#why would u ever be mean to me. when you are mean to me you are mean to ravage. remember this

[life-is-more-than-just-a-game]

♠️ AiB males in Mingle-Game with you ♠️

A/N: I thought about this kind of headcanons while I was trying to fall asleep. 😬

The game is part of the second season from Squid Game, so if you haven't seen it yet but want to watch it- This writing may contain slight spoilers! 😶‍🌫️

Characters: Aguni, Arisu, Chishiya, Karube, Niragi

POV: gn!neutral

Warnings: Squid Game related; may contain Spoilers for season 2!

A g u n i

That man really hates playing games with you together. He isn't showing, but he is afraid of losing you in one of those games especially when it comes to the thought of losing you 'cause he is not able to protect you ...

He has the will of a leader and he may be pretty strong, physically and psychologically, but not knowing which game you'll join together almost kills him ever and ever again.

That's why Aguni always tries his best to convince you to play different games but this time he lost the discussion.

Thanks god it's not heart game the two of you joined, but clubs.

Bro, that man breathes a sigh of relief, you wouldn't believe it.

No chances he will leave your side, he stands by you and follows you everywhere you go, no matter what.

And he is watching you the. whole. damn. time.

Standing on the circling plate, he will touch you with his elbow when you start moving your body because of the playing song.

"Don't forget, it's all or nothing. Stay focused and stop dancing, you need to concentrate."

... He is finding it pretty cute actually but who is he to confess?

Ah, the plate stops moving and the song stops playing. A voice tells the number of people each group needs before running in one of the rooms you need to hide to win this game.

Good for you, nearly everybody knows Aguni.

And nearly everybody is fine with whoever wants to build a group with them, I mean everyone is just trying to survive ...

"A group of 3 people?" "Can't be this hard to find one more- no time to lose!"

Be prepared, he will carry you over his shoulder without hesitation ... He just grabs you and flicks you over ...

"Wow, alright, calm down Aguni, I have legs myself, you know?!" "Daily dose of training."

A r i s u

Same as Aguni, Arisu wouldn't step away from your side, leaving you alone in the crowd of people you may or may not know by even their names.

He's a cutie pie. While standing on the moving plate, he would stand by you as near as possible, just to make sure he isn't losing you.

Plus he wants to make sure you know he will always be there for you and no matter what happens, he isn't going anywhere without you.

He lost the most meaningful people in his life already. It broke him. Losing you- it's hard to say if he would make it another time.

Still, different from Aguni , he wouldn't mind moving with you to the song a little.

Actually it would be pretty fun to him, dancing to the rhythm with you.

For a second he would forget why you guys are even here ...

Lord have mercy, he loves you for that.

If he is able to, he would even sing along, sadly korean doesn't belong to his strength ...

Freestyle!

"Love, did you even know what the children are singing about?" "Actually no, but this song is both a curse and a blessing."

People will look at you as if you are a couple that is losing their minds- how can you have fun with the knowing this could be your last minute on earth?

Seriously, how?

"Oh, the song ends ..." "And we aren't moving anymore ..." "2!", the unknown voice tells the players.

Arisu grabs your wrist, not thinking about it twice, and drags you behind him, towards the door closest to you.

"Oi, don't be so rough on me!" "Sorry, gamer reflexes!"

C h i s h i y a

The strategist of this game.

Nobody would find a sample in this game as fast as he does.

Play with him the first and second round, and he will be able to guess the number of group members for every following turn.

"They will do everything to kill as many people as possible." "You don't say." "It's important to know. Based on that, the numbers are chosen." "Are you really trying to find a ... system behind this game?" "I'm not trying, I already found it. Just stand near me and everything will be okay."

Remembering the last games you played with him, you know he is right.

At first it was hard for you to trust him. He was always a mysterious person to you- calm, smart, ambitious. That makes him ... kind of a dangerous person.

But since you started "dating" him, it gets easier for you letting him take control in games you play both together.

"Promise you bring us out here alive ...?" "Not a big fan of promises, but this ... this is easy to handle."

He takes your hand you held out to him when you asked him that question. But not just to give you his word- he interlaces his fingers with yours instead, pulling you a little closer to him and making sure you stand by him.

Your face gets red like a tomato ...

"You know, you make the games a little more important to me, Y/N." "Huh? What do you mean?" "Your life matters more to me than my own life- so I'm willing to protect you. Even though it's just with my high level of intelligence." "... Well, who are you and what have you done to Chishiya?", you laugh while he is just giggling a little.

K a r u b e

Fun is important to him, he doesn't want to think about dying the whole time.

So he doesn't want YOU to think of dying the whole time, too.

I guess Karube could be the one dancing with like crazy to the song. Not just moving his body back and forth.

More like Thanos and Nam-gyu did in the series ... I was laughing so hard when I saw them dancing on the plate. 😭

Back to topic; he just wants you to feel comfortable and, above all, safe around him.

He loves having you close to him. As long as you are with him, he is sure that he can do anything.

He is also willing to achieve everything he has set himself as a goal.

Accordingly, if he has made it his goal to leave the game with you ...

... then he WILL leave this game WITH you!

Means, without ifs and buts, he stays with you. From start to finish.

We know how impulsive Karube can be.

Anyone who stands in the way of him and his plans will never be happy again.

For example, the player who tried to push in front of him when you two were running in a room together.

Then he is simply grabbing the clothes and pulls the foreign person out of the room again- with force and full physical strength.

If the stranger is lucky, he gets away with a broken nose.

If not, he will die- Karube has no mercy for people blocking his way.

"Well, you know, it's not necessary always punching people in the face when they are just panicking and fighting for their lives, Babe ..." "I know, but I was panicking, too. And I want to live. And I want you to live, too, y/n. I want a future with you, not with a-" “Unknown human being!", you say, stopping him from uttering an insult. "You are too good for this world, love."

N i r a g i

Bro's kinda rough to everyone, not just you. We all know what a beast he can be, so when it comes to finding group members, he will use every method that comes to his mind to make people join both of you.

Niragi isn't good with words. He would provoke the other players or manipulate them making sure you and himself can leave this game alive.

Yeah ... he has a soft spot for you.

Can you imagine him having a heart!? 😭

Anyways, his life isn't as important as yours, for him at least.

That's doesn't mean he wants to die in here!

You are just his priority, so when the voice is telling a number and other players don't want him to join their group, he would do ANYTHING that you are able to join a group.

Yep, he would grab people by their collar.

And he would punch and kick them if necessary.

... His firearm could also be used.

"Listen here, you litte fuck. You will make sure that you team up with her and you will make sure that you end up properly in one of these ugly rooms, that she gets out of here alive. Otherwise-" Niragi points his gun at the unknown player, ignoring your "No, stop! Put that down, are you crazy?!"

Damn, he would kill everyone in here to make sure you will survive, it's insane ...

Funny to say, his method is working very well ...

[rafeysbambi]

bambi

part vii

summary:

kind, sweet and the definition of innocent, obsessed with pink, bows and all animals but especially deers. y/n has barely held a boys hand let alone been kissed until rafe cameron lays eyes on her

a/n:

hey hi i’m back home! finally! man i hope yall understand what i mean when i say it’s so attractive when guys do tht thing when they drive one handed with their palm and do the spinny thing yano 😙😙 oh wow i am looking back at this and THIS IS SO LONG IM SORRY i genuinely have explosive verbal diarrhoea its incurable 😟😔 so pls grab a snack or something anyway hope u guys enjoy!

rafe lead you out to his car, his hand hovering over the small of your back. he opened your door for you and closed it before jogging around to his seat, handing you his phone. “you’re in charge of the music.” he looked at you and winked before starting the car.

“hmmm but i don’t know what to play, what do you feel like?” you asked, thumbs nervously hovering over the keyboard.

“play me your music, that’s what i wanna hear, just click on one of your playlists doll” and so you obliged, pressing shuffle on your favourite playlist. as lana del rey started playing, he looked over to you, “cute”. the music was far from what rafe would usually listen to but it was so incredibly you. he couldn’t help but to steal glances at you as he drove, watching the way the glow of the sunset was hitting your face in the most picturesque way. you hummed along to the words of say yes to heaven, your eyes locking with rafe’s as you sung “i’ve got my eyes on you’ causing you both to smile at each other. “you’ve got such a pretty voice on you.”

“thank you” you say as he pulled into the restaurant parking lot, immediately blushing as his arm goes around the back of your seat as he reversed back into the parking spot. “very impressive” you said giggling as he winks at you.

“i aim to please.” he gets out of the car, quickly jogging to open the door for you. he leads you to the restaurant, his hand finding the small of your back. “reservation for rafe cameron” he says to the host who smiles back at the two of you, quickly nodding before leading you to your table.

“it’s beautiful rafe” you say looking out at the sunset gleaming down on the docks. you can’t help but to smile at him, this was your first ever date and everything felt perfect. it truly felt like you were in one of your favourite romcoms that you’ve watched over and over.

“i’m glad you like it, i think so too” he smiled back at you, he was completely blown away at how beautiful you were. every single moment spent with you had him falling faster than he ever had before.

“ooh oh oh i know what i want” you exclaimed closing the menu seconds after opening it. you smile at him, swinging your feet under the table like a giddy little girl.

“how do you know already, i just watched you open it.” rafe laughed at you.

“i saw ravioli and needed to look no further.” you said in a matter of fact way. you can’t hide the grin on your face.

“ravioli huh? y’know the steak here is undeniably the best thing on the menu” he smirks at you before closing his menu and placing it down.

“oh really? maybe i’ll try it then” you said looking up at him through your lashes.

the waiter soon came over to take your orders, “i’ll have ribeye, medium rare thanks.” rafe said handing the waiter his menu before looking over at you expectantly.

“could i please have the ravioli” you say handing the waiter your menu before looking over at rafe who was feigning betrayal.

“and here i was thinking you were going to get the steak. absolute betrayal.”

you couldn’t help but to giggle at his antics, “i’m truly sorry, the craving for ravioli was just to deep.” you smiled over at him, “besides why would i need to get the steak when i can just steal some of yours.”

“i cannot believe what i’m hearing, who would’ve thought little miss y/n could be so evil.” you playfully rolled your eyes at him before your eyes locked with each other and suddenly it was like you were the only people in the room, scratch that the only people in the world. “god you’re so beautiful.” you immediately looked away trying to hide the fact your cheeks were flushed red. “seriously it’s like each time i look into you eyes, everything else disappears and i’m swept away by this beautiful gorgeous angel in front of me.” you looked back at him, a smile creeping upon your face. “just a shame you’ve got such poor menu choices.”

“oh shut up” you stuck your tongue out at him. the waiter came over with your meals. “wow look at this ravioli, i made the right decision.”

“doesn’t even come close to this mouthwatering steak mmm, c’mon i know you’re regretting your choice right about now.”

you popped a piece of ravioli into your mouth, “mm mm nm so good” you muffled out.

“finish what’s in your mouth before you finish speaking, god hasn’t anyone ever taught you table manners” he teases before you both started laughing. he cut a bite of the steak off and offered it to you. your lips wrapped around the steak as you ate it off his fork. you couldn’t lie that was some beautifully cooked steak.

“okay that was pretty good, but my ravioli is still definitely the better option.” you returned the favour offering rafe a piece of your ravioli.

“i mean it’s good.” rafe smiled back at you unable to respond, still thinking about how gorgeous you looked, even the way you ate his steak was driving him crazy.

you both finished up your food continuing to steal glances at each other. as you got up to leave, rafe’s arm found the small of your back and his head dipped down to your ear, “you ready to admit my steak was better.”

you looked up into his eyes smiling, you whispered a small “never” before the two of you walked towards the door.

“yo rafe bro”, you were quickly interrupted as topper dapped up rafe bringing him in for a hug. “damn bro what’s up, man what’re you doing here?”

rafe placed his arm around your shoulder, “we just grabbed some dinner.” topper looked over to you, his eyes nearly popped out his head.

“oh shit man nice.” he turned his attention to you, “y/n right?” you nodded giving him a small smile. “i’m topper, you can call me top though if you want” he smiled back at you. “god i’m starving man i can’t wait to get the ravioli, it’s crazy good here.”

rafe rolled his eyes as you giggled, causing topper to raise his eyebrow. “not you too man, the ribeye is a hundred times better.”

“nah bro, the ravioli is the move” you nod with topper in agreement, “see she gets it. yo that’s crazy bumping into you bro, i’m actually meeting ruthie here in a sec, we could’ve gone on a double date man.”

“damn what a shame, we sure did miss out” rafe says sarcastically causing you to giggle and topper to roll his eyes.

at that moment ruthie walked over placing her hand on toppers shoulder, “what’s the holdup i’m starving”, she looked over at rafe and then you. “oh wow y/n, did not expect to see you here with rafe of all people.”

“what do you mean by that ruthie?” rafe is quick to fire back at her, not wanting to deal with her rubbish.

“just not used to her being around you y’know-“

“well you can get used to it.” his arm moved to grip around your waist, you felt his thumb drawing small circles against your skin.

“how cute, oh i have an idea, why doesn’t y/n come to the bonfire tomorrow rafe, that is if you haven’t invited her yet.” ruthie’s eyes narrowed at you clearly trying to get under your skin.

“yeah man that sounds great, i’m sure y/n would prefer to hang around me and the guys over you anyway” topper said trying to lighten the mood.

rafe looked down at you, sensing you were uncomfortable, “alright bro well we’re gonna go i’ll see you later.” you smiled at topper before rafe lead you outside the restaurant to his car. he made sure you got into the passenger seat of the car before he got into his seat, looking over to you, “are you alright?”

“i just don’t understand why she has to be such a-“

“bitch?” he looks over to you and smiled. he reached over to hold your hand his thumb tracing small patterns on the back of your hand. “ruthie’s just like that, a bit of a miserable person. i really don’t know what top see’s in her.” he looked over to you a smiled, “and look you don’t have to come to the bonfire if you don’t want to, it’ll be loud and people can get a bit messy, we can do something else.”

“no it’s fine, i want to go to the bonfire” you looked over to him, “i’ve never actually been to one before.”

“i’ll make sure it’s worth it then” he said as he pulled into your driveway. he got out the car before coming around to open your door, holding his hand out for you to take. he walked you to your door before tucking a strand of hair behind your ear, “i hope you enjoyed tonight because i know i did.”

“i loved it rafe, truly.” you can’t help but to smile at the handsome boy stood in front of you.

“i’m glad” he said smiling back at you.

you reached up onto your tippy toes, planting your hands on his shoulders to support yourself as you placed a delicate kiss onto rafe’s cheek “goodnight rafe.”

“goodnight princess.”

[talxe]

Reading the Iliad, Book 10 thoughts

This is my first time ever reading it and I know next to nothing abt greek mythology so if I interpret anything wrong by all means pls correct me

Im reading the Robert Fagles translation

This book is short but does not lack in the entertainment department

Agamemnon can't sleep bc how can he with the war going the way it is?

So he goes out to find Nestor but as he's doing that he runs into his brother Menelaus who also cannot sleep and is doing the same thing Agamemnon is abt to do

Menelaus pitches the idea that they should send someone to spy on the Trojans. However, he's almost sure that no one is going to want to do this job bc its super dangerous

Agamemnon agrees bc the very thought of Hector is making him sweat hard asf

So they split up to gather a council. Agamemnon says he'll get Nestor and tells Menelaus to grab Ajax (Greater), Idomeneus, Meriones, and Nestor's son.

I don't think they say the name of Nestor's son in book 10 or maybe they said it in an earlier book bc I don't know who tf Nestor's son is lol

But Menelaus asks "Um where tf am I supposed to meet you after I'm done??" I really like how NO ONE clears anything up unless asked too

They decide to meet back at Agamemnon's tent

Agamemnon ends up scaring the shit out of Nestor when he enters his tent.

Nestor's like 80 you can't be scaring him like that😭

Nestor suggests they grab Dio, Ody, Ajax (Lesser), and Phyleus for this meeting too

Then Nestor starts shit-talking Menelaus out of nowhere???? LMAO😭😭

"Ur brother's so fucking lazy lol, we still need to get Ajax and Idomeneus but they're on the other side of camp." -Nestor

Why is he acting like Menelaus hasn't been pulling his weight this WHOLE time? Hello?

Then Agamemnon says "You're right as always buuut Meneluas is doing that very thing as we speak so..."

Menelaus catching strays this book ig

Odysseus gets super pissy at Nestor for waking him up so I'm going to assume he's one of those ppl who are just in a bad mood after being woken up. He doesn't seem to be a morning person at all

Nestor shouts at Diomedes to "WAKE UP." A complete 180 from how he woke up Odysseus btw

"Why are u yelling at me?" - Diomedes

After everyone is rounded up in Agamemnon's tent Nestor presents their plan in a way that really told me a lot abt his character

He's like "Hmmmm I wonder who would be willing to spy on the Trojans for us? It has its risks ofc but think of the glory he'd receive upon his return, all the gifts? All the men will ask him to their feasts" (it's a feast not the fucking prom💀)

I really like the way Nestor says it. I can just imagine having been a young man himself at one point he knows how to play into the egos of the men around him

Diomedes is the first to jump at this opportunity

But Dio says he needs a partner and everyone stands up to volunteer

But he picks Ody

Jump to the Trojan camp: Guess who had the same plan as Menelaus? Hector, they have like, the exact same plan.

Dolon who is just some ugly guy decides he'll be the Trojan spy

Both teams of spies run into each other

And Dolon starts running for his life

Diomedes and Odysseus end up catching this guy and he automatically starts crying

Ody asks him a whole bunch of questions abt their camp

Dolon is the world's worst spy bc he tells them everything and by the end he asks "You guys are going to spare my life now, right?"

And Diomedes just goes "Nah.♥️" and CUT THIS MANS HEAD CLEAN OFF

They loot his body and give the armor to Athena

Anyways they get to the Thracians who are currently asleep and Ody and Dio see that the Thracians have some nice ass horses

Diomedes kills 13 of them while they sleep, one was a king.

Once it's time to go Athena has to come down and tell Diomedes that it is time to stop and go home. (they take to horses)

Apollo watches this whole mission happen and wakes up the Trojans

Dio and Ody make it back to camp, Nestor asks where those nice ass horses and that's the end of the book

[confused-disaster32]

hi I'm here regarding your tags: Cara's terminal illness? He's not having a good time with it but the presence of his rash means he's in secondary stage, which comes prior to latent, asymptomatic phase. The vast majority of people who suffer from syphilis don't actually live long enough for any other reason to EVER hit the tertiary stage which causes death. I think it's safe to say Caracalla's immune system is weak as all hell and he probably won't be that lucky, but he has the best part of his infection ahead - the part where it stops existing, sometimes for decades, before coming back with a vengeance. In theory, if he made it through the fevers and the rest of all that is going wrong with him in the time we get to know him, eventually, it would ease up. For years.

Also, without Macrinus - Geta was actually coming to learn to play the crowds. He listened to Lucilla when Lucilla chose mercy for Lucius against their rhino rider. He hesitates to make the call to the archers - despite all of his rage and hurt - when Lucius refuses to execute Acacius on command. Without Macrinus egging him on, he was hearing the crowd. Despite everything.

This is such a cope but it's also all true. They had hope. They're so goddamn young, but they were going through their hard lessons, and at least one of them was learning. The other one needed bed rest and antibiotics.

Oh - the terminal part I tagged that mostly cause I saw someone else who tagged it the same way and saw that syphilis could possibly get to a worst stage which I knew you could treat with antibiotics nowadays but wasn't entirely sure what happened back then when that wasn't really a thing.. (though I'll admit that I should've done a bit more of a search before that because I don't have a very in depth knowledge of how syphilis works and didn't know how long syphilis takes to get to the terminal point) - and honestly I'm still kinda learning a lot about their characters, which is why I honestly adore your posts though I do still always feel quite awkward/bad whenever I mischaracterise them cause they're genuinely such wonderful characters and I think sometimes I'm a bit too caught up with what they were in the films (manipulated and therefore not rlly having a great time...) and I don't give enough time to think about what they could've been had things gone different ways such as if Geta had had a chance to continue to grow as a person/emperor without Macrinus messing around in the background (though I was mostly basing that tag off of the fact that on the night of Geta's death people were really starting to riot and I didn't think enough about the fact that those rioters don't even get in that night cause like the next day Caracalla has a chance to announce the new consuls and eventually continue with the games and stuff - so my brain decided to just hand me a scenario that wasn't even all that canon compliant in the first place).

Idk if I'm actually getting my thoughts down as much as I'd like bc it's a little late for me rn but

Thank u for this tho bc I much prefer when someone tells me when I'm off then they just let me be cause I hate it when I accidentally mischaracterise a character esp if I'm fond of them 😭

[ghostofsnails]

so did you guys know theres this character called tristan vik disventure camp and

[lovesickeros]

lord its so dark in here the sahara desert of tsaritsa content you are like a shining oasis. your characterisation of her compels me & mihoyo would be hard pressed to top it imo.!! caaaaan i humbly request yr thoughts on her first meeting w a reader of any kind, or maybe even multiple kinds (sagau, sagau god au, isekai, etc) if you so desire...

it really is like a desert here. being the fan of a character we aren't getting until the last damn nation is driving me up a wall but i will persevere bc if nothing else i support morally bankrupt women in media. we r in a severe drought over here but i do my best. unfortunately nothing i say is ever coherent so pull out your translation notes its abt 2 be messy

also this got out of hand but thats bc first meetings w the tsaritsa are tricky to write + a LOT of her characterization lies in deeper exploration then just surface level yknow...NOT A DIG AT YOU this is just my excuse for rambling. gently pats the tsaritsa she can hold so much complexity i do not have the word count to delve into it completely :]

gonna talk cult au for a bit here though because that's 99% of my content. and honestly? she thrives in sub au's of the cult au like villain au + imposter au. it's basically made for her. i mean, early days, the imposter au had been going around for a little while but one of the first few ideas was the Fatui taking reader in so like. it kinda technically actually was. pretty sure cult au Tsaritsa popped up because of the imposter au. a lot of it's writers kinda left though which. man am i getting old or.

anyway.

there isn't much of a chance her first impression is all that positive. at best it's usually neutral, imo, but rarely if ever positive. specifically because i view the Tsaritsa as someone who isn't as fanatical as most of the acolytes typically are towards the creator. she's not exactly going to worship the ground you walk on unlike a certain geo lizard. which is partially why i think she thrives in the sub au's i mentioned.

imposter au, for example. she meets you at your lowest. there's no gaudy extravagance or pampering from the acolytes waiting for you because your own acolytes have turned on you. for all intents and purposes you aren't a "god" at all. which is why i don't think she meshes well with normal cult au reader. the Fatui are made up of outcasts, basically, and imposter au slots right in just perfectly. you're weak, at your lowest, when you meet the Fatui in the imposter au. and the Fatui can help you, too.

a mutual exchange, really. the Tsaritsa sees a tool she can use to one up the rest of the nations and especially Archons, and she has no qualms about you using her and the Fatui in turn. you both want something out of it, after all. whether you just want to be safe from the rest of the acolytes, or you want revenge, or whatever else..she'll give you the power to fulfill it, and she gains the strongest piece on the chessboard when all is said and done.

the best way i can describe the first meeting is "practical", i suppose. she sees an opportunity in you. the ultimate gamble. because if she "saves" you, and you dont trust anyone else because they tried to kill you, well..she holds all the cards, doesn't she?

but the Tsaritsa, imo, is just as capable of being just as fanatical towards you as anyone else. she just won't worship you as the creator. but as yourself? clawing your way back to your divine power and taking back what belongs to you? the Tsaritsa is, to me, a character who's character flourishes in long-term fics more because she changes a LOT between "just met reader" and after having been with reader for some time. she's practically apathetic at the beginning but a lot of her character, in my characterization, shines through LONG after the first meeting.

[batsplat]

“og 4 aliens very particular vibe in being ‘three distinct flavours of socially awkward loner and also valentino rossi’” LMAO I WAS JUST THINKING THIS!!!!!! That he has the funniest possible 3 foils in that era bc like…those three guys could not be less his vibe ~personality wise if they tried. And actually tbf I do think they WERE trying a lot of the time. Feeling very curious if you think there’s anything to the idea of how Marc was the first alien-era rival he had who was more on his level all around? Like early days Marc was kind of just 😀😀😀 all the time but I do think he can be v charming and is clearly extroverted as hell (tho like…notably also a loner but like…not by choice??). Like idk where im going w this but the contrast is interesting to me. IDK

to some extent! I'm not sure I'd necessarily call marc an extrovert, you can be charismatic and cheerful without being an extrovert - but also this is splitting hairs. the og four aliens are one guy who's on the 'roughly as extroverted as you can possibly get as a professional athlete' end of the spectrum and three guys who are on the 'roughly as introverted as you can possibly get as a professional athlete' end. now, tbh, I don't think valentino massively minded this. he's extroverted but crucially he's also got enough charm going for him that he could get his rivals to chat with him if he was so inclined. he had an increasingly friendly relationship with dani, there's real genuine warmth in how both of them talk about each other - ultimately dani might have been quite sullen and withdrawn in general, especially in his early years, but he got on well with valentino. casey and valentino had perfectly decent interpersonal chemistry, they got on well, and tbh they were still warm with each in-person long past the point where that relationship had rhetorically soured. with jorge... I mean, okay, no chemistry there, but that was also very much valentino's choice. I do not fundamentally doubt valentino's ability to charm twenty year old jorge lorenzo. I think just because they were DIFFERENT characters, that doesn't necessarily mean they weren't valentino's *type* personality-wise, like he does seem to be happy enough to be the chatty one who draws them out of their shells in that scenario. unless competitive necessity requires otherwise!! but as marc discovered, somewhat higher levels of extroversion does not protect you if that's the case

I will say I know you do put alien-era as a caveat, but it is still important to point out that marc is very much not the first valentino rival who doesn't fall in the introverted loner camp. valentino had a rival who matched his vibe!! who he had a real proper off-track friendship with, who he went on holidays with, who he had a warm relationship with for substantially longer than the marc/valentino honeymoon lasted. I think you can see the early marc era as a bit of a return to the friendlier vibes of the early noughties, but crucially it is a return. the early noughties was the last gasp before the sport came to be completely dominated by a bunch of young prodigies who had been moulded into perfect athletes and had less chance to grow into people outside of the sport - valentino is already part of that camp in everything but temperament, cf the contrast with biaggi. in the early noughties, he was surrounded by a bunch of older riders who varied dramatically in disposition... biaggi was the guy everyone had issues with, capirossi was always fond of valentino, kr jr he got on well with, he played a mentoring role for in hayden's rookie season... and of course, most importantly, the friendship with sete - now there's an obscenely friendly rivalry right until the very moment when it isn't. 2013-14 is a bit of a return to that more congenial climate, but at the end of the day that lot were still less likely to socialise than riders were back in the day. they just didn't have the time lol

so yeah, I mean. valentino clearly did take to marc on a personal level, and marc is definitely closer to valentino on the introversion/extroversion spectrum than the three other aliens are. though that is also... not difficult. there is something quite funny about how 2006-07 went from valentino's pov. the engine regs changed, valentino literally blinked and suddenly all his opps were toddlers. went from goofing off with capirossi on the sepang 2006 podium to running a daycare centre overnight. and marc is part of that! it's also a massive change in that suddenly, valentino was surrounded by rivals who had been influenced by watching him ride as they grew up and were all really, really, really weird about him. marc with his little bike collection, jorge with his dabbling in pseudoscientific schools of psychology, casey and his championship-winning shirt, dani... well, tbf, I do actually think dani was pretty normal about valentino - probably because he'd known him the longest. had gotten drunk with valentino in the days when the bloke was just an idol and not a god. which is an underrated reason why the dani/valentino relationship never got so weird imo, one that goes beyond competitive calculus - dani was the most capable of interacting with valentino as just another guy. with all three of marc/jorge/casey, that idolisation dynamic does contribute significantly to the interpersonal turmoil

but that's a topic for another day! in conclusion, marc defo the dispositionally cheeriest foil of the alien lot, albeit somewhat by default, and WAS part of the reason why motogp got a bit of a mood lift in that 2013-14 period after what had just been a dire few years vibes-wise. mediocre racing, devastation caused by the financial crisis, tragedy... motogp was feeling quite lifeless in 2011-12 in particular, and those years do have a bit of a drab energy to them. in that sense, what followed was a bit of a reversion to the mean until the vibes completely went off the cliff. have they ever recovered? who can say

[icewindandboringhorror]

I occasionally wish to reach out to old friends/acquaintances I haven't spoken to since high school/some other even earlier time in my life, but I have SOOO little social energy even for required tasks (like making dr phone calls or etc), I never have any leftover for extra ones, and it would be very odd to message someone I haven't spoken to in like 5 years out of the blue but then take 4 entire months to respond back lol.. My natural curiosity with nostalgia/collecting details of the past/etc. (literally if I were born a little earlier I would definitely do scrapbooking or something lol) is very strong, but, alas, not strong enough to beat out the Social Issues Demons apparently

[hsslilly-blog]

shirt with a heart and child of divorce written on top but then there’s a picture of huntclaire. you wouldnt get it. i do

[bacchuschucklefuck]

as an artist who just wants to get to drawing the pretty clothes and is terrible at posing i am forever enamoured by your poses..... they have so much energy and movement!!!

was this via art study, a general knack for anatomy or do you just enjoy posing specifically? and do you have any tips?

(i was just wondering bc your pose work is always so dynamic :D (your lighting also slaps /pos))

this is one case where it's a secret fourth thing lol. I have never successfully studied a single thing in my life, I am not at all a naturally "gifted" artist (and as well I reject the idea altogether), and posing has never jumped out to me as its own task in drawing at all! the way I do anything art-related, and posing specifically, is a lot more mechanistic than how it's perceived I think; I've just assumed this came as a function of how narrative-forward I see art, and how much I focus on comic work.

what folks talk about as "posing" I usually think of in two terms: composition and character acting. composition is how the figures fit into the intended frame, and character acting is the actual motion that'll be portrayed. you can see how that logically works itself out! there are more words than stars in the sky written about composition already, I honestly don't think there's anything I can say that'd be more useful than words from artists like thomas romain. character acting is itself more a matter of writing than visual art to me; you've got a guy and they probably do things, you draw them do those things, that's really it. the rest of it is just, figuring out weights and accenting in a scene, shape language, line flow, discipline-specific stuff like that; since no matter what I'm drawing I always mentally think of it as a comic thing, I usually try to insist on the strong points of that medium, one of which is colloquializing shapes to imply the entirety of a movement through a single panel. I don't always succeed at this! I hope to do better in the future. but it's how I approach this matter.

I think sitting down with your art to think about like, how you're approaching it and what you're in it for would help with troubleshooting a lot of the times. it's helped me before! I'm a completely hedonistic artist, I don't draw what I don't want to draw. what is it exactly about posing that's giving you a hard time? is it something you can do without? usually it is. if it's the thinking up a pose part, you can copy poses from high fashion magazines and sewing pattern models and just photos you find. if it's the fitting a pose into a nice looking complete picture part, don't make it a nice looking complete picture, do it sketchbook style, collage a buncha stuff together. if you never want to think about posing ever again, that's what stock bases are for! make urself some or get some from an artist and just draw the nice clothes.

if ur committed to figuring out posing and wanna ease urself into it, I find prompt lists are pretty good for giving ur brain a ground to build on top of and start asking questions. it's also a good exercise to sit down before drawing a thing to ask urself what u want it to be like, genre-wise: is it gonna be a comic cover, or a family photo, or a professional photoshoot, etc. these things have their own visual languages, and keeping that in mind will direct u on how to frame and choose the movements for ur piece. or, if that's overwhelming, drawing characters running is always good! there's plenty of character acting involved in there, it shows off the physicality of the clothes nicely, and it's decently easy to frame.

(I am similarly mechanistic about pretty much every other aspect of drawing lol, lighting/shading included. fully a case of "if it looks alright I put it in, if it doesn't I don't do it". I still struggle with it every time I do colors, but what can ya do. if the piece asks for it that's what it'll get. thank you very much for the nice ask!)

[reel-fear]

MIKE BLOCKED ME ON TWITTER FOR ROASTING HIS DUMBASS RESPONSE TO THE GRAPHIC NOVEL STUFF!!

grown ass man scared of the 19-year-old queer being mean to him over his public meltdown more at 8.

[esta-elavaris]

Had a moment today that exemplifies how my family thinks but like, in a way that’s just very sad and makes me glad I don’t think that way.

Showed a relative the amazing painting that friend did for me, and her first response was “you’d be able to sell that for some good money!!!”

Like. No????

For months I’ve discussed this creative trade with this friend, we’ve talked about what the other wants, we’ve gotten excited about it and traded progress pics as we work on it for each other, gotten stoked over making plans to get to the post office and seeing the other finally get it, and it’s just been a very wholesome and very fun project. It took six weeks for us to complete these projects, and now I have something on display in my room that makes me very happy, that’s objectively beautiful, and that I know a friend put a lot of effort into making for me and was THRILLED when I adored it.

And my family’s immediate line of thinking is “make a few quid from it lol”.

I can’t imagine the headspace it must take to go through life like that.

[look-at-the-stars-tonight]

i would like to stop experiencing the full spectrum of human emotions every day please. putting this out into the universe

[termagax]

re: "good girl" i think they say it once randomly as a joke and its just one of those things that gets him wayyy more than they expected it would. so now its their secret weapon and they use it very sparingly and every single time he gets super embarrassed about it but it works ill tell you what.

[secondpersonpoetry]

hi! oh my goodness. i am SO sorry i didn’t say anything earlier. i did read everything a couple days ago, and i Have been chewing on it, rotating it in my mind, etc etc…..and the graphic has been my phone lockscreen since i first read it!!!!!

frankly i am obsessed and have also been a little frazzled this month lol. saw your post late because of the general whirlwind that is december and then couldn’t quite get my thoughts into sufficient words n got worried “oh no would it be weird to say something now…..” which is incredibly silly in retrospect, so sorry for that. 

i’m relatively new to hockey fandom and the Narratives don’t always quite click for me (yet, at least :)) because i don’t know all of the lore for a lot of the popular pairings haha, so it means a lot that you’ve taken time out of your day to break things down for me and share your own thoughts <3 tysm. again, super sorry for the delayed response. i’m very sorry if you felt as though you’d wasted your time or something along those lines :’) just wanted to let you know that i really appreciate you and the time it took you to get everything down and make the graphic!!!! and like i can’t overstate how much your tags both over here and on your other blog have helped me to Get It since the start of this season, so thank you.

but now the house is quiet, the in-laws are gone, and no new work stuff until january :) so i can finally get some stuff down. every point you brought up hits in it own way but gosh you are very incredibly right the mcstrome of it all…..that’s sort of the lens i’ve been listening to the song through since you mentioned it.

the golden boy and the “draft bust” and the ever present notion of “isn’t it all about old friends? like everything? all of it?”.  like idk looking back on a bestfriendship from when you were a teenager that was Super intense and the lines were blurred and maybe realizing (if you hadn’t had the words or the “guts” or awareness or wtv to put a name to it at that point in your life) that y’all were a smidge more than just friends. 

best friends forever until you just aren’t! growing up and growing apart. it’s just the way things go but it can and will ache for a damn long time! you think you’re over it until their birthday or the holidays roll around and you wonder in a distant sort of way who they’re spending it with. what you would’ve hypothetically gotten them as a present if you still spoke. what do they even like nowadays, anyway?

maybe having the friendship end subtly. going from playing and traveling together and living in one another’s pockets to 2,080 miles of distance? (i may have my timeline/details confused here so sorry in advance) texting as much as you can at first but he’s a phenom he’s mcjesus he’s the next in line he’s expected to win the cup with his new team and end the drought for Canada. and they have him now but he was yours first, wasn’t he? but it’s fine. because you’re busy too. you’re captaining the team now. you’re gonna get the memorial cup that he couldn’t. it’s fine. you’re fine. you don’t even have time to worry about it anyway. 

one conversation a week turns to one a month turns to once in a blue moon turns to stale words until it goes cold. these days you can’t quite seem to remember who ended things, but does it really matter all that much now?

or maybe it doesn’t end like that at all. maybe it ends in a flurry of angry words and digs in some or other of the endless hotel rooms you’ve shared together over the years. who knows!

and that’s not even getting into the rest of the 2015 draft class. or the ld19 of it all! ooh hoo hoo. you grew up with him but he’s not your waiting room. he grew up with you but he’ll grow “old” (end his career) with someone else. and isn’t that just something! 

i don’t think it’s totally them, but sort of the sentiment of “I hope you get everything you ever wanted and I hope I never hear a word about it.” I want one ticket off of your carousel!!!! merry christmas, please don’t call!!!!!!!

dylan being sent up and down and traded around until finally landing in washington, a place where he is clearly at home and LOVED for the guy and player he is!!!!!!!! watching a game and seeing all the strome jerseys in the crowd……..wagh.

all that said. some other songs that are mcstrome to me in various ways: hot & heavy by lucy dacus (lol kinda the whole song). before the world was big by girlpool (“i just miss how it felt standing next to you wearing matching [jerseys? sweaters?] before the world was big”). happiness by Taylor swift (“i guess it’s the price i pay for seven years in heaven”), cut your bangs by radiator hospital (maybe? possibly? unsure. i like the whole dog thing there). i’m so glad i feel this way about you by insignificant other (!!!!!). there are so many THEM lyrics in there……..waough.

anyway. other things off the top of my head: 2015 connor specifically saying something like “hey let’s wait a minute so we can see this” to stand by the stage when dylan was getting drafted after him. MAN. you reminded me of the fact that they couldn’t even make eye contact at the handshake line!!!!!!!!! they didn’t go to each other’s weddings!!!!!!!!!! (do you think once upon a time they ever thought they’d being each other’s best man?). just a couple months ago dylan liking the tweet of connor getting that goal during the playoffs!!!!!!!! makes you wonder if he texted him………..

lol this was all over the place and i was probably wrong on some things and there’s SO much more that someone else could say way more eloquently, but i digress. i dunno everything about them is so nuts to me!!!!! needless to say i will be incredibly sat for the game january 21 🙂‍↕️

thank you again for your time :) hope you have a good one and a happy rest of the holiday season! <3333333

what a lovely message to receive 🥰😭🥹 i had to break it up into chunks because i couldn't sit down to read all of it at once without just. bouncing right back up and shrieking. i am also at heart terribly shy so i understand the struggle but it is never too late to say something <3 you are always welcome here

first!!! i love sharing!! i think most of hockey tumblr loves to see people finding out the Lore for the first time and the wonderful thing about hockey is that. it keeps going on. so there's years and years and generations and generations and always something new to learn about. i've learned to just not be afraid to ask!!! between different teams and players i'm always discovering new narratives (learning about the sharks old man yaoi rn... cbj rarepairs...)

no... to my heart's despair... you have the timeline right. i think in the best most tragic sense there's a mcstrome narrative where it is truly that nothing went wrong. the love was there. we couldn't do enough to save it because we didn't see it slipping away. i didn't notice when you didn't call until you never did. i don't know you now but i still remember when i did, do you?

HE'S NOT YOUR WAITING ROOM?? passing out. i do see "i hope you get everything you ever wanted and i hope i never hear a word about it" as them because!! they didn't go to each other's weddings!!! i don't wish you harm but i'm not going to put myself through that!! i hope you're happy and i'm never going to look on purpose.

i love dylan strome so much and the best part is that they all love him so much too. he wore a cool vintage ovechkin jacket!! and got slapped in the face with a tortilla!! he loves to gently rag on the rookies!! it just takes some time, everything'll be just fine. you're only on the middle of the ride.

OKAY WHEN I READ THIS PART I SCREAMED BECAUSE I DO HAVE A MCSTROME PLAYLIST AND!!!! HOT & HEAVY BY LUCY DACUS IS IN FACT ON IT!!! SO IS CUT YOUR BANGS (BUT BY GIRLPOOL SO DOUBLE JINX)!!!! i have dorothea by taylor swift on there but i don't know happiness so i'll have to give all the other songs a listen. mostly i just shrieked because i was like NO YOU GOT THE VIBES EXACTLY

🧠〰️🧠 truly the mind meld happening here. the handshake line. the mutual wedding non-invitations. i won't block your number or your name on twitter i just hope i don't see it come up on screen!! i do think that we got confirmation the last time they played each other that dylan did text him to say congrats on a milestone but i would have to check the archives

p.s. i think you said it perfectly eloquently :) what matters is that you said it at all and i was delighted to read it 💕

[faaun]

she's so arrogant and annoying and hot it pisses me off !!!