#also sorry for the hiatus I forgot this site existed

[graaid]

Thought that my OC Atticus and Thanatos from Hades looked kinda similar, and after doing this clothing swap I’m happy (sad?) to say that they don’t really lol, although that may just be because of my color-dropping lol

(It also didn’t even occur to me until I was drawing this that they both had scythe shaped weapons lmao)

[ellewords]

HI ELLE IM SORRY I ALMOST FORGOT TO REPLY BACK I FORGOT TUMBLR EXISTED (i was about to sleep coz its around 6:30 or something but like suddenly ur icon popped up in my head and oHMYGOD)

HOW HAVE U BEEN!!! I READ UR RECENT WORKS AND THE COLLEGE TSUKKI ONE WAS SO AMAZING LIKE SERIOUSLY IT WAS SOOOO GOOD.

ANYWAYS UR A SEULGI STAN??? ngl that actually does make sense. i was betting either her or joy omg. BUT IM A YERI STAN AND THE WAY THEY STYLED HER AND EVERY OTHER RV MEMBER THIS ERA WAS ACTUALLY DECENT THIS CB WAS A GOOD COMEBACK ESPECIALLY FOR THEIR EXTREMELY LONG HIATUS HHH (quick whats ur favourite bside in queendom and in their overall discography mine is i just and la rouge)

and actually i feel like u might be the type to like building tiny houses :o and if u do feel like starting it i highly recommend something simple (if im right, theres this one house called happy times from a brand(?) named flever the curtains pissed me off but it was sooo worth it and simple)

ALSO ARE U CAUGHT UP IN HOSPITAL PLAYLIST??? COZ (spoiler alert if not) OMG IKSUN AND JUNWAN’S RECENT INTERACTIONS MAKE MY HEART BEAT FASTER ESP THE ONE WHERE THEY WERE IN THE ER IDK WHY BUT IM A WH0RE FOR HONEST CONVERSATIONS LIKE THOSE. AND OMG IKSONG??? THE ANGSTY IKSONG FLASHBACK SCENE MADE ME FEEL FOR SONGHWA AAA i really hope it all works out in the end all five of them are so funny and unique and nice in their own ways they deserve to be happy :(

MODERN FAMILY !!! the ending is so upsetting in a mostly positive way and cAN I JUST SAY I RARELY CRY WHEN I WATCH SOMETHING BUT THIS!!! it took me three days before i could think about the ending scene without having any tears form in my eyes good GOD. my sister and i started b99 recently and we made it to s4 rn and honestly i am so glad to see a show where they can actually make lgbtq jokes without it being homophobic. and all of the characters are so <3 !!! its so cop propaganda but it also portrays poc and lgbtq people in such a good way that i can’t hate it :,). also idk if its the enfp in me but something about jake peralta and phil dunphy feel really really relatable. AND OOOH COMMUNITY HAS BEEN ON MY ‘TO WATCH’ LIST FOR AGES BUT BECAUSE OF THIS IM GONNA WATCH IT ONCE I FINISH WATCHING AHS (idk if u watched but hell house and coven >>>). ALSO THE GOOD PLACE’S LATTER SEASONS ARE JUST AS GOOD AS THE FIRST TWO IM SO GLAD THEY NEVER TRIED TO KEEP IT GOING UNTIL IT BECAME A PILE OF SHIT (ie: i love supernatural but…supernatural 😔). as for criminal minds i started it not too long ago but i can’t find the site i used to watch it on so i couldn’t finish season 1 </3 .

ANYWAYS YEAH LETS TALK ABOUT THESE MORE PLEASE I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR UR THOUGHTS ON THESE SHOWS (and more shows that u like hehe). LIKE FOR EXAMPLE: DID HALEY DUNPHY HAVE A GOOD ENDING (i think not she and andy were good together and her ending turned her into her mother and not in a good way) OR DO U THINK IKSONG HAPPENS THIS SEASON (ngl im betting that if the show doesn’t end on s2, then definitely s3) OR ANYTHING AT ALL (why am i so in love with tsukki and daichi good god also if haikyuu were real which school would u like to go to and which team would u support but also why does one tooru oikawa look like he would watch legally blonde on a weekly basis and sometimes with wing spiker hajime iwaizumi who now knows every word to the movie).

(btw yeah we have the same timezones :D but as for country 😬)

ITS THE WEEKEND ELLE!!! GO DO SOMETHING GREAT!!! UR AWESOME!!! AND PRETTY!!! (i’ve never seen u but u just give off pretty vibes srsly)

- <3

"I forgot tumblr existed" -- pls omg why is this me on some days?? anyways, ramble a lot on this one so putting everything under the cut hehe <3

first of all,, glad u liked the tsukki fic !! it really made me crave the college bf of my dreams who cuddles me when i can’t sleep (which is honestly every night at this point)

hold up,, why does me being a seulgi stan make sense to people omg ?? I got another ask a while back where they said they figured I was a seulgi stan what ?? also yes joy !! bias wrecker right there,, heart goes dock doki for her aaaa YERI !! pls honestly I could just scream about any and all rv members at this point, they have me by the neck I tell u ;-; I love pushing’ n pulling’ from queendom but from their overall discography I love la rouge as well, the bass (?) is immaculate but I also have a soft spot for light me up for some reason ??

oooh noted,, im always on the hunt for new hobbies so ill take this into consideration if I ever want to start building tiny houses hehe

AAAA IM NOT CAUGHT UP ;-; I just started ep. nine when I got caught up in uni stuff and couldn’t watch ;-; but I am hoping for iksong endgame + junwan/iksun endgame,, honestly I just want all of them to be happy wherever and whoever that happiness may be,, they all deserve the world ;-; AND THE OST ?? pls my fave band performance has to be the one from zoo (?) called met you at the subway station or something like that from s1, what about you?

MODERN FAMILY YES !! it’s just so rewatchable and heartwarming and I love the portrayal of family,, like yeah stuff isn’t perfect but you’re all there for each other in the end,, very easily one of my comfort shows...the finale made my heart clench but I thought it was a good way to wrap up the series </3 I feel the same about B99 honestly,, like yes cop propaganda but also the poc + lgbtq+ rep makes my heart all warm and sighh phil dunphy just lowkey jake peralta as a suburban dad,, I feel like he’ll treat Mac in the same way Phil treats Luke <3 COMMUNITY IS AMAZING,, the way they just play around with so many genres and concepts is amazing like no other show could have pulled it off but them aaaa and yes tgp is just godtier television,, the way I audibly gasped at the s1 finale?? no other show will ever get that reaction from me

oooh I loved Andy so much, he and Hayley were great together... I don't mind her getting back together with Dylan as he did mature in the later seasons while still keeping that charm, I just wish they didn’t make her a mom bc there are better ways to show her growth...I wish we could've seen her thriving in fashion/business with Dylan eventually becoming a nurse ;-; I hope iksong does happen tho they’d be so so good together but I do understand the hesitance bc of their decades long friendship ;-; PLS I AM ALSO ASKING MYSELF WHY IM IN LOVE WITH TSUKKI AND DAICHI I CANT HELP U THERE </3 I think I’d support seijoh for my mans but also Karasuno bc I love a good underdog team,, wbu? yes oikawa does watch legally blonde on a weekly basis with iwa he told me so himself <3

ME ?? AWESOME ?? PRETTY ?? THESE WORDS CANT POSSIBLY EXIST IN THE SAME SENTENCE AAA BUT TY GO DO SOMETHING FUN TOO !! AND TAKE CARE <333 

[bakagamieru]

Hi I recently saw one of your post about zayn joining 1D again but how in June 2015 but it didn’t work out. How do you know this happened? Sorry English is my second language

This is a hard one because I didn’t organize everything as well at that point, so I remember the theory, but I can only vaguely remember the reasons why.

Timing in Relation to Tour

The first thing to consider is the OTRA tour timing.  Zayn left not long before the end of the Asia/Africa leg and right before the 1 month break leading into the European leg.  If the plan was for Zayn to only be gone a short while (which is probably what 1D was told to get them to ever agree to a stunt revolving around Zayn leaving in the first place), it makes perfect sense to line that up so that most of the time he was away would be over a break and not during shows.  If Zayn returned during the European leg, he would have been gone awhile but still would have only missed a few shows instead of a leg or more.

I also have to point out that Liam seemed to have a lot more trouble missing Zayn on stage during the European leg than he did for the end of the Africa/Asian leg.  He started crying and Niall had to come over to hug him, after all.  This doesn’t make a ton of sense unless Liam assumed Zayn was only going to be gone briefly during the end of the Asia/Africa leg and then found out later that Zayn was going to be gone for at least the whole European leg.  That would explain why he had more trouble during the later European leg than during the Asia/Africa leg when things would presumably have been more fresh and painful.

Fight and Reconciliation

Part of it was that the Zayn vs. 1D fighting narrative was fairly small and simple until later on.  At first the split was supposed to be amicable with Zayn being positive during The Sun interview and his Asian Awards speech.  1D didn’t talk about Zayn at all until The Late Late Show interview where Louis said he and Zayn had smoothed things over after the Twitter fight in May.  Right after The Late Late Show was the BBMA’s when Liam made sure to include Zayn several times and the rest of the boys nodded along in agreement.

Basically, there had been a fight, but then there was a reconciliation, so the narrative was primed for a return at that point.  It didn’t happen and we got a bunch of BS later on when 1D finally did their OTRA interviews and Zayn’s Fader interview came out, but that wasn’t until after the potential June return.  

The fact that the narrative has yo-yo’ed back and forth on whether Zayn and 1D are fine or are mortal enemies is suspicious enough in itself.  Either they’re fighting or they’re fine.  They can’t be doing one every 3 months and then the other the rest of the time.  The only reason for the narrative to change that much is if it’s being controlled for a specific purpose.  

The fact that there was already a fight and then a nice reconciliation in the short time before June makes it seem like there was a reason for that reconciliation- i.e. creating an arc for Zayn’s return.  If Zayn was never supposed to return or wasn’t ever supposed to return until later, there was no reason to have the 1D vs. Zayn narrative bounce back and forth so frequently.  They should have been playing a long game instead of changing their minds every month or so.

Hiatus Announcements

The papers also broke the news of the hiatus in early June 2015, but then forgot all about it and pretended it didn’t exist until they announced the hiatus AGAIN in August.  It’s possible that they always planned to announce the hiatus around the same time Zayn returned to the band.  The theory is that Zayn leaving and then returning to the band 1) makes the idea of an overall break/break-up seem more likely, and 2) gets the fans all riled up and therefore earns more money from ticket and album sales.  If Zayn’s return was announced around the same time as the hiatus, then fans would be scrambling to get tickets to what could be the last OT5 shows.  

Since there’s even MORE evidence for a Zayn return in August, it seems a bit coincidental that the 2 times Zayn was potentially supposed to return matched up with the 2 announcements of the hiatus.  The second announcement of the hiatus stuck even though Zayn didn’t end up returning because it was so late in the year at that point that they had to go ahead and make it official.

Other

I swear there were probably some other things going on at the time that made me think that a June 2015 return had been planned.  It’s just really hard because it’s been over 3 years and the small stuff that happened in those first few months (as opposed to the really big stuff) is the hardest to remember at this point.

I know that the Facebook announcement of Zayn leaving went private sometime that June.

I also know that there were several Twitter trends, some of which may not have been organically created by fans, that referred to Zayn returning and seemed to be priming the fandom for such an occurrence.

I know that they were still being extremely slow about removing Zayn from 1D sites and social media at that point (probably because they didn’t want to have to put him right back on).

I know that the news that Zayn wouldn’t be able to release solo music for 2 years (not true ultimately) was announced around June as well.  That would have been something else that would have been a convenient explanation for why Zayn would return to the band.

There were also some commercial series with 1D that seemed to be biding their time until they could release a version with Zayn in it.  In particular I remember some Coke commercials that they did in pairs that had some suspiciously relevant messages included about friendship.  If they released similarly relevant commercials with Zayn after a timely return, it would have been great promo for the brand I’d think.

I think, in general, the fact that so much information was withheld or nonsensical early on points to the fact that Zayn’s leave wasn’t supposed to last very long.  It doesn’t matter if the reason and method of him leaving don’t make sense if he’s only gone for a few weeks.  Their problem was that their story fell apart when they had to actually carry it out for months and years at a time while not contradicting themselves or logic.  Their original story couldn’t hold up in the long term and their plan for how long Zayn was going to be gone kept changing which is why their explanations changed multiple times.

Conclusion

I think Zayn’s return in August is far easier to prove because of all the coordinating patterns of shade the boys threw in relation to it.  It’s harder to say for sure about June because the boys hadn’t really had a chance to throw a lot of organized shade yet.

However, there are some indications that Zayn’s leave was never supposed to last very long at all and some indications that point to a reconciliation and return narrative being laid out around June before being backtracked.  

In particular, I think the thing that most stands out to me is that bizarre initial misfire, denial, and then hand-waving of the first time the hiatus news came out.  I’ll never forget that because of how the tag I ultimately use for the hiatus is actually “1d hiatus 2.0″ because of it being the 2nd time the news came out.

If anyone can remember that time better than me, please add on because I have the hardest time explaining the potential June return in comparison to a lot of other things relating to Zayn’s leave (I think I did a much better job here than I expected to, though).  It’s one of those things where I remember having a good reason for thinking that was the plan, but I can’t remember what all was going on for me to think that.

[andrewuttaro]

2020 Revisions: 3 Potential Rochester Rhinos Stadium Sites Ranked

The Rochester Rhinos Outsider blog was a series of articles written in the winter of 2018-2019 as the second year of the club’s hiatus was at its quietest and darkest. This article is part of the 2020 Rhinos Outsider Revisions series, a series of long-read features jumping off from the starting point of those original articles with new information since revealed.  

In August 2018 the City of Rochester and the Dworkins finalized their breakup. The Rochester Rhinos would leave the stadium built for them 12 years earlier on Oak Street in downtown Rochester, NY. Although I’d still put a Rhinos return to the downtown stadium at about 20% likely, I’d recommend not holding your breath on that. City Government here is notoriously bull headed no matter who’s in charge. Instead let’s focus on other locations the club could relocate it’s 2021 games too. 2021? Yeah, that’s an important detail too so let’s hit on that.

Rochester Rhinos President and CBO Pat Ercoli did an interview with Uncle Sam’s Soccer Podcast in August 2019. His revelations about the trajectory of the club were later confirmed by ownership. He gave clarity to what the future of the organization may look like, most notably that the Rhinos were targeting a 2021 comeback, not a 2020 comeback as previously stated. He also hinted at where the professional club may find their new home. The mindset of the organization Ercoli represented in the August 2019 interview came with some good and some bad in my humble opinion, particularly in regard to the potential new home grounds of the club.

The clear thing you hear when you go back and listen to Pat Ercoli’s interview is a preference for the Eastside of Rochester to which the Rhinos legend had just moved to. For anyone familiar with the City they’ll know the Westside/Eastside divide in Rochester is very real and has undertones of classism and decades-old feelings about immigrants. I’m not saying Ercoli or anyone in the Rhinos organization is making overtures to inherent classist or racial feelings going back generations. The root of this Eastside preference is probably the perceptions about the downtown stadium which is, as a matter of fact, on the Westside. As attendance slipped over the years there, folks started to talk about location as a problem there. The conversation among the general population was definitely couched in more negative, uneducated stuff, but the organization has clearly come to an understanding that if they want to have a chance at survival they need to move the team to a venue in the suburban Eastside. The plus/negatives of this decision go on and on but that’s the decision they’ve made so that’s where we’re starting from.

There is one other thing to point out from the Ercoli interview: venue. Ercoli backed off from using the word stadium in the August interview. He used the term venue more. That may seem subtle but when the Dworkins interviewed with the Democrat and Chronicle in September 2018 they emphasized looking for a new stadium site. Their diction hinted at building a traditional stadium. What Ercoli’s diction opens up is the possibility of moving into an existing venue, upgrading a college or High School venue, or building a venue for one of those institutions and sharing it. This article is still using the word stadium but know we’re using that word very loosely as the organization may not be as committed to a big building project right now. Mind you, the brief statement directly from David Dworkin last month (December 2019) used the word stadium so I’m just giving you the facts the way I can best interpret them. However this leniency with the phraseology of “stadium” and the Eastside aim will inform this revised list.

Just like in the original version of this article all three listed locations have their positives and negatives. I’m using the same rating system to distill an overall rating for each site based on those positives and negatives. In a nutshell, the score is the negatives subtracted from the positives, you know your typical up one down one kinda thing. Just like the original article I am going to do three sites ranked and an honorable mention. To be honest, it was hard to come up with that many that fit the parameters of the Ercoli interview and what else we know. In the original version of this article I mentioned proximity to downtown as an important factor looking at that as a trend in soccer stadium locations across America. Clearly the feelings of the organization have changed. That criteria will now be proximity to a major highway.

Parking and room for growth will factor in again like in the original article. One more thing before we finally get to the article: sometimes I’m going to call classified. It’s going to be annoying and seem arbitrary. It’s my code for: “I know something that is relevant here, but it’s not corroborated and not fully public yet so I’m not going to say it.” I have sources that I’ve developed trust with so I will be doing my best here to not betray anyone’s trust. It’s classified. If you’re really curious and it’s the right thing DM me about it and maybe I can build a trust relationship with you too, eh? Feel free to grill me in the comments too if you want, I love talking about this team and I hope I get to with you. With no further ado, I give you: 3 Potential Rochester Rhinos Stadium Sites ranked.

3. East Rochester High School (Rating +1)

East Rochester High School!? Yeah, I knew this one would seem like its coming out of the blue and it is. To be clear there have been no corroborated rumors about this site… there are no uncorroborated rumors either for that matter. This spot on the list is more the champion of the honorable mentions than anything truly serious but once you read number one, this one will make a lot more sense from a google maps perspective. Skip ahead if you want but I think that will take away from the insane fun of following a soccer team without a home.

This venue is a High School which is -1 all its own because like any fan of the outdoor Rochester Lancers will tell you, K-12 School Districts are especially touchy with their facilities and rightfully so, all things considered. The proximity to the 490 expressway is a +1. I’m prepared to get grilled by people who know East Rochester better than me but I’m going to hand this site another +1 for room to grow. If this site was at all possible it would be because the School District saw the potential for a mutually beneficial relationship: one where the Rhinos build a very modest soccer stadium on their land closest to the corner of Fairport Road and South Washington Street. Grill me for it, what do you got? I’ll see you in Honorable Mentions with your bad takes!

Ultimately however this entry on the list does speak to how pie-in-the-sky a lot of the rumored new homes for the Rochester Rhinos are. So pie-in-the-sky in fact that you might notice I left parking off this entry on the list. I debated for a while whether the situation on that front at East Rochester High School was a negative or a positive. I gave up because this is a crazy option that wouldn’t be on the list if it wasn’t simply the strongest of the crazy options. For classified reasons I was very compelled to search the area of East Rochester, Fairport and Pittsford but all the other potential sites in that area ultimately failed to be as appealing as this option. Hardly a +1 rating for this site. Don’t worry Pittsford, we’ll be coming back around for you. Time to get into the real meat of this list.

2. East Henrietta Road by the Dome Arena (Rating +2)

The Dome Arena sits right behind a Wegmans. For those of you not familiar with the regional cult that is Wegmans, know that I am only kinda kidding when I say there are few places Rochesterians, and Western New Yorkers in general for that matter, feel more comfortable with being at than a Wegmans. Like seriously though I think most of us would place an average Wegmans over most Churches. I think the indoor Rochester Lancers have benefited from going to the Dome Arena for this reason. Connectivity the Rhinos could have with Salvatore “Soccer Sam” Fantauzzo’s operation already housed at the Dome Arena was a plus in the original article and I don’t think that’s changed, +1.

That proximity to the 390 expressway remains and with proximity to downtown fading from importance that becomes a full positive point, +1. Oh, I forgot to give it the same point it got last time for proximity to the shopping options along nearby Jefferson Road, +1 again! The room for growth and parking are two positives as well, +2! If you’re keeping track we’re now up to +5! How can this site be sitting at two on this list again? Well you knew the negatives were coming at some point.

I’m going to call classified on something that, trust me, is worth -2 points. Sorry, I told you that would be annoying. The other negative I’m counting here is -1 for not being on the Eastside. Henrietta is a lot of things but one of them is not an eastside suburb. A suburb yes, and a suburb that sits entirely east of the Genesee River, but not on the Eastside by a Rochesterian perspective and that’s what they’re going for here. We got to take the organization at their word at some point. Final score for East Henrietta Road at the Dome Arena is the same as last year at +2. It remains a solid option and the math went differently to get to that score this time but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Honorable Mentions

So let’s settle some scores: McQuaid Jesuit High School is not an option. Come off it, the parking there is just not good enough and I already explained why High Schools are a -1 all their own. Spoiler Alert: last year’s number three, Monroe Community College’s Henrietta campus, is not on this list. The whole Eastside revelations made it clear if it was going to be anywhere in Henrietta it was going to be East Henrietta Road by the Dome Arena. While I’m talking about Colleges, Nazareth College isn’t on here similarly because if it was going to be Pittsford it was going to be our number one site here.

The University of Rochester is also a no go because its technically within the City of Rochester and not on the Eastside which together outweighed any power of nostalgia for that venue from the Fauver Stadium days back in the 90s. Some other nonsense anyone whose interested in this article may bring forward are sites like Webster on Empire Boulevard or any number of sites in Irondequoit and Charlotte. Webster, even along Empire is a little too far from the beaten path to be really feasible. Tempting but not ultimately what I think they’re going for. I couldn’t get any location along that corridor over the 0-rating threshold. Charlotte is crowded and technically on the Westside and although I have a personal affection for Irondequoit there is just no realistic site up there for a professional soccer team to take root.

Last year’s version of this article had Crittenden Road on the river as an honorable mention but now that location is even less likely for proximity to a highway and the Eastside preference. This was a weird list to make. The heavy signaling toward the Eastside gave some clarity while also making it much harder. There are dozens of lots that could be cleared to build a new stadium across the Eastside but none of them rose to the level of inclusion on this list. Again, I’d love to hear your suggestions.

1. St. John Fisher College (Rating +3)

The idea popped into all of our heads at the same time. There are some guys in the ROC City Regulars who will deny this as even an option; but we all thought the same thing when we heard about the preference for the Eastside. St. John Fisher College. Fisher is in some way part of the fabric of this region. The College dining is catered by Wegmans you see. Callback! But the more you think about it the more it makes sense. It’s on the Eastside, as in apart from the Canal it’s kinda the jewel of the Eastside, +1. It’s right off the 490 expressway and visible from it, +1. It’s got plenty of parking +1 and to be frank I think an institution like that wants the prestige of a professional sports team. They’ve hosted the Buffalo Bills Training Camp for two decades.

I debated room to grow here because the land area of the campus itself is maxed out. However I just settled on it as a +1 because the stability such a location could give to the franchise almost supercharges any future growth. This isn’t an ad for Fisher, I’m not an alumni or anything, it’s just a good site. Besides if the organization goes there and is revitalized in the process of their refocusing of the franchise then perhaps a real resurgence could occur. In that scenario they rediscover the clout to move to an entirely new stadium of their own down the road. Right now the math works out to +4. So what is the proverbial other shoe to drop here?

Well I can’t speculate in any informed way about the openness of such a move on the part of the Town of Pittsford, but I can’t really imagine there being a huge move against it in the suburb that you always here is supposed to be so crawling with soccer fans. That said the only possibility that could create a public backlash and create trouble for the Rochester Rhinos going there is traffic snarl. Yeah, I know I listed proximity to the 490 expressway as a positive but the only way you really get into that campus from 490 is Fairport road via the campus street Loop Road. That intersection would turn into chaos if any amount of traffic arose, it could even backup onto the offramp which nobody would be happy about, -1. Final rating for this is +3.

Final Thoughts

Of course stadium/venue USL League One standards are important to remember as we wait with bated breath on updates to come. USL League One requires 3,500 seats of its clubs. Obviously there are teams that don’t meet that standard and some of the sites on this list don’t either. The kicker there is waivers are often granted if an organization is clear on plans to expand to that size in the near future. League One Greenville and Chattanooga are good examples of this. On the local side the stadium/venue plans themselves have been the most closely guarded part of this haitus process. Speculation is the meat and potatoes of this article. Remember that when you angrily reply about me calling classified.

The year that’s past since the first version of this article was written has clarified a lot of things for Rochester Rhinos supporters. The big one relevant here is that gameday experience is most of your off-the-field reputation as a soccer club. It bears repeating that the Dworkins wanted to make the experience better at the Downtown Stadium but never got to it before the money ran out and the relationship with the City hit the fan. Follow your dreams in whatever new venue you pick. You’ll need to really put something appealing together to make games a community event. To their credit the owners seem intent on doing that. What will be a full three-year haitus has tanked the reputation of this club locally and nationally and that needs fixing. You have to come back with a bang. Competitively they’ll need to be near dominant.

What you hear from out-of-town folks looking in on the situation is that new ownership is needed to save the Rochester Rhinos. This is tangential to the discussion of stadium sites, but I think it needs to be said: David and Wendy Dworkin are the best bet for the Rhinos survival at this point. Unless some yet unnamed person whose both wealthy enough and interested enough to buy this team and find a home for it, then the current owners, a couple consisting of a real estate developer and a lawyer, are the best combination for this situation we’re in. To be brutally I don’t think anyone would buy this organization if the Dworkins sold it, not to keep it in Rochester at least. Those are the ugly facts that many disgruntled rain clouds in this City seem to get high on. We can speculate about NISA Rochester and mysterious multi-millionaires whom have not shown interest in owning a soccer team until we turn red in the face. Let’s deal with the reality at hand. No offense out-of-towners, if you have feelings for this club please express them with DMs and your wallet.

Thanks for reading. I write a lot about this inactive soccer club so follow me if you want more of this. This series of long-read articles will continue over the coming weeks. In a few months we should get a real update on the situation at which point Season Two of State of the Support will premiere; that’s a reoccurring series about the Rhinos that will be broadening its scope a tiny bit to Rochester Soccer in general for Season Two. In the spirit of supporting a soccer club I’d say a club like the Rhinos deserve second life if any domestic soccer team does. And even if you don’t currently call Rochester home like me I’d hope you could support their future going forward for just that reason.

Let’s Go Rhinos!

[isisdreamweaver]

EXALT’s Leader + A Brief Look Into a Shard of Takashi’s Past

Before I begin, I’d just like to say that my hiatus is... well, I’d say it’s over, but I’ve made some decisions now that it is. Namely, that I’m much better emotionally when not on Tumblr 24/7 right now, so I’m going to try to limit my time on this site (aiming to visit once a week to post my novel pages -I’ll get to those soon- and fill up my queue here and on my main blog). I’m terribly sorry for any inconvenience! That said, right now I’m mostly spending my time on pet sites (Flight Rising, Neopets, and Subeta), so mutuals are welcome to ask for those.

I have Steam and Discord, too, but I get nervous talking to people 1 on 1, however I would like to add any mutuals who have Discord (I can’t do Steam right now because I Am Poor and feel bad when I can’t shower all my friends in Steam gifts fjhnkhn). I just gotta... get over my anxiety and ask.

I’m also very active on Twitter and anyone is welcome to follow me there (be warned, though, sandwiched in between video game stuff and memes is politics, lots and lots of politics). Here’s the link.

But enough of that. Let’s begin.

-

So as I’ve established in previous posts, whether or not EXALT actually existed or was just an enemy the Ethereals made up for Takashi to fight in the simulation is something that’s up in the air and I don’t really think I’m comfortable deciding which answer is true unless Firaxis does (because knowing my luck, I’ll pick the answer they won’t).

That said, I’ve been fleshing out the EXALT subplot for The Devil’s Toys in my head and it isn’t satisfying without giving a face to EXALT’s leader, and so I went ahead and did that with the defense mechanism of ‘simulaaaaaation’ in case Firaxis picks up EXALT again.

(please don’t pursue me Firaxis, I am not fast)

Currently I don’t have a name for him, but he and Takashi have a rocky history. I’m still working out the specifics, but more or less he sabotaged Takashi and ruined whatever career she had before she could really start and she’s despised him ever since.

While Takashi, in his mind, wasted away in a small Italian town no one cares about, he climbed up in influence and found himself not only part of a secret yet oh so prestigious society like EXALT, but eventually its leader.

When the aliens arrive, he is eager to claim their knowledge and technology for himself and grow more powerful.

When he hears of XCOM, he considers them little more than a nuisance. When they start infiltrating EXALT cells, he starts to take them seriously and a full-on war begins that inevitably tears small towns and parts of cities to shreds and fuels the conspiracy theories already going around since the aliens arrived.

When he discovers the identity of XCOM’s Commander, he’s absolutely furious at the hand karma has dealt him. Because of course the no-name woman he trashed to get this far would be opposing him (and murdering most of his men with her attack dogs). Because of course.

This prompts him to send a squad to kidnap and kill Takara for the sole purpose of causing Takashi agony.

This turns out to be a fatal mistake. Not only does XCOM send a squad just in time to save Takara, this simple action clues Takashi in on who EXALT’s leader is, and where their base is located. And, in fact, while the rescue team was shooting EXALT soldiers and saving Takara, the Skyranger was flying to EXALT’s base.

He, of course, does the logical thing: Gets the hell out of there with his bodyguards, forcing the personnel left behind to fight Torres’ squad. And by fight, I mean die horribly against.

When Takashi awakens from the simulation and begins questioning everything she saw, she does eventually wonder if there was any grain of truth to this. She already wonders if EXALT, Annette Durand, and the Furies were real (and if they find the Furies scan, that will make her question things more), so she can’t help but wonder if he really was EXALT’s leader if they were real, or if the Ethereals just used a person she despised.

She doesn’t like wondering these things.

- - -

I’ll return later today to fill up the queue here and post some novel pages to my writing blog (posting two since I forgot last week’s). See you soon.

[themandylion]

I was tagged by @ayzenigma to tell you a bunch of personal stuff about myself/my blog!

1. Why did you choose your url?

Because I’m a large cat and possibly the Shroud of Turin. More seriously—it’s a geeky history reference and a cat reference and it has my name in it all at once. I would have it as my AO3 username but I completely blanked and forgot that I intended to adopt this as my universal internet pseud for the entirety of 2010 and as a result ended up with three accounts using clarityhiding while everything else is themandylion.

2. Any side blogs?

I help run a shipweek that has a blog, but I don’t think that counts? I just put everything on one blog and make y’all suffer. If I ever made a side blog, it would just be cute animal pictures and interesting internet stories to share with Mandymom in a safe environment that wouldn’t allow her to find my fandom shenanigans.

3. How long have you been on Tumblr?

Since 2013, apparently. My first post was in August of that year, but I might have gotten it sooner.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

No and I’m honestly not sure what the point of them is? (But I also don’t use my queue, so that may factor in.)

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

Because I needed a place to put fanart and I got the impression that Livejournal (and clones) had mostly gone the way of the dinosaurs when I wandered out of hiatus.

6. Why did you choose your icon?

Itsa me, Mandy! One of my favorite Mandys from my old webcomic.

7. Why did you choose your header?

It’s, um. A very meta meme created within the universe of The Tempest of Team RedBird, which was my primary fic project at the time I realized I could have a header.

8. What’s your post with the most notes?

I thought for sure it would be Give Tiny Tim Nice Things: A Rec List, but apparently it’s my 2019 fic round-up. Huh.

9. How many mutuals do you have?

Is there and easy way to check this? Look, I have no idea how Tumblr works, I just post things and read my dash and constantly curse the app.

10. apparently doesn't exist

11. How many people are you following?

Tumblr tells me this is 83, which seems suspiciously high.

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

Does turkey-turkey-goose count?

13. How often do you use Tumblr each day?

Ummmm like 2–3 times in the evening, usually? Unless work is really slow. >.>

14. Did you have a fight/argument with another blog once?

Oh man. I feel like I did?? But cannot for the life of me remember if that was on Tumblr or Livejournal or what.

15. How do you feel about “You need to reblog this” posts?

Evil. I ignore them out of spite. Always hated chain letters.

16. Do you like tag games?

Yes! I just rarely tag anyone when I do them because I’m very shy. /o\

17. Do you like ask games?

In theory, yes. In practice, I don’t think I’m active/social enough on this site for them to work. I generally only get 1–2 asks, which makes me feel really self-conscious about reblogging the ask post in the first place.

18. Which of your Tumblr mutuals do you think is famous?

I know one is a published author! Aside from that—I have no idea. There are different levels of famous within fandom, depending on angle, corner of approach, position of the stars in the sky...

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

I constantly crush on random people I’ve hung with on the internet. I’m sorry. It is my curse, because we have bonded and chatted and I just really like spending time with you. Don’t worry, I won’t make it weird. Just pretend you never read this and we can proceed with our lives like nothing’s changed.

20. Tags