#getting victories would help out a lot but thats like . genuinely hard to do . so

[finalexpenses]

i got to lvl 85 which isnt ideal but if i grind it out 53 levels might be doable . i hope

[trainingdummyrabbit]

oooooooobhhhh...... would it be alright if you talked abt ur ocs......... if it's not a bother.......

stands here like some sort of beast . this took me two days. im so sorry. inhales

i can absolutely talk abt my ocs yeah :D never ever a bother!!

this is rose and wolfe! theyre two of my lobcorp ocs whom i love very dearly :] they (and the rest of their group) have their own lil story going on, but i say that very loosely bc im just having fun honestly ^_^ and they sure do love making decisions that make that Rather Difficult For Me. but alas, anyhow,

this is inevitably going to get Pretty Fucking Long! (post-post edit. ~35 paragraphs.) so if youre prepared for that. 👍 yippy!! anyway hope you like fucked up little lesbians bc here we go

im probably going to be retreading ground here a bit bc im gonna try and take it from the top, but also because i dont remember what ive said and what i havent so ill just say whatever i remember ^_^

the basic gist of th storyline is that its kind of a pseudo-murdermystery but instead of dying u get turned into some sort of beastie ! ^_^ aka 'nobody knows what the distortion phenomenon is yet and are kinda too busy freaking out about it to notice headquarters exploded last week'. dont worry about that.

slaps notes on the table. this is gonna be really messy and maybe kinda incomprehensible but its ok bc this is just how its going to be. hope this helps.

OK LISTEN. they started out as one thing and then slowly kinda turned into something else and theyve been haunting me for months but they make talking about them Literally Impossible because of how much they just. fucking cling to each other, narratively. its impossible. they make everything so fucking difficult.

wolfe is some offshoot of a take on those Edgy Playground Wolf Ocs that you see a lot in middle school-- or well, thats the root of it. she was always going to be played fully seriously, but everyone was kinda written more silly-like towards the beginning anyhow. yknow, one of those 'orphan lab experiment who pretty much had to take care of themself and really hates people, with Cool Mysterious Powers theyre really conflicted about' type characters. and honestly a lot of that still sticks, really.

she presents herself in a kind of over-the-top way to try and get people to take her seriously and leave her alone, but honestly its just kind of . offputting.. in a way, shes kind of a stand-in for what its like to be a teenager (neurodivergence notwithstanding). sometimes the only thing you can do to get people to listen to you is to make a scene and yell really loud! and everyone will always discredit it as just something that happens while growing up, being "disobedient" because you want attention or want to be rebellious and contrary, but everything you feel IS real and it DOES hurt and nobody BELIEVES you so all you can do is yell LOUDER. its all theyll respond to. (and all it does is make people double down on what they think of you.)

wolfe is a character that is honestly kind of genuinely a bit extra, a little bit embarrassing, but very genuine. a lot of her life was spent not being able to decide what happened to her physically; just kinda pulled and prodded around whether she liked it or not; (again, the whole orphan lab experiment thing was never a lie.) and thrashing around is really all she can do about it. be inconvenient, irritating, hard to deal with; any small victory, any little foothold would do. unfortunately, most of what that's ever done is make things harder for herself. (she hates being expected to be something convenient to others, yet in her attempts to cast it away, forms her worldview to the dichotomy they set up around her. curious !)

so you have this fucked up lil thing and drop her into an lcorp facility. great superb fantastic. n then you give her some ego gear and it messes her up Big Time because guess what, her body is all sorts of fucked up and is Not reacting well with this whole thing, causing it to quite literally Stick and all those 'mild' side effects are now 'major' side effects and everyones Fussing over you again because youre an Anomaly and you Dont get any rest and youre still getting used to a body and mind that isnt Quite what it was before and you Cant leave since they need to figure out whats going on here and Oh God Fucking Damn It Its Again.

so its pretty fair that shes being Like That about the whole thing all things considered.

at this point shes just trying to make it through day by day without someone prodding her about something or another, just stop Staring at her already, fuck off. just one foot in front of the other and try not to think about it too hard. thumbsup 👍 more often than not she works alone; not just because of her own decisions, but also did you know cobalt scar gets a boost on low hp for the exchange of activating friendly fire? pretty crazy. shes kinda reckless and bound to get herself hurt anyway, so it doesnt really Change anything to just kinda.. send her out there without backup. not like she works well with others anyway, right? itd be pretty dangerous to pair her up with someone n all. yknow.

it kinda sucks, yknow? at this point shes so fucking tired of The Everything that honestly she just wants to get in and get out as quickly as possible without having to deal with any nonsense. shes still really pissed off about the entire Situation, still trying to keep any small bit of autonomy she gets to have, but like. well. sometimes it really is easier to just Do Your Job And Leave. finish your tasks and not think about it and not bother with anyone and fuck off until you have to do it again. thats how it always wouldve been anyway, right? easy. annoying. so, so annoying. god she fucking hates it here.

so anyway, rose. she sucks. she doesnt, but i have to say it every time i talk about her Or Else. shes the reason i have such a hard time talking about The Everything. and also why i had to rewrite this and take Two Days getting to it. she is just. So Much. shes an idiot. shes too smart for her own good. she would fit right in as a YA novel protagonist. this is all stalling on trying to explain what the hell is wrong with her.

honestly on a surface level shes pretty chill all things considered. mostly stays in her lane, gets along with people pretty easily, just kinda goes here, pretty good at small talk. she loves listening to people. she Loves listening to people. the problem. she isnt lying, per se, about her entire Presentation and general manner of being, but she isnt really honest either. shes disingenuous. kind of.

rose as a character is Very aware of how people act, and why they choose what they do in what situations. as such, she has gotten very good at Acting A Part rather than actually Living It. she loves listening to people because she wants to know who they are. not in a "i want to get to know my coworkers ^_^" type of way but in a "writing down all your character traits and quirks to record your habits" type of way. a weird sort of genre-awareness. she is very Very easily able to track exactly what type of person someone is and adjust the way she acts around them to... any sort of effect she wants to, honestly. mostly its just quelling dumb spats and getting people to stop being stupid like people tend to do, but every so often she isnt exactly averse to just kinda... messing with people. only a little! but she Could, if she Wanted to. which she doesnt. because shes nice.

rose sees interpersonal interaction as a complex 'game'. not by that name, but by that function. everyone always Expects something, in engaging with another, and all it really is at its core is getting what you want without giving too much ground. to figure out who the Other is without them figuring out who You are. its a competition. to understand what another person Is is what gives you the advantage. to know is to win, to be known is to lose. keep your cards as close to your chest as you can, and they cant control you. easy. its something everyone Does, but only a few acknowledge. she was just good enough to learn.

but like, admittedly, shes very chill. shes literally nice? like yeah all that but she is literally nice. shes fine. shes like... fine? shes all right. like Yeah it sounds bad when you put it like that but she is literally nice.

rose plays a lot with the idea of Symbol. shes a fully realized person, yeah, but she was never Expected to be. she exists mostly as a formality, and she knows thats all that was really expected of her. she was there to Fulfill An Ideal and little else; so she reaches for what she can when she can. be Sweet and Simple and Pretty-- that's all. and she isnt, she knows this, but it sure does make things simple when thats all people know of you. (impossible for people to dig for information people dont think exists.)

a flower in a broken vase unsure if its defined by the petals or the holes. shes someone intrinsically frustrated by the rules that define her, but is unable to comprehend a self without it. clinging to it because its the sole point of control she feels she can Have over things, but wishing to cast it aside to self realize and prove that shes worth the time of day to acknowledge. (she doesnt care what her caretakers thought of her, but still she defines her actions based on their idea of her. curious !)

so you have these two in the general vicinity of one another right.

rose initially interacts with wolfe as almost a game. a test, even. just to see if she could get anything out of the weird one that sulks in a corner by themself, refusing to interact with anyone. shes just curious, yknow? and wolfe, obviously, takes this about as well as you think she would. dont you have better things to do?? stop asking about my fucking hobbies. ..rose could always count on her for a reaction.

wolfe was very, Very resistant to playing along much at all. she thought that giving just simple brush-off responses would get her to get the hint that it wasnt worth bothering, but then rose would come back with more questions building off of whatever they'd talked about, just... idly talking at her. a frequent annoyance turning into just. consistent background noise. yeah this might as well be happening. but even still, the amount of things that rose remembered and considered and genuinely seemed to listen to kind of caught her off guard. it was... weird. it was really really weird.

it wasnt really all that hard to read what wolfe was feeling at any given moment. it was kind of funny, honestly, especially with how she tended to present herself. (honestly, how did everyone else just Miss all of this?) but after some time, rose was surprised to find that she started to just... speak to her frankly. it was stark, only every so often, almost as if she didnt realize the shift in her own tone. its around then that rose started piecing things together herself and... oh. ohh. (how did everyone just miss all of this?)

Bad News Motherfuckers! Its Fucking Over For Both Of You! wolfe finds someone who is genuinely willing to listen to her on the sole drive of simply Understanding Her, rather than wanting something in exchange, wanting something From her; and rose. god. she finds a reflection of exactly what she wishes she couldve been, things she couldve done, were she not shaped into what she Is. an understanding of something she'd never acknowledged, never knew was there, but was there with her the entire time. someone with a clear understanding of what they are, willing to fight tooth and nail to keep it, regardless of what anyone or anything else tries to do with them. things that the narrative constantly tries to take from them; things that rose wants so desperately to let wolfe keep.

so yknow, girl things. THIS is where things get really annoying.

rose seemed to enjoy messing with wolfe just for fun, but honestly shes just kinda taken by her honesty. she doesnt ever seem to have any ulterior motives when shes around her, she just… is. and does. because she wants to. rose honestly isnt really sure how to handle someone who isnt just… mildly bluffing at all times, especially about connection. that level of vulnerability is scary to her. so she teases her. she expects her being flustered-- and she is-- but still, she finds herself caught off guard by wolfe's earnestness.

even so, rose catches herself being far more open than she intends to be-- accidentally, at first, against her better judgement, but then tentatively, almost as if to test the waters. just how much could she show of herself and still uphold that trust? how many red flags can she put up before wolfe notices? no, that was unfair. before it becomes unforgivable. before it recontextualizes her. she cares, yes, genuinely and deeply so. (but what does that mean, coming from her?) she wants wolfe to be safe. (im asking you to leave.)

wolfe and rose both trust each other to a degree that they dont trust many others. its the passive understanding that theyre very much alike, and the even more silent knowledge that they want better for each other; in a roundabout way of knowing that they themselves deserved better, no matter how much they insist otherwise.

theyre very genuine with each other in a way that kind of surprises themselves. neither of them quite know what theyre doing, nor do they want to put a name to something so fleeting, but… its there.

wolfe desperately wants to be closer to rose, but hates that she desires that vulnerability. (it was always rather dangerous, showing your hand like that.) its an annoying fondness, constantly prickling at the back of her head any time rose is even remotely relevant. even when she isnt. shes kind of haunted. shes very defensive of her in a way she honestly doesnt realize until someone points it out. it just comes naturally to her. (whats the difference between a guard dog and an attack dog again..? (is she really ready to deal with the implications of this? is this not just having another will enacted on you? how does she really feel about that?))

rose, meanwhile, is… actually also conflicted. she likes wolfe. this is obvious. it wasnt intended, and she can roll with it, but it's… complicated. she handles it a lot more analytically. she notices when wolfe takes a step forward, and matches it in turn. equivalent exchange, and all. show that youve noticed, that you care, that youre paying attention. (i think she may be afraid. despite her presentation, she's afraid.)

she acknowledges the feeling of desire in this bond-- she wants wolfe to be able to live outside of others' influence. desperately. (if she cant, then…) she refuses to acknowledge what this says of Herself, though. but most importantly, she knows how easy it would be to simply take the role of someone who controls her. (isnt that just what she's always done to others?) she hates the idea of becoming that. (it would be so easy.) goes out of her way to avoid influencing her in that way-- but somehow, this just makes her more distant. hesitant to touch.

and with that fear, she tends to react, again, logically. tries to solve it like a puzzle, like she always has. finds the shortest distance to a perceived goal. this makes her rather distant, disconnected-- shes trying to control her own feelings by controlling what is around it.

what this means, most importantly, is that she is unable to trust wolfe the way She trusts her. she isnt strong enough to push back against what she sees of herself, or that which she uses to protect herself. giving in to those well-walked patterns instead of being able to brave uncertainty in something that new. she hides herself because she isnt sure what will become of her-- and is too afraid to risk what may come of losing the person she suddenly deeply cares about. setting herself up to crash harder should the worst happen. because she would simply blame herself. proving herself right.

meanwhile wolfe is dealing with Actually Trusting Someone for the first time in longer than she can remember, whether she likes it or not. maybe she was being stupid. maybe this was just a foolish foray into trusting people like she’d always told herself not to do. but… but. rose just brought this sense of comfort wherever she went, this feeling of certainty.

it was never good to let your guard down, but… but just this once, she so badly wanted to. once you let these things go, it becomes harder to get them back. she knew this. and yet, all the parts of her that protested were overruled by a deep desire to simply lie down and fall asleep in that comforting feeling. how frustrating. how annoying. how dangerous. now she had someone she could not argue against. and yet, she held this advantage as if she did not know it was one she wielded, a dangerous thing held without intent. was this trust? …did she want it to be?

and so, foolishly perhaps, she decided to trust. it was a tenuous thing, unbeknownst to anyone but herself. …probably. rose did have a way of seeing right through people. but even through all that, through the Everything… it felt nice to have someone to look out for. someone to worry about, someone on your mind when there used to be nobody else but you. she’d spent so long worrying about the repercussions of leaving your back to someone, yet she’d never known the comfort of having someone do the same to you. she’d never realized how hard it was to do much of anything with fangs bared the entire way. the ache of worry was dull compared to the weight of silence. (she would give her Everything to her. all or nothing, with her. maybe this was simply part of the inevitable problem.)

hey remember the whole turning-into-creatures thing? yeah thats still happening. crazy right? anyway. The Problem.

so you have people turning into things not quite unlike abnormalities, expressions of deep fears and desires running away with what used to be a human. and youve got some fucked up little guy with a Lot of barely repressed issues thats deceptively easy to mess with and actively averse to anybody really reaching out to them whatsoever.

and then rose is trying her best to figure out whats causing all this bullshit going on, but also her . coworker. is suddenly acting Really snappy and distant and its kinda starting to make her worried and she doesnt want to push her but shes looking really rough lately and fuck. wait. god. wait. shit.

long inhale. so you have two stupid motherfuckers 100% willing to drop everything and kill everyone in this facility and then themselves if anything so much as happens to the other (but theyre super normal about it, its fine, the other doesnt have to know.) theyre so good at this interpersonal interaction thing guys they swear (dont look too close though ok haha.) theyre sooo unknowable guys theyre really pulling a fast one on everyone here. they Definitely know what to do to fix the problem forever its fine they totally get it. dont stop them.

anyway heres a bunch of images for no reason

[jinnyu]

Used artwork credit here

A/N: I ACCIDENTALLY DELETED THE DRAFT AND THEREFORE THE ASK WAS ALSO DELETED, IM SORRY— alright, hopefully you'll enjoy this nonetheless, thanks for asking! I'll try to find the person who asked for this prompt later.

And so, this ask is Raihan x Female! Reader, the prompt is displayed above.

━─━─━━─━「₪」━━─━─━─━

You sip your bottled tea as you watched Raihan battle the opposing gym challenger from the bleachers; to say you're amused was an understatement. The dragon tamer never ceased to amaze you everytime he's in a battle, regardless if he reigns victorious or fell down in the depths of defeat— his match is always wild, numerous of fans shouting for his side as he let the sandstorm take over the stadium, enveloping it in a rough weather.

The fans were alright though considering the stadium was perfectly designed for these type of things, protecting the said viewers from the harsh effects of the weather— which Raihan takes pride in, looking at how his technique consist of taking advantage of the weather to boost his pokemons powers.

This is what makes you baffled with his performance every time. Even if you already became a Champion that rules over Galar, you didn't look down on him, and you're not planning to.

Occasionally, the dragon tamer would lock eyes with you, sending chills down your spine as his cerulean eyes stare right through you, followed by that signature smug grin of his in which his fans has grown a liking to. You gave him a gesture of support by clenching your hands accompanied by a determined look on your eyes. He noticed your small action and gave you a thumbs up before focusing on the match infront of him once again.

Some fans mistaken it as him looking at them, and they immediately melted on the spot due to that misunderstanding. Though you didn't pay any mind to it, you dont want to ruin people's happiness anyways, just let them be.

After the earthshaking match, which Raihan managed to reign victorious, he gave a hug to the challenger, and telling them that there were no hard feelings involved. Luckily for him, the challenger was still determined to try harder for a rematch in the near future, and they can ensure Raihan that they'll be the one taking victory home next time they meet.

Raihan saw that as a challenge and he's going to get stronger, he wants to give his best at every match, that's his job after all. Losing just wont do for him.

When all of that commotion ended, you approached the said dragon tamer with a smile dancing on your lips and arms open wide, incase he wanted a good ol' hug after the match.

You know him so well, of course he wanted a hug, and its from you— you.. you're his crush, not that you know it, its a new thing for him too. He took an interest on you when he saw you battle at the Championship Cup, reaping the victory without any effort; you're strong, you're tough, you're more than what you seem, and Raihan liked that part of you.

Though on other times, you're also clumsy, careless, and mostly oblivious. These trait of yours just amplified your attractiveness level to Raihan; strong and oblivious usually doesn't match with eachother, yet you managed to make them mix well, creating... you.

"Good job on the victory!"

You planted your face on his chest, burying your head in the warm feeling of his hoodie, and trying your best not to get tiny little sand stuck in your head. It'll be a pain in the ass to clean up later if you did. Your arms wrapped around his lean waist, hugging him as tight as you could to show him your affection.

Raihan responded well by hugging you back and ruffling your hair, saying a light 'thanks' along the way. Maybe without your support, he would've lost this round, and other rounds from before— no matter, he should just focus on the present, where you're hugging him in the middle of the stadium... infront of his assistants. Not to mention Leon is also watching, accompanied by chairman Rosé.

The dragon tamer then pulled back after awhile, he knows this affectionate act of yours doesn't have any meaning behind it. Just a hug you gave to your bestie after his gruelling match; it has became a habit at this point, and you didn't even notice that. Raihan did though, he paid attention on every little details about you. From the way you dressed, to the way your expression changes over the time, that even he notices the smallest shift in your mood during the day.

Silence began spreading between you both, and its getting kind of uncomfy. So you decided to break away the tension by helping him dusting off the sand on his body, and his features. The amount was quite a lot, and it's going to take awhile if you really want to remove all of the tiny bits of sand from the previous match. You even thought about suggesting him to not use the sandstorm weather next time, it's really getting troublesome and somewhat irritating to handle. At least for you.

"Stay still im helping you clean up" you said as you reached for his headband. He didn't want any help in cleaning up this time, considering that Leon is here, and few of his assistants—lets not forget about chairman Rosé whos observing from the sidelines, possibly being held captive by Oleana because of work reasons.

Raihan then gripped your arm as he tilted his head a little bit back, preventing you from reaching his tangerine headband "No need princess, i can clean it up by myself" he grinned, trying to hide the embarrassment thats slowly growing inside him.

Sure he might be a man of confidence, pride swelling on his chest with each step that he takes, but the poor dragon tamer only could handle so much when it comes to you. All that pride and confidence washed away just like that, and thats all because of your damned adorable oblivious trait.

You were determined to take off his headband, even if that means you need to use all off your techniques on him. This time, you only relied on your obliviousness. You really dont know what effect it has on him— you didn't even know if your oblivious trait has an effect on him at all! But you saw him blushing a few times from you being genuinely curious about something, so its worth a try.

Raihan was completely caught of guard when he looked down at you and your determined eyes; it was different from before where you're supporting him, he cant tell whats really different, but it just hits diffrent. You reaching up with Raihan gripping your wrist, warm eyes locking with his followed by a small curl on the edge of your lips as you felt him slowly reducing his strength in the effort to prevent you reach for his headband.

This only resulted in him looking away, blush subtly creeping on his cheeks as he tried to avoid eye contact with you. The Great Raihan would never be embarrassed in such a situation, hell, he'd be the one to make you embarrassed! But this time, apparently the odds were in your side , and you're grateful for that.

The thing you didn't understand was; why is he blushing? You didn't do anything, you only tried to take off his headband in order to clean it, and yet when he locked eyes with you, a tint of blush appeared on his chocolate skin, in which he attempted to hide it by looking at anywhere but towards your direction. This was a great opportunity to make him blush more, dont you think? Its rare to see Raihan blush out of nowhere, and you got to see it up close! A way great opportunity, you couldn't bear to pass this chance.

With a gentle push forwards from your body and him being off guard, you two tumbled down to the ground below you with a loud 'thud' ; Raihan covered your fall by pulling you close to his chest, which makes you comfortably land on his body instead.

"Honestly," you trailed as you got up from your position, lifting your body up with your hands on each side of Raihan's head before looking down onto him with a joyful grin plastered on your face "You're cute when you blush, Rai" you chirped, followed by a soft laugh. The position you guys were in wasn't quite the best to see without context. But you couldn't care less, you two were only having a wholesome bestie moment— yet Raihan might be freaking out inside because, oh Arceus, what is he gonna explain to Leon and the Chairman himself? Him blushing just makes it worse and doesn't help him out at all.

His eyes finally dared to look into yours again while a sigh slipped past his lips "You're just teasing me," he exclaimed as his lips curl into his usual relaxed smile; shades of blush still not leaving his face "Again." He added, hands reaching up to pull you back down onto his body, loving the way you fit inside his embrace just perfectly. He's way taller than you, meanwhile you could be accused of 'tiny' compared to him. Thats why he liked hugging you so much, even if you're just teasing him.

He doesn't care if you know his feelings or not, he's just happy that he could hold you like this without any care in the world right after his tiring match. Though he still does have a lot of explaining to do the the Chairman later, and possibly to Leon too.

[planetjisungie]

lucky charms- h.rj

characters; ravenclaw! renjun x hufflepuff! reader ft. gryffindor! mark and gryffindor! jeno (sigh)

summary; with the exams coming up, you need a little help with your charms. well you dont, you just needed an excuse to talk to your long time crush, huang renjun

an; i literally changed this on the spot 🤡 plot holes here i come- (also id like to think jeno is more of a hufflepuff but idk man)

sigh okay this is a long boi

end of year exams were in just a few weeks

yay, your absolute favourite !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sarcasm

now, charms

in room 99, classroom 2E in the south tower

i did my research

you were pretty good at charms, not nearly as good as you were in the care of magical creatures and herbology though

still above averagely good

you know who else was good at charms?

huang renjun

the star ravenclaw prince boy, the pride of the house and a very beautiful boy

best boi renjun

if jeno was being quite honest he was SICK AND TIRED of hearing you two pine over eachother

jeno met you in first year, and you quickly became best friends and even ended up in the same house as eachother

despite having different friend groups (your friend group consisted of you and eunji), you stayed best friends until now aka 5th year

just go with it okay

so as he was saying before i digressed, jeno physically is pained as he watched the longing glances both you and renjun throw when the other isnt looking

but it isnt his business to meddle with your lack of relationship problems

best boi part 2

BUT! but! he will give you both a tiny! eensy! little! minuscule! nudge

that nudge being forming a plan with you

you were slightly reluctant when jenos very enthusiastic face greeted you at the table saying he had ‘a totally brilliant, spectacular, show stopping, wonderful, flawless plan’

this was jeno we were talking about

the same boy who planned the failed midnight snack run a few weeks before

and as soon as he mentioned renjun your eyes narrowed

"proceed."

the plan was for jeno to ask renjun to tutor his friend who was falling behind in charms

said friend was you

and you were ahead of the class

bUT!! you agreed because he wasnt in your class, so there was no way he could know that right?

wrong.

who was in your class?

mark lee. one of renjuns best friends.

also the boyfriend of eunji and the reason you wanted to gauge your eyeballs out everytime you turned around to talk to them

thats right eunji ditched you to sit next to her little markie. bitch.

nonetheless, you agreed because your dumb, spontaneous ass forgot that renjun even knew mark, because if someone said ‘whos mark?’ you would go ‘eunjis boyfriend’

so of course, when all the students were making their way to their class, jeno caught up with renjun seeing as they both had muggle studdies

"hey man, i have a favour to ask"

stage one of operation: stop the oblivious fuckers from pining over eachother (that name may need some revamping) was a-go

"depends what said favour is"

smart boi™️

"is it possible to tutor one of my friends in charms for the upcoming OWLs?"

oh? this piqued china pretty boys interest

"i mean, sure, i could do with some revision too. tell them to meet me at the library after school"

and so jeno walked away with a smug smirk, victorious

and when jeno told you he had agreed later in potions, you were yet you werent surprised

so of you trotted after last period, kinda nervous because youre about to be in the literal breathing proximity of renjun

like obviously youve talked to him before but this time it was just you and him

alone

no get those thoughts out of your head

n e ways u perv

renjun sat at the back table, textbooks and notebooks with his neat writing in both chinese and korean all over the pages

smart boi part 2

so seeing him not looking at you

attention whore

wow why am i so mean today

you sat down and cleared your throat, placing your blank notebooks on the table so the boy wouldnt get suspicious

you had to pray to whatever gods were listening for your cheeks not to flare up the colour of the strawberries you had for breakfast

healthy girl™️

and the gods apparently answered your prayers

because as soon as renjun looked up and into your eyes you swore you were too distracted for your blood cells to even think about moving towards your face

and renjun nearly had a heart attack (by aoa)

poor boy

jeno had NOT told him that he would be tutoring you

he was going to be choked later

"sorry im late"

renjun was nearly offended that you would even apologise to him for being late by

2 minutes and 48 seconds

"no no its okay i havent been here long"

that was a lie he had study period last and has been sat in the same goddamn chair for an hour already but your presence made his ass cheeks ache less

so he started teaching you, but ???

you seemed to fully grasp the concepts

confused boi

excuse me ma’am/sir/señor/señorita whatever you prefer to go by-

you need to brush up on your acting skills dude

appalling smh your drama teacher back from your muggle school would be completely distraught

so for the next hour renjun ‘tutored’ you

things you already knew but this was a dream-

and actually he was a funny guy

he was also muggle born, so you could both relate over things you experienced as a kid

this lead to a raging debate over dora the explorer

that bitch was shaded in said debate, fully annihilated

hola soy dora your asshole

but,, it was fun. because jeno was pureblood and grew up knowing about all his magicky stuff so he was kinda boring sometimes

no tea no shade

but you ended the session with smiles on both your faces, cheeks literally aching with how hard youd been laughing and smiling

so lads

the next day at breakfast renjun was all happy, plonking himself next to mark at the gryffindor table because

man does not give a SHIT about the looks he was getting. he is huang renjun.

"why are you so smiley this morning? and why didn’t you come to my common room last night"

the gryffindor common room was the dreamie hang out

no one dared tell THE mark lee to go somewhere else with his friends

"sorry, last night i was tutoring y/n in charms" smiley boy still

mark seagull eyebrows: activated

excuse him?? charms?? you?? the one who got an outstanding in your report card??

something smells fishy here

"renjun... y/n got an outstanding on her charms"

eunji who had magically appeared next to mark basically said what he was just thinking

confused boi part ??

"wait what?"

but later on he didnt question you about it

he silently observed you

he told himself that anyway

quite honestly if you were spending time with him he was not about to complain

he was staring at you, simply put

my leng bby (thats you, youre my leng bby)

so for the next 2 weeks every day after school you would meet up to ‘catch up’ on your charms

that being said it literally always, every time, ended up with you two talking about something unrelated

like the 5th day you had a conversation about which series of power rangers was better

"SPD, obviously"

AM I THAT OLD?? on god i hate it here

"no, y/n, we all know that dino force is better"

i agree with y/n on this one pal

on the 7th day you talked about muggle sports that you both enjoyed

"i played a lot of cricket"

"cricket? okay tory"

"i am NOT a tory"

on the last day when you should have been, you know, LEARNING

you were having a lovely old chinwag about the x factor

"simon cowell is a king"

"i agree"

legend behaviour if you ask me

wait does chinwag exist in other countries??? translation: chat

so of course the exams came up

but you were dreading them for a different reason

this meant the end of tutoring with renjun

this was super bittersweet, you wanted to spend more time with eachother

you literally could it wasn’t that deep both of you are so dumb smh aint nothing stopping you

jeno agrees with me too, mans pulling out his hair still as you had somehow not gotten together yet

it was like watching snails race, incredibly frustrating but you know that there is the finish line somwhere over the horizon

so you took your exams and both of you passed with flying colours, obviously

smart kids

and you ran right to renjun to celebrate

seeing as he had

not really helped you but you thought that he thought he helped you

oh no honey he knew that you didnt need help

but he didnt know whether to confront you about it?

rip your guilty conscience

so after a long discussion with mark, our china boy decided to ask why the heck you wanted his help when you were absolutely fully capable

unlike mark

and when you saw him approach you first in the halls your heart went

NYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

that was the sound of a fast motorbike

"hi y/n"

‘damn renjun, couldnt have thought of anything better than that?’

"uhh hi renjun"

awkward silence by stray kids

"i just wanted to know why you asked for my help"

okay where is the nearest shovel and what is the most efficient way to dig a large hole-

as if renjun sensed your panic radiating off you in waves

which he did

"not that it was an issue! i enjoyed spending time with you, it was just, you didnt really need help"

he was a pure boy

so you puffed your cheeks and decided to just come clean

somewhere, jeno felt his senses tingling

"genuinely i just wanted to spend some time with you because i really like you"

renjun froze and wanted to smack his head into a wall

bruh

you noticed his expression and panicked yet again

stop panicking man its okay i gotchu

"it was jenos idea"

blame jeno is always a fool-proof plan b

unless you get pregnant, that would not be a good idea

so i guess its not fool proof

BUT I DIGRESS

renjun face palms and groans

"youre kidding me! all this time we wasted doing boringass charms work when we couldve gone on dates"

confusion™️

but?? you felt hopeful??

"i dont think im on the same wavelength"

"i like you too dumbass"

oH so YOURE the dumbass??

yes, yes you are renjun is best boi, accept the L which is really a W bc renjun likes you back

jeno who had found his way to you, listening from around the corner sighed in happiness

"fucking finally!!"

[shyung-shoes]

thoughts on Dystopia: The Tree of Language by Dreamcatcher 

this album was recommended to me so i thought id write about my first impressions! cause why not!

for reference: i know little more beyond dreamcatcher title tracks and that one of their members has a name that starts with s? and theres potentially someone with a g?

this is very long and i get kind of gay so dont say i didnt warn you

first of all, what a dope title. Dystopia: The Tree of Language how badass does one, already very badass group, have to be? iconic, i love it, i feel like im in an angsty teen dystopian slightly-fantasy young adult novel (think the books of umber for those who know it). im already intrigued

intro:

god damn it this album has an intro. any album with an intro is going to be amazing because intros really do give the first taste of an album’s color and what to expect but also just sound so fucking cool. this kind of reminds me of stray kids? like a victory song piano cover? its dope i love it 40/10

scream:

the VOCALS, the MUSIC, legendary. literally such a good example of a title track. keeps very much in line with what i know of dreamcatcher (rock, strong vocals, contrast between soft and hard beats) but definitely shows a growth from deja vu which im pretty sure is their debut song. i love the rapper’s tone. this couldve been a really repetitive song but it does such a good job of playing with style and tone while still sounding very cohesive. 12098/10 would give 5 stars on yelp

tension:

sounds like an anime op and i fuck with that so hard. like what bhna fight is this the bgm for? maybe in demon slayer? i feel like this would just genuinely sound so cool in japanese and would very much like to hear it. 

red sun:

sexy nuns. i like im in a church secretly run by sexy vampires posing as women of the faith and that is an image i can really support. seriously though, i think this is really funky and i like the percussion (my four years in band are failing me so idk what instrument that is but its the glockenspiel with wooden bars).

black or white:

exact quote: “oh. OH this is dope” these women have such cool sounding vocals. we love to see some good altos and tenors get recognition their time to shine. i love the fake beat drops? like that moment where you think were gonna fuck shit up, it’s just that “black or white” line and its thrilling.

jazz bar:

video game speak easy music. like let this play while i find that one npc character who i inevitably fall in love with during game play and then get crushed when they become irrelevant to the story at large. reminds me of postmodern jukebox. a modern jazzy sound and its so good

sahara:

cowboys? but make it rock and roll? ok very much so lindsey stirling’s roundtable revival music video (go watch it its cool). ladies i dont understand korean but i do understand that this song HITS. yes guitar crescendo! that staccato sa-ha-ra really hits different. kind of reminds me of say my name by ateez. 

in the frozen:

this is the only bside ive heard! and it was in a remix so i hadn’t heard the original version before and god it’s like if elsa went through an emo phase. like let it go but make it my chemical romance. 

daybreak:

oh this is lovely. reminds me of a loona solo song but i cant remember which one so thats gonna bug me forever. really pretty and helps round out the album. more interesting cafe music. legitimately shows their range and helps showcase their softer side but still manages to not sound jarring with the rest of the album

full moon:

the title of this song makes me think of twilight but thats stupid cause the book is called new moon but whatever. n e ways twilight wishes it could be as sexy as this song. this song sounds like what stephanie meyer portrayed edward cullen’s car to be. 

outro:

reminds me of alice’s theme by danny elfman (from the liveaction movie). a little haunting, a little feminine, a lot good. not what i expected from the outro but i think its a nice, subtle closing to the album.

overall thoughts:

this album is incredibly sexy and deserves lots of love. the vocal and musical range is so nice to listen to and it’s such a contrast to the more pop/upbeat gg music that’s in the industry right now. this album sounds very sure of itself and like it knows what it’s trying to do. dreamcatcher has found their color and are making such wonderful use of it. i definitely have to check out the rest of their stuff :D

[blastthatsadfm]

for the ask thing, how about akihiko?

favorite thing about them: I AM CRYING, let me see!… How hard he works, and how disciplined he is, without being tough on others (at least, too much). How he expects so much of himself, and still tell others to not overwork themselves. HOW HE HELPS!!! JUNPEI TO STUDY!! HE’S SO !!! kind. and just because its the right thing to do. How he applies himself on things, believing to be his responsibility, thats such a??? Considerate thing to do ??? - But I honestly love everything about him, like. how he genuinely enjoys fighting, but he’s not an overly aggressive character, he’s cordial and polite and proper, but will lose his shit with a challenge and have fun on it! He’s always so energized during battles, doing little bounces. He! I think I just like his attitude about things, in general, despite not being a healthy one, but I also like how he’s not exactly rigid with it, he’s very adaptable to every situation.

Listen, man I dont know what to say. He inspires me. And his drive kinda got me through some tough times.

least favorite thing about them: The entire flanderization that happens to his character on subsequent games. … Hm… If I’m going to be completely honest, his haircut is not my fave, either, and I kinda wish he would grow his hair out only a little bit. I do like his hair on trinity soul.

favorite line: all of his victory lines on battle. I just… Love almost all of his dialogue. .. Right now, it comes to mind when he’s telling you about the masks he used to want on his childhood but he (and Shinji, presumably) couldnt afford.

brOTP: Aki/mitsu is pure mlmxwlw solidarity. they’re bros, the most ride or die for each other. Akihiko and Fuuka is super nice solely because of how different they are but how hard they work. Akihiko and Aigis is also.. good…

OTP Shinjiro/Akihiko. I just honestly dont understand how you can play and not see it… like, I respect the non akishinji shipper community, but it aint me.

nOTP Aki//mitsu, I think?? I feel like a romantic layer takes away exactly whats one of the most interesting things about both of their characters on canon. Aki/minato and Aki/Jun are also not my cup of tea.

random headcanon: He considers Mitsuru his best friend. He went searching for Shinji more times than he could count and got back heartbroken every time but he just couldnt bring himself to say anything about it to anyone and didnt want to burden Mitsuru with it. They both learned to endure very long sessions of silence between just the both of them, after October 4 - (the first one).

unpopular opinion: I do love everything the game implies about him but its a problem to me that it just… implies. Basically, I don think he, as a character on Persona 3 alone, holds that much depth. Just like Mitsuru, on that regard, Junpei, Shinjiro and Yukari all feel more fleshed out characters than him, Mitsuru or Aigis. While lots of points can be made about how he’s dealing with grief on unhealthy ways, those are also just things you assume under the surface. And the game itself almost, almost! seems to own the whole “yeah, forcing yourself to become stronger really is the best way to deal with feelings of loss” which is just… lmao… not good.

song i associate with them: Someday I’ll post my personal shinij/aki playlist but… Careful you is very them. Pls, I know TV on the radio is hard to get into, but give this song a try.

favorite picture of them: Do I even have??? one??? Man, so many good artists out there that are not in P3 anymore, though, lmao but… I guess Noctilin really is the one that comes to mind as as an artist with Quality Akihiko content. 

[miafic]

I think the fact that if you wrote L+Z, it would be 20 years of slow burn is what makes it such a great idea. Like yes give me the slow burn of my two boys

they make me weak

this got so, so long im sorry but here is a vague and very rough outline of what that story might look like

meeting in the first semester of grad school

suffering through internships, exams, papers, projects, and killer classes together. 

late nights falling asleep at each other’s apartments. eventually just becoming literal roommates the next year. 

taking turns walking to pick up cheap pizza from the carryout only place two blocks away

wanting to get a pet but knowing that would be an absolutely terrible idea

l drinking some beers one night and telling z about chance. he hasn’t spoken about it since that day he went home from college like FIVE YEARS before. he is a crying mess and he’s angry all the next day. zakk takes care of him anyway, holding him while he sobs and giving him space but putting some of his favorite ice cream in the freezer and offering to watch whatever superhero movie lucas wants

helping each other with their assignments. teaching each other about cool stuff they learned in class. 

anytime there’s a lull in conversation - “analyze me” “okay but you have to analyze me right after” 

missing each other in the brief period after graduation where they went to be with their families

starting p&p 

a longggggg section of p&p

behind the scenes stuff we don’t get to see - what it was like to be tight on money. what it’s like when they argue but still have to pull together and be a perfect team for the kids. 

megan

justin + the car. lucas and zakk butting heads over whether or not calum can stay and lucas’ subsequent victory in calming him down. ashton coming to the house in the middle of his 12 year old grief. travis coming to the house and having to learn social skills. jawn and lucas’ fp relationship and zakk (again) wanting jawn out of the house and lucas pushing for him to stay.

geoff being integrated into the house

lucas’ speech at the commissioner hearing. the meeting with the lawyer that ran long. 

getting the check in the mail obv. lucas has one of those “i’m so happy i could kiss you!” moments and zakk is literally the only person there

zakk beginning to try to date while only having one day off a week

luke’s suicide attempt absolutely devastating lucas. zakk is hit hard too but lucas saw him literally dying and had to DRIVE HIM. ALONE. BARELY CONSCIOUS. halfway to the ER to meet up with an ambulance (hi i really need to write this ugh will it ever happen)

the endless debate over hiring extra help

more stuff with kids im sure but i havent thought about it yet

phasing themselves out of p&p 

getting an apartment together. at first lucas thinks he wants to live alone but he quickly realizes that he loves and wants (and needs) zakk

zakk having a gf --> wife

lucas remains single despite getting lots of first and even second dates (with tons of women and one or two men ahhhh. zakk is convinced that he needs to try men. and you know what? he’s right)

lucas misses his presence way more than he should. he actually starts to wonder if he’s codependent or plain dependent or something. he’s not. but he’s in so much pain that he genuinely wonders.

lucas starts working more and more at p&p leading up to zakk’s wedding so he doesn’t have to spend all his time thinking about it. even though he’s the best man. so he’s pretty involved in ‘thinking about it’

the wedding day. lucas crying because he’s happy for zakk but he’s so, so sad inside to lose his Person. (thats how lucas is going to explain him to people. “he’s my person.” he doesn’t mean it romantically at that time but that phrasing helps people understand what he’s going through a little more clearly. zakk is straight up and says “he’s my soulmate.”

zakk obviously moves in with his wife when they get married (he waits til the wedding which is at lucas’ urging (moral reasons)). this is a transition for both men because not only does zakk have to learn to live with a new person but lucas has to learn to live alone

living separately. being absolutely overjoyed to see each other. zakk crying with happiness when they’re reunited after they’ve been apart just a few weeks. bringing each other gifts.

while they’re apart they communicate constantly - memes and phone calls and lucas emailing asking for advice that he doesn’t really need, but zakk has stayed more connected to what “the youth” are into/up to (this is the future now ahh it’s like 2022ish) so he feels okay asking

hiring ashton, jawn coming back to p&p, later hiring jawn to do art lessons

zakk finds out he’s being cheated on. it’s the last straw and he ends the marriage instantly. 

lucas is the first phone call zakk makes. he drops everything and goes to zakk’s house to be there for him all night. 

lucas holds him up for weeks through the waves of regret and desperation and and anger and elation and crushing sadness

zakk pulls away from him. they stop seeing each other so much, stop texting so often. 

the coffee shop thing

the thing after the coffee shop thing

zakk becomes excited about life again

lucas is a mushy little pushover when it comes to anything zakk - apartment decorating, 

lucas proposes after six months. it’s a quiet, private thing at a beautiful place, but there’s a photographer there on the dl taking pictures from several feet away. l and z realize a few days later that zakk never stopped kissing him to actually answer the question, and they laugh and laugh about it.

so zakk takes him out and does the whole big meal in a fancy restaurant, walk along the pretty river, roses, embarrassing him in front of a giant crowd of people by having coordinated a full-out flash mob and ending the dance number by getting down on one knee and proposing. lucas is bright red and covers his face and goes, “yes! can we go home now?!” and zakk grins and slides a ring on his finger and kisses him and everyone cheers

they finally get that dog they always talked about in grad school. 

the end.

[tumblunni]

Rambling about my new watchholder oc Mallory

* absolute gremlin child. Eats dirt. Probably more of a monster than most of the yokai.

* at the same time tho, she is like super sunshine friend! She looks kinda gloomy ominous but her personality is actually super bubbly and her biggest priority in life is making new yokai friends and loving them forever. Like, creepy in a wholesome way? She does indeed love horror movies and creepy crawlies and could probably fistfight god, but that doesnt mean she's evil!

* kinda always bored but also easily exciteable? One of her biggest recurring jokes is just ignoring the normal or sane solution to a thing and doing something more fun even if its more difficult or dangerous. Actually i guess its more "fearless" than bored? Or bored of fear, lol. Fearless and doesnt really give a shit about any rules. But again not in a mean way, she doesnt break rules because she wants to piss people off, just like "im not gonna believe this if nobody bothers explaining why its supposed to be so important". But not exactly phrased like that cos that would be rude, lol. So uhh more like just relateable autism feel of not grasping social cues but mixed with a personality thats quite outgoing and uncaring of being judged poorly for not being normal, as opposed to me who's always worried about what people think.

* oh wait thats the word for it!! Free-spirited! Trickster! Like a peter pan type of trickster tho, more than loki. Like just "i am naturally outside the obligations of normalcy" rather than "i am intentionally trying to prank/illusion/manipulate people cos its funny". Or uhh i guess "manic pixie dream girl" but without all the stupid shit that trope has got associated with.

* pretty much just wish fullfillment of "what if i was confident enough to not care what people think and just act like myself no matter what"

* anyway in summary she likes to climb trees n stuff and her reaction to yokai being real is "yay" and her reaction to seeing an undefeatable giant kaiju is to run at it and try and suplex it with her bare hands. She's kind of a badass! Tho lol also her biggest character flaw is her badassness, cos she can be reckless due to the lack of fear. But then also sometimes when everyone is hopeless she really does manage to save the day no matter what, and help inspire everyone else to be brave too!

* though i'm thinking of maybe a character arc where she starts off seeing this as just a fun adventure with no stakes, and it doesnt matter if you take risks cos nobody's gonna get hurt anyway. Like a "this isnt really real, its just my hero's story" sort of thing? When things start getting more dark and she faces things she cant just defeat with simple optimism, it kinda stops being fun anymore. And she has to realize that even if she doesnt care about her own self preservation there's consequences that could happen to her friends and family. And maybe she's already made mistakes that she can't take back, and now she's neck deep in a conflict thats a lot bigger and more insurmountable than she thought. You can't just fistfight something like the abstract concept of hatred for humanity which will continue to be perpetuated as long as the idea keeps taking root. And maybe even yokai you befriended could start to believe it too, after all you've kinda been treating them as just fun toys and sidekicks on a story that's all about you, and dragging them into danger with your recklessness. Even though you're fighting the villains, are you really doing it because you actually care about saving the day? Do you even know what you're saving it from...?

* and similar to her unflappable victoryness being shaken, i think her fearlessness and confidence could also be deeper than they look on the surface. I feel like maybe as the story goes on it could be revealed that its less being fearless and more just not caring about her own safety. You start to see her get more actual consequences from her fights, and it starts to become sort of concerning that she keeps brushing it off as no big deal. Laughing it off. Wondering why her friends are even sad that she got hurt. And maybe she isnt really happy all the time and 100% secure in who she is, she just tries to hide any signs of doubt because she feels like nobody would care. And that she has to always be the funny class clown or else nobody would want to be her friend. And like.. She doesnt even really believe that she's great, believe that she's fine as she is. She's more aware of her weirdness than she lets on. She's constantly, paralyzingly aware that everyone thinks she's a freak. She did use to try and change herself to fit in, but she kept failing at it and it never helped her get any friends. Or when she did think she made a friend they'd turn on her whenever she slipped up and showed a crack in her mask of the perfect normal person. The perfect normal person they wanted her to be.. Constantly changing into WHATEVER anyone wanted her to be. The only reason she doesnt do that anymore is that she lost all hope in it working, not that she actually gained confidence in her true self. And even when she's npt conciously doing it she's still subconciously trying to be what people want her to be. She has to always be funny, always be fearless, she has to cling to the few parts of her weirdness that people dont seem to hate. And now she has to be the hero. She has to carry all the dreams of everyone she's met along the way, while never letting them know when she's scared she wont be able to help make them come true. She's always just laughing it off and never being fully open with any of her friends, because she's scared they'll hate her. ..

* so uhh.. Yeah. Personal experience of that. Personal experience of trying to fit into negative stereotypes of autism because thats what everyone saw me as no matter how hard i tried, and also it was the only form of autism theyd treat positively, somehow. Like just be the "funny one" and dont challenge any of their assumptions ans they'll leave you in relative peace. Put up with some degree of degredation to avoid the even worse version. And i was doing all of this at a very youbg age before i even knew i was autistic or what autism was, but i could still feel how people treated me differently and how i had to friggin agree with it or else they'd never let it go. Gahhh.. It was all way too complicated and dark for a kid to understand!

* so yeah anyway her story arc is going from being a badass funny to being a funny badass? Like she just becomes more genuinely tough and cool when she's not always winning and the stakes dont seem so low and comical AND most importantly you know her real feelings and see that she will indeed continue fighting even when she's scared. And she doesnt try so hard to be cool all the time so it just lets her be more genuine. And form actual relationships with everyone with genuine feelings. So its less "she is badass because its funny" and more "she is a badass because she's a badass". But she's still funny, just in more varied ways than simply "the only reason she won this fight so fast is because jokes". Fighting legit threatening enemies in fights that arent over in five seconds. So they can contain... SEVERAL joke..!!! And also some actual fighting for once!!

* hhh i dunno i am very tired im probably not explaining this well

* oh and i think possibly she has a bit of a complex of feeling she's nothing without her yokai watch? Like the yokai are her first friends who never abandoned her. And she always felt like she was useless and it was her own fault that she didnt have any friends. She first started off being all irreverent and goofy when she got the yokai watch cos she was well into her "i dont care anymore" phase of depression and felt certain these new friends would all realise she was awful eventually and leave, so like.. Why get attatched? Just have fun while it lasts. So maybe actually she shows early signs of her depression by trying harder to be normal whenever anyone shows her friendship. Maybe something where she starts straigjtening her hair or dressing more feminine and then you just see this look on her face like her heart has shattered when someone agrees that she does look better now. (Maybe a new yokai she recently caught who was like super cool and she wanted to impress them?) And she gets compulsively obsessed with it, exaggerating it to a ridiculous degree and starting to change other parts of her appearance and everyone goes from giggling about this weird circumstance to getting REALLY DAMN CONCERNED! And in the end something something the yokai who was an asshole abput her needing to be more feminine slips up and shows his true assy colours to the other yokai and theyre like IT WAS YOU and he's like "what? You should be thanking me for fixing your shitty trainer!" And Then Everyone Beats Him Up Forever. Etc etc moral that real friends accept you for who you are and anyone who tells you you have to change to impress them is not worth impressing. Also maybe some aspect where the yokai dude thinks that mallory is trying to impress him cos she has a crush on him, and thats the moment that manages to snap her out of her depressive funk. Self hate overrided by sheer EWW NO IM A LESBIAN, DUDE i just liked ur cool hat, geez. (Wait was that entire plot idea just an excuse to find a way to foreshadow her getting a crush on hailey in yw3...?)

* and maybe i dunno some sort of dramatic episode where she loses the ability to use the yokai watch and is faced with her self worth issues all at once and its super fuckin sad and we all know eventually she will get to see all her yokai friends again cos the plots not gonna end before finishing all the games but still MEGA SUPER SAD MOMENT ANYWAY (also tearful reunions!)

* also i just heard theres a yokai called furgus thats a big adorable hairball that gives people big hair. So maybe that could be one of the comically easy victory episodes? He uses his power on mallory but her hair is already too fluffy to be floofed! Maybe it backfires and turns his own hair into a boring bowl cut, lol? And then maybe a sequel where he returns for revenge a million episodes later but it just so happens to be during the maddiman boss fight and he accidentally cures his balding. "Noooo dont thank me nooooo" *is forced against his will to become a popular advertosing mascot for hair cream* *like straight up just gets sucked into the nearest bottle and sealed like a genie* *cursed forever to fame and fortune and a million dollar salary*

* lol i dont think im as funny as the actual yokai watch writers but i have a few ideas at least. This will be fun to draw!

[commanderhighwind-blog1]

kain;

A long, meandering post about He and why he’s great.

  It’s easy to place Cecil up against Golbez if we’re looking for a Light vs Dark theme, the same way we’d put Fusoya up against Zemus. That’s neat, it’s a pretty classic theme, but personally, I’m way more interested in Cecil vs Kain. At first, they seem pretty similar, There’s a point in both their development where they diverge completely after Cecil goes up the mountain.

  Once he becomes a Paladin, Cecil has this celestial, alien, ethereal perfection about him. As if his clear, confident change in attitude isn’t enough, his palette swap hits you over the head with a large plank marked "I’M A DAMN ANGEL”*. Then you get a nice chaser in the form of the Moon Vibes he starts serving. This is great. I can’t think of any other moral alignment jumping FF character who does it with so much conviction, or so convincingly, if I’m honest. 

  Kain, of course, didn’t do that. His palette stays a similar dark purple and black, typical “dark knight”, aka “questionable, probably a bad guy, might poison your salad”. The split apart in their aesthetics is what really brings your attention to comparing them, imo. If Cecil is this miraculous, beautiful alien knight here to save the world, Kain is his opposite in the sense that he’s nothing remarkable. He’s so fallible, so human, and everything that happens to him highlights flaws, sometimes massive ones, in him; while Cecil has his positive traits brought out and and spotlit. This isn’t the same as Light vs Dark/Good vs Evil (even though there’s definitely still a thread of it running through), this is straight up Perfect vs Imperfect**, or, better: Higher Purpose vs Aimless Wandering. 

  As an individual, events aside, Kain isn’t a bad person; he’s just a person. He’s jealous, insecure, defensive and overly distant at times. But everyone is. We only start to think of him as an antagonist after Golbez gets hold of him, and even then the things that make him “bad” are just these same human traits magnified by x1000.

  Example: He kidnaps and holds Rosa captive; but he said himself that while his actions were dictated, his thoughts weren’t. He didn’t argue. I wonder if that’s because, with the addition of Golbez’ control and influence, his love for Rosa was boosted to a totally irrational level where he really thought that she’d be better off safe and confined with him than out and about with Cecil, despite her own wishes. I’m not romanticising that, by the way; it’s heinous. But it happened. When he breaks free, he expresses genuine remorse and shock at his own behaviour. There’s nothing impressively evil going on here, is what I’m getting at. He doesn’t want the world, he doesn’t want power or control for himself, he just lacks a “calling”, the same way a massive percentage of the human population do. He was easy to pilot.  I feel like I should clarify here that I’m talking in-game only... I’m not saying I sympathise with actual kidnappers in real life. We’re talking about mystical mind control pushing someone over that limit into a blurred space between madness and logic, not natural thought process. Following what I’m saying here, if you’re not sure what to do with your life, copy your dad’s career path. Become a dragoon. Get a lance. Deal with your existential ennui by getting good at jumping. Don’t kidnap the princess.   I absolutely love his Lunar Trial. That was some 👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀👌👀 good shit go౦ԁ sHit👌 thats ✔ some good👌👌shit right👌👌there👌👌👌 right✔there ✔✔if i do ƽaү so my self 💯 i say so 💯 thats what im talking about right there right there (chorus: ʳᶦᵍʰᵗ ᵗʰᵉʳᵉ) mMMMMᎷМ💯 👌👌 👌НO0ОଠOOOOOОଠଠOoooᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒᵒ👌 👌👌 👌 💯 👌 👀 👀 👀 👌👌Good shit.    That’s what I want for his endgame. I understand why they took the path of “fixing” him by making him a Holy Dragoon to stand beside Cecil instead of opposite him; but in mirroring Cecil’s choices, a piece of Kain is removed. If he rejects all the things that make him who he is, all the things that brought him up to the present, what’s left? If he joins the Red Wings, what’s left? He became a dragoon to follow Ricard. He loves dragons. His description says his “heart is with” them. Making him a Holy palette swap isn’t just a victorious outfit change, it’s like saying “this guy doesn’t work as a person; junk him and start over”. ** To me, anyway.   His Lunar Trial saw him face his own “darkness” and accept it, work with it instead of rejecting it’s existence and allow himself to be at peace with it. That is fire. That is what I’m  👌 👌👌 👌 about. He gets some serious new equipment as a reward.    “This should be the end of everything... Right? Kain?”   That’s him talking to himself instead of treating his mirror-self like a monster. But even then,   “This is the way it should be... Right, Cecil? Right, Rosa?”   He still has to ask his friends for help understanding what’s up.   Disclosure: I’ve struggled with depression, anxiety (That’s a New One!) and some other smaller stuff since I was a kid, so maybe that’s why this option means a lot more to me than just scrubbing him clean and giving him shinier armour (as it seemed to happen in canon; I know RPers give more detail and add more nuance than that). I don’t like to paint everything I write with a thin layer of Charlie, so I won’t project that onto him, but I do write him with a sort of disassociative disorder. Personally, I think all MH issues are on a spectrum, and Kain is on the “milder” side; so he won’t be doing any outrageous, bad-movie “split personality” stuff. 

  Apart from everything else, referring to what I said earlier about Holy Kain being beside rather than opposite Cecil; this is pure opinion here, but I think Cecil needs someone to stand opposite. It would be so easy for him to become complacent with everyone around him in awe of him and praising his genuinely inspiring achievements. With someone who could criticise him close by, I think he’d probably be reassured that he really was on the right track. If he was getting anything wrong, being too soft or hard on a problem, letting anything slide, Kain would tell him even if no one else would.

  Anyway. Kain Highwind is a damn goldmine and a treasure. I love him. If you made it to the end of this very very words post, Namingway bless, may RNG not completely shit on your playthrough, and thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

*Until Kuja came in and ruined it **Cecil still has flaws, I’m sure, but from a lowly mortal perspective...

[patriotsnet]

What Happens If Republicans Win Midterms

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/what-happens-if-republicans-win-midterms/

What Happens If Republicans Win Midterms

Gop Lawmakers Threaten To Punish Democrats If They Win Back Control Of Congress

‘When we take the majority back in 2022, I’ll make sure consequences are doled out,’ said Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

Republicans are outraged that Democrats are governing by majority rule in the House. In retaliation, they are vowing to do the same things they now decry as unprecedented and wrong.

“Never in the history of our country has a Speaker acted like such an authoritarian,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday.

He was upset that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had his request to appoint Republican Reps. Jim Banks and Jim Jordan to the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Both men voted to overturn the 2020 election results and pushed the lie that President Joe Biden only won because the election was stolen.

“Never in the history of Congress and the select committee I checked with the historian has this ever taken place, where the one party decides who’s all on the committee,” McCarthy told Fox News in a video he with his tweet. McCarthy in fact to give Republican then-Speaker John Boehner the exact same unilateral appointment power in 2014 for the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi.

But while House Republicans claim they are being mistreated because the majority won’t let them have their way, they are also promising to retaliate by turning the same actions they criticize now against Democrats in 2023.

TAGS

‘the Beast Is Growing’: Republicans Follow A Winning At All Costs Strategy Into The Midterms

Much remains uncertain about the midterm elections more than a year away including the congressional districts themselves, thanks to the delayed redistricting process. The Senate, meanwhile, looks like more of a toss-up.

House Democrats think voters will reward them for advancing President Joe Biden’s generally popular , which involves showering infrastructure money on virtually every district in the country and sending checks directly to millions of parents. And they think voters will punish Republicans for their rhetoric about the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2020 election.

“Democrats are delivering results, bringing back the economy, getting people back to work, passing the largest middle-class tax cut in history, while Republicans are engaged in frankly violent conspiracy theory rhetoric around lies in service of Donald Trump,” said Tim Persico, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

But the challenges Democrats face are real and numerous.

They knew they would face a tough 2022 immediately after 2020, when massive, unexpected GOP gains whittled the Democratic majority to just a handful of seats.

“House Republicans are in a great position to retake the majority,” said Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, “but we are taking nothing for granted.”

His rural district had been trending Republican for years. Kind won re-election last year by just about 10,000 votes.

What If The Republicans Win Everything Again

Total victory for the G.O.P. would mean Trump unleashed.

Opinion Columnist

The end of Robert Muellers investigation. The loss of health insurance for several million people. New laws that make it harder to vote. More tax cuts for the rich. More damage to the environment. A Republican Party molded even more in the image of President Trump.

These are among the plausible consequences if the Republicans sweep the midterm elections and keep control of both the House and Senate. And dont fool yourself. That outcome, although not the most likely one, remains possible. The last couple of weeks of polling have shown how it could happen.

Voters who lean Republican including whites across the South could set aside their disappointment with Trump and vote for Republican congressional candidates. Voters who lean left including Latinos and younger adults could turn out in low numbers, as they usually do in midterm elections. The Republicans continuing efforts to suppress turnout could also swing a few close elections.

No matter what, Democrats will probably win the popular vote in the House elections, for the first time since 2012. Trump, after all, remains unpopular. But the combination of gerrymandering and the concentration of Democratic voters in major cities means that a popular-vote win wont automatically translate into a House majority.

I Do Not Buy That A Social Media Ban Hurts Trumps 2024 Aspirations: Nate Silver

All Videos

sarah: Yeah, Democrats might not have their worst Senate map in 2022, but it will by no means be easy, and how they fare will have a lot to do with the national environment. And as we touched on earlier, Bidens overall approval rating will also make a big difference in Democrats midterm chances.

nrakich: Yeah, if the national environment is even a bit Republican-leaning, that could be enough to allow solid Republican recruits to flip even Nevada and New Hampshire. And then it wouldnt even matter if Democrats win Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

One thing is for sure, though whichever party wins the Senate will have only a narrow majority, so I think were stuck in this era of moderates like Sens. Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski controlling every bills fate for at least a while longer. 

sarah: Lets talk about big picture strategy, then, and where that leaves us moving forward. Its still early and far too easy to prescribe election narratives that arent grounded in anything, but one gambit the Republican Party seems to be making at this point is that attacking the Democratic Party for being too progressive or woke will help them win.

What do we make of that playbook headed into 2022? Likewise, as the party in charge, what are Democrats planning for?

With that being said, the GOPs strategies could still gin up turnout among its base, in particular, but its hard to separate that from general dissatisfaction with Biden.

The 2024 Presidential Election Will Be Close Even If Trump Is The Gop Nominee

One very important thing we should have all taken away from both the 2016 and 2020 presidential contests is that the two major parties are in virtual equipose . The ideological sorting-out of the two parties since the 1960s has in turn led to extreme partisan polarization, a decline in ticket-splitting and and in number of genuine swing voters. Among other things, this has led to an atmosphere where Republicans have paid little or no price for the extremism theyve disproportionately exhibited, or for the bad conduct of their leaders, most notably the 45th president.

Indeed, the polarized climate encourages outlandish and immoral base mobilization efforts of the sort Trump deployed so regularly. Some Republicans partisans shook their heads sadly and voted the straight GOP ticket anyway, And to the extent there were swing voters they tended strongly to believe that both parties were equally guilty of excessive partisanship, and/or that all politicians are worthless scum, so why not vote for the worthless scum under whom the economy hummed?

The bottom line is that anyone who assumes Republicans are in irreversible decline in presidential elections really hasnt been paying attention.

Republicans Set To Rebound Big In 2022 Midterms Unless

We are just 600 short days away from the 2022 midterm elections, which means it is the perfect time to handicap the Republicans chances to win back the House, Senate and prepare a serious challenge to President Biden

Patrick Joseph ToomeyBlack women look to build upon gains in coming electionsWatch live: GOP senators present new infrastructure proposalSasse rebuked by Nebraska Republican Party over impeachment vote already have Democrats scrambling to flip those seats in much easier electoral terrain.

As I noted in The Hill last month, Republicans are on the hook to defend 20 of their seats in 2022, while Team Blue has just 14 seats to hold, all in states won by Joe Biden in 2020. Since March is a perfect month for sports analogies, a good defense provides for a strong offense when the status quo is Democrats retaining control of the upper chamber. While there is clearly a power in incumbency, FiveThirtyEight suggests that senate vacancies are actually more of a mixed bag. In election cycles since 1974, the party with the most Senate retirements has actually gained seats just as often as it has lost them. For every year like 2008, when more Republicans than Democrats retired and Republicans lost seats accordingly, theres a year like 2012, when a whopping seven Democrats retired yet the party picked up two Senate seats.

How these various Rs play out in the next few months will determine if the Rs are successful in 2022.

Rising Violent Crime Is Likely To Present A Political Challenge For Democrats In 2022

But there are roadblocks to fully enacting Democrats’ agenda. Their thin majorities in both chambers of Congress mean nearly all Democrats have to get on board with every agenda item in order to push through major legislative priorities. And without adjusting or eliminating the legislative filibuster in the Senate, Democrats need 10 Republicans to join them for various legislation a near-impossible task.

Renewable Energy And Health Care Among The Sectors That Could Get Shakeup Due To Midterms

The 2022 midterm elections are already affecting Washington, and the results could shake up sectors such as renewable energy, health care and finance.

As Democrats in Washington work to deliver on infrastructure spending and other priorities, theyre trying to make progress in large part because of a key event thats still more than a year away.

That event is the midterm elections on Nov. 8, 2022, when Republicans will aim to take back control of the House and Senate and become a more powerful check on the priorities of President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats.

What leaders are thinking about, particularly since we have unified party control, is that these midterm elections are inevitably a referendum on the governing party, said Sarah Binder, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution and a professor of political science at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

In that sense, shrinking time coupled with What is it that Democrats want to run on? it adds pressure on Democrats to get their priorities through the door.

Time is growing short, Binder said, because party leaders often avoid making their members vote on tough issues in the same calendar year as an election, since that can hurt incumbents in tight races. Party leaders often think primarily about what they can get done in the first year of a Congress, as opposed to counting on the second year, she said.

Sectors that could win or lose

Year

Races worth watching

Can Democrats Avoid A Wipeout In 2022

Bidens plan: Go big or go home.

The good news for Democrats who watched Joe Biden unveil a historically ambitious agenda last night is that newly elected presidents have almost always passed some version of their core economic planparticularly when their party controls both congressional chambers, as Bidens does now.

The bad news: Voters have almost always punished the presidents party in the next midterm election anyway. The last two times Democrats had unified controlwith Bill Clinton in 199394 and Barack Obama in 200910they endured especially resounding repudiations in the midterms, which cost Clinton his majority in both chambers and Obama the loss of the House.

Theres a very different strategy this time, David Price, a Democratic representative from North Carolina and a former political scientist, told me. Theres an openness now to the sense that a bolder plan, ironically, might have greater appeal for independents and others we need to attract than trying to trim and split the difference with Republicans.

Read: The GOP cheat code to winning back the House

There is this recognition of this moment and how fleeting it is, and an evaluation that, absent the trifecta of control, it is very hard to move big policy, said a senior official at one of the partys leading outside advocacy groups, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategizing. So you have to take your shot. I think thats part of what undergirds Go big.

What If Republicans Win The Midterms

March 3, 2018

WASHINGTON A sizable portion of the American population has been convulsing with outrage at President Trump for more than a year. Millions of people who previously took only mild interest in politics have participated in protests, fumed as they stayed riveted to news out of Washington and filled social media accounts once devoted to family updates and funny videos with furious political commentary.

Yet public life on the whole has remained surprisingly calm. A significant factor in keeping the peace has surely been anticipatory catharsis: The widespread expectations of a big Democratic wave in the coming midterm elections are containing and channeling that indignation, helping to maintain order.

What will happen if no such wave materializes and that pressure-relief valve jams shut?

The country was already badly polarized before the plot twist of election night in 2016, of course, but since then liberals and much of what remains of Americas moderate center have been seething in a way that dwarfs the usual disgruntlement of whichever faction is out of power. While nobody can know for sure whether Mr. Trump would have lost but for Russias meddling, many of his critics clearly choose to believe he is in the White House because Vladimir Putin tricked the United States into making him its leader.

This November, if the wave turns out to be a mere trickle, we could see the accomplishment of that goal take hold.

Poll: Republicans Set To Win House Back In Massive Landslide

Republicans are set to win back the House in a historic landslide in 2022, according to a poll conducted by NBC News.

Based on all factors, youd have to consider Republicans the early favorites for the House majority in 2022, poll tracker David Wasserman NBC.

Democrats best hope is that Bidens approval rating stays above 50 percent and that Republicans have a tougher time turning out their voters without Trump on the ballot.

reports: The NBC report cites the all-too-predictable trend of the presidents party losing House seats in midterm elections, Democrats choosing not to run for reelection in some cases, and Republicans reaping the benefits of increased online donations, which are now on par with those of Democrats.

It is early, too early, to guarantee the Democrats loss of their slim 220-212 House majority. Voters wont hit the polls for almost 15 months, and things often have a way of changing on a dime in the world of politics. But the early signs certainly arent encouraging for the Democrats, especially as President Joe Bidens approval rating has taken a hit in recent weeks. American voters are being bombarded with images of a completely bungled withdrawal of Afghanistan and headlines about increased COVID hospitalizations and deaths. Inflation is also becoming a growing concern each month, contrary to the hopes of the Federal Reserve, and the crisis at the southern border shows no signs of abating.

Colwell: Republicans Are Likely To Win Control Of The House Next Year But

Three reasons why Republicans are very likely to take control of the House next year involve things over which Democrats have little or no control.

There is, however, one reason why Democrats might be able somehow to hang on to their slim majority. And they do have better prospects of at least holding on to the 50-50 Senate tie.

Reasons for Republicans winning control of the House:

FIRST: History is on their side. The party out of the White House almost always makes big gains in the first midterm election in a new presidency. In those midterm elections since the end of World War II, the average loss for the presidents party has been 29 seats. Democrats lost 63 seats in the 2010 midterm after election of President Barack Obama. Republicans lost 40 seats in the 2018 midterm after election of Donald Trump.

Because Democrats already lost seats in 2020, even as Joe Biden won the presidency, Republicans need only a net of five seats to win the majority. Democrats cant go back to 2020 to win more seats.

Factors in midterm losses for the presidents party include voters wanting a check on the president and disillusionment over any presidents inability to bring about everything voters hoped for.

SECOND: Redistricting after the census will result in many more safe Republican seats. Thats because Republicans control state legislatures in far more states than do Democrats. Both parties gerrymander. But it is the GOP controlling district drawing in many more states.

Site Map

Republicans In Decent Shape To Win House Majority In 2022

Washington Examiner

It is never preferable to be in the minority party in a legislative body. But as far as minorities go, House Republicans are in a pretty good spot.

Between the trend of midterm elections usually the party that is not in the White House, a closely divided House, and a party apparatus ready to continue their expectations-exceeding 2020 strategy while Democrats rework theirs, Republicans are on track to winning back the House in 2022.

“It has the makings of what could be a good year for the Republicans when it comes to the House,” said J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

President Bidens approval rating is around 53%, and while he is not underwater, history indicates he would need to bump that rating up by at least 10 points in order to have a shot at gaining seats. Gallup analysis found that even presidents with approval ratings of 50% during the midterm elections averaged a loss of about 14 House seats from their own party.

That would be enough to bump Republicans back into the majority. Democrats have the slimmest House majority since 1930, currently 221 seats to 210 GOP seats .

Republicans in the 2020 cycle shattered the expectations of analysts who forecasted Democrats to gain House seats in 2020. Not a single Republican incumbent lost the election, and they picked off 13 incumbent Democrats.

But it is not all smooth sailing for Republicans.

Why We Arent Going To Panic

We should all have our eyes wide open as we inch closer to the 2022 Midterms, but by no means should we give up hope. There are plenty of reasons why we can win the midterms.

For starters, Democrats appear to be quite awake to how dangerous the Republican party has become in just the past few years. And since the Republicans dont appear to be any less radicalized with Trump out of the party, I dont think Democrats are going to go back to sleep.

At this point in the election cycle, we dont have a full picture of who is retiring from Congress or who the candidates will be for these seats. Getting great candidates for crucial, must-win seats can energize voters and donors.

Presidential approval seems to have an important effect on midterms and at this point, Bidens approval rating is 15 points higher than his disapproval. If he continues to do good things for Americans and keep his approval rating high, that will help the Democrats a lot.

So, lets approach this midterm as clearly as possible: Our democracy is still on the line, and as awful as the Republicans are, they are in striking position to win back some power in Congress. Each of us needs to do everything we can to ensure that does not happen. If you arent already, consider subscribing to Political Charge as Ill be delving into specific actions we can take every month!

If you want to win the midterms, please share this post with others who want to win, too!

Republicans Will Likely Take Control Of The Senate By 2024

The usual midterm House losses by the White House party dont always extend to the Senate because only a third of that chamber is up for election every two years and the landscape sometimes strongly favors the presidential party . But there a still generally an out-party wave that can matter, which is why Republicans may have a better than average chance of winning in at least some of the many battleground states that will hold Senate elections next year . If they win four of the six youll probably be looking at a Republican Senate.

But its the 2024 Senate landscape that looks really promising for the GOP. Democrats will be defending 23 seats and Republicans just 10. Three Democratic seats, and all the Republican seats, are in states Trump carried twice. Four other Democratic seats are in states Trump won once. It should be a banner year for Senate Republicans.

Balance Of Power: 2022 Senate Races

If Democrats want to win the again, they need to win the four competitive seats they currently hold Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire. That or augment any loss with a gain in any of their three competitive targets Pennsylvania, , or North Carolina.

This Senate preview still holds up, but the shorter version is Democrats are easily favored in Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada. They should also win New Hampshire if Chris Sununu doesnt run .

The thing is, theyre also favored to win in Pennsylvania, where they have a strong field of primary candidates and where Joe Biden won.

They have to be no worse than, and admittedly probably better than, a tossup in Wisconsin, where Republicans have candidate issues and Democrats have a strong likely nominee.

So even if New Hampshire goes Republican because of some local candidate factors, Democrats are in a good spot to win the Senate again.

That means if youre trying to make a bet, you can essentially box out two of four combinations where the GOP wins the Senate, and focus your attention on the two remaining options, if youre looking for the values.

The 1858 Midterm Election

November 2, 1858

There is always a lull after a tempest, and so the political world has subsided into an unwonted calm since the election, commented a reporter for The New York Times. The Republicans are naturally . . . exultant over their sweeping victories. Such a commentary might apply to any number of elections, but this reporter described the outcome of a particularly historic electionthe midterm election of 1858. The Republican success that year was especially remarkable because the Republican Party was only four years old.

Almost by spontaneous combustion, the Republican Party burst forth in 1854 in response to the controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act. For decades, Americas political battles had been fought between the Democrats and the Whigs. By the early 1850s, however, the issue of slavery had splintered the Whigs into warring factions and divided Democrats between north and south. When Democratic senator Stephen Douglas pushed his Kansas-Nebraska bill to passage, including its proposal to settle the issue of slavery by popular sovereignty, the uproar among northern abolitionists and anti-slavery activists was too fierce to be contained by the ailing Whig Party. As one person commented, The Whigs were simply not angry enough.

The Future Could Actually Be Bright For Republicans

Ed Kilgore

The most common political narrative outside MAGA-land is that the Republican Party is screwed, and richly deserves the ignominious future it faces.

Until recently the GOP was a reasonably normal and intermittently successful center-right political party, not wildly different from its counterparts in other countries with a two-party system, despite some racist and militarist habits that burst into view in times of stress. But then America elected a Black president, and Republicans went a little crazy, according to those outside their circles. First they abetted a destructively antediluvian Tea Party Movement and then lurched into the arms of an evil charlatan who somehow got elected president and spent four years trashing hallowed conservative principles and losing both Congress and the White House before his disgraceful and violence-inflected departure.

Worse yet, in the face of huge demographic challenges that beg for a new approach, the Republican Party has now lashed itself to a Trumpian mast going forward, following the most consistently unpopular president in American history in his bizarre crusade to deny he has ever lost anything. Meanwhile a shockingly united Democratic Party is whipping a few decades worth of liberal legislation through Congress as Republicans whine about cancel culture and try to sell the idea that Joe Biden is actually Che Guevara.

[akaiitokoibito]

hey there! for a matchup, i would love knb + hq! i'm a leo, isfp, 5"7, and chubby! i love reading + writing even though i get hit by artists' block often. i mostly laze about on the internet when i'm not busy. i've been told i'm really caring, considerate, charismatic, and diplomatic, even though i can be a big slacker and lack a lot self-confidence. i can be introverted among those i'm not familiar with but i'm really lively and crude with close friends. thats pretty much it! tysm in advance!!

Hello, hello!

We’ve decided that the ones at the end of your red thread are Kuroko Tetsuya from Kuroko no Baset and Nishinoya Yū from Haikyuu!!!

“Let’s work hard together.”

tl;dr supportive couple too good for this world

You met at the public library.

Both of you went to different schools; in fact, you went to Touou. However, you two both knew each other as “that other high schooler who enjoys reading as much as I do.”

Kuroko was actually the first to approach you. He wanted to check out a book, but noticed that it was in a pile of books that you were using.

He was caught off guard when you noticed him approaching you and flashed him a small smile. “Hi, do you need something?”

Kuroko was so surprised that you saw him that he only managed to mumble, “Check…out?”

You thought he was hitting on you and sort of internally freaked out. “Sorry, I’m not interested!” you stammered, averting your gaze.

Kuroko realized what you were thinking and quickly corrected, “No, your book. Once you finish with it, may I check it out? It’s the last copy.” He gestured to said book in question.

“Ah, sorry for misunderstanding. Of course! In fact, I believe I’m finished with it already…?” You awkwardly offered it to him.

He took it, blinking and tilting his head. “Thank you. If you don’t mind me asking…how did you see me?”

“I…just…saw you?”

“Most people tend to not notice me unless I address them directly,” Kuroko explained, sensing your confusion.

“Ah! Well, I guess it’s because you’re always checking out the same books as me. You’re Kuroko Tetsuya, right? I see your name often on the library card. I guess after awhile, I began keeping an eye out for you.”

You’d meet every week or so at the library, and slowly began learning more about each other. At first, it was sort of awkward, but discussing books with him was a nice way for both of you to open up.

Kuroko is the best supportive friend ever. Seriously. Whenever you feel down, or have some kind of writer’s/artist’s block, he’ll encourage you both verbally and through small little gifts.

For example, once he learned you were stressing out about a particular exam, he consulted Midorima and bought you some generally lucky items (including one of those “good grades” charms from a nearby shrine).

He basically gave you the confidence boosts you needed.

But at the same time, you’d encourage him whenever he felt down (particularly because of basketball).

There wasn’t any kind of dramatic confession. One day, while discussing one of your story ideas in the library, Kuroko tilts his head and asks, “Would you like to grab something to eat with me after this?”

When the rest of the basketball community found out about your relationship, you were…uh, accosted by several very tall people. After all, only Midorima and Kagami really knew about you before this (Kuroko never really was one to talk about others when they weren’t around).

Seirin accepted you as part of the family. Yep. Aomine and Momoi, who went to your school, soon began approaching you more often to bond over your mutual admiration for Kuroko.

The GoM in particular wanted to interrogate you, but Kuroko reassured them that you were a kind person. (And, well, if you could make Kuroko Tetsuya smile like that, they wouldn’t interfere.)

“You’re a nice person, you know that?”

tl;dr so awkward and cute it hurts

Noya’s your senpai; his classroom is in the same hallway as yours, so you often see each other during class periods.

You couldn’t help but notice how lively he was. No matter the time of day, he’d always stick out to you – despite his short stature.

You began drawing him. Well, not him: that would be awkward. Instead, you drew his eyes: sincere, straightforward, and beautiful.

He noticed you walking with your sketchbook open one day.

“Woah, those eyes look so cool! Can I see?”

You realized that he didn’t notice that those eyes were his, and resolved to not tell him lest you die of embarrassment. “Of course, Nishinoya-senpai.”

He freaked out since 1) you called him senpai and 2) your sketches.

“You’re really skilled at this!” he gushed. Then, he promptly realized that he was talking to a girl and turned into a stuttering mess. “A-ah, um…senpai!”

“I’m afraid I’m your kouhai, Nishinoya-senpai.”

“N-n-no, that’s not it.” He pointed your sketchbook at you, hand trembling but eyes narrowed in determination. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”

And that was your first meeting.

You and Noya would occasionally walk together and chat as he headed to the gym. It took a very, very long time for him to acclimate himself to you, but he eventually got (somewhat) used to your presence.

He’d always throw around compliments and smooth one liners without realizing he was being smooth. (Whenever he’d actually, consciously try to act smooth, he’d fail epically.)

You’d always stick to calling him “senpai” – although he did manage to convince you to call him “Noya-senpai” instead of “Nishinoya-senpai.”

He’d nosebleed/sparkle/cry tears of joy whenever you called him senpai.

Occasionally, you dropped by volleyball practice to wave and watch him for a bit. You didn’t want to overstep your boundaries, but at the very least you could act like a good friend™

(Tanaka freaked out the first couple of times you came in to cheer him on.)

(Asahi, who was a witness to your and Noya’s easy banter, silently predicted to himself that you’d be dating by New Year’s.)

(You got along well with all of Karasuno once you got used to them: they considered you a Cool Bro™ who they could joke around with.)

There wasn’t any singular moment that made you fall for Noya.

You just realized one day that you genuinely enjoyed the sound of his laughter. Noya was always sincere and kind. He never lied to you, and even when he’d offer bits of constructive criticism, he always made sure he gave you bits of encouragement, too.

Noya’s revelation was a whole lot more dramatic.

He had been talking with Asahi during practice on one of the days when you didn’t come and just–

“–cheeks and my heart seems to thump faster when I’m around her. Do you think I’m getting sick?” Noya paused, then reviewed the symptoms in his head. “Wait…”

Asahi gave him a consoling pat on the back.

“OH MY GOD, I LIKE HER, ASAHI!”

“Yes. Yes, you do.”

“WHAT DO I DO? DOES SHE LIKE ME? SHOULD I CONFESS? ASAAAAHIII, HELP ME!”

He began pestering Asahi everyday for advice on how to confess.

Eventually, Asahi gave in and began helping him meticulously plan his confession.

It was going to be perfect! After a glorious victory at a match he would invite you to, he would bound towards you with a bouquet in hand and the team cheering.

Instead, though, on the day that he was going to invite you to their game, he found you sketching.

He was supposed to say, “Hey, [Y/N], wanna come to our game tomorrow?”

Instead, he blurted out, “I like you!”

You stopped drawing, turned to gape at him, and Noya promptly facepalmed.

“Oh shit, wait a minute…” he cursed, muttering to himself. “Wait, no! I was supposed to do it AFTER the match!”

“Noya…senpai?” Your voice was strangled, hopeful.

“Aaaah, [Y/N]! Forget about it, okay? I’ll tell you tomorrow after the match!” he declared.

(This dork, you thought to yourself, fighting to keep the grin off your face.)

“I’ll be waiting,” you settled on, flashing him a smile that left him blushing madly.

The volleyball community as a whole were stupefied by the fact that Nishinoya got a girlfriend before any of them did, but accepted you (if the Karasuno players approved of your relationship, they would too). Tanaka sobbed manly tears of joy. Asahi rejoiced, crying, “Finally, no more being a wingman!”

Mod Rose and I had a lot of fun discussing this and coming up with ideas, lol. Hope you enjoyed it, anon!

- Mod Camellia ( + Mod Rose’s fluffy ideas huehuehue)

[survivorreelsmagicwithin]

Episode 2 - “Y'all. Vote me out fr cause I'm inactive as fronk” - Joshua (through Autumn)

I hate flag-making challenges. I will not be helpful at all, and I hope that someone else can take the reigns and lead us to victory. I honestly feel safe going into a tribal council, but I do not want to test that theory.

Next morning

With Chips and Jules working on the crest designs, I feel confident that we will do well in the challenge. Maybe not the best, but definitely not the worst. I still have the same anxious feeling that my tribe is not active enough for my taste, but I will just have to live with it for now. Besides, at least this is not immunity because that we increase my anxiety by so much. But, I keep forgetting to search the idol hunt which is my bad, but it is just so hard and long that I do not really feel like searching all the time lol

ART CHALLENGE <333 i love these challenges. Jess made my picture 110% better and its super cute. The note that she wrote with it is also hella cute and I love the whole HP aesthetics bc i never got to go to real hogwarts ;-; but i'm sure most of yall can related. The boys weren't too helpful but nick was better than jacob who is sick. Nick was way more active aka jacob said 3 sentences the entire challenge sooooo…. if we lose idk I might just save jacob anyways bc pregame relations.

Won reward, but now we have to win immunity again. I really hope that this reward helps us continue to survive. I don't want to have to vote anyone out. We've been getting first, but I really just want to survive this challenge, its known to be hard.

I think I have been stuck with the second most challenge inept tribe in the history of my ORG career. I literally said so many answers in my version of the story and Jules just fucked it up. And then they got the girl's name wrong. And then they started mixing up characters. I know I did well, but fuck these people. God. Now we need a tribe to get 0 which is very unlikely. I will just resign myself to tribal. I hope and pray that these people have some common sense and do not want to vote me out

Listen. Listen. Listen. I dang knew this story was going to be Harry Potter based. I knew in my brain and in my heart that I shouldn’t have been the one to start that thing. What do I do? Start the dang thing. Oh well. We did alright. I would be shocked if we won tho but if we don’t I’ll be relieved. I def don’t feel confident enough but I really had a lot of fun with my tribe. I really miss this and really hope that my time isn’t cut short! I feel really good about my tribe mates sincerely. And that’s kind of scary! I would hate to see any of us to go and how it’s going to affect the bond we have if we vote someone out. In this moment with Max sitting out, it may be him who goes if we go to tribal. I hope that isn’t the case. I’ve got my fingers crossed for us. Huff Puff strong!

Honestly Jules dropped the ball sis!! But it’s okay, I love her. She’s really nice and I know she tried her best. Plus she’s in an alliance with me and Owen, so we should have the numbers against Joanna or Miguel if we go to tribal. Personally, I’d prefer Joanna to go. She’s kinda domineering, but she’s also an asset in challenges thus far. She is organized and direct. I’ve also talked to her a bit more than Miguel, so I guess I don’t really care who goes.

I’m happy I didn’t fuck up the reward comp and the shit that I drew got us a win!

I really hope I don't bomb that challenge, I answered everything that Kevin talked to me about.... I think!  The rest of them tried very hard but I am SOOO glad that I asked to do my part at the end because my memory of repeating things is horrendous but I'm usually pretty good at bullshitting test answers... too bad I got some of the multiple choice stuff wrong.

I think that if we do lose I am still in a good spot on this tribe and hopefully I won't be in danger.  I feel like I'm on everyone's good side and Max kind of just disappeared so maybe we could just vote him out this round? Idk.

Hopefully we don't have to worry about it.  I smell a swap coming up pretty soon and I just hope I'm either with Owen or with some of the people from my tribe.  I have no idea if they know anyone or are close with anyone in the other houses.

I'm still feeling the closest to Lily and Kevin but I have been talking to Landen a good bit too these days so hopefully we'll be safe or we can all just agree on Max.

16 minutes later

OOOOOH IS LANDEN PAVING THE WAY FOR A MOVE TO SEND MAX PACKING???

He just told me that me, lily and kevin are precious angels that must be protected and that he likes Max when he's around too so that sounds like something... HMMM...

I can't get cocky, I always go home when I get cocky. But I like this.

my host chat saw this first (shout-out to Drewie and Dennis): Y’all I’m an idiot. I thought I only knew 2 people in this game (Owen and chips). Then I remembered I also know Jess, Autumn, and dan. Literally love and respect each of you my brain just don’t got the strongest memory no more. I’m so sorry!!!! I literally just told landen I only know 2 ppl. I’m just gonna try to not remember it happened.

Ugh.....I need to get it together.

I love my tribe talking to each other now that we have to!! Everyday I'm like damn either I'm on the bottom or I'm not the only one with piss poor social game. Ok so... the moment the hosts said we got 1 point, I started getting ready for tribal lmaaaooo. No sense crying over it either because all the tribes basically just had to show up in order to beat that

Like how could we not go to tribal with a score of ONE? That shit's embarrassing hahaha. That's like when your teacher passes the test back to everyone sitting around you but not you so you KNOW it's bad. But you know what? It's all good cause I'd rather us take the L now and get it out the way and we can all laugh about it cause losing won't be funny after long. The real question is: will Gryffindor do this the easy way or the hard way caaauusse we all know who the weakest link is. I just wanna see if someone puts two and two together without my prodding. Chips already said we voting together right and I'm like yes sir. There's no better place than being on the same page

WE WON OMG!! Jules basically gave me nothing, which is fine, i understand, but i'm so impressed that we pulled that off. Absolutely killing these reward challenges really helps!

"Y'all. Vote me out fr cause I'm inactive as fronk."

Tonight we learned Joshua is a feminist selfless man that I stan because he's volunteering to go home without me having to put his name out, which I was going to do. Like imagine if every guy had that kind of self-awareness, to recognize why he should be the vote and then embrace it instead of wreaking havoc. And wanting to see others succeed more than yourself? King shit! He knew when to hang it up and did just that. Like the number of times I've seen a vote get complicated for no fucking reason because everyone wants a fight to the death. Enough- I'm old, tired, and cannot exert too much energy at once. We got a long game ahead of us, not to mention quarantine. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you Joshua. We need more players like you and I appreciate your service

im back back BACK AGAIN with another confessional! not much has changed but a few updates for the sake of these being required :) 1. max has become even more inactive, he's not reached out to me personally since the first day and any time i messaged him after that he's sent me nothing back that i can build a convo off of, so we just have stopped speaking. Luckily this challenge only required four people and everyone else SHOWED UP!! or at least spoke about their availability, while he did not. However in his defense he said he was having some issues at home and i feel for him but his inability to connect has been an issue before he spoke about anything in our tribe chat with us. I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt but this point my relationships with the other 3 are leaps and bounds ahead of where I am at with Max. Maybe he can pick up some speed if we continue winning challenges but, it's not looking too hot. SPEAKING OF CHALLENGES, well first we lost reward AGAIN, but we won immunity.. AGAIN! thank goodness for not being first or second boot, i always love being able to avoid these early tribals and if i can get to a swap without seeing one that would be ideal, but also if we do go and maybe vote out max? wouldn't be the worst thing. Moral of the story we won and thats exciting! however.. if we didn't.. the first big push of strategic talk came up with landen when he hinted at being frustrated with max's lack of presence which I also share. I do believe if we lost me and landen could have most definitely picked up ruthie and lily to form a four against him, if he even came to tribal. That would be my ideal situation and if we continue on this tribes hopefully it gives me a nice cushion to fall on if we do lose so i dont have to entirely blow up my social game within the first few rounds by voting out someone i've built a connection with. If max can go and the remaining four hufflepuffs can make a swap I would feel good about that, and maybe in the right circumstances we could work together on the swapped tribes because i genuinely like all of these people (yes max too but in this specific scenario he wouldn't be included bc... well..) anyways to close this off i still absolutely ADORE lily, she is fun and our conversations are really good, and same goes for ruthie, hopefully i dont have to see either of them or myself go home before we can really start playing because i think we could do some damage. :) ok anyways this was longer than i thought it would be goodbye

I'm still not over the fact that I was able to answer 7 of those questions right. I have the memory of a plastic fork.  I also love that we are SAFE!

I do kind of hope things get spicy and we swap this round and become two tribes of 9. That'd be cute. I don't want VI to get bored and crack on me. BUT ALSO I think I have solid enough relationships with almost everyone on this tribe... so who knows?!

Also... these hoes really out here trying to search for an idol in PUBLIC. IN PUBLIC. WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON HERE?

Dear diary, seems like we keep winning challenges, which is great but tbh i feel like every time i give a disadvantage to my team because english is not my first Language, and so far its been a vocabulary test and a listening and speaking test. I mean I knew I signed up for school but damn. Give me some macarena  or drinking tequila challenge and I'll crush it

bippity boppity boo im back again with almost no content kdfasjhdskjfh

Ravenclaw working smarter and we keep winning, period!!! Thankful that y'all put Dan and I together....bc truly we will be unstoppable in these competitions. I kind of want to lose soon though to see how things would shake out, but I don't really have bad blood with anyone. Joanna seems passionate enough in the tribe chat and the challenges, even if she's dry in PMs. Miguel still won't give me anything other than a "how are you," but I hope the best for him in life lol

Still love Jules and Dan, and we made a three person alliance, but I haven't talked with either of them much one on one since it happened.... I really need to step the social game up eventually, but right now, I'm coasting, and maybe that's what I need before I find the time and resources in this game to strike!!

The idol hunt is hard but Dan seems onto something. Honestly he's gonna be a big threat sooner or later so he's sticking around as long as I can keep him! The last two games I've been in I've seen "goats" get dragged to the end and locked in final 3 positions, and then these perceived goats have ended up winning. so I want the big players in this game to rise to the top and fight it out in the end!

let’s say i am como we dice.. fed up with a lot :flushed: a lot meaning joshua starting to get on my nerves a bit! he’s genuinely sweet n all but.. the way he complained about us losing by putting down others work HHH pissed me off. which is why i will be voting him out hehe.. but so far my misting has worked because no one wants to vote me out! mwah

Slytherin killed the memory challenge. We thought we were all gonna flop bc all of us thought we sucked at memory stuff. um well we knocked it out of the park? Ravenclaw got 4 and huff/gryff got 1. We got 7 so oops. I do hope things turn out well for Gryffindor but no one I really know/care about is in that house so I'm not too worried. I hope they continue to lose or even hufflepuff since ravenclaw has 2 of my friends in it.

I have been TERRIBLE with confessionals but only because there's really not been much going on? I have an alliance with Dan and Owen, and even though I wrote off Joanna I was DEFINITELY wrong in doing that. Miguel is sort of the outlier. Our team is kinda iconic though? We've done so well on all the challenges. I might be the weakest link? More to come.

it's pretty sad but the whole tribe has agreed to vote max if we lose, basically he's just never around because of what's going on at home and like thats sad but... we gotta do what we gotta do *shrug*. I'm really feeling good about Hufflepuff moving forward, i've never bonded this much this easily with EVERYONE on a tribe and i just feel like if we keep winning or even if we lose and have to vote out max, we could be a great group for the future. especially i feel great about working with kevin, we dominated eve's game after eve came between us in 2020 that dastardly witch... :P (juuust kiddin. love ya!) but now we could totally do well in this game too i think.....

lily and ruthie are just so sweet and we really bond talking about pretty much anything,, especially lily is a great conversationalist and i just find it so natural to talk to them both. i'd love to work with any combination of people from hufflepuff in the future, hopefully i start sucking a little less at all these challenges. i think i did pretty great on memory :D

So here is the summary of what has happened since last time

We had a reward challenge that was drawing. Mine sucked. Apparently 3/4 so no reward.

We played Telephone. My team didnt realize that details are the most important parts of that and didnt share then with Autumn so Autumn didnt share them with me. Then I didnt know them when asked about them.

We scored 1 point and lost. Since I still have no alliance I'm scared that it could be me. So I kind of got an idea how everyone was feeling.

Juls let me know she wanted to vote Joshua and- it's not me so that's fine!

Then I was talking to Autumn about it and - OOP! Josh asked to be voted out. So unless he plays an idol I'm supposing he is leaving after asking to go.

woo my tribe won immunity!! we are safe! i’m glad bc i’m forming good relationships with ppl on my tribe. i think we all get along rly well so i hope we keep winning. the challenge was fun and i slayed bc i’m skinny mwah

Ya know what’s refreshing? Being on a tribe that actually wins!!! The last three games I’ve played I’ve been on flop ass starting tribes.

Now we’ll lose every challenge

10 minutes later

This sickening bitch just found a hidden immunity idol!!!! Good until f6 L A D I E S!!!!!!

HI BARBS SO I WAS GROUNDED SO I MISSED THE CHALLENGE BUT MY HUFFLEPUFF BABS SLAYED SM SO IM LIVING

CONFESSIONAL 2.1 —

Not much strategy has happened this episode, just simply tribal bonding! We are SlytherWINNING, getting reward and immunity this time! How wonderful.

Regarding my tribe mates, I love all three. I pray, pray, pray we make swap, i do Noh want to be a dirty bad guy and have to vote one out.. yet. Haha.

I was drunk during immunity, one full glass of rum & coke, so I am shocked that we won immunity. Honestly, I feel silly admitting I was drunk to my tribe because... if I can do that when drunk, imagine if I was sober. Competition Beast, duh.

I also gave up my run this round for the tribe to use. Was partially social, partially I just do not understand how to do the Hunt, so I might as well help the greater good. Either way, it comes off positively.

Hoping for a smooth journey for a little longer!

x nick

Joshue has basically quit at this point so I have no fear going into tribal

[itslovewithyouthings]

The New York Giants new braintrust of general manager Dave Gettleman and head co… http://bit.ly/2XdoEzI

The New York Giants new braintrust of general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Pat Shurmur knew that to rehabilitate a team that went 3-13 last season their biggest challenge was to fix the divided losing culture that permeated a team that was broken. When the Giants hired Shurmur giving him his second opportunity to be an NFL head coach Gettleman said the two men completey agree on the importance of culture. Football is the ultimate team sport Gettleman said. We have to put together a roster that is talented but who love the game of football and love to compete. Have they succeeded? Signs are everywhere that yes the divisions and dissension that plagued the Giants during their historically bad 2017 season are gone. Eli Apple after a tumultuous season is a happy camper with a new and improved outlook. Shurmur has lauded him for acting like a pro. Janoris Jenkins who had his own issues last season and is facing personal strife of his own has been business-like and solid on the field. There are quite often players working after practice and trying to help each other. Players like Nate Solder Connor Barwin Kareem Martin A.J. Francis and William Gay have brought with them not only talent but the desire to help other players. Shurmur likes to talk about keeping the focus on football. It feels like football again around the Giants with the focus o n the field instead of a myriad of other distractions. Credit for that has to go to Gettleman and Shurmur. They have everything to do with it and it has changed a lot said John Greco an 11-year veteran who came to the Giants midway through last season. Unfortunately for me I havent had a lot of success in wins and losses in my career but Ive always been around teams that never fell apart when things went bad. But last year there was a lot of that. I think that culture has changed. Odell Beckham and Sterling ShepardNorthJersey.com-USA TODAY NETWOR Reaching Odell If the Giants were going to successfully change their culture Shurmur and Gettleman had to reach superstar wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Shurmur is Beckhams third head coach and while not close to the reason Tom Coughlin and Ben McAdoo lost those jobs the way those two coaches handled Beckham did not help them. Desperate for victories after too many losing seasons Coughlin turned a blind eye in 2015 when Beckham had his run-in with Josh Norman of Carolina. McAdoo did the same last season when Beckham was penalized for his peeing celebration in Philadelphia. Truth is whatever you think of those incidents when the head coach wont stand up to his his star player and enforce standards or impose some type of discipline when necessary the rest of the roster notices. And the team framework erodes. Shurmur began reaching out to Beckham and trying to build a relationship back in February shortly after settling into the job. He even went to Los Angeles to see Beckham on his home turf. The result? Beckham has been everything the Giants hoped for. Coming back from an injury and seeking a rich long-term contract extension he participated in offseason workouts and mandatory mini-camp. In training camp despite still not having that deal and reports having circulated that he wouldnt step on the field without a deal Beckham has been a full participant in each practice during camp. Coach Shurmurs great. When we first met out in L.A. we just sat down and talked football. To see his mentality and how hes going to run the ship its been phenomenal to come in here every day Beckham said. He makes it fun for us. Hes just doing a great job. The contract Beckham wants appears within sight. The relationship forged by Shurmur with Beckham had a lot to do with it. This guy loves to play football Shurmur said of Beckham. He trains extremely hard hes totally engaged in the meetings behind the scenes the things that the world is not aware of and hes got a lot of passion for the game. Veteran leadership When the Giants won Super Bowls in 2007 and 2011 there was of course talent on the rosters. There was also veteran leadership. In 2007 a star like Michael Strahan and veterans like Antonio Pierce R.W. McQuarters and Sam Madison. In 2011 stars like Justin Tuck and Antrel Rolle guys like Chris Snee and David Diehl even a veteran like Deon Grant. Those types of players have been missing for the past several years. The Giants in an effort to get younger and more athletic moved on from veteran leaders like Tuck and Rolle saw guys like Snee and Diehl retire. In building their roster they virtually ignored the 30-and-over market. They got younger sure. They also left themselves with a leadership void. Without veteran players who had won who had been there and done that and who could guide some of their younger teammates. Nate Solder (right) with rookie Will Hernandez.Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports Gettleman and Shurmur have changed that. Veteran players like Gay (33) Greco (33) CBarwin (31) Jonathan Stewart (31) and Solder (30) have been added. Solder has had an excellent influence on Ereck Flowers and second-round pick Will Hernandez. Third-round pick Lorenzo Carter is soaking up knowledge from Barwin. Stewart is a former first-round pick who can help Saquon Barkley and Wayne Gallman. Gay is a veteran who loves the game and has helped the cornerback room filled with dissension a year ago come together. You have to stop worrying about age Gettleman said in the spring in answer to a question about Manning. He might as well have been talking about his approach to building the entire roster. One of those 30-somethings Barwin recently described what he thought it took to be a good teammate. You try do whatever you can to help a guy do better Barwin said. It is perhaps a small example but after Fridays practice 12th-year long-snapper Zak DeOssie was on the field helping 25-year-old Jordan Williams try to master the art of long-snapping which he has never done in a regular-season game. I think its good Shurmur said. I think especially when older players are helping younger players it shows me that they care and thats the most important thing. Genuine and approachable There is an old adage that you have to give respect to get respect. Spend time around Shurmur and you can see that is what he does. Coach Pat is one of the most genuine coaches Ive ever been around. That was veteran defensive tackle A.J. Francis playing for his sixth NFL organization on Shurmur. Greco has been with Shurmur in three stops when he was offensive coordinator of the St. Louis Rams then head coach of the Cleveland Browns before coming to the Giants. His personality is always the same. Hes a great guy players coach. I dont think theres anything thats changed as far as how hes approaching his day-to-day head coaching duties I see a ton of similarities. Greco said. Some coaches youre afraid to talk to. They have this aura about them that makes them unapproachable. I dont think thats Pat at all. You can go up to him and joke around and give him a hard time but at the same time you know when to separate that from work. I think thats great to have. Giants tight end Rhett Ellison was with Shurmur in Minnesota. Shurmur he is what youre going to get like thats who he is Ellison said. He doesnt change around different people or in different positions he is who he is. Hes real hes a great communicator and hes a great teacher. Shurmur has shown that genuine personality not only to players but to the media as well. The day players reported for training camp he stopped by unsolicited to chat with reporters and welcome them to camp. He will let you know if he is tired of a particular question but he gives respectful thoughtful answers to each question. He will often extend press briefings taking an extra question or two after the Giants PR staff tries to shut down briefings. Hes even opened up a little recently and drawn some laughs. Friday Shurmur spent about 15 or 20 minutes after his briefing talking with a group of young journalism students visiting for the day. Certainly he had someplace else he would rather have been but he gave them his full attention. Gettleman too has shown his personality to reporters. He jokes with them. He uses their names. He talks to people not at them. And yes there is a difference. Players notice those kinds of things. Media too. Ive seen Mr. Gettleman Ive seen Pat talk to everyone on the team no matter who you are. They come in they want to know how your day is doing they want to know how youre feeling Greco said. I think that makes guys feel good especially the younger players. They dont feel like just a number and a name. They feel like part of a family. A pragmatic approach Gettleman and Shurmur didnt know each other before Shurmur was hired by the Giants. The marriage has thus far been a good one. Gettleman said that Shurmur an offensive coach has a pragmatic approach much like many defensive-oriented head coaches he has been around. Hes got a great way about him Gettleman said. What Ive found is defensive coaches if you look at NFL history the greatest head coaches most of the greatest head coaches have come from the defensive side of the ball. They tend to be very pragmatic. Joe Schmo goes down Sam Smith goes in these are our adjustments. Ive got a head coach who has been on the offensive side of the ball his whole career with that pragmatic approach so Im in heaven Im in absolute heaven. Hes very pragmatic. I think hes got a great way about him with the players. He keeps it simple. Were playing football its not rocket science. Were playing football put the ball down lets go 11 guys lets go. Im thrilled with Pat. I couldnt be happier. Hes everything I thought he could be. I do try to be realistic about things. How our game relates to the players. I dont know if thats part of being pragmatic Shurmur said. Try to solve the problems as they come up with a plan in place. Decide what our plan is work the players to try to get em better and then when things change be willing to adjust. I really do believe its about the players. That is a Shurmur quote from his first press conference after being hired. We used to have a thing we said in Philadelphia and then certainly when we went to Minnesota that Its not the plays its the players. I think whats important is were going to establish the right way to do things. Were going to establish what we want as a New York Giants football team Shurmur said. I think what you do is you start initially with the locker room by developing relationships with those guys that love to play football and youre constantly talking to them about what it means to be a good pro. Final thoughts The Giants have not played a game yet. There is no guarantee that anything they have done will lead them back to the playoffs or even to being better than they were a year ago. Still it is abundantly clear that the Giants are in a better place. Shurmur and Gettleman deserve credit for that. Source link The post Valentines Views: Pat Shurmur Dave Gettleman change Giants culture appeared first on Proud Teams.

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The New York Giants new braintrust of general manager Dave Gettleman and head co… http://bit.ly/2XdoEzI

[pikapepikachuu]

'I’m hungry to start the work': Bill Shorten's five-year journey has just weeks left to run

Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size Bill Shorten stands on a metal stairway in Australias biggest brewery and tries to convince the assembled workers that the coming election will not be an empty exercise. Whatever you do, you get a politician at the end of it, he concedes, drawing a few smiles from the crowd, but his speech is heavy with warnings about the importance of every ballot paper. How you vote has a direct effect on the laws and conditions you get at work, he says. There is a connection. If you think that everythings going up in Australia but the wages, your vote can change that. If you want to see energy bills get under control, your vote can change that. Shorten worries in private about the apathy among voters who have seen six prime ministers over a dozen years. Here, in front of about 100 workers at the Lion brewery in western Sydney, he is trying to give meaning to the election to be fought on May 11 or May 18. He seems to feel his greatest challenge is to persuade Australians that it matters.

Labor leader Bill Shorten has served two terms as Opposition Leader. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Shorten projects his voice over the conveyor belts and palletisers. He tells the workers he wants Australia to be a manufacturing nation. He knows their salaries and conditions are good but he says they may have family members in retail and hospitality where the penalty rates have been cut. He talks about Medicare, hospitals, schools, restoring penalty rates and lifting the minimum wage. He promises to force companies to hire more apprentices. The applause is polite but not effusive. Everyone can see the television cameras. They know this is merely a warm-up for the election campaign. A few want to take a selfie with the candidate, but there is none of the manic energy of the 2007 campaign, when Kevin Rudd shocked his own side with his popularity. The wariness in the audience is given voice when Shorten takes questions. One worker asks about negative gearing and gets an assurance that Labors tax increase will allow anyone with an existing rental property to keep claiming a concession. When the public questions are over, someone asks Shorten whether she can trust Labor to stop asylum seekers coming by boat. He assures her she can, but she is not convinced. An older man asks him to do more to help grandparents who have to take custody of their grandchildren but do not get as much support as foster parents. Shorten asks for the mans details so his office can respond in more detail. Advertisement There is no doubt Shorten is match fit for the election. Five-and-a-half years after he became Opposition Leader, he is tantalisingly close to becoming prime minister. To stumble now would be to lose the unloseable election, a spectre so grim he will not rest until polling day. Im hungry to start the work, he tells The Sunday Age and The Sun-Herald. Shorten has a long list of what he wants to achieve in government to deliver real progress in peoples lives. Fifteen years of education. That means genuine, universal access to preschool, he says, reeling off the first item on the list as we travel from Sydneys west to Sydney Airport.

Bill Shorten poses for a selfie during a marginal seat visit in Melbourne.Credit:AAP Weve got to tackle the challenge of dementia and aged care, weve got to help people deal with it better. In the big health fights that people have in their life, weve got to make sure they dont feel financial burden on top of the health challenge. I really want any kid from any postcode in Australia to get all the options TAFE or university, whatever dream they want to pursue. I want merit and how hard you work to be the passport, not how rich your parents are. Theres more. Advertisement Weve really got to be one of the best countries in the world at so much, he says. Why shouldnt we be the best at healthcare and education, why shouldnt we be the best at climate change? We should be an energy superpower. We should have a more independent foreign policy. We should close the gap with the first Australians. Its all about opportunity and fairness. I want every Australian to have opportunity and every Australian to receive fairness. And theyll do the rest. Loading Stone by stone, Shorten and his team have added so many promises they now have a mountain to climb if they win power. They vow to restore penalty rates, change the law to raise the minimum wage, hold a plebiscite on a republic, raise $32.1 billion over a decade from changes to negative gearing and raise $56 billion from changes to tax refunds on dividend imputation. Not least, they promise to spend billions of dollars on energy projects while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 45 per cent by 2030, in a Parliament that has swung wildly on climate change over two decades. Shorten will not admit he is promising too much. He plays down the risk of a traffic jam in Parliament for his crowded agenda. Well just keep advancing. You can get things done if you want to, he says. As proof, he nominates the National Disability Insurance Scheme, an idea he backed in his earliest days on the Rudd frontbench. Advertisement Rudd, of course, took power in 2007 with a wish-list so long he had to launch dozens of reviews rather than taking immediate action. Shorten insists he can avoid that. Youve got to go in with a clear agenda, Shorten says. And were outlining it. Love us or hate us or be somewhere in between, you cant say were not working out the issues now. We havent been an opposition whos coasted on the mistakes of the government. The government clings to the hope that voters do not like Shorten, given polling that shows more voters disapprove of his performance than approve of it. While voters do not crowd around him when he walks down the main street of Burwood in the electorate of Reid a short time after the brewery visit, there is no sign of hostility. Shorten approaches workers and shoppers outside the Westfield on Burwood Road, striking up conversations and introducing them to the Labor candidate, Sam Crosby. One of the pedestrians, Hana Shahim, asks for a photo with him. Ive always voted Labor, she says. Nobody offers a stronger endorsement.

Bill and Chloe Shorten.Credit:Paul Jeffers The campaign will change this dynamic. The media pack will be bigger, the pressure on Shorten will be higher and the risk of encountering an unhappy voter will be greater. One other difference will be the presence of Chloe Shorten. While Chloe has many other calls on her time, not least family in Melbourne, Labor is hoping to have her on the campaign as often as possible, in the belief that Australians warm to her and Shorten himself campaigns better with her. Advertisement Shortens friends believe he is a stronger campaigner than Prime Minister Scott Morrison and will emerge triumphant in a matter of weeks. With a solid Labor campaign, they say, he might achieve a swing of more than a dozen seats. Helped by a bad Coalition campaign, the swing might reach 20. There are no such boasts from Shorten himself. He is careful not to look like he is taking the result for granted, even though he thinks the Coalition has become a tribe of warring clans that are incapable of running a government. His team assumes the government will rely more heavily on scare campaigns and negative advertising when the election is underway in earnest. Shorten knows how a scare campaign works. He wounded Malcolm Turnbull at the last election with the false claim that the government was privatising Medicare and will revive the health funding message at the election to come. He insists, however, that he wants to give Australians something to vote for, not just vote against. He takes this message to the Holmesglen campus in Melbourne, where he tells students he would put more money into TAFE and increase the cost of visas for skilled foreign workers.

Bill Shorten, flanked by two Labor candidates, speaks to students and teachers at Holmesglen TAFE. Credit:Erik Anderson The message about foreign workers causes unease in the crowd, given some of the students are from overseas and pay fees for their training in the hope of becoming permanent residents one day, but Shorten makes no apology for putting a priority on locals. His pledge to increase the number of apprenticeships is central to his policy platform. As in Sydney one day earlier, Shorten uses his Melbourne visit to try to motivate his audience to vote for change. Again, apathy is the enemy. Whether he is talking about wages or healthcare, he ends his sentences with three words: Your vote matters. Advertisement The fact that Shorten visits Holmesglen with two Labor candidates, Jennifer Yang in the seat of Chisholm and Fiona McLeod in Higgins, is testament to his confidence. Winning Chisholm from the Liberals is a reasonable prospect but taking Higgins would be unthinkable at any other election. Shorten believes he has been tested by his time as Opposition Leader and can be a better prime minister because of it. The contrast with Morrison and Turnbull, both elevated to the leadership from within government rather than winning an election first, is central to the way he sees himself. It is also a big reason why he believes he is ready for the campaign and the work that would come after an election victory. Ive learnt a lot, he says. In opposition thereve been some terrible days and thereve been some good days. The governments run out of steam. Thats a charitable interpretation. I think the nations looking at us to see if were stable, theyre looking to us to give them three years of continuity in government, with no surprises. No surprises? It is an impossible promise, but Shorten is nothing if not confident. And he says he is more than ready. Ive been practising for this for five and a half years. David Crowe is Chief Political Correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Most Viewed in Politics Loading https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/i-m-hungry-to-start-the-work-bill-shorten-s-five-year-journey-has-just-weeks-left-to-run-20190329-p5192d.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_feed

[i-am-a-starkid-ranger]

Jordan’s Speech - Whew

Hello Friends. While I am sure all 3 of you think my vote is locked, I like to play with the notion of giving everyone a fair chance at final 3, so while my vote is leaning towards someone right now pretty heavily, I would be lying if I said that each of you did not have a shot to sway it with your answers. Though based on those opening speeches you might have to try a new approach

Billy I am going to start with you because quite frankly I have the most to say to you. This is gonna be blunt and you are not going to be happy reading this. All i ask is that once you are finished you take a deep breath and dont do anything until you have processed it. You know how I am and how I don’t try to make anything personal and if it comes across that way it is not meant to be read that way. So please take a deep breath and answer it as best as you can. 

There is a saying in superhero movies. You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. If this isn’t the perfect saying to describe the gameplay of Billy Dickson i dont know what is. One thing you are going to have to come to terms with after this game is you are not a hero in gameplay and it is something I don’t intend to coddle you on. I wouldn’t strike you as a villain just yet but as of now you are no hero. What I saw the other day in that group chat was frankly appalling. Though I would like to make this distinction clear. Appalling but not shocking. You threw in the nicest terms I can put it in a fit. A fit that Shea this person you have villanized and demonized all season was going to beat you. You say something in your speech that truly rubs me the wrong way and I honestly believe it only rubs me the wrong because you said it. “But please don’t make anything personal (even though I doubt anyone will)”

Now while I appreciate the sentiment of asking people to not take things personally, I am sorry to say that you don’t have the right to say that until your actions show it in return. You said out loud many times to many people if you vote me out I will be bitter, or to a select few but often enough if Shea beats me I will be angry and I will take it personally. But now we come full circle and it is time for you to reap what you sew and as Shea put it very elegantly. “treat others the way you want to be treated” You have an uphill climb if you want the win and I hope you truly work for it, because while I don’t know if you are a deserving winner of this seasons, As my friend and fellow never stopping playing these fucking games kind of person. Billy wins a Pacific Island game is something that would make me happy to see.

My questions for you is simple because I want this to not affect just this game but how you play games in the future. Let’s switch roles for a moment shall we. We have an agreement to not work together, not vote together, but to keep each others names off the block. Something I was ready to be loyal to until we came down to the nitty gritty as was discussed between both of us. Final 8 is not nitty gritty and we know that especially considering how lines changed continuously going forward you cutting me was not because you had to but cause you wanted to blindside me, and thats fine. I had an idol in my pocket that I was hiding from you. Jordan Pines as a jury member has no problem with that because thats how I view games. But thats not what I want to accomplish this game. Because for the case of you, I am not Jordan Pines the juror, I am Billy the Juror. In this case, Jordan Pines flips on our deal at one of the first possible chances he has and then is in the finals and you are the jury member. My question for you like I said before is simple. How do you treat me as a juror and should you be treated the same way. Should you be given the same lack of respect that you give to other players.

Andrew. To be fully upfront I am confused. Not angry, not impressed, not overjoyed, not hurt, just confused. In theory your game is good. You had advantages that you used to further yourself. You flipped between groups to further your best interests and in doing so weren’t seen as flip floppy. Even you targeting me at first I thought was stupid because I assumed you were switching to people who were with Karen and wanted you out, but in actuality you probably put yourself in a better position than being with me. All of this should be the making for a great game but for some reason I’m just not impressed and i’m genuinely not sure why. While Shea did point out your lack of a social game to others that may be true, but me and you talk enough on a regular basis for me not to notice a lack something like that. You don’t have that douchebag Jordan Pines quality that makes people hate you enough that no matter how your game is they wont vote for you, because I can genuinely say you are one of the nicest people I know in this community and our friendship means a lot to me. I say this honestly, your game comes of to me as lackluster and I don’t know why. I don’t have a good reason to not like your game but yet I just have meh feelings towards it. My question to you is - Why don’t I like your game? I’m being fully serious right now, help me understand the problems I might have with it because no one knows your game better than yourself. I really don’t mean any offense with this question and I hope you don’t take it in a negative way because it truly does not mean to come off like that.

Finally we come to my favourite of the three. Ash while I am heavily leaning towards you right now, I would be lying if I say I wasn’t willing to consider the rest in the defence of fairness, So please work hard on FTC because not only because I want to see you win, I want to see an incredibly deserving win that I really think you can pull off. I don’t have a question for you, just some statements to help encourage you on your quest to victory. For me at least it doesn’t fall on you to prove to me you are a great player and a deserving winner, I already know that. It would fall on Billy or Andrew to prove they are more deserving of my vote.

I don’t know if you remember this but it is something that resonated with me all season long and especially as a jury member. You told me at the beginning of the game that you were tired of always being seen as the goat and of being seen as too nice to make a move and general things like that. I can promise you this Ash. Whether you win this season or lose it, you have shown that to everyone. You played so hard, you survived against less than admirable positions of you losing your own ally. While you didn’t get the chance you were the first person to truly be ready to take out their own duo to improve their game. At least in my books you played one of the better if not the best game in Midway Attoll. As a juror, as an ally and as your friend, I am just really proud of your game and I hope you win, I really do.

To all 3 of you. This will not doubt be a hard FTC. There are angry people here and they want to take it out on you because you ended their games. Be calm, cool and collected and work as hard as you can. Good luck to all 3 of you, and truly from the bottom of my heart not hard feelings and good game to all of you.

[hos18greenhouse]

Exit Interview - QuilLynn, Runner-Up

Brett : So we had QuilLynn 1.0 -- no competition wins, very socially involved, very strategically involved, and evicted in Week 6. You got 10 days off. What changed when you returned for Week 9? Was there a difference in QuilLynn 2.0?

QuilLynn : QuilLynn 2.0 was honestly just QuilLynn 1.0 but with her head actually in the game lol. Up until my eviction I never really tried in competitions and I was trying to play differently than I normally do and be more social, mostly because I just really wasn't feeling like my self in the early half of the game. When I came back I was just kinda like, "fuck it" I'm here to turn things around and redeem this season. I started playing hard and I think I did a damn good job

Brett : What were your main intentions upon your return?

QuilLynn : Initially my main goal was to get out Ruthie/Split up her and Trevor who I saw as being the two running the game. I also wanted to have an opportunity to break away from Trixie, but unfortunately a good path where that would happen just never came up

Brett : Your desire was for Ruthie to get evicted that round. Next to Ci'ere, you didn't feel it was very likely to happen. At what point did you decide to backdoor Trevor and were you ever morally conflicted by that decision?

QuilLynn : I wanted Ruthie out, because I knew she had so many ties, but asking around I mean thats exactly what I found out- no matter what I did Ruthie wasn't leaving. When Julia, someone I thought was going to be extremely loyal to me once I came back, told me she wouldn't vote out Ruthie that was the moment I knew I had to backdoor Trevor. At first I was telling myself not to do it because I knew how bitchy it was, but it was the only thing that made sense and it was just a game. Him bringing me back didn't mean I owed him enough to throw my whole game away for him, and he had voted me out previously, locking in his vote for me before even hearing a plea from me, so I was able to justify it to myself. Besides, I just nominated him, I would have been happy for everyone to have voted out Ruthie instead, his eviction was on the other houseguests really.

Brett : Did any part of you fear that this maneuver would make you appear extremely cutthroat to the other HouseGuests--of the "If I do QuilLynn a favor, I definitely can't count on QuilLynn returning the favor" variety?

QuilLynn : Not really, I actually think oddly enough It helped get me more trust in the house. I definitely managed to gets Scott's trust and after using the Veto on Ci'ere I built great trust with him too, and I think Julia and Linus understood why I did it and never looked at it as a reflection on me personally. I was worried of course that I was going to end up looking like a fool and get evicted right after, but I didn't and I think, because of that it was clearly a good move for me to make. I also felt like I didn't really have anything to lose seeing as I had already been evicted.

Brett : I do want to talk about your relationships with Ci'ere, Julia, and Linus--essentially 3 free agents that developed a huge amount of loyalty towards you and Trixie as numbers dwindled. Ci'ere was first to kind of snap out of that and take Julia out. But how on earth did you and Trixie manage to have so many players eating out of the palms of your hands?

QuilLynn : I think that they all truly thought we were on the outside just as much as they were. Trixie and I managed to play in a way nearing the end that kept everyone happy and set ourselves up to be in a position where we were never really in danger. Instead of looking at us as a pair that was a potential threat, we were looked at as a pair that were good numbers to have I guess

Brett : Ci'ere stole your eviction vote and evicted just about everyone's intended Final 2 goat with it. What was your reaction?

QuilLynn : I was really mad! I think it kinda fucked him over in the end too, because if Julia was still in the game I wouldn't have offered my self up as a pawn against Ci'ere, I would have let Trixie go up and get voted out, and probably would have went to the end with him and Julia lol.

Brett : How shocked were you every time up until Final 4 that you and Trixie weren't on the block together and that no matter how small numbers got, no one wanted to touch you or Trixie?

QuilLynn : I actually was soooo shocked lol, like on one hand, I knew that both us us had good social games and its not like we were trying to get nominated, but if you think there is a pair why wouldn't you take a shot at it!? I really thought Ci'ere was going to honestly, but I guess I was wrong lol

Brett : If you were Linus at Final 5, would you have nominated the two of you? He was met with some criticism for not taking the opportunity to cut a pair before going into the Final 4 in a situation in which he cannot be the next HOH.

QuilLynn : Yeah I definitely would have taken any opportunity I had to split us up. That was a big reason why I volunteered to be a pawn, I knew Scott wanted to break us up, and If Trixie was up then I think Linus would have made the smart move and he would have voted her out. I knew that even if Scott did vote me, Linus wasn't going to risk me going home as I was his only shot in final 2.

Brett : We gotta talk it over. Choosing to evict Linus shocked several because he was your best option to sit next to at the finale and such a move would have potentially bought you clout with a jury who previously, and in some cases still could not separate the idea of you and Trixie as a co-dependent pair. Your move seemed to many to solidify a 2nd Place finish for you between competition beast Scott and social strategist Trixie. Even in your Diary Room, you acknowledged that Linus was your best option for a path leading to victory. Do you agree with your critics at all in retrospect? Why did you decide on Linus in the end?

QuilLynn : He  was my best shot to beat, but I also thought Scott was going to put more effort into the final HoH, I mean I really wasn't expecting to beat him and I believed that he would take Linus over me to the end, so in my mind, not cutting Linus was, at the time, guaranteeing  me 3rd place. I also don't know if I would have beaten Linus at the end, I think I would have gotten more votes, but I had still been evicted before, I really don't think there were changing some jurors minds no matter who I was sitting next to. I also had more faith in my game play and believed I played well enough to potentially beat Trixie as well, clearly nobody else did and I wasn't able to convince them of it either, which was my worry, but in the end I still stand behind my decision 

Brett : I see a big contradiction here between "I don't know if I would have beaten Linus...I had been evicted before" and "I had more faith in my gameplay and believed I play well enough to potentially beat Trixie." Can you give clarification here? Did you find Linus to be a larger threat at the end than Trixie?

QuilLynn : I mean like in comparative terms. I still felt like I would have lost to Trixie as well, because of being previously evicted, but that like in either case if that wasn't going to be a factor I feel like I would be able to showcase that I did have a great game and when looking at Trixie, at times she hid behind me (not always, obviously, but she did) but Linus played a completely different game. I don't know if I'd say he was a bigger threat, as much as it was like I knew what Trixie was going to say, I knew her game and I knew the points that made mine better, with Linus he was very UTR and I couldn't be sure about what arguments he would be trying to make at the end.  

Brett : I see what you're saying now. It does, however, give me a new question. This harkens back to different players being unable to distinguish you and Trixie apart--you had a competitor in this game whom you are so closely connected to to the point where you feel more comfortable having 100% knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses. In which ways did that work for you and in which ways did it work against you?

QuilLynn : I mean it only really worked against me, because nobody wanted to trust us. It does make it hard to work with new people when you have someone you have such a close bond with, especially when nobody is willing to really try and work with you because thats really always on the back of their minds. I think, up until my return, the best thing that happened for Trixie's game was my eviction. She was still being used as a pawn, but with me gone she became irrelevant as a target.

Brett : A lot of jurors really craved for you or Trixie to cut the other when push came to shove. How aware were you of this and did you know you were going to be criticized for not cutting Trixie? Do you find it fair considering Trixie did not receive the same criticism even though she wasn't in a position of power in the final few rounds?

QuilLynn : I mean I knew they wanted me to cut Trixie, I wanted me to cut Trixie too lol. I was playing what I thought was smart though, not to please everyone else, but I guess my biggest mistake really was not realizing that the main goal of this game is to please everyone on Jury, and maybe if I did cut Trixie things wouldn't have gone as I was expecting them to, but you really can't know for sure. I mean, the only reason why I don't think the criticism is "fair" is just because not cutting Trixie wasn't based on our friendship, like I kept her because I genuinely thought it was the smartest thing to do, and the just gets discredited because we're roommates. I mean in this game, Trevor and Ruthie were just as close as me and Trixie, Zak and Scott were just as close, so were Linus and Julia, do you think any of them would be getting this many groans over not cutting their "partner?" of course they wouldn't! If it was any of those pairs at the end together it wouldn't have been an issue for anyone

Brett : We get to the jury questioning phase of the finale and Trevor has 100 words of an earful with your name on it. How much were you expecting Trevor's mini-rant and how do you feel you did at dealing with it?

QuilLynn : I was completely expecting it, honestly I thought he would be a little more harsh. I feel like I handled it fine I mean it really didn't bother me, other than the fact that I just felt at that point he was refusing to look at why the backdoor was a good game move 

Brett : He didn't have the room (haha). On the opposite end of the spectrum, you have Julia asking about furby comparisons from Trixie and asking the both of you why she should be asked to return to play another season and why she was strong socially. In the end, she didn't cast a vote for either of you. What do you make of Julia's finale?

QuilLynn : I was disappointed she Didn't vote! I was hoping to get hers lol, but if she would have voted for Trixie, then good I'm glad!! Honestly I feel like most of the Jury questions were pretty useless and the jurors already had their minds made up going into it, because tbh I feel like some of my responses were stronger than Trixie's but thats not what the vote reflected.

Brett : Such as Linus asking for comparisons from both players, getting none from Trixie, and then voting for her anyway. You did, however, get Ruthie's vote--and Ruthie's no pushover. She was runner-up for Player of the Season and a Fan Favorite candidate. Did it feel good to at least have a vote from someone influential, active, and strong?

QuilLynn : Exactly. I was Really happy to have Ruthie's vote. She was one of the people I thought for sure wasn't going to vote for me, so it meant a lot to see that in the end she respected my game enough to give me her vote.

Brett : A lot of players have philosophies about players that have been evicted and won the buyback. Essentially, that returning player is on borrowed time and is there to liven up the proceedings while not actually winning the game as they've already lost before. Prior to this game, what was your stance on being an eliminated returnee and did your stance change at all when it happened to you?

QuilLynn : I always believed that if you got evicted and came back you should still have a shot- I mean it's part of the game, so I don't understand why someone shouldn't be able to win just because they lost before. I did know however that most people seem to disagree with that, so I feel like if you come back into a competition, you might as well play as if you're on borrowed time and take the risks that you otherwise might have not taken

Brett : The votes come in and along with Scott's vote for Trixie, he cites that he believes while you did make more moves at the end in comparison to Trixie, making moves in and of itself mean nothing if you don't put yourself in a better winning position. Examining Scott's speech, what did you make of his assessment?

QuilLynn : I think that he, and most of the jurors, just chose to look at my game as not being worthy of the win. I mean honestly, honestly what did Trixie do that made her game so much better than mine, and like there really isn't a clear answer to that, at least not in my eyes. The Jury didn't want me to win, so they say I didn't deserve to win. I know I deserved to win.  

Brett : As far as Trixie's game is concerned, what aspects did she nail? What qualities made her the winner over you?

QuilLynn : Over me? She got lucky with random.org's veto pick. Overall, she played a good social game, and anytime she was in a bad situation she was able to get herself out of it. I'm by no means trying to say she's not a deserving winner, i'm just saying there were... other options 

Brett : You've played this silly Big Brother game for almost 2 and a half months. What's next for you?

QuilLynn : Hopefully I nice long break lol, I haven't seen my family in a couple years so I'm going to go visit them for christmas, I'll probably just troll up the games I'm in now, so I can get voted out soon, and then hopefully when I'm back I can try a game WITHOUT Trixie lol! Oh also, I'll be hosting soon which I'm excited about!! 

Brett : Thank you so much for playing and good luck with your next efforts :) 

QuilLynn : Thank you for hosting, I had a lot of fun! <3