#sry not sry for not being team player here

[chevvy-yates]

what annoys me recently is getting messages from bots with their stupid links.

Dude, u think I'm this dumb to click on your fake shit? They can't even write appropriately.

Fucking Hell Site here.

all bots and porn shit and gdi I can't post male nipples wthout having to bother if its okay or not.

[barcalover86]

hiii i love ur writing sm 💗💗

could you pls write something about how gavi sprains/breaks his ankle badly during a game bc he gets fouled and is in a lot of pain (write about the moment he gets injured DETAILED) and his gf is the peri medical doctor and has to calm him down on the field and his teammates and coaches are rly worried that it’s a serious injury since he’s such a warrior and never cries like he did after this injury ❤️‍🩹 and she comforts him but is super worried abt him and takes him to the ambulance so that she can take him to the hospital. sry it’s so specific loll

thanks so much have a great rest of your day!!!!!!!!!

End of the season

Part 2

Everything was going fine, Barca was leading, and it was almost the end of the game.

You were gently watching your players run on the side of the field, being really careful if you'd see someone who seemed to have some discomfort so that you could tell Xavi to take them out. You had enough players that were injured, and you didn't need one more. Seven were enough for you to take care of.

Everyone seemed to be just fine, and you relaxed a bit in your chair.

Ferran quickly got your attention, seeing him sign speaking to you.

"5 more minutes" you replied to him, which he nodded thankfully.

Right when you turned your gaze on Gavi, you saw how some player got into him hard, ending with your poor boyfriend's ankle to be left out behind.

The whole stadium started to make noises, and at first, you thought that it wasn't something really serious and just a trick to save some time.

But after seconds have pasted and Gavi was still on the floor, you ran to him with your medical bag to see if he really was okay.

Next to you were two more doctors, and together, you crossed the field the faster you could.

The closer you'd get, the more you realize that he is in a lot of pain.

You got there the first one, asking as calm as you could if it hurts him.

He only nodded, not being able to form some words out of his mouth.

You turned your face to Xavi, who was desperate waiting for an answer.

"It's serious," you said to him, and he signed, putting both of his hands on his face.

When the fans realized that Gavi couldn't finish the game, they started to shout his name out in support.

You turned again facing Gavi now. All cameras were on you.

"Is is bad, y/n?" Pedri asked you and you only sighed. He got his answer by that.

"Could we help you in any way?" Ferran asked you and you shook your head.

"Just let us do our job."

They nodded, leaving you alone with your medical team.

Gavi was moving a lot, trying to ease the pain he was having.

"Stop moving, you'll make it worst."

"We have to get his shoe off. Help me, y/n."

While you undid his shoelaces, you kissed his forehead. He really needed your love in this moment.

The two men took him in their arms, getting him off the field. You were following them with his shoe in your hands.

Everyone now, fans, coaches, players, were clapping giving their support to Gavi.

The game still had to be continued. Five more minutes.

"Y/n, please stay here while we take care of Gavi. If someone else gets injured, just tell Xavi to find me and I'll come quickly."

"Marc, please let her come with me." Gavi begged with tears in his eyes.

He thought for a second.

"Go."

"Thank you!" you replied, running to Gavi.

The game was finished with the victory of Barcelona. The players ran as fast as they could to the medical center.

"Is he ok??"

"It seemed like he broke his ankle."

"I knew it was bad. I've never seen him in that much pain before." Pedri replied and you turned your face on the floor.

"Don't worry, y/n. I know he'll be alright. He is strong." He put his hand on your shoulder, while looking at Gavi who was drinking now some water, laying down on a bed.

"Pedri, I'm certified in sports medicine. It's really, really bad."

When the players heard that, they started to get really worried. He was too young to have serious injuries.

"How long it will take him to come back?"

You thought a bit.

"It depends a lot on his recovery, but what I can tell you surely is that this season for him is over."

"But- is it really that bad?" Balde asked, panicking.

"She literally told us that it is, idiot! Does he know it yet, y/n/n?" (your nickname)

You shook your head.

"I'll tell him after we go to the hospital. We need to do some tests to see if only the ankle is broken and nothing else was hurt during the contact."

They all nodded and left.

You sitted down next to Gavi, smiling at him softly.

"We need to go to the hospital to set some tests, ok?"

"But I don't want to!" he whined like a baby. You knew how much he hated going to hospitals.

"It won't hurt more than it hurts you now."

"That's bad then because now I feel like I better die than feel this way."

You looked at him with sad eyes. . Just then he realized what he just said.

"I take that back."

He takes your hand, wanting to feel you close to him.

"How much do I have to stay home?"

"We don't know it yet, Gavi. We'll talk after we go to the hospital, ok?"

After he was done with the tests, he was allowed to go home.

You talked with the medical team , and you'll explain everything to your boyfriend alone. It was the best decision.

"So?" he replied curious, after looking at his tied ankle.

"It's a lot to say."

"Just start."

You go to seat closer to him and he puts his head on your lap.

"You were fouled pretty badly, and your ankle is broken. Luckily, nothing else is injured. You have to rest for two weeks at home, and then you'll have to do recovery sessions for about 2 months."

"So that means that I still can play until the season is over, right? I'll have 3 more months."

"Well, um, no." he raised his eyebrows. "You'll have then another 2 weeks of to rest. Then you'll start playing football again, but alone and slowly. And just then you'll go to train with the team. But you won't play this season because you really need to recover properly."

He looks at you sad.

"But what about playing for the national team? Can I go there?"

"We'll see how you recover." You kiss his nose. "But we can spend more time together. I'll have to take care of you." you smiled at how his face began more happier.

"That's the best news for today."

You kissed his lips, hugging him.

"I'm sure you'll come back stronger, Gavi. I'll make sure of it. I'll prepare you to be in the best shape possible!"

He hugs you back tightly.

"I want cuddles because I feel like crying, y/n/n."

[piplup335]

Subspace & a reader who is a toxic player!

HEYA, FELLAS!!!

sry I didn’t have time to write, I was quite busy these few days ;-; but hey, now I have time to write! I’m just cramming out whatever time I have to finally rest and finish up reqs :D

honestly I like writing for you all, so I’m not a fan of going inactive LMAO

anyway, enjoy!

requested by…yeah, you already know who you are, you just don’t wanna admit it. I know who you are :)

-

"At last."

Subspace could feel the smugness radiating off of Medkit as he fired a crystal, instantly healing his teammates. Subspace had tried to chase after and take down the other team's Shuriken for one and a half minutes, only to get shot and taken down by Medkit himself, his sworn enemy.

Or rather, Subspace himself didn't try to take down Shuriken.

It was the player. The one controlling him.

More specifically, someone named (Y/N). He overheard the name when someone yelled at them to keep quiet…and judging by the tone, it seemed like this wasn’t the first time.

Deep down, Subspace never wanted to fight anyone. He just wanted to stay in his lab in Blackrock, tinkering on his newest experiments and inventions, improving the Biografts he held so dear to him...after all, the Biografts were the "people" he truly felt close to, the beings he saw as children.

But no, the creators of the endless game he was trapped in pulled him out of Blackrock for ungodly amounts of time, only being able to leave when the server was shut down for maintenance or when the game was closed for updates.

He rarely even got to see his creations as often, only being able to catch sight of them in what the players called a "lobby" or during one of the matches. Regardless of whether Biograft or Hyperlaser was on the same team as him or not, a familiar sight was always appreciated.

To the players, it was just an average video game where you use random characters and fight each other with swords and stuff.

To Subspace, it was hell.

He wanted to be left alone to work on his creations in the eternal winter of Blackrock.

But no, he had to be pulled out of the comfort of his lab just to fight people, most of whom he had never met before.

He didn't even have control of his actions either- everything was decided by the player.

The player. Subspace shuddered at the thought.

He always hated losing control of his body, watching helplessly as the player controlled his every movement. Controlled where he walked, who he attacked, how he attacked...Subspace couldn't even run to save his life if he wanted to.

Sometimes, whoever the player was would be nice to him. On those days, the player would make smart decisions to avoid death, allowing him to effortlessly eliminate multiple opponents by utilising his poisonous tripmines to shred the opposing team's defences.

In other scenarios such as this one, however, the player controlling him was terrible.

They would make the worst possible choices, immediately charging into battle even though he was meant to attack from a distance. They never used his crystals effectively, missing the opportunity to immobilise and slow down his opponents...they made so many bad decisions it was almost impressive.

Today, however, seemed a lot worse.

Not only did this one player, (Y/N), suck at utilising his abilities, but he would also curse him out for being "bad" and "useless".

And now, here he was. He was faced with a death screen with his limp body on the ground as Medkit ran past him to heal the rest of his team.

The player had spent almost two minutes trying to take down a SINGLE PLAYER. The amount of misfires on other people was impressive at that point...

And now it was all for nought.

"Damn it! You suck at this! I spend so much time trying to kill someone and I can't because you do less than 5 hitpoints for your normal attack!"

Subspace internally groaned at this. He was not allowed to cry out loud or make a sound outside his usual voice lines- that would alert the player that he and the others were self-aware about these phights being nothing more than a game.

He forced himself to keep his mouth shut.

Subspace was irritated- he wanted to yell out loud, retort at the player and get some common sense into his head. He wanted to instruct the player as to how to properly play him so that maybe, just maybe, the player could shut up for thirty seconds.

He was tired of seeing the death screen so many times in one match. By then, he had seen it seven or eight times in four minutes and was slowly getting tired of it.

He just wanted to break free from the puppeteer's grasp.

He just wanted to get out of the lobby. He wanted to head to Crossroads, down the familiar concrete path back to Blackrock. He just wanted to put on a warm coat amidst the everlasting blizzard in his faction.

The blizzard gave him a warmth in his chest...a warm feeling that reminded him of home.

"One last minute..." Subspace thought. One more minute, and he could rest for another thirty seconds...until being pulled straight back into another nightmarish round, another round where he'd experience the constant and tedious cycle of spawning, being controlled, getting killed, spawning again...

He wished he could go home, back to Blackrock. He did not like it here.

As the round ended, Subspace got a glimpse of the results screen.

He was last. Again. With thirteen deaths, zero kills, and only two assists.

“Darn it! Why’d I even pick you? Your damage output is trash!”

Subspace could hear (Y/N) let out a string of profanities upon seeing another loss. Just as Subspave thought all was lost and he’d die from madness after all this, he heard Zuka announce something- something he had yearned to hear for the past thirty minutes.

“Phighters- I got a message from the developers. Server’s gonna shut down, maintenance is happening soon.”

Five seconds later, Subspace felt energy return to his joints as he stumbled onto the floor.

Subspace tried moving his arm, then went on to flexing his fingers. It worked.

He let out a sigh of relief. It was finally over.

One by one, other phighters around the lobby stumbled and toppled over as they regained energy in their joints as the players got kicked.

The puppeteers were gone.

Zuka gestured into his van.

“We’re going back to Crossroads. Hop in.”

As the familiar tower in Crossroads emerged in the distance, Subspace finally let his shoulders relax. He was closer to Crossroads, closer to his laboratory, closer to his home…

Subspace wouldn’t need to fight his beloved Biografts like he was forced to in phights. It always tore him apart to attack his creations, the very things he had worked so hard to perfect…the closest thing he had to a true companion.

But now, he could rest.

Other phighters lounged around in Crossroads. Rocket could be seen making small talk with Sword

Hyperlaser and Katana could be seen heading to the nearest bar.

All the phighters seemed to want to have a chat with someone else before heading back to their respective factions.

Instead, Subspace trudged down the path to Blackrock without saying a word, exhausted and irritated from everything that happened.

Biograft spotted this and immediately sprinted towards his creator.

“I just don’t get it!! Why me?? Why do I always seem to get the most talentless players?? I can see their stats and half the people who play me are newbies!!”

Biograft listened. That was his task, anyway- to identify the needs of his creator and adapt to them. And right now, Subspace needed a listening ear- someone who would listen to all his woes about the day.

“Why am I even doing this?? It’s been a week without seeing a player that knew their stuff!! Dear Illumina, WHY?!”

Biograft may have been a robot, but he was programmed to understand what his creator needed and how to respond.

If he needed food, Biograft could cook up a meal.

If he needed a certain tool, Biograft could bring Subspace his trusty toolbox.

But right now, all Subspace needed was some comfort.

The duo trod back to the familiar snowy landscape of Blackrock in silence. Biograft knew that his creator just wanted to go home. He didn’t have the energy for this.

Back in the lab, Biograft listened to Subspace.

The lab was Subspace’s haven, the only place where he felt comfortable enough to let loose.

Subspace spent so much time in the lab, more time than in his own house so much so that Biograft would often worry for its creator. Subspace would then reassure it, saying that he’s just doing what he enjoys. Never once would Biograft ever see Subspace at his workstation without his concentrated expression, only changing when Subspace chuckled softly every time a component worked as intended.

But today was different.

Subspace was resentful of the player, and back in his lab was where he finally let out all his pent-up rage.

Upon entering the lab, Subspace collapsed onto a nearby chair, groaning in annoyance.

“That little sh-!! I did what I could to accommodate his stupidity, but what did he do?? Curse me out, that’s what!!”

Subspace got up, pacing around and stomping on the ground to emphasise his point.

Biograft watched his creator. It could hear everything the player said, and despite being on the opposite team, it could almost feel a sense of empathy towards his creator, deep down in his processors.

“And do I have a damn choice as to whether or not I get controlled?? No!! This crap is all part of a VIDEO GAME, and I don’t have a say as to whether or not I participate!! Can’t I like, call in sick??”

Subspace picked up a screwdriver and was about to hurl it at the wall…but he paused, looked at the tool, and set it back down on his workbench.

He collapsed back into the seat, groaning in annoyance.

“…apologies, Biograft. It’s been a rough day…and I finally get to let loose.”

Understanding his situation, Biograft’s processors whirred to life, processing the new information. The soft hum of the processor was the only sound in the lab as Subspace lay on the chair.

As Biograft’s processors grew silent, it walked over and put an arm around its creator.

For once in a long time, Subspace felt some warmth.

And it wasn’t from his usual coat.

-

thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!

if you do have feedback, please drop it in the comments so I can improve my writing for you guys! :D

[umgeorge]

George Russell: "Mercedes Is In A Good Period… But We Want More"

Aged 26, George Russell is participating in his third season with the Mercedes team. Interview with the British driver before the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, fourteenth round of the 2024 season. A Good Period... To Improve "I'm a more complete driver than I was six years ago, but I don't think I'm faster today than I was ten years ago. You either have the speed or you don't. Where I progressed today is in the way of handling more complicated situations; managing tires, traffic, pressure. You learn to manage these moments better with experience. It's been two-and-a-half years of hard work, difficult races. We were a little lost, not in the direction we had to take, and now, finally, after this hard work, from Montreal, the pole position, the victory in Austria, the pole at Silverstone with Lewis. And now we're in a good period, but we want more, of course.

What To Remember From Lewis Hamilton? "I learned a lot from Lewis on a human level; his way of managing engineers and getting the best out of the team. From a driver's point of view, we're all different. For me, it's always important to find your own way. A comparison I made in the past: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. They all have enormous success in grand slams, but they're different players. You have to find your own way. If you try to copy someone, their style, you'll never be as good as they are. If I tried to drive like Lewis I would never be as fast as he was. The same goes for Lewis if he tried to drive like me. You have to find your own way."

Collaboration With His Teammate "We talk a lot about leadership because Lewis is going to leave, but the way I see the races, my driving, I think it was my best season in terms of speed. I'm not going to change anything next year. I'm going to build on what I did this year. Lewis and I have the same influence within the team. We have the same level of respect from the whole team. Now that he's going to leave, I hope my future teammate will have the same impact as I do. We're lucky to be two drivers driving the same car, and we need all the information from each driver. The team must always come first. It's the team that gives you the opportunity. It's the team that designs the car, that builds it, that puts the wheels on the car. We're a big piece of this puzzle, but we're not the only one. At the end of the day, if you do things well as a driver, you don't have to be selfish. You qualify on pole, if you get the best start and you're in the lead, and if you're the fastest, there won't be a problem. Things are in your own hands to avoid being selfish.” The Essential Presence of Fans "Yeah, for sure there's a balance, because I love when I see the fans, but ultimately as a driver you're in a very fortunate position. We are doing our dream job. We would take this job for free, and we're here earning huge amounts of money. The sport is so successful, and is more successful than ever today because of the fans, so to have dinner and take ten minutes of my time with the fans, for me it doesn't change a huge amount in my day, but for them maybe it's something they'll remember forever, and when I see the reaction it has with some people… You realize this is what's the most important in this sport." all but the last answer were translated from french with google translate sry

[39oa]

Roope/Robo for the ship ask

A MOST BELOVED DOCUMENT. (sry anon for this insane reply pls feel free to stop reading after this first paragraph ahlsdfkh) basically 2124 are my favorite stars ship even though it's generally difficult to articulate what makes them so intriguing, but i also think that That in itself is why i enjoy them so much haha. imo the more subtle and unsurfaced and laborious to construct narratives for the better!

i spend possibly too much time contemplating robo's character and i know that we (or i guess i...) often talk about his Just A Guyisms, which i do believe are an effective assessment of his general demeanor but alsoooo 2124 is just so rifeeee with introspective potential that it krills me every single time i think about it. as @kitnita perfectly put it in this post getting to "work backwards from pre-existing intimacy" is what makes them so much fun, because they have arguably nothing that connects them off-ice and yet demonstrate an almost automatic complementary style on-ice. and the fact is that unlike pavs and robo who play within a similarly restrictive framework, the entire ethos of how 2124 play together is that roope's strengths lie in the negative space of robo's, and it's not so much just the inherent beauty of Your Line Is The Only One I've Ever Known (places hand on chest. this is of course a large part of it as well!) but really actionably that robo plays in such a tactical fashion that allows him to effectively activate roope's motor. and i think roope is the kind of guy who sees that and is like... This is what binds us together 4 life. and it's really like... the ultimate marriage of skillsets which is also what makes the way they eschew any journalistic effusiveness (esp roop although obviously part of that is language-barrier related) so fascinating. like top line hold themselves to an extremely high standard and i think robo is extremeelyyyy aware of the weight of his responsibility as a goal scorer, but they're also both reticent about overcommunicating the importance of their "chemistry" to the media and i feel like that makes it... even more delicious???

i don't know if any of this makes sense but tl;dr To Me the ultimate romance is when two people play beautiful hockey together :) and in my head i also like to live in a world where that's roope's biggest philosophy as well. like roope talks about his connectivity to the home crowd and how he feeds off that energy and although it's not like... necessarily evident, i love characterizing 2124 as basically: despite roope being the most complete player on the team and appearing more mysterious or withdrawn compared to robo's pr capabilities, robo is very much the one who hyperfocuses on singular, self-reflective assessments while roope is more inclined to contemplate his chemistry with robo. and i love seeing it as the Roope_Confessional being "i know that I Don't Need You to play good hockey but it's always better when you're here so why would i want to change any of that?" whereas idk whether robo is prone to the same sentimentalism. and that's what makes them fascinatingggg! like all these weird little unexpected nuanced reversals to Roope being obviously the "cooler" and fashionable one, but also frankly the sort of cringe diehard loyalist "soulbonded to the spirit of the aac" guy whose greatest joy is Buying Miro New Clothes, who cares in very bleeding-heart understated ways etc. all of that really lends dimension to their dynamic despite robo being seen as the antithesis to pretty much all his interests.

i also find their cultural context quite interesting but maybe that's for another day because this is already a ridiculous post.... but briefly something that really informs a lot of their dynamic both in practice and in fic is obviously the existence of finnmaf and roope and miro functioning as the heartbeat of it, and we have moments of robo facetiously referencing them and essentially picking up Spare Euros (aka swedes aka petey and nils) on the side and existing on the outskirts of their friendship. and robo is someone who's moved around a lot and has a pretty varied background and he's talked about how he didn't really recognize the weight of that until he became a public figure and grew into the responsibility of his professional role, and that shows a lot in how he carries himself and interacts with media. and with roope being an "unknown" quantity in some aspects with the language barrier and being from finland i loooveeee any potential fic/narrative that kind of peels back all those little cultural layers or even flips their situations (e.g. post-retirement fic set in finland, soulbonding with the ability to speak/understand finnish—but also Not Understanding and finding comfort in that is part of the appeal so there are a lot of places to take this... etc. etc.). 

i will stop here but beloved ao3 user murkya truly does a wonderful job of capturing them and probably in a more entertaining and digestible manner than anything i said here does :') 

[rsedits9420]

being drunk with eddy and he’s all clingy and sweet

One too many

Masterlist

Ethan Edwards x reader blurb

Sry it’s pretty short

Word count: 652

Y/n’s pov

“I’m going to get another. You want one?” Ethan asked me. I nod as he goes and gets us another drink. The boys had just won the last game of the weekend to sweep Penn State. My boyfriend Ethan played amazing. He assisted on Grano’s goal in the first and then scored a goal in the third. They ended up beating the other team by 3 to add to their win column. I had to give them credit. After all they have faced this year, such as the illnesses, injuries, and of course the many penalties. They still somehow managed to pull all of this off. I was mostly proud of my wonderful boyfriend. He has worked so hard over the summer, and now it’s all playing off. That's how he convinces me to go out to the party with him. He claims it’s his “time to let loose”. Power to the man i guess. “Here, there’s yours.” He hands me back my solo cup. “Thank you Eddy.” I say back. “No problem. Hey come on let’s go see what Duker and Stops are doing.” He says. I follow him to the other room to be met with the sight of Dylan trying to jump onto Mark’s shoulders. “I can’t do it!” Dylan shouts. “How much do you think these idiots have had to drink?” Ethan whispers in my ear. “It looks like apparently to much.” I say back. “Just jump dumb ass!” Mark yells at Dylan. Dylan jumps and ends up knocking Mark right into a wall. “Damit! Dylan! What the fuck!” Mark shouts. “Yeah, let’s go get a refill.” Ethan says as he puts his hand on my lower back to lead me to the kitchen.

After about 2 hours and maybe one to many drinks, me and Ethan find ourselves sitting on the guy’s front porch swing. “You know I love you so soooo much right?” Ethan slurs. “Yes baby. I know.” I responded. “Come here!” He says as he ticks me under his arm. “You smell so-o good.” “Uhh thanks?” I say. “I lov-ve you-uu.” He slurs out. He then starts to lay his head in my lap. “Can you play with my hair? Pwetty pwlease.” He says, batting his eyelashes. “Ok you big baby.” “Ahhhh. Thank you-u!” I giggled at how clingy he gets when he’s drunk. “How much did you drink Eddy?” I ask. “U-m I donno. Probably way to-o much.” He slurs back. “Well we should probably get you back home then. Shouldn’t we?” He nods and tries to lift himself up. His hand slips and he ends up back in my lap. “Oh ok. Here I’m going to get up, go get the keys, and I’ll meet you back out here so we can leave.”I say. He nods.

I get up and walk back into the house. I look around at the house, seeing fewer people than last time, but know the people still here are plastered. Dylan and Mackie are going on about something, while Mark is trying to impress some girl while being totally shitfaced. I quickly find my keys, and slip out of the house. When I walk back onto the porch, Ethan is still on the swing, but now he seems sad. “Babe, what's wrong?” I ask. “Y/n! You didn’t leave me?!” He was surprised. “Eddy, I told you I was going to get the keys. Come on. I’m taking you home.” I told him. He gets up, follows behind me to the car. “Did I ever tell you I love you so much?” He asked. “Yes yes you did. And I love you so so much too.” He smiles and gets into the car. I ended up taking my hotshot hockey player boyfriend home, and put him to bed. Who knew he was so clingy when he had one too many.

[gojoest]

ai 💞💞💞 i love you so much and i’m off anon because i stand by my questions!!! <3

1. who is your favorite character aside from go** and shanks?

2. what is your ultimate comfort food/meal?

3. if you could live anywhere in the world (pretend you have the financial means to live wherever you want), where would you live and why?

kae you are literally my dearest and i love you so SO very much <3

1. i’m going to completely leave jjk out of this btw and list some characters i don’t talk about much or not at all (at least here) but love so dearly, so here we go !

one piece: i have so many fave op characters but my tops (aside from shanks that is) are : ace, zoro, doflamingo, luffy, law & robin

haikyuu: i love them all but my heart belongs to iwaizumi hajime forever and always

hunter x hunter: killua (my child), hisoka, chrollo, illumi, feitan, meruem, pakunoda, palm

bleach: AIZEN, UNOHANA, ichigo, zaraki, urahara, byakuya, grimmjow, shunsui, yoruichi, ulquiorra

vagabond: sasaki kojiro!!!!!!!!!!!! (i am obsessed with him)

k project: suoh mikoto

kuroko no basket: akashi, aomine, kise, kiyoshi

aria: alice, alicia, akari

samurai champloo: mugen

puella magi madoka magica: homura

i can keep going but i’ll stop here or else

2. pizza! pasta! sushi! rice! anything with rice I LOVE RICE SO MUCH! my favorite rice dish is sarma (rice stuffed in grape leaves) and i can eat my weight in it :3

3. hmmm this is a tough one but i’d choose barcelona! i was there years ago but think i left part of myself there. idk i was just so impressed like it’s truly one of the most beautiful cities i’ve ever been to, not only architecture wise but like the ppl there, too — they were all so warm and welcoming, it all made me fall in love so deeply with the place. during my whole stay there i felt like i was at home and was pretty homesick when i left :( missing it so so much i want to go back again one day. also fun fact, growing up i was a huge football fan (not anymore tho) and maybe it has something to do with my dad being a retired football player lmao but yea, my favorite team has always been barca which maybe makes me a bit biased about the city itself and why it’s my dream place to live in. i remember how i was in literal tears when i first entered camp nou (it’s fc barcelona’s stadium/home). i literally cried LIKE ACTUAL TEARS and had goosebumps that just wouldn’t go away even after returning to my hotel room like i thought there was something wrong with my skin but it was just me being overwhelmed by emotions. it was such an experience.. like football to me back then was what jjk is to me rn and barca was like gojo to me… do you understand how obsessed i was kajshdsskala

ANYWAY sry i rambled so much sob T—T and thank you for dropping by with such lovely questions <3

[dmercer91]

happy tanner charlotte to the devs day to all who celebrate (ik in the og post i said her first game w them was on a wednesday against colorado, but i don't time travel and they don't have a wednesday game ever)

as a treat, here's a hockey deep dive on our girls (+ their relationships cause i'm nosy and i hope you are too)

tanner charlotte [charlie] NJD #19, RW

very physical player, felt the need to overcompensate when she was young cause she always heard that women never made it pro due to lack of hitting/ability to absorb- she just grew into the reputation and now it’s her thing. makes a point to be clean about it 

her and dawson used to always be 18 and 19, him being 19, but when he originally had 18 for the devs she decided to take 19 with the rags. now that they’re together again, they say it’s 91 and 19 inverted for each other

goal scorer with solid playmaking ability, definitely not a pk player but holds her own defensively. pp1 and 2 depending on rags or devs and also who’s hurt, how she’s playing 

really really good in the corners/puck battles 

not the speediest but it’s very obvious that she wants to get better and when she wheels, she’s pushing 

chirps like it’s the whole sport (her mouth gets her in so much trouble) and they’re usually funny ones she’ll throw around mid play. when she’s mad she doesn’t use her words as much as her body

drafted 19th overall in 2020

usually on a line with jhughes and bratt, but dawson begged and begged for them to line up together and it worked really well. as per usual, lindy fucked it up by separating them the next game

as of like three days from today, she’s in a long term relationship with jack. we all know the lore

jamie lochlyn [locho] SBY #12, C

she doesn’t particularly enjoy throwing the body but she’s so overprotective of her teammates that she’s like.. do u want me to kill that guy for you? and sometimes she does. do not, under any circumstances, get in her goalies crease. she’ll deck you. very often found jerking someone away from her goalie by the back neck of his jersey

as a kid her girls teams would give her whatever number was on the jersey that fit her best, and so when she got to her first rep hockey team and they had jerseys made to fit players with like last names and stuff, she was like,, twwwwwelllve (?). and so now she’s twelve, for funsies (listen. i wanted to give her a small number but tml has 2 and 3 taken, and 1,4,5,6,7,9, and 10 are retired. eight, one might say. but then the fuckass sby wolves retired her, too. they both have an 11)

she is one with the art of playmaking. so hockey smart it hurts. she was whipping plays out of her ass one could only hope to think up at like the ripe age of 9. goal scoring is rarely her friend, but when it is the goals are either gorgeous or a disaster, no inbetween. slays the pk and second pp unit

her and the boards are best friends

so fast that she creates a chill throughout the sudbury community arena, and her skating is absolutely beautiful 

she has anger issues on the ice so sometimes it’s witty and hilarious and other times shes reading you to filth. only whips out the chirps when she's really heated 

drafted in the 2022 draft, 95th overall (sry nicky you still exist i swear)

she works well with goyette, dvorsky and mccallum, so they usually toss her in the top 6 (sometimes on a wing) and hope for the best.

her love life is a complex thing (she refuses to admit she has a thing for a teammate)

due to her name, she can also go by JLO. this, in combination with dvorsky getting coined mr shortside, makes for a lot of content getting made with on the floor by jennifer lopez, ft. pitbull (this was 1000% why i gave her the name i did and why she plays for the wolves, sue me)

rylie scott [scotty] LDN #96, LD

will not hurt a fly, but can, if provoked. really good at absorbing hits cause the opposing boys in her first rep league were essentially told by their coaches to get her off the ice 

her big brother was a star forward about twelve years older than her, who never thought he was going to make it professionally. he wore 96 because her birthday was may sixth and his was april ninth. she always said she was a defenceman because she wanted to be able to stop him from scoring. he passed in a car crash a few months before he would’ve been drafted to the nhl, she was hardly six years old. when she made her first rep team and the jersey numbers went high enough, she chose 96.

shut down d all the way, a good handful or sometimes two of assists annually and four total ohl goals so far. pp time is through the roof but she will never see the ice on the man advantage 

good at digging the puck out but she rarely needs to exercise the skill cause she protects the puck so well, wonderful work at getting the puck out of the zone and guarding the line but she definitely won't be going on any breakaways.

she’s fast and her skating is very unique but she cannot go a game without banana peel falling at least once. edges are flawless… until they’re deeply flawed.

can’t chirp, doesn’t want to. someone will try to intimidate her and she’ll get nervous and laugh in their face.

127th overall in the 2023 draft

usually paired with bonk or dickinson, so they can help out on offence and she can focus on her role

love life? in her professional opinion, she has none. in my professional opinion, her and mackie samo met in dev camp this past summer and he’s hardcore pining. she argues that nightly facetime calls that can go on for several hours ‘don’t mean anything’ (EXTREMELY LOUD AND SORT OF OBNOXIOUS INCORRECT BUZZER)

:) enjoy! <3

pls send lore questions if you have any cos i love my trio to death

[hohoz]

How RE Village (8) SOLVED almost every problem that I had with RE Series

Okay - a few weeks ago I made a post that was “The ones that suffer the most” where I showed and explained my main problems with Chris and Jill and the RE series in general 

RE 1 is my fav game of this series and probably one of my all time favs, I player every RE there is to be played except 4 (because I dislike Leon, sry) 

Recently, specially after 4, the franchise had a few problems, specially in writing/map design/lore 

Resident evil 5 for example (I love this game) but it has it flaws, Chris there is only driven by anger and action - Sheva is used as a tool for lore exposition and to be Chris’s new partner 

PLEASE: be aware that game at that generation didn’t have much lore - with some exceptions, like God of War 1 2 3 were a simply game with a simple lore, and the most recent GoW has evolved a little bit in the storytelling

Until we hit rock bottom in RE6 - I know a lot of people like this game, but this is only and action game, bad writing and generic stages. 

Chris there is so mistreated that makes me mad (if you want to read more about this go to my other post “the ones that suffer the most”)

Until RE7 appeared, Capcom had a new engine and they wanted to do a game that was more horror like - since RE is know for being a Survival horror game.

I liked 7 - some people complained about Ethan being without emotion and others complained about the mold, a few didn’t like the FEAR vibes from Eveline. 

I personally enjoyed the game, I thought RE series was going back on track, that game has it’s problems but it was really nice compared to what we had in 6.

After that game I had a conversation with my best friend and I said that I wanted a game that portrayed Umbrella’s fall since the only game that shows this is Umbrellas Chronicles (and that is most a resume of what happened)

And I said: “Bro, I wish that when they made that game, they could tie some mythological lore and human evolution before Umbrella - using Spencer, this would solve LOT OF STUFF and open new ways to handle this series”

and guess what - this happened in RE8 and kudos to the one writer that did that, i have my gratitude. 

RESIDENT EVIL 8 is probably one of the BEST RE games that we had IN YEARS

And I want to address all thing that I loved in this game and do some predictions to what will happen in the next games.

“WELL WELL IF IT ISN’T ETHAN WINTERS” (The Father of the year)

My father was not a great guy... really, so I want to be the best dad ever, I really want be like Ethan - a guy who is ready to sacrifice and fight every monster in the way to save my family. 

Ethan was a character that in RE7 was used to make us fell like that it was us in the Baker’s house, so that is why he didn’t had that much personality (in my opinion) but they changed that in RE8, here he has nice dialogues AND a diary 

He has one of the best story line in the whole REverse, a guy that did EVERYTHING in his power to save his daughter - and you saw that playing the game, every sentence line that he delivered, he tried to save others too and even tho Chris said to him stay put ... but he couldn’t, he had to go to the altar, he had to help Chris, he had to go forward and keep going, specially after having the tools to face Heisenberg. 

The plea from a father, that was his last wish, after he heard that Mia was alive he knew that someone had to stop that monster, he made a promise to his daughter “Daddy won’t let those weird fairy tale monsters get you” so he trusted Chris, to be the one that teaches his kid how to be brave and strong

I will not address Chris and Rose situation here because this is Ethans part and he deserves completely all the spotlight, his sacrifice was 100x times better than Steve (CV)/Piers(6)

My cheers to Ethan Winters - You have my respect !

Revelations -> RE8 

So leaks from earlier times said that RE8 sucked and Revelations 3 was amazing

Revelations FYI is know for using old tales in RE stories 

Revelations 1 - Dante’s Inferno 

Revelations 2 - Frans Kafka 

Revelations 3 - Dracula 

But since RE8 sucked, Capcom said to the REV3 team that they could make REV3 become RE8 and they accepted 

Revelations series is one of the best in the games, they handle Jill in a way that I love, Claire and even Barry - so they deserve all the spotlight for making this awesome game - you CLEARLY can see that they love this series and that they treat all the characters with the love that they deserve. 

Keeping that in mind, they are the same team that made Rev 2 and in REV 2 we have this file here 

So they had a plan for Jill and we can see that in RE8 - I will address that later but keep that in mind - this team cares for the old characters, they were the ones that brought Barry back to the games :V 

Chris Redfield 

This is a hard one, because he is my fav character and I usually have the most critics regard him, since I’ve expect a lot from Capcom 

In the latest games they made him kind dumb, only muscles type of guy and an alcoholic that let all the people in his surroundings die (RE5,RE6,Vendetta) 

RE6 treats him the WORST

But in RE8 he had an amazing part in the storyline, it was obvious that he wasn’t evil and they FIXED HIS EYE COLOR - FINALLY 

I still don’t like the model face that much but it’s way better than 7 - so I believe Capcom, I still feel that he need more jawline 

But let’s go to the most important thing - here he really feels like a squad leader and a veteran, he has his team but he is the one in the front line, he covers and ask for help when he needs, everything about his line delivery makes you feel like “Woah, this guy is a badass, he is not some stupid guy only driven by emotions”

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR FINALLY GETTING THIS RIGHT 

If you remember my post about the ones that suffer the most / Jill is also in that list and I will talk about her a little bit later but if my guess is right RE8 saved her character aswell

Another thing that I enjoyed here is the fact that he is kind of a mercenary / Neo Umbrella kind of guy, even tho he is one of the founders of the BSAA

So I will give you all my score to this game: 

9/10

I won’t give 10/10 because of some technical issues, the cursor lock didn’t work and mouse sensitivity was i dunno, not the best. 

RE8 and the future (PREDICTIONS)  - Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, BSAA, Neo Umbrella, Ada Wong and Rosemary

First let’s look Rose

The first time I saw Rose all grown up - I thought to myself : She has the same problem as Eveline (age a lot faster than normal) 

But she also absorbed Miranda’s power since the metalicite (something like this) thought that she was a better host. - so maybe she will live longer or something because I doubt that they will do a 14 years time skip. 

This is not the same as Terra Save logo (Claire’s job) but it kind reminds me of it - her shoes appeared at least 3 times in this cut scene so maybe they are trying to show some hints with this 

She really reminds me of Jodie (Beyond two souls, a game where a girl has a lot of power and the gov uses her in missions and stuff, but she also is learning how to be her own person) 

Another thing here is that they don’t have a logo in this car, it really reminds me the car that Chris as using in RE8 

This supports the theory that Chris’s organization is dealing with her instead of the BSAA, the she is a hot headed girl and that she had a lot of powers. 

So here you can say that she is just a kid because she is a teenager, but what if she actually grows older really fast (like Eveline) maybe this is just 1 year later / 2 yrs later. (after RE8)

So this is the tricky part, this is Chris’s guard/soldier, someone that Chris trust to stand by her side, in my mind I do believe that Chris is kind of a father figure to her, so when this guys says this he is thinking about hot head Chris but she replies “Yeah” thinking about Ethan - (she has the mold memories, so she can actually remember Ethan’s memories) 

Now let’s look at this 

BSAA 

So in REV1 is hinted that BSAA is not the best organization in the world, but since our heroes work there we think that they are the good guys right ? 

In REV 2 (it’s important to remember that the team that created RE8 is the same from the REVELATIONS and they had this file here in REV2)

This email is from Jill and what does Jill have ? T-Virus 

Wesker is a different case since he was a project and she had the vaccine but this would make a lot of sense if they had this tests with Jill to get the T-Virus

If that is the case, they explained Jill’s absence in the main games, could even explain why Chris left BSAA and opened a new window to a lot of possibilities 

My Predictions: 

- Chris had trouble dealing with BSAA and Jill’s case, he wanted to get her out of there, maybe he removed her from there but that resulted in him being expelled from the force

-Jill may or may not know what they are doing with her blood, but she will have a huge part in the BOW used by BSAA 

-Chris is married to Jill (sorry- I had to place this here, in a perfect world he has two kids with her and they all love aunt Rose) 

-Chris will hopefully be a father figure to Rose and they will be in a game together since in the end they came to get her

-Rebecca is still involved in BSAA activities (leak from new REV3) if you consider Vendetta canon, she maybe the one that used Jill’s sample of blood to create the virus soldiers

-Barry maybe retired 

-I don’t think Leon will be in this game, but he will get his RE4 Rmk 

- I do believe RE9 will be release after Code veronica rmk and MAYBE they will do a game about Umbrella’s Fall (Chris and Jill in Europe against Red Queen and BOWs) 

But that is it, you can see a lot of elements from old RE games in RE8, they tried to do something really smart and the game felt amazing to play, that was something else and it’s been a while since a player a RE game that made me feel that way <3

[1purpleboi1]

Chronicles of Nekoma’s Manager Pt 5

Hiya! Happy New Year guys! Because the summer training camp is spread out over 5 episodes this part of the story is going to be the highlights of the camp, with you ofc. Enjoy!

Find the previous parts HERE

Meeting the other managers:

Because the last training camp was only two days you didn’t get the chance to talk to the other managers

You start bonding with Yukie and Kaori over Bokuto’s ✨energetic✨ behavior and crack jokes about both teams

When the three of you are pointing how when together Bokuto and Kuroo share half a brain cell, Eri comes in with Yachi and Kiyoko

After introducing yourselves you settle in for the week

At night the six of you spill the tea on the other players at the camp.

Tanaka and Tora are totallllyyy not stationed outside your room guarding it from the other teams-

Playing with Bokuto and Kuroo:

When it’s time to start individual practice, Kuroo asks you if you want to go play with him, Bokuto, and Akaashi

And also to help Lev

But you go nonetheless

Kuroo is trying to get Lev to pass correctly but isn’t great at it-

He mainly hits the ball at him and then tells him that his form is wrong

I think he learned that from Yaku-

But you step in trying to save Lev and teach him the correct form, which Lev appreciates and Kuroo does not

I mean why does Lev get your attention when Kuroo is the one who asked you to play??

From then on its Kuroo smacking the ball to who knows where making lev get it

When bokuto and Kuroo find Tsukki to help block you’re intrigued

After Kuroo and Akaashi make fun of Bokuto for not being in the top three you come up to him, JUMPPP up and give his hair a pat

His soul left his body at that point, RIP Bokuto

To which Kuroo says, I’m not in the top 5 at all! Hoping to get a head pat

Kuroo thought it was a great plan until Akaashi then points out he just insulted himself-

During the practice you’re on Tsukki’s side trying to dig Bokuto’s hits

You got one of them up before Bokuto shot down 5 more cut shots

“BOKUTO STOP TRYING TO LOOK COOL AGAINST ONE BLOCKER”

When Kuroo accidentally offends Tsukki you kick him in the back (thank Yaku for teaching you that) telling him that he’s rude

Eating watermelon:

Afte giving the boys their watermelon you sit with Kenma, Hinata, and Lev while they’re trying to pop seeds out

Lev is a master at it while eh you not so much

At least you’re with Hinata?

You three talk to Hinata about Karasuno and what it’s like in Miyagi

When it’s time to go in you, Hinata, and Lev have a competition to see who can throw their watermelon rind into the trash bag

Night 2, practicing with Kuroo and Bokuto:

When Tsukki comes in asking about volleyball you hear the boys do their Oya Oya Oya

Bokuto gets mad at you for mocking the Oya Oya Oya, even though his face was hilarious

(It was)

You try to help Akaashi calm Kuroo and Bokuto down after Tsukki triggers them-

Bokuto: I have a mind to punch you in the face

You: DO IT *smacks hand over mouth*

Kuroo: Dude! Maybe he’s just more interested in his grades? not that you’d know anything abt that-

You: KUROO! THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!

Bokuto: what did you say?? I’ve been getting better! I got a 47 on my trig test!

You: Only a 47????

Kuroo: uh congratulations ig

Bokuto: damn right! I’m like a super genius or something

You: Ehhh, you’re probably the “or something”

Bokuto: HEY!

Kuroo: *insert hyena laughter here*

The last day:

While standing with Kuroo and Kenma you listen to Kenma fan boying over Hinata’s surprise attack

When he and Kuroo are arguing over his “face of anticipation” you have to agree with Kuroo

Kuroo gives you a high five while Kenma goes off and sulks- SRY BBY

You do notice later on Bokuto hair has deflated

When asking Kuroo about it you learn this is Bokuto in his extreme EMO mode

Much different that what you saw when you met him

You can’t help but feel bad- until Kuroo makes his weird chuckle, then you hit him on the back of his head

That laugh was creepy af hehehe

The barbecue:

Kuroo and Bokuto insist you to be the judge of their meat eating contest, while Nishinoya, Tora, and Tanaka create the Y/N and Kiyoko protection squad

You spot Kenma sitting in a corner and you and Kuroo both run up to him shoving meat and vegetables in his face

You see Yachi in the center of Fukurodani and Ubugawa players and try to rescue her

You’re standing with Bokuto, Hinata, Kuroo, and Lev towards the end of the BBQ

Kuroo is talking on and on about the top aces on the country

You back Bokuto up when he orders Tsukki to not be afraid of Uskiwaka

You WANTED to tell bby Lev that he would be the best in Japan if they beat the top teams but Kuroo beats you to it, instead saying that Lev and Hinata suck

He got a kick in the back for that one

I hope you guys enjoyed this one! Next up will be some fun headcannons about being Nekoma’s manager and then we’ll be at the Spring Nationals! I will not be posting tomorrow so if you sent a request I will get it out tonight or Saturday!

Masterlist

REQUESTS OPEN

Taglist: @aoi-turtle @realweebgirlshit @ohbois-biggay-bnha @stargirlara

Message me to be added!

[hayjeon]

Snow and Ice 01 [m] (ft. Jungkook)

→ friendswithbenefits!au with Snowboarder!JK and figure skater!reader during the Olympicssss!

→ 11.1k | part 2 (coming soon!)  

A/n: I know that winter olympics is exclusive to winter sports and vice versa with summer, but let’s ignore that for the sake of the fic ;) (ie. mentions of gymnasts) 

also this was meant to be a oneshot, but after getting somewhere around 18k...i decided to split into 2 parts! sorry, but hope you guys enjoy what I already have! :D not heavily edited sry but enjoyoyyyyoyyoy

“How fucking hard is it for the boys to seriously not sound like a bunch of monkeys at 3am in the damn morning?!” You grouch, stomping out of the restroom to Irene. 

She’s already dressed in her gym outfit, and tying her shoes. “God, I know,” she rolls her eyes. “I think they’ve made a bet or something to see who can make it the longest after bottomless drinking.” Stretching, she groans, “They were up even up til 5am I think, after you fell asleep.” 

You roll your eyes, slipping off your robe and pulling on a tight spandex pair of leggings and sports bra. You grab your water bottle and join your teammate as you walk down the hall of the rooming area and into the gym. “It would be nice for once to try and get a normal week of life before the games start. By the way, are we doing cardio today?” 

Irene nods, tying her hair up high. “Start off with 60 minutes running and then help me stretch? We’ll go practice on the rink later after lunch.” 

You nod and throw the towel on the handle as you step up onto a machine. It’s 6am, but already, dozens of other athletes are busy at work, pressing the weight machines and cardio machines to life. You can see that the gymnastics girls are taking up most of the easy weights, and the hockey players fiddling with the heavier weights. Seokjin, one of the guys from your university’s snowboarding team, walks up to you with a smile, starting up the running machine next to yours, and matching your brisk walk. 

“Good morning,” he grins, “How are you feeling?” 

You roll your eyes, cracking your neck. “God, Jin, I wanted to kill the guys on the fourth floor. Literally, they’re the loudest herd of chimpanzees when they’re drunk.” 

Seokjin laughs, upping his speed. “They made a bet to see who could drink the longest from the keg. It was interesting to watch but my coach would’ve killed me if she were here and saw me sleeping anytime past 1am. And even though our coaches can’t be here in the lodgings,” he shudders, taking a swig from his bottle, “I’d rather not find out what she’ll do to me if she ever knew the truth.” 

You laugh, increasing your speed and matching his long strides with quick ones of your own. “Good thinking, you’re smart.” 

He grins at you and the both of you ease into your daily routines. 

Everyday is like this, even when you’re not in the Olympic village. This is your second Olympics, and your second time representing your country for women’s figure skating. Being said, getting here meant that every day was a routine, just like today’s, monkey boys living a floor above you or not. 

Wake up at 5am, and cardio for an hour, stretch for 30, practice jumps on mats for 30, and then actually skating for another 2 hours, before returning to stretch out the sore muscles, and then finally getting to eat your first meal, which was probably a salad, chicken breast, and maybe a fruit smoothie if your morning cardio was more productive than usual. Then it was a bit of rest and loosening the muscles with a warm bath, and then back with weight training and more skating until it was night, and the lactic acid buildup was making your muscles all shaky and unsteady. Rinse, repeat. 

It’s easy to throw popcorn at your tv screen and sneer, “Idiots,” when a representative of the country makes a mistake during the games. Somehow, everyone sitting at home in front of their televisions, munching on their bottomless fried chicken and coke became masters at whatever sport they were watching this time of year. But becoming an olympian meant that this was your life: training, practicing, and winning. 

You amp up the speed on the machine into a full sprint as you think of the way you only got a silver medal the last time you competed. The bratty Jennie Kim had won the gold, and managed to shove it in your face every single time you two saw each other. She was here too, you could practically smell the hatred and the evil emanating off her skin whenever you were in a 50 mile radius of her. 

You sigh as your music lets you drift off into a place, a place where you don’t have to think about how sweaty and tired you are already. The music that you chose this year for your routine was classy, and so was the show that you prepared. 

It took months of training, and was also the reason you had to go so hard on cardio this year: there were four triple-axels, triple toe-loops you had to master during the routine, and that didn’t even include the two triple salchows towards the end of the routine. None other than Kim Yuna had attempted and succeeded at doing a routine like that completely without failing. 

All while looking like a complete goddess. 

Beethoven’s 9th symphony was a fairy-like, dainty work of art, with swells of the orchestra booming in the background to create an ominous feeling to it. To master this routine, you’d had to also go through hours of acting classes, to get “in touch with your deepest emotions,” like your coach Minho had convinced you. 

Your mother had gotten her hands on the most gorgeous outfit, a turquoise, shimmering deep blue-green that make your skin glitter and shine and complimented your eyes and matched incredibly well with the silver accents and accessories embroidered onto the dress. 

You don’t really remember how you got here. It just started as an innocent day at the rink, where you’d convinced your mother to let you do something more interesting than learning the piano or the violin, and she’d let you choose between gymnastics and figure skating. You were mesmerized by the pretty outfits as a little girl, so she’d taken you for lessons. 

And then the lessons slowly became rehearsals for the junior figure skating team, and then your coach labeled you as team captain, and then you were being sent off to do shows all around the country. You were then competing and winning gold medals as fast as ever, and at the ripe young age of 17, you were crowned as the next Female Figure Skating Olympian to join your country’s team, to train and compete in the next winter olympics. 

That was how you were thrust into this world of competing and working yourself to the bone at age 18. It just...sort of happened, and at one point in your little 18 year old life you did have a moment to turn around and survey how the hell you got here in the first place. But, it was too late, and you were way too invested, switching out hours of studying or playing video games or with dolls for training on the ice in your childhood to back out now. 

Your workout comes to an end and you’re already sweating bullets and chugging down buckets of water by the end. Irene finishes a couple of seconds before you do and waits for you as you cool down and step off. You both take a couple more minutes to towel off and cool before you step into the mirror room, and begin to stretch. You place your ankle on top of the poles for steadiness and begin stretching your upper body, cooling down in the air conditioned room. 

“Well if it isn’t y/n?” A voice sounds in the entrance of the stretching room and all the heads in the room turn to see who it is. 

You don’t even have to look to know who it is. 

He cockily wipes his face with a towel and throws it over his shoulder, spraying a steady stream of water from his bottle into his mouth as he saunters over to where you’re stretching. You roll your eyes and ignore him, switching sides and propping your other leg up 90 degrees as you curve your torso towards it with your hand stretched towards your toes. 

He walks up to you and in the mirror, you can see the other girls in the room whispering and giggling at the presence of the handsome Olympian. 

Jeon Jungkook. Age 22. Also his second time competing in the Olympics. Gold medalist if we’re talking about olympics, but all time World Champion in the Men’s Snowboarding medium and Guiness World Record holder for highest score last year, beating out previous record holders and his own best scores with the recent win. Endorses like a thousand snowboarding and athletic brands like Northface and Tim Burton. Also the owner of his own resort on the side. He was a celebrity within the Olympians, and also voted one of the hottest Olympians ever. 

“Looking good,” he rakes his eyes up and down your body, grinning sleazily. “How long has it been, 3 years? 4 years?” 

You huff as you take down your leg from the pole. “If you could ever for once figure out how to do math, you’d know that it’s been 4 years since the last olympics, Jeon Jungkook.” 

He smirks when you finally respond to him, walking over to lean against the pole as you sit down and begin stretching your hamstrings. “Congrats on your win during the World Championships, I watched and cheered for you during it.” 

You roll your eyes. “Are you here to make fun of my silver medal too? I have enough knowing grins from Jennie Kim to last me a lifetime.” You switch legs, leaning forward and pressing your knees against your chest. 

He laughs, “Hell no, I would never dare to make fun of the ice queen.” 

Straightening up, you narrow your eyes at him. He’s been calling you that since you can remember. “Get lost, Jungkook. Go do your weights or whatever.” You resume stretching, extending one leg far behind you as you sit comfortable in a split. 

He stands, watching you from above. “Suit yourself. Know I’ll be back though.” 

He walks cockily back, lifting the edge of his shirt to wipe at the sweat on his brow, which is completely stupid because he has a towel. It’s so obvious he does it to get a ruse out of the other gymnasts and skaters stretching in the room, which it does. 

Irene inches up to you and joins you in your stretches. 

“Don’t ask,” you groan and switch sides. 

She shrugs, laughing at you in the mirror. “Wasn’t gonna. That exchange spoke for itself. He definitely has the hots for you.” 

You roll your eyes and groan as you get up, and Irene joins you to help you stand and lift your leg up as high as she can reach, way up over your head. “Uh,” you cringe at the stiffness of your thigh muscles, “He does that to everyone. Seriously. I’ve seen him even give some of the referees sleazy looks. It’s just in his blood.” 

She whistles as you switch legs. “Well whatever his blood’s doing, I bet it’s working real hard.” 

“Ew!” You exclaim and laugh, letting her switch sides with you as you help her with her standing splits. “Never!” 

She laughs, finishing her other side. “Alright grumpy, let’s go get you some breakfast before you rip my head off and get even more hangry.” 

_____________________________________________________________________

You both get washed up and changed before heading over to the Dining Hall. It’s basically another stadium, with the lower levels transformed into a buffet style area and tables and chairs all looped together like high school all over again. 

Hoseok, one of the male figure skaters, joins your table and Seokjin appears a couple minutes after, his plate piled high with all the food he could find at the buffet. 

Hoseok cringes at the sight, “Jeez, dude, how many calories even is that thing?” 

You and Irene peer over to see a buttload of eggs, rice, noodles, meats, and salad piled onto his tray. The both of you sigh at the sight, watching dreamily as Seokjin shoves the food endlessly into his mouth. It was your own personal mukbang broadcast. 

“Uhhh two-touszhndf-mpmph” Seokjin mutters, and Hoseok glares again, cringing at the food that flies out of Seokjin’s mouth. 

“Two thousand?” You balk, resting your chin in your hand as you push a cherry tomato around on your plate with your fork. “Did you increase it since last time?” 

Seokjin nods, washing his huge mouthful down with a swig of orange juice. “I don’t know what it is about this weather, but I’m starving.” 

Irene sighs, setting down her cup. “God, I just wanna eat a big heaping bowl of french fries and a oozy, greasy cheeseburger right about now.” Hoseok nods in forlorn agreement and you nod too, pouting at the sad dressing-less salad in front of you. 

Seokjin talks again, food flying, “They have some! Over there! Can’t you sneak one? Our coaches aren’t even here.” 

Irene doesn’t even bother looking. She shakes her head. “No, it’ll affect our jumps. Really. Even the slightest bit of change in our weight will throw our center of gravity off. Plus, have you seen our outfits? They’re tight as fuck.” 

You nod, sighing as you swallow the last piece of cabbage. “Mine’s so tight I have to wear a stick-on bra instead of having it padded, like normal.” 

Hoseok cringes, “Hell ya, mine’s so tight I have to clench my ass cheeks everytime I do a sitting spin, or else the spandex gets too tight and gives me the absolute worst wedgie.” 

Seokjin rolls his eyes. “Guys, shut up. You know who has the worst, tightest outfits? The swim team.” 

The three of you stop talking, and burst in laughter as Seokjin rolls his eyes. You imagine the swim team in their tiny little speedos, junk squeezed tight and asses practically fighting to get out. You snort, “HAHA, don’t those guys ever like accidentally moon someone or like slip out of those things? I feel like they’re so small on their hips, it’ll fit around me.” You giggle, and Irene joins you, laughing at Seokjin’s disgusted expression. 

He’s about to respond when a voice interrupts. “Talking about the swim team’s speedos?” 

You all turn to see Park Jimin, captain of the Men’s Ice Hockey team turn up with a few of his teammates to your table. He sets his tray down next to yours, and laughs when Irene nods. 

Seokjin resumes, “Okay they’re not that tight, like I won’t lose any sperm because of it. They’re just...snug.” 

Irene cackles. “How do you even know?! You’re a snowboarder!” 

He shrugs, chewing thoughtfully. “Sometimes when you’re boarding you need a little extra waterproof protection.” 

The entire table explodes into laughter and disgust, and you join in, finally feeling a weight lifted off your shoulders. 

“Man, this makes me remember how it was in camp all those years ago, doesn’t it?” Jimin adds, and you guys all reminisce to the high school days, where athletes would attend a “athlete-morale” camp over the summer every year, which was just a sorry excuse for job-less coaches to shove down inspiring speeches and “team-building” activities down your helpless throats. 

A lot of you separate into your own conversations, launching into giggles and yells of memories you all shared together. That’s how you knew so many of the Olympians here. Even though you all had different schedules and different sports and areas of interest, somehow most of you had gathered at this camp every summer without fail. And every summer, the lot of you would suffer and bitch and complain together about how stupid and useless the lessons and activities were, and plot ways to escape your cabins at night to sneak away and do some drinking or exploring. Given, you drove your camp leaders crazy. They’d never seen a group of athletes like you guys, they said as they warily sent you home after a week of sleepless nights. 

Jimin nudges you. “How have you been?” 

You grin, turning to him, “Good, you?” 

“Same as ever,” he grins, smiling the sweet smile where his eyes would crinkle. 

“Actually you look a little different, you lost a lot of your baby fat.” You reach over and pinch his cheeks, and he frowns at you humorously as you laugh. “I remember we used to call you acorn because your face was so round.” 

He groans, “Seriously, I never forgave Yoongi hyung for coming up with that name.” 

You laugh, sipping your coffee. “I hear you and your team won silver in nationals, congratulations.” 

He sighs, “Thanks, y/n, but you know in our world, only the gold is worth congratulating for.” 

You nod, “I know how that feels.” Shrugging, he agrees with you, sending you a sad forlorn apologetic smile. He probably heard down the grapevine that you’d gotten silver.

“But at least this year, you’re gonna win gold right?” 

You shrug, picking at your cup. “I don’t know...the routine is really hard and I’m still jet lagged and not feeling my best. I’m getting nervous, and that anxiety was exactly why I stumbled a bit during my routine last year and lost the gold to Jennie.” 

“Ah Jennie,” he recalls, “Pretty, but sort of a bitch.” He shrugs, and Irene cuts in. “Sort of? Nope, she’s such a bitch.” 

The two conversations between yours and Jimin’s and Irene’s with Hoseok and Seokjin merge as Irene rolls her eyes. “Oh my god, it was ridiculous. Jennie’s routine wasn’t half as great as y/n’s but there was a slight stumble, which wasn’t even a stumble, and Jennie won. Which is ridiculous because Jennie actually tripped and had to leave out a spin on one of her turns to make sure she didn’t actually fall.” 

Hoseok tips his head. “Y/n, you stumbled?” 

Before you can even answer, Irene does it for you. “It was literally just a slight stumble, at most she switched her blade and landed with a bit more spark than usual.” 

You shrug, nodding at Irene to thank her for explaining it. You’d had to explain it way too many times now. “Whatever, it’s past now, and there’s not much I can do about it. We’re both here now, so it’s just important that I stay focused.” 

Seokjin nods. “Don’t worry, y/n. You’ll win. I’m sure of it.” 

Hoseok snorts, “How?” 

Seokjin makes a funny face, “Didn’t ya’ll know that I’m a genius and got voted the #1 most handsome face of the Olympians? If anyone knows things like that, it’s me.” He says, and everyone chuckles at it. Same ol’ Seokjin. 

“Speaking of which, here comes #1 most “daddy” Olympian.” Hoseok comments, glancing at the entrance of the dining hall. By instinct, you turn with Irene in your chair to see Jeon Jungkook sauntering in with the rest of his snowboarding team. 

The guys are gorgeous, with languid body movements, but strong bulky builds underneath all their protective waterproof jackets. Their jaws were chiseled and their looked rugged in that hot way. Jaebum, the one on Jungkook’s left was Irene’s favorite for a while, and was handsome and charming enough to even appear on a couple of variety shows and drama cameos. The snowboarders were actual celebrities back home.

You roll your eyes and turn back as quickly as possible, but not before Jungkook’s gaze settles on yours with a smirk. “I don’t even understand how that vote was even cast.” You grumble, sipping your coffee. “Seriously, out of all the other athletes, Jungkook? Gross.” 

Jimin laughs. “Well, who do you think would have been #1 then?” 

You groan, cringing. “To be honest, you or Seokjin.” 

All of you laugh as Seokjin pumps his fist, “Yes!” He cries out, food flying out of his mouth again, to Hoseok’s horror. “I knew it. Y/n think’s I’m hotter than Jeon Jungkook!” 

“Shut up!” you hiss, laughing as you try to get him to sit down, but it’s too late. At the sound of his name, Jeon Jungkook is drawn to your table like a fly to a light and grins as he walks over. “Incoming,” Irene hisses as she smiles up fakely at Jungkook. 

“I heard my name, are you guys talking about me?” He drawls, grinning as he perches a hand on the back of your chair. You ignore him and eat your yogurt. 

Jimin laughs, lifting a hand to shake hands with Jungkook. “’Sup dude, it’s been a while. Lookin’ good.” He smiles and you watch in disgust as Jungkook laughs, tainting Jimin’s innocent and beautiful presence with an entire bucketful of gross cocky frat-boy confidence. 

“I’ve been cutting a little bit, trying to not bulk too much these days,” Jungkook shrugs, flexing his arm a little to the delight of the gymnasts a few tables over. “I started getting a little less air once I started bulking up. But you’re lookin’ better bro, you guys training a lot?” 

Jimin nods, clapping the teammate next to him on a shoulder lightheartedly. He grins his charming smile again, his eyes crinkling on the sides. “Yeah, our couch has been pushing us real hard these days, but it’s been working. We’re all at our best weights of the season, and feeling real good for the upcoming games.” He smiles at you, glancing sadly at your poor little salad. “Y/n, you must be having a hard time recently too, right? Coach has us on a strict diet, but yours is probably stricter, isn’t it?”

You sigh, pushing around your cold chicken breast around on the plate for both guys to see. “I eat less than a thousand calories per day, all divided into six tiny meals. Helps keep off the weight so that I can jump higher. I can’t remember the last time I had an all-you-can-eat korean barbeque dinner. Maybe it was when I was in elementary school? Legit over a decade ago.” You shake your head as you picture the cold piece of meat as a sizzling hunk of delicious pork. 

It doesn’t help. 

Jungkook laughs, inviting himself to take the empty seat next to yours, his arm draped over the back. “Well, I for one, think you have an amazing body.” He winks at you and you pretend to gag as everyone chuckles at the table. 

“Gross!” you exclaim, pointing your fork menacingly at him. “Don’t you have some other girls to flirt with besides me? I’ve had enough fratboy for a day.” 

He grins, hand splaying across your back, warm against your skin. “Trust me, y/n, you’ll never have enough of me.” He winks and bids everyone a dumb cocky drawled “Later guys,” and walks off with his boy band team. 

Hoseok grins at you, “Was I high off my painkillers for a second or did Jeon Jungkook actually flirt with you and basically imply that he wanted to bang?” 

You choke on a piece of lettuce as everyone around the table nods, Irene and Seokjin chiming in with a simultaneous, “Totally.” Before turning to eachother with wide eyes and high-fiving. 

“Gross!” You exclaim again for the second time that morning, washing it down with a swig of water. “Me with Jeon Jungkook? I feel my ovaries shriveling up at the thought of sleeping with that frat-boy pig.” Jimin just watches you carefully.

Hoseok shrugs, “I bet if you sleep with him, it won’t just be your ovaries shriveling up. I hear he’s great in bed.” 

“Ugh! God Hoseok! Can you like not?” You cringe, and he laughs. 

“I can’t help it! He’s cute!! If he swung this way, I’d jump on that even before he could even know he was gay.” 

Everyone laughs and shakes their head at Hoseok’s blunt gayness, and you just grin uncomfortably as you turn back to your salad. You look up to see Jimin just watching you with a shy smile as he continues eating without a word. 

After breakfast, it was time to stretch a little more and actually start skating. You say bye to the rest of the crew and make your way to the gym again with Irene. You cringe, massaging your shoulder as you walk over. 

“Fuck,” you mutter, kneading the sore muscles. “My shoulder is all messed up...” 

Irene turns with a worried expression. “Oh shoot, I knew that not sleeping with a neck pillow would mess with your trap muscles. Did you bring your muscle cream with you?” 

Rummaging through your pack, you frown, “No...shit it really hurts though.” 

She pushes you towards the dorms. “Go and get it before we get on the rink, Coach’ll kill you if she finds out you didn’t treat it before getting on the ice. You know how she is. One little painful thing and she’ll go crazy on you and make sure you get it treated and ban you from the ice until it’s better.” 

You nod, biting your lip. “Don’t wait up for me!” You jog in the direction of the dorms. 

It’s a bit chilly, but the cardio helps a little as you make your way up the lavish road towards the towering buildings. The olympic villages...were always nice on the outside, but pretty dumb on the inside. 

Athletes were organized into country teams and shoved into tiny little apartments by gender, provided with college dormitory-style like rooms with two or three beds shoved into them with skinny little closets for your coats and stuff. You sigh as the dorm doors open to a rush of cold air, and scan your nametag before jogging over to the elevator, staring at your phone and logging your breakfast calories. 

The elevator opens and you nonchalantly walk inside, but right before the doors close, a hand comes in and slams the door crevice, forcing the doors to open automatically. You frown at the noise and look up to see who it is, and your jaw drops as you see Jungkook smirking at you as he steps in the elevator. You roll your eyes and drop your neck back to your phone as your typing fingers become a little harsher at the screen of your phone.

He grins at you, “Whatcha doin’?” 

“Trying to have some alone time,” you grumble, rolling your eyes at nothing in particular. He grins and somehow in his brain interprets it as an invitation to move closer and peer at your phone screen. “Sexting?” 

“No, god Jungkook,” you yelp, twisting the screen away from him, “You’re still super gross.” 

He laughs as the doors open and he trails after you. “This isn’t even your floor.” You grumble, walking down the hall towards your room anyway. 

“This isn’t even my building, but you knew that already.” He shrugs, grinning at you. He knew you too well, and he knew that too. God, you just wanted to strangle him in that pretty little neck of his. You unlock your door and he hovers, watching you rummage around your room for the bright blue container of your muscle cream.

“So, you have a thing with the hockey player?” He leans against your door, eyeing you with a cocky smirk.

You huff and drop your duffel, giving up on finding the muscle cream you were positive you packed. Hands on your hips, you face him with a glare.

“Just because I exchanged a couple of words with Jimin doesn’t mean I’m dating him, Jungkook. I’m not like you, fucking the first thing he sees.”

He hisses between his teeth, throwing his head back as he chuckles. “Oooo that burned. Straight from the ice princess. You really chose your sport didn’t ya? Double meaning and all.”

Glaring, you roll your eyes and turn back to digging through the drawers. “Why the hell are you here? I need to apply my muscle cream.”

Grinning, he produces a condom packet from his pocket. “Guess what? These are Olympic grade. I would hate to waste them when they’re giving ‘em away so freely.” Shrugging, he gestures between the both of you. “We can see if they work as well as they’re supposed to?”

When you don’t reply, he grins again, letting the door shut behind him and lock as he saunters over to you.

“So whaddyou say, for old times sake?” 

You groan, whirling around and facing him head on with a glare. 

“Jungkook,” you grit, “we slept together twice. Four years ago. There is no old time’s sake.” You wave your arms dramatically. 

He laughs, leaning back comfortably on your bed, and you groan. “Yeah it was four years ago, but equally as good. I mean,” he wonders, flipping the condom around in his fingers, “who knew that the goody little ice princess was actually such a freak in bed?” 

You finally find the annoying little blue container and spin at him with hands on your hips. “Stop talking about that night. It never happened, okay? No one can know.” You twist open the container and unzip your jacket to reveal your sports bra and turn away from Jungkook to apply it. 

He watches you struggle to reach the spot near your shoulder blade. “Need help?” 

You glare at him over your shoulder. “No.” 

He shrugs, “Your legs are flexible, but you know your arms not flexible enough to reach it and everyone’s out for training now. I’ll do it, no funny business.” He stands, and you glare at him but let him draw nearer as he takes the container from you. 

“Turn around,” he says gently, and begins to slather on the cream into your shoulder and neck, rubbing it in so that the stickiness is absorbed completely into your skin. You wince as he rubs too hard and he apologizes, setting the container down and concentrating on not rubbing too hard. 

“It wasn’t only four, you know,” he mutters, and you pause, frowning. “What?” 

“We slept together twice four years ago during the games, but we also slept together a couple more times after that. Just not at the games.” He stops rubbing, and you jerk your jacket onto your shoulder again, standing up from the bed with a glare as you pack your backpack. 

“Dont,” you warn, teeth gritted, “talk about that in front of anyone, ever. It could jeopardize our careers. Do you understand?! A few drunken nights together doesn’t mean anything! No matter how hot you think you are!” You storm off, jamming your shoes on and stomping outside. 

The only thing you hear before the door slams shut is his cocky voice calling out, “So you think I’m hot?!” 

Turn, Triple toe loop, land, Bielmann spin, stop, smile, turn again blade change.

You chant the routines in your head as you glide over the ice with the music. Although there were still 2 weeks left ahead of your actual performance, it was still crucial that you skated your program more than 10 times a day so that it was completely muscle memory by the time you stepped onto Olympic ice. 

Your teammates watch carefully from the sidelines with your coach, who’s carefully scrutinizing your every move. You finish with a flourish, chest heaving as the swell of music ends. 

Irene claps happily and Hoseok also joins her, cheering your name as you crumble over, hands on your knees as you heave with the effort of skating heavily for so long. Your coach steps onto the ice, patting your back as you put on your skate guards and take a seat. 

“Good job Y/N,” she nods, stepping aside to let other skaters take to the ice. “Why don’t you go home today and stretch a little? You’re looking a little stiff.” 

You nod, and on the corner of your eye, you see Jennie Kim step onto the ice. “Sure thing, coach, but let me stay behind and watch this one.” Coach Kim follows your gaze and softens. “Y/N,” she urges, “I don’t know if it’ll help you to watch her program.” 

“It’s fine!” You reassure her with a smile and join Hoseok and Irene on the benches as the music begins. 

Jennie was a phenomenal skater, everyone agreed. She was beautiful and thin and charming and knew exactly how to flirt on the ice. What you lacked in with performance skills, she excelled in with expressions and smiles, and what she lacked in technical jumps and clean cut programs, she excelled in making it look even more effortless and flirting with the audience enough to grant standing ovations and performing with a lot of emotion. 

As the three of you watch her run through her program, she completes jumps and spins that you never expected her to be able to complete. “How the hell did she learn to do the triple lutz triple toe loop combo?! I thought last show she had to cut it out of her program because she couldn’t land it properly!” You hiss, and Irene shrugs, her jaw hanging open too. “I don’t know...” she says lowly, watching Jennie glide over the ice as if she were weightless. “That...that’s impossible to do within what...six weeks? Even Rose couldn’t do it like that.” 

Hoseok gasps, “Oh my god, she faked that she couldn’t do it so she’d lower your expectations.” 

You frown and watch her finish her routine, one she stops and gets claps from other people also watching from the stands. Your coach pats you on the shoulder. “Although her routine is a lot more complex than we thought it would be, if you execute ours perfectly, you’re bound to get a hell of a lot more points than she can. Your training is gonna pay off, don’t worry about it.” 

Chewing on your lip, you nod, crossing your arms and worriedly walking out of the rink. 

Your steps are heavy as you head towards the gym. Jennie and you had once been peers, two young girls who began skating together for fun and ended up enjoying it and being actually good at it. But then, somehow, somewhere within all the competition, you both had stopped doing eachother’s makeup and hair between performances, and instead had resorted to smirks and jeers as you challenged eachother. 

Your gold medal or championship trophies matched the number of ones she had, and the both of you were neck to neck during every single match you could ever think of since you both became teenagers. 

This was probably going to be your final or second to last Olympics, and then you would end up doing promotions for companies or becoming a trainer for the rest of your life. If you wanted to live comfortably, you would have to skate like your life depended on it, and Jennie did too. Whatever medals the both of you won today would go down in history and determine the next years to come. If you didn’t win that gold medal this year, you were determined to just retire before it became even more embarrassing. 

The gym is full, with the sun high up in the air at 2pm. You can see a group of hockey players fiddling with the weights alongside the swimmers who were working the machines. The gymnasts and the female swimmers were already stretching in the padded room, and the running machines full of all types of athletes. Immediately, when you enter, the white shirt stretched over Jungkook’s back muscles is the first thing you see. 

Ignoring the clenching feeling of anxiety in your gut, you head over to the stretching area to begin cooling off. 

Feet out, leg as high up as you can, you coax yourself, mimicking what your coach would be telling you as of now. You can feel the stiffness, all the way back to your calves and the muscle cream from yesterday wasn’t helping all that much. Facing the mirror, you balance a hand on the beam and lean forward, lifting your leg up high far above your head as you balance on one foot, preparing for one of your spins. 

Through the mirror, you see him come in, his head swiveling as he surveys the myriad of other girls stretching and then smiling wide as he jogs over to you, throwing his sweaty towel around his neck. Gross. 

“So,” he says, leaning against the bar with a greasy smile. “Did you think about what I said?” 

You roll your eyes and continue stretching. “How many times did I tell you that there’s absolutely nothing to talk about?” 

“How many times after that night did you even have sex at all?” He scoffs, moving around to face you when you turn to switch sides.

“Did you like, even go out after that?” He prods, watching you stretch through the mirror. He wipes his sweat with the small hand towel, spraying some water from his bottle into his mouth and shaking out his sweaty bangs.

You switch legs, making another face when it strains a little. He notices, “oh, uh, do you need some help with that?”

You finally acknowledge him after twenty minutes of ignoring him. He was persistent, you had to give him that. Rolling your eyes you nod, “Do you remember how?”

“No,” he scoffs, but steps forward anyway, cradling your ankle in his larger hands. He’s hot, the cool temperature of the stretching area doing nothing to cool off his skin. He steps forward so the both of you are almost a hand width apart and places your ankle daintily on his broad shoulder. He then steps even closer, supporting your lower back with his hands and slowly pressing in to help stretch the calves and hamstrings.

You wimper a little because he’s almost an entire head and a half taller than your petite size and the leg on his shoulder is pressed almost to your chest. Squeezing your eyes shut you breathe in and out, the both of your bodies rocking slightly to accommodate the inflation of your lungs into your chest.

You can feel the heat emanating off his chest as he stands there looking down at you with the hardness of his body pressed up against the back of your thigh. It’s hard to not let your mind wander at that, flashbacks of drunken irresponsible high school days when you’d go to bed with him fucking you from behind and wake up to him kissing between your legs. And then you’d finish off with a nice hot bath and some good food. Back when you had no responsibilities, no worries, and no burdens on your shoulders.

The moment causes your mind to go a little hazy and in the fleeting few seconds of feeling vulnerable and the flood of hormones at the familIr feeling of his body against yours you whisper, “I haven’t” in response to his questions before. It’s too quiet to be heard over the high quality air conditioner whirring almost silently in the corner, but nonetheless his proximity lets him hear the two words.

He doesn’t say anything though, and lets your leg down from his shoulder and helps you get the other one onto his right shoulder. Rinse and repeat. But just as you open your mouth to say something more, a hand on the small of your back smooths over the curve of your hip and up your thigh and over to your ankle. Holding it delicately there, his hand grips it wth a firm and warm grasp, as he angles his head down to meet your questioning gaze.

“Me neither.” He whispers, and steps forward to press himself tightly against you. Your back presses against the bar and your hands flutter up from it to grip his forearms. You distinctly feel his hardness pressed against your belly. 

“Seriously? Don’t lie to me Jeon Jungkook. The last time we slept together was months ago.”

“I’m serious!” You give him a glare. 

“Do you…?” He trails off, and begins blinking like he does when he gets nervous.

The question lingers heavily over the hum of the running machines and air purifiers lining the training area.

His hands release your ankle and sets it gingerly on the ground, and he steps back, the warmth of his body and his chest and his hands and his breath leaving you all at once. You stumble a little back, your back resting on the bar.

Space, he was giving you space to decide.

You sigh, flexing your hands that are beginning to sweat. Your performance wasn’t for another two weeks. What did you have to lose?

Thinking about the way Jennie glided over that triple-toe-triple-lutz combination with no effort at all made you rage all the way inside, insides glowing hot from the annoyance of being fooled by her again. What was just one night of sex going to do? Your coach told you to relax and make sure you weren’t too stressed out and anxious...this...this was just an interesting way of doing it. What she didn’t know wouldn’t kill her.

“Fine,” you huff, stepping forward, gathering your things and heading out, as he jogs after you with a surprised look. “But on one condition, Jeon Jungkook. You cannot tell anyone. Are we clear?” 

He smirks, running a hand through his hair. “Clear as ice.” 

“Fuck,” you wimper as the the door slams shut behind you and Jungkook crowds your personal space. He’s breathing heavily, yanking harshly at your jacket zipper until it falls to the ground and your sports bra is all you’re wearing on top. He unzips that too and lets it fall to the ground, kissing you senselessly, lips moving against yours and drawing out your breaths and moans. 

“God I missed this,” he breathes, grabbing your waist and hoisting you up. Wrapping your legs around his waist you tongue at his neck as he sets you on his bed and strips off his jacket. “Did you miss me too?” He smirks as he sucks on your nipple crewdly and you moan in response, hips bucking up into his. 

“No--oh my god” you keen when he yanks down your legging and rubs at you through your underwear. Your hand flies down to grip his wrist, eyes squeezing shut at the sensation. “Oh-- fuck, please don’t stop.” 

He just chuckles and yanks your underwear band aside to reveal your dripping core, sliding his fingers in you with no obstruction at all. “Oh shit, Y/N, you’re so fucking wet,” he grumbles, nipping at your breast as you mewl and twist under the onslaught of sensations. 

“Take your pants off,” you breathe, panting harshly as he kneels up to peel his shirt off, revealing white milky skin, textured with taught lines and lean muscle. You help him untie the strings on his sweatpants, nimble fingers working desperately at the waistband until Jungkook gets impatient and just yanks it down his hips along with his boxers. 

While he grabs a condom, you yank off your panties, pushing him to sit up against the headboard of the bed. You straddle him, throwing a thigh over his hips and resting your hands on his shoulders for leverage. 

Were his shoulders always this broad? 

You shake away the thought as he grips himself and guides himself to your center, rubbing his sensitive tip against your wetness and smearing it around to make it more comfortable. You busy yourself with sucking a hickey against his collarbone, licking and biting until the clean flesh becomes red and inflamed and shiny with your spit. 

“Ready?” He breathes out, pupils blown out as he pants up at you. You nod and lower yourself on him slowly, and Jungkook moves his hand from gripping himself to settle and help you guide your hips down onto him. The both of you moan when you bottom out, panting and gripping each other desperately. When the stretch isn’t so bad, you rock your hips slowly back and forth, not yet bouncing up and down on him yet. 

The movement stimulates your clit against his pelvis and you moan, throwing your head back and looping your arms around his neck as you continue to swivel your hips on him. Jungkook sits there, eyes heavy lidded as he watches you with a slight smile on his lips. His hand raises to curl your hair over your shoulder, his hand following and resting on your neck as he leans down to kiss against your neck, tongue laving heavily, hot and wet against your skin as  you cling to him. 

He’s marking you too, focusing on the area right where your jawline meets your ear and nibbling against it, teeth scraping against the sensitive skin, making you moan. “Jungkook,” you whine, and he seems to understand what you’re asking for when his hand settles on your hips again and he begins to guide you up and down his length. 

The extra stimulation gets him going and he cringes. “Fuck, Y/N,” he grits his teeth and his hairline begins to dot with sweat at the effort. “I...I’m gonna cum s-soon.” 

“Already?” You gasp, opening your eyes to ask him. He nods, biting his lip as he groans, his jaw falling open. “I-it’s been a r-really long t-time. And you feel s-so fucking good. Hngh.” He groans as you squeeze around him in response to his praise. 

“Okay,” you breathe, “Just wait for me, hold on.” You reach down and rub your clit in wide circles, gathering the wetness from where you and Jungkook meet, and pressing into your clit with the pads of your fingers. Jungkook just buries his face into your neck, panting harshly against your collarbone as you continue to swivel your hips, moaning and rubbing like your life depended on it. 

With the feeling of Jungkooks lips on your nipples and his hands roaming your body, and his dick reaching parts of you that your fingers can’t even think of stimulating, and along with the 7-month-long hiatus from sex with him, you find yourself reaching the edge fairly quickly. 

“O-oh shit, Jungkook,” you whisper, letting him take over in rubbing circles on your clit, “I-I’m gonna---” You bite down on his shoulder, dampening the moans that tumble out of your mouth as you topple over the edge. At the sensation, Jungkook cums almost simultaenously as he finally lets himself go, and his moans spur you on as you quake over him and both your hips stutter at the overwhelming rush of pleasure. 

You pant and tremble as the sensations run through your entire body, your eyes rolling back as you moan and mewl and say whatever the fuck is coming out of your mouth right now at the feelings. But apparently it’s not completely and utterly horseshit that you’re muttering right now because Jungkook rocks up into you, riding out his own high and groaning your name loudly as his orgasm subsides. 

He laughs a little when he finishes, and the action makes him move a bit inside of you and you cringe, muttering a “ew you’re so sticky,” as you climb off of him. He stands after you, following you into the shower and flushing down the condom. Grinning and leaning against the doorway, he watches you climb into the shower and hose down your body. 

“How the hell were you hooked up with your own room? And bathroom?” You mutter, using the body wash there to clean off all the sweat. 

When he doesn’t respond, you turn, but a hand snakes around your waist. “Let me,” he murmurs, grabbing the soap from you and running along your back, his warm hands scratching over your skin. You let your head fall back at the sensation as he focuses a little too much on your breasts, swirling over the nipple with circular motions and gentle hands. “Again?” 

“Let’s save water,” he grins and you let him. 

You don’t save any water that day. It was 44 minutes too long. 

“Let’s go get some food,” Jungkook whines, as you both finish, collapsing on the bed with panting breathes as you come down from your high. His hands cradle your waist as you take a moment to gather yourself before you prop yourself up. 

“Huh?” You wrinkle your nose down at him, propping your arms on his chest. 

He laughs, sitting up and grabbing his shirt. “You said you were hungrier earlier. And we barely ate today, after gymming in the morning. I’m starving,” he whines, pouting at you and  you laugh, rolling off of his bed to grab your clothes. 

“I can’t,” you whine, pouting at your belly and poking the skin there. “If coach finds out I’m eating anything other than the diet we’re limited to, she’ll kill me.” 

He rolls his eyes, shrugging on a hoodie. “Oh god,” he groans, pulling on his baggy pants with easy. “You’re literally skinnier than some models that I’ve slept with.” 

You glare at him when he mentions the models and he laughs guiltily. “Sorry,” he grins, “But it’s true. You can afford to eat whatever you like. C’mon, just one meal won’t hurt.” 

You sigh, pulling on your leggings and a clean pair of underwear. Somehow...you ended up having a stash of underwear hidden deep within Jungkook’s drawers. 

“Fine,” you grumble, but the grin on your face says otherwise. It’d been ages since you ate anything other than the planned dietary foods prepared for you by your coach and  parents. This...this time wouldn’t be too bad. No one would notice. 

“Where’s my phone?” You grumble, digging through the bedsheets and your bag as you search for it. 

Jungkook shrugs, shaking out his hair. “I’ll meet you outside, gonna pee before we go.” 

You shrug him off and he leaves, and you finally find the device and slip it into your pocket. You also grab Jungkook’s really baggy hoodie and pull it over your thin workout spandex long sleeve and leggings, relishing in the way his smell floods your senses as the warm and soft fabric tumbles down your body all the way to your mid-thigh. Grinning, you turn to open the door, calling out, “Jungkook I--” 

Standing down the hall, with a packet of yogurt hanging from his lips and eyes as wide as yours, is Seokjin. His hand lingers on his doorknob, and he balks at you as you stand in Jungkook’s single room, in his clothes, and takes one glance at the messy room full of your stuff and mussed up bedsheets, and connects the dots immediately. 

“Seokjin...” you breathe, eyes darting to the main entrance. 

“What the fuck?” He sputters, pulling out the plastic packet from his mouth and stomping up to you. “You’re the girl that Jungkook’s been fucking?”

You bite your lip, trying to rack up any excuse, but you come up blank. “Oh my god, Seokjin, you can’t tell anyone! Not even Irene, if coach finds out she’ll kill me---” 

He whisper-yells at you. “Have you even met our coach? He’ll rip our balls off one by one if he knew Jungkook was slacking off in any way.” 

“Also,” he adds, frowning, “How dare you?! I thought you said he was gross.” 

You grin sheepishly. “It just happened...the stress and all, and there’s a lot of time in 3 weeks for 24 hours...” 

He shakes his head trying to get the image of you out of his head. “God,” he hisses, “I’ve been trying to set the two of you up for years! And all you two did was give me shit for it. Little did I know you two were already getting it on,” he glances behind him, to the vicinity of his room, whipping back around to you furiously. “And right next to my room?!” 

You sigh, gripping his arm. “C’mon Seokjin I know you won’t tell, but I need you to say it out loud. Please, promise me you won’t tell.” 

He sighs, groaning at you before relenting. “Alright, fine. But only because you gave me really yummy vitamins next week and medicine for my constipation.” 

You grin, reaching up to hug him. When he leaves for his room, Jungkook finally emerges from the restroom, grinning. “Whatcha two talkin’ about?” He grins, cocking his chin at Seokjin’s door. 

You march up to him, punching him hard. He doubles over, winded. “What the fuck Jungkook?!” you hiss, “I thought you said no one’s home before 3!” 

He winces, groaning and clutching his stomach. “Jeez woman,” he croaks, “Who the fuck taught you how to punch?” 

You smirk, “Get up. I’m hungry now.” He grins as he leads you to the front door. He reaches down and pulls the hood of his sweater up and around your head, bunching it low over your eyes. “Good,” he comments, doing the same to his own. “We can’t get caught sneaking out. I know of a way.” He winks and leads you down the elevator and towards the edge of the campus. 

“Where?” You hiss, jogging after him. 

He grins at you, pulling you alongside him with a warm hand that curls around yours. “Just trust me.” He walks straight for where the trash deposits are, and you wrinkle your nose at the smell of rotting food and boxes of cardboard strewn messily in the garage. But in the corner, you can clearly see a door marked with a red EXIT sign. 

“That’s the only one that doesn’t lock, all around campus,” he explains, slowly and gently opening it and glancing around to make sure the coast is clear before jogging out with you. “The others have cameras or guards, but this one I guess was forgotten with all the other construction that was going on.” 

You hmm in agreement and relish in the way Jungkook’s hand feels against yours. It’s a lot bigger, and his long fingers curl all the way to the middle of your palm, where his thumb strokes gently and warmly against your smooth skin. Feeling the way your hand is freezing cold, he pockets both your hands in his jacket pockets, nesting both your hands in the warm comforts of his down jacket. 

After a bit of walking, you make it to a decently crowded pedestrian area where he leads you to a corner of the street, where a tiny snack shop sits. Your mouth waters at the sight of a couple people inside, drinking hot soups and chowing down on instant ddukbokki’s and kimbap’s and ramen bowls that made your stomach churn with anticipation. 

“Oh my god,” you whisper, as Jungkook grins at you and leads you up to the stands, taking a seat in the corner. He still doesn’t let go, letting your intertwined hands rest on the plastic foldable table. “How did you find this place?” you whisper, after he orders a heaping pile of food for the both of you. 

“It’s a secret passed down through the snowboarding team for generations,” he winks, grinning when the cook brings over a steaming pile of rice cakes and korean pancakes and kimbap for you both to start on. You use the skewer to grab a piece and pop it into your mouth, humming and grinning at the wonderful taste of spicy and sweet that bursts within your mouth. Moaning at the sensation, you skewer a few more pieces into your mouth, chewing thoughtfully as he explains. 

“The hyungs would sneak out every chance we get. Our coach is a little...stiff and strict, but he lets us do this sort of in an apology for how strict he usually is.” 

You nod, chewing and washing it down with a sip of hot soup. “And does he come with you?” 

Jungkook shakes his head, using his free hand to grab a kimbap and chew on it. “Nope, he lets us have our thing. It’s like a tradition. I think this year, the team plans to come back here at least a few more times before we have to go back.” 

You grin, happily finishing up the plate of rice cakes. Staring at the empty bottom in horror you gulp. “Oh shit, when did I finish this whole thing?” You frown, trying to count the calories in your head. “Fuck, I’m screwed.” Dropping your skewer, you feel tears of shame brimming in your eyes.

Jungkook just frowns and shakes his head. He calls out for another order and you protest, but he just retorts, “Even the people with the best bodies let themselves have cheat days for goodness sake. You need this, Y/N. Don’t just de-stress with sex, rejuvenate with some food too.” 

You melt under his worried words and grin, sheepishly nodding when he hands you a new skewer. 

“Thanks Jungkook,” you whisper, taking another sip of the delicious ramen. “I love this place.” 

He grins, his hand curling around yours tighter. 

Once the both of you finish eating, he takes you around a bit more to explore, and then the both of you stumble back into his dorm. 

“Oh my god,” He mumbles into your neck as you unbuckle his jeans and slip a hand down his boxers. “Your hands are freezing,” he grits, licking and kissing at your neck as you pump him tightly in your fist. 

You giggle, letting him undo the zipper of your jacket and slide your jumper off of your torso. His hands fall heavily on your breasts, cradling them and letting their weight fall into his palms as he presses you into his warm bed. “Yours too,” you pant, the end of your declaration hitching up into a moan as he moves his mouth down to suck harshly at your nipple before tenderly running his warm tongue over it. 

“Let me warm you up,” he moans, and you remove your hand from his pants as he gets busy getting rid of yours. Once completely off and your leggings and panties thrown haphazardly over his shoulder, he hikes your thighs up over his shoulders and licks a warm stripe up your slit. 

Your head falls back onto the pillows, abs tensing as Jungkook gets to work, his warm mouth and tongue laving all over your lips and slit, maneuvering in patterns that make you twist and turn like putty under his hands. Your own hands are gripping at his forearms crossed over your belly, anchoring you to the bed, nails digging into his cold skin and scratching at the nape of his neck where you hold the strands of his hair tightly. 

“F-fuck,” you moan, hips jostling against his arms, “I-I can’t...Jungkook, just put it in...” you beg, core clenching as he boldly pushes you right up against the point of tipping over. But no matter how good you taste and how beautiful you sound and look right now, Jungkook also agrees that the best way to watch you cum is when you’re writhing underneath him. 

“Fine,” he mutters, rolling his eyes at you. 

So he licks one last cheeky stripe up against your clit, the rough pad of his tongue stimulating you enough to make you jump before he gets up, carding off his shirt and pants as he climbs up your body and meets you in the middle with a sloppy kiss. 

He hastily puts on the condom and slides into you with no intrusion, settling his warm weight on yours, chest against yours and hips gently rocking into your core. You moan and clutch at him desperately, throwing your arms around his neck and curling your legs around him like a vice. 

Jungkook lets out a strangled moan of your name, stuttering, “Sh-shit, don’t clench, y-you’re so fucking tight,” he grits, and when you see the way his jaw tenses in the effort to not cum too fast, you can’t help but lean up and nip teasingly at his ear and scrape your teeth against the sharp jawline. 

“C’mon,” you whisper, whining as he begins rutting into you faster, “Hurry,” you moan, and Jungkook leans up, detaching from your neck to sit up a bit better and piston his hips into you, angling himself just enough so the tip of his cock slides and taps right against the spot that has your toes curling and your eyes rolling into the back of your skull. You moan and pant and whine like an animal in heat as Jungkook wipes the sweat off his brow, and gets this steely look on his face as he drives home. 

The both of you finish, eachother’s names on the tip of your tongues and moans as you huskily whine and pant, bodies trembling with the overexertion of so much sex and the overwhelming pleasure of both your climaxes. 

Jungkook collapses on you, breathing heavily, and you let him stay there, kissing small innocent, apologetic kisses into the soft flesh of your chest as he comes down from his high. 

You begin giggling, as he does so, cringing a bit from the oversensitivity of the orgasm and laughing at the tickling feeling of his lips smoothing so softly over your skin. 

“One more time?” He asks, and he instantly feels the way your breath hitches and shudders at the suggestion. 

You smirk down at him, bringing him in for a kiss. 

“Of course,” you whisper against his lips, smiling as he grins and meets you halfway again. 

You didn’t go home at all that night. 

tbd! 

[csykora]

hey! i’ve heard u mention sasha’s media reputation a cpl times... me being a new caps fan, i’m curious—what’s the scoop regarding sasha and why he doesn’t play in the nhl anymore? & why ppl didn’t “like” him or whatever... sry if this is confusing!

Hello!

Not a confusing question at all.

Part of how I made things confusing is that I often jump back and forth between Russia and North America. Semin has a different reputation for different reasons in Russia than in North America, and neither are directly the reason he doesn’t play in the NHL anymore.

There are three fairly separate things here, so I’m going to trying to pull them apart more than I have before.

Prolonged Intro

There are players in the NHL who shouldn’t be there, and players who aren’t  who “should”.

Garret Sparks and Calvin Pickard are not in the NHL. No one is really arguing that Curtis McElhinney is a meaningfully better goalie than they are: if things happened to be different, one of them would be dressing for the Leafs. But it happens to be better for the franchise as a whole to have Backuphinney do his ‘80s thing behind Freddie and give Sparks and Pickard more experience in the minors.

There are a lot of plugs and guys here because their contracts just happen to work out or coaches just happen to have certain tastes or someone else happened to have an inconvenient injury.

The geek squad were saying Michal Kempný was an NHL-level player years ago. It just happened that no NHL team wanted to play him.

Japer’s Rink recently said André Burakovsky shouldn’t be “in the same breath as Semin.” They didn’t mean Burakovsky shouldn’t be in the NHL, necessarily, but it struck me that many fans would just think, “Well, he happens to be in the NHL now, so he must deserve to be there. He must be a better player than anyone who isn’t.”

Burakovsky is beloved as a person, and that colors how his fans see him as a player.Brooks Orpik is despised as a player, so that colors how people see him as a person.

I’m not arguing for Complete Objectivity. For one thing it’s not possible, and I don’t think it would be fun. But my point is that I’m pretty much against the idea that athlete’s careers are about what people deserve, positively or negatively. It’s a way we make sense of complex, coincidental arcs of events. It makes a satisfying, sexy story, as sports media would put it.

But when we think that way, we logically have to think that way about everybody—if something happens to one person because They Deserved It, what about everyone it didn’t happen to? If something good happens because someone is a good person, what about the many very bad people who good things happen to?

So this is not going to be an especially sexy answer.

It is in fact a stupid answer, about a bunch of soul-wrenchingly stupid things that happened to happen to Sasha Semin and not some other guy. Strap in.

1. Russian Reputation

I wouldn’t say Semin has a bad reputation among Russian hockey fans, but the Russian Hockey Federation broke up with him pretty brutally in 2014.  

Semin took the fall for Malkin and Ovechkin after the national disaster of the Sochi Olympics. By national disaster I mean disaster for the Russian State. The State wanted to use Sochi to show their power to the world, and instead they got shamed for months on NBC. And then they lost, too.

Russian media sold the story that the Russian team lost because the players didn’t love their country that much. It wasn’t about skill or talent or style of play—Russia was still the best at all of those! Real patriots would have proven that Russia was the best. The team just didn’t care enough.

So it was really convenient to have this photograph:

Semin has probably been semi-addicted to tobacco through secondhand smoke his entire life. I’ve talked before about why I kinda hate anybody getting mad about athletes using, and that’s one reason. Tobacco is massively common in Russia, with over 60% of Russian men using cigarettes and 51.1% smoking daily. Like most countries, the highest rates are in lower-income, rural Eastern Russia than in the Western cities.

This is kinda embarrassing for the State. The State would like to not look like they’re behind Kazakhstan in any measure of development. And they especially don’t like smoking, because it looks bad.

You know how Nicklas Bäckström got Ovechkin into chewing tobacco? (If you didn’t, sorry, now you do. They both use a fair bunch.) The State does not care about athletes using tobacco. They care a lot about athletes smoking, because someone might see. So Russian athletes are ordered not to smoke, and so any Russian athlete who does is violating orders.

Three of Semin’s teammates are also in that photo—they just happened to be boring, so nobody cared so much. Russian hockey fans in general didn’t care that much. They got to have their initial wave of outrage, reassured themselves that the national team could totally have won if only…. 

Statistically speaking then they had a soothing cigarette, and then they forgot about it. It helps that Sasha has a gently dreamy face and immediately won a Gagarin Cup.

The Russian Hockey Federation still cares a whole bunch. Semin was guaranteed to play at Worlds the next year, and then suddenly he wasn’t on the roster. He hasn’t played for Russia since.

2. In North America

There are a couple threads here.

The reason many Caps fans didn’t like Semin is they fuckin loved the guy. It’s not just me saying Semin was the Caps best player when they traded him, that’s from RMNB. Work your way back through any Caps blog, and there’s so much love there.

The reason many casual fans didn’t like Semin is that, frankly, they didn’t understand the hockey they were watching.

Semin’s pretty much the halfway point between Bäckström and Ovechkin: he has spectacular aim, a canon of a shot, chronic wrist injuries, a tendency to go on hot and cold scoring streaks, and rock-steady top-of-the-league possession metrics. He’s the best skater on any team Evgeny Kuznetsov isn’t on, so once he has the puck, you’re not gonna catch him to get the puck back.

Imagine evaluating Bäckström according to what you expect Ovi to produce, or grading Ovi against Bäckström’s skillset. That’s kind of what would happen with Sasha, because fans would see him shoot and score and then grade him more harshly for not scoring consistently all the time. A lot of the time he wasn’t scoring, because he wasn’t shooting, because he was playing for possession. (Or he was shooting and sometimes he was missing, you know, like shooters do.)

A lot of those fans called to trade him after every playoffs. They also wanted to trade Ovi, so that’s why I don’t listen to hockey fans.

The reason the Capitals management didn’t like Sasha was that they liked him fine, actually, they just wanted to feed his agent to an alligator.

Let’s establish that some people are good at negotiating complex financial agreements, and some people, let’s even say most people, are not. Most athletes are not, and that shouldn’t count against them. That’s why agents exist.

A lot of people like telling Malkin’s story of escape from Magnitigorsk as a daring one-man adventure. That’s understandable, but it forgets that Malkin had someone to buy him a plane ticket, someone making calls and someone expecting him on the other side.

Ovechkin’s agent is his own mother. Arguably, Ovi’s here today because during the ’04-’05 lockout, Tatyana Ovechkina told her son not to resign in Russia. She made a bet, and it paid off when the lockout ended three days later.

Most Russian athletes don’t have that somebody.

Keep this picture in mind. Picture this next bit happening to some kid who might’ve sat next to you in Statistics, and if he passed it was only because tween Evgeny Kuznetsov was loyally making him flashcards. Imagine that kid’s suddenly the main source of income for several generations of his family, too.

When anyone talks about something Semin decided, they’re talking about what his agent decided for him. Semin did not speak English and does not do math; he was honest with the media that he had no fucking clue what his agent was saying in negotiations.

If you google Mark Gandler, you get top results in English like, “Mark Gandler is nothing less than the Prince of Darkness.” He has a long history of making deals that North Americans do not like. I can actually see the case that that’s not his job, his job is to get his mostly-Russian clients and himself paid by one team or another, and NHL teams aren’t as sacred as they like to act. I’m kind of not on board with the idea that players should take NHL teams’ offers as an honor and put the franchise first. But a lot of NHL teams have gotten pissed at Gandler over the years, and the consequences of that land on his clients when deals fall through, not on him.

First, Semin happened to be playing in the city of Tolyatti when he turned 18, so the Russian Armed Forces in Tolyatti drafted him. Tolyatti insisted that Semin had to complete his two years of service in the same district where he was drafted. Very conveniently, they had a very bad hockey team right there for him to play for! So Semin returned to the KHL during the ’04-05 lockout, instead of playing in the AHL like the Caps wanted him to.

Lots of English coverage calls this ‘confusion’ over his military service, since other NHLers were waived. It’s actually simple: HC Lada sucks. Semin was worth more money than the team.

When the lockout ended, Capitals filed a complaint against Gandler, attempting “to compel Alexander Semin’s agent and the Russian hockey team Lada Togliatti to return Alex.” The judge issued a restraining order against Gandler to stop him shopping Sasha to teams that weren’t the Caps.

Things stalled when HC Lada ran out of money and dropped Sasha, along with 15 other players’ contracts. Gandler…promptly shopped him to another team that wasn’t the Caps.

The Caps filed again and at this point the same judge told them to shush, presumably because at this point Semin only had three months of service left anyway and it wasn’t like the NHL had a leg to stand on contracts-wise. Everyone agreed that Semin would return to the NHL for the 2006 season, which he did.

In DC, Sasha and Ovi and then Nicky stole the show and dragged it up and down the ice. They were real real good.

But while Tatyana Ovechkina negotiated Ovi’s lifetime deal right off, the Capitals never signed Sasha for more than a year or two at a time. Every year was a contract year, so every year had to be a career year to justify his value. I don’t know who was asking for what, but as the Caps’ cap problems grew, constantly haggling over one of their stars didn’t seem worth it to them.

In 2012, Semin led the Capitals—yes, including Bäckström—in possession metrics. He was arguably the best player on the team. His penalty minutes, which had been a problem at the start of the season, trended down and were pretty fine by the end, showing that he was adapting to the radically new game play of then-new Coach Hunter.

You know who struggled under with the coaching change? Alex Ovechkin did. Coach Hunter thought Ovi was a spoiled defensive liability, told him to play right wing instead of left, and took away his favorite snugglebuddy. Ovi resentfully on the top RW bumped Sasha down to play with rather less dynamic Swedish centre Marcus Johansson. He scored less goals there.

RMNB jokingly-not-really-joking credited Johansson with axing Semin’s career.

But setting aside scoring, other measures of Sasha’s play like his stable possession and lower PIMS show he was one of the few players who adapted to the new coaching style at all. You might notice Dale is no longer with us.

The Capitals management didn’t not resign Sasha because of his play.

They made an offer, and Gandler made and offer, and both parties finally told the other to go fuck themselves, and Semin dazedly signed with Carolina instead.

By the way, Mark Gandler is now represents Dmitry Orlov.

You’ve probably never felt that level of existential dread while looking at a picture of Dmitry Orlov before. He has a couple years left on his current contract, don’t worry about it.

Why don’t non-Caps fans like Sasha?

The Scene:

It’s 2008. Sidney Crosby is twenty years old. He has not yet done any of the things he’s accomplished in the decade since then.

Ethically speaking, he is on TV too much for him. He’s been on-camera since he was a child. He has to plan escape routes and take back hallways wherever he went and couldn’t stay with his teammates. His fans are starting to try to out him to the media and wreck his life.

Saying he should have bee on TV as much as he is comes off like parents on Toddlers & Tiaras who say their daughter loves competing.

Dialogue:

Semin says Sidney Crosby is a very impressive athlete and very dull human person. So does every honest Canadian.

Semin thinks traditional Canadian men’s hockey with its obsession with shooting is boring and small, smart, play-making skaters are interesting. So does every other Evgeny Kuznetsov fan.

Semin also thinks that even “dead wood” would look like a star if the NHL propped it up in front of a camera as much as they did Crosby, and that’s the line that ticked Mike Milbury off.  

Guys, my soul is seeping out of me in protest against the idea of giving a fuck.   I adore Alexander Semin. I do not give a fuck whether he enjoys watching Sidney Crosby play hockey.

It affects:

the hockey game that Semin watches at home for fun on his evenings off

end of list

This is a league where Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin said live on-air that the Sedin twins might be fucking each other. The bar for Mean Comments about your competition is so, so much higher. It’s an opinion, and one you would kind of expect from someone whose job was to stop Sidney Crosby winning all the hockey.

Sidney Crosby is exactly as Sidney Crosby as he ever was. If you love his hockey, his hockey is the same hockey.

The only thing that is hurt by someone not enjoying Sidney Crosby’s hockey is the NHL’s Sidney Crosby brand.

The only thing hurt by someone saying Sidney Crosby is on TV a whole bunch is the NHL’s Sidney Crosby brand. 

NHL media getting upset over that…kind of supports the observation that the NHL has invested a lot of time and money in Sidney Crosby’s brand.

It’s also inescapable that NHL media had created the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry to begin with. They made a simple dichotomy. Anything one got was going to be framed as something the other couldn’t. And since Crosby was getting the attention, he must deserve it, and Ovechkin must not.

That’s what this was. Try telling Canes broadcaster Tripp Tracy that Semin was jealous of Crosby’s spotlight for himself: the man deserves a good laugh. I’m sure Semin sincerely does find Crosby’s hockey dull, because many people outside North America do. 

But his basic state of being is probably “recklessly in love,” so he got pissed, and he said something that, yes, would have been better to keep as an inside thought out loud.

And NHL media fluttered into a tizzy of, ‘HWHaaat? Hwyyy would Alexander Ovechkin’s best friend not love Sidny Crosby? A scandal.’

People said dumb shit and wrote dumber headlines and pestered Crosby until he said something about showing Sasha exactly how special he was. I can’t muster the energy to comment on how sweetly gay that sounds because my heart is curdling because that’s not how enjoying hockey works.

Women’s hockey fans, European fans, and now Leafs fans all think that playmaking super-skating is as-or-more fun as traditional men’s Canadian hockey, and it’s fine. You can force them to sit and watch as many of Crosby’s goals as you want and yes they will see the goal on screen and say, “gosh, yes, that was indeed a goal, my dude,” and no they will not suddenly stop liking what they like.

Anyway half a decade passed and Milbury and McGuirre and other talking heads continued to call Semin a failure and “a cancer” and suggest the Capitals never won because those Russians just don’t care enough.

 I’ve posted some of the milder excerpts before but I genuinely just do not want to type the keywords I would need to pull them up right now. RMNB has a fair few in their archive, and over the years it was enough of a known Thing in the League that other commentators would bring it up.

3. Why’s he not playing in the NHL?

Because Montréal management fucked up, pretty major.

That’s not me: take it from Matt Drake over at SB Nation, and also math:

“His case is one of failed asset management by the Canadiens at its finest.”

Montréal acquired Semin in 2015 to complete their hopeful high-scoring line of Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller.

You know how Lars Eller did a great impression of Lars Nicklas this year? Yeah, that’s straight-up what he does. The Canadiens designed a pirated version of DC’s top line, a Lars in the middle, Alex G to race and shoot, and Semin to counterbalance them. And it was a pretty good bootleg!

…for the 15 games the Habs let Semin play.

“They posted a Corsi-for percentage of 59.3%, launched 55.9% of the shots while on the ice, and had a superb 73.7 shot attempts per 60 minutes played. It seems that the coaching staff expected them to be better though, and I can’t account for exactly how that could be.

I assume it had something to do with the lack of goal production. They only had 50% of goals for at even strength, contributing five goals and having the same number scored against them. The thing is, they were only shooting at 7.8%, so there was definitely room for that to improve, and for the goals to come. Had they kept putting up the other numbers the way they were, simple logic dictates that those goals would indeed come.

Individually, Semin was perfectly solid. He stood at 55.5% Corsi for, 54.8% shots for, 51% scoring chances for, and had a woeful shooting percentage of 5.9%. … It may interest fans to know that his 55.5% even-strength possession mark was good for first on the team, tied with Max Pacioretty.

…

Once back in Russia, he had no problem producing. With Metallurg Magnitogorsk, he put up 14 points in 20 games, and added another 15 points in 23 playoff games on the way to a Gagarin Cup. 

Habs management missed a trick.

You mighta noticed my good good boys Galchenyuk and Lars Eller don’t play for the Habs anymore, either. Habs management has missed a lotta tricks whenever they’ve gotten ahold of a non white-North American (I am including the ones they still have. Pour one out for poor Price and Patches.) All love in the world to my former-fellow fans, but the management is fucked.

Not playing Semin wasn’t their worst fuck up, but it cost them a chance (not a promise, but at least a damn chance) at the championship in 2015. And also cost them my heart. Whatever.

[woerncr-blog]

      hello everyone! i’m tyce and i’ll be playing reece here. i haven’t been in an rp for a little while so apologies if it takes a little time for me to get into the groove. i’m excited to meet and plot with you all though! some things about reece under the cut. honestly it’s just a bunch of hockey history but oh well.

REECE WOERNER is a 23 year old AMBIVALENT MALE that was born on JULY 29th. HE lives in MANHATTAN, but they’re originally from ELY, NEVADA, USA. They are a DEFENSEMAN FOR THE NYR for a living, and often get told they look like COLTON HAYNES. We wish them the best of luck in the city that never sleeps! (TYCE, 20, EST, THEY/THEM)

HISTORY

-- reece woerner was born in ely, nevada, but that’s hardly where he grew up. born to NHL player michael woerner ultimately turned coach in the WHL by 16 reece had attended nine different schools and played for numerous teams. home, if you ask reece woerner, is knowing nothing is certain but constant movement and in that moment, having the constant of hockey.

-- at sixteen, he was a walk-to the US national development team, and so home became ann arbor, michigan. those two years would be something like a CONSTANT for him, a certain sense of stability the turbulence of his childhood seemed to lack.

-- at seventeen, he accelerated his graduation after his junior year at the request of the university of michigan -- ann arbor, electing to go straight into the ncaa. his finished his freshman season with 20 pts ( 4 G, 16 A ) in 37 games. that summer in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, he was selected 24th overall by the Vancouver Canucks.

-- he returned to ann arbor his sophomore year stronger, faster and raised his point totals to 24 pts ( 6 G, 18 A ) in 36 games. upon finishing his sophomore year, he elected to sign his ELC with the vancouver canucks, playing 7 games with their farm team the utica coments on a pto earning no points.

-- he would send the next season ( ‘15 - ‘16 ) with utica as well, earning 24 pts ( 5 g, 19 a ) in 72 games. the following year, he pushed to make the team out of camp but was ultimately sent back down to utica, though he was one of the last to be. he then received a 32 game call up at the end of the season only posting 1 goal and 4 assists.

-- though not quite considered a bust, reece struggled with expectations and knew he could produce better. he also felt pigeon-holed with the canucks’ methods of development and their plan for him. as an offensive skating defenseman, their model they were coaching was not fit for him.

-- it was almost a relief on july 24th, when he was packaged in part of a deal that would send him to the rangers. reece attacked his off-season regiment with new vigor, desperate to prove himself to his new team and to himself. the nhl was the ultimate goal and he was going to achieve it.

-- he made a strong showing in development camp as well as in the traverse city tournament and pre-season. ultimately, he was sent down to the hartford wolf pack, again one of the last to be so. however, this time, he only spent a mere 11 games in hartford before getting a call up and never going back down.

-- ‘17-’18 would be a season of strong development for him, paired with a more defensive defenseman allowed for reece to use his speed and skill to be more offensive, him and his pair working well off each other. he would finish the season with 27 pts ( 5 g, 22 a ) in 62 games.

-- though they did not make playoffs, reece felt as if he had found himself once again and attacked his off-season all the more focused and intent on growing his game. he plans to secure a spot on the team this year.

MISC

-- REPORT:  utilizes strong skating and poise on the ice to be one of the more dependable players ; skating, offensive defenseman with an eye for gap control who uses speed to jump up in a rush as well as return to defend ; versatile enough to quarterback a powerplay if necessary, effective on the penalty kill

-- the PENALTY KILL is reece’s father’s specialty so he’s received plenty of coaching on it and is almost a specialist on it. that being said, his offensive talent and eye allow him to step into the power play in case of injury or illness.

-- reece is a valuable source of positive energy in the locker room -- he’s steady in his presence and understands his place. he is thankful to the rangers for welcoming him into their fold and for allowing him to blossom so quickly. he only hopes for that to continue.

-- a little vain. surprise surprise.

CONNECTIONS

CHILDHOOD FRIENDS: reece has been pretty much Everywhere in his childhood until he was 16. i would love some muses he knows from a long time ago and oh how things have now changed.

did you know i’m actually really bad at making wanted connections? honestly, reece is a pretty friendly, easy-going guy. he’ll be friends with anyone?? as long as you’re chill too.

     i actually don’t know anything about NYR bc they’re not my team so welp. also no shade at the canucks? i actually do respect them a lot ( the only team valid enough to win the jack hughes lotto, u heard it here first follks ) so don’t come for me. lundqvist is king. sry that’s all i got. reece, if you can’t tell, is like a giant mash of about five different players lmao.

     hmu to plot though!! i have some homework i really need to tackle but i’ll be back to get to starters and read bios/intros!

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 04: Being in The Minority Just Makes Things More Fun

When the teams arrived for their next challenge, they finally learned what had been in their Greenhouses all along......... a PLANT MONSTER! Turns out, doing chemical testing on plants is maybe the worst idea ever, Hilbert. The teams now faced a dilemma - should they ignore the vicious mutant in their ventilation system and take a hit to their overall challenge score, or would one person be brave enough to fight back against the plant and forfeit their vote at their next Space Council?

Minkowski chose the disadvantage. On Lovelace, a martyr emerged: Karter took a hit for their team and fought the monster.

As it turned out, this sacrifice made a difference - Lovelace ended up winning the flash game challenge, sending Minkowski back to Space Council for the third time. Stevie was voted out 4 - 1 and became the fourth person inside the star.

PATRICK

Awright, guess I'm overdue for one of these.

We went to another council after voting off Karen, and the way the vote split the first round made it an easy proposition. Jay left in a unanimous vote, and I'm not too upset about it. Sucks that he got voted out while he was away, but it means he couldn't make a push for himself so the vote never really deviated.

I'm a bit concerned that the next vote will be a Stevie slam dunk. Is that the best course for me? Realistically... probably. But the thought is bouncing around in my mind that it might not be awful to get rid of Richie here. He's so well insulated and liked. Would I be able to turn the votes on him? Or would that bounce back on me?

For now, anyway, I think I've got both Jakey and Josh firmly in my camp. And we're starting to gel as a team. That last comp win was clutch from everyone and executed damn well near flawlessly (minus an interruption from Zo – THANKS ZO.)

JAKEY

hello!!! im back from the dead... after not submitting a confessional for a couple episodes OOPS im so sry ari.......ily......plsrigforme

ok soooo last round we won immunity so nothing happened!!! we were all super excited to win a challenge and have a damn moment to relax. god.

and THIS round was a flash game so we obviously lost!!! that flash game was fucking HELL i played it for two hours straight and was just losing so much and getting so annoyed... ugh im just SO glad its over pls no more flash games like dat pls.. i got the worst score on the team, werk. LKJDFHGL i am not used to being a challenge flop but tbh im such a target already i feel that i'm going to take this and run with it

ok um honestly i didn't realize how much control i had on this team until NOW JKFJKFJK... i thought my social game was a complete mess, but apparently not that bad??? i have these ppl thinking my social game sucks and my physical game sucks so if i can keep that up, who gon stop me??? lydia???? probably tbh but imma keep running with it!!!

so basically right away i want a group with me, richie, and renee. i need that feeling of comfort and yeah... knowing i have 2 votes by my side i can almost 100% trust is EVERYTHINGGG cause i can be fairly confident that the vote will at LEAST tie in my favor. so i finally got these 2 to communicate and eventually richie makes the chat with all of us and im just like ah... mission accomplished. LKJHFKHJF i love these two and i DO trust them the most right now. my bbys and NO ONE is touching them ....

pat i think trusts me more than i thought he did which is good!!! i know i cant piss him off so im gonna hav to be careful what i tell richie/renee about him and vice versa. we'll see if my game starts to get messy later but for now i think it's being maintained! josh is the person im least close to and ik he has a good relationship with pat. the group i made w richie n renee was also in case we stay on these teams, we'll have a 3-2 majority over pat and josh.

whew so far im honestly happy w the way this game is going!!! stevie should be leaving unanimously this round unless he has an idol but at this point im assuming no one is finding that idol anytime soon cause there's just a very little chance of someone being that lucky kFJKFJK so yeah!!!! im nervous the other team is going to pick us all off at swap or merge hahahaha but they won't if i have anything to do about it :~~) being in the minority just makes things more fun!!

i can't wait to play with katie and carson!!! but......... theyre super loyal players soooo do they already have defined loyalty to other ppl on their tribes???? probably so im annoyed!!!! ill just make them fall in love w me so they have to take me to the end its fine

RICHIE

.....why do we keep losing.... this suuuucks!!!!!!!!! i really wanted to play this game with jay and stevie but it didnt work out at the first vote and that alienated them 

it looks like this team is doomed and i need it to be united so we have a chance   in any swap or merge situation so logically the only thing to do now is vote out stevie which makes me sad as a person but as a player there's nothing i can do about it right now.... me jakey and renee formed an alliance and i'm tight with josh so the only other option is pat but that would just cause a fracture in the group and bring more trouble than good so RIP

JOSH

Stevie been going around tryna get people to vote for me? ME? I...ok? I better not be voted out on my birthday i swear

[thelonesomequeen]

Asks: Cevans and His TB comment

These are the asks regarding the same subject and we wanted to publish them to make sure our followers had a chance to voice their opinions. Please note that these are from our anons and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of us here at the blog. Have a nice day ❤️ Queen

The interview is on Elle's website, he talks more about his love for Tom Brady; "This whole year has had so many tricky ups and downs. But the Brady-Trump connection is the one part of it that I truly have been unable to process in any capacity. My brain just cannot reconcile that. I truly chose to stick my head in the ground and pretend that doesn't happen. I can't afford to lose my love of Tom Brady."

Oh God, it's even worse in video -.- ugh.... I love how he's like 'those with differing political views are not my enemies not at all' then remembers himself and throws out there oh yeah I'm white and privileged maybe I'm not right here, and then just goes back on track of putting his foot in his mouth lol. I'm overreacting but I wanted to believe he was really passionate about this whole thing, but I can just see him brushing it aside IRL and only saving it for his armchair activism on Twitter

I've always sort of rolled my eyes at Chris' utter obsession with Tom Brady, but this is a new level of naseum.. Chris needs a good smack across the face.

I do not know why they bother so much !! We know that his Crush is TB and even if they do not have the same political thoughts he is still their Crush !! Chris will never go to Trump he has his opinion about Trump and TB has his !!

most of these fan girls that "canceling" are going to be all over him once he starts shooting Avengers infinity war 😒😒😒 he ain't canceled he just suspended at the moment 😂😂😂-DeanNewWife

It's okay to disagree with someone or have a difference of opinion, that is life. But I don't think that anyone should ever get a free pass no matter what things they've done in the past (for the record I don't think tom has done anything wrong, he's entitled to his own opinion and is doing the right thing of keeping them to himself right now but chris comments imply that if he did something wrong like injury another player on purpose or lie about taxs or worse then that be okay too which it not

Why are people upset with the statement about the 'pass' for tom brady. In the statement , i completely agree with chris, everyone has the right to believe what they want, and vote for who they want to,even if it is the great evil cheeto Why is no one talking about how great it is that chris is finally addressing his white privilege. Also that statement is pretty shady "i give him a pass" is basically saying that he knows that tom has fucked views but the man is his hero.

No one is hating him, at least I'm not. I'm pointing out the hypocrisy of a guy giving a free pass just because the guy is a player of his team. He's being selective. As if he were saying that Tom Brady can do what he wants, that's wrong. We are fighting for equal rights. What Chris does here is what Trump does, select who can and who cannot.

I dont know much about Brady，what did he do wrong? Supporting Trump doesnt necessarily mean you are a bad person. What else?

I'm under no delusion that Chris isn't Steve Rodgers. But it could be worse. He could be a Trump Republican like Chris Pratt. I'm sure Pratt gets a pass too, not just from CE and from a lot of fans. (Not me-I won't spend a dime on animal hunting /dog abandoning Pratt & Faris).

Well if anybody gets a pass for a tone deaf stupid remark it has to be Chris. He gave me 3 Captain America movies. Sry, he gets a pass for this (sry mods I had to :D)

While there's no doubting the context here, I also wonder if this is exactly how Chris said it. It's a pretty dumb thing to say right after enjoying a period of time where he's been (in my opinion) quite considerate about his views Vs those of fans who might disagree. Similarly, there's no definite proof that Brady voted for Trump although knowing how much Gisele wants to be admired and such, if he hadn't voted for Trump I'd expect that she would have clarified that by now. Maybe?

Ciao mia dolce Regina, Mrs. Potts and Ariel. About this TB affair I think that CE is a little immature and maybe he must think twice next time he will talk to politics but for me isn’t a big deal maybe because in Italy must of men are big soccer supporters and they give a pass to all soccer players though they are worst than TB especially in personal life. I think this is only a Italian side of CE 😉. For me he was more disappointing last year. Un abbraccio a presto

Manu

What I do not understand is because everyone here is so angry !! He did not say that now he loves Trump and he will be the best precident !! He talks about the love that has TB and despite having political disagreements he supports TB !! Trump is already precidente and the save that only remains agontarlo for 4 years! And it's not worth to be discussing the same thing on twitter and above that people criticize it for getting into politics !! Chris will continue to comment on Trump on Twitter !

“Seb stans can not say anything because of his friendship with Don Saladino who is a supporter Trump. Don liked a post from Trump at IG about making America great again, the same weekend he signed against the immigrants. It’s same situation, Seb gives pass free too” It´s not the same. Don is a long time FRIEND of Seb, you don´t dump your friends just because you have different political opinions, and Seb never said in a interview he gives a pass free of what Don does. Chris is just a fanboy of Brady, and he thinks Brady has pass free because he is a sport superstar.

Isn't it quite likely, or at the very least, moderately plausible, that due to the Trump/Kraft connection the Pats team where given those hats and Brady just chucked his in his locker? Was he seen wearing it? Has he publicly spoke of his support for Trump? His wife posted that he didn't vote for him so is the hat the only proof?

I have seen many people saying the same. That people from Boston are blind to Brady's mistakes. Obviously not all of them, never all of them. But you know. That still doesn't excuse anything Chris said though.

This whole year has had so many tricky ups and downs. But the Brady-Trump connection is the one part of it that I truly have been unable to process in any capacity. My brain just cannot reconcile that. I truly chose to stick my head in the ground and pretend that doesn't happen. I can't afford to lose my love of Tom Brady. - from Elle. Eww, he needs to stop talking about this! It sounds so immature and 1st world problem and just yikes. It's not even amusing as a joke. Please Chris just stop!

[survivorwakea]

Episode 4: “WHO MADE THE FUCKING ALLIANCE?” -Chloe

We just won another challenge here on Huamea which is lit. I think we are going to swap soon, but if not and we go to tribal with this tribe I think I’ll be fine. I’m still set up with randy Elmo and Ian well, and I think we could successfully target Joey if needed

Well another sit out for me but I’d say it was a good decision. We got 1st place and I don’t think I would have been the most helpful in this one. Really appreciate my tribe mates for coming through tho. Now I’m just wondering if there is going to be a swap. If there isn’t then we have to sit out three people on the tribe. Aka sitting out pretty much everyone who did the last one. As per usual, I’m very busy this week. Hoping I can find enough time to help in the challenge so that we can win or at least not come in last. I still have no alliances...but I think that’s okay for now. I think I’m in a good place with Jared and Elmo. We had each other’s backs if we went to tribal after the music video but we didn’t have to go. Joey also told me before results that he wouldn’t vote for me if we lost. Hoping that these promises or positive thoughts will continue farther into the game. At least until we get to jury. I also want to publicly own up to the fact that I still don’t know how the idol system works and I just don’t have the energy for it. So I’m just gonna pretend it doesn’t exist. Yep. That’ll do.

I was going to do a video confessional, but I high key got lazy and dont have too much to say

we won again which is great. I truly do feel like I kinda carried the team in a challenge I wasn't that great at, but it was really an all around effort and I'm glad we stayed.

I really do think I am in everybody's top 1-2 on this tribe except for the potential of Zack as well, but I like him a lot so I wouldn't want to see him go.

Nothing makes me want to win like when I have a tribe full of people I genuinely like. If I can help it, i really want to get to the merge without having lost another challenge due to my lost vote that I still haven't had to use yet, so I need those to be as spread a part as possible, and I don't want people to suspect me

those are kinda my only thoughts for now. hoping we don't swap until 14 and we get another round in these tribes, then a swap at 14 and merge at 12 (since my legacy advantage basically tells us we're merging at 12)

justin said he feels like a double might be happening sometime soon, but I'm not so sure about that just because of cullan getting expelled, and I feel the hosts would now elongate it a bit, but we'll see

im chillin for now

anna is ab to check confessionals and i can’t remember if i made one so this is my confessional.... johnny is rly nice to me and it scares me bc what if he is PLAYING ME.... and zack is also rly nice to me and that scares me TOO.... justin don’t fuckin talk to me and bodhi and asya barely do..... u know what 15th looks kinda cute rn bc i think that’s my destiny..... we floppin 🤪

Well, it’s still pretty quiet over at the Haumea camp. My tribemates kicked ass at the immunity challenge (sometimes, it pays to submit early), and I’m still getting along with everyone very well. I have suspicions that we could be switched up again next round, but hey, what do I know?

not much game development, im still attempting to keep my connections afloat in my tribe, i think ive now talked game with everyone and generally im in a rly good position, i dont wanna get too cocky bc that could lead to my downfall. I think that after this round we could potentially swap again to 2 tribes of 8. That would be kinda wild and I'm here for it

sry for a short one

I don't know if I should be sad, disappointed, angry, or all of the above. Losing this challenge was rough, and it's pretty evident the majority of the effort came from Adam, next would be myself. Clohie and Tom put little to no effort in the challenge. As stated before Tom's approach to the game has been pretty lackadaisical. He has hardly put any effort into not only the challenges but just his day to day interactions with the castaways. When I wanted to form the alliance with him and Clohie, he didn't relay the information to Clohie. And when Clohie indirectly asked him he didn't even acknowledge the possible alliance then either. I guess what I'm saying is...I want Tom out! Since this swap I have had my best relationship in Clohie, I like Adam, but I can tell he's a smart guy...so I'll keep him at a distance for now. I really do want to try and get Tom out though as a test of Clohie's loyalty to see if she would vote out one of her own. I think I have put myself in the situation where everyone feels comfortable with me moving forward, so I don't foresee my name being written down but I could be wrong, it is Survivor after all. I'm assuming we're coming to another swap, I just hope I'll have allies going into it, and if not allies, challenge beasts please. 3 out of 4 tribals isn't a good look😬 And can we talk about the idol system, all I have to say is: I HATE ALL OF YOU (to whoever helped put it together) G'Day.

Haha idk what the fuck is happening right now. So Tom can go and talk about our alliance with Taylor, with Adam. But still hasn’t mentioned it to me? Ok 🙃 I could easily vote Tom out here but idk I feel like he’s loyal? Maybe?? But then again I know him more than Adam and Taylor and that’s maybe why I wanna keep him even if I know he’s probably trying to fuck me over rn

hiii! this round went so quick?? idk it just zoomed by in my opinion haha. listen.. we won immunity and i’m grateful. another week safe with my idol so i’m just getting closer and closer to merge. i’m hoping for a swap soon and i’m expecting it. i would love if me elmo and justin got on a tribe together that way we can start to actualllllly work together and show eachother our trust that way once merge comes we can just kill it! not much happened this round but i’m just feeling grateful and wanted to let you all know! y’all are great host and i’m having so much fun. Xoxo

Heading into this next challenge, I feel great. I have a tight bond with Jared, Lily and I just so happen to be in the same friend group chat, and have been talking alot, Elmo is awesome, but the two that worry me are Ian and Ben. Ben and I haven’t talked much, and once again, Ian is preventing me from trying to build a bond by just building a ridiculous wall up. Maybe he isnt cut out for these games tbh.

Well it's either Adam or Taylor. Chloe wants Taylor to stay. I don't really care who stays xD I'm probably gonna random.org this vote, I do not know to if I want Adam or Taylor here. Plus that random ass alliance chat doesn't help

tribe assessment:

jared - out of everyone i get probably the most loyal vibes from him, idk what it is. he's rly genuine whenever i talk to him. i think the fact that we played a game like over 3 years ago means a lot to him. i wouldnt be v shook if he somehow schemed against me at some point at early-mid merge or something. right now i think he wants to work with me for the long term

ben - ive been talking to him a lot from the beginning. i think that he's with me for now, i for sure think that he's going to make a move on me later on though, im not sure when but for now i trust him and i think i can work with him. I think if numbers r close at the merge he'd want to side w me. I'm not sure how well connected he is. I like talking to him but he works a lot (what a king tbh) so that probs hinders his ability talk a lot

lily - she is not the most active, which is sad because she is a kickass player. If she gets too far in this game, that could potentially be a problem, if we are not working closely together that is. She's EXTREMELY loyal and i think that if i keep talkin to her, she'd want to work with me for the long term. Potentially I think that she should be in my end game but obvs its way too early to say that

ian - he is one of the more quieter ppl but the more u talk to him, the more u get out of him and I'm starting to notice that. I think that we have a pretty solid connection over all and I rly like talking to him! he is p different than I am so that gives me good perspective. game wise, i havent had a lot of discussions with him yet but im working on it a lot bc i think he could be someone i have potential with

joey - hes nice. he doesnt talk a lot which is kinda weird. he said that he has my back but im not sure if he said that out of keeping himself away from my radar or if he actually meant it. I am not really sure? I wouldn't be very surprised if Jared hinted to him that I could potentially be lookin to vote him out. I think that there is POTENTIAL of me working with him but i think if i had to choose someone who i'd want to vote out, it would probably be him.

i could be totally oblivious about my situation but i genuinely think that im in a v strong position in this tribe. I believe i have potential (i think) to work with everyone on our tribe which i really like.  This is all based on intuition though so i could be TOTALLY Wrong. The fact that we never lost just means that I have no solid proof or claims. Only my own perceptions. Idw be cocky in this game, it has been my downfall before. I want to be in a mindset that people are against me.I thrive when I'm under pressure. I kinda wished that we went to at least one tribal just to see how everyone here was game wise. Oh well!!

if i was going to be the boot on our tribe i look like a total clown rn.

Besides the fact that I’m leaving tonight, yeah not much is going on! I’m so disappointed that this is how my game is coming to an end. I’m at a loss of words so I’m sorry if you want more I just don’t have it in me

i’m.... goin thru a lot of emotions. for no reason. idk

at the last tribal council the person who i was least happy to be cast with was voted out so that was one less thing to worry about. then we won immunity. which is nice. but also i get lazy premerge when we keep winning immunity. it doesn’t help that my social battery is currently at %10 and i have a broken charger. but. oh well.

i have to play in the next immunity and idk. if there’s only 3 of us competing and two of them are me and justin then maybe we really Will be going to tribal next round who knows.

also i’m really bad at idol hunting. i didn’t give enough birth. the lizard goddess has no interest in making an appointment w me. i killed myself one time and got nothing for my troubles. i feel like something’s definitely been found by now, aside from johnny’s legacy advantage. idk it’s feelin a little bleak bc i figured my best shot at finding an idol would be premerge and i know we still have a ways to go probably but if the idols are found then that’s it on that.

This is literally going to be the most gut wrenching vote. Clohie and Tom will not budge, or even fathom the idea of voting out the other. I'm under the impression they want Adam out, but I'm also afraid of the possibility of a vote against me....so I have to contemplate if it's smarter to tie the vote 2-2 first and then vote out Adam, or to just trust that they are in fact voting Adam. Something else I'm praying on if I survive this round, is for a swap. Because without one, I'll be on the bottom of the 3 with Clohie and Tom obvi sticking together since their original Kanaloa. And our challenge record is not the best. Adam is probably our strongest challenge performer so that's another reason I'd hate to see him go. Tom and Clohie are just so mysterious and vague, and Adam has been nothing but upfront with me. Ugh, just the thought of a tie vote or drawing rocks makes me so sick...I honestly don't know what I'm going to do.

This has been the most stressful vote I have had to deal with, EVER. Taylor is a snake but Chloe wants to keep him and I get better vibes from Adam. I am considering doing a 2-2 if Chloe votes Adam and if it goes to rocks, so be it.

https://soundcloud.com/bodhi-small/week4/s-94KbM

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Taylor is voted out 3-1.