#I think teams are really about to shoot themselves in the foot with all this business

[cecoeur]

.

[jobean12-blog]

I just had the cutest fluffy Bucky thought and I love your soft fluffy stories! ❤️

The team loads into the jet but you somehow end up last in and the seats around Bucky are taken so you sit on his lap. Steve/Tony tell everyone to prepare for departure so while everyone is buckling in, you pull Bucky's metal arm around your waist. Steve/Tony tell you to find your own spot with an actual seatbelt. "You really think that flimsy piece of fabric will keep me safer than this?" Bucky is smug and smirks at everyone but inside he's melting because the thing he hates most about himself makes you feel the safest. 😭🫠🥹

Hooked On A Feeling

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x reader

Word Count: 897

Summary: Bucky has always been the one who makes you feel safest and maybe, just maybe, he can start to believe it's true.

Author's Note: Hi sweets! Thank you so much for this super sweet request, I absolutely love the idea of him being readers 'seatbelt'! So cute! I hope you enjoy this and thank you for kind words! Have a lovely day! 🥰Thank you all so much for reading! Much love always! ❤️❤️❤️Divider by sweet Daisy @firefly-graphics thank you love🥰

Warnings: soft and sweet fluff

GIF NOT MINE: Credit goes to @mcavoys thank you lovely💕

“Let’s go slow poke!” Sam shouts. “We gotta get outta here.”

You trudge up the platform and into the jet, your legs sore and tired from the mission.

“I’m comin’, I’m comin’”, you grunt.

You step foot inside and have to jump forward at the sound of the hatch beginning to close. You shoot Sam a dirty but playful glare before surveying the seating situation.

There isn’t any place to sit unless you’re going to squeeze yourself uncomfortably into the corner.

With a defeated sigh your shoulder slump and just before you resign to the worst seat ever you catch Bucky’s eye. He’s staring at you, his expression soft and inviting.  

“Grab a seat!” Sam shouts your way. “We’re takin’ off.”

You plod over to Bucky and stand between his widely spread legs.

“Can I sit with you Buck?”

“Of course ya can doll,” he says, patting his thigh.

You sit yourself down and lean against his chest, the tension of the mission melting from your body.

“Find a real sit babe,” Sam grumbles. “With a seatbelt.”

You roll your eyes and mumble something incoherent but then you realize you have the best seat on the jet.

With a smirk you take Bucky’s metal hand in yours and pull his arm around your waist. He immediately tightens his hold on you and pulls you closer.

“A real seatbelt,” Sam chides.

“You think one of those seatbelts is going to be better than this?” you ask with a scoff as you run your fingers over the metal plates on Bucky’s arm. “I’m in the safest spot on the jet.”

You turn your face to Bucky and give him a sweet smile. “And the comfiest.”

He blushes under your praise and dips his head with a chuckle. “Thanks doll face.”

You rest your head along his shoulder and give his scruffy cheek a kiss.

He looks up and locks eyes with Steve who is grinning like an idiot. Bucky throws Steve a smug smile and curls his other arm around you.

The ride back is smooth and you fall asleep in Bucky’s arms. When the jet lands everyone quickly unbuckles themselves and stands, eager to get home and rest.

You don’t stir and Sam walks over, opening his mouth to wake you.

“Don’t,” Bucky whisper shouts. “I’ve got her.”

He carefully releases his seatbelt and stands with you in his arms.

Once he’s brought you to your room and laid you on your bed he lingers in the doorway, watching your sleeping form.

“Don’t be creepy man,” Sam teases as he walks by.

“Huh?” Bucky asks, dragging is eyes away. “I’m not…I was just making… forget it.”

“You know she likes you right?” Sam says as he follows Bucky down the hall.

“Nah. She’s just a sweetheart. She likes everyone,” Bucky counters with a dismissive wave of his hand.

“She definitely is but I see the way she looks at you,” Sam continues.

Bucky is quiet for a moment before he shrugs off the comment and grabs a water bottle. “I’m gonna go shower.”

When he’s showered and dressed he walks back to your room and gently knocks. He doesn’t hear anything so he slowly pushes the door open and sees your body still curled up on the bed.

You shift and quietly speak his name.

“Yeah, it’s me doll. You ok?”

With a languid stretch you turn toward him and smile.

“I’m good, still tired though but I’m gonna go shower. Will you hang out? I won’t be long.”

“Sure doll.”

You shuffle off to the bathroom, returning shortly after in a tank top and shorts.

Bucky is sitting on the edge of your bed, scrolling through Netflix and he looks up at the sound of your feet.

He stares.

Your skin heats but despite the feeling a shiver skims down your spine.

“Are you cold?” he asks, standing as he swallows hard. “You can have my shirt…not that you need to cover up or anything, it’s just…I don’t want you to be cold but you uh look…you look beautiful. You always do.”

His awkward rambling dissolves your nerves and you step closer.

“Thanks Buck and yes, I do want your shirt, it’s chilly.”

Taking the hem of his Henley in his hands he begins to lift it over his head, revealing the patch of skin just above his sweats and the dark trail of hair that disappears into the waistband.

His tee shirt falls back down once he pulls the Henley off and you inwardly sigh.

With delicate movements he helps you into his shirt and you wrap yourself up in it’s warmth and smell.

“What do you wanna watch?” you ask him.

“What was that?” he says after a beat of silence, his gaze full of emotion as he stares at you in his Henley.

You repeat your question and he pulls out his small notebook, showing you the movie list he’s compiled. After you pick one you get comfortable on your bed and call him over. When he lays down you shimmy closer and slide under his metal arm, laying your head on his chest and snuggling into him. 

“Thanks,” he whispers.

“For what?” you ask as you crane your neck to look at him.

“For trusting me.”

You slip your fingers through his and give them a squeeze. “I always feel safest with you.”

@book-dragon-13 @hiddles-rose @goldylions @dreamlessinparis @lookiamtrying @nano--raptor @randomfandompenguin

[killergee]

Hi, hi! First thing first, im in love with your hoshina x designer weapon reader! It's really warm my heart!! (I LOVE IT TO THE CORE HEHBFJSHDHC😭🫶🫶🫶 BLESS U)

Can i request you (this is kinda awkward) i want to see Highschool AU! For Hoshina x Reader. Kendo player! Hoshina x Archer! Reader👉👈 i would love to see them bantering each other (of if it's not Highschool AU! You can use the close range user! Bf x long range user! Gf thing!)

Thank you!

Ahhh my first request, how exciting! Sorry for posting so late. So many things have been happening lately. Also had to do some research and ended up watching tsurune LOL.

Here's a bunch of little stories of your life as Archer! Reader x Kendo! Hoshina.

Part 2 (one shot)

Synopsis: The club captains of the kendo and the kyudo (archery) club don't seem to get along. Or rather, that's how the club members see it.

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

"Oi, what do ya think you're doing? The kendo club's got this gym booked for today."

Toppled on top of each, the members of the kendo club huddled nervously outside the door to their gym. They could only take small peaks and glances from their place as they were all too scared to step foot inside.

All except one.

The Captain of the Kendo team, Hoshina, was the only one who dared to enter the gym. Standing tall with his arms crossed, he gave you a menacing glare.

Rising from your kneeling position, you exhaled a tired breath and put your training bow down. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see your name on the registrar, so I presumed the gym was empty and booked it." Despite the courteous words, your apology dripped of insincerity and a smidge of condescension. "Had you actually done your job correctly, this could've been avoided."

The members of your own club shifted awkwardly. Exchanging knowing glances, they braced themselves to watch their Captain go at it once again with the rival club Captain.

Hoshina lets out a scoff as he rolled his eyes at your attitude. He ignored your comment and continued on with his interrogration. "What are ya even doing here, ya can't shoot in here. Why aren't you in the kyudo hall?"

"It's under repair, and kyudo isn't only about shooting. I gotta teach the newbies the correct form before they can even touch a bow." You stated before offering a fake smile. "Why don't you go build your stamina with some laps? It's not good to slack on basic fitness."

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you? When's the last time ya used your legs?"

After a brief moment, Hoshina flashed his own small smile, although there was nothing friendly behind it. He leaned down until his face was a mere couple inches from yours. He knew you hated the height difference. That you hated the fact that there was something he had over you. Going by the tiniest twitch in your perfectly crafted smile, he knew he was right.

"Hey, give me the room, and I'll play nice and let you watch us practice. Maybe then you'll learn something of actual worth." He suggested, feeling a deep satisfaction at the slight clench of your fist.

"I don't understand the need to swing a big sword. Overcompensating for something?"

"Ah, and I suppose hitting a massive target from far away is much more impressive."

"Oh my, if you think a target that's only thirty-six centimeters is massive, then I'm definitely worried for you."

"Are dick jokes the only jokes you can make? Are you a child?"

"Sorry, did I hit too close to home?"

A vein popped on his cheek. He could never really get a handle on your snake-like tongue.

Everyone felt the heavy tension and chill in the air. The first years had trouble believing that the two people squabbling like children were their beloved Captains.

You were known for your kindness and elegance. But you knew when to be soft and when to push harder. Where you went, people's eyes would follow whether consciously or not. You were the most talented kyudo archer the school has ever seen and an equally good captain.

Hoshina was among the top strongest kendo player in the division. Diligent. Attentive. Trustworthy. His laidback attitude attracted a lot of people, but when his serious nature slipped through during matches—that's when it was impossible to take your eyes off of him.

You two rarely crossed paths, but when you did, it was a blood bath. You two brought out the worst in each other. Or maybe you simply brought out each other's competitive streak.

All the members of their respective club could only pray for the day the two of you stop bickering.

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

"I heard you guys passed the preliminaries," you said as you sat and watched him practice. It was late into the evening, and only the two of you were still in school. You had locked up the kyudo hall but saw how the lights were still on in the kendo dojo. Curiosity got the best of you, and you went to see who was still practicing.

"Congrats," you said quietly, barely audible to anyone around you.

"Oh, sorry, what was that? Awww, are ya congratulatin' me? I'm so honoured, oh, glorious captain." He jested back, pausing his activities against the training dummy. He stopped because he's had enough practice and shouldn't overexert himself. He definitely didn't stop because he wouldn't hear you against the sound of the strikes.

"Whatever, your opponents were shit anyways. It would've been harder for you to lose."

He lets out a low whistle at your words.

"Way to ruin the moment." He said, beginning to take off his armor. Placing his wooden sword at the stand, he peeled off his gloves.

Then, realization hit Hoshina, and he froze. The corner of his lip curled into a dangerous smirk as he turned to look at you.

"Wait, does that mean ya watched me compete?"

You flushed a pretty shade of pink and looked away from his amused eyes.

"Well, we're hosting the tournament this year, and I happened to pass by the dojo, so I just took a look."

"Right..." He chuckled. "Your preliminaries are tomorrow, right?"

You nod your head as you get up from your spot. The way you stretched your arms above your head reminded him of a cat.

"Yup, and we're gonna show you guys why we're number one in the division, unlike you guys who are only what again? Right, second."

"Hope you miss." He grunted in response. Though, despite the gruff words, Hoshina found that there wasn't actually any bite to his remarks nowadays. His once heated bitter words are now nothing more than poorly disguised teases.

At hearing your chuckle, he looked up at you, and his breath catches in his throat.

"Me? Miss?"

The look in your eyes was hypnotizing.

"Never."

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

Why others seemed to admire you was beyond Hoshina's understanding. You were immature, vain, cocky, rude, and knew exactly which buttons to push to annoy him. If people saw the side of you he got to see, they would run for the hills.

Walking from the main school building to the dojo, he heard the faint but recognizable sound of the kyudo bow releasing an arrow.

Ah, that's right. You should be playing right now.

He stopped in his place as he looked to the direction of the sound. He had to pass the kyudo hall anyway to get to the dojo, is what he told himself before he changed course to take the longer route to the dojo.

There was a crowd gathered around the hall by the time he made it there. Not wanting to be seen, he kept to the edges of the crowd but still in a good enough spot that he had a good view of the archers.

Hoshina thinks to himself that he'll only stay to watch your first shot as he watched you ceremoniously kneel with your bow and arrow.

However, he found himself stuck in his place as he watched your elegant and meticulous gestures. Like a moth to a flame, he couldn't tear his eyes away from your figure as you drew your bow. He didn't know much about kyudo, but he couldn't help but think that your draw was beautiful.

Everything about you screamed confidence and assurance. With the twang of the bow string, the arrow released and hit dead centre of the target.

Like always.

By the time he realized he's stayed longer than he should've, you had fired 5 shots. Not a single arrow missed the target.

The cocky smile that bloomed on your face as you lowered the bow and admired your work made his heart race.

Huh... so that's why so many people are head over heels for you.

He left before your team could celebrate the victory.

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

As the season continued, you two made it a habit to stay later than usual when practicing. Whoever would finish first would go to the other and watch or tell them to pack it up.

As captains in your last year, both of you needed to win your tournaments.

"Don't ya ever get tired? Or are the rumours true and you're actually a robot?" Hoshina said with his head resting on his bag as he sat and watched you.

"Only partly, actually," you quipped back before drawing another arrow. "One more shot."

"And how many times have ya said that?" He asked looking at your target filled with dozens of arrows. Unlike what he was used to seeing, a third of your shots were off target.

"Can't afford to miss. "

"Ya need to go home."

"No"

Hoshina rolled his eyes at your stubborness. "You think this is going to help ya? You're just burnin' yourself out."

Although you lowered your bow at that, your focus does not move away from your target. "We were one point away from not advancing to finals. I need to be perfect. My team is depending on me. I can't afford to drag my team down or disappoint them."

At one point in time, he'd have paid someone to bring you down a peg. Now, however, his heart twisted at seeing you doubting yourself.

"Listen, I know the pressure better than anyone else. This tournament is important to me too. But ya just need to have faith in the skills that you've built up over these years. You've earned the title of best kyudo player for a reason." He sat up straighter when you finally turned to look at him. Rubbing the back of his neck, he continued, "also, have faith in your team. They've worked hard and don't want to disappoint you either. Don't forget you're in a team, afterall."

You stared at him for a moment before giggling. Your giggle turned into a full-blown laugh at his pout.

"Now why's that so funny?"

"No, no," you managed to say as you try to collect your composure. "I just never imagined getting a pep talk from my arch nemesis."

A smile replaced Hoshina's pout. "I'm your arch nemesis?"

"Aren't I yours?" You jested back as you began putting away your equipment.

Were you? Arch nemesis wouldn't be the words he'd use to describe you. He didn't quite like the idea of you only being a rival to him.

His on the other hand. Now, that didn't sound too bad.

With your back turned to him, he called out to you, making you turn to him.

"Here."

You caught whatever he threw at you before it could hit you. Sitting in your palm was a key chain with a cat shaped charm, and beside it, an omamori charm with the embroidery "victory."

"Hasn't really been working on me, so you might as well try it," he said, looking rather bashful.

You let out another laugh at his actions. "Can't be owing you, here's mine," you said amused, removing the charm that hung on your bag and tossing it to him.

"It might give you my luck, but I doubt it'll be able to give you my amazing skills. So don't put too much pressure on it."

The charm was of a heart with an arrow through it and a wooden good-luck charm with the engraving "grind them to dust."

"How fitting," hoshina said outloud as he held the charm in his palm.

"Oh yea," you chuckled. "The statement is quite aggressive, but I thought it was funny"

"Hmmm? Oh yea, that too." Before you could even think twice about his statement, he closed his palm around the charm and gave you a determined look.

"Let's win this."

You couldn't help but smile. "That goes without saying."

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

Bonus:

"Hey, isn't that Hoshina's charm?" One of your club members asked curiously as they stretched on the ground. Although the rest of the members pretended they weren't listening in, they were dying to know why you had it. They were able to spot it right away when they saw it on your school bag. It was the charm that Hoshina kept on his bag for all the years they've known him. They also couldn't forget how the Kendo members were forced to stay after school to search for the charm when he lost it.

"Yeah," you responded matter of factly as you stood and watched them.

"Why? I thought you two hated each other?"

"Now, who ever told you that?" You responded slyly.

Their mouths hung open at your statement. Were you gaslighting them? Or were you just pretending you didn't pick a fight with Hoshina every chance you got.

"Oi, y/n hurry up. I'm hungry"

At the voice, they all snapped their heads to look at the owner of the charm himself. Leaning against the doorframe, he was in his school uniform with his bag tucked under his arm.

"Yea, yea, coming old man, don't be so pushy," you said, making your way towards him. When he turned to head out, the members saw your unforgettable charm hanging from his bag.

"You buying lunch this time or is it my turn?" They heard you say as the both of you walked by the window of the gym.

"Don't remember. Let's just say it's my turn. " Hoshina responded with what they think was a smile.

"What the fuck just happened."

[chimggukchim]

But it will not and cannot be what it was before. Because these two have their separate lives now to live as well. Will they involve each other in their big moments? I have no doubt they will. And yes, they might spend time with each other's friends as well because that's how normal friendships work.

uhhh the same thing could literally be said about jikook. they've changed and that's ok, even the entire jikooker space was full of speculation about the "change" after AYS started airing because it was that obvious to everyone that they were different as a duo. Never did I think the same jungkook that planned a whole trip to tokyo and only bought jimin gifts, would in the future not be bothered to show up for jimin's solo work even when asked and that the two hanging out on tour every night together would only see each other because they filmed a travel show. I still think they're important in each other's lives, obviously they find comfort in each other's presence to enlist together which thankfully is exactly why the buddy system exists, but I do think their friendship has changed over time and I think jimin especially (like RM with team RM) leaned on other relationships when he was hurting, feeling depressed, and going through deep stuff. I'm glad jimin was able to find people who really understood him and could help him work through all that during that time. And that's fine too, friendships change over time and fill different needs.

People were really weird about the changes in AYS, making up theories about them breaking up or one being mad at the other or whatever other messy stuff, but I think it was just two friend who hadn't been on camera or seen each other in a while trying to find their footing again. Luckily I think they have the kind of friendship that can find its footing relatively easy, you know like that friend you haven't seen in years, but after a couple hours of chatting its like you're back to your old selves with each other.

I would have agreed with you had it not been for the fact that these takes are completely inaccurate. Nice try. Firstly, I don't know what jikooker space you were in (unless you're just trying to gaslight) but everyone was enjoying the content, celebrating jikook being together and being cute together. Not one jikooker I saw ever said, "Well...jikook are awkward and so clearly they're broke up".

And change? Different? Did we even watch the same content? The only thing different with AYS versus other content was that we were now getting just two members and not seven who could have played off of each other. It's also why the vibe totally changed when Tae came on...because just one more person meant 4 different dynamics to showcase as opposed to one.

Your point on JK not bothering to show up for Jimin at all? Really? Now where, when and how did we come to that conclusion?

Firstly, I don't know how new you are to the fandom but do you know that when Jimin was shooting for Serendipity and recording it, he purposely told the members he didn't want anyone there because it would be awkward for him?

The truth is when it comes to someone's art, sometimes they want to experience it by themselves even though they may have a significant other. Sometimes, it's easier for them to sound off of people not their SO.

But I personally believe that Jimin did share part of his journey with Jungkook - JK was clearly joking around in their Festa dinner when he 'accused' Jimin of sharing his song with others and not him, if the giant a$$ smirk he had on while saying it is anything to go by. He freaking also recorded Letter. Plus, if Jimin didn't reveal in the MiniMoniMusic interview that he, JK and Yoongi had met up, we wouldn't have known it happened. So clearly, these boys all meet many, many times and we just aren't privy.

Just because they don't talk about something publicly with fans does not mean it did not happen.

Jimin and Jungkook did actually see each other during their solo projects, and much more than we would be led to believe.

Next, Jimin, Jungkook, Joon and everybody else in BTS and beyond are in their right to lean on others for support and advice. And clearly they do (everyone has their own little circle of friends apart from the group after all...including jikook) but when did that ever mean they don't also lean on each other?

Here in the real world, a person's significant other isn't their be all end all for comfort, contact and conversation. But they are a big part of it, which I still firmly believe Jikook are for each other.

Because, like you said, they did CHOOSE to enlist together, because of that very same support that you tried to deny they are to each other. Because in no way would they have chosen the hardest route in the military otherwise. It's also a decision they would have made way before AYS was a thing, and during its filming as well.

Anyone who saw the Sapporo leg of their show, which was just weeks from their enlistment, could see the emotion there.

So, thank you for trying to firstly sneak your points in, you know, the 1. Jikook are friends/it's friendship, and 2. They're the same as taekook and changed.

But I'll stick to what I have personally seen, which is, yes, Jikook's relationship has changed over the years - it's just gotten stronger, more intimate, more supportive.

[pedripics]

Charlando con PEDRI en la EURO 2024 | xBuyer - Translation

JAVI: Guys, we are here, as you have seen in the title, the thumbnail, nothing more and nothing less than a little chat with Pedri. Pedri González, my friend...

ERIC: How are you maestro?

JAVI: Brother of a former xBuyer team player and most importantly, Spanish national team player.

ERIC: By the way, first question, why did you change your number, man?

PEDRI: Because I've taken it. The truth is that it goes by internationality. I mean, when you arrive you choose the one with the most caps or whichever one you get.

ERIC: Whichever one you get.

PEDRI: They gave me a choice and I was the 26 again, but I said so to change. ERIC: He has stolen it from you. PEDRI: No, I changed it. I mean, I have more internationals than him, so I chose before him.

ERIC: It has a bit of personality.

JAVI: Well, have you seen? (pointing to his jacket)

ERIC: I was going to say Pedri. What do you think of my brother's jacket?

PEDRI: It's fine, but this has changed already.

JAVI: Yeah, but all you've done is criticize me.

PEDRI: Because it has changed.

JAVI: But a little bit of retro, man, this.

ERIC: But, listen, but this is one of the last collections they did retro.

JAVI: First question. Did I put the mic on?

ERIC: I put the mic on. First question was...

JAVI: How are you?

PEDRI: Good, good, here.

JAVI: Sunny. The facilities are really good.

PEDRI: Sunny??

JAVI: Second question. How are you? I know you're fine, but everyone knows you're from Troncos.

Clip Pedri: I became a Troncos. They had never asked me which team I was from and I didn't have a team, but of course when they asked me I had to say one and I became a Tronco because of Verdú, man.

Clip Ibai: Very good, but you watch the Kings League a lot.

Clip Pedri: Yes, I watch it, so I don't miss a game, but yes.

JAVI: We explained it well to your little team. We didn’t just beat them, we burned it.

PEDRI: Well, basically the Troncos let them win because, of course, they didn't want to win.

ERIC: They let themselves win from the first minute, no.

JAVI: We're going on holiday early and that's it.

ERIC: It's OK, it's still Troncos. Verdú. The same, he's not going.

PEDRI: If Verdú doesn't continue, I'll have to reconsider.

ERIC: Who would you say you have a face from Móstoles?

PEDRI: I used to like El Barrio at the beginning, but now I don't like it at all. I don't know who I would go to.

ERIC: Dude, he doesn't say the Buyers (their team)

PEDRI: Let's see, no, the Buyers too.

JAVI: I don't even want him to say it anymore.

PEDRI: The only one I like among the Buyers is Beguer.

ERIC: And Fuad?

PEDRI: Well, he's good too.

ERIC: That's good eh.

PEDRI: But Beguer is very top.

JAVI: Let's see if we can keep him.

ERIC: What about my penalties?

PEDRI: Pff, what a blast, eh?

ERIC: But I've scored 3

PEDRI: Yeah, but how many have you missed?

ERIC: Three

PEDRI: 50%.

ERIC: How many penalties have you taken in your career?

PEDRI: One

ERIC: Have you scored?

PEDRI: Yes, against Betis in the Super Cup.

ERIC: Good, good

PEDRI: I have 100%.

JAVI: I'm not saying anything because that's where I'm shitting myself.

PEDRI: But why don't you shoot?

JAVI: Because he does it well. I give him his share... (pointing at Eric)

ERIC: Of course, but I do it well. I mean, I don't shoot badly, but I don't score. So, ee have to look for something.

JAVI: I only commit myself that, if there are shootouts, I'll shoot them. And I'll score them.

PEDRI: Yes, but the shootout is more complicated.

JAVI: No way, it's very easy if you are left-footed.

ERIC: (laughs) It's very easy if you are left-footed. But it's the same thing.

PEDRI: It's the same.

JAVI: You'll see. The truth is that I have a lot of little things. I have secret weapons.

PEDRI: So tell Geri to do shootouts.

JAVI: That's going to be done.

ERIC: He tells us that if you get shootouts, it's two goals.

PEDRI: So you can choose between a normal penalty and a shootout? Is it worth double?

ERIC: It's double if the president takes it.

PEDRI: That's not a bad one.

JAVI: It's not bad.

PEDRI: It's not bad.

JAVI: And that's where I'll come in. Clack.

PEDRI: A double goal, but you have to score it afterwards.

JAVI: But okay, Eric, shoot it, shoot it. Question. We're fucking around.

ERIC: You were the best young player at the last European Championship, who will it be at this one?

PEDRI: Lamine

ERIC: Are you sure?

PEDRI: Yes.

ERIC: (at Lamine off-camera) Lamine, are you going to be the best or no?

JAVI: And who are you sharing a room with?

PEDRI: Nobody. Alone.

JAVI: Alone?

ERIC: No shit.

PEDRI: Everyone is alone. Everyone. Everyone. The XB guys shared, right?

JAVI: Team and he shared. Pablito Beguer with Roger Carbó.

PEDRI: Well, Roger also scored goals.

ERIC: You have a powerful squad. How do you approach this European Championship from what you learned from the last one? What do you think you can change to win it?

PEDRI: Let's see, the last one. The truth is that we did a good job.

ERIC: We did a good job.

PEDRI: To be honest, it's difficult to beat it, but...

ERIC: You have to give it your all.

PEDRI: That's why overcoming it is complicated, but I think we have a good team. There are also young people who help us (smiling at Lamine off camera). And above all we have a good vibe, man, which is important at the end of the day.

JAVI: It's funny that Pedri says ‘we have young people who help us’.

PEDRI (getting very defensive lmao): Well, yes, I look like a veteran.

ERIC: You've been with us for five years now, haven't you?

PEDRI: I've been at Barça for four years.

ERIC: You've been to the Spanish national team, you haven't been to the youth teams, have you?

PEDRI: Well, I went to the U16 World Cup (it was U17 lmao) when I was at Las Palmas and then I went twice, I think, to the U21 or U19.

ERIC: I though you didn’t when you were younger…

PEDRI: Yes, I was with De La Fuente, I was in the U21s. Well, and the Olympic Games.

ERIC: But there you were already playing for Barça. Right. Okay, good.

JAVI: Then a little question. Today I went for a couple of rounds while you were training in your facilities.

PEDRI: Do you like it?

JAVI: You have lots of little things.

PEDRI: They are nice, eh?

JAVI: This year's facilities are strong. What do you do most to pass the time? Because I've seen that there's ping pong, that there's everything.

ERIC: Don't say Play, that's clear.

PEDRI: Let's see, the Play, I play tennis. I'm there playing a lot.

ERIC: Some other people who also play?

PEDRI: Dani Olmo. Well, we'll each play one of them.

JAVI: Of course, so that you don't share a screen, otherwise it gets buggy. The one on top gets buggy.

PEDRI: And I play darts the most, I play quite a lot.

ERIC: Darts. I saw that you were throwing darts. Against whom?

PEDRI: With Ferran, Vivian, he's not bad, and Remiro is a spectacle. He's the best at darts.

JAVI: Incidentally, not long ago I had an interview with Lamine and he said that at table football (foosball) he's the best, that at foosball no one beats him.

PEDRI (pointing at Lamine): He said that I am his goalkeeper, so all good.

JAVI: But is it true that he is very good?

Clip Lamine: Pedri, my goalkeeper in table football.

Clip Javi: What do you mean, he's played as a goalkeeper by himself?

Clip Lamine: Goalkeeper.

Clip Eric: What are you playing? Four against four?

Clip Lamine: Two against two

Clip Javi: Who is the best foosball player on the team?

Clip Lamine: Oriol. Top two me 100%

PEDRI (directed at Lamine): He dribbles even in foosball.

ERIC: The best in the team?

PEDRI: Well, foosball is a one-legged game here, you know?

ERIC: Yes, of course, you can't hold the ball.

ERIC (at Lamine): You lose your potential.

*Lamine complaining off camera*

PEDRI: You play with the two-legged one and the one-legged one gets complicated.

JAVI: Okay, Eric, any questions you have there, like quick ones. Player to follow from this EURO, not from Spain?

PEDRI: To say one from Germany that we are here, Wirtz.

ERIC: Food from Spain that you're going to miss, even though we've seen that the cooks bring a lot of Spain? Do they put sweet potato in it?

PEDRI: Yes.

JAVI: What's wrong with the national team?

PEDRI: They always put it in, and I tried it one day and I really like it.

ERIC: How many kilos of sweet potato did you say you ate? Two or three?

PEDRI: Crazy. Well, there's sweet potato in every meal.

JAVI: You've always been particular about food.

ERIC: Do they let you eat croquettes here?

PEDRI: No, I wish. No, but nothing. What I eat most... I don't know, fish anyway. I don't know, like sea bass.

ERIC: Oh, they put sea bass in it?

PEDRI: Whatever they put in. I mean, I can't order whatever I want.

ERIC: The day we went to lunch anyway you asked for a sea bass.

ERIC: Promise if you win the EURO?

PEDRI: I was going to say I'll do my profile picture, but of course you haven't seen my profile picture.

JAVI: What's your profile picture?

PEDRI: I don't have my phone here. But it's me, bald and with a moustache. I mean, shaved and with a moustache.

ERIC: You don't have the balls to shave your head and grow a moustache.

PEDRI: Yes.

ERIC: Imagine showing up for the pre-season with a bald head.

PEDRI: No, I will let them shave me in the locker room.

ERIC: Do you like being bald?? (valid question lmao)

PEDRI: I will let them shave me in the locker room. But not zero, eh. Buzzcut.

ERIC: You get in here with a buzzcut. Okay, I like it. I was going to say the same thing, but is Pedri Prime coming to the Euro?

PEDRI: I hope so.

JAVI: I'm a betting man too. I'll tell you one thing, if you score five goals in this Euros…

PEDRI: You sell the xBuyer Team.

JAVI: I'll sell it now.

ERIC: That depends on how much you give us.

JAVI: I'll shave my head.

ERIC: But listen, the one you put the fifth one in, you have to dedicate it to him, you have to do something like this

(they proceeded to show him what celebration to do)

JAVI: I don't know whether to be happy or cry.

PEDRI: If that happens. But I don't take the penalties myself, in theory.

JAVI: In theory.

ERIC: Yeah, but Javi, you think that if Pedri scores five. We've come a long way.

JAVI: And now I'd like to ask you a little bit of a trickier question: any argument or something that the coach said to you in anger? I mean, something that you've said to yourself, ‘Wow, I remember this one all my life’?

PEDRI: I mean, any coach? Well, I haven't had many arguments myself. No. But I'm also a good guy. I'm quiet, I don't get into trouble.

ERIC: Because he doesn't miss much either. Pedri catches the ball, passes back, whatever.

JAVI: I think there's Lamine who's going to answer me.

PEDRI: Lamine, Lamine. (directed at Lamine) What are they going to say to him if he's been here for a year and they only say good things?

JAVI: But surely, he's had some in the lower categories.

PEDRI: Lower categories? (laughs)

ERIC: Next one, also a little bit tricky, but chill. Who is the worst dressed player in the national team?

PEDRI: (laughs)

JAVI: You know it

PEDRI: No, let's see, I haven't seen many, but Unai Simon.

ERIC: Unai Simon? Does he look like...?

PEDRI: Dressed very badly.

ERIC: Unai. I see him in a polo shirt, jeans... I mean, he doesn't get complicated.

PEDRI: Yes, Unai Simon (looks at Lamine) or Nico Williams (laughs again).

ERIC: No, Nico has style.

PEDRI (pointing at Lamine): He knows why I say that.

JAVI: You get along good with Nico, don't you?

JAVI: And any new nickname from this squad?

ERIC: Do they still call you what you used to be called? Pepi, right?

PEDRI: No, yes, but nobody calls me that, only my brother, man. My brother is the only bastard who gives me a nickname. And a nickname like that? Buah, none. (looks at Lamine) Well, there was one, but it's gone.

ERIC: So let's leave him, let's respect him.

ERIC: And in the national team there has always been Pepe Reina. But who is the soul of the national team now?

PEDRI: Morata :)

ERIC and JAVI: Morata?????

ERIC: Morata is shy, isn't he?

PEDRI: Morata telling stories is the best there is.

ERIC: I like it.

PEDRI: I think Morata would take the microphone if there's a celebration.

ERIC: And now, the penultimate one, when we win, if we win the Euro, where are you going on holiday?

PEDRI: Tenerife.

ERIC: Tenerife. But you’ve seen it a lot already?

PEDRI: But I like to be at home, quiet, with my family.

ERIC: You're not going anywhere else?

PEDRI: Well, first to Madrid to celebrate and then to Tenerife with Lamine. (laughs) I'm not taking him on holiday.

ERIC: I'm a bit scared of Lamine in Tenerife.

PEDRI: He's already been there. He was there. Ask him about it later.

JAVI: And finally, you know that there is a teammate who has not been able to come, at Barça, Gavi, which is hurting us. Do you have any message you want to leave him in this video? Because I'm sure he sees it.

PEDRI: Now he is starting to run. He's doing very well. Keep it up, we are waiting for him with open arms. Me too, I want to humiliate you/ beat you at ping pong.

JAVI: I saw the video.

PEDRI: He plays well right?

ERIC: Table tennis, darts, tennis, everything.

PEDRI: Anything that involves sport and passes the time, I'm all for it.

JAVI: And keep an eye out because soon we'll be uploading a Pedri vs Lamine. Let's see who knows more about EUROs players.

ERIC: Any questions you want us to ask him (Lamine)?

PEDRI: (laughs again) How was it in Tenerife?

[mahomadjicks]

Been seeing some posts about the Q and A the clash writing team did and man…

((WARNING: light rant below; mostly me rambling about worldbuilding aaaa))

I’m not fond of what the writing team wants to do, especially since it seems like they’re hyper-focusing on the kudos/street managers. It’s this section in particular that’s got me thinking and worried.

MAN does this phrase here have a lot of food for thought. Not just because of the horror fanfic i’m making, but now things clearly seem to be taking a large turn into the ‘Manager-focused plot’ I feared Clash would write themselves into.

Idk. The way i’m thinking about it, it’s a bit self destructive writing wise for suits to be in inherent ‘tiers’. (Grunt cogs have less personality/free will than managers, ete.)

If one of the goals is to show how COGs Inc exploits and mistreats their workers, isn’t it shooting yourself in the foot saying ‘COGs inc is a horrible company to ALL its workers’, but then turning to say ‘oh yeah, all those cogs aren’t as sentient compared to THESE ones’—

Like, in the case of ‘grunt’ cogs, wouldn’t these cogs be the ‘ground zero’ of the atrocities the company commits? Literally built for one purpose in life, in a cycle of being destroyed and rebuilt constantly without any say or agency. Being held under the thumb of a dubious company that in all technicality owns you, so you can’t really leave unless you’re fired?

If the grunt cogs were just as self preserving and sentient as the managers, then the message would be hammered in better. THEY’d be the ones constantly put under all the pressure for virtually nothing. Instead, the writing team has introduced the dilemma of ‘who is aware/deserving of company rights’.

If these (grunt) suits are inherently ‘lesser’ than their manager counterparts, then it changes the gravity of the situation from ‘discriminatory company practices’ to ‘changing a piece of machinery.’ No real loss, and its business as usual. The very problem i’d imagine the writing team wants to warn and help players to recognize in the story.

While not treated much better, it’s been shown/implied that manager cogs (specifically kudos/street and Litigation) get a lot more benefits and free time than anyone else besides bosses.

Removing personality/preservation from ‘grunt’ suits changes this element in the story from ‘They have higher positions, thus better work benefits,’ to ‘They get those benefits because they KNOW that they have them in the first place.’

In general, lot of the managers seem to have the luxury of being built without a specific company in mind, having childhoods, and ultimately CHOOSING to work at COGs Inc. Many seem to forget the whole reason the kudos/street managers were hired in the first place was in response to Atticus Wing’s death.

They weren’t randomly ‘dropped in’, and now the story needs to be changed to accommodate them. There already was an explicit reason, and it doesn’t seem to conflict with any manager lore after the fact. Why bend over backwards to force them into the story rewrites more?

I understand the managers are super popular, and have been a game changer in terms of story and gameplay, but I honestly feel they’re also blinding people in terms of prior lore and potential lore avenues. There’s no need to break the story/lore further to make the ‘special’ cogs even more ‘special’.

At the end of the day, I get the writing team wants to add more flavor, and I commend them for doing all this for free! Writing isn’t easy, and this isn’t me hating on them at all. I’m just not fond of this manager-centric mindset gripping people. I’m certainly looking forward to all the future content they wish to add, specifically rewrites in toon NPCS.

Anyway just had this in the back of my mind for a minute, feel free to throw in your two cents if ya like.

[spadeoftears]

30dtsc day 10: favorite bond

-> Adam and Leo

Before you start reading I want to say that I#M sorry for the length of this, it just sort of escalated and suddenly I was sitting in front of nearly 1k words.

Yes, this is the most obvious answer, I am very aware. The thing is, I thought about who else I could choose, but due to the fact that this is Tatort we’re talking about and that most other bonds are just not that deep (yet) due to the limited time and storytelling itself, Adam and Leo are the best answer there is. It’s also the reason I didn’t wanna write something for today, you can thank @anukkuna for encouraging me to do it anyways.

First of all, it is very clear that Adam came back for Leo and for no other reason. There is nothing else connecting him to Saarbrücken like Leo is. I don’t think it’s chance that he applied to the open spot in Leo’s team, I don’t think Adam would have ever set a foot in Saarbrücken again if Leo had left too. It that isn’t a strong bond I don’t know what is.

I’m gonna try to look at it from episode to episode to see how their bond evolves over time.

At the beginning of Das fleißige Lieschen we don’t know anything about these characters, but one thing is clear from the start. Adam and Leo have a connection that goes a long time back, perfectly illustrated with the flashbacks that wind themselves through the whole episode. But there is still a disconnection between them, caused by the fact that Adam was gone for so many years, that he ran away without telling Leo or saying goodbye, and that he stumbled back into Leo’s life unannounced, causing Leo to be completely overwhelmed by the situation.

But over the course of the episode you can just see that they fall back into step with each other easily, proving that they were very close before Adam forced the separation on them. It’s not all perfect, how could it be considering that they were apart for so many years and with all the unsaid things between them.

Episode 2 puts a new strain on their still fragile new relationship that is build on so many things that lie years in the past. A relationship that was inherently destroyed by one Roland Schürk, who choose a truly great point of time to wake from his coma. Of course neither of them deals great with that and I just love how, while we know what happened in the garage that day, der Herr des Waldes keeps going with that theme. And how it shows us that neither of them have really dealt with this over the years.

Adam tries to protect Leo by not telling him that Roland woke up, as a way to protect him because he knows how much all of it pains Leo. But it makes Leo distrust Adam because he didn’t tell him the truth, because that is the opposite of protecting him in Leo’s eyes. That Adam tried to stop Leo from shooting Lausch before he can kill Roland doesn’t make their already fragile relationship easier to navigate in that moment.

Somehow they do it anyways, because in Herz der Schlange Leo is willing to trust Adam enough to believe that he didn’t kill his father. And that also stems from their year old bond that survived all the time apart and maybe got even stronger because of it. He does everything to get Adam out of prison, because he just believes that Adam doesn’s deserve to be there, and that just shows how much they trust each other, even with all odds against them.

I feel like they fall into a kind of peace at the end of Herz der Schlange, because at the moment everything is okay. Adam is free, Roland is dead, the new threat of Boris Barns is still behind bars and the sun is shining. We all know that didn’t stick for long, because then Adam decided it’s a great idea to not tell Leo that he found the money from the bank heist. And that’s really the point where disaster starts. 

Die Kälte der Erde puts a very clear strain on their relationship, they still stick to each other but there is a hostility to it, mainly because Adam just doesn’t tell Leo about the money despite Leo getting suspicious. But what I think is interesting is that they still won’t let go of each other. Until the very end of the episode, Leo puts his trust into Adam, again and again. Gives him the chance to prove to him that he deserves that trust. In the end, Leo put too much hope into Adam, which leads us right into Fluch des Geldes. 

That money really is a curse, no matter how you look at it. First it had Adam under its thumb and as he finally got away from it, it had already gotten to Leo. What I find interesting is that the roles switch in Fluch des Geldes. At first it was Adam not telling Leo what is going on, now it’s the other way around and Leo makes one bad decision after the other without telling anyone. 

I think that is what clues Adam in to his mistake, and of course his only idea to fix it is doing the exact thing Leo did in the previous episodes, stick to his partner and try to support him and get out of him what the fuck is going on. 

I think that is kinda beautiful, how they are both inherently the same idiots and that they still stick together no matter what. Because in the end they do find back to each other. 

Like that one reporter once said, die Flipperkugel des Begehrens springt unaufhörlich zwischen den beiden hin und her. And they just keep on turning around each other, because to each of them the other is the middlepoint of their world, they just can’t seem to admit it. 

[coolstoriesbro]

FOR THE ONES WE LOVE | CH. 3

FANDOM: The Walking Dead

SERIES: For the Ones We Love

STATUS: Ongoing

ERA: Prison

PAIRING: Eventual Daryl Dixon x Female Reader (No Use of “Y/N”)

CHAPTER THREE: The Guest

WORD COUNT: 3.6k

SUMMARY: A new arrival at the prison tells Rick and the others of the danger that Glenn and Maggie have gotten themselves into, leading the group with no other choice but to infiltrate Woodbury.

RATING: Mature

WARNINGS: Violence and Language (Typical TWD content)

SERIES MASTERLIST

A/N: So I know that things are a little out of order with the S3 timeline. The main things being, if I were following the show’s storyline to a T, the group would be discovering that Carol is still alive during this chapter. In my version, they found out weeks ago. Rick is also of sound mind, and has had time between Lori’s death and Glenn and Maggie’s capture to recover. In the show it’s immediate, but in my story there’s several weeks in between. Also, you can probably tell by now that there will be no Beth. No offense to Beth, but she was essentially there to babysit Judith and get Daryl to be vulnerable, and in my story those honors will be going to the Reader. Hope you guys don’t mind too much. Also, no Axel or Oscar because I don’t really see the point with how quickly they were written off the show.

“Holy shit. Who’s that?”

Whipping around to look in the direction where you’d just pointed, Daryl frowned when his gaze landed on the same wounded, dark-skinned woman who had caught your attention. He had no idea who she was but could see that she held a strange looking sword, the kind that he’d only ever seen in movies, and one of those red plastic shopping baskets that people used in grocery stores when they only had a few things to pick up.

“Only one way to find out.” Daryl grunted, picking his crossbow back up as you did the same with your revolver.

Over the next several minutes, you and Daryl worked as a team to get the woman to safety. Neither of you knew who she was, but when seeing her fight off a few walkers before falling to the ground, instinct told you both that it was the right thing to do. You could only hope that Rick would agree with your hasty decision. Once making it down to the gate, Daryl tossed his keys to you before raising his crossbow and shooting a walker that had been lumbering towards the woman’s unconscious form.

Once unlocking the gate, you pulled the door open and stepped out after Daryl, firing your gun and taking out three walkers as they stumbled closer, having been attracted by the sounds of the woman’s struggle. Remaining just outside the entrance, you scanned your surroundings while also keeping an eye on Daryl as he crouched down beside the unconscious woman. The sound of your gunfire had earned the attention of a larger group of walkers, and as Daryl examined the stranger, you started to anxiously bounce up and down on the balls of your feet.

“Was she bit?” You called over to him.

“Just a gunshot.” He announced, his fingertips hovering over the circular tear in the thigh of the woman’s jeans.

One walker had started ambling forward ahead of all the rest, getting dangerously close to Daryl. Raising the revolver, you fired, only to find that the chamber was empty because you’d stupidly forgotten to reload it after returning from hunting.

“Fuck!” You cursed, shoving your useless gun into your jeans before running at full speed and kicking your leg out, your right foot connecting with the walker’s abdomen, sending it tumbling to the ground. “Daryl, come on!”

Daryl watched with appreciation as you used quick thinking to take down the walker, but soon came back to the reality of the situation. Shouldering his crossbow, he picked the woman up in his arms just as you ran over to grab the shopping basket and her sword. Jogging along in front of him, you reopened the gate and then quickly locked it once more.

By the time you had both made it back to C-Block, Daryl’s legs looked like they were about ready to give out. You ran ahead to grab a blanket, then hurried back and spread it out over the floor before helping Daryl to gently lay the woman down on it.

“Hershel!” You yelled, running over to the gate dividing the common area from the cells.

“You sure she wasn’t bit?” You panted, glancing back at Daryl as he pulled off his crossbow and gear.

“Nah, she’s just covered in someone else’s blood. My money’s on a walker — s’why she was able to stand beside ‘em for a while before they noticed.”

With a relieved nod, you looked back just as Rick opened the gate with his keys, Hershel hobbling along on his crutches behind him.

“What happened? Who’s this?” Rick asked.

“We found her standing outside the fence, fighting off some walkers.” You explained, lifting her sword as well as the red shopping basket and peering inside to find that it was filled with baby formula. “She had this with her.”

The former Sheriff Deputy’s eyes roamed the contents of the basket for a few seconds before he looked to you, a startled expression on his face. With a shake of your head, you shrugged for emphasis, signaling that your guess was as good as his.

“My God, do you think she had a baby?” Hershel asked.

“I don’t think so.” You replied honestly. “Why would she hold onto all of this if something had happened to it?”

“It’s too much of a coincidence.” Rick muttered as he began to pace.

Moving to stand beside you, Daryl glanced inside the basket before bringing his gaze to Rick. “She ain’t bit, just shot in the leg. Dehydrated too, from the looks of her.”

Quickly moving over to the shelves where they’d been storing food and water, Rick grabbed a bottle and hurried back, crouching over the woman and pouring a bit onto her neck and chest. The woman gasped in response, her eyes fluttering open as she took in her new surroundings.

“It’s all right.” Rick assured her, raising his free hand, showing her that he wasn’t armed. “It’s all right.”

“Who are you?” He asked, gently touching her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down as her breathing hitched in her throat. “Hey, it’s all right.”

Before any more could be said, the woman caught sight of her katana and lunged forward in a desperate attempt to grab it, but Rick was one step ahead, using his leg to kick the weapon out of her reach before her fingertips could so much as graze the handle.

“We’re not gonna hurt you.” Grabbing onto her bicep, Rick pushed her back down with a bit more force as he leaned over her. “Unless you try something stupid first, all right?”

During the brief struggle between Rick and the woman, you noticed that Daryl had picked his crossbow up from where he’d haphazardly set it on the table. While you’d stayed out of the way up until this point, you stepped forward just then, entering the stranger’s field of vision. You’d spent enough time with Daryl to know that he had a temper that could easily be set off, and didn’t want this woman to be on the receiving end of it. More than that, you recognized a familiar fear in her eyes that made you sympathize with her.

“You wanna tell us your name?” You asked gently, taking a step closer in hopes that if she knew she wasn’t alone in a room full of strange men, she might be more inclined to speak. The woman looked at you and you saw that she had visibly relaxed somewhat, but still she kept quiet.

Well, so much for that brilliant idea, you thought.

Rick gave an irritated shake his head. It was obvious that he was growing impatient with their new guest. While you felt for the stranger, you also understood Rick’s perspective. Whoever this woman was, she’d somehow known exactly where the prison was and that there was a baby here, and that didn’t sit right with Rick — with any of you.

“We’ll keep this safe and sound.” Rick announced, raising her katana in his hand as he stood up. “The doors are all locked. You’ll be safe here.” He nodded towards her wound. “And we can treat that.”

“I didn’t ask for your help!” The woman spat, speaking at last.

“Doesn’t matter.” Rick shrugged, turning and heading back towards the gate with Daryl and Hershel at his heels. “Can’t let you leave.”

Remaining where you were as the others walked back to C-Block, you kept your eyes on the woman, lost in thought. She reminded you more and more of yourself when you were held against your will at Grady Memorial. Of course she had it easy; Rick’s group was nothing like those awful people, but this woman didn’t know that. It took Rick walking back over and placing his hand onto your shoulder to wake you from your thoughts of the past.

“Hey, you OK?” He asked, his brows knitting together in concern.

Nodding slowly, you finally lifted your gaze from the stranger. Hershel had gone back to his cell, most likely to retrieve his medical supplies, but Daryl was lingering by the gate. His tense gaze stayed on you as you brought your attention to Rick and you could feel his eyes even as you looked away.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I just . . . “ You sighed, biting into your bottom lip. “Let me talk to her alone?”

Rick hesitated, and you saw in his honest eyes that the thought was making him uneasy. Rather than be annoyed by his reluctance however, you found it incredibly endearing that he cared enough to be concerned for you.

“Rick, I’ve been in her place before, and it’s a shitty place to be — the not knowing. Please, let me see what I can get out of her . . . “ You glanced over at Daryl as he started to walk back towards you. “ . . . preferably without Daryl chaperoning.”

“What’s the hold up?” Daryl grunted impatiently.

Keeping his eyes on you, Rick smiled knowingly. You hadn’t known Daryl Dixon long, but it seemed that you had the man figured out pretty well. For some reason, Rick liked knowing that.

“We’re gonna leave her to it.” Rick announced.

“To what?” Daryl asked.

“To have some one-on-one time with our guest.” Rick replied matter-of-factly.

Daryl shifted from one foot to the other, tucking his hands beneath his armpits. “Ya sure that’s a good idea?”

Rick nodded, his eyes still on you. “I am.”

When Rick made his declaration, you smiled; like a kid being praised by their idol. Whether he wanted to or not, Rick had unofficially taken over as a sort of father figure for you, and you were proud to have gained his approval. Daryl, however, scowled; looking rather displeased by the idea. Then again, it was difficult to tell since that was pretty much the only expression you’d ever seen him make.

Rick clapped his hand over Daryl’s shoulder as he made his way back to the gate, but Daryl remained where he was, staring you over. His hesitation lasted a few seconds, but just as you opened your mouth to ask him if something was wrong, he turned and followed Rick. Remaining where you were, you watched as Daryl returned to C-Block, catching his blue gaze as he turned back around to watch you as he locked the gate before joining the others.

“Alone at last.” You muttered under your breath and turned around to face the woman, whom had been watching you closely.

Oh, shit.

Suddenly, anxiety began to gnaw at your gut. What if Rick had put his faith in you for nothing? What if this woman said even less to you than she’d said to him? Forcing yourself to shake off your insecurities, you swallowed down the fear and took a few slow steps towards her.

“You know that older man who just left? His name’s Hershel, and he really can help you.”

With your hands stuffed into the back pockets of your jeans, you continued. “He used to be a veterinarian, before all this happened. Knows his stuff.”

“What did you used to be?” The stranger asked softly.

Both the woman’s question and interest caught you completey off guard. Even though you’d still been doing your job as a medical worker less than a month ago, it felt like an entirely different life. Shrugging your shoulders as if her question hadn’t left you reeling, you replied. “I was just a student.”

It was the same answer you’d given Rick when the two of you had spent some time getting to know each other, and it wasn’t necessarily a lie. You just hadn’t felt the need to specify what kind of student you’d been, and you still didn’t. After the world ended, you kept helping because you knew it was the right thing to do. But after everything that had happened at Grady, you were starting to think that you didn’t owe this new world shit. Not if there was a chance that it might put you into another horrible situation like that.

“How about you?”

When the woman said nothing in reply, you sighed, running a hand through your hair.

“Look, I know it’s hard to believe that there are still good people in this world, but there are.” Holding your arm out, you gestured back towards the gate. “They are. I’ve only been here a few weeks and I already feel like . . . “ You’d been tempted to say family, but stopped. It felt like a betrayal to your actual family to say it out loud. “It’s safe here. You could be safe here. Just tell us what we want to know.”

The silence that met your words was deafening, and you’d been close to calling it quits and returning to Rick to tell him that you’d failed in getting information, when the woman finally spoke.

“The supplies,” The stranger nodded towards the red shopping basket. “They were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl.”

Glenn and Maggie.

You inhaled sharply. Of course. Just before you’d left to go hunting with Daryl, Glenn and Maggie had announced that they were taking a car to look for more ammo and baby formula.

“What happened? Were they attacked?” You asked.

“They were taken.” The stranger whispered.

“By who?”

“By the same son of a bitch who shot me.”

“That’s Glenn and Maggie. They’re part of our group — Maggie is Hershel’s daughter.”

Keeping your eyes on the woman, you noticed an almost guilty expression cross her features. “There’s a town. Woodbury. About 75 survivors. I think they were taken there.”

“A whole town?” You asked, skeptical.

She nodded. “It’s run by this guy who calls himself the Governor — pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type.”

“How many men does he have?”

“Not sure, but they have armed sentries on every wall. Paramilitary wannabes.”

“Do you know a way in?”

“Place is secure from walkers, but we could slip our way through.”

“How’d you know how to get here?” You asked.

“The couple, they mentioned a prison — said which direction it was in, said it was a straight shot.”

There was nothing the woman had said that gave you the impression that she was lying. Why would she? Her story added up, and whether she wanted to admit it or not, you could see that she was desperate to get away from Woodbury and find somewhere safe to recuperate.

“Thank you for telling me this.” Crouching down to her level, you held out your hand and introduced yourself.

It seemed the woman’s first instinct was to recoil away from your hand, but after a few seconds you were relieved to see that her expression began to soften.

“Michonne.” She replied, reaching out to shake your hand.

“Nice to meet you, Michonne.”

“You too.”

Letting go of Michonne’s hand, you stood up and stepped towards the shelved inventory, grabbing a granola bar and a bottle of water, then walking back to hand them to her.

“I’m gonna go tell everyone what you just told me. Relax, eat. I’ll be back with Hershel in a few minutes.”

Taking the food and water, Michonne nodded once before you turned on your heel and returned to C-Block. You repeated your conversation with Michonne to Rick, Daryl, Hershel, Carol and Carl. Hershel was understandably very upset, but just as brave as ever. He demanded that Rick let him come along as they began to make their plans; the intensity of the situation causing him to momentarily forget about his leg, until Rick made him see reason.

“How do you know we can trust her?” Carol asked you.

“It doesn’t matter — this is Maggie and Glenn.” Hershel said before you could answer. “We can’t leave anything to chance.”

“We ain’t.” Daryl shook his head. “I’ll go after ‘em.”

Running a hand over his face, Rick took a deep breath. He looked so tired. You’d hated being the one to have to tell him that the rare peace he’d been enjoying without any incidents over the past few weeks had finally come to an end, but there was no way around it.

“This place sounds pretty secure.” Rick finally said, looking to Daryl. “You can’t go alone.”

“I’ll go.” The words were out of your mouth before you really even had time to think it over.

Daryl looked at you, his eyes moving back and forth. You wondered what was going through his head, but for once he wasn’t arguing with you. That was progress.

Rick shook his head. “I can’t ask you to do that.”

“Well that’s good because you’re not asking, I’m offering.” You smiled.

It didn’t sit right with Rick, allowing you; someone so new to the group to risk your life for his people. But with T-Dog dead and Glenn and Maggie captured, he didn’t have much in the way of backup, and he needed all the help he could get if this rescue mission had any hope of being successful.

“All right.” Rick agreed.

“I’m going too.” Carl announced.

That was where Rick had to draw the line. You remained quiet as father and son began to argue, but you were relieved when Rick told Carl that he had to stay with Hershel and Carol. No matter how good of a shot he was, he was still eleven-years-old, and the idea of having him risking his life weighed heavy on your heart.

The sun had well set by the time the group was ready to go. Hershel had sewn together Michonne’s gunshot wound and she was back on her feet, still sore, but overall doing much better. You stood with Daryl, helping him load the Hyundai with all the supplies he and the others had collected from the armory when they’d first arrived at the prison.

“I got the flash bangs and I got the tear gas.” Daryl announced as you opened up the hatchback for him to pack a backpack and duffel bag inside the trunk. “Never know what you’re gonna need.”

Even as Daryl seemed to be making conversation, you were barely listening as you stood with the strap of an assault rifle that you really didn’t know how to use, slung over your shoulder. It was funny, because after escaping from the hospital just a few weeks ago, you’d given yourself permission to be selfish from now on. Yet here you were, joining a group of people on a rescue mission on what could very possibly be your last night on this earth. The world had become such a strange place. A year ago, your idea of helping someone was letting them borrow your anatomy notes. Now it apparently meant risking your life.

“Nice kick back there, Buffy.” Daryl grunted, bringing you out of your reverie.

Turning to face him, you paused in confusion, but then slowly smiled when realizing that he was referring to when you’d taken down the walker without your gun earlier that day. You hadn’t killed it, but had at least given yourself and Daryl enough time to hurry back inside the safety of the prison gates with Michonne.

“Buffy? But Buffy’s a badass. I thought I was Betty?” You raised an eyebrow, placing your hands on your hips as you reminded him of the rude nickname he’d given you just that morning when you’d had the audacity to question the reliability of his precious motorcycle.

Daryl hesitated for the briefest of seconds, something of a glint in his eyes as he studied you closely, nothing but the sound of cicadas in the night surrounding you both. Finally, he shrugged his broad shoulders with a tilt of his head. “Maybe you’re a little of both.”

As you climbed into the backseat after Daryl, with Rick behind the wheel and Michonne navigating from the passenger seat, you couldn’t hide the smirk that crept over your lips even if you’d tried. If that was as close to a compliment as Daryl Dixon was willing to give you, you would happily take it.

CHAPTER FOUR

---

Taglist: @azanoni​, @rickysgrimes​, @dusty-skies, @are-y0u-sirius​, @itsblueriddle​, @siimiasoi​, @dillie60​ @darylsmavis​, @starfirette​, @dxrylswalker​, @luckily-gray, @nuhogom​, @ibellpepper, @angel-winchester-dixon-mendes​, @tryingddfffggt, @averyhockstetter​, @geronimasyaferninblog, @jackstergrey, @average-greaser​, @kingjuli3n​, @chuckle-nuts​, @beautifulharmonygoatee​, @bysamothrace​, @coolangie23, @dragonslaramar, @oceans-goddess​, @ur-moms-sexy-af​

[sunspotmangafan]

Hi, Mythos!

Not sure if you've already posted about this (please feel free to ignore this ask then), but I was wondering what scenes from the drama you loved that the manga didn't have? There were many additions for the drama, especially the lectures. Also, vice versa, were there any scenes from the manga you wish the drama had?

I think the easiest answer here is episode 11’s montage in the lecture hall is such a beautiful scene and almost by far one of my most favourite scenes in the series itself.

We see kohei alone, unable to really connect with the world around him because of his poor hearing. But then we hear Taichi, and we see how Taichi’s loud and proud personality helps his world become a little less lonely. How Taichi has meant so much to Kohei as a bridge between the two worlds. It’s an absolutely gorgeous. It’s a great way the show creators utilised the fact that this is a visual/audible adaptation.

I also like how in one of the earlier episodes when taichi talked about his past, Kohei puts his foot down and asks Taichi to tell him. It’s sweet seeing Kohei get more bold and stuck up for himself. In the manga taichi does the whole “it’s fine it doesn’t matter!” And Kohei kinda is like “oh okay” which admittedly doesn’t feel all that rewarding, even a bit frustrating since it’s what Kohei has said he doesn’t like. So I’m glad the show creators made that change.

In terms of what I wanted from the manga in the show I’d say I wanted the connection to baseball back. Baseball is a symbol of what taichi lost with his parents divorce and sending him to live with his poor grandfather who could not afford to bring Taichi there. Baseball is like the sport in Japan from what I recall. Taichi is also very active. His mother grandmother says how he’s twice as full of life and fidgeted twice as much. And taking Taichi from baseball has stopped Taichi from being Taichi in a sense. It’s taken him away from a good social circle and active life. Forced to swap out the baseball bat for the work force to try and help support his grandfather have have the luxury of doing things he wants sometimes.

In both the manga and the drama we get the story of how he is a child of divorce and how it affected him but in the drama I feel like for the most part was told to us after shooting a zombie video.

In the manga it was told to us after a game of baseball Taichi got roped into (since it’s said that he used to play it as a kid) and dragged kohei along so Kohei can touch some grass. Taichi is really good. And afterwards Kohei asks about it that, which is when we get the story, but it’s more a “parents divorced. Married other people. Got sent to live with dad” in a way it’s very casual.

Taichi and Kohei both lost a part of themselves and that lead them to be distanced from normal Japanese society, in a sense, they’re “other” because of things outside of their control. Baseball is far less accessible than basketball. Baseball requires a pitch, a bat, and 2 teams to go against each other at least.

I do also wish the scene at the end had a little more oomf to it. A little more intensity in the emotions. In the manga you FEEL their intense emotions and it’s BEAUTIFUL. I wish the drama had it, might have made fans a bit more forgiving over the fact it didn’t have a kiss.

This turned into a ramble about the themes of baseball and im not actually upset about it lol.

[jourke-rourke]

more of team raza x absolutely terrible gun safety

hey four. are you certain you want to shoot the guy currently holding a giant metal object over your friend's head.

are you certain that shooting him in the back, sending him reeling towards her, is the best way to remove the danger.

bro. I get that you want to have your cool execution-style shot but shooting downwards is an absolutely terrible idea when you have not one but Two (no pun intended) friends on the ground behind him.

also you're gonna spatter them with his blood which is just rude

similarly horrible choice by Two here! Comrade, he is holding a gun practically in your friend's mouth with his finger coiled on the trigger.

do you Really want to shoot him with the electric blast that is makes all his muscles spasm and freeze up?

you could at least wait until his gun is pointed towards you since you are significantly more bulletproof anyways

to be fair Three doesn't actually take that last shot

but to be unfair it's only because he runs out of ammunition. otherwise he 100% would have shot at the guy standing directly between him and five.

who was barely a foot away from her and actively dodging.

idiot

five actually gets a pass for this one because she's seemingly never fired a gun before and is terrified so she's allowed to be a little stupid. as a treat.

that said, for someone who has never fired a gun she is way to confident in her own aim to shoot not once but repeatedly while Two is standing right there

she does not get a pass for this one.

you have no idea how big of a blast that stunner is gonna make

plus the way he was standing made it very likely that he would have fallen backwards, knocking your already-injured friends to the ground. when they are tied up and cannot catch themselves.

what were you thinking.

he wasn't even armed you could've waited for him to come closer

the LEAST excusable in my opinion

not only are you dumb for shooting the Giant Fuckoff Energy Beam within inches of your friend, just trusting that he'll jump out of the way in time

but she is holding a giant metal kill-you stick!

five! swords make for TERRIBLE projectiles!

especially when your friend is right next to it!

plus it was just unnecessary. she was already distracted and facing you, you didn't have to actually fire

however despite five being the one endangering four's life here this one is honestly on him. he's the one who trained her with weapons and clearly did not instill Any common sense 'think before you shoot' type of deal.

if anything this moment should've been a wake-up call for him to go 'oh right. we (the adults) know how to shoot safely and intelligently, but often disregard that because we are the galaxy's deadliest of deadshots and our instincts about what shots we can make are usually right. five is a teenager who has been using guns for less than a week. perhaps i should not be teaching her to copy us.'

[lady-wallace]

Abbacchio Week Day 5: The Story in Your Eyes

For today's @abbacchioweek2024 fic I'm playing with my 1930s AU which up to this point has mostly been headcanons and some various art I've done. I think this might be the first time I've written first person for a character that was not an OC but tried to replicate a noir style narration for Abbacchio here. This AU is set in New York City

~~~~~~~

New York, 1932

It was a quiet night. A bit surprising, honestly, what with all the growing tensions between various gangs—one of which I had, perhaps foolishly, gotten myself embroiled with.

I lit up a cigarette as I stepped out of the restaurant I had come to frequent as of late. The back room had become a little too familiar to me, filled with smoke and discussion, broken up only by the asinine arguments of the young rips my new ‘business partner’ seemed intent on surrounding himself with.

I’d asked him once why he took in a bunch of kids who were more likely to shoot themselves in the foot than enforce protection in his territory and he’d told me firmly that they were good kids. Good kids. Heh. None of us were very good, but that was just what Bucciarati was like, seeing the best in people. He’d tried to do the same to me and I had promptly told him that he was being an idiot. Not that it stopped him, but he’s stubborn like that.

Still, I guess he wasn’t wrong. They weren’t bad kids, they’d just been dealt bad hands—much like the rest of us. Except that new Giovanna prick. I’d thought Fugo was a smug little shit when I first met him but he doesn’t hold a candle to the new blond-haired bastard Bucciarati had picked up. I wasn’t usually in the habit of questioning his judgement, but I was coming close with this one.

I exhaled a cloud of smoke into the night air before tucking my hand into my pocket. I wished for a moment that I hadn’t started attempting to replace my nightcap with a smoke to varying effect. I could really use one tonight.

Bucciarati had a good heart despite his chosen profession, and I knew he wanted change as much as the rest of us did. But I just got the feeling in my soul that Giovanna and his grand ideas were going to cause trouble one of these days—with the certainty that I would somehow be dragged along with it.

I wasn’t entirely wrong, if not slightly mistaken in my original judgement. If anything, Giorno Giovanna was a harbinger with an angel’s countenance, heralding the devil close on our heels. Because it was that night, about a week after Giovanna joined Bucciarati’s team that she showed up.

She was waiting in my office when I got back after the meeting. I never locked the door in case a client needed to get inside—all my important paperwork was hidden in the back of my closet in my apartment and I had been grateful for my constant paranoia on more than one occassion.

She was young, that was the first thing I noticed, couldn’t be older than sixteen and her clothing was expensive and well put together; a gold and emerald necklace around her neck that I could tell even in the dim lighting wasn’t paste.

But it was her eyes that struck me most of all. As emerald as the stone around her neck holding a look of desperation and fear that would have caught the attention of Bucciarati a mile away. She was in some kind of trouble—the bad kind. She wasn’t one of my usual clients who came to me about stolen possessions or a cheating lover. She was terrified, running from something, and I thought for a moment that I should send her out the door before she could tell me what it was.

But she spoke up, voice firm, with a tremor that only one as trained in human mannerisms as I am could detect. “Are you…Mr. Abbacchio?”

“I am,” I replied, in a little bit of defeat. “What can I do for you, sweetheart?”

She shifted, uncomfortable, worrying her gloved hands in her lap. “Mr. Abbacchio, I hope I can trust you to be discreet?”

I pulled my overcoat off and sat down in my chair across the desk from her, tucking a new cigarette between my lips as I reached for my lighter. “I have no one to tell, miss. Not even a secretary to pry into your business.”

Her shoulders relaxed slightly but her hands still twisted in her lap. “Mr. Abbacchio…I believe that my father… is trying to kill me.”

I pause briefly in my movements, before I collect myself again and flick my lighter into life, inhaling deeply as the cigarette tip glows red. “That’s quite the accusation. Do you have any proof of that?”

“I have no physical proof but I…I heard him over the phone today, telling someone that…that he wanted me…taken care of.”

She was shaking. I got up slowly to pull the bottle of brandy out of my file cabinet. I poured some into a glass and headed around the desk to press it into her hands. “Are you sure that was the intent?”

She nodded firmly. “I’m positive. I believe the man on the other end of the line asked the same thing and my father said, ‘no, I want her dead. I want… to be sure.’” She was shaking so hard now she could barely hold the glass as she brought it to her lips, taking a bracing drink.

I leaned back on the desk, arms folded over my chest. “Who is your father?”

She looked down, still shaking. “You’re just a private detective, right?” she asked. “You’re not…affiliated with anyone?”

“I work for myself,” Abbacchio said, wondering if he could count Bucciarati as an ‘affiliation’ and decided that explanation would complicate things. At the end of the day Bucciarati and his gang were my clients, not my co-workers. “If I may ask, why exactly are you concerned about that?”

“Because,” she whispered. “My father…is a very powerful man.”

I nodded. “I gathered as much from your appearance.”

She looked down, hugging her coat closer to her. She had probably put on her least fancy dress to come here thinking she could hide. I felt another wave of pity for her, she was just a kid, after all. A terrified kid.

“What’s his name, sweetheart?”

She shook her head. “His name means nothing. You wouldn’t know him by that. No one does.”

I felt unease run through me as I bent to meet her eyes. “Who is he?”

She let out a half sob. “He—he’s the head of the mafia branch—Passione. The Boss. Don Diavolo. He named himself after the devil, Mr. Abbacchio. That’s the kind of man he is.”

I was still processing the information when her eyes finally snapped up to me with a new look of desperation. “His men are looking for me and they want to kill me. I don’t have anywhere to go, please, Mr. Abbacchio, please help me!”

The tears in her eyes had me pulling out a handkerchief, handing it over.

“I can’t,” I told her simply. I knew I was sealing my fate, whatever that may be, as she looked up at me in shock and hopelessness and I continued. “But…I know someone who can.”

[deus-ex-mona]

New Year's Festival!: Chapter 7

aizo, no, your protag energy is showing

previous part (chapter 6)

next part (epilogue)

And so—

The time when the filming of the programme was set to begin finally arrived.

Following the host’s introduction of him, Aizo turned towards the camera.

Aizo: It’s nice to meet y’all. I’m Aizo! I usually perform in a unit called “LIPxLIP”!

Host: It’s nice to see a fresh face on this show. Though, Aizo, I’ve heard that you’re quite the athlete. Is it true?

Aizo: Yup. Plus, I’ve undergone special training just to prepare for today.

Aizo: I’ll do my best to give the viewers at home a good time so as to start the New Year off on the right foot!

Owing to his special training, Aizo had been able to achieve great results in practically all of the events. And so, despite having to put up a fight, the team he was on managed to win without a hitch—

As a bonus for winning, the winners would be allowed some time to promote themselves to the viewers.

Host: And now, let the reward for winning, namely a self-promotional segment, begin!

Host: And the star player of the day is, without a doubt… The one who led his team to victory with his outstanding athleticism, Aizo!

Aizo: To all the viewers at home, thank you so much for tuning in today!

Aizo: “LIPxLIP” is a unit of two, consisting of me and another guy named Yujiro!

Aizo: The songs we’ve released till now are all great songs, so I’d be stoked if you guys gave ‘em a listen!

Aizo: Plus, we’ve got a February concert in the works!

Aizo: So, if I’ve managed to get you even the tiniest bit interested in us after today’s show, please come to our concert!

Aizo: You won’t regret it!

Aizo: (Awwright! That went just as planned!)

Aizo: (Next up is the ending, right?)

At the end of the programme, several performers were thus asked to express their thoughts and feelings about the show. Right before the show ended, however, the host turned the microphone towards Aizo.

Host: Aizo, I heard that you don’t usually perform on variety programmes, but how did you find today’s show?

Aizo: Lemme think. I performed all by myself today, instead of as a unit, so…

Aizo: I really felt how strong of an impact that my partner… Yujiro’s presence has on me.

Host: Speaking of him… Yujiro came to cheer you on today, right?

At the host’s words, the camera that was situated at the corner of the studio was turned towards Yujiro.

Aizo: Ah…

Aizo: (Oh no. None of us expected that they’d turn the camera to Yujiro. Will he be okay…?)

Aizo was just about to head over to Yujiro’s side to cover for him when—

Yujiro: Hello. I’m Yujiro from LIPxLIP.

Yujiro: I’m so relieved that Aizo managed to make it to the end of the show without a scratch. He was really nervous back when he was still in his dressing room, you know?

Aizo: Wha…! I wasn’t nervous at all, stupid…!

The audience erupted with laughter when Aizo quipped back like he would usually do.

Aizo: (Oh shoot. I’d planned on being all cool for the show and all…)

Aizo: (But, well… it’s fine.)

Thus, the very first variety programme that Aizo had performed on all by himself came to a close without incident—

Right after the New Year’s holidays—

Suzumi gave Aizo and Yujiro a report about the viewers’ reactions to the New Year’s variety programme.

Hiyori: They loved it! The sentiment of “My heart skipped a beat when I saw how close Aizo and Yujiro are.” seems to be especially shared by tons of people!

Yujiro: Their hearts skipped a beat…? Just what about me and Aizo made them feel that way…?

Aizo: Well… Wouldn’t you say that making them view us that way is a success, and a good thing in and of itself?

Aizo: (Though…)

Aizo: I really felt how strong of an impact that my partner… Yujiro’s presence has on me.

Aizo: (Those words really did unintentionally slip out of my mouth, didn’t they…? I truly didn’t mean to say any of that, though.)

Hiyori: Plus, I’ve got even more good news for you guys!

Hiyori: That same producer has extended an offer to participate in another variety programme to y'all! 

Hiyori: And they said “I’d like Aizo and Yujiro to perform on this one together” with regards to the next show!

Yujiro: What is the programme going to be about?

Hiyori: It seems to be one in which celebrities would compete against each other in sports attractions.

Hiyori: It’ll be a team competition, and it looks like they want the two of you to be on different teams!

Aizo: In other words…

Yujiro: They want to see me and Aizo compete against each other, don’t they…?

Aizo: I feel so bad for you, Yujiro. Your loss is already set in stone way before the show has even taken place.

Yujiro: Huh? What are you saying? There’s no way that I’d lose to you, Aizo.

Yujiro & Aizo: …

Yujiro & Aizo: Pfft.

Aizo: Haha!

Yujiro: Ahaha!

The two of them did not get along as well as Minami had said they did, but… Aizo was sure that this was just the form that the partnership between him and Yujiro had taken. Such was the thought that he had found himself thinking spontaneously—

[f0point5]

If you could change next year driver line up, how would u change it?

Hmm this is a tough question because I don’t have too too much knowledge of F2/other series to know who are the best options for replacements, but I’m going to fill them in where I can and and if I’m not sure I’ll leave it blank.

Red Bull - MV1 and DR3 - I actually don’t think Checo has been as much of a problem as people make out this year but I think next year when the field begins to converge and the top teams start coming for Red Bull, he’s going to be a constructor problem. He might even be a driver problem around those street circuits if it’s not guaranteed that Max will win everything else. I think Daniel would happily take the number 2 role from day 1 while Checo struggles to settle into it for the first few races.

Mercedes - GR63 and LH44 - I personally wouldn’t change it, because they’re two great drivers, and I’m here for the chaos. I think Merc would potentially shoot themselves in the foot by binning off one of two good drivers. Neither of them will win a title with the other in the same car but for constructors, I’d keep them both. Also I don’t like Merc as a vibe so these two tripping each other up next year is banter for me. I actually do think LH should retire but I can’t think of anyone on the grid who deserves (both in a positive and negative way) that Merc seat atm so I’m leaving him there.

Ferrari - CL16 and NH22 - Wild I know but hear me out. I think Hulk is SO much better than a Haas. He has dragged that disaster of a car to places it shouldn’t even see on a map in qualifying and he does all that can be done in the race before the tyres cook like Uncle Ben’s rice in a new microwave. I think he would be a great second driver for Charles. He could settle into the role easily, he could provide support not competition. I think he’s mature enough and would be grateful enough to do what needed to be done in a support role but also stern enough to speak up when there’s a problem, which maybe Charles doesn’t as much and Nico could be a good ally for him. I just think Charles could do with a big brother in that team and I think Nico could do that as well as scoring valuable points.

McLaren - LN4 and OP81 - This driver line up will cook by ‘25 imo but I think they’ll be good for another year.

Alpine - PG10 and EO31 - Just leave ‘em there, they’re not bothering anyone except each other.

Alpha Tauri - Liam Lawson and another rookie (Iwasa?)- I know AT are trying to move away from their RB junior roots and they want a strong development driver but it’s my game I’ll play it how I want. I like that they’re a place for young drivers to show their potential and that it’s the F1 finishing school. I think Liam Lawson deserves a chance to show he’s a contender for the post-Verstappen era, and I think Tsunoda is not their plan for Red Bull so he shouldn’t be taking up a seat in AT. I don’t know if they can get a really experienced reserve/sim driver to help with development, maybe give a chance to one of the other guys I’m mentally throwing out of seats, but I think AT should be for the up and comers.

Alfa Romeo - Theo Pourchaire and ZG24. I don’t know Theo Pourchaire too much, but I know he’s doing well in F2, and was in talks with AR for ‘24, so unless there’s another more promising rookie, give him a shot. I’d maybe like to see Arthur Leclerc in the seat just because I think he’s downright adorable but I don’t know anything about his driving. But yeah I think Bottas has had his time, he’s not providing points, Zhou seems to have a good handle on the car I don’t think Bottas is providing much in the way of mentoring. Sometimes you take the old horses out to pasture, I think it’s time. I’m leaving Zhou there another year or two because again I don’t have the knowledge of who else really needs a seat in junior categories, but if there was a stand out junior I’d chuck him. I think the line up would change again in ‘26 because I full believe there’s a seat for Sainz if he wants it, so I say give youngsters a chance while the team is in a transition period.

Aston Martin - FA14 and CS55 - I’m caveating this with it being contingent on Aston Martin recovering some form, because I wouldn’t want Sainz that far down the midfield as they are currently. That said, I think those two in the 3rd/4th fastest car would do BITS. They get on, Alonso is a man who can handle the pressure, and I think could handle Sainz and his family very well. I just see it being a competitive but harmonious pairing, and I think Sainz would calm down somewhat knowing he would for sure inherit free run of the team once Alonso retires (if Sainz doesn’t go to Audi). Also, Lance just has to go. I’m sure he does enjoy it but there’s any number of thing he could enjoy that don’t involve the negativity he deals with in this sport, that don’t involve the spotlight which he seems to hate, and frankly don’t involve being painfully mediocre. Buy a track, buy a car, race for fun. I think the Stroll situation has gone beyond a joke tbh.

Haas - SP11/YT22 and KM20 - I don’t even rate KMag but I don’t think Haas deserve a rookie and I don’t think they can afford one. I don’t think mick Schumacher was any real loss to the grid but it’s clear the Guenther didn’t have the energy, impetus, or indeed the money, to nurture a young driver. I’d give Perez first option in the seat and Yuki can have it if Perez would rather retire. I know it’s my choice but honestly I don’t think either of them would make inroads in a Haas so it doesn’t matter to me, I think they’d both produce an equally exciting performance once or twice in a season. I just think Haas needs to stick with solid, comfortable, and decidedly more experienced drivers.

Williams - AA23 and Felipe Drugovich - I think Alex is a good driver, and I almost gave him the Merc seat, but tbh I think he deserves to be a first driver, I think he deserves to have a team that believes in him built around him, and I don’t think he deserves to have his friendship with George ruined by being his teammate. So I’m leaving him at Williams, to see out that development project, and wherever they get to, he can have the credit. I’d like to see them in that Aston Martin/Alpine fight. I think Sargeant can see himself out; he’s a Mick, too expensive for a small team. I think Williams have the capability to develop a young driver, I think James says and does the right things, I think Alex has amazing mentor potential, I just think it’s wasted on Sargeant. Drugovich has a decent amount of experience, he presumably knows how not to bin it and cost a team money. Worst case scenario he’s a Sargeant, but that’s like a 1% chance. I think there’s a 99% chance he at least costs less.

These takes may be unhinged lol be glad my name isn’t Stefano Domenicalli.

[jovenshires]

Either "you've got quite the reputation" or "we make a pretty good team" (or both) for arasha/courtney? 🙏

You know, all things considered, Arasha never really got the hype about Summer Games. From what everybody said, it was just some camping trip they all took for a week in the middle of the hottest month of the year. They humiliated themselves, bullied each other, and spent their days playing stupid games out underneath the burning sun. It sounded exhausting.

But, you know, she's reconsidering now. Maybe it's not all that bad, she thinks, as her sword clangs against Noah's. He wrinkles his nose at her, lost as to what to do next, but it doesn't really matter; not as she knocks his sword out of his hand. "Shit!" he says, and she takes the moment of surprise to sweep his leg out from under him and send him falling to the ground. She pins him down with her foot and points the fake sword at his neck. This is a feeling she could get used to.

Off to the sidelines, Rachel blows her whistle. "And that is one point for the Bootiful Buccaneers!" she calls. Arasha hears her team cheering behind her, Spencer whooping and Angela chanting her name, and she can't help but smile. Noah swallows.

"You're scary, you know that?" he asks, and her grin widens, perhaps maliciously.

"I know."

Still, she helps him up and brushes off his Scallyswags shirt. He thanks her, but to be honest, she isn't paying him much mind anymore. She's got her eyes trained on her teammate.

If Arasha hadn't understood the appeal of Summer Games before, she certainly understands it now. Watching Courtney brandish their sword, the sun glinting off of their golden hair, she feels a warmth in her stomach she's fairly certain is unrelated to the summer heat. She swallows, and Noah nudges her. "Hey, close your mouth, you'll catch flies," he teases.

She turns to glare at him. "Shut up," she mutters, though she pointedly doesn't deny it. No doubt that Noah catches it because he laughs.

To be fair, Chanse is putting up one hell of a fight. Arasha wouldn't have guessed he had it in him. But after you spend so long being a nerd and playing D&D, she wonders if it's only natural that you develop a penchant for sword-fighting.

As they parry, Courtney on the defense and then Chanse and so on and so forth, Rachel's commentary continues: "Can the Buccaneers pull this off? Will this round conclude 2-0, or will Chanse and the Scallyswags tie it up?" The teams behind her scream for their teammates, but Arasha doesn't say anything. She just holds her breath and watches as the sweat rolls down Courtney's face, her back muscles moving swiftly and sharply, her face pure concentration and power as she wields her sword.

Suddenly, though, Chanse swings harder than he's been, and Courtney's sword clatters out of their hand. For a moment, they freeze, looking from him to the ground, and Arasha feels herself moving before she can even think about it. "Court!" she calls, and when Courtney turns, she throws her sword hilt-first in their direction.

Surprisingly, Courtney catches it with ease. She shoots Arasha a grin, then turns back to Chanse. He's surprised. "Can she do that?" he asks Rachel, who shrugs.

"I mean, this is a DUO-EL," she says, recalling the name of the game. "It's two against two, so yeah, I think so."

Some of the Scallyswags begin arguing, including Chanse, but Courtney uses it to their advantage. They use Arasha's sword to smack Chanse's own sword to the ground. He yelps and dives for it, and Courtney follows him to the ground, rolling over to pin him with their elbow on his shoulder, their knees on either side of his stomach.

"Gotcha," she says. And the crowd erupts in cheers.

She takes a moment to help Chanse to his feet, but the moment is all she gets before she's swallowed by chaos. The gates open up and the Buccaneers rush forward, gathering around Courtney, hugging her and chanting her name. Chanse drudges back towards the waiting Scallyswags, and Noah gives Arasha a shove forward. "Go ahead," he says. "Your captain awaits."

"You're lucky this is a prop sword," she mutters, kicking at where his sword landed on the ground. He laughs at her again, but she makes her way forward, anyway.

Eventually, Rachel announces the next DUO-EL, and the cameras shut off as everyone prepares for the next match. Meanwhile, Courtney and Arasha take a seat off to the side, resting up, caught in a rare moment of peace. "You did good out there," Arasha says eventually, breaking the silence. It sounds awkward to her ears, but Courtney smiles anyway.

"Yeah, you too," they say. "Of course, I only won because you were there."

Arasha scoffs and shakes her head. "No way. You kicked ass."

Courtney raises an eyebrow and argues, "I froze. You were the one who thought on your feet and tossed me that sword. Really, I never would've thought of that. I would've dived to get my own and Chanse would've had me for sure."

"You had the smarts to pin him when he dove," Arasha points out.

There's a brief pause, a lull in which they take that in, and Courtney says, "You know? I think we make a pretty good team." Her hand reaches for Arasha's where it's sitting on the bench in between them, and she gives it a gentle squeeze.

Arasha grins. "Yeah. Me too."

send me a prompt & pairing!

[wehaveagathering]

[delicately setting down my cup of coffee] i need to talk about the philadelphia flyers

idk, maybe they left someone's lucky rabbit's foot in vancouver. maybe someone's girlfriend kissed another guy on new year's. maybe scratching frost and atkinson was just really, really bad for morale. maybe gary bettman came down from his tower of gold and ivory and hockey hork and told the flyers that they really need to suck now because they were fucking up his carefully-crafted storylines. maybe that heaven-sent streak of Being Good Maybe? in 2023 really couldn't last forever. but that game was ugly, annoying, boring, and crunchy to boot. we whiffed on so. many. fucking. pucks. we had a 5-on-3 for TWO MINUTES - and then a 5-on-2 when a stick broke - and that fucking upstart blue jacket Roslovic decided that he had the TIME TO GO TO THE BENCH and GET A NEW STICK because our pp is so bad. AND HE WAS RIGHT. how fucking humiliating is that!! if our power play is at the bottom of the league right now – well I don't understand why it wouldn't be, and it fucking deserves it. that was unbelievable.

jasmine jones, you speak for the entire city of philadelphia and all of our sports. rerun the elections, she's the new mayor now

[change to regular capitalization incoming]

LET'S TALK ABOUT THAT 5-ON-2, because that shit will live in my soul and piss me off for a million years. First, a breakdown of my gif of the game.

2:15 left in the first period. Flyers up by one with credit to Travis Konecny. The Blue Jackets take TWO penalties in the course of zero seconds of game time: one on #24, Mathieu Olivier, for interference, and one on #17, Justin Danforth for a face-off violation (tried to glove the puck). This gave the Flyers an entire 2:00 of a two man advantage.

:50 left in the first; :36 left on the PP. #96 on the CBJ, Roslovic's stick breaks and he drops it. Two and a half men.

:41.5. Tarasov blocks a one-timer from Tippett and the puck spins to the boards. Roslovic sees the loose puck and makes a break for the CBJ bench for a new stick. Two men.

:39.5. Tippett to Farabee back to Tippett. Decent set up for a powerful one-timer. Don't give the goalie or the D-men time to read you and you snipe it.

:38-:37. Tippett handles, shoots, Tarasov glove save, play stops. So much for the 5-on-2.

I think these thirteen seconds EXEMPLIFY what went wrong in our game, namely: WHY DO WE HOLD ON TO THE PUCK FOR SO FUCKING LONG? Every time we had a power play, someone would pass, and then the receiver holds onto the puck and looks around. And then they would pass, and then the next guy would hold on and look around. These split seconds where they hold on to the puck A.) waste valuable time in a power play and B.) give the opposition's defense and the goaltender time to position themselves in our new shooting lanes.

Watch this done well by Matthews and Marner on January 3rd.

Rielly -> Marner, who holds and waits for the goalie and Ducks to shift to defending against him, leaving Matthews wide open with a scoring lane that neither the goalie or the D are looking at. After 12 SOG from Matthews all game, (and 55 total saves on the Leafs) he knows Dostal has his number, so the Leafs are looking to get one in while he's off-guard. If Matthews waits here with the puck, Dostal has time to get ready for a snipe. But if the second the puck gets on his stick and he just fires the one-timer, he might be able to catch Dostal while he's still trying to adjust – and he does.

But the Flyers wait, nearly every time. When Tippett holds on to that puck for those extra milliseconds, he gives Tarasov and his two whole entire Blue Jackets time to adjust. The fact also remains that the Flyers stay very, very still during the power play. Maybe this is because their passes aren't connecting (they aren't) or it's because they don't know where each other are on the ice (the ice awareness last night was, in fact abysmal) but it doesn't help with keeping the opposing team's penalty kill.

But wait, you say, didn't Tippett shoot a one-timer earlier? Why shouldn't he reasonably hold on to the puck here, if he thinks he had a better scoring chance? Yes, he did, but here Tarasov was ready for him with the glove save, which ended play and allowed CBJ to readjust after Roslovic got his new stick. Even if Tarasov blocked a one timer with a rebound, that still keeps the play alive and gives us a chance to score on the rebound. THERE WERE TWO OF THEM. That's a huge, HUGE missed scoring opportunity. Keep them on their heels, reacting instead of proacting, and then maybe you get a third goal in, which allowed us yet another leg up. We blew a fucking two-goal lead. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING indeed.

Lastly, I want to talk about the shootout tonight. Tortorella loves picking the same couple of guys for shootouts, doesn't he? WHY? Coots, Tyfo and Brink all have previous luck re:shootouts but that just means that goalies have their fucking numbers now, doesn't it? Against Detroit 12.22 he sent out Couturier and Brink; against Washington 12.14 Couturier, Foerster, Brink; against Pittsburgh 12.2 Foerster, Couturier, TK. There's a pattern here. And those three can't rely on the same move every time (kuznetsov is an outlier adn should not be counted) because when they do, the goalie is expecting it.

Whatever. Experience flyers hockey. Pray they win against Calgary.

[macaroni-rascal]

I don't have any fashion takes this week except to say that most of the ISU award nominations are a joke and they're enabling some of the worst shit imaginable. To misquote Adam, the skaters' moms must've been on the selection committee because there are some real choices there. The ISU is hell-bent on burying the sport, I have no words.

But what I had to chime in on was the Spanish fuckery and how actually unsurprising it is. I'm of two minds on this - Olivia and accessory did mess up the twizzles and I think scores and decisions should reflect what happens on the day. However, this has Zhulin's vodka-pruned fingerprints all over it and he's taking the only opportunity he has to fuck with IAM from behind the curtain. The younger team has potential but doesn't have the polish Liv has. In other circumstances I'd be all for a federation pushing a younger team that has more long-term potential (*cough* Skate Canada *cough*), but they're literally shooting themselves in the foot here by ruining any chances of them getting two spots (although it's unlikely S/D Part 2: Electric Boogaloo would've done so for Worlds, so who tf knows). Isn't there a wildcard option this year, though? Maybe that'll save them. It's hella interesting that the tech controller here was British and they went by TES, the plot truly is as thick as Zhulin (and yes, I just had to double-tap him, it's what he deserves).

But there's also another part of me that firmly believes that a) nobody should go into a competition expecting that they'll win, and b) this partnership should never have happened (sorry not sorry), and I've questioned MF's decisions around it heavily. After everything she's dealt with with the Spanish fed, did she really not anticipate something like this? Truly the only glue holding this team together was its political potential, and now they don't even have that? I mean, is there a universe where Olivia moves to London and begs Adrian to re-team with her for the next 2 years? I just don't know what the solution is if the fed decides to continue to be petty like this and I don't know how it might affect Tim's citizenship application process - do they have to have achieved certain results? Why didn't he have the decency to also be born in St. Petersburg? Is that what this is about - Asaf needs it more for citizenship purposes? What a clusterfuck yet such par for the course, I'm truly in disbelief that we're reliving the nonsense of the previous quad and a half but not the quality of the skating. Will Montreal retaliate now by burying this team at major events? But at the same time, wouldn't an eye-for-an-eye approach ultimately disadvantage everyone involved? Why fully fund S/D if they're just gonna stab them in the gut? I fucking hate ice dance, I swear to fucking god, I'd be on blood pressure medication if I had to deal with a quarter of this shit at my job. If I was Olivia I would've rage-quit a long time ago and be making bank as a pro, because I don't know how she's dealing with this unless she's developed a humiliation kink by now. Such nonsense.

This message made me laugh out loud--a nigh cackle--several times. The humiliation kink was the funny nail in the hilarious coffin and I nearly fell of my bed. Oh, Fashionista Nonny, how dearly I love you and your messages.