#Jason is living in the most challenging timeline for a bit

[redflagshipwriter]

Chef Beef 2/2

Part 1

Thursday

11:30 AM.

Only a few more days left of this experiment. Jason wasn’t sure if he was dreading the end or looking forward to it. Streaming twice a day was kind of a lot, but it was also invigorating.

Jason heaved a sigh at his screen, mostly joking in his exasperation. His viewers were little shits. “I already pounded it.” He held up the tenderized steak. “I pounded it within an inch of its life– in bed, against the wall, on the floor–” Jason cut himself off from reading the comments incredulously. “In the kitchen!” He scowled at his fans. “I am not pounding meat anywhere but in a clean kitchen.” He shook his head and scoffed. “I will tenderize one more steak, if you really need to see it. Pay enough attention this time to notice the sterile environment.”

Raven sighed deeply. “I will explode the head of the next puerile loser to comment,” she threatened. She snapped her fingers at the viewers, nails setting off sparks and smoke. “Do not make me read those words.”

Jason gave a theatrical shudder.

She squinted at the comment section. “Are you Nightwing?” she asked him wryly. He was probably the only person who could tell that she was laughing her ass off internally. “They can’t think of another reason for us to know each other.”

Jason jumped so hard he nearly hit his finger with the mallet. “No! Christ.” He shook his head. “We look nothing alike.”

The chat exploded with commentary. He ignored it with a laugh and went back to work. Dick must be giggling his ass off.

A few minutes later, he was explaining the miso-yuzu topping for his steak when he noticed a familiar name dropping another sticker. 

Hey, wait. He frowned. “HawaiiHunk2?” He read incredulously. “You the same motherfucker that got blocked yesterday? You are thirsty, buddy.” 

Raven put down her spoon and leaned over to see the screen. “Ew,” she said, screwing her whole face up.

“Miso hungry for you 🥺🥺🥺🥺,” HawaiiHunk2 had said. Definitely the same fucker. 

“I’ve got it.” GOATman typed up rapidly. 

Jason waited a moment for the notification that the guy was blocked to appear. Nothing. But HawaiiHunk2 never sent another message. Huh. Maybe he’d missed it somehow? “Thanks, GOATman,” he said. He stopped stirring his mix and set the bowl aside. “Imma see you again for dinner, right?”

GOATman sent a yes and a flood of emojis.

“Someone has a comparison, look at this.” Raven gave up any pretense of helping and leaned both elbows on his counter. He made an aggrieved noise. “They’ve got screenshots of us standing next to each other and…” she frowned. “Where did you get this image?” she said, sounding dangerous. 

Jason looked over. “...Nerd,” he said. Someone had found a high quality shot of Raven and Nightwing and used her as a scale to do math about how big both men were. “You’re doing math? Embarrassing.”

“This image proves that you are taller than Nightwing,” said Kissy6000, a certified freak. “If her stated height is accurate, you are 5 inches taller than Nightwing, and your thighs are an additional 4 inches in circumference compared to his.”

“And much more swole,” added BicepMan. “Nightwing wishes he was built like that.”

He choked on a laugh, because that was kind of mean to his manager. “Back to twice baked potatoes,” Jason said pointedly. “We are almost done.”

He took the first bite on camera, as he always did. “Yupp,” he pronounced, “this is delicious.” 

“I agree.” Raven licked her spoon. “I will probably never cook again, but I may manifest on your welcome mat and beg.”

“That’s more polite than my brothers,” he told her, and then turned his attention to his viewers. “Tell me if you make it– hell yeah, I will repost your picture,” Jason promised. “Mm, do I– I don’t see any relevance, BicepMan,” Jason scoffed. “Do I like redheads? Off topic. Blocked and deleted,” he joked. Then he held up his hands in a stop gesture. “Not for real, GOATman.”

That was an asinine inquiry. He shook his head with a laugh. 

Obviously he liked redheads. No one could have survived extended contact with Dick’s goddamn menagerie of redheaded hottie hangalongs as a teenager without forming a preference. But it was inoculating. The average redhead on the street could not shake him anymore. He had managed to stay cool under the pressure of extended conversation with redheads hotter than these civilians could have ever dreamed of. Fuck. 

BicepMan sent crying emojis. Jason waved it off with a hand and tried very hard to forget his teenage fixations. “Whatever. You can live, but you now owe me a picture– no, a picture of food. If it looks shit, I am going to make fun of it on my next stream, so you had better put your whole ass into it.” He tried his potatoes. “Mm, very good.” He showed a forkful to the camera. “Cheers. Fuck off now.” He cut the feed and then tore through his meal. 

He had a simple meal for his evening stream. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but this was really growing on him. Maybe Jason was one of the lonely losers who would benefit from eating meals with someone. He considered this as he chatted back and forth with GOATman. “This is nice,” he said out loud. “Maybe I should go eat with my family more.” 

GOATman sent him 100 dollars. 

“Jesus,” Jason said, startled. “I don’t need your money. But thanks. You think it’s a good idea?” He wondered, cutting a slice of his tart. 

“I think your family would love to have you over.”

The sincerity nearly made his skin crawl. Jason fidgeted. “I don’t know, my dad and I have a troubled relationship.” He sighed and put down his fork to rub at his face. “We’re both stubborn.”

“You can resolve it.” 

“You are so positive, GOATman.” Jason huffed a laugh. “Maybe. I’ll see my Dad later, maybe I’ll see if he wants me over.” 

Later that night on patrol, Jason made a point of swinging to the north end of his patrol radius. He tended to overlap with Bruce’s route there.

As expected, bat ears pricked up in the distance. Jason tried not to fidget as he waited. “Red Hood,” Batman said, landing down. “Everything alright?” 

Jason nodded. “It’s good,” he said, feeling very stupid. How was he going to walk the conversation around to maybe coming over for dinner? “I-”

Red Robin cut into the comm line. “Batman, do we have any indication that Luthor is up to something unusual?”

Batman went tense. “Why?”

“A localized EMP went off and ruined Superboy’s phone, laptop, and his family smartfridge today at 12:16 this afternoon,” Red Robin reported, sounding awfully serious for such a stupid topic. Jason stifled a snicker in his glove. “I noticed because he usually sends me thirsty- he sends a lot of reports on his days, normally.” He overcorrected himself, flustered.

Batman hummed. Jason shook his head and got out his grapple, grateful for the exit from this conversation. “Perhaps he was misusing his devices,” Batman said. “The fridge is an unfortunate casualty.”

Jason turned the channel off before he had to hear any more about Superboy’s technological woes.

Friday

“Dear Jason!”

He sat up with a start, not ten minutes after he had gone to bed. Dick was grinning at him like a ghoul, holding out his phone in the darkness of his bedroom. He was still in his Nightwing costume. His gloves were off, so Jason could see that he had a fresh manicure for the first time in a while.

‘I need bug spray or some shit.’

“...Kory,” Jason said groggily. “Good morning.” He laid back down with a groan.

“Good morning!” she chirped. “I am looking forward to our video collaboration today! What should I wear for this occasion?”

Oh, fuck. He stared at his ceiling, struck immobile by horror. He was going to be trapped in his kitchen for more than an hour with one of the most attractive people on earth. Why was this happening to him?

He turned a thoroughly wounded expression on Dick. Dick shrugged. “Wardrobe?” He prompted. 

…He did not want to pick out clothes for Kory. That was… no, that was dangerous territory.

Why was she asking him? Was this a normal thing for a celebrity to care about?

Jason ran a hand through his hair and cursed his life. “I don’t care,” he said. “A ballgown. A swimsuit. Old sweats. You literally always look good.” A bit too much sincerity crept into his voice at the end. 

Dick flinched.

“You as well!” She sang out. “Let us make a bargain! We will wear the shortest of shorts, and shirts that show our arms! The viewers will find it extremely invigorating.” He just knew she was flexing on the other end of the line.

Jason thought over that for a moment. “I don’t think I own Daisy Dukes.”

Dick tossed the phone onto his bed and started shuffling through Jason’s dresser. He retrieved a pair of jeans and then walked off with them into another room. 

It took a moment for the pin to drop. He sat up. “Dick!”

A rip cut through the air as Dick converted his jeans into shorts.

Jason laid back down mournfully. “I have short shorts,” he reported to Kory. “Okay. Wanna coordinate a color or anything?”

She cheerfully demurred. Jason ended the call and then hauled his sore body out to glare at his shitty older brother. “Don’t you have any pride? You know damn well that putting Kory on my livestream is gonna be really weird.”

Dick shrugged. “This hurts, but my rent is paid up for the rest of the year,” he said philosophically. “I can cry into a pile of paid bills.” He held up a pair of horrifically short cut-off jeans with a self satisfied smirk. “I’m going to get a car. You need to work in a reference to this credit card company by the way, say you use them for shopping for groceries.” He tossed a contract on the bed.

Jason blinked. “…How much money am I making?” He asked, baffled. “I haven’t looked at my accounts.” 

Dick rolled his eyes. “You’re an asshole,” he said fondly, in a truly incredible bit of projection. “Sleep tight!” He slammed the door on his way out. 

Jason laid there for a long and miserable moment, mind ticking unwillingly. He wanted to sleep. He needed to sleep, especially if he was going to deal with how catastrophically hot Kory was. Jason swallowed, hard. He tried not to think about her triceps. In his house. Kory and her hair and her everything, in his home. Holy shit.

He couldn’t sleep. He had to get up and scrub his home from top to bottom. What if Kory pulled the fridge out from the wall and saw the crumbs back there, huh? What if she needed to crawl under his sofa and saw that he had used it to hide an imperfection in the wall molding? 

Once that was done, Jason took his nervous energy to the grocery store and changed his damn mind half a dozen times about what he wanted to make. 

“Don’t be mad,” Dick texted him, an hour before go time.

What did that mean.

Jason called him immediately. Dick rejected the call. He stared at the phone, genuinely fearful. What did that even mean? How could it get worse?

He called again.

Dick’s phone was off.

He dialed up Barbie. “Hey, what is Dick up to?” Jason asked nervously, as soon as the line connected. 

She laughed in his ear and ended the call.

He paced around his kitchen. “That’s cool,” he said. “That’s fine. It probably doesn’t mean anything.” 

He found out what it meant when Kory knocked on his door and breezed in a cloud of perfume to land a kiss on his cheek. “Jason!” She announced, way too loudly. “We are so excited!” Her incredible hair sort of lashed and sparked in the air.

He reeled, a hand to his cheek. “What,” he said, like a dumbass. We? Oh no. It was a plural situation.

Roy Harper came in after her and kicked the door shut, arms… out. And bulging. “Yeah, we brought some stuff,” he said, as if Jason had noticed the goddamn tote bags he was hefting. Jason hadn’t gotten that far.

Jason made a wounded sound. 

‘If Wally West or Barbara Gordon shows up, I’m leaving. This won’t be my apartment anymore. I’m not strong enough for this. Is Dick mad at me?’

“What’s that?” he said weakly, trying to get his hormones under control. Jason held onto the countertop to stay standing. He needed help. He needed one of those LifeAlert devices. Someone should call an ambulance immediately. His heart was going too fast and it hurt.

Roy grinned at him. It was so white and perfect that it hurt his brain a little. He dropped the totes on the counter and then dug out two honeydew melons. “Perfect melons!” he said, holding them up to his chest.

Jason made a sound like a strangled cat.

Kory threw her head back and laughed. “That is too funny, friend Roy,” she said. She floated over and snatched out some grapefruits. “They resemble your large pectorals!”

Roy grinned at her and sort of jiggled the fruit. “Thanks for noticing,” he said, and then he looked back at Jason. “Some of your followers had some rather… scientific curiosity.”

He tried to make a noise. Nothing came out.

“Yes,” Kory said, idly tossing fruit up and down. “You crushed a root vegetable in your hand. It has spurred inquiries such as, “Can a melon be cracked open in the bend of your arm? Will it crack or be crushed, or will it be unaffected?” Her grin turned extremely mischievous. “I thought we should all try it!” She dashed in between the two men and gave a squeeze to each of their arms. “That is why I thought that we should not wear the sleeves today! It will be easier to clean ourselves.”

Dick was a dead man. He could pay his bills in hell.

They started the stream. He introduced his guests. Jason was in such a fugue state that he knew damn well he wouldn’t remember what had happened. He stammered his way through the introduction so severely that Kory patted his back and then cheerfully announced they were going to make fruit juice!

“We will begin with guavas.” Kory pulled them out with a flourish. “Let us crush them with our hands!” She grinned to the camera. 

Jason managed one look at her crushing fruit between her palms and then went back into survival mode. He wanted to lick her hands. He wanted to join a monastery.

“Next, oranges. I wanted to see if we could juice them inside the rind. What do you think?” Roy gave the screen a winsome smile and a piece of fruit a teasing squeeze.

“Oh!” Kory floated upwards in her excitement. “Let us take turns crushing them with our biceps! Everyone, please observe.” 

“This is debatably sanitary,” Roy said, and then effortlessly crushed his orange over the bowl. It flattened and spurted out violently.

Jesus.

Jason watched, transfixed, as juice dripped down his arm. Kory crowed a laugh and then copied him. Jason let himself be bullied into it next. Why not? This might as well be happening to him. 

HawaiiHunk2 returned just long enough to type up an all caps scream. He then disappeared from the list of viewers. 

Relatable. He was right. For once in his miserable and horny little life, HawaiiHunk2 was right. It was better to run away.

“Next!” Kory brandished two melons. The chat exploded into incoherency. “Let us attempt the honeyed melons! Their rind is very thick.”

Jason looked at the orange juice drying on his arm. 

“Looks sticky,” Roy said casually. Too casually. “Need me to clean that up for you?” He stuck his tongue out ever so slightly.

Jason reflexively made the sign of the cross. 

“We also have watermelons!”

“God help me,” Jason begged. He gripped the counter hard.

“I have heard that it is an internet challenge to crush them in one’s muscular thighs! We, too, shall crush watery melons!”

“Yeah, buddy,” Roy said, extremely unhelpful. “Lucky we are all in such short shorts.” He twined around to show the camera his flank, lifting a leg. His thigh muscles flexed.

Jason didn’t really remember the rest of the stream. He didn’t remember ending it. It was sort of a rush of blood and hormones. He just survived the experience, honestly.

When it was all over, Kory and Roy each kissed a cheek and then bustled out with cheerful efficiency. They said something about going to blow up a warlord. Or something. He didn’t really know English anymore.

“Good luck,” Jason said, dazed. He sat down on his floor. His laptop and phone chimed constantly with notifications. Me too, buddy, he thought. 

His window slid open and Dick crawled in like Sadako. “Yooooo,” the world’s worst sibling crooned. He tumbled into the room with a roll and then landed in a crouch. He giggled to himself, the white light from his phone reflecting on his face. “Oh, hey, did you see Tim’s message? Someone set off another EMP at the Kent farm during your livestream.” He snickered. An app made a ping noise, as a transaction registered. Dick threw his head back and cackled. “I have infinite money now! I don’t care about using paid vs unpaid leave anymore. I am going to get a 401k and health insurance! I am never going to die.” He threw himself back into the sofa and kicked his feet in the air.

Jason looked at his phone, seeking something that would numb the pain of his brother’s happiness. 

His back went rigid.

He opened his messages. He scrolled past the 102 unopened messages from Kon, as was his habit. The top one said, “I am free ton….”

That was unimportant. He had unopened messages from both Kory and Roy.

Roy

You looked hot as hell today. 🔥 u free tonight? 👅 🫦 what else them thighs do?  🍈 

Kory

Jason! 💕 You have the cleanest sofa I have ever seen. ✨ Let us spend some time upon it together and cause it to become filthy and possibly broken! 💋 🍑  💪 

He looked at Dick. He looked back at his phone and the R U up style messages from two of Dick’s exes. He looked again at how heinously happy Dick was. 

“Hey, Dick,” Jason said slowly. He felt a terrible smile creeping across his face. 

He had the power to make all of that go away. 

Dick stopped smiling. He went very still, like a meerkat in the grass. “…What up?” 

“C’mere.”

[red-jaebyrd]

Somewhere I Belong

Once again thank you @acidulication for the inspiration with your lovely art.

Jason knew it was a mistake getting into the Batman’s car, but he gave into his moment of weakness when he was promised food, shelter and medical attention. He knew Batman was good to kids, he just didn’t know how Batman felt about Shifter kids.

The gash near his ear stung like a bitch and he was sure he had a cracked rib or two trying to help Batman take down those muggers.

“You know, you didn’t need to jump in the middle of that mess.” Batman growled, breaking the silence. “I had it handled.”

“The guy behind you had a gun. You’d be dead if it wasn’t for me.” Jason winced, holding his side.

“Yeah, and look where it got you. There is a reason I don’t like kids helping me.”

“You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Just hang on, we’re almost there.”

“Where are we going?” Jason asked, hiding the slight panic in his voice.

“I’m taking you to my home.”

“Batman has a home?”

“Where do you think I live?”

“I don’t know…a cave?”

Jason had been helping Batman on and off for a few months giving him intel here and there from gossip he had heard on the streets from mobsters, drug lords, and the occasional street person. Batman had been adamant that he didn’t need help from a kid, but Jason’s intel had proved useful every time. They had developed a bit of a rapport. Batman had paid him back in cheeseburgers and milkshakes.

But tonight was the first time Jason had jumped in halfcocked and got injured.

They arrived at the Manor and that was when everything changed for him. This was the night Jason found out that Batman was also Bruce Wayne.

Prior to coming to the Manor, Jason hadn’t shifted in a couple of weeks and it was starting to show. He could feel the itch in his bones and muscles as he tried hard to ignore the urge. He was used to the discomfort of the tics ravaging his body.  Jason had trained himself to ride out the compulsion to shift while staying in various foster homes. It had never boded well to shift while in Foster care, much less living on the streets. Kid Shifters were more likely to get trafficked and sold to traveling carnivals. He once held on for three weeks almost four. Hurt like a bitch, but was worth it to not get snatched.

The more difficult challenge was hiding his behavior caused by the tics from not shifting. His behavior had always either got him kicked out of people’s houses or provided just enough of an excuse for him to run away.

But he promised Bruce he would stay, at least until his ribs were healed. Bruce never did give him a timeline.

While Jason lay in bed recovering from his bruised ribs an older boy came bounding into the bedroom.

“What the hell, man!” Jason shouted, nearly falling out of the bed.

“Hi, I’m Dick. You must be Jason. Bruce told me all about how you helped him last night. Thanks for that, by the way. How are you feeling?”

All the words came out of the older boy’s mouth in quick succession without taking a breath.

“Like shit,” Jason snapped. It was best to have them believe he was cranky from being bedridden with busted ribs, than being miserable from being unable to shift. The attitude didn’t seem to faze Dick at all.

“I’ll bet. Well you are very brave jumping in like that.” Dick gushed.

The compliment seemed to take all the fight out of Jason. “I’m not brave,” he sighed. Right now he felt anything but brave. More like a coward willfully preventing his body from shifting.

“But you are, I don’t think I could have done what you did out there. Is it true that you live by yourself on the streets?”

“You sure ask a lot of questions.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend,” Dick apologized. “Why don’t you stay here…permanently?”

Jason thought about it and quickly came to the conclusion that the option wasn’t up for debate. They would all grow to hate him once they found out he was a shifter.

“Trust me; I don’t think you or Bruce want me to stay here.”

Dick smiled. “I think you’d fit in perfectly. I’ll go and let you rest. I’m sure if you asked, Bruce would let you stay.”

In the first hour of meeting Dick, Jason realized two things; one, he liked to talk a lot and two he never sat still.

On the second day the shouting had started. Everything was pissing him off. The pain was getting worse, and the tics were getting harder and harder to hide. Jason refused to tell them what was wrong and why he was so irritable. He couldn’t voice to any of them what would fix him.  He hated yelling at them. It would be so much easier not to care about his behavior if Bruce, Dick and Alfred were awful, but they were great. They treated him so well even when he was being a little shit. This only made it so much harder for Jason to hate them.

He cried himself to sleep that night because a part of him was starting to love it at the manor. It was a place where he finally had a warm bed, got to eat three meals a day, a place he finally felt safe; just not safe enough to shift. Jason couldn’t entertain those feelings, because he wouldn’t be allowed to stay. Not if he slipped and shifted and they saw his true self.

On the third day he met Dick again, this time in Dick’s shifter form. Jason woke up to find a big panther with a shiny black coat and friendly blue eyes sitting on his bed. Instead of being happy and relieved at the sight of another Shifter, Jason’s heart sank at the sight. Jason turned his back on the panther that had been gently pawing at his hip.

“Please go away, Dick. I’m not feeling so good.” Jason sniffed, unable to stop his tears from falling. He wasn’t lying. He really wasn’t feeling good, but it was for an entirely different reason.

There was no way he could allow himself to shift now. No way would Mr Wayne want a scrawny, battered hyena cub living in the same house as a handsome black panther. The devastation and shame of what Jason was outweighed the relief of being under the roof of another Shifter.

Jason knew if he shifted, just for a little while it would stave off the rage and physical pain, but he couldn’t risk it. He had gone nearly four weeks without shifting once, he could do it again.

He spent the next couple of days in his room afraid his shouting might turn into physical blows. He didn’t want to hurt anyone, so he stayed away. He refused to let anyone in, especially Dick. He tried to contain his jealousy of Dick, but it was eating away at him.

Alfred tried to bribe him out of bed with cookies, but it didn’t work.

Jason was almost asleep when he heard a knock on his door.

“Go away, Dick.”

“It’s Bruce, may I come in?”

Here it comes, Jason thought. They are finally going to kick me out.

“It’s your house. Do what you want.” Jason answered, not moving from the bed.

Bruce opened the door and looked around the room and then focused his eyes on Jason. His expression was neutral, but here was definitely something on his mind.

Jason prepared himself for the worst. He just wanted to memorize the softness of his bed before he would be told he had to leave. He turned around in the bed with his back facing Bruce.

Bruce sat on the bed and placed a hand gently on Jason’s shoulder. The contact startled him but he didn’t brush it way.

“Jason, do you like it here?”

He nodded into the pillow. “Yes.”

“Do you feel safe here?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like to live here permanently?”

Jason sighed, because yes he would like to live here permanently with Bruce and Dick, but would they want him after discovering his form? Would his form matter to them; like it mattered to some uppity Gothamites?

“Yes, but I don’t think you’d want…a…”

“Jason, I want you here. We all want you here. But most importantly, I think you need to shift. It’s vital to your physiology that you allow yourself to shift frequently between forms. You’re in pain, son. I can see it. We can all see it. Please, Jason. It’s okay. It will be okay.” Bruce pleaded.

By this time Jason was sobbing.

“You’ve known?” Jason hiccupped. “All this time, you’ve known I was a Shifter?”

“Yes, I’ve been a father to a Shifter for six years. I’ve been through this before.” Bruce comforted, rubbing Jason’s shoulder. “You’re safe here.”

Jason turned around to face Bruce moving the sheets and blankets up to where only his eyes were showing. He closed his eyes and shifted. It hurt like a bitch at first as he hadn’t shifted in a little over a week. He stayed under the covers scared to show himself to Bruce.

“Jason, can I see you?”

He sat up on the bed allowing the blankets to completely cover him. He waited to gather his bearings and reacquaint himself in his hyena form. It was all or nothing. Either Bruce accepted him this way or not. There was no turning back. He looked down at his chest and around to inspect his body. The tan fur was as matted as ever, but not as bad as it had been while he had been living on the streets. He couldn’t do anything about the brown spots, but they were far more pronounced now that he had been showering regularly. Still, it didn’t stop him from trying to quickly groom himself. He brought his front paw to his head to smooth down his brown tuft of a barely there mane.

“Take your time, Jason.”

Finally he responded with a soft ‘whoop’ sound unique to hyenas. Bruce slowly pulled the covers off him and all Jason could do was look down. He was so scared to meet Bruce’s eyes. He didn’t want to see rejection or shame there.

“Jason, you’re absolutely adorable.”

Jason looked up and tilted his head at Bruce. He could see tears in the man’s eyes as Bruce lifted Jason up to hold and nuzzle him.

“You’re so beautiful, Jason, why would you hide your form from us?”

Jason whooped again in response and allowed Bruce to hold him. He buried his head in the man’s neck moving it back and forth. Jason couldn’t remember ever being held with such care and tenderness. All his life he had been told that he was ugly worthless mistake. Is this what it felt like to belong; to be loved; to be part of a family? It felt good.

“But you are beautiful.” Bruce cooed, as he stroked Jason’s head. “Never be afraid of who you are, Jason. You hear me?”

Jason lifted his head and licked Bruce’s face in response. It felt good to finally be able to shift. His muscles unclenched and his bones stopped aching. Relief flooded his heart at Bruce’s acceptance and affection.

“Can I let Dick in? He’s been waiting by the door all morning.”

Jason perked his ears at that, because of course Dick had been waiting by the door. Dick had been camping outside his door for the last three days.

Bruce opened the door to let the panther in. Dick came rushing toward Bruce standing to his full height to get a good look at the “newcomer”. Bruce put Jason down to allow the boys to get better acquainted. Dick motioned to Jason to follow him and the two sped out of the bedroom toward the kitchen that led to the door to the back garden.

Jason was finally home where he was safe and free to be himself. At last he was part of a family.

-

Tim’s Shifter fic, Dick’s Shifter fic

[seaweed8rain]

Which One of These Three Time-Traveling Films is the Best?

Written by Rayhan Abrar Rizkan

 Writing this comparing and contrast piece has been a challenge for me, the biggest challenge is to pick what topics do I really want to discuss. The runner ups are : Star Wars, the Ocean’s franchise, and even down to which is the best girl in Chainsaw Man. Other references aside, this one is my pick, due to my fascination towards Time-Traveling films. For this piece, I narrowed down the nominations into these three : TENET, Avengers: Endgame, and Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

 I picked TENET because of my personal bias. I picked Avengers: Endgame because you all have probably seen it. And I picked the second Terminator movie because it is one of the most quintessential, monumental, and an absolute classic to set the pop culture we know today. I could have picked Back to the Future, but I can’t, or won’t, pick one. Let us begin with the first point of comparison : The Story.

 The most important thing to a film is the script, the writing that you sell to the studio or anyone you want to work with. It goes without saying, it has to be good. A Movie has to tell a story, to follow a character, and/or to set a specific goal in mind. It is the easiest and the first thing people say when they are describing a movie, for example, “It’s the one where they have to carry a ring to the volcano.”, “There’s wizards, magic, and they have to defeat a snub-nosed villain.”, “So there’s this guy, and he got bit by a radioactive spider....”. Case in point, you can probably guess those movies just by the plot or the premise, that is set by the script, that is how powerful a story could be if written properly.

 TENET has a simple story. Calling it complicated is an understatement, but if you finally opened your third eye somehow while watching this movie, it is simple. TENET is a lot of movies stacked into one, it is a spy movie, a heist movie, a sci-fi, and action. TENET follows the Protagonist (That is how you know this movie is beyond awesome, they do not even bother naming the lead) to find pieces of an advanced weapon algorithm with secret battles coming from the past and the future to stop World War III from the hand of the main villain, Sator. See my point here? It is simple..... but I did leave out the whole time-bending plot to see it all in one straight line. . But when you see all things unveil, especially during the second watch seeing that it is how Nolan makes his movies, you can truly appreciate TENET for what it is, cinema.

 Avengers: Endgame, you already know the story. After their massive defeat in Infinity War, the original members with the help of few others tries to undo what Thanos did and return those who are lost. This movie is plain and vanilla yet the perfect closing for this symphony of Marvel’s ensemble cast in comic book movies, you do not have to follow all 21 MCU movies to watch the adventures that they went through to understand the main story, but they will reward you if you do, as there are tons of fan service and easter eggs to get excited for.

 For Terminator 2, maybe I should explain on why I chose this instead of the original, and it ties in to the story. In the first Terminator movie, Skynet, to put it simply is a future-evil-internet-robot-brain programmed to eradicate humanity and enslave those who survived in the purge. Skynet sent a robot assassin with the face of Arnold Schwarzenegger to kill Sarah Connor from giving birth to John Connor, the future leader of the resistance that will defeat Skynet. So the John Connor in the future sent Kyle Reese, one of the member of the resistance to protect his mother Sarah from the Terminator Model 101. Kyle eventually stopped the Terminator and somehow fathered John Connor in the process. To recap the first movie, John sent his own father to protect his mom from the past. Now, the second movie is where they did a twist. Instead of just having another advanced Terminator to the past sent by another version of Skynet, the resistance also sent another reprogrammed Terminator to protect the target that is (kid) John Connor. If this is done now, the twist is completely overdone and seen as nothing but a gimmick. But for a movie in the 90’s? this is revolutionary. Its like having Jason Krueger as your ally in the sequel, but replace that with an Arnold Schwarzenegger looking killer robot despite the lack of his trademark of making unintelligible noises. Because of the same face, the Terminator has to convince Sarah that he is not the Terminator she once knew in the first movie, but a reprogrammed one set to protect them, this interaction of not trusting one another and always be on guard sets up the movie very well. The flick is a staple of action movie back in the day, having two indestructible killing machines squaring up against one another, how can anyone top that at that era?

 Now that we are all caught up with the story, it is time to discuss the soul of these movies have in common, the Time-traveling aspect, the main plot device, the cause or the breaker of movie retcons. In this short list, Terminator has to be the simplest in terms of the mechanics of the time-travel story. The time machine is one time use only, as it can only be used in the future where such things exist. So once you go back in time, the only way to go back to the future is to wait, just like everyone else. And what you did in the past will instantly affect the future accordingly. The time machine in Terminator movies has to be the one with the weirdest mechanic, where you can only send things with living tissues and no other, now that the fact is laid out on you then yes, everyone who went back in time has to be naked. So they have to find new clothing when they arrived. At least that is their explanation on why the Terminator has to be wrapped up in synthetic human skin, not to show off Arnold’s five hours a day of intensive muscle toning in six months with the help of a big pile chicken breast and a year supply of protein shake, not at all.

 Avengers: Endgame has the most flexible machine out of all, where you can set the time and place of where you want to be, as long as you have enough supply of Pym particles to go subatomic and travel a safe passage through the fabric of time. But with multiple journeys with different groups you will run a risk of creating an alternate timeline, but they simply nullify such possibility with having Hulk said that they will go back in time after the final battle is done, and return the things they took in the past back to its place and time so nothing will inherently change. The time traveling part of the movie is the charm of Endgame, where we get to re-visit the characters, places, and events we have seen in the previous films in a different perspective that is canon to the universe.

 Now, this is where it all gets tricky to explain, because the time-traveling of TENET is not the same as any other movies I have seen. Calling it a time-traveling is not even entirely accurate, but the mechanic of how it works calls for more of a “Time-inversion”. The time machine in this film is very rustic, where you go into this big turning door that leads to the other side of the room, but once you are “inverted”, you move forward in time, but the world around you goes backwards. You cannot choose which time you want to go to, if you want to go back in time for 10 minutes, you have to wait it out while being inverted for 10 minutes, that is why the palindrome suits with the whole movie. This makes amazing visuals when combined with action sequences, imagine reverse car chases, bullets were caught to the gun instead of being shot out of, punches were pulled instead of thrown. In other words, if you see a sequence of two people with one of them inverted, they can both win or lose at the end depending on which point-of-view you choose.

The time inversion in TENET is not only treated as a plot device, but also the philosophy that is abided by the movie, as there is only one timeline that exist in the movie. This is made clear in the story that no matter what you do, you cannot change the outcome of the future, as the present is set with the human’s free will, and even though they are randomly generated, it happened anyway. “What’s happened, happened” said Neil, one of the main characters in the movie explaining how time inversion works to the Protagonist. It is not a battle to change the outcome, but to gain a perspective for what’s to come.  Whatever happens, happened and will happen all at the same time. With the limited mechanic of time-inversion that TENET has (or had, or will have, this is confusing even to me now), it is amazing what it can achieve in terms of storytelling, how the story we see in front of us is one enormous temporal pincer collision of the past, future, and present in one sitting (or collide, collided, will collide, I do not know what is happening). From my standpoint, clearly I prefer TENET above all else, but do let me know what’s your pick out of these three! Better yet, what is your favourite time-traveling film? 

[violetsmoak]

No Safety or Surprise [Part I - Excerpt]

Summary: A haunting broadcast reveals the Joker’s final act and sets off a chain of events that will destroy the world. Terry finds himself collaborating once more with the estranged members of Bruce’s former team. As the end nears, however, he and the other Bats are faced with hard choices about survival—and forgiveness.

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything to do with Batman. I don’t make any money off this. It’s just me playing in a sandbox. (And I’ll put a better disclaimer on this at some other point.)

Author’s Note: First fic in the Batman universe, yay! (Well, second, but the first one was high school ago and was a blatant self-insert lol). I’ve been toying with this idea for a while now. It’s taken some in-depth planning, but I finally have something to show for it. This is only one part of a very large first chapter, but I thought I’d throw it out there into cyberspace and see what people think. I’ll post it here in mini excerpts, but eventually I’ll put it on FF.Net and Ao3, once it’s all shiny and edited.

Spoilers: Everything in Batman Beyond until but not including the “Rewired” storyline or anything afterward. Also, references to events and characters present in the DC ‘verse up to the New 52 (after the “Robin Rises” story arc) but before Rebirth. (And JFC do I hate keeping all these timelines straight!)

Warnings: Leading up to canon-divergence; eventual main character deaths (except not really, because timey wimey stuff); a few minor original characters; multiple POVs

Timeline: Takes place after the events of 10 000 Clowns but before Terry McGinnis graduates high school.

Bruce is beginning to wonder if a Lazarus Pit might not have been a better idea than the liver transplant. Of the methods for artificially prolonging life, at least with the Pit, he would eventually start to feel like he was recovering.

After the madness subsided, at least.

On days like today—when it’s damp and chilly, and there’s nothing going on in Gotham to keep him glued to the computer screen in the Cave—it’s hard to remember the arguments he’s always made against using the restorative powers of a Lazarus Pit. He body protests with every movement as he eases it through several slowed kata variations. Part of his physical therapy, as suggested (ordered) by his doctors.

Since his procedure, he feels the exhaustion much more keenly. It’s a bone-deep fatigue that seeps into every muscle, emphasizing the way his bones creak and grind against each other, cartilage worn away from age and decades of abuse. It’s the way his energy levels drain so much faster no, to the extent that even his usual ability to will himself into action seems to wane every day.

Not that he really had a choice in the matter. He was in end stage liver failure, and the nearest Pit is in New Cuba. He’d just been lucky that there was a suitable donor in the hospital at the right time.

‘Luck’ is one word for it. ‘Cruel irony’ might be a better phrase.

Douglas Tan is one of the names he’s going to carry on his conscience for the rest of his life; or, at least on his liver.

Terry still makes jokes about Batman having a piece of a Joker inside him, but then Terry tends to use humor to cover up when he’s worried. Dick always did that, too; and Jason.

Bruce scowls, bothered by the direction of his thoughts, as well as the raggedness to his breath. He isn’t even moving very fast, but it’s taking him every bit of strength to keep at it.

Ace is curled up in his usual spot in the cave, watching Bruce with what seems to be narrowed eyes. As if to say, don’t overdo it or I will knock you over.

He knows the dog is smarter than most people.

Ace is one of the reasons the doctors were willing to leave him to pursue recovery on his own and not under some beady-eyed nurse in hospital. Money isn’t as much an incentive as it once was, with so many legal and health standards in the way; the older he gets, the less likely people are to trust his ability to make decisions, lawyers or not.

He tolerated a private nurse for about a day while having Terry make other arrangements and manufacturing a piece of paper saying Ace was a certified service dog. He’s not, but Bruce has no doubt the dog would activate the medical alert button at the computer if something were to happen. And Terry has an alarm set up, keyed into the surveillance and motion sensors in the Cave. If anything were to happen, he can be here faster than any ambulance.

Old age has fed into long-buried fears, and it gives him an embarrassing sense of relief knowing there’s someone to look in on him. It has always bothered him, being dependent—being weak.

Some days he’s more accepting of it; some days he wishes he had Kryptonian DNA.

Which is usually the point at which he forces himself to occupy his mind with other things, because envying Clark Kent can only lead down a dark, frustrating path of self-pity. One he’s determinedly avoided ever since meeting the other man.

After another fifteen minutes of forcing himself to think about nothing but the movement of his limbs, Bruce finally finishes his exercises. Sweat coats his back and his limbs ache with the same burn as if he just spent several hours grappling through the Gotham skyline. Even if it took less challenging movements to reach this point, that burn is comforting.

Familiar.

And that’s a word that’s been cropping up more in his thoughts lately. History tends to repeat, after all, but it’s still strange to experience. Terry’s been an excellent example of that.

Like Bruce, the McGinnis boy started out with nothing but a suit and an old man’s voice in his ear. Now, he’s got a network. Friends who he trusts and who will keep his secret. A steadily growing list of allies in the field.

The Police Commissioner. The Justice League.

And a Catwoman too, for Christ sakes.

He wonders what Selina would think about that.

Bruce just hopes the kid won’t make his mistakes. Forty years is a long time to rack up regrets.

At least Dick’s back in contact now.

Sort of.

He showed up the second night that Bruce was recovering from his procedure at the hospital; he’d managed to convince Terry to go out on patrol instead of wasting his time watching an old man sleep.

“Batman doesn’t get a day off.”

Bruce had dosed for a bit, but not deeply; it wasn’t difficult to discern that he wasn’t alone.  

One minute the room was empty and in the next, Bruce could feel that familiar presence—the one of a man who had carried the mantles of Robin, Nightwing and Batman—and somehow lived to tell the tale. Then his estranged son was stepping out of the shadows, glaring down at him, muscles in his jaw working and fists clenching and unclenching.

“I know what you’re going to say,” Bruce had croaked, wishing he had thought to ask for ice chips before the nurse left. “I’m too stubborn to die.”

The silence hanging afterward was filled with everything he couldn’t say yet. For once, Dick didn’t call him on it.

“You’re more stubborn than God,” his boy countered.

(He’ll always be a boy to Bruce, grey hair and eye-patch be damned.)

And yet, he sat, arms crossed and spine stiff for the rest of the night. Still angry, but there nonetheless. He stayed until morning rounds without saying anything, and then left.

They haven’t seen each other since, but sometimes Bruce can hear feedback on the comms when he’s directing Terry’s patrols. The tinny whisper of signals crossing from the bug he pretends he doesn’t know Dick planted on the underside of his medical ID tag.

It’s not much, but it’s something. The opening of the possibility that at some point, he’ll come around.

Barbara did, after all.

Mostly because of Terry, but afterward Bruce started making the effort. They can have conversations alone now that don’t end with her yelling at him (or punching him, on one or two memorable occasions). Bruce forgot how much he enjoyed her sense of humor and intelligence—how much he enjoyed their friendship—from before they slept together.

(That might be one of his life’s biggest shames. Oh, he has regrets associated with all of the family for one thing or another, but this is the one that still wakes him up at night feeling dirty.)

In a way, it’s easier with Tim, and that’s a bridge Bruce thought had been obliterated long ago.

Granted, he’s leaving Gotham again—the last incident with the Joker army rattled him enough that he put in for a transfer to the Chinese division of Wayne Enterprises—but he stuck around long enough to collaborate with Bruce on a subdermal antitoxin deployment implant against Joker venom.

(None of them want to be caught unawares again.)

It’s in the prototype phase, with only five of the devices in existence; he, Tim and Terry are testing them personally. It’s not exactly something the FDA is going to approve for human testing anytime soon, not with all the new legislation, but with the state of Gotham, it’s unwise to wait on it.

(He sent one to Barbara and one to Dick but doesn’t know if they’ve bothered to activate them. At least they haven’t sent them back.)

If the implant works, Bruce is seriously considering modifying the tech for the Wayne Enterprises medical division. There are a lot of illnesses and viruses out there which require regular dosages of medicine to keep them under control.

Maybe that’s the next project, after CAIN, he muses, grabbing his towel from where he draped it over one of the computer processors.

His global Clean Air Initiative Network is something he’d been working on before stepping back from the company. It was shelved almost immediately by Derek Powers when he took over, but since Bruce has been back, he’s been revisiting a lot of old projects.

Lucius’ boy did most of the technical work on it, and Foxtecha will have joint ownership of the patent when it’s ready for public consumption. Bruce would have asked Tim, but he knows how determined he is to get out of Gotham. He can read it in the tone of his emails, which have thankfully lost the stilted, formal business tone they’ve had since he returned to the company.

(Bruce mentioned paying a visit in the future, and Tim didn’t say no, so he counts that as a win.)

It’s a little disconcerting how the family is coming together again; disconcerting but welcome.

He’s received a vid call last week from Cassandra expressing concern over his surgery, and then a short, gruff email from Duke all-but ordering him to get better. There’s even a letter from Stephanie—or Eurus, as she goes by these days—smelling of dust and desert sun and incense found only in Nanda Parbat. Her messy, looping scrawl, echoed Dick’s sentiment about Bruce’s stubbornness and alluded to its genetic inheritability.

(That said more than if she had actually mentioned Damian outright.)

Bruce lost track of her not long after his son’s short and brutal stint under the cowl; it had surprised him to find out she ended up in Tibet.

It also relieved him. Because no matter how dark a path his son wandered, there would be someone to challenge him. To not obey without question. To give him a link to the life he once had, to being human and alive.

(Bruce very carefully doesn’t think about Jason—doesn’t wonder if things had been different, if he wouldn’t have reached out as well. Even after so many years, that wound is still raw.)

The whole thing is a stark difference from the last few times he ended up in the hospital, including when he was dosed on Joker venom several months ago. He didn’t hear anything from them at that point, which makes him think someone really thought he was dying this time and reached out.

Barbara, maybe. Or Dick. However much tension there is between himself and Bruce, he does keep in touch with the others.

Hell, it might even have been Terry. The kid doesn’t know the rest of them personally, but he’s gotten adept at navigating the computer in the cave. And he’s always been curious about his predecessors.

Bruce’s first family.

Or maybe just the first phase of the family.

Bruce shies away from that secret bit of knowledge he has about Terry, and his brother Matt. What he discovered the first time the kid returned to the Cave with bloody gashes that needed stitching up. The files and medical information buried beneath every firewall he could fashion, so the boy never stumbles upon it accidentally.

The most he’s allowed himself to acknowledge it is an amendment in his will setting aside trust funds for both boys.

As if triggered by his thoughts, the screen of the Bat-Computer flickers to life. He rolls his shoulders, expecting an alert on some heist or robbery going on in the city; another case to add to the docket for Terry to investigate after school (depending on the severity).

Bruce doesn’t expect the Cave to suddenly fill with a jaunty, haunting carnival tune that makes his entire body seize in recognition. And yet, he already knows what’s coming even before the words HA HA HA coalesce upon the screen.  

TBC

NEXT

[drinkupthesunrise]

Star Wars Rare Pairs Exchange Letter 2018

Hey! While I’m pretty sure I will love WHATEVER you make me, if you are in need / want of some advice, the following may be of interest to you:

In general, I like: pining, unrequited love that turns out not to be unrequited, people being friends & in love with each other generally, found family, ridiculous references, fic that explores what characters mean to each other in a greater context, alt!timeline shit (ie, what would happen if a character had made x choice instead of y), complicated relationships, baby/kid!fic, hurt/comfort.

Things I do not want: character bashing, unnecessary character death (ymmv here it’s Star Wars, characters die, I accept that, but please don’t kill anyone off in the pairings, canonical deaths are fine), gratuitous / explicit violence, mundane!AUs (coffee!shop, high school/college, etc), dubcon/noncon in any form, cheating, first person POV.

General links that might be useful to you: my ao3 works, my fic writing tag, my ficlet tag, and my general star wars tag. 

General note: I like characters, and relationships, best when they’re situated in a world that feels real, and that means having other characters around them, and the relationships between them. While the pairings below should definitely be the focus of any fic, please feel free to slip in other things that you think I might like. I think what’s below should give you an idea of that, hopefully :D. For instance, I adore Wedge’s relationship / friendship with the rest of the Fab Four / his pilots in general, and I find the Han / Luke / Leia dynamic endlessly fascinating (both platonically and romantically on all sides), I’m always up for guest appearances from anyone from any point in canon.

Wedge Antilles/Luke Skywalker

Would happily take anything, but specific loves include stuff with them founding Rogue Squadron and that early part of their relationship, where they’re a little unsure and unfamiliar but still utterly trusting of each other? Or in the aftermath of Endor where Luke’s off founding the Jedi Order and Wedge is off fighting the Imperial Remnant and they’re trying to work out if they could have a relationship in all of that? I really love these two, the relationship between them really is one of my all-time faves.

I am also desperate for pre-and-post-TLJ era fic for them. What does Wedge make of Luke’s choices and decisions? Did Wedge go with him to Ahch-To? If Wedge is present, how does that affect the choices Luke makes?

I would also sell my soul for Jedi Academy-era fic in which Wedge is a teacher at Luke’s Jedi Academy, either with them in an established relationship and founding the school, or where Wedge gets involved somehow and slowly realises, oh, actually, Luke is very attractive and there is a lot of pining, and Luke is off having the same realisations about Wedge.

Wedge Antilles/Mara Jade/Luke Skywalker

In which Wedge Antilles and Mara Jade have precisely one thing in common: they both think that Luke Skywalker is endearing and also kinda useless, and would do anything for him. Which includes teaming up to save Luke when he gets into yet more trouble (insert situation of choice here) despite the fact that Mara is really not very convinced by this short fly-boy with floppy hair who cannot act, and Wedge is not really over the fact that Mara wanted to kill Luke. Bonus points for them discovering that they have far more in common than they think, and for Talon Karrde & Booster Terrik background shenanigans.

(I’d be okay with platonic!wedge&mara, if you can’t get that bit to work, but I would like Wedge and Mara to both be in love with Luke - or on their way there - and for Luke to love them both back.)

Wedge Antilles/Leia Organa

I think Wedge and Leia are very alike, in some ways - both soldiers with a sense of duty that goes far beyond themselves, who’d sacrifice their personal lives for their ideals every time. So anything that builds on that, really; either early Alliance / Rebellion (pre / post Yavin), with Leia still trying to sort out her feelings for Han / Luke and working them out with the person who is the mid-ground between the two (fight me on this Wedge is Han’s smuggling no-good self crossed with Luke’s idealism and good!man nature), or possibly after the Jedi Temple Massacre, or post TLJ, where they are the last two left standing and seek solace in each other?

Also! If you have read the 2013 Marvel Star Wars comic (the Wood/D’Anda one), you should know I was so very very very weak for Leia as Squadron Commander and Wedge as her second, and I cannot believe that was an actual thing that happened in Legends okay??

Wedge Antilles/Han Solo

Okay I can hear you probably going ‘huh what’ and I submit to you these quotes from the X-Wing books, and actually the entirety of Solo Command as a book. Essentially, Corellians giving each other shit. But no seriously in Solo Command there’s a real easiness and willingness to tease and I’d be really interested as to how they got there, and if it ever was anything more.

Also, in new canon – I’ve always figured that Wedge and Han might have a bit of antagonistic start to their relationship, Wedge is much more of a believer and very willing to die for the cause – how does he react when he finds out what Han did in Solo? Aiding Enfys Nest? Does that change his feelings?

Wedge Antilles/Leia Organa/Han Solo

Okay so Wedge spends an astonishing amount of time in the X-Wing books putting Han and Leia’s relationship back together (only for The Courtship of Princess Leia to happen, poor guy.) Like. He’s really invested in it. And also half in love with both of them it seems.

But, what I really want … is new canon, in which during the Aftermath trilogy Wedge ends up staying with Leia, and sort of never leaves, and even when Han comes back he’s still there, and then he helps out when Ben is born, because Wedge is very good with babies and this is a very important fact, and slowly Han and Leia realise, oh, wait, we never want him to leave.

I would also be very happy with drunken hook-ups, or Han and Leia accidentally propositioning Wedge.

Wedge Antilles/Biggs Darklighter

They must have known each other on Yavin, so it’s not inconceivable that they might have met and, y’know, got it on. So quick and dirty introductions, or possibly even something set later, after the Death Star battle, where Biggs!lives and the two pilots who didn’t get that shot off try and find solace in each other.

Wedge Antilles/Bodhi Rook

So – well, Wedge was at the Imperial Academy for a time, as was Bodhi, and although it’s unlikely they were in classes together, I think that their paths could have crossed; what’s it like when they see each other on Yavin all those years later? If Bodhi is the only survivor of the Rogue One team, and Wedge is the only survivor of the original pilots (Luke is too new, really) do they find solace in each other? Do they only really catch up after the war with each other, and suddenly realise that no one else is quite going to understand their grief? (I am heavily into Wedge Antilles has a case of survivor’s guilt the size of a Star Destroyer this ship only compounds my feelings).

Wedge Antilles/Lando Calrissian

They took down a Death Star together, that’s a start. I think the other thing about these two is they’re both very set on keeping their people safe – Wedge with his pilots, Lando with the people of Cloud City, and they have principles and lines they won’t cross but they’ll go through hell and back to try and save as many as they can. So maybe something about that?

Wedge Antilles/Col "Fake Wedge" Takbright

I can’t believe Jason Fry made ‘fake wedge’ an actual thing, but IT HAPPENED, and so we should all take advantage of this glorious fact by making them kiss or something, I dunno, fill in the blanks.

On a semi-serious note, I actually really like the care between them at the end of that story, how Col takes one look at about-to-succumb-to-the-worst-survivor’s-guilt-wedge and just, doesn’t stand for it. And so I would LOVE fic about all the times that Col keeps digging Wedge out of despair. Maybe about how Col turns into Wedge’s most erstwhile defender, and Wedge keeps asking why Col keeps putting himself on the line for him, and realisations about how maybe what’s between them has developed into something more.

Wedge Antilles/Mon Mothma

This was mostly crack, until I incepted myself with last year’s rare pairs letter, and now I have very serious feelings about it and I want them to be in love. And have really good sex.

I think they are both serious impassioned people who want to do what is right, only Wedge is brash and daring and Mon is tempered by experience / diplomacy. So maybe something where Wedge does something reckless and Mon has to take him to task for it? Or Wedge trying to lure Mon out of her seriousness, but also he is a very serious person himself but seriously, Chancellor, you have been at your desk for twenty hours please come to the mess. Love letters – they write letters after the war and slowly fall in love?

Fucked-up power dynamics are also very much a feature: Mon is ultimately Wedge’s commander in chief, his life is in her hands, etc. I like the power play, I like it a lot.

Wedge Antilles/Amilyn Holdo

There’s something about the way Amilyn reacts to flyboys doing stupid things, like she has seen it all before. Maybe she has? I feel these two would have really good banter and a very sparky relationship, lots of challenging each other. But also mutual respect, possibly found later – they are both very good at their jobs.

I’d love fic set post-Rebellion era, where they’re both trying to find their footing in the new Galaxy, or maybe fic set around TLJ – what if Wedge is with the Resistance? Does he conflict with Amilyn over her command decisions? (I think Amilyn should still have charge of the Resistance, don’t make Wedge outrank her.) Can he mediate the conflict between her and Poe? What if Wedge is with the Republic and brings a fleet to save the day?

Wes Janson/Derek “Hobbie” Klivian

So Wes and Hobbie are like the ultimate wingpair / brothers-in-arms, they are two peas in a pod, and I love them. I like slow realisation of feelings, the dragging out of the relationship over the years, perhaps one of them pining away whilst the other one wakes up one day and is like ‘oh, it’s you, you’ve been here all along and I never noticed.’ But also! Comic shenanigans, prank wars between them, practical jokes, truth or dare - I’m easy to please, honestly.

Jagged Fel/Jaina Solo/Zekk

Okay, for those who didn’t go and read all of Legends… Jagged Fel is Wedge Antilles’ nephew, Jaina Solo was Han and Leia’s daughter, and Zekk was one of Luke’s students. There was a bit of a love triangle going on. However, in many points, it was less of a love triangle, and more… well. They should have all banged.

Key moments include that time Jaina and Zekk were in a hive mind, and got slightly confused over whose memories were whose, leading to this conversation:

Our boyfriend means business, Zekk observed.

Don’t know that it’s him. And it’s old boyfriend.

Right. We’re so over him.

We?

And also the bit in Legacy of the Force: Invincible, where after Jag and Zekk help pull Jaina out of a sticky situation, she, in a state of confusion due to her banged up head, asks them to both to bunk with her.

So, basically, I want poly shenanigans – fic after the proposed quarters sharing would be great (what if Jag and Zekk took her seriously and had already moved everything about by the time she came round???), messy relationship rebuilding after the Dark Nest fiasco, something where Zekk steps in as Jaina and Jag’s relationship starts to fall apart post NJO? I dunno. But I want them all to kiss.

Plourr Ilo/Evaan Verlaine

They are both kickass lady pilots, and they are both very gay, sooooooooo… it is a crime that they do not exist in the same canon. I want shenanigans. I want an encounter where one or both is undercover and they don’t realise the other is a rebellion / new republic pilot until after everything. I want them on different squadrons trying to one up each other.

[soundrooms]

Soundrs: Ignatius

My name is Steve. I release electronic music as Ignatius. I’m also part of a duo called Cascade Data along w/ friend and fellow musician Jason Goodrich who releases music as TechnicolorYawn. I’ve also collaborated with Jason Ploekleman and released music as Exeisms. I guess all of this music would get lumped into ‘experimental’ but it’s all pretty accessible and is variations on downtempo, hiphop, ambient, electro and techno. I run a label called Buried In Time which is where most of this music is released. I’ve also made a couple commercial sound libraries. I have some experience working in commercial recording studios but left that life in 2001. Since then i’ve had 9-5 jobs and currently work in a synth shop in Portland called Modular8.

http://ignatiusmusic.com

http://buriedintime.com

• What are your inspiration sources?

I get inspiration from lots of places. Reading, movies, friends, new sounds… There’s a lot that happens in Portland and on those rare times when i do leave the house and go to some event i generally come away inspired… but also labels like Raster-Noton, PAN… The Synth shop i work at, Modular8.com, also has a well curated record section. A lot of things come through there that i’ve never heard of. On that recent Pharmakon record there’s a track called ‘Nakedness of Need’ that changed my life for about a month.

Lately i’ve been inspired by some recent live sets from Anon (Anna Sitko) and Baseck. I’m also still pretty gassed by the 2015 Autechre live sets. They played two shows here on consecutive days and I went to both. They released a bunch of those recordings from that tour and i’ve played them a lot. Richard Devine played here a couple years ago and that set has stuck with me. It was a Trash Audio synth meet/party and there were performances that night. He spent four or five hours patching up his rig in a back room where the synth meet was happening. His set was really lush. I guess i get inspired by people doing stuff… Making music, art or whatever they’re into and just forging ahead with whatever their thing is. I try to keep working regardless of how i’m feeling or what’s going on in life. I have some chronic health issues that sometimes leave me spun out and frustrated or just make normal daily life more challenging so getting to that baseline for normal functioning takes a lot of effort sometimes. I have some friends in similar situations and they persist and overcome their situations. So, there’s different kinds of inspiration of course. Making music is kind of an inspiration feedback machine when it’s working well. If i’m making tracks i like and learning new things all the time then that kind of feeds itself.

• Tell us something about your workflow.

I often have no idea what tempo i’m working at. I don’t think about genre. I just start making music and whatever comes out is what it is. Of course i push things one way or another and have my own aesthetic i apply to things but i rarely sit down with genre in mind. Mood is another thing though so if i’m angry or sad or anxious that tends to come out in the music or a sound or a whatever. I split up my work flow sometimes. Basic tracks or jams on machines that then get edited in Ableton and mixed in Logic. If i’m working all in the box though i’ll mix as i go because it’s all part of sound design that way anyways.

• How would creative rituals benefit your workflow?

I don’t know. I think it’s best to just keep working. I don’t have many rituals for workflow… I just start somewhere. I try not to get bogged down and just try to make it all a learning experience. Maybe it doesn’t generate a song but nothing is wasted. That two hours you spent doing some complex thing with gear or plugins or automation or whatever might come back around some other time and be useful or lead somewhere else. I guess one thing i do is take time not to actively work on a song and just work on making synth patches or editing or exploring a processor with no song or bigger idea in mind. I tend to think in long term. If i make a lot of tracks then the chances improve that some of them will be good. So i like to make tracks. In the end that’s what it’s about for me. Folders full of tracks. Though i haven’t been sitting on many lately. They all seem to find their way to Bandcamp.

• How do you get in the zone?

I have no idea. I try to unplug now and then and go on a long bike ride or do some other thing not music related but generally i like to have a big block of time to be in the studio or sit on a couch with a laptop or drum machine. That’s really all i need. But if i’m not feeling like working on stuff for whatever reason then i don’t force it to much. I will push myself and go in the studio and do something just as a way to forget about whatever is going on in life and to be productive because i find it actually works well for that kind of thing. Have a lousy day or get some bad news, the studio is a good way to cope with that or get through it. A few hours in the studio has a way of turning things around.  I often will record then put all the files in the laptop and sit on the couch w/ headphones w/ some Syfy or anime like Ghost In The Shell or Akira or something dark on the TV at low volume. It’s like having a fireplace going; flickering in the background while i deal with edits or arranging. Sometimes i need to decompress from life before going into the studio or doing any real work so sometimes i end up sucked into a ‘media night’ watching a movie or a show or whatever.

• How do you start a track?

Any of a number of different ways. Often just jamming with gear or software. I like to change environments for making tracks though i’ll also focus on one piece of gear or process to make stuff. Having too many options can be paralyzing so i try to limit what i’m using at any one time or on a given project. Though, changing work environments helps me feel unstuck and seems to help breaking habits and routines. It’s a fine line though. When i make a sample library, once it’s finished, i generally end up throwing a bunch of those sounds in a sampler and having a go with them and that usually leads to tracks or several versions of one track. So, between the modular, the Octatrack and a computer i have starting places i’m comfortable with because they’re all different enough. There’s so much to do/try in a modular system though that i often just start patching. I try not to think about it. It’s better for me to just start something. It’s easy to overthink things so it’s best to just start something and let it take shape or experiment freely w/o any real goal of making a track. sometimes there’s all kinds of mental gymnastics i do in life so i have to just chuck that and simplify and get something done.

• Do you have a special template?

Not really. I guess default DAW templates are a thing but i haven’t customized them too much. They just represent connections to synths and stuff in the studio. So they’re  a convenience. I will build up templates in the Octatrack depending on what it’s patched into. Recently i got a Eurorack module called the DublDecca and it’s made for integrating the Ocatrack with Eurorack modular so a template in the Octatrack is necessary to get the data out of the Octatrack and into the modular for routing LFOs and trigs and notes etc…

• What effects do you put on the master channel?

Usually Cytomic the Glue. Sometimes the limiter from Fabfilter but only just to catch peaks. I don’t compress a lot on the master channel because i like to get things mastered later and I don’t want to squish stuff and make the mastering engineer’s life harder. Besides, the mastering engineer will do a better job of that than i can. I did recently get the New Fangled Audio plugin bundle so will check those out during a mix next time around. They’re pretty amazing plugs. Lot’s of uses for creative processing and sound design.

• How do you arrange and finish a track?

Sometimes it’s a performance straight to stereo mix. Usually i multitrack so i can move things around a bit and cut out some mistakes or leave in mistakes! Often i just do long jam sessions then ruthlessly edit out what doesn’t need to be there. But it really depends on the track. Some times it’s all in the computer so arranging is a different thing than if i patch up the modular and jam with it. That’s all real time and there’s no timeline or anything… It’s just feel and turning knobs and patching cables. Generally things end up in Ableton for editing then go into Logic for mixing. The collaborations i’m part of are all data swapping of projects in Ableton.

• How do you deal with unfinished projects?

I don’t! I leave them there until they want to be finished. I have a hard time abandoning a track or idea so have to finish it or it bugs me. Unless it’s just really bad… Then i often chop it up and use it for something else. If something isn’t working out then i save it as it is and move on to something else. Then sometime later.. months .. years.. I’ll have some time where i feel like going through old projects and that is often when things get trashed for good or finished or repurposed.

• How do you store and organize your projects?

Redundant raid backups. Usually i have a folder full of current things i’m working on and another that is versions of finished tracks. But once they get released they are potentially online forever. But i have redundant back ups or finished and in progress tracks as well as sample libraries.

• How do you take care of studio ergonomics?

I used to rearrange the studio a lot. It’s been in its current state for quite a while. I rearrange the modular often though just to focus on different modules and see what having a different group of modules together will lead to. I like to have the thing i’m really interested in right in front of me though. I also like a clean desk. I don’t have a lot of synths. Not a big rack of them. A few desktop synths and few older cheap FX boxes. It’s all routed into a patch bay. I use an analog mixer. It’s easy and fast to patch things around w/ the patch bay. I just have all the inputs and outputs staring at me.

• Tell us something about your daily routine, how is your day structured, how do you make room for creativity?

I try to work on music or music related things after work every day.. or most days.. then late into the night when the schedule and life allow. I tend to get pretty miserable if i’m unable to work on music for a length of time so i need to make sure i get some creative time regularly. I have to be disciplined but i don’t obsess or try not to and i make room for other things and get some exercise and have some fun going cycling or something.

• Share a quick producing tip.

Always be recording. Don’t start jamming until you have your DAW recording the output of your hardware. Focus on modulation. Don’t discretely program everything. Make a really long pattern and loop it.. add some delay in it somewhere.. go lay on the floor and let it loop a while. Eventually you’ll hear it in a different way and what to do with it will become obvious. Tracks know where they want to go sometimes. Also, be ruthless w/ editing. Don’t try to fit it all in one track. If you have a bunch of good ideas for a track then make them all as different versions of the same song. Remix yourself. Change the tempos in your default DAW templates.

• Share a link to an interesting website (doesn’t have to be music related).

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

• List ten sounds you are hearing right this moment : )

Ancient Aliens Broadcast Season 12 Ep. 2, water boiling in the kettle, my neighbor remodeling his house DIY style so those sounds come through the earth and i can hear them.

 If you want to get featured, send a message here on tumblr or an email to soundrooms@icloud.com.

[exploringsocialinformatics]

Post #1: A One-to-One Utopia

I am basing this post off the article “One Laptop Per Child: Vision vs. Reality” by Kenneth L. Kraemer, Jason Dedrick, and Prakul Sharma, which I chose both because the timeline of the issue was very interesting and also due to my background in a Secondary Education program where I took courses related specifically to education and technology.

I am wary of anybody who says that they’re going to change the world, but the transition from reading about the Utopian vision of One Laptop, Per Child (creator Nicholas Negroponte once said that they were “invent[ing] the future” [“The Hundred Dollar Laptop: Computing for Developing Nations”]) to the slow but seemingly inevitable downfall was still somewhat surprising. The program is one that had been within my peripheral vision as someone who studied education in my undergrad program and I can understand how people got swept up in the concept, especially when the technology available was less accessible. On first glance, it does seem revolutionary and, in ways, it is. Revolution requires follow-through and support, though, and it inspired doubts even before its initial roll-out, with supporters expressing hesitant skepticism like, “We were excited about the prospects, but kind of scared by the over-simplistic plan, or lack of plan” (Robertson, 2018).

As Kraemer, Dedrick and Sharma note, the issues behind OLPC’s original downfall were based in seemingly more consideration for the creation of the hardware than the people they were creating the hardware for (66 – 68). There are plenty of these issues to talk about—the entirely reasonable argument that basic needs like water and physical school structures should be met before the government spends money on untested technology, the notion that OLPC is just a “one size-fits-all American solution to complex global problems” that functions more as a “marketing ploy” (Robertson 2018) than any type of organized program—when it comes to observing why OLPC struggled to the point where they shuttered their organization until it was relatively recently revived. I would argue, though, that one of its fundamental flaws and potentially the most immediately debilitating was their lack of consideration for teachers and, in particular, their lack of follow-through when it comes to measuring their success.

In The Effect of One Laptop per Child on Teachers’ Pedagogical Practices and Students’ Use of Time At Home, a very thorough study that had to be thorough due to a lack of substantive data from OLPC’s program, the researchers found that there was no significant impact on school performance when the laptops were introduced in Peru (Yamada, Lavado, Montenegro 2016). Additionally, Morgan G. Ames—who I will reference several times due to her excellent research in Uruguay—found that the laptop use was largely focused on media consumption: music, TV, video games (Ames 2015). While media consumption absolutely has a place within education, it’s clear that this usage isn’t falling within the realm of what Negroponte was envisioning: namely, programming (Ames 2015) and creation. Essentially, the laptops are often a tool to consume and not create.

In a presentation titled the same as her recent book, The Charisma Machine: The Life, Death and Legacy of One Laptop per Child, Ames explains in-depth the fundamental issues that marred the program from its inception—extremely worth watching if this topic interests you and a fantastic introduction—and tells the story of how Nicholas Negroponte’s main goal was to get laptops in the hands of children and trust that they would make the most of it on their own (Ames 2019). Kraemer, Dedrick and Sharma emphasize this, saying in 2009 that “it appears to some that the educational mission has given way to just getting laptops out the door” (66), which implies even more explicitly that the intentions skew a bit more towards business than ever stated by the organization—or, at the very least, attempting to save face when it became apparent they would not make their now obviously over-ambitious goal of getting 150 million laptops into the hands of kids in two years.

It’s important to note that OLPC has consistently stated that their program is about more than the laptops and is also focused on education. On their website, they emphasize, “OLPC is not, at heart, a technology program, nor is the XO a product in any conventional sense of the world. OLPC is a nonprofit organization providing a means to an end—an end that sees children in even the most remote regions of the globe being given the opportunity to tap in to their own potential, to be exposed to a whole world of ideas, and to contribute to a more productive and saner world community” (“OLPC: Mission”). Considering that Kraemer, Dedrick and Sharma reference this quote in their article (68), which means it hasn’t changed since at least 2009 and likely since the first launch in 2005, this is an idea that they’re attempting to embrace without necessarily having the means to do so.

There is an explicit education philosophy—constructionism, which encourages kid to “think about thinking” and have tangible experiences (Robertson 2018)—behind OLPC. I see issues with the implementation of it but don’t want to be overly harsh about it as a concept—after all, I absolutely believe it has a place in classrooms and Seymour Papert, the original mind behind it, studied with Piaget and was openly praised by him (“Seymour Papert”), which is pretty amazing. The main issues with constructionism from my perspective, especially as it applies to the distribution of the OLPC laptops, are twofold: 1. Many teachers in a variety of different educational systems are highly limited in how they’re able to teach and 2. As an educational philosophy, it arguably requires the students involved to have some. . .instruction. Very few, if any, educational practices are studied without being properly implemented by an educator.

This isn’t to say that OLPC doesn’t involve educators in implementing their programs. This is to say that they didn’t do enough in their implementation to properly prepare teachers for how to use the technology in their classroom, including, for example, not even providing teacher training when they rolled out the program in Libya or contacting the teacher’s union in Peru before they were already starting the program there (Robertson 71). In her presentation, Morgan G. Ames describes the decline of use in Paraguay where she studied for several years due to the fact that OLPC didn’t provide any service or repairs to laptops that were imminently more breakable than they advertised (Ames 2019). OLPC’s ultimate plan was to get laptops to kids. I would argue that this does not function as an education plan or even do more than offer a potential tool without guidance to introduce a constructionist philosophy.  

We can see a hint of how OLPC values teachers by looking back to their charter, which states “building schools, hiring teachers, buying books and equipment [. . .] is a laudable but insufficient response to the problem of bringing true learning possibilities to the vast numbers of children in the developing world” (“OLPC: The Mission”). That really speaks to most of the major issues: if there isn’t basic infrastructure in place—physical schools with working water—and teachers to guide their learning, can students who haven’t been exposed to this kind of technology (or even those who have) truly benefit from it? How do we measure those true learning possibilities? Can we measure them? It might seem overly technical to try to apply statistics to some big, expansive dream but the dreaminess is, in and of itself, the problem.

Just because these issues exist doesn’t mean that we must write OLPC off entirely, though. The bones of the idea are genuinely well-intentioned and they’ve still managed to get a significant amount of technology to kids even if they didn’t meet their stated goals as their original incarnation. As of this October, they’ve given out 3 million laptops (Cameron 2019) and that certainly matters. Regardless of the outcome, sharing those laptops made opportunities that could help kids in developing nations change their lives and open up more possibilities in the future. 

While there is plenty to criticize about the program, many of the fundamentals  are worthy of praise: constructivism is an important educational practice that can unlock critical thinking skills and creativity in a way that many kids don’t have the opportunity to explore. Just the ability to own and hold and use a laptop is empowering and prepares kids for using other technology. And, overall, Negroponte’s philosophies and reasoning are absolutely inspiring. 

He talks about kids becoming “change agents” and allowing them to “connect with the world, think critically and challenge indoctrinations of intolerance” (Ashling 2010). He wants kids to have the whole world open up to them and has a singular vision for doing so which, for better or worse, is a vision worth exploring.

Also, in a vein I hadn’t considered, Jason Johnson argues in his 2010 article “Can a Laptop Change How the World Teaches?” that he observed sixth graders in his one-to-one laptop program educationally benefiting from their laptops outside of the classroom through things like tracking sports statistics, recording skits, and creating address books (72). While he also invokes the need for a teacher to guide students toward productivity, this is another important factor to consider: OLPC laptops have gone to all kinds of kids in all kinds of places and other one-to-one programs have also been gaining popularity throughout the years. Broadly looking at how kids in general use laptops could bring new significance and meaning to these programs.

From articles titled The Laptop That Will Change The World to articles titled OLPC’s $100 Laptop Was Going to Change the World—Then It All Went Wrong, it’s both fascinating and discouraging to watch OLPC’s struggle. As people, we want to believe that we can change the world—that good people stepping up can change the world—but this is an overly simplistic concept in a complicated world. One good idea constructed within one cultural framework and one philosophy of education that by no means represents both the majority of teacher’s experiences or their capabilities within struggling, flawed educational systems isn’t enough.

One laptop can’t change the world.

 With a sustainable plan, though—it’s not a bad start.

Ames, M. G. (2016). Learning consumption: Media, literacy, and the legacy of One Laptop per Child. The Information Society, 32(2), 85–97

Ashling, Jim. (2010). Laptops bridge gap in structured learning. Information Today, 27(5), 22 - 23

Johnson, Jason. (2008). Can a laptop change how the world teaches?. Knowledge Quest. 36(3), 72 - 73

Kraemer, K. L., Dedrick, J., & Sharma, P. (2009). One laptop per child. Communications of the ACM, 52(6)

Lavado, P., Montenegro, G. & Yamada, G. (2016). The effect of one laptop per child on teachers’ pedagogical practices and students’ use of time at home. IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Robertson, A. (2018, April 16). OLPC's $100 laptop was going to change the world - then it all went wrong. Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17233946/olpcs-100-laptop-education-where-is-it-now

Seymour Papert. (2007, March). Retrieved January 29, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20150308021353/http://web.media.mit.edu/~papert/

The Hundred Dollar Laptop: Computing for Developing Nations. (2005). Retrieved from https://techtv.mit.edu/videos/16067-the-hundred-dollar-laptop-computing-for-developing-nations

The Life, Death and Legacy of One Laptop Per Child. (2019, March 5). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH13bVUfNuk&t=2s

[flavourlessfiction]

Ice Melts When Heated ~ Chapter 6

Relationships: Jason Todd/Tim Drake

Rating: Mature

Tags: Alternate Universe - Skating, figure skating, Rivals, Slow Burn, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies is a slight overstatement tho, Banter, Time Skips, Rating May Change

Ao3: x

It felt like they’d been talking for days, Jason bringing out three notebooks as well as paperwork for the actual rink, telling him they were all important. It turned out Jason was a level of obsessive compulsive that Tim had honestly never seen in him before. It didn’t seem like something he’d picked up off of Bruce or Talia either, as he’d looked through a few of them. It seemed like he documented everything he did training wise, setting out meal plans around competitions, ideas for snacks to take whilst flying, with comments about how he hated plane food. Tim liked making lists but this was a whole other level. Jason would probably kill him for eating Froot Loops for dinner sometimes not to mention his coffee consumption.

He’d always taken Jason as the sort that would wing it but then again, he might have been more like that when he was younger, his injury had taken quite a bit of time to recover from and when he’d been injured. “Where are you going to stay, your parents support you right? Which means they probably aren’t thrilled about the cost of this.”

Tim glanced up from one of the books, looking across the table. “They weren’t in love with the sudden plane tickets or the fact that I hired a car but they’re happy I’ve come across, they just wished I waited a little longer. I can get a hotel room for a little bit and then start looking for an apartment if it becomes a permanent move.”

“A hotel room? For fifty-one nights, at least? That’s going to cost thousands of dollars.”

Tim couldn’t help but laugh, handing the notebook back over to Jason. “You’re already counting down the sleeps until Worlds? Is it your version of Christmas?” The other man shrugged, offering no real response to the question. It was no secret Jason was competitive, every competition was another goal in a not too distant future. He’d listened to him complain about how he hated off season to Dick a time or two before. “As for the hotel unless you have a better idea, where else would I go?”

“My place is a shoebox but it’s got a second bedroom, which is currently just being used as storage.”

Staying at Jason’s would make things cheaper, would mean his parents couldn’t breathe down his neck about the costs of the move quite so much. But it meant living with Jason, who he’d tried to hook up with when he’d needed someone to comfort him. Experimenting whether he was capable of coaching him was one thing, living with him was a whole other story. “But that means you won’t have storage.” A lame excuse at best, if there was a way to reduce costs any sensible person wouldn’t care about the fact that they had less storage.

He could see a few muscles twitch, Tim unable to read if it was an annoyed reaction or an amused one. “Just say no if you’re uncomfortable with the offer.”

“I’m not- I haven’t booked anything in yet, so at least for tonight I’m not going to say no.”

“Tonight’s actually not good for me…” The way each word was exaggerated made it all too obvious that he was making a joke, but Tim played along with a frown. If Jason wanted to poke fun then he was more than willing to let him. He was doing him a favour regardless of how much he was going to make Tim pay for it. “I’m kidding, you will have to sleep on the sofa unless we can find an air mattress at Migros.”

“Migros?”

“It’s a supermarket, but we can go there and if it fails you’ll get to curl up on my sofa until you can order a bed online or whatever.”

Tim nodded slowly, opening his mouth to make a smart comment but closing it almost instantly, he was in no place to judge when it came to apathy about things that weren’t related to skating. It was how he’d been able to let certain comments slide off his back. “Well I guess if I stay at yours it also makes training easier, because we would end up leaving at the same time often enough.”

“What times are you used to doing training with proper coaching though.”

He looked down, it wasn’t something Jason was going to like, his training schedule seemed so strict that Tim’s assortment of times was going to make a mockery of the sport. “The truth is going to make you mad.”

“He didn’t do anything?”

“No, it was more a ‘when I can fit you in’ kind of thing lately, because he saw me more than anyone else other than the demon child. So sometimes it would be at 6am and then the next day he’d have like twenty minutes spare at 9pm so we’d squeeze some in there. It used to be better that’s just how it has been lately, but well you’d know because well you kind of helped drop the bomb that he had a kid with Talia.”

“I didn’t drop any bombs, I just implied the secret he already knew about could leak at any moment. Like he fucked with Talia’s career too, I feel like people haven’t really put the timeline together with that. Everyone he touches, aside from Dick, turns against him.” Jason said, Tim rubbing his hands together under the table. Talking about Bruce didn’t feel right, he was mad, how could he not be? But it could easily turn into bad mouthing for the sake of it, not ever actually getting to a better place themselves. Which meant Bruce would be right about him. “I will say, I feel like the primary focus is getting your head put together for the free program, you generally win the short and then the free is where you aren’t as composed. Your short program’s worst score for this season was a 101.75 at Four Continents, right? Which is higher than my best for the year.”

“Have you not cracked 100 points in the short this year?”

“I have, barely though, my triple axel as a singular jump has been really bad this year. In combination, it’s great but there’s issues with it in the short program.”

“It’s weird that you know what my lowest short program score is, I tend to focus on potential scores so I know what I need to do when everyone is at their best.” He couldn’t fathom how Jason had all those scores in his head, it wasn’t easy to remember every single one of his own scores because in truth he didn’t always agree with his scores, some days he felt like he skated better than what the judges gave him and other days he would say he did worse. It balanced out over time but it all depended on the judges and the competitions.

Jason snorted, seemingly amused by the turn in conversation. “I’m offended that you aren’t following my scores as closely as I am yours. You make a mockery of our rivalry Timothy.” It wasn’t the first-time Jason had referred to them as rivals, it was less aggressive than it used to be, but it wasn’t one that was about competing for the attention of a coach, even if he couldn’t seem to get the edge to hold a lead at the end of a competition they’d pushed each other to be better skaters despite living on separate continents.

“Not everyone can be the Rain Man of scores.”

“That’s not fair! I just have it all written down at home, I only know the most recent one because I was there.”

Tim couldn’t help making a face, he looked up the records and watched recent skates of competitors but scores was so specific, so debatable anyway that it seemed pointless. “Why? I’ve got binders of score sheets but I only have people that I was competing against.”

“Because the brain works in strange ways and it’s become a vice.”

“A vice? You drink and you definitely used to smoke how is being obsessive compulsive about scores training and diet a vice, wouldn’t it make you more stressed?”

“It’s complicated.” That smile, it made it seem like he was joking or poking fun rather than it actually being too complicated for him to explain.

“I can’t tell if this is revenge for my avoiding your questions at Arkham.”

“It’s not, I don’t understand how I got the itch for it but it keeps me focused and when winning gives you more than anything else can why wouldn’t you keep doing it, I guess it’s superstitious, like how footballers will go to an exact place for breakfast before a home game or they won’t have sex on game day or putting on the -”

Tim threw his hands up, an act of surrender. “I get it, don’t give me fifty analogies.” He chuckled, leaning back in his chair. This was probably bound to be a mistake, but at worst it would be a few weeks and they could decide it was a failed experiment that taught the figure skating world a lesson. First being don’t coach/be coached by your biggest competition, and second being don’t burn bridges back at your original rink.

If they screwed this up there was little to no chance that Bruce would take him back, although he wasn’t the first person he’d run to at this point anyway.

---

It took a week to find some sort of a groove and two weeks for the figure skating world to realise exactly where he was. In truth, he had overestimated the abilities of how die-hard fans managed to spread gossip like wildfire but two weeks still wasn’t all that much time. The call from Dick after a week had been an awkward one, the other just trying to figure out if he was ever coming back and then to give him a brotherly lecture about how this could end in disaster.

So far it had been fine though, they definitely didn’t agree on everything but there was a better balance of power. He wasn’t afraid to fight back with Jason. So far it hadn’t been yelling, more heated discussions under their breaths about how one or the other had no idea what they were talking about.

Jason wanted to hear him out each time though. A welcome change that made making adjustments make far more sense than they ever had with Bruce.

Living together had proven to be the hard part, he hadn’t been wrong about the apartment being tiny, which meant they were in each other’s space all too often but it had been the rearranging of items that had been the real challenge. The boxes hadn’t been a major issue, getting the mattress around everything had been. He wouldn’t say either of them got heated about it, but both of them at one point or another in having to move the desk and bookcase that sat in the living space said ‘fuck it’ and just laid on the mattress in the middle of the room.

Tim had even fallen asleep at one point, surely for no longer than ten minutes to find his body outlined with random books. Had it not been for Jason’s laughter as he took several pictures he wouldn’t have woken up. They both weren’t used to living with someone on a full time basis and in Tim’s mind at least it was working for him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d lived with someone for more than a month at a time that wasn’t a nanny or a butler when his parents decided he just needed someone that could cook and clean. Ironically it felt like he’d had less freedom than when he was in high school because there was always someone there to check up on him.

He wasn’t going to lie it felt nice to have someone around, a year ago every time Jason spoke to him he still felt agitated and now he was actively enjoying Jason’s company. Regardless of whether they kept up the coaching arrangement, Tim had already been compelled to make the move more permanent, which meant spending his free time looking at apartments that he could actually move all of his own stuff into. “If we get a bigger place can we get a cat?” Jason uttered, the man hovering over his shoulder as he had twenty tabs open of different apartments or townhouses.

“We… that’s presumptuous.” He said, tilting his head back to look up at the other, for as much shit as Jason liked to talk about his bad eating habits he sure did have a fascination with yogurt pouches.

“You’re strictly looking at two or three bedroom places and you already said you don’t want to live alone, did I assume wrong?” He hadn’t, for as vaguely as they discussed things he wasn’t about to press Jason into moving unless he showed interest. After all, they’d barely been living together and in another two weeks they could be read to kill each other.

Why Jason felt that he could only have a cat if he moved somewhere bigger was beyond him. “Selina might give you one… she’d give me one, the past two times one of her cats has given birth she’s offered.”

“And you said no, that’s outrageous.”

Tim shrugged, there’d always been a reason as to why not get one. “My parents didn’t want me having a pet, claimed that because there are periods of the year no one would be at home it was cruel.

There seemed to be a small hum behind him, Tim focusing back on his computer in front of him. A place that appeared to be the right fit would come along soon enough, one that he wouldn’t have to worry about whether someone else was going to get it before they’d have the chance to move in. “That’s basically why I don’t have one now. I jokingly asked Talia if she’d take care of it when I was away if she wasn’t at competition with me.”

“Let me guess she threatened to drown it?”

“Not quite, just gave me this weird lecture like she is my parent.” Tim’s lips pressed into a line as he tried to hold back any laughter. He’d already witnessed that a few times, the dynamic of between Jason and his coach far more interesting than he’d thought. He had always assumed Talia and Ra’s were slave drivers who had their skaters doing eight hours of on ice training a day and then extra off ice work. Turned out that Jason was making himself do more hours on ice than needed and Talia was constantly chiding him, telling him he’d end up injured if he pushed himself too far.

Some probably would take it as her manipulating him but it seemed to work, made him take breaks when Jason had been going at it for too long. “Don’t worry once she stops being angry about you ‘wasting’ my time you’ll end up being the favourite child.”

“She has a son. Granted most people hate the brat but he is blood for her.”

A hand rested on his shoulder, patting it gently. He barely had to infer as to who he was talking about and Jason knew, whether it be Damian or Bruce. The names were able to fall out of his daily vocabulary. “She doesn’t like the things he does or says, which in all honesty he’s worse now than he used to be. Just you wait, she’ll warm up, I’ll lose my place as favourite in her eyes and then she’ll nag you about every single person you could possibly be interested in dating.”

“If one more person asks me about Conner I’ll scream.” He joked, pushing the hand away. Visibly cringing at the photos on his computer. Some people really didn’t know how to take pictures that made their houses look more flattering. “He has a thing for blondes, caught him and Cassie Sandsmark hooking up on the back of the bus between trips of a show. It made me realise dumb teenage shit happens regardless of whether you’re in the fishbowl of high school or not.”

“Oh, dumb teenage shit will happen if you’re not a teenager.”

“Obviously, I mean I feel like most of those that I came through Juniors with have always been pretty serious. Except for maybe Cassie and Steph.” Even the two of them were still pretty serious, he remembered watching Jason and the kids his age coming up into seniors and whilst they were all serious about skating they were all pretty goofy people off the ice.

There was that hand patting his shoulder again, this time it was certainly to make fun, the pats getting harder with each second. “It’s okay, I’ll bring out the inner four-year-old in you so you can experience a childhood.”

“You’re literally eating yogurt pouches.” Tim chuckled, pushing the hand away again, only for both of Jason’s arms to wrap around his head, squeezing as though he was trying to pop it.

“I wasn’t trying to say I was better, damn baby bird not everything is a competition.” Enough things were competitions, the smaller man slumping down in the chair to escape the other’s grasp, only for Jason to drop him the moment he started to lose grip, the momentum making Tim slide to the floor.

All he could hear was obnoxious laughter as Jason tried pushing the chair in. He truly did know how to be childlike at times. “Baby bird… haven’t heard that one in a while.” He said, finding it hard to not laugh at how this must have looked, it was stupid enough being the victim of this.

“What are you talking about I call you it all the time?” The chair stopped moving, but that was because he’d managed to make Tim wriggle back until he was under the desk completely. “Now it’s my turn to look at places.”

There was nowhere for him to move but thankfully Jason sat on the chair trapping him further by putting his legs under the desk. Couldn’t he just have sat sideways? In all fairness, he could just fight his way out. “Gross, some of these places are all tile flooring, do you know how cold it gets?”

“Yeah but they’re big.” He protested, resting his forehead against Jason’s knee.

And he thought how they were just moments ago looked strange. “That’s worse, it would be so hard to keep the place warm during winter. It snows here.”

“It snowed yesterday, you’re basically saying water is wet.” He retorted, flicking at Jason’s shins, he’d be able to annoy him to the point of being let out from under here in just a few minutes, he had to believe his patience was stronger than Jason’s. “I’m just looking for ideas anyway, it’s not like any of these are going to be available in a few months’ time. Gotta know what I want first though. Apparently, all you care about is a place with no tiles outside of the bathroom and enough room for a cat.”

“The cat should have its’ own room, which it will never sleep in because it thinks it’s a person and it wants to sleep with one of us.”

“That’s oddly specific.”

“Cats are weird, I don’t have any other explanation for it.” Jason flinched, almost kneeing him in the nose when Tim pinched his Achilles, the trapped man laughing softly to himself. “Stop it.” He whined, a hand swatting under the table as Tim pinched again.

“Stop it…” Tim mimicked, just happy to be getting some sort of a reaction out of Jason, it meant he’d either get out from under sooner or Jason would fight him which would make way for the opportunity for escape anyway.

“Unless you’re going to do something more entertaining for the both of us just sit pretty under there until my turn is over.”

Tim could feel the blush spreading across his face, thankful now that Jason couldn’t see him. “Don’t you get plenty of that from Roy?” He mocked, resting his back against the wall, using his feet to push Jason’s seat back until it teetered.

“Roy’s not as pretty Timbers. Don’t tell him I told you that because I don’t want to take a hockey puck to the hea-” That did the trick, Jason toppling backwards, too distracted by talking to realise just how far Tim had managed to angle the chair back. “I am taking back my offer to let you blow me.” Jason didn’t move as Tim crawled out from under the desk, the two of them smiling at each other as Tim stopped to stand.

“I think that might be a good thing, I don’t feel like fulfilling a porn trope for you.”

“But it’s the only reason I wanted to become your coach. Also, Roy and I haven’t ever done anything so you don’t need to get jealous.”

“I know, because if you could hook up with any guy it would be Dick Grayson.”

“How could you not? Especially Dick when he first switched to ice dance and was learning how to do all those lifts.”

“So, you hooked up with Dick?”

Laughter followed, Jason shaking his head as he started to get up, somersaulting backwards only for his feet and knees to hit the sofa. “Nope, he treats me the same way he treats you, as soon as he mentors someone he wouldn’t dare.”

Tim laughed, helping Jason up, resisting all temptation to let go of his hand and drop him again. “I don’t think I had the same fascination with Dick but for the longest time he treated me like a kid brother and when he didn’t anymore I less saw him as this unattainable entity that I was chasing and more like a stretched-out kid who had too much candy a lot of the time.”

“Well he adores you. I don’t think he would have let me yell at Bruce if it wasn’t for you.” He wouldn’t deny that, there was no use in doing so, Dick told him how much he loved him, it might have been in a familial aspect as well as a place of mutual admiration but it was a relationship that he knew deep down he couldn’t ruin even if he actively attempted to.

“He’s obsessed with trying to get me to do lifts with him, but I’m not into getting dropped by him.”

“You’re smaller than both Barbara and Kory so why the fear of being dropped?”

Tim rolled his eyes, leaning against the desk. “Because you’ve got to lift yourself in part and also you’ve got to put 100% faith in them, not dropping you and we’ve all seen compilation videos of bad falls… you’re featured in a lot of them.”

There’s a small noise that comes from Jason, Tim unable to tell if it was amusement or annoyance. “So that’s how Bruce teaches kids these days… or you’re a sadist that enjoys watching people get hurt.”

“Neither, I wanted to learn what not to do if that makes sense, because I like my knees, ankles and just my body in general.” There’s a nod, definitely understanding, although even explaining it made him sound like a sadist regardless. “Although I guess it’s ironic saying I like my knees when I’m jumping quads.”

---

The Move Of The Cycle, Tim Drake Defects to Al Ghul’s Rink But Who is His Coach?

Vicki Vale

After the explosive video highlighting how there has been trouble in paradise for some time between Bruce Wayne’s team and current national champion Tim Drake. It didn’t take long for him to be spotted in Geneva, Switzerland. It was one of several places that was thrown around in gossip amongst fans  online, many arguing that Ra’s Al Ghul had been attempting to solicit Drake for years, although many pointed out that Drake had repeatedly rebuked suggestions and would likely join the Kents, keeping to a less foreign environment and with people that he is knowingly comfortable with.

Well the mystery was solved by a few fans who were skaters at the Swiss rink that posted images of Drake on fan accounts, corroborated by an instagram story from rival Jason Todd of Drake asleep at the rink with the location tagged.

The immediate assumption was that Ra’s Al Ghul was Drake’s coach for the remainder of the season, however, after a very brief conversation which resulted in this reporter being hung up on, Al Ghul denied that Drake had requested his coaching services. Thus attention turned to his daughter, Talia Al Ghul, coach of Todd and former coach and mother of Damian Wayne, who said; “That whilst Timothy has been a welcome and exciting presence, he has taken a more unconventional route for this Worlds competition.” She’d gone on to say that whilst she was willing to provide a support role she wasn’t his coach.

This leaves us with many questions, regarding whether Drake has a coach or not, considering how he’d handled his loss at Four Continents I’d suspect that he has some sort of team behind him, however, there might be no official coach. One all too entertaining theory that came from twitter user @tjdfreaks, was that despite no one being entirely sure of the legality whilst being direct competition for each other, Jason Todd was his coach, as they have been seen together on ice and going to and leaving the rink most days.

I suspect said theory is little more than just a theory but it was too juicy to share and their thread will be linked below.

https://twitter.com/tjdfreaks/status/1094150268957089792

---

The ice is different, everyday it feels like something else, too hard, too soft, just not right for what he wants. In the morning he can’t land jumps sensibly and then come afternoon it feels bad for spinning regardless of whether it was freshly cut or not. It was early March already and he couldn’t get comfortable with what was supposed to be his home ice and in a month he was going to have to figure out how to skate on ice that possibly hadn’t even been laid early enough for it to have set right.

Everything was just different.

He had more freedom with his practices and time sure, and the scheduling had worked so well right from the start but that didn’t mean he was comfortable, Bruce might have screwed it all up but it was something he’d begun to get used to, just as he’d gotten used to sitting in the car and finally letting out how frustrated and upset he was. Now, Jason was painstakingly making him show every single feeling, making him let it out in the moment even though really it just made him want to tell the other to fuck off. Something that Jason also actively encouraged. Talia seemed to at least be entertained, he couldn’t quite tell whether she actually was, but after he told Jason to ‘go have another grade 3’, she had a more obvious reaction. He wasn’t sure if it was because she found it funny but she said that it wasn’t half as bad as the things Jason had said to her over the years, or in the past week, a sign that she was perhaps warming up to him, despite his being another distraction for Jason.

Ra’s on the other hand, still looked perpetually seething with the situation, the fact that he was training at his rink but not under his coaching. So close to being in his grasp, another success to his legacy only for it to be snatched away by Jason, who’d been snatched away by his own daughter, constantly so close to the top skaters of this generation but always just missing out. There were moments Tim could see Ra’s watching him and Jason, glaring at the two of them, a look darkening whenever they seemed to be screwing around too much for his liking. He was sure there was at least one occasion that he’d gone to yell at them when their working on footwork had turned into Jason trying to lift him whilst Tim did everything he could to flee. They ended up having a low speed crash into the barriers when neither one of them were paying all that much attention.

He stopped at the barrier to take a drink, wiping sweat off of his face with the towel. Nothing felt right, so heavy, edgework that he could do in his sleep feeling unclean and sloppy. “You look like you’re fighting with every little element at all times in a runthrough.” He should have known from the sound of blades scraping to a stop that it was Jason, they were the only two who had their stuff over here and aside from the initial excitement, most seemed to have gotten used to his presence enough to not let it distract from their own training.

“I’m not fighting, I just am not-”

“Comfortable? You’ve been saying that for weeks, are you sure it’s not your body and mind being completely in sync?” It wasn’t direct, but he could pick up on what Jason was saying, that this was him putting blame on one thing because he needed it to be something other than him, for it to be something completely out of his control. “What are you scared of, other than crashing into the barrier again?”

There were plenty of things to be scared of, injury, embarrassment, people thinking they were right about him, Bruce and Damian being right. “It happening again, and then every time I go out to do this program like a curse, I can’t just come off like a cocky asshole like you can.” He’d never phrase it like that to Bruce, even though in his days as a pairs skater that was exactly how he’d seemed. Jason only laughed though, looking more understanding about the matter than he really had to. “I know Bruce is wrong about me, I know I’m capable of doing things I haven’t done yet, I don’t need a pep talk about that, I just need to think and figure out how to make this work, for every element to work on it’s own and then also work-”

“You’re overthinking, which yeah it makes sense because you’re, you, but you’re focusing on the wrong things. Every little detail doesn’t have to be perfect, this isn’t nationals so no one is going to get perfect scores, it’s better that it works together than you get a perfect Grade of Execution and full levels for your technical components.”

That certainly sounded like something that would stereotypically would be a mind game from a teenage girl who thought she was living in a movie. “I’m not worried about it being perfect, I do want all positive marks and all level 4s, but one thing that’s wrong affects everything else.”

“And you have a little under month to get it all right, but you need to want to win, rather than want to make sure people aren’t right about you.”

“Yeah, a month that’s not a long time.” He groaned, pushing away from the boards, glancing behind himself as he glided backwards. “Your pep talk sucked and was super ineffective by the way.”

[junker-town]

Lane Kiffin at FAU will mean both wins and controversy in Boca Raton

We don’t know how long the two will stay together, but Kiffin and FAU should both see fast payoff.

This preview originally published March 6 and has since been updated.

Over the last decade or so, Lane Kiffin's career has essentially unfolded in reverse.

You're supposed to take the mid-major head coaching job and power conference coordinator job first, then move on to the power conference head coaching jobs, then jump to the NFL.

Instead, at age 30 in 2005, Kiffin jumped straight to “Oakland Raiders head coach.” He went 5-15 and, with help from Oakland owner Al Davis, burned 38 different bridges on his way out the door. He landed at Tennessee as the head coach, where he won seven games in one year and sneaked out of town in the middle of the night.

Vilified in both the Bay Area and Knoxville, he took over for Pete Carroll at USC in 2010 and went 28-15 with a sanctions-riddled depth chart. His Trojans surged to 10-2 in 2011, but his last season and a half were pocked by a seven-win stumble in 2012 (which included the most miserable-looking bowl experience ever), a 3-2 start in 2013, and a firing that took place in the middle of the night at LAX.

Kiffin's young age did nothing to benefit his naturally brazen personality, but at this point in his career, he seemed to understand that some career rehab was needed. Nick Saban gave him a massive opportunity, bringing him aboard to modernize the Alabama offense, and it worked. The Tide ranked seventh in Off. S&P+ in 2014, won the national title in 2015, and, in Kiffin's masterpiece, ranked fifth in Off. S&P+ despite a freshman quarterback in 2016.

Now that he's again proved he can be a good coach, he gets another chance to be a head coach. And it's maybe the job he should have gotten about 10 years ago.

If any program understands working on a backwards timeline, it's FAU. The Owls came into existence in 2001, and Howard Schnellenberger had them in the FCS semifinals by 2003. They moved to FBS in 2005 and won the Sun Belt by 2007. Winning was so much easier for them than it was supposed to be. At first.

Since beating CMU in the 2008 Motor City Bowl, FAU has averaged 3.5 wins per year. Schnellenberger won 10 games in his last three seasons, then retired. Carl Pelini went 5-15, then resigned for non-football reasons. Interim coach Brian Wright went 4-0 following Pelini's ouster, but FAU chose Charlie Partridge to replace Pelini full-time. He went 3-9 three times.

Seriously, if you look at FAU’s history backwards, starting with 2016, it looks like a pretty standard start-up that struggles early, then begins to thrive after a decade or so. Instead, the Owls haven’t thrived in almost a decade. They needed an energy boost, and Kiffin needed a manageable head coaching situation. So they got each other.

Kiffin is still Kiffin. He's dropped some pretty clear hints of that, and I’m not even talking about January’s awkward promotional video. For instance, in talking about his hire of former Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, stained by the sexual assault scandal at Baylor, and the controversy that came with it, he said, “My plan is not in place to please the media,” as if pleasing the media was the issue.

Barring scandal, he's probably going to win. Per the 247Sports Composite, his first signing class featured 17 three-star players and ranked first in Conference USA. His staff is loaded with energetic recruiters, context and controversy aside. And he inherits one of the most experienced rosters in the country. The offense, led by legitimate stars like running back Devin Singletary and receiver Kalib Woods, could be strong.

Kiffin is back at the helm of a program. He’s got a microphone in his face again. And he might have a decent team. Buckle up.

2016 in review

2016 FAU statistical profile.

It was a pretty bad start to the season when FAU eked by FCS Southern Illinois, 38-30, in the season opener while getting outgained by 78 yards. Even worse, though, was when the Owls more or less got outperformed by the 4-7 Salukis the rest of the way. Per Jeff Sagarin’s ratings, which rank all of FBS and FCS, FAU finished the season 167th. SIU: 148th.

The Owls beat only Rice and UTEP the rest of the way. They played three teams ranked 31st or better in S&P+ and lost by a combined 153-20. Against teams ranked 118th or worse (out of 128), they went just 2-3, albeit with losses by a combined 13 points. Partridge was fired the day after the season ended.

This was a bad year from start to finish, but the Owls did start to figure things out on one side of the ball late in the season.

First 4 games (1-3) — Avg. score: Opp 41, FAU 21 | Avg. percentile performance: 18% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.4, FAU 4.6 (-1.8)

Next 4 games (0-4) — Avg. score: Opp 35, FAU 20 | Avg. percentile performance: 22% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.8, FAU 5.0 (-1.8)

Last 4 games (2-2) — Avg. score: Opp 44, FAU 39 | Avg. percentile performance: 36% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 7.5, FAU 7.4 (-0.1)

The defense struggled early and careened into a ditch late, but the offense sprang to life late.

What was the major difference? Devin Singletary.

Devin Singletary, first 4 games: 14 carries, 36 yards (2.6)

Singletary, next 4 games: 48 carries, 259 yards (5.4), 2 TD

Singletary, last 4 games: 89 carries, 721 yards (8.1), 10 TD

The freshman overtook Gregory Howell Jr. in the rotation and erupted. So did the FAU offense, nearly doubling its scoring average over the final four games. The Owls scored 80 points in season-ending losses to ODU and MTSU — it took a complete defensive collapse to keep them out of the win column another time or two.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Devin Singletary

We’ll see how quickly defensive coordinator Chris Kiffin can figure out to control a defense that had turned into a bit of a tire fire at the end of the year. But Briles, whose two years as Baylor offensive coordinator produced three 1,000-yard rushers and five more 500-yard rushers, will have at least one really fun toy to play with in the backfield.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

Options. They are what tend to separate strong offenses from shaky ones. Briles certainly tended to have them at Baylor -- and he needed them considering the mach-speed tempo he prefers -- and between returnees and a wealth of newcomers, he might actually have enough at FAU to get by.

It starts in the backfield. Singletary is among Conference USA's best running backs, and for a No. 2 option, Howell is pretty solid. Combined, they averaged 27 carries and three to four targets per game. If healthy, I would expect maybe 35-plus intended touches for the two of them.

They might be running behind a line that is more stable than last year's, too. FAU started 10 different linemen in 2016; injuries and shuffling can result in all sorts of glitches up front, and the Owls, who were also missing starting left tackle Reggie Bain after a motor scooter accident, had as much uncertainty up front as anyone.

If healthy, Bain would be one of eight Owl linemen with starting experience. Mid-three-star JUCO signee Joey Palmer enters the mix up front as well. A good line blocking for Singletary? That's pretty pointsy right there.

It would be surprising if FAU weren't also quite a bit better throwing the ball. The Owls ranked 97th in Passing S&P+ last year, but competition at quarterback and receiver could be stiff enough to drive up the level of play.

First, there are the returnees. Junior Jason Driskel began to thrive late in the season when he had a running game to distract defenses. After managing a paltry 108.7 passer rating through eight games, he leaped to 157.8, with a 69 percent completion rate, in those last four. In the wins over Rice and UTEP, he was particularly incredible, completing 35 of 48 passes for 550 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception.

Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images

Jason Driskel

Driskel began to lean more on tight end Tyler Cameron late in the year, and Cameron's gone. But he's the only one gone. Every other member of the FAU receiving corps is scheduled to return, including big-play options in senior Kalib Woods (934 receiving yards, 9.3 per target) and sophomore Tavaris Harrison (304 yards, 9.8 per target). Continuity in the passing game is a huge boon for an offense, and FAU has it.

FAU also has an entirely new set of passers and receivers who might not only challenge, but also overtake, the incumbents.

You start with Florida State transfer De'Andre Johnson. Johnson was dismissed from Florida State in 2015 for punching a woman and has since spoken to recruits about how a single horrible decision can change lives. He is athletic and talented, and he will be monitored closely for obvious reasons.

Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

De’Andre Johnson

Then there are the new receivers, namely one-time four-star Florida signee D'Anfernee McGriff and JUCO transfer and former Texas receiver DeAndre McNeal, who chose Kiffin's Owls over UCLA. Add in three-star freshmen Jordan Merrell and Willie Wright, and you've got an awfully impressive set of newbies. Combined with returnees, this could be the best receiving corps in Conference USA if a couple of players live up to recruiting hype.

Defense

Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and defensive end Trey Hendrickson needed a lot more help than they got in 2016. The duo combined for 26 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, but if they weren't making a play, probably no one was.

The FAU defense was thin up front, banged up in the middle, and overwhelmed in the back. Only five linemen made more than nine tackles, which typically signifies a very tight rotation. Meanwhile, Al-Shaair was the only linebacker who played in all 12 games, and starter Nate Ozdemir missed the final four games. The secondary had a couple of nicks to deal with, but the lack of havoc up front made the DBs' job awfully hard.

The defense was never good, but it got much worse late in the year as the line began to wear down and Ozdemir injured his foot. It was a bend-don’t-break that bent way too much.

Hendrickson is gone, but Al-Shaair and Ozdemir are back, and help is on the way.

First, there are the three-star JUCOs: defensive ends Ernest Bagner and Tim Bonner, linebacker Carson Lydon, safety Jovon Burriss Jr. Then, there are the three-star freshmen: tackle Chase Hooper, linebacker Akileis Leroy, safety Ahman Ross, corners Quran Hafiz and Zyon Gilbert. You never want to rely on newcomers to carry a unit, but if, say, three of these nine players were to become starter-quality contributors, that would help a lot.

Experience will also provide a boon. The secondary and linebacking corps were absolutely loaded with sophomores last year, and corner Raekwon Williams, maybe the best play-maker in the secondary, was a junior. [Update: contributing safety Richie Kittles has transferred out, but former Florida State linebacker Kain Daub is reportedly transferring in.]

Barring freshman breakthroughs, the two-deep will be loaded with juniors. That cannot be a bad thing, though it might be an even better thing for the 2018 defense. It could give Chris Kiffin just enough weapons to attempt to employ his defensive identity.

What is that identity, exactly? I'm not sure — having one of the best defensive coaches in football history as a father probably means you’ve been exposed to quite a few different ideas through the years.

But after six years with Ole Miss and its damn-the-torpedoes defensive attack, one assumes Chris will like havoc. Ole Miss was willing to risk big plays in the name of creating big plays of its own, and while that backfired quite a bit with an inexperienced, banged up Rebel unit in 2016, it's a really fun defense to watch, one way or the other.

Ole Miss was at its best when it had chaos guys up front. Not sure that exists here. There are quite a few options at end, especially with Bagner and Bonner in the mix, but only two returning tackles made more than 2.5 tackles in 2016, and only one is bigger than 270 pounds. Maybe that creates a speed advantage, or maybe it just gets FAU pushed around up front.

If the line holds up, though, Al-Shaair, Ozdemir, Williams, and company might be able to swarm a bit.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Azeez Al-Shaair

Special Teams

Special teams has been a relative strength for FAU over the last couple of years, and the primary reasons for the Owls' No. 40 Special Teams S&P+ ranking are back. Kicker Greg Joseph's 76 percent touchback rate was fantastic, and his leg is big enough that he made four of five field goals over 40 yards. (Of course, his leg is also wild enough that he was only 6-for-9 under 40 yards.)

Meanwhile, Kerrith Whyte, Jr., is one of the steadiest kick returners in the country. FAU needs to unearth a new punter to replace the solid Dalton Schomp, but FAU still has a couple of special teams stars.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep Navy 71 -5.5 38% 9-Sep at Wisconsin 11 -31.1 4% 16-Sep Bethune-Cookman NR 32.9 97% 23-Sep at Buffalo 128 7.6 67% 30-Sep Middle Tennessee 89 0.3 51% 7-Oct at Old Dominion 93 -4.9 39% 21-Oct North Texas 106 4.5 60% 28-Oct at Western Kentucky 51 -16.7 17% 4-Nov Marshall 101 2.8 56% 11-Nov at Louisiana Tech 82 -7.1 34% 18-Nov Florida International 104 3.9 59% 25-Nov at Charlotte 127 7.4 67%

Projected S&P+ Rk 99 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 57 / 123 Projected wins 5.9 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -13.0 (115) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 80 / 80 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* -5 / -6.7 2016 TO Luck/Game +0.7 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 83% (91%, 76%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 4.1 (-1.1)

Kiffin is not wasting time. He beat out power conference teams for a few recruits, he put his foot in his mouth a couple of times, and he hired a young (with one noteworthy exception), ultra-aggressive staff. He is looking to win over all else, for better and for worse, and he probably will.

FAU’s hire of Kiffin and FIU’s hire of Butch Davis, combined with USF’s hire of Charlie Strong, are going to change the recruiting calculus in the state of Florida — the power schools from further away are going to lose some random recruits to these guys in the coming years — and out of the gates it appears that Kiffin got the upper hand on Davis, at least. FAU is projected right on the borderline of bowl eligibility, and if the Owls’ defense is able to rebound a bit more than projected, then seven or eight wins are on the table.

You know what you’re getting when you hire Kiffin, and FAU felt it was worth the jump.

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Don Hale: One man’s fight for justice – BBC News

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Don Hale has helped to clear Barry George, Stephen Downing and Ched Evans

Fifteen years ago Stephen Downing was acquitted after spending 27 years in prison for murder, overturning one of Britain’s most notorious miscarriages of justice and putting into the spotlight the local newspaper editor who helped to bring the police’s case tumbling down.

Don Hale could hardly have foreseen that by championing the case he would go on to suffer police intimidation and receive death threats – there were even two apparent attempts on his life – forcing him to leave his Derbyshire home.

But the Downing case would eventually change the law, win Hale an OBE and make him a go-to journalist to investigate major miscarriages of justice.

In the years since the release of Mr Downing, Hale has also helped to free Barry George, the man who spent eight years in jail for the murder of Jill Dando, and to clear the name of footballer, Ched Evans, after a controversial rape retrial.

Image copyright PA

Image caption Don Hale was editor of weekly local newspaper, the Matlock Mercury, during his battle to free Stephen Downing

For Hale, the brutal trigger for his life of campaigning was the 1973 killing of 32-year-old Wendy Sewell.

She was found badly beaten but still alive in a Bakewell graveyard by Mr Downing, a council gardener.

He was arrested and questioned without a solicitor for several hours but, aged 17 and with a reading age of 11, officers pressured him into signing a confession to the attack, filled with words he did not understand.

When Mrs Sewell died two days later, the charge was upgraded to murder. Mr Downing immediately retracted his confession but was found guilty at a trial at Nottingham Crown Court.

Image caption Legal secretary Wendy Sewell, dubbed “the Bakewell Tart” in the press, was left for dead in the cemetery

After their son had spent two decades in prison, Mr Downing’s parents approached Hale, editor of the Matlock Mercury, for help.

He faced obstacles at every turn, with police telling him all the evidence had been “burnt, lost and destroyed”.

A turning point came when Derby Museum staff informed him that the murder weapon – a pickaxe handle – was on display there.

With Hale’s help, Mr Downing won 13,000 from the Legal Aid Board.

This paid for a modern forensic examination of the weapon, crucially revealing Mr Downing’s fingerprints were not present – although there was a bloody palm print from an unknown person.

The clothes Mr Downing had been wearing, which had been returned to his parents, were flecked with spots of blood which Hale believed were consistent with him having tried to help Wendy Sewell as she lay dying.

Image copyright Don Hale

Image caption Twenty years after the murder Hale reshot scene of crime photographs in Bakewell cemetery

“I reported developments through the Matlock Mercury – it became like The Archers, a bit of a saga,” he joked.

But the articles prompted real-life drama in the form of anonymous death threats and what Hale claims was police harassment.

“They made my life absolute hell for five or six years,” he said.

“I was pulled up for speeding, stopped and searched, victimised.”

Letters were sent to his home and a brick was thrown through the newspaper’s window.

Most seriously, on two occasions a vehicle was driven at him at speed, which he believes were attempts to kill him.

Police even gave him a mirror on a stick to check for bombs under his car.

Image copyright Don Hale

Image caption Don Hale marching for justice for Stephen Downing

“I was very worried for my family. There weren’t threats against other journalists, it was simply against me. It turned into a rollercoaster,” he said.

But all of this merely strengthened his resolve: “If Downing had done it, why should anyone want to threaten me?”

Mr Downing was ineligible for parole under the law at the time because he had refused to admit his guilt.

Hale believed this was unfair and took the matter to the European Court of Human Rights, winning the case in 1996.

It was adopted into law that prisoners who maintained their innocence after conviction could apply for parole.

Image copyright Don Hale

Image caption Derbyshire Dales MP Patrick McLoughlin became one of the Downing campaign’s high-profile supporters

By now, the Downing case was attracting attention from far and wide: “I became a hero in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Argentina, because I had taken on the British government and won,” Hale said.

Closer to home, Hale said then Prime Minister Tony Blair asked him for help in setting up an independent body to investigate miscarriages of justice, which became the Criminal Case Review Commission (CCRC).

Stephen Downing’s was one of the first cases to be looked at by the CCRC.

It recommended his conviction should be overturned on the basis that the circumstances in which he gave his confession made it unreliable evidence that should not have gone before a jury.

The conviction was quashed in 2001 with Mr Downing finally walking free in January 2002.

Image copyright AP

Image caption Hale and Stephen Downing on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice in January, 2002, after his conviction was overturned

Hale was pleased but also disappointed: “He had got off on a technicality,” he said.

“He didn’t get his day in court because police were bang to rights. Somebody should have been called to account.”

The legal challenge to Mr Downing’s conviction focused on the way detectives had conducted the original investigation in 1973.

He had been questioned without a lawyer and there were serious doubts about whether he had been properly advised of his legal rights.

These facts were never made known to the jury that convicted him, but they were enough to overturn the conviction.

But Mr Downing, for his part, was not angry: “Who would I feel bitter against? The system? I think I would be punishing myself,” he said.

With much more to say himself, Hale wrote the book, Town Without Pity, which was turned into BBC drama, In Denial of Murder, in 2004.

Image caption In Denial of Murder starred Stephen Tompkinson as Don Hale and Jason Watkins as Stephen Downing

Police reopened their investigation, interviewing 1,600 witnesses, at an estimated cost of 500,000, but failed to identify any alternative suspect – although Hale has previously said he believes he has a “very good idea” who killed Wendy Sewell.

Mr Downing was later awarded 900,000 in compensation.

The huge press attention the case attracted finally forced Hale to relocate to north Wales.

“One of the reasons I moved away from Derbyshire was to get relief,” he said. “It wasn’t fair on my family.”

Image caption Jill Dando’s killer has never been brought to justice

But he was soon called on to help with another miscarriage of justice.

BBC Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando was shot dead on her fianc’s west London doorstep in April 1999.

A year later, after interviewing over hundreds of people, the Met Police charged 41-year-old Barry George, a self-confessed stalker and loner, with her murder. He was tried, convicted and jailed for life.

But there were serious concerns about the police investigation, and in 2004 Hale was asked to get involved.

“Quite quickly, I found a lot of evidence that didn’t match up,” he said.

Image copyright PA

Image caption Barry George was “an oddball but not a killer”, Hale said

He went to see Mr George in prison where he was “like a lion in a cage”, pacing the floor.

“How could he do a clinical murder like that?” Hale said.

“Everyone that was dealing with him said he’s a bit of an oddball but he’s not a killer.”

Gunpowder residue on Mr George’s clothing had played a large part in convicting him.

But Hale said there was so little of it that it could have come from weapons armed police were carrying when he was arrested.

The CCRC referred Mr George’s case to the Court of Appeal and a retrial took place at the Old Bailey in 2008, when he was cleared of murder and released.

Image copyright Wales News Service

Image caption Ched Evans leaving Cardiff Crown Court with his fiancee Natasha Massey

Ched Evans was serving a five-year sentence for rape when his family approached Hale for help.

“I didn’t want to touch it because it was so high profile,” he said.

But Mr Evans’ mother had serious doubts about the “rushed” investigation.

The then-Sheffield United striker had been convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman at a Premier Inn in Denbighshire in May 2011.

At the same trial, footballer Clayton McDonald was acquitted of the offence.

Hale believed the guilty verdict was an “emotional response” from the jury, owing to Mr Evans’ “cockiness”. “He thought he was God’s gift to women,” Hale said.

He spent six months working on the case, in which time Mr Evans was released having served half of his sentence.

“My knowledge and experience meant I could cut corners and had an important point that I knew the IPCC would look at.”

Media captionA timeline of events leading to Ched Evans clearing his name

That point was the woman’s sexual history and, after the CCRC agreed there was enough evidence to quash the conviction, this evidence controversially formed part of the retrial.

Unlike during the original trial, her previous sexual partners gave evidence recounting similar encounters to the one in the hotel room that night.

It led to plans to review the law protecting alleged rape victims from disclosing details of their sex lives.

Mr Evans was cleared in October 2016 but it left a bitter taste for Hale.

“In this case it was right – you have got to look at each case on its own merit,” he said.

“But the whole thing was a bit unsavoury and not good for the girl herself.”

Hale said at the time he hoped the case did not deter women from coming forward to report sexual offences.

Image copyright PA

But, had that evidence been used in the original trial, “Evans would have been cleared,” he said.

The case took its toll on Hales, now 64, and he has decided not to investigate any more miscarriages of justice, focusing instead on writing books.

“I am proud of what I have done,” he said.

“If it wasn’t for people like me you’d have no-one to say, ‘this isn’t the way we should interview people, this is not the way we should treat people’.”

Yet he still insists modestly that much of the credit for overturning the miscarriages of justice he has worked on belongs to others, seeing himself more as a catalyst for change.

“You have got to have somebody who gets the ball rolling.”

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from Don Hale: One man’s fight for justice – BBC News

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Lane Kiffin at FAU will mean both wins and controversy in Boca Raton

We don’t know how long the two will stay together, but Kiffin and FAU should both see fast payoff.

Over the last decade or so, Lane Kiffin's career has essentially unfolded in reverse.

You're supposed to take the mid-major head coaching job and power conference coordinator job first, then move on to the power conference head coaching jobs, then jump to the NFL.

Instead, at age 30 in 2005, Kiffin jumped straight to “Oakland Raiders head coach.” He went 5-15 and, with help from Oakland owner Al Davis, burned 38 different bridges on his way out the door. He landed at Tennessee as the head coach, where he won seven games in one year and sneaked out of town in the middle of the night.

Vilified in both the Bay Area and Knoxville, he took over for Pete Carroll at USC in 2010 and went 28-15 with a sanctions-riddled depth chart. His Trojans surged to 10-2 in 2011, but his last season and a half were pocked by a seven-win stumble in 2012 (which included the most miserable-looking bowl experience ever), a 3-2 start in 2013, and a firing that took place in the middle of the night at LAX.

Kiffin's young age did nothing to benefit his naturally brazen personality, but at this point in his career, he seemed to understand that some career rehab was needed. Nick Saban gave him a massive opportunity, bringing him aboard to modernize the Alabama offense, and it worked. The Tide ranked seventh in Off. S&P+ in 2014, won the national title in 2015, and, in Kiffin's masterpiece, ranked fifth in Off. S&P+ despite a freshman quarterback in 2016.

Now that he's again proved he can be a good coach, he gets another chance to be a head coach. And it's maybe the job he should have gotten about 10 years ago.

If any program understands working on a backwards timeline, it's FAU. The Owls came into existence in 2001, and Howard Schnellenberger had them in the FCS semifinals by 2003. They moved to FBS in 2005 and won the Sun Belt by 2007. Winning was so much easier for them than it was supposed to be. At first.

Since beating CMU in the 2008 Motor City Bowl, FAU has averaged 3.5 wins per year. Schnellenberger won 10 games in his last three seasons, then retired. Carl Pelini went 5-15, then resigned for non-football reasons. Interim coach Brian Wright went 4-0 following Pelini's ouster, but FAU chose Charlie Partridge to replace Pelini full-time. He went 3-9 three times.

Seriously, if you look at FAU’s history backwards, starting with 2016, it looks like a pretty standard start-up that struggles early, then begins to thrive after a decade or so. Instead, the Owls haven’t thrived in almost a decade. They needed an energy boost, and Kiffin needed a manageable head coaching situation. So they got each other.

Kiffin is still Kiffin. He's dropped some pretty clear hints of that, and I’m not even talking about January’s awkward promotional video. For instance, in talking about his hire of former Baylor offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, stained by the sexual assault scandal at Baylor, and the controversy that came with it, he said, “My plan is not in place to please the media,” as if pleasing the media was the issue.

Barring scandal, he's probably going to win. Per the 247Sports Composite, his first signing class featured 17 three-star players and ranked first in Conference USA. His staff is loaded with energetic recruiters, context and controversy aside. And he inherits one of the most experienced rosters in the country. The offense, led by legitimate stars like running back Devin Singletary and receiver Kalib Woods, could be strong.

Kiffin is back at the helm of a program. He’s got a microphone in his face again. And he might have a decent team. Buckle up.

2016 in review

2016 FAU statistical profile.

It was a pretty bad start to the season when FAU eked by FCS Southern Illinois, 38-30, in the season opener while getting outgained by 78 yards. Even worse, though, was when the Owls more or less got outperformed by the 4-7 Salukis the rest of the way. Per Jeff Sagarin’s ratings, which rank all of FBS and FCS, FAU finished the season 167th. SIU: 148th.

The Owls beat only Rice and UTEP the rest of the way. They played three teams ranked 31st or better in S&P+ and lost by a combined 153-20. Against teams ranked 118th or worse (out of 128), they went just 2-3, albeit with losses by a combined 13 points. Partridge was fired the day after the season ended.

This was a bad year from start to finish, but the Owls did start to figure things out on one side of the ball late in the season.

First 4 games (1-3) — Avg. score: Opp 41, FAU 21 | Avg. percentile performance: 18% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.4, FAU 4.6 (-1.8)

Next 4 games (0-4) — Avg. score: Opp 35, FAU 20 | Avg. percentile performance: 22% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 6.8, FAU 5.0 (-1.8)

Last 4 games (2-2) — Avg. score: Opp 44, FAU 39 | Avg. percentile performance: 36% | Avg. yards per play: Opp 7.5, FAU 7.4 (-0.1)

The defense struggled early and careened into a ditch late, but the offense sprang to life late.

What was the major difference? Devin Singletary.

Devin Singletary, first 4 games: 14 carries, 36 yards (2.6)

Singletary, next 4 games: 48 carries, 259 yards (5.4), 2 TD

Singletary, last 4 games: 89 carries, 721 yards (8.1), 10 TD

The freshman overtook Gregory Howell Jr. in the rotation and erupted. So did the FAU offense, nearly doubling its scoring average over the final four games. The Owls scored 80 points in season-ending losses to ODU and MTSU — it took a complete defensive collapse to keep them out of the win column another time or two.

Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Devin Singletary

We’ll see how quickly defensive coordinator Chris Kiffin can figure out to control a defense that had turned into a bit of a tire fire at the end of the year. But Briles, whose two years as Baylor offensive coordinator produced three 1,000-yard rushers and five more 500-yard rushers, will have at least one really fun toy to play with in the backfield.

Offense

Full advanced stats glossary.

Options. They are what tend to separate strong offenses from shaky ones. Briles certainly tended to have them at Baylor -- and he needed them considering the mach-speed tempo he prefers -- and between returnees and a wealth of newcomers, he might actually have enough at FAU to get by.

It starts in the backfield. Singletary is among Conference USA's best running backs, and for a No. 2 option, Howell is pretty solid. Combined, they averaged 27 carries and three to four targets per game. If healthy, I would expect maybe 35-plus intended touches for the two of them.

They might be running behind a line that is more stable than last year's, too. FAU started 10 different linemen in 2016; injuries and shuffling can result in all sorts of glitches up front, and the Owls, who were also missing starting left tackle Reggie Bain after a motor scooter accident, had as much uncertainty up front as anyone.

If healthy, Bain would be one of eight Owl linemen with starting experience. Mid-three-star JUCO signee Joey Palmer enters the mix up front as well. A good line blocking for Singletary? That's pretty pointsy right there.

It would be surprising if FAU weren't also quite a bit better throwing the ball. The Owls ranked 97th in Passing S&P+ last year, but competition at quarterback and receiver could be stiff enough to drive up the level of play.

First, there are the returnees. Junior Jason Driskel began to thrive late in the season when he had a running game to distract defenses. After managing a paltry 108.7 passer rating through eight games, he leaped to 157.8, with a 69 percent completion rate, in those last four. In the wins over Rice and UTEP, he was particularly incredible, completing 35 of 48 passes for 550 yards, three touchdowns, and one interception.

Photo by Rob Foldy/Getty Images

Jason Driskel

Driskel began to lean more on tight end Tyler Cameron late in the year, and Cameron's gone. But he's the only one gone. Every other member of the FAU receiving corps is scheduled to return, including big-play options in senior Kalib Woods (934 receiving yards, 9.3 per target) and sophomore Tavaris Harrison (304 yards, 9.8 per target). Continuity in the passing game is a huge boon for an offense, and FAU has it.

FAU also has an entirely new set of passers and receivers who might not only challenge, but also overtake, the incumbents.

You start with Florida State transfer De'Andre Johnson. Johnson was dismissed from Florida State in 2015 for punching a woman and has since spoken to recruits about how a single horrible decision can change lives. He is athletic and talented, and he will be monitored closely for obvious reasons.

Melina Vastola-USA TODAY Sports

De’Andre Johnson

Then there are the new receivers, namely one-time four-star Florida signee D'Anfernee McGriff and JUCO transfer and former Texas receiver DeAndre McNeal, who chose Kiffin's Owls over UCLA. Add in three-star freshmen Jordan Merrell and Willie Wright, and you've got an awfully impressive set of newbies. Combined with returnees, this could be the best receiving corps in Conference USA if a couple of players live up to recruiting hype.

Defense

Linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair and defensive end Trey Hendrickson needed a lot more help than they got in 2016. The duo combined for 26 tackles for loss and 11.5 sacks, but if they weren't making a play, probably no one was.

The FAU defense was thin up front, banged up in the middle, and overwhelmed in the back. Only five linemen made more than nine tackles, which typically signifies a very tight rotation. Meanwhile, Al-Shaair was the only linebacker who played in all 12 games, and starter Nate Ozdemir missed the final four games. The secondary had a couple of nicks to deal with, but the lack of havoc up front made the DBs' job awfully hard.

The defense was never good, but it got much worse late in the year as the line began to wear down and Ozdemir injured his foot. It was a bend-don’t-break that bent way too much.

Hendrickson is gone, but Al-Shaair and Ozdemir are back, and help is on the way.

First, there are the three-star JUCOs: defensive ends Ernest Bagner and Tim Bonner, linebacker Carson Lydon, safety Jovon Burriss Jr. Then, there are the three-star freshmen: tackle Chase Hooper, linebacker Akileis Leroy, safety Ahman Ross, corners Quran Hafiz and Zyon Gilbert. You never want to rely on newcomers to carry a unit, but if, say, three of these nine players were to become starter-quality contributors, that would help a lot.

Experience will also provide a boon. The secondary and linebacking corps were absolutely loaded with sophomores last year, and corner Raekwon Williams, maybe the best play-maker in the secondary, was a junior..

Barring freshman breakthroughs, the two-deep will be loaded with juniors. That cannot be a bad thing, though it might be an even better thing for the 2018 defense. It could give Chris Kiffin just enough weapons to attempt to employ his defensive identity.

What is that identity, exactly? I'm not sure — having one of the best defensive coaches in football history as a father probably means you’ve been exposed to quite a few different ideas through the years.

But after six years with Ole Miss and its damn-the-torpedoes defensive attack, one assumes Chris will like havoc. Ole Miss was willing to risk big plays in the name of creating big plays of its own, and while that backfired quite a bit with an inexperienced, banged up Rebel unit in 2016, it's a really fun defense to watch, one way or the other.

Ole Miss was at its best when it had chaos guys up front. Not sure that exists here. There are quite a few options at end, especially with Bagner and Bonner in the mix, but only two returning tackles made more than 2.5 tackles in 2016, and only one is bigger than 270 pounds. Maybe that creates a speed advantage, or maybe it just gets FAU pushed around up front.

If the line holds up, though, Al-Shaair, Ozdemir, Williams, and company might be able to swarm a bit.

Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Azeez Al-Shaair

Special Teams

Special teams has been a relative strength for FAU over the last couple of years, and the primary reasons for the Owls' No. 40 Special Teams S&P+ ranking are back. Kicker Greg Joseph's 76 percent touchback rate was fantastic, and his leg is big enough that he made four of five field goals over 40 yards. (Of course, his leg is also wild enough that he was only 6-for-9 under 40 yards.)

Meanwhile, Kerrith Whyte, Jr., is one of the steadiest kick returners in the country. FAU needs to unearth a new punter to replace the solid Dalton Schomp, but FAU still has a couple of special teams stars.

2017 outlook

2017 Schedule & Projection Factors

Date Opponent Proj. S&P+ Rk Proj. Margin Win Probability 2-Sep Navy 71 -5.5 38% 9-Sep at Wisconsin 11 -31.1 4% 16-Sep Bethune-Cookman NR 32.9 97% 23-Sep at Buffalo 128 7.6 67% 30-Sep Middle Tennessee 89 0.3 51% 7-Oct at Old Dominion 93 -4.9 39% 21-Oct North Texas 106 4.5 60% 28-Oct at Western Kentucky 51 -16.7 17% 4-Nov Marshall 101 2.8 56% 11-Nov at Louisiana Tech 82 -7.1 34% 18-Nov Florida International 104 3.9 59% 25-Nov at Charlotte 127 7.4 67%

Projected S&P+ Rk 99 Proj. Off. / Def. Rk 57 / 123 Projected wins 5.9 Five-Year S&P+ Rk -13.0 (115) 2- and 5-Year Recruiting Rk 80 / 80 2016 TO Margin / Adj. TO Margin* -5 / -6.7 2016 TO Luck/Game +0.7 Returning Production (Off. / Def.) 83% (91%, 76%) 2016 Second-order wins (difference) 4.1 (-1.1)

Kiffin is not wasting time. He beat out power conference teams for a few recruits, he put his foot in his mouth a couple of times, and he hired a young (with one noteworthy exception), ultra-aggressive staff. He is looking to win over all else, for better and for worse, and he probably will.

FAU’s hire of Kiffin and FIU’s hire of Butch Davis, combined with USF’s hire of Charlie Strong, are going to change the recruiting calculus in the state of Florida — the power schools from further away are going to lose some random recruits to these guys in the coming years — and out of the gates it appears that Kiffin got the upper hand on Davis, at least. FAU is projected right on the borderline of bowl eligibility, and if the Owls’ defense is able to rebound a bit more than projected, then seven or eight wins are on the table.

You know what you’re getting when you hire Kiffin, and FAU felt it was worth the jump.

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