#this is your fault jorge

[reya-eats-art]

If you're new hereeee,,,,, welcome to the fridge!

Anyways,

Listened to EPIC while drawing this for the whole 3hrs,,,, hm.. i have come to the realization that maybe this is what EPIC does to people...

[psychicbluebirdmiracle]

Considering the fact clock ticking noises freak me slam out love in paradise is amazing at giving me a heart attack

[popcornzippy]

I know that nobody watches motogp but fuck Jorge Martín for not even bothering to check on the rider he crashed out before bawling about losing a championship due to his own hubris

[a-dargon]

WHY DOES THE MUSICAL ABOUT THE ANCIENT GREEK TRAGIC EPIC HAVE TO BE TRAGIC DAMN IT

[theceaselessidiot]

It basically boils down to this:

Just a heads up,

If the lionesses win tomorrow, it puts the women’s game on a stage it’s never been on before.

If Spain wins, it puts us 10 years behind and sets a precedent that it’s okay to be an abusive coach in the women’s game and that women’s safety, security, working conditions and mental health do not matter.

And before people start saying I’m anti Spain, just know that supporting England when I bleed Blaugrana is the worst thing for me to do and the hardest choice because the girls of Spain deserve better.

[a-bottle-of-tyelenol]

I love reading Eurylochus analysis but I don’t see people mentioning the beginning of Puppeteer all that often.

Eurylochus starts that song by immediately trying to tell Odysseus about what he did. Immediately. I know we like to characterize Eurylochus as cowardly (mostly because that’s how Jorge describes him and how he’s described in the Odyssey), but I think it says a lot that Eurylochus didn’t try to hide or pretend as if this hadn’t been his fault. He didn’t wait for Odysseus to confront him about it or try to avoid taking responsibility. It’s rather brave imo that he tried to say something and only didn’t because his captain ordered him not to.

I think a lot about the timeline of EPIC and how entering the lair of Scylla likely wasn’t that long after Puppeteer. Odysseus says they’ve been away from home for “about twelve years or so” and then there’s the obvious discrepancy of Odysseus telling Circe the same thing— explained away by it being a simple mistake on Jorge’s end. If we go by the likelihood that it hadn’t yet been twelve years when they met Circe and that Ody was lying, there’s a rough two-ish year period before Eurylochus actually tells the truth.

To some, this might be indicative of his cowardice, a show that he wouldn’t actually tell the truth and would prefer to hide away his greatest mistake for as long as he can manage.

I disagree. I think this could indicate a couple other things, though; namely that this is proof Eurylochus changed his perspective and decided to listen to Odysseus. Mutiny could only happen because Eurylochus realized his mistake in not believing Odysseus not just once, with the windbag, but twice when Odysseus went to save their men on Circe’s island. Three strikes, you’re out and Eurylochus is not that kind of man— side note: it isn’t hypocritical to change your viewpoint and then criticize someone for adopting your old one btw, it’s just how people function.

Different Beast does imply this a bit, but I think the fact that Eurylochus waited so long to tell Odysseus about the windbag is much more blatant. After all, Odysseus told him to wait, and he did. To me, it seems like Eurylochus read between the lines of Ody’s order (go make sure the island is secure, there’s only so much left we can endure) and took it to mean “wait to tell me when things have settled and we aren’t on the brink of dying”.

Which leads to the second implication, why did Eurylochus choose this moment? Obviously, he didn’t know the nature of Scylla or the danger that they were in, but what about this moment in particular left Eurylochus feeling secure enough to tell Odysseus? Well, the obvious answer is the ruthlessness Odysseus showed in Different Beast showing that they’ve reached that point of power and being able to defend themselves even from monsters that have slain so many sailors.

But another option could be the idea that Scylla was their “last stop” before going home. It’s a bit unclear if this remains true in EPIC, but in the Odyssey, Scylla and Charybdis are right next to each other and the trick is that you have to pick your poison— do you want to die to the whirlpool monster or the six-headed one? What is clear in EPIC is that Ithaca is just past Charybdis, meaning that Scylla, in theory, could’ve been their final stop before reaching Ithaca had Mutiny not happened. There is a very real possibility that they might not have gone to the first island they found if Odysseus hadn’t been knocked unconscious. They still might have just because they were hungry, but it can be difficult to tell which is fate and which is the result of man’s actions.

Either way, I think that a lot of people tend to gloss over the fact that it’s very apparent Eurylochus was going to tell Odysseus what happened as soon as he could and only didn’t because Odysseus told him to wait. It’s a very interesting aspect of his character to me and I think it reveals a lot in terms of his character motivations and how it contrasts to Odysseus’ perception of him throughout the show.

[pitchsidestories]

New Romantics (2) II Grace Clinton x Bronze!Reader

part 1 I masterlist I word count: 2485

summary: England looses at home and you feel like it's your fault, but your girlfriend Grace Clinton and your older sister Lucy Bronze are there for you. Despite that you've a decision to make which could change your life.

a/n: Hi, quite a few of you wanted to see a part 2 of this, we hope you enjoy it just as much as part 1. Plus, the oneshot was written before the announcement of Lucy Bronze leaving the club. 💔

The last bit of energy left your body once the game ended. You had been on a high with the English national team so this result was more than just disappointing. You felt deflated. Angry and sad and everything in between.

It was an important game that you just lost against France. It was in front of a home crowd and in front of your whole family. You wanted to disappear, not talk to anyone for some time.

Grace approached you when you were still standing on the pitch, scenes from the play replaying in front of your inner eye again and again. You losing the ball in a dangerous situation right in front the penalty area. Why did you not pass faster? Why did you not play a long ball out?

“Y/n? Your family is over there, let’s say hi to them…“ Graces voice was soft next to your ear.

She pointed to the stands but you refused to look. Tears welled up in your eyes at the mention of your family.

“I can’t. I disappointed them, Grace…“, you sniffed.

Grace gently took your hand into hers, rubbing circle with her thumb: “You didn’t. They’re your family, they’ll want to see you.“

You pulled back from her: “But I don’t want to see anyone right now.“

“Y/n.“, she said but you were already headed towards the changing rooms so you missed your Lucy approaching Grace with a frown.

“Where’s my sister, Grace? Our nephew and niece wanted to say hi to her.“

“She went to the changing rooms already.“, the young midfielder replied truthfully, but slightly hurt.

Without missing a beat, Lucy walked determinedly towards the players tunnel.

“Y/n!“ You winced as she called your name and slammed open the door.

You knew what would follow. And you really did not need a lecture right now.

“What?! Leave me alone, Lucia!“, you yelled at her, standing up from the wooden bench that you had been sitting on.

“No!“

You glared at each other for a moment until you finally gave in first. You sighed and whispered: “I can’t go back out there…“

“Our family is waiting. Mum and Dad want to see you.“

“They want to see me? After this game? The second goal for France was so my fault…“ Scepticism outweighed the disbelief in your voice.

Lucy rolled her eyes: “Can you calm down? This is not your first football game. Mistakes happen, there are ten of us on the field who are supposed to help you in these situations.“

“No but… It was in front of our family. And what if Sarina doesn’t call me up anymore after his?“, you asked. Your thoughts were running wild with your greatest fears.

“That’s just football, y/n.”, your older sister shrugged. In a more uplifting tone, she continued:” And Sarina was talking to mum earlier about how happy she was with your debut.”

“She did? Really?”, you looked up at her surprised.

“Of course she did. You played great except for that one second.”, Lucy answered, there was a softness to her voice now which wasn’t here before. The older defender knew what she was talking about, her career had a lot of highs and a few lows too and mistakes were made along the way. They were a part of the beautiful game.

“A second which mattered.”, you whispered heartbroken.

“This is like arguing with a wall.”, Lucy rolled her eyes.

Your brother entered the changing room, glancing at her amused:” Weird, she reminds me of your younger self.”

“I wasn’t like this at all!”, the Barcelona player protested.

“Yes, you were and are bad at loosing games.”, he reminded her.

“Lies.”, she spat out.

“You know it’s true.”, Jorge argued. The older sister wouldn’t agree to it, but her silence was enough for him. Lucy and you were in some ways more similar than you would admit. Sometimes it scared her how much you reminded her of her younger self she thought she let behind. The defender saw your insecurities, and ambition and saw her young adult reflected in your behaviour.

Right behind Jorge were your nephew and niece.

The little girl came to you, her face beaming:” Look auntie Grace gave me this.”

“What’s that?”, you asked her irritated.

“It’s for you. Gracie said to give it to you.”, she declared.

“Thanks. That’s sweet of her.”, you sighed.

“And she’s waiting.”, your niece stated seriously.

When she and her brother were born you were relieved because it meant you weren’t the youngest in the family anymore. But you also felt a responsibility, to be more grown up, be a good example for them.

“Uhm little one? Are you very sad that we lost?”, you questioned her cautiously.

“No, next game you’ll win.”, the little girl shook her head fiercely. There was a certainty in her voice which warmed your heart.

“The next game is against them again.”, you remembered.

“Then you can try again.”, she grinned at you.

“Hi, you two.”, Grace stopped in front of you nervously.

“Grace, hi.”, you greeted her.

“Can I give you a hug now or is it too early for that?”, your girlfriend wanted to know.

“No, I’m ready for a hug.”, you told her. A relieved smile was on her lips while she bent down to kiss you, before wrapping her strong warms around you.

“Thank you, Grace.”, you muttered gratefully, as you inhaled her familiar scent of warmth and home.

“You’re welcome.”, she replied.

“I think I needed that.”, you acknowledged.

Your girlfriend studied your face with worry: “You can always come to me, not only for hugs you know? I hate when you’re too hard on yourself.“

“I know. But it just feels like shit when you’re partly responsible when your team loses… during your debut too.“ You tried to avoid her gaze by looking down at your shoes.

“You already played once for England so it’s not really your debut, love…“

You sighed, obviously she was right. “You know what I mean. Playing from the start… at home.“

Grace nodded slowly: “Sorry, of course.“

“But everyone’s been nothing but nice to me and it feels all wrong!“, you complained. You blinked back a few tears.

Lucy appeared on your side again with a deadpan expression: “No, that’s just how a team sticks together.“

You slowly started to get frustrated with your sister. It seemed like she refused to understand your point of view.

“I just feel like I don’t deserve it, you know?“

“Oh I know.“, she replied and you paused for a second, surprised.

“Luce…“

She rolled her eyes once again: “Also Jorge had to remind me.“

“I’ll let you two talk alone, in peace.“, Grace said quietly, almost ducking out of the conversation.

Gratefully, you squeezed her hand: “Thank you, Grace.“ Turning back to Lucy, you continued: “He had to remind you of…?“

“That I was just like you when I was younger. I still hate losing obviously but I don’t dwell on my mistakes that long anymore.“, Lucy revealed reluctantly.

You considered your sister for a moment: “How did you do it?“

“Losing and losing and losing again.“

“What? Really?“, you asked.

Lucy nodded solemnly: “Yes, one day you’ll get it.“

With a small smile you noted: “Also Graces hugs are helping.“

“Of course they are.“ Another eye roll, a defense mechanism as you knew.

You grinned: “Hey, do I have to remind you of Ona comforting you after the lost World Cup Final?“

“Shut up.“

“Never.“

Lucy grimaced, sticking out her tongue: “Be nice or I’ll make you rewatch your failure again!“

“Nooo.“, you drawled with a laugh.

Bickering with your sister always made you feel better.

“Don’t fight. I already missed her smile.“ Grace had reappeared with a kiss on your cheek.

Lucy shrugged: “That’s how you show love in the Tough-Bronze household, Grace!“

“That doesn’t sound very pleasant.“, Grace wrinkled her nose.

You took you girlfriends hand in yours: “Let’s leave, Grace.“

“Okay.“, she complied happily.

“Fine, but say hi to our parents!“, your sister called after you.

“I’ll!“

“Good girl!“

“Hi, everyone.”, you waved at your mum and dad, unsure what else to do.

“Hello y/n. We’re so proud of you.”, your mum hugged you, and pressed a kiss to your heated cheek.

“Thanks, mum.”, you answered quietly.

“The next time you’ll win against the French, I can feel it in my bones.”, your dad winked at you, he hoped this would make you smile, because he hated to see his children especially his youngest sad.

“Your granddaughter thinks so too.”, you responded with a small smile.

“And she must know it, trust me.”, your brother hummed.

“We’ll see next week.”, you said earnestly.

The next day you felt nervous. Sarina Wiegman has asked to have a conversation with and even though you remembered Lucys words from yesterday where she said that the England Coach was full of praise about you in front of your mum, there was a little voice inside your head telling you it must be bad news from her.

“Ah, thanks for coming y/n, sit down.”, Sarina looked up delighted, nodding into the empty chair opposite from where she was sitting.

Like you expected the Dutch woman came straight to the point, leaving all the nice English necessities at the door:” When you were involved in the own goal, you were not mentally in the game, right? You seemed distracted for a second.”

“Yes, I promise this won’t happen again. To be honest I was thinking about an offer I got.”, you promptly confessed. There was no use in being dishonest in front of Sarina who with her glasses seem to look straight into your heart.

“I see.. if you want to talk about it.”, she offered kindly.

“Sorry, I haven’t told anyone yet, first I thought it was a joke.”, you continued, feeling the weight of your shoulders getting a little less now that you were speaking the truth.

“I think you haven’t seen how much you’ve improved over the past few months. I’m sure whatever offer it’s, it wasn’t a joke.”, she remarked thoughtfully.

“It’s Barcelona.”, you retorted hastily.

“This is a big step.”, the Blonde observed.

“It’s but I’m not sure if I’m ready for that yet.”, you admitted truthfully.

“I trust that you’ll figure out what’s best for you, you’re still young.”, the Dutch reminded you warmly.

“But my family, friends and girlfriend are in England.”, you listed your personal reasons for a stay in London.

“Maybe you should talk to them about it. You need to get this out of your head.”, Sarina suggested.

“I’ll start with Grace and then Lucy.”, you decided.

You wanted to talk to your girlfriend about it as soon as possible, so when you both were getting ready to got bed, you chose to open up.

“Gracie?“

“Yes?“, she replied, slipping into her PJs.

“Can we talk? You might want to sit down for it…“ You grimaced, this sounded unnecessary dramatic.

Grace paused for a moment, taken aback but she quickly caught herself.

“Oh, sure. What is it?“ She sat down cross-legged on the mattress.

You could not look at her. “Barcelona offered me a contract.“

“Oh, wow. That’s amazing for you, babe.“, you heard your girlfriend say happily.

You looked up at her in confusion. Did she not hear you? Or did she not understand what that meant?

“Yes, but… you wouldn’t mind?“

Your girlfriend watched you with soft eyes: “We’re both football players, I know what it means to be able to play for Barcelona. If you want to go, I’ll support you. We can make it work.“

It was hard to find words for what you were feeling after hearing these words from her.

You swallowed around the lump in your throat: “You’re the best, Grace.“

“Don’t even worry about it.“, she smiled.

“I love you.“

“I love you too.“

After your surprisingly successful talk with Grace, you decided to keep the conversation more casual with your sister.

You were on your way to the stadium for the second match against France when you dropped into the seat next to Lucy: “Luce?“

She gave you an annoyed look, she was currently in a video call with her girlfriend.

“Since when are you sitting next to me? Scared of the game?“, she teased.

“Not about the game, it’s about an offer I got…“

Your sister perked up, ignoring Ona on the screen. You knew she was silent to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“An offer, huh?“

“Yes, Grace said she would support me going there.“, you smiled innocently.

Lucy frowned: “Where is it?“

“Barcelona…“

“What?! Of course you’re taking that offer!“, she commanded, her voice a bit too loud.

You grimaced uncomfortably: “What if I’m not good enough, Lucy?“

She shook her head with reassuring calmness: “They wouldn’t want you if you weren’t.“

“True… so you wouldn’t mind me joining your team?“

A smirk appeared on your sisters face: “I would force you to if I could.“

“Alright but I might have move in with Ona and you for a couple of days until I have an apartment.“, you smiled at her.

“Don’t worry, we’ll survive.“, she shrugged.

Ona called from Lucys phone screen: “My favourite Bronzey will move to Barca?! I’m so excited!“

“Me too, Oni.“, you grinned back at her while Lucy angled her phone towards you.

“Excuse me?!“, Lucy asked her girlfriend in mock offense.

“Can’t wait to see you again and meet the team soon… but we got a game to win now.“, you told Ona.

Lucy took the phone back and with an apologetic shrug said into the camera: “You heard her.“

“I did. Waiting patiently for your return, amor.“, Ona waved her goodbye through the phone.

You wrinkled your nose, looking at your sister: “Disgusting.“

Lucy just elbowed you in the side for your comment and told Ona: “I’ll be back before you know it. With or without my sister.“

She warningly raised an eyebrow, making sure you understood her threat but instead you just burst out in giggles.

The relief you felt after your talks lasted throughout the game. This topic stopped weighing your game down, your were back to your usual self and profited from a change of tactics.

It was a much better game that you won 2:1.

You jumped into Grace arms once the game was over. “We won, Grace!“

“You had an amazing game!“, your girlfriend cheered, pressing a kiss to your cheek.

You basically vibrated with excitement. Wrapping your arms around her neck, you kissed her on the lips in front of the whole stadium.

Lucy stood to the side, watching this display with her arms crossed in front of her chest. She smirked at her coach who stood right beside her: “Young love, eh?“

“She’s not staying, right?“, Sarina asked.

“No but their love can handle this.“

Your feedback is always appreciated. <3

[fans4wga]

[ID: tweet from WGA member Jorge A. Reyes @/JorgeCoolReyes that says, "Lastly for our @sagaftra sibs: trade press will TRASH your deal, in an effort to make you think a strike wasn't worth it. THAT IS A TACTIC to discourage labor from striking.

Horseshit. You wouldn't have won the gains you you did w/o WHAT YOU DID. So take a bow. Ignore the bs." end ID]

Remember that the trades like Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, and Variety will try to spin the strike narrative negatively in the coming weeks and months. They'll say things like it's WGA/SAG-AFTRA's fault the strikes were dragged on; that the unions are responsible for the California economic downturn; that unions are bad for the workers.

But just look at the results of their deals—from unparalleled minimum wage increases to historic AI limitations. Strikes work. Unions work. Counter the false narratives whenever you see them.

[general-yasur]

Jorge x Cryptor is a thing!

it was a dark and rainy night. me and @general-yasur​ were putting Cryptor and her oc Jorge together like playing with dolls. offhandedly, I say something like “they’d be great together”. and now here we are

cute drawing by yasur :3

[moonshynecybin]

sorry what exactly happened in Argentina?

repsol-ariel did two gifests about it here and here and the race is actually online 4 free HEREE but as vale says in that podcast, marc made a stupid tire choice and vale passed him, then marc got a lil overzealous tryin to catch him again and crashed out pretty hard. now where vale and i disagree in terms of interpretation of these events is uh. notable. because vale seems to think that marc gunned it on the inside (not pictured in the gifsets but they DO make contact right before that, 45:37 is the timestamp on youtube) so he could divebomb vale and knock him out of the race on purpose. like a nascar bump and run. which um no i dont think that is correct my man. in fact i think that is somewhat unhinged ! like the contact/crash is marc's typical slightly criminal overeager bully-on-track behavior and IS marc's fault imo but like marc is being the same bitch he's always been. brother it happens. vale's statement also. interestingly 2 me. sounds a lot like what pecco said about alex a couple weeks ago. funny, that !

but fr its essentially the first sign of on-track tension between them for the 2015 season, and also pretty emblematic of marc's season as a whole. The 2015 honda had a difficult, unforgiving chassis and marc crashed a lot more than normal (part of which was him trying to override it), which along with some injuries pretty much took him out of title contention for the year (the yamaha was also just really good ! vale and jorge were slayingggg). but vale being like YEAH marc tried to KILL ME and then KISSED MY ASS for the rest of the year despite HATING ME for the rest of the season is like. a really crazy thing to say to me because the NEXT RACE was jerez 2015, where he made a bunch of tongue in cheek gay sex jokes about him + marc AND was just generally VERY sweet the whole time ! like he was pretty concerned about marc's hand injury! (links HERE and here and here and theres more i cant find but crucially its all initiated by VALE. not marc) so i think there's some realllll confirmation bias coloring his memory here because as we know if vale hates your ass he'll just cut you the fuck out. and he demonstrably hadnt done that yet. like look at this image. look at the person fujoing out in the back. this was two weeks after argentina !!!!

[zer0brainc3lls]

Newtmas headcanons perhaps?

Ik my requests are closed but I got this awhile ago and I just decided screw it and ima answer it (sorry I’m so late) but srsly my requests are closed ☹️ also this post is RIDICULOUSLY LONG. BE WARNED.

- when they were in the scorch newt struggled with all the walking and running because of his leg, Thomas would call for breaks saying he’s tired when really he’s fine and just noticed Newt was having a hard time

- Thomas has leg strength, Newt has arm strength

- they silently communicate ALL the time, glances, body language etc. they don’t need to be vocal to know what the other wants to say and it’s extremely annoying for everyone around them 😭 example:

Jorge: *proposes plan*

Thomas: *looks at newt*

Newt: *looks at Thomas*

Jorge: what are you two doing?!

Thomas: yeah ok we’re in

Jorge: what do you mean we? Newt can speak for himself-

Newt: no I’m in?

Thomas: yeah Jorge he’s in what are you talking about?

Jorge: what are YOU talking about??

- Thomas loves to read, Newt loves to write. Newt rarely writes anything fictional, often only writing about his day but likes writing poetry and Thomas loves reading Newts poetry ☹️

- when Newt got the flare Thomas wrote down any symptoms he knew about it and asked Brenda about it as well, even taking posters that were hung up for his own reference.

- when Newt got the flare he would sometimes try to start arguments over petty things that didn’t matter, not realising his anger wasn’t his own and Thomas would just look at him with a sad smile :( example:

Newt: your a bloody idiot sometimes you know that?! WHY would you-

Thomas: *looks away*

Newt: … sorry, I didn’t mean-

Thomas: I know. it’s okay, it’s not your fault.

- Thomas often looks for pain medication on supply runs for Newts leg, he tells Newt he just found it when really he spent ages searching for it

- sometimes leading the group is a lot for Thomas, he turns to Newt to make decisions sometimes. Newt gives suggestions on what to do and how to say it since he was second in command for so long and saw how alby ran the show.

- Thomas LOVES Newts hair, any chance he gets he’s constantly touching it, burying his face in his hair, if it got kinda long he would plait small bits of it.

- despite Thomas’s leg strength he’s a TERRIBLE swimmer, never learnt how. Newt however? Despite he’s leg he’s surprisingly good, he learnt in the lake at the glade and when they got to the safe haven he INSISTED that Thomas had to learn, for his safety of course. (He really just wanted to see Thomas in board shorts but he never told him that)

- Thomas is an absolute SUCKER for Newts freckles/moles, in the glade Newt wore lots of tank tops and shorts since he was out in the sun all day gardening so he developed large freckles and moles alllll over his body and Thomas CANNOT get enough!!! Thomas kisses them all the time and Newt pretends to be annoyed (but he secretly loves it)

- how they got together was a whole gay mess 😭 example:

Newt: *staring longingly as per usual*

Thomas: *catches him and stares back*

Thomas: uhh-

Newt: *kisses him*

Newt: so uhm.. are we-?

Thomas: YES. YES PLEASE.

- they aren’t super massive on nicknames, but they have a few!!

Newt: Tommy, my love (if they are alone), love

Thomas: babe, honey (if they are alone), hun

- they both love their slight height difference, TO THEM ITS NOT SLIGHT OK!!

- in the scorch (after they got together but they hadn’t told anyone yet) they held hands. All. The. Time. If they were outside in the and Thomas would say “I’m just helping Newt through the sand” and if they were inside Newt would say “Tommy here is just helping me with my bum leg, isn’t that right Tommy?” (Everyone knew but said nothing, they thought they were soooo sneaky)

- before they got together they would insult eachother (never going over the line of course) ALL THE TIME. Like playfully, example:

Newt: your a shuckfaced idiot y’know that Tommy?

Thomas: oh really? Well you’re a hotheaded shank!

Newt: me?! Hotheaded?! Oh please- we both know who’s the hotheaded one!

Thomas: I hate you so so much

Newt: I hate you more!

Brenda: do you two need a minute or..?

- I have said this once but I’ll say it again, Thomas is so atrociously down bad for Newts accent. Like DOWN. BAD. Newt is unaware of this because Thomas has made it his own personal mission to hide it but Minho knows and uses it against him all the time 😭 example:

Minho: THOMAS PLEASE!!

Thomas: NO. I WONT DO IT.

Minho: I’ll tell Newt.

Thomas: … wait no-

Newt *walks over : tell me what?

Thomas: NOTHING BABE!!!

Newt: … ok then… bye love :) *walks off*

Thomas: *red in the face* … fine.

- another thing similar to this, Thomas blushes super easily but Newt has no clue for awhile and thinks he just has naturally rosy cheeks, Minho ofc exposes him example:

Minho: Thomas doesn’t have rosy cheeks

Newt: what? Yes he does? *holds Thomas’s face to show Minho, totally oblivious* see! Right there!

Thomas: *mouthing to Minho* Don’t. You. Dare.

Minho: *LAUGHING HIS ASS OFF* Newt.. take your hands off his face and look again!

Newt: *takes his hands off Thomas face and watches as his face goes back to normal* … *LAUGHS WITH MINHO*

Thomas: SLIM IT BOTH OF YOU

- Newt is obsessed with Thomas’s hands, his hands are almost to big for him and don’t fit his proportions but are scar free and much softer then Newts, Newts hands are the right size but covered in scars and calluses and Newt constantly traces along Thomas’s knuckles, palms, fingers you name it. Soft hands are a rarity in the glade and the scorch. Newt tells him how nice his hands are constantly 😭

- Newt is very confident, and is the more flirty one and is a lot more sarcastic Thomas however is a fucking sap but SOMETIMES he matches Newts flirting and Newt is just stunned to silence

- if Newt got the cure he would’ve gained some of his memory’s back, and Thomas still has some of his memory’s from the changing so they piece together story’s that are incomplete in each others heads :) they write it all down in the unlikely case of them forgetting

- picnic FANATICS. Picnics to them is serious business in the safe haven to them and they do NOT PLAY. They have multiple blankets they bought/made made, baskets, they reserve afternoons/early mornings to have them and secret spots they go to

- Newt hates sleeping in a room alone. Absolutely hates it. Like his whole life he’s always slept near another person: in the bunker as a toddler to young child, the massive shared room while with wicked, everyone sleeping close by in the glade etc. so when they made it to the safe haven and he had the option of privacy he was STUNNED. Thomas let Newt share a hut with him and they have lived together ever since

- When Newt got the flare Thomas never changed how he treated him, everyone else got sorta wary but Thomas never doubted his abilities or judgment. Never.

- when Minho was taken Newt and Thomas clung to each other for support, Newt lost his best friend and Thomas learning how to lead on his own and also losing a friend. They’re bond became unbreakable and they learnt to depend and trust each other

- Newt trusts Thomas but as we all know he jumps into plans or ideas with little to no direction and Newt will sometimes have to make Thomas take a step back and think about what they are doing 😭

- as the months went on Thomas got more and more stressed about finding Minho, feeling that it was his responsibility to find him. Often pulling all nighters or not sleeping for days without even realising, example:

Thomas: *in the map room muttering to himself, deep purple eye bags from not sleeping for almost 2 days*

Newt: *walks in* hey Tommy.. do you know what time it is?

Thomas: uhm.. *doesnt answer and continues to do whatever he’s doing on accident*

Newt: What day is it.

Thomas: uhhh Monday? *turns to face Newt wobbly* why are you up so late? Its 1am?

Newt: Tommy it’s Wednesday, and it’s 4am. Come to bed, now.

Thomas: *stunned for a second before turning away* I’ll be there in a minute babe I just need to-

Newt: Thomas. Now. *pulls him out of the map room and forces him to sleep*

- Thomas is Newts human calculator, any math problem ever Newt will just go “hey tommy what’s ——?” And Thomas will answer without hesitation because he’s just used to it by now, Newt could absolutely do it if he paused and took a second but Thomas doesn’t need to pause or think about it he just answers 😭 it’s effortless for him

- Thomas is the worlds biggest book worm, in the glade they didn’t have many books and in the scorch books were a rare find but in the safe haven they had a bit of selection and he was ECSTATIC. Newt got him a bunch of books one time and a week later he had finished most of them

- Newt is super flexible, Thomas forgets this a lot until Newt can fit himself into tight spaces with ease meanwhile Thomas is in no way flexible and Newt also forgets this so Newt will go into a vent or something with no effort meanwhile Thomas is STRUGGLING

- Thomas and newt get into petty arguments (they aren’t actually fighting) on how to say things/spell things 😭 example:

Newt: it’s COLOUR. C O L O U R.

Thomas: ITS COLOR?!

Newt: says the boy that spells mum as m o m

Thomas: THATS HOW ITS SPELT?!

- if they are ever going up onto high places, Thomas always gives Newt a boost and then Newt will pull Thomas up

- Newt makes fires, Thomas gathers the wood and stuff to start it

- Thomas covers for Newt all the time, often forgetting to cover himself and the only reason why he hasn’t gotten hurt is because Newt does exactly the same thing for Thomas

- don’t get me wrong, they are both extremely strong and capable alone but TOGETHER?! ABSOLUTE UNIT. They know each others fighting styles, weaknesses, preferred weapons and where they keep they’re back ups 😭 they both steal eachother back up knives all the time

- they share most of they’re weapons but Thomas never takes Newts machete, it’s from the glade and very important to him and he keeps it on top shape and doesn’t like other people using it

- they aren’t huge on PDA but they 100% gravitate towards each other subconsciously, walking next to each other and holding hands, sitting next to each other, falling asleep on shoulders/laps etc they are almost always within ear shot of each other to the put of people asking one of them “where Thomas/Newt?” Instead of just trying to find them themselves because there’s a HIGH chance they both know where the other is example:

Jorge: Thomas do you know where-

Thomas: he’s getting food from frypan why?

Newt: *walks back over with two plates of food and passes a plate to Thomas* hey Jorge you need me?

- Newt loves giving words of affirmation, loves receiving physical touch, Thomas loves giving physical touch, loves receiving words of affirmation

- Thomas 100% opens and closes doors for Newt, and holds his hand getting out of cars :3 at first it was a joke and sorta teasing but it became a habit over time

- Newts the type of guy to sit as close as humanly possible to Thomas, if they’re with close friends their legs will literally be squished together and Newt will be holding his hand, god forbid they are alone 😭 legs fully draped across Thomas’s lap, tracing lines across Thomas’s palms while absolutely YAPPING. Thomas is just staring at him with big heart eyes going “uh huh” “yeah”

Anyways I hope you enjoyed my yap session

[shiggys-chapstick]

Get in the Water

Fem!Reader x RoR!Poseidon

16+

NO USE OF Y/N

TW/CW: TALK OF PHEROMONES AND CHEATING, SLIGHT DESCRIPTIONS OF SEX, GENERAL REVENGE, RAGE, AND VIOLENCE

Based off the song by Jorge Rivera-Herrans on TikTok

Word Count: 1.5 k words

The ocean is a fickle thing, and so are the deities that control it. From beauty and tranquility to savagery and destruction, the ocean can flip on a dime. Poseidon, God of the Sea, was the one responsible for that. His temper, his disgust for humans, his general distaste for everything that wasn't perfect, was easily seen as a reflection in the water.

They say that the ocean is composed of the Sea Goddess's tears, that she cried every time a life was lost to the ocean tyrant. You knew that Poseidon was dangerous, and that he was a bad man, but you couldn't help but love him. To you, he was kind, considerate, albeit cold most of the time you were in public together, but you couldn't fault him for his personality.

Though being the goddess of the sea, you didn't possess the ability to speak to the animals in your care, but you were able to read minds when thoughts were directed at you. Most of the time it wasn't a very useful power unless you were talking to an angry guppy, but it had its pros.

You resided in Poseidon's deep sea palace. While he took care of the more diplomatic measures, you ensured the safety of the ocean's inhabitants, fauna and flora and the like, including the servants and the nymphs. You hadn't seen much of your husband in recent months, but when you live forever, the human's concept of time is mere seconds for a god. You weren't worried about it, you thought you didn't need to be, but that's when you found him.

A few months ago...

Poseidon had told his wife that he would be in the heavens on official business, and to not worry about him if he was gone for an extensive length of time. This was not unusual for the god, seeing as he might as well have had his own palace in the heavens with how much he was there. If only he was honest about why he was going in the first place.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

The nymph that had tempted Hades before he married Persephone, Mynthe, had a sister, Meisha. Meisha was a beauty, kind and intelligent, as well as reserved, any god would have fallen for her, and they did. Meisha had a certain talent, releasing pheromones like a flower to attract her prey; it worked as a sort of aphrodisiac.

When Poseidon met Meisha, it was a few centuries ago, not long after you two were wed. Meisha had a large family. She was Mynthe's half sister, and the rest of her family wasn't Mynthe's problem. She needed to provide for them, but she didn't want to work for it, so what better way to care for her siblings then to live in a fucking palace. Meisha set her eyes on him, and her plan was set. She wanted the most powerful god wrapped around her finger, and she wanted the territory that came with him. She knew that with you in the way, the god would never fall for her on his own, and she wasn't powerful or influential enough to kill a goddess, so you were her main hindrance. She resorted to using her pheromones on the god, a slow, agonizing process for her.

The way Meisha's pheromones worked was that they enhanced her natural appeal and scent, making the victim's vision of her skewed, so she would be viewed as more sexually appealing to her prey, heightening the likelihood of them falling for her. To release the pheromones, it's not like a switch that she can turn on and off, she has to actively push it out of her body, which takes patience and precision, too much at one time and it could kill her.

When she met Poseidon, she started the process, releasing pheromones and flirting with him. Every time she saw him after their initial meeting, she would do the same thing, until Poseidon started seeking her out. Their rendezvous became more frequent, and more heated. Everything was going according to plan.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Poseidon knew something was wrong the moment he met this nymph. Something about her unsettled him. He missed his wife's company, but he found himself unwillingly drawn to her. Meisha was like a parasite in his brain, driving him to do things he would never normally do, like sleep with another woman.

He didn't understand it, to think of his wife, the only being other than himself that he had ever loved, which he would never admit aloud, was becoming revolting to him, while the nymph gained attractiveness and appeal in his eyes. She was everything he wanted, all that he needed. He didn't need his wife, wait, why would he think that? What was his wife's name again? All he knew was that it wasn't Meisha.

Poseidon lost himself in her essence, drowning in his own despair. He felt something was wrong, his subconscious telling him that these feelings were not his own, that he should distance himself at all costs, but his body wouldn't allow him too. Poseidon had never had a high sex drive, but when he was around Meisha, he only thought with his dick.

He couldn't let his wife find out.

Present...

You had missed your husband, but you knew he would return soon. That was until your good friend Aphrodite invited you to her palace to stay, she needed help with something or another. When you read about going to the heavens, all you could think of was surprising Poseidon.

You had packed your things and made your way to the celestial realm. You had gotten settled in at the palace and you had told Aphrodite about going to see your husband. She was ecstatic. She knew about your husband's infidelity and did not want you to be oblivious any longer, she just wanted to be a good friend.

That was when you caught your husband fucking that nymph whore. Shock and dread filled you in that moment, he was so caught up in the deed that he didn't notice the door open, but Meisha did, and she knew just how to break you. She looked you dead in the eye and smirked, and then started moaning louder, encouraging Poseidon's wild thrusts. She started pumping out pheromones, making you sick and making him insane, pumping inside her like he needed it to survive.

What you weren't aware of is that he did. If the prey refused the directed pheromones, they die. That's why Poseidon felt so conflicted, and his subconscious was sending you a message, telling you everything he had learned and everything he felt, and how he had no control.

Your sorrow turned to rage. You tore your husband off Meisha and threw your cloak at him so he could cover up. You broke Meisha's concentration as you grabbed her, and her pheromone spell broke apart, releasing Poseidon. He felt guilt for the first time in his life at that moment. He had hurt the one thing he truly loved in a way that shouldn't be forgiving. He was shell shocked.

You dragged Meisha to the rocky pier overlooking the sea, just outside of the celestial gates. The skies darkened with your approach, swirling clouds and thunder struck, Meisha realized that she underestimated you, forgot that you weren't just the ocean god's housewife, but that you were a god yourself, and that she had fucked with the wrong person.

You walked to the end of the ledge and threw Meisha on the rocky floor.

"Get in the water.." You muttered, your eyes turning from their calm E/C to a glowing red with your rage. Meisha just stared at you, too frightened to move.

"Get in the water." You spoke, still quiet, but this time more commanding. Meisha still didn't move, frozen like a deer in headlights.

"Or I'll raise the tide so high, your little village will all die. Get in the water."

She didn't move, but she spoke.

"Stop this, please."

"Get in the water." You stalked closer to her, grabbing her jaw harshly in your grip, pulling her face towards yours.

"I'll make tidal waves so profound, both your sisters and your brothers will drown."

"NO!" She squealed, getting up in your face.

"THEN GET IN THE WATER!" You shouted, your hair floating as torrential downpour came in waves as the tide did in fact start to rise.

"GET IN THE WATER!" You screamed at her, she flinched back, involuntarily crawling closer to the edge.

"Don't mistake my threats for bluff, you have lived more than enough. Get in the water."

Meisha was sobbing now, screaming in terror as you continued to get closer. She stood up, trying to escape you. She stumbled as she reached the edge, desperately looking behind her before looking back at you, but you were already in front of her. You shoved her off the edge.

"Get in the water."

[ray935sworld]

Child of divorce

Chapter 5: Italian delusions

Whole AU

"You can't actually be serious" Dani said as he stared at Vale. It had been 3 years now since the accusation and everything started. Dani had assumed he had heard everything now but this - this was something he couldn't accept. He refused to accept it.

"No, no. No. I'm sure of it." the Italian said. "You're - Vale, you accused my husband of having slept with Marc." he said in a serious tone.

He was very serious about everything that happened. He remembered seeing the public accusations against Jorge and feeling how his breath was stuck in his throat for a second.

He didn't believe it. He trusted Jorge blindly. He knew he would never do anything to destroy them and what they had no matter how much self sabotaging and insecurity of Jorge they had to face at the begging.

Years of a love, a child and a marriage had made Dani know Jorge inside and out. So he was confident to say that whatever the article was referring to was a lie.

Not even for a second he had considered it a real possibility, but reading the love of your life allegedly slept with someone else was still a pang to the heart.

It was gone after seeing Jorge panicking sprinting down to him and immediately bursting out "I swear I have never and will never sleep with Marc. Or any Marquez. Or any other man. Or woman. Or person in general! I have never and will never sleep with anyone except you! My husband! Who I love dearly and completly and so much that it makes me look like an idiot"

"It is not my fault you look like an idiot." he shot back with a rich laugh. "Your taste in fashion is doing that on its own already" he watched Jorge's shoulder fall in relief before he leaned down and kissed him "I love you" "Love you too, sweetheart"

Dani bit his lip as he stared at the Italian. He really much wanted to punch the older man. But he had to get to the bottom of this. All of this had stopped making sense the moment he found Marc with tears in his eyes infront of his motorhome sobbing that Vale had left him.

Him and David.

That was the moment Dani had lost the train of thoughts of the Italian completely. He had heard that the two were hitting a rough path. But Dani and Jorge had passed through so many by now that overcoming the pressure a championship battle bought seemed minor.

That was until Marc was a crying mess in his arms, sobbing about Vale calling David a bastard. And then the public accusation followed. Everything just seemed to be getting worst.

He had wanted to give Vale a piece of his mind back then. He was ready to rip him a new one and he would have - But it was Marc, pleading and crying not to confront Vale. Claiming it would just make everything worse, Dani had taken himself back. But now Vale was dragging Jorge - his husband, his family - into this. And that was enough to not stand by any longer.

So now they were here.

"You accused the father of my child to have betrayed me and our baby." Dani stated plainly. "You risked taking my sons father away. You are publicly accusing him of all this. Are you even slightly aware what panic you caused him? You damn well know that the public isn't excatly nice to him, you asshole. So why are you throwing him unnecessary to the wolf?"

He watched Vale gather his thoughts, clearly taking everything in. It took him a few seconds. But eventually he took a deep sign. He looked at the younger rider with a very serious expression.

"Dani, you are very dear to me. I appreciate our friendship and I am sorry that he keeps lying to you. They should be honest with us and just confess-" "I swear to God I will break your nose if you keep spilling that crap" "It's not crap!" "It is!"

Dani felt a little bit like he was arguing with his son. Except even Pedro could understand and see reason.

"Listen, Vale-" Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. He told himself. He needed to get to the bottom of this. "Why do you think David is not your biological son?"

"I- Fucking hell, Dani! Come on, you're one of the smart ones! Don't tell me you can't see it?" "Explain it to me." "Well first off, he was acting weird. Like this whole fucking time! And he was always hanging around you, Jorge, Dovizioso. Especially after a podium and stuff. He was way too close and touchy. Oh and with the Espargabros! Especially that Pol guy. They definitely had something going on."

Dani internally praid that whatever God was the right one would give him enough strength to this conversation.

"So you are telling me - a rookie and then newly crowned, pregant baby champion, that had a kid at 20 with literally his childhood hero, all while continuing to keep being on top in literally one of the most elite and dangerous sports in the world, was not acting like any other normal, rational human being? Because everyone else of us is 'normal'?"

He stared at him, hoping that the indicatory in his voice were everything Vale needed to realize what the younger Spaniard was trying to point to.

An excited nod later, Dani had to discover that he couldn't be more wrong.

"And because he was enjoying some time with his coworkers and making jokes, hugging them - he definitely slept with them?" "Yes! See?! Now you get it."

He stared at Vale, trying to remember that Jorge had made it a strict point to raise Pedro without violence. And he was sure that even if Pedro wasn't present right now, his husband would include smashing someone's head against a table in that statement.

"Okay, look-" he said, taking out a few pictures. He had to change tactics. He had hoped that he didn't had to use but well. "That's Pedro when he was 4 years old." "Very cute" "Thank you. David is around the same ago now."

He put another picture on the table only for Vale to scoff and take it in his hand. He turned it around and put it down. The picture of David, smiling happily in the camera was now facing the table, impossible for them to see.

Dani started at the gesture for a second then took the next photo out. "That's Jorge when he was 5. As you can see, he and Pedro look very similar-" He turned David's picture around, this time keeping his hand on it, to make sure Vale couldn't avoid facing his son even if it was just on paper.

"But Jorge and David look nothing a like. There are no similarities. No shared features. He looks completly different because they don't have matching DNA. Because they are not related."

"I am sure Marquez has whored enough around that he maybe even sure himself who the father is." "Now you're just straight up being rude." he shot back. "You don't know what to say so you're being an asshole to cover it up."

Before he could get another word in, he laid out the next and last picture. This time it was one of Luca. He was looking directly at the camera, his head slightly tilted, seemingly confused. He couldn't be older than 4. Vale seemed surprised but then rolled his eyes.

"Just - Look. Your own brother has so much similarities to David. The same smile. The same freaking head shape. And eyes and nose. Both have the same face. Just like you! Now look at them and tell me you really can't see the connection!"

Vale bit his lips. He looked from one picture to the other. For the first time since everything went down he looked at David. He looked at the boy properly. It was a picture only taken recently, David at 4 years old, playing in a parc. He was smiling, laughing.

Luca had taken the picture on one of their adventures together.

Vale stared at David for a long moment. Then he looked at the picture of Luca. Vale had taken the picture on one of adventures together when he had taken his brother to the local playground.

"You're right" he silently agreed and for a moment Dani was sure he was mistaken. "They do look a like. I - Of course. It explains so much-"

His voice was picking up.

"Why Luca was so distance after 2015. Why he kept going back to that asshole and the little bastard - He is David's father!" he exclaimed and with no hesitation as if he had spoken a widely known fact.

"The fuck you just said?" Dani asked, wondering if he just had a stroke or something.

"Look at the similarities! Just like you said! Luca is his father!" "Luca - Your -" He really didn't even know what to say to that. And hearing Jorge spill the most crazy thoughts ever since they've known each other made him think he had already heard everything.

"You're aware that Luca was just over 16 when David was conceived. Right?!" "Yes! So he was easy to manipulate. Poor boy and now he is stuck as a father to-"

And with that, Vale had managed to do what Jorge until now had failed to do. He found Dani's breaking point. The point where he lost his cool and was running out of patience at once.

Around half an hour later, Jorge got a call. He smiled when he read Dani's contact name and the picture to it. It was Dani, sitting in their garden with a newborn Pedro in his arm, grinning in the camera.

"Hola mi corazon" Jorge said, his voice filled with joy. "Where are you? Our little baby is-" "AM NOT A BABY!" he heard Pedro yell from what sounded like the other end of their home.

"YOU WILL ALWAYS BE OUR LITTLE BABY!" Jorge yelled back. He heard a huffing sound, that could either mean begrudging acceptance or frustration. But since their kid wisely chose not to continue arguing, he returned to the call with Dani.

"Anyway, OUR LITTLE BABY-! is missing his papa and I'm missing my husband. Where are you?" he asked. "I miss you too. I'm sorry but I will need some more time"

"Promise me not to freak out-" But this was never a good sign. "What did you do?" he asked. The anxiety in his voice clear as day. "I'm in the hospital but-" His heart sank for a moment. He didn't like it one bit when someone said that Dani was in the hospital.

"What? Why?" Of course he knew that PR events could take longer and he wasn't even angry. After all it wasn't Dani's fault

And if someone was willing to get away from the media as soon as possible, it was him.

He never did.

Not even when they were young and reckless and idiots that didn't understand what their feeling were really like and the world was telling them to be someone they weren't.

But now -

Now Jorge was remembering that it was Dani calling. Not someone from his team or the FIM. It was Dani. He was talking. He was alright. So Jorge could use some humor.

"AGIAN?! Dani, what did you do this time? You're supposed to stay ON the bike!" he chuckled. Somewhere along the way they had discovered that joking about some things made the worries ease.

"Which hospital? We're on our way!" he asked nonetheless. In his mind he was already packing some bags, getting Pedro ready and then trying not to break every speed limit.

"Okay first off - ouch. There was no need for that 'again', alright?! Secondly... I'm not the patient. It's Vale" "Rossi? Why?" A short silence followed and Jorge grinned. If Dani hesitant to tell something, he meant a good story. So he was sure that whatever he would hear next would be pure gold of his husband got shy over it at first.

"Because... Someone..." he started slowly. "May has broken his noise." "Someone?" he asked grinning. "Yes... Someone." "And how did someone even manage to reach his nose? As far as I'm aware you'd need a chair for that"

A fake shocked gasp came from the other side of the line and Jorge just knew he would get a soft punch against his shoulder if they were face to face right now. He would watch Dani's face try to portray betray and hurt all while a smile would be cracking through until he was laughing, clearly unable to contain his giggles about his joke.

After all these years, Dani was still laughing about his bad jokes.

"You know what?! Why did I even marry you?!" he shot back and really, there was only one answer. "Because you love me?" "Naaaah" Dani said and Jorge couldn't help but laugh, knowing it was just them joking around, teasing and nagging each other like they always did.

"It's cause you got me pregnant. Knocked me up first try" he reminisced. "And now I have to deal with a hyperactive 7 year old that's missing his papa." Jorge argued back. "So whose really the victim?"

"Aweeee, poor you... Tell Pedro I love him. Give him a big kiss from me." He nodded. He would have done it anyway but he knew Dani had to say it. His voice had turned softer again, both knowing they were about to hang up.

"And who gives ME a kiss from you?" he asked playful. "I don't know. Be nice and you'll get one later." "I'll count on that." he whispered and closed his eyes. He wanted to imagine he was there with him.

"I promise to be back as soon as possible." "I know. As always." "Mmm.... I love you, Jorge" "I love you more."

Later on, Dani had told Marc about their conversation. At first the older one hadn't been sure if it might just stirr him up for nothing, but on the other hand, if anyone should be aware of how far gone he still was - it was Marc.

And he had sat there and listened. He had nodded along, trying to hide his hurt, shock visible as he heard Vale's newest theory. He was used to a lot from his ex, but this was a new high.

A wave of protection overcame him when he heard it. He couldn't overcome how easily he had been able to accuse his own brother of a betrayal like that. "Luca would never hurt Vale intentionally! Fucking hell, even when he disappointed him the most, he was still trying to help him and understand him! And he accuses him of something like that?!" he argued back, Dani nodding in agreement.

He wasn't even angry that he got accused of manipulating a minor to sleep with him, even if it was one of the most disgusting things he had ever heard. But the bar of things he'd assumed Vale would deam the truth was low.

Still, the conversation kept lingering in his mind. Even now that Luca was spending the day was them. It was one of the slow weekends during the break where he could spent all day with David. And the Italian had decided to visit to spent some time with his favorite nephew. He was his only, but Marc still smiled about it.

He wished he could smile about it now, but with Luca present, he wondered how if he had made a mistake years ago.

"You know - sometimes I regret that I gave in as quickly as I did..." Marc said as he leaned against the wall behind them.

Luca turned to him slightly. He saw the way his empty glance had returned to his face. He was still looking at the track, watching Alex chase after David to make sure the little Marquez was safe.

But it seemed like he wasn't seeing him properly. Like he saw something else. Or someone else.

"I mean... I know why I didn't." he said, more talking to himself than to the boy. "It's just that sometimes when I see David like this, I wonder what it would be like if he was here"

Luca nodded. He knew he was talking about his brother, David's father.

"It's mostly little things. We had made a promise to never let David ride unless one of us is there. And now Alex and you sometimes take him to the track without me and I wondered if Vale - the Vale that still got his mind in the right place - would be angry that I break the promise."

"I think he'd understand. The old Vale would understand." Luca replied. He felt the aif freeze for a moment. There was no reaction. Maybe he shouldn't have answered and just kept it a monolog.

"You really believe that?" Marc asked, his voive softer than expected. "Yes." "And you think he's still there? Somewhere... Deep under all the shit he's talking?" It sounded more like mockery, maybe voluntarily, maybe not.

"Yes" Luca repeated. His voice dripping with false confidence. He wanted to believe it. He really did. But it was hard when the reality was so different.

"I don't know who but someone really got in his head." he argued quickly. It had been Frankys idea. That Vale was being manipulated. The boys came up with it after someone said that Vale might be projecting. That he had been the one cheating on Marc and turned it around to not be blamed.

But Luca and the academy knew Vale. They knew how much in love he was with Marc. So manipulation seemed the only way.

"They still are. He's still being manipulated. Probably. But if we find out who-" "Luca, stop" the Spaniard quickly interrupted. His voice was sharp and on point, making it clear, he wasn't messing around. "I am glad you still have hope, but I don't. I have a son to take care of. I can't afford getting thrown off by Vale. And getting my heart broken all over again. I need to be there for David"

"I know... I... I'm sorry" "No. You know I didn't mean it like that. It's just... I was so sure he'd get around and sometimes, in moments like this, I wonder what my life would be like if he did. And David's life."

He sighed deeply and remembered how everything had changed. He remembered bearing the accusation for the first time, seeing the news filled with it. He remembered every fight and confrontation. And he realized how much less it actually were than he had thought.

"Sometimes I wondered if I could have convinced him if I just had tried." he admitted. "I never even took him to court over anything. I didn't want to force him to anything. No child support. Nothing. Not even giving up his legal rights to David even if he pushed him away... I didn't even ask him for a paternity test"

He laughed. It was such a stupid realisation that he felt childish for not even having considered it sooner.

"Why didn't I? Really... It... It could have solved everything. It would have gave him the truth, black on white. A scientific prove that he is David's father... But no! I was so stupid and caught up in everything I couldn't think straight. And now it's too late. I don't even know if I want him to make one."

He bit his lips, wondering if it would be to much and what it would even mean.

"Maybe just to see the shock on his face when he realized that he had been saying all this crap about his own kid... But I don't think I'd be able to take him away from him if he actually comes to his sanity... So then I would have to deal with... Well everything. I should have just ask him to do the stupid test...."

He shook his head, trying to gather his thoughts again. It was then that he saw the Italian next to him. He was awkward shifting from one feet to the other and avoiding his eyes. There was a guilty look on Lucas face.

"Luca?" he asked "Why do you look like that?" "What? I - No. Nothing. I-" "Luca why do you look like that? What did you do?" he asked and if his voice switched to his parent scolding voice like it did when he had to scold Dabifd, then what?

"Why do you have the same guilty look in your face like when you wanted to help Alex cut his hair and gave him a bald stripe." "Okay first off, that wasn't my fault! I was shaving his neck and he suddenly looked up and basically shoved his hair in the razer" "Then what did you do now?" he demanded.

There was once more a second of silence. Marc looking at Luca, staring him down. Luca trying not to break but at the end giving in with a sigh.

"I... When 2015 happened... I asked Alex to sent me a DNA sample from David. I sent that and one of my own to a DNA lab in Italy. I chose Italy to avoid Vale using his Spanish conspiracy theory and... I got the result and obviously it said that we are related with the expected DNA match percentage for the kid of someone's half sibling."

Slowly Marc's eyes went wide. He understood what Luca was saying before he finished the sentence. They had essentially done a paternity test. But if they did it - where was Vale? And why? If he had the result?

"I showed it to Vale and I thought it would make him understand and reconsider... You know that it was just an emotional out of the moment frustration. I mean - people do extrem things when they loose and - okay that is above all excusesable - I just wanted to prove to him that he is wrong"

"I guess it went wrong?" he asked quietly.

"He didn't believe me. He said the test must be fake." "The test was fake? According to him?" "Yeah..." He just nodded.

The awkward silence return and he knew that Luca felt guilty - again. Again without reason. Again over his brothers action. Marc felt sorry for him. He was so young and had to step up to deal with his older brothers madness and try to ease it. He tried it day after day.

"Well, at least I could save the money for a paternity test." he said jokingly. "And the trouble of dealing with it. Sorry you had to do it"

Luca just shrugged. He was obviously thinking about whatever happend between the brothers when they had the conversation.

Marc tried to imagine. He tried to think of anything that Vale could have said but noen really made sense because in Marc's mind it was impossible to deny while for Vale it was the only logical response.

Luca bit his lips, remembering how he went to Vale that day. He was holding the brief tight in his hand like it was treasure when he saw his brother sitting on the couch.

He had explained him everything. Vale showed no reaction the whole time. His face was guarded and neutral. He let Luca talk, solely because Luca was his brother. Everyone else would have gotten interrupted and thrown out 2 sentence in.

But he let him talk. He took the letter, read it, understood it and let Luca explain if some more.

Luca was mid sentence when Vale suddenly hugged him. "I am so sorry" he had whispered with honestly in his voice. "Luca, I.... I don't know what to say" "It's okay" the younger one had replied with a grin.

"We can figure it out. If you apologize to Marc and the media, maybe we can be a family again. I'm sure they'll understand and-" "No, Luca. Don't you get it? They used you." he said, his voice sad.

Sad for his brother.

"What?"

"They - oh fucking hell. I'm so sorry, Luca. I really am" he said again and pushed his hand through his hair as he eyed the letter again. The scientific prove that he had fathered the child he cursed a bastard.

"I would have never expected them to actually drag you in this as well. Luca, they used you. The test is fake. They are trying to put you against me"

"What? No! No! I made the test! It's real. It really is!" "It's not. Come on, buddy. You're not a kid anymore. You don't really think that... This is true? You think I'm lying? Do you really think I - I - would abandoned my own child?"

Luca had looked up at him. Their eyes met. The hurt in Vale's eyes, just at the thought of it was clear, more clear than any cristal. It was so evident that Luca couldn't help but shake his head. It was than that the older brother had wrapped him up in another hug.

He was remembering it when Marc reached for him again. He just couldn't help it when seeing the younger one like this.

He pulled him in a side hug and stood on his tip toes to give him a short kiss on the cheek. He was family and Marc wouldn't let his family suffer in silence and drown in their own thoughts. He would stand by them and do whatever he could.

And now it seemed like the only thing he could do was giving Luca the comfort only an older brother could provide. But without the hidden burning hate, Vale still had. Without the lingering anger. Without the hole that Vale had caused in his baby's brother heart when he showed the boy he raised what he was really capable of.

Because yes - Luca believed Vale. He believed he would never abandon his own child. After all Vale had been like a 3rd parent to him. He knew what it was like to be raised by Vale. He knew Vale had always sworn to be a good parent one day.

But now he was the opposite. He had abandoned his son and a part of Luca refuses to accept that. He couldn't believed his brother would be able to do that, that his delusion ran as deep as that.

But the facts were proof enough. It wasn't Vale, standing on the side of a dirt track watching David. It wasn't Vale that was there with them, taking time off and using one of their rare breaks to look after a child.

It was Luca who had been there for Marc, Alex and David. Not Vale. Not anymore. And maybe never again.

[glitchedcrows]

Crimson rivers spoilers!

I can’t listen to would you fall in love with me from epic without thinking about James and regulus in crimson rivers.

You can’t tell me this isn’t James trying to cope with the guilt and not feeling like the same person after the games and even more so when he gets rescued from riddle

I am not the man you fell in love with

I am not the man you once adored

I am not your kind and gentle husband

And I am not the love you knew before

Would you fall in love with me again

If you knew all I've done?

The things I cannot change

Would you love me all the same?

I know that you've been waiting, waiting for love

…

Would you fall in love with me again

If you knew all I've done?

The things I can't undo

I am not the man you knew

I know that you've been waiting, waiting

Man’s then this is regulus responding trying to help James through it and proving that he loves him no matter what, and especially cus Jon if it was his fault!

I will fall in love with you over and over again

I don't care how, where, or when

No matter how long it's been, you're mine

Don't tell me you're not the same person

You're always my husband and I've been waiting, waiting

The great big tragedy that they are

[sketchehm]

Thinking about the real Mafia au and this stream. If would be so funny on that sad ending they have Sapnap locked in their basement are going through his texts to try to find Dream and George but they just end up getting endeared by them

Yes, murder and betrayal and all, but like... They're so silly... and love Sapnap so clearly and Sapnap loves them back...

They just straight up kidnap them both. Yes they're destroying your family but! They're taking the two of them as souvenirs

OMG I actually love this. I wanna add to this more but I need this to cook longer in my brain!!

What I have now though is a very worried and distressed Sapnap not knowing what to do. He has no guidance...no one to tell him he's doing good or bad or what to improve on...so used to team mafia direction his every move....sure it kinda felt like he was some sort of dog being commanded...but he did kind of enjoy it...

And it wasn't that different from being with Dream in all honesty! But dream is in danger now. And it's /his/ fault. And and! Twam Mafia also probably hate him too. He just fucked everything up...it's all his fault. He's just losing everyone....he always does.

But Farfa comes down after what feels like a long long time. He's scared. What if Dream is dead and this is the news hes about to gloat to him? What if he's coming down to end him now? But he won't show that fear really. He's like a cornered dog growling and threatening, but a tail tucked between his legs...

"Sapni...ven." Farfa will point to the spot in front of him. His voice stern, but not cruel.

And farfa rarely every calls him Sapni....it's always Sapnap, always an air of separation it felt like. Sapnap can't help but come closer. He misses them. He really does....

"Quieres a nosotros?" He'll have sapnap look him in the eyes. Sapnap will nod. He does. He really does care about them, want them. Doesn't want to leave them.

But he will for Dream. If it means Dream won't die.

"Quieres a Dream? Jorge?" Sapnap will nod, confident and determined. He will not betray them. Ever.

And Farfa will smile. Something sly...worrisome for Sapnap. He'll tell Sapnap he'll be back soon. With presents.

Sapnap will ask what thay means, insists what that means! He won't let them live if they hurt Dream and George! He'll burn the whole house down!!

And Farfa will have a booming laugh. Will tell Sapnap not to worry.

Sapnap will be locked back up. He'll be left to wait.

Wait for presents he doesn't know if he'll be happy or horrified about. Probably both!

[batsplat]

controversial opinion but I don’t think that in terms of rivalries and feuds marc is that interesting. like if you exclude valentino you’re left with who? dovi? they did have exciting on track battles for sure but let’s face it dovi was never really a huge title threat. and their off track relationship as a result had no tension. but who else?

qualified agreement in that, yes, I also don't think marc's slate of rivalries/feuds is all that satisfying... I just don't feel like this is entirely marc's *fault*. I mean, first off, valentino is definitely a positive outlier in this regard in that he was just working overtime in terms of coming up with compelling feuds. he's not quite the spiders georg of fantastic feuds, but he's not far off either. secondly, when compared to the other aliens + dovi... marc is at a very obvious disadvantage in that those guys were all direct peers who already had a lot of history with each other. dovi made fourteen year old jorge cry, twenty year old casey threw a temper tantrum when dani beat him, teenage jorge was judgemental of casey's fan engagement skills, and obviously there's the jorge/dani of it all. even the bits of that diagram that never had any major beef will have at least had a little bit of sizzling tension, like dovi's wariness of dani as a teammate. marc was always going to be on the back foot here - he really could have done with a pol esparagaro-type figure to crack on and become a big deal in the premier class. you need interpersonal history for a strong rivalry, and marc was always working at a deficit by having to start from scratch

this is the thing, right: imagine a world in which marc is born a few years earlier. in your hearts, do you seriously believe he would not have had a major sustained feud with at least one of jorge, dani, casey or dovi? I'm thinking he gets at least 2-3 in all honesty. casey if they ever ended up teammates is practically a given - and even without that you'd have to say it's a near certainty that it would've gone very badly. I mean good lord, casey vs the marc marquez towing addiction feels like it inevitably ends in casey physically assaulting marc on-track at least once. jorge had feuds with literally everyone, so that one also feels guaranteed. dani was a way less prickly character by the time marc got to the premier class but used to be a notoriously difficult teammate - so those two at honda and, again, odds are pretty good you get something going. dovi's a bit more marginal in that it kinda depends on what their respective competitive situations look like - plus dovi was generally more of a single issue jorge lorenzo hater - but you'd still expect it to be at least a little bit snarkier. so yeah, just a straightforward counterfactual - but it should still demonstrate that the picture is more complicated than 'marc marquez sucks at feuds'. there's clearly more going on here

so I kinda feel like there's two interrelated questions here, right. let's break it down:

how high quality are marc's rivalries/feuds?

to what extent can the quality or lack thereof of marc's rivalries/feuds be attributed to him, versus circumstantial factors that were outside of his control?

now with the first question, again, I do agree that right now in his career... marc could be doing better. he's got one major feud - and admittedly it's a doozy, but it's against a guy who has five major feuds to his name. if you look at that without context then it's quite easy to conclude valentino is putting in all the hard work, with little to no contribution from marc needed. apart from that... well, his other big rivalry on paper is with dovi - which, yeah, that one is lacking in narrative tension. the main issue with that rivalry isn't actually the lack of drama per se, it's that it just doesn't go anywhere. it's a bunch of strong on-track battles with no real arc to connect them, just ends up being completely static past the conclusion of 2017. I never got the sense that the two of them felt massively differently towards each other after 2019 than they had a couple years earlier... that's what kills it imo, like you need something to be happening in a rivalry. you need the two parties to have a substantial impact on each other! you can vaguely make that case for 2017 if you really want to push it - but it's just not enough, it only lasts for a few months, and it's lacking in the build-up and pay-off department. there's no real shift in their dynamic, not in terms of their relationship or their title fights or even their on-track battles... their first big battle is dovi beating marc in austria and their last big battle is dovi beating marc in austria, so you can't even say marc's learned how to deal with the red bull ring's final corner better. the only thing that's substantially changed is that marc knows he'll win the title anyway. look how far we've come

then there's marc's rivalry with dani, interesting on paper and they did have a reasonable amount of tension, but obviously you'd be hard-pressed to mention it in the same sentence as any of the real top tier rivalries. it's just over too soon, marc wins it too conclusively, and they don't have a single memorable on-track battle to their name beyond 'that time marc cut dani's sensor cable'. the jorge rivalry isn't terrible - you've got a few strong-to-iconic on-track battles like jerez + silverstone 2013, mugello + silverstone 2014, mugello 2016, austria 2018... but yeah, the tone is really quite muted and reserved by jorge's standards. there's not a massive amount of development in that relationship post-2013, and it just sort of fizzles out over the years. again, really becomes more of a collection of moments than an actual cohesive narrative arc - like something like austria 2018 is a fun throwback, you've got jorge being mad at marc over the aragon 2018 crash that essentially ended his season, but it also doesn't really lead to anything bigger. maybe there was a teensy bit of hope the honda teammate situation would reawaken that rivalry (me and casey both grabbing the popcorn, mind), but jorge just wasn't competitive enough for that to go anywhere

so, who's fault is this? is marc just mid at starting feuds? why hasn't he started more feuds with a bunch of people who showed they were perfectly capable of starting feuds with each other? why hasn't he given the people more to work with? who can we blame for this sorry state of affairs?

now, honestly, I reckon most of the issues with marc's track record can be put down to circumstance and poor timing. I already said that you'd expect marc to be doing way better if he'd been born early enough to run into the aliens in their primes. this is for several reasons. the first reason is that he managed to miss casey entirely - who on paper has to be the alien you'd expect marc to get on the worst. casey has the most rigid belief structure surrounding riding standards and acceptable levels of aggression, he's the least likely to be okay with marc's 'vicious on-track smiling off it' schtick, he had a multi-year vendetta against the exact sort of behaviour in practise and qualifying marc has made a habit of throughout his career, he is a strong believer in the kind of teammate cooperation in development marc memorably eschewed at honda, he would have also found marc's flavour of media games distasteful at best, he's highly sensitive to anything that could be construed as an attack on him... and marc in turn would have been aware of all this and actively enjoyed pissing casey off. in some respects they feel like an even worse match than valentino and casey. marc and casey on the 'alien compatible personalities quiz' score negative points. so that's just poor timing - marc barely missed out on him! you've removed the most irascible alien from the picture, the guy who had the highest quantity of low level beef with the entire paddock... it's already taken away such a major obvious feud opportunity from marc that you have to be a bit more lenient when judging his record

beyond that, let's turn to two interrelated reasons for why marc didn't get more narrative juice out of his other rivalries with that generation: a) the competitive landscape, and b) how the aliens themselves changed over time. the biggest and most important factor is (a). my general stance with feuds is that it's really really hard to start a feud in year one of a rivalry - you simply need more build-up than that. this is incidentally also 100% true of valentino's feuds. biaggi and valentino already despised each other going into 2001 (incidentally the lack of a narrative arc is why that one's also not a top tier rivalry for me), sete and valentino needed 2003 to set up 2004, valentino and casey were more or less fine in 2007 and ditto with jorge and valentino in 2008 and even mostly 2009. you can likewise point to valentino and marc already having enough significant interactions in 2013-14 to set up the volatility of their on-track encounters in the first half of 2015. for a counterexample, check out valentino and nicky hayden - who were title rivals in 2006 and 2006 alone, and managed to get through that entire year with minimal drama and their relationship emerging entirely unscathed. if hayden had still been more competitive after that year, maybe something would have changed... but as it stands, you do need time to build up the kind of interpersonal history for things to get nasty in a meaningful way. see also btw how dani and valentino's rivalry never got properly nasty, despite some build up in 2006

compare and contrast with marc's situation. 2013 is actually perfectly good set up... except then it's immediately followed by a dud of a season, where marc is dominant enough in the first half to make the title fight essentially a non-starter. after 2013, dani really isn't a competitive threat to marc anymore outside of isolated patches, and marc so effectively wrests control away from that team that he doesn't really need to do anything more dramatic. (also a question of the personalities involved - if you paired up jorge with marc as teammates in 2014, that situation immediately looks a lot more volatile.) now, okay, you might query the lack of tension between marc and jorge in 2015... but marc was just too focused on valentino that year, not least because that's the guy he was actually fighting on-track. and he nukes himself out of that title fight fairly early on, so the interpersonal valentino stuff kinda becomes the main source of competitive stakes for him at certain times in that season. 2016 the title fight fizzles out around assen, and then jorge's off into the competitive wilderness himself at first ducati then honda. and with dovi, you've got the obvious problem is that the seasons are in the wrong order. dovi was a serious title threat... but only in the first year of that rivalry, aka 2017. and only for part of that season! at the start of the year, it was really vinales marc was focused on - hence badgering him in pre-season testing - and it really took quite a while for marc and dovi to establish themselves as the two title contenders. as a season, it most closely resembles the chaos of 2006 - which, again, didn't lead to any drama between valentino and hayden in part because it just wasn't as focused on two protagonists. after that, dovi has a poor start to 2018, and by 2019 marc's just flattening everyone. it's basically like if you switched 2003 and 2004 for sete/valentino (though obviously sete's 2003 is a fair bit more competitive than dovi's 2018)... you needed the proper title fight when they were already established rivals. real take - valentino in marc's situation most likely doesn't start a feud with dovi in 2017-19 for the simple reason that he just does not need to. valentino's feuds typically come from some sense of competitive necessity, or at the very least convenience... casey is the strongest example here, where valentino behaves as closely as he ever has to a rational actor and only really escalates that feud when it makes perfect sense to do so. with dovi, given how little threat he posed in 2018-19 and especially presuming there's not a preexisting interpersonal relationship that can be twisted by the injection of competitive stakes (as there was with sete)... why bother?

this, to me, is really the main explanation for prime!marc's feud record. he runs into versions of the aliens that all eventually drop off competitively, and doesn't have to face the same level from them as a collective as he would have in say 2008-09. he doesn't have to face casey. and his sete equivalent is just not as much of a competitive threat as sete was beyond the first year of that rivalry. feuds do need something to get them going - and generally, competing against the same guy across multiple seasons, feeling genuinely threatened by them, is one of the most common and important preconditions. the second alien-related factor is how the aliens themselves had changed. again, we're missing casey... and then with jorge and dani, well, they'd definitely mellowed from where they were at c. 2006-08. there's a few reasons for this. firstly, they grew up. just a little. it's been known to happen. secondly, you do have to mention the sic factor... discussed a bit here and I don't really want to go into too much depth about it, but obviously it does make a difference that jorge and especially dani had gone through this experience where they'd essentially been feuding with another rider who then died. inevitably, that will have played into how they reacted to marc. thirdly, this is a topic for another post but... jorge and dani (and casey) had become pretty determined in 2011-12 not to give the media and fans what they were so desperately yearning for (drama) - in an act of generational solidarity against the concept of beef. it was a bit of a reaction against how they felt constantly misinterpreted by fans and media, as well as essentially being quite contrarian about being incessantly called 'boring' all the time... and a fuck you to valentino and his supporters in the fanbase + media specifically by having things be more civil between the three of them than they had been in times past (plus how they rejected any sort of hard riding). all this means marc has the misfortune to run into versions of the aliens who are actually very much trying not to start feuds. I mean, even valentino wasn't really out to start feuds, it just sort of ended up happening... it's way harder to start a feud with 2013!jorge than it is with 2008!jorge - and the two major jorge feuds that still flare up past 2013 are one where there's already significant history (like, say, jorge thinking dovi was already attempting to 'undermine his morale' when they were both teenagers)

the other situational factor is the time marc has spent in the competitive wilderness. marc was 27 when his arm injury happened. as a point of comparison, that's the age valentino was in 2006 - by which point he has had two major feuds plus a couple more minor ones. in a way, right, you can say marc wasn't doing that badly at that stage... marc is now 31, aka valentino's age in 2010. by then, valentino had added two more major feuds to his collection; he's quite productive in his late twenties you have to say. but marc obviously hasn't been in a situation where he's going to be getting embroiled in great rivalries... the only title he'd been fighting for before this year was champion of crashes. you're less likely to start feuds when you're in the competitive wilderness - there's just not any point and marc quite frankly had better things to worry about. the thing about 2019 is that at the time, people did feel like marc might have been setting up some juicy rivalries... the most common names talked about back then were rinsy and especially fabio. now, as it turned out, rinsy was outshone by his teammate in the one year suzuki was in the title fight, so that probably wouldn't have become a big thing regardless of marc's situation - but fabio... well, I don't know if I think marc would've started feuding with him necessarily, but you'd at least hope for some flavour of interesting rivalry. admittedly, you were giving marc a bit of an unfairly difficult task here, given the age gap equivalent rival for valentino is casey. again, look me in the eyes and tell me you think fabio quartararo isn't harder to start a feud with than casey stoner. starting a feud with casey is easy mode. give me fifteen minutes trapped with him in a conveniently broken lift and I bet you I could make him my lifelong enemy

still, crucially we never got to see that play out. and without the injury, marc would've already had several years to fight pecco and even jorge martin on equal-ish terms, which again just isn't an opportunity he's had until this year. those were some of his prime feud-starting years stolen from him... though also, speaking of casey vs fabio - I mean, that's the other thing, isn't it. whether you want to blame it on this generation of rider personalities or overly professionalised upbringing or the social media climate or whatever, the general willingness to feud with other riders has massively declined in the paddock. even insulting your fellow riders is pretty rare. casey thought the media and fans were too harsh to him back in the day, to put it mildly, but in a lot of ways it'd be far worse for him now. (incidentally, y'know the whole mir apologising to marc thing - can you imagine casey doing that? the correct answer is no, obviously not, how is that even a question, are you insane.) and even that generation was seen as a milder assortment of characters than valentino's lot, who in turn were at times considered oddly friendly by the guys who came before them. there are no max biaggi's in today's motogp. sete failing to threaten to punch valentino after jerez 2005 was considered disappointingly polite by a lot of the media. It Was A Different Time. it's not just that marc's feud rate is flagging - it's the case for everyone, which is how you get acosta offering to try and spice things up between the current title contenders. marc does need someone to feud with, and it doesn't help if they're all being so awfully conflict-averse

so, that's the marc defence case. marc just hasn't had enough plausible opportunities to start proper feuds, and you can't really judge him by how situational factors keep conspiring against him on that front. now, I think that is probably the main reason why it's been quite so dire for him... but still, it's also not quite satisfying to pretend like marc and valentino are quite literally identical in that regard, that they would have ended up with exactly the same profile of feuds in each other's positions. admittedly I don't really believe valentino would have had a radically different number of feuds in marc's career timeline... jorge is if anything the most proactive of the lot, often not even really needing much competitive justification to escalate a feud. still, you do suspect that there are differences in marc's approach that would always make him a little less likely to come up with these high quality feuds. one factor is motivation - valentino generally needs to get more creative in order to motivate himself to win than marc does, cf how much more flighty he gets when things are going well for him. valentino has long had a reputation for using his rivals to motivate himself, building them up as enemies and so on. there's rivals for which this is more the case than others, and it's a bit more complicated than that... but in general, valentino really benefits from these feuds, and is more reliant on them than marc is. marc can also use his rivals to motivate himself, cf 'his record at misano'. the most egregious example is 2019, where he comes in off the back of two back-to-back last lap defeats, hops onto the rear tyres of the yamaha's for much of that weekend until eventually he has that spat with valentino in qualifying that conveniently gives him the fire to reverse the recent trend and snatch victory away from poor fabio on the last lap. that's probably the most proactive he's been about it, and it's the kind of enterprising spirit I'm always happy to see in my riders. but in general... he does also just seem pretty content to reel off victories without any added source of motivation. valentino needs to jump through a few more hoops to get himself going, which happen to be very feud-inducing hoops. marc is far more capable of showing up and just doing the business

there's a related factor here that's a bit more nebulous and it's just... how they go about winning, both races and titles. now, okay, obviously they're both aggressive riders - marc notably so for the entirety of his career, while valentino got more aggressive after leaving honda and having to compensate for a bike disadvantage (having already been a menace in the lower classes). generally marc is the more aggressive rider, with valentino a little happier to pick and choose his moments and only escalating when he really feels he has to. similar peaks, lower baseline of aggression. that being said, valentino relied on one-on-one duels a lot more in winning his titles than marc did. marc's biggest strengths in winning his titles was a consistent and relentless pace advantage over the opposition, where he was able to score higher on his bad days than they were on theirs. his wins were generally more likely to be dominant than valentino's were (though it is admittedly quite hard to tell at times whether valentino was really riding anywhere close to 100% in his honda days) - and the momentum swings in his title fights tend to be because his opponents had made errors. valentino kinda needed the 1 vs 1 thing to be clicking for him to win his titles, because that's what his whole game is built on. 2004 plays out completely differently if valentino doesn't win any number of close duels - obviously welkom, but perhaps even more importantly the mugello/catalunya/assen stretch of the season he entered with a points deficit and left the new championship leader (with his relationship with sete rather worse for wear to boot). 2008 is obviously the poster child for this, as to a slighter lesser extent is 2009, which has been covered elsewhere on this blog and will be again in the near future... marc, by contrast, kinda thrives on losing close duels against his title rivals that are worrying to them because he was so close to victory at his weaker tracks. you can cite various mugello and austria and qatar races here... again, has been discussed elsewhere, but the point is that it's just a bigger part of valentino's game than it is for marc. and if so much in terms of stakes and championship momentum is attached to these single races... well, that's actually pretty much the perfect trigger point for starting feuds. by the latter half of his prime, marc kinda knew he could get away with losing some of these fights, especially against dovi (vs how he allegedly was 'angry' after the rins defeat and really relished the triumphalism of beating poor sweet fabio). valentino could extremely not afford to lose some of these duels if he wanted to win the title, and often ended up souring his relationships with his competitors in the process of winning. again, laguna 2008 is the poster child here - valentino's behaviour in this race is far more significant in determining that relationship's trajectory than him being 'mildly chilly' towards casey for the preceding one and a half years

the last factor kinda feels like the most obvious one: valentino often was just more proactive in his shit stirring, especially off-track. marc tends to do a lot of his psychological warfare on the track, which is discussed in more detail in the mind games post but is obviously reflected in stuff like stalking specific riders endlessly in practise and qualifying. valentino does plenty of on-track psychological warfare and he certainly wasn't averse to the odd towing shenanigans (just ask casey), but he was also more prepared to just fire a few shots in the media. he's capable of more subtlety than he's sometimes given credit for, had a pretty good feel for escalation... which can actually be quite frustrating, because at times you have to take his rivals at their word when they say he was being mean about them in the media - not always easy to find actual examples of that! he'd also get creative about how to exert pressure on his rivals - for which one of the more obvious examples would be getting proxies like his crew chief jb to do the mudslinging on his behalf. still, it shouldn't be too controversial to say he's more likely to attack his rivals directly in the media than marc is - who ramps up the subtlety all the way and usually just gestures vaguely in the direction of saying something that could be a snide remark... but isn't really direct enough to actually be a clear attack. now, if you set baby casey or baby jorge on the case, notoriously sensitive characters that they were, there'd still be a decent chance they take offence at the sort of thing marc says about his rivals... but as it stands, marc clearly prefers this less obvious approach, and this current lot isn't going to call him out on it. and yes, obviously sepang 2015 and the repercussions thereof will have strengthened marc's conservatism in this regard, a wish to avoid any further drama paired with a desire to show that valentino was the problem in that particular rivalry by avoiding any further feuds. and if marc's less likely to be proactive in media mudslinging and is also less likely to find himself in the sort of race that burns interpersonal relationships... well, it's not surprising he'd be less predisposed to feuds, is it

there's some other stuff we could bring in here, like valentino's tendency to play an active role in narrativising his career that fortunately just happens to also makes feuds more likely (topic for another post currently in the drafts). you could talk about how marc is less sensitive than jorge or especially casey, how he's more likely to brush off criticisms and then commit himself to on-track revenge. how he has a lot of low level beef with other riders that has just never quite been given the space or opportunity to grow into a proper feud. how jorge is more impulsive and is likelier to start fights immediately in response to a perceived slight, versus marc who is far likelier to bottle things up. in general, though, I still put most of the blame on circumstance. while valentino is definitely the frontrunner in the feuding department, there's no single correct way to go about starting your feuds - and jorge, for instance, has really showcased an alternative approach that can also yield some very positive results. marc should have been given more opportunities to figure out his own way to start up multiple narratively complex rivalries/feuds. he has some traits that are well-suited to a strong profile of rivalries and feuds, from his on-track aggression to his tendency to play games in the media to his ruthlessness to his ability to take defeats personally and feel threatened by rivals. the towing thing. his behaviour as a teammate. how uncompromising his approach towards riding is. there's a lot of strong stuff there, it just hasn't been given the chance to shine as much as you'd like

all that being said... he still has time! there's no reason to believe next year won't give us what we hope for in that regard, as long as that's a reasonably competitive title fight. and I don't think it'd be fair to pecco and marc to attribute any heated rivalry between them completely or even mostly on valentino - they have enough reasons unrelated to him to desperately want to beat each other. if anything, the valentino factor is unfortunately more likely to make them both a bit more restrained in that regard, wary of the drama of it all... but here's hoping! and they've already built up a bit of history now, some significant on-track encounters - I'd say that in an ideal world they've done more than enough prep work for them to get to feud territory next year. the other obvious name is pedro, a charmingly genre aware child with what a rather pronounced scepticism towards marc specifically, who feels like he would not only be up for a feud with marc but has quite possibly already game-planned what that feud would look like. hey, you never know, maybe I will successfully barter away my soul to finally make yamaha competitive again... let's see if we can try to get that depressed frenchie interested in some proper rivalries once he's back in the game. hopefully, marc still has a few competitive years ahead of him - and hopefully, he'll also get some help from the other side to get something narratively compelling going. I believe in him! remember, valentino pissed away two entire years in his early thirties but still managed to start his most long-lasting and emotionally devastating feud at the age of 36. isn't that inspiring? it's never too late to burn bridges. I for one hope marc still has something rancid in store for us