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theonetheycallhannah · 4 years

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The Treatment of Captain Syverson-Chapter 13: SNAFU

Characters: Captain Syverson, various original minor/supporting characters.

Summary: Sy has some time to think about his past, present, and future while roughing it in the Virginia wilderness which leads him to a revelation about what he really wants…but is it too late?

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Word Count: 4.7k

Warnings: Mild language, mature themes, military and weapon terminology, discussion, and use. (For those who don’t know, SNAFU is a term coined in the military. It’s an acronym for “Situation Normal, All Fucked Up.” And since this is from Sy’s perspective, I thought a military term, as opposed to a therapy term would be appropriate.)

Author’s Note: Despite this being the longest chapter, clocking in at almost 5k, it was one of the easiest to write, and came the quickest. I love writing from Sy’s perspective, and the pure love he has for Shane. I’m hoping to be able to write a bit more of his POV before the story is complete. We’ll see. I apologize if it seems like one long rant about Sy’s feelings…I guess that’s what it is, with various activities peppered in. He can be a sensitive guy, and I wanted to show that.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately for me, Henry is not mine, le sigh, and all mention of him, his characters, any characters from his films, or his precious doggy, Kal, are strictly for transformative and recreational use. I neither ask for, nor accept payment for the work I post on Tumblr or AO3. Unbeta’d because this is for fun and escapism.

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Hope I’m not forgetting anyone! If you want to be notified when I post a new chapter or work, I’ll be happy to add you to my tag list! Stricken blogs are getting personal messages from me when a new chapter is uploaded because Tumblr’s faulty tagging system will not stand in the way of me delivering what the people want!(?) lol! (Although…their lackadaisical notification system might…sorry for that. I have no control. lol!)

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Sy was no whimp. That much was certain. Missouri winters had toughened him up more than most men in his battalion and most of the participants in the training he was currently undertaking.

But it was more than that. Sy was uniquely prepared for the elements. He remembered a particularly harsh December night during Christmas break, before he joined the service when he was home alone and had to let the dog out. Fool that he was, he wore no shoes. Greater fool, he'd allowed the door to the back yard to close…and unfortunately, it had a tendency to lock. Which it did. He tried fruitlessly for a while to break back in, but being without a cell phone, he knew he'd have to walk a good distance for help with the lock.

He slipped out the gate and started up to the road, to follow it to his grandparents a few miles away. The county road wasn't the best kind for walking, particularly barefoot in the late fall, but his feet were soon too numb to feel the gravel and whatever else was lacerating the soles of his feet. After about an hour, he made it there, shivering, knocking frantically and waking his frail old grandparents up to rescue him from his own negligence. He'd regret that until the day he died. Not that they were angry about it. They shrugged it off. His grandma cleaned the blood and dirt from his feet and bandaged the shallowed abrasions. They didn't look too bad, considering the area they lived in and the trash that could have been waiting to carve him up. Then she set about cleaning up Sy's messy footprints from her normally immaculate floor. Grandpa looked all over for their spare keys to Sy's and his mom's house, and finally found them. He lent him a pair of shoes, drove him back home, and let him in the house. After that, Sy found himself eager to spend time outdoors during colder weather. As if determined to build up a tolerance to it in case he ever found himself in such a situation again.

Now, despite the time of year being only late August, it was unseasonably cool, especially at night, as if Christmas was right around the corner, and Sy was wishing more and more that he had someone to cuddle with during the nights he'd be doing cross country training here at the beautiful Shenandoah National Park. He had packed only the essentials for the expedition, a mess kit, bed roll, canteen, modest rations, first aid supplies, et cetera, plus a rope and a tarp for building a shelter. On his person, he had a compass, a topographical map of the park with checkpoints indicated, waterproof, strike-anywhere matches, a hunting knife, a tactical knife, an M17 pistol, and three .9mm clips. He was also given a flare gun to use in case he got stuck for any reason and needed extraction.

On his first night in the wilderness, he'd taken a lot of time falling asleep. Thinking.

He thought about his last week at home. He wondered how Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were doing with Aika. Shane had offered to watch her, and he considered it. He had appreciated her eagerness to help after her…less than enthusiastic response to hearing about this trip. But he decided since Aika had a close relationship already with Fred and Caroline, and she was still getting to know Shane, they'd better be the ones to take her. She understood, and had offered the second reason that since she worked so much, she wouldn't be able to give her the kind of attention she was used to. That had made a lot of sense. He felt like kind of a bad dog parent for not thinking of it, himself.

He thought about the week he'd been here already at the compound. His first day filling out paperwork, he was asked for an emergency contact. He was used to putting his mom…but she wasn't in the best of health, herself. He had nobody. Nobody but Shane. He put her down, instead of his mom. He thought about the seminars on company approved methods of subduing and detaining targets and combatants. He should have taught Shane some self-defense moves before he left. She could handle herself, and she'd proven so, but still. A refresher, or an advancement on one's skills was always a good idea. But he was sure she'd be fine. He thought about her the most in the torturous policy and procedure lecture. What he wouldn't'a given to have her here with him. She would have made everything fun. And she would have been a way better study partner than Keith. Keith, a Navy vet from Little Rock was a good guy…he just…didn't get Sy's jokes. He was a very literal kind of thinker, and it took extra effort for Sy to communicate with folks like that.

Shane, though…he and Shane wouldn't have gotten too much done, study-wise. They would have been…distracted.

As he hiked along the trails to his first checkpoint, he breathed in the clean, crisp air and stopped at the odd overlook here and there. The park was nestled on the outer edge of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they were too gorgeous not to appreciate while he was here. He found himself…uniquely emotional. He didn't feel lonely often, but since he'd met Shane, he'd hardly gone two days without seeing her, even if it was for just an hour. She'd love all of this. She'd probably want a tent, and coffee in the mornings, so they wouldn't be able to travel quite as light, but they'd make it work. Maybe one day they'd take a trip like this. Just for fun. No checkpoints. No deadlines. No semi-automatic weapons…well, honestly, he'd probably still bring a gun, anyway. You never did know about people these days, he thought. Of course, that's probably what people think of me carrying a pistol, he also thought…anyway, he was almost to the checkpoint.

Said checkpoint was a big tent, like the ones they sold fireworks out of leading up to Fourth of July. Inside there was a single lane shooting range set up down one half of the tent. On the other half, there were stations set up with dismantled weapons that you had to assemble in a certain amount of time. Someone had beaten him to the range, so he started with the guns. No problems whatsoever. He was familiar more or less with all of the models, or some version of them. When the previous participant, a small blonde woman, had finished on the range, Sy stepped up to the counter.

The attendant reset the target for Sy so he could do a close range shot, then again for mid and long range ones. He shot well, although he still wasn't used to the lighter weight of the SIG Sauer M17s the armed forces switched to back in 2017. They'd offered him an M18 at the compound, but he favored the heaver pistol, instead. Maybe the M18 was more packable, but Sy just didn't feel right firing a weapon that felt like a feather in his hand. If it was up to him, he'd take a Colt Python .357 Magnum Revolver. That, however, was more than just a question of how the firearm felt in his hand. Being out in the wilderness like this made him think back to how it must have been before these lands became civilized and gentrified. Back to the days of the cowboy, Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral. Back when it was just the wild and free land he could pretend it was now. He thanked the attendant, who was writing his name on his targets to take back to the compound along with his graded weapon assembly timesheets, and then was back on his way.

There was an eerie beauty about this unsullied land, he thought, as the dusk fell the second night of the excursion and he began setting up his camp about halfway between the first and second checkpoints, by his estimation. With his fire built and his shelter up, Sy took out some of his rations, cured meat, hard cheese, and some walnuts, and had a light supper before cleaning his gun and turning in while the ground still held some heat from the waning sun, wishing again as the cold set in that his woman was there to warm him.

His sleep was fitful. And he awoke before dawn, from dreams he couldn't remember but which still left him feeling empty. They must have been about her. He was starting to feel regret. The last time he'd seen Shane, he'd said some things that he meant to be selfless. But he didn't mean them. He meant the parts about loving her, of course. But the last thing he wanted was to come home and find her moved on with someone else. He couldn't stand to think about it. As he walked into the next checkpoint area, the range was already set up for close range firing. He riddled the target with .9mm holes and could barely wait until the attendant got the fresh sheet set to mid range before he began firing.

"How about you let me fully clear the lane before you start on the long range target, okay, Syverson?"

"Sorry, man. I'm a little…on edge today. Won't happen again."

The short, sandy-haired buck trotted out to replace the riddled sheet with one more for the long range leg, pulled it down and lacked it in to long range position, then hoofed it back up to safety, sensing the captain's impatience. Sy shot cleanly, but with cold anger, as if the silhouette on the page out there was trying to take Shane away from him. He put two square in the chest, and two in the head without hesitating.

"Man, I've never seen a long range shoot like that! What's the deal, you pissed at an ex, or something?" Sy checked the man's lapel for a name tag.

"Not exactly, Mister…Daniels."

"Call me Jack." they shook hands, and Sy chuckled, questioning.

"I'm Sy. You're name is Jack…Daniels?"

"Yes sir. No relation to the Lynchburg Daniels, unfortunately. Momma wanted to name me after her granddad, and my old man, well, he had no problem with it given his affinity for the spirit."

"A wise man, your dad. Some of my best nights have included Tennessee Number 7." He didn't elaborate, but he was getting very specific flashbacks of drinking games in his kitchen with Shane. And he was gonna have to shake it off before the weapons assembly drill, or else he'd end up putting together an assault rifle backward.

He made it through without any trouble, thank the good Lord. But that didn't mean that his mind wasn't still reeling. He was thinking of Shane and the possibility that she was being courted by Chris Evans look-alikes and young Harrison Ford doppelgangers, and it was making him furious. He was pretty sure that she was about as interested in taking a break as he was, but he couldn't help himself from making the offer under the circumstances. He kicked himself as he made his camp for the evening, not very far away from the third checkpoint, but too far away to get there by dusk when the daily deadline was. He was a shoe in to get there first in the morning, though, if he was reading his map correctly, and he was damn good at maps, if he did say so, himself. And who would bitch at him for bragging out here, anyway. The odd cricket or squirrel? He didn't think so.

It was colder tonight, and he was thankful that he thought to boil some water for his canteen and put it at his feet. He curled his surly, burly body up under the layers of blanket and thermal sheeting. He was almost warm enough…but he still needed something.

His sleep was plagued by strange dreams that he unfortunately remembered tonight. The scene began with Shane in a bright pink dress and matching gloves, dripping with diamonds, like Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. She looked so glamourous and beautiful, but she was getting passed from man to man to the tune of Madonna's Material Girl, which was not the correct song, and he knew it in that moment, but couldn't correct anyone, because it was all playing out on the big screen TV in his basement. When he realized this he turned it off and noticed a familiar head of hair on his lap and stroked it, about to say "Hey, sunshine." until the figure sat up and looked at him, and it was Jordan, the PTA, batting his eyelashes at him, and asking, "You ready for bed, babe?" The therapist leaned in for a kiss, but Sy leaned back, tumbled off the couch and landed on those crutches again, standing right in front of Shane in the lobby of the therapy clinic.

"Hey sunshine." he said warmly. She looked confused.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"Well…I should hope so…it's me. Sy."

"Sorry, not ringing any bells. I'll look you us and see who you're with, though. Usually Heather tells the new patients which therapists they get their first day. What's your last name?"

He felt like he was getting kicked in the gut with a soccer cleat worn by the Incredible Hulk. He answered with defeat.

"Sy's a nickname. Last name Syverson, first name Logan."

"Oh, there you are. Looks like Cory gets to take care of you today. I'll let him know you're ready. As long as you're all done with the secretaries?"

Sy nodded and collapsed to the floor blacking out. When he woke up, his neighbor, Mr. Stevens was standing over him, insisting it was time for him to get ready. He kept handing him things to put on. Pants, a nice shirt, a vest, a light blue tie, a jacket, nice shoes. The whole enchilada. They got out of Fred's car at a little white chapel outside which, his neighbor pinned a small boutonniere of powder blue hydrangeas to his lapel and walked in with him.

"Come on, boy. She'll be here any minute."

Sy was nervous, but excited. He was obviously marrying Shane. But he couldn't remember proposing, or planning the wedding, or an engagement party, or bachelor party, or rehearsal dinner, nothing…but none of that mattered. He heard the first notes of "Here Comes the Bride" and everything faded away, anyway. He began to cry as she got closer. She was moving slowly, he presumed out of nerves. Or perhaps she'd chosen the wrong shoes. It didn't matter. They'd dance the night away barefoot, and make love until dawn. He wished her veil wasn't so thick. He couldn't even see her bouquet. Let alone her stunning face, no doubt smiling as she cried with him. When she stood in front of him, he broke protocol and removed the veil to find Aika in a white dress on her hind legs panting, tongue lolling happily to one side.

"You may now kiss the bride." said the wizened old minister, causing Aika to knock Sy to the ground licking his face until he blacked out again.

This time, he woke to the chirping birds of a mountain morning in Virginia. His campfire long snuffed, his canteen now chilled as his blood. Those dreams…those were traumatic. He didn't want Shane to see anyone else. The thought of seeing anyone else himself repulsed him. Thinking about what his life would have been like if they'd never gotten to work together made him physically ill, and he was terrified that if he didn't act on these feelings, he'd end up with no one but his dog. Why did it take a trip out of state and all these nights of solitude to figure this out? She was all that mattered. He could dig ditches, flip burgers, get a teaching certificate and coach, or teach gym. Whatever. He also liked history. He could think of something if the people at Secure Source couldn't keep him in consistent work. It would be fine. He understood his purpose now. And it wasn't just to do his duty to his country. He'd served proudly for years. He had a new purpose now. And it was her.

He packed up camp in what he was sure was record time and hauled ass to the last checkpoint where the brass should be waiting for finishers. He was the first one there this morning, but he wasn't sure if anyone had made it yesterday. He didn't try to make small talk with the attendant today. He was on a legit mission to get back to his locker at the compound, turn his phone on and call Shane. He fired four shots, but only made two holes on the long range target. One in the chest, one in the head. The attendant was impressed, giving the highest possible grade.

"Man, Syverson. I pray I never do anything to piss you off."

Sy nodded in acknowledgement and went on to the weapons drill booths. Today, there were distracting sound effects playing on a speaker in each booth, and each one was different. Sy ignored the cacophony, pretending it was white noise, and focused on the puzzles at hand, breezing through the new weapons in better time than ever.

As his cards were being scored and turned in for review to Jane Freitag, the administrator over acquisitions and training, he got himself a cup of coffee and a doughnut, and just observed her, tactically, and objectively. She was a redhead with sharp features, freckles, and light eyes. She was slender, but dressed simply, and modestly. The consummate professional. Sy had honestly barely registered her gender, and it wasn't because she wasn't beautiful. She was. Full red lips, lashes for days, and although her clothes didn't exactly accentuate her shape, he could tell he had a decent figure. He just wasn't interested. And would never be interested in anyone but Shane again. Miss Freitag startled him out of his thoughts.

"Mr. Syverson." She beckoned him to the entrance to the tent near her vehicle.

He picked up his gear and coffee and trotted over to her.

"Ma'am?"

"Jane, please."

"Sy, then, for me. What's next on the agenda?"

"Well, you're the first participant across the finish line. I'm very impressed. It seems as though you almost could have finished last night."

"Yes, ma'am, if I hadn't taken a little extra time for sightseeing, I might have made it here by dusk last night. I just haven't had the hustle I had today."

"Well, that's nothing to sneer at. Normally, the deprivation of food, regular water supply, and proper sleeping conditions make participants sloppy. The opposite seems to be true for you, as you've done better at each checkpoint than the one before. Now, let's get back to the compound and get you a proper meal, and a shower, and talk about what's next for you here at Secure Source."

"Yeah, about that. Before we go much further with this, I need to know one thing."

"What's that?"

"I need to know if you'll be able to find me work near enough to St. Robert and the base there so that I don't have to relocate and travel all the time. I've got a life there, and…it's not something I can just pick up and move on a whim, and I don't want to be away for weeks and months at a time. I know I made this trip work, but I'm praying it didn't already ruin everything." He wasn't going to waste time mincing words. He needed to know right away or else this wouldn't work.

"Sy, with your talent…they're gonna want to put you on the high profile cases. Celebrity security. Concerts, movie premiers, things like that. You'll be wasted as a small town rent-a-cop." there was true concern in her face and her voice as she drove them out of the park and onto the main road to Secure Source's compound.

"If there's a need I can fill, how is that a waste? There's lots of talent in this program. Just 'cause I finished first don't mean I did it the best. And I'm sure most of these folks have the people skills to take them farther'n me. And if you wanna gimme first crack at those, I'll hear ya out. Just…let me reserve the right to turn down the out of town jobs. Especially if they're short notice. And if it takes me away from another security job, I want you to send me a replacement a few days in advance so I can meet 'em, train 'em, and introduce 'em around."

"Seems reasonable." Jane said.

"Well, alright, then. I think we got ourselves a deal. I'll shower up in the locker room real quick, then meet ya in the commissary for a sandwich so we can handle the particulars?"

"Sure, Sy." she agreed as they pulled into the parking structure.

They went their separate ways, Jane to her office, and Sy to the quartermaster to return his supplies and get the key to his locker. He practically danced there, he was so giddy to get to call Shane. He did need a quick shower first, though. Which he took, grabbing some shampoo and soap out of his travel bag. When he got back to his locker, towel around his waist, he replaced the products and grabbed his phone. He sat on the bench between the rows of lockers as it booted up.

When it did, it began alerting him as if it's life depended on it. Three text messages, three voicemails, … and twenty four missed calls. That was odd. Maybe a telemarketer had gotten his number.

He checked the texts first. One was a picture of Aika from Fred, his neighbor, the other two were from Shane…two days ago. The day he went into the park.

Hey, hope you have a great first day of Survivor: Virginia! Lol! Be safe! I love you!

OMG, nutty day today! I'm gonna be doing notes for hours! I'll text you in the morning! <3

And then nothing…he chuckled at Survivor: Virginia, but was a bit concerned. Maybe she'd decided not to waste time texting him if he wasn't going to respond? He didn't know. Maybe some of the calls or voicemails were from her. He'd check before calling.

One from his mom, one from the Stephen's house phone, and the rest were from Fort Wood Therapy. That was weird. He was discharged and didn't have any appointments…surely he wasn't missing any…Shane would have said something. He listened to the voicemails. The first one was from Heather.

"Hey, Sy, it's Heather, Shane's friend here at therapy. Hey, give me a call when you get this. Thanks."

Weird…the next one was from Susan, Shane's boss. In the same tone.

"Captain Syverson, it's Susan DeForrest here at Fort Wood Therapy Clinic. Please give us a call when you get this. Thank you."

Again, weird. The last one was Susan again and far less friendly and measured.

"Mr. Syverson. I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but you need to bring Shane back to work and stop screwing around. One or both of you is in serious trouble. Either you're being hot-lined for abduction or she's fired for not showing up for work. The choice will be hers." and the line went dead.

Sy felt his stomach twist into nauseated knots at Susan's words. Shane hadn't been to work. For how long? He had to call them. He didn't want to think about the horror that might have befallen Shane while he'd been away.

"Fort Wood Therapy Clinic, this is Heather, how may I help you?" Heather said, trying to hide the obvious worry beneath the cordial demeanor.

"Heather, it's Sy, what the hell's going on with Shane? What do you mean, she hasn't been to work, I don't…"

"Let me give you to Susan, Sy. I'm sorry." She added the last two words in a whisper. After a brief moment on hold, Susan picked up.

"So, Mr. Syverson. Finally decided to call us back?"

"Cut it out, Susan." He let her blatant ignorance of his rank slide in favor of getting to the point. "Tell me what's going on."

"Shane left work Monday and hasn't been back since. No one has seen her. Apart from you, I presume. I knew letting her date a patient would come back to bite me. I should never have--"

"Shut up! This isn't about you, and it isn't because of you. And you had no right to tell Shane who she could and couldn't date, anyway. I haven't seen her in about a week and a half. I'm training out of state for a job. I've been away from my phone since Monday, and I just got back to it now."

"She isn't…with you? I assumed…"

"Well, you know what they say, Susan. I'm coming back early if I can manage it. See if I can do something to help find her. Thanks for calling me. I know your intentions weren't the best when you did, but ultimately, it worked out. I may not have found out otherwise, at least until… much later."

He hung up before she could respond. He had to talk to Jane about cutting his training short. This was all his fault. If he had just come to the realization of just how important, how vital Shane really was to him before he left…well he never would have gone in the first place. She was his life now. His world. His future, and his whole heart. Tears stung his eyes as he dressed to meet Jane in the commissary. She'd have to be okay with this. She'd have to understand.

As he got closer to the smell of fry oil, seasonings, and sizzling meat on a griddle, aromas that usually made his stomach grumble with hunger, he had to swallow back the bile that crept up his throat. He found her seated at a small round four-top, already eating a salad. He sat across from her, startling her from whatever she was reading on her phone, and again when she looked at his expression and complexion.

"Sy, what's wrong? You look downright green!"

"Listen, Jane, I'm going to have to leave training early." She scowled at him, but he was more concerned with the putrid smells of boiled egg and onion coming off her chef salad. He had to get this over with quick before he wretched in the middle of the mess hall.

"That's a big ask, Sy. Gonna have to have a reason."

"I just got a call that my girlfriend is missing. I need to go home and help find her."

"Oh…yeah, that's…that's some reason. I'm really sorry to hear that. Any leads so far?"

"No, I just got off the phone with her useless boss and all she told me was that she hasn't been to work since Monday and can't be reached on her phone. I have my suspicions, but I wanna talk to the authorities."

"Okay, well. Maybe when things calm down at home, we can set you up with some online courses like we do for our assets who need refreshers, but are on assignment. I'll approve that for you."

"Thanks," he said, gratefully, "I'm also wondering if the company has any…transportation solutions for me…of an immediate nature?"

"Man, what were your letters to Santa like as a child?"

"Oh, you know, a little red wagon, end of poverty, world peace…that kind of stuff." he grinned his most charming grin.

"Why am I not surprised? Okay, but you have to return the favor somehow, Sy."

"How about, one assignments of your choosing, no questions asked?"

"Hmmm, what about five assignments?"

"Three?" he countered.

"Done." they shook hands across the table. "I would have settled at two." she smirked.

"I would have done ten." he winked at her as he turned to retrieve his belongings from his bunk and locker. He had a plane…or perhaps a chopper to catch.

Up Next: Chapter 14: No Call No Show

#Sand Castle #netflix sand castle #captain syverson #captain syverson fanfic #henry cavill #henry cavill fanfic #sigh for sy

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prettyoddfever · 4 years

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P!ATD: early 2009 up until South Africa

A few people have mentioned that some more context for band events in 2009 would be helpful so that fanfiction doesn’t become their main point of reference. I bet a lot of other people have done posts like this, so I’ll just go through whatever stuck out to me personally. I’ve been rummaging through my old hard drive today to pull up specific notes to mix in with my memories.... I’m sure I’ll think of some more to add tomorrow, but at least this is a start!

I also put Ryan’s tweets from March here just in case anyone’s interested.

JANUARY

The Pretty. Odd. era was finished at the end of the final tour in late 2008. The band had continually said they would be working on the third album after Christmas and that we could expect it by spring (sometimes that changed to early summer… but still. we were definitely anticipating new music soon).

There were rumors that Brendon, Shane, and their 3 dogs had moved to LA.

Ryan left on January 11th for a trip to Hawaii with Keltie

P!ATD was announced in the lineup for the 2009 Coca-Cola Zero Fest in South Africa

Brendon & Spencer went to dinner in mid-January with Pete & Ashlee

the whole Coca Cola Open Happiness campaign was launched and Brendon was working on that for parts of early 2009.

the band had spent some time in LA when they were working on the second album and now they were all moving or relocating there. Ryan didn’t move there until the end of January, though – he posted on the 26th that he was moving to California.

P!ATD played the Estero, FL show on January 31st where Brendon met Sarah again.

FEBRUARY

the FBR webstore sold yellow valentines that said “you are at the top of my lungs” and had the new Northern Downpour design.

Ryan posted on February 3rd that he was crashing at Brendon & Shane’s place (but Spencer got the better air mattress lol).

Ryan left for Vegas before Valentine’s Day to spend that time with Keltie (he had moved to California when she moved to Vegas)… aaaaand super long story short: they broke up and a ton of fans were convinced that Ryan had cheated on Keltie and treated her horribly. Her blog posts were quite dramatic. the end.

I’m not sure about the exact day when Ryan moved out of Brendon’s place, but he and Jon were definitely living somewhere else by their February 19th blog post. Ryan was the only person we continued to get info through and Brendon had ceased to exist in his narrative. Spencer was barely mentioned.

I’m trying to just lay out the info we got and not actively walk anyone through what to think, but I just want to add: it seemed like Jon helped Ryan keep a healthy focus when so much else in his life was crumbling or on shaky ground... Ryan talked about them going on hiking trips, having lots of bonfires, and working on their music. The pictures of Ryan on the blog posts were taken by Jon. Spencer was watching out for Ryan a bit too – Ryan said on February 22nd: “I almost fell off of the cliff the other night trying to gather some firewood… Spence came over the next time and we built a small wall to hopefully deter that from happening to anyone else.” Jon told Q Magazine that Ryan was the most immature member of the band (not in a bad way), so Jon could help take care of Ryan.

Brendon chopped off his Pretty. Odd. hair – it was the shortest I’d ever seen on him.

Ryan & Jon continued working on the songs they had written while touring last year (they ended up using some of those for The Young Veins).

A few months later Ryan talked to MTV about early 2009: “It just got to a point when we were off tour, when we were talking about getting together and working on this stuff, that it became pretty apparent that we all weren’t wanting to go in the same direction. There was a period where we weren’t really talking to each other all that much, and Jon and I were just living at my house and continuing to write.”

This season got confusing sometimes (especially for journalists) because the band was being purposefully vague about whether or not they were working on songs together. They just made very occasional comments about working on demos. I think a lot of us assumed the guys were working on different parts of the same project because Ryan & Jon had lived together and done stuff without Brendon & Spencer in 2007 too.

Wikipedia said “Urie is happily in a relationship with band member Ryan Ross. They enjoy many activities, such as skipping through the park and riding hot air balloons together” and some fans were legit citing that as proof of Ryden.

the new PATD merch this spring felt more like the Fever era.

Ryan did a skype interview to South Africa from his mountain trip with Jon and the interviewer sounded pretty cranky that Ryan refused to say anything about the third album.

Spencer had said in December that “Shane has written a script for a movie that we think is really great. I personally want to be a part of making it.” And then his name and Brendon’s were added under the logo on Shane’s site sometime in February.

the video of drunk Ryan going “is that a seat?” was from the end of February when he was leaving the Virgin Australia launch party with Pete & Ashlee. Later after the event, Pete tweeted “Me and ryan ross are making sure night becomes day don't worry.”

Brendon, Spencer, Shane, and Zack went to Disneyland. Sarah O was with them & wearing Brendon’s shirt. Here’s one of those pictures + another angle of Brendon’s haircut:

MARCH

a decent portion of the fan focus was devoted to discussing the Keltie drama or finding out more about Sarah this month. if you cared about the guys’ personal lives outside of the band then this was totally your season. but if you just wanted one single update on the third album then ugh it was painful.

fans were also laughing at wtf kind of place was Ryan living in – there were so many creatures he’d casually mention like nbd.

I was just skimming over any talk about the band members’ girlfriends this season because I hated how fans were instantly believing whatever people invented. So many fans were disappointed in Ryan and criticized anything they could find now (like one minute his writing wasn’t deep enough anymore and the next minute he was trying too hard to be deep). I thought a lot of the people who were being harsh gossips still seemed like they were generally fans of Ryan at the end of the day, though. it will matter later on that the majority of fans hadn’t actually dropped him at this point... but the perception that Ryan was on a downward spiral only built momentum after the stuff with Keltie.

I’m not sure if Eric was living with Ryan or if they were just hanging out a lot... fans had different ideas and I didn’t particularly care to analyze Ryan’s living situation that closely.

Eric was playing shows for Black Gold and Ryan was a big supporter.

Ryan had been hanging out with Alex & Z’s whole crew more since last fall, so that continued. Kate was around by the end of 2008 too (since Ryan was spending more time in LA). I’ll mention a bit more about Ryan’s friends if they’re somehow involved in a topic that affects P!ATD, but Ryan’s personal life isn’t really my focus.

Ryan got twitter. Jon didn’t have twitter until April, but Ryan talked about Jon enough that fans were aware of what the guys were doing… it was still SO weird to hear directly from Ryan daily when we used to hear almost nothing from the band for months at a time. it was almost too much?? ha. it felt like i was eavesdropping on someone’s conversation, so twitter was creepy at first.

it was also strange to hear so much from Ryan and still not get any news about the third album when we thought they’d be recording soon. We only saw Brendon hanging out with Sarah, Shane, & Spencer... and then Ryan & Jon going on their adventures.

I remember fans joking that they’d riot if this third album got postponed or scrapped too… I forgot who made this, but it summed everything up:

Ryan tweeted in mid-March about messing up “his” demo, which made me uneasy. there were definitely jokes in March that it seemed like Ryan & Jon were just doing the album themselves…

I'm not entirely sure when Brendon & Spencer started working on their own material, but it looked like they had a demo in March.

several people associated with the band were cryptically mentioning they had heard a new Panic song... even Thomas Dutton talked about it.

Pete tweeted in mid-March that he had heard a new Panic song

I think Jon went back to Chicago for a short time in late March?

Pete tweeted at the end of March about having dinner with Brendon & Spencer. Mark Hoppus tweeted on that same day about having Blink-182 rehearsals and then going to a P!ATD meeting. Mark also tweeted about listening to P!ATD demos and… I think that was the moment that made it clear for me that there were two separate groups within the band who were working on totally different demos. but some part of me still hoped that maybe they’d come back together and pick one winner to use? ha idk

a lot of fans had kind of checked out of the fandom this spring since not much was happening. another group of fans were off in their own fanfiction worlds. and then some more fans were watching the same updates as everyone else but were still convinced that Brendon was a vegan who was dating Ryan and had never ever smoked anything. there was a whole range of perspectives like usual.

Zack was tweeting for people to stop asking him for updates on the third album. Spencer was a hilarious butthead who tweeted Zack: “do you know when the new Panic record is coming out?”

Spencer also tweeted that this was one of the best movies of 2009.

Brendon showed up on Jay Leno at the end of March to perform America’s Suitehearts with Fall Out Boy. Brendon’s core group of Spencer and Shane came along… which was yet another sign that the band was functioning like two separate teams (it sounded like Spencer was maybe there as Brendon’s manager).

Shane tweeted that he was on his way to the Leno taping with Spencer & Brendon. Spencer tweeted about how the first 2 people to come find them would get tickets to see Brendon on Jay Leno. Ryan only replied “…I’m too late aren’t I.” hahaha

then Ryan made sure his next post on WSB was a picture of the fabulous time he had on a pretty pier with two pelicans lol.

APRIL

there had been SO many fake social media accounts for Brendon over the years… some had been really believable (but letsgetnakedyo on twitter was never him). the accounts mostly made Brendon seem like a crude drunk who treated women horribly, so it was kind of funny to watch the real Brendon finally get twitter and then talk mostly about food & surfing or flirt with Sarah in dorky ways. Zack told fans that this was Brendon for sure.

Brendon & Ryan didn’t follow each other… and they followed basically everyone else associated with the band. Ryan would frequently joke around with Shane, Zack, and Spencer. One of Brendon’s tweets after the first band practice was “Spence and Shane, bfff” haha. and the fans who were still around on a daily basis blew up.

It sounded like that band practice right before South Africa might have been the first time Brendon & Ryan had seen each other since mid-February.

Brendon & Zack were in Detroit right before leaving for South Africa (they flew out from there). Brendon was performing in the live premiere of Open Happiness

Ryan was pictured with Z Berg at a JJAMZ show before the band left for South Africa and fans said it looked like he had some white powder smeared by his nose (I’m not mentioning this as gossip — this fan perception that he was on a downward spiral will matter later).

Jon finally got twitter and everyone interacted with him like normal right away. fans had been making a fuss that the tension between Brendon & Ryan was getting ridiculous, scary, downright annoying, etc and that the guys should stop being babies… so Brendon finally followed Ryan on April 5th (but they both just continued to ignore each other).

Brendon was so smitten with Sarah this season (especially after he left her house to fly to South Africa).

the band left for South Africa on April 6th.

here’s Ryan saying something years later that supports what fans were seeing...

this isn’t meant to be a comprehensive list or anything too official – it’s just the parts that stood out to me! I’ll probably come back to add stuff and make this easier to read.

THE MAIN POST

#shane

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zachnovak · 4 years

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So I don’t normally log onto this account much so I haven’t seen any of the many messages and such I’ve been getting on recent posts concern some dumb drama. In a nut shell, some adults who act more like immature children from the Mean Girls universe love to make crap up and I was the current target as I.... was breathing? I dunno. Apparently I’m the anti christ or something and they haven’t gotten over that their attempts to cancel me and even cause me to commit acts of self harm with continued targeted harassment and involving me in drama I know nothing about have all failed. Frankly, it’s because I literally don’t give a shit. I come to tumblr to RP, make my posts, and then hop on my PS4, switch, class work, gym time whatever. I don’t care about drama or what’s going on in the RPC as I know it’s a shot show filled with drama and people trying gossip girl type ‘takedowns’ of others just for breathing in when they were suppose to breathe out.

Because of that crap I literally just sign on to in the RPs I’m in then close the tumble tab. I do not have a personal, I do not check out any tags other than for the face claims I use to get pics or gifs, and I go out of my way NOT to know anyone’s personal blogs or their aliases. If we talk on discord great, if not, great as well. I do occasionally make my own group and put my current one on hiatus as the recent drama turned me off but going to reopen it soon. I’ve just been part of a couple of groups since and currently. However, since some people are interested in my past here because of the nonsense, here we go.

I was on an RP called alegendreborn which was one of my first RPs on tumblr. It seemed great and welcoming. I picked one of their skeleton canons and was happy to be there. I got along with people but didn’t know how to reblog properly as I was new to tumblr and three way posts were extreme confusing. Apparently my inability to properly reblog them pissed off some of the members. Because of that I only really talked to one person in the RP who helped me learn how to reblog correctly. Also, my character had a pre-established connection to another as a ‘best friend’ so we had a couple of threads. However, I quickly noticed the min of that character could go 3 weeks to months without posting but pass all activity checks and would focus on bubble RPing with the same three muns. When this person ignored our thread for weeks I sent them three messages four days apart each that reminded them of the thread which I was told they’d post. On the last message I told this person I was ending our thread and requesting that staff change my characters group in an event they were running as they put our characters in the same group and I no longer trusted this person to post in a timely manner to me. I was quickly ‘invited to leave’ and had multiple members message me on Skype to basically tell me I was shit and an awful person for trying to get a reply I’d been waiting 2 months to get. So I left and never looked back.

I later joined an RP called warofthenewage-rpg which again seemed friendly but much more basic lore wise than the previous RP. I quickly noticed a character who was almost EXACTLY like a skeleton canon I had on an RP I made on a jcink forums RP two years before. I messaged the player of that character asking if he knew of my RP he said he did but before I could presue anything he instantly wanted to plot my character with his. I did message the main about it but was later told they ‘never got it’. We plotted our character as a couple as the chemistry they were displaying in our first few threads was very apparent and we loved posting together and could pop out paragraphs of posts minutes after the other just posted. Eventually, that min begun to became very controlling of how and what I was posting. If my character had a thought of his that wasn’t postive or lovey, he’d berate the hell out of me on Skype and threaten to end our plot. Apparently he had also been complaining the his friends in the RP and told them I posted ‘too many actions’ and that it made him feel forced to react in specific ways. That telephoned to other members and morphed into I was forcing him to do exactly what I told him to post and poweplaying/god modding him. Now I come from forum RPs and there to post A LOT and you progress the thread with each post. This is done so you’re not 30 posts in and you’re characters are still at the door that one of them knocked on in the very first post.

Eventually, most members begun to refuse to speak to me because of the complaining he did which they’d snowball into some out of this world epic drama. The staff even begun to be hostile, use the gossip blog to belittle my character, and would pretend not to receive my applications when I tried for additional characters or my wanted ads but use the info to create a very similar character or ‘update’ an existing one. Well, about 2 months of members ignoring me or belittling me followed, staff made it worse and the mun I had a plot with decided to when not telling me I suck and no one liked me, he’d say we still had our plot but then took my character out of the equation and made another character take his place. Naturally I was upset as I had been through months of harassment, belittling, and treated like crap by everyone in the RP because of this guy only to in the end be thrown away. I resolved to move my character on. I only spoke to him and two other people in the RP and one of them had a character that was insanely into my character. However, the guy I had the plot with was insanely sexually attracted to the face claim so when my character and this new one had threads, he tried to tell the RP and even the other mun that I was forcing them into posting and into smutting which was engaged by the other person in one of our threads. I was harassed by that guy for days until I dropped that plot and basically used a ‘reset’ option for my character. However, that pissed off the guy and I again was relentlessly attacked by him on Skype. After months of the members ignoring me for (to my knowledge, no reason as I never spoke with 98% of the RP) or insulting me and out right telling me to kill myself, an attempt was made and I was effectively gone for almost two months for recovery.

Almost a year later I came back and begun to remake my old jcink RP here on tumblr. It took me about 5 months to do and I dug up codes from codepen and codrops to use in the theme. I also copied the aesthetic from the jcink RP’s theme and brought it over. The RP was very popular and seen as one of the best designed and story driven ‘mutant’ type RPs around. However, an admin from another RP became very bitter at it and me. This admin ran an RPH and had their own RP in the same genre in the past. They were revamping it and noticed our RPs had a similar aesthetic, apparently monchromatic themes AKA a them that uses shades of white, grey, and black for most of its coloring was only allowed to be used by that admin. The admin attacked my RP and claimed I had stolen their theme and coding and even went so far as going into my coding and pasting selective bits of it. I was asleep when she made the original post and woke up to dozens of anon messages ranging from calling me a thief to demanding I kill myself. All my members were harassed in the same way and she had contacted all the RPHs I had asked for a shoutout or was on their spotlights of to ‘inform them’ and then openly attack them if they didn’t remove any mention of my RP and signal boost her post. She even went so far as to harass and threaten RPs I was on, that I was one, or that had a character that sounded anything like any of mine. I even had an affiliation thing started but many of those I had been added to messaged me that they were being harassed and I told them to pretend they didn’t know what was going on. I’d take the hit for them and spare them farther harassment and leave their RPs if they wanted as I was on most of them.

During this time I was recovering from everything I was being slammed with be anons and the RPs previously mentioned going off as well in some pity attempt to get revenge for... not being liked on their RPs three and two years previously? I also was collecting evidence that many of the codes this RPH claimed she made and in stole were in fact on codrops and codepen. A good amount I made myself but a large chunk were from these resource sites with some heavy edits so they’d work better on tumblr. I even had evidence that many of her own coding templates had codes directly from these sites and others with no credit given to them and her claiming she created all the coding on her own. I submitted it to many RPHs and many of them saw the error and how this person was very toxic in the community and was making more drama than helping it. Some ignored it outright as she was popular and I was just a nobody. It took 3 years to recover from it in terms of my reputation and I again shut down my RP for a bit as I had made another attempt on my own life as that person and her friends continued to harass me and attack me on their personal or RPH accounts.

The last bit of drama came when I joined an RP called Corinth Bay. At first there wasn’t any and I had long since adopted my, sign on just to post and then bounce method of being on an RP. I eventually got to know one member named Shane. @inthenamexofthemoon I think we became pretty good friends as we talked everyday for basically the whole day. We had plots, enjoyed posting, and just chatting. I noticed that RP was heavily cliquey and wasn’t aware that Shane was a part of the admin’s clique. This group had multiple issues with member complaining their characters were being ignored and people were bubble RPing with the same people over and over. I myself had to constantly ask people if they wanted to plot or just post and even the main had to post up announcement about ignoring starters to make closed ones and expanding who they post with. I also had questions on much of the lore of the RP as other than the origins of each supernatural species, the lore was very generic and vague. I asked around and got a lot of different opinions on what could or couldn’t be done by each species and just went with what was common among them all. Shane himself helped me a bit and I went with his suggestions which apparently were completely wrong as the staff had to talk to me on ‘breaking lore’.

After that, I expressed openly how I felt the staff didn’t like me and my concern that given how cliquey the place was, if the staff didn’t like me I’d probably be ‘exiled’ from the group as a whole AKA no one would post or talk to me. Which did happen with the exception of Shane. Others I had spoken to had long left and told me stories of the awfulness of some of the members and staff. So I begun working on an RP of the same genre that I had half finished years before. Shane was kept in the loop every step of the way and pinned and loved all the lore I showed him which I did to ensure it was both in-depth and easy to follow but also wasn’t ‘bad’ IE, offensive if certain things are mentioned. He loved it and ensured me it was great and pinned everything I showed him so he’d reference it when making his characters. Eventually I worked on it so much that I kept only the bare minimum activity requirements for Corinth Bay but obeyed the rules of activity to the letter. However, the staff ultimately removed me despite even admitting that they knew I still had a couple of days before failing the activity check and had actually ‘not counted’ a couple of posts I made for an event going on as I should have replied to starters for it first but it wasn’t a requirement. Also they used a blog to post up starters as many RPs like to do now only they were also slow to reblog them and never used the starter tags so they’d get buried quickly on the dash with everyone posting picture posts and what not.

Ultimately I gave up on that RP, didn’t need the toxic environment and finished mine. Shane got very quiet though and didn’t reply to my discord messages for a couple of days. When he did he suddenly got a bit hostile and everything in my RP WAS ‘problematic’ and because of that he wouldn’t be joining. I had no idea what he meant as before he said it was perfect and awesome so I asked what he meant specifically. Eveutally he told me a little of what he meant. Apparently there was racism as In the witch’s page mentioning that voodoo and other cultural magical/practices was a form of magic some witches practiced was both racist and cultural appropriation. Although voodoo was indeed a magical/belief practice used as a magical practice I decided to just remove its mention in the end. He also didn’t like that in the lore, there were female characters that were ‘bad’ and that was sexist. This I choose not to change as it’s sexist to say women can’t be villains and felt as just an excuse. Especially since my lore included many powerful women, men, and gender less entities that were villains, heroes, and neutral parties.

Eventually after opening, I decided to message the people I had previous posted with telling them the RP was ready and I’d love for them to check it out. Those from Corinth Bay I messaged were either aware I was making one and wanted to see it or were people Shane and I hinted to it being made and they had at least a slight interest in it. Admittedly, I also messaged blogs that came on the ‘recommended blogs’ part of the dash. Only those that were inactive according to the last few IC posts that were showing in their blogs. I know this gets a mixed reaction from some as some view it as a horrible thing even if the blogs are inactive but many MANY people also appriecate it and the fact that someone read their blog and was very impressed with their writing ability and character. I myself receive many of these messages on my retired blogs and don’t see an issue with it myself. Even if I did I’d just block the blog that sent it and never think of them again like a normal person.

One of the members I DIDN’T even know who they were apparently didn’t like this and decided to make drama over it. To this day I don’t know who this person even is or was when I was on that RP and still don’t as everyone drops and makes new characters when bored on there. Shane went fully 180 on me and turned vile and petty which is clearly to save face with the people on that RP. He knows me from all our talks and that the bullshit he spreads is itself false but still was a bit of a pity bitch for a while. Apparently the friend @stephwuzhere @loganlcrmans of the admin that tried to cancel me also wanted to rehash that old drama but was quickly shut down. I had no idea who this person even was at first as again, I don’t follow any tags and go out of my way to avoid personal blogs and ones like RPH, RPT, and whatever unless just asking for a quick shoutout to my RP. I had no idea that this person was also very toxic and involved in targeted harassment, grooming, and identity theft of various people in the RPC just because she didn’t like them at the moment.

I have decided to stay away from this shit storm despite some of these people still trying to drag me into it even though I literally haven’t thought about them for months and barely even remember they exist. I’ll be reopening my RP soon and hope that these people who live their privlenged lives will eventually get over themselves and do some growing up. I say their are privileged because you must be if you can harp on drama for months and keep dragging someone you have no connection or knowledge of. The rest of us, adults, have things like work, bills, school, friends, and trying to destress from watching our bank account get more and more empty to care about pity immature online drama. Especially when it’s bullshit like ‘he dared to remind me he exists’. Please, grow up and do better people. There is life outside of the internet and when you get too old to be in the RPC which is apparently a thing now, you’ll see just how stupid you were to make so much drama for no reason other than being pity, stupid, immature, brats.

#inthenamexofthemoon #stephwuzhere #loganlcrmans #psa #usersteph

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gdwessel · 6 years

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Ibushi Reportedly on 2-Year Contract; EVIL *NOT* in Pro Wrestling Force 2/17/2019; This Week’s NJPW on AXS

The word on the street is Kota Ibushi has signed a 2-year contract with NJPW. This, after years of choosing not to do so, and indeed, way back when in the history of this blog, you will find posts where Ibushi quit NJPW for about a year, during which he (and Zack Sabre Jr.) worked WWE’s Cruiserweight Classic, then opted not to sign to WWE, choosing to remain freelance. He then returned, only under the guise of Tiger Mask W, in promotion for the anime that was running at the time, even though it was completely obvious who it was.

It’s been one of the biggest bones of contention, that Ibushi was working NJPW freelance, and also one of the biggest reasons he was not getting any sort of real push or titles. Now, that may all change, and his announcement of entry into the New Japan Cup is fueling speculation. He has won the Cup before, in 2015, where he then challenged AJ Styles for the IWGP Heavyweight title. Going to be interesting to see if, or when, Ibushi may be the IWGP champion.

On a related note, it seems the Kenny Omega has said that he can return to NJPW whenever he wants, despite being an EVP of All Elite Wrestling, so we’ll see if or when that ever comes to pass.

I only just found out about this yesterday: EVIL will be making an appearance in Pro Wrestling Force, a relatively new promotion in the St. Louis area (on the Illinois side of the border). He is booked against Jake Something, a very good heavyweight wrestler making a name for himself on the US indies. This is the St. Louis area, and that usually means Michael Elgin. There is 98% likelihood Elgin facilitated this booking, much as he did when Tetsuya Naito toured the Midwest around this time last year. Jake is one of Elgin’s students, and Elgin is booked on this card as well, so be forewarned if you plan to make it over there this Sunday.

UPDATE 2/13/2019 22:23 EST: Welp. This is what I get for not confirming things are 100% for sure before blogging. Apparently EVIL (Takaaki Watanabe) became the latest NJPW talent to be turned away trying to get into the country. According to this tweet from Pro Wrestling Force, EVIL was denied entry as they have changed the visa types needed and they were not aware of this. So the Trump regime strikes again. There are more details in that link I sent, and now Shane Strickland will be facing Jake Something instead. PWForce are claiming they are trying to do a make-up date with NJPW talents, hopefully in March or shortly thereafter. We’ll see what happens there. Sorry for the confusion there.

This week’s NJPW on AXS returns to the scene in Hokkaido for The New Beginning in Sapporo. The matches in this episode are split from both shows of the two-day event. Advertised matches are Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada v. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale, as well as EVIL & SANADA defending the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team titles against Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr. Kevin Kelly & Don Callis on the call starting at 8pm EST / 7pm CST, followed by Women of Wrestling.

#NJPW #new japan pro wrestling #kota ibushi #Kenny Omega #evil #takaaki watanabe #pro wrestling force #jake something #njpw on axs #AXS #AXSTV #The New Beginning #njnbg #Michael Elgin

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team-crtq · 7 years

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Shane’s letter, and why this blog doesn’t take it as a valid source of RT’s inner-workings

“Why the hell are you bring this up again? Wasn’t this done and over with a little over a year ago?” I would say yes, but it would seem some people didn’t get the memo. I’ve seen a few too many people who use Shane’s letter for justification for hating certain people who work on the show. Under the break I’m going to do my best to explain why this letter isn’t exactly the best source to use on this matter.

For reference, I’ve been looking over these two links here: [X] [X]

Basically this next little bit is a TL;DR version of those links.

“Cutting out Sheena”

RT can’t cut out someone who has never worked for them in the first place. Sure there is the claim that she helped Monty outside of the company, but that doesn’t change the fact that Sheena was never officially part of the RT team. And hiring her so soon after his death would make for a awkward moments in the workplace. To quote a reddit comment “Could you imagine working with the widow of your friend and creative director? ‘Oh, well my Monty would have wanted it this way’” It makes for a bad work environment no matter how you slice it.

I just leave this here because it will sum up the rest of my feelings on the matter. “We don't know any specifics about how RT interacted with her after Monty's death, all we have for certain are 2 out of context quotes that may or may not be misremembered. If they were malicious to her, that's shitty. If they weren't, then whatever. We don't know, so we can't judge.”

Some the things Shane blamed on RT that was his fault to begin with

Shane seemed to want to blame RT for his failed marriage. When what happened by his own admittance was his wife kept begging him to come home and he wouldn’t do it. The fact that Shane seems to want to blame RT for this rather than look at his own actions should say everything.

He was adamant about doing things like Monty. However, the other animators couldn’t do it like them. And even Shane noted that Monty would try to set things up to make it easier for the other animators, it should tell you why changes were needed in the grand scheme of things. Shane again by his own admittance, said he wouldn’t adapt to the changes being made. This will cause problems in a production company because when you have ten people doing things one way and someone doing it another way, and that person is stalling the workflow, it’s a problem. And guess what? Can’t get the job done in a timely manner, you are gone as an employee, it doesn't matter how good you are.

A smaller note, RT seemed to only let Monty do this sort of thing because, well, it was Monty. But there was a reason why “Get some sleep Monty,” became a meme within the community. You can’t expect others to adopt his work style. The fact that Shane tried, on top of his depression probably made the guy more...unhinged I guess would be the word for it.

Also good job there Shane! Because you couldn’t take a step back and think though your actions, again, you made yourself unhireable because of it.

A few smaller points to make

It was pretty apparent that Shane had a massive obsession with keeping the “True vision” of RWBY alive. But there was probably a really good reason why Shane wasn’t part of the writing team. Any writer will tell you that things get cut out in their writing due to either time constants, a lack of relevancy to the plot at that time, or just plain isn’t needed. Think about some of the plot points that he brings up, like the fact that Raven was supposed to attack JNPR at the fairgrounds. To me this would probably have been cool to see, but in the overall grand scheme of things would not have made any sense and would have bogged down the volume because of it. And be honest with yourselves here, how angry would you have been if Jaune was the one to unintentionally cause Pyrrha’s death? Because personally speaking I’m really fucking glad that they changed it from that. Rather than seeing it like that Shane takes this as a attack on Monty’s legacy.

Shane seems to act as that only he and Sheena were the only ones who knew what Monty wanted for the show. If that was the case, then why would Monty bother with working with Miles, Kerry, and Grey? You can’t expect me to believe that Monty would have wrote things up with them but wouldn’t tell them what the overall story was. (Maybe they had coffee and with him or something.)

I know this is going to sound mildly petty on my part, but Shane comes off as someone who was jealous that Monty wanted to befriend more people than just him.

A mild side tangent here, but Shane’s “My pain is the only is the only one worth talking about,” shit absolutely drives me up the wall. Because let me tell you from experience if you let people do that, they will take advantage of you and they will treat you like shit because of it. Shane implies that RT only liked Monty because of “public relations” You want to know why this statement pisses me off so much? My uncle did this exact thing. His pain was the only one worth mentioning, the fact that everyone in my family lost someone didn’t matter. It didn’t matter that my grandma had a seizure because she couldn’t handle it all at the funereal, no according to him she did it for attention. And that is only a drop in the bucket of the shit he pulled with my family. Do not let this man fool you that he and those he deems worthy are the only ones who get to be upset about Monty.

Am I going to say RT was perfect on everything here? No, I would be a fool to say there were no actions RT couldn’t have taken to prevent this sort of thing. I’m not going to sit here and pretend that there may have been a possibility that they could have handled certain things better. However, I refuse to look at this letter as anything more than “I’m the only one who can morn the loss of someone. Anyone who doesn’t listen to me didn’t actually like Monty at all.” And I’ll be perfectly honest, anyone who uses this letter as a debate point will probably get discredited in my mind because of it.

-Tangerine

#RWBY #RWBY Meta #Mod Tangerine #crtq

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buddyrabrahams · 6 years

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Eight biggest takeaways from Friday’s NCAA Tournament games

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but more than half of the games of the NCAA Tournament are now behind us. With 32 games in the books and just 31 remaining, we are beyond the halfway point but far from crowning a champion.

Friday’s action helped shed some light on many of the teams with a chance to make a run deep into tournament play. Some teams impressed, other surprised, and others exited earlier than expected.

Although the first two days of tournament play came without a buzzer-beater or all-time memory, there was plenty to dissect. Here are the eight biggest things that occurred during Friday’s sixteen games.

1. Virginia avoids a disastrous repeat

After last year’s tournament disappointment, much has been made of Virginia’s ability to overcome those demons and advance in this year’s Big Dance. Early on in Friday’s game, those demons emerged and looked poised to haunt the Hoos.

Virginia trailed Gardner-Webb by as many as 14 points in the first half, piling up early turnovers offensively. Unlike last year’s defeat to UMBC, Virginia was able to turn things around. The Cavaliers made a run to cut the Runnin’ Bulldogs lead to just six at the half. Virginia cleaned up its offensive mistakes and cranked up its defensive intensity. Gardner-Webb was held to just 20 second half points, as the Hoos coasted to an easy win.

2. Bad day to be a 12 seed

The 12/5 matchup is often a popular upset pick in the NCAA Tournament, and it lived up to its billing on Friday as Oregon and Liberty pulled off wins, both in San Jose.

After ending the season on an eight-game winning streak, culminating in a Pac-12 Tournament championship, Oregon picked up where it left off, handily defeating Wisconsin. The Ducks traveled across the country to play the game and proved too much for the Badgers.

Oregon’s defense impressed all day, bottling up All-American Ethan Happ. The Ducks forced Happ and his teammates into difficult shots for the entire game, frustrating the usually patient Wisconsin offense. Oregon outscored Wisconsin 47 to 29 in the second half, opening up an insurmountable lead.

Later on in San Jose, Liberty rallied from down 10 points with seven minutes to go against Mississippi State and came back to win 80-76. The Flames went 6/6 on free throws over the final 15 seconds to ensure their first NCAA Tournament win in school history.

3. UC Irvine pulls off biggest upset of tournament (by seed)

Without injured star forward Dean Wade, Kansas State’s chances of a run this month seemed unlikely. Even without Wade, the Wildcats were co-champs of the Big XII regular season and have a strong team.

Without Wade’s scoring, Kansas State could not afford to shoot poorly in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats did just that, managing only 8 for 27 from long range and scoring only 64 points on Friday.

UC Irvine, a strong defensive team, took advantage. The Anteaters forced Kansas State into many of its bad shots and turned those misses into chances to score on the other end.

The Anteaters became the highest seed to win its first round matchup, the only team seeded higher than 12th to earn a victory. They were also the first of three lower seeds to pull an upset in San Jose as Liberty and Oregon also were lower-seeded teams to win in that venue throughout the day.

4. Tennessee tested early

Of the top eight teams, the Vols were in the most peril, barely sneaking away from Colgate late in the game. Tennessee caught a break when Rapolas Ivanauskas, Colgate’s leading scorer, was unable to continue playing due to an eye issue.

Even without their top scorer, the Raiders refused to fade away. It took two clutch 3-pointers from Admiral Schofield for the Vols to seal the win.

Early in the tournament, a test like this can sometimes light a fire under a top team like Tennessee.

5. Buffalo proves it’s for real in convincing win

Buffalo entered the first round of tournament play as hot as any team in college basketball. The Bulls were 30-3 on the season, winning 11 straight and 19 of their last 21 games.

Facing an Arizona State team that played Wednesday in the First Four, Buffalo showed no signs of slowing down. The Bulls looked every bit the part of their six seed, if not more. Buffalo showed itself to not just be a small school with a good story, but proved itself able to really be dangerous this March.

Regardless of the conference they come from, these Bulls can reach the Final Four, and they played like it on Friday.

6. Zion Williamson’s athleticism remains a major problem for opponents

Duke took a while to pull away from its first round opponent, mainly due to hot early shooting from the North Dakota State Bison. Eventually, Duke’s athleticism was too much for the Bison to handle. RJ Barrett coasted to 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Williamson had 25 points on 12/16 shooting.

Duke’s physical advantages were apparent any time the ball was near Williamson, on either end of the floor. He was too much for any defender on North Dakota State to handle. Any team with a prayer of beating Duke will need to have the athleticism to deter Williamson, at least slowing his path to the basket.

7. Oklahoma shockingly dominant in win

In one of the day’s most surprising results, Oklahoma pounded Mississippi 95-72 in a game that was never close. After playing strong defense in the SEC this season, Ole Miss could barely slow the Sooners down. Oklahoma exploded on offense, with four starters eclipsing the 18-point mark.

It was a remarkable outcome for a Sooner team that had lost twice in a row and won just four times in its last twelve outings. If Lon Kruger has his team perform on Sunday like they did on Friday, Oklahoma will challenge Virginia far more than anyone would have expected.

8. Dangerous Iowa State squad sent home early

Ohio State entered the tournament in a similar fashion as Oklahoma. The Buckeyes had won just three times in their last ten games, including an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament. In their first round match-up, the Bucks returned to the basics that made them successful early in the season. Kaleb Wesson was heavily featured on the block, posting a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. The Buckeyes defended exceptionally, cutting off passing lanes and forcing Iowa State into tough isolation looks.

Ohio State ended Iowa State’s tumultuous season with the win Friday. The Cyclones pin-balled between their high ceiling and low floor all year long. At times they looked like the best team in the Big XII and a Final Four-level team. At other times, Iowa State struggled with team chemistry, failed to share the ball, and stalled offensively. It took just one tournament game for the Cyclones’ flaws to get them best of them and send them home.

Shane McNichol covers college basketball and the NBA for Larry Brown Sports. He also blogs about basketball at Palestra Back and has contributed to Rush The Court, ESPN.com, and USA Today Sports Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @OnTheShaneTrain.

from Larry Brown Sports https://ift.tt/2Fufg4i

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maysoper · 6 years

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Lou York Islanders?

I was going to write this funny opening bit about Lou Lamoriello calling New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow and basically telling Garth that he was on his way to help save the Islanders by ensuring that John Tavares stayed on Long Island in Brooklyn. It occurred to me as I was writing said bit that perhaps Garth Snow might have actually asked assistant GM and Lou's son Chris Lamoriello for some help in what will surely be a defining negotiation for the Islanders franchise and Garth Snow's legacy. If Tavares leaves via free agency, the Islanders are doomed. If they re-sign him long-term, there's a chance they can really build something with some of the great prospects they have in their system. Lou Lamoriello joining the Islanders certainly is news, but this might be a story of how Garth Snow signed his own termination papers. It's unknown exactly what role Lou Lamoriello will be assuming in the Islanders' hierarchy at this point, but you'd have to figure that he brings with his a sense of stability for a franchise who simply seems stuck in neutral outside the playoff picture. At this point, I'd expect him to move into a corner office with a title of Savior of Franchise or something grandiose that basically tells everyone - Garth Snow and son Chris included - that he's making the decisions about everything hockey happening at Barclays Center now. Otherwise, why would he make this move? As an advisor for the Leafs, he could impart wisdom on new general manager Kyle Dubas, but Dubas doesn't have to listen. That's not something that I believe a man who pulled every string with the New Jersey Devils and the vast majority of strings with the Maple Leafs could be happy with, so this move almost became inevitable the moment that Brendan Shanahan removed the "General Manager" placard off Lou's door at the Air Canada Centre. Lou Lamoriello likes being in charge and certainly holding the power of control when it comes to the hockey teams he has worked for, and this move to the Islanders sounds like he's already making waves. According to reports, Lamoriello has already reached out to John Tavares in an effort to keep him in the Islanders' fold, and that's probably something that Tavares never expected unless the call was coming from downtown Toronto. Where Lou excels in his manipulation of information is that nothing is ever leaked to, told to, implied by, or said explicitly to any member of the media without Lou's authorization. In other words, Lou Lamoriello could have been working for the Islanders for the last two weeks, and no one would have been the wiser. As it stands, his contact with Tavares apparently is kosher with the NHL thanks to his behind-the-scenes work on behalf of the Islanders that started, well, whenever he arrived in Brooklyn.

On Lamoriello/NYI/Tavares contact, I’m told that in the eyes of the NHL, there are no issues with the process.

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) May 21, 2018

So what happens now? Lou Lamoriello will most certainly find a way to keep John Tavares. That is the first priority for the Islanders if they have any hope of being relevant in the next decade. After that, expect Lou to institute an impressive scouting department and draft strategy that will put the Islanders in a good position within three-to-five years. From there, it's all about signing quality college-graduated free agents that will fill gaps and provide excellent depth to an organization desperately needing some. Like he did in Toronto, this won't be an overnight change. Lamoriello will change the culture entirely from within the organization in order to being stability and, more importantly, success to the franchise from the product on the ice at Barclays Center to the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers to the ECHL's Worcester Railers. There may be steps backwards in order to move forward, and this might be a confusing time for Islanders fans who have long wanted to see a winning team on the ice. If you trust in Lou, though, he will change things for a franchise that desperately needs some success in both the regular season and the postseason. The one person who may not get to experience this? GM Garth Snow. Snow has been guiding this Islanders ship since July 18, 2006 when he took over after Neil Smith was dismissed after just 41 days. Snow has brought in some impressive talent during his time in the big chair - Ryan Smyth, Jordan Eberle, Shane Prince, Nick Leddy, Johnny Boychuk - but the Islanders have missed the playoffs seven times in his 12 years at the helm and have only advanced past the first round once. That's not the kind of resumé you want to roll out in front of your new boss, and Lou Lamoriello, known for making coaching changes at rather odd times, may dismiss his general manager in the near future in order to change the culture. A new era in New York Islanders hockey has begun, and the winds of change may already be blowing as Lou settles in to right another ship. If he can make the Islanders as successful as the New Jersey Devils, there might be a very good reason to start calling them the Lou York Islanders. Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice! from Sports News http://hockey-blog-in-canada.blogspot.com/2018/05/lou-york-islanders.html

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2beautiful2burn-blog · 6 years

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WWE: Wrestlemania 34 - Not feelin it

With Wrestlemania 34 this Sunday in New Orleans, it's one of the most exciting times of the year for lots of people. For me personally, it's just another weekend. I hate to say that, but it's just an undeniable feeling for me. This is coming from someone who watched WWF/E from the time he was 5 until the time he was 26. It got to the point that I was just waiting around for things to change for the better - or at least, the way I remembered them being when I became a fan. Only they never did. That was likely impossible, as what I was remembering is undoubtedly through the rose tinted filter of nostalgia. Add in 3 hour long slogs of Raw every Monday night, and a lifelong fan was lost.

Not that any of this really matters. WWE is more profitable than they have ever been. Even the people that complain about the product still feed the machine with monthly $10 WWE Network subscriptions. Some of those people will even be in attendance Sunday night, just to voice their displeasure when Roman Reigns inevitably beats Brock Lesnar to become WWE champion. As somebody who was in attendance at Wrestlemania 30 (also in the New Orleans Superdome), I can attest, even the nosebleeds ain't cheap. So that's a lotta coin to drop on something you're unhappy with.

I remember WM 30 being the first time that a Wrestlemania was taking place at a location within driving distance. Still, I wasn’t sold. I remember feeling like I should be excited, but just couldn’t muster the energy. After all, initially, the original main event was set to be Randy Orton defending the WWE title against Batista, fresh from an underwhelming return made even worse by the fact that he was not Daniel Bryan. Daniel Bryan was the underdog who was undermined by the WWE powers that be (both in real life and in storyline) over and over again. Time and time again. Over and over and over.

...he got screwed over and beaten a lot.

Then, without any satisfying conclusion (or any conclusion at all really), he was pushed to the side in favor of the oversized, larger than life returning former champion and current movie star. It didn’t go over well. Luckily, the fans clamoring for Daniel Bryan to be in the Wrestlemania main event became so undeniable that WWE canceled their Orton vs. Batista plans, and made Bryan the focal point.

With this change, I was in. I’d been watching Bryan wrestle since I was in middle school. I had the rare opportunity to follow him from the very beginning of his career, every step of the way, all the way to the main event of WWE’s biggest show of the year. I really doubt I’ll ever experience anything quite like that as a wrestling fan ever again. Win Bryan won the WWE title, I damn near shed a tear, even from my $200 nosebleed seat (I’m serious - it was as high up as you could possibly be in that building). I reminisce on all of this to say - WWE MADE me go to this show. There was no way I was gonna miss it, and it will undoubtedly go down as my favorite experience as a wrestling fan.

Of course, this was also the night that Undertaker’s 20+ year Wrestlemania winning streak came to an end. That’s right, I can say I was there. It was honestly the most surreal thing I have ever seen. My best friend and I looked at each other mouth agape (yeah, like that one guy they showed in the front row). Surely there was a mistake? The ref miscounted. The ring bell rang itself on accident. But, no, we had witnessed history (of a predetermined sport, but still). That, plus seeing Daniel Bryan, who was unequivocally my GUY for 10 years, win the WWE title, I kinda consider WM 30 my series finale as a WWE fan. All those years as a fan had been leading to it, and it blew my freaking mind.

Things also went pretty downhill after that. 3 hour Raws became more commonplace. The Shield broke up and went from being revolutionary performers to pretty run of the mill guys. Bryan got injured and had to retire. CM Punk was gone and not coming back. I went from never missing a Raw or Smackdown, to only sometimes reading results. WM 31 followed a year later, and wasn’t bad, but couldn’t match the year before in my mind. WM 32 followed, and was pretty rough. Royal Rumble leading into WM33 was extremely disappointing, and at that point, I vowed to not be let down anymore. Years of overall general disinterest as a fan mounted, and I gave WWE the deuces. WM 33 was the first Wrestlemania I ever missed. And I haven’t watched a Raw, Smackdown, or PPV since.

WM 34 will be the 2nd Wrestlemania that I’ve ever missed. Not only that, but I could easily be there (hopefully in better seats). I won’t be. Here’s why:

1) Daniel Bryan is back. Now, I’m not totally abject to this. I just personally feel that he accomplished all there was to accomplish. He’s married, and his wife just recently gave birth to their first child. I don’t think pushing his body is the best idea when considering all of these circumstances. Then again, it’s his body, and ultimately, his decision. Of course, I’m (selfishly) elated to see him back. He’s an all time favorite of mine, and he’s still relatively young. I know he can still deliver. Here’s the problem. WWE are not positioning his return as the colossal event that it is. We have been led to believe that he would never wrestle (for WWE at least) again. They buck these expectations by having him tweet out the news that he’s returning. Then they have him get beat up and hospitalized on TV the same night. Sure, it makes you hate the guys that jumped him, and makes you want to see him get even. After all, now that he’s cleared to wrestle again, he CAN get even. But, unfortunately, this is not the point here. The point of Daniel Bryan’s return is so he can team with Vince McMahon’s middle aged, non-wrestler son, Shane. Shane is a Wrestlemania staple, only this year, they didn’t have much planned for him. It’s quite a coincidence that WWE goes from being so against Daniel Bryan’s in ring return UNTIL they need something for Vince’s son to do at Wrestlemania. I hope I’m wrong, but it doesn’t look very good regardless. Bryan’s return (in New Orleans nonetheless) is worthy of a main event position. Instead, we’re getting a lukewarm tag match in the middle of the show. A huge moment totally squandered by WWE. Any long term fan will tell you - this isn’t a rare occasion.

2) The main event is lame and predictable. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar already wrestled for the WWE title at WM 31. It was actually pretty bad ass. It didn’t end with a legitimate finish (Seth Rollins won the match even though he wasn’t in it, because wresting is bizarre), so it makes sense that they would need to wrestle again to settle the score once and for all. The only problem is, Brock is leaving for a UFC return, and the fans that pay big money to attend WWE events, like Wrestlemania, hate Roman Reigns. This ain’t a good mix. The last time Brock left WWE, he got booed out of Madison Square Garden (at WM 20) and called a sellout - and that wasn’t even the main event. This cannot, and will not end well. Apparently, a lot of people think, “Surely, Vince McMahon won’t send the fans home unhappy from one of the biggest shows of the year?” Only he does - over and over. I’m sure Frank the Clown, Mick Foley, Honky Tonk Man, Jim Cornette, Disco Inferno, Juventud, The Midnight Rambler, Just Joe, plus everyone else and their mama will blog/podcast about how disappointed they are. But nothing will change. So long as WWE fans pay big money to boo, they’ll keep being served the same product they claim to hate.

3) I’ve already seen AJ vs Nakamura. These two already wrestled a few years ago at New Japan Pro Wrestling’s biggest show of the year, WrestleKingdom. And it was pretty awesome. Now, if anything would get me to watch this year, or even get me in a seat in New Orleans, its this match. I’m sure it will be an awesome match. But I just don’t care. I’ve already seen it. More importantly, the build has been practically non-existent. Nakamura’s Rumble win reeks of just throwing internet fans a bone. It’s not the main event, but it will appease fans while they boo Lesnar vs. Reigns. I don’t want to root against either guy, and that’s a problem. I like them both equally, and don’t want to see either lose. In turn, I can’t really get excited. This is a case where I would have preferred a hard heel turn from one of them. Either of them. I mean, give us something. I would have honestly preferred to have seen AJ face someone like Orton, a known awesome heel performer, and, in a perfect world, seen Nakamura face Brock (whether for the title or not). Then, I would’ve been there. I’m sure it will be an amazing match. I’m sure fans watching live and at home will love it. I’ll be sure to catch it somewhere down the line. But I won’t be paying to see it live.

In conclusion, I realize that as a 20 + year wrestling fan, I kinda feel like I’ve seen it all. I’m not very easy to please in that regard. I just refuse to continually consume and be displeased with a product just because I grew up with it. Plus, I can honestly say that in the year and a half that I’ve been watching New Japan Pro Wrestling regularly (via their monthly paid New Japan World service), I’m enjoying it as much as I enjoyed the Attitude Era when I was a kid. Sometimes, maybe even more. It’s important to let go of nostalgia, and move on if you don’t enjoy something. The WWE is not the same company, in any way, that I once enjoyed. They themselves acknowledge that they’re not a wrestling company anymore. And, hey, like I said, they’re more profitable and powerful than they’ve ever been. They certainly don’t need me. And if you’re unhappy with their product, they clearly don’t need you.

#WWE #Wrestlemania #NOLA #Lesnar #RomanReigns #Cena #AJStyles #Nakamura #DanielBryan #wrestling

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