#this wasn't formatted as a legit post

[sirfrogsworth]

Today in, "Conservatives keep making me side with Disney"...

So, Gina Carano is suing Disney. And Elon Musk is paying for her lawyers. And they released the complaint document.

It's... a doozy.

I can't decide if her lawyers are not taking this seriously at all or if they are taking it super duper extra seriously.

Like, that's a real thing that a lawyer wrote.

As you know, judges are famous for enjoying levity in official court documents. I think in law school you are encouraged to add comedy bits. True facts.

Gina wants money for emotional damages. But she also wants to be rehired, which sounds like another funny comedy bit. They scrapped an entire show because of her nonsense.

Most are saying this will get thrown out with haste due to the fact that Gina wasn't actually fired. She had already done her contracted work. Disney decided not to hire her for any *new* work. So I guess she wants them to honor an imaginary contract that was in her head.

The entire document is just as ridiculous as the opening crawl. It starts out by listing Gina's show biz bona fides. Her myriad accomplishments in Hollywood were listed one by one in a section titled...

Well, I'm intrigued.

Let's take a look at this illustrious career, according to this document.

"Carano is the first-ever female star in mixed martial arts cage fighting to successfully transition to a career in movies, breaking down substantial barriers for women in the sport."

Off to an interesting start.

All the cage fighting gals can act in movies now and they all have Gina to thank for barrier busting.

"Carano received roles in Hollywood and independent film productions such as Haywire, Fast & Furious 6, Heist, Deadpool, Almost Human, Extraction, Daughter of the Wolf, and Madness in the Method."

I've heard of several of those things! And I think I almost remember her in Deadpool! Very impressive.

Oh wait, they're not done...

"On May 13, 2008, “Gina Carano” was the fastest rising search on Google and third most searched person on Yahoo! while being ranked no. 5 on Yahoo!’s “Top Ten Influential Women of 2008” list."

In 2008 she was popular on Yahoo for a bit. Got it.

Has she won any awards?

"In 2012, Carano was the first recipient of the ActionFest Film Festival’s Chuck Norris Award for Best Female Action Star.

In 2017, Carano received the Artemis Action Warrior Award.

In 2019, Carano received The Rising Star award at Ischia Film Festival."

Very prestigious. I'm sure Chuck Norris has a lovely basement where that ceremony was almost certainly held.

You know what, why don't we just skip to The Mandalorian?

"Although her character instantly became one of the most recognized and popular characters in the series..."

Gina, no... that was the little green puppet.

You were the one who couldn't act very well but you made up for it by punching things good.

"Carano was again instrumental in the success of Season 2 of The Mandalorian."

Nope, still the puppet.

End of "accomplishments."

The next section is titled

For some reason they left out "bigoted" before speech. Weird.

In most of it, it legit sounds like they are making a case *against* her. They show that everyone at Disney and Lucasfilm tried very hard to give her chance after chance. They did everything but point blank tell her, "Either learn and relieve yourself of this ignorance or stop posting shit online."

She totally had the option to keep her shitty views to herself and shut the heck up for the duration and enjoy the money and success a Star Wars show can bring. It's like swatting away a lottery ticket.

I'm all for free speech. And if the government tried to arrest her for saying dumb shit, I'd be against that. But that freedom to speak does not mean there are never consequences. People are also free to not like what you have to say.

The entire last section of the document is just tweets that Gina screencapped. Like, her lawyers didn't even redo them so they had consistent formatting or pixel dimensions. They were literally just off Gina's phone.

She thought she was collecting receipts but it was mostly just her co-stars standing up for marginalized groups.

Based Pedro Pascal posted this...

And the document commented...

"Pascal was not disciplined, required to review documentaries on any of these topics or speak to individuals with contrary points of view, or pressured to apologize for any of his posts. His employment was not terminated, and Defendants made no public statements about his social media posts, much less refer to them as “abhorrent.”"

Yes, why wasn't Pedro forced to listen to MAGA dipshits tell him why they hate his sister? Why wasn't he told to watch a Dinesh D'Souza documentary? Why wasn't he told to apologize for posting cool ass muppet memes?

The most telling part of the document for me... the part that really showed her ignorance... was when she compared one of her tweets to one of Carl Weathers'.

First, her infamous tweet comparing the holocaust to conservatives being moderated on social media for spreading misinformation...

And then Carl posted this in response to conservatives banning books...

And the document says...

"Even Carano’s male co-star, the late Carl Weathers posted the exact same message, but no action was taken against him. Nor was Weathers accused by Defendants of denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identity."

THE EXACT SAME MESSAGE

THE. EXACT. SAME. MESSAGE.

[lover-of-mine]

to be totally honest, i think a lot of 'they should get a slowburn!' stuff is from people who are nervous that they're not gonna do buddie at all and are preemptively looking for reasons why hope will not be lost if it doesn't happen in s8.

like, i get it, i'm still not 100% convinced it'll happen (i hope it will!) but sometimes you just gotta accept the possibility of disappointment, y'know?

Look, I'm no one, I'm a girl with a hyperfixation and a blog who happens to watch too many procedurals. But Buck and Eddie have been following the procedural slowburn format since season 2. It's worse now with the added context that Buck is bi. So the impression is that buddie is building up to something. There are meta elements during 704 that make me go 👀 like the blue and green and the way they had Eddie ask Buck if he's jumping ship and Buck explicitly say he's not. I think they set a plan in motion during 704. And I think that plan has an actual timeline based on the amount of episodes they had confirmed at the time the episode aired, so the rest of season 7 and season 8. Could I be wrong? Absolutely. I'm wrong most of the time if it's not about patterns on the show. But every interview we had this season makes it seem like they have been trying to tell this story but fox wasn't letting them and abc did. It took them 4 episodes to make Buck bi. They left the opening disaster and the first thing they did was make Buck bi. They didn't have to. To keep Buck and Eddie on the impossible will they/won't they if they're not planning on getting them together is smarter. Now they're actually possible. If they're actually possible, our very annoying side of the fandom is just gonna get more annoying asking for them to just get together already. Everyone involved could've given up. They were being blocked by the network. The writers could've given up. Buddie is a story about love even if they never get romantically involved because the writers made a conscious choice of writing how much those men love each other. And they spent a significant amount of a reduced season making sure we knew that will always be the case. The amount of buddie we had this season is absolutely completely insane. Both of them were in relationships with other people. I made a post about that earlier in the week, but they could've made different choices and separated them. And it's not like all their scenes were at the firehouse and where just getting coworker time. The camera panned to Eddie. Bobby's goodbye tour had them together all the time. They were explicitly put in a co-parenting position. Eddie is the only person they made a point of showing Buck come out to because he comes out to everyone else accidentally. It's a love story no matter how you look at it and not getting them together would be such a miss of a narrative that has been set up like this. Because legit, if they accidentally set up what could be one of the greatest slowburns in television, someone in that writers room needs to take a good look at their life. They want to tell this story. Why would they gamble on not being able to deliver and honest to God go down in television history by dragging it out when the pieces are already in play? During season 6 I get it, they didn't have all the pieces, they didn't have the time. Now they have most of the pieces and a whole season. Madney was set up in 12 episodes. And they had to work through a kidnapping and a murder attempt. A MURDER ATTEMPT. Why is Eddie being messy suddenly something that's gonna take seasons and seasons to resolve? Give me both of them single and I can get them together in one episode. All they need is one conversation. Just one. It's not like it's an impossible task to create an arc that's gonna use 12 to 15 episodes next season to work out the last bits and get them together in a nice way. The only thing they necessarily need to "fix" before getting them together, is Eddie not being queer. Everything else can be worked through while they're a couple. They're so close. The idea of dragging it out just to drag it out is so........... They've been a slowburn the whole time. This would just force them to stand on the fire.

Obviously, they don't have to go there. But for me we're at a 90% chance of them going canon next season. But if they don't, that's life. It's just that those men are somehow closer than they've ever been. And they are in a great position to explore what their relationship looks like because Chris was removed from the play, and it's so close I can taste it. That storyline writes itself. And I really hope they see that and that kicking Eddie back to the ground had a purpose. Because Bathena and Madney also started once Bobby and Maddie decided to drag themselves out of their trauma and stop letting it define how they live their lives. It's RIGHT THERE.

Anyway, I got carried away. Yes, all we have is hope and it might not happen, but I will continue to make noise for it to come because if there's one thing I do is live for the hope of it all.

[pensat-i-fet]

Selfie partner (Rúben Dias x Reader)

**I got a request recently to do an imagine where Rúben and the protagonist meet, rather than the couple dynamics I’m usually requested. And I don’t even know if I’ve ever done this in imagine format before, how crazy is that? Then I realized I had this little idea outlined and it worked well for the request so hopefully you enjoy reading something cute this Sunday! ❤️**

Word count: 2033

Masterlist

Wattpad

“Alright. Like this…no, the shirt looks bad. Maybe this way…”, Rúben’s attempts at modelling while on the lift were interrupted by the doors opening on the 8th floor.

“Good morning”, you said, holding a laugh after finding one of your neighbours doing a photoshoot there at 8 am. Not what you expected.

“Morning”, he said, slightly embarrassed by being caught.

When you reached the ground floor, you said goodbye and left. He stayed on the lift to go one floor lower to find his car, but you were taking the bus. And all the way to work, you kept thinking about that funny moment. And about how cute the guy from the lift was. No wonder he was taking photos of himself everywhere. All guys who looked like him probably did the same.

“Sorry”, you said when you couldn’t help but laugh.

The next day, you thought about leaving in the morning ten minutes earlier than usual so you could grab a cup of coffee on the way to work. Tea wasn’t enough after staying up late to grade exams. And Rúben…well, he wanted to avoid being embarrassed again so he also left ten minutes earlier so he could get the stupid selfies done. He actually liked the shirt he was wearing that day better so it all worked out perfectly…until the doors opened on the 8th floor again and you caught him taking more photos.

“It’s ok. I just…I have to do this because of my management. I don’t just take photos all the time”.

“Management? Are you a model?”, you could believe that. But also couldn’t believe your luck of living in the same building as a model. Were there more? You were just wondering.

“No, I’m a footballer”.

You cocked your head to the side, confused. “I didn’t know that was part of the job”.

“Yeah…”.

"You don't have to make up jobs, really. It's ok to feel cute and want to take a photo of yourself. I'm not judging".

And now you didn't believe him…

"Look", he said, showing you his Instagram profile and then laughing seeing your shocked face. "You really didn't believe me then".

"Well, men lie all the time to impress girls", you said, shrugging and making him chuckle. "I imagine many pretend to be footballers often".

"Probably, yeah".

When you reached your floor, you left again after wishing him a good day and once you were gone, Rúben realised he didn't even ask your name. Too busy trying to justify his lift antics.

But it turned out he didn't need to ask it because you couldn't help going back to his profile while bored on the bus. He was a legit footballer but also…yes, there were all the photos he had to take because of his management. Or so he said.

He had more than 2 million followers so he wouldn't notice one new follower, right? But he did, of course. Rúben was just checking his notifications when he saw a face that looked familiar. And after clicking on the profile, he saw that it belonged to his neighbour that kept interrupting his photoshoots in the morning. It was a private account, should he request to follow you? Sure, he had nothing to lose, did he? Worst case scenario, he'd have to start walking down the stairs. He could always use the exercise.

After accepting his request, you hoped to find him in the lift the following day but…he wasn't there. Of course, three days in a row would be too much of a coincidence but you couldn't lie and say you weren't at least a bit disappointed.

And so was Rúben. He almost thought about talking to you on Instagram but that would have been too much, right? You barely knew each other. He did check your account to see if you had posted something about that day. Maybe it was your day off? It said on your profile that you were a professor but he wasn’t sure what your work schedule would look like.

When you got back home, you were so exhausted. But when the doors to the lift opened, you saw Rúben there and couldn't help but smile.

"Hi, mister footballer".

"Hello, professor. We see each other on the way back from work today then".

"Gotta spice it up a bit, I guess".

"8th floor, right?”, he asked, ready to press the button and you nodded. "I'm on the 12th".

Why was he telling you that?

There was silence after that. You didn't know each other after all but you both wanted to talk and didn't know what to say.

When you reached your floor, the doors opened and you stepped out after saying goodbye to Rúben. But instead of hearing the doors closing, you heard them open again and saw him leave the lift.

"What…".

"Do you wanna do something together? Like…go for a drink or food or I don't know…".

"I would love that", you said, happy he took the initiative. "I was planning on going for a picnic tomorrow by myself. I wouldn't mind the company".

"That's a great idea. I have training in the morning but then I'm free all day".

"Well, you know where to find me", you said, pointing at your door and making him chuckle. "Pick me up at noon?"

"I'll be there".

                                      **

Saturdays were the days you took off completely unless something came up. And you loved going out to have some food somewhere, either by yourself or with some friends. Since the weather was good for once, you knew you wanted to take that chance to go to the park and enjoy the sun. And now you had a companion for your little picnic.

Staring at your reflection in the mirror, you liked what you saw. Your outfit was cute but nothing that screamed “I’m going on a date”. Even if you guessed, and hoped, this was a date.

You were putting your hair up in a loose ponytail when the doorbell rang and you walked to open the door and found Rúben there. Well…he really put a lot of effort into his outfit, making you feel insecure all of a sudden.

“I need to get changed”, you said, making him frown.

“Why? You look good”.

“But you look better. I didn’t know we had to dress up so much for a picnic”.

He laughed and shook his head. “Remember I’m the one who takes selfies on the lift, so obviously I’ll try harder. But really, you look great so let’s go”.

This time you both were going to the same floor and soon you were out of the building on your way to the park you had chosen for the picnic.

“I hope you like the food. It’s healthy…for the most part”.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine but tell me what you have on that basket. I’m curious”.

“Oh, you know. The typical things…I got some sandwiches, summer rolls, some pasta salad, lots of fruit and some chocolate snacks. And juice and water”.

“Perfect!”

The park was obviously very busy on such a sunny day, but you found a nice little spot without too many people around. Placing the blanket on the grass, you got comfortable and started to take out the food so you could start eating.

“I’m starving. I didn’t eat after training”.

“Help yourself, then”, you laughed.

“Why don’t you tell me more about you? I only know you’re a professor and that you’re my neighbour”, he paused after trying some of the pasta salad. “And you’re pretty good at cooking too. Good qualities to have”.

“Thank you. I do know a bit about you…I googled you. Don’t judge”.

He smiled at you, trying not to laugh since his mouth was full of food.

And so you told him more about you. Where you were from, what you taught in University, why you had moved to Manchester, …

“And I’m guessing you're single”.

“You’re guessing right, mister Dias. I hope you’re single too. I don’t want to be fighting angry girlfriends”.

“Didn’t you find your answer to that on your Google search?”, he asked, raising an eyebrow playfully.

“Oh, I found a lot about your love life on my Google search. Hard to know how much I should believe, though”.

“Only believe the good. Always”, he laughed. And his laugh was so nice to hear that it always made you smile. “But yes, I’m single”.

“So the selfies weren’t for the posts your management wants you to do then. They were for Tinder. It all makes sense now”.

He snorted. “Will you help me choose the one that’ll attract all the pretty ladies? If you like them, then we know they’ll work”.

“I could help you take them too. Maybe we can add some shirtless photos too. You seem to like posting those and…well, I guess they are alright to look at”.

“Already asking me to take my clothes off. Wow! You move fast”.

“Sometimes”.

Anyone who saw you there would have known you two were flirting. The looks on your faces said it all. The smiles, the cheeky looks or the slight blush on both of your faces, but mostly on yours.

“Should we take a little walk around the park now we’re done eating?”

“Sure”, you agreed and with his help, you quickly tidied up and got up to go for that walk.

Rúben took the basket from your hands so he could hold it.

“Not as gentleman-like as you think because it weighs a lot less now, you know?”, you teased.

“Did I just lose points because of that?”

“One or two, yes. You should do something to get them back”.

“Like what?”

“Well, there are a few options. You could buy me an ice cream, you could carry me home later if my shoes hurt my feet or…you could give me a kiss? Your choice, really. Just offering some options”.

“Hmmm”, he pretended to think while turning to face you. “Ice cream sounds like the best option but I don’t see any places where we could buy it and those shoes actually look very comfy so I guess I’ll have to kiss you”.

“Poor you, it’s a big sacrifice but the points…”.

He interrupted you by placing a kiss on the tip of your nose, which made you laugh.

“That’s only half a point”.

“I have to do better then”.

He leaned down to kiss your lips and soon your arms were around his neck to help you kiss him better. One of his hands went to your waist while the other kept holding the basket until he got tired of not being able to hold you properly and dropped it, breaking your kiss for a second so you could laugh. And then you kissed again. Who cared about an old basket anyway?

“How many points was that?”

“Maybe…four? I don’t want you to get too comfortable by giving you too many”.

“Good…I love a challenge”.

                                     **

After that picnic date, there had been a few more. And now you texted each other every morning to know when to go to the lift and spend some minutes together before you both headed to work.

“You know”, you said one morning in between kisses. “We could take some selfies together. Not for your Instagram but for fun. It’s what made us talk to each other in the first place. It’d be cute”.

“Let’s do it”.

And when you were in the middle of taking another photo, the door opened on the 3rd floor and a neighbour looked at you with his eyebrows raised seeing the scene in front of him.

“I could wait if you’re busy…”.

“It’s ok”, you said, trying not to laugh. “We’re done. It’s for his Instagram. Not a model, just a footballer. This is part of the job apparently. Weird, I know”.

The neighbour kept looking at you two funny while Rúben pinched your arm and made you want to laugh even harder.

Minutes later, you were on the bus scrolling on social media when you got a notification for your Instagram that made you smile.

Rubendias

Finally found a selfie partner 📷

[amethystina]

Can I just say I legit dropped my tea cup when I saw the news about a new fic from you!!! I'm so very bumped for it you cannot imagine!!! Please is there something else you can tell us about it? This is better than anything for Easter and birthday and Christmas!

Be careful and don't burn yourself!

And, well, it's a 5+1 from Ga On's POV that spans across the drama with the concept "five times Ga On touched Yo Han without thinking and one time he did it intentionally." It started with me wondering what would happen if Ga On actually had reached out to touch Yo Han when he first showed Ga On the scar on his back, and then it evolved from there.

And by "evolved" I mean that the touches snowball and cause some slight changes to canon events and their developing relationship. Things escalate a bit quicker than the original, I guess you could say?

And then there will be a bonus chapter (or a +2, if you will) just because I realised I wanted to make the story come full circle with Ga On touching Yo Han's back again and that, in turn, devolved into a sex scene. And, like, the downside of me never having written one with this pairing before is that my brain just went "OH SHINY NEW TOY, GOTTA EXPLORE THIS." So the sex scene is getting really long even if that definitely wasn't my intention, because some part of me can't help but want to explore the dynamic and intricate details of these two having sex x'D

I'm really proud of myself for keeping the rest short, though! (She says about a fic that's 13k, unedited, not counting the, so far, 7k long bonus chapter) Like, you wouldn't believe how tricky it is when I'm used to exploring every tiny nuance and, in this one, I couldn't. There simply was no time. So I had to completely skip any discussions about Isaac, Elijah isn't even in it (which I'm sure is illegal), and a lot of the emotional development happens off-screen.

It's a much quicker, contained story told in a different format than my other fics, but will hopefully still be enjoyable? There will be lots of touching and A LOT of tension, if nothing else. Especially since this is during the time when Yo Han and Ga On are still getting to know each other and Yo Han has more of his Abyss tendencies. And Ga On is more bold since he doesn't have quite as much baggage. So closer to Gravitational Pull than Who Holds the Devil.

But yeah. The thought hit me and even if I "should" maybe be writing on Who Holds the Devil instead, I decided to let myself write this because the concept sounded really intriguing and I knew it would be pretty short (for being me). The bonus chapter isn't quite finished yet and I also have to edit all of it so I don't know when I'll be able to post it, though. But hopefully sometime soon?

And I hope you will enjoy it once I do! Thank you so much for sharing your enthusiasm — it's really encouraging. Like, I still can't believe that people are this excited about my writing. I'm very grateful 💜

[marley-manson]

If you're still doing the character ask game - Ray Vecchio, 1, 8, 12, and 22 <3

Yessss I am always here to talk about Ray, thank you!

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Idek man, I imprinted like a duckling or something. I love everything about him. Love his loud mouth, his loud clothes, the armani, the shift between the two fashions, the big nose and green eyes, love his dickishness and complaining, love his selflessness and steadfastness and how they go hand in hand with the complaining, love his family and his shitty dad backstory and his zuko backstory and his childishness with Frannie and his catholicism, love that he will always put his loved ones before anything else he cares about and Fraser gets the highest priority position, love how the show constantly seamlessly shifts from two dimensional cartoon to deep and thoughtful characterization with him as well as Fraser.

I love how he's skeptical but intrigued by Fraser anyway and always ends up convinced by him, love how he was burnt out at first but gets promoted in season 2, love how he vanishes from Fraser's life for the sake of duty, essentially, in what could be read as an ironic consequence for Fraser, love that he'll do absolutely anything for Fraser and feels unappreciated for it because Fraser doesn't prioritize him, love that they get closer and closer to resolving this issue but Ray leaves before it can fully happen.

Character of all time for me.

8. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Ohhhhh boy. I mean I can't stand people characterizing him as Fraser's mean ex of course, but it's pretty rare that I ever saw that because I couldn't get into the season 3/4 side of fandom. Anything that characterizes him as physically abusive in general, which ime pretty squarely rests on italian stereotypes (not cop statistics when every character is a cop) since iirc he never uses violence impulsively in the show - it's always a deliberate choice he makes in the line of duty as part of the cop show format - and the show specifically contrasts him with his abusive father that way. (Though I may make an exception for very thoughtful post Vegas characterization that takes his actual depiction on the show into account.)

Even just like, eg this one Ray/Ray fic I once read where they got into a mutual physical fight kind of bugged me lol because I legit don't think Ray V would.

Among F/V shippers, I really loathe the headcanon that Ray shot Fraser on purpose either consciously or subconsciously. I can respect the attempt for more conflict and angst in theory, but I will die on the Ray V defense hill lol, and he would never. He was clearly aiming for Victoria, we saw that from his point of view in the scene itself, and Fraser deliberately took the bullet to shield Victoria. He sees where Ray's aiming, he runs faster to reach her in time, and Letting Go parallels it with Ray V taking a bullet for Fraser. He also casually protests that it was an accident when they're both over the drama in the tag, which would never happen if that wasn't the case.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

He wouldn't exactly describe himself as bisexual, but Fraser isn't the first guy he's been with. He had a thing with a bff in high school or college, and because his priority system goes: loved ones > abstract ideals, he doesn't feel guilty about it. Bff is gay, bff isn't bad or disgusting or whatever else, therefore gay sex is fine, at least with him. If asked he might still say it's a sin in general, but Ray absolutely has loopholes for people he cares about.

And if Fraser is his first then again, Fraser takes priority and Ray doesn't even have a sexuality crisis. Oh, Fraser is into men? Totally fine, it's Fraser, and he's never refused Fraser anything before so why should he start now? Especially when he looks so good in the brown uniform.

Relatedly I also envision a backstory scene where he once drove Frannie to an abortion clinic, casually bitched about it on the way accidentally triggering Frannie's guilt and making her cry, then instantly switched to pro-choice talking points that he'd always dismissed before to reassure her.

22. If you’re a fic reader, what’s something you like in fics when it comes to ths character? Something you don’t like?

I love that it's not an uncommon characterization choice to have Ray just bypass internalized homophobia because Fraser takes precedence over all that. Love fic where Ray is attracted to Fraser and knows it, however he deals with it. I love post-canon F/V fic a LOT. Give them their happy reunion and happily ever after!!!

Honestly I'm surprisingly easy for Ray V fic in general, it's pretty rare to find characterization that annoys me. Even if I disagree, I'll usually still buy in for the duration. I love fic where Ray V is there <3 Like, I'll read het fic for him. I read basically every Ray V/Stella fic out there ffs, just for Ray. That should tell you something lmao.

Something I don't like - well there's everything I complained about for question 8 lol. I don't like when fic writers buy into the bitching and moaning and miss the selfless devotion, but that's pretty rare in Ray-centric fic, it's more when he's a side character or just part of Fraser's backstory.

More commonly, I don't like when Fraser wants to get together and Ray pushes him away at first because of internalized homophobia. I'll still read it, but like, I'll be shaking my head the whole time lol.

And lastly, I don't have impassible top/bottom preferences for F/V, but I can't read anything kinky where Ray doms lol, pure personal bias there.

ask meme

[firecooking]

(bruhstation) hey neil! thank you very much for supporting fortezza bigg city so far :] I really appreciate the thought you've put into analyzing bits of my silly little AU, and I've also gained a huge appreciation for your own works as well. it's so clear you've put a lot of thought and research into your AU and it really blew my mind because everything is so meticulously thought out!!! and I'm looking forward to more!!! here's a quick sketch of your gal zaffre! once again thanks :3 (also you're inspiring me to make my own z-stacks oc! haha)

OHHH MY GOD LOOK AT HER MY BABY GIRL MY SWEET CHEESE SHE LOOKS AMAZING AHHH YOUR ART IS SO GOOD I LOVE YOUR FORM AND VOLUME AND HOW YOU DO YOUR LINE WEIGHT WITH THE OPACITY AND LINE DYNAMICS your handle on anatomy and rendering is really interesting to me, reading you work in Fire Alpaca with a mouse is mind boggling to me, i remember when I was doing the same years and years ago and the skill you show is really fascinating and i am jealous, the way your art is put together is scratching my brain. i have been doing art studies of it and trying to dissect it, it'd have such a interesting feel for animation, you have a wonderful style for breaking down into a limited animation style with a emphasis on dynamics with animation in a 8s, 6s, and 4s with 2s detailing and a hard tweening style [<- just professional animator things lol] The way you render shadow and lighting is also ough. This Zaffre is genuinely so wonderful, new desk top background moments. I love her gesture and expression here, it really captures her as a character! Also the way you draw hands, augh, just augh I wish.

You, my friend, are a fabulous illustrator!

And oh my god your AU is scratching my brain in ways I didn't think possible! I know so little yet there is so much there. When I genuinely say that it is affecting me as much as if not more that @askthefamous8 that is the highest compliment I can muster [that AU has been one of my special interests since 2015,]. I am legit making a post it note wall over FBC just like ATF8 had when I was in middle/high school

You have the most loyal human AU fan on your team now, I genuinely smile thinking about Fortezza Bigg City all day long, my friends and partner are getting annoyed to death from me ranting. sorry dear if you are reading this: I know you hate tugs

Also thank you! I really love doing in depth research, its the autism at work. I am a proud vehicle autistic. I've said it before but working on a ship for a summer just to know the mechanics of how actual sailing works is probably the most unhinged thing I can say I've done for accuracy sake. Loved my Captain and fellow crew, very sad I got sick and had to leave. Honestly would love to be a sailor if my heath wasn't bungled up and I wasn't like $200k of debt in animation college.

My humanoid vehicle AU's are partially based on my sadly never going to be picked up pitch bible for a science fiction based historical vehicle show [my fatal flaw is niche interests] And it literally makes my day to sit down and work on the most expansive and historically researched BS on earth, my AU is both a lovely love letter to TUGS as the show it is and a Love Letter to what TUGS wanted to be! At the end of the day TUGS wanted to be it's days Steven Universe or MASH [something I am gonna elaborate in another format later] but unfortunately it just didn't have the right ingredients. Its the Same as the TUGS musical I'm working on, it's a love letter to what TUGS both is and was supposed to be along with being a love letter to the characters themselves

Also:

Join the Z-Stacks OC League, we have cool hats and crime

[dominimoonbeam]

Do you have any posts discussing your path to self publication in depth? I’m pursuing being a hybrid author (pursuing traditional pub first before self publishing which lol is that a mistake?? I guess I’ll find out lolol) and I just love hearing writers I like (I’ve read your Redacted fanfic and listen to Jouska) just discussing their writing journeys at length like I could legit read days and days worth tbh. Even when I don’t know you, reading it makes me feel less alone??? On this journey?? Anyway, you’re a truly lovely writer. Thanks for sharing your gift with all of us!

I don't really have any posts about that, but that's a great idea. I don't usually talk shop much because I have this thing where I worry I'm bothering people all the time. haha It took a lot just to get to the point where I share my fiction without a thousand apologies attached.

How you go about publishing your work has a lot to do with what genre you're writing, whether agents (the way in to large publishing houses) will find it sellable in the market right now, and the length of your books. Certain genres have "acceptable" word counts for their books. Agents and smaller publishers (the ones you can query even without an agent if they're open) will often list what they're looking for and what they're not. The other trick is of course catching them when they're open. You can try some of the twitter pitch events too! I've had some luck with those in other genres.

With my romance novellas, I've gone self pub because I tend to write shorter and that's not usually considered sellable by larger presses, probably because they think people want a certain length but also because they can't charge at the same price points.

PLUS I write a lot. I'm always writing and I have a back log of stories and series constantly piling up in my brain. So I'm not as worried about a book being my one and only shot at getting something out there. It might be a mistake on my side, but it's the way I've gone with the romances.

That being said, I do and plan to continue, to try sending my finished manuscripts that are in the right word count around to open publishers that might be interested. I did it with a contemporary romance I have, but with no particular luck, so I'm going to self publish that one and keep moving.

If you have a finished work you think an agent in your genre would be interested in, it's totally worth it. I don't know about you, but the social/advertising part of authoring is HARD. I'm an introvert. I will absolutely keep trying to get my books into the capable hands of extroverted professionals if nothing else than to give them a better chance of being found by people that might like them.

Oh my gosh, I hope this wasn't too much. I might rally the nerve to post about the editing/formatting/self publishing stuff sometime if you're interested in that aspect.

I hope this was at least somewhat interesting!!! Writing can feel really lonely and I'm glad you reached out! I am really lucky to have found a nice group here on tumblr. Thank you so much for reading my fics and listening to the Jouska audios! <3 <3

[catgirl-catboy]

@crowssoul2

Tumblr was bitching about the formatting of this, so new post!

Behold: the plot of the prologue and Ch1 of my fanganronpa.

Our protagonist is the SHSL Seer. Like Hiro, but legit. Nobody knows where her powers come from in-universe, and half of the cast actively suspects her of either being some kind of supergenius or causing the shit she foresees. She doesn't really see the point of coming to HPA, since there's no way to train her powers and someone else could use the spot more. But her mom wanted her to, so… Also, she's punk and has piercings and short hair.

The gimmick is that all of the SHSLs come from different parts of the world, and get flown in. The planes are sabotaged and explode as soon as everyone gets off.

She meets a boy that knows nothing about himself. When asked if she has any idea of who he is, the only thing that comes to her is that he's fatally allergic to peanuts. Helpful, but not exactly informative. (similar to Sora, but he isn't an AI I promise!) In case she sees more information, he decides to follow her around.

The other Ults they meet: Two SHSL figure skaters (they are pairs skaters!), a SHSL camp counselor, a SHSL conductor (the musical kind!), a SHSL Art Forger, a SHSL conspiracy theorist, a SHSL competitive eater, a SHSL wedding planner, and more!

Our support and antagonist kind of switch places, its complicated. But in the prologue, as follows are the SHSL Valedictorian and the SHSL Stalker. The two of them are childhood friends and shared a plane. Everyone has heard of Val, and gets compared to her. Meanwhile, Stalker's alias is kind of infamous for exposing corruption and working for the highest bidder. However, it wasn't known that Stalker comes from two generations of Ults before her. (Stalker also uses he/she pronouns. One of them had to have my gender.)

Nothing happens, so counselor decides to have a campfire while waiting for help. There's a nice moment of everyone getting along. Then, Monokuma appears! Monokuma says that help won't be coming unless you kill each other, and that suitcases are delivered to their rooms. He also says that if nobody kills to escape, everyone will starve. Did I steal this motive from another, maybe! :) But its fun, so!

Val says they should spend the day searching. Its clear that she and Counselor have good leadership potential, while Stalker shows he doesn't take orders from the group, but is also very proficient with technology. (Its how he gets most of his information!)

Counselor decides to take a risk and climb over the electric fence that surrounds the airport. He doesn't make it, and gets bad burns on his hands in the process. (Counselor got his position because he managed to save a bunch of lives in a bear attack, and has a hero complex as a result.) He's injured throughout the rest of the game.

The group plans to keep all of the food in one place, but Stalker will not have it and demands her share upfront. She points out that if someone steals the food, or destroys it, she'd have nothing. Emboldened by her choice, several others including Val and Theorist follow her.

Others are annoyed that he prevented the group from working together, and didn't take a room to search while people divided them up. (instead, he gave information that Monokuma was likely controlled from a nearby location and about small blind spots the cameras have.)

In addition to what the group finds in the wing of the airport (there's a security with a statistically improbable amount of confiscated weapons), the class has whatever they brought in their suitcases, so long as it isn't a computer or other banned item. Amnesiac has nothing. (bitchy Stalker noises.)

Val wants to bury all of the weapons the group was given, but Stalker points out that would be pointless since almost everyone has something that could be used as a weapon anyways. He also admits to carrying a knife, which stresses the group out.

After a couple of days of nothing, the group food stash goes missing!

People blame Stalker, since she called it might happen while demanding food. She points out that if she planned on stealing food, she wouldn't have pointed out the possibility. Nobody believes her, since she's fatally blunt and does shit like that. (one of the major things that everyone hates her for is that she is actively trying to get along with Monokuma, and asking if this killing game was inspired by [X horror movie]?) So everyone (including Stalker) look for the food, but with no luck.

The group then demands those who hid their food to share it, with Val giving some, Theorist giving half, and Stalker flat out refusing.

A few more days pass, and the situation is getting dire.

People are complaining, while Stalker rolls his eyes and tells them they aren't starving yet. Wedding planner has had enough, and is chewing Stalker out about this. Valedictorian stays silent throughout this whole thing, but clearly feels conflicted. (Stalker is the people pleaser of the century, and is channeling Togami hard early game.)

Eventually, the body of the SHSL competitive eater is found slumped over airport security. He has bruises, but the fatal blow was a head injury. Stalker is,,, creepily calm about this, and immediately starts examining the body.

Everyone comes when the BDA rings except one of the NPCs. Eventually, they find them dead in their room of strangulation.

When the Monokuma files are given out, it is revealed that Competitive Eater died during the big argument everyone had, so everyone in it has an alibi. NPC died ~an hour earlier.

Then there's all of the intricate shit a murder case requires, but the important character driven details are: - Theorist actively hinders the group by coming up with off the wall theories like the victims not actually being dead, or the murder weapon being the missing food. - Missing food never turns up, despite them suspecting the food thief for most of the trial. - Val goes batshit insane when delivered a challenge, and single handedly wants to carry the trial. She's also incredibly smart. - Conductor (who is mute, and communicates via the monopad) is spoken over during trials due to tts being slow, which is a shame because he has good points. - Stalker is the other MVP of the trial, but has a tendency to overthink things. (At one point, he suspects the body was moved solely due to a lack of blood, instead of the killer attempting to clean up.) - The Male Pairs Skater is talked over by the Female one, and the two of them tend to disagree. (Not exactly like the twins, when its more introvert and extrovert dynamic rather than abuser and victim. He's just not as confident.) - Everyone listens to Seer due to her talent. Seer lowkey hates this, since she feels like she doesn't have as good of an idea of the case. - It is revealed that Stalker, who seemed like a very "only in it for himself" kind of person, gave half of her food to Val without Val knowing. When asked, says its because she doesn't like people owing her shit, and that it'd take a lot longer than this to die of starvation. - Eventually, it is revealed that the Competitive Eater killed the NPC, and then attacked someone who stumbled in on the cleanup. I imagine this'd be easy for players to metagame from Sayaka and Leon, but it stumps the players.

Due to the method of cleanup on Eater's body, the Art Forger comes under suspicion. This is a surprise, since everyone thought she was a bit of an airhead up to this point. (its revealed in her FTEs that the reason she knows nothing about real life is that she had a shitty father that never let her out of the house. Also, she doesn't know thats not normal.)

It was revealed to be an accident, she just meant to throw him away from her, but his head hit the security bench and he died.

She didn't even know about the other murder, she thought it was a random attack.

(another tangent, in my version Monokuma says its possible to survive every execution, and that blackeneds should try. It never happens.)

The whole group is giving her advice on how she could survive, and hoping for the best.

Then Stalker opens his fucking mouth, and gives a

"I don't blame for for the murder. That was a complete accident. But, the moment you tried to clean up that body, you put your life before the rest of ours. As a result, I hate you. Live or die on your own terms, it has nothing to do with me"

to EVERYONES DISBELIEF.

The execution is Monokuma tying the Art Forger down and slowly forcing paint down her throat until she throws up her stomach explodes. She's crying, its gruesome.

You might think this doesn't have a lot to do with her talent, and that'll actually become relevant to the plot later!

[dawntrailing]

You're legit my favorite creator here on Tumblr. Is there any chance you're on Twitter?

YOU ARE TOO GOOD TO ME! Yes, I am on Twitter, but my account is more personal to me than specifically FFXIV focus. I'm not sure there's merit for me to make one to mirror what I post here, as there's already an account dedicated to songs such as Daily Final Fantasy Music that I love and they update regularly. Twitter also doesn't seem to have an audio format, so I would have to make things in video form instead which can be a lot of work for something that I'm only available for when I have free time to spare.

I have been considering making FFXIV GIFs to post there, something like gifgenshin but for FFXIV! I've put it off for now because I wasn't sure if there will be an interest, but if you think this is something you'll like, do let me know and I might work on it when I get home from my trip.

[temporary-joyride]

hello hi! 🌟 it's the uh, therm's charity stream anon (?) again! :D you asked how did I find you and, well, 'stumble upon' is really the best way i could put it 🤭 a post of yours got recommended to me and it had a tag 'kennacanthink', and a light bulb moment happened like 'oh! hold on! I remember a certain kennadoesthing! I should ask if it's the same person, that would be a silly coinky-dink' (not once did it occur to me how weird the message would have looked if it wasn't actually you 😆 but im glad it's you! (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧) thank you for the response! how small the internet actually is hehe 🤗💫

Oooh that makes sense! Yeah that is legit my format when creating any username: KennaXY. We've got classic KennaLikesPizza, I use KennaIsHere as well, sometimes we mix it up with a KennaLikesCandy, KennaHatesPizza for Halloween, kennacanthink is my original post tag, I've got my own channel in a server called kenna-plays-sims.

Remember, I LIKE pizza, I do not necessarily love it <33

[intolerancecare]

I wonder if those HR knew that Herden, Michelle of Artistic's and Mama Bea are not really legit artist. They shouldn't have been in the props team. They were paid to make backgrounds and props while sitting and resting. Even if they don't have the skills. I know Ricky and the other Cebuano are more entitled to complain but I am so tired proving to those kinds of people that I can do the job and I will not ask for any entitlement.

I also have this perception that maybe I have to be sick so my former doctor colleague's family can have patients. Maybe they want me to pay them back big time because of the brand refresher game called Kidzonnaire that I did. Knowledge is part of the performance evaluation of staff. After 2 years of opening, we decided to do a refresher training. I remembered the conversation that I had at my former work. The doctor's husband said "I asked my daughter to make a slide as beautiful as her. She did the Who wants to be a millionaire format" That time I just finished a presentation and orientation for the employees. I have explored ppt at that time. When the plan for a refresher was brought to the table. I thought maybe I can do something like that. I decided to make the slides at home. I saw a format online. Since there is an existing template, I made used of them. It's just blue background and hexagons anyway I followed the style (too late to change since I've seen it already). I just made used of my skills in manipulating the animations including music which I also downloaded online. Very tedious job. I have to make the sound the elimination, the other effects synchronized. I have done this hacking in college just using the movie maker in one of our performance. After I finished, I showed it to our manager. She approved. We started with a pen and paper test. A school like board competition then the finals as Kidzonnaire. It wasn't perfect but I was able to pull out a show and showcase the finalists. By the way, I chose a... is it a parody? So, the audience can recognize a TV show brought into theater stage. I kinda feel that it adds excitement to the show. Just to be inclusive, I asked one artist to edit the logo and change it to Kidzonnaire. He decided to make his own design. I know that I can do it on my own, I just asked him so he can be seen too. I wanted to include others too, but they refused. I casually asked his coordinator if he can do it. He said yes and he did. I still submitted the other design to the other manager. So, he can be acknowledged too.

I sound like a braggart here, right? I'm sorry.

But you know whenever someone says I have to be magnanimously indebted to people for the little help on little success, gratefulness disappears. They don't recognize my skills. It's here yes, but they don't understand that even my animation can't be transferred via flash disk alone. I had to rush and do everything at the last minute. They will look at the bigger name and not me. I'm sorry. I know this is rude and I will sound like an ingrate, but they are all doctors from the highest state university here. I am probably nothing. I wanted to say my Kuya is bigger than you. I mean, at least in this field.

Do I have to be a regular patient? because of my posts? to KZ? the smell of the fishy vagina? delusion like all others?

I remember that effing Indian named bastard was laughing at the end of the show. Duh! He's a pretender. You like complicated password IT?

Not nice right? The boss didn't watch.

[sirfrogsworth]

do you like going on hikes?

Honestly, no.

Even if it wouldn't cause post-exertional malaise, I am just not an outdoor person.

I never have been.

I love walking somewhere if I can get a cool photograph from it. But hiking just to hike has never really interested me. And while I think nature is beautiful and I love taking pictures of it, I very much dislike being in nature. No temperature control, bugs, predators, etc.

But mostly it is incompatible with my CFS, so it isn't really an option anyway.

My dislike of being in nature goes back a long way. In high school I signed up for a weekend Civil War reenactment to get extra credit in my history class. It was basically camping disguised as historical LARPing.

They tried to make it as authentic as possible. All of the food and cooking was period-accurate. Meaning we got mushy beans for dinner and mushy eggs for breakfast. We had to sleep in period-accurate tents with no sleeping bags. So that was cold and uncomfortable. And they didn't really plan a lot of activities, so there was a lot of downtime where 15-year-olds tried to relate to men in their 50s mostly trying to escape their families for a weekend. Some surprising and awkward oversharing ensued.

When we arrived they immediately made us change into ill-fitting, itchy uniforms including period-accurate shoes we had to borrow from the dudes running it all.

The thing is, I have always had big boy feet. Even at 15 years old I was wearing a size 12 wide. They didn't have any shoes wide enough to fit me, yet they insisted I not wear my tennis shoes.

"Ulysses S. Grant didn't have Reeboks, boy!"

So I squeezed my feet into a pair of non-wide 11s and walked around in them all weekend.

That was a mistake.

The big finale of the event was a simulated battle—which I was originally very much looking forward to. It was the entire reason I signed up. We would get to play with muskets and fire blanks at middle-aged Confederate cosplayers.

I mean, who doesn't love shooting fake racists with imaginary bullets?

But by the time of the battle my feet were on fire with pain.

I could barely stand.

Reenactments typically work on the honor system. If you see someone shoot in your general direction, you are supposed to pretend to get shot and fall to the ground. These guys took that rule very seriously. We even had to practice dying the day before during our musket training.

So we all lined up on either side of a giant field surrounded by the forest. We were instructed to prepare our weapons. Our commander shouted orders for us to get in formation. One of them even had a horse and a proper calvary sword. A trumpet sounded. Suddenly this glorified camping trip turned into something legit. Everything had been so halfassed up until this point and I wasn't expecting a scene with the production value of Glory to materialize.

Things got very silent and all you could hear were leaves rustling nearby. I'm pretty sure they were building suspense to impress all of us youngins.

And with an enthusiastic shout, our pretend commanders initiated the battle.

I heard the very first gunshot.

I grabbed my chest.

I dramatically screamed out in pain.

I fell to the ground.

I died.

All in all, I was a Union soldier for roughly 8 seconds.

Technically... I did not see anyone shoot me. I violated the most sacred reenactor code. But I think the honor system was more concerned with people pretending they *didn't* get shot, so I figured it would be okay.

So I just lied in a cold damp field, slipped off my shoes, and let out a huge sigh of relief as my feet expanded back to their normal size. All while a mixture of high school students and unhappily married 50-year-old men pretended to kill each other around me.

(Artist's rendering of me playing dead)

When I finally got home my feet were covered in giant blisters. My mom had to cut my socks off because it was too painful otherwise. I had to stay home from school for two days because I couldn't fit my feet in my shoes without screaming. Eventually those suckers all popped and that was very gross but also immensely satisfying.

And I happily avoided nature ever since.

[racingliners]

F1 Re-Watch 2013: Round 9 - Germany

You have no idea how excited I've been to get to this race on my season watch through. Germany 2013 was Seb's first and only German GP win and frankly I'm very surprised that I'd never watched it before now.

This was also the second to last F1 race to be held at the Nürburgring (the last being the Eifel GP in 2020), and I'm ngl I likely picked it over Hockenheim to host the German GP in Life In The Fast Lane because of this race 😅

So this live blog post will likely go off the rails when the sebfucker meltdown kicks in, but for now let's jump in!

Honestly, for me this race onwards is likely going to be my favourite part of my 2013 watch through. Seb winning at home, then Lewis in Hungary, then Seb winning all the races from Belgium to Brazil. 11/10 would recommend to a friend on TripAdvisor.

Anyway, let's jump into the starting grid:

Lewis pole, he had a decent amount of them in 2013 given that fact that the car wasn't quite up to scratch (#JustLewisThings), Seb P2 🥰, Dan P6!!!!, The Ferrari's in 7th and 8th?! (??????), Jenson P9!!!! It could have been worse!!

oh it did, Jev in P16 😭

This is why I call it starting grid whiplash.

Helmet watch: Seb's helmet for this race was *chef's kiss* so good.

the metallic gold and matte black with the German flag stripe hidden in the gold. JMD Helmets superiority.

[Formation Lap]: Mediums and Softs the compounds for this race.

Apparently Lewis had a bunch of mechanical problems on his car right before the race. Good grief.

also also the giant Seb banner in the grandstand 😭😭😭😭

Cut to a very nervous looking Merc garage

[Start/Lap 1]: SEB TAKES THE LEAD AT TURN ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LOVE F1!!!!!!!!

ngl I was that overjoyed I haven't paid much attention to the first lap, gosh I've missed that feeling of Seb taking the lead 😭

Webber went from 3rd to second, so Seb, Webber and Lewis make up the Top 3

[Lap 2]: Perez going down the inside of Jenson into turn 1

Both Lotus' are in 4th and 5th

the replay of the start >>>>>>>>

[Lap 4]: oh someone spun in the background of the shot.

ah it was Massa

the car's not moving????

it's right on the run off at turn 1 so that should be a SC

I will say watching races that happened before the introduction of the Virtual Safety Car is quite unnerving in situations like this.

[Lap 5]: Not Force India with an unsafe release, Di Resta almost drove right into Jev 😭

also wild for people to be making their first stops this early and it to be legit

[Lap 6]: oh god they're investigating the unsafe release after the race aefjeihfe clown show stewarding once again

[Lap 7]: anyway Lewis pits for his first stop, softs off for mediums. He comes out in 10th.

[Lap 8]: and in comes Seb, also softs for mediums

and he comes out ahead of Lewis!!

Red Bull did have a quicker stop, which definitely helped

and interestingly they've come out behind cars that started on the mediums, so they're going to have to do some on-track passes early on

[Lap 9]: oh shit one of the tyres came off Webber's car and hit a cameraman.

what the actual fuck

the cameraman's being tended to by Merc mechanics and FIA medical staff, thank goodness.

[Lap 10]: And Lewis gets past Raikkonen for 7th

[Lap 11]: and Seb overtakes Jenson for P3

oh god. Lewis is behind Nico Rosberg. my eye is twitching.

I know this was before 2016, but watching this after the 2016 season is... yeah... I'm having anxiety.

[Lap 12]: There's been a team radio call for Nico to let Lewis by but I'm still feeling dread at seeing them be one behind the other.

[Lap 13]: Meanwhile there's a Lotus right behind Lewis waiting for an opportunity to get past.

...oh my days Nico let him past

[Lap 14]: So Grosjean pits, Seb retakes the lead, and Romain comes out in net P2, since Jenson ahead still has to stop

oh phew Lewis is finally past Rosberg, he's in P5

Grosjean passes Jenson on track for P2

[Lap 16]: The Lotus' are so quick, may be due to the high track temps suiting them

and Rosberg is finally called into the pits

[Lap 17]: What is a polar bear (Hulkenberg in a Sauber] doing in Arlington, Texas?! (P4)

I'd guess he hasn't stopped yet????

ah, he is indeed still to stop, thank you well timed TV graphic

[Lap 18]: and in he pits, Lewis into P4

"I have no grip man, these tyres are not holding together" something Bono Lewis' tyres are gone something

[Lap 19]: Oh Alonso's in P6, though probably P5 soon given how Merc are not having good tyre wear

Meanwhile Jenson is still to stop, though I think he started on Mediums (this was the days when people wouldn't run laps in Q3 to start on a fresh set of tyres)

[Lap 21]: aw yeah Lewis v Alonso battle 🍿

the pair of them providing the in-race entertainment since 2007

(however you feel about either of them, the battles between them are always so good)

[Lap 22]: Jenson finally pits

but back to Lewis v Fernando, Lewis' defending is >>>>>>>

"I'm pushing man I'm pushing!" ajkfvbjfvbd let Lewis cook!!!

[Lap 23]: oh, Lewis is back into the pits. Merc have moved him onto the 3 stop. He's onto another set of mediums.

so he was pushing bc it was an in lap, ignore me 😅

it was still a great battle though

And there's a Marussia with a big plume of smoke.... and catching fire. oh dear.

... now it's rolling down the hill backwards.

Oh so now they bring out the Safety Car.

[Lap 25]: Seb pits for fresh mediums

as do the Lotus pair, and Alonso

...and just about every car in the field 😅

Seb is still in the lead however 🙌

So the top 10 is: Seb, Grosjean, Raikkonen, Alonso, Jenson, Hulkenberg, Lewis, Maldonado, Perez and Sutil

[Lap 26]: It feels very on brand for Seb's first/only home race win is a race that's fine for him but very chaotic for everyone else. See Germany 2019 for further chaos.

Jev had a hydraulic failure?????? WHY????? 😭😭😭

also the cameraman from the pitlane incident is fine, and Webber is still in the race, but in plum last.

[Lap 28]: random garage and pit wall shots while the SC trundles round

[Lap 29]: and SC in at the end of the lap

time for ✨Safety Car restart anxiety✨

and off Seb goes!!

phew

[Lap 30]: How are we only at half-distance, I feel like I've watched a full race with everything that's gone on

(thought that might be bc my parents are watching Quantum of Solace on the TV and I keep getting distracted, ANYWAY)

[Lap 32]: a Lotus v Lotus battle you say? 👀

meanwhile Seb is already a second ahead of P2

[Lap 34]: and now Hulkenberg v Lewis for P6

[Lap 35]: oh damn both Lotus' have managed to catch up to Seb all of a sudden

like they're in DRS range and everything

Seb's still in the lead with about a half-second gap over Grosjean, who has 6-7 tenths over Raikkonen

[Lap 36]: The Lotus' are definitely fast

okay according Ted Seb either has a brake problem or a KERS problem based on radio messages, that would explain a bit

[Lap 37]: Lewis still can't get past Hulkenberg, even though he's the quicker car

[Lap 38]: nevermind, in comes Hulkenberg to the pits

[Lap 39]: Button watch: he still needs to make his second stop

Seb's gap over Grosjean is back to being just over a second

[Lap 40]: Hulkenberg fastest lap??????

this race has been surprisingly all over the place

[Lap 42]: Seb pits for the third time, Grosjean pitted the lap before

but Seb comes out ahead! He's in 5th

So Raikkonen leads from Alonso, Jenson and Lewis.

I'm guessing they all need to stop again? Jenson def does bc he hasn't ran the softs yet

It's funny watching this knowing who wins, but not how it happens.

[Lap 44]: very fittingly given the lap number, we have a Lewis and Seb battle for P4!!

(also carrying F1's in-race entertainment since 2007)

[Lap 45]: Seb almost get's the move done round the outside of turn 1, but Lewis juuuust edges it, but Seb eventually takes P4 in the arena section

🚨15 laps left klaxon🚨

[Lap 46]: Lewis makes his 3rd and hopefully final stop

Top 5 now Raikkonen, Alonso, Jenson, Seb and Grosjean (Jenson's still to make his second stop for softs)

Starting to wonder if someone on the McLaren pit wall accidentally had a mid-race nap in the motorhome

[Lap 47]: Seb's closing up to the top 3, and he's about 15 seconds behind Raikkonen

[Lap 48]: Jenson finally pits!!! he comes out in 6th

and cut to a dancing donkey toy on the Renault engineer's desk in the Lotus garage. #JustF1Things

It's worth noting though, for anyone who hasn't seen any races from 2013, that the first half of the season was very different to the second when Seb won every race. Seb and Red Bull only won 4 races in the first half of 2013, Mercedes won 3, Ferrari won 2 and Lotus won the first race in Australia. the 2013 grid was competitive to a degree. Seb just was in bastard mode for the second half of the season.

[Lap 50]: Live Ted Reaction to Raikkonen pitting for softs, as does Alonso.

So Seb is back in the lead!! 🥳

"Stunning pace from Jenson Button" inject Lap 50 from Germany 2013 into my veins

[Lap 51]: Lewis into P7!

And Jenson overtakes Perez after stopping, he's in 5th.

Once again, like the last few laps of Silverstone, everything is happening

Raikkonen is half a second faster than Seb. shit.

ah he's on softs while Seb is on mediums. That explains a part of it.

[Lap 52]: Grosjean been given team orders to not hold Raikkonen up 😬

Maybe I need to rescind my earlier comment about Seb driving off into the distance while shit happens behind him.

[Lap 54]: Okay Seb is roughly 2 seconds ahead of Grosjean

this is way more intense than I thought it would be dbhvudbhsuh

[Lap 55]: and with the help of some team orders Raikkonen gets past Grosjean (believe it or not, he was still seen as a championship contender in this part of the season)

Now for goodness sake Seb go fast

[Lap 56]: 🚨5 laps remaining klaxon🚨

Replay of Lewis getting past Perez for P6

[Lap 57]: Cut to Alonso P4, I had somewhat forgotten about him ngl

he's just kind of been... there I guess

[Lap 58]: 1.6 seconds gap between Seb and Raikkonen, stress

Lewis is also under 4 seconds behind Jenson and catching

F1 DRAMA!

oh god Raikkonen's half a second quicker than Seb

I know that Seb wins... and yet I'm anxious

[Lap 59]: 1.2 second gap...

and Lewis is 1.9 behind Jenson

Sewis are Sewising

[Lap 60]: LAST LAP

cut to Lewis getting P5!!

and cut back to Seb who's 8 tenths ahead of Raikkonen

[Finish]: SEB WINS THE GERMAN GP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my GOD that was stressful

BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!

idk if I would have preferred a lights to flag win but gosh, Seb's radio made me all kinds of weepy 😭

also the first German driver to win the German GP, THAT'S MY BOYYYYYYY!!!!!!

and his 30th career win 🥹

rest of the top 10 were: Raikkonen, Grosjean, Alonso, Hamilton, Jenson, Webber, Perez, Rosberg & Hulkenberg

WHEW. That was a race. A bit of a slow burner, but the last 10 laps were mad. And seeing Seb win his home race is just 🥹

Next up - Hungary!

[fossadeileonixv]

Milan 2 Juventus 0

You knew who was going be featured in this post game graphics...you knew…

Warning: I've been gone and am feeling a little bit chatty...

TATARUSANU 7 Clean sheets get at least a 7 from me and he was also decent on the only couple of threats Juve managed to muster. He does have a confidence to his demeanor that he didn't really have last season. Nice to see

KALULU 7 Love watching this kid play. His anticipation...so fun to see. Was solid throughout but the only thing that didn't make his a 7.5 or an 8 was his lack of getting forward. Don't know if that was by design but we'll dig into this below

GABBIA 7 Maybe a little high but I didn't really notice anything glaring about his performance. Looked confident as well. I suppose playing a toothless Juve attack helps anyone 

TOMORI 8 Co-MOTM Mike was dead on with his post on Friday - Tomori hasn't been very good so far this season. Apparently he read Mike's words and stepped up to the challenge. I was noticing his play before the goal and he was MUCH better in every facet of the game: anticipation, tackling, angles, aggressiveness. Everything looked better (again, the newborn baby deer-like sturdiness of Juventus's attack helped) but a much needed top-end performance. The goal was just the icing 

HERNÁNDEZ 7 Solid in both aspects of the game. Sure was nice having him back in the lineup. His runs are fun to watch and causing so much scrambling by the opponent

BENNACER 7 Warrior. Took a beating and played the whole game

TONALI 7 Solid again. So fun to watch him own Locatelli. Nothing like reminding Juve fans of this every matchup

POBEGA 6.5 Very industrious day for the youngling. Didn't make any highlight-reel plays but did a lot of the dirty work. Lisi would be proud

DÍAZ 8 Co-MOTM Started and was rather quiet to start. All of his best plays came when he was in the middle of the pitch, including that highlight-reel goal to put Milan up 2-0 and effectively ending the game. What a play by the little guy

LEÃO 7 Always a threat and hit the woodwork twice. The offense didn't seem to go through him as much this game and it could be the change in formation

GIROUD 6.5 Not bad by any means but didn't really impact the game the way we've become accustomed to this season. Still a solid workman-like performance from the vet

subs

KRUNIĆ 6 Came in for Pobega and pretty much asked to do the same thing: grunt work. He remined everyone why that's his best role when Brahim found him in the box alone and he headed it 10ft wide of the target

REBIĆ 6.5 Coming in up 2-0 and his nose for goal this season wasn't needed. Still, he made Juve work with constant pressure

CDK 6.5 Thought he played better than the last few games and was solid out wide. I don't know, maybe try him at RW instead of King All-Thumbs Krunić?...¯\_(ツ)_/¯

VRANCKX N/A Not going to rate him since he came in so late but, but...his instincts look good and his size and pace are impressive. I think we may see him get more and more playing time as the year progresses

ORIGI N/A I don't know...he played? That seems too generous

coaching

PIOLI 7 Gets a 7 from me because while I like the fact that he FINALLY changed formations (and beat Juve 2-0), I don't think he hit it out of the park. We'll dive in below

THOUGHTS

Tactics and Formation

Let's get this out of the way: Juve is terrible. Not like relegation-terrible but for the wage bill and overall financial health of the club (and that's assuming the books are legit...), they're dog sh*t. Watching them try to build up play is torture. Then to make matters worse they try to build from the back...oye. I wanted to gouge my eyes out. Once the ball leaves Szczesny's possession it's an Oregon Trail-like gambit. Cuadrado probably died of typhoid at halftime and that's why he was subbed out for McKennie. Just brutal.

So with that caveat, Milan's defense was much better and most importantly they kept their shape. The 3-man midfield undoubtedly helped that effort. Was it overkill after that lazy second half vs Chelsea mid-week? Probably. No, actually it was and it left Milan's attack directionless for sizeable chunks of the game.

I know all the reporting had Milan in the Xmas tree formation but it looked like a 4-3-3, which is what Fotmob had up as its predicted lineup. Look at the average player positioning in this game in Figure 1:

I mean, look at the front 3. It's literally the front of a 4-3-3.

So what did this do? It didn't change much on the left, as Theo and Leão were doing their usual and that naturally pulled Juve's defense that way. Over on the right Brahim kept the width but the right side was dying for some overlapping runs (as I mentioned earlier, I really wanted to see Kalulu get forward more). Because Kalulu sat back more this allowed the right side of Juve's defense to crowd out Theo/Leão and Juve's left side to cheat towards the middle. This was especially prominent when Milan had the ball in the final third and had very little success doing, well, much of anything. All of this should be familiar to us Milan fans as this tends to be how defenses try and play Milan when they're in their usual 4-2-3-1 (and why a new RWer and/or production of any sort from whoever is at RW is needed).

When Juve was backed up you saw what I described just above, but in transition, when Milan won the ball back above their 18yd box or in the middle of the pitch, Juve's shape was more evenly spread out and getting past Juve's midfield and CBs once Milan won the ball back was the key to unlocking their attack. Why? Bonucci and Bremer were higher up the pitch than most opponent CBs and left space in between them and their keeper. We saw something similar vs Salzburg and both the Salzburg keeper and Szczesny cleared a lot of balls when Milan tried to go over the top.

Considering these tactical decisions by Juve, many of Milan's most threatening attacks came right down the middle and having a player there who could receive and turn with the ball (and not immediate pass it back out wide, which is what Juve was playing for), could really cause some damage. On the plays Brahim did find his way towards the middle of the pitch he drew Juve's only yellow card when Cuadrado had to pull him back with a tactical foul to prevent him from springing a 3-on-2 counter, and then of course later in the game Brahim anticipating the passing lane - and being helped by a terribly lazy Vlahovic pass - and breaking away for the game-ending goal.

Pioli not starting the game with someone in the middle to exploit this, or even in general, could’ve been costly (and no, Pobega, who was making runs and getting forward, doesn’t count. Need a real CAM in there). Serie A is still pretty clustered at the top and Pioli needs to get these right. I know he mostly has but the margins have been tighter than last season.

Takeaways

I like Pioli actually changing formation to start a game considering this isn't something we see him do a lot when short on bodies. The Krunić out wide at RW should never be tried again after the CL match vs Chelsea. Milan was doomed before kickoff that game with Krunić out wide.

But was this the right change? No. It was the wrong formation regardless of if it was a 4-3-2-1 as reported or a 4-3-3 in performance and functionality. The only way I would say they should play a 4-3-3 is with either of their actual RWers or by putting CDK out there, but if that's the case and those options are available then I wouldn't select a 4-3-3. The only way a 4-3-2-1 makes sense would be to have Brahim and CDK behind Giroud but then that takes Leao out, which is dumb. But Leão did play and if Leão and Brahim were both in the more traditional locations of the two players behind the striker then they would get in each other's way and negate some of their best offensive attributes: attacking in space.

I think the only two formations Milan should start any game with, barring some unforeseen catastrophic series of events, is with a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2. That's it. We know - and I think all agree - the 4-2-3-1 is Milan's best shape, RW issues notwithstanding, but I think the 4-3-1-2 could work really well as well with Florenzi out wide on the right whipping in crosses and Theo and Leao still doing their thing on the left. It essentially only swaps out Milan's weakest position, RW, for an additional midfielder.

Regardless if it's a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-1-2, one of the things either of these formations need is a player who can turn and run with the ball in the CAM position. While CDK has shown signs of being able to do this it's not something he does on the regular (and why, in part, Milan struggled with Salzburg), Brahim seems to be the better fit in this system and why Milan seem to perform better with him out there when compared to CDK this season. Both players need to continue to get production from that RW spot though, so…and I can't believe I'm going to type this out: Milan need Messias or Saelemaekers back and soon(assuming Pioli won't play CDK out there, which is odd. With both of them out CDK at RW would be my go-to).

Quick hits

I posted this stat a few weeks back but here it is updated: Milan scores every 33.4 minutes with Brahim on the pitch, and every 61.6 minutes with CDK

Giroud got credit for an assist on his shot that hit Tomori and WAS NOT AT ALL A PASS, that then Tomori banged home after a favorable bounce. I think a rule change is in order: goals like this should not be credited as an assist for a dude who was clearly trying to score, or at the minimum start counting hockey assists on passes that are clearly consequential to the buildup of the goal. Like, cool, a dude lucks into an assist. Got it. But like hook a dude up who sprung a counter but wasn’t the second-to-last guy to touch it

Tatarusanu now has as many Serie A clean sheets as Magic Mike this season. I smell a controversy brewing...

Kalulu is at the minimum the defensive team MVP so far this season, and I would put him up there with Leão in terms of being indispensable. He's played in every game so far this season and when Pioli tried to rest him he got brought in due to injury every time and has already played at RB and both left and right CB positions

Juventus is really sh*tty. Have I already said that?

Alright, sound off below and I'll wait for some dude named Tom to correct something I said because I was off by thiiiiiissss much *pinching fingers closely together*.

Big game Tuesday vs Chelsea and need at least a point from that one. Finally, one last pic just for me...look at my favorite lil'guy! Look at him! Look at Bremer and his stupid face!

Forza Milan!

[windblooms]

dragonspine theorycraft [spoilers]

if you’ve finished all registered dragonspine quests so far/reached the skyfrost nail and have climbed to the top, you can conclude that the nail fell from celestia, the floating island of the archons – the cutscene implies as much when it puts celestia in your view.  but to supplement. . .

you can see that the nail is ornately designed.  at the top right of the nail, you can also see frills with golden accents.

this is the log-in screen for genshin.  you can see those same frills (at the top and base) on these pillars.  i don’t mean to imply that the skyfrost nail is the same, because it’s evident that their designs differ – but these frills are central to design of the archons.  you can also see them at the bottom of the statues of the seven.

this might just be me, but the blue glow from the statues of the seven seem similar to the blue crystals embedded in the skyfrost nail.

bonus paimon observation:

paimon has the same frills that accent the statues.  most already speculated this, but she’s most probably connected to celestia and the archons.

[nuclearanomaly]

                                                                    My bliss                                                         pulling at your sympathy