#tempered grace

[alacants]

juanki & ferru: the lore

(or, why i am so abnormal about them.)

they've known each other since they were kids in valencia - juanki played youth tennis with ferru's older brother (who was a junior champion) and later ferru spent a year at the academy

"Even when we were little we played together… we have been friends since we were small."

they're self-described best friends + were joined at the hip on the circuit

tennis club unveils a statue of juanki in his hometown? ferru is there. ferru's family throws him a surprise birthday party? juanki is there. holding clinics. going on retreats. traveling to and from tournaments together. coordinating which tournaments they enter so they can travel to and from tournaments together. ← YES, REALLY.

in ferru's own words, "it's always better with him." ok.

they didn't actually play each other that often - their h2h is 7-2 in ferru's favor. they did famously meet in back to back finals in 2010 - appropriately, juanki won one and ferru won the other. :)

in 2009 juanki was called up to the davis cup team for the first time in 4 years. first he was supposed to be a reserve, then he was supposed to play a dead rubber. then fernando verdasco melted down, the fifth rubber became very live, and he ended up single-handedly saving the day and sending them to the sfs.

so when in the final ferru came back from 1-6 2-6 down to beat radek stepanek he immediately raced over to throw himself in juanki's arms, rip alberto costa who got in the way. then of course he dedicated the win to juanki.

the davis cup is just… a whole thing with both of them. so it's appropriate that now etc.

speaking of tournaments that are a whole thing with both of them. after juanki bought the rights to the valencia open, he invited ferru to share them. true love is (checks notes) co-parenting an atp 500 tournament

so when juanki decided to retire he chose valencia as his last tournament 

he went out in the first round. ferru won the entire tournament in his honor. <- they said it, not me.

immediately after ferru's match winner he ran over to find juanki in the stands for a hug so long i had to split it into two gifs

then he dedicated the title to juanki. ("Este triunfo forma parte de ti, te lo dedico exclusivamente para ti.")

they also entered for doubles and made it all the way to the semifinals despite the fact that they had never played a doubles match together before

after their first doubles match (and surprise win) there was a big farewell ceremony during which ferru gave a speech about how juanki was destined by the stars to play tennis and visibly fought back tears as juanki stared soulfully into his eyes.

they got married three months apart, which could mean nothing

when ferru retired in 2019 juanki wrote him a lengthy open letter about his feelings

and threw him a personal tribute celebration. you know, in addition to his actual retirement ceremony.

specifically he held a day long festival of ferru at the jcf academy that included, in decreasing order of normality:

exhibition match feat. some 16 year old kid named carlos alcaraz

juanki/ferru match

unveiling of Pista David Ferrer, aka the new name of center court (and the start of an academy tradition…)

presentation of a PORTRAIT PAINTING juanki SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED of their valencia 2012 embrace

i can actually barely look at it without getting severe secondhand embarrassment but the academy uploaded like a hundred photos to facebook

to this day when they play each other in legends events ferru is out there saying things like I JUST HOPE I CAN PLAY AS WELL AS YOU <3 never mind the aforementioned 7-2 h2h. this man is down just as bad as carlitos and it's been TWENTY YEARS

meanwhile ferru is constantly dropping by the academy for funsies. and in carlos' box. and at his practice. and that's BEFORE you get to the davis cup. 

in summary: what if the royal spanish tennis federation paid you to co-parent a grand slam winner with your boyfriend <3 that's what we call a happy ending!

[justagaycryptid]

Do u follow the Erdtree? No?? Gores you

[silver-studios]

Vacuous Truth: A conditional statement that is only true because the antecedent cannot be satisfied.

For example: "If London is in France, then Paris is in Spain" is true because London is not in France.

OR

In which Tobirama is a tragic gay mess, Mito continues to scheme, Izuna bullies a grown man, Tobirama kidnaps some children, Madara takes a nap, and Konoha receives its first mission.

[oh-no-its-bird]

GRAVITY OF TEMPERED GRACE UPDATED EVERYONE CHEER

[beautifulpersonpeach]

so RM put his foot down on the Frank Ocean thing on livestream, ngl, wasn’t expecting him to even talk about it at all, but good for him

***

Good for him indeed.

Really, just by doing that, he's made my day. A lot of people have many ideas about the kind of person Namjoon is, and while we have very limited visibility into their real lives, much of what I've seen people say about him is nearly entirely negative to the point it appears almost cartoonish to a lay observer. And today he showed again, exactly the sort of person he is, and I respect him for it.

I've watched him for years, seen him make blunders, face criticism, and course correct. I often joke that he can be a bit dense (most Korean men are and I feel this way about every member in BTS to varying degrees), but he's so much more aware and measured than a lot of people think. One reason he's impressive to me is because I suspect (controversial opinion ahead), there's a very deep and latent rage in him. Because he's actually quite sensitive, I think. He's grown to temper it, soften his responses, think through his actions many times. But he sees and feels and what he decides to show is carefully curated for a reason. Still, with Namjoon, what you see is what you get. He's a bit simple in that sense. Not perfect, very human, and oh so lovable for the millions of people who see him as he'd love be seen.

A human, before he does some art.

[s4tvrnsays]

— Anima.

[underforeversgrace]

don't sass a sleep deprived ghost

DannyMay 2023 Day 17: Temper

title: don't sass a sleep deprived ghost

words: 1432

Complete

Excerpt: He was tired, he was over this, and he was so fucking done.

~~~~~~

“Dude, when was the last time you slept?” Tucker asked, eyeing the bags on Danny’s face.

Danny groaned and leaned his head against the locker, not even grabbing the books he needed for their morning classes. “Technically? About an hour ago. When was the last time I slept longer than thirty minutes, though? Like ten days ago.”

“Isn’t that when Ember knocked you unconscious?” Sam asked, frowning.

“Yes, how do you think I managed to sleep longer than half an hour?” Danny shot back with a weak grin.

“I don’t think being hit over the head so hard that you lost consciousness counts, bro.” Tucker said.

“Then we’re looking at over a month.”

“Danny!” Both friends exclaimed at the same time.

“I know, I know,” Danny said, waving his hand at them dismissively. “I don’t exactly control how many ghosts show up to beat my ass like a piñata, y’know? And my parents haven’t fixed the lock on the portal. So it’s just open.”

Sam sighed. “I’m worried, Danny. Half ghost or not, you need to sleep. If you were human, you’d probably be half dead by now.”

Danny frowned. “Yeah. If I was human. Good thing I’m dead then.”

Sam flinched. She hadn’t thought that sentence through and Danny - even a year since his accident - did not like being explicitly reminded his humanity was questionable at best. “Danny…”

“Drop it, Sam.” Danny said, irritation creeping into his voice in a way that made her spine tingle. Sometimes she had to stop and remember that Danny - goofy, silly, space obsessed Danny - was legitimately one of the most powerful beings she’d ever encountered. Only some god-like entities were stronger than him.

“Sorry,” she mumbled. He’d just cracked a joke, how had his mood turned so dark so fast?

“It’s fine. Maybe I can nab a nap during science class. I’m failing it anyway.” He grumbled, rubbing his eyes, the irritation already gone from his voice and replaced with exhaustion. She’d never seen him this tired. Should they be worried? A super powered, sleep deprived teenager with already questionable impulse control?

Sam fiddled with the wrist ray she always wore now. Hopefully there were no ghost attacks today. She didn’t want to have to fight something while Danny snoozed.

~~~~~~

Danny felt relieved. They had managed to get through all four morning classes without a single hint of a ghost. And! Because his teachers had all entirely given up on him and didn’t give a flying fuck about him, they let him sleep!

Yeah… he was definitely fine with the way his teachers had given up on him. This was fine.

Regardless, he had managed nearly three hours of sleep between all the classes and his ghost sense had not gone off even once.

Still, as he stumbled to his locker on his way to lunch, he could still feel the weariness all the way to his core. Sam and Tucker walked beside him, not so subtly glancing at him frequently. As much as he appreciated them being concerned for him - and he really did! - he didn’t enjoy the feeling of being watched, especially as on edge as he was. He’d been in at least six fights a day for the past month, ever since the lock on the portal broke.

“Fenturd!” A familiar voice called and Danny groaned. He did not have the energy for this shit today.

“Can we not today?” Danny said, turning around to face the bully.

“I got an F on my math test!” Dash shouted, picking Danny up by his shirt collar and shoving him against the locker. Dash was so mad he was red in the face and a vein was visibly bulging in his neck.

Great. Oh, look, they even had an audience, a semi circle of other students watching on in fascination.

“So did I. The hell do you want?” Danny responded as he forced his body limp, forced his body to not react to the assault.

“To make myself feel better.” Dash sneered, clenching his free hand into a fist and slamming it into Danny’s nose.

Danny yelped in pain, pressing his hand to his now profusely bleeding - and probably broken - nose. Apparently feeling Danny sufficiently wailed on, Dash released the smaller boy, who fell to his knees, still clutching his face.

Seriously? Danny has to get wailed on by ghosts and the dumbest fucking human he’d ever had the displeasure of meeting? “Fucking asshole,” he grumbled, though apparently he did so too loudly, Dash not yet out of earshot.

Dash turned instantly, an angry scowl on his face. “What was that, Fentwerp?”

“Nothing, Dash.” Danny said, pushing himself back to his feet, accepting the tissue Sam handed to him as she glanced at Dash in concern.

“No, no, please repeat yourself,” Dash said, getting back into Danny’s personal space.

“Check your ears, Dash. I didn’t say anything,” Danny insisted.

Dash practically growled in anger as he went to slam another fist into Danny’s face.

This time, however, Danny’s exhaustion caught up with him, and where normal people probably moved slower when tired, Danny routinely fought for his life and his instincts were far and beyond that. Immediately, Danny’s hand came up, catching Dash’s fist. Dash let out a barely audible noise of pain - which made sense, he had just done the equivalent of punching a brick wall.

“Lay. Off.” Danny hissed, tightening his grip on Dash’s hand threateningly before pushing Dash back.

Dash stumbled backwards, shaking the hand Danny had gripped. “Why don’t you make me, geek?”

“Danny…” Sam said beside him, tugging on his sleeve.

Even as she did that, though, Danny heard the students around him beginning to chant. “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Danny let his backpack slide off his shoulder, landing with a loud thump on the floor. “Y’know what, Dash? I think I will.” Danny said, crouching down slightly and rolling his shoulders to loosen them, a more-than-slightly feral grin on his face. He was tired, he was over this, and he was so fucking done.

Surprise flickered across Dash’s face but he didn’t back down, raising both of his fists up.

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” The chanting continued.

“You gonna stand there and look stupid all day? It really is one of the few skills you’ve mastered.” Danny said, still looking a touch too feral.

Dash took the bait, lunging forward and aiming a fist towards Danny’s stomach.

Too easy.

Danny sidestepped him, hooking one of his feet behind Dash’s ankles and pushing while simultaneously driving an elbow into Dash’s back. Dash yelped as he fell, slamming his face into the locker.

A collective gasp went through the surrounding students. Everyone had been expecting Danny to get a tooth punched out or something, not for wimpy Fenton to nearly lay out their star quarterback.

“That the best you got, Baxter?” Danny taunted, stepping backwards.

“Danny, stop!” Sam called but Danny ignored her.

“Cheap shot, loser.” Dash spat back, getting back to his feet.

“So I’m fighting like you?”

Dash tried to rush him again and Danny just grinned wider. He jumped to the side and took one of Dash’s arms in both hands. He twirled both of them around, launching Dash back directly into the lockers.

Dash recovered faster this time and repeatedly tried to slam his fists into Danny’s face. Danny ducked and weaved, hands behind his back, letting Dash tire himself out. After several swings from Dash, Danny dropped and lashed out one of his legs, knocking Dash’s feet out from under him.

Dash fell and landed with a sharp, pained intake of breath, his back slamming against the linoleum floor.

“Where the hell did you learn how to fight like that, Fenton?” Dash wheezed, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“My mom has three black belts.” Danny said, shrugging. It technically wasn’t a lie - his mom did have that, it just wasn’t where he learned to fight. “Now fuck off.” He added as he stepped around Dash, spinning the combination to his locker and grabbing his lunchbox.

People parted for him as he walked, many with shocked, open mouthed stares.

Sam and Tuck tagged along behind him.

“Seriously, Danny?” Sam hissed.

At the same time, Tucker said, “Nice one, Danny!”

He was still sleep deprived, he was still so over all the ghosts recently, but maybe now he could avoid fights of a human nature for a little while.

And less fights meant more naps, he determined as he laid his head down on the lunch table and promptly passed out, his friends his ever vigilant guards.

[drink-tang-gang]

In Tiny Toons Looniversity, Lola Bunny was never intended to be the Acme Looniversity chef at first. According to Ben Siemon, the writer of the episode, “Soufflé Girl Hey”, the show initially planned to have Pepé Le Pew as the chef. This was likely during the development phase and Dave Alverez. They gave him a bio where he now has respect towards women and puts his passion and love towards food instead. He said the idea was turned down because “too much baggage” (probably due to WB’s response of his controversy) and Lola Bunny replaced him. Keep in mind that this was written in 2021 around a time when Space Jam: A New Legacy was huge for the company.

Wow!! Can I please have a link to where you found this info? it'd be really useful! Thanks for letting me know. Reading this, as much as I love Pepe, I think it's better Lola's the chef than him if he was gonna be reintroduced with a (imo, tired) disclaimer. Makes me sad though that Lola's once again not being written in deliberation, it reinforces her whole issue of not rly bein a Tune... just kinda put in stuff n not really considering her character in these decisions (bc well.... she doesn't originally have one. At least, not an authentic one. Looney Tune-y one....)

[alsikeclovers]

:(

[brittlebutch]

finding a character that grates against your nerves and eventually thinking, well, that's not fair, you haven't done anything; why do i dislike you? and then you dwell on this for a while and discover 'oh! you are like me when i was younger' and decide well, i'll simply learn how to love the both of you. power in this.

[ajcrawly]

for fuck's sake now i'm thinking about babsfred.

[sotogalmo]

5:44

Rot For Clout by JamieP.... Luka ALNST.... It. I dunno

Title gives me that vibe, and a few lyrics (in tags). But who knows

[certified-anakinfucker]

i miss mace windu. where is he. is he safe. is he alright.

[silver-studios]

So today I spent like six hours on chores and therefore just let youtube run, and it ended up on Non-Stop, and first:

Izuna: Why do you assume you're the smartest in the room! Tobirama: ...I am, though. Hashirama, Banri, Shikataro, Uzumaki Yasu and Ryosuke, assorted random university professors: It's true, he is Izuna: ......................... Izuna: I'm so sick of you.

Second:

YOU'RE SENDING TOBIRAMA TO WRITE THE FEDERALIST PAPERS THAT'S SO FUNNY. I wonder how many he'll end up writing

The funny thing about the smartest in the room thing is my version of Tobirama will actually argue against it because he insists that intelligence can't be measured meaningfully. So he'll be minding his business while Izuna is in the background frothing at the mouth about his personal self esteem issues.

LISTEN I had to honour my inspiration. Let Tobirama write a bunch of nerd essays 🗣 He'll be in his element and won't even have to directly speak to anyone. It'll be like a lil vacation for him. Meanwhile, Izuna can argue to his heart's content and lowkey be the one to actually bully people into supporting Konoha. A win-win, if you will.

[n0ne0ftheab0ve]

the thing is. lestat loves louis's worst self.

and like. how utterly painfully scorchingly romantic. someone who loves the darkest parts of you, will never recoil from your worst impulses, will never deny you comfort shelter love for even the worst thing you could do.

but. how do you build an actual relationship with someone who doesn't care about your self-improvement? who doesn't support you growing and becoming your best self, who actively denigrates you for attempts at kindness and empathy? how do you navigate on the day to day with someone who wants nothing more than for you to behave monstrously?

and for louis, his entire life he feels he's been loved/accepted only conditionally. loved by his family only for his good deeds, for managing the household and taking care of his siblings. loved romantically only for fleeting moments, stolen away from the everpresent watchful eye of a homophobic society. loved in spite of the omnipresent racism pressing in on his every breath. so of course the deeply encompassing love lestat is offering him is enticing.

but i always say, for me, love is someone doing the dishes for you. doing a mundane, annoying, everyday task just so that your beloved doesn't have to do it. doing it consistently. it's fine to be swept off your feet by someone, but most of life involves being on your feet. love means being able to build a life with someone. and life is full of mundane annoyances. so your love must be able to deal with mundane annoyance.

and lestat has no intention of doing the dishes for louis.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

by Cameron Buettel | What qualifies a man for pastoral ministry? Based on the abundance of self-appointed and unaccountable leaders in modern evangelical churches, it seems many church-goers either don’t know or don’t care. The fellowships they attend may profess Scripture’s authority in their doctrinal statement, but...