#then he can get drafted or whatever

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

Hiii everyone, say, how do your Hawkes go go about sharing their estate? If they do it at all? Is everyone free to come and go or are they more private? Or do they only invite their LI to stay? I'm curious!! :)

[batsplat]

It's a thing I already knew but all your beautiful analysis really made obvious (to me) how much of a grudge holder vale is. That man is never letting it go he's gonna hold his grudges into his grave

you know, I do think this is an interesting issue, because I'm not sure this is true of all his grudges. just sticking here with the grudges he accumulated in his capacity as a competitor, rather than just his general approach to life or whatever... how you judge this will kinda depend on how you feel about the 'reconciliation' he's experienced with some of his rivals - and whether you read the whole thing as sincere or not. now, personally I reckon he still dislikes biaggi, but also you are allowed to just dislike people so I'll give him a pass for that. some of the others, I'm a little more convinced by the whole reconciliation schtick

let's get valentino's take:

interesting that he mentions those three together, isn't it? and like, he's still not messaging biaggi or inviting him to his home - "even with max" kind of tells you all you need to know - but the other two? they said some proper nasty things to each other over the years!! I mean, the casey rivalry, there's some remarks from both sides where quite frankly I think I would struggle just a touch to get over it

I don't know, obviously this could all be pr stuff, but I kind of feel like... y'know, why bother? it's 2022, you're retired, who gives a fuck? sure it's a good look to be all magnanimous, sure it can be a bit of a way of twisting in the knife to the guys left in the cold, but also, who would care if you don't play nice? I think especially with jorge, you surely don't need to do all that, inviting him to your home and dancing with him... (which, again, some of the spats those two had...) and with the casey rivalry, if there's one guy who's still hung up about what happened between the pair of them, it's obviously casey (speaking of blokes who can hold a grudge). maybe this is giving valentino too much credit, but personally I buy it's more or less sincere. there's nothing to really indicate he's still particularly bothered by any of their past disagreements - he's basically going for the 'all's fair in love and motorcycle racing' approach. he knows he was an asshole, he accepts they were assholes too, whatever, that's how these things work. he's generally a fan of drama in rivalries, unsurprisingly, and he was happy enough to contribute his fair share - but he does see it as fundamentally being part of the game

to point out the obvious, check out who he's left out: sete and marc. that's where he can't let go of the grudges... because it's not about the offence itself as much as it is about the betrayal. this is the thing with valentino, right, it's about what kind of bond you had with him. if you weren't his friend in the first place and then piss him off as a rival then, y'know, whatever. obviously he's going to be vicious in trying to get back at you, but also he's really not going to waste his time feeling too aggrieved by it. I mean, think about how all the bullshit between him and casey dropped off sharply post-2012... from valentino's end anyway. think about how jorge and valentino pretty quickly got on again whenever they weren't fighting for supremacy within yamaha. they weren't friends in the first place, then they were enemies for competitive reasons for a while there, then it's over and valentino is basically happy enough to call it bygones

but... if it's a certain kind of bond you had with him and then you wrong him... that little mental list of all his past grievances, all your past transgressions, that's where it comes in. that's where he ices you out. denies you any emotional warmth. ensures that any interaction going forward is conducted entirely on his terms. where even any public 'reconciliation' won't truly be sincere.... or, certainly he's not going to forget what happened. if something else happens... it's like you've always got the potential of triggering this lingering resentment, in a way, where all that past stuff is still primed and ready to be called upon. he certainly doesn't just let it go

or, as he puts it in his autobiography:

Biaggi and I never talk to each other. I mean, we've never had a real conversation, anything that's lasted more than the requisite time to insult each other or put each other down, in the nastiest way possible. In any case, I don't hate him. It's true, we've never been friends, but hatred is something different, and that's too serious a word to describe our relationship. Far too serious. No, we have a reciprocal antipathy. No doubt this is a result of what we do for a living and the fact that we both want to win every single time. And perhaps it's also a function of the fact that we have very different personalities and very different ways of seeing things. Still, I don't think this means we hate each other, as some journalists have written. I think I could feel hatred for someone, but only for someone far worse than anything Biaggi has done. For example, if I were betrayed by a friend, then, yes, I could hate him. But Biaggi will never betray my friendship for the simple reason that we are not, and never have been, friends. Our relationship is very clear: we compete on the track - outside the track, each goes his own way. You could say we detest each other cordially.

... I mean. he said it, not me. and given this book was first published in '05... biaggi can't betray his friendship because they were never friends... I'm not saying he's thinking about sete, but it has to at least be a possibility, right? he's talking about one rivalry here and refusing to even mention the other... and the one he's refusing to mention is the one where he was friends with the other bloke. I don't know, maybe that's reading too much into it! and anyway, even if this passage wasn't really about sete, it's obviously still revealing. "detest each other cordially" is essentially what he was doing with casey and jorge (or from his point of view in any case, not entirely sure they'd agree with that). the grudge comes when he feels let down by you... and then, yes, he'll never let it go

of course, he's willing to set aside his grievances for a while if there's sufficient motivation for him to do so. in 2009, when he had so definitively won that rivalry with sete, why bother kicking up a fuss? in 2016, quite frankly it was just too much, and it was getting to the point where it was obviously hurting him too. on the one hand there was the media furore that had been going on non-stop since sepang, on the other hand it was also hurting his own approach to racing. there's reports from the time how visibly aggrieved he still was in the first few races of the season, and it took until they got back to europe for him to... y'know, have fun again. it's not sustainable to be walking around with a constant dark cloud over your head and broadcasting burning resentment towards your two main rivals. certainly not for someone like valentino - he needs to be having fun! the slight rapprochement needed to happen, in a way, because otherwise those years would have been even worse for everyone involved. but that doesn't actually translate to forgetting any of those grudges. this is about convenience more than anything else

goes to show, really... most of the time he doesn't take these things personally. I talked about it a bit in this post, how maybe it's also something that changed over time for him: the question of whether he was willing to develop these kinds of bonds in the first place with competitors... because he does possess a certain level of self-awareness in terms of what these kinds of rivalries are like and what they do to interpersonal relationships. ideally, you don't want to be hurt by a friend like that, right? better not to have that kind of emotional attachment with your competitors in the first place. how unfortunate it'd be if all those years after sete the circumstances aligned for him to see a competitor as something like a friend again... because, after all, those are the only people who could betray him. those are the only people where he thinks he could truly hate them

[olasketches]

I know sukuna is often praised for his beliefs and the wisdom he "bestows" on others and as much as I love the guy and all the impactful dialogues he had with characters like jogo or yuuji, I also think he’s got to be the one of the most childish characters with mindset a of a 13 year old.

[icewindandboringhorror]

boy in silly sitting positions compilation

[congregation-of-the-spiral]

thinking about writing a jmart fic inspired by my original story. would y'all read it or nah

[can-of-slorgs]

Im dying at your tags on that last anon 😭😂 youre now the dr.sloth pinup artist that neopets needed

Not the title i wanted to craft for myself when i started this blog but hey, it brought us such good memories like

[travisdermotts]

to me morgan rielly has proved time and time again throughout these playoffs that he is the quarterback of this team

[sisterpaxton]

wilson......?

anyway can rob stop changing his character's backstories for two seconds because if foxy was otis's brother it would throw off the entirety of his established lore in rejects.

(this is on rob's official site btw 😑)

[moonchild-in-blue]

Oh mother, tell your children Not to do what I have done Spend your lives in sin and misery In the house of The Rising Sun

[diddlesnap]

I think there were some serious growing pains when katniss and peeta were starting to "grow close" again.

[tortoise-teapot]

i'm like a real good writer

[waywardsalt]

bellum x linebeck chapter summary drafts that won those polls:

chapter 8

chapter 14

chapter 20

[thewolfisawake]

Guiless Sentiment

How could something so beautiful be born from something so rotten?

That was the thought that thrummed through his mind as he remained holding the swathes. Life was not something Balmoral would consider himself close to. As a fae of winter, death had suited him far more. The bloodshed and upheaval in his wake was proof of that. Yet here life lie against him. Not one but two newborns grasping the surroundings they found themselves in. All the while he found himself marveling at them.

It had already been a day and a half and he was reluctant to part from them. As if there were no safety outside of his arms. As if the moment they were out of reach, misfortune was bound to befall them. For he knew this world was cruel...for was engraved in the flesh and blood that gave them form. And how he wanted nothing more than to shield them from this cruel world.

These thoughts plagued Balmoral besides an unprecedented peace as the babes warmed against his skin. How he wanted to dote on these gifts from his beloved. The awe that perhaps this love could flourish. The thoughts that swarmed how he wanted to give them the world itself. For if the world was cruel, he'd drown it with his love. Tear the heavens and rend the hells if he must to give it all to them.

The intensity of his feelings had only ever been this strong with one other. And that was the one that only just left his side. Balmoral knew the atrocities he would commit for the sake of his love. How he'd incur even his beloved's wrath if it meant he would live. If it meant he could be happy. Balmoral knew in his heart he'd do all within his imagination and those beyond his comprehension for him. For the sake of that person, he'd betray even his principles and self. How frightening, how destructive was that sickness he called love. Yet Balmoral regretted not one moment of it.

Warmth so feeble yet prominent besides the enchanting fluttering heartbeats against his skin only furthered the affection that welled in his own near still heart. He could see the tufts of dark locks and prominence of vermilion in their eyes. Oh how they reminded him of his love. How he wished that they would inherit from the radiance that was Mhoirbheinn rather than him. Because they deserved to shine like the brilliance of the sun rather than reflect its beauty like the moon.

"All speak of you as heirs. Merely the continuance of my rule born of bloodshed and deceit and fraught with strife," Balmoral spoke, his voice gentle so not to alert anyone else to the conversation. He held them closer, "I apologize for reasoning and hardship I brought you to. But I will not view you as mere heirs. Despite being the successors of pawns, I will see to it you will live as you see fit. No fae, no beast, no man or god could deprive you of that."

He gave a gentle yet devout kiss atop their heads, "And may the sins of your fathers never befall you. While these hands have been sullied and only continue to steep in his misdeeds, you are innocent of those schemes. Even if it takes my humiliation or last breaths, I would shield you from it."

Open eyes with a clarity that matched the eyes that he fell for watched him as he shifted around. He held them aloft as if to offer them to the heavens, "And to you, children of those born loveless, you will never be forsaken. For if the world is of malice and ruthlessness, I will crown you in benevolence and love. All this I swear to you both."

Slowly Balmoral brought them close as he whispered to them a fae's most treasured possession as the first show of devotion to those innocent of this world. A dedication to the union between himself and his beloved. A promise of shattering a cruel cycle.

[ninjagotohell]

I just read a whole wacky thread of people arguing which parent was bad Garmadon or Misako and I’m no longer scared of the Misako defenders

[epickiya722]

Every time I see Midoriya losing in a poll or something it tells me that the world isn't appreciating or ready for a protagonist like him.

[yuwuta]

i just read the test drive fic with yuuta and i screamed when there was just hashtags after his text 😭😭 loved it so much istg, I'm praying you get the chance to work on a pt2 soon but no rush, I'm enjoying your other posts, I'm so excited for the valentine's one!!! 💗💗

there will be more to the story, i just can't promise when i'll post it because i'm still figuring out how to frame it? i've tried writing the mirrored conversation w/ yuuta telling megumi, toge, and gojo about your marriage, but it doesn't feel right LOL so i'm shifting gears to more about reader and yuuta potentially navigating their divorce? which is really about me figuring out how yuuta wants to tell you that he wants to stay married 😭😭