#spooked them the first day and after that they weren't having it

[romcomeon]

「 ꨄ︎ 」 𝐒𝐋𝐈𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐋𝐎𝐏𝐄 .ᐟ

⁀➴ humans were much more fragile than he thought.

⋮ NOTE DETAILS — mammon x gn!mc. careless scars. wc ≈ 1K .ᐟ

"What's.. I... how do ya even injure yourself like THIS!?"

"I... don't know...?"

You gave an awkward smile. Eyes shaking from what remained of the adrenaline rush, your hands resting atop your stomach while you lie down on the couch.

"Oh for fuck's sake, treasure," Mammon cursed, removing his sunglasses as he pinches the bridge of his nose. Seriously, you barely even started your day. There you were: bedridden and partly immobile, with every sway of your leg hurting a tad more than the last.

Not that you can say anything, but it was a careless accident.

...

It was more careless than it was accidental. The shelves within the grand library at the House of Lamentation were far beyond your reach. By genius design, you had no choice but to use the dark spook tree ladder that was left isolated to the corner shelves.

You could try to use magic, though you are unfamiliar with the general book's looks, for you only knew the title and the name of the author. 'course you also had the option to ask Satan for guidance, but the blonde had whisked himself away to the barricaded doors of the attic --- who knew what he and the youngest had planned for their measly prank.

And who knew how slippery unattended furniture can get.

You have not a choice: by deduction, the best course of action was to use the ladder and manually look for it yourself.

With the success of finding the book, surely a long, carpentered, intricately designed slab of wood wouldn't betray you. Now would it?

The first step downward was manageable.

The second step caused the old ladder to wobble, near stumbling back to the floor; yet otherwise stood still as you maintained balance.

As the third step came, as if by some imaginary liquid, you missed. You lost your grip.

There you came tumbling down with the sharp wooden edges grazing against your leg. And then you landed on the floor, upright, yes, but your left leg stuck against the fifth to the last step.

Your leg a swollen red, a long scratch from your ankle stretched upward towards the lower knee - where blood dripped down the open scar.

"Shhh...f-" you hissed, taking your leg off the ladder and- oh. You might've misplaced a bone there. You had to drag your leg up to a nearby couch, taking sharp deep breaths to take your mind off the pain.

...

So that was the story. When you told Mammon the first time, he gave you a dumbfounded look. Nonetheless, when he found you, he was worried as hell.

Beyond the grave.

But the golden boy had to rush and rummage through every cabinet to find the human-safe emergency kit. You admit, it was adorable watching him slip from his "superiority" facade.

Ahhhh.. your train of thought came to a halt at the stinging sensation. Causing your leg to jerk up, but Mammon held it down by the knee.

"Aye- Don't move," he said, while he tried to gently disinfect the scar with the isopropyl alcohol. Not a sensation you weren't familiar with, but god it burns.

"I'm sorry, but, could you please go a little faster?"

"Ya sure, human?" he scoffed. His finger traced along the long bump of the scratch, watching the skin scorch crimson before he shook his head. "Nuh uh."

You tilt your head up to get a better look at your golden boy, raising a brow. "What do you mean 'nuh uh'?"

"Ain't no way I'm leavin' ya alone after pullin' that stunt."

"It's just once!" You raised your hands in feigned surrender. "I'll be careful next time."

Mammon huffed his cheeks in a pout, grabbing the wool bandage off the red box. Carefully wrapping it around your calf, careful not to put too much pressure on your shin, lest you kick his face.

"Bullshit," he muttered. There were more words said, yet you couldn't seem to make them out. His usual voice in an ever soft tone: slurred words that only he could comprehend.

You did manage to catch a string of words. "not on my fuckin' watch you aren't" while he tries to fix the jumbled up bandage.

Seriously, it looked good but tying it together had always been a challenge. After all, the great avatar of greed was more known for breaking things unloose, not putting them back together.

He tried. Mammon tried. Not the best of the best, but Mammon tried his best.

You can't help but give a soft smile, watching him mumble curses as he finally figured out how to tidy up the loose ends: finding the metallic clip and pinching it on there in hopes that it sticks.

He lifts his gaze one more time to meet yours. This time, Mammon was the one raising his brow. Looking annoyed, but his intrigue was betrayed by the curious glint of his tinted sapphire eyes.

"Whatcha lookin' at me for?"

A small chuckle escaped your lips, tilting your head to the side. "Thank you."

Two words. Mammon scoffed, averting his gaze. "S-shut up. Of course ya should thank me!!" as by virtue it is a great honour to be served by the GREAT Mammon.

Though you lay there, smiling like an idiot in his eyes. How you're transfixed with the cherry red creeping up on his tan cheeks, how he subconsciously purse his lips, puffing his cheeks to not let his words betray him. How despite everything he says, he still works his way to tend to you.

To care for you. To love you.

Or to simply keep you company when no one else could. Honestly, it made the future all the less scary. The uncertainty is all the less terrifying. The possibility of your bones giving up just feels all the more natural than ill-driven.

While selfish, greedy to an extent, you figured worrying in the future might just be a hoax. A fantasy in your head.

They say to get your head out the gutter, yet you couldn't help but examine each worse case scenario.

And if it's with him to your aid? It will all feel right.

note.s : lesson learned, always watch your step when climbing down ladders.

check out my masterlist | divider by adornedwithlight

[smallestapplin]

aghahah loving the Autobots harem and Decepticons reaction

funny to think the only two that seems to take 'interest' secretly are the seekers, Starscream denying, Thundercracker having internal panic and I can't help but think skywarp being bold and all

do you see what I see

This was the first thing that popped in my mind, please feel free to hop back in if you wanna add more

🔞18+ only! MDNI!🔞 no sex happens, but heavy dirty talk and mentions of past relations.

-

-

Skywarp is dangerous.

You are such a cute little thing too, and seeing your small body taking such big spikes with ease just replays over and over in his mind. He's aware Thundercracker wants you too, his fellow seekers aren't very good at hiding their want for you.

It's hilarious honestly, decepticons have gone on and on about how they hate humans, they are just pests, and yet here they all are fawning over you.

But Skywarp has the upper hand over any of them.

But it comes at a cost.

He doesn't know the autobot base very well, he could never get close enough to learn the lay out to get the upper hand, but from the footage Laserbeak got, you have a home outside of the autobot base so if he can catch you leaving or before you get there, it'll be over and out.

His teleporting comes in handy for this, he's so giddy that he's going to be the first decepticon to get a taste of you, maybe even getting to rub it in the autobots faces.

It's early in the morning, you had just finished your chores at home for the day, leaving you proud that you can leave for the weekend and spend it with your lovers.

What you weren't expecting was a flash of purple, a servo grabbing you, and then you're deep in the woods, you barely recongize the area as a place in the next city over. You're face to face plate with Skywarp.

"Aw, sorry sweetspark, I didn't mean to spook ya like that." He doesn't sound sorry at all.

"Skywarp, right? I'm surprised Starscream and Thundercracker aren't with you." The three are rarely seen, at least on the battlefield, without the other far behind.

His red optics gleam, ecstatic you know who he is and so quickly too! His smile, far softer than you'd expect from a bot like him.

"Thought I'd stop by to see such a cutie."

Oh, oh no.

Sure he's quite a handsome bot, hell a good portion of cons are lookers, but you'd never expect them of all cybertronians to want to interface(as your own lovers call it) with a human.

"I'm flattered, but Ratchet is expecting me and he gets worried the more time that passes."

You're playing a dangerous game, knowing good and well Skywarp isn't a con to play nice.

"What, that old bot? You need someone who can out pace ya, not some workaholic medbot that ain't got time for ya."

You narrow your eyes at him, not taking kindly to him insulting Ratchet, that old medbot is nothing but a sweet caring lover, always ensuring you're taken care of first before overloading, even pampering you after he's fucked you stupid.

Not to mention you have every autobot to choose from, all of the more energetic bots trip over themselves just to get to be the ones to ruin you and pump you full that day.

"What, are you offering?" It was sarcastic, but his grin tells a different story.

"You catch on quick, little cutie. C'mon, I won't mention it to anyone, just let me have a taste of that pretty lil valve."

You squeak, jumping back in his servo trying to create some distance between you and his face plate. Your eyes wide at his words, does he have no shame!?

"We both know you'd brag to your seeker buddies just to rub it in their faces."

His engines purrs at your biting words. Your face is burning, you feel hot all over but you don't want him to know-

"You may have gotten me there, but don't act like you don't like the idea, you humans have such weak senses but I can smell your want already."

Skywarp laughs at your embarrassment.

"You're just too cute, I can't wait to see what other cute expressions I can have you make."

You don't get a chance to answer him when the roar of an engine is heard, you both look up and see Skyfire in his alt mode, picking a nice spot to land and letting out the autobots he flew over here.

"Seems I forget they can track my phone's location. Maybe next time you can try, if you're fast enough."

You're so smug, but you take a step forward and place a swift kiss on his scowling face, your lips so small but so soft against his dermas, he almost forgets his anger.

You said they can track a device you have, meaning no matter where he goes they could always find you.

He's snapped from his thoughts when Prowl snatches you from his servo and lands a nasty punch across his face, sending the decepticon flying.

"Dear, are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?" Prowl checks you over, holding you close and safely.

You just smile "I'm okay, he didn't hurt me, just came here for a talk is all."

"A talk!? Little light, you know to-"

"I know, I know 'never trust a con' but honestly he didn't do anything."

Prowl finds that hard to believe, but he lets Skywarp escape.

Maybe next time, Skywarp.

(Though he does go back to his habsuite at decepticon base, fisting his spike and fingering his valve as he remembers how your dermas felt against his, how warm you felt, how soft you felt.

Oh primus he wants more.

He needs more.

He needs you.)

[devoutekuna]

Too many

Includes- Toji, Sukuna, Nanami, Gojo, Geto

A/N: this is a scenario if they had a bunch of kids (3-7)

Sukuna-

I can just imagine this man having a bunch of kids. Like he's just sat outside trying to escape from the grasp of his children, he loved them but he hated how much they needed attention, but he should've known that toddlers are alot of work. Whenever he comes back from missions he's always welcomed by the repetition of "daddy, daddy" from each one of them, the servants trying to pry them away from the front door only to no avail.

Nanami-

You can find this man fast asleep on the sofa with his 3 children crowding over him, his little boy resting on chest whilst his daughter and other son tried to climb over the man as he was taking up the whole sofa. It was a normal occurrence whenever you weren't home, but you loved to see the scene where you came home too late and all the children were spread out all over him trying to sleep.

Geto-

He's got 4 girls, it was already hard work with the first set of twins but now an extra pair!? Fortunately they all had pretty similar interests so it was easy to please them. "And then they lived happily ever after" this was their 5th story of the day, he was tired of trying to get them to sleep, you were already in bed and he couldn't wake you up."Another!" He was praying that his 3 year old didn't wake up the twins as they were the hardest to get to sleep. "Shh, you should be asleep"

Gojo-

He's tired of having this many children, despite how rude that sounds it was true. He loved his kids but most of the time they were either fighting or trying to take his secret stash of food. See, his children were into movies a lot, so when they watched minions, of course they had the idea to stack on top of each other and get into his cupboard. Walking into the pantry only to find all 4 of his children trying to stack onto each other without falling off, dropping each other as they were spooked by the presence of their father.

Toji-

I can guarantee you that this man has locked himself in the bedroom once only to be woken up by his children climbing onto the man. "Wake up!" Jumping up and down on his backs, he actually underestimated how much they weigh all together. Feeling no need to throw off his first born since he wasn't that heavy. "Get him!" His children thought that only one of them would be needed to wake their father up, unfortunately for them they were wrong. Bombarding the man with their bodies as they jumped ontop of him.

[mvrkieboo]

Old Bloodhounds

P31 | first steps ahead

TW : suicide

All throughout the meeting, Yangyang had his eyes fixated on you, and only you. So after the meeting was concluded, you practically teleported to the door, not giving Yangyang the chance to catch up to you.

Your shoulders flinched, and you felt your soul leaving your body for a second when a hand wrapped itself around your arm just after taking four hurried steps outside the meeting room.

You turned around to see it was Mark, surprised to see you so spooked, but guilt quickly bled through, realising you had a mob waiting outside your building this morning. No wonder you were so startled. He quickly let go of your arm, raising both arms in front of him.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to spook you after what happened this morning. I just wanted the chance to talk to you." He actually sounded apologetic this time, you gave him that.

When you saw Yangyang approaching from behind Mark, you took hold of Mark's wrist and pulled him along as you walked away, trying to get as far away from Yangyang as possible.

"You wanna talk? Let's go." You spoke through your teeth, taking a turn to go down the stairs, as you led a dumbfounded Mark by the wrist.

Yangyang clicked his teeth watching you run away with Mark and turned on his heel, paying no mind to Aeri and Xiaojun calling out his name as he walked past them.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

You let go of Mark's wrist, looking around. It was a secluded spot far away from the MPA Faculty's parking lot, so you're sure you wouldn't have any chance of running into Yangyang as he had drove here. When you finally addressed Mark, his mind snapped back into the reality. He had been staring at you as he touched the wrist you gripped on earlier. He can't remember the last time you had your hand on his person.

"I—I wanted to apologise. To you." He uttered out, voice sounding almost choked up, as if his voicebox didn't expect to be used in this moment.

"For what? It's not like you were the one who caused MNA Week to happen three weeks earlier—"

"No—not about that, but for how I had treated you days after our impromptu...reunion." He interrupted your assumption, taking a step closer to you.

He saw your face twist in confusion and he realised you weren't aware of Yuno sharing a screenshot of your crash out messages with him. He schooled his expression, trying to summon the courage of being able to humble himself before you, after all these years. To not let his ego and ardent loyalty to his longtime friend mess this up.

"Yuno, he showed me the texts you sent to him yesterday. You mentioned how my apology from the other day was really insincere, so here I am redoing it. I want to give you a more sincere apology that's actually deserving of your acceptance. Whether you forgive me or not is entirely up to you."

Instead of your empression turning stiff, he instead saw how it turned into an angry one. You were sick of people trying to expose your identity as Yuno's 'bitch' sister to the public, of your privacy being intruded on by psycho fans—and now Yuno sharing a screenshot of your heartfelt texts to Mark? When you turned to walk away, Mark was quick to hold on to you with a hand on your shoulder.

"Y/N! I admit it was shitty of him to share those texts with me, but trust me, if I hadn't seen them, I wouldn't realise just how unreasonable your brother and I had been to you." He pled, making you stop in your tracks.

You were still facing away from him, but you didn't move an inch. When you remained in your spot, still frozen, even after he let go of your shoulder, he took that as an encouragement to keep on talking to you.

"Last week, I only apologised to you because I saw how it was hurting our bureau's progress, when I should've apologised for hurting your feelings with how much of a dick I was. You had only ever been polite and even nice to me ever since you splashed tea on my jacket that day. I had been nothing but nasty to you, and I'm sorry for that—"

"Shut up, Mark." You spoke snappily, and the poorly hidden choked sob right after was what stopped him from feeling so offended.

He glanced at your shoulders and saw how it was trembling, as you tried to keep your crying to a minimum volume at all cost. Slowly, he rested his hand on your shoulder and turned you around. There were tears streaming down your face, your nose red, and your eyes were at risk of getting swollen shut from all the crying.

How much had you been crying these past two days?

It's been so long since he's seen you cry, and the last time he did see you cry, it was over him cutting his ties with you in that highschool hallway.

"...It's my fault. It's all my fucking fault this is happening. Yuno—that clip of him cussing me out—it's my own fault." You sobbed, sliding down to crouch on the floor as you broke down.

After snapping out of the shock of seeing you cry, Mark quickly crouched down too, placing his hands awkwardly around you. Slightly panicking while also bewildered as to why you're breaking down like this.

"All of this wouldn't happen if I didn't cause Yuno to hate me so much—but why wouldn't he? He thinks I abandoned him and dad when they needed me most—but I didn't contact him because I shouldn't! Because if they knew I had other family members, they'd go after Yuno too! And dad! I had to protect them, so I did what I had to do—" You sobbed, and didn't realise Mark going still at your words.

"Y/N, what are you talking about? Protect Jae from who? By doing what?" He urged, growing concerned over your ramblings and how alarming it all sounded.

Who was 'they'? Why would 'they' go after Yuno and your father if 'they' knew about them? What did 'they' put you through?

"I can't—I can't tell you, and I can't talk about it. Because it still hurts just remembering it—and Yuno shouldn't know, because I know how much it would crush him. You know just how close we were back then, Mark. It would crush him."

Mark's heart broke over at the self-blaming—because he could really see that you genuinely believed it to be your fault that all of this happening to you. Then there's your near incoherent ramblings, at how much you deserved Yuno's hatred, but also how conflicted you were at how much it would crush Yuno to know the things you did to 'protect him and your father'.

He placed his hands on both sides of you face, raising it so your eyes met his.

"Y/N, whatever it is, you should talk to Yuno about it. He never stopped caring for you. He deserves to know—"

"NO! Mark, you don't—"

"Understand? Of course I don't understand, you have told me nothing about what had happened to you, and judging by how much it's driving me crazy to know what it actually is—I know Jae would feel the same. If the reason why you didn't contact Jae before is to protect him, he deserves to know why now." Mark spoke softly, but you could hear how grounded his voice was, and felt how his hands went up and down your arms to comfort you.

"But I don't want him to feel guilty. He doesn't deserve it." You sniffled, your tears slowing down and your breathing in control now.

You looked Mark's well coached expression fall apart. Something hit his chest and he could feel a stone lodged itself in his throat for a moment.

"He should be apologsing to you nonetheless. His behavour was absolutely inexcusable, and the same goes for me too. I'm sorry for acting like a dick, and I'm sorry for not being there for you when you probably needed me. I would really like to see you give Jae the same opportunity to apologise to you sincerely, Y/N." He could feel his own voice wobble but who gives a fuck?

You were silent for a second, your eyes falling away from his as you stared at a spot far beyond him for a long moment before you nodded. Everyone's been telling you the same thing, and all of them had cared for you, this advice coming from their concern over you, and in a complete cycle, the concern that was stemmed from how much they cared for you.

But oh God, it still terrified you just how easy it is for concern and worry could turn to a hindrance. It was risk to let these people in.

But it was now a risk you had to bet on.

When you got to the apartment, you saw Yuno sleeping on the couch with Spotify playing on the TV. You wondered if he waited for you. After Mark managed to convince you to start opening up, he and you went out to have an early dinner together, and you even brought a takeout order that you knew Yuno would like.

It was nice to be able to spend time with Mark like that, when he's not hating you for something you had no control over. You always knew you missed him, but you didn't realise that much. Did you still like him?

Mark also told you about how Yuno was planning to apologise to you sincerely, so you assumed tonight would be a good time for both your brother and you to get everything out of the way. Everything. You walked up to him, shaking his shoulders lightly to wake him up.

Yuno opened his eyes to you standing beside him, holding a delicious smelling container in one hand. Oh damn, what time was it? He last ate during lunch hour. He sat up groggily, rubbing on his eyes as you walked to the kitchen area's island. The same island you, Geonwoo and Woojin used having your really late and unhealthy dinner.

"Wha—what time is it?" He spoke out in a relatively deeper voice than he usually used.

"It's nearly 7 p.m. I brought you takeout, so come here and eat." You patted on the takeout you placed on the island, and watched as Yuno took a minute to gather his bearings and thoughts as he fought away his sleepiness, all the while he stayed seated on the couch.

You could see, even from just the side of his face, on how he's processing his surroundings right now. Right, you. His younger sister. His estranged younger sister that he's been nothing but an asshole to, when she's rightfully upset at the situation his carelessness put her through. Apology. Yes. He needs to apologise you, more sincerely this time.

The girl at the kitchen area island—his younger sister. You. You brought him takeout. Wait, you brought him takeout? You were being nice with him? He hadn't apologised yet.

"Yuno, come on. The food's going to get cold." Yuno.

He sat up and briskly walked to the island, hair sticking out in all different directions with eyes peeled wide. After you pushed the takeout container to him, he moved to open it but suddenly came to a stop, opening his mouth to speak but you were already away, pouring him a tall glass of water for him.

As you placed the glass near him, you noticed he wasn't touching his takeout, much less even opened it yet. Yuno opened his mouth again, adamant for tonight to be the night.

"I want to have a moment with you first. We need to talk." You could hear his voice wavering despite its attempt to sound grounded and serious. However, considering the determined look he was wearing, you decided to follow along.

"Okay, so we're doing this before you have your dinner then. What do you want to talk about, Yuno?" You moved to take a seat beside him.

He nodded, eyebrows scrunching as he gathered his words.

"I...I want to apologise to you, sincerely, for everything. I've been nothing but an asshole to you ever since I moved in, when I know you're doing me a favour by letting me rent here. Even more so, when you still let me stay here after how...insensitive I'd been to you for the chaos I caused you. That video clip of me cussing you out, the words I used—it's inexcusable." The more he talked, the more his eyes went down to stare at your feet instead.

"It was inexcusable, and your insensitivity to my very valid reaction to the mess actually hurt me more than the witch hunt itself, but—it's not like I'm unaware where your...anger came from. I'm still the girl that abandoned her own brother and father." You spoke with a bitter voice.

Your words made his eyes snap back up again.

"No, that's still no excuse—"

"Yuno, I'm not excusing your actions, I was just pointing out the root cause of this situation—which is your inability to wrap your head around my decision to live with mom after the divorce was finalised. You're even more angry at the fact I never contacted you again after I moved away." You rested your elbow on the island.

After a few beats of silence, his shoulders sagged, and even his head dropped. He was admitting to it.

"Y/N, can you blame me? Like, I get it, I really do. You were always closer to mom anyway, but the radio silence? And the fact that you weren't there for dad when he was diagnosed with lung cancer? I—just as I was about to accept the reality that you chose to live with mom, your radio silence really made it seem like you didn't want anything to do with us anymore."

You see the tension working its way up his shoulders, and you quickly held his hands—both of them.

"Yuno, I'm not...It's been a while since I last saw mom too, and her husband...he's been dead for a while." Your voice wavered as your lips trembled, opting to stare at his kncuckles instead of facing him directly.

"What?"

You gathered your strength and worked through that pebble lodged in your throat, spitting it out with one big deep breath.

"Um—gosh. Shit. I've never told this to anyone who doesn't already know. Uh, four years ago, my stepdad's business was getting hit with major losses, investors were backing out, and once he got desperate enough, he turned to take out loans from a loanshark." You explained slowly, but mainly because these words were fighting their out to get clawed out of your chest.

It was hard. This was really fucking hard.

"His business still went under, by the way. Hah! But he was too fucking prideful to file for bankruptcy, too prideful to admit he now no longer had the means to support me and mom, so—he killed himself. Hanged himself in their bedroom." You were summoning strength from Hercules himself to fight back the tears, but even Herculean strength couldn't stop the tears from coming out.

You noticed Yuno was starting to grip on your hands back, his fingers wrapping your hands. When you looked up, his eyes were wide with disbelief, anguish and anger.

"Mom, she—when we both discovered his body, she wanted both of us to run away. And—and you wanna know what she said after I refused, because I was afraid that they might kill us once they caught us? She said she was still running away without me, because she'd rather die than feel the guilt of watching me being turned into the loanshark's slave to pay off the debt we inherited, now that her husband's dead. And she did just that—ran away and abandoned me."

"No. Did they really...? Did you?" Yuno choked on his words, not able to word his questions completely, not even in his mind.

"See—her now dead husband was the only child to his parents, and his parents were long dead before he hanged himself. So the debt had no other direct heirs than me and mom. But with mom gone, that was entirely on my shoulders then, and if they knew you and dad existed, they would put you as collateral if I messed up. That's why I cut off contact with you.

To pay off my stepdad's debt, they...they made me work for them. For free. Right after school, I was to head to their illegal establishments and—and do whatever they told me to do, without pay. For a while I was homeless, slept in public bathhouses, only slept for not more than 3 hours everyday. But the loanshark gang was taken down by law enforcement just a year and a half after I began to work with them, so...so it wasn't that long—" You were cut off when Yuno wrenched his hands away from yours only to grip on your shoulders tightly.

"It wasn't that long? A year and a half, Y/N. When you were still in school. Four years ago, you were a sophomore highschool student. You were just a kid. That's a part of your youth spent paying off a dead man's debt." His voice cracked in the middle of it, and you saw the tears swell in his eyes.

"Why would you keep this from me? Afraid of me and dad being put as your collateral? We're your family and we share our burdens, not be each other's burden. You're the youngest baby of our family, you should've never faced that alone. How could you keep this from me? I should've been there for our Y/Nnie." When he began to push back the hair that was stuck on your face, that's when you fully broke down, choked sobs fully blocking anymore words from coming out coherently.

Jaehyun pulled you in, pressing your face to his chest.

7-year-old you cried at the scrapes on your knees, shock fully blocking out the pain momentarily right after you crashed your bike. You were so confident on not getting the training wheels too.

A 9-year-old Yuno—who went by Jaehyun at the time, and opted for the name Yuno in middle school—came to you, scooping you and sitting you down on the park bench. He pushed back the hair stuck on your face.

"Shhh, I'll put a band-aid on it. It won't hurt anymore then. I'm here for you, y/nnie."

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A/N : my fingers are fucking broken now. ignore any grammar/spelling mistakes pls

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

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[astermath]

uhmmmm

kitchen counter makeouts with pookie bear tasm peter <3

— @inkluvs (ivy)

the way you know damn well you are indulging me adjdkdk and I love you for it bae MWAH @inkluvs

pairing: tasm!peter parker x fem!reader

tags: just sweet ol fluff, established relationship, first time writing for peter, normal sized text under the cut! <3

word count: 1.2.K

let me know if you'd like to be added to the tag list for further peter parker related content!

With Peter going on patrol until the nightly hours, you'd become used to cooking dinner later in the day. It wasn't a huge deal; you worked from home, and you were usually up when he was back anyways. Whether it was to tend to his injuries, hear about what he'd encountered that day, or just to cook some of his favorite pasta, you were always there for him when he returned. And he really appreciated that.

When you're a superhero, especially an anonymous one, it can be hard to find people to fall back on. That's why he considers having you one of his greatest strengths.

You're absentmindedly stirring some sauce when your boyfriend slips in through the bedroom window. He calls it the "spider-door", you call it a bad habit. He still uses it anyways. It's hard to use the front door of your apartment when you're dressed like the city's most popular vigilante.

He can smell the delicious mix of herbs and ingredients from the other room. The stress from the day was already melting off him, and he hadn't even spoken to you yet. He'd taken the liberty of slipping out of his suit and into a comfortable pair of sweats and a shirt. Although he did think it was snazzy, after wearing it almost the entire day, he couldn't wait to be out of it.

A pair of familiar strong arms wind around your waist, an even more familiar pair of lips pressing a soft kiss to the crook of your neck. You're used to it by now, the unexpected, sneaky greetings late at night. You weren't spooked by him, you rarely were. He likes to think his spidey senses have rubbed off on you.

He breathes in the scent of you, cheek resting onto your shoulder, and you can feel him relax into you.

"Good to see you too baby," you move your head to press a chaste kiss to his head, "how was patrol?"

"Fine," he sounds tired, and it's kind of hot, "stopped that coffee shop you like from being broken into."

"My hero," you chuckle, "now I won't have to miss those delicious chocolate croissants."

He whines lowly in response. It's a stark contrast to how he usually is, all talkative, giddy, boyish grins and jokes, bubbly laughter and strong hugs. Being a superhero will do that to you. Not exactly change you, just tire you out. A lot.

"Tired?" You ask, eyes remaining on the sauce you were preparing. It was a dumb question, of course he's tired, but he always hated admitting it.

To your surprise, he doesn't respond. Instead, he leans down and starts pressing kisses to your neck and shoulder again. You silently thank your past self for wearing a tank top, so he had plenty of access to your skin.

His lips leave tingles in their wake, your sauce becoming less interesting by the second, until you eventually turn around. You sigh at the sound of him; his hair is messy, his eyebags are prominent and he definitely needs a shower, but boy is he pretty. So pretty.

He lets you take a second to admire him, like he knows you love to do. Hands come up to cup his cheeks, the tiniest bit of stubble scratching against your palms. Your face is graced by an adoring smile, and that alone always lets him know; everything's okay, I got you.

He leans down, lips searching yours again. You happily indulge, one hand sneaking into the hair at the back of his neck. The kiss is longing, practically aching to be closer. You can feel how much he missed you just by the way his hips slide over yours.

His hands settle onto your waist, and for a moment you think he's just going to let them stay there. Of course not, because your boyfriend is anything if not unpredictable. With a gentle grip he lifts you up and turns the both of you around, setting you down onto the counter across the stove.

You giggle through the kiss, and you can feel him smile along with you, but he doesn't let go. It's like he can't, and not in a "help I just got spider powers and now I'm glued to you" way, no, like a "I'm so in love with you that I want this to last forever" way.

His hands settle onto your thighs, thumbs rubbing gentle, soothing circles into your skin. It's like this is what recharges him. Not food, not water, this is what he survives on. Your pure unconditional affection.

Unfortunately for the two of you, humans do need air to live, so you're forced to pull away after a while. Still, you remain close, noses rubbing together ever so slightly, foreheads leaning against each other.

“You ‘kay sweetie?” Your voice is gentle, not wanting to ruin the tooth achingly sweet moment the two of you are having.

“Mhm…” He presses a chaste kiss to your lips. “Just so happy to see you again… I missed you.” he accentuates his words with another kiss. “A lot.”

A warm smile adorns your face when he admits to his longing for you. You know he misses you, he tells you every day, and he knows that the sentiment is returned. You both have your reasons to be missing each other; with Peter being a superhero, he has to be careful, so the reality of any day possibly being his last was… Present. Plus, it’s a busy job. Besides the one he already has.

You just enjoy each other’s presence for a moment, basking in the radiating glow of what could only be described as an aura of love. It was like nothing outside that kitchen mattered anymore, at least not for now. You and Peter against the world, out of your small apartment in Queens.

“Honey?” He asks, and you think he’s going to say something else really sweet and heartwarming to really drive the point home. Until you see the furrow in his brows.

“I think, uh— whatever you were making is burning.”

“Fuck!” You hopped off the counter and went back to the pot of sauce, groaning when you realised the bottom of it was burnt. “It’s fine, I can— I can salvage this.” You looked over at your boyfriend, who had an apologetic smile on his face. “We can make out all you want after I make you dinner, ‘kay?”

“And every day after?” His voice is gentle, his hand resting on your lower back to keep some form of physical contact with you.

“Of course,” you stand on your tippy toes to press a kiss to his cheek, “every day after too.”

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Spooky season needs spooky stuff.. >:3

So can I request the digital circus cast (minus Caine)meeting a Child Spirit Y/n headcanons,who like Kinda possesed/went inside the game to find they’re killer for some reason? They are eerily quiet and like to stare but if talked to very sweet but quick to snap in distrust because..well trust is what got them killed in the first place? They’re a bit bloody..and a eyeball sometimes hangs out?? Like vhs horror stuff

Sorry I’m being so descriptive,I hope you are a nice day!

OOOoo yes time for more spooks!

Also I am having a nice night, thanks! (and I hope you are having a nice day/night too!)

......

Pomni

To make a long story short, you got murdered while wearing the headset, and that tethered your spirit to TADC.

As expected, you lost memories of who you were--except for the knowledge that someone killed you because you trusted them too much, and you believed the answers were inside this very game.

Your character ends up looking like a child's ghost costume: a white bedsheet stained in blood and one of your eyeballs occasionally wanting to pop from its socket.

Caine (who was very much bewildered at your arrival) declares that you're part of an "exclusive Halloween update" and changes up the tent and grounds to have more spooky flair.

But Pomni clearly wants no part of it, and she can tell you don't either.

You're clearly a kid who is (somehow) handling the situation of being stuck in this game better than her, yet when she tries asking you about it....all you do is stare back.

She swears she can hear static noises and whispers she can't decipher--all in all getting a...very creepy vibe from you.

Initially she decides to keep her distance, afraid you were secretly some virus or Abstraction underneath that sheet.

But that changes when you're walking by the rooms one night, and you pass by Pomni's door, hearing her quietly crying.

Although you weren't inclined to get close to anybody here, you were concerned. And since you weren't actually coded into the game, you didn't have to follow any of its rules--and that allowed you to enter her room without a key.

At first you scared the shit out of her, but after realizing it's you, she lets you sit beside her, eventually venting about how badly she missed her real home.

"Everyone keeps telling me "oh this place is so much better" or "get used to it"...but what if I don't wanna do that? I don't care if my old life was bad...I-I can't take anymore of this.." Her sobs grow louder. "I wanna wake up in my own bed knowing my real name!!"

"...I miss home, too," is all you say in response. Yet it's more than enough to calm her down.

For once, you're not trying to brush her off or force her to "cheer up" and accept her reality. You made her feel heard.

"Yeah..me, too....sh-should I thank you for agreeing..?" She sniffles, seeing your subtle nod, before you leave her be, not wanting to get too attached.

Ironically, she was able to sleep a little easier after talking to you.

Jax

From the get-go, he's gonna be real nosy and curious.

Since not even Caine himself expected your arrival and found out that you don't follow the "rules" like everyone else...Jax is gonna try his damnedest to understand you and see what makes you tick.

But he's gonna be disappointed quickly since you don't respond much to him (or anybody in general).

"So...ya like Halloween?"

"........"

"....thought so. Good talk, new kid."

You definitely act like a legit ghost--doing nothing but stare, move things around, and pop up unexpectedly.

Eventually, his curiosity leads to him visiting your room (which has no key), and he discovers many drawings on the walls.

Most depicting a dead person wearing a headset.

What he found most disturbing was a journal that contained his and the others' names..

From what he's gathering...you're suspecting one of them of murdering your real world-self.

But he doesn't get much time to ponder this as you show up, angry at him for intruding.

You make yourself look even bloodier and scarier, with both of your eyeballs hanging from their sockets and staring at him.

"Get out."

Those two simple words put the fear of god in him.

Jax runs out faster than a jackrabbit, colliding with Gangle in the process. Her comedy mask falls off again, but he catches it and looks at her.

"J-Jax..?" She realizes his fur is standing up on all ends, and he looks terrified....even more than he did after realizing the circus was his forever home.

But he just shoves the mask back into her hands and leaves without saying a word.

He never speaks of what he found in your room that day.

Kinger

He thought his eyes were weird...until you came along and periodically had to put your own eyeball back into its socket.

"It's good to know I'm not alone!" He nervously chuckles, only to be met with your eerie silence.

Sometime later, he suggests showing you his insect collection, and it does pique your interest.

You did love all things "creepy" and "crawly".

Yet you're adamant about going to his pillow fortress after he invites you.

It reminds you of the ones you used to build all the time, up until...

Fortunately, Kinger recognizes your reluctance and just brings one of his bug boxes to you so you can look at it.

He could infodump about the various critters for hours, with nothing but nods and quiet "mhms" from you, and he's happy.

In general, he doesn't mind your quiet personality.

Although you still sometimes jumpscare him unintentionally like Gangle often does.

Tbh he's a good father figure and recognizes that you're just a kid who got trapped in this game unfairly.

Even so, you try to keep your distance and looks at him suspiciously if he starts acting too nice.

He was quiet aloof, and you weren't sure how he would act on any given day.

Gangle

After accidentally spooking her (by simply existing in the same room as her), she breaks her comedy mask off.

But immediately she feels guilty for screaming and tries scrambling to fix it, hoping you weren't mad at her.

Yet all you do is stare, not looking angry or anything at all (it's hard for any of the performers to see your expression in general, aside from your hanging eye, but still).

Poor Gangle is just afraid you'd turn into a scarier version of yourself.

When she keeps cutting her ribbon fingers(?) on the ceramic pieces, you come over and clean it up for her, taking it away despite your own hands bleeding.

The implications that you were able to shed blood and nobody else were a little disturbing to her..but she's glad you're not offended by her screaming.

Although she wonders where you're going with her mask..

Later on, you knock on her door and present it fully fixed.

Except...it looks more Halloweenish with an evil smile painted on it, messily glued together.

'Oh god I hope this doesn't turn me evil or anything..' She thinks, putting on a smile as she takes it anyways.

Yet you remain where you are, staring and clearly waiting for her to try it on.

And so she does, and it turns her into a very chaotic Halloween lover, acting even more mischievous than Jax and allowing her to finally get her revenge for all his pranks.

In the end, you gain a decent friendship with her, subtly protecting her from Jax's bullying.

Ragatha

Seeing that you're so distant from the rest of the gang has her worried.

Some of them might consider your loose eyeball creepy, but she's not gonna judge you on that (besides, she's missing an eye altogether so she can't say much anyways).

Howeve,r she's the first to find out how strong your distrust of everyone is.

"[Y/n]? I don't think it's good to be isolating yourself like this. I know you hate being here and Caine's a weirdo..but...we're all in this together. You can trust us-"

"Don't." You warn, putting on a frightening display of anger that sends her tumbling to the ground, sending chills up her spine.

"Trust" became something you didn't take lightly, as the last time you put your trust in someone....you ended up dead, turning into a literal ghost in the machine (that was your gaming system).

Despite this, Ragatha doesn't run away.

Like Pomni, she understands that you're just a kid who's confused and lost.....and clearly had serious trust issues.

But she's determined to help you through that, even if you keep scaring everybody away.

She's got motherly instincts, and she hopes that in due time you'll learn to warm up to her.

Zooble

"A bedsheet worn as a costume? That's a classic."

She's seen weirder things during their time in the circus, so you don't faze her too much.

Only when you snap at Ragatha or somebody who was trying to be nice to you does she raise an eyebrow.

Honestly, they 100% understand that you just wanted to be alone sometimes, and she respects that.

It's suffocating trying to act all cheery and go along with every damn activity Caine tries to get everyone involved in (but lucky for you, he can't make you follow along).

Especially since she believes he made up that stupid "Halloween update" as lazy way to explain your sudden arrival.

The only time you do interact with Zooble is after she yanks Jax by his ears, and they hear this eerie-sounding giggle behind them.

When she turns around, you're just standing there motionless, staring at her.

Somehow, they just know you were smiling underneath that costume, which makes her smile, too.

"Maybe I should pull him out a hat next time, huh?" She jokes after letting him go, and you giggle once more as he hits the ground.

[c0smoshit]

Hug headcanons!!

⋆ ࣪. ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕤 ≫ time, warriors, twilight, wild, sky and sage (totk)

⋆ ࣪. 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤 ≫ don't read if you hate awful amounts of fluff, not proofread!

⋆ ࣪. 𝔸/ℕ ≫ I'm planning on writing more headcanons about not only linked universe but other fandoms, let me know if you like them :))

Time

★ Def wouldn't hug u at first ( he is the princess knight after all )

★ But when he warms up to you, be ready to recieve the biggest hugs ever

★ Would hold your nape, pulling you closer to his neck, letting your arms freely wrap around him

★ Idk but he gives off the vibes of pulling off long hugs, just breathing into you and taking all of you in

"We're ba-"

He didn't even finish his sentence as he felt his breath being violently taken away from his lungs. And when he lowered his eyes to see your head crushed into his chest, he let down his guard.

Some stared at you, others whispered under their breaths and the rest just didn't care. And he didn't either, he enjoyed the warmth you seemed to pass to his cold body, pressing your front closer to him as a hidden grin painted itself on his lips.

But he was happy to be back with the rest of the group, and he ceirtanly wasn't the only one.

Warriors

★ This cocky mf acts like he doesn't care if you hug him, but he is dying inside

★ He finally got to feel you closer to him, and he would kill to have you this close once again

★ And that's a win win

★ Expect some unexpected bone-crushing hugs after your first one as he has already taken the clue that you weren't uncomfortable

★ This boy is desesperate

"I'm alright, I'm alright"

He then patted your back, his other arm still grabbing his sword. Although you couldn't see it, he had a huge smirk plastered on his face that soon would be pried off his face.

"Oh? Alright then"

Your teasing tone never failed to leave him blushing under his cocky facade, so when you pried yourself off his chest mimicking his smirk he was so confused.

Your back was soon turned to him and he wished he hadn't opened up his mouth in the first place.

"Wait-"

Twilight

★ He literally can transform himself into a wolf so expect the warmest hugs ever

★ He would always try to be as close as you as possible, always using some excuses as if to lend you his hand whenever you had to climb something, shield ready to protect you from any attack

★ The fur he has on his tunic doubles up cozy points ;)

★ He would definitely be the type to cuddle anywhere right after you gave him a small hug

"You're freezing, y/n"

Your eyes found his own ones, bathed in the comfortable hues of orange that the makeshift fire was able to emit. You tried to nod it off, telling him that you were okay, but he saw the way you were trembling under your clothes.

"Come here"

In just two words he got you entirely over him, the moment he opened up his tunic for you to sit on his lap as he tried to warm both of you up, you were at his complete mercy.

"Much better"

Your muttered out words made his heart ache, seeing your form clinging into him as you hid your face on his neck was definitely something else. His surprisingly hot hands soon travelled to your back drawing soothing circles into your skin.

Wild

★ He goes absolutely mad

★ The moment you wrap your arms around him he is absolutely at your mercy

★ He could spent days with you clinging on him, and he surely would cling onto you all day long

★ He would and will give you surprise hugs, whenever you are doing some tasks outside or just whenever your back is facing him

★ Absolutely adores teasing you ;)

Your loud shriek filled the whole inn you guys stopped by to rest.

The reason?

A sneaky bastard that happened to wrap his arms around your waist and lift you up in the air. Thanks to the corner of your eye, you could see his characteristic blue tunic, so you were a bit less spooked out.

"Link!"

His chuckle mixed with the soft sway of the afternoon leafs were the only thing that filled up your mind now. That and his strong arms placing you back down on the ground, your hands holding them for dear life as you felt his face smashed on your shoulder.

He really acted like an hyperactive puppy

Sky

★ Okay so this man, sleep

★ Loves, loves, loves deep and prolonged hugs. He feels as if you were a blanket surrounding his body.

★ So whenever he had to share a room with you in a inn or something he would "accidentaly" book one with only one bed available

★ wink wink

★ And god, the way he cuddles 10/10, would recommend

His legs were a mess mixed with your own ones, your nose pressed into his collarbone as he snored peacefully into the dawn. His arms secured you by your back with a force you didn't even know where it came from since he was asleep.

You didn't notice the way he had enveloped your body with his own one but you were too tired to care. Happily snuggling into his neck as you enjoyed this restful moment.

Looking up into his face before your weary eyes closed themselves, you saw the most serene expression you had ever seen on anyone before.

The perfect cuddle buddy

Sage

★ I see him as a more chill version of Wild

★ Always ready to recieve and give the greatest hugs you or he could give

★ Would literally think you hate him if one day you forgot to hug him before waving him goodbye

★ Adores being as close to you as possible, listening to your endless anecdotes

"Hey there"

Your soft voice never failed to make him weak on the knees, arms wrapping themselves around your waist as he looked over your shoulder to whatever food you were making.

Silence fell over the room, just both of your mixed breaths and the sonorous sound of your knife chopping some vegetables.

He would often whine when you had to move from your spot, reaching some other utensil. He also weighed heavier as his body would slump into yours, snoozing into nirvana on your shoulder.

He never failed to make you feel so cheerily dumb

[echantedtoon]

Demonstober Day 1 Dragon

A mythical monster resembling a giant reptile, sometimes shown as having wings. In European tradition the dragon is typically feared and tends to cause chaos or evil, whereas in East Asia it is usually a symbol of fertility, associated with water and the heavens.

(Warnings for death mentioned.)

Tagging: @lavenderdropp @six-eyed-samurai @trancylovecraft @cherrysuzaku

Remember if you want to be added to the spooktober taglist lemme know

Matagi.

Only the most fearsome hunters of the village were allowed to be hunters and go up into the mountains and bring back big game of elk and bear. It's always been this way generation after generation to not displease the gods. And honestly whoever heard of a woman matagi anyways? It was unheard of. A woman's place was at home tending to children and keeping up the housework. 

At least that's what you've always been told. 

By both your parents. 

Since you were little, you had no interest in becoming a typical housewife. Staying home all day and night, doing laundry, scrubbing floors, and being at the beck and call of whatever man was 'gracious' enough to take you as a wife. No. No you weren't going to do that. You wanted to go hunt and earn your living the same way your father did before you before he passed away from a bear attack when you were very little. 

Unfortunately both your parents agreed that it wasn't an option for you. Your father was more gentle about it always refusing to teach you how to use a bow and arrow but he did show you how to make traps for game capture. Meanwhile your mother was so much stricter. If she so much as saw you holding a mere rope or just even looking longingly at the weapons your father would use, she yell, scream, and drag you forcibly by the back of your kimono and 'set you straight'. Which meant she'd make you scrub floors until your hands and knees were numb, practice embroidery until you couldn't feel your fingers, or other things 'a proper woman is supposed to be doing.'

You came to resent her after that, because after your father's death her insistence became overwhelming. You couldn't even go outside without her checking you for weapons. Not even the other matagi hunters thought you were a good enough hunter. One even offered to marry you because-

"If you can't be one you might as well marry one to continue your father's legacy."

Your mother agreed but you refused. But jokes on them! You hid everything you needed in the woods near your home. All you had to do was go out and set up the traps just like your father taught you! And not just any traps! Bear traps! If you brought back something as big as a elk, moose, or especially a bear then everyone have to take you seriously as a matagi hunter! So the very last night when your mother was asleep, you had snuck out into the snowy night and gathered up the ropes from under the rock you hid them under, and ventured up into the mountain to set up your trap. There was a small pond up in the mountains that they say is the home to an ancient dragon-

However no one believed it.

If asked by the matagi hunters then they'd laugh at you and say that some old superstitious ancestors who thought everything revolved around spirits and spooks. You've been up to the pond several times yourself out of curiosity and to see if the water would attract wildlife but you never saw anything either. But do you know what you DID see last time you went there? TRACKS!! They were all misshapen by the new falling snow and the fact whatever it was had been dragging something, but they were big enough to be a bear's! The trail ended just at the Water's edge which was strange but it was snowing so the trail must've been already gone. 

But there was definitely some big game going through there!! 

But first things first! You needed to have all the advantages you could get! So along with the rope, you brought a long some homemade ohagi and some yen. Even if there was no dragon, an offering might at least bring you good luck. Plus it never hurts to be on the safe side. 

The snow crunched under your feet, and your breath turned to fog around your head as you huffed and puffed through the night. Trying to be quiet to not disturb the wildlife in case a good buck was roaming about. Step after step you took until you got passed some bushes. And-

AH! THERE IT WAS!

The moonlight sparkled off the snow and shine on the water like little stars floating on the surface. It was peaceful without any life in sight. Human or animal and no sounds except for the breeze coldly rustling through the branches and your steps as you walked forward and stopped at the Water's edge. Smiling down at the pretty reflection before giving a breath, getting on your knees, and bowing.

"Please, Oh Great Wise Dragon. Allow me to capture something  to show for my actions. I humbly offer you this offering as appeasement." 

Snow crunched softly as you gently placed the food and money, wrapped up in a cloth right by the Water's edge before standing back up and dusting yourself off and turning around starting to lift the strings of heavy ropes off your shoulders. Ok! Time to get to work. You'd set up a really big trap here for the bear and then add a lot of little traps around the area! The more traps the better chance you'd have to actually catch something.

You didn't notice the soft hand gently reaching out of the pool to wrap itself around your gift before disappearing back down into the water without so much as a sound. 

You made sure to set up one big trap hidden in some snow a little bit away from the pond before going around to set five smaller traps in various places near the biggest one making sure to study and remember where each one was before quickly leaving the area. You needed to get back home before your mother woke up and found you gone muttering to yourself.

"I'll come back tomorrow night and see if I caught anything."

And then you promptly left. Back home with just enough time to skip inside and hang up your winter coat before your mother got up to start working again. You had to wait all day and then a little bit into the night for your mother to sleep again before you could slip out by night and run up to the place where you set up the traps. Giddily looking at each one until you stopped by the smallest one furthest away from the pond. Your eyes widened at what you saw-

Oh my. It was.. beautiful!

The purest of white rabbits sat there in the rope trap with its back leg caught up in the string. It's fur so fluffy and white that it rivaled the snow itself. Perfect for making a muff that could sell for a good fifty yen. It's neat could make good soup for at least a week. Pink eyes blinked up at you oddly calmly wide eyes catching the moonlight and sparkling like rubies. Ok! Ok! You can do this! You can do this! Just one slice! Hands fumbled for the dagger tied to your side, shakily reaching it up into the air. Moonlight gleaming off the silver metal-

... Before you lowered it staring at the innocent face blinking up at you..And sighed.

You know what? This rabbit is too small anyways. It's not worth the effort and anyone could catch a rabbit. You decided to cut the rope around it's foot. Immediately it bolted off. Shooting up snow before it stopped just a few yards away looked at you for a few seconds before scattering away disappearing into the snow.

You sighed again picketing the blade. "I'll come back again tomorrow. Maybe something bigger will be here by then."

You did just that. Coming back the next night you found yet another prize even more beautiful than the fluffy rabbit. A absolutely BEAUTIFUL red fox. It's sleek fur shiny and such a beautiful orange like a tiger lily just blooming. It stared at you with beautiful eyes as it dangled from the rope wrapped around it's middle. ..That looked painful for the poor thing as it just stared at you with big eyes-

No. This wouldn't do either. It was...still too small even if it's pelt would've been worth at least a good hundred yen. So you cut it down and watched as it ran off into the darkness and disappeared from sight leaving only a few tracks for your work. You'll come back tomorrow night and see what else you might get. 

The next night was possibly the best one.

For there was the most beautiful creature of all.  

A doe. Graceful and as beautifully brown as chocolate. Her big body and meat could go for more than the fox and rabbit combined. Her hide could make perfect bags. Her head sold as a trophy to place on the wall and yet-...

She ran away as soon as you cut the rope from her neck. Bounding quickly away through the trees like she was flying almost.  She was...still too small. You needed something like an elk or moose to really show your worth and how well your traps worked! 

"I need something really special in my nets," you thought out loud to yourself. Instantly the mental image of your mother nagging you to get married already popped into your mind. Making you huff. "Like a husband. That way my life can be completed."

You chuckled to yourself as you started home. Imagining the funny scenario of one of those rude hunters dangling and yelling from your ropes like a fish on a hook. It made you feel the tiniest bit better about the losses you had when you went home to wait for the fifth night again to go back to the pond. 

You took your time just imagining what could be in your next trap. A juicy elk. A big moose. Or maybe a majestic bear! Your traps have been so successful so far so that proves you could be a successful matagi!  When night finally fell and your mother slept you took your coat and exited back where you came. Through the cold and snowy night. Carefully trudging through the snow towards your destination until arriving again to check the remaining three traps you didn't destroy cutting the animals free. The two little ones were empty upsetting you. But you had high hopes for the last one. As you slowly approached the bush. AND perking up as something large moved from inside the bushes. As your hands grabbed your dagger and slowly pulled back the branches ready to strike the bear-

"Oh hello. It's very nice to finally meet you face to face."

You stood there frozen. Your eyes meeting purple orbs with black cat like slits.

Sitting in the snow before you was a man. Or.. what looked like a man. Aman a little bit taller than you say there perfectly content in the snow with beautiful robes draped over his body. Now a man dressed like a wealthy noble sitting in the middle of the woods would've been so weird enough...if he didn't have two white horns poking out from his head, cat like eyes, and a long purple lizard tail poking out from the base of his spine. The tail had white fluffy hair running down it's length ending in a fluffy tuft of hair and a rope was wrapped around it suspended it in the air as he sat. 

However despite everything he smiled at you.

You still stared at him wide eyed. Dragger dropping from your hand to land with a thud in the snow. There was silence for another minute before you finally spoke. "I-...W-Who?"

"My apologies." He slightly bowed to you. "My name is Ubuyashiki. I am the Guardian of this mountain region. You'll forgive me for surprising you like this, but I haven't had any visitors for quite some time. "

"I-..V-Visitors?"

"Indeed. You see I used to have many visitors coming to leave me offers but I think sadly I've been reduced to a mere legend until you came by days ago and left me that delicious food. So in return I tried my best to grant you your wish of a good prey."

Wait a minute-

"Wait. So this entire time..it w-was YOU who put those animals in my trap?"

He nodded. "However you never seemed satisfied with what I brought you but then you mentioned wanting to catch a husband within a trap." He slowly stood up making you realize how close you were. "And I have been rather lonely these past ten thousand years." His smile was gentle, kind. Despite having sharp claws they gently scratched your face as he tilted his head up to you with a smile. "It would be so nice to have a companion as kind hearted as you for my partner."

You swallowed the lump in your throat under his gaze. Perhaps your hunting skills were a little too much.

[raz-writes-the-thing]

Polish and Shine (Supernatural One-Shot)

Sam Winchester x GN!Reader / requests are open

Summary: Sam chews on his nails a lot. Too much. You come up with a plan to break the habit.

Fic type: comfort, fluff

CW: this lil fic contains mentions of Sam wanting to explore his gender : ) not much, just mentions of him enjoying feeling feminine (please be gentle with me, this one has a lil piece of me in it).

SPN: @wereallbrokenangels @nervoussystemss (send an ask to be added to a tag list!)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It's not something you noticed a lot at first. To be quite honest, your social awareness wasn't the best, and looking at people head-on was something you struggled with even after you got to know someone.

But you did start noticing it. It seemed that he did it more at night when it was just him and his thoughts and the big dark room lit up only by his laptop at the table. On a side note, he was going to ruin his eyesight if he kept that up.

But he also did it in the Impala, or after a disturbing interview, or even just when Dean was late back from some girl or guy's place he picked up at the bar.

Chewing his nails... Sam was always chewing on his nails. You understood why, of course. It was an anxiety thing. A stress thing. You'd be lying if you said you didn't fall victim to the same impulse sometimes, but the amount of nail-chewing was starting to worry you.

It had gotten so bad that Dean had started slapping at Sam's hand if he noticed him raising it towards his mouth, one hand on the wheel and his eyes piercing warning daggers into Sam's soul as he pointed at him accusatorially. A silent "stop it right now before I turn Baby around."

It only stopped him from doing it so much on the road. Less so anywhere else. You'd been keeping a quiet eye on Sam the last few days, watching him chew his nails back to the skin. Irritating the skin and the keratin so much that it was probably hurting him. You weren't even sure what was worrying him so much.

You'd been brainstorming ideas to help him with the impulse for a few days until it finally came to you one morning when you were making a med-kit run- stocking up on all the things you all would definitely need at one point or another.

Nail polish. Of course! You'd picked up a couple different colours- given they were all out of transparent along with your bandages, iodine and Betadine and headed back to the motel of the day.

Sam had looked at the bottles in your hand with a raised brow when you brandished them. He picked one up, twirled it around and set it down on the counter.

"Do you want me to paint your nails for you or something?" He asked. Now, you couldn't say that wasn't appealing and that you weren't keen on that idea, because you were, but that was not the purpose of this little exercise.

"Maybe later, Sam. I got them for you-"

"For me?" He cut you off with one of those little huffy laughs he was so good at. You pulled a chair out and sat down, setting the bag on the counter and grabbing one of the bottles.

"Yes, for you," you reiterated, reaching for one of his hands. Sam allowed you to take it and take a look at the abused fingers. "Look, I- I've noticed you chew your nails a lot- and this looks like it hurts. I know Dean wants you to stop, and I imagine you'd also like to break the habit, yes?"

Sam shifted uncomfortably in his seat, averting his eyes from your warm gaze.

"Yes," was his soft reply. You nodded, giving his hand a squeeze.

"This might help you break the habit. Plus, you'll look super pretty."

Sam snorted. His eyes darted back to look at you, and you really saw how shy and vulnerable he was feeling at that moment. It made you want to wrap him up and keep him safe.

"So, they didn't have clear," you explained, voice soft as if trying not to spook a deer. Or a moose, you supposed, in this case. "But I got you a few colours to choose from. Which one takes your fancy?"

You know exactly what he's going to pick before he does it. The forest-green. He hands you the vial and you let go of his hand to shake it up and unscrew the cap.

Sam sits patiently for you while you work, occasionally clearing his throat or giving you a quick smile. It doesn't take long, only a few minutes. Let it dry, then another coat. Let that dry. Done.

"There, all done," you exclaim, leaning back and stretching your back so it pops nicely. "Very nice, very nice," you approve. Sam fans his fingers out and juts his lower lip out thoughtfully.

"You know- I kinda like it," he blinked as though the discovery shocked him. "Can I do yours next?"

And so began a tradition. Once a fortnight you'd both paint each other's nails. Dean even got into it after a few weeks, getting his own done, too. Sam had been worried at first that Dean would make fun of him for his nails, but the only thing Dean had said after he returned toting beer and Chinese food was "nice choice, Sammy" as he cracked a beer and propped his feet up.

Sam continued to chew on his nails for a bit. It was a learning curve, after all, but he did end up slowing down and eventually stopping completely. You hadn't mentioned to Sam that he'd stopped just in case he hadn't realised, but you and Dean had shared a beer over the silent victory. And when Sam brought the victory to you both a few days after that, all three of you shared a beer then, too.

You and Sam continued to wear different shades and Sam even learned to put the polish on himself, though he vastly preferred you to put it on for him. Considered a bonding moment, which was cute. Dean would participate occasionally, and eventually, Sam admitted that he liked how feminine the polish made him feel.

After that- things sort of migrated from just nail polish to brushing his hair and experimenting with colour in his wardrobe. That was all he was really comfortable with for now, but that wasn't a problem. You were just glad he felt comfortable enough to share such personal information with you.

You both loved each other so much, and one of the best things about found family was that you knew you would be pillars of support for each other.

No matter what.

[aayakashii]

❤️17 fluffy towa please!!

i LOVEE your fics so muchh keep up the good work!! :D

17❤️ An upside-down "Spider-Man" kiss

21❤️ wildcard

This is very short but I hope you guys like it! It's not proof read, so forgive any grammar mistakes ;w;

You braced yourself as you approached the pathway that led straight to your dorm, holding the straps of your backpack tightly. You breathed deeply and steeled your resolve, gathering all the courage you had in you.

That night, you were going to put an end to that. That night, you wouldn’t get spooked. That night, in fact, you planned to act on your revenge plan once and for all.

You would NOT let Towa jump at you from the tree branches and startle you out of your skin like he had been doing for the past week.

It started innocent, it truly did. The first time he just wanted to show you the tree he loved so much – the one with dimming colored lights.

But apparently, your reaction was so interesting, that Towa simply couldn't have enough of it and what was supposed to be one silly little prank, soon became almost a daily routine.

“Boo!” Towa dropped from the tree, legs firmly holding him on the branch as his upper body was upside down and dangling in front of you.

“WAAH!” you jumped in place, almost colliding with his face.

“Hehehe! Dandelion, your reactions are so cute. I love them!” he said, blushing furiously as all the blood from his body went straight to his head while he dangled in front of you like a Christmas tree ornament.

You tried very hard to look him in his eyes instead of the exposed skin of his tummy. He had a mole right next to his belly button and it took all your self-control not to touch it nor pinch that apparently soft skin.

You put a hand over your racing heart and sighed, shutting your eyes tightly.

“Towa! This is the fourth time in, like, seven days! You're gonna give me a heart attack!”

He quickly sat upright on the branch again and leapt down, walking leisurely towards you as if he didn't just show insane core strength and aerobic prowess.

“I can't help it, you're so cute. I like seeing you surprised.”

You pursed your lips in a thin line. There it was. His flirting. You still weren't used to it after all that time.

“Well it's not that fun for me, you know… I get scared.”

Towa pouted, giving you his killer puppy eyes.

“Awww… but I like it.” He shrugged, completely ignoring your complaints, and grabbed your hand. “Now let's go see the tree!”

It was basically a new routine you'd have to be prepared for at that point: Towa would spook you, grab your hand and pull you towards the tree. Then you two would hug it and lay down to watch the stars until he'd begin to fluster you whenever he hovered a little bit too close for comfort from your lips. And your poor heart would beat faster and faster once again.

You just had to give your frazzled nerves a break.

So, you had planned to knock him off his feet and surprise him just as much.

The problem was, you didn't know when he would show up.

Two days had passed since your last spook and you've been bracing yourself ever since. The anticipation was causing you so much anxiety that you feared this would be his biggest fright yet, since you had been on edge all along.

You walked slowly, giving yourself a pep talk in your mind about how he'd be just as surprised (and probably delighted) with your idea as you were spooked every single time he dropped from one of those trees. You also hoped that would give him time to arrive and act on his little prank.

As you kept on walking, you heard leaves shuffling on the tree a few steps in front of you. It was either him or some of the many cats that lived on campus. You crossed your fingers and moved forward, hoping it was him, so you'd be done with your anxiety.

And sure enough, after you took a few steps, a familiar mop of lavender hair dropped down in front of you.

“Boooo!!!”

“GAAAH!!” you yelled, your voice going up pitches you've never reached before.

“Hahaha!! Dandelion! You yelled so loud today! That was so cute!” Towa reached out his arms towards you and placed them on your shoulders as he giggled uncontrollably, closing his eyes and scrunching his nose, finding your distress absolutely hilarious.

You took a few deep breaths, trying to calm your heart down as much as you could, as you stared straight into his eyes.

At your silence, Towa stopped giggling and opened his eyes. He tilted his head once he saw how serious you looked while you quietly observed him.

“Hm? What's wrong, Dandelion? Did you get too scared?”

You exhaled slowly through your mouth and stepped closer, awkwardly placing your hands on his cheeks. He just tilted his head again, to the other side that time, clearly curious about your weird actions.

“What are you doing, Dandelion? Are you still sc–”

You interrupted his question by hastily crashing your lips on his – his upside-down position making for the weirdest kiss you have ever given in your life. You didn't know what to do nor where to move, so you just held his face tenderly and placed your lips against his as comfortably as you could.

Once you broke the kiss, you breathed deeply once again, heart still racing but mildly satisfied to see his mouth agape and eyes wide open.

“N-now I've surprised you too.” you mumbled, furrowing your eyebrows and pouting.

Towa blinked at your words and, in half a second, he had gotten down the tree and stood straight in front of you.

His cheeks were still flushed while a small smile began tugging at the corner of his lips. His hands rested comfortably on your neck and he leaned forward, brushing the tip of his nose against yours.

“Can you do that again, Dandelion?” he whispered, voice full of glee.

You gulped before nodding and placing a small peck on his red lips.

Towa licked his lips, eyes closed as if he was savoring the taste of your mouth on his, and you felt a shiver run down your spine while you observed his actions.

He opened his eyes, iris barely visible around his dilated pupils.

“Again.” he whispered, and you complied, lips resting a little longer on his.

“Again.” and you ran your hands through his hair, bringing him closer.

“Again.” he said, diving back into a kiss before you could even register he had whispered that word once more.

“Again. Again… Again, again, again” he kept on whispering, placing a kiss on your lips for every word he repeated.

You turned into a flustered mess in his hands and your heart drummed loudly while he held you tightly and flush against his body, suffocating you with his kisses.

But, this time, you definitely weren't complaining.

[kit-williams]

Null Serf continuation:

Konrad ended up making her his personal assistant.

It made sense, she was well educated, an efficient worker and her abilities directly benefited him.

This only made her more disliked by the other workers, clearly, something had to be wrong with her for her to be trusted by the Night Haunter of all people.

She didn't mind, these people never accepted her into their group, they don't even know her name.

Speaking of names, the primarch had recently told her to call him by his first name, Konrad. It felt unnervingly comfortable in her mouth, he was a primarch and she was a mere baseline, she thought it would be more awkward than it was.

In exchange she told him her name, Nyx. It was only fair. Besides it was better than Konrad calling her his serf, or his assistant.

Although she was a bit self conscious about her name as it wasn't common among her fellow citizens Konrad loved it.

Apparently in old terran, it meant "Night". She shouldn't have been surprised since darkness inspired names were common for blank children taken in by the Astra Telepathica.

It seemed fitting that in the end she would end up by the Night Haunter's side.

With her at his side, much of Konrad's job involving paperwork was handled. Something that relieved him greatly. One less thing to worry about.

There was some friction between her and the Marines at first, with them wondering why their father would trust a mere baseline so much, it all became clear soon afterwards.

Sevatar remembered it clearly, the entire shop had been in chaos as his father had been incapacitated by another vision. He had made it to his father's quarters, he was about to help him up when; "The serf, call the serf."

He was certain he had misheard. Sevatar was aware that his father was somewhat attached to that odd serf but why would he want her now of all times? Regardless, he complied and sent word for the Primarch's personal serf.

He was surprised at how quickly she arrived, and most surprising of all, she kneeled down and touched his father's forehead. That seemed to do the trick.

Konrad's breathing evened out and he closed his eyes. The madness seemingly ebbing away.

Sevatar was perplexed. How in the fracking galaxy had she managed that?!

Word spread and several Nightlords personally made a visit to her to see what all the fuss was about. Most left even more confused than before, there didn't seem to be anything notable about her. Except for the ones cursed with precognition. They felt soothed in her presence. That was how the rest of the legion found out about her status as a null.

They weren't the only one to find out her true classification. The other serfs on board were spooked by the increasing number of Nightlords making visits to the serf quarters and her reveal as a Null only strengthened their resolve. Something had to be done about this soulless demon.

One day, when the primarch was on Terra on political business, they spied her in her comfortable quarters, hunched over paperwork.

The fact that such a demonic creature was treated better than them, loyal, servants of the emperor was an outrage. They deserved to be respected by the emperor's angels, they deserved to be commended by their primarch for their hard work. Instead it all went to her.

Just as she was leaving the room, an audible crunch was heard. A hammer straight to the head, according to the ship apothecary. She will make a recovery, but it was only due to the physical weakness of the serf that there wasn't more damage.

Nyx was kept in a coma.

The astartes killed the perpetrator immediately, they knew their father's rage would be immeasurable when he came back.

The worst part was that Konrad vanished for a few days after he got the news. No one knew what actually happened, but from the drastically fewer serfs around it was easy enough to put the pieces together.

Konrad brooded in his room as it returned to its previously messy state. "Stupid baselines thinking too highly of themselves."

He needed a way for everyone to give her the respect she deserved. That was when it hit him. He smiled, it seemed that he had a plan.

Konrad wondered how his boys would react to having a mother.

SOOOOO I'm loving this and if you feel the need to drop another part in my inbox please feel free

[book--brackets]

Summaries under the cut

Emily by L. M. Montgomery

Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely—until her beloved father died. Now Emily's an orphan, and her mother's snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. She's sure she won't be happy. Emily deals with stiff, stern Aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit. Things begin to change when she makes friends: with Teddy, who does marvelous drawings; with Perry, who's sailed all over the world with his father yet has never been to school; and above all, with Ilse, a tomboy with a blazing temper. Amazingly, Emily finds New Moon beautiful and fascinating. With new friends and adventures, Emily might someday think of herself as Emily of New Moon.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a "savvy" -a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity . . . and now it's the eve of Mibs's big day.

As if waiting weren't hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs's birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman's bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up-and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

The Last Apprentice by Joseph Delaney

Thomas Ward is the seventh son of a seventh son and has been apprenticed to the local Spook. The job is hard, the Spook is distant and many apprentices have failed before Thomas. Somehow Thomas must learn how to exorcise ghosts, contain witches and bind boggarts. But when he is tricked into freeing Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the County, the horror begins...

The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg

How has Mrs. Olinski chosen her sixth-grade Academic Bowl team? She had a number of answers. But were any of them true? How had she really chosen Noah and Nadia and Ethan and Julian? And why did they make such a good team? It was a surprise to a lot of people when Mrs. Olinski's team won the sixth-grade Academic Bowl contest at Epiphany Middle School. It was an even bigger surprise when they beat the seventh grade and the eighth grade, too. And when they went on to even greater victories, everyone began to ask: How did it happen?

It happened at least partly because Noah had been the best man (quite by accident) at the wedding of Ethan's grandmother and Nadia's grandfather. It happened because Nadia discovered that she could not let a lot of baby turtles die. It happened when Ethan could not let Julian face disaster alone. And it happened because Julian valued something important in himself and saw in the other three something he also valued.

Mrs. Olinski, returning to teaching after having been injured in an automobile accident, found that her Academic Bowl team became her answer to finding confidence and success. What she did not know, at least at first, was that her team knew more than she did the answer to why they had been chosen.

The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

When Alyss Heart, newly orphaned heir to the Wonderland throne, flees through the Pool of Tears to escape her murderous Aunt Redd, she finds herself lost and alone in Victorian London. Befriended by an aspiring author named Lewis Carrol, Alyss tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Alyss trusts this author to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere will find her and bring her home. But he gets the story all wrong. He even spells her name incorrectly!

Fortunately, Royal Bodyguard Hatter Madigan knows all too well the awful truth of Alyss' story - and he's searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland, to battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.

Misty by Marguerite Henry

"You'll never catch the Phantom," says Grandpa. "That horse is fast as the wind. She's escaped from every roundup on the island!" But Paul and Maureen want the beautiful wild mare for their very own. "I'm going to capture her myself," says Paul.

When Paul finally overtakes the Phantom, he makes a surprising discovery. Running at her side is a brand-new, silvery-gray colt - Misty!

East by Edith Pattou

Rose has always been different.

Since the day she was born, it was clear she had a special fate. Her superstitious mother keeps the unusual circumstances of Rose's birth a secret, hoping to prevent her adventurous daughter from leaving home... but she can't suppress Rose's true nature forever.

So when an enormous white bear shows up one cold autumn evening and asks teenage Rose to come away with it--in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family--she readily agrees.

Rose travels on the bear's broad back to a distant and empty castle, where she is nightly joined by a mysterious stranger. In discovering his identity, she loses her heart-- and finds her purpose--and realizes her journey has only just begun.

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

The girl known only as Brat has no family, no home, and no future until she meets Jane the Midwife and becomes her apprentice. As she helps the sharp-tempered Jane deliver babies, Brat--who renames herself Alyce--gains knowledge, confidence, and the courage to want something from life: "A full belly, a contented heart, and a place in this world." Medieval village life makes a lively backdrop for the funny, poignant story of how Alyce gets what she wants.

Circle of Magic by Tamora Pierce

With her gift of weaving silk thread and creating light, Sandry is brought to the Winding Circle community. There she meets Briar, a former thief who has a way with plants; Daja, an outcast gifted at metalcraft; and Tris, whose connection with the weather unsettles everyone, including herself. At Winding Circle, the four misfits are taught how to use their magic - and to trust one another. But then disaster strikes their new home. Can Sandry weave together four kinds of magical power and save herself, her friends, and the one place where they've ever been accepted?

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman

Catherine feels trapped. Her father is determined to marry her off to a rich man--any rich man, no matter how awful.

But by wit, trickery, and luck, Catherine manages to send several would-be husbands packing. Then a shaggy-bearded suitor from the north comes to call--by far the oldest, ugliest, most revolting suitor of them all.

Unfortunately, he is also the richest.

Can a sharp-tongued, high-spirited, clever young maiden with a mind of her own actually lose the battle against an ill-mannered, piglike lord and an unimaginative, greedy toad of a father?

Deus! Not if Catherine has anything to say about it!

[batsplat]

This line made me sooooo insaneeeeee

BUT ITS TRUE

they did not expect it from each other

You mention that after sepang 2015 that marc refused to take it lying down and retaliated, would you say that one some level vale expected him to just take it?

And also could you please recount events in which marc also waged mind warfare on other people after the divorce™ I think that the psychological aspects of his style are so incredibly interesting like how in le mans, bezzechi kind of crashed out and how viñales mentioned in post race interview how " when he heard marc's bike he knew it was over"

Thank you for your very valuable contributions to motogpblr, you enrich the experiences of all

right. right! following on from this post... fair warning: 'what was valentino's plan in sepang 2015' and 'what mind games has marc cooked up over the years' are two questions that don't exactly lend themselves to concise responses, though I've done my best to edit this down to a somewhat more palpable length. so *cracks knuckles*. let's do this

first off, sepang 2015. yes, marc did very much refuse to lie down and, yes, he did instead very much retaliate. I'm not sure if I'd say valentino expected marc to 'take it' exactly, though the hope would have been that it would a) make him more cautious around valentino, b) throw him off-balance, and c) make him more error prone. I mean, certainly you'd have to assume he didn't expect marc to react like that because.... well. otherwise, why would valentino have done it? yes, he has repeatedly alluded to having wanted race direction or dorna or whoever to step in, but those guys infamously aren't particularly proactive. and, let's just pretend for a second here that marc really had been plotting to ruin valentino's title - what are you going to do about it if you're the ones responsible for enforcing the rules? even after sepang, when it was reasonable to suggest marc had been messing with valentino in that race specifically, there was only so much they could do. sure, the main reason they didn't penalise marc was because he'd crashed and had in essence already been penalised. but if you want a more drastic penalty, then you're going to have to show that marc is doing something emphatically illegal. I mean, it's not like race direction penalised valentino when he was racing jorge in what can only be described as a cheerfully malicious manner in motegi 2010, at a time when jorge was close to sealing that year's title and the two of them were racing for *squints at notes* p3. they can't actually stop you from being a little shit, you know

this line of argument might be ascribing too much rationality to valentino's actions - maybe he was hoping race direction would do something. it's worth pointing out that one of valentino's later comments (from march 2016) to my reading suggests that valentino had already spoken to race direction several races before sepang about marc's behaviour, but they didn't listen to him. the sepang presser then constitutes an attempt to publicly force their hand... except it still wasn't enough. and a part of valentino surely must have already known it was going to go wrong after saturday's qualifying. the incidents during the practise sessions that weekend weren't particularly egregious, but they involved two riders who were both clearly willing to play games with each other (including in some towing-related shenanigans). crucially it's not really the type of thing that would happen if one rider had been spooked so badly they're making sure to ride on eggshells around the other bloke. at the end of the day, valentino thought he could unnerve and disorientate and unsettle marc - and if you're being generous you could say he at least picked the right target. marc had broadly demonstrated he could be unsettled that year, which jorge had very much not

if you're being less generous you could say 'but it's crazy he's doing this to the bloke who isn't even his title rival'. which is the whole problem from valentino's perspective - he simply couldn't engage jorge in direct combat (and again, this does make it more remarkable he even got it to valencia given one of his big big strengths in title fights was being completely neutralised). jorge has been involved in plenty of great battles over the years, but his 2015 title was won purely on raw pace and having just enough tracks where he was fast and it wasn't raining for things to work out in his favour. it was marc who valentino was continually getting into fights with, whether at argentina or assen or silverstone or... well, even phillip island, valentino fights marc a hell of a lot more than he does jorge. which makes for a weird championship in a lot of ways, but also makes it a bit inevitable that valentino ends up disproportionately focused on a bloke who isn't actually his title rival

if you want to be even less generous, you can say it was a rather radical misread of marc's character from a man who (any conspiracy theories aside) has always seemed to understand marc pretty well. like, this is the thing right, obviously hindsight is 20/20 and all that but can you really imagine any universe in which marc hadn't done something roughly along the lines of what he did that weekend? in a way, this is probably the bit that bothers me the most about the whole thing, just feels like it couldn't have ever achieved what valentino intended it to. I can excuse breaking the heart of the kid who hero worships you, but I draw the line at being kind of dumb

the way I'd break it down is by looking at why he was in a headspace in which he wasn't making good choices, and then consider what his actual thought process (however irrational) might have been. so on the one hand, you've got all the contributing factors that explain the poor decision-making process, that explain why he wasn't thinking clearly. on the macro level, you have the arc of his career and what this title meant to him and how it fits into his desire to win on his own terms and prove everyone wrong and all of that. you have the pressures of that specific season and how it had gradually gotten more and more intense post-assen, the influence of the people around him and how they had allowed/contributed to him getting increasingly distracted from the actual riding as the season went on. this factor obviously includes the man who actually presented valentino with the phillip island telemetry and had seemingly been badmouthing marc for more than two years. you have the arc of valentino's relationship with marc, his belief that marc was a sore loser who only played nice with valentino while he was winning and who valentino thought he had been more than generous to in response to marc's lack of composure earlier that season. this eventually coalesced into a mental list of all the times that year valentino felt marc had fought him differently than he would anyone else, from argentina to assen to silverstone to misano to, of course, phillip island. you have the compressed time scale - four days from the race at phillip island to the presser in sepang, at a time at which valentino will have been at his most exhausted and spent after the travails of first motegi and then phillip island at the closing stages of the toughest season of his career. it's this that creates the sense of urgency, the need to do something now to stop the opportunity from slipping away. and then, of course, on the micro level you have the actual details of the supposed conspiracy that relied on the specifics of how the race at phillip island ended up unfolding... of tyre management and seagull murder and fluctuating lap times and suspicious late race pace and a perfect last lap

which, okay, I think it's fairly obvious that valentino wasn't thinking clearly. but he still must have been intending the presser to do something, something that was different from what it actually ended up doing. now, the way this works in my head is that valentino basically did the equivalent of pressing a big red button labelled 'chaos'. if you do what he does in the presser, that's the inevitable outcome, right: you're ensuring this entire weekend is going to be a complete mess. in theory, you're the one person who's had the chance to mentally prepare yourself for that mess, because you're the person who's pressing the button. you're hoping everyone else will be off-balance, distracted... to some extent it's less about wanting to intimidate marc per se (bad idea!) and more about making sure he has other stuff to worry about. maybe you're hoping marc's going to make some mistakes, crash in ways that aren't caused by a movement on your part that looks suspiciously like a kick, be a little out of it all weekend. I mean, marc did have a tendency to hit the deck when under pressure that year. the hope is at the very least he's going to be a little more cautious, so worried about ruining his reputation that he's not going to attack you too hard. basically, hope he does anything other than what he actually ended up doing, aka throwing himself at you again and again in the race in a sort of agonised fury that paid no consideration whatsoever to his reputation, ruined or otherwise

this is where the sepang 2004 parallel is at its most instructive to me. you're giving everyone something to talk about and you know it's going to be the centre of attention that weekend and you just kind of have to hope that the chaos ends up creating an opportunity. and, for a hot second there, it did look like valentino might have been onto something. he qualified on the front row for only the fifth time that season (y'know his qualifying actually got a fair bit better in 2016, presumably because he just wanted to maximise the number of awful vibes pressers) and he outqualified jorge for only the second time that season (again I don't mean to be rude but, jorge, how the fuck did you almost lose that title what were you DOING). it's pretty unfortunate that the very start of the sepang race played out in the exact perfect way to allow dani and jorge to escape while marc and valentino started divebombing each other. this is the thing right, there are lots of ways that race could have unfolded and it basically could not have gone any worse - and it's helped make valentino's initial decision to blow shit up age particularly horrendously

the other underlying explanation is a somewhat more opaque one. people want to feel good about themselves, they want to have a positive sense of identity along several different metrics like self-worth and moral virtue and so on. it doesn't feel good to lose, and it especially doesn't feel good to lose if you've tried really, really, really hard. a lot of sports psychology is about the challenge of managing vulnerability. there is something inherently vulnerable about competing in the public eye: you are trying hard to win but there is always the possibility that you will lose. if you lose with other people watching, you are making your inadequacy public knowledge. this is why athletes search for explanatory mechanisms - maybe they make a public show of how they weren't actually trying hard, about how they don't actually care that much, or maybe there's something they can blame like the machinery or injury or the team not being on their side or whatever. maybe there's someone to blame. a narrative of sabotage allows you to preserve belief in both your own ability and your own self-worth; it is the perfect explanatory mechanism. and to some extent, this type of thing is necessary - you're not going to be able to compete well unless you have high self-belief to the point of delusion, which means you do have to tell yourself all kinds of things to keep the faith. but paradoxically, these explanatory mechanisms are also incredibly dangerous, because you cannot compete to the fullest extent of your ability if you are not throwing yourself into what you are doing in your entirety, without any restraint or self-defence. you have to be open to experiencing the pain of defeat in its rawest form to be at your best. you have to be willing to go to those infamous 'dark places' within yourself to win. the moment you are thinking about how you will explain your defeat, chances are you've already lost

but hey, I've never competed in a motorbike race before, what would I know of the psychology of it all? let's get the words of someone who should know a little more than me:

Looking back, what I said about wanting a bike that could win at Welkom, well, that was a way of boosting morale, an attempt at wishful thinking. You can't demand something like that. And even if you get it, there's no certainty you'll win. But then again, we riders always say all sorts of things. Sometimes we believe what we say, even when it sounds crazy, other times we're just being hopeful and, still at other times, it's all an exercise in self-delusion. We try to convince ourselves of something, because ultimately, every time you step on the track, words don't matter, and it's just you, the bike and your opponents. In fact, that's the only time you really have a clear picture of things. When you're actually on the track, racing against your opponents. That's when you know where you are and where the others stand. You know how your bike is doing and how those of your opponents are faring. That's the moment of clarity. Then, you can say whatever you like to everyone else: your chief mechanic, your mum, your girlfriend, the press... but, deep down, you know the truth and you know it with crystal-clear clarity. You can tell people you fell because the bike didn't follow the trajectory it was supposed to follow, or tell them that you're actually really fast, but the bike simply isn't. Inside you, however, you know the truth. You know you fell off because you made a mistake, or because your opponent is simply faster than you. And the opposite is also true. Deep down, you know whether your victories were deserved. You know if you won races on the turns, when it's down to your ability as a rider, or on the straightaways, when it's all about the power of the engine. You know the others are looking to make excuses when they say you beat them just because the bike was better. I always knew the truth behind each of my victories, and behind each of my defeats, too. I knew exactly why and how I won or lost. And so, at the end of 2003, after winning everything in sight with the Honda, I was certain I could win with another bike. But, of course, until I actually did it, I couldn't be truly certain. Thus, I set off on my journey, in search of that place where certainty meets truth.

(sidebar: I find it funny how the bit about straight line speed reads like just an extremely obvious dig at casey in his ducati days but, published in 2005, your honour he's innocent)

what valentino describes in that passage is the awful, inescapable secret at the heart of all competition: at the end of the day, you do know. you can only do so much to protect yourself from the truth. you have to tell yourself a story, even if it's crazy, engage in all manner of self-delusion to throw yourself into the field of battle again and again and again - where inevitably you are going to lose, again and again and again. any great athlete has to start out at least a little delusional, for there is something inherently insane about thinking you will be one of the very best in the world in your field. eventually, much of that delusion may turn to reality for the chosen few, but the delusion never completely goes away because there is always more to win and always more losing to do along the way. when the delusion stops, so does your career. valentino's endless capacity for storytelling and self-delusion is inherent to his success - he would not have been as good as he was if he had not found all these stories to tell himself, all these reasons to believe, to keep motivating him, to wring special performances out of himself when he needed them most. he told stories that were ridiculous until he turned them into reality. if valentino were anyone other than the person who killed his tenth title in sepang, he would not have won the other nine in the first place

and yet, chances are, valentino already had lost headed into sepang. chances are, he knew as much. chances are, he chose the kindest possible story to make sense of it all. at the very least, what he wanted to do was expose the truth as he saw it - make sure that everyone in the world knew what marc had done to him even if it didn't end up saving his title campaign. but in exposing one truth, at the same time he managed to obscure a different one. because in the end, certainty never did meet truth in 2015, because we'll always have a question mark about what would have happened if valentino hadn't said what he had said in that press conference, what would have happened if marc had reacted differently, what would have happened if race direction hadn't handed out penalty points or if marc hadn't been so hurt and angry he was unwilling to take risks against jorge in valencia. yes, of course it's likely that jorge would have won anyway, but we don't know that. it's 2006 all over again, isn't it? there's a likely winner, there's maybe somebody who should be winning, but there's never any certainty. that's why we line up on sunday, or so the cliche goes. the main lasting success of that press conference is that it has cast a shadow over the whole championship - not just in the sense of making the whole thing unpleasant to think about, but in the more literal sense of concealing the realities of that title fight, of generating ambiguity as to how it all might otherwise have played out under more 'normal' circumstances

except, of course, valentino has told us himself that he does know the truth about all of his victories and defeats. of course he knows jorge was faster than him that year, which is why he wasn't trying to win that title on pace. by any reasonable standard, there's no shame to that, not at that stage of his career and not against that level of opposition. there's plenty of ways in which valentino was the stronger rider that year, still, somehow, and enough sliding doors moments that would have given valentino just enough points and granted him a completely deserved title. but of course it was still frustrating, and it was frustrating to be reminded constantly in the paddock - including by marc - of how jorge was the faster of the two of them. valentino knew he couldn't beat jorge on pace, which is why he never tried to, but it still wasn't easy. it still required him to just... put away his ego, ignore all the snide remarks about his speed, ignore marc's digs and jorge's cockiness, and just devote himself to winning the title in the only way he could. that's the heart of 2015: it's all about valentino suppressing his worse instincts right until the moment he doesn't. it's the pressure, it's all the blows his ego has taken that year...

and of course, it's also marc. at the end of the day, it'll always come back to that - the fact that marc had made himself into someone who had the power to genuinely hurt valentino and how he then managed to make himself a target of valentino's suspicions (topic for another post). going into sepang, valentino already knew that more likely than not he was going to lose the title, and he decided he blamed marc. at the very latest during the race, he knew he was almost certainly going to lose the title, and now he definitely blamed marc. that's how it goes, isn't it... valentino's reasons for saying what he said in the press conference were complicated, but marc's actions then proceeded to simplify everything. any uncertainty, for valentino, was removed by that race. it was stripped away even further, if possible, by how marc approached the valencia race and his decision that he wasn't going to risk anything - not when it could help valentino. their whole tragedy, of course, is that if you had placed valentino in marc's shoes that weekend at sepang, he would have done the exact same thing

which is unfortunately as smooth a transition as I can come up with to stop discussing valentino's psyche and starting discussing marc's. let's talk mind games

the first point that's worth stressing is this: most of the mental pressure that riders exert on each other happens on the track. I think this is where 'mind games' becomes a bit of a tricky term, because inherently the connotation there is that you're doing something a little sneaky, a little underhanded to get under the skin of your opponent. but valentino has said it himself: you need to be performing on-track for any of this to work. and it goes beyond that - the on-track performances are key in determining what kind of psychological pressures you are exerting on your opponent. ideally, this is a symbiotic relationship where, as valentino puts it, the off-track 'work' that makes the opponents 'suffer' is used to... well, just back up what you're doing on the track, to make sure they're getting the message. to just play with them a little in a way that is conducive to bringing about further on-track success

so, in the interest of not getting bogged down in semantic debates about what exactly counts as playing 'mind games', I'm going to throw out the term for now. I think it's interesting in itself that this phrase is how people refer to that kind of behaviour, something about how it comes across as just a little derogatory, a little suspect... but we're going to ignore that. it's completely useless to discuss 'mind games' as this kind of ethereal higher-plane tactic that only happens in press conference rooms and on three hour long podcasts, as if it's somehow disconnected from the reality of what's actually happening on-track. (on-track behaviour is also at times referred to as mind games - but less frequently, and it tends to be used more for behaviour in non-race sessions.) it's also a bit of a sleight of hand: there's not anything inherently more 'honest' or 'straightforward', anything less 'psychological', about deliberately bullying someone on the track versus saying something snide about them to the media. what we are interested in here is the question of mental pressure, how riders exert it on other riders, and how riders go about working on the suppression of their rivals. basically, for a more fun term, think of anything you'd consider to be psychological warfare and go from there (the ask does actually specify mind warfare, which feels like a happy middle ground)

and just to reiterate this, the vast majority of the psychological work valentino himself did on his opponents - including in ways that marc has gone on to emulate - was done on the track. a race like laguna seca 2008, which relies so heavily on tactics and valentino's assessment of casey as a person and what message valentino decided to send casey that day... well, it may have had its effects reinforced off-track, but fundamentally that's still a heavily 'psychological' victory that enraged and unnerved casey through what valentino was doing during the race. and if you're assessing valentino's 'mental game' while leaving out laguna 2008, you really might as well not bother

so what we're looking at here isn't going to be exhaustive, but it's still going to hopefully cover most of the major aspects in a way that gives a sense of that integration between the off- and on-track. now, coming up with a list of examples isn't all that easy, because first of all... man, marc's been around for a long time by now... if we recounted every minor incident with another rider, we'd still be here by the time twenty to thirty years have passed and valentino finally gives marc a call. second of all, marc does undeniably leave less of a paper trail than valentino. partly he has objectively gotten himself involved in fewer feuds (though I'd argue there are also circumstance-related factors there), partly he's also been warier of how he approaches this kind of thing as a direct result of sepang 2015, and partly it's just a question of personal style

valentino tries to suffocate you with the paper trail, leveraging his skills at manipulating the media to make your life unpleasant, to throw distractions in your direction, at times to make sure you are overwhelmed by the frenzy and the noise and the chaos. all this, obviously, he does in addition to making your life on-track as miserable as possible. marc prefers a slightly quieter approach, maybe an indirect dig here or there, a habit of letting you know on the track if he's decided he has a problem with you. which means that a lot of what people consider marc's 'mind games' basically go something like this: a) rider does something to piss marc off (this can just be 'beating him'), b) marc does something dubious to them on-track, c) rider complains about marc, and finally d) marc goes ?? idk why they're saying all that but not really my problem :) and goes along his way

but that does make it a little tougher to actually provide a good overview of what he's doing - because, at the end of the day, I too can only be so certain that he's attempting to fuck with rivals. that's the nice effect of it, right, you get these statements from other riders where they're complaining about marc and broadly speaking I do believe them when they say he's being a little shit again... but it's a little harder to prove that this is his intention. which means they also end up engaging in a form of shadowboxing, where they think he's messing with them and they say he's messing with them but it feels kind of one-sided and silly and like maybe they're simply imagining things. which must be just... incredibly annoying. god

in a way, the best proof we have that marc regularly fucks with his opponents is that everyone in the paddock is more or less agreed in their belief that he is constantly engaging in psychological warfare. you've got other riders saying that marc is continually dabbling in 'mind games', you've got journalists on their podcasts saying that marc is always messing with people and is an awful teammate to everyone who isn't his brother etc etc, and you kind of assume they'd be the ones to know. though, if anything, this can mean they sometimes have a tendency to overshoot, which is how we got endless speculation at the start of this year on whether marc was lying to people or sandbagging or whatever when he was busy adapting to a new bike. sepang isn't irrelevant here - marc became more closed off and private and secretive and circumspect about his real feelings as a direct result of how bad that whole experience was for him. sometimes it feels calculated to unnerve his competitors, and sometimes it does seem more about just protecting himself. but that's the thing, right - if you acquire a reputation for "mind games", then people will think you're fucking with them even when you're not. which can be useful! but, as should be obvious, it demonstrates that just because somebody is accusing marc of engaging in gamesmanship, doesn't mean it's actually true (which is also of course the case for valentino)

^'who's most likely to play mind games in a press conference?' winning here! alex rins hands on hips we will get to you in a bit

all that being said, we do have plenty of fairly clear examples of the ways marc tries to fuck with his opponents, so let's get to those. here are the elements I'll focus on: 1) an explanation of how the on-track exertion of psychological pressure works, in races as well as outside of them, 2) intra-team dynamics, and 3) some specific examples of how the on-track and off-track tactics are integrated. again, far from exhaustive - the examples are supposed to be more akin to illustrating marc's approach rather than definitively listing every instance in which marc has exhibited a particular behaviour. the streamlined approach, if you will

so, let's start with the actual racing. the aspect you bring up in the ask: the intimidation. bez doing his sad little crash out of p2 in the le mans sprint, maverick thinking it's so extremely over the moment marc came too close in the main race. I've edited this section down a lot to avoid getting too into the weeds here, but let's just give the brief sparknotes version of how this intimidation works:

speed: if you are not capable of performances that unnerve your opponents, obviously you will not unnerve your opponents. no shit. marc's sheer pace is terrifying in its own right... it makes you wonder if that cushy gap you have to him is quite as cushy as it looked a lap ago. how often he seems to be able to access something special, how it piles on pressure in the context of a title battle to know that he is fast pretty much everywhere. the speed does a lot of his work for him in the intimidation department, nothing fancy required

circumstance: so, say you've got an alien behind you. not to name any names... but there are some aliens where, if they are having a good weekend, they wouldn't be behind you in the first place. that doesn't mean the alien can't still be plenty scary... but when they're at their best, they're dominating out front and so are less 'threatening' when they're sitting on your rear tyre. when things aren't going their way in a given weekend, you maybe don't have quite so much reason to be worried. marc (similarly to valentino) is a lot more flexible in how he wins his races - which might mean he's looking very ominous from say p5 at the end of the first lap. there's less possibility of respite, less chance that if he qualified badly, he has the decency to still be slow come sunday. if you find yourself on the same bit of track as marc... that's probably not great news for you in any weekend

aggression: the obvious one. marc isn't as afraid to crash as everyone else is, he's willing to go for it if he's given half a chance - which he never fails to remind people of. he said it about half a dozen times at le mans this year, including with his competitors in the same room. convenient when you have such an immutable character trait you couldn't do anything about even if you wanted to, which also just happens to make you terrifying to fight with. sometimes he mixes up this rhetoric a bit - e.g. in 2016 after his messy 2015 he did talk plenty about his newfound maturity. still, not bad if his opponents are constantly reminded of how unyielding he is... which is of course part of the reason why he bangs on about it so much

(on the flip side, while it is obviously in his best interest to barely say a word against hard racing because it would make him come across as a massive hypocrite, marc has this nice little habit of reframing his opponent's moves as just not being particularly sensible in that situation. look at how he talked about the pecco portimao crash this year - sure, it's a racing incident, but it also wasn't "necessary" to fight like this for fifth/sixth place given pecco had a championship to consider. pecco's move was "too optimistic" - and, my favourite bit, he would "learn" from what had happened. which is nicely condescending, and a good way for marc to criticise aggression in a more circumspect manner: don't call your opponent dangerous, call them an idiot instead)

tactics: linked to the second point - part of the reason why valentino instantly recognised himself in marc and has always acknowledged what a clever and tactically astute rider he is. the other aliens to varying degrees tended to prefer the 'start fast and fuck off' approach to winning races. by contrast, it's hard to really pinpoint what an 'average' race win would look like for either valentino or marc. they are capable of the 'dominate out front' victory (marc historically more so than valentino), but they also have a bunch of other ways of winning races that all produce their own psychological effects on their opponents. to give a few brief examples, you've got the 'stalking and studying' approach, closely tailing opponents and gradually ramping up the pressure while you analyse where they're strong and where they're weak before eventually making your move. you've got the 'comeback ride', which is frustrating in how it means the field is basically never guaranteed a break from these assholes - this is all about relentlessness and generating a sense of inevitability. you've also got the 'fucking around before fucking off' approach, where you get involved in a scrap for much of the race and it looks like you and your opponent(s) are on equal footing... before suddenly pulling the pin and disappearing off into the sunset. there might be good reasons for marc and valentino to stick around that don't just amount to 'playing with their food' (though there is that too) like tyre preservation or figuring out grip levels in the wet or whatever. nevertheless, it's intensely demoralising for the competition, because it almost feels like the whole thing was a lie, an illusion of a fair fight... they've been tricked into thinking they had a hope of emerging victorious. obviously, all these different ways of winning are also investments for the future, so that next time your opponents are in xyz situation you generate uncertainty and doubt and preemptive frustration in their minds, as they wonder whether they can really get the better of you this time

now, obviously a lot of this is just about marc's natural strengths as a rider - but the point is that these operate on the psychological level as well... and you can gently encourage this with a little bit of extra off-track 'work'. what you say about your own aggressive riding, what you say about your opponents' aggressive riding, any impression you want to reinforce in the minds of your competitors. there's a lot of long-term reputation management involved here. (a little more about these reputations in the context of argentina 2015 in this post.) most of the 'intimidation' happens on-track, and it's also a result of deliberate riding choices that aren't just about winning any given race. of course, it's helpful if you are particularly adaptable to different race situations, if your flexibility allows you to reinforce the impression that you are always a threat. if successful, you can make sure your opponent is already mentally beaten by the time they know you're coming for them. (I'm not personally massively a fan of the term, but this kind of thing is what generally counts as the 'aura' an athlete has.) ideal, really - to be so intimidating your opponents can't even put up a proper fight

then, of course, there's the stuff that happens outside of races but in practise and qualifying instead. a perfect opportunity to be a dick to others on-track without the stresses of a race. which means... well, look, we can't ignore marc's habit of sitting on other riders' rear tyres when they're attempting to hook together a fast lap. the towing thing radically escalated when the honda was at its least competitive post-2020, but marc was definitely very much already at it before that. (incidentally, one of the cuntiest things he has ever said was when he pointed out in 2019 that he was leading so many laps in the actual races that he wasn't getting much chance to study the other riders there.) nobody really needs me to list every single towing-related controversy marc has involved himself in over the course of his career, but it might be a good idea to get the thoughts of somebody who knows a thing or two about fucking with his rivals. valentino himself has gotten the towing treatment a few times over the years courtesy of marc, and both pre- and post-sepang his stance has generally been 'listen it's a dick move but smart play, gotta hand it to him'. take this from catalunya 2019:

and y'know, he gets to the heart of the whole matter rather nicely -thanks to the local marc marquez understander for logging in years before the discourse about it became such a big thing. marc follows other riders around because it's a great way to study them and he also does it because he knows it's extremely annoying. it's annoying both because you know you're helping out another rider who you don't want to be helping out, and because it is just quite distracting to have someone that close to you, being able to hear their engine, etc etc. one thing that changed after 2019 was how necessary it was for marc to do this... marc went crazy with it at a time when it was often the only way he could put together a decent lap (and also because it played into the strengths of the honda, for a given value of the word 'strengths' - he's spoken a fair few times this year about how he finds it harder to follow other bikes on the ducati) (not for lack of trying). but valentino is also spot on in that marc is excellent at choosing his victims, how marc understands you have to pick someone who needs to put a good lap together and has no choice but to drag you along with them

I mean, think about why he just couldn't seem to leave poor pecco alone for a while there. first of all, pecco is fast, and marc clearly feels quite comfortable following him around. secondly, pecco tended to put himself in positions where he really needed a good lap because he'd gotten himself stranded in q1 or only had one more shot at a lap or whatever. plus he was fighting for championships, so he couldn't afford to fuck marc over out of sheer spite. thirdly, pecco has been fighting for titles for the past few seasons, making him one of the riders to beat. which means that marc was motivated to a) study him, and b) fuck with him - both of which were investments for a future in which he could fight pecco properly. makes complete sense! insanely irritating if you're the victim, which is half the point. also helps that pecco very obviously found the whole thing frustrating and tiring and really hated being asked about it, but also was equally obviously adverse to kicking up too much of a fuss about it for various reasons. the perfect victim

on the flip side, marc has been known in the past to be quite careful about who he is giving a tow, like for instance this from brno 2014 (ironically the first race that year marc did not win):

The two front row slots for the Ducatis were a problem for Rossi, dropping the Movistar Yamaha rider down to seventh, and the start of the third row. Rossi joked darkly about Marquez’s strategy, claiming that he was giving the Ducatis a tow to put them in between him and his main rivals. “For sure he is clever,” Rossi said. “He doesn’t pull Jorge, me or Dani, always a Ducati.” Marquez laughed at the suggestion, admitting only half of Rossi’s accusations. He certainly didn’t look for Ducatis to give a tow, but he would not give one to his rivals, he said. “It’s your decision to close the gas,” Marquez told the press conference. “If it’s Dani, Jorge, or Valentino behind me, for sure I will close the gas, but if it is another rider, it doesn’t matter.” That is in itself an admission of just how little competition Marquez sees. He is prepared to give anyone a tow, except for the other factory Honda and the two factory Yamahas. In effect, he is dismissing the threat from any other riders. Harsh, but fair.

and, y'know, if it were so easy then everyone would do it. you need a certain level of skill to actually pull off the towing bit, which marc is clearly very good at. you also need to have a good feel for picking your moments, who to bully, when to slot in behind them, all that kind of thing. and, lastly, you also need the sheer power of shamelessness on your side. which, that should more or less cover it... there are some real gems like mugello 2019 where marc accused ducati of ordering pirro to shadow him and then played a complicated game of chicken to catch a tow from dovi and snag pole, or mugello 2021 where marc was so determined to follow vinales through q1 that he was even alert enough to dive back into the pits with him as vinales tried to get rid of the small train of guys following him... but overall, I think valentino did a pretty good job at summing up the main points for me, so let's leave the towing discourse at that. returning to catalunya 2019, obviously it is also extremely valentino that he then had a sneaky little look at the honda's dashboard 'just out of curiosity'. truly a meeting of the greats, those two, we'll never find their like again

let's move on to intra-team fuckery - which is all about suppression of rivals. your first job is to beat your teammate, and the first arena of trying to fuck with your opponents is what happens within the team. my general assumption here is that marc's particular approach is less inspired by valentino and more just the result of his natural competitive instincts (which, to be clear I do think is true for much of the tactics described in this post). it's also not something... I know the ask specifies post-2015, but I don't think it's something that changed after sepang, except insofar as marc had won the most important teammate war of his career and didn't need to be quite as aggressive towards dani any more. given the continuity between the intra-team situation pre- and post-2015, I'm not going to make much of a distinction here and just rattle through some details about the intra-team dynamic from the start of marc's time in the premier class

so, the first bit of context that has to be acknowledged: a lot of the dani/marc war wasn't really fought between the two of them directly. both of them had... well, rather drama-happy managers, who a) were willing to do a lot of the mudslinging on the behalf of their charges, and b) were pursuing agendas of their own to establish themselves within the honda hierarchy. I think it's fair to say that not all of what they were getting up to was necessarily just about acting in the best interest of their riders - and it is an internal power struggle that could've had pretty disastrous consequences for marc in particular. here's a longer write up I quite like about the situation within honda in 2013, which came to a bit of a head with the phillip island fiasco (when marc was disqualified as a result of failing to change bikes early enough). just a few excerpts (though again I'd recommend reading the whole thing):

(gabbarini is pecco's crew chief these days by the way, small world.) so obviously a lot of this is kind of dumb, not least because marc came very close to losing that year's title to a yamaha rider as a result of all this behind the scenes bullshit. it also is just the kind of thing that happens when you lock a bunch of big egos into a small space within a competitive environment - and is a nice little insight into the early year machinations that were going on as marc and his team attempted to establish themselves within honda. which they did in part by pushing through key personnel changes that replaced anyone too closely associated with the old regime... and there's also the less pressing but interesting question of whether (as casey believes) marc's team pushed casey out the door because they felt 'threatened'. this sort of backroom manoeuvring is part of the game, albeit an unsavoury one, and great athletes do have a tendency to be ruthless in asserting themselves within team environments

of course, by 2014 marc was asserting himself ever more on the track. dani might not have yet fully accepted the number two status, but he was increasingly pushed into a position where he knew he had to play along, to not kick up too much of a fuss in his own best interest. did that perhaps play a role in how all those 2013 complaints about marc's aggressive riding - not least when it caused dani to crash in aragon and effectively ended his title bid - died down a little in the following years? who's to say! of course, marc has been pretty open in admitting his abrasive approach to the teammate dynamic, which he was kind enough to shed some light on more recently in marc marquez all in. I assume pretty much everyone reading this will have watched marc marquez all in, but for reference I've still included a transcript of the relevant bits of marc marquez all in. here's marc talking about the teammate relationship:

Dani and I, now we get along great, and he's an amazing person. But in 2013, 2014, there was a lot of tension. He was the king, the number one. People listened to what he said in the box. Everyone expected something from him... The team was focused on him. And out of nowhere comes this kid. A kid in his first year after Moto2. And well, first race and... boom. Second race, boom. And it's a hard pill to swallow. [...] I've never been a nice teammate. I've always liked to... You've got to make your teammate's life impossible, if you can.

and dani's take:

Those years there was a lot of tension because we were fighting for the same thing. He knew about my potential. That's why he always tried to stick to me, so I had no space to really take off. [...] He's very competitive. That's his strong suit, how competitive he's always been with everything.

and then at the end of that segment, marc says the following:

It is true that after 2015, 2016, everything calmed down, and we had a good, normal teammates relationship. After a while, I think you learn to accept the situation, right? It happens, and I'm sure it'll eventually happen to me too.

which I suppose is a fairly diplomatic way of saying the relationship got better when marc had won the war and dani had to 'accept' his lot in life. the king is dead long live the king, etc etc. intra-team competition is perfectly natural, but of course that doesn't mean all riders approach that dynamic in the same way. dani's "I had no space to really take off" is a nice way of putting it I feel, how he talks about marc 'sticking' to dani, marc's determination to just continually work away at his teammate... to suppress him, to smother him, to ensure that not only was marc winning the war but he would keep winning the war. marc made that team his own and he ensured that dani's continued presence in that team was happening on marc's terms. a job very well done

marc is also remarkably open in describing one of the specific tactics he utilised to achieve the desired effect in suppressing his teammate. in marc marquez all in, he admits to intentionally giving misleading bike feedback when it could give himself an advantage over dani:

But back then we had a great bike, everyone worked well. So if a replacement piece worked for him, I didn't like it, "This doesn't work. I want this one. I want this replacement piece, since I'm leading it. I want it. Don't give him this." "You want to try it?" "Yeah, sure." But I didn't want to.

now, listen, I'm sure this kind of thing does happen. that being said. marc, come on, not everyone is engaging in this degree of underhanded behaviour wherein you're intentionally hampering your teammate's efforts to improve the bike just to ensure you continue to have an edge over them. let's make a casey stoner comparison, given that I am legally obligated to mention him in most of my posts. he is actually relevant here though, as dani's pre-marc teammate and the bloke who would have more likely than not been marc's teammate if he hadn't retired. casey talks a bit in his autobiography about working with pedrosa at honda, mentioning how it was nice to have a teammate with a similar pace so they could actually develop the bike together. he also says this:

I never felt threatened by a teammate because I have never had one that I felt was consistently quicker than me and throughout my career our biggest competition always came from outside the garage. Still, I have great respect for Dani, our partnership was a fruitful one and I think we worked really well together to help Honda build their best ever bike in the RC213V.

while I do quite like the implication that casey would have felt 'threatened' by any teammate who could match him, I think it's fair to say that this is a pretty different approach from what marc's describing above. of course, casey could be misleading us... but, call me naive or gullible or whatever, I really just don't think casey was pulling that kind of shit on his teammates. I'd go so far as to say that this kind of thing is maybe not quite as widespread as marc portrays it as being. it might also be worth quickly bringing in casey's thoughts on such a combative style of teammate relationship (from 2009):

probably for the best we never got to see how that particular teammate dynamic would have played out! also, luckily enough, we do actually have somebody who can corroborate that casey and marc behaved differently as teammates. let's get the thoughts of dani himself (april 2023, so after marc marquez all in had been released):

“At least in the team we were in, HRC, it was like this: the one who goes the fastest is the number 1, the one who chooses the parts and the one who determines the direction a bit. “When [Marc] arrived, I was in that position and with the races and the championships he took that position and decided in his own way. When I was directing more the evolution of the bike I had the parts first and I never thought in [my] own way.  “My way has always been to do the best for the team, and if I have the best parts to make the bike the best, I'm not thinking about my rival right next door, but about Yamaha, Ducati... whoever the rival was, because I consider myself part of the brand. Later he had that other way of doing it.  “I don't think I was missing [the same way as Marquez], because my way of being was that one. For example, before Marc came in, with Casey Stoner, he never played that game either."

so, yeah, maybe not completely universal behaviour. I don't know, I do find it kind of charming that marc has this very 'ah well everyone does it' attitude. now quite honestly I personally would not admit to this sort of behaviour even in confessional amazon prime documentaries - and it's fascinating what kinds of things he has a filter about and at what times he just decides to be, uh, very candid. I mean, I suppose this is a nice way of publicly forewarning any teammate who isn't your brother that you're going to try and make their life miserable. so that's something. anyway, marc did obviously win the internal war - which is the kind of thing that does matter if you're trying to impose your will on bike development... even if you're just doing so to fuck with your teammate. so by 2016 you reportedly had a situation where marc's direction was being followed to the extent that it harmed all the other honda riders:

But Pedrosa claims he had no input in the decision, and is now paying the price of having to compete on a bike built around Marquez’s preferences. The 30-year-old also said that he knew he would be in for a difficult time in 2016 as early as the Valencia test last November. "In the end we didn't have many specs [of engines], but out of the ones we had I wouldn't have chosen the current one,” Pedrosa admitted. "When we picked the bike I already knew things would be very hard. I already knew how the bike handled in November. But it is what it is. The choice of bike that we have was [Marquez's], I had nothing to do with it. For the moment, he's ahead and he deserves to be. He likes the bike, he adapts better to it, while I struggle more. That's obvious, you can see it in the results and in the way we ride." Pedrosa said the poor performance of Honda’s satellite bikes this season in comparison to previous years was yet further evidence of how the RC213V has been designed around Marquez’s needs. Cal Crutchlow’s sixth place at Catalunya has been the best result for a Honda rider besides Marquez and Pedrosa of the campaign so far. “You have to think of the team, not only about yourself,” Pedrosa added. “If you look at the rest of the Hondas, they are a lot further behind than two or three years ago, when you had [Stefan] Bradl or [Alvaro] Bautista finishing fourth or fifth. Now they are 10th and further [back]. So we have to try to get the other teams to work too."

obviously, to some extent teams following the lead rider and prioritising their feedback is completely natural and even wise - they're the one who is winning for you. it does also end up being a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle that makes the rider already winning more likely to continue winning, which helps explain why these riders are even so invested in their internal bickering. all that being said, of course it's worth noting that different riders conceptualise that teammate relationship differently, and the extent of intra-team cooperation can vary drastically. marc has a very particular understanding of that relationship when he is paired with anyone who is not his brother - one that is generally speaking pretty far along the combative end of the scale

unfortunately, we never really got to see how bad the whole marc and jorge (also not the easiest of teammates) situation could have gotten. in 2018, their relationship was definitely better than say 2013, but also jorge was still perfectly happy to criticise marc - whether after argentina, or that whole aragon incident they had

(marc did call jorge afterwards to check in on him, which jorge did appreciate.) but jorge never had the pace in his honda days to threaten marc, so nothing really got going between the two of them. if memory serves, the closest we ever got was catalunya 2019, where they had a bit of a coming together in practise - incidentally the first (and in retrospect only) weekend that season where jorge had potentially dangerous pace

But Lorenzo’s apology seemed to clear the air. Marquez explained that once he “was calmer” and the fear of dropping outside the all-important top ten had subsided, he could see the #99’s point of view. Marquez also noted how he was twice penalised in 2018 for similar actions to Lorenzo’s in FP3. He then pointed out how neither his team-mate, nor Joan Mir, who blocked the reigning world champion at one point during the Mugello weekend, were punished. Speaking to Spanish journalists after Saturday’s press conference, Marquez, said, “He [Lorenzo] apologised to me, because he was in the middle of turn three. While people can say it's only free practice, it was the third one, in which the last laps are like qualifying. “I was so angry because I knew that my lap was the one to enter Q2 directly. In the end I finished ninth, the worst classification of the year. It’s clear that last year I was twice in the middle of the track and on both occasions I was penalised. At Mugello I came across [Joan] Mir, we touched and everything and then at the end of FP3 it happened again with Lorenzo. But this happens... When it does everyone has to be judged equally. There is no difference. He simply apologised. Logically [after the session finished] I was calmer and I understood, because no rider waits in the middle of the track – or at least I hope they don’t."

obviously, this isn't like, a big deal, but in the moment it was one of those 'oooh maybe this'll go somewhere' incidents and the eternal drama enthusiasts in the commentary box were talking about it at the start of the race. like I said, that was jorge's first honda weekend where he was showing actual pace, so it felt like this might be building to something. except then, uh, jorge decided to skittle all of marc's rivals in one go in the race itself and somewhat hilariously managed to just miss marc. and then jorge got injured again the next race and it all just kinda fizzled out after that, so we never really got to find out what dramatics could have been possible there

and that's it as far as teammates prime!marc had in the premier class go. childhood rival pol espargaro took on the mantle for two years in 2021-22, at a time in which there was much kerfuffle about honda's development direction and whether they'd followed marc's path for too long. espargaro did attempt to assert himself in that team and they did try to develop the bike in a way that suited all the riders better rather than just marc, which *gestures at honda post-2020* worked insofar as marc also ended up in the trenches. that being said, pol was never a particularly serious threat to marc - aside from that one race to start off 2022, which maybe prompted a little bit of needle from marc (based on what the podcasts™ were saying at the time in any case) but nothing dramatic - so, y'know, that was kind of that. in those two years plus the year where marc had joan mir as his teammate, of course you can go into the weeds and dig out minor disagreements... but apart from the conversations around development direction and how marquez-centric honda should be going forward, it's just a bit of a different vibe when you're beefing for pee one million or who gets to be the leader of that year's crash rankings. of course, if you really want to stop marc from tormenting you, maybe you should just try being his literal brother. pecco, if you want any more useful advice like that: I offer very reasonable rates, just give me a call and we can hash something out

so, we've covered how the on-track stuff works and looked at the intra-team dynamic - what's next? time to explore a little more how marc goes about unsettling his rivals, how he attempts to give himself the decisive edge over his opponents... and also, what purpose this all serves when it comes to his own psychology. intimidating rivals typically has another underlying goal: it's about motivating yourself. it's about proving to your rivals just how far you'll go to beat them while proving as much to yourself in the same breath

again, at times we're a little light in terms of an actual paper trail of this intimidation... given that marc does like to take on the role of the aggressor in on-track disputes, often he doesn't even have to be the one to comment - and instead the onus is on his rivals to voice their dissent. there's also the issue that marc did have a paucity post-2015 in terms of 'serious title threats over the course of multiple seasons' - which, I don't know, this does feel like a thing somehow, you just don't really build feuds in a single season. even valentino, known feud enjoyer, always needed a little longer to really get something going. looking at marc's career, obviously you do have dovi, with whom he had a very cordial rivalry between 2017 to 2019... but the only year in which dovi was a serious title threat was in the first year of that rivalry, in 2017. after dovi's poor results in the first half of 2018, that title bid was essentially dead on arrival, and the 2019 title fight generously lasts until catalunya when jorge skittled the field minus marc. there's a couple marc rivalries with young challengers that looked like they were just about to kick off after 2019... but, well, we'll never find out how those would have played out. and it might be worth pointing out that in his prime, valentino's disagreements with riders who weren't serious threats to him winning titles didn't really go beyond what marc had going on with assorted other riders from 2016 to 2019. it's a bit of an open question if you want to attribute marc's lower number of feuds primarily to his actual personality and how it differs from valentino's, or whether you think it just reflects their respective competitive situations. the boring answer is that it's probably a combination of both of those things

that being said, obviously you can engage in a wee spot of psychological warfare without it escalating to feud level. now, let's get the obvious out of the way: marc and valentino were still very much at it post-2015. of course they continued to be deeply invested in their attempts to undermine and mess with each other. but, let's be honest, they're their own special little thing and it's just going to derail this post if I pay too much attention to them. there's a certain level of feuding where it becomes increasingly detached from any sort of actual competitive calculus and is more about a fraught relationship between two people who have managed to severely hurt each other. that being said, it's worth pointing out that marc was perfectly capable of using that feud to spur himself on. for the easiest evidence of that, just look at some of his misano performances... in 2017, valentino had just nerfed himself out of the title fight, whereas in 2019 he was no longer a serious threat to marc on-track. and yet despite how valentino wasn't the on-track rival marc should be concerning himself with, in both cases marc ended up using his valentino-related rage to find that little bit extra within himself in order to steal the victory

^from the marc (+ dovi) race rec post

there's plenty to be said about the misano 2019 qualifying incident, but let's set aside the specifics for now (though, speaking of towing-related drama, marc had again during fp3 shadowed valentino around the track, which... why are you hounding this man in misano of all places, marc). the whole kerfuffle certainly didn't hurt marc's race performance, and it's fair to say he seemed particularly thrilled with that victory. obviously, these were pretty pointed celebrations, very in your face, big fuck you to the nation of italy and valentino rossi specifically. celebrations like this are important in both what they're signalling to the enemy and what they're signalling to yourself. if there's one thing you can learn from valentino, it's that a celebration is a public message, and can function as a statement of sorts about what the victory 'meant'. what's the story you're telling with your victory? what do you want to take away from this race? what do you want your opponents to take away from it?

misano that year had come after marc's struggles in last lap duels, with the two races directly preceding it featuring last lap losses to dovi and alex rins respectively. now, on the one hand it's not always catastrophic on a psychological level to be constantly losing last lap duels... because in marc's case they did help reinforce just how dangerous he was, where even at his weaker tracks he would hound his rivals until the very end. on the other hand, obviously it's preferable to have a reputation for winning last lap duels as opposed to losing them - not least because it adds to how intimidating you are when you are locked in another last lap duel. valentino of course had a reputation for being lethally effective in that sort of situation, and it's nicely helpful if your enemies assume they're fucked when you're in their postcode with around three laps to go. I discussed this dynamic a little bit in how it relates to the sete rivalry here and here, which links back to the discussion of how you exert psychological pressure on the track. some relevant excerpts, plus some of my race notes:

marc is obviously more than capable of adopting similar tactics in his racing, but the sete rivalry still holds up as a really good demonstration of the kind of rewards you can reap through a steady diet of psychological intimidation. this is why it's so important to keep an edge over your rivals: you want them to be haunted by the ghosts of all your past on-track encounters whenever you're fighting to the point where it's detrimental to their actual riding. anyway, let's quickly check who marc was actually fighting with during the last lap of misano 2019, and whether that might have had anything to do with why marc was so thrilled to get the victory. oh, the rookie revelation of 2019 and the guy marc quickly identified as the big big threat of the future, you say? poor little fabio quartararo who still hadn't won a race yet, but who marc managed to dramatically deny on two separate occasions that year on the final lap? getting in early on the mission of building up some crucial psychological baggage, are we now?

obviously, and pretty tragically, this future investment on marc's part has ended up being completely irrelevant (unless yamaha wants to do something so so crazy for me and build a functioning bike before marc's hair goes grey), but equally obviously none of us knew that at the time. and fabio was able to take away some positives from the misano experience:

“I knew he would try something, but you never know with Marc,” said the Frenchman. “He can overtake and pull away because I really don’t know if he really saved his tyre. “The good thing was I could overtake him back, and this going home gives me a lot of confidence, to say ‘he’s a seven-time world champion, but we can overtake him’. So, he’s a human like us.”

because that's what it's all about, isn't it. giving the opposition the impression that you're not even human - and, even if fabio is saying the experience gave him 'a lot of confidence', imagine how much more confidence he would've gotten if he'd won. also, check out fabio's comment about not knowing whether marc had been saving his tyre. that's why the 'fucking about before fucking off' approach to races is so effective: because of how it generates uncertainty, it generates doubt, it makes your rivals wonder even during races whether there's a chance you're just toying with them

we do have a bit of a sample size issue here when it comes to assessing marc's celebrations, in that his two last lap duels with fabio came a) in valentino's backyard, and b) when marc sealed that year's title. it means that if the celebrations seem excessive, there's still other plausible explanations for why marc was so happy to get one over the rookie that aren't related to trying to bully fabio into submission for as long as he still could. did marc really use them as a way of reminding everyone, including fabio, including himself, of who's really in charge? again, you'll have to draw your own conclusions

I'm doing my best not to cover anything that's happening this year too much, since this is the stuff I'm assuming people reading are basically familiar with. but of course, if we're talking 'pointed celebrations' then there's also a few from this year that stand out. this isn't to say that marc's joy at his ducati successes have been anything other than genuine, that he isn't happy or relieved or revitalised by his current season... but, well, part of being revitalised is also being back in the game where fighting for titles is concerned. take the jerez celebrations, ecstatic in spite of losing a tight battle, openly loved and adored by his home crowd. look at how he's done his thing repeatedly this year of engaging with all these crowds, getting them to celebrate with him specifically. a cynic might say it's a way of reminding his opponents that they might be winning right now... but they should never forget who the crowds have really come to see. which would be charmingly valentino of him. while marc (probably wisely) never went too far in mimicking valentino's unique style of celebrations, he is an avid enough student to understand the importance of the theatre of victory. like in his third ever premier class race (from the jerez post):

racing is one thing, but it's always important to consider how you're reacting in both defeat and victory. like valentino before him, marc prefers not to openly show his rage. like valentino, more often than not he will be publicly magnanimous in defeat. like valentino, he's not adverse to twisting in the blade a little further in victory. like valentino, he's very much aware of when a camera is watching him. with marc, you can also observe how determined he is to appear unaffected and unbothered by the effects of sepang 2015 on his public image (except in displays of very carefully managed vulnerability like marc marquez all in). there's plenty of examples of this, but most relevant here is how marc concerns himself with not being openly affected by fans booing him. take blowing kisses to the misano 2017 crowd after his warm up crash... which, looking at his post-race presser comments, whatever he may say clearly (and understandably) did bother him. likewise, see the glee of the misano 2019 celebrations. with those celebrations, he's trying to tell you that not only does it not bother him that they're booing, but instead he relishes it. the more they do this, the more he will win

one more case study before we wrap this post up, this time using a specific rival to illustrate some of his more common tactics and how the spats he gets himself involved in generally play out. said rival is alex rins, who especially in 2019 had emerged as one of marc's prime challengers. now, before we talk about any disagreements between those two, I do have to mention that rinsy has a bit of history with the marquez family (this from 2016):

in the end, dani stayed on for another year and was replaced by another ageing spaniard marc felt confident he'd have the measure of while rinsy signed for suzuki - so it's very unlikely marc had to play any active role in blocking him from taking the seat. that being said, obviously the main takeaway is the bad blood stemming from alex marquez's moto3 title campaign and how alzamora organised that team around the younger marquez. god knows how rins felt about this by 2019, but I doubt he'd just forgotten about it. there's also this from 2020, which to me reads as a little dismissive about someone who was your teammate in moto3? I don't know, judge for yourself:

anyway, back to marc. the 'biggest' incident between the pair of them was a coming together in qualifying at brno 2019 (one of the all time great qualifying performances from marc by the way, well worth a watch):

During qualifying at Brno, cameras picked up the end of a tense tussle between MotoGP champion Marc Marquez and Suzuki's Alex Rins. The pair were caught putting some close passes on each other before pulling into pit lane, where they continued to 'duel' - until Marquez reached out with his arm to put some space between their machines. Marquez then over swapped to slick tyres and romped to pole position on the drying track, with Rins claiming sixth on the grid. "It's a tricky thing because for sure [Marc] is now one step in front of everybody. He put the slick tyres and he was super-fast. But I think he has no respect for the other riders. He is riding on his way," said Rins. "I will explain to you what happened: On Corner 5, he went a little bit wide and behind him was Miller and me. When he went wide, he looked back and saw Jack and me. Jack passed him, but then he went back onto the line and sincerely he disturbed me. I was pushing. I was not super-fast, but I was pushing. "So on the next left corner I tried to do my line. He opened a little a bit the door and I go in. I touched him, but I think it's his fault; if he is riding slow he needs to open the door and that's it. But anyway, then on the last corner he braked super-hard to overtake me [back]. Then when we were coming into the box I was in front of him and I go straight and he has no space to go by my side. If I was him, I would cut the gas…" "I ran wide at Turn 5 and Jack overtook me because I checked behind and I only saw him, so I tried to follow Jack because I know he had good pace. Then I went a bit too wide and there was a small space, but enough and [Rins] ran into me…" said the Repsol Honda star. “The funny thing was when we entered the box and the tyre wall was there [in front of me] and I didn’t have the space [to get through] because he was going that way. I don’t know if that was intentional or not, but for me it wasn’t important. I lose zero time on these sort of things.” Told Rins had said he had no respect for other riders, Marquez responded: “Of course I don’t agree with this, it is his opinion." "It's not the first time," Rins had explained earlier. "Everybody knows Marquez and everybody knows that he has an incredible talent, but also what happened in FP1 with Vinales was more-or-less the same. Marc loves to play this game and try to get in the head of other riders. But in my case I'm really calm. I just tell the truth and that's it." Asked if he thought he needed to try and get into Marquez's head, Rins responded: "No, I don't think so…. For sure if I'm fighting for the world championship with him I will try to do something, but he's 80 points in front of me - maybe he's scared, I don't know!" Austin winner Rins, who has fallen in the last two races, is fourth in the world championship.

their most significant race clash was in silverstone 2019, where alex got the better of marc in a very dramatic last lap duel. I've heard journalists make vague reference to marc not taking that loss particularly well, though... again. hard to actually pin him down on a lot of this! but we do have more extensive comments rinsy provided in early 2020 to work with, and he at least seems to agree with that assessment:

"Marc is so good at these mental things, he plays a lot with all the riders," Rins told the official MotoGP website. "For example in Brno last year, I was on a fast lap, he looked behind at me and opened the line a little bit, but not too much. I was on the dry line and I touched him. I lost my lap, but I continued pushing. Then in the last chicane he overtook me so closely, we were so close to a crash, and then he went into pit lane. From that moment, I said to myself, Marc is considering me as a rival." Rins - who declared "Marquez has no respect for other riders" immediately after the incident - got his revenge in the form of a thrilling last-corner victory pass on Marquez a few weeks later at Silverstone. "Marc is the man to beat and the rivalry is so high," Rins said. "More in 2019, because I shared more moments on track with him. For sure whenever he finishes just in front of me, I'm a bit angry, I want to beat him. But also for him. I remember when I beat him in Silverstone he was so, so angry." Rins added: "I like this because it means that I'm doing a good job. Marc is an incredible rider, winning a lot of races and championships, and if he thinks of me as a rival, it means I'm there fighting him." Rins took two wins on his way to a best-yet fourth in the 2019 MotoGP standings.

now, yeah... the problem is that this is all very much hearsay (but no more so than plenty of similar comments valentino's rivals made about him!) and rinsy could just be lying about this or misinterpreting it or whatever. we are very low on actual evidence for the stuff he says here. if you watch silverstone 2019 and the aftermath, you will not see a marc who visibly looks angry - of course you won't, because he almost never looks visibly angry. unfortunately, we don't have the chance to grill alex on why exactly he was left with this impression. at the end of the day, like with valentino, when it comes to evaluating the honesty of a lot of these character references you will just have to make up your own mind. like with valentino, some of these men will either be exaggerating the extent of the harm or just straight up making shit up. then again, like with valentino, the number of people who do seem to have the impression marc was fucking with them maybe suggests that there is something to these allegations

just a few things to note here... to highlight some of the common features that tend to crop up in these marc incidents:

there's the accusation of lack of respect towards other riders - valentino is the one who most infamously made that accusation in the aftermath of argentina 2018, but of course he's far, far from alone in making comments along those lines. marc certainly has a tendency towards being... uncompromising in his approach, shall we say, which can at times lean towards treating his competitors mainly as obstacles and inconveniences

the anger that's being attributed to marc. which he doesn't tend to directly express towards his competitors off the track! but if he is angry, it may instead... seep into how he approaches instances where they share space on-track, as well as affect his general demeanour towards them

there's rinsy suggesting marc is known for playing these games, that he does it a lot, and he's also known for being very good at them... which again is often something we only hear about indirectly, but of course it's interesting if that's the general paddock consensus

there's also rinsy's insistence that marc's games don't bother him at all - he's just calmly noting that marc's engaging in them! again, it's quite hard when you're familiar enough with valentino's oeuvre to not be slapped in the face with the similarity in some of the rhetoric their rivals use. doesn't mean all of these different dynamics are directly analogous, but it does speak to how determined the rivals in question tend to be in... y'know. telling themselves that they're above the whole thing. unfortunately, sometimes it is just very, very hard to be unaffected... and sometimes you're already losing by talking about it, because it shows you've been thinking about it

which, check out marc's response. 'oh, obviously I don't agree I lack respect' 'ah, I lose zero time on these things' (for another example of him using similar language, you could of course look to his comments about bez last year in valencia). this is marc's go-to - he generally quite likes to deny the existence of a problem, makes it sound like the whole thing is very one-sided... he keeps his distance and can maintain his poise and this veneer of neutrality, where he is not causing any drama. maybe the other guy's just imagining things! that's really not marc's problem, is it now

lastly, you've got this notion of marc messing with other riders selectively, and specifically doing it when he's identified you as a potential threat. again, maybe you think alex is reading too much into it! but equally, it's worth noting that we have as much evidence for marc messing with rinsy as we do for, say, valentino messing with casey in practise sessions in 2006 (as casey's autobiography claims). it would have been completely competitively reasonable for marc to identify alex rins as one of his primary threats in the future... and it would also not be hugely surprising if marc wanted to maintain a psychological edge over him

incidentally, at 2020 jerez rins and marc had another little run in during a practise session - where alex was left 'visibly frustrated' after marc was slowing down on the racing line while rinsy was completing a flying lap, which he ended up having to back out of. this denied rinsy direct entry into q2 (though marc didn't end up being penalised for it). of course, marc's jerez race reached an unhappy conclusion and rins was too injured to even start it, and after that they've never been even remotely close to fighting for a championship. though there's still a little bit of needle between the pair of them, mainly resulting from how rinsy ended up joining lcr honda in 2023 after suzuki departed the scene. there's marc's reasonably innocent comments in 2022, on a day in which rinsy won another last lap duel for the victory in phillip island:

"I will not give any advice," said Marquez. "For me it is another opponent. It’s good that joining Honda is one world champion [Joan Mir] and one rider that is winning races with another manufacturer.  "Like this we will see exactly the level. I’m working really hard for the 2023 project with Honda and they are working really, really hard too. I don’t say I wish [him] the best. Let’s just go and see. He is another opponent, if not it would be fake’."

or here, take this from before mugello 2023, again mostly innocuous:

By contrast, Marquez believes Mugello is one of Rins’ best tracks and he wasn’t surprised to see the COTA winner at the sharp end. “No [I’m not surprised], because Rins, even with Suzuki, had 5-6 circuits where he is very fast and then others where he struggles more. Normally here with Suzuki, he was very fast and very consistent,” said Marquez, whose only premier-class win at Mugello was back in 2014. “He is really good in fast corners so, for example, in Le Mans he was struggling more than me and here he is very fast. It is good for Honda and Honda riders that someone is faster because like this you have more chance to look and compare the things.”

love being told I have "5-6 circuits" where I'm very fast. or take rinsy's innocent surprise that marc didn't end up winning at the sachsenring, and how he suggests it was maybe because of all the pressure marc had been feeling:

"It's hard, it tastes very bad to me because Marc has a fucking talent and it's not being easy at all,” Rins was quoted by DAZN. “But hey, in the end you have to turn the tables, you have to win, you have to build a winning bike. "Damn, I thought that Marc would also win in Germany. What happened? I don't know, I have no idea. Pressure, extra pressure, I have no idea.”

and then, of course, there was always that little hint of tension that came as a result of rinsy being honda's only race winner that year, at marc's beloved cota of all places... which became a bit of a discourse point (not always propagated by rinsy) to say that, hey, maybe the honda wasn't so bad after all... anyway, here's what marc said when rinsy signed for yamaha:

Repsol Honda rider Marquez was asked about Rins’ departure and answered: “I had an interview, they asked me about this rumour. I said ‘I don’t think so’ because Rins won a race and he said ‘it’s a good bike’.  “So I didn’t expect this move. But then the day after! I’m happy for him, it’s a good move, he’s moving from a satellite team to a factory team. Yamaha has power and energy from the past.”

marc had said 'surely not' but then the very next day he was left shocked and taken aback! he'd thought rinsy loved the bike so much! he'd thought rinsy felt it was actually a good bike! he'd thought rinsy would never want to leave! how unexpected this whole thing was to him!

(there was also talk about rinsy's unhappiness at how honda treated him and his development feedback - but as there is less than zero evidence marc had anything to do with that, let's leave it there)

did marc really behave differently towards alex rins because he saw him as a threat? probably! possibly? probably! but he hasn't really felt the need to say as much. sometimes, you can fuck with people by staying silent, and sometimes you can fuck with them just because you have a reputation for mind games - which marc, like valentino, has acquired over the years. ideally, your on-track plus off-track presence gets to the point where you don't really need to do anything and can let your opponents engage in shadowboxing while you can spend your time in more useful ways. think of that excellent clip from motogp unlimited where poor joan mir complains about marc's towing, freaks out when he realises the press has said he's complained about marc's towing, and then goes to explain to marc how he hadn't actually complained about marc's towing. and marc, with the air of a man who has been high on painkillers for the past week and hasn't given joan much thought beyond contemplating how well he'd pair with potatoes, graciously accepts this explanation - which joan is painfully, obviously relieved by. marc wasn't playing any 'mind games' in this clip, he was just standing there. but sometimes that's all you've got to do! call it a good return on prior investment. (partly this is also just a result of the status the sheer extent of marc and valentino's successes provides them and, relatedly, their power and influence within the sport.) here, from one of oxley's books:

Once you've established a reputation for trickery, you can confuse people without doing anything. At this year's [2009] German GP Casey Stoner accused Rossi of attempting to confuse his rivals by scrubbing the white sidewall paint from his front slick; the paint denoting Bridgestone's softer compound tyres. In fact Bridgestone had run out of white paint (no, really), but the reality didn't matter because Stoner was sat on the grid, convinced Rossi was playing tricks when he should've been getting himself in the zone, focusing on his race.

that's the ideal, right: you don't even have to do the dirty work yourself because it's the reputation doing the work for you. marc inspires a similar effect on riders, where he just gets them to the point where they're spending way too much time hyper-analysing whatever he's doing at any given moment. which means that he doesn't actually need to be trying to fuck with anyone for the effect to still be the same. free and easy, what's not to love

so, that's it, more or less. all the on-track stuff, from 'how to build up an intimidating presence 101', to just being extremely annoying in non-race sessions, to trying to mess with your teammate, to more generally how you go about handling disputes with other riders. managing your motivation, their motivation, everyone's motivation. of course marc's not quite scaled the heights (yet) of cursing another rider to never win another race again - which, hey, nobody's perfect, but I think he's built together a fairly decent resume for himself! there's plenty more stuff you could get into here, c.f. 'everything that's been going on with ducati internal politics this year'... but this post is more than long enough, and you can follow all that stuff while it's actually happening. a few more related topics I've deigned outside of the scope of this post include how he generally manages perceptions of himself and his performance potential in ways that aren't targeted at any specific rival, for instance how he talks about his injury and has a tendency to change his tune depending on what's convenient at any given time, or how in the past he managed perceptions of the competitiveness of his honda package. likewise, I also haven't discussed the actual success rate of these tactics: let's not forget that trying to fuck with your rivals doesn't... always produce the effects you want it to. (sometimes just in kind of dumb ways, like I get messing with the rookie sensation but please try not to crash when catching a tow, marc. "marc clearly tried to get into fabio's head and I think he hit his head himself quite big." "so, I think it's karma. fabio's on pole and I hope marc is uninjured of course. but he tried to get in his head because he knows fabio is fast." not ideal!) but, hey, the most important thing is he's trying hard and having fun. or something

because that's the thing, right. when you are attempting to exert psychological pressure on your opponents, when you're trying to weaken your rivals, inevitably this also has an effect on you. there are athletes who prefer to completely ignore their opponents and act as if they are essentially competing on their lonesome. neither valentino nor marc fall into this category. as a result, how you behave towards your rivals inevitably also becomes at least in part about motivating yourself. you are attempting to focus your mind in some way - whether it is to see your rival as an enemy or to simply distance yourself from them or otherwise. you may even be minded to treat your rival particularly warmly, knowing they are less likely to give you grief if you have ensured the interpersonal relationship has remained amicable... maybe even looking for a slight psychological edge if they are not sufficiently motivated to beat you. maybe that too is about managing your reputation and drawing a line under past unfriendlier rivalries, to distinguish your most beloathed rival from all the others. you may need to find a way to keep the fire within going, to reinvigorate yourself even in periods of relative competitive tranquillity by giving yourself something to be angry at, a reason to fight and to win out of spite... finding reasons to care, again and again and again. celebrating with exuberance not just because you are genuinely filled with joy but also because you need to be filled with joy - so that you can find it within yourself to keep fighting. there's never just one brain involved in the arena of psychological warfare. to succeed in sports the first person you have to play mind games on, after all, is yourse- *gets taken out by sniper rifle*

[twinklelilstarkey]

Tutor: A Plan

Words: 4k+ Type: Angst (I guess?) Summary: The girls have a plan. Warnings: Fem!Reader. The angst isn't between Y/N and Rafe, you can breathe. Rafe isn't nice. The girls are annoying. Slight mention of alcohol and drugs (and being drunk). BUZZCUT IS HERE, BABY!

Tutor Masterlist

I do NOT give you permission to repost my work. If you’d like to read my stories on other platforms, you can find them on my Wattpad and AO3.

They aren’t sure why or how, but they cannot find you. The girls have put at the top of their priority list to talk to you as soon as they laid their eyes on you. They just didn’t expect it to not be able to do it for an entire week.

You did go to school and class, but it was as if you had disappeared into thin air as soon as the bell rang.

The girls did watch you when they could. Their eyes would scan throughout your body as you would walk into class with your usual dresses. And they would never find any bruising or a look on your face that could mean you needed to talk to someone. You were just there, in class, taking notes and sometimes looking at your phone under the desk.

They remember clearly how, for the entirety of the week, they would hear the bell ring, and you would just swiftly grab your stuff with your bag thrown over your shoulder and would just disappear into the crowd with a blink of an eye.

You would never be at the cafeteria or near your locker during lunch. One of the girls even checked the bathrooms, but they never found you. It got to a point where, on Thursday (just two days ago), they stopped by your house. They knocked at the door, only for no one to answer it.

One of your neighbors eventually appeared from behind their fence, as they had been there watching the whole time.

“Are you girls looking for someone?”

Kristy was sure that every neighbor knew who they were since they had visited your house many times. Yet the neighbors just don’t like to seem as if they know everything about the person that lives beside them - even though they very much do.

“We're looking for our friend!” Kristy would scream back at the neighbor, offering your name to him as well.

“Oh! She’s tutoring today. Her mother told me!”

And that only led to the girls walking back to the car, defeated. They would never find you at this rate, and they know it. 

Still, they did not give up.

Today, on Friday, they did everything they could. They tried to catch you in every class again or at lunch or after school, even when Kristy knew that you tutor on Fridays. It is fair to say that they weren't able to do it. Yet, their failure only led to another idea.

Due to your new friendships, the girls know there will be a larger possibility of them still finding you tonight. And because of exactly that, they searched to know what parties would be happening for the evening.

After knowing all of it, they planned their entire Friday night. Tonight will be the time they will finally get to talk to you.

From their source, there are a total of 5 parties tonight as school is just about to end, and some seniors care more about their beer than their finals.

Three parties belong to the Pogues, which they automatically scratched from any possibility of you being there with Rafe Cameron. And the other two are from the usual kook party planners. They had decided on where to go first and had everything planned out.

They all met up at Kristy’s house and got ready there. They had to wait for time to pass for a bit, as they didn’t want to get to the party too early or else there would be a possibility of spooking you away. 

When out of the house, they got to their first party fairly quick. There were so many cars at the front they knew there wouldn't be a problem hiding in the crowd. And before they went in, they split up to search for you throughout the party individually. 

The music was deafening due to how loud it was. There was smoke throughout the house due to all the sweet indoor smoking and tables which Kristy hated to find. All the tables were filled with all sorts of kooks, hovering over a small pile of powder, which only made her try to find you even harder.

All throughout the search, the possibility of you being home resurfaced time and time again, but Kristy pulled through. In a way, she did not want to find you a party at all. Kristy wanted you away from these tables and all the eating-face couples she had to elbow out to get through the crowd. She ignored all the guys that handed her out drinks as she passed through the kitchen and eventually found herself in the backyard without sight of you or your friends.

“Did you see her?” One of the girls asked.

“No.”

They waited for every other girl to appear. Kristy analyzed their faces before they could even say if they found you or anyone. They were always disappointed as they walked out, and in some way, that made Kristy feel calmer as the possibility of you being home grew and grew.

“Maybe we should stay and wait up in case they get here late.” One of the girls said to all of them, and they agreed.

Minutes went by, and Kristy checked the time on her phone every few seconds. She watched as the girls went in and out of the house again to try and find you, but with no luck. It must have been an hour into it that Kristy decided it was time to move along to the next party.

The next party would be much harder, and they all knew that before even going in.

It was supposed to be a small party that not all kooks knew about, and here they were: A group of girls who weren't personally invited and probably didn't know a soul inside that house.

The girls talked inside the car about the best strategy to follow. They thought of the possibility that they could go inside one at a time, yet they had no idea how small the party was. What if they went inside, and everyone just looked at them? What would they do then?

By the time minutes passed and no one had moved, Kristy jumped out of the car and went inside the house. Sure, her heart was almost jumping out of her chest, but she still did it. The girls watched her walk up the porch and open the unlocked front door.

Inside, there were a lot more people than Kristy expected. It was much smaller than the party before, but there are still around 30 people all throughout the house.

The music, this time, is much softer, and people aren’t screaming and spilling drinks everywhere.

Kristy closes the door behind herself and walks towards what she assumes would be the kitchen, trying her best to act natural and as if she knows what she’s doing. She pushes the door open and finds herself in the kitchen, but not by herself. Kelce, a known friend of Rafe Cameron and Topper Thornton, is standing right by the counter, mixing up his own drink.

She assumes it is due to the time that she simply stood there watching him because Kelce looks up at her after a few silent seconds and stops mixing the liquid in his cup.

“Can I help you with anything?” He asked. His tone isn't too condescending, but definitely confused.

“Oh, no,” Kristy says, quickly snapping awake from her state of shock. “Sorry. I was just a little too focused on my own thoughts.”

She smiles at him, and Kelce simply does the grin one does to not seem rude. He picks up his drink and is ready to leave when an idea strikes Kristy.

“Wait!” She says right as he’s about to walk out through the door. “I actually do need help with something.”

Kelce turns to politely give the strange girl his attention and awaits her next words.

“Do you happen to know someone by the name of Patty?” Kristy asks, not exactly knowing how she remembered the name in the first place.

“Patty as in Patricia?” Kelce asks, sipping his drink in the pause, “That Patty?”

Kristy weighed down her options in a panic. What is she supposed to say? What if it is not Patricia and some random person that has that nickname?

“Yes, her,” Kristy says with another smile.

“Yeah, I know her.” 

Kristy looks at Kelce in silence, awaiting him to say something more, but all he does is look back at her and take another sip of his drink. Through the awkwardness, Kristy tries to make everything seem normal and her to seem collected and not insane in any way.

“Uh… Do you know if she’s here?” She points down to the ground, symbolizing the party.

“I saw her a while back, yeah. Not sure where she went.”

Kristy jumps at the opportunity, “So, she was at this party.”

“Yes,” Kelce says slowly, looking at Kristy as if she had gone insane for a second.

“Were her friends here too?”

Kelce eyes Kristy up and down, finding her the most suspicious person he has ever met. He can tell she is somewhat excited about the news, which makes him assume she must know Patty and is trying to meet up with her. But her hesitant tone and lack of names of other friends make him question if she’s even someone known to Patty at all. Can you be someone’s friend without knowing any of their other friends? Especially for someone like Patty?

Kelce decides to test her for it.

“Like who?” 

Kristy tenses up at the question. What if Patty, the girl she now knows you were texting, is just someone you met at a party? Not a friend of Rafe’s or even Kelce’s. Maybe Kelce only knows her name and nothing else. Kristy has to risk it because she knows he is finding her more distrustful by the second.

She begins with the easy name, saying yours first. But all Kelce does is look at her, awaiting more names, “Uh, and Rafe or Topper?” She asks quickly before adding, “Were they here too, by the way?”

Before he could answer, Kristy checks her vibrating phone, noticing the many messages coming from the girls that stayed in the car. All the messages unnecessarily asking her to tell them everything she is seeing. Kristy checks the time, and it is just a few minutes past midnight. Kristy has no idea how much time she has to find you.

“Yeah,” Kelce’s voice makes Kristy look up, “Actually. They left not too long ago. I’m sure Patty was with them when they walked out.”

“Oh, ok.” She says to him.

“Want me to say something to her in case she comes back?” He questions her, watching her every move.

“Oh, no. That is not needed. Thank you,” She says to him with yet another smile. 

Kelce smiles back at her and lifts his drink slightly as his way to say goodbye before leaning his shoulder against the swinging door and disappearing into the party. Kristy looks around the kitchen in defeat. She knows Kelce could’ve lied as he was already finding her weird with all her hums and weird silences, but what is she supposed to do now?

Kristy runs her fingers through her hair and sighs out loud, finding the vibrating of her phone irritating. She turns around and pushes the door of the kitchen open, using the door that faces the other side of the house as an advantage to lose Kelce.

She is quick and discreet with her steps, making her way out of the front door before closing it softly behind her. As she did it, she now thinks back on how she should’ve stayed a little longer to not raise any more suspicions. But it is too late now, leaving her to hope no one saw her.

Her eyes find her car, and through the windshield, she can see the girls’ widened eyes on her. She takes a deep breath before beginning to walk over to them, and, when finally by her door, she opens it right as she gets bombarded with questions.

She begins to explain everything only when she's sitting comfortably in the front seat. The girls listen quietly, never opening their mouths to ask anything until she gets to the end.

“Did he say anything about where they went?”

“No, but I also didn’t want to push him to say it. It was already awful from all the questions I had already made”

“Maybe they went home…?”

“At midnight?” A girl questions the other.

Kristy nods in agreement as they all find it too early for your night to end. The girls talk amongst themselves, thinking of the possibility of you changing parties or going home to hang out. Others said that you all went to get more drinks for the party. But the amount of liquor and convenience stores on the island made the girls give up further in finding you.

They had failed to find you again. If only they had started with this party.

Minutes go by, and the girls finally come to terms with the fact that they are done for the night. Kristy begins to pull away from the house in silence, and the girls all look outside, deep in thought.

“Could we go get something to eat before we go back home?” The girl in the passenger seat asks Kristy, getting the girls’ attention and silent agreement.

“Sure,” Kristy says with a small and sad smile.

The car disappears from the small driveway, and Kelce continues to stare out the window with a frown. With his phone over his ear, he curses himself silently for not even getting the girl's name before she bolted out of his house.

Everything about her seemed wrong. Even when she answered such an easy question correctly, the way the girl got out of the house confirmed it for him. She’s a weirdo.

“We’re almost there,” The voice on the other side of the phone says right as they pick up.

“That’s alright. Just wanted to ask you something,” Kelce says as he looks back at the party, “Do you know a girl with, like, brown and blonde hair?”

Patty laughs drunkenly on the other side of the phone.

“What? Maybe,” She says back to him. “Why?”

“Some girl came into my house asking me about you and then just got out without a word.”

Patty laughs again, finding what he said absolutely ridiculous. Kelce listens as she asks Topper about the girl with highlights, yet the answer is just as negative.

“Do Rafe an-”

“Hold on, let me put you on speaker.” Kelce sighs at Patty.

“Do Rafe and Y/N know her?”

“We don’t know.” Topper answers him.

“Well, can you ask?”

“They’re out of the car.” Topper says, confirming to Kelce that Patty’s ‘almost there’ is really ‘we haven’t even gotten out of the parking lot yet’. 

“Why are you so stressed about it?” Patty asks him.

“Because she was weird…” He comments to her, “And she said all your names when I asked her which friends she wanted me to know about.”

“Know about?”

“Yeah, she wanted to know where you all were. You two, Y/N and Rafe.”

They stay silent on the other side of the line, and Kelce is left to contemplate his own theories on who that girl could be.

“That is weird,” Patty says in a murmur after thinking for a bit.

“I know.”

There are more seconds of silence, and Kelce walks away from the window. He goes around the house, awaiting the two other people on the call to say something else, but they don’t even whisper.

“Is the food almost ready or what?” Kelce asks them.

“We don’t know. Rafe and Y/N went to pick it up,” Patty says to him, “But they’re still at the front. It might take a few more minutes.”

“Alright,” Kelce says as he sits back down with his other friends. “Text me when you’re on your way back.”

“Will do.”

(...)

“I’m hungry.” You groan out loud, leaning back on Rafe as you watch the restaurant’s door.

“I know,” Rafe says, “You’ve told me that many times.”

You turn around and wrap your arms around him, looking up at his face. Rafe stares back at you, at how your every emotion has just been intensified due to the alcohol you’ve consumed tonight - not his fault. Your smile grows as you watch him, and he has to hold himself back from smiling back right away.

“I like the buzz cut.”

“I know,” Rafe repeats himself. “You’ve also said that many times.”

“Good, because it’s true,” You tell him quickly before kissing his lips in a small peck and pulling away from his body. 

You walk over to the restaurant's door again, eyeing the inside as you watch the only people in the open kitchen work their asses off with the usual insane orders on Friday nights. You watch them cut up the ingredients and toss them into a pan on the stove. Rafe watches you as you watch the food, comparing you in his mind to some cartoon with hearty eyes only for food.

He looks over at the car where Patty and Topper are, seeing as Patty holds her phone in the air as she talks to someone, obviously entertained. 

You get back his attention when you step away from the door, and it opens in front of you. A guy holds up a white bag towards you, which makes you grab it, and he notices how drunk you are before deciding to direct his words towards Rafe instead.

“The rest of the food is almost done as well.”

“Thank you,” Rafe says back to him before the man disappears inside the restaurant again.

You walk back over to Rafe as you peek inside the bag, dying to eat anything inside the takeout boxes.

“I’ll take this bag to the car,” You tell him.

“Are you sure you can walk there safely?”

You send him a dramatic look, and his smile appears as you do it.

Even when refusing to let him be right, you walk very careful steps toward Topper’s car. You are very much drunk, but it does feel good to be so after a week of studying for your finals.

A car drives into the parking lot, getting your attention, but as soon as you have a slight difficulty seeing it in the darkness of night, you look away uninterested and get back to careful walking. Patty opens the car's door to welcome the bag of food, and you smile brightly at the equally drunk girl while holding the bag carefully in your hands.

You hand it over to her, and Patty does not even wait to open the first box at the top. Rafe watches from afar and chuckles as the two of you almost fight over one of the forks.

You happily take the fork from Patty’s hand after she has her bite, and you take yours. You practically feel your heart exploding with love for the food.

After swallowing, you take another bite and give the fork back before beginning to walk back to Rafe.

“Was it good?” He questions you.

“What was?”

“You didn’t eat?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” You say with a shrug.

Rafe smiles at you, and you walk back over to him, wrapping your arms around him again. And, in the distance, the girls watch the two of you.

In shock, after they had spent so many hours looking for you, they lay their eyes on you now, and relief hits them before any of the helplessness. You were safe and happy. Yet they cannot reach you now. Not when you're with him.

They are too distracted amongst themselves that they never turn off the car, which does sound suspicious to someone standing in an empty parking lot at night, such as Rafe. He looks over his shoulder to check out the car, half-parked in a spot with the engine running and lights on. And it has been there for some time now.

Due to the lights, Rafe cannot see who could be inside the vehicle, but those in it can see him and what he’s doing clearly.

The girls inside are discussing with each other about their next move, torn between the choice of risking going there while Rafe is right beside you or letting you go and leaving this for another day.

The discussion eventually escalates into arguing, and one of them steps out of the car before the others could reach for her.

The door is slammed closed, and the girl's silhouette appears on the side of the car. Rafe has stopped looking at the strange vehicle since you moved away from him and are now telling him all about your plans for tomorrow.

Kristy, who is still inside the car, realizes that she forgot to turn it off and does it now as they watch their friend approach the couple.

As she gets closer, the door of the restaurant swings open, and a man looks over at you. You grab the plastic bag full of food handed to you, and Rafe pulls out his wallet for the tip.

The girls impatiently watch as you say something to Rafe and begin walking toward a car. By doing that, you unknowingly create a larger distance between you and the approaching girl.

As the girl begins to change route and go toward the car you’re heading to, Rafe turns around to do the same. Yet something stops him, and his eyes go from the girl to the now turned-off vehicle, making every girl freeze on their spot.

He stares as the girl who was casually heading over to his girlfriend now simply stands before him and watches him in return. He looks over at you as you get further away from her with complete innocence. His eyes go back to the car for just another second, and he slides his wallet back into his pocket.

“What?” He asks her plainly.

The girl opens her mouth to speak but then shuts it right back up. Rafe watches her do it, and how her eyes go over to try and find you. You’re too distracted talking to Patty to even notice her.

“We want to talk to Y/N,” She forces herself to say.

“She’s busy,” He says before pointing towards the car, “Having dinner.” 

The girl stays quiet.

“Care to leave a message?”

Her silence is enough of an answer.

Rafe begins to move, and the girl turns towards Kristy's car. Anger is boiling underneath her skin as she looks over her shoulder, watching as you turn around to face Rafe. Your smiles and high-pitched voice as you excitedly speak to him. All while completely unaware of what has happened.

It doesn't take much of a thought to know that Rafe will never tell you, drunk or sober, what has happened and who has wished to speak to you. And that only angers the girl further.

She hops back inside her car and shuts the door behind her. No one dares to ask her what happened or what he said, so they sit silently and look outside.

Rafe opens the car door for you and lets you hop in as they watch. And before he goes in with you, he makes sure to have another look at the car and the girls inside it.

Rafe is a meany, y'all.

I know it wasn't much, but I hope you enjoyed this <3

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Undertale cast react to their S/O getting struck by lightning… and just walking it off.

(Bonus points if the lightning is completely out of the blue and/or hits them multiple times in succession)

Undertale Sans - He runs to you, in shock, but you're actually more than fine? What? You can see his scientific mind working at 300% right now to try to explain what he just witnessed. Because he's pretty sure you should have at least burned alive. How are you fine??? No, but please, tell him! He won't stop asking you until you give him an answer.

Undertale Papyrus - He gasps loudly, then calms down when he sees you're actually perfectly fine. ??????? He's pretty sure that's not how it works but he doesn't know everything so maybe that's just perfectly normal? Perhaps it explodes only big trees like the one in his garden but not humans? He's a bit confused, but glad you're fine.

Undertale Toriel - Her soul leaves her body honestly. She runs to you, screaming to not move, and immediately starts to heal you, even though you're perfectly fine, and tries to tell her. Except she doesn't believe you. You put your ass on the floor and you stop moving this instant. You're not moving before she allows you to!

Undertale Asgore - Uh. That's all that escapes from his throat. He got a little spooked by that and swears he saw you get hit by lightning at least three times. But surely, he was hallucinating because it would mean you being very dead, and obviously you're not. Maybe he should see someone to talk about this. He's an old man, who knows if he's not seeing things.

Undertale Undyne - That was AWESOME. Do it again! She's cheering you! She wants you to get hit by lightning again! Do her next! She wants to be struck by lightning too!

Undertale Alphys - She got a soul attack, both because of the noise and you just getting struck in the face by lightning. She's a bit in shock when she sees you walking out of this somehow still alive and not cut in half. Uh. She should have recorded that. Maybe Sans knows why you're alive? She so needs to gossip with him right now. She wants to nerd for hours about this.

Undertale Frisk - That was awesome and super cool! They got struck by lightning once and they almost died right in front of Toriel, how can you even survive that? They want to know! Share your cool secrets, definitely, not so they can do it again!

Undertale Chara - They look up their phone to make sure you're still alive, and since you seem find, they walk over your body and continue with their day. They're not impressed.

Undertale Mettaton - He is impressed, even though it's probably his fault you got struck with lightning honestly. Maybe going out during a storm when you're full metal was not his brightest idea. He takes two steps and the lightning struck him too lol. That's going to be a long walk back home...

Undertale Gaster - It hurts, right? He understands. The last time he got electrocuted, his whole body literally flew into the lava of the CORE. He can understand your pain. Even though lava hurts more if he has to make a classification. Uh. That's not the info you wanted to learn today.

Undertale Grillby - He ran to you to help but he got badly spooked and, uh, his flames are really burning right now. Good news is, you don't get burned by lightning! Bad news is you get burned anyway by Grillby lol. He won't stop apologizing to you for the next three centuries he thinks.

Undertale Muffet - Well, you were used as a spider car for a lot of her baby spiders, and let just say she's not too happy about the thousands of little spiders that got killed first with the lightning and then with you falling on your back, crushing hundreds more under your weight. She's counting the casualties, looking pissed off. I hope you have money. Because the workforce is expensive. You wish you weren't fine after all.

Undertale Burgerpants - He got so scared he puffed up. His fur is all dishevelled and all his claws are out. Please don't do that again. You almost gave him a soul attack for Asgore's sake. Now everyone will mock him all day long because he looks like a spiky pillow. He's mad at you, even though he's glad you're fine. But still!

Undertale Flowey - Well. Unlike you, Flowey is really not ok right now. He was in your arms when he got struck by lightning and let just say he felt this a lot more than you did. He's lucky he doesn't have a soul because he swears it would have dusted again. Flowey is mad at you and refuses to talk to you for an entire month after this, mainly because he lost all of his petals in the battle and had to go in cure with Asgore for two months to grew them back. He hates you, never talk to him again.

Undertale Gerson - He shrugs and gently pats your shoulder. "Better you than me, kid. Better luck next time. Ya won't have my life insurance so soon." You're confused but walk away. Wait, does Gerson even have life insurance? You're curious now!

[writeforfandoms]

Island 3

Find the series masterlist

You do your level best to make sure these four can survive the Island, if anything were to happen to you. Things don't always work out as planned.

Warnings: Violence, dinos, most everything is trying to kill people, dinos are hungry and people look tasty I guess, swearing, injury.

Word count: 2.1k

The next days passed quietly. No drops in sight. No attacks. 

Just teaching. 

You took the group of them out to gather berries and plant fibers. You showed them how to weave baskets to the best of your ability - you were far from an expert, after all. 

You took them hunting again, a skill they already had mastered. But you made sure they all practiced getting cuts of meat. 

You made them all help you with cooking, too. Cooking was an essential skill, one they would need. 

Just in case. 

You weren't surprised when Price brought up taming again. 

“Taming.” He stood in front of you, arms crossed, head tipped to look down at you. 

You huffed in soft amusement. “It is week two,” you agreed. “Alright. I assume you want the hands on version.” 

That got you interested looks, Soap and Gaz lifting their heads and looking at you with blatant curiosity. 

“Right, okay.” You couldn't help but smile, amused. “Grab your weapons, I'll get Bessie.” 

It didn't take long before the group of you were headed down towards the beach. The hyaenadon had insisted on coming, and trotted happily between you and Gaz. 

“Think we could find another one like her?” Gaz motioned down at the hyaenadon. 

You shrugged. “They're around, though not so far down as the beach,” you mused. “But they're hard to start taming, you have to sneak up on them.” 

“Probably don't have ghillie laying about,” Gaz guessed with a little grin. 

“Funny you should mention that, actually.” Your lips twisted in a complicated mix of emotions. 

“What, really?” Gaz turned wide eyes on you. 

You shrugged, fingers twitching restlessly at your sides. “I have a set that more or less fits me, and two more sets. Plus some bits and pieces. It's one of the things that can be found in the drops.” 

Gaz nodded slowly. “I'd like to see that, and what else you have,” he said. “Later.” 

“Later,” you agreed, pausing at the tree line just at the edge of the shore. “Right. Who's volunteering to try this?” 

There was a moment of silence as the men all looked at you, clearly unwilling to volunteer to be the first. Until Price huffed and stepped forward. 

You nodded. “Right, good. Pick a dino. Anything you can see around here will be an easy tame.” 

Price turned a slow circle, taking in the beach, the various creatures walking around, and the sight of his men all huddled together like school children. He huffed. “What are the advantages to each?” 

You couldn't help your little smile at that. “Don't bother with dodos, they're not good for much but food. Trikes are good defenders and they can carry a lot of weight. Parasaurs can carry a fair bit too, and they're good watch towers.” You shaded your eyes to look around again, to see what else was around. “Let's see… that looks like an iguanodon, never had one before. If we can find one, gallimimus are pretty fast runners.” You shrugged, looking back to Price. 

His brow furrowed as he looked out at the iguanodon. This one was mostly green, with darker green stripes along its back and a lighter belly. Not a bad choice for a first tame. 

“That one, then.” Price looked back to you, shoulders straight and even. 

“Right.” You stood straight and looked at the other three. “I'm leaving you lot here with Bessie and the hyaenadon. Too much activity will spook the iguanodon. So I expect you lot to stay here and keep your eyes open. Yes?”

“Yes ma'am,” Gaz agreed easily, while Soap murmured an “Aye”. Ghost said nothing, but his chin dipped towards you, just enough acknowledgement that you took it as agreement. 

You grabbed the bag of berries from Bessie's saddle and handed it to Price, whistling for the two tames to stay put. The hyaenadon whined but sat next to Gaz. 

The walk towards the iguanodon was quiet, Price keeping pace with you. He stopped when you did, crouching next to you in the long grass. 

“Here, take these.” You handed him a bag of berries. “Start rolling berries towards it. You want to entice it closer until you can hand feed it.” 

Price gave you a bit of a side-eyed look but did as you instructed. The iguanodon slowly lumbered towards the two of you, eating berries along the way. You smiled, just a little.  So far, so good. 

The iguanodon stretched out its neck slowly, cautiously, until it could take a berry from Price’s hand. It was a little less shy the next time, until it didn't hesitate at all taking the berries from him. 

The look on his face was priceless, a bit shocked and a bit awed. 

The iguanodon lifted its head and lumbered away, not fast like it had been alarmed. Just like it was done eating. 

“Good,” you murmured, watching it go. “How do you feel?” 

He wiped his hand off on the grass, shrugging after a moment. “That was… interesting.” 

You laughed quietly. “Yeah, I remember. Okay. Think about it. How many more times do you think you need to feed the iguanodon?”

“Once.” He blinked after he spoke, like he hadn't quite meant to say that. 

You nodded knowingly. “See what I meant?”

He huffed, but his lips twitched in amusement. “I do see,” he agreed. “So, what now?” 

“Now we head back. Or, I suppose we could do a bit of hunting while we're out.” You stood up and stretched, working out some of the ache that had settled in your muscles while you waited. 

He stood with a little grunt, nodding for you to lead the way. 

“So? How'd it go?” Soap asked as soon as you two were close enough, clearly intensely curious. 

Leaving that one to Price, you simply rolled your eyes and tucked the bag of berries away again for now. Right. How best to divide the group of you…

“Gaz, you and I are going to gather berries. You three can hunt.” 

Gaz didn't even protest, just nodded once to you. 

By now, you trusted those three enough to not get themselves hurt while hunting, so you just whistled to the two tames and started looking for berry bushes. Gaz kept pace with you easily, glancing over at you every so often. 

“Think I could tame a hyaenadon?”

You snorted. “Sure,” you agreed with an easy shrug. “If you really want to, we'll figure it out.”

He grinned. “I'd like that.” 

You chuckled. “She is sweet,” you agreed, looking down at her. “We'll see if we can find you one to tame in a decent area.” 

“Thanks.” Gaz grabbed an empty bag and started picking berries. You stopped at the next bush down, focusing on not getting pricked. A soft curse from Gaz made you chuckle. 

“Thorns?” You asked, deceptively mild. 

“It was hiding,” he grouched, making you smile. 

Companionable silence fell between you as you focused on picking berries, moving around each other easily. 

“Think you'll make more of those biscuits?” Gaz couldn't quite keep the hopeful note from his voice. 

You laughed softly, shaking your head in amusement. “That fond of them, huh? Yeah, I'll make more. Although we'll need to find a supply drop soon, I'm getting low on some things.” 

“We'll find another one soon, I bet.” Gaz tied off his bag and went to get another, wandering off to find a different type of berry. You just watched him go, a little ache in your chest. 

They'd all learned fast, had taken to living here more easily than anyone else you'd seen. It was incredible, and heartening. 

Even if something happened to you, they'd be fine. 

The rest of berry gathering went quickly and quietly, and the two of you went back to see what progress the others had made with meat. 

Between you and Price, it didn't take long to get things packed up on Bessie. (Soap still eyed the dino with mistrust, but he was coming around.) Soap and Ghost took the lead, Soap chatting as they walked. Price walked next to Bessie, keeping an eye on the rear, leaving you and Gaz walking together in the middle of the group. 

Everything was fine. You didn't see any movement around you, didn't hear anything unusual. 

Soap shouted ahead of you, and a gun boomed through the relative quiet. You took off, swearing when you spotted the long body on the ground. 

“Fuck,” you hissed, skidding to a halt at Soap's side. “Did it bite you?”

“Aye,” Soap hissed, looking down at his leg. “Burns.” 

“Shit.” You dropped to your knees, leaning closer. Sure enough, blood seeped from the bite mark, punctures clear from the fangs. 

You didn't have anything for this at base. Not for a titanoboa bite. 

“Get on Bessie,” you ordered, pushing back to your feet. “Now.” 

“But–” Soap looked confused for a moment. Ghost, fortunately, didn't care, and bodily moved Soap to the trike. Price didn't ask, just helped shove the mohawked man up onto the dino. 

“We need to move.” You didn't look back at them, just started towards the base. Gaz kept pace with you, shooting worried looks towards you. But you didn't say another word the entire way back to base, too busy thinking of what needed to be done. 

This was not going to be easy. You felt like a fool for not having anything for a titanoboa bite. But you hadn't seen one for a long time, hadn't thought they came to this area… 

It was still your fault. You hadn't prepared them for all the dangers of this place. 

You hadn't been prepared for this. 

If Soap died… 

No. No, you weren't going to let that happen. 

You pulled the gate open and ushered the others in. “Get him inside,” you said, glancing at Soap, who had gone pale and sweaty already. 

“What can we do?” Price asked, even as he helped Ghost get Soap down from on top of Bessie. 

“Get everything else inside,” you answered, barely waiting for Soap to be out of the way before you started unloading bags. “Keep him cool. Do whatever you have to, but he will be running a fever.” 

“There must be something else,” Gaz pressed as he took some things from you. 

“No,” you snapped. “You all are staying here. I am getting the things I need for the antidote.” 

“One of us should go with you,” Price argued, even as he took things from you too. 

“No. I'm taking Ripper. Nothing else will keep up with him.” You pulled off one of the bags from Bessie's side, putting it aside and unloading the second bag. 

“Let us finish this,” Price ordered, coming back out with Gaz. “Do what you need to get ready.” 

You didn't bother arguing, just dropped everything and jogged over to Ripper's paddock. The raptor huffed at you, prancing in place a little. 

“I know,” you murmured. “Hold still.” It took a little longer than you liked to get his saddle on and fastened properly. It had been a while since you'd ridden Ripper. But you finished and led him out of his paddock. 

“How long will you be gone?” Gaz hovered nearby, shifting his weight as he watched you. 

“Don't know,” you admitted, glancing at him for only a moment before the guilt threatened to render you useless. “I'll be as fast as I can, I swear.” 

“Be safe.” Gaz stepped closer, taking your hand and squeezing it. “Okay? Come back safe.” 

“I'll bring back what we need,” you promised instead. It didn't matter if you were safe. Speed was more important than safety. It mattered that you saved Soap, nothing else. 

Gaz squeezed your hand again, but didn't press the issue. Instead he backed up, giving you and Ripper room. 

“Stay,” you told the hyaenadon finally, leading Ripper to the gate. “Keep him hydrated and cool,” you reiterated to Gaz. “Whatever it takes.” 

But you didn't give him time to respond. You pulled yourself up into the saddle and clicked your tongue at Ripper. Finally free to run, the raptor took off, long strides eating up distance much faster than any other tame you'd ever seen. Except maybe a horse. 

You knew where you needed to go. You knew what you needed to get. But you didn't know what you'd encounter along the way. 

Dammit. 

But you wouldn't let Soap die. Not on your watch.