#I just don't. like throwing things out there/into tags

[daengtokki]

I'm not the last anon! But if you have some time, i'd like to request a ksm tooth aching fluff with the pregnant reader (in the deity universe) like how he deals with the momma at the hardest time of the pregnancy, but like a lil more detailed than the ones in the deity chapters, if u don't mind?

serial killer!Kim Seungmin x afab reader

wc: 1.3k

rating: fluff (contains: pregnancy, vomiting, mentions of murder/blood, psychosis)

comments: thank you anon! sorry this took so long to answer, but I’ve been a bit stuck lately. this little oneshot includes some fun things not yet mentioned in the story! I wrote two of these, so I may post the other as well!

[ ML— DEITY MASTERLIST AND TAGLIST]

TAGS: @kkamismom12/ @r0tt1n/ @heluvschibi / @feckinbecky / @missystay / @seungluvr / @babrieeee / @curiouscocoabean / @feelikecinderella / @carpioassists / @soulsbbg / @san-axa0 / @vixensss / @keiizzx / @xyliskz / @reignessance / @velvetmoonlght / @ghostedgameplays / @pochaccochacco / @lashaemorow / @eastjonowhere / @fackeraccount / @felixs-voice-makes-me-wanna / @maddycline

Seungmin turns over and feels for you next to him. His eyes open slowly, and he sees the faintest sign of morning coming in through the space in the curtains. The sun reflects off the new glass vase, and specks of it shimmer against the wall. The light makes it look warm, but it’s still cold for April, and before he starts wondering where you’ve gone, he pulls the blanket up around his neck as a shiver runs down his arms. Sleep almost finds him again, but he hears something. Seungmin checks the time on his phone—6:20. You can’t possibly be up for the day, he thinks, even if you did fall asleep at nine last night.

He reluctantly throws off the blanket and sits up, but he gives himself a moment before moving again. The quality of his sleep is coming through in his swimming head, and his puffy eyes. It’s not your fault that you tend to wake every few hours, though. Your level of discomfort and his are on two completely different levels, and Seungmin wishes he could take some of yours for himself. He closes the gap in the curtain on his way out, because he fully intends to go right back to bed, and he knows you’ll be doing the same. First, he has to find you.

“Are you out here, love?”

The kitchen and living room are both empty and dark, but the bathroom light spills through the crack in the door. He hears the noise again—a stifled cough, this time followed by a louder one, and then what Seungmin thinks is a cry. He quickly fills a glass with water and heads toward the bathroom, knocking softly so he doesn’t startle you.

“Hey, you okay?” The look on your tear-streaked face says no, but you sniffle and nod anyway. “Sip some water.” He kneels down next to you and rubs your back.

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry, I know I’ve been keeping you up…”

“You’re allowed to keep me up. And wake me up if you need me. Does your stomach still hurt?”

You nod as you carefully sip the water, but you have a feeling it’s going to want to come right back up. The morning sickness (and afternoon and evening sickness) should be almost gone by now, but it’s hanging on. “Can I have your sweatshirt?”

He pulls it over his head and helps you into it, and you seem to relax as soon as you fold your covered arms around yourself. It’s still perfectly warm from his sleep, and it sinks right into you.

“Do you wanna try lying down…uhm, and I can get something for by the bed if you feel sick again?” Before you even answer, he tucks an arm around your legs and pulls you close. “I’ll find you some ginger candies, that should help a little. Maybe something fizzy.''

“Yeah…okay. I can stand.”

Seungmin holds tight to you anyway, and as soon as you’re on your feet, you have to close your eyes and find your balance. The room starts to spin, and clutching onto his arm just makes him worry even more. “Put your arms around my neck.” You do as he says this time, and he lifts you easily. “See? Much better.”

“It is”

“Once you’re back under the covers, you’ll feel better”

“And what if I puke all over you?”

He laughs, because he’s not prepared for that question or mental image. “I’ve had worse things splattered all over me.”

How could you forget how gruesome he can get? Probably because he looks at you the way he’s looking at you right now. You’ve witnessed his kills, both clean and messy, but all you really know about the in between is what he’s told you. And you were curious enough to ask not long after the last Uljin trip…

***

“Is it strange for me to ask what your messiest kill was?”

“Strange? Yes, but that is kind of our normal, right?”

Yes, strange is your baseline and part of the foundation of your relationship. If your life had been different, and if you weren’t already enamored with him and the attention he gave, you might have run from him without a second thought. Now you can’t imagine being without him. “It is.”

“Probably my first time. Surprising. First after my stepfather, at least. I was seventeen, and had no idea what I was getting myself into.”

You brace yourself for what has to be a very awkward, clumsy teenage Seungmin. But he smiles as he reflects on it.

“It was some college kid I picked up at a sports bar. I hadn’t figured out what quieted the noise in my head until after him, and it was amazing to discover that. But it took me hours to clean up my aunts basement. Luckily they both liked their sleeping pills and didn’t hear a thing. My knife skills have greatly improved since then.”

“So how did you learn how to dispose of them?”

“That came later. I got lucky with this one. There was an actual serial killer going after college-aged guys around the same time, and it got pinned on him when he was caught.”

“An actual serial killer?”

Seungmin laughs, “I was so stupid. I should have been caught a long time ago.”

“No. I needed to find you."

***

Seungmin sets you gently on the bed, and you watch as he searches the room…then he leaves and comes back, trash can in one hand, and a fistful of your ginger candies in the other.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course, you can ask me anything.” He unwraps one of them and sets it against your lips until you open for him.

“I don’t know why I’m thinking about it right now, but when you say that killing quiets your mind…what do you mean? What exactly do you silence?”

It’s far from what he expected, so he has to think about it. He busies himself fluffing his pillow and getting comfortable under the blanket again. His legs find yours as he moves closer.

“Maybe we can talk about it tomorrow.”

“It’s a voice, sort of. Two voices sometimes, at the same time. But it’s hard to make out what they say. Sometimes it’s a hum, or a vibration that won’t stop…like ringing in your ears, but worse. And sometimes it’s a scratching sound, or an itch.” He grabs your hand and sets your palm flat against his ear. “The longer I wait, the louder it gets.”

“Do you hear it right now?”

“No. All quiet. Just us.”

“Will you tell me when it happens again?”

“When it starts?” He asks, closing the rest of the space between you.

“Yes, the minute it starts. So we can stop it.” Your body feels like it’s on autopilot as it sits up and turns away from him, but all you do over the edge of the bed is dry heave. His hands grab and steady you, and when you relax, they pull until you’re tucked against his chest.

“Don’t worry about me.” He whispers against your ear, kisses your neck. Your skin feels cold against his lips.

“Of course I will. You’re mine to worry about. I get to take care of you, too.”

Seungmin is quiet as he thinks. He is yours, and he’s a handful. “I’ll tell you.” He’s a lot to worry about.

“Good. And since you’re already back there…”

“Yeah?”

“Can you rub my back?”

[imsofreakingtired]

omg hiiii!! i’ve been reading your blog or on the sevika tag and always end up back at your page so it’s time to make a request 😈

could i request for a hurt n comfort with reader who struggles with self worth and often results in isolating themselves with sevika comforting them? 🤗

hello hi :D ty for readingg! ...and oomph this one hits hard for me lmao

i always want you when i'm finally fine

content warning(s): blood, injury, heavy (ish?) angst, hurt/comfort

"will you let me, baby, lose on losing dogs? i know they're losing and i'll pay for my place by the ring, where i'll be looking in their eyes when they're down, i'll be there by their side"

~~~

You’re spiraling again. The sentence flickers like a dumb warning across your brain. Of course you are. You didn’t need the fucking news flash. 

You angrily rip off a piece of the tattered cloth with your teeth and press it against the wound in your side. It’s still seeping blood, but not as much as before. You bite down on the pain and let it take over, hold the reins, hoping it’ll distract you from the other things. The worst things. 

What was that, the third mission you messed up on? 

Nice going. Yeah, very nice going. You’re a great fucking help to Sevika. 

You press hard against the wound and involuntarily let out a yelp of pain. “Shut up,” you mutter to yourself. “Shut up.” 

You’re so fucking worthless. What if the crew got caught? 

“No one got caught,” you whisper aloud. “It was just a slip-up. Just a slip-up.” 

A slip up. How many more will there be before you learn your fucking lesson? 

You let go of the cloth, reach for the bottle of alcohol on the floor beside you.

What if things had gone worse?

You bite the cork out of the bottleneck and spit it across the room.

What if something happened to Sevika because of your SLIP-UP?

“FUCK!” 

Your head knocks back against the wall, eyes shut tight in agony. An explosion of hellfire spreads, bomblike, through your midsection. The alcohol dribbles down your side and into your waistband. 

Worthless. Worthless idiot. 

“Shut up!”

“Who are you telling to shut up?” 

You look up quickly. Sevika stands at the top of the stairs leading into the basement. You hadn’t heard her open the door. A cigarette dangles from her lips and the smoke curls in the dusty air as she walks down the steps and toward you. She crouches down in front of you and sees, for the first time, your bloodstained shirt. Her eyes widen slightly. 

“Shit. Why the fuck didn’t you tell me you were tagged?”  

You’re embarrassed that she caught you in this state, you’re furious at yourself that you let her catch you. So you knock her hand away when she reaches for you. “I’m fine,” you snap.

She scoffs. “Right.” When you don’t move your hands from your body, she stubs out her cigarette and grabs your hand, pulling it away from the wound. She frowns. “The hell did you do, throw liquor on it?” 

“I can handle it. Leave me alone.” 

“Can’t see well in this light,” she grunts. “Let’s get you upstairs.”

“Fuck off,” you hiss, and your voice is all the more fierce, because you can feel the tears rising in your throat when you see her concern—a concern, you think, that you don't deserve. And you’re panicking because if she sees you cry, she’ll know for sure that you are weak. She’ll see that you’re not worth her time. 

You expect her to get angry, storm off with a huffy “fine.” But she doesn’t. She assesses you calmly, one eyebrow raised, as if your emotions amuse her. 

“I’m fine,” you say again, blinking hard and avoiding her gaze. “Just—leave me alone.” 

At last, she stands, and you think bitterly that you’ve won. You wait until you hear the door shut behind her before you let out a deep, shuddering breath, a breath that was collecting like poison in the pit of your stomach since you let Sevika into your life, a breath that begged for someone to return it to your body. You wanted her to take care of you. You wanted it so badly. 

But you felt like you didn’t deserve it. 

The worst of the moment is over, and the tears do not come. You sit there with your back to the wall, listening to the throb of your heart, feeling the steady burn of pain in your abdomen droning through your body. 

Then the door opens again. 

Sevika comes back down the stairs, business-like, with a roll of bandages and a small bottle tucked under her human arm. Her mech arm carries a chemtech oil lamp. She kneels down again on the floor in front of you, setting down the objects.

“What are you—”

“Shut up.” She pushes the bottle to your lips. “Drink this.” 

You open your mouth and drink, because it saves you at least for a moment from talking. The whiskey is strong and hot going down. It tastes like Sevika. 

She cleans your wound and wraps it with a dexterity that came from having done it on herself countless times before. “Leave you alone?” she echoes back to you. “The hell I will.” 

When she’s done, she takes her cloak off and wraps it around your shoulders. Her sharp grey eyes, like the beam of a lighthouse that never misses the lonely boats drifting out in the dark sea, seek yours. 

“You’re my girl,” she tells you in a softer voice. “And I look after what’s mine.”

~~~

thank you @lez-zuha for the req :)

[bellysoupset]

Oooh maybe some house moving planning with Bella and Luke where she thinks she's nervous about the move but actually she's sick from something she ate?

this was supposed to be a mini fic 😭

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

"Come here," Lucas grabbed Bella's wrist, pulling her close and throwing his trench coat around her shoulders, forcing her arms into the arm holes, "there you go..."

"Happy?" Bella pouted, as he tied the belt by her waist, synching it in, "have you sufficiently babied me for the day?"

"Just barely," Luke opened a smile at her frustrated question, grabbing the belt loops of his trench-coat and pulling her closer, pressing a kiss to his wife's curls, "this is me being measured."

The ginger let out a scoff, rolling her eyes, but wrapped an arm around Lucas' waist and waddled with him on the side walk of Welton street. After yesterday... They had barely talked about it, it was too fresh and Bella wasn't any good with the big emotions. All they had done after coming back from the hospital was cuddle in bed, Luke petting her hair as she intermittently cried, shedding a couple tears himself, then they had pushed the matters aside and focused on the house.

Their offer had gone through, the news came during lunch, much to their chagrin. Such weird timing. By dinner Lucas had hoovered uneasily at the bathroom doorway, clearly filled with questions, until Bella had angrily waved him off.

There wasn't much to be talked about, she had decided. They were on the same page, about starting a family, about not wanting a pregnancy now, but one in the future. It was tragic and she was sad and that was it, end of story.

"Hey," Luke nibbled at her ear, "we should shop for our dining room," he gestured to the furniture store and Bella let out a huff, hiding a smile against his shoulder.

"Because we throw so many dinner parties," she said sardonically, "and I cook so well."

"Can you think of a better place to learn than in our ugly yellow kitchen?" Lucas grinned back at her, taking her hand and pulling her inside, "we'll do cooking classes together, baby."

Bella let out an offended noise, "the kitchen isn't ugly!"

"It's hideous," he pulled her further in, "a relic from the fifities."

"It's charming," she smiled as Luke wrapped her up in his arms and they continued to walk around the store. About halfway through of them walking, an attendant stepped forward to ask if they needed help.

She was in her mid thirties and all bright smiles, spine all straight as she looked over Bella's head at Lucas, since he called so much attention with his height.

Bell rolled her eyes as Luke mentioned them looking at dinner tables and got them roped into a full tour of the store. As they passed by the kitchen, though, she spotted cookies and her stomach growled loud enough that both Luke and the attendant heard.

"I'm sorry, how rude of me... Would you like some cookies?" The lady held up her tray and Bella took two for herself, then pushed two in Luke's hand, checking the woman's name tag. Sheila.

Sheila kept dragging them around for twenty more minutes and Bell was amazed on the woman's relentless attitude. Bravo for spotting the most gullible of all her clients, because if it was up to Lucas alone, they'd have taken half the store by now.

"No, I don't like that," Bella took Luke's cookie from his hand, before he could bring it up to his mouth and took a bite herself, "it's too... modern."

"She likes antiques, Victorian stuff," Lucas explained, passing Bella his last cookie and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, "think vampire."

Bella rolled her eyes, but she was smiling, more busy devouring her snack than paying any attention to the employee trying to extort her husband. Luke had enough money to burn, if he wanted to buy those dumb armchairs, then so be it.

It was their house, after all, right?

"You didn't like a single thing?" Luke whined as they stepped out of the store, him now holding several papers that made him the proud owner of an ugly as hell armchair, a king sized bed that apparently was non-negotiable no matter what Bella thought about the size and a vintage inspired fridge that she had to admit was quite adorable.

"i liked the fridge," Bell shrugged, intertwining their fingers and guiding him away from the store, "and not that she was flirting with you, Mr. Atwood."

Lucas' opened a huge, smug smile, "she was not!"

"Uh-hum, whatever you say, Mr. Atwood," Bella mocked Sheila's drawl once again, giggling and leaning against his arm, "we gotta buy bubble wrap and boxes before going home. Tape too."

"Whatever you want, Mrs. Atwood," Luke mocked her right back, moving his arm so it was wrapped around her shoulders.

Three hours later they were sitting in the living room of their cramped little rental, boxes all around and trying to sort through the mess. For such a small place, it was surprising how much stuff they could fit in it.

"Here," Luke took the glasses from her hands, "let me bubble wrap it before you break it."

"I'm not an ogre, you know?" Bella pouted, but she didn't really fight him. There was a weird ache in the middle of her stomach and she wasn't sure if it was nerves, now that it all felt real, or something else.

Lucas seemed unbothered and that bothered her.

"Didn't you like this place at all?" Bella asked, fiddling with her pants. She hadn't changed out of her destroyed jeans and was now regretting it, wishing she was in sweatpants, "you seem so happy about moving out."

"I liked this place alright," he shrugged, confused, "I'm just excited about the new house, aren't you?"

Luke one, Bella zero, she thought bitterly. She squinted at him, undoing the buttons of her jeans and kicking them off with a frustrated groan. When he raised a quizzical eyebrow, Bell simply shrugged, "it was squeezing me... Of course I'm excited about the new place, I picked it, you're the one who hurled all over it."

He let out a chuckle at that, rolling his eyes, "just marking the territory, Bells," Lucas placed the glasses inside the box between his legs, "why are you pouting, baby?"

"I don't know," Bella winced, getting up from the ground and pacing the small space, crossing her arms, "I guess I- I'm just worried...?" her stomach squeezed at that and Bell took it as a sign. Yeah, worried was the right word.

"About the house deed?" Lucas frowned now, "if you don't want it to be in both our names, we can put it in just yours... Would it help...?" he sounded wounded and Bella flinched at the idea she was hurting him mere twenty hours after they had just gone through hell together.

"No, it's not that-" she felt clammy and claustrophobic, "it's not that, Luke, I just- I guess it's packing everything and moving and then there's- There's this whole situation-" she gestured at herself, causing Lucas to glare at her.

"Bella-"

"No, stop, before you go on with the it's not your fault speech, I'm not saying that, I just-" Bella fanned herself, feeling nauseous, "I think it's just so much and I don't feel prepared for this at all..."

"Hey," Luke got on his knees, crawling closer and grabbing her hands, "Bell, I know it's a lot, but we've been through worse before, right? We might not be the best adults out there, the smartest and most prepared, but we do alright."

Bella let out a watery chuckle, wrapping an arm around her stomach as a whole new wave of nausea caused her to get covered with cold sweat, "we do alright..." she agreed, planting her hands on her knees and breathing out slowly, until her heart calmed down and her racing thoughts stopped.

Luke was still watching her and he opened a bright smile as she raised her thumbs up and kissed the top of his head, "we're good enough at this, right?"

"Yep," he tilted his head back so she could kiss him upside down, "sit down, you look ready to topple over, Bell."

Instead of helping, at all, with the wrapping of the glasses, Bella sat on the couch for another ten minutes, before deciding she what she really needed was a shower.

immediately Luke's head snapped up and she couldn't help but think of those puppies who cried when separated by a door, "I'm fine," she stressed, although that wasn't exactly true. Her panic had lessened considerably, but the clammy sensation had fully morphed into nausea, "I'm going to take a shower and head to bed, I'm tired."

"I'm just gonna finish up here," he reached up without moving from the ground, squeezing her hand, "don't lock the bathroom door."

"Aye, captain," she rolled her eyes, squeezing his hand back and walking the short distance to the bathroom. Once inside, Bella braced against the sink, pointedly avoiding looking at the toilet.

At least one good thing about everything happening at once, they'd be out of this place soon and she would have no bad memories to avoid in the new house.

Her stomach gurgled, unhappily, and Bella splashed some cold water on her face and her nape, grabbing her long hair and wrapping it around itself on a knot on the base of her neck. A soft burp rolled up, followed by another and another... She spat some acid in the sink and let out a groan, tasting the cookies all over again.

Bella lowered her forehead to the granite of the sink, wrapping an arm around her stomach and taking slow, measured breaths. There was no way she had gotten food poisoning from four measly cookies...

"We need wine glass- Bell!?" Luke had entered the bathroom without knocking and she could hear his panic loud and clear at finding her folded in the middle like that, "baby, baby, baby, what is it?!"

"Shhhh-" Bella groaned, wincing as he touched her face and forced her to straighten up, "I'm fine-"

"You're pale as hell. What's wrong?" Luke was the one to talk, considered he had gone from his normal creamy color straight into bunny-white, "sit down, baby-" he pushed her on the closed toilet and Bella rolled her eyes, pushing his hands off her arm.

"I think the cookies didn't sit well, that's all," she groaned, glaring at him as Luke crouched down between her legs, extremely worried, "stop looking at me like that, Lucas."

"Sorry, I- Cookies? What cookies-"

"From the store?" she grimaced and pressed a fist to her mouth, muffling another wet belch, "they're not sitting well..."

"Jesus Christ, Isabella," he let out a relieved sigh, lowering his head all the way to her lap, "you nearly gave me a heart attack."

Her stomach churned, sending up a splash of acidic sludge and Bella swallowed it, shuddering, "and I'm gonna puke on your hair if you don't move," she warned, her words sticking together and tugging lightly on Luke's hair.

He let out a little hysterical chuckle, pulling back and then jumping as he realized how serious she was when Bella gagged and squeezed her hand over her lips, whole body convulsing.

"Oh shit, okay-" he moved out of the way so Bell could kneel before the toilet and threw the lid up, grabbing her hair just in time as she heaved again and a sludge of chunky brown vomit hit the water.

"Eww..." Bell whined, sniffling and clumsily reaching for the flush, the movement pushing up another wet burp and causing her to freeze, panting over the water. Luke cringed, planting a hand on her forehead to support her head and the next minute her whole body went forward with yet another productive gag.

Bella coughed several times, spitting in the water, "flush..."

He obeyed with an amused huff at the demanding tone, "all out?"

"noOURp-" a sick burp came from the depth of her stomach, but didn't bring anything with it. Bella white knuckled the porcelain, mouth open and drooling over the water.

Lucas bit down on his lip, "Bell?"

She removed a clammy hand from the toilet, pressing it on her stomach and massaging up another heave, this one productive and much more watery, "I-I-...." Bella panted, before she projectile vomited another watery stream and then collapsed to the side, against Luke's chest.

"All done?" he reached in blindly, grabbing a wide of toilet paper and wiping her mouth and chin, "baby?"

"So gross," Bella's voice was several notes too deep, "your little flirt poisoned me."

Luke let out a startled chuckle, pressing a kiss to her clammy forehead and rubbing her arm, throwing the dirty toilet paper inside the bowl and pressing the flush, "don't be silly, with the cookies she offered both of us?"

Bella groaned at the movement, wrapping an arm around her stomach and curling up against Luke, "yeah, an elaborate plan to get rid of me..." she slid down on the bathroom floor in order to press her face to his thigh and Luke let out a groan.

"Bellaaaa, the tiles are cold- C'mon, baby, the bed is not even that far-"

"Do you have no love for your wife?" She groaned, pinching his thigh, "you want me to get up? When I just got sick? When my belly hurts? Lucas?!"

He let out a snort at her tone, "you're such a huge baby," he rolled his eyes, grabbing her arms and forcing her up, picking her up like a toddler, "there we go-"

"No romance. At. All," Bella scoffed, hiding a smile against his shoulder and locking her legs behind his back as he tried to lie her down on the bed, "cuddle me."

"Don't you want me to get you a bin?" Luke asked, falling on top of her and chuckling when the bed jostle caused her to gag and groan, "yeah, that's what I thought, babe."

"Alright, fine..." she unlocked her legs, letting him go, "but hurry back!"

[the-stove-is-divorced]

I have and I am SCREAMING IN RAGE.

Watching them now as we speak, and it's truly mind-fuckery bafflement they'll ADD commentary about how OBJECTIVELY WEIRD IT IS and then STILL DO IT ANYWAY. SO YOU KNOW IT'S WERID. YOU KNOW IT'S STUPID. AND YOU DO IT ANYWAY. Killing this ship with hammers. My bare first, even. May it implode. Why this endgame? Spare me from this agony. HOW HARD IS IT TO GIVE THEM A DECENT, CUTE SETUP?

The way the comic verison is the worst thing I've ever heard. How did we go from abysmal to still not impressive, or decent. I'm ??? I'm going to scream. I'm going to lose my mind. The rage is fresh so I'm hella more passionate rn, like WHAT? WHAT. I'm watching the third episode as I'm typing and I'm barely resisting to throw out the damn TV. When this mf was dying he thought about Eve? Y'all are not even dating. What the fuck. Not your mom? Not Oliver? Not Amber or William? Not your DAD? Even Eve's "it just makes sense!", is so... violently UN-interesting. What do they even add to each other to make them BE together? Why can't Make be single? Literally, I generally prefer my ships to be more freak x freak and with some inkling of unhinged-ness for entertainment (hannibal is a rom-com and i will die on this hill, lol), but there's nothing interesting about them TOGETHER. IT'S SO??? GENERIC AT BEST???

The way Eve has the same guilty thing going on with her parents as Mark does with his Dad and they still don't use that as a basis for their connection? Odd.

I am also going to scream because we legit had time to devote to Cecil becoming GDA director, PLUS A WHOLE MAYBE VILLAINS DO CRIME 'CAUSE CAPITALISM, but not any Mark/Eve proper buildup, ACTUAL team dynamics for anybody (we got some in s3ep3 is insane), Mark and Debbie dynamics, any exploration of Debbie as a person, which is killing me because that Cecil and Skull Lady fight slapped to me, (loved her design tho I was thinking about wedgies, lmao, nothing wrong with sexy fit it just made me snort). I am forever baffled by this show but I'm too deep to quit sjdksdkdkf. Why have all of this at once? I know episode count isn't their choice, presumably, but it all needs to slow down.

What's with Samson like you mentioned? Can he get something? Ever? Please?

Like Kate came back married and Amanda excitedly hugged her?? I was baffled. When have you guys ever been close? The snippets we get just make the previous absence feel even more jarring. Why don't we get team dynamics? I loved you mentioned Justice League in the tags 'cause that's a team (also b/c I am a Batman fan first, person second)! I know how they work, their banter, personalities, they include tidbits like Superman's birthday and what Bruce and Wonder Woman might give as a gift which add to their character! There's dynamics explored, too, it's not always a whole group.

I'd argue even showing whole new!GoG out of costume to display their fashion choices is easy way to subtly imply character. Does Kate like working out since she has to depend on her skill rather than enhanced ability? Is she sporty? Does Rex like attention grabbing wear? Neon bright colors? Would he or would he not wear a crop top. I say yes. LET THEM HANG OUT. ONCE. Like, Rex feels like the most distinctive one to me because his louder personality means they have to show dynamic, even if it's irritation or exasperation.

ART IMMUNITY IS SO FUN. Like truly the only untouchable guy in the world. No one dares lay a hand on him. He's got a thousand super hero/villain/vigilantes who need his designs. I'd like to think Nolan is so blunt and strange it's got an allure to it, like now Art has to now what his deal is because he knows everybody's deal. Art knows everybody, and everybody knows him. And yeah, Art dealing with villains all the time so he's like danger-blind to unsettling vibes, love if he wasn't exactly shocked or grieving the relationship as much post Nolan Reveal, like ah yeah, some people go rogue.

Mark is a special little guy to whole GDA LMAO. He's got that undeniable nepo baby vibe istg. The facts are the facts Cecil has meetings to intend but he's procrastinating by checking on Mark instead. Imagine the GoG truly rarely see Cecil except for alerts and are baffled Mark has frequent check-ins? Especially since they dgaf about Nolan. But truly why isn't Mark seen with them? He's not in college, and Debbie is shown to be more present than Mark is for Oliver, so what's he doing then? Like, Immortal was the outlier, and Cecil's Cecil, so?????? Why doesn't he???????

ALSO YES EXACTLY. THE FAMILY HAS TO BE WEIRD. It makes no sense why they aren't. It's like they popped into existence when the first episode began, where's the historyyyyyyyy. I demand Mark be a danger-blind, paper eating, mercury snacking, nepo baby. Give him a mentor too. Also let him be Oliver's main parent so Debbie can be a person, give her one hobby. Like does she find it difficult to care when tragedies arise? Is she strangely calm if a crisis occurs around her, or outright irritated it's happening at all? The latter is so funny.

Begging for Mark platonically interacting with literally anyone, him and Rex's "that's his fav finger :/" was everything to me. I am chronically deprived of mfs interacting.

Edit: I sound so furious but I still love and will watch this show, omg.

Also I saw mentioned in another post so I figure I'd just add here tbh, but utterly fascinated with how Oliver clearly needs a lesson in morality, like, not just being scolded and yelled at. Which I understand is part of Mark's flaw(s), his frustration and inability to explain the exact difference of when murder is okay, but I'm surprised Debbie and the GDA babysitter didn't make it a huge priority considering Cecil's worries. Heck, Debbie's and Mark's, too?

Honestly, love a fic where Cecil leaned into being a fatherly mentor figure to ensure Mark didn't go rogue, like not just check-in's or poking at the wound of Dad Issues to get Mark to comply. Including spontaneous lessons in morality or philosophy or how to strategize and put his power to use cleverly. Like, it's so strange we begin with a training session but don't really see it applied, and even Oliver seems stronger and faster than him, since Mark get stronger when enraged, but Oliver made the choice to fly faster and punch through a body? I know element of surprise but it just makes me tilt my head.

This is super long, but the yapper bug got me, haha.

While I'm not too familiar with the DCU- your batfam meta posts are intiguing- so in transfering some of the broader strokes from them- I think you tackling a 'Mark isn't Nolan's biological son' fic would be fascinating. Sort of a step to the side of the 'what if Mark never got his powers' fic that sometimes pop up in the fandom

OOOOOO chewing on this currently, hm, the much a distinct flavor of exactly what you’re talking about, but the potential for more family drama depending on WHO knows. Does Mark know?? Is he waiting every day only to be crushed? Does he confused non-Debbie features with Nolan’s? I suppose I’m not the most enthusiastic about non-power AUs, but I think there’s something very fun to explore about Mark having to settle with, if he knows all his life, he will never have powers? I think the trajectory of his dreams will obviously shift, I can see him still having that distinct fatherly idolization, but perhaps embraces being useful to the GDA? Cecil’s number one intern—only intern—curtesy of nepotism, ha! There is something tickling me about Mark taking the Robin Route/Role for the Teen Team in terms of having no powers, just insane skills, BUT there’s something way more delicious about intern Mark when s1e01 happens and Mark tries snooping around to find out the truth about what happened to his Dad.

I wonder if, with Mark having a whole another father, if they’re more or less distant relationship, depending on WHEN Nolan entered Mark’s life? Like if Debbie met Nolan later for this, or just for fun, they dated once, separated (Mark being born during then), then they happened to stumble into each others lives again and Mark’s already been born, anywhere from tween to teenager so there’s a gap in how close they are. I feel like one important aspect of the whole Family Drama is how close they’re supposed to be, a functional, loving family turned upside down? So I wonder what more distance does. I wonder how Nolan copes when his family is entirely human and he can’t project onto Mark.

I love thinking about these, omg.

[marigraphia]

I've had this pose ref saved for a while and the Superman set photos just gave off the same energy 👉🏻👈🏻

The reference is this photo of Katharine Hepburn as Antiope and Colin Keith-Johnston as Theseus in the 1932 play 'The Warrior's Husband' (and I'd love for people to turn into a draw your otp meme pls pls pls this pose is so good)

And also, of course, the Superman (2025) set photos

[nekrosmos]

Very random but if I ever, for whatever reason, make you uncomfortable by interacting too much with you, or whatever other reason, don't hesitate to tell me. I can get very enthusiastic about stuff and I know not everyone enjoys having someone yapping in their replies 24/7 so, yeah, don't hesitate 👍

[fisheito]

i told myself that yakuei only had one position then i proved myself (sorta) wrong

my fave face here:

[rmbunnie]

I am alone on this barren earth (Jason Todd liker and Mia Dearden liker who honestly thinks issues 69-72 of the 2001 Green Arrow run are fun and good and would really like to talk about them beyond "Jason Todd was ooc and irredeemable there because he was trauma-dumping on Mia but also everything he said was fake and made up and he was manipulating her to become his sidekick and he blew up her school in retaliation because she didn't so really we should ignore the whole comic as bad writing /or agree he should just be read as an sadistic sidekick killer" (None of which is true and over half of which is directly stated to be false in the comic's text) but all people ever have to say about the comic is weird wrong takes about the three pages in which the gym fight happens ripped out of the very interesting and fun surrounding context)

[ripgray-moved]

it's the way i just want people to love and be invested in peter after all the hard work i've put in him tbh.

[infernothechaosgod]

I think sylvester is a really intresting villian because unlike pete,blot, trudy or even terrible tom he's not really a good fighter, i think if he and mickey were to get into a fight he would fumble like a chair i could be wrong but I think theres even a panel where that happend

BUT he is a real threat because of his legal knowlage and position as a lawyer/landlord that really could be as if not more dangerous than psyhical fight bc okay let's say you lost a fight with someone your probably a bit beat up but youre gonna eventualy heal, You lose a legal fight agains a lawyer? So many diffrent bad things could happen You could get absolutley cooked for far longer than a fight would get ya, litellary endless horizonts of diffrent bad scenarios one worse than the other

Also I think the aspect that should be explored a bit more is how most people fear the law so much is because most of us don't know it that well, like a landlord could just absolutley make laws up and if he were to play the cards right the person he's lying to could end up asking for his help against something they didn't even do or was completly legal

having whoever he's going for be a bit more isolated be it because they argued with their friends or because the friends are unavaiable at the time And having him play up his friendly facade Could lead to a real intresting take where I think he would be at his strongest, especialy if the narrative didn't frame him as shady at the start but slowly shifted over time

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

no yeah i really love how every core 4 member got a real happy ending....except for ej

nini is happily pursuing music in la with her moms' full support

ricky is dating gina, a girl he calls "home". he's finally becoming more at peace with love and how to show it. he's learned how to not run from his problems. his parents are getting back together (???) and his drama teacher wrote such a good letter of recommendation that he was accepted into a community college

gina becomes a literal movie star and was able to change the filming location of her second movie, without any consequences, to salt lake so she can physically be with ricky, the boy she finally got to date after crushing on him since the day they met. she has a permanent home to call her own now. her mom finally showed up to an opening night and she was finally able to portray gabriella

and then ej...is alone (in a wildcat sense) at college, financially cut off from his family, working multiple jobs to afford it. he spends most of his season 4 screentime guiding and helping others (ricky, gina, miss jenn, madlyn) instead of an actual storyline and a lot of his lines were about how he's made mistakes and has to live with them

[meownotgood]

i have so many thoughts about arcane but I'm so tired because it's 5 in the morning and I'm starving because i didn't eat and my brain is functioning at about 2% and all of my insides feel like mush.

[brick-van-dyke]

Thinking about how "self defence" is considered okay until a country the west is not allied with does it.

[martianbugsbunny]

What this website really needs is a button that will allow me to filter all y/n content out of my feed so I don't ever have to see it because I absolutely can't stand it, my ass does not want to be in a relationship with my favorite characters my ass wants them to be dating each other

[moe-broey]

HELP maybe this is influenced by how I'm writing this, or maybe it was supposed to be gleaned from canon and I just. Haven't fully thought about it til now. Haven't Deeply analyzed it beyond the blaring alarm bells that go off when reading this. But. Alfonse's,

Straight into.

This isn't him doubling down. This is him BACKTRACKING. This is him going, "oh fuck I think maybe I came on a little too strong maybe I was a bit too vulnerable and that's really scary. How do I fix this" and he's running through all the dialogue options in his head like Okay. Play it Cool. Keep it Casual. Proclaim your undying loyalty and devotion to your Trusted Partner (person he just told in the beginning of this conversation that he didn't intend to become friends with) by making yourself a blade and shield for them. NAILED IT 👍

[batsplat]

so in assen 2004 comms talk about how valentino helped melandri with riding yamaha A Lot, and how they are two great friends. and indeed those two have known each other since childhood/or at least their teens right? (seen a lot of their photos w matching terrible dye jobs) but then fast forward to 2010 and melandri is going full conspiracy theorist about the freaking chair affghhhkgjk. like what happened here? is it any interesting or is it like mostly one sided bitterness from melandri or something. like that can’t really be about 2005 season for vale bc come on melandri wasn’t his main rival that year.

even if it’s not interesting feud or drama wise it is another friendship that vale had (and unlike w sete vale&melandri go way back) that eventually fell apart as a result of competing in motogp…….hm

yeah, we don't actually have a great sense of what happened there! it's funny the coldness seems to have crept in during the 2005 season specifically, because I'm very much with you here on the 'come on valentino why bother' stance - melandri was aggressively not a proper title contender that season and really not even the main on-track rival... but actually I do think this fits in rather nicely within my sete thesis, which we'll get to. the subsequent public bitterness has been entirely one-sided, with melandri occasionally saying something kinda mean-spirited about valentino in recent years and valentino... not doing any of that

anyhow, they definitely WERE close, which was hammered home not just through repeated mentions by the commentators but also when you read the columns he was dictating every race for mat oxley in his early years. here, from his 250cc days:

mugello 1998

I wasn’t so confident before Mugello because while I was at home I played football and lost, I played tennis and lost, I rode motocross and lost. The only thing I won was minicars – I am the champion! We got beaten in a five-a-side soccer match, six-one, then a friend beat me at tennis, six-one, then Marco [Melandri] beat me at motocross. I’m always fighting with Marco on motocross but he’s faster than me. I’m getting better though – at the start of the year he’d beat me by five or six seconds, now it’s only one or two. I have much fear when I ride motocross because I’m not good at flying. We don’t go crazy; it would be stupid to get hurt doing that. Motocross is great for my muscle power though. I don’t go the gym much in the summer because I want to be outside, so motocross is perfect.

paul ricard 1998

As usual, my break between Mugello and France was full of battles with my friends! First we played football and my team won on penalties. I scored the winner. I never make a mistake from the penalty spot. Next day I did motocross with Melandri and he beat me, as usual, but we had some very funny races. Then I raced with Melandri again, but with electric cars. He’s bought a Honda NSX – it’s fast. Before I left for France we raced minimoto at a track in Rimini. There were about 20 of us: me, Melandri and a load of fast, young Italian riders. We had a lot of really crazy battles. Lots of fun! I don’t think it’s dangerous because the bikes aren’t so fast, maybe 60kp/h. I had some big fights with Melandri, we hit each other all the time – BANG! BANG! BANG! – and we crashed together maybe two or three times.

madrid 1998

I’m doing motocross three times a week now to help build up strength, but Melandri is still faster than me, so I’ve started practising in secret. I get dressed into my motocross gear, then ring him to tell him we don’t need to ride today, then do a few hours riding in secret! Soon I will be faster than him! Anyway, I beat him in minimoto before we went to Jarama.

assen 1998

“Hooray, finally I am first on a 250! It was the day of the teenager at Assen, the Italian teenager! I was so happy when my friend Melandri won the 125 race, so it was fantastic to go out and win the 250. A perfect day, except Marco and me couldn’t party on Saturday night, because I flew home to celebrate with my friends, while he stayed at Assen. I guess we’ll make sure we have a beer together before Donington.

donington 1998

We had our own paddock World Cup at Donington on Thursday, which was really shit, because we played three games and lost three games. I played in the Italian team with Melandri, Boscoscuro, Scalvini, Locatelli, Borsoi and Carpani. First we played the Suzuki 500 team and lost, then we played Team Rainey and lost, and finally we played Dorna, and lost. Dorna were all Spanish and very good. But the games weren’t so much fun because the pitch was tiny and really bumpy. Last year we had the paddock World Cup at Imola on a full-size pitch, and I scored twice. Nice!

sachsenring 1998

Now we have a four-week holiday before Brno, but I’m going to spend most of my time on the beach near my home – it’s sunny and the girls are nice, that’s all I need! But I am going away for one week – a racers’ holiday with Loris Reggiani, Roberto Locatelli and Melandri. We’re going to Tunisia to mess about with jet skis and fast boats. Should be a lot of fun!

sepang 1999

The winter was fun. Usually I don’t like the winter because it’s too cold, but where I live, near the Adriatic coast, there are so many people in the summer. That didn’t used to be a problem, but now everyone recognises me, so it’s Rossi! Rossi! Rossi! all the time. I don’t like it! I spent a lot of time with my friends, as that’s when I’m happiest. We went skiing a few times, a big gang of us. Mad! Snowboarding is more fashionable nowadays but I’m faster on skis, so it’s better! Melandri came with me once, he’s my best mate in the paddock, plus Alessandro Brannetti, a new Italian 125 guy.

mugello 1999

Before Mugello I spent some time at home, riding my 250 road bike and going motocrossing. I have a new motocross bike at home, but I can’t tell you what it is, because it’s not an Aprilia! But it’s a lot of fun on the new motocross track I’ve built behind a friend’s house. I dug the ground myself with a JCB digger we hired. I have designed the track to be safe for me, because modern motocross tracks have near-vertical take-off jumps, which are very dangerous if you don’t have good control in the air. And I don’t! So I’ve built low and fast jumps which I can take in fourth or fifth gear and be safe. Big fun! I’m looking forward to racing my friend Melandri, who hasn’t been doing motocross since he broke his wrist in Malaysia.

sachsenring 1999

Now we have a four-week holiday, hooray! All I really want to do is sleep. During the break last year I went to Tunisia with a bunch of friends like Melandri, but all I want to do now is stay home and rest. My home is near a holiday resort anyway, near the Adriatic Sea, but to be honest I don’t like the sea so much. I prefer snow...”

argentina 1999

I already have some plans for the winter. The World Championship may have finished, but I already have two more races over the next few weeks. No rest yet! First is the X Race at Misano. This is a special event for GP and world Superbike riders. I’m racing go-karts, motocross and cars with [Carl] Fogarty, Melandri, Capirossi, Harada and a lot of other guys. They ran this event for the first time last year and I won it. It’s only fun of course but I want to win again because winning is always important. Then at the end of November I’m doing a car rally at Monza.

so yeah, clearly close buddies! I'm sure there's more out there about their friendship, but I've never been that invested in digging into the details lol. about the collapse of the relationship... well, there's this from the barker biography, which kinda lumps melandri into a generic section about valentino's rivals:

Marco Melandri, who had been a close friend of Rossi's for years before he started winning races in 2005, noted the same shift in attitude: 'When I started to race well with him he changed a lot. When we were growing up we were very good friends. Valentino plays games with everybody... the way he talked to the media - he tries to never say something good about you.'

in 2007, after valentino had finally lost a title fight (and was in the process of losing another), there's another oxley column where a few key figures like his teammate edwards, his rival hayden, and his crew chief jb were asked about what made valentino so good. and valentino's crew chief jb was kind enough to give his own take on the melandri dynamic:

“He only uses mind games when people make a serious challenge, then he pulls out that extra tool in his armoury, which he did with Max, with Sete and to a lesser degree with Marco. Then there’s Loris, who is also serious challenge, but there’s a different understanding between them, there’s a respect. When I first worked with Valentino he was mates with Marco. Whenever there was a dinner or a party, Marco was always there. When Marco came to MotoGP it was still fine, then when there was any sort of a challenge their friendship cooled off a bit."

and then by 2010 you get melandri be like. full yellow chair conspiracy theorist. now, he also mentions how his own celebrations were received, and we do actually have jorge himself give his review of said celebrations a few years earlier (x, x):

I don't really have a point here, I just think it's funny

whereas from valentino's side.... well, there's really not much. his autobiography goes until the end of 2004 and is published in 2005 - so if melandri was already a 'proper' rival when the book was finalised, it will have been a very recent thing... but there's literally one reference to melandri in the whole thing, and it's something generic to do with the yamaha's development. valentino himself has said pretty much fuck all about this friendship falling apart. it's a bit frustrating because... when melandri says that valentino tries never to say anything good about you in the media - look, that's probably referring to something substantive, but we don't really know what exactly valentino supposedly said. we just have to take melandri at his word.... when you go that far back, it's a lot trickier to hunt down specifics if it's not a big news story, if there's not been a major controversy

you do have this from mid 2005:

"No. I think this is not true," replied Rossi, when asked if he deliberately avoided friendships with his closest rivals. "With Melandri, when this year he start to go fast, especially the Italian journalists, try to put some bad things between us - to make fight like what happened between Biaggi and Doohan. "But I go to speak to Melandri after Shanghai, on the podium, because I say one thing and the Italian journalists they modify and say to him another thing - and also the same journalists come to me and make the same. "I know Marco from minibikes when we were friends - we've been friends for more than ten-years - so I try to keep a good relationship because I don't like a bad relationship with anybody," he insisted. "For sure I have had a bad relationship with Biaggi and Gibernau but I don't think that is the right result."

now, according to the article, there were already rumours at the time that the relationship had grown colder that year. which is mainly funny insofar as valentino had quite literally double melandri's points - and the latter still hadn't won a race. again. what's the point

which, well. I do think jb's mention of capirossi is kinda interesting, as another rival valentino had known forever and one who wasn't like. dramatically less likely than melandri to end up a serious challenger to valentino, beyond being a bit older already. jb mentions they have an "understanding", a "respect" between the two of them... it's also maybe worth bringing in what hayden, the man who had actually managed to beat him in 2006, had to say about valentino for the same oxley piece:

“I can’t say it’s just his approach that makes him good. Some guys take their racing real serious, others are really laid back, it’s whatever works for that rider. But regardless of whatever he does he definitely gets around the track fast, that’s what’s most important. “One thing I noticed when we were team-mates is that he looks like it’s fun, fun, fun, he definitely cuts up a lot, but once you’re in the garage that dude is so serious, so focused. Everything seems perfect, right down to the windscreen sticker and the colour of his boots. He doesn’t overlook anything and I think that’s a big part of it. “More than anything it’s the racer in him that makes him so strong, it’s obvious the guy wants to win. He’s got a lot of natural talent but I know a lot of guys with natural talent and it gets some guys in trouble. It’s the whole package that makes him strong: the desire, the focus, the talent. “I think sometimes maybe he’s not as laidback as he comes across. He knows what to say and when to say it to make it look like things aren’t really getting to him. He knows how to play it, on the bike and off the bike. “It’s hard to say what he’s like with mind games because I can only comment on how he’s been with me and I’ve never seen him play any games with me, especially last year when he was taking chunks out of my points lead. The guy didn’t really change, maybe he just knew that I wasn’t going to roll over. Maybe some of the guys he can break down mentally, maybe he knew it wasn’t going to get to me. “Him and JB (Jeremy Burgess) haven’t won all those titles just through his riding, they know how to play people, they know how to play their cards, when to show their hand, when not to show their hand. I don’t think he plays as many games as other guys – you don’t need to play a lot of games when you can ride like that.“ "On track sure he’s aggressive but he’s totally clean and he definitely has a lot of tactics. He knows when he wants to race just one guy, how to separate groups, how to slow down. Like Phillip Island in 2005 I was on him the whole race and he eventually saw that he wasn’t going to get away, so he slowed down, brought the next group up to us to get me caught up with them, then tried to make another break. He’s got a lot of race craft. “I’d say his biggest strength is that he can adapt. If the tyres go off and he needs to slide he can slide, when the bike need to be ridden in line he can ride in line, he can definitely adapt to situations. I can’t say there’s one area of his riding where he just kills guys. It’s not just braking or corner speed or this or that, I’d just say that when he’s in a rhythm and putting those laps down he can break a guy. Like at Jerez this year he broke Pedrosa by about half a tenth a lap, he just kept putting those laps down, riding on that edge. He doesn’t ride 95 per cent, he rides on that razor edge for a long time. “I don’t know about weaknesses, it’s hard for me to point out a guy’s weakness when he’s won all those championships. In fact I’m not going to say he’s got any weak points because I don’t need to motivate the guy! That’s why I don’t want to say anything negative, I’m a big believer in not motivating these guys anymore, that’s why I don’t talk trash.”

like, you do have to bring up the context that valentino had four title rivals in 2006 - melandri, hayden, capirossi and dani - and he really only seems to have cooled off towards one of them. I'm not saying it's melandri's fault! I think it's more... hm, it's a bit telling, isn't it? competitively, there's not really any reason for melandri to be singled out in any way. I mean, you'll note he didn't win the title - and the guy who did explicitly says he didn't think valentino was fucking with him. valentino says in 2005 that he's made an active effort to not let the melandri relationship get worse... which could be true insofar as he didn't want any drama, but clearly he did allow that friendship to grow cold. why do that? is melandri really such a threat? I feel like if valentino said something particularly egregious about melandri, we would have some kind of a record of it - but let's say he was just mildly bitchy about the guy. you'd want to take him to one side and tell him 'dude, you really needn't bother', right? like, no offence, but is THIS guy worth it?

except. well. it is a little interesting that in the immediate aftermath of 2004, valentino had another friend of his (who he had considerably more history with than his last title rival) head over to honda gresini, turn into a more serious challenger... and valentino went. 'hm, yeah, maybe let's not do that again.' whether consciously or subconsciously, he does seem to have drawn back from melandri a hell of a lot quicker than he did from sete - and let's not forget that sete was actually beating him in dramatic last lap duels, which melandri extremely did not do. now, look, of course there COULD have been some sort of private spat here that nobody involved ever talked about... or maybe valentino just decided for completely unrelated reasons he'd had enough of melandri. but isn't it just. a little noteworthy. that when it comes to the 2006 title rivals, valentino is on good terms with all of them, who he seemingly does not piss off too badly with any sort of off-track antics... except melandri. his coldest relationship is with his childhood friend. one might conclude that melandri was the one who had the most power to hurt valentino, if he had been allowed to remain close. one could argue that there the sete rivalry marked a bit of a turning point in terms of how valentino approached his rivalries, that after this point he really didn't want another rivalry that could affect him in the same way. one might point out that some of the details of the melandri rivalry sure feel like they could be used to back up this framing

all that being said. what valentino is doing here is... well, it's basically fine, isn't it. everyone and their dog agrees it's tough to remain friends with your actual close rivals. jb describes it as their friendship 'cooling off', which is also the kind of thing that can just... eventually happen with childhood friends, even when you don't have pressures of competition warping interpersonal dynamics. there's not all that much to suggest valentino was massively treating melandri differently from any of his other major rivals at the time - it's just that his prior relationship had been closer and melandri seems to have taken the shift poorly. given how little of a paper trail there is, it feels like any mind games on valentino's part were generally on the subtler side, perhaps just the occasional snide comment or insinuation or ambiguously shady line that never made it to an article we can still access nowadays. more in line with what nicky "I don't think he plays as many games as other guys" hayden is describing: how valentino knows how to play his cards without necessarily escalating it into full out war. when melandri's talking about the rivalry, at times he does seem less annoyed by anything valentino actually did than he is by the media pressure of being an italian rival of valentino's, of being subjected to a more hostile media environment tan valentino, etc etc. after a certain point, valentino was often a passive beneficiary of his own successes in that regard. it's not like he's telling the italian journalists to put extra pressure on melandri... but he's also hardly going to complain

in general, the timing of it does have a certain charm to it as useful evidence for my great big 'the sete experience changed how valentino approached his rivalries' thesis, but I'm always a tad wary of analyses that flatten valentino's rivalries and by extension valentino by treating the patterns of behaviour in each as identical. it's also worth pointing out that... well, melandri isn't exactly a neutral source here, and his 2010 great big yellow chair theory does maybe suggest his resentment was getting in the way of his judgement where valentino was concerned. in the end, people didn't enjoy melandri's celebrations as much as melandri would have liked. and at some point in 2005, valentino apparently decided he didn't like this guy's vibe any more. c'est la vie