#to the anon who asked who i was on main

[concernedcrimson]

OOC Update:

Someone found my main.

[egophiliac]

back at it again with the extremely self-indulgent diafams! I am being emotionally supported by overly-cutesy interactions between anime characters right now, don't judge me.

(also continuing with my headcanons that 1) mustache Bauru, and 2) he'll be hugely tsundere about it but you can, ultimately, convince him to do just about anything via careful application of Sebek.)

[ohio-thestate]

reblog this post and see what happens

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Evo wanda doodle from my cell at the christmas party

[meirimerens]

[daily-imbibitorlunae]

drawing imbibitor lunae everyday part 5:

he is not paid enough for this shit

[mxtxfanatic]

Hello. What do you think of Wen Qing and Wen Ning? Their relationship with Wei Ying? I adore the Yiling siblings and don't understand why they are ignored in the fandom. I truly believe that it is Wen Ning who is Wei Ying's brother, but people attribute that role to Jiang Cheng🤧

I, too, am a Yiling siblings believer! I think the fandom ignores them because Yunmeng trio bullshit in favor of Jiang Cheng (because fuck “Jiang Yanli’s importance to Wei Wuxian outside of soup” seems to be the common sentiment in mainstream fandom) is so popular. Some of the adaptations also have a nasty habit of downplaying the significance of the Burial Mounds settlement era and the importance of the Wen remnants and the siblings to Wei Wuxian, specifically, so some people might just not know if they’re coming to the fandom from, say, the donghua.

On that note, while we see more of the Wen Ning/Wei Wuxian brotherhood due to the fact that Wen Ning is still, you know, alive (so to speak), I think a very under-discussed theme of the Yiling siblings is that Wen Qing taught Wei Wuxian that thank you’s and apologies don’t have to be about acknowledging debt. While the Wen siblings’ sacrifice certainly was partially inspired by their indebtedness to Wei Wuxian for rescuing and protecting their family, they were also motivated by the fact that they genuinely cared about him. Therefore, Wen Qing’s final words to him are not just a clearing of the debt bonds between them, but also an earnest display of gratitude and regret that they could not see it through to the end together. It’s what Wei Wuxian goes on to teach Jin Ling after rescuing him from the Nie graveyard and why he felt it important to thank Lan Wangji post-bathtub scene—which unfortunately led to their misunderstanding.

Just like with his mother’s words, he carries Wen Qing with him in his actions and worldview, and I just love that for them.

[lover-of-mine]

https://x.com/4buddie/status/1843667356180160903

Wow

Just….

Wooooow

They really will say or do or throw anyone under the bus to try and prop up Tommy Kinard.

At one side we have a character who spent 7 seasons struggling with an accident. It's not Bobby's fault the building wasn't up to code and it was basically an accelerant itself. That fire would've been that bad even if it was a random person's dinner catching on fire. It's not like Bobby moved around with a flame thrower trying to kill as many people as possible. He lost his wife and kids in that thing. And on the other side we have a racist who needed his life saved to treat Chim like a human. Addiction is a disease. Racism isn't. Bobby doesn't have control over that part of himself. Tommy absolutely does have control over the way he acts tho.

[randomnameless]

Why do the FEH devs insist on ignoring Nabatean lore so much?

I recently had a surprisingly cordial discussion on redshit with someone about the "nabateans = colonisers" take, and one of the main points raised was that the game was purposedly foggy around Nabateans/Sothis/their story because it would obviously favor a certain narrative (and thus make another narrative look, uh, not that marketable anymore).

To be honest, we still ended up with a product that had a lead go "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and yet that lead is still marketable enough to have raunchy cipher cards and 5 FEH alts, so I actually wonder if, while pissing on that lore had that purpose, it was ultimately pointless since Supreme Leader can still sell goodies despite her incarnation in FE16.

And not only Supreme Leader - but the entirety of WC where we basically have 70% of the cast crying/complaining about their "mixed blood" or lack of and basically adding their 10 cents to the "this race and its blood is the reason why the world sucks".

I mean, can you imagine Sylvain selling any goodies and alts if Flayn replied to his "wah wah people only are kind to me and want to fuck me because I have Nabatean blood :(" by some uncharacteristic "good for you, I have to hide my ears, had to dye my hair, have to lie about my family because if the truth is found out about my identity, I will be hunted and vivisected like an animal and harvested for parts by people who call my kin abominations - just like what happens in the game where the same people who call my kin "abominations" ally with a classmate who calls me a creature and pretends I am incapable of human feelings based on my race".

FE Fodlan's main selling point is its cast of students, for various reasons, but even if I tried to kid myself, Nopes and FEH made it clears : students are the main selling point.

If you spare more time and attention to the Nabatean plot/lore, the students either grow from "likeable" to "despicable" or worse, you won't gaf about them because yeah sure, Hilda might be upset because people expect things from her due to her crust, but it would feel like a "peanut" compared to Seteth's irrational (granted, it's not so irrational since GW exists) fear that Flayn's newest friends would dissect her if they learnt she was a Nabatean, and being conflicted by finally letting her have human friends and form bonds she crave, or protect her due to the trauma from the genocide of their species.

Don't get me wrong, I love peanuts, I mean, not everyone can have a tragik of loaded backstory!

And yet, given how this verse's DNA is "can you fight against the red emperor who uwus about you", they had to add copious amounts of Earl Grey to their games so there's no clear-cut factions :

The "Your alien blood and its influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command" vs "I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

is turned to :

"Your alien blood Crests and its your church's influence on the world corrupted it, so I want to reform it under my command"

"I don't want to die and you oppose me due to my race and side with the people who genocided my kin"

Sprinkle with the cast's hammering here and there that the "reforms" might be needed - but never develop on what they are - and add a few baseless and groundless takes as a toping (basically everything Claude says about tolerance and the general "isolationism/foreign policy" stuff) and you get FE Fodlan where the Red Emperor's war isn't seen as the catastrophe it is in the other entries from the series!

Now, for FEH...

FWIW, the F!F!Billy's trailer had them try to explain that Sothis was a bit pissed about her slaughtered/massacred children when Nopes never gave any reason about why she was pissed - maybe on Billy's behalf bcs Jerry's dead, but come on, she would indeed deserve the medal of the worst parent in the franchise if that was the case, since Billy can murder her daughter without Sothis taking over ! - but given that they cannot write/go against the source game those characters are from.

They tried a bit, with B!Supreme Leader and Hegemongard's FB, but then it stopped (because she had no "new unit" released since then lol) and I can understand why : Hegemongard came out before the Supreme Emblem, and Hegemongard hates dragons who are seen/perceived as gods by some of their human followers. Come FE17, and now Supreme Emblem accepts Alear because they are "one of the good ones". We can come up with HCs and details and talk about what are emblems or if Hegemongard's views were only hers at the end of AM all day long... But imo, Doylist wise, it still feels it's a retcon because the devs from the main games tried to scrap and remove the most "controversial" traits she had.

For the other characters... Well, you see what Marianne is in FEH (but even in her base games), she's one of the few characters who reacts - in a way - to the partial history about relics and demonic beasts and all... only to give sad uwus to Maurice.

FE16 (and Nopes) refused to have any "student" character react to the Nabatean lore/reveal, about what are relics and all. There are no lines, Claude shared some knowledge in the explore section of VW's last chapter, but we don't have anyone muse or think or even talk about what are relics, what are crests, and what kind of fuckery their ancestors or the ancient humans of Fodlan did.

With that in mind, FEH can't do much : either they write Marianne in a retcon-y way like what happened for Hegemongard (and they're not afraid to piss on characterisation, look at Lyon!), or they flanderise her "character" and develop her around 3 lines she had in the game in her paralogue, and continue to give sad uwus about Momo when he was at best a guy who slaughtered and murdered so much that he abused the Nabatean turned into a relic to the point where he turned in a demonic beast even if he had a matching crest, or at worst, had been part of Nemesis's piñata party in Zanado and was something of a genocider.

Tldr :

Why FE Fodlan never gaf about Nabateans : earl grey + the marketable cast has to stay marketable and you can't sell peanuts at the same price you'd sell swordfish

Why FEH dgaf about Nabatean lore : they can't afford to retcon characters + they have to sell peanut alts with the same seasoning they had in their base game.

For what it's worth though, I think FEH is more daring than the base game(s) given how they gave more lines and screentime to Rhea - through her different alts - than GW. And they even designed her Halloween!alt's lines to piss on some of Claude's assertions, while the various FB involving members of the church also - indirectly - reply to some accusations thrown their way in FE16 when, FE16, never gave them an opportunity or lines to explain that those takes were full of dung.

*"but random, maybe she doesn't know that the crests she often decries is "dragon blood"!"

It's highly debatable, especially given what she and Hubert throw to Billy in CF - but even if she doesn't, Doylist wise we still have a character who, knowingly or not, says "this race and its blood* is the reason why the world sucks" and who is never called out on her prejudice. That's more of an issue regarding the general writing though, she has to be a red emperor and took pages from Ashnard's book, and yet, the player must still feel bad and want to romance her, so her mindest/goal cannot be looked at too closely, because, I guess, even the devs thought it would be difficult to romance her (thus sell goodies!) if more light was shed on the "blood from this race corrupts our people" schtick -> which in turn would also make characters whose backstory and gimmick rely on "crying about crests" be way less likeable, thus marketable and able to sell goodies.

[atoriv-art]

What are your thoughts on Sasuke x Gaara

beautiful showstopping saved my life we love you sasugaa <333

ok to actually answer: i think they have a very compelling dynamic! i really really like their chunin exams era with gaara being weirdly obsessed with sasuke because they're both "damaged" to put it in some way!

i wish we got to see sasuke's opinion about it a little more, especially since it comes at a time where he's starting to come around to the idea of using his power to protect and not just kill itachi, but this "i relate to your pain and i need to make sure my pain (and to gaara, therefore my power) is still bigger and more powerful" dynamic is soooo fun to me as an introduction point between them! i find it a lot more compelling than what it got interrupted by 😅

i understand the value of having gaara see someone who is Literally just like him (ie also a jinchuriki), but imo having him deal with someone who he perceives as Emotionally just like him (ie traumatized, angry and lonely) was already excellent...

also!!!!!!!!!! i'm not a fan of how sasuke is characterized in the five kage summit in general (or rather how he's demonized by the framing of it all. i love a good public meltdown. his evil laugh lives in my brain) BUT i looooooooove the scene with gaara confronting him i was NOT expecting it when i was watching it the first time and it was like an angel smiled down upon me.

and and and (guy who gets to bring up the naruto games again) they do a fun reversal of their original dynamic there it in the ninja storm games, with sasuke being the one to flaunt his pain and power against gaara

LIKE SORRY I JUST THINK IT'S FUNNN!!!! they have a lot in common and deal with it similarly but when gaara's at his lowest sasuke's starting to get better, and that gets flipped later on: when gaara's figured himself out it's sasuke who's completely spiraling... hehehehe!

ok ill put the rest in a read-more. jesus

i get why the pairing isn't very popular (sasuke has like, two of the biggest pairings soaking up all of the fandom attention span alkdsmak) but i cannot standddd the weird consensus that they don't like each other 😭 gaara showed in that scene that he does still hold some amount of respect and empathy for sasuke, enough to offer him a helping hand when he was at his lowest, and sasuke himself was engaging in the conversation much as he disagreed with gaara... it's gaara who starts the fighting back up, not sasuke!

imo gaara's words to naruto later on that get twisted into a "girl dump him" speech (😒.) are obviously meant to serve as a warning to manage expectations, because he Knows his friend is still not going to give up on sasuke and might not even particularly want him to, but he's speaking from the kage angle as opposed to what he personally would want

gaara CRIED for sasuke and stopped the fighting specifically to talk to him for fuck's sake he doesn't HATE him, his siblings have to convince him to give up on trying to talk to him and there's a distinction made of what should be done as a kage. and while i have a thousand things to say about how i don't love how the manga handles its kage characters wrt framing them as Generally Good, i do think it's notable that it's this that makes him give it up

"personal feelings" meaning, his siblings can recognize that gaara doesn't fucking want to fight him and would really prefer to talk this out. I think about this a lot sorry KSMDKSMDK so much of the consensus is that gaara, specifically, can't stand sasuke and for WHAT.

and as a sidebar i think their insistence on calling e/o by their full names/titles ("Uchiha Sasuke" / "Gaara Of The Sand") is so fucking funny.

i know what you are. also:

sasuke engaging in battle banter. OPEN YOUR EYES

ANYWAY!

i actually think that of my "quirky" pairings (the sasugaaneji triad that is.) it's the one with the most canon basis and it's not even close. however it's also the one that i notice people engaging the least with ASKJDNSAKD which is obviously fine it's just a little funny to me

[rizzanon]

sorry guys can’t relate

#madeanaccountjusttosendasks

If this bites me in the ass because I somehow sent an ask on my main account without clicking anonymous then your inbox IS cursed 🤗

- 🌔

PLS I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE YOU CREATED A WHOLE OTHER ACC JUST TO SEND ASKS

what in the double life??

[dykedvonte]

I'm probably going to post about this on the MW subreddit, but I still find it pretty hilarious that most fans assume the "struggles" Jimbalaya was dealing with back on Earth were related to criminal acts (usually in order to demonize Curly) meanwhile most of the pieces of clues I've gathered from the HFIM dlc and the QnAs we got about the characters' lives have lead me to believe Jimbalaya's struggles were about poverty.

In the HFIM dlc we're pretty clearly playing a fish version of Jimbalaya, and the whole game is about how a capitalistic system ruins people (fish) and those that climb up help perpetuate the system and those that go down just get eaten. So it's pretty interesting to me that Jimbalaya fish even after consuming other fish and items... keeps going down.

But it was the third QnA that sealed it for me. Curly's hobbies are around a lot of friends and family that he could join interesting things. And of course play snow sports in Winter. Winter snow sports... which let's be honest is a pretty expensive hobby to have. Meanwhile, Jimbalaya can't afford any hobbies other than joining one with Curly.

I think this kinda just adds more fuel for Jimbalaya to both envy yet aspire to be like Curly.

I dunno, it's just fascinating to me watching so many fans claim the "struggles" were so obviously to do with crime when most of the current evidence I noticed seems to point towards money related issues.

-🌟 Anon

I think both are valid and valuable interpretations that’s the MW fandom makes but I think the major problem with it is the severity in which they make Jimmy out to be every factor wrong with men in society.

Like I think it’s interesting to use the idea he has some record, misdemeanors/petty stuff, that has complied to make his life more difficult. It’s all his own doing for his entitlement and general behavior but it can also be used to comment on Capitalism banking on desperation and envy. A lot of his actions are desperate because he knows his crimes on the Tulpar will make it virtually to climb any ladder, anywhere anymore due to their weight. Like in the end the problem is undeniably how the proverbial rat race creates environments that fosters Jimmy’s and creates ineffective systems like Curly represents.

Curly on the other hand benefits from the corporate part of it with his financial freedom, stability and prestige but he too is socially stagnant, deeply unhappy in the identities placed on to him and unrecognizable as anything other than a cog in the machine. I think this goes in tandem with the other members too as the identities placed onto them in the scenario all represent stages in capitalism and class discrepancies: Anya represents largely marginalized identities (particularly women in blue collar fields/harassment) and how they ultimately have to fend for themselves. Daisuke a sort of perception of both a class between Curly and the rest, protected no matter the effects of the establishment due to his home life but at the same time he is the metaphorical future gen, things stripped from him as the older generations squabble amongst themselves in private conversations leaving him unequipped. Then there’s Swansea being sort of those who have lived through it, knowing how it ends but ultimately still lack the skills, resources and want to change it, letting it cycle.

The entire thing with Jimmy circles back to the fandom ultimately wanting easy solutions to the events in the games, a face to blame and a weird black and white thinking to issues that are dangerous to view that way.

[the-way-astray]

Since you seem to be most familiar with the side of tumblr that isn’t afraid to express their opinions about characters they don’t like, I was wondering if you know any accounts on tumblr that talk about Fitz in a similar fashion? Or just anything “anti-Fitz” for that matter. I can’t find any. Thank you!

okay i'm not familiar with any "side" of keepblr that doesn't post in the main tag . . . and since there's never much fitz hate in the main tag, if at all, i don't know any fitz hater blogs whatsoever. i'm not like this because i'm on some general hater "side" of keepblr, i'm like this because i hate keefe and i want to shout into the void about it, regardless of whether people agree or not

having said that you asked nicely so i tried my best to find blogs that frequently post in anti fitz tags (like #anti fitz vacker, #anti fitz, #fitz hate, etc.). and i found four . . . i did a bit of scrolling to make sure they weren't like terfs or some shit. one of them did raise some red flags for me personally, so i won't add that blog here in the interest of not making a callout post (long story short. red flags to do with the stripper fintan instagram war situation. if you know you know) so i'm leaving that one off (if you really want that one, dm me). here are the others: @carcinized @cottoncandytrafficcones @turquoise-skyyyy . . . these three seem to have intense negative opinions of fitz

a fitz (and general character) hater green flag for me personally is when they can be friends with fitz (and general character) lovers and when they make jokes about being a hater and don't take it too seriously, and one of these blogs (carcinized) is friends with summer and also makes jokes in a similar vein to the way i joke about my keefe hatred. so that's a good sign i think. i wouldn't say either of them hate fitz in a similar fashion to me because for the life of me i cannot find a single post from either of them that explains why they dislike fitz, and i'm very vocal about the reason i dislike keefe. no paragraphs-long rants to be found on any of their blogs . . . i'm sorry anon i tried. and i'm also like 90% sure that none of them are frequent kotlc posters anymore. so that's also a thing . . . yeah i tried my best but i genuinely think that active fitz haters are just unicorns on tumblr

[deoidesign]

Can you make a tutorial on how you world build and make ocs? I can't seem to make any people in my brain, but then when I try to come up with environments jobs, beliefs and little details to slowly come up with someone, I think: well I don't really know how people have influenced the world- it's a weird loop

To be honest, I don't think I can! Writing is an extremely personal process. The way I write is directly related to how I process things, what I find important in stories, years of my own analysis of my and other's writing, etc... The way you write will be unique to you, as well. But I can explain how I personally think of it.

The short answer:

Write. Write anything and everything, it's a tool to explore your ideas. Analyze your own writing, and write more. Then, as you discover which ideas you want to develop, write more to explore them more. You won't know what you want otherwise!

The long answer:

I think this kind of loop is common. It's easy to feel like everything needs to be done "at once," because our job as writers is to make elements logically fit with each other for our readers. But as you've discovered, developing multiple elements simultaneously isn't really possible, or at least is extremely difficult.

Personally, when I think of writing, I break it into three major elements; characters, world, and plot. As much as possible every scene explores one or more of these, and as much as possible these three things tie back into what I personally consider most important: theme.

Everything I do is in service of the themes I want to present. Without them my events feel aimless. It can take a while to discover them, but they're the core of my work. You will have to discover what you feel is the core of yours. Analyzing other media helps with this too.

Concepts in your brain exist in a state of infinite potential. But when you start writing you have to start making choices, which removes potential as you move forward... But you have to move forward anyways. If there's ideas you want to explore later, you can always explore them later.

What this ends up meaning, to answer your question, is that I don't think of my characters as "people in my brain" or my worlds as something people have influenced... Not at their core, at least. They are tools that I use to represent specific ideas. Obviously they're also my blorbos, but mostly they're serving a specific narrative purpose.

So above all else... Write. Write, and discover what you're writing about, and then start over and write with that in mind. Keep doing this. But you have to write!

[captainkirkk]

I know you asked how the fatphobia was allowed in the house hospital and like, American hospitals are still extremely fatphobic

Oh I'm fully aware. Chase's lines in particular were terrible but rang very true to early 00s Australian ways of thinking about fatness, I heard all of what he said and more growing up (and even now lbr)

I was surprised that multiple people wrote the episode and edited it and then aired it without a second thought

[batsplat]

NEW CASEY INTERVIEW NEW CASEY INTERVIEW

"Valentino Rossi and I were enemies, now we have overcome the past"

https://www.gazzetta.it/motori/la-mia-moto/27-11-2024/casey-stoner-al-ranch-di-valentino-rossi-gli-inizi-con-nolan-il-ritorno-alle-corse.shtml

(link) anon you are my hero and I love you. I was about to say I also love gazzetta for being my most reliable allies in getting fun interview quotes from casey, but I'm feeling somewhat less well-disposed towards them after having had to fight their website to even see what he said, let alone actually clip it. as ever, obviously go read the whole thing (might need arm surgery??) - does read a bit like paid content by the helmet company but still interesting. here, however, we shall be focusing just on the casey/vale stuff. the clip in question + transcript:

No, it's good, Valentino and I've put the past behind us many years ago now... I never stopped respecting anything Valentino did, but we certainly had our time where we were very very fierce rivals, almost "enemies" I would say on the track. And, you know, this is something that when you step away from racing and you have a different perspective, you can see things in a different light. So... I think for both of us, we stepped away, we have families. It's a very very different way of life for us now. And to get to share the track with him in an enjoyable way - something that I would have wanted to do in my early career, before we became let's say enemies - it's been a real real pleasure to spend some time with him, to see everything, this program that he's built... It's more or less a dream of mine to do what he's done, to have this opportunity to work with young riders like he is. He has the teams which he can implement and bring the riders through, and all of his riders now are at such a high level - it's a testament to what he's done. And I think it's such an amazing opportunity for anybody that gets to work with him.

crazy how I simply never lose

first off, this is something he's hinted at before, but there's just something really... you know. about casey talking about it being his dream to do what valentino's done training young riders :( and what he says about what an "amazing opportunity" it is for anyone who gets to work with valentino... can't help but think about that ask I answered recently about how much good it would have done casey to have a vr46-esque structure looking out for him. and maybe... just maybe... a thought he's had too...? read the answer as a whole and, come on - you can kind of see where I'm coming from, right. just this slight edge of wistfulness

second of all, again, it is just so extremely true to this rivalry that casey says they'd put the past behind them "many years ago now" when you just keep in mind what he's actually been saying about valentino in the last few years. "a different perspective", "you can see things in a different light"... well, sure, but not THAT different going by your interview output I would say. which isn't necessarily going to be completely reflective of casey's thinking over this time period - he's telling a story about that rivalry in the press, after all, and it's one that has increasingly become accepted in the mainstream consciousness. there have also been some gentle hints of him reassessing a few specific valentino-related elements of his career, like for instance his speculation that yamaha had strung him along to use as a negotiating tactic against their preferred pick (from late 2023). which (whether true or not) is ofc a different line from the *wink wink nudge nudge* approach deployed in his autobiography and elsewhere to heavily imply valentino blocked him from that seat

now, look, I STILL think he's going to go back to some of the old hits in future interviews... he's never going to stop having complicated feelings about valentino, and he does want the public to understand his grievances. BUT, as last stated on the 2k24 feud round-up, that internal conflict does not always survive actual direct exposure to valentino. casey does have a little bit of form where 'contact with valentino temporarily softening his rhetoric' is concerned. portimao 2021 was ofc when they did that helmet swap thing, casey gave some nice quotes about valentino at his presser there - including "but over time, there is no resentment and a lot of respect"... which obviously feels like it's quite detached from how people think casey feels, in large part due to what he's said since that presser!! and it took him as long as an entire month before he got a few more digs in (memorably that was when casey said valentino couldn't be fast without a tow, which again is factually questionably but undoubtedly extremely amusing). and surely we'll get at least a little bit of a relapse, but who cares: "real real pleasure" to spend time with valentino!! real 2 me

incidentally, casey has used the 'enemy' word previously in relation to valentino - generally when discussing his belief that valentino deliberately made an enemy out of him. he also said about laguna '08 a few years ago, "before we were rivals, after that we were not enemies but we were a lot stronger rivals". (discussed here.) obviously there's no way to objectively distinguish between 'rivals' and 'enemies' - and I'd agree with casey in that 'enemies' would be quite a strong word for post-laguna but maybe a bit more accurate by 2011-12 - but as ever it's interesting how he himself characterises their dynamic. "very very fierce rivals" indeed lol. and they're no longer enemies :) peace and friendship wins the day

thirdly. third of all. number three.

And to get to share the track with him in an enjoyable way - something that I would have wanted to do in my early career, before we became let's say enemies...

HUH. huh! huh

well, I mean. obviously. but, you know. thanks for saying it? oh man, casey... his wry little smile... lonely young casey, who looked at valentino and saw an attitude towards the sport he was never going to be able to adopt as his own. who would have liked some of that joy for himself - maybe dreamed that one day he too could have fun like that - only for those emotions to remain mostly foreign to him. ofc casey's complicated feelings towards valentino and why that early idolisation turned sour has been discussed in a fair bit of depth on this blog, but well, here's another piece of the puzzle. he would have liked to share the track with valentino in an enjoyable way!! unfortunately, given the circumstances in which the two of them got to know each other, casey was never going to get what he wanted out of valentino. beyond any specific crimes committed by valentino... the more you study that rivalry, the more you come to the conclusion that casey's disillusionment was unavoidable. valentino never could have been what casey needed him to be - not as long as he was casey's rival, rather than his mentor and friend. maybe in another life