#which is such a nice stopper on the past four years probably having been the best years of my life! and i only have a couple weeks of that

[piesa2]

everyone is pitying me and i dont know how to feel about that

[tooinlovewithfictionalpeople]

Dating the Hargreeves

Luther Hargreeves

-You met when one day you were called to the Hargreeve residence

- Your mother was a friend of Reginald and she had asked you to deliver a letter to him.

- On arriving you noticed how empty the place was

- So as Reginald took the letter from you, he told you to come back in ten minuets when he had written the reply

- Thinking he lived alone now, you just wondered about the house, until you bumped into Luther

- After stating your business, he seemed to warm up to you a lot more, even if he was a tad awkward

- You realised that he was just really lonely

- So you invited him for coffee

- He was so shocked all he could do was nod

- The coffee date went well the next day

- It was all going swimmingly, the two of you were good friends but right as you both were realising your feelings were more than just friends

- His dad sent him to the moon

- Pogo let you message him three times a day

- But you still missed him

- You didn’t understand why he couldn’t disobey orders

- But you respected his choice and waited

- For years

-When he finally came back he was slightly more clingy than he was usually and you two quickly became an item

- He was a broken soul who just needed some love

- And attention

- And to believe he didn’t waste four years of his life

- When you two started dating he was basically your own personal teddy bear

- he’s so warm so if you’re cold he would let you cuddle up to him

- he’d be so gentle because he doesn’t want to accidentally hurt you

- You would constantly be there to remind him to be nice to his siblings

- going stargazing together 

- or moon gazing the guy has an obsession

- You would steal his coat and make brilliant impressions of him, much to the joy of Diego and Klaus

-You are defiantly the smart one so Luther would always go to you for advice

- he’s so protective and will glare at any man who looks your way

- which can get a bit annoying but it’s nothing to bad.

- He’s really insecure so you would constantly assure him that he was beautiful the way he was

- Helping Luther see that dear old Dad was not the nicest guy

- Your best friend is 100% Diego though

- Which Luther hates because if you're mad at him, he’s doomed on all fronts

- He buys you chocolate though so you keep him around

- He has a good heart really

Diego Hargreeves

-You're both vigilantes of sorts

- You're more like a private investigator plus baddass crime stopper

- Police pay you to solve crimes, and then the government pay you even more money to take out pesky people

- It was kinda fun

- You meet Diego when Patch brings him in

- He overhears what job you’re doing and asks why you’re getting paid doing the same thing he’s getting arrested for

- Patch laughs and tells him that you are more of a private investigator

- You smile, thinking that would shut him up 

- But no. He starts calling you Sherlock

- Wearing that stupid smirk as he says it

- Your meetings become more frequent and he always teases you about your job but its nothing more than that

- Until one day he realises you don’t actually have a house, you live in a car

- Because even though your job pays well, you move around a lot and most of you money goes to your sister so she can afford a house, and living with her may but her life at risk

- So he offered the spare bedroom in his apartment 

- He assures you he can take care of himself

- So you agree

- And slowly you adjust your life to be with him

- You take turns cooking at first and then it turns into a you cook whilst he cleans because he cannot cook

- And then he takes you on a date

- He’s a shy stuttering mess when he asks you on a date, nothing like the mischievous confident man you'd known

- It was adorable so you said yes

- Things went really well so you guys decided to date

- He is such a cuddler

- Secretly likes being the little spoon, or sleeping on your stomach because it makes him feel safe

- But also likes being the big spoon because he likes to feel like he’s protecting you

- You’re probably the cook as he can only make eggs

- And even tho “They’re great eggs Y/N,” they’re “Not a balanced diet Diego,”

- Patching him up when he’s on his nightly hero duty things

- If you have work in the morning you will leave cute notes around the house for him to wake up to, and he does the same for you when he works

- When he grows his hair out he secretly lets you braid it as long as you tell no one.

- Until Klaus find’s out and gets you to braid his hair too

- He cannot say no to you, so gets through the day of relentless teasing by his siblings when you painted his nails 

- It was worth it to see you smile

- Full on shouting at Reginald at the dinner table when he upset Diego because HOW DARE HE make your boyfriend stutter like that

- The other siblings looking at you in shock because you were the calm and reasonable one 

- He wouldn’t really get jealous because he trusted you, but can’t resist showing off the fact you’re his girlfriend when someone starts to flirt with you

- Okay maybe he is jealous

Allison Hargreeves 

- For some reason you are immune to her power

- You found this out when Reginald tried to forcefully recruit you to the academy when you were fifteen, using her power and you just responded “I don’t know where you heard that sunshine.”  before merrily skipping off.

- She was shook

- The two of you started meeting at Griddy’s donuts

- At first she wanted to know how you managed to get away

- But eventually she started to like you

- You were sassy and smart and didn’t put up with her shit

- This is probably why Five adored you so much - you two became best friends

- She always held your hand and often kissed it softly if you were deep in thought

- You taught her how to get people to do what you say without using her power

- Which meant you guys left with a lot of free stuff

- She always loved to show you off, PDA was something she had no problem with

- Much to the disgust of some of the siblings

- Being in the 60′s as a lesbian couple was difficult

- So you pretended to be cousins

- which was weird for both of you

- She would constantly buy extravagant gifts for you, especially when she had the money

- Despite the fact that in public you seem like the one in charge, she is 100% the big spoon

- She likes the feeling of feeling truly needed

Klaus Hargreeves

- You meet in the war, you’re the bar tender that introduced him to Dave

- The talk he had with you was very brief but he remembered your face

- So years later, when he went back to that same Bar once he got back from the past he was shocked to see you serving people having not aged a day

- At first he thought you just has really good genes you had passed on but you were identical to the way he remembered you

- The he thought he was seeing your ghost but he saw that you were interacting with others

- So he called you over

- You didn't seem shocked to see him but pleasantly surprised

- You explained that you had gotten in a bit of a pickle as you were picking up a suitcase from the commission so you could retire but Five blew the place up causing the suitcase to malfunction

- So you were stuck in a warzone until you figured out how to fix the case

- You also told Klaus to give his brother a slap when he next saw him

- He did, but Five was very pleased to see you as you were a good friend to him and knew how to help

- Anyways after a couple of soft drinks you and Klaus got to know each other better

- And after a while the two of you became an item and life just got better

Helping him remain sober

- Cuddles all the time because he is needy

- you guys shared clothes because neither if you give a fuck

- You show him other ways to get high without damaging his body

- like taking him skydiving or to a theme park

- you always listen to him

- And will shout at the siblings when they undermine Klaus

- You keep the ghosts at bay, and will often hold him when he sleeps so stop any nightmares

- However neither of you can cook

- which leads to you waltzing off to Allison’s house at three in the morning because she can cook

- She doesn’t mind though because she’s never seen her brother this happy when hes sober

- You are best friends with Ben, and can also see and hear him so like to talk shit about Klaus when he’s in the room

- He is a pro at forehead kisses

- He’ll wrap you in his arms and just lightly kiss your forehead

- Because you make him feel safe, so he returns the favour

Five Hargreeves

- You worked with the commission as an assassin and after a few weeks of Five being there, he was told that you would be his partner

- He was a little annoyed because that would mean he wouldn’t be able to work on the apocalypse on the job in case you told on him

- Then he met you and you were nothing like he expected

- He’d seen you train, seen you kill five men whilst barely moving and go after the most dangerous of people

- So why were you so nice?

-You were like a little ball of sunshine and he was Mr grumpy

- When you were informed that he had been alone for 45 years, Five thought you’d run away from him, scared that you were friends with a madman

- But instead you walked up to him and wrapped your arms around his waist

- At first he didn’t know how to respond but then he hugged you back

- And then you two became inseparable

- He wasn’t much into PDA especially when you got back to the Hargreaves siblings

- He didn’t want to be bullied

-But you loved affection

-So he compromised and the two of you would subtly lock pinkies

-But that was it

-Until you were alone

-Oh boy

- He needed coaxing at first because he’s socially awkward

- But he loves to be cuddled. He loves laying on your stomach, or holding you against his chest or wrapping his arms around your waist

- He’s a sucker for when you run your hands through his hair

- It makes him w e a k 

-When he’s working you’ll sit on his lap

- Because you want attention and he overworks himself

- You constantly look after him, making sure he drinks water and shit

- Because you cannot run on coffee alone

- The siblings become suspicious when they catch Five staring at you

- So they decided to spy on him

- And whilst they spied, they saw their mardy little brother dancing (Rather gracefully) around the Kitchen with you, both laughing as if there was no one else there

- Which tbf they didn’t think there was

- “They could just be working a case?” suggested Luther

- But that was quickly brushed aside when Five kissed you

- “Turns out the Hargreaves are capable of Love,” was all Klaus said although they were secretly thrilled at the fact you and Five were together.

Ben Hargreeves

- You were just a small town waitress 

- Working another long shift at your work, you saw two men come in, one rather skinny and hippie looking, and the other dressed in all black

- You’re a naturally sweet person so serving them with a smile wasn’t a problem

- But when you asked Ben what he wanted he just froze in shock

- After some explaining you decided to let the two guys stay at your apartment for a while, as they were lost anyway

- You all became super super close

- You helped Klaus become sober again

- And then you realised that not only could you see Ben, but you could make him physically there just by touching him

- You learnt this when you accidentally ran into him nearly knocking yourself out

- The Klaus was no longer the clingy one

-Ben was always touching you, not in a weird way just always brushing hands or wrapping himself around you

- He loved cuddles, just feeling warm for once

- He’d cuddle you no matter what, and if you had a tiring day at work he would be there to sweep you off your feet

- you made him feel alive again

- When he was touching you others could see him too

- which meant you automatically became the family favourite, after you helped Klaus, and then Ben

- Ben loves it when you read to him, it just calms him down

- His favourite thing to do is to sit in the park with you sat between his legs, lent against his chest listening to you read

- He wears the flower crowns you make with pride

- It takes ages to figure out why you can see him and make him real as you were actually a couple months younger than him

- Turns out you had died as a baby for exactly 108 seconds and that had left you with ties to both the physical world and the afterlife - and it was Mr Reginald Hargreeves who had saved you

- You were convinced he was an alien but the others disagreed

- You helped Ben not fear his power

- The guy is king of nose kisses. He just finds it really cute when you scrunch your nose, either in disgust or frustration or confusion

- You always kiss jawline, as if you’re snuggled together it’s often the only place you can reach

- Vanya is your best friend, you always invite her because she understands what it’s like to not know the extent of your own power

- Klaus is scared at first because he doesn’t want Ben to leave him although he would never admit it

- But then he realised he hadn’t lost a constant companion, he’d just gained another

- Ben loves to surprise you with cute simple things, like setting up a movie and hot chocolate, or picking out flowers he found at some point for you

- Dancing round the kitchen would be a daily thing

- You even got Five to join in 

- You make the best waffles so every morning all the siblings come to your house just to eat the waffles you make

- It’s like they are a family again, but this time they have you

Vanya Hargreeves

- She’s a bit iffy with personal contact

- It makes her a little nervous

- But you’re okay with that, she shows her love in other ways

- Like she’ll always make you tea in the mornings, or make sure you’re under the blanket before she sleeps because she knows you get cold

- You meet for the first time when you’re kids. The other siblings are saving everybody and ask you to stand with the others, because to them you’re just a civilian

- But when things start to go sideways, it’s you who helps them, using your powers of mental manipulation to make the bad guys visualise their worst fear

- Sir Hargreeves takes you in immediately, adopting you as Number Eight.

-The other kids felt bad for you when Reginald left you on your own, and it was Klaus who spoke

-”He’s not a good parent, he isn’t really here at all so I’m sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting,” but you were happy

“My real dad gave me this scar when he tried to stab me,” you replied with a little laugh “Ill take yours any day,”

-After that you and Vanya bonded over the fact you were both the black sheep of the family

- You always made sure she was included, and felt a bit bad that you weren’t a sibling but were often invited to more places than her

- During your teenage years you and Vanya clearly had something going on, so Reginald sent you away to France to study your powers

- It wasn’t until his death did you two see each other again

- It felt like you had never really left and things kicked off again

- But the Harold came along and told Vanya you were just as bad as the rest

- So she abandoned you

- You meet  for the third time in the 60′s, you’re staying with a married couple and their disabled son

- Vanya recognises you but she doesn’t know where from which breaks your heart slightly but it’s okay

- Because the more she spends time with you the more she falls in love with you

- She finally asks you to be her girlfriend

- Which you say yes

- Although she’s not big on affection, she loves it when you lay in her lap, it makes her feel trusted

- She loves to play the violin for you

- When she starts to grow used to affection, she loves it when you sleep all curled up beside her like a cat

- Or when you play with her hair

- Or kiss her cheek

- You make her feel like she’s valid and that’s all she ever wanted

[the-uptake]

Between You and Me

The Uptake, With Symbiotic Self-Indulgence. Book III, Chapter 11. Go to previous. TWs: Shaving, alcohol, drugging, hangovers of both kinds, bondage, epidemic, isolation, bombing survivorship mention, descriptions of lethal body horror. Bite the hand that feeds, tap the vein that bleeds...

________________________

Come third shift that night, the faint hum within the complex’s walls had faded, and only one wall of each apartment’s main room and bathroom illuminated its inhabitants’ way with the pale Wolfram phosphorescence accumulated during the second shift. If not for the potent, unfamiliar scent of vaguely sandalwood aftershave and the dark gold towels, Cecil could nearly have forgotten he stood shirtless in someone else’s bathroom. That, and he’d sooner be caught dead than own bathroom rugs.

His halo lay, turned off, on the counter beside the sink. The internal elements in its opalescent clear plastic emanated faint pulses. To his surprise, he found the tenant owned a rechargeable power bank. Possibly several, he supposed, considering the facility with which he located it in the fluorescent twilight. So as to let ‘Choly keep theirs to get through the night, the redhead gladly made use of the foot-long clear-housing device, so the aural aureole could maintain its juices that night well past the hour it normally flickered off altogether. Unlike the backup electrical source, his boyfriend wouldn’t have any need at the time for the clipper that he then produced from its case. He fished around in the like-new guard attachments, recalling that ‘Choly didn’t use any. When he snapped on the size two, an ebullient nerve jolted through him. He pulled the drain stopper, and leaned into the mirror to get to work.

As the chunks of two-inch hair fell to the counter, floor, and sink basin, the act felt more natural than he’d expected. He’d trimmed himself dozens of times over the years, and maintained his own facial hair, but he’d never buzzed off all his hair. If he’d ever seen a Leveler with their hair this short, they hid it beneath the translucent cranial plates which the Northeast US deemed especially fashionable. Full-scalp plating was unheard of, though: these functional successors to the fascinator always had either brightly colored, vee-reactive, or even fiber-optic extensions wefted through exposed sections, or the wearer’s natural hair pulled through it to be styled somewhat akin to how people used to style hair around combs and other such devices. The reverberations of the clippers on his scalp rendered the sound for him as would a deep bone conduction headset. He wondered how someone might even wear such an accessory without hair long enough to clip it into.

He set down the clippers to run his hands all over his work, and smeared around his chin and jaw with the heels of his palms. The length of what remained on his head now nearly matched that of his third-shift shadow. The more he stared at himself, the more his heart lightened. Content with the catharsis of self transgression, he moved to clean up after himself. With a lock of the longest hair from the top of his head in his fingers, he wondered whether ‘Choly would want it. He flinched at himself, but still tucked the sizable brassy chunk into the inner pouch of his toiletry bag regardless, unable to quit the habituation of such thoughts. He did his best without a broom and dust pan to corral the rest of the trimmings into the wastebasket.

Without building power, the plumbing lacked necessary pressure, so he instead used some of the tenant’s reserve water supply, from the interconnecting clear stackable units stashed in the bathtub, to shampoo and rinse his head in the sink.

Suspiciously well equipped for the unplugged shifts, he noted, of the tenant’s specialized furnishings. The sensation of scrubbing the fine clippings off his scalp with his fingernails got him whistle-humming softly with his mouth open. The small spigot on the side of it made it incredibly simple to measure out cupfuls to pour over his head as he held it over the basin. Having it in these units is so much handier than our repurposed leftovers bins. Maybe he’d help us get set up with something like this.

He tossed the borrowed towel into the hamper by the tub and put his unbuttoned gold dress shirt back on, then reconnected the four flexible ports of his halo and handshaked it. In the next room, he could hear struggling that had, from the labored nasal breathing, likely gone on for some time. He murmured dully to himself, put his glasses back on his face, and took his empty highball with him to investigate.

Though Jacob’s apartment had the same floor plan as Cecil and ‘Choly’s, the furnishings denied any meaningful confusion. The back third had an office area, the middle a series of utility shelves and an L-shaped workbench perpendicular to the wall, and the front a peculiarly spacious third of open floor with a single broad cabinet. Just as theirs, dozens of potted plants peppered the long, narrow quarters. Unlike theirs, rather than literary in nature, the grey-area verbot that peppered Jacob’s was technological and mechanical.

“Hope you don’t mind that I’ve let myself in, neighbor,” he remarked as he approached the upholstered swiveling desk chair from behind. “Decided I’d stay the night with you, to make sure you recovered right from the tranq. My brother and their friend helped me carry you over here before they headed out.”

Jacob stilled at Cecil’s voice, and stopped straining against the ropes that anchored him to his seat. He didn’t bother craning his head to look up over the back of the chair.

“I do still have both kidneys, right?” The snark received deadpan silence. “--Where’s Angel?”

“Powered off, in the front. I could teach you better encryption, if you want.”

Cecil casually refreshed his glass from the small lacquer dry bar in the very corner of the office space. He plunked a few cocktail cherries suspended in lime gelatin cubes from the zippered package, and splashed in whiskey, ginger ale, and some kind of Vek bitters. He sipped at his concoction until he netted one of the bright blue fruits in his mouth and twisted off the stem, and chewed before he spoke again.

“I appreciate your hospitality, really. These jellies are something else. I’m on my third Premier.” Cecil faced into the apartment, skirting eye contact, to lean his weight against the side of the desk. Behind him, rain had probably strafed the naked window for most of the evening already, and would definitely continue through the night. The stem went back in his cup, since he didn’t trust his ability to hit the waste bin two meters away. “Place’s nice, too. See you’ve greened it up. Did my brother do yours, too, like some kinduva traveling snake oil dealer?”

The blond let a slow breath escape flared nostrils, and an intermittent low whine corrugated his affect.

“What time is it? Can’t be super late. Glow’s still going. --Are you sure you wouldn’t rather a slice of confec? You seem like you could use some confec right now. Don’t strike me as the type to drink--”

“--About twenty-two. Not too long before first shift. Then it’s just the two of us. And I’ll be blind, drunk,and deaf.”

“It’s just you and me here?”

Inebriation had misinformed Cecil’s tongue, since he didn’t usually keep a continuous charge in the halo, but he couldn’t be bothered to correct himself. He worked at draining his glass, so he could earn the rest of the fruits that had glued themselves to the bottom of the crowded glass. He nudged the chair back a bit with his foot to slide over to sit on the desk and face him. He just stared blankly at the tall, thick blond while popping the prized garnishes in his mouth one at a time, removing the stems each time and letting them accumulate in the highball.

Jacob slouched when Cecil’s enjoyment of them seemed more like absent cud-chewing, and he shut his eyes, folding to the implicit staring contest.

“Are you all right, pal? Is that a stupid question? Is that okay to ask? --You know you can just eat the jellies without making a drink, right--”

Cecil sat the glass down on the bar, and gripped the edge of the desk, to swing his feet under it.

“I just shot you. You’re tied up, and I can’t let you go. And I can’t even look at my boyfriend right now. Do you even really need to ask?” His mouth scrunched and he glanced at the ceiling before resuming more agreeable eye contact. “Question of my own now, since you can clearly intuit some modicum of transparency: What made you a repairman?”

Jacob’s exhausted eyes stitched in a smile, and he shifted back in the chair.

“Cred’s never been the only currency. There’s lost potential in everything around us. Call it alchemy, in the most abstract sense. Mend and mod. Turn something into something else. In lieu of cred, people used to trade goods and services all the time, back in the day. The tradition never died. It just changed. Like everything else did.” He squinted again, his mouth becoming a wide thin line. “Look, I can’t turn on the poetic charm just like that. If you’re asking why a repairman’s decided to live in Tri-City, with everything like it is, I stayed behind because I knew there’d be survivors who’d still need the building to work right. Simple as that. Why’s it matter to you?”

“How altruistic of you. Of course it matters. You weren’t just fixing the garbage chutes. You were going through people’s trash. Just doesn’t add up to me, though, why you’d put yourself at risk to return something so patently thrown away.”

“Again with that box!” Jacob scoffed, the stress flickering out of his grin. “Would you have rather I just let that stuff get destroyed? Wait. You’re scared I’d tattle. Weak. You’d better freakin’ believe I wouldn’t bring police into the building. Your honey isn’t the only gremlin in this place, you know. I’m not gonna burn the whole house down just to smoke out one cockroach.”

“I know I can’t be the only one with a weapon. What’s stopping you from dealing with the... roaches... yourself?”

The subtext read louder than the text. Jacob knew why Cecil didn’t think he could untie him, but now he’d said it outright.

“You feel personally responsibly for Central, don’t you, librarian? That’s what all this is. You just can’t let it go.”

Cecil let out a broken laugh, and his eyes glassed up as he steeled a snivel.

“How can’t I? I should have been able to stop it. I was working a Level 7 server room when Central became a Roman candle. You snarked about my burn scars and all that shit, but surely from the look of me, you can tell how close I had to be to one of the payloads.” The ex-librarian couldn’t sit still anymore and paced. He quickly conflated the habit with his brother and sat back down on the desk, to lace and fold his hands in his lap with a sour, desperate face. “You know we’ve only got a localized Nikola-web here, repairman. Just what they’ll feed us, accept from us. Have you got an Underweb connection? Has anyone here?”

Jacob didn’t like not being able to watch Cecil pace, but he didn’t like it even more when the pacing halted so abruptly, only for the strung-out stocky little man to perch in front of him all over again. His eyes slowly widened as his brow raised, and he frowned thoughtfully.

“Now just what exactly would somebody like you need the Underweb for?”

The ginger nearly objected, but recognized he hadn’t been shut down. He shifted in place as he formed his narrative response.

“‘Choly needs medical stuff. But he’s scared of billing. It’s exciting to know he’s taken care of all that himself his whole life. You know Stalkers had two options with their medical needs. They either bartered with verbot to get care from this one clinic... or they didn’t. He’s been disabled since before he was a teen. He racked up an awful lot of debt with their lead doc. It got to where he couldn’t afford the emotional, sociological, or physical cost of enlisting the doc’s help.” He stilled himself by chewing at his spider bite studs, but his voice began to break. “He asked me this afternoon about a... maggot debridement kit. And Trylocaine saline. The bullet you asked about. He told me, he got shot in the leg. That night. It’s gotten so fucking infected. You think the 25-line garbage chute smelled bad? Just be glad you weren’t in the bathroom this morning helping him sop up the pus in the first place.”

The repairman huffed, eyeing the dry bar.

“So he wasn’t puffing up to scare me, by describing all the...” He realized he couldn’t gesticulate, and slouched in a sympathetic resignation. “The skin or whatever. Slag, though. Leather. Real leather,” he whooped. “And that much of it. It’s all kind of revolting, isn’t it?”

“Everything about him is so revolting that it’s charming. If there’s a way to keep him... keeping it. Oh, I don’t know.” He caught himself trying to stand to pace and burked the compulsion. “I just don’t understand why he threw it away, when he literally put years of blood and sweat into it.”

“Everybody’s got their own exchange rate, their own value of things. He might just not value the same things you do. Or at least, not in the same way. Whatever value that thing, and crafting it, has to him. Might be past tense. --Why’s it so important to you, that he keeps on like he has? You only just today found out about it, from the sound of it all.”

“Because this has been his ‘normal’ for the past four years!” he cried, throwing his hands up. “I can nearly forgive that he never told me, or showed me. He hasn’t had his hair bleached like that since we first met, and then he goes and does that the day after the bombing. And that tattoo. That triangle thing immortalized in the leather. I know he got it, a month after we started going steady, just to push my buttons.” He rubbed at his tattooed arms and couldn’t look at Jacob anymore, trembling deep in his lungs. “...I guess a part of me’s worried that he’s either trying to move to a time before he knew me. Or a time before he had to be nagged up over all this mess. It’s an understatement, that everything’s gone to shit since Central went dark, but everything really did feel right until that day. We managed. We worked. Like, it was all falling into place, not apart.”

Jacob barked a laugh, disquieted by his inability to unpack the brand of Cecil’s loyalty to ‘Choly.

“Geez, pal. Gonna sprain something, overthinking so hard. Mister Thorn’s on your side, and he’s going to guarantee your Ever After won’t be ending any time soon. Promise.” He got a bit lyrical as he drafted the laundry list. “Is leather working stuff all you think ‘Choly would need? The surgical stuff. I’ve got pharmaceutical connections. Wonder if Trylocaine’s enough...”

Cecil’s head picked up when he heard Jacob humoring him, and a hollow enchantment overwhelmed him at a loss for the spectrum of what the repairman must have had access to.

“I’m... not sure what you’re suggesting here,” he mumbled.

“All you’ve gotta be is specific. I can get it.”

“...And the cost?”

The repairman scoffed, in a wide-eyed detachment.

“The cost? You mean, what’s in it for me?” He thought it over a moment. “All depends on what it is, I guess.”

“What about Ketonamil?” Cecil blurted out, a little too intensely. Worried to have been mistaken for anger, he softly amended, “--Or at least, the stuff to make some?”

Cecil’s head rang in a complex grief, that the cyanogenic steroid was the first thing to fly out of his mouth. Maybe he felt more threatened than he thought by Jacob, in ways the tranq couldn’t adjust for. Or maybe he just wanted to gauge the repairman’s going prices. Jacob melted in a stunned, warm fascination.

“All this couch psychiatry mess has been fun, but if we’re going to continue to be neighbors, I really have got to work on how I keep letting you lot continue to surprise me with gems like this.” A wistful sigh escaped him, stuttering into discomfort. He wagged his head toward the reader on the square pad in the windowsill. “Yeah, I’ve got Underweb access. It should still have a charge. Parked it before third shift. If you... untie me... I could--”

“--Or,” Cecil asserted with a wild glare, gripping the man’s kneecap until he squirmed, then balance back to put the other hand on the device slightly behind himself. “You could just tell me your sequence so I can browse for myself.”

Cecil turned on the screen and waited. Maybe the liquor had loosened his inhibitions. He never got drunk. Was he a mean drunk? A talkative drunk? He’d disclosed to a near total stranger things he’d never come close to discussing with anyone close to him. He could see Jacob sweating.

“...Or that.”

Jacob told him the finger pattern design to draw through the symbols, and the lock screen shut off. He’d never been able to get the hang of ‘Choly’s rooted reader, and he’d purposefully left its updates off for years on top of that. The rooted user interface of the current model had so many more buttons to swipe among, and many menus necessitated the use of manually typing with the keyless entry pad that occupied the last third of the flat device. He didn’t ask Jacob to tell him how to use it, lest he risk inviting giving Jacob good reason to insist, If only you’d just untie me, I could show you myself, I’m no good at explaining things like that with words, et cetera, et cetera.

He’d figure it out himself.

The time in the corner indicated 22:52. If only you’d just untie me. The hypothetical request repeated itself in Cecil’s head. Did he really trust what Jacob told him, or was he being spoon-fed whatever might get him to free him? Though the wine key didn’t look like a reliable option, he pocketed it. Then he picked up the pronged Japanese bar spoon, and twiddled it between two fingers while he browsed with the other hand trying to locate the merchant apps. Apparently, its owner had the news Web app set to auto-load certain tiers of noteworthy news broadcasts. The screen split between three different pieces:

“Bloom Set to Ramp to Full Pandemic Status”

“Bloom Victims Now Sprouting Up on International Soil”

“New Developments in Bloom Survivor Procedures”

He skimmed the first, his brow sinking against his glasses. Something was effectively causing people to spontaneously turn inside out. He could recognize the “plant” and “insect” or“crustacean” traits the article described in the structures that jutted from and leafed out of the bodies knotted up in the apparent agony of such a gruesome death, even with only the photographs included of the casualties. His jaw tightened, recalling his brother mere hours ago making casual discussion over how Vekarix couldn’t graft an exoskeleton donor into a mammal’s genetic expression without lethal consequences. He boiled inside at the incredulity that Ben could be involved. The thylacine hybrid hadn’t seemed remotely out of sorts during the insect grafting discussion with ‘Choly. Had he been about to tell them all about this‘Bloom,’ only to have gotten interrupted by Jacob? By the Box?

The second article, he only skimmed, his ears ringing too much to focus. He gleaned victims had been found on both coastlines of the States, and in the past week cases had been discovered in Scandinavia and South Asia. Investigations had already been underway to pinpoint if a sole food supplier might have shipped out tainted stock, and pressure had intensified once the epidemic had crossed international waters. He spaced out a ways, despising the reality how disconnected from the outside world their apartment building was. Unplugged from reliable transportation, let alone utilities, including Web. Fed only what FEMA deemed suitable to funnel into their location-specific Nikola-based Web broadcasts. He stared at the photos, revolted fundamentally at what could only be some manner of genetic disease.

Speechless, the ex-librarian looked up, haunted, and turned around the reader to set it in Jacob’s lap to observe him.

“I’ve got to keep up on current events,” he lampshaded. “Sue me for having auto-load set on some stuff.”

“--You knew about this then?” Cecil snipped. “Have there been any in Tri yet?”

Jacob shrugged, and decided giving him his closest understanding of the crisis better served them both than instructing specific topic searches.

“Only a matter of time, I guess. They’ve started refining a cure. Made their first survivor announcement a few days ago. Nasty stuff. Comes in flare-ups. Seems to start just turning you green, but every episode after that just fucks you up sideways. Looking like the key to surviving it is catching it before‘crab phase’ or whatever the hell that explosion of sharp mangled guts is. Worst part is, it makes you complacent to the changes, or oblivious altogether. You don’t seek medical help. You stop eating, and seek light and water above all else. The first survivor only got there‘cause he stuck close enough to home his steady found him and took him somewhere.”

All the while, Cecil had stared at the reader screen, not Jacob.

“What... is it.”

“A virus, maybe? No one knows. It’s got to be genetic, ‘cause they reversed it with humanization serum. Look, if you wanna read up on it, that’s fine. I’m probably missing scientifical parts of this whole shebang. Use my reader all you want. I don’t care. Just lemme get up and piss, pal. You really are tormenting me at this point.”

Cecil finally folded, and crouched behind the chair to cut the knots with the wine key. By the time the ropes loosened off the chair, Jacob was already rounding the chair to gently knuckle-scrub the ex-librarian’s fresh buzz cut with a chuckle, and he strolled off to the bathroom. Cecil bundled up the rope, then sat to resume reading the news articles. Without all the bookshelves to dampen the sound, having the door open while he took care of his business echoed awfully. Cecil sneered, but appreciated that even though Jacob saved reserve water by not flushing until in the morning, he at least heard him wash his hands.

The third piece was almost totally in video broadcast. He started it, but couldn’t find the volume to turn it up, so he tapped at it until closed captioning started streaming. They interviewed a tall, older man with worn features and an angular nose, bespoken in layered burgundy and navy leisure suiting. The man had shoulder-length receding chartreuse hair, and blood-black sclera and fingernails. From his manicured brows and sideburns, he could tell it wasn’t a dye job. He grimaced as he skimmed the text.

Ivory Rasmussen. Prior already renown as the Confectioner responsible for Resin. Lives in Level 22, in the solar sector of still-crippled Tri-City, New Jersey.

He didn’t get anything more from the interview beyond the understanding they wanted to know what he felt, knowing his survival could mean a large-scale success in overcoming the pandemic globally. Except his insistence that, despite the global incidence, he discredited anyone who thus far considered the Bloom a pandemic of any kind. How dare Jacob simply shrug when a Tri-City native was the survivor in mention. When Jacob came up behind him and put a hand to his shoulder, he jerked to glower up at him, but softened immediately.

“Dude looks super wild. Am I right?” He patted the shoulder for emphasis.“Now how about that shopping list? Gotta get it before first shift. My receiver’s in a third shift sector, so their glow-time is in less than an hour now.”

“Leather crafting tools,” Cecil seethed. “Maggot debridement. Trylocaine. ...Antibiotics! And Ketonamil.”

At first, he’d just been sticking to what he’d thought was an accidental request, but certainty laced his voice now as though he hadn’t known he meant it the first time he’d said it before.

“And Ketonamil,” Jacob repeated. He sat on the edge of the desk and took the reader from him, flipping through with routine cynicism as he easily located every item requested. “Sorry for doing it for you. We’re just in a time crunch, is all.”

“You ordered the things!” Cecil nearly bolted up out of the chair. “But we hadn’t even negotiated what it’ll set me back yet!”

“Shh, shh,” he soothed, waving him to mentally sink back down in the chair. “Prices on delivery, neighbor. Prices on delivery.”

“But--”

“There a problem? No questions asked, why you want any of this stuff. I can conveniently forget anything you’ve said to me tonight, if you like. Doctor patient confidentiality, or whatever bullshit you want to call it. Services are the oldest human currency. I’ve got the means and the motivation. You won’t find both so easily in the same individual. Not in these parts. I’m not for anything too violent, I promise. I can already reassure you, I’ve never set a death in motion in providing any of these items in the past.”

“Up to, but not including,” the librarian jabbed dryly.

“Say, I wonder if we could find a genuine purpose for all that genuine leather,” he proposed aloud, stroking his short under-chin beard thoughtfully. “Something the little gremlin might like to keep.”

“He fancies himself an insect,” he corrected. Though the deprecating endearment nettled him, it worried him more that this endeavor might imperil his priceless object so quickly after he’d come into its possession. “I’m sure of it, that if you asked him, he’d consider the leather his chrysalis.”

“And just what do you think it’ll make him, if we can convince him to turn the stuff into something else?” The repairman offered the bag of cocktail jellies with a benevolent glance.

“Something that he might like,” Cecil repeated as he awed up at the taller man, accepting the cherries in a deferential entrapment.

“You still wanna fall back and keep an eye on me tonight?”

“I don’t think I could go home just yet.”

“Wanna talk about it?”

Cecil snorted, and popped another fruit in his mouth.

“Depends on your hourly rates, I guess.”

[cuddly-possum]

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Not So New Neighbors - Yoongi x Reader

Prompt: What do you mean you’ve lived here for 5 years, I’ve never seen you in my entire life and I’ve lived here for 4 years, are you telling me that I baked you these cookies for nothing?

Yoongi x Reader, Neighbor!AU

________________________________________

You were a simple normal human being.

You enjoyed the small irrelevant things in life such as the smell of coffee beans brewing in the morning or the way the colors of the sunset filtered through your bedroom window on the fifth floor basking your bedroom in beautiful colors and you weren't much for going out. You preferred to stay home and binge watch your favourite anime or show instead of going out and wasting energy on over-pricey dates. You lived with your brown ball of fluff named Jungkook,who was the light of your life and you practically lived for him and everyday was a daily routine with small special moments in between and that's how you liked to live your life

Simple and easy.

That is until one fateful morning you had caught sight of a blue haired male, who you had never seen before in the four years you had been a resident in your apartment complex.

You had to admit to yourself that the guy was quite good looking and he seemed about the same age as you,well you thought he was. All you saw from him when you hurried out of your apartment one late morning was a messy mob of bright blue hair, an oversized worn gray sweater,black ripped skinny jeans, converse and a pair of headphones hung around his slender neck and you froze in surprise at the new and unfamiliar sight. You practically knew everybody in your apartment complex, so the presence of the grumpy looking male was quite a surprise. A pleasant surprise.

Before you could have done anything, the male had already entered the elevator and made no attempt to stop the doors from closing as you speed walked towards the elevator hurriedly. The doors shut right in front of your face and with a huff,you pressed the button in annoyance, forced to wait another minute longer than necessary since you wanted to complete your grocery shopping soon as possible.

And here you were,in the kitchen with a curious Jungkook on the counter sniffing at all the baking ingredients and you putting all three of your cooking class' skills into baking cookies for the new neighbor. You decided to be a nice person for once and was currently making a batch of chocolate chip cookies all the while making sure Jungkook didn't eat something toxic or fell of the counter.

"I feel stupid, Jungkookie." You murmured softly as you mixed the batter in a bowl. It wasn't uncommon for you to talk to your bunny as if he was a real human being and his reactions convinced he wasn't just a dumb bunny. Jungkook looked up at you with those huge black eyes that seemed to sparkle permanently and his cute pink nose twitched delicately as he stared at you intensely. Jungkook was known for his weird staring but it didn't freak you out like it did when you first got him.

"I just…" You sighed and glanced down at the bowl with a frown tugging on your lips as your timid personality began to show,"Doesn't this feel stupid? Baking cookies for a fucking stranger. I feel like a try hard creep." You confessed to your familiar.

Jungkook kept on staring at you for a while before he hopped forward and gently nuzzled your arm,giving it a few licks and you giggled at his strange but cute behavior.

"Aw,thank you Kooks. You're just too cute." You said and gently petted his small head before you retracted and continued baking but with new confidence. Your bunny boy always knew what to do to cheer you up.

A hour and forty five minutes later, you finished baking the cookies and fitted them snuggly in a basket on a cloth and proceeded your way to his front door which was conveniently a few doors down from yours. You stood in front of door number 216 and grasped the handle of the basket tightly while chewing your bottom lip as you tried to summon the courage to knock on the door. Finally after receiving a weird look from one of the residents on your floor as they walked past and realising you stood there like an idiot for five minutes, you hesitantly lifted your hand and knocked on the door twice. You stood there and nervously patted your hand on the side of your leg as you glanced up and down the hallway whilst waiting for him to open the door. No response came and you knocked again after a few seconds but this time louder and retracted your hand with a huff of annoyance.

You actually wasted your time and energy on baking for this little shit,the least he could do was open the door on the first knock. After a minute passed, you felt your short temper get even shorter and you banged on the door with a loud, “BRUH, open your door!”.

You waited and waited before you grabbed the door handle and shook the door and rattled the handle whilst kicking the door and giving it a few good bangs in between. You heard foot shuffles on the other side and muttered a 'finally' under your breath before the door clicked open and the familiar mess of blue hair appeared but this time, it was accompanied with a death glare.

"What the fuck do you think you are banging on my goddamn door? If I don't answer the first time do you think I would sure as hell answer the second? Goddamn get a hint woman." The man grumbled in irritation as he glared at you but you just rolled your eyes, unfazed at his anger.

"Well excuuuusee me Mr. Shitty Attitude, why don't you put a sign on your door next time you're on your period so that people would avoid you? Not that anyone would even have a valid reason to talk to somebody like you." You muttered the last part under your breath but loud enough so that he could hear you.

The man rose a perfectly shaped eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at you.

"What the fuck you want dickhead?" He growled and you ignored his insult with another eyeroll before you practically shoved the basket full cookies in his face which he swatted away with a scowl.

"Rude." You said and returned his glare.

"What are those?" The grumpy looking male asked and eyed the basket of cookies with apprehension as if you sneakily hid a bomb in there somewhere or a poisonous spider ready to bite him if his hand got too close.

With another exaggerated eyeroll that would have made Peter Hale proud, you thrusted the basket once again in his face.

"It's chocolate chip cookies. You know? Crunchy circle shaped pieces of batter and sugar and milk with smaller pieces of chocolate in? Ever heard of those?" You asked sarcastically and enjoyed the flash of annoyance and frustration on the blue haired male's face.

"I know what chocolate chip cookies are." The male growled out between grit teeth and you smirked.

"Good. These are for you." You said and gave him a sweet closed eye smile.

"You're fucking kidding me right?" He asked and you rose an eyebrow at the look of disbelief and confusion on his face.

"What? Hard to believe anyone actually cared enough to bake you cookies?" You teased and smiled when he glared at you.

"No. You literally banged on my door for fifteen minutes straight, insulted me and now you're giving me a batch of probably poisoned chocolate chip cookies? What are you? A psychopath?" The man accused and you shook your head with a grin,completely unaffected by his rudeness and swearing.

"Nope." You said,popping the 'p',"I'm just a highly complexed human being who enjoys long romantic walks to her fridge."

The male stared at you for a mere second before he said,"Yeah,I'm not dealing with this shit today." and began closing his front door.

You panicked and quickly shoved your foot in his doorway before the door fully closed and it acted as a decent door stopper. The guy gave you a 'really?' look and you smiled nervously at him.

"Look," You started,"I'm just some normal girl who decided to be nice enough to bake a batch of cookies for her new neighbor so will you please except them?" You begged and the blue haired male gave you a confused look.

"I'm not new." He said and you frowned at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?" You asked and the male sighed before leaning his head on the wall,seeming tired from all the amount of talking he did.

"I mean," he said,"I've been living here for five years."

You mouth dropped open in disbelieg and you stared at him in shock. Never in the four years you've been living here had you ever seen the male. He had to be lying. It was your hair, wasn't it?

"Dude,what do you mean you’ve lived here for five years, I’ve never seen you in my entire life and I’ve lived here for four years!" You exclaimed before you looked down at the basket full of chocolate chip cookies in dismay,"Are you telling me that I baked you these cookies for nothing?" You asked in disappointment.

The male shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah,basically." He mused and smirked at the crushed look on your face and the exaggerated sound of disbelief you made.

"Good luck with eating all those cookies." He said before shutting the door in your face before you could stop him.

Heaving a big sigh,your shoulders slumped and you questioned yourself when did you become so old that you had missed a resident of five years in your complex. And the fact of how the fuck where you going to eat all these cookies alone. You were definitely not going to give Jungkook some. With another dejected sigh,you made your way to your own apartment and continued to binge your favourite season of Teen Wolf with your brown fluff ball by your side.

~BONUS~

Yoongi sighed as he walked through his hallway the morning after the weird encounter with the mood swinging female, headphones hung around his neck and not ready to work on the new song with Namjoon.

He opened his front door and took a step forward only to bump into something and nearly tripped his ass off in the middle of the hallway. Luckily with a few glances left and right, he could confirm that nobody saw the dignity reducing near accident and he glanced down at the object that nearly made him break his nose.

A basket was laying in front of his open door and Yoongi recognized it as the basket the crazy psychopathic lady had almost hit him in the face with yesterday.

With a huff of annoyance,Yoongi picked up the basket and closed and locked his front door before he made his way to the elevator, deciding that sharing the cookies with Namjoon did [italics] not make him a softie. He was just a considerate friend.

He also wouldn't admit that he nearly moaned out loud when he tasted the chocolate chip cookies in the private confines of the elevator. They were surprisingly delicious.

Prompt belongs to @dailyau

[junker-town]

Cowboys DT Neville Gallimore shouldn’t be THIS fast

Oklahoma’s Neville Gallimore is an intriguing interior defensive lineman in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Retired defensive end Stephen White explains why Neville Gallimore can be a good trump card for the Dallas defense.

The Dallas Cowboys selected Neville Gallimore with the 82nd overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Here’s what Stephen White had to say about Gallimore ahead of the draft.

Speed is a funny thing.

You have some fast guys who run so effortlessly they just seem to glide along the top of the grass.

And then there’s Neville Gallimore.

Big homie looks like he is straining to get every ounce of speed out of those thicc legs of his on every play. In fairness, the guy is 6’2 and over 300 pounds, and he could probably smoke you in the 40-yard dash without breaking a sweat.

I would’ve said he could smoke “us,” but I’d never be stupid enough to race this kid after watching him chase down plays on tape.

I’m used to focusing a lot on a player’s speed when it comes to talking about wide receivers, but it’s a somewhat new experience when discussing a defensive tackle. However, his speed is pretty much Gallimore’s defining characteristic as a football player. It’s definitely the thing that jumped off the screen to me while watching his tape from Oklahoma. Gallimore’s ability to accelerate to the quarterback after coming off a block is actually better than a lot of edge rushers I’ve broken down over the years.

Yeah, it was pretty cool to see him post a sub-4.8-second 40 time at the combine, something very rare for a 300-pounder. But I’m telling you, his game speed was even more impressive than that.

What Gallimore does well: He hustles

Combine Gallimore’s wheels with his great effort on most plays, and what you have is a player who can make plays even when things aren’t perfect.

Let’s be real, not all sacks come from a neat process of guys defeating a blocker and then taking the quarterback down. In fact, a lot of times it’s the guy who is stuck on a block initially who ends up getting the sack after his teammates who did win their one-on-one matchups flush the quarterback right to him.

I want to be clear that Gallimore is the kind of player who can get a ton of sacks just by winning his individual matchups. But with him being so fast, he’s always going to end up with a few “extra” sacks and pressures just off hustling to the ball and mashing the gas once he sees a quarterback trying to escape out of the pocket.

I was particularly impressed with how quickly Gallimore could loop around the edge on pass-rush games. It’s like a cheat code having a defensive tackle who can cut the corner like that. One second the quarterback is trying to avoid the edge rusher coming inside; the next thing he knows, Gallimore is coming around outside to lower the boom on him.

They just don’t grow guys that size who are that fast on trees, and that makes him a damn good trump card for any defensive coordinator in the NFL.

What Gallimore does well: Creating pressure

In addition to that speed, Gallimore showed some strong pass-rush moves. He has a good-to-great get-off, is active and violent with his hands, and his lateral quickness was top-notch. That allowed Gallimore to get quite a bit of pressure even though he primarily lined up as a nose tackle, either head up or in a one-technique, for the four games I watched. That isn’t what I would call normal.

Every once in a while he would also break out a nice spin move that would’ve probably been a lot more successful if the guys assigned to block Gallimore weren’t always getting help.

I don’t know about the rest of Oklahoma’s defensive line because I wasn’t focused on them, but I kept wondering how Gallimore was forcing so many double-teams and chip blocks, yet he would still seem to be about the only guy who could generate consistent pressure. Of course, Oklahoma using three-man rushes way too much (one time is too many) didn’t help.

I mean, Gallimore was legit triple-teamed on one play, after beating the first two offensive linemen he faced with a spin move, and then a quick arm-over, respectively. He still managed to force the quarterback off the spot before the third guy could block his path, but then the quarterback took off and gained positive yards on third-and-long.

Did he get a sack or pressure on that play?

No.

But if you don’t think that was still an outstanding play by him, you and I are not the same.

Hell, I saw Oklahoma use Gallimore as a spy a time or two, something that is usually more reserved for edge rushers or linebackers these days. But Gallimore is fast and athletic enough to do that effectively against even some of the shiftier quarterbacks in the league.

With the traditional “pocket passer” just about a thing of the past, the more speed you can get on the field to match up with these newfangled dual-threat quarterbacks, the better. You also won’t have to worry about subbing a defensive tackle like Gallimore out in those passing situations, especially in two-minute situations.

Where Gallimore can improve: His technique

Having said that, there are some issues about Gallimore’s game that I have concerns about.

The biggest of them all is that he plays too high way too often. He’s a strong guy, but the saying “low man wins” exists for a reason. When Gallimore comes off with good pad level, he is usually able to penetrate into the backfield, or at the very least hold his ground.

When he comes off the ball trying to do an arm-over right away, however, it’s too easy for average offensive linemen to push him around. I know Gallimore can make a bunch of plays behind the line of scrimmage, but he may end up being a feast-or-famine guy who is a liability on some running plays if he doesn’t tighten that up.

Sometimes Gallimore exposes his chest a little too much when he is trying do an arm-over move, whether against the run or pass. I know a lot of defensive line coaches teach “long levers” and they want their charges to reach out and try to swat the offensive lineman’s shoulders. I don’t really agree with that unless the guy has abnormally long arms (Gallimore’s are a respectable 32.75 inches long, but nothing special) and is uncommonly strong (nah).

My reasoning is if you are going to expose your chest to offensive linemen that way on a semi-regular basis, your arms had better be a lot longer than theirs so you can make contact with their shoulder before their punch makes contact with your chest. Also, when your club move does make it to his shoulder, you had better be heavy-handed enough to shock him with the force of the blow.

Otherwise you are going to end up going sideway involuntarily, especially against the better offensive linemen.

In Gallimore’s case, all too often he was getting caught in his chest when he was trying to use his club and he would end up getting knocked out of his own lane. That means not only was he off course, but he might’ve potentially gotten in one of his teammates’ way.

I believe those issues are fixable, but it’s probably going to take some time to get him out of bad habits, and playing too high is one of the worst habits you can have as a primarily interior defensive lineman.

Where Gallimore can improve: Being more versatile

I also wonder about Gallimore’s versatility. I love the thought of him as a three-technique, and I could see him pass rushing from time to time on early downs as a five-technique. On the other hand, he just didn’t strike me as the kind of sturdy run defender you’d want as a nose tackle in the NFL. If a team wants to stunt him a lot, maybe, but other than that I just don’t know how it would work out.

Of course, every team could use another good interior pass rusher, and Gallimore is definitely that, even if his pad level is inconsistent. I just don’t think he is quite as scheme adaptable as the other interior defensive linemen I’ve broken down so far, Derrick Brown and Javon Kinlaw. I didn’t see Gallimore using very many power rush moves at all. He was always either on an edge or going laterally.

I don’t know if you can get away with being a finesse interior pass rusher all the time. At some point the better guards will just start jump-setting you until you prove you are strong enough to run through their chest. Which isn’t to say Gallimore couldn’t be a good power rusher, because he has the leg drive and he at least appears to have the upper-body strength to get good push. But it might be something he has to work in early on.

Nevertheless, I can’t stress enough how much potential Gallimore has with all that athleticism. I would bet on him improving his technique as a pro, especially because he goes so hard all the time on the field. He strikes me as a guy who isn’t afraid to put the work in, so the payoff would be worth the risk, as far as I’m concerned.

Gallimore’s NFL future: First-round potential

He may never be as well-rounded of a defensive lineman as Brown or Kinlaw, but I see Gallimore as different kind of player than those guys, and he will have the opportunity to dominate in his own way in the league. I mean a guy that fast, who already has some decent moves?

I could see him being the most productive pass rusher out of the group three years down the road. And, let’s be honest here, we all know that’s what most fans are going to judge these picks on — sacks and pressures. Mostly sacks, no matter how wrong-headed that is in general.

At the end of the day that’s not really what matters for teams, however. What does matter is what he can bring to their scheme. If a team is looking for a big-time two-gapping run stopper, I don’t think Gallimore is going to be their guy. But I also don’t know why you would look for a run-stopping nose tackle in the first round, anyway.

On the other hand, if a team is looking for a guy who can come in and at least provide some juice inside on third-and-long right away, most teams could do a lot worse than Gallimore.

Let me reiterate, he is going to be a guy who makes a few extra plays a game just off his athleticism, whether he improves his technique or not. You simply can’t have enough players like that on your team, especially with all these athletic quarterbacks in the NFL right now. That’s why I see him going early on in the first round, maybe somewhere around the middle at the latest.

I can’t wait to see if at least one team agrees with my assessment.

Be sure to check out my other scouting reports on Chase Young, Jerry Jeudy, Derrick Brown, Jedrick Wills Jr., A.J. Epenesa, CeeDee Lamb, Javon Kinlaw, Mekhi Becton, Terrell Lewis, and Henry Ruggs III.

For the purposes of this breakdown, I watched Gallimore play against Texas, Iowa State, Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game, and LSU in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

[ciathyzareposts]

10 Reasons I’m Still Blogging About CRPGs After 10 Years

In case you’re not already aware, the 10th anniversary of the CRPG Addict is coming up on 15 February 2020. Other than my marriage, which turns 21 this month, I can’t think of anything that I’ve stuck with for 10 years. Since 2010, I’ve moved five times (it will soon be six), switched primary jobs three times, started and abandoned dozens of diet and exercise programs, made and lost several friends, and, if we’re being honest, even tried to quit the blog once. Spoiler: it didn’t work.

In recognition of my 10th anniversary, I’ve decided that for the next four months, I will periodically pen a special entry plumbing this project’s past. I’ve written down several ideas but I would welcome more:

        The 10 best comments ever received

10 times I was very wrong

10 great discoveries

The 10 most frustrating threads

            But I’m starting today–mostly because I haven’t done enough with Fantasyland 2041 to round out a full entry–with my list of 10 reasons I’m still pursuing this hopeless task to play all CRPGs.

10. Commentary on art is important.

In thinking about art, in analyzing it, in discussing it, we make it part of us; we make it live in a way that transcends the creator’s pen or brush. One of the things I was “very wrong” about is when I agreed with Roger Ebert that video games are not art. At first I thought I was wrong because of a failure of definition: “art” is too complex a concept to be subjected to, to be generalized with, an “is.” Now I think I was wrong just because I was wrong. You hardly have to twist the definition of “art” to make it encompass video games; you only have to abandon certain unfortunate prejudices. 

Perhaps the most important proof that video games are art is the level of critique that they provoke. Over the last 10 years, you and I have dissected hundreds of games and discussed how their plots, themes, mechanics, and artwork do and do not work, do and do not satisfy, on every level from aesthetic to socio-political. These are the same discussions that people have about paintings, books, films, and music.

I believe that there is incredible value to this commentary–not because either the art or the commentary is necessary to human existence, but precisely because it isn’t. The measure of a great civilization must surely be how much time it devotes to unnecessary things. Oh, we certainly have some lingering problems, but what more testament do you need to our victories over hunger, disease, and violence than the existence of Keeping up with the Karashians, pet chiropractors, and a blog that spends decades chronicling every video game in a niche genre?

9. It’s a nice contrast with reality.

To protect my anonymity, I don’t discuss my “real” job on my blog. But suffice to say it’s unlike playing computer role-playing games. It does not involve any art or entertainment, or the creation thereof, or the consumption thereof. It is worldly and necessary, about making existence sufferable rather than actually enjoyable  I’m not going to pretend that I play computer role-playing games as an antidote–I was addicted to them long before I had this job–but certainly this blog, in contrasting with the work I do during the rest of the day, fills my life with more variety than I would otherwise enjoy.

8. It makes me a better writer.

Communication skills are important in just about every profession and every walk of society. Because of this blog, I’ve written over 2 million words, the equivalent of about 5 door-stopper novels, in less than a decade. I’ve certainly put in the 10,000 hours that are supposed to make you an expert at something.

7. I learn things.

Once, I scoffed at the idea that RPGs actually taught you anything. But 10 years later, I find myself with a nascent ability to read German, much greater knowledge of the history and culture of Finland, a better understanding of classical mythology, and a large number of new technical skills. A lot of this learning, of course, has less to do with the games than with the discussions that we have on the blog, but this post is about why I’m still blogging, not just playing.

6. Maybe one day I’ll work on an RPG.

The more I think about it, the more I think it would be fun to participate in the development of an actual game. I can’t bring any technical skill to such an endeavor, but at least I can say that I have overall subject matter skill.

5. It’s making me some pocket money.

This obviously isn’t a major consideration because I only started my Patreon account this year. But thanks to my awesome supporters, I’m taking Irene to Chicago in a couple of weeks. This makes her feel a lot better about the time I spent on the blog.

4. It captures what might otherwise be forgotten.

In the last 10 years, we’ve uncovered and exhaustively explored many games that would have been utterly lost otherwise. I’m not the only one doing this, of course–Jimmy Maher and Matt Barton deserve particular accolades. But I like that I play a unique niche in this community by often being the only one to fully play a game from beginning to end.

3. I no longer feel like I’m wasting time playing CRPGs. I used to beat myself up–a lot–for how much time I spent on computer role-playing games. I felt particularly bad about playing them to the exclusion of doing things with Irene. I haven’t felt that way in a long time. The blog “legitimizes” my hobby in a way that I wouldn’t have anticipated–not only because it’s my blog but because it engages me in discussions with other fans of the genre. Prior to 2010, my CRPG addiction was a solitary, lonely, shameful experience. Post-2010, it is a community experience that adds value to a global understanding of this art form. What a change.

2. I really enjoy the discussions.

Early on, I thought that I would probably keep blogging even if I didn’t have any commenters, just because I enjoyed the experience of blogging itself. Now, I’m not so sure. I think my blog would be missing something without all of the great comments that expand, supplement, and sometimes correct my own observations. I find myself looking forward to what certain commenters will have to say about certain aspects of a game, and I eagerly check in with comments a few hours after each posting.

1. I still think I can make it.

I don’t know why I persist in this delusion. I can see for myself how many games lie both behind me and ahead of me on the “master list.” And yet some part of me believes that I’ll reject a lot of them, or that the process will go faster as they get more “playable,” or that I’ll somehow find a lot more time to spend on the project. Either way, my quest to be the One Man who has played all computer RPGs continues with Fantasyland 2041. Very soon.

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/10-reasons-im-still-blogging-about-crpgs-after-10-years/

[junker-town]

An NFL prospect Neville Gallimore’s size shouldn’t be as fast as he is

Oklahoma’s Neville Gallimore is an intriguing interior defensive lineman in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Retired defensive end Stephen White explains why Neville Gallimore can be a good trump card for any NFL defense.

Speed is a funny thing.

You have some fast guys who run so effortlessly they just seem to glide along the top of the grass.

And then there’s Neville Gallimore.

Big homie looks like he is straining to get every ounce of speed out of those thicc legs of his on every play. In fairness, the guy is 6’2 and over 300 pounds, and he could probably smoke you in the 40-yard dash without breaking a sweat.

I would’ve said he could smoke “us,” but I’d never be stupid enough to race this kid after watching him chase down plays on tape.

I’m used to focusing a lot on a player’s speed when it comes to talking about wide receivers, but it’s a somewhat new experience when discussing a defensive tackle. However, his speed is pretty much Gallimore’s defining characteristic as a football player. It’s definitely the thing that jumped off the screen to me while watching his tape from Oklahoma. Gallimore’s ability to accelerate to the quarterback after coming off a block is actually better than a lot of edge rushers I’ve broken down over the years.

Yeah, it was pretty cool to see him post a sub-4.8-second 40 time at the combine, something very rare for a 300-pounder. But I’m telling you, his game speed was even more impressive than that.

What Gallimore does well: He hustles

Combine Gallimore’s wheels with his great effort on most plays, and what you have is a player who can make plays even when things aren’t perfect.

Let’s be real, not all sacks come from a neat process of guys defeating a blocker and then taking the quarterback down. In fact, a lot of times it’s the guy who is stuck on a block initially who ends up getting the sack after his teammates who did win their one-on-one matchups flush the quarterback right to him.

I want to be clear that Gallimore is the kind of player who can get a ton of sacks just by winning his individual matchups. But with him being so fast, he’s always going to end up with a few “extra” sacks and pressures just off hustling to the ball and mashing the gas once he sees a quarterback trying to escape out of the pocket.

I was particularly impressed with how quickly Gallimore could loop around the edge on pass-rush games. It’s like a cheat code having a defensive tackle who can cut the corner like that. One second the quarterback is trying to avoid the edge rusher coming inside; the next thing he knows, Gallimore is coming around outside to lower the boom on him.

They just don’t grow guys that size who are that fast on trees, and that makes him a damn good trump card for any defensive coordinator in the NFL.

What Gallimore does well: Creating pressure

In addition to that speed, Gallimore showed some strong pass-rush moves. He has a good-to-great get-off, is active and violent with his hands, and his lateral quickness was top-notch. That allowed Gallimore to get quite a bit of pressure even though he primarily lined up as a nose tackle, either head up or in a one-technique, for the four games I watched. That isn’t what I would call normal.

Every once in a while he would also break out a nice spin move that would’ve probably been a lot more successful if the guys assigned to block Gallimore weren’t always getting help.

I don’t know about the rest of Oklahoma’s defensive line because I wasn’t focused on them, but I kept wondering how Gallimore was forcing so many double-teams and chip blocks, yet he would still seem to be about the only guy who could generate consistent pressure. Of course, Oklahoma using three-man rushes way too much (one time is too many) didn’t help.

I mean, Gallimore was legit triple-teamed on one play, after beating the first two offensive linemen he faced with a spin move, and then a quick arm-over, respectively. He still managed to force the quarterback off the spot before the third guy could block his path, but then the quarterback took off and gained positive yards on third-and-long.

Did he get a sack or pressure on that play?

No.

But if you don’t think that was still an outstanding play by him, you and I are not the same.

Hell, I saw Oklahoma use Gallimore as a spy a time or two, something that is usually more reserved for edge rushers or linebackers these days. But Gallimore is fast and athletic enough to do that effectively against even some of the shiftier quarterbacks in the league.

With the traditional “pocket passer” just about a thing of the past, the more speed you can get on the field to match up with these newfangled dual-threat quarterbacks, the better. You also won’t have to worry about subbing a defensive tackle like Gallimore out in those passing situations, especially in two-minute situations.

Where Gallimore can improve: His technique

Having said that, there are some issues about Gallimore’s game that I have concerns about.

The biggest of them all is that he plays too high way too often. He’s a strong guy, but the saying “low man wins” exists for a reason. When Gallimore comes off with good pad level, he is usually able to penetrate into the backfield, or at the very least hold his ground.

When he comes off the ball trying to do an arm-over right away, however, it’s too easy for average offensive linemen to push him around. I know Gallimore can make a bunch of plays behind the line of scrimmage, but he may end up being a feast-or-famine guy who is a liability on some running plays if he doesn’t tighten that up.

Sometimes Gallimore exposes his chest a little too much when he is trying do an arm-over move, whether against the run or pass. I know a lot of defensive line coaches teach “long levers” and they want their charges to reach out and try to swat the offensive lineman’s shoulders. I don’t really agree with that unless the guy has abnormally long arms (Gallimore’s are a respectable 32.75 inches long, but nothing special) and is uncommonly strong (nah).

My reasoning is if you are going to expose your chest to offensive linemen that way on a semi-regular basis, your arms had better be a lot longer than theirs so you can make contact with their shoulder before their punch makes contact with your chest. Also, when your club move does make it to his shoulder, you had better be heavy-handed enough to shock him with the force of the blow.

Otherwise you are going to end up going sideway involuntarily, especially against the better offensive linemen.

In Gallimore’s case, all too often he was getting caught in his chest when he was trying to use his club and he would end up getting knocked out of his own lane. That means not only was he off course, but he might’ve potentially gotten in one of his teammates’ way.

I believe those issues are fixable, but it’s probably going to take some time to get him out of bad habits, and playing too high is one of the worst habits you can have as a primarily interior defensive lineman.

Where Gallimore can improve: Being more versatile

I also wonder about Gallimore’s versatility. I love the thought of him as a three-technique, and I could see him pass rushing from time to time on early downs as a five-technique. On the other hand, he just didn’t strike me as the kind of sturdy run defender you’d want as a nose tackle in the NFL. If a team wants to stunt him a lot, maybe, but other than that I just don’t know how it would work out.

Of course, every team could use another good interior pass rusher, and Gallimore is definitely that, even if his pad level is inconsistent. I just don’t think he is quite as scheme adaptable as the other interior defensive linemen I’ve broken down so far, Derrick Brown and Javon Kinlaw. I didn’t see Gallimore using very many power rush moves at all. He was always either on an edge or going laterally.

I don’t know if you can get away with being a finesse interior pass rusher all the time. At some point the better guards will just start jump-setting you until you prove you are strong enough to run through their chest. Which isn’t to say Gallimore couldn’t be a good power rusher, because he has the leg drive and he at least appears to have the upper-body strength to get good push. But it might be something he has to work in early on.

Nevertheless, I can’t stress enough how much potential Gallimore has with all that athleticism. I would bet on him improving his technique as a pro, especially because he goes so hard all the time on the field. He strikes me as a guy who isn’t afraid to put the work in, so the payoff would be worth the risk, as far as I’m concerned.

Gallimore’s NFL future: First-round potential

He may never be as well-rounded of a defensive lineman as Brown or Kinlaw, but I see Gallimore as different kind of player than those guys, and he will have the opportunity to dominate in his own way in the league. I mean a guy that fast, who already has some decent moves?

I could see him being the most productive pass rusher out of the group three years down the road. And, let’s be honest here, we all know that’s what most fans are going to judge these picks on — sacks and pressures. Mostly sacks, no matter how wrong-headed that is in general.

At the end of the day that’s not really what matters for teams, however. What does matter is what he can bring to their scheme. If a team is looking for a big-time two-gapping run stopper, I don’t think Gallimore is going to be their guy. But I also don’t know why you would look for a run-stopping nose tackle in the first round, anyway.

On the other hand, if a team is looking for a guy who can come in and at least provide some juice inside on third-and-long right away, most teams could do a lot worse than Gallimore.

Let me reiterate, he is going to be a guy who makes a few extra plays a game just off his athleticism, whether he improves his technique or not. You simply can’t have enough players like that on your team, especially with all these athletic quarterbacks in the NFL right now. That’s why I see him going early on in the first round, maybe somewhere around the middle at the latest.

I can’t wait to see if at least one team agrees with my assessment.

Be sure to check out my other scouting reports on Chase Young, Jerry Jeudy, Derrick Brown, Jedrick Wills Jr., A.J. Epenesa, CeeDee Lamb, Javon Kinlaw, Mekhi Becton, Terrell Lewis, and Henry Ruggs III.

For the purposes of this breakdown, I watched Gallimore play against Texas, Iowa State, Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game, and LSU in the College Football Playoff semifinal.

[junker-town]

Why NFL scouts will flock to Alabama vs. LSU

The Crimson Tide defensive line factory continues, but the Tigers have the game’s top 2019 draft prospect.

The efficiency in which Alabama produces NFL defensive linemen is without peer in college football.

In the last three drafts, six Alabama defensive linemen have been picked. Five of them — all but Da’Shawn Hand in the fourth round this year — were taken in the top 55 picks. This is nearly as impressive as the mid-2000s Miami teams that had a defensive back picked in the first round for five straight years.

That defensive line will have the attention of pro scouts on Saturday night as they hone in on the top prospects for the 2019 NFL draft. Alabama plays rival LSU in a game heavy on top prospects.

Alabama’s defensive line features another group of NFL-ready monsters.

It starts with nose tackle Quinnen Williams. He’s been Alabama’s breakout player this year as a redshirt sophomore. In the past, Alabama has used traditional big body nose tackles to occupy gaps. At 6’4 and 295 pounds, Williams is not that. Instead, he’s more of gap-shooting disruptor in the middle, though he can occupy multiple gaps. He’s proven himself both as a pass rusher and run stopper this season with 33 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss and nine quarterback hurries.

“I think any time you have really productive guys up front, especially guys that play the run well, as well as have pass-rush ability, that’s a real key to having a good defensive team because it all starts up front, in my opinion,” Alabama coach Nick Saban said about Williams during his teleconference last week. “And Q has certainly developed nicely here and is playing really well this year and has been very productive for us.”

Whether or not Williams goes pro will probably be found out in January. Redshirt sophomores rarely leave Alabama, but if Williams get a first-round grade he could go pro.

NFL players are on either side of Williams as well. Defensive end Raekwon Davis, all of 6’7 and 316 pounds, has a ton of potential and scouts eagerly watch him. Davis’ specialty is stopping the run, and he has the type of length and athleticism combination to be a first-round player.

Fellow end Isaiah Buggs has arguably the best stats of the trio with 8.5 sacks and two forced fumbles this season. Buggs doesn’t get as much attention as Williams and Davis, but he should project as a reliable starter as an inside lineman in the NFL.

Greedy Williams poised for the top five

The single highest rated prospect on the field will be LSU redshirt sophomore cornerback Greedy Williams. If he goes pro, Williams could end up being a top five pick like Denzel Ward and Jalen Ramsey the past few years. In the latest mock draft, that’s where he landed.

Williams has an eye for the football and making big plays. This is seemingly a routine play for Williams (via Matt Waldman’s Rookie Scouting Portfolio):

Williams has everything a team wants in a cornerback prospect. He’s listed by LSU at 6’3 and 184 pounds, but he’s probably not quite that tall. Still, he has great length and uses to break up passes. At least when teams throw at him. This season Williams has two interceptions and four pass breakups, but he’s not frequently tested on the outside. Ole Miss tried to go at Williams with star receiver D.K. Metcalf, but Williams only allowed three catches for 37 yards on nine targets.

Sidelined stars can shine

Alabama has one of the top senior running backs in the nation in Damien Harris. He surprised many — including NFL scouts — when he decided not to enter the 2018 draft.

Harris is a favorite of Jim Nagy, the new Executive Director of the Senior Bowl and former NFL scout.

@AlabamaFTBL #34 Damien Harris is among a talented group of RB for the ‘19 @seniorbowl. @DHx34 has the compact body type, lower body, contact balance, and burst that NFL teams look for. What will set him apart is his good pass pro ability. He would be a fan favorite in Mobile. pic.twitter.com/nIdeJlFSrm

— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) September 22, 2018

Harris barely played last week against Tennessee with just three carries. He’s been Alabama’s starting running back since 2016 but barely played because of “internal reasons,” according to head coach Nick Saban.

If Harris actually starts against LSU, he has a good chance to put in a good shift in the first half. The Tigers will be without star linebacker Devin White. The Butkus Award semifinalist is suspended for the first half for a targeting penalty against Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald.

White is unquestionably the leader of LSU’s talented defense. He leads LSU in tackles with 74 this season, and is tied for second in tackles for loss with seven. White is a good react and pursuit linebacker who could end up being a top 50 pick in April.

More NFL prospects to watch

This gets lost because of the emergence of star quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but he’s not the only Alabama player to make his name beginning with last year’s College Football Playoff.

Alabama safety Deionte Thompson got his first two starts in last year’s playoffs and he hasn’t looked back since. The rangy junior is the leader of Alabama’s defensive backfield this year and his draft stock is sky high. He’s Alabama’s leader in tackles with 47 on the season, and he has two interceptions and five pass breakups.

Jonah Williams of Alabama should be one of the first offensive tackles drafted if he goes pro after the season. At 6’5 and 301 pounds, Williams isn’t the biggest or most imposing offensive tackle, but he plays with good hand usage and power. He’s viable against both power and speed rushers.

Alabama senior linebacker Christian Miller will get plenty of NFL looks as well. Miller missed most of last season with an arm injury, but this year he has 22 tackles, eight tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks working off the edge. Fellow linebacker Anfernee Jennings also missed time last season, suffering a gruesome knee injury in the Sugar Bowl. Jennings has just 14 tackles this season, and as a junior could return for another season in Tuscaloosa.

The tight end class for 2019 is shaping up to have nice depth, and Alabama junior Irv Smith is in the midst of it. Smith has stepped up his play this season, and has 22 receptions for 384 yards and five touchdowns. He’s not quite as athletic as former Alabama tight end O.J. Howard, but he’s a good route runner with nice hands. He has some added value as a prospect thanks to his history of playing H-back.

Tigers tight end Foster Moreau will get some late-round contention in the draft. Moreau is wearing the coveted No. 18 for LSU this season. However, he’s not having a big year statistically with 10 catches for 119 yards this season. But the senior has size at 6’6 and nearly 260 pounds and soft hands. He could be a nice No. 2 tight end in the NFL.

If the 2019 draft weren’t so loaded with defensive line prospects, LSU’s Rashard Lawrence would get a lot more attention. The 6’3, 317-pound end looks like he’d fit right onto a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers with his ability to set the edge.