#I don’t think I have to explain why gymnastics

[sapphic-biohazard]

sports Catra would play

Gymnastics

Running

Jumping

Climbing

Breakdancing

Kicking

Parkour 

[theyluvkarolina]

hi

could you pls write a smau about a gymnast and lando

౨ৎHATE YOU LESS, LOVE YOU MORE౨ৎ

masterlist / rules / requests & talks with me!

SUMMARY౨ৎ y/n and lando hate each other. at least that’s what they want people to think. actually, they are in a relationship with each other

PAIRING ౨ৎ lando norris x gymnast!fem!reader

WARNINGS ౨ৎ none!

FACE CLAIM ౨ৎ Sunisa Lee

A/N ౨ৎ a lot of lando love on my account lately! might make that change 😊😊 also, ik sunisa is team usa but for the sake of the story pretend she is for britain 🥹

INSTAGRAM

y/n_l/n ✔︎

liked by simonebiles, olympics, nike, and others

y/n_l/n So excited to represent Britain for Paris 2024! 🇬🇧 the new leo smacks 😵‍💫😵‍💫

2,346 comments

username1 SHE’S BACK!!

username2 i keep forgetting she is british and not from the usa 😭

→ username3 SHE’S NOT?? → username4 nope! she goes to college in the usa for the gymnastics program but she is a british citizen :) → username5 my life has been a lie

landonorris ✔︎ it’s not your colour tbh 🫤 🫤

→ y/n_l/n ✔︎ neither is orange but here we are 🤷‍♀️ → oscarpiastri ✔︎ oh god here we go → landonorris ✔︎ @ y/n_l/n it’s papaya actually → y/n_l/n ✔︎ “it’s papaya actually “ 🤓 ☝️ → landonorris ✔︎ your not funny → y/n_l/n ✔︎ *you’re → oscarpiastri @ mclaren media train this man. i'm at my limit. → username6 can anyone explain why they hate each other so much?? 😭 → username7 nvm that, someone send oscar help that hes screaming for

IMESSAGES

INSTAGRAM

y/n_l/n ✔︎

liked by lilyzniemer, oscarpiastri, livvydunne, and others

y/n_l/n olympics are underway 👀

1,985 comments

landonorris ✔︎ i hope you fall

→ y/n_l/n ✔︎ what a supportive companion 😍 love you lan 😘 → landonorris ✔︎ i hate you too 😘 😘 → username8 these guys have no chill bro 😭

lilyzniemer the heart 🫶

→ y/n_l/n ✔︎ for my best girl ❤️ → oscarpiastri ✔︎ excuse you? → y/n_l/n ✔︎ you are excused.

username10 seriously, does anyone know why lando and y/n don’t like each other?? they are from such polar opposite sports 😭

username11 i heard from somewhere that they were friends in school but had a falling out for some reason… might be due to their respective sports.

IMESSAGES

INSTAGRAM

y/n_l/n ✔︎

liked by lando.jpeg, jadecarey, lindsayhoran, and others

y/n_l/n rest and relaxation 😴

3,001 comments

username12 UHMMM…

username13 Miss Y/N L/N. Who the fuck is that man?

landonorris did you save croissant for me?

→ y/n_l/n ✔︎ i did actually → landonorris then where is it 🤨 → y/n_l/n ✔︎ ready to be shoved up your fucking ass → mclaren ✔︎ i’m tired. → username14 HELP NOT THE MCLAREN ADMIN BEING OVER THEM. → landonorris ✔︎ :( → username15 THE SAD FACE 😭😭 → username16 anyone else find it strange lando isn’t commenting about the guy in the photos? i mean he teases her all the time and to just have nothing now is so strange → username17 stay delusional!!

username16 lando.jpeg like??? 🤨📸

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

landonorris ✔︎

liked by mclaren, carlosainz55, maxfewtrell, and others

landonorris J'adore Paris 🥐

3,670 comments

username17 i think lando is loving something else other than paris…

→ landonorris ✔︎ no

username18 THE MUSEUM DATE?? 🙁🙁

username19 idk who that girl is but i wish i was her 😕

y/n_l/n ✔︎ the bucket hats need to be retired.

→ landonorris ✔︎ uhhhmm??? no?? some guy said i look handsome. → y/n_l/n ✔︎ was the man a figment of your imagination? → landonorris ✔︎ rude 😒

maxfewtrell ✔︎ upset i don’t get any picture credits. i was the third wheel for nothing.

username20 WHO IS THAT GIRL??

username21 i’m telling you guys it’s y/n and when they reveal it they will be laughing in our faces.

TWITTER

INSTAGRAM

y/n_l/n ✔︎

liked by landonorris, lauriehernandez, alyraisman, and others

y/n_l/n better than gold 🩷🥇

tagged ; landonorris

2,560 comments

username22 WHAT ON EARTH

→ username23 IS GOING ON → username24 IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

oscarpiastri ✔︎ what in the world.

→ username25 HELPP → username26 i think oscar finally lost it 😭😭

carlosainz55 ✔︎ put a jumpscare warning next time 😢

→ landonorris ✔︎ sorry mate, if you’re on her account you’ll be seeing her quite a lot → carlosainz55 ✔︎ yeah! i totally meant Y/N! → landonorris ✔︎ 🤨 → y/n_l/n ✔︎ HAHA POINT AND LAUGH EVERYONE!

landonorris ✔︎

liked by y/n_l/n, charles_leclerc, f1, and others

landonorris she’s a little weird and kind of mean to me but i love her 🙃

tagged ; y/n_l/n

3,734 comments

username27 IT’S CONFIRMED GUYS!!

username28 more y/nlando content ??? it really is the best day ever.

y/n_l/n ✔︎ i’m not mean 🙁🙁

→ landonorris you literally made me choke on my spaghetti. → y/n_l/n ✔︎ because you were outstanded by my beauty 😍 → landonorris ✔︎ maybe i was 🫶 → y/n_l/n ✔︎ stop i’m blushing 🫣🩷 → osarpiastri ✔︎ i missed it when you two together was a secret. → landonorris ✔︎ someone is grumpy. @ y/n_l/n get lily to call him so he stops being a baby → maxverstappen1 ✔︎ didn’t you cry when she got the first place medal? → landonorris ✔︎ didn’t you retire from the australian gp? → username29 SHOTS FIRED 😭 → username30 sassy lando is back → y/n_l/n ✔︎ oh sweetheart, he sadly never left. → landonorris ✔︎ sadly??

[alnair-jpg]

Olympics AU Info dump!

First, I am blown away by how much love the series is getting, thank you all so much! I do really enjoy all the comments and reactions in the tags. Know that they all delight me and the only reason I don’t reply to everything is because there are so many! But I read them all 💕

General questions:

Can you draw the designs or concepts? Write fanfic in this AU?

Yes of course! I’d love for you to tag me if you post them so I can see

Do they all know each other?

At first, I would say no- with the exception of Nico and Will (they’re developing a whole backstory in my head that I cannot and will not stop.). But they all meet in the Olympic Village after the opening ceremonies and quickly become friends. They all try their best to attend each other’s events. (Someone please tell me how Percabeth becomes a thing. Please. 🙏 )

Why didn’t Percy win gold?

Percy was an Olympic medalist in swimming before moving to diving. After competing in several swimming events and feeling like they were all just small variations of the same thing, he wanted more of a challenge. He chose diving to stay rooted in to the water, but to add a new dimension to his bodily awareness and control.

What’s Annabeth and Luke’s rivalry?

They most definitely trained together, and it was Luke’s skill that motivated Annabeth to aim for the Olympics. But, she wanted to compete for her home country, Greece, which Luke thought was just a shortcut since there was a clearer path to an Olympic team in a smaller country. Annabeth is constantly trying to prove to him that she would have made it to the top of the sport either way.

Also, apologies to the IRL fencers out there for the inconsistency. I know fencing is a gendered sport, and Annabeth’s gear/style are inconsistent, please forgive the oversight ☺️🫶

Volleyball?

The whole Hunters of Artemis are a volleyball team (that apparently has no country 😅). Thalia ends up the captain. When Reyna moves on from tennis they welcome her with open arms.

Rejected sports

Will as a runner. Canonically, he’s super fast, but just having him as a sprinter didn’t fit with his personality.

Will as a pole vaulter. Specifically the guy that lost because he was ‘blessed a little too much’ and knocked down the bar. I will not explain further.

Will as a gymnast. He was this || close to being a gymnast essentially modeled after Steven Nedoroscik, I had the sketch and everything. (I shared it here!) But when an anyonomous ask clued me into the sick medical team uniforms it all fell into place from there. (Thank you no-longer-anon @helyeahmangocheese !)

Percy in anything equestrian related. I see him not having the patience for all the formality of it all, but he definitely crashes Hazel’s shows and chats up all the competition (the horses.)

Annabeth on a sailing team. Also, related to that, Reyna on a sailing team. It was a fun idea, especially for Reyna and her history with pirates but ultimately it was really hard to capture in a few illustrations.

Nico in several winter sports. For consistency mostly. He could fit for a lot of winter sports - ice skating and snowboarding are my personal favorites.

Leo as a shooter. He would most definitely build his own gear and make tweaks to his weapon. Which would get him immediately disqualified.

Jason in discus. Jason as a basketball player. Golf is just… fitting. 😂

Other Characters I’ve been thinking about

(that may have art in the works… and may not actually be athletes!)

Clarisse

Meg

Grover

Rachel

Lester / Apollo

Mr. D

Chiron

[gaywineauntsstuff]

Listen the ‘Bruce brought dick in to stop him killing Zucco” is fun

You know what’s more fun

The fact that Dick Grayson is the fundamental opposite of Jokers one bad day

Because he was 9 and insane

Jokers “all it takes is one bad day” meet Dick Grayson also terminally insane but in the opposite direction.

(“I had a bad day not a fan, it’s illegal now”

“Chum murder is already illegal”

“Yeah in the eyes of the law, but who follows that! I’ve decided it’s illegal for people to have bad days”

“You have to follow laws Dick. You have to”

“Says the man getting shot at by the cops bc he dresses as a giant bat monster and fights crime using ancient martial arts”

“Hnnng”

“Anyway it’s illegal now, people suffering I have decided and I’m adorable so what I say goes!”

Bruce pinching bridge of nose ��Dick you can’t save everyone and change every person you meets life”

“How about! No!”

“Di-“

“Great talk Bruce! Bye bye now!”)

Like when I say Dick Grayson was the crazy Robin I don’t mean he was aggressive or cruel

No I mean this man would not be out of place in Lewis Carol’s Alice in wonderland.

He’d see all the insane shit in Gotham and go ‘that makes perfect sense’ and continue on his merry way

Like he’s the type of kid who when he’s mad at Bruce for sidelining him on a fight against the joker (and making him fight Harley)

Will pull out a chessboard, grab Harley Quinn and go “I win, you get arkhamed you win we fight”

“Kid-“

“I have a gymnastics competition coming up and I wanna show up this douche in my class- you are not breaking my legs before then. Sit down. Play chess”

“Shit kid why didncha say so”

Why does he wanna fight the Joker who will objectively injure him far more throughly

“Well it’s simple math, I grew up in a circus, I like clowns, he is the biggest disgrace to clownery I’ve ever seen bet he didn’t even go to clown college. Doesn’t even have any iconic makeup, he just has toxic waste skin?? Like not even eye makeup or a red nose?? If you wanna do thematic crime do it right? Anyway it’s my legal obligation to try at any given moment to reck the embarrassment to all things goofy and funs shit.”

—————

Bruce looking for his 9 year old ward who was kidnapped as Robin

Dick hanging upside down on semi sentient vine gesturing wildly at poison Ivy who is nodding empathically

“And the water here is not normal!! Like how do you grow plants! I used to have to take care of plants all the time and now if I water them they rot! Like right in front of me!!? And I feel so bad but?? It’s water?? Please drink it?? Mr plant”

“Oh yeah it’s because of all the toxic ace chemicals in the water, you have to triple filter it. Honestly Robin I’m disappointed, your plants should be drinking the same water as you”

“ they do tho!”

“You…drink… Gotham tap water? Batman lets you drink Gotham tap water?”

“Well no… he always tells me to use the filter but I like the tap water!! Sometimes it’s fun colors and spicy”

“oh… oh that explains so much about you..”

“No he just came like that.”

“Oh HI B I was asking miss Dr.ivy why my plants keep dying”

“Robin don’t consort with villains”

“Miss Dr. Ivy you’re a doctor right”

Poison Ivy who is violently amused “PHD not MD but yeah I am”

“So you’re smart”

“Yeasss”

“Cool!…. What does consort mean?”

————-

Annoys the riddler by going with the most out of pocket technically true answer

Think “a sparrow with a shotgun”

———-

Makes the Jokers goons laugh, louder than the joker. Even while under threats of death by sufficiently wacky murder plot

———-

[chukys-mouthguard]

Sex Rx

1.9k words

featuring -> cam york x female reader

genre -> smut; minors DNI, sexual themes, 18+ content - not proofread

summary -> cam finds himself injured and unable to attend the flyers Halloween party, but you won’t let your costume go to waste

note -> happy halloween 🎃 👻 i wanted to get something halloween inspired written and this came to mind, hope y’all enjoy, promise to get back to regularly schedule posting soon 🫶🏼

The Flyers Halloween party was something you’d been planning for since last Halloween. You and Cam had pitched numerous costume ideas to one another, finally settling on one just a few weeks prior to the event.

However, despite your planning, it would prove to be pointless as Cam had suffered an injury just a week before the party. And though he could’ve still attended, he broke the news to you that he’d be opting out for the night.

“Cam, you can still go! Just, no alcohol because of the pain meds. And no crazy dancing, aggressive games of pong or beer die.”

Cam laughed as he shook his head, adjusting the strap on the sling his arm was stuck in for the next few weeks as he headed to the couch.

“Babe, I told you, I’m not in the mood to go to a party I can’t even have fun at. I’ll be fine here, honest.”

Letting out a huff you shot him a glare as he turned on the tv, scrolling through the channels to find something to occupy him for the night. As much as you knew you couldn’t be mad at Cam, his injury of course not something he planned to have happen, you were a bit annoyed that your costume would go to waste.

You’d planned your hair and makeup, had your costume ready for the last week. And now, it would simply stay in your closet, or possibly get resold since you’d never worn it except to try it on.

Heading to your shared bedroom you dug out your costume, laying it on the bed as you sighed, wishing you could convince Cam to get his butt to the party. His muffled laugh coming from the other room, something on the tv clearly amusing him as you eyed the costume. A smirk coming across your face as you had come up with a brilliant idea.

“Cam!”

Shouting down the hall, you patiently waited for his response as you took a deep breath. Wondering what his reaction to your idea would be. Surely he’d love the idea, right?

“Yeah babe?”

His tone was unamused as you heard the changing of channels letting you know he wasn’t in the middle of watching anything.

“You’re sure you want to just sit on the couch all night and watch tv?”

“Actually, I was thinking I’d go try out for a local gymnastics team, or maybe enter an arm wrestling competition.”

His sarcastic comments had you rolling your eyes, a laugh emerging from him as he questioned what you were up to talking to him from down the hall.

“Well, I just, I had an idea. But I wasn’t sure if you’d be on board or not. You seem like you’re busy.”

“Baby, if you don’t get your ass in here and explain what the hell you’re up to.”

Peeking around the corner of the hall, Cam smirked at you in confusion as he tried to catch a glimpse at why you were hiding behind the corner.

“Well…”

Your voice trailed off as you emerged from the hallway, dressed in your nurse costume as Cam’s eyes went wide. His tongue slightly darted out to lick his bottom lip as you gave him a spin to allow him to take in the entire look.

“I just, I figured I couldn’t let this costume go to waste. Plus, I do have an injured patient here that I think needs some assistance.”

Cam slightly laughed as he watched you close the distance between the two of you, secretly wishing his arm wasn’t trapped in a sling so that he could have his hands all over you. But instead he was limited to one free hand to roam your body as you climbed into his lip.

“So Mr. York, what appears to be the issue?”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you smirked as you could see how badly he hated being stuck in a sling. His eyes roaming your figure in the skimpy nurses outfit as one hand rested on your ass that was peeking out beneath the fabric of your skirt.

“Nurse, it’s my shoulder. I’m pretty immobile with this injury, and I’ve got a bit of a growing problem that needs to be taken care of. Do you think you can help with that?”

Slightly shifting in his lap you felt his growing problem beneath you, earning a soft grunt from him at the contact. You tangled your fingers in his red curls as your lips hovered over his, very much enjoying the begging look in his eyes as you knew how much Cam preferred to be in control of these situations. But tonight, he’d have to accept the fact that you were taking the lead, though he was sure he’d still enjoy it.

“Mhm, I can see that problem you’re having. I think we definitely need to act fast, if you don’t mind?”

Slowly you moved from his lap, kneeling in front of him as both your hands dipped inside the waistband of his sweats. Cam lifts his hips to help you pull them from his legs in one motion along with his briefs. A low groan falling from his lips as his cock slaps against his stomach, your tongue licking your lips at the sight.

“You doing okay?”

Cam nodded his head as he reached out to cup your face, his thumb brushing over your lips before dipping into your mouth as a cue for you to suck on it.

“Never better. I know you’re gonna take such good care of me.”

He removed his thumb from your mouth as he guided your chin towards his cock, needing your lips around him immediately, the anticipation having him already on the edge.

The second your lips wrap around him the expletives pour from him, a cocky grin on his face as he watches you slowly bob your head before lowering down and holding place to deepthroat him.

“Fuck….holy shit baby. Do that again.”

A giggle fell from your lips as you took a moment to catch your breath, tucking your hair behind your ear as you moved back to repeat the action. Cam’s hand tangled tight in your hair as he held you in place, his hips slightly thrusting as he tried to give you even more of him. His breath catching in his throat as he groaned, cursing to himself that he couldn’t just rip off his sling and fuck you exactly how he wanted. But the last thing he needed was injuring himself further and trying to explain that to the medical staff.

“You still feel okay? Is this helping?”

Smiling up to him you stroked him slowly as you allowed to catch his breath. Cam took a second to adjust his position on the couch before he reached out and pulled you from your spot on the floor and into his lap.

“Kill the roleplay baby girl and just fuck me already.”

Cam’s tone though playful had a subtle hint of desperation, letting you know he couldn’t deal with the foreplay any longer, especially since he wasn’t in control and couldn’t do things his way.

Happy to fulfill his request, you moved your thong to the side as he lined himself with your slit. Making sure to get in whatever teasing he could as he marveled at how wet you were for him.

“Seems like someone else has a little problem of their own huh?”

His cocky attitude would never cease to send chills up your spine, paired with a smirk that could make you fold at the snap of a finger. Shaking your head you simply grabbed a fistful of his hair as your lips devoured his while you slowly lowered yourself down onto him. Both of you moaning into the kiss as you paused once you were fully wrapped around him. Cam’s size was something you could never get used to, but in the best way possible.

“Don’t get shy on me now baby girl, show me how much you want to make me feel better.”

His instructions only turned you on even more, with them being one of the few things he was able to do despite his shoulder injury limiting his mobility.

“I kind of like you better when you can barely move, I finally get to do things my way.”

Grinding your hips into his lap you watched as he bit his lip, loving the feeling of you taking control. His hand dropped to grip your ass before smacking it, surely leaving a red mark behind. Cam tried his best to guide you as you began to bounce up and down on his cock, but being one handed was making that difficult.

“Fuck, I hate this fucking sling.”

He moved to try and pull it from his neck, but you quickly grabbed his hand, pinning it to the couch next to his head as you continued to ride him.

“No way, you fuck up your shoulder even more the doctors are gonna have a fit. Just for once can you be okay with not being in control?”

He rolled his eyes at you as he huffed, hating to let you have your way with him while he sat practically helpless. But he couldn’t deny how hot you looked in his lap. Your costume hiked up on your hips, panties pulled to the side and soaked as you continued to ride him. Tossing your head back in pleasure as you moan his name. A hand resting on his chest to help steady yourself as your hips slowly begin to jolt, the pleasure beginning to overtake you and Cam takes notice.

His freehand grips your hip as he does his best to thrust up into you while you drop a hand to your clit. The sight makes Cam’s cock twitch inside of you as he throws his head back nearing his climax.

“God you’re so fucking sexy baby. You gonna cum for me? That would make me feel amazing to cum with you, can you do that for me?”

Soft whimpers left your lips as you could barely keep with his thrusts, your fingers frantically rubbing your clit as you suddenly felt your release.

“Fuck baby, that’s it.”

Cam’s low grunts filled the room as he reached his peak, wrapping an arm around you as he pulled you into his chest, doing his best to avoid his shoulder. Though the bulky sling didn’t make that very easy.

“Holy shit, and even with your fucked up shoulder?”

Cam smirked as you laughed at him, resting your head on his shoulder as the two of you caught your breath. Eventually pulling yourself from his now drained cock as you hurried down the hall to start the shower.

“You never know, sex might’ve been the medicine my shoulder needed baby.”

Cam followed you as he leaned in the doorway of the bathroom, watching as you stepped out of the costume and into the shower.

“Well I’m glad, but I hope you plan on showering after all that fun sir, we made a little bit of a mess.”

Cam looked down at himself, laughing at his skin glistening from the mixture of the sweat and sex.

“I think I need a nurse to help me shower, you know because of my shoulder. Do you know of any?”

Rolling your eyes you pulled back the shower curtain, inviting Cam to join you.

“Step into my office Mr. York.”

[ballet-symphonie]

Hi Ale,

Since you’re Italian, can you explain why some of the Italian ballet stars aren’t as famous as the Russian or American dancers? Eg Virna Toppi, Susanna Salvi, Nicoletta Manni?

The only Italian dancers who’ve basically made themselves international stars in the ballet world by are/were Ferri, Fracci, Bolle and now Tissi.

I honestly think that it it’s because of two reasons:

1. how they market themselves. American dancers use social media to get big (Isabella Boylston, Skylar Brandt, Tiler Peck) and for Russia it’s basically based on if you align yourself with Putin policies (Polunin, Zakharova, Gracheva, Shipulina is married to a vocal supporter, I think Zhiganshina posted a pro-Russia thing too?) or not (Smirnova, Osipova)

None of the Italian dancers really have a way to get themselves known in the international world imo. Italy is known for opera, food, and painting, I wouldn’t see ballet at La Scala unless there was a Russian there. (Side note: I loved how La Scala didn’t invite Zakharova for their recent Swan Lake, but they hired Smirnova instead😂it’s your loss, Sveta!)

2. I hate saying this, especially during the war, but Russia is basically the hot spot of ballet right now because of their rigorous training, the quality of good dancers, and sink or swim mentalities. Most people regardless if they’re in the ballet world don’t really see Italy as a ballet hotspot. Russia is THE place for ballet. Same with their ice skating, gymnastics and rhythmic gymnastics. They put the best time and effort into those who’ve given up their childhood to train.

Is there any other reasons why Italian stars aren’t big worldwide?

Hmm I have a lot of mixed thoughts to your points here.

As someone who's currently in Italy, Roberto Bolle is absolutely a household name. Nicoletta Manni and to a slightly lesser extent, Timofej Andrijashenko are both quite popular and well known. Manni is everywhere, even more so after their proposal at the Arena di Verona went viral. You can see her in advertisements, on the posters of La Scala, and frequently in the news. Nicoletta was just titled as "Officer of Merit" of the Italian Republic and publically recognized by our president, Sergio Mattarella. A few days later, she received the "Women of the Year" award by a promiemnt womens rights group called "Associazione Nazionale Donne Elettrici".

Italy has a diverse and robust culture and ballet at La Scala has historically been a part of that. Many Italian dancers and arts organizations are not as social media crazy as in other countries, we're more concerned with the art form and preserving its nature and longevity - not advertising it as something it's not or playing it up to match fickle trends. The historical importance is why La Scala has been a cultural center of high arts for centuries now, so many international stars speak so highly about it and desire to perform here- ballet, opera, and orchestra. Also, disrespectfully, if you wouldn't go see the ballet La Scala without a Russian headliner, then let someone else have your ticket. You don't know what you're missing.

2. I actually don't think Russia is the hotspot for ballet currently. The quality of training has declined at both BBA and VBA, and both of their main companies are being drastically mismanaged under politically messy leadership. The quality of good dancers remains, but most are from an older era. Furthermore, the training in Russia is quickly becoming dated, their dancers are not graduating with the skills to succeed in a repertoire that goes beyond Petitpa (and often lately, even the Petipa leaves a lot to be desired)

More importantly, ballet in Russia is not evolving or innovating. There are so few premieres with merit nowadays. A decent Coppelia and a stolen Pharoah's Daughter and some unremarkable, dated neoclassical pieces. Russian ballet has not taken off during the war, it's dying. MT's and BT's licenses to perform works are expiring left and right, BT has been performing Ratmansky's work without permission and credit to bolster their repertoire. Furthermore, no foreigners are coming to create commissions, many talented Russian choreographers have left the country such as Ilya Zhivoi and we're long past the golden age of Soviet innovation on stage.

In my opinion, the current hotspots are where new works are being created to great acclaim, and ballet is finding new audiences and new heights. The UK, with the Royal, English National, Akram Khan, Wayne McGregor, Matthew Bourne, Rambert, and fantastic curation by Sadler’s Wells. Canada, with the National Ballet's exciting rep, Medhi Walerski and Ballet BC and their collaborations with École supérieure de ballet du Québec, Crystal Pite's Kidd Pivot. Germany And then of course, New York with Kyle Abraham, Lauren Lovette, and Robert Battle at Paul Taylor, Yin Yue and her company YYDC, GALLIM, and the multitudes of creation spaces like ABT's Incubator, DANCE LAB NYC, and that's before we even get to the commercial scene.

[willothewispwisteriadawn]

It’s been literally so long since Fire Emblem 3H came out. At this point, I’m a hair away from assuming people who say Rhea was running around murdering people of other religions are being intellectually dishonest. We have multiple support conversations just saying entirely uncryptically that she doesn’t do this, and we never even see strong evidence that she does? She executed people for active blasphemy and attempted assassination, it’s just that the context made her ruthless (the people executed were clearly pawns, scared, and suffering too) which is why the scenes depict her as cutthroat. But to say she’s killed people because they just casually didn’t think Sothis was real is more than just simplifying— it’s just incorrect. It’s because these people ultimately threatened the juggling act Rhea is doing to prevent another grand scale war and triggered her because they messed with things she considers sacred, final reminders of her mother.

It’s just so weird because I used to post like screenshots and STATEMENTS FROM THE WRITERS that confirm all this in no uncertain language and people would be like doing extreme mental gymnastics to explain why “Rhea doesn’t care that I don’t believe in Sothis” and “Rhea did what she did to prevent war” are not clear statements. I mean, I am so chill with having different takes on characters from people or viewing characters as more or less sympathetic. That involves personal code and ethics. But with 3H, I hit this wall where I’m like.. when do we admit that, for you, this conversation is not about actually understanding the character?

I swear, some people need to go take a break, grab a latte, and privately come to terms with their irl beefs with the Catholic Church before engaging with this game. Because, my friends, I do not have the ability or strength to shoulder/accommodate your external opinions on a real religion on top of my analyses of the motives of the green haired dragonfolk.

[doorp]

What started out as theories abt when the main cast died but got silly

Annabel + Lenore ✨

This one is pretty straightforward, there’s these Barbie movie redraws flynn did that shows Annabel and Lenore being caught by “NMPD nevermore police department” , with the year 1901 in the corner, implying that’s when they died and got sent to nevermore

This little 1901 in the corner is interesting on like a meta level to me bc 1. in the original Barbie meme theres no date on the slate thingies, so flynn decided to add that piece of info on her own, and 2. this was just after episode 67 came out (on fp I think) and uh little tidbit, before that episode there was a theory that Theo died in like the 1860s or something based on the logo in the newspaper abt his death, the ny daily tribune, and after episode 67 came out and ira mentioned a ship that wasn’t available for public use until 1899 on the discord we were trying to do mental gymnastics to make the 2 dates work but then red came on like “please we accidentally grabbed the wrong logo it’s meant to read new York tribune not New York daily tribune its fixed now we fixed it please” and then a few days later they streamed doing this piece

Anyway, ira talks about the oceanic, which was “the finest ocean liner in the world” the *largest ocean liner in the world* until 1901

The RMS oceanic had its maiden voyage in September of 1899, at the beginning of fall. Annabel says she arrived in New York a fortnight before meeting Lenore, presumably during the spring. Annabel arrives at lenores house in april/may of 1900, spends six months there, and then leaves around the fall, probably somewhere around September or October. Lenore then spends a few months doing her thing and then arrives at her family’s home in either December 1900 or January 1901, during the winter. HERES where it gets interesting. We can assume that Annabel died in the cold, from her spectres chilling atmosphere and all together appearance of corpse in a freezer. She even has frostbite on her fingers and toes, as well as snowflake like glitter in her veil. We can also assume she died on her wedding day, the way she wears her rings on different hands and her wedding dress in spectre form. So if she died in the cold and on her wedding day, then when was her wedding, and how could it be in winter?

heres my 2 theories

1. Lenore beats Annabel at chess just for funsies fairly quickly after arriving, then they try to elope and get caught by their dads

2. Lenore courts Annabel, wins her hand, and they get engaged. Since engagements usually lasted around 6 months to 2 years, their engagement could have been anywhere from however long it takes Lenore to win at chess to December 1901. If their wedding day was in November/December, that means Lenore got away with pretending to be a man for a whole YEAR and they spent that year just being gay and shit/doing schemes.

I personally like option 2 more bc its just sadder that they did get away w it for a while then ultimately got caught - it would also explain why Annabel is just SO into Lenore, if all she remembers is that year they spent being all sneaky and gay and shit, it would explain how she’s just used to flirting and holding onto Lenore in secret. It would also explain why Annabel assumes Lenore is up to scheming at nevermore. if they eloped a few weeks after they reunited it would still be like yeah that makes sense they are such u haul lesbians, but them becoming sneaky codependent gays ripped from each other on their wedding day just hurts more and makes more sense time/character wise

Duke - 1912, maybe even 1912 specifically, idk

Duke has a coin that’s dated to 1912, and Eulalie says it looks brand new. There’s been arguments about wether or not the coin is actually newly minted, but I don’t think we can say for sure. It might not matter either way- I have a theory that the suit cases the students carry aren’t actually random personal items of interest, but a suitcase they packed right before a pivotal event in their lives. Perhaps Duke does have newly minted coins in his suitcase, but he didn’t actually die in 1912. Also! Duke is implied to be a Houdini like figure, so I imagine he’s not later than the 20s.

Pluto - 1914 ish

Plutos spectre wears a British ww1 military uniform, its debated wether or not the jacket was his dads or his, but regardless he couldn’t have died earlier than 1914. Pluto is named after the cat in the short story called The Black Cat by Edgar Allan poe. In the story a cat named Pluto gets its eye slashed out by its drunken owner, eventually getting hung from a tree by the man. Theres obvious references to the story in Plutos design and shit overall, when he manifests a belt snaps around his neck implying he died from strangulation, his spectre has like, a pluming collar/leash of smoke around its neck, his spectre looks like it’s made of ash kinda (someone described him as a burnt rabbit to me once) which is probably a reference to the part in the story where the man’s house burns down, only 1 wall remaining erect, with the image of a black cat scorched into it. Plutos eye is covered by his hair, he walks into a door frame, he’s got spectre abilities called “blink” and “evil eye” so w Pluto until we get more info it’s no earlier than 1914 if you subscribe to the Pluto went to war theory or no earlier than like, say the 20s? if you subscribe to the Plutos dad was a vet theory

Berenice - 1920s

Shes a flapper, cmon. shes from the 1920s. Look at her. We already know she was run over by a cop car after running from some guy, and I tried to look into where the cop car was from but i didn’t have much luck. mostly just confirmed the era, when I searched cop cars of the 1920s pretty similar images to the one that killed bee show up. A few others I think have looked into it more? but im not completely sure. There’s been a lot of theories about where Berenice is from, I’ve seen Louisiana, Chicago, Harlem (Harlem renaissance specifically) but there’s not a lot of conclusive info about Berenice. we know her pearls were real, in the way they scattered, so she had so have some means of affording them. Pearls are held together on a string, but only real pearls have pieces of metal between the pearls to keep them from rubbing against each other. Bees pearls scatter in long strings, not completely all over the place like fake pearls without that structure would.

Eulalie - 1935

The song Eula sings in her death flashback is a Japanese lullaby that was rediscovered in 1935. Its a popular theory that Eulalies death was a hate crime, a fire started because of hate towards Japanese Americans during ww2. She probably died in the forties in america, I don’t think she died in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, the fire that killed her isnt how atomic bombs would have killed her. The kid she sings to asks if someone started the fire on purpose, so imo it was likely a hate crime.

Morella - 1950s - 70s??

Okay so, Morella. we know the least about her. with will we can guess that he was lower class and stuff, but all we know abt Morella is that she’s Irish. Shepards pie and Guinness is pretty timeless. The reason I say 50s to 70s is bc according to Remigoesinsane the clasp to her locket started to be used around that time! that’s all I have on her tbh, a theory of mine is that she died in a factory accident trying to save someone when the machinery went crazy, but that’s mostly it.

Ada - 1930s

Ada’s clothes in her death flashback match those worn by maids in the 1930s, and the lingerie she wears in the manor also matches lingerie worn in the 30s. It would also make sense for Ada’s character to be from the 30s. That decade was called the “somber thirties” bc of how fucked up the economy was after the stock market crash. It was a major time of economic disparity, and Ada’s obsession with trying to seem upper class elite could stem from not having much when she died. She probably sees nevermore as a blank slate, a place where people will see her as more than just “the help” would also make sense that the man that killed her was a rich guy using his power to take advantage of her and get away with the crime. Especially since the poem, Tamerlane, was from the pov of a rich guy lamenting a relationship he had with a lower class girl named Ada.

Prospero ✨

PROSPERO! prospero drinks espresso with his chosen last meal, which was invented in 1901. I think he died from tuberculosis. For a long time a major cause of death has been tuberculosis. So much so that Victorians made it a beauty standard. A major inspiration of Poe himself was tuberculosis, in the masque of red death, along with the grief he was left with after his wife died from it. It rots your lungs, makes you cough up your bloodied respiratory system until you suffocate in it. In the maze, prospero says he felt queasy, like something was crawling under his skin when he died. When prospero cuts his hand, he says he’s going to be sick, and tells Annabel that he’s afraid of blood. (Probably specifically his own blood bc u know he was feeding people to rats like minutes before that) This, coupled with the imagery of blood pouring out from his plague mask when he says the “queasy, like something was crawling under my skin” line, makes me think his death involved a lot of blood! And as I said before tuberculosis was like really gross and bloody and gory. Furthermore, this quote from the writer is SO interesting

In the poem prosperos namesake is in, the masque of red death, the prince prospero, hiding and ignoring a sickness ravaging his country, decides to host a huge party! Everyone’s having a grand old time, the festivities only pausing when the clock strikes, leaving everyone in a dread filled silence, the party picking up almost immediately after and brushing it off. Eventually the plague does get in though and kill them all because they ignored the feeling of dread.

The prince and the party goers die because the prince is blissfully and willfully ignorant of the disease. Bc their hubris didn’t allow them to see the threat of it. Nevermores prospero, however, is obsessed with staying healthy/hygienic as possible. He wears his gloves even when he eats, hates being touched, almost throws up when he cuts his hand. He hallucinates a thousand dirty hands grabbing him and trying to perform an operation on him with disgusting germy tools. He sees the hand he cut amputated, imagining that the wound got so infected that it had to be removed. He stares in horror at his hand before Ada even makes eye contact with him. My theory is Prospero grew up hearing terrible stories of people dying from infection, disease. He heard of people slowly drowning in their own blood. He decided to take every precaution, he simply wouldn’t allow that to be his fate. After Ada attacks him he tells Annabel “you must think me neurotic” for being so upset over the blood on his hand. This feels, so specific and intentional to me. Not just because Annabel dealt with her anxiety and her dad treating her panic attacks like he did, and this is a whole “omg look they’re bonding” moment, but bc, immediately after he tries to assure her that “im not, you know, im perfectly sane” like shit like this has happened before, where ppl called him neurotic for being that sick at the sight of his own blood, or that obsessed with hygiene. The irony being that, he spent his life obsessing over staying healthy, so much so that people called him neurotic, only to die that slow gory death anyway.

That whole, prospero dying from tb tangent aside tho, how it correlates to the time of his death. He probably died in the early 1900s, the earliest being 1901-1906ish, bc again, that’s when espresso started gaining popularity. My guess is he died around the 20s, ik the tb vaccine came out around the 20s, but people still died of it after and are still dying/contracting it today, and in the 20s there were a lot of Italians emigrating to America, and prospero is so aggressively Italian American (eating espresso and cannoli with chocolate chips for his last meal) that it’d make sense. So woo!

Monty - 1910s

Monty is a cowwwwboyyyyyy. The Wild West pretty much tapered out around the early 1900s. He can’t be that recent. He also mentions calamity Jane so that definitely puts him past the 1800s. He seemed to have a pretty wild life, kicked in the head by a horse, tooth knocked out by a human, tied to train tracks and left for dead after calling the pastors daughter loose. crazy guy crazy time

Will ???

Will is so plain i cannot get a read on where hes from im sorry

obligatory thank you for making it to the end, I barely made it myself, this was sitting in my drafts for weeks before I decided to just get it over with. <<333

[the-batcomputer-project]

Batfamily (and other) Headcanons that will be canon in my DC timeline:

-Dick is Pansexual. Show me this man in romantic relationships with more than just woman. I also feel like he has potential to be a sex positive icon which I feel is important. Sex portrayed as something that can be fun and casual, not explicitly reserved for romantic partners and situations.

(edited to rephrase and remove offensive language towards the pan community)

-Jason is Asexual. Get some ace representation but also give him some healthy romantic relationships where sex is not the center or a necessity. (I’m partial to Jason/Roy but to each their own)

-Jon Kent is dyslexic. Insert Percy Jackson reference about his brain being wired for kryptonian, but no, the dyslexia comes from Lois.

-Jason was absolutely theater kid before his death who managed to get the lead role almost every time, and somehow maintained a healthy schedule of theater rehearsals, good grades, and patrols.

-building off of the last one, Jason is Bruce’s favorite allowing him to get away with pretty much anything, but no one notices this because Jason is convinced Bruce hates him, and everyone else (understandably) believes Cass is the favorite.

-Cass took up gardening after watching Alfred tend to the rose bushes out front, and is now responsible for the very impressive garden on the Wayne Estate. She loves being to create and nurture life instead of kill, like the was born and raised to. Jason also taught her the language of flowers and she has little flowerbeds for each member of the family. Only Jason knows what they mean (also Alfred but he knows everything)

-Tim isn’t a caffeine addict, but he does have severe insomnia and ADHD. Because of that, caffeine typically has the opposite effect on him, hence why he always seems to be drinking a cup. Either for the placebo effect to stay up and finish a case, or to make him tired enough to fall asleep.

-Damian struggles to connect with people and express gratitude, appreciation, and love. He asked Cass about her garden one day and very intently sat and listened while she taught him about the language of flowers. Each family member woke up the next morning to a drawing of a bouquet of flowers pinned to the door with a knife (Jason has his framed in a safehouse he is fairly sure none of his family knows about)

-The batcave has a secret vault of “bad ideas” which was started by Dick as a child with the original Robin suit Bruce designed (it had pants) along with videos of Dick wearing said costume and falling off of gymnastics bars. (Think of the video explaining why strippers don’t wear clothes with the person falling off the pole over and over)

-Bruce is autistic. He gives off tism vibes (you’re trying to tell me that a man who dresses up as a bat and fights crime as a trauma response to watching his parents be murdered in front of him is neurotypical?) and I also want to see more a positive autism representation in main characters in media.

-Dick’s use of made up words such as “aster” and “whelmed” come from the fact that he spoke very little English when he was first adopted by Bruce, and decided that using obviously made up words made his slip ups less noticeable, or people would assume he did it on purpose. Even after he mastered English, he continued using his made up words because they just made sense (the batcomputer and jl database have a hidden file called the “DICKtionary” unlinking all his words and their meanings)

-Jason can’t drive. He died when he was 15 (you have to be 16 in Jersey to get your permit), was revived in Nanda Parbat so there was no need to drive, and was too embarrassed to mention it by the time he returned to Gotham and the Batfamily. This is his deepest, darkest, secret.

-As a child, Dick was convinced Batman was a vampire (and still isn’t entirely convinced otherwise)

-Tim collects little trinkets. Dick noticed this early on, and made sure to get a little souvenir trinket for Tim every time he went on a trip. Bruce noticed and started doing the same thing, and so did his friends after a while. Tim proudly displays his collection, because to him, each trinket is a reminder that people are thinking about him and care about him. (Most of his possessions in Drake Manor were necessities like clothes, or things he had bought for himself. Barely anything was a gift)

-Jason has OCPD, and needs things to be an exact certain way, and struggles when they aren’t. It’s one of the biggest reasons why he is often so frustrated with Bruce, who tends to do things in a different, certain way.

-Cass is actually the most neurotypical in the family, though because she has learned how to be a person through observing, she has picked up on many neurodivergent traits, specifically stimming.

-Steph’s aesthetic is retro pastel pop, mixed with maximalism. She loves bright colors and loud designs (though purple is still her favorite by far)

-Alfred keeps guns stashed all over the house in case of emergencies. Bruce hates this and has tried to remove them, but has given up as he can never seem to find them all. Alfred also brought up the good point of “I am not a vigilante like you, Master Bruce, and I am not quite as young as I used to be. If there is ever an invasion of the manor, I would quite enjoy the security of being able to protect myself.”

-There is a list of who is banned from the kitchen. Bruce is at the top of the list, Tim isn’t allowed to make anything more complex than instant food, Cass and Damian aren’t very good, but at least make an effort to learn so are therefore allowed with supervision. Dick has a partial ban. He is an absolute disaster in the kitchen, except for soups, and sarma (his mother’s recipe was one of the few things he brought with him from the circus and was obsessed with perfecting it as a kid, leading it to be one of the only things he can actually make) Steph isn’t allowed to cook, but she is a proficient baker. Duke isn’t a horrible cook, but mainly avoids the kitchen, preferring to stay out of Alfred’s way. Jason is the only batfamily member who is not banned from the kitchen under any circumstances. He has a tendency to stress cook, and likes trying new fancy recipes, because on the streets he only ate what he could find. This gives him a sense of control.

-Superman wasn’t a great dad to Connor at first, opting to send him to the farm to stay with Ma and Pa, but after a stern talking to from Bruce, came around started making an effort. Connor is an excellent big brother to Jon.

[chai-berries]

patrols with abby were easy. you knew she had your back, being the best of the best in isaac’s eyes. you started training with her to go on missions in the first place so you both created an almost dance while on a mission. you talked, whispered, laughed. you packed your extra bags with his trash/her treasure bits and bobs you found in decrepit buildings, teetering on 2x4s like a gymnast. abby was currently obsessed with the olympics, the last one being in 2012. she found a bunch of magazines about it on her last trip and had delicately packed them in her bag, planning on reading them as soon as she got back. “did you know that…” lined your conversations for several patrols. your personal favorite fact that it was the first olympics where every nation had a woman representing.

she later admitted, when you had officially been together for just over a week, that you were the last person to still be interested in what she was talking about. even nora tapped out after an hour-long spew about the shoes track and field athletes wear. manny tapped out after 5 minutes, during which he thought abby was joking around the whole time.

the point is you guys had it down to a tee. and yet, neither of you saw it coming. one second abby is laughing at something you said, turning around to respond, and the next second she’s pointing a gun over your shoulder. you freeze, back tensed up. an arm that is neither yours nor abby’s wraps around your neck and pulls you against a chest. the breath you let out from the action is sucked back into your lungs when you feel the cold metal of the gun tap against your temple. your mind shuts down on you, your fear overshadowing all you know about self-defense. your eyes stay locked on abby’s face. if you’re going to die, you want the last thing you see to be her.

“let. her. go.” abby bites out. her hand is steady, the gun pointed at whoever had you in a chokehold. “and i’ll think about letting you live.”

the man, who you assume is a man, tugs you closer to their body. you hear them wet their lips before speaking through a smile.

“now, i don’t want to hurt either of you,” it is a man. and his nonchalant response makes your stomach turn. “i don’t hurt young ladies like yourself,” he continues lewdly. his hold tightens on you again but this time he moves you so your body is pressed tight against his. abby continues to stare him down, her finger itching to fire a shot right in his head for touching you.

you bring both hands around his arm and sneak them between it and your neck. abby clocks your shift and switches her focus to the smug son of a bitch on the other side of her gun. she barely blinks before firing one clean shot in his shoulder, causing him to jump back and let you go. you dive near abby’s feet and move to stand behind her.

the man is moaning loudly. “now why did you do that?” he cries, holding his shoulder.

“c’mon man, if i have to explain it to you, you really are better off dead.” abby steps towards the man, who scuttles away on the floor. with you behind her, abby let’s go of the breath she’d been holding. she kneels over the curled up man, the hand on his shoulder stained red.

“who are you? are you alone?”

“ya think im gonna tell you?” the man croaks out.

abby kicks the gun away. “if you want to live i’d suggest talking. you’re in wolf territory.”

he freezes at the last sentence and abby tenses up again.

you freeze as well and call for abby. “c’mon. abby, we — we should go. ab—”

“no! we heard about a group moving in. they killed austin and half their group,” she says to you, her attention still on the man. “was that you?” she asks him. when he doesn’t say anything, abby knows her answer. she thinks back to what issac told her. that anyone in that group needs to be eliminated. no matter what. and you being on patrol wasn’t an exception in anyone’s eyes but abby’s.

“step back,” she nods her head at you. you immediately comply, taking several steps back as abby stands back up.

SHE KILLS FOR YOU: she looks down at the man and fires a single shot. you squeeze your eyes shut at the sound and don’t open them until you feel abby’s hand on your cheek. you blink up at her as she scans your face. you know you probably look a mess. sweat and dirt covering your face no matter how hard you try to keep it clean.

“you okay?” she asks, brows furrowed.

you nod. “yeah. not my first time witnessing a death, unfortunately. but i’m okay.” you lean into her hand, pressing a kiss to her palm. after a minute of scanning you for any tiny scratches, she lets you go and readjusts her backpack, slipping her gun into the holster.

“c’mon, let’s go back early. we need to report this to the group.”

you’re quick to follow her, taking the hand she gives to guide you over a giant fallen tree. she does it automatically, her free hand reaching to steady you if needed. the shift from laughing and joking to whispers is felt. but thankfully the love is still as loud as ever.

SHE DOESN’T KILL FOR YOU: “get up!” abby watches the man struggle to stand. he stumbles and abby uses her free hand to hold him up. when he’s stable, she steps back. “if i was alone you’d be dead by now. you’re lucky. go back to your group and tell them to stay out of this area. this is your only warning. now go!” the man stutters for a second before he staggers away. you take a step towards abby.

“abs — abby?” she keeps facing the direction the man went but doesn’t shy away from your touch. you run your hand up her arm and to the nape of her neck. “you okay?”

“yeah,” she sighs. she turns to look at you. your eyes are glassy and wide. she reaches up to wipe a tear from the corner of your eye. “c’mon we need to head back. one of the survivors said they had a big crew and isaac needs to know what happened before tomorrow’s patrol.”

you’re quick to follow her, taking the hand she gives to guide you over a giant fallen tree. she does it automatically, her free hand reaching to steady you if needed. the shift from laughing and joking to whispers is felt. but thankfully the love is still as loud as ever.

[rambleonwaywardson]

Clegan Olympics AU Drabble

Gale and John re-watch Gale's cross-country run, and John worries about Gale's well-being. As requested by @lenabutler 😊 We are being real flexible with the word "drabble" here because none of these are going to actually be anywhere near that short!

---

Gale and John are sitting at the bar on the upper story of USA House. It’s like a frat party in here, with the music and the lighting, the drinking, sports on the big screen, and rooms full of hot as hell athletes. And yet the two of them, as usual, manage to make it feel like they’re the only two people in the world. 

They’ll join the other gymnasts (and a massive crowd of team USA athletes) to watch women’s gymnastics in a bit, but for now it’s just them. Bucky sips on a beer that he probably should not be allowed to have with some competition still left to go. But he’s questionably decided that it’s fine as long as he limits himself to one and then has a lot of water for the rest of the night. Gale, opting for something non-alcoholic this time, denied all of Bucky’s ridiculous virgin drink suggestions and has settled on water. Bucky tells him he’s boring. 

“Here,” Gale says, pushing his phone across the bar so it’s in front of Bucky. 

Bucky taps the screen to see the title of the video. “Cross country?”

Gale nods and bites down on a tortilla chip from the bowl they ordered to share. “You said you wanted to see my run. So here it is.” 

“I do wanna see it,” Bucky agrees. “Even if it scares the shit out of me.”

Gale scoffs. “You’re doing some of the most dangerous tumbling passes in the world. But this scares you?”

“Yes!” Bucky exclaims. He plucks the rest of the chip out of Gale’s hand and pops it into his own mouth. “You’re going so fast. And you have to trust her to get you over safely. All I gotta trust is myself.”

“Hey.” Gale shakes his head and points to himself and Whiskey paused on the screen. “I trust that mare with my life more than any human being on this planet. Now watch.”

Gale patiently talks Bucky through the whole nine minute course, pausing the video to explain things here and there. The alternate routes at some of the obstacles and why a rider would choose to take them or not. What he was thinking at any given moment – change the stride count here, rein her in there, let her have her head over that jump, don’t fuckin’ fall off – and why some of the jumps are harder or easier than others. “These jumps are a lot bigger than they look,” he tells Bucky. “Especially the tables.”

“They look pretty damn big,” Bucky replies, wondering how they could possibly be bigger than he even thinks they are. 

He bites his lip as he watches, willing Gale and Whiskey to make it over every obstacle even though he knows they do. When Whiskey trips jumping down a bank, his breath catches when he sees Gale snap backwards in the saddle, his back twisting uncomfortably as he tries to keep himself and his horse straight and steady. 

“Did that hurt?” Bucky asks. 

Gale shrugs. 

“It did, didn’t it?”

“I mean, nothing I’m not used to.” Gale gives him a pointed look that says just watch the damn video, and Bucky closes his mouth for the moment. 

When he watches Whiskey spook at one of the spectators though, he gasps as he watches Gale lose his balance in the saddle, his back once again fighting to stay steady. Gale hadn’t mentioned that he’d nearly come off at one point, and Bucky says as much. 

“Don’t be dramatic,” Gale says. “I wasn’t even close to coming off.”

Bucky doesn’t relent, though. “No wonder your back hurts all the damn time.”

“I’m fine, John.”

Bucky pauses the video and looks at him. “No, I’ve seen you grimacing cause it hurts to breathe sometimes this week. I’m not stupid.”

The corner of Gale’s mouth quirks up. “As I said, nothing I’m not used to.”

Bucky frowns. “That’s not normal, Gale. It’s not normal for breathing to hurt!”

Gale shrugs. “It’s my normal.”

Bucky stares at him, at a loss. “God, you’re ridiculous.”

“And you’re a hypocrite,” Gale points out. He motions to Bucky’s leg, and Bucky huffs. “That’s what I thought. Now watch the damn video.”

Bucky asks a lot of questions at the end that he didn’t get to ask before. Does Gale wear any protective gear? – yes, he has an inflatable vest with a cord attached to the saddle, so when he falls, the cord pulls and the vest inflates. How long have he and Whiskey been training for this? – six years, not counting groundwork before she was three. Are the water complexes as fun as they look? – sure, if you like getting wet. Does it feel like they’re going as fast as it looks like they’re going? – feels like he’s flying. Are horses scared of water? – some of them. Does Gale ever feel afraid? – Gale hesitates, but he says, not really. A horse can feel if you’re afraid, so you have to act like you aren’t even if you are. You convince even yourself.

Bucky frowns when he sees Gale grimace again as he breathes in. He reaches a hand out, places it hesitantly on Gale’s back, digs his fingers into the tight muscle there. Gale bites his lip and leans into the touch. “You’re an idiot,” Bucky says, even as he offers this little, inadequate massage. 

“What? Cause I keep doin’ my sport even when I’m in pain?” Gale frowns, getting defensive. “So do you.”

Bucky shakes his head. “Darling, you wouldn’t believe how much PT, heat, ice, bodywork, and rest I need on a weekly basis. Even before I screwed this thing up.” With his free hand, he points to his knee, which he currently has taped up for extra support due to the mild discomfort he’s been experiencing the last couple days. Then he points at Gale again. “You, on the other hand, seem to do absolutely nothing for yourself.”

Gale shrugs. “I stretch.”

“Oh you stretch, do you?” Bucky mocks. “How often?”

Gale shifts uncomfortably. “…Sometimes.”

“Buck!”

Gale glares at him. “I’m fine,” he says again. 

“You are not.”

Gale works his jaw, but he doesn’t disagree again. He sighs quietly as Bucky tries to work at some of the knots in his back, and it makes Bucky smile even though this man and his disinterest in keeping himself functional frustrate him to no end. Gale relaxes under Bucky’s touch, and a strand of hair flops over his forehead as he looks down at the bar top. Bucky watches his shoulders tense and relax, muscles rippling beneath the fabric of his team USA t-shirt. He’s all too aware that they’re in a public place.

He can’t resist leaning in to kiss Gale softly on the lips though. When he pulls away, Gale blinks up at him, that little hint of a smile on his face. “What was that for?”

Bucky shrugs. It wasn’t for anything, really. But also it was for everything. 

“You’re an idiot,” he says again, making Gale roll his eyes. 

“Hey lovebirds!” Curt calls out. He approaches from behind and shoves in between them. He gives them both a look that’s half grossed out and half amused. “Quit with the PDA and get down there with the rest of us. The girls are on.”

[viktoriakomova]

The thing is, we keep hearing the refrain of “it’s for optics/popularity/hype” as to why the judges are (allegedly) encouraged to throw crazy scores, but…… to normies, a 9.800 being mediocre is crazy. Like it immediately looks fucking stupid to people totally unfamiliar with the sport. It reeks of deeply unserious exhibition gala for a team ranked like 12th in the country to be whooping and hollering and high fiving for a rotation score of 49.40/50.00

I’ve convinced several normie friends to come to meets with me and they have fun and like to watch the ACTUAL GYMNASTICS because it’s objectively impressive to anyone unfamiliar with the sport. And then they start asking about the scoring in more detail and I have to explain to them that falling on your ass will get you a 9.3, which to their normie sensibilities reads as a 93% that’s an A !!! And then you explain that a routine done to completion starts from a 10 and is deducted from there for flaws and they seem to get it. But then you have gymnasts going OOB on one floor landing and taking a step on the other two and they get like a 9.80? That’s a joke and everyone I’ve introduced to NCAA gym basically thinks so too. It’s not appealing to new fans !!!!!!! New fans come to see flips (because flips are cool) and to participate in NCAA athletics rivalries etc (because that’s loads of fun across all sports). They don’t come to get excited over 9.9s they come to get excited about the routines and about the winning/losing. Which would be clearer and more legitimate if the judges took the fucking deductions oh my god!!!!

[widowsistersandfriends]

Battle of the Best

Request: "Can you do a fic where the reader is teasing Yelena about how ticklish she is. And then claims to not be ticklish, but is only is certain spots? Btw, really love your fics."

Note: Thank you for this fic request and the kind words! I'm sorry it took so long but I really enjoyed writing this one! I hope you enjoy!

Word Count: 1464

------------------------------------------------------------

“I’m booooored…” you complained, lying across the couch in the living room of the Avenger’s Compound. 

“Y/N, why don’t you keep Yelena company? She’s bored too and I have some work to do, so I can’t entertain you two children,” Natasha suggested in a teasing tone. 

“We are not children,” Yelena interjected, as she had just entered the room. 

“Uh huh,” Natasha said, quirking an eyebrow.

“C’mon Y/N, Natasha has made me your babysitter for the day,” Yelena said, grabbing your hand to lift you off the couch. 

“Where are we going?” You asked.

“Well, since we’re two children, we’re going to the park today,” Yelena declared, as you giggled.

“The park? Where all the little kids are?” You asked skeptically.

The blonde nodded, quickly escorting you out the door.

A short walk later you arrived at the playground area, which was recently renovated. Luckily for you two, there were no people or little kids at the playground. 

“Oh look, they added gymnastics bars!” You said excitedly. 

“Wanna have a competition?” Yelena said, a small smirk forming on her face. 

“Whatever it is, you know I’ll beat you at it,” you retorted back.

“We both hang from the bar and see how long we can stay on. Whoever stays on the longest wins,” Yelena explained.

“How is this a competition exactly if we know I’m gonna win?” You asked, with a cheeky little grin.

“The catch is…you can do anything to make the other person fall,” Yelena added.

“Pffsh, okay blondie. That won’t help you win you know,” you said cockily.

“We’ll see you little butt,” the blonde replied. 

“You go first,” you said to Yelena.

“I’ll set the world record for longest hold,” the blonde assured you.

Yelena clung onto the bar, hanging loosely without her feet touching the ground. You started the timer and it began counting up. You slowly walked over to the blonde, smirking evilly. 

“I know you think you have this in the bag, but I have a trick up my sleeve,” you said, grinning in her face.

“And what would that be?” Yelena asked.

You wiggled your fingers teasingly, as the blonde’s eyes widened and she shook her head frantically.

“Y/N, NO! DON’T YOU DARE!” Yelena shouted.

With that, you began tickling her armpits, making her thrash around and laugh. She was stubborn, and you knew she wouldn’t give in so easily.

“I’LL NEHEHEHEVER DROHOHOP,” she shouted, as you giggled at her reaction.

“My goodness, you’re so ticklish. I didn’t know it was possible for someone to be this sensitive,” you teased, which only made the blonde blush and laugh harder.

“STAHAHAP TEHEHEASING MEHEHE,” she laughed, kicking her legs to try to keep you away.

You quickly grabbed her legs, yanking both of her shoes and socks off to expose her bare soles. 

“Uh uh uh, no kicking,” you said teasingly, while you began to rake your nails over her soft feet. 

“NOHOHOHO NAHAHAHAT THEHEHEHERE,” she squealed, still barely holding on to the bar.

“You might set a record, but instead you’ll set it for being the most ticklish person on earth,” you teased,” as she just shook her hand and continued to laugh hysterically. 

You tickled underneath and between her toes, knowing this was a sweet spot. The blonde let out a shriek of giggles, as you eventually released her foot. Yelena was still holding on by a thread.

“Not giving in are you?” You asked, eyeing her carefully.

“Never,” she said breathlessly.

“Really?” You asked, now squeezing away at her sides, which she immediately went to protect, as she dropped down on the soft surface beneath her. You followed her down, quickly pinning her arms and continuing to tickle her sides.

“Y/N! STAHAHAHAP IHIHI ALREHEHEADY DROHOHPPED,” she cried out, as you just shrugged and continued tickling her. Eventually you let her go, having mercy on the cocky blonde.

“You..are..such…a jerk,” Yelena managed to get out, still breathing heavily and recovering from the tickle torture.

You looked at the timer and saw that she had lasted 5 minutes.

“You really think this will be in the record books?” You asked teasingly, as Yelena retorted by giving you a soft poke on the side.

“Nice try, but I’m not ticklish,” you said, giving the blonde a side squeeze, which earned you a yelp.

“Sure, Y/N. I totally believe you. Now get up on that bar,” Yelena insisted.

You hoisted yourself up, hanging the same way the blonde did. You had decent arm strength, so lasting more than five  minutes seemed like a piece of cake for you.

Yelena immediately picked up your feet, taking off your shoes and socks the same way you did. She began to scribble up and down your feet, expecting the same reaction out of you that happened to her. However, you didn’t feel a thing, much to your pleasure.

“Nice try blondie. I told you I wasn’t ticklish and you didn’t believe me,” you said, rubbing it into your face.

“Y/N, everyone is ticklish and has a secret spot. I’ll find yours,” she said evilly. Part of you panicked inside but you would never let that show. You tried your best to concentrate and block any other sensation on your body.

Yelena moved up, lightly tickling your calves, knees, thighs, and even your hips and sides. None of those spots even got you to crack a smile, much to Yelena’s frustration. 

“What can I say? I have nerves of steel,” you said triumphantly. 

Yelena rolled her eyes, but was determined to not give up. She slowly moved her fingers up to your ribs, pausing for a second, before digging her fingers between your ribs. Your eyes widened, not expecting this sudden, overwhelming sensation. You clamped your mouth shut, desperate to not let out any giggles. Unfortunately, Yelena was a spy and could pick up on even the smallest of details.

“Oh? Y/N, what’s wrong? Are you…ticklish?” The blonde teased, digging in between even more aggressively, causing you to jolt.

“Y/N, just laugh. You know you want to,” Yelena said.

“N-n-ehehverrr!” You replied, letting a small giggle slip out. 

“I heard that Y/N. Come on, I’m only gonna get you worse if you resist,” Yelena said evilly. 

“Yelena! Stop tickling mehehehee!” You giggled, as fingers sped up.

“Nah.” With that, she dug in full force into your ribs, causing you to shriek with laughter.

“HAHAHAHAHA STAHAHAHAP IHIHIT TIHIHICKLES!” You squealed, as Yelena grinned at you.

“Silly Y/N, that’s the point. It’s supposed to tickle for super sensitive people like you,” Yelena teased.

“IHIHIM NOHOHT SUPEHEHER SENSIHITIHIVE,” you shouted, desperate to drop down.

Yelena moved up to your armpits, earning a whole new fresh wave of laughter. 

“IHIHIHI GIHIHIVE,” you screamed, as you dropped down from the bar, Yelena catching you before you hit the ground.

“Thanks,” you said, as Yelena smirked evilly.

“Don’t thank me just yet,” she said, as she pinned you on your stomach.

“Where else are you ticklish?” Yelena asked.

“Nowhere! Now let me go!” You said, knowing that you weren’t going anywhere.

You felt the blonde slip her hand underneath your shirt, as she began to softly rake her nails over your back. You lost any and all control.

“OKAHAHAY PLEHEHEHEASE ENOUGH!” You cried.

“You can never have enough tickles, Y/N. Plus this is what you get for lying you little brat,” Yelena commented. Her nails continued to torment over your upper and lower back, making sure to dip into your sides and the back of your ribs. Your feet kicked in desperation, as the blonde began to tickle the back of your neck, one of your weakest spots.

“PLEHEHEASE LEHEHET MEHEHE GOHOHO AHAHAHA IHIM GONNA PEHEHEEE,” you shouted, as Yelena finally let you up.

“This will teach you to one, not lie, and two, don’t think that you can beat me in any competition,” Yelena said teasingly.

“You’re still way more ticklish than me,” you retorted with a playful glare.

Yelena raised an eyebrow and moved towards you again.

“WAIT NO! I TAKE IT BAHAHAHCK!” You scream-laughed as she gave you another quick rib tickling. 

“Oh my gosh, that spot is bad,” you whined.

“That’s a good thing,” the blonde responded, as you rolled your eyes.

Yelena checked her timer and realized it had been running the whole time.

“Guess that means I win,” you said cheekily.

“No it does not! You definitely fell way before me, I just didn’t stop the timer,” Yelena said.

“Guess that means we’ll need to have a rematch, right?” You said, as you both shared a grin, and the blonde nodded in agreement. 

With that, round two of tickles and laughter began, and you two were definitely no longer bored.

[ravenofazarath2]

I have some honestly, absolutely unhinged Thoughts™️ on Niko’s whole situation that I just have to share. This is gonna be full of assumptions, mental gymnastics, and logical fallacies, and by the end, you'll probably think I look like this

This post ended up way longer than I planned, and I'm not even sure if it makes ay sense, but just hang with me.

Why is Niko in Port Townsend?

I don’t know about anyone else (and this could be because I’ve never been to the PNW), but I feel like it’s kind of random that Niko’s mom would send her daughter to a boarding school in a small town two plane rides and a ferry ride away. Wouldn’t you want your daughter in a more populated, easier to get to place? I know there’s bigger towns and cities. Based on Niko’s love for fashion, the family seems to be fairly well off, so it doesn’t seem like a money issue.

There’s only two explanations I can think of:

Niko’s mother cares so little about her, she wanted her as far away as possible.

There’s a reason Niko’s mom chose Port Townsend.

Now, I get it. That first one is super depressing. We don’t want to think about it at all. Who could hate sweet, little Niko? Thankfully, I feel like this one can easily be disproven.

Source

If Niko’s mom wanted her as far away as possible, why has she sent Niko so many letters? She clearly wants to have a relationship, to communicate. It just doesn’t line up with wanting your daughter out of sight, out of mind.

So that leaves the second: There’s a reason Niko’s mom chose Port Townsend.

Of course, this reason could be offscreen, unknown, unimportant.

Unless...

Oh, look, a tangent!

Most of the fandom thinks the Principal has something to do with Niko, whether she’s her mother or Niko herself. Personally, I’m in the she’s her mother camp. This post has a very great explanation on it. Plus, I just don’t see this show going timey-wimey.

This would make Niko half-supernatural. (and before anyone asks: No, I do not have an explanation why Niko couldn't see the boys before her near-death experience since she's already supernatural)

Instead of exploring what this means for the story (for now), I want to explore the assumptions inferences we can make about Niko's father.

*Pulls out a few papers and push pins*

Did Niko's father know?

The Principal seems to be the head of the Lost & Found Department, a department that's currently stretched entirely too thin by the excess of death caused by overpopulation. That lady's overworked. And considering her job, it's very likely near impossible to also keep up a charade of being a normal human to the person you're married to. So he'd have to know.

Let's make a teensy tiny assumption that Niko's father is also a supernatural being.

Besides, how would a human and the eternal being in charge of collecting dead children have ever met?

*starts drawing connections with red string*

This may seem like an exquisite floor routine that would win an Olympic gold in mental gymnastics, but I can absolutely explain this.

Let's look at what Niko viewed as the most important advice her father ever gave her:

Source

On the surface, it's just innocent advice. After all, dandelions are symbol of resilience. And the dandelion sprites were just an accident. There's no way anyone could have known Niko would have been infected with them.

But if her father was a supernatural being, he likely would have known about dandelion sprites. He intentionally wanted to put Niko in danger if she needed a little bravery. How could a father, who we can only assume was a great one when looking at how much grief Niko feels over his new absence in her life, do this to his daughter?

Could the dandelion sprites be a part of it?

Source

If Niko's father knew that Niko would likely be jumped by dandelion sprites if she went traipsing around looking for courage, it isn't too far of a leap to see that the sprites might actually be in some way related to that courage.

We can actually get a bit of a glimpse of this connection when we look at Niko's death.

Source

I'll come back to the symbolism in just a bit.

After the shock not only the characters, but us viewers felt as well, Crystal, Edwin, and Charles discover that the sprites have left. Each one of us likely thought they just dipped out when we first saw this.

Of course, the last scene of the series shows us that's not true.

Source

One possible reason they go with her is because she was nice to them. “The good you do comes back around” and all. But the sprites are such assholes, it’s hard to believe they’d care about that (though I absolutely do).

Then perhaps it has to do with the way Niko died. She stepped in front of Esther’s magic to save Crystal. She sacrificed herself, gave up her life in exchange for her friend’s. Is there a more courageous way to die?

But how does the girl who’s so scared of death, she goes looking for courage in the first place into the girl who looks death in the face and says, “Take me instead.”? And what does that have to do with the sprites being there at the end?

Niko’s in need of some courage, so she goes looking for dandelions, like her father’s always told her to do, and she picks up the dandelion sprites. Because of course Niko was able to sweet talk her way through destiny or to Destiny? to end up with the exact people who can save her at the exact right time.

Niko, being Niko, decides to keep the sprites to teach them to be nice. Because they are mean. Their comments bite, they tear. They dig into her core. Tell her that she’s not a good friend, she deserves to be alone and abandoned, all because she’s scared. All because she’s not courageous.

But Niko knew better, deep down. So she did the most courageous thing she could think of. She died for someone she loved. She became courageous in order to prove the sprites wrong.

Because the sprites played a role in Niko’s arc to courage, (was that their purpose?) they’re now tied to her. Whether that’s willing or not is yet to be seen.

Back to Niko’s dad. If this is indeed the purpose of the dandelion sprites, then it’s likely her dad knew this and knew it would help Niko when she needed it most. We’re ignoring the fact that, if so, he set her up to be bullied for now

But what does this have to do with absolutely anything I’ve said?

*sprays paint on the wall*

Because it’s a clue to who Niko’s dad is, and I think we’ve met him.

Who do we know who’s an immortal being who has had different faces, says cryptic shit that leads to character arcs, shares so much kindness it comes around for his daughter’s friends, and would most definitely wear funny socks?

Source

Before you chain me up, let me finish.

It’s implied that there’s a lot of mystery surrounding Niko’s father’s death and afterlife. Her father being Kashi could explain this.

But why is Niko in Port Townsend?

Yes, I have finally come full circle. Niko is in Port Townsend because her father is Kashi. Obviously the Principal would know this. And maybe she knew he was just hanging out in Angie’s belly.

Perhaps the reason the Principal sent Niko to a remote small town that was difficult to get to is because she wanted her to be close to her father.

*takes a drag of a lit cigarette*

[hannahssimblr]

“Go play on that pirate ship thing,” I tell Ivy, “I’ll be over there on the swings.”

She looks up at me under the brim of her horrible frog hat. She made me buy it for her in the end of season sale at one of those tourist shops by the beach, “I'll go on the monkey bars. Will I show you my tricks?”

She's talking about how she can hold onto bars and spin herself in a circle, “Yeah, sure, I’ll just watch you from over there.”

She rushes over and throws herself up onto a bar, “And what if I want to go on the swings?”

“Well you can’t, not until I’m done talking to my friend.”

“Your girlfriend.”

“No” I plonk onto the wooden swing and wait, the cool air rustling through the bushes and lifting little bits of of twigs from the sandy surface of the playground. I swing myself idly, calling out unenthusiastic words of encouragement to Ivy as she spins and twists on the bars until I hear the playground gate squeak open. 

Clóda looks obliviously happy, out of her work uniform now and back in those teeny tiny shorts that would have had my eyes out on stalks a month ago. It's funny how quickly feelings can change. 

“You brought your sister along!” She says brightly as she approaches me, and I spot Ivy looking our way only to look away quickly with a stricken look on her face. I wonder if she associates Clóda with stranger danger and hot chocolate vomit. 

“I told my mom I was coming to the park, so she made me take her.”

“Aw, she’s so cute though!” She throws a thumbs up to my sister, “Nice job on those bars, yeah? You’re so good, do you do gymnastics?” 

Ivy doesn’t respond. 

“No, she doesn’t, she just likes the monkey bars,” I explain. 

Clóda’s smile is strained when she swivels back to me, “Well, how are you? I’ve actually been un-grounded for a few days now, I… have you been busy?”

“Not really.”

“Oh,” she digs around her hoodie pocket for a scrap of paper and hands it to me, “This is my MSN, my email and my Bebo for when you go home and you want to stay in touch. You’re leaving tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah. I am.” 

“Well, I hope that we can still talk, and stuff, and maybe at midterm break I could get the train up to Dublin and-”

“Clóda, look,” I hand the paper back to her, still folded. “To be honest, I’m not going to be staying in touch with you anymore.”

Her face falls, “Why?”

“Because.” 

“Because?”

“It’s too much effort, I’m not bothered.”

Perplexed eyes fly all over my face, “Is it the distance? Because it’s only two and a half hours on-”

“No it’s not the distance, to be honest, it’s you.”

“Me? What did I do?” 

I sigh, “Your friends gave me a call the other night.”

“Which friends?”

“I don’t know, they were too busy giggling and screaming to give me names, and I could hardly even make out what they were trying to say, but I heard enough.”

“Enough…?”

“Enough to know that you’ve been bragging about me all over the place, making up stories about how I’m going to buy you a heap of stuff in America and whatever, I never said that.”

She shrugs, but she’s so tense now that it’s more like a jerk, “Well, so? You could do that, maybe, if you wanted to. You said you might get me Abercrombie stuff, I was just telling a few white lies about the other things, you know, to make them jealous.”

“Why would you even want to do that?” 

“I don’t know, I suppose they think it’s pretty cool that my boyfriend is so good looking, and like, that he’s American and stuff…” 

“Who said I was your boyfriend?” 

She hesitates, “Well, I thought-”

“Usually,” I say, gesturing to the space between us, “two people will have a conversation about that kind of thing, you can’t just say what you want, or like, just decide on your own what this is.”

She bites her lip, “But when we had sex I thought-”

“Oh God, people have sex, Clóda, why does it have to mean so much?” I raise my voice a bit and Ivy glances around in alarm. I wave her away.

“Maybe it doesn’t to you,” Clóda says, and her voice cracks a little, once again flooding me with guilt, “but for me, it’s-” she breaks off because instead of an inhale there is a gasp, like something related to a sob that brings me to the edge of taking it all back, but I grit my teeth, “We shouldn’t have ever done anything then, I’m sorry.”

“You regret it?”

I don’t answer her, we’ve lost sight of the point, suddenly, and I’m not completely sure how we got here, “Look, I just asked you here so that I could tell you that I don’t want us to hang out anymore after this summer. We don’t have to hash out all of the details-”

“It’s because you don’t like how I kiss,” She insists, “I wasn’t good enough at it.”

“No, that isn’t it, I-”

“It’s my dad. He’s put you off. Did he say something to you?”

“No.”

“Well then it has to be because I forgot my jumper when we-”

“No, Clóda,” I explode, “It’s because you’re mean. Because you’re not a nice person, okay?”

She blinks.

“You went around the caravan park telling everyone that Kelly Healy is a loser and she needs her mother’s help to make friends, that’s just such a mean thing to do, and I don’t understand why you would do something like that, especially now because everyone thinks that it was me who said it.”

She takes a break from looking pathetic to let her features twist into an unpleasant shape, “Oh, Kelly? But we don’t like her, that’s what you said.”

“What?”

“We laughed about her after going to Shane’s place, you said that she was weird, I didn’t think anyone would really care if I said it to a few people. It just came up, I don't know. Why does it matter?”

“Obviously because it’s a ridiculously horrible thing to do. You just told a load of the people she hangs around with something highly personal about her that you weren’t even supposed to know.”

A pause, “Yeah but she’s weird.”

I am incredulous, “God, Clóda, is this really how you think? Is that your reasoning? That if you don’t like someone then you can say what you like about them to whoever will listen? Why do you act like this, huh? I can’t believe how much time I wasted this summer hanging out with you. You’re ridiculous. You act like a child.”

She bursts into tears, “Well I’m fifteen! What do you want from me?” And she sobs, standing in place while I sit opposite, uncertain of what I am supposed to do next. Is this what fifteen is supposed to be? Sometimes I feel so detached from genuine teenage reality that I cannot possibly imagine how I am supposed to experience it. In some ways I feel twelve years old, in others, twenty, so far removed from the freedom and reality of proper teendom that I can't even imagine what fifteen feels like. Was I ever like her? 

“I think we’re too different,” I say finally, “I think that’s why we can’t hang out.”

“But I really like you,” she sniffles, while in the background Ivy hangs from the monkey bars by her knees, her ugly hat dropping onto the ground. 

“Look, Jude!” She calls, “I can do a new trick.”

“Yeah, amazing,” I say, “Make sure you don’t slip and hit your head, huh?”

“I wouldn’t!”

“Yeah, you might, and then what will I do, huh? Take you back home with your head cracked open?”

“I wouldn’t have to go back to school then.”

“Yeah, good one,” Maybe I’ll crack my skull open too. It feels like a genuine option to consider as I sit there with Clóda crying right in front of me, blocking my exit route. 

“I’m sorry,” I say to her, “It’s just not meant to be, I guess.”

“Okay.”

“Good luck with it all, yeah? The job and school and all that. I’ll probably see you around next summer.”

“You’ll be back?”

“Uh huh. Probably the summer after that too,”

“Oh.”

“It doesn't have to be awkward. We can just be normal.”

She sniffs, “Alright”

I look up at her from where I sit and take in the tears on her cheeks, the way her chest heaves with each gasp, and I tell her “You'll be alright.”

I get up and call for Ivy, “c’mon, we’re going home now.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah.”

“I wanted a go on the swings.”

I look around to see that Clóda has taken my place on the seat and is blubbering miserably into her sleeves. 

“Swings are closed,” I say. 

“Okay, well, you can take me tomorrow.”

“We’re going home tomorrow.”

“Early.”

“You want me to get up early?”

“Yes, you’re lazy, you should have to get up early like me.”

“Yeah but you have an incentive, I don’t care about the seven AM cartoons.”

“Well you should.”

I laugh, “Why is that?”

And she tells me why, and we walk out the playground gate and through the village, side by side with the last of the August sun on our backs. 

Beginning // Prev // Next

[personal-progress-dropout]

Rainbow Sheep II

(Also Titled: Why I Will Fight For Queer Fiction to Be Available In Libraries. Rainbow Sheep is now a series because I say so.)

This is a less spiritual post than last week's, but my journey towards embracing my queer identity wasn't always spiritual.

I grew up in a conservative home. I don’t think we ever called ourselves that, but we were immersed in a brand of patriotism that comes from being a military family, and watching Fox News with my father was an evening ritual for us kids. For our family, gay people…existed. But we weren’t homophobic! We were nice to gay people, and our neighbor was a lesbian!

But queer people couldn’t exist in fiction; if they were ever involved in a story it was as a political statement. Why can’t the character be straight? Being gay doesn’t add anything to the narrative. (Fast forward eleven years and now I’m headcanoning all of my favorite characters as queer. Go figure.)

The first book I ever read with queer representation was Rick Riordan’s The House of Hades, in which one of the characters came out as gay. I was viscerally uncomfortable with the concept that a character written by one of my favorite authors could be gay. I jumped through all sorts of mental hoops to explain why this character was actually straight, and finally, I dismissed the series as Rick Riordan becoming woke and politicizing children’s fiction.

The first TV show I ever saw with queer representation was Steven Universe. I was babysitting some kids and they started binging the series, which I’d never heard of before. It sucked me in. I was enchanted by the animation, delighted by music, and charmed by the characters—wait a second, there’s a gay character? Multiple gay characters? And they’re showing this in a kid’s show?!

It had been years since The House of Hades had been published, and I had the benefit of actually talking to and making friends with queer people. I was no longer uncomfortable with their existence, and so I didn’t tell my parents about the show. It was awesome, and I was positive that they’d ban me from watching it. I was always good with mental gymnastics, and I rationalized that if they didn’t know the show existed, then they couldn’t forbid me from watching it, and I technically wouldn’t be breaking any rules. Instead, I snuck around watching clips of Steven Universe like some kids snuck around smoking joints. 

I’d always thought that being queer was inherently sexual, but here was this cartoon showing queer characters fighting off antagonistic space rocks and just living their lives. It was completely alien to me. Queer people can just…exist? Without an agenda? (By the way, kudos to Rebecca Sugar for making a show so good that it caused a conservative Christian girl to have an mental crisis.)

Reading fanfiction helped. I was interacting with other writers and readers who wanted to be seen in their favorite fandoms, and that was something I could understand. It helped me learn more about the world and about myself—I wouldn’t realize I was queer until I was sixteen, and I wouldn’t come out to anyone until I was 18. I didn’t have the language to describe what I was, and I was limited by my lack of understanding. I didn’t know what aroace meant, let alone terms like transgender or nonbinary. Reading and consuming media helped me realize that the world is more than what I was raised to believe. 

I love the stories I mentioned above. They helped me realize my internalized homophobia, and they helped me discover that I have a lot of progress to make. And that’s why stories are so important! They challenge our beliefs and shake up what we thought we knew, expanding our vision until we can see a world more different and beautiful than we could have ever imagined on our own. 

Anyways, support your local library, vote for school/library boards, and screw book banning.