#and got angry more than the average player?)

[strungnews]

Being in a polycule with Mark Grayson and Eve Wilkins is weird.

The two never really thought about it, hell, never really thought about anyone else romantically besides each other. They are quite literally, a power couple! But at the same time how could they fall in love with someone who they all got bad first impressions from?

(Fair warning I started rambling about this on the 22nd and ive been distracted with other content so it might be inaccurate and not up to date with the new upcoming eps! Sorry! 4k+ words oof)

When did you first meet?

Mark Grayson: First spotted at the convention, where you served as a temporary helping hand to one of your close friends who ran a free fix it portable station that helped aid costume malfunctions for cosplayers. You were a jack of all trades and a master of none. An average grade student, who participated as little and as much activities as one felt like, nothing really piquing your interest at any capacity to fully commit to it. Badminton, swim team, volleyball, chess, journalism, art, sewing. The talents and passion you had for it all were mediocre at best, but useful when the situation called for it.

Need an extra player in your team? You won't willingly volunteer, but if there was no other choice, so be it. Someone needing help on their swim technique? You've gotten more ear infections than you could count all because of swimming, several visits to the doctor and ear drops used. But an advice or two wouldn't hurt.

It just so happened you held a bit of liking to sewing, and with reluctance agreed to your friend's pleas of help for the upcoming convention day. You weren't really looking forward to helping around people who forgot to wear deodorant or were in desperate need of a shower, but he said you were splitting the tips by the end of the day. Money is money.

Mark would someyimes notice you here and there, carrying a huge clunky bag while assisting to anyone you could offer a hand to, but other than that, he said and did nothing else. He was more worried about the line for the Seance dog signing and Amber to properly pay attention. But couldn’t help gravitate towards you for some reason.

Though he does give credit where credit was due, between you and your close friend, you were a lot faster with the needle than he was. And you were only doing this for a day! But he didn't know that. Mark wouldn't lie, but he did find himself leaning over and away to look closer at your handy work whenever someone would happily walk away, almost catching his eye whenever you felt like you were being stared at more intensely than the individual you were fixing up.

His first ever person to person interaction was tainted by Mark getting distracted at the crowd of people dressed up as Invincible, before almost falling over himself and you. The supply of items you had just packed up all nice and neat now lay scattered all over the floor, going back to square one.

"Oh! Im so so sorry let me just-" "Thank you, but don't." You swat away his helping hand and turn your back to him. There he stands awkwardly, watching you silently pick up the pieces, his hand rubbing at his neck in guilt. The way you glared and spoke to him might as well had burned holes into his head till he had nothing resting atop his shoulders but charred remains.

You just ended up shoving everything back into place out of pure irritation before storming off, not sparing Mark a glance, not wanting to bother acknowledging him and getting angry for no reason.

He never noticed that you went to the same school as him before that whole interaction. All of a sudden it was like you were spawning everywhere he went, and you were non the wiser about it.

Whenever he'd walk with William and Amber, you'd be somewhere secluded with something to occupy yourself or just talking to that one guy you seemed close with. Even at the cafeteria, where you would be surrounded by people he had never seen you around with. Mostly tolerating their presence by the looks of it, only there because you were friends with one of them. Then you'd also started to hang out with Eve, which made him even more curious about you. Was Eve close with you? What was your relationship with her? Maybe he was getting a bit too nosy. Eve Wilkins: It was a lot harder to grab Eve's attention, even unintentionally. She's a busy gal, always handling this world crisis here and another there, she mostly has to focus time for herself and heroing than the people around her when she's just being Eve the student.

College wasn't all that hard for her, she was great at science and other subjects alike, a top student, Eve is.

But you weren't. In fact you were almost failing her favorite subjects. Numbers shmumbers, you hated it. And unfortunately for her, you were dumped on top of her already full plate unceremoniously when she had been pulled aside by one of the professors.

She didn't want to take it, but she didn't want a fellow student to fail a class she thought was so easy. So she hesitantly agreed, biting more than she could chew.

The event for the both of you was stressful to say the least. She was frustratingly ambiguous about her time and schedule, which clashed with your want to be punctuational, keeping interactions simply transactional. This was both stressful and moreso awkward for the two of you to go through. Eve wished you were a fast learner, but you were failing classes that involved numbers for a reason. Ouch.

Several pensive and forced smiles in the discomfort of your dorm room, each time you were told to start over or why you got this and that as an answer and formula was helping a migrane slowly develop the more time passes. She was trying her best, she really was. And you were too, you both can see the strained effort you two had put in. But by god the process was going by slow.

More breaks would occur than actual learning, before you caved and gave in first.

"I'm never getting this, am I?" Falling back to your mattress with a stiff bounce, you close your eyes and put an arm over them. Hand clenched, nails digging into the palm of your hand.

"Well, you're making progress. As slow as it is at least." You can appreciate how she still has the courtesy to be nice and sugarcoat it, but that was just making you all the more resentful of the situation.

"I just- I dont get it! How do you get this from that?" Quickly sitting up to point accusingly at the paper that lies on your soft cushions, its crumpled and dented with the amount of times you had to erase with shavings of it not too far beside.

"It's hypothetical, thats why we have assigned formulas." Eve pinches the bridge of her nose. She's exhausted and just wishes she could crash at her bed. But even the trip to the treehouse seemed tiresome to do, now contemplating if it was the best course of action to live there.

"Yes, I know! But-ugh." It feels useless, putting your hands up in defeat. "At least with science you can tell what you actually need to use. Math is all 'use your common sense', well i'm trying." Muttered through gritted teeth, you close the abused books and notebooks scattered on the bed.

It was a unified agreement to take a break and go out for a little while and get grub, blowing steam off in the process.

This goes on for two weeks, and gradually progress begins to show. You're making more sense of the subject and are putting pieces together easily than before, which used to be nothing. It was going at a snails pace, but progress is progress!

A small surprise quiz had popped up, and you answered the questions with a keen eye. Double checking, using the memorization methods Eve basically drilled into your head, a wavering air of confidence around you as you wrote.

The time for grading happened all too soon, exchanging papers to whomever was closest to you, checking one another's work before passing it back and receiving your own. Here came and greeted an unbelievably high score plastered in red ink on your paper, reading a 16/20.

You almost cried in joy with how surreal it was. It may just be a simple quiz to the others, but this was practically a milestone to you. The news was given to her, and you both felt lighter knowing you finally had it handled. As a cause for celebration, you decided to lounge in your bed and just have a time for yourself, no longer plagued with the tutors. Coming in the whole situation with Eve filled with dread, and coming out with a feeling of self reassurance.

Your time spent with Eve decreased the more time went on, which you were a bit sad about. Having considered her as a friend, but knew it was inevitable. School work is still work.

On occasion she and you would just text, maybe ask for help whether it be math or personal things, or just to reply to a stupid cat video one of you sent.

Eve did begin to notice you became a lot more confident in answering and volunteering in class, and she felt proud for you.

Meet up!

Burgermart seemed to be more sensational than before, ever since Mark decided to quit.

The place isn't as packed as other foodchain restaurants would usually be, but it seems a lot more crowded than what Mark was used to.

It was his to go to place even though he’ll be met with a few familiar faces working behind the counter, but nothing too bad.

He waits in line, orders his usual, and walks to his unofficial spot that Mark likes to sit at. Only to already be occupied with a friendly face he has met, and another not so much.

Based on the confusion on yours it’s safe to say you probably don’t remember him. Probably. Hopefully.

“Mark! Fancy seeing you here,” The two exchange hugs while you awkwardly watch, biting on your greasy burger unashamedly.

You and Eve move to the corner of each of your booths, and decidedly Mark sits next to you instead. A flash of hurt goes over her face, but disappears as soon as it came.

They’d chatter and munch on the fries left over from the burger platter of Eve’s plate, only humming noncommittally whenever you’d be dragged into the conversation, but said nothing else. Not wanting to butt in their conversation, so mulled over on why this guy’s face felt so familiar to you. But nothing pops up.

Everyone finishes up and after a few minutes all of you are standing to leave. Cleaning just a little but after yourselves to not seem rude when the workers clean up.

“I never really got your name.” Mark suddenly shifts his attention to you as the three of you walk out to the parking lot. Its already afternoon, making the weather warm a little.

“I never really gave it.” You reply back. In your head, you justify your response by chalking it up to not really knowing the guy. Sure he’s Mark, Eve’s supposed friend. But what else? What happened to stranger danger?

Eve doesn’t seem to pick up on that, and or doesn’t share the same sentiment, enthusiastically coming in to respond for you. “Remember when I said I was busy tutoring someone? Yeah? Well they’re said someone.”

“You talked about me?”

“Well, just the good bits . . . !”

Shame, embarrassment, you wish the world could swallow you up right then and there.

But you steel yourself, making sure to not make eye contact helping avoid digging your already deep grave. “Better be, or ill tell him the time you tore a hole through the papers when-“

“Okay! Okay! I get it! I promise, it wasn’t anything bad!” Her flustered state makes you laugh, slowly warming up to the both of them.

“I heard you got a high score that one time, man I wish I did too. I kind of flunked the quiz.”

“Maybe you should ask them to tutor you. They’re kind of a math whiz now dontcha think?”

The wink wink nudge nudge could not have been any more subtle.

“Shut up.”

What happens next?

So many new things in your life changed and occurred, both terrifying and exciting.

One of them was being introduced to the friend group that seemed to be ever expanding the more times you hang out with them. William was a hoot, he felt like the most normal person you could relate to. Amber was ambitious, a kind person who already had her shit figured out. And Mark? Well, hes a dweeb and a mess.

Even though you’ve been adopted into the new stray friend, you always gravitated to Eve more. She was the first person you really bothered to hold more than one sentence with. Albeit a bit forced.

Then the whole human robots occurred, you wish you could say you were there to be of help or even lend a hand, but you were dead asleep for the most part. Too busy holed up in your dorm room with work to fully enjoy the almost-adult, adult life.

Then Mark reveals his super hero persona to you, and so does Eve.

“How many know?”

“Oh, hun.” Eve puts a hand on your shoulder.

“You’re like, the last person to know. Everyone in the group practically already know.”

“What.”

You feel bitter but view them no more or less. Only asking to be taken flying at least once by one of them in exchange.

“THIS IS AWESOME!”

“Calm down I might drop you!” Eve is not surprised nor all that glad you asked her first, but feels a bit cocky about it. Another tally on whose the best super between her and Mark. Not that anyone’s counting.

★彡

It seems the two can’t catch a break. Mark especially.

Everyone’s there for Mark after the whole incident, and to further supporting his now semi-fixed relationship with Amber.

You can sense something about Eve though, but don’t pry. The way she looks at the two or how she tries to just hang out with you more to ‘get her mind off of things’ at her tree house, it was quite the tell.

“You know you can tell me anything that’s bothering you, and I wouldn’t judge you. Right?”

Eve hands a glass of soda, bubbling from the carbon dioxide. She sighs and says nothing, only opting to lean and look at the view overlooking the place.

“I know.”

Despite not being a super or wicked smart, you’re not stupid. You are Eve’s only confidant, even if you don’t get it, you sympathize with her.

Its one thing after the other with Mark and Eve. Mark comes back home with a purple baby, Eve focuses more on her studies to be an architect, things get messed up, and the secrecy continues.

Mark doesn’t get too deep into it, only ever talking to Eve about topics as heavy as that. So many . . . Events has conspired. You’re helpless to do anything to help soothe the bleeding wound. Eve says Mark just needs time, but you both know it’s not true. So, being the ever so genius you are, you offer a sleep over.

It’s a much appreciated and comforting sentiment for the whole family, they’re not sure if they want to be alone after what had conspired. But they also say nothing, keeping their mouths zipped tight.

A movie starts to play, a few hours had already passed ever since you and Eve rang the doorbell. Everyone’s huddled up at the couch, with Oliver sat in Marks lap, now crawling to Eve before reaching you at the end of the couch.

“Looks like he likes you.” Mark sounds so tired when he speaks, it’s a lot more quiet than when he usually talks, but Eve only nods in agreement.

“Yeah, babies like me for some reason. Even if I’m not a fan. But I guess since it’s Oliver..” He pulls and tugs at your clothes in curiosity, before harshly sitting himself on your stomach to face the tv. You let out an ‘oof’, which Mark and Eve laugh.

The tv plays, but its practically static to Mark’s ears, as he speaks again.

“I broke up with Amber.”

★彡

Having to be the middle of the two sided coin, you were forced to listen to the two’s complaints about one another’s crush. You wish you could just pull your hair out to get some semblance of relief with how its eating at you alive. At least William knocked some further sense into him when Mark confided in them after asking you first.

Eve? Well, she was busy. Like always.

But it was Mark this, architect that, Mark and Oliver, all that fun jazz. You couldn’t visit as often as Eve could, so she’d like to give updates.

Sometimes you feel like they’re so close to getting there, so close, until you get caught between the two again at the treehouse, seeking some you and her time till Mark showed up.

Something something future Eve, something something oh my fucking god Mark you’re screwing this up!

They both leave due to an emergency, leaving you there isolated at the treehouse.

“Great, guess ill just jump down and walk my way to the campus then!” You shout to nobody in particular.

Its about time!

Finally, the two got together.

No party no celebration, nothing big or grand. Just a small text of congratdolences, because she had to deal with Mark foreverrrr. Until an inevitable break up. Which will never happen.

Their relationship started off a bit fast, a bit rocky, but still stable. Still being at college and not possessing super human abilities, you would often video call and or gossip to them when they had the time. Catching up a lot more on things everyone would miss out since it felt like everyone lived in on different worlds.

You’d make William join in too, considering besides Eve, you were really close. But oh goodness, oh my word, he got caught up talking to his dearly beloved Rick and therefore forgot to reply!

Okay that may be a little exaggerated, but what can you do? Separated by the three people you were super close with in the span of half a year, you were getting clingy.

“Ugh, Will come on. This is the third time we’re hosting a small food get together without you, you can even bring Rick!” You’d complain while lying on your stomach in front of your laptop. Toiling away at your textbooks.

“How’s it feel to third wheel with the super couple? And plus, its finally a friday! I haven’t gotten a break in what feels like ages. Me and Rick are planning on staying in and having a movie night and falling asleep on the couch.”

“Barf. Rick this, Rick that, blah blah blah. You were so interesting when you were single!”

“Well sorry you’re the only one who’s single in the friend group.”

“Hey!”

Maybe you were a third wheel. Constantly hanging around Eve and Mark whenever they’d offer or whenever you had free time, you felt embarrassed. Especially now that you’re helping them look for an apartment —or house even— that they could possibly afford.

Being an expert in assessing many things in your life, of course your help was well needed.

“What about this one?”

“Looks… well..” Mark squints at the photo, giving it a slight once over before pursing his lips. Arms brushing up against yours as he crosses his arms and legs in faux thought.

“I know, it’s tacky, right? But I didn’t know if that was your guys’ style.” You click away to another tab, showing the place and its living conditions, plus the added bonuses it has around the areas. Nearby markets, easy access to vehicles if wanted, and a bit isolated so they went get caught super-ing.

“You saying we’re tacky?”

Ignoring Mark’s comment to your right, you shift your attention to Eve. “How about this one?”

“It’s a bit too good to be true, hows the rent?” Eve sets down on Mark’s bed with a slight bounce, leaning over to your left to sandwich you with Mark.

“Yeah about that.” You suck in hair between your teeth and move the screen as an answer, and she merely scrunches her nose.

“Man. Adulting is hard.” Mark leans his head with a thud on his headboard, before it slowly slides to the side, hovering just slightly on your shoulder.

“Tell me about it. I had to pick between saving up for the ride home or saving the cash for food.” You reply absent mindedly, tapping away at the screen with an occasional click of the laptop’s track pad.

“Imagine if you guys had another human being to deal with while you’re still trying to get your shit together? Yikes.” Shaking your head at the thought of it, makes your bones heavy with fatigue.

But Mark and Eve look over to one another with a shared look of confusion. Another person? As in . . . You’re not implying that are you?

They take you back to your campus but not before saying bye to Oliver. Even though he was just a year old, he already grew as big as a toddler. Wanting to hang out with you despite barely talking or even knowing him. It was like a baby duckling imprinting.

But Mark and Eve can’t help but think about what you said on their way home. Another person? It seems like a bit much. No?

They were already quite content on having each other, they didn’t know if the other was comfortable about the prospect of it all. But wasn’t opposite to it either.

So for now, they’d decided to tip toe around it instead.

A puzzling piece

Ever since that visit, the two have been a lot more touchy feely with you.

You dont mind honestly, chalking it up to them being a lot more friendly towards you and nothing else. Nothing more.

William and Rick start to notice too, after finally having everyone’s schedules align once in a blue moon and going out to just have some fun. They’d practically crowd you like body guards, and William and Rick would just watch, snickering to one another.

At times you do get suspicious. Eve holding your arm as you walked was nothing new, but when Mark started to initiate more physical contact with you, you’d spiral.

Of course Mark was hot, hell, Eve was too! Those were simply just facts, your best friends were attractive as hell. Who doesn’t admit that to themselves from time to time? But theyre off limits. They have each other, and you’re just you! No offense.

You couldn’t help raise a questioning brow when Mark and Eve started sitting away from each other in exchange of you being in the middle of them. Bumping shoulders, arms brushing up, hands on your back, or hair tucked behind your ear. It felt overwhelming.

So you confide in William and Rick on their behavior, receiving cryptic responses rather than actual answers instead.

“Are Eve and Mark being weird?” You’d ask, passing over your bag of chips to Rick while sucking on your straw.

“I think they’re being very obvious.” William answers dismissively waving his hand.

“Obvious? About what?”

“Oh you know, right Rick?” And he just shrugs with an awkward smile in response.

“Well has Mark said anything? Eve’s just been . . . Normal, I guess? But feels like they’re keeping something from me too.”

“Yeah, sure. Ill tell you if Mark says anything. Wink wink.” William says out loud rather than literally.

“Okay?”

Seeing as they were no help, you finally grew some and talked to Eve about it privately. No Mark, no Atom Eve or Invincible, just you and her in the a lot sturdier and built treehouse of hers.

“Is everything okay?”

“Yes! Well, no.”

You spill your guts out to her, not looking in her general direction the whole time so you can actually let out the words you want to say rather than awkwardly fumbling and mumbling to yourself.

It seems Eve feels the same way, opting to look out rather than meet your own gaze. Picking at her nails at the same time.

“Do you remember when you were helping us look for apartments to live in? Before we ditched that plan and decided not to?”

“Yes . . ?”

“Then you mentioned something about another person being in our lives?”

“Another person? Since when?”

“Since when you showed us that great place! But was too out of our budget.”

“Yeah, and?”

“Well we thought. . . You were . . .”

It takes a few moments for you to make sense of it all, till Eve reaches to hold out your hand and it clicks.

“I meant having a kid! You know, white picket fence and all that!” Your face is practically hot enough to cook an egg on with her admittance.

She clears things up before Mark pops up all of a sudden. Not taking the hint of yours and Eve’s current state and inviting himself in.

“Where were you? I texted you that an hour ago and I still had no response. I got worried.”

“Crap, I think I forgot to hit send.”

Mark gets caught up in the current news, and feels like he’s made a fool of himself. Him and Eve are silently but not very subtly having a conversation about you in loud hushed whispers. Their backs turned to you and they’re holding each other’s hand in reassurance.

“Im not—Im not opposed to it though.” You say quietly, a bit hesitant to break up their conversation.

“Really?” They say in unison, perking up like excited puppies.

“I mean! If you guys’ll have me, that is.”

“We’ve been flirting with you for the past couple of months, I think we’re more than happy to.”

“You’ve been flirting?!”

“Yes, for months.”

Maybe in the near future the three of you could live in that house you found, just the three of you.

a/n: ahh i kinda hate and love this but im done so whatever just take it from me TAKE IT

btw id love to hear your thoughts and questions about this or just invincible in general teehee! planning on writing more ;P

[gypsyshifts]

write anything about sam monroe pls 👅trust ill read

Double or Nothing

summary | The Monroe twins are at a party, when Scott proposes a bet where whoever got a girl chosen by them first would get 100 dollars from the other twin. They found a girl in their grade and chose her as their victim. Things go south when one of the twins begins to have feelings for the girl and drunkenly reveals the bet, ruining their friendship.

pairing | Sam Monroe x reader VS Scott Moroe x reader

tags | bet, fighting for love, slight swearing, Sam monroe being a pretty crier, angst?

wordcount | 3.5k

Sam’s head ached. He couldn’t tell if it was from all the screaming, or one of the many red solo cups he’d finished at that party. In fact he wasn’t even supposed to be there, but his twin brother, Scott, dragged him to it as a form of  solidarity between the football team, who had agreed to bring someone not ‘normally’ invited to a party with each of them. Scott assured Sam that he’d have a great time, but since that didn’t work, he offered to pay for whatever drugs he needed. That got Sam’s attention. 

He sat on the lumpy couch of one of the bone-headed football players, staring into his cup at the dark liquid sitting inside of it and swirling it around. The couch shifted with the weight of Scott sitting down next to him. Sam looked up at Scott and he could tell that he was for some reason angry at him. 

“You could try to have some fun, you know?” Scott criticized. Sam scoffed, rolling his eyes. 

“Well then ‘lover-boy’,” He starts up, leaning in towards Scott, “What should I do?” 

Scott, clearly taken aback points around the room, “There are loads of hot chicks here. Find one and have a good night.” This pisses Sam off. He furrows his eyebrows and glares at Scott. 

“None of them are my type.”

 “Oh please, you’d hump a pillow if you needed to get off. Plus, this is slut city, okay? Let's see…” He scans the room for a bit, Sam tries to follow his eyes with no true answer to who he was looking at. Suddenly he snaps up and points quickly to the kitchen, which they could see with an open wall that led straight into the other room. “Aha! Her! She’s practically perfect for you. Quiet, more grunge than the average person, and I think she’s Alyssa’s younger sister. Yeah, she is a year younger than us but she was put up a year in school. She’s in our math class.” 

After standing up and searching the general area of Scott’s finger, he found her. Yeah, Sam recognized her from their shared class, but also the fact that he'd had a crush on her for all of middle school. Thankfully that went away the second he met Alyssa, or so he thought. She was definitely Sam’s type, but he couldn’t let Scott know that. “I don’t know… She’s drinking alone in a corner.” 

He sat back down, gently pulling Scott with him as he noticed her gaze begin to wander around them. He tried not to get caught staring, though it was hard to look away. Scott had a smirk on his face, looking at Sam as he slumped back onto the couch. 

“You’re right, I mean you’re probably too much of a pussy to even talk to her,” Sam clenched his fist till his knuckles turned white, holding himself back. He relaxed on the couch, “Wanna bet?” 

“50 bucks says you can’t get her to go out with you.” Scott sticks out his hand, but to his surprise Sam doesn’t move. “Double or nothing.” Sam lips form a smirk. “Deal.” 

Sam shakes his brothers’ hand, his grip firm and rough, before he stands up and makes his way towards the kitchen. He feels a hand push him back slightly. Looking to his left he sees his brother smiling at him. “Let the pro go first,” Scott says, pushing forward and walking right up to the girl. He clears his throat, causing you to look up at him and not at the cup in your hand. “What’s the drink of choice?” You raise an eyebrow before realizing he’s talking about your drink. “Oh! Um, Tito’s with a bit of soda, I've gotta be home by dinner so…” Scott’s face lights up, smiling at your nervous stance, “I’m Scott, I play quarterback on the football team.” “Really? I heard you got kicked off for smoking or some shit,” You smile. His face drops and he begins to toy with the hem of his sleeves.

“Don’t get all nervous on me now football star,” Now it was your turn to smirk. Scott scoffed and turned around walking back to his brother. Sam had a smile on his face and was laughing at his brother's failed attempt at flirting. Scott sat on the couch and flung his arm around Sam’s shoulders, sighing in despair. He glared at Sam for laughing at him and slapped him on the back of the head, to which Sam winced and hit him back softly. 

“That girl's psycho, good luck with her.” He mumbles, taking Sam’s drink and patting him on the back, urging him to go up to you.

“I bet dude.” Sam smirks.

Sam makes his way over to you leaning against the wall next to you, his eyes grazing over your outfit. “Nice shoes, you’re daddy, buy them for you?” You look at him, rolling your eyes. It was a sucky try at flirting but somehow better than Scott’s. You put your cup up to your lips, gulping down the spicy liquid, feeling the burn it left run down your throat. “No actually, my sister did for a Christmas present.” He nodded and crossed his arms. Was that his attempt at trying to be more cool? Or was he thinking of a witty response?

“Yeah, you're Alyssa’s sister right? You guys are polar opposites.” He asks.

“Mhm, she’s just too nice to guys. She must get it from my mom.” 

“Maybe, or maybe she’s just not a bitch.” 

“Wow,” you sneered, “Big words coming from a guy who practically pushes everyone away. How’s that for bitchy?”

He pulls out a sharpie from his pocket, “Give me your arm.” You hesitated slightly before sliding your arm out towards him. His cold hand wraps around your wrist, grip tight on it. He writes a bunch of numbers down. It took you a second to realize what he was doing, but you would soon notice that he was writing down his phone number. “Call me.” Before you could reply he was walking away and moving into the crowd. You looked down at your arm taking in his number, memorising the exact order of the numbers.

Sam sits down next to his brother, a proud look on his face. Scott rolls his eyes and crosses his arms in defiance. “Come on dude, that’s unfair. She was totally not into you, did you even get her to go out with you?” Sam just chuckles, his tone low and grumbly, “Not yet dude, but I'm closer than you’ll ever get. Remember, double or nothing.” His smile couldn’t be any bigger as he bragged to his twin. He took his drink back and finished it off easily.

~End of Party~

After the awkward and long drive home with Alyssa, who was your last resort because almost all your sober ‘friends’ had left, you pulled out your phone and added Sam’s number to your contacts. Thinking about him brought a stupid smile to your face and a blush to your cheeks as well. You felt like a little kid again when he was in your head. You stared at his number on your phone. Will you call him? Should you call him? You changed out of those uncomfy party clothes and into some pajamas before you relaxed into your bed and felt your eyelids slowly fall as you drifted off into the sweet void that is sleep. 

When your alarm went off in the morning you slapped your arm onto the stop button, dragging yourself out of the warmth of your bed. When you looked at the clock beside your bed all the numbers were funky and glitchy so you turned on your phone to look at the time only to see that you had five minutes till school started. CRAP! The power must have turned off during the night! You rushed into your bathroom and brushed your hair and teeth, quickly picking out an outfit simultaneously. You pulled on your shoes and hauled your backpack over your shoulders before running down the stairs and out the door, breath heaving. The bus wasn’t gonna pick you up so you would have to walk. “Are you kidding me?!?!?” You exclaimed loudly to the air around you. 

“Need a ride?” You heard a familiar voice coming from the house across the street. You look over to see Sam, standing next to a motorcycle. “You’re crazy if you think I’m riding on that death machine!!” You yell. Sam just shrugs.

“It’s your fault if you’re late to math.” He says bluntly. You pause for a second. It couldn’t be that bad to drive with him, plus you’re desperate.

“Fine!” 

You run over to him and he hands you a helmet to put on. It smelt of a musky cologne, the one Sam must’ve worn. You wrap your arms around his waist as he pushes the kickstand up and starts the bike up. Quickly you both ride to the school and make it just in time for the bell to ring right as you hopped off. “Thanks.” You say, handing Sam his helmet back. “No problem,” He smiles, and before you know it you were in first period waiting for lunch to come so you could talk to Sam again. 

The classes passed by so quick it was lunch in seconds. Sam was sitting on some bleachers, the ones that the teachers could see too easily, smoking a cigarette blasting some metal playlist into his ears. You ran through the football field that the school's team was practicing on, trying to get to the bleachers. “Hey!!! Y/N!!” To your surprise Scott was running towards you in full football gear, all sweaty and panting heavily. He stops right in front of you, holding up a finger while he catches his breath. “I was gonna ask you this morning but I couldn't find you, right?” It was more of a statement than a question. You nodded in response, looking over his shoulder at Sam who was now looking right at you two, trying to see what was happening. “Anyway… I was wondering if I could get your number? You seem really cool and I would love to hang out with you sometime!” He gushed faster than you thought he could speak. It was kinda sweet, he seemed so genuine this time, like he’s actually trying to be nice and not just flaunt the whole football shit. He probably realized that he’d have to put in work to get what he wants, and the only way he could do that is changing the snobby personality he had towards you. You smiled at him cause why not,  “Sure, you gotta pen?” He rubbed the back of his neck, awkwardly smiling. “Never mind,” You pulled your backpack off your shoulder and grabbed a blank card and a pen, writing your number on it. It might be kind of fun to have the two twins fight over you..

 “Here.” You gave him the paper and he smiled at you.

“Cool, i’ll call you later,” With that he winked at you and your stomach erupted with butterflies as he ran off back to his practice. Did you like the nice, not cocky version of Scott? 

You flashed back to reality when the bell signaled for you to head to your next class. Luckily the rest of school went by quickly too. Your mind the whole time during your classes were just the twins. Which did you like better? Which liked you better? After the last bell rang, you rushed over to one of your friends and they gave you a ride home. Scott had definitely kept his word cause he called you as soon as he got home.

“Hello,” You answered, not knowing who it was at first.

“Hey Y/n,” Scotts’ voice answered, “Wanna come over? Sam and I were just gonna watch American Psycho, we downloaded it onto a dvd.”

“Sure, why not?”

You made your way over to Scott and Sam’s house (The moms house not dad’s), walking through parks and long ass roads on the way. By the time you got there you were extremely tired and everything ached, but nonetheless you walked up to the big house and rang the doorbell, hearing it echo through the house. Within seconds the door opened and you were greeted with Sam’s face. Looking him up and down, you took in everything about him. From the blue streak in his hair, to the skull ring he was wearing. The both of you stood there for a second in silence. Sam looked confused. “Y/n? What are you doing here?” He asks, cocking an eyebrow. “Scott invited me over, he said you were gonna watch American Psycho. I’ve heard some really good stuff about it.” You smile. Sam, hearing Scott's name, rolls his eyes. “Of course he did, come in.” He moves to the side, letting you walk into their house. Your shoulder brushes against him as you walk in, feeling the warmth of him sends your brain in circles. Your face begins to flush and you bring a hand up to cover it. The sound of someone walking down the stairs brings everybody's attention to Scott, who was now in much more casual clothes. “You’re here!” Scott exclaimed, fully down the stairs now, embracing you in a warm hug. Guess he’s really committing to this ‘nice guy’ charade, you thought. You also must have been as red as a tomato now because all your blood was running to your face from the touch of his hands on your waist.

All three of you walked into the living room, which was covered in blankets and bowls of popcorn that filled the air with the savory smell of deliciousness. You sat on the couch and covered yourself up with one of the blankets that lay upon the floor. Scott sat next to you and Sam sat on the floor in front of the both of you. Sam had the remote in hand, loading up the dvd player so that you could watch the movie.

As the movie started you relaxed your body, unclenching every muscle, really getting loose. The movie was more interesting than other “scary” movies, it had a unique plot, one that really drew you in. You were about halfway into the movie and a loud bang went off in it, making you jump. Not a big jump, just one to make Scott, sitting next to you, put a hand on your thigh as a way of comfort. His touch sent tingles all over the bare skin he felt. You smiled at him, setting your hand on top of his. By the end of the movie, after countless scares and loud bangs, you and Scott were practically intertwined with each other, warming one another in a soothing form. Sam cleared his throat and the two of you separated from each others’ grasp. Scott grabbed the remote and turned the tv off. You checked your phone, it was almost sun-down. 

“I should be going. Thanks for inviting me over, I had fun,” You said, standing up and looking at the twins. Scott walked you to the door while Sam lingered in between the hallway (opening thing??)  of the living room and the front door. 

“Hey Y/n?” Scott mumbled, his voice hinting a hopeful tone.

“Yeah?” You respond, turning to look

“I really like you, you seem really cool and I wanna know if you’d wanna go out sometime? Like on a real date.” He had a weak smile on his face that showed he was internally begging you to say yes.

“Of course Scott, I’d love to. Text me or call me and we’ll make some plans, see you later,” And with that his face perked up for a second and he closed the door, leaving you to walk back home.

On the other side of the door, Scott’s hopeful, enthusiastic smile morphed into a devilish smirk as he walked up to his twin. “Looks like you owe me 100 bucks, too bad she seemed so into you in the beginning…” Scott bragged, no mercy or regret on his face. Sam dug his nails into his own fists so hard they’d bruise the next day. His face soured at his brother's sudden lack of empathy. Sam knew he’d lost the bet, what he didn’t know was that he would care so much about your feelings. The harsh reality of what they’d done really set in, Sam realized he did like you. From that party. From math, from whatever. He regretted the bet. 

“Whatever, asshole.” Sam stomped up to his room, locking the door behind him and blasting as much music as he could. I can’t go back from this, he thought, it’ll only go downhill from here. Rage filled his voice as he screamed and shouted until his vocal cords couldn’t take it anymore. 

~Time skip~

It had been weeks since you had heard from Sam. Multiple texts and calls you tried, were ignored, and he even moved seats in math to the opposite wall from your seat. You and Scott went on the promised date, and a few more, but you couldn’t get over the ghosting. It was weird, and you were sure of that. 

Tonight you sat in your bedroom, resting your head on Scott’s stomach as he played with your hair. Music wafted through the room, playing whatever was on your phone last. “How’s your brother doing?” You leaned your head back so that you could see Scott’s face clearly. He put on this confused expression with anger lingering below it. “I don’t know,” He starts, “And why do you care?” His tone only got more defensive as he goes on, “He’s not your boyfriend, is he?” By this point, he was yelling and you’d gotten up to face him now, just as mad as him. You raised your voice as well, “I’m just worried about him! He’s been distant okay?!?!” Scott huffs as he gets up and starts to pace around the room. “He’s fine! Always is!”

This was stupid, you shouldn’t be fighting over such small things. The door opened whilst the two of you yelled at each other and Alyssa was stood with her arms crossed observing the fight as if she would step in to help. Scott started spouting nonsense about how you care too much about Sam and not enough about him. It was the most annoying shit you’d heard since the two of you started going out. What the fuck is he on about, you thought. Alyssa was now in front of you, blocking Scott from you.

“This is so uncalled for,” She yelled, pointing her index finger at him like a middle school teacher, “Get out Scott! Right now!!”

Scott shouted curses before violently grabbing his bags and rushing out the doors in a storm of rage. Alyssa turned back to you, holding your face in her hands too quickly for you to back away from her. “Are you okay? He’s such a dick!” You pulled her hands off of yourself and moved away from you sister to a talkable distance for you. “Yeah I'm fine, you can leave now…” You spit. She looked taken aback but turned away and left, gently shutting the door behind her. You laid back on your bed with a groan as the warm sheets wrapped around you, all the way to your head. A tear fell down your cheek as you sobbed quietly into the mattress under you. 

Shadows took over your room as the sun set and the night grew. You were finally sorting out all of your emotions when the moon had fully risen and night was at its peak. A loud knocking could be heard from the front door. You decided to wait it out, let someone else get it, however, no one seemed to be up so you dragged yourself out of bed, sliding on some slippers and rushing to the door because the knocking was somehow getting louder and more annoying. You felt a rush of cold air hit you as you opened the door, staring out at the perpetrator of all the noise. Staring back at you was Sam. The guy that had been ignoring you for the past few months. He was crying. Well at least trying his best to not cry. 

“Can I come in?” he slurred, sniffling as tears fell from his eyes, “Please?”

You moved to let him in and tried to rush him into your room without Alyssa spotting you. He fled sloppily up the stairs, almost tripping the whole way. Was he drunk? Or for better word wasted? “What's wrong Sam?” You shut your door, still locked onto Sam as he tumbled onto your bed. You joined him, sitting next to him. He had his face in his hands and was letting out small sobs and whimpers before looking up at you, his eyes gleaming in the moonlight. “I’m so sorry,” He wept. Sam started mumbling incoherent sobs about apologizing for something like; “It was so stupid..” and, “We shouldn't have done that to you…”

You had to grab his face just to make him look at you, “Sam! What are you doing here?” He gasped, still avoiding your gaze, “It was just a bet,” He mumbled to himself.

“A stupid fucking bet.”

“What.”

A/n: Sorry if this sucks!!! I didn't check for errors that much so... Let me know if you guys have any requests or if you want part 2???

Template by @roseschoices

[flesh-of-a-hare]

poppy playtime oc/self insert bc i have no self control and i draw to anti-cope (oc info n shit below the cut)

their name is Baseball and they r a silk moth version of a discontinued line of smiling critters that were going to be based off of bugs. they were a little older/more mature than the average kid who got taken and read the most stories out of all the other kids so they r safe haven's designated storyteller. on good days they reenact the stories they can remember or make new ones up, on bad days they use their claws to climb up the walls to hide out in a corner of the ceiling so they don't spread their bad mood to the others. the one person they have any amount of respect for/listen to is Doey and the two make an effort to cheer one another up when they notice the other is in a bad mood.

the face they have here is actually a mask, bc when they were being made they came out scarier than intended- too scary for a kids toy, so they were fitted with a mask/ balaclava so they wouldn't scare the others. their name comes from the stitching on the mask looking, y'know. like a baseball.

they r covered in fluff so the sweater it looks like they r wearing is just fur lmao. they are soft and fluffy and make for good hugs and are more emotionally mature than most of the other kids in safe haven, so they are also the designated hugger whenever one of them needs to cry/be held (especially if Doey isn't around)

on especially bad days, they will randomly decide to venture out of safe haven to wander/find supplies. Doey hates it when they do this bc they never tell anyone when they're leaving and even though they are one of the more nimble/sneaky members of haven, they have gotten themselves in bad spots more than once. they don't talk about why they do these random 'supply runs'. the truth is uncomfortable, and neither wants to acknowledge what the other knows they r thinking. Doey does get mad and will give them a lecture if they do something especially stupid but he knows they hate it when he gets loud so most times he just gives them a lot of angry looks until they apologize

they do not like Poppy and will actively make fun of her in childish ways whenever they hear her talking lmao. they don't trust the Player and will spend any time around them just. staring at them in silence. its mostly awkward but also slightly terrifying. they hate the doctor more than they are scared of him, and spend a lot of time thinking about all the things they would do to pay him back for all the harm he's done. when he is gone, they feel strangely sad about it. they almost miss him, maybe only because it was easier when they had someone to hate and blame for everything. they curl up in a corner of what's left of safe haven and try to daydream their way out of the real world.

[seumyo]

hi! How would you characterize Sakusa? And do you have any fic recommendations where you think he’s very in character?

I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE !! PLEASE, BUCKLE UP 💺 BECAUSE I’M GOING TO YAP (in 12 paragraphs or more, I think)

PLEASE DO NOTE THAT THIS IS JUST FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES, I’m not mad or trying to be all wise and condescending with how people interpret his character, huhu. People can interpret characters to their own judgement, and these are just my thoughts <33

I just realized nonnie just asked how I (ME) would characterize Sakusa and NOT a Sakusa analysis, uhm. Let me just take a hiatus rq—I’M EMBARRASSED

Let’s start with the beginning (and no, this doesn’t have a chronological order; I just yap and yap) !!

Sakusa is one of the most misunderstood characters in Haikyuu, mostly because people tend to reduce him to a simple “germaphobe” and a “mean, blunt jerk.” But that’s honestly such a bit of a shallow take on a character who’s way more nuanced than that !!

Let me explain 🤓☝️

NOTE. WORDS MAY REPEAT AND LIKE, I JUST YAP SO IT GOES IN CIRCLES 💥 if it doesn’t make any sense, it’s bcs it’s just yap and no brain cells applied 🙀

^ Canonically, we know that Sakusa was a quiet child, not very social. He didn’t make friends easily, and with a family that was often too busy for him, he was mostly on his own. It was Komori, his cousin, who introduced him to volleyball, and even then Sakusa didn’t immediately love it.

He just needed something to do.

But slowly, he found something meaningful in it—a sense of control, perhaps, or a challenge that suited his methodical nature. He started practicing alone, pushing himself, and that’s such a key part of who he is. Sakusa doesn’t rely on external motivation—he’s self-driven. That’s rare.

He’s also very independent.

What really gets me about Sakusa is how high his standards are—for himself, most of all. After losing to Ushijima, he didn’t sulk or lash out. He drilled his receiving technique until it was no longer a weakness.

He sets goals with ridiculous precision and won’t stop until he’s met them. That kind of relentless improvement isn’t born out of ego—it’s born out of pride. Pride in doing things right. Pride in being the kind of player who doesn’t settle. And yes, maybe that makes him intense. Maybe it makes him hard to approach. But it also makes him someone who doesn’t break under pressure, who doesn’t shy away from challenges, and who quietly holds himself—and everyone around him—to a higher standard.

He wants to finish things until they’re polished and there is no more room for errors.

+ There’s also this layer of competitiveness and self-awareness that a lot of people miss. Sakusa doesn’t gloat. He doesn’t react much even after scoring a match point. But put a strong rival in front of him, and it’s like watching a storm roll in. He focuses, studies them like a puzzle, and works until he can dismantle their strengths piece by piece.

When Kageyama said he seemed “average”? Sakusa didn’t get angry because of insecurity—he got irritated because he knew better. He knew what he was capable of, and being underestimated wasn’t something he tolerated, not because he needed praise, but because it was factually incorrect.

That’s such a realistic and mature reaction, honestly. He’s not prideful for the sake of ego. He’s just confident in his analysis—another sign of his realist mindset. Like, imagine if someone said you were just “okay” in something you excel in—you would be angered too, no?

Komori and Washio have both pointed out his bluntness, which people often confuse for rudeness. But it’s not that Sakusa doesn’t care about people—he just values honesty more than pleasantries. His sense of humor exists (surprise, he’s funny I wanna k*ss him so badly), but it’s dry and subtle, more likely to show up during a deadpan tease than a laugh-out-loud moment. FREE MY MAN FROM THE TOO SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS

And the thing is, his quietness isn’t arrogance. It’s just... focus. He observes. He analyzes. He doesn’t speak unless there’s something worth saying. And in a world obsessed with noise, that can look like superiority when it’s actually just self-possession (the state or feeling of being calm, confident, and in control of one's feelings; composure).

People love to shorthand it as “germophobia,” but that misses what he actually feels—he’s just blunt about the things he dislikes (which is getting dirt on him or possibly getting sick). Sakusa’s fear of germs isn’t irrational or obsessive in the way the label implies. It’s rooted in control—specifically, his desire not to compromise his physical condition.

He’s hypermobile, meaning his joints move beyond the normal range. That kind of body demands meticulous care, because one wrong move or a simple cold or injury can set him back.

A research conducted by Nathan et. al. (2018) concluded that “Hypermobility is relatively common among individuals, and there is a lot of anecdotal evidence associating it with increased rates of injuries. This project finds that NH individuals are more likely to sustain a ligament or joint sprain in sports. This is due to increased joint laxity and flexibility preventing injury.” The limitations of this research are “assessing for particular hypermobility and focusing on one sport to investigate its association with sports injury in those who are hypermobile or not + focusing on one specific joint, assessing its flexibility and association with injury.”

So yeah, he avoids crowds. He wears a mask. He probably wipes down his water bottle like it’s a sacred artifact (maybe !! I do too because I don’t wanna get sick in this scorching summer heat in the archipelago I live in). But this isn’t just paranoia—it’s discipline. It’s the same discipline that drives him to spike a ball 378 times just to get better or to keep setting until his hands blister because he’s not satisfied with “good enough.”

He doesn’t just wear a mask because he’s scared of germs for no reason—his caution is tied to his identity as a perfectionist and realist.

Sakusa is hyperaware.

He’s constantly calculating risks—on and off the court. He isn’t trying to be dramatic about hygiene; he’s just cautious. Everything he does is intentional. When you look at how he plays, you realize that he’s methodical, adaptable, and incredibly precise. He doesn’t waste energy or motion—his gameplay is almost pristine. That’s not someone who’s just gifted; that’s someone who demands the best from himself, which probably explains why he’s so cautious about staying healthy and injury-free.

SAKUSA ISN’T A MEANIE BLUNT JERK PLS (okie, maybe a little, but all is forgiven; I can apologize for him #mybebeloves)

++ Sakusa’s not closed off because he doesn’t care—he’s closed off because he does. He’s observant, he listens, and he notices the little things others miss. His standards are high, but he holds himself to them first. That quietness, that distance, it’s a kind of armor (could be a response to what he experienced in childhood—probably neglect OR fear of attachment). But underneath it, there’s someone fiercely devoted to the game, someone who knows the cost of excellence and still chooses to pay it every day.

Sakusa isn’t the type to shout or make a big deal out of things, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care. You can tell he respects and values his teammates, even if he’s sarcastic or reserved. He notices small details that other players might overlook, and that says a lot about his thoughtfulness. His kind of loyalty is quiet but strong—he doesn’t need to be loud to lead or connect with people.

I also think his quietness is often mistaken for arrogance.

He’s not trying to act superior; he just genuinely thinks deeply before speaking or acting. That makes him come across as aloof, especially in a sport where a lot of top players are loud or super high-energy. But honestly, I find his presence really grounding. He brings a calm intensity that balances out more explosive personalities like Bokuto (another bebeloves of mine ☹️).

And let’s be real—Sakusa wouldn’t fall for someone he couldn’t trust. If he lets Y/N into his space, into his world, that means everything. It means he’s choosing them, despite every instinct he’s built to protect himself. So no, he wouldn’t be a jerk to them (pls just let my bebeloves love with his whole heart 😪). He might be a little blunt, a little awkward maybe. But he’d be gentle in his own quiet way. The kind of love that’s slow, thoughtful, but undeniably real. LIKE HE’S A BOY LET HIM BE GOOFY, MY SILLY LITTLE CUPCAKE DESERVES JUSTICE 😭 DON’T MAKE HIM A MEANIE I AM BEGGING ON MY KNEES

So yeah, when I write for Sakusa, I make him 20% serious and 80% loverboy 😋🫶

Neway, fic rec time uwu — fics that I think captured his character well☝️💞

when you start dating kiyoomi by @kleftiko

period cramps and a little bit of pining by @omi-boshi

make up for it by @cierai

won’t you get up off, get up off the roof? by @/uaigneach on ao3 - one of my fav sakusa/atsumu fics (but it’s mostly atsumu-centric!)

Better Together by @/ghostystarr on ao3 - aha, another one of my favs on ao3 🫶

[thewertsearch]

We're got a couple of assorted asks about quadrant dynamics here. Since they're all related, I'll answer them as a single post.

@galaxa-13 asked: I personally never saw Feferi being annoyed by Eridan talking about feelings with Karkat because he was only supposed to talk about them with her, but rather because he ONLY talked about them with Karkat. She had to do all the heavy lifting in their relationship by making sure he didn't commit genocide, and then didn't get to unwind with some romantic gossip. If my platonic boyfriend never talked to me, but did with others, I'd question him too. @lilietsblog asked: I never read Feferi as being jealous of Karkat in a violating relationship exclusivity / cheating on her way. I read it as a playful "why aren't you talking about stuff with me? is it because you've already talked it all out?" where Eridan was very much supposed to read between the lines and undersatnd that she just wanted him to tell her about his red crushes (awkward, that…) While I'm sure there are specific rituals trolls /only/ do with their moirails, my overall impression is that trolls normally just… don't form relationships close and trusting enough for emotional support like that. The quadrants help by making it semi-mandatory to find SOMEONE. (Also I'm actually sure that a healthy moirallegiance would be reciprocal with both partners pacifying each other, it's just the hemospectrum version of gender roles)

You may have a point. Eridan was clearly a poor moirail from the start - probably because he never actually wanted to be Feferi's moirail. To him, the quadrant was clearly just a stepping stone to matespritship, so he wasn't invested in its dynamics. Feferi's not really angry about Karkat, here - she's just a little frustrated about how one-sided their moirallegence has turned out to be.

That said, I do still believe that quadrants would work better if they were polyamorous - even if this particular scenario doesn't illustrate my point as well as I thought it did.

@morganwick asked: I mean, some would argue that placing undue emphasis on monogamy beyond what's actually healthy or natural is true of human romance as well. But part of what might be going on here is that on Alternia, it's not a good idea to let knowledge of your fears, doubts, and weaknesses spread too far, lest it mark you for culling. Best to vent to a single person who won't tell another soul. (See also how Vriska is saying things to John she wouldn't tell any other troll.) @bladekindeyewear asked: "At the end of the day, I do think moirallegiance is a good idea. I just don’t think it really works if moirails can’t be poly." What if they CAN be? People with naturally polyamorous inclinations are few and marginalized on present-day Earth, and Alternian society seems set up to STOMP OUT the marginalized. Quadrants certainly exist, but how much of their rigidity and the pervasive troll view that you only have "one true fated partner(s)" for each quadrant might just be cultural?

I think a monogamous system of moirallegence is probably all that Alternia could handle. Sustaining a polyamorous quadrant system would require a level of emotional maturity that the average troll simply isn't going to have - and, like you said, it might be dangerous to widen your circle more than is actually necessary.

I still think the trolls would benefit from such a system, though. On Alternia, it simply wasn't to be - but the Alternian Players now have the chance to build an entirely new culture. Who knows what new dynamics they might discover?

@lilietsblog asked: I don't think Hussie "jumped the gun". I think Hussie was messing around with the very idea of "what romance should be like". Trolls don't care about what gender their partners are, and have a different system of confusing rigid rules that no two people understand quite the same and that don't work out in practice that way anyway, instead. The quadrant system was never intended to be a serious worldbuilding project any more than Troll Will Smith

See, I get what you're saying - but the difference, in my opinion, is that that Troll Will Smith was a one-panel joke, whereas the quadrant system has informed our understanding of troll relationships for the entirety of Act 5. Unlike Will, quadrants have stayed relevant, and they've been critical to understanding many of the Alternians' key character moments.

That's not to say that quadrants aren't partially a joke. Frankly, I don't think any of Homestuck is entirely serious - but I do think quadrants are 'real' in the context of the story, and should be analyzed as a legitimate part of its world.

@bladekindeyewear asked: One last bout moirails-- Andrew in his asks has said that the idea behind each of the Quadrants IS supposed to match up with real human relationship and friend dynamics we already understand, making them relatable but w/ a romantic drive that isn't quite human-analogous. Trolls biologically compelled to enter them before understanding them, a challenge "particularly tortuous for young trolls" (p2393), plus the 600 hour session makes sense of Eq/Nep's relationship's drastic evolution to me.

I've always been a little skeptical about this whole 'biological drive' angle for the quadrants - mostly because there are plenty of human biological drives that are either overstated, misinterpreted, or outright fabricated.

That's not to say that the trolls don't have some sort of compulsion to seek out quadrants. If it does exist, though, I hope it slowly fades, now that the trolls have left their planet and its expectations behind.

[leaperfr0gg]

Ok so uhhh went on vacation for a week so sorry for no posts!!! I was definitely planning on doing some SS doodles to celebrate the end of my nickname polls but then I left and I felt to tired to do anything all week after walking an average of 10 mpd :,)

I didnt feel like making a whole piece today so please accept this sketch sheet of my LoZ ZeLink oc's Star and Ruin! (names may change)

(Giant rant)

I'm unsure of a lot of details in their story but a basic premise for them is that they are set roughly 300 years after Twilight Princess, and some cult of sorts tried to resurrect Ganondorf.

In the middle of the ceremony Ganondorf regained consciousness though and got angry or something cause he was mad at the world and used his power to kill all the cultists there. Since the ceremony was not completed Ganondorf didn't get his body back, but they had an ancient Twili relect and he used its power to keep his weird blob form. Cut to him taking over the kingdom and Link is taking Zelda to the Sheikah observatory, in this time Link is a scavenger and ruin raider so he explores old building. They both met when they were kids cause Zelda got upset or something and ran away, he gave her a strange necklace he found in a ruin it looked kinda broken or somthing but she liked it and the two became friends for a few hours before she had to return to the castle. He was going to castle town when he found her about to be killed by monsters cause she was being sent away with knights but they were already dead, he saved her and the two reconnected and started towards the observatory since Impa was there. Cut to the observatory where they both meet with Impa and they meet Impa's sister Sherry.(Impa has a brother in EoW, is it to far fetched to think she could also have had a sister at some point?) Sherry runs the observatory and this is where the game mechanics would change.

I watched a really cool video by a youtuber called Elmushterri(I believe that is how you spell her name) where she rewrite TotK and it was really cool and it inspired the mechanics of how I thought my imaginary game would work. Check out her Video it's super cool and so is the rest of her stuff!!

So basically once you meet Sherry Zelda would stay there with Sherry and Impa to look after her and Link would set out to stop Ganondorf, while Link explored he would find ruins and stuff and take it back to the princess to be cleaned and find their functions, you can play as link and explore through ruins and fight monsters, but the fun part is that you can also play as Zelda and like switch players, you can explore the observatory and look at stars, you would use Zelda's goddess powers to keep Ganondorf at bay from going any farther from the castle, and stop waves of monster with Impa and Sherry by useing Twili relics Link would find to make weapons and arm the observatory! Together they would protect and save Hyrule, this is also how I think the start of Calamity Ganon would begin, without a way to get his body back he remains a blob of hatred and malice and starts to go even more cuckoo than he already was. Together the two would seal him away and rebuild any damages to Hyrule.

I would also like to think that there is even get some like wolf Link spirit stuff since in BotW Wolf Link is there if you use the amibo, like maybe he stayed on as a spirit to make sure Hyrule stayed safe.

But that's basically it, I wanna say thanks to @mirensiart for inspiring me to make these blorbos!! And to also say that I will be making more stuff on them. Also their designs may change as I go on and add more to their story!

[aquaquadrant]

literally just zoomed through yalls htp au and i havent seen anyone talk about it but i find it SO interesting how Bravo, who is supposed to be the GOOD overworlder, is rather prideful and honestly just a dick while Tango, supposedly his EVIL counterpart, is just the sweetest guy. i cant imagine how Tango is derived from the worst parts of Bravo, if im understanding hels correctly. Tango is such a good person, while Bravo is rude to everyone with the worst attitude. it was just something i picked up so quickly. if the universe put him in hels in the first place, there must be a reason why the universe swapped his place with his overworld counterpart.

on another note! with the release of secret life, and what we've seen so far, how do you think htp!tango would fare in this new killing game? i cant help but imagine that with the entire gimmick being keeping secrets that he would be rather stressed, knowing he had hidden stuff from his friends already-- lying doesnt make him feel like a good person (but he isnt supposed to be that, some small part of him is whispering, knowing hes from hels, is all of the "bad" parts of bravo)

anyways! this is all i will be able to think of for the rest of the week /vpos and i hope you (and everyone who may be reading this at any given time) have a great rest of spooky month!

well THANK YOU this was a lovely message to receive, and i’m glad you’re enjoying the au ^^

i’ve talked a little bit about this here and there, but i’ll never pass up the chance to ramble more. there are a few key things about bravo and tango that make them different from the average overworld-hels pair.

ANALYSIS/RAMBLE BELOW

first off, most of what we’ve seen of tango has been set during double life, which is ten years after he escaped hels, so he’s had ten years of growth. we see very little of him before this, and in those scenes he’s got the benefit of being largely alone. the only player he interacts with is xisuma, who tango immediately realizes he needs to ‘trick.’ so his interaction with x in part one isn’t how tango would’ve interacted with virtually any other player in hels at that time.

we see from the flashback in part five that younger pre-hels tek tango was borderline feral- he chose to attack atlas on sight instead of trying to hide, or leave before he was seen, or even see why atlas was there. now, atlas wins him over fairly quickly because tango is young and naive and secretly craving positive interaction, but even in that brief interaction tango is a bit more prideful than his older self. that, of course, got beaten out of him at hels tek.

bravo, on the other hand, we follow closely during his ten years in hels. when he first arrives in part two, he’s a little snide and privately judgemental, sure, but he starts out perfectly decent towards timmy. he tries to maintain that civility and ‘niceness’ as he interacts with more and more hels players, but gradually loses his willpower as he gets beaten down and frustrated, even losing his temper. and after he fully snaps and gets his first kills, he all but abandons the notion of being ‘nice’, though privately he still thinks of himself as inherently better than hels players (atlas’s manipulation certainly doesn’t help matters, either).

but perhaps the biggest point is to look at what traits tango actually got from bravo, and that would be his rage. bravo is most similar to tango when he’s angry; his first little temper tantrum in part two is where it’s best illustrated, because all instances after that have been influenced by his time in hels. but you’ll notice that we have yet to see tango truly angry in the HTP series (he did revert back to an almost feral mindset when the ranch got attacked, but that was an instinctive defense mechanism. there was no conscious thought behind those decisions, and they were purely fueled by fear, not anger). that will be where his ‘hels’ really shines through.

there’s one other bravo trait amplified in tango that i haven’t revealed yet. it’s something that tango has figured out how to sort of ‘mask’ via other more acceptable coping mechanisms- if you can call it that- and actually forms a fairly significant part of his personality. stay tuned :3

as for secret life, it’d be a complicated situation for sure. on one hand, their goals are less outright malicious- just complete the tasks and try to survive (at least for now). in a way, it almost takes away accountability for their actions if they turn out to be harmful- “i had to, it was my secret task!” so that’s nice to fall back on. but still, tango would be very on edge. not only with the discomfort of having to lie to his friends, but never knowing if they’re lying to him, too. boi’s got them trust issues fr.

[jjungkookislife]

Quarterly Fic Recs 2023: #2

Hello! I am a little late with my list but between work and my laptop taking so long to even boot up, it’s been hard to do anything. I’ve enjoyed all these fics these past few months and I hope you enjoy them as well. A huge thank you to all the writers for sharing their work 💜

Seokjin

none :(

Yoongi

red chopsticks @hobicakess

summary: Now everytime you see chopsticks, you'll think of him.

beloved @bang-tan-bitches

summary: Court was just a game of politics after all. And you intended to win

fear and dumplings ch. 1 @softyoongiionly

summary: You’re in your final semester at University when your Abnormal Psychology professor assigns you a partnered project surrounding your greatest fears. Lucky for you, your partner just so happens to be a cute boy named Min Yoongi. 

Hoseok

dinners & diatribes @yoongiphoria

Namjoon

the one with namjoon and the u-haul @eoieopda

summary: in which namjoon is buff, jungkook is late, & you're trapped in an elevator.

Jimin

blunt rotation @gimmethatagustd

summary: Supplying your law school classmates with weed on the regular might as well be a full-time job. It’s lucrative, but lately, you’ve seen a dip in profits. Maybe it’s because you keep giving out the Pretty Boy Discount to a certain guy in your ethics class…

Taehyung

none :(

Jungkook

jungkook with chubby girlfriend pt. 2 @ta3bae

calling you cool @kithtaehyung

summary: after your band finishes a coveted club gig, you’re frustrated that your dope ass night ends with you hiding in a bathroom stall. at least, this is what you figured—until someone comes along to change that.

prove it to me @kookslastbutton

summary: “I’m not your baby Jungkook. Remember that.” Those are the words you say right before jumping into a one night stand with Jeon Jungkook, the man who’s constantly annoying you with his college fling stories. You decide maybe just this once you’ll play into his game and prove that he’s no more average than the rest.

because i love you ch. 10 @readyplayerhobi

summary: According to society, Jeon Jungkook should not be with you. He should  be with a younger, hotter and thinner girl instead of wasting his time  on you. It’s a good thing Jungkook doesn’t care what society thinks  then.

only when you’re lonely @jjkeverlast

summary: jungkook has never dated anyone, because of you and you’re soft touches that bring him to orbit. it’s all it’s ever been, just sex between you. although, it brings an unexpected turn when jungkook accidentally blurts you out as his girlfriend to his college friends which results in them expecting you to an upcoming party. what jungkook doesn’t know is that you’re much more than just someone he meets when he’s lonely.

OT7/ Multple Members

satisfy ch. 5 @suga-kookiemonster

summary: “listen,” taehyung says, eyes wide and eager as he smiles at you. “i figure we can just help each other out. i scratch your back, you scratch mine.” but when you find yourself suddenly in need of a massive favor, exactly how much scratching are you willing to do?

fang f*cker @sailoryooons

summary: Jungkook loves reading his smutty vampire comic and so what if he fashions himself a little bit after the main character. Yoongi finds it wildly offensive. Every day he has to watch Jungkook play at being ominous and spooky - and okay, maybe it’s a little cute. But it’s mostly offensive, and Yoongi would know. He’s a vampire, after all.

before i leave you ch. 51 @hollyhomburg

summary: you’ve never seen Namjoon this angry before, but you can’t say he’s not rightfully upset at You and Hobi. Not every punishment can go according to plan…

Seokjin

wrong place wrong time @bangtanintotheroom

summary: Why couldn’t the two of you have just waited until you got home?

smile @shuadotcom

summary: Kim Seokjin has been a professional tennis player for years. He has countless tennis trophies in his penthouse in South Korea and has won two grand slams. He’s even in talks to participate in the upcoming Olympics. He’s dated a handful of well-known people with no problem and is confident to the point of irritation to those around him.

the one with seokjin, soju, and all the stars in the sky @eoieopda

summary: Kim Seokjin got really drunk on a members-night-out, so his fiancée has to pick his cute, clingy ass up.

i almost do @yoongiphoria

summary: You wipe the tears that have trickled down your cheek, collected below your nose. “I miss you, Seokjin. Can… can you come find me?”

the dogs of war @ugh-yoongi

moaning on stream @here4kpopfics

summary: You just want to sleep in a little bit longer, but your boyfriend has decided to play a frustratingly difficult game on stream. However, his frustration sounds a lot similar to something else…

my soul @peachypinkygloss

summary: No one said loving a vampire would be easy, especially not one who is tortured by his past and his present. Your love for him is eternal, even though you cannot be with him forever... Or can you?

flurious @miscelunaaa

summary: it’s fine, you’re not mad at your best friend at all! in fact!! you’re so fine that you’re going to work off some steam just to prove how fine you are!!

Yoongi

glorified memories @shina913

summary: Another late-night phone call with Yoongi.

Hoseok

all it takes @yoongiofmine

summary: After months of quietly pinning after Jung Hoseok, your friends decide to give you a little push. Sometimes a New Years Eve party and a round of Seven Minutes in Heaven is all it takes.

Namjoon

none :(

Jimin

none :(

Taehyung

one mo’ gen @bangtanintotheroom

summary: You find your ‘relationship’ with Taehyung escalating sooner than you expected.  

up close and personal ^

summary: Taehyung thought he had seen it all with you, but you prove him wrong.

bear with me ^

summary: You have a special guest today, one of the fuzzy kind.  

wedding bells @hyungieyoongi

E2L

Jungkook

just a little @soft4gguk

imagine @chryblossomjjk

summary: jungkook wants nothing more than to spend your anniversary cuddled up in a fancy hotel bathroom, eating takeout and binge watching tv shows. you, on the other hand, have something more exciting in mind. 

virgin sacrifice @girl8890

summary: Since the day you were born, your parents prepared you for your sacrifice. The whole village knew, and with that everyone stayed away from you. Thinking even just looking at you would make the demon in waiting mad. The demon that has been praying on you since birth, but not for what you expected.

tongue tied @jeonqkooks

summary: “Jeez, you’re acting like I asked to peg you or something.”

when it all falls apart @7deadlysinsfics

summary: what’s there to do when your husband says he thinks he doesn’t love you anymore? you pick up the broken pieces the best you can and try to move on

OT7/Multiple Members

before i leave you ch. 53 @hollyhomburg

summary: A snippet of the future- a flash forward- in which you and jimin reach an agreement.

like crazy @euphoricfilter

summary: the story of why you loved to dance in the rain.

baby @theharrowing

summary: Jimin, aka Baby, doesn't let just anyone have him for free. What a shame that the man he likes spending time with the most is a cop.

red light - white walls @kookieswan

summary: Seokjin’s been away for a while, and it makes him wonder just how much he’s missed. Yoongi, thankfully, is surprisingly loose lipped.

Yoongi 

busted @kithtaehyung

summary: when things go a bit south at your house party, decisions between you and yoongi have to be made.

OT7/ Multiple Members

sweeter than sweet @gimmesumsuga​

summary: You never would have expected someone like Park Jimin to notice you.  As handsome and beguiling as he is deadly, you’re enthralled from the very moment you meet.  Addicted to his kiss and his bite, Jimin opens up your eyes to a whole new world of love, lust and seduction.

[bookishtheaterlover7]

Hi booky!!! Marketing anon here.

Again, here to remind everyone that I don’t work in entertainment.

However, a little tidbit: I have to do a press release for something my company recently got recognized for but our “big heads” are a bit disappointed we didn’t get the title we wanted. So we’re still doing a PR but we’re doing it for the headline to say we’re a “industry leader” - and that’s basically what our motive is. Get our SEO up, showing that our name shows up when you search industry leader and hoping media wants to talk to us to learn more. We also have a big conference event coming up so we’re hoping to release the PR in advance of attending the conference (you guessed it, to put our name out there to the people who matter).

Why am I bringing this up?

Again, I don’t know what the overall goal and plan is for CE/ PR team but he’s listed as married in his Wikipedia and I think, personally, that’s the most important reason. He needs to be married to someone so who it is isn’t really super important because the average person isn’t going to continue to look past that.

Now when people google him they will see he is married and allegedly settled down. He’s got recent pics with him with a ring on. And I’ll be honest, even for myself, when I see someone, a man especially, with a wedding ring on I for some reason automatically think, “stable.” I don’t know why. It’s so strange because I myself don’t even believe in marriage LOL but when I see someone else “linked up” I’m like oh ok good for you. ESP men and famous men for that. This may be a weird heteronormative brainwashing thing or I just have issues lol.

Also, I’m going to use Jeremy Renner for comparison. Jeremy was briefly married to Sonni Pacheco, his wife who he had one child with. She’s also 15 years younger and since their divorce has been pretty messy…lol. But there have always been rumors of Jeremy being a wild child and heavy partying and etc so when you google him to see, hey, he was married. He is a father. Despite the fact that he also married a nobody and she seems pretty intent on being a clout chaser or at least making him look bad, he still looks semi stable. He is a father, and he loves his kid. He was married - yes he is now divorced and he also recently survived a terrible accident so people are focusing on his amazing recovery and him being a good dad and not on whatever is going on with his divorce.

I have a sneaking suspicion these types of marriages happen to more people in Hollywood than you think. Especially with the men who have a bit of reputation for being players, wild partying, eternal bachelorhood…or even, a former playboy heartthrob turned beloved internet bf who just wants to find happiness and settle down. That way, once they do have that title of being settled down, the hope may be to refocus the attention on something else. Work, career, other endeavors, and less on personal life. Especially if CE’s current marriage narrative is that he’s being private. Now there’s going to be the trash tabloids talking all day about pregnancy and kids and family and etc etc. As upsetting as that can be for some fans, remember that settled down and stability often does include talk about kids and family. I think they’re just having a time of it because the fans so deeply loathe his wife. I don’t think anyway they spin it will make people welcome this pairing and potential kids more.

This is just my opinion though.

…

In regards to CE redeeming himself…please don’t take this the wrong way, but the public won’t care enough to look past who he married. I know some blogs on here are trying to mold a narrative the public condemns him now but I really don’t believe that’s true. I don’t think he needs to do any public redeeming because no, some angry comments on his IG regarding her is not the majority. I am sorry, but it is not.

The public losing interest does not = condemn.

He’s just fading in starmeter because well, he’s sort of had his time to shine, right? That’s usually what happens to most people. Look at the top list of highest grossing actors this year vs 2019. This year is all people who were in the biggest stuff. They had the most press and limelight.

CE and half the avengers were on the top list back in 2019. I remember this because at the time, some of my friends were googling him them because he had such a huge year. Do you see what I mean?

What goes up must come down. But it doesn’t mean he can’t come back in the future. Look, just because he got “married” doesn’t mean his life is over. It’s only over if he chooses to let it be over.

Please kindly remember that AB is not known to the GP as anyone other than the person who is married to him. I have my doubts she’ll ever be known as anything but but again, don’t quote me. I just don’t see her becoming this big star or even lukewarm star simply because she has sort of proven she has no draw or IT factor.

The one group he may have to “redeem” himself to is his fanbase. This one is tougher to navigate because I don’t know what their endgame will be in terms of what he does with his now marriage status. For now, he just looks like he’s settled down. I think the GP has more or less stopped checking for him in regards to anything else related to that, and from what it looks like, they were never even checking for AB even though she just had a movie release in the states. Lol.

I think the issue with AB is more that she’s been reliant on using someone else to get attention for two years now. So her boosts in fame will always have to be through him. I doubt that makes her very happy because from what I can infer, I think she wants to be famous on her own due to the public magically adoring her. If she had been truly content just being the wife she would have done more to boost HIM and leverage herself by association. Think of the other gf/wives of famous men. Don’t they always seem to boost themselves off being around their guys and getting people to like bOTH of them together? And then by association, people will follow them for more cute content and breadcrumbs. I think hemsworth’s wife does it, Blake lively as Ryan reynold’s wife does, Henry cavill’s gf does, Eva mendes’ does for Ryan gosling, and etc. all of these women are all actually people who do have their own careers but their husbands/partners are clearly the bigger stars. They lean into it and boost themselves at the same time.

AB does not. Maybe she’s not allowed to lol but also - she always only posts things about herself to try and draw the attention to herself. Her posting HIS dog was to draw attention to her. Her posting around the time he has work stuff but ignoring his work and basically acting like he doesn’t exist doesn’t help her at all but it’s what they’ve decided to do.

She was DOA before she even arrived. I honestly recommend if you are still a fan of his to just try and ignore her. It’s all you can do. If you cannot separate her from him then please consider just letting him go.

I am sorry if this is not what people want to hear. But I cannot know what they’re trying to do behind the scenes but I do think CE is pivoting to have people focus on his career and work instead. This can be a good thing. He may never regain that fanbase back because unfortunately of who he decided to let himself be linked to but it doesn’t mean the future is set in stone.

Have a good day booky! (Please angry anons do not come for the mod. Its just one stranger’s opinion)

Always a pleasure to read your replies, Marketing An🫶n. Especially with the good points you continue to make ❤️

You had me worried that you weren't able to read my posts 😅🥹 I'm glad that you are though 😁

As for angry an🫶ns and readers... Honestly, it's fine... It means they're accepting my welcome invitation for a vent space. Which honestly, everyone needs.

Until the next one, Marketing An🫶n 😊

[aetherblooms]

✏️✏️✏️, your choice!

:) yvette brainworms today (and everyday)

Combat Medic

Being the designated healer is a necessary job, but it isn't a glamorous one. While everyone else is having all the fun mixing it up with the bad guys, the medic is stuck in the back watching life bars go up and down, and throwing out the occasional Status Buff. Then again, they don't want to be up front, because they're squishy as hell and everyone's gunning for them. This is usually not a problem when one player's controlling an entire party, but this starts to break down in cases where one guy's playing the support. While some are perfectly fine with this (being the medic means you'll get invited to just about any party), for others, the support classes just aren't that exciting. The solution? Give The Medic some teeth, and you've got yourself a Combat Medic.

Anger Born of Worry

A lot of things make people angry. Minor insults. Their own reflection. Awful jobs. This trope is when a character is angry because some fool they love put themselves in danger. It's the caring that really makes the trope. The most common variation is that they embrace the person they thought was in danger into their arms and tell them they're glad they're safe, followed by them saying something to the effect of "Don't you ever do that to me again!". This is seen from any kind of loved one, from a Best Friend, especially sidekicks giving a What the Hell, Hero? speech, someone's One True Love terrified of a Heroic Sacrifice, or parents when their children return from whatever world-saving adventure they've been on.

Mentor in Sour Armor

Some mentors are gentle to their students. Not the one in Sour Armor. This renowned warrior's tongue is as sharp as their weapons, and they're not afraid to use it. Your average Mentor in Sour Armor has been through quite a lot; whatever the case, they put on the Jade-Colored Glasses long ago, and their biting wit is as close as they really come to showing emotions under most circumstances. They're on the side of good, but Good Is Not Nice. [...] Beneath all that snarky abrasiveness, though, they do have a soft side, and care about their apprentice more than they want to admit. Their snark is hardly ever just to be mean; they've got a point to make and don't see a reason to mince words. If a Mentor in Sour Armor smiles, it's a big deal.

[twentyyearstoolate]

Not to turn into an angry forum poster, but I want to expand on this a little, because it bugs the hell out of me every time I bring up a homebrew supplement and get told that the group wants to stick to WotC-published materials (which is fine) specifically to avoid 'balance issues.'

Oh really? You think the published material is well-balanced? You think a four elements monk squares up about the same as a twilight cleric? You think Boots of Flying should be more accessible than a Superior Healing Potion? You think all of the capstone features are about on par with one another?

There's a reason that after all this time, most of WotCs own modules and campaigns don't accomodate PCs very far from the first and second tiers, and even experienced GMs tend to have massive burnout at the latter half of their own sandbox campaigns. Even BG3, with all of its tweaks to the 5e ruleset, caps at 12th level. After having played and run several campaigns, at least in my experience, the third and fourth tiers of the game are a complete fucking mess.

Don't get me wrong. I like 5e. I like how it made the game more accessible (as a side effect of streamlining the system to reduce the number of modifiers - 3.5 and especially pathfinder with their magic item treadmills and feat trees and conditional modifiers, etc. etc. involved a lot of their own bookkeeping) but I think the reduction in complexity came with its own issues that rear their ugly head in the back end.

For example, the saving throw system - now, instead of having three saving throws linked to one (or the higher of two) attributes, you just roll saves for abilities individually. Simple! With two save proficiencies (one good, one bad) and a generic PC constructed out of standard array, you have, on average, a 44.17% chance to succeed on any given saving throw from a creature with a CR appropriate for a level 1 party. Assuming you put all your ASIs into those two abilities, for the rest of the game, that average percentage trends downward to a mere 25% at level 20, because of the binary nature of proficiency on saving throws and the fact that most of your ability scores don't get touched after 1st level.

It is admittedly a little reductive not to factor in bonuses from class features, among other things, as some classes do get abilities that vastly improve their chances. But others don't, and the game should not be dependent on players picking a particular class (or race, or feat, etc.) in order to have a passable chance at succeeding in this fairly common occurrence. And keep in mind, this is just an average of the six saving throws - The throws with proficiency maintain a slightly higher-than-average 60% chance to succeed. The other four drop off sharply to between 15-0% (!!!) Even indomitable will not help you here.

Now I know the designers were perfectly aware that this was an issue in play. You want to know how I know? Legendary saves, to ensure that big bads and named creatures that still had the same three or four dogshit saves as players wouldn't be kneecapped anticlimactically because the wizard rolled good on initiative and got a Hold Monster off.

You look at the rest of the rulebook and you see this lazy band-aiding fucking everywhere. No real magic item economy? Magic item power wildly disproportionate with rarity? "Magic items aren't necessary in this system!" (Until you run into a creature with resistance to nonmagical BSP, whoops!) Sorcerers are worse wizards thanks to the changes to prepared spellcasting? Sorcery points, to fuel metamagic! (Oh no, Sorcerers still get less of everything because all their features run off the same point pool instead of having independent uses!) Feats are optional, even though two of the core classes have additional ASIs shoehorned in for the implied purpose of picking them up. Can't figure out a good class capstone? Give them one use of a signature feature back on a short rest or initiative rolled. That feels good, like the pinnacle of class ability.

I could go on but we'll be here all day. And the thing that pisses me off about it is, they had the experience, not to mention two editions of legacy and data, they're Wizards of the fucking Coast. They could have made this the right way. Instead, the core rulebooks are a mess, and every splat they've released since has had less and less content, more poorly tested and vetted, if at all, to the point that one of their last releases had racist caricatures that went sight unseen until they got in front of rightfully angry fans. And most people go unaware that the content smacks of this laziness.

Which brings me back to my original point, with groups that disallow homebrew because they're concerned about balance - don't be. You want to stick to first party material because everyone has access to it and knows it so there's no confusion about how a PCs mechanics work? Fine. But the game is inherently unbalanced, even with just the core content. Yeah, DMs use your best judgement, because there's definitely some mary sue bullshit going on out there, but most homebrew I've seen falls well within the bounds of the best and worst content WotC has offered. Hell, make your own if you feel confident enough.

As an example of good, competent homebrew creations out there, I invite you to take a look at Valda's Spire of Secrets, or anything done by Laserllama or KibblesTasty. Most of those creations are things I would allow in games I run.

It's often remarked how D&D 5e's play culture has this sort of disinterest bordering on contempt for actually knowing the rules, often even extending to the DM themselves. I've seen a lot of different ideas for why this is, but one reason I rarely see discussed is that actually, a lot of 5e's rules are not meant to be used.

Encumbrance is a great example of this. 5e contains granular weights for all the items that you might have in your inventory, and rules for how much you can carry based on your strength score, and they've set these carry capacities high enough that you should never actually need to think about them. And that's deliberate, the designers have explicitly said that they've set carrying capacity high enough that it shouldn't come up in normal play. So for a starting DM, you see all these weights, you see all the rules for how much people can carry or drag, and you've played Fallout, you know how this works. And then if you try to actually enforce that, you find that it's insanely tedious, and it basically never actually matters, so you drop it.

Foraging is the example of this that bothers me most. There's a whole system for this! A table of foraging DCs, and math for how much food you can find, and how long you can go without food, etc. But the math is set up so that a person with no survival proficiency and a +0 to WIS, in a hostile environment, will still forage enough food to be fine, and the starvation rules are so generous that even a run of bad luck is unlikely to matter. So a DM who actually tries to use these rules will quickly find that they add nothing but bookkeeping. You're rolling a bunch of checks every day of travel for something that is purpose built not to matter. And that's before you add in all the ways to trivialize or circumvent this.

These rules don't exist to be used, that is not their purpose. These rules exist because the designers were scared of the backlash to 4e, and wanted to make sure that the game had all the rules that D&D "should" have. But they didn't actually want these mechanics. They didn't want the bookkeeping, they didn't care about that style of play, but they couldn't just say, "this game isn't about that" for fear of angering traditionalists. And unfortunately the way they handled this was by putting in rules that are bad, that actively fight anyone who wants to use that style of play and act as a trap to people who take the rules in good faith.

And this means that knowing what rules are not supposed to be used is an actual skill 5e DMs develop. Part of being a good 5e DM is being able to tell the real rules that will improve your game from the fake rules that are there to placate angry forum posters. And that's just an awful position to put DMs in (especially new DMs), but it's pretty unsurprising that it creates a certain contempt for knowing the rules as written.

You should have contempt for some of the rules as written. The designers did.

[aokozaki]

To distill a main point but less angry-posting, it feels like sticking to it through a route that doesn't feel fun isn't "playing the game wrong" because:

Getting annoying shit over and done with is An Approach

The developers in interviews stress that they hope players will find an ending they consider "their" true ending.

Like that's marketing spin to make The Game With 100 Endings more palatable to the average consumer like "haha don't worry you don't have to do all of them, but... you will, right?"

But "you're supposed to jump around, it feels like you might be sabotaging your own experience by sticking to a route you hate" like... having played Uchikoshi's body of work, his games in the Flowchart Jumping genre, so to speak...

The systematic approach, of going til the end til you're stopped, has never felt this much like pulling teeth before - on those merits, Hundred Line is Bad because it's padded and bloated worse than fucking VLR.

Okay, got to swearing, this wasn't supposed to be rage-posting. Taking that as a sign to stop it here.

[regression-1863]

And Then There Were Two

“You know the story.” 

“We know a story.” 

“So?” The brown haired man— (woman? They never particularly cared, call them a sentient goose for all they care,) leans back in the cheap orange chair. They cross their arms, as if cold. “It’ll all be the same. I already gave you my statement.” it was just the two of them here. Four if you count the facades that each of them wears. 

“You don’t seem too bothered about being in here,” the older man said. He had your typical 70s detective look, trenchcoat and all, cigar lit and being dragged on without care for the osha convention—  have that been invented yet? Seraphim couldn’t remember. Couldnt be bothered to, not anymore. 

“Should I be?” Seraphim asks, watching as  the detective fumes. 

The man takes a deep breath, before asking, “Name, age, date of birth.” 

“Se–” she pauses, “Sarah,, 19, born…” Seraphim pauses for half a second, barely noticeable, “1955, november third.” 

The detective slams his hand on the table, “You’d be 18 then, not 19.” 

“Would I?” Seraphim, aka Sarah puts ‘her’ hand on her forehead. “God, I must’ve been more messed up by this whole thing than I thought. I had my birthday celebrated a few days before  the office was supposed to be vacated.”

The detective, clearly resisting the urge of snapping at this poor young woman, as Seraphim made themself seem to be. 

“Start from the beginning.” 

Sarah, as quiet as she was, was an average worker. She did what she was told, didn’t go beyond that, did overtime when forced. By all standards, a cutboard cuttout office worker. Technically she was an intern, or unpaid labor, only a yearish out of highschool. 

By the time all of the other workers had gotten their things from the building and had left, so had she. Except, of course, she left her laptop. 

October 31st, 1973, 7:50P.M just after sunset, she remembered this little fact. There would hardly be anyone in the building. 

She went to the third floor where she worked, grabbing her laptop, before hearing the sounds of people. They were speaking in hushed voices, and of course, she followed. 

“Why?” the detected interjected her story. 

“They werent supposed to be there. I dont know how they got key’s to the building, its more likely they broke in. I was going to tell them off.” she took a deep breath, before continuing. “There were a group of teens. I told them to get lost–” 

“Can you describe them?” 

She wanted to glare at the detective. “Why, dont believe me?” They couldn’t help the snark in their voice, and quickly tried to reel it back in. 

There was Alexandra. Sarah noticed her first because she stood out the most when she told the group off. She only remembered her name because when the screaming started, her’s was the first to be called. Of course, Alexandra had an alternative fashion sense, and was mouthy, as described by the douchbag next to her. A hockey player? Sarah couldnt quite remember… 

“There were only four of us total I think—” “Five.” 

Seraphim looked at him, a bit bewildered. “Five? I dont remember a fith.” 

“Well there was one. He must’ve been the first to die then, his head was found peirced on the fence. “Ah,” Sarah said with a slight nod, looking down at her hands, into the hot cup of tea that she had no intention of drinking. 

“Lets start with the second victim then. You witnessed that one didn’t you?” the detective asks, almost snidely for a reason Sarah couldn’t comprehend. 

Seraphim could though, and it annoyed them to no end. “It was the cops found you after all. You were covered in her blood.” 

Sarah zoned off, as if remembering the scene vividly. 

She had ran off when the screaming first started. It was likely from the fith person she hadn’t heard of. She and Alexanda hid in the office landry room. It was old, not used often. She hid in the dry cleaner, jumping in to the white lid and hiding there. 

Screaming. 

Alexandra was screaming her head off, partly fearful, partly angry. And Sarah, of course, didn’t witness this. 

The detective sighed. 

“Great. Do you even know what the killer looks like?” 

Sarah gave a small, hesitant shrug. “I only found her afterwards. I didn’t know what to do.” she went quiet. “I think she…” 

“S..sarah. Thats y..your name, right?” Alexandra croacked out. She couldnt move. Her neck had been broken, her body mutilated in ways Sarah refused to look at. “I’m… scared…” 

Sarah felt her chest fall. She wanted to vomit. To rip out her own intestines in solidarity. Or just to die. It was horrific. She stumbled over, too stunned to say anything. She walked up to her. All she could think about was to hold her. Hold her gently and sing her the song that Sarah’s own mother used to sing to her. 

Sarah was crying by now, silent tears falling. “...do you think it hurt?” she asks quietly, though she knew the truth. 

The detective was clearly desensitized by the emotion Sarah was showing, as if it was just another day. “Yes.”

.

.

.

This is a new original random story im making and posting here because ill prolly never be a published book author :'D anyways! enjoy this random little series haha

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Masterlist

[hello-im-not-a-possum]

So, urbanspook is considered as "worst analog horror series ever" nowaday, what's your opinion on it now? I remember you said that's your favorite.

I think that there's three major reasons why its considered the worst.

Stakes Burnout.

Things going too far and handled too clumsily.

The creator being a contrarian ass.

Going a bit into depth on each one; for stakes burnout when the series started it started as a serial killer(s) painting disturbing portraits of their victims and the cops discovering these paintings and the victims they correlated to. It was an interesting beginning: a HUMAN threat (which was a breath of fresh air at the time because EVERYTHING was demons, mimics, or demon-mimics and while I love demons, mimics, and demon mimics as much as the next guy I also like a little variety in my monster diet), fascinating and arguably beautiful art pieces, and a tense atmosphere.

While it had a strong start, it started to slip by becoming a one-trick pony. It had an antagonist, but no real protagonist to follow. The 'Poster who got these police files' isn't our protagonist, the poster is our narrator, the literary equivalent to our plate and utensils which have the job of bringing us the story and giving us tools to eat it.

The police officers aren't the protagonist(s) either as they're far too nameless and faceless.

The victims themselves? The victims are the main point of the first problem listed.

As impressive as the voicework was for the 911 call with Isabelle, we simply don't learn enough about Isabelle, or... any other victim to really care about what happens to them. It was one thing when it was the first, second, or even third victim when it's setting the stakes, but when we ONLY get over the top executions with no way to connect to the victims, it sounds less and less like genuine horrific acts and more and more like white noise.

While Urbanslug, creator of The Painter series on the Urbanspook channel said to 'treat it as a Mortal Kombat death reel' the problem with that is, Mortal Kombat isn't a horror series, its a fighter game series. I've never played any of the Mortal Kombat games but even taking a glance that way it's easy to tell that the purpose of the gory, over-the-top deaths in there are there to make the winning player feel cool and powerful as they grind their opponent into the dirt and the losing player feel demoralized as they watch their character get torn to pieces. To reiterate, there is no protagonist, but there is an *antagonist*, the painting killer is framed as a force that needs to be stopped and we do not follow him or his accomplice, only their deeds. This creates dissidence from the 'intended viewing' as we the viewers aren't in the shoes of the victims and feeling fear or in the shoes of the killer and feeling powerful yet disturbing, we're faceless ghosts watching from behind the screens that start off feeling fear and intrigue only to have it burnt out of us as it does it over and over again but more or less gross.

Leading to the next point: Too far, and too clumsily. Horror as a genre isn't just 'fun halloween spooky ooo'. Sometimes it's sanitized for child consumption, but the horror genre's job is to be an investment in fear, in the macabre, in what makes the audience scared, disgusted, angry, or a mix of the three and thus covers topics that disturb the average person.

But engraved onto the other side of the coin, just because a topic IS disturbing and invokes righteous and rightfully deserved fear, anger, and disgust in people, doesn't mean it should be included in your horror story. Especially when this horrible act is brushed off.

In The Painter, a child named Cory was killed in a disgusting and sexual manor and his painting is dubbed 'Fucktoy Cory'. This murder is treated no differently than the others in universe, while in real life merch is made and sold of this painting, that has been contextualized to be a murderous child rapist's mockery of their dead victim.

In an alternate universe where The Painter might be a better series, the two killer twist and Cory's death could have been utilized better. Imagine if you will...

The police discovering gruesome murders and the paintings in different locations, corpses of the victims are posed as if they are the easels of the paintings they hold.

Carla's Teeth is held by a corpse who's mouth is slit ear-to-ear, all of the victim's teeth have been removed and stuck onto the canvas the victim was holding, the picture depicting a face made of soulless, bloodshot eyes, oddly undetailed skin, and teeth; the 32 real ones used to line the painting's over-exaggerated teeth.

Floating Jackie looked like it was floating in the bathtub before the witness took a closer look and discovered that it was being held up and out of the water by the hands of the victim it was depicting. The painting, like the victim's own face (found to be removed postmortem), was of a disembodied face in a red background or 'bath'. The painting's materials being watercolor mixed with the victim's blood.

James Secret face is found held by a headless corpse. The painting itself depicting a wet red skull emerging from skin and the materials used in it along with normal paint being the victim's blood, brain matter, hair, pieces of their skull, and saliva.

Two months later, several more paintings of the same art style were sent to the police station anonymously. However the titles and depictions of these paintings were not connected to any known cases at the time, and unlike the previous three contained no human matter as part of their composition.

The titles were as following; Wax Doll Tom, Lisa's Secret Face, Hanging Jimmy, Daniel After The Fire, Jennifer's Last Stare, Scream Maggie Scream, Fucktoy Cory, and last but not least... 'Self Portrait'.

Presuming that this is the killer's method of taunting them, the police go public with the case in the hopes of saving anyone that might be depicted in the paintings. Next Episode:

A Police Officer, Bill Collins, who had been on edge before the paintings were discovered by the earlier disappearance of his wife, discovered a copy of 'Self Portrait' in his home and reported it to local authorities immediately as he was clueless to how it ended up in there and presumed it was snuck into his house by The Painter. Presuming that this must have been his calling card, that the killer liked to 'mess with his victims' before taking them out.

While searching the officer's house, police found a man matching the characteristics of 'Self Portrait' tied to an easel and covered in red paint.

Also found in the attic were paintings of Bill's Wife Jennifer (A copy of Jennifer's last stare), ten-year-old daughter Lisa, and two-month-old daughter Angel. The wife's painting was made out of her bodily materials yet did not have an 'easel' while the daughters' paintings were made of regular materials.

The man in the attic has been taken in to police custody.

Now we have our new protagonist, Bill Collins, interrogating this murderer who calls himself... Self Portrait. Self is uncooperative, cagey, and likes to use flowery language to describe his... "Artworks", presumably seeing nothing wrong with what he is doing. In police custody, he does nothing but taunt the police, especially Bill, to their faces. However, as the fourth easel is discovered while Self is still in custody, he confesses the truth: that there's a second killer who Self dubs 'Apprentice' and that they used to work together before Apprentice betrayed Self due to an 'artistic disagreement', leading to his capture.

As the alternate Series of 'The Painter' goes on, Bill learns more about the targeted people by interviewing them, tries and fails to catch Apprentice, interrogates Self Portrait from time to time, and is growing more and more disturbed by both Self and Apprentice's mindsets, meeting his breaking point and almost killing Self in a fit of rage that happens after interviewing 11 year old Cory Beck while looking at the painting that was titled 'Fucktoy Cory'.

The only thing that manages to keep Self safe from Bill Collins's wrath being that one of the other officers pointed out that a key difference between Self's paintings and Apprentice's paintings was that the titles of Apprentice's paintings are a lot cruder and more sexually charged than Self's paintings, but Bill still has doubts in his mind as again, Self is a very cagey and uncooperative person who didn't even try to verbally or physically defend himself when Bill confronted him. ...That and 'Fucktoy Cory' WAS sent in with the rest of Self's paintings...

Granted, I'm not going to pretend that this is a PERFECT version of The Painter, everything is bound to have a flaw somewhere, but at least this version gives us a protagonist who has a personal connection to the killers, stakes as opposed to a conga line of stupidly brutal deaths, and instead of just a morbid notch in a morbid belt, 'Fucktoy Cory' is what makes an already fearful, disgusted, and angry person fucking lose it and almost kill another human being with his bare hands.

...Point three is kinda an afterthought at this point but there's a thing about 'separating the art from the artist'; it's easier to do when the Artist isn't actively being a massive dick to people on social media and pulling Schrodinger's douchebag tricks.

[thej320]

Week 2: The Work of Representation/Interpreting Media

How a sign can be interpreted differently in media

Signs are not a part of a fixed system; they are not defined universally. Everyone can interpret a sign or a gesture differently. Usually, this difference is constructed as cultures, language and norms vary. A pattern we will see is how social and cultural backgrounds shape the interpretation of an event and why the role of the viewer is so critical. A recent example of this is the double standard surrounding Iowa's Caitlin Clark and LSU's Angel Reese. During this year’s March Madness, these two players went viral for using the gesture “You can’t see me.” Caitlin Clark initially made this gesture after she made her sixth three-pointer of the night against Louisville (Henderson). Overall, the gesture was well-received, and she even got a congratulations from John Cena (the originator of the gesture) after the game.

The narrative began to shift as Angel Reese recreated this gesture during the women’s NCAA tournament. Although the gesture was the same, the media interpreted it much differently. Angel Reese got criticized for “taunting” Caitlin Clark and being “classless.” Many viewers felt that Reese displayed “ugly sportsmanship” and this was a reflection of LSU’s head coach, Kim Mulkey (Salvador). The narrative quickly received Clark as a hero and Reese as a villain. However, some viewers noticed the double standard being formed and encouraged people to see the bias behind it. What were people’s reaction saying about their individual backgrounds? Meg Linehan says, “If you celebrated Clark for doing this but not Angel Reese you got to take a long, long look in the mirror.” Linehan is referring to the racial bias that is being revealed through people’s reaction and the common stereotype of black women as “aggressive” or “angry.” Angel Reese shares “I don’t fit in the box that you all want me to be in. I’m too hood, I’m too ghetto. You told me that all year. But when other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing.” Reese herself criticizes the narrative that has been surrounding her. Overall, signs can be interpreted in many ways. In this case, the gesture was interpreted as “competitive” or “classless.” Many have pinpointed this difference as a reflection of racial bias and individual background. 

PART 2:

How the NCAA's Women's basketball tournaments created a discourse that reconditioned our regimes of truth

Growing up, I watched a lot of basketball. More specifically, I watched a lot of march madness. In my house, it was the busiest month of the year. My dad worked for the NBA draft and year after year I sat on the couch with him watching these pivotal games. I never once watched a women’s basketball game. 

Men’s basketball was dominant and in the world of basketball, women were often discredited. Forbes reports that in 2020, the average NBA player made five million dollars, whereas the average WNBA player made 120k. This pays difference reflects the lower ticket sales, lower attendance, and lower viewership in the WBNA. It was the reality and “regime of truth” that the NBA was more successful and entertaining. 

This was until this year’s March Madness and the discourse surrounding it. For the first time, the Women’s title game received more viewers than the men’s (Porter). The women’s tournaments more than doubled its viewership. Many credit this to Caitlin Clark and her rise to super star status. The media coverage on her has been outstanding and she has taken over popularity on all platforms. Even if people started watching because of their interest in her, they learn more about the game and the other dominant players that are leading women’s basketball right now. Caitlin Clark has announced that she is declaring for the WNBA draft. This is monumental and means so many great things to come for the sport. She has left a lasting legacy and a promising future for the NCAA tournaments, but is going to bring her determination and skill into the WNBA which will hopefully cut some of these disparities. Men’s basketball may have sustained their dominance, but the future is promising, and change is on the way. For most, that change is Caitlin Clark. 

References:

[leagueofleaguesff]

ILL FL NFL Breakdown🏈🏉🏈🏉🏈🏉🏈🏉🏈

Miami Dolphins

The Dolphins are slated to be a presence in the AFC East. Besides being one of the few teams who could possibly sustain two #1 receivers (fantasy wise). Tua's health will of course always be a concern given the recent history of concussions but at his ADP (average draft position) he is a great value In the rounds he was taken, unless reaches for. Tua could be a fringe QB1. With thier yound gen z head coach implementing a similar style that brought him success in San Frann the RBs committee would be more likely. Moestart is great when healthy. Jeff Wilson is familiar with the system. Achain the rookie is one to keep an eye on. Dolphins also added on defense with Ramsey across from Howard - arguably the best duo of secondary in the league. Geseki is out so all the volume should funnel to Waddle & Tyreek. This was especially evident in week 1.

Atlanta Falcons

Desmond Ridder, is he the future or is he a bust? The season might be the indicator. The NFC South is open thanks to the G.O.A.T. Tom Brady retring for the NFL. The exciting new draft prospect RB Bijan Robinson showed a why he was the 1st RB off the board. What was surprising was the usage Tyler got particularly in the receiving end. It could be an easy in of Bijan OR perhaps a split carry backfield. Drake London was a receiver in the 3 to 6 rounds filling in as a key cog player on many teams. What was more concerning than the output was the lack of targets from the get go. ATL may be a run 1st offense leaving Pitts and Drake in the lower rank of options for the play calling which doesn't bode well for those who drafted them. Teams who invested in Pitts as a mid tier TE are especially angry. The Falcons defense are not that stout but the team could have enough juice to compete for that division with weak offenses with the other NFC South teams.

Los Angeles Rams

The Rams were largely written off. Kupp injury woes had fantasy players skittish about drafting him despite being a target hog from Stafford who usually serves as a via low end QB back up on many teams bench. With news of Kupp out, some in the fantasy world thought Van Jefferson would step up but it was preseason darling Puka who shined in their season debut. Will the rookie be viable once Kupp returns? Will Kupp return? If you have to see a specialist for your hamstring it can't be good. He is this offense. TuTu Atwell has been a gadget player at best, not reliable week to week. Cam Akers was being passed up in drafts due to obvious reasons. Regardless of Akers clear volume opportunity, it was 2nd yr K. Williams that made the most of his snap share. Perhaps with Rams Defense they can be a bye plug n play. Questions about Aaron Donald's will to actually play (contemplated retirement after the superbowl) and loss of Ramsey, we'll have to see where they land in rank. TE Higbee might be the Sleeper late round flier or waiver add that has the most upside.

Cleveland Browns

No one should be surprised about the dominant Browns defense. Sure the off timing of Burrow and company pooped 💩 the bed, but Myless Garrett and friends have played this divisional matchup close in the past 5 years. They knew how to shut the Bengals out & get to Burrow. Chubb I fell has been disrespected as others were ranked higher than him in the draft. He has always produced consistently with only few injuries. Hunt is now gone from the team so the passing volume only boosts his value as a top tier RB. Ford is the back up but observing his week 1 work, on the offset, doesn't seem to be factored in the running game plans. Watson again hasn't played a long stretch of football in about 3 years so adjusting will take longer. The hope he can return to form from his Houston days are the crutch. He has skills that separate him physically from other QBs. He'll need to capitalize on those to justify where he was drafted on teams as a starter. His resurgence leads in the the Amari Coopers and People's Jones of the world. Njoku chemistry with Watson is what to watch.

Dallas Cowboys

Everything is bigger in Texas. The big D put a hurting on the G-men. The past few years with Dan Quinn as coordinator has shown Dallas steadily becoming one of the best (if not the best) defense in the league. Parsons, Diggs, this team is not slacking in defensive Stallworths. Questions abound about Daks place in the organization. The team is loaded and expectations are even higher. This may be common for 🤠 cowboy fans but this year is especially interesting. Take into account the 40-0 prime time win. The box score didn't match the fantasy output. Prescott didn't max out his line and newly acquired Cooks got injured. Pollard showed why the fantasy world were vouching for him to start. Jerry Jones and Zeek parted ways leaving that opportunity for Pollard to become the #1 RB. Gallup is not really a factor. They have a promising crop of new TEs with Dalton off to the other side of Texas. Kellen Moore the coordinator left for the Chargers. Mike McCarthy is now calling plays in addition to his head coaching duties. He too is on the hot seat. Let's see if he can replicate his Green Bay calling Days for this offense.

Detroit Lions

Lions hype train is real. The Lions have built upon thier first winning record season in a long time upsetting a division rival (costing them the playoffs after thier slim hopes were dashed right before the start of the game) running off Rodgers to the Jets. Lions beat the defending Super Bowl Champions Chiefs arguably an upset but smart betting hedge. The Lions are feisty. They have adopted the head coaches moxy and it shows. Goff is slightly more than serviceable. His stat line off the charts. AmonRa is a top tier WR. Gibbs the rookie has high hopes. Even with Montgomery from the Bears coming over and padding his stats, Gibbs is the future. It may be a 60/40 split but as the season progresses we may see a shift. Swift is out and this new RB duo is the immediate payoff. Marvin Jones is back with his OG team but was not a factor. Be on the lookout though. Since week 9 of last year the Lions have played zone defense. After being one of the historic worst - they have gradually become a better pass defense. With Hockenson traded mid season last year, the TE shares are up in the air.

New York Jets

Biggest hype of the off season came to a crashing halt. 4 plays in the first drive of NY great hope Rodgers...out for the season with an Achilles injury. Devastating 💔

Hard knocks, Aaron Rodgers media narrative, the recent lackluster history of the Jets franchise, big QB move, front office drama, arguably one of the best recent drafting years by the GM of the Jets with thier defense (Quinen) and offense (Garrett Wilson), all the stars aligned but a comet came crashing through. Now Wilson's stock plummets. The defense should still be one of the( if not THE) top Defenses in the league. Any of the carry overs from Green to Green (Cobb & Lazard) will not be a factor. The team is being pressured to bring in a vet preferred over the irractic Zach Wilson. But who is out there? Breece Hall may be worked back in slow but he showed out. Those who invested in Cook may have felt let down in week 1 but hold steady. They paid him big money...he will be used.

New England Patriots

Patriots were slated to be an afterthought. They brought it against the eagles. Now they look competent? Well, pencil pavorati (Matt Patricia) is no longer calling the offense. WHY!! Why would Bill have a defensive coordinator call offense plays? A genius but also a wildly abstract choice (wasn't Bills first). Lets face it. A belichick led team is the worst to figure out. He cares about winning and adjusts on the fly. Or doesn't. Makes him a hall of fame coach but a point of contention in the fantasy community. Juju added....nothing. His days are long behind. Mac Jones showed improvement but how much can you bank on with this teams fluid scheme? Bourne might be the best WR they have even if Parker returns. Ramandre still should get the focal point but with Zeek there now, that takes volume. Goal line? Pass targets? We have to wait and see how things shake out. Defense is still viable. Henry is still the TE or is Mike Geiseki gonna factor? Are either getting looks or game planned in?

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens beat the Texans but boy did it look bad. Dobbins (as bad as I feel for the person) is useless. Injury prone isn't even the word to describe. OBJ addition and Duvernay or Bateman healthy, we should see something in the air yards for Lamar. A new coordinator and Andrews injury status should have shown some promise. Truly is was more of the same. Lamar steals run yards from the RBs. Hill stepped up but Melvin Gordon on the practice squad. Fournette and Hunt haven't signed yet. The Ravens, historically, have a revolving door of RBs who outplay the RBs who made the team or were already signed before the summer OTAs. Hopefully Lamar can repeat that one year he became MVP. Time will tell.

Pittsburgh Steelers

The Steelers defense football wise will donwhat they always do under Tomlin...get better and be more of a nuance. TJ Watt as an IDP is ideal. The preseason was kind to the Pickett Pickens duo but none of that materialized in week 1. In fact it was the opposite. Pickens almost regressed it seemed. Very concerned 😟 Dionte Johnson hurt doesn't help matters. Najee will have the majority of the snap counts so let's see if he can raise himself out of the mid tier RB 3 flex type tanking. Pat F is a TE that is a fringe TE2 that could produce.

Thank you for indulging me in my NFL team by team soap box. Let's check out the Sleeper League below and good luck to all in the ILL this year ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️