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prettygirl-gabi · 11 days ago

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Chapter 24: On Different Courts

Rating: General Audiences

Warning: none

Paring: Paige Bueckers x !photographer fem reader

Fandom: Women's basketball

Summary: don't get caught lackin.....

Welcome to the chapter 24 of Through The Lens. I hope you all enjoy and there is more to come...stay tuned my loveies!! 🏀💕📸

Reader's POV

The atmosphere in the arena was electric as Xavier’s women’s basketball team faced LSU. I was on the sidelines, camera in hand, trying to capture the fast-paced game without missing a moment. My friend Jade, a forward for Xavier, caught my eye during a timeout and flashed me a grin.

“Stay sharp, Y/N,” she teased, jogging back onto the court.

“I always do!” I called back, though I couldn’t deny how tense the game was making me. LSU was relentless, and every play seemed more intense than the last.

I crouched near the baseline, focusing my lens on the action. Suddenly, LSU’s center went diving for a loose ball, and before I could react, she was barreling toward the sidelines—toward me.

“Y/N!” Jade’s voice cut through the noise. She sprinted over, stepping between me and the oncoming player. The ball flew out of bounds, and Jade managed to shield me from the collision.

“Thanks,” I breathed, my heart racing as she helped me steady myself.

“Don’t mention it,” Jade said, winking. “But maybe keep your head up more next time.”

The rest of the game passed in a blur of adrenaline. Xavier fought hard but ultimately fell short against LSU. As the buzzer sounded, Jade jogged over to me, sweat-soaked but smiling.

“You good?” she asked, leaning on her knees to catch her breath.

“Yeah, just a little shaken up. Thanks again, Jade.”

“Anytime,” she said, pulling me into a quick side hug before heading to the locker room.

Paige’s POV

The USC arena was buzzing, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. Every pass, every shot, every play felt just a little off.

“Focus, Bueckers,” Coach Geno barked from the sidelines.

I nodded, wiping my hands on my shorts and trying to push the thought of Y/N out of my head. But it was hard. She wasn’t just my person—she was my calm in the storm, and not having her here felt like playing with one hand tied behind my back.

With the score tied and only seconds left on the clock, I found Jana open at the three-point line. Without hesitation, I passed her the ball. She nailed the shot just as the buzzer sounded, securing our win.

The team erupted in cheers, but I felt drained.

Later, back at the hotel, I stared at my phone, willing it to ring. Finally, Y/N’s name popped up, and I answered before the first ring finished.

“Hey,” I said, my voice softening immediately.

“Hey, you,” she replied, her face filling the screen. She looked tired but happy. “Congrats on the win.”

“Thanks. It didn’t feel the same without you here,” I admitted, leaning back against the pillows.

Her expression softened. “I missed being there too. Jade had to save me from getting taken out by a loose ball today.”

“Are you serious? Are you okay?” My heart clenched at the thought of her getting hurt.

“I’m fine,” she said, laughing lightly. “Jade’s got quick reflexes, no broken cameras either.” I laughed heartily "Not too much on me, mamas."

We talked until it was time for both of us to head to bed, to be up in time to catch flights. I hated saying goodbye, but knowing I’d see her soon made it bearable.

Reader's POV

The moment I walked through the door of my dorm at UConn, Paige was on me like a magnet, thanks to Kayla for letting her in, before going to the gym. She wrapped her arms around me, burying her face in my neck.

“I missed you,” she mumbled, her voice muffled against my skin.

“I was gone for a few days,” I said, laughing as I hugged her back.

“Still too long,” she replied, pulling back just enough to kiss my forehead.

Later that evening, Paige and I were in the kitchen. I was stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce while she built a new Lego set at the dining table. KK burst into my dorm with her phone in hand.

“Family live time!” KK announced, setting her phone up on the counter to stream on the team’s shared Instagram account.

I tried to stay out of frame, but Paige leaned over the counter, pretending to grab something off my face. Her hand lingered, and our faces were so close I could feel her breath.

“Paige,” I whispered, trying to warn her about the live stream.

“Got it,” she said, pulling back just as KK turned the camera toward us.

“What’s going on over here?” KK asked, smirking.

“Just getting some lint off her face,” Paige said smoothly, though I could see the corner of her mouth twitching.

After dinner, Paige and I settled on the couch, out the the camera view, scrolling through the comments on KK’s live.

“They’re already shipping us,” I said, holding up my phone to show her the fan edits and screen recordings that had popped up within minutes.

Paige laughed, pulling me closer. “Can you blame them? I mean we cute cute or whatever.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling. Whatever challenges lay ahead, as long as we had moments like these, I knew we’d be okay.

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-Thank You For Reading!🩵🩶

-prettygirl-gabi🎀✨️

Tag list: @sayurireidotcom , @astroeliza , @paxaz535 , @0phantom0 , @starlighttsv , @authentic-girl03 , @sevyscoven , @elalfywhore , .... (more to be added)

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landhoe-norris · 6 months ago

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i know i said i was gonna leave f1 alone for a while, but things are weighing heavy on my soul right now and i need to get them out. they're jumbled so just bear with me.

first of all, i'm gonna put it very plainly that i did not and i will not celebrate piastri's win. it feels incredibly hollow, and i don't think a single driver would be happy about a win where your teammate had to slow down for you to jump a 6,2 second gap.

there's always the same thing when it comes to lando, and him saying that he's faster on the radio. people comment on every single social media that he should "be faster then, race harder." well, do you know what happened yesterday and what oscar should've done? he should've been faster. it's a fact that he does not have Lando's race pace and that he still has so much to learn, especially regarding tyre management.

they're in the same car. according to social media, piastri is the better driver out of the two: more mature, faster, more reliable, more level headed, more of a championship material. let's just ignore the fact that he came into a team on the up and up and after only six months had a car capable of getting podiums (although that was mostly just lando, you know). luckiest driver in years.

what happened yesterday was a travesty. it showed how incapable of running a good strategy mclaren are, and how they are still always looking backwards instead of looking forwards.

and don't even get me started on the caps. who the fuck brought them? it better be piastri's team cause if it was mclaren it is one of the most disgusting things i have ever witnessed.

if oscar was allowed to fight at the start, then why was lando not allowed to fight til the end? why did mclaren decide before the race how it would end? why was lando told 25 laps before the race was over, that he should give back a place that he was then not allowed to gain back by racing oscar? why was lando pitted first? why was he not told how things would go before he was called into the pits? why did will and andrea emotionally manipulate and blackmail him into giving up his win?

i am beyond disgusted with the way this has been handled and brown and stella's refusal to acknowledge the way the team behaved towards lando (especially on the radio), and stella's "oscar is the youngest on the team, but the wisest" comment which must be a fucking kick in the stomach to lando's mental health.

lando is an incredible teammate and team player, and i don't want to hear a single thing about how piastri has been shafted time and time again because fuck that. they have been shafted the same amount of times (also welcome to mclaren, who have been fucking lando over for years. deal with it).

i don't believe piastri will repay lando for this weekend, the man didn't even publicly thank him post-race. i have zero expectations of mclaren cause they have clearly decided who their number one is, and who they want to lead the future. and it's not the guy who could've been 69 points behind verstappen after this weekend (a verstappen who is furious to his team cause they're fucking up left, right and centre). red bull is in a crisis, they only have one driver who is doing shit at that team and even that driver is barely getting on podiums lately so lando absolutely has a chance for that wdc. well he had a chance, let's see how mclaren and piastri will fuck that up for him as the season progresses.

how in the hell has someone who has given his heart and soul to the team for the last 5.5 years, someone who has given them 21 podiums and a win, many poles and fastest laps and is 24-fucking-years-old being relegated to the back for someone who has been there for 18-months?

how has the communication at mclaren dropped so badly since stella took control? and how in the fuck do we justify will plainly lying to lando about the condition of his tyres to make him slow down?

how are they going to repay him? cause i have not seen a single thing from them since 2019 that shows me that they will ever support lando in a 1-2 situation like they have with their aussie drivers.

i have zero respect for anyone at mclaren, except lando. i will never root for this team again, and they only have one driver as far as i'm concerned.

if you in any way feel that lando was at fault for anything that happened yesterday, you're a shit person. that's it.

#f1 #lando norris

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tkachuktkaching · 1 year ago

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Tkachuk brothers set for ‘healthy competition’ when Senators host Panthers

Brady of Ottawa, Matthew of Florida to play against one another for 19th time in NHL

The mutual admiration society that is the Tkachuk family will be on display once again Monday.

Matthew Tkachuk and his Florida Panthers visit Brady Tkachuk and the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Center with each Tkachuk brother and each team hungry for a victory.

The Panthers (12-7-1) have lost two in a row and are six points behind the Boston Bruins for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Senators (8-8-0) are eighth in the Atlantic and trying to keep pace in the race for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

At this point, though, they are used to high stakes when they face each other in the NHL.

“We are each other’s biggest fan,” older brother Matthew said. “When we play against each other now, especially [being] in the same division, we have to beat each other, our teams have to win. It creates that healthy competition. It’s a very good relationship the two of us have.”

Now in their sixth season of going head-to-head in the best hockey league in the world, the brothers have learned to compartmentalize when they play each other.

They go hard against each other on the ice and it often gets heated. It is also mostly even.

They have played against one another 18 times in the NHL and each has won nine games. Each forward has scored six goals, including one on the power play. Brady has 25 penalty minutes, Matthew 23. Brady 62 shots on goal, one more than Matthew. Brady has a decided advantage in hits (64-31), but Matthew has 20 points to Brady’s 11 (statistics provided by NHL Stats).

Yet, it never spills over off the ice. There, they are staunch supporters of one another, displaying a bond that seems to intensify each season.

“I think he is the smartest player in the NHL,” Brady says. “How he sees the game, I don’t think anybody is up there with how he sees it. I think he is one of the best players in the NHL. I think everybody is finally starting to believe what I believed from Day 1, that he has such an impact and is so good at what he does.”

Matthew, 25, is coming off a run to the Stanley Cup Final last season. He was injured in the Final against the Vegas Golden Knights and the Panthers lost in five games, but Matthew was the unquestioned star for his team in the postseason after an MVP-worthy regular season when he had an NHL career-high 109 points (40 goals, 69 assists).

Brady, 24, was around for some of that playoff run. He showed up for the bigger games and even helped his brother get to the rink for Game 4 after Matthew sustained a broken sternum in Game 3. Matthew played in Game 4 but couldn’t go in Game 5.

“Going into [Game 4], I was a little nervous. What he did in that game, trying to work around it, the pain, not many people can do that,” Brady said. “I was super proud of him sacrificing himself to get the job for his team and the city. “Seeing how happy he made my family and how proud everyone was with what he did with that opportunity, I want that for me too. It created such a motivation. It’s an honor for him to be my brother and to learn from him.”

This season, after spending the offseason recovering from injury, Matthew has 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) in 20 games.

Brady has 15 points (10 goals, five assists) in 16 games and is giving his older sibling a run for personal bragging rights.

“On the ice, I’m probably more powerful, little better skater,” Brady says when asked for a comparison between he and his brother. “I don’t know, everything I do, I want to emulate him and emulate his game. I feel I’m starting to get there, but there’s a long way to go. He’s the perfect person to look up to on the ice.”

Matthew says that Brady already has “a way better” shot than him.

Brady is also the more physical player, each agrees.

“I don’t know if I’m much better than him at on-ice stuff anymore,” Matthew says.

They compete off the ice too, but Matthew is ready to abdicate the crown there on almost every front except one.

“He’s probably like an overall genuinely better person than me, I’m more of a [jokester] than he is, more of an instigator,” Matthew says. “He’s probably overall just a genuinely nicer human being. I will work on that.”

Brady, meanwhile, says he can’t hold a candle to his older brother on the golf course.

“I still kick his [butt] every time we play,” Matthew said, laughing.

Says Brady, “I got to figure that out.”

#matthew tkachuk #brady tkachuk #nhl #florida panthers #ottawa senators #the tkachuk's #chucky quotes #nhl.com

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sistermclarens · 6 months ago

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Hungarian GP 24: McLaren Race Radios 4

Speeding towards the end of the race is Oscar Piastri, narrowly avoiding the head on collision between Lando Norris and the McLaren pit wall along the way.

Laps 1-30 | Laps 31-39 | Laps 40-54 | Laps 55-70

Lap 55

TS: "Hamilton last lap 22.6. Gap to Hamilton is 8 seconds."

WJ: "Ok Lando the position behind is Oscar's 3.8 behind, then Hamilton and Leclerc are 12, and Max is right behind him. We need you to save more tires please, and we do wanna let Oscar through." LN: "Eh, well you should have boxed him first then, surely not?" WJ: "Doesn't matter." LN: "I mean. It does. To me maybe."

Ok. Listen. I have a bit of sympathy for Lando in that he wants those extra 7 points in the driver's championship. Yes, rationally, logically, to me especially as I am very much both of those things, it's basically impossible for him to win it. I think the estimates I've seen are that Lando has to score an average of 7 points higher than Max in every race for the rest of the season, or Max has to DNF three times, or some combination of the two. Here, tho, is I think one of those reasons I'm finding F1 so interesting: the drivers are NOT rational. They're soooooo driven by instinct and emotion and pure raw ego when it comes to their own self-assessments. They ALWAYS believe they can win; they HAVE TO always believe they can win. Lando is demonstrating exactly that in this moment. To him, the championship is in reach, and every point counts.

On the flip side this is like a half-step away from a toddler throwing a temper tantrum lol like Lando has known since his pit stop in lap 45 that he was supposed to give P1 back to Oscar. If you count the pre-race agreement that whoever lead into the last round of pit stops would be uncontested P1 after that, then Lando effectively agreed to give up the lead to Oscar before he knew he had even lost it. To suddenly act shocked like "why was I boxed first? why are you making me switch?" is just disingenuous at this point.

Lap 57

WJ: "And Lando we still think you're using the tires too much, turn 4, turn 11, and the rears at exit turn 6, turn 9. Oscar's 3.5; I know you'll do the right thing."

Andrea Stella's message to the media about McLaren drivers being penalized for disobeying team orders really starts to come into play here. It particularly gives new light to WHY Will is trying so hard to convince Lando to give up P1--his seat with McLaren could be in jeopardy if he doesn't. "Do the right thing" is in this case both "do what is best for enduring teamwork" and "do what is best for your personal career." In my broadcast analysis I criticized the team for putting Lando in a position where he had to go against his own best interest (winning in general but especially winning championship points compared to Max) in order to be a team player. But it's clear now that the McLaren has set up their internal institutional structure to punish poor teamwork, which means that Lando's personal goal of winning the championship IS aligned with the organizations focus on teamwork. As Will says in a few laps, Lando can't win a championship without the team--because he LITERALLY CAN'T, as in, he may lose his seat on the team for being a bad teammate in the process of trying to win a championship.

Now, you can either love this or hate this as a McLaren tactic. (Personally, since I'm quite literally a political institutions scholar, I love whenever an organization lines up their carrots and sticks nicely so as to incentivize the same type of behavior from either reward or punishment.) But like it or not, we have to accept that these are the rules under which McLaren is operating this season. By refusing to give back P1 to Oscar, Lando is refusing to play by previously established rules, and he is running the risk of being slapped with a previously established punishment. He knows what he's doing, and he knows the potential consequences. He's either banking on McLaren not having the guts to go through with getting rid of their more experienced (and more sunk cost) driver, or he's caught up in his anger that the pre-established rules of the game are working against him because Oscar is doing better faster than Lando ever expected him to. Or a combination of both. Never underestimate the ego on a rich white man 😂

Lap 58

TS: "Ok behind, Hamilton is uh still the car behind. Verstappen passed Leclerc. Hamilton is 10 seconds behind you." TS: "Ok there's now 12 laps, ah, 13 laps to go. Would you take a safety car here? Would cost 1 position to Verstappen." OP: "Yes."

This is a fascinating look into Oscar's mindset--he's willing to give up P2 and settle for P3 if it means avoiding the possibility of his tires cooling down/wearing out to the point that he loses even further positions after the (hypothetical) safety car. Bird in hand, etc. I think people overlook how calculating Oscar can be because he's quiet and mostly seems content to go along with Lando's shenanigans in media things. Oscar Piastri let me put you in an MRI and run scans on your brain 👩‍🔬👩‍💻

WJ: "Lando, Hiroshi is stressed about the tires energies. Got a question for you. Ah, safety car with more than 8 laps to go. Would you take it?" LN: "Yes."

Lap 59

TS: "Ok we're in the full safety car window. Full safety car only."

WJ: "And Lando the full safety car window is therefore open." LN: "Okay." WJ: "Turn 4, turn 11. It's gonna get boring."

WRONG, Will, it's ALREADY boring 😭 we're at something like 6 or 7 reminders about turns 4 and 11 to Lando but I've fully given up counting because it's seriously so repetitive.

Lap 61

TS: "10 laps to go, 10 laps."

WJ: "Ok Lando, 10 laps to go; we think both cars are using their tires too much. Just remember ever single Sunday morning meeting we have." LN: "Yeah, well, tell him to catch up please."

Ok, I think this line from Will about Oscar's tires is bullshit. Obviously I don't have all the tire data here so maybe he knows something I don't. What I CAN tell you is that Oscar has not gotten a message about his tires since quite literally lap 49 when he got scolded for running off the track again. Nor does he get any specific "manage your tires better" messages later in the race, just a constant reminder for "best pace" which does involve tires but isn't ONLY tires.

The "Sunday meetings" line I discussed in my broadcast analysis, and I still stand by that: I think it makes the most sense in the context of Lando's interview answer where he mentions that every time they have a meeting they reaffirm their commitment and loyalty to the team. The reminder from Will is both a carrot (remember how good things are) and a stick (imagine how bad things could be).

Lando's response is a lot less defensible than I found it to be in the broadcast analysis, tho. "Tell him to catch up" like what? There's a pre-established agreement that whoever had P1 going into the last pit stop would be the winner. That's Oscar. There's a pre-established agreement that whoever doesn't obey team orders is in danger of punishment from higher-ups, potentially involving losing their seat. Why is Lando testing the boundaries of that? He's known since before his pit stop that the purpose of pitting him was to cover Lewis, NOT to undercut Oscar. Will reminded him of this again directly after his pit stop. Why is he pulling this?

Lap 62

OP: "When are we planning on swapping?" TS: "Ah Oscar we'll get that done soon. We just need best pace from you, best pace from you, for 9 laps."

Another one for turning Oscar Piastri into my mad science lab rat. He asks now AND next lap AND lap 66 about when the swap will occur. He's a lot more impatient about getting the win in hand than I think people realize again because his public persona is so mild. He's 🧍‍♂️ blending into the background, and that masks a lot of the fact that he's obviously got the same competitive spirit and confidence in his own race ability that the other F1 drivers do.

Lap 63

OP: "If there's a safety car with three laps to go, then [there would be no?] swapping." TS: "Understood, Oscar, we're on it."

Again, he's polite about it, and he's smart to do so on what he knows is live & recorded radio. But it's still a subtle signal of impatience with the pit wall. They've been telling him since around lap 48 that Lando would turn the position over to him, and now he's close to the window where a safety car would solidify the final race order with him in P2. He's not, as people said post race, unemotional or uncaring about winning. This is a pretty clear sign of impatience stemming from his competitive drive, so long as you know what you're looking for. He's just picking his words strategically when he knows everything he says is going to be recorded and picked over and analyzed by lunatics like me.

WJ: "Lando, he can't catch you up. You've proved your point, and it really doesn't matter." LN: "He's on much quicker tires, and fresher. I mean I would have tried to undercut anyway. If I didn't, I would have gone long." WJ: "Mate, we did the stop sequence in this order for the good of the team." LN: [interrupting] "Yeah and I'm fighting for a championship. Am I not?" WJ: [interrupting] "I tried to protect you mate. I promise, I'm trying to protect you."

"I would have tried to beat him anyways" this is like, middle school level behavior. Although given how much school athletes tend to miss in pursuit of their careers, I guess I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these guys were under-socialized during important development years, so maybe it literally is middle school behavior. And Will's line at the end--that was so shocking to hear on the broadcast, but now we can put the pieces together and understand that he's reminding Lando of the very real possibility of repercussions stemming from ignoring a team order.

Lap 65

TS: "Ok. Keep it really tight, Oscar, keep this really tight. Just maximum focus now, best pace. Safety car window is closed."

WJ: "And Lando the safety car window is closed."

Lap 66

TS: "5 laps to go." OP: "The longer we leave this, the riskier it gets." TS: "Understood, Oscar, we're managing it."

WJ: "And Lando there are five laps to go. The way to win a championship is not by yourself; it's with the team. You're gonna need Oscar, and you're gonna need the team."

Do I even really need to talk about these last few radios or am I just repeating myself at this point? Lando has known for a ridiculously long time that he is supposed to give up P1, and he knows (better than we do or probably ever will) what the punishment would be for ignoring that team order. And it IS a team order, even though we haven't heard it be given command phrasing over the radio yet, because they were both given it as a pre-existing order before the race even started. I do feel bad for him that the team put him in this position by boxing him first. But he's not acting mature about this in any way shape or form.

Lap 67

WJ: Lando there is no threat behind; Hamilton is 20.3, then Leclerc, then Max. If there's a safety car now it's gonna make this very awkward. Please do it now.

Lap 68

TS: Ok, three laps to go. Lando's letting you through.

LN: Yeah you don't need to say anything.

If you didn't want anyone to say anything then why did you do all of this Lando 😭 now we've ALL said EVERYTHING 😭 but at least now my brain is empty and ready for Belgium this weekend 🍻

#lando norris #oscar piastri #mclaren #max verstappen #red bull racing #lewis hamilton #mercedes #f1 #hungary 2024

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cazzyf1 · 9 months ago

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Peter Collins interview

Today, I found an interview with 50s driver Peter Collins, which I am particularly excited about as there is hardly anything out there with his voice. It didn't come with any video, so I have uploaded it here as an audio file, which you can listen to. Below the cut is a transcript. If you play this on the Tumblr app, it might open up the audio player on another tab, FYI. I have also found another longer interview audio with him from 1957, which not only has clearer audio but is around four minutes long and features him ranting about safety. I should hopefully have that uploaded by the end of this week! Enjoy, you lovely folk!

Interviewer: Could you tell us your age?

Peter: 24

Interviewer: How long have you been driving?

Peter: Since I was 17

Interviewer: What car did you start on?

Peter: Originally a Cooper 500, and uh and Allard and then onto an 1100 Cooper and then onto an Aston Martin HWM

Interviewer: How long have you been driving for Aston Martin?

Peter: This is my sixth year

Interviewer: Are you on a professional team besides Aston Martin this year? A Grand Prix team?

Peter: Yes, Ferrari

Interviewer: You are driving for Ferrari on the regular team. What competition are you looking forward to today here?

Peter: Well, I think it's all going to be pretty up from what I can see. The whole race—the speed of the race—will be governed by the tyre wear, and I think that the people who got the tyres that will last the longest and the breaks that will last the longest should stand a very good chance.

Interviewer: What do you think of the American course here today in comparison to European courses?

Peter: Well I think it is a great improvement on three years ago when I was here for the first time. It's uh it compares with certainly courses in England um that are held the same way on areograms circuits but really on the continent, the courses, in my opinion anyway, for my money, a little bit better *something* use the roads and uh they have natural hazards and not artificial ones which I think is a much better thing from racing standpoint.

Interviewer: Could you give us some performance figures on the Aston Martin, top speed and zero to sixty in...

Peter: Well, that's very difficult for me! Um, Mr (Wild?) could do it better than I could. I only know the things sort of maximum resolutions in minutes and, haha, what lap times we do. Um, I think they can go from, I don't know, I think they go from nought to one hundred miles an hour in about 16 seconds, I think, I'm not too sure. It depends on the axel ratio, of course. And a maximum speed is about 160 miles per hour.

#his voice!#feeling blessed today #its deeper than I expected #yet not at the same time #i'm looking forward to sharing the other audio as well as thats even better quality #but I need to focus on submitting my dissertation this week before I work on that #classic f1 #f1 #formula one #formula 1 #vintage f1 #peter collins

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thepetrichist · 1 year ago

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Cannot emphasize enough how fucking cool this is. You should absolutely check out the aGameScout video above, but in case you don't have time, here's some highlights/Fun Stuff about the obstacles he had to overcome to pull this off:

The glitched colors mentioned above are absolutely wild, and we are really talking about "impossible to see" here. They've all got community-given names, and a few in particular have caused past players issues when playing and actively prevented them from getting the crash. Here are some screenshots taken from Blue Scuti's game, so you can see what I'm talking about. (You'll see two different level counters - this is thanks to Blue Scuti's streaming setup, so you can read score/lines/levels more accurately.)

Level 146, "Dusk", is the first really bad one. The previous world record, held by a former world champion who goes by EricICX, ended here.

Level 148, and my personal favorite: "Charcoal", is the next nightmarish one.

A player who goes by P1xelAndy had his run end here, and for a very understandable reason. You see, these players aren't playing on monitors or high-def screens. This is NES Tetris we're talking about. They're playing on CRT TVs. Levels like Dusk and Charcoal are next to impossible to see.

If I recall correctly, Level 151, "Australian Outback", is pretty bad on CRTs too, but don't quote me on that.

So in order to get the game crash, Blue Scuti had to play through all these levels and successfully hit one of the game crash triggers - a massive accomplishment.

Two more players (as of 1/5/24) have since gotten the crash - Fractal161 (the current world champion), and the aforementioned P1xelAndy. However, Blue Scuti is, as far as I'm aware, still the world record holder as of 1/5/24, because the other two managed to hit the first possible crash trigger, whereas Blue Scuti had to hit the second!

The best part of all of this? Blue Scuti and Fractal were racing to see who could crash the game first. They were on stream at the same time when Blue Scuti managed it, and the sportsmanship displayed by Fractal (extreme excitement!) is a great indicator of what the Classic Tetris scene is like.

(See also: one of the current top players, Sidnev, is a trans woman, who came out within the past year or two, I believe? And as far as I've seen, everyone immediately switched pronouns etc. with no issue!)

If you're interested in checking out some Classic Tetris stuff for yourself beyond the aGameScout video, I'll put some links under the cut!

The History of NES Tetris World Records by EricICX (outdated as of Blue Scuti's game crash, but still a great introduction)

Classic Tetris World Championship 2018 Final - the video that got me into Classic Tetris, played by two extremely influential players. (Sadly, Jonas Neubauer, the 7-time champion, died in 2021 - the shape of the CTWC trophy was actually changed to a J-piece in his honor.) This game is a great showcase of the two former dominant playstyles, DAS (Jonas) and Hypertapping (Joseph), and a fantastic benchmark for how far the game has come compared to...

Classic Tetris World Championship 2023 - I've linked the full playlist, but if you're only going to check out one video, check out the final! These games are dominated by the current - and likely permanently-best, playstyle, Rolling.

Game Crashes:

Blue Scuti

Fractal161

P1xelAndy

So apparently the pro-Tetris scene is exploding right now because a 13 year old nerd just reached the game's true killscreen for the first time ever

#classic tetris #do I have a problem? MAYBE #I just think it's neat!!!#It's really satisfying to watch #and I love watching people be good at things

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the-firebird69 · 2 months ago

Text

My husband is folding and he's looking at things but I think he's still drying stuff so he's holding off but it is about time for people to start pitching in a little this is a living nightmare here it's too much things are too harsh it's too hard for him to do anything and he's falling down all the time not physically but mentally it is a very difficult thing to get through the damn day and he's been saying it I sort of need some help here and people are saying we're helping and all this stuff and then he falls down again let's kind of get going on that and I mean it he needs it now and then right now just trying to arrange laundry and kind of wants to know how to set it up he's got some things neatly arranged and he is a neat person and not neato and he's saying veto and now he can't find his white towel so he thinks he left something behind but now he sees it okay so he puts me through that hell and he's laughing and it's not funny at all so I'm used to it but really I'm getting hypersensitive and he says when we start running real missions and we use the turrets like we should be and dispose of them like we should be we will have much better flow and continuity we're giving them too much credit we're bowing to them too much and it's causing us misery and we don't have to there's absolutely no reason to do it they are a herniated disc 24 hours a day agree with him so we are going to go ahead and begin getting ready to do some more work but I wanted to chime in and say that these things are not easy for me and I'm asking my people for some help he went off in the wrong way I was telling me it's some mileage test and I'm just sitting here doing it and it's good it's helpful and you would not believe how close Winn-Dixie is he said so I'm sitting here pairing it and he's looking at the gasket he says I should be able to make it and he did so he is the same to Brian Gerard but there's a way to do this electric motorcycle stuff and it used to be done and it's like cross-country races and races that are on the regular Street that they do I'm in a particular type where you have to do like the speed limit but if your battery conks out and you have to charge you're going to lose so the technology would start getting better and better and people would actually do it at the same time and he would be one of the leading producers right now he doesn't produce enough and we can make a deal that he would be able to work with us and we could produce a ton of stuff he likes it he knows a lot and he's heard about it it was a little before and that they began doing it a little and it increased later on but for real it's kind of a difficult thing to do but he wants to do it so do we it's an outstanding idea in mission and we are going to go ahead with it and we'll start it up again I mean it's kind of conked out and people gave up on it and put it on the very back burner so much so nothing's getting done ever and that the whole concept is like lost or something so I like it I think we have to go ahead with it when I want to I'm putting forward that we do

Hera

You actually helped her a lot and you chimed in and said then you're saying it like out loud and you've seen some of the signs and some of the guys and people and but they were pretty well disguised so it wasn't the nicest thing but he's trying to do it surreptitiously and he's getting pressure and it's immense he says and people don't want them doing these electrics and that would be the Mac proper they want to threaten people with the fuel and they want to strangulate everybody and suffocate and we know about it and it's difficult but having other players will actually give them a break and they're already breaking apart at the seams and it just does not sound or look good there's a few ways to do it several motorcycle companies are very interested and they have cross country bikes adventure bikes to go off on the road and it goes off road they have dirt bikes that can go long distance like the Baja and they are ready for that and they are have designed them already and they've been looking at all these ideas and I'll tell you it would be killer they would be competing like madness and he says well there might be an easier way to distract this is an Open class competition for Baja and street racing for electrics just like the formula car the electric formula but that's not open class and it needs to be opened up and it's true to do that the manufacturer is of these electric parts would have to stand up and get in trouble so we're thinking about it and there's a few reasons not to but these guys want to start turning it on and they're going to be pushing it and it's really to try and deliver bombs and they're getting geared up to do it and pretty soon they will and it's going to be very big but that is why hell yeah we don't like them for it and it's dangerous so you're a little ride was watched and they heard you making jokes and quips and sitting there solidly just driving and it said it's going to do anything he says there's nothing to do except drive are you watching for class and objects looking for cars for someone who's not paying attention pulled over and for people and really they are jerks it's not what they're saying yeah it is but boy what a bunch of sweat hogs really is awful and they should take it back and go back to school or whatever they need to do finishing school pull Lori out I mean what a joke but really he's sore and tired and he needs food and it's going to make some and we're going to help out and it won't be too bad got a few things to do to make it better we are going to try and do this tomorrow and that would be the ride to Winn-Dixie it's not far any went very far and you look down at the miles and said you know I have gone like seven miles or something and yeah he went he went about that far and seven back and he already went a few this morning and yesterday went pretty far their estimates not bad. We are going to start talking about stuff in a few moments he needs some nutrients

Thor Freya

It's a valuable ride even though he kind of missed the whole ball of Wax it was for performance testing and he knows it he didn't know it at the time and he said I wonder why I'm doing this but he really should try and do it when he gets one so to see how far you can go to make sure and it's a good practice to be in any kind of fell out of it but he knows how to do it it was kind of a little bit skillful because these guys started ducking and driving and doing all this dancing around and people still know what it is and they just say it and say they're part of the game or we see or maneuver and really right away so you're starting to get the gist of it he's right there they know where he is they know what he's doing they see what you're doing and just ease off him and you're just really pushing it too much and BG said they might have us go through it even if they know you said our son's been saying it it's true you still don't like it because it's for an affairs purpose of theirs so yeah keep that in mind further we have some announcements earlier today there were some wide-eyed people and he says it's probably the caverns and I did him to it but yeah they are actually a little bit nervous saying that the powers that are running the place are doing big stuff we inspected to be respected not insulted and they're turning around the same dumb things but yeah that's just kind of what to do we're getting ready to start attacking certain places that is to reduce the hatred around the world and evil it's going around it is quite vehement and it's not really our fault and people are just generating it to try and do their job and we cannot stand it we reserve the right to act to save ourselves we're going forwards with it momentarily coming up real soon

Thor Freya

Olympus

Wow what a ride then over 30 miles roughly and he's pretty big again over 245 lb and they mentioned that and I said with the key and it doesn't really charge much at all and they were amazed and these guys ran a test and they're really showing people and it's further evil plan and they want to hit populated areas and it's no good we are in the seat of a lot of people telling us off and a lot of threats and I forward them and my husband I really can't say the stuff's good but what he says is making them mad but I do see the concern we had several breakthroughs today some really big ones in Worcester and that's regarding and they don't do well there and they got called out and pushed around so my husband says how about it then you go to your former area and build it before I get there and their eyes are wide and they say this is for our plan to show him what we're doing can and he means over by the greendale Mall and got one time they had plans to do that then they're going to take them out and build it in fast track it now these guys are getting excited and my husband says don't be surprised if you get some fierce opposition and no smiling and they know who he means. So he says you might as well revamp the greendale Mall but leave the original stores just do a facelift they can be the entryway or the outlet mall part of it in the smile soon it's not that bad and we can work with it I can see them a little the faces are turning red just sitting here doing nothing they mayfind out why

Hera

Wow he says it's like the mall in LA but some point we renovated it now I'm getting this we're waiting for their schedule trying to change what we're doing and a lot of it

Trump

We have to do this though that area is a dump literally no one's dumping their stuff there it's a lot of junk crappy stuff the metal has been picked out and you left with gypsum and crappy wood and says you can't really do too much with it cuz it's rotting but she said is five of restoration in purification you have like this huge hippie branch and you involve them in the cleanup and you put a components in for them a CBD store hydroponics in the mall clothing store but with hemp. And you put some of their agencies in there or you have like a store area you can go talk to them these are things we use okay about saving the whales and reclaiming land or something they oppose but if it's poisoning everything they get it going then I'm going to call some tonight

Bja

Yeah I'm a hippie yeah caused a bunch of trouble at the shelter and that fought for him he says and I didn't know that he says it's better that I didn't I agree but he's always been kind of a hippie and his mom too and we got really good stuff recently and this is a plan and it's ours too and we need land set aside so we can grow stuff in a co-op and he says what an awesome idea then you get it certified so you can sell it in the mall and people can buy their fresh fruits and vegetables and such a damn pain in the ass and you have to do it like once a day and I said this it would be kind of a special trip and a special vegetables and he says oh yeah like yellow carrots which tastes real yummy different color oranges like blood red then yeah that color orange too. But yeah they have those and it's wonderful different color potatoes and beautiful beautiful colors we do all that is it terrific idea and we have a lot of other things wheatgrass and healthy stuff and he says it's pretty much what people need right now immediately that if you set up a temporary stand you get a lot of business and you would if you had an interest in the development you can have people populate the housing and work there and promoted and others like Daniel for instance will come across party lines and get healing stuff and incorporated into an Italian dinner we like the thought it's kind of what we're trying to do and his parents are like that too and I was thinking of my family coming down and getting some anti-cancer stuff and practically all of it is and we watch it on the on the fertilizer to make sure it's not stuff that's not properly composted yeah we'd be doing it ourselves we use cow manure and we compost it with hay and it's inexpensive and it works real fast and very well so we're going to ask what's going on but really we're up there already causing problems

Crazy chick from Harold Ave the second chapter

Haha

Trump

Not massively funny cuz I think it's my character no it's Trump

Terry c

Olympus

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dleena2023 · 3 months ago

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IT'S SEMIS ALREADY?!?!?!?! - T1 VS GENG

BISMILLAHIRRAHMANIRRAHIM

MY STRONG, DEAREST ZOFGK & KTR ❤️

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. I SWEAR I WAS FEELING OKAY THIS MORNING WHEN I WOKE UP. THEN TIBE2 MY HEART IS RACING LIKE MAD OMG. MAYBE BECAUSE I JUST REALISED IT'S STARTING IN LESS THAN 3 HOURS!?!?! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. ALHAMDULILLAH I WOKE UP EARLY FOR SUBUH TODAY. WENT TO COLLECT MY WORLDS MERCH JUST NOW AT KOVAN HEHEHEHE I'M SO STOKED TO UNBOX (YES I HAVEN'T UNBOX YET LOL) AND WEAR IT LATER WOOOOOOT. PRAYED ZOHOR ON TIME AND ALL WAS GOING WELL. PRAYED EARLY FOR ASR AND YA ALLAH MY HEART TIBE2 CHANGED FEELINGS. I DON'T KNOW WHY I WAS SUDDENLY SO NERVOUS DURING SOLAT LIKE MY HEART IS BEATING NON-STOP BUT AT THE SAME TIME, I FELT POWERFUL? LIKE I FEEL CALM THAT ALLAH IS AL QADIR, AL-MUQTADIR. THE MOST ABLE, THE OMNIPOTENT AND THE PERFECT ABILITY. SO YEAP THROUGH MY ASR PRAYER, I JUST DID MY BEST AND LEAVE THE REST TO ALLAH. I WAS SOOOO KYUSYUK MA SHA ALLAH (ABOUT 90%) AND I FELT SO SO CALM IN A WAY THAT IS UNDESCRIBABLE. AND I CAN'T REMEMBER IT'S BEEN LONG SINCE I FELT THIS WAY.

ALRIGHT SO MY FAVOURITE PLAYERS & COACHES EVER, TODAY IS FINALLY TO REEDEM YOURSELVES AGAINST YOUR BIGGEST KRYPTONITE, GENG. I HOPE YOU PRACTICED, SCRIMMED WELL AND OF COURSE GET ENOUGHT REST 😅 I KNOW NERVES ARE PROBABLY GETTING ON YOU BUT PLEASE DON'T BE!! LET'S PUT ASIDE OUR REIGNING CHAMPS TITLE ASIDE PLUS OUR NERVES, TILTNESS, PRESSURE, BURDEN, STRESS AND UNEASINESS OKAY!! EVERYONE INCLUDING ME WILL BE SUPPORTING YOU THROUGH THICK AND THIN. LET'S BUILD THE STRONG SPIRIT AND MOTIVATE EACH OTHER ALRIGHTSS!! LESSGO AND THANK YOU KKOMA TOM ROACH JOE JOSH. EACH ONE OF YOU ARE THE BACKBONE FOR T1'S STRONG MENTAL ALHAMDULILLAH AMIN. WE WILL ROOT FOR YOU ALL UNTIL THE END. LET'S FINALLY OVERCOME OUR MENTAL BLOCK AGAINST GENG AND WIN TODAY IN SHA ALLAH. I KNOW IT MAY SEEM IMPOSSIBLE SINCE GENG IS SUCH A GREAT, POWERFUL TEAM BUT HEY, ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN RIGHT? 💜🔥💜🔥💜🔥💜🔥💜🔥

Summer '22 (LOST)

Spring '23 (LOST)

MSI '23 (WIN 3-2)

Summer '23 (LOST)

Spring '24 (LOST)

WE MAY HAVE LOST TO THEM LIKE FOR A LOOOOT OF TIMES BUT PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP!! WE ONCE DEFEATED THEM BEFORE IN MSI'23 IN UPPER BRACKET. SO THAT MEANS ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. AND WE GOT THE INTERNATIONAL BUFFS. WE JUST NEED TO STAY POSITIVE AND HAVE THAT EXTRAAAAA FAITH. GENG IS THE FAVOURITES TO WIN THIS TOURNAMENT BUT WE ARE THE UNDERDOGS. AND WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE. SO LET'S STAY FOCUS AND STRONG, AND BE POSITIVE. LET'S PLAY CONFIDENTLY AND PLAY WITH NO REGRETS. DON'T EVER LOSE HOPE AND ALWAYS HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELVES. AND AS A TEAM. KAJAAAAAAAAAA ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I PRAYED MY BEST AND MADE COUNTLESS DO'A FOR THE PAST FEW DAYS (STILL STRUGGLING :') AND TODAY. I CAN FEEL IT. I PRAY MAY WE ALL HAVE: ❤️‍🔥💯

Perfect, better drafts

Comfort picks

Cooking Picks/bans

1 HP Survival

Perfect Micro & Macro

Perfect synergy

Smites on time

Amazing laning phase

Zhonyas on time

Win 1 vs 1 in lane

Immaculate teamfights

Excellent communication

Stay positive & motivated always

Ease, calm minds & hearts

Stronger, burning passion

Perfect, better physically, emotionally, mentally & spiritually

YA ALLAH YA KABIR, YA MUTAKABIR, YA SALAM, YA SABOOR, YA SAMI, YA BASIR, YA NASR, YA WASI', YA GHANI, YA QADIR, YA MUQTADIR, YA MUJIB, YA HAKIM, YA 'ALIM, YA WADUD, YA GHAFUR, YA GHAFAR, YA RAZZAQ, YA FATTAH, YA KARIM, YA WAHAB, YA RAHMAN, YA RAHIM - NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO YOU YA ALLAH. AND NOTHING IS SMALL TO YOU. WITH YOUR RAHMAT, EASE ALL THE AFFAIRS OF THE BOIS, COACHES AND THE T1 FANS AROUND THE WORLD. AND MAKE US ALL CONTENT AND REDHA WITH YOUR TAKDIR WHATEVER THE RESULTS ARE 🥲 WE WILL WIN TODAY'S BO5S. WE WILL BE THE REIGNING CHAMPIONS ONCE AGAIN. RE-PEAT HERE WE COMEEEEEE. T1 FIGHTING KAJA TAKE MY ENERGYYYYY!!! WOOOOOTT!!! AMIN YA RABBIL 'ALAMIN. ALHAMDULILLAH. IN SHA ALLAH. BISMILLAHIRRAHMANIRRAHIM. 🤍🙌🏼❤️‍🔥👑

youtube

COMING INTO WORLDS AS THE 4TH SEED AND WE ARE GONNA RUN UP THE HILL ALLLLL THE WAY TO FINALS AND WIN IT ALL. MAKE THEM BELIEVE. TODAY MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE LAST OF ZOFGK TT^TT BUT I HOPE EACH ONE OF YOU CAN DO YOUR BEST AND PLAY WITH NO REGRETS!! REMEMBER YOU GUYS CAN DO THISSSS!!!! I GENUINELY ENJOY MY JOURNEY WITH EACH ONE OF YOU SINCE SPRING '22. WE DEFINITELY WENT THROUGH A LOT AND TO ZEUS, ONER, FAKER, GUMAYUSI & KERIA; I JUST WANT TO SAY THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING. FOR ALWAYS MOVING FORWARD NO MATTER WHAT. FOR NEVER GIVING UP. AND FOR MAKING MY WORLD A LITTLE BETTER FOR THE PAST 3 YEARS. ALHAMDULILLAH 😭🤍

MAY THE BUTTERFLY THAT VISITED GUMAYUSI'S INTERVIEW AND ALL OF US BE A STRENGTH FOR US AMIN. 🦋

A powerful beacon of growth and new beginnings, the butterfly signifies the power of transformation and the incredible feats we can achieve when we trust ourselves. We all have the ability to listen to our innate wisdom, guide ourselves through difficult times, and emerge better and stronger than before.

HEARTS TO ALL THE T1 STAFFS/FANS IN THE WHOLE UNIVERSE:

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

BELIEVING IN T1 WORLDS BUFFS, MIRACLES, PRAYING FOR YOU ALWAYS, ROOTING FOR EACH ONE OF YOU UNTIL THE END AND LEAVING THE REST TO ALLAH SWT

WITH LOVE ADDIE 🤍🌟🦋👑

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uboat53 · 7 months ago

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Well, I've been talking a lot about how Biden's issues are a media-generated feeding frenzy based on one bad debate and a years-long campaign of right-wing media misinformation and I hold to that, but it doesn't seem to be going away and even capable players like Pelosi and Obama seem to be moving on it, so it may just be a matter of time now. Given that, let's game out what happens next, shall we? We can call this a SHORT RANT (TM).

THE WILDEST STUFF

First of all, it's pretty clear that, if Biden withdraws, Harris takes the nomination. Yes, I know, some people have been floating Buttigieg, Newsome, or Whitmer, among others, but there's no way to bloodlessly bypass the first black, female Vice-President. I mean, I'm sure there's some wild, far out way that it could happen, but the odds of it happening in a way that doesn't fatally wound the nominee with two of Democrat's key voting blocs are so infinitesimal that I don't feel I need to consider it. For that reason, we're going to look specifically at Harris.

HARRIS AS A CANDIDATE

Now, Obama and Pelosi aren't stupid people, they're savvy politicians. I haven't seen Harris really campaign since the 2020 election, but she's been out there (media coverage has been poor in that regard) so I'm sure people in the know have seen her. She was a little rough in '20, but she's had four years since then and, from the little I've seen, she's improved a bit. There's no way to know for sure, though, until we see her on the stump. Is she a star campaigner, a disaster, or just "meh"? The answer will determine a lot about how it turns out.

As far as fundraising and campaign infrastructure, she's already on the ticket, so it shouldn't be too hard to transfer things over to her. There's likely to be some friction as her circle of advisors take the main roles and Biden's circle step back a bit, but hopefully there's enough overlap and trust between the teams that things can go smoothly. Again, hopefully this is being taken into consideration because if it doesn't go smoothly there's almost no time to fix any issues.

Her first big decision is going to be to choose a Vice-President. Given that she's a black woman, a white man is probably going to be the best choice. There's a lot of Americans who like to pretend that they're not racist but actually are and they will still need placating. As far as Democrats who meet that description go, there's no shortage, particularly if she wants to choose an older white man to balance out any perceived youth and inexperience. There's also Buttigieg (a young, white man from the Midwest) if she wants to really load the ticket with young star power and make a stark contrast with Trump's age. Whatever way she chooses, this will be the first major decision she makes and will likely define the rest of her campaign.

THE ELECTION

And, of course, we can't forget the big picture; what does this mean for the election? In the short run, probably not much. All the data seems to show Harris polling at about the same level Biden was, meaning that this race is likely still a dead heat. However, Harris has a few things that Biden didn't. First off, she's not as widely known as he is. She has almost exactly the same approval rating Biden did, but her disapproval rating is 6% lower. That's 11% of the population that hasn't made up their mind about her yet as opposed to 5% for Biden. If some of those voters warm to her, she'll be in a strong position. If they don't, then she's in trouble.

Secondly, she's 24 years younger than him and 21 years younger than Trump. Age has been a massive issue in this election with the oldest candidates in history. If Biden withdraws and Harris takes over, the age issue shifts from being a Democratic problem to being a Republican problem. Probably. Maybe. Look, it doesn't definitely become a Republican problem, but she certainly has an opportunity to make it one given that she's not even to retirement age yet while Trump is well past the expected life expectancy for a white man born in 1946 (66.5 at birth, 77.8 at age 65). Can she do it? We'll see.

That said, she also has two huge disadvantages that Biden does not have: she's black and a woman. For all the claims by conservatives that racism and sexism aren't problems anymore, the data is absurdly clear that black and female candidates pay a pretty big penalty. The most important penalty is in how they're perceived; what would be seen as confident in a white man gets perceived as bossy, bitchy, or even flat-out threatening when a black person or a woman does it. Like any black woman she's spent her whole life navigating that and I'm sure she's capable on that front; still, it's the kind of thing that bites you when you least expect it.

SOME POSSIBLE TRACKS

Thirdly, let's talk about opportunity. Biden's been great as far as governing, but his messaging… yeah, it could have used some work. Most people have no idea about all of the things his administration has done and most people have no idea about the policies that Trump is proposing. Harris would have a big opportunity to trumpet all the things that have been accomplished in the last 3.5 years and to start turning the spotlight onto some of the very unpopular things that Trump is proposing to do. She can also put some heat on his lack of transparency. I know it feels like he's very transparent because he just rambles off whatever thought is on his brain, but we still haven't seen his medical records, his grades from school, and, nine years after he started running for office, we still have no idea what his business record actually looks like. If she can manage all of that, she can make a pretty strong case for herself. If she can't… well, Trump has proven pretty good at defining his opponents for them if they can't do it themselves.

THE "NOW" FACTOR

Finally, let's talk about timing. We're now less than 4 months out from the general election which is an eternity in some ways but also not a lot of time in others. It's a huge amount of time in terms of unexpected things that can happen and upend the race, especially a close one as this appears to be, but it's also an absurdly small amount of time in terms of fixing any issues with fundraising and campaign infrastructure. Also, in Harris' favor, it's a very small amount of time for right-wing media to to perform their favored tactic of repeating a damaging story ad infinitum until it solidifies in the public consciousness.

Right-wing media spent 30 years portraying Hillary Clinton as cold-blooded and corrupt (Was she? Based on the evidence, no more so than the average politician) and 6 years portraying Joe Biden as a doddering old dementia patient (Is he? I've been over this one quite a bit, so I'll just let that stand), but the only real attack line they've previewed on Harris is that they think her first name sounds funny.

These kinds of attacks work best over time, repeated week after week, month after month, and year after year. Humans are programmed to give more weight to information we hear over and over again and right-wing media makes use of that particular bug in our software all the time. 4 months, however, isn't a lot of time to solidify a narrative, especially when they still have yet to settle on what narrative they're going to use. Of course, as I mentioned, Americans are also pre-disposed to think negatively of African-Americans and women, so it's also possible that a racial or sexist dog-whistle might be all they need. Honestly, it could go either way.

ONE LAST THING…

As a last aside, I'm sure at least some Democrats are thinking about what to do if it becomes clear that even ditching Biden isn't enough to ensure Trump's defeat. I'd imagine, in that case, they'll shift message to promote the idea of electing Democrats to congress to act as a check. I haven't looked into how many seats are actually in play or what the polling suggests about that, so I have no idea if that would be successful or not, but it's probably the best option in that case.

CONCLUSION

All in all, switching Biden for Harris is a mixed bag from my point of view. There's certainly more room for her to improve on his position, but there's also a ton of room for things to go downhill. The optimist in me likes to think that things would go in the positive direction, but the cynic in me knows that the negative issues aren't always that easy to overcome.

In all likelihood, there will be a bit of both. Whether the good will outweigh the bad… well, Biden hasn't actually withdrawn, so we'll have to see. Switching candidates is a big gamble, I just hope it pays off if we do it.

#politics #us politics #biden #kamala harris #political analysis #short rant (tm)

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garudabluffs · 2 years ago

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The Candidate and the Spy: James Bamford on Israel’s Secret Collusion with Trump to Win 2016 Race Mar 24, 2023

“The Israelis got what they wanted, and Trump got what he wanted, and the American public was screwed in the meantime,” Bamford says.

"They said that there was no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

They left out a little bit from the report, and that’s that there was collusion, but it was from Netanyahu and Israel to the Trump campaign, and it went on for months and months and involved providing the Trump campaign with secret access to the information that the Russians were picking up from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the DNC. In other words, the Israelis, they have a very, very sophisticated eavesdropping organization, Unit 8200. It’s their equivalent of the NSA. And they were eavesdropping on the Russians and eavesdropping on WikiGate, and they were — and Julian Assange. And they were picking up all this information that the Russians were getting from the Clinton campaign and the DNC. And rather than giving it to the president of United States, to Obama, which is what an ally is supposed to do, especially one that gets $4 billion a year, they instead were giving it to the Trump campaign, secretly giving it to the Trump campaign, in order to get concessions from Trump when he became president, and hopefully they were going to help make him president."

"So, this has been going on for a long time. Israel has been involved in enormous amounts of covert operations and intelligence operations in the U.S. just in the last seven years. Half my book deals with Israeli intelligence and covert operations in the United States. But there’s a determination by all parties involved — the administration, congressmen, the mainstream media — to completely use blinders when it comes to Israel."

>That was 2016. Now we’re moving in on the 2024 election, and you have the prime minister of Israel is again Benjamin Netanyahu, and again President Trump is running for president. Your final thoughts, Jim?<

JAMES BAMFORD: Well, it’s going to be déjà vu all over again. It’s going to be a repeat, since we have the same players in the same positions, and the same media that pays no attention to anything that Israel does that’s questionable in the United States, and the Congress and the administration that completely turn a blind eye to Israeli intelligence. So, yeah, we’re here again, and it just can repeat itself with the same players doing the same play all over again, unless there is congressional investigation or hard-hitting reporting by the mainstream media and further investigation by the FBI.

LISTEN READ MORE Transcript https://www.democracynow.org/2023/3/24/james_bamford_2016_israel_netanyahu_trump

The Trump Campaign’s Collusion With Israel April 3/10, 2023, Issue

While US media fixated on Russian interference in the 2016 election, an Israeli secret agent’s campaign to influence the outcome went unreported.

"Yet I can reveal here the details of an elaborate covert operation personally directed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that aimed to use secret intelligence to clandestinely intervene at the highest levels in the presidential election on behalf of Trump."

"But while the Mueller investigation was never able to conclusively demonstrate any collusion with Russia, the FBI did uncover hard evidence of extensive collusion between close Trump associates and the highest levels of the Israeli government."

"In fact, a recent multinational journalistic investigation revealed that Israel has become a world center for the export of election fraud, fake news, hacking of private e-mails, and disinformation."

"An election win for Trump, therefore, would also be a win for Netanyahu. Especially since the candidate was already fully committed to another key issue for Netanyahu: canceling the nuclear deal with Iran."

"Israel’s version of the NSA, Unit 8200, which employs some of the most highly trained signals intelligence specialists in the world and is equipped with advanced intercept capabilities, may well have been surveilling Russia and WikiLeaks."

"The evidence, however, suggests that throughout the summer and into the fall of 2016, Israel illegally interfered in the US presidential election. A top agent of Netanyahu was secretly offering intelligence and other covert assistance to Trump to get him elected—all with virtually no oversight or scrutiny by the FBI or the US media, though both had numerous personnel in Israel at the time."

READ MORE https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-israel-collusion/

#book review author interview #The Candidate & the Spy #James Bamford

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destinylegendrpg · 2 years ago

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hey!! im curious, how have you guys built around 3.0 subclasses? 👀 i wanted to know so i could have an easier time DMing my own campaign!

Great question! So, this might be a lengthy answer, but hopefully it helps with what you're looking for ~

@frombrad2worse and I began building the D:BL system after Void 3.0 came out, but way, way before Solar and Arc 3.0 released. Much like with Stasis, we both loved how modular it was, how easily you could set it up to a playstyle you preferred. Both of us have played in a lot of TTRPG campaigns and we really like systems that allow for build-crafting - even if you play the same class as someone else, the flavour and feel you put into it can end up with seemingly disparate character mechanics. So when we began thinking about how we wanted to make a TTRPG, we knew immediately that we wanted to craft a system that allowed for this, and what better way to achieve this than by mimicking Light 3.0 in a TTRPG style?

Unfortunately, we don't currently have the system set up in a way that we can share the Vanguard (GM) rules just yet - it's not that we don't want others to try it out, just that we haven't had the time to type everything up yet, lol. BUT. Let me give you the low-down on how it works for characters... and if you don't wanna read all this mumbo-jumbo, skip to the last paragraph! 👀

When creating a character, you start with, of course, the basics: your race and class. In our system, race is just flavour - there's no mechanical benefit to choosing any one race over another. But just like in the video game, your class locks you into being either a Hunter, a Warlock, or a Titan. Once you're in, you're in, and you move onto assigning your stats.

When beginning a new character, you have 24 points to put into 6 stats: Mobility, Resilience, Recovery, Discipline, Intellect, and Strength, all of which probably sound eerily familiar, eh? And I'm sure you can imagine the benefit to putting points into each of them. So what's the catch, right? Where does Light 3.0 come in and what does this have to do with build-crafting?

Well, that's look at those stats a second. How well do all of these translate to a TTRPG? The first three stats make sense: Mobility lets you run around the battlefield, Resilience boosts your shields, Recovery lets you heal yourself with the Light faster. All three are obvious gameplay modifiers. But what about Discipline, Intellect, and Strength? Sure, they have their own benefit just like in the game: a higher Discipline leads to a faster grenade, but when you're using a d6 system where a roll of 4d6 determines the actions on your turn, there's only so high and so low you can go. If a grenade costs a roll of X on those 4d6 to use on a turn, you can only move that X so much before it becomes either too difficult to use at low levels or unfathomably easy at high levels. So what do you use to help balance those stats while keeping them rewarding to put points into?

This is where Light 3.0 comes in. Each of the bottom 3 stats gives you an edge in build-crafting. In our system, putting more points in Discipline and Strength don't just give you a boost to getting a faster grenade or charge melee, they also give you Fragment slots, up to 2 per stat for a total of 4. Your Intellect doesn't just let you a faster Super either, it allows you to take up to 2 Aspects.

And now... now the fun begins. >:)

You see, just like in the video game, each subclass has an entire sheet dedicated to unique Aspects and Fragments that you can pick and choose from to create the unique playstyle you want. These can also be changed at (almost) any time so you can have fun in the way you want without being locked into past decisions that no longer feel good. It's built to be flexible and modular so players can let loose and play around to find out what works (and doesn't work) for them!

Void 3.0 is almost directly translated: taking the Bastion Aspect as a Void Titan stilllets you and allies gain an Overshield when summoning your Barricade, just like it does in the video game. Taking the Echo of Undermining Fragment still lets you weaken enemies with your grenade for 1.5x damage. But some Aspects and Fragments don't have a direct TTRPG translation, meaning we had to play around and figure out what felt good before we moved on.

Arc and Solar 3.0, however... well, we had mostly finished the system and were already tweaking the numbers by playing 1:1s with each other before they were released by Bungie. So our Aspects and Fragments are a bit different there - they even have different names. While Bungie's are Spark of and Ember of for Arc and Solar, ours are Call of and Song of, respectively, because we thought they sounded cool. Weirdly, some of them ended up very similar but with slightly different vocabulary (for example, we originally had a mechanic called electrified which Bungie named jolted; the vocab has been changed to match Bungie's for consistency, though our Aspect and Fragment ideas remain our own). We're still tweaking them to make sure they match up to how powerful Void can be, but we think they're pretty fun. In fact, I currently play a Solar Titan and have a great time with it. You can see me in action, along with my Arc and Solar Warlock companions, in our stream! Here's a link to our fireteam's first episode so you can listen along and get a general feel for how the system plays.

SO!

With all that said... well, I know I mentioned that the Vanguard rulebook isn't set up yet for wide release, but if you'd like, feel free to DM me here or @cassiefisherdrake. I will HAPPILY send you the character + combat sheets and walk you through them to help you set up a character. We want people to test this system out so we can work out what needs fixing, so the more the merrier! Hell, I'd happily Vanguard a one-shot for you so you can see what it's like if you're interested. :>

#answered questions #destiny #destiny 2 #destiny the game

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shijiujun · 4 years ago

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[END 2020] My Top 9 Danmei Novel Picks of the Year

As a part of my Round Up post for the year, here’s my pick of favourite danmei novels, that I’ve read! This is sort of an accompaniment to my previous danmei rec list over HERE, so there may be one or two overlaps, but I’ve read WAY MORE after that and am prepared to like give more options here

Note: There should be English translations for all via novel updates if you do a search of the English name, but I don’t think most of them are completed.

If you wanna see my full reading and queue list (it’s all in Chinese tho, for my own records), it’s here.

I’m leaving out the usual MXTX and Priest ones, because they’re already good and we all know that and there’re many carrds and posts dedicated to them.

I am also a sucker for fainting but smart men, and not too overly angsty/complicated storylines, just putting it out there first, which is why I haven’t read a lot of some of the ones on my queue list.

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1. 一剑霜寒 | A Sword of Frost by 语笑阑珊

Summary: Jing Yan Ran is the Emperor’s brother and wields military power in the novel, and it starts with an object being stolen from the palace. Jing Yan Ran has to retrieve the item secretly, and so enlists the help of Feng Yu Sect’s Sect Master, Yun Yi Feng, who heads the martial arts world’s one and only information trading post. Yun Yi Feng does not deal in business that involves any royalty, but Jing Yan Ran offers him something he cannot refuse - the Blood Red Lingzhi, a rare and mystical herb that is rumoured to be able to treat his life-threatening condition.

Yun Yi Feng was used by his shifu when he was younger to test out all kinds of poisons and cures, and since then, his body flushes dangerously hot and cold frequently, with bouts of severe coughing fits in between. Throughout the first mission where he spends time with Jing Yan Ran searching for the stolen object, he allows Jing Yan Ran to take care of him, and they fall in LURVE pretty much like 10 chapters in.

Of course, they have to uncover a plot and conspiracy against their enemies who are plotting to dethrone the Emperor, and also reveal the secrets of Yun Yi Feng’s birth.

My Thoughts: AN ABSOLUTE FAVE AND GEM, I’d say this is my favourite danmei novel ever. This is both hilarious and tears-inducing, to be honest, because for most of the novel YYF knows he doesn’t have long to live and so in the beginning he knows of his own feelings for JYR and JYR also shows him that he loves him, but he is unable to officially reciprocate because he knows his body is like weakening day by day. Halfway through the fear that he’s literally about to die as they are JUST about to find the cure is real, and damn I cried so much at that. Some highlights:

YYF falls asleep very easily in baths and everywhere actually, and pretty much within the first 10 chapters he gets used to JYR carrying him around (even naked from the bath, he’s like oh well, okay cool) and taking care of him, and JYR ALWAYS makes sure he is warm and toasty under his cape

YYF LOVESSSS RICHES, PLAYING THE ZITHER AND COOKING - He’s good at gathering the first one, but he FUCKING SUCKS AS THE LAST TWO - It’s so funny because he’s so beautiful and handsome right, and when he sits down at the zither everyone is like OH DAMN WHAT A DREAM- and then he plays, and everyone’s fantasies is shattered, he’s ABYSMAL at it, and the same goes for cooking

JYR doesn’t actually have the Blood Red Lingzhi, and throughout the first arc, he feels SO DAMN GUILTY because YYF even carved out a pendant that looks like what he thinks the herb looks like, and like carries it with him everywhere LMAO

Available: Novel Online and Manhua on Bilibili

2. 高能二维码 | High Energy QR Code by 青色羽翼

Summary: CEO Xing Ye’s brother Xing Shuo has just passed away at the age of 24, and nothing will make him believe that Xing Shuo died of natural causes despite autopsies and experts telling him that he really died simply of a heart failure. Xing Ye, who has impeccable memory, suddenly recalls the last time he saw Xing Shuo. His brother called out to him just before Xing Ye left for a business trip, and looked as if he had something to say, but ended up just wishing him a safe trip.

At that moment, there was a QR code on Xing Shuo’s phone, and the phone screen was strangely turned out towards Xing Ye, and Xing Ye, with his incredibly high IQ and memory, realizes that Xing Shuo wanted him to see the QR code. Quickly, he reproduces the QR code by pen and then scans it, and finds himself in a game world.

There he meets a narcissistic but also cute mirror which can speak, and finds out later that his name is Lu Ming Ze. Xing Ye’s mission is to clear the game missions in each round that is set by the black and white cubic game system, a system that continuously tempts its players into giving in to committing sins such as killing someone else, stealing and other things. He soon realizes that if he cannot stay on a path clear of these sins, he will never be able to triumph over the game system and return Lu Ming Ze back to his body in the real world.

At the same time, he gains new teammates and friends for life, and also finds out what role his brother played in this game.

My Thoughts: MY GOD I LOVE THIS. I LITERALLY JUST FINISHED READING THIS YESTERDAY, and honestly it’s one of my faves. I don’t like game systems very often (I’ve read three others so far, and this, and KOD are the only ones I’ve liked) but this one is *chef’s kiss*. So LMZ was born like with a really handsome face, like SUPER HANDSOME, and that’s why he’s like a harmless narcissist that cannot bear to look at ugly things LMAO, but he’s not spoilt, he makes sure that Xing Ye stays true to himself, and help him keep his head clear.

THE ONLY THING ABOUT THIS FRICKIN NOVEL IS THAT LU MING ZE STAYS A MIRROR, LIKE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MIRRORS, in the first TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY CHAPTERS. I KID YOU NOT. I FRICKIN KID YOU NOT. I swear I was sooo touched starved at the end of the novel, because they couldn’t even kiss?!! Like Xing Ye kisses the mirror, and then uses his thumbs to like hi-five mini LMZ in the mirror back, they can’t even hug. Do you know how empty my arms felt when I read this book?!! And my arms have never been filled!!!!!!

I really like this one because each game world is set up in such a brilliant way, but it’s not so unnecessarily complex that you literally don’t know what the fuck is going on. Xing Ye’s intelligence as he outmanoeuvres every single one of his enemies and convinces his would-be loyal teammates to trust him is so satisfying, world after world, victory after victory.

Humour is also absolutely ON POINT. A lot of it is centred on Xing Ye getting caught in the real world kissing his handheld mirror (LMZ) by LMZ’s parents (who cannot see him in the mirror) and LMZ’s parents going like ???!!!!!!!!

Available: Novel Online | Physical Novel is coming out on 10 Dec (freebies are, you guessed it, a mirror)

3. 妻为上 | The Wife is First by 绿野千鹤

Summary: This is set in a historical setting where men can marry other men, but it’s usually reserved for sons who were not borne by the official main first wife of the patriarch of the family, i.e. a son born by a concubine in a family may be forced to marry a man to keep him from being able to become the next family’s patriarch for example. This is because any family’s next leader needs to be able to have children with a wife who married in as a zheng shi (lawful wife), and not a ce shi (second wife) or any other concubines/mistresses etc. Most of these men who marry other men have to take them as their zheng shi and lawful spouse in a sense, and the same goes for the royal family.

The story starts with third prince Jing Shao, who was forced to marry Mu Han Zhang, a Marquis’ second son, by the Empress and Emperor, thereby officially and effectively cutting him out of the race for the throne. He’s mocked by the public as everyone knows what this means, and for the next 10 years, he neglects Mu Han Zhang, blaming him for his predicament, and deliberately showers his three other concubines with affection in front of him, but 10 years later, when Jing Shao is accused of treason, everyone leaves him except for Mu Han Zhang. They are chased to the edge of the cliff by soldiers, and Mu Han Zhang dies in his arms having taken an arrow meant for him earlier, and Jing Shao jumps off the cliff with his dead body, and promises that if there’s a next life, he will do everything Han Zhang says, and love him.

He wakes up immediately on the night of his marriage with Han Zhang, and realizes that he’s been given a second chance to make everything right. Han Zhang is definitely afraid of him, humiliated and angry when he first wakes up after how rough Jing Shao was with him earlier on their wedding night, and he has no memories of their past life. Jing Shao then sets to SHOWER HAN ZHANG with affection, love and basically everything, because he realized that this is the only person who stayed by his side until the end, and then he falls in love with Han Zhang properly this time, and also deals with every single person who maligned and schemed against him in his previous life, with Han Zhang by his side.

My Thoughts: OKAY BEFORE YALL GO INTO THE ‘WIFE’ terminology discourse and everything, in this case they do use the term ‘wife’ literally, and it’s a position, that while men frequently fall into (there are a lot of male ‘wives’ in this story), is also used to cut off like sons from inheriting the family and the fortune, and even titles. Male ‘wives’ aren’t looked down upon in this setting, in fact, Han Zhang gets a lot of leeway as one, and in his case he was also able to rise up the ranks to be an actual official later on, but the sad thing comes from sons who are most of the time forced to marry a male ‘wife’ for whatever reason, and then they are neglected as the son goes and find concubines, women he actually wants to sleep with - this is sad af yall. I don’t know, on one hand, yay for equality in marriage in this setting, but on the other hand like, damn, must you use same-sex marriage like that argh.

ANYWAY THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVES TOO?!!! I mean, especially when Jing Shao literally just goes into doting mode 200% and Han Zhang is totally like wtf why is he so nice to me is he scheming or something? And then he realizes that Jing Shao is really, really gentle towards him despite his reputation as a cruel, dark military commander, and Jing Shao always smiles at him. In any situation, especially in the beginning, when Han Zhang thought Jing Shao would not stand with him, Jing Shao literally just protects him no matter what, gives him everything, and cries, I love it.

Especially because Han Zhang is the son of a concubine and he was bullied a lot in the Mu family, and the official Lady Mu married him off to Jing Shao in hopes that he would be unhappy for the rest of his life, and I suppose that came true in the first life, but in the second, Han Zhang gets all the love, respect and support he never got before in this family with Jing Shao and that makes me WEEP.

Available: Novel Online and Manhua on Kuaikan

4. 死亡万花筒 Kaleidoscope of Death by 西子绪

OOOH I intro-ed KOD here in my previous rec list. Still one of my faves and all-time re-reads, especially under the covers in the dark hehehe.

5. 你的距离 | Your Distance by 公子优

Summary: Ting Shuang is a student at a German university, and has this handsome professor Bai Chang Yi who he swears kind of hates him. He’s just broken up with his longtime boyfriend, and then goes on this dating app that matches a profile with him based on distance. The app can also show the matched profile’s distance from him once they enter the same area, and Ting Shuang starts chatting with this Chinese guy on the app, who he finds out later, is 36 years old, 187cm in height and wears glasses.

The guy is a little aloof and cool, very mature in his replies on the app, and somehow Bai Chang Yi finds out who he is later, as Ting Shuang starts complaining to him about his professor to Bai Chang Yi. Instead of getting angry and offended, BCY is pretty much amused and finds Ting Shuang cute. A few days later Ting Shuang finally realizes who it is he’s been texting, and after getting past the initial embarrassment and fear, they start dating for real, and they really fall in love!!!!!

My Thoughts: This is sweet and also hilarious af, if you need to like satisfy your sweet tooth, this is definitely one for you. It’s really funny because Bai Chang Yi runs in the same circles as Ting Shuang’s dad, who he’s estranged from because the dad doesn’t want to recognize a son who is gay, and then BCY convinces him later in the funniest of ways, and there’s a small subplot at the end in which Ting Shuang is pretty cool, and yep, short and sweet! BCY in the manhua is handsome af too guys ;-;

Available: Novel Online, Audio Drama on Maoer FM and Manhua on Bilibili,

6. 神木挠不尽 The White Cat’s Divine Scratching Post by 绿野千鹤

Summary: Mo Tian Liao, a weapons forger and master who ruled the Demon Tribe, was hunted down and killed by other righteous sects in the region when he managed to forge an incredibly destructive weapon that could end the world. Before he died, he placed the only thing he loved, a white cat, into a hole in the tree behind him to protect it. The only thing he was grateful for was that he did not create a blood pact with the cat, Xiao Mao, because if he had done so, when he died, Xiao Mao would have died along with him as well.

Right before he dies, unbeknownst to him, Xiao Mao who is no simple demonic cat, wraps part of his consciousness around Mo Tian Liao, and MTL’s spirit ends up floating about for 300 years, until he finds a suitable time to return with a body made out of a special tree and its wood. The first thing he does, of course, is to find his white cat, but he’s poor, and the body he has isn’t powerful, so he joins Wo Yun Sect, the only sect that did not hunt him down that day hundreds of years ago.

There, he is chosen by Qing Tong shizun to be his direct disciple, much to the astonishment of other shizuns in the sect, and Qing Tong’s shixiongs. MTL has never seen a person as beautiful and gorgeous as his shizun, and if only he could find that cat (who’s actually his shizun, who recognizes him and protects him, even if MTL doesn’t actually need much protection).

My Thoughts: This was hilarious as well, and so romantic?!!! Qing Tong/Xiao Mao waited for MTL to come back, and the moment he came back, Qing Tong was there ready to grab him, and then before he went to sleep that night, Qing Tong thought to himself, “I’ve gotten my person back, I can sleep well now” and AHHHHH at this point they weren’t even like a couple yet? MTL ‘kidnapped’ Qing Tong when he was a young demon cat by accident because he likes pretty things (like his shizun lmao) and Qing Tong is attached to him because MTL never forced a blood pact on him, and gave him everything he wanted as a younger cat before MTL died. Gosh, a mirror in #2 and then a cat now with this one. XD

Available: Novel Online

7. 破云 | Breaking the Clouds by 淮上

Summary: Three years ago, Captain Jiang Ting and his team of the Narcotics division perished in an explosion due to a wrong call of his, and he returns three years later under a new identity ready to deal with the people who set him and his team up. He’s caught in what seems to be a simple murder case almost immediately and meets Yan Xie, who’s Vice Captain and in charge of this case. Yan Xie realizes who Jiang Ting is shortly after, and begins to unravel the huge mystery surrounding the events of three years ago, and falls in love with Jiang Ting along the way as well.

My Thoughts: Okay out of the FOUR crime/detective/thriller danmei novels I’ve read, the poyun and tunhai (below) series is the one that MIRRORS actual narcotics division and undercovers the best. It has the complexity and depth of the drugs/narcotics world, and both this one and its sequel focuses a lot on the position of an undercover and mole. I liked this one a lot because there are SOOOO many twists especially in the last arc, like you honestly won’t see any of them coming until it hits you? And Yan Xie is such a confident, rich-ass narcissist, and he keeps asking Jiang Ting if he can “just touch” him ONCE lmao, he’s thick-skinned af, but that’s why he and Jiang Ting are so compatible ;-;.

Available: Novel Online, Novel Print, Audio Drama and Manhua on Bilibili

8. 吞海 | Swallowing the Sea by 淮上

Summary: Sequel to Po Yun. Yu Wu is a young-looking new detective under Captain Bu Chong Hua’s narcotics team. Bu Chong Hua is Yan Xie’s cousin by actual relation, but brother in relationship because BCH’s parents died early and Yan Xie’s parents have been taking care of him mostly. He cannot stand Yu Wu, who seems to want to coast through at work and keep to a 9-5 work schedule.

It’s only after an altercation and Yu Wu dumping his nonchalant facade to snarl at BCH that he realizes that YW is actually more interesting and mysterious than he thought, and he begins to try to get close to him, understand him. It turns out that Yu Wu is a famous undercover who nearly died a year ago during an operation, and due to various reasons, he was assigned to BCH’s team by higher ups so he can peacefully live the rest of his life out there. However, his past catches up with him quickly, and his enemies turning up forces him to rely on BCH.

With BCH, Yu Wu’s resentment of having to be an undercover in the past and being so easily discarded by his team’s leaders, and of him being forced to be in the shadows while others can announce their achievements to the world, is slowly erased, because BCH sees him, knows him, and understands him more than anyone else.

My Thoughts: I actually liked this one better than the first one - Yu Wu is such a pouty, angry little thing?! And for good reason (there’s a bit of cannibalism in the book, not by choice when he was younger and in a poor village in Cambodia, where some militants forced survivors in the village to eat the meat of boiled corpses of other villagers, so YW is a vegetarian, like if he eats meat he gets really sick) and the twists here are even more amazing?! BCH really, really, devotes himself to YW the moment he realizes how much he likes him, doing a 180 degree turn. Instead of Yan Xie’s flamboyance, BCH is much steadier, grouchy, like an old uncle, but also looks at things even more clearly than Yan Xie does sometimes. Yu Wu is understandably bitter about what he had to go through, and BCH is the ONLY person who can calm him down, whom he listens to, which I LOVE. Some highlights:

Yu Wu grew up in a poor village and thus loves money, and he fights in underground betting rings to earn more money - The stash of hidden money he collects I think is half for his escape money, but if he happens to never need it, his dream is to donate the money to his village so they can open up a school there - ANYWAY because Yan Xie’s parents, and technically BCH’s ‘parents’ are soooooo rich right, Yan Xie’s mom shows her approval to her son-in-laws (Jiang Ting first, then Yu Wu), by giving them winter pants. It’s kind of like inside warmers, and usually meant for older ladies to wear LOLOL so Yu Wu was like staring at the pants when he finally got them and looked soooo reluctant until Jiang Ting told him it costs $6,000 AND HE WAS LIKE :333333 okie

He acts a lot like a kid?!! He likes eating like some snack but it’s really unhealthy for him, and BCH the mother hen keeps catching him in weird places like the toilet, where he’s hiding from BCH so he can eat his fave snack?! And the whole police station knows not to give YW what he wants in terms of snacks and smokes because once BCH finds out, he makes life very difficult for them HAHAHAHA

9. 穿成反派如何活命 | How to Survive as A Villain by 伊依以翼

Summary: Rich and handsome CEO Xiao Yu An finds out he has a terminal illness (cancer), and dies while he’s reading this online novel, where a king mistreats the crown prince from a neighbouring state which sent him over as hostage after losing a war, and ends up being killed by the crown prince years later (SVSSS much?!). He wakes up AS THE KING, and afraid of dying, he immediately goes about befriending the prince, Yan He Qing. Yan He Qing falls in love with Xiao Yu An while being his friend/hostage/bodyguard, and Xiao Yu An tries to avoid all the deaths he read in the book, while making sure Yan He Qing manages to find his three/four wives, including Xiao Yu An’s sister.

Of course, because Xiao Yu An showed him warmth and kindness, Yan He Qing ends up falling for him instead, and Xiao Yu An is an absolute oblivious idiot because he REALLY doesn’t realize until much later. Yan He Qing ends up declaring war on Xiao Yu An’s kingdom because he is duty bound to do so, but doesn’t hurt Xiao Yu An, wanting to keep him by his side, but YHQ’s scheming uncle drives a wedge between them, and XYA leaves, breaking YHQ’s heart.

They meet again a few years later, where XYA is training to be a physician in a small village and chances upon a severely injured YHQ. There, he realizes that it was all a misunderstanding, and that YHQ actually LIKES, LIKES him, but before they can enjoy this short period of happiness, disaster strikes again.

My Thoughts: THIS WAS really enjoyable, and with the manhua visuals, it is *chef’s kiss*. I think this transmigration version actually delved into the part where XYA is unable to change everything, and if he saves one person, someone else is destined to die, and that moral dilemma devastates him a lot. In this novel he actually transmigrates TWICE, once into the king’s body, and the second time into a neighbouring state’s prince/king’s body, who looks exactly like his modern self after. YHQ is real sweet to him istg, and I like that the epilogues are SUPER EXTENSIVE, including an arc where YHQ and XYA transmigrate back to the real world and everyone who died is alive and close to them, and gets their happy ending ;-;

Available: Novel Online and Manhua on Bilibili

#danmei rec list #stebeee recs #a sword of frost #your distance #swallowing the sea #breaking the clouds #kaleidoscope of death #High Energy QR Code #How to Survive as A Villain #The White Cat’s Divine Scratching Post

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edelegs · 4 years ago

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Reading Way Too Much Into Petra’s Language

So basically I study second language acquisition and I have been meaning to do a deep dive into Petra’s language use from the moment I first read her dialogue. (On a slightly unrelated note, the Black Eagles house really is just targeted content for queer linguistics grad students). I’d intended for this to be some grand project where I take Petra’s speech patterns and classify them according to theories in second language acquisition (SLA) - but that involves explaining too much Fire Emblem lore to Serious Linguists, so instead I’m going to use my class notes to analyze Petra’s speech patterns and explain why I feel she is a good representation of how narratives should treat non-native speakers of the majority language. (sources will be fast and loose, I’m sorry professors)

I first want to mention the idea of “native speakerism”, particularly the fact that its use as a measure of proficiency and/or an expected standard of language use is flawed. Today, there are more non-native speakers of English than native speakers as a result of globalization, native speakers do not use language perfectly, and not all varieties of English are viewed equally (e.g. “native English speaker” never seems to refer to Indian English or AAVE). Much of today’s literature on SLA advocates for a focus on successful communication rather than native-like competency. From this perspective, Petra has achieved this goal: she seems to have no problem communicating with her peers outside of some trouble with idioms. Her peers always understand what she is saying, regardless of misconjugated verbs or odd phrasing. However, it is clear that Petra holds herself to these native-speaker standards. She is also the only non-native speaker of Fódlandish to be portrayed as a language learner. Despite this, I will try to avoid describing her language according to this standard.

Of the non-Fódlan nations in the game, only Brigid, Duscur, and Dagda speak a different language than Fòdlanish. (I don’t recall anything about Almyra’s native language, because I’m 99% sure Claude didn’t mention it). Dedue in particular gives the audience a concrete timeline for his language acquisition - in a support with Dimitri, he mentions that he didn’t use honourifics for him in the past because he was still learning Fòdlandish. This puts him in a Fòdlandish-speaking environment from a young age. Shamir references speaking Dadgan in her A support with Byleth, but there’s no mention of how long she had been learning the language. Her background as a mercenary would be a logical justification for her strong proficiency (training one’s accent away is rare and often not feasible, but I sincerely believe the writers did not put this much thought into that).

This means that language in the game only seems to matter for Petra’s character. Her background as a political pawn serves as her motivation. Petra is sent to the Empire five years before the events of the story as leverage against a Brigidian uprising. In their C-support, Hubert mentions that Petra could barely use the language when they met. This suggests that Petra has interacted with Adrestian nobility prior to attending Garegg Mach. At school, her environment is still largely made up of members of the nobility, especially as a member of the Black Eagles. (Not all noble speech is created equally, however. Put a pin in that).

There are three notable features of Petra’s English: over-reliance and misuse of verbs “to be” and “to have”, an overgeneralization of the suffix -ness, and contraction avoidance. In general, Petra uses “have” to describe states of being: “I have gratitude”, “I have sorrow”, “he has much concentration”. This pattern reminds me of the French auxiliary verbs “être” and “avoir”, which leads me to believe that Petra is experiencing transfer from her first language. An English learner of French might say “je suis 24 ans” (I am 24 years) instead of the accepted form “j’ai 24 ans” (I have 24 years). Petra is likely making a similar mistake. From this, I suggest that Brigidian might use an equivalent form of “have” for states of being (or uses the same verb for “to be” and “to have”). What is strange is that this pattern does not significantly change in her A-supports with the others. She does make more use of “to be”, though it remains largely unconjugated (e.g. “we will be winning”, “I will be sharing my heart with all of you”, “I want to be smoking the meat, so that we can be preserving it”).

There is an order for the development of English morpheme accuracy (Pienenmann’s Processability Theory, 1989). -ing is typically acquired first, which is seen in Petra’s language. It is followed by plural -s, then -be, when to use “a” versus “the”, irregular past, regular past -ed, third person -s, and possessive ‘s. Petra does not seem to follow this pattern exactly. She does not typically misuse articles (a/the), but her use of be is still largely unconjugated. She also uses the past perfect form more often than the simple past (from Hubert/Petra C: ”I had more youth then”, “I have learned much . . .” “and meeting you and Lady Edelgard has had great value for me”). There are instances when she does use the simple past (Caspar/Petra: “you are not the one who did the killing”, “our parents had conflict”) but this use is inconsistent. This blatantly contradicts Anderson and Shirai’s (1996) Aspect Hypothesis, which states that simple past is acquired much earlier on than past perfect. Similarly, Petra’s overuse of -ness is likely a similar developmental issue (though I cannot find a developmental hierarchy outlining this).

One explanation for this (aside from “I am reading way more into this than the writers/translators did”) lies in Petra’s social networks. Since coming to Fòdlan, Petra has largely been surrounded by nobles. The use of past perfect, as well as contraction avoidance, might’ve been influenced by the noble’s speech patterns. A side effect of transcribing literally every line of Petra dialogue for the bigger-scale project I’d initially planned was noticing which Black Eagles use contractions and which don’t. Those who are concerned with maintaining their image - Edelgard, Hubert, and Ferdinand - either do not use contractions or use them much less than the others. Linhardt, Bernadetta, and Caspar all don’t care about how others perceive them, and as a result their speech is much more casual. Petra is a highly conscious learner who likely aspires to achieve the speech of the former group. As the future Queen of Brigid, she aims to be perceived as Edelgard’s equal and bring more respect and dignity for her nation. One way for her to do this is through language. Petra perceives herself as lacking proficiency and is embarrassed by her grasp on the language. She is a perfectionist in everything she does and this extends to language. In her supports with Byleth, she corrects herself often. One of her advice box questions expresses frustration about her lack of progress with speaking. She is proud of herself when she uses an expression correctly (e.g. [smiling] “I have had practicing of that phrase”). The realism of her tense acquisition aside, Petra’s aspirations lead her to model her speech after that of her distinguished peers.

Should Petra’s language have been written to more closely mirror real-world English acquisition patterns? Considering that I doubt this question has crossed other players’ minds, this is largely unnecessary. What should be asked is this: how is Petra treated by the narrative as a second language speaker? The answer is: surprisingly well! Though there are times when her misunderstanding of common expressions is used for humour, nobody treats Petra as if she’s lesser for being Brigidian or a non-native speaker. In fact, the person who’s hardest on Petra’s language is Petra herself. There are no incidences (at least within the Black Eagles) where others perceive her as less intelligent or less worthy of respect. It could be easy to read her character as “quirky foreigner”, but that dismisses the fact that her peers do not see her this way. This game is far from perfect at portraying differences in race/nationality (looking at you, Dedue), but Petra Macneary--hunter, friend, and badass queen--is a pleasant surprise.

#long post #and i mean loooooong post #petra macneary #fe3h #black eagles #fr i imagined this as some deep detailed essay with proper APA citations #but i procrastinated too long and overwhelmed myself #so it exists but like this #meta #character analysis #fire emblem three houses #i transcribed every line of Petra dialogue for this

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holykillercake · 4 years ago

Text

FRIED EGGS

KOBY x Pirate!Reader

word count: 2k

summary: Being infiltrated as a Marine and keeping your feelings under control was easy until you were assigned to work with Marine Captain Koby. How you wished he was a jerk.

highlight: ¨I am kissing you... but I am angry, Y/N-san...¨

warnings: read under the risk of developing diabetes.

notes: Hey, guys! This was a lovely request from @pure-kirarin! <3 I had to stop other projects to make this one because Koby threw me out of my comfort zone hahaha I really hope you like!! ALSO 1) Happy Birthday Sabo-kun! ALSO 2) In order to add more dept to the story, the main character is part of a Yonkos´crew, but I wrote in a way that all fit, so choose your favorite! ALSO 3) ART ALERT!

Leave comments, hearts and love!

¨You have been doing a remarkable job in such little time, Commander L/N. We all have great expectations regarding your transference to our Marine Headquarters.¨

The words of the Rear Admiral barely scratched your mind as you discreetly observed the pink-haired boy´s reflection on the crystal clear window.

He maintained a similar posture to yours: chin up, chest out, shoulders back, and stomach in. However, while your fingers remained paralleled to your trousers, you took a glimpse of his clenched fist, thumb fidgeting the side of his index finger.

¨Vice Admiral Tsuru was reluctant to sign your transfer. She said you remind her of herself in the past, which is always an excellent compliment to hear.¨ you nodded, acknowledging his words ¨We´re glad we convinced her.¨

Your heart warmed with his words, and you almost felt bad because you knew the disappointing outcome O-Tsuru-san would have at the end of this. She trained you with the iron face of a merciless soldier, and the elegance that resembled the animal of her name.

It has been three years since you received the green card from your captain to part ways in a long-term solo mission. A journey to excavate the putrid secrets of the so-called defenders of the law. You learned after a short time that justice is not so black and white.

Not that you planned to reveal the dirt, no. That intel your captain could sell to the Revolutionary Army and keep the capital running. You were interested in the arms race, the corrupt diplomacy, and more importantly, the dark pipes where traitors flowed.

Someone from inside the Yonkos was feeding the Marines with crucial information about the Emperors´ activities. And in such a close fight, you could not take those risks.

All other Emperors must have their own undercover agents within the Marines, but even that was a dispute. You could point some names to your boss, who confirmed what was suspected. Those would usually be the best of the best, extravagant and loud.

But not you. You didn't have to make that much noise. You slid between the floors of New Marineford like a snake swimming with the current. Earning the respect of your superiors and being promoted without ringing any bells. You accepted each medal with a firm salutation and relentless performance.

¨The trip must have been displeasing. Submerging ten thousand meters underwater and rising to these fiendish waters require a good rest. Our Marine Captain Koby will escort you to your quarters, Commander Y/N. The remaining instructions shall be presented tomorrow.¨

You saluted the Rear Admiral in front of you and turned to the exit, passing by Koby, who waited for you to leave first. When your paths crossed, the pace of your heartbeats quickened, pumping more blood through your body and leaving a burning sensation on your cheeks.

The involuntary response was instantly interpreted as alertness to danger, which needed to be handled with caution.

Can´t let my guard down around this one, you thought.

In fact, you planned to keep as much distance as you could from him. An officer let slip that he has been gaining incredible control over his Observation Haki since the Paramount War.

But the wind seemed to change direction, and you began to swim against the current. When the morning came, you were assigned to be his partner for an undetermined time, and he would act as your superior. The idea of being bossed around by a younger marine got your temper sparked.

Only he was not like the others, treating you in a patronizing and condescending way. He spoke to you with the same cordiality and politeness he addressed everybody else.

Slowly, your concrete cold expression began to soothe. You would still remind yourself how annoying his good manners were, though. So annoying, seriously!

¨Good morning, Y/N-san!¨ he greeted as you joined him for breakfast.

¨Good morning, Koby.¨

¨Our Border Force correspondent sent his report early in the morning with information about possible Yonkos´ alliances in the Wano Country. We are arranging a meeting as soon as possible.¨

You didn´t like to handle work so early, but this subject, in particular, raised your spirits. ¨Good. It was about time.¨

You noticed that he wore a different headband. ¨What happened?¨

¨Hm?¨ he brought the soup bowl close to his mouth.

¨The bandana. Green, with the fried eggs.¨ he choked on the miso soup, coughing like he had swallowed poison.

You reached for a paper tissue and handed it to him. ¨K-Koby, are you ok?¨

¨Y-Y/N... Y/N-san...¨ he coughed some more ¨They´re not... fried eggs...¨

¨Oh...¨ your brows raised slightly ¨What are they?¨

A depressive aura grew around him ¨They are flowers, YN-san...¨

The edge of your lips contorted as you tried to hide a smile. You haven´t felt like smiling genuinely for years. Annoying boy!

From that moment on, ignoring him became more difficult. He started to ask you to train with him or invite you to spend some time with him and Helmeppo whenever you had free time. Eventually, he began to ask you how he looked before an important meeting.

Most of the time, you would reply something like ¨ok¨. But sometimes, the mouth was quicker than the brain, and you would let an ¨impeccable¨ slip out, followed by an awkward throat clearing and blushed cheeks.

From both sides.

•

¨Oh my-¨ you stopped yourself from finishing the sentence.

You were chosen to complete this mission due to your excellent skills in hiding emotions and acting calm under stressful situations. No one could break you.

Within the Marines, no joke could make you crack a smile, and no torture could make you spill secrets.

Why did you want to ask if he was ok?

Koby had entered his office with bumps and bloody bruises over his face. His always neat uniform was blotchy, and he carried a first aid kit.

¨Garp-san paid a visit.¨ He sat on the couch and opened the white box, throwing everything on the coffee table. ¨I bet it wasn't like this with Tsuru-san.¨ he chuckled.

¨No. She would beat me up, wash me and hang me up to dry.¨

You shot from the chair, moving towards the clumsy pinkette, who struggled to attend to his injuries. He tried to hold the mirror with one hand and suture his gash with the other.

¨Thank yo-¨

¨Shh. Don´t move.¨

You leaned closer to have a better look, giving Koby the same chance. Your delicate perfume smelled like it was tailor-made for you. Your breathing was slightly irregular, and your lip twitched with every given stitch. Your fingers felt like feathers on his skin, so much that he didn´t even feel a sting.

The job was fast and efficient, making Koby wish Garp had put more effort into his Love Fist. Grabbing a piece of wet cotton, you cleaned the dried blood.

¨Alright...¨ you whispered.

¨Alright...¨ he whispered back.

You were inches apart from his face, your eyes traveling across the scar on his forehead, the pink locks, and kind features. Your mind traced back all the way to the Paramount War. You had very little knowledge about him, but the words he spoke that day have always made your heart pound like cannonballs.

You will make an excellent Admiral one day, Koby.

I hope you don´t hate me.

¨Y-Y/N-san...¨

¨Hm?¨

¨Your smile is beautiful.¨

¨What?¨ The stupid scene of yours was interrupted like a DJ stopping the record player.

With cheeks getting pinker than his hair, you shot up and marched back to the chair and your newspaper. ¨You clean this up.¨

He left a low chuckle out and began gathering the mess.

Oh, no, Y/N. You have got to be kidding me.

He is a freaking marine. Breathe.

There were a vast number of reasons why you couldn´t like him: from him being a Marine Captain and you being a pirate to the fact that your mission was coming to a conclusion.

Meaning that your journey as his partner would be very soon reaching its end. The meeting with this mysterious correspondent regarding the Yonkos´ operations in the New World would be the last move in this chess game. You would be going home. Mission completed. Everything perfect, right?

Right, perfect. Impeccable! Ugh!

•

¨... confirm secure line.¨

¨This is Border Officer code 404890. Secure line confirmed.¨ you spoke with a low but clear voice through the nail transponder.

¨What´s the status on our birdie?¨

¨Positive. The birdie is located at 03:24:01.¨ you gave your boss a coordinate to the name of the Marine informant. The answer you took three years to find out remained on file number one, third page, suspect number twenty-four.

An amused laugh echoed on your end, and you buried the speaker on your jacket to muffled the sound.

¨At least he is not one of ours.¨ a chuckle ¨Great job, Y/N.¨

¨Thank you, boss.¨

¨I know this mustn't have been easy, but you were impeccable as always.¨

Yeah, impeccable.

¨You know the protocol now. We´ll see each other in a few days. You´ll have a party waiting for you, kid.¨

¨Aye, aye, boss. But I want the good booze.¨ Both of you laughed.

You finished the call, and the smile on your lips died as the image of a pink-haired boy invaded your mind. You wished he was a jerk like everybody else.

It would have been so easy.

¨Who were you talking to?¨ your chest contracted, pushing the air out of your lungs and sending extra blood supply to your muscles.

You hid the transponder into your jacket and turned, facing your Marine Captain.

¨Eavesdropping, Koby?¨

What should I do?

¨Y/N-san, who were you talking to?¨ he repeated himself, offering the benefit of the doubt. You sighed.

¨My captain.¨

Why the need to be honest with him?

¨Y/N-san, please don´t tell me-¨

¨I´m sorry, Koby. I wish I didn´t have to do this.¨ you couldn´t bring yourself to face him.

¨A-Are you a pirate? Why?¨

You chuckled ¨Why am I a pirate?¨

¨Why did you do this?¨ his face was pale, making your guts twitch in guilt.

¨I´m on a mission. But I´ll leave soon.¨

¨You are like... Vergo-san.¨ he sounded disappointed.

¨I am nothing like Vergo. You know this.¨ or at least you hoped he did.

He closed the door slowly, eyes fixed on your figure. The bright light from the window made him look like an ethereal painting.

While you tried to predict his next move, whether he was going to interrogate you or kick your ass, Koby acted calm and collected, not hesitating. He trusted his Observation Haki to guide his next move. Or maybe his heart.

You saw a pink blur closing distance like a missile, and before you could dodge, his hands pulled you by the waist, connecting your bodies and lips.

He forced your back to meet the thick window with a gasp that was muffled by the kiss. His touch was rough upon the fabric of your uniform, but his mouth felt soft against yours.

Your hands moved to his hair, removing the round pair of glasses and the green bandana so you could get lost in his locks. His grip was harsh under the fabric of your uniform, but his hair felt soft on your fingertips.

A moan escaped your lips when he parted the kiss with a loud snap and struck the glass with both hands, keeping you trapped in the middle. You let go of his hair and grabbed him by the collar, not letting him go away.

¨I am kissing you... but I am angry, Y/N-san...¨ his breath was heavy and carried with a myriad of emotions.

¨I know... I am sorry.¨

¨Why?¨

¨Because I like you, Koby. A lot.¨ he paused for a second, fighting the urge to admit the same.

¨What was your mission?¨

This is the last lie, I promise, Koby. ¨The Marines possessed vital information about something my boss wants. I needed to get it.¨

¨Now that I know that you´re a pirate and that you stole Marine´s assets, I´m gonna have to hunt you down.¨

¨I´ll be waiting for you.¨

You stared him in the eyes, and he kissed you to stop himself from saying what he really wanted.

I love you, Y/N-san.

Diary of Koby-Meppo: The Fried Egg Life Crisis.

💕 @vemuabhi

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