#not sure why i wanted to post twice again for this gk weekend but it is what it is ... (thank god it's a sunday)

[alexpdcl]

matching tamagotchis

[canyouhearthelight]

The Miys, Ch. 59

I am so, so sorry for the delay on this week’s chapter. My hours at work have changed, and on top of it I had to make a 16 hour round trip in the car this past weekend.

The good news is, I have the next 4 days off from work, so I should be able to post on schedule going forward.  Shoutout to @charlylimph-blog and @baelpenrose for checking on me when I didn’t post Tuesday. Y’all are awesome.

I woke up to a faint smell, reminiscent of chili, and the whir of atmospheric scrubbers working overtime.  Groggily, I sat up and looked around, trying to find a clock that I slowly realized I didn’t own.  Instead of flicking open my datapad and scorching my eyes with the light of a thousand suns, I rose to stagger after the sound of laughter coming from my kitchen. I rubbed my eyes as I stepped into the light, only to be greeted by a wolf whistle and a simultaneous cry of dismay.

Still fighting off the blessed sleep of medication, I looked around and tried to reconcile the people in my kitchen with the faces I was expecting. A man too short to live there was standing with his back to me…That must be Alistair.  He’s early. Tyche, check.  Antoine, check plus bemused grin?  Woman with rich, dark skin and flashing white teeth, laughing…

“Xio? Where did you come from?” My nose scrunched in confusion.

“I’m going to say the same place you left your pants,” she teased.  “Nice legs.”

I glanced down and realized I was only clothed in one of Conor’s t-shirts. That explained the noise and why Alistair was very pointedly not looking at me.  Shrugging, I looked at my sister. “It covers more than some of the clothes people wear on the ship. Should I put on shorts, just in case?”

“Yes!” my assistant yelped. “That would be much preferred, Miss Reid.”

Tyche smirked as I tossed up my hands in resignation and went to assuage Alistair’s modesty.  When I returned, he was still bright red but at least facing me. Xiomara broke the silence. “Who are we still waiting on?”

“Conor and Maverick,” Antoine supplied. “Then we’ll make Maverick’s dinner while he’s in the shower and we can all eat.”

Comprehension dawned on her face. “That’s right… the food thing.  He doesn’t eat curry, I take it?”

I shook my head. “Not a huge fan, no. Sometimes he can handle vindaloo, but he’s been stressed, so we aren’t pushing it. Falafel and papadums for him.” I braced for some remark, but it never came.

“More for me,” she grinned, leaning on the counter to sneak a piece of meat before having her hand swatted away by Antoine.

“Conor eats enough to make up for it, believe me,” Tyche fake-grumbled, just as the men in question walked in.

“To make up for – oh! Curry night!” He gave a wide but exhausted smile as he waved Maverick toward the cleaning unit. “Your turn to go first, mate.” Maverick just nodded and dropped a kiss on each of our cheeks before retreating to wash off the dirt and sweat he was covered in. “Is this mine?” Conor murmured in my ear as he tugged the hem of my shirt.

“Shorts are Mav’s,” I pointed out. “I took a nap and woke up to find myself invaded.”

“You weren’t invaded,” Tyche argued. “We all arrived on time, but Grandma Kim said to let you sleep and that she would be checking when you woke up to make sure.  Before you get upset – “ she held up a hand to stop any objection I had, “it’s just a medical alert, and well within her job to set one.  She isn’t here to sic Lyric on any of us, so I’m guessing you got enough sleep for her.”

Antoine cleared his throat pointedly. “Not quite. She asked me to have you take another dose two hours after dinner.”

“Antoine…” I whined with utmost dignity. “You’re her boss. You can override her request, right?”

All vain hope was dashed by the flat look he levelled in my direction. Guess not.

“Another dose? Of what?”

My stomach sank as I remembered the sweaty Irishman currently draped around my shoulders. “Let’s wait until dinner, and I’ll tell you and Maverick first thing. I promise,” I turned my head to look in his eyes. “I just don’t want to repeat it, and it’s not fair for either of you to find out before the other.”

Eventually, everyone was washed and seated at the table. As I started to spoon some curry and lentils on my plate, Tyche cleared her throat and gave a pointed look.  Rolling my eyes and dropping my head back with a sigh, I snagged a papadum before speaking. “I got sent home from work today,” I started. “I fell asleep after several cups of Xiomara’s coffee, had a nightmare that left me screaming and hysterical. A medical scan showed that I have severe vitamin deficiency and exhaustion, so I was sent home to chug a vile concoction from GK and take a nap. Hence the pajamas.” I waved at myself in demonstration. “Noah wanted me to go to a medical bay for IV treatment and monitoring, but this was the compromise.”

“And if you aren’t better tomorrow, you’re going to the medical bay,” Maverick stated in a tone that most people used to explain that water makes things wet.

Conor apparently agreed, judging by the enthusiasm of his nod. “I encourage this and will do so – “

“Physically if necessary,” I finished for him. “Noah said the same thing. I was wondering where he got that from.”

“I got it from Antoine.”

The sound of three utensils being dropped was followed by deafening silence. Tyche, Xiomara, and I gaped at Antoine as he became very focused on the food in front of him. “This tastes of caprine… is that what it is meant to taste of?”

“Yes, it’s supposed to be goat, and don’t change the subject,” my sister grumbled. “Who did you threaten like that?”

“I am a nurse, Tyche!” he defended. “I say that quite often to recalcitrant patients, especially the elderly.  They do not like being treated for ailments – they think it means they are falling apart in their old age.  They often do not realize or understand that they will live longer if they simply get the treatment they need.”

“Speaking of falling apart,” Maverick interjected. “We finished testing on the samples from the failed swimming platforms.”

Xiomara leveled her fork like a weapon, first at Tyche and Antoine. “You? Hush.” She turned to a cringing Maverick. “You, speak. Now.”

“Yes ma’am,” he gulped around an unholy mouthful of falafel and ketchup. “The researchers tested samples from every individual piece of each platform. They were able to determine that the accelerated failure of the pieces was the cause of an iron-eating bacteria, not any flaw in the manufacturing or construction.”

She nodded at this news. “This is good. Keep going… what’s the bacteria and how do we rein it in?”

“Grey’s people don’t know the answer to either of those,” he answered apologetically.

“So, run it through the Ark’s database.”

“We did. Twice. Even then, it isn’t recognized.”

“Wait,” I stopped them both. “If they don’t know what it is, how do we know what it does?”

Maverick scowled at me like I asked a stupid question and should have known better. “They observed it eating the iron molecules in the metal.”

Okay, so I did ask a stupid question and should have known better. The scowl was fair, point to Maverick.

“Is there any danger to the ship as a whole?” Xiomara pressed on.

“They are trying to determine that now,” he admitted. “Only iron molecules are being… eaten? Processed? Whatever it is, only iron is affected.”

Seemingly satisfied, Xiomara nodded. “Sophia, please consider taking tomorrow to find out whatever is going on?”

My thoughts whirling at the conversational whiplash, I only shrugged. “It’s probably related to the gravity change. You know, increased anxiety, nightmares, all that.” I glanced at Antoine, hoping for confirmation.

Once again, my faith was misplaced. He shook his head, “Non. Gravity changes will cause increased anxiety, yes. But not the level of malnutrition you mentioned.  I am aware you eat regularly, if for no other reason than seeing you eat. There is no easily explained reason for you to be in such condition, and as such, I would like you to have tests done if I am not satisfied with your improvement by the end of the day tomorrow.”

“Do I have to?” I groaned. “I hate doctors… no offense, Antoine.”

“I am a nurse, so none taken.”

I felt a tapping on my left shoulder and turned to see Conor leaning across Maverick. “Sophie. Love. I know you hate it. But you wouldn’t let any of us just skive off going to the doctor if we were sick.” He pointed around the table, including Alistair and Xiomara. “If one of us so much as looked a bit droopy, you know you would task yourself with barking at our heels until we were checked out.”

“You did drag me to the medbay when I cut my hand,” Tyche pointed out.

“Annnnd you brought in Antoine when you realized I wasn’t eating,” Maverick chimed in.

Traitors, I thought petulantly.

Silent through all of dinner thus far, my assistant cleared his throat. “Sophia. From what I have seen just working with you, they have a point. If I, for instance, were exhibiting the signs you are showing, would you allow me to continue attending my daily responsibilities and trust that I was addressing the issue outside of my working hours?”

“Blast and BURN it all, why are you all being so logical?”

“Guilt trips don’t work,” Maverick pointed out. “You’ll convince yourself that you are doing the right thing for us all by hiding your symptoms.”

“And working harder just to prove you’re okay,” Conor chimed in.

“Mother henning people….” Xiomara trailed off lazily before flashing a smug grin at me.

“Et tu, Brute?” I begged. “Even you won’t let me work when I’m tired?”

“One,” she ticked off, holding up a finger. “You aren’t just tired, you are somehow malnourished, despite the fact that you are the most social eater I have ever met. Two, I have let you work when you were so-called tired. You literally passed out in my office on multiple occasions – “ She held up a hand when I tried to interrupt and plowed on. “Twice, it was mid-sentence.  Three, I’ll even go with you and have tests done on myself, just in case it’s something impacting everyone.”

“Wait – “ I sputtered. “That’s your negotiation? You’ll have tests done on you, and submit to treatment if needed, just to make me go? I’m not a child.”

“Then stop acting like one,” Tyche muttered, glaring at me and knowing full well I heard her.

As much as I wanted to fire back at her, something inside of me wilted. Tyche would never say I was being childish if it wasn’t true. We had literal screaming matches in the past because I was too adult as a teenager. “Fine,” I spat, ashamed. “I’ll go, the day after tomorrow, if I’m still not up to snuff.”

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[fmlfpl]

Lineup Lamentations - GW5

Our Transfers, Captains, and Starting 11s for the week!

—

WALSH

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Laporte - rip

IN: Otamendi - god help me

Unfortunately I was unable to save off the back of the WC which never feels great, but hopefully making a lateral swap here which frees up 1m to boot.

I don't really imagine this going well, since I have slated Ota for a while, and think he's more or less a red card shout / absolute shit house player generally speaking, but here we are.

If it's a transfer waiting to happen, so be it, but the bottom line is I still want a share in City's defense, I don't trust Everton for cleans still, and something didn't feel quite right going all the way down to a Burnley guy in a spot on my team which I realistically need to start week in week out... Until Pep shows us that he is willing to play anyone not named Otamendi as the LCB with Laporte out then I will just hope and pray he doesn't kill anyone (which would thus kill himself with a ban) and doesn't die. Whatever. Cue Dinho and Schtones at CB tomorrow.

Post international break GW is usually a complete disaster crisis gameweek so I am just simply trying to brace myself for it ahead of time.

GK:

Pope (bha)

Pope is looking good in this moment with the good run of fixtures incoming. He's been just a bit below average with only one return through four but the underlying metrics are looking good for him and hopefully he's just a long term hold guy I don't have to worry about.

DEF:

Alexander-Arnold & Robertson (NEW)

Trent and Robbo with the home banker okay lets go Livp. Early game so much of my mood for the ensuing foots will be decided by these boys. Realistically a win to nil at home against a bad bus feels like a reasonable expectation for this one so hopefully it comes to fruition.

Otamendi (nor)

New nightmare Ota is straight in, obv. Somewhat tricky away fixture for a clean but it's still City so he'll just be an auto start every game until I remove him.

Lundstram (SOU)

Finally, Lundstram gets his first go in my squad home to Soton.

I'm going to be rotating him in and out over the near term so we'll see if this is the beginning of something beautiful between us or the beginning of a fraught relationship that will lead to me hating him for the rest of my life. Time will tell.

MID:

Salah (NEW) & Sterling & De Bruyne (nor)

The trio of Mo Raz and Kev remain and likely will do for some time. Really nothing to say about these three other than they are good. Spots I don't really need to think about at this time.

McGinn (WHU)

Rounding out midfield is someone who is not really that good in McGinn.

Good home fixture with West Ham rolling up so hopefully he is able to get in there. If he looks bad and/or they look bad then I might fuck him off.

He's on a short leash, that's for sure, as he was really the one shit place I compromised on my WC team since I wanted to plump for Laporte... With that money freed up now, no other problems in my team, and a new price bracket open to me... I might fuck him off even if he does return. Who is to say?

FWD:

Pukki (MCI) & Haller (avl)

Pukki and Haller the two amigos seem like just a couple great value picks and happy to have them.

Great fixture for Haller and he might slowly but surely present himself as a long term hold. Stats and eye test are there with him not to mention the price is right - think he's a really tidy option.

Pukki has a tough fixture but as Farke showed us the lightning and thunder in GW1 at Anfield who knows what's what with them. Obviously they are completely decimated by injury, but I need to see multiple bad attacking performances before I begin to worry here.

CAP:

Sterling (nor)

Going back to the Raz well again. Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, fucking hell fuck me.

Still don't feel confident enough capping Kevin over Raz, and probably won't do all season, if I'm being honest here.

I think Norwich with no fit defensive players (Farke's words, not mine) and the style they employ is not a comparable fixture to a Newcastle bus so I didn't really think about Mo this weekend.

Counting on Raz to not have 0 shot attempts again this week. Obviously the trip to Ukraine midweek for UCL is a thing that is happening, but whatever. 

Trying to predict how Pep hands out minutes is like (insert funny thing here) and I don't really want to find some psychological line to talk me into Raz will play 53 minutes only to see him haul and play 88.

Been there before, not trying to go there again.

—

ALON

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Deulofeu

IN:  Che Adams

Gerry dropped all the way down to 6.2 so there was a relatively small and unimpressive pool of dudes for me to choose from for this punty spot in my team.

Realistically this is a one or maybe two week punt before I pop my Wildcard next week or the week after... Che has actually insanely good expected stats which is nothing to scoff at even though the goals have not flowed at all...

The greater skill to have and the harder skill to find is to keep getting off the high xG shots rather then to be finishing at a higher rate above your xG, if that makes sense... I hope I’ve worded that clearly...

Anyway, TLDR: Che is doing stuff, Southampton are an attacking team in an attacking setup, Ralph is good I like Ralph, and Soton have the fixtures over the next two. And that’s why I went Che.

COME ON CHE!!!

GK:

Ederson (nor)

City gotta clean their shit up a bit if they’re gonna be a 20+ cleans type of dominant force again this season but yeah of course I back them to do exactly that.

Eddy’s been mostly really good this season and I feel comfy with him.

DEF:

van Dijk (NEW)

It’s time for rotation to begin for the top teams... feels good to have the safety of VVD who is a rock. And this clean should be straightforward for Liverpool.

Digne (bou)

I’m a little nervy about Everton’s defending and their ability to limit good chances... Digne kinda papers over the cracks with his terrific attacking output, but if they start looking like cleans are going to be a rarity this season then even his attacking numbers will not make him worth the 6.0+ million.

Maitland-Niles (wat)

Ainsley AKA Ashley was rightfully so very deep on my bench for liv TOT and he put up one pointers in each of those so we’re fine.

In his two starts for me (GW1 and 2) he got twelve and two puntos respectively so he’s still been a sneaky great guy for me thus far... Arsenal’s very long very good run of fixtures starts now but Bellerin also is coming back soon so time is running out.

Hoping Arsenal can do a job and keep out the Quique Sanchez Flores bus this week and maybe he’ll sneak another attacking return. Come on Ashley.

Emerson (wol)

Starting Emmy here because Wolves suck at attacking and Chelsea could still keep a clean and Emerson could still get an attacking return who knows?

Rudi looks like he’s back this week which is a huge upgrade and Kante will be back soon which is another huge upgrade but yeah, not feeling great about this pick.

Also Emerson’s injury news doesn’t look great for me but if he doesn’t play I have Söy coming in in a cleanable fixture at Old Trafford so not too bad.

MID:

Salah (NEW) & Sterling & De Bruyne (nor)

Doing the trendy thing and just grouping these sexy fucks together because they’re all awesome and they have good fixtures and that’s all you need to know about that.

Mount (wol)

Everyone knows the deal with Mount. Looks great, takes a lot of shots, presses like a maniac, on frees and corners, it’s just good stuff. At his price it’s just good.

FWD:

Pukki (MCI)

Pukki in a yikes fixture here we go... Norwich are so fucked up and injured I don’t know I definitely don’t expect any points here but maybe they get one or two good counters or maybe Pukki takes a pen or something. He’s good enough to roll out there, for sure.

Adams (shu)

I said all I needed to say about lord Che in the transfers section.

CAP:

De Bruyne (nor)

I guess everyone has Sterling and a lot of people have Kun and understandably they’re garnering most of the captaincies that I’m seeing around the block.

Kevin, for me, so far this season is on a completely new level that we haven’t really seen from him before. His expected stats are out of control and he’s also got the seventh highest Fantasy Goal Involvement percentage of all mids at 54% which is craaaazy high for a team like City.

For what it’s worth too in the past Pep has rode Kevin like a horse in the league and he’s not really ever been a rotation risk. I feel ~some~ percent safer of him starting these kinds of games before UCL then I do with the forwards.

Come on Kev treat me.

—

RANDOM SLACKER OF THE WEEK: GNAR

The words of Random Slacker are not officially endorsed by this website nor any employees of FML FPL LLC.

TRANSFERS:

OUT: Laporte

IN: Otamendi

I don’t feel like I have too much choice in who to take out this week. Laporte having knee surgery and set to miss the rest of 2019 means he’s an absolute no brainer to axe.

Who to replace him with is a much more interesting question.

I’ve been playing 5 at the back all season and it hasn’t worked out as well as I’d hoped so far. But I do feel like I’ve been unlucky with Laporte’s injury and his missed clean sheet being the icing on the cake.

If I went for a cheapo like Lundstram, there aren’t many midfielders I’d be desperate to bring in with the spare cash, apart from KDB, who is out of my reach anyway. So I’ll be continuing my Heavy D strategy, bringing in Otamendi, who is 5.4 and nailed on in a top 2 defence.

GK:

Leno (wat)

New manager for Watford, so an inevitable new manager bounce.

I have Heaton (WHU) as a rotation option, but the odds point to Leno for the clean sheet, although it’s quite marginal.

DEF:

Digne (bou)

I didn’t watch their 3-2 victory against Wolves but I heard Digne looked defensively dodgy. I did watch their 2-0 defeat to Villa the previous week, and while Everton looked completely toothless and unconvincing, Digne at least offered a bit of attacking threat. I’m not expecting a clean sheet here, but Digne has 9 chances created this season. For a defender, that’s second only to…

Alexander-Arnold (NEW)

14 chances created – 14, compared to Digne’s 9; Trent absolutely wipes the floor.

I took a hit last week to upgrade VVD to Trent and I got an immediate positive net return from it. As well as his excellent attacking prospects, Liverpool also have the best clean sheet odds this week by quite a distance.

Robertson (NEW)

Very good chance of a clean sheet this week and although he’s no Alexander-Arnold, he also offers a very good goal threat.

Maybe I’m guilty of picking and choosing stats here, but out of defenders, Robertson’s 2nd for touches in the box this season (12), which is quite a biggie for me when assessing players’ attacking potential.

Otamendi & Zinchenko (nor)

Welcome to the team, Ota.

With Laporte injured, I expect Ota to nail down a place in the first team. Enough said.

Zinchenko has a bit of a Mendy threat looming, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. For now, another well priced Man City defender who will trickle points as long as he starts. Lacks the explosiveness of KDB (yeah he’s explosive now) or Aguero, but for 5.5, I’ll take a 6 pointer every 2 weeks for sure.

MID:

Salah (NEW) & Sterling (nor)

Grouping these two together because there’s just not that much to say. The two best players in the game don’t need writing about, especially when their fixtures are as easy as this. The only question is which one to captain.

Mount (wol)

14 shots in total this season, 7 on target, both are the highest of any other midfielder. But with only 5 of those shots coming from inside the box and an xG of 0.82, perhaps he’s a bit opportunistic and has been a bit fortunate.

Mount still feels like a bit of an unknown quantity to me and I haven’t watched too much Chelsea this season, but he’s well priced and there are plenty of other options in his bracket, so happy to see how he gets on over the next few.

FWD:

Jota (CHE)

I always like to plan my ideal transfers a few weeks ahead.

Before the last gameweek started, I was planning Jota to Barnes. Unfortunately Laporte got injured, so my priority changed and Jota stays with me for one more week. And Barnes is now injured anyway, so maybe it’s a blessing in disguise.

Jota is a funny one. He’s scoring for fun in the Europa League, but looking absolute garbage the following Sunday in the Premier League. He was in the squad, but played 0 minutes in Portugal’s 2 games over the IB. I feel like Jota might redeem himself.

Pukki (MCI)

The main man for Norwich.

If they score, there’s a very good chance that Pukki will be involved.

As an Ota + Zinc owner though I’m kind of hoping they don’t.

CAP:

Salah (NEW)

A real coin toss.

Salah and Sterling are both fantastic options this week, like they are every week.

So far, every gameweek I’ve picked the lowest scoring one out of the two. In week 3, I went against my instinct and went for Raz over Mo, which backfired. This week, my instinct is telling me Mo so I’m just going with it.