#I thought Fredy would be second

[svechsdoll]

PK!!!! PYOTR IS ON THE BENCH!

[rupawscatrace]

They call me Ryder because of how damn hard i was Rydin on Russ that one night in the Summer of 1969. Also because that's what my Mama named me.

RIP Ma.

That goddamn Skank

Caught Russ sleepin wit Ma in my Childhood Bed in the summer of 2009. I kicked that Boy ass harder than them Hydraulic Pressed squish the Things in them Ticky Tocks . My Ma committed suicide.

Good.

My ma Only hugged me once and that was in the Winter of 1893. Four year after I was born. I was only 8 years old.

She said Ryder... My sweet boy ... I will protect you. Until you turn 12. And then you'll be old enough to work the big tractor on the farm. She didn't. She only protected me until I was 6. And I was not big enough for the Tractor.

I always knew She was a Bitch and a Liar. Ever since i was 8. That was the year that Russ entered my life, a year before my Foot entered his ass. I kicked him so hard that he was the first real man to ever experience the Moon.

That goddamn Moon landing was fake. Russ took photos of the moon for me while he was up there, my shoe still up the rectum. It was blue And smooth. Maybe that was Jupter. Jupter was the blue one Yes? Saturn? ...Was that the Sun?

Might been the Sun because when Russ visited Earth again after falling really hard he was a little Bald in the head, hair singed off. I saw his brain. A little. I stook my finger in it. Squish. Didn't like it much. Took a little taste, Tasted like mama's cookin.

Was that the secret sauce?

Musta been.

Ma wasn't the most sharp tool within the shed. She had a few screws loose up there. She kiled my pa.

RIP Robert Jones.. My first Pa. My second Pa, my Step pa, Gibby Jr was a madman. He took his shirt off and would pour barbecue sauce on himself and gollybe he would jump off the table, Ma's BBQ splattin all over, and the floor would CRACK. He was not okay. I hope he isn't alive. What a freak. What a sick fuck that boy was, I hope Jesus enters his life and his rectum and tells him to Put down the BBQ...

I haven't seen Russ since March 25, 2015... He was pretty broken up that day. Wonder what had happened, my shoe hadn't even entered his rectum yet. Hadn't even kicked him a little bit. Not even to say good mornin. Just up and left, didn't even say goodbye. Called him up the day before (After kickin him around a little bit. (A lot.)) And he said He had to leave his four British boys behind. I don't like Brits much. Too much te and biscuit... Fuck...

I miss you Russ... I miss takin my Shoe out and hearin it go POP!!! I miss cleanin it off afterwards. I miss wonderin why you didn't just put some pants on so it didn't go Right up there. No lube required. I never seen him pantsed. He was never dressed right.

Goodbye Russ, You Five nighted Fredy.......... You godamnFreak they made a Game about you nd you Dont even know . A whole movie. They casted Paul rudd to play you. You always thought he was a sexy hunk... Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh :(

I liked that one.

I miss when Russ came back to life in the summer of 2010 And he Yanked on my doodle so hard I thought I was meeting god and jesus and Mother Mary, I thought I was ascending to the Heavens to reunite wit my Ma. I would have Kicked her in the ass.

Russ likes the Consistent numbers so Maybe he comeback 2030 ... Or maybe in Good ole 3010. My mama's birth year. I will be Waiting at her birth place. Kill her like they shoulda done to Hitler when he was born. Godamn sack knackle.

Oh how me and Russ used to look over the desert together when it was reaching Dusk... The mountains the tumbleweeds. The way the Sun set over the horizon. I can still see it now. The way He would look at me. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh The way he would look at my shoe and Yell. He go "Oh brother it Hurts." I said. Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Hush boy.

He loved

Wine

He would cry to the cops every day I never laid a finger on Russ I loved him I really did I only put my shoe up him sometimes from kickin him so damn hard my wooden shoe gave him Splinters in his rectum Sometimes. I would always help him pull em though.

I was a good friend and an even better lover. But what I was best at, was Kickin him in high noon and Throwin him in the outside and he would fly up in the air so fast you could hear a Whistlin sound.

PSHEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Like a Rocket ship.

But sexy.

I cannot wait until 3010 for my dear ole Russ to re-enter my dreary lifestyle. My heart aches for you, Russy.. My pain grows like a fire in the fireplace. My heart swells. I can no longer add new wood to my fire. Not without you, Russ. I can't do it alone. I can't do it.

Today will be the Last day for me, Ryder Jones. Patriotism swells in the heart of the American boy, But my heart is no longer. My heart is broken, and I no longer care about the president. I hate you Joe, You never cared about ME or RUSS or MAMA. You left me. I know you don't remember me, Joe Biden. I was real, You were real, You cared for me once. You could care for me again if you would just listen. Find my Russ and I will find your Queen Elizabeth.

Grandpa, I know I was a disappointment in my younger years.

I never learned to drive that tractor, Truthfully. And God, and Mama, and Joe, and Russ, and Bruce. They all know I was big enough. I was just scared.... Scared of the Tractor, Scared of myself. Scared of Russ. Scared my Tractor would run me over just like it did to Pa.

I shouldnt have been scared of the Tractor. I should have been scared of Mama. She was the one behind the wheel. But her, and Grandpa Biden, they told me "Ryder, it wasn't Mama's fault. The tractor. It malfunctioned, Ryder. My boy, It'll be fine without Pa."

But truth be told Ma or GrandPa Joe never cared about me, or Pa, or Russ, or Brother Bruce... They only cared about ... About... Nothing.... They never cared about nothin.

I once broke my arm tryin to rake the yard. I don't recall how I did it, I don't know how it happened, or if Ma did that to me... But nobody cared. Nobody. But Russ. But Brother Bruce. And... And papa...

Oh Pa :(

I miss when Auntie Margaret would come over on Tuesdays at high noon when the sun was shinin bright over that beautiful wheat farm. Oh the smell of cow manure. How it mixed within the grass And allowed the crops to grow... The circle of life is beautiful. But the circle of life isn't always beautiful. Sometimes it's cruel, it's relentless, it claws at you until you're all out of skin. Sometimes it takes away the ones you love most. Like your lover, your brother, and your dear ole Pa.

Life gives you exactly what you need, but never at the right time. Russ if I could only have you now, I wouldn't even put my shoe up ya. (Unless you wanted me to, of course.) I would hold you. In a tight embrace and I would never let go until God himself came down.

The rapture itself would be the only thing that could take you out of my arms, my dear.

Oh, the things I would do to have you in my arms just once more. Russ Tikitchen, if you were still here. If you were still with us, right now. I would go out, I would get the finest ring ever crafted by any being. Anything better than mother nature could ever dream of. And I would get down on my knee, I would look you in the eye and I would say "Please? After all we've been through... After all I put you through... Please, just this once, let me give back to you." And you wouldn't have to say those two words, "I do." I would still love you the same. No matter how many shoes are up you. Or how many rings are on your finger. Or even if there is a ring on your finger, even if it isn't from me. No matter whose it is, I still love you.

And, Pa. I'm sorry about that fight we had the day before you died.

I knew I was in the wrong, and I hope you know I did still love you all the same. I was just stubborn. Young, naive, not knowing how cruel the world could be. Not knowing how cruel Mama could be... God rest your soul, Pa. And may God bring her soul down into the deepest pits of Hell

Mama.... I wish I could have ended your life with my own very hands. It's a pity you got to do it yourself.

You got to take your own wheel, Mama. But you took Papa's wheel too. You took Russ's (metaphorical) wheel. You took Bruce's (metaphorical) wheel. Bruce is still alive, thank the heavens. But now you're going to take my wheel Mama. Not metaphorically.

Mama... I know this is what you would've wanted... But mama, ow.

I can't do this no more Mama. Papa I love you. I am so sorry. Russ Tikitchen, you were my first lover. And last. God knows I never touched another man. Or woman for that matter. Brother Bruce. You goddamn knucklehead... Bruce if I could only Thwap you on the back of the head one more time. But you're already halfway across the country by now. You've moved out West to fulfill your dreams of becomin a real Star. You're already a star to me brother. But I'm proud of you regardless.

Takes a lot of balls to move out halfway across the country with nothin but the clothes on your back and the money in your pocket. Ooaohwfowagouhdjfjfjj I misss y7ou brother I hope you, Brother Bruce, are doing good with your old lady Lisa. You know I saw her with a woman right? But I won't tell you... Don't wanna ruin your trip. Your dreams. Your lifestyle. Your innocence. You.

I know you were callin me spaghetti fingers. The guys at the bar told me so. Dave, Jeff, and Jack. You remember them, right? I know that was about 93 years ago... But you're still young, you still got that memory of a young whippersnapper.

Well... Goodbye. To Pa, to Bruce, to Russ, to auntie Margaret who came over on Tuesdays at high noon, to Grampy Biden, to step-pa Gibby Jr, to Lisa, and to mama....

Goodbye.

[eclipsedefflorescence]

What good is using a common term like civilization when you then redefine it beyond recognition? Anyway, I'm not convinced that what you call civilization actually…exists or describes a halfway decent approximation of reality. Seems to me like you just take all the things you oppose and then postulate a uniting force behind all of it. But I get that a tumblr post is probably not the best medium for that discussion and I'd have to pick up a book to see if the theory stands on anything substantial

I agree that the term "Civilization" can be misleading which is why I leaned hard into Perlman's "Leviathan" as the most apt description if the critique.

Second, honestly it sounds like you havent thought critically about the effects of power on the subject or read the essential literature. I'm sorry to be dismissive but there's a reason why there's the whole academic field of critical theory that is predicated on analysis of power discourse.

Here is a short and straightforward reading list.

The obvious two would be Fredy Perlman's "Against His-Story, Against Leviathan" and "The Reproduction of Everyday Life." For topic specific power analysis.

Though if you want to be thorough I'd start with Foucault's "History of Sexuality, Volume 1" this is probably Foucault's easiest to read but also one of his most important. 

Foucault's "Discipline and Punish" is also a very important read that I'm not sure any anarchist analysis of power can do without.

[devilsnwitches]

SSDD - Ch4 Crack the Shell

AO3 <Link - Written by @lynxtigerwritings & Me

Tags - Alternate Universe / Canon Divergent

Pairings - Vergil-OFC / Dante-OFC / Nero-Kyrie / V-OFC / Nero-V

(idk why the heck there’s like a constant link to a blog I don’t know? just ignore it?)

He didn’t need a babysitter, Charlotte knew that. The silence had rung out loud when he left, and Charlotte was a little concerned. She could guess that’s how he came to be so wounded. She knew that he probably wanted space, to clear his thoughts and mind, but she also wanted to offer a support system. It wasn’t hard to catch up with him, but she hoped that the distance she kept wasn’t too much and too weird. She also hoped that it gave him some comfort that someone was there.

The silence was hard. It was cold. Uncomfortable. Yet Charlotte didn’t feel like he was trying to push her away. They went around the block and then they went a different direction altogether. It was interesting to see the city as a pedestrian. The buildings were a little more crowded, held a lot more life. The landmarks she used to drive felt different too. Like she was seeing them from a whole new point of view. “I should do this more often.” She murmured to herself. Even the sun reflecting on the glass held a different sort of scene.

“Not many walk simply to walk, or see just to see,” Vergil cracked the silence on his end, hands buried into his jacket pockets and shoulders drawn tight, “It helps me think. Puts this energy, good or bad, to use.”

She could understand it. She used her own energy in a different way, but still comfortable. Charlotte jogged again to catch up. His legs were much longer than hers, so he took better and quicker strides. She brushed her hand against his shoulder but withdrew it quick. “Better than destroying something out of agony.”

“Such as a wall? Plates and furniture?” Vergil glanced at her from the corner of his eye, sighed through his nose and slowed his walk for her to a more casual amble, “My agony is how I lost my Yamato. Too blind to care to go back for it, and by then I was too far and I had tunnel vision.”

Charlotte felt his story was on the brink of being told. Her eyes went to his back, where the wound was still healing. The black veins and the skin flaking off. The air suddenly felt cooler, or maybe she recently felt the change in temperature. She was grateful for the slower pace, she could finally keep up without needing to jog. The walls and furniture were Yvette. Charlotte already knew that she was the glass breaking and the screaming. Screaming most definitely was her thing. “...I know it’s bold of me.” She said softly. “But you can lean on me. Nothing you say will pass my lips. You have my word.”

“I take people who give their word extremely seriously.” Vergil tensed a bit, “I’ve already been asked. I have not told much of anything.”

“I don’t believe in take backs.” Charlotte countered. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, just know that I’m listening, and if you don’t need me to listen but to support you in some way, I can do that too.”

A long drawn out silence stretched between them, his focus straight ahead for some time. He was used to people pestering, but Charlotte willingly kept her mouth closed, stubbornly or patiently waiting for him to crack again, either or both. It was mutual, but Vergil felt his chest tighten. His pain affected his demon, too. “I had no idea how long I had been gone until Dante informed me Nero hasn’t seen me for seven years.”

A long time. Charlotte blissfully stayed silent, knowing that there was more to this and Vergil didn’t need her to go poking at him. Seven years. That was a long time. Dante and Vergil were infamous for their relationship. Almost everyone in the demon hunter community knew that they didn’t really keep tabs on one another unless they had a reason. Seven years and Nero not even hearing a word? Now that was alarming. Charlotte wasn’t sure if she could handle waiting that long. No. She mused. She didn’t think she would. He was a strong man, who could handle a lot of things thrown his way, but he was half-human. He wasn’t invincible, even if the Sparda boys pretended that they were.

God, she wondered where that idea even came from. The idea that their father was a worshipped cult god or the facts of his military prowess. She supposed if it was her, a month would be enough to make her worry. It’d make her worry enough to go search.

“I never meant to leave him for that long. I am certain he knew things went downhill if he found the Yamato. It was always with me.” A turn down another street. “I am aware I missed a lot of things. Him growing closer to Kyrie. Becoming a man. Dante told me about what happened in Fortuna and that’s why they’re both here. I am proud he has done well for himself…” yet he had missed it all.

Charlotte gently brushed her hand against his arm, a passing motion, a soothing one. She felt the regret that was ringing loud between them. Of how much time he had missed, and of what was going on. While the “secrets kill” comment bothered her, she found herself unable to ask. Maybe she herself didn’t want to know, or maybe she knew that he’d tell her when he was ready. This was going to be the hardest hit for them both. She knew that. “As long as you’re alive,” she spoke up for once, breaking her vow, “You’ll always be able to make up for the lost time. No matter when. Seven years is a mere blink of an eye. There’ll be seven more after that, and after that, until we stop breathing and we’re on our funeral pyre.”

“I intend to, which is why I have yet to leave.” He looked up at the sky, “What led me running into Stolas was chasing the demon that took me from Fortuna and on a wild hunt. I was focusing on gaining the power to kill him. While fighting him, Abaddon showed, and Stolas took my distraction as an opportunity. I hate attacking and being attacked from behind.”

Charlotte kicked a rock off of the sidewalk, her frown speaking volumes. She wasn’t very fond of demons attacking from behind either. Less because they were cowards, and more because that was her weak point. She could only focus on so much during a fight, as long as it was in front of her face, they had nowhere to go, but the minute they were out of sight? That was when battles got dirty, and dirty fighting was never her style. Yvette handled those fights better, even if they did tend to get on the gory side, much to both sisters’ displeasure and distaste.

She slipped her hands into her short’s pockets and pulled out a hair tie. Quietly she started to tie her hair back up in a makeshift bun.

Vergil had looked at her then to see what she was shuffling for, and the mere moment she swept her dark hair from her neck, baring it, he sucked a quiet breath and pointed his eyes forward. She hadn’t even meant to tempt and that was rude of him. “Would you like to head back, or are you hungry?”

The sudden choice made her pause in tying her hair back. She had been so caught up listening, it threw her for a loop. It took a bit for her brain to reset and then she nodded, “If you feel up to it, let’s stay out a bit longer.” She offered. She wondered if he saw her scar, and that was why he had sucked in his breath now that she thought about it. It was a nasty scar. Really, even Yvette tended to not be too pleased when she saw it.

A reminder of an amateur's mistake, but Charlotte couldn’t find the heart to be ashamed of it. She didn’t feel like talking about it, and she also didn’t think that was quite the reason why he suddenly gasped. Then again, could’ve been the memory that he was at too. Whatever the reason, she decided to let it slide as she finished tying her hair back.

“When Dante brought me here from Nero’s, he took me to a diner. Fredi’s. Do you know it?” Vergil asked as he changed course, catching her elbow to turn and lead her down a crosswalk, then put his hand back in his pocket.

For a brief moment, she wondered what it would take for him to actually touch her in return. Though she was pretty grateful he led her. “I don’t think so. I normally cook at home.” She admitted, gently kicking the sidewalk again, this time more out of shyness than anything. “I never found a reason to...go out. So it’ll be a nice change of pace.”

A softer expression and his shoulders weren’t so tense, “Then let us enjoy ourselves while we can. You did say you want to do this more often. So do it.”

“Only if you come along for the ride.” Charlotte couldn’t believe herself. Why. Why did now of all times had to be the time she channeled her inner Yvette. She made a mental note to throw a pillow at her sister when she got back. Or smother her. Whichever was fastest. Well, she didn’t believe in take backs. Better live with this.

“As it will get me away from Dante and keep me from killing him, I accept.” Vergil rather enjoyed watching her have an internal debate with herself. Both sisters seemed to be expressive and it helped. Fewer bushes to dance around.

Looked like Yvette was only going to get a pillow tossed at her. In the face. Charlotte mentally cheered though. Score. “Awesome.” Why. “What do you normally get?”

“This will only be my second time, but they offer more than strawberry sundaes. I ordered an orange cream parfait.” Vergil shrugged a shoulder, “I tend to go for more orange-flavored things. Dante is all about strawberries.”

Oranges. Charlotte wondered if she had anything in her recipe books at home that called for oranges. “Huh.” She knew that there were a lot about strawberries. The last time she did anything orange was homemade orange juice because she was ticked off and she didn’t feel like screaming and needed to burn off energy faster than baking bread would ever allow. “I’m keeping that in mind.”

X

The city was quiet. Well, quiet enough. He did land a few gigs. Some demons were tearing up the place, but not at an extreme measure that Lysander spoke of. At least, not yet. They were small fry, easily taken care of, and yet Nero still couldn’t help but feel like there was something really wrong with the scene. Maybe it was how weak the demons were and how they were flocking. Maybe it was his father’s paranoia finally kicking itself back into gear now that he knew what caused those black veins to begin with.

Regardless, Nero deserved the damn twenty-minutes it was taking Nico to get a carton of cigarettes when he saw Alexina walking down the street. It was fast how he could recognize her with an extreme style makeover. He rolled down his window, just as she was passing. “Yo. You dressed as a pinup girl for a costume?”

“Save it los-” Alexina’s head turned and her cheeks flushed. “Hey, Nero. I thought you were-”

“Some catcalling idiot that doesn’t know when to stop? Sorry about that.” Nero gestured at her outfit. “You look nice. Did V take you out?” The immediately raised eyebrow made Nero swear in his head. That “someday” wasn’t “today” it appeared. Damn, he wasn’t sure he’d have the patience that V had for this. “Never mind.”

Alexina huffed a laugh. “I used to get those questions a lot back when we were in school together.” She shook her head fondly. “We’re friends, Nero. That’s all. Hey, speaking of friends. I got a question for you since I have you pinned.”

“That’s not at all suggestive but you can hit me with your best shot.” Nero offered, leaning against the door.

“You and Kyrie. Are you two closed or open?”

“Closed?” Nero hated that was even a question, but he was pretty taken aback by Alexina’s question. “Do I even-”

“I was just curious.” Alexina waved it off. “I thought that...well...never mind.”

“I’m sorry to disappoint ya.” Nero rubbed the back of his neck. Oh boy, and here V was just telling him that he had plans. He was thankful that he probably could cut that off quick. “Hey, there’s someone that I know who has a crush on you.”

Alexina looked taken aback and then she smiled ruefully. “A friend of a friend?”

“Nope. Straight up friend,” Nero was going to get V to pay him back for this, he was certain of it. “He’s a little eccentric, but he has a good heart. He has his way of throwing you off your game if you’re not careful, but other-”

“Hey.” Alexina reached into the car and gently placed a hand on Nero’s arm. “I see what you’re trying to do.” She gave him a gentle smile. “Anyway, I got a favor to ask you.”

“Can’t say I didn’t try. What favor?” Nero asked.

“Let him down gently.” Alexina let go of his hand. “He really likes the both of you.”

“Wait, what?”

“I should get going. Bye Nero.” Alexina waved.

“No, wait! Lex! LEX!”

“Jesus, what are ya shouting for?” Nico came towards the van and looked over to see Alexina’s retreating back. “Was that Lexi?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh shit! She was here?! You didn’t give her Silver Wings did ya?”

“What?! No! I didn’t think you were done with it.”

Nico smacked the door. “Damn it, Nero, you’d lose yer head if it wasn’t screwed on.”

“Says the lunatic that drives like one.” Nero snarked back.

“Yeah yeah. Here hold on to these will ya?” She tossed her cartons into his lap and headed towards her side of the door. “What was that conversation about anyway?”

“Honestly Nico? I don’t have a fucking clue.”

X

“Hathaway, you should be fucking pleased as peaches.” Griffon flapped onto the counter in time for a scrap of meat to be flung towards his direction. She had a knife in her hand so Griffon knew that he had to be delicate with this. Careful even. If she got hurt it was his feathers that’d get roasted. “Whatcha making?”

“Food.” Alexina gave Griffon the side eye. “Off my counter, Griff. You’re in my way.”

Griffon stole another food scrap and flew himself to the other side of the kitchen, using his talons to peel into it. “Still you gotta be jumping for joy. Because Vitale, le gasp, touched Nero!”

Alexina had been so focused on slicing that when she heard that she accidentally had placed her finger a bit too close to the blade and sliced her skin open. Cursing, she placed her finger in her mouth and glared at Griffon. Her heart stuttering in her chest. V...that didn’t mean anything. It didn’t mean anything. She felt her throat feel a bit thick. “What do you mean?” She asked around her finger as she started hunting for bandages.

“I mean, Hathaway, you should be more careful when handling sharp objects.” Griffon taunted and wasn’t surprised when she threw a carton of...something at his head. Medicine of some sort. “Rude! I was trying to tell you how V got snuggly with a demon hunter and looked cute doing it.”

V was cursing when his door opened down the hall and he appeared shortly after, holding his hand and frowning, “Xina? Griffon? What is going on?” he kept his hand close to his chest and bent down to swipe up the thrown bottle off the floor.

“She tossed that at me!” Griffon tattled.

Alexina glared at the bird, “You distracted me. I’m alright, V.” She assured as she finally found the box of bandages and fished one out. “Sliced my hand on a blade is all.”

“I was telling her about you and Hotshot.” Griffon taunted proudly. “You know, how you two got cozy enough to give cavities.”

Closing his eyes, V internally groaned and when he opened them again he went to Alexina, taking her hand before she could try and fumble the box open, her blood now all over it, and for the first time he tried. Tried to focus on his energy and feeling hers together. They were tied. He knew that. Focusing on what he wanted, he watched the purple shimmer and light before his finger was the one with the cut and hers was perfectly fine. “There.”

It felt like deja vu. Always looking out for her. Her heart stuttered in her chest again and she quietly went back to the box of bandages, getting one. “It was only a minor cut.” She murmured to him as she unwrapped the bandage. “You didn’t have to do that, V.”

Griffon cooed softly in the background.

“I will be the painting of Dorian Gray if necessary, minor to major.” V was dead serious.

It wasn’t the first time Alexina wondered what life was going to be like. She slowly bowed her head, taking a breath. His boyfriend would be upset about that, wouldn’t he? Or did they talk? They must have talked if this Nero was close to him. He probably agreed. Otherwise, V wouldn’t have done it. She bandaged his finger, trying to be careful since touch was so hard. It made her jealous that Nero could….but she shoved that right down so fast she nearly got dizzy from it. Nope. Nope. Nope. That wasn’t happening here.

He deserved happiness for once in his life. Alexina looked up at V, eyes searching. She knew too well how this battle of wits would go. She also knew to bow out. “Tell me about him.” Was all she could offer. “He sounds nice, and Griffon’s torturing me by withholding information.”

“Shadow liked him nearly as much as she loves you.” V brushed her bangs from her eyes, “He called Griffon a chicken, much like Charlotte did.”

“He’s a pain in my ass is what he is.” Griffon ruffled his feathers. “He fucking got the cat to stick her tongue out. The affection whore!”

Alexina laughed genuinely. He couldn’t be that bad of a man. She was upset over nothing and she knew it. Deciding right then and there that maybe it was time her and Griffon teamed up, she nodded over towards the kitchen. “Tell me more? I’m cooking dinner so you can tell me while I’m doing that unless...is it the deadline you’re working on?”

“It can wait, I made quite a bit of progress before I was...distracted. I will go back when my finger heals.” He had been grateful that at least small hurts healed fast, though of course, he wasn’t looking forward to the big hurts later. “Nero offered to help me train.” He started off as he pulled a chair from the table, “I said something that struck a chord in him, and he immediately said he would help me. Not offer, but told.”

“They’re both addicted to damsels in distress,” Griffon said as he flew back towards where she was cutting again. “Be careful with that knife girlie.” He teased and she pretended to swat at him with it. “They’re both dumbasses Alex. Both. Dumbasses. I can’t handle it.”

“Sounds like you have your wings full.” Alexina teased and glanced behind her shoulder. “So he saved someone too and that’s what the connection is?” Wait a moment. Now that she was thinking about it. She glared at Griffon. “Hold on a second. Isn’t Nero with Kyrie?”

“Mm-hmm,” V hummed as he watched Griffon grin as best a bird could grin. Of course he would freak Xina out so he could comfort her fears. “Nero’s way of saying her name tells me all I need to know about how much he loves her. That is part of his motivation to train me. He understands.”

Griffon shook his feathers out. “You told him about you being sick, Hathaway? You even got a Nero nickname too. He seems pretty fond of you.”

“I’m defeathering you later,” Alexina muttered under her breath.

“Hey V, how long do you think it’ll take you for you to steal Nero from Kyrie?” Griffon turned his attention to V.

“I don’t know, Griffon. I might fool all of you and steal Kyrie.” V deadpanned.

“You fox!” Griffon crowed, flapping to V’s shoulder.

Alexina bowed her head for a moment before taking a breath. Weirdos. They were all weirdos. “Do you have a crush on Nero or on Kyrie?” She asked curiously. “There’s no shame here, you know...if you do. You know that right?”

V stood up again and came up behind her, his hands lightly skimming over her shoulders, “I don’t know that I do. You cut your hand and threw a pill bottle at Griffon.”

Griffon trilled softly, as though following the motions of the conversation.

Alexina tossed the vegetables into the pan carefully so that the grease wouldn’t fly up and hit them both. She didn’t want him to take on another minor wound. Even if he was willing to be the picture of Dorian Gray. She was grateful that he was patient, he knew to wait her out, especially when she was working near a stove. His happiness over hers. She vowed that damn it. If he could take on her minor hurts, then she could damn well give him this. “Mistakes.” She said after a moment. “Griffon caught me at a bad time and he decided to make it worse by being mouthy. Everything else though? I’m not lying. I won’t shame you for loving someone V. Not a single person. Or people even if you’re that way. I care about you too much for that.”

“People,” V said immediately, latching on to that tightly. It was the smallest opening that offered him both, and he wouldn’t let it slip away.

“And do you see me going ballistic?” Alexina smiled lightly at him. “See? I told you. No judgment.”

“I quoted Wolf and Flame from Nikita Gill to him,” V finally admitted to her, stepping back to give her room and watched her, the safety net of ‘people’ beneath him now. The last thing he wanted was for her to be upset with him; even though she hid it well, he still knew her.

“That’s a good one. It matches him really well too.” Alexina said as she carefully added the meat to go in with the vegetables, tossing another scrap towards Griffon who caught it mid-air and pleased. “He really is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. No one really sees it, but I guess we did. You did for sure.” She tossed him a smile from over her shoulder. “Need me to be a better wingman than Griffon?”

Griffon squawked, “What the fuck, Alex.” He rarely used her name, but when he did, it was for a purpose.

V barely stifled a chuckle behind his hand, “I believe I have it handled. We talked for hours on our own, and you know it takes a lot for me to talk to someone. You had a hell of a time.”

Nero had it easier. “Mom certainly knew how to crack you. Five minutes alone and you two were laughing.” She ached suddenly. Griffon even felt uncomfortable all of the sudden and he trilled, not pleased with the mood fall.

Tilting his head to the ceiling, V’s following sigh was longer. “I was shy with you.”

“I remember.” Alexina’s voice changed. Soft. Gentle. “Mom didn’t let you stay shy. She was all up asking you all sorts of questions. I remember being embarrassed. She got you open and I was so freaking happy about it. You looked good smiling. I wanted to keep that.”

Griffon looked over at V, head tilting silently as he watched for his reaction. The familiar knew of demons of the underworld. This was something strange, and unfamiliar to him.

“You do, Xina…” V whispered, shoulders dropping, looking tired and sadness swimming in his own eyes, but he closed them, “I smile every day seeing you here.”

“No. You smirk.” The lightheartedness came back so swiftly, Griffon felt a headache coming on. Humans were so freaking weird. So weird. Their emotions were weird, this was weird, and he couldn’t say anything snappish about it. He knew where he didn’t understand. “Dinner’s almost ready. Want to set places?” She asked lightly.

“Of course.” No hesitance, taking the attempt at humor for what it was and headed for the cupboards.

X

Alexina doubted that Nero and V were there since the van wasn’t in the garage. She had half of the mind to head back to the apartment when she thought about what V said a few nights ago. She knew it wasn’t her place. She slipped through the garage and headed up towards the stairs like she had the first time. Nico was crazily organized and messy at the same time, Alex noted. She was pretty sure everything had a place, no matter how out of place it seemed.

Using the back of her hand, she rapped a rhythm against the door. It had once been an inside joke between her and V back when they were teenagers, trying to knock to the beat of the other’s favorite song that they heard on the radio.

“I’m coming, just a minute!” Kyrie’s voice echoed through the door. As promised, it didn’t take long for her to swing the door open, chest heaving as though she’d ran. When she recognized the face, she perked a little, “Alexina!” Then she drooped, “Oh, I’m so sorry but I was about to head to work. Everyone’s at Dante’s place.” Indeed she was wearing a nice blazer and a pencil skirt, tights underneath and mary janes, not heels. She’d dealt with that before and it didn’t end well. Stupid demons.

“You look professional, I like it.” Alexina smiled warmly, “Do you need a ride?” The offer came quick and she was a little taken aback. Normally it would’ve been an apology and an offer to come by another time. She wondered if it was because this girl was someone V might have a crush on one day. Nero certainly was already on his list.

“I work at the orphanage. I can give you directions,” Kyrie nodded with a sweet smile, “I need to grab my purse. I’ll meet you at your car?”

Alexina nodded and quietly headed back to her car. Her heart was beating rapid fire in her chest. She already could tell she was nervous about trying to make a new friend. Near death and hospital stays didn’t exactly make for good conversation starters, and she was mostly left alone. Shrugging it, she decided to enjoy it. The nervousness, the butterflies that were in her stomach, the mere fact that she was going to go on a different route. She was probably a little crazy to love that. Yet months and months ago, this wasn’t a concept. This wasn’t even an idea. Not even a discussion. She waited patiently for Kyrie to approach the car and she smiled. “I suppose I came in the nick of time.”

With the garage door closed and locked in place behind her, Kyrie felt secure their place would be left intact until someone came home. She nodded to Alexina and slipped into the passenger side, breathing a sigh of relief, “I thought I was going to be late. I enjoyed my shower a little too much and had to blow-dry my hair.”

Being a firm believer of natural dry hair, Alexina grimaced at the mere thought of it. “The shower was worth it.” She determined after a moment. “I’m more of a bath person myself, but showers can be real nice too when-” She cut herself off, remembering there was no when anymore. “Well, I suppose it’s one of those days today. V’s gonna hate this.”

“What exactly do you mean? What will he hate?” Kyrie pulled a tie from her purse and put her hair up, then searched for her favorite clip to go over it.

“I keep thinking of things I used to not be able to do when I was sick,” Alexina admitted, leaning back into the seat as she reversed the car out of the driveway and headed down the road. “Today’s been a real good day. Every day’s been a nice little reminder of...hey I’m here still. You know? Things feel more real.”

“I’m glad today’s been a good day, but you still seem troubled.” Kyrie pulled out a small tube of gloss, a sheer pink and she put it on with practiced ease, “I don’t want to pry into your life, Ali. Looking out for everyone’s a self-imposed job I won’t give up. You don’t have to tell me anything, but I’m here to listen. Everyone knows that, so now you do, too.”

Alexina’s grip on the steering wheel tightened for a moment before she breathed. Nero had the best girl. V would adore her to pieces. “Then...do you mind taking V under your wing and looking out for him? Nero and he seem to be close and…” She trailed off slowly. “He’ll take on too much with me. He already did and he still takes on more. He’s like you. A little more on the selfish side, but he looks out for people he’s close to. Since he doesn’t really...have that. I’m mostly saying this because he’s...a gentle spirit. A really good person. And...he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or hurt Nero or anyone. If anything, he’d feel bad that he couldn’t take your pain too.”

“Nero takes on my pain well enough. After all, it’s a pain we share. My brother, Credo, was his best friend.” She didn’t need to elaborate on that one. The tone in her voice already said he was dead. “I did notice that Nero talked quite a bit about V when he came home that night. It makes me happy Nero has his family back and is gaining more friends. Would I be wrong to say you sound like you could use some friends, too?”

Alexina startled a laugh. “I could probably use some.” She admitted. “I’m a little bit worse for wear on the social train, but I can try.”

“Then don’t be a stranger, Ali. Come around. Talk to us.” The songstress giggled softly and smiled at the orphanage, “Are you busy now?”

“No, my last client was an hour ago,” Alexina said, glancing at the clock and then at the building that Kyrie had directed her to. She could see some kids playing on the playground. This wasn’t a school, she noted. She recognized this. “If V finds out I adopted five kids, we’re not saying a word.” She warned Kyrie. “Also, if I come around sometime, let me do your makeup?”

“I’ll keep track of what ones you adore because Nero’s the same way,” she laughed as she popped the door open, “I’d love to have my makeup done, and maybe Nico, too. We could have a girl’s night?”

When was the last time Alexina had such a thing? “I’ll be happy to come.” She assured as she got out of the car. She wondered how V would take Nero adoring kids. She supposed it’d go on the cute list.

X

Nero had to take a breath after getting shoved back by Shadow’s blades and having to immediately dodge Griffon’s lighting attack. Nightmare was agreed to be used “as a trump card” so Nero had focused his attention to distract the poet from saying too many poems to rev himself up to being the golem out. “Take five.” He held his hand up. “That nearly killed me.”

Griffon cackled as he went to V’s shoulder. “What hotshot you can’t take us?”

“That mouth of yours is what’s gonna get V killed if you don’t shut up every once in a while.” Nero pointed at the bird before glancing over at the building.

“They are meant to protect me, so I doubt that,” V tucked his book under his arm and when he felt Shadow bump his leg he knelt down and rubbed her ear, “You did well. Good teamwork between the two of you.”

“Always prepare for the worst. They can take a hit, but they can only take hits for so long before they gotta rest up and then leave you vulnerable.” Nero offered as he flopped down to the ground to take his own breather. “Gotta admit, I’m glad that you can hold on your own. For a while there you had me worried that Lex would beat me near death for breaking a bone of yours.”

“I am fragile, but I will not break so easily.” V shook his head and stood up, walking over to Nero, Shadow trailing by his side. “In fact, training has helped me feel a lot better than I have been.” He picked at his sleeveless coat, “I do not wear this as a fashion statement. Not anymore.”

Nero glanced over at the sleeveless coat, and he remembered that question that he had wanted to ask. Yet he also remembered why he didn’t ask it. V was...complicated. He only gave information, took information, but anyone’s questions could be met with a poem, a dismissal, or honesty. “You really don’t consider lying do you.”

“There really is no point in it. I can avoid the truth, but I won’t lie.” V agreed, carefully easing himself to sit down beside Nero and looked out at their training ‘field’ of sorts. Broken stone and upturned dirt everywhere.

“So…” Nero knew this was absolutely none of his business. “Lex has self-esteem problems doesn’t she.”

“I was severely reminded of that the other night.” V rubbed his temple, “It is difficult when I want the slow burn. I was debating on stopping by the store to see if they have her favorite flowers.”

“What she got jealous?” Nero huffed a soft laugh. Shadow took that as a sign that she could lay over his stomach and he grunted. “Over who? I wasn’t aware you had any other lady friends, and I’m pretty sure Nico doesn’t count, considering she looks at everyone like they’re hot meat. Shadow, why?”

V released a soft laugh and toyed with Shadow’s tail, twisting it between his fingers like one might twist and spin a pencil, “Griffon told her about this. About you and how I told you my name. Xina even cut her hand.”

“I’m not sure if I should be worried that she’s jealous over this, or if I should be worried that you’re hiding something.” Nero petted Shadow absently in his thoughts. “You know, that explains the conversation.”

That startled V and he furrowed his brows, “Conversation? Care to elaborate, Nero?”

Nero stopped petting Shadow and looked over at V curiously. “She asked if Kyrie and I had an open relationship of sorts.”

Shoulders tensing, V licked his lip and tilted his head, “What did you say in response to that?”

At that, Nero softened. “I told her about someone that might be interested in her. A little on the eccentric side. Can summon demons, has tattoos, made a deal. You know the works.”

V shook his head, relaxing back down, “Thank you for trying, Nero. At this point, I doubt she would believe anybody or anything until I…” he cleared his throat, neck warm, “Until I kiss her. She can be...obtuse that way.”

“You know, not everyone would set aside their life and make a deal with a literal devil to make sure she’d live.” Nero mused quietly. Shadow got up and started to make her way to V’s lap, already abandoning him. He supposed Shadow felt his distress. He wondered if V knew how often she got catcalled. The insult that nearly passed her lips. “If you’re determined about this slow burn, I got an idea for you. Those flowers you mentioned? Do it. Then do something fun. It doesn't have to be a date, but she needs out of the house for sure. Just don’t kill anyone.”

“Why would I…?” V trailed off as he came to the conclusion Nero knew something he didn’t. That was alright. He was keeping his attraction to Nero a secret as well. “I will take your advice. After all, you have a pretty successful relationship with Kyrie. How long have you two been together?”

“Five or so years. I had the worst crush,” Nero groaned, putting his hand over his forehead. “I tried to do the whole ‘I’m broody and mysterious and I don’t talk to people’ bullshit. I mean, I had a huge chip off my shoulder anyway, but I was...I was awful. Somehow someway she was charmed by it. I don’t know if she knew it was an act, or if she was because we were childhood friends and she saw right through me. I gave her a necklace for her performance the day things went to shit and after that...I threw all those reservations away.” He pulled his arm away from his forehead. “You know what I mean? You think, “I could’ve lost her, and what would’ve I said”. You think, “never again”. You think, “She doesn’t have anyone now. You couldn’t save her brother, so you gotta save her...cuz no one else is going to. No one’s gonna care.” You think, and you just...stop. You stop thinking. Best thing I ever did really. Straight up told her that I wanted her to be with me. Now she helps out an orphanage. I know all those kids and what happened to them, because in my eyes...they’re hers. Every single one of them. So I got a lot of people on my back, wanting me to protect them. I’d be fucking stupid now to lose all that. I thank my lucky stars every damn day and night for her. For her putting up with my dumbass, cuz I know I scare her.”

“I love the way you talk about her. It tells me so much about you.” V couldn’t even deny that. Nearly everything hit so close to home and a shaky breath left him, “I was an orphan. Xina’s mom took me under her wing around our high school years.” He brushed his bangs behind his ear only to have them fall right back in place, “Kyrie’s brother...loss is hard. Xina’s mother...there was an accident. Neither of us...really know. It was a closed-casket funeral. They would not let us see her body, say goodbye properly. When we asked, faces were grim and there were no answers.”

“What the fuck?” Nero looked at V torn between anger and sadness. Anger for the dismissal both Lex and V faced for wanting to say goodbye. How fucking hard was it? Nightmares could be fixed. “I would’ve kicked their asses and then some.” That explained a lot now. The closeness. V couldn’t do that again. Alex couldn’t be another body buried without an improper goodbye. “Jesus.” He let out a sharp breath. “No wonder. No fucking wonder.” He let out another breath. “What about her dad? Anything on him?”

V shook his head, “Nothing. Xina doesn’t know anything and her mother never said a word. I suppose you’re wondering knowing what you do about me why I haven’t made her mine yet. Your words make me wonder that myself.”

“It sounds like to me,” Nero said after a moment of thinking as he let V’s words wash over him. “You’ve been playing big brother role for a long time, and you don’t know how to step out of those lines. If you even can.” He looked over at V, taking in how the sun made him look a little younger. The tattoos looked as though they had a life of their own, but Nero couldn’t determine if that was the light that was reflecting on them or if they really were slightly moving. “You’re scared because you’re risking everything. Nothing will ever be the same the moment you have her. I always thought of Kyrie as my younger sister and believe me...that was a fucking hard line to erase but the moment I did I realized no. I never really “saw” her as my younger sister, it was easier to say it. It was easy because it meant I had her in my life somehow, someway. I guess the same goes for you two. Making a deal with a demon is a whole lot easier than to rip your heart out of your chest and say “here this is yours”. Maybe that was a little graphic.”

The back of his knuckles covered V’s mouth as he laughed. It was easy to laugh with Nero. Xina could make him laugh as well, of course, but Nero’s quirkiness had its own charm. “What you say holds some truth to it. Perhaps taking her on a date after presenting her with flowers is a good first step to try and see her in that different light, to see if I can step over that line, if only a little bit.”

“Oh my god fucking finally!” Griffon who had been oddly silent during the exchange appeared onto V’s shoulder. “How did this happen without me bashing you into walls.”

“Oh great the chicken’s back. Does that mean I get to beat you again?” Nero asked dryly.

“Try it, hotshot!”

[laurapalmerss]

LOOK WHAT I DID OOPS I DID IT AGAINNNNNNNHUOUS#HDIUDGUIGD

@lateforestfire @thisbaconiscold @rentamarker @thinkingofdrinkinggasoline

Disaster struck when news of Jonathan Larson's death had circulated. Of course, then everyone was in a state of shock. Just the night before they had all seen him alive and well. The cast was especially shaken up. Jonathan had worked so very hard for the Musical to be where it got. Everyone was dumbstruck. Their friend and fearless leader were gone. The words echoed through their heads Jonathan Larson is dead.

Daphne had sat with the rest of the cast trying to wrap her head around what was just spoken to her. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she leaned into the closest person to her who just happened to be Adam who just wrapped his arms around her and stared ahead completely silent. Daphne cried into him as everyone just sat around silent other than the sounds of their sniffling and awkward shifts.

It was until Jonathan's father, mother and sister walked in that the silence was broken " What we would like to happen tonight is you guys perform it... Not full out but sitting down casual. Just for his friends and the rest of the family. So they can see what a great work he has here." Al Jonathan's father said. Idina, Fredi, Jesse, Wilson, Anthony, Adam and Daphne all looked around and bored deciding that that was the best thing they could do.

"We'll do it," Anthony said softly for the group

"Thank you guys," Al said going around hugging them all

When he got to Daphne she hugged him back and whispered "I'm so sorry papa"

"What was that Daph?" He asked not sure what she had said

"I said I'm sorry Papa," she said a little bit louder pulling away from him

He pulls her in close for another hug. They hug for a few minutes before Daphne pulls away again. She rubs her face and walks over to Adam leaning into him. Adam wrapped his arms around her again and just held her to him. Silence surrounded them.

The silence was once again interrupted but this time by Idina "I think we should all go home and rest and be back by.." She looked at Al "6:30?" Al nodded and everyone nodded to making their way to the parking lot. Daphne was one of the last ones out followed by Adam who gave her a hug before getting into his car and driving off. Daphne had walked a few blocks and arrived at her apartment and walked up the stairs before unlocking the door and plopping down on her couch. She didn't move a muscle until her phone rung. She rolled off the couch and answered it

"Hello?" She said softly with a sigh

"Hey, Daph would you mind meeting us at the diner?" Anthony asked referring to the moon dance diner Jonathan used to work at.

"Ant who are you referring to as us?" She asked nervously

"The cast and John's parents"

"Let me get changed and I'll be in my way," she said hanging up and walking to her closet and picked out tank top jeans and an oversized hoodie. The hoodie had once belonged to Jonathan and she thought it would be special to wear it that night. She headed to the bathroom and got changed. She pitcher hair up in a messy ponytail and walked down to the diner where Adam Anthony and Idina sat. She joined them and sat by Adam as Nan and Al walked in and sat at the table. About 20 minutes later the rest of the cast came and sat at the table.

Al stood "I'd like to make an announcement. " he paused making sure he had everyone's attention. "I would like to thank you for being here tonight and thank you for going on with the performance like Jonathan would want you to." His voice catches "I know this is going to be hard but I promise you we'll make it through because that's what Johnny would want"

Daphne looked down at her hands and stood "I didn't know Jonathan that well but I knew he was such a kind loving and caring soul and he worked so hard to make this happen and I know if we do this we'll be doing him and the world a favour. He told us it would be something great and we need to honour that" she walked to her seat and sat down. Anthony got up next then Fredi and then Idina soon the entire cast got up and spoke. The pep talks needed with Johnathan's mother.

Nan uttered these words "make Jonathan proud."

With that, they all left the diner and walked to the theatre. They made their way to the stage where the tables from the week before were set. They all took the various mismatch chairs and sat in front of the table. They sang solemnly and halfway through they had the idea to perform the way the show was meant to be performed. Adam looked at everyone and whispered "we should do this full out costumes and everything"

"I agree," everyone said in unison and went to go change and get back on the stage for Seasons of love. the rest of the performance was a blur. so many emotions were shed and so many feelings were felt. the performance ended and the cast took their final bow. it was silent for 5 seconds then 10 about 1 minute passed and then someone stood

"thank you Jonathan Larson" and that caused everyone to stand and cheer.

the cast shuffled off the stage to change. Daphne was the first one changed and she made her way to Al who was standing talking to someone about the show.

Once everyone got out to the audience Al stopped and gathered them around him

"The show is going on as planned Johnny would have wanted it and everyone wants to see if you guys did amazing and everyone here can vouch for that" he paused "Jonathan picked you guys for a reason and now I see that you guys are spectacular go home get some sleep first show is at 4 tomorrow"

The show went on and boy was it a ride for the cast

{CHAPTER 1!}

 It had been such a busy eventful week for the rent cast. They had just been relocated to Broadway and it had been wonderful. Especially for Daphne and Adam. Today was a day Daphne being Daphne would normally lounge around before the performances of the day, but she couldn’t instead she was sitting in a chair in her dressing room being made up and having her hair done. The good part about but was Adam. He was her best friend and partner and crime yes, they constantly fought and made other uncomfortable with their antics but that's a good friendship for ya. Daphne had been talking to the makeup artist and then suddenly laughed hard thinking of something her and Adam had done the week before. Not even noticing him slip in until she heard his voice.

 "Hey, Daph, I didn't catch you this morning thought I'd do"

 Daphne took a deep breath "you didn't catch me at home because I crashed here"

 "you too lazy to walk the two blocks to your house?"

 "shut up!" she snapped "by the time I got everything set with Michael it was like 11 and I don't care if its 5 minutes down the street is not walking at 11 in the middle of fucking New York city" her face was flushed, and she was annoyed. "why did you even stop by my house anyway we usually meet up at the diner anyway. " she huffed

 "I wanted to surprise you and walk you here but to my disappointment, you're here instead of there but I still get to see your beautiful smile and your unruly hair so it’s okay,” Adam said trying to cover a snicker

 "Listen to buddy if you wanna go insult someone insult Anthony I'm not in the mood" Daphne snapped

 Adam backed up and threw his hands up "Oh god chill I was joking your hair is fluffy and I love it"

 Daphne just glared at him "shut up Adam or I swear I’ll slap the grin off your pretty boy front man face"

 Adam backed away and went to change into his clothes for the shoot. Daphne continued to sit in the chair as the hair stylists defrizzed her hair. She was happy to have the opportunity to be able to be in this play but the fact that just t he week before she- THEY had lost Jonathan and her and Adam were about to go promote this magical thing he wrote gave her the chills. Once she was done in the hair and makeup trailer she walked into Adam’s  

Adam looked up at her and smiled softly “You good honey?” he asked concerned for her wellbeing. He was especially worried about her since she’d been acting distant after Jonathan’s death. He knew everyone grieves differently but everyone was still acting like themselves and she wasn’t well around him she wasn’t at least

“I just don’t know how I should feel about doing this. He’s gone and we’re going out to talk about something that was his entire dream and entire life. It makes me think what if I got my dream to work but then die before it actually does would you and um Idina go and talk about it for me?’  Daphne rambled. She was nervous and kind of upset. She wanted to scream she wanted to throw things and run away but she stayed calm on the outside even if on the inside she was having an emotional breakdown

Adam walked to her and wrapped his arms around her he knew she was having a hard time coming to terms with Jonathan’s death but they all were, and he knew it. So, he did the one thing he could think of the stage all over again. Daphne kissed back and pulled away a few minutes after the kiss happened. Adam looked into her eyes. “I’m not sorry Daph, I love you.” He said softly and whole heartedly

 Daphne blushed and looked down at her hands and then shoved her hands into her pockets “I love you too Adam. I really do.” She said looking back up at him “I love your smile when you do something dumb I also love how amazingly supportive you are of everyone and I just love everything about you”

Just then Nan and Al walk in and the two-separate smiling knowingly at each other. “Oh, now what happened here” Nan asked jokingly but she was curious

“n-nothing we just we just “Adam blushed

“uh-huh” she said teasingly nodding her head

Daphne was bright red “Nothing happened we just talked about emotions and got caught in a whirlwind of emotions and stuff” she spoke quickly her nervousness rising by the minute she fidgited and looked around

Adam puts his arms around her

[frombellatoylva]

Rent (Movie)

I am an idiot. But I'll put that aside for the moment. To preface this review, I love musicals, anything big (other than "Cats" or other Andrew Lloyd Webber things) I've either helped crew, or seen, both, or have the Soundtrack. I wasn't sure how this one would turn out, sometimes the time musicals don't survive the transfer to screen. Though, now that I think of the bigger ones, they've been pretty well done, probably because the directors and producers are scared as hell at getting it wrong. Anyway, this was amazing, I'm not one for crying in movies (though I predict that "United 93" is gonna make me bawl) but parts of this one left a tear in my eye.

Most of the songs worked where they placed them, the biggest change being that 'Seasons of Love' was sung at the very beginning instead of the beginning of the second act. Mostly because there was no Act One, Act Two division in the movie. But it also worked, because it is one of the most well-known songs from "Rent" the Musical.

The best part of this movie were the voices. Who knew that Jesse L Martin could sing, I mean, really sing (I hate to say that when I first saw this movie, I did not know that he could). The songs stay with you throughout the entire movie, and just like a lot of the classic musicals, there are musical themes that run through the entire movie. And I could barely tell that there were two 'newbies' on the cast who hadn't been in the original Broadway cast. Tracie Thoms and Rosario Dawson were amazing as Joanne and Mimi. I believe that Fredi Walker, who previously played Joanne thought that she was too old to play the part in the movie, and Daphne Rubin-Vega who played Mimi in the Musical was pregnant. I only wish I had seen this one on the big screen. Maureen and Joanna facing off in Take Me or Leave me, and Angel strutting her stuff in Today 4 U on the big screen. Catch me, I think I'm having a heart attack.

Ah, and that's a good segue into my first sentence fragment, why am I an idiot. I never saw this in the theatre with the original cast. Hindsight is twenty, twenty. As long as you don't mind songs thrown into 'real life' here and there, and lots and lots of drama, Rent is an awesome movie to go see, or even... rent...

[sportticketexchange]

Euro 2020 – Remembering EURO 96 classics of Germany vs England

Home nation England were riding the crest of a wave at EURO '96 – at least until they met Germany in the semis. Euro 2020 fans can book England Vs Croatia Tickets on our website on exclusively discounted prices.

Context

'Football's Coming Home' – so went the song reverberating around England with ever increasing belief as EURO '96 unfolded. The hosts opened with a nervy 1-1 draw with Switzerland but a 2-0 win against Scotland followed by a barnstorming 4-1 success over the Netherlands sent them through to the quarter-finals in style. Victory over Spain on penalties only served to reinforce the view that this was their time.

Germany's path to the last four had been serene enough, group stage wins against Czech Republic (2-0) and Russia (3-0) preceding a goalless draw with Italy. They edged Croatia 2-1 in the quarter-finals to set up another meeting with England, against whom they had needed a penalty shoot-out to prevail at the same stage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

Key players

Andreas Möller: The man who struck the winning spot kick, Möller was one of the most talented playmakers of his generation. He made his name mostly with Borussia Dortmund and Juventus, winning European honours with both. A World Cup and EURO winner with Germany to boot, he's now involved in youth development.

Stefan Kuntz: Coach of his country's Under-21s since 2016, Kuntz was a prolific scorer in his playing days although his goal in this game was one of only six he registered for Germany. He holds the record for most German caps (25) without ever suffering defeat.

Gareth Southgate: The centre-back was reunited with Kuntz while coaching England U21s but has since been promoted to the senior job and widely praised for bringing through perhaps his country's most exciting crop of talent for years. His volunteering to take a spot kick underlined his character; subsequently he featured in a TV advert mocking that miss.

What happened

When Alan Shearer headed Terry Venables' side in front after three minutes, it seemed their momentum was such that nothing would stop them. It was not long, though, before Kuntz poked Germany level from close range. Teddy Sheringham, Shearer and Thomas Helmer all went close but extra time was required. Cue agony for England.

Darren Anderton hit a post and Paul Gascoigne was just centimetres from connecting on the goal line with Shearer's cross. Both teams had a 100% record in the ensuing shoot-out by the time Southgate stepped up for England's sixth penalty; it was saved, allowing Möller to win it for Germany.

Reaction

Andreas Köpke, Germany goalkeeper: "None of us could walk straight. The fight over 120 minutes was insane. England deserved it just as much as we did. Luck was on my side to save one of the penalties. All the previous ones had been taken really well."

Fredi Bobic, Germany striker: "I had goosebumps when the English fans were singing the anthem before the penalty shoot-out. It was an unbelievably tense atmosphere. We had so many injured players and we witnessed that not the best team wins, but the best squad."

Stefan Kuntz, Germany goalscorer: "England usually don't reach the fifth set of penalties. When they did, my heart was in my pants. I wanted to shoot it low but it went in high."

Terry Venables, England manager: "The players can be very proud of themselves, as can everyone who has been involved in the past five weeks. It's a shame not to get to the final, we've done our very best. I thought our performance in the second half was excellent and really we had the chances to finish it off in extra time. But it wasn't to be."

Aftermath

Oliver Bierhoff came off the bench to draw Germany level with Czech Republic in the final before winning them the trophy with a 95th-minute golden goal. The tournament marked the end of an era for England, with Glenn Hoddle already lined up to replace Venables regardless of how the team fared.

We are offering Euro Cup Tickets so Football fans can get Euro 2020 Tickets through our trusted online ticketing market place. SportTicketExchange.com is the most reliable source to book Euro Cup 2020 tickets.

[seethatgirl3]

Twins <George Weasley one shot>

Requested by: @likiyoshi-lijie

Request: What I was thinking is maybe you can write something like reader can't tell Fred and George apart. Because it's a George x Hufflepuff reader, so George thinks it's funny because his girlfriend can tell every colours with very similar values apart (she's very sensitive with colours), but still can't tell them apart. So Fred and George decided to pull a small prank and tease her. Like it's total fluff

Pairing: Reader x George

Warnings: none

A/n: THIS IS TERRIBLE! I am so sorry that this took forever I had literally 0 inspiration and I am soooo sorry!!! This is definitely not my best work but I hope you like it, if you don’t feel free to request something else I’m totally fine with that!

_______

You held your books tightly to your chest and continued down the long corridor towards the potions classroom. You found a comfort in the silence that was only disturbed by the sound of your shoes hitting the stone floor.

“Y/n!”

Your head swiveled around and you smiled at the sight of your boyfriend jogging down the hallway towards you. George Weasley. He was a fourth year like yourself and even though you had only been dating him for a couple weeks now, you felt like you had known him forever.

“Where are you off too?” George smiled, slowing his pace as he came to your side. “Potions...I wanted to be a little early so I get a good seat.” I continued walking and George nodded. “Well don’t forget you promised to help me with Transfiguration homework tonight, I hope you intend to keep that promise.” George nudged your shoulder lightly and you stifled a giggle.

“Don’t worry Weasley, I always keep my promises.”

“Right then! See you at Lunch!” George chirped. He pecked your cheek and turned around, walking back down the corridor you had just walked through.

You smiled to yourself, a glowing feeling erupting in your gut. You were looking down at your shoes, hiding your blush, as you rounded the corner and to your dismay, you ran straight into someone. “I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking and I -- George?” You furrowed your eyebrows at the sight of your boyfriend, his eyes wide and his lips pulled back in a smile.

“Funny running into you, love!” George smiled, a playful gleam in his eyes. “Where might you be runnin’ off to?”

You furrowed your eyebrows again and shook your head slightly. “Potions, I already told you that…”

“Oh, that you did. Sorry! See you at lunch then?” George asked.

“Yeah….how did you get here so fast? You left in the other direction…” I looked around the corner but saw nothing but walls and floor.

“Oh uh….Secret tunnels. They’re all over the school. I’ll show you some of em’ sometime.” George rubbed the back of his neck and smiled. “I’ve got to get to herbology, see you around.” George smiled before passing you and turning the corner, walking down the corridor for the second time. This wasn’t the first time that had happened. Ever since meeting George, you would see him everywhere. You would walk him to class but then bump into him as you walked to your class, You would be walking down the stairs and he would run up them only to run up them again two minutes later. He would often ask you questions twice and sometimes he would forget thing you told him but you just assumed that’s how it worked with George Weasley.

~

You pushed open the door to the Gryffindor common room where George said he would be.

“Thought you weren’t coming.” George smiled when he saw you. You placed the textbooks down on the table and sat down in the loveseat beside the fireplace.

“I keep my promises.” You shrugged, flipping the book open and searching for the pages required. The sound of footsteps coming from the staircase caught your attention and you lifted your head towards them. Instantly your eyebrows furrowed. George was standing on the stairs, a surprised expression on his face. But George was sitting across from you on the opposite loveseat.

“You didn’t say she was coming over.” George from the stairs said to George on the loveseat. “I did you buffoon. I said ‘Oi Fredy, Y/n is coming tonight to help me with homework, stay upstairs.’” George from the loveseat replied.

“There are two of you!” You nearly shouted. Everything began to make sense then. All of the times you bumped into him after dropping him off in class, there were two of them.

“Y/n, meet Fred, my twin brother.” George smiled and Fred came and sat next to him.

“All this time and you never told me you had a twin. I thought it was just you all the time! This makes so much more sense!” You sighed.

“We wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out.” George smiled. “But Fredy messed it up.”

“Yeah yeah she would have figured it out anyway, she’s smart.” Fred replied.

“Well now that all of this is cleared up and makes sense now, how bout we do some of this transfiguration homework.”

[mandibierly]

‘Planet Earth II’ Preview: Watch Leopards Hunt in the City of Mumbai

BBC America’s Planet Earth II comes to a dramatic conclusion on Saturday night with two of its most fascinating hours: the much-anticipated “Cities” episode (9 p.m. ET), which features our exclusive sneak peek above of a thermal camera capturing leopards prowling for domesticated pigs in Mumbai, India, followed by “The Making of Planet Earth II” (10 p.m. ET), which takes viewers into the field to reveal how some of the series’ most memorable moments, including that one, were filmed.

Here, “Cites” producer/director Fredi Devas and series executive producer Mike Gunton preview seven key sequences.

Leopards Snatch Piglets in Mumbai

It took cameraman Gordon Buchanan a month to successfully film the first-ever footage of leopards hunting in Mumbai, which has the highest concentration of leopards anywhere in the world. The elusive animals — which have attacked humans — use the cover of night and urban noise to stalk their preferred prey: pigs and stray dogs.

A team of Indian conservation scientists had set up remote control camera traps in the months prior to monitor the leopards’ movements, as did the Planet Earth II crew when they arrived. Each morning the camera trap footage would be checked and each night, Buchanan would decide where to set up his “hide,” a thinly-veiled location where he’d sit and wait with a thermal camera that captures body heat even through foliage.

A thermal camera captures the first footage of stealth leopards hunting in Mumbai (Credit: BBC)

“So Gordon would go out every single night and spend the entire night on his own just looking out for leopards,” says Devas. “At the time, I was filming another sequence with the Langurs up in Jodpur, so I thought that Gordon would have another person with him in the hide. But he knows leopards incredibly well, and he knows the risk he was taking, and he’s truly dedicated. He was the man for the job because he worked tirelessly every night to just keep his attention down there. There were nights that would pass where he wouldn’t see a leopard at all, and lots of nights where he’d just get little glimpses of them, and then all of a sudden something big would happen, like a predation, and then he would get to capture it.”

Yes, the footage of a successful hunt is heartbreaking (“I’ve seen a lot more footage than is in the sequence, so I know that on occasion the mother was able to defend her piglet and chase the leopard away, which was extraordinary,” Devas says), but livestock becoming prey is to be expected when humans bring so much into the city. What surprised Devas was seeing how close humans walk to leopards at night — whether or not they know it. “Mumbai has got over 20 million people living in that city. There have been nearly 200 attacks from leopards on people in the last 25 years. So this is something that the people are aware of, and yet they choose to live side by side with the leopard, even facing this enormous risk. I can’t think of another country that wouldn’t have darted those leopards and relocated them somewhere else. But instead, they maintain this policy of ‘Let’s learn form each other and let’s see if we can live harmoniously side by side,'” he says. “It’s not there yet, but they’re making extremely good progress.”

In Harar, Ethiopia, Yusef calls wild hyenas to his house and feeds them by hand (Credit: Fredi Devas)

Spotted Hyenas Peacefully Roam the Streets of Harar, Ethiopia

Odds are if you’ve seen spotted hyenas in most any other nature series, you are not a fan. But Planet Earth 2 shows a different side to them entirely. Two hyena clans fight each night outside the city wall of Harar, Ethiopia to see who will enter that evening and partake of the bones that butchers have tossed out on the street for them (a 400-year-old tradition) — and whatever scraps Yusef, pictured above, would like to hand feed them. Hyenas are the second largest land predator in Africa after the lion, and aren’t above grabbing small children in other villages, but they seem to have an unspoken agreement with the residents of Harar, who invite them in because they believe they also eat the bad spirits that haunt the streets.

A pair of spotted hyenas search for scraps of food on the streets of Harar (Credit: Paul Thompson)

Devas had to see the hyenas himself to believe it. When he was younger, he was on a walking safari in Uganda with a friend and a guide when two spotted hyenas started circling them as they were headed back to camp. “I turned to the guide and said, ‘Do you have any bullets for that gun?’ And he said, ‘No,’ which was what I was anticipating. And I said, ‘Well, should we run?’ And he said, ‘Yes,’ so we legged it all the way back to camp. I mean we were really quite terrified of these hyenas getting closer and closer,” he says. “And so I went to Harar, and on my first night that I was there, I was on my own, and it was four o’clock in the morning, and I turned down this very dark, narrow alleyway and eight hyenas started coming towards me. They walked straight past me and two of them brushed my leg. And at that point, I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ I’m on my own, and if they turn on me I’m finished in seconds, and I’m a good-sized meal for those hyenas. But it was extraordinary that they could come that close but that was not on their minds. And that’s what made me realize that this really was a peaceful pact between man and beast in this city.”

Devas spoke with the mayor of Mumbai who had street lights fixed so that his crew would have enough light to film the hyenas’ walk using the latest 4K low-light cameras. But he didn’t foresee another issue: “So much of the animal behavior in cities happens at night, and so you find yourself up at four o’clock in the morning regularly trying to film this behavior and then you meet a lot of interesting characters. There was one particular time where I had to deal with a man who was inebriated for a very, very long time,” he says. “He kept wanting to help, and then wanting to question [what we were doing]. It was a funny situation where you’re surrounded by hyenas but actually the major risk is the mood that you find a passerby in. But really, the overall sentiment was just being amazed at how generous people were with allowing us access to their houses and their gardens as we’re filming wild animals walking through their streets.”

A group of Rhesus macaques make their way across Jaipur, India (Credit: BBC)

Rhesus Macaques Go the Market in Jaipur, India

Macaques in Jaipur do not have a pact with the market vendors and customers they steal from on a daily basis. The brazen thieves take the same route each day through the city, which meant the crew could plan ahead to follow them on foot, in vehicles, and, most impressively, by rigging a camera to a cable dolly that went from rooftop to rooftop. “We were mainly based around a house that has been claimed by the macaques — these macaques have moved in, that’s where they sleep at night, indoors, and then when the sun rises they wake up and they head out to the market,” Devas says. “We were able to get to know their movements through the city, their patterns. So that’s when we could go to certain households and say, ‘Well, we’d love to rig a cable dolly from your rooftop to your rooftop.’ And in India, it is amazing how generous people are with just letting you walk up, through their houses, and rig stuff up. And they come and help you. They’re very interested in the shots that you’re getting, they’re interested in the monkeys and the way we’re filming them, and how we’re going to show them. So that was great. It was a really enjoyable shoot.”

Hanaman Langurs Fight for The Good Life in Jodpur, India

This is arguably the best action sequence of the hour. A group of bachelor langurs gang up to try to overthrow the alpha male who rules Jodpur. Why? Because langurs are revered within the temple gardens and are given all the food they can eat. The female langurs are so well nourished they produce twins, unlike their forest counterparts. The langurs proved more of a challenge for the crew than the macaques. “We’d see where they went to sleep and then we’d knock on the door of a house nearby and say, ‘Please, can we come up on to your roof before dawn tomorrow?’ And most often they’d say, ‘Yes,’ so that’s where we’d be. And then they’d leave their sleeping tree and start to walk across the city. Now they take all kinds of paths. And when the fights happen they can go anywhere and everywhere,” Devas says. “They’d chase off a roof and we’d have to run down five stories through someone’s house, run along the street looking up, seeing if we could see langurs jumping across the rooftops, get an idea of where they were going, knock on the door and say, ‘Please, please, please, can we just run up through your house, get onto your rooftop?’ And generally people were very, very generous with that. Up we’d go, and nine times out of 10 they’d be somewhere else, so we’d run back down again.”

When the alpha male got injured, Devas knew where they had to be. “At that point we just had to stick really close to his dominant female, and all the fighting tended to happen around them,” he says. “So then we were able to get these handheld shots of the monkeys jumping right over us. I mean at one point, they did this enormous leap of six meters, one after the other, and the alpha male brushed past my shoulder as he did it. We were filming on these incredibly wide lenses where you can’t really get a shot unless they’re jumping ridiculously close to you, but they were doing it without batting an eyelid. They weren’t interested in us at all; they just were interested in what was going on in the fight.”

Peregrine falcons get ready to prey on pigeons in New York City (Credit: BBC)

Peregrine Falcons Love New York’s Pigeons

So fun fact: The highest concentration of the world’s fastest bird, the peregrine falcon, is in New York City. Why? “They’re more successful here than anywhere else in the world because of the super-abundance of prey and the fact that the skyscrapers mimic the landscapes in which they evolved, which is cliffs,” Gunton says. Planet Earth II is the first to capture a sequence of successful pigeon hunting at 186 mph, but it wasn’t easy.

It took Devas nine months to secure permission to film from Manhattan rooftops, partly because it required access to so many buildings — you know where the nest sites are on the skyscrapers but not which direction the birds will fly off in — and because, well, this is New York. “When me made those initial phone calls, if we said, ‘Can we come up to your roof and film?’ the regular response would be, ‘Absolutely, sure. It’s $10,000 an hour.’ And we’d go, ‘Well, that’s fantastic. We’d like to come up for many many days throughout a month and be there for hours and hours at a time, and we’d like to do it for free, if we can, please,'” he says. “It’s that process of back and forth, back and forth, and actually, so many of the buildings were incredibly generous with supporting our project and allowing us to be on their rooftops for free or just a small contribution towards security needed to allow us access, and that was really fantastic. So it took a lot of time but we got it in the end.”

Hawksbill sea turtle hatchlings, disorientated by the city lights, make their way into beachside towns (Credit: BBC)

Hawksbill Sea Turtle Hatchlings Get Turned Around in Barbados

Warning: this is the hour’s top tearjerker. Turtle hatchlings are supposed to follow the light of the full moon reflecting off the water down the beach to the ocean, but now, 80 percent of the hatchlings at one beach get disoriented by the lights of the town and head up the beach instead — meaning many get eaten by crabs who make their burrows directly underneath the beach lights, or hit by cars while cross the road or parking lots, or trapped in storm drains. “That was probably the most direct conservation message in the whole series, the fact that there’s this direct outcome from human activity, what happens when you get beach-side development swamped by lights,” Gunton says. “We did work with a conservation organization who does a lot of great working rescuing them. One of the reasons why we knew where this was happening is that they’re monitoring this all the time. The adults come ashore, they lay their eggs in the sand, and you just have to sit and wait until the eggs hatch. Then when they hatch, you can try and intervene and pick them up and turn them round. But it’s quite tricky, because of course they’ll keep turning round and coming back again.”

It was a crucial sequence for Devas. “I was really keen to work on the ‘Cities’ film because it’s such a fresh and new and exciting area of research — looking at cities as a habitat for wildlife — but I couldn’t make a film that was just going to say, ‘Wow, look at these extraordinary and surprising examples of how animals are overcoming the challenges of living in the urban environment.’ There are those amazing examples of peregrines and leopards and hyenas not just surviving, but thriving in the city. But it would’ve been really naïve to say, ‘It’s just a great habitat,'” he says. “And so it was really important to have a sequence that was in birth emblematic for so many species who have suffered enormously at the expansion of cities. I think the turtle hatchlings really did that because it’s just such a terribly sad story. We need to really pay attention and be much more considerate with how we design our cities so that we have as little negative impact on the wildlife that surrounds it. And then for the wildlife that comes into the city — there are so many studies now showing the mental health benefits for us from maintaining a proximity to nature within a city. I think over the next few years it will become more and more paramount to keep greenery for wildlife within our cities so that people can stay sane.”

A Great Bowerbird attempts to impress a potential mate by showing off his most prized object in Australia (Credit: BBC)

Great Bowerbirds Steal Hearts in Townsville, Australia

Now this may be the most charming sequence (and David Attenborough narration) in the entire series. To attract mates, male bowerbirds spend their time pimping out their bowers (aka love nests) with eye-catching objects — colored string, a plastic fork, a toy car. Devas’s team worked with a local academic and birdwatchers to map out the best ones. “They’re just fascinating birds because they’re so intelligent, and all of their bowers have a different artistic style to them,” he says. “We needed to find our key character. The males can live to 25. It tends to be that the much older males have bigger, more impressive bowers, and they tend to do more stealing from each other. So we knew of a bower with a scarlet heart in it — that was just too good not to have our cameras there.”

The sequence is so good, in fact, we won’t even spoil the twist ending.

Planet Earth II‘s “Cities” episode airs March 25 at 9 p.m., immediately followed by “The Making of Planet Earth II,” on BBC America.

Read more from Yahoo TV’s ‘Planet Earth II’ Coverage: ‘Planet Earth II’ Preview: Love and (Near) Death in the Grasslands ‘Planet Earth II’ Preview: Giraffe vs. Lioness in the Desert ‘Planet Earth II’ Heads to the ‘Jungles’: Producers Preview 7 Moments ‘Planet Earth II’ Producers Preview Must-Watch ‘Mountains’ Moments ‘Planet Earth II’ Executive Producer Mike Gunton Previews Top ‘Islands’ Moments

[ask-the-agencies]

to whoever wants to answer. 💙❤️💕(if anyone ((and everyone if u wanna)) who has a lover/crush)

Heart Asks- Characters Chosen from Random

💙- A sad memory thatmakes them cry

Skipper

 I thought I was going mad.

There I sat in my hospital bed, surrounded by the hauntingand monotonous beeps of the machines in the room. My own pulse also added intothe noise, but it was the others that really got to me.

I looked to my side. There, sitting perfectly aligned withmy own bed were three others. Right next to me, Kowalski.

I watched him, seeing the soft rise and fall of his chest ashe breathed. Around his face were bruises and bandages that covered cuts. Hiseyes were completely wrapped all around, hair poking out of the bandages.

I shuddered, thinking back to the blurry memories thattroubled the back of my mind. I hold myself to keep in my emotions. I looked tothe next hospital bed. Rico.

There he was, unconscious in an oversized hospital gown.Under them and the sheets, I could see the bandages that wrapped around hischest. Under them, I knew would be scars and stitches. He was hooked up to amachine that helped him breathe, when the nurses told me his lungs were damagedbeyond repair. When they broke the news to me that he might have to be… boundto…

Hrk

 “Stop thinking about it! Stop it!” I thought to myself,holding my mouth shut.

I forced myself to move my eyes away from him. There, on thefarthest bed, was little Private.

Oh god, Private.

Just like Kowalski and Rico, he was decorated with bandages.His injuries were too brutal for a five-year old to have to handle- he wasnearly dead when we arrived. He’s only lucky to be in ‘somewhat stableconditions’ now because Nigel was available for a blood transfusion.

But what got to me, somuch was the wrapping on his shoulder.

It wrapped around his shoulder. And only his shoulder.

I began to feel my face heating up, hot tears finallybreaking through the dam. I held my head in my arms, hands grabbing tightlyonto hair as I tried desperately to stop the feelings.

There I sat in my bed, only having been put into the systembecause of a gash on my side. There I sat, awake while my brothers fought fortheir lives. There I sat, the one with the least casualties.

It should have been me.I’m their older brother! I shouldhave been the one to protect, to have kept them safe from the injuries theyhave now! But here I am crying! Because what else can I do?!

I failed my mission as their big brother.

——-

[Skipper] This may not have been a proper memory… but it was something I was forced to believe Ilived through, if you know what I mean. Every once in a while… it comes back tohaunt me as a thought.

 ❤️- A happy memory that makesthem smile

Manfredi

 [Manfredi] A memory that makes me smile? Well… can’t justname one but…

I remember, it was at our base.

It was a stormy night, and the thunder would roar loudlyevery few minutes, a bright light coming along.

Johnson, Nigel and I had just come home from a mission, justrelaxing in front of the warm fireplace.

Now, the reason the others weren’t with us for the missionwas because they were… uh.

They were aged back.

It was an after-effect of an encounter with Dr. Blowhole. Wefigured it should wear off in a few days. And sure, Kowalski’s turned Skipperinto a kid before a while back, but this time, they had no memories other thanthe ones they had when they were that age.

Basically, they were all Private’s age, except Private. He’snow the equivalent to an infant of maybe a few months.

Anyways, the three of us were there, thinking that the fourwere all asleep in their room. Until, we heard a cry, and in a snap, we alljumped out of our seats and were running towards their room.

There, in the room, the four had all moved from their bunksand all gathered onto one. On top of one of the low bunks, was a trembling bumpunder the blanket.

“Guys? Are you okay?” I heard Johnson ask, flicking thelight switch. But no light came. He flicked it again and again, before givingup. “I guess the lightning might have blown a fuse in this room’s electricity.”

Slowly, we walked towards them, Nigel taking the blanket andlifting it to have a head pop out from under it. And then two other heads didso similarly.

“’Fredi!” yelled the middle one.

He yanked the blanket off himself and practically threwhimself into my arms. I yelped, caught off guard from the sudden need to catchthe child.

There, arms clinging tightly around my neck was a youngerSkipper. I glanced at the other two. Private was picked up by Nigel, whocradled him in his arms to stop his crying. Johnson held a hand out to Kowalskiand Rico, who both grabbed it. He ruffled their hairs before scooping them upwith both his arms.

God, they were all so cute! I still couldn’t get over beingable to care for them in their youth again.

A small voice broke out, a bit nervous. “Ca- can we notsleep here tonight? It’s really scary outside and-and-” Kowalski asked,trembling from anxiety.

I couldn’t help but chuckle. I looked down at Skipper, whoalso seemed to have the same question. “Of course,” I stopped, thinking beforeproposing a small solution. “How about sleeping with us on the couch tonight?There’s still light there, and it won’t be as scary,” I grinned, lookingtowards Johnson and Nigel, “especially with your big brothers around to protectyou all. How about it, little soldiers?”

A suddenly rowdy Skipper and Rico nodded, Skipper chimingin, “Sleep over!” a few times.

And just like the plan, we all slept away on the cough, agiant blanket draped over all of us. As well as them. Aside from Private whoslept in Nigel’s arms, Kowalski, Skipper, and Rico were sleeping on us. Skipperwas on my chest, Rico with his head on Johnson’s lap and Kowalski leaning onhis side as he made a small burrow in the couch between Johnson and me.

—-

[Manfredi] If you don’t understand why this memory is one ofmany that makes me smile, I don’t think you know how much I love my brothers,haha!.

 💕- A memory about theirsignificant other

Prancer (Only musethat has a close one lmao)

We were all out for training for the upcoming mission with Santaon Christmas, when suddenly, while leading in the front, Donner was shot with asort of electrifying dart that shocked his body so strongly he fell unconsciousin seconds.

Before Blitzen or I could have gotten to him, we too weredone so similarly. I passed out from the pain too, but I have no doubts thatthe others were also victim to this assaulter.

I woke up. Everything all around was so blurry! But when myeyes finally adjusted, a glance down and I gasped, horrified.

I was pinned onto a metallic bed-like surface, angled tohave me tilted. I struggled against the cold metal that held my arms down, butit was hopeless.

Suddenly, a screen in front of me lit up, showing the faceof a man as he grinned into the camera wickedly.

“Good morning, sunshine! Sonice of you all to finally be awake!” he said.

All? my eyes widened in realization. Are my brothers andsisters also in the same situation as me somewhere else?

He started talking again, and I listened.

“You all may be wondering why you are all here? Hm?” hecontinued. “Well, for years you reindeer have done one main thing in thisworld. Happiness! You are the bringers of joy to the people every Christmas.But you see,” he stopped. He turned around, a button coming onto the screen aswell.

“I don’t like that. So. I need you all to be erased fromthis world and replaced,” he pressedthe red button.

…And I was released? I looked around, walking towards thebars. No one in sight.

I put my finger to the tip of my nose, to teleport a fewfeet outside the bars. Instead, however, my body was met with painful shocks asI was unable to get past an invisible barrier guarding the cell.

I staggered, holding my head in pain.

“SSST!”

I looked up quickly. There, coming out from an automateddoor as it hissed up, was a figure.

It was me!

Without a second to lose, it darted towards me, and I pushedmyself off the bars and out of its way. There it stood, battle stance ready asit eyed me down.

“Either lose or fight for your lives, Bells,” the man’s voicespoke one last time, but sounded more like he was interrupted as the sound cutto static.

 I gulped. I don’t knowhow to fight.

 So naturally, my only resort was to dodge. But the plan soonbecame ineffective. After evading hits and punches, it finally caught me. Forwhat seemed like eternity, I endured painful hits, ones that would surelybruise. Finally, I could no longer stand. I stayed on the ground, panting.

It made its way to me, only to pin me to the floor with onearm, the other turning into a sharp blade. And with one swift motion, impaledits left into my stomach.

 I cried out in pain, and with pain finally overrunning me, Ipassed out.

For maybe a second.

In the next moment, I was on the ground, a warm liquidclimbing up my shirt as it spewed out. I opened my eyes, slightly to justbarely see the new scene.

There, in front of me, a new figure had broken into mycell.  He, too, dodged the fast moves ofthe robot. Suddenly, when moving out of the way from a punch to his head, hegot low on the ground, and forcefully swept his leg behind the robot, knockingit to the ground. And in the same moment, before the bot could get up, he heldit down, and punched a fist into its back and pulled out something, and justlike that it was deactivated and motionless.

The man turned his attention to me, and quickly made hisway. He sat me up, back against the cold wall. I could see his face now.

“Are you okay? I’m sorry it took us a while to save youguys, but please just hang in tight until we can get proper medical equipment!”he said to me, hands on my shoulder.

Before I could respond, my tiredness ran over me, and again,I passed out.

When I awoke, I was met with his face again.

“Prancer? Oh, thank goodness, you’re awake!” he said as helooked down at me from the bed I was on.

My mind was numb. I had no desire to think of who he was.“You are…?”

“Oh! I-um, I’m Kowalski! I’m part of the Tux brothers, but Idon’t think you and I have ever properly met,” he explained to me, scratchingthe back of his neck.

“Where are the others?”

He thought for a second. “Your siblings are, for the mostpart, okay. I believe you’re the only one whose droid pulled its knife on you.”

I thought of another question. “How did you know where wewere? That we were in danger?”

“Santa called us for help when you guys never came back toyour home. Upon seeing camera footage, he saw what happened,” answering fully.

I couldn’t help but feel a tang in my chest. Anotherquestion. “You… You saved my life?”

He looked surprised, slightly hurt, but surprised. “Ofcourse, why wouldn’t I?”

“Our families hated each other.”

“They did, but not anymore! Remember last year when wefinally settled the dispute at Madagascar? We’re friends now, and our duty isto protect those on our side from, well, evil,” he explained.

“Friends?”

“Yes, friends. I mean, at least from my side, and I hope youwould too,” he answered, tone going a bit sad.

I sat up suddenly to stop his idea that I meant I did nottheir friendship, but then a sharp pain ran through my stomach. I clutched it,wheezing and a pained tear welling up from the corner of my eye.

I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder, gently pushing meback to rest on the pillow. “Please, don’t move like that! You have a woundthere that you can easily rip open again! You don’t want to lose blood again!”he scolded. But to me… it was in an overwhelmingly caring and concerned way.

Later on in the night, my siblings would come in one by one,usually to embrace me tightly as relief came over them that “I was finallyawake.”

However, it was Donner, the first to come in, that gaverapidly spread their rumor.

Before he left the room, leaving me and Kowalski, he winkedat me. Oh god he knows.

And everyone else after that would do the same, or throwhints at Kowalski, but would always go over his head.

I had a crush on the smarty Tux brother, who saved my life,and stayed with me through the night.

——

[Prancer] Yes, it’s a bit of a dark memory considering whathappened to us, but… that was the  first dayI ever talked to Kowalski, and from then on only grew closer together.

[Donner] And yet, here you two are, and he’s still asclueless as ever. How much closer do you need to be until you two get together?

[Prancer] Donner, please.

[jabbubab]

28-38 hoe

Thank you bish <3

28. Opinion on Geoff?

Since Geoff got sober and took his sabatical he became one the best content creators for AH. Like he was still great before but seeing him relaxed and happy and healthy and able to open up and be such an emotional spokesperson in their worst times, ugh I love the man. The most recent Off Topic sums up who Geoff is and how honest he is and how can you not love the OG

29. Opinion on Jack?

low-key favourite because he’s so loving and warm and sweet and kind and probably the best out-and-out human being at rooster teeth. His charity stuff, his stance on hate and especially sexism or racism is golden and he’s so quick to adopt the others. Pappa Jack the mother goose

30. Opinion on Ryan?

Daddy Ryan is my favourite and you can never take him away from me. No one man should have the power of big dad energy and big dick energy in the same package. His gimmick of being the mad king is my favourite of the group too and all his live-action stuff is gold and he missed his calling as an actor at some point

31. Opinion on Gavin?

ABSOLUTE DUMBASS that is also a scientist and is super smart?? sign me the fuck up for that. Like TTT is definitely his best game for sheer dumbassery and fooling around but he takes all the British jokes like a champ and joins in with them and that makes it even better - sometimes I wish he didn’t have so many projects at once so he could be in more videos

32. Opinion on Michael?

Apart from when he’s too loud for my little baby ears, Micoo is perfect in every way. It definitely feels like since he had kids he calmed down and he just seems to genuinely enjoy the group and laughs at their jokes all the time which makes them feel more at ease and Rage Quit needs to come back for more episodes to give him a chance to shout like the old Michael

33. Opinion on Jeremy?

Second favourite after Ryan because he’s just so quick and witty and his website puns are the best thing that happened to AH but also like Jack he’s just a super nice and understanding human being and it shines through. Drunk Jeremy is a different story tho. That dude scares me. The battle buddies are my favourite team though

34. Opinion on Lindsay?

Queen of cats and chaos whats not to love?? Like the hate she gets for being bad at games is stupid and at this point she pretty obviously plays up how bad she is sometimes to make people mad because she loves that shit. But put her in a lets roll or a game where she has the power like Stardew Valley and its glorious fun. They need more Chaos Corner

35. Opinion on Matt?

Matt deserved his move to the main room end of discussion he worked so hard to get into AH and worked so hard once he was there and he has an amazing dynamic in the group so even when they’re ‘bullying’ him you can tell its done in fun and they love him. Needs to see a doctor though dude. That cough aint normal

36. Opinion on Trevor?

Not my favourite but the more I think about the more I realise how important he is because he sort of brings the best out of everyone else. Like Fredo and Jeremy would lose out big time if Trevor wasn’t in videos - also the lion king bit from sky factory is enough to make him awesome. I just wish sometimes he would take a step back in videos and not take over straight away but then he is kinda the boss so

37. Opinion on Alfredo?

Up and down with Fredy-Do because if he doesn’t like the game they’re playing he tends to not be great but then he always has some great moment in each video, no video is ever worse for having The Sauce in it. Also him and Trevor are such a good team

38. Opinion on Fiona?

LIL MARSHMALLOW CHILD THAT NEEDS PROTECTING AND LOVING we love our gay queen Po. The last few weeks especially she’s been slaying it in videos and the Off Topic proved how smart and thoughtful she is but also how much she deserves to be in AH and long may she reign

[javiermoor4680-blog]

Nfl Picks Against The Unfold For Christmas Weekend  All  Nfl Lines Outlined

This Kansas City Kansas year's pleasure is currently developing, it has been 1 'helluva scorching yr' and no pun is meant, for the women's flat monitor. Throughout a 4-7 days period, the leading 10 groups in every of the 4 WFTDA areas competing in regional playoff tournaments for a chance to advance to the WFTDA Championship. Just some thing about performing that tends to make their title just that much more distinctive. We will run down a list of names and maybe some of them will capture your interest. Now if your preferred quarterback is outlined and your spouse doesn't like that specific boy name, perhaps you can convince her to choose one of the other quarterback names. Understand, the NFL was a mans game then. Herb did not go on the disabled checklist, nor cry to the coaches to sit him out. The Redskins just strapped his arm, by tape, about his waist. He was ready to go. In 1815, the Business made its initial trip from New Orleans to Louisville. On August two, 1817 the Zebulon M Pike produced its first trip to St. Louis from the mouth of the Ohio river. It was the initial steamboat to do so. From just about the time the final whistle was heard on DC United's 1- win at Chicago last Saturday, the news has been all poor for the club. There was the scrap between goalkeeper Josh Wicks and teammate Marc Burch at the end of that match. Then there was the 2-one Kansas City Kansas to Seattle at RFK in the Open Cup last, in which Wicks was sent off for a stomp to Sounders forward Fredy Montero. Then, the information arrived yesterday that defender Dejan Jakovic is out of the lineup because of to a hernia. Portland ultimately pulled 1 back when Bright Dike redirected a pass just inside the Kansas City Kansas publish for his first career objective. That was all the offense that Portland could muster prior to time ran out. "Last week these trees were nearly bare. A strong wind swept away the dry leaves and now, with in depth watering, they're growing new leaves," he said. This nursery uses river birch, he ongoing, trees need more water than other birch. San Francisco, California: The oldest and biggest celebration west of the Mississippi. The parade marches along to trolley tracks. There is a post parade party for the whole family members. This event attracts much more than a millions individuals. It is billed as 1 of the most fashionable parades in the country. Saturday, March 17 Kansas City Missouri : eleven:30 am. From just about the time the last whistle was listened to on DC United's one- win at Chicago final Saturday, the news has been all bad for the club. There was the scrap between goalkeeper Josh Wicks and teammate Marc Burch at the end of that match. Then there was the two-1 to Seattle at RFK in the Open Cup last, in which Wicks was sent off for a stomp to Sounders ahead Fredy Montero. Then, the information arrived yesterday that defender Dejan Jakovic is out of the lineup due to a hernia. The atrocities dedicated towards United States servicemen by Communist forces are some thing that every American ought to know about the Korean War. The torture, murder, and brutalization of American troopers at the hands of their Chinese and North Korean captors was documented in December of 1953 by a committee headed by Michigan Senator and World War II veteran Charles E. Potter. 20 9 witnesses had been called throughout the hearings, with twenty three of them becoming both victims or eyewitnesses to what every American ought to know about the Korean War. Henderson (23) is one of the forwards FC Kansas City Kansas really needed to include. She scored 70 objectives for Note Dame and was drafted second general in the 2012 WPS draft (powering Sydney Leroux). She has appeared with the U.S. National group at the U-sixteen, U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels and played on four various continents. Herb then was utilized as the primary ball provider in the final sport of the period against the Buffalo Bills. Buffalo featured Hall Of Fame Operating Back Kansas City Missouri O.J. Simpson, and Mul-important would finish up matching him stride for stride. I thought from the opening whistle we looked strong. 1 of our goals was to attempt to get not only the initial shot but get the initial couple attacks on them quickly to place them under stress and to make them really feel us. I believed we had been fairly harmful. The other factor for us was to attempt and get the first goal and get it early so that we would open up up some other possibilities especially early simply because I think they would get nervous particularly playing absent from home and getting the last result exactly where they had been down as well. The Royals favor the home lumber. Consider Billy Butler, for instance, hits at a .388 clip with two house operates and 9 RBI at home but bats a measly .186 with no homers and 4 RBI away from "The K". Catcher John Buck is hitting .290 at home where he has also blasted three homers and knocked in 14 operates on the period. Absent from home, however, Buck is a .143 hitter with only 1 extra foundation hit and three RBI. As a team the Royals possess a .347 on base percentage compared to a .318 OBP on the road. Even the strikeout price appears better at house. Normal lineup contributors Mark Teahen and Mike Aviles have 33 mixed strikeouts in absent games. Within the friendly confides of their home park, though, that number falls to fourteen.

[theperipateticelder]

Day 5:  San Gimignano/ Castellina/ Castello di Monsanto

Today we explored the wine country of Chianti.  After breakfast, we headed to San Gimignano, with 14 stone towers. San Gimignano is an extraordinary example of medieval town planning. We strolled through the streets to the Piazza della Cisterno.

The archway Arco dei Becci e Cugnanesi leads to Piazza della Cisterna. The most beautiful square of the town, it was originally lined with workshops and taverns. In the middle there is an octagonal travertine well that gives the name to the square. The well was built in 1273 and enlarged in 1346 by Podestà Guccio dei Malavolti, whose coat of arms - a ladder - is engraved on the stone walls of the well. Originally its name was Piazza delle Taverne, then Piazza dell'Olmo, because of the huge elm tree that dominated the square. Piazza della Cisterna has a timeless magical atmosphere that brings visitors back in time.

Then we went on to the Piazza del Duomo.  The Piazza Duomo is still the heart of San Gimignano, just as it was the center of political and religious life in the Middle Ages.  It is a brick, trapezoid-shaped space with a slight slope.  Three important medieval buildings face one another here: On the north side, projecting up into the sky, are the Torri Gemelle dei Salvucci. On the opposite side is the Palazzo Nuovo del Potestà with the Loggia del Comune. Beside it is the massive Torre Grossa.  The most imposing building is the Collegiata or Duomo; it is at the center, overpowering the piazza with its bulk as it sits on high atop a stairway.  The Collegiatagives its name to the

piazza and has been there since the 11th century. In the first half of the 13th century, during the period of greatest economic prosperity, the piazza assumed the appearance it still has today. The main public buildings were built here, and the façade of the Duomo was rotated to face the Palazzo Vecchio del Potestà.

Then we toured the Civic Museum, the Museo Civici, which is a complex made up of the Palazzo Comunale and the Torre Grossa.  The palazzo Comunale contains a room that still preserves the 14thcentury frescoes by Memmo di Filipuccio and Azzo di Masetto.  The second floor houses works by Lippo Memmi and masterpieces by Sienese and Florentine painters from the 13th to the 15th century, such as Filippino Lippi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Benedetto da Maiano and Pinturicchio.

Next we explored the Museo Archeologico which documents the origins of the city.  The Spezieria di Santa Fina has pharmacy vases that still hold medicinal preparations from the 14thcentury.  On our free time, Laura and I toured the Duomo.  We were not allowed to take pictures.  The walls were covered with frescos depicting the stories from the Old Testament on one side of the nave and the New Testament on the other, dating from the 1300s.  The artists were Lippo Memmi and Bartolo di Fredi.  In its Chapel of Santa Fina are frescos by Domenico  Ghirlandaio (1475).  Santa Fina as a girl was afflicted with a fatal illness and chose to spend her days lying on a wooden board.  At the moment of her death, yellow violas blossomed from the board. The town boasted the best Gelatto, so many stopped for some.  I abstained.

From San Gimignano, we journeyed along the Chianti Road to Castellina for a wonderful lunch at Il Fondaccio Dottori. Again there was so much food we couldn’t begin to eat it all.  We sat at a long table overlooking the Tuscan countryside.  

After lunch, it was off to Castello di Monsanto for a tour of the winery and wine tasting.  The soil in the area is full of fossils, which makes it perfect for growing the Chianti grape.  Etruscan paintings and pottery suggest that these original setters were the first to domesticate the grape vines growing wild across the sunny, rolling hills.  Reverences to the high quality of Tuscan wines date from Greek writers of the third century B.C.  This winery has the largest reserve of Chianti Classico in the region.  This is a family winery.  We walked through the vaults where the wine is aged and learned the process.  The patriarch stores 100 bottles of Chianti Classico for each grandchild when they are born to receive when they turn 18.  The name and date of birth are on the grille.  The grounds are lovely and everyone thought it would be a great wedding venue.  We tasted five different wines they produce.  I would have bought some, but the shipping for six bottles was $75, in addition to the cost of the wine.

When we returned to the hotel we had a lecture on “A Contemporary View of Italy”.  The lecturer discussed the current social, political, and economic concerns as well as Italy’s view of the European Union. After the lecture Alice, Susan and I went to the same restaurant Lyn and Catherine and I went to earlier up the street. This time we got to sit outside on the top of the restaurant.  The evening was clear and warm.  It was lovely.

[365footballorg-blog]

This Week in MLS - June 25, 2018

Kelvin Kuo-USA Today Sports Images

June 25, 20182:48PM EDT

This Week in MLS – June 25, 2018

Mexico’s MLS trio to face Sweden’s Svensson in final World Cup group stage match

MLS Cascadia clash to follow World Cup Group Stage on FOX

Timbers Goalkeeper Publishing “Nursery Rhymes with a Sports Emphasis”

2018 MLS All-Star Fan XI heavy on World Cup, National Team talent, League award winners

MLS Referees shining in World Cup competition

MLS Week 18: Match Notes

Mexico’s MLS trio to face Sweden’s Svensson in final World Cup group stage match

Mexico and Sweden have produced two of the most dramatic moments at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with MLS players featuring for both sides in the tournament’s thrilling play. The two nations will face off in a decisive final match of group play on Wednesday (10 a.m. ET, FOX / Telemundo), with both sides needing a positive result to secure advancement into the Round of 16. An MLS player from either country is guaranteed to advance into the next round, while both countries could advance pending results of Germany’s match against South Korea kicking off simultaneously.

Los Angeles Football Club midfielder Carlos Vela has shined in the World Cup, starting both of Mexico’s matches and scoring the first goal in a 2-1 victory over South Korea with a penalty kick in the 26th minute. Vela subbed out in the 77th minute in favor of LA Galaxy midfielder Giovani dos Santos, who appeared in his third World Cup and helped Mexico close out South Korea to remain perfect in the tournament. LA Galaxy midfielder Jonathan dos Santos, meanwhile, could see his first World Cup action against Sweden.

The Mexican MLS trio will face off against Seattle Sounders FC midfielder Gustav Svensson, who came off the bench to help secure a 1-0 victory over South Korea in the team’s opening match. Sweden narrowly upset Germany on Saturday only for the reigning World Cup champions to strike back with a stoppage-time winner.

Svensson’s Sweden squad will have to hold off a Mexico attack that has been spearheaded by Vela, leading to consecutive World Cup wins for the first time since 2002. A win or draw would guarantee first place in the group for Mexico, while a multi-goal win would place Sweden in prime position to advance to the Round of 16 for the first time since the 2006 World Cup, its last time in the tournament.

MLS Cascadia clash to follow World Cup Group Stage on FOX

World Cup action precedes one of the most storied rivalries in MLS with the 101st all-time meeting between Cascadia foes Seattle Sounders FC and the Portland Timbers at CenturyLink Field on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET on the FOX broadcast network.

Dating back to 1975, this rivalry has had seen some thrillers, and notably some recent magic from Sounders FC forward Clint Dempsey, who last week tied Fredy Montero for the club’s MLS goal-scoring record. Currently sitting on 47 Seattle finishes, Dempsey’s rivalry magic began with a 2014 hat-trick that produced a 4-4 draw off of a down-to-the-wire, 87th-minute finish that sealed the dramatic comeback. Dempsey has a knack for scoring in the rivalry, with his nine goals against Portland over the last four seasons (2014-2017) accounting for more goals than against any other club in his MLS career.

Sounders FC hold an all-time 9-6-6 advantage in addition to an undefeated 7-0-3 home record over the Timbers in MLS heads-to-heads. However, Portland is on a hot streak of 11 games unbeaten in all competitions and nine in MLS regular season action. For a matchup that has drawn four of the five largest home crowds in Sounders FC club history, will Dempsey fuel the resurgence for Sounders FC, or could the Timbers extend their league-leading unbeaten streak?

Timbers Goalkeeper Publishing “Nursery Rhymes with a Sports Emphasis”

Affectionately known as ‘Dadttinella’ to the Timbers Army, Timbers Goalkeeper Jeff Attinella, who has served as the starting goalkeeper for the last eight of Portland’s nine-game MLS unbeaten streak, is expressing his love for sports off the field as well… as an author of children’s books.

The passionate sports fan was looking for a way to capture top sports moments in a format that would resonate with his 18-month-old daughter Remy Rose and as a result, It Had to Be Told was launched.

“I wanted to create an avenue to share what I thought were sports stories that shouldn’t be forgotten,” told The Oregonian in a recent interview. “I’m just trying to tie it all together so that when I’m reading to my daughter, it’s stuff that hopefully we can both connect with. These are stories that I really love and hopefully she really loves in the future.”

And if this story sounds familiar, former MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Kevin Hartman also penned a children’s book during his playing career called “Boots Saves the Day” to use while he worked with children’s literacy programs in Los Angeles.

As Attinella continues to write his ‘nursery rhymes with a sports emphasis’ his focus on the field has led to a career-high four clean sheets this season while posting 31 saves, eight in last night’s match against Atlanta United alone.

Will the Timbers winning streak continue this week against Cascadia rival Seattle Sounders FC?  With Attinella and the Timbers traveling to Seattle to face a Sounders side that is desperate for points it will be a tough task… maybe one he’ll write a book about after.

2018 MLS All-Star Fan XI heavy on World Cup talent, League award winners

Major League Soccer announced the 2018 MLS All-Star Fan XI presented by Target on Monday, with the 11 players holding considerable World Cup experience in an impressive array of national team experience among the group. Among the standouts set to face Juventus on August 1 in Atlanta include 10 players with national team experience, five of whom have played at a FIFA World Cup. Los Angeles Football Club boasts Mexico’s Carlos Vela (2010, 2018 World Cup) along with Belgium’s Laurent Ciman (2010). Across town, LA Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimović preps to face his former Juventus team with two World Cups under his belt (2002, 2006), while Sporting Kansas City’s Graham Zusi (2014) and Atlanta United’s Brad Guzan (2010, 2014) both represented the U.S. Men’s National Team on the world’s biggest stage.

Along with the World Cup veterans are current national team players Miguel Almirón (Paraguay), Josef Martínez (Venezuela) and Darlington Nagbe (United States). Ezequiel Barco is the only player in the Fan XI to not have national team experience, but the 19-year-old Atlanta United midfielder has eight caps for Argentina’s U-20 squad.

While the Fan XI players have shined for their national teams, it’s what they’ve done with their MLS clubs that garnered the honor to play in the All-Star Game. Among the many accolades accomplished by the group include the reigning Landon Donovan MLS MVP Diego Valeri, the 2017 MLS Newcomer of the Year in Almirón and the current Golden Boot leader in Martínez. Ciman, meanwhile, has scored three direct free kick goals this season, fourth-most in a single MLS season and the most ever in one season by a defender.

MLS Referees shining in World Cup competition

With more FIFA World Cup officials than any other league world-wide, MLS and Professional Referee Organization (PRO) have five officials achieving the global standard on the world’s biggest stage.

Mark Geiger leads the group with seven World Cup assignments in Russia, including his first call from the middle during Portugal v. Morocco on June 20. His eighth appearance will come from the center on Wednesday during the Group F match between South Korea and Germany, where he will be joined by MLS Assistant Referees Joe Fletcher and Frank Anderson on the sidelines. 

MLS Referee Jair Marrufo also served as the man in the middle, leading the officiating team during the Belgium v. Tunisia match on June 23 that featured MLS Assistant Referees Fletcher, Corey Rockwell, and Video Assistant Referee (VAR) Geiger.

Since the start of the tournament, MLS officials have overseen 11 games in various roles, and six games have featured two or more MLS officials. A list of all World Cup assignments for MLS officials can be found here.

MLS Week 18: Match Notes

Friday, June 29, 2018

Minnesota United FC vs. FC Dallas, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Minnesota United suffered a second consecutive defeat, falling 3-2 to the Colorado Rapids at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday evening. Christian Ramírez scored his fourth goal of the season and his third in the past five matches.

FC Dallas saw their four-game winning streak, and seven-game undefeated run, come to a crashing halt, falling 3-0 to the New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on Saturday evening.

The teams met twice in Minnesota United FC’s inaugural campaign, each winning on their home ground. FC Dallas won 2-0 when the clubs first met on April 8 at Toyota Stadium; MNUFC returned the favor with a 4-1 victory on Sept. 23 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Saturday, June 30, 2018

Seattle Sounders FC vs. Portland Timbers, 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX)

The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Sebastian Blanco scored the game’s lone goal as the Timbers ground out a 1-0 victory on May 13 at Providence Park, in the 100th meeting all-time between the clubs.

Clint Dempsey scored his first goal of the season as Sounders FC reached a 1-1 draw with the Chicago Fire on Saturday evening at CenturyLink Field. It was Dempsey’s 47th goal for Sounders FC, tying him with Fredy Montero for the club’s all-time lead in its MLS history.

The Timbers extended their league undefeated streak to nine games with a third consecutive draw, reaching a 1-1 draw with Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Since their first meeting in 1975 in the old North American Soccer League, Seattle has won 50 times and Portland has won 36, with 14 draws. In Major League Soccer league play, Sounders FC have won nine matches, the Timbers have won six, and six have been draws. The Timbers won both meetings in the MLS Cup Playoffs.

Sounders FC are now 7-0-3 all-time at home in regular season games against Portland – though the Timbers did win there in the 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs.

The Timbers have won four of the past five league meetings in Portland, with one draw, over the last two seasons. Sounders FC last won in Portland in 2014. When the Timbers took a 4-1 win on June 28, 2015, the three-goal victory equaled Portland’s largest margin of victory against the Sounders since 1977.

Atlanta United vs. Orlando City SC, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Atlanta United extended their undefeated streak to five games with a third draw in that time, reaching a 1-1 result with the Portland Timbers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Orlando City SC saw their MLS club-record losing streak extended to seven games, falling 2-0 to the Montréal Impact in the back end of their home-and-home series Saturday evening at Orlando City Stadium.

The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Josef Martínez and Ezequiel Barco each scored goals in the first half as Atlanta United took a 2-1 win on May 13 at Orlando City Stadium, putting an end to Orlando City’s six-game winning streak.

The teams met three times a year ago in Atlanta United’s inaugural campaign – and the expansion side did not lose to their neighbors to the south. ATLUTD claimed one victory – a 1-0 win in the first meeting between the teams, July 21 at Orlando City Stadium.

The teams played to a pair of draws, both in Atlanta – a 1-1 result on July 29 at Bobby Dodd Stadium, then a 3-3 deadlock on Sept. 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

Montreal Impact vs. Sporting Kansas City, 7:30 p.m. ET (TVA Sports, TSN, ESPN+)

The Impact won their second consecutive game against Orlando City, winning both sides of their home-and-home series around the World Cup recess, claiming a 2-0 victory at Orlando City Stadium on Saturday evening.

Ignacio Piatti scored his eighth goal of the season, his third in the past two games. The Impact have scored 14 goals since April 21; Piatti has netted seven of those. Montréal scored five goals in the two wins vs. Orlando City – three from Piatti, and two via own goals.

Sporting extended their undefeated streak to seven games, coming back from two goals down for a 3-2 win against the Houston Dynamo at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday evening. Sporting extended their home undefeated streak to eight games.

Daniel Salloí scored a goal and added a pair of assists; of the past 10 goals Sporting have scored, since May 5, Salloí has played a part in six (four goals, two assists).

Sporting have a six-game undefeated streak alive in the series. The teams have reached draws each of the past two seasons, including a 1-1 result in last year’s lone meeting, June 10 at Children’s Mercy Park, Sporting having won the previous four games.

SKC has won three of the five games all-time in the series in Montréal. The last victories in the series by the Impact both came in 2013, winning once at each ground.

Columbus Crew SC vs. Real Salt Lake, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

Crew SC suffered a second consecutive defeat on the heels of an eight-game undefeated run, falling 2-0 to the Los Angeles Football Club at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday evening. Crew SC have been shut out at the attacking end in consecutive games for the first time this season.

RSL had their six-game home winning streak put to an end, but still stretched their undefeated run at Rio Tinto Stadium to seven games, following their 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes on Saturday evening.

The teams met once a year ago, a 2-2 draw on July 29 at Rio Tinto Stadium. It was the second consecutive draw between the teams in Sandy, with Real undefeated in the past three meetings between the clubs on their home ground.

RSL have not won in Columbus in league play since 2006, the Crew having won seven of the past eight regular-season meetings there, including a wild 4-3 victory on May 28, 2016, in the last meeting at Mapfre Stadium. Real did win the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal Series between the teams in 2009 in Columbus, on their way to an MLS Cup title.

New England Revolution vs. D.C. United, 7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

The Revolution return to action after more than two weeks away from league play, extending their undefeated streak to five games in their last match, a 2-2 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes at Avaya Stadium on June 13. Diego Fagundez scored a goal and added an assist; he has two goals and three assists in the last five matches.

D.C. United also return to play after more than two weeks away in MLS action, seeing their league winless run extended to three games with a second draw in that time last time out, playing to a wild 4-4 draw with Toronto FC on June 13 at BMO Field.

The teams have reached draws in each of the past three seasons in the lone matchups at Gillette Stadium, including a 2-2 result last April 22 in the only game in Foxborough. The Revolution have a six-game undefeated streak alive at home in the series in league play (2-0-4); United’s last win there came in 2012.

United won the final five league meetings at RFK Stadium between the MLS Original clubs, including a 1-0 win last Aug. 26 in the final matchup on East Capitol Street.

The teams have also met four times in the MLS Cup Playoffs, with United winning three of the four series all-time, last a 2-1 win at RFK Stadium in the Knockout Round in 2015.

Los Angeles Football Club vs. Philadelphia Union, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

LAFC won for a second consecutive match following a four-game winless run, getting two goals in the opening eight minutes on their way to a 2-0 win against Columbus Crew SC at Banc of California Stadium on Saturday evening.

Adama Diomandé scored for a third consecutive match, his fourth goal over that span, while Laurent Ciman scored his third goal this season – all directly from free kicks, the most direct free kick goals by a defender in one season in MLS history (since records available in 2003).

The Union snapped their two-game losing slide in emphatic fashion, rolling to a 4-0 win against Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Talen Energy Stadium on Saturday evening. Borek Dockal netted a pair of goals, his first multiple-goal game in MLS.

The teams are meeting for the first time in LAFC’s inaugural MLS season.

Chicago Fire vs. New York City FC, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN+)

The Fire extended their undefeated streak to four games with a third consecutive draw, reaching a 1-1 result with Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field on Saturday evening.

Aleksandar Katai scored his sixth goal of the season, his seventh consecutive game with either a goal and/or an assist, tying the Fire club record (Ante Razov, 2000).

NYCFC extended their undefeated streak to three games with a second win in that time, remaining undefeated at Yankee Stadium this season following a come-from-behind 2-1 win vs. Toronto FC on Sunday afternoon. Jo Inge Berget scored both NYCFC goals.

NYCFC are undefeated in the past six meetings between the teams, since the Fire won 1-0 on April 24, 2015 in their first ever encounter. NYCFC have won three of those six matches, with three draws.

The teams have split their three meetings at Toyota Park. The Fire won there in the first meeting in 2015, NYCFC took a victory there in the 2016 season opener, then the teams reached a 1-1 last Sept. 30 in the lone matchup in Bridgeview.

The Fire have never won at Yankee Stadium. NYCFC have won the past two meetings between the teams in the Bronx, their first home wins in the series after the first two meetings ended in draws.

San Jose Earthquakes vs. LA Galaxy, 10 p.m. ET (UniMás)

The Quakes saw their winless streak extended to seven games with a second consecutive draw, reaching a 1-1 result with Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday evening. Danny Hoesen scored his 10th goal of the season, his third goal in the last two games, and his eighth goal in the last 10 contests (since April 28).

The Galaxy return to action after two weeks away from league play, their last match a 3-0 win against Real Salt Lake at StubHub Center on June 9. Zlatan Ibrahimović scored a pair of goals, his third multiple-goal game in MLS (in 11 appearances); he has seven goals on the year.

The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Romain Alessandrini scored the game’s only goal as the Galaxy claimed the victory May 25 at StubHub Center.

The Quakes have won once in Carson since 2012 – a 3-0 win on Aug. 27, 2017. The Galaxy won 4-2 last May 27 at Avaya Stadium in the last match at San Jose – just their second victory in the last 16 regular season games in northern California, across four stadiums.

Known as the California Clásico, the Galaxy and Earthquakes have met 83 times in all competitions. In regular season play, the Galaxy have won 31 times and the Quakes 22, with 14 draws, since their first meeting April 28, 1996.

The teams have met each of the last six years at Stanford Stadium, and the game has drawn crowds in excess of 50,000 fans on each occasion, drawing 50,617 last year, with an average of 50,371 for the six contests.

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Toronto FC vs. New York Red Bulls, 4:30 p.m. ET (FOX, TSN)

TFC had their three-game undefeated streak put to an end, falling 2-1 to New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Victor Vásquez scored his fifth goal of the season, his third in the past five games.

The Red Bulls won their second match on the trot after a three-game winless run, easing to a 3-0 win against FC Dallas at Red Bull Arena on Saturday evening. Bradley Wright-Phillips netted his 11th goal of the season, the 97th of his MLS league career, while Kaku collected his league-leading 10th assist.

TFC are undefeated in their past five home league matches vs. the Red Bulls, including a 4-2 win last Sept. 30 at BMO Field in the last meeting between the teams. The Red Bulls last won in Toronto in 2013.

The Red Bulls are now 10-2-2 all-time in home matches vs. Toronto FC. When TFC took a 2-0 win on March 6, 2016, it was the first win ever for Toronto FC at Red Bull Arena. The Red Bulls were 5-0-1 all-time in Harrison before the TFC win; the triumph also snapped an eight-game home undefeated streak for the Red Bulls vs. TFC (7-0-1), which began Oct. 25, 2009.

The teams also met in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last year, with TFC winning on away goals after the teams tied 2-2 on aggregate. Each team won away – TFC winning 2-1 at Red Bull Arena, before the Red Bulls took a 1-0 win in Toronto in a fractious encounter.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC vs. Colorado Rapids, 7 p.m. ET (TSN, ESPN+)

Whitecaps FC saw their six-game undefeated streak put to a sudden end, falling 4-0 to the Philadelphia Union at Talen Energy Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Rapids came from behind to put an end to their club-record losing streak after eight games, getting the game-winner from Tommy Smith seven minutes deep into second-half stoppage time for a 3-2 win against Minnesota United FC at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday evening.

The teams are meeting for the second time this season. Cristian Techera and Yordy Reyna each scored first-half goals as Whitecaps FC claimed a 2-1 win on June 1 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Whitecaps FC have come away with points on each of their three trips to Commerce City, winning twice (in both 2017 and 2018) – just their second and third wins ever at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. The only other Whitecaps FC win in Commerce City came in 2012.

The Rapids have not won on their past five trips to Vancouver; their last win there, April 5, 2014, was their second victory ever at BC Place, now in 10 visits all-time.

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MLSsoccer.com News

This Week in MLS – June 25, 2018 was originally published on 365 Football

[the-black-mambaa]

Journal #1

The other day my dad sent me this video of two boxers, and how one was trash talking the other and the other was just taking it without saying anything. He told me in life there will always be bullies that will try to bring me down. There will always be problems and obstacles too big to overcome. They'll tell me that I can't do it. That I should quit while I can. That I'm a loser, and that I'll never amount to anything. That's it's too hard for someone like me to succeed.

He then told me, don't let them get to you. I see a leader in you. I know you are tough and can overcome whatever is in you're way. I've always seen you like this. You're quiet, and you let people push you around until you can't take enough. You need to stay strong, and show them who is boss. I love you.

I cried. And am still crying because my life is a mess. I tried fixing things with fredy, but I don't understand why. I'm still numb emotionally. Or I think the term is unavailable. I don't know, I just know what I feel and I just feel like nothing. Like I'm simply here, but even then sometimes I don't want to be. I told fredy this but he believed that he could make things work. He understood that he fucked up when he lied the first time. And although I told him I forgave him, I don't think I really did. I haven't been able to get over it. I still feel like I'm never going to be enough. I still feel like there is something wrong with me. That no one will ever.. But I guess that's not what matters.

I tried it with fredy because I could see he was hurting without me. He wouldn't sleep at night because his guilt was eating him alive. So we started couples therapy together. I think we had one session before everything went downhill. During that session I was asked on a scale of one to ten how badly did I want to fix this. And I didn't know. Because I was doing it for his sake, not mine. I felt nothing but guilt because I could see that I am the problem for him. I was doing fine without him, I am just hurt.

But he confronted me afterwards, and told me that If I didn't want this I needed to be honest. So I was honest, I told him that I wasn't sure because I felt like I was doing it for him. But I was willing to give it a second shot. So we did. We got back together.

I was afraid of what my family would say to me when they found out. The first person I told Was my best friend Julia, who literally lives with me. She told me that she supports me, and if this makes me happy then she would support me.

Literally like a couple days later Julia and I spent the night at Fredys house. (I didn't want to go alone). And I was messing around with him and jokingly said, give me you're phone.

-Now this is a joke between us from back when things were fine. And giving phones was never an issue because we never had anything to hide.-

But he got serious and said no. And I got serious and said why not?? What are you hiding?? He insisted it was nothing, and I said if it's nothing then give me you're phone. So we swapped phones.

And I was looking thru his fb messages and I opened the conversation between him and his ex Daisy. I was scrolling from the bottom up. When I came across him bragging about how fine white girls are (I am not white) and how he had a one night stand with one.

THIS IS AN ISSUE BECAUSE I HAD SEX WITH HIM 3 TIMES AFTER WE BROKE UP!

!!!!! And when I had the suspicion earlier (before these messages) about him sleeping with someone else I confronted him but he told me no. That I was the only one.

I told myself that I didn't care, that was I was angry about was that he lied to me. Because he could have contracted an STD and given it to me. And I wouldn't have known because he told me there was no one else. REMINDER THAT HE SLEPT WITH THIS FEMALE ONE WEEK After we broke up!

So I keep scrolling because obviously I'm dealing with a LIAR. And I start reading from the top down. He's telling her about his family and how his mom cheated on his dad and how it hurt him. And how to rebel against his mom he started going out without telling her and he literally bragged about being a (and I quote) "bad boy".

He then went on to talk about how Oregon is full of bisexuals who don't believe in God. And how everyone here is going to hell. How he never wants to have kids here in oregon bevause theyre gunna turn into athiest bisexuals just like everyone else. As if being gay was a contagious disease. And he tells her, "Daisy don't ever date someone who doesn't believe in God."

-backstory: during our relationship I told him that I wasn't sure what I believed in because I was raised as a Christian but I wasn't sure what was REAL or what has been forced in my head. So he knew I was struggling. Meaning that was a direct about ME.-

He goes on to tell her about how dating someone who doesn't believe in God (me) can ruin you. He literally tells her that I was like that and that it was my fault that he doubted his faith.

THEN he goes on to tell her how I left him for another girl. She goes, she's lesbian??? And he's like no, she's bisexual like everyone else here in oregon.

.

.

.

I haven't had sex with anyone but him since our breakup. I haven't kissed anyone or anything sexual. Much less with a female. I want to, but I haven't been able to bring myself to do it. So the fact that he was spreading rumors and lies about me pissed me off.

So I look at him, and he's looking at me like 😨😓. And I'm like so you did sleep with someone else.

Nd he THINKS and goes, yeah.

And I'm like so... you lied to me. After you got on my ass about being brutally honest with you, you were lying to me.

Nd he goes... yeeah....

And I'm like okay.

So I get out of the messages with Daisy, and I'm about to go into the messages with his best friend Siella, when he snatches the phone from me and says uh, I need to send my drug test to my recruiter. But instead he goes thru and deletes all the messages about me. And then he gives me back the phone and says I deleted some messages but here.

Bruh.

I told him then there was no point in seeing the phone. And he wanted to talk to me about what I was feeling atm, and what was gunna happen with us.

But.

Thing is.

I didn't feel anything. I was angry at first but after a minute, I just let it go. Because why would I waste my time getting angry when I knew then that it was over. So I just told him I'd talk to him when I was ready to say what was on my mind. I didn't talk to him for two days.

The night of the second day I posted a picture of my ass in a skirt on my sinsta (@crabi_abbi) knowing fully well that he would see it. The next morning I let him know therapy was at 4pm. And he broke up with me over text saying that he couldn't with our relationship because of the picture I posted. That there were people from my school following me( I didn't even know what he was talking about until he explain that his friend was following me and I was like how was I supposed to know I thought it was a spam account I've never met the guy!) And that he couldn't date someone like me.

So I told him that he was a dick because I had so much to say but he took the easy way out and blamed it on me.

I still have so much to say to him but,

If I'm going to be honest with myself,

Does it even matter?

I feel like I am alone. And will be alone for a long time. I feel like no one will listen to me and my needs. I cut my hair thinking that maybe i would feel some way about it but I'm so numb that it was like nothing happened. I feel worse and worse everyday. This overwhelming feeling that I can't make it.

I'm drowning but do I really want to save myself? Does it even matter?

[footballleague0]

Giancarlo Stanton’s breakthrough season through the eyes of those witnessing it

Giancarlo Stanton has hit 56 home runs off 48 pitchers in 13 major league parks this season. Those homers have traveled a combined distance of 4.42 miles at an average exit velocity of 108.9 mph, second highest in the majors behind New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge.

No one has kept a running statistical tab of Stanton’s batting practice output. But if a ball off Stanton’s bat dents a bleacher seat somewhere between 4:30 and 6 p.m., chances are Fredi Gonzalez delivered it. The Miami Marlins’ third-base coach is Stanton’s regular batting practice pitcher, and he keeps a mental catalogue of the screamers Stanton hits up the middle.

Each time one of those line drives approaches his face, Gonzalez gives a silent thank you to the inventor of the “L” screen.

“If I go a little bit away, I know that ball is coming my way,” Gonzalez said. “There have been 30 or 40 times when I’ve never seen the ball hit. The first time I see it is when it hits the ground off the screen. I’ve felt it come close. And then — whoomp! — it’s right there.

“He hasn’t knocked the screen over yet. He’s not that cartoonish. But if I was a pitcher, I would be scared.”

Major league hitters have done plenty of yard work in 2017, hitting an astounding 5,707 homers so far this season. We look at who hit ’em, when they hit ’em and how many they hit.

Stanton has already joined Ryan Howard of the 2006 Philadelphia Phillies (58), Jose Bautista of the 2010 Toronto Blue Jays (54) and Chris Davis of the 2013 Baltimore Orioles (53) as the fourth hitter in the past 12 years to crack the 50-homer mark. His output has slowed since he tied Rudy York’s MLB record with 18 homers in August — but if he can crank out another 2,000 feet worth of long balls in the coming week, things will get very interesting on the final weekend of the regular season.

Stanton needs five home runs to tie the total of 61 by Roger Maris that stood as the MLB record until Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and the PED era came along. He has emerged as an MVP candidate while playing for a Marlins team that’s 72-80, 28th in baseball in attendance, and in the news primarily because the franchise is in the process of being sold from Jeffrey Loria to a group headlined by Derek Jeter. Stanton has also reignited divisions between baseball watchers who regard Bonds’ single-season total of 73 homers as the MLB gold standard, and purists who view Maris’ 61 as the legitimate, untarnished record.

What has it been like to watch a masher of Stanton’s magnitude up close and personal, from the dugout and the clubhouse? How has Stanton grown since his MLB debut as a 20-year-old man-child in 2010? ESPN.com talked to the Marlins teammates, coaches, front-office staff and broadcasters who know him best for their thoughts on Stanton’s memorable season and budding legacy.

The batting practice showOpponents regularly come out to watch Giancarlo Stanton in batting practice. Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire

Brian Schneider, Marlins catching coach:

“I like it when he’s taking batting practice and the other team comes out specifically to watch him. It’s September and you have a lot of the call-ups, and guys come out early. The last time we played the Phillies, there were seven or eight guys out there early watching him in amazement. Their reaction was like our reaction watching him every day. It’s crazy how far he hits it.”

Fredi Gonzalez, Miami third-base coach:

“Ichiro has been in his group for the last month and a half. It’s Stanton, Ichiro, Miguel Rojas and J.T. Realmuto — or A.J. Ellis when J.T. doesn’t play.

“When Ichiro is in his group, they play a game where it’s 3-2, bases loaded. A home run counts as four runs. Ichiro has some juice, and one day he had an immaculate round. He had four home runs on four pitches. Stanton hit only three out, and Ichiro beat him.

“Usually he stays in the middle of the diamond and he’ll hit balls to straightaway center. But that’s the only time you’ll see him get competitive and go a little extra. That’s the only time I’ve seen him try to play Home Run Derby.”

The home runs you just can’t forgetGiancarlo Stanton’s homers have traveled a combined distance of 4.42 miles at an average exit velocity of 108.9 mph. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

Catcher A.J. Ellis:

“We played a series against the Rangers this year, and Jason Grilli was pitching. He pitches with a lot of intensity and emotion, and he struck out Giancarlo and gave a very dramatic fist pump and yell after he put him away.

“You could see from the way Giancarlo reacted coming off the field that he didn’t really appreciate that. So in a rare outburst of emotion, the next day ‘G’ hit a home run off Grilli. He usually acts the same way on every single one. There’s no bat flipping, no extracurriculars after he hits them. But on this one in particular, he gave a yell and threw his arms up in the air. You could tell that one felt pretty good.”

Center fielder Christian Yelich:

“My favorite homer of his came against the Cubs and Jason Hammel [on June 16, 2014] at Marlins Park. It was a line drive down the right-field line on a curveball in the lefty batter’s box. He’s probably the only guy in baseball that can do that. That skill set is not something you see every day — just being able to hit the ball that hard and being that strong.

“Everybody can hit balls far. The line drives, to me, are the more impressive ones. For most guys, that ball might be a single or a double. He hit it for a homer.”

First baseman Justin Bour:

“I’ve seen a million of his homers by now and I’ve watched him in BP, but I’ve never seen anything like that one [off Hammel]. I’m pretty sure the first baseman jumped for it and the ball went out. You have the right fielder out there thinking he’s going to make a play off the wall or field a one-hopper. You’re thinking double off the bat or maybe even a single because he hit it that hard, and it went over the fence. There are so many to pick from. But you don’t see people hitting low liners out to right field like that. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.”

Fredi Gonzalez:

“I bet you of the 55 he’s hit, I’ve seen maybe 15 of them actually land. Because as soon as he hits them, you know they’re gone. By the sound and the angle, you know they’re gone. Then I just watch the third baseman and shortstop look at each other like, ‘Did you see that?’

“He hit one in Atlanta to straightway center and [Braves third baseman] Rio Ruiz looked at me and went, ‘Wow!’ [Phillies third baseman] Maikel Franco had an expression that was like, ‘Holy cow. I’m glad he didn’t hit it on the ground.'”

Dave Van Horne, veteran broadcaster and Glenn Geffner’s radio partner in Miami:

“When Stanton first started to hit these tape-measure jobs, we had never seen anything like it. One day in Denver, Geff and I walked out to the concourse, out to that food area, to find the spot where one of his home run balls landed. I had never seen anything, even at Coors, hit that far. And the amazing thing to me about Stanton is, he doesn’t hit any wall-scrapers. There’s nothing coming down on the back of the wall. Ninety percent of them seem to be absolute no-doubters.”

Pitcher Dan Straily:

“You don’t want to be anywhere but in the dugout for his at-bats. Every time he comes to the plate, it’s captivating and you don’t want to miss something awesome. You don’t want to miss a ball leaving the stadium. With so many of the balls he hits, you’re like, ‘I’ve never seen a ball hit that far.’ It’s a fun at-bat to watch, every time it comes back around.”

The evolution of GiancarloGiancarlo Stanton worked with the Marlins’ hitting coach to close up his stance this season. Patrick McDermott-USA TODAY Sports

Tony Perez, Baseball Hall of Famer and a Marlins special assistant:

“I saw him when he was in Double-A ball and he won a home run contest. He hit the ball all over the place. I was there with Andre Dawson and I told him, ‘Pack it up, let’s go home.’ I said, ‘Wow, he’s something special.’

“Now he’s grown up and he’s changed. He’s more disciplined, and when he hits a streak, he’s dangerous. I used to see Gary Sheffield hit unbelievable line drives and Willie Stargell hit those long home runs, but this guy is amazing the way he hits.

“In the beginning, he wanted to do everything himself. He was his own man. He believed in himself a lot and he didn’t listen. Then this year he changed his stance. He closed up a little bit because he was wide-open and swinging at everything. He found himself working with the hitting coach [Mike Pagliarulo] and his assistant [Frank Menechino], and they’ve helped him a lot.”

Manager Don Mattingly:

“One thing I’ve noticed this year is, he’s more focused and irritated with himself over his at-bats when they’re not good. You can feel the helmet [slamming] behind you. I don’t really look around and see what guys are doing. But you hear it and you know when he’s mad about his at-bats. That’s been a little bit more open. I’ve seen him throw a bat down on the field, too, and I didn’t see a lot of that last year.

“He’s comfortable at the plate. This is the most I’ve seen him stay with something. I’ve seen him make a lot of changes in the past, with his hands, his feet, a toe tap and other little things. This little closed-off [stance] thing is something he’s really stayed with.

“He’s definitely not chasing as much. You still see some chase in there, but you see a lot more focus within an area of the plate. He’s making guys pay. He’ll miss some balls that he fouls back and you say, ‘He just missed that.’ But there was a section of the season when he wasn’t missing anything. It was like, ‘Holy cow, this is ridiculous.’ It’s something I’ve never seen.”

Straily on Stanton’s 14 first-inning home runs:

“He went through a stretch earlier this year where it seemed like he would ground out to shortstop the first at-bat every single at-bat. The guy was so frustrated, knowing he could get this [pitcher] and essentially he just missed. It sounds weird saying, ‘A ground ball to shortstop and he just missed.’ But with that guy, he clearly just missed. It was definitely the right angle and the right part of the field to use, and he’s used to hitting homers.

“Then suddenly he made an adjustment in his first at-bat of the game, and when he [got hot] a lot of his homers came in the first inning. It was cool to see how he saw an area of his game that he wasn’t elite at, and he was so focused every at-bat. He put a little more emphasis on that very first one, and those ground balls to shortstop started becoming homers.”

Fredi Gonzalez:

“I kind of joke with the guys. I told [Nationals third baseman] Anthony Rendon, ‘After he strikes out the first time, he usually lays a bunt down the second at-bat.’ Early in the year, [Mets third baseman] Wilmer Flores was playing back and Stanton hit a ground ball and it was a backhand. Flores couldn’t get the glove down fast enough and the ball hit him on the instep. I couldn’t stop laughing.

“You know what he also has? He has carry on his ball. There have been a few times when he hits one and we have runners on first and second, and I’m watching to see if the ball is off the wall or the warning track, and you see the outfielders and it keeps carrying and carrying. The next thing you know, it’s 10 rows deep. We have a saying in baseball, ‘It stays hit.’ Some guys hit the ball and it kind of dies in the gap. His ball stays hit.”

Facing StantonSome pitchers try to throw harder to beat Giancarlo Stanton, but that hasn’t proved to be an effective strategy. AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

Straily:

“Greg Maddux had a quote once. He said when he found himself in a tough situation, he didn’t try to throw harder. He tried to locate better. You see so many people try to muscle up on Giancarlo and end up leaving the ball over the heart of the plate. If you watch a guy who’s throwing 90 or 91, all of a sudden he’s throwing 94 against Giancarlo thinking that’s going to work.

“You’re better off trying to just locate it. If you take something off and you miss, it’s gonna get hammered just as hard. But you see people try with more effort, and you’re not going to be able to match his effort and his strength with his bat. Muscling up is not really the way to go.”

A.J. Ellis:

“I remember being on the other side. With Giancarlo, the way his at-bats are and his approach is, there are windows where you can pitch. So you go into the series as a catcher and a pitcher and say, ‘If we execute the ball to these places, to these windows, we’re gonna be successful and get this guy out.’ There’s a difference, though. Those window frames for him are home runs. For me and everyone else, they’re broken bat singles.

“If you’re not drilling those small windows — if you miss — you’re paying dearly for it. You see pitchers challenge him and try to hit certain spots. But there’s a lot of pressure on the mound, knowing mentally that if I miss, I’m going to have something hit extremely hard and extremely far off me.”

The lasting impressionGiancarlo Stanton seems to be motivated since the All-Star Game. Joe Skipper/Getty Images

Mike Berger, Marlins vice president and assistant general manager:

“I can’t get away from the charge that took place right after the All-Star Game. It seems like every home run he hit was impactful because it gave us an early lead in the first inning or it was a tack-on, 2-3-run homer. Just the frequency of the home runs. I’ve never seen anything like it.

“Aaron Judge won the Home Run Derby and Stanton was like, ‘Hey, Grasshopper, I’ll show you what I’m capable of as we come out of the break.’ Who knows if it motivated him? It may very well have. But it was a big deal, with everything that’s gone on with the uncertainty of the franchise and whatnot. I think he rose to the occasion and let his actions answer the question.

“We went from a Judge to a Supreme Court Justice. That’s kind of the way it was. [Aaron Judge] was an appellate judge and Stanton showed everybody that he’s a Supreme Court Justice.”

Dave Van Horne:

“The first time I saw Andre Dawson, I thought, ‘This is the best looking physique I’ve ever seen on a baseball player.’ Until this guy. Dawson was chiseled. He was slender and had zero body fat, but he had a massive upper body. Goodness knows what he would have done if he hadn’t hurt his knees playing football before he signed. He was an incredible athlete. But it was nothing like this guy.”

Berger:

“The way he embraced the whole All-Star week was impressive. He was the gracious celebrity All-Star host, and that’s what came through to me. There’s a lot of charm there. There’s a magnetic charisma, and it’s a Hollywood smile.

“I think the commercial he did for T-Mobile is fantastic, with the guy on the sidelines hammering him with nicknames. I even commented to my wife. I said, ‘You know what? He’s really natural at the give-and-take.’ Otherwise, he’s a pretty guarded dude who just does his work, but he was really natural there. A star was born with that 30-second give-and-take in that commercial.”

Van Horne:

“It’s 49 years for me, and in those 49 years, I’ve seen some pretty special players and a lot of Hall of Famers. I’ve never seen anything like this power display. I know that in his mind, 60 and 61 are the magic numbers, so it would really be something to see that. Plus, I was a child of that era, so those numbers are big for me, too.

“Let me put it this way: I totally understand why Stanton feels the way he does. And he’s not alone.

“I do five innings [of play-by-play] and Geff does four, but the one thing I like about my chances is, he’s hit more in the first inning (49) than any other inning in his career. I have the first two innings, so I might have a chance [to call it].

“I’ve seen Vladimir Guerrero. I saw Andre Dawson, obviously. Andres Galarraga, even Larry Walker. Guys that had really good long ball power, but nobody with the consistency of this player. And now he’s going to go through 2017 known as the major league home run leader. I’m sure it’s going to happen for him. To me, he’s a better overall player right now than he’s ever been.”

The post Giancarlo Stanton’s breakthrough season through the eyes of those witnessing it appeared first on Daily Star Sports.

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