#i think it's really getting to me now because the summer season has kicked off and i'm just. i'm in my house i walk the neighbor's dogs

[altarboysalteredboys]

i am actually being so fucking fr here when i say that a significant portion of my community and self are built on the people i met and the experiences i had while larping and it is slowly killing me to be cut off from that because ?? i don't even know ?? management at the company hasn't communicated to me why i haven't been hired for a literal year and the only thing i can think has changed is that i'm visibly disabled now and openly speak about my physical limitations

[sweetestcaptainhughes]

Competitiveness

Word Count - 1500 roughly

Author's Note: Originally this was suppose to be a fluff piece. But then I started typing and it turned into light smut. 😬 Let me know if you guys would want a part 2 where it would be more smut. As always thanks for reading. 💜

Possible Triggers - use of y/n, light making out, grinding, heavy flirting - VERY VERY vanilla compared to other things I have on this blog. 🤣

Summary - Quinn is surprised when he comes home with a new video game Mario Kart and he sees a whole new side of his calm girlfriend. Someone who becomes super competeive and it's very hot.

It was no secret that Quinn had a competitive personality. Most men naturally do, but for professional athletes it’s a given. Plus he had brothers who were naturally competitive in everything - whether training in the summer, wakeboarding, bored games - but especially video games.  During the season when Quinn felt more separate from his brothers not only through the distance but sometimes mentally since they lived together now since Luke started playing for the Devils. 

You were the complete opposite, sometimes you could be competitive when it came to board games during the summer. But besides that you truly didn’t have a competitive bone in your body. Except when it came to a particular video game from childhood - Mario Kart. Which you failed to mention to Quinn, even though he buys you what he calls “cozy games” for your switch randomly all the time, because he knows they’re your escape from the stress of the world around you. You also told him that you find yourself gaming more when he’s on roadies because it gets your mind off him being away. Buying you games has become one of his ways he shows his love, especially right before a long roadie. So it came to a shock to Quinn when you came home one day and saw him playing Mario Kart, and seeing your face immediately light up. “Ooooo Q when did we get Mario Kart.” As you stand next to him, and start bouncing on your toes so excited to see one of your favorite things from childhood in your new life you’ve built with Quinn. 

Quinn had just finished Rainbow Road so he paused his tourmount he was playing. “I just picked it up today, I went to pick up that new game I saw for you, “Stardew Valley” figured it was time to get you a 2 player game so we could play together. But I also saw Mario Kart and figured it would be fun for when the guys come over.” He says a full grin on his face now as he’s watching you fixated on the T.V. “Baby.. what are you thinking about?” As he gets up and slowly wraps his arms around you from the back. 

“Hmm…” you say, finally giving attention to Quinn. 

“I asked what you're thinking about?” as he kisses the side of your neck, your own little ritual for when he comes home or you come home. Even 2 years later, he loves the way your cheeks blush when he does it. 

“Oh just how I love this game and I’m gonna kick your ass” As you turn around his arms so you can see his face finally for the first time since you came home. A huge smile displayed on your face, your eyes glittering with excitement. 

“Really?” he asks in a smug voice. “Baby I have never seen you play anything that isn’t relaxing.”

“Uhh Mario Kart is relaxing sir.” You say snutching your face almost with disgust because he didn’t know this as basic face. “It was actually the only game that would get my mind off of everything growing up - I would stay up for hours with (your sibling’s name) and play until ma would catch us and force us to go to bed. In fact, ma banned the game along with “Smash Bros” because we would physically tackle each other when we didn’t win.” 

Quinn is now full blown laughing imagining you fighting them. “Okay fine you're on, but I’ll have you know I never lose.” 

“Oh baby boy, that's so sweet you think you can beat me.” As you go to grab the second controller that was charging. 

“Alright we’ll see.” He says as he starts exiting the tourmount he started so that you can switch to 2 players. 

“Alright, since you're so cocky, let's make this interesting.” You say as you get comfortable between Quinn’s legs like you always do when he’s gaming with his brothers and you're on your switch. Quinn always whines when you aren’t close to him when he plays, he says it makes him focus. In some way, bickering  at his brothers while playing “Call of Duty” brings your anxiety down too. 

“Ooo like what, the person that loses gives the other a kiss.” He says glancing down at you as you're picking your character, you know it sounds cliché but you’ve always played as Peaches as a kid and never lost when you did. Now that you're playing with Quinn, the superstitious part of you won’t risk it. 

“Aww that’s so cute you were thinking of a kiss. But I can kiss you anytime I want. I was thinking more like.. Whoever loses has to let the other person do whatever they want to them.” you say as you turn in his lap and because of how you were laying your boobs laying on his cock. As he looks down at you, your boobs falling out of your shirt giving him the perfect angle of them. 

“Fuck..” he mumbles under his breath. “Have I told you how much I love you lately?” as a smirk is plastered on his face, as his mind is wandering to all the things he wants to do with you when he wins this tournament. 

You puff off a breath of air, a mix of a chuckle and gasp. “Lately yes… today no. So does that mean we have a Hughes deal?” Sticking your hand out for him to shake to the agreements like it’s an official bet. 

“Oh baby girl I love you so much,” His hand is going to crease your cheek making your breath catch in your throat. “ And we 100 percent have a deal Y/L/N”As his hand moves your cheek casually touching the top of your boobs on display as he goes to shake your hands. Both of you have devilish smirks on your face as you turn around to have the screen as you both get ready for the tournament. 

Let’s just say 10 minutes later Quinn is shocked he didn’t win a single round. He didn’t even play during the award ceremony but you got first. You go to sit up and turn on. “Well like I said I love this game, now what do I want you to do first” As you bit your lip.

“Nope nope nope, rematch now.” He declares brows pulled down with a look mix of determination and pouting on his face. As he is already setting up for a second round, as he shifts himself on the coach so he’s sitting up and it would be physically impossible to lay back down. 

“Quinny… it won’t matter I will still win but if it will help you sleep better tonight then okay.” As you adjust yourself so your sitting criss-cross applesauce on the coach. 

“Oh baby I’m not gonna go easy on you this time” He says as you're about to start the first race.

“Easy Hughes you couldn’t even place, ONCE and I could feel you stiffen under me after the first 2 races but okay if you “going easy on me” is your excuse for losing.” you say as you take off leaving Quinn in the dust. 

You win again without a problem.But you will say Quinn was able to place this time with Bronze. You don’t have the heart to tell him you were going slowly on the last race so he would do better overall in the tournament. “Ssso.. do I get to cash in my price yet.” As you climb into his lap and lightly grind against him to feel his semi-hard cock get harder. 

“Okay.. I give up.” as his hands go down your arms finding their way to hips and squeezing. Encouraging you to continue as you start kissing him, as he quiets your moans with his tongue sliding into your mouth. His hands going to your ass, the need to feel all of you at once slowly taking over his body. He pulls his mouth away from you just far enough to ask “okay where do you want me ms. winner.” As you go to chase his lips again. “First bed.. I want you to carry me up the stairs and fuck me against the wall. But the wall furthest away from the mirror so I can see your full body and how well you fill me up as I cry in pleasure.” You say connecting your lips again this time Quinn moaning and whimpering into your mouth at the thought.

“Fuck baby. Your wish is my command.” He says as picks you up off the coach, you let out a squeal of shock and he carries you effortlessly upstairs. “Can I just say I see why your mom banned Mario Kart.” As you enter the bedroom your black slams against the wall you requested. You let out a small moan welcoming the pain your shoulders are feeling from the impact. “But I don’t think we're at the level of banning yet.” He whispers as he continues his attack down your neck. You let out a moan, letting yourself get lost in the pleasure. To say that you were happy that you got to play Mario Kart for the first time in probably 10 years would be the understatement of the year. 

[seraphicsage]

Hi!

If you haven't already written one x fem!reader fic with Colin with the "I miss you" scene from one of the teasers, could you do one then and have him call on her in a few days groveling or smth like that.

Anyway, no pressure to write it

A/N i’ve been fantasising about this since the teaser came out, absolutely I will write this thank you very much for the request!!

Spiteful

“The truth is, I miss you y/n.” He says, towering over me, it makes me scoff and roll my eyes. In truth, there is a part of me that wants to just give in and forget what happened, but the bigger -and more spiteful- part of me isn’t going to let that happen.

“You miss me but you would not court me is that correct?” I snap back, watching as it takes him by surprise and he looks at me confused. “I heard you at the end of last season, at my mama’s ball, saying you would never court Y/F/N.” Now he looks regretful but I’m taking none of it, I’ve had enough of being treated this way by him and the rest of the ton. “I am the laughing stock of entire ton no matter what lengths I take, it just never occurred to me that you, of all people, could be so cruel.” I practically snarl, something I never thought I was capable of, before turning and walking off to my carriage to take me back home.

I spent the next day as expected, waiting around for all of zero suitors to call on me. This season is shaping up to be just as the last, no prospects whatsoever. Looks like I will be a spinster as Cressida always said. I really had hoped to prove her wrong.

I didn’t even bother preparing myself for a potential suitor calling on me the day after, I knew it was pointless. I saw the lines of men pouring out of the houses surrounding mine, the most exciting part of my day was when breakfast was served. What? We have a great cook.

It’s the late afternoon now and I’m playing a game of chess with my papa, I’ve much improved recently and it looks like I might even win this time. Then I’m told I have a visitor, and my mama gets much too overexcited. I insist it is probably just a friend, a suitor would not come this late in the day surely?

Colin Bridgerton. Stood in my hall, looking like a puppy that’s been kicked rather brutally. Perhaps he feels like he has. He asks to take me to promenade and insists that he has brought his own chaperone. Honestly I think he’s acting rather strange. He had his opportunity to stop playing the pitying friend so why didn’t he take it? Why is he here?

He leads me to his carriage and, the gentleman he is, helps me inside. When we’re in the carriage I quickly realise that there is no chaperone. “I know how this looks but I swear I mean nothing untoward.” I level him with a glare, waiting for some kind of explanation for hiding wildly inappropriate behaviour. “I needed to talk to you in private and this was the only way. I- I need to apologise. I was wrong at your mama’s ball, I shouldn’t have been so cruel. It was unfair and- and it wasn’t because I think badly of you.” I raise an eyebrow, wanting to interrupt his ramblings but allowing him to continue. “I spent all of yesterday pacing around trying to figure out why I did it, why did I act that rash and respond the way I did. And I figured it out!” He looks at me almost excitedly. I gesture for him to continue.

“Go on then, why did you say what you did?” I ask flatly.

“Because they were right! Or at least I wanted them to be. Y/n I would be lucky if you allowed me to court you, I just had no idea that that was even what I wanted. The whole summer I was away I was consumed with thoughts of you. Every letter I wrote to you I prayed that you would respond, every day I didn’t receive a letter from you my heart would ache, and I had no idea as to why. Why it felt as though my very soul was missing you, needing you. I tried to ignore it, convincing myself I was merely homesick.” He scoffs at himself, he’s so far forward he’s barely on his seat anymore. “I have never wished to be home the way I have wished to be with you. You took over every part of my life, so much so it was inescapable, and truly, it became addictive.” He stares me dead in the eyes now and takes my hands in his. When did I stop breathing? “I know I have been cruel, I know I am not deserving of your forgiveness, let alone your love, but I beg you. I beg you take pity on me, let me try to make it up to you. I would give you the world if you asked for it, I would grovel at your feet in front of the entire ton if that is what you wished, you’ve become my reason to breathe, my reason to live, my everything. I could not carry on knowing I had hurt you so without paying penance for what I’ve done. Please, allow me to make it up to you.”

A pull in what air I can manage, trying to stop the tears streaming down my eyes. Even the most spiteful parts of my mind do not speak. Only a small part of my mind, one I have pressed down for many a year now whispers, ‘kiss him’. But I won’t, I won’t take that risk. What I do do though, is squeeze his hands gently. I try to muster up some kind of coherent sentence but I don’t think anyone could after that. I nod. “Okay.” He looks almost shocked, as if he didn’t just recite the most beautiful love confession I’ve ever heard to me. “Just, take it slow, okay?��� I manage to get out.

He laughs, triumphantly, and squeezes my hand even tighter, thanking me far too much and swearing he will be the best suitor ever known. I believe him.

He does take me promenading, his mama chaperoning. It’s one of the nicest days I have. Now a part of me is really glad that the spiteful part of my mind couldn’t let it go.

[pucktoxicity]

Spill Nico hischier tea please🙏🙏

i don’t have much right now (that’ll change, he’s coming back to jersey in about a week and a half🤫).

current things i know:

- still very much single (not even exclusive with anyone he’s been around or hooking up with, and he’s ending most hookups he’s had throughout the summer because the team is really ready to go on a fucking run this season, make playoffs, and go for it, etc., and he doesn’t want any complicated situations or distractions)

- still has a crush on one of the girls who’s frequently at games, knows the team, and who he knows well (but hasn’t followed her, & i’m not even sure if they’ve spoken recently, but that’s only because he’s been committed to being DND* starting from locker clean-out and closing media day through when he returns to jersey, and i haven’t asked her… but maybe i should?)

- *DND: i discussed this previously, but he made a decision to really put himself on do not disturb after the team closed everything out for this season and headed to worlds. it was a tough, painful year, physically and literally, and at the end of the season, things were tense all around. he has pretty much only used social media to keep in touch with who he was hooking up with (with the exception of obligatory posts, such as during worlds)

- training: he has been working his ass off in the offseason. he’s gained a lot of weight in muscle, and has really been fine-tuning his skills on the ice, and doesn’t want to get injured and “let the team down again” (i don’t think anyone thinks he let the team down, he took a bad hit from clifton, and couldn’t do anything about it, but he felt that he let the guys down)

- the bracelet thing: the bracelets on his wrist and on the girl’s wrist that have been circling hockey blogs and hockey social media are not the same. his is a crystal bracelet, you can see it in plenty of fan photos with him, and they do not match / are not the same 😌

- hockey-related tea: goes hand-in-hand with what i said re: training, but he knows that towards the end of this past season and throughout it, many people were calling his captaincy into question. he is very motivated to work harder than ever and proving all of those people wrong this year, and after tavares was stripped of the C and it was handed to matthews, i’m sure that lit a fire under nico’s ass (which is a good thing, we want him fired up, ready to kick some ass this season!! and let me reassure you all, the devils are not taking his captaincy away, nor do they even entertain the idea of it!!!)

give me a little time, and i’ll have plenty to report as soon as he’s back in jersey 😉💋

[merryslilhobbit]

There are so many things about the Daniel Ricciardo situation that frustrate and anger me, so I'm getting them off my chest before I lose the plot. I'm sure other people have said the same things, but here we go.

Horner made a whole big show of picking Daniel up after the McLaren debacle, bringing him back into "the family". Made himself out to be some sort of saviour. Rebuilding Daniel's confidence, his physical and mental health. Got a dig in at Zak in a press conference about "feeding Daniel up" because he was skinny. Invited DTS to see his return at Silverstone 2023. So to kick Daniel to the curb just a few races before the end of the season? Because they have "a lot of data on Daniel" and need to see other options for the future? Hypocritical c*nt.

Next, replacing him with someone they're not confident enough in to give a contract to straight away? Yes, Liam did a good job in Daniel's absence last year. This is absolutely not me shitting on Liam - I like him, and I think he and Yuki will be good teammates. But he's been out of full time racing for a while. Allegedly RB weren't overly excited about his testing times in the summer. While it will be interesting to see how he compares to Yuki, why are RB hanging onto Liam when they don't seem confident enough to give him a full time seat? Why are they so determined to keep pushing this one? (Yes I know the answer is probably contracts, but still.)

Then there's the fact that Daniel has actually outperformed Yuki in 6 of the last 9 races (since the start of the European leg). In the same period, they've scored the same number of points. Daniel has also been more consistent in his finishing position than Yuki. In terms of form, Singapore excluded (but I think we can forgive him that one, given the media shitstorm), he's been the better of the two and isn't it meant to be that the first person you need to beat is your teammate? There's only so much you can achieve in a tractor.

And we can't forget the Checo situation. Following the first six races he's bombed in comparison to Max. He's probably cost Red Bull the Constructors'. He was given a few races to improve, didn't and then was kept anyway (probably because of money and the Mexican GP). He often qualifies further behind (in time) Max than Daniel does Yuki. I know Red Bull are coming out now and saying they found a problem with their design from Barcelona last year, when Checo first started reporting issues but frankly I'm calling bullshit on that. As mentioned, Checo had six very good races and results at the start of 2024. And some decent ones at the end of 2023. At one point there was speculation that Daniel might even replace Checo mid-season (some reports say it was a done deal), so in the space of a few weeks to go from that to being dropped himself? I have whiplash.

And I think that's the hardest part. A lot of people were probably aware that it could be difficult for Daniel to get a seat for next year. But at no point was there any suggestion that he might get replaced mid-season. Not even in the middle, six races before the end. When Red Bull confirmed in the summer break that both Checo and Daniel would see out the seasons in their current seats.

Red Bull have created an absolute PR disaster and they deserve it. Driver of the Day, amongst many other things in the last 48 hours, reflects the love and respect so many people have for Daniel. People who see how emotional he was, who see that he didn't have an opportunity to say goodbye properly (fuck, even McLaren did that - remember the Monza 2021 photo on his steering wheel?). People who recognise that dumping him so close to the end of the season is ridiculous.

In the end, I hope that Daniel really is at peace with it all and is in better shape than he left McLaren; that he can be proud of all of his achievements in the sport. Drivers come and go, but very few make their mark in the way Daniel has done. He may not have broken records or won championships, but the fact that he will still be remembered for a very long time despite those things is a testament to his character, to the sort of person we all know and love.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading roundup: May 2024

you guyssssss you guys you guys you guys I've been reading so much this month :)

sometimes my brain gets the itch to just DEVOUR books and it's really been on me, probably thanks to the burst of energy + free time that comes with the semester ending and summer getting started! the days are longer, the last of my season depression has been kicked to the curb, and I can spend hours reading on the porch every evening. the ideal!

right now, as the month ends, I'm feeling a particular hankering towards nonfiction and juicy new summer novels; I reblogged a Lit Hub roundup of new books the other day that got my brain buzzinggggg with excitement for the coming months. we'll see if that ends up manifesting in the June roundup, but for now, here's what kept me busy in May:

Paris Daillencourt is About to Crumble (Alexis Hall, 2022) - this month I read two romance novels picked by my beautiful patreonites; I did a compare/contrast between the two over on Patreon and I'll leave the majority of my thoughts there, but suffice to say that I am not a fan of Paris. definitely the weakest of the three Alexis Hall novels, and a real disappointment since I found the other two delightful. the story is straightforward enough and has some potential for sure, but Paris as a protagonist is a sodden mess who I found just insufferable. thumbs down from me, gang.

Chef's Kiss (TJ Alexander, 2022) - hi, it's the other romance novel. this one is a lot goofier than Paris Daillencourt, which is fitting since it's BA Test Kitchen rpf starring a bisexual Claire Saffitz and a nonbinary Brad Leone. it's frustrating because the story is definitely stronger than the one in Paris but the romance is piteously undercooked, although I was at least fine with the protag and her love interest getting together - they were boring but unobjectionable, unlike Paris and his love interest who I really thought would have been better off as friends. now that I'm thinking about it, you might get a perfect queer cooking show romance novel if you somehow mashed the two of them together. they're both, like, so close to working, but ultimately fall flat.

Delicious in Dungeon Vol. 4-6 (Ryoko Kui, 2018) - I don't even know what to say except that I'm still loving everything about Dungeon Meshi. the craft and thought that Kui puts into every facet of the world, from the big picture politics between fantasy races to the individual thoughts and feelings of each character, shows so much love for the world without ever being overbearing; it never feels like exposition is being hammered down my throat so much as little details are being tastefully arranged to be enjoyed at whatever speed and to whatever extent the reader likes. the world is getting bigger with each chapter and I'm looking forward to exploring more, especially now that Falin's hottie monster form and that good good catgirl have entered the chat.

Earthdivers Vol. 2: Ice Age (Stephen Graham Jones, Riccardo Burchielli, Patricio Depeche, Emily Schnall, Joana Lafuente, 2024) - once again I've done the worst thing that you can do as a comics fan, which is get invested in a series that's just starting out and is still releasing individual issues. the third trade paperback won't be out until December, so I guess I'm either going to have to go on hiatus with Earthdivers or start chasing down new releases on comic pirating sites, which feels shitty - that's how I read Batman comics that are the same age as me, not new stuff from authors I actually want to support! but Earthdivers might just be worth it. the second installment takes us to a wildly different setting than the first, Columbus-killing collection, dropping fearsome mother Tawny in a prehistoric North America. but while the setting changes, the series is still grappling with the question of what its protagonists are willing to sacrifice and who they're willing to become to change the past and save the world. we're starting to see bigger hints about how much history can be altered and catching some clues about the series' antagonist (???); I gotta know what happens next.

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder (Caroline Fraser, 2017) - here it is, the book that got nonfic so powerfully on the brain! this is a riveting history whether you grew up on Little House on the Prairie or not (I didn't), tracking Laura Ingalls Wilder from an impoverished girl constantly imperiled by life on the prairie to a beloved icon of American propaganda. for me, personally, this hefty book really picks up when it gets to the endlessly complicated and frequently nasty relationship that Wilder had with her daughter when said daughter was grown; Rose Wilder Lane is a FASCINATING figure in her own right and I'm kind of obsessed with what a shithead grifter girlboss she was. fascinating stuff all around.

The Brides of High Hill (Nghi Vo, 2024) - Vo's series of Singing Hills novellas has always woven from one genre to another, exploring new types of stories just as our protagonist, the cleric Chih, explores new lands. this installation takes us straight into a gothic horror that pulls out all the stops: an isolated manor, an enigmatic madman roaming the grounds, the strangling snares of social conventions, and a blushing bride who isn't exactly what she seems. I read it in one sitting, it's delicious.

Superfreaks: Kink, Pleasure, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Arielle Greenberg, 2023) - a poppin' primer for anybody who wants to learn more about the world of kink and what the fuck is going on out there. at one point I did catch myself thinking that I was a little underwhelmed and that Greenberg wasn't really putting forth anything that radical, but then I realized that speaking extremely candidly about and validating interest in basically any kink or fetish imaginable, and yes I do mean straight up any of them, is actually A Lot for many people to handle. so, yeah, good book, check it out for a friendly and enthusiastic intro to the wide world of kink.

Sex Criminals Vol. 2: Two Worlds, One Cop (Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, 2015) - the first volume of Sex Criminals left me feeling a little meh, but I decided to keep going because Matt Fraction's Hawkeye run was lifechanging and I know this series is pretty widely acclaimed, so I want to see where we're going with this. (plus it's free via the library, so what do I have to lose?) this volume really sold me on the series and particularly on Jon, who I was pretty lukewarm on initially. he really stole the spotlight in this one, and I like the way that the story is ratcheting up the stakes.

The Stone Sky (N.K. Jemisin, 2017) - GOOOOOOOOOD what a book! what a trilogy! in a series shaped by empires and natural disasters, the story ultimately ends with a quit confrontation of clashing ideologies, a young daughter determined to end the world and a mother equally determined that one of her children should live. and that shit hurts! I read the series a couple of times when I was younger but I was never before able to fully appreciate the work Jemisin does in crafting Essun and Nassun, showing us the way cruelty and fear have shaped both of them into the people they ultimately are and the choices they make. absolutely masterful, a legend.

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World in Search of the Good Death (Caitlin Doughty, 2017) - this was another reread, and while N.K. Jemisin was blowing my mind, Caitlin Doughty was giving me a warm hug. I don't know what to tell you, reading about the ways that people all over the world care for their dead and take comfort in their memories makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. death can be really beautiful and comforting, if you're not a coward.

The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag (Sasha Velour, 2023) - listen, I'm not really a Drag Race girlie. I first heard about this book when Velour was a guest on Nicole Byers' podcast, and while I was very charmed by her I was not expecting to be blown away by her book. it's just a little cash-in for a Ru girl, right? all she needs to do is slap together some cool pictures of her in drag and a few platitudes about being yourself and boom bang, that's a book. but readers, I owe Sasha Velour an apology: this book was so much cooler and smarter than it needed to be! Velour brings an impressive eye to forces of colonialism and capitalism that shape art and conceptions of queerness, and keeps this framework firmly in place while keeping the tone of the book bubbly and lighthearted. she also goes out of her way to spotlight a huge variety of drag performers and gender nonconforming figures throughout history, celebrating all the different means of expression that make up the tapestry of contemporary queerness. a great read, and one that I've already shelled out for. a friend and I are working on a documentary exploring the nuances of queer style, and I know I'm gonna want to pull heavily from Velour's thoughts and the history she's curated.

[yelenabelovasbxtch]

Crush On An Archer PT.1

a/n: Hey! Omg long time no see! I kinda maybe lost interest in writing for a bit there but tbh I think I'm back. No promises because I don't want to promise and then break your hearts but also I realllyyyy enjoyed writing this and I hope you all enjoy reading it! Will def be making a part two in coming days so stay tuned. LMK if you want to be added to the taglist, I am going to put some tags of past taglists below just in case they are interested in reading :) ALSO! Special shout out to @scmg11 because their writing is honestly what made me wanna get back into it. So,,I hope you enjoy!

Kate X Fem!Reader

Concept: Reader has a crush on Kate (school/Uni setting) and she doesn't know how to tell her.

Warning: Cussing, mentions of smut, IM TRYING TO WRITE SLOW BURN BUT BEAR WITH ME ITS NEW!

Word Count: 2.7k

You’re a month into your summer vacation and things couldn’t be more…boring. You love and appreciate your parents dearly for putting out the money so that you could attend a prestigious school in New York with a kick ass archery team but does it ever suck to be this far from all your friends for four months. To make the situation work, your dad had to transfer jobs to another state that pulls in a little more money annually with slightly more affordable housing but that means you aren’t even near the people you grew up around. Rural Mississippi is a fairly big step from living in Boston. Boston at least had people, out here it’s like you’re lucky if you get to meet a neighbour because the land has us all so far apart. In all honesty, although it’s boring, you really have one specific reason for being so bummed out. Towards the end of your last semester, you got started getting closer with one of the girls a year younger on your team, Kate. Typically the older girls competed and practised together and the younger girls did the same. Although you two were only a year apart it’s just how things worked out, so you didn’t cross paths very often. However, one day you were walking home from class, stopped to get coffee and basically bumped into her. The meeting was really brief but it was enough to make you catch feelings almost instantly. 

Your interest in her grew as you followed her on Instagram and she followed back. Obviously you took a peak at her page and scrolled to the bottom laughing at the really cringey posts from 2015 she had still up. All you wanted to do was talk to her again but you didn’t know how, although she was a year younger than you she intimidated you so much. Her deep blue eyes were honestly enough to make you stutter whenever you had the chance to talk to her. A month had gone by already and you could not wait to get back to school so you could see her again. Luckily, coach has yearly “team-building” days before the season starts and they’re about half way through the summer so hopefully you can talk to her before then and maybe convince her to hang out when you come back to school. 

Over the next week or so you liked a few story posts that she’d upload every now and again but the day finally came where you felt like you could swipe up and respond to it…y’know…maybe spark a little conversation. 

“Damn Bishop, is this a new bow?” In response to a story post of her showing off some of her off season training. 

“Haha yeah it is, flips out and everything…it's really freakin’ cool.” She replied almost instantly and that made a giant warm smile come across your face. 

Shit– what do you say back? Your main goal was honestly to keep the convo going so you could subtly mention down the line hanging out with her. 

“Yeah that’s sick, wow I’d kill to try something like that out.”

“Well next time I see you, please by all means give it a shot” She replies back.

“Might just have to take you up on that. How’s your summer going anyways?”

“It’s alright, kind of boring though. All my friends from school move back home and I am working for my mom’s company over the summer so it all is just kind of dull. I miss going out and having fun. Wbu?”

“Yeah, I hear that. I am SO bored here. I would kill to fast forward to the fall, I miss being at school honestly. There’s only so much I can do by myself here during the summer.”

“Ugh right! I want it to be school again too but don’t get me wrong, I love the summer, the weather is great here recently and the nightlife is amazing too. I just have nobody to go with, you know.”

“Yeah I get it. Trust me, if I could be there to go out with you I would, there is definitely no nightlife here haha.”

Shit. That wasn’t too forward was it? She is taking a while to respond to you. She hasn’t even opened the message yet. 

*4 minutes later*

“Well, you’re going to be around for that team-building thing coach has us doing in a couple of weeks right?”

“Yeah, I should be.”

“Well, we can go out then if you want? Me and a few friends had plans but they’re all on the team and I’m sure they’d love to have you there too.”

“Yeah, that sounds great I’d love to!”

The conversation pretty much ended there and your contact with her was fairly limited, just a small comment here or there until you finally got to fly back to school for summer training. You settle back into the apartment you left a couple months ago, everything is still a mess where you left it but the kitchen and living room are even filthier since you are not around to clean up much after your roommates. You decided to wait until your team practice to talk to Kate about hanging out again. You didn’t want to come on too strong but also a small part of you feels like she forgot what she said months ago and you won’t end up seeing her, not outside of team stuff at least. 

You grabbed your gear and headed to the field where practice was being held. You saw some of your friends from last year and decided to catch up with them before coach pulled you all in to start practice. You were trying your best not to make it obvious but your eyes were tracking all around you looking for Kate but she was nowhere to be seen. 

*Whistle* “Okay team! Let’s bring it in. First, I just want to say thank you to everyone for making the effort to come back to campus for this, meeting I–”

“SORRY SORRY SORRY!” You hear the coach interrupted as footsteps are fast approaching the circle of archers. 

“Hi Kate.” Says coach.

“I am SO sorry. My driver was running late and then there was traffic because of a giant accident, I think there was some battle in the streets again, I don’t know, either way, my bad coach, won’t happen again…I promise.” She says with the most adorable grin that is absolutely saying she will be late again. 

“It’s alright Kate, it happens, I was just telling the team how thankful I am that everyone could make the trip back to campus for this.” Coach went on to talk about the drills you were doing for the day and man was it hard to not be in awe watching her. You tried your best not to stare all day because the last thing you wanted to do was make it obvious but fuck it felt impossible. The day came to an end and you packed up your gear, Kate was talking with the other seniors on the team as they were gathering their things and started to head out. You could feel your window closing to talk to her but interrupting her conversation with her friends and “inviting” yourself out with them just felt too weird and uncomfortable. If it wasn’t meant to be then it wasn’t meant to be but you would kill to be able to just spend an hour with her. 

You watched as she started to walk away towards the parking lot with her friends when all of a sudden she motioned for them to hold on a minute and she turned around and jogged over to you. 

“Hey y/n! Sorry we didn’t get to catch up much during practice, I saw your shooting though it’s looking good.” 

Yeah…your face is bright red. Control your shit. 

“Anyways, me and a couple friends are going out later tonight to a party that one of their friends is hosting. It’s like a Hawaiian beach summer nights themed type of party so if you have something like that to wear, that would be great.”

“Yeah, I might have something, I’ll take a look when I get home.” 

“Cool! I’ll text you the address once I get it off my friend and I’ll see you there?”

“Yeah, sounds good!” 

“Here, why don’t you put your number into my phone, I don’t like using DM’s that much.”

You take Kate’s phone out of her hand and fill out a contact for yourself, praying that she can’t hear your heart beating out of your chest. 

“Cool, thanks, I’ll send you a text in a bit.” She says with a smile and then runs off to re-join her friends. 

It seems silly sitting by your phone and literally watching the minutes tick by waiting for her to text you but that’s all  you could do. The anticipation felt like it was killing you. 

Your phone finally buzzed with a mystery number attached, “Hey y/n! It’s Kate. So…slight change of plans.”

Fuck. Is she bailing? Your eyes were glued on the three dots as she typed and you watched as they disappeared and reappeared. 

“Turns out the party is actually around the corner from my place so if you wanted to just come here first, we could pre-game and shit and then walk over together? My friends said they were going out to get their hair done so they’ll be running late.”

“Hey Kate, yeah no problem that works for me just send me your address and lmk what time you want me there.”

Kate dropped a pin of her location to you with the text attached telling you to come over at 7pm. 

7pm rolled around and you were already there outside but you kind of felt like you should wait another minute or two so you weren’t RIGHT on time. Or is it weird to be a minute late? But wouldn’t being on time be weirder? Whatever, you decided to just wait a minute and then knock on her door. 

Knocking on her door was the most nerve wracking thing you ever did, you were genuinely shitting bricks. 

“HEY! Come in come in!” Kate eagerly yells at you as she swings the door open. She’s wearing shorts with a bright purple bikini top and a button down Hawaiian shirt over top that doesn’t have a single button done up. Are you starring? Yes. Probably? Absolutely you are. 

“Make yourself at home, feel free to grab a drink from the fridge, my roommates are out of town and left all their alcohol so help yourself.” She said with a laugh. 

You heard that right? Her roommates are out of town. Just the two of you…you never know. 

You grabbed a drink from the fridge and took a seat on the couch next to her and yeah…the drink started going down faster than usual because of all the nerves in your stomach. The two of you made small talk for awhile but the conversation started flowing a little more naturally about 2 drinks in. Were you still kind of awkward as hell? Yeah…a little. But at least you warmed up to her a bit and weren’t acting so weird. About an hour later, her friends showed up and grabbed you guys to head over to the party. Honestly, things were going so well with just the two of you that you didn’t even want to go to this party but if it meant you got to spend more time with her then there you were. You got to the party and you honestly knew practically nobody. You weren’t exactly a social butterfly but Kate clearly was. She was talking to EVERYBODY. The boys at the party especially loved her. There was lots of laughing and flirting going on, you could feel the jealousy building but acting out was definitely not an option. You ended up socialising with a few of the other people at the party but for most of the night you stuck by Kate’s side, the two of you got pretty drunk together, pouring shots for one another and dancing in the pit of people to extremely loud music. There was a point where it felt like it was just you and her and nobody else was there while the music was blasting into your ears and the two of you were jumping together to the beat and singing out the lyrics to whatever song was on at the time. Kate got really close to you until some guy would come and pull her away in an attempt to make a move on her. Although, it never actually happened. Kate always ended up finding her way back to you. At one point she grabbed your hand and pulled you into the middle of the crowd as the two of you sang (screamed) the lyrics to “love story” into each other's faces. The party, as all do, started to simmer down. You guys actually ended up being some of the last people at the party, you stuck around to the point where the music was gone and most people were just sitting around chatting halfway sober. 

“Hey, I think I’m going to go home, I am super tired right now.” Kate says to you. 

“Okay, I’ll walk with you, I left my bag at your place anyways so I have to grab it.” 

“Right, sounds good.” 

Although the two of you had been singing and dancing for hours, she looked just as perfect as when you left and you were trying your hardest not to stare at her while the two of you were walking side-by-side. 

The walk back to her place was pretty quick, when the two of you got inside you went to grab your bag and get your things together. You were desperately trying to figure out what to say to her while you were organising your stuff. You didn’t want to come on too strong but you also want to make sure that she knows you had a good time…I guess just tell her exactly that?

“I had a really good time tonight, thanks again for inviting me.” You say as you’re leaning against the wall in her hallway. 

“Of course, anytime. And I did too. We should really hang out more when we come back to school.” She replies. 

Kate walks towards you and stops about a foot away leaning up against the doorframe to her bedroom. The hallway is super narrow and all you can think about is pinning her against the wall while you kiss down her neck and pull her tight by her waist. 

“Yeah I think so too. I guess I should probably head out.” You say as she looks at you with the softest eyes that you swore said “please stay”. You lingered for a second longer as the two of you were looking at each other, tired, kind of tipsy and on the verge of ripping each other's clothing off. All you wanted was for her to actually ask you to stay a little longer but before she had the chance you were already walking towards the door. 

“Have a good night y/n.” She says. “Text me when you get home safe.”

“I will. Sleep well Kate.” You reply as you turn to look at her with a smile and step out the front door. 

That goodbye felt different. It felt like there were still feelings in the air and lots that wanted to be said that wasn't. It felt like the perfect opportunity with nobody around after an amazing night together has passed but you regret none of it. Although you weren’t able to get a confirmation on whether or not Kate even likes women like you do, you knew there was definitely a type of tension between the two of you that she definitely noticed.

-- END OF PT 1 --

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[chirpingfromthebox]

I forgot to post about this back when it came out. But this was an interview with two prominent figures from the management side of the PWHL from a few days back. I was expecting it to be a bit dry, but they actually address quite a few prominent questions.

I was originally going to skip doing this one as it's somewhat long, but I've been seeing a number of things they talked about coming up in discussions here, so I thought y'all might be interested to hear what they have to say.

I'll transcribe what I personally found to be the most interesting elements that came up, but know I'll be cutting down some of the remarks and only doing some of the questions, so definitely watch the video for the full story.

Since this is already going to be a massive post I'll spare you my musings on the answers.

Transcriptions of some of the questions under the break.

At the table are Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Jayna Hefford & Advisory Board Member Stan Kasten.

And I believe this was after Game 2 of the finals and before the start of Game 3.

For context on who these two are in a bigger picture, what little I know is:

Jayna Hefford is a HIGHLY successful and influential former Canadian hockey player who's been working in the field of women's hockey ever since she retired from playing. If I tried to sum up her career we'd be here all day, so let's just say she's in the Hockey Hall of Fame for a reason.

Stan Kasten comes from a background of running/managing large sports teams, though mostly baseball. He is even the current president of the Los Angeles Dodgers and also one of the co-owners. He seems to have had a brief foray into hockey as the president of the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers for a few years. The Thrashers no longer exist and I think they moved and became what are now the Jets? (I dunno, I shouldn't be your source for NHL history, that's for sure.)

--------------- INTRODUCTIONS ---------------

STAN KASTEN: I can’t describe the pleasure this is for me to be here [at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota]. The last time I was here I told you that I thought that day, the 13,000*, really convinced us that we were going to make this work.

[* the first home game for Minnesota had an attendance of 13,316.]

But even then I couldn’t have imagined how the year would play out. How we would set attendance records, sponsorship records, and viewing records. So our media strategy was a success. But of course the thing that made it work, really, was what I said opening day: we got the hockey right.

And that’s because of Jayna [Hefford] and her staff. You know, we didn’t know our playoffs ‘til after the last game on the last day. Who could have imagined that we’d put together a system that would've worked out that perfectly. You see how close and competitive the playoffs have been. And as exciting as this is for all of us, we can’t wait to get started on year 2, because we know with all Summer to prepare, it’s gonna be even better.

JAYNA HEFFORD: When we kicked off this league we had a few goals and—at least on the hockey side—one of them was to create parity across the league. And through the draft and the player dispersal, the player signings that we put in place, we were able to do that.

And to Stan’s point, I don’t think we could have wrote the script any better the way it played out and came down to the last game of the regular season to decide who was in the playoffs. We certainly achieved that.

Secondly, innovation and creativity was a priority for us. We wanted to find ways to improve the game. To make it more engaging for fans, to make it fun. We didn’t want to change hockey in the traditionalism of hockey, but we wanted to do things a little bit differently.

So implementing the Jailbreak rule, implementing the pick your own opponent, the Gold Plan*. All of those things are new. But I think right now, and of course we’re going to debrief post-season, but right now the response from all of those things has been overwhelmingly positive. So we will continue to try to be creative and think outside the box and present the game in new ways to people.

[* It didn’t come into play this season, so in case anyone isn’t familiar: The Gold Plan is the system by which after a team is out of contention for the playoffs during the regular season, any wins they get would be factored into where they’d be placed in the draft order for next season. It was designed to be an incentive for teams out of the running to still play their hardest and strive for wins.]

...

So excited to be here now for the next two or three games. And really it’s been a remarkable, amazing journey this last number of years, but really this last 8 or 9 months. And as Stan said, I don’t think I could have envisioned this playing out the way it did. The excitement around this, and the response from our fans, and response from media. So we’re just thrilled with where it’s at and I know this is gonna wrap up in a really great way in the next number of days.

...

--------------- LOOKING AHEAD, WHAT ARE THE CHANGES/CHALLENGES FOR NEXT YEAR? ---------------

STAN: We didn’t have our business staff in place until about 60 days before the season started. So we have a lot we can still do.

The most obvious one was merchandise. Having, you know, the amount of inventory that we needed was a challenge for us. Getting an online business started, in two countries, that was a challenge. So all these two country problems are different than other leagues.

By the end of the season we did really well on merchandise. But we have more coming and more designs and greater inventory. The one good thing is that we sold everything that we could make. I mean, it was just flying off the shelves when we could get it to arenas. And the online business has been strong also. Those things are challenging when they’re start-ups, and as I said, they’re start-ups in two countries, so we know how to do it now. It’s gonna get a lot better going forward.

JAYNA: And I think what everybody is waiting for is names and logos. So that’s one big thing that’s coming. So I think that’ll be really exciting to be able to build those brands and make those brands significant in the markets and communities we’re in.

STAN: It’s interesting how the name thing played out. We did not start out to do that, but because the lead time required in these things, we just thought it was better to just skip that for now and just go with: PWHL and the location.

And that has had an amazing unintended consequence of anytime anyone has talked about any of our teams all year, you had to say “PWHL.” So our league has gotten more exposure in the first year of its existence than any league in history ‘cause they kept repeating our name.

Again, we didn’t plan it that way; it just worked out that way. And it was about mid-season that I started hearing from fans and players, “You know, we kinda like the name the way it is.”

We’re gonna have team names. And I invite people to adopt those names too. But you can feel free to continue to call it what you’ve always called it. And we will be selling merchandise with both of those names. So these names aren’t going away because they have become popular. But for those of you who like team names, we’ll be addressing that as well.

...

JAYNA: ...Of course we feel like we have incredible talent on the ice every night now, but putting the best on the ice is about putting the best on the ice. And we know there’s a number of incoming players. So it will get more challenging. Good players will have a hard time making this league. But when you think about the product we’re gonna put on the ice? It’s gonna continue to get significantly better every single year as we welcome in newer and younger players. Then at some point we’ll look to add teams, when that depth of talent is at the right place in our minds. But right now it’s just exciting to look at all the new and fresh talent that’s going to step in.

--------------- WHAT CAN YOU DO TO IMPROVE DIVERSITY AND ATTRACT MORE BLACK FANS TO THE GAMES? ---------------

JAYNA: I think the first thing is representation. And we have some incredible athletes in our league that continue to be great role models, be active in their communities. And when you think of Sophie Jaques and Sarah Nurse and players that continue to give back and become something that young girls can look up to? I think all of our players do that for a lot of different communities of people.

And I think the one thing that’s really special about our league is- I feel it every game I’m at, it doesn’t matter what market we’re in, is that there’s a sense of inclusivity in our buildings. People are here and they’re excited and they’re happy and they feel welcome, regardless of who they are. And they feel free to be themselves. I’ve talked to many, many people that have never felt this way in a hockey rink. So we’ll continue to do that on the culture side.

I think what we want to do is continue to grow the game for young girls and I don’t think there’s any limits on who those young girls are. We want people to fall in love with the game. And I think we approach our business side and staffing side the same way. We want to bring people in who love the game and we want to bring people in that represent different communities.

--------------- WHAT ARE THE PLANS FOR NEW YORK TO POSSIBLY PLAY IN ONE VENUE INSTEAD OF THE THREE OR FOUR THEY USED THIS SEASON? ---------------

STAN: When the season is over we’re gonna review everything. Every city, every venue that we’re in, and we’re going to try to improve. We’re aware of the New York situation. It wasn’t ideal this year. But we’ll see what ways we can improve the situation. We’re not ready to say here today which way we’re going to go or what we’re going to do. But I can tell you that certainly one of the things we’re going to spend a lot of time looking at.

REPORTER: What do you guys think is the ideal venue situation?

STAN: The ideal venue situation is to play in the biggest NHL venue in every city. And merit playing there. We’re not always there yet in every market. But in big markets, as you might know, the big venues are there because there are a lot of events and a lot of teams in those cities. That gets into availabilities. We don’t want to be in a big venue, but have to play on a Tuesday morning, right? We wanna play on weekend nights or nights in general.

So it’s a complicated matrix of considerations that goes into where we choose to play, when we choose to play, what’s good for the team, what’s good for the visiting team, how we travel. It’s complicated.

It’s complicated with 6, it’ll be more complicated the bigger we grow and the more games we have. Those will be good problems, but we don’t ignore it. We’re thinking about all of it. And you saw in this year when we found an opportunity that we thought would work for our fans in cities where we could go to big venues, we did it. I would call them experiments and in general I’d say those experiments were all wildly successful.

--------------- WHEN CAN WE EXPECT NAMES AND LOGOS? ---------------

STAN: Sometime this Summer. I don’t have an exact time, but you should be counting the days.

--------------- HOW DID THE GATE RECEIPT REVENUE COMPARE TO WHAT YOU EXPECTED? ---------------

STAN: I will tell you that, yes, it exceeded what we thought we were going to- it exceeded our early projections. But that’s partially because we made the strategy decision to also greatly exceed our expected expenses.

Let me give you an example. You know how women’s hockey games have been broadcast in the past, right? Single camera from upstairs. It isn’t what we chose to do. We made the conscious choice to spend a lot of money to make it a major league professional broadcast. And I think all of you who watched our games would agree. That’s what we delivered. It was expensive. But we think it’s gonna pay off for us in the long run.

Additionally we didn’t hire three people and slowly build each franchise. We went right to 120 people by opening day and now we’re over 200 people. So that was a lot of expense that we didn’t expect right away, but we said, “you know what? We’re all in. So let’s do year 4 expenses in year 1.”

So yeah, and that resulted in a lot more revenue. And that’s why we think our decision to invest in the league, which is what I call expenses, was the right one. We’re on the right track. The investments we made are paying off.

--------------- WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT NEXT SEASON’S SCHEDULE, NUMBER OF GAMES, AND POSSIBLE NEUTRAL-SITE GAMES? ---------------

JAYNA: Well, in terms of number of games the league will go up to 30. And that’s in our CBA that 24 regular games in the inaugural season will move to a minimum of 30 next year. In terms of neutral site games, we do expect that there will be more of those next season. I don’t have a timeline for our schedule to be done yet, but we do expect more games, more neutral-site games next season.

--------------- WHAT WAS THE CONSENSUS ON THE OFFICIATING THIS SEASON IN THE LEAGUE? ---------------

JAYNA: I don’t know if you’ll ever get a collection of people that all agree on officiating in any sport, in any league. So we’re actually really happy with where we’re at.

We set out initially to find the best officials we could find. We worked closely with the NHL, the AHL, Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, to select the top officials. We obviously also adjusted the standard of play to this league. It’s not full body checking, but there is an increased level of physicality in the game. So I think we spent the early months of the season really trying to figure out where that line is and get people comfortable with it.

Now where we’re at I think players have figured it out to some extent. Of course not everyone’s going to agree on that. But the way I see the players playing the game now, and their awareness of positions they’re in, and to be ready for that physicality has changed. So, are we right there? We’re probably not right there yet. But we’re really happy with where we’re at, we think the officials have done an incredible job in the league this season.

--------------- ARE THERE PLANS FOR DRAFTED PLAYERS WHO MIGHT NOT MAKE THE PWHL ROSTERS? ---------------

JAYNA: I think trying to figure out what the right solution for that is in the short term is at the top of our list of things to do. You know, building one league in 9 months, but to build a whole ecosystem for hockey? It’s just not something that we can do right now. But we are thinking creatively around places that players could play if they don’t end up on our 23 or 26 player rosters next season. So it’s a bit of a work in progress. But in speaking to number of stakeholders there’s many many people that want to figure out a solution to this so that we can keep more women in playing the game at the highest level.

--------------- DO YOU LOOK AT THE LEAGUE AS A “WOMEN’S SPORTS” SUCCESS STORY OR HAS IT MOVED BEYOND THAT? ---------------

JAYNA: I think that we are very different from most men’s leagues. I think we’re very different than many women’s leagues. I’d like to see us stand on our own as a sports league. But in saying that I also believe that this time for women’s sports and the success of one feels like it’s a success for all. We’re all big fans and collaborate with folks in the WNBA and the NWSL, and it feels like we’re all working together to raise women’s sports. So I don’t know if that’s an appropriate answer, but I feel it’s a little of both.

--------------- HOW DO THE INVESTORS FEEL ABOUT THIS FIRST SEASON? ---------------

STAN: I have one investor, he is ecstatic.

...

--------------- WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL FOR DOING A BEST OF 7 GAMES SERIES IN THE FUTURE? ---------------

JAYNA: This is a little bit like getting asked about expansion 3 months in. Great question. Would I love to see a best of 7 series? We’re sitting here 1-1, you know of course I would. But I think we’re really excited about the format we have now. This is new for women’s hockey. Even the best players in the world who’ve won multiple Olympic gold medals have not played in a best of 5 series. I think we’re seeing that it’s challenging. There’s a lot of travel, there’s fatigue, the volume that they’re experiencing is huge

So I think we’re really good where we’re at right now. Somewhere along the line I could see us maybe expanding, but again, year 1? The two best of 5 series have been a really great format for us.

STAN: And that comes from someone who’s won 4 Olympic gold medals.

JAYNA: [laughing] I’ve never played in a best of 5 series either.

STAN: Exactly.

--------------- end of interview ---------------

[disventurecamptakes]

I fucking hate Connor

This is gonna get a bit personal and for my privacy I’ll spare all of the big details of this situation, but in short I had an employer that I worked a seasonal position for 3 summers in a row. Last summer due to some circumstances of poor treatment about half of the employees who worked for this employer banded together to start a union and not only did this lead to them treating us even worse but they also refused to rehire any of us they knew were involved for this summer (I found another job that treats me much better dw.) Now, I understand that line Connor made about “keeps my employees happy, or at least from unionizing, but let’s keep that between us” to Jake was likely a throwaway gag and the writers didn’t mean much by it. But it is quite literally a confirmation that Connor has canonically partook in union busting. Now I was willing to give Connor the benefit of the doubt because I genuinely believed that he had worked really hard to start his company from nothing and ultimately become a successful person. But no, that was a fucking lie, the asshole inherited the company from his parents, has advisors do everything for him and thus has probably never worked a hard day in his life. Call me a bad person, but I have felt absolutely zero empathy for this guy with the Riya situation and I really, really hate how ONC tries to make us feel like we’re supposed to root for this “good” guy when in reality he’s a slimy asshole (not to mention, remember how much Ellie, a character who’s had to work two jobs just to stay afloat, was demonized to hell and back for doing some very very minor mean things to Jake??? For the love of god ONC do not repeat these mistakes in DC4 im begging). I’ll be dead honest, watching Riya kick Connor off the horse and getting his ankle sprained that badly made me cheer a bit, and subsequently boo when he said he didn’t need a medevac and was going to continue with the game regardless. If this fucker wins the season, congrats ONC, you’ve officially created probably one of the worst seasons of a cartoon I’ve ever seen in my life. I still hate yul ever so slightly more because I don’t think anything can top a character who’s canonically racist and homophobic for being awful, but yeah, needed to rant a bit

-🐈

I’m so sorry you had to go through that cat anon :(

[wynnyfryd]

For the WIP game: Cry!

thank you for the ask and we’re not gonna talk about how i couldn’t be bothered to capitalize this when i wrote it lmao. little snippet from a lifeguard steve au i started working on a month or two ago where steve teaches eddie to swim during the summer between seasons 1 & 2

steve runs and dives off the board, gets his arms around a panicking eddie munson at the bottom of the pool. kicks off hard and races them up to the surface of the water.

eddie comes out choking, his face bright red and he might be crying but it’s impossible to tell when his face is soaking wet. “please stop fighting me,” steve grunts as he hauls him to the edge of the pool, swimming with one arm wrapped around eddie’s waist, and he gets them both out of the water and eddie’s fucking shaking, his breath coming in wet punctured gasps.

steve blows his whistle. “alright, that’s it! swim’s over, everybody out!”

“aww, come on—”

“GET OUT.”

steve turns his attention back to eddie, sits him upright and strikes the heel of his palm against eddie’s back in case he has fucking water in his lungs.

“are you okay?” steve asks. he moves around to eddie’s front, squats in front of him, hands on eddie’s shoulders as he assesses him.

eddie’s eyes are so wide. impossibly huge. kind of… beautiful? and steve shakes the thought from his mind, because it’s probably just that the guy looks a bit like nancy, who steve’s barely seen all summer because she’s been off at some writing camp, and anyway, it doesn’t really matter because he still needs to make sure eddie’s not about to asphyxiate and die. “hey, eddie, right?”

eddie shakes his head yes.

“can you take a deep breath for me, man?”

eddie does. tries, anyway, the breath coming back out around a high, panicked whine. “fuck,” eddie whimpers, and steve knows this is maybe crossing a line — he barely knows the guy — but he’s crying and the pool is deserted now and steve thinks back to that night with the demogorgon. how he wished someone had held him after.

how nancy just went home.

he pulls eddie into a hug, his soaked shirt and hair clinging to steve’s bare skin, and eddie leans into it immediately, throwing his arms around steve’s middle and clinging for dear life as he cries and cries and cries. “i’m sorry,” he shudders, “i’m sorry i’m sorry, i’m—”

“it’s fine, alright? you’re good, man, it’s all good, everything’s good.”

when eddie’s panic recedes, he pulls back from the hug, turns those bright, big eyes on steve again, head on and pleading. “thank you,” he says, “you fucking— shit, harrington, i think you just saved my life.”

“don’t sweat it, man. just doing my job.”

(while i’m here if you want to read a completed lifeguard steve fic, may i recommended @messessentialist’s latest fic because it’s EXCELLENT)

[skeletboi]

Intridimensional AU update:

Previous Part

This is going to be a very long post!

I've been too tired and unmotivated to actually make any art or fics to go along with this AU. I work 50 to 60 hour work weeks and have really bad Seasonal Depression, so I just don't have the energy to do more than this. I'm sorry, I tried, but I just don't have it in me.

So, instead, I'm doing a general rundown of what happens. I'll post it on ao3 as well, which might make it easier to read. AO3 Link.

But here it is:

The trio are in the multiverse for around 15 years.

In that time they go from dimension to dimension having adventures, being ridiculous, and gathering what info they can to use against Bill.

Notable stops that I haven't yet mentioned:

Lottocron 9! 

Fidds gets kicked out for using probability to win a variety of pig and horse races. Ford gets kicked out because they think he was counting cards, but he was also just using probability to win. Stan gets kicked out for accidentally flirting with a guy who ended up being a powerful royal who was visiting Lottocron 9 from a kingdom in a nearby dimension.

All three of them find it hilarious that Stan was the only one not kicked out for gambling-related reasons.

Dimension 47/1.

They show up in this dimension that seems similar to earth and accidently piss off a sleeping monster of some sort or another. Fidds and Ford both get knocked down in the fight and it's left to Stan- but it's not looking good. He tries to fight, but loses his knife in the commotion and gets knocked back as well.

Cam shows up and kills the monster, then proceeds to give them shit about nearly dying. They ask Cam why they're there and Cam says they were just passing by on the way to get Thai food and begrudgingly invites them along.

Ford mentions the Oracle telling them about Cam and Cam complains about how the Oracle always ruins their fun, but without any heat. (Cam considers Jheselbraum a good friend.)

Cam leaves the trio a communicator, saying to contact them if they're ever in life-threatening danger. Then reiterates “ONLY in life threatening danger, or so help me Ax, I will make it life threatening.”

Other dimensions..

It’s 15 years. They do a lot. I don't have the spoons to come up with more ideas of where they go, but ya’ know. They do things. Adventure and what not.

Meanwhile, in their own dimension:

Shermie is alone when he shows up to his mother's funeral. She died too young only a year after the passing of his father.

He's convinced his mother died of a broken heart. She occasionally got phone calls from Stan, conversations she artfully pretended were with a client, and not with her little free spirit Stanley to avoid the ire of her unimpressed husband. Ford called even less often, and the cnversations were short- he was always too busy with his reasearch.

The last call she had gotten from either of them had been from Ford, calling her to say Stanley was staying with him for a few days. It was a very short call, and Ford gave her no details.

After a year of calling and getting no reply she finally called Shermie to go check up on them. She couldn't find a way to Oregon, but he was closer in California than she was in New Jersey. He agreed, but all he found was an empty house. Food molding in the fridge, gadgets and books strewn about everywhere, and no sign of Stan or Ford.

Fifteen years have passed since then, and Shermie's mother passed never knowing what happened to her twin boys.

Shermie didn't grow up with them, he was ten years older and fell in love with a girl when he was only 18. He moved to California to be with her and her family when he found out she was pregnant. He has two 12 year old grankids now, his daughter also had kids very young. She is having trouble with her husband and asks him to watch to kids for the summer, so he says yes, and brings them with him to the same place he's been going the last 10 or so summers: Gravity Falls, Oregon.

Dipper finds Journals one and two, and spends the next month or so doing ridiculous Dipper and Mabel cartoon-like adventures. They befriend the owner of the Gravity Falls Arcade, Soos, and his one employee, Wendy. They also befriend the young man that works at the bait shop by the lake.

Then, when on some Dipper-style anxiety rant, they find the bookshelf that leads to the basement, where they find the portal and journal 3. 

There are no warnings in the journals because Ford learned too late about Bill being evil, so Dipper, Mabel, Soos, Wendy, and Shermie all open the portal. 

Three men fall out of the portal, two of them looking oddly similar to their Grandpa Sherm and one with a robot arm. They are all very unhappy to be back in this basement, and quickly shut down the portal, but it's too late, and there's a rift open into their dimension.

Long story short, they all meet, they all panic, Bill gets the rift, the whole town is fuckeroinied, they try to kill Bill and fail, so they call Cam.

Cam says they're all dumb, and opens the journal to the zodiac, only to find that they are also part of this dimension's zodiac. They break the fourth wall by saying that doesn't make any damn sense, the lengths people go to to put an OC in their stories is ridiculous, and they use the zodiac to defeat Bill. 

Why the zodiac, Skelet? That seems lame! Well, it's because I do what I want, also I like the idea of the zodiac actually working since the brother's have mostly gotten past their differences and learned to get along since they traveled time and space together. Also, I think it's funny that Cam could have defeated Bill without much issue, but just held hands with some random humans instead because it seemed like less effort. The road less traveled or some shit! I never do low effort things. (Refer to exhibit A, this outline I'm doing instead of actually finishing this AU the way I started it.)

Anyways, Fiddleford is finally able to see Tate again, who was in Gravity Falls trying to figure out what the hell happened, and Shermie finally found out what happened to his brothers. The young twins love their grunkles and are super excited to find out twins run in the family. (They get along as well as they do in the original series, with the added bonus that the young twins are extra excited at having two super badass grunkles and a super badass grunkle-in-law. Also that makes Tate their Uncle? Right? Maybe?)

The grunkles stay in Gravity Falls and still go on crazy adventures together because they don't need a boat and the adventure of a lifetime when they already spent the last 15 years fulfilling that dream, just different than how they originally assumed. They are no less adventurous, though, and end up making the Mystery Shack into a museum of weirdness. It's world famous, of course! The young twins and Shermie visit every summer, and Soos ends up working at the Mystery Shack, and thinks of the trio as his weird parent-uncles!

That's about that. I don't know if I'll do much more in the way of art for this AU, but I'd be happy to answer questions or talk about it or whatever! 

(Also I did not proof read any of this. So sorry if it makes no sense.)

Oh! Also, if you want to read a similar, but way better au that is like the twin (lol) to this one go check out @squatch-and-stretch 's Myster Trio Through the Multiverse AU!

[noddytheornithopod]

PnF Season 5 Title Speculation

Okay first thing's first, found out through this (click on "relationships"), which I found out through the PnF Wiki twitter.

As for the episode titles themselves, I will list what's been confirmed here.

501: Summer Block Buster/Cloudy with a Chance of Mom

502: Appetite for Adventure/License to Bust

503: Dry Another Day/Deconstructing Doof

504: Tropey McTropeface/Biblio-Blast!

505: A Chip to the Vet/More Than an Intern

506: The Aurora Perry-Alis/Lord of the Firesides

507: Agent T (for Teen)/The Haberdasher

508: [Title TBD]/Out of Character

Alright, now that's out of the way, time to get crazy and speculate nonsense based on titles alone

Summer Block Buster: I don't really have much to say besides the fact the title is very fitting. Yeah Summer Block Busters are a thing, but I won't be surprised if this episode is just one big grand re-entrance for everyone. I expect it to be very meta about it too, some of the dialogue Dan recorded for Doof even suggests this.

License to Bust: IDK what to say here but the whole pun on "licence to kill" (which is also the title of a Bond movie). I don't think puns are emblematic of much, but it's most explicit confirmation Candace is still trying to bust her brothers, which people understandable debated after Candace Against the Universe. Wonder if the licence thing is going to be relevant.

Dry Another Day: Second Bond title pun, lol.

Deconstructing Doof: Not sure what's being gotten at here, but it's an intriguing title to say the least. Very uh interesting. I could make a joke about how it's about how they don't know what to do with him post Summer but I'm not here for snarky commentary.

Tropey McTropeface: Uh... very interesting. Named after Boaty McBoatface, apparently. IDK what tropey nonsense they're getting up to though.

Biblio-Blast: I feel like SOMETHING is being said here but I don't know what. Was pointed out to me it could be something about weaponised books but IDK what that even looks like.

A Chip to the Vet: Okay this is very interesting. Firstly, it's probably Perry going to the vet. Secondly... one thing done for pets at vets is to get chipped. Whether it's just something the vet does or it's a deliberate request so they can get an idea of where Perry wanders off to... it's gonna be a big problem for Perry. Hopefully OWCA has a way to get around that lol.

More than an Intern: Carl episode. Nuff said. More trying to prove himself to Monogram probably even as Monogram treats him like shit, lmao.

The Aurora Perry-Alis: Aurora Borealis? At this time of year, at this time of- yeah we all know Steamed Hams probably. No idea what this will add up to honestly, maybe some kind of astronomical phenomenon that looks like a platypus, or the gang make one? If there's anything I have to say though, there's a chance it might run parallel to the next episode in a Bubble Boys or Bee Day type fashion, because...

Lord of the Firesides: Yeah you know I'm gonna be talking about what is obviously a Fireside Girls episode as that guy with the Isabella brainrot. So if it works like Temple of Sap or Bee Story, it COULD run parallel to the last episode, but that's not guaranteed. Either way... some friction between the Fireside Girls is going to come up. The title obviously references Lord of the Flies, aka the story where kids turn brutal and try to dominate each other or whatever. Maybe there's a split Isabella is caught in the middle of. Or perhaps... Isabella is removed as troop leader. She could make some serious blunder (could even be unrelated to Phineas even if that bias does affect her activities a lot), but maybe the other girls just end up being sick of Isabella's Phineas nonsense after something went too far. :P If Isabella is kicked out, I feel like she'd really struggle with that, because being a Fireside Girl is really important to her. Also, IDK who would replace Isabella as leader (honestly this ep would be good to just flesh out the other girls more in general), but I did see a hilarious suggestion that maybe it could be Candace. Would be similar to We Call it Maize (a very underrated episode IMO) but with more serious consequences. Not something I'm riding on, but it's a fun idea, especially if she proves she's more egotistical or just outright doesn't know what she's doing. Also saw a hilarious yet touching idea that somehow PHINEAS helps Isabella regain her leadership, he'd reassure her of why she's a good Fireside Girl and all that (cuz he believes in her to the ends of the Universe guys, shit my Phinabella is showing), or just somehow help her prove herself again. Also, the solution coming from what the girls thought was the problem would just be ironic and funny in a very PnF way. Either way... amazing at what a mere title can make me wonder.

Agent T (for Teen): Perry the teenage girl??? Okay so I've already seen this catch on from many people, but if there's one thing everyone in the Phineas and Ferb fandom wants, it's more Stacy and Perry interaction. Sure, maybe it could be someone else (Monty's a teenager, where's he been? maybe something leading to or following up Vanessa's internship based on when the revival takes place, or even some weird Candace shenanigans)... but come on. Even if it isn't, we all are gonna see this and hope it's Stacy related as she gets roped back into Perry's world again.

The Haberdasher: So something to do with selling men's clothing? Definitely a scheme PnF could enact. Also there's the meaning of stuff for things like sewing but that's supposedly British and the men's clothing thing is American soooo we know what's more likely. I wonder who's gonna get the glow up though? Baljeet? Jeremy? Maybe the guys just wanna slay? Shit, Phinabella brainrot is back, what happens when she sees whatever Phineas puts on? :v Of course, this could somehow tie to the B-plot too, maybe Doof needs to dress nicely for something.

TBD: Truly a profound title. So much is said with mere letters... okay yeah I can't do this lol

Out of Character: So much is said with so little. The first thing that came to mind was once someone asked Dan and Swampy at I believe SDCC if they'd ever do a personality swap episode, and their response was to look at each other and be like "maybe we will now" (it was likely too late before the show ended then but yeah). Point is... maybe we're finally seeing this idea. It can be very easy to have characters act out of character through whatever means ie an inator or invention, but if you're going to name an episode that, I think you're going to have something that really commits to that premise. There is ENDLESS potential of weird dynamic shifts you could do with this, it could be truly hilarious. Maybe it's also body swap shenanigans, but well I think I made my case for personality swap. Just imagine Perry trying to take over the Tri-State Area, or Baljeet bullying Buford, or Ferb talking while Phineas is silent, or *could go on for hours*.

Soooo yeah that's way more speculation than I expected, let's see if any of this leads to anything lol

[redrobin-detective]

Robin Robin what do you mean Sam killed Danny did she just yeeted him in the ghost machine Robin Robin please I need answers

Ask and you shall receive but be warned the answers may not be what you are looking for. (IE they are dumb).

So there's technically two canonical versions of Danny's accident, the OG and Memory Blank (s2e1).

The OG happened sometime late summer/early fall of the trio going into high school. The group has been friends for some time (its part canon/part fanon that Danny and Tucker were initially friends with Sam joining later on) and were comfortable enough Dan felt ok letting them over to see his parents' "failed" ghost portal. Sam was intrigued, Danny uninterested on the surface level but secretly curious. Sam encourages him to looks inside, he presses the conveniently placed on button inside and boom, ghost boy.

This recap is made light of in the season 2 opener Memory Blank (my beloathed) while fanon reallllllly runs with Sam's guilt and grief over sorta/almost killing her friend. But I digress, the episode kicks off with Sam and Danny arguing leading her to wishing she had never met Danny out loud. The wish granting ghost, Desiree, overhears and makes it so. Because of this, Danny never had his accident and was completely human with no knowledge of Sam.

This is where the episode upsets me. Sam is upset about losing her friendship with Danny (and Tucker to a lesser extent but they make it creepy 🙄) but its framed as Sam being desperate to get Danny his powers back. If you almost killed your friend in the past and magically got a do over, would you really put him through that again??? There is no real external pressure to make Danny become Phantom again aside from Desiree continuing to grant monkey's paw wishes. Amity Park looks much like it always has, seemingly unaffected by the lack of Phantom. Hell, the portal is still not working so there's a chance there are no other ghosts in town to cause mischief and mayhem. All we see is Desiree who hardly is the worst villain for someone, preferably an adult, to deal with.

Aside from the fact its a cartoon series called Danny Phantom there is no reason for Sam to do this again. And yet she persists in badgering Danny - who does not know her at all - into doing something he has no understanding of the consequences. The lack of informed consent was something that bothered me all the way back when I was 12 watching it live. So Sam makes Danny recreate the accident, making him Phantom again (this time with a logo that Sam slapped on without telling him bc she thought it looked cool. Again!!!! No discussion or anything). We get a few deeply uncomfortable segments of Danny relearning his powers before he magically remembers everything and its back to the status quo except now he's got a logo.

The literal whole point of the episode was to give him a marketable symbol to make him more like a "proper superhero". Sam's selfishness (a character flaw we see woven throughout the series but never meaningfully explored), the lack of consent, the stupid ass plot all combine to create what I think is a travesty of an episode.

I have gotten off topic but, yes, in both cases Sam's curiosity and overbearing nature combined with Danny's more passive personality and sense of wonder to pssp pssp pssp him into the death machine. There has been some excellent fic exploring (in an actual, realistic, interesting way) of the trio coping with Sam's casual suggestion leading to complete biological rewiring, a changed life trajectory, trauma and injury.

[tapedsleeves]

(primer anon) Thank youuuu <3 <3 <3 The giant goalie hugs are SO cute 🥹 saved your sources and shall scour them on my next day off! I'd love to hear more on giant Nic hague and the other d-men (saw on cap friendly today that mcnabb and whitecloud have both been knights since season 1!) but you've already gone above and beyond helping me out and i'm sure I can find stuff in the blogs and accounts you linked if you're all worded out <3

Hi!!! sorry this took so long! It's not because it was difficult to do, but because I just had a lot going on today (i slept late and then was out / busy for most of today until now)

So, a couple of players have actually been with VGK since year one that don't get credit for it, some who were drafted by VGK (Nic Hague) and some that weren't ( Keegan Kolesar, Zach Whitecloud).

Keegan Kolesar was drafted by CBJ in 2015, but never played for them & was traded to VGK in june of 2017. He played for the Chicago Wolves (VGK, as I understand it, shared the Wolves as a dev team, since a bunch of VGK-developed guys played for them) and then played for VGK starting in 2020 (he played 1 game in 2019-2020)

Zach Whitecloud was playing for Bemidji State University in 2017-2018 when VGK signed him (he played 1 game for VGK in 2017-2018)

Hague, Kolesar & Whitecloud, despite being with the organization since practically its inception aren't considered "Golden Misfits" like Karlsson, Carrier, Smith, Marchessault, Theodore, & McNabb were (during the cup playoffs last year, Smith was traded over the summer of 2023 to the Penguins) Because they weren't part of the run to the cup final that year in 2018.

Now, that's enough just flat backstory, I think. Let's talk about defensemen. I love ALL of our defensemen.

McNabb is SO quiet? but I love him so much. When people celebrate in OT, most of the guys will go celebrate with the person who scored, but Nabber almost always goes to celebrate with the goalie first. nabber MY BRO. His notes in this video are SO cute. Hip check? Pass to Shea. Nope. SHOTS. I know this isn't much about hockey, but I just think it's really cute that Nabber had these written down. He does SO MANY reverse hipchecks on guys it's lovely to see. And Shea is his going steady d-partner, unless there's a shakeup in the d-core, then they give the baby d-man to Nabber. He's basically a capybara. Even Panda thinks so:

It's Very cute.

During warm ups, they have the lil pyramid of pucks and will carrier knocks them down when he goes out. all except for one, which he stands up on it's side. And then when Brayden comes out next to last (goalies come out last) he knocks it down. It's SUCH a cute lil ritual.

Nic Hague is so tall! His voice is so deep! He seems so Polite! Every guy tries to fight him and for the most part he refuses to engage it is SO funny. He did get kicked out of a game last year in the Dallas Series for giving a sarcastic thumbs up at a dude. He is sooo funny

and hot

he wears??? glasses??

Despite the fact that his face looks like he's never had a thought in his WHOLE LIFE when hes geared up:

He won the OHL Scholastic Player of the year in 2015-2016, the year after Connor McDavid had it on lockdown for 2 years straight.

IDK if anyone has mentioned it to you, but VGK has an emoji line up - everyone has a say in their emoji to an extent, and Haguer's is a giraffe. Well, he's got a giraffe floatie.

he took the stanley cup on it

Now for Zach Whitecloud:

I love him. That's what you have to understand. He's perfect and he's never done a crime in his entire life. His PIMs are a glitch.

He cried when he took a penalty in OT in 2020 and they lost the series to the stars. He cried IN THE BOX. It was his first season.

His defensive partner is Nic Hague. They were roommates in Chicago with the wolves. They were roommates in VGK for a bit (then Dylan Coghlan (now with the Canes) moved in, I think.)

They're SUCH good defensive partners, I LOVE them, but they're also excellent apart.

Zach is colorblind, so he often has very fancifully patterned suits / ties.

he's always holding 2 drinks. Most of the time it's 2 coffees, but this one is a coffee and a water.

An announcer was racist about his name on air, and he got really upset about it but was SO SO gracious about it.

He's from around Manitoba (literally like half the team is, it's bonkers, GMKM, you're obsessed) and he *really really* looked up to Mark Stone. He was really excited to get to play with him.

he decided to who to pick (out of a number of teams) in a bathroom

He's just. I love seeing his face. He's an excellent defenseman, he's a great guy and i love him so so so much.

Zach and Martini have this lil "SUH DUDE" handshake that they do when they win, because they both stand and wait for everyone to get off the ice before they leave, and then they do this cuteass handshake thing where they wiggle their fingers at each other. it's *adorable*

Also i forgot about this Martini mic'd up

And now i'm gonna talk about a random guy you haven't heard about before: Ben Hutton. He's our 7th defensemen who normally is a healthy scratch, but is the 1st call up when someone else is injured. He was the guy in the video where Marty and Petro were affectionately bitching at each other who agreed with Marty.

Everyone loves him. In 2022-2023, not a lot of d-men were hurt, so he didn't get to play a lot, but Bruce said that he had SUCH a good attitude & was SUCH a lovely guy. He stayed and practiced with the guys who were on IR and they joked that "they had to go thru him" to get back to playing hockey again (they were all forwards). Which I think is really really cute.

When Vancouver did a lip sync battle for their gala, he danced to barbie girl. ANd KILLED it

He doesn't really like chocolate "I'm not a big chocolate guy" says he. His birthday is 4/20. Ate like ka whole tub of strawberry lemonade flavored ice cream (he didn't eat lunch). He wasn't sure he was gonna stay in the league, but he trained with deryk engelland (a retired VGK d-man) and improved so much that they gave him a permanent roster spot.

Hutton is another one of those guys who skates to the goalie in OT instead of the guy who scored. It's VERY cute.

agreed, nic hague. that's also how i look at button

I always think it's fun to know which guys stick their tongues out when they're happy?

[ifuckinglovedinosaurssomuchjesus]

Jurassic World Rebirth Leak Discussion

It's from a random reddit user and completely unsubstantiated, but it's interesting enough for me to want to talk about it. Read at your own discretion.

Given that this is meant to be a completely new chapter, it makes sense to update some old designs, especially since de-extinction has supposedly gone public so there'd be all sorts of companies creating new variations and species.

I'm excited for the new Triceratops, I hope the redesign means it gets some love beyond being relegated to background herd filler.

It's also nice to get a new T. rex and Velociraptor pack instead of shoehorning in Rexy and Blue again.

Now this is really fun news to me, Spinosaurus being the main focus of the movie is pretty much confirmed thanks to the Mattel toy listings, but if it is getting a new design based on our modern understanding, then I can't be happier. Set photos suggest it'll take part in an action scene around some Aztec ruins, which sounds like a fantastic set piece.

I am a little torn on the Mosasaurus, on one hand I'm happier that we're getting a more accurate design but on the other hand, the JW design has really grown on me and I always felt like she deserved to do more in the franchise.

Quetzalcoatlus getting a redesign is actually bad news for me, the Dominion look is probably the most beautiful animal in the whole franchise. I hope it's not too different, "hornbill beak" isn't very reassuring.

Titanosaurus is such an odd choice, why not just use the Dreadnoughtus that you already have? Especially since Titanosaurus is a dubious and not all that large sauropod. I have a feeling it'll actually be something like Patagotitan or Argentinosaurus and they'll just refer to it as "Titanosaur" for marketing reasons. As for the actual design... What? A shiny dome on its head and sails on its neck and tail? I really hope this is just a bad description on the leaker's part.

Aquilops is there, I feel like it'll serve a similar purpose as Bumpy did in the first season of Camp Cretaceous, something cute for the characters to get attached to and the audience to buy toys of.

Looks like Maiasaura is about to join the ranks of Corythosaurus and Iguanodon as the third background ornithiscian with nothing to do.

This is already known based on the official synopsis and set photos, the thing that kicks the plot off is a pandemic that only the DNA of giant creatures can cure for some reason. I think it's a good framework and gives us a good enough excuse for action scenes.

Some character and plot details, admittedly this doesn't matter as much to me because it's impossible to tell whether it'll be good or not until I actually see it.

The official synopsis mentions a "secret" that everyone is suspecting is a mutated dinosaur of some kind, I'm just whatever on it. That and the fact it ends in a fight scene just tells me that despite being advertised as a whole new chapter, the franchise is still repeating the same tropes as always.

Overall, nothing here that's really turning me off to the movie, mainly just a lot of little small grievances with some exciting news to balance it out. I'm still excited but cautious, we'll see how it turns out this summer.

[a34trgv2]

Top 10 Worst Main Characters In Cartoons

#10. Kick Buttowski (Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil): Kicking off our list (no pun intended) is the one trick pony of a character that is Kick Buttowski. His character begins and ends with him wanting to do extreme stunts. That'd be fine for a 7 minute short as a tribute or parody to stuntmen like Evel Knevel, but for an animated series? His shtick gets old very fast and he's nothing more than a blank slate of a character.

#9. Lincoln Loud (The Loud House): A smug, narcissistic brat, Lincoln treats his sisters like a means to end at best and a pain to live with at worst. Not only does he show contempt with them on a daily basis, but he's also not afraid to humiliate and take advantage of them to stroke his own ego. Would you believe this kid's named after one of the greatest Presidents of all time.

#8. Katie Mitchell (The Mitchells vs The Machines): Nothings makes me hate a movie more than how hatable the main character is. Katie is selfish, annoying, ungrateful, and not even remotely funny. She has this bitter and resentful attitude towards her father when they were once best friends, and the way she makes this story about her is very condescending. If the movie had been about her as a child and putting her relationship with her non-tech savy father to the test, maybe I'd sympathize with her more, but as a teenager ready for college, she's just a brat.

#7. Nancy Clancy (Fancy Nancy): I now know how Dora's detractors feel after watching Fancy Nancy. Nancy is such an obnoxious, pampered brat that talks down to the audience like we're pesents and always acts like a fancy life is the best life. She's very rude, selfish, and narcissistic, all of which are qualities you're NOT supposed to have when trying to be fancy.

#6. Miriam "Mimi" Mortin (What About Mimi?): No, this gif isn't from the villain of this obscure show. It's from the main protagonist...and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Mimi is a stupid, selfish, and annoying kid who makes simple problems worse by going overboard with her plans and throwing her friends under the bus. She's also very irresponsible and oblivious to the fact that she's no better than the show's designated spoiled brat, Sincerity.

#5. Kai (The Hollow): The one character that singlehandedly makes the show worse, Kai is everything Adam and Mira DIDN’T need on their journey. He's whiny, selfish, short-tempered and a big, fat coward. Whenever there's danger, his first and only instinct is to head for the hills instead of helping his friends. He also needlessly starts arguments with Adam because Heaven forbid 2 guys have a normal conversation together without it turning into a shouting match.

#4. Kiff Chatterley (Kiff): What do you get when you put Mimi's personality in a squirrel who's dumber than a sack of acorns? You get Kiff! She's selfish, annoying, stupid, irresponsible, and overdramatic over the simplist of things. What puts her above Mimi on the list is Kiff is the 4th irresponsible main female character I had the displeasure of sitting through after I specifically said I was done with these types of character. The character's a bigger waste of time than watching a worm try to crack open a safe.

#3. Molly McGee (The Ghost and Molly McGee): If you thought Dee Dee from the last 2 Seasons of Dexter's Lab was a headache, you might want to where a helmet when being in the same room as Molly McGee. She's annoying, inconsiderate, loud, obnoxious, and really stupid. She never thinks before she acts and every time she opens her mouth, she never shuts up. The worst part about her is the fact that Scratch can't just leave her because he put a curse on her, meaning he's stuck suffering with the audience listening to this chatterbox.

#2. Oscar Peltzer (Summer Camp Island): It boggles my mind how Hedgehog, nevermind ANYONE, would be friends with this kid. Oscar is selfish, annoying, inconsiderate, and stupid. He goes through Hedgehog's personal stuff, cheats at games and gets lost in the city. He also has a bad habit of not thinking before he acts, making him all the more annoying and stupid.

#1. Apple and Onion (Apple & Onion): No need to imagine a show with 2 annoying side characters as the main characters, because it already exists. Apple and Onion are easily the worst characters in Cartoon Network's history. In addition to being annoying and stupid, they also lack basic chemistry with each other and are painfully unfunny. What puts them at #1 though is Apple's fatphobia and Onion's complacency to said fatphobia. Need I say more? -.-

Conclusion: These cartoon protagonists are not only bad role models, but they're also just badly written. Whether they be annoying, stupid, irresponsible, or selfish, trust me when I say you DON'T want characters like these as the protagonist of your show/movie. Either audience's will mistake them as villains, or they'll just tune out. Dishonorable mentions go to Fei Fei from Over The Moon (I've talked enough about that brat -.-), Bloo from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (I wouldn't have blamed Mac for not visiting Foster's anymore after the birthday party episode), and Rick Sanchez from Rick & Morty (would've made the list, but I don't wanna give Rick & Morty any more attention than it has already). Thanks for reading, and I'll see you soon ;)