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boognish-worshipper · 3 years ago

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Midnight City AU

this is an au where the main characters are all young adults!! (or millennials ig? they’re in their 20s basically) i gave a rundown of what’s what on a diff post,, i’m also splitting it up into diff chapters,, so this is gonna take a looooong time to finish. i’m posting this before i nitpick my writing to the max

it’s basically a lot of references to that point in time, artists, pop culture etc. all the chapters are named after songs from that era (including the name of this au bc i love midnight city and what better way to describe LS ‼️), and the lyrics r usually connected to what the chapter’s about, or about a character dynamic :D i hope this isn’t too cheesy, or sounds off ig. any typos in this were probably over looked bc i constantly reread my writing and rearrange stuff and make sure it sounds good 🥳 hope y’all enjoy !!! i’m also including a tag to find the chapters under :)

//Chapter 1: Crimewave

Trevor would never, ever admit it, but he had fallen into the category known as “post-hipster”. This was a strange era that began culminating, taking LS by storm. Whether he liked it or not, he could never avoid it. Even if he swore up and down he wasn’t like them, it was practically a paradox. Saying he wasn’t like them just made him a branched off version of the thing he denounced. Each aesthetic that was churned out as the 2010s rolled in were tied to a style, a sound, and Trevor couldn’t care less. It’s not like people liked what he liked. He didn’t belong to anything in particular, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t like them. If anything, he just became another obscure genre in the mix.

One of his favorite music groups was a Canadian duo called Crystal Castles. He enjoyed a good number of their songs, developing an interest for electropunk and pop punk. There was something unique about the sound, and it made Trevor feel special, like he discovered some sort of hidden treasure. He was into pop punk groups like Paramore too, but it was something about them that was just different. People knew Paramore. He often lingered around Sterling Lake, where other post-irony hipsters and classic hipsters resided, careful not to fully associate with them. After all, he apparently despised them, even though he participated in their strange… “culture”. If you could even call it that. From time to time he would find himself discussing his favorite artists with whatever semi-normal person was there, making a couple friends himself who weren’t the snooty kind he’d grown used to.

They all loved talking about how exceptional their taste in music was, a wide variety of people hanging around with their own cliques. Some liked Fall Out Boy, while others liked Blink-182, and then there were the weirdos who liked groups like Radiohead. Most of those guys were whiny, proclaiming how misunderstood they were. He knew maybe one Radiohead song at most (he definitely, definitely never cried to “Creep” and even if he did, so what) but never found himself willingly getting into their music. Then you had the nosedivr crowd, which consisted of mostly girls, and the occasional hipster guy that defected. Their taste was.. alright. Consisted of artists like Lana Del Ray and Marina and the Diamonds, who were their idols. He found almost everyone there besides the few friends he made kind of edgy, and not in the cool way. But he figured all hipsters and guys like them were kind of uncool. Don’t even get him started on those other indie rock types. God. He still came back as often as he could though, establishing some kind of routine. Most people there avoided him anyway, which he preferred. He had enough troubles with them in the past. There was one day he grew tired of the people gawking at him, and he launched a hipster right into the lake. So yeah, nobody within their right mind so much as looked in his direction. That was just how he rolled.

Today, he sat on a nearby bench in Sterling Lake’s park, watching some ducks float on water. His usual friends had been there too, seeing his clowncore buddy Wade with his cousin Floyd. Wade was extremely different than the pretentious fucks around them. He had a shit ton of piercings, and ICP was his favorite music group. Floyd on the other hand, fit right in. Almost too much, like it was something he was forced to do. But he did genuinely enjoy Weezer, of all things you could enjoy. Wade started waving at Trevor, while Floyd hid behind him. All he did was awkwardly wave back, turning his attention back to the lake. He liked Wade, but the clown stuff he wore sometimes spooked him. He didn’t pay much mind to his relative. Looking back across the water, he saw someone new, observing the area. Some dude a little above the average height, hands in his pockets walking around. He seemed a bit lost, and Trevor figured he should help if he was. After all, what was this guy doing here? New people didn’t show up often.

“Hey bud, you lost or something?”

“Oh uh, nah not really. I’m just looking for this girl I met a while ago, said she hangs out around here?”

“What she look like? I’m here pretty often.”

“Uhh kinda short, dark brownish hair? Wears fishnet stockings, high waisted shorts or whatever those grunge people are into.”

“Let me guess, she into the Neighborhood?”

“How’d you know?”

“Yeah, that’s Amanda, she’s a bit of a regular. Not too fond of me I must say.”

“How come?”

“She’s just petty towards me.” He said with a shrug. He didn’t feel like relaying his encounters with her if the guy was dating her or something.

“Oh… well d’ya think you could help me find her? I don’t really know anybody else here. I could actually use the help, since you know her.”

“Eh sure, why not.”

It’s not like he had anything better to do. The two began to walk around the park, gravel and dirt crunching beneath their feet.

“So.. what’s this place about?” The strange guy asked.

“Hm? Oh, it’s just one of those places the hipster folks meet up I guess. Don’t understand it much myself, nor do I really like them.”

“Then why do you come here?”

“Dunno. It’s relatively peaceful, those freaks keep to themselves.”

The man, who was only a smidge shorter than Trevor, glared up at him.

“Hey man, don’t call my girl a freak.”

“Ehh I don’t really count her in with the generic skinny jean wearing hipsters. More of a.. what is it called.. nosedivr type. Whatever that stupid website’s called. Why do you think she dresses like that?”

“Huh.. Never really thought to ask her.”

As he thought about the stuff Amanda wore, he took note of how the man next to him was dressed. He sported an olive jacket with a black turtle neck, and a plain pair of jeans. He wore beat up black converse to top it off, and a pair of Rimmers sunglasses sat upon his head. He looked simple, yet distinguished with the way he presented himself, hair neatly combed back. He figured the two would look nice standing next to one another. They would’ve made an attractive couple, if they weren’t dating already, the kind that turns heads. Trevor wasn’t like them. He wore a black beanie over his mullet, and his favorite pair of red Dix sunglasses rested on the bridge of his nose. The rest of his fit looked disheveled. He had thrown on a wrinkled top, solid black with little surf boards and cars along the bottom- he was a sucker for Hawaiian shirts. His pants were tan colored but had some bleach stains, with old combat boots on his feet.

“Yeah, we may not like each other but I don’t really consider her a freak like those guys.”

He jutted a thumb in the direction of a circle of guys huddled around a phone. The man holding the phone had strawberry blonde hair and a clean outfit on. An expensive looking outfit.

“Who are they?”

“The people here I absolutely cannot fucking stand. The genuine hipsters.”

“Oh.. and you’re..?”

“I’m my own kind. I’m not like these losers, all uppity and shit.”

“Right. Gotcha.”

They walked around a bit more before finding the group Amanda was with. She sat on a bench, chatting with a few girls who dressed similarly to her. All of them had black incorporated into their style. She herself had a black jumper on, tucked neatly into the front of her jean shorts. Just like the guy described, she had fishnets on under them, skater shoes to match. Loose braids fell on her shoulders, and a small black choker was wrapped around her neck.

“Oh, there he is now! Babe! Over here!”

She narrowed her eyes upon seeing Trevor standing next to him.

“Hello, Trevor.” She huffed.

“Relax, I was helping your boyfriend or whatever look for you.”

Her face softened slightly, but still kept a small glare in his direction. She pressed her lips together tight before replying.

“Thanks, I guess.”

“Yup.”

The man turned to face Trevor, sticking out a hand.

“Hey, thanks for showing me around. Trevor, is it?”

“Don’t wear it out.”

He shook his hand, noticing how soft it was. It was in stark contrast to his own, which was rough and calloused.

“Name’s Michael. I’ll see you around most likely? Thanks again.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Amanda huffed again, nudging Michael’s shoulder.

“Let’s go hun, Bean Machine closes soon!”

“I’m comin’ I’m comin’!”

The two sauntered off, hand in hand. Trevor stood dumbly, watching them walk away. He was right. They did look good together. He wondered if he would actually see this Michael again, kicking a rock. He went back to the bench he originally sat at, putting his earbuds in, listening to some Crystal Castles again to pass the time. The beat thumped in his ears, and all he could think was how much better this shit was compared to that club music shit that played on every radio station in a 5 foot radius. He sat there, scrolling through his own secret nosedivr account, reblogging some photo of a lit cigarette. Right before a hand touched his shoulder causing him to jump.

“What the fuck- Oh. Ron.”

Ron was another friend of Trevor’s, a guy he had met outside one of the iFruit stores talking about how “they’re tapping the phones they sell in there!” and all that conspiracy nonsense. He was a paranoid guy, but Trevor kind of liked that about him. Those were the kind of freaks he liked. He was shorter than Trevor, sort of frail in stature. He wore a bright red windbreaker over a faded tourist tee that read “I went to Liberty City and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!”, along with khaki colored cargo shorts. It didn’t help that he wore some goofy looking bucket hat, and socks with sandals. He dressed like someone’s middle aged father.

“Trevor! Have you seen Wade around anywhere?”

“Last I checked, he was with Floyd.”

“Did he say where he was going?”

“Uh no, but my best bet is they went to that vinyl shop Floyd’s girlfriend works at.”

“Will ya come with me to find him?”

“Now why the fuck would I do that? What do you need him for?”

“Well I- I uh- um..”

“I uh! I uh! Spit it out Ron!”

“It’s about the Merryweather Night Club.”

Merryweather was a big organization that had a wide range of private clubs all over the country, and complimentary body guards to suit. They were all expensive as fuck, and anywhere they settled jacked up the prices of everything else. A lot of neighborhoods became gentrified as a result, and people actually considered it a good thing. What a fucking joke. Trevor of course couldn’t stand it. He hated bullies, and Merryweather was no exception. He’d been wanting to dismantle the club since they settled in LS, seeing as they only amplified the fake feel of the city. Let’s just say he’s gotten into more than a few scuffles with the club. And let’s just say it ended with someone getting stabbed as a result. The guy had it coming to him anyway. Between bouncers and the clubbers, they didn’t like Trevor or his kind loitering around the joint. It didn’t stop him from plotting some sort of revenge though. Ron per usual was on board, his reason being Merryweather’s violent history that had been swept under the rug. They were rather forceful relocating people who had lived in certain neighborhoods for years, Ron being one of their victims. Wade only decided to tag along because he wanted to be included.

“Ah fuck, what’d those bastards do now?”

“They’re throwing some big party!”

“…What fucking for?”

“All I know some guy’s coming to visit, somebody they labeled important and he’s-“

“Woah woah woah wait, Ron. Who?”

“Steve Haines.” He breathed out, careful not to be overheard.

Trevor’s eyes widened, his gaze shooting over to the posse he had poked fun of before. Steve was talking to the group, all of them doing that fake laugh they always did. God, even their humor was pretentious.

“Those fucking hipsters!” He hissed.

“I abhor them, you know that-“

“I know. I know. But, that Weston guy’s gonna be there with him-“

“Weston? Devin Weston?”

If Trevor hated hipsters, then he utterly loathed rich daddy’s money boys like Devin Weston. He had only gotten that stupid fucking night club because his father paid Don Percival enough money to let Devin do whatever he pleased with the Merryweather body guards. It was an elitist club, and they only allowed the best of the best in there.

“What the fuck’s going on there?”

“Something to do with those guys he hangs out with. I think they’re doing something major, expansion maybe-”

“And him and Devin are working together or..?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t hear much after that, that’s why I wanted to grab you and Wade and-”

“Then let’s fucking go get him, Ron!”

The two rushed out of there, heading for the vinyl store to look for Wade. Trevor knew a shit storm was coming, and he absolutely couldn’t wait.

//the next chapter’s gonna be longer i promise lolz

#gta v #grand theft auto v #michael de santa #trevor philips #young trikey #franklin clinton #lamar davis #lester crest #amanda de santa #steve haines #midnight city au

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melyaliz · 5 years ago

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Chapter 5: Show & Tell

Starcrossed Masterlist

Fandom: Harry Potter

Summary: The moments in our life can be big or small but they are all the moments we have.

Pairing: Draco x OC

Notes: Special thanks to @thespacebuns for sending me a ton of love which made me like “I really should finish editing this and post it”

I promise I haven’t abandoned this story! I just got a little lost but I am going to buckle down and clean up the outline and try and get more regular posts up. THANK you for all your support

Nova is owned by @the-shadow-of-atlantis

Abby is owned by my friend Kim

All Masterlists @melyalizarchive

Connect with me! AO3 / Instagram / Pinterest

DONATE or REQUEST

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There were those years when you start to learn who you are as a person. Years that challenge you to become someone new, someone who was always inside you just waiting for that moment to break free.

Sometimes it isn’t one defining moment but a million little ones that build up on each other. Moments that challenge you and build you into who you are or take you to places you never thought you would go.

Year 4 was that for Calista. It was in that year that she realized what it meant to really be a hero.

To be herself.

Silly rebellions like running in the rain seemed so trivial after year 4.

Childish mysteries like who her pen pal Grove was were long solved.

But the true mystery was yet to be solved.

Who was she?

———

“Good hold your hand up just a little higher and cast”

Calista shouted the spell knocking the jinks into the dueling dummy. She has been part of the dueling club since her second year. She had a strong love and knack for charms which had prompted Flitwick to invite her to the dueling club.

Long blonde hair pulled back in a messy bun dressed in her oversized hand me downs from Grove, a pretty blonde Gryffindor 6th year named Abby, Calista looked nothing like the posh pureblood that frequented only the most exclusive parties parties and even the pretty Hufflepuff who walked the halls of the school in her pristine robes.

Flitwick nodded toward her “What about joining the other students today?”

“I don’t know” she muttered, most of them were a year or so older.

“Come on,” Cedric said from his place with the other duelers. While Calista and Cedric had never been close Cedric did have a way with becoming friendly with all of his housemates. With his easy to get along with nature and charm it was hard to not like the older Hufflepuff.

“I’ll go easy on you” Nova, a Slytherin girl and Cedric’s girlfriend, said flipping her hair back. She was one of the top duelers and while Calista’s class normally didn’t normally participate with the other duelers she would watch the older classmen studying them. Learning. Nova in particular, had a way about here that fascinated Calista. It was so full of confidence and purpose of self.

Shrugging Calista stood trying to push up the sleeves of her oversize jumper. Her heart was racing but she wasn’t sure if it was excitement or nerves. Maybe both.

Nova’s spells centered around more celistical forms with a few creative flairs that were uniquely her own. It was one of the reasons she was such a good dueler. More of an offensive fighter she would normally attack first.

This meant Calista would need to build up a defense first before pulling a few spells. Because Norva liked to show off her skills it would be harder to defend but would also leave her open for smaller attacks. Something duelers didn’t normally use because while the objective was to win, showing off, especially when dueling someone like Nova, was where most duelers ended up failing.

But Calista had never cared much about showing off or being the BEST in her class. She just wanted to do well.

Their duel ended up going on a bit longer than most because Calista focused on simple defense spells keeping herself covered from Nova’s complex attacks until she saw just the right opening and went for it.

“Rictusempra!”

Nova fell back her eyes wide laughing in shock as she clutched her chest. Pulling up her defenses again Calista moved a few feet forward holding up her wand to ready another spell if Flixwick didn’t call the match.

“Match goes to Calista”

Walking forward Calista held out her hand for Nova who was now gasping for breath between giggles as they slowly subsided.

“No one has ever been able to do that before,” Nova said, taking her hand getting up. A huge smile still on her face.

Calista smiled handing Nova her wand back, “You have a tell”

“Oh? Do I.”

Calista nodded playing with her wand, “If you take the time to look it’s there.”

“Well, what’s my tell? No one else seems to see it” Nova said as they walked back to the group of students. Two other dueling 5th years getting ready for their match.

Calista bit her lip blue eyes sparkling, “If I told you then you would have the upper hand”

“Ohhh I like you,” Nova said laughing, “Cedric where did she come from? You’re going to have to come study with us, I could show you some great moves.”

Calista nodded politely, feeling slightly shy talking to an upperclassman, she still had a hard time connecting with other classmen, never sure when to be formal and when not. “Thank you, I am always open to new ideas.”

Nova giggled flipping her hair back trying to pull it up back into the long ponytail it had fallen out of, “I spent a year leaning at home, so I have a different perspective. What is your background?”

Calista nodded, shifting slightly from one foot to the other. Slightly uncomfortable with all the attention, besides her roommates and Abby, she didn’t normally talk to other students alone. “I… my parents are pureblood, my brother is Casimir Langlais, he’s a Slytherin too.”

“Wait, that jerk is your brother?”

“Yeah,”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault he’s a jerk.”

Nova laughed again, “I meant calling him a jerk, but as long as we are on the same page he’s kind of insufferable. Always talking about how purebloods do things better.”

“Yeah I’m aware.”

“I always forget he’s your brother” Cedric said coming up next to the girls, “You are so much more quiet than he is. But you better watch out Nova, she’ll surprise you.”

“She already has or didn’t you see? But trust me, it won’t happen again”

A few more turns and Flitwick nodded to the mix of students, “ok ,that will be all today. I will see you in class, oh and Calista. I feel like you have proven yourself today, how would you like to join our club officially?”

“I would love that.”

Around her the class erupted into clapping and Calisa bowed her head trying to hide the blush that was growing across her face. Her heart was racing so fast she was sure it would burst from her chest. She couldn’t WAIT to tell Abby and the other girls everything.

Calista felt like she was floating on air as she walked down the halls. The fact that all her hard work in charms was paying off in such a big way made her feel so excited she felt like she was riding on a cloud. The rest of her classes seemed to blur by and no matter what else went on around her nothing seemed to get her down.

She was good at something, like really good at it.

“Calista”

The sound of her name broke the daydream of becoming the world’s greatest duelist with an army of friends who helped her save the world from some impending doom. The daydream faded as reality came into focus as she looked up. Draco, Pansy, and a few other purebloods were standing in the halls of the school.

It shouldn’t, but seeing all the children from her other life always triggered something in Calista. It was as if she suddenly felt her mother behind her remind her to behave. To stand up straight. To smile softly, not too wide, but just enough to be charming.

“Malfoy, how has your day been?”

“Fine, I heard you knocked that muggle girl on her ass.”

“Muggle girl?”

“The one who always talks about her muggle life.”

“Nova?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, it was in dueling club.” She wasn’t sure how to respond, they made it sound like she had done it on purpose. I mean she sort of did but… not maliciously.

“Why are YOU in the dueling club?” Pansy asked, looking slightly horrified while Draco couldn’t help but laugh.

“That’s a sight I’m sure.”

Calista shrugged her hands brushing at her soft hufflepuff robes unsure how to respond. It wasn’t quite looked down upon for a lady of pureblood to be well versed in dueling but it also wasn’t… encouraged. “I probably just got lucky.”

“She was probably too busy running her mouth about how muggles do things better.” Draco sniffed, “She’s like Potter only a slightly more tolerable. Can you believe he got his name in the goblet.”

And like that the conversation shifted back to the normal school gossip. Potter being part of the contestants, the upcoming ball, classes. Calista bit her lip slightly trying to find a polite way to bow out. Not that she didn’t appreciate the Slytherin Purebloods’ including her in the conversation but she had promised Abby they would study together for a few hours before dinner.

“I… Uhh'' Calista tried to pull together her excuse, “Thank you for your support today. I promised a friend I would study but I look forward to catching up later.”

“Yeah ok” Draco said, waving her away as Pansy flashing her a smile. Both Crabbe and Goyal seemed too interested in arguing over something to even notice.

“I still don’t understand why that girl got sorted into Hufflepuff of all places” Draco sniffed as he watched Calista walk off. Even the way she walked screamed pedigree. She seemed to glide across the floor, her perfectly pressed robes floating around her.

“I can, there is something off with that girl.” Pansy said hands on her hips as she studied Draco. Had he forgotten the skeptical that the Langlais had caused at his family’s summer their first year? Not to mention she was in the dueling club.

“You say that about every girl,” Draco said, rolling his eyes, turning back to his friends. Pansy was just prone to jealousy and didn’t really get along with other females. He knew who Calista was, she was raised to be perfect. She was someone who always knew what was right and what was good.

She was everything a pureblood should be.

---------

“Oh my god it got in my mouth” Calista gagged as she doubled over laughing. Reaching for a clean rag she tried to wipe away the plant’s spit that had perfect aim. Her shirt was already covered in goop so trying to find a clean bit was impossible, not that her rags were much cleaner at this point.

Next to her Hannah burst out laughing, “You poor dear.”

“Honestly, who even is this girl across from me?” Maria asked as she wiped her hands over her almost pure white apron. How she had been able to keep herself -mostly- clean was beyond Calista.

“I’m a disaster,” Calista said, trying to minimize the mud and goop that was caked just about everywhere. Herboligy had always been a struggle for her but it almost felt like it was getting worse as time went on. These plants had it out for her. They knew.

Hannah on the other hand was a master at Herbology. She just had a way around the green house that was the envy of her roommates. Calista had gotten better grades since soliciting her help but the mess had not improved.

Again, the plants knew.

Not that a little mess bothered Calista. It had become somewhat of a joke between the Hufflepuff girls. How dirty can Calista get?

If only her mother could see her now.

After the class was done Calista broke off from her friends to dash back to the dorms. It was a bit of a sprint but if she rushed she could make it from the greenhouses to the basement where the Hufflepuff house was so she could change before lunch was over.

As she hurried across the halls she couldn’t help but look down at the old jumper Abby had given her. These stains would probably never come out.

Because she was busy looking down at her shirt she wasn’t really looking where she was going until she ran right into someone.

“Oh I’m so sorry I…”

“Hey watch… Langlais?

Blinking Calista looked up at him, her stomach dropped as if she had been caught doing something wrong, something dirty. Although in the truest sense of the word she was dirty.

“Malfoy, I… excuse me.” she ducked her head trying to move around him but he caught her arm stopping her.

“What happened to you?”

“I...” what did he mean what happened? Calista wasn’t sure if she should feel touched he cared about her well being or offended by his tone which suggested something else. “Oh this is just from herbology, I’m quite rubbish.” she giggled tilting her head to one side. “I really need to go change before lunch.” tugging lightly at her arm he looked down at his hand which was still clamped over the wooly material before letting it go. Wiping his hand on his robe he shrugged.

“I’ll see you at lunch then.”

“I would LOVE to have lunch with you” the smile was bright and excited at the prospect as if she had never had lunch with another human before. Draco frowned at her never ending excitement for the most mundane things.

He was about to inform her that it hadn’t been an invitation but the way she was smiling up at him… he decided against it.

It’s not like they hadn’t eaten together before.

“Ok I’ll meet you there a bit.” she dashed away before pausing for a moment turning back, that ridiculous smile still on her face, “I can’t wait.” she added waving at him before daring down a corridor.

Draco watched the young girl dash away her small frame engulfed by the large baggy sweater and dirty jeans. Her soft blonde hair was all over the place barely held together by a yellow ribbon.

Who was that and what had happened to the graceful pureblood aristocrat?

Pansy’s words echoed in his brain as he slowly made his way to the dinning hall.

“There is something off with that girl.”

----------

Pillow night was a tradition among the 4th year Hufflepuff girls. Something they had started Year two. Coined by Susan Bones after they had a long night gossiping about the going’s on at Hogwarts.

It turns out Elizabeth Drew seemed to know a little bit about everyone in the castle while Maria had a running commentary about all the on goings. The night itself hadn’t been that memorable but it was the morning after when McGonagall had snapped at Susan for falling asleep in class. She had awoken with a start apologizing saying it was due to “Pillow night.”

And thus the name was born.

Tonight it was about which boys they wanted to ask them to the dance. Most of it consisted of who they fancied but there was also a lot of “what if’s” throw in there just for giggles and laughs.

“What about you Calista?” Hannah asked, normally the pretty blonde participated more but tonight she was more focused on doing Susan’s hair than really adding to the conversation. “I saw you having lunch with Malfoy today.”

“Fancying someone means marriage,” Calista paused thinking it over for a moment as she added another clip to Susan’s hair, “and that's all my parents want for me,”

“Not what you want?” Maria asked, much more interested in this weird outlook than the topic of boys.

Calista shrugged, “I guess I just never gave it much thought. For myself anyway, I think you and Seamus would be adorable Elizabeth”

“Well we don't’ have to marry them, sheesh Calista, you're so serious sometimes.” Hannah laughed not letting her get out of this one quite let. “You can just enjoy a good looking human.”

“Yes, and there are so many good looking ones,” Susan teased, laughed gently nudging Calista.

“Can’t help it I guess,” Calista laughed, “It's the pureblood in me”

“We’ll just have to teach you” Susan said, “So what do we think about the boy who lived?”

“Way too skinny” Maria blurted out, “Honestly, do his guardians feed him?”

And they were all back at it again. Laughing and giggling, the topic shifting to a million different things while cuddling their pillows and just enjoying each other.

Calista couldn’t help but feel like these were the most important parts of her life. Not the big moments but these small ones. Where she just fit in with her friends. Sure, they teased her, but they also accepted her for herself.

Whoever that person was.

-GET TAGGED!-

Forever tag: @the-shadow-of-atlantis @coffee-randomness @0hmydeku @xx3fsxx @daisyboobear @jason-redhood @hello-i-lovespiderman-blr @pinkwitch21 @tomhncharliep @cdwmtjb8

Starcrossed @elaacreditava

#Draco Malfoy #draco malfoy x oc #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy fanfic #harry portter oc #harry potter fanfic #my fic #starcrossed

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potterheadfeminst · 5 years ago

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Why are teenaged girls so scared of being unoriginal?

With the rise of the Van Gough artworks, jumpers with the names of bands that the girls wearing them probably never listened to like nirvana, the oversized t-shirts with long sleeves, Doc Martins and the rise of old classics like the Beatles, Guns and Roses, Nirvana and indie-folk like Tash Sultana and Ocean Alley.

Why are a growing number of girls deciding that they want to become an artsy special girl that loves the 80s and 90s or some other decade? Trying to stand out as a cultured girl and instead of fitting in with the rest. The trends of fashion right now, represent a weird shift from remising when it was ‘so good back then’ to moving forward to the future. It is an odd mix of 90s band tees, city beach bikinis, clips, Adidas tracksuit pants, scrunchies and boob tubes that defy gravity.

The teenage experience says a lot about our culture today especially the interests of teenaged girls that often are pushed aside and deemed silly for example; Boybands.

Sometimes it’s okay to be ‘basic’, we can only be so different and instead of believing that something you share with other people is a bad thing. Relating to other people through ways of expressing ourselves is important from music, artwork, bamboo straws because we want to save the turtles to fashion. It is okay to be apart of the trends sometimes, everyone is at least a little influenced by culture.

It’s okay to listen to the same music as a few other people. Different lines will stand out to you and everyone will have experiences that they relate to the song that is unique. People have different motivations, different experiences, and emotions to bring to what people are experiencing as a cohort.

Looking down on other girls and trying to separate yourselves from each other is useless and divisive. Trying to ‘not be like other girls’ with the same popular culture isn’t going to work. You’re just going to be the same but looking down other girls resenting their inability to just be cultured and ‘Why are they all these girls sleeping on Freddie Mercury, they just don’t understand because they’re basic’ Even though these types of girls forget that millions of teenaged girls all over the world only 20, 30 years ago listened to the Beatles, Queen, and other cult classics. You aren’t trendsetters. The smugness I know a few girls have and it’s like they hold this over girls that they are better because of this, just calm down, you’re no better than every other girl.

With the age of Instagram, we all are cultivating our personal brands more than ever just like celebrities. Every teenager I know has upwards of 300 followers on Instagram. With phones that have cameras of quality, everyone has model-worthy photos posing like famous models. Everyone now has a personal brand just like celebrities, who used to be the only ones who had to face this level of scrutiny. In the act of personal branding to set ourselves from the crowd, we become like each other with a ton of anger and resentment thrown in with it.

Instead of focusing on what you have common with the crowds, notice what sets up apart, do you like reading art books? Or you are amazing at video games? What passions do you have? Why do you wear scrunchies? Is it because you like the pop of colour in your otherwise dull school uniform, or your hair is thick, and they are practical to keep it up? Do you enjoy being in nature, going for walks? How do you connect with the music and how do popular artists make you feel? These are the questions that we should be asking each other instead of lumping girls into boxes they don’t fit into.

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sohaveyoubeento-blog · 5 years ago

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V is for Vietnamese & Vintage

Us three ladies had always played it pretty safe by way of our lunch dates. Not to say the local deli isn't absolutely kick ass - it's very tasty and very enjoyable every time we go, but in much the same way as I struggle to go to the same country more than once on my holidays (excluding India, you can never have enough India) I couldn't help but think that life's a bit too short to sit in the same eatery every time we meet for lunch, given that the whole day is ours, and within reason, travel is no issue.

The three of us decided that we would try different cuisines every week, and with the girls (Laura and Dani) living in the quieter, leafier suburbs of Otley and Burley in Wharfedale, with me (Alex) living in what I frequently describe as the bronx, 5 minutes from central Leeds but gloriously populated by some of the best food joints in the country (confirmed) they usually end up meeting at mine and then we go into town to try somewhere a bit off the beaten track. Invariably, being three mums of young children, we eat at the speed of rabid dogs and end up having a bit of time to go explore some local weird shop or two, never anything mainstream like a department store. Oh no. We like vintage shops. You know the type, they smell like damp and the inside of your nan's wardrobe, and we prance around pretending to overlook the fact that we are just in a well laid out, slightly more selective charity shop without the undertone of giving. Usually there's some blue haired student with a headscarf and a faint stench of Bobby Orange pawing through piles of shirts and jumpers that are deemed as retro, when they've actually some of them originated in C&A - we remember that place the first time round,depressingly. The whole vintage scene is a bit ironic and try hard and a bit sad at times, but the one thing that it does offer is the piece you are often looking at, generally is one of one only in the store. The same goes for charity shops, generally. We like stuff that can't be bought in bulk.

Dani owns Deluxe Blooms, and is a luxury faux florist, and very good at it too. Laura is a nail technician and spray tanning afficionado, and the owner of Maibella Nails and Tanning. I own a salon called Lexa Hair, and the three of us work together frequently. The ridiculous thing is though, that work is going really well for us, and while in the past we may have dug around in charity shops for a bargain simply to be economical, now it has begun more of a habit. And you know what they say, old habits die hard. We don't have to eat streetfood on picnic tables anymore, and we can shop anywhere we want, but at least just for me, I don't like extravagance and I'm not impressed by labels or price tags. I like pieces that are unique,with a story behind them. My two accomplices sort of get dragged in to it I think, but they seem on board with most of it. I hope.

And street food is the best food on earth, everyone knows that.

We kicked things off with a visit to a fairly new (maybe a year old I think) Vietnamese place on North Lane in Headingley named VietBaker. Inside it's very wooden looking, quite industrial and urban, stained wood everywhere and dark red leather chairs. It smells like the rice cooker that's chugging away in the corner, mixed with plenty of garlic and of course, the fresh baguettes that are stacked up in a glass cabinet above the front desk.

We opted for a sharing platter for £9, and from the menu us Yorkshire ruffians requested spring rolls (the deep fried ones, not the fresh, healthy ones obviously), prawn toast, and 'rustic chips'.

This was skin on chips with salt and pepper (well cooked and so tasty) and the prawn toast was understandably made of baguette slices. It made for a much heavier slab of prawn toast and therefore an even more unhealthy treat but man alive, was it good. The spring rolls were pork, prawn and the usual crispy vegetables inside. Not floppy or soggy, totally crispy and served with a really light and watery sweet chilli dip that's more sweet than chilli. It was all very lovely.

I've personally eaten from here a number of times and I think the Vietnamese have got it absolutely nailed when they make sandwich. Or a Ban Mih. Laura and I opted for one each, chicken for her and pork for me. Dani went for something off the new part of the menu, the fusion section, which even featured a take on beef bourgignon, Vietnamese style. She tried the Shanghai pork belly, served with rice. Her whole bowl was piled high, and we're not talking a polite, peanuts size bowl. More like a ‘free ceramic crunchy nut cereal box’ bowl, with the with tokens on the back of the pack, that you’d send off as a kid. It was huge. The second bowl was just plain rice, which worked really well as the pork alone was…. alot. It was sticky and tangy and rich and all those other wanky words that just mean amazing. I'm trying so hard to limit the wankiness. I like writing and eating, combining the two is hard work though. Bear with me. The slow cooked pork made me feel a bit gutted I went for a sandwich until I got stuck in.

Vietnam was a former French colony, and much like their neighbour Cambodia, found their local best offerings being bastardised to accomodate the 'local palate'. The nice version is that the baguette was the French's gift to the Vietnamese, although I imagine it was more a case of 'put your lovely meal in my baguette for me or you're in deep shit.'

I've never been to Vietnam but having visited Cambodge a few summers back, I remember being astounded at the gorgeous, light, dairy free Asian cuisine that had been shoved in a crusty, warm baguette. Whoever's story was true, it's the absolute bollocks.

They cut this freshly baked baguette open and spread it with patè on one side and on the other mayonnaise (already weird but hang in there) - add a ton of crispy green leaves, cucumber, pickles, coriander and fresh chilies, and add some meat into what little room is left. Enough meat to give you meat sweats. It. Is. Superb.

The pork was very finely sliced, dark and sticky again (here she goes) and you can bang on a fried egg, too, if you're an absolute wrong un. No thanks.

Laura had the chicken which was a milder flavour but none the less tasty and flavoursome. I noticed Laura pulling bits off her sandwich and delicately chewing away at them, while I picked it up and ate it like I'd been sleeping in the dark arches for the last month. I even had to be asked to wipe my face. Sorry, not sorry. No messing with a Ban Mih. Especially not this one.

The bill was a very respectable £11 a head, and they threw in a free set of spring rolls for us, which was a nice unexpected surprise. The place had a steady flow of traffic, and although wasn't packed, I've been on an evening and I think it's safe to assume that's the bulk of their trade. It was fantastic food, very reasonable and highly recommended. Great staff and great location. We'll be back!

Afterwards we drove for about 3 days to find a parking spot anywhere near Hyde Park, so we could check out the newly (ish) renovated (OK sign replaced and possibly ownership changed) Vintage something or other in Hyde Park.

I forget the name, and if I'm brutally honest I can see why. It's alright, but it used to be alot better. The last time I went in there was alot of very old apothecary style wooden drawer units, some weird taxidermy, and unusual pictures in frames that would look incredible in the lounge. This time there was quite a bit of formica, and some hideously orange stained TV units that I guess in some context would be deemed as cool again.

The music collection seemed to be where the most effort had been made. The clothing was actually quite 'quirky' in the sense that you wouldn't actually wear alot of it, there was a whole department that seemed to have been handed over by the owner of the late knob head Jimmy Saville, shell suit after shell suit in every colour of the rainbow, in that non breathable fabric you'd get a two man tent in. Hideous. Still, there are some absolute finds in there. I would encourage people to bear in mind that these shops have a high stock turnaround and in their uniqueness, and ability to replace items based on sales, any vintage shop can be a complete bag of shite one week and a total gold mine the next. Its the luck of the drawer, I love that about them. That and the fact that we call them vintage shops. The three of us refer to them as shit shops, but potato patato.

I find it depressing that as I mentioned before, alot of the 'retro' stuff is just normal stuff we, in our 30s, encountered in our youth. There was a 'vintage phone' that was £15 and I'm pretty sure my gran has it now. It's literally a BT £10 phone still in argos, but clearly it had lived with a heavy smoker, adding to the aged facade.

Some of it was very authentic, some of it was broken crap, but the general feel of the place is a good one. There is more 70s stuff than anything else which is quite cool, but like I say, stock changes very frequently. Dani bought an oversized T shirt with a University football team logo emblazoned across it, and to be honest I would have too. There was a vast array of university related large varsity based sweaters, some unnecessarily cut in half width ways (why?!!!! Serves no purpose now, you fools) and that's the kind of thing I would have liked to look at. But as I was in charge of a one year old who was bombing around the floor, doubling as a human sweeping brush and coming back with more dust on him than the inside of the V6 after the attic stairs have been tackled, I gave it up as a bad job and put my bank card back away. No spending for mum today. Gutted.

The shop is pretty fabulous, on the whole. They do know how to charge when it comes to furniture, but the clothing is far more reasonable. It's not all one off pieces, a couple of items make an appearance a few times and that kind of ruins it for me, I start picturing some huge factory in China making hideously outdated clothing and leaving them in a damp garage for a few years, chucking a bit of tea down them and wearing the cuffs and collars down, before exporting the newly knackered pieces to us dumbasses in our 'quirky vintage shops'. Who knows. It's well laid out, and pretty cool, and although not my favourite, I imagine the next time I go it'll be a whole different experience. Swings and roundabouts with these places. It was an interesting look, and if Parker hadn't been doing his best ferret impression I would have definitely bought a jumper. Well worth a look.

Until next week!

Laura, Dani and Alex X

VietBaker, Headingley

https://www.thevietbaker.co.uk

Vintage Boutique, Hyde Park

https://vintageboutique.com

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rabidsquabbiteldewrito · 7 years ago

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ElDewrito Dev Update (Feb 02, 2018) Part 1

Our last update was on January 10th, so we apologize for the lack of blog posts. We told ourselves we would make a new blog post when we had something substantial to post about, so here we are. The last month has been an exhaustive dive into the deep depths of the networking engine in an attempt to fix a problem that has plagued ED since the very start - Connection Issues. This will be the main topic of this post, but we still have plenty of other goodies to show you :)

Note: This blog post is also long one, and is two parts, so make sure to scroll down to the next post when you’re finished reading this one.

The ‘Dedi Connection Bug’

As you probably see on every single bi-weekly reddit post, and mentioned in the last blog post, there’s a bug that gets mentioned a lot: ‘The dedi connection bug’. This bug is actually a series of multiple, separate bugs, but manifest itself in two ways:

Player A can’t join a server because it conflicts with player B already in the server. The join request is actually rejected. Once player B leaves, then Player A can join again. This has 1 root cause

A player attempts to join a server, but the establishment process never completes, yet the player is able to join the voip server and can hear players in the server. This manifestation has multiple root causes.

To understand the magnitude of work required to fix these, you can compare this issue to AMD Freeze bug we fixed - Then multiply it by 4. In order to be able to fix something like this, A large portion of engine needs to be completely reversed just so we can get a handle on what is going on. An enormous amount of time, energy, and teamwork has gone into figuring out exactly why these issues occur. Entire books on networking have been read. Hundreds of wireshark captures and game logs have been poured over. 655 engine functions have been reverse engineered by Unk_1 trying to fix these issues. You read that correctly. 655. Remember, we have no source code.

Connection Issue 1

As I mentioned above, the first issue, which is an extremely common issue, is when a player can’t join because it is conflicting with another player in the game. This bug has 100% been fixed.

To make a long story short, there’s a unique identifier for each peer that the server creates, and it uses this identifier to look up information. The problem was that some players ended up with identical identifiers, so the server didn’t know who it belonged to. We even ran into scenarios where a player was rejected because the server thought the client was itself.

After further investigation, we found out that the server was creating this identifier based on a simple combination of the client’s Local IP and Port. Since most routers that people have in their homes are on the same 192.168.x.x network, and everyone is using port 11774 as the game port, tons and tons of conflicts happen.

By changing the way this identifier is created, we have squashed this bug entirely :) It’s a massive relief to have finally figured it out, but we’re not quite done yet.

Connection Issue 2

This manifestation of the bug has multiple root causes, and we are still working on these. However, most of the reversing and groundwork is already done - now we just have to continue to replicate, track them down, and fix the ones that are within our control.

Q: Why haven’t you released yet? What is preventing you from releasing right now?

The usual question. The updater is coming along nicely, there’s not much work left to do on it. The main thing left is to finish squashing the remaining connection issues, and we’ll be all set. We don’t know how long it will take to fix the other issues, but don’t expect them to take long at all.

Enough about the boring stuff, on to the fun stuff.

Misc/Small Bug Fixes since last post:

Fix crash when map or gametype DisplayName is too long

Fix Battle Rifle showing "NULL" instead of "WEAPON" in search

Fix Banshee Bomb bind for H3 Bumper Jumper

Profile Settings - Stop changing tabs from breaking esc exit

Customization Menu Fix - Better check for active subform (esc exits immediately if no subform open)

Lots of Misc HTML/CSS/JS cleanup

Added Server.NumberOfTeams variable so it’s easier to control the number of teams in Multi-Team games.

Q: Have any new cool features been added since the last post?

A: Absolutely.

We’ve added many cool new things to forge, including openable/closeable doors (both manual and automatic), gears, giant fans, those pillars in the center of Reactor, and much more.

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Here’s a pic of some of the different properties you can set.

You can also tether objects to other objects. For example when a gear (wheel, fan etc..) is on the same channel as other devices, it will power them by the turn rate. We also had a little fun with it

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There is now a new game variant setting for being immune to assassinations:

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There’s also a new game variant setting for showing/hiding nameplates. This is especially useful for foggy maps (as you’ll see in the Foggy Resort video below) where the player’s nameplate gives away his position even though he can’t be seen through the fog.

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Infection havens have been added, which is a zone trait where you cannot become infected by zombies. (These were in Halo: Reach’s forge)

I’ve also finally gotten around to implementing the ability to completely customize your emblem while in-game. Doing it on Halostats through the server browser screen is fully implemented, but one of our testers, Jaron, is working on adding it to the customization screen for those that prefer to use a different browser. In addition, he’s added wide variety of addition emblem images and icons that were not available in Halo 3.

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usatrendingsports · 7 years ago

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LeBron, Lonzo, Lillard amongst NBA gamers value watching through the last stretch

The final time we mentioned probably the most fascinating gamers within the NBA, the season hadn’t even began. Now that the playoff races (and the race to the underside) are getting critical, let’s check out who’s value being attentive to throughout this stretch run.

Thank goodness his ankle harm wasn’t extreme. I doubt he’ll really win MVP, however Draymond Inexperienced is true that Davis has accomplished all the things he presumably can to place himself within the dialog. One of the best half: The Pelicans have wanted every considered one of his ridiculous performances with the intention to eke out wins. Their margin for error is miniscule.

Ball is not the one Laker thriving recently, as they’ve received 18 of their final 26 video games. He’s undeniably probably the most thrilling Laker, although, and he’s making his early-season capturing struggles — and the overreaction that adopted — appear irrelevant. My favourite half about his sport is that his phenomenal basketball instincts present themselves on each ends. A few of his current steals have been as unreal as his finest passes.

He is not on this checklist simply because he is LeBron. The Cavaliers are genuinely attempting to determine who they’re with this new group, and, just like the Pelicans with Davis, they want heroics from James with the intention to win. He had a basic fourth-quarter takeover in Denver on Wednesday, and there’ll doubtless be extra of these.

The person has a counter for all the things defenses are throwing at him, and it’s a pleasure to observe him function with the ball in his palms. You already know that he has reached one other stage this season, and also you noticed him make the play of the yr in Detroit a few nights in the past.

Leonard’s doable return to the Spurs “quickly” will make them a must-watch crew. After enjoying in simply 9 video games this season, there’s nonetheless an opportunity he might elevate them to being fringe championship contenders. There’s additionally an opportunity they may fail to qualify for the playoffs within the crowded West.

The final two months have been the perfect stretch of Lillard’s profession. Whereas he has by no means lacked for confidence, it’s one thing else to see him demoralize opponents with deep 3s and fearless forays to the rim as often as he’s doing it now. By the way in which, Portland’s subsequent 9 opponents are the Warriors, Warmth, Cavaliers, Pistons, Clippers, Rockets, Celtics, Thunder and Pelicans.

He’s clearly a genius with regards to passing, however that’s removed from the one mature a part of his sport. With a view to compensate for his shaky leap shot, Simmons has needed to provide you with all types of methods — and grow to be an knowledgeable at merely bullying smaller gamers — with the intention to get the place he must go. There isn’t a one within the league fairly like him.

Gratitude will make you happier. Let’s take a second to be grateful that Embiid has performed 84 regular-season video games in his profession and hasn’t handled accidents this season. Already the perfect middle within the league.

Their video games are totally different, however Mitchell jogs my memory a lot of a rookie Damian Lillard by way of his perspective. You possibly can inform again in November he was beginning to determine simply how good he may be at this stage, and now he is aware of Utah wants him to be a star. He has accepted this duty with enthusiasm and poise.

I am a bit nervous about Cities. He has performed a ton of minutes, his crew is flailing with out Jimmy Butler and the ball would not all the time come his method when it’s presupposed to. It might be an amazing story if he dominated for the following month, and the Wolves might be in bother if he would not.

Vacation has been nearly as accountable as Davis for the Pelicans’ 10-game successful streak, averaging 24.9 factors, eight.5 assists, four.6 rebounds, 1.5 steals and capturing 52.1 % in that span. His minutes at capturing guard have made him extra aggressive normally, and DeMarcus Cousins’ absence has given him much more motive to search for his personal shot. That he has accomplished all this whereas remaining one of many premier perimeter defenders within the NBA is exceptional.

Per week in the past, Love informed reporters he hopes to beat his unique harm timetable (which might have him return within the final week of March). When he does return — to a completely totally different roster than the final time he was wholesome — will probably be fascinating to see how he impacts the crew. The vary of outcomes should not as extensive as they’re in San Antonio, however Cleveland might set up itself because the clear favourite within the East or it might have bother determining a wise rotation.

I am involved about Denver the identical method I’m with Minnesota. Coach Michael Malone is attempting to combine Paul Millsap at a difficult time, and the crew has spent the entire season attempting to outscore folks relatively than creating constant defensive habits. Jokic is nice sufficient to hold them by way of this, although, and his 36-point, 13-rebound, six-assist sport towards Cleveland must be a blueprint by way of how assertive he should be.

I am unsure if he’ll ever have one other stretch like he did in early January, however he’s nonetheless getting buckets for a crew that most likely should not even be within the playoff race. He has had a sensational season, and holding on to the eighth spot may make up for lacking out on the All-Star Recreation.

How will you not love this story? Satoransky established himself as a starting-caliber level guard after John Wall received harm, and he is the kind of participant who endears himself to his teammates by making them higher and doing just a little little bit of all the things.

Thomas has been higher with the Lakers than he was with the Cavaliers, however there’s nonetheless strain on him to show that he may be the type of participant he was in Boston earlier than he turns into a free agent. Take note of how he is getting within the paint and ending on the rim.

Parker’s Three-point capturing has been there, and he gives much-needed playmaking when Antetokounmpo is on the bench. What actually issues, although, is whether or not or not these two guys could make one another higher once they’re on the court docket collectively. If they do not seem like a cosy match, then Milwaukee might be in a tricky place with regards to Parker’s free company.

VanVleet was undrafted as a result of scouts thought he was too small, sluggish and unathletic, however has grow to be a vital a part of the rotation for the crew that’s tops within the East proper now. The Raptors depend on VanVleet to shut most video games, so it wasn’t even all that shocking when he hit a game-winning jumper on nationwide TV on Wednesday. Oh, and he has a clothes line. As Russell Westbrook would say, ahh, that is fairly fascinating.

Because the Pacers star informed CBS Sports activities’ Invoice Reiter on Thursday, he’s on the high of opponents’ scouting reviews now. He’s going through traps, double groups and the type of strain that the league’s high scorers encounter each sport. Indiana, a crew many people thought would tank this season, has a sensible shot of getting home-court benefit within the first spherical and advancing within the playoffs largely because of his breakout. With a view to accomplish these targets, Oladipo should be sharp together with his decision-making — the Pacers will not typically have the ability to overcome a 10-turnover sport from him like they did on Monday towards Milwaukee.

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Even amongst these of us who have been extraordinarily optimistic concerning the Sixers, there was a way that Saric may not complement Simmons. Because of Saric’s improved capturing, intelligent passing and opportunistic playmaking, although, this has not been a difficulty in any respect. I really like the way in which he competes, and there’s a actual argument that Philadelphia doesn’t solely have the Rookie of the Yr on its roster, however the league’s two best sophomores, too.

He’s such a star in his position that I am beginning to assume we should always simply consider him as a star in his personal proper. Adams is likely to be the least egocentric participant within the league, and he does a thousand little issues that assist his crew win. Oklahoma Metropolis is in a bizarre place with out Andre Roberson, however you understand precisely what Adams will convey each sport.

I am fairly positive he is the one participant on this checklist who shot a mixed 2-for-14 in his final two video games, however that is completely cool with me. Jackson has been given a possibility to stretch his sport within the final couple of months, and he is (typically) exhibiting why so many scouts have been excessive on him this time final yr.

Wade is directly the franchise participant and a backup. He’s in an amazing rhythm proper now, however I do fear a bit about him commandeering the offense. Winslow has merely been enjoying out of his thoughts recently, even making some Three-pointers. In the event that they each play at their peak within the playoffs, Miami might push the Raptors or Celtics within the first spherical.

“Altering of the purpose guards: How Dejounte Murray was constructed to succeed a legend.” “Can Dejounte Murray be the following nice Spur?” “Can the Spurs Construct One other Star From the Floor Up?” In February, all people was writing concerning the ascent of this second-year guard. Murray is fascinating not solely as a result of he is the man who unseated Tony Parker as a starter, however as a result of he’s nowhere near a completed product. That is simply probably the most thrilling younger Spur since Leonard.

The higher of the 2 younger Murrays, he’s a risk to erupt on offense on any given evening. He’s nonetheless a bit streaky — and he hasn’t regarded all that nice since Paul Millsap returned — however I’ve my eye on him down the stretch. The Nuggets want him to be nice if they are going to sneak into the playoffs.

His power and athleticism have been on show because the All-Star break, which is sweet as a result of some Warriors followers have been freaking out about him. Nonetheless one of many smartest minds within the sport.

Golden State’s stars do not convey a lot intrigue as of late, however its position gamers are a distinct story. When Bell will get again from his sprained ankle, I will be watching to see if he can separate himself from the Warriors’ different choices at middle. They may actually matter on him when it issues.

The 25-year-old guard needed to go to the G League to get his swagger again, and he is had some spectacular performances for the Knicks, together with back-to-back 26-point video games after the All-Star break. Burke is splitting minutes with Emmanuel Mudiay and Frank Ntilikina on a crew that’s going nowhere, however in the event you occur to tune in to a New York sport, take a look at the way in which he zips across the court docket.

OK, that is simply to see in the event you’re nonetheless paying consideration. However severely, do you know the Mavericks have a healthy-eating zealot on their roster? Collinsworth simply put out two e-books! (Should you’d want, you may exchange him with James Harden or Stephen Curry right here, however we’re all spoiled by their brilliance so they will not be tremendous fascinating till they play towards one another with a visit to the Finals on the road.)

You heard about what he did towards Denver, proper?

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Each time the Clippers play, I’m hoping he’ll get within the sport and do precisely that.

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junker-town · 7 years ago

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The solution to the Cavaliers’ defensive woes is to fix their offense

The Cavaliers’ biggest problem in Game 1 wasn’t their defense. It was how their offense put their defense in a bad spot.

How can the Cavaliers possibly rally in the NBA Finals after getting their butts kicked in Game 1? Good question.

The obvious answer is to fix a leaky defense that can no longer skate by against inferior Eastern Conference opposition. The Golden State Warriors dropped 113 on them in Game 1 and would have scored more if not for a handful of missed layups and a horrific shooting performance from Klay Thompson. That served as confirmation from many that the Cavaliers can’t expect to chill on that end all season and suddenly dial it up when it matters.

I agree that the Cavaliers’ defense must improve. Hard to argue otherwise. However, I disagree that it was the root cause of the Game 1 disaster.

The root cause of the Game 1 disaster was actually the Cavaliers’ offense. Specifically, the way their offense created impossible situations for their admittedly faulty defense to address.

Fix the offense, and many of the defensive woes go away. Let me explain.

Start here: the Cleveland offense was really that bad

The Cavaliers entered Game 1 averaging nearly 121 points per 100 possessions in the playoffs. They posted a mark of just 89.2 points per 100 possessions in Game 1. The Warriors have a great defense, no doubt, but Cleveland still should do much better than that.

Two problems immediately stick out. The first is the 20 turnovers the Cavaliers committed. Cleaning that up is priority No. 1 for the Cavaliers, based on their postgame comments.

The second problem was less discussed, but equally damaging: missed layups. The Cavaliers shot just 39 percent in the restricted area through the first three quarters, when the game was actually in the balance.

What do missed layups and turnovers have in common? They trigger fast breaks. And the last thing the Cavaliers can do is to give the Warriors fast-break opportunities.

During the regular season, Golden State created the most transition chances in the regular season and had the second-highest scoring efficiency on such plays, according to NBA.com. It doesn’t take a genius to understand why. Just watch Game 1 as an example.

The Cavaliers, on the other hand, are an awful transition defense team. During the regular season, they allowed the seventh-most transition chances and were dead last in transition scoring efficiency. They’ve improved slightly in the playoffs, but none of the three teams they played ranked in the top half of the league in creating fast-break chances. The Warriors are a major step up in competition.

This all leads to a pretty simple conclusion: the worst thing the Cavaliers can do is give the Warriors chances to score on fast breaks. In Game 1, they gave up way too many.

How many, exactly?

I went back and watched the tape. The answer: tons and tons.

There were a total of 77 Cavalier possessions in the first three quarters of the game. Forty-seven of those ended with made shots or dead ball situations -- a turnover out of bounds, a loose ball foul, free throws, etc. Golden State scored 53 points on the ensuing 47 sequences. If the Warriors had to take the ball in from out of bounds on every play of Game 1, they’d have notched an offensive efficiency of about 112.7.

That’s not great, but the difference between that and a good defensive performance is one made three-pointer. For perspective: Cleveland surrendered six points by falling asleep on three different Warriors’ out of bounds plays. If those three situations turned into stops instead, Golden State would have only scored a point per possession in half court situations. If you hold the Warriors to a point per possession over an entire game, you will win.

The problem is in those other 30 possessions. On plays that involved a missed shot or a live-ball turnover, the Warriors surrendered 40 points. That’s 1.33 points scored per possession, a much higher mark than the Warriors’ regular-season transition scoring average. (Not all of those 30 possessions would be considered fast breaks by NBA.com’s player tracking stats — but that only illustrates the Cavaliers’ problem further).

The average time of possession for the Warriors on those 30 plays was about eight seconds. If the Cavaliers had a bad offensive outcome in the run of play, chances are the Warriors turned it into a fast break.

Drill it down further, and that 1.33 points per possession number really should have been worse. The Warriors generated their 40 points by scoring on 19 of those 30 possessions. Three of the remaining sequences ended with uncontested missed layups.

Two of the remaining eight sequences ended with Stephen Curry missing shots he often makes:

One of the six remaining ones ended with a wide-open missed jumper by David West.

Finally, one of the 19 made possessions was a Pachulia AND-1 layup where he missed the free throw.

Add in those 12 points the Warriors left on the table, and they’d have scored 1.73 points per possession on live-ball situations. By my count, the Cavaliers only got a legitimate stop five times when the Warriors changed ends within the flow of the first three quarters. Five times out of 30!

That’s where Game 1 was lost. The Cavaliers did an OK job whenever they made the Warriors play a half-court game. They looked like complete fools anytime they couldn’t. Based on the profiles of both teams, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Warriors dominated whenever they could run.

So how do the Cavaliers fix that problem? By not allowing those situations in the first place

And this is where we come back around to the Cavaliers’ offense being the real issue in Game 1. You cannot evaluate the two ends of the floor independently when trying to beat a juggernaut like the Warriors that is so unstoppable in transition. They go hand in hand.

If the Cavaliers run a clean, efficient offense, they will end more possessions with buckets, draw more fouls, and position themselves to retreat properly. If they take better care of the ball, they will commit fewer live-ball turnovers that lead to fast breaks the other way.

If they do these things, they will keep themselves out of their most vulnerable situation: their transition defense against Golden State’s transition offense. It’s really damn hard for a team to run when you’re always taking the ball out of the basket.

This is how Cleveland has masked its leaky transition defense in the playoffs thus far. It’s how it must mask it again to win the NBA Finals.

So how do the Cavaliers score more?

That’s a tough question because the Warriors are so good defensively, but there are ways. For starters, stop missing layups. Beyond that, don’t shoot 1-12 with Klay Thompson as the primary defender. Klay is great, but y’all can do better.

Beyond that, the Cavaliers may need to alter their game plan. In Game 1, they went back to what worked in last year’s Finals: putting Curry in a million pick and rolls. As I noted, the Warriors were prepared with counters to snuff that out. Curry himself looked better (and healthier) navigating those situations, and the Warriors’ other three defenders did a great job covering up gaps behind the play.

It might be time for a new approach. Back in the first round, I wrote about why Draymond Green is at his best when he isn’t guarding his own man on the ball. Here’s a snippet:

If you had to rank Green’s defensive skills, No. 1 would be his ability to read the other nine guys on the court, No. 2 is his shot-blocking, No. 3 are his hands, and No. 4 is his ability to shut down anyone one-on-one. No. 4 is still a special trait, but it’s not quite as dominant or unique as Nos. 1-3. By forcing Green to actually guard their best offensive player, teams negate strength No. 1 and limit the impact of strength Nos. 2 and 3.

(For more about Draymond’s defensive genius, you’ll want to check out the latest PICTURES video).

The Trail Blazers came out of the first half of Game 1 with a bold idea to actually force Green to switch onto their guards and then attack him. It stopped working in that series because the Warriors rejiggered the matchups to get Green back on Portland’s many non-threats, freeing him to roam again.

The Cavaliers, though, have great shooters that are hard to leave on the opposite side. They could execute the strategy Portland couldn’t.

To understand why they should, watch this failed attempt to attack Curry.

In a sense, the play worked decently. The best player in the NBA got the step and was attacking downhill, as the Cavaliers wanted. But the Warriors still forced a turnover because Green and Kevin Durant are so long and smart that they collectively covered three Cavaliers by themselves.

If the Cavaliers allow Green and Durant to patrol the back line together, they will find no openings. That combination is too good and too athletic. It’s unfair.

On the other hand, if they pull one of the two up top into the play, they might have a chance to beat them. Green is a terrific isolation defender against guards and wings alike, but James and Kyrie Irving aren’t just any one-on-one players. They can actually take him. In fact, Irving did so a couple times in Game 1.

Pulling Green out means there’s less collective Warriors length to cover the Cavaliers’ beautiful spacing around their two isolation stars. Green is the best help defender in the league — and maybe in NBA history — but if he’s defending on the ball, that means he isn’t playing help defense. That might be the best way for the Cavaliers to make it easier to attack the hoop and score, find open shooters, or draw fouls.

And if the Cavaliers can do more of those three things, they’ll accomplish two victories in one. Not only will they score more points, but they’ll limit the Warriors’ fast break chances, where they are at their best and the Cavaliers are at their worst. The game will become more of a half-court affair, and the Cavaliers have a much better chance of winning that way.

That’s why the most important task for the Cavaliers before Game 2 isn’t fixing their defense. It’s fixing their offense.

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corebits · 7 years ago

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Increased My Vertical Jump Ability From 32 to 44 Inches

What’s going on guys my name is Alan from corebits.tumblr.com.

“Why My Story Will Shock You… And How I Increased My Vertical Jump Ability From 32 To 44 Inches Within Only 3 Short Months With No Additional Training Time, Equipment Or Supplements…”

If You’re Ready To Finally Say Goodbye To Spending Hundreds Of Hours On The Court And Gym, Wasting Time And Money To Useless Manuals Or Equipment With No Or Little Progress On Your Vertical Jump Abilities…If You Are Ready To Finally start Jumping Vertically And Gain The Envy Of Your Team Members and Opponents….My Story Will Be The Most Important One You Ever Read…

From the Desk of Vincent Evans, GA

If you’re thinking about buying jumpsoles, expensive supplements, or any other vertical jumping product to increase your vertical jump, I’m extremely relieved that you’ve found my blog. You will be amazed and even shocked as to how advanced, effective and different to anything else this method is that I have discovered after searching through tons and tons of material on the web and devouring almost every manual there is on how to jump higher. Yes, “almost” as there are still one or two manuals out there that I haven’t read. And I am glad I don’t have to waste any more money and time, because I finally found something that works and that is simply out of this world.

Forget about JumpSoles, forget about expensive supplements, heck forget just about everything you have ever learned about jumping higher!

I have been playing Basketball for over 15 years now. Being only 5,10” tall, I have always had quite a disadvantage over most of the other players I played with or against. I always had to emphasize on learning superb technique, which is the reason why I had to tackle one of the most important aspects of improving my game – the vertical jump. I thought it would be quite easy, so I just tried any conventional strength and quickness training methods I could get my hands on via Google and Amazon. However, I improved only marginally, and finally hit a plateau after 3 years of very, very intensive jump training. Have I reached my genetic potential? At 32 inches…”No way!” I thought!

Jumping higher is not about a lot of practice, or simply doing exercises over and over. It did not work for me and it won’t work for you! I thought by training really hard and trying out all those theories and manuals from the so called “Jump Gurus”, it would only be a matter of time and practice that I that would get to the top of all vertical jumpers – after all, I was training hard, by the book, and it also felt like effective training. And they say that persistence pays of, right? Wrong! I wasted so much time and energy (not to mention money), and it was an incredibly frustrating experience. So what does work? The quality of exercise, the right formula, and a very unique set of very advanced knowledge are required to get to the top. No wonder there are only so few expert vertical jumpers in the world, of which many are also “just” genetically blessed. Most of the advanced players in the NBA have access to the world renowned coaches, who are being paid literally millions of dollars to teach this. It is about working smart, not just hard. And in this case it actually is about working very smart.

But, what exactly do I mean by saying the right formula or simply a lot of advanced knowledge? Let’s first check out…

Why almost 90% of all written vertical jump material is simply misleading, obsolete or ineffective

I am totally not here to put other vertical jump manuals down. That is just not my place. However, I do want to share my experiences with The Jump Manual by Jacob W. Hiller and how it totally stands out in comparison to the rest of the material out there.

One of the reasons why most jump programs out there don’t work is since they are written by ghost writers hired by internet marketers. Most of them have never ever even trained in vertical jumping at all, but make it alluring to buy their manual in which they sell very general training ideas, that is normally readily available elsewhere.

Another reason why none of that stuff works to create what experts call “vertical explosions” is that most trainings just train one facet, while effective vertical jumping consists of a multi-faceted approach where 9 variables need to be trained for notable results. When added together, you build up massive effects.

Also, I found that some trainers are just focusing on their own personal experiences. But what these trainers often tend to ignore is that they belong to the few that are genetically blessed and that they could just do about anything that makes a bit of sense to increase their jumping ability (pretty much so as it is the case with bodybuilders on stereoids). And sadly for most people, these training programs yield little to no results.

Eventually, I found something that worked – fast and effectively

So let’s check out what is probably the burning question of yours by now. What IS actually working? What is the magic formula or that advanced training I have been speaking about all this while? Well, there is actually nothing magical about this method, it’s based on pure science and a lot of work with hundreds of athletes.

Having spent so much time, money and energy desperately trying to succeed with products that would help me with my ability to increase my vertical leap as fast as only possible and surpass the skill of anyone I played against, I am so glad that I found something that works this great.

I never heard of The Jump Manual before and I was a little sceptical due to my experiences in the past. However, after reading some complimentary reviews, recommendations and studying this subject more closely, as well as the fact that the costs to set up is so minimal, I decided to give it a try.

Jacob is not an internet marketer and I think that is the reason why there are still some products that are bought over his (as he is really a none-BS type of guy). He has trained NBA player, Olympians and professional dunkers and for the last 10 years has focused his entire time and energy to this one specialty – helping others to increase their vertical jump quickly. I first couldn’t believe the hype in the testimonials, but then I read his guarantee. He promises that you will increase your vertical by at least 10 inches or he refunds you. Since I could try it out for 60 days, why not!?

I used his methods, asked him questions when I did not understand anything, and in only 2 short weeks I had a 4" increase in my jumping ability! And after 3 months, I increased my abilites from 32 to 44"! At thispoint of time, I am just excited to even further improve my vertical leap.

You might be like my previous articles: - Plyometrics Exercises - Measure Your Vertical Jump

Some of the people I met in the forums actually come from very different angles. Some have experienced a plateau, just like me, and used the method to break through it immediately. Some needed an edge due to their heights, others are tall and have literally become inconvincible on the court with this further skill.

It is fun to see people’s faces that see me do a 360 dunk at 5,10” or block guys that are substantially taller. It’s impressive and this can be a lot of fun for you, too.

At a gist, this is what you get in the program:

Complete workout chart

Complete training video library

Exact nutrition plan

One-on-one training

Weight room alternatives

Much more

Here’s why I recommend it.

The reason why I recommend The Jump Manual is because I followed Jacob’s plan for a matter of weeks and the results were almost unbelievable. It yielded figures that many would have never reached or if lucky over the course of years!

Although it did take me longer to improve my vertical jump than some testimonials on Jacob’s website, I did manage to get an average of over 1 inch per week for around 3 months now, which I’m sure you’ll agree is nothing short of astonishing. And I am excited about where the journey will lead towards, as I am definitely not maxed out yet as I still aim at cranking the over the rim windmill! I finally managed to push through my plateau, which is a problem most people that train hard encounter sooner or later without this method. When I am on the court, I can’t believe how high I am jumping, and so can’t the other players. The improvement was just way too fast!

In my opinion, The Jump Manual is way more superior and far more effective than any of the other products I tried. Obviously, and I know that, everyone is different, but it has worked extremely well for me and I am excited to spread the word to everyone I know or don’t know.

The best part is that you don’t have to spend more time in the gym or waste money on things that don’t work, such as supplements and expensive equipment. Working smart, not just hard, is what you want. Yes, you will have to put in the effort to going trough the advanced material (and it really is advanced), and yes you will have to take the courage to try out something incredibly new and different than what you probably know or ever have heard of, but in matter of only days, you will realize very measurable first results. You will see changes almost immediatey, and with the coaching and help of Jacob, and other forum members (I actually got to meet some of the folks from the forum, which really is motivating and fun) it is really difficult to not succeed with this quickly.

Anyway, I hope you’ve found this information useful in which ever stage you are on your vertical journey, because if I had only known about the The Jump Manual a few years back, I would have saved a lot of trouble, money and headaches with all these other things I tried out, but well, you live and learn. I wish you every success!

#increase vertical jump #how to increase your jump higher #how to jump higher jumpsoles

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