#he could be incredibly selfish

[batsplat]

Pecco and Pedro are probably the people who more than anyone else want to beat Marc. Pecco because he is forced to do it for a matter of survival, his bet next year is to be able to win against Marc with the same bike. Pedro wants to win the first world championship with Marc in MotoGP, even better if he wins it against him, because of course that’s what he wants. I MotoGP your teammate is your first enemy, as surreal as it is, it would be more likely to see Pecco and Pedro helping each other (which would be unlikely anyway because they aren��t the type of people who do that) than one of them helping their teammate , especially if it's Marc. If anything Marc and Pecco have to be intelligent enough to at least not take each other out Portimao style, because in that case there will be someone behind them ready to bite

so I'm going to jump in right away by saying, I know this ask acknowledges it's unlikely but, yeah, pedro and pecco will not be helping each other in any meaningful sense - because they are both serious challengers to each other and they know it. sometimes, riders can be known to help non-team members in fairly small low-key ways (see in this post valentino accusing marc of deliberately towing ducati riders to get them ahead of his actual rivals in brno 2014). for both pecco and pedro, marc is definitely the bigger focus, but they are both perfectly aware of the danger the other poses, and will not be inclined to treat each other as anything other than an active threat

that being said! of course pecco has already nicely demonstrated this season that he does approach his marc fights differently than he does those with other riders (which is broadly the correct and smart thing to do, even if the specifics can be critiqued). portimao even gave us the direct comparison between pecco/pedro and pecco/marc! part of it, yes, will just be an element of self-preservation - marc is now back to being a major roadblock for winning any future championships, and he'll be in pecco's house so will of course require... extra attention. apart from that, it absolutely would be the most meaningful way pecco could win a championship, by beating the famous marc marquez on equal machinery... nobody has done that before, and it would instantly dispel any remaining doubts about pecco's ability and cement his legacy as one of the greats of the sport. he wants to beat marc so badly because marc is one of the two riders he's always been chasing... and marc's absence has left all the young pretenders in this odd place where they've taken the crown but don't quite believe it's theirs yet. (just to say this again, I personally don't share the view that marc's absence diminishes those titles in any way, but it is of course interesting when the riders themselves have these insecurities.) there was that interview from early-ish last year where pecco talked about some of his personal limitations and how he views his own status in the sport:

fascinating, isn't it? of course, I'm sure a second title will have helped to some extent in making him feel a little more entitled to that status in the sport - but this is not the kind of thing valentino or casey or jorge or marc ever would have said. there's a self-consciousness to pecco, an awareness of his uncertain, shaky journey to the top of the sport, how he's fully cognisant of how different he is to those names... which can be a problem at times - delusion is an athlete's life blood, and while the level headed insight pecco expresses here is arguably admirable, it is not necessarily helpful for him as a champion. on the other hand, sometimes lacking a little in the delusion department can be a good thing if it allows you to deliberately improve yourself, pushed on by the knowledge that you still have a long way to go... pecco's biggest self-inflicted wounds have tended to come when he's at his most comfortable - you can theorise about why this happens, but maybe that striver mindset is exactly what he needs to keep him going. it's still quite the admission to describe his 2022 season as more incomplete than either valentino or marc's title runs. (mind you, it's arguably even less complete a season than some of their misses - of course with valentino you have the obvious ones, but did you know that marc scored an average of 13.44 points in 2015 vs pecco's average of 13.25 in 2022? obvious caveat that in 2015 there were considerably fewer competitive bikes and barely any capable of regularly challenging for race wins.) the need to prove himself is always there with pecco... it keeps peaking through with him, and it absolutely peaks through in his approach to marc. yes, yes, acosta is the future, jorge martin has been his title rival more recently... but of course, beating marc would be special. do you think pecco ever dreamed that of it? do you think he really believed that he could before he was already premier class champion? with most champions, you would say it's likely. with pecco, I'm not quite so sure

as for pedro, yeah, obviously, that's just the cycle continuing lol. deeply curious what those two regularly competing at the sharp end of races looks like. pedro has kinda kept his distance, isn't that much of a marc fan himself... when he talks inspirations he tends to bring up schwantz, stoner, pedrosa, and of course rossi

schwantz is far from an unusual pick amongst riders, though as the years pass perhaps gradually more so - it certainly reveals an appreciation for the history of the sport. as do the other choices, in a way... let's not forget that acosta was eight years old when casey retired. of course back in the day casey and dani themselves got plenty of criticism for how 'boring' they were - that's just how these things go! nobody's ever nostalgic for the present etc etc

pedro did also talk last year about how the public wants celebrations and rivalries, critiquing how friendly riders are nowadays and saying people want battles like jorge/dani, valentino/marc, and so on (full clip here)

heartwarming: global number of people who still care about the valentino/sete rivalry is now confirmed at 2 (two)

obviously, you can't just go out and manufacture feuds because you're feeling like it, and pedro's had a pretty quiet rookie season in that sense. but once he feels like he's settled in and can challenge the infamous marc marquez in an actual title fight? on the basis of this rhetoric, you'd at least hope he's not going to be too shy in taking on the challenge. of course he too wants to beat marc more than anyone else... again, it's a question of legacy, how pedro clearly situates himself within the same lineage as both valentino and marc - even if personally he aspires to be more of a successor to the former than the latter. always better to take the crown for yourself, right? this is a kid who's clearly into the history of the sport and is already determined to make himself a big part of that story... weaving himself into that narrative by taking on a legend of the past, taking on the task of disposing with that legend himself. plus, given pedro is so aware of that history - he knows that what people remember are the rivalries. he wants some of that for himself! it'll be interesting to see how proactive he'll be in making that happen, certainly seems like an enterprising young lad

anyhow, yes, plenty of potential for both of those dynamics. and yes, they do very much want to beat marc - but if we're talking about who wants to beat him the most, jorge martin probably deserves a mention right around now. does have to be said that something dumb like the portimao thing is costing pecco and marc this year. it's kind of gone under given the sheer bucketloads of points all the title contenders are throwing away, but pecco would be eight not eighteen points behind in the standings if he had settled for sixth in portimao, and for marc it would be twenty four rather than thirty five points if he'd backed out of the move and had another go on the next lap. relatively unlikely to make a difference at the end of the season... though for mr title decider pecco bagnaia, it sure might be! I did joke about making the pecco/marc portimao thing tradition, but generally speaking two top riders crashing each other out isn't that common a thing, and it's pretty..? rare? that it's the same two riders on multiple occasions? I'm drawing a bit of a blank here, to be honest... then again, title contenders do seem to crash rather more than they used to (admittedly they also have a lot of opportunities now) - so maybe this is going to become a more regular occurrence. but what is more likely to happen is that when you have two competitive riders on the same bike, they do run the risk of taking turns stealing points from each other at the circuits where their bike is at its best. I think pecco and marc can probably minimise this given what a good all-round bike the ducati is across a range of different circuits, and also given that as individual riders they do at least seem to be reasonably distinct in what their strongest and weakest tracks are. all in all, I kind of doubt they'll cost each other like that next year... though admittedly if portimao is anything to go by I may be tempting fate

[localcryptideli]

You know sometimes I think that the reason I stopped being on the sokai ship online is that the reasons why I think the ship is nice are so separate and different from how I see most people interpreting the characters and wanting the ship to be that it just loses all appeal to me.

[lesenbyan]

i think the reason Cahcuia's story upsets me so much is that like.

Viera are a long lived species. they can live for thousands of years. there is no way she's old enough to have died from age in the barrier and they give us no plausible way or reason

telling Erenville before he's forced to discover it somewhere else is the only way to give him enough time to come to terms with it to give her the send off she wants from him

telling him earlier doesn't even have to change how Living Memory with them goes if you're dead set on it going this way but it would make Cahcuia feel much more like she actually cares about how Erenville fairs in all this and isn't just saying shit bc she'll be dead and gone

yeah our stated purpose was to kill Zoraal Ja but she knew Sphene's objective for sustaining Living Memory. not telling us about the Endless bc "it just didn't seem important" rings incredibly hollow when we're in LM for .3s before she's asking us to turn it all off which we need to know about the Endless for and she knows we've found the Golden City by then

I really hate when a character is referenced repeatedly throughout a narrative only for them to have been dead for years so everything the narrative made you excited for for meeting them are impossible.

as much as I love Wuk Lamat, I've known Erenville longer, I really wanted to get to learn more about him and I wanted to see him and his mom in happy peaceful times as well as during The Plot and I feel a little bit cheated.

like. if we at least knew when/how she died I'd be a lot more okay with her being dead. but there are 4 or 5 whole instances that would be perfect for telling him and she just doesn't. and not only that but forbade the rest of oblivion from telling him which makes it feel gaslighty/manipulative, and not concerned and caring.

[hobgoblinns]

in s1 aziraphale refused to kill one boy to save the entire world.

in s2 aziraphale chose to break his own heart, and his best friend’s heart, for the chance to make the world (and heaven) a better place.

[biboybuckley]

the first episode of teen wolf is immaculate actually

stiles introduction, swinging down from god knows where while scott holds a bat to tell him that hey dude there’s a dead body in the woods let’s go find it

lydia’s character introduction and subsequent claiming of allison as her new best friend

coach. that’s it.

stiles’ lycanthropy joke and scott being completely clueless

derek’s introduction. that’s all i need to say.

“where are you getting your juice?” *confusion* “my mom does all the grocery shopping”

our first stiles research montage <333

derek’s “the bite is a gift” speech

the!! soundtrack!!!

and of course the inherent homoeroticism of it all

[kazieka]

screams and wails and sobs on the moors like a Victorian ghost maiden but it’s just bc i thought about joel miller for too long and made myself sad

[empyreasheart]

its really funny to me that sora is pretty chill about naminé inserting herself into his memories . hes like :) whatever makes you happy naminé!

[bataranqs]

10 Happy Things

May 11, 2024

Slept most of the day let's gooo

My bed and clothes are so warm and cozy

Called my mom and apparently she was out with people but she stepped outside to talk to me for a bit before going back to them and just feeling very very loved

My mom called me back and I talked to my sisters for nearly two hours hwjoiegdjkl we're just absolute nerds the lot of us

The Bible Plan I've been doing these past few days is just re-looking at everything from the basis of just get right with God, are you following Jesus and it's been very comforting to have that reminder like it is relational, it is supposed to be a delightful life we're living, there's no stress at all about doing x or y and if you're supposed to, it will not be anything but good

I can't really move my toes individually (except the ones at the ends) and I think it's kinda cute. They're a pack. They're friends. Do Not Separate.

The Tim Horton's White Hot Chocolate is so insanely good

Dungeon Meshi is such a good manga broooo

There are so many joys that I don't think I'll run out of them, and isn't that just the most delightful thing ever?

When I started this list I was feeling a little tired but now I'm quite happy and excited!! I'm so grateful to Katie for getting me into this, and my friends who also do stuff like this

[britneyshakespeare]

The shy bachelor Godwin thought that Mary Robinson was not only intelligent and "Rational," but also incomparably beautiful. His daughter Mary Shelley recorded that "Among his acquaintances were several women, to whose society he was exceedingly partial, and who were all distinguished for personal attractions and talents. Among them may be mentioned the celebrated Mary Robinson, whom to the end of his life he considered as the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, but though he admired her so greatly, their acquaintance scarcely attained intimate friendship."

Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, and Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson (2004) by Paula Byrne, page 322, contained in the beginning of Chapter 22: Radical

[darabeatha]

/ I think it would be very interesting to toy around with the idea of self made avenger L.ucifer; in the sense that usually servants are a product of humanity's perception of them but in this case, his origin as a foreign entity (taking into consideration how f.ate handles angels and stuff) granting him the power to specifically take this mantle out of spite over humanity's comprehension of his story as a defeat, of how L.ucifer himself perceives his own story, a tale of revenge against a 'hypocritical god'; of hatred; of fall; his warped perception of himself that is drenched in pride refuses to believe in anything else, no other version makes sense but his.

The idea of pretender fits him very well too, ' someone who deceives even the soul until more power and greater achievements than the real thing remain'

Or even the idea of foreigner really fits him as foreigners are those whose power is described as 'drawn from outside human boundaries. Entities from different dimensions that are foreign to human comprehension.' I think that by f.ate lore it would align pretty well with his incomprehensible existence

[skxrbrand]

*sips drink* I ship Morathi and Thranduil

[jvzebel-x]

🦋

[thekidsarentalright]

i love fucked up characters so much, i love characters who are messy and so imperfect but don't even necessarily try to fix their imperfections because they're human and their imperfections are part of them, other people can try to fix them and maybe even they go through phases of trying to cut these pieces from themselves but they're so. so painfully human. they will never be perfect. they do things wrong and they hurt people and they hurt themselves and some of the pain will never be fixed and nothing is ever just easy. i love characters that reflect the messy existence of being human so beautifully. i also love characters who are all of this and know it inside but try to hide it because they know the imperfections are ugly and hard to deal with and it's easier for everyone and themselves if they try to be perfect

[pirateborn]

i love writing roger he rly is just a fun guy to write,

[itspileofgoodthings]

Matthew Saracen is one of the most real boy characters ever created.

[koipalm]

no one cares about gojo's past arc more than me. when s2 finally comes out i will be so so normal about it and also ready to brawl