#that’s for the input Sid

[yen-sids-tournament]

So...we put up the three Pirates of the Caribbean polls today (where you get to pick the main character) and somehow Dead Man's Chest and At World's End both ended up as 24 hour polls??

that was not supposed to happen and we are 100% sure we checked before we posted that these were all for a week.

We will get back to you on how we will address this simply because we are very bothered by this mistake.

[meet-again]

I assume they're grouped based on damage but they should group moves based on if the input is towards the opponent or away from the opponent cus its way easier to remember

[prismit]

<- their ass has NOT been shiny hunting mew (23 days remain)

[ryunumber]

Does Bradford from Xcom have a Ryu number?

John Bradford has a Ryu Number of 3.

(explanation below)

There's a handful of names when inputted as soldier names in Enemy Unknown that change the soldier into an XCOM Hero that is very powerful (and therefore disables achievements). One of them is Sid Meier.

Meier can also be seen in a civilization leader context in Civilization IV; it's easiest to see (and hear) him as part of the base game's tutorial.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Hope Morphin Q&A

About a few months ago, I got a message from a surprising source: @hmrphin/Hope Morphin.

In case you don't know, Hope Morphin is a model and makeup artist who the character of Marc was based on. I also made a post about how their friendship with Astruc had ended thanks to the Rising Sun Flag controversy, which they had actually read one day. We talked a little, and they told me to message them on their Instagram to confirm that this is the real Hope.

They said they'd be down to answer some questions, I came up with a few, and I got their permission to post this on my account. So, without further ado, as Sid the Science Kid once said, let's go get some answers.

Question: When did you and Thomas first get to know each other, and how?

Answer: It was years ago, when the series premiered on TFOU. There were a lot of people complaining on twitter that the characters of the show were in 3D instead of in 2D, and I answered one of Thomas' tweets saying that characters' butts looked better in 3D rather than in 2D (yeah, I had a terrible sense of humor back then, glad I don't do that anymore) and he answered "yeah we could say that lol". Then, it became a running gag between us on the web, and we met for the first time at a french convention called Japan Tours, the 2015 one. So yeah, I think it was when I was... 20/21 years old, something like that.

Question: It's okay. We've all been cringe at some point in their lives. Did you two meet up again after the convention?

Answer: Yup. In fact, after the convention, he sent me a friend request on Facebook. Then, we chatted for a bit and he asked me if I wanted to be a model for him, and I met him for the second time during that model session.

Question: How did Thomas approach you about creating a character in his show based on you?

Answer: So, it was after I modeled for him. It happened after S1 has ended, so when we were chatting, he asked me which one was my favorite character. I answered Nathaniel, because at this time I felt quite close to this one (we love the angsty artist boy lmao). He told me that he didn't understand people liking Nath because he found it was a very empty character aha, but then he told me that they were searching for inspiration to create a boyfriend for him. He told me he wanted the persons to be happy that he got a boyfriend and that they would “stop bothering him with Nathaniel”, and as he wanted to take inspiration on someone looking androgynous he thought I was a good inspiration, so I accepted.

Question: Interesting story. Didn't know Nathaniel was so popular before Season 2. Did you have any input in the creation of Marc in terms of stuff like his design or personality?

Answer: Yeah he rather was, I remember a lot of people wanted to see more of him ehe. Not at all, I even though that he was joking on the moment, then one day he sent me Marc's characters sheet. I had the same haircut back in the day. Also, I was always wearing armor rings and I was wearing those kind of rings when I had this conversation with him, and he told me that Marc was going to have one of those as his miraculous. I was also still writing a lot back in the days, so I guess he still did took some stuff there and there in my personality to create him.

Question: You mean this design?

Answer: Yup! I was wearing only black sooo yeah the red and rainbow wasn't in my wardrobe aha.

Question: Do you know why they made the design rainbow themed?

Answer: Nah, he didn't told me :/ My guess is to make him more LGBT+ themed...

Question: Okay, sorry. Next question: What are your thoughts on Marc as a character? What do you think of his relationship with Nathaniel and his respective villain and hero forms, Reverser and Rooster Bold?

Answer: To be honest, when he first appeared, I really liked him. I thought he had a lot of potential as a character, his villain form was really cool and I really liked the ideas behind him, and I liked the relationship that he got with Nathaniel, from enemies to associates ehe. But after that... meh. There wasn't nothing much on the LGBT+ relationship with Nathaniel (we had to wait until the end of season 5 to see them hold hands... wow), and I didn't really find myself anymore in his character. I liked the design of his hero form and I liked the concept of his power, but like the other heroes that appeared during this episode, we didn't see Rooster Bold that much and I think that doesn't really make him feel appealing. I have the feeling that Marc and many other side characters could be way more develop in very cool subthemes but this is never really done in the series. Instead, now, they are just the characters getting out a whiteboard and giving terrible ideas to Marinette for her to date Adrien =="

Question: Just for fun, do you have any personal headcanons for Marc?

Answer: Well of course ehe, I have ton of those :D

Mmmh... For example, I think he is a dog person, that he's also fond of fashion such as Marinette but that he just don't have the patience to learn how to draw and how to design clothes... Also have the headcanon that him and Nath often meet at one of their places to do some little workshops together to work on their series and on tons of other projects :D

Got also tons of headcanon for future!Marc, such as him being a model for lgbt+ brands and Nath designing his clothes, I would love to see this shy patootie being at the front of the spotlight ehe, full of confidence and all :D There's tons of ideas to have with this character, I remember when I saw lots of artists drawing him with alternate clothes back in the day, such as shishitsunari or hazy (will try to find them back but it's been a while lol). I wish those clothing styles would be canon, with Marc rocking those kind of genderless clothes.

Links to fanart of Marc with different outfits: (https://www.deviantart.com/hazydayclouds/art/72918-756895643) and (https://ladyofacat.tumblr.com/post/176231424098/rises-from-the-underworld-marc-is-perfect-i-want)

Question: This one's a little tough, so if you don't want to answer, that's perfectly fine. What exactly went down before Thomas blocked you? Did you have any conversation online or in real life regarding the use of the Rising Sun Flag in "Ephemeral", or did Thomas just block you with no warning?

Answer: Honestly ? Blocked me without any warning. We were talking less and less, and, since I have affective dependancy, I had the feeling that I said / done something wrong. He was often answering only when I was defending him on social medias during these times. But we didn't have any harsh conversation from what I recall. So, I did the tweet about ephemeral, pointing out the use of the rising sun flag, and, well, maybe he had a plugin on twitter that blocked everyone using the term "flag", and maybe it blocked me automatically. The thing is : he has my number, he has my address (well, my old address now, lol). He had many ways to tell me this was a misunderstanding and that he didn't want to block me. He didn't call me, didn't send me any text after that to talk about it, so he clearly didn't want to make anything to sort out the problem. To this day, he still hasn't send me any message to talk about it. He commented on some of my facebook posts I did last year (I posted some makeups I did for my school) just saying it was cool, so... Yeah, not the type of friend I want to keep. I still have him as a friend on FB if I ever get the guts to try to send him a message to tell him everything that was wrong towards me and towards other people, but I clearly have other things to deal with lately.

Question: So he blocked you and didn't say anything else?

Answer: Yup, exactly, blocked me and didn't say anything else :/ After years of supporting him lmao.

Question: I'm really sorry to hear that. And you still haven't heard from him after all this time?

Answer: Well, apart from some comments he made on my facebook posts (I posted my makeup from my makeup school and he commented "very nice!") nothing at all. But honestly I'm not too bothered by that. I heard new stuff that he did prior and I really don't think it's a good idea that I interact with him again. I keep him in my facebook friends because maybe one day I'll send him a message to try to confront him, telling him that he had a very terrible behavior towards me and other people... But not today, I have other stuff to deal with.

Question: Despite everything that's happened between you and Thomas, do you still keep up with Miraculous Ladybug? If so, what do you think of it?

Answer:

Well, I've kept up with it because I still have lots of friends who are watching it (for example Octolady, Kogenta and Candy...), and they help me keep a little hype.

So I watched the episodes... There are some stuff that I like. There's good LGBT+ representation, and I like seeing an international known cartoon doing that (especially a french one since we have lots of far-right rising lately).

But honestly, I don't have the same hype as before. At the beginning, I was hyped because S1 looked awesome and had lots of cool fights, lots of wholesome characters and all, but the animation problems and differences are really making me bothered. Also, I have the feeling there's a lot of characters who could be more elaborated and who aren't, and... That's kinda sad, because there's a lot of topics that could be explored thanks to them and not just brushed off in one episode.

Plus, to be honest, I didn't really like the ending of S5. And I don't like the idea of it going on for seasons and seasons and seasons, milked until there's nothing more for it. The fewer the better in my mind...

I also seen the movie and didn't really liked it. Too much fanservice and didn't really made sense. The animation was nice, though.

Honestly, I love the writing team, they are wholesome people and they are doing their best for this show, but people like Thomas and Zag are the kind of people I don't want to support anymore. So yeah... To sum it up : still watching it from afar to see if nice stuff is happening, been pleased with some little stuff, displeased with a lot more, but I don't think I'll keep watching it both because I'm not that hyped up anymore and because I don't want to support anymore these 2 people. I supported Thomas too much before, was too attached to him and was a terrible person towards fans who didn't deserved it because I was too blind, so yeah, won't happen anymore.

Still, I'm glad there's still some people who are fans of Marc and who felt helped thanks to this character. I really hope he will have a better representation in the future (clear relationship with Nath, maybe even some trans / non-binary representation ?) in order to inspire young people.

----------------------------------------------------------

I'd like to personally thank Hope for being willing to answer my questions, and I highly reccommend giving their Instagram a follow.

[opposums-love-arson]

Scream Queen Book 1: Conventional Final Girl

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Stu Macher x Reader x Billy Loomis

Okay so basically let's just cut to the chase, the main character "(y/n)" is Sidney Prescott's little stepsister, yeah? Well, what happens when she takes Sid's place as the final girl? A whole lot. Disclaimer: All rights reserved to the copy righted owners of the Scream franchise. The only creative input I had in this fan fiction was the part of (y/n), almost everything else can be found in the movie. Follows the movie very closely. I mean the actual movie, not the script. Obviously switching out some parts to fit the narrative. It takes a couple of chapters to really get it kicking but I promise it gets good. *NO SMUT* these are still high school students and I do not want to overtly sexualize KIDS! And if you make the argument of "I'm not a kid" I'm 18 been there, done that, don't try it.

  "Hello, who is it?" I asked into the large telephone. 

"No one in particular..." Sounds like another one of the boys' prank calls.

"Okay Mr. No one in particular, any reason for the call?" 

"No reason in particular, just wanted to talk." 

"Hmm okay then talk," I said as I swiveled around in my chair.

"What's your favorite scary movie?" The raspy but oddly pitched voice asked. 

"Oh I've got plenty but you might want to sit down, it'll take a while." 

"I've got time." 

"Ya know, stuff like Halloween, Friday the 13th, Texas Chainsaw. Then there's creature features like The Thing. B-horror like Slumber Part Massacre or Sleepaway Camp." I finally finish my rambling when I hear my step sister and her boyfriend in the other room. 

"Do you really like scary movies?" 

"Oh yeah definitely but I think it's mainly because of my step sister's friends?" 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yeah, I mean I always liked horror but they really got me into it. Especially our friends Randy, Billy and Stu, they're crazy about that stuff!" I said as I flopped down onto my bed. 

"What's a pretty girl like you doing with all those guys?" 

"They're not a lot of guys, if anything it equals out our group," I said, completely avoiding the whole 'pretty girl' thing... that was kind of weird. 

Hearing a knock at my door completely startled me. 

"Oh um hey I have to go but feel free to call me back anytime," I whisper into the phone quickly placing it back on the body. 

It was obvious the person on the line was saying something before I hung up but I didn't bother to listen 

  In popped Neil's head from the other side of the door. "Hey kiddo who ya talking to?" He said as he looked around. "Hm? Oh no one, what's up Neil?" I asked, now back in my desk chair. Neil was a good guy, I'm glad he and my mom started dating, they actually just got engaged! I think I was more excited about it than my step sister, Sindey, she's still grieving. "Just got done talking to your sister, I'm going to hit the sack, remember I'm not back until sunday. Cash on the table and call if you need anything," He said waiting for me to say something. "Alright got it Neil, have fun at the expo!" I waved him off before he closed the door. 

  My mom and I didn't move to Woodsoro until she really started dating Neil. It's always just been her and I for as long as I can remember, but it feels good to be part of a complete family again. I missed our old home at first with all my friends and family but Sid quickly took me under her wing. I met all of her friends including Stu, Tatum, Randy and Sid's boyfriend Billy. I'll admit it was weird at first because they just saw me as the little step sister but once Randy and I went on a ranting debate about which was the real pioneer of Slasher; Texas Chainsaw or Black Christmas, it got a lot easier. Even though Stu and Billy were pretty cute I'll never be used to Stu's wild energy, nor Billy's slightly shady behavior.

  The next morning didn't go quite as expected... There were reporters, cameras, and news vans posted up all around school. Sid and I were freaked the moment we got off the bus. She was looking around bewildered by everything going on until we spotted one woman in particular, Gale Weathers. To say the least, Weathers was a total bitch towards Sid's mom's name. 

"Can you believe this shit?!" We heard a voice pop up from behind us. Sid totally jumped. 

"Tatum, what is going on?" Sidney asks, waving her arm out to the school. 

"Yeah, since when was Woodsboro flooded with reporters?" I looked over at Tatum, crossing my arms over my chest. 

"You don't know?" Tatum asked both of us, a hint of amusement on her face.

"No," Sid and I said in unison, still confused. 

"Casey Becker and Steve Orth were killed last night," She said with a harsh but light tone just above a whisper. 

"What?! No way!" Sid softly exclaimed. 

I was too shocked to say a single word so I just listened. 

"And we're not just talking killed, we're talking splatter movie killed. Ripped open, from end to end," Tatum talked about it with entertaining ease, like it was just gossip. 

I think I'm going to be sick. 

"Casey Becker, she sits next to me in English," Sid said looking over at her best friend. 

I think you mean sat, Sid. I thought. 

"Not anymore," Said Tatum with a wobble of her head. 

She went on saying, "It's so sad, her mom and dad found her hanging from a tree. Her insides on the outside." Shoving her hands near her stomach. 

"Oh my god," Sid said as she reached for the back of her neck, probably to feel the goosebumps that appeared. 

"Do they know who did it?" I finally asked, feeling the urge to know. 

The two looked over at me with Tatum saying, "Fucking clueless, I mean they're interogating the entire school? Teacher, students, janitors." 

"They think someone at school did it?" Sid asked

"They don't know, I mean Dewy was saying this is the worst crime he's seen in years. Even worse than-" Tatum paused when I nudged her side, "Well, it's bad." She finished. 

The bell signaling the start of the first period rang.

"C'mon Sid, we gotta get to class..." I said as I lightly grabbed her hand, giving it a slight reassuring squeeze. 

"Yeah, alright..." She responded, removing her hand from mine. She's just going through a lot right now. 

  Sitting through the first period is weird when you have a seat that was right behind a dead person. Not Casey Becker but Steve Orth. He'd ask me for a pencil or notes every day because he forgot his. Claimed it was because of football practice. Soon enough the five minute bell for next class rang. A class that didn't have any dead students.

  Walking to my locker to rotate my books I was blocked by none other than Stu Macher. 

"Hey, (y/n)," He drawled out my name with a big smile, "Whatcha up to?" 

"Getting my books Stu, same thing you should be doing." 

"C'mon, you're not still upset with me, are you?" He asked with a fake pout 

"Yeah actually I am Stu!" I shouted in a whisper 

"I couldn't help myself, I mean look at you?" He said as he squished my face. 

Swatting his hand away I said, "That's no excuse!" 

"You can be such a prude," he said as he leaned his head on my locker. 

"No, it's called being a good friend with a balanced moral compass that can see when her friend's boyfriend is about to cheat with her." I huffed as I slammed my locker door. 

"C'mon, (y/n)! You can't stay pissed forever! You'll come around eventually!" Stu shouted after me. 

"Like hell I will!" I shouted back. No matter how abundantly clear my feelings for him are, I would never do that behind Tatum's back.

[malk1ns]

A prompt if this sings to you... established relationship mid-30s sidgeno taking in a rookie to live with them? Maybe a Russian? Maybe not! Maybe it's ABO and the baby alpha is overwhelmed by milfy Sid/baby omega is overwhelmed by dilfy Geno? Maybe not! IDK I just want to see an awkward 18 year old being completely rabbit in the headlights witnessing these two icons and heroes being dorky and frisky and middle-aged at home.

Ooooh I love this!

This isn't my best work, but I haven't written in ages and I'm rusty, so—you get what you get, haha. But this is such a fun concept and I had a lot of fun thinking about it!!! That's part of why it's so disjointed I think, I had so many ideas about how this could look and what it could involve and I wanted to cram everything in. Maybe I'll revisit this when I can actually properly use the English language again and clean it up!

--

Mack doesn't get a choice about where he lives his rookie year.

Not a lot of guys do, really—if they're bouncing between the A and the big club, they get real familiar with a few specific hotels, and if they make the show right away the team usually encourages them to look for something in a particular neighborhood—but Mack, after the excitement of the draft was over and the contract negotiations began in earnest, didn't even get that much leeway.

He's a first overall pick. He's an omega. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Of course he'll be living with Sidney Crosby and his mate.

Crosby—call me Sid he'd said, backstage after Mack stumbled his way onstage and held up his jersey and smiled so hard his face hurt—sends him and his parents an email in late summer, offering up a suite in his house in one of Pittsburgh's suburbs. He'll have a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living area to himself, along with a small fridge, and Sid says he'll help Mack get a car, too, if he doesn't already have one.

Mack's agent is copied on the email, along with four names from the Penguins organization that Mack doesn't recognize. It's not really an offer, after all.

Mack's parents are overjoyed. They're both betas, and when Mack presented his mom had practically lost her mind trying to figure out how to parent him appropriately, and they'd both been desperately worried about him living on his own. As if that had been an option; every interview at the combine included some discussion about where he'd stay, and it seemed like every team had a plan, no input from Mack required.

His dad's more focused on what he'll get out of living with Hall of Famers. "Watch how they spend their time off," he says to Mack as they're standing at Pittsburgh International. They'd all driven down in Mack's new car together, and spent the last two days getting him settled in and seeing the sights, and now his parents are flying back to Vancouver. "You're never going to have a better example than Malkin and Crosby. Pay attention to them, and you'll be fine."

Mack's not sure that this is quite what his parents had in mind.

Sid's amazing, of course. He knows what it's like to be an omega in the league—for all there are more now than when Sid was drafted, they're still an extreme minority, and going first overall, over all the alphas eligible, has only happened twice. Well, three times now. He walks Mack through the accommodations at the rink, connects him with the dynamics counselors and heat coordinators, and he spends a lot of time just listening to Mack, sharing his own experiences and talking him through his panic and nerves. Mack's lucky, and all the guys from BU are jealous as hell, constantly blowing up the GC with questions that Mack's not gonna answer in a million years.

Geno, though?

Mack's been around alphas his whole life. Sports at a higher level are riddled with them, obviously, and omegas aren't cloistered away anymore—he's not required to cross the street if he approaches an alpha, and North America has been totally integrated for decades.

There's getting in board battles with alphas his own age, though, or interacting with random people out in the world, and living with an alpha in his 30s, in the space he's marked as his.

Geno's not nervous around him. Which, obviously, why would he be, but Mack's used to the guys his age being a little on edge, a little anxious, a little fumbling in the presence of Mack's pheromones. Geno's a whole-ass adult, though, and he's been mated to Sid for as long as Mack can remember, so of course he wouldn't give a shit about some 18-year-old kid.

The whole house smells like Geno, a mix of coconut and snow and citrus. It's comforting; Mack's never slept so well in his life, and it just feels safe, knowing that there's an alpha around all the time. Sid's left his mark too, of course, but there's no escaping that an alpha lives in this house, an alpha who's strong, and confident, and sure of himself.

It takes Mack two whole weeks before he can talk to Geno without turning bright red and stuttering. He'd feel more embarrassed by his behavior, the way he reacts to Geno's scent, if he thought Geno noticed for one single second.

Because the thing is, what Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin seem to spend most of their off-hours doing is...each other.

Mack's never walked in on them—they're too thoughtful, and he's seen the way Geno stares down other alphas who look a little too closely at Sid, he's not interested in anyone seeing Sid that way—but he can smell them, all over the house. Geno's got a hand on Sid constantly; at his waist as they move around each other in the kitchen, on his legs when they sit on the couch, cupping the bond-bite on Sid's neck when they think they're alone. He smells like he wants Sid all the time.

And Sid absolutely reciprocates.

Mack can't blame him. If he had an alpha like that— He doesn't let himself go too far down that path, because he has to live with them, and he's too young anyway, he wants to focus on his career for a while, but there's something about how happy Sid looks, the way he teases Geno until they're both pink and smiling, the way he gets this look in his eye when he watches Geno putter around in the kitchen, that makes something in Mack's gut twinge with longing. He wants this, someday—a mate, a home, someone who makes him that happy.

He just wishes they'd do a bit more to hide when they're going off to fuck, though. Mack's cycle is still irregular, and being this close to a mated pair who are having sex practically every night—Mack is shocked they can still do it that much at their age—is gonna push him into early heat one of these days, and then he'll have to ask for a ride to the facilities, and Geno will know, Geno will smell it on him, and they'll both be so nice and understanding and go out of their way to assure him it's normal and make sure he has what he needs, and it will just be the worst, most mortifying thing that's ever happened to him.

Anyway, yeah. Mack's pretty sure his dad had something else in mind, when he was talking about what Mack could pick up from living with Crosby and Malkin.

It's going to be a long year.

[hugheses]

3-23-17: 15 year old Jack Hughes is interviewed by Sherry Bassin and Jesse Pollock, starting at 48 minutes

Transcript below cut (includes an earlier snippet with Mike Traikos)

JP: Mike, there's another young player in Toronto that you've had the opportunity to study, and he goes by the name of Jack Hughes. I was wondering if you could give some input on him as a player and what to expect from him in the future. 

SB: Michael wrote an article on him. 

MT: Yeah, it's funny. We're talking about young guys, and here's the next wave of the future. Jack Hughes is still two..? years away from getting drafted in the NHL. I think he's 20, I want to say, I think he's 2019 or 2020 draft eligible. So we're talking about real young. But it's funny, when I was coming up with who might be the next Team North America four years later, I had Jack Hughes on the list, and that's how special of a talent this kid is. He's small. He's basically a Johnny Gaudreau or Mitch Marner. But, man, oh, man, he has skill. Skates very much like Connor does, really nifty kind of like Mitch and Johnny in terms of doesn't get hit a whole lot and just puts up just gobs and gobs of points so, he's a name that I think a lot of people are going to be familiar with and you know what, I think what we're seeing now with Connor I remember talking with Jack about this, was his style of play is really kind of catching on at the younger levels like, you watch Connor and nothing is in half speed it seems like he's got the puck and he's just trying to go go go and it's very rare that you see a player who's able to stick handle and carry the puck with the kind of speed and the amount of pace that Connor plays with. And yet all the young guys are now playing that way. So it's having a real trickle-down effect. And I think if you think the league is fast now, just wait until these young guys come into the league, like we mentioned Jack Hughes. And there's so many others that are kind of watching Connor McDavid play, and they're saying, okay, basically that's the kind of style I want to play. I want to have the puck, and I want to play with pace, and I want to just keep pushing it, pushing it, pushing it. And I kind of shudder to think what the league is going to look like in five years when all these speed-throughs are in the game, and they're just whipping around the ice a million miles an hour. 

SB: Oh, like if you can't skate in a few years from now, you're going to get windburn. You're going to need Nuxema to put on your neck because they go by you. But the real thing about Jack Hughes is, just like we said about Matthews being a special person, like a top character guy, just like we said about Sheifele and McDavid, like, exudes character. It comes out his fingernails. This guy's a high-character kid. I know the environment. I knew his mother before his father met her and stuff and know what they're all about. But I've often said all the time, you know what I mean? When you put character and ability together, you get a superstar like Matthews and McDavid and these guys. 

JP: Sid. 

SB: And that's in the- Sid. 

MT: And just for a little background for anyone who doesn't know, Jack Hughes, obviously his father, was a longtime player development coach at the Leafs. And say what you will about how he developed players, but this guy definitely knows the approach to take with his sons and his eldest son, Quinn, is in the National Development Program. I believe he's committed to Michigan University. 

SB: Yeah, and he's a heck of a player, like a phenomenal player. 

MT: Should be a top 10 pick, no question, in 2018. So, yeah, get used to seeing there, hearing about the Hughes kids. 

SB: And the younger brother. The younger brother, Luke, is, oh, yeah. These guys, he can go around you, the younger brother, Luke, but he'll go over top you, too. And first of all, their mother was a phenomenal athlete, okay, and high-character people. And so the brother that's with the national development program, he's the best defenseman on that team by far and I think, I think he's he's a candidate to be the best player on that team so you know these guys have come up in an environment like you said I tried to hire his dad as a coach one time and uh, because he is a very good teacher and stuff like that so as you pointed out that uh it's going to be coming in the future. This isn't the end of the great players. 

MT: There's an interesting thing about the brother too, Sherry, I'm sorry to cut you off, but Quinn is not a tall fellow by any stretch of the imagination. He might be the Johnny Gaudreau of defensemen where we see Quinn kind of break through in the NHL as a small, skilled defenseman. And I don't think we've really seen that yet. We've seen maybe a couple players here and there, like maybe Ryan Ellis, guys of that nature, but not to the skill level that Quinn Hughes has. So it will be interesting to see where he gets chosen in the NHL and what his path looks like because he could actually end up becoming maybe the first really high-end skilled, really small defenseman. And if he's able to have success in the NHL, I think that opens a lot of doors for a lot of smaller skilled players that maybe are afraid to play defense because it's always thought of as you have to have a bit of size to play the position. 

SB: Well, when I see Ellis playing, who I have a lot of respect for, I remember when he played for the Windsor Spitfires, Quinn Hughes is highly, highly skilled, very unselfish, great vision, just like we're talking about Jack. Okay. So, I mean, it's in the family. It's in the DNA and good upbringing. So we shouldn't be worried about these 10 young guns you're talking about because pretty soon you'll be writing about the next 10 young guns. 

————

JP: …Hearing him talk about the Hughes kids just excited me. I don't know about you but it just really made me think, how do you develop talent like this? How do you have three kids who could go on to become potential top 10 NHL draft picks? It's incredible. And our next guest, Sherry, Jack Hughes, is going to be able to tell us a bit about that. 

SB: Great young kid too. Great young kid. 

JP: Alright, we are now pleased to welcome Jack Hughes to the show. Jack, thanks for coming in. 

SB: Jack. 

JH: Hey, Sherry. 

SB: How are you doing, Jack? First of all, I wanted to tell you that we're really excited. Thank you for coming on here. I love interviewing highly talented young people that have high character, and I've known you since you were knee high to a grasshopper. 

JH: Haha.

SB: So I'm excited because I really believe in my heart, I'm not trying to be patronizing. You're the best player available in this whole province or whatever available for the OHL draft. I don't want to demean whoever got player of the year. He must be a heck of a player because I know how good you are, and I know what kind of person you are. So I want to thank you for coming on. 

JH: Yeah, thanks for having me. 

SB: No, no kidding here. So now listen, I'm going to tell something and then I've got to hear from you. Because good players and scoring. Stevie Sullivan came to, played 18 years in the NHL. I've got to tell you this quick story. And he was a free agent, and he wasn't very big. He could skate like you can skate, and he played 18 years. And we had four scrimmages in training camp, and he got 19 points in our training camp at Sault Ste. Marie. So right away, I said to my assistant manager, get him up there and we give him a full scholarship for education and stuff like that. And he was sitting between his parents and I said to him, how many points do you have in these scrimmages? He says, I don't know. I said, you're a liar. Called him a liar right to his face. And he looked at me and the parents had never met me He said I've never known a guy that got a lot of points That didn't know how many points I said how many points you got. He said around 18. I said you're damn right you got 19. Now how many points you got this year?

JH: I think I had around 170.

SB: 170. In how many games?

JH: 75, 80…

SB: 75, 80. How's your math, Minion? How is your math here? 

JP: My math isn't good, but I know that that's pretty impressive. 

SB: That's more than impressive. Now tell me something. First of all, I know your family really well. I know the upbringing. I know what it's all about. And, you know, I think your brother, Quinn, who I know very well too, and I think he's the best, for sure, the best defenseman on the U.S. team, if not the best player. I know your brother, Luke, who I think is going to be one of the best. He might even be better than you two guys when it comes to it. Now tell me about all this. When you're as talented as you are, the high character that you have, the environment that you were brought up in, tell me about this when everybody's saying you're going to be the first pick and you're the best player. How do you deal with it day to day and people talking to you? 

JH: I mean, really, I'm just trying to enjoy it. I mean, it only happens once, right? I only go through the OHL draft once. I'm just trying to enjoy it with my friends, my family. Just taking it lightly, I’m never- I’m not the cock- I'm not being cocky or anything, like shooting my mouth off. Really just like, just trying to have fun with it I guess. And not taking any pressure.

SB: Well good for you. First of all you're never going to be cocky with it. You're humble, and you've stayed at my house and everything, and I know what you are. And I think one of the biggest reasons you're a star and going to be a superstar is because of your character and because of your upbringing. So I'm not surprised, but you've got to be thinking about it, and good that you're having fun because that's what life's about. I used to tell my players all the time, winning is fun. Let's go have some fun. 

JP: Jack, your dad, Jim, was the director of player development for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And I just want to hear from you what role that helped in developing you and your brothers as hockey players and the type of training and the programs that he puts you in as kids because it's quite incredible to see. We mentioned earlier on the show that three brothers could all potentially be top 10 NHL picks one day. It's incredible to think about, and it's no coincidence. 

JH: Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, the mental things he would tell us tell us like, the things he would be telling the 19, 20 year old Maple Leafs prospects he'd be telling the same things to us when we were 10, 11, 12, 13, like just he made us think like a pro I guess and just the way we train we did so methodically like everything we did, hard work. He and my mother taught me so much. Everything I know is from them. The things they did with us, shooting in the basement, taking us to outdoor hockey. They've done so much for us, both mentally and physically. They've made us better people and better players. 

SB: Well, first of all, your mother was a heck of an athlete. Let's not forget that. And I knew your grandparents very well, and your grandmother is still alive, and your grandfather died prematurely from cancer, which just makes me, it hurts just when I talk about it. But I can tell you this, that that kind of an an environment- I tried to hire your dad as a coach one time

JH: Haha

SB: He told me to suck eggs there and so forth and so forth but anyway he did, so I know the family and stuff and tell us about this, when you're so committed like you are, because I always believe motivation is how bad you believe in something times how bad you want to attain it. I know how bad you believe in it. I know how you live it. I know how bad you want to attain it. So what is your typical week during hockey season? How often are you on the ice? 

JH: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think we practice with practice with the Marlies, we practice three times a week, um some weeks we played once a week some weeks we played four times a week and then like as much as I can I try to get in the gym try to get stronger maybe once or twice a week and maybe do a little bit of extra skills with like groups called like, prep um pro edge power [he means Power Edge Pro] like I think that's McDavid's group. I mean we practice four times a week then spend two games so we're probably on the ice six out of seven days a week and then O mean just the fun aspects of it like when it comes to winter time, I mean me and my friends are always going to the outdoor rink and just playing four hours of shinny whenever we can. I mean, we just, I think we just live it. I mean, I love it. It's not work to me. It's all fun, right? So, I mean, I can never get enough of it. 

SB: Yeah, I mean, the thing about it is you love it by conduct, going to outdoor rinks. I mean, I grew up on outdoor rinks, and I'm a little bit – I'm a couple years older than you. But the thing is this, is that that's just an example, and you couldn't get enough of it. Like you say, you'd be there four hours, and if the ice was still there, you'd have stayed longer. 

JH: Mhm.

SB; That's your feeling for it, and that's why you're this good, and I'm excited to be able to tell people about it.

JP:  Jack you mentioned earlier that your parents really helped you develop into a good hockey player but also a good person and that's something that Sherry emphasizes just as much as anything really the importance of that and uh I think that's really great that you mentioned that. I want to ask you something in regards to the OHL. I know that you applied for exceptional status and ultimately it was denied. So I was wondering if you can talk about that experience and how maybe that will help you going forward or if it sparked anything in you.

JH: Yeah, for sure. I mean, that was such a great experience going through that process like all the interviews meeting people I did. I mean, it just made me mature so much faster I think, and I mean it was just great for me to grow up that fast I think, I know like, it wasn't really publicized or anything like that, but behind the scenes it was really good for me. Um, I think it was a blessing that I didn't get it because I mean it helped me like, it allowed myself to stay at home another year and have one more year of minor midget where I could really excel. So I think, I think that process was really good for me, like meeting the people I did, and just hearing things about the league. And I learned a lot of new things about myself as well, I think. 

SB: Well, Jack, there's no question. I mean, you've seen it. I've known it for years. I mean, what people, when they watch you, never mind your just ability, never mind his skill, Minion. He's a phenomenal team player, phenomenal team player, got great vision. If if you're open you're going to get the puck and and it's sometimes it's frustrating because when you're that- got that much ability that he does, he never shows any negativity on the ice you know, which I really respect in this guy and sometimes when you're that skilled and you give the puck and you're not getting it back, you know what I mean? He never showed any negative emotion. And so this guy's destined for big things, like big, big things. And listen, I can't thank you enough. I mean, you just, you know, just by listening to you, we know the character. We know the environment you're a product of. You know that I love your parents and love your family. But besides that, it's because of the people you are, never mind the fact that you happen to be a good hockey player. So all I know is that big things are destined for you, and I really want to thank you a lot for coming on. 

JH: Yeah, thank you, Sherry. 

SB: Good to talk to you. Keep punching. 

JP: Thanks, Jack. Good luck. 

JH: Thank you, yeah. 

JP: What a mature, young individual, Sherry. 

SB: It's hard to believe that he's only 15 going on 16, isn't it? I have said over and over with you and all the time we've got to visit since you were a little guy, okay, all the time, that the average 16 year old to 19 year old that plays in the OHL or plays in the- is a way more mature than the average 16 year old that you run to in the street because of all the decisions all the things that he had to do I mean think about what he talked about his commitment: four hours on an outdoor rink playing with his buddies. And it wasn't work. It was fun. Going to the gym regularly. Think about being the right kind of person in the environment that he's a product of. His mom and dad, I mean, who I know very, very well. You know, with the direction. And it's frustrating when you're that talented, when you're playing with players that they know they're trying their best, but when you're above their ability, so to speak, and that's not meant with disrespect to the players because they're not all born equal as hockey players, don't all have the same commitment, and you're playing with them and you don't get the puck back or you do certain things and not let it bother you because inside it's got to bother you because you think if I just got this i'm watching a game one time where he goes in tick-tack-toe how's your mama on the defenseman goes right by the guy makes a phenomenal shot scores a goal called back as a guy three zones away got a penalty and so all those 170 some points he talked about weren't one of the points and so, but he never showed that frustration, never showed frustration. Because he didn't get player of the year, whatever it is. And I'm sure this kid is a heck of a player. I'm not trying to demean anyone. But inside, when you got that competitive spirit, and especially- the guy that got it, he's a super superstar then. Because this guy's a superstar. And it was even hard for me to accept because I knew him so well but I don't want to demean the other guy I didn't see him enough and-

JP: And it's a humbling experience, one day he's going to look back at it and maybe he'll say this was the best thing that happened to me as a teenager.

SB: Yeah what you just said when you asked that question about exceptional player. 

[robertfripp]

"On the first day [of rehearsal in 1972 (after Peter Sinfield was fired)], [Mel] Collins duly presented a piece to the seated Fripp. "I wasn't brimming with confidence anyway, but I put it down in front of Robert. It certainly wasn't finished and it was just a couple of ideas but Robert would not play the music I'd put down in front of him. Wouldn't even attempt it. Obviously he didn't think it was good enough and he wasn't going to give it a go and so I fled from those rehearsals in tears."

~ From In the Court of King Crimson by Sid Smith

"It's true: I hoped for writing input from other members. I remember Mel's contribution, and it wasn't Crimson. I'm not suggesting it was 'bad', only that it wasn't Crimson."

~ Robert Fripp

"As Collins fled, [Ian] Wallace and [Boz] Burrell were outraged and at they saw as Fripp's high-handed attitude and accused the guitarist of being hypocritical. A furious Wallace put down his sticks, told Fripp he'd had enough and quit on the spot, followed by Burrell. Fripp packed up his guitar and left without a word."

"It had been quite a day; a new incarnation of King Crimson had come together and folded before even completing its first rehearsal."

~ From In the Court of King Crimson by Sid Smith

[weilaverdui]

Riddles in the Dark, Prologue, page 1

Wreving is a place, where science and wonder walk on the same streets. Meet Lorraine, Cedric, Thomas and Percy. It will take them a while to get to the point on this image.

Guess who panicked.

Am I biting way more than I can chew? Yep. Do i have ANY prep work done? Nope. At least I know the whole story, roughly. Art by me. Story by @masterofrecords with input from wonderful Veles, Qunder, Sid and, for a while, Tan.

[midnigtartist]

Your tav is so cute!!!! What do they appreciate the most about Astarion? And fun oc question: If they got to eat an irl treat, which would be their favorite? (Candy, cakes, snacks, etc) 💜💕

Thank you sm!!

She likes that he pushes back against her, it makes her feel like a person instead of an object of devotion. She like that he challenges her decisions she likes that they disagree sometimes

She’s always really valued his input (even if she doesnt always agree with him) and trusts him more then any of the other companions basically since they first met (insane)

The whole playthrough i never left Astarion at camp once so theyve basically spent every waking moment together since they met lol

If shes the defacto leader then he’s the second in command (terrifying)

And for treats? Sid’s a dark chocolate girl

[diamondangelkitten]

Meet my FFXIV OC's:

Alinea Skylark

My main girlie!

Age: early 30's after Endwalker. She doesn't actually know when her birthday is, but after comparing to others, that's what she guestimates.

Unsundered life: She was happily married to Hades and Hythlodaeus, and her little brother, Themis, was the absolute apple of her eye. Her name was Emmeline, though once she became Azem, only the aforementioned people ever called her by her true name. She loved her work and got along well with everyone on the Convocation.

Alinea has full recollection of her unsundered life, but after the events at Ultima Thule, she's able to find peace and move on with her life as Alinea Skylark. Her and Estinien start dating shortly after, much to Alphinaud's delight and Alisae's horror. Currently, she's just trying to relax as much as possible before the next adventure sweeps her away.

Aurora Calypso

Age: 21 after Endwalker.

Unsundered life: She remembers bits and pieces of her life as Azem, and cares deeply for Hades, Hythlodaeus, and Themis, but doesn't remember any personal connection or attachment. The one thing she does remember is that her name was Echo.

The events in Shadowbringers and Endwalker took a heavy toll on Aurora's body. She's slowly recovering and is currently taking a tour with Erenville of all their favorite places across Etheirys. She loves her carbuncle, Monty, and he is absolutely spoiled.

Annabeth Rose

Age: 36 or so at the end of Endwalker

Unsundered Life: She was both Azem and sister to Hades. She knew that Hades was planning to propose to Hythlodaeus, but then the final days happened. Her name name then had been Eleonora.

Annabeth has a twin brother, Felix, who she adores, as well as many younger siblings that she also cares for and keeps in contact with. She has an extremely large extended family, most of whom consist of characters who I've saved from their in-game fates :P

Alira Thorne

Age: 32 at the end of Endwalker

Unsundered Life: Her name was Eris and she loved being Azem. She loved going from town to town, meeting and learning from the people, and helping wherever she could. Her best friends where Hades and Hythlodaeus and she had the great honor of officiating their wedding.

She had a very traumatic upbringing that caused her to push people away for the longest time. Only during Stormblood, does this come to a head and she starts working on the path to find inner peace. This comes in the form of becoming a Dark Knight. Thanks to Rielle, Fray, and the moogles, her and Sid work through their pasts together and eventually start dating. Her and Sid have a little girl after the events of Shadowbringers who Rielle names Sibbie.

AU

In an alternate timeline, all the girls work together, going from ARR to EW. Most of the above information holds, with the only change being that Aurora worked in the Capital as a record taker of the convocation of fourteen meetings. She was adored by all, and knew the goings on and kept quiet on them all. All the 14 would talk to her as an impartial party when they were musing on issues, and she was good at providing input and questions in a way to help them think.

They are all fiercely protective of each other and love each other dearly. They often go on trips together with their significant others and families too.

[zombielenin]

Marxism in The Silt Verses Universe

One thing I noticed when listening through The Silt Verses again is how easily certain Marxist ideas map onto the TSV universe and how well the podcast lends itself to Marxist analysis. Below are just a few of my observations on Marxism in the TSV universe. Also, I’ll be using some Marxist terminology in this post, which I’ll explain as I go.

Base and Superstructure in the World of TSV

What is the Base and Superstructure?

A good concept to start with would be the base and superstructure in both the Consolidated Linger Straits (CLS) and the Peninsula. In Marxist thought, society is thought to be composed of a base and a superstructure. The base can basically be described as how things are made, what is used to make them (human labor, factories, tools, and etc, AKA the means of production), and the socioeconomic relations between people in this society. In the CLS and the Peninsula, we see some of the typical elements of a modern capitalist society, whose most salient feature is private (i.e. by individuals or corporations) ownership of the means of production. There are businesses, such as factories, cafes, and marketing agencies, and they use inputs such as machinery, oil, agricultural crops, human labor, and sometimes the humans themselves as materials to produce whatever it is that they produce. One key difference though is that deities, through sacrifices and rituals, are also used as a means of producing something. We also see the typical socioeconomic relationships of a capitalist society, such as employers and business owners versus employees. The superstructure is pretty much all the other features of a society, such as culture, religion, political structures, and etc. In Marxist thought, the base and superstructure interact in a way such that the base primarily shapes the superstructure and that the superstructure justifies and maintains the base. Think for example how a capitalist society has private businesses that produce news, such as newspapers, cable news, and etc, and the news businesses create media that generally justifies and maintains the status quo. 

Base and Superstructure in the Peninsula and CLS

In the context of TSV, I think the really interesting base-superstructure relationship is the relationship between the capitalist economies of the CLS and the Peninsula and the religious system in TSV. In the TSV universe, gods such as the Petropater, the Slag King, and the Saint Electric, are part of the means of production, and hence also shape society. For example, employment contracts can require you to be sacrificed, which happened in the case of Vaughn. Also, since a god must feed, the state supplies sacrifices, which seem to be sourced from prisons in some cases. Another example is the Cloak, which is a deity specifically created for the police, an institution that in the real world exists to enforce hierarchies and the status quo and maintain capital. There are a lot of other features of the TSV universe that we can look at such as Sid Wright and the Grinding Lord, the corporate creation of the Sweet Jolly Crunchtooth as a deity for farmers, or the fact that there are militarized faiths that can be called upon in times of war, but I’ll skip them to keep this already long post from being even longer.

The Trawler Man and the Many Below - Theories on Change

Another element that I think would be interesting to explore through a Marxist lens are Paige’s god (the Many Below) and the Trawler Man who are essentially gods of social change. However, the Many Below brings progressive change and revolution, while the Trawler Man is a deity of reactionary change.  

The Many Below and Revolutionary Change

Let’s start with the Many Below. A good topic to begin with would be the reform versus revolution debate. This debate, which has been going on in leftist circles for ages, is about the strategy of achieving socialism. Here, socialism means an economic system where the means of production are owned by the people and decisions on how to use them are made collectively. Socialism is often confused for social democracy, which is a system characterized by strong social safety nets, such as universal healthcare, free education, welfare, etc. but still operating within capitalism. The reform versus revolution debate centers on whether we can reform our way into socialism by, for example, passing legislation to slowly bring it about, or if a complete overthrow of capitalism through revolution is necessary to obtain socialism. The Many Below is a revolutionary deity whose purpose is essentially to starve the other gods by stealing their sacrifices. If Paige’s plan succeeds, the current system would be completely upended, rather than being slowly chipped away at or reigned in. It seems that Paige is firmly on the side of revolution here.  Additionally, there’s a moment where Paige’s father Dennis goes on a small tirade about how Paige’s plan is misguided. It’s actually so on the nose, that it made me think that it was Jon Ware and Muna Hussen’s intent to sneak some leftist themes into TSV. Here’s the quote from Dennis in Season 2 Chapter 11 that I want to examine.

DENNIS:

And now…and now you want to hide your pamphlets in library books, like love-notes?

Listen to me, Paige. Just…listen, OK? I’m going to give you a life lesson here.

(Condescending)

If you try and seed this supposed god amongst comfortable people, amongst well-off people, you’re gonna get a deeply unhappy lesson in just how many good citizens will skim over your pamphlet once and then turn it over to the police.

(Deeply sarcastic)

And then all your hard stapling work? That’ll be for absolutely nothing.

Stop thinking like a fucking mark.

You’re smarter than this.

This isn’t a god for people like you. It’s not there to offer comfort.

It’s a god for the desperate, the hopeless - all the poor bastards across the Straits who’ve had to confront the material reality that they could be seized by five armed policemen, dragged down a corridor and hallowed any second from now.

Set your god loose in the prisons. Not the libraries, not the care homes - the prisons.

That’s where it can circulate - if there’s anything to it.

Dennis here is critiquing Paige’s strategy of trying to agitate the populace by placing propaganda for their deity in places where they may be noticed and read by others. This is not to say that using propaganda to create consciousness of one’s situation and its cause isn’t a worthwhile tactic. However, Dennis does astutely point out that circulating this propaganda amongst the comfortable is a poor strategy. Instead, he recommends that they target poor and oppressed people, especially incarcerated individuals, since they have the most revolutionary potential. Indeed, we see this tactic work with Esther. This is a classic example of the Marxist idea that class conflict, i.e. the conflict of the dispossessed against the class of business owners, investors, and landlords, is the force that causes society to move forward. 

The Trawler Man and Reactionary Change

On the other hand, we have the Trawler Man. The Trawler Man is also a god of change. However, the world that the Parish of Tides and Flesh wants to create is a world remade in the Trawler Man’s image, one remade in silt. In this way, the Parish is similar to any other group that wishes to advance their deity. They’re simply vying for supremacy while leaving the system of deities in place. sJuxtaposed with the Many Below, we see that the Trawler Man is a god of destructive change, whose followers seek to gain control of the world to return it to a primordial state (similar to how fascists wish to bring back a fictitious golden age), whereas the Many Below is a god of progressive change and wants to rid the world of deities and hence sacrifices. It’s interesting to note that once the Parish becomes useful to the Peninsula in the oncoming war with the CLS, they become fully legalized. This is an interesting parallel to how centrists and the center left are often all too willing to work with fascists when expedient. 

Other Observations

The Police

There are also a few other interesting things to note in TSV. While these aren’t explicitly Marxists ideas, they’re still popular amongst leftists. One is anti-police sentiment in TSV. In general, the police are framed in a negative light. We can see this in the characters of Daggler and the CLS police that kill Dennis. Daggler is willing to lock up innocents, and both are willing to engage in extrajudicial killing. Even early Hayward was portrayed somewhat antagonistically. The most interesting thing about law enforcement in TSV is the Stink. When a detective is failing to close cases, they begin to develop a stench, which worsens over time until they are killed by their coworkers and sacrificed to the Stink. We can see that the Stink is a metaphor for the real life institutional pressures to arrest and convict people, regardless of their guilt. This is an example of how characterizing police misconduct as a few bad apples ignores the fact that the institution of policing is rotten to its core. 

Grind and Hustle Culture

Another idea that appears a couple of times is the criticism of grind culture. One example from S1 and Sid Wright, where Sid becomes a sacrifice to the Grinding Lord and has to stay awake and be on the air until he dies. Another is Hayward’s coworker in Season 2 Episode 3, Gren, who chides Hayward for having a bad attitude and advocates for working hard and trying to impress the rich so that they may themselves become wealthy. In exchange for all this extra labor, he is rewarded with a mere disemboweling. Here we can see that for all the promises of grind and hustle culture, the only people that benefit from one’s extra labor are the capitalist class. 

Conclusion

These are just some themes I’ve noticed, but I’d love to hear what others have noticed in TSV and other podcasts. Part of me wonders if some of these themes were intentionally included, but I think the more interesting scenario would be if there was no intent and the applicability of Marxist thought in TSV is more attributable to its validity. 

[carbonateddelusion]

I have a couple of asian characters too- mainly Jack (mixed white and Vietnamese), Sal (mixed white, Vietnamese and Japanese), Jade (south asian), Orange (Chinese), Indigo (mixed asian and african american), Mads (Vietnamese), Gumiho (Korean), Minato (Japanese), annnd I think that's it?

as for latine people I have Betty (Mexican), Coda (mixed latino and african american), Chartreuse (haven't decided yet), Luis (Chilean), Abaddon (even though he's older than the concept of race), annnd I can't recall anybody else

then there's Pen, who I don't know the race of, but I'm pretty sure she's not exclusively white. I've debated making her latina because she was originally my persona and, even though I wasn't raised in the community, I still consider my being latine to be a small part of myself, even if I don't consider myself educated and experienced enough to speak for latine people. but I also don't want to feed into "ooh hot-tempered spicy latina" stereotypes because she IS very angry, at least her younger self before she mellows out and matures is. if any of my latine friends have input here I would appreciate it

Jacob's family is orthodox Jewish (iirc) but as far as I can recall I don't have any Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, or Muslim folks. which is something I want to fix in the future because I realize my worldview is very centered in growing up around Christianity and, later, white atheism

I have some trans girlies- Juliet and Mariposa obviously, but also Leah, Blackberry, Roan (who also identifies as nonbinary), Velvet, Sid, Allister (who also identifies as nonbinary), Eleanor, annnd... I think that's it?

with trans guys I have Yellow, Eddie Jr, older Mads (who also identifies as nonbinary), Mint, Green, Coda (who also identifies as nonbinary), Dill (one of my sonas), Blueberry, and Red

for NBs we've got Roan, Minato, Allister, older Mads, Rath, Dude and Cupid (two of my sonas), Coda, and Andromeda

[girlfriendline]

disclaimer i may also completely ignore the result of this poll and flip a coin but i'd appreciate the input all the same

[crossbackpoke-check]

Here is cult leader Geno!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/31151726

thank you SO MUCH!!!! 😭🥰 this ask took so long to answer because i decided to find the other fics i had mentioned too and create a mini rec list (under the cut)

Blessed are the chosen by beggingwolf

cult leader geno fic. so good enough said i don’t want to spoil anything EXCEPT there is also a director’s cut which i personally am obsessed with because i love to know everything, ever

wine, flowers, & blood by malk1ns

the geno comes to take pittsburgh but doesn’t realize there’s already been a claim fic. oh my GOD i love this fic and the world building and there are so many small details that i want to chew on for hours

The Hockey Gods (Must Be Crazy) by Solarcat

ok this is the real reason this took so long. i was like SOMEWHERE there is a fic about how in a back alley wall in edmonton? winnipeg?? alberta??? there’s a shrine to wayne gretzky because he once took a piss there and if you’re having a shitty season you can leave an offering there to fix it but i COULD NOT find it and i tried every variation of looking for the longest time like. inputting random words into my bookmarks and then into the whole of the HRPF tag but WE FOUND IT

bonus (unmentioned in the original post but found while perusing my bookmarks):

omni devotione by CloudCover

They’d told him, at the beginning, that Sid was devout, an obedient follower of the old gods.

Still a child, Zhenya had laughed, careless and free of concern. “I’m Russian,” he’d said with a shrug. “We killed our gods.”

He knows better than to laugh now.

limned in gold by sebfish

It was tradition that anyone who made the team got called to meet the gods, and everyone knew what that meant.