Not a lot, but it makes it easier for them to digest meat than other foods. Raw food becomes easier and easier on their stomach with each passing day. Over weeks their teeth turn sharp to help them rip apart the tough food they are given. They don't have the armor that the pros do, so the magic makes their legs sturdier. They can jump as fast as others without special training but the claws that can only be used through Leather Boots due to the flexibility of the material helps them grip the blocks better. Evbo has almost fallen many times because he tried to grip the edge of a block with his Talons and lean outward for a better view of something, only for his Talons to strike the metal of the soles of his boots instead of the soft grass and dirt. Their eyes shine back light due to the fact there are no light sources other than the sun.

Perhaps their arms are much stronger than any other layer as well, because they're the only ones who will sometimes slip and grabbing onto the side of a block they haul themselves back up. Never when a Pro is around to see them of course, but in secret they teach eachother how to Grip.

These changes only really effect those who have lived there for weeks or months, with Evbo and The Old Man being the Most Changed of all of them due to being the only ones who have survived there for Years. Evbo doesn't know why he makes everyone on the higher levels nervous when they look at him. He doesn't know that he literally registers as Other to them with proportions that are Slightly Off. Arms to thick, claws to long, teeth to sharp, eyes that reflect Golden.

Mmm, this started off as reasons why Evbo would crave raw meat and spiraled into him being Uncanny Valley to the Masters and Pros. But speaking of meat! I wonder if his transformation over the years left him craving the taste and texture of raw meat. I wonder if he ever goes to the Pro Level as champion to "inspect" the farms and take 3 or four raw stake and chicken and run all the way to his throne with them. I wonder if he has a chest next to it, packed with ice. A chest stocked with raw meat that he can tear into and taste Home. I wonder if he ever cries into his hidden meat stash.

I wonder what EMF thought when he became champion and found a chest packed with ice and raw meat sitting in a place only Evbo could reach before that moment. I wonder if he asked. I wonder if Evbo would have answered.

OOOOO THIS IS SUPER COOL! I really love the way you wrote it, body horror is just so much fun. This honestly reminded me of the Magnus archives a tad, so if you are into that sort of stuff I would check it out. In other minecraft related propertys I've played around with ideas of the void warping and twisting creatures into something that Isn't quite human, I think I have a grian fic about that floating around on a03. While it's not an idea I've given more thought to for Parkciv I still think it's really cool! I think it would also be kinda interesting to combined with another idea. I think it would be really interesting if becoming a god slowly starts to change Evbo, I've always thought it would be interesting if after becoming a god evbo starts to lose some of his human traits physically showing how different he was now than what he once was and the people he cares about. If this is combined with your idea about Evbo being different than everyone else because of the void, his godhood could slowly remove these traits and thus remove the last few connections he has to his life before. One day there would be nothing left to show of the time he spent everyday struggling it would be like it never happened, no one but him even remembered what it was like. He was scarred in more ways than one but they showed that he had overcame it, now it was nothing but a distant memory. He might even start to ask himself after enough time has past, did it even happen? It wouldn't be the first time his memories lied to him.

(btw sorry for being slow with the replies kinda had a hectic day and I didn't want to just reply to it on my phone)

[tuxedoferret]

Arcane finale was good....but

Spoilers for the finale of Arcane season 2, Arc 3 in general.

I'm probably screaming into the void but I wanted to get these thoughts out and see what other people think.

In general, I liked the endings for most of the characters. Their arcs make sense.

Vi, Caitlyn, Ekko, Jayce, Mel, Singed, and Viktor's story conclusions, I think were ended beautifully! (And Jinx too but I'll circle back to her in a second). Their endings made sense and were executed very well! I'm content with how their stories end!

And MOST of the deaths make sense... most of them.

Of course most of the minor characters are dead, no surprise since a majority of them we don't even know the NAMES of unless you scour the credits in the VA section.

Ambessa's death was well done, with Mel finally getting her mothers approval through breaking free of her control and finally being able to decide her own life and Caitlyn becoming a true leader.

The only thing that really bothers me, is the deaths of Heimerdinger and Warwick/Vander. Out of all of the champions in the game they're the only non-humanoid ones that made it into the show. They're also the only (game first) champions to actually die and they barely get to do anything. (I am one of the believers that Jinx is alive because there's no fucking way they would kill off one of their chief money makers, also based on evidence in the show).

With Heimerdinger in season 1 we see him serve as an oppositional force against Jayce, and then a mentor working with him. He gets kicked off of the council as a result of his conservative viewpoint. And he reflects on this, he leaves to go help the Zaunites however he can but gets shunned away. Then the goes and helps Ekko with repairing his board and getting home. In season 2 this continues with Heimerdinger helping Ekko get into Jayce's lab and them having the discussion about wild runes before getting sucked up into the anomaly. His last episode is him in the alternate universe with helping Ekko build the Z-Drive to return to his own universe. He puts it in the amplifier, is about to go with Ekko, then runs out and puts a few more things together and just... dies. Thats it for him. MAYBE he'll come back since he's a Yordle but this is new canon and the man had flesh and blood squished out of him. But in general his death feels cheap and unnecessary. What was the point of his death? How did it impact the narrative and what did the story gain from it as a result? Not fucking much really. He's never mentioned again afterwards. I feel like his death had no impact on the story whatsoever. I honestly think it would've been better if he had survived and returned with Ekko to fight in the battle against Noxus and Viktor. I would've liked to see him, either returning to the council or not, atoning for his mistakes by trying to make things better in Zaun with his inventions.

With Vander/Warwick there was so much hype around the theory that Vander would be returning as Warwick. And we were all super excited when that came true! We love it when the narrative rewards us for paying attention! But we get like... 3 episodes with him before he becomes a Viktor automaton. He was also still very much alive even after Singed drained his blood, so Viktor was wrong about how that would kill him. Warwick's role in the end felt very lackluster, and it felt redundant to just, kill him off AGAIN. Maybe I'm just a little mad because I have read up on Warwick and I feel like he had more potential for the narrative than just... make Vi watch her dad die all over again. The fight scene with Warwick could've been replaced with any big evil bruiser really (coughBlitzcrankcough). In general Warwick felt more like a Vi and Jinx accessory than his own potential character. Which kind of sucks. And maybe I'm a bit salty that we didn't get a full wolf Warwick. I think the whole his mind was reset/erased bit could've still been done if the explosion damaged his head and it healed back wrong/if singed replaced his head with one of the wolves' heads to make him fully Warwick in the end.

Isha's death kind of feels... not impactful at all to the story afterwards aside from Jinx's spiral. I would've liked it if her death did more than just that (Like I said, permanently damaging Warwick/Vander would've been nice)

This is about the league of LEGENDS and you'd think that Warwick and Heimerdinger would have bigger roles than just being killed off to further another characters story after barely impacting the narrative.

Also I feel like Sevika being on the council is like... stupid. I think she wasn't handled well at all after episode 4. She just completely disappears after running away with Isha. Why do we never see her hanging with Jinx and Isha again? I would have LOVED to see how Sevika reacted to Vander not being as dead as previously thought, the man she betrayed and ultimately ended up mirroring in the end with her refusing to give up Jinx to Piltover. I think it would've been fun if Sevika was the one to tell Vi when she woke up that Jinx gave herself up, despite all of Sevika's protests, an inversion of what happened with Vi and Vander. Putting Sevika on the council in the end is just kind of weird for her character. I understand it's like, the idea of Zaun finally getting representation on the council, Sevika getting a say in what happens in the undercity. But I feel like that could've just as easily been accomplished with finally letting Zaun have its own independence with Sevika being the "Baron" of Zaun, being the new leader. Because we've seen she's a genuinely good leader! She has a good head on her shoulders. It would've been fun to see how she'd struggle with being the new leader of Zaun, struggling against the Chem Barons if future series ever decided to look into Zaun again.

In general I'm fine with the ending of Arcane. But I feel like the endings could've been written a different way for those 3 characters. I honestly feel like it would've been better if the show ended off where the game picks up, and I don't even play League, I just like the lore from what little I've been reading.

[cosmicseapop]

My take on that one Bad Ending timeline

Sharing my brain rot with the void and 10ish people in this tag about that main alternative timeline that was touched on in Shadow of War, the one where basically everyone dead and started Malgor’s time loop adventure. 

So, the only events we got from that timeline that directly contribute to it ending were Gravelyn and Victoria’s death (and Drakath trying to get us to fight back or whatever, it not important right now). While it’s was sad and tragic and all that jazz, I honestly don’t think their death were the only things to push the Hero into despair. Like it wasn’t the first time someone we knew/cared died, probably the closest people to us dying but still (could be wrong about this, I did skipped a good bit of the Queen of Monster saga and still need to go back). And there was an extend, unaccounted for period of time between their death and the timeline ending, so anything could have happened. 

The question is what could have happened so bad to made the Hero to just give up? 

Second Elemental Champion War

Sure, most of the known champions are Good/Neutral aligned. Doing their own thing that may or may not relate to their respective elemental plane, just living their best life and vibing. Hell, a few don’t even know they’re Champions at the time of the Queen of Monsters’ death. I doubt any of them would have woken up one day and said “hey, killing some of the other champions who maybe or may not be friends of mine to increase mine and my elemental plane’s power sound like a great idea”. At least in the days following the Hero’s disappearance, they probably had better things to worry about than power. 

Gravelyn was the only one who was on the side of Evil and had the means to wage that kind of war if she wanted to, and she’s the first person to die. 

So who started it then?

Oh I don’t know. Probably the guy who focused on the ruler of Shadowscythe being the Champion of Light, in a position of leadership and influence to wage a war for the sake of Good, and already caused the death of one of her dead wife’s sister. 

Brentan 

Giant leap, probably, but hear me out. 

This scenario was brought up in the  Champion of Darkness questline, the what if a normal person killed a Champion and took their position (Idk if this got recon, but for the sake of this brain rot, it has not). So it is possible for Brentan to become the Champion of Light via being the one to kill Gravelyn. I don’t think he would kill her with in mind, since it doubtful that that info would be told to the leaders of the Alliance and became a closely guarded secret between those who initially learned it (I feel like this info is on the same level as the Hero being literal god). He probably viewed it as ridding Lore of an evil, and becoming the Champion of Light was a surprise. 

Obviously, this would happen during Gravelyn’s attack on Swordhaven. Maybe her and Victoria are having a duel and are avoiding dealing a deceive blow to the other, so he goes for it and actually manage to almost kill Gravelyn. Also, entirely possible that Brentan had a spell or weapon crafted to combat Gravelyn’s affinity to Light, like how he used Infernal weapons against the Infernal invasion and the net/spell Warlic made to ground Drakath. So while Victoria is either freak out on him for just killing her last reminding family member or just shutting down and the Hero is trying to save a dying Gravelyn, he’s celebrating his victory against Shadowscythe. 

Then boom, Champion of Light Brentan, and this is when things start going downhill fast.

There a few group in Lore that view Light as pure good and everything else as evil (ie the new Temple of Light, Higher Light elementals like Astero, the inquisition from that one Hollowborn questline) that I’m sure would be thrill to have a Good aligned Champion of Light that support their causes of ridding Lore of evil and monsters. I’m also pretty sure this could be why Brentan had Victoria executed and not literally anything else less extreme, these groups most likely putting the idea that she would want revenge for Gravelyn’s death since they were sisters and that he need to act quick and decisive for all that was good. No idea about Lynaria being considered the second coming of the Queen of Monsters tho since she was so revered for being the Champion of Light. Probably just propaganda/rumors from getting exaggerated and used to get Brentan to act quicker. I don’t think he would have wanted to execute Victoria straight off the bat, maybe just imprison her, but got pressured into it and started believing it was for the best for the kingdom somewhere along the line.

Of course, this would not have been received well by the other Champions, the Hero, friends of Victoria, and probably several other leaders in the Alliance. (Did you see the amount of side eye he got in the “Your Hero” cutscene when he was bashing Victoria’s leadership so far? like bitch you couldnt have done better) I can see them trying to talk sense into him about the execute, but most likely got the same response he gave the Hero about it, that it would be treason and they would be treated the enemy to Good if they tried to interfere (well in the Hero’s case, it was straight to being consider the enemy for even thinking about it but they would have been the biggest threat, but I’ll get back to that in a different part). 

Would they try to do something to save Victoria? Absolutely, but what would it be? 

I say there’s two ways this would play out, either all out war right off the bat or an attempted prison break to get Victoria to safety before dealing with Brentan. Honestly I say the latter is more interesting and most likely since no one would want a war with Swordhaven yet and Victoria’s niche was her spy network, and I’m sure some of her spies would already be working on getting her out way before being imprisoned.

Yet will that much support from her friends and allies, Victoria still get executed. Why? 

Maybe after Gravelyn’s death, the weight of everything just crushed on her. She wasn’t suppose to inherit the throne, that was Brittany’s right that she never got to claim. She was forced to leave Tara behind during the Infernal invasion, knowing that her sister would be brutally murdered and that she couldn’t protected her. She had to watch her dad slowly die due to his corruption then destroy the city he loved and kill his daughter. She was put in the position that she had to go against her brother in law for the throne, someone who was whole heartedly welcome into her family. She had to fight her last reminding family member the sack of her kingdom and had to watch her get mortally wounded and die. Victoria was going to be buckle under all of that at some point sooner or later, she couldn’t stay strong forever. 

Unfortunately it was now.

In the aftermath of Gravelyn’s invasion and death, I think Victoria just shut down and gave up. So when the rescue party shows up to save her from her impending doom, she would refuse to leave and accept her fate. At this point, she probably would fully believe the deaths of Gravelyn and Tara, plus the suffering of her people since taking the throne were due to her own failures as a ruler and accepted her death. 

Which would leave Brentan unchallenged as king of Swordhaven and in change of the forces of Good. 

This is where the war actually starts. 

Tbc later when i have the time to continue writing the rest

[thecoolerliauditore]

I think if you looked at the roster you could actually pin quite a few champions as nonbinary in some way but most of them fall into the "wouldn't realistically understand gender in the same way as the average mortal" sense (e.g. asol and soraka) or "literal concept that cannot be meaningfully gendered at all" sense (e.g. kindred) which would leave you with the same issues as just using something completely nonhuman like fiddlesticks where it's like. Technically not wrong and I would honestly find fiddle a lot funnier than vel'koz like at least fiddle is actually genderless but it's still kind of. an easy way out where you can just go "see? see? we have a nonbinary character!" and the nonbinary character is googaa the amorphous who goes "whats a gender???????? i just murder people!"

but yeah other than viktor I think you'd have to delve a bit deep into worldbuilding to meaningfully assign anyone else as token nonbinary. maybe malzahar lost gender to the void that'd be funny. the horrors made him trans.

unfortunately the stupid ass nonbinary vel'koz meme has made me actually think about nonbinary champs in league and I'm like 99% sure they'll just unveil The First Nonbinary Champion On The Rift! One day and it's some generic twink named Zap the Zaunite Skipperoo I actually think in my opinion that is objectively correct that Viktor would be amazing nonbinary rep even if he himself isn't aware of the concept I do think he would incorporate the complete shedding of sex and gender into his evolution theory and now the nonbinary rep gets to be a cool robot without having the attached bullshit of "robot as metaphor for minority" because I don't think that's ever worked out for anything ever.

[un-local]

Howdy, friend, have you heard the cut dialogue (Rogier's part is at 2:48) for 'dreambrew'? We have Stratek to thank for this gem.

Rogier's dialogue offers insight into his personality, namely his facade. If the Tarnished offers the dreambrew to Rogier after he becomes afflicted by Deathblight, he tersely says, "No, thank you. I don't need your pity." Then he catches himself, saying, "...Sorry. You were only trying to be nice. It would be my pleasure to take it."

I honestly kind of hesitate to call Rogier's affability a facade, implying a manipulative motive, but I would not go so far as to say it isn't something of a pretense. Concealing his "anger, grief, regret, [and] fear" may be his way of grasping for control, to keep intact the man he was before.

Our Tarnished becomes dear to Rogier, and Fia glimpses that bond ("[D]ear Rogier began to weep as he spoke..."/"I heard that you lent a hand to dear Rogier. He seemed positively elated."/"You truly are a champion. To dear Rogier, and myself, too."). He becomes very attached to us, though he holds himself back and only shares his elation in private with Fia. He is ""abed"" with her, so maybe his inhibitions slacken during that time.

Rogier, *clenches fist* accept our friendship.

I had not seen this before. Holy shit. Sorry for the late reply, but I ended up writing an essay about this, whoops. I’ve tried to segment my thoughts here into semi-coherent segments. Read at your own peril, I suppose.

First, I’ll preface with this:

This game doesn’t have NPC models that emote facially, which is a major factor our brains use to interpret meaning. Without it, the interpretations available to us about these characters are innumerable—I’ll give you mine, but there’s a whole lot more out there. There’s a good chance what I get from this game isn’t gonna fit perfectly into what anyone else will get, and that’s half the fun. 

(In Rogier’s case, I think having facial expression would be wildly helpful in figuring him out—particularly in the discrepancies between what he says versus the look on his face as he says it. But alas. It’s not in the cards for us. Life goes on.)

Now. Back to your regularly scheduled programming of “Madwoman Screams Into the Void Over Pixels, Part 48478456”

[1: IS THE FACADE MANIPULATION? ]

I don’t think Rogier’s cordiality is manipulative either—at least, not intentionally so. I think he just doesn’t like to rock the boat. In terms of social interactions, he takes the path of least resistance: saying whatever the situation calls for to keep that pleasant, distant civility that he seems to work best in. (The most obvious example of this being his line about “telling a good lie when I need to” in reference to keeping D in the dark about his aims.)

Although Rogier conceals much of his true feelings and self, I wouldn’t characterize him as maliciously deceitful. But I would say there are times where—despite his good intentions—his facade crosses the line from “politeness” into the more dubious territory of “lying by omission,” or even just plain lying.

(I think to him, there are times when the ends justify the means. But that’s another post.)

[ 2: WHY THE FACADE? ]

Now, this facade does help ingratiate him to others, and presumably helps grease the wheels on this whole “exploration of death” business, but I don’t think that’s why he does it. 

If I had to hazard a guess: He’s got a strong aversion to emotional vulnerability, plain and simple. 

According to his set:  “Rogier spent his entire life behaving with utter detachment. No one noticed the anger, grief, regret, or fear that existed along with it.”

“His entire life.” So it’s an aversion that seems to have long predated his interactions with the Tarnished, or even his time in The Lands Between as a whole. (He does mention first coming to TLB in his initial interaction, implying he’s from elsewhere. Most Tarnished seem to be outsiders, coming to TLB only after rising from death, according to Miyazaki.)

(Image from this post by yournextflame)

I think what you said—that Rogier conceals his emotions and clings to decorum/indifference as a way of grasping for control—is right on the money. 

[ 3: CONTROL OVER WHAT?]

Rogier is plagued by “anger, grief, regret, and fear. Those are all very strong emotions that, when expressed, aren’t usually done so subtly. For him to have control over his demeanor is for him to have control over himself. 

I’m gonna go out on a limb and speak from personal experience here: keeping that tempest inside feels vital to keeping it from wreaking havoc—especially on the things closest to you. But eventually, it gets to a point where any (conspicuous, non-casual) expression of emotion can feel like losing control. A breach in the dam, if you will. A little lets a lot out.

(I’d wager there’s a strong connection between him “keeping the mask on” and “dignity” in his mind.)

But keeping your cool that much, for that long, is alienating. Which eventually changes the homeostasis that you want to maintain:

“I can’t let them see me break,” (A momentary slip, embarrassing, but can be recovered from)

Turns into:

“I can’t let them get close enough to see how broken I am.” (A permanent, shameful state of being.)

Under that mindset of the latter, the new imperative is to keep people from being close at all. It demands “utter detachment,” if you will. 

[ Quick Aside: ] Obviously, the two examples above are cognitive distortions. But the emotional impact of those thoughts real. Consider how saying “ha, that was foolish of me” is much easier to bounce back from than saying “I am stupid.” The wording, over time, can change the way you see yourself, which in turn can alter your behavior. It’s a tough loop to be stuck in.

It’s worth noting that, in the long run, this kind of detachment can actually weaken the barriers that you desperately feel like you need to maintain.

Eventually, any closeness with anyone is just begging for emotional catastrophe. (“If anyone comes close to me, I will break.”) 

I think his relations with Fia (whatever they are) only serves to emphasize this. But more on that later.

[ 4: HOW THE CUT DIALOGUE FITS INTO THIS ]

"...Sorry. You were only trying to be nice.”

The delivery of that line is what stands out to me—when I first heard it, it didn’t sound like that was a good thing in his eyes. Which I think given the above, makes sense. The Tarnished’s kindness has serious potential to upend the delicate balance that he’s worked so hard to maintain. 

(Perceived kindness, I should say. The Dreambrew was supposedly meant to allow the player to see the secrets of the one who drinks it.) 

“It would be my pleasure to take it."

This line sounds like he’s giving a lot of effort to be polite and gratuitous, but I’m inclined to think there’s more facade here than truth. Maybe to other people it sounds like genuine appreciation, but in all honesty, it sounds like someone switching into Customer Service voice to me. 

But it’s like I said: there’s many possible interpretations. Have a few:

“This is a pity-gift, and this well-intentioned Tarnished is getting on my nerves.” 

“This might not be a pity-gift, and that is unfathomable to me. This well-intentioned Tarnished is growing on me and THAT’S getting on my nerves.”

“I was wrong to dismiss this as a pity-gift, and the kind gesture of this well-intentioned Tarnished is genuinely moving to me.”

Or, it’s not that complicated, and the tone is just a result of his general worsening condition. Reader’s pick. 

I will say, depending on how much the player has done for him at the time of giving him the Dreambrew, I think there’s a decent argument for the middle. As in, the distance is getting harder to maintain on account of his growing affinity/respect/etc for the Tarnished.

(I suppose it would be nice for it to be the 3rd one—just a genuine, earnest appreciation, accepting of friendship—but I’m… cynical. That’s not to say the Tarnished doesn’t break the ice with him—I think they definitely do break a fair amount of it. I just think some habits are very hard to unlearn.)

[ 5: FIA’S LINES ABOUT ROGIER ]

Fia, after Rogier is injured: “My dear... Have you ever heard of black knifeprints? Dear Rogier likes to talk of it when abed… […] These grand affairs are hardly my forté… But dear Rogier began to weep as he spoke… In truth I've heard tell from someone else, about the black knifeprints that fascinate dear Rogier so.”

Fia, after the Knifeprint is given to Rogier: "I heard that you lent a hand to dear Rogier. He seemed positively elated. You truly are a champion. To dear Rogier, and myself, too."

Oh boy. There sure are a lot of implications there! 

I have a LOT of thoughts on these implications. I’ll post about those separately, once I get my thoughts on the matter wrangled into something coherent. In the meantime, let me try to break down my thoughts on the above lines specifically. 

“You truly are a champion. To dear Rogier, and myself, too."

Like I said, I’m cynical. I’ve always taken that line about being a “champion” to them both as like, Fia being flattering. Not lying—because even when she tricks the player into setting up the circumstances for D’s death, she never outright lies. (“[...] It must have a special place in the owner's heart.”) 

I always imagined she had ulterior motives there, even if she was speaking truthfully. 

I saw it like this: the player helped Rogier, which benefits Fia, if she can get the cursemark from him somehow. So her high praise seemed, to me, a way to keep the player doing what they’re doing. This isn’t anything I have evidence for though, just the impression I got.

I do think that Fia knows Rogier well enough to speak to how much the Knifeprint meant to him. He might not ever intend to get too sappy with the Tarnished about it, but Fia knows him well enough to feel like she can speak on his behalf.

(Is that something he would’ve wanted her to do? Eh. I’d imagine not, personally.) 

Now, did Rogier ever directly say to Fia that the Tarnished was a champion? Or was it just something Fia knew on account of knowing Rogier’s character/dedication to his goals? 

I always assumed it was the latter. But there’s plenty of possibility he’s closer to Fia than he ever is with the player, especially when he knows he’s nearing his end. (The fact that he mentions D, but never Fia, makes me question that though. But he is a very private guy, so it’s anyone’s guess.)

“Dear Rogier likes to talk of it when abed [...] But dear Rogier began to weep as he spoke…”

Remember what I said earlier about isolation weakening emotional barriers, setting the stage for complete Emotional Catastrophe? 

Fia got close, and he fucking broke. It probably didn’t take much on her part either. A little prodding and few well-placed questions, and the house of cards came down spectacularly.

I can’t imagine his emotional expression there was voluntary, given the premises of this insane thesis. 

Additionally, this does mesh well with the fact that he never mentions anything about Fia to the player, despite the cursemark that they both seek. (And the fact that Fia says plenty about him.) It’s probably a sore spot.

[ Quick Aside: ] What was Rogier doing with Fia, if he’s so detached to everyone? Well, I imagine he had ulterior motives of his own, what with him exploring Death and all that. He was expecting to smoothtalk his way into some lead on the cursemark’s location, probably. Free embrace? Sure, why not. But he wasn’t going in there expecting to have any kind of real connection with Fia. So when she found the chink in his armor, it was a break he REALLY wasn’t ready for.

[ FINAL THOUGHTS ]

TLDR: Rogier's internal state can be roughly summed up as:

He's allergic to emotional vulnerability, and the facade he wears is more a reflex now than an active choice. By the end, the balance is getting very hard for him to maintain. Oof. 

So yeah. Cut dialogue. It does shed a little light on the elusive inner workings of the Roundtable Hold’s second biggest nerd. (Certainly the more tolerable one. lol.)

Also. What was the secret he keeps, Fromsoft? Don’t tease me like this, I have an action/adventure canon-divergence longfic to write! You can’t do this to me Fromsoft!!!

Loreminers please please please k;sdjfkadsfjs

(Or maybe don’t. I’m too deep into drafting Still Waters. If my characterization gets majorly canonballed, I think I'd rather just quit lmao) Also, Also.  On first listening, that “I’ll try anything once!” line fucking sent me for some reason, I was not expecting that. 10/10 game of the year

Okay, okay. Now I’m done. To anyone who’s made it this far, have a dog gif? I don’t know how to end posts. 

[dreamsmp-au-ideas]

If I may ask, do you have any headcanons for the hollow crown au you want to share? I love the new au so much!

Aw yeah. I have so much angst and fluff for this. This got so long. I have so many ideas

-Punz bonded with the kid after George and Tubbo’s spar and Sapnap annoying him into doing it. Several talks and meet ups later and he has told Sapnap and George that if anything happened to the kid then he would kill everyone in this fallen kingdom and then himself

-Several characters has seen Tubbo nearly die on one mask and they were all panicking when that happened. Oh god Tubbo please stop doing dangerous things and going into dangerous situations oh god

-Tubbo has magic as usual and those come in the form of Shade Soul, Descending Dark, and Abyss Shriek. He likes to use Abyss Shriek to get the attention of others and to wake them up.

-Bad, Ant, and Sam has adopted Tubbo as their child that they didn’t know they had after he kept on visiting them

-Tommy, like I said before, almost died in the Colosseum of Fools. Tubbo and Wilbur were watching and had to be restrained from going after Tommy. He’s got a pretty nasty scar from it and he finds it cool

-Due to new Purpled lore, he is simultaneously in charge of the Colosseum of Fools and is the Champion of it. He goes to Dirtmouth after Tubbo beats him and honestly he isn't going to stop being in charge of it but somehow he still gets integrated in the found family

-There are very few writings that were found undamaged in L’Manberg. Anything else has been burned or tore into pieces. The biggest destruction of history had to be L’Manberg’s library. It’s depressing to go through the ruins and Fundy can be found there mourning at the lost history

-Fundy, Phil, and Karl are the only reliable historians of L’Manberg, with Phil and Karl being the only ones who can really translate ancient texts. Ranbob would be on there if it wasn’t for the fact that he’s a Dream Kinnie and has a lot of biased history. Also he tried to kill Tubbo so that’s a bit of a downer

-Puffy has therapy office in Dirtmouth after everything. At this point everyone needs therapy honestly

-The Soul Sanctum fucking sucks and no one likes it. Both when the people there were uninfected and are now infected

-If you Dream Nail people like Niki, Punz, Bad, Ant, and Fundy in the beginning of Tubbo’s quest (alternate timeline where he somehow got dream nail early), you get very lovely dialogue where they don’t see Tubbo as a person :’)

(Punz: ...Does George and Sapnap know that it’s not really alive?

Niki: A void creature? No doubt to replace its descendent. That cannot happen. It will stop at nothing to reach its goal and I must stop them.

Fundy: Do I say something? I know that void isn’t really supposed to feel things or do anything but this feels awkward.

Bad: Why is Sam treating them like they can respond?

Ant: It’s been a while since a void creature came up here. If the corpses at Deepnest is anything to go by, I don’t think its going to last long.)

-To negate this, I have it so that Puffy, Sapnap, Sam, Wilbur, and Tommy all have early Dream Nail dialogue where they already see Tubbo as a person and think that he’s a weird kid but they care for him

(Tommy: I’m going to be friends with that kid if it’s the last thing I do. We’re going to become best friends and he’s going to become my brother!

Wilbur: The kid is a bit weird but they’re nice enough to listen to my rambling. They also been eyeing my guitar a bit. Maybe I should go and teach him some chords the next time we meet.

Puffy: They’re a little weird but they got the spirit. Might be a little shy but that’s okay. It’s not every day a teenager goes and adventures around here. In fact maybe I should stick with them for a little while...

Sam: The kid is alive. I don’t care if they’re from the void. I don’t care if they can’t allegedly feel emotions. They still should be treated like a person, because that’s what they are. A person.

Sapnap: Can’t feel anything my ass! They just went and light up when we went and talked to them! They have emotions. They just have trouble expressing them!)

-Nosk still exists in this au. First time you fight them, it takes form as Tommy in the regular fight and in Godhome, it takes form as Wilbur. It’s very sweet because according to the lore, Nosks take form of the people the person cares the most. Then it gets bad when it just turns into a spider thing. It’s nice after the fight. It’s terrifying during the fight.

-Tubbo’s least favorite places are Deepnest, Fungal Wastes, and the Infected Crossroads

-Eret, when they get out of the egg, is just freaking out by the world today because it’s been a couple decades since they saw the world. 

-Schlatt weirdly enough also gives lore on L’Manberg’s history but it really isn’t much. Just some stuff about him knowing that his ancestor was the last ruler of L’Manberg before dying. He doesn’t really care about it but it is interesting.

-Tubbo gets to have more boss battles with other people, as a treat. Sometimes the biggest bondings is beating up an infected thing. It also proves to be incredibly therapeutic for some people, specifically George.

[deiliamedlini]

I feel like I’ve taken a nice little break from Alone With You now that it’s done, and I was like ‘yeah, I need a little rebound fic before going back to the Pirate AU.’

So what did I do? Glad you asked! I started 5 new fics 😑. I’m trying to keep three of them short enough that I can turn them into oneshots, but it’s not looking promising for one of them staying short.

Honestly, I’m so bored at this current moment that I’m going to talk about them all below, because I’m just not feeling productive enough to open any of the docs. Maybe I need a more upbeat playlist, my usual writing one is putting me to sleep tonight.

For the oneshot hopefuls, I have: 

Gamers au: The champions are playing a MMORPG and Zelink happens. Idk, there isn’t a big plot really, which I need to figure out because I’ve had them talking about their cats for two pages so far 😂. Do you know how hard it is to write xPrincessZx and then italicize it every time she talks? I write her name wrong so often. I also gave all their characters a lot of detail in my notes: Mipha’s character, Rutella Zoran IV, is a Zora Cleric who specializes in healing and party buffs. I have all this information for all of the Champions, and so far, none of it has needed to be in the fic hahaha! Oops! This fic only exists because I was fuming over a Twitter fight I had a few years ago lol

Powers-gone-wrong Zelda: My friend and I were talking about how embarrassed we’d be if the person we were thirsting over could hear our thoughts, which led to a fic where Zelda is basically Edward Cullen and able to read minds. And then, I was rewatching H2O on Netflix, and I couldn’t stop yelling to the void that they should tell their parents that they’re fish and can’t go out when it’s raining, so Rhoam knows about her. Anyway, this one will probably be done first because I’m most of the way through.

Mob Link: I started the Sopranos, so naturally, Rhoam is a mob leader trying to keep Zelda out of the secret family business, and that goes poorly, and Link works for her father. I have a plot, but I think I need to change it if I want this to be a oneshot and not a mini fic. I also wanted it to be violent, but I am still debating how far to go with it

But all of them are just so long as oneshots, and I need to learn to chill out with these word counts!

THEN I have two that are definitely multi-chap short fics: 

A training au- BOTW AU where Zelda gets attacked by Yiga, so her father makes her train with a weapon to protect herself, and shocker, Link is the one teaching her.

Childhood friends au- Zelda has an older brother, and all of his friends become her friends, including Link. I’m struggling to figure out how to break this one up, because of the time jumps it has, I don’t know if my normal sized chapters will work. Prob going to be SUPER varied. 

These two are already a few chapters in, and once I know I’m not just going to do one chapter and then forget about it (*cough* Time Traveler and Her Knight), then I’ll post them before going back to pirates. I actually have a decent amount done for ch 2 of the Time Traveler, but I don’t have a solid plot because I posted it on a total whim, so I don’t really know where I’m going with it. Not every fic needs an epic plot, right? 

So yep. All of those are minimized on my screen right now and I’m avoiding them all by writing a post about them here instead of writing them. Maybe I should give them titles right now? That’s kind of productive. 

[chirp-featherfowl]

obligatory fantasy au

it's the one where i use google translate.

There aren't many people in the remains of L'Manberg.

Well. Let him rephrase that.

There aren't many sane people in the remains of L'Manberg, but really, those who haven't lost their minds while having lived in Athlios should be considered an endangered species.

Tommy doesn't consider himself all that sane - he is on this adventure, after all, but he does consider himself more level-headed than most, contrary to what Tubbo believes.

And adding his level-headedness to his general problem solving skills, he thinks that this whole mess could have been avoided if -

"- you just didn't visit the fucking End every day!"

Tubbo looks at him, in shock. Faux offense coupled with actual anger: never a good look.

"Look, we've got strength in numbers! A good amount of people is great!"

Tubbo is part of one of those families. The ones with "adventuring" lineages that stretch back to before the Portal opened up, probably. The types of families that pray to Xelqua - the types that send their children on quests at the age of six.

Tommy was the only thing standing between Tubbo and a full plate of armor (without the u, thank you very much - the freedom of the press is restricted enough in Athlios, and he can't afford the extra letter, no matter what Tubbo says.)

"Not when you've got Technoblade and - and a void creature on the 'added people' list! Look at him, Tubbo! Look at him!"

Tommy points to the scrawny guy with the silver crown. The guy is decked out in your standard "adventuring" gear that they probably sell in some pawn shop in Las Nevadas, with the added bonus of a black cloak and fancy white embellishments that definitely upped the price. Tommy'd assume he was a normal kid who just got unlucky with the corruption if it weren't for his freakish height.

Tubbo matches him with a deadpan glare. "Don't be racist, Tommy."

"I'm not being racist, Tubbo, I'm just -"

"Being racist," Tubbo nods sagely. The void guy, who's been standing in the ruined bookstore since this argument started, tries to speak, but Tubbo grabs his hand before he gets the chance to.

"Ranboo and I," he stresses, "are best friends."

"Well, I wouldn't say best -" he starts to say, just as Tubbo goes, with a look that could kill a man, "Best friends."

"And what's wrong with Technoblade? He's the best fighter in the land, Tommy. You're making him wait outside. In L'Manberg. You're making Technoblade wait outside in L'Manberg."

"Yeah, I got all that, thanks," he dismisses with a hand gesture that he really, really should not have done because fuck, his arm braces hurt. He doesn't even know what they're called. "D'you wanna know why he's so strong, Tubbo? He's a wrongin. Servant of Xelqua."

Tubbo frowns. "And what's wrong with Xelqua? Y'know, you've had it out for the Gods since the beginning of this whole quest."

He looks down. "I don't trust them."

"You don't trust anyone."

There's a quiet moment in the store (if you can call it that), before a man in a yellow sweater, abnormally long coat, and a weird cloth thing (hat?) on his head gently opens the door.

"Everything alright in here?" He asks, and Tommy immediately realizes that this guy hangs out with scammers and gamblers. The complete mid-tier rich guys, money not inherited, not fought for. Not low enough to enter the gladiator fights or manhunts down in Paratol, but not high enough to pay for clothes that don't have cigarette burns on them.

So, all in all, they have a champion of the Gods, a void creature, a rich kid, himself, a gambler, and honestly, Tommy wouldn't be surprised if Tubbo had more coming.

"Tubbo."

"Yeah," he replies, from where he was talking.

"You're insane. I fuckin' hate you."

"Mhm," he says, looking up at Ranboo. "I bet you do."

[prosenkhans]

Kobe

And they were going to a youth basketball tournament. 

Just think about that for a second. When we distill what actually happened yesterday to its essence, it was a group of parents and coaches bringing their young girls to an organized youth basketball game on a nondescript Sunday morning in January. There is nothing more vanilla than that. Then it ended. Just so suddenly.

I can online imagine the fear those 3 girls had in that chopper in its final moments, the bargaining that went on within the minds of those parents as that hillside emerged from the morning fog. I am not lucky, blessed, or even really deserving enough to know the joy of parenthood. However, even the least empathetic of individuals would be hard pressed to deny that Kobe was utterly in love with his family, and Gianna to her father. All the videos, the images, and interactions caught for celluloid and digital posterity, all of them showed a family deeply appreciative of one another. Beyond all things, that seems to drive this feeling of devastation further up my throat.

The level of tragedy is defined by the amount of potential lost within such an event. 

That fact that Gianna and her friends were 12 and 13 is more than enough to gut most people with a soul, however, the potential lost goes beyond even that. He seemed happy. Genuinely. Kobe seemed happy in what was in store for the rest of his life, his “second act”. The stone cold competitor with the icy scowl and bared teeth had transitioned into a statesman, an ever present and positive force within the game of basketball. Where once there were thorns, we now saw the pedals of the rose. Hugs and high fives. Congratulations and teachings. Puppets and children’s book. What we saw was a man secure in his legacy, and very much looking forward to the next chapter of his story.

But that story ended before the sequel could truly begin. As a group of people very much looking to see how the story would continue, we are left to wonder about what those potential chapters would have said. How would he have spoken during his Hall of Fame speech? Would he talk shit, or be humble? What number would be on his chest when his statue would be unveiled? Would he demand 2 to Shaq’s 1? Would we be lucky enough to be in the building when he and Gianna would sit courtside at a game? Would he still allow us to show him appreciation and stand an acknowledge the cheers? Would he be embarrassed by the continued adulation? Would we see him at UConn games, or maybe in an Oregon sweater? Would he be a leading voice in promotion of female athletics and the WNBA? Would he still allow us a peek in his mind, dissecting basketball games for public consumption? Would he write the stories that he wanted to tell? Would he make more art? Would he go on Kimmel and talk smack about the current stars of the game? Would he still smile and wave and take a selfie with us if we were oh so lucky to meet him? Would he continue to push us to be better? These are all questions in which we will never get an answer. 

The hero’s journey is not supposed to end like this. The hero fights the good fight, gives all he/she can give, and then ride off into the sunset. 

And I use the word here appropriately in this case. No, not a hero in the sense of how your parents and role models should hopefully provide the “hero” role in one’s life. No. Kobe Bryant was a hero in the sense that Superman is a hero to anyone that paid attention to his exploits. To my generation, a group of kids and adolescents that grew up watching him, Kobe is as much of a hero to us as Batman, Wolverine, and anyone else that wore a color coordinated uniform. He was an individual blessed with glorious purpose, a res on detra. And what made it better was that he was real. Real in the sense that we could actual see him be super, see him share his gifts, in real life, gallantry made flesh. What makes a superhero super anyway? Simple. Belief. We believe that when they dawn that cape, put on that cowl, they will be there to ensure everything is all-right. That everything gets the ending that we the masses so badly want. That they will come through when we need them the most. When Kobe put on that purple and gold tunic, he became our superhero. He gave us that belief, that sense of the universe being set right because he was our guy, and he would make it so. With him gone, it just doesn’t feel the same. 

I’ve been asked through the years on why Kobe holds such esteem in certain pockets of our culture. Every time someone asks me that question, I always think back to the quote from Norman Vincent Peale.

“Aim for the Moon, and you’ll still land among the stars.”

Within the fast majority of the collective consciousness of sports fan, there is one name that is always associated with Kobe Bryant. And that is Michael Jordan. Now I was lucky enough to have watched Jordan as a very young kid, fully appreciating the skill and special athlete I was observing. There is no denying of that. However, Kobe was different. Coming in during Jordan’s waning years, Jordan and Kobe never clashed at their individual apexes. A spry and almost cocky kid, you were drawn to him. He was just a few years older than I, and thus making him a huge part of those who would call themselves a millennial. While Jordan was seen as God upon high, the antecedent ruler of the NBA, Kobe quickly became the scrappy upstart. As the years went by, we were able to follow him on his hero’s journey, watching and developing into what he eventually became. A transcendent figure in basketball. And his game was so beautiful. The efficiency in his ability to score. The complete mastery of all phases of the game. His footwork was exquisite, it was art. His ability to hit the most impossible shots, and give you the faith he would make it. You had the sense watching him that no other human had ever played basketball as beautifully, skillfully,and as passionately as Kobe Bryant. You have to remember, Kobe played for 20 years. For most of my generation, that is more than half our lifetimes. We literally couldn’t imagine basketball without him in it. But why was his story so compelling? Simply put, Kobe was really the only one daring enough to challenge Jordan at his own game, the apprentice succeeding the master. He shot for the Moon, and had no qualms letting you know that’s what the hell he was doing. And I’ll say this. He touched down on those sands, stomped his feet, and pounded his chest, as to say “It’s mine now.”

The whole comparison debate and legacy really doesn’t hold much water. The game changes. Everything about the sport changes. The names change with each passing generation. However, Jordan and Kobe represent something quite different. While the pioneers and legends helped move the rocketship of basketball through the void of space, we can honestly say that Jordan was the first man to touch down on the Moon. He is the Neil Armstrong of basketball in a sense. All credit given. However, if he’s Neil, Kobe is Buzz Aldren. They are on that same rocket ship together. Jordan may have touched the sands of immortality first, but just like Aldren, Kobe followed him down that ladder and followed those footsteps to the same place. His legacy, his imprint, is right up there with the first. It is the sequence of history, with one’s value not diminishing the others’.  And just like Aldren’s actual footprints on the moon, Kobe’s legacy will be set eternally, looking down upon us from high.

But what will that legacy be? There is this silly debated, a national question of “who is the greatest Laker, Magic or Kobe?”. I always found the question silly. In short, the wrong adjective is being used. Magic, who is naturally gregarious, warm, and a welcoming personality became a leader and 5 time champion in his legendary career. Apparently you can’t be in Magic’s presence without wanting to hug him. He is the most beloved Laker. Beloved. Kobe, simply put, is the most revered. Revered. Kobe once said, “I always want to outwork my potential.” That was Kobe as a Laker. Sometimes cold, often surly, he was a driven kid that became a man obsessed with being the best. And it drove some people, competitors, and even teammates away at times. However, as a person who was privileged enough to watch his entire career, he did the one thing we can only ask for as fans. He lived up to his potential. As the world of athletics change into self branding, load management, and disconnected passion for the process of improving as a professional, Kobe stands as the shining example of someone who literally gave all he could to his craft. By blood, by sweat, and by tears.He dared to be great, unapologetically striving for perfection. He knew he was the best, and made sure that all his competitors and people watching were aware of that fact. He accepted the responsibility of the dawning the mantle, of being the standard bearer, the face of a sport. He certainly failed at times, but he never wavered in his journey. Often the most talented player in the room, his work ethic and drive was that of a player with a fraction of his gifts. And we loved him for that. You never felt cheated when you saw Kobe Bryant play. He squeezed every ounce of the potential within himself and left if on the hardwood floor for all of us to behold. He gave us championships, memories for the rest of our lives. He gave us that. He gave us himself, and we were so happy to see him walk off that court, thank him, and let him enjoy his next chapter. And now he wont.   

I can go on and on about this. I still don’t have the ability to eloquently describe all the thoughts and feelings about all this. I’ll just lastly state that we are lessened by the loss. Not just as Laker fans, or basketball enthusiasts. We are lessened as a generation when our hero’s depart with words left unwritten. We are lessened by all potential lost. But we go on. Jerry West, with tears in his eyes, said it best about his surrogate son.

“A singular word, Kobe, will resonate forever.” 

In a city that is defined by the brightness of its stars, the most brilliant of them all has dimmed from view, and future seems so much more caliginous than it did just a day before.

[snugglyporos]

So I think the problem with LoL lore is that it’s like a never ending game of telephone. Like, they introduce a new champion, with it’s own lore, and it breaks some other lore, and after like ten new champions some older champion’s lore is broken so they redo that champion, but in doing so they break the lore of everyone who’s connected to that champion, thus causing more problems, and no one seems to have any clear idea of what the actual lore is but for some bizarre reason they seem dead set on having lore and claiming it all makes sense. 

All of this makes me wonder why they got rid of the summoner’s rift idea, because at least then you had a core reason for all these things existing; oh hey everyone fights in the arena to solve their issues and that creates a lot of interesting dynamics and alliances of necessity or opportunity! but then they tossed that out and now there are just gods and exalted or whatever they’re called wandering all over the place and void creatures showing up out of the blue and apparently the best decision when dealing with this complex lore was to suddenly go ‘well ACTUALLY runeterra isn’t the whole world it’s just a tiny continent, and there’s this MASSIVE other one no one knew about somehow over here!’ 

Which to me sounds like what happens when the DM realizes that all his story threads don’t make sense, so he just uproots the party to a new place in an attempt to start over, but at the same time can’t let go of the old stuff. Like, it sounds to me like what happens when a series introduces a new character because they need to keep things ‘fresh.’ Or more like what happens when a series runs out of idea and so it goes into space because it ran out of ideas and can’t come up with new reasons for things. 

It’s chaos theory in action. Just watching the whole thing teeter on the edge of nonsense because the whole thing is a mess of background stories and flavor text. 

And it’s entirely self inflicted because it’s not like anyone is asking for a league universe beyond the game for the most part. There’s no real need to make it make sense because trying to make it make sense makes it make less sense. The more you define, the less it fits together. It’s like if you took puzzle pieces and kept trying to shave off edges to make it fit better, but after a while nothing fits because you’ve shaved off too much and now the puzzle doesn’t look like a thing because you’ve lost so much all over the place. 

It really should just be enough to come up with cool ideas and designs and just make them work. Because it’s a game first, and a story/lore area second. Without the game, there is no lore or interest in it. 

But honestly? I think they need to get back to basics. Otherwise it’s going to collapse in on itself. 

[downstvged]

s u r v e y  :    p e y t o n    p e l l e g r i n o.

what’s this? there’s something paper clipped to the page... a stick of juicy fruit. how thoughtful.

basic information

FULL NAME: jamie claverton  peyton pellegrino PRONUNCIATION: PAY-ton pell-eh-GREEN-oh MEANING: noble, royal REASONING: his kidnapper father said he always looked like a peyton. strong, wise, dignified. NICKNAME(S): pey, pellegrino, pillsbury ( monty ), sparkles ( tess ), etc. PREFERRED NAME(S): peyton BIRTH DATE: july 24, 2000 AGE: 18 ZODIAC: leo GENDER: cismale PRONOUNS:  he/him ROMANTIC ORIENTATION:  heteroromantic SEXUAL ORIENTATION: heterosexual NATIONALITY:  american. ETHNICITY: italian-american. his father’s got pellegrino pride.

background

BIRTH PLACE: milton, delaware  HOMETOWN:  milton, delaware.  his dad said he was born in ohio. everyone thinks he’s from cali, when they meet him. SOCIAL CLASS:  upper-middle. FATHER: presley claverton. matthew pellegrino. fire chief. 52. west ham’s most eligible and charming single father. and peyton’s best friend. faceclaim. MOTHER: theresa claverton.  francesca milluzzo. peyton never knew her. his dad said she deserted them shortly before his first birthday. SIBLING(S): none. BIRTH ORDER: first of three. the clavertons needed to fill the void. first and only. PET(S): none. but he adores anything fluffy. OTHER IMPORTANT RELATIVES:  n/a PREVIOUS RELATIONSHIPS: n/a. he’s always been too scared of his own shadow to ask a girl out. ARRESTS?: squeaky clean. PRISON TIME?: not unless you count double-shifts delivering pizzas.

occupation & income

SOURCE OF INCOME: works part-time as a pizza delivery boy at one of west ham’s most beloved pizza joints. CONTENT WITH THEIR JOB (OR LACK THERE OF)?: very content, usually! people tip well and peyton enjoys the small talk. PAST JOB(S): assistant life guarding at the local pool in middle school, but that quickly ended after he had a panic attack on duty. SPENDING HABITS: peyton’s pretty frugal! his idea of a fun time is boarding around town with monty, or grabbing a scoop of ice cream at one of the local places. he’s not too big on driving, if he doesn’t have to. longboards almost everywhere. his dad’s job gets them ample cash, being fire chief, but they live modestly. pellegrino men are humble. MOST VALUABLE POSSESSION: his longboard. unfortunately, his anti-anxiety meds.

skills & abilities

TALENTS: deduction, longboarding, mock trial, stage lighting, studying, making people smile. he’s mario kart champion and he’ll never live that down. SHORTCOMINGS: overthinker. often, he limits himself just by thinking in circles. he... finds the good in people. assumes the best. LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: english, and enough italian to get friendly with the kitchen staff. DRIVE?:  yes. JUMP-STAR A CAR?: yes. CHANGE A FLAT TIRE?: yes. RIDE A BICYCLE?: yes, but longboards are way better. SWIM?: yes. PLAY AN INSTRUMENT?: he has a guitar and plays it decently well. sometimes he’ll hum a little tune and strum a few chords, but it’s nothing too major. PLAY CHESS?: yeah. BRAID HAIR?: ha! him? able to braid hair? he wishes. TIE A TIE?: he can double-knot his shoes. PICK A LOCK?: no.

physical appearance & characteristics

FACE CLAIM: noah centineo. EYE COLOR: deep hazel, primarily chocolate with pools of mossy green. HAIR COLOR: dark brown. HAIR TYPE/STYLE: wavy/curly. it does what it wants, and he rarely styles it, unless it’s for a mock trial competition or a student gov event. reference. GLASSES/CONTACTS?: he has a glasses prescription but always wears his contacts. DOMINANT HAND: right. HEIGHT: 6′1. WEIGHT: 165 lbs. BUILD: lean, trim, athletic. EXERCISE HABITS: he’s co-captain of the lacrosse team with monty, so they have daily team workouts. he goes for runs a lot, and likes HIIT training. does longboarding count? it should. he’s boarded all over this town countless times ( it’s also how he chooses to deliver pizzas, when the weather’s alright. ) SKIN TONE: tanned, smooth. reference. TATTOOS: none. he can’t handle needles. PEIRCINGS: none. MARKS/SCARS: a few on his arms and legs from nasty longboarding falls. NOTABLE FEATURES: his wild hair. million-watt smile. USUAL EXPRESSION: peaceful, welcoming. CLOTHING STYLE: reference.  leather bracelets, cuffed jeans, lots of solid colored and colorblocked tees. when he dresses up for mock trial, the girls kinda swoon. boy looks dashing in a suit. has a glasses prescription but always wears contacts. his dad says he looks sharper that way ( but it’s actually because, with glasses, he looks too similar to the claverton family. )  beat up chuck taylors, kind of untied on purpose. he’s got that whole loosely kept together, sleep deprived look down pat. JEWELRY: leather bracelets. sometimes he’ll wear a thin chain. ALLERGIES: n/a. BODY TEMPERATURE: the standard. he runs a little warmer than most. DIET: lots of pizza. mountain dew. juicy fruit gum’s basically a whole other food group. PHYSICAL AILMENTS: n/a. he can be a bit jumpy, sometimes, if he’s feeling on edge. his left pinky kind of clicks funny when he makes a fist, from when he broke his hand his freshman year.

psychology

MORAL ALIGNMENT: lawful good. TEMPERAMENT: phlegmatic. ELEMENT: earth. MENTAL CONDITIONS/DISORDERS: anxiety disorder. SOCIABILITY: very approachable. warm. kindhearted. there’s a reason he’s the one tasked with getting class dues, as class treasurer. there’s a reason why he leads the lacrosse team. EMOTIONAL STABILITY:  typically very levelheaded. his anxiety can make that fluctuate, though. PHOBIA(S): having another panic attack in public. he hasn’t had one in front of anyone besides monty in a year. ADDICTION(S): does juicy fruit qualify? DRUG USE: none. very straight-edge.  ALCOHOL USE:  occasional, as much as you’d expect. PRONE TO VIOLENCE?: not at all.

mannerisms

QUIRKS: peyton shoves his hands into his pockets when he’s nervous. he always looks for monty or tess in a crowded room, to get grounded. whenever he wears a flannel or a sweatshirt, he always pushes the sleeves up midway to his elbows. HOBBIES: lacrosse, longboarding, mock trial, reading, parkour ( a phase in freshman year ). watching football games with his dad. trying out weird recipes. HABITS: biting the edge of pens. turning his head to the side when he’s listening. offering people pieces of his lunch until he realizes there’s nothing left for him. NERVOUS TICKS: not knowing what to do with his hands. trailing off. looking at the ground. laughing. counting his own fingers. biting the tip of his tongue. DRIVES/MOTIVATIONS: he genuinely wants to see people happy. he wants everything to run smoothly and willingly along.  FEARS: his meds will stop working. he’ll have a panic attack in front of his classmates, who are supposed to see him as calm, collected, put together. he’ll never get to know more about his mom. it bugs him. POSITIVE TRAITS: benevolent, bona fide, conscientious, suave, tenderhearted. NEGATIVE TRAITS: anxious, critical, restless, self-limiting, yielding. SENSE OF HUMOR: puns. wit. a lot of inside jokes with tess and monty. DO THEY CURSE OFTEN?: not really! he’s more likely to say frick or flipping than anything bad. CATCHPHRASE(S): “ oh shit ! ” & “ dude ! ” & “ what’s good ? ”

favorites

ACTIVITY: longboarding, hands down. ANIMAL: he’s got a super soft spot for rabbits. BEVERAGE: mountain dew or 7-up. BOOK: growing up, he loved the percy jackson series. CELEBRITY: stephen hawking. COLOR: green. DESIGNER: designer? he guesses, like... is gucci the right answer? he’s not really plugged in to that. FOOD: does juicy fruit count? FLOWER: he’s learning more about flowers, but he thinks sunflowers are pretty nice. kelly’s teaching him more about those. GEM: tiger’s eye. HOLIDAY: christmas. that’s when the famous pellegrino slutty brownies surface. MODE OF TRANSPORTATION: longboarding !! MOVIE: original star trek. MUSICAL ARTIST: saint motel. QUOTE/SAYING: “ we’re dead !  we survived but we’re dead ! ” – dash, the incredibles. SCENERY: rolling hills. sunset. SCENT: cinnamon. SPORT: lacrosse. SPORTS TEAM: in connecticut, he’s surprised he hasn’t been vilified for being a chicago bears fan. but he and his dad spent some time there, and going to those games became a weekly tradition. they watch them now, and it’s like a little piece of their story. TELEVISION SHOW: saturday night live, honestly. WEATHER: that golden-hour sunshine, just before sunset. lukewarm. mid-60′s. VACATION DESTINATION: hawaii. he’s always wanted to longboard down those colossal volcano-side roads.

attitudes

GREATEST DREAM: go into tech/lighting design for broadway. ask cassandra pressman out, for real. GREATEST FEAR: his dad won’t be able to function without him in west ham next fall. he’ll panic in front of people when he needs to seem strong. MOST AT EASE WHEN: he’s with his squad, the belugas. LEAST AT EASE WHEN: he’s allowed the time to overthink. when his dad doesn’t come home from his fire shift on time. when things don’t feel right. BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT: the west ham mock trial team won the state championship this spring. BIGGEST REGRET: he never pressured his dad more about finding his mother. MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT: he had a panic attack in the middle of his treasurer speech freshman year. someone pulled the fire alarm right as he couldn’t breathe. to this day, peyton has no idea who that was, but he’s so friggin’ thankful. BIGGEST SECRET: his biggest secret’s not even known to him yet. matthew pellegrino isn’t his father; he’s his kidnapper. peyton pellegrino’s fake. doesn’t exist. TOP PRIORITIES: having monty and tess’s backs. taking care of his dad, since he’s still reeling from peyton’s mom leaving almost 17 years ago. bringing the lacrosse team to the state championships. making sure every single thing he does for west ham high’s theatre department is flawless: making art on that stage. finding out how to... conquer this anxiety. finding out how to muster up enough courage to make a move before it’s too late.

[flickwatches]

OWL Season 2 Preseason Ranking

20. Toronto Defiant

I really wanted to put Washington here because I have no faith in that team.  But the Toronto has a main tank I’m unfamiliar with and Main Tanks were extremely important in OWL way before goats meta.  I see Neko and Envy and it really inspires me.  I see Bishop and I’m like wow.  But Bishop doesn’t really have a history of winning in Overwatch lately.  From London to Cloud9 he really hasn’t been producing W’s.  I like the roster a lot and maybe the meta shifts heavily in there favor but right now I don’t think Neko can fix a frontline issue.

19. Washington Justice

I do not like this roster.  The late addition (they were all late) of Gido and Ado really inspires me but if Ado wasn’t enough to get Shanghai 1 W than he won’t be enough in what mite possibly be a more difficult season. 28 games and more down time in between.  Well rested players, highly practiced, and prepared for there matches.  Janus is really strong in this lineup and so are the coaches.  I guess this roster would do pretty good in NA contenders. 

18. Chengdu Hunters

I don’t trust the roster or the process.  Highest level league play does something to teams with potential.  It chews them up and spits them out.  Maybe this is the good side of the Chinese scene that Shanghai never showed us in season 1.  I probably have them ranked too low but what the Dragons did in season 1 worries me. 

17.  Guangzhou Charge

Either this team will be surprisingly good or really bad.  It really depends on the coaching staff and how well they are supported by the org. A lot of there season depends on Rio and how well he works with the different players on the roster. They mite catch themselves halfway thru the season and start playing well. 

16. Florida Mayhem

I like the roster a lot.  I know BQB was accused of boosting but he’s extremely talented.  xepheR is really good. Solid DPS, decent tanks, good supports (hopefully way better than last year).  Coaching staff and org staff still seems really small.  They could surprise people depending on the meta.

15. Boston Uprising

Huk, Could be worst team in the league.  Three main tanks.  Poorly coached and managed.  Extremely talented players. 

14.Shanghai Dragons

I don’t want to rank them this low but I’m floating 3-4 teams around this spot.  They haven’t won a game in OWL yet.  Hopefully they have a nice schedule of lower level teams and they can produce some quality wins.  Org seems ready to commit this season so I expect huge problems will be scorched away quickly. 

13. Seoul Dynasty

Fissure is cool I guess.  They have a balanced roster, experienced team, and a schedule system that will highly benefit them.  Older players mite not listen to new in game leadership this far into there careers. I’m not very confident in there synergy and I wanted to rank them a few spots back.  They do have piles and piles of talent tho.  

12. San Francisco Shock

If we remove all the DPS players from the roster and look closely will see some problems.  Mid tier off tanks and mid tier main tanks.  New season same problem.  One of there main tanks need to play at a higher level.  Off tank can exist well enough if there main tank plays well enough.  Support trio could be strong depending on the meta. 

11. Houston Outlaws

I have my personal disagreements with how they play.  I’m a fan of them and they upset me from time to time.  In a goats meta having someone like Spree who can slide into that 2nd DPS spot and play Zarya is amazing.  They won’t use Spree like that.  Houston is going to fuddle thru the season and end up worse than 11th.  Could easily reach top 8 if they make good decisions before matches even start. They prepare pretty poorly and depend to heavily on classic 2/2/2 roster lineups to play the game.  Polar opposite of what the Eastern OW scene has been doing lately. 

10. Atlanta Reign

May have similar issues with Houston.  Roster has built in solutions to potential problems but the team mite not use them.  I’m very big on the roster even without Dafran.  Front line has synergy.  Backup Academy front line also has great synergy.  Supports are questionable but Academy support duo is extremely experienced and reliable.  DPS is very solid for a trio.  Has 1 map sub potential which can be very powerful in OWL.  Team is built to work no matter what.  Mite not be lead in right direction to succeed.  

9.  Los Angeles Valiant

There mistakes finally show up in there results.  Remember when “development” was a big part of there OW decision making???  Suddenly you have an APEX coach and his players are at the top of the roster. This team goes as far as Kariv can take them while covering every hole on the roster. Honestly if this team finishes top 4 with Kariv starting at DPS he’ll deserve OWL MVP.  \

8. Dallas Fuel

I’m very high on them and very low on them at the same time.  Added players, added coaching staff, re commitment to the team on a whole. Schedule change will be huge for them.  New season same problem.  What happens when a projectile meta happens???  They’ll be able to play it but main players who aren’t as good as the bench players will have to play or bench players will have to step into major roles.  Could cause problems with how well they’ll play this season.  Dallas and Seoul need to remember how to win to be successful again. 

7. Vancouver Titans

They will have problems.  May it be there org or just how there playing.  They will struggle.  But this team has too much experience and inner support to just fall apart.  Where the org or players fail the fans and team will pick up.   They won’t get this far and go down without a fight. The talent difference will start to show throughout the season but they will overcome it as a team. 

6. Los Angeles Gladiators

I got a little down on them but than I remembered how well they play.  The support trio will play well no matter what. Surefour will show up.  Decay and R0ar will show up.  Void should be better this season if they don’t want to play Bischu.  Will win games like they’ve been here before. 

5. Philadelphia Fusion

I got a little down on them.  I love what Elk will bring to the team but he’s just a Lucio.  Poko is the only off tank.  When will Eqo run out of talent?  Will they even play Fragi during goats meta?  But they are a force of nature.  Carpe won’t give up.  Much like the Gladiators they’ve been here before and it will show. 

4. Hangzhou Spark

 I am extremely high on this team.  And also a huge X6 Gaming fan.  Krystal and Godsb (a widow god).  Ria and Nosmite AND Guxue if they want to mix up the main tank role.  I love this roster and its potential.  Mite step into the league like NYXL. 

3. Paris Eternal 

Maybe I forgot to rank them a few spots ago and just put them here (maybe).  I was very high on France in the OWWC and was a little disappointed.  The roster and staff is fucking stacked to the roof.  From Kruise on Support leading the team, Main tanks Benbest and Lhcloudy, and to the stacked DPS lineup of Soon and Shadowburn.  If OWL ever goes into a Dive meta they will near the top. 

2. New York Excelsior 

Hmmm.  

Hmm.

Could be #1.  They have the roster to go 28-0.  But its 28 games will bigger breaks between games this season.  I like to think that benefits the next team the most. 

1. London Spitfire

Back to back champions?  Barely any change to the roster and that’s ok.  The biggest offseason addition was the change to the regular season format.  Strong new teams should challenge London but I knew a few will bow before the world champions.  Look out for a repeat.  

Conclusion

I wrote this far too fast and without enough research (LOL I guess).  I’ve watched a lot of Hangzhou Spark players already on X6 Gaming.  We already know how good some of these teams already are.  This is mostly speculation.  And meta shifts could turn this list upside down at any moment.  

[merlinthoughts]

Season 1 Episode 2 - Valiant

- ik for a fact that this one is the episode with the asshhoole. not bc i recognised it from the title but perhaps it was because i recognised it from the title u got me there

- i always go to mr clean too when i want protection, val, ur not alone

- yeah, this is harry potter l ma o

- the next thing u know theres a stone that makes arthur live forever and the snakes start joining into one and growing bigger until a phoenix (im dibbing on kilgie here), pops their corneas out

- DAMN DON'T KILL UR DEALER WHERE U GONNA GET THE NEW SHIT FROM NEXT TIME SMH VALIANT

- okay but who names their son valiant

- he was probably named valerie and didnt like it so he said “woah imma be valiant like courage, thats sick”

- that was probably his superhero persona as a child ngl

- no, shev, no respect for val stop doing this

- merlin in armour, what a fucking bLESiSNG GIVING ME THIS RIGHT ON THE SPOT BBC KNOWS WHATS GOOD

- ok a y but hear me out, merlins a servant. i have not seen any of these servants been asked to train with the royals??? like in the sense where it helps the servant train as well?? and the FIRST thing arthur does with merlin as his servant is train with him. not only is arthur a huge JOCK, he’s not using his manservant properly

- neverfuckingmind “most servants collapse after the first blow”, so it seems to be arthur likes to train with his servants. now that in itself is a question to be asked, but is he the only royal who trains with his servants??? how did this man survive on his own without a personal servant until merlin??? did he have a personal servant??? was it just regular servants?? who are those other servants he trained with??? did arthur just say hey lets go to the field in the morning, put on armour and let’s have a fun time?? UNLESS merlin literally just took someones job away from them kmao

- also my mind went right to the gutter guys, ngl, it sounded like an innuendo. it had me quaking i wish i was one of those servants

- “we all have our duties, even arthur” “it must be so tough for him, all the *hesitates* girl, all the glory”

- so we probably get at least 1 out of every 2 episodes where there’s a scene with merlin dressing arthur in his armour. bring the popcorn, lads.

- MORGANA LOOKING LIKE A FRICKEN SNACK

- the reigning champion is arthur, wonder fucking w h y

- valiant is in fucking mustard, while arthur is fucking ketchup idk why i thought of that but it happened. my literature teacher always told me to look for symbolisms. guess we found one guys.

- merlin after hating on arthur for the past episode is literally just cheering arthur on like a good husband he is

- did ARTHUR JUST SNICKER AT MERLINS “CREEP” LMAO DON'T TRY AND HIDE IT BY HUFFING AT HIM AFTERWARDS YOU FUCKING GOOF

- omg he hid it by telling merlin to do a full novel of chores

- AND MERLIN DOES IT WITH MAGIC A PAIR OF GOOFS

-  “are you using magic again” “no” merlin ffs he just saw you use magic, while the items fell and landed right in front of him while you didn’t move at aLL. they are nOT BLIND

- “very aggressive style” I MEAN SURE UTHER

- valerie be fuckboying morgana lmao with a “i saw you watching” and a, “then i will give everything to win the tournament”

- i wish this show was set in the early 2000s so i can see val in low sweatpants, a backwards cap with gelled spiky hair and cheap neon sunglasses (maybe even some gold teeth just for kicks), while hes trying to rap 50 cents or make a mixtape of brit pop songs. bc yes.

- honestly im loving my 2000 fuckboy au. gonna make an ao3 after this.

- of course merlin would be the one to find out the magic shit in valiants room, it just lures him. AND OF COURSE VALIANT IS THERE

- i'm so fucking glad arthur looks confused as to how merlin did what he asked. when u have this kind of hubby, arthur, its amazing what things he can do.

- i dont know why theres dramatic music as merlin put armour on arthur but im living for it

- “is it my imagination or are you beginning to enjoy yourself?” merlin doesn't know what to say to that bc he’s turning gay and doesn't know if that counts as enjoying oneself when the one you are gay for is the asshole prince

- typically enough, valiant and arthur never fight except for the finale. like with all conveniences in place, youd expect them to have at least fought at some point with as much knights as there to determine the final two but no, just the finale. k.

- this poor fucking purple knighted bloke didn’t need to be fucking demonstrated on, val. like you didn't need to kill him?? that could have blown ur cover

- DID NOBODY SEE THAT??? DID NOBODY SEE THE FUCKING SNAKES???

- oooh merlin found out what happened everyone gonna be fucked. nobody harms arthur is he has something to say about it

- if someone starts off a sentence with “i just saw someones snakes on their shield come alive” nobody would fucking believe you, merls. but given the fact that magic exist… mhh maybe it wouldn’t be too absurd. but ppl apparently are thick as hell

- “why were you in his chambers” well i know how id explain if i was in valiants chambers ;)

- jk i dont fall for this toxic shit

- imagine getting paid as an actor just just lie down there like this poisoned kid. “yeah, id like to audition for ewan’s role???” “why are you lying on the ground?”

- i hate those tropes where it's like “i know how to tell someones bad, here’s proof” and then nobody believes you and tells you you’re lying and should die or whatever but then you kNOW IT'S THE FUCKIN TRUTH BITCH that trope gives me damn anxiety >:((

- yes merlin, fucking slash the shield with your sword. i'm sure that's how it works. im sure it will kill the snakes.

- HOWA RE THE SNAKES ALIVE WITHOUT VAL SAYING “ISHNAHASHAHI”

- i think val would know that you cut off the snake’s head, merls, just saying. ur were the oNLY ONE.

- TELL ARTHUR WHAT??? “I CUT A SNAKE”

- EXACLTY ONG THAT'S WHAT MERLIN FUCKING SAID I WAS RIGHT LMAO

- ARTHUR BELEIVED HIM I'M FUCKING LIVING BUT IK WHAT HAPPENS AND AHH

- uhhh the anxiety is rolling up boys

- ewan is mcfuckingdead

- snake be sliding in like a hoe on a business

- bfehfjdjfskf i hate this part

- arthur's pride, merlin’s pride, fuck me

- i'm not even gonna write this part, it breaks my fragile heart when arthur sees the look of people not believing him, especially his dad, and merlin seeing how arthur doesn't trust him anymore like prepare the eulogies girlies

- okay but if arthur is struck and gaius has the antidote?? arthur aint gonna die technically

- but now val knows merlin knows

- AND MERLIN INTERVENES

- why are royals so bitchy towards servants. like they do their best to help you??? they are loyal to you and are paid there to serve you and are often very kind, generous, passive, understanding people??? yet merlin interrupts uther and he fucking sends him to the pit

- VAL YOU ASS LMAO DON'T HURT MY SON’S PRIDE

- he said allegations like four times, yes uther we know ur vocab is shining with intellect but seriously, there’s other synonyms that could still be acceptable and still sound fancy

- quick search on google bc my mind doesnt roll fast enough: claim, assertion, charge, accusation, declaration, statement, contention, deposition, argument, affirmation. see daddy uther, not hard to look up.

- forget they didnt have internet whoopsies

- :((( arthur doesn't trust merlin anymore

- the husbands FIGHT

- not just a banter petty fight, this is a huge fight

- SACKING MERLIN DON'T FUCKING SACK MERLIN YOU GOOF

- TRUST UR HUBBY

- FUCK

- I'M GONNA CRY AND IT'S ONLY EPISODE TWO

- I'M HAVING EMOTIONAL PROBLEMS CONCERNING MY TWO BOYS

- GUYS IM NOT OKAy

- its been 2 minutes after i wrote that last sentence, and i am now okay

- “a half cannot truly hate that which makes it whole” iconic as hell. so many things could be said about that quote. either for innuendo purposes, love purposes, destiny purposes, how long it took me to say it right, just so many purposes man. it’s just iconic.

- merlin looks absolutely done with kilgaharama’s shit

- “just give me a straight answer” seems like kilgarass here is being too gay for merlin

- gwen already knows merlin’s the heroin of the series, saying everyone knows it's merlin who will save the day. but same tbh

- i dunno if this is like me or not but it says her nickname is gwyn in the subtitles but im typing it as gwen which i thought was how u wrote it, even if her full name is gwynevere but like gwen has a ring to it while gwyn sounds like gwin or smth and i dunno which one is right so ill just leave it alone ahjsjfk

- MORGANA HAS VISIONS WE ALREADY KNOW WHERE THIS GOES SHES MAGIC ISNT SHE HAHAHAHAUHD

- merlin trying one last time to convince his husband not to die, but at least this time arthur knows he’s up for val’s magic and is like “k iloveyou but i have to do this for the country not just bc of pride and thinking val is not magic”

- staring into the fire like he’s hoping it would suck him up into the void, not only is merlin a now confirmed emo, so is fucking arthur it seems. perfect for one another i'm telling you

- eerie music as morgana enters… wha suddenly i can't read

- i thought at first morgana and arthur were gonna end up together cause of the fucking weird tension going on and i was prepared to be disfuckinggusted but no! the show and producers actually put my expectations away and helped me see that it wasn’t going in that direction! thank fucking god! 

- k but arthur looks majestic in his gear im just a huge bi

- “don’t go into my room” he says then gaius peaks in and almost gets mauled by a large chihuahua

- me too val, id step on someone's toes then fuck them up with an undercut. thats the bad bitch way to go. unless it for arthur, then val hahaha you can go fuck yourself

- no one sees mErLin??

- but they now see the snakes smh fakes

- “what are you doing? i didn't summon you” i don't think that will work val cause you didn't say it with a serpent tongue, it has to sound more like “shhashhwhat ahhssare hiisssyou iisshhaadoing?”

- okay but i thought arthur was impaled for a half second until he started to talk then i screamed that he was aight and he would now believe merlin

- uther better give merlin an apology

- arthur just said he wouldnt

- but still uther BETTER APOLOGISE TO FUCKING MERLIN

- “yknow i wish valiant was escorting me” “me too” i thought for a fricken moment arthur wished valiant would have escorted HIM. i'm dying.OMG

- “i wanted to say i made a mistake. it was unfair to sack you.” “don’t worry about it. buy me a drink and we’ll call it even.” DID YOU JUST SAY WHAT I THINK YOU JUST SAID MERLIN YOU SLY DOG OMG

- “i can’t really be seen to be buying drinks for my servant.” so if he wasn’t ur servant?? you’d say yes?? they are so fucking gay i can't anymore

- yeah, i literally fucking can't

[irohparker]

I have THOUGHTS on the Ash v Steven Battle and need to release them into the void of this site. 

SPOILERS FOR EP118 OF POKEMON JOURNEYS. IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED ASH V STEVEN, DO NOT READ THIS!! 

OK because of the sheer premise that Ash is ranked 8 in the world and is fighting Steven, I am giving this battle some slack, it was still really cool and fun to watch. BUT honestly was the most disappointing battle in terms of pacing and highlighting everyone’s mons. I don’t usually like to rewrite battles bc I believe the writers can make those calls and I should respect that, but this was bad fam. 

1st, ASH WHY DID YOU USE A DRAGON TYPE AGAINST A STEEL TYPE TRAINER??? YOU HAVE TWO FIGHTING TYPES

2nd, Aagron only went down from burn damage??? WHAT?!?!

3rd, WHY did they make gengar and pikachu look like chumps in this episode?? 

4th, Please stop with the ohkos journeys, plleeeaaaasssseeeee. 

ok ok time to rewrite this a bit: 

1st, Ash uses Sirfetch instead of Dracovish, the other forgotten Ketchum Mon. Sir you are fighting Cynthia next round, SAVE YOUR DRAGONS! 

Round 2: Sirfetch v Metagross: Just like with dracovish, Ash finds a way to repel Metagross’s psychic thanks to Paul’s training. Metagross takes a bit of damage from Sirfetch, but Steven switches in Aagron. Sirfetch and Aagron duke it out, and it is a double knockout. 

Round 3:  Gengar v Cradilly: I would keep most of the battle the same until Gengar is about to get blasted with meteor beam while trapped. The only difference is Gengar uses will o wisp at the beginning, which is why Cradilly is using ingrain. At this point, Ash realizes that if he recalls Gengar to G-Max, he can get out and gain an advantage. G-Max Gengar uses Max Ooze and beat Cradilly. 

Round 4: Mega Metagross v G-Max Gengar: Metagross is easily countering all moves that GG is throwing at it and is evening damaging Gengar with Meteor Mash. As it powers down, Metagross is about to finish it off with psychic but Ash gets a will o’ wisp off right before Gengar goes down. This shows HOW BUSTED Mega Metagross truly is and makes the final battle even more intense.

Round 5: Mega Metagross v Pikachu: Metagross is mostly fine, but took a bit of damage from Sirfetch and is burned from Gengar, which shows party solidarity for the final fight. Pikachu is not just firing thunderbolts off in vain and is actually combining its moves and trading blows with Metagross. It still struggles against meteor mash and psychic but Ash has faced this before with other trainers. He finds a way to slowly chip at Metagross and eventually traps it with electroweb. It gives Ash just enough time to recover and go in for a thunderbolt as Metagross gets out and charges in with Meteor Mash. Pikachu takes the hit, but quickly rebounds with Iron Tail to finish the match. If you want to show how OP pikachu is, have it defeat a MEGA without a gimmick move. (I did enjoy the fluidity of the z-move is this episode, it was really cool how metagross was dodging it and Pikachu used it to counter flash cannon, but still...) 

Idk maybe it’s just me, but this feels like a much better paced episode. Maybe it would have taken more time, which could be why they did not do this, but at least this way everyone gets a chance to shine and Ash can use G-Max in the M8 Arc. He is obviously gonna mega evolve lucario in the Cynthia fight and I just have to imagine 10M Volt Thunderbolt would be used against Leon. 

IDK thanks for listening to my rant and battle rewrite, I don’t normally do this, but this episode just felt...so disappointing. I love that we are in this place to begin with, Ash is one of the TOP 8 Trainers IN THE WORLD AND IS FIGHTING CHAMPIONS. But the Episodes do not reflect the amount of hype that should be recognized. Leon v Alain was terrible, but I get why they did it. Lance v Diantha and Iris v Cynthia were GREAT and AMAZING. This just felt like a bit of a waste...

[weraceasone]

Hi Elle, is there any chance Red Bull might bring Pierre back to Red Bull in 2022? I feel like he’s more experienced now. I know there like a 90% chance they will replace Checo with Yuki but don’t you think that Pierre is the better choice?

It’s been years since Red Bull won their constructor title. Since way back they’ve been treating their drivers like shit (that sounds harsh but I’ve read a whole thread on Red Bulls shitty treatment). They can’t force the strategy that they’ve been using for years. It’s not working anymore. It’s like when a baby tries to put a circle block of a shape sorter into the hole of a rectangle, it’s not working! (Look up on Google: shape sorter lol)

With this trash way of working they might never achieve what they want (win the constructor title). Max can’t do all the work (even if he thinks he can). Is it so hard to focus on two drivers? The time is thicking, Marko and Christian are getting older, if they want to experience winning the constructor title, they really need to tackle their way of working differently.

But I do need to be careful with critiquing them because I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. They might have a master plan for upcoming race season... But I don’t really see them winning the title anytime soon tbh.

I’ve noticed that this is not really a positve ask haha so let me end positive; I absolutely love how you explain stuff. Your long answers are such a blessing and a breath of fresh air. I saw you made a tag with your favorite asks and answers, I’ll definitely take my time to read those while drinking hot chocolate!

hey Anon!

hmmm… I’m honestly not too sure if they’ll do that. I guess it really depends on what Yuki’s results will be next year. if he doesn’t do very well, then I guess it would more plausible that they will promote Pierre again. if he does do well, then I fully expect them to promote Yuki. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but I personally think Checo is just warming that seat next to Max until someone better comes along. Checo is an incredible driver, but he’s also not the youngest anymore, so I doubt they have a long-term plan for him. I personally think the most likely scenario for 2022 is that if Yuki does well, they’ll promote him to Red Bull and they’ll either drop Checo or demote him to Alpha Tauri, based on if they have a younger driver who can fill that seat or not. if it’s the better choice to go for Pierre, I don’t really know. I am honestly not too sure how he would handle the pressure if he got put in that Red Bull again and I don’t really want to see him struggle again. maybe he feels more ready now, but I honestly don’t really know.

Red Bull’s strategy is just… it just doesn’t work. we’ve seen that year after year. I kind of understand that they feel as if they’re in a hurry because Max is ready to become a champion and they also want to break the record for youngest world champion, but if it hasn’t worked in years, who would it suddenly work? isn’t it naïve to think that if you keep on doing something in the way you’ve always done, you suddenly get a different outcome? like you said, it’s just not working anymore. I just think they’ve failed, because if you fail to make the best car and fail to make a car that’s drivable for both of the drivers, you’re just not doing a good job, in my opinion.

like you also mentioned, I do find it hard to critique them because I don’t know exactly what goes on behind the scenes and how the drivers are treated. I don’t know about the words that have been said to Alex or Pierre or any other driver, but I do know the way Alex and Pierre handled themselves in the media. I think their faces, after they didn’t do a good enough job, said it all. it just wasn’t healthy.

thank you so much for your kind words, Anon!! they really, really do mean a lot to me. it makes me so happy to know you enjoy reading my answers (sometimes I just feel as if I’m screaming into the void). I hope you also enjoy the answers that I put in that tag, that would make me really happy🧡. thank you again and I hope you’re having a good day, Anon! 🧡