#and Scott’s time in the Champions was just GOOD

[kalinara]

So one thing I really love about the Original Five in the future issues is how so many artists have such wildly different takes on Scott Summers's design, but each one works incredibly well for their respective contexts.

Take this one, from All-New X-Men #1:

This is the first look at Baby Scott that we get. Immonen's Scott here looks a lot like the Scott we see in the original issue that this is referencing:

I included the third panel because the resemblance is the most striking there. All cheekbones and suit that's just a little too big. A very young man trying to fill a big role and doing it about as well as anyone can.

I'm going to put the rest of these behind the cut, because this is a very image heavy post.

Anyway, as soon as we get to the past, the depiction of Scott changes sharply.

Six issues and one day later (All-New X-Men #007), Scott looks profoundly different:

He looks younger, softer, and that furrow in his brow is not going to be going away any time soon. Understandable. This poor kid has been through the wringer and life is not done with him yet.

Dauterman's Cyclops in...Cyclops #2 is pretty consistent with this portrayal:

He looks young, adolescent. A bit softer in the face. Perpetual furrow is still there. Well, not actually in this particular shot, but trust me, there's lots of furrowing in this series.

See? (Cyclops #03) Corsair can really bring out the furrow in a kid.

Actually, I hate to say it, but Corsair actually seems to have done this kid some good. The Cyclops that we see in the SECOND run of All-New X-Men actually seems almost confident again.

Bagley's Scott still got his issues, but aside from the scrawniness, he looks damn near adult. But also mostly content. This road trip that the team is on, away from the adults and the pressure, seems to be good for him.

Even injured, he seems to be doing pretty well (from All-New X-Men #12):

This is notable to me, because this issue came out in August 2016. Fast forward to late 2016 (specifically Champions #3), and we get:

Ramos's Scott is completely recognizable of course, but he is, very clearly, a CHILD, in a way that none of the previous versions really get to be.

And it works. It makes perfect sense. Because this is the first time since the plane crash where Scott has been able to actually be a CHILD. He's not leading the group, he doesn't have to set an example. He can just play too. He can, as he tells Ms. Marvel much later, actually relax.

But all sweet things must come to an end, and the Scott in X-Men Blue #01 is back to form:

Jean's actually leading the team, which is nice. And there's some very nice banter. But Molina's Scott is very much back to proto-adult here. (And while Jean is leading and starts the scene in front, Scott's positioning makes complete sense when the next page reveals who they're actually reporting to - Magneto).

I'm not really an art person. Generally I pay a lot more attention to things like plot, dialogue, and character development than I do the art styles. It's how I got through the 90s. But this has been a neat thing to go back and notice. Each depiction is excellent. Each one is immediately recognizable. But each one says something a little different and fits the story in its own specific way. And that's really cool!

[spacebagfullofstars]

Evolution X-Men meeting Deadpool for the first time

An idea for the first episode Deadpool would appear in the show. It'd take place during early season 2. I don't have enough ideas to write the whole thing but here's the introduction

After the Brotherhood fled and the old warehouse was empty once more, the X-Men could finally focus on their unexpected guest. Through the darkness where he stood, they could see him sheathing his katanas and stretching his arms.

"Phiii-ew! Nothing like a good workout after a mind-numbingly boring sail home!" He said, rolling his neck and shoulders. "Warms my cold, unfeeling heart to see the streets just as crime-infested as I left them!"

After a second, the man stepped towards them and into the light. The younger members of the X-Men couldn't help, but gasp when he revealed himself to them.

The person who joined their fight was wearing a red and black costume that covered his whole body, including his face. Outside of the twin katanas on his back, he had two gun pouches attached to the sides of a multi-pocketed belt. His white eyes stared at them with unclear intent.

"You?!" While Kitty, Rogue and Kurt were intimidated by his presence, Scott and Jean stood their ground. They appeared to be more disgusted than afraid. Surprisingly, the man seemed to recognise them as well.

"Jeanie! Scottie! Long time no see! Come here and give uncle Deadpool a hug!" He said, spreading his arms. Before he ran at them, Jean used her powers to throw him into the air. His enthusiasm faltered.

"Cold. I guess you don't want all the radical gifts I bough you abroad!" He said, starting to levitate upside down. "Do kids these days still say it? Do they say 'radical'? I hate that word. I hope it'll die out quickly."

"You know this weirdo?" Kitty whispered to them.

"He calls himself Deadpool." Jean stated. "He used to break into the Institute regularly."

"That's all you have to say about little ol' me?" Deadpool interrupted, then traced a line from his eye down his cheek. "You can't see it, but I just shed a sad tear. I thought we were friends."

"We're not-"

"As (I'm pretty sure) my pop used to say, if you want something done right, do it yourself!" The mercenary clapped his hands, interrupting her again. He kicked his legs and pushed himself back up so he could face them properly.

"I go by many names! Deadpool is one, but some prefer to call me the Merc with the Mouth!" He stated, pointing his thumbs at himself. "The world-famous mercenary willing to do any kind of job for a good pay, weapon expert, master of all known fighting styles and three times Champion of Hot Dog Eating in West Virginia! This city used to belong to me, but the merc job is unforgiving and I had to leave it for like twenty years!"

"We haven't seen you in two years." Scott corrected.

"It felt like twenty to me, so it must've been! Now I come back and see that you X-Dorks grew in numbers!" Deadpool continued, then crossed his arms and looked away. "Not that I'm bitter, or anything. I can do so much better than your little rich kid houseclub anyway."

"... Wait, he was an X-Man?!" Rouge asked, baffled.

"Professor tried giving him a chance once." Jean sighed. "He almost blew up the mansion."

"Like that old thing doesn't blow up every other week, am I right, guys?" Deadpool snorted and rose his hand. Outside of the distance between them, no one was willing to give him a high five. He waited a few more seconds and then high fived himself.

"Is it bad that he kinda reminds me of Kurt when he has too much sugar?" Kitty snickered.

"Don't even joke like that!" Kurt didn't like that.

"The only difference is that Kurt isn't..." Scott began, then whistled and swirled his finger around the side of his head.

"I believe the term you're looking for is 'able to think outside the box', three eyes." Deadpool overheard them and air quoted. Without any warning, he disappeared in a small flash of energy.

"What the-?!" Kurt cried out as they all stepped back in surprise. After a second, the mercenary reappeared behind them.

"And who those adorable new faces might be?" His voice startled them all. "No, no, don't tell me! You look like Jessica," He said, pointing at surprised Kitty. "Your super power is shrinking. You look like Bridget and you love being different!" He pointed at Rogue, making her scoff at him. "And you look like Elvis! You have an eternal bad hair day!" He said, pointing at Kurt.

"What?" The blue boy squinted.

"Deadpool, stay away from them!" Scott warned, flashing his visor in readiness. "Whatever you came here for, you're not getting it from us!"

"Look at you all grown up and shouting orders like a boss man! Relax, kid, I have no quarrel with you today. I just wanted to catch up and meet new people! Speaking of..." Deadpool said, then reloaded his gun that he suddenly grabbed. Something darkened in his eyes. "Where's Wolverine?"

The other X-Men could see Jean and Scott getting tense. It seemed that despite their distate, they were scared of the man after all.

Suddenly, Deadpool seemed to hear something and his head perked up a bit. They could almost see a smirk forming on his face.

"Right on the clock." He mused. He spun his gun in his hand, then without any warning, whipped back and fired a single shot.

Wolverine had entered the warehouse and managed to sneak behind them. He quickly released his claws and slashed the bullet mid-air. Before other X-Men could stop him, Deadpool switched, pulled out his katanas and teleported again. He reappeared right in front of Logan and took a swing at him. His weapons and the mutant's claws clashed.

"Kurt, get everyone outta here!" The X-Man shouted. The boy nodded. The kids came closer and he teleported them away, leaving the two alone.

"I had a feelin' I smelled a rottin' brain somewhere!" Wolverine growled.

"You're the one to talk, dog-breath!" Deadpool retorted, trying to slash him again. Wolverine blocked him. "Dog, or bear, or some other animal that smells bad! I don't want to say badger, because I feel like I'd be beating a dead horse at this point-"

"I miss the silence already!" Logan said. He roared and tried to throw a punch.

Meanwhile, the group reappeared outside.

"What does this Deadpool guy want with Logan?!" Rouge couldn't help, but grow concerned.

"They have... history." Scott explained. "I'm pretty sure they hate each other."

"Like he and Sabertooth?" Kitty asked.

"Honestly? We have no idea." Jean admitted. "It's best to just stay out of the way and let Logan handle it. He always does."

As soon as she said that, they heard an explosion that made them jump. Suddenly, Wolverine fell out of a window with a trail of smoke following him. Deadpool jumped after him and skilfully landed on the ground. When he stood up, the kids saw that he was holding a bomb with his face painted on it.

"He has explosives?!" Kurt shouted, tugging his hair. Logan returned on his feet, smoke from the explosion still dancing on his body.

"I thought you were done takin' bounties on me!" He shouted.

"I am, but it's an emergency!" Deadpool said, throwing the bomb from hand to hand. "I need this money more than I need food and water!"

"A sellout through and through!" Wolverine said, then charged back. Deadpool let him get close, teleported, and then tried to throw a bomb at him from the distance. Logan kicked it right into the ocean and it exploded in the water.

The mercenary quickly switched back to his katanas and charged with full force at his opponent. There was a lot of slashing, dodging and rolling involved. Neither of them managed to reach each other for a good while. Finally, Wolverine used an opportunity to pin Deadpool to the ground with one arm behind his back.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" He cried. "That's foul play! You're disqualified for being a bad sport!"

"Cry me a river, Wilson." Logan tsked. "Whoever hired you must've not known that you always lose to me."

"Yeah. That might be true." The mercenary said, another almost visible smirk appearing on his face. Little did Wolverine know, his free arm was trying to reach for a hidden pocket in his costume. "By the way, don't think that I forgot to bring a souvenir or two for my bestest friend. Why don't you let me go so I can show it to you?"

"I ain't lettin' you go that easily, bub. You're gonna tell me exactly who sent you and what kinda money made you break your promise."

"Oh, I love to talk! Especially with you!" He quietly unzipped the pocket and reached inside. "But you know I can't talk about my employers. Merc 101. Buuuut, I can tell you all about the crazy places I've been to for the past two years! I learned like three different languages! Do you want me to say something in Chinese?"

"If you're tryin' to make me angry, it ain't gonna work. We've been doin' this song and dance long enough for me to know when you're lookin' for a distraction."

"Awww, you care about me enough to know my strategy! You so deserve that little treat I bought you!"

"Logan, look out!" Rouge shouted, but she was too late. Logan felt a sharp sting in his leg. He gasped and quickly pushed himself off Deadpool. He looked down and saw a dart sticking from his thigh. The X-Men were ready to intervene.

"Do not get involved!" Logan snarled, sensing their intent. His head was already beginning to spin.

"Yeah, you better listen to Papa Wolvie! This is between us adults!" Deadpool shouted, looking at them as well. The mutant suddenly fell to his knees, trying to fight whatever Deadpool injected into him, but it seemed stronger than his healing factor. His eyes started feeling heavy, and finally, he fell lifelessly on the ground.

"Logan!" The kids yelled. Jean was already floating whatever she could to throw at Deadpool.

"Don't worry, X-Kids! I promise to give him back as soon as I get my money! Follow your dreams and stay in school!" Deadpool gave them a peace sign before he kneeled in front of Wolverine and teleported away with him.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

WIP Wednesday Game Fills

It’s that time again! All sentences fill asks made in the WIP Wednesday Game community. This first batch is from devil don’t take a break. The asks were from @quietly-sleeping @zyrafowe-sny @balthazarusrex @nightwings-neighbor and @kalira. Thanks for making me write!

~

Stiles is noticeably quiet on the drive to a part of town John rarely sees at night. It’s industrial, but it’s new enough it hasn’t picked up a reputation of being a good spot for crime. Other than teens getting bored and tagging up every wall in sight, that is. He sends a look in Stiles’ direction. He’s always suspected his son might have a bent in that direction if something pushed him just right.

When John sees Stiles is anxiously chewing on his hoodie string and jiggling his leg so fast it looks like it hurts, he wishes some light vandalism was the worst thing he had to face with Stiles.

“We’re almost there,” John tells Stiles, trying to project a calm he doesn’t feel.

Stiles just nods and worries the string with his teeth.

“It had to have been the Argents, but the MO is wrong,” Stiles says suddenly.

“What do you mean?” John asks, curious how much Stiles knows about the famous hunting family.

“Chris favors crossbows,” Stiles says. “That’s what he shot Scott with and Allison is some sort of champion archer. Why would he suddenly use a sniper rifle?”

“The Argents are arms dealers, albeit legal ones,” John tells Stiles, hopping he doesn’t end up regretting it. “Chris is probably trained in all kinds of weapons. You can’t assume you know what he’ll use in a given scenario.”

[anandrettisimp]

I feel like we forget how overly competitive Scott Dixon is at times.

Probably cause he’s got Will Power as his rival as elder statesman of the series and as we all know Power very much wears his heart on his sleeve.

Birds will go flying and small meme lords will be yelled at before being apologised to

Maybe part of that is due to the fiery goddess that is Emma Davies-Dixon who was infamous for fighting with IndyCar admin on twitter because she will defend her man to the death.

But Dixon is the Iceman, who doesn’t get flustered by anything.

Usually anyway.

Now we know that Dixon is literally at Ganassi until he decides he has had enough. He’s also in the later half of his career. Granted this is a later half of a career where the last time he finished outside the top five of the championship is 2016 with sixth. He won the championship in 2020.

And then Palou joined the team.

Dixon has said that the when he saw Palou testing for the team at Laguna Secca for the first time he knew they had something special. I just don’t think he realised how special when you look at the head to head:

2021: Palou 1st /Dixon 4th

2022: Palou 5th/Dixon 3rd

2023: Palou 1st/Dixon 2nd

2024 (After Gateway): Palou 1st/Dixon 3rd

The last time Dixon had this sort of competitive teammate it was in the form of Dario Franchitti who joined the team after a year in in the wilderness NASCAR as

2007 series champion

Ten year veteran of the sport

Palou was a sophomore, he wasn’t suppose to be this good this quickly. He also wasn’t suppose to try and jump ship like he did. Palou may be staying with the team now but I wouldn’t be surprise if that friendship might not be quite the same as it was in their first year together.

Since Palou took the championship lead this year, we’ve seen Dixon try to catch up, getting close one race and falling back the next along with the rest of the field.

Then Portland happened.

We saw that first lap incident that end Dixon’s race and, short of someone going Tonya Harding on Palou, his championship hope.

And boy was he mad.

Like, I’ve heard radios from Dixon where he’s cursed someone or threaten to race them just as hard back. And I’ve seen him annoyed on the rare occasion when he’s got caught in someone else’s crash.

Never seen him talk about wanting the car fixed for the sole purpose of crashing into someone.

But that’s what he thought Kirkwood deserved.

It was wild but, at the same time, it makes sense.

Just like Power cracking up at Gateway.

Palou’s already marking himself to have the potential of being an all time great of the series, Josef Newgarden is running round with the monkey paw for 500 wins and it looks like Scott McLaughlin and Colton Herta might be ready for proper championship runs.

They want one more championship but they’re running out of time.

[actualori]

PRETTYY PRERTY PLEASE FIMMIE MORE OF THOSE HEADCANONS THEYRE SO GOOD AND I AM BUT A POOR STARVING BOY I ACTUALLY LOVE THEM SM

i got my google doc back yippee!!

okay this batch of headcanons will be mostly focused on joeys empire and jornoth

- the only way to find this empire is by getting lost. you can’t enter it by going on a path previously marked. even if you retrace your steps exactly you will not find it until you get lost

- the path only opens to those who seek refuge and safety or small children

- it’s essentially anarchy. joey is technically the ruler but he doesn’t actually hold that much power over everyone. he has the ability to control them but he just doesn’t care/need to

- the citizens speak the universal empires language with bits of various other languages mixed in

- before the lost empire was recognised as a kingdom by the other empires, they never had visitors. the only people there were the citizens, who had entered as small children and never left

- due to the fact that the citizens had lived there their whole lives, when the kingdom got corrupted, the citizens who fled became lost and homeless, and the ones who couldn’t leave became corrupted as well

now the jornoth ones (uncorrupted xornoth will be in pink, corrupted will be in red, other will stay in white)

- xornoth was the first person who found the lost empire by actively searching for it. they had heard legends about a magical empire blessed by gods with immortality in the jungle and went looking for it

- wearing jewellery is very common in elf culture with gold reserved for royalty. when xornoth got corrupted they were no longer accepted to wear gold. however joey loves to dress them up in it. it makes them feel so much more loved

- part of the reason xornoth doesn’t wear much clothes is because it’s very hot and humid in the lost empire and that’s where they are most of the time

- they send each other letters with a special parrot that knows how to enter/exit the lost empire easily

- that parrot is the only bird with the same wing patterns as joey

- joey was also in scott and xornoths shared afterlife, because xornoth couldn’t be happy without him

- xornoths real name is not xornoth. xornoth is the title used for the champion of aeor. joey is the only one who knows this information, but doesn’t know their real name (it was wiped from xornoths memory). joey refused to call them xornoth after learning this. he only calls them pet names

- xornoth can’t directly tell joey the truth about their past and exor and stuff so they figured out a secret way to communicate without exor knowing so xornoth doesn’t get in trouble

- exor did end up finding out and took over xornoths body completely and started to corrupted joey. joey wasn’t aware of this change and was very easily taken over by corruption

- lots of pda. elves are very against/not used to seeing pda. it annoys scott so much

that’s all i got for today :P i’m happy to share more!! and not just for these two i have so many headcanons for every character

@devinerot you also asked for more so here ya go

[khyann]

Can pretty please info dump things about Pearl or Gem or Pearl and Gem from your Champion of Exor au?

There really isnt much for me to info dump either because there just isnt much story to tell or cuz it enters spoiler territory but i'll give what i can 😅

For starters: Neither Pearl nor Gem know about all the other worlds Sausage traveled to in an attempt to save Pearl and stop the Rapture. Scott kept his memories due to a strange convergence with Sausage's dimension-hopping abilities, so everyone in that world is about the same as they were around mid S1 minus the corruption, but some things are different

Starting with Gem she is sadly more formal than friendly with Scott. This is because Scott was pretty reclusive before Xornoth returned and only begun to get close to other people like Gem and Shrub because of it. Since in this world that never happened, from Gem's point of view the reclusive prince of Rivendell suddenly became more open and friendlier towards her and the other rulers. She also isnt as powerful as the Gem from the original world was since she hasn't had any need to gain more power to protect others, but she is just as skilled. And for obvious reasons she doesnt have Violet here.

As for Pearl's situation is kinda the opposite in the sense that while Gem had someone she wasnt close with suddenly wanting to approach her, Pearl had someone close to her now keeping distance aka Sausage. It took Sausage a few months of being in that world to finally start feeling like he wasn't gonna break into hysteric cries everytime he approached Pearl (as much as he'd like to deny it) and it was solely because he found out Xornoth never got corrupted in this world so that means no Rapture and most importantly: No Pearl dying.

But of course Pearl didnt know any of that. All she knew was that her favorite sparring buddy out of nowhere started keeping distance from her, keeping their interactions at the bare minimum and opting to spar alone instead than allowing her to join him for some friendly matches. But she knows Sausage and she knows he wouldn't be acting that way just because and is probably overcompensating for something she isnt aware of yet, so she decided to just give him time and space until he finally started talking with her again.

Angst aside Pearl is basically the same Pearl in canon. Warrior queen always up for a good fight or just having a good time with her friends.

For now there isnt much in the story about either of them since their original selves had to rise to the challenges when Xornoth tried to take over the world and in the case of Champions!Pearl and Champions!Gem they are just living through an age of peace.

Their time to shine will come once Exor's new champion gets contacted by the evil god. Specifically Gem.

[edutainer2022]

Sending hugs and strength as always.

I’d love to know any thoughts you have about the Tracys as kids in the happy times. What do you think they got up to? Do you headcanon the farm / ranch / some other Kansas home? Or did Jeff and Lucy live somewhere more built up / accessible to NASA? What were the kids’ hobbies? What would a family day out have looked like?

Oh, @idontknowreallywhy, thank you for the ask! I actually tend to go hazy on the boys' childhood, because the way kids work is not my forte. In my heart of hearts, I see them as latchkey kids of nondescript rural/smalltown US. A meadow outside the backyard, long bus commutes to school. A kind of chaotic but tight and warm, fun, quirky world, reigned supreme by their mother. Think Gilmore Girls, but a single mother of three boys, initially. With Jeff space-cowboying it would be just her and the back to back eldest three for quite some time.

Also think The Sound of Music - she's the one with piano and art. And the horses. There were sing alongs and movie marathons, and board games, and junk snacks, and bake offs, and magic in that household. That's why I also think, much as Scott worships and seeks approval of a (always away) father, he was Mom's right hand and White Knight. Mom's champion and deputy in wrangling the younger brothers. There would, of course, be SHENANIGANS. Sometimes Mom Tracy would just discover zen of a boys mom and have a glass of red on hand.

Since we have Gran Roca, I also sometimes think Yellowstone. She's the one from old(er) Manifest Destiny ranching money. She knows how to get her hands dirty, but it's removed from Jeff's first generation off the farm experiences. She sees the help, but she's also used to having them around - hence the five kids without batting an eye, given Jeff's military/space career. That would quite organically convert into the boy's we know - humble, generous, approachable, but somewhat sheltered.

I also think that Jeff's soaring wealth, Mom's untimely demise and grief buried in work, would spell something like a Warton Academy. Maybe not a full on boarding school, but a posh prep school with Ivy League pipeline and uniform blazers with embroidered crests. At least for the elder three's high school stretch. That would also, probably, mean shifting base to a bigger city and a dramatic change of pace in the boys' routine.

The boys hobbies? Scott is obviously a Rescue Scout extraordinaire. He's never met a sport he wasn't good at. But I also think School Parliament, Speech and Debate, maybe ROTC (to fit a military stint with my understanding of the timeline). Scott is earmarked for leadership and high pressure operations early on. National Honors Society, hands down. Dad would never tolerate anything less than excellent and Scott intended to be EVERYTHING Dad was - including space track. Calculus may actually be his "nerdy guilty pleasure". I also absolutely don't see how Mom didn't teach him the piano first. It likely didn't go far, but he gets by at the keyboard.

Virgil is the music and arts kid, obviously. He probably followed Scott into many hobbies and clubs, originally, but his strengths and disposition are just so obviously different.

John loves school. The more school - the merrier. Coding, and astronomy, and physics. Languages on the side. Gifted program. The Big Bang Theory worthy combo of Supreme nerd-dom. I'd say music too - comes with the territory of good ear for languages. Sports by necessity - to keep up with the original Turbo Twosome, and to get space rated. He came to actually enjoy sports, on his own terms.

Come to think of it, the Elder Trio are a token comical display of the Prom King always flanked by two sidekicks, who embody the very definition of "geeky uncool". In hindsight, John is sometimes amazed that Scott actually ENJOYED hanging out with them and did so by choice. Still does so.

[virtchandmoir]

May 10, 2024

“It’s definitely a bit of a rollercoaster. It’s a tour definitely mixed with some reflection of previous tours and how I remember it,” the 33-year-old Chan says on a day off from Toronto, before the SOI cast headed off to Regina for a show on Thursday night. “I saw Scott (Moir) in London, he came to the show … just hugging him and talking with him, I got really emotional for some reason. It brought back a flood of memories of what it was like touring with Scott and what that meant to me. And the memories we made and the things I learned, the stupid things we did … just everything came rushing back. “We went through the juniors together and all the way to the top. I have moments like that where I just reflect and reminisce a lot on how things used to be. But at the same time, I miss my family, I miss my wife (former pairs skater Elizabeth Putnam), I miss (his son) Oliver a lot … I think I’m stepping away at the right time, considering where I am in my life and how hard being away from my son for four weeks has been already. I knew it was never going to be easy; these types of decisions are always tough.” [...] “You know, this cast has changed a lot. It’s been a changing of the guard. I’m the only one left from back when Scott and Tessa were doing tours, and Eric (Redford) and Meagan (Duhamel) … I’m really the only one left. I do feel that. It is a pretty stark reminder every show,” he said. “It’s not such the case now, because everyone is still competing and everyone is younger. I connect the best with Deanna (Stellato-Dudek, the ageless 40-year-old who just won a World pairs title with Maxime Deschamps), actually, because I can just relate to her — we’re in similar places in our lives, and share a similar perspective.” [...] “It taught me the hard work, the dedication, putting your mind to something and finishing it and all that. Most importantly, it taught me how to be a professional, how to carry myself and hold myself to a certain standard. Being around other champions from multiple generations —you’re talking Elvis (Stojko), Kurt, also Scott and Tessa —they were all such successful individuals, but also different,” he said. “But at the end of the day, when it comes to being professional and showing up and doing your job correctly, we held ourselves to that standard. And then being a good person. Knowing when to have fun, when to be serious. And also, how to get through the struggles, how to figure things out when things aren’t clicking at 100 per cent. [...] “I didn’t get to go to university, I didn’t have that key development time (in my life). Scott was my guy, and all these other cast members. Andrew Poje and Eric Radford … all these skaters were more than just my teammates, they were my life and my social circle. It does feel like it’s all coming to an end and it’s weird that Stars is kind of marking that last chapter.” [...] “For me, Halifax always stands out. I always have really fond memories of Halifax, because it would be the end of the season, the weather was changing, and I’d sit by the harbour in Halifax and reflect on the season. And then I’d get really excited about seeing my friends and developing a show together,” he said. “Spending hours together on the ice, but also goofing around and finding that good balance of work and fun. Halifax was just such a great city to start in. And there were the bus rides and traditions that I try to keep going and pass onto the next generation, but I’m finding it harder to (do that). I’m not Scott. I realized that pretty quick.”

—rwbrodiewrites

[2uuno]

It had been a little over a month, and EX still didn’t know next to anything about most of their newfound… What, roommates? Complexmates? Tortured souls? Wormman called them friends, but, honestly, other than Helsknight and the Worm himself, they really really didn’t know the bastards.

Sure, they had picked some things up.

Symmetry was, obviously, related to False. They were identical, anyways, they’d have to be an idiot to not know that, but unlike False, who was just awkward, Symmetry seemed outright paranoid.

Bratwurst was different. He was a whirlwind of passion and anger and terrible jokes, and sometimes he would stand up and passionately declare something or other, and everyone would blink at him until Wormman made them clap.

And Xornoth… well, Xornoth was special. Xey were quick witted and mean and snarky and sometimes xey would just leave the meetings and go sulk in the waiting room until the door to the rest of the building opened and xey could go to xeir room.

EX had a lot of respect for xem, admittedly.

Their rooms were next to each other too, so sometimes when EX stepped out to smoke, xey’d be out there, too, just chilling on their balcony. Sometimes xey’d nod at them, and sometimes they’d nod back.

EX didn’t mind this arrangement. That was fine.

And then one day, Xornoth lingered.

“The session today, huh?” Xey said. “Pretty bad.”

The session consisted of everyone sitting in silence for an hour with WM needling them to talk, and eventually Bratwurst farted and started laughing so hard that he began to choke. They wrapped up early after that.

“Worse than usual, that’s for sure.” EX grunted.

“Mhm,” They fell into a silence, before Xornoth nodded towards the cigarette in their hand. “You got a spare.”

“Didn’t think you smoked.” EX said, but handed over a cig anyways, lighting it carefully.

“Yeah well,” Xornoth said, wryly. “What do you even know about me?”

“Uh, your ‘good twin’ is named Scott, yeah?”

“We’re not twins,” Xornoth snapped. “I’m older.”

“Ah, my bad.”

“How about you, is your sibling Good Xisuma?”

“No, just Xisuma,” EX muttered, staring down at the bushes below. “Apparently the default is good, ‘evil’ is the outlier.”

“That’s shit.”

“Yeah it is.”

They fell into silence again, but it was a comfortable silence this time, or at least it felt that way to EX.

Finally, they sighed. “Hey, do you… do you think that Wormman’s got a point? About us being redeemable?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“I mean…” Xornoth grimaced. “Look at us. You have Evil in your name, I’m the champion of the God of Evil. We were made to be monsters.”

“Right, yeah. Yeah, right, okay.”

“Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” They took one last drag of their cigarette before tossing it down and stomping on it. “Goodnight Xornoth.”

“Goodnight EX.”

[marabelle5]

I'm going to drop this and run

The Ao3 link for some reason isn't working so you can look at it from the last few post but here is chapters 4 5 and 6. 5 is really short though.

Chapter 4- The Champion and the Spirit

Scott sat in his bedroom humming to himself. He checked the group chat. The Codvengers - Pix, the Wither Rose Alliance - Pearl, and Kathrine were meeting up. He texted ‘good luck’ to Gem, Lizzie, and Kathrine. He turned back to his knitting and then realized that no one would be on watch. He put down the scarf that he was making and texted ‘The Ice King is going out.’ 

Scott put his phone in his pocket. He headed to the kitchen. His brother was sitting at the table reading a cookbook. 

“I’m heading out.” 

“Alright be careful.” His brother answered. Scott put on his shoes and headed to Rivendell. Once he was in his shop he went to the backroom and took off his jacket and put on his robes. He looked at himself in the mirror as he put on his crown and headed out. 

He watched ¾ of the Codvengers enter House Blossom. He sighed as he watched Jimmy enter the cafe.

Gaslight landed on the roof that he was on. The Ice King looked up at the zombie. They were in their normal attire of an outfit that belonged in the 80s. It was bright and neon. They also had their red curly hair tied up in a ponytail.

“Hello Gaslight.” He bowed. “Where’s Poet?”

“Not here.” They replied coolly looking at their nails. The Ice King shot ice out of his hands. Gaslight dodge it, getting close enough to trip him. They caught him pushing a knife to his throat. “Where is - AH!”  Gaslight slammed against the door that led inside. Panting the Wolf Spirit was standing there. 

“You okay?” She held her hand out. The Ice King took it. 

“Yeah.” They both turned to see Gaslight arguing with someone on they’re comm. They looked up and rolled their eyes. 

“Fine.” They snarled. Gaslight looked at the two heroes. “Consider yourselves lucky.” And with that the zombie back flipped off the roof. 

“That was weird.” The Ice King remarked. Gaslight was not the one to back down from a fight.

“Agreed.” The Wolf Spirit hopped down from the roof. “I’ll try to find them again. You stay here.”

“Alright.”

Chapter 5 - In which Pix finally gets to have time with his friends

Pix sat in his house reading a book. The door busted open. He saw his two friends in the doorway. One was holding a bag of popcorn and one bag of chips, the other had his hand on the door.

“Movie night Pix!” Lyarrah said. Zloy closed the door. Pix put the book down.

“I have a better idea. The new saga comes out tonight. We could watch that.” Pix replied smiling. Zloy and Lyarrah nodded and Pix took the remote and turned on the t.v.

Chapter 6- Hermits

“I WILL BURN THIS HOUSE TO THE GROUND!” Cleo turned around the corner to see Bdubs standing on one of the chairs pointing to Scar. 

“I’m not cheating.” Scar replied, which Cleo knew was a lie.

“Good Sir Scar, if you don’t tell us you will have to forfeit.” Ren added on.

“Jokes on you all, I'm going to win.” False said laughing. Bdubs then pointed at her.

“YOU’RE CHEATING!” 

“Bdubs you can just say everyone who is beating you is cheating.” Etho reasoned. Cleo looked over at Doc who was sitting in his chair very menacingly. Then Xisuma came in.

“All right I think it’s time to put monopoly away.” He said scoping up the board into the box.

“No no I was finally winning.” False complained. Cleo laughed and put the books they were holding on the table. 

“I might have some new leads on what happened to the Cleaning Lady and Slayer.”

[blackboxtheater]

Perhaps a mumpearl as Olympic athletes for the inktober prompts :D!! I always imagine mumbo would be a cyclist of some kind and pearl might be some sort of swimmer/diver ?! ( that is like our number one Olympic sport after all),, feel free to do whatever with this tho :D

Sorry anon, I took like two thirds of your prompt and the other third.....went in a different direction. But maybe I'll write another drabble where Mumbo is an athlete because we need more Jock!Mumbo representation in this world.

Modern AU, Olympic Diver Pearl x Sports Photographer Mumbo, meet cute chaos, Paris 2024 games

The thing no one tells you about the Olympics, is how much free time you end up having.

Before your event it's all a frantic haze of nerves and training and excitement and practice and adrenaline and press and even more nerves. But before you know it, you're standing on a podium, hair still dripping wet from the diving well, overwhelmed with more emotions than you thought possible as you watch your flag rise towards the rafters even if there's another national anthem echoing off the walls of the Olympic Aquatic center as it goes.

But a silver medal is still fantastic. Pearl is more than satisfied with her dive in the finals and it takes another two days for the fact that she's an Olympic champion in the 10 meter platform dive to sink in. 

The problem is that even after all that, there are still 8 more days until the closing ceremonies.

8 days is a long time, and you know what they say about idle hands.

"That's a great shot of you, Pearl, did you see this?" Skizz flips his phone screen around across the table in the Olympic Village dining hall, flashing an Instagram post in front of Pearl.

She barley has time to register the photo before the other half of the Australian men's synchronized diving team plops his breakfast down next to Skizz.

"What are you two looking at?" Impulse asks, and then the picture is gone as Skizz pulls it back to the other side of the table to show Impulse.

"Oh yeah, that’s a great photo. You should save that one," he nods in agreement, looking at Skizz's phone even as he starts to peel the wrapper off his muffin without looking down at his hands.

"I didn’t even really get to see- you know just send me the link." Pearl tosses out because just then Tango emerges from the crowd of athletes to join them for breakfast. Then Gem texts her about going to watch a women's beach volleyball match under the Eiffel Tower later that day and Scott stop by their table to trade for another Australia pin and Pearl completely forgets about the conversation and the photo in the general chaos of life in the Olympic village.

She doesn't even remember the conversation until the next day as waits for Tango's turn in the qualifying rounds of the men's 3 meter springboard. Should she be scrolling through Instagram while sitting in the stands for the Olympics? Probably not. But there are so many divers at this stage, and Tom Daly is sitting 10 rows ahead of her knitting an entire sweater, so she doesn’t feel that bad. 

So she opens the link that Skizz sent her and starts to flick though the pictures in the post. It’s a pretty generic wrap up of the Australian Olympic team's happenings; a cool cycling action shot, an athlete hugging his girlfriend in the stands, a misty eyed gold medalist on the podium. The usual. 

But there is it.

Buried in the middle of the carousal.

A shot of Pearl, her fingers just touching the water as she finishes her silver medal winning dive.

The boys were right.

It is a really good photo.

Pearl can probably count on one hand the number of good photos that exist of her diving. Hell, she can probably count on one hand the number of good photos that exist of anyone diving.

Diving is a sport of marvelous precision and grace that does not translate well in photography. It turns out that flipping and twisting your body at high speeds as you plummet towards the earth results in a lot of photos with weird faces and strange contortions. Not to mention whatever is usually happening with her hair.

But there is none of that awkwardness in this photo.

Instead it’s just the single clean line of Pearl's body pulled taught just before she slices into the water. Even in the photo she can feel the tension in her muscles as she arches her back, the momentum of her body as it races towards the water, the anticipation of an impact as her fingertips make the tiniest hints of a splash as they break the surface of the water.

It's gives her the incredible feeling of motion captured in stillness.

She's so engrossed in the picture she almost misses Tango's distinct shock of red and bleach blonde hair on the diving board until the announcer calls his name.

He has a great dive, not that she would expect anything less from the Olympic veteran. But what she notices most as she watches Tango effortlessly slip below the water is the wall of lenses beyond him on the other side of the pool.

She wonders if the photographer who took her picture is over there. She wonders, out of the sea of cameras clicking along the pool deck, which one it was.

Under any other circumstance, maybe that would have been it. A stray thought and some idle curiosity. Pearl would have saved the photo to post in her Olympics wrap up photo dump, and moved on.

Except for the next 3 days, she has nothing to do but sit in the stands of the Olympic Aquatics center, watching her friends dive for a few seconds at a time before going back to just staring at the wall of camera lenses right in front of her.

She cannot stop thinking about that photo.

So it starts off simple enough. First she checks the post for a photo credit and learns exactly how little a generic link to Getty Images will tell you about the actual photographer.

Then she does some some Google searches. Then some some. Then she falls down a lot of internet rabbit holes, and complains a lot about said searches and rabbit holes to all of her friends.

If her friends weren't also drowning in free time after finishing their events, maybe that would have been it. A series of forgotten mindless conversations over the chatter of Olympic crowds under the hot Parisian sun.

Except Gem's boredom manifests in her dragging everyone she's ever met to every event she can get tickets for, which is how Pearl meets False at an equestrian event neither of them really understand. And as they watch the horses conduct nearly identical jumps one after another, Pearl recounts the long, circuitous, frustrating saga of trying to track down this elusive photographer.

"Stress might be able to help you find out," False offers, glancing over at Pearl as she fans herself with a folded up event program.

"Who?"

"Stress. She's…" and Pearl follow where False is pointing with the edge of her program to an announcer tucked up inside one of the press booths. Even from here Pearl can see the woman in the vivid magenta suit jacket gesticulating wildly, her curly brown hair crushed in the center by a headset that appears to have large fake flowers stuck all over it.

"She's here with BBC. I've known her since the London Games I think? Maybe she knows how all that works," False shrugs.

If Pearl had literally anything better to do that afternoon, maybe that would have been it. A missed connection of friends of friends that she forgot about.

Except Pearl has no plans for the rest of the day other than drinking her body weight in champagne, so she convinces False to wait until all the horses are done competing, and then she drags False over to the press section to make the introduction.

It turns out that Stress Monster, equestrian legend and BBC announcer darling, does not, in fact, know how any of that works.

But she does know Iskall, who is either a Swedish language translator, a global media executive, a camera operator, or just a parent watching his stepson compete on the trampoline. Maybe all of the above. Between the Swedish accent, the Bristish accent, and the champagne Pearl had already had, its hard to keep track.

"This picture?" He asks, looking up from Pearl's phone where she pulled up the original Instagram post.

"Yes. I tried looking if there was a-"

"I got it." Iskall says, fingers already flying over her phone doing god only knows what. "I'll do it. I will find the person who took it. Iskall-man is on the case!"

"You're so dramatic," Stress rolls her eyes in a huff, nudging his shoulder.

"Do you not think I can do it? That I can find him? Or her? Because I can. I can find anything. I can do anything. Name one thing I can't do," He snaps his eyes up from Pearl's phone to glare at Stress, even thought she can tell there is no anger behind his eyes.

"What do you even know about diving?" Stress snarks back, barley suppressing a smile.

"Plenty! You don't know that I don't know about diving! And I don't even need to know about that to…"

Iskall doesn’t even look back at Pearl as he hands her the phone back, too busy bickering with Stress to say any more about Pearl's mystery photographer.

At that point, Pearl really thinks maybe this is it. This is a dead end as a friend of a friend of a friend with a real job and things to do other than obsess over who took a single stray photograph won’t remember Pearl's convoluted side quest of these games. Even if the question still nags at her every time she sees the swarms of media that suddenly seem to be everywhere at the games.

Except a day later she gets a call from Iskall as she is walking into the stands for Canoe Slalom. Which is not only an event, but apparently an event Australia is actually pretty good at.

"Hello? Iskall is-"

But before she can get a word in edgewise, he's already talking, voice moving a thousand miles an hour.

"Halo. Go down the stairs on your left right now."

She turns, staring at the stairs on her left, and at this point suddenly remembers that she has no memory of ever giving Iskall her number.

"How do you know where-"

"Your location. I shared it. You're there. At the danger canoe race. Go down the stairs."

"What the fuck? Why did you share my location with yourself, we just-"

"For this reason. So I could know if you were near him. You need to go down the stairs on your left right now because he is there. The guy who took the photo. Go to the photographers. Ask for Mumbo."

"Mumbo?"

"Yes. Mumbo. Go. He's there."

And just as abruptly, the call ends, leaving Pearl reeling.

"What just happened?" Tango asks as he and Gem just stare at her, the only 3 people standing still in the crowd shuffling towards their seats before the start of the event.

Pearl looks at her phone, and then back at the staircase on her left.

"I think the guy who took that picture is here."

"The diving photo you're obsessed with?" Gem asks, raising an eyebrow at her, but Pearl is still looking down at the stairs.

"Yeah. That was False's friend's that we met."

"The Swedish guy? How did he know we were-" Gem starts, but before Pearl can overthink the insanity of not just the phone call, but of this entire insane quest, she turns.

"I'm going to find him."

And she pivots to her left, striding down the stairs two at a time.

"Well of course we're coming with you!" Gem calls after Pearl, the sound of her and Tango's steps echoing after her.

Iskall is right, the press boxes are for the photographers are just down the stairs, and maybe that’s the only reason she gets to the edge of the barricade and shouts out "Mumbo!" into the dozen or so bodies pressed together facing the river.

She watches the shoulder of one guy stiffen before he lowers his lens, straightens up, and turns to look at her.

"Did you take the picture of me?" She calls over the click of cameras and the rush of water from the river below.

The expression on his face shifts to confusion as he looks back at her.

"Maybe?" he says, gesturing with the camera still in his hand.

"This one."

She shoves her phone towards him, the screen full of the image that she has stared at for so long over the past few days. It still takes her breath away every time, how someone could so perfectly capture how it feels to execute a perfect dive. And now the only person who managed to do that might be right here in front of her.

He steps away from the crowd of all the other photographers, coming closer to get a better look at her screen.

He looks at the picture, looks at her, looks at the picture again, and then looks at her.

"That’s you." He says, as if it some sort of revelation.

"Yes. Did you take the picture?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"How?"

"Yes how. This is a fantastic photo. This is amazing. How did you do this?"

"I mean, well, it's quite simple really. The thing with sports photography, so you just have to know when there will be moments that have a good composition. And opportunity, of course, so sometimes…"

As he talks it registers that not only is he blushing as he nervously rambles on, but that he's actually pretty good looking. The photographer who took the photo that she's been obsessed with for a week is not some abstract artist or featureless face behind a long lens among a sea of other lenses. Suddenly it is the attractive guy in front of her who still hasn't looked up from her phone.

"My photos don't look that good though," Tango says, suddenly appearing next to her along the barricade.

"Oh! I know-I recognize you too, you're, you're one of the other-" the camera man stumbles out, finally looking up to dart his gaze between Pearl and Tango with a flash of recognition. "Well okay, so I take a lot of photos so there probably- I mean not all of them get published so there are probably some that are- I might also be a little biased because you-"

"Biased?" Tango says, tipping his head with a glint in his eye, and Pearl swears the camera man's blush deepens.

"Mumbo! You gonna chat all day or what?" a voice shouts from the crowd of photographs.

"I have to go so," Mumbo says, starting to turn back.

"No," Pearl says, reaching for his arm, pulling him back towards the barricade. He's blinking down at where her hand is wrapped around his forearm, but he's not pulling away

"I spent an entire week looking for you. You're not just disappearing on me. What's your instagram?"

"It's just my name. Mumbo. I mean its @ MumboJumboPhotography cause I'm, you know," he says with a nervous laugh as he gestures with the camera one more time. She can feel the muscles in his arm shift under her fingers as he lifts the camera.

"Race is about to start man!" come from the line of photographers.

"I really need to- but it was nice meeting you! Thank you for the- yes. It was really great to meet you!" he stammers out, and this time Pearl lets him go as he turns back towards the Canoe Slalom race.

When Pearl, Gem, and Tango finally make their way back to their seats, she immediately follows @ MumboJumboPhotography on Instagram. It's just so she can tag him in any post she makes with that photo. After all this searching, its the least she can do.

But when she DM's him later that night after a few drinks at the club Impulse and Skizz drag her to…well she still has a few days of free time left to kill in Paris. And he is pretty hot.

[jasper-book-stash]

June-August 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

Hey, sorry for disappearing off of the face of Tumblr for uhhhh three months, but I read twelve books in that time and I'm here to complain.

Religious Text

None applicable.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

Moonbeams and Ashes: Tales of Mystery, Love, and the Paranormal | Margarite Stever

I picked this up from some bookstore here in Missouri under the local authors shelf. I wish I hadn't. These stories were all poorly written, and a good chunk had nothing to do with mystery, love, OR the paranormal. They weren't even bad in the fun way.

2/10 - Trash

None applicable.

3/10 - Meh

My Mother Road | Phyllis York

I picked this up from some OTHER bookstore here in Missouri under the local authors shelf. I wished this book had ended 480 pages sooner. The only highlight was at the end when the grandpa physically kicked a guy off of the porch.

Athena's Child | Hannah Lynn

A Greek myth "retelling" centering around Medusa and intercut with Perseus. It...was just mediocre. There wasn't anything interesting about what it did or changed or told, there was no taking the myth and running in a new direction with it, and worse of all we opted for the Ovid's Metamorphoses route but still used the Greek names for the gods.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Crossword Poems, volumes 1 and 2 | Robert Norton

Two itty-bitty volumes covering what were apparently once commonly-known poems that you'd be able to remember based on half of the hint. Decent enough stuff, just kinda boring without that historical note.

Shelling Peanuts and Other Odd Odes | Howard Nelson

Another collection of poems that were ultimately mediocre with a few funny or insightful ones. Not bad, just not especially good either.

Songs of Honour | Noble House Publishers

These were, on the whole, better than the other two, but I knocked it down to 6/10 based on the fact that it took me the entire month of July and a third of August to finish. The formatting was lovely and each poem only took a page, but it was ultimately just "good-to-mediocre" on the whole.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

Outlaw: Champions of Kamigawa | Scott McGough Heretic: Betrayers of Kamigawa | Scott McGough Guardian: Saviors of Kamigawa | Scott McGough

While I personally listed Guardian as a 9/10, I figured I should keep the entire Kamigawa Cycle together. This is the story of Toshiro Umezawa, everyone's favorite fuckup self-centered protagonist dealing with the consequences of his and everyone else's actions. There were a couple times when something was referenced that didn't make sense in the setting (such as angels, Hell, or pixies), and you can definitely feel the "early 2000s white man writing a Japanese setting based on vibes alone" emanating from most of the pages, but I had a good time calling Toshi a dumbfuck over and over again.

9/10 - Very Very Good

None applicable (besides aforementioned Guardian).

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

The Tale of Despereaux | Kate DiCamillo

In my book club, we randomly pulled this one as the one for all of us to read at the same time, and let me tell you, this book hits different when you're a queer young adult in your early twenties than it clearly hit the grown women in their 50+'s. Great book, absolutely adorable, and I love the fact that we accidentally timed it to coincide with the release of Bloomburrow.

Scaredy Squirrel: In a Nutshell | Melanie Watt

Yes, this is an Easy-level book. But somehow, this squirrel with anxiety and possibly OCD (yes, I'm projecting slightly, I kept going "he's just like me for real" aloud when I read it) is now one of my favorite fictional guys. And when he was having a meltdown, the other characters actually gave him space and respected his boundaries. Do you know how impossible that is to find in fiction? One of my favorite books now, hands down.

[whimsicalmeerkat]

WIP Wednesday

@dear-massacre tagged me last week and when I asked what she wanted a snippet from she picked demon Stiles. Here’s the beginning of the next chapter of devil don’t take a break!

~

John grips the wheel, hands at ten and two, and tries not to panic or overreact or, god forbid, let on to Stiles just how out of his depth he feels. And not just feels. Is. John is a human man who fell in love with a soul eater. He still finds the world of the supernatural daunting and frequently frightening. Despite the apparent quiet in the last several years, having a trouble magnet for a son who is also a soul eater means John has been expecting some sort of drama.

He didn't expect Stiles to bond someone at 16, though. He's not ready for that by any stretch of the imagination. It's clearly happened, though. He is deeply curious about that story, but first things first. They have to find Derek and get him help before whoever plugged that hole in him comes back around.

Stiles is noticeably quiet on the drive to a part of town John rarely sees at night. It’s industrial, but it’s new enough it hasn’t picked up a reputation of being a good spot for crime. Other than teens getting bored and tagging up every wall in sight, that is. He sends a look in Stiles’ direction. He’s always suspected his son might have a bent in that direction if something pushed him just right.

When John sees Stiles is anxiously chewing on his hoodie string and jiggling his leg so fast it looks like it hurts, he wishes some light vandalism was the worst thing he had to face with Stiles.

“We’re almost there,” John tells Stiles, trying to project a calm he doesn’t feel.

Stiles just nods and worries the string with his teeth.

“It had to have been the Argents, but the MO is wrong,” Stiles says suddenly.

“What do you mean?” John asks, curious how much Stiles knows about the famous hunting family.

“Chris favors crossbows,” Stiles says. “That’s what he shot Scott with and Allison is some sort of champion archer. Why would he suddenly use a sniper rifle?

“The Argents are arms dealers, albeit legal ones,” John tells Stiles, hopping he doesn’t end up regretting it. “Chris is probably trained in all kinds of weapons. You can’t assume you know what he’ll use in a given scenario.”

John hates that he sounds like he’s preparing his kid for fights, but not as much as he hates how necessary it seems right now. Not in an active sense. He doesn’t hold with vigilantism, his son’s long term obsession with Batman notwithstanding. He hates knowing that at some point, his son will likely be in a situation that even his clever mouth can’t talk him out of. Honestly, the odds are decent he’ll have talked himself into the situation in the first place.

“Isn’t that the turn?” Stiles asks.

John swears and brakes the cruiser before pulling to the side of the street. He hasn’t overshot by much.

“Just keeping you on your toes,” he tells Stiles, secretly relieved Stiles was paying that much attention to his surroundings.

They get out of the car and Stiles immediately heads down a small alley between buildings. John follows, knowing the bond will lead Stiles straight to Derek. Claudia wasn’t hurt very badly or often, but John remembers how the general sense of where she was became something more like a homing beacon in those times. He takes a look around quickly, then follows Stiles.

“Over here,” Stiles calls softly as John enters the alley. “He’s passed out cold.”

John can’t help but groan. “We’re gonna have to carry him out.”

~

Low pressure tags: @lucky-bishop @eevylynn @thotpuppy @mswhich and anyone else who wants to play!

[positivelybeastly]

Results of the Quiz!

As you may recall, just over three weeks ago, I posted this quiz, so that I could test all of your knowledge of the ever elusive, ever effusive Hank McCoy - and here are all the results!

Now, I know for a fact that you only got 9, and that you flubbed the girlfriend question, because you told me as much, but you did still get the best score out of everyone, so, congratulations!

Extremely good score. This is elite results. Uncanny. Astonishing, even . . .

Very good. Honestly, this is the point at which I think people were only getting questions wrong because those questions were insane to ask in the first place, heehee.

Eminently excellent scores! Not that I would expect any different, I know all three of these fine individuals, and they've been kind enough to let me blather to them often enough that I expect they've internalised a lot of it.

Firmly good scores! Of the ten questions, I'd say only four were common knowledge, so getting above four is a good score, honestly. Though, Abby, Raze, you may want to get to know your beau a touch better. ;)

Respectable scores! About the level of knowledge I'd expect, honestly, because as far as I know, some normal people do follow me. :P It has been known.

Remedial classes! But hey, you did good. Nothing to be ashamed of here.

I'm proud that none of my followers got a zero. I think the world of all of you, and you showed me exactly why that's the case here. <3

Look below for the answers and the context!

What was Hank's first girlfriend called?

Hank's first girlfriend, as revealed in X-Men Unlimited vol. 1 #10, was called Mindy! A short lived fling during high school, she was sadly killed by Dark Beast during his infiltration of Hank's life. Jennifer Nyles was Hank's second girlfriend, who he was with when he was first recruited to the X-Men, and who had her memory of Hank wiped by Charles Xavier. Vera was Hank's third girlfriend, whom he met at Coffee-A-Go-Go! during the original 60s run of Uncanny X-Men.

Hank's fur was originally what colour?

A slightly unfair question, because I believe the original intention was for Hank's fur to come out black, but due to printing and colour limitations of the time, it actually came out grey, which is what modern recolours of the initial issues of Hank's first mutation have run with. It later turned blue towards the end of Hank's run on Amazing Adventures.

Which of these organisations is Hank NOT an official member of?

Hank has, in fact, been a member of the Illuminati (New Avengers vol. 3), the Britney Spears Fan Club (Wolverine), and the Stark Industries Board of Shareholders (Astonishing X-Men). Despite having two longtime friends and teammates on the Champions, as well as making a cameo in that title, he is not an official member of the team.

What is the universe designation for the world that Dark Beast comes from?

The Age of Apocalypse where Dark Beast comes from has been designated as Earth-295 in retrospect. Earth-1610 is the original Ultimate Universe, Earth-616 is the mainline Marvel comics universe, Earth-199999 is the MCU designation, Earth-63 is a world where all mutants are of African descent, and Earth-42 is where Miles Morales ends up at the end of the second Spider-Verse movie.

Which of these characters is Hank's best friend?

Though Hank has been friends with Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Bobby Drake for far longer, he and Simon Williams have always identified each other as mutual best, dearest friends. While Hank's friendship with Emma Frost is very dear to me, sadly, it never got much focus after Grant Morrison stopped writing both characters.

Where does the idea that Beast likes Twinkies so much come from?

Though Marvel has had a long standing advertising and promotional arrangement with Hostess, the idea that Beast likes Twinkies to an unhealthy amount comes from an issue of X-Men from the late 1990s, where he posts up his New Year's Resolutions, which include curing the Legacy Virus, reading more 12th century texts, and eating less Twinkies.

Which type of animal did Hank once claim that his mother was allergic to so he was never allowed to have one as a child?

When Hank first acquired his puppy Sassafras, he claimed that he saw her in the window of a pet shop while out jogging and couldn't say no to her, stating that his mother had never allowed him to have a dog as a child because she was allergic. Precisely where Sassafras went after the events of New Defenders is, unfortunately, unknown.

Which of the following musical artists has Hank NOT been shown listening to across his comics history?

Hank has, in fact, been shown to enjoy listening to the Rolling Stones (Generation X), Oingo-Boingo (Multiple Man), Frank Sinatra (Uncanny X-Men), and Devo (Astonishing X-Men). Though he has not yet been shown to have listened to Taylor Swift, it isn't out of the question, given his apparent appreciation for Britney Spears.

When did Beast first meet the new team of X-Men (Wolverine Colossus Nightcrawler Storm etc)?

Beast makes an appearance in Uncanny X-Men #111 (1978) investigating the seeming disappearance of the new generation of X-Men, and when he finds them trapped in Mesmero's circus, he makes numerous references to not knowing them well enough to say whether or not the people he's seeing are them or not, indicating that he hasn't yet met them. It's only when he sees Scott and Jean that he realises it's definitely the X-Men.

Who was Beast's first successful brain surgery performed on?

When Rogue neutralised the Red Skull, who had had Charles Xavier's brain grafted onto his so as to claim his telepathic talents, she took him to Hank so that he could remove the Professor's brain from the Skull's. He makes the remark that he's just completed his first successful brain surgery while washing up, to which Rogue claims that it's no great loss if he was unsuccessful. Whether or not Beast had attempted unsuccessful brain surgery prior to this point is never clarified.

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

The 1965 Lotus-Ford that Jimmy Clark drove to the 1965 Indianapolis 500 Championship.

Jim Clark was a 2 time F1 World Champion and Indy 500 Champion

Jim Clark died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. On 7 April 1968, Clark should have been at Brands Hatch giving the DFV-engined Ford F3L its debut in the BOAC 500 sports car race. But he had been double-booked that weekend, and instead spent it at Hockenheim in Germany for a big European F3 meeting where Lotus was fielding its works team, to oblige sponsors Firestone.

Clark was a sheep farmer from the Scottish Borders who had started competing in sprints in his Sunbeam Mk3 saloon in 1956. He won his first event. He raced friend Ian Scott Watson’s DKW Sonderklasse and Porsche 356 1600 Super before graduating to a Jaguar D-type run by the Border Reivers team.

In 1958 Scott Watson bought one of the first Lotus Type 14 Elites, and at the Boxing Day Brands Hatch race meeting Clark had Lotus founder Colin Chapman in his own Elite all but beaten, until a backmarker spun in front of him.

Clark’s smoothness and mechanical sympathy meant he could often get a Lotus to last a race distance where other drivers could not

By 1960 Clark was a Lotus F1 driver, and he won his first championship race at Spa in 1962. It was one of three wins that year, leaving him in contention for the world championship at the final race of the season in South Africa – but his Lotus failed him, and BRM driver Graham Hill was crowned champion.

There was no mistake the following year. Clark won seven of the 10 races in 1963 – the most any driver had won in one season – and took his first world championship win in dominant style.

Chapman was renowned for building cars that were as light as possible, but often their reliability was suspect. Clark’s smoothness and mechanical sympathy meant he could often get a Lotus to last a race distance where other drivers could not, but it didn’t always work out: in 1964 a strong of retirements robbed him of the chance to defend his F1 title. He was back in 1965 with the new Lotus 33, and six race wins guaranteed him his second world championship.

Graham Hill joined Lotus for 1967 – typically, Clark insisted they were both paid the same salary – and carried out much of the development work on the new Cosworth DFV engine. It was obvious that the DFV-powered Lotus 49 was the class of the field at its debut race at Zandvoort, so Hill and Clark tossed to decide who would win. Hill won the toss, but his car expired, leaving Clark to win – in a car he had never seen before that weekend.

Clark had immense natural ability: he often struggled to understand why other drivers couldn’t keep up

Arguably his greatest race came in the 49 at Monza later that year when he suffered a puncture while leading. The pit stop to change the tyre left him a lap down but he fought past the leading group to unlap himself, belying some commentators’ opinions that Clark wasn’t a racer, and was only any good when controlling a race from the front. He lapped faster and faster, caught up an entire lap, and passed the front-runners again to re-take the lead. But the epic win was not to be: the Lotus ran out of fuel with a couple of laps to go, and John Surtees won in the ‘Hondola’ RA300.

Clark had immense natural ability: he often struggled to understand why other drivers couldn’t keep up. When he had a big enough lead he would keep himself amused by setting the car up in a big slide for the benefit of trackside photographers. His feel for the car was legendary: driving the Lotus 49 for the first time at Zandvoort in 1967 he was convinced something wasn’t right with the car, though there was nothing obvious amiss. But when Team Lotus tore down the car overnight they found one of the wheel bearings was just starting to fail.

Clark won the first F1 championship race of the 1968 season in South Africa, where he beat Juan Manuel Fangio’s all-time record of 24 world championship Grand Prix victories. He was well-placed to win more F1 races and maybe become champion again in 1968, but then came Hockenheim…

His Lotus 48 F2 car was up against a strong international field and Clark was running eighth after the first four laps. On the fifth lap the Lotus headed uphill out of the stadium section of the course and into the woods, was seen to twitch, and flew off the road into the trees. Though the cause of the accident was never established beyond all doubt, it’s likely that a rear tyre failed, possibly due to debris from a previous incident. The Lotus hit a tree, and Clark died from a broken neck and fractured skull. He was just 32.

The whole motor racing community was numb. At Brands Hatch the news was announced to a stunned crowd. Colin Chapman was so destraught he considered giving up motor racing for good. Chris Amon, one of the greatest drivers of his era, summed up the general mood among the drivers by saying if this could happen to Clark, “What chance have the rest of us got?”

The shockwaves from his death were felt not just in Europe, where Clark was a superstar in F1 and touring car racing, but also in the US. Clark had been denied victory in the Indy 500 in dubious circumstances in 1963 but returned, and dominated the race, in 1965 – becoming the first F1 World Champion to win at the Brickyard.

But for a few quirks of fate, Clark could have been F1 champion 1962-1963-1964-1965-1968 and might even have gone on to race and win in the slicks-and-wings era of the early 1970s, which brought two world titles for the Lotus 72. He was, without doubt, one of the greatest drivers ever to race in F1.

Family and community meant a lot to him: his gravestone in Chirnside lists his occupation as ‘farmer’ before ‘World Champion motor racing driver’.

Jim Clark's grave in Chirnside, Scotland. 

Jim Clark – winner 1968 Australian Grand Prix at Sandown, Melbourne.

In 1967, Lotus and Cosworth were reshaping the sport of Formula 1 with the assistance of Jim Clark and Graham Hill.

Jim Clark - Lotus 25 - French GP (1965)

French GP, Clermont Ferrand, 27 June 1965 .Winner Jim Clark, Lotus 33 in practice(he raced Lotus 25)

1964 Goodwood TT, Jim Clark, Lotus 30 Ford

The Flying Scotsman Jim Clark

[extravagantliar]

REPOST AND LIST 6 SONGS THAT INSPIRE YOU TO WRITE YOUR MUSE:

do better - say anything

Your life is always the post of something else / Where's the present? The way that you present yourself / And it's disgusting how little that you try / The existential equivalent of pink eye / Drink alone and watch TV / You're expecting harmonies /To tap your tune with silver spoons / The anthem of impending doom / Guiding Satan's steady hand / Forcing Beatles to disband /It's eco-freaks and drama queens / The young at heart know what I mean

i'm not calling you a liar - florence & the machine

I'm not calling you a liar / Just don't lie to me / I'm not calling you a thief / Just don't steal from me / I'm not calling you a ghost / Just stop haunting me /And I love you so much / I'm gonna let you / Kill me

as it was - prep ( a harry styles cover )

Seems you cannot be replaced / And I'm the one who will stay / oh In this world, it's just us / You know it's not the same as it was / In this world, it's just us / You know it's not the same as it was / As it was / You know it's not the same

pale white horse - the oh hellos

It was a pale white horse / With a crooked smile / And I knew it was my time / It was the raging storm of a foreign war / And a face I'd seen before

what's the use? - mac miller

All the way in with no exit plan / Already left and the jet don't land / Yeah, the time is ticking / Come take a ride, get inside, this is highly different / I'm talking fly, got the pilot with me / Can I mind my business? / Why you trippin'? / Give you somethin' that your eyes can witness / Ooh, too close / I don't understand why you doing the most

non stop - hamilton original broadway cast

Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room? / Soon that attitude may be your doom / Why do you write like you're running out of time? / Write day and night like you're running out of time? /Everyday you fight, like you're running out of time / Keep on fighting in the meantime / Non-stop

honorable mentions ( some are scores ):

northwest passage - stan rogers hey look ma I made it - panic! at the disco can you hear the music? - ludwig göransson thumbnail - louie zong & brian david gilbert he sleeps - james newton howard and macro velocci I'm a wanted man - royal deluxe

& LIST 6 QUOTES THAT INSPIRE YOU TO WRITE YOUR MUSE:

I am not a brave man. I believe I am starting to come to terms with that fact, but I am, in certain circumstances, a very stubborn one. - the magnus archives

People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of. - gregory magurie - wicked

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. - nelson mandela

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past - f scott fitzgerald - the great gatsby

What is a champion? For me, I don't know when I was finally smart enough to understand this, but for me now, it's got less to do with gloves on your hand and how hard a punch you can take, than how great of endurance you have, both emotionally, psychologically, and physical endurance. - teddy atlas

I have read my books by many lights, hoarding their beauty, their wit or wisdom against the dark days when I would have no book, nor a place to read. I have known hunger of the belly kind many times over, but I have known a worse hunger: the need to know and to learn - louis l'amour

tagged by @hoboblaidd

tagging. everyone has done it so - @extravagantrook you're up.