#break the contract?

[felrend]

Poor unfortunate soul

[vaguely-concerned]

thinking about not only the specific people lucanis pulls in to represent the 'locks' in his psyche, but the storytelling that happens in the structure/order of them. the underlying ideas are presented something like:

the lucanis who went into the ossuary never came back out again; he died down there (the boy caterina raised is gone forever) -> you're putting yourself in danger doing this (by being close to me), you should leave because I can't bear it if you get hurt because of me -> it doesn't matter even if we do try this, it won't work anyway (again because of me) ('you know what he's like, you can open the door but he won't walk through it' :'( oofie doofie) -> what if the real secret is that there was never anything but the monster in here from the beginning. you should leave, there was never anything here worth saving in the first place. (implicitly: what if I deserved what happened, all along.)

it runs pretty cleanly from outward-oriented attachment anxiety ('caterina won't even want me back like this, she won't recognize me (the same way I no longer recognize myself)) and gradually deeper inwards until we reach self-image and self worth. or you know, the harrowing basic lack of it lol.

"careful -- they'll know we're not right," spite says in one of their first scenes... but clearly, some very deep part of lucanis has feared or suspected for much longer than that that there's something inherently not right at the core of him, way before any demon entered the picture. and the voice he gives those lines to is the person who should know him better than anyone in the world, who he has loved more than anyone in the world -- and who deliberately chose to hurt him so horrifically anyway. 'It's better if I'm just a monster and deserved what happened than it is to allow for the idea that the brother I love doesn't really exist and maybe never did'. it's better if he's fundamentally flawed in some way that needed fixing to help him survive, and that's why caterina chose to hurt him again and again -- out of love. (this one I think he might have a very sad wakeup call on one day if he ever ends up with the responsibility and care of a child of his own in some way and realizes just how alien the idea of ever intentionally hurting them for any reason is to him. oh buddy. also interesting that he keeps caterina as the outermost lock -- there IS a distance he keeps there that he hasn't with illario. he doesn't resent her 'anymore' he says, but he also keeps her carefully further away from his deepest self.)

as far as I could tell the only note in the mind prison that's fully hidden and needs to be uncovered is the sad painful helpless stupid little truth that even after all this, even knowing what happened... he still loves his brother. is there anything illario could ever do that would make lucanis completely stop loving him, do you think? sometimes the trouble with unconditional love is that it is, well. unconditional, even when some terms and conditions probably would have been in order haha.

that's the pattern you see there again and again; he would rather destroy and abandon and imprison himself at every turn than let go of love, even when it's just scraps, even when there's only ever enough of it to hurt him. it's only when rook shows up and as it were takes his hand and walks along with him that he can entertain the idea of changing the story of what walking out the door might mean in the end.

[aureoboros]

wyll in a flowy shirt: the sequel

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Dungeon Meshi: The RPG

[tiralja]

Brasol is such a funny ship because as suave and powerful and persuasive as Braun is, if you were to fit these two into a meme template, the one who would drunkenly break down and burn their marriage certificate yelling "Good luck trying to return me without the receipt!" would also be Braun. The fact that it kinda already happened in canon just proves it.

[ladyintheattic]

can't believe that if zevran lives he will go on to absolutely decimate the crows; completely wreck the whole ass organization seemingly for YEARS post da:o, and not even one in the crows in da:tv will have anything to say abt this? at all??? mr.bioware are you insane

[onesidedradiostatic]

Imagine the Hotel crew breaks into the V Tower to foil the Vees' plans and they grab a contract they think is Angel's but it's actually some random VoxTek employee that they free and this dude's now at the hotel with them like "it was awful. he made me clean his Alastor shrine every day and I mean that thing is HUGE. And he made me sing an Alastor version of My Heart Will Go On every morning before work. I had to dress up as the radio demon when I cleaned the shrine." Immediate silence. Entire hotel room stares at Alastor. Alastor's eye is twitching, the radio static is getting louder and he looks like he just malfunctioned.

LMAOOOOOO THIS IS SO FUNNY. this guy joins the main cast

and he has a song number about his mistreatment from vox and how much he had to deal with his WEIRD alastor fixation. the deep cleaning of his body pillow. the radio demon cosplay he had to put on on some days. he's so traumatised by all of vox's weird alastor shit the very sight of alastor in the flesh causes him to spiral. it was a very emotional song number. it ends with alastor blank staring at him and then saying "what" with charlie sobbing in the background.

[minilibrarian]

Friday afternoon contracts 📑

[katealpha]

Art by Art by @Dizy Wata ToonS

—-—————————————-

Halloween 2024

After the pervious stream, Nina went completely radio silent outside of social media. Other than posts about her condition and other topics, her only major announcement was that she would be staying home for the 31st, saying that the serpents in contact with her believed that leaving the house at the current point in gestation would put her in serious danger.

The newest stream began at 6 pm. The camera activated, pointing into the penthouse’s kitchen before Nina slowly waddled around the camera and into frame, wearing a rather seductive hollow dress. One that was commonly depicted in memes as of late. She was noticeably bigger than the week previous, but not drastically. Immediately it could be seen that she was in a dower mood, pouting and looking rather distracted.

“Ugh…hey everyone…thought I’d dress up for Halloween…yaaaay…” Nina moaned as she waved her hands weakly. “Sorry I’m not smiling, but I feel so fucking bloated right now, I can’t even be bothered. I was gonna eat candy on stream, but I….ate all of it throughout the day. I think all that chocolate did something inside, because I haven’t had a single craving since…I wanna say three hours. My guts have just felt like complete crap…one sec.”

A rumble audibly passed through her body and she forced out a deep, loud belch.

“BOOOOOOUUURP!!!”

Nina waved her hand in front of her face. “Blegh, too many butterfingers. But uh, I hope you all like the dress. It was the only thing I really had laying around that my belly would fit inside comfortably. Not even my lobster onesie. Honestly, I just can’t wait for these things to get out of me.” She sighed and began to stroke her hand over her belly. “It was a little fun, and I’m not gonna let the money I get from this go to waste, but I have never felt so internally…off…than I do right now. Like, I’m growing aliens in my body, and it feels like yesterday I was skinny. It’s all gone so fast for me, and I want my body back to myself. If any of yall out there watching wanna go and do it, honestly, it’s not the worst thing you can do to get money quick, but don’t do what I did and stay home. Stay on the damn ship so you aren’t spending over 5,000 on food. I’m not kidding, all 5,000 of that went right in here to my b-“

As she was rambling and complaining about her condition, a sudden but ominous rumble visibly quivered around her belly. It made her stop and look down, a pained wince crossing her features.

“H-hold on. That didn’t feel right…they’re staring to really squirm in there…”

Nina’s lip scrunched up as she began to poke and prod her belly. But then, her stomach did more than just quiver. It quaked under her dress, another deep rumble bubbling up. Nina gasped loudly and she staggered where she stood.

“Oooohh!! Oh…oh my god…that hurt so bad…was that a…aaagghhhhhh!!!!”

With another quake from inside, Nina grabbed her belly with her hands and tried to move forward from the counter, only to lose her balance and slam down on her side into the camera’s tripod, knocking it over. The camera fell to the floor where all sight of Nina was lost. Only capturing the hardwood floor of the kitchen, the actress was panting and trying her best to speak through the intense contractions she was feeling.

“Aaaaaagghhhhh!! If you can still hear me….it hurts!!! Nina hissed and moaned. “My water just broke…oh my god…I can’t get my phone, and I can’t get up! Someone!! Someone help!!” Nina cried out, her voice strained and panicking. Internal rumbles were heard, alongside Nina’s moans of pain, which were turning into frightened sobs. “Why did I do this to myself…I don’t wanna die like this!! They’re moving so much! I think I’m gonna- oh my god I think I’m gonna…explode!! Somebody please help me!!”

After that last pleasing die help, the sound of a door breaking open was heard. Several feet and pairs of legs were seen crossing the view of the camera, followed by swaying thin black tails with pincers on the end. They spoke in identical, modulated voices.

“Brood Volunteer located! Inducing stasis!” One of the alien creatures called out.

After a brief moment, Nina’s panting went silent. Another alien spoke with a slightly deeper pitch.

“The human should consider herself lucky we were already on our way to bring her to the Annihilator for larval removal. She could have died just now.”

The other serpent spoke up.

“She should be alright now until we bring her to sick bay. Prepping her for extraction now!”

The camera was then picked up by a third serpent who looked directly into the camera. The alien had skin as black as charcoal, with a mouth full of silver teeth, slit nostrils, and a reflective membrane dome where the eyes should be. It grinned softly.

“The human was logging herself on this device. It is still recording. It appears to be broadcasting live.”

In view over the serpent’s shoulder was the other two carrying the massively pregnant across by her wrists and ankles towards the back porch where a bright light was shining through. One of them nodded its head towards its other comrade.

“Deactivate it. She will not be returning for hours.”

After that, the serpent turned the camera around towards the now fluid covered kitchen floor, ending the stream.

Shortly after, eyewitnesses reported seeing a small alien transport fly from the LA skyline towards the massive saucer ship hovering just above the cloud layer.

[anewp0tat0]

I'm a freak for making him make weird faces. but he's a bigger freak for making them.

refs:

[molinaesque]

"You went against your word and defied our contract! In doing so, you brought the chaos of your world into mine! I will not abide it!" - Raphael (Baldur's Gate, 2023)

[cementcornfield]

god what a wild year though for joe to have been followed by cameras constantly....

[alacants]

The source of those rumors is a guy from Carlos's family's tennis club who is close to Kiko Navarro & knows some members of Carlos's team & is a regular collaborator with Punto de Break. According to him (he's said this before) Carlos & Juanki had a significant fight towards the end of 2023. But the claim that they nearly split up back then came from someone else who's less reliable.

As for 2025, the first guy says Carlos's dad has apparently not been happy with what Juanki is doing for a while... but it seems like Carlos doesn't agree. If things don't turn around after clay season his family might push for changes to the team.

From my perspective it's hard to understand the coaching strategy sometimes. Like you said Juanki's strength is not tactics but it seems like that's what Carlos really needs. This is just one example but I think it's crazy that he sat on court in silence for three sets without suggesting Carlos change his return position v Djokovic - Carlos eventually figured it out... in the last game of the match. And that was honestly the main factor in him losing. You could argue Juanki wanted him to figure it out himself but why on earth did they not discuss that beforehand when it also cost him massively at the Olympics (which Carlos said he didn't even think about before the match?)

I know Juanki's whole thing is treating team like family but there are a lot top coaches who say that after 5ish years a coach has nothing to give a player anymore & I wonder if their partnership has run its natural course. Carlos doesn't seem any more tactically equipped than he was two years ago & his technicals have mostly not improved either (return... backhand...).

thanks for this background - after replying to some earlier asks i dug around and saw some folks citing punto de break but not any specifics so this is appreciated. this does immediately increase the credibility to me bc i know pdb values their access and would not jeopardize it for nothing lmao. tho if it's like, a guy who sometimes writes for them and is mostly posting on his own time... i guess that's somewhere in the middle. (btw i still haven't seen anything other than reports of reports of reports? if you've got links i would very much appreciate them!)

as usual i think we're looking at two questions here: could carlos benefit from a different coach, and does carlos want a different coach.

i think we are all in agreement that for carlos to continue to develop as a player he needs something he's not getting at the moment, whether we're thinking in terms of incorporating a new addition to the team or making a wholesale switch. and i don't disagree with you at all about the natural lifespan of a coaching relationship. i've cited this before in discussions of juanki's own career (stuck with one guy; was it a mistake?) and of ferru's (split but waited too long; chalked the delay up to personal feelings).

but as long as it's presented to carlos as an all-or-nothing choice i don't think he's there yet and i would not be surprised to find out that his recent post-match declarations were a message. (tbc it very much MIGHT be an all-or-nothing choice, regulars here know i have plenty of thoughts about the academy lmao.)

the thing is that at this point the unknowns are still really, really risky. if you've had the same coach for most of your teen/adult years and you're ready to strike out and try something new, then that's exciting and stimulating and you're in a good place to make the best of it. but if you're dragging your feet? if you feel like you've been pushed? maybe someone else could give you more, but you have to be ready to receive it, you know? if you're an environment that you know enables you overall to perform at a high level (4 grand slams), where you feel overall confident and supported even if you're lacking direction in some big matches, where you get value from your coach's presence above and beyond the specifics of tennis--it is inherently going to be a risk to make a big change and if you're not all in on doing so the risks will be even more likely to find you.

that's why i keep saying is that i don't see it happening unless carlos' results gets much worse than this--or, potentially, unless a voice that holds as much weight with him as juanki's (so, his dad) gets strong enough that he listens to it. that might be where we're headed!

(incidentally i have feinted at this without saying so explicitly, but there is an unbelievable amount of money riding on carlos' success or lack thereof--i don't mean prize money, i mean his brand as a star--and it would be naive to pretend that's not a factor in decision-making. that's one of the reasons i've pointed to a sustained slump, rather than one or two disappointing slams. when the results start to affect the brand.)

just talked this over with friend who compared the ideal set-up to darren/simone for jannik--supervisory coach + tactical/court coach. if so, then the question is whether they come to that same conclusion and get the set-up in place before the decision is out of their hands, so to speak.

[larrylimericks]

19May24

Precisely a year since it started (The Sun forgot ratrry tongues darted)— May the next be as mild (We’re still detoxing Wilde)— The curtain’s come down, Hussell’s parted.

[grogumaximus]

[bird-inacage]

Love Sea Episode 9 Preview be like: Next week we're serving pain. Lots of pain. (You're welcome).

I'm really looking forward to Fort and Peat's performances next week. Their acting chops shine when they're tackling the angsty, gut-wrenching stuff.