#and i just cannot be bothered with that right now

[ddejavvu]

venom and eddie trying to surprise reader with a present/party but it goes to shit bc venom cant keep a secret from the reader <33 🧸

A sticky black tendril holding the door shut would have sufficed, but Venom decides to accompany that with a startling roar of, 'No!' that effectively stops you from trying to grab the vaccuum.

"Venom..." You stand in front of the closet, though your head is turned now to face the symbiote desperately trying to shrink back into Eddie's flesh as if you'll forget he existed, "What's in the closet?"

"Nothing's in the closet," Eddie hums casually, still stationed at the stove like the windows hadn't just rattled with venom's shout, "Just the vacuum, but it's broken so don't bother trying to use it."

"Well maybe I can fix it," You start for the closet again, only to be stopped again, this time restrained by venom's tentacle.

"Hey! Get off of me," You struggle against the symbiote to no avail, and before long he has you completely bound in a blanketing of stickiness. It clings to your skin and makes it crawl, but no matter how hard you fight, you can't free yourself.

"Venom- Venom! Let me go," You cry, "I just want to vacuum!"

"I cannot let you in the closet." Venom soothes you, his voice pitched low and smooth because he knows it helps you calm down, "There is something in there that you cannot see."

"Please don't tell me it's a dead body," You've given up your fight now, going limp in Venom's tight grip. One of the tendrils he's captured you with smooths a stray chunk of hair out of your face where you'd struggled it free.

"It is not a dead body. It is a-"

"Venom! Venom, do not tell her what it is." Eddie breaks his casual facade now, pointing the spatula in his hands aggressively at the symbiote, "I was not kidding. If you spoil this, I'm forcing you out of my body and throwing you to the streets."

"You tried that once," Venom sneers, "It did not work. Y/N, we are not hiding a dead body in the closet. It is your birthday present."

"Shut up! Shut up, stop talking right now," Eddie urges, "Venom, I mean it. Stop talking or I'll kill Sonny and Cher."

Venom's wide, milky, blinking eyes swivel towards his prized pet chickens, and he goes limp around you, releasing his tight grip on your limbs and allowing you the freedom of movement once again. He shrinks back into Eddie, effectively chastised, but before he disappears completely, he grumbles, "Don't worry, Y/N. You will find out that it is an ice cream maker soon."

[respectthepetty]

Spare Me Your Mercy Thoughts

I have waited almost four years for this show since MDL made a placeholder for Euthanasia in early-2021, and now that it is here, I'm going to gush about all the ways I love it!

Just like a few of Dr. Sammon's other shows airing around the holidays (Manner of Death, Dead Friend Forever, and Petrichor), I'm thankful I got the first episode of Spare Me Your Mercy on Thanksgiving and the last will come on Christmas because this is the exact show I need for the holiday season since it began the entire series with Tew, the cop, having to perform euthanasia on an animal.

I grew up and still live in a rural area where cattle far outnumber the actual folks, so I fully understand euthanasia is a good death as the word implies, so I will not be struggling through the premise of this show, and I have faith the show won't either because when Tew fired the gun, the scene was peaceful.

And the show is making some pointed remarks about how things operate outside of bigger cities since Kan specifically mentioned he has about 2,500 patients. When the other officer asked the nurses if Kan had a long queue, they didn't even respond. Kan also clarified that his specialty is palliative care, so he has to monitor a wide range of long-term illnesses, so even though Tew might actually be from this place, he is now the outsider and out of his depth before he even started.

Sidenote: I cannot be mad at a nurse, even if one of them turns out bad because the way they all protect Kan from the police is the teamwork I love to see.

The red light to notify the office the doctor is seeing a patient coming on right after Kan responded to the nurse that it wasn't a murder case yet was perfection.

I already knew Kan was going to be my favorite character, but Tor is doing amazing showing the layers Kan has, as expected. Kan tells Tor he can cry and shows him kindness, but when pushed, Kan makes small digs about how people should spend the last moments of someone's life cherishing them when rudely questioned by Tew regarding the unexpected deaths knowing Tew did not get to see his mother before she died. He also made a subtle display of knowing where things were located in the house because he is in control.

The way he slid his LINE information into the conversation AFTER indirectly telling Tew he was being emotional due to his grief is why I'm excited to see another version of Manner of Death's Tan. Kan probably does like Tew but he stays focused and calculated.

He is terrifying without there being any concrete detail to pinpoint on why he is scary. Som, while describing people being possessed by evil murderous spirits, was terrified of Kan, and the transition from Som telling his story to Kan appearing at the exact moment Som was going to state what human form the evil spirits take was brilliant.

But what's even more terrifying is the treatment of the terminally ill. They are viewed as a burden, locked away, and isolated.

And Tew witnessed it. He got a glimpse of what Kan sees daily, so the show is already building up a case in defense of Kan's actions. If he is performing euthanasia, Tew could understand. He heard the goat's bell. He knew it was still alive, but he decided to end its suffering, cleanly and swiftly, which is what euthanasia is. He saw that man left behind by his family and even moved to go get him. And he was bothered when the man's daughter stated her reasoning for leaving him out there alone.

He also stopped Kan from continuing to question Som. Therefore, the true conflict has been set. Tew, whose job is to discover the truth, doesn't need it if it causes pain, but Kan's entire job is making pain manageable.

And I always want to trust a woman, but as suspicious as the director is being about everything, babygirl would be the perfect person to attempt euthanasia since the dead would end up on her table where she could claim the death was the result of the illness.

Because euthanasia is a good death.

And this ain't it.

He understands that.

But someone doesn't.

[a-shade-of-green]

THE STRANGE WORLD OF MIKE WHEELER

my stranger things x amazing world of gumball fusion concept art !

RAHHHHH IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO INK THESE

i plan on making a lot more stranger things x gumball content and i promise it WILL at some point increase in quality-- i just don't have a way to make digital art right now unfortunately : /

I HAD SO MUCH FUN MAKING THESE AND I CANNOT WAIT TO RELEASE COMIC STRIPS AND ANIMATICS !!!

also im sorry about the quality of the pictures, every time i upload stuff to tumblr it uploads blurry? idk why. if anyone knows how to fix it and is bothered enough by it, please tell me 😭

[gem-de-lune]

Daily Vibe Check 11/30

Rii7e (Collective)

3 of Pentacles + The Sun [Temperance + King of Swords]

There is some general positivity here. It seems they may be preparing something together right now, or rather are seeing something in a new positive light together as a team. They are all on the same page completely and totally. Generally, this is good, but it speaks more about recent developments than their actual mood collectively.

With Temp and the King, i asked if there are any new developments, and yes there may be. The members are still taking a diplomatic and balanced approach to this because that will be best received by the company and in their best favor. But it looks like communications have opened up. They must be careful not to be too emotional in these communications, or they will just be shut out again. The company has made it clear that how they feel explicitly does not take priority, and it just prolongs the process of any discussions. They are having more clear minded talks like this, and they seem to be going well-ish.

Anton

4 of Pentacles + [5 of Wands + Ace of Swords + 3 of Swords]

Anton is struggling with what we discussed above. He seems to want to say a lot but cannot bc he can't keep himself in check. His only way of keeping himself in check is shutting up. With the 5, Ace, and 3, he goes into depth from his perspective, which is unique, I think. He is rather irritated and feels stifled- does not feel good that how he feels is nothing but a hinderance and conflict instigator. He may have been scolded or told off for saying something recently that was deemed too emotional and not thinking about the company or monetary factors. Just like he is viewed as very naiive and he is frustrated that he cannot communicate things well. Of all members he is the most angered or rather bothered by the way things are going- not because it is going badly, but because he can't contribute as much without starting a whole thing. He takes it personally. He needs to work of communicating effectively for him to be heard.

SM

4 of Wands + King of Pentacles

The vibe is "cleanup". This is about covering all your bases for an inspection. Stabilizing, ruling, and preserving structure. This is less abt how they are feeling and more about the situation in regards to Seunghan. We know they are in talks, so here it seems they are first and foremost thinking abt the stability of things and the potential of growth and prosperity over a prolonged period of time. They may have a priority to do this, and therefore they must foster this feeling in Riize and their fandom when proceeding or it will not work. They are aware of this. I would not say they are waking up more- bc they are mainly concerned abt profits. But they are bouncing ideas around, and the people on Riize's side are doing their best to advocate.

Current outlook/Timeline

Death Reversed + Strength

As we know, I hate timelines and do them sparingly. This is a timeline either for his return or for a significant development in our favor like an announcement of sorts.... 3 stands out. 3 weeks or 30 days actually.

As for the outcome in relation to this- this is saying that an unfavorable ending CAN be resisted. There may be an instance within the next 30 days that is going to test us very strongly. Like this may be really unsavory at FIRST, but we HAVE to push through it. It reminds me abt what I said regarding the ministry a few days ago. Like some things will seem irrelevant or even bad to us- but they will actually be a catalyst to victory. Be SMART and be STRONG through the end of the year, guys.

Bottom of the deck

10 of Wands

It is going to get heavy for a minute. But we are doing all of this for a reason. Sacrificing money, time, and emotional expenditure on this. We need to be careful to remember why we are boycotting and advocating, and understand that it will never be easy and free of the stress. The only release will come from a victory that will ONLY happen with people NOT giving up. It does not matter how many people we have so long as we are all in ts for the endgame.

Final Notes:

Heed these words- there is a storm coming and some of yall will drop like flies. When that happens I need you to come here and be reminded that NOTHING ends until YOU. GIVE. UP. No one can tell you to stop fighting- only you. We are not simply boycotting bc we want Seunghan in Riize. We are fighting for his free will to choose what he wants, and the same for Riize. Until those things are clearly communicated and given to them, we need to continue. Stop being deterred by SM and others. Stopping is YOUR choice. And stopping = 100% losing. Choosing to 100% fail when you can see things through and get a better grade is dumb. Get up. Stay up.

[admirationandromantics]

Going overboard, 2: Darkness

Second chapter out! (Yes, there'll be smut in the next one, so get ready). The time of the happenings throughout the story might be a little fucked up, so just ignore that. Hope everything's okay so far. Enjoy!

❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀--✽--❀

Ashley is sitting on the steps beside the door, but when I arrive, she quickly gets up. I look over, wondering if I should say something. I really want to talk to her, to have my best friend back. But I cannot forgive what happened. Not yet anyway. She doesn't move from her standing, waiting for some type of confirmation that talking to me is okay. I don’t want to indulge her, but I have to say something. 

“Hey Ash”

“Hey.” It’s awkward, weird. I feel like a completely different person. The atmosphere is tense, and Sam is looking at each one of us, waiting for something to happen. I hear loud footsteps from behind as Chris makes his way beside me. 

“Man I feel like this mountain gets bigger every time I climb it,” he states, hands resting on each side of his hips. 

“Oh yeah?” I know that voice, and I stop breathing. My mind suddenly sharpening and prior coldness turning hot. I turn around to find Josh walking towards us. We make eye-contact and he stops in his tracks. 

“Oh, you’re here?” he says, and my cheeks flush from embarrassment. I shouldn’t be here, and I’ll go in the morning, I just need to talk to him. 

“Yeah, rode with Sam,” I reply, making a gesture towards her. 

“Hey Josh!” she waves from behind me. 

“Well, glad you all came,” he says, gaze turning away from me. I feel bad. I look at Ashley, and she looks at me with worry. She knows something’s up. 

“When are you going to install some cell towers up here? I’m getting withdrawals already,” Chris complains. My eyes don’t move away from Josh. He seems oddly happy, oddly calm. Like he’s wearing a mask. He folds his arms before answering. 

“You got a spare million lying around and I’ll fix you right up”

“Funny you should say that-” Chris starts, feeling his pockets. 

“Ah, I think I left it in my other jacket”

“Oops”

Ashley sits down on the stairs again, looking away from me. I wish the stuff from last year never happened. Josh turns around, and I notice Matt and Emily for the first time. Emily is looking as good as ever, unbothered by everyone. A freeze creeps up my spine. I always got this uneasy feeling when being in her presence. Matt is standing behind her, a bag standing by his feet. He looks worried, and angry. A weird mix. I still don’t feel comfortable with everyone here. 

“Get here okay?” Josh asks them. 

“Yeah, well, more or less. But it’s so good to see you” Ashley answers. Matt is silent, and Emily looks at him annoyed. Josh walks up to the redhead, asking in a low tone. 

“What’s up with them?”

“Mhm” she responds, looking up at them before shaking her head. Drama, again. Does it never end? Chris and Josh walk up to the door while we others wait. I don’t want to be a bother to him, yet. They talk loudly while getting the door open, using way too long. 

“Damn, frozen lock,” I hear. I look up, but they’re still talking. Probably about how to get in. The cold is getting to everyone, Emily is warming herself with her hands, and looks over to Matt for support. He doesn’t do anything, just continues staring into the woods. 

Finally, they both make their way down again, Chris stopping in front of Ashley. 

“Hey Ash,” he smiles. Her cheeks redden as she waves at him. They’re cute, both of them. I would’ve thought that by last year they would’ve gotten together, but it seems like none of them still dare to make a move. 

“Soo, how’re you doing?” he asks, and she looks over at me before turning her gaze back at him. 

“Mmm, good I guess. A little cold though. I think I could use some time curled up by the fire…”

I can’t help but smile at Chris’s reaction. He blushes, looking at her intently. Sam snickers as she gives me a nudge. We both know what he’s thinking about now. 

“Yeah, that does sound pretty nice…”

They both smile at each other, before Josh signals for him to follow. They make their way around the house. I turn back around, seeing Ashley standing up and grabbing my arm. We go the opposite of them, getting a little away from the others. As we stop, she lets out a breath, staring at me intensely. 

“Look, I know you probably don’t want to talk to me, or even see me, but we have to. I need to,” she starts, and I look down at the ground. I’m bombarding Josh on this trip, it’s fair for her to do the same to me. 

“Yeah, that’s one of the reasons I came”

“I never meant for any of the things that happened to ‘actually’ happen”

I look up at her again, missing her. The whole year has been a wreck, and I didn’t even have my best friend to help me through it. 

“I followed them, I did, I was in it, I know I was. I just, I never meant to hurt either of them”

“I know you didn’t. That doesn’t change the fact that you were in on a plan that lead to their deaths”

“You have no idea how much regret I have, I keep playing that night over and over again, wishing I could change it. I’ve missed you!” She takes a breather before continuing. “This whole year, I’ve been so alone, please”

Tears are forming in her eyes, and I feel myself getting heavier. I love her so much, and it wasn’t her fault. She was also the one of those involved who spent the most time outside searching for them. I remember getting up and finding her with frozen fingers, getting ready to go outside again. 

“It’s going to take some time for me to completely trust you again-” I begin. Her eyes fill with hope, and my chest lightens from her reaction. 

“Take all the time you need, but know that I’m here when, or if, you decide to come back”

“We can start slow,” I say as I grab onto her arms and pull her into a hug. I feel her breathing steady and her heartbeat slow. Tears form in my eyes as I rest my head on her shoulder. I’ve missed her so much. She hugs me hard, and I wonder if I’ll ever get out of her grip. She’s stronger than she looks. 

“Thank you,” she whispers back, and we pull apart. We make our way over to the others, Sam giving me an encouraging smile. Only one last person to talk to. 

We wait a bit, and I decide to walk to the side of the house to check up on them. They’ve been there for an awfully long time. I arrive, noticing a missing axe on the side of the house and two men trying to shove a big dumpster. I notice the open window as well, getting to know their plan. 

“Need any help?” I ask, walking over. 

“Ugh, please” Chris pleads, showing his side. Josh doesn’t say anything. He just waits on the other side of us to be ready to push. I help them, and in three hard rounds, we manage to move it enough. Chris makes a loud grunt as he hops on it, looking in the window. Josh still doesn’t pay attention to me, so I decide to make myself useful instead. The dumpster is high, so I nudge Chris’s foot. He looks down at me, reaching his hand down for me to grab. With his help, I manage to get up. The inside looks dark and dusty, not my type of environment. As I turn around, my foot slips on the ice, making me fall. I yelp as I go down, closing my eyes and covering my head in my arms. I wait for the impact, but am instead grabbed by two hands. I open my eyes, meeting Josh’s. My breathing quickens, lips parting a bit for more air. He’s standing still, one hand on my back and one under my legs, holding me bridal style. I can’t read his expression. His eyes are wider than usual, and I notice the strong colour of his undereyes. He hasn’t slept well recently. My hand goes automatically to his shoulder, and I suddenly get flashbacks to our drunken nights. Him twirling me around in a playful manner then stopping and staring into my eyes a little too long before putting me down. Right now, he doesn’t put me down, instead he keeps looking at me. My cheeks feel hot, and my lips yearn. His brows furrow, a bit of anxiousness and hurt showing. I’m holding myself up with one of my arms, but the other moves to his neck, feeling his naked skin. Then we hear a loud thud. 

He shakes his head, suddenly remembering where we are, and he puts me down. Still a bit in the moment, it takes some time to gain my balance again. We both look up to Chris, but he’s not there. Instead, the window is wide open. I’m about to get on top of the dumpster as Josh reaches out a hand for me. I take it, smiling at him while he helps me up. He smiles back, a kind one. Those are the ones I like the best. His other hand goes to my back, as I steady myself on the box. On the top, I give him my hand, helping him up as well. We both look down and see a hurt Chris lying on the floor, teeth bared and eyes pinched closed. 

“I’m okay! Should’ve paid more attention in climbing class” he comments, and I snicker. 

“You mean gym?” Josh asks, clearly confused. 

“Yeah, you know, with the climbing up the rope”

“Yeah, that’s what you do in gym class” I add. 

He stands up, the lightbulb suddenly exploding. 

“Shit” we all say in unison.

“Did I do that?” Chris asks. 

“Uhh, I don’t think so”

Josh looks down, grabbing a hold of a lighter in his pocket and throwing it to him. 

“Here, use this”

Chris flicks it, but it doesn’t light up as much as expected. 

“Woah, Chris I just got an awesome idea-”

“Yeah?”

“Totally. Okay, so I’m pretty sure that I’ve got some deodorant in one of the bathrooms, you could use that with the lighter”

I look weirdly at him. “How’s a stick of deodorant going to help?”

He nudges me, looking over and smiling. “It’s a spray can.” I haven’t seen his smiles in a year, so every one of them makes me smile back, a warm feeling spreading in my chest. I look over at Chris again.

“Flamethrower, like we do with the little army dudes!” he exclaims. 

“Yep, the ones that we melted”

“Freaks” I comment, pretending-rolling my eyes. Chris gives me a pouty mouth. 

“Okay, so you got this?” Josh asks, and he nods, walking further into the room. Josh and I jump down, luckily both landing on our feet. I look over at him, unsure of how to proceed. Luckily, he begins. 

“So, we haven’t talked for a while”

“Yeah,” I nod. 

“And, you came here?”

My breath catches as shame coats me. I’m absolutely an intruder. 

“Sorry Josh, you haven’t been responding, and I just needed to know you were okay”

He gives a slight smirk. 

“So, still care about me huh? Even after a year?” 

My heart sinks a bit as I’m going to tell him about my feelings. He got to know last year, but I just need some sort of closure. A year without moving on has made me come to that decision. 

“Listen, if you don’t want me here, that’s fine, I’ll take the bus tomorrow morning. And I got a bit hurt from not getting any responses from you, and that’s fine, I get it. But please, since you obviously don’t want to think about everything that happened last year, we can just go back to being friends, good friends-”

“I don’t want that” he responds, and I look down again. 

“Then I’ll be out of here tomorrow morning, okay? The bus only goes onc-” 

He suddenly grabs my hand, stopping me from walking back. 

“Hey, that’s not how I meant it. I wanted to get back in touch with you, just after this, I truly did, but-”

“But what?”

“What happened between us last year… I don’t want to let that go”

Our eyes meet, faces closing in. 

“I’ve just been working through everything, and things haven’t fallen into place yet”

“I know, I know. I’m here for you Josh, if you need me”

His signature smirk plasters on him, and I can’t help but blush. His hand moves to my waist, the other behind my neck. 

“Good God, of course I need you” he whispers, pulling me in and kissing me. His lips are cold, but I don’t mind. My arms close around his neck, and I pull our bodies closer. Our moment is interrupted by several shouts. We look at each other before running over to the others. A baby animal runs down the stairs and into the forest. Everyone is laughing while Chris holds the door open for everyone. 

“Home sweet home,” Josh says as he walks in. Everybody sighs. 

“It’s freezing in here”

“I’ll get a fire going”

I look around, surprised by how little has changed. It looks exactly the same. Matt points it out, also analysing the place. 

“Well, nobody’s been up here” Josh explains. Telling us how the police stopped working quite quickly. 

“What’s up party-people”

“Heeeey!”

Mike and Jess. I sense some tension in the room, and catch Emily giving them a nasty glare. They both take a place on the sofa, rubbing on each other. Nasty people. Matt stares at Mike, giving him the up-and-down. They’re all crazy, everyone’s ego shooting through the roof. 

“Yeah, come in, take whatever you want” Matt says in an accusing tone. Fuck, already? I pull up my phone, trying not to pay attention to the others. A bunch of words are exchanged, and I only catch a few. 

“Watch yourself Mike”

“Was your sluttyness too loud?”

“Oh, no one else can play with your toys?”

I give up, deciding to pay attention. As long as I’m not part of it, it’s fine. Emily and Jess continue tearing each other up, building the tension more and more. Mike is silent, and Matt tries to occasionally cut in to diffuse the situation. 

“Stop it!” Josh suddenly shouts. 

“This is not why we came up here, this is not helping-”

“This is not what I wanted. If we can’t get along for ten minutes then maybe we need a break?”

I stand up with Sam, unsure of our next move. No one is paying attention to us, everyone focuses on their own fights. 

“Mike, why don’t you check out the guest cabin I told you about?”

“Yeah, we’ll go do that,” he answers, holding out his hand for Jess. They both make their way outside. 

“Wait, shit” Josh exclaims, slamming his hand into his head. “I forgot about the generator.”

“I’ll get it” I volunteer. He showed it to me last year, so I’ll manage on my own. 

“You’re an angel” he points at me, before leaning down to the fireplace. 

I make my way outside, the wind surprising me. The wind is refreshing, pulsing through my lungs. I want to run down, at least jog, but don’t dare because of the ice. Instead, I plug in my earpods, listening to already downloaded music. A squirrel climbs a tree on my left, and I consider stopping for it. I remember giving my nuts to Sam on the bus-ride, so maybe I should just leave it alone. The path is dark, and a little bit scary. The same eerie feeling that bothered me in the start creeps back, and I take a hold around myself. Why did I decide to go alone again? I arrive in the shed, opening the generator and starting it up. I suddenly get a feeling like I’m being watched, so I quickly make my way up again. On the way I meet Emily and Matt. I slow down, greeting them. 

“Where are you guys going?”

“Forgot one of our bags” Emily responds. 

“We’ll be quick”

I continue walking up, noticing movement in the side of my vision. I turn, but nothing’s there. I hold my breath, looking closer. After a minute, I give up. It was probably an elk or a deer. 

I only find Ashley and Chris sitting on the sofa inside. 

“Where are the others?”

“Sam’s checking the bathtub upstairs while Josh’s trying to get her some warm water going” Chris responds. 

“He probably needs help” Ashley adds.

“And none of you wanted to?”

“Nah”

I give them both a fake-disappointed look before making my way to the cellar. The concrete walls look dirty, and the light is off. When I’m down, I hear a low summing to my left. Knowing Josh is further in the right, I still decide to check out the sound. I walk over to a heavy metal door, looking around it for some sort of glimpse to the other side. I put my ear against it, hearing the summing sound better. It sounds like some type of technology, like a used up computer. 

“Boo!”

Hands grab me, making me scream. Josh is laughing, moving his hands to hold me, but I keep hitting him. 

“You fucking jerk Washington, you scared the crap out of me!” I scold, letting my hands fall to my sides. 

“Sorry, sorry. Felt like the right thing to do in the moment,” he excuses, hands moving around me, hugging carefully. My heart rate lowers, and I let myself sink into his embrace.  

“Could you help me with this water-thing?” he asks, looking down at me expectfully. 

“Of course, but wait-” I say while he drags me. 

“Josh, what is behind this door?”

“That one?” he points. 

“Yeah, I heard something. It was like, summing or something”

“Probably just the pipes” he says, dragging me further away. 

“Okay…”

We make our way to the cabinet, picking and poking at some wires. 

“Can you click that button when it turns red?” he asks. I nod in reply. When it turns red, I quickly push it, making it green. 

“Hey we did it!” he exclaims, hand going up for a high five. As I make contact, he grabs my hand, turning it, and making me spin around. As I bump into him, he places a kiss on my forehead. I laugh, but he just keeps smiling. 

“You’re beautiful, you know”

“Why thank you, you’re not too bad yourself”

I grab his hand harder, and start walking. I want to make my way out of here, the vibe is creeping me out. 

“I feel like you just called me average”

“Wouldn’t have fucked you if you were just average”

“True that”

As I take the first step up the stairs, a loud bang is heard. Like metal on concrete. I turn around, not glimsing anything. Josh is looking attentively, carefully letting go of my hand. 

“Josh” I whisper. 

“Stay there”

I don’t listen, and instead make my way silently behind him, holding on to his bicep. 

“You heard that, right?” he asks, and I hum. 

Suddenly a man in a cloak and mask jumps forward, arms out. We both shout, grabbing each other's hands and running to the stairs. I smack my arm on the corner of the opening, making it hurt. I don’t bother with it, getting up to the door and trying to get it open. 

“Josh! Josh! Josh!” I shout, not able to open it. 

“It doesn’t open from inside!”

“How do we get fucking open then!” I shout back, furiously gripling at the door. 

The guy comes nearer, and Josh puts his arm defensively in front of me. I lean into him, hand grabbing him, hard. 

“Eyy”

“What?”

“Eyyyy…”

“What the fuck, Chris?” I manage to squeak out. Josh is laughing his ass off, and I look to and fro them both. 

“You just got monked!”

“Gosh, Chris, nice one”

“Wha-?? Why would you do that?” I ask, the tension leaving my body, finally being able to relax. 

Josh places his arm on my back, calming me down. 

“Come on, it was funny”

“Absolutely not”

As we walk back, I turn to Chris. 

“Okay, I’m ready to admit that your dumb little prank may have had a slight whiff of humour to it,” I state, the harshness in my voice disappearing. 

“Jokemaster!”

“I never said anything about jokes, I was talking about your stupid prank-”

“Holy crap” Josh chimes in. “You were scared, admit it”

“I wasn’t scared, I was surprised”

“Nah hun, you almost pissed yourself”

“I did not!”

We make our way back to Ashley, who’s walking towards us. She meets Chris in the middle, and he bows. 

“What in God’s name are you wearing?”

“I’ve found my true calling” he says, making a cross in the air. 

“Please tell me you’re going to take a vow of silence”

Chris starts talking soundless in the air, making Ashley laugh. I look between the two, the tension between them stronger than before. When are they gonna crack? What will it take? 

“Feel better now?” Josh asks me, nudging me in the arm. A sharp pain goes through me as he does. 

“Ouch, fuck” I whisper, grabbing the spot. 

“Shit” he suddenly gets a worried look on his face. 

“I’m just gonna go to the bathroom and check this out” I say, starting to make my way up the stairs. 

“Hey wait up, Sam’s in there, you can use mine”

“Oh okay, and which room was that again?”

“I’ll show you” 

“Hey Josh, do you have an ouija board?” Chris asks. 

“Yeah, just look in those shelves over there, see if you can find it. We’ll be right back”

His hand moves to my lower back, guiding me up the stairs. As I walk down the hallway, memories start flooding in. Him and I walking down these corridors, and into his room, then…

We go to the room above his, where he opens a cabinet and finds some salve. I start undressing, shaking a bit from the cold. As I get to my last layer, I realise that I’m only wearing a bra underneath. 

“You gonna take that off?” he asks, pointing to my sweater. I give him a smirk, leaning forward slightly. 

“Sure you can handle it?”

“Absolutely not”

I laugh at him, deciding to just take off my sweater. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before. He looks in awe as I turn around and check out my arm in the mirror. It’s just a scrape, and it doesn’t look that bad, just stings. Awoken from his trance, he moves beside me and looks over my arm. 

“You weren’t supposed to get hurt” he states, watching intently as he cleans it. 

“I wasn’t, then who was?” I question, confused by his tone. 

“N-no” he stutters. “I just mean that you shouldn’t have been hurt this way”

“You want to hurt me another way?” I tease, leaning forward a bit, giving him a little more to look at. 

“If in a sexual way is what you mean” he whispers, looking up at me with puppy eyes. I lean towards him, a hand making its way behind his neck and pulling him closer. Then I kiss him, carefully, gracefully, but he doesn’t keep it that way.

[mzannthropy]

Long thread gets longer.

The French and Spanish words/phrases sound so nice! I like 'alchemy of souls', even in English.

I think that sometimes the focus on shipping gets too much. I saw a user in the Rings of Power tag point out how everything Galadriel-related was about her relationship with Sauron when she a well developed character of her own. It does get tiring. So not just DJATS problem. But honestly like, if they have placed Sam and Riley on stage and have them look at each other (not even bother with singing, miming to studio singers would have sufficed, and no need for Sam to learn to play guitar), shippers would have gone insane all the same.

Someone reblogged one of my Sam Monte Cristo posts tagging it with "thank god he looks hot again". I checked the person's bio and they were 19...

I made a post on it (when someone talks shit about Sam, I try as much as I can to debunk it), on the ageism I mean, but now I'm thinking whether there is truly something wrong with the gen z bc you'd think it was common sense that when someone loses a lot of weight and ends up with hollow cheeks that it will make them look older. (Which Billy was supposed to, canonically, anyway!) Those that are not gen z I cannot explain. Often I want to say things but hold back, bc I feel I've not been a fan for long enough to have a right to gatekeep, but what the actual fuck. I think @aidansplaguewind has a point about fairweather fans. I don't like saying that someone does or doesn't deserve something, but universe forgive me, those fangirls don't deserve Sam. I'm pleading for patience too...

Sam Claflin and Holliday Grainger in ‘Any Human Heart’ (2010)  

[cwritesforfun]

Art Donaldson x Fem!Reader: Marry Me?

This came to me in a dream lol ... yeah anyway enjoy:)

Y/N = Your Name

~ I do not own the characters, plot, etc. of Challengers

Masterlist

Y/N's POV

You wake up and hear your phone buzzing like crazy. You push Art enough to grab your phone and answer it without looking at the caller ID.

Mom - Honey, are you up? Y/N - Just woke up, mom. Why are you bothering me so early? Mom - You're the one who told me that the family had to get there early to see Art before he leaves for his match today. We're waiting outside the neighborhood for you to tell security that we're okay to be sent through. Y/N - Oh shit yeah I did say that... I will tell Gary and he'll let you through. Sorry about that. Mom - It's okay sweetie. See you soon.

You hang up with her, call Gary aka your security guy, then you get up. You stretch your back, see your lack of clothing, and you remember last night. OH yeah... You turn to Art and push him a little. He groans, you kiss him on the cheek, and say, "Happy Match Day, and also my family is literally 5 minutes away!" Art replies, "Oh god... uh I'm getting up. I love you, baby." You kiss him on the lips and you reply, "I love you too, my love."

You throw on a casual outfit for now, run downstairs, and start heating up the oven for food. You also start packing up snacks for Art's day and making sure his water + smoothie is ready for him.

You hear knocking on your door, you let your family inside, and you rush back to the kitchen. Food goes into the oven for reheating and you make Art's oatmeal with fruit. You pour it into a bowl as he walks around the corner. He hugs your family before putting his arms around your waist and says, "You're so warm. I missed you. I love you." You ask, "Do you want to do match day yoga outside as the food reheats for them?" You & Art started a quick 20-minute morning yoga routine every day he competes to relax. Sometimes you'll even do it on off days because you both love yoga together. He nods, and you excuse yourself to your family and walk outside. You go through the yoga routine before heading back inside.

You take the food out and everyone serves themselves before you all sit at the breakfast table. Art pulls the chair next to him closer and you sit there. One of his hands finds your knee as he eats his oatmeal. You all talk and enjoy your company.

Art leaves to finish getting ready, you kiss him goodbye, and he heads out.

You chill with your family for a while before getting ready. The tournament is one where you wear all-white to every match. It's so scary to wear white and you just pray you don't spill anything.

Art reserved a place for dinner for you two and your family, which is very exciting for you. You cannot wait for it! You also can't wait to see Art compete today! He's been doing so well and you're so proud of him.

The match begins... you and your family go crazy for Art!

Patrick, his best friend from childhood, shows up and sits next to you. Art and Patrick may not see eye to eye on everything, but they still support each other. Patrick ended up with Art's ex-wife for a brief period and you're lucky you weren't around for that phase. You've met Tashi and you're not a fan of how she treats people.

ART WINS!!! He runs over to you after he shakes hands with his opponent. He pulls you close and into a kiss that gets louder applause. HAHA!

You wait at the cars for Art to be finished cleaning up. He rode with his manager this morning because he wanted to catch a ride back with your family in case he drank at dinner. He claims his alcohol tolerance is low because of his workout lifestyle.

You see Art round the corner of the building and you run towards him. His smile gets wider, he drops his bag right when you approach, and he hugs you tightly, before kissing you again. You exclaim, "Hi my love!" He replies, "Hi I love you." You reply, "And I love you... This outfit is very attractive and handsome tonight, Art. Who are you trying to impress?" He answers, "One woman, you. Did it work?" You answer, "I think you'll be very pleased with how tonight ends." He smirks and kisses you again.

You walk back to your family, pile into the cars, and drive over to dinner.

Art hangs back to ask your stepdad for something as you head closer to the building. Art catches up with you, takes your hand, and leads you inside where you see two of your best friends inside. OMG!

Art exclaims, "Surprise baby! I flew them in." You kiss him, thank him, and then hug your friends.

Dinner is AMAZING... It's probably one of the best nights of your life for a while. You have everyone you love in one place. How could it get any better? Oh ... the dessert really seals the deal, they have your favorite!!!

You all walk out to the pier behind the restaurant and you notice white roses everywhere. You look around and then you see the big "Marry Me?" sign at the end of the roses. Art pulls you towards it, gets down on one knee, and exclaims, "Y/N, you mean the world to me. I never thought I would find love again, but then you came into my life. It’s genuinely impossible not to love you. You embody what perfection looks like in a person. On my darkest days, you bring light, and during my happy moments, you make them even more joyous. The way you make me feel understood and valued is something I hold dear. You are not only the most beautiful woman I know but also the most intelligent. Your support and enthusiasm for tennis have reignited my passion for the game. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I truly don’t want to. Would you, Y/N, marry me?” You exclaim happily, "Yes, yes of course I'll be your wife." Art slides the ring on your finger and then kisses you.

[onmyo-jin]

Ying Lei + ZYC and ZYZ

21. On a place of insecurity

(Ying Lei needs some love in this fandom ♥️)

You're so right, Ying Lei deserves ALL the love!

Seeing Zhao Yuanzhou and Zhou Yichen being disgustingly happy together doesn't get any easier, even with the passage of time. Ying Lei had kind of hoped it would: that he'd get used to them being sappy, and coincidentally going to bed at the same time, and then arriving at breakfast at the same time as well, looking equally sleep-deprived.

It's not that he doesn't want his friends to be happy! They deserve all the happiness after what life has been throwing at them. It's just that Ying Lei kind of wishes he had that, too. He stares into his cup of wine. The others have long gone to bed, and it's really no fun drinking alone, but as long as he doesn't finish this cup he doesn't have to go to bed yet. If he doesn't finish the wine he does not have to finish the empty darkness of his room, and lie awake in the night while his mind fills the emptiness with too many thoughts.

It's trying to do so even now, and Ying Lei has to shake his head to dislodge the thoughts that are trying to drag him down. Perhaps that's why he doesn't notice until it's too late.

Another pair of wine cups appears to his left in a familiar swirl of red energy, and someone sets down a new bottle of wine to his right. Zhou Yichen-daren sits down across the table, and the inevitable demonic presence that follows him elegantly flops down onto the cushion next to Ying Lei. He doesn't even bother to sit upright, and Ying Lei can practically hear his grandfather berating him. Apparently Zhao Yuanzhou cannot, because he leans his shoulder against Ying Lei's and reaches for the wine.

"Drinking alone isn't good for you, little mountain god," he purrs, and pours all three of them a drink. Ying Lei loses his tongue somewhere between feeling the demon's warmth even through his mountain clothes and the way the demon's thin robes are barely being held together by a single ruby-and-gold clasp at his throat.

Ying Lei decides that the sensible thing to do is to ignore him. Across the table Zhou Yichen is staring at him a little too intently, a knowing smile tugging at the corner of his lips. He is dressed at least a little more decently, which is to say: he's not showing any skin. What he is wearing, however, is most definitely a cloak that belongs to a certain great demon, over what appears to be his sleeping clothes… "Xiao Zhuo-daren, I thought you… both of you went to bed earlier. Is there something wrong?"

"Hmm, very wrong," The demon practically purrs as he hands Ying Lei his cup. Ying Lei looks at him and then remembers he was ignoring him and turns back to Zhou Yichen. He is just in time to see him blink away a confused look.

"Our friend seemed lonely," is all the explanation Zhuo-daren offers. "So we decided to make sure you're not," the demon adds. He raises his cup in a toast, and when Zhuo Yichen joins in Ying Lei can't very well leave them hanging.

"To good company," the demon toasts, and they drink deeply. It suddenly occurs to Ying Lei that Zhuo-daren's ... boyfriend? His partner? Zhou Yichen's demon is leaning against Ying Lei, barely dressed, entirely indecent, and Ying Lei is letting it happen. He's also pathetically grateful for the company, and he'd rather the demon didn't move, but he also doesn't want to offend Zhuo-daren–

Someone lightly flicks a finger against his forehead, and Ying Lei is thrown back into the present. "Really, little mountain god, someone like you shouldn't get drunk so easily," the demon teases. He moves to steal Ying Lei's cup as well, but Ying Lei isn't about to let him steal the one thing he can rely on for company. He moves the cup to his far hand and holds it out of the great demon's reach. Zhao Yuanzhou makes a playful grab for it anyway, and for a moment too long Ying Lei is distracted by Zhuo Yichen's smile at their antics. Then he overbalances, and falls over sideways, and the demon leaning against him falls over with him.

The floor is not so far, and there is a cushion left there from when Bai Jiu was sitting on his other side during dinner. He lands softly enough, and even manages to save the wine– and then Zhao Yuanzhou plants an arm on either side of his head, catching himself and looming dangerously close over Ying Lei.

There is an infuriating smile on the demon's face, and he doesn't move at all, so Ying Lei can only lie there, one arm outstretched to hold his cup, the rest of him trapped under the warm weight of a demon. From somewhere above them, Zhou Yichen sighs. "Is this what you meant when you said you wanted to discuss our proposition, you great monkey?" Ying Lei can hear the eye roll that accompanies his words, and he has a front row view of the demon pouting, winking at Ying Lei, and then looking at Zhou Yichen all pouty again– without getting up from where he is practically sitting on top of Ying Lei. Ying Lei wonders what proposition they are talking about.

"Xiao Zhou-daren, sometimes you have to go with the flow! If life gives you an opportunity you should take hold of it with both hands and not let go."

Very carefully, Ying Lei sets down the cup of wine on the floor above his head. With his free hand he starts to lever himself up, fully expecting Zhao Yuanzhou to move out of his way. He should have known better than to expect the demon to behave in any way predictably, for Zhao Yuanzhou does not move an inch. He only smirks wider when Ying Lei tries to sit up and comes to within an inch of those smiling lips before realizing the demon's play.

"O- opportunity?"

"Yes," Ying Lei can feel the breath of that word touch his own lips, and shivers. Zhao Yuanzhou's smile is all teeth now, it is hard to look away. "We thought you seemed… a little too alone. And when we saw you watching us leave this evening we thought: perhaps he could keep us company."

There is something oddly specific about the way he emphasizes that Ying Lei could keep them company. Not his friends coming to drink with him, no: he, Ying Lei, join… them?

"Hah?" the thought refuses to make sense, but the demon only blinks at him, toothy smiley unchanged: dangerous and tempting. "But… aren't you two…?" It seems rude to even say the words, that his friends are sleeping together, living together, practically married except for some paperwork.

"Yes," both of his friends chorus at the same time.

"But then why…"

"Why not?" Zhao Yuanzhou grins. "Only if you're interested, of course," Zhou Yichen adds, ever considerate. "This isn't about us." Ying Lei has so many questions right now, he doesn't even know where to start. He settles for a lame: "I don't' get it," and immediately feels like hiding in a mountain cave for a few years because of how stupid that sounds.

"Allow me to show you," Zhao Yuanzhou grins, and doesn't wait for permission. He closes the small gap between them, and wraps a warm hand around Ying Lei's chin. His lips are hot against his own. Ying Lei gasps, and the great demon uses that invitation to invade his mouth, licking and tasting and stealing his breath–

Then he leans back, and he's still wearing that same smirk. Panic wells up in Ying Lei and he looks towards Zhou Yichen across the table– only he is gone, his seat empty. The warm fingers on his chin turn his face back to Zhao Yuanzhou, and then further to the other side, where Zhou Yichen has sat down next to them. Ying Lei doesn't get the time to worry about kissing Xiao Zhuo-daren's boyfriend-demon-something. Zhao Yuanzhou presents Ying Lei to Zhou Yichen, and Zhou Yichen smiles and wraps a hand around YIng Lei's neck. His hand is cold, or perhaps it only seems that way because Ying Lei must be blushing bright red, and he pulls him close. Zhao Yuanzhou sits back up to allow him space, and Ying Lei moves as if in a dream. Zhou Yichen's kiss is entirely different: gentle and questioning, lips moving together as if partners in a dance. His hand is solid as stone, unwavering and undoubting, and Ying Lei feels like a small stone caught between two great rivers. Xiao Zhuo's kiss steals his breath in an entirely different way, and when he finally comes up for air two pairs of eyes are looking at him expectantly.

[chaoticbooklesbian]

I don't want to work, I just want to play Baldur's Gate 3

[chokisnumber1fan]

reblogging this at 2 am so my thoughts are SUPER incoherent and very offtopic and tangential, sorry about that </3

this is such a good analysis of nagi's possible backstory! and while i haven't read past the BM v MC match yet, to me this gives a lot more depth to the relationship that nagi and reo have. i might be delusional since nagi is one of my favourites and also since i don't know much about the later chapters other than a really vague direction but i think this serves as a good reminder that neither nagi nor reo are inherently 'bad' or take up an antagonistic role— they are just two boys that got too codependent and need some space away from each other to develop on their own.

i see a lot of people jump to antagonising either nagi or reo, or judge their duo as a good/bad one, but imo it's more important to view them from a more neutral lens since this isn't just about football or just about their personal lives outside of it— we can see just how much their 'personal' affects their 'field relationship' and vice versa.

from here on out i'm probably straying from the main point that OP is trying to make, so you've been warned!!!

also, if we were to assume that nagi is indeed one of the neglected to some extent kids— then i believe that chris and agi could truly have done better with how they handled nagi. it's pretty obvious that nagi is heavily dependent on reo, but instead of cutting reo out entirely they could have trained the two of them together in a way that allows them to still play together but not be completely dependent on the other. but then again i can see why this would be a much harder task to pull off because of their respective goals and their feelings towards each other (more specifically, reo's feelings towards nagi) that would definitely get in the way. like, reo is entirely capable of scoring goals on his own but he chooses not to because his main objective has always been to assist nagi— and because of this, nagi's had everything handed to him on a silver platter by reo. their formation served them well in the initial stages of blue lock but it's falling apart now, in major part because it was mostly an emotionally driven formation, which makes it a lot easier to predict especially if you're someone like isagi who knows them and their relationship.

nagi and reo are somewhat unique in that their struggles are against their own inherent natures and pasts and not because of them lacking in some sort of skill or whatever. nagi doesn't have the drive to do anything unless he has a solid goal that he wants to reach— he just won't bother putting in effort it (just like OP mentioned).

reo is willing to give nagi the attention and validation he needs; and while this was fine in the beginning, you could say he's almost starting to smother nagi now— almost mirroring the relationship reo has with his own parents, ironically enough. it's gotten to the point where reo cannot be trusted as a narrator since he let his feelings distort the words that nagi really said to him at the start of the second selection. he projected his worst fears regarding nagi and made them true in his mind. i think that reo has a problem with idolising and devoting himself to people to the point of detriment, especially to himself.

lord help me i have rambled so much about this, honestly i don't think i'm even making any sense right now. i feel like that deranged connect the dots meme man right now. somehow this all links up and makes sense in my head so i hope my disorganised addition to OPs post will somehow telepathically make sense to anyone else reading this too 🙏🙏🙏👍👍

I have this foreboding feeling that while we are prepared for Sae's and Shidou's backstory, Nagi's backstory is going to sneak from behind and punch us in the gut.

No, I don't think it's going to be straight up depression like Kaiser's, but I do think that it'll hit close to home.

You see, Nagi got Laissez-faire parents which means they never really interfered with his life. Like, these type of parents—as I have read on some websites—will basically set their child free and let them do whatever they want with no or very few rules/restrictions. They will not tell you, "Oh! You should do this!" or "Oh! You shouldn't do this!" They will simply let you figure out your life all by yourself.

I'm not an expert on this and I'm not calling this type of parenting bad in any way. Every child is different with different needs, and I'm sure there are many who grew up in this kinda family and liked this parenting method. However, I do think that Nagi didn't like it that much, and I got two reasons to think this way:

1. "That's nice."

When Reo said that his family constantly meddles in his life, Nagi's immediate reaction was, "That's nice" instead of being surprised or disgruntled. If Nagi really liked his parents NOT meddling in his life, then he should've said something like, "Really!? Sucks to be you, Reo. I can't imagine living a life like that!"

You getting me?

Also, we all know how Nagi is—he definitely feels that telling someone to do or not to do something is a hassle, so he, probably, feels that if someone is doing all this for you, then you are important for them.

And before any one says, no, I don't think Nagi was tying up his tongue thinking, "They are his parents. They wouldn't want anything bad for their own child, right? I shouldn't say anything against them and should say good things about them just to be safe." I don't think he has this kind of filter in him.

2. "Don't die ."

So, why would you not want someone to die? Of course, because you care for them and want them to be with you.

"Want"

That's really what I'm tryna highlight.

It's a pretty common knowledge that some children are just naturally more independent while others are a bit more dependent and seek guidance from the elders. Considering Nagi's first reaction to knowing about Reo's parents' meddling, I think that Kiddo!Nagi falls into the latter category—someone who likes to be guided and helped by the adults. Now, place Kiddo!Nagi with his Laissez-faire parents... You are getting where I'm going with this one?

That's why I think that Kiddo!Nagi, probably, thought that his parents didn't love him/care for him. And what happens if someone doesn't love you or care for you? Yeah, they don't care if you die which, somewhat, explains why Older!Nagi was happy to hear, "Don't die [before us (probably)]" from his parents.

I have already talked about his potential backstory before too, so it was actually when I heard he had longer bangs as a child that made my head turn to him again—something felt odd.

I understand that having long bangs is not a big deal—Niko's bangs literally cover his eyes, but having it as a kid is way different, y'know. Once you are like 12-13, you somewhat become capable of doing your own hair and clothes by yourself, so you can manage whatever aesthetics you prefer. However, for a kid younger than that, it's the parents' responsibility to look after his/her hair and clothes, and we all know that long bangs are quite bothersome—blocks our vision, sometimes stabs the eyes, and even irritatingly itches the nose.

All in all, till his backstory drops, I'd firmly believe that he was, though unintentionally, a neglected kid—at least, emotionally.

Now I can't get this image out of my head where Kiddo!Nagi is longingly staring at other kids in a park where everyone is learning things like riding a bicycle or maybe playing baseball and stuff with their parents while he is just.. there, probably, all alone.

[writer-room]

I've decided the only reason Lloyd, known descendant of dragons, didn't tell this to Egalt, who refuses to train non-dragons, is for the same reason he never mentioned he's the First Spinjitsu Master's grandson. It just never came up. Nobody asked him directly about it. And besides, he's only like, one-fourth dragon, so does it really count? He doesn't look like a dragon, and he has never in his life considered himself a dragon. Mentioning his ancestry to Egalt probably would've just made him look like some hotshot, or make him more annoyed. There's no need to bring up such a silly little fact. He's sure it won't be important later.

[velvet-games]

okay shitty aunt finally commented on my weight sorta <3 sick to fucking death of people thinking I started working out again cause I want to lose weight. no I fucking don't. no I fucking don't and that's very confusing to your very small brain isn't it?? if I wanted to lose weight I would be dieting and if I was dieting I wouldn't have deadlifted over 100 fucking lbs yesterday. christ. I don't want to feel like my body is withering away anymore.

[bitchin-tubs]

Not sure if this is a hot take but I think you’re allowed to like ANY character no matter their actions but so are people allowed to feel any type of way about it

I do think we can all have it both ways

[harvestmoth]

more rejuv things but its. its just this guy again, im sorry shes all i can draw

[a-heart-full-of-dumb]

Dutch theatre producers stop milking Milan van Waardenburg's success challenge, level impossible.

Yes, he's talented, but please stop acting like he's the first Dutch actor to book success on the West End. He's not. He's not that special.

He's not even the only Dutch actor in Les Mis on the West End right now.

[batsplat]

from the stuff i’ve heard marc’s former honda teammates (dani jorge and pol in their media careers but joan also i guess) say about him now that they’re racing is generally quite positive, both on a professional/riding level but also seemingly on a personal level? i’m wondering what you make of that given that, yeah, marc doesn’t seem like a very good teammate (unless you’re alex who i’ve left off this list). like MARC wants to separate on and off track stuff and it seems like all of these guys are willing too at least in retrospect, so he can’t have truly burned bridges with them. do you have any thoughts on that

(x, x) most riders are quite good at not burning bridges with each other! it's not like marc's competitors don't know that this stuff is kinda part of the game. I mean, all of marc's past teammates were also trying to assert themselves within the internal hierarchy... you can say that certain teammates engage in 'worse' behaviour than others, but, like, these people do understand they're supposed to be fighting each other! a baseline degree of nastiness is factored in and will be accepted to a greater or lesser extent by your rivals - especially when it comes to asserting yourself in intra-team power struggles. you might hate the other guy in the moment, but generally speaking once the active part of the rivalry is done with... you will probably get over it. marc's fellow riders are aware of how ultra-competitive marc is - and to a certain point they do respect it, not least because they're aware that this is part of the reason why marc has ended up with all those titles. it's like dani said, right, it's marc's strong suit. and in general, you do have to say that there's relatively few teammate pairings that devolve to the level of toxicity that it completely destroys the interpersonal relationship. you might need some level of preexisting animosity... most of the purely competitive sins can be healed with a little time

on the 'separating on-track and off-track' thing... well. this is kind of a question of how you define these things, you can say that marc generally speaking isn't going to massively hold grudges over isolated on-track incidents or whatever... but he doesn't just leave his fighting to the track, and personally I've also never felt he can entirely separate these things out in his mind. can you really say his professional and private relationships with other riders are completely detached from one another? mostly, he's opted to be pretty disengaged from his fellow riders as a collective, and obviously that's a good way to not take things too personally... it's all part of the game, isn't it? sometimes it's good to go with the straightforward approach: marc tells you he will make your life hell, he does indeed make your life hell, and then you both move on with your lives and can maybe actually have a pretty amiable relationship with him in years to come. he's not really defying your expectations at any point here, is he now? it's still a question for each of them as individuals as to whether they think that kind of behaviour is above board and acceptable or not... but everyone by now knows that marc plays these games, so it's not like they're going in blind

and it's not like other former teammates are constantly badmouthing each other. I mean... look, let's just cut to the chase here and bring in valentino as our reference point (as he is for the sport as a whole, which by the way does also help create a certain baseline of acceptability for marc's antics - maybe goated riders are just supposed to be dicks who knows). vale's premier class teammates were 1) nobody (2000-01), 2) tohru ukawa (2002), 3) nicky hayden (2003; 2011-12), 4) carlos checa (2004), 5) colin edwards (2005-2007), 6) jorge lorenzo (2008-10; 2013-16), 7) maverick vinales (2017-20), 8) franco morbidelli (2021), and 9) andrea dovizioso (2021). of these eight men (let's just exclude 'nobody' for now), do you know how many had serious complaints at any point about valentino as a teammate? that's right, it's one guy. one. some of valentino's other teammates, like hayden, checa and edwards, were even quite actively positive about their whole experience. this is the thing - you do need some specific circumstances for teammate rivalries to escalate from 'being kinda bitchy every other month' to 'actively fantasising about stabbing each other'. not accounting for natural interpersonal animosity, let's list some circumstantial factors that you need to get a bridge-burning-worthy level of feud:

you need a competitive bike. it is possible to beef about development direction when you're in the trenches (cf late 2010's yamaha, 2020's honda)... but generally speaking this is going to be quite low-level petty stuff, not actual war

you also need something that approaches competitiveness between teammates. if one teammate is unquestionably stronger than the other one, then it is very unlikely that you are going to get any open hostilities. the tension comes when the two sides are close enough to each other for the internal hierarchy to actually be a contentious issue (this is also basic self preservation... if you're the far weaker teammate then you do not want to make the situation troublesome, because then you will be the one to be fired)

following on from those first two things... well, it doesn't hurt to have a title fight in the mix. there are also other ways you can generate competitive stakes, like, for instance, if you and your teammate know that one of you will be out of a job soon. basically, it helps to have something to squabble over

it is maybe easy to forget how rare it is this century for teammates to be fighting directly for a title, let alone over the course of multiple seasons. only two 1-2's since the year 2000 and they're both for the factory yamaha's (though 2006, 2011-13 and 2017 did all prominently feature two factory hondas). which means that for valentino, the prerequisites were met just the once in his premier class career... and yes, the results were pretty memorable, but (topic! for! another! post!) it's worth pointing out that even that relationship was pretty much 'fine' whenever there was a sizeable disparity between the two of them performance-wise (2008 and 2013 are the most clear cut examples). I think the way I'd frame it with marc is that he has a bunch of mildly dubious strategies up his sleeve to assert himself within the team, which don't really deviate that far from what you'd expect from a rider of marc's calibre and only need to be escalated under specific circumstances. that doesn't mean he doesn't have the potential to be ruthless, but up until now it's mostly been a fairly 'acceptable' level of ruthlessness on the intra-team level... and not something that is likely to make other riders actually hate him

taking marc's teammates one by one... dani was the closest to meeting the bridge-burning prerequisites, though he was only a title rival in marc's rookie season. and marc did go further with him than he did with anyone else, and dani has made some pointed comments about marc's style as a teammate... but yes, he is fonder of marc these days. partly I'd just emphasise again that this is a fairly natural progression when you've stopped directly competing for long enough, and partly it's also just a question of individual personality - dani's not massively into holding grudges. then there's jorge, who... I mean, they might as well not have been teammates, given that jorge was either too slow or too injured to even be sharing any track space with marc. you have to put that one down primarily to circumstance, seeing as jorge's own track record on the teammate front isn't exactly spotless. marc and jorge beefing in 2019 would have been pretty dumb and also a massive waste of everyone's time in a year in which marc singlehandedly won the team's championship. even those two needed more to get things going

moving on to the dark years, pol and marc had an extremely stop-and-start partnership on a honda that was generally pretty uncompetitive... so the only stuff they could get ever so mildly irritable about were riveting incidents like 'marc saying pol wasn't the biggest championship threat' (neither of them were) or 'pol saying he'd copy marc's set up' (which proved entirely useless). not exactly title decider territory, is it now, and marc very much had pol covered as a challenger throughout their partnership. also, those two do have a longer history! they've known each other since they were kids and hold a pretty significant place in each other's careers. now that pol's more or less retired, it's natural there'll be quite a lot of sentimentality there - which will paper over any small cracks that appeared during those two years. and joan was a one year teammate at a time in which the bike was consistently close to offing them both. they only managed to start a sunday race together as teammates on thirteen occasions. it would take some serious effort to engineer a feud with that little opportunity, and, really, why on earth would you bother. maybe if honda had gone for rinsy rather than joan for the factory seat, it could've been a bit more prickly, but it's unlikely that it would have escalated beyond that

this is the thing, right, the only one of these partnerships that would have been worth burning bridges over was dani, and even there marc pretty much had him handled after the first season. in general, marc has been pretty clear on how he's not interested in making friends with the other side of the garage while the teammate relationship is ongoing... which is fine! there's some prominent-ish teammate pairings that are actually good friends, some teammate pairings where one of them is actively helping out and advising the other one, but some riders prefer to just keep their distance. it would have been a little silly of marc to start a feud with a teammate who is galaxies away from being a competitive threat, let alone a title rival, but generally it is possible to toe the line between 'attempting to suppress your internal rivals enough to stop them from becoming a problem for you' and 'taking radical enough action to make your internal rivals despise you'

especially in the post-dani era, marc never really had any need to push things too far... and, let's face it, how many of your teammate relationships end up with burnt bridges is also quite frankly a question of luck and circumstance. do you want to guess which top rider on paper has the worst track record this century with premier class teammate feuds, in terms of a) how many they've had, and b) how little public reconciliation there has been since the end of the rivalry?

yes, that's right, it's the first name that comes to mind when you're thinking of toxic and conflict-prone riders: andrea dovizioso. that old devil, constantly causing trouble. just couldn't stop undermining his poor, innocent teammates. can somebody please stop this ruthless bully before it's too late

I think you get the point. I would personally suggest that dovi is not in fact the worst teammate it is possible to have in a motogp top team. he just happened to find himself in a situation where he was teammates with two separate guys he did not click with at all, in situations that involved a pairing of riders who were (or had the potential to be) competitive with each other, as well as some proper stakes attached to the rivalry. in general, situational factors are going to determine this stuff more than anything else... and marc more often than not does have a reasonably good feel for picking his battles. he's flirted with the line, but he's mostly avoided crossing it. he hasn't had to