#i had to zoom this guy out quite significantly so you could even make out their face. otherwise it would've just been the nose

[front-facing-pokemon]

[americancowgirl19]

Eyes of the Devil

Summary: Pietro finds someone faster than him and you find your missing piece.

Warnings: violence, curse words, angst?, fluff

Reader: I wrote this with the reader being a male but it could be read as gender neutral; Male Vampire Reader

Pairings: Pietro x Male Vampire Reader (Gender Neutral); Laura Barton x Male Vampire Reader (Platonic)

Word Count: 3,312

A/n: Reader speaks Slavic. According to Google Translate =  Moja duša - My soul. Malá holubica - Little dove. Malý - Little one.... I plan on doing more one shots in relation to this one. I wouldn’t really call it a series just a collection of random one shots with Pietro and this type of reader. Let me know if you wanna be tagged in them or if you have a request for a specific one shot you wanna see. This one shot was really just a starter for those future one shots coming.

Masterlist

If you were being honest, you didn’t know how old you were. You knew you were at least a few millennia’s old but after the first thousand years, who cares to keep track? 

You also knew that life could get very boring if you didn’t spice things up a little bit. Being a part time Avenger did just the thing for you. You didn’t care enough to help out full time but you were there if they were dealing with something extra tricky. Like an alien invasion or enhanced individuals.

It had been a hot minute since you had seen the rest of the team and was pleasantly surprised to get a call from them. Apparently Hydra had managed to pass abilities from Loki’s scepter onto humans giving them powers. One of them had an ability you shared thus pushing the Avenger’s to call you in.

Of course, you had a life of your own (surprisingly) and couldn’t just drop everything to help them. Although, once you managed to push your responsibilities to a loyal friend you left to track down the team.

This lead you to a seemingly abandoned factory. Shocker. 

You stayed in the shadows, undetected by everyone on the lower levels. You listened to the exchange between your team and the large robot. Your eyes then fluttered to the two that stood on the robots side. You deducted that those were the special individuals the team had called you in for.

You took in a deep breath, separating their scent from the others. You could sense the power coursing through their veins. While they had both gotten their abilities from the same source, you knew that they were very different.

If you gambled you would bet that the man was the speedster that Clint had complained about. Apparently he was a cocky little bastard. You didn’t have to know the guy to know he was arrogant. He stood tall, his chest slightly puffed out and his chin high. 

The talking didn’t last long before a brawl broke out. Your eyes followed the male as he zoomed around the room. While it would be impossible for the others to see him moving at such speeds, it was as if he were walking to you. 

He started coming your way, oblivious to the fact that you were even in the building. When he got close enough you stepped out and slammed a punch in his jaw. The force knocked him out of motion and over the railing. You watched as he fell to the main floor.

He groans, rolling onto his side as you land silently in front of him. Your entire body is covered making it impossible for him to see what you look like. Even your face, head and eyes were covered by some form of cloth or glasses.

“What? You didn’t see that coming?” You ask, smirking behind the face covering.

You had to admit, with Clint’s description of him you were expecting him to look different. Instead he’s older and more attractive. The arrogance clung to the air around him and it only drew you in.

“Welcome to the party, Y/n,” Clint greets from somewhere in the building. You didn’t respond knowing he wouldn’t be able to hear you like you could hear him.

“Who are you?” The man asks, standing up on his feet. The Sokovian accent thick on his tongue.

“Someone you don’t want to piss off,” You warn fairly. He scoffs, causing your smirk to deepen. “Wood of advice, stay out of the way, Moja duša” You said, the name rolling off your tongue so casually you didn’t realize what you had said at first. When you do realize, the weight of the situation falls onto your shoulders. 

You stare at the man in front of you, his eyebrows furrowed. You knew that he could translate the words but he did not know the true meaning of them. Before he could ask anything, you sped out of sight.

You help out the rest of the team whilst keeping an eye on the speedster. After a few minutes, you noticed the others slowly begin to drop. Natasha stopped responding, Thor was muttering to himself and Steve looked lost. You could hear Hulk going on a rampage with Tony trying to stop him.

You snap out of it when you sense a presence behind you. It didn’t take a genius to figure out it was the witch that had single handedly taken down the team.

When she got close enough to you, you whipped around and wrapped your hand around her throat. Her eyes widened and she becomes panicked. Her hand claws at your wrist as you lift her a few inch off the ground to become eyelevel with you.

“There is no nightmare you can show me that I haven’t already lived,” You hiss, tightening your grip around her. “Be careful, little witch, or you’ll find a fight you can’t win,”

You see, out of the corner of your eye, her brother speeding to her rescue. You hold onto her for a moment longer before dropping her to the ground and wrapping that same hand around his throat. While your grip is firm, it doesn’t constrict his airway. You take a moment to admire how he looks with your hand around his throat. An unseeable grin comes to your lips.

“Are you mentally challenged or do you just not listen?” You ask, tilting your head. He glares and fights your grip but it’s iron tight. “Take your sister and run far away, Moja duša,” You tell him, the name slipping your tongue once again.

“Who are you?” He asks, once again.

“Someone who will get you killed,” You tell him. You hand slowly leaves his neck. He stands there, observing you pensively. When he blinks, you’re out of sight.

...

You stuck around with the team. You got caught up on what was going on and what had happened since you last saw them. They asked if you would stay for a bit longer and your agreed.

You spent the night at Clint's with the others. His children hanging off of you as if you were a jungle gym. You tossed them into the air as many times as they pleaded you too. You also sped them around and played games with them. Even if you didn’t want to admit it, the children had you wrapped around your finger. They have since they were born.

When you weren’t entertaining children, you’re mind lingering on the male enhanced. You had learned their names through Steve. Wanda and Pietro.

You found yourself whispering his name as the night rolled on. You would smile a bit but it never lasted. You knew what he was to you and you to him. You also knew nothing could come of it, no matter how much you desired.

“You’re up late,” Your head snaps to the side to see Laura waddling into the kitchen. You winced when she flicks the lights on. She mutters a small apology.

“I don’t sleep, remember?” You reminded her.

“Ah, right,” She whispers. “In my defense, I have pregnancy brain mixed with morning brain,” She admits. “I’m forgetful,”

“I’ve known you since you were a child, how could you forget me?” You question, smirking at her. “I feel as if I’m quite unforgettable,” You admit, watching as she reaches for a glass to fill with water.

"I can’t forget you because you continue to pop up in the most random moments demanding for attention,” Laura tells you, slowly lowering herself into a seat at the table.

“I may be an isolated creature but even I need some socializing,” You tell her. She motions for you to sit as she sips on her water. “You should go back to sleep, Clint will be leaving in the morning. You need your rest, malá holubica,” You whisper to her.

“You leave as well and who knows when the next time you’re going to pop in,” She says, patting the spot beside her. Her eyes pour into yours. Without the threat of the sun, you didn’t need so much covering. You stayed in your trousers and vest but your arms, neck and head were exposed. “Don’t make me beg for you to sit next to me,”

Sighing, you give into her wishes. You glide across the floor and sit beside her. She shifts so that the both of you are face to face. One of her hands rest on her stomach while the other falls onto your lap. You smile a bit, holding her hand within yours.

“Something’s on your mind,” She mutters.

“Something’s always on my mind,” You whisper back, keeping your gaze on her hand. It’s significantly smaller their yours. It reminds you how fragile she is compared to you. “Its nothing for you to worry about,” You assure her.

“Well, we can still talk about it and make conversation,” Laura smiles.

“There’s plenty of other things to talk about, it’s been a while since we've seen each other,” You said, finally meeting her gaze. She doesn’t say anything for a moment as she stares into your eyes. She’s always been fascinated with them. They’re so inhuman. It always amused you how she found something about you, that struck fear and panic into so many, so beautiful.

The color of your iris’s are different shades of red. The red around your narrow pupil is bright and rich before transitioning into a deeper, darker red. The dark red seemed the slowly blend into the blackness of your sclera. Although, at the moment your eyes are significantly darker than normal as your throat continues to ache with hunger.

“You need to feed,” She tells you. “When was the last time you ate?”

“Dinner was lovely,” You comment. Her eyes narrow. “I’m fine, malá holubica,”

“You need to take care of yourself,” She scolds.

“What will happen if I don’t? I’ll die?” You growl, your hand clutching her a smidge too tight. Your anger vanishes when you notice her subtle flinch. “I’m sorry,” You whisper, gentle massaging away the ache you had caused in her hand.

“What happened today?” She asks. “Did you get affected like the others?” You smile, laughing quietly.

“No amateur witch can sneak up on me, you should have more faith in me than that,” You tell her.

“Then what’s going on?” She asks you. “You’ve been distant, lost in your own world. You snapped at me, you never snap at me,” She playfully pouts.

“I apologized, malý,” You practically whined. She smiles giving your hand a squeeze. 

“I know but it just shows that something is bothering you... I won’t be able to sleep unless we talk this out,” She threatens. You narrow your eyes at her. “Like you said, I’ve known you since I was a little girl. You can’t intimidate me,” Your glaring snarl turns into a pout. “Talk to me,” Sighing, you give in.

“Moja duša,” You whisper. Laura stares at you.

“My soul,” She mumbles under her breath. “Dimitri?” Your dead heart pangs at the sound of his name. Her face softens, her hand gripping yours in comfort.

“Pietro,” You correct her.

“Pietro?” She questions. “As in..?” You nod. “Maybe this is fates way of using you to get him and his sister on the right path,”

“Or it’s way of cursing me into another heartbreak,” You growl, withdrawing your hand from hers. You stand and return to your spot by the window. “The fates are cruel and hateful,” You snap.

“You don’t mean that,” She whispers. “She never meant to bring you more pain. She only wanted you to find unconditional love during a heartless time,”

“She should have kept to herself,” You growled. “Should have left me to my isolation. If she had she would still be alive and I would be-”

“Alone,” Laura cuts you off. “Your sister didn’t want you to live alone. She knew she couldn’t live as long as you. She knew you would outgrow everyone you knew,”

“Way to cheer me up,” You mumble. Laura sighs, pushing herself out of her chair. “Point is, this wasn’t supposed to be a curse... She had the right intentions,” She mutters, rubbing your back gently.

“I miss her,” You whisper, closing your eyes tightly.

“I know but you have me for the time being,” Laura whispers, hugging you tightly. You wrapped your arms around her, resting your chin on the crown of her head.

“Have I ever told you how similar your soul is to hers?” You whisper. “It’s what drew me to you... It’s like I have her back through you,”

“I just want you to be happy, she would too,”

“Can you women just let me find my own happiness on my own terms and stop meddling with things?” You grumble. She laughs quietly. 

“We can’t help it,” She whispers. “I love you, Y/n,” She whispers.

“I love you too, malá holubica,” You whisper, kissing her head. “Now, you’re caught up on the drama’s of my life. Please, go get some rest,” 

“Fine,” She sighs. “But do me a favor,” You sigh as she steps away from you. “Think about the good that will happen if you let Pietro in instead of pushing him away. Then remember all the times you tried to push them away but ended up holding them close,”

“Why am I so open with you about my past?” You sigh. “All you do is throw it in my face,” She laugh, gently tapping your face.

“Think about it,”

...

In the morning, you left with your team. You gave the kids extra long hugs before giving an equally tight hug to Laura. She scolds you for not visiting more and you promise to change that before climbing onto the jet.

When you find Ultron, you stick with Steve. The two of you fight the large robot to keep him occupied. While Steve managed to push the tin man around a bit, your punches managed to dent his plating. 

Ultron began to put his focus towards you, which you found flattering. You took the brunt of the punches while Steve basically danced around him. The both of you were managing to fight off the robot when Ultron got a hand on your hood and ripped the jacket off of your body. 

You screamed as your arms, neck and face began to burn under the sun’s rays. You barely register Steve tackling Ultron into a train. You fall to your knees feeling your skin begin to catch on fire.

Your mind pushes you through the pain. You look for shade but before you can run for cover your being grabbed and put onto the train. You lean against the wall, away from the sun.

You breathe heavily, your eyes opening a little to see Pietro kneeling in front of you. There’s concern in his eyes and despite the pain you’re in you smile.

“Perfect timing, Moja duša,” You pant.

“Y/n, you alright?” Steve asks, standing beside you. You just give him the thumbs up. “Lost sight of Ultron, there’s civilian’s in our path,” Steve say looking to Pietro knowing that your body is too focused on healing to help.

“Go,” You whisper, seeing his hesitance. Pietro nods and speeds off. You groan when the train goes off the rails. 

“You sure you’re going to pull through?” Steve asks, once the train stops. While the burns on your skin were to a lesser degree they were still red and you were still sore.

“Just help me up,” You grumble, holding out a hand. Steve grips it and hauls you to your feel. “Fucking robots and trains... I miss the days when humanity didn’t have fucking technology,” You grumble, following Steve off the train.

“-need to take a minute,” Pietro pants.

“I’m very tempted not to give you one,” Steve snaps, marching up to him.

“The Cradle, did you get it?”

“Stark will take care of it,” Steve assures them as you speed past the sun and back into the shade. Pietro stares at you for a moment before disappearing only to reappear with a sweatshirt. He hands it to you.

“Thanks,” You mutter, pulling it on to shield you from the sun.

“Don’t mention it,” He smirks.

...

Vision’s introduction was dramatic, to say the least. You stayed out of the drama. The only reason you continued to stick around was for Pietro. Although, you weren’t sure if that was a good thing or not. Death follows you wherever you go, even more so than the Avengers.

You knew you needed to make a decision soon before the bond got to the point where you couldn’t leave. It didn’t help that Pietro didn’t respect the distance you were putting between the two of you. He followed you around like a damn puppy.

“What are you?” He asks.

“Take a wild guess,” You say, looking through the fridge for something to drink.

“I can only think of myths and legends... Stories to scare children,”

“You believe in talking robots but not me?” You ask, turning towards him with a blood bag in hand. He watches as your fangs extend and sink into the bag.

“So, you are real...” Pietro mutters.

“Unfortunately,” You mutter, tossing the empty bag to the side.

“What does Moja duša mean?” 

“You know what it means,”

“I don’t think I do,” He says moving toward you. “I think it means something more to you,”

“Stop,” You tell him but he doesn’t until you’re toe to toe.

“My grandmother would tell my sister and I stories about you... or your kind,” He tells you. “Said that certain people were cursed to be stuck with your kind for eternity,”

“She’s right... it is a curse,” You tell him.

“Doesn’t feel like it,” He tells you.

“Candy, bread, beer, it all tastes good but they’re not necessarily good for you,” You tell him. “Think of this on a much bigger, much deadlier scale,”

“Sounds exciting,” He smirks. You sigh pressing your lips together. He raises his hand toward the glasses you had yet to take off. Your hands shoot up and wrap around his wrist.

“Turn around and go back to your sister,” You demand. “Forget you ever saw me,”

“You’re unforgettable,” Pietro whispers. The two of you stay still until Pietro begins to move his hands again. They slip from your wrist as you allow him to take the glasses off. “Oči diabla,” He recites the line that is in all the stories. “Eyes of the devil,” He translates. “Who would have thought the devil would be so attractive?”

...

“If I see another Goddamn robot after this, I’m going to blow a gasket,” You hiss towards the end of the battle against Ultron and his multiples. You run around the city killing robots and rescuing civilians.

Eventually, ships come to the edge of the city to evacuate everyone. You run through the city multiple times in order to make sure nobody is left behind. You return to the ships in time to see Pietro go to save Clint and the child he’s protecting.

Your instincts over take you. Your by his side faster than a heart beat. Your arms wrap around him. You speed out of harms way without missing a beat. When you’re out of the way, you rip a door off a car and launch it at the spaceship sending it to the ground before turning to Pietro.

“Are you alr-” Pietro cuts you off with a kiss. The simple kiss amplifies the already strong bond between the two of you. Your hand instinctively rest on his hips and pull him against you.

“Thank you,” He mutters against your lips. You smirk, returning your lips to his.

...

I plan on doing more one shots in relation to this one. I wouldn’t really call it a series just a collection of random one shots with Pietro and this type of reader. 

Let me know if you wanna be tagged in them or if you have a request for a specific one shot you wanna see

[mochegato]

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 12 – That Holds In the Pain

Chapter 1     Chapter 11

“Is that… IS THAT ONE USING A YO-YO!”  Marinette whisper screamed to Adrien.  Her head was just visible around the corner of the warehouse they were hidden behind, observing the robotic henchmen that the Toyman had fashioned into marionette looking dolls.

Adrien poked his head around the corner just above hers and grimaced.  “Yes, I believe he is.”

“That little… that… How dare he!” she seethed, glaring at the robotic marionette. “You can’t just… you can’t just steal someone’s shtick like that.”

“Apparently you can,” Adrien commented, turning back to the rest of the Team.

“I feel like this is a personal attack.  Using marionette dolls, using a yoyo… what did I ever do to this guy?  I’ve never even been to Metropolis before,” she groused. “Usually I’ve at least met someone before they decide to harass me.”

Adrien scoffed.  “No you haven’t.  With villains, I’d say it’s about half and half.”

“You get harassed a lot?” Conner asked.

“It’s not uncommon.  Paris will do that to you,” she shrugged.

“What the hell is up with Paris?” Wally asked in confusion.

“Nothing… anymore.  You know, doesn’t really matter right now.  How’s it going?” Adrien asked Robin.

“I’ve almost hacked into the security cameras,” Robin answered quickly.  “And done.” He moved slightly so the others could gather around him to look at his phone, which was precariously linked to the security camera wires running outside the warehouse.  He flipped through a few screens before stopping on one with a view of the marionette henchmen waiting in the main section of the warehouse.  He angled the phone for them all to see it.

“Oh, that's...” Marinette started.

“That's a lot,” Conner finished for her.  It was definitely more than they could handle without using superpowers or super suits, although if they could distract Marinette and Adrien, they might be able to get away with it.

Robin noted an estimate of how many there were in the warehouse and continued flipping through cameras.  After a few more he stopped again.  “That your friend?”  He tilted the phone toward Marinette and Adrien.

Adrien nodded.  “That’s her.”

Marinette grabbed the phone, almost dislodging the wires connecting it to the security system.  “Is that a play pen?  Are you kidding me?  What the hell is this guy’s problem?  I kind of get the toy inspired henchmen, I mean, if you’re called the Toyman, it makes sense, but a play pen?  Really?”

“Mentally disturbed is kind of a prerequisite for most villains,” Wally pointed out.

“Hey, can we get a still of that, please?” Adrien asked as politely as he could.  “For… scientific purposes?”  He gave Robin a huge grin.

Wally chuckled and shook his head, but Robin gave him a cold stare.  “Oh come on, you’d do it if it were one of your best friends,” Marinette rolled her eyes. “How are we going to make fun of her for the rest of her life about this if we don’t have pictures?”

“Pictures or it didn’t happen,” Adrien nodded sagely.

Robin huffed.  “Can we focus please?  We’re supposed to be trying to save your friend.”

“Right,” Adrien nodded, letting him change the subject but pouting internally.  “Anyone have any ideas?”

Marinette turned back to the marionette sentries. “They're all robots, right? Being controlled by one guy, we think?”  Her voice was distant, as if she was still in thought.

Conner did a quick scan of the area.  There were only two heat signatures.  From the security cameras, those had to be the Toyman and their friend.  “Yes,” he confirmed.

“Electronic, right?” she continued, more quickly this time. She turned to them with a glint in her eyes that Adrien immediately recognized.  Conner stared at her for a few seconds.  He’d seen that look before.  It was familiar.  He knew it meant something good.  He just wasn’t sure why he knew that.  

“Everything he has must be digital or electronic. Which is great for ensuring that everyone working for you is of like mind, more specifically, his mind.  But terrible when things like an EMP goes off. Because then, it’s just the Toyman, all by himself.”  She looked over toward the Team with a grin.  “I don’t suppose any of you boys would know how to make an EMP, would you?” She was already well aware of the answer, having seen Wally and Robin both do different versions in the field with parts they found around them at the time, but she had to play dumb.

Wally nodded excitedly.  “I can, if I can find the parts.”

Adrien nodded toward the warehouse across from them. “I bet there’s parts in there.”

“We just need to figure out how to get in without drawing attention to ourselves,” Robin observed staring at it.

“There’s a window up there,” Marinette noted, pointing to a tiny window way at the top of the warehouse.  “If I can get up there, I can fit through.  Open the door from the inside.”

“And how are you planning on getting up there?” Conner asked.

“Well… I was thinking… climbing might be an option,” she drawled out, pointing to a pile of boxes leaning up against the side of the warehouse.

“That’s not going to get you in,” he pointed out.

“No, but lucky for me, I have a rather tall conspirator who looks like he works out quite a bit.”  She was still staring at the window, trying to figure out the logistics and missed the way his cheeks darkened slightly.  Robin did not miss it.  He narrowed his eyes at Conner and smacked his shoulder.  Conner glared back at him.

“Think you can lift me up?  Maybe even throw me a little?” she asked excitedly, turning back to him.

Conner straightened up and looked back between the window and her.  “You sure? It could be dangerous if I miss or if you can’t get a grip.”

“I trust you.”  Her voice was heartfelt and her eyes shone with confidence, like there was something more there, but whatever it was Conner couldn’t figure out.

He nodded.  “Let’s go then.”

Working with Marinette was significantly easier than he had anticipated working with a stranger would be.  They worked like a well-oiled machined, seemingly able to anticipate what the other was going to do and react accordingly.  Instead of awkward fumbling to get her into position, it was a graceful act.  She was crawling through the tiny window within a matter of minutes.  

A few minutes later Adrien’s phone pinged.  “She says that she’s at a door at the southwest corner of the warehouse.”  They headed to the corner of the warehouse hidden from the marionette sentries.

As soon as he was through the door, Wally started running around, trying very hard to keep his speed to a reasonable level.  Marinette slapped Adrien’s shoulder to get his attention. “Hey, Alya texted.  Here look,” she said a little louder than necessary and pointedly turned away from the rest of the warehouse to look at the text. Wally looked over to Robin uncertainly, but Robin nodded at him.  Wally instantly zoomed around the warehouse, cataloging and locating all the items they would need for the EMP.

He was back by Robin’s side in an instant.  “Right, I think we’re good to go.  All the parts are here, just a bit scattered.  The only issue is one of the parts is going to take a bit of effort and noise to get out.”

“How much noise?” Conner asked cautiously.

“A lot.  They’re going to notice.”

“We’ll need a distraction to cover him so he can work,” Robin stated, looking around them to see if there was some distraction he could use.

“How big of a distraction are you looking for?” Adrien asked hesitantly looking over to Marinette.  He nervously fiddled with his ring.

“Large enough they can’t ignore it, but not enough to cause too much damage,” Robin answered.

Marinette put her hand on Adrien’s shoulder, and subtly shook her head.  She looked around the warehouse.  “It’s a baking supply warehouse…” she noted examining the bags on the shelf.  Rows and rows of different sized bags of flour in a variety of flour types.  

“Going to bake something for them, Mari?” Adrien grinned at her.

Marinette’s eyes narrowed at an industrial sized fan. Her eyes quickly flicked to the flour and a lighter propped on an exposed bracer by the door, left there for employees to grab as they left to smoke.  “Depends on your definition of bake.”  She looked back at him with a determined glint.  “Did you know flour is flammable?”

“We are not setting the warehouse on fire,” Conner exclaimed.

Marinette looked at him shocked.  “Of course we’re not.  Do you know how huge that explosion would be?  And how many baked goods we’d be denying people from that amount of destruction?” she exclaimed in horror.  “We only need one bag to make a point.”

“I’ll go with you,” Conner volunteered.

Marinette nodded as Robin set his mouth in a frown. “Grab the fan, please?” she requested as she grabbed a small bag of flour.  “Give us eight minutes.  I’ll text Adrien when we’re ready then within a few seconds you should hear a big bang.”

Wally groaned and dragged his hand down his face.  Robin came up next to him staring at the mechanism Wally was working on with a concerned frown.  “What’s wrong?  Is it not going to work?”

Wally looked at him confused for a second. “Huh?”  His face suddenly smoothed out in realization.  “Oh, no.  Of course it’s going to work.  I just realized, I’m definitely not getting new cupcakes everyday next week.”

Marinette laughed and made her way through the door. “Good luck, guys.  See you on the other side.”

Adrien nodded to her and turned back to Robin and Wally.  “Let’s get the rest as ready as we can then.  What can I do?”

Marinette and Conner snuck around the far side of the warehouses, moving quickly but quietly.  When Marinette seemed to slow down and examine an area with interest, Conner finally spoke up.  “Okay, what are we doing here?”

“I need this,” she patted the industrial sized fan, “to blow this,” she held up the small bag of flour in her hands, “into the air. Then we need to light it on fire and take cover right quick.”

“Shouldn’t we have brought a larger bag if that’s what we were going for?” he asked looking at the small bag in her hand skeptically.  “I could have carried the fan and one of the large bags.”

She smiled at him and glanced quickly down at his arms.  “I have no doubt,” she said almost absentmindedly.  She flicked her eyes back up to his, her cheeks reddening slightly. “But this is enough.  Anything larger and we’d be looking at taking out the entire complex.”

“Flour is that explosive?” He looked at the bag in her hands in awe.

“Extremely.  Lucky for us.”  She stopped and looked around.  “This should be good.  Far enough from the warehouses, it won’t blow them up, but close enough to get their attention.”

Conner nodded and started looking for an outlet. “I can plug it in here and we should be able to hide behind that.”  He nodded toward a concrete half wall.

Marinette nodded.  “We should probably move further away from that then.  I don’t think you understand just how big this explosion is going to get.”

Conner nodded but stared at her for a few seconds. “You’re sure about this?  With flour?”

Marinette smiled at him.  “I grew up in a bakery.  Trust me.  You learn the most interesting things.”  She ripped the top off of the bag of flour.  “Okay start up the fan and point it up and out.”

Conner nodded and turned on the fan, still standing slightly in front of the fan.  Marinette moved behind the fan and grinned at him as she dumped just a little bit into the fan.  She laughed as the flour flew right into Conner’s face.  “Things like don’t stand next to flour when a fan is on.”

Conner narrowed his eyes at her but started chuckling too.  Chimera already taught him a lesson about how easily flour spreads.  He should have remembered it.  “At least it wasn’t the whole bag,” he acknowledged, starting to dust himself off.

Marinette’s laugh calmed down into a sweet smile. “Trying to set the air on fire. Not you.  Come on, get behind me.”  She slowly emptied the bag into the fan’s current.  After a few seconds the air in front of the fan was thick with particles of flour hanging in the air.  There was more flour on the ground than in the air, but there was enough for what they needed.  “Ready?”

Conner bunched up a piece of paper into a ball and nodded.  They moved behind the half wall and prepared themselves.  Conner took a deep breath.  This was the moment of truth.  He lit the ball on fire and threw it into the flour cloud.  

The explosion seemed to happen in slow motion at first then all at once as one particle ignited the next, which ignited the particles next to it, escalating at an expediential rate until the entire cloud was lit up and pushing out.  Conner’s eyes widened in surprise as the blow back came for them.  He dived on top of Marinette, forcing her between the ground, concrete wall, and himself, protecting her from all sides.

When he finally looked up, his ears were ringing from the explosion.  He definitely had not been properly prepared.  Thank god they didn’t use a larger bag.  He looked down to check on Marinette, but stopped when he saw her wide, blue eyes. It was mesmerizing and confusing. Just seeing her eyes shouldn’t make him feel this way and he couldn’t figure out why it did.  She was mouthing something worriedly at him.  He furrowed his brow trying to make out what she was saying.  He finally figured out she was asking if he was okay when he felt her push him back to sitting and crawl around him to check his back for any signs of injury.  

He felt his skin tingle where she ran her hands over his shoulders and upper back, before working their way into his hair at the back of his head.  It felt brilliant and like a betrayal at the same time.  He moved out of her reach and gave her a weak smile.  It felt nice to have her fret over him and touch him, but not as nice as it did when Chimera did it.  They stood up just in time to see an army of marionettes descending upon them.  “We may not have thought this through,” he whispered to her, or at least thought he whispered.  He’d actually screamed it at her.

She nodded, keeping her eyes on the robots in front of her.  She held her hands up in surrender.  She slowly unwrapped the white ribbon in her hair and waved it around.  “Parlay?” she requested with an unrepentant grin.

Conner gave her a flat look.  “Really?”

“You want to take on that many?  By ourselves?  We just have to keep them distracted and ourselves alive for another few seconds.”

Conner sighed and turned back to the marionettes, raising his hands grudgingly as he did.  Before the marionettes could advance on them, they all froze for a second before falling to the ground.  Marinette and Conner looked at each other uncertainly for a second, waiting for them to do something.  When they didn’t, Marinette grinned at Conner.

“Now it’s just the Toyman,” Conner said.

Marinette nodded at him.  “Let’s go get him.”

“Should we wait for the others?”

Marinette shook her head.  “They’ll catch up.”  They reached the door to the warehouse at the same time as Wally, Robin, and Adrien.  They found and tied up the Toyman easily.  Without his army of robots behind him, he surrendered without a fight.  Finding Chloe only took a matter of minutes after that.

“Finally!  It took you long enough.  Do you know how long I’ve had to sit here in this?  It’s been ridiculous, utterly ridiculous.  Who are those losers?” Chloe scoffed, glaring at the Team members.

Wally crossed his arms and leaned toward Conner. “Can we give her back?” he asked, not trying to be quiet.

“Yes,” Marinette nodded.

“No,” Robin answered.

“Eh,” Adrien shrugged.

“Hey!” Chloe yelled.  “Now get me out of this!”

“If you don’t like who’s rescuing you, you’re welcome to stay in there,” Adrien threatened.

“Fine, fine, whatever.  At least they’re cute.  What happened to the things?” she asked.  She flicked her hands in the general direction of somewhere else.

“The marionettes were taken out by an EMP these guys created on the fly, and the ‘mastermind’,” Marinette spat the word out sarcastically, “is bound and gagged outside.”

“Rather lackluster fight, really,” Adrien mused. “Turns out the Toyman isn’t much of a threat once his toys are taken away.  August was more of a threat.”

“What do you say, Chloe?” Marinette prompted her as she held the door open for Chloe.

Chloe scowled at her and flicked her ponytail over her shoulder, heading through the door.  “Let’s get out of here before something bad happens?”

“Chloe…” Marinette started in a warning tone.

Chloe scoffed at her.  “We’re thanking each other every time we save one another now?”

“Yes! Yes, that’s what we do,” Marinette’s exasperation was clear.  Conner chuckled at her expression.  Marinette’s eyes flitted over to him for a second, her cheeks turning slightly pink before focusing back on Chloe.

“Every time?” Chloe gasped.

“Yes, every time!” Marinette groaned.

“That seems excessive,” Chloe shook her head. “Ridiculous.  Utterly ridiculous.  What a waste of time.”  She continued toward the warehouse exit, not bothering to look back at them.

“So… she’s like this all the time, huh?” Robin asked Adrien quietly as they followed her out.

“What?  No… She’s being nice right now,” he answered seriously.

“That’s why her kidnap count is so high,” Wally nodded knowingly.

“Definitely a contributing factor,” Marinette agreed.

“I heard that,” Chloe announced loudly.

“You were meant to,” Marinette yelled back. Conner looked over to her with an amused smile, but quickly schooled his face when Robin raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’ll make sure to get that picture to you,” Robin whispered to Adrien as they made their way through the exit and into the flashing blue and red lights waiting for them outside.

Just before she made it through the door, Conner grabbed Marinette’s elbow.  “Hey, I just wanted to say sorry for earlier.  Telling you guys not to come.  You did great for a civilian.”

Marinette beamed up at him.  “Thank you.  But… whoever said I was a civilian?”  She winked at him and twirled with a cheeky grin back toward Adrien and Chloe as they were loading her into an ambulance so a doctor could check her out.  

<><><><><> 

“Try not to get kidnapped… until you get back to Paris at least,” Marinette instructed Chloe in mock seriousness as she gave her a hug goodbye.

Chloe scoffed, but returned the hug, pretending to do so halfheartedly.  “Of course. Getting kidnapped in America is so boring.  Who has time for that?”

Marinette rolled her eyes.  “Come on.  There were boring akumas too.  And not all of our villains are that…”

“Pathetic?” Nino offered, slinging his arm over her shoulders.

Marinette quirked her head to the side contemplatively.  “Not the word I was thinking but… I’ll go with it.”

“Hey, I got to meet Batman.  I’m counting it as a win!” Alya gushed.  “I got a picture of him!  And the Batmobile.  How awesome is that?”

Marinette grinned at her as she hugged her.  “Maybe next time I can introduce you properly.”

“Yeah?” Alya’s eyes brightened with an excited glint.  “That would be amazing!  Think you can get me an interview?”

“I don’t know… nobody else knows my identity, other than Black Canary, so it would have to look like something he did on his own.  You figure out a plausible excuse for that, and I can probably make it happen,” Marinette agreed.

“Yay!” Alya cheered, pulling her in for a long tight hug. “See, this is why you’re my favorite person.  You always look out for me.”

“Hey!  What am I?” Nino protested.

“The love of my life,” Alya reassured him, wrapping an arm around his neck and planting a kiss on his cheek.  “But she’s still my favorite person.”

Nino rolled his eyes and groaned.  “I guess I get that.  As long as you two don’t start kissing behind my back.”  

“So you want them to do it in front of you?” Chloe asked, looking up from her phone.

Nino sputtered, his cheeks turning red as the rest of the group laughed at him.  Marinette moved over and wrapped him in a hug.  “Don’t worry, Nino.  We won’t start kissing behind your back.”

Nino gave her a deadpan look.  “I’m not going to miss you, Dudette.”

“I will,” Alya pledged, jumping onto Marinette, knocking her over with a hug.  “So much. You stay safe.  Love you, girl.”

Marinette grinned back at her.  “Love you too.”  She turned to Nino.  “And you too, even if you won’t miss me.  Have a good trip and keep them safe.” She gave him a meaningful look with her last sentence.  

Nino nodded in understanding.  “You stay safe too.  Love you, Dudette.  And of course I’m going to miss you,” he said seriously, ushering Alya and Chloe onto the train back to New York so they could catch their flight home.  

Marinette turned to face Adrien with a watery smile.  “I think I’ll miss you most of all, Scarecrow.”

Adrien chuckled and looked down.  “It was nice working with you again.  As a team.  I’ve missed it.”

“You know, you could probably join the Team… if you really wanted,” she offered.  

There was a smile on her face, but Adrien could see it was strained. He offered her a soft, unstrained smile back.  “Not remotely interested.  My superhero days are behind me.”  He looked down as he shook his head gently.  “Don’t get me wrong,” he continued, looking back up to meet her eyes, “I loved every second of it, but I think now I need to focus on healing. After everything we went through…”

Marinette looked down guiltily and nodded in understanding. Adrien hooked his finger under her chin to encourage her to look up.  “Because of what my dad… Gabriel did.  Not because of anything you did.  You aren’t responsible for my struggling, no matter what you think.  And I’ll keep repeating that until you finally believe me.  If it wasn’t for you… I don’t know what I would have become.  I would probably still be fighting him, in and out of the costume.  He’d still be making me miserable.”  

He moved his hands so they were firmly on her shoulders, offering support and encouraging her to keep facing him.  “Don’t ever think for even a second that any of what we went through, any of what we’re still going through, is your fault.”

“I’m sorry I left.  I left you to heal alone,” she said quietly to the floor.

“Oh, Mari,” he pulled her into a hug.  “You didn’t leave me alone.  I have people there for me.  I have people I can talk to.  You made sure of it.  You still do. I have people helping me.  You’re one of them, even if you don’t think so. I’ve always been surrounded by people, but for the first time, I’m not alone.  You made sure I was going to be taken care of.  You check on me constantly.  You did not abandon me.  

“I’m getting the help I need.  I needed to stay in Paris.  I needed familiarity to heal.  You needed a complete break.  You needed to be away from all the reminders.  A fresh start.  And you needed it just as badly as I did.  Don’t feel guilty for seeking the help you needed, too.”

He took a breath and squeezed her closer for a second. “Can you do something for me?” he asked quietly.  He waited a beat before he continued.  “I need you to try to let go of the guilt.  Which isn’t easy, I know,” he rushed to assure her.  “I was wearing mine like armor, but I think it was more of a barricade, holding in the pain.  I thought it was protecting me from getting hurt.  I still kind of do.  But I think it was really just isolating me, preventing me from seeing the world as it really is.”

He pulled away to look her in the eyes, studying the eyes he knew better than his own, eyes filled with strength but also self-doubt.  “We learned so many lessons as heroes, but… but I think I’m starting to realize not all of them were real.” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with a mirthless chuckle.  “Guess therapy is doing some good after all.”  He shook his head lightly and looked back at her with a concerned gaze.  

“I’m slowly realizing a lot of the lessons we were taught, lessons we thought the universe was teaching us; about how the world was for us, that we needed to suffer to be heroes, they weren’t...  it was just my… Gabriel.  They weren’t universal lessons or miraculous lessons.  They weren’t real.  It was Gabriel punishing us, not the universe.  Gabriel manipulating the way we saw the world.  But he’s gone and we can make our own rules now. I’m still coming to terms with that. It’s still hard and uncomfortable and I hate it… but I also don’t?”

He shook his head again, his eyes settled back on her.  “I’m still working on it.  And I just wanted to let you know because… I just… you… you seemed to internalize the lessons even more than I did and…” he looked away and pursed his lips, trying to think of the words he wanted to say, the message he wanted her to take away. He looked back at her with compassionate determination.  “I won’t let him dictate my future or how I see the world anymore.  And you shouldn’t let him do it for you either.  We defeated him.  You defeated him.  Don’t let him win this.  He made us suffer, not the universe.  Don’t let him make you think we can’t be happy, that you can’t be happy.  I’m happy, mostly.  And I just… the thing is you’re amazing at giving advice, but you’re shit at taking your own advice so… I just thought maybe if you promised to do it for me…”

A whistle sounded, cutting off the rest of his sentence.  Adrien looked back at her for a few moments, studying her carefully again, looking for any sign that his words finally made it through to her.  After a few seconds he gave a defeated sigh and kissed her temple before he hugged her again.  “That’s my cue.  I love you, Marinette.  I’ll see you in a few weeks, okay?  But if you want to talk before then, don’t hesitate.  You have a phone, a laptop, a tablet, a Zeta tube, who the hell knows what else in your base, and a Kaalki.  Do.  Not. Hesitate.”

She nodded and squeezed him back.  She pulled away and gave him a kiss on his cheek. “Have a safe flight.  Love you.”

She watched him as he walked onto the train and disappeared with a final wave.  Her eyes stayed focused on the door he disappeared through long after he was gone. They continued their focus long after the door had closed and the train had started moving.  She didn’t notice the change in scenery until someone accidentally knocked into her with an apology and guilty smile.  She waved them off with a kind smile and turned toward the exit, stumbling slightly in a daze.  

She walked another block before her breath started getting uneven.  She stopped to lean against a building, her brow furrowing in confusion.  What was going on with her?  Why did her chest feel so tight all of a sudden?  She looked around her, hoping to figure it out, but there was nothing there.  It was just her.  Just her and her thoughts.  She gasped again and leaned harder against the building.  She shook her head.  She needed to get home.  She looked around again, this time to confirm nobody was watching her and ducked into a hidden alcove.  She put on Kaalki’s glasses and Trixx’s necklace, whispering the transformation words.

She stepped through the portal and breathed in the familiar air.  She took another step and let her head rest against Conner’s doorframe, her bag dropped to the floor with a thud loud enough she was sure he had heard it.  After a few seconds, she collected herself enough to knock lightly on his door.  She barely had time to take a bracing breath before his door swung open and Conner appeared in his pajamas.  “Chi! I wasn’t expecting you to be back tonight!”  He pulled her into a tight hug.  He let his arms linger around her, keeping her close as he pulled away slightly, just enough to look at her so he could ask her about the visit.

He hesitated momentarily when it seemed like she clung to him tighter as he tried to pull away.  But just as soon as he noticed, she loosened her grip.  “Yeah, my friends just left.”

His bright smile quickly gave way to a concerned frown.  The smile she offered him didn’t reach her eyes and her voice was a bit too happy to be real.  “How was it?” he asked carefully.

Although her smile got bigger, it didn’t get any brighter.  “It was great.  We had a lot of fun.”

He nodded cautiously.  “That’s… good…”

“Yeah… good,” she agreed, looking away.  She tapped her fingers together nervously.

“Chi?” She didn’t look up, but she did stop tapping her fingers.  “Chi, are you okay?”

She looked back up at him with a heartbreaking smile and nodded, her eyes shining with uncertainty.  “Yeah, I think I… don’t know.”

He pulled her back in for a tight, protective hug. “Did something happen this weekend?” he asked darkly.  He was working incredibly hard to keep his anger tempered and his body relaxed so she wouldn’t be able to sense how angry he was at whoever caused her to react like this.  He knew, he knew, seeing her friends was going to end badly and now she was just barely keeping in the tears.  These were supposed to be her friends and yet every time she saw them, she came back a little more threadbare, a little more broken. Whatever they were doing to her, it had to stop.

She curled into his hug, taking some time to let his presence calm her before she spoke up, her voice so quiet, even with super-hearing he had to strain to hear her.  “I’m… I’m really not sure.  I didn’t think so but…”

“Do you want to talk about it?”  She shook her head after a few seconds, just holding him tighter.  “Chi, whatever happened, whatever your friends said…”

She shook her head stronger this time.  “It’s not like that.  It’s… I don’t know.  Everything was great and then… I couldn’t breathe.  I… I don’t know what happened.”  She shook her head again, more gently this time as if to clear her head.  “I think I need to talk to Black Canary, but first I just… I needed this.”  She stopped herself before she said what she meant, she needed him.  

His anger melted away and turned to concern. She didn’t talk to Black Canary, not for therapy.  Batman and Black Canary had encouraged her to go.  Batman made vague references that talking with her might help her after different emotional outbursts in battle.  He shuddered slightly remembering the video of her fighting the mind-controlled Superman.  His comments were subtle and deceptively casual, meant to encourage her to decide it for herself without putting pressure on her.

Black Canary was much less subtle in her encouragement, going as far as to threaten her position on the team if she didn’t seriously consider it.  She was stopped each time by Batman from enacting it, but it didn’t stop her from pushing it whenever she could.  Each time, Chimera closed off more, backed away further, as if the idea of opening up was a physical threat to her.  It had always confused Conner.  

If anyone was going to have an issue discussing emotions, he would have bet on him over Chimera.  She always seemed so open with her emotions, but the more he thought about it, the only emotions she seemed to share freely were positive ones. The negative emotions she kept a tight grip on, as though she thought they would cause physical and psychological torment if they ever escaped.  And from the few times she did discuss them, when consoling one of the Team about something they were feeling, it didn’t seem too far from the truth for her.  If she was actually planning on talking with Black Canary, even if she was just seriously considering it and didn’t actually go… this weekend must have hit her hard.  And honestly, he didn’t know if that was a bad thing after all.

He looked back in his room.  They really needed somewhere to sit down so she could calm down and relax.  But there was just a chair and a bed in his room.  There was no way she'd be okay with that.  That left the common room.  “Why don't we move this to the couch?  We can put on a movie and ignore it,” he offered.  She didn’t respond.  The silence was broken by a beep that sounded like it was coming from her glasses.  “That means you’re going to lose one of your magics, right?” he whispered into her ear.

She was motionless in his arms for another beat before nodding.  The couch was out then.  She’d want to keep her identity and the fact that her appearance changed, a secret. He looked back at his bed.  There wasn’t really a choice then.  “How about my room instead?  I don’t have to look at you while you recharge, if you don’t want me to,” he offered.  He looked between the bed and the rug on the floor.  He grimaced slightly.  He really had no idea which she would prefer.  “You want to sit on the floor or the bed?  I can throw some pillows down for us.”

She looked between the two a few times.  “Bed would be more comfortable,” she finally decided.

He nodded unseen by her, his heartrate picking up at the words.  They might have woken up cuddling on the couch a few times, but they’d never done it intentionally and he wasn’t sure what this meant.  Had anything changed?  Were they still just teammates?  Is this what teammates did?  It definitely wasn’t something he did with Robin or Wally.  

He piled up some pillows for them to lean against and nervously got onto the bed, positioning himself so Chimera would be able to lean on him comfortably. He fought to relax is body from the tension that instantly took over, unsure if he was allowed to enjoy this or not, afraid he might enjoy it too much if it didn’t mean anything, afraid he wouldn’t enjoy it enough if it was the last time.

Chimera crawled in after him, laying her head on his chest and wrapping her arm around his waist, squeezing him as if afraid he might leave her alone.  He tightened his grip around her, reassuring her that he was still there for her.  He wasn’t going anywhere.  He never would.  He fought the urge to nuzzle into her hair.  That was definitely going further than supportive teammating.  

He scrolled through a few shows and movies until he found one he knew she liked. “This okay?” he asked quietly.  

“Yeah, good choice,” she answered just as quietly.  She knew teammates don't watch a movie like this. But right now she didn’t care.  She needed this.  She needed his steady heartbeat and his rhythmic breathing.  She needed his scent and his touch.  She needed him.  She suddenly felt incredibly unsafe and unsure, like the world was getting upset around her and she wasn’t even sure where the hell that came from.  She just knew she needed to feel safe and there was nowhere in the world she felt safer than with him, in his arms.  She had no idea when that happened, hell, she didn’t even know she felt that way until just then, she just knew it was true.

He smiled gently at her.  “Told you I had good taste,” he teased lightly.

His smile widened at her playful scoff and small smile.  “Can you… can you close your eyes?�� she asked quietly.  Conner immediately closed his eyes.  Even with his eyes closed, he could still see a bright, teal light flash quickly.  Chimera moved a little bit before resting back against his chest.  “Okay.  You can open your eyes.”

He obliged, focusing on the movie, but let himself shoot quick glances at her new costume.  “Is it… is it okay for me to…”  He motioned to her costume.

Chimera chuckled lightly and buried her head in his chest a little.  Conner could just catch a dusting of pink on her cheeks.  “Yeah, it’s okay.  As long as I don’t have to move.”  

Conner smiled at her and nodded.  “Understood.” He took in as much of her costume as he could.  Orange this time with black boots and gloves, but most importantly, he could see her eyes. An incredible shade of blue that seemed more familiar than it should…  He blinked a few times and focused back on the movie, her eyes were making his heart rate speed up again and he really needed to calm down.

They watched the movie for a little while before she finally spoke again.  “You were right.  There was an explosion.  Nobody was hurt, but there was an explosion,” she admitted.  This game was dangerous, she knew it was.  She was daring him to figure out who she was.  But at this point she wasn’t sure she cared anymore. “And we… I destroyed some… things.”

Conner chuckled and rested his chin on her head.  “Yeah, us too.  Does that mean we all win?  Or we all lose?”

She shook her head.  “I’m not sure.”

“The explosion helped save someone, so I’m calling it a win.  We protected someone and, you know, sometimes you need to destroy a little in order to fix something.”  He looked down at her fondly.  He picked up her hand with his free hand and started playing with her fingers until he realized what he was doing and let them drop.  “And sometimes you have to cause a little damage to prevent more, like firefighters, you know?  Set a small fire to prevent one that would destroy the entire forest.  You told me that.  I think you were right.”

He looked down at her expectantly.  Any second now she should chuckle, at least crack a smile, tell him he should never doubt her, that she’s always right, but instead she sat up and blinked at him a few times, her face completely devoid of any emotion.  She looked away absently, seeming to stare at nothing.  “I’m going to lay down,” she finally said woodenly.

Conner stared at her in disbelief.  His brow furrowed in surprise at the unexpected reaction.  “What?  Why?” What the hell just happened?  She was smiling.  Why was she upset again and why couldn’t he say the right things? Why did she keep hanging out with her friends if they kept doing this to her?

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up.

Conner lurched forward and grabbed her wrist.  “Chi, no.  Just…” he paused at her reaction.  She seemed to curl further away from him, like she thought his anger was directed at her. He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down again, forcing his body to relax and his face to smooth out. “Just, wait… please.  Stay.  We don’t have to talk anymore.  We’ll just watch the movie, no talking, no thinking.  I’m terrible at both anyway.”

He knew he convinced her when she let out a barely audible huff.  She turned back toward him.  Her eyes flitted up to him for a fraction of a second and returned back to the bed next to him.  She wet her lips and gave the tiniest of nods before crawling back over to him and laying her head back on his chest.  Conner cautiously settled his arm around her shoulders again.  He was pretty sure she needed comfort, but wasn’t sure if it was welcome from him.  

She nestled further into his chest almost imperceptibly, but enough for him to notice in his hyper vigilant state.  He took that as a sign he made the right call and relaxed further.  He wrapped around her more, cocooning her, protecting her from whatever was going on in her head.

After a few minutes he leaned his head closer to her ear and whispered, “I really want to say what a complete idiot that guy is but I promised I wouldn’t talk.” He smiled proudly at the giggles he could feel more than hear from her.

Tags:

@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @glastwime859 @fan-writtenen @stackofrandomstuff @jalaluvsu @ultimatetornshipper @charme-de-malchan @lozzybowe @deathwishy @too0bsessedformyowngood @kokotaru @ichigorose  @nathleigh @dorkus-minimus @ira-sairain @jayjayspixiepop @woe-is-me0

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LARRY FIC REC - recently read

1. I don't want a taste (I want it all) [3K] by  thedaggerrose (blessedfetish)

What Louis really needed was a fat fucking nap.

What Louis got instead was some hipster-looking wannabe arguing with him over the validity of avocado toast.

Or the AU where Harry tells Louis to go fuck himself, Louis tells Harry to fuck him himself, and Harry follows through.

✨ Cute and hot + they bantering over avocado tost.

2. Right Side of the Wrong Bed [10K] by  eyesofshinigami 

There, standing in a pair of ridiculously tiny briefs and wielding a frying pan in one hand, is quite possibly the prettiest boy he's ever seen. Louis scrubs a hand across his face. "I'm in the wrong goddamn flat, aren't I?"

Or, the one where Louis wakes up on the wrong couch only to meet his future husband (even if Harry doesn't know it yet).

✨ This was not the first and won’t be the last time I read this fic. It’s super fun, hot, and even though it’s “just” 10K, their connection is really well-built.

3. When Least Expected [22K] by  Rearviewdreamer

Drowning in a sea of emails and Zoom meetings in the living room, his lonely son falling more and more behind in his kitchen classroom, and crushing weight of the world being on house arrest for the foreseeable future, one fateful online interaction suddenly has everything looking up.

✨Louis’ kid is having a hard time trying to adjust to the new reality brought by COVID, until he starts having music classes with music teacher Harry, and things start looking up for both father and son. Very sweet fic and really interesting to see them falling on love over this hard times.

4. Naked Attraction #2 [29K] by reader_chic_2

“By the way, I checked you out quite a lot before your tube was raised.”

Harry smiled lustrously, “Yeah? More than Leonard? He might have been crazy, but he was sort of cute.”

Louis raised an eyebrow. “Maybe to you, Styles, but I don’t enjoy dominating in the bedroom.”

“Is that so?” Harry licked his lips. “Funnily enough, I do.”

Louis felt like his heart was going to explode out of his chest. “I’m not sure if someone as adorable as you could dish out commands.”

Harry laughed brightly, and in a second flat his hand reached out and gripped his hip so hard it made Louis gasp. His eyes darkened, boring into Louis’ with a burning intensity. “And I’m not sure someone as mouthy as you could take my commands. Want to test it out?”

. . .

Louis Tomlinson is the first openly gay football player in the Premier football League. He was outed by the paps, but he’s had to embrace it since then. To show he doesn’t have shame in it, he goes onto Naked Attraction, and all the money will go to LGBTQ+ support, but he has made some changes to the show. Incidentally, he meets a certain Harry Styles there, and that is when things get interesting...

✨ This was really really fun, loved their dynamic and found it a very original story. Fluff, fun and smut. 

✨ Additional tags: Spanking. Subspace.  

5. Hold Me Closer [36K] by  balanceds

Louis Tomlinson is one of the most promising dancers of the English National Ballet, on track to become the youngest principal dancer in the company's history. That is, until forces conspire to significantly complicate his life, including: a surprise ballet, an unfairly attractive guest choreographer, and being pushed into a rivalry with his best mate. Featuring lots of wine, dancing, pining, and a happy ending.

✨ I’m not an expert but from the comments it seems the writter nailed the “dancing world” characterization (even though you don’t have to know anything about it to enjoy it). There’s some good banter and friendship; hot smut; lots of pining and not that much angst.

6. Whisper The Wind [36K] by  jacaranda_bloom

Louis’ father has political ambitions and decides it’s time for Louis to step up as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. Louis thinks this is a monumentally stupid idea. After storming off in a rage he has a chance meeting with a tall, dark, curly haired stranger. A technical glitch with their shared elevator finds Louis spending twenty minutes with the most intriguing man he’s ever met. Unfortunately the man is leaving London the very next day and moving to Australia to work at his mates surf school. Timing, as they say, can fuck right off.

Fast forward three years and Louis is miserable, a shadow of the man he once was, working in his father’s company, and hating every moment. At his thirtieth birthday party, surrounded by people he doesn’t know or doesn’t like, he decides to throw it all in and follow the impossible dream. Happiness, a fulfilling life, and someone to love. The question is, will that dream be found ten thousand miles away on a sandy beach, with a curly headed surfer dude?

---

Or the one where Louis rides an elevator that may change his life forever, Harry loves the ocean but is a terrible surfer, Liam proves not all heroes wear capes, and Niall might actually have all the answers.

✨ No angst, this is 36K of pure fluff and hot smut (read tags). They fall in love almost immediately, so they are already together most of the story.

7. King of wishful thinking [38K] by  Star_Henderson

“Don't umm don't get on the bus, come inside.” Louis blurted the words out, speaking quickly.

Harry looked startled.

“Just. Look I don't know if I want..” Louis scrubbed his face with his hand. “I'll pay for your time. Just come in.”

Harry stepped away from the bus stop and the bus sailed straight past.

“What's umm what do you guys make these days?”

Harry shuffled his feet. “Depends. Like two hundred an hour.”

Louis hummed. “Reasonable.” He gestured towards the hotel. “Come up for a drink or some room service or something.”

Harry scraped the toe of his already scuffed boots on the floor. “You don't have to do this, I feel like… like you're a nice person who feels bad but it's fine. I get it. You don't have to make it up to me.”

Louis stared at Harry. It'd been so long since he'd even spoken to a guy let alone hung out with one. He'd enjoyed the banter and the flirting.

“Come up.” Louis’ voice was soft.

Harry’s face bloomed into a smile. “Ok.”

✨This is another one that I’ve read more than once and still love. Sex worker Harry. Really sweet, very well-written and their love is really well constructed. 

8. hush. [41K] by  Wankerville

“I don't like you like that, Harry.”

“See,” Harry starts, Louis can hear the smile in his voice, “that's where I think you're lying.”

---

or an au where small towns suck, louis is losing it, and harry’s just too perfect.

✨ Read the tags! My notes on this one were: SO SO BEAUTIFULLLLL. Loved it, angst (but not a heartbreaking one), SO MUCH FLUFF, great dialogues, great banter and smut. Loved it!!! (lol)

9.  Don't Look Down [91K] by  zarah5

AU. In which Louis is a solicitor at one of London’s most prestigious law firms and Harry happens to apply for the position as his trainee. And everyone else is around, too.

✨I love everything they write and this one wasn’t different. Amazing characterization, great dialogues, great banter! Absolutely loved it! Not much smut. A bit angsty, wanted to punch Louis at times, but all ended well. 

10. Let Me Be Your Star [252K] by  lovelarry10

Harry Styles has always been a singer, but he’s never had much confidence in himself. When his idol is brought on as the new judge on The X-Factor, he figures, what the hell? He’d get to sing and meet his idol. What could go wrong?

~

Louis Tomlinson has always wanted to mentor young musicians. When he’s asked to be a judge on The X-Factor, it’s a dream come true, everything he ever wanted. What he didn’t expect was to meet a curly-headed stranger that would turn his life upside down

✨Hot smut, a lot of fluff and not that much angst. Harry seems a bit immature (which makes sense for his age) but their relatioship is really sweet. (I also enjoy that the writer included pictures of how they imagined H and L on each presentation)

[pinkysfaultorbrainsfault]

pinky and the brain - s1e6: brainania

i’m running on like the barest dregs of energy let’s fucking do this leeroy jenkins

episode summary: brain needs to build a Very Big Tumbly Drier. he needs a lot of money to build a Very Big Tumbly Drier. he decides the best way to do this is to.... invent a country and scam the us out of a foreign aid cheque.

hm.

the rundown:

it’s acme labs!

there it is.

as we zoom in a little, we hear pinky laughing maniacally at the very mention of tom ruegger, while a couple of women are dead on the floor.

hm.

SPEAK TO ME, PHYLLIS, SPEAK. as it turns out, things aren’t quite as dire as previously thought, as pinky affirms that brain looks “simply fetching.”

narf.

“these are the only garments i could obtain. and besides, you are no helen of troy yourself.”

ignoring the fact that he chose to wear the hat and the gloves as well, brain moves onto explaining his latest plan--

but not before giving pinky a static-y poke for his crimes.

“to generate global static cling, we shall construct a massive clothes dryer.”

BEHOLD.

THE TITANOCYCLE FOUR THOUSAND, WITH THREE SPEEDS AND AUTOMATIC WRINKLEGUARD. this will surely allow brain to.... trap everyone in their clothes via static cling and. uh. allow him to seize power...... somehow......... by putting everyone in a really big tumbledryer?????

it costs fourteen billion dollars.

“oh, i have it!”

“we build a huge tooth, leave it under a huge pillow, and then fairies will leave us lots of money!”

brain tells pinky to stop eating paint chips. it’s a well deserved response to pinky’s insane, bullshit idea, not nearly as dignified and scientific as Everyone Goes In The Big Tumbly Dryer By Brain Age Two And A Half.

as he heads off to ponder an Equally Sensible idea to get a lot of money, pinky assures brain that he will not “be a bother.”

“brain.”

“if i ate a hundred jelly rolls, would i explode?”

i don’t know why pinky is sticking his ass out. maybe that’s where the jelly rolls go, in the sense that whenever i used to eat cakes around my dad he’d often say something like “a minute on the lips is a lifetime on the hips”. (also? pinky is british, so what he actually means is jelly rolls, and that sounds disgusting.)

so anyway brain gives him a piece of paper and tells him to try origami.

BUT WAIT.

“pinky! are you pondering what i’m pondering?” “i think so brain, but why the bitch stacey foreign aid office is giving chad all the money while i’ve always been a nice guy and showed her a basic level of human respect is beyond me. narf.”

no i’m sorry. he didn’t say that. pinky respects women. also apologies to the residents of the actual country of chad. big ups to all of you. lol. (he actually says “but pantyhose are so uncomfortable in the summertime”, which is wild, considering this episode was aired in november.)

brain doesn’t want to wear the pantyhose.

well, maybe he does, but not right now. instead, he suggests that they form a bogus nation and demand reparations from the united states, which is, of course, easier, saner, and far less work than Really Big Tooth. as he folds the Chad Newspaper into a vague key shape (the Virgin Tabloid never had a chance) pinky points out that, uh

you can’t just invent a country, brain. “won’t people know we’re not a real country?”

“the average american’s grasp of geography is pitiful. they’ll think we’re part of the former soviet union.”

“or canada.”

so they pick a random, tiny island on the label of a Science Chemical and set off on the boat to Being A Coloniser Town.

a long sea voyage awaits us! and at the end, we shall found a nation! and that nation shall be called!

BRAINANIA.

“can’t we call it pinkyland? or eric?”

“don’t vex me, pinky, or i shall turn on you.”

so they get on the S.S FATTY LUMPKIN and bugger off to Island X.

“i haven’t seen anybody yet, brain. i guess we’re alone here.”

“excellent, pinky. it’s time to flesh out the terrain.”

“that volcano will be mount brain.”*

“this clearing will be brain flats,”

“and that water over there--”

“very well.”

“the fjord of pinky.”

and they hoist their adorable, homemade flag, while pinky doots them a little themetune.

(*perhaps when they’re not in the middle of the jungle.)

how lovely!

less lovely.

significantly less lovely. still, it got brain to make the little O:O face, so it’s not all bad.

as the mice are scooped up onto a sphere and presented in front of this presumably-maori gentleman, brain decides to put his White Gay From Los Angeles skills to the test, and reassures pinky that he will communicate with them in the Primitive Argot Of The South Seas.

ME NUMBER ONE FELLA. OTHER FELLA NUMBER TEN. CATCHY ALL SAME SAME. YOU SAVVY?

“good day, mate. d’you speak english?”

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

anyway apparently this has happened often enough that these guys learnt english. from all the times it happened. and then they ate the guy they learnt english from and shrunk his head, but to be honest, i don’t blame them.

this is alan. “hello, alan.” says pinky.

“i would be pinky! and this is prime minister brain.”

“who is IN CHARGE OF THIS ISLAND AND EVERYTHING YOU SEEEE.”

“narf.”

sneaky bastard knows what he’s doing.

alan isn’t too happy with that, because the island belongs to the volcano god, whanganui,

WHO PROTECTS US FROM EVIL AND HAAARM AND WHAT ALL ELSE.

(i can find no evidence that whanganui is actually a god, as opposed to just A Bit Of New Zealand. if they are, i’m more than happy to go back and edit this as would be religiously considerate.)

this is the face of a man who knows he has fucked up.

still, brain decides yet again that his pride comes before any kind of rational decision, so he decides to tell them that whanganui sent him to the island to rule over them,

as proven by his fire powers.

(ETA: i missed this last time. why is brain carrying a lighter around? that episode isn’t for a good few more seasons yet.)

alan is unimpressed.

I CAN TRAP YOUR SOULS INSIDE THIS GLASS

“i can make bubbles with my spit!”

apparently this is a real talent on the island. who’d have thought. (they do not believe it to be a sign of god. it’s just really cool.)

so brain gets a hand building brainania.

it has everything one could possibly need.

actually pretty much as soon as the airport and the gift shop are built, brain heads to washington, so evidently he holds the strong opinion that this is everything a country could possibly need. odd. still, maybe he plans on adding stuff once he becomes world ruler, or whatever.

so with that established, The Most Exalted ned limpopo gets out of the car. hassan lembeck is also here. he is attempting to make an origami bird out of a newspaper.

no bird for you, mr lembeck. no bird for you.

they wander off to go and see mr bisck, who is currently playing with a little toy plane.

he reacts to the news that the prime minister of brainania is here to see him with “oh great, more moochers,”

and does not seem to take kindly to having tiny mice on his desk, even if they are reasonably exalted.

though a quick database search tells him said mice have no record of financial trouble, or, indeed, a credit rating, so. he tells them to go away.

“go away.”

okay. hassan doesn’t take this well.

as Exalted Ned Limpopo gently tries to persuade mr bisck that he could “harm negotations” between brainania and the us (a lot more politely than he usually explains things to people, may i add) hassan chimes in with a haven’t you people ever heard of bold claim that brainania, if slighted, will INVADE YOUR LANDS

GO BOOM BOOM BOOM

AND MAKE YOU ALL OUR PATHETIC SLAAAAAAAAAAAAVES.

mr bisck does not like this idea, it seems.

as he rushes off to tell the UN, brain informs pinky that he has

“just created an international incident.”

“oh, thank you, brain.”

“in the words of the immortal yogi bear, this is dejavu all over again.”

so the boys turn up on PUNCHLINE, WITH FRED FLUBBLE.

there he is. “perhaps you gentlemen would care to climb up on the desk?”

they make it, just about.

and sing a fun little song about brainania’s war victories, i guess.

WE WILL FIGHT AND NEVER QUIT

FIND ME A ROOFTOP AND I WILL SPIT. NARF

this is not well recieved by the us military.

unfortunately, as the US press secretary points out, the us cannot go to war with a country it can’t find,

(wuss.)

so instead the mice are invited to dinner at the white house.

“in a few short hours, pinky, we shall have our foreign aid loan, and then the world!”

“birdy birdy birdy! narf!”

“i sense much of this historic moment is lost on you.”

at the white house, a very bored looking individual introduces The Most Exalted Ned Limpopo (feat. hassan lembeck), and bill clinton shakes his hand.

“me number one fella. other fellas number ten. catchy all same same. you savvy?”

“i speak fluent english.”

“eyyyy. haha. sure you do.”

“all brainania ever wanted from the US was friendship. friendship, and fourteen billion dollars and fifty nine cents. the friendship i will treasure. the money i will spend on polo ponies and cruise missiles.”

brain has a brief discussion with hilary clinton over the advantages of strontium ninety versus uranium two-thirty-eight,

bill clinton pulls this face and tells them it Sounds Smart,

and the mice bounce merrily back to mr bisck to get their foreign aid check.

“you better not lose it, buster!!! i just erased your records!! you won’t get another one from me!!!!”

HA.

“one should be enough. thanks and farewell, “

“you niggling bureaucrat.”

conclusion:

upon returning back to brainania, The Most Exalted Ned Limpopo finds a letter from alan addressed to him. it’s also mouse sized, which is adorable. apparently, whanganui,

WHO PROTECTS US FROM EVIL AND WHAT ALL ELSE

is “blinking mad”, and the volcano is going to explode.

brain, obviously, does not believe in whanganui, and is mostly just mad that he’s lost his workforce. still, as pinky points out,

“at least we've still got brainania!”

“i sense life has taken another sardonic twist.”

still, they do, barely, have enough time to reach the shoreline and start swimming away from the imminently exploding volcano. perhaps it should have been, yknow, a pretty decent sign that the natives cleared out. historically, people who live in these places tend to know about them, but what of that when brain is number one guy same same you savvy.

🙄

anyway the karmatic response to all of that previous racism is that a tidal wave sweeps them back onto the volcano,

which then blasts them into space.

(okay not literally space. but they do end up on a little raft in the middle of the ocean. don’t ask me where the raft came from. i have no idea.)

oof.

“mother nature has slammed her unmerciful fist on our fair isle, pinky.”

“do you know what this means?”

“birdy birdy birdy!!!!”

brain does not appreciate Birdy Birdy Birdy.

“blast it, pinky!”

“i said, do you know what this means!!”

“it means you just ripped up our foreign aid cheque.”

one should be enough, huh?

brain: 7 pinky: 7 outside influence: 13

like, i don’t know. maybe pinky shouldn’t have been making oragami birds out of the foreign aid cheque. but, while silly, it’s not like it did any harm. brain.... brain just needs to chill.

“well, aren’t you the tiniest foreigners i’ve had in here all morning. i’m mr appleby, can i help you?”

“yes. we would like to have relations with you. and steal some milk duds.”

“we wish to establish diplomatic relations with the us. i am the prime minister, and this is my minister of finance.”

“brainania--? oh, i remember you. you used to be a.... suburb of prague.”

“can you prove you’re a nation?”

“yes! we have postcards.”

“that’s the fjord of pinky.”

“you foreign folk sure have your own.... queer little ways.”

[onisiondrama]

(Note: I’m not repeating stories he’s told before and just putting them in parenthesis. I have a lot more videos to go until I’m caught up so that would save me a lot of time. If he gives details I never heard from him before, I will type those.)

“The New Onision Conspiracy” prev. “Hitting Your Loved Ones Is Never Ok” Speaks, September 29?, 2020 (deleted)

- Says he got 6,000 - 7,000 new followers on Twitch during one stream. Allegedly, it’s from a streamer who was trying to say Onision beats his s/o. He thought it was about Shiloh (called the cops on Shiloh stories). - He found out over stream it was actually about a record or report from November 16, 2019 where someone said it sounded like there was domestic violence in his home. He says people don’t factor in that the police are often called on streamers and Youtubers. Internet people like to waste the money of tax payers and get Youtubers and streamers swatted or call animal control all the time. - Says he was told by a police officer someone called. At the time he thought it was about his pets because it happened so often. People from the internet called and would say they’re a neighbor to get the cops to come. - Anti-o is one of the most criminal and toxic community out there because they waste tax payer money and waste the time of the police, animal control, and CPS. - Someone tried to get him swatted, but it didn’t work. They released the audio. He never listened to it, but he was told it was really bad and embarrassing for the person who called. The person who picked up the call was intelligent and saw through that person right away. Emergency receptionists deal with a lot of imbeciles, like people asking for directions to Pizza Hut. - The pizza companies don’t like anti-o’s because they were pranked so many times. He asked them to put down his number and call him to confirm if he actually ordered a pizza because people would order meat lovers pizzas to his home. They tried to pointlessly kill animals and waste the pizza company’s time and money. The prank never worked because he would never take the pizza. - Lying is the go-to for people who want to be evil online. Sarah was reported as murdered and she answered the door. Kai was reported missing and Kai answered the door. - (He was reported to animal control for farting / muffin) - People create villainous legends about him online. If you watch his Twitch you’ll know he’s boring. He’s only entertaining in videos because he’s one of the best villainous actors out there. A director tried to put him in a loving role. The director asked him why he was so awkward and weird when he was brilliant in the other roles he gave him. He says it’s because he’ll the villain. He’s Loki, not Thor. He’s the guy that plays American Psycho, not Romeo from Romeo and Juliet. - Says people created a fictional universe where he’s a super manipulative intellectual who’s playing everyone. It’s an elaborate, nonsensical concept of him. You’d think the people who he kicked out of his life would say that’s ridiculous but they were kicked out for being liars. He’s actually quite virtuous. He has morals, standards, an overwhelming respect for the truth and justice. - He can be cold like L. He’d fit in the role of L. He hates playing Light Yagami. He always depicts L (I think he meant to say Light) as an idiot in his Death Note sketches because his motivations are stupid, he’s a criminal. He acts like a hero yet he’s killing people for disagreeing with him. - Says Thanos was an idiot too. [goes into detail about Thanos’ motivations] He should have doubled the size of the planets so he doesn’t have to kill everyone. He murdered countless individuals. - People tried to use a Leafy video as evidence against him to the police. Leafy recently wrote to him and said this was all r-worded. Keemstar also pointed out how stupid this all is. Neither of them like him, but they both had to deal with crazy anti-o. You’re all conspiracy theorists whack jobs. - (Hansen trespassed, Mike went to court) - Someone on twitter said he belongs in prison, but there was no crime. - All these people’s stories don’t line up. One person says he thinks he’s a god, another person says he’s a jerk, someone said he was rude to his husband. The consistency is he’s rude to people and you guys think that concludes a prison sentence. - People jumped to conclusions with Johnny Depp, but they flipped when they saw evidence of his girlfriend being awful. - He filmed himself walking in on Shiloh in the shower with a Go Pro. (He describes the sketch.) Says she was 18 or 19. He says it was a pretend prank. They also made a Taco Bell prank where they pretended to order in a drive thru when it was closed. He pretended to shave half of her head when she was sleeping. She told them to shave her head before the video. There was another prank where he said things like she’s not good enough at the end of the video. It’s what Youtubers do, it was fake drama. At the time you guys got it. The videos got 2,000 likes and 200 dislikes. Later on it’s out of context and people don’t understand the vibe. He threw candy corn at her and she pretended to be upset. They were dating and it was part of the joke. (He dumped Shiloh for cheating and getting pregnant story.) - If someone calls the cops on you, that doesn’t mean what they said is true. The person that called was not even a verified neighbor. - He has a hater that lives across the water. He filmed him bulldozing his weeds and made a huge thing online about it. [No. That guy worked for the fish and wildlife department in their county. He was literally doing his job. He saw a violation and reported it. He sent the video to the county when he reported it. People online got a hold of the video online because it was with the public reports on the site.] Says it was primarily blackberry bushes, nettles, and devil’s club that he cleared. Things that significantly hurt adults and children. Anti-os freaked out about it and his yard is literally better now than it’s ever been. People say he destroyed his land. What a bunch of numbskulls. - He recently did a poll on twitter and asked if he made a poll for legal expenses and after he collects it he says the majority will go to fixing his car, if that’s fraud. 80% said yes. An anti-o did that and it’s not fraud? He did another poll asking if he told someone he could destroy their life and they later asked him to sign an NDA and he told them only if they sleep with him, would that be rape? People voted 8/10 yes. Says that’s what Sarah did to him. - People used to show up to their debates and after would say they never really hated him. They were just being an entertainer or liking the attention he was getting them. You’re dealing with a bunch of liars. - He’s never found someone who talked about honesty as much as him and wound up being a liar. He swears on his own life that he’s an honest person. - He says he doesn’t need to talk about things like how he was crying when his daughter fell out of a window, but he’s trying to be transparent. - Says the domestic violence call thing obviously never happened. He and Kai are not violent. Shiloh was violent. She was hauled away for threatening to frame him for murder. Her ex said she threatened to put a bowie knife in him. (Shiloh stole his money story.) You guys hail that person a hero because you don’t care about reality. - He thinks possibly someone heard him making a meltdown video, but the only neighbor he’s near is cool with him. They text every few months about bears they saw. They invited him once to a BBQ. The hater across the water watched his with their camcorder zoomed in like a peeping Tom. 🙄 - Anti-os love breaking the law. You either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain. [I swear if I got $1 every time I listened to him saying that quote I’d be rich.] They think they’re heroes, but they hurt people like villains. If you’re self righteous and you hurt others because you think you’re above other people, you’re a villain.  - He’s hurt a lot of people’s feeling and made people cry because he rejected them or said what was true. A lot of people don’t like that. - He talked to Kai about all this today and he was amused. Kai was upstairs smiling and chuckling about it. - Comment section is still closed because he doesn’t want people to talk about conspiracy theories. He’s thinking about making a forum so his fans can talk about his videos.

[kaypeace21]

I have a question but I just want to say first that I love your theories. They’re very well thought-out and interesting. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you could explain how Mike is queer-coded? I’ve seen you mention it and I’ve seen others talk about his attraction to androgynous El, but is there more? Thanks!

ALOT MORE! I talked about it here in the past- but without getting too much into s3 (since I’ve already talked about s3 byler extensively).I’ll just have links for everything I noticed in s3 at the bottom of this post. In regards to s1 and 2, Mike was heavily coded as queer. But most significantly this was done in s1- arguably he was more queer coded than Will ever was. I won’t get into all the details (we’d be here all day) but the highlights, at the top of my head are-

s1

- Mike in his his basement has a red heart being propelled by a rainbow.

- 4 separate characters said El looked like a boy, but Mike doesn’t care! Even one of the men thought El might be the missing ‘Byers boy’. When El loses her wig , Troy said “she doesn’t even look like a girl” to the cops. But Mike just calls her “really pretty”

-Nancy says “I thought you were acting weird, but I thought it was because of Will” And Mike responds “I thought you were acting weird too I thought it was because of Steve … Do you like Jonathan now”?” Nancy: “No, do you like Eleven?”. They literally compared the explicit love triangle between Steve/Nancy/Jonathan to the Will-Mike-El dynamic!

- Mike literally uses gender inclusive pronouns when talking about crushes using the word “someone” (3 times), and embarrassing himself because he can’t articulate the difference between friendship and romance. When he could of simply given the 80s heteronormative  answer of ‘when a boy likes a girl’.

Mike: “ you go to school dances with someone. 

You know someone that you like” 

El: “a friend?”

Mike: ‘not a friend uh … uh someone like a” (gives up and kisses her)

-Mike’s mom said “ What’s been going on with Will, I can’t imagine what it’s been like for you. I just … want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to HIDE anything from me” (she even emphasizes the word ‘hide”  (which is heavily queer coded)

- when Will ‘dies’, “we can be heroes” by David bowie (a bisexual singer) plays,   “And we kiss as though nothing could fall and the shame” is the lyric that plays when Mike returns to his house and cries in his mother’s arms over the ‘death’ of Will. Do I have to explain how ‘kissing and shame’ are queer-coded . And how such a lyric is oddly romantic- if we’re supposed to see their bond as nothing but platonic XD

-his dad jokes “Absolutely not” *turns to wife* “our son with a girl?”.

- when Lucas makes fun of his crush on EL, Lucas gets down on one knee  and says “ I love you so much, will you marry me?” and literally 1s later, we’re introduced to the bullies and the idea (for the first time) that Will is ‘gay’, and Mike is in the forefront of the scene and unlike his friends he is THE ONLY ONE physically assaulted (like a gay-bashing) .  They leave Lucas and Dustin unharmed. Even though Lucas just proposed to another guy- which should have gotten him a beating by the homophobic bullies.

It’s supposed to subconsciously hint Mike is queer like Will, and likes Will. The first interaction with the bullies, they mention Will being ‘gay’ right after they mention Mike’s crush on androgynous El and have a guy propose to Mike. Mike says to “ignore them” ( the homophobic remarks) but is assaulted anyways. And when asked what happed he doesn’t want to tell El the details cause he’s ashamed . 

2nd time the bullies talk about Will, Mike is once again in the forefront, unlike his straight friends who are in the background . But this time Mike initiates the confrontation), as the bullies say Will is “flying in fairyland with all the other little fairies. All happy and gay”. Mike was literally on the verge or tears at this comment (despite being happy a few moments earlier , telling the others to ‘act sad’ because they’d look suspicious other wise). But this is the comment where Mike snaps and pushes Troy back (because he took it personally/wanted to defend Will). 

The framing of Mike once again being in the front and snapping at the homophobic remarks (these gifs don’t do it justice, just rewatch the scene -Mike eyes water at the remarks). Then the last time the bullies appear , Mike jumps off the cliff and “flies like a fairy” (like Troy said) thanks to El . Troy at the police station even uses the word “fly” not levitate.

- Mike proclaiming “I’m the only one who cares about Will!” Seems like something a kid with a crush might say ( because obviously his other friends care about Will). But he thinks he cares the most.

-Mike sneaking out to find Will, as Steve sneaks in to Nancy’s. They both even make eye contact (and pretend not to have seen each other).

- they share dinosaur toys , in s1 and 2 they appear to be the only ones with dinosaur toys.

- The s1 mom hug scene where Mike feels he lost Will is paralleled in s3 - signifying how he lost him a 2nd time.

- Mike in the 1st ep being the one to insist on looking for Will in the rain (callback to s3). But he never went looking for El when he saw her through his window? Even when Mike saw Will’s dead body, the second he heard his voice he convinced his friends to help rescue him!

- You remember the binder (from s1) that Mike keeps, filled with 100s of Will’s drawings, and how he caresses the drawing after thinking Will was dead. That’s totes platonic.

s2

- Will in all 3 seasons identifies as a wizard. But in s2 Mike (the paladin) says Will is a cleric. Meaning this reflects how Mike actually feels about Will. In d&d, they have similar moral values, powers, and generally need and depend on each other in the lore of d&d. Paladins have similar healing powers to clerics, but clerics have stronger healing abilities - which is interesting since Mike has always been viewed as the protector. But to Mike Will has helped him (maybe deal with the loss of El and other trauma) , just by being there. And if Mike says Will is a cleric,despite Will still identifying as a wizard in s3, it shows how deeply Mike actually feels about Will. It shows he views Will as one of the only people who understands him and views him as a healing presence and his moral compass.

“ strength of conviction gave many paladins a sense of common fellowship but did not always endear them to others. In many cases, paladins did not get along quite as well with other non-paladin adventurers, with the exception of clerics with similar beliefs.”

“A Paladin tries to hold to the highest standards of conduct, but even the most virtuous Paladin is fallible. Sometimes the heat of emotion causes a Paladin to transgress his or her oath (of honesty, courage, compassion, honor ,and duty). A paladin who has broken a vow typically seeks absolution from a cleric who shares his or her faith or from another paladin of the same order. After a rite of confession and forgiveness, the paladin starts fresh.

-Mike stands next to Will under the rainbow poster

- Mike forces Will to dance with a girl, but you literally see Mike’s shocked expression like  ‘what,why’d I do that ?’ And after this, they show Dustin looking sad about Max/Lucas dancing and then they have Mike get into the frame (next to Dustin) and look sad when Will/girl are dancing in the same exact frame as Max/Lucas. As they switch between these 2 shots.

- All the mileven byler parallels or byler scenes were almost ALL initiated by Mike. If the parallels were meant to show a one sided love triangle (on Mike’s end). They would of made Will the instigator not Mike! Parallels can be watched here , start at 6:50)

-Mike initiated the “crazy together’ line- and in s3 he said ‘blank makes you crazy’. So subconsciously he knew the line had romantic connotations.

-Mike initiating the hand hold (with a zoom in shot) and in the show this is only done for romantic pairings. Also Mike being the one to initiate the ‘arm thing’ which is generally romantic. But in s3 , Lucas also does this, saying “I am spending quality time with my girlfriend’

-Mike saying, asking him to be his friend was the “best thing I’ve ever done”

-Mike constantly following Will around, asking if he’s okay or biking to his house to check on him. In s3 running out to chase Will to the garage and apologizing, and running into a storm to apologize a 2nd time.

YOU SEE A PATTERN! Mike is whipped! And is the one constantly chasing and pursuing Will, not the other way around! Before s3, people always portrayed Will as the (stereotypical- problematic trope of ) a sad-pinning-gay in a one sided love with Mike. It’s like people didn’t even watch the show (and just assigned tropes/stereotypes they wanted, that weren’t actually there). Will (probably too shy or scared to- because of homophobic taunts) never initiated a single byler moment- it was ALWAYS Mike!!! If people were actually objective, they would of thought it was Mike who was the one pinning! I talked about it here. 

We literally only saw Will pine or be jealous in s3 when Mike was in a relationship with El/when they fought.  

The cannon Spotify playlists

called ‘Mike’s basement beats’- These are character playlists that Spotify and St worked on together after s2.

-his first song is “small town boy” an 80s LGBT anthem about living in a small town and being queer and bullied. Every band member was openly gay.

-his 11th song is ‘don’t you want me’ from a “celebrate your gay pride” album

S3

I’m not repeating my literal essays so here are the links to pretty much all my s3 byler meta.  (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

- brief s3 mentions) it’s implied Will and Mike go on movie double dates all the time (right after he makes out with El). He celebrates the holidays (generally associated with introducing s.os) with Will/El. The breakup with El is treated comedically - and all Mike does is complain and burp on the couch. The byler breakup is serious (with the backdrop of rain)while Mike was visibly upset he hurt Will and apologized twice almost immediately . Running to the garage and then into the rain and banging on his door (s2 callback). The “it was the best thing I’ve ever done “ shed scene was shot purposely more romantic than the pool shed scene of “you’re the most important thing in the world to me”. The fact he think “blank makes you crazy”,and he used a similar line on Will in s2. The fact that Mike equates falling in love with girls as a part of growing up and his love for El as something “old people” say. While his affections for Will , he believes are childish (like d&d) and something he has to grow out of. The “I love her” scene was treated comedically. The last Mike/Will exchange vs Mike having his eyes open and not kissing El back . Not remembering he said “I love her”, and dismissing it as something he said in the heat of the moment. Mike looking back at the Byers house , then flashing to Will crying, than flashing back to Mike hugging his mom. Then those scenes having a monologue about not wanting feelings to change but how it’s inevitable.

Also we see in s3 (in El’s room) the return of the heart being propelled by a rainbow.

No hate, but I’m honestly flabbergasted when people think Mike is straight when he’s literally MORE queer coded than Will. Is it just my autistic brain seeing things as obvious, that others easily miss- or just people refuse to see it … or heteronormativity getting in the way?

gif credit : (not sure about the first 2, tell me if they’re yours so I can give credit), last 3 by  eggogorgon , the last gif by cath-avery

[thejanewestin]

Gravity, chapter 1 (Mirandy)

Andy Sachs was not a scientist. 

 She felt that this was an important point to make, particularly in the weekly staff meetings, when the scientific editors’ discussion of the latest endosymbiont or cytokine or whatever devolved into semi-hysterical PubMed searches and emphatic data-set thumping. Eventually, after they’d worn themselves out squawking at each other, they’d turn to her to tie-break. 

 “Guys,” she’d say. “I am not a scientist.”

 But she was the managing editor, and despite having a pay grade significantly below that of the Ph.D.s in the room, it somehow fell to her to figure out which of the six nearly-identical Figure 1s to use. 

 “Your problem is you’re too capable,” Trixie said, examining the underside of her coffee mug with an expression that was half interest and half revulsion.

 “You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Andy closed her laptop and scrubbed both hands over her aching eyeballs. “Are you ready to go?”

 “What do you suppose this is?” Trixie held the mug out to Andy, bottom-side first, where a wad of something grayish-blue was firmly affixed.

 Andy made a face. “Walt’s gum,” she said.

 Trixie shuddered. “I was afraid you’d say that,” she said. She reached over and put the mug onto Walt’s desk. “That dude is a sociopath. I can’t believe I dated him.”

 “Stop.” Andy let Trixie pull her to her feet. “I can’t handle any romantic navel-gazing tonight. I need ravioli.”

 They stopped at Trattoria Giulia on the way home, stomping their feet on the cracked sidewalk in a vain defense against the icy night wind as they waited at the window. 

 “Whoever thought a spaghetti counter was a good idea—” Trixie started.

 “Was a genius,” Andy finished, tearing into her bag and finding a breadstick. She crammed half of it into her mouth while they walked the rest of the way home. 

 “SVU?” Trixie asked, once they were ensconced in their apartment. 

 “Nyet,” Andy said, finding a spoon in the pile of dirty dishes in the sink and wiping it on a dish towel. “Too tired. Going to eat ravioli in bed and pass out.”

 Trixie flopped on the couch. “Suit yourself.”

 Andy managed to splatter minimal tomato sauce on the bedspread, which was pretty good for ten o’clock at night, she thought. She scrolled through emails as she chewed. Submission, submission, submission, submission. The journal was pretty successful, even though its impact factor would never break the threes. And she liked her job. It wasn’t the hard-hitting journalism career she’d envisioned when she’d graduated from college, but it was good, satisfying work. 

 It was a little funny, actually, that she’d taken such a roundabout route to end up right back in New York. It had started with a little job in Boston—editing press releases for a medical journal—and when she and Nate had ended it a year later, she’d moved back to Ohio. A colleague from the Boston journal had put a good word in for her in Cincinnati. Eighteen months after she’d started, the whole publication had moved to Queens, and they’d taken her with them. Trixie’s claim that she was too capable had served her pretty well, all things considered, and she’d been promoted to managing editor just before her thirty-first birthday.

 Submission, submission, submission. All things that could be handled at the office tomorrow. She scrolled faster. 

 And then she saw a name. 

 Andy’s thumb slammed on her phone screen so hard she accidentally minimized her mail app. “Fuck,” she muttered, opening it again, and there it was, in bold Helvetica Neue. 

 Every cell in Andy’s body seemed to turn to ice. 

 EXTERNAL, the email said. Submission. 

 And the name above it:

 Cassidy Priestly.

 ***

 They’d be twenty-two now. It was hard to fathom—her brain had put them into a kind of temporal lock, freezing them eternally as bratty twelve-year-olds. She’d spent more time than she cared to admit Googling Miranda, but she had sort of forgotten about the twins.

 Cassidy didn’t have a LinkedIn, but Caroline did. She was following in her mother’s footsteps, apparently—her current position was listed as Photography Intern, Elias-Clark. She looked like a younger, freckled Miranda, all cheekbones and chin and that aquiline nose. Heavy eyeliner. No smile.

 Andy flipped back to Cassidy’s submission. It was a PDF, too small to read on her phone, so she put the ravioli container on her nightstand and reached for her laptop. Cassidy was the first author, so she would have done the bulk of the writing. The last name listed was a Ph.D. at Columbia. It was a name she’d seen in print a number of times, although never at Cellular Function. 

 Andy read. For a moment, absorbed in the text, she allowed herself to forget the paper’s author. It was a descriptive study on regulatory kinesins in microtubules, and although it was quite a bit more specialized than what the journal usually published, the writing was good and the design seemed solid. She skimmed enough to decide which of her colleagues should review it, deidentified it, and forwarded it to Rashad. Her hands, she realized, had become ice-cold. 

 She felt nervous. 

 It was a strange, foreign feeling, like someone had whooshed her consciousness back into her twenty-three-year-old body. She felt exactly like she had for the entirety of the almost-year at Runway, and she knew exactly why.

 Miranda.

 She wouldn’t be the one to decide whether or not the paper would be accepted—that was Rashad’s job, and he’d review it blindly, without knowing the authors. But it would be her name on the letter. She could just imagine Cassidy presenting a rejection to her mother. Would she remember Andy?

 She wondered, briefly, if it was possible to recuse herself from a submission, as an attorney might recuse herself from a case in which there was a conflict of interest. Oh, God. If the paper got rejected, she was going to have to quit her job. 

 No. She shook herself. What was she thinking? Cellular Function had nothing to do with Runway. There was absolutely no overlap between scientific journals and fashion writing. Miranda reigned over Elias-Clark, sure; her reach might even extend to print media beyond New York. But Andy would bet her left pinky that no one in her current sphere—besides Trixie, of course—even knew who Miranda Priestly was.

 She swallowed her anxiety with a few more bites of her now-cold ravioli. Old habits, it turned out, died hard. 

 She showered, turned off the lights, and climbed into bed, but sleep was a long time coming.

 ***

 The paper did not get accepted. 

 Andy had known it wouldn’t. Upon closer reading the following morning, it really was too specialized for their applied-science journal. More suited for Experimental Cell or Developmental Immunology. Three weeks after she sent it to Rashad, she got the email back that it had been rejected. Fuck.

 She copy-pasted the rejection template into an email reply to Cassidy and her coauthors, staring at it for a long time as she chewed on her thumbnail. It was a good study. It would surely be accepted at a different journal, and she could come up with four or five off the top of her head. 

 Cassidy’s mentor would know that. She was undoubtedly accustomed to rejections, and would have a list of next choices to which the article would be submitted. 

 And yet.

 It wasn’t exactly forbidden to deviate from the standard reply, nor was it exactly forbidden to give recommendations for future submissions. But in her seven years at the publication, Andy had never done so; had never seen the need. Now, though, she wanted to, and she had the uncomfortable realization that it wasn’t because she worried about Cassidy’s disappointment. 

 It was because she was worried about Miranda’s.

 She didn’t want Miranda to see Andy’s name at the bottom of that letter and think that Andy was responsible for her daughter’s failure to appear in the journal she’d selected. After all this time, after everything Miranda had put her through, she didn’t want to let Miranda down.

 She sent the template off to Cassidy, just as she’d done for the past seven years, with no additional commentary or suggestions.  Then she did something that was either exceptionally kind or exceptionally stupid: she opened her personal email and sent Cassidy a message. 

 Dear Ms. Priestly:

 Thank you for your submission to Cellular Function. Although your work was not accepted, the writing was — what? Andy thought. Good? No, it was better than good, although Cassidy’s youth and inexperience showed. The writing was more than acceptable. Please consider submitting to the following journals.

 She listed the five she could think of—she had friends at three of them—thanked Cassidy again for her work, and sent the email before she could think better of it.

 Probably exceptionally stupid, she decided, immediately after the soft whoosh of the message zooming away. She had no doubt that her boss would have something to say about her endorsement of journals other than their own. 

 She wondered if Cassidy would tell Miranda about it. The thought made her feel unsettled and uneasy—and, although she didn’t like to admit it to herself, just the tiniest bit hopeful.

 ***

 Cassidy’s reply that afternoon was just one sentence, and Andy’s burst of laughter was so loud that Trixie jumped and glared at her.

 ANDREA SACHS IS THAT YOU?

 Well. Maybe not so stupid after all.

 It’s me, she typed back. Surprised you remember.

 The response this time was almost instantaneous. Of course! Harry Potter! Are you still in the city? Let’s have coffee. And her phone number. 

 The immediate familiarity, such a stark contrast to her mother’s standoffishness, took Andy slightly aback. At least the brevity was familiar. 

 Sure, she sent back. Which was why, two days later, she was sitting in a Starbucks on the Columbia campus, waiting to greet someone she had thought she’d never see again.

 Cassidy arrived at precisely five-thirty, saw Andy at once, and beamed. “Oh my God,” she said.

 Andy got to her feet. Cassidy didn’t quite hug her, but she took Andy’s hand in both of hers and pulled her in for an air-kiss near Andy’s cheek. The residue of high society, Andy supposed.

 “I can’t believe it’s you,” Cassidy exclaimed. Her blue eyes were sparkling behind outsized tortoiseshell glasses. Her bright copper hair had been cropped into a shaggy lob, and she was wearing clothes that Andy was fairly certain Miranda would hate: a gigantic Columbia sweatshirt, leggings, and beat-up Ugg boots. A messenger bag with a seat-belt strap was slung over her shoulder. She looked every inch the graduate student. 

 “I’m sorry about your paper,” Andy said by way of greeting.

 Cassidy waved a dismissive hand and dropped into the armchair across from Andy’s. “Don’t worry about it. Aisha has a publication plan that’s sixteen journals deep for everything she puts her name on.”

 Andy felt a little silly at that, since in her mind’s eye, she had only really seen the disappointed face of a young adolescent. “Oh. Good,” she said lamely.

 “Your email was so nice,” Cassidy added quickly. “I really appreciated it.” She slid her bag off her shoulder and dropped it on the floor, and as she did so, Andy saw the flash of a small diamond on the ring finger of her left hand.

 Cassidy followed her gaze, and for a moment, Andy saw the impish twinkle of so many years ago. She held her hand up and waggled her fingers. “Two months ago,” she said, grinning wickedly. “He’s an engineer. Mom was pissed.”

 Andy laughed, even as something in her chest twinged at the mention of Miranda. “I can only imagine.”

 It was a nice visit—really nice, Andy thought, after Cassidy had left for class. She’d learned a lot about the twins’ lives. Cassidy was, as she’d assumed, in a Ph.D. program in microbiology. Caroline had graduated from the Tisch photography school. They didn’t live together, but their apartments were three blocks apart, and Cassidy was thinking of moving in with the fiancé after her lease was up. 

 What she didn’t mention—what Andy desperately wanted to ask, but didn’t dare—was anything about Miranda, other than a brief roll of her eyes when she mentioned “cohabitation.”

She didn’t say if Miranda was still in the townhouse, if she’d remarried, if she was happy. She’d be fifty-six in November; was she still the formidable figure of a decade ago, or had she softened with age?

 Cassidy hadn’t said; had carefully avoided the topic at all. Andy had the feeling that there was a lot about Cassidy’s life these days that Miranda didn’t know. So she doubted, very much, that Cassidy would mention their meeting to Miranda.

 And she couldn’t quite decide if that knowledge brought relief or disappointment.

 ***

 Cassidy texted her the following week—favor to ask. It turned out she was writing two other papers and wondered if Andy would look over them before she submitted, if she had time. 

 Andy didn’t have time, but she had liked seeing Cassidy and wanted her to do well. And she had to admit, it gave her a sort of gleeful satisfaction to see the apple falling so far from the polished-gleam tree. 

 They met two more times at the Starbucks, this time for revisions. The engineer fiancé, Patrick, stopped by the second time. He was sweet to Cassidy, and cheerfully greeted Andy, and for a moment Andy remembered how in love she’d been with Nate at twenty-two. She hoped Patrick and Cassidy would last. 

 The fourth time they met, Cassidy arrived looking pale and terrified. “I’m sorry—” she got out, just before the door swung open and Miranda stepped inside.

 Andy froze. 

 The Chanel sunglasses rotated slowly and stopped at Andy. One eyebrow crept up. 

 “I don’t know how she knew it was you—” Cassidy hissed, as Miranda took slow, deliberate steps toward them. Her cheeks were bright pink. “I’m really sorry.”

 “Andrea.” Miranda’s voice, cool and aloof, unchanged in ten years. 

 Andy realized she was standing. When had she stood up? Her heart was hammering so hard she could feel it in her toes. 

 Miranda looked—well. Miranda looked amazing. It was still cool enough, in early April, for outerwear, and Miranda’s black fitted coat cut a silhouette far too classy for a college campus coffee shop. A white silk scarf was knotted at her throat—Hermès, no doubt. Her lips were pale pink, a shade entirely at odds with her terrifying deportment. Heads turned. 

 “Miranda,” Andy managed to say. Her voice sounded strangled. 

 Miranda lowered herself elegantly into the chair next to Cassidy’s, as though it was completely normal for the editor-in-chief of the biggest fashion magazine in the industry to be hanging around with graduate students and aspiring playwrights. She tipped her chin down just a little—just enough for Andy to meet her ice-blue gaze. “So you’re the mysterious proofreader,” she murmured, her expression entirely unreadable. 

 Cassidy collapsed back into her chair and put her face in her hands. “Why are you like this,” she groaned.

 Miranda appeared not to notice. “Sit, please, Andrea.”

 Andy sat. 

 “Cassidy, bobbsey,” Miranda said, removing her sunglasses and placing them on the crumb-dusted table, “be a darling and get Mummy a latte, won’t you?” 

 “Oh my God,” Cassidy said, with an adolescent flounce, but she got up and went to the counter. 

 Andy couldn’t think. Literally couldn’t think. How many times had she imagined this scene—reuniting with Miranda, apologizing for her phone-tossing temper tantrum and for her epic Parisian storm-out? Garnering Miranda’s forgiveness? Maybe, heaven help her, even earning a little of Miranda’s respect for the place she’d carved out for herself in publishing? She was, after all, an editor now too. 

 But despite herself, she was just sat here, dumbly staring at the woman whose presence loomed so large in her life even now, and she couldn’t think of a damn thing to say.

 Fortunately, Miranda didn’t seem to require much of a response. Or any, for that matter. 

 “Cassidy’s happiness is of utmost importance to me,” Miranda said softly.

 Well, duh. “Right,” Andy said blankly. 

 “She is an extremely driven young woman.” Miranda’s eyes darted momentarily toward her daughter, who was now nibbling on a pink cake pop as she waited for the latte. Then they fixed back on Andy, “And her drive has taken her into a field about which I know very little.”

 I’ll say. Still, Andy was surprised that Miranda was willing to admit any gap in her knowledge, no matter how obvious. She tried to keep her expression neutral, to avoid reinforcing Miranda’s assertion and possibly causing offense. 

 “You, Andrea,” Miranda continued, not quite meeting Andy’s gaze, “are in the unique position to influence my daughter’s career more than I.”

 Ah.

 So that was it. Miranda wanted to make sure she didn’t fuck up Cassidy’s trajectory. Of course that was what it was. She had no interest in Andy’s apology, no interest in Andy’s life. 

 Caught between dismay and indignation, Andy straightened her spine. “Look, Miranda,” she said, “I may not be walking the red carpet, but I’m good at my job. I’m not going to crash her plane into the mountain, okay?”

 Something that looked like surprise flashed across Miranda’s face, but before she could respond, Cassidy appeared at her elbow. “Your latte, your majesty,” she said, setting the cup onto the table. 

 Miranda’s expression morphed into a gracious smile. “Thank you, my love,” she said, reaching for her sunglasses. “I’ll let you two work, shall I?” She stood without a second glance at Andy, taking her coffee, and kissing the air beside Cassidy’s head before gliding out the door to her waiting car.

 Cassidy looked mortified. “What did she say? Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

 “It’s fine.” Andy’s heart rate was starting to come back down into the normal range. “Don’t worry about it.” Although she still felt flushed and angry at the implication that she was going to —what? Get Cassidy blacklisted from Cell? Keep her from a tenure-track position? 

 “I’m sorry,” Cassidy said again, miserably. 

 “Seriously,” Andy said. “Stop. Let’s just finish this draft, okay?”

 ***

 Andrea,

I would appreciate a meeting. Wednesday at The Modern, 8pm?

 “What the fuck,” Andy muttered.

 What did that even mean? I would appreciate a meeting. “Well, I would appreciate a raise and an extra six weeks of vacation,” Trixie said, when Andy spun the laptop toward her emphatically. “Are you going to go?”

 “I mean—” Andy flopped her hands helplessly at her side. She didn’t particularly relish the idea of an encore of the Starbucks conversation. At the same time, the brief interaction had reminded her why she sought—why she craved—Miranda’s approval way back then. 

 Of course, a few other things had come to light in the past few years, as well.

 After she and Nate had reconciled and she’d made the move to join him in Boston, he had been so happy. The new job. A bigger apartment. He’d brought her flowers every week on his way home from the restaurant. Andy had blamed her diminishing interest—and libido—on depression: she’d been unable to find a position with any of the local newspapers, not even in Classifieds, and she refused to call Runway for a reference. Miranda had already handed her one favor and she would not be further beholden. When she finally landed the little position at the medical journal, she did feel better, but something with Nate had been irrevocably lost. 

 There was a girl at the journal. Her name was, improbably, Logan, and she had close-cropped hair and graceful wrists. 

 Andy would gaze at the ceiling while Nate groaned and sweated against her, and she would think about those wrists. She started to close her eyes when Nate kissed her. The feeling of his stubble against her skin made her flinch.

 Nate wasn’t obtuse. “Is there someone else?” he’d asked.

 No, of course not, she’d said, and there hadn’t been, even though her thoughts had wandered long ago to arms, and shoulders, and the brush of short auburn curls against the curve of a downy neck.

 He asked, and she protested. Again and again, for months, until one day he stopped asking, stopped trying to touch her at all. When she told him she was leaving, he didn’t look surprised.

 She kissed a woman for the first time two days after her twenty-sixth birthday, both of them happily tipsy in the middle of the dance floor of a downtown Cincinnati nightclub. Andy hadn’t even gotten her name, but the following morning, lying in bed with a screaming hangover, she thought a lot of things in her life had just become a whole lot clearer.

 It had taken Trixie’s droll observation after her third date in a week—“You definitely have a type”—to make Andy realize that there was a huge, terrifying reason that she had tried so hard to curry Miranda’s favor.

 “I wanted to sleep with my boss,” she told Trixie over the phone, at three in the morning on a Wednesday. 

 Trixie’s voice was thick with sleep, but she sounded shocked nonetheless. “Cheryl?” she said.

 “No.” Andy put her hand over her eyes. “Miranda.”

 “Oh.” The shock dissipated. “Yeah, dude, you and everyone else.”

 Andy blinked. “Really?”

 “Yes.” Trixie sounded like she was rolling her eyes. “Hot and mean? Duh. I’m going back to sleep.”

 ***

“So are you?”

 Andy blinked. “What?”

 Trixie pointed at the screen. “Going to meet Miranda.”

 “Oh.” Andy turned the laptop back toward herself. “Um. I don’t know. I guess so. Yeah.”

 “Good thing you have two days to make up your mind,” Trixie said, sounding amused, and turned back to her own computer.

 Would she go? Of course she would go. Any uncertainty was pretense. 

 She sent back one word.

 Yes.

[writinglangst8703]

Safe Places.

Based on an ask I received! I apologize, the story had to be edited so I rewrote the whole thing here! --- Original idea by: @lightderin --- Lance looked around at the accusing glares of his teammates, all different intensities. He smiled nervously, "Oops." They had been mapping out locations in the observatory of safe planets to land, or easy places to wormhole, in the case of an attack that needed quick escape. The team had been at it for hours, and had over 120 spots pinpointed over multiple galaxies. Lance, who had found the entire ordeal quite boring, had strolled away to check out the little holograms floating around. He couldn't help that it was hard for him to pay attention, ADHD did that to a person. Focusing just wasn't his gig. The blue paladin had started across the other side of the room, hands in his pockets and he just looked. Until he thought he found Earth. He should know what it looked like, he stared at its little hologram nearly every night. Lance missed home. He missed the people back there. Without much thought, Lance reached forward to zoom in, a happy little smile on his lips. Home. Look at it, just right there--- "Aw, what the heck?!" A chorus of shouts came from behind and Lance jumped. He turned to see the team staring at him, looking annoyed and tired. "Hm?" Pidge motioned frantically to the hologram around them, "Lance, we lost our spot! We lost our points!" Lance blinked, "...how?" Keith groaned, "Idiot, because you were screwing around with the screen!" Lance frowned, looking back at Earth, and saw how zoomed in it was and how the constellations and stars around him had changed too. Oh, he didn't think that one through. Lance looked back at them and smiled nervously, "Oops?" He was answered with grumbles, and a yawn from Hunk. They were tired and now were too frustrated to get significantly angry. "Let's go to bed, we can start again in the morning." Shiro said, rubbing his forehead. "You too Lance." Lance rubbed his neck, looking at the ground as the team and the Altean duo walked past him. He grunted when Keith bumped into him, "Watch where you're going, Lance." The red paladin spat. Lance frowned. Keith was the one who bumped into him! "Oh yeah, mull---" He was alone in the observatory. He took a shaky breath, watching the doors close behind his friends, and sulked. Great. He had annoyed them all, again. Why could he just keep his hands to himself? Look don't touch, his mama had always said. Lance sighed, arms coming up to pull up his hood and put it over his head. A safe place, where he could only see forward, and no one could see him. Hoods were nice. When you can only look back at your mistakes, they allow you to dream ahead and block out any side distractions. It was a new world, your own world, and provided the blue paladin with a sense of security. Safe. He sat down, back in front of Earth, letting it float nearer to him and he watched it carefully. The blue light illuminating the white space his head was tucked into, and it was just those two. Lance and Earth. She was such a pretty lady. His sadness escaped through a sigh, and he allowed himself to be calm. Tonight, he would fix it. Lance would stay up all night and go through the map an replot every point. And as morning came, the hood would come off, and Lance would feel a little better. Everything would be okay. It had to be, otherwise what would have been the point of staying up all night to do all of this for his team? He skipped breakfast, as that time came the following morning. Not that he was incredibly hungry anyway. "203...204, wait, no..." Lance put down another point, rubbing his eyes and swaying in his spot. Lance had marked down every point they had previously plotted, and finding he hadn't been able to sleep, continued on. The blue paladin barely noticed as a door opened behind him, and the team entered. "Wh--- Lance? We thought you were still sleeping, you weren't at breakfast." Princess Allura said with a hint of surprise in her tone. Lance chuckled, "Nah, thought I would finish up some of our plotting." Team Voltron and the Alteans were staring in awe at the color coordinated dots that glowed amongst the light blue holographic model. "What is this?" Shiro asked. Lance looked over, rubbing an eye. "I felt horrible last night, messing up the work you guys did. So I stayed up and fixed it. I even took the time to color coordinate them by condition, size, and whether or not they are open at certain times." Each had their jaw dropped, staring at their blue paladin. He had done all of that? "Did you sleep at all?" Hunk spoke up, brows furrowed as he stared at his friend. The poor kid looked drained; skin paled, bags under his eyes, and red in the corners. He was exhausted. It took them a moment to process this, watching as Lance sat down and smiled at them. "I even found more. In at over two hundred charted locations giving the correct conditions." Keith said it. "Idiot." Lance blinked, visibly flinching at the sudden words, not what he had expected at all. "What...?" Pidge looked annoyed, although it was probably at the fact Lance had done something tech related better than her for once. "You stayed up ALL NIGHT? On a map that wasn't even that important?" She said, gaping. Lance paused, "Not that...Wh... But you guys got so upset when I messed it up, an worked on it all day!" Keith rolled his eyes, "Yeah, it needed done, but it wasn't life or death. Look at you!" Shiro, in a nicer tone, agreed. "He's right, Lance. You didn't have to do this, and it's not healthy putting yourself through such stress." Hunk bit his lip, "I mean, you're really tired right? What if, What o Zarkon attacked and you just fell asleep durin battle?" "He would KILL you." Allura confirmed. Coran nodded. "You've got to take care of yourself." Lance looked around at his friends, not believing what he was hearing in the slightest. How could they accuse him like this? How could they be so rude? Lance had done this for them, staying up all night to fix his mistake. He had wants to make them happy! The blue paladin wanted to be apart of the team and help out for once, even if it was in a simple manner. He hadn't wanted to be reprimanded for a deed he believed was good. Frustrated tears appeared, and Lance crossed his arms. "Fine, whatever, I'll go to bed. Do what you want with that." He stood up, swayed, and nearly toppled over with exhaustion. Lance couldn't stand the worried looks he was getting. The hood came back up. Things were supposed to have been okay. Lance marched to his room, rubbing his nose with an aggravated sniff and glaring the tears away. It wasn't okay. Why couldn't it ever be okay?

[kacchansass]

une balle un mort - prologue

Midoriya Izuku was raised by the Yuuei Institute to be the perfect assassin: unfeeling and obeying. Brainwashed from age 4, he bent to every whim and desire his senseis wished, until the facade placed on him began to crack and shatter. Now, 20 years later, he's on a mission to destroy the people that destroyed him, so nobody ever has to suffer at their hands again--but doing so requires the help of a childhood friend turned CIA rival.

Pairing: Midoriya Izuku/Bakugou Katsuki

Rating: M

Warnings: Minor Character Death (!!), Assassination, Guns

based off of this post made by @ukiinas!

Read on AO3

High priority target, security on high alert. Four on the ground, three on the target rooftop, two on the neighbouring ones.

 Izuku watches as the crowd gathered in the plaza a few buildings over grows restless at having to wait so long for their Symbol of Peace to take the stand. He watches the men clad in black as they pace the top of the buildings closest to where the event was taking place.

  Ground security is highly trained, but they shouldn't be a problem. Target will be dead before they arrive. Roof security is significantly weaker. Just regular event security guards and not trained professionals. Too easy.

 Izuku returns back inside the building and enters the hideout room his partner was set up in. Kyouka keeps her eyes set on the CCTV monitors throughout the area, as well as the hidden cameras set up long before the event. She makes no acknowledgement of his arrival, silently handing him the ammo pack he'd left on the table next to her.

 "Don't disable the security channels until I give the go ahead."

 "I know what I'm doing, Deku. Be careful this time. There's no backup here that can save you if you get into trouble." Kyouka warns, eyes flitting to him briefly before returning to the screens.

 Izuku nods, loading up the cartridge into the rifle and equipping all the gear he'd brought along without leaving a single piece behind. If everything went according to plan, or even if it didn't , they'll need to make a quick escape so as not to get caught. He gives Kyouka a quick farewell as he leaves, taking in a deep breath before climbing out onto the fire escape. He has five minutes to make it past the four buildings separating him and his prime location. Izuku closes the distance with a minute to spare and lies in wait amongst the shadows of the alleyway for his cue. The crowd gathered in the plaza begins an uproar as a figure makes their appearance on stage.

 "Now, Kyouka."

 He shoots his grappling hook onto the edge of the building, steeling himself for what's about to come next. The guards thankfully don't notice his silent arrival, though a small part of him wishes they did. It's been a long time since something interesting happened on the job.

 Izuku slinks behind the door to the roof, easily catching a passing guard and stifling his cries for help. He knocks the man out cold with an apology, waiting for the next one.

 "Did you hear that?" The larger of the guards asks.

 "Hear what? I can't hear a damn thing over the ruckus below." The smaller one answers with a scoff.

 The larger man grunts in suspicion, making his way over to where Izuku is hiding. As soon as he's close enough, Izuku comes out with a swift swing from his right hand to knock the man off his feet.

 "Sorry about this." He says, averting his eyes as he bashes the butt of his rifle against the man's head. He needs to be sure his work won't be interrupted anytime soon, and this was the one of the three that posed the biggest threat to his mission.

 The last security guard turns and spies Izuku, swiftly drawing his pistol. "You're not supposed to be here."

 Izuku chuckles under his breath at how hard the man is trying to keep his calm composure. Must be a rookie.

 "Come out where I can see you." The man demands, voice betraying his words as they crack.

 Izuku tosses a metal can to the opposite side of the roof to divert the guard's attention. He slips out of his hiding spot and makes a quick run for the man, easily kicking the gun from his trembling hand.

 "You're gonna want to put some ice on this." Izuku says apologetically and hits the man hard enough to hear his nose crack. He drags the man over to join the other two, binding them together with his capture tape and taping their mouths shut. Consider it insurance on his part.

    Katsuki hadn’t planned on working tonight. All he wanted to do was enjoy a nice night out and watch All Might speak about fighting against the injustice in the world. Not that he particularly cared about his message or anything, but the guy had charisma and was quite the sight to watch.

 All Might had just taken the stand when he noticed one of the stage guards shift minutely behind the Symbol of Peace and glance at the rooftops. Katsuki sucks in an annoyed breath, doing a quick once over towards the roof the bodyguard had looked at. His eyebrows knit together in suspicion. If he recalled the details about this security job that Kirishima was supposed to be working ground security on, there were supposed to be five rooftop guards on-alert for snipers.

 Wait. On guard for snipers . There were plenty of amateur snipers that had attempted to take down All Might before, sure, but they were easily subdued before they’d even gotten to a good spot. If this was the guy he thought it was, there’s no way the average security bozos up top would be able to stop him.

 Katsuki grits his teeth in annoyance as he pushes his way through the crowd and towards the guard-less building to start scaling the side of it.

    Izuku shoots his grappling hook into the brick of the chimney, pulling once on it to check it was tight before wrapping it around his leg. He takes a steadying breath in before jumping off the edge, soundlessly stopping his descent so he could get in position. He flicks his visor on, keeping tabs on the six cameras that adorn both sides of his vision. Mei was a genius inventor all around, but none of her inventions ever compared to this headpiece, in his opinion.

 Izuku zooms in on his scope, clicking one of the back buttons on his visor to activate the recon nodes set-up around the event so he could get an infrared view of the scene. He hovers his crosshair over All Might’s head, slowly moving his finger towards the trigger.

  Deep breath. In, out. Keep your hand steady, don't take your eyes off the target even for a second.

 “Well if it isn’t Deku . I haven’t seen you in a few months, shit for brains.” A rough voice calls out from the window beside him. A small smirk pulls at the corner of his lips.

 Bakugou Katsuki. Izuku hasn’t seen him since his last big target hit was some political hot shot. He’d barely gotten away from the hot head’s grasp thanks to his partner, Tokoyami, being there and subduing him long enough for him to escape and get the shot off on their target. Katsuki was a wild card, a well-trained fighter that was molded into the monster he is today by a twisted sense of wanting to be the best, intense training, and a partnership with the American CIA. Katsuki has always made Izuku’s life a living hell, always one-upping him and thwarting all his missions in U.S. soil up until a few years ago when Izuku finally finished his analysis on the other.

 Katsuki showing up was unexpected, but very much so welcome. It would appear he’d be getting the excitement he’d been looking for after all.

 Izuku hits the release on his grappling hook, swinging into the window and crashing through it. Unlike his chaser, he’d studied the floor plan of this building meticulously. The window Katsuki stood in was for a small hotel room, while the one he’d crashed through was one that had a small waiting area just off the entrance to the stair case. Katsuki easily has twice his speed, and Katsuki knows it. He needs to act fast lest he get caught.

 Izuku shoots his grappling hook onto the banister of the top floor and pulls up, setting his gun to autofire as he sets off with a kick on his way up. Katsuki manages to dodge the flurry of bullets as he chases him up the stairs, which Izuku was expecting. It’s not like he was particularly aiming at the other after all. He doesn’t want to kill anyone that doesn’t need to be killed.

 “You’re not fucking getting away from me that easily!” Katsuki growls behind him, footsteps thundering through the hall.

 He makes his break for the window, opened beforehand in-case he’d had to make an escape such as this, and makes a leap into the air. His grappling hook sails through the night sky and pulls him up to the neighbouring roof. Izuku spares no glance backwards as he knocks out a stunned guard with the force of his jump, using his foot to push the man’s head onto the ground to keep him knocked out as he lands. He makes a leap to the next roof, sweeping the last security guard’s feet out from under him. The man hits his head on the edge of a metal barrel on his descent down, much to his luck, so he doesn’t spare another second on them as he sends a few shots behind him at Katsuki to try and buy himself some more time.

 The comm of his headpiece crackles in his ear as Kyouka’s voice cuts through clear as day. “Katsuki had a private channel with one of the stage guards. They’re aware of your presence on the roof and are escorting the target back to the car. You have a three minute window.”

 Izuku growls as he jumps to the next roof, placing a small canister of sleeping gas on one of the boxes he passes by and leaps to the next one. He needs a plan and fast.

 Laughter rings out behind him as the glass of his canister shatters, dispersing the gas into the air behind him. He knew Katsuki wasn’t stupid enough to blindly chase him without watching his surroundings, but he needed time to think. He just needed a few more--

 “Are you underestimating me? I guess I’ll just have to beat another lesson into your scrawny ass.” Katsuki yells.

 Izuku glances very briefly at the camera on the right of his visor to watch for Katsuki’s wind up of a grenade toss. Knowing him it should be... now .

 Izuku turns around in an instant, crosshair already trained on the small projectile and firing a perfect shot into it, setting the grenade off and sending both of them into the air. The blowback was stronger than he was expecting, but all is not lost.

 He’s hit mid-air shots before, is actually quite renowned for them, but isn’t sure he can make this one. All the others required exact timing and precision, heavily pre-meditated beforehand. He only has this one shot here and now otherwise this hit is a bust, so he’s out of options.

 The target’s head lies directly behind his chaser. Izuku takes in a deep breath and aims directly at Katsuki's heart. He has no intention of pulling the trigger on him however, and, as expected, Katsuki curls inwards to dodge the bullet. As the shot sails through the air, Izuku pulls his gun lower to brace himself for the impact of landing, followed very closely by Katsuki who lands with a growl.

 He watches as Katsuki does a quick pat down to check for blood and scrapes. The man laughs maniacally at him when he doesn't find any bullet wounds. "You fucking missed."

 Izuku turns his back to the other, prepping his grappling hook for his departure. In the distance, he can hear the terrified and panicked screams of the crowd as their Symbol of Peace lays dead on the ground just mere inches from the door to his car, bullet passed cleanly through his forehead.

 "No, I didn't."

    Let’s play cops and robbers! You can be the robber, and I’ll be the cop!

  Why are you always the cop, Kacchan? I don’t mind being the robber, but I just wanna know.

  Because I’m going to be a hero! Someone who saves people! So I gotta get practice in now so I can be the best at what I do when I’m all grown up.

  You can practice with me all the time then! I’ll be the criminal for you to track down!

  You’ll never beat me though, because the good guys always win in the end, and I’m the good guy.

 Izuku shakes his head as the memory replays over and over in his mind as he disassembles his rifle to clean. Every time he ran into Katsuki, some sort of memory from when he was four, before all the brainwashing began, filters through his mind. Times when he was only being trained physically, when he could run free and feel the sun on his skin. He shivers at the memory, placing a hand on his cold and pale skin as if he could still feel the warmth of those days.

  Stop looking out the window, Midoriya, and focus. You want to be the best, don’t you?

  I want to see my friends.

  You don’t have friends, Midoriya. They’re just using you so they can get to us. Don’t trust them.

  But Kaccha--

  No, Midoriya. You’re not going to see this “Kacchan” again. Do you understand?

  Yes sir.

  You’re a soldier now, and your duty is here.

  Yes sir.

 Katsuki used to be his best friend. Yuuei ripped that away from him, and as more time passes it becomes more and more clear that he may never get to have Katsuki as a friend again. Not since Katsuki got picked up by the CIA due to his ties with Deku . He tries to cling onto hope that one day they might become close once again, perhaps he’s even been a little sloppy during his last missions to give the other breadcrumbs on where to find him so they can talk, but what little hope he has diminishes day by day.

  Are you ready for your first mission, Deku?

  Yes sir.

  Your first target is the someone the CIA has been grooming to work for them. He’s got a lot of talent but is too much of a wild card for us to take him in. We can’t have someone so strong working against us, so he needs to be taken out. Can you do that for us?

  Yes sir.

  That’s our good boy. Go make us proud.

  Yes sir.

 Izuku sets aside the main body of the gun to pick up the sniping barrel, wiping it down inside and out mindlessly.

 “Funds have been transferred. Shigaraki thanks you for your assistance.” Momo remarks as she enters the room, reading glasses slipping down her nose as she stares at the tablet in front of her.

 Izuku makes a grunt of acknowledgement. “Anything else of note?”

 “We got a hit on the company you asked us to monitor. The head of the corporation is looking for a new secretary. Interviews start in two weeks from today.”

 He pauses his ministrations and sets the gun down on the table before him, turning to stare out the window and watch as the cars pass by in a blur. “Get Uraraka on the line and tell her she has to be ready to head out for pick-up by tomorrow. The sooner we can bring him in, the better.”

[ecoorganic]

How the NFL Would Accommodate Spring College Games and a Delayed Draft Season

From offering up NFL stadiums for January games to delaying the draft and the combine, the NFL would work with college football to help make a spring season beneficial to all. Plus, top camp storylines, why O-line play could be a problem in 2020 and a big lawsuit in St. Louis.

2020 has been a wild year already in the football world. Would you believe 2021 could be … well, maybe not just as wild, but close?

Imagine this—the Big Ten launches a season Jan. 1, playing on Thursday and Friday nights during the first two rounds of the NFL playoffs, and on Saturdays otherwise. And they do it in some combination of the five indoor football stadiums (Syracuse, Detroit, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, St. Louis) within shouting distance of the league’s footprint. Meanwhile, on the more temperate West Coast, the Pac-12 launches with a similar plan.

In this scenario, an eight-game season, with a bye, could be wrapped up by the end of February, with some semblance of a postseason completed by mid-March.

Maybe the ACC, SEC and Big 12 join in, maybe they don’t. Either way, this shakes up the ’21 calendar for the NFL significantly. And if you want to know how the NFL would react to this, I’ve got news for you—these sorts of concepts aren’t just landing on their radar now.

I’m told these are ideas that have been discussed by college coaches already and, notably, NFL teams would be willing to help. The Lions, for one, were approached by a Big Ten school all the way back in the spring about using Ford Field in this way. NFL teams also have discussed what it would take to move the combine and the draft back a month (potentially having the combine in early April and draft in late May) to accommodate the college game.

Are there a lot of moving parts here? Sure. But there’s also reason for people involved to be motivated to get it done. For the Big Ten and Pac-12, this would be a shot—by playing a winter season rather than a spring season—to give their players the chance to play without totally firebombing their 2021 season, and maybe even create an option for other conferences to delay their seasons. For the NFL, it would mitigate what will certainly be a messy, messy situation for its ’21 draft class, in getting most top prospects on the field.

And then, there’s something simpler at play. The NFL needs college football to remain the force that it is for a multitude of reasons. Having all five power conferences play, in whatever form, between now and whenever the draft happens is, without question, the best way to get there.

Now, I don’t know exactly how likely this is to happen. But I do believe the idea—with some colleges playing in the winter, leading into a delayed draft season—is something you’re going to hear more about in coming weeks.

***

The GamePlan’s here, and teams are practicing, and we’re now exactly one month away from the first Sunday of NFL action. Here’s what we have for you this week …

• A ranking of underrated camp story lines.

• The one position group that could really struggle with the COVID-19 circumstances.

• A lawsuit you might want to pay attention to.

But we’re starting with the mess that’s become of the college season, and how the NFL and college football will be working together to get through it.

***

So here’s the potential calendar, if you want to lay it all the way out.

Jan. 1-2: Big Ten/Pac-12 opening weekend.

Jan. 7-8/Jan. 14-15: Big Ten/Pac-12 Thursday/Friday night games.

Jan. 23: Big Ten/Pac-12 schedule goes back to Saturday.

Feb. 6-7: Bye weekend for Super Bowl.

Feb. 28: Final week of regular season.

March 6: Big Ten title game.

March 13-20: Rose Bowl OR National playoff.

Late April: NFL combine.

Late May: NFL Draft.

Roger Goodell can, unilaterally, move the draft as far back as June 2, per the CBA. The hurdle they’d have to overcome is logistical—making sure they can stage the draft (and clear hotel rooms, public parks, etc.) a month after they’d planned to. I wouldn’t suggest that would be easy, but, remember, we have no clue if fans will even be able to attend, and this year’s draft is in Cleveland, a city full of Big Ten alums in the heart of Big Ten country.

That would make one more party motivated to get this done.

And that would make what promises to be the zaniest draft cycle in NFL history even crazier. In the lead up to last April’s draft, we all got fond of saying how there’d never be a year quite like that one ever again. The recent uptick in COVID-19 cases nationwide, and subsequent impact on the college season, looks like it’s going to prove that thought dead wrong.

“You’ll be drafting guys in May 2021 that haven’t buckled a chinstrap since December 2019,” said one AFC college scouting director. “And think about it—so many guys were drafted this year due, 90%, to what they did their junior or senior year. Without that, we’ll have guys overdrafted, underdrafted. This year, everyone kept saying that you’re gonna look back at that draft, and that’s going to be the draft that you’ll study.

“Well, last year, we got every piece of information as normal until the combine. We just didn’t get that last part. This year, every piece of information is going to be touched by COVID. You’re gonna have guys drafted in the second round that stink, and guys drafted in the seventh round that are studs. And the importance of your scouts? They’ve never been more important.”

No one needs to wait to see if the Big Ten and Pac-12 can pull off the above to figure that out. The wheels are already turning toward a really unusual fall. In a number of different ways.

The Zoom calls. All the major programs are staging them now—Auburn held one on Wednesday—to try and help college scouts make up what they’re missing. Rules are still being formulated on whether or not those guys will be able to visit schools at all, but teams know for sure it won’t be business as usual.

Usually, at this time of year, college scouts would be hitting the road and visiting fall camps to lay the foundation for fall, seeing their sources on campus, getting body types in practice, and figuring out which players should be on their radar for the months ahead. In place of that, the Zoom calls at least have given teams a chance to gather baseline information on prospects.

As you’d expect, schools are handling these in a variety of ways. Some of the bigger programs are doing 3-4-hour sessions, or a series of shorter sessions, and cycling their NFL liaisons, strength coaches, academic advisors and trainers through to disseminate information. Smaller schools that have only a couple standouts have brought position coaches on, too, to help on those specific guys—Western Michigan, for example, had their receivers and linebackers coaches on to talk Dwayne Eskridge and Treshaun Howard.

“There’s a reason we go to the school,” said an AFC exec. “You want to watch a player practice, his tempo, his mannerisms, how he competes and works, and see him do things you’d expect him to do when gets to your team. And being there enables you to reach out to contacts, and spend time with your network of people. So you’re not getting that exposure. But the Zoom calls have been effective as an initial background rundown of the players.”

And, really, it just gives teams an idea of what they’ll need to dig into.

Being dialed in counts. One team I spoke with on Wednesday is already working on getting younger scouts more dialed in—and asking older, more connected guys in the building to call schools and vouch for less-experienced counterparts. Normally, this time of year is great for those younger guys to go meet the grad assistant, trainer or position coach he’ll need in the months to come and establish relationships with them. Absent that face time, this sort of blind-date approach is one way to make up for what’s lost.

So as we’ve mentioned in a few places the last few weeks, this is a year that a scout’s Rolodex is gold. If the coordinator for a key prospect only has time to call, say, four people back, having one of the four scouts he calls back could prove a major advantage in 2020, even more so than it normally is.

“I’m on a Zoom with 20 or 25 other scouts, and the schools are doing a good job with the Zooms, but they’re not giving you all the info you need,” said the AFC scouting director. “And I don’t blame them. I’d never say, ‘He’s an a------,’ or ‘He doesn’t know football,’ on a Zoom with a bunch of people on there I don’t know. I wouldn’t put that on a Zoom. It’s hard to get that info. But if you have good scouts, they can.”

Another veteran scout reiterated, “When the guy on that Zoom makes three calls afterwards, this year, you gotta be one of those three calls he makes.”

Some guessing might be involved.

Joe Burrow’s tweet on Sunday—“If this happened a year ago I may be looking for a job right now”—rang true with a lot of players. Burrow’s LSU teammate Clyde Edwards-Helaire rushed for 658 yards as a backup to Nick Brosette in 2018. Arizona State WR Brandon Aiyuk caught 33 passes for 474 yards and three scores in 2018, playing behind now-Patriot WR N’Keal Harry.

It’s safe to say without a 2019 season, those guys aren’t sniffing the first round. With one, Burrow wound up going first overall, Aiyuk 25th to the Niners, and Edwards-Helaire 32nd to the Chiefs. So maybe there’s a tackle at Georgia who was stuck behind Andrew Thomas and Isaiah Wilson, or a corner at Ohio State who was behind Jeff Okudah and Damon Arnette who was going to pull an Aiyuk—and now might or might not have the opportunity to.

“There are a lot of them that just haven’t gotten a chance at an Alabama or a Clemson, that have to bide their time to play,” said an NFC exec. “Or guys that have been injured, where there’s just not a lot of tape on them. The Purdue receiver [Rondale Moore] is like that. He’s a hard guy to evaluate, with his injury history. Those are the types that’ll be tough. And some quarterbacks like Burrow or [Dwayne] Haskins, they’re the ones that made the jump, they needed those throws. … That’s why if I’m a quarterback, I might not come out.”

If you need a good example to follow, here’s one: FAU RB B.J. Emmons. A former five-star recruit, Emmons got a little lost in a crowded backfield at Alabama, transferred to junior college, then landed at FAU. Then, in last year’s opener at Ohio State, he broke his ankle. He came back late in the season and, suddenly, all the talent that was there in the first place started to flash. Scouts were excited to see him play in 2020 as a result.

Now? Well, if FAU’s season gets canceled, he could enter the draft having logged just 86 carries at the Division I level.

“He showed some really good stuff, and he’s talented now,” said another scout. “This really could hurt a guy like that.”

The All-Star games. The Senior Bowl will be conducting a call with all 32 teams on Thursday to start to work on plans for its 2021 game, without a clue on whether or not it’ll be feasible to gather guys from different parts of the country in the early part of next year. They’ll brainstorm ideas and try to figure out how the event can serve the players and teams best in this most unusual year, while discussing contingencies for the uncertainty.

The game, I’m told, could be moved if there are major changes to the structure of the college season—like the Big Ten and Pac-12 moving their seasons to winter. And it could take on a different look, too, if COVID restrictions force that.

This much, I know: That game, and the other All-Star games, will take on added importance. Scouts need to eyeball prospects, and see who’s gotten bigger, faster and stronger, and the Mobile, Ala. event—and its counterparts—would give them their first chance to do that with players coming from conferences that don’t play in 2020.

But, again, the Senior Bowl folks want the number of guys that don’t play ahead of the 2021 draft to be as low as possible. So if that means moving their event so kids don’t have to choose between playing in the Senior Bowl and playing against Iowa or Oregon, then it’ll almost certainly be moved.

***

There are some pieces to the scouting process that will be, of course, irreplaceable. And so teams won’t try.

No one’s expecting colleges to let NFL scouts into their football programs’ facilities this fall, given the circumstances, but if evaluators were permitted on the sidelines at practice, there’d be a lot of value in that, in simply getting body types. (One exec raised the examples of Vic Beasley and Brian Burns in recent years, guys who played in the 220s as collegiate pass-rushers, and bulked for the pre-draft process, to illustrate why that’d be important.)

If scouts are allowed at games, that would be another good point of reference—one scouting chief told me that if that happens, and the two teams are solid, he’d tell his scouts to spend one half behind one bench, and the other behind the other bench, to capture the stuff that won’t show up on tape (how a prospect carries himself, interacts with teammates, leads, etc.) but can be meaningful in the final analysis.

All this shows how every point of reference—and every resulting piece of information—is going to matter for these guys over the next eight months.

So if the Big Ten and Pac-12 can figure out a way to play? It’d totally make sense that the NFL would be trying to help them every step of the way. And based on what I know, I believe the NFL absolutely will.

***

POWER RANKINGS

Camp’s here! And that means, normally, I’d be introducing you to some of the fresh storylines looming over the 2020 season. That’s not possible from the ground this year. So we’ll do this from 30,000 feet here (and mine these in the coming weeks)—here are my top-five underrated stories looming over the 2020 season (FYI: Nothing COVID-19-related is under-the-radar at this point).

1) The Saints’ big shot. New Orleans’s roster is loaded. There’s not a more complete team in football. But the bills are coming due on the great draft classes that provided the foundation for that. Consider this: Marshon Lattimore, Alvin Kamara, Sheldon Rankins and Ryan Ramczyk are all eligible for second contracts but remain on rookie deals. So the construct of the team could change soon, and that’s before you consider that Drew Brees turns 42 in January. Which means the time for this group almost has to be now.

2) Prove-it time for the 2018 draft QBs. There’s still plenty of reason to be optimistic about Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Josh Allen. But as a football viewing public, a quarterback’s third year is, oftentimes, a dividing line, when tolerance for young-guy mistakes starts to wane and pressure to deliver rises (see: Trubisky, Mitchell). So this is an important year for those three guys.

3) The Chargers’ QB competition. It hit me during Hard Knocks—No one is talking about Tyrod Taylor vs. Justin Herbert. That’s a quarterback who led a team to the playoffs just three years ago, and a guy drafted sixth overall, and the winner gets to pilot a team that still has a lot of talent. I know the team’s fan base is, um, limited. But this still seems like a big deal, given that Joey Bosa, Derwin James, Melvin Ingram, Mike Williams, Keenan Allen, Hunter Henry and Casey Hayward are elsewhere on the roster.

4) Tampa’s defense! We’ve all been focused, and rightfully so, on how Tom Brady’s adjusting to life in Florida, and how the weapons around him compare to what he’s had in the past. Forgotten has been that Todd Bowles’s unit, particular on the back end, saw marked improvement in November and December. And with Ndamukong Suh, Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaq Barrett, Devin White and Lavonte David up front, if a young secondary can keep getting better, there’s a lot of potential here.

5) What Josh McDaniels can do with Cam Newton. I feel like, nationally at least, this has been an overlooked aspect of the Newton/Patriots marriage. Remember, McDaniels won with Matt Cassel and Jimmy Garoppolo, and flipped his offense upside down on three days’ notice to start a rookie Jacoby Brissett on a Thursday night in 2016. So I’d say we could see some pretty cool stuff from McDaniels with Newton taking snaps.

***

THE BIG QUESTION

What should we be looking for when the pads go on next week?

I think I got my answer from Jordan Palmer on this week’s podcast (you should listen to the whole thing, if you haven’t). Palmer’s quarterback training group this offseason was a little smaller because of the pandemic, but he got more time with those who were in Orange County with him the last few months. And one thing he focused on with Darnold, Josh Allen and Kyle Allen, among others, in Palmer’s words, was off-platform throws and “getting to your shot.”

The reason why? Palmer thinks offensive line play is going to be a problem this year.

“I think O-line play across the board is going to be the worst we’ve ever seen,” Palmer said. “I think quarterbacks are going to be running for their lives at a rate that we’ve never seen before. The reason is this whole screwed up offseason, I don’t think, had very much of a negative effect on the defensive linemen. These guys still could work out, they still could work on their burst, getting out of their stand, they can still run that ‘hoop,’ where they work on keeping their hips low and leaning. They can still work on bending. They didn’t really lose anything out of this. …

“We had Andrew Whitworth on as a guest [on Sirius XM], and he was talking about how, and he’s a really good golfer, O-line play is getting a lot more like golf, where it’s very, very technical, it’s muscle memory. So those guys not having an offseason, that’s a major, major negative. So O-line gets hit by this whole COVID thing—not getting a chance to pass off twists, not getting a chance to work on full-speed bull rush, not getting a chance to work on switching things off and where your hands need to be.

“D-line is not affected. So I think quarterbacks are going to be running for their lives, so, literally, 60% of throws we did, they were not dropping back and throwing, they were being forced to move. That was the biggest thing right there.”

Definitely an interesting take, and something to keep an eye as we get closer to a season that’ll be preceded by just 14 padded practices per team, and zero preseason games for anyone.

***

WHAT NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT

The St. Louis Regional Convention and Sports Authority lawsuit against the NFL is moving forward, and the deposition list is bananas.

Under Missouri law, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, lawyers in a case like this need approval from the court to seek more than 10 depositions. These lawyers asked for 42, nearly 40 months after filing the suit.

Among those on the list: NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Rams owner Stan Kroenke, Chargers owner Dean Spanos, Raiders owner Mark Davis, ex-Panthers owner Jerry Richardson (who was point man for a Raiders/Chargers plan for L.A. that would’ve kept the Rams in St. Louis) and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones (who was a driving force behind Kroenke’s L.A. plan); as well two other owners, Michael Bidwill of Arizona and Shad Khan of Jacksonville, with close ties to St. Louis.

In all, 30 owners/former owners/members of ownership families made the list, in addition to Packers president Mark Murphy. Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk was spared, as was her family, but Tennessee is represented in the group by ex-president Steve Underwood. Panthers owner David Tepper isn’t on there either, because he didn’t own the team when all this was going on.

The whole thing is pretty interesting, and happening just as the ribbon’s being cut on Kroenke’s gleaming $6 billion SoFi Stadium.

Should this be any football fan’s focus? Of course not. You don’t follow football to keep up with the legal troubles of a pack of billionaires. But given the depth of that deposition list, this could get a little more entertaining than your everyday court proceeding.

***

THE FINAL WORD

We’re now four days away from the pads going on. So everyone who said to me, but this doesn’t feel like training camp! … you can sit tight.

We’re almost there.

• Question or comment? Email us.

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[jeffrmayhugh]

Bitcoin’s PUMP OF HOPE! Breakdown and Analysis

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Bitcoin ended up seeing a really nice series of pumps after the last video. That’s definitely not something that I was expecting. But let’s take a look at what’s gone on. Anyway, we ended up going from the lows that we were trading at and around six thousand six thousand one hundred all the way up. It’s roughly a thousand dollar pumped from low to high to seven thousand three hundred dollars. That is an absolutely beautiful place for bitcoin to stop if we were going to get a pump. This is a really expected sort of place for bitcoin to end up topping out simply because of where that resistance lies. So one of the things I was telling you about is that if we do end up seeing some pumps up higher, actually thought it would happen over here or over here if we do end up seeing those pumps, that this could be a relative area of resistance. So it’s really nice that we’re starting to find some resistance in this range. And so what that’s wanting me to look for like that was a terrible sentence. What that’s making me want to look for are signs to reenter on the bull side. Now, again, I have to reiterate, I do think that the bearish overall market set up with the rising wage and everything like that is still valid. I think it’s still extremely valid and it literally is, as far as I’m concerned, just a matter of time until it ends up breaking lower. That would be that would still be the case even if we ended up breaking this resistance over here, because, again, I have to say it once more. And bear markets after a dump like this, after capitulation, events like this, they don’t end with rallies like this. That’s what I’m going to be looking for. And, you know, some people might be saying, well, actually, you know, Bitcoin is already doing it. So why are you fighting it? Why you’re not embracing that? This is actually just a bullish trend which is going to stay. And the truth is, in response to those arguments, will bitcoin is moving more like the conventional markets month by month. It’s becoming tamed, right. It’s becoming much more mature in terms of how it trades. And so a mature market after a dump like this. Granted, it would never have a dump like this. But if it were to happen, you would you would start to expect instead of a big V-shaped correction like this, that goes up by something like 85 percent. Let’s take a look. 86 percent instead of a dump sorry, a V-shaped correction like that. In order to end that bearish trend, you would be expecting some sort of accumulation range. And again, that’s not what we have, but what we have right now is a bullish trend. So I’m going to analyze it with that light. And the main thing that I’m looking for right now, because I do want to start trading the long side now that we’ve hit this resistance level is how do we respond to support levels initially without resistance at roughly six thousand seven hundred dollars. All we needed to do was form a bit of a bull, a bull slyke. And then we ended up continuing a little bit higher. And it definitely looks like we could be in for a bit of a drop. Now, we do have the seven thousand dollar level offering a little bit of psychological support. So it’s entirely possible that because this trend does have some momentum behind it. You know, we are seeing some volume over there as well. It’s entirely possible that this trend doesn’t need to pullback significantly, although I think it would be very reasonable. Now, one of the tools we can use to kind of guess where Bitcoin might end up falling to if it does fall is the Fibonacci retracement tool. And so that’s telling us that some of the key levels of interest would be six thousand seven hundred and forty and six thousand four hundred given how short term this rally has been. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the $6700 level is much more likely for bitcoin to fall to and retest. However, because this particular rally looks like it has a lot more strength than some others. I think it’s also possible that bottoming out at roughly six thousand nine hundred with the 2 3 6 level is could also be an option. If we zoom in even further and said it to the start of this rally, which again only happened over the past 24 hours, we can start okay. We’ve already started plummeting below that. We can start to see that. Is that more important support levels? You know, they might be around 60, 600, you know, potentially pushing 67 as well. I think it’s also worth while we’re here. We’re going to switch this over to the Jemini chart just because it is a little bit more clear. It would be a little bit easier for us to read. I’m also going to throw on a Fibonacci right from the bottom all the way to the top, because if this is going to be more of a macro trend and I don’t think it is, but it’s well worth checking out any way we could end up falling down to some of the more macro support levels, 6 1 8 level down here at five thousand two hundred dollars. I don’t know if it’s likely that we’re going to go down that low right now. I think it’s gonna take a significant period of time in order for us to get down that low and significant in this case means just perhaps a week minimum. But the the 3 8 2 level. Six thousand dollars. Looks entirely possible. The good news for this trend right now, though, is that we’ve already pretty much bounced off that level, so we might not have to come down and test this 2, 3, 6 level also at about 6500. So this doesn’t look entirely plausible. So let’s get back to the Coinbase chart and see what else would be happening with the trend over here. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators. Now, one of the main things to take a look at. Actually, we’re gonna go back to that Jemini chart. I like it being clean. One of the main things to take note of is that we do have a beautiful area of support. Now that this bullish trend has been reestablished, we do have a lot of support. If Bitcoin was to start dropping, we have that on the one hour as well. Some nice support on the one hour. If we end up arranging sideways a little bit, this is going to become quite a big HMO, good cloud of support. And then, of course, on the 4:00 hour, it is rapidly expanding. So that is a really, really good sign. The one day we do have, if this rally does have strength, we do have some strength within literally the next eight days to potentially do something really interesting. Does that mean it’s going to happen? I think it’s highly unlikely. But if we do end up trading sideways or anything of the sort, this one day resistance cloud is going to become a problem for Bitcoin. Now, like I said, if it manages to trade higher before this becomes a problem, then I think that Bitcoin could have a chance at rallying a little bit higher for one of those crazy pumps that that, you know, occasionally happens. However, like I said, if we do get any sort of consolidation over here, if it goes on for too long, my eyes will be on this resistance cloud. And I think this can completely stop the entire trend in its tracks. Why do I think so? Well, you know, it forecasts where resistance will be very accurately and more importantly, because it is an accurate indicator. Largely speaking, when you do have a big trend in the market, you guys have heard me talk about why I love the Moku Clouds so much. Once again, if you don’t know what it is. Such this up into YouTube and you’ll find out what I’m talking about. But you know, because it is such a reliable indicator. And at the moment, it is looking bearish. And at the moment we’re in an overall bearish trend. This would be one of what I would consider to be the final nail in the coffin for bitcoin if it was going to be able to continue trading sideways or even slightly higher over the next week. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to happen. It’s a little bit too early to say, but we do definitely have some of those early signs that that strength is there. My major issue with those signs of strength, though, is that every time we get signs of strength, you know, like those rallies, it’s exactly what I was talking about in the last video. We fall short. And that means this trend is going to have to do a lot to prove to me that it’s going to be able to rise significantly higher. Obviously, some of the next resistance levels, if we take it over to the Coinbase chart that I’ve already had drawn for you, are going to be around seven thousand eight hundred. So the high seven thousand is potentially below 8000 as well. We know that that’s probably going to be resistance because there was a lot of trading that happened around this range throughout twenty nineteen. This was one of the crucial turning points for the market. You’re getting a lot of bounces up from this level, you’re getting a lot of resistance levels. Resistance hits from this level. Another nice bounce over here, some consolidation with this massive dump downward. So this is definitely a key level. And that’s to say if we do breach this green line, I think it could be a pretty easy run up for Bitcoin. If we take on the 4 hour chart, we can see that there is going to be some resistance between this green box and the red line. This is the range where I think Bitcoin could trade really easily. And that’s to say if bitcoin breaks above this level, it should be able to hit the red line pretty easily. I think there is a bit of resistance that’s going to make that difficult. We did establish that resistance throughout November and December of last year. That was four months ago now. And if we take a look at what happened throughout 2018, there was also a fair bit of trading that happened within this range. So it is up in the air. There is not a very clear shot over here. You know, it’s not like when I was telling you that if we drop below this red line, it will almost definitely go down to this red line. That happened once over here. That happened both times where I was trading. It pulled beautiful profits, 360 percent up here and one hundred and forty percent trading. The same thing moving downwards. You know, in that case, if that is going to happen, I will be sorry. If we do end up falling down here again, I will obviously be looking at a $4000 level, but we don’t have such a clear shot in this case. And again, when we bring it back to the shorter time frames, that’s why I don’t have a lot of weight. That’s why I don’t think that we have a lot of consistency. You know, like I said, when we do have these bullish setups in the. It just falls flat so terribly. So I am going to be having to unfortunately ask myself the question, will it be the same this time around? Because it’s no surprise. One of the notes that I ended the last video on was actually talking about how, you know, it’s not a coincidence that every time we get these really nice bullish setups, something screws up and just end the whole rally. That’s not a coincidence. You know, that is happening because we have such a terrible trend. When we zoom out a little bit more. And so naturally, it’s just going to give a lot of interruptions. It’s gonna be like a cockblock or something for the market. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues to happen. So would that resistance overhead, even though it might look a little bit easy for Bitcoin to continue rising? That’s definitely not where I’m very keen to be placing my bets. So I’m not too sure how we’ll be playing that. It is going to depend on, you know, for example, Bitcoin can gain a lot of points in my book if it bounce off support levels really well. You know, if it bounce off, bounces off, this level potentially plunges just a little bit deeper, penetrates the sixty eight hundred dollar level. If it can get down to, you know, six thousand seven hundred six thousand seven hundred and fifty and then get a nice pump higher, that would give me a lot of confidence in Bitcoin at the moment. Right now the only thing I have are two nice pumps. The second one, which does have more volume, which is granted absolutely great. But if we do zoom in a little bit further, we can see that not all of that volume was happening with the green candles. The majority of it was that we’re still getting a fair bit of red volume price action. And so it’s not as rosy as it looks. So I do need to see some more signs of strength. As I know it’s just as I’m talking about this Bitcoin is pulling back. It’s almost like fireflies continues to prophesize what’s going on in the market. I don’t like to do analysis when the market is moving live because I have to change my analysis on the fly. And that’s really difficult when my analyst has already given me notes on what to talk about in the video. But, you know, in this case, it is definitely looking like the same things are happening. We are still, you know, no matter what. We are still looking at support levels below us. The good news is that this green box could act as support if we end up going down this low. So, you know, if we end up going down there, I will be much more inclined on taking on long positions. They would be high risk positions. Anything at the moment I think would be high risk positions. But as BP members have been able to see, I’m able to maneuver high risk situations using high leverage with my trades. And I’m able to manage that risk really, really carefully, oftentimes, or VIP members will see me doing when I’m booking beautiful profits like this, 58 percent gain over here. Oftentimes what VIP members will see me doing is I’ll book a small profit on a trade and then I’ll be happy to get stopped out for the rest of my position at break even. And obviously they get the updates on how I do that in real time. They get the updates. More importantly of why I do that in real time. So exactly as I make my decisions, as I set my orders, VIP members are informed and they can see how. Yeah, while things might look like they’re tense and the situation has higher risk than usual, I will do what I can to maneuver the market and still book gains or pounds on the market when I feel like I’m ready. And then I’ll move back into, you know, cover or whatever. You know, when I think that things are again going to be what I’m where I’m going to be waiting for things to shape up and give me that beautiful formation in the market where once again, I’ll be ready to pounce. So it’s really important, that kind of trading style I have in situations like this where I love to enter positions which would be high risk, but then just close a small profit and walk away with, you know, the stop loss at break even or potentially just close the whole position at a modest, you know, 10 percent, 20 percent profit. Those are pretty good numbers. That’s still nearly what Bitcoin did today. I mean, it says it’s up by 3 percent, but that’s not really true from the low, you know, from the lower up by something like 15 percent. And those gains, you know, would still beat what the market has done today. And that is really, really significant. Once again, this member overhead really, you know, quite hesitant to join when he was getting into the group. And this is not the first time you’ve seen another testimonial, a couple videos back where there was another member who was very hesitant to join. And then just within a couple days or a couple weeks, really, really happy with the service, feeling much more comfortable with the group, feeling much more comfortable with trading, because the whole game can be really confusing. I’m getting a lot of messages from people on Twitter even telling me about how I’m able to spot things that they can’t even see in the first place. And really, you know, what that comes down to is making a lot of mistakes, learning from those mistakes and then, you know, dusting yourself off and carrying on forward. And what you see in the VIP group is. Result of all of that. If you want to find out what that group includes, follow these steps. Click on the first link in the description down below. Then click on the ad for slides at the bottom of any post and for flight gold and then click on send message. Ask me how to join VIP. Is it still possible that bitcoin is going to completely fall flat and and just fall down to the $5000 dollar level? You know, I think that chances are still that this is a more macro level of resistance. So it wouldn’t surprise me if this was gonna be the start of a downtrend. And that’s why I’m not going to be taking long positions right now. And that’s why even if I did take long positions in this range, I would be considering them. High risk plays. Yes, we do have a really nice formation in the market with a series of higher highs and higher lows. And that’s absolutely beautiful. But I’m still going to be on the lookout for potentially trading significantly lower because that bearish bias is still going to be there. Granted, bitcoin today performing quite well in the face the rest of the markets. The S&P 500 at roughly break even from where it opened. But other markets are taking a plunge today and bitcoin has seen a rise along with gold just a little bit as well. So while that doesn’t look absolutely terrible, I do think that, you know, there is a decent chance things could continue to worsen. And once again, I do have to unfortunately remind you that what we need with Bitcoin at this stage with Bitcoin, has matured to a level where, you know, just you and I. Regular people with regular bankrolls can’t move the market. What we do need are players with bigger money getting into the game and those players with bigger money. What’s going to make them interested in taking on a high risk position in a high risk asset? You know, any position you take with bitcoin is inherently high risk compared to some of the other markets that are going on in the world and something really important about that. And by the way, some people still think that Bitcoin isn’t a high risk asset. I mean, you know, this volatility tells you a really different story, especially what happened back in March. But you know what? People will be looking for the people with deeper pockets when they want to jump into the higher risk positions as first they need to be making money at home. They need to be making money with what they’re comfortable with, where the real world markets, stock markets, whatever are increasing really nicely. And when that confidence starts to go up and you’ve been there before because you’ve also had successful trades, and when your confidence starts to go up, you start to realize, oh, shit, I can start taking some more risks. You start to think about it a little bit more. You start to like to go further down that line of thought of what it looks like to be a trader. What different things you can do as a trader, you know, you start to really get excited and explore the options. And that’s the environment in which bitcoin can hold a sustainable rally. This really is just a reaction from an absolutely disgusting trend. And this is not where the downtrend started, my friends. The downtrend has been going on since December of last year. The downtrend has been going on since June of last year and since 2018, the downtrend has been going on for, you know, the overall trend has been downwards. Very, very important to point out, lower highs across the macro trend. You cannot ignore it. Even this was technically a lower high over here. And we just we keep seeing more of it. So what’s to say that this isn’t going to be another one potentially topping out at, say, 8000 or even right here? That is the lens with which I’m analyzing the market because, yeah, it looks really sexy when you zoom in this far and what you risk doing is losing perspective of the larger market. And that’s usually fine. It’s usually not such a big problem if you’re a short term trader because you’re going to have a stop loss in case you’re wrong. But you need to know when to dial back that excitement and when to dial that excitement up. And this is a time where I’m personally dialing that excitement back. Why am I dialing that excitement back? Why am I being more cautious with my short term trades? Because we’ve had an immense period of volatility. And it’s usually the case that when you see a big period of volatility, even if you end up having relative calm afterwards, that big volatility can come back. It doesn’t mean that it will come back, but it can come back, and especially because this V-shaped correction has been so fierce. I think that that isn’t so unlikely to happen. So I need to be prepared for that. The most important thing to understand, guys, is that losing money will screw you over harder than anything else. Let me give you an example. I’m going to demonstrate for you why you need to protect your money. Like there trees that grow like the trees that grow money. Right? That’s that’s kind of what. They are. When you’re in the game of trading, let’s take a look at. Let’s take a look at this dump right from low to high. What kind of what would we want? Let’s take a look at what the dump is from the low ten thousand five hundred down to Surrey, from the high ten thousand five hundred down to the low at three thousand eight hundred. That was a sixty three percent drop, but it is not a sixty three percent increase to go back up to ten thousand dollars. You know, just to get to where we are, it’s already an 88 percent increase to get back up to nine thousand two hundred. It’s already a hundred and forty percent to get back up to the high where this midterm downtrend started. You have to rise by plus one hundred and seventy two percent from here. So you’ve suffered a sixty three percent loss. And and in order to recover it, you need to make one hundred and seventy two percent profit. This wasn’t drawn correctly. That was a little bit too high. It takes a lot to make back losses, and it doesn’t look like it at first. But I mean you already know this. If you’ve entered the game, for example, with $5000 and now you’re down to $1000, that’s an 80 percent loss on your portfolio. But you need to multiply your money by five times just just to break even. And that’s why it’s at times like this where the sheeps who are really, really invested in Bitcoin weigh more than they should have been. They’re going to be getting really excited. They’re going to be throwing parties, but they are not going to be doing analysis that’s going to serve them in the long run and that long run. Like I said, it can resume at any moment now. It really can be the case that we end up seeing a dump to resume this longer term trend. That can happen at any moment because we have had such a fierce correction, because it’s known to happen with Bitcoin, because, you know, it’s rallied by eighty five percent. It’s in a really big downtrend. It’s just the perfect storm. Again, doesn’t mean that it will happen. But I need to be aware of that risk because I’m looking to manage my funds and keep them as safe as possible. I do not want to be in a position where I’m scrambling back to make back money I’ve lost. That is a really, really difficult way to try it. It’s really difficult to trade properly if you’re worried about making back money that you’ve lost. It’s really difficult. And so that’s the number one thing I avoid. And what you see in the VIP group is how I do that throughout my trade, how I do that throughout a week, throughout a month, throughout a year. Shout out to the yearly members who get free access to the four flies course, which right now is worth nearly half of the yearly subscription anyway. So a really, really good deal on the yearly plan. Shout out to all of those members. Book an absolutely beautiful profit in the VIP group. Once again, this member over here pulling amazing profits within just a 48 hour time span, mentioning that he’s learned more in two weeks than its previous 31 years. And within those very two weeks since he joined made 200 percent plus on his investment into the VIP group. And he also covered his fee. So absolutely beautiful stuff. You don’t need a large balance to join the VIP group. We’ve had a lot of people with relatively small balances making an absolute killing simply because they know where their heads at. And with the VIP group, they’re able to gain a little bit more clarity on what they’re seeing in the market. Really, really beautiful stuff going on in there. And you already know what to do if you want to get into that group. All right. Hope you have enjoyed this video, this pump. Yeah, I did definitely catch me off guard. Fortunately, I wasn’t even in any positions. I didn’t put myself in a position to lose money from this pump. So even though my analysis was wrong, my bankroll has actually increased. Bitcoin pumped. So I made money. I was wrong and I still paid money. And that’s what’s really important. Analysis is absolutely great, but it’s only half the job. And trading is is where all of that comes into fruition. It’s where all of that comes to life. Really, really important skill. All right. I’m interested in going longer on this. I’m going to see how it responds to these support levels over here. Perhaps looks a little bit too good to be true. So I might have to wait for Bitcoin to drop a little bit lower and then look to take on a long position. Again, I think my stop loss and such would be very tight. I would be taking profits very quickly. I’ll be explaining to VIP members how and why. I’ll be taking profits really quickly. But it all comes down to the fact that this is going to be a higher risk zone. So anytime I enter a position, I want that position to be closed, a sap. I want that position to be closed as soon as possible when I enter it. So I will probably be aggressively taking profits. I will probably be putting my stop Stop-Loss very tight and raising it up to break even as always. Right after I feel satisfied with closing a small amount of profit. All right. That’s it for me once again. Hope you have enjoyed it. Head up those like subscribe. Take the bell. Do all that good stuff. Stay. Stay safe. And I’m out. Peace.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoins-pump-of-hope-breakdown-and-analysis/ source https://cryptosharks1.tumblr.com/post/614319402959208448

[heatherrdavis1]

Bitcoins PUMP OF HOPE! Breakdown and Analysis

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Bitcoin ended up seeing a really nice series of pumps after the last video. That’s definitely not something that I was expecting. But let’s take a look at what’s gone on. Anyway, we ended up going from the lows that we were trading at and around six thousand six thousand one hundred all the way up. It’s roughly a thousand dollar pumped from low to high to seven thousand three hundred dollars. That is an absolutely beautiful place for bitcoin to stop if we were going to get a pump. This is a really expected sort of place for bitcoin to end up topping out simply because of where that resistance lies. So one of the things I was telling you about is that if we do end up seeing some pumps up higher, actually thought it would happen over here or over here if we do end up seeing those pumps, that this could be a relative area of resistance. So it’s really nice that we’re starting to find some resistance in this range. And so what that’s wanting me to look for like that was a terrible sentence. What that’s making me want to look for are signs to reenter on the bull side. Now, again, I have to reiterate, I do think that the bearish overall market set up with the rising wage and everything like that is still valid. I think it’s still extremely valid and it literally is, as far as I’m concerned, just a matter of time until it ends up breaking lower. That would be that would still be the case even if we ended up breaking this resistance over here, because, again, I have to say it once more. And bear markets after a dump like this, after capitulation, events like this, they don’t end with rallies like this. That’s what I’m going to be looking for. And, you know, some people might be saying, well, actually, you know, Bitcoin is already doing it. So why are you fighting it? Why you’re not embracing that? This is actually just a bullish trend which is going to stay. And the truth is, in response to those arguments, will bitcoin is moving more like the conventional markets month by month. It’s becoming tamed, right. It’s becoming much more mature in terms of how it trades. And so a mature market after a dump like this. Granted, it would never have a dump like this. But if it were to happen, you would you would start to expect instead of a big V-shaped correction like this, that goes up by something like 85 percent. Let’s take a look. 86 percent instead of a dump sorry, a V-shaped correction like that. In order to end that bearish trend, you would be expecting some sort of accumulation range. And again, that’s not what we have, but what we have right now is a bullish trend. So I’m going to analyze it with that light. And the main thing that I’m looking for right now, because I do want to start trading the long side now that we’ve hit this resistance level is how do we respond to support levels initially without resistance at roughly six thousand seven hundred dollars. All we needed to do was form a bit of a bull, a bull slyke. And then we ended up continuing a little bit higher. And it definitely looks like we could be in for a bit of a drop. Now, we do have the seven thousand dollar level offering a little bit of psychological support. So it’s entirely possible that because this trend does have some momentum behind it. You know, we are seeing some volume over there as well. It’s entirely possible that this trend doesn’t need to pullback significantly, although I think it would be very reasonable. Now, one of the tools we can use to kind of guess where Bitcoin might end up falling to if it does fall is the Fibonacci retracement tool. And so that’s telling us that some of the key levels of interest would be six thousand seven hundred and forty and six thousand four hundred given how short term this rally has been. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the $6700 level is much more likely for bitcoin to fall to and retest. However, because this particular rally looks like it has a lot more strength than some others. I think it’s also possible that bottoming out at roughly six thousand nine hundred with the 2 3 6 level is could also be an option. If we zoom in even further and said it to the start of this rally, which again only happened over the past 24 hours, we can start okay. We’ve already started plummeting below that. We can start to see that. Is that more important support levels? You know, they might be around 60, 600, you know, potentially pushing 67 as well. I think it’s also worth while we’re here. We’re going to switch this over to the Jemini chart just because it is a little bit more clear. It would be a little bit easier for us to read. I’m also going to throw on a Fibonacci right from the bottom all the way to the top, because if this is going to be more of a macro trend and I don’t think it is, but it’s well worth checking out any way we could end up falling down to some of the more macro support levels, 6 1 8 level down here at five thousand two hundred dollars. I don’t know if it’s likely that we’re going to go down that low right now. I think it’s gonna take a significant period of time in order for us to get down that low and significant in this case means just perhaps a week minimum. But the the 3 8 2 level. Six thousand dollars. Looks entirely possible. The good news for this trend right now, though, is that we’ve already pretty much bounced off that level, so we might not have to come down and test this 2, 3, 6 level also at about 6500. So this doesn’t look entirely plausible. So let’s get back to the Coinbase chart and see what else would be happening with the trend over here. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators. Now, one of the main things to take a look at. Actually, we’re gonna go back to that Jemini chart. I like it being clean. One of the main things to take note of is that we do have a beautiful area of support. Now that this bullish trend has been reestablished, we do have a lot of support. If Bitcoin was to start dropping, we have that on the one hour as well. Some nice support on the one hour. If we end up arranging sideways a little bit, this is going to become quite a big HMO, good cloud of support. And then, of course, on the 4:00 hour, it is rapidly expanding. So that is a really, really good sign. The one day we do have, if this rally does have strength, we do have some strength within literally the next eight days to potentially do something really interesting. Does that mean it’s going to happen? I think it’s highly unlikely. But if we do end up trading sideways or anything of the sort, this one day resistance cloud is going to become a problem for Bitcoin. Now, like I said, if it manages to trade higher before this becomes a problem, then I think that Bitcoin could have a chance at rallying a little bit higher for one of those crazy pumps that that, you know, occasionally happens. However, like I said, if we do get any sort of consolidation over here, if it goes on for too long, my eyes will be on this resistance cloud. And I think this can completely stop the entire trend in its tracks. Why do I think so? Well, you know, it forecasts where resistance will be very accurately and more importantly, because it is an accurate indicator. Largely speaking, when you do have a big trend in the market, you guys have heard me talk about why I love the Moku Clouds so much. Once again, if you don’t know what it is. Such this up into YouTube and you’ll find out what I’m talking about. But you know, because it is such a reliable indicator. And at the moment, it is looking bearish. And at the moment we’re in an overall bearish trend. This would be one of what I would consider to be the final nail in the coffin for bitcoin if it was going to be able to continue trading sideways or even slightly higher over the next week. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to happen. It’s a little bit too early to say, but we do definitely have some of those early signs that that strength is there. My major issue with those signs of strength, though, is that every time we get signs of strength, you know, like those rallies, it’s exactly what I was talking about in the last video. We fall short. And that means this trend is going to have to do a lot to prove to me that it’s going to be able to rise significantly higher. Obviously, some of the next resistance levels, if we take it over to the Coinbase chart that I’ve already had drawn for you, are going to be around seven thousand eight hundred. So the high seven thousand is potentially below 8000 as well. We know that that’s probably going to be resistance because there was a lot of trading that happened around this range throughout twenty nineteen. This was one of the crucial turning points for the market. You’re getting a lot of bounces up from this level, you’re getting a lot of resistance levels. Resistance hits from this level. Another nice bounce over here, some consolidation with this massive dump downward. So this is definitely a key level. And that’s to say if we do breach this green line, I think it could be a pretty easy run up for Bitcoin. If we take on the 4 hour chart, we can see that there is going to be some resistance between this green box and the red line. This is the range where I think Bitcoin could trade really easily. And that’s to say if bitcoin breaks above this level, it should be able to hit the red line pretty easily. I think there is a bit of resistance that’s going to make that difficult. We did establish that resistance throughout November and December of last year. That was four months ago now. And if we take a look at what happened throughout 2018, there was also a fair bit of trading that happened within this range. So it is up in the air. There is not a very clear shot over here. You know, it’s not like when I was telling you that if we drop below this red line, it will almost definitely go down to this red line. That happened once over here. That happened both times where I was trading. It pulled beautiful profits, 360 percent up here and one hundred and forty percent trading. The same thing moving downwards. You know, in that case, if that is going to happen, I will be sorry. If we do end up falling down here again, I will obviously be looking at a $4000 level, but we don’t have such a clear shot in this case. And again, when we bring it back to the shorter time frames, that’s why I don’t have a lot of weight. That’s why I don’t think that we have a lot of consistency. You know, like I said, when we do have these bullish setups in the. It just falls flat so terribly. So I am going to be having to unfortunately ask myself the question, will it be the same this time around? Because it’s no surprise. One of the notes that I ended the last video on was actually talking about how, you know, it’s not a coincidence that every time we get these really nice bullish setups, something screws up and just end the whole rally. That’s not a coincidence. You know, that is happening because we have such a terrible trend. When we zoom out a little bit more. And so naturally, it’s just going to give a lot of interruptions. It’s gonna be like a cockblock or something for the market. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues to happen. So would that resistance overhead, even though it might look a little bit easy for Bitcoin to continue rising? That’s definitely not where I’m very keen to be placing my bets. So I’m not too sure how we’ll be playing that. It is going to depend on, you know, for example, Bitcoin can gain a lot of points in my book if it bounce off support levels really well. You know, if it bounce off, bounces off, this level potentially plunges just a little bit deeper, penetrates the sixty eight hundred dollar level. If it can get down to, you know, six thousand seven hundred six thousand seven hundred and fifty and then get a nice pump higher, that would give me a lot of confidence in Bitcoin at the moment. Right now the only thing I have are two nice pumps. The second one, which does have more volume, which is granted absolutely great. But if we do zoom in a little bit further, we can see that not all of that volume was happening with the green candles. The majority of it was that we’re still getting a fair bit of red volume price action. And so it’s not as rosy as it looks. So I do need to see some more signs of strength. As I know it’s just as I’m talking about this Bitcoin is pulling back. It’s almost like fireflies continues to prophesize what’s going on in the market. I don’t like to do analysis when the market is moving live because I have to change my analysis on the fly. And that’s really difficult when my analyst has already given me notes on what to talk about in the video. But, you know, in this case, it is definitely looking like the same things are happening. We are still, you know, no matter what. We are still looking at support levels below us. The good news is that this green box could act as support if we end up going down this low. So, you know, if we end up going down there, I will be much more inclined on taking on long positions. They would be high risk positions. Anything at the moment I think would be high risk positions. But as BP members have been able to see, I’m able to maneuver high risk situations using high leverage with my trades. And I’m able to manage that risk really, really carefully, oftentimes, or VIP members will see me doing when I’m booking beautiful profits like this, 58 percent gain over here. Oftentimes what VIP members will see me doing is I’ll book a small profit on a trade and then I’ll be happy to get stopped out for the rest of my position at break even. And obviously they get the updates on how I do that in real time. They get the updates. More importantly of why I do that in real time. So exactly as I make my decisions, as I set my orders, VIP members are informed and they can see how. Yeah, while things might look like they’re tense and the situation has higher risk than usual, I will do what I can to maneuver the market and still book gains or pounds on the market when I feel like I’m ready. And then I’ll move back into, you know, cover or whatever. You know, when I think that things are again going to be what I’m where I’m going to be waiting for things to shape up and give me that beautiful formation in the market where once again, I’ll be ready to pounce. So it’s really important, that kind of trading style I have in situations like this where I love to enter positions which would be high risk, but then just close a small profit and walk away with, you know, the stop loss at break even or potentially just close the whole position at a modest, you know, 10 percent, 20 percent profit. Those are pretty good numbers. That’s still nearly what Bitcoin did today. I mean, it says it’s up by 3 percent, but that’s not really true from the low, you know, from the lower up by something like 15 percent. And those gains, you know, would still beat what the market has done today. And that is really, really significant. Once again, this member overhead really, you know, quite hesitant to join when he was getting into the group. And this is not the first time you’ve seen another testimonial, a couple videos back where there was another member who was very hesitant to join. And then just within a couple days or a couple weeks, really, really happy with the service, feeling much more comfortable with the group, feeling much more comfortable with trading, because the whole game can be really confusing. I’m getting a lot of messages from people on Twitter even telling me about how I’m able to spot things that they can’t even see in the first place. And really, you know, what that comes down to is making a lot of mistakes, learning from those mistakes and then, you know, dusting yourself off and carrying on forward. And what you see in the VIP group is. Result of all of that. If you want to find out what that group includes, follow these steps. Click on the first link in the description down below. Then click on the ad for slides at the bottom of any post and for flight gold and then click on send message. Ask me how to join VIP. Is it still possible that bitcoin is going to completely fall flat and and just fall down to the $5000 dollar level? You know, I think that chances are still that this is a more macro level of resistance. So it wouldn’t surprise me if this was gonna be the start of a downtrend. And that’s why I’m not going to be taking long positions right now. And that’s why even if I did take long positions in this range, I would be considering them. High risk plays. Yes, we do have a really nice formation in the market with a series of higher highs and higher lows. And that’s absolutely beautiful. But I’m still going to be on the lookout for potentially trading significantly lower because that bearish bias is still going to be there. Granted, bitcoin today performing quite well in the face the rest of the markets. The S&P 500 at roughly break even from where it opened. But other markets are taking a plunge today and bitcoin has seen a rise along with gold just a little bit as well. So while that doesn’t look absolutely terrible, I do think that, you know, there is a decent chance things could continue to worsen. And once again, I do have to unfortunately remind you that what we need with Bitcoin at this stage with Bitcoin, has matured to a level where, you know, just you and I. Regular people with regular bankrolls can’t move the market. What we do need are players with bigger money getting into the game and those players with bigger money. What’s going to make them interested in taking on a high risk position in a high risk asset? You know, any position you take with bitcoin is inherently high risk compared to some of the other markets that are going on in the world and something really important about that. And by the way, some people still think that Bitcoin isn’t a high risk asset. I mean, you know, this volatility tells you a really different story, especially what happened back in March. But you know what? People will be looking for the people with deeper pockets when they want to jump into the higher risk positions as first they need to be making money at home. They need to be making money with what they’re comfortable with, where the real world markets, stock markets, whatever are increasing really nicely. And when that confidence starts to go up and you’ve been there before because you’ve also had successful trades, and when your confidence starts to go up, you start to realize, oh, shit, I can start taking some more risks. You start to think about it a little bit more. You start to like to go further down that line of thought of what it looks like to be a trader. What different things you can do as a trader, you know, you start to really get excited and explore the options. And that’s the environment in which bitcoin can hold a sustainable rally. This really is just a reaction from an absolutely disgusting trend. And this is not where the downtrend started, my friends. The downtrend has been going on since December of last year. The downtrend has been going on since June of last year and since 2018, the downtrend has been going on for, you know, the overall trend has been downwards. Very, very important to point out, lower highs across the macro trend. You cannot ignore it. Even this was technically a lower high over here. And we just we keep seeing more of it. So what’s to say that this isn’t going to be another one potentially topping out at, say, 8000 or even right here? That is the lens with which I’m analyzing the market because, yeah, it looks really sexy when you zoom in this far and what you risk doing is losing perspective of the larger market. And that’s usually fine. It’s usually not such a big problem if you’re a short term trader because you’re going to have a stop loss in case you’re wrong. But you need to know when to dial back that excitement and when to dial that excitement up. And this is a time where I’m personally dialing that excitement back. Why am I dialing that excitement back? Why am I being more cautious with my short term trades? Because we’ve had an immense period of volatility. And it’s usually the case that when you see a big period of volatility, even if you end up having relative calm afterwards, that big volatility can come back. It doesn’t mean that it will come back, but it can come back, and especially because this V-shaped correction has been so fierce. I think that that isn’t so unlikely to happen. So I need to be prepared for that. The most important thing to understand, guys, is that losing money will screw you over harder than anything else. Let me give you an example. I’m going to demonstrate for you why you need to protect your money. Like there trees that grow like the trees that grow money. Right? That’s that’s kind of what. They are. When you’re in the game of trading, let’s take a look at. Let’s take a look at this dump right from low to high. What kind of what would we want? Let’s take a look at what the dump is from the low ten thousand five hundred down to Surrey, from the high ten thousand five hundred down to the low at three thousand eight hundred. That was a sixty three percent drop, but it is not a sixty three percent increase to go back up to ten thousand dollars. You know, just to get to where we are, it’s already an 88 percent increase to get back up to nine thousand two hundred. It’s already a hundred and forty percent to get back up to the high where this midterm downtrend started. You have to rise by plus one hundred and seventy two percent from here. So you’ve suffered a sixty three percent loss. And and in order to recover it, you need to make one hundred and seventy two percent profit. This wasn’t drawn correctly. That was a little bit too high. It takes a lot to make back losses, and it doesn’t look like it at first. But I mean you already know this. If you’ve entered the game, for example, with $5000 and now you’re down to $1000, that’s an 80 percent loss on your portfolio. But you need to multiply your money by five times just just to break even. And that’s why it’s at times like this where the sheeps who are really, really invested in Bitcoin weigh more than they should have been. They’re going to be getting really excited. They’re going to be throwing parties, but they are not going to be doing analysis that’s going to serve them in the long run and that long run. Like I said, it can resume at any moment now. It really can be the case that we end up seeing a dump to resume this longer term trend. That can happen at any moment because we have had such a fierce correction, because it’s known to happen with Bitcoin, because, you know, it’s rallied by eighty five percent. It’s in a really big downtrend. It’s just the perfect storm. Again, doesn’t mean that it will happen. But I need to be aware of that risk because I’m looking to manage my funds and keep them as safe as possible. I do not want to be in a position where I’m scrambling back to make back money I’ve lost. That is a really, really difficult way to try it. It’s really difficult to trade properly if you’re worried about making back money that you’ve lost. It’s really difficult. And so that’s the number one thing I avoid. And what you see in the VIP group is how I do that throughout my trade, how I do that throughout a week, throughout a month, throughout a year. Shout out to the yearly members who get free access to the four flies course, which right now is worth nearly half of the yearly subscription anyway. So a really, really good deal on the yearly plan. Shout out to all of those members. Book an absolutely beautiful profit in the VIP group. Once again, this member over here pulling amazing profits within just a 48 hour time span, mentioning that he’s learned more in two weeks than its previous 31 years. And within those very two weeks since he joined made 200 percent plus on his investment into the VIP group. And he also covered his fee. So absolutely beautiful stuff. You don’t need a large balance to join the VIP group. We’ve had a lot of people with relatively small balances making an absolute killing simply because they know where their heads at. And with the VIP group, they’re able to gain a little bit more clarity on what they’re seeing in the market. Really, really beautiful stuff going on in there. And you already know what to do if you want to get into that group. All right. Hope you have enjoyed this video, this pump. Yeah, I did definitely catch me off guard. Fortunately, I wasn’t even in any positions. I didn’t put myself in a position to lose money from this pump. So even though my analysis was wrong, my bankroll has actually increased. Bitcoin pumped. So I made money. I was wrong and I still paid money. And that’s what’s really important. Analysis is absolutely great, but it’s only half the job. And trading is is where all of that comes into fruition. It’s where all of that comes to life. Really, really important skill. All right. I’m interested in going longer on this. I’m going to see how it responds to these support levels over here. Perhaps looks a little bit too good to be true. So I might have to wait for Bitcoin to drop a little bit lower and then look to take on a long position. Again, I think my stop loss and such would be very tight. I would be taking profits very quickly. I’ll be explaining to VIP members how and why. I’ll be taking profits really quickly. But it all comes down to the fact that this is going to be a higher risk zone. So anytime I enter a position, I want that position to be closed, a sap. I want that position to be closed as soon as possible when I enter it. So I will probably be aggressively taking profits. I will probably be putting my stop Stop-Loss very tight and raising it up to break even as always. Right after I feel satisfied with closing a small amount of profit. All right. That’s it for me once again. Hope you have enjoyed it. Head up those like subscribe. Take the bell. Do all that good stuff. Stay. Stay safe. And I’m out. Peace.

Via https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoins-pump-of-hope-breakdown-and-analysis/

source https://cryptosharks.weebly.com/blog/bitcoins-pump-of-hope-breakdown-and-analysis

[scottmapess]

Bitcoin’s PUMP OF HOPE! Breakdown and Analysis

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Bitcoin ended up seeing a really nice series of pumps after the last video. That’s definitely not something that I was expecting. But let’s take a look at what’s gone on. Anyway, we ended up going from the lows that we were trading at and around six thousand six thousand one hundred all the way up. It’s roughly a thousand dollar pumped from low to high to seven thousand three hundred dollars. That is an absolutely beautiful place for bitcoin to stop if we were going to get a pump. This is a really expected sort of place for bitcoin to end up topping out simply because of where that resistance lies. So one of the things I was telling you about is that if we do end up seeing some pumps up higher, actually thought it would happen over here or over here if we do end up seeing those pumps, that this could be a relative area of resistance. So it’s really nice that we’re starting to find some resistance in this range. And so what that’s wanting me to look for like that was a terrible sentence. What that’s making me want to look for are signs to reenter on the bull side. Now, again, I have to reiterate, I do think that the bearish overall market set up with the rising wage and everything like that is still valid. I think it’s still extremely valid and it literally is, as far as I’m concerned, just a matter of time until it ends up breaking lower. That would be that would still be the case even if we ended up breaking this resistance over here, because, again, I have to say it once more. And bear markets after a dump like this, after capitulation, events like this, they don’t end with rallies like this. That’s what I’m going to be looking for. And, you know, some people might be saying, well, actually, you know, Bitcoin is already doing it. So why are you fighting it? Why you’re not embracing that? This is actually just a bullish trend which is going to stay. And the truth is, in response to those arguments, will bitcoin is moving more like the conventional markets month by month. It’s becoming tamed, right. It’s becoming much more mature in terms of how it trades. And so a mature market after a dump like this. Granted, it would never have a dump like this. But if it were to happen, you would you would start to expect instead of a big V-shaped correction like this, that goes up by something like 85 percent. Let’s take a look. 86 percent instead of a dump sorry, a V-shaped correction like that. In order to end that bearish trend, you would be expecting some sort of accumulation range. And again, that’s not what we have, but what we have right now is a bullish trend. So I’m going to analyze it with that light. And the main thing that I’m looking for right now, because I do want to start trading the long side now that we’ve hit this resistance level is how do we respond to support levels initially without resistance at roughly six thousand seven hundred dollars. All we needed to do was form a bit of a bull, a bull slyke. And then we ended up continuing a little bit higher. And it definitely looks like we could be in for a bit of a drop. Now, we do have the seven thousand dollar level offering a little bit of psychological support. So it’s entirely possible that because this trend does have some momentum behind it. You know, we are seeing some volume over there as well. It’s entirely possible that this trend doesn’t need to pullback significantly, although I think it would be very reasonable. Now, one of the tools we can use to kind of guess where Bitcoin might end up falling to if it does fall is the Fibonacci retracement tool. And so that’s telling us that some of the key levels of interest would be six thousand seven hundred and forty and six thousand four hundred given how short term this rally has been. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the $6700 level is much more likely for bitcoin to fall to and retest. However, because this particular rally looks like it has a lot more strength than some others. I think it’s also possible that bottoming out at roughly six thousand nine hundred with the 2 3 6 level is could also be an option. If we zoom in even further and said it to the start of this rally, which again only happened over the past 24 hours, we can start okay. We’ve already started plummeting below that. We can start to see that. Is that more important support levels? You know, they might be around 60, 600, you know, potentially pushing 67 as well. I think it’s also worth while we’re here. We’re going to switch this over to the Jemini chart just because it is a little bit more clear. It would be a little bit easier for us to read. I’m also going to throw on a Fibonacci right from the bottom all the way to the top, because if this is going to be more of a macro trend and I don’t think it is, but it’s well worth checking out any way we could end up falling down to some of the more macro support levels, 6 1 8 level down here at five thousand two hundred dollars. I don’t know if it’s likely that we’re going to go down that low right now. I think it’s gonna take a significant period of time in order for us to get down that low and significant in this case means just perhaps a week minimum. But the the 3 8 2 level. Six thousand dollars. Looks entirely possible. The good news for this trend right now, though, is that we’ve already pretty much bounced off that level, so we might not have to come down and test this 2, 3, 6 level also at about 6500. So this doesn’t look entirely plausible. So let’s get back to the Coinbase chart and see what else would be happening with the trend over here. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators. Now, one of the main things to take a look at. Actually, we’re gonna go back to that Jemini chart. I like it being clean. One of the main things to take note of is that we do have a beautiful area of support. Now that this bullish trend has been reestablished, we do have a lot of support. If Bitcoin was to start dropping, we have that on the one hour as well. Some nice support on the one hour. If we end up arranging sideways a little bit, this is going to become quite a big HMO, good cloud of support. And then, of course, on the 4:00 hour, it is rapidly expanding. So that is a really, really good sign. The one day we do have, if this rally does have strength, we do have some strength within literally the next eight days to potentially do something really interesting. Does that mean it’s going to happen? I think it’s highly unlikely. But if we do end up trading sideways or anything of the sort, this one day resistance cloud is going to become a problem for Bitcoin. Now, like I said, if it manages to trade higher before this becomes a problem, then I think that Bitcoin could have a chance at rallying a little bit higher for one of those crazy pumps that that, you know, occasionally happens. However, like I said, if we do get any sort of consolidation over here, if it goes on for too long, my eyes will be on this resistance cloud. And I think this can completely stop the entire trend in its tracks. Why do I think so? Well, you know, it forecasts where resistance will be very accurately and more importantly, because it is an accurate indicator. Largely speaking, when you do have a big trend in the market, you guys have heard me talk about why I love the Moku Clouds so much. Once again, if you don’t know what it is. Such this up into YouTube and you’ll find out what I’m talking about. But you know, because it is such a reliable indicator. And at the moment, it is looking bearish. And at the moment we’re in an overall bearish trend. This would be one of what I would consider to be the final nail in the coffin for bitcoin if it was going to be able to continue trading sideways or even slightly higher over the next week. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to happen. It’s a little bit too early to say, but we do definitely have some of those early signs that that strength is there. My major issue with those signs of strength, though, is that every time we get signs of strength, you know, like those rallies, it’s exactly what I was talking about in the last video. We fall short. And that means this trend is going to have to do a lot to prove to me that it’s going to be able to rise significantly higher. Obviously, some of the next resistance levels, if we take it over to the Coinbase chart that I’ve already had drawn for you, are going to be around seven thousand eight hundred. So the high seven thousand is potentially below 8000 as well. We know that that’s probably going to be resistance because there was a lot of trading that happened around this range throughout twenty nineteen. This was one of the crucial turning points for the market. You’re getting a lot of bounces up from this level, you’re getting a lot of resistance levels. Resistance hits from this level. Another nice bounce over here, some consolidation with this massive dump downward. So this is definitely a key level. And that’s to say if we do breach this green line, I think it could be a pretty easy run up for Bitcoin. If we take on the 4 hour chart, we can see that there is going to be some resistance between this green box and the red line. This is the range where I think Bitcoin could trade really easily. And that’s to say if bitcoin breaks above this level, it should be able to hit the red line pretty easily. I think there is a bit of resistance that’s going to make that difficult. We did establish that resistance throughout November and December of last year. That was four months ago now. And if we take a look at what happened throughout 2018, there was also a fair bit of trading that happened within this range. So it is up in the air. There is not a very clear shot over here. You know, it’s not like when I was telling you that if we drop below this red line, it will almost definitely go down to this red line. That happened once over here. That happened both times where I was trading. It pulled beautiful profits, 360 percent up here and one hundred and forty percent trading. The same thing moving downwards. You know, in that case, if that is going to happen, I will be sorry. If we do end up falling down here again, I will obviously be looking at a $4000 level, but we don’t have such a clear shot in this case. And again, when we bring it back to the shorter time frames, that’s why I don’t have a lot of weight. That’s why I don’t think that we have a lot of consistency. You know, like I said, when we do have these bullish setups in the. It just falls flat so terribly. So I am going to be having to unfortunately ask myself the question, will it be the same this time around? Because it’s no surprise. One of the notes that I ended the last video on was actually talking about how, you know, it’s not a coincidence that every time we get these really nice bullish setups, something screws up and just end the whole rally. That’s not a coincidence. You know, that is happening because we have such a terrible trend. When we zoom out a little bit more. And so naturally, it’s just going to give a lot of interruptions. It’s gonna be like a cockblock or something for the market. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues to happen. So would that resistance overhead, even though it might look a little bit easy for Bitcoin to continue rising? That’s definitely not where I’m very keen to be placing my bets. So I’m not too sure how we’ll be playing that. It is going to depend on, you know, for example, Bitcoin can gain a lot of points in my book if it bounce off support levels really well. You know, if it bounce off, bounces off, this level potentially plunges just a little bit deeper, penetrates the sixty eight hundred dollar level. If it can get down to, you know, six thousand seven hundred six thousand seven hundred and fifty and then get a nice pump higher, that would give me a lot of confidence in Bitcoin at the moment. Right now the only thing I have are two nice pumps. The second one, which does have more volume, which is granted absolutely great. But if we do zoom in a little bit further, we can see that not all of that volume was happening with the green candles. The majority of it was that we’re still getting a fair bit of red volume price action. And so it’s not as rosy as it looks. So I do need to see some more signs of strength. As I know it’s just as I’m talking about this Bitcoin is pulling back. It’s almost like fireflies continues to prophesize what’s going on in the market. I don’t like to do analysis when the market is moving live because I have to change my analysis on the fly. And that’s really difficult when my analyst has already given me notes on what to talk about in the video. But, you know, in this case, it is definitely looking like the same things are happening. We are still, you know, no matter what. We are still looking at support levels below us. The good news is that this green box could act as support if we end up going down this low. So, you know, if we end up going down there, I will be much more inclined on taking on long positions. They would be high risk positions. Anything at the moment I think would be high risk positions. But as BP members have been able to see, I’m able to maneuver high risk situations using high leverage with my trades. And I’m able to manage that risk really, really carefully, oftentimes, or VIP members will see me doing when I’m booking beautiful profits like this, 58 percent gain over here. Oftentimes what VIP members will see me doing is I’ll book a small profit on a trade and then I’ll be happy to get stopped out for the rest of my position at break even. And obviously they get the updates on how I do that in real time. They get the updates. More importantly of why I do that in real time. So exactly as I make my decisions, as I set my orders, VIP members are informed and they can see how. Yeah, while things might look like they’re tense and the situation has higher risk than usual, I will do what I can to maneuver the market and still book gains or pounds on the market when I feel like I’m ready. And then I’ll move back into, you know, cover or whatever. You know, when I think that things are again going to be what I’m where I’m going to be waiting for things to shape up and give me that beautiful formation in the market where once again, I’ll be ready to pounce. So it’s really important, that kind of trading style I have in situations like this where I love to enter positions which would be high risk, but then just close a small profit and walk away with, you know, the stop loss at break even or potentially just close the whole position at a modest, you know, 10 percent, 20 percent profit. Those are pretty good numbers. That’s still nearly what Bitcoin did today. I mean, it says it’s up by 3 percent, but that’s not really true from the low, you know, from the lower up by something like 15 percent. And those gains, you know, would still beat what the market has done today. And that is really, really significant. Once again, this member overhead really, you know, quite hesitant to join when he was getting into the group. And this is not the first time you’ve seen another testimonial, a couple videos back where there was another member who was very hesitant to join. And then just within a couple days or a couple weeks, really, really happy with the service, feeling much more comfortable with the group, feeling much more comfortable with trading, because the whole game can be really confusing. I’m getting a lot of messages from people on Twitter even telling me about how I’m able to spot things that they can’t even see in the first place. And really, you know, what that comes down to is making a lot of mistakes, learning from those mistakes and then, you know, dusting yourself off and carrying on forward. And what you see in the VIP group is. Result of all of that. If you want to find out what that group includes, follow these steps. Click on the first link in the description down below. Then click on the ad for slides at the bottom of any post and for flight gold and then click on send message. Ask me how to join VIP. Is it still possible that bitcoin is going to completely fall flat and and just fall down to the $5000 dollar level? You know, I think that chances are still that this is a more macro level of resistance. So it wouldn’t surprise me if this was gonna be the start of a downtrend. And that’s why I’m not going to be taking long positions right now. And that’s why even if I did take long positions in this range, I would be considering them. High risk plays. Yes, we do have a really nice formation in the market with a series of higher highs and higher lows. And that’s absolutely beautiful. But I’m still going to be on the lookout for potentially trading significantly lower because that bearish bias is still going to be there. Granted, bitcoin today performing quite well in the face the rest of the markets. The S&P 500 at roughly break even from where it opened. But other markets are taking a plunge today and bitcoin has seen a rise along with gold just a little bit as well. So while that doesn’t look absolutely terrible, I do think that, you know, there is a decent chance things could continue to worsen. And once again, I do have to unfortunately remind you that what we need with Bitcoin at this stage with Bitcoin, has matured to a level where, you know, just you and I. Regular people with regular bankrolls can’t move the market. What we do need are players with bigger money getting into the game and those players with bigger money. What’s going to make them interested in taking on a high risk position in a high risk asset? You know, any position you take with bitcoin is inherently high risk compared to some of the other markets that are going on in the world and something really important about that. And by the way, some people still think that Bitcoin isn’t a high risk asset. I mean, you know, this volatility tells you a really different story, especially what happened back in March. But you know what? People will be looking for the people with deeper pockets when they want to jump into the higher risk positions as first they need to be making money at home. They need to be making money with what they’re comfortable with, where the real world markets, stock markets, whatever are increasing really nicely. And when that confidence starts to go up and you’ve been there before because you’ve also had successful trades, and when your confidence starts to go up, you start to realize, oh, shit, I can start taking some more risks. You start to think about it a little bit more. You start to like to go further down that line of thought of what it looks like to be a trader. What different things you can do as a trader, you know, you start to really get excited and explore the options. And that’s the environment in which bitcoin can hold a sustainable rally. This really is just a reaction from an absolutely disgusting trend. And this is not where the downtrend started, my friends. The downtrend has been going on since December of last year. The downtrend has been going on since June of last year and since 2018, the downtrend has been going on for, you know, the overall trend has been downwards. Very, very important to point out, lower highs across the macro trend. You cannot ignore it. Even this was technically a lower high over here. And we just we keep seeing more of it. So what’s to say that this isn’t going to be another one potentially topping out at, say, 8000 or even right here? That is the lens with which I’m analyzing the market because, yeah, it looks really sexy when you zoom in this far and what you risk doing is losing perspective of the larger market. And that’s usually fine. It’s usually not such a big problem if you’re a short term trader because you’re going to have a stop loss in case you’re wrong. But you need to know when to dial back that excitement and when to dial that excitement up. And this is a time where I’m personally dialing that excitement back. Why am I dialing that excitement back? Why am I being more cautious with my short term trades? Because we’ve had an immense period of volatility. And it’s usually the case that when you see a big period of volatility, even if you end up having relative calm afterwards, that big volatility can come back. It doesn’t mean that it will come back, but it can come back, and especially because this V-shaped correction has been so fierce. I think that that isn’t so unlikely to happen. So I need to be prepared for that. The most important thing to understand, guys, is that losing money will screw you over harder than anything else. Let me give you an example. I’m going to demonstrate for you why you need to protect your money. Like there trees that grow like the trees that grow money. Right? That’s that’s kind of what. They are. When you’re in the game of trading, let’s take a look at. Let’s take a look at this dump right from low to high. What kind of what would we want? Let’s take a look at what the dump is from the low ten thousand five hundred down to Surrey, from the high ten thousand five hundred down to the low at three thousand eight hundred. That was a sixty three percent drop, but it is not a sixty three percent increase to go back up to ten thousand dollars. You know, just to get to where we are, it’s already an 88 percent increase to get back up to nine thousand two hundred. It’s already a hundred and forty percent to get back up to the high where this midterm downtrend started. You have to rise by plus one hundred and seventy two percent from here. So you’ve suffered a sixty three percent loss. And and in order to recover it, you need to make one hundred and seventy two percent profit. This wasn’t drawn correctly. That was a little bit too high. It takes a lot to make back losses, and it doesn’t look like it at first. But I mean you already know this. If you’ve entered the game, for example, with $5000 and now you’re down to $1000, that’s an 80 percent loss on your portfolio. But you need to multiply your money by five times just just to break even. And that’s why it’s at times like this where the sheeps who are really, really invested in Bitcoin weigh more than they should have been. They’re going to be getting really excited. They’re going to be throwing parties, but they are not going to be doing analysis that’s going to serve them in the long run and that long run. Like I said, it can resume at any moment now. It really can be the case that we end up seeing a dump to resume this longer term trend. That can happen at any moment because we have had such a fierce correction, because it’s known to happen with Bitcoin, because, you know, it’s rallied by eighty five percent. It’s in a really big downtrend. It’s just the perfect storm. Again, doesn’t mean that it will happen. But I need to be aware of that risk because I’m looking to manage my funds and keep them as safe as possible. I do not want to be in a position where I’m scrambling back to make back money I’ve lost. That is a really, really difficult way to try it. It’s really difficult to trade properly if you’re worried about making back money that you’ve lost. It’s really difficult. And so that’s the number one thing I avoid. And what you see in the VIP group is how I do that throughout my trade, how I do that throughout a week, throughout a month, throughout a year. Shout out to the yearly members who get free access to the four flies course, which right now is worth nearly half of the yearly subscription anyway. So a really, really good deal on the yearly plan. Shout out to all of those members. Book an absolutely beautiful profit in the VIP group. Once again, this member over here pulling amazing profits within just a 48 hour time span, mentioning that he’s learned more in two weeks than its previous 31 years. And within those very two weeks since he joined made 200 percent plus on his investment into the VIP group. And he also covered his fee. So absolutely beautiful stuff. You don’t need a large balance to join the VIP group. We’ve had a lot of people with relatively small balances making an absolute killing simply because they know where their heads at. And with the VIP group, they’re able to gain a little bit more clarity on what they’re seeing in the market. Really, really beautiful stuff going on in there. And you already know what to do if you want to get into that group. All right. Hope you have enjoyed this video, this pump. Yeah, I did definitely catch me off guard. Fortunately, I wasn’t even in any positions. I didn’t put myself in a position to lose money from this pump. So even though my analysis was wrong, my bankroll has actually increased. Bitcoin pumped. So I made money. I was wrong and I still paid money. And that’s what’s really important. Analysis is absolutely great, but it’s only half the job. And trading is is where all of that comes into fruition. It’s where all of that comes to life. Really, really important skill. All right. I’m interested in going longer on this. I’m going to see how it responds to these support levels over here. Perhaps looks a little bit too good to be true. So I might have to wait for Bitcoin to drop a little bit lower and then look to take on a long position. Again, I think my stop loss and such would be very tight. I would be taking profits very quickly. I’ll be explaining to VIP members how and why. I’ll be taking profits really quickly. But it all comes down to the fact that this is going to be a higher risk zone. So anytime I enter a position, I want that position to be closed, a sap. I want that position to be closed as soon as possible when I enter it. So I will probably be aggressively taking profits. I will probably be putting my stop Stop-Loss very tight and raising it up to break even as always. Right after I feel satisfied with closing a small amount of profit. All right. That’s it for me once again. Hope you have enjoyed it. Head up those like subscribe. Take the bell. Do all that good stuff. Stay. Stay safe. And I’m out. Peace.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoins-pump-of-hope-breakdown-and-analysis/ source https://cryptosharks1.blogspot.com/2020/04/bitcoins-pump-of-hope-breakdown-and.html

[cryptosharks1]

Bitcoin’s PUMP OF HOPE! Breakdown and Analysis

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Bitcoin ended up seeing a really nice series of pumps after the last video. That’s definitely not something that I was expecting. But let’s take a look at what’s gone on. Anyway, we ended up going from the lows that we were trading at and around six thousand six thousand one hundred all the way up. It’s roughly a thousand dollar pumped from low to high to seven thousand three hundred dollars. That is an absolutely beautiful place for bitcoin to stop if we were going to get a pump. This is a really expected sort of place for bitcoin to end up topping out simply because of where that resistance lies. So one of the things I was telling you about is that if we do end up seeing some pumps up higher, actually thought it would happen over here or over here if we do end up seeing those pumps, that this could be a relative area of resistance. So it’s really nice that we’re starting to find some resistance in this range. And so what that’s wanting me to look for like that was a terrible sentence. What that’s making me want to look for are signs to reenter on the bull side. Now, again, I have to reiterate, I do think that the bearish overall market set up with the rising wage and everything like that is still valid. I think it’s still extremely valid and it literally is, as far as I’m concerned, just a matter of time until it ends up breaking lower. That would be that would still be the case even if we ended up breaking this resistance over here, because, again, I have to say it once more. And bear markets after a dump like this, after capitulation, events like this, they don’t end with rallies like this. That’s what I’m going to be looking for. And, you know, some people might be saying, well, actually, you know, Bitcoin is already doing it. So why are you fighting it? Why you’re not embracing that? This is actually just a bullish trend which is going to stay. And the truth is, in response to those arguments, will bitcoin is moving more like the conventional markets month by month. It’s becoming tamed, right. It’s becoming much more mature in terms of how it trades. And so a mature market after a dump like this. Granted, it would never have a dump like this. But if it were to happen, you would you would start to expect instead of a big V-shaped correction like this, that goes up by something like 85 percent. Let’s take a look. 86 percent instead of a dump sorry, a V-shaped correction like that. In order to end that bearish trend, you would be expecting some sort of accumulation range. And again, that’s not what we have, but what we have right now is a bullish trend. So I’m going to analyze it with that light. And the main thing that I’m looking for right now, because I do want to start trading the long side now that we’ve hit this resistance level is how do we respond to support levels initially without resistance at roughly six thousand seven hundred dollars. All we needed to do was form a bit of a bull, a bull slyke. And then we ended up continuing a little bit higher. And it definitely looks like we could be in for a bit of a drop. Now, we do have the seven thousand dollar level offering a little bit of psychological support. So it’s entirely possible that because this trend does have some momentum behind it. You know, we are seeing some volume over there as well. It’s entirely possible that this trend doesn’t need to pullback significantly, although I think it would be very reasonable. Now, one of the tools we can use to kind of guess where Bitcoin might end up falling to if it does fall is the Fibonacci retracement tool. And so that’s telling us that some of the key levels of interest would be six thousand seven hundred and forty and six thousand four hundred given how short term this rally has been. I’m gonna go ahead and say that the $6700 level is much more likely for bitcoin to fall to and retest. However, because this particular rally looks like it has a lot more strength than some others. I think it’s also possible that bottoming out at roughly six thousand nine hundred with the 2 3 6 level is could also be an option. If we zoom in even further and said it to the start of this rally, which again only happened over the past 24 hours, we can start okay. We’ve already started plummeting below that. We can start to see that. Is that more important support levels? You know, they might be around 60, 600, you know, potentially pushing 67 as well. I think it’s also worth while we’re here. We’re going to switch this over to the Jemini chart just because it is a little bit more clear. It would be a little bit easier for us to read. I’m also going to throw on a Fibonacci right from the bottom all the way to the top, because if this is going to be more of a macro trend and I don’t think it is, but it’s well worth checking out any way we could end up falling down to some of the more macro support levels, 6 1 8 level down here at five thousand two hundred dollars. I don’t know if it’s likely that we’re going to go down that low right now. I think it’s gonna take a significant period of time in order for us to get down that low and significant in this case means just perhaps a week minimum. But the the 3 8 2 level. Six thousand dollars. Looks entirely possible. The good news for this trend right now, though, is that we’ve already pretty much bounced off that level, so we might not have to come down and test this 2, 3, 6 level also at about 6500. So this doesn’t look entirely plausible. So let’s get back to the Coinbase chart and see what else would be happening with the trend over here. Let’s take a look at some of the indicators. Now, one of the main things to take a look at. Actually, we’re gonna go back to that Jemini chart. I like it being clean. One of the main things to take note of is that we do have a beautiful area of support. Now that this bullish trend has been reestablished, we do have a lot of support. If Bitcoin was to start dropping, we have that on the one hour as well. Some nice support on the one hour. If we end up arranging sideways a little bit, this is going to become quite a big HMO, good cloud of support. And then, of course, on the 4:00 hour, it is rapidly expanding. So that is a really, really good sign. The one day we do have, if this rally does have strength, we do have some strength within literally the next eight days to potentially do something really interesting. Does that mean it’s going to happen? I think it’s highly unlikely. But if we do end up trading sideways or anything of the sort, this one day resistance cloud is going to become a problem for Bitcoin. Now, like I said, if it manages to trade higher before this becomes a problem, then I think that Bitcoin could have a chance at rallying a little bit higher for one of those crazy pumps that that, you know, occasionally happens. However, like I said, if we do get any sort of consolidation over here, if it goes on for too long, my eyes will be on this resistance cloud. And I think this can completely stop the entire trend in its tracks. Why do I think so? Well, you know, it forecasts where resistance will be very accurately and more importantly, because it is an accurate indicator. Largely speaking, when you do have a big trend in the market, you guys have heard me talk about why I love the Moku Clouds so much. Once again, if you don’t know what it is. Such this up into YouTube and you’ll find out what I’m talking about. But you know, because it is such a reliable indicator. And at the moment, it is looking bearish. And at the moment we’re in an overall bearish trend. This would be one of what I would consider to be the final nail in the coffin for bitcoin if it was going to be able to continue trading sideways or even slightly higher over the next week. Now, I don’t know if it’s going to happen. It’s a little bit too early to say, but we do definitely have some of those early signs that that strength is there. My major issue with those signs of strength, though, is that every time we get signs of strength, you know, like those rallies, it’s exactly what I was talking about in the last video. We fall short. And that means this trend is going to have to do a lot to prove to me that it’s going to be able to rise significantly higher. Obviously, some of the next resistance levels, if we take it over to the Coinbase chart that I’ve already had drawn for you, are going to be around seven thousand eight hundred. So the high seven thousand is potentially below 8000 as well. We know that that’s probably going to be resistance because there was a lot of trading that happened around this range throughout twenty nineteen. This was one of the crucial turning points for the market. You’re getting a lot of bounces up from this level, you’re getting a lot of resistance levels. Resistance hits from this level. Another nice bounce over here, some consolidation with this massive dump downward. So this is definitely a key level. And that’s to say if we do breach this green line, I think it could be a pretty easy run up for Bitcoin. If we take on the 4 hour chart, we can see that there is going to be some resistance between this green box and the red line. This is the range where I think Bitcoin could trade really easily. And that’s to say if bitcoin breaks above this level, it should be able to hit the red line pretty easily. I think there is a bit of resistance that’s going to make that difficult. We did establish that resistance throughout November and December of last year. That was four months ago now. And if we take a look at what happened throughout 2018, there was also a fair bit of trading that happened within this range. So it is up in the air. There is not a very clear shot over here. You know, it’s not like when I was telling you that if we drop below this red line, it will almost definitely go down to this red line. That happened once over here. That happened both times where I was trading. It pulled beautiful profits, 360 percent up here and one hundred and forty percent trading. The same thing moving downwards. You know, in that case, if that is going to happen, I will be sorry. If we do end up falling down here again, I will obviously be looking at a $4000 level, but we don’t have such a clear shot in this case. And again, when we bring it back to the shorter time frames, that’s why I don’t have a lot of weight. That’s why I don’t think that we have a lot of consistency. You know, like I said, when we do have these bullish setups in the. It just falls flat so terribly. So I am going to be having to unfortunately ask myself the question, will it be the same this time around? Because it’s no surprise. One of the notes that I ended the last video on was actually talking about how, you know, it’s not a coincidence that every time we get these really nice bullish setups, something screws up and just end the whole rally. That’s not a coincidence. You know, that is happening because we have such a terrible trend. When we zoom out a little bit more. And so naturally, it’s just going to give a lot of interruptions. It’s gonna be like a cockblock or something for the market. And I wouldn’t be surprised if that continues to happen. So would that resistance overhead, even though it might look a little bit easy for Bitcoin to continue rising? That’s definitely not where I’m very keen to be placing my bets. So I’m not too sure how we’ll be playing that. It is going to depend on, you know, for example, Bitcoin can gain a lot of points in my book if it bounce off support levels really well. You know, if it bounce off, bounces off, this level potentially plunges just a little bit deeper, penetrates the sixty eight hundred dollar level. If it can get down to, you know, six thousand seven hundred six thousand seven hundred and fifty and then get a nice pump higher, that would give me a lot of confidence in Bitcoin at the moment. Right now the only thing I have are two nice pumps. The second one, which does have more volume, which is granted absolutely great. But if we do zoom in a little bit further, we can see that not all of that volume was happening with the green candles. The majority of it was that we’re still getting a fair bit of red volume price action. And so it’s not as rosy as it looks. So I do need to see some more signs of strength. As I know it’s just as I’m talking about this Bitcoin is pulling back. It’s almost like fireflies continues to prophesize what’s going on in the market. I don’t like to do analysis when the market is moving live because I have to change my analysis on the fly. And that’s really difficult when my analyst has already given me notes on what to talk about in the video. But, you know, in this case, it is definitely looking like the same things are happening. We are still, you know, no matter what. We are still looking at support levels below us. The good news is that this green box could act as support if we end up going down this low. So, you know, if we end up going down there, I will be much more inclined on taking on long positions. They would be high risk positions. Anything at the moment I think would be high risk positions. But as BP members have been able to see, I’m able to maneuver high risk situations using high leverage with my trades. And I’m able to manage that risk really, really carefully, oftentimes, or VIP members will see me doing when I’m booking beautiful profits like this, 58 percent gain over here. Oftentimes what VIP members will see me doing is I’ll book a small profit on a trade and then I’ll be happy to get stopped out for the rest of my position at break even. And obviously they get the updates on how I do that in real time. They get the updates. More importantly of why I do that in real time. So exactly as I make my decisions, as I set my orders, VIP members are informed and they can see how. Yeah, while things might look like they’re tense and the situation has higher risk than usual, I will do what I can to maneuver the market and still book gains or pounds on the market when I feel like I’m ready. And then I’ll move back into, you know, cover or whatever. You know, when I think that things are again going to be what I’m where I’m going to be waiting for things to shape up and give me that beautiful formation in the market where once again, I’ll be ready to pounce. So it’s really important, that kind of trading style I have in situations like this where I love to enter positions which would be high risk, but then just close a small profit and walk away with, you know, the stop loss at break even or potentially just close the whole position at a modest, you know, 10 percent, 20 percent profit. Those are pretty good numbers. That’s still nearly what Bitcoin did today. I mean, it says it’s up by 3 percent, but that’s not really true from the low, you know, from the lower up by something like 15 percent. And those gains, you know, would still beat what the market has done today. And that is really, really significant. Once again, this member overhead really, you know, quite hesitant to join when he was getting into the group. And this is not the first time you’ve seen another testimonial, a couple videos back where there was another member who was very hesitant to join. And then just within a couple days or a couple weeks, really, really happy with the service, feeling much more comfortable with the group, feeling much more comfortable with trading, because the whole game can be really confusing. I’m getting a lot of messages from people on Twitter even telling me about how I’m able to spot things that they can’t even see in the first place. And really, you know, what that comes down to is making a lot of mistakes, learning from those mistakes and then, you know, dusting yourself off and carrying on forward. And what you see in the VIP group is. Result of all of that. If you want to find out what that group includes, follow these steps. Click on the first link in the description down below. Then click on the ad for slides at the bottom of any post and for flight gold and then click on send message. Ask me how to join VIP. Is it still possible that bitcoin is going to completely fall flat and and just fall down to the $5000 dollar level? You know, I think that chances are still that this is a more macro level of resistance. So it wouldn’t surprise me if this was gonna be the start of a downtrend. And that’s why I’m not going to be taking long positions right now. And that’s why even if I did take long positions in this range, I would be considering them. High risk plays. Yes, we do have a really nice formation in the market with a series of higher highs and higher lows. And that’s absolutely beautiful. But I’m still going to be on the lookout for potentially trading significantly lower because that bearish bias is still going to be there. Granted, bitcoin today performing quite well in the face the rest of the markets. The S&P 500 at roughly break even from where it opened. But other markets are taking a plunge today and bitcoin has seen a rise along with gold just a little bit as well. So while that doesn’t look absolutely terrible, I do think that, you know, there is a decent chance things could continue to worsen. And once again, I do have to unfortunately remind you that what we need with Bitcoin at this stage with Bitcoin, has matured to a level where, you know, just you and I. Regular people with regular bankrolls can’t move the market. What we do need are players with bigger money getting into the game and those players with bigger money. What’s going to make them interested in taking on a high risk position in a high risk asset? You know, any position you take with bitcoin is inherently high risk compared to some of the other markets that are going on in the world and something really important about that. And by the way, some people still think that Bitcoin isn’t a high risk asset. I mean, you know, this volatility tells you a really different story, especially what happened back in March. But you know what? People will be looking for the people with deeper pockets when they want to jump into the higher risk positions as first they need to be making money at home. They need to be making money with what they’re comfortable with, where the real world markets, stock markets, whatever are increasing really nicely. And when that confidence starts to go up and you’ve been there before because you’ve also had successful trades, and when your confidence starts to go up, you start to realize, oh, shit, I can start taking some more risks. You start to think about it a little bit more. You start to like to go further down that line of thought of what it looks like to be a trader. What different things you can do as a trader, you know, you start to really get excited and explore the options. And that’s the environment in which bitcoin can hold a sustainable rally. This really is just a reaction from an absolutely disgusting trend. And this is not where the downtrend started, my friends. The downtrend has been going on since December of last year. The downtrend has been going on since June of last year and since 2018, the downtrend has been going on for, you know, the overall trend has been downwards. Very, very important to point out, lower highs across the macro trend. You cannot ignore it. Even this was technically a lower high over here. And we just we keep seeing more of it. So what’s to say that this isn’t going to be another one potentially topping out at, say, 8000 or even right here? That is the lens with which I’m analyzing the market because, yeah, it looks really sexy when you zoom in this far and what you risk doing is losing perspective of the larger market. And that’s usually fine. It’s usually not such a big problem if you’re a short term trader because you’re going to have a stop loss in case you’re wrong. But you need to know when to dial back that excitement and when to dial that excitement up. And this is a time where I’m personally dialing that excitement back. Why am I dialing that excitement back? Why am I being more cautious with my short term trades? Because we’ve had an immense period of volatility. And it’s usually the case that when you see a big period of volatility, even if you end up having relative calm afterwards, that big volatility can come back. It doesn’t mean that it will come back, but it can come back, and especially because this V-shaped correction has been so fierce. I think that that isn’t so unlikely to happen. So I need to be prepared for that. The most important thing to understand, guys, is that losing money will screw you over harder than anything else. Let me give you an example. I’m going to demonstrate for you why you need to protect your money. Like there trees that grow like the trees that grow money. Right? That’s that’s kind of what. They are. When you’re in the game of trading, let’s take a look at. Let’s take a look at this dump right from low to high. What kind of what would we want? Let’s take a look at what the dump is from the low ten thousand five hundred down to Surrey, from the high ten thousand five hundred down to the low at three thousand eight hundred. That was a sixty three percent drop, but it is not a sixty three percent increase to go back up to ten thousand dollars. You know, just to get to where we are, it’s already an 88 percent increase to get back up to nine thousand two hundred. It’s already a hundred and forty percent to get back up to the high where this midterm downtrend started. You have to rise by plus one hundred and seventy two percent from here. So you’ve suffered a sixty three percent loss. And and in order to recover it, you need to make one hundred and seventy two percent profit. This wasn’t drawn correctly. That was a little bit too high. It takes a lot to make back losses, and it doesn’t look like it at first. But I mean you already know this. If you’ve entered the game, for example, with $5000 and now you’re down to $1000, that’s an 80 percent loss on your portfolio. But you need to multiply your money by five times just just to break even. And that’s why it’s at times like this where the sheeps who are really, really invested in Bitcoin weigh more than they should have been. They’re going to be getting really excited. They’re going to be throwing parties, but they are not going to be doing analysis that’s going to serve them in the long run and that long run. Like I said, it can resume at any moment now. It really can be the case that we end up seeing a dump to resume this longer term trend. That can happen at any moment because we have had such a fierce correction, because it’s known to happen with Bitcoin, because, you know, it’s rallied by eighty five percent. It’s in a really big downtrend. It’s just the perfect storm. Again, doesn’t mean that it will happen. But I need to be aware of that risk because I’m looking to manage my funds and keep them as safe as possible. I do not want to be in a position where I’m scrambling back to make back money I’ve lost. That is a really, really difficult way to try it. It’s really difficult to trade properly if you’re worried about making back money that you’ve lost. It’s really difficult. And so that’s the number one thing I avoid. And what you see in the VIP group is how I do that throughout my trade, how I do that throughout a week, throughout a month, throughout a year. Shout out to the yearly members who get free access to the four flies course, which right now is worth nearly half of the yearly subscription anyway. So a really, really good deal on the yearly plan. Shout out to all of those members. Book an absolutely beautiful profit in the VIP group. Once again, this member over here pulling amazing profits within just a 48 hour time span, mentioning that he’s learned more in two weeks than its previous 31 years. And within those very two weeks since he joined made 200 percent plus on his investment into the VIP group. And he also covered his fee. So absolutely beautiful stuff. You don’t need a large balance to join the VIP group. We’ve had a lot of people with relatively small balances making an absolute killing simply because they know where their heads at. And with the VIP group, they’re able to gain a little bit more clarity on what they’re seeing in the market. Really, really beautiful stuff going on in there. And you already know what to do if you want to get into that group. All right. Hope you have enjoyed this video, this pump. Yeah, I did definitely catch me off guard. Fortunately, I wasn’t even in any positions. I didn’t put myself in a position to lose money from this pump. So even though my analysis was wrong, my bankroll has actually increased. Bitcoin pumped. So I made money. I was wrong and I still paid money. And that’s what’s really important. Analysis is absolutely great, but it’s only half the job. And trading is is where all of that comes into fruition. It’s where all of that comes to life. Really, really important skill. All right. I’m interested in going longer on this. I’m going to see how it responds to these support levels over here. Perhaps looks a little bit too good to be true. So I might have to wait for Bitcoin to drop a little bit lower and then look to take on a long position. Again, I think my stop loss and such would be very tight. I would be taking profits very quickly. I’ll be explaining to VIP members how and why. I’ll be taking profits really quickly. But it all comes down to the fact that this is going to be a higher risk zone. So anytime I enter a position, I want that position to be closed, a sap. I want that position to be closed as soon as possible when I enter it. So I will probably be aggressively taking profits. I will probably be putting my stop Stop-Loss very tight and raising it up to break even as always. Right after I feel satisfied with closing a small amount of profit. All right. That’s it for me once again. Hope you have enjoyed it. Head up those like subscribe. Take the bell. Do all that good stuff. Stay. Stay safe. And I’m out. Peace.

source https://www.cryptosharks.net/bitcoins-pump-of-hope-breakdown-and-analysis/

[llantrisantscc]

Classic GT Round 3 - 16th May 2018

Scientific fact * - if you want to get on the podium of Classic GT at Llany, you need to get a white car with a red stripe down the centre line.

Quieter this week, two bods on hols and one prepping for a race the next night. I think we are all running a bit thin on passes out this week, South Manchester for Wales and West last Sunday, Lanny tonight, Abergavenny tomorrow and the Slot Festival on the coming weekend. On the plus side, nobody mentioned the incident on Sunday where a certain member blunted another member’s challenge in the Open GT class by callously punting said members car onto the floor during the heat of battle. So that kept things civil. But we did have a really long serious talk about the new track at South Mancs – I don’t know if they guys have named it, but it was a thing of beauty from the construction point of view. The majority o us really enjoyed racing on it too.

It was Yellow’s turn to host quali this week – a few members thought it was a bit flat, power-wise, tonight, but I’m pretty inept so couldn’t tell the difference. Craig gave us muggles a glimmer of hope by having a poor opening brace of laps, but normal service was resumed on his final lap – us lot would not have been able to cope with the pressure ☹ Steve, meanwhile, built lap on lap to take a well-earned Pole. Martyn’s interval to Craig and Leon’s to Martyn were both 0.084 – I love that sort of trivia.

H1 saw Seb and Alan pair up in Yellow and Blue, whilst Karl and Lee did likewise in Green and Red. The latter pairing had a right old destruction derby on the outlap, but soon calmed down to have a good dice all the way to the flag. Lee had let Karl get away early in P3 but got the hammer down and chased hard until L23, when Karl had an off, Lee was close enough to move ahead. Karl’s turn to keep cool and chase. Karl had an off on L28, but Lee outdid him with a double off – Karl finished the lap under a second ahead! Then disaster – Karl had an off on L29 and Lee was a full second up. On the last lap, more drama – Lee was in the ditch with only 3 corners to go – zoom, there goes Karl taking P3 at the flag.  Meanwhile, Seb was having a great run in Yellow, with just the one off to pause the charge, and Alan wasn’t doing too bad in Blue either. The Scuderia coming home in formation for P1 and P2.

Alan had a good start in Green in H3 and proceeded to amble away from the pack a they had a right old scrap in his wake. Lee held the upper hand of the chasing pack in Yellow for the first 18 laps, but a brace of poor laps saw the other two close in. Of which, Seb had the better first lap in Blue compared to Karl in Green, but L2 went the other way with Karl slipping up to 3rd as Seb was relegated to the tail of the field. L18 was an odd affair – Lee slipped from 2nd to the rear, as Seb swapped places with him, and Karl sandwiched in 3rd – you could cover them with the proverbial pit cloth. Seb took a tumble on L26, putting him right next to Lee, as Karl was promoted to 2nd. Karl made a dash for the line as Lee chased Seb – a hiccup for Seb on L26 saw Lee pinch 3rd spot. Good thing Seb didn’t give up, Lee had two stinkers to finish his heat – Seb slipping up to third, then on the last lap for Karl deslotted, but Seb couldn’t quite get close enough to take second from him. Frantic stuff, eh?

I’m glad to say, a restorative cup of rosie calmed things down for H5 – no, wait, it didn’t. H5 was a frantic affair, Seb leading away in Green with Karl next in Yellow, Lee 3rd in Blue and Alan at the rear in Red. Lee and Alan swapped positions on L2, just on speed. Karl rocketed to the rear with problems on LLs 3&4, inspiring Alan to continue his meteoric rise of a place per lap, going rear to front in four laps. The Birchmores squared up and had a right old ding-dong, swapping places 5 more times before an off on L21 scuppered Alan’s charge. A great recovery saw him close to within 1/10th of Junior, but an adventurous lunge to pass Seb on the last lap came to naught and Alan found himself in the stingies. His place was safe though, as Karl and Lee scrapped all the way to the line, there was enough gap between Alan and third placed Karl for him not to panic too much.

I think the excitement of H5 was a bit too much for the boys, H7 started Seb red, Alan Yellow, Lee Green and Karl Blue. It also finished that way without a single overtake. Seb and Alan had one poor lap apiece -would have been great to finish with a clean sheet, and Karl wasn’t making life easy for Lee in the earlier laps, but still, it ended as it begun. Not a bad night of racing for these four.

The guys running the even heats stepped up for H2, Craig leading off in Yellow, Martyn following in Red, with Leon Green and Steve Blue. L2 saw Craig off – everyone stepping up a place. Next lap saw Leon crash to the back of the field. Craig was circulating at a far old pace, so predictably, on L5 his superior lap times saw him swap places with Dad as he eased his way into second. Craig furiously hunted Martyn down, the latter getting respectable laps in Red, but Craig was flying in Yellow.  An off for Craig on L17 thwarted that comeback, and again 5 laps later saw Craig once more in the gravel. This excursion blunting his assault on the lead. So that’s how they rolled out at the end of L30. “Three offs for Craig in Yellow with a superb car” I hear you say – well you’ll have to wait till tea break before I reveal the cause.

And sure enough, out they toddle for H4, kettles on, watch the lights – Martyn is away I Yellow, Leon behind him Red, followed by Steve in Green and Craig in Blue. L2 saw both Craig and Leon off – Mr Gibbons being careful not to wantonly and with malice aforethought clout a Jones onto the floor like he did on Sunday (damn, promised not to mention that too often). These two separate incidents allowed Martyn and Steve to leg it. Steve really was leaning on Martyn, putting loads of pressure on him as he circulated a few tenths off his tailpipe. Luckily for Martyn, Steve had an off on L13, also allowing Leon to step up to P2. Apart from the early off and the good fortune in passing Steve, Leon had run a fairly uneventful heat – rather playing a canny long game of keeping out of trouble and being Mr Very Consistent. Martyn’s only slipup of the heat came on L24, which saw Leon close to within two seconds of the lead. Uncharacteristically, Martyn managed to keep it in the slot for the short sprint to the line to maintain a 100% record. Since ceding 2nd place, Steve drove a very aggressive heat to close to within 3/10 sec of Leon at the line. All the while, Craig had adapted his styling and got his car home with some very controlled laps, not losing any more time out of the slot. Not surprisingly, Martyn declared the rest of the night abandoned and proceeded to take photos of the score sheets – it’s not very often the cocky little oik is in front of the two Jones’ after two heats, so probably a long time before he can bask in that false glory again.

And the secret of Craig’s woes? A clerical error back at Jones Racing’s state of the art headquarters in Pontypandy saw Jones junior have to race with a faulty throttle – the wrong throttle had gone into his box after the last event on Sunday. An internal investigation concluded it was either due to Jones junior’s euphoria at his result in South Mancs, on the upset of Jones senior after his event was ruined by (oh there I go again!). H6 saw it really start to play up, sadly, which ruined Craig’s attack.

H6 saw Leon out front in yellow for the opening six laps, before he hit the back after a derailment. Steve started in P” in Red, with Craig P3 in Green and Martyn at the rear in Blue. Craig passed Steve on L2, but L3 saw him loose 2 places. Martyn enjoyed three laps in P3, then got passed by Craig on L6, Craig moving to P2 a lap later as Steve inherited the lead and Martyn followed Craig up to P3. Craig again lost 2 places on L8, but 3 laps later managed to pass Leon. Martyn then lst 2 places to hit the rear. L17 Craig lost 2 places to hit the back once more, Martyn moved up to P3 and Leon to P2. From L17, Leon started to open a gap, lap by lap, on Martyn, but Jones snr was way out in front. A double off 5 laps from home gave Leon a bit of a twitchy moment as Martyn got back to within less than a second. T the flag, Steve was well ahead, Leon next, Martyn a second and a quarter adrift and Craig a few seconds back. 

Going into the last heat, if Steve could use the broken controller, Martyn might just have an outside chance of making up the 7 and bit seconds he needed to beat Steve. The chances of that happening with Steve in Yellow and Martyn in Green were about nil – still, you can’t knock a lad for dreaming, eh?  Craig started beautifully in Red, but the wonky controller stuffed him on H2, Steve took to the fore in Yellow, never to be bested again tonight. Almost flag to flag Steve, but Craig’s gunfighter reflexes off the line dd for you. Martyn got away 3rd in Green, but also tripped up on L2 thus giving Leon a leg up in Blue, just as Craig passed him going the other way. P4 to P2 in one lap – nice one big guy! P2 was short lived though, Craig was back there a lap later. Martyn managed to squeeze into P3 on L12, just on speed, as he and Leon had some fun circulating together, teasing each other that they were going to whack the other’s car off the track. Decorum was maintained, and by dint of Green being a lot easier (and a bit shorter) than Blue, Martyn was able to edge away. The controller bit Craig again on L19, and Martyn was able to slip into P2. Craig got some significantly faster laps in over the closing stages, but the controller was throwing the odd wobbler, so Martyn was lucky to hold P2 to the end. A great run by Steve extended his lead from just over 7secs to just over 20 – storming drive. What might have been for Craig? He was driving like a demon when the throttle was behaving, but the unpredictability was a variable you can’t cope with at the speed we were running tonight.  Needless to say, the offending throttle is off to Italy for a repair under warranty.

And seeing as it was only two groups, we were finished nice and early allowing a bit of testing to go ahead.  Oh yeah, and we discussed the South Mancs new track for quite a while too!

(* Scientific fact = sample study of one instance, 16th May 2018)