#like. There are two (MAYBE four) active players I can confidently state were better than him at their best

[sergeifyodorov]

who is better at defense - marner or matthews?

Matthews, but you have to understand he's Mr goddamn Perfect and the second best player in the world atm. Marner is also quite good at defense (and they're both good in fairly similar ways -- great at takeaways/retrievals especially) and gets a lot more PK time than Matthews, which means his usage is often geared towards that.

[seiin-translations]

2.43 S1 Chapter 3.1 - The Dog’s View and the Giraffe’s View

1. FRESHERS

If my one accomplishment in life is teaching everyone how cool Odacchi is...I’m okay with that

Translation Notes

1. Volleyball and ballet in Japanese are written in the same way (バレー)

2. Yuichi Nakagaichi is a former volleyball player who played for Japan in the 1992 Olympics

3. Tadahiro Nomura is one of the most famous judo competitors in Japan who won three Olympic gold medals in a row

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When he first entered high school, “Oda” was second from the top for the boys on the class register. The seats in class were temporarily allocated according to student number, so he was second from the front, two files from the window.

However, he couldn’t see the board very well in this seat due to an obstacle. If he were to apply a nicely fitting expression to it, then it would be as though a tree had spurted up from the seat of the chair. An extremely tall back completely blocked his sight. His shoulder blades were at the height of Oda’s line of sight, who was sitting normally.

“Whoa,” Oda bent back in shock, then leaned over his desk and poked the tall guy. “Hey. Hey!”

“Mmm?”

The tall guy twisted his long back around and placed his elbows on the back of his chair. His sleeves of his brand-new blazer, the same as his own, was already a little short at that point in time, his wrists peeking out quite a bit. His arms look long too… Oda, out of habit, imagined how far he could reach if he added the reach of his arms to his height.

“You’re huge. The biggest in this class. How tall are you? Were you the biggest in middle school too? What club are you in?”

“Club? I’m not in any, but…”

When he showered enthusiastic questions on him, the other boy leaned away from him suspiciously. A mild personality could be inferred from his gentle-looking features reminiscent of a horse-like creature, as well as a low voice like his throat was slightly stuffed, coupled with a relaxed way of speaking, however…

“Huh, with that height? You’re kidding, right? What a waste.”

Oda’s eyes widened, and the boy frowned, as though he had said something that hurt his feelings.

“You’re prejudiced to think that if someone’s big, they’re in some kinda sports club. I don’t really like exercise. There’s a lot of guys who say stuff like that, but it’s annoying.”

…He was the type of guy who spoke harshly and without restraint from the first meeting. Oda felt daunted at the gap from his first impression of him, but he immediately collected himself. They would be classmates from now on. It was much better to have someone to state clearly what they hate rather than let it go vaguely.

“Hey, wanna join the volleyball team together? I played it all the way through middle school and was thinking of playing it in high school too.”

“Volleyball? The ball sport?” (1)

After a short while,

“You?”

He said with a faint mockery in his voice. Oda was discouraged. It was the first day of school. Anticipation bounded in his chest and there was still absolutely no reason to doubt his own future.

“Well, it’s true that I’m small now, but I’m gonna grow tall in the future. They say there’re guys who grow thirty centimeters in high school, so I’m sure that I’ll have caught up to you by third year.” For some reason, at that moment he never doubted that he would be as big as the guy in front of him after two years. “And then I’ll be a super ace, like Gaichi.” (2)

“Super ace? What’s that, sounds strong.”

Oda’s eyes sparkled like he had been waiting for that question.

“It’s a team’s coolest, most dependable attacker.”

After that, he enthusiastically talked about how Nakagaichi Yuichi was from Fukui Prefecture and how amazing of a player he was until the new homeroom teacher arrived and made them stop chatting. The tall guy didn’t seem particularly impressed as he listened, but after school that day, he followed Oda, who immediately went to visit the boys’ volleyball team.

This was the second boy in attendance, Oda Shinichiro’s encounter with the first boy in attendance, Aoki Misao, who was one spot before him. That was exactly two years ago from now.

***

I. Prohibition of the posting and distribution of flyers other than in designated posting areas

I. Prohibition of any solicitation activities that obstruct traffic, on campus or off campus

I. Prohibition of any solicitation activities accompanied by the transfer of money, goods, privileges, etc.

I. Prohibition of any solicitation activities that could be seen as coercive or intimidating, as well as forcibly making someone join a club

The above was the notice handed down every year by the student council during the welcoming period for new students in early April, but practically no club strictly adhered to those rules. In actuality, the student council took a stance of toleration unless some sort of problem occurred.

That was why, during this season, as soon as school let out, the hallways became so crowded with people that it became difficult to walk. Those who indiscriminately pushed flyers on any new student coming out of their classrooms, those who tried to get their attention by offering sweet conditions such as answers for past exams or joint training camps with girls’ schools, those who wrapped their arms around the new students’ shoulders and trying to bring them into a room, extortion showing through beneath their friendly behaviors—. A large number of flyers were trampled underfoot, staining white like a cherry tree-lined path after a spring storm scattered all the petals.

Oda was considerably fed up with the tumult that filled the hallways, and he advanced through the crowd while hugging his enamel bag to his chest. Although he thought that the student council should manage it a little more, every time he saw the innocent faces of the new students whose shoulders didn’t quite align with their uniforms, he thought that it might be insensitive to say so. Although they were overawed by their upperclassmen’s overbearing approach and backed away, their cheeks were flushed with excitement and anticipation and their eyes were sparkling. He probably had that same face as he walked down this hallway two years ago.

The him from two years ago who triumphantly entered high school with pure anticipation and groundless self-confidence had already somewhat transformed into being part of his dark history, and he felt embarrassed when he recalled it. That was two years ago. At some point during those two years, I think I was forced to acknowledge my own limits…

“Hey, you, yeah you, walking over there.”

Someone heartily placed their arm around his shoulders from behind.

“Ooh, nice abs. If you’re this fit in your first year, you must have been in a decent sports club, right? Which club? Baseball? Soccer? Wanna try judo? You’ll be in the lightweight division at a tournament in no time. If you do soccer, there’s a chance you’ll be on the bench until graduation, you know?”

His abs were being rubbed while a huge guy was leaning on him and making him slouch over. “Hey, stop it!” Oda twisted around and pushed the other person’s elbow aside.

“Ah? Oh, what, it’s Oda. Sorry, sorry. I got it a bit wrong.”

“Not just a bit. You got it completely wrong.”

“Well, you’ll do too, Oda, you’re an instant asset. You can still switch clubs now, right? I’m seeing a second Nomura Tadahiro (3) in you, Odacchi. I don’t care if you’re in two clubs at the same time either, if you want. Let’s accomodate each other, seeing as how we’re both minor clubs.”

“I don’t know who Nomura is. If you have the time to invite third years, then go get a first-year.”

“We already lost all the good first-years. It’s all about soccer for them. I guess judo really is that uncool. It has a stinking image I guess.”

“Well it is uncool. I’m in a hurry.”

He was getting bitter, so he dealt with him bluntly and started walking.

“Odaaaa!” A rough voice chased after him. When he turned around, the stern face of the tall judo club member popping out from above the heads of the students crowding the hallway.

“I’m serious. The only club that wants you is us, you know? You don’t have to do volleyball… Why volleyball of all things?”

It’s none of your business, he cursed in his mind, faced forward, and squeezed through the crowd of people. Even when he thought he got out, his enamel bag that was wider than him got caught and he stumbled backwards. He frustratedly pulled on the strap and held it to his chest once again.

Why volleyball of all things, you ask? He had already asked himself that a long time ago without being told that by others. Did he miss the chance to give up? Maybe if he had switched at an earlier stage, there would be something else he could have displayed his power at? I don’t know, I don’t think there is something like that in this world, but maybe there is.

But, this year would definitely be the year where I’m glad I continued. This year, we’ll definitely get stronger. Even if I can’t do it by myself, the actors are coming together.

A feeling of exhilaration gradually welled up from the pit of his stomach. His steps, which become a bit heavy, lightened. He held his bag, raised his head that was hanging down, and looked forward. Unable to suppress his excitement, he hastened to the room.

For the Nanafu Seiin High School boys’ volleyball team, today was the first day of practice for the new first-years.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

When Oda changed into his practice clothes and went to the gym, the second-years were in the center of preparations with the new first-years helping out as well. When the third-years were all there, they would look good as a team. After all, during his second year, after last year’s third-years retired, there were two people in Oda’s grade and three in the grade below, so the total was a meagre five people. It was a situation where they didn’t even have the head count for a game.

Four provisional admission forms were received three days after the entrance ceremony. That could be called an excellent result. I don’t know how many people will stay after this, but assuming they’ll all join officially…

“Eight people…ah, nine including me?”

How can a court not look so lonely when there’s nine people?

As he stood in place at the gym entrance for a while to take in the scene, Aoki approached him with a wry smile.

“Oi, oi, don’t tell me you’re getting emotional from just this?”

“I’m, I’m not getting emotional!”

He looked away to gloss over the embarrassment. In the first place, his neck got tired when he looked this guy in the eye and talked. Not liking how the shoulders of Aoki, who was standing next to him, trembled slightly as he suppressed his laughter, he made a stern face on purpose.

It was just as Aoki said. How could he be feeling satisfied with this stage? The Inter-High-slash-prefectural qualifiers were at the beginning of June, two months later. He would be picking the starters from these new members at once.

“Whew, this really puts the high in high school.”

A first year said with his mouth wide-open, after the first- and second-years finished putting up the net. He seemed to have volleyball experience. His shoes were Mizuno Volleyball, and you could see that they were worn in. He still has iinnocent, middle school student features, or rather, he seems spoiled, but…he’s big. Though not as big as Aoki, he was definitely over one-eighty. It seemed he would be useful just by having him stand in the center.

“Wanna try hitting one?”

Oda called out as he walked up to the court.

“Is it okay?”

It was a look of irrepressible joy despite his shyness. Yeah, that’s nice. That’s a good face.

“Where are you hitting from? You can just choose your strong spot.”

“Then, I’ll start from the back, right in the middle.”

He was a bit surprised that he requested to do back row attacks without hesitation. Not center, but a side hitter? The first-year flexibly used his knees to bounce twice before lightly running to the court end. “Kanno, give him a pass.” The second-year Kanno picked up the ball Aoki rolled to him and assumed the position of receiver. Oda went to the setter’s position, close to the right front. His position wasn’t originally setter, but he wanted to get a first taste of this raw material to see how good he was.

Kanno sent forward a light overhand pass. As a preliminary test, Oda started with a slow high set—

“Oi!?”

The first-year kicked the floor with his legs, and by the time the ball might or might not have left Oda’s fingertips, he was already jumping. It almost looked like the floor itself had elasticity and added power to his jump—he was that high! And not just that, but far! His body, which was bent back like a bow, jumped nearly three meters in one go from the front of the attack line to the net.

But of course, the set didn’t meet him at all. Before Oda’s high set even reached the top of its parabola, the first-year refreshingly and very energetically attempted to hit it and missed, and unable to kill his momentum, went under the net and tumbled all the way to the other side of the court. There was even time for Kanno to nonchalantly walk right underneath the ball and catch it as it fell after drawing a huge arc.

“O…oi, are you okay!?”

He was stunned for a moment, but then realized what happened and rushed over. They couldn’t afford to have a new team member get injured on the very first day. “Sorry—!” The first-year said. He was relieved to see him suddenly raise his upper body up from his spread-legged forward bending position, looking surprisingly unconcerned.

He’s pretty flexible…with that height…? From Oda’s experience, big guys had stiff bodies. He himself was fairly flexible, having properly did stretches since middle school. He secretly thought that it was one of the few physical advantages he possessed. This first-year had easily overturned that. This is a bit…no, very frustrating.

But, what was that timing just now? Didn’t he jump after he saw the set? “Huh, that’s weird,” the first-year muttered to himself, tilting his head.

“Well, that’s enough entertainment for now. Assemble!”

Aoki clapped his hands and called the other team members over.

Facing the captain and vice-captain Oda and Aoki, the three second-years and four first-years stood on the right wing and left wing respectively, standing moderately spread out. Kanno was also participating today’s gym use day, so it felt good to see everyone’s faces and start the new year off right. The new members, including that astounding first-year from just a moment ago, looked a little nervous, their cheeks unconsciously slackening with their innocence.

Aoki handed him the forms they were made to fill out when they tentatively joined the team. He flipped through the four forms in his hand. The provisional admission form had a common format for all clubs, requiring students to write down the club they wanted to join, class, full name, and middle school. Obviously, all four forms had “boys’ volleyball team” written for the first item. That one line written in poor handwriting on each of them was dazzling…If he got emotional here, Aoki would laugh at him again.

“Now, we’ll have each first-year introduce themselves. Class, name, middle school, height, and position if you have experience. If there’s another position you want, you can say it. If you don’t know because you’re a first-timer, don’t worry. First is…”

He read aloud the first form.

“Nagato Ryo. Where are you?”

The first-year on the far left answered with “Here!” almost immediately. He wasn’t badly built either. He remembered seeing his face at the middle school prefecturals last year.

“Nagato Ryo from Class 1-E. I’m from Monshiro Middle. My height is probably around one-seventy-eight now. My position was pretty much the center.”

Fourth in the prefecture, Monshiro Middle. He exchanged a glance with Aoki and nodded.

“All right, next. Kuroba Yuuji.”

This time, there was no one who answered immediately.

“Hmm?”

He looked up from the sheet of paper. The one who had introduced himself as Nagato earlier poked the person to the right of him with his elbow. It was the first year who had swung and missed earlier who answered “Here” while looking down with Nagato’s elbow in his side.

“Kuroba Yuuji from 1-C, I’m from Monshiro Middle, now I’m probably one-eighty-three or four or something like that. I played left-side and right-side…”

While talking, that Kuroba was glowering at Nagato next to him. When he looked, he saw that Nagato had his hand to his mouth with his shoulders shaking.

“What’s going on here?”

The two’s faces stiffened when Oda’s tone turned sharp, but…

“It’s nothing. I’m Kuroba Yuuji.”

Kuroba named himself again while seemingly reluctantly giving Nagato the side-eye, a “pff” sound burst out from Nagato’s mouth.

“…Senpai. It’s Yuni. The reading.”

Kanno interjected from among the second-year right side players. “Ah,” Kuroba said and turned protesting eyes to Kanno. Come to think of it, Kanno was also from Monshiro Middle.

“Well, if that’s true then say it earlier. Why didn’t you correct me?”

“It’s fine. I will change my name starting today.”

Kuroba said with a solemn face while the tips of his ears were bright red. “You’re gonna change your name starting today?” Oda’s temple twitched. Is this guy an idiot? Nagato was clutching his stomach and bending over like he couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Senpai, apparently his name got laughed at a lot in his new class today. When he was asked the reason for it, he said it was Yuni from ‘universe’, and everyone said it was a super over-the-top name. That’s why you’re sulking, right, Yuni?”

“Shut up…no one said anything in middle school.”

“Nah, I thought that too, but I knew you since first grade so I missed the timing.”

“Say, say stuff like that earlier! You’re making my wounds worse.”

The other two first-years, who had been just standing there with confused faces at the back-and-forth between the graduates of the same middle school, laughed reservedly. “Sto-stop laughing at me!” Kuroba said, aghast. Oda sighed.

“Isn’t it fine, Yuni from ‘universe’? Who named you?”

When he interjected, all four of them reflexively straightened their postures and contained their laughter. “Grandpa did…” Kuroba answered embarrassedly with his head hung. “The Buddhist priest at the temple decided the number of character strokes and read it as Hirohito at first, but Grandpa said he changed the reading since he wanted it to mean ‘May you be able to reach the universe…’”

The person himself didn’t seem to like it very much, but Oda was impressed by that origin. That’s nice…he thought again. The other first years other than Nagato seemed to have come out of their shells with this episode. They were already familiarly whispering and poking each other. He made the people around him like him, perhaps because he had a strange, hopelessly unguarded character to him. There was a big difference between having a moodmaker like that on the team and not having one. And of course, the first thing his eyes were drawn to were the height he was blessed with, and the jump power he displayed earlier. The suppleness of the body led to less chances of injury.

That’s nice…but…it’s frustrating. Two feelings were jumbled within him—the sincere feelings of welcome as a captain, and envy mixed with jealousy as a fellow attacker.

“Kuroba Yuni, eh. I don’t approve the name change, so keep it. Okay, next!”

When he turned over another temporary club entry form, he saw that there were no more people from Monshiro Middle School. He looked over them starting with the last one first, just to be sure, but that was also wrong. I assumed that he’d be among these four, but…

“Kuroba, Nagato, there’s another guy coming here from your school, right?”

The two first-years, who had gone from poking each other to joking around with each other, immediately froze. Kuroba’s reaction was especially conspicuous. His smiling face stiffened in an instant, and his huge body seemed like it shrank a size.

“What’s wrong?”

The two made noncommittal answers and looked away from Oda.

“Haijima goes here, doesn’t he? Haijima—Kimichika.”

When Oda impatiently repeated that, Nagato gave Kuroba’s profile a meaningful glance before nervously speaking.

“That guy, Haijima, stopped showing up to practice after prefecturals, and he doesn’t seem to be playing volleyball anymore.”

Previous || Index || Next

[parvuls]

19/54 :)

19 - summer camp / 54 - secret relationship

now. the first thing that came to mind is camp sweetgum. so i’m gonna leave this here in case it strikes your fancy and also because it’s great.

but i’m a sucker for extensive worldbuilding, so let’s settle in for the long haul, kay? this is 1.7k of plot outlining. you can see why it takes me four months to write fics.

eric bittle. age 15. moved to madison for high school, quit figure skating, joined a no contact hockey team. coach is happier but not happy, so he suggests an idea: hockey summer camp. yes contact. it’s in minnesota (coach’s not thrilled about the yankees, but there are no hockey camps anywhere south; he checked), and it’ll give junior an opportunity to meet some kids with similar interests. athletic interests, that is. and there’s still a lake and extracurricular activities, “so it’s just like the camp up by lake oconee, y’know? where the kids braid friendship bracelets and whatnot. except with sports.”

eric is... less enthused. but it’s not actually a suggestion so much as a decision and coach just moved across the state for him because he managed to get himself stuck in a closet overnight (eric’s mindset, at this age, is perhaps not the most healthy), so he says yes.

jack zimmermann. age 20. assistant coached a peewee team for the year and is not ready to spend a third summer in his parents’ house in montréal when all his former teammates from the q are returning home during off-season. his boss tells him about this summer camp in minnesota that’s looking for experienced counselors -- “it’s not a prospect camp, mostly for fun, so the boys there aren’t headed for the league. you should go. talk to some kids above the age of ten.”

jack’s pretty okay with never talking to anyone over ten again, but he’s got no other options and bob starts mentioning going to bonding fishing trips just the two of them, so he send an application.

um. he’s jack zimmermann. he was supposed to go first in the draft. the guy in charge of hiring for the summer probably rubbed his eyes in shock when he saw the email and headed straight to bed because he thought he was delusional from lack of sleep. jack gets the job.

so, like. listen. samwell men’s hockey team? they’re not your usual hockey playing dude bros. eric gets to camp that july and he’s still all long dancer’s muscles from regionals and even lighter weight from usual because he was on a strict diet and he’s got a southern accent and narrow shoulders and he doesn’t like when you slap him on the back. he’s not a hit with the local boys. but you know who does like him immediately? adam birkholtz, who’s off the ushl for the summer and wanted to play some fun hockey and get paid doing it. is it legal? who fucking cares, man.

does eric like adam? uhh. adam is 6′4 and touchy feely and eric’s got undiagnosed ptsd, so. no. but it works out after a while, because adam is relentless and also cannot stand most of the other counselors, and this tiny kid is great.

you can see how it goes: jack does not. get. bittle. it should be mentioned that jack also does not get adam, and adam does not especially like jack, so they stay out of each other’s way, but bittle is in jack’s morning slot. he skates like he was born doing it but every time one of the other players so much as looks in his direction he freezes like a deer. now, this isn’t the ncaa, jack’s got nothing to lose if this kid sucks in hockey, but he also doesn’t make friends and he’s got nothing to do with his day except read (he reads. a lot). and he likes challenges. so he starts paying attention.

the first time he asks eric to stay after morning slot’s over, eric looks so terrified jack’s usual awkward conversation skills reduce him to single-word grunting. but he gets the point across: they’re gonna practice yes-contact. for reasons. eric’s all like, “oh -- oh, no, it’s okay! i’m in a no contact co-ed team, it’s fine, this is a summer thing, really, sir, no need --” and jack’s like, did this kid just call me sir, i am twenty, but is also too awkward to take it back. he’s invested now. they’re gonna practice.

and practice they do. it goes badly before it even remotely starts getting better. eric looks like he’s gonna start crying every time and jack does. not. get him (!!!) but eventually adam finds out and talks to eric about it and encourages him (very, very gently, god, this kid is the shit but he’s definitely got some issues 19-years-old-adam is not equipped to handle) to give it a shot.

and then it does get better. jack likes having a purpose, guiding someone through an improvement process (jack’s therapist, wisely, does not tell him that this is the best thing he could’ve done for himself, because jack is... not there yet). eric (very, very slowly, god, he also should start seeing a therapist) stops fearing every jock who gets near him with the combined effort of adam’s incessant friendly advances and jack’s daily practices, and can even take some checks. gentle ones. but it’s something.

and then summer’s over. eric and adam trade numbers. eric and jack… do not, but jack probably says something like, “eat more protein, bittle,” and eric’s not even that offended, so it’s fine.

guess what? he goes back the next summer. coach is over the moon (he expresses this in a twist of the mustache and a firm shoulder clap). adam is also back, talks a lot about quitting the ushl after his next season and maybe going to college somewhere. jack is back because… uh, well, no one’s really sure why jack is back. he’s going to samwell in early august, right after camp ends. jack tells himself he’s easing himself back into hockey in a low-pressure environment and totally isn’t looking forward to seeing what a year has done to eric bittle.

which is, physically speaking, not a lot, honestly. eric’s firmer now, a lot more thigh and bicep muscles, but still narrow. it’s not collegiate hockey, it’s a high school team, alright? gosh. but he’s less jumpy and smiles at jack when their eyes meet and he’s babbling with adam a lot more than he did last year (they texted all year long, and it was nice having a friend, even if it was long distance), so it’s cool. jack makes him do morning practices again and he flinches less and less. they’re like. friends. maybe. jack hasn’t had any friends in three years and the last one was parse, so he’s a little rusty. it’s not a very traditional friendship.

they part ways again in august, and eric wishes jack good luck in school. jack sticks his hands in his pockets to avoid fiddling with his hat and has no idea how one says goodbye, and like, he’s not gonna keep in touch with this sixteen year old kid in his freshman year of college, okay? so. so. but he’s gonna like -- uh -- miss him. maybe. sorta. don’t tell anyone.

eric hugs him goodbye. jack doesn’t even take both hands out of his pockets to hug back, he’s so shocked.

the year after that, none of them come back. jack’s in college, he just got the c. adam’s getting ready for his freshman year. eric’s over the age limit for camp. it just doesn’t happen.

but the year after that, he gets a hockey scholarship for samwell. and it’s yes contact. and he hasn’t been checked in two years, and last time it was in a controlled environment near a minnesota lake, and he’s scared. and the guy from camp (the one who woke up that morning two years before and realized jack zimmermann indeed wanted to work at their camp) offers him a summer job, counseling skating lessons. and he says yes. for money, and to be ready for a season of real hockey.

also that year, jack’s had a bad season. parse won the cup, and smh didn’t even make it to the frozen four, and he feels shitty about everything. and coaching always made him feel better. so he goes back to camp, for one summer.

let’s set the scene: eric. age 18. taller, stronger, determined. in need of a haircut, but in possession of very short shorts. is headed to a liberal school and finally knows he’s gay and refuses to care about what the other boys think (camp has done wonders for his early mindset development; canon bitty, probably, was not as confident at this point). he’s a counselor now, fellas!

jack. age 23. not taller, yes stronger, has been friends with shitty knight for a year and knows a little more about human interaction (truly a little, but still). is looking to relax for the summer before kicking ass next season (and attracting scouts and joining the nhl and winning three cups before 30 and proving everyone wrong, but. first, relaxing and playing some hockey. jack zimmermann���s version of relaxing is different than other people’s).

they’re sharing a cabin in the counselors area. there are two beds, obviously, this is not that trope, and it’s not even bunk beds, but: they were cabinmates. oh my god, they were cabinmates.

the plot, obviously, follows as one would expect. eric is definitely not a kid anymore, is all tanned skin and strong calves and short shorts, and jack is only human. jack is all firm chest and pale eyes and hideous yellow shoes, and eric is disgusted, but is also only human. and jack is on summer break, and eric is not out yet, and so when they drink some beers one night and make bad attempts at actually braiding some friendship bracelets and jack’s tongue pokes out in concentration and eric bursts out laughing, jack has to kiss him. right? right. It’s not like eric would tell anyone. see closeted reasoning above.

what’s the catch? oh, no, they don’t get caught. they share a cabin! everything’s going swell. it’s just -- jack came there to avoid thinking about his bad season. eric came there to avoid thinking about his upcoming year of collegiate hockey. so… neither of them mentions… captaining the samwell hockey team. or. heading for the samwell hockey team. they talk about literally everything else (country music; undeveloped political opinions; daddy issues; the tv show arthur; american vs. canadian thanksgiving; one very late night conversation about homophobia in pro sports), but not about college. so neither of them knows.

oops?

[sepiadice]

DiceJar Campaign 0.2: ‘It sticks its nonexistent tongue out at you.’ (2020/01/31)

Shorter session this week, and also down a NavyDie due to work and him being a boring adult.

The section of the module I had prepared has four combat encounters, only one I could reasonably cut. I was trying to think of some way to abstract one down, since even two combats is a stretch.

Fortunately, we only got through half of the material I planned, so the third can be saved next time, with only one other fight left on the current floor (and I might be able to cut that one).

I also felt a lot less stressed this time. Players taking an active interest in when the session was happening, actually getting a second session, and having notes prepared put me in a better mindset. So that's a good thing to know about myself!

Probably need to come up with a team name. Probably should ask the players to devise one.

Cast

Mogui (IndigoDie): Druid. Sponsored by Lord Grey to go on this rite of passage. Indigo is an old pal from High School. Yot (LimeDie): Cleric. Mercenary that finds himself in Kassen often. Lime is a newer pal from an Improv Club. Delilah Dunford (VermilionDie): Rogue. Daughter of nobles, volunteered for this mission by her butler. Vermilion is someone I knew during high school, but the age of our pal-ness is vaguely defined. Bernard 'Bean' Dipp (NavyDie): Ranger(?). Young man forced to grow up quickly in light of his father's affliction. Navy is an Improv pal, and was also absent this session. Game Master (SepiaDie/me): Environment (mostly skeletons). Dungeon is a crypt where something spooky might be happening. Sepia is me, and thus probably my greatest enemy.

Session Two

I opened with two quick prose bits that Lime described as ‘Loading Screen’ text. Which is accurate, I suppose. Both were from travel guides, one formal, the other what I intend to be my Hitchhiker’s guide. It’s a fun narrative device I picked up from Dice Friends[1]: in-setting exposition and world building.

The party starts where they left off: standing outside the crypt, looking at some dead horses.

Delilah investigates the saddlebags, identifying the maker mark of the town leather worker, Mr. Shepherd, a pleasant if quiet elf man.[2] The bags contain blunt arrows, travel rations, and two pillows. Curious.

The party enters the dungeon proper, and I have to actually use the Roll20 application for more than doodling[3] and tracking relative locations.

In the first room is two fresh corpses, two heavily broken skeletons, and six less-broken skeletons.

The fresh bodies are two friends of Kassen’s mayor. What a tragedy. Why are they here, though?

Six skeletons rise up to fight the interlopers. Combat begins!

I think the fight went well. Three players kept a fair clip as compared to, say, seven to eight. Six skeletons focused on just attacking whoever is closest or draws their aggression. The skeletons have low health, so they were dispatched quickly. As a GM, the fight didn't feel like it dragged.

Skeletons now rendered dead, again, our heroes are now able to take a breath and take in the scene. A mural of Kassen driving off a horde of enemies decorates the opposite wall,[4] a reasonable amount of dust coats the various surfaces, and a wailing echoes through the hallowed halls.

I failed to indicate the direction the wailing was coming from (the southeast exit), so the party elected to do the logical thing and go through the northwest door.

This room held a pool of water, fed by a fountain depicting a woman crying over a dying Kassen. Kassen’s head had worn off, however, a detail to concern the players with its possible meaning.

A voice Booms ‘Magic is the Key’.

At the bottom of the forty foot deep pool lays hundreds of keys. A tough, complicated puzzle to…

Yot cast light on a pebble, dove in, and cast Detect Magic.[5] One of the keys is radiating magic. The module didn’t say what type of magic it was, so I just shrugged at clarifying questions and admitted it didn’t really matter.[6]

The key unlocks one of the doors in the room, which leads to a hall flanked on either side by statues of Kassen holding swords. The utter dedication to this one guy is starting to get a little silly. Surely there were other members of his mercenary band that… might deserve…

Anyways, ignoring the fun change to the narrative I could make,[7] the party progresses and accidentally steps on a pressure plate, which drops the swords onto… mostly just Delilah, who was leading the way, the other two standing in the gaps between the statues.[8] Luckily, the trap has to be manually reset, so they can just use acrobatics checks to pass now that the swords are down.

Next room: multilevel chamber, with a giant statue standing before them, holding two shields, one reading ‘Home’ and the other ‘Family’.

And yes, the statue is of Kassen. So much Kassen decoration. So many tax dollars wasted on glorifying a founder in a location most people would never visit, with the Mayor being the only one confirmed to visit more than once in his life. They could’ve used the upkeep costs on fixing potholes, or making a park, or expanding Kassen.

The nice thing about being a Game Master is you can address such fridge logic.

Mogui descends the stairs to the lower level first, activating a wood golem! It steps off a pressure plate, which turns the stairs into a slope.

Initiative is rolled, and the wooden golem crits on Mogui, knocking him into death save territory. Whoops.

Yot follows him down, slipping on the slope and landing prone. Delilah prepares a rope down before shooting the enemy with her bow. Critical failure. She throws herself off balance and slides down to the lower level.[9]

Yot attempts to battle the wood golem, ignoring his companion rolling dice to not die right next to him. Meanwhile, Delilah climbs onto the wood golem in a sneak attack. While up there, she spots an odd keyhole on the back of its neck.

Luckily, she just happened to have a magic key. Which she uses to turn off the boss fight, causing it to move back to its podium and restore the stairs to a usable state.

Mogui is also healed to standing.

Were it not for the golem scoring two (2!) critical hits on my players, I’d say it was a pretty good fight design. The room had levels, lending interesting positioning options, the puzzle of the staircase-to-ramp mechanism, and despite the golem having high hit points for the player’s level, it also had a discoverable ‘off switch’ to give more of a puzzler solution. Fights are better when designed as puzzles instead of a series of dice rolls.

Puzzle design can be hard, though. However, combat might also be a case of a little work going a long way to just make the mechanical showcase more interesting.

This session held one straight fight, a puzzle, then a puzzle-fight. It felt like a good session composition, though it would have been nice to have some role-playing.

Oh wait. I’m in charge here.

The party takes a moment to take a breath. They decide they need a break. Their GM sits, knowing the door they’re standing right next to goes to the prize room. They just need to… go in…

Instead, the party backtracks to the fountain-and-keys room for a short rest.

Maybe I’m not as in charge here as I’d hoped.

As players start asking for an end of the session, I play the ‘We’re so close to a big moment’ card, and gently tell them to go through that door.

Now, the module as written has the party enter the room to find a masterwork weapon[10] or other item, and a potion for each party member, and a note saying how proud their families are. A gift from the community for their new adults. Nice, but lacks a certain punch.

So, I give them their potions and non-masterwork items. Because usable loot is good to have. But you know what’s rarely utilized? Trinkets! Things with no mechanical value at all!

So Mogui, whose player I workshopped with for this specific moment,[11] found a Family Tree prepared for him by his employer, Lord Grey. I also took the note of pride and turned it into a letter from Lord Grey. Then I made Indigo tell me what the letter says.[12] Mogui was sent to work for Lord Grey in exchange for his family receiving a noble title, and this family tree was the needed evidence for his family to claim their title. The letter essentially thanked him for his service and Lord Grey’s pride in having him.

Next was Yot. He didn’t have family in town, so how do I work him into this? Well, honorary adoption, of course. The widows and mothers of Kassen have knitted him winter clothes like a hat, socks, and gloves.[13] The starter I gave for his letter was small notes from the community thanking him for his help. When I turned Lime loose, he wanted to add indictments from loved ones he let die in the field. And, as important as it is for a GM not to invalidate player choices, it’s important for the GM and player to workshop. Because such things wouldn’t have reasonably gotten on that table, instead I suggested that they were forgivenesses for those deaths, which Yot nevertheless took hard.

The final present party member, Delilah, received two gold coins from her parents and a bag of her favorite sweets from her butler. I just dictated the parent’s letter as them just giving her her allowance, not fully understanding what their daughter volunteered for. Her butler’s letter, however, I let Vermilion handle. She turned it into an apology for fibbing about how involved her parents were in allowing her to join this rite of passage mission, but he is proud of her, and hopes she enjoys the candy.

For Bean, who was following behind but was likely too scared to be of any help this session,[15] there was a hand carved figurine of a dog, made by his father, as well as a letter from the same. I’ll have Navy get his fair moment to do his letter.[16]

Thus ends the session.

I felt more confident leading this session, and the actual contents felt meatier than just travelling to the crypt. I’ve started adding my own material, and no one’s told me they’re unsatisfied,[17] so let’s call it a successful session!

Actually combatting my nature and making a point-by-point break down on what happens in each room and how it works went a long way to keeping me confident and cool. I don’t need to impress anyone. And I put in good work.

I was especially proud of the trinkets. I feel like the players engaged with them, it provided a chance to trick the players into exposition, and it was a role-playing moment. Every session is better when you write open ended chances to role-play.

The actual walking through the dungeon and traps still needs work, though. Certain traps activate when a player steps on a certain space, and I’m still struggling with how to perform trapfinding checks without making everyone cautious. Making players check every space with a check would get tedious, doing a check behind my screen on behalf of a player feels blasphemous as players should roll their own dice, and just having them doing it once they enter the room just feels narratively disconnected. I’ll need to think on that hall with swords and statues.

Also figure out what happened to fountain Kassen’s head.

And on why there’s just… so much Kassen around the place.

Anyways, I had fun with it. The session got a puzzle and a half, a combat and a half, skill checks, and roleplaying! Getting better as a GM! I feel it!

Now to achieve a session good enough it fills my players to yearn to talk to me about it outside of the session! The after session decompression and discussion was always my favorite times during the high school games.

I have a patreon and ko-fi if you wish to support me. Financial support will set me on my path to an actual play show and making a living writing and creating.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.[19]

-

[1]Specifically Kathleen DeVere’s Bylaws and Order and Cameron Lauder’s After the Flood campaigns. I look forward to having a go-to newspaper to reference like Kathleen’s. [2] I don't recall if I ever gave Trix's father a first name, but this is he. Trix is in Kassen somewhere. [3] Advice: maintain a separate page to play around with. Wards away graffiti on the actual map, and gives you a landing page to transition into the game time mindspace. [4] Presumably in a similar manner to Martin the Warrior's tapestry. [5] Which he probably shouldn’t be able to do while holding his breath, but also making him get out, cast the spell, then dive back in is nitpicking. [6] Yot can worry about getting cancer from diving into a reactor cooler later. [7] Unless, in the incredibly likely event I just forget, I don’t implement this. [8] Should’ve alternated the placement of statues so every square has one. So everyone has an equal chance at pain. [9] Is it possible that the party is just so bad with declines that I can retroactively justify messing up on the hill during session one? Maybe. Maybe. [10] Non-existent in Fifth Edition. [11] I couldn’t come up with an obvious prize, so I just asked. Benefit of experience playing with the guy and trust that he won’t cheat. [12] I would’ve made Navy go first were he there, since Navy has both my trust and improv experience to set a good example. [13] Ms. Shepherd didn’t finish her scarf in time, since it took a bit to source the wool from her family’s flock.[14] [14] I really need to play Trix again… [15] Navy can get final say on justification. [16] The ideal sequence would’ve been experienced improv person who’s trinket I’m confident in, then the player who I had dictate his trinket, then the improv player with the shakier trinket, then the player who I’m new to playing with. Turns out that last one knocked it out of the park, which is affirming. [17] Outside one player’s continuing dislike of D&D. I’ll probably do GURPS for the next one. Unless I need to punish everyone. In which case, Maid RPG.[18] [18] Actually, on a serious note, if you can look past the… tone and anime-ness of everything else, Maid RPG has a mechanic that would be a great tool to understand the shut-downs of Autustic Students. If there was literally any way I could pitch that to my higher-ups at work. [19] Confession: still not completely sold on this sign-off, but Kataal kataal isn’t for this context.

[writemarvelousthings]

The Language Of Love

PAIRING- Steve Rogers x Reader 

WORD COUNT: 3.6k

WARNINGS: Smut, slight angst and a whole lot of fluff! 

Well well well, look who’s posted a stand-alone fic for the first time in MONTHS! This idea sprouted from that glorious line in Winter Soldier, this fic wouldn't exist without @bucky-plums-barnes who not only helped me with the French translations but also betaed for me and honestly, she’s just the best person in the world! Thank you so much for helping baby!

 GIF NOT MINE made by the amazing Gen!

The nervous energy flowing through your body hadn’t gone away, not since he had left. All day you had occupied yourself in cleaning your modest apartment. He had promised he’d call as soon as it was safe, he had said so between soft farewell kisses. The sudden shrill ring of your mobile made you lunge across the living room, fumbling with the device in your hand you answer it with a breathless gasp of his name.

“Steve?”  

“It’s me baby”

You feel the woosh of air expelling from your lungs as your knees buckle from under you dropping down to the couch you place your hand on your chest, calming your racing heart. He’s alive.

“Oh thank god” you mumble, leaning back into the soft pillows you feel the hot sting of tears fill your eyes.

“I’m sorry… things got a bit out of hand..” you can picture him, head in his hands as the guilt coursing through his veins at the thought of not contacting you.

“It’s been two days” you force the choked sob back down, normally Steve was good at letting you know he was safe. You usually got a text or a quick call to calm your worries, but this time it had been radio silence.

“I know, baby I know. But I’m okay.. We’re all okay” you felt yourself relax more at the thought of your friends not coming to any harm. Pulling yourself together you tuck your legs underneath you.

“So.. how’s Paris?” you can almost hear him smile down the phone, the sound of a soft rustle tells you he’s laying back in bed.

“A little different from my day. If I hadn’t been interrogating the suspect all day I might have even taken some photos for you”  your brow furrowed slightly.

“Interrogate, isn’t that Nat’s forte?” you doubted the multilingual ex-assassin was really that rusty with her French.  

“It is, but she has a past with the target and would be too easily recognised. Buck’s French is good but mine’s a bit better”

“Wait.. you can speak french?” your relationship with Steve was by no means in the early stages, to hear your boyfriend could speak another language other than English was a slight shock. The deep chuckle from him makes your heart pang with yearning.

“Yeah, you pick up a few things during wartime” you smile to yourself, your fingers picking at the couch cushions absentmindedly.

“Well, that’s definitely something you can do more of around here”  

“Tu me manques tellement” I miss you so much. You felt yourself giggling at the foreign words flowing from Steve with such ease.  

“And what exactly does that mean?”

“I just told you how much I miss you” you can hear the emotion in his voice, it makes the lump in your throat grow bigger as you wipe away a stray tear rolling down your cheek.

“I miss you too Steve”

He arrived back home three days later, a few minor bumps and bruises but nothing too serious. It was somewhere between three and four am when you felt his strong arm wrapping around your waist and a small kiss to the back of your neck.

“It’s just me (Y/N), go back to sleep” you didn’t need anymore encouragement as the next time you woke up was on your own accord. It wasn’t often that you woke up before Steve, but you couldn’t bring yourself to wake him just yet.

His blonde hair was ruffled, sticking up at all angles from a rough night’s sleep. His perfectly pink lips parted slightly as he snored softly. His face and torso were littered with tiny cuts and bruises on his usually unblemished skin. The bruising was only small, by the end of the day he will look like he didn’t just spend the better half of a week bringing down a small hidden branch of Hydra in Paris. Pressing a small kiss to his jaw you gently remove yourself from his grip, pulling the covers over him more as you let your boyfriend sleep.

Humming to yourself quietly you start by making a fresh pot of coffee, knowing Steve will get through at least a cup or maybe two this morning. Once you're confident the coffee pot is brewing you start busying yourself with making breakfast. Gathering all the ingredients you’ll need you fall into a steady rhythm, if it wasn’t for your training and advanced senses you would have missed the soft creak of floorboards over the sizzling of the bacon. You feel him press up against your back, large hands splayed over your hips as his mouth travels down your shoulder sleepily. The soft scratch of stubble tickles your skin as you shy away from him giggling slightly.

“Good morning to you too” Steve hums in reply, his nose trailing along your jawline. You ache to push him back into bed, to make up for the lost intimate time the two of you have both craved. But you had been living with the super soldier for long enough to know that he would be longing for food just that little bit more.

“Did you not want to stay in bed longer?” Another soft grunt in reply, he reaches up to open the cupboard over your head. He rubs himself subconsciously against you and you feel that part of him that your brain growls for. Placing a kiss to your temple, his large warm hand pressing against your lower belly pressing you closer to him as he glances at the clock on the oven.

“Putain, c'est tôt” fuck, its early. You do a double take looking up at Steve. It’s clear in his exhausted state his brain has not made the connection yet.

“Want to try that again for me in English?” you watched as he realises what he said. The soft blush across his cheeks spreads down his neck as he steps back leaning against the counter, rubbing the remains of sleep for his eyes.

“Um.. I just..well I said a word my Ma would have clipped me for and it’s too early” you giggle turning the pan off, placing the bacon on the kitchen paper covered plate. Turning you wrap your arms around Steve’s neck, kissing him soundly on the lips.

“Says the man who actively gets up at the crack of dawn for a run. I know I said you can speak French around me more. But maybe we can start in the beginners class first?” moving up onto your tiptoes you place a soft kiss on his cheek as he nods bashfully.

“Good, now do me a favour..” you squeak slightly as Steve pulls you closer, his lips sealing yours. Melting into his touch for a moment you allow yourself to be consumed by him as the morning light cascades around you.

You were so focused on Nat’s retelling of the mission you almost missed the way Steve’s voice lowered as he leaned towards Bucky. You could tell by the way the brunette’s body language changed and how he too shuffled closer towards your boyfriend he was confused by the sudden language shift.

“If it wasn’t for Steve being able to suave his way into the target's inner circle the whole mission would have been compromised” Sam laughed at Nat’s words loudly.

“Steve? The guy who took six months to ask out the girl of his dreams?” you felt your face heat up at his comment, taking a sip of your coffee you slid off the bar stool to the dismayed groans of your friends.

“Aw come on (Y/N) I haven’t even gotten to the good parts yet” Nat grinned wolfishly, rolling your eyes you cradle your cup in your hands.

“And I’m sure you’ll fill me all in later when there isn’t a running commentary” Sam feigned a mock look of hurt as you turned on your heel towards the two whispering men.

“Tout doit être parfait, elle le mérite Buck” everything has to be perfect, she deserves it Buck. Steve gestured slightly manically with his hands.

“Eh bien, si tu ne ferme pas ta bouche, elle va se méfier” well, if you don’t shut your mouth she’s going to figure it out. Bucky replied in an equally hushed tone, as if to warn Steve.

“I hope whatever you're talking about isn’t incriminating? I think we’ve had enough of that around here” you sit next to Steve, curving your body into his as he wraps his arm around your waist, kissing you softly.

“What makes you think we’re talking about anything incriminating?” Bucky smirked leaning back in the armchair, his eyes flick to Steve’s for a moment then rest back to you.

“Well the fact that the government haven’t been on great terms with us. Why the suspicious sudden change of language James?” You raise an eyebrow as Steve chuckles into your hair watching his best friend squirm under your gaze for a moment.

“Give us some credit, doll” Steve squeezed his hand on your hip.

“I give you all the credit in the world, Captain” you purr at him, ignoring the slightly disgusted grunt from Bucky as he made a quick retreat back to the others.

“Can I get some of the credit later tonight?” you giggle at the boyish smirk that greeted Steve’s face as his fingers trace patterns into your side.

“I think an exception can be made” you lean in again to press your lips against his, feeling his other hand gently run up your thigh as you both ignore the wolf whistles sounding from behind you.

It was two weeks later when you walked in on Steve cleaning up the kitchen, the soft crooning of the record player filled your apartment as you gently placed your shopping on the floor of the living room. Padding over to Steve you wrapped your arms around his waist, pressing your forehead into the centre of his shoulder blades. He hums in response, already aware of your presence the moment you stepped into your apartment.

“Good day sweetheart?” he questions, one of his hands gently caressing your arms as he finished preparing your dinner. It turns out Steve was a pretty decent cook and more often than not would volunteer to whip up someone most evenings. You hummed in reply as the record came to a slow end, your ears picking up on the medley of French songs you had bought Steve a few days ago. Smiling into the soft material of his shirt you stepped back allowing him to turn around and face you.

“Natasha can be ruthless, but she knows a good bargain when she sees one” you nodded to the small pile of shopping bags sat discarded at the entrance of your apartment. Steve chuckles kissing the top of your head as the song changed, the familiar trumpet notes made you smile before the hauntingly beautiful sounds of the singer blared around you.

“I’ve never heard this version before” you muse as La Vie En Rose flooded the acoustics of the kitchen.

“Well, then Ma’am” Steve grinned bowing lowly holding out his hand.

“It would be my honour to join you in a dance” giggling you slip your smaller hand into his large warm one. Curling your arm around his shoulder he slides his own around your waist pulling you close against his chest.

“Quand il me prend dans ses bras..Il me parle tout bas..Je vois la vie en rose...”

His voice wasn’t the best, and he sang so low and quietly you almost missed it. But you couldn’t help the large grin spread across your lips as he swayed the both of you in your modest kitchen. Resting your cheek against his firm peck you sighed contently as you felt Steve’s arms encase you more, holding you as close as he could. Almost as if he was protecting you from the world and all the dangers that came with it. You never liked to predict what your future would hold but never did you expect to lead the life you did now, fighting off monsters and dancing with a man so out of time he had a museum exhibit dedicated in his honour. But here you were, and you wouldn’t change your life for a single moment.

“I think I lo-“  the quiet murmur of his voice vibrated your cheek causing you to crane your neck up to look at him.

A smell permeated through the room and your eyes widen in realisation. “I think dinner is burning!”

“Merde” Shit

You both tumbled through the bedroom door, a display of limbs and flying clothes as you blindly but surely stumbled towards the bed. Steve was panting, eyes dilated roaming your form as the blue dress slipped of your body. His colour the voice in his mind rumbled with pleasure, everything you did tonight was for Steve’s benefit. Styling your hair so you neck was visible to him, the soft patch of skin he liked to kiss was on show taunting him throughout the borning state dinner the Avengers were summoned to. The blue dress formed to your shape perfectly, showing off just the right amount to curves to keep Steve on edge and hover around you like a bee over nectar. You shoved the dinner jacket off Steve’s broad shoulders, your fingers grasping at the soft shirt pulling him into a searing kiss. Hand’s roamed over clothed skin, until you were both on the bed clad in just underwear, rolling his hips you gasped as his hard erection grind up against your black silk panties.

“Steve” your voice quivered in arousal as his lips attacked your neck, the smooth skin bruising into a small purple bite under is ministrations.

“Shh, mon amour”  my love. Your eyes rolled back into your head as you let out an embarrassing poronographic moan. Steve pulled back, dancing between amusement and arousal as he looked at your reaction to his words.

“Mmm, you like that sweetheart?” his nose bumped against yours as you rolled your hips, your core begging for any type of attention.

“You know I do” you gasped, fingers ranking through the blonde tresses. You felt his fingers make quick work of your bra, pulling it away from your body as his warm mouth attached to your nipple. His tongue lapping and sucking, his hand coming to cup your other one. You feel yourself melt into the mattress at the sensation.

“Mmm, ma belle, tu es tellement bon pour moi”  mmm, my beautiful, you are so good for me. Although you couldn't understand the words rolling from his lips you could work out the meaning as he descended lower on your body, placing kisses over your stomach as he hooked the side of your panties ripping them down your legs.

“Tellement jolie” So pretty. His lips kissed your lower belly, looking up at you through thick eyelashes before he flicked his tongue out at your clit and you were moaning again.

“Oh.. Steve!” your back arched up from the bed, hands shooting down to grasp at his hair again. Anchoring you to him as he lapped you up in ernest. He never lets up, determined to pull your first orgasm of the night from his mouth. You feel the familiar tingle, that sweet indicator that your orgasm was on its way.

“That’s it baby, give it to me” Steve shifted up slightly, sliding two fingers into your tight hole as he sucked your clit into his mouth. The combination of his deep, husky voice as his ministrations had you falling over the edge. Screaming out his name your body jerked and thrashed in pleasure as you came hard.

“That’s it, that’s my girl” you gasped for air as Steve travelled back up your body, you reached out for him. Pulling him down into a fiercely deep kiss, he grinded down against you again. Straining in his boxers you made quick work to shove them down over his thighs and legs. Grasping his cock, it was heavy and thick in your hand. Slowly pumping it as you ran your tongue over his plump bottom lip he grunted lowly spiking another wave of arousal from you.

“Sweetheart, as much as I love where this is going…” he trailed off, not needing to finish as you instinctively lay back. He was on top of you in a second, your cum from earlier making it easy for him to push inside of you.

“Oh fuck” you moaned, you would never get over this. The feeling of being indescribably full and stretched.

“Ohhhh god, so tight baby. So warm and wet” Steve grunted into your neck as he started to piston his hips, slamming into you over and over that you had no choice to hold on for dear life.

“Steve.. I.. oh.. Fuck so good” you barely whimper as you nails dig into his shoulders.

“That’s it baby, I got you. Montre-moi combien tu l'aimes ça” show me how much you love it. You wailed softly, your bodies colliding together over and over. You knew every inch of him, every dip and rivet of his chiseled body. Steve was home for you, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. The feeling of his lips kissing and suckling at the sweet spot on your neck was your down fall, he was as familiar with your body that you were with his. You knew that the squeezing of your thighs around his waist and the small tug of his hair was all that was needed before he bellowed his release. Spilling into you with a final snap of his hips as your body snapped up to press against his, panting and gasping you slowly came back down to earth. Still caged between Steve and the mattress his face pressing firmly against your neck, a light sheen of sweat covering his body.

“That was…” Steve gasped leaning up to looks down at you, unable to stop the blissful smile on your face you reached a shaky hand up to brush away the strands of light blonde hair away from his face.

“I know..”

The nervous energy flowing through your body hadn’t gone away, not since he had left. Second time this month you thought as you started to collect your things from the living room, settling down for the night. When your phone rang, you stared at it numbly before your body caught up with your mind.

“Steve?” you whispered, scared that one loud noise and this would all be a dream.

“It’s me, sweetheart” his voice was hushed, fear flowed through you for a moment before common sense kicked in. He was probably bunking with Sam.

“Are you okay?” gnawing at your bottom lip, you clung to the oversized jumper in your hands. There was a slight pause on the other line, your chest felt like it would burst at any moment.

“Yeah, I’m okay” you rubbed your temple, the beginnings of a tension headache were starting to brew. There was a muted thud beyond the front door but wasn’t unusual for your neighbours to be walking passed at this time of night.

“I miss you” Steve’s soft voice was almost lost in the slight commotion from outside, you frown looking at the door before turning your attention back to your boyfriend on the phone.

“I miss you too, when do you think you’ll be home?”  there was a soft click of the door unlocking and a moment later the one person you wanted to see more than anyone walked through the door. A small sly smile on his lips as he dropped his phone from his ear.

“Sooner than you think” it took you less than three seconds to launch yourself at him, your phone and jumper long discarded on the couch.

“You’re here” you murmur into his chest, breathing in the familiar smell of his collonge you felt the familiar strong arms encase you holding you close, keeping you safe.

“Je suis la, mon amour” I’m here my love.

You smile at the familiar yet unfamiliar words, craning your neck up to look at him you couldn't think of a more perfect time to confess what you had been feeling for a long time.

“Je t’aime tellement, Steve” I love you so much. You watched the multiple expressions pass over Steve's face before he scooped you up in his arms. You squeal, instantly wrapping your arms around his narrow waist. You gripped his shoulder gigging like a love-struck fool as Steve peppered soft kisses all over your face.

“Where did you learn to say that?” you laughed at the wide smile on his face as you pressed a kiss to his lips.

“Well, I learned a lot by osmosis”  your smiled matched Steve’s as he let out the loud belly laugh, his hands squeezing your hips as he sat down gently on the couch, keeping you on his lap.

“I guess I better call Bucky and tell him to put Stark’s 1943 Moët back in its case”

“You were going to steal Tony’s most expensive champagne for me?” you arch your brow wondering just how much your boyfriend had planned for you. Steve shrugged a little. 

“I just wanted the first time I told you I loved you to be special”

You blushed a little at his words before leaning up and kissing him softly on his lips. “I love you” you murmur, needing to say those three little words again.

“I love you too, mon chérie” my darling. Steve replies and running your hands through his blonde tresses you knew you would never love any man as much as you loved Steven Grant Rogers.

[violetsystems]

#personal

Woke up to a mirror falling off the wall a minute before four twenty this morning.  Which probably just means I’m on east coast time still.  Or that my house is haunted.  The fan is really breezy for the record.  Maybe the poltergeist is an interior decorator.  The real point is that things haven’t been normal at all for me either way.  At least to the extent where seven years of bad luck isn’t going to change much.  The vibe on my block has been chill and supportive.  I ride the train so much these days that even the CTA low key feels like home.  You can see the stop from my kitchen.  It’s almost like we’re part of it.  I have to travel an hour and a half back out to visit my mom today.  Picking up food from Chinatown and then headed down.  Chicago as a city has been a lot nicer to me than it ever has been.  But it operates under a shroud to some extent.  I was out on the west side working at a site that operates like a community center.  It’s in an area called Lawndale.  The west side can be kind of rough but my life has been nightmarish up to this point.  Nothing on the west side is very surprising to me.  I always feel like I’m welcome to a certain extent.  My reputation carries itself around in the streets.  For the most part I keep my head down and focus on my work wherever I’m at these days.  This week has been particularly rough in terms of emotions.  I’ve been dealing with some departures at work.  I kind of buried my head in some of the tech work again.  I never really strived to be upper management.  I always liked to work with my team to fix obscure technological problems.  Sometimes I just fix them myself.  People know there’s a lot going on in my life but they don’t actually register how much energy it takes to stay on top of it all.  At the end of the day on Friday, some people at work scheduled an impromptu drinking session.  It’s been two and a half years since I quit alcohol.  There’s times I don’t mind being around it but I’ll never drink again.  For the most part I just wonder why nobody remembers how hard it was for me to quit.  I just skipped it and went home.  There’s a line in Batman begins where Christian Bale says something like it’s what you do that people remember.  Nobody saw the struggle behind these eyes over the years.  It’s how I react and move forward that people pay attention to.  These days I’ve seen it manifest in ways I don’t think I could ever explain.  Nobody would listen nor remember if I told the tale anyway.  

If this all sounds like some low level curse, I do play a warlock in both Hearthstone and WoW.  I probably had it coming to me.  All the way back to 2013 it seems like these days.  Instagram sent me a reminder of when I had really long hair two years ago.  I cut it more because I’d become more active in yoga, running and other athletics.  I’ve since quit the gym and focused on form at home.  Whenever I run around the park down the block people notice.  There’s a little culture that’s grown over time there.  I like public spaces when they work.  Parks should have no expectations other than to get away from the chaos of urban life.  Running around one in a circle to techno is about as boring as it gets.  But people appreciate your presence in a lot of ways.  There’s very subtle and genuine ways to show that.  I’d like to think I’ve done that for years myself.  Mostly towards someone that inspires me greatly.  The truth is without her I wouldn’t have had the courage to move forward in a lot of ways.  Tomorrow I’m headed to the Nike store to pick up the final pin from this running challenge.  A lot of these small wins go unnoticed by other people in my life.  I don’t really know that many people care about who I am in real life.  It’s obvious to see how I spend my time and how my time is valued.  Nobody really ever asks why I make the choices I do.  Why I bowed out of so many things and just focused on my own goals and challenges.  And then there’s very real signs that people do.  Even if it’s simply a Nike shirt walking around on your block from your favorite city in China.  There’s a difference between trust and hope.  Hope doesn’t ever sound like it has much action to it.  The act of trusting someone and the process behind it is real effort.  I’ve hoped things would get better for some time.  I learned I had to make things happen for myself.  Be the change.  Be consistent.  Take stock in what my priorities are.  Not compare my success or seemingly lack thereof to other people.  The courage and confidence to let go and admit you are in uncharted territory.  Be humble about your growth and rise to power.  2019 in Chicago is supposedly the year of power.  I say supposedly because it really seems on the surface I’m powerless.  If I hadn’t just scratched the surface I’d be more concerned.

The really cool thing about growth is that you can compare your success by simply looking in the mirror.  That is unless they fall off the wall at random.  I have never been this much in shape.  If I wasn’t running around putting out conceptual fires around the city I might have more time to spend training harder.  The truth is I love being outdoors.  Might explain why I enjoy mowing my mom’s lawn or planting carrots on my porch.  This year my garden is far bigger than it ever has been.  I had a lot of time to think about planting.  I was just in that mindset.  I imagine if I worried more I’d see it staring back at me in the mirror.  I am lonely don’t get me wrong.  It’s through that loneliness I think you discover what you really desire.  I don’t just want some basic, placeholder relationship.  Adulthood doesn’t really scare me at all.  If you understand what kind of things people make me face in the real world, that’s the least of my problems.  Committing to someone is complex and scary maybe in the wrong state of mind.  I committed to myself first and foremost.  Traveling to New York alone has been it’s own kind of therapy for me.  When I come back nobody really cares because nobody really has the time to understand my life.  I say nobody but people on the street these days know more about the things that motivate me than people who have known me for years.  It’s kind of refreshing to be that true about what it is you do.  It’s even more refreshing to see people just connect with it.  I’m not trying to sell shirts or save the world.  I am trying to lead by example.  I do get smacked in the face a lot by sheer ignorance.  People pay attention behind the scenes to it.  People are always paying attention.  I don’t really have much to hide other than my love for another person.  I have my reasons.  Those reasons are understood.  It’s probably the most beautiful thing I’ve ever felt.  I would have never felt it if I didn’t push through all the excuses, plots, and traps.  Somebody told me at work that I’m not a good poker player.  I don’t really gamble with my life.  I’m all in.  Something to do with the cards in your hand and calling your bluff.  Kenny Rogers and his beard were right.  You’ve got to know when to run.  In the summer, I run every day I can.  I’ve grown into a handsome young man because of it.  I’m sure there’s many more years where that came from.  Nobody needs to see how painful it was to get there.  Because it was worth it and always will be.  <3 Tim

[rubyslipperscollective]

we’ve got spirit - an exploration of varsity pep from a cheerleader’s perspective

**an essay from my english class senior year of high school. i reflect on my experiences as a cheerleader (an activity which is no longer in any way congruent with my identity) and on the culture of athletics in my high school**

“And now, please rise for the playing of our national anthem.”

It’s my first ever away game––Friday night lights. Sweaty hand gripping pom-pom, pom-pom pressed against my heart, heart racing. I don’t remember what town we were playing, but it was far. Our buses got lost on the way there; the ride was long. Really long. Long enough for the seniors to get drunk in the back of the bus.

I was 14 years old, 93 pounds, and a terrible cheerleader. I knew nothing about how to balance in the air or support another girl in a pyramid. Thankfully, I had three experienced seniors as my bases. Not thankfully, they were all wasted.

The girls who were seniors when I was a freshman were pretty and mean: just how cheerleaders are meant to be. They treated freshman (particularly the ones who sucked at cheerleading, namely me) as essentially sub-human. At the first captain’s practice, one of the captains insulted my ability to dance until I cried. Probably two weeks later, a different, particularly unkind senior commented that I “looked like a slug” when I was in the air stunting.

The seniors were in charge. They were popular and I was not. They could be as mean as they wanted and there was simply nothing that could be done about it. After they graduated, we no longer had older, more popular cheerleaders to torment us, so Cougar Nation (as our fan section has titled themselves) stepped in.

The student section hates their cheerleaders, treating us about as inhumanely as those seniors did. I’ve been told it has always been this way, but in reality it must have all started when the football team tanked. Four consecutive seasons without a win, including my freshman and sophomore year, are bound to make cheerleaders seem annoying. Any cheer with the word “victory” in it immediately serves as a joke with that kind of losing record. My first ever Cougar Night was a Saturday night home game. We lost 65-0 and a drunken high schooler threw a soft pretzel at me.

Each time I trekked onto the track I was focused less on pep than I was on an internal pep-talk. It’s not personal. They aren’t booing because they hate you, Dani, they’re booing because they hate the cheerleaders as an entity.

But even once the football team was on the rise––nearly winning a state title in my junior year––love for the cheerleaders never seemed to catch on.

The cheerleaders that we see on TV and read about in books are never like me. They always feel loved by their fan sections; they are always confident and popular. I didn’t go into cheerleading looking for confidence and popularity––I went into it because I have a lot of spirit and I didn’t feel like throwing away twelve years of dance classes––but the confidence would have been nice, at least. So it didn’t make sense to me, with all these ideas of what cheerleaders are supposed to feel like, why I would walk away from every game feeling more hated than the last.

I set out to analyze this phenomenon, and started by questioning why students wouldn’t cooperate with cheers even when we were winning games. There were a select few call-back cheers that a select few fans would participate in, but other than that, participation was sparse if present. There seemed to be no direct logic behind this, so my research required some deep plunging into the nature and culture of our varsity athletics. I started, most logically, with the Cougar Nation Facebook group.

The Cougar Nation Facebook group is a necessity for any sports fan in our high school, promoting the attendance and sportsmanship of students at all athletic events...kinda. By promoting attendance, I mean “you better fucking show up you fucking pieces of egg fart” (this is a real quote). By promoting sportsmanship I mean insulting other teams’ mascots, hygiene, and their sexual habits, as well as leading offensive/obscene chants against referees and specific players on opposing teams. And by all athletic events I mean only boys’ athletic events. And maybe a girls’ championship once in a while. At the end of each post they give “shoutouts” to people who, in the past week, have drank impressive amounts or hurt themselves in some idiotic way. Girls only receive shoutouts for instagram posts that expose notable amounts of their bodies.

The culture of our sports fans is to be as obnoxious as is humanly possible. In attending sporting events, they aim not to support student athletes, but rather is to piss off as many people as they can. The atmosphere they create is not conducive to the growth of anyone involved––student athletes cannot perform well under this kind of negative pressure, referees will make calls unfavorable to teams with abrasive fan sections, students who are not interested in drinking and/or being ridiculed by their peers feel excluded from the sports scene, and administrators face heat for having drunk and insufferable high schoolers on their hands.

Even though I was cheer captain this past year, I was never once made to feel invited or included in the promotion of school spirit by Cougar Nation. For this I am thankful. Over my four years as a CHS cheerleader, students’ behavior at athletic events has become something I am ashamed of. All four of my years, my spot for sideline cheers was the closest to the student section, and I essentially became the face of the cheerleaders as far as Cougar Nation was concerned...and never in my life have I held a more thoroughly embarrassing title. As a cheerleader during this past basketball season I was pointed and laughed at for trying to get the fan section to cheer along with the squad at a quarter. During the football season, in addition to being hit with a soft pretzel and a few other projectiles, I have been yelled at to pick up students’ dropped foodstuffs and water bottles (filled with anything but water) and called a number of unfavorable names based off of both my personality and appearance.

When I shout “Yell C-H-S!” into the crowd, nobody responds minus maybe a drunken fan screaming “No, bitch!” It’s not because they don’t like me and it’s not because I am doing a bad job––facts I have had to assure myself time and time again––but because our fans don’t come to the game for the athletes. They come to the game for themselves. Unlike other schools’ sports fans, who go to games to support their friends and express school pride, our sports fans have two alternative goals in showing up:

1. To get drunk (and, subgoal: to not get breathalyzed)

2. To get something entertaining on their Snapchat story.

Cougar Nation doesn’t treat their members nor their athletes with the respect that athletes or students or human beings in general deserve. Even though I moved the entire cheer squad down 30 feet to get the fan section involved on Cougar Night, and I got a surprisingly large number of people to shout with me, respect for the cheerleaders will never be there. There will always be someone rowdy enough to throw a soft pretzel at a freshman and then later demand that she pick up his bottle of vodka when he drops it. It is the nature of The Nation.

And, much like when I was a freshman taking blows from mean seniors, my position is a powerless one. The people who run the Cougar Nation group are popular, I am not. They have momentum––an entire student population––behind them, backing them up. I have only myself. I can’t ask that they cheer along with the words twenty girls are yelling at them when they won’t even allow girls to make posts in the Facebook group, and worse yet won’t advertise for girls’ athletic events. I can’t singlehandedly out-cheer fifteen boys, drunk and shirtless, screaming “bullshit” at referees in the basketball semi-finals. I can’t force conventional school spirit upon kids whose sole desire is to get drunk for Wednesday night baseball games. I can’t change people who don’t want to be changed.

Maybe this just wasn’t meant to be a school with the clean-cut, family-friendly school spirit I was hoping for when I signed up for cheerleading. Maybe our version of school spirit is in fact what all schools will eventually come to adopt––I mean, hey, we must be ranked first in the state for a reason, right? Maybe, someday, a freshman in a CHS cheer uniform will get hit with a soft pretzel and hope to change the ways of The Nation, just like me. And maybe, unlike me, she’ll figure out how to do it.

[mirror-reflecting-water]

Registry

Given Name:  Risette Yue Nicknames:  Rise, AI (appropriatedinsight)  Age: 20 Planetary Heritage: Earth Species/Race: Human Zodiac: Cancer

Reflection

Height: 5’8” Weight: 140 lbs Hair Color: Black Hair Style/Length: Dark hair, back-length. Disheveled, wavy hair. Build: Lean, somewhat athletic, frail-looking. Definitive facial features: Bright yellow eyes. Often covered up with green-tinted glasses. Style of Clothing: Rise often wears sky blue cloaks over long skirts and shirts. Her casualwear usually involves long skirts and shirts, and her color palette is typically sky blue, dark greens, greys, or blacks. Accessories include a ribbon, either emerald or red, on her left arm or hair and a beige laptop bag.  Occupation: Computer Programmer & Engineer, Black Hat Hacker

Review

Notable Personality traits: Offline: Introverted and withdrawn. Speaks mostly by writing things down. Very soft voice. Kind and caring towards children and friends, cold to others.  Online: Confident and domineering. Aspiring manipulator. Boisterous. Gratuitously destructive. Occasionally kind. Refuses to talk about offline matters pertaining to herself other than the fact that she’s a she and her hacking occupation. Likes: Computers, old-fashioned smackdowns, cats, revolvers, horrible and dated music, the internet, cell phones and SIM cards, improving her online rep, blogging, gratuitous destruction, knowing more than the other person, soft spot for kids Dislikes: Large groups of people, online/offline intimacy, animals other than cats, anger, lust, stupidity, shellfish.

Record

History - AI’s Journal:

Crazy does not begin to describe the past few years. If you told my high school self that I was going to meet a flaming superhero alien, help fight an army of insectoid zombies, and weaponize my brain, she’d likely question what kind of soporific you’d been drinking and then ask you to drink some more so that you’d Darwin yourself out of the gene pool. 

I was normal back then... or at least normal as an unknowing receiving empathic orphan could be. And then one day, I attended the funeral of one of our school’s major patrons, and my life changed. 

I survived a shooting that happened then and there, crawled out of a pile of bodies that included my peers, and began the most chaotic part of my life. (at least I hope it’s the most chaotic part of my life). Armed with only my knowledge of computers and my need for answers, I, an inconsequential pawn that should’ve died that day, realized my potential as a player in this localized insect zombie apocalypse. It’s as fucked up as it sounds. 

I made allies. I made enemies. We prepared to take control of the company that caused this mess in the first place. My motives though were less pure than saving the city though.

And everything culminated into a battle between the forces of whatever we had - me; Flamma, the aforementioned flaming alien and best friend; and Saxon, a necromancer and scariest fucking lich lady I’ve met - and the company that started this FUBAR situation in the first place.

Thing didn’t go as planned though. I remember flashes. I remember the sensation of tapping my finger underneath the rubble, praying for dear life. I remember Flamma pulling me from the darkness after the tower collapsed in a mutually assured destruction scenario. 

I was comatose for months after that battle. Something snapped inside my brain either immediately before or maybe during my coma, and before long I became a telepath instead of a receiving empath. But that’s not that important.

Y’know how movies portray people coming out of comas laughing and smiling and okay. Well, that’s a hock of bullshit. Learning how to walk and move again took weeks. My stamina is still shit to this day. And whatever scrambled my brain to turn me into a telepath did a number on my ability to speak - I barely can speak over a whisper. 

Things... got more peaceful after that, though more complicated  too. Through some sort of magical accident involving summoning a guardian, I somehow ended a four?five? year old daughter as a result with some sort of wind alignment, which has been very complicated to manage when you’re trying to appear normal to the outside world. 

Luckily. I AM a telepath. But there’s definitely some moral quandary being crossed when you’re forced to erase the memory of those involved on a near weekly basis. I don’t dare do it on the kids, because I’m uncomfortably aware that my power is a damn sledgehammer - and I’ve practically lobotomized the people I’ve tested it on back when I first started out. (they deserved it though.)

Now I’m just trying to get through life in one piece, sticking around in my joke of a halfway house and making sure Levant grows up to have a semi-normal life. Also, praying that the local visiting superhero doesn’t get into too much trouble either. 

Revelation

Abilities: 

Proficient programmer and hacker: Rise’s alias, Ai,  is well known in hacker circles, and she is considered to be one of the best in both causing wanton destruction to a system and covering her tracks. Tracing other people and defending a system not her own are not her fortes however, though she does know far more than the average hacker.

Computer engineer: Rise knows enough to customize the hardware of her laptops, desktops, and cellphones.

Receiving Empath: Rise can glean the surface emotions of others. When another person is addressing her, that person’s emotions can end up becoming far more intense than her own. Before Rise developed telepathy, she was unable to process the extra emotional input and was under the impression that everyone has this emotional insight but can control it better than she can. 

Transmitting Empath: Rise can influence the emotional state of others. This ability is part of Rise’s telepathy and triggers when she speaks: this ability only works on humans who hear Rise’s words. Rise cannot control when she Transmits.  

Telepathy: Rise can dominate another person’s will as long as they are human and can hear her voice. The power of Rise’s telepathy can accidentally knock out a person instead of getting them to follow commands. If Rise isn’t careful enough in her commands or her target’s willpower is incredibly weak, she can accidentally turn them into a drooling husk devoid of any consciousness whatsoever. Rise’s telepathy is not subtle at all, and those subject to it feel like they’ve been struck by a mental sledgehammer. 

Dysphonia: Rise cannot speak higher than a whisper. Whatever scrambled her brain to grant her Telepathy did a number to her ability to speak. Speaking for longer than a couple minutes strains her vocal cords and can make her mute for some time afterwards

Sickly: Rise hasn’t completely recovered from her coma in terms of her stamina and her dexterity. Complicated hand and finger movements beyond typing on a keyboard are near impossible for her, and walking longer than thirty minutes is enough to wind her. 

Equipment:

Customized Smart Phone: Contains two SIM cards: one primary and one secondary. The secondary SIM card cannot receive phone calls and ignores ping directives from passive tracing. Indicates closest cell phone towers and, when calling using the secondary SIM, will give a rough estimate of the time for an active trace to complete.

Two Netbooks: Both are silver-colored and fit into her laptop bag. The first of the two is used for both recreation, business, and blogging. The second of the two is purely business and is never connected to the internet at any time. Both laptops have hardware and software designed to erase and scramble everything upon detected forced entry, including bad logins. 

Taser gun: In her laptop bag.

[cosmos-demiplane]

Microsoft E3 2018 Press Conference Thoughts

Another year, another E3, time to post on my seldom used blog! No promises for when this is going to be more active... but we will have to see what the future holds!

So I’ll start by saying I’m not an Xbox guy, I play mainly PlayStation and PC with a bit of Switch thrown in there for good measure. I won’t be making a big post like this for the other conferences except Sony’s and maybe Nintendo’s.  I’ll be looking at all the things mentioned out of chronology, but in an order that bundles the similar stuff together.

This time around Microsoft gave us one hell of a show. Forgetting the exclusives for now, as a PlayStation player I was very happy with the showcase. They showed off 15 world premieres of games, some noticeable ones that I’m personally excited for were: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Set in the Life is Strange universe), The Division 2 (they probably feel privileged they got to announce this), Devil May Cry 5 (surprising to see this and other eastern developed games here as I would normally expect this to be revealed at Sony’s show), Jump Force (Blew my freaking mind, a weeaboo gamers wet dream), Dying Light 2 (Again, Xbox got to unveil this, I know PS is scaling back this year but hot damn, incredible), Just Cause 4, and they rounded out the show with a major title that I am very much looking forward to (more on that one at the end!). In brief, WHAT A SHOW. I want all these games *sigh*.

Notable mentions - NieR: Automata is coming to Xbox, Fallout 76 was briefly talked about before Bethesda’s show, Kingdom Hearts 3 will be coming to Xbox (!), Tales of Vespira, Shadow of the tomb raider, Tunic (furry Zelda, looks cute and the world has a nice design, but the design of the player character is meh imo), and I guess I have to put Gears 5 in here somewhere or someone will bite my arm off.

THE GAME PASS, the value of this thing keeps getting better, The Division, Elder Scrolls Online, and Fallout 4 are being added as well as some new tach (machine learning algorithms) that allows your games to start twice as fast. I don’t think the internet infrastructure is in place yet for the future of purely streamed games, but tools like this will probably help it become a stable, staple service sooner rather than later.

Next I want to talk about exclusives, but before I do I’ll put this game (DLC) here as I’m very much looking forward to it, Sea of Thieves Cursed Sails and Forsaken Shores. These next two updates to Rare’s open world PvP pirate game, which I love, should hopefully inject it with some more much needed content (and hopefully not a time limited campaign!).

Xbox’s weakest point has always been its exclusives. After the cancellation of Scalebound and the further delay of Crackdown 3, they had to show us something during this conference to give us confidence in the future of the platform. After all, strong exclusives lead to strong sales, growth, competition etc. And of course, great games all around.

And oh boy did they deliver! FIVE studios have been brought into the fold to increase their roster of First Party exclusives (The quality of these studios can be discussed later, for now let’s just focus on the positives). The first, one formed for the occasion: The Initiative, led by the guy who worked on Tomb Raider. The other four were snatched up as part of a major investment: Undead Labs (State of Decay), Playground Games (Forza Horizon), Ninja Theory (Formally a PS third party dev, they made 2007s Heavenly Sword and 2017s Hellblade), and finally Compulsion Games (Currently working on We Happy Few). Ninja Theory is the big one that will help them the most against the competition, and for the others, the extra money they will receive from being first party will no doubt be a boon to the scope and quality of their games (looking at you State of Decay!).

The exclusive games they did show off were a mix of the highly anticipated and totally unexpected. Battle Toads, a game wanted by the passionate community was show to exist, with a release date of 2019. Session, a new and exclusive skateboarding game was shown. Forza Horizon 4 was shown off, open world, changing seasons, it looks very different to what they have done with the franchise previously. Crackdown 3 was shown to alleviate fears of any more delays (although, anything is possible).

Lastly, before I give my general thoughts, I wanted to give the show opener and closer their own section. They opened the show by unveiling Halo Infinite, the trailer gave vibes of it being a more open world full of wildlife (rhinos anyone??) and a story centred on Master Chief. Other than that and the name, no other info was given, but you can bet it will be taking the series in a new direction. The show was closed, remarkably, by CD Projekt Red’s, Cyberpunk 2077! They have been silent about this game for a while (approx. 2077 days in fact!) because they pride themselves on quality and only showing their stuff when it’s ready. There was no release date given as the game is still in the oven, but I highly recommend you watch the trailer as this is surely going to be one of the best games of the decade.

Of course there are a few things I left out of smaller importance (PUBG was there for some reason?), but, onto my thoughts. I’ll keep this bit brief because I think you can already gather what my opinion is going to be - Holy shit this was the best Xbox conference in the history of Xbox conferences, maybe ever. Awesome exclusives, brand new/acquired studios, game pass improvements, many BIG world premieres, amazing games for everyone; this conference honestly felt like a show for every gamer as much as it did a show for just Xbox fans. I am excited and looking forward to the future of Xbox and the new first party games they will create. This conference seriously impressed me, and E3 has only just begun!

I don’t like thinking of E3 as a competition, but I don’t see how the others can trump this. Bethesda will be the best conference for Bethesda fans, Sony has downscaled, and Nintendo showed all its cards when it won E3 last year. This year has started on a high and I can’t see it getting any higher, which is a great feeling! If the other conferences are anything like this one, this is going to be an incredible E3!

[usashirtstoday]

Equestrian Yes She's Riding No I Don't Know When She'll Be Home Tee Shirts

Here is a Equestrian Yes She's Riding No I Don't Know When She'll Be Home Tee Shirts little poem I wrote I would like to share it with all of you who love horses as much as I do I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it for the love of horses this earth is filled with animals of various species and kind but there is one among them that is special in my mind an animal whose very existence helps to prove that there exists a creator in the realms above the magnificence of a horse adds testimony without a doubt that the authors of the bible knew what they were talking about for such a majestic creature could not simply exist without a designer a creator we cannot easily dismiss there are those who might disagree with me but let me share my opinion with thee I have watched in awe these creatures of yore let me relate why these animals I adore horses have been used by man for centuries as transport for warfare work entertainment and sport lately they have been called upon to assist those whose mental and physical disabilities persist the heart of a horse often varies in size of all the land mammals they have the biggest eyes it will not stop running if you urge it to it will keep on going till it’s heart bursts in two the height of a horse is measured by hands tradionally at 14 2 hands they often stand at four inches a hand they stand quite tall one can be injured if they take a fall ponies are taxonomically the same as a horse the main difference is their height of course if under 14 2 happens to be their height they are called ponies not horses downright horses are multi colored and diverse their beauty and strength matches anything in this universe temperamental yet they can be trained to be gentle and kind with the human loads they often carry horses are not inherently brave as some might think but with the right training from the battle they will not shrink their riders can include man woman or child the experience leaves all who does truly beguiled at an equestrian show they exhibit such grace and charm prancing and strutting around they cause no harm in a race they are known for their stamina and speed ladies dream of a knight in shining armor riding a white steed horses are described based on their age I m told a foal is a horse less than one year old a colt is male horse under the age of four a mare is a female horse four years older or more a yearling is between one and two years old a filly is a female horse under four worth its weight in gold a gelding faces castration at any age a stallion is a male four years or older with no castration at any stage treat him well and he will be loyal to you it is said trust him for he sees more than you his eyes are at the side of his head his sense of smell not as good as a dog but better than ours it plays a key role in their interactions and analysis of odors with a good sense of hearing they are truly blessed but certain noises can contribute to their being stressed they have a great sense of balance due to proprioception an unconscious sense of where the body and limbs are without deception from 300 breeds one can safely choose the right one to suit your needs or personal views ride or walk canter or strut pace or gallop they are ready believe it or not so about horses there are so much I can say you see thank you for allowing me this opportunity I hope that in some little way you would agree that these majestic creatures are awesome and their creator praiseworthy rudolph lalmansingh. This mother’s day and every day we’re all about celebrating moms starting with a little gift from our hearts to yours because you’re amazing we’re treating you to a free makeup bag in your next bundle update your bundle with promo code happymama. Real madrid c f president florentino pérez with our the best fifa award winners luka modrić men’s player fifpro xi sergio ramos fifpro xi raphaël varane fifpro xi marcelo m12 fifpro xi thibaut courtois goalkeeper thebest Equestrian Yes She's Riding No I Don't Know When She'll Be Home Tee Shirts

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Dear sir madam hi how are you my name is alice and I would like to tell you something about me and why I am sending you this letter I am a Equestrian Yes She's Riding No I Don't Know When She'll Be Home Tee Shirts volunteer of a dutch non profit foundation tess unlimited which is based in guatemala tess unlimited helps a lot of people in guatemala it is an organization where they have many projects and for example an education center where children can get free classes after their normal school hours and another part of their organization is the cleft lip project in guatemala many children are born with a cleft lip or a cleft palate the guatemalan government is not there to help the children and or adults with this problem so the team of tess unlimited goes into the rural areas to find the patients and let them know that they can be helped by sending them to operation weeks through the year organized by tess unlimited this helps the patient to get more self confidence as they are bullied by other children neighbors or just random persons on the streets some children haven t even gone to school because of that every year tess unlimited receives several medical teams mostly from the united states which they help to operate these patients and giving them a new smile on their faces the teams can operate 40 to 90 patients in a week depends on the size of the medical team all these operations are sponsored by donors from mostly the netherlands or the united states to be able to operate more patients the founder of tess unlimited tessa de goede de ordoñez has the great idea to open an own clinic so patients can be operated whole year round and not just depending on the few medical teams that go to guatemala the clinic with fully operate by itself with hosting a dentist speech therapist psychologist and also accommodation for the parents of the patients the organization is doing a lot of different activities to raise funds for the clinic which we hope to start to build end of this year like donate a brick so people can buy bricks for the clinic now a new fundraise campaign had started the founder and 5 friends of tess unlimited are going to run the new york marathon on 1st of november to raise money for the clinic people who want to donate for the construction of the clinic can do a guess on the runner s time and the ones who are closest to the final time of the runners will get a prize so besides we are looking for donors who would like to donate money we are also looking for persons companies stores who would like to donate prizes so we can give it to our dear sponsors I hope you would like to be one of our sponsors for prices maybe you would like to donate a prize that we can handout to our winners of the guess my time contest donations anything you would like to donate we truly appreciate it smile emoticon more information about the organization you can find on and about our runners of the new york marathon thank you so much for taking the time to read my message and we hope that you would like to help us with a donation of a prize wish you a great day and sending you big hugs from all the cleft lip and palate patients from tess unlimited best regards alice. Show off your rainbowstyle to win share a photo rocking your rainbow faves and you will be entered to win a 50 gift card hurry we pick a new winner every friday follow us rainbowshops excited to announce that our next kkwbeauty and kkw fragrance pop up will be coming soon to south coast plaza this holiday 2018 2019 follow kkw beauty for news including how you can win a chance to celebrate the store opening with me at a private store event kkwbeautyscp. Show erdem aw15 lead artist val garland for nars cosmetics look think of visconti it’s ’60s it’s odd it s hitchcockian she’s an italian oligarch who’s landed on hard times and has come undone her look is all about a brow and a well defined eye

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VBUCKS Review

Fortnite Skins List Every Available Outfits! Pro Game Guides

The multiplayer action survival game, Fortnite: Battle Royale, has met a lot of media coverage recently due to increasing recognition amongst children - and also emerging safety problems. About nothing stays identical in Fortnite whether you want it or maybe not. In fact, the only thing which control continued constants are the three core game modes; solo, duo, and squad. They address for themselves popular to you can play only, with a partner, before with many friends. https://gamezrush.com They include the basis Fortnite was formed about also the methods that immediately comes to mind for all participants. To keep things intriguing for persons who do not enjoy that primary gameplay loop though, there are plenty of limited time ways” to get placed into that shake in the middle mechanics with the competition.

The Fortnite hack offers all with the fans in this activity. Following using to, it will be guaranteed you may act the game without almost any issues. Also, playing video sport becomes other fulfilling than prior to. It is totally worth hoping. There are generally some highlights of the Fortnite hack tool. That permits you to find unlimited important well such as V-Bucks, foods and stiff. Future, the tools have become simple to control then they have friendly interface. The tools are usually private proxy help. This means 100% faint and 100% free virus. Surely, it will not deliver almost any issues in your device.

Does Fortnite deserve their location as one of the world's most popular games? Absolutely. Unlike shooters like Overwatch or Scream of Tax, Fortnite doesn't try to get because much emphasis on player ranks. Matchmaking isn't according to a user's ability levels, that allows players the opportunity to come face-to-face with persons both new and much less expert in the game. This is means: If another or lower-skilled persons are constantly matched against people who are at before something like the reading, they may find it hard to make an impact then suddenly the game turns into a work.

Nothing on the economic subjects are sufficient to drain the game; Apex Legends remains the exciting shooter which makes things its competitors don't. But the fun part associated with any online game, especially a free-to-play one, is a diminishing resource. As Epic has established with Fortnite, the attention economy is finding more aggressive Video activities are no longer just competing with other sports on an ever-expanding number of program, bar with Netflix, podcasts, and the remainder of life.

That fun. Fortnite Battle Royale requests to participants across many genres—strategy, survival, shooter, online multiplayer, battle royale—at an opening difficulty level lower than PUBG, and is designed therefore to activities are rather small, making it easy to replay and to practice. Players can do considerably into Fortnite through a bunch of different approaches (being sneaky, being aggressive, being creative) that helps prevent this by happening boring. And it's still another, meaning that Epic Entertainment is continually adding new items, weapons, positions, with functions to improve gameplay and protect it dynamic.

Why Most VBUCKS Fail

Expected the extreme order, a standalone mode, Fortnite Battle Royale, based on the battle royale game genre but good core Fortnitegameplay, was published for the same program in September 2017.Fortnite is the 100-player Battle Royale tough with PS4, XB1, PC, Mac, and iOS.EpicGamges surprised everyone with the story that the full kind of Fortnite was building the approach to mobile, not one with reduced features or running, but the actual same game. Not individual to, but there's both cross-progression and resist compete with the LAPTOP and console versions as well.

It's worth seeing that the V-Bucks you buy on the given platform follow that program, so if you've bought 1,000 V-Bucks on Xbox One, you won't meet them now Fortnite Portable and vice versa. However, once you've spent your V-Bucks on products you'll be able to access them across all the platforms you play. Also, as Epic Games didn't launch Fortnite on the Google Play Store, you'll need to authorize payment in another income and can't use any Google Play credit towards the V-Bucks purchase.

Luckily for you, compared to many with the present AAA match of which occur released like as Much Cry 5 and Assassins Creed: Odyssey , Fortnite doesn't require a supercomputer to seep. This is partly into the aesthetic decision the developers chose whilst designing the game. The cartoonish videos and participant models decrease the necessity regarding a top-of-the-range graphics card with CPU. And then there is the distinct, scalable Unreal Engine. To direct this contest, you'll need at least a 64-bit Windows 7 control structure upon the computer. Also, the rig will need to have an Intel Core i3 processor with 4 GB of Remembrance to keep the game ticking. Luckily, the vidoe card minimum need only demands the Intel HD 4000 or better to continue with the game's graphics.

While you may hear attacking someone with your pick, it's best used to produce building ideas by trees, cars and other free-standing objects so you can create your walls, ramps and is a carry-over from the base-defence game Fortnite Battle Royale sprang through, except that mechanic creates a new ingredient to the war royale recipe which makes this stand apart.

There are two different here: COMPUTER and Machine. Both these systems use the Epic launcher with players with these systems make purchases straight by Epic. Popular to suit, you're about out of luck when it comes to a "here's a gift tag for V-bucks" sort of item. Your best choice is to just use a regular old Visa gift cards. If you're giftee compete with Android, do not give them a Google Play gift cards, because Fortnite does not run through Google Play.

Many people are choosing mobile game for entrainment. After the playing a sport, you will feel the confidence with good view. If you are hunting for the stunning game, then you definitely can go for the peak. It's a really amazing mobile activity for farming the fantastic land. The content of that sport is very wide, and also people might play games with all of the part of it. The game is released by supercell, and it is plain to describe this through the android store. Before the game playing you have to look for Fortnite V Bucks Hack.

Fortnite: But the World is designed as player-versus-environment game, with four players cooperating towards a general objective with various missions. The game is set after a fluke storm appears across Earth, causing 98% with the populace to vanish, and the survivors to be confronted by zombie-like "cases". The persons convey the position of commanders of house base shelters, collecting resources, saving survivors, and protecting tools that help to either gather data about the storm or even to rebel the hurricane. From missions, players are awarded a number of in-game items, that contain hero characters, artillery and capture charts, and survivors, which can be turned up in gained experience to boost the attributes.

We are constantly tune in to our own players and are making sure our formats focus on the requirements and needs. With Fortnite being a relatively new competitive sport, we are counting in player feedback to help do the wager the best possible way to play competitive Fortnite. If you have problems with the format or are looking for other gameplay options please enable us know. We have a professional and well trained administrative workers which is very well versed in the esports area and able to respond to calls from our player base.

That doesn't show that there aren't free V-Bucks to be held arrived Fortnite - just notice how I simply state Fortnite and not Fortnite: Battle Royale. Some people can forget about Fortnite: Save the World, but that the original report of Fortnite, before Epic combined the free PvP mode inside of it - this a house survival RPG where players build ad-hoc forts to protect against zombie hordes. But the globe with War Royale don't interact much, yet they act both share the same premium currency. So if you want free V-Bucks, that's where you'll should get.

One of the most cancerous games ever built, get anything cancerous from Overwatch and Pubg, increase in predatory micro deals also a completlely useless anti-cheat assistance then people generally have Fortnite, one of the most hacked fixture with reality, Epic Games basically has no jurisdiction on the rampant quantity of cutting, people stealing accounts or even resorting to identify theft to have door to report.

With every new time comes new amendment for the Fortnite record, keeping gameplay new and exciting. Many of the plan trade for Season 8 occur from the first permission with the road. Many in the record remains the same, such as the diagram transformation from Year 7. One of the primary items you sign on the drawing exists that Wailing Lumber with the products containers have seemed to have fled and replaced with a fiery volcano with a lava stream flowing down the side. As for new named places we have Sunny Stages with Lazy Lagoon. We also have the benefit of the fuel favorite, Risky Reels, to the best right part of the road (replacing the spot where The Bar was). Currently for all of anyone who are fans on the Bar, do not worry as it were removed, but instead has stepped Northeast of Pleasant Park replacing where the motel used be.

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If you've spent any time on twitter, you know that a bot-infested problem with a pattern of upending world group for lack of a comma or something. It's no another from the relatively consequence-free planet of sport: right now Fortnite: Battle Royale places are swamped with bots advertising means of getting free V-Bucks, the sport premium currency that can be used to buy skins and other cosmetics. It's gotten bad enough to Epic just had to issue a warning over Twitter: if everyone is reporting you to go to a website and get into your password to get free V-Bucks, they're lying and a sting.

The use of v-Bucks generator is extremally clean and intuitive. Player enters information on the expected number of coins, and the login in Fortnite. He can name no only any amount of v-Bucks, but also special gang of tools, for the generator allows a selection of as many as several different Battle Passes. There is also a prospect to enhance the description status to a higher degree, Stock or Deluxe. An additional advantage of the turbine is it is whole responsiveness, which allows players to use that going on most mobile devices. User is also able to regulate the generator settings to the report of Fortnite and also the program benefited from. The newest side of generator has an improved interface and many useful functionalities. Platform's structural value is devoid of all unnecessary external speeches, and properly optimized for fast burden by all means, perhaps those with slow connection. Owing to that generating Fortnite v-Bucks goes swiftly and relaxed.

Fortnite Battle Royale is a 100-player game in which you play single or as players, and parachute onto a area to help wrestle new participants until only one of people is caused having. To make it harder, areas in which you fun is reducing and a person need to stay in that place to last, setting traps, scavenging systems with body defenses. As the map shrinks, it drives players calm while time goes in, driving confrontation.

Fortnite: Battle Royale's easily one of the biggest free to play activities for the world, then it ought to happened because no surprise to learn the most their earnings turns on the in-game Item Shop where players could acquire cosmetics with real world currency. Of course these don't suggest the advantages, but they're solely for fashions welfare and appearing very amazing.

This and promising to team up with a friend, or class of pals, with compete as a duo or a squad. This includes a party quantity, and participants can chat when they play using headsets and microphones. Many babies are forming Fortnite staffs, with spending a lot of their free time playing with practicing the game together. There is a non-competitive mode called Playground where friends could rally with practise, or make up their own interests, with a Creative mode, which permits players size and share their own mini Fortnite islands.

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Wood has his eyes set on outpacing Jofra Archer

WI TOUR OF ENGLAND, 2020

With Anderson, Broad and Woakes being safe bets at home, Mark Wood has his eyes set on outpacing Jofra Archer © Getty

Mark Wood admits he is in a pace race with Jofra Archer as the pair battle it out for the crown of England’s quickest bowler. Right now, Wood thinks Archer is winning that race but he is determined to catch up.

“I cannot speak for Jofra but I definitely want to be quicker than him and I’m sure he wants to be quicker than me,” Wood said. “Especially in the World Cup, he used to joke about it all the time, that they were putting my speeds up higher deliberately. If we were to play together it would be exciting. But it’s not a bad rivalry, it’s a friendly rivalry.

“I would say he’s probably quicker than I am and certainly makes it look a lot easier than me so I want to prove that I can be as fast as Jof. That friendly rivalry does spur you on to be a better cricketer.”

Both men were vital parts of last summer’s World Cup victory, combining for 38 wickets between them, but they have yet to play in a Test match together. Whether that happens during next month’s series against West Indies remains to be seen but having two 90 mph plus bowlers in the same attack is no doubt a tantalising prospect for England captain Joe Root, particularly with an away Ashes series only 18 months away.

The likelihood is, however, that England will select either Archer or Wood for the upcoming Tests against the West Indies, perhaps on a rotation basis given all three Tests are set to be played back-to-back. Each have had their injury problems of late. Wood only returned to Test cricket in the final two Tests in South Africa after a long lay-off and Archer missed three of the four matches in that series because of an elbow injury. England will want to treat both carefully.

With the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes experts at bowling in England, competition for places is fierce too. “I don’t see myself being in the best XI in home conditions,” Wood said. “Maybe away conditions suit me a little more. If you put your best XI down, I’m not sure my name would be in there. I’d love to be, and I’ll push as hard as I can to keep my spot but I’m thinking in home conditions I’m maybe not the first name on the team sheet. But we’ll wait and see what happens.”

Wood is the man in possession, of course, having played in England’s last Test match. His re-introduction to Test cricket in South Africa, after nearly 12 months out of the team because of injury, went as well as could have been hoped. He took a Test best nine wickets in the fourth Test at the Wanderers, bowling quickly and aggressively, to round off a 3-1 series win. “I put in probably my best performance in the last game,” Wood said.

By his own admission, however, Wood’s first innings spell against West Indies in St Lucia in February 2019 remains the quickest he has managed. Indeed, it was, by common consent, one of the fastest spells ever bowled by an English bowler. Wood ended up with 5 for 41 from 8.2 overs, an effort which kick started his career after an injury plagued, stop-start four years in international cricket.

“I felt in a great place, and I still look back on that performance with fond memories,” Wood said. “It really gave me confidence going into the World Cup and into South Africa so yes it probably was my consistent quickest. I think I could get that again.”

A shorter-run up paid almost immediate dividends. “I wish I’d changed my run up sooner, I think that was a big change,” he added. “Also the fact I went on a Lions tour before the West Indies to the UAE, got some confidence there and bowled well. Actually stepping out of the international scene, making some adjustments and things I needed to work on then coming back I felt a different player.

“Once you get that one score, or for me that one five-wicket haul, that gave me a massive boost. It sort of calmed me down where I’m not trying too hard and I can have that belief. I had the belief before but I was frustrated I had not showed people how good I could be. To get that five-for really helped and has allowed me to kick on.”

Wood is one of 30 players who assembled at the Ageas Bowl for England’s bio-secure pre-series camp on Tuesday (June 23). All the players and management were tested for Covid-19 on arrival and the results were all negative which means training can begin on Thursday.

“The organisers have done a fantastic job and literally there has been no stone unturned,” said Wood, who has been supporting children to get active through cricket as part of Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week – a week of fun, online activities for children at home or at school from the national cricket charity Chance to Shine.

“You come in and get a check straight away, your bags are cleaned and then you are sat in your room as if you have moved into a hotel room. The temperature check was weird – you just walk through a tent outside and they tell you you’re alright. Don’t know what would happen if you are not alright there!

“It is a bit like a sci-fi movie. Everybody is masked up you don’t know whether they are friendly or not, some people scowl more than you think. It is something we will have to get used to.

“You have to follow arrows and feet marks everywhere. You go to a food station with a chef who gives you your food. You’re not touching anything like you usually would. Then you go to the tables which are sporadically spaced out. This morning I had breakfast and looked at the back of Jos’ head.

“The cleaner can come in once a week for a deep clean. If you don’t want that to happen, you can refuse it. The state that my room will be in, I’ll definitely be accepting it. This is your space. Your own room is yours to look after and I’m not the cleanest. I’ll have clothes and stuff everywhere in a few days’ time.”

Easily bored, Wood says he will be on the hunt for things to occupy his mind. “Normally with masseur Mark Saxby as soon as I saw him I would be lifting him up in the air but I can’t go near him,” he said. “Everybody is trying to abide by the rules. Of course it is safety first. I am not a big golfer either and there is nothing else to do. You can’t go anywhere so I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to yet. It is a bit odd.

“The fact that Stokesy can’t get to me because we have to stay two metres apart, he is definitely on my radar. it is a question of how far I can push him before he snaps. I think yes I will get up to something. I have to stop the boredom. There is an old school arcade with street fighter console and I think that looks tempting. I might have a go on that. I might dress up for the part as well.”

Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week works with the charity Chance to Shine to support and grow the grassroots of the game in schools and communities. Join in at https://ift.tt/2Bzmt3B

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Update: A Year After The Disaster, Pokémon Go Fest Is A Success

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6804 Update: A Year After The Disaster, Pokémon Go Fest Is A Success - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=6804 Update 3: The rain was unwanted, but the clouds that kept the heat down were more than welcome as trainers walked across the spacious 1.8-mile course Niantic set up in Lincoln Park. Professor Willow's new five-part research quest was easier than his first challenge that appeared earlier this year. After completing mission 3, trainers were greeted by the second Mythical Pokémon in the game: Celebi. Much like the Mew encounter, Celebi can only be caught in AR, and will escape the ball numerous times before being added to the Pokédex. Celebi is the biggest addition to the game at the festival. No new legendary Pokémon debuted, and Torkoal is the only regional to travel to Chicago. Shiny Pokémon also spawn at a much higher rate, making some of the older critters more attractive for catching purposes. Outside of a few hiccups with Verizon's network, the first day of the festival was a success. Players barely took their eyes off of their phones, and I assume almost everyone stayed in the park until they caught Celebi. The number of exclusives offered is disappointing, especially given last year's barely functioning event had more (Unown, Heracross, Lugia, and Articuno). At the end of the day, though, the game worked, and that's what mattered most. Niantic shied away from the player-intensive raids in favor of stability. Maybe next year will bring a more ambitious attempt. Update 2: The rain continues to fall periodically, but it isn't stopping people from catching hundreds of Pokémon. Most players are trying to complete a new five-part quest from Professor Willow. The activities haven't been too difficult so far: spin stops, hatch eggs, and catch seven Unown (this one is sure to make players not at the festival envious). Most players haven't had any issues with the game, although people on Verizon's network are experiencing connection issues at certain parts of Lincoln Park – those mostly with heavy pockets of people and narrow walking paths. The rewards have been significant. Ludicolo and Metagross were rewarded for catching ten of their Pokémon type. No gym battles are in the park, but they are appearing nearby in the city. Lugia, who debuted at last year's Pokémon Go Fest, is back for a repeat performance, and is available worldwide. More as it develops... Update: Light rain is falling in Chicago, but trainers are still out in full force catching new Pokémon an hour before the festival officially kicks off. Many people woke up to the surprise of new Pokémon spawning around the globe. Alolan versions of Geodude and Diglett are out there, as are shiny versions of Plusle and Minun. Go hunt them down! Rain clouds and a sense of dread hang over Pokémon Go Fest on the eve of its gates opening to the public. Heavy rain is likely the least of the worries for people who traveled from around the world to attend this gathering of Pokémon Go fans in Chicago's Lincoln Park. These trainers, as they like to be called, are more concerned with the stability of the game, and wondering if they'll even get the chance to play it. At last year's inaugural Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago's Grant Park, the game was unplayable for most of the 20,000 people in attendance. As people baked in the sun, and the hours ticked by without hardly anyone being able to catch a single Pokémon, angry chants of "fix the game" and "refund" grew in volume. Niantic didn't have any answers for the game blackout. Most cellular networks were overloaded by people trying to connect to them, and even if they did, the game itself wasn't letting people in. In the late hours of the festival, Niantic expanded the size of the digital play space that only people with tickets could access. Stretching a couple of miles into the heart of Chicago, showgoers dispersed from Grant Park and were able to finally start playing the game in the less occupied areas of the city. This switch saved the festival, and trainers walked away somewhat relieved, as their Pokédexes were filled with rare Unowns, Heracrosses, and the first Legendaries in the game. Despite getting the Pokémon they wanted in the end, people who attended still felt the Fest was a bust, and filed a class-action lawsuit against Niantic. The company settled it earlier this year for $1.5 million. Niantic clearly believes that large gatherings of players are possible in Pokémon Go. The company has successfully united players at other events around the globe, but the United States, and Chicago in particular, have proven tricky. To see Niantic return to the scene of the crime in Chicago is puzzling, but perhaps is a sign that the company has confidence in the game's performance. The first notable change is moving the festival from Grant Park, which was a circle that grouped everyone in a large cluster, to the more spacious Lincoln Park. The hope is that trainers will be spread out and the networks and game won't be overloaded. Niantic has set up a 1.8-mile course for players in the park with activities littered along the way. Cell coverage should also be better. Chicago Sun Times contacted four of the largest cellular networks, and learned there will be more COWs (cell on wheels) and COLTs (cell on light trucks) in the area. Verizon is bringing in two COLTs, AT&T has two COWs, Sprint one COW, and T-Mobile says it will have four additional cell sites on hand. AT&T's COWs are expected to boost performance capacity by 452 percent. Niantic is also beginning the festival with an expanded digital play space. If trainers run into issues in the park, they can immediately vacate it and head into the city to hopefully have better luck. Why are trainers taking a chance on this festival again? For the exclusive Pokémon that will likely only be at the event. We already know that the region-based Torkoal will migrate from India to Chicago for two days. Rain or shine, Pokémon Go fans will be out in full force this weekend. Here's hoping they have better luck filling out their Pokédexes with new critters than last year. I will be one of the many walking through the park with my eyes glued to my phone. You can read about my experience tomorrow, and I'll also share all of the breaking news as it hits. Source link

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After a week to stew, Titans thoughts

After a week to stew, Titans thoughts

The Titans got some time off for the bye week and this writer did too.

After the game, I was not very happy with the Titans or their season. Some time away and some thoughts and…it’s OK. It’s fine. I should be correcting my Monday viewpoint and say “what are you so upset about? They’re 4-3 and in first place.” I think what it is is that I wanted more than “fine” and the recent terrible seasons had me maybe too hopeful with their “loaded with talent” team this year. In general, I shouldn’t have been unhappy.

Titans coach Mike Mularkey (and his staff) has to do a better job at some basic things fans expect. If a player isn’t doing well, the player needs to be pulled and coached up on the sideline. If a play isn’t working, they need to stop calling it. If a player is doing well, he needs to play more if the opportunity is there. These are an elemental basis for a fan coach relationship.

That displeasure mentioned earlier stems from some of these things. Suppose player Y has dropped three passes. He needs to sit. We need it for that fan viewpoint and the Titans team needs it because it’s a basic element of sports and utilizing a bench. I don’t think Mularkey has this problem BUT he does appear to not have confidence in his staff. I haven’t noticed a single wide receiver pulled and then meeting with wide receivers coach Frisman Jackson. Avery Williamson struggled early. I didn’t notice him being pulled and then coached up by Lou Spanos, the Titans linebackers coach. There is one caveat here. The camera is on the field and we only get what we get as far as views of the sideline. It’s possible I missed some. All in all though this could be construed as giving the appearance that Mularkey doesn’t trust his staff. Fans want to see a player pulled, coached, and then do well. We want to root for this. It’s an unspoken inherent feeling inside us to cheer for a player to overcome.

Another possibility here is that Mularkey doesn’t have confidence in the subs that would enter the game to replace a player. This, if true, causes a disconnect for fans. If we see some backup play well in preseason or in limited minutes late in the game, we do figure he can fill in for a few plays while the starter is coached up. This issue could also be construed as Mularkey not having confidence in his staff because they should have the backups ready. I do think Mularkey lacks confidence in some backups.

Let’s go back to this fan-coach relationship. No one is saying Mularkey must call this play or start that player. We expect him to do his job. In those expectations, however, is that he’ll adjust all game long to put the best “product” on the field. With a staff of 20 some odd coaches, Mularkey is often times more manager than coach. He won’t read this but if he were to, I think so far has been quite reasonable and Mularkey could appease the fans here.

Putting my more critical writer’s hat on now.

The same play over and over can work in the NFL until it doesn’t. It’s a grrr part of football that a team must run enough times to make the defense guard against it. I can swallow 3-4 runs for no yards now and then to do this. Begrudgingly, this is alright. There have been occasions that were unacceptable though. These sweeps rarely work and are called often as if they do. Eric Decker has run the same slant route from the left side many times and it’s rarely completed. That needs to go. It doesn’t matter if it’s not his thing, not Marcus Mariota’s, or the sky is too blue…whatever the reason, if a play is called a bunch of times and doesn’t work- stop calling it. Decker can surely run a different route there. The Titans will force the ball to Delanie Walker and he’ll muscle his way to catch many of them. That’s fortunate. That’s not a reason to keep forcing the ball to him on the same play running the same route. The shovel passes haven’t worked. I don’t think even once. If offensive coordinator is trying to get Mariota to use his college skills, then let him run outside and ad-lib from there. If they’re too worried about him getting hit so they do the shovel pass behind the offensive line, well…ya can’t do that. It clearly doesn’t work in the NFL or college. Mariota is looking for a defender to make a choice and then he will do the opposite of what the defender chooses. That takes some setting up and it’s not going to work in a crowded backfield. There’s a slew of offensive issues that stem from Robiske not owning up to a play not working.

Coach Mike Mularkey has stated that he and his staff will be reviewing the game tape and making adjustments accordingly. If those adjustments are “let’s scratch this play” and “let’s have Decker do this” well then it’s over and done with. That would be an excellent decision and review by Mularkey if he does that.

Free agency failures

I’m not seeing an improvement on special teams. Whether it be statistically or something to be noticed in games. A few times, Adoree Jackson has shown to be an exciting return man, but otherwise, there hasn’t been much. The Titans spent millions on special teams players to ramp up this third phase of their team. It hasn’t worked. Daren Bates and Brynden Trawick were signed from the Raiders. Eric Weems was signed from the Falcons. Collectively they have ZERO tackles. Not one. Zilch, zip, nada, a big fat goose-egg.  Aside from a play here and there, Weems doesn’t play offense. Bates has zero snaps on defense and Trawick has four. When Mularkey picks his 46 active players, it’s limiting to have a player solely play special teams. Surely he does it with the intention that these three will make plays. They are not. He could have had two extra defenders and an extra offensive player each week. The Titans have the depth to replace them. Mularkey needs to have special teams coach Steve Hoffman fix this issue and if they aren’t making plays, then they sit. There must be an improvement on special teams.

Phillip Supernaw needs to play more on special teams. Supernaw was to be the starting tight end and Jonnu Smith got that role. If he’s a backup, then he needs to play special teams more than the 60 percent he has been playing. In prior years, he has made several tackles and forced two fumbles. That’s exactly what the Titans need on special teams. There’s just no reason for him to not be utilized on special teams.

General Manager Jon Robinson or defensive coordinator Dick Lebeau need to allow that Sylvester Williams was a poor signing. I’ve posted videos of him being pushed around. He’s a 7 million dollar benched nose tackle that has even been inactive for one game. “Halfway” through the season, he only has six tackles and the weakest part of the Titans run defense continues to be the middle. Antwaun Woods had Mularkey, Lebeau, and Jurrell Casey raving this offseason. Not complimenting but raving. He became the starter until something off happened and Williams was suddenly starting after a poor game. Did JRob tell Mularkey his seven million dollar player must start? There was no game evidence to support this, in fact, Woods played excellent all preseason. Whatever happened…what’s done is done. Someone inside the Titans building needs to allow that the best player start here.

Jalston Fowler has been a constant (fictitious) debate with Mularkey. I say I want him to play more and Mularkey plays him 15-20 percent of the game. He was PFF’s top-rated fullback last year. Every NFL team should play any top-rated player often. Is that even debatable? Looking up some stats, the Titans have run for 5.6 yards per carry when Fowler is in the game. The run game has struggled. Fowler is clearly a solution. Mularkey (and Robiske) needs to change his ways some and play Fowler more.

Back to Supernaw the blocker. I was not a fan of Supernaw. He was outstanding this offseason and summer. After Anthony Fasano and Craig Stevens left, I was worried that Supernaw could not replace their stellar blocking. He must have worked on his game and bulked up and…whatever he did, he looked great this summer as a blocker.

Jonnu Smith seems like he is going to have a bright career. He is already a two-way threat and quite capable of filling in for Walker. The Titans are putting Smith in at Fasano’s spot. The likely thinking is that he will command the defense’s attention in fear that he could run a route rather than stay in and block. He only has 11 receptions. He’s on pace to tie Fasano’s 26 catch season. Four of these catches are when Walker wasn’t in the game. He is not grabbing the defense’s attention. He has been used as a one-dimensional threat.

A change needs to happen at tight end. If “the other tight end” is going to be one dimensional with 98% blocking and the occasional pass route, then Supernaw is better at this role. If Smith is to get more targets, then throw him the ball and run him on more routes. As long as he is emulating Fasano, Supernaw is better there. I fully support the notion of using him more and throwing Smith the rock, but that hasn’t happened. Smith could be used in the backfield as a fullback and in the slot. He doesn’t have to be inactive or completely minimized. The Titans gotta commit to the rookie one way or another though. Either change the Fasano role to truly be a two-way role or put the best Fasano imitator in that role.

Aaron Wallace should return soon from IR. Wallace could be a pivotal player during the second half and hopefully the playoffs. Wallace can play all four linebacker positions and fill in wherever he is needed. At times during the preseason, he was allowed to roam and looked outstanding. Wallace can be the guy to sub in for any linebacker that struggles.

Pick a number

If Adoree Jackson or Jayon Brown are having a bad day and gaining experience getting burned by tight ends or wide receivers, that’s fine. That happens. At some point, the player needs to sit though. If it’s after allowing ten catches or 100 yards, or some other number. Lebeau needs to pick a number though and pull the rookie. Letting the rook get burned for the rest of the game doesn’t do the team or his confidence any good. The two of them have been impressive, but they’ve each had bad days too. Make a plan to get through those bad days.

Taywan Taylor was the talk of the offseason. The Western Kentucky star lit up the Titans defensive backs all offseason and both Mularkey and Robiske raved about him. Thus far into the season, he has been used sparingly. He plays 36 percent of the snaps and only has 16 targets. Per target or per catch, he is the Titans most productive wide receiver. Eric Decker has 226 yards and plays 83 percent of the snaps. Taylor has 178 yards. He’s only 48 yards behind Decker, yet has played less than half as often as Decker. This is what I mentioned above. The Titans need to pull the starter and put the sub in. Whether we go on the coach’s preseason quotes or statistics, it bears true that Taylor needs to play more when Decker is struggling.

Brice McCain is playing poorly. He has a 47.1 grade by PFF. Curiously, this is almost the same grade Perrish Cox had before he was released at about this time in 2016. Is McCain “fixable?” Are there technique issues? Would some coaching help? The Titans need to stew on that and either help him to improve his game or consider playing Kalan Reed. Reed played well this summer and should be capable of replacing a cornerback playing poorly.

He is my starter!

This stuff with DeMarco Murray needs to be dealt with. Derrick Henry surpassed Murray, statistically, in week 6. During week 7, Murray pulled ahead again. The starter now has 41 yards more than the backup. Cmon now, Robiske. A starter should have far more yards than a backup.

Murray is excellent in the passing game. The former Sooner is one of the best backs in the NFL at pass protection. Last season, he played the slot wide receiver role on third down for the first few weeks due to Kendall Wright being injured. He led the Titans in receiving at that point. With Murray’s prowess in the passing game, they can certainly use him there and use Henry more as a runner.

Mularkey needs to listen to himself

Mike Mularkey has said some variation of “he was the hot hand” countless times since taking over the Titans. If there is one thing that the Titans could improve upon it’s this hot and cold notion. Let everyone on the team know that if they’re not playing well, they could be pulled and if they’re playing great, they are staying in.

  AROUND COVER32 Call your shot: Week 8 predictions Cowboys offense is hitting it’s stride Eagles defense is key to Redskins game How will the Giants spend their bye week? Redskins: The Strongest Will

[junker-town]

How Jim Leavitt can try to fix Oregon’s defense, just like he did at Colorado

Colorado’s defense went from bad to elite under Leavitt. The Ducks are his next project.

There were red flags when Brady Hoke arrived as Oregon’s defensive coordinator before last season. One issue was that Oregon had enjoyed success with a 3-4 defense and had been recruiting big, tall defensive ends to play in it. But Hoke was installing a 4-3 system that asked different things of his line. Another issue: The playbook Hoke brought with him was compared to a Harry Potter book because of its size and scope.

There were also questions about what exactly Hoke’s defense would be, since he hadn’t been a defensive coordinator in many, many years. It turned out to be the 4-3 Under defense that the Wolverines employed in his time as head coach in Ann Arbor. In an Under front, a nose tackle shades toward the tight end side of the offense’s formation, as opposed to the open side of the line in an Over front.

Hoke’s Under system was successful at Michigan, but it was in need of tweaks towards the end to handle the growing prevalence of the spread offense in the Big Ten. In fact, Michigan converted to the 4-3 Over the year before Hoke was fired.

But Hoke brought the Under with him to Eugene, where spread offenses litter the schedule every year. What Hoke did at Oregon didn’t work. The Ducks went 4-8 and finished 119th in Defensive S&P+, giving up 42.6 points per game.

So newly acquired head coach Willie Taggart hired away Colorado defensive coordinator Jim Leavitt for more than $1 million a year. At Taggart’s introductory presser, UO’s president only gave him one piece of advice: to hire a great defensive coordinator.

Leavitt now has quite the job ahead of him in restoring Oregon’s defense to a level that can once again take advantage of the Ducks’ annually great offenses. (The Ducks offense should be good quickly under Taggart’s leadership.)

Oregon and Colorado have been a tale of two defenses.

Mike MacIntyre was well regarded when he arrived at Colorado in 2013 from San Jose State. But the pro-style offense and hard-nosed defense he intended to bring to Colorado were both scrapped in favor of a dynamic, up-tempo spread and a new, 3-4 defense. Colorado’s defense was bad when MacIntyre arrived, but within two years, new coordinator Leavitt fixed things up just fine.

Compare Colorado’s improvement post-Leavitt to Oregon’s collapse after Chip Kelly (and maybe more importantly, Nick Aliotti) departed the program.

The main goal, and perceived challenge, for Hoke was to get the Ducks playing tough, sound football once more. The 2015 unit was horrendous and regularly beaten due to assignment errors and unsound play. Hoke’s 2016 squad was often fairly disciplined and tough, but it wasn’t sound, often due to outdated schematics.

A fantastic example is Oregon’s play against Davis Webb and the Cal Bears’ air raid offense. Hoke rolled with his base 4-3 defense against the Bears’ spread formations, which meant freshman Sam linebacker and team sack leader Troy Dye (No. 35) was often playing out in space.

Here’s how that play looked drawn up on the chalkboard:

To overcome the issue of rolling with three linebackers against a four-receiver formation, the Ducks spread them the width of the field with safety help over the top. This often worked. Oregon held Webb to 325 yards on 61 passes: only 5.3 yards per attempt, a number that would normally suggest you’re demolishing an air raid team.

Not this game, because Cal’s two main backs, Tre Watson and Khalfani Muhammad, combined for 302 more yards on 51 carries, good for 5.9 yards a pop. Flooding the field with big defenders and then asking them to navigate space left Oregon vulnerable at the point of attack in the run game.

On the play here, Oregon has shaded free safety Brenden Schooler (No. 43) and middle linebacker A.J. Hotchkins (No. 55) over to the trips-receivers side, leaving weak-side linebacker De’Quan McDowell (No. 54) alone in the box.

There’s so much that’s unsound about this approach, it’s frankly quite shocking. Is McDowell supposed to defend both the field A-gap and the boundary B-gap? Is the boundary DE supposed to force the ball back inside? His aggressive play up the field sure put McDowell in a bind when the B-gap, between the left tackle and guard, was expanded by his absence from the line of scrimmage.

The last time I saw a defense attempt an approach to run defense this outdated against an air raid team, Tavon Austin was running for 344 yards on Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, the Buffaloes were making a leap in Year 2 with Leavitt, a year in which he was confident enough in his players’ understanding of fundamentals to move from the 4-3 to the 3-4. With multiple guys across the defense that had earned Leavitt’s trust as pure football players in 2015, the Buffs were able to embrace the flexibility of the 3-4 to employ lots of different tactics to force offenses to play left-handed.

The Colorado front three of nose tackle Josh Tupou and ends Jordan Carrell and Samson Kafovalu was a very stout unit — all seniors and all willing to battle double teams and maintain the line of scrimmage on behalf of inside linebackers Kenneth Olugbode and Rick Gamboa.

The way in which USC completely fails to move the line of scrimmage here is rather stark. But that was normal for the Buffs, playing with a pair of inside linebackers that were flowing to the ball fast and confidently behind such a sturdy group in front of them.

The secondary was equally brilliant, as recently became evident from the NFL combine. With Ahkello Witherspoon, Chidobe Awuzie, and Tedric Thompson on the field the Buffs had a lot of coverage options for adjusting to various opponents. One of their more effective schemes was a fun combination of cover 2 and ultra-aggressive quarters that they’d employ to help stop the run:

On the chalkboard, you can see how they leveraged the talents of the secondary to set themselves up to lock down the Cardinal’s favorite players and plays:

The Buffs are playing cover 2 over the TE side, with Awuzie (No. 4) stationed there, where he can be active on the perimeter. Awuzie was third on the team in tackles and had four sacks, because they’d often put him in the boundary or over the slot so he could be involved against the run. Witherspoon (No. 23) is out wide in press coverage, while Thompson (No. 9) is helping the Sam linebacker bracket the slot in cover 4.

The key to the cover 4 coverage over the slot is that the Sam, staffed here by 6’1, 215-pound DB Ryan Moeller, can be aggressive on a run read. That’s because Thompson is athletic and skilled enough in coverage to pick up the slot if he attacks the edge. Moeller (No. 25) was basically a specialist for Colorado last year, forcing the edge and serving as a tackler in space, and he was able to be very aggressive and useful in their run defenses because Thompson was behind him.

The Buffs would mix in cover 3 and other schemes and vary who played where to pull off tricks like bracketing an opposing team’s No. 1 receiver while locking down the No. 2 in man coverage, a la Bill Belichick’s Patriots. Such are the luxuries of life when you have a sound football team stocked with skilled veterans.

At Oregon, Leavitt will have chances to mold the defense over time.

The two best players for Oregon this past year might have been freshmen Dye (Sam linebacker) and Schooler (free safety). This is unquestionably a good thing for the Ducks, because Leavitt is going to groom the younger players on this squad into football players and then go from there.

Dye will be an interesting player for Leavitt to utilize, as his skill set didn’t exactly exist on the 2016 Buffaloes. Colorado did have Jimmie Gilbert, a 6’5, 230-pound outside backer who Leavitt used to patrol the boundary and blitz the edge. But Oregon has two such players, Dye and Justin Hollins (6’6, 230), both returning. I don’t think Leavitt will leave Dye out in space on the far hash mark to defend screens as Hoke regularly did, particularly if he proves to once again be the best pass rusher on the team.

Schooler’s specialty last season was erasing the mistakes of his teammates with his downhill fills and good angles in the open field. That’s a fairly universal skill for a safety and will surely prove useful again this coming year, as the Ducks work through a new defensive scheme. But Leavitt may involve him in the run fits more than Hoke did.

The defensive line was basically recruited to Leavitt’s scheme and should round into form sooner than later, but the Oregon defensive backfield is filled with upperclassmen that have been through bad campaigns. The fix there may take longer for Oregon, but there’s still reason for optimism.

If the Ducks can arrange their talent in a way that maximizes it, we’ll see a better defense than we’ve seen the last few years in Eugene. That’s how it looked in Boulder, after all.

[hottytoddynews]

HottyToddy.com provides readers a roundup of the commentary and information about the Ole Miss Rebels from various publications around the Web.

Readers can check out the latest information in a single post each day throughout the year. Here at HottyToddy.com, we are doing all the leg work to find the information that people want about Ole Miss sports.

Today’s stories come from Ole Miss Sports

Rebel Softball Opens Practice Tuesday

Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics

Ole Miss Softball hit the field Tuesday afternoon for the official start of practice, the first of many leading up to the 2017 campaign.

The Rebels, led by a class of four seniors and 11 returning starters, will take part in a number of practice sessions over the next few weeks, and also compete in intrasquad games as the season opener draws closer.

Ole Miss returns 14 players from last year’s squad that finished No. 24 in the final ESPN.com/USA Softball Poll, and welcomes 10 newcomers to the 24-person roster.

The Rebels’ challenging 56-game slate opens Feb. 10-12 at the Easton invitational in Fullerton, California. After 15-straight on the road to open the season in tournament play, Ole Miss will host 14 in-a-row in Oxford, with the home opener slated for March 1.

For the full schedule and details, click here. A reminder that all Ole Miss Softball home games are free admission.

For all Ole Miss Softball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com and follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissSoftball, on Facebook at Ole Miss Softball and on Instagram at http://ift.tt/1SlszRa. Fans can also follow head coach Mike Smith on Twitter at @msmithsb16. Additionally, fans can get a behind-the-scenes look at Ole Miss Softball on Snapchat under the handle, @OleMissSoftball.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

A Hidden Honor: Thank You to Rebel Nation

2016 Ole Miss Rifle Photo by Joshua McCoy/Ole Miss Athletics Twitter: @OleMissPix

By Alison Wiesz, senior

During the first year of college almost every freshman wonders if they chose the right school, if they will be challenged as an individual or if their sport is allowing them to compete at the level they hoped it would. I won’t lie to you, I had a bit of that.

I had success before arriving at Ole Miss and I believe this caused me to question if I had gone to a different school, would it have made a difference in my shooting. But what it really came down to was maybe it would have, maybe it wouldn’t have. There is no way to really know, but I loved Ole Miss too much to let that thought last.

As I enter my final semester of shooting for my university, it has become more and more apparent to me that I could not have made it to this point alone. There are countless individuals who have helped shape not only the shooter, but the person I am today. As I sit here reflecting on the past three and a half years as a Rebel, it is clear that I have not taken the time to thank them like I want to.

Beginning with my roots, it is my parents who made my lifelong dream a reality. Thank you, mom and dad, for letting me go to a place I love 28 hours from home. I grew up 15 minutes from Montana State and I am mindful of how much easier attending that school would have been on my family; instead they allowed me to leave to chase a dream. Thank you, mom and dad for being so understanding with the decision that I made and loving me all the same.

To my baby sisters, Bailey (13) and Hannah (11), thank you for always being there, supporting me, loving what I do, and loving Ole Miss as much as I do. Thank you for maintaining a relationship regardless of the age difference and places we are in our lives. Knowing that they both look up to me keeps me constantly in check, and I am lucky to have them in my life. Thank you, Bailey and Hannah.

When it comes to my shooting, I could never pinpoint one specific person, but when I reflect back on how I am able to be in the position that I am in today, I think about my first step into a range and first shot taken. The man behind this is Chris Winstead. When you’re an eight-year-old kid it is rare that someone is so confident in your ability to not only perform at something, but to do it at the highest level. Chris did this for me. He nicknamed me “little Annie Oakley” and from then on we built a lifelong relationship around shooting. To date, I reach out to him after every match and no words will ever accurately express the amount of gratitude I have for him. Thank you, Chris.

As my collegiate career at Ole Miss began to develop it was Josie Nicholson, sports psychologist, and Drew Clinton, our academic counselor, who served as primary aids. Both of these individuals not only helped to enhance my shooting, but improved me as a person. I believe that I have always had high expectations surrounding me which caused me to only see my worth through shooting and what I could accomplish on the range. I am incredibly thankful for the guidance from both Josie and Drew who forced me to see that my value to this world is so much more than that. If I had a bad day at the range, it doesn’t mean I am a bad person or a crappy shooter; it is just a bad day. Thank you, Josie and Drew.

Rifle is such a mental sport. A lot of it comes down to your attitude and your mentality during the shot. While my mentality was strengthened from both Josie and Drew, it is also strengthened from the advantages the rifle community offers.

In rifle you can get coaching from anywhere, it may not necessarily be your coaching on the line. Whereas in a sport like football, a defensive coordinator is not necessarily going to go to a defensive player on another team and give them pointers, in rifle it does that a lot more. To this day I am thankful for the rifle community’s impact on my career. This approach allowed me to feel comfort and set my mind at ease. The community also brought along great friends. Mindy Miles, who shoots at Texas Christian University, became one of my closest friends when we shot in a summer marksmanship program together. Since, I have bought a gun from her and have had great success with it. I am eternally grateful that the rifle circle allows and welcomes this type of relationship.

Another big influence to this mindset is my new head coach Marsha Beasley. Unfortunately, I only had the pleasure of being her student-athlete for my senior year, but the depth of our relationship could not be measured by time. Marsha brought something I had never witnessed before: a strong desire to better the program and a work ethic that will allow her to do it. I know her love for the sport hit home to all involved and when I saw such a big heart wanting to do so much for my team, it made me feel valued. Thank you, Marsha.

In some ways—even more than my own graduation—the end to this time in my life represents a new beginning to the rifle program. It is an incredible honor to be a part of a program that is being built. Some people may view it as they don’t want to go to a specific school because they are not the top dog in the conference, but to be a part of a program that in the future everyone will want to go to is incredibly humbling. I will know that I was a part of that building process, because you need those people. This program is my hidden honor.

Thank you Rebel Nation for the tremendous support given to my team. We have fans that we see at almost every home match and that means more to me than you will ever know. You all have expected nothing but the best from not only my team, but me as the lone senior with a decorated background. The pressure from the Rebel fan base has pushed each and every athlete in a positive way.

While I embark on my final semester of shooting and beginning the journey of a master’s degree, I want to be remembered as someone who cared about the team and cared about the program enough to not only want to see herself succeed, but everyone else succeed too. I am not ready to be done; I don’t want to be. Even though I have contributed success, there is still a lot I want to do for this program. Rebel Nation is the reason behind this.

Thank you,

Alison Weisz

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

NFL Playoffs Rebel Updates

Here at OleMissSports.com, we are proud to update Rebel fans on the exploits of our former players who lace up their cleats on Sundays in the NFL. Ole Miss had a big presence in the league again this year. There were 23 former Rebels on NFL rosters for the 2016 season, including two-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning, recent Super Bowl participants Brandon Bolden and Michael Oher, and 2016 first-round draft picks Robert Nkemdiche, Laquon Treadwell and Laremy Tunsil.

The National Football League postseason began this week as teams started their quest to Super Bowl LI, and there were sever former Ole Miss players on rosters of teams who advanced to the playoffs.

Below is a breakdown of each playoff participant’s contributions and details of their team’s outcome during the first week of the postseason.

#38 BRANDON BOLDEN | RB | New England Patriots

Is currently active for the Patriots (14-2) vs. Texans (9-7), AFC Divisional Round, Jan. 14, 7:15 p.m. CT, CBS.

#27 SENQUEZ GOLSON | CB | Pittsburgh Steelers

Was on injured reserve for the Steelers’ 30-12 victory over the Dolphins on Jan. 8. Steelers will face the Chiefs on Sunday, Jan. 15 at 12:05 p.m. CT on NBC.

#77 JOHN JERRY | OG | New York Giants

Started at right guard with a fumble recovery in the Giants’ loss to Green Bay 38-13. Will not advance into the divisional round.

#10 ELI MANNING | QB | New York Giants

Started at QB for New York, going 23 of 44 for 299 yards in a loss to Green Bay 38-13. Will not advance into the divisional round.

# GERALD RIVERS | LB | Houston Texans

Was on injured reserve for the Texans’ 27-14 victory over the Raiders on Jan. 7. Texans will move into the divisional round to face the Patriots on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 7:15 p.m. CT on CBS.

#78 BRADLEY SOWELL | OT | Seattle Seahawks

Contributed to the Seahawks victory over Detroit 26-6. Will move into the divisional round to face Atlanta on Saturday, Jan. 14 at 3:35 p.m. CT on FOX.

#67 LAREMY TUNSIL | G | Miami Dolphins

Started at left guard in the Dolphins’ loss to Pittsburgh 30-12. Will not advance into the divisional round of the playoffs.

Follow Ole Miss Football on Twitter (@OleMissFB), Facebook and Instagram. For more information, visit http://ift.tt/16ouVLF.

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

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