#lots of thoughts on the penalties and everything around them

[sainz100]

some Max moments from the 2024 Qatar GP

[kyseya]

Ancient Mummy

Imagine working as an archaeologist for a museum. However things hasn’t been going so well lately and there are hardly any visitors during opening hours. Sadly, you’ll be forced to close multiple exhibitions and if conditions are not met, the entire museum might have to shut down.

But by some miracle, a new tomb has been discovered in Egypt; undisturbed, unexplored and completely untouched by humans for centuries. It’s said to be the grave of an ancient king- a pharaoh- who was betrayed and murdered by his own cousin.

It’s the perfect opportunity! Maybe you’ll find something that can bring back interest and by extension, save the museum.

You go along with a few other colleagues to the site in Egypt. The journey was a bit tough but it was a hindered percent worth it. With avid curiosity you explore alone and with the others, the different things to find inside the tomb; artifacts and additional discoveries. It’s all very interesting. Wanting to save the best for last, you finally get an in-person look at the grave itself- the sarcophagus.

You have already heard the main tale of the pharaoh within, so you are a little surprised that there is more to the story than you previously believed.

Over the entire stone coffin were multiple hieroglyphs, each one helping and becoming a story together. Your collegue read some inscriptions and told you a basic summary of what it’s about.

Centuries ago there was a king. He had a wife whom he adored more than anything. She was provided with riches, glory and honour. There was nothing he wouldn’t accomplish for her. The people saw the care he held for his wife and therefore both respected and feared her as well, since any ounce of rudeness might end up with their heads spiked on a pole. It was a punishment fitting for those who dare disrespect his queen.

Unfortunately tragedy struck- a disease, more specifically. It took the lives of many and left whole villages empty. That hardly mattered to the pharaoh though, all his focus went to his ill wife; she, too, had been snatched by death. Up until the moment of her demise the pharaoh spent all day and all night at her side, attentively worrying about her needs. When she was gone he was ruined. He didn’t eat, he didn’t sleep, he didn’t even have the energy to clean himself. What was the point? His beloved was gone so there wasn’t really anything left for him.

It was after this that everything took a turn. It appeared that the king had enough with laying around and decided to do something. There were records of him behaving strangely- even by ancient standards- and drabbling in dark magic. He was later overthrown by his brother, who ordered him to be buried alive. It was quite the terrifying penalty go give one’s sibling. The brother didn’t want the darkness to spread out into the world from the old pharaoh, so he locked him inside the sarcophagus and sealed him far away.

What a tragic story, you thought. Well it was back in the old times and a lot of things were practiced then that aren’t okay in modern day. You suppose it wasn’t the most horrible incident that have happened.

It hadn’t been long since your colleague told you the backstory of the tomb and its inhibitor, but now the others wants to get to the good part and open up the stone coffin. You don’t think it’s the best idea in the world- of course something like this needs to be examined closely and so on, but there is something special about the tomb.

Ever since you’ve arrived, you have had a strange feeling following you around. It’s hard to explain. You feel almost drawn to the sarcophagus or perhaps it’s because it feels as if it is looking back at you. You tried ignoring it, however, the feeling came back stronger than ever the moment the others began preparing to open it up.

You should have told them of your concerns. If you did, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened.

The first few seconds after opening it everything was fine. All was as it should be; people flocking around to see the discovery and fawn over it while being mindful of its fragility. Then it changed. Your colleague who had been the closest had suddenly been strangled by the thin, dirty arm belonging to none other than the ancient corpse that previously had been resting in death. Everyone was silent as her face turned blue from the lack of oxygen. It was only after she fell to the floor dead that people began panicking. It was hard to process what had just happened, after all.

There was chaos.

Folk ran around like chickens fleeing from a fox that’d managed to get inside the coop. In a way, that was exactly what was going on, though. You had watched as the mummified corpse sat right up and climbed its way out of the cold coffin. It stumbled on its bony legs and quickly found a cornered man and approached him. He screamed when the mummy grabbed ahold of his face and brought it before its own. The creature started sucking the life out of the man- literally.

The man who had previously been a healthy and active person was now shrivelled up like a raisin. His face was dry and wrinkled. He died soon afterwards, only a soft wheeze leaving his lips as he passed.

The opposite seemed to happen to the former-corpse, though. It attacked more and more people and for every kill, it appeared to revert to its original state- a man, pharaoh of an ancient kingdom. The flesh grew back and filled up in the right places and he seemed human again.

How can that be? He had been dead for centuries. Although, just about everything was pretty fucked up in this moment, so his make-over is the least important factor.

You backed into a corner. Your eyes followed the mummy’s every move, it was impossible to look away. There was hardly anyone left apart from you. The one person that was still there was getting attacked by the monster and it wasn’t long until they were reduced to nothing.

Now it was just you and the creature, and it appeared it knew that too.

It turned to look at you. The mummy had now completely reverted back into a man and he was nothing short of breathtaking(and very naked, but you tried not to think about it). It pained to to admit it but it was the truth. He was easily the most handsome man you’d ever laid eyes on. His long, dark hair flowed when he stalked towards you. Despite his outer beauty, you couldn’t forget what you’d just witnessed him do.

Trembling, you pressed yourself against the wall. “Stay away.” you weakly mumbled.

‘This is it. My time is over.’

You closed your eyes in fear and braced yourself for the pain that would undoubtedly come; only it didn’t. Instead of death, a hand grazed your cheek. It was a light touch, one reserved for something valuable and fragile.

A raspy voice talked, “…My love..it is you..”

You had no idea what he said, it sounded like an ancient language. You had studied hieroglyphs but did not know anything about what speech might’ve sounded like. You decided to be brave and slightly opened your eyes.

The mummy was staring at you, but there was no malice or hatred in his expression. In fact, the only emotion you could find on his face was amazement, shock and….love? No, that can’t be. This is not some ‘lovers reunited’ situation.

“How can this be? Death took you and left me all alone- not that I hold you accountable, of course. I know you would never seek to hurt me.” the mummy kept muttering to himself. “Perhaps….the magic worked after all?”

His face brightened and he smiled gently at you. Whilst he happily went on about something, you became more confused than earlier. What the hell was going on? He committed multiple murders in one swoop and now, suddenly, he is acting like you’re friends talking about your day. He isn’t even human! Or at least not anymore, not really.

You voiced this opinion weakly, “Ummm, could you let me go?” You tried pulling away from his touch, uncomfortable at his caresses.

His brows furrowed at your reaction. From the look of it, he didn’t understand you any better than you did him. He focused at the subtle way you attempted to peel his hand off your arm. You let out a yelp when his arms snaked around your waist and he pulled you into his embrace.

He leaned down and whispered into your ear, petting your hair at the same time. “Wife, why do you seem unhappy at my presence? I do not understand. Are you not joyous at our reunion? I love you so, I cannot comprehend any reason why you would not wish to see me.”

Even if you didn’t know what he was saying, you could hear the sadness in his voice. The pain and desperation. No! You couldn’t feel sad for him. He had murdured multiple of your colleagues, he’s evil! Although, why hasn’t he killed you yet? It’s very strange indeed.

The mummy continued, “I can sense things are not as they used to be. Things are different now. Although I do not know the extent of it. However I am most certain of one thing; I have miraculously been reunited with my love and I do not plan on letting you fall through my grasp again.”

He held you in an almost suffocating hug.

“I shall make you my queen once more.”

[wosohours]

i missed you - alexia putellas x reader

Alexia arrived at training in a sour mood with a pout on her face, the same pout that had been seen on her face frequently throughout the last three weeks.

“What’s wrong Capi? Your girl still hasn’t come back yet?” Mapi teased when she saw Alexia’s face. Alexia roller her eyes slightly shoving Mapi out of the way to get to her locker, “No, she will be there for four more days.” she sighed.

You had been gone for almost a month on a business trip out of the country. This is the longest you and Alexia have been apart since you two got together four years ago. Even when Alexia had to travel for major tournaments or national camp you would always try to be present at the games. Although this time it was you who was away and Alexia could not just ditch training and games to be with you.

Hence the reason for the almost permanent pout being stuck on the Catalan woman’s face for three weeks. Of course this is not the first business trip you have ever been on or the first time you and Alexia have been away from each other for a while, but being gone for more than a couple of days started to take a toll on Alexia. Little did she know it was starting to take a toll on you as well but with being constantly busy working you tried not to think about it as much.

Alexia did not want to seem clingy, obsessed, or act like she was heavily dependent on you, but to go from being attached to the hip everyday with someone to them not being around at all kind of threw her off a bit.

She did not realise how involved you were in each other’s daily lives and routines. Going to sleep and waking up alone sucked. Brushing her teeth alone was boring. Showering alone, of course, sucked. The first week you were gone she kept accidentally making two cups of coffee. She even tried to make the breakfast you make for her the same way, but it just did not taste right.

____________________

“The days will pass by soon, just think of it as…four more sleeps,” Patri chimed in across the room. “Yeah, four more ‘sleeps’ alone,” Alexia sulked, lacing up her boots.

“Okay Ale no more pouting, time to train,” Mapi walks over pulling Alexia up from her seat.

During training, Alexia was usually able to turn her brain off and do what she needed to do, but since her normal routine has been flipped upside down all this time and the anticipation of seeing you again weighed heavy on her might, she could not help but get distracted.

So much so that the amount of passes, easy shots, and penalties she was missing earned her concerned glances from her teammates and staff. Alexia understood their concern, they had El Clásico coming in two days, and messing up on easy drills was not looking good.

So she pushed through the rest of practice, showered, did her recovery, and left towards her car so she could get home and call you.

____________________

When Alexia arrived home she immediately jumped in bed and called you on FaceTime, “Hola bebé, I miss you so much.”

“Hola mi amor, I miss you too. How was training?” You asked her while propping your phone up so you two could see each other better.

Alexia groaned and smashed her head into your pillow before she looked up again, “It was terrible bebé I was missing everything, and on one of the set pieces I kicked the ball at Mapi’s back, and this time it wasn’t on purpose.”

That got a loud laugh out of you and Alexia thought about how she could not wait to hear it in person again. After you stopped laughing Alexia asked you about your trip and how work was going. You told her how great it was, how much fun you were having, and how special it was for you to be in the leadership position of the project.

“ I am very proud of you mi amor no one deserves this more than you and clearly the company thinks the same,” she told you with a small yawn.

“Thank you, baby. I appreciate it. Though I thought about you a lot, and it also made me think that maybe we needed this,” you said, causing Alexia’s eyes to shoot open.

Before she could respond you continued, “I know you are about to jump to conclusions but I mean that it is a good and healthy thing for our relationship. You know the saying ‘Distance makes the heart grow fonder.’ It made me stop and think about how much I love and appreciate you and the love that we have for each other.”

“You’re right, I didn’t think that far into it. I just thought about how much I miss you and that I can’t wait to have you by my side again.” Alexia replied, fighting to keep her eyes open.

“I’m going to let you sleep now, I love you and see you in a couple of days.” you told her. Alexia blew you a kiss through the phone, “I love you too, see you in four days.”

____________________

You had told Alexia the truth about how you had been thinking about her a lot. You two were very independent people when you first started dating and even now four years later, but in the last couple of months something had shifted between you and now you could not get enough of each other.

Now where you did not correct her was when she said “...see you in four days.” You were already at the airport staying in one of those convenient airport hotels waiting to get on your flight leaving for Barcelona in just a couple of hours. You texted Alba and Eli and told them your flight information letting them know what time you would be landing. Alba had agreed to pick you up and Eli would be sort of distracting Alexia from thinking of you all day.

The plan was to get to Barcelona a day early and stay with Alba so you could rest and the next day you would be attending El Clásico with the plan of surprising Alexia.

Checking the time on your phone you realize that you should get some sleep to prepare for your long travel day.

____________________

“Hola hermanaaa,” Alba cheered as you walked out of the airport with your luggage. “Hola Alba,” you laugh, letting go of your suitcases to give her a big hug.

“We have all missed you so very much, mami is making us all have dinner together at her place tomorrow so that we can all catch up and you can tell us about your trip,” she says, grabbing one of your suitcases and putting it in her car.

“That sounds great. I missed you all as well, your mama's cooking even more though,” you laugh as she rolls her eyes.

You both finally sit in the car and start the drive to Alba’s apartment, where you will be catching up on some sleep until the game tomorrow.

____________________

“Do you need a shirt or did you already pack ten for your trip?” Alba joked as you two started getting ready for the game. You were texting Alexia your usual, “Good Morning,” so that she would not get suspicious when you looked up hearing Alba speak.

“Haha, you’re so funny, but no I already have one,” you say, showing her the jersey with Alexia’s name and number on the back.

“Ouu and a special game worn one at that. I should’ve known, you are never without one,” she teases, shaking her head.

“I’m done getting ready. Are you ready to go now?” you ask, making Alba nod and grab her bag and keys so that you two can leave.

____________________

As you two were making your way to the entrance of the stadium you spotted Alexia and Alba’s mother and uncle already standing there waiting for you two. Everyone exchanges greetings and hugs before heading to their seats.

While you and Alexia’s family made small talk waiting for the game to start, Alexia was sitting in the locker room getting ready thinking about how this was the first El Clásico you would miss since you two got together.

“Are you ready Ale?” Mapi asked. Alexia looked up and gave her a nod and a small smile. Before Alexia could tie her boots she received a text notification from you.

“Don’t worry I’m watching. You’ll be great. I love you.”

She texted back, “Thank you. I love you more.”

This relaxed her a bit. Knowing that even though you were not physically here you would always support her no matter where you were. With that small boost of reassurance, Alexia stood up and clapped to get her team’s attention so that she could give her speech before the game.

____________________

When the girls started walking out you and everyone else stood up and started cheering. You were hoping to get Alexia’s attention but you know that she was focused on the game. The start of the game was entertaining as usual with both teams doing their best to score early and gain a lead, but with both teams holding their own it was 0-0 by the time half-time came.

As the girls were walking back to the locker room you and Alexia’s family tried once again to get her attention since you knew Alexia usually looked up at the family section when half-time was called. Sure enough, she heard her name being called and looked up to see her family there with you standing and cheering right next to them like you always did.

She could not believe that you were here when she was sure that you still had four more days of work in a whole different country. After she shook the disbelief off of her face she waved at all of you and slyly blew a kiss in your direction, which you pretended to catch.

In the locker room, Alexia could not hide the smile on her face. “Did you see your girl in the stands Capi?” Patri asked, grabbing her shoulder slightly, shaking her. “Looks like she couldn’t wait to see you either, Ale,” Mapi said, making Alexia blush.

After the half-time break was over the girls went back out with a little more fire earning them a goal from Frido, Aitana, and Caroline. Two goals being assisted by Alexia. Ending the game at 3-0.

Since the game was over the team did their rounds taking pictures and signing autographs. Alexia looked up at her family and nodded her head in the direction of the tunnel signaling them to make their way down there. Once Alexia was done she made her way to the tunnel and met with her family and she gave everyone hugs and kisses until she got to you.

“Oh mi amor I missed you so much, I can’t believe you here right now,” Alexia says pulling you into a tight hug laying kisses all over your face and the side of your head. “I also can’t even believe that you kept a secret from me, usually you spill faster than Mapi,” she teased, tickling your sides.

You laughed moving away from her a bit just for her to pull you back in, “I know it took a lot of willpower for me not to just give up and tell you, but when have I ever missed an El Clásico?” you asked her, holding her face in your hands.

“Never,” Alexia answered with a big smile.

“Okay, we know you too are in love and all, but Ale please go take a shower so that we can go eat,” Alba tells her. Eli softly slaps Alba on the arm and pulls her away.

“Yea go shower you stink, I will wait right here,” you tell her. Alexia rolls her eyes and nods before laying a soft kiss on your lips before going back into the locker room to take a shower.

____________________

You ended up riding back to Eli’s house with Alexia where you let her tell you all about the game, even though you were there. Her hand on your thigh the whole ride, you both stealing kisses at every red light. She thought she was slick taking the long way there but you had noticed and you were okay with it.

When you finally made it to the house, Eli was still finishing dinner so everyone sat around the kitchen and talked to keep her company while she finished. As dinner was served you started telling them all about your trip and the project you were working on. The whole time Alexia was not able to take her eyes and hands off of you, but it did not bother you because you were acting the same.

After dinner you all sat around the living room talking some more when Alexia whispered in your ear, “Are you ready to go home?” You nod your head and kiss her cheek.

When finished making your rounds to say goodbye to everyone and thanking Eli for the delicious dinner, you and Alexia head home.

____________________

When you two walk through the doors of your shared home Alexia pulls you into her arms and says, “I am never letting you out of my sight again.”

“I am so okay with that,” you reply, shoving your face in her neck to lay small kisses.

“Now let’s go to sleep, I know you miss me laying on top of you like your personal weighted blanket,” she says, making you laugh and follow her to the bedroom.

____________________

note: not sure i really like this 💀

also, i fight for my life not to say “yall” at least 20+ times

[brujaluas]

when will you and your future spouse decide to date?

pile 1

hello intense deck with energy, dense energies of the couple here, it could be that you and your future spouse are in a long-distance relationship or for some reason you need to stay apart and it seems that many people around you or your future spouse want to have a chance, This can lead to a lot of jealousy, aggression and possessiveness on both sides, you are already living far away from each other and you are aware that people want and desire you or your future spouse, and you will be left with a somewhat disillusioned feeling and will enter in an agreement to finally start dating, some here are taking a long time, some couples here have known each other for a long time, the relationship at the beginning will be intense too, I don't know how but you will overcome this distance but you may still feel strange and a little withdrawn, like I said, some didn't want a relationship or anything like that, but there will be a lot of lust and obsession between you, dose that

pile 2

Hello my beautiful and shy creatures, you are introverted or quite reserved or maybe both and guess what your future spouse is also, your future spouse may have had health problems that scared you and they, someone has a lot of blocks, maybe your love and that's why they stay in this feeling of needing to reserve oneself, but due to the scare they will say "I need this person", and after many, many thoughts and ramblings, they will stay together with you, like i say, you or your future spouse have many reservations and limitations that make inside of soul, you don't allow yourself, if you don't identify with it, your connection with your future love can make you feel everything that person feels, if they are sad you will know and sit with them in the bathroom with lights off and crying with they, that was very specific but I had a vision of it, it can happen, karma being overcome, you guys are cute.

pile 3

I don't know what to think, I'm going to have to pull more cards, I found it interesting because that's where I had the most cards but I still can't understand the scenario, well, it seems, your future spouse lives a life penalty, does a lot of things and responsibilities , may experience something within the family, will ask you to date or marry when cuts off this relationship has with blood relatives or moves away from their personal torment. I definitely think they will skip steps and ask you to marry them, without asking for a date. You and they can travel or live far away from the current place that they live, it will be better for both of you, I heard the future spouse wants everything new.

[mbsneur]

You‘re still the best

Cata Coll x Reader

Summary: cata lost against brazil

Warnings: angst

My Masterlist

please read this text before going to the story don't be so strict with me but rather write to me what I can do better or what you wished were different. also tell me if you find the story too long or too short.. Also write to me if you liked it. My requests are always open (and English is not my first language so don't be mad at me) and if you have any ideas for the future about who I should write please tell me… the topics I will choose by myself unless you have a request for one or two people I will Read everything.. in the next survey I will take a few ideas from the old survey and new ones…. now read and I hope you like it <33

(its a very short one)

your girlfriend missed out on the fight for the gold medal because of her mistakes

your heart stops you can't bear to see your girlfriend like this she runs off the field crying and takes all the blame for it

her little heart breaks into a thousand pieces it was her greatest wish to win this gold medal

a ball through her legs

a penalty because of her

an own goal

almost a fight

she didn't want to talk to anyone from her team her pained eyes you see in the stands and her tear-filled eyes meet yours

she looks at you and her look tells you that she is sorry she would apologise to you for everything although she has no compulsion to do so it will take her a huge effort to come into your presence

she runs into the changing rooms and can't bear to look at you again

you go down to the railing and wave laia over to you she also cries and comes over to you in displeasure

"can you please just give cata a big hug and tell her i'll wait outside the hotel please" you say and feel all your blood rush to your head and your eyes glaze over

"of course" tears roll down her cheeks and she tries to give you a little smile

none of the girls will shower there now they will all go to their nearby hotel to be by themselves and shower alone to rinse off all the pain

you take your bag and run to the exit to intercept cata as quickly as possible the way out was a torture everywhere people pushing each other and spanish people arguing with brazillians and a lot off drunk people

you've been waiting for her outside for a long time you stand around fidgeting and see the first spanish women coming out some of them hug you or give you a nice smile

until you see your friend she is still crying she comes running towards you and you try to take her in your arms by touching her shoulder but she pulls away from you

"let's go i have to take a shower" she says, wiping a few tears from her face

she runs ahead and you run tenaciously behind her she must be so hurt that she doesn't even want to give you a hug

you haven't exchanged a word all the way her body looks weak she opens the door to the room and pulls her jersey over her head and throws it in the corner her shoes find their place there too

cata's broken injured body is now on full display for you you slide up to her and place your hands gently on her shoulder blades and give her little kisses on the edges of her sports bras she relaxes into the kiss until she shrugs her shoulders and pushes you away from her

she turns around abruptly your body jerks and startles "can you just stop touching me" she says angrily and almost screaming you cross your arms embarrassed and take a step back she looks at you painfully and without saying anything else she disappears into the bathroom and locks the door behind her

slowly your tears are coming out that have been stuck inside you all evening cata has never been like this to you she has always met you with love

you crawl into bed and your feelings take over your thoughts go crazy and you hear your girlfriend swearing in the bathroom

//

an hour has passed and you mumble to yourself quietly the door of the bathroom opens and cata comes back in an oversized t-shirt and her boxers she is still crying " lo- lo siento amor" she says and tears stream down her cheeks

you sit up slightly and pull the blanket off your legs and nod to her your cheeks are blood red and burning from all your tears cata comes closer and her whole body lies firmly on top of you

you gently stroke her hairline and press her head firmly against your neck "it's okay i understand your pain it's okay" you tell her tearfully and her hands squeeze your body tighter

"i shouldn't have treated you like that i didn't appreciate you you're the only one who can take away my pain " she says and sobs

"it will get better you know how much I love you and that I will never let you fall" you say understandingly

"Will you promise me?" she asks, looking at you slightly

you have never seen cata so vulnerable she was always the strong one of the two of you "i promise you i will fix you and stay your home forever"

cata kisses your neckline lightly "you're still the best" you say with a slight grin

[burningcheese-merchant]

You have single handedly converted me into a burningcheese fan and it is now my hyperfixation fuck you /j (ty for feeding me 🫶🏼), in all seriousness I saw your fics and damn your writing is good :D I'm glad I wasn't the only one thinking spice was kinda acting yandere in the story 😭also the fankids are so cute omgg 💞 I'm sorry for yapping haha, have a lovely day/afternoon/evening :)

Hehehehehehehehehehehe I dragged someone else into the cult, there is no escape, you will ship BurningCheese or face the death penalty (seriously though, thank you! I cannot stress enough how happy it makes me that my writing brings people joy. I have many more fics planned for the future because I, too, am now fixated on this ship to the point of insanity, so stay tuned! I shall feed the BurningCheese nation until my kitchen blows up)

Tbh you kind of had to have been blind to NOT notice how down bad Spice was acting in episode 6 lol. There were hints of BurningCheese in episode 5, and then for ep 6 they just decided to go ham, I guess lol. Calling her "little bird". Smiling and laughing and CELEBRATING when she busts out of jail, saying he knew she wouldn't disappoint him. Pushing her to get high with him (wtf was with him constantly bringing up "the spices in the air" and telling her to breathe them in???). Tracking her either by her smell or her aura, idk he just always knew where she had been and there's a weird implication there lol. TELLING HER TO HER FACE THAT HE WILL DESTROY EVERYTHING TO GET HER. That demonic grin and laughter when she awakens, bro is HAPPY. EXCITED. Probably popping a boner tbh lmao. BurningCheese is canon, you guys, it's crazy /j

And thank you about the fankids 😭😭😭 I know I don't draw well at all, but I try (hopefully I start to improve eventually lol). I put a lot of thought into them both and I just love them a lot 😭 I can't wait to share their stories with you all, I have so much already done or planned and I really hope people take interest and stick around to hear it all

[tpher]

on the topic of chris not being THAT different in pahkitew, i CAN pin down some differences he does have that ultimately take away a lot of his charm

less chris+chef interactions. it didnt start in pahkitew but u can see that theres practically no moments between them here. likely since they pair chris w topher for half the season, but still. what if there was still like this distance between the two, but u also added a chef+topher dynamic. maybe chef just finds it amusing how topher tortures chris. just a thought

theres less of like.. chris' gay quirks. do u know what im talking abt. like in tda saying he made the challenge later in the day bc he was getting a manicure. lighthearted character-centric jokes so that hes more beyond just ~sadistic host~. often overlaps w the first point bc of course

chris being just rly.... irritated by everything this time around? again u could explain it away w him having to deal w topher but it makes for such a.... idk how to explain it. he causes FOUR eliminations (amy, sammy, ella, max) JUST bc he finds them annoying. keep the twins around for the drama. give ella a penalty or put her on the other team or SOMETHING not fully getting rid of her for singing. max.

this is less of a "chris not being fun" thing and more like the writers missing out on a fun opportunity, but what if topher DID get to host the show just once. and chris was still pulling the strings behind the scenes to make him have a hard time to get him eliminated. it wouldve been fun and different!

tldr its not that hes ""extra mean"" this season its just that they removed basically everything else he had going on

[raapija]

Just a regular day

Fernando Alonso/Lance Stroll

No warnings needed, just fluff <3

It's been a long day at the karting track and Lance goes to find Fernando to take him home.

This is part of the pookie au ->

Lance stretched back in his chair and yawned. He was finally done cataloging every piece of paper and recording everything on the computer database. He rubbed his eyes and looked at his watch.

"Half seven..." he mumbled to himself and relaxed for a moment longer. He looked out the office window and down towards the track. The sun was setting and painted the sky pink. It was so quiet compared to just a few hours before with about 20 karts speeding around the track and dozens of family members and friends cheering for them.

Lance could see some movement from the other side of the track where the garages and storage buildings were. He sat up to see better and could make out a familiar figure wheeling along one of the karts used in the race. Oh, Fernando was still working on something. The Canadian decided to wrap up his things and head down to see what he was doing. The whole building was empty, apart from a little old cleaning lady tidying up the offices. Lance said his good byes to her and made his way outside.

***

"Hey," Lance said as he stopped at the garage opening, looking at Fernando hunched over the kart he had been moving. "Whatcha doing?"

Fernando peered up and smiled as he saw Lance, his hands busy loosening some screws. As he looked back down, his face contorted in frustration as one of the screws wouldn't come out. "The engine was making a sound so I'm just checking it."

"It's almost seven, we should go home." Lance said and walked over to him, crouching down and watching Fernando tinker with the engine. The Spaniard's hands were covered in black oil and grease and Lance thought it made him look quite rugged. In a good way.

"Yeah, it's not gonna take long. You can go if you want to. I'll get a ride from someone." Fernando said and Lance huffed.

"I'm not leaving you here, you'll stay the whole night. Besides, it's only us and Juanita still here. And she can't strap you onto her Vespa." the Canadian said. Fernando chuckled and then pointed towards a toolbox off to the side.

"Well, help me then and we'll go." he said and Lance reached for the toolbox, handing Fernando whatever he needed. They worked together on the engine with Lance giving suggestions on the possible fix and Fernando trying them out. Finally, they found the right part that was causing the noise and Fernando ripped the whole thing off and changed in a new one. They fired up the kart and were satisfied to hear it run smoothly.

***

"Well!" Lance chirped with a clap as Fernando got up to clean his hands. It was almost eight now and he was feeling famished. They had only had a quick lunch break between practise and qualifying and that was almost 7 hours ago. "Can we go home now?"

"Yeah, sí." Fernando said as he wiped his hands clean with WD-40. Lance grimaced as he knew how rough Fernando's hands would get after that. The Spaniard rinsed his hands with water and then walked over to Lance, pulling him close by the waist. He looked up to Lance and gave him a warm smile. "How was your day?"

Lance smirked at him and loosely wrapped his arms around Fernando's shoulders. "Fine. Busy, but fine. I had a lot of fun actually."

"Yeah?" Fernando hummed. Lance could see how tired he was, eyes all droopy and his whole being a bit disheveled. "A lot of official, very important race director business?"

"Yeah, sure." Lance laughed. His job for today had been to keep a record of everything happening on track. Participants, timing, possible penalties, finishing positions... It was a lot but he was pretty good at handling ten different things at once. And he had a couple people help him that worked full-time at the museum, so it wasn't really all that bad.

"Hmm..." Fernando hummed again and got up on his tip toes to give Lance a good and long kiss. Content with the smooch, he slumped back down and rested his forehead on Lance's shoulder. "Take me home, por favor."

"Okay..." Lance said and held him for a bit longer. Fernando smelled like oil, petrol and sweat, not the best combination of flavours but Lance loved it. It reminded him of his own karting days in Canada.

"Come on, then." Lance said and they let go of each other. They gathered their belongings and closed up the garage. It was pretty dark outside with only a few lamps lighting up the track. They walked hand in hand, talking about what they were going to have for a late dinner. Lance loved these kinds of sweet moments with Fernando. Nothing but them and ordinary every day conversation. Like they weren't famous F1 drivers with a million eyes on them at every waking moment, but just a couple of regular boring people with regular boring lives. Oh, what he would give for it to be like this always and forever. But then again, driving an F1 car was pretty nice, too.

"Lancito, churri?" Fernando called for him gently and Lance broke out of his daydream. He had fallen a few steps behind and now had to catch up.

"Yeah, yeah, coming." the Canadian hurried over to the car, throwing his things on the backseat as Fernando held the door open. They then went to their own respective places; Lance on the wheel and Fernando riding shotgun. It didn't take long after pulling out the parking lot that the Spaniard already fell asleep. Lance listened to the radio on low volume, driving along an empty road and cherished the moment once more. Him and his husband going home, the home that they had bought together. Just regular people driving back to their regular home. It was perfect for him.

▹.࿙𝆤𝆤��'𝆤࿙𝆤𖹭𝆤࿚𝆤'࿙𝆤𝆤࿚.࿙𝆤𝆤࿚'𝆤࿙𝆤𖹭𝆤࿚𝆤'࿙𝆤𝆤࿚.▹

Thanks for reading <3 I've been thinking of writing something with the karting school for a while now and finally got inspired enough to do it. Hope y'all like it 🥰

[kohabielnin]

Hi I really like your truth and inference posts and wondering if you can do a headcanon of their reaction if reader betrays them?

As you didn't make it very clear what kind of betrayal it would be, I assumed it was related to work, as I don't feel comfortable writing about betrayal in a relationship.

Truth & Inference Responding to Betrayal

D.M/Désire Mélodis

• He wasn't surprised because he already imagined that you were working with Lady Truth and Mr. inference,

• Of course, he was very disappointed because you were the one responsible for the information,

• Business must continue, so he gave you a choice of leaking information from Mr. Inference while leaking information from him to the detective,

• Obviously he saw this as a new way to play with you and Mr. Inference,

• If you refuse to do this, then let's say it's over, after all DM will never forgive a traitor,

• But if you agree, he'll never trust you as much as he did before.

Tuberose/Jack

• To say he felt betrayed was an understatement,

• Come on, this man was your co-worker and you simply told Mr. Inference and Lady Truth about his existence,

• He can't look at your face without feeling repulsed,

• He was really very disappointed in you,

• You never went on a mission together again because he asked D.M that this never happen again,

• Congratulations, you made it to the Tuberose blacklist

Noir/Saphir Mélodis

• He already imagined something like that, he quickly realized when you started acting strange,

• He was very disappointed in you, obviously.

• He tried to make a deal, that he wouldn't tell D.M that you were betraying the Mélodis family, as long as nothing compromising was leaked,

• He didn't pretend that something like this didn't happen while you moved on, after all you betrayed his trust,

• If you don't end up accepting his deal, he won't hesitate to end you, don't take him the wrong way, he's only faithful to his brother,

• Even Leon was sad when he found out and the hawk really liked you

Gatto/Aesop Carl

• He suspected that you were slowly becoming clear about the Silent Rebel's identity,

• When D.M entered his laboratory with you by his side, everything became clear to Gatto,

• The person he trusted betrayed him by handing him over to D.M and now his life was gone,

• Cat never wanted to come near you again, neither she nor the other kittens,

• Even though the penalty that D.M gave him was light at his request, Gatto was never able to be in the same environment as you again,

• In other words, Gatto reacted in the same way as Tuberose, or even worse

Mr. Inference/Naib Subedar

• He threw a fit of rage when he found out, Lady Truth managed to calm him down,

• Come on, he never thought you would go to D.M's side even though he knew everything,

• He kicked you out of the agency even though Lady Truth begged him not to,

• The last words he said to you was to do whatever you wanted and never look for him again,

• Lady Truth was angry at Mr. Inference's overreaction, but she couldn't go against her best friend,

• It hurt him a lot when he found out about such a thing, but you had made your choice

White/Saphir Mélodis

• Congratulations, you broke it,

• When he had the vision of you cheating on him, he just felt broken,

• He had done everything to make you feel good around him and you did this to him, why?

• Owl was sad that White wouldn't let her sleep on his head or shoulder anymore,

• At first you didn't understand why he suddenly started acting like that, but when the penny dropped, you felt guilty,

• But now there was no going back, the mistake had already been made.

[niiwa-angel]

Hal and Barry have been dating for a while and both of them have been hunting about getting married. They've been talking about where they'd theoretically have the ceremony, where they'd take a honeymoon, who would be their best men, etc. the only thing they haven't done is actually asked the question.

And that's what Hal is pondering as he's doing a really BORING mission for the Lanterns. But if he wants to propose, he needs a ring and there in lies the problem. Rings are expensive and he is broke as fuck because being an intergalactic space cop somehow doesn't have a salary. And while he's thinking this, he stumbles onto some pretty red and green rocks and has a light bulb moment. He doesn't need to buy a ring, he can make a ring! Here are all these pretty rocks just laying around on this dead planet!

So he takes some rocks, a big ish chunk of iron from a nearby comet, brings them back to earth and gets to work. His lantern ring can do anything needed to make Barry the perfect ring and that's what he's going to do. He puts a ton of thought into it, because Barry works with his hands a lot at work and often has to wear gloves that prevent him from wearing jewelry, he makes it specifically so that the ring will still be pretty if he pins it to his shirt or wears in on a chain. The centerpiece is a big, pretty green rock with lots of red in it that he manages to polish into looking shiny, and it's surrounded by little pieces of sea glass that's red and green too. He gets the iron purified and into a perfectly sized ring for Barry's finger and polished that to a shine too. The most expensive thing about the ring is the dollar store box it came in because he didn't technically have to pay for materials or labour.

So he proposed, Barry said yes, they have their wedding, they both say "I do", Hal steps on the glass, and they honeymoon in Italy. It's beautiful, they're madly in love, everything is going perfectly.

Until Kilowag shows up and is like "Hal, the Guardians want you. You've broken intergalactic law."

And it turns out that the law Hal broke was bringing the rocks back to earth. The Guardians have a rule against that so that rocks that a valuable on one planet can't be brought from another planet and tank the economy. And Barry is wearing the evidence.

So now Hal and Barry, because if his idiot husband is appearing before space court, he's coming along. Their vows said through thick and thin, he just hadn't expected it to happen so soon. And if course, John Stewart, Guy Gardener, and Alan Scot tag along. One for support and two because this is the funniest fucking thing to happen all decade. And then the Justice League finds out about it and they have to go too. One for support and two because this is the funniest fucking thing ever.

The entirety of the case, Bruce is sitting beside Barry whispering to him "it's not to late to leave. We can get out of here right now. I have amazing lawyers, we can get you an annulment and it'll be like this never happened" because he's a supportive friend and also (perhaps even more importantly) he does not like Hal.

But Barry's like "we definitely don't qualify for annulment and I don't think any lawyer is going to believe us if we tell them this"

Hal and Guy are arguing that Hal didn't take the rocks to profit off of them, he took them to make them into a gift. John is talking about earth traditions of giving pretty things to your partner to try and make it seem like this was a weird instinctual thing Hal did by accident to get an insanity plea.

Alan is arguing to give Hal the death penalty.

And then one of the Guardians says that Hal intended to profit off the Bloodstones he took by selling the ring when Bruce freezes and then slaps himself. Hard.

"Bloodstones are pretty much worthless on earth" he says.

And then the Guardians freeze because they've been basing their whole argument on Hal somehow profiting of the pretty rocks he found on a dead planet, only to find out that he basically took beer caps.

So now they have to find out how much the ring is worth, to see if they even have a case. And it turns out they do not.

And it turns out that the entirety of the ring is worth MAYBE, generously, $30. Maybe, if the appraiser is blind. Or new. Because Bloodstone is cheap. Iron is in no demand on Earth. And there are no valuable gems in the ring. Hal didn't even use his ring to know for certain what rocks he picked up off the ground, he literally just thought they were pretty and that Barry would like them because Barry is a nerd who likes space rocks. The only value the ring has is its appearance.

And now basically the entirety of their honeymoon has been spent keeping Hal's dumb ass out of space jail over a pretty ring that, while resilient and made with love, isn't worth anything. So now the Guardians feels dumb and everyone else is asking "how the hell did you even know Hal took the rocks?"

And it turns out the Eobard found out and told Sinestro, who got it back to the Guardians. It's the dumbest thing ever.

They get back and the other lanterns basically look at Hal and ask "so despite all the research you did on how to make the ring, you never stopped to consider the laws of the universe?"

Hal never gets to live it down and it's why Barry gets to put a finger down for "Never Have I Ever Seriously Considered Killing my Beloved Husband After Less Than A Week Of Being Married"

[dizzyduck44]

Why Hungary was so hollow

An F1 win is an amazing achievement. One of the pinnacles of a drivers career. As a fan, we remember the ones that carry real weight to them, that come with a backstory, a driver we have felt has been unfortunate in the past, a truly spectacular drive.

Most of the drivers on the current F1 grid fall into that category. Pierre’s spectacular drive at Monza, the sheer weight of emotion for Charles at Spa, the feeling of justice for Lewis in Canada, the absolutely fairytale nature of Max in Barcelona, after driving brilliantly for 3 years against the might of that Red Bull car we all felt Lando deserved that win in Miami and who can forget the spectacular last to first debut win of Checo in Sakir when he was facing the end of his career.

We cherish them because they were special, earned, deserved. It’s what makes people cry over this sport and watch it all their life.

And this is why what happened in Hungary makes me uncomfortable and goes against the nature of what makes this sport special.

Team orders are not new. Hell Valtteri is cracking jokes about them now. For me they came to the forefront in the Michael Schumacher Ferrari days. And they were not liked. They were booed on the podium and on one occasion even messed it up and had the wrong driver win on the line. However it became accepted that if you want to win a championship, you had to resort to it.

And my God did Mercedes and Red Bull resort to it!

However it was going on further down the field for constructors points. I’ve never hidden from the fact that Carlos and Lando’s first podiums for McLaren required team orders (and penalties for Hamilton). We have seen Kevin gain more penalty points than actual points this season carrying out team orders. I swear Fernando is in charge of Aston’s and previously Alpine’s team orders. Somehow it became the norm to apply team orders for any situation and that was never going to end well.

Dispute it all you want Monza 2021 was a race decided on team orders, (confirmed yet again last week by Zak Brown) and at the point maybe people should have sat up, took notice and realised this is a bit of a slippery slope we are on. But no it was 2021, the Max and Lewis show, so a lot of other things got ignored.

And so to Hungary 2024. Now this is not analysis of why McLaren pitted who when, or why they now admit it never occurred to them they might be under pressure from people behind (seriously McLaren. SERIOUSLY!!!). Or the radio messages 🤬🤬🤬 Or the fact that apparently Lando was the reason this all went tits up ?!?!?!?!? We are going to look at how team orders have now handed a driver their first win in circumstances almost impossible to justify and seemingly implying they are banking that favour for later in the season.

There are two things that are key to this. Firstly the start and then everything that happened around the second pitstops.

Oscar got the lead yes, but then Max took 7 laps to let Lando through and only when threatened with a penalty, gifting Oscar that lead.

However Oscar’s first little off road adventuring just before the second pitstop changed a lot in the race. Lando caught him up. Now that nice gap McLaren had to double stack had gone.

They called Lando in as Lewis was 9 seconds behind, in out, 2 laps later Oscar in, out. Up to now this its straight forward. Simple switcharoo, easy 1-2.

Then Oscar went off the track again. This puts him 3 seconds behind Lando and 7 seconds ahead of Lewis. He is now closer to Lewis than Lando was before the pitstops.

At this point McLaren should have gone into save the race mode, instead they were transfixed on what they thought was going to happen 5 laps ago.

And what resulted from this was embarrassing not only for McLaren but F1. Team orders resulted in a driver slowing down a nearly 7 second lead to give his team mate who admitted he couldn’t catch him, his first win. And like most people I sat there thinking, WTF!

We watch F1 for the racing, the intelligence required to predict the best way forward to win the race. The necessity of the perfect pitstop and keeping the car on the grey stuff. It cheapens it when team orders gets used so flagrantly.

I’ve seen McLaren do this before in 1997 with Mika Hakkinen) however difference being Mika was a driver that nearly died in a crash in 1995. He had been on the grid a while and when McLaren rocked up with their missile in 1997 the drivers made an agreement whoever lead into the first corner of the first race could have the win. Mika led most of the race and then misheard a garbled radio message (no digital back then) and came into the pits when he didn’t need to. Coulthard was asked to give the place back and did (and we know how that ended, see Hungarian commentary for proof). End result people felt that win for Hakkinen was deserved, earned.

Hungary didn’t have the same sense of fairness about it. It wasn’t the first or last race of the season, no championships have been decided, every point counts. Oscar yes had driven a great 2/3rds of the race. But tiny errors had put him in the position he was in. If it was merely the undercut then that would have been resolved quickly. It came down to errors and lack of pace at the end. If you can’t catch the leader, how the hell can you expect to lead?

I used to think Esteban had the luckiest win on the F1 grid with Bottas bowling 7 cars at the start of the race. Nope this now takes that honour.

Let’s remember currently this is not for a championship (people would argue it hinders the championship). This was team orders because they can. The first time Oscar had every found himself near a win and despite the fact in any other circumstances he would have to take those mistakes as lessons learnt, McLaren gave him the win, because they think they are going to need him to return the favour later in the season. (Which means we will be going through this shitshow again).

That’s what sours the win and makes it feel hollow. Yes at some point any driver in a front running team is going to be gifted a win but not their first and not so obviously. It cheapens the credit of an F1 win period.

And I feel for those drivers who put in years of work at teams with non competitive cars. Who drove brilliantly. Who when the time came had to fight for that first win, case in point Seb or Jenson. Or had their first wins taken from them by the team’s errors, think Lando and George. There is no sense of accomplishment for Oscar.

Lando didn’t spoil that moment for Oscar. It’s hard to celebrate a win that doesn’t feel like it was earned.

The worst part of this, we all knew Oscar would win a race eventually. This didn’t need to be done at all. This for me feels like Max’s first title. Will always be questioned because of outside assistance, was it earned or was it gifted?

Hungary 2024 is not a race F1 should look back on fondly.

[chirpingfromthebox]

A frame-by-frame look at the controversial call in the 12/4/2024 BOS v. MIN PWHL game

I'm gonna go ahead and put this under a break so as not to cause pain to the scrollers, because I've attached so many images onto this thing.

Okay, first of all, don't come after me for this. I don't know enough about hockey to have an educated opinion on what the ruling should or shouldn't have been. I'm merely showing this for clarification, because it is actually weirder than it seems.

So according to Courtney Kessel in the post-game interview, the Flaherty-Müller incident was downgraded from a major because it was ruled that Müller's own stick is what hit her in the head.

I was confused by that because I was only able to quickly see a quick replay on my phone while at work and it looked pretty gnarly. And even now that I'm at my computer and can see it on a much bigger screen it still looks wild. But if blow it up and go frame by frame I can see what the refs were talking about.

I'll screenshot how it plays out, but feel free to check out the footage that I was looking at.

My apologies to any mobile readers because this sequence will probably be really hard to see on a phone screen unless you click on every image and zoom in

Okay, so let's start here. Müller has the puck and Flaherty has started coming at her.

As they get a bit closer, Müller's stick starts to come up and you can see the puck.

Eagle-eyed viewers will note that all these pictures are from the same second on the timestamp, so this is what I'm talking about when I say it happens fast.

But this is where things get confusing. It's blurry because it isn't the most hi-def camera around and everything is moving fast, but in the above picture Müller's stick is up at about Flaherty's shoulder level and they have yet to make contact.

You might have to click on the photo here and zoom in a little, but this is approximately where some contact first occurs. We can see Müller's stick is really high here, I can't tell from this angle, but it's potentially touching Flaherty's cage, and Flaherty's forearm looks like it is touching Müller's shoulder (but I can't really tell where Müller's chin is from this angle). The stick is currently in between them and that is what makes everything that's about to happen really messy.

Okay, so in that series of split seconds, we can see that the hit was made, but because of where the stick was it took part of that blow.

And let's stop the tape there.

So now the refs suddenly have a lot to figure out. Was Flaherty's arm up because she was trying to protect herself from the raised stick or because she was trying to go for a hit? Was she aiming for the head or did the stick interfere? Did she hit Müller's head at all or was the blow caused from the momentum the stick took from the impact forcing it upwards afterwards?

Luckily I'm not a ref, so I don't have to make calls like this! Having thousands of people watching me trying to figure this out would 100% give me a panic attack.

If I had to pick I'd probably just say 5 minute major penalty for sure. But I probably wouldn't go for expulsion just because the stick being positioned so high makes things way too muddy.

But what they decided on was a 2min minor "Check to the Head (Accidental)" saying that the blow wasn't a major penalty because it was caused by the stick and not directly from Flaherty.

And what I've learned is that a hit I already thought was a mess, was actually an even bigger mess. At the end of the day though all I really care about is that Müller is alright after that. So hopefully we get word on that soon!

[hyperfiiixate]

the greasers and their favourite the garden songs because they are some of my interests and i will talk about them in conjunction with each other !!!!!

(and you will have to deal with that)

dallas: he would love all the scream-y songs, especially since he would probably walk around with a speaker blasting them just to piss people off.

songs such as:

- hit eject

- please fuck off

- sneaky devil

- vexation

- kiss my super bowl ring

- what else could i be but a jester

- grass

- lowrider slug

- a struggle

- at the campfire

- devour

- all smiles over here :)

- a fools expedition

- interrupt

- have a good day sir

- horseshit on route 66

- orange county punk rock legend

- the king of cutting corners

- call the dogs out

- puerta de limosina

- OC93

- literally just the entire kmsbr album

yeah u get the gist. (i have thought so much about dallas’ favourite the garden songs because he is just ??? so ???? the garden ?????? like if he were a teenager in 2024 he would love the garden. rip dallas winston you would have loved the garden) (he would also love their side projects turkey and penalty kill)

ponyboy: he likes to go digging on youtube, band camp and soundcloud for all of their songs that aren’t on spotify and also search for any vada vada lost media. loves a lot of their earlier stuff. has to listen to the garden with headphones because they’re too annoying for darry (😞). idk these songs have his vibe:

- no destination

- a message for myself

- make yer mark

- everything is perfect

- express - sector 28

- circles

- the life and times of a paperclip

- life as a hanger

- what we are

- together we are great

- freight yard

(i didnt rlly think about ponyboys favourites and i havent listened to all of their unreleased stuff YET so when i get around to that i will definitely edit this post with more for ponyboy)

johnny: doesn’t rlly listen to the garden but has picked up a few songs that he likes because he listens with dally or ponyboy (there will be very few songs here sorry !! i feel like he would love their solo projects more (enjoy + puzzle) because sonically they have his vibe. especially enjoy) (i will probably make a post about their favourite enjoy + puzzle songs) anyway here:

- egg (his all time favourite the garden song ever)

- make this a challenge - we like you

- the apple

- birds nest

- chainsaw the door

- fix

- aunt j

- gumdrops

- i’ll stop by tomorrow night

- crystal clear

yeah !!!! he doesn’t listen to them a whole lot but when he does with dally or pb he makes sure to queue these songs. tbh he would be an avid enjoy listener with a bit of puzzle sprinkled in too. he doesn’t use spotify that often and just listens to his liked songs on shuffle play

two bit: I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!!! he loves all the goofy sounding ones with random ass sound effects that just pop up unexpectedly. loves the songs that have the biggest clown vibes and will listen to the garden with soda and steve at the dx. also tried (and failed) to get marcia to listen to the garden. anyway his faves:

- call this # now

- play your cards right

- california here we go

- u want the scoop?

- clay

- all access

- :(

- shameless shadow

- banana peel

- stylish spit

- good news

- thy mission

- haunted house on zillow

- at the campfire

- make a wish

- stallion

- the whole mmsyc album

- haha

- red green yellow

- i guess we’ll never know

- everything has a face

- what else could i be but a jester

yeah. loves himself a good goofy sound effect or two (or more). his taste scares darry a bit (he doesn’t see the appeal for the garden (tasteless)) and he definitely blasts these with dallas to annoy people

sodapop: he likes all the songs that got popular on tiktok lets be honest here, but he’s just a casual listener like johnny, and will sometimes pick up songs from ponyboy or twobit that he likes. mainly listens to the garden when repairing cars at the dx because they make “good car repairing music” (whatever that means). his favourites:

- this could build us a home

- call this # now

- california here we go

- clay

- chainsaw the door

- haha

- freight yard

- thy mission

- horseshit on route 66

- shameless shadow

yeah just likes the popular stuff, he never rlly got into the garden

steve: just likes the same songs soda likes because he too never rlly got too into the garden and those are the songs he’s only rlly listened to. makes fun of ponyboy for nerding out about finding all the obscure songs at any chance he can get (sorry steve)

ALTHOUGH he does have one song that is unique from sodapop’s taste:

- OC93

that’s it. that’s steve’s favourite the garden song that is unique form soda’s favourites and tbh he’s so valid for that

darry: “i can’t listen to that right now i have a headache, turn it off!!” would rather eat rocks than listen to the garden because they annoy him too much. made it a rule that ponyboy and soda could only listen to the garden when he’s out of the house or they are out of earshot from him. HOWEVER !!!! he likes one of their songs!! he can tolerate one song!!!!

- california here we go

YAY!!!! he has taste we must admit, but also his entire music taste would just be either classical music, old soft rock songs or rain sounds.

yeah thanks for reading if u did sorry i needed to ramble about this desperately AGAGDHSJA

[soleminisanction]

Can you lay out what the problems were with TimSteph relationship (in canon terms)? On both sides. Because I’d like to have something I can point to in reference when people get mad when I say the relationship seemed unhealthy

You'll excuse me if I stick to summary instead of citations, otherwise it'd be way too much for Tumblr; I go into more detail on a lot of these in some of my other posts.

From Tim's side, most of the problems stem from or tie back into a... I almost want to say power dynamic, but I don't think that's entirely right because it's not that he "has power" over Steph, he's not her boss or her superior officer or anything. But he does have legitimacy, experience and acceptance within the sphere of masked superheroes that Steph very much does not (or at least, not while they're romantically involved), and that leaves their relationship imbalanced.

Tim and Steph are both pointedly aware of this, and Tim sometimes holds that over her head, particularly when it's brought up that he knows her secret identity (having figured it out after their first meeting) but she doesn't know his for the longest time. He is also sometimes condescending as a result, though what counts as "condescending" is very much up to interpretation -- like, I don't count him ordering her around while they're on patrol together as "condescending" because he is legitimately the one who knows what he's doing and she is the untrained amateur. That to me is like claiming it's "condescending" for an EMT to order around some rando with basic first aid training when trying to save someone's life.

Then there's the complication with Tim's need to keep secrets and compartmentalize his civilian life away from his superhero one. The rule about Batman forbidding the secret ID sharing was added after Zero Hour to up the drama a bit, but the core of the issue was originally all Tim. He had a psychological need to keep the two parts of his life separate, and that required keeping big secrets about his true identity and forced him to keep Steph at arm's length. He knew everything about her, but she knew basically nothing about him, and that's not a recipe for a healthy relationship.

Though, to be fair, Tim himself was very aware of this, which is why, right at the beginning of their relationship, he laid all of that out for her in explicit terms and made it clear that he thought the two of them getting together was a bad idea for that reason. And Steph told him that she was okay with that and wanted to try anyway, explicitly agreeing to allow him the boundary of keeping his identity.

Which is why it's such a problem that she goes back on that and starts going behind his back to uncover his secret identity for herself, in plain violation of the boundary she agreed to. Like, that's the thing that makes it actually bad for me -- if she wasn't involved with him and didn't know the penalty he'd suffer for breaking the rule, it'd be one thing, but the fact that she not only knew but made a verbal agreement to respect her boyfriend's wishes and went back on it, that's the thing that makes it a relationship deal-breaker for me. Especially because once she finally does find out, her reaction is to mock him, so delighted that she's getting one over on him that she's completely oblivious to the near-panic attack he's having as a result; that doesn't indicate that she cares much about his feelings or well-being.

This isn't the first or the last time that Steph will make a verbal agreement that she has no intention of keeping, either -- that's what got her fired from Robin. Tim might keep secrets and have to lie about his activities as a result, but Steph is actively deceitful, you can't trust her word, she'll tell you what you want to hear, do whatever she wants anyway, and then be offended when you try to hold her to the terms of the agreement she knowingly made.

And she assumes that the people around her, including Tim, are going to be the same way, which means that she's also intensely jealous. If Tim so much as mentions that he knows another girl, Steph immediately assumes that he's cheating on her and lashes out in a rage, refusing to talk it out with him and focusing instead on getting revenge on him -- she does this at least twice.

Steph is also very willing to hurt Tim (and other people, but Tim gets the brunt of it) to get what she wants. She wants Batman's approval and attention, so when she comes back from faking her death and he (in the midst of outside manipulation in the lead-up to Final Crisis) tells her to test Tim first by stalking him, then by hiring an assassin to attack him, and then by working with one of his arch-nemeses to challenge him, she goes along with it without a second thought.

And then she refuses to apologize or even acknowledge responsibility for any of it, blaming other people (mostly Batman) and acting like she didn't have a choice or any agency, in spite of half her characterization being built around telling Batman to go fuck himself. More often than not, she bullies Tim into apologizing to her for being upset about the thing that hurt him in the first place.

Also: Steph hits her boyfriends. She has dated two men and has been shown hitting them both, not in the acceptable context of training or a superhero throw-down, but because they made her angry and she wanted to shut them up. Sometimes it's played as a joke, sometimes for drama, sometimes it's an Empowering Feminist Moment, but it's always bullshit because it's never portrayed as a bad thing.

There's also a subjective argument to be made that she is emotionally abusive, using insults disguised as mean-spirited "jokes" to cut down her partner's self-esteem and bully him into doing what she wants. In a similarly subjective space, it's very easy to argue that their relationship began with a good 50 issues of Robin full of Steph sexually harassing Tim, forcing kisses, physical affection and pick-up lines on him even while he repeatedly asked her to stop.

Tim did "start it" by kissing her, once, while deprived of oxygen, in thanks for saving him from suffocation, but for a long while after, every time she tried something like that, he would ask her to stop.... and she wouldn't, laughing off his protests and insisting that he wanted it in a very, "your mouth says no but your body says yes" rape culture kinda way. Which then brings us back around to the lack of respect she has for Tim's boundaries, which is really the heart of the problem on her part of the relationship.

---

TL;DR -- From Tim's side, the issue is mostly that he has a status over her that he wants to maintain that keeps their relationship unbalanced. From Steph's, the issues stem from a lack of respect for her partner's boundaries, which extends to some controlling and arguably abusive tendencies.

And that's not even getting into the very subjective interpretation that Tim might not even be attracted to Steph at all, he just feels compelled to have a girlfriend so he doesn't have to confront how deep in the closet he is and thus gives in after she makes it clear she won't take no for an answer. But like I said, that one's super subjective and up to interpretation.

[tenleaguesbeneath]

Random thoughts toward a D&D-alike attribute generation system:

Things I like from 3d6-in-order:

You don’t meet your character until you generate them. Rather than coming up with a character concept and fitting it into the rules (or bringing in a preexisting character and importing them), you learn about your character through the process of generating them.

Characters have unexpected strengths; a character is not entirely predictable from their class.

Things I don’t like:

Tends to generate mediocre and boring characters. Very high odds of getting all/almost all stats in the 9-12 range, which is boring.

Can generate unbalanced parties

Basically everything else

A thing I’m neutral on:

Not knowing your character class until you roll

So!

I’m thinking about something using card draws. You get a certain number of draws, and every draw adds a minor positive feature to your character, or possibly negates a negative one.

I think I’d line the suits up with classes. Going with the classic four, Diamonds-Thieves and Hearts-Clerics are the obvious pairings; the tarot suit equivalents suggest Spades-Fighters (Swords) and Clubs-Mages (Wands). Arguably, the tarot suits could be used all around; coins for thieves and cups for clerics, but that leaves a question of what to do with the major arcana (tbh, probably best left out).

Then each card in each suit needs to be assigned an ability. Probably I would use enough draws in character creation that abilities don’t have to be exactly balanced (it’ll average out over enough draws) but none of them can be too powerful for a first-level character to have.

How many draws? Five is probably too few, thirteen (a full bridge hand) is probably too many.

For abilities, I’m thinking:

Spades:

Always-on bonus to melee damage (replaces the bonus from a high strength score)

Always-on to-hit bonuses

Extra HP (replaces the bonus from a high constitution score)

Better starting equipment (yeah, this one gets obsoleted pretty fast, but it helps you survive long enough to obsolete it)

Weapon specialization?

Hearts:

Auspicious divine influence?

AD&D’s only bonus spells were a cleric-only thing for high wisdom. I could see having it give spell slots that, for non-clerics, can only be used for certain spells. especially for healing spells.

I’d put any destiny stuff here, too. If your character is prophesied for something or cursed in some way, that’s a hearts thing.

Really though anything to do with clerics depends pretty deeply on how clerics work and I’m not happy with that.

Diamonds:

Stealth bonus (importantly, this applies whether or not you’re a thief)

Bonus vs surprise attacks?

Criminal contacts?

Clubs:

Otherworldly contacts

Chance to understand strange languages

Improved chances to identify magic/if you’re using classic-style chance to learn spell rolls, improved chances there (D&D3 equivalent would be a spellcraft skill bonus)

If I’m doing the AD&D2 thing where specialist wizards are rare, some might be empty prerequisites (drawing the 4 of clubs during character creation means you can specialize in evocation but if you don’t play a wizard it doesn’t do anything else)

I might also consider penalties (analogous to low-stat penalties) for short suits. If you have no clubs in your chargen hand, you’re illiterate, for instance, With a lot of draws, I might include penalties for singletons as well, not just voids.

I might also consider some chance for bonuses for pairs, threes, and four of a kinds, but probably only for face cards. Any bonuses that exist for those are things that only some characters are getting without other characters getting an equivalent, with the only “cost” being that you have to be spread a little thin to have them (not counting the luck needed to draw them)

If I go the tarot route, I’d have major arcana add significant benefits, but at a tradeoff. Some of them might just straight-up have “get this, lose this,” while others would have something like “pick another card you’ve drawn from this character to lose and get this, or lose this card,” but what they offer I’d make pretty wild.

[naanima]

Oh, dear Ratboy. I really like it when he does long podcasts. It helps that he can communicate. Interview starts around the 1h.11sec mark. Dot points things of interest:

He has finished moving from Calgary completely, doesn't even have winter clothes anymore. LOLs.

When he first arrived in Florida he was happy to take a backseat, but the team wanted him to get involved in the leadership group.

He really loves living in Florida.

VGK was the best team they played. Boston & Vegas were very similar. Talks about how Boston slapped them during two of the regular season games, but they played really well against them for the other two games. And that's why he had the belief they could win. OMFG. He fucked up by jumping on the ice and got the penalty LOLs. It was all his fault.

He thinks players who come through in OT etc are the ones who want the puck on their stick. Good or bad they will need to be able to live it.

His dad always preached live in front of the net. Take some physical abuse in the games, earn it to score. Can't get your stick tied up. He learns a lot from Brady when it comes to spinning it off and getting it into the net. Watches every one of Brady's games.

When he switched to the Right Wing he watched a lot of vids of good right wing players.

Evolved as a player year to year. Same mindset as when he was a kid, "screw you I'm getting that puck." Paul gets on him when he gets into a bit of a shoving match on ice with guys he shouldn't. LOLS.

Offseason - earlier was PT, playing catch-up in strength, conditioning wise more cardio in the hopes to play more mins and faster. He feels he is better prepared this season. He is back to 100%.

Microphones on ice - good for the game. NHL gotta do a better job. It is evolving more via the players and teams. Players don't like it too much bcos they would feel like walking on eggshells. If it is used properly it can grow the game.

Wedding vids - makes athletes look crazier than they are.

Media/SocMed blowing things up. Keith talking about his team being "soft' - he was pissed bcos of how it got blown up. They had a chance to be in the playoffs and then they lost four games in a row. Ouch.

His current health - "Everything feels great." He didn't realise he broke his sternum, he thought maybe a collarbone, it wasn't how hard the hit was, it was the spot. He had to leave the game bcos he had to do concussion protocol. Game 3 didn't really hit him how bad he was. After the game he was not feeling great. Drove home that night with a sling, probably shouldn't have done that. The next morning he couldn't get out of bed. The day after he had to call Brady to help him get up, he couldn't even remember if he had a shower. LOLs. During one of the scrums he couldn't even really grab people's jerseys.

Getting into fights etc. Not that they want to get into a fight, it is more that they just hate losing. LOLs.

Sticking Jonathan Quick - doesn't know what happened, he has no excuses. He is not a fan of goalies that play out of their creases.

Buddies with Auston Matthews & other hockey players. It is the game. He would run almost everybody... except Brady for a lot of reasons, one of them being Brady would take him down. Lols.

Olympics & World's etc - a shame that they can't play together. It is sad. His first dream is to win a Stanley Cup, and then to win for the US with his brother.

Right now - being down in Florida outside; jetskis etc. Not going to buy a boat. Love hanging out with his family and friends. He used to not like the beach at all, but now he is there all the time. He is not into nice cars. Only into golf and stuff on the waters. No gators close to his house, they are close to the rink (wtf).

Him changing team - talked to Calgary that he wasn't gonna sign a long-term contract, worked together with the team, and with permission he had one week to talk to a handful of teams. Came down to Carolina, St Louis' and Florida. He just wanted to learn everything he could before he made the decision.

Going back to Florida in a few days.

Taryn is doing great, was injured last year/season and when she came back she was great.

Invited to 6 weddings, attended 4.

Jack Eichel - his hit. Haven't seen the video.

Fav goal in the playoffs - when Cousins scores. The Carolina one.

Barky is so chill, he thinks Barky is the best player he ever played with/seen. Loves watching Barky playing, during training he learns from him.

Scoring between his legs, his dad was pissed. LOLs. He used to do a lot of trick stuff, flipping his picks etc. He remembers watching Kane and Crosby doing it when he was growing up.

He will chat with his dad after games, and nowadays his dad trusts him.

He thinks Brady is great, a great scorer. Brady's goal is to get the team into the playoffs. Ottawa loves Brady, he is a god there. They treat him and his family well bcos of Brady.

His parents come to Taryn, Brady and his games etc.

It is fascinating to me that Matthew is so very much, "I did this", 'it is my fault", "we didn't play well enough", "the other team is better" etc.

I typed this as I was listening to this so there will be mistakes. LOLs.