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wouldntyou-liketoknow · 11 months

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I'd Like to Adopt These Side Characters, Please (And Also Make One Arbitrarily To Appease The Vibes)

So, I've already mentioned my plans to write something for our dear single-minute-of-screentime-boys from the FNAF movie. And, as per usual for me, posting some headcanons will help the ideas flow for that WIP. . .

___

Jack Samar

His passengers always are, in fact, "the weirdos." It just seems to happen without fail. College partygoers crashing down from adrenaline (among other things) highs, random drifters that could all probably be in the same cult if you pay attention to detail, that one guy who's all too happy to take advantage of the open secret that the ducks in the park are free. . .Most of the time, it's nothing too serious. But he's still got some very interesting stories here and there.

He's one of the best drivers in town. And that's not just due to his job as a cabbie; he knows how dangerous driving can be, so he takes pride in making sure his skills are sharp. (Seriously, if you've ever driven a car, then you know it's practically a miracle to see someone else on the road who actually knows what they're doing.)

He has a steel-trap memory; he knows every part of town like the back of his hand. Constantly driving on various routes just has that effect on you.

He's a bit of a rescuer. As in, if he happens to see a stray animal while driving, then he'll park, coax said animal into the car, and then drop it off at at the local shelter. If you have him drive you from Point A to Point B, there's a good chance you'll spot a scruffy-looking cat or dog riding shotgun.

If he isn't too tired at the end of his shifts, he'll drive over to Sparky's for a late-night snack before heading home to rest. Both he and Ness are good listeners, so a decent chunk their banter is dedicated to venting about sucky patrons.

He's certainly aware of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria, as well as the rumors surrounding it, but he never really bothered with the place. And he doesn't plan to start bothering with it after seeing Golden Freddy in the back of his taxi.

Although. . .well, that occurrence might have made him start weighing the pros and cons of trying to get more information out of Mason. (He's very much hesitant about it, of course. Yeah, he was the one to help Mason out, but the assumption of Mason's experience with Freddy's is still far from pleasant.)

(Yes, his name is a pun inspired by Cory's samurai joke. What did you expect from me?)

___

Ness Aeoruhndbt-Ultendera

"Ness" is only his nickname, but he doesn't plan on revealing his full name anytime soon. Not even to his friends, for whatever reason. There's also a bit of an inside joke about how his surname is too long to actually fit on his nametag. (Yes, that gibberish my personal idea for his surname. I spent way more time working on it than I probably should have because I was determined to make a weird/funny reference, so leave me alone, okay?!)

He's been in the restaurant business ever since he was a kid; he's worked in several different joints before Sparky's. Coming from a family of foodies, he truly enjoys what he does, no matter how small-scale. Sure, some days are worse than others, but that's just life.

Similarly to Jack, it's not that uncommon for him to serve some strange characters. (Hell, sometimes the strange characters in question will wave down Jack's cab right after they've finished their meal at Sparky's.) Nothing usually comes of it, but he's still more than observant enough to pick up on certain oddities.

He makes a genuine effort to be polite and outgoing with customers. But make no mistake, he absolutely can, has, and will verbally curb-stomp someone if they push him or his coworkers too far. (Aunt Jane was lucky that her jab was minor. Plus, Ness just had other customers to focus on.)

It's no surprise that he LOVES conspiracy theories. Now, he knows which crackpot rabbit-holes to avoid, but he's still the type to listen to true crime podcasts almost religiously. In a way, researching and brainstorming is a comfort to him.

He's actually developed legitimate friendships with a specific few of Sparky's regulars. (Jack and Mason are part of this camp.) In fact, if there aren't many other customers that need tending to, he'll sit down and chat with them while they eat.

While he's perky during the day, he's still a night owl. It helps that his regular-friends almost always stop by in the late hours. (This has also paved the way for him to become a bit of a coffee-addict, but not to the point of concern. Speaking of which: he takes great joy in people's reactions to his argument that coffee is actually a type of soup.)

Oh, and that rubber-chicken-head-pencil-topper? Its name is Fabio, and Ness has been carrying it for several years now. He can't remember where/when/how he came into possession of Fabio, but you can pry it from his cold, dead hands.

___

Mason Kingsley

I wasn't originally planning to make a technical fanego for the FNAF movie. But after I learned that Mark was intended to make a cameo, I was intrigued. Thus, Mason—aka Trauma Boi—was born. His inclusion here (and in that future story I mentioned) is basically just a "What if?" scenario. As in, A. What if Mark had actually played the role of that first nightguard in the movie, and B. what if he'd actually survived his ordeal at Freddy's. . .?

Please read "survived," as "escaped by the skin of his teeth with grievous injuries and is now sort of dead inside."

Fittingly enough, Jack happened to by passing by when Mason fled the restaurant. It's pretty damn easy to stop for a guy who's covered in blood and cradling a broken arm and screaming for help.

After Jack drove Mason to the hospital, the two of them made an effort to stay in touch. Their respective patronage to Sparky's helps out with that.

Time passed, as it tends to do, and Mason eventually recovered. Keep in mind that the recovery was physical; he's still having night-terrors about animatronic monsters. Just the mention of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria will make him start shaking and murmuring under his breath, pale and tense.

He absolutely refuses to talk about the incident in detail, but it left some very obvious scars on his neck, chest, and arms. He's constantly trying to keep said scars covered.

Silver lining: shortly after recovering, Mason was able to adopt a therapy pet. Enter Checkers, a golden retriever who's just the best emotionally-tuned girl and is always by his side.

He stops by Sparky's for dinner once or twice per week. He wasn't too receptive to Ness' chitchat at first, but by now they have a solid friendship. (It started when Ness "accidentally" brought out a large side of bacon with Mason's order. Checkers most certainly appreciated that, so it's become a small tradition between them.)

(And just to clarify, because I KNOW someone is gonna read this and take it the wrong way: I'm NOT using this to try and whine about Mark's absence in the movie. It's really not too hard to understand that his own Iron Lung project has kept him INCREDIBLY BUSY. It's an amazing accomplishment for him, so of course it should take priority over a cameo in FNAF.)

___

@sammys-magical-au @that-bat @bee-the-matpat-simp @insane4fandoms

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being-of-rain · 4 months

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Time to write down my initial thoughts on Space Babies and The Devil's Chord! I'm currently busy staying with my girlfriend in America, so I've only watched the episodes once. And there's a lot of episode to talk about! I guess this is the most TV Doctor Who to come out on a single day, both by episode count and I assume by runtime. (I sure hope it doesn't get overtaken any time soon. Weekly episode schedule my beloved, whole-series-at-once events my despised.)

I've said before that I've used the word 'fun' too often as a way to sum-up new episodes, but it looks like that's going to be harder and harder to avoid. This season so far has a very wacky zany silly cartoonish style (especially apparent in the lead duo's energy together) and I think that's the season's greatest strength. My opinion on both of these first two episodes are similar: they're just okay, with the pros and the cons kinda balancing each other out, but the cartoony style makes them much more enjoyable to watch.

Under the cut I'll go into more details. Probably more complaining than not, because nitpicking is always easier to spend time on, but here's your regular reminder that these are opinions and anyone reading is encouraged to disagree.

And if you thought my ramblings about new episodes were long before, this time there's two at once!

Grossout stuff like bodily functions never really appealed to me, and neither does talking babies, so Space Babies had those things against it. But it also had things that I loved; on top of the infectious energy of the leads, there were some fun sci-fi concepts, playing with storybook narrative, and the design of the Bogeyman. And the Doctor saying that "nobody grows up wrong" was alone worth the episode. I adore that sentiment and it fits so well into Doctor Who with its constant cast of scary aliens, artificially altered or created beings, and characters with generally convoluted backstories. It's just a shame the episode faltered at its climax when applying that idea to the Bogeyman, because the sympathising and acceptance of it felt very rushed.

It's fun when new companions get an introduction scene or two where the show tries to teach as many of the important rules and backstory as possible. And Butterfly Ruby certainly was a hilarious addition to that. But as much as the show is allowed to mess around with time travel rules, it can still feel contrived when it says things like 'taking Ruby to meet her mum is too dangerous.' I can't think of a reason why they couldn't just park a bit further down Ruby Road and talk to her after she seemingly doesn't have any more effect on Ruby or the Doctor's lives. I'll talk more about the ongoing story arc stuff in a bit, but right now I still haven't strongly connected with Ruby. This is very much a personal thing, but she still feels kinda Generic Companion to me.

Oh, and I think every time the Doctor talks about how the Time Lords are gone and he's the Last One, I'm going to groan and roll my eyes. Honestly I think the best thing to do with that is just show that a lot of Time Lord society survived (very easy, since there's no reason at all that most of them couldn't have just run away from whatever the Master did to the Capitol) and then just move on. I'd love to explore post-War Time Lord society more, but at this point I'd rather just leave them alone and be done with retreading old ground that the show is not going to actually do anything with other than the odd angsty line.

The Devil's Chord had a lot of fantastic moments and elements, but that made it more frustrating to me when it didn't put the effort into fitting everything just a little better. It reminds me of my thoughts on The Giggle; I love love love whimsy and emotionally-driven stories, and stories don't have to be a slave to logic all the time, but moments of silliness or entire plots that revolve around whimsy are so much more satisfying if they have a narrative logic behind them. I think a prime example is the song at the end of The Devil's Chord: even if it's not particularly good (most songs that are just repeating one line for 90% of its runtime aren't going to interest me), it's whimsical and joyous and makes me want to see Tardis teams sing and dance more often. But it doesn't have an in-story reason to happen, it doesn't quite fit the episode's tone, and (as much fun as fans have been having fitting it into the season arc) the episode doesn't even really have a twist at the end. If any of those things weren't true, the song would've had so much more impact than it did, and I find it annoying that the episode couldn't shuffle things just a bit to make it work.

Somewhat similarly, the Maestro themself was spectacularly entertaining, but also felt rather shallow and full of missed opportunities. I was already a bit over RTD writing flamboyant and random queer-coded villains after he reinvented the Toymaker the same way he reinvented the Master (although a drag queen certainly adds a welcome layer to that) but it was sad that Maestro had the same surface-level connection to music as RTD's Toymaker had to games. Yeah they climb out of pianos and use sheet-music-themed whips and dress in a conductor's outfit, but that sounds more like a Batman villain than a Concept Made Flesh. Sure they can magically-somehow stop the world making music, but their motivation for it is... kill everyone in the universe? I really hope RTD can write better Old Gods than his last two if he plans to make them recurring villains. (By the way I assume that the world losing the ability to make music for two decades was magically unwritten at the end, but then again I assumed the same thing about the Flux destroying the universe and that was only half undone.)

Also, I know not every historical episode has to be a 2005-10 style celebrity historical (even though that might be one of my favourite ways of doing it), but if they didn't want to do that then it felt a bit out of place to have two of the Beatles turn up at the very end, with no idea what was going on, and save the day. (And the other two Beatles vanished completely. ...I know the other two were a bit less famous, but after learning that RTD ships the Supernatural brothers, I really wouldn't be surprised to learn he ships McCartney and Lennon.)

Anyway, some other fun or great moments that I wish were in a slightly more coherent episode are: Ruby playing her lovesick lesbian song, the Doctor and Ruby doing their piano battle together, the sonic silence scene, and the destroyed London scene which Maestro abruptly turned into a black background. Oh, and the Doctor saying "I thought that was non-diagetic" was hilarious, I think fans are going to get a lot of mileage out of the idea that the Doctor can hear the background music in older episodes.

Other random things about the episode: it did make me think of Scherzo's fairytale about the king who banished music from his realm. As a batfamily fan, the music teacher at the start being named Timothy Drake for no reason is confusing and funny. It's a niche pet peeve but I think its silly when fiction ties itself to when it's coming out for no reason or in contradiction to its own continuity, so Ruby saying her present day is mid-2024 baffled and irritated me. Since the last episode she's either been travelling with the Doctor for several months, staying at home for several months, or has decided to skip several months ahead, none of which seem very likely.

One last thing I'll say about The Devil's Chord is that the zany cartoonish energy, the visiting of recent history, and the magical menace all remind me of Legends of Tomorrow. It's one of my comfort shows that puts a lot of plot importance and stress on whimsy, jokes, and feel-good moments, but actually does tie them into the narrative. Compared to the last half dozen episodes of Doctor Who, Legends is more of an outright comedy, but its more satisfying and the emotional beats hit harder. If its trying for a more similar tone, I hope Doctor Who can reach the same highs as Legends (which, to be fair, took a few seasons to figure things out).

Finally I'll talk about the story arc! Or story arcs, because there's a lot going on. And looking back at his first time on the show, I realise RTD is a big fan of arcs that are basically just repeating things in the background that don't have any impact until the last few episodes. Personally I prefer arcs with a bit more relevance and development, but unfortunately that's probably harder to do on Doctor Who with less episodes.

That said, I was very surprised that Ruby's arc is one of the most interesting things to me in these episodes. The Doctor's memory of her mother changing and then breaking through into the real world is cool as hell, and then Ruby having something about her that trips up a god is really compelling 👀 Is that girl a cosmic horror??

On the other hand, another mention of 'the One Who Waits' is really boring lol. Just another ominous name that everyone can look concerned about without any substance. But I have seen fans connect it to the billboard for Chris Waites and the Carollers, which is hilarious. And speaking of, the mention of Susan was really cool, and so in-depth that it has me wondering if she'll actually come back, which I don't think New Who has made me do seriously before. Then again, it's so on the nose that surely it must be a red herring...

I can't wait to find out what it all means. And I can't wait for the next episode!

#my thoughts #fifteen #ruby

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iy0v · 7 months

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A strategic approach on voicing out support for the oppressed (ie Gaza) and tackling misinformation using social media

The consistent effort of speaking up against oppression and injustice online, (namely the ongoing war crimes on Gaza) has been demonstrated, to the surprise of many skeptics, in effectively making a substantial impact, not just in lessening the atrocious brutality and suffering on the innocent lives of the oppressed, but in even redirecting the course of such events.

Apart from the heroic people of Yemen and South Africa, honorable credits must go to the worldwide hearts of compassion. For much of the shift in recent geopolitics and global power dynamics is due primarily to the growing pressure from public opinion. Many individuals in the west began to see, some even for their first time, the madness of these so-called upholders of democracy and human rights, as well as witnessing the lies of mainstream media. This single-handedly triggered mass rallies of protest and opposition. This effectively pressured not just the US but other western governments to reconsider ties and foreign policy regarding zi0nazism.

Speaking up does make an impact. All praise be to the Most High. But you'll have to be strategic about it. Resources such as time and energy are finite after all, and you'll have to allocate them efficiently to achieve such goals.

From personal experience, the best places where you can speak up and leave an impact online, is in the comment section of a content/post that most likely attract large numbers of people who aren't in either polar side of the debate (neither fully pro-Palestine, nor pro-zi0nazism, but somehow in the middle), or if you have a will strong enough, to start posting shorts in Reel, Shorts, TikTok, targeting the same segment. Those who are on the middle are less dogmatic and less stubborn, and hence more probable to be open to sympathizing with Palestinians based on the hard facts you present. This is a hypothesis that I tested in videos that garnered millions of views on Youtube, tweets on X, and posts on IG. Naturally, this mostly involved net-izens from the US and anglophone segments of Europe. It is for the same reason that, I allocate more efforts on such platforms vis-a-vis this one due to the disproportionate traffic and subsequent impact between the two.

In the end, when the comment/post/video you leave is thought-provoking (ie, drawing parallels between western stance on Ukraine fighters and Palestinian ones), almost sarcastic (to trigger and attract attention), yet one grounded in reality with regard to the Palestinian lives; when you do so, highlighting the absurdity of western hypocrisy and moral cognitive dissonance: you'll soon come to witness the fruits of such effort and that ultimately there is still hope in the west, mainly in the compassionate hearts of some of its constituent members. When it comes to one-on-one debate, with those who are open to entertaining opposite sides and to finding the real Truth, I found the following Quranic verse supreme in guiding such interactions (41:34):

وَلَا تَسْتَوِى ٱلْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا ٱلسَّيِّئَةُ ۚ ٱدْفَعْ بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ فَإِذَا ٱلَّذِى بَيْنَكَ وَبَيْنَهُۥ عَدَٰوَةٌۭ كَأَنَّهُۥ وَلِىٌّ حَمِيمٌۭ ٣٤

"Good and evil cannot be equal. Respond ˹to evil˺ with what is best (in manners), then the one you are in a feud with will be like a close friend."

One memorable mention was when taking the initiative in the earliest stages debunking one of the many adamant lies of the zionist misinformation (hasbara) campaign (i.e., the 40 babies myth), and later witnessing a massive wave of truth-driven individuals who do just exactly that, debunking falsehood and reasserting truth. The taste of triumph from acts as small as speaking up for the oppressed, certainly holds an enduring flavor that has no parallel. Although the highest support of the oppressed requires physical presence and participation, such circumstances can only go for so long. That true taste of triumph will come, and this tyranny is on an ticking clock.

Lastly, please don't forget contributing in donations. It is the most needed now in a time where the zi0nazis are now deliberately steering the situation towards mass starvation. The following organizations' aid reach the Gazans to a certain extent: UNRWA, PCRF, Anera, MSF (for medical treatment), etc.

Make sure to share this; copy-paste, reblog, whichever. Get the message across.

#palestine #gaza #speak up #p #help gaza #speak up for palestine #2027 #share

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penisbutterjellytime · 2 years

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Hey!! So Ive been seeing all your cool lore posts on reddit for all tomorrows and i adore them! Curious, do you have any "original" post humans? I know some people have made their own so just curious if you do too!

TYSM ^.^ !!!

I really enjoy making Character Designs and All Tomorrows is really fun to mess with in relation to that.

I don't have a cohesive story for all of them, I mostly have concepts that I think would be fun and their designs.

Adding a read more in case this is too long for some people lol

A snake person who is a pro-wrestler named Boa (or just Bo) the Constrictor

With my advanced Blind Folk headcannons, A Cowboy/Mercenary Blind Fellow with super hearing so can almost always hear and aim for the heart lol. (Haven't drawn him yet)

Besides the Blind Folk I also really love the Symbiotes. They were my first fave before the the BF. I have this emo looking Symbiote that I might develop more, since I don't have a solid personality for them yet really + this butterfly themed Symbiote in the same situation lol

I also have another Symbiote host/body character that gets stuck in their head a lot, grappling with their individuality and how they technically have their own thoughts and free will and they kind of hate it / scares them so takes up difficult physical jobs and manual labor, also getting into fights, so they don't have to think. I've been trying to make a design for them but haven't found anything I'm satisfied with. Koseman says the hosts are more like horses being driven by the Parasidic Symbiotes, but I'd assumed the Parasites would speak through their hosts, so I think the hosts would also be able to communicate with each other through speech instead of just body language like most animals. Maybe more like the intelligence of dolphins, crows, or maybe octopus. Like they'd pick up language from being around the Parasites and then able to develop and communicate in their own language.

I made some modular people based of architecture aesthetics which I'll post soon.

When classes take a break for the summer I hope to make a few All Tomorrows animatics, and those have characters!

I have a Martian and Star person couple / band during the Qu evasion. Names undecided yet but the Martian is pretty tall due to Mars' gravity and her boyfriend is super short because of Jupiter's gravity (where he's from) They travel planet to planet touring but mostly live on Mars. During the Qu evasion they jump around and start shenanigans leading to people they're around getting found by the Qu but somehow they are always end up escaping until they are eventually caught in the end. They look a little weird cause I wanted their designs to foreshadow what post-human they'll be turned into.

And lastly a Gravital who loves her mechanical life and planet until she finds out about the Golden Record on the Voyager and start modifying her mechanical body to look more humanoid (Human design still pending)

#all tomorrows #dz.alltmrws #info dump oc time lol #dz.oc's #dz.alltomrws.oc's

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therappundit · 2 years

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*The Best of the Bestest!: The Rap Pundit’s Picks For The Finest Rap Projects of 2022

*Just a list of MY favorite favorites from a year filled with a lot of damn good music.

What else needs to be said at this point? You have probably seen at least a dozen “Best of” lists by now, with many of the same albums cluttered near the top....but this is THE Rap Pundit’s list, so you know you’re bound to find more gems than chalk.

In a historically deep year for rap music (a topic worth profiling in the future), the headline story was probably the numerous side stories. Be it the explosion of great music coming from areas that had a previously under-reported wealth of talent (especially Wisconsin and Florida), the underground scene getting more high profile exposure than it has in years (artists like billy woods, Fatboi Sharif and Lungs/Lonesword being shouted-out by numerous mainstream outlets!?), sample-driven drill officially becoming the preferred drill-flavor (at least on the east coast, shout-out Shawny Binladen, Four50, Big YaYa and the YTB), and of course the simply inescapable rise of club music’s influence on rap right now (Bandmanrill is clearly the master of this lane, but this style isn’t going away anytime soon)….if you couldn’t find something you loved in 2022, you might not actually like rap music.

But the proof is in the pudding, let’s get into it. Here are my personal picks for the most impressive albums/mixtapes/EPs/projects/whatever of 2022…

***High Honors***: Beware of the Monkey by MIKE, Motion Not Emotion by DB.Boutabag, Playing With Fire by ShooterGang Kony, Crack Music 2 by Skilla Baby, Beyond Belief by 38 Spesh & Harry Fraud, Gold Bricks by ElCamino, and Formal Intro by dp0mmy [+about 100 more that I plan to shout-out on future posts!]

100. VACABULAREE by Valee

99. The DogFather by Paco Panama

98. u be ight by QThree

97. Traumazine by Megan Thee Stallion

96. Metatron’s Cube by Aj Suede & Televangel

95. Spaceships on the Blade by Larry June

94. Scorpion Eyes by BandGang Lonnie Band$

93. Raw Extractions by Lukah

92. Marlowe 3 by Marlowe (L’Orange & Solemn Brigham)

91. SNOFALL by Jeezy & DJ Drama

90. Tales Of A Yung Son by Four50

89. Ima Island Boy by Pros AP

88. WHERE ARE THE BUGS!? by Cise Greeny, Phiik & Lungs/LoneSword

87. Let’s Do A Drill by Asian Doll

86. GRIPTAPE by the grittiest, Raz Fresco, Eric Right

85. Triple Black Diamonds 2 by al.divino & Estee Nack

84. Where The Shooters Be by SleazyWorld Go

83. As Above So Below by VIP Skylark

82. ONLY BUILT 4 DIAMOND LINKS by Peezy

81. Deutsche Marks 3 by Willie The Kid & V Don

80. THE LIZ 2 by Armani Caesar

79. Wordly Ways by Archibald Slim

78. I NEVER LIKED YOU (Deluxe) by Future

77. MARTINELLI MAC-ELEV by Willyynova

76. Jungle Life by DCG BROTHERS (DCG Shun, DCG Bsavv)

75. FACE (Deluxe Edition) by Babyface Ray

74. What They Hittin 4 by Jay Worthy & DJ Muggs

73. Sedale Threat by Wrecking Crew (Zilla Rocca, Curly Castro & PremRock)

72. Dollar Menu 4 by Mach-Hommy & Tha God Fahim

71. On High Alert, Vol. 4 by Real Bad Man

70. EA Monster by Young Nudy

69. Back For Everything by Kodak Black

68. raja’s sun by iblss

67. BussaBrick Vol. 2: BussOne 101 by Chicken P

66. 2 Headed Goat by 1100 Himself & Mitchell

65. The I&I by Teller Bank$ & Ed Glorious

64. COTI 2: The Course of the Inevitable 2 by Lloyd Banks

63. The Broadcast by Fil Jackson

62. The 13 Tape 2 by Jugg Harden

61. HTR Vol. 1: The Legend of Tawny Tone by Koncept Jack$on

60. MEMPHIS MASSACRE III *or* CRUNKSTAR [I still can’t make up my mind!?] by Duke Deuce

59. BEFORE SHIT GOT WEIRD by The Cool Kids

58. ENDLESS by evrymN

57. 25 Features, Vol. 2 by Los & Nutty

56. SLANG CASINO by YUNGMORPHEUS & Obijuan

55. Before The Winner Comes The Fall by Grunge Gallardo

54. Valley of Dry Bones by Stik Figa & Conductor Williams

53. Paint the City (Gangsta Grillz) by Icewear Vezzo & DJ Drama

52. Lost In Austin by kingdoughmane.

51. Gold by DJ Muggs & Rigz

50. Black Vladimir by Meyhem Lauren & Daringer

49. Dog$hit & Ammunition by WTM Milt

48. Laughing so Hard, it Hurts by Mavi

47. Metal Lung by Shrapknel (Curly Castro & Premrock)

46. Da Under Dog by MarijuanaXO

45. The Forever Story by JID

44. SHADOWSELF by Sleep Sinatra & Ohbliv

43. CHAINLINK by Phiik & Duro

42. $oul $old $eparately by Freddie Gibbs

41. Church by billy woods & Messiah Musik

40. RAMONA PARK BROKE MY HEART by Vince Staples

39. SOGW2: Estee Nack & The Order of the Golden Fleece by Estee Nack & Sadhugold

38. Blame Kansas by T.F, Roc Marciano & Mephux

37. Joe Fog by Errol Holden

36. ill be right back! by amani & robalu

35. LIVE FROM THE OTHER SIDE by Mikem Nahmir & The Fades Formation

34. The Elephant Man’s Bones by Roc Marciano & The Alchemist

33. Her Loss by Drake & 21 Savage

32. Frank by Fly Anakin

31. SOUTH CENTRAL by G Perico

30. Sewaside II by Mike Shabb

29. King’s Disease III by Nas & Hit-Boy

28. Cold Cuts by Wiki & Subjxct 5

27. Melt My Eyez See Your Future (The Extended Edition) by Denzel Curry

26. Intros, Outros & Interludes by Domo Genesis & Evidence

25. Few Good Things by Saba

24. BABYST5XNE GORILLAS by Baby Stone Gorillas

23. Fair Exchange No Robbery by Boldy James & Nicholas Craven

22. Continuous Improvement by Papo2oo4, DJ Lucas & Subjxct 5

21. Kiss The Ring by Rome Streetz

20. MOB by Babyface Ray

19. I Love Y.O.U. cuz Y.O.U. Ugle Vol.1 by Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire

18. It’s Almost Dry by Pusha T

17. Smoke Detector by Rich Jones

16. The Soufside Villain by Marco Plus

15. Tana Talk 4 by Benny The Butcher

14. Continuance by Curren$y & Alchemist

13. Cheat Codes by Black Thought & Danger Mouse

12. Languish Arts and Woeful Studies by Ka

11. Spirit Roaming by AKAI SOLO

Aaaaaaaaand now, my top ten...

10. I Told Bessie by ELUCID

[A well-oiled machine of an album, I Told Bessie lurches along from one ear-grabbing soundscape to another, each gifted contributor putting their stamp on some precious reflection from ELUCID (all producers were in top form here, but Child Actor, Messiah Musik and Sebb were especially potent). As one half of Armand Hammer, ELUCID has no trouble being a tour guide through his own stroll down memory lane. He is a superior narrator that knows his way around a vast array of different styles of instrumentals, which means that Bessie never gets too dark or too bright, adding easy replay value to even the heavier moments of the album.]

9. Component System with the Auto Reverse by Open Mike Eagle

[Open Mike Eagle has circled around the epicenter of the underground rap scene for some time now, always a worthy contributor, albeit not one to necessarily be recognized during award season. That should change with his latest effort, a brilliant piece of nostalgia, personal reflection, and an earnest love for hip-hop. Also, great writing aside, the beats on here are simply phenomenal.]

8. SICK! by Earl Sweatshirt

[Forgot that this dropped in 2022? The first AOTY contender to drop is all too often the album ending up with the short end of the stick come December, and that seems to be the case with SICK!. Less sonically aggressive than much of his previous work, Earl still manages to cram so much thoughtful writing into quick, fun-size doses. The most effective music isn’t always the music that begs for our attention, and this feels like an album where the listener is fortunate just to catch Earl’s thoughts before they float away, to make room for more poignant passing thoughts. Perhaps Earl’s best gift as an artist is his ability to leave fans wanting more.]

7. Bokleen World by Mike Shabb

[By now the buzz is just starting to nip at Mike Shabb's heels. The Montreal MC/producer was not on my radar before this year, but hot damn has he made an impact in 2022. If it wasn’t his TWO great solo albums that he dropped, it was the acclaim from tastemakers like Westside Gunn, who got his production skills the attention they deserve. More importantly, Shabb is coming out of Montreal, Canada, making him a representative of a scene that is starting to make waves well outside of the Canadian border. I loved his release from earlier this year, but for me it was Bokleen World that showcased all of the many dimensions of an exciting young artist.]

6. MOOR CHORES by Lord Kayso

[Another artist that I was completely unfamiliar with at this time last year, Brooklyn’s Lord Kayso is closing out this year as one of my favorite artists. There’s something about his delivery and the way that he colors in his world that feels simultaneously intimate but distant, much like how a young Nas was portrayed as a writer’s-writer, watching events in his community unfold from a project window. Kayso reflects on his world with a casual delivery that doesn’t seem to be emotionally affected in the moment, but the fact that he’s sharing these personal stories at all confirms that he’s a man with a great deal on his mind.]

5. For All Debts Public and Private by Defcee & Boathouse

[Last year Defcee & Messiah Musik really surprised some folks (myself included) by dropping Trapdoor, one of the best albums of 2021, in December...so let that be a lesson to anyone that thinks they can finalize their annual Best Of lists by the time Thanksgiving wraps up. That's a tough act to follow, but Defcee & Boathouse managed to strike in 2022 with another fantastic project in For All Debts Public and Private. An impressive list of some of the underground's finest join forces with Boathouses impactful backdrops and Defcee's revealing bars, all to create an album that is as thoughtful as it is prone to high levels of replay value. When it comes to dissecting one's life and perspectives, I don't know if any MC's pen is touching Defcee at the moment.]

4. Deathfame by Quelle Chris

[Detroit's uber-talented virtuoso Quelle Chris has been accumulating one of the deepest catalogues in music for some time now, but Deathfame is truly one of his finest works top to bottom. An under-reported trend for Quelle is that he somehow finds a way to become more and more versatile as a producer with every album. Never allowing his sense of humor to drown out his messages, and never being so devoid of humor that his messages come off as bitter, a great Quelle Chris album has become a most welcome tradition over these past few years....and I hope it continues!]

3. Aethiopes by billy woods & Preservation

[Gonna keep it moving here…billy woods is just flat out the most prolific writer in rap music right now, Preservation is a genius and their chemistry is off the charts. Add a handful of standout guest verses - EL-P, Boldy, Breeze and hot damn, Despot!? - and you have an AOTY worthy album. Too many memorable quotes and verse of the year contenders to list, but for some reason there’s a special place in my heart for “trying to pay rent - but that’s not black empowerment, that’s you trying to pay rent”.]

2. 10 (a.k.a. HWH10) by Westside Gunn

[Maybe my favorite Westside Gunn project since FLYGOD, which for me (as a bit of a Griselda stan since 2015), is saying a lot. Reminiscent of Kanye’s “anyone around, come to the studio right now!” energy during better times - his MBDTF G.O.O.D. Friday roll out - for the latest (last??) installment of his controversially titled music series, Gunn managed to pull together a somewhat surprising list of features for a mixtape of loose and FUN bar-fests over the most varied, ear-grabbing production that we have heard from the Griselda collective in a minute. I’m not actually sure who was in the studio and who wasn’t, but when the outcome puts Run The Jewels, A$AP Rocky, Doe Boy, Black Star, Busta and Rae & Ghost together on the same project, you get a straight-up dope tape that reminds me of why I fell in love with underground rap music in the first place. Classic Soundbombing vibes, for me.]

1. Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers by Kendrick Lamar

[When it comes down to releasing new albums, no other rap artist needs to check as many boxes as Kendrick Lamar. JAY-Z, J.Coke, Drake, you name it - none of them have to incorporate mainstream bangers, nuanced “conscious rap”, alternative choices, catchy lyrics, superior production, clear expression of ideas, and manage to touch the bar set by fans with incredibly high expectations for an artist that doesn’t release new music as often as his peers…but such is the life of anyone who is considered to have the highest ceiling in their field. Yet with Mr. Morale, Kendrick unleashed the album that *he* wanted to release: a sprawling conversation piece that stumbles through dozens of sticky topics without digging his heels into any one stance for too long.

It’s the perfect expression of ideas from anyone that came out of the last few years of isolation with a creeping sense of doubt, mistrust for the information circling around him, and a general awkwardness for how to interact with the world once again. I’m not sorry that many of the thoughts he shared on this album weren’t met as “correct” based on our expectations of what many of us want him to represent, but more importantly, Kendrick shouldn’t be sorry either. Much like other prominent people of influence in the world today, we should be discussing the nuance of everything we’re told, and the great points often come from those exchanges - way moreso than the regurgitation of curated policy that is deemed acceptable by the loudest of audiences. So yes, I believe Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers to be hands-down the best rap album of 2022. All messages aside, how anyone could miss the well-crafted delivery and high quality production that is easily the most engaging of any mainstream rap album in 2022, is still pretty surprising to me….but I suppose conflicted opinions are exactly what should come from a talented artist stewing in his own conflicted opinions in recent years. Oh well, I guess even the best in their field can’t please everybody.]

Next stop....best songs. 👀

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oreozfox · 2 years

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🌟 BNHA OC- Kazuko Shimizu 🌟

I got the idea to just make a bio post for Kazuko after seeing similar ones by @epickiya722 ! This bio is formatted similarly to hers.

Kanji Name: 清水和子

Hero Name: Rejuvenation Hero Pegasus

Age: 18 (currently in Springs of Pegasus), 22 (current BNHA canon)

Occupation: Sidekick of Ms. Joke (currently in Springs of Pegasus), Pro Hero (current BNHA canon)

Gender and Pronouns: Female, she/her

Birthday: October 15th

Physical Description: Kazuko is a woman of short stature, standing at 5'3" (just over 160 cm). She has black hair, with a few strands of mauve, especially around her bangs. Her eyes are the same color as those mauve strands. Her skin is a dark shade of tan. She's a bit of an intense person, so she kinda has RBF lol. She's often glaring to some capacity. When she's not wearing her Hero costume, she often dresses comfortably, usually in big t-shirts (abt half of which were Keigo's lol) and shorts.

Family/Relationships: There isn't much on her parents yet in the story, but her father Mihiro Shimizu is a marine biologist (and the one Kazuko inherited the healing aspect of her Quirk from, as well as the mauve hair and eye colors). Her mother Carmelita Shimizu is from the Philippines, and works as a lifeguard. Kazuko is their oldest child, and has five younger siblings. Kazuko has a close relationship with her mentor Ms. Joke, despite their differing personalities. She also looks up to Eraserhead, whom she worked with for a time (and used to have a massive crush on). Now, Kazuko has a romantic interest in Hawks. Later, they start dating. Kazuko's closest friends are Miruko and Swordspirit (whom I'll make a page for soon!)

Personality: Kazuko is very duty-driven, focusing a lot of her energy on her Hero work. This makes her come off as very intense, serious, and "stiff", according to Keigo. She also has a fiery temper. She has a strong sense of justice, and hates feeling patronized or weak more than just about anything. Despite seeming cold most of the time, Kazuko shows a lot of respect for her elders and superiors, like the older Pros she works with. She also has a tender and friendly side which isn't shown often, but is still there.

Quirk: Kazuko's Quirk is Springs of Pegasus (which the fic she appears in is named after!). She can produce rejuvenating water which can ease pain, injuries, and fatigue in reasonable amounts (often not enough to substitute for a trip to Recovery Girl). She also bears a pair of white wings. They are not as large or strong as Keigo's, and they are simply a part of her body, unable to easily detach from her body. She can feel them just like others can feel her limbs, if not more so, making wing injuries especially painful for her. Her wings also have slight bioluminescence, able to glow in certain spots to light her way. The placement of these spots closely resemble the structure of the Pegasus constellation!

Hobbies: I haven't put much thought into this, but she can play the electric guitar and surf! To decompress, she likes to go on flights at night, especially if Keigo accompanies her. Has forbidden herself from playing video games, though, after she damaged one of Keigo's controllers when she got very angry at a game jdjshgjkdfhk (don't worry she bought him a new one lol)

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #mha #bnha #bnha oc #mha oc #springs of pegasus #oreo crunches

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goldeneyedgirl · 2 years

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I’ve been seriously enjoying your fix as contributions this year! Seriously love anything you write - you have a talent ❤️

That being said, Shadow to Light and Divorced Jalice have a special place in my heart. Do you think you’ll have any updates for either of these this season? 🫣

Also, super excited about baby-verse and dad-sper lol. I love seeing everyone’s take on Jalice attempting to keep a tiny soul alive 😫😂

Awww, thank you Anon!

Sadly, I couldn't include either of those this year; STL13 is happening and should be up soon - one of the future chapters is 75% done, so I'm having to go back to work on the pacing and lay the groundwork before I release it into the wild.

Most of the work for Divorced Jalice is kind of building it into a single timeline, and much of the work so far is in connecting scenes or lines of dialogue or just dot points, which isn't satisfying to read. I need to do a proper outline for it so that there's a road map, rather than just writing random scenes, honestly.

And the pro-baby-verse people are making me laugh because I literally posted that as a silly. I do worry that if/when I post the full story people will be disappointed about how very plot-driven it is, rather than all family fluff.

Thank you for the message Anon, I promise to get everyone some new STL soon!

#asks #my fic: shadow to light #my fic: divorced jalice #my fic: hybrid babyverse

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freifraufischer · 2 years

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Let’s talk about Gymnastics Fans and what I’ve started to describe as fan fiction...

Women’s artistic gymnastics is a highly gendered sport and the fan spaces are often dominated by women (as opposed to the less “fan” driven spaces that are more about the male gaze). As someone who spent her entire adult life in a world where writing fan fiction was normal and “what if’s” or “fix it” fan fiction that runs counter to an official cannon are staples of the format I feel somewhat embarrassed to admit that I failed to see the same themes in gymnastics fandom about real people.

This post is not to be confused with Real Person Fan Fiction which is a whole other thing, but rather very strongly held sometimes parasocial beliefs about an athlete and their capabilities or future prospects in the face of direct contradictory evidence.

The two strongest cases right now that I would identify are Simone Biles and Jade Carey of the United States, though I think that there is also a fair bit of parasocial rationalization around Angelina Melnikova particularly last winter to try and justify the idea that she was secretly anti-war. Most of that died down when she showed up in public with a fetching purse with the pro war Z on it.

Biles and Carey’s narratives are different but I think a key point in common is that while Carey came away from Tokyo with an Olympic Gold Medal she also had a scary moment in the vault final when she was at least a major contender to win. So we have the first ingredient in these fan narratives: fix what went wrong in Tokyo with a redemptive trip to Paris.

For Biles, other than the general parasocial fans that any entertainment or sports star gains during their career, the elements of the narrative rest in being the greatest of all time who doesn’t need to prove herself to anyone (certainly not team selectors) and that USAG would of course bed over backwards to pass her along at her own pace in this process. The current narrative floating around seems to be that she is casually going into the gym that her family owns to keep up her endurance and cardio and will seriously begin training again after her wedding in the summer of 2023. Some versions see her going to 2023 Worlds as a vault and floor specialist before working her way up to adding more events through 2024 until she’s ready to take the Paris AA.

No amount of pointing out that World Champion Center, the gym her parents own, is a 52,000 square foot facility and there are a LOT of people in and out of it at least some of which would be happy to spread the gossip that she’s back. No amount of pointing out the basic reality that Olympic athletes lose market value for sponsorships as soon as they officially retire. The response to that is that Simone is so great and so famous that she doesn’t have to worry about that.

When her coach Cecile Landi said that Simone had stopped off in the gym “to say hi” that wasn’t evidence that she wasn’t training. That was evidence that Cecile was protecting her so she could announce in her own time. Cecile herself plays a big part in the narrative construction of a Simone return to glory in Paris given that she is a French olympian. Not withstanding that there is a very good chance that one or more of Cecile’s other athletes will make that 2024 Olympic team so there is no need for Simone to be the vehicle to make that dream come true for her.

The overall themes though are that Simone is such an unparalleled talent that she would easily beat out gymnasts who have been working the entire quad towards this goal with minimal training all so that she can prove the haters wrong.

There is a subset of this fan fiction, which I believe has been sparked by the host of a major gymnastics podcast, that Simone could compete for the country of Belize which she holds duel citizenship through her mother. None of the practicalities or fall out from such a switch are ever discussed.

The Jade Carey narrative is different. The way I’d describe it is that Jade Carey’s life is as close as one could get to one of those Disney-tween movies about a gifted girl discovered by an Olympic coach playing around in a local gym and asked to go to the Olympics. Now, the reality is still impressive, Carey was a level 10 gymnast (the highest non elite status in the US) and in the track to get a college scholarship when she was spotted by then developmental director Valeri Liukin and asked to national team camp because of her particular skills at vault and tumbling.

She was, though this has changed when she got to college somewhat, painfully shy and awkward. Oh and she can’t dance. To the point that she is for some people the epitome of the nightmare of the open code of modern gymnastics. Someone who won an Olympic gold medal on floor with stilted movements and the lowest non-fall execution score ever recorded in the Olympic floor final.

Even her fans call her a gentle robot.

Because of a particular process for Olympic qualification in the Tokyo quad she was able to qualify for the Olympics outside of the traditional team route. Her father (who is also her coach) was seen to have brilliantly played the rules of this process to his benefit though the reality of that is a bit messier. Some fans have interpreted this as an end run around the despised US gymnastics federation and have never seemed to understand that she wouldn’t have been able to go this individual route without the blessing of the US gymnastics federation.

Because of the particular system for the Tokyo Olympics any gymnast who wished to do the All Around there could do so. There was no coach or federation to prevent it and Carey did the AA. She’s got passible uneven bars but Jade treats the balance beam like she is afraid of it and her routines there were a problem for her. Simone Biles withdraw though got her into the Olympic AA final and she finished a very respectable 8th given a beam fall.

She has continued elite and many fans have clung to the idea of her as an All Around gymnast despite the fact that the Tokyo Olympic system no longer exists and the sport’s code of points has moved in a direction to punish a gymnast exactly like Carey (as if she and Simone Biles might have been exactly the people the people writing the rules had in mind).

I believe that Jade, as a pretty white girl who is just shy enough to project whatever you want onto her, is being used as a self insert for many gym fans. The shy girl who is plucked from nowhere to go to the Olympics, who with her father outsmarted the evil abusive bureaucracy, and now will become world champion.

Now the fact that this narrative is often achieved by downplaying the many young black women who finish ahead of her in the US all around is never brought up. For instance newly minted US national champion Konnor McClain’s potential upgrades are questioned (she’s said to be training an Amanar vault) but the fact that Carey hasn’t competed at her previous difficulty is just “pacing” because domestic meets don’t matter to her or her father. In other words, the four athletes who finished ahead of her at US nationals this year were competing at their limit but of course Carey would never do that.

And that highlights the ugly side of both these narratives. Not only do they diminish the rest of the field they are competing against, but in Simone’s case it ignores one of the key lessons of Tokyo, that far too much pressure was placed on her with the assumption that she would always win. For Carey it’s the fact that a bunch of people in this fandom have looked at a sea of largely BIPOC top US athletes and clung to the the pretty white girl and in order to elevate her potential have to downplay the others.

[I have lots of other thoughts about Carey as a gymnast in the 2024 code of points and particularly narratives about her father, but in case anyone is upset this post is not about her anymore than it is about Simone. It is about the way fans talk about them.]

#gymnastics fan-tasties

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himbeaux-on-ice · 3 years

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alright, have had some time to process and be depressed, time for my two nickels on the Pacioretty surgery news that nobody asked for (under the cut bc its long, right below this photo I put in to make this post more eye-catching lol)

fwiw, “indefinitely” comes across very scary, but its kinda what you have to say when a) the surgery happened literally today so you can’t really begin making pace-of-recovery based estimates, and b) there is literally a game *tomorrow* you should probably advise people he’s not gonna play in after claiming he was “day to day”, which will also be before you can start making reasonably accurate estimates. so from a PR “don’t say anything you can’t guarantee” standpoint you would say “indefinitely”, because much like this team’s usage of “game time decision” that can pretty much mean anything. a timeline will likely emerge by the end of January (well, the team will have a timeline, whether they share it with us is as always another matter lol)

bright spot: in this case the injury will not prevent him from skating/continuing lower body workouts for most of that time, unlike with the broken foot. so much like Jack being able to skate already while rehabbing his neck, once the wrist is good Max will already be up to “game shape” fitness levels otherwise and ready to hit the ground running (not that that’s uh, stopped him before lol, as we saw this month)

bright spot: Max has had a lot of injuries in his career, but the last wrist injury I can recall/find mention of was way back in 2013 (and we don’t even know if it was the same wrist, since he has two), so its unlikely to be a long-term nagging concern. I would be more concerned about longevity if it was another broken foot, something with his back/neck, or a concussion. he also has a great record of healing faster than expected, or at the very least right on schedule.

it may reassure some who are fans of the team but less familiar with his background to know a little bit about Max’s personality/headspace when it comes to his body and to competition. dude is a) a total wellness nut who keeps himself in crazy good shape and is extremely strict about what he puts in his body diet-wise, like to the point where even the other pro athletes he works with tease him about it, and b) also extremely, and I mean EXTREMELY competitively driven and results-focused, to the point where he will try whatever gimmick, technique or trick he thinks is going to give the edge to put him in better shape or in a better position competitively on the ice.

what we can take from the above is that this is a guy who a) is in a great position health-wise generally, despite having terrible luck with random injuries, and b) would likely not have opted for surgery unless he thought it was, and had some serious assurances from the medical staff that it is, the number one absolute best way for him to be back on the ice playing his absolute best hockey as soon as possible. especially as a player whose best asset is his wrist shot, he would not likely fuck around with this, or get anything done that had a higher chance of fucking his wrist up long-term than simply playing through it would. also don’t think he would do it if he expected it to keep him out long enough to interfere with playoffs, with this being an all or nothing year for the team and him having a serious chip on his shoulder after last year’s exit against his former team. he’s not the type of player to avoid treatment for arbitrary or stubborn reasons — if there was an option with less risk or a shorter timeline, he would have taken it.

"but he was playing just two days ago, what the fuck!" yeah, and while he was functional enough, I don’t think that was his best healthiest hockey, and I actually suspect it hasn’t been since at least the game against the Rangers on the 17th of December (maybe the game against the Devils the night before, too, which was when his goal and point streak ended and has yet to resume). he’s been “day to day”, or at the very least skipping practices/morning skates, since at least when they got back from that trip. that overlaps with the fact that he hasn’t had a goal since Boston on the 14th (when he had two).

while nothing stood out to me against the Devils, in the game against the Rangers it did catch my notice and strike me as odd that he missed I believe two clean breakaway chances in OT (with the third being saved by the goalie), because that’s basically a direct overlap of two situations (OT and breakaways) where he’s usually money for a goal. he was visibly frustrated/exasperated with himself on the bench afterwards.

there have been a few moments in games since then where I’ve been like “weird, he usually buries that nearly every time” on shots that missed the net — also multiple times I can recall seeing him shaking his wrist out after certain plays (not sure if it was always the same wrist)

while we all laughed at the audible “FUCK” last game in LA, it was another one of those weird misses, and I now in hindsight think that was less about “fuck, we could’ve been up 6-1 instead of 5-1” and more “FUCK, I put that off the crossbar instead of in when that usually wouldn’t happen, *again*”. I’d say he probably tried to play through whatever was bothering him with the wrist for at least the last 3-4 games before Christmas, gave it the holiday break to see if rest would fix it, and probably realized Tuesday in LA that that approach just wasn’t gonna cut it, direct action was needed.

personally, I’d rather wait 8-10 weeks (current estimate SinBin has from VegasSportsDoc, via twitter) for a fully functional goal-scoring Pacioretty than let him possibly make his wrist worse while not producing anything by trying to play through it instead (I’d rather he wasn’t injured at all, first off, but anyway), having a shitty few months and THEN possibly getting surgery closer to playoffs, thus reducing his effective healthy playing time even more and potentially writing off the season for him. like how if Jack Eichel could have had his surgery when he wanted it, he could have been playing NHL hockey in September 2021 rather than waiting on February 2022.

given the success rate of most player surgeries and subsequent rehabs these days (pretty good, because medical stuff has come a long way) I actually personally tend to be in favour of “take the time off fully” or “get the immediate fix surgery” rather than “play through it and maybe make it worse and let your numbers get *terrible* bc you’re playing sub-par due to injury” in most cases.

all in all, extremely extremely bummed that he’s gonna be out for a while as he is one of my top 3 favourite players in the league these days. BUT: while there’s no replacing his impact the team has figured out how to survive without him this season, he’s a resilient unkillable lunatic whose career-long brand at this point is bouncing back insanely strong from long-term injuries to immediately rise to new career highs, I don’t think he would have undertaken surgery over rehab if it had significant highly likely risks to the function of his wrist greater than playing through it, and he’s otherwise extremely healthy (despite the eternal bad luck) and tends to heal fast or at least on schedule. his approach to injury is and has always been for the last ten years “get better from it” and theres nothing he would rather be doing than playing hockey.

he’ll be back. probably sooner than we expect. and certainly with a vengeance. he’s done it before and he’ll do it again. he bounces back from shit. it’s what he does.

get well soon, Patch. we’ll miss ya in the meantime.

#Max pacioretty #vegas golden knights #vgk #vgk lb #Injuries #Long post #oli’s hockey nickels #ah this sucks so bad but I’m working through it. let’s never fucking play LA again

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thepoodlepack · 3 years

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What's wrong with goldenpoodles? I'm genuinely curious because almost all of my dogs are mixed breeds and behave fine. So I'm curious if there's something else I'm missing

jeez this feels like bait but u kno what, you got me

alright, so it goes like this. the doodle really began with a guy in australia being like i need the temperament of a lab for a guide dog but these ppl are allergic to dogs, so i need a poodle bc they have hair, not fur. so he bred em together. years later he’s like damn that was a mistake.

now, why, exactly? alright so first of all he only needed that mix bc labs on average tend to adapt better to situations that are largely exclusive to service dog work than poodles do. i can go into what this means at a later date, but that’s basically how it is. but either way, people jumped on this creation and it kinda spiraled out of control. soon, poodles were being bred by everyone and every breed. suddenly, they were a marketing scam more then they were a dog breed.

oh theyre hypoallergenic! all of them, all the time cause zero allergies! look theyre so much better than poodles! theyre friendly and easy to train, not like poodles of course, just like labs! they’re better than labs bc none of them shed, ever! they’re super healthy bc breeding labs and poodles together wipes out all their health problems, of course!

lies, lies lies. the aussie guy, whose name i’m not going to look up bc i’m lazy but who you can find if you google creator of doodles, straight up says that even the first litter(s) of labradoodles he bred had puppies that the people he bred them for were allergic to. he very carefully tested the litter and the reaction the person had before placing a puppy that was not going to hurt them.

think of the punnet squares we all learned about in 5th grade science class. you draw the squares and one parent has two fur genes and the other parent has two hair genes and what do you get? well if you have four puppies, one might have hairhair and the next one might have hairfur and the next one might have furhair and the next one might have furfur. and so guess what? only hairhair pup is going to be the best choice for allergic people. additionally, you can see why the non-shedding thing can be bullshit, and that in particular is also a guessing game. you may be able to test allergy sufferers against the pups, but that does not necessarily mean they won’t shed. hairfur, for example, may be a good choice for some allergic people, but perhaps they’ve got just enough fur to shed anyway. also, lets look at salukis (and frankly, most long-haired sighthounds). salukis are still considered dogs with fur, not hair. they also still shed, even though it’s just a little. and yet they’re still considered good for allergy sufferers.

(ps poodles do actually shed. but they shed like humans shed. your hair comes out, doesn’t it? like, esp folks with long hair, aren’t people always complaining how you clog the shower drain? yeah, like that. ALSO obviously the situation is more complicated then super simple punnet squares and as an ex-groomer i have something to say about doodle coats but i’m going to save that for later, put a pin in it.)

oh and wait a hot minute there. i said best choice, didn’t i, not hypoallergenic. well, that’s because no dog is hypoallergenic. poodles, and a few other dog breeds, they have hair, like we do. but the thing is both humans and breeds with hair still produce the dander, though they’re different kinds. breeds with hair happen to produce the least amount possible that dogs can produce, which is why they’re a better choice for allergy sufferers, but that’s still not a guarantee. my roommate Dakota is allergic to dogs. if i don’t wash my dogs for an extended period of time (which has never happened, ever, in my life, idk what ur talking about), thus giving the chance for the dander my dogs still produce, he will have a very, very mild reaction when touching them. it can be countered by him washing his hands after touching them and also me just giving them a fucking bath, i need to stop forgetting, but still, there you go. ALSO people might not be allergic to dogs bc of their dander. they might be allergic to the saliva of dogs, which poodles or any other breed with hair still produces about the same as other dogs. so, yeah, not hypoallergenic, not at all.

the people who taut their hypoallergenic dogs for sale largely don’t do the testing required to check if they’re actually providing a dog to someone who won’t react to it. not acceptable at all.

so, labs are friendly and easy to train right? not at all like poodles, right? no. absolutely incorrect. some labs are friendly and easy to train. some labs, a lot of them when they’re puppies, are nightmare fuel. personally, i have a theory that everyone’s vision of labs in their heads are either a) service dogs or b) those old labs who are slightly pudgy (or morbidly obsess, which is a different topic) and who are graying in the face and just want to lounge around because they’re seniors now. alright, so here’s why thats bad. labs are a working breed. a retrieving breed. they’re supposed to be bulky and strong and driven. service dogs are highly trained, to a point that most pet dogs will never see, and if you see them with their actual disabled handler, they’ll probably be around 2.5 yrs of age and out of their most wild days. old labs are well. old. sleepy. maybe a bit achey. and well out of their most wild days. oh, and it’s the same type of thing with goldens by the way, the other most popular doodle type. poodles are also easy to train, especially if their parents have a decent temperament. they’re all about equal if you actually start training them when they’re puppies and just pay for some training classes, like everyone should. in the puppy classes i’m in right now, Euphoria is leaps and bounds ahead of doodles, goldens, and labs that are her age or older. I train her properly and she’s got amazing parents. that’s it, that’s the trick. not breed, not necessarily, and def not in this case.

I am once again going to say that labs and goldens are more often used as service dogs than poodles because of their adaptability, but it’s the ability to adapt to situations that most pet dogs will never have to worry about.

jeez this is a long post. i’ve still got more to cover too. alright, on to super healthy, or “hybrid vigor” as the nerds call it. uhh, it’s bullshit. thank u for ur time.

okay, but actually why on gods green earth would breeding two completely different breeds with little to no research make them super healthy? now i want to preface this with i’m (generally) pro-outcross projects. Euphoria’s dad is half mini poodle and half standard poodle, which isn’t technically an outcross bc all the variations are of the same breed, but if we’re going by genetic diversity alone minis and standards are different enough to actually be different breeds.

so, to be clear, outcrosses, given the proper thought and planning: good, results in healthier dogs (see: lua dals). randomly breeding two very different breeds together with no planning other than to sell the puppies to randos who won’t continue the outcross: bad. especially when you’re doing it to cash in and don’t health test at all, or don’t health test the major health problems with both breeds (if you’re doing an f2 breeding or anything like that). no the poodle’s health problems don’t get canceled out by the goldens or labs or whatever the other party’s health problems are, and vice versa. and yeah, i’ve looked at a lot of doodle breeder’s websites and yeah, most of them don’t health test at all, or at least don’t health test properly. do you know i own one doodle and currently live with another? yeah, i got them both from breeders and do you know how much health testing their parents got? if your answer is none, good job, you’ve been paying attention. in my defense, i was like 13, i didn’t know what i was doing.

alright, so those are the big points. this is kinda gonna be just... a mix of my other complaints. here we go, hope you’re ready for more. argument the first: i feel like it’s pretty disrespectful to reputable breeders. now, i actually have two reasons why that is. reason one: most reputable poodle breeders don’t want their breeding stock bred with other breeds, for various reasons. i’ve even met a few who used to be okay with it and then as the doodle scam got bigger and more out of control, they stopped being okay with it, even to the breeders who they had been fine with it in the past. that means a lot of doodle breeders out there have their breeding stock because they scammed poodle breeders into giving them pet quality, not breeding quality, dogs or because they’re getting their stock from non-reputable breeders. i also feel it’s disrespectful to breeders who are actually trying to create new breeds. quite frankly, a breed with the size, strength, and adaptability of a lab or golden that doesn’t shed and that has the train-ability of a poodle, lab, or golden sounds pretty interesting to me. did you know you can actually make that breed? and it wouldn’t be a cross with unpredictable... well, everything. it would actually be a true dog breed.

Look at Silken Windhounds and Biewer Terriers who began both development in the 1980s. Biewer Terriers were recognized by the AKC this year, and Silken Windhounds still haven’t been. And yeah, that’s the problem isn’t it? Making a real new breed takes a lot of time, planning, and care. People would rather just cash in. I think it’s sad and I think it’s disrespectful to the breeders who do work so hard to make actual new breeds.

and finally, unpin being an ex-groomer goddamnit. guess what? doodles are awful to groom! they’re terrible on the grooming tables because people want to have in both ways: they want a dog that doesnt shed at all and they want a dog who doesn’t need to be groomed. well guess what, that dog doesn’t exist and you can have it only one way. and also, bring back the goddamn punnet squares because a lot of doodles have awful coats. if you have hairfur and furhair over there, guess what, their coat fucking sucks bc it’s not meant to be like that. it wants to mat bc hair but also it wants the mats to slide out bc short-ish fur but its too thick for the mats to slide out bc thick hair. and yes its more complicated then this and that means its often more awful then this. its awful, it makes me want to cry. and maybe it’s slightly easier to get away with it with a shorthaired dog like a lab, or, you know what, even a golden, okay, even a slightly long haired dog like a golden but people are doodling akitas? border collies? bernese fucking mountain dogs? i am crying. i am crying right now as i type this.

lets do a sum up to this disaster of a post. look, i don’t go out there attacking or yelling at every doodle or every doodle owner i see, alright? or any of them really. i might engage in conversation to one that’s interested, but that’s it. i love my doodly Isis, okay? shes tiny and she’s adorable and I love her more than life and i will never, ever get another doodle. i don’t like the way they’ve gotten so prolific, i don’t like the reasons they’re now widespread, and i don’t like almost all of the people that create them, including the ones i’ve literally given my (parents) money to in the past. i wish they were better but i just cannot approve of them, especially not in the environment they exist in now. that said, i do support them in their original use case as assistance dogs, and i do not care about them if they’re shelter dogs.

#long post #anti doodle #text #my post #yes this took me like an hour #yes i do hate myself for it #Anonymous #oh anon im being grumpy mostly for comedy thats only funny to me #you're fine as long as you werent trying to bait me

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pink-imagines · 5 years

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spice it up

request: Ok this is something that’s been on my mind for a couple of days now, and it’s SUPER CHEESY but plz bear with me haha. I’ve been watching a lot of ANTM and it inspired me to think about an au where Bakugo is a pro-hero and Y/N is a upcoming top model visiting Japan to walk and display a new line of lingerie based off of Pro-Hero’s costumes (kinda like for a Victoria’s Secret fashion show) She’s chosen to wear the Ground Zero lingerie and she gets permission to shadow Bakugo for a day or two to get a read on his personality so she can base her walk off of him. Thing is, off the catwalk, Y/N’s personality is free-spirited, laidback and even a little shy, so when Bakugo meets her he’s like “why the fuck would they choose an extra like her to be me?” but little does he know on the catwalk her personality does a complete 180 and is outrageously fierce and confident. Pro-hero’s got a free invitation to the fashion show so with some convincing from his friends (and maybe because he was curious to see how the hell she was going to pull this off) he goes to the show and his reaction to when she steps on the catwalk… Lol I want to leave it up to you. Wow that was wayyy longer then I expected it to be. I’m sorry to spam you like that 😂 I feel like ppl are either going to love or hate this idea so if you don’t want to write it I honestly don’t blame you haha. Either way I love your posts! You’re writing style is very fun to read!

a/n: hellooo! hope you’re doing well! sorry for the late update, but i hope that this is an alright imagine!

warnings: description of lingerie(??)

masterlist

You were exhausted. The airport had always been a stressful place, but now you were jetlagged aswell. Flying to Japan wasn’t an easy task, but it was worth it. You carefully pushed the sunglasses you were wearing up the bridge of your nose. It was a weak disguise, but you really couldn’t care less.

“The car’s waiting outside. Let’s hurry up.”, your manager spoke fast. You grabbed your bag and followed after her. The paparazzi were flooding the exit, luckily they had put up fences. This was one of the reasons you had to look atleast a little bit dressed up on airports. Which was the most uncomfortable thing ever, but you just had to live with it. By “dressed up” they usually just meant “don’t wear sweatpants”. So you could still wear your comfy pair of jeans and a nice sweater or something of the sort.

“How do you feel after travelling so much? From New York, to London, to Paris and now here in Tokyo. How do you cope?” The same questions were popping up everywhere, but you didn’t stop for any of them. The only time you did stop was when you saw a few fans getting strangled against the fence. You hurried towards them, got their things signed and made sure they got back to safety.

“Let’s go, Y/N.”, your manager warned.

“Coming!”, you sighed and kept walking.

The next day you were driven to the place where you’d be messured for the lingerie.

“Y/N? Over here, honey!”, the designer said. He got you into a chair as soon as you arrived.

“What do you have for me today, Ray?”, you smiled kindly.

“So, heroes are a big thing. So we’ve made a line of hero-inspired lingerie, we think it’ll be a hit.”, he said with a big grin and showed you the sketches, “We’ll get them ready as soon as possible, but we need to match the right hero to the right model.”

“Alright, I trust your judgement.”, you looked through the sketches, “Give it to me, Ray.”

“Okay, okay. Since you’re the most charesmatic of the girls, we want you take care of the hothead.”, he pointed at one of the sketches, “Ground Zero.” You looked at the sketch. The top was some sort of dulled down orange color, in a lacy material. That wasn’t that bad, it was the usual, but there was a leather harness on top of it... a leather harness that connected to a leather choker. The bottoms were high-waisted and in the same lace material but black. But that wasn’t it. There was a pair of leather, knee-high, boots along with it.

“It’s... extreme.”, you sighed, “But, sure... I’ll do it.”

“Oh, thank you, Y/N. You’re a life saver, no model in Japan wanted to take the roll.”, he chuckled, “Here I’ll show you what we thought we should do for the face.” He showed you a face with cat-eye eyeliner, a simple nude lip and some sort of explosion looking thing behind the ears. You guessed that was a part of Ground Zero’s hero costume.

“Looks great, Ray.”, you smiled.

“Go get yourself meassured, your manager is booking you a meeting with Ground Zero so that you can study his personality.”, he said calmly and started to walk away.

How had you gotten yourself in this mess? To be honest, you didn’t know anymore. Everything happened so fast and now suddenly you were in the lobby of a hero agency, waiting for Ground Zero to go on his lunch break.

“Y/N Y/L/N?”, a rough voice asked behind you. You turned around to see a pair of crimson eyes staring into your soul. His hair was messy and he was just wearing jeans, a hoodie and a leather jacket. You didn’t know why you thought he’d show up in his hero costume.

“I’m guessing you’re Ground Zero?”, you stretched out your hand.

“You can say Bakugo.”, he scoffed and ignored your stretched out hand. He instead put his hands in his pockets.

“Are you ready to go?”, you asked.

“Why else would I be here?”, he sighed and walked to the exit. This was gonna be an exhausting week.

Bakugo walked as if he had just proven a point, or like he had just won an argument. To say the least, there was only pure confidence flooding in his veins. You hated it, but you simply had to see this as a job. You weren’t in your body, you were only watching from the audience.

“Are you just gonna sit there looking at me? You’re not gonna talk?”, he quirked an eyebrow at you.

“Fine then... um... what kind of music do you listen to?”, you asked innocently.

“Music?”, he bursted out into laughter, “That’s it? You really are just another extra!”

“Listen, man, you’re the one who wanted to talk. So talk.”, you kept your calm, you didn’t want to make a scene out in public.

“Eh- this place sucks, let’s go to my apartment. We can talk there.”, he shrugged and walked faster.

“Your apartment?”, you squeaked.

You were just supposed to follow him around for a while every day, but now you were in his apartment. This was only the first day! His apartment was nice though... it kind of had an oldschool aesthetic to it. Like he came straight out of a private school in England during the 1980′s.

“You asked what kind of music I’m into or something?”, he sighed and walked over to a record player after taking off his shoes and hanging up his jacket. You stopped for a second. Didn’t he just make fun of you for asking that? You watched as he flipped through a few records.

“Yeah, I did.”, you answered cautiosly and hung up your coat next to his jacket.

He effortlessly handled one of the vinyls and quickly put it on the record player... it started playing and-... was that The Beatles? Bakugo sat down on his couch as if it wasn’t extremely shocking for him to listen to this.

“You listen to The Beatles?”, you asked as Paul McCartney started signing the first verse of Yesterday.

“Who doesn’t?”, he sighed, “C’mon, sit down.” You sat down in one of the armchair’s and finished listening to the song.

“You don’t seem like you listen to this kind of music.”, you commented as the next song started playing.

“I don’t only listen to this, idiot.”, he snarked, “This was the first thing I found.”

“Whatever you say.”

A few days went by and you’d go through the same schedule. Wait for Bakugo to go out for his lunchbreak, walk around for a bit, go to his apartment and go home when he had to start his next shift. He started making you lunch, and he was a surprisingly good cook.

For the last day he stopped you before you parted ways.

“Wait-... can I meet you at your hotel later tonight?”, he actually looked a little bit nervous for once.

“I mean, yeah... but why?”, you gave him an unsure smile.

“I’ll take you out for food, something spicy... unless you can’t handle that.”, he grinned, his confidence was suddenly back.

“You wanna bet?”, your laughed.

“Alright then, it’s a bet.”, he chuckled, “I’ll meet you around 7 in the lobby.”

“For sure. I’ll see you!”, you waved goodbye and so did he.

Just when you were about to sneak out to the lobby your manager walked past.

“Where are you going?”, she asked.

“I was just uh...”

“And why’s Ground Zero in the lobby? He’s starting a commotion! We don’t need that, we need you to rest for the show tomorrow!”, she sighed.

“Please, I just wanted to-”

“No, Y/N. You can’t go out tonight, you have a damn show tomorrow.”

“Well, please just tell Bak- I mean... Ground Zero that I can’t come... and that I’m sorry.”, you pleaded, “Please.”

“Fine...”, she agreed.

The next day you woke up early to go to the fitting, so that you could later that day go to the show. Since they had your measurments, it fit perfectly.

“Hey, Laura!”, you stopped your manager as she passed by your make up station.

“Yeah, what’s up? Need anything?”, she asked.

“No-... I was just wondering if you know if Ground Zero would be here tonight.”, you asked.

“I don’t know, honey.”, she sighed, “He hasn’t said anything about it.”

“Alright, thank you.”

You got a moment alone in your changing room before you were going backstage. There was a harch knock on the door, which prompted you to go over to it and open the door.

“Is it time to come out n-”, you stopped dead in your tracks when you saw Bakugo in front of you.

“Hey.”, he said quietly.

“Hi.”, you responded, “How did you get back here?”

“It’s not that hard for a hero of my status.”, he grinned and puffed up his chest a bit.

“Okay, okay...”, you chuckled and wrapped the silk robe you had on tighter around you, “Well, I’m happy you made it.”

“Y/N! Showtime!”, you heard your manager shout.

“Coming!”, you answered.

“Good luck... on the show...”, he muttered.

“Thank you! I expect to see you in the crowd.”, you grinned and ran up to the backstage area.

Maybe he should’ve tried to see what she was wearing. He really hadn’t thought about it at all...

The show was in alphabetic order, so he’d have to sit there for a bit before she’d come out. He really didn’t care much for the other models and he might’ve fell asleep for a few minutes here and there... but that was the chair’s fault! It was too comfortable, it even had armrests! How could he not fall asleep? Just for a bit...

“Ground Zero!”, they shouted, making him almost jump out of his seat. Eijiro, who sat beside him, let out a quiet chuckle.

“Shut up, man...”, he whispered before glueing his eyes to the runway. He didn’t even recognize her at first. Y/N was... different... and it wasn’t just the clothing... or more like the lack there of.

Her whole aura was different when she walked she was like a whole new person. She was fierce, confident, simply the embodiment of a goddess of war and destruction. Katsuki’s eyes were glued to her, every curve and edge, and his mouth was slightly agape in shock. He didn’t even realize that people were taking pictures of him.

After the show Katsuki made his way backstage, where he met up with Y/N who was now wrapped up in her silk robe again.

“What did you think? Did you like it?”, she grinned.

“I-...”, he looked around at the people around him who were all watching, “It was alright.”

“Alright?”, you laughed, “Okay then, you diva, I’m gonna go get changed!” His gaze followed her form as she walked away from him to her changing room... until he noticed that people were staring at him.

“Oi! What are you looking at!?”

The next day you were already at the airport early in the morning, which was way to early since the plane didn’t leave for another hour. So you decided to look at the articles about last night.

You scrolled quickly through most of them until you saw a picture of a familiar face. It was Bakugo! Looking absolutely star struck as your figure strutted down the runway. A smile spread across your lips and you took a screenshot of the photo.

“Hey, do we have Ground Zero’s buisness email or something like that?”, you asked your manager.

“I can get it for you. Why do you need it?”, she quirked an eyebrow at you.

“Oh, I just wanted to thank him.”, you smiled sweetly, “Also, do you know the next time I’ll be working in Japan?”

“In a few months or so.”

“Perfect.” You couldn’t wait.

tagged for this fic: @bnha-violetnote | @succulent-momma

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bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture · 4 years

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Alright, so this is a bit later than I intended, but real life is a pain sometimes. And for those who missed the last post, that’s mostly on me for posting it at midnight, so you might want to go back and check for that - it covers the whole convo between Toshinori and Izuku on the rooftop!

But yeah, this is the final stretch, all the rest of chapter 1, so let’s hop right into it because it’s gonna be a ride.

[No. 1 - Midoriya Izuku: Origin]

Lookit that firebreath (I know it’s not shh). Also, again with the weird lack of crowds / people around in what should have at least a few stragglers. I get that drawing crowds / background masses is annoying, but in a wideview scene like this it’s unnerving. Japan is a high-population-density country, so… uh...

Izuku stares forlornly at his notebook, thinking about all the things people have told him over the past half chapter I mean day about being realistic and thinking seriously about his future. Izuku turns the book so the title faces away from him and starts tearing up, rubbing them away while he chastises himself for crying when he already knew he was being unrealistic, and that his knowing was what had driven him so hard to not see reality.

Overhead sign: 田 (den/ta) 等 (tou) 院 (in) 商店 (shouten) [business] 街 (machi) [boulevard, street]

Store sign: (コ)ネストアー (konesutoaa) [cornerstore]

Well, there’s the crowds, though still not able to account for all that empty street. We also see that Izuku has managed to wander his way to another hero fight despite not even really paying attention, and even though he tells himself he’s going to make himself feel bad for watching, he still heads over to join the crowds.

He snaps out of his funk when he sees the villain, asking himself how they got away, then realizes he must have made All Might drop it, which means it’s his fault (which kid, honestly, considering he just left those bottles in open flap pockets instead of holding them firmly in his hands, you are not the one to blame.) Also, he utters the ‘this is my fault’ out loud, but the people in front of him obviously don’t hear, distracted as they are with the reason the heroes are just standing around - which is the middle schooler the villain has.

Izuku has a brief flashback to when he was being violated by the villain, and is horrified that someone else is going through the same pain. We get a brief panover of the crowd:

Izuku and Toshinori are like, only fifteen feet apart here, and have the same reaction to the crowd’s commentary. Incredible. We zoom back in to Izuku, who is blaming himself for All Might not being able to do anything. He mentally echoes the same words as the heroes, that someone with the right quirk needs to show up to help catch the guy. He internally tells the captured person to hang in and apologies, saying someone will save him soon.

God I love this spread. This is everything about Izuku right here. You can actually see where Izuku shoved himself through the crowd in order to sprint forward, and you can also see the genuine fear in Katsuki’s eyes in that moment where he and Izuku locked gazes. Also I checked, he sprinted right past three pro heroes, with none of them reacting in time. Incredible.

Toshinori and said heroes all freak out, and Izuku’s panicking right along with them but is still rushing forward despite that. Death Arms and the bird-helmet hero both yell at Izuku to get back, but don’t actually go after him. The sludge villain and Katsuki both react as well, recognizing Izuku.

Izuku’s notebook hits the ground spine first, and we flash over to Izuku wondering what the hell he’s doing. The sludge villain moves to try and hit Izuku when he gets close enough, while Izuku pulls off his backpack and continues to panic-think over what to do… with the book just so happening to open to the page he ends up thinking about, on Kamui Wood’s signature attack from the beginning of the chapter.

He throws his backpack right at the sludge, all the stuff in it flying out as extra ammunition for the villain’s face to dodge, and while distracted, Izuku ducks underneath the strike and calls for Kacchan. Fortunately, the sludge has been forced to pull away from Katsuki’s mouth, allowing him to take a breath before demanding “You? Why?!”

Remember this for (checks watch) 284 chapters from now. Also fuck, I just realized, remember this?

'a pro should always be ready to risk his life'

'the reason I smile is to stave off the overwhelming pressure and fear I feel'

'a symbol of peace who saves people with a smile must never be daunted by evil'

Izuku took those words to heart as well, and is already reflecting them only moments after his dreams were crushed. And you can tell in the next panel that Toshinori heard those words and was slammed right to the core because of it, because he knows that kind of drive, that sort of spirit.

We see the villain going back to suffocating Katsuki, while telling Izuku to stop it. Toshinori calls himself pathetic again while powering up, and the villain tells Izuku to stop getting in his way, that it’s only a bit longer, and moves to smash Izuku out of the way. Inside the sludge, we can see Katsuki close to passing out. The other heroes finally dash forward to try to get him out of there in time, only for someone else to latch onto the arms of both kids instead.

That someone, of course, being All Might, still steaming from going into his hero form. He tells Izuku that he (All Might) should ‘practice what he preaches’ and reiterates that a pro should always be ready to risk his life (while blood seeps from his teeth).

I’m blown away by Horikoshi’s art in this, and this is where he started. God, just thinking of current manga events and the art there… this man needs to be stopped, he’s too powerful, I am going to cry doing comparisons and I don’t even have a clue about any fancy art terminology or the like, all I can do is stand back and be awed.

Izuku has had a rough day.

And here we see the force of the blow, which somehow didn’t blow away the crowds or damage the windows of all the buildings of the surrounding blocks. Jesus fucking christ. And then the remnants of the blow head upward, causing it to start raining because of the rising air current from that one punch.

How was all that shit not blown away????? A mystery to everyone. Also, Katsuki and Izuku are both passed out on the ground while the crowd and media go fucking wild over what All Might just did. All Might turns to keep an eye on the two while also wobbling slightly, the pressure of holding this form past his limits.

After that, we go back to narration from Izuku, talking and showing the cleanup efforts and the villain in two garbage bags (as he deserves). The heroes chastise Izuku for putting himself in danger (I want to note that this has nothing to do with his quirklessness as far as the scene portrays), while Katsuki gets praised for being tough and having a good quirk, and gets an offer to sidekick. Katsuki isn’t listening or just plain doesn’t care, too busy glaring… or not really? At Izuku.

We get a short scenery panel, I guess to suggest the passage of time, and then we see Izuku putting his backpack back on, thinking moodily about wanting to apologize to All Might but not being able to, so he’s planning on leaving a message on the hero’s website. Katsuki calls Izuku out, and takes a shaky moment before snapping at him, saying he didn’t need Izuku to save him, that he could have handled it himself, that he doesn’t want a quirkless kid’s pity, and that he’s not gonna get won over just with this and to stop mocking him. He then spins on his heels and stomps off with a last ‘stupid nerd’, while Izuku thinks Katuski’s a tough guy. He still agrees with Katsuki, though - he didn’t do anything, he didn’t change anything, but he’s still happy, and now he can focus on a realistic future.

And then All Might zooms into view, scaring the hell out of Izuku. Izuku asks why he’s there when he was surrounded by reporters, and All Might says it wasn’t hard to shake them off, considering who he is- before he hacks up blood and deflates into Toshinori. Toshinori continues on more calmly, saying he’s there to thank Izuku and revise his earlier statement, as well as offer a proposal.

He starts off on how, without Izuku’s story, he would have been nothing but ‘fake muscles and insincerity’, and thanks Izuku. (Izuku quietly muttering ‘fake muscles?’ here makes me cackle, because honestly, same.) Izuku tries to refute it, saying it was his fault from the beginning, getting in All Might’s way and daring to ask if he could be a hero despite his quirklessness- only for Toshinori to cut in and say that that was exactly it - out of everyone there, it was only the timid, quirkless kid who acted, and in so spurred him to action.

He goes on to talk about how the top heroes show signs of greatness as children, how many of them claim that their bodies moved before they could think. Izuku is shaking and clutching at his heart, hunching over and tearing up as he recalls his mother’s words, her apology to him. Toshinori continues, asking if that was what happened to Izuku, who replies with a yes while crying. He thinks about what he’d wanted his mom to say back then, and so we cut to the end of the chapter:

God, what a fucking great first chapter. I can’t think of another series I’ve read that hooks me in so well right from the start like this.

Also wait, holy shit, the anime LIED to us.

‘The story of how I became a great hero’, not ‘how I became the greatest hero’. There’s a massive distinction in there between the two, and Izuku’s character leans WAY more towards the manga phrasing over the anime phasing. He’d never consider himself the greatest, those would always go to All Might and likely Katsuki first, and then probably his other classmates and friends as well. He’d be happy to be among the greats, but he’d never consider himself on top of them all.

...huh, that’s the end, besides the one character panel that I’m gonna throw in a separate post. I fucking love this project so much, and I really wanna see what else the manga has to offer that the anime has lied to me about. This section went by a bit faster than expected, but I suppose that’s what comes from almost all of it being action, so. Thanks for sticking around so far, and let’s see what’s to come in chapter 2 together! :D

#chapter 1 #opening arcs #readthrough #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #yagi toshinori #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #this went faster than expected #ah well that just means this chapter is done #(celebrate emoji)#man there was a lot to unpack in this chapter #I fuckin love Horikoshi's work

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gallickingun · 4 years

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gallick’s blog writing rules

Hey guys, gallick here! As I expand my writing parameters, I thought it would be good to make a rules post. I ask that you please read this prior to requesting, because it has my preferences, request status, and content info included.

Please be aware: I reserve the right to delete any and ALL requests/asks that do not conform to my rules.

My inbox is always open for thirsting [defined below], questions, conversation, venting, and advice. See the remaining rules below the cut ―

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【CONTENT INDEX】

what is a... ✰ 『thirst』this is usually when you send in your thoughts on a certain character in a certain situation. My responses can be anything from a jumbled up paragraph to a full on thirst drabble (~250-500 words), depending on whether I’m on mobile vs. desktop, as well as if I jive with your thirst. That being said, don’t ever feel ashamed of the thirst that you want to send in! Even if it’s not my thing, as long as it’s not on my no-no list [see below], I’ll at least post it with some sort of response! See examples of thirst «here», «here», «here», and «here». Thirst can sometimes turn into full on fics depending on how I feel about it!

✰ 『drabble』this is a “fic” that is generally more in depth than a thirst, but not as plot-driven as a full on one shot or fic. I usually keep drabbles between 500-2,000 words. They are normally given their own post instead of replying to the ask itself, but I will respond to the ask with a link to the drabble once I’ve posted it.

✰ 『fic』this is usually a one-shot piece, which means it is a stand-alone fanfiction work. These are at least 2,000 words in length, and I do not put a limit on them as I have no self-control and will write huge fics with no regard to my personal sanity. These will always be posted as their own text post, and will more than likely be {sporadically} uploaded to my ao3 account as well. If the fic is inspired by an ask, I will answer the ask with a link to the fic once I’ve posted it.

✰ 『multi-chap fic』this is usually a piece that spans at minimum two parts, connected via the plotline that runs consistently through them both. As of now, I do not have any multi-chapter works, but I do have a couple planned for the future! These will always be posted as their own text post, with links to the prior part as well as the future part, once it has been posted.

【WRITING RULES】

✰ All characters are aged up to at least 20 years of age no matter whether the situation is sfw or nsfw. The only times I will write “high school” types of works will be in flashbacks, not full length fics. I always try to explicitly state within the work that they are of age - whether that’s referring to them a Pro Heroes (BNHA), Pro Athletes (Haikyuu!!), etc. If I ever discuss “dorms”, I am always talking about college dorms/apartments.

✰ This is my blog, and therefore I get to choose what I do and do not want to write. I apologize if that means I have glossed over your request, but I cannot force myself into writing something I do not feel like I can do, because then it’s not genuine and even though it gets the content out, it’s not content I’d be proud of.

✰ I do NOT close my requests. I feel like it’s pointless, given a lot of people don’t pay attention to the open/closed titles anyway. With this being said, I do receive a lot of requests. If you feel that yours has gotten buried, eaten by the tumblr ask monster, or ignored, please feel free to send it in again. Also keep in mind that I might have deleted or ignored your ask in favor of another that sparked more inspiration. That doesn’t mean I won’t come back to yours later. Be patient with me!

✰ Please be kind. I don’t ask that you fawn over me when you send in a request, but be courteous when you send me an ask. If you just send me a blunt ask, I might not understand what you’re really asking for, or what you actually want, which can stunt the creative process and possibly end up with me deleting your ask. I understand that not everyone speaks English well, so I try to be patient with the more forward requests. Just be aware that I am not a writing machine here for your pleasure. This is a hobby, a fun way of escapism for you and me both. The moment it feels like a job, I will stop.

【DO’S AND DON’T’S】

『 My writing is usually male character x female reader, unless specified otherwise. I do accept female character requests, though. As I do try to keep my appearances of reader relatively neutral, I know that is not always the case. I am constantly trying to learn and evolve my writing, but reader content can be difficult to nail down with all the scenarios that I’m writing or requested to write, given that they are very specific in nature. Please be kind and constructive if you choose to criticize, but criticism is always welcome. 』

『 I always put warnings in my tags above the fic post, so please read the warnings prior to diving into a piece. As stated below, sometimes I will use kinks or tropes or categories/genres that make people uncomfortable or triggered, and I want you to keep yourself safe rather than reading my writing just because it’s mine. I use warnings, tags, and a read more on my posts - if you choose to read the post anyway, then that is your own responsibility and I will not respond to any asks shaming me for what I have written, or blaming me for you being triggered. Please let me know if I have not correctly tagged or warned a post and I will make corrections as soon as possible. 』

― The CHARACTERS I prefer, and who will get priority over others are... My Hero Academia ✰ Bakugou Katsuki ✰ Kirishima Eijirou ✰ Tamaki Amajiki ✰ Todoroki Shouto Haikyuu!! ✰ Sugawara Koushi ✰ Bokuto Koutaro ✰ Kuroo Tetsurou ✰ Oikawa Tooru ✰ Sawamura Daichi ✰ Kageyama Tobio Dragon Ball ✰ Vegeta ✰ Piccolo ✰ Gohan ✰ Trunks

― The GENRES I will write... ✰ Angst (mostly happy endings bc I’m a sap) ✰ Fluff ✰ Smut ✰ Alternate Universe ✰ Hurt/Comfort - this can include things such as anxiety, depression, etc. but will always end with the comfort in mind. ✰ Alpha, Beta, Omega dynamics (bare with me, I’m learning)

― The CONTENT I will NOT write... ✘ Suicide (reader or character) ✘ Minor x Adult ✘ Vore, Gore, Intense Violence ✘ Piss or Shit Kinks ✘ Incest, Pseudo Incest, anything relatively familial in nature. ✘ Ass Play (in detail - i.e. pegging, fingering, etc.) ✘ Cheating ✘ Crack Fics (i.e. overly humorous or satirical content) ✘ Character x Character - this is a loose rule, but currently I don’t have any CxC ships that I am writing for, or feel the need to write for. ✘ Poly relationships - this is another loose rule, but I am not overly well-versed with polyamorous relationships, so they can be difficult for me to nail down. If I feel inspired, or if I open poly requests, I will let you guys know.

【TAGS】

『If there is any type of content you do not want to read, I ask that you please blacklist it. I will do my best to tag all asks/posts accordingly, but I am only human and might miss one here and there. Feel free to send me a quick message letting me know that I have missed something, but please be kind.』

『I believe it is your responsibility to monitor and improve your online experience. If you don’t like Bakugou, please blacklist my Bakugou tag(s). If you are a minor, and do not wish to interact with my nsfw content, please blacklist my smut tag. I will not be tagging things directly as “nsfw”, because this can get you taken out of the tags entirely, and I do also write sfw pieces in addition to my nsfw pieces.』

『I do NOT tag generic posts unless they are triggering. This includes all reblogs - graphics, fics, etc.』

『Here is how to blacklist tags on desktop and mobile.』

『I always use three versions of the “character” tag(s), with their surname only as well as their given name, and then their full name. I.e. bakugou x reader, katsuki x reader, bakugou katsuki x reader.』

― Writing Tags ✰ #character x reader ✰ #character smut ✰ #character thirst ✰ #OC: Belle Marie Sinclair - (Bakugou OC) ✰ #OC: Lilith - (Kirishima OC) ― Trigger Warning Tags ✰ #tw: dubcon ✰ #tw: noncon ✰ #tw: suicide ✰ #tw: self harm ✰ #tw: degredation ― Personal Tags ✰ #morgan.txt - my original text posts ✰ #morgan-gets-mail - answered asks ✰ #morgan-has-friends - mutuals interactions ✰ #morgan-does-commissions - commission-related posts ✰ #morgan-has-a-patreon - Patreon-related posts ✰ #morgan-says-read-it - Fic recs ✰ #morgan-says-look-at-it - Art recs ✰ #morgan-says-listen - Audio recs

【FINAL THOUGHTS】

I reserve the right to delete any of the asks sent into my inbox. This includes... ✘ Hateful Asks ✘ Baiting/Leading Asks ✘ URL referencing Asks (i.e. “I heard gallickingun did....”) ✘ Rule Non-Conforming Asks

【LINKS】

✰ desktop masterlist «here» ✰ mobile masterlist «here» ✰ general writing tag «here» ✰ archiveofourown «here» ✰ wattpad «here» ✰ commissions interest form «here» ✰ ko-fi «here» ✰ patreon (coming soon!) «here» ✰ bnha bookclub (discord server + fic archive) «here»

This is all subject to change, hence the read more.

#gallickingun #bnha x reader #haikyuu x reader #dragon ball x reader #my hero academia x reader #blog rules #mod post

69 notes · View notes

lovehugsandcandy · 4 years

Text

One-on-One: Rematch (Part 4)

A/N: Thank you all for reading and leaving such nice notes-they totally inspire me and keep me going! You all are the best. Last part (there might be some smaller one-shots in the future but, for now, this finishes the posting binge, apologies for clogging your feed). (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Pairing: Colt x MC, ROD

Length: ~3,700 words

Rating: R (Swearing. References to a fight.)

Summary: When Langston made it to Nationals, Ellie planned on spending the entire time studying in her room. It didn’t end up quite as planned.

Ellie told herself she would not think about it.

She would study, cram, finally understand the driving force between enthalpically-driven reactions, and get her entire life back on track.

At least that’s what she told herself.

But somehow time passed and she moped and she never truly understood organic chemistry. Instead, she could only recall a different type of chemistry, far removed from textbooks and lecture halls. However, like during labs, if the reactants went bad or if she made one wrong move, it all exploded, flames bursting out of flasks and bunsen burners until she had to leap back, fire licking at her eyebrows.

But this explosion was worse. Instead of singed hair, everything ached, with the gaping hole in her heart worst of all, throbbing incessantly, pain making it impossible to study or sleep or think.

Even during team practice, her limbs were unsteady, heavy. She didn’t look like someone who was preparing for an appearance on national television. She didn’t feel like someone who was practicing for the biggest halftime show of her life.

She felt like someone who had no clue what way was up... or which way her life was going.

She knew she shouldn’t look for him before the final game but, regardless of how hard she tried to stay focused on anything else, her eyes found the court, searching every single red-and-gold jersey running by or shooting layups. None were him.

The stadium was filling, fans filing into the seats, chatter and excitement echoing off the parquet floor. She tuned it out and stretched, getting ready for the start of the game and the most important performance of her life; the plod of feet and squeak of sneakers made their way over, stopping at her side. Ellie didn’t look up at the shadow that fell over her outstretched leg. Her quads were tight, and she needed to-

“What happened, Ellie?”

She glanced up and gasped. “What the hell happened to you?”

“What does it look like?” Logan’s smile was chagrined, a stark comparison to the massive shiner that darkened the skin around his left eye. “Kaneko’s violence-free streak ended.”

“He punched you?!?”

“We had a... disagreement.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Hey, I gave as good as I got.”

“He needs freaking anger management.”

“Ha. He’s in anger management. Coach has had him going since he started with the team.” Logan dropped to the ground next to her, wincing as his weight fell on his hand before sinking fully to the court. “You were doing a hell of a lot better than the clowns in there, though.”

She studied the floor. Colt wasn’t her problem anymore.

“You guys break up?”

“We were never together. We were…” She took a deep breath. “We were just hooking up.”

“Ha. Really.”

“Yeah,” she chided. “Really”

“That’s bullshit and you know it. Colt doesn’t do anything by half. It’s never ‘just’ with him.”

“It was never gonna work. I know how you basketball players are-”

“Hey!”

She continued as if he had never spoken, talking fast as if speed of speech directly correlated with the strength of conviction. “We were hooking up... and now we’re not.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why aren’t you hooking up anymore?” Logan looked curious, sprawled next to her.

“Jesus, is this really everyone’s business?”

“I’m-”

“Why does it even matter?!? He’s some massive basketball talent who is gonna move to Utah and what about me then?”

“Uhh, ok. ... what about you then?”

“I’m not fucking moving to Utah! I’m top of my class and I want to go to grad school and it was never gonna work anyway so there’s no point in dragging it out-”

“Uhh…” Logan’s mouth dropped, shocked and befuddled and concerned, but she was too far gone to stop now.

“And all you basketball players are the same-”

“Hey! I resent-”

“So this meant nothing to him and I’m sure he can find another fan to hookup with and I think...”

A heavy hand on her shoulder made her stop; she blinked the world back into focus. “You done?”

“I can keep going.”

“Dear God, please don’t,” he begged. She chuckled despite herself as Logan exhaled deeply through pursed lips. “There is so much to unpack there that I don’t even know where to begin. How the hell- did he talk to you about the Jazz?”

She inspected her hands. “No. I... the scout was in the box at the semifinals.”

“Yeah... Colt hates that guy. We both do, actually, one of the very few things in this world we agree on. There is no way in hell he’s signing with the Jazz. I don’t think he’s signing with anyone right now.”

“No?” She blinked at him.

“I mean, his mom is on his ass to finish school but... isn’t this something you should talk to him about?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t seem worth it. The entire thing meant nothing, so, why bother?”

“Ellie, he gave you his box ticket. He never has anyone cheering for him up there.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“No, really,” he protested. “I mean, you know the guy. I’m not sure his antisocial behavior has given him a rabid fan base.” She looked down at the ground, turning Ingrid’s warning and Logan’s words over in her head. Finally, he interrupted her seizing brain. “But what do you want?”

“Huh?” She blinked at him.

“You’ve gone on and on about Utah and him being some big name basketball star but you never really said anything about what you want.”

She blinked again. What was he talking about? “I want... I have a plan.” She gnawed on a thumbnail. “I’m going to graduate summa cum laude, hell, valedictorian unless Ingrid beats me. I’m gonna get into the best PhD program in the US and I’m gonna complete my post-doc in the new mechanics lab that is gonna open up back home and-”

“I’m hearing a lot about what you’re gonna do.” He stood, lifting a long arm over his head to stretch his trapezius. “But I’m not hearing anything about what you want to do.”

“I…” She squinted through the arena lights to stare at him. “I…”

“I also don’t know where in your plan it says you can’t date. That sounds ridiculous.” He shook out his arms, and she watched intently, cataloguing the motion while her mind whirled. What did she want? She wanted to be valedictorian. She wanted to get her PhD. She also wanted to wake up next to a confrontational basketball player who threw himself into everything he did with a fire that only tempered with her. “You’re smart and something tells me you fight like hell to get what you want. Why can’t you have both?”

“You know what, Logan?”

“What? You gonna tell me I’m right?”

“No, I’m gonna tell you that the pain in your left hand is from an undiagnosed sprain in your pronator quadratus and you need a wrist brace.”

“What the-?” She didn’t answer, only stood and stormed away, leaving him staring at his wrist in shock.

But when she flounced into her seat on the sidelines, she couldn’t stop turning his words over and over in her head.

~~~~~

“Let’s go, Langston,” Ellie shouted, cheering perfectly in time with her teammates, “let’s go!” She waved her pompoms in the air with a practiced grin, completing their timeout routine perfectly even though her mind was miles away.

She tried to focus on the game to distract herself from Logan’s words, but it was impossible. Besides, the game wasn’t much to focus on anyway: it was a catastrophe. She glanced at the scoreboard again, wincing as it showed Langston was winning by 11, and then immediately berated herself. She was a Langston cheerleader, for crying out loud; she wanted Langston to win. Didn’t she?

Her eyes cut to Colt, and she felt her gaze soften. He was having the worst game she had ever seen. He had scored two points all half, missing at least seven easy layups, and turning over the ball so many times even Ingrid wondered aloud who he wanted to win. And then, the worse he played, the angrier he got, earning a technical foul for a chippy elbow and getting into a furious argument with his Coach on the sidelines.

He did not look like a future pro.

He looked like someone who was having the shittiest day of his life.

Ellie swallowed as the clock counted down to halftime. It wasn’t like she was having an exceptional day either.

When both teams stood to head to their respective locker rooms, she tried to catch his eye as she walked to half court for her cheer performance. He pointedly avoided looking her way, head down dejectedly.

Her heart cracked open in her chest. What did she want?

This routine would be broadcast nationally. Her dad was watching, eyes peeled for a shot of her on live tv; Riya and Darius were probably doing the same at university. This was the biggest show she would likely ever perform in.

And she barely registered a flip.

As soon as her sneakers hit the sideline, she took off, pleading with the coach for a break, and then booked it, flying down hallways and flashing her cheer pass to security until she found the locker room. The door was closed but there was yelling, bitter screaming, the Coach shrill and loud, trying to rein in the shouts. She could just make out Logan and Colt, hollering over each other, the slam of a locker, a massive thump, and the door flew open, Logan and Colt grappling as they pushed through into the silent hall.

“Maybe if you got your head in the game-“

“Maybe if you got your head out of your ass-“

Logan saw her first, shoulders dropping in relief. “Oh thank God, you’re here. You deal with him.”

“What are you-” Colt spun and his jaw dropped as he saw her. Her heart fell; the fury on his face, paired with the bruise angry against his jawline, was intimidating, foreboding. “The fuck do you want?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“I think you’ve done enough talking.” He turned to follow Logan back into the locker room and she couldn’t, she had to-

“Wait,” she pleaded, wringing her hands in front of her. “Please, just wait.”

He stopped, turning back around to study her with guarded eyes. “What?”

“I…” She had to glance away, unable to bear the coldness in his stare. “I’m sorry.”

“Great-”

“No. Let me…” Tears were pricking at her eyes and she blinked furiously, willing them back. “I got into my head that this meant nothing, that we meant nothing, and-”

“We mean nothing, ok, so-”

“Let me talk!” She finally looked at him, trying to keep the tears from her eyes, tremor from her pleading. “Please,” she lowered her voice. “Let me talk.”

“... Fine.”

“I thought... You have a freaking ESPN bio and there’s talk of you going pro and I... I figured that this was a fling. That... that you just wanted to hook up. And, at first, I was ok with it; I’m focused on school and I guess I didn’t want to even entertain the hope that it was something more. But then your friend convinced me I should consider what I wanted, not what I assumed.”

“What? Who? What friend?”

“... Logan?”

“What?” Colt’s jaw dropped in disgust. “We aren’t friends! Logan is a goddamn idiot who-”

“I think you’re missing the point.”

He stopped mid spiel to cross his arms over his chest. “What’s the point?”

“That I never stopped to think about what I wanted. I was only following my plan, and doing what I was supposed to do, and I never really thought about what I wanted… or who I wanted. Colt, I don’t want to follow my old plan. I don’t want to go back to my life the way it was before.”

“Well, what do you want?”

“You.”

“Ha.” He scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Doesn’t seem like it.”

“I do.” She took a deep breath. “Colt. You’re tough. You don’t take my shit. You have high expectations of others, but you expect perfection from yourself. You’re smart and you don’t let anyone stand in your way.” She held her breath.

“... You sound like a fucking fortune cookie.” He ducked his head, but she could barely see the hint of an abashed smile. She exhaled as her lips spread into her own grin. “I thought you were too busy for me.”

“I ran down here after the biggest show of my cheer season. I can make time for you.” She stepped closer. “Logan convinced me that maybe I can have what I want, too. Maybe I can have both...”

“I’m not going to fucking thank him.”

“I would definitely not expect you to.”

He smirked, rocking back on his heels. “So how’s this gonna work?”

“I have a phone.” Her lips twitched, breaking further into a smile that she couldn’t quash. “We’re only two hours apart.”

“I dunno.” She felt her heart drop until she caught the way his eyes shone in the hallway light. “You dumped me, remember?”

“What-”

“You’re gonna have to make it up to me.” He shrugged.

“Oh, for crying out, l-”

“I’m thinking post-game massages, nude, of course.” He contemplated the ceiling, considering. “Some really good incentives for solid play and, when we win, definitely some-”

She didn’t let him finish his inane list, jumping across the hall to throw her hands around his neck and kiss him, desperately, their lips meeting eagerly as she sighed relief and joy into the curve of his smile. His hands traced the waistband of her skirt until they reached the small of her back, pulling her forward so they were even closer, bodies colliding, his fingertips catching under her blue-and-white uniform while her fingers twined into red-and-gold. Just when her lungs ached for breath, he pulled back.

“I knew you liked me.”

She swatted his chest and groaned. “Oh my god, does your narcissism know no bounds?”

“Am I wrong?”

She gazed up at him. “Not wrong.”

She was about to kiss him again when the door to the locker room burst open again, slam echoing down the dull concrete walls as Logan ducked his head out. “Yo, Kaneko, we need you in here. Coach is drawing up some insane new play where he is relying on Toby to shoot threes out of a pick-and-roll.”

“Oh Lord. I gotta-”

“Wait,” she interjected, pulling Colt closer by his jersey. “You wanted to impress me, right?”

“As if the week when you were holed up in my room didn’t-”

“Shut up. You want to impress me?”

His eyes softened, fingers tracing the strip of bare skin above her skirt. “Always.”

“Win,” she said. “Win Nationals. Win.”

He ducked his head to kiss her again, greedily stealing breath from her lungs before he pulled away, turning towards the door. “Done.” And with that, he was gone.

~~~~~

It was a different game, a different universe, when the whistle blew again.

Whereas Langston owned the first half, draining shot after shot, the tide had turned. Colt had seemingly stolen the magic from them-he was everywhere, stealing a pass off the fingertips of one player, blocking a three-pointer from another.

She watched, incredulous, as they started coming back, slowly, Langston growing weary and tired as the game continued, Colt only playing harder as the third quarter melted into the fourth and his team battled back, carving away at the Langston lead until they were only down by one point with less than a minute to play.

Ingrid shook next to her, nerves and excitement vibrating the pom-poms in her hands, but Ellie could only think in terms of numbers. They needed two more points, one more basket to take the lead, and then they could run out the clock and win. She bit her lip as Logan in-bounded the ball to Colt and he breezed down the court, rubber of his soles squeaking against the court as he passed half court.

She bounced on her toes. This is it.

She watched, transfixed, as the ball moved like lightning around the court-Colt flipped it to Logan, a foot outside the paint, but a sea of blue jerseys met him head-on. He bounced it back to Colt and her breath caught as he leapt, ball cradled in outstretched arms for a jump shot, feet leaving the parquet and eyes trained on the rim.

He hung, suspended in midair, as the arena collectively gasped; right as the ball was about to leave his fingertips, a blue jersey slammed into him, arms flailing, chest flying, both players slamming to the floor as whistles screamed and the crowd started shouting.

Oh my God.

Colt went down like a rock, so hard he bounced, landing on his side twice. Ellie winced, but he was up like a shot: she just caught the fury in his eyes before he spun at his opponent, hands balling into fists.

No. She glanced at the clock. They were still down by one with 5 seconds on the clock and if Colt got a technical foul now? No no no no.

He stepped closer to the Langston player, shoulders tensing. She saw his fingers tighten, bicep tense, fist cock back in slow motion; she leapt to her feet. “Stop!” she screeched, praying he made out her voice over the yelling, the hungry crowd screaming for a fight. “Colt, STOP!”

Miraculously, he froze, arm hanging in the air, hand clenched; she let out the breath she was holding as he dropped his fist and spun to look across the court, eyes finding hers. She shook her head frantically, pointing at the scoreboard, and it was almost like he heard her silent prayer. He took a breath, then another, eyes locked with her the entire time, and then her legs buckled and she slid to the ground. It was enough. His teammates had arrived, rushing over to interrupt the fight, a sea of red jerseys swarming him, pulling him away from the Langston blues and the brewing brawl.

“What… Ellie, what are you doing? Wrong team!” Ingrid hissed.

Ellie exhaled, his eyes still locked on him, her gaze following him as he was pulled to the free throw line. She didn’t even respond, only watched, pom-poms hiding her crossed fingers, as he stood at the line, dribbling slowly. The entire arena was frozen, waiting, holding their breath. Closing her eyes, she gave a silent plea to any deity that was listening.

She heard motion, Ingrid’s gasp, the swish of the net, a raucous cheer from the stands. He made the shot. One point. She opened her eyes with a smile. “Come on, Colt!” she shouted, flinching when Ingrid elbowed her.

“Wait a minute! Was that… You two? Seriously?!?” Ingrid gaped.

“Come on, Ingrid. Shut up.”

Colt looked over to their sideline, ball securely in his hands, waiting for his second shot. She stared back, mouthing ‘Good luck!’ He only raised his eyebrows, waiting for something; she groaned, shoulders falling when she realized what he wanted. He waited.

She raised a pom-pom halfheartedly.

He shook his head.

She groaned again, catching the smile on his face before she raised her hand higher and yelled, “Go Colt!”

Finally appeased, he winked, then pursed his lips in a quick kiss her way before turning back to the hoop, 15 feet from him.

Ellie desperately wanted to shut her eyes but she couldn’t, wouldn’t look away. He bounced the ball, twice, echo thundering in the silent arena, eerie with only the flash of hundreds of cameras, aiming right at him. Every single seat filled but silent, every single person waiting, desperately.

Ellie couldn’t breathe.

He bounced the ball again, one last thundering knock, and he raised his hands, exactly how he taught her. Knees bent, aiming at the front of the rim, pushing the ball off his fingertips, following through with his right hand. The ball soared in a graceful, gentle arc, before falling through the netting.

She leapt to her feet, screaming. Ingrid pulled at her legs, trying to get her to sit, but she didn’t care; she couldn’t stop the high-pitched noise, the howl, the deafening screech being pulled from her lungs.

Langston in-bounded the ball, but there wasn’t much time, passing it up up-court. They didn’t even make it halfway, timer ticking down, only one second to go, and their center heaved the ball but it didn’t even matter because it bounced harmlessly into the crowd and she was sprinting onto the court as fast as her cheer shoes would carry her.

Fans were streaming down the bleachers, screaming and bouncing, camera crews grappling for the best shot, but it didn’t matter as she jumped into Colt’s arms, giddy laughter mushed into his cheek as he spun her around.

“You won!! Ohmygod, you actually won!”

He carefully lowered her so she touched the floor.

“I know.”

“Holy crap!”

“Well…” He smirked. “Did I impress you?”

“Oh, for crying out loud.” She wanted to punch the smirk off his face but contented herself in reaching up to brush a stray piece of confetti off his eyebrow.

“What? Do I get that kiss now?”

“Oh my God! Just shut up and kiss me.”

And, with the roaring of the crowd in her ears, the confetti falling into her hair, the pulse of flashing cameras lighting up her face, he did.