#//I'm excited you're back!

[egophiliac]

queen of diamonds, upright + reversed 💎

I've redone this like eighty times, I have to just be done with it now and stop staring at all my mistakes oh no 🫠

[heartorbit]

a fool and a sinner

[aro-culture-is]

aro culture is getting really annoyed with the relationships unit in your sociology class because the whole thing is just 100% amatonormativity.

:\

if think your teacher, professor, and/or TAs might be interested in discussing the concept, I have some idea of bringing up the topic?

I'd personally say something like, "Hi, During our section in sociology around relationships, I couldn't help but think it would be interesting to discuss how a sociological theory called "amatonormativity" might relate to these lessons. I gathered a few sources from the professor who coined it, a thesis written on it, and a law review written about the connection between it and laws in the USA. There's some connections between its use in feminist thought and in queer theories, and I'd love to know your thoughts about it. I personally was thinking of when [specific statement] was said, and how I would apply this theory. I hope it's as interesting to you as it is to me."

Coiner's current webpage: https://elizabethbrake.com/amatonormativity/

Thesis: https://vc.bridgew.edu/honors_proj/330/ (click download in upper right hand corner for the PDF, depending on the individual it may be worth downloading and sending that rather than a link)

Law Review: https://uclawreview.org/2022/06/09/amatonormativity-in-the-law-an-introduction/

[stardustedknuckles]

Okay but I need to know what the people who have only watched c3 think about Beau and Caleb because I've been rotating them in my head for three years too long to be objective anymore but like. Getting to see them through the eyes of a new party just reminded me that even though so much of our delight in C2 was focused around the constant indignity of the Nein, they are objectively a flickering metronome between "how the fuck are these people alive" and "this is the most hyper competent group of mercenaries I've ever seen" and I just. Do they know. Do they know that Beau is so fucking cool. Are there people who learned these two npcs have a whole campaign and want to learn more about them. I look at these two and see a montage of tiefling dicks and red eyes and promising to kill the other if something goes wrong. I see Caleb smearing mud and bat shit on Beau's face and Beau just resigned even as she makes the most aggrieved and annoyed sounds, Beau hauling Caleb's dissociated ass over her own skinny shoulder and walking him to safety. I look at them and see 500 hours and more of the empire siblings. The weeks and months they spent going from hating the parts of themselves they saw in each other to loving in the other what they still struggled with in themselves. I see chosen siblings, best friends. What do other people see?

[bonefall]

Are there any cats with smoke/shaded fur (that is, fur thats only pigmented at the top and not the base) in bb? I always thought it was an interesting look and dont really see it used as often in designs

If I can draw it LMAO, it's surprisingly difficult to capture in a design when you're like, not a super fantastic coloring god like what others in the fandom can cook up. I'm better with blocky, almost toylike designs rather than cool shading tricks.

I will be making an effort when Echomist is relevant though, she's a character who canonically has whispy shaded fur. I think about her a lot more than such a small character really warrants, but that's the power of a cool design for you. She's a late Crusade/early-to-mid Campaign Era warrior, the mate of Hailstar.

EchoMIst (Emi) is a huge sweetie, I imagine she's considered absolutely gorgeous because of how striking her fur is. Her mateship with Hailstar is as strong and as unbreakable as the thick ice of deepest winter.

I imagine he goes to her a lot for advice, she's calm and merciful in a way that he is absolutely not. Maybe I'll give her a better role in Stormpaw's Demon-- maybe have her be the reason why Hailstar finally does something about Rainflower, who is his deputy in BB.

Also just a recap because it's been a while since I talked about this; Shellheart's not the biodad of Oakpaw and Stormpaw in this AU. He's their adopted dad. I'm going to be doing some stuff VERY differently from canon between Crookedstar's Promise and its BB equivalent, Stormpaw's Demon.

(I just had a thought to actually make her name in Clanmew especially interesting; instead of Echo as in "the echo of a cave," her name is echo as in "the echo of cracking ice." Cats have a much better sense of hearing, so they can hear those strange, otherworldly noises that thick ice makes when it cracks easier than humans can.

Living next to the water and having the river be such a big part of their lives, it would be SUPER fun if they had a dedicated onomatopoeia for it. Maybe even a few for some fun river words. Hmm... I'll put that in the notebook for the next Clanmew Day.)

[gale-force-storm]

You know, I think my favorite thing about Gale's whole "watching you in battle makes me horny" scene is like. He's not wrong. A brush with danger does in fact increase one's desire for "other forms of stimulation". Studies have shown that being in situations that cause a rush of adrenaline, be that going on a roller coaster, seeing a scary movie, walking across a swinging suspension bridge, or something else, increase feelings of attraction. It's literally a Known Thing that adventurous stuff is great to do on a date because it will most likely make you more into each other.

Idk, I just love that his come-on is not only extremely nerdy, but also scientifically accurate. Feels correct and I'm glad they did it lol

[batsplat]

hello!! i hope you're having an amazing day 🥹💗 do you have any vale's races masterpost?? thank you so much in advance!!

*takes deep breath* *cracks knuckles* *cracks knuckles again for good measure* *rolls up sleeves* *cracks knuckles one more time* yes of course anon. no problem. let's do this

going to forgo any extended intro as this post will be long enough as it is - though it wasn't always easy to both represent the scope of valentino's career and make picks based on actual race quality. there will be a skew towards the early years of his time in the premier class and there are a few obvious fallow spells, but I hope I've adequately done justice to most of his very, very long career... and used the asterisk system to do my quality control for me

speaking of - another rec post, another escalation of the asterisk system (luckily, we have reached the final boss of motogp and it is impossible to escalate beyond this - here are the casey and marc/dovi lists). * means check it out, ** personal fave, *** classic, **** if you watch nothing else please watch these

I also need to mention mat oxley's 'valentino rossi: all his races', which is an excellent reference book that I consulted a fair bit when compiling this list. it's especially invaluable in making sense of the early years - where the archives unfortunately are sorely lacking and I'm grateful for every bit of additional context I can get. about those early years, a little bit of housekeeping with the codes I'll use to indicate in which form these races are available:

ITA: only italian commentary, which means I've found them on youtube. this is relevant only for the very early races. there's upsettingly few of his 125cc and especially 250cc races available even when you include these (though I haven't included all the ones that are available)

HL: only highlights, which is specifically about some of the 2000-01 races. there's only three full races of valentino's first premier class title available in their entirety on the motogp website, which is unfortunate (technically four including valencia, but who would want to watch that). now, the highlights they provide for all the other races aren't actually bad - they're around twenty minutes long for the race themselves so you will see most of the exciting action and the overtakes and all that (though it does raise the question of 'why don't you just upload the full races')

NC: no commentary, and is mainly an issue for the 2002 races that are all uploaded in their entirety but... well, only a few with commentary. obviously not ideal especially with older races. my recommendation would be watching the very short highlights (aka 2-3 minutes of actual race footage with commentary) available on the website for each of the 2002 races - either after or even before watching the race - to just give yourself a better sense of what you're watching

as ever, the descriptions will frequently provide spoilers for the result. my spoiler-free top ten recommendations are: donington park 2000 suzuka 2001 phillip island 2001 brno 2003 phillip island 2003 welkom 2004 donington park 2005 laguna seca 2008 catalunya 2009 assen 2015

and here, ten more spoiler-free recs because it really is a bloody long career: sachsenring 2003 mugello 2004 phillip island 2004 jerez 2005 sachsenring 2006 sepang 2006 catalunya 2007 motegi 2010 argentina 2015 assen 2017

**brno 1996: I find it very charming when riders have early career races that tell you everything you need to know about them. this is valentino's first grand prix win, achieved from his first pole position. he has an awful start, ends up way down the order, fights his way through, is eventually caught by this 34 year old former world champion who he does not like, fights him for a bit, stalks him and lets him draw them away from the pack in what the commentators consider remarkable confidence and poise from a seventeen year old, loses touch enough with the race leader that it looks like he's surely lost the race before pulling out a crazy last lap with some hard racing™ to overtake that other bloke. after he crosses the finish line he's so excited he almost rides into the wall. deeply excessive celebratory fist pumping that just goes on and on and on. angelic smile on the podium as the bloke he's beaten looks rather peeved - and apparently complained about valentino's riding afterwards. what more is there to say, really

^driving his elders to drink. here's a video where valentino is talking about the race: "and from there a fight to the death came out because we didn't get along very well. we weren't very nice to each other because we were bothering each other throughout the championship". like I said, tells you everything you need to know about him. just watch this one and call it a day

nurbuergring 1997 (ITA): an early strong wet weather performance, at a time when he was still a bit of a wimp about the whole riding in the rain thing. granted, he was a little lucky when the runaway race leader had a mechanical dnf, but he got into a nice little scrap with a few other riders to claim his fourth consecutive victory

rio 1997 (ITA): the thing about 125cc/moto3 races is you kinda know what you're getting, and more often than not what you're getting is a fun time watching them go at it. valentino's first, he's third, he's first again, they're having it out... and then on the final lap, he's taking advantage of the backmarkers to secure the victory. which is so sneaky and so valentino that it obviously deserves to be mentioned here. incidentally, his last ever win at assen 2017 had a controversial involvement of a backmarker on the last lap, which is a nice little full circle moment twenty years later

brno 1997: in many ways, this was a more impressive ride from his title rival ueda, who came back from thirteenth on the grid to take the win. which meant that valentino had to finish on the podium to claim his 125cc title at the same venue where he won his first race... and he just about managed it, with the entire leading group of riders headed into the final corner together

there are race highlights in the 5-10 minute range from his 250cc race years which... well. since they're not anywhere close to full races and this is a race recs list, I can't exactly give them their own bullet points, but I'll just rattle through a few highlight videos here I enjoyed from 1998: jerez (features a nifty overtake with four blokes entering one corner together, also harada fucked with valentino despite being a lap down to help capirossi win?? anyway vale's first 250cc podium, to which harada showed up to clap for capirossi specifically???); mugello (featuring his controversial beachwear celebration); paul ricard (see below); catalunya (he spent a lot of that year crashing but towards the end of the season finally figured it out - works his way back from thirteenth place to win), argentina (controversial title decider claxon; valentino found the whole thing so "hilarious" he was giggling when the drama was going off in the garage. he also referenced the jerez incident in his post-race interview, because of course he did)

^the three protagonists of the 1998 250cc season: valentino, harada and capirossi, all part of the same nightmarish aprilia 'super team'. everything I've read about that season makes me want to break into dorna hq and get my hands on the full race footage. both images are from the paul ricard race, in which valentino was trying to figure out how to stop harada from continuously outsmarting him. they kept slowing down the pace further and further, with harada running his bike comically wide to let valentino through and valentino doing a massive wheelie down the straight (image on the right) to force harada to go back past - but harada still eventually managed to best him on the final lap. valentino was heavily criticised in the press for wanting to 'humiliate' capirossi by letting capirossi catch up to the pair, but really he was just getting creative in his tactics. I may not have been able to 'watch' this season but I love it dearly

donington park 1999 (ITA): the ONE 250cc race I've been able to watch in its entirety. it was stopped and restarted due to the weather and the final outcome was decided on aggregate time across the two races (yeah, this does feel weird but they used to do that). a close fight especially in the first part. not too wet, presumably, given his 250cc performances in the soaking wet were often. hm. not great

1999 highlights I enjoyed: catalunya (was riding with a suspension glitch but kept his main title rival ukawa behind him anyway); sachsenring (won an intense battle with capirossi, admittedly you do not see much of him in the highlights); brno (another intense fight, this time mainly with an older rider in waldmann after they both worked their way through the field); phillip island (worked his way to the win from seventh on the grid and one of those phillip island races)

jerez 2000 (HL): valentino's initiation to the premier class wasn't... the most dignified thing you'll ever see... two dnf's in the first two races by which point he was so bloody terrified of the bike he was just very slow in the third. in his defence, those 500cc bikes were pretty scary, but also it was time to get his act together. which he did in jerez! this was another one of those weird ones where the rain interrupted the race and then the whole thing was decided on aggregate time, but a good ride to bag his first premier class podium

**donington park 2000: maybe it was the bikes, maybe it was experience, maybe it was a mindset thing, but eventually he would get over his moral objections to 'getting wet' and develop into an excellent wet weather racer in the premier class. this was his first premier class win - and a pretty neat way to seal it too. had an awful start, took a while to figure out the grip conditions, and then he was off. the second half of the race involved a fun fight between valentino and both roberts jr and mcwilliams for the victory

^almost gave the commentators a heart attack by running a defensive line through the final corner that took him completely off the dry racing line

rio 2000 (NC/HL - as in, both are available): valentino's second win of the year and his first in the dry, the race after his late charge to a rookie title was scuppered by a crash in valencia. he made some adjustments to his riding style after the valencia fiasco and really started to get to grips with the 500cc, which would stand him in good stead the following year. as is traditional, he makes a truly horrendous start, dropping back from the front row to find himself briefly outside of the top ten. from there, he gets to work. it's confident stuff, getting himself to the lead by about half distance and pulling away from there

**suzuka 2001: the first race of 2001 and a clear statement of intent. as ever, valentino had to work his way through the field... which took him right into the path of max biaggi, a man who had already been his enemy before they started actually racing each other. now, it has to be said, biaggi is a dick here! quite literally elbows valentino while running him off-track and could easily have caused vale to crash (as valentino said afterwards, "I had to learn how to ride motocross-style at 140 mph"), he continues using various body parts rather creatively in defending his position. when valentino finally gets past, he sticks out his middle finger. set the tone for that season rather nicely

jerez 2001: this is the cool-headed, calculating valentino who would prove such a formidable foe over the years. having already won the first two races of the season, he's high on confidence as he engages in a duel with the man who had so captured his imagination as a teenager: norifumi abe. valentino takes his time - but when he finally makes the decisive pass, he pulls clear so easily it feels like valentino may have just been toying with his hero all along

^valentino and norick, the inspiration for 'rossifumi'. in 2008, valentino paid tribute to the other man a year after his passing: "norick for me was a hero. I grew up watching the suzuka 500 race in 1994 with the great battle he had together with schwantz and doohan. last year was a shit year for me when I heard of the death of norick and colin mcrae, for me it was not a great year. I think it is possible to dedicate this championship to norick”

catalunya 2001 (HL): I don't care if there's only highlights - I am not leaving out a race that sparked a fist fight. honestly if I were biaggi I'd be pissed about this race too. valentino was twelfth at the end of the first lap and ended up winning... painful, truly. a really good scrap, plenty of fun to watch as valentino always is at catalunya, and obviously you've also got to watch the presser clips with the knowledge they were throwing hands a few minutes earlier

assen 2001 (HL): this one was low-key kinda stolen from valentino. it's good fun - y'know, one of those assen battles, valentino's doing the stalking and lurking thing and it starts raining and valentino takes the lead and... whoops! time to call off the race due to the rain so let's take the results from the previous lap! biaggi win! imagine getting into a fist fight with someone and losing the very next race to them on a technicality. oof

^post-fist fight handshake to show how it's all fine. they're totally fine. completely fine. no problems here

*donington park 2001 (HL): I'm gonna be so real, if I'm on pole and my title rival starts eleventh and he ends up beating me to the win by 1.8s, I think I just call it a day after that one. valentino had a bad crash during practise where he was lucky to not really hurt himself and then obviously had a pretty terrible qualifying, so a great opportunity for biaggi to claw back some points. worst bit is, vale didn't even make a good start - he was still in eleventh place halfway through the first lap. good fun to watch him pick his way through the field, and in his autobiography he ranks this race near the very top in terms of ones that gave him the most "satisfaction"

****phillip island 2001: look, if you've seen one of those classic multi-rider dogfights at phillip island, then, here, I've got a version of that for you from 2001. it's just so much fun to watch, with so many different riders and rider constellations and run orders at various parts of the race, riders looking like they'll break away and getting caught again etc etc etc. and it is also a match point race for valentino - a relatively comfortable one given his formidable championship lead. he didn't need to win the race to take the title, but would you want to see your greatest enemy take the spoils on your big day? in the most dramatic fashion possible, valentino ends up right behind biaggi on the very last lap and makes a daring overtake for the victory. hard to beat that as a way of sealing your first premier class title

*suzuka 2002: you know how I said in the marc rec post that I found it tricky to pick out a few for 2014 because a lot of the races were good without being all timers? this is valentino's equivalent season - he's winning, life is great-ish, tricky to differentiate, and if you enjoy any of these races you'll probably enjoy them all. mostly I'm just going to include the ones with commentary available, even though I'm too stubborn to let dorna completely make my choices for me here. anyway, this one is available with commentary and it's a good watch... valentino hadn't had the easiest weekend to start off his title defence, crashed badly twice, bloodied his hands, all that. he had a sluggish start in the wet conditions and worked his way up the field, before sitting on the rear tyre of the japanese wildcard akira ryo for a while - who knew the track well and knew where all the puddles were. a smart and composed win and feels very typical of his wet weather performances over the years

jerez 2002 (NC): in my head, this is the sister race to le mans 2014. valentino is pushed down quite a few spots to ninth early on (kenny roberts jr just. shoves him aside and does the thing where he gestures back to apologise, but that doesn't really help valentino when half a dozen bikes have passed him) and then he gets down to business. that whole season really does have that 2014 vibe of 'right this is fun but also feels a little too easy' - but hey, the way valentino picks his way through the field is satisfying to watch. and valentino did always like to play with his food, so he sits behind barros for a fair bit before doing the inevitable

*assen 2002: so, the thing about 2002 is that it was the first year of the rebrand to motogp and the introduction of the four-stroke bikes... but you still had two-stroke bikes on the grid, which tended to be tragically outgunned. the circuits where they were competitive tended to be the ones where they could take advantage of how 'nimble' the old bikes were, with more corners and fewer straights - and honestly, if you go on a race-by-race level you could make the case that on-track barros on his two-stroke machine (for most of the year) was valentino's most important rival that season. this is a head-to-head duel with barros that nicely showcases the respective strengths and weaknesses of two such different bikes and riders riding them, and barros manages to mount a stern challenge to valentino for most of the race

*sachsenring 2002: I do find it a little funny that this is one of the ones with commentary they've provided, because there's a bit of an anti-climax close to the end and I'm not sure valentino should have won that race. anyway, similarly to assen, this is another week where the two-strokes can put up a proper fight, and it's an engaging scrap that involves a lot of riders and quite a few nice little shifts in momentum. like above, another interesting study in how the different bikes compare in direct combat

phillip island 2002 (NC): always fun when someone builds up a bit of a gap on valentino. as was so often the case that year, it was barros (now on a four-stroke) who served as valentino's closest challenger, and valentino took his time hunting him down. from there, it's familiar material from the rossi playbook, stalking and studying before making his move - but barros sticks very very close to valentino until he makes an error on the last lap

^is it a bird is it a plane etc etc... don't think this was supposed to mean anything, just being silly

okay we're now headed into the 2003-05 stretch and I should mention that most of the races in that era will also have been featured in this post, which might also be useful to put them into context

*le mans 2003: valentino tries to make a break for it, but the rain denies him. he raises his hand to get the race called off (you could do this as the race leader back in the day, or I suppose also not do that if you wanted to be an asshole)... and immediately almost falls off his bike so. uh. probably a good idea to get it called off. when the race resumes, it's a three-way tussle between valentino, barros, and new challenger sete gibernau, even if at times it's less tussling and more wobbling. in the last couple of laps, it's down to sete and valentino to have it out in the treacherous conditions - and the last lap is proper dramatic. sete had already gotten one over valentino in welkom... but this defeat, coming after valentino had led the race, must surely have stung even more

*catalunya 2003: I feel a little mean making my first three 2003 picks races valentino all lost in quite painful fashion, but, hey, it's character building and really set up his whole arc for the next season-and-a-half. this one is... well. it's both embarrassing and kinda neat from vale. most of this race consists of a duel with capirossi - and when valentino hits the front, you do think that's going to be it. capirossi keeps close, however, and valentino eventually makes an error, running wide to let him through. shortly afterwards, he makes even a worse mistake and runs off into the gravel. once he's fucked up it's a pretty fun performance, where he starts posting pleasingly insane lap times to recover from sixth back to second

***sachsenring 2003: this race will always be remembered for valentino's penultimate corner overtake followed by his last corner mistake that resulted in sete's unlikely victory, but the race before that is good fun too! valentino looks like he'll make a break for it, and obviously miserably fails in his attempt - this time he's the one to be slowly, slowly, slowly caught by a persistent rival who eventually manages to get the better of him again. after this race, valentino vowed he wouldn't be taking any more prisoners. he didn't

****brno 2003: after a horrifying four race losing streak and the humiliation of sachsenring, valentino came back from the summer break with new determination and hunger and a mission to not let anyone get in his way any more. he does not have an easy time of it at brno, with a classic multi-rider dogfight that features regular and dramatic shake-ups of the riders' fortunes. the finish is incredibly close, and vale could have easily been denied the opportunity to pull out his elaborate victory celebrations: dressing up as a convict to symbolise how he felt imprisoned by his own success. here is a more in-depth post about the race

****phillip island 2003: this starts off in classic phillip island fashion, with a bunch of riders having it out in the early laps. then, valentino takes the lead and makes a break for it, and it looks like the excitement of the rest of the race will be all about the fierce fight for the remaining podium positions... except there's a twist. valentino overtook another rider under yellow flag conditions - and unlike donington that year where he was retroactively slapped with a ten second penalty that denied him the win, this time he is informed of the penalty during the race. this race is about as exhilarating as it is possible for a race to get when you're watching someone riding alone in the front - and you'll be provided with some added spice with the scrap for the last podium place. in the end, valentino crosses the finishing line with an obscene margin of over fifteen seconds

^think I already posted these notes somewhere but I can't NOT mention the commentary for this race. bottom of this post I included the autobiography excerpt about how valentino channelled his fury to win this race - very revealing!

****welkom 2004: still perhaps valentino's favourite victory of them all, and with good reason. his first race with yamaha and one that the entire paddock thought he didn't have a hope of winning... until they hit the track that weekend. valentino led every single session and qualified on pole: he said the pole position felt as good as ten with honda. better yet was still to come, with valentino claiming a victory following a thrilling duel against his old foe biaggi that raged on until the very last lap. such was the pace that third-placed sete was seven seconds down on the top pair at the chequered flag

^valentino stopped at the side of the track after his win, kissing his bike and sitting down for a moment to soak in the moment. he says he was laughing into his helmet: "'and so in the end I was right!' I thought to myself. 'I can't believe it, I screwed them all... what a show!'"

****mugello 2004: this race has so much going on, and all of it is highly enjoyable. valentino might have won the last two races at mugello - but off the back of two fourth places and with mugello's famously terrifying long straight, it felt like surely the more powerful hondas would have the decisive edge. and this one is a hard fight for valentino. it's a hard fight with several riders, it's a hard fight with sete and, following an interruption due to the rain, it's a hard fight in mixed conditions where valentino initially drops back to seventh to figure out the grip levels - before speeding off to the win. all the best types of races rolled into one

***catalunya 2004: right after mugello, it's time to visit sete's home - and here valentino kicks off a bit of a tradition of memorable one-on-one catalunya duels... as well as a habit of beating spaniards at the track. it's hard fought, it's challenging, but again valentino emerges on top

***assen 2004: the third consecutive race that featured an extended duel with sete. initially involving barros too - but he crashes, and it's down to the familiar protagonists. this really works as the last episode of that mini-trilogy because you can tell how badly sete felt he needed to reassert himself in that title fight, and conversely how little interest valentino had in letting him do so. involves a hard last lap overtake that resulted in contact. sete was not best pleased, but valentino had secured the win and the championship lead

^left: catalunya, where valentino dons the doctor's garb to perform a series of 'medical checks' on his yamaha, feat. stethoscope and thermometer, before declaring it fit for duty. right: assen, where yamaha staff dress up as doctors to pay tribute to him

qatar 2004: a good old-fashioned hubris ride. valentino was slapped with a back-of-the-grid penalty for some midnight grid cleaning shenanigans and is furious about this. he gets quite possibly the best start of his career and is eighth after a few corners, continues charging and barging his way through the field... before crashing and mashing up his finger and reopening that year's championship fight. the race does get a little dull after valentino does his thing - here are the ten most relevant minutes of footage as well as some more details about the penalty and the race. the weekend that irrevocably damaged his relationship with sete

***phillip island 2004: an underrated spite ride. if you're in the penultimate race of the season and you know a second place is enough to clinch the title and you're over a second behind your title rival and you historically suck at the circuit where title deciders are held, the sensible thing to do is just ride home in second place when it becomes clear the third-placed guy is not catching up. obviously, valentino does not do this, not least because he is determined to stop sete from ever winning a race again. this goes down to the very last lap and it is either a very cool or a very dumb way to seal a title, depending on how you look at it

****jerez 2005: both protagonists make very little secret from the start of the race of just how much they want to beat each other: this is war. and it's a war in which sete has the upper hand for most of the way through (as much as you can really feel you have the 'upper hand' with valentino sitting on your rear tyre) - until valentino makes his move with three laps to go. it takes an error from valentino on the last lap to set up the dramatic and controversial finale, with the infamous valentino block pass that sent his bike careening into sete's. the actions of a man who had decided neither of them finishing the race was a more acceptable outcome than his enemy taking the win, and the relationship between the two riders manages to improbably deteriorate still further

^satisfied with a good day's work as the furious spaniards jeer. if anyone had any lingering doubts about valentino's trademark ruthlessness, they were dispelled that day

**mugello 2005: another year, another thrilling mugello battle. it's looking increasingly clear that this will be a one-rider title fight, but luckily that isn't impacting the race quality (think marc's 2019, where he was incidentally the same age as valentino is here). similarly to the year before, there's cause for concern whenever you're fighting more powerful bikes at mugello, but after a dramatic multi-rider fight valentino is not to be denied

**catalunya 2005: back on sete soil and oh god how much he would have loved to win this race. it's the tension and hatred and desperation that makes these races so exciting to watch - though sete is hardly helped out in his mission of revenge by teammate marco melandri who keeps sabotaging sete's attempts to defy valentino's curse. but melandri has whatever the opposite of main character energy is and the race ends up being another valentino/sete duel. some excellent riding by the pair of them, valentino is particularly fearsome on the brakes that day, and sete has truly taken his gloves off when fighting valentino. but of course, valentino denies sete once again and makes a break for it shortly before the end

****donington park 2005: the defining wet weather ride of valentino's career - even though it got off to a shaky start (literally) and continued to be pretty shaky most of the way. this race was held in truly appalling conditions that they probably would not race in these days, and it's reflected in the number of dnf's - one of which was courtesy of poor sete gibernau once again crashing out of the lead. for most of the way, valentino is wobbling his way into the lead and wobbling his way out of it again... but after some big scares and some time spent nicely sheltering behind other riders, he finally figures out the grip conditions - and he's off. it's one of those rides that is just demoralising for everyone else in how good it is, with valentino pulling insultingly far clear from the other riders with insulting ease

^valentino plays a violin after crossing the finish line. teammate edwards: "I looked at his data and it was scary. he was locking the front in the rain on a shitty track that was slicker than snot, at every corner. this guy's crazy!" not pictured - valentino hugging himself and shivering while parking the bike... and being provided with an anorak and gloves that he only very, very, very reluctantly relinquishes when stepping onto the podium

*le mans 2005: you realise fairly quickly that this one's building to something juicy. colin edwards, valentino's teammate, takes the lead and heads out on his own, as valentino sets off after him - eventually slotting into his favourite position sitting right on the leader's rear tyre. except, he can't afford to hang around - because sete is going faster than both of them and is rapidly catching up. this one really gets going when the inevitable happens and the three of them collide on track, and of course we end up with another sete/valentino duel. cruelly, it's another one where the winner is still not entirely decided when they enter the very final lap... but the curse will not be denied. valentino breaks the circuit record on the last lap

*sachsenring 2005: the problem with watching these races is that even if you would prefer not to know the result going in... well, every single time the race comes down to a duel between sete and valentino post-qatar 2004, however strong sete looks, however confident, however near he is to the victory... you know he's obviously not going to make it. my advice is to really lean into it - the joy/horror of it all is in discovering how it's going to go wrong this time. this race features another lovely duel between valentino and sete, at a track that suits the honda far better than it does the yamaha. valentino leads early on before sete manages to catch up and overtake him. two laps to go and sete is still in the lead as valentino stalks him around... you know how this story goes

*brno 2005: ah, the misery. listen, if you enjoyed the previous sete/valentino duels I listed, then you're going to enjoy this one too. it's the race immediately following sachsenring and it feels like basically they just continued the last one, and boy are they going at it from the very start. sete determinedly sticks with valentino and surely one of these has to go his way... includes a particularly cruel twist on the final lap

qatar 2005: one year on from the race in which valentino put his curse on sete, and it feels like this might be sete's best chance for the remainder of the season to free himself. he gets perilously close to making a break for it ahead of the battling melandri and valentino... but of course, he can never run far enough. another painful defeat (if one caused by melandri more than valentino) and eventually valentino claims victory at the circuit that had caused him such trouble the year before

qatar 2006: valentino's 2006 season got off to a tricky start when toni elias rode into him in the very first corner of the opening race, and his luck didn't get much better from there. still, the year featured plenty of excellent valentino rides - including the second race of the season, where he fought his way through from sixth on the grid. features his first tussle with the rookie pole sitter, one casey stoner, who defends sternly against his future rival. eventually, valentino faces off against nicky hayden in a decent extended scrap that went on for much of the race

***mugello 2006: boy, did valentino get himself involved in some banger races at this circuit during his time. sete tries to escape at the front, and even in a tough year like 2006 valentino will not allow that man a moment's rest. a duel between sete and valentino ensues (featuring melandri and casey), then valentino suddenly drops down to fifth, then the race turns into a three-way encounter between capirossi, hayden, and... still valentino. he emerges from the feisty fray with a much-needed win

***sachsenring 2006: you could copy paste 'much-needed win' any time valentino won this year, and sachsenring is no exception. not traditionally his strongest track, valentino's urgency produced one hell of a race ripe with tension throughout. the yamaha's struggles made for a difficult qualifying and he fought his way through from eleventh on the grid. even when he caught the leaders and passed them, he couldn't just clear off like in times past, dragging three dogged riders along with him - but he just about managed to hold them off for the win

****sepang 2006: one of the best valentino duels, this time featuring one of his oldest rivals in the form of loris capirossi. part of his remarkable late season charge that brought him within kissing distance of the title. the entire race is enjoyable but the final lap is one for the ages, with valentino vicious in both attack and defence

^no hard feelings: capirossi hugs valentino while vale is still on the bike. 2006 is a rare title fight in which valentino genuinely liked most of his major rivals. vale was exhausted after the battle in the gruelling sepang conditions and had a little sit down after hugging his team

phillip island 2006: the first bike swap race and quite frankly the whole thing is a mess. a lot happens and it's classic late season chaos where the championship standings and implications are chopping and changing by the lap. when the dust settles, valentino has snagged third place on the last lap off poor sete gibernau and chips away a little more at hayden's championship lead

***estoril 2006: sure, valentino lost the 2006 title when he crashed at valencia, but he also lost it by .002s in estoril. this race featured a dramatic twist in the title fight when rookie dani pedrosa wiped out his teammate hayden, and suddenly valentino had to consider just how much risk he was willing to take. he had mostly decided to play it safe - but then couldn't help himself and ended up attacking toni elias on the very last lap. if he had managed to bag the extra five points, then even with the valencia crash he would have won the title on countback

valencia 2006: everyone thought valentino would be winning the title again headed into the weekend, and they became even more certain of it when valentino qualified on pole. but in the end, it was not to be. valentino got a poor start and felt something was wrong with the bike (or maybe it was the tyres, if one casey stoner is to be believed), but admits the mistake that left him on the ground was his own. a bitter pill to swallow after a season plagued by misfortunes, though valentino had always gotten on well with title winner nicky hayden and was sincere in his congratulations

****catalunya 2007: from the start of 2007, it was clear that new ducati hire casey stoner would be a problem. with yamaha's struggles continuing into the new 800cc era, ducati had gotten it spot on at the first try... even if it was only casey who could completely tame their troublesome bike. for a while, it seemed easy to dismiss casey's victories as built primarily on the back of the infamous ducati horsepower, but at catalunya casey proved he was far more than just a powerful engine. one of the true classic catalunya duels, with both riders displaying dazzling race craft, and one of casey's finest career victories

***assen 2007: valentino's season wasn't getting any easier - the yamaha was one thing but his continued struggles with the michelin tyres if anything frustrated him even more. he qualified in eleventh place and doesn't get a particularly good start while casey streaks off in the front. casey is over five seconds clear at one stage, but valentino manages to hunt down his title rival anyway. it's studying and stalking and lurking and all the rest of it, and as ever casey doesn't make it easy for him - but eventually valentino manages to pass him and pull clear

*estoril 2007: casey's championship was more or less wrapped up by this point, though valentino was able to deny him just a little longer at the first match point race. this features a nice scrap between casey and valentino, and then an extended duel with dani that is perhaps the best fight the two of them ever had. it was a much-needed win in a rough patch for valentino on- and off-track - and he dedicated it to one of his idols, the rally legend colin mcrae who had just passed away

**catalunya 2008: yes, okay, I know he won the three races before that one - but this one's a more fun race! after an initial adaptation period to his shiny new bridgestone tyres, his season had finally properly kicked off with the aforementioned three race win streak. at catalunya, valentino only qualified in ninth, and pedrosa streaked off in front - but valentino and casey engaged in a highly enjoyable rematch of the previous year's duel. in the end, it was valentino who prevailed, but casey and ducati had clearly gotten their own house in order...

^the version of valentino that marc first met, before vale's race in his special football-themed livery and leathers

****laguna seca 2008: after catalunya, casey stormed on to win the next three races on the trot, typically by ominous margins. heading into laguna seca, a race casey had dominated with ease the year before and valentino had never gone particularly well at, valentino knew casey might be in danger of running away with this championship... and he was determined to do something to finally conduct this rivalry on his terms. nobody expected there would be a contest for the victory, let alone one valentino won - but he did, in a brutal encounter that served as a masterclass in psychological intimidation. the relationship between the two rivals did not emerge unscathed

*indianapolis 2008: another race, another mediocre start, if this time from pole. it sets up a fun (to watch) race in worsening conditions, as valentino takes his time to get comfortable with the grip levels before slowly and surely working his way through the field and stalking first casey then nicky hayden around the track. he makes it to the front before eventually the race has to be called off - and, in a rare moment of unity, valentino and casey are seen briefly talking to ezpeleta together, presumably to tell him they have less than zero interest in going out again in that weather. they get their way and the race is called off, with valentino bagging his fourth consecutive victory - a streak he of course started at laguna. his second and last win on US soil

motegi 2008: the title-sealing race and fifth consecutive win - not the most exciting entry on this list, but earns its place by featuring a bit of a duel between title rivals casey and valentino for the lead (after they both get past dani, casey in a rather rude way that he apologises for with a hand gesture) (not that he gives the position back and valentino immediately swoops through too). motegi had always been one of vale's weakest tracks, and it must have felt extra sweet to clinch the title at the home race of his perennial enemies at honda (as he miserably failed to do in 2005 in a deeply embarrassing performance)

^'scusate il ritardo', or 'sorry for the delay': this title was special given the heartache of the two previous years. all smiles with casey and jorge (who comes to parc fermé to congratulate his teammate)

*sepang 2008: as was sometimes rare in that era, this race involves several good fights going on simultaneously down the order. the fight for the victory ends up coming down to valentino and dani, and it's a nice little duel they put on - plus there's also dovi's dramatic fight for the final podium position to enjoy

jerez 2009: dani and valentino's young teammate jorge lorenzo are the clear pre-race favourites and there's a slight fear one of them will run away with it... but jorge never quite finds his groove and ends up crashing, while dani very much does not run away with it. valentino finds something extra after being absolutely nowhere all weekend, as he had a habit of doing. features valentino shadowing first casey and dani - and a particularly nifty contact-free block pass at the infamous final corner on casey. valentino's first win of a tough season

****catalunya 2009: one of valentino's finest career victories - and another example of his ability to wrest control of a season when he needed to. off the back of two tricky/embarrassing races at le mans/mugello, it felt like the time had come to demonstrate he was a serious contender in that year's championship... as well as assert himself within yamaha over his increasingly troublesome young teammate. the stakes are clear: jorge sorely wanted to win in front of his home crowd and valentino sorely wanted to beat him there. after a strong start, the physically ailing casey falls back, letting jorge and valentino soar off and fight it out as they take turns to tail each other around the track. a duel for the ages and the victory that transforms his fortunes in that season (some more details in this post)

**sachsenring 2009: a few races after catalunya, it was once again jorge and valentino to fight it out for the win - unusual for two yamahas at that track. it's a duel that has been overshadowed by catalunya, but this is another gem: a close and dramatic battle at a time when it felt like jorge was the one who had something to prove. but valentino demonstrates how hard it still is to best him in head-to-head combat, and he ends up beating the number 99 bike by the pleasing margin of .099s (listen I have no evidence for this but in my heart of hearts I 100% believe he noticed and appreciated this fact)

misano 2009: this race followed valentino's massive error in indianapolis, crashing and reopening the championship fight at a time when it looked like he had things perfectly under control. his traditional special home race helmet is dedicated to taking the piss out of himself - featuring a donkey because of how "stupid" he had been. but in misano he was the "flying donkey"... look, it's not the best race you'll ever watch, but after a poor start (surely not), he does do quite a nice job to overtake dani for the lead. in parc fermé, his team dons donkey ears, and he gets his own pair to wear to the podium as he greets his ecstatic fans

**sachsenring 2010: valentino's early season was troubled by a motocross shoulder injury he'd picked up after qatar, and he had to push harder and harder to keep up with an ever-improving jorge. eventually, he pushed too hard and broke his leg in mugello. this was his first race back, returning sooner than anyone had expected (except casey, who thought people were making too big a deal out of the whole thing) - and he immediately was on the pace, to everyone's surprise (not casey's, who thought valentino's main problem was just losing a bit of muscle mass). this race features an excellent duel between casey and valentino in the closing stages for the final podium position, with casey stealing it from valentino at the very last gasp. it was an impressive performance by the pair of them, a heartwarming demonstration of how mediocre bikes and broken legs can be overcome by the power of mutual contempt

***motegi 2010: do you ever feel overcome by the sudden urge to watch someone be an absolute asshole for no good reason? if so, then I have the perfect race for you. jorge is very close to clinching that year's title, and in truth it's a pretty sure-fire thing given dani is out with injury. still, it's generally not considered good form to ride into your teammate at the best of times. valentino continues to struggle with his fucked up shoulder late into the season, but spite will do all kinds of magical things for you. it's a race-long battle for third place between the yamaha teammates, and the last few laps in particular are uh. intense. features valentino dangling out his leg to increasingly comical extents - whether to try and mitigate the shoulder issues or whether to physically block jorge is anyone's guess. jorge basically rides right into the leg more than once. there are at least three separate extremely dubious moves valentino pulls on jorge. you can tell jorge is losing his mind. you can feel the sheer concentrated malice radiating off valentino. when valentino gets off the bike, the mic picks up how he tells the yamaha team that it "was fun". not everyone would agree

^you'd think a season in which valentino had broken his leg might be one where everyone lays off the dramatics a little, but somehow this year was the one in which valentino's relationships with both of his main rivals soured considerably and made the final step from 'rivalry' to 'feud'. there'll always be a slight air of unfinished business to the casey rivalry in particular, but 2010 did end up unwittingly providing us with a few gems. in the motegi qualifying press conference (pictured above), vale talks about how he knows he needs shoulder surgery - but is determined to delay the surgery until the end of the season. it wasn't a good decision for his shoulder

**sepang 2010: the race that immediately follows motegi. valentino doesn't qualify particularly well and starts worse, dropping back to 12th during the first lap as jorge and dovi set out in front. but valentino determinedly sets after them - and when he catches up, they engage in a lovely three-way scrap in the race in which jorge can seal the championship... as long as valentino doesn't knock him off. this doesn't reach the viciousness of motegi, but it still involves three riders who clearly really want to win and also really want to beat each other. his first victory after the broken leg - and his last one for a long time

jerez 2011: thing is, right, if you just ignore the bit where he wipes both himself and casey out and then has to pick the bike up and start again, it's actually a really good ride! can't fault it! did his thing in the wet again! just one little. uh. blot on the copybook. I wouldn't even say the ambition outweighed the talent as much as it was his patience, given he knew it might be the only chance he'd get for a big result for a while on the struggling ducati. it's the kind of misjudgement he makes relatively rarely in his career, and speaks to his frustrations with the continuing shoulder problems as well as the underperforming desmosedici. casey was less than sympathetic

le mans 2011: it's le mans, it's raining, you know how it goes... these conditions were pretty much the only times valentino could manage a decent pace in his ducati years. this one should've gone on the dovi list too actually, not least because jorge executes an extremely rude move on dovi I feel confident in saying dovi did not appreciate (he gets jorge back with a far more polite and civilised move). casey runs off with the win by a fairly obscene margin but behind him there's plenty of talking points - not least the hugely controversial clash between dani and sic that leaves jorge, dovi and valentino fighting for the two remaining podium spots

*le mans 2012: valentino might have expressed mixed feelings over the course of his career about riding in the wet, but it sure did its job during the ducati years as the great big equaliser. now, point of order: in my casey rec list, I described this as 'not a great casey race', which I don't stand by at all. the last casey/vale duel (that also heavily features a vale/dovi/cal crutchlow tussle), with valentino stalking and harassing casey both at the start and the end of the race - though he did exercise some advisable caution... initially. involves a last lap overtake and is valentino's best ducati performance

^the last podium valentino and casey shared, in the race after casey announced his retirement. usually it's a bit easier to tell when a valentino feud is at its worst, and the two of them joked in the press conference about how they were thinking back during the race to their 2011 jerez clash. ducati were in such a miserable place in those two years that in truth, nobody could have done much with that bike - casey certainly could have done more, but by 2010 the bike so awful that valentino outscored casey that season even after fucking up his shoulder and breaking his leg. vale's sole dry podium in the ducati seasons came at an emotional home race in misano the year after sic's passing, though unfortunately it's not a particularly watchable race. there are some other rides in those two years that are strong in isolation, but valentino isn't the star of the show - and really, it'd be a waste of our precious time to talk any more about two years that were a waste of valentino's precious time

qatar 2013: the first race back with yamaha and the first race of a 'qatar trilogy' of sorts, i.e. 2013-15, where valentino just keeps executing extremely watchable races by qualifying poorly/dropping back at the start and then fighting his way through. by the time he catches up with the pack, race winner lorenzo is long gone - but valentino can still have his first fight with the next big thing in motogp, the rookie marc marquez. there's an optimism to this race, the hope of new beginnings in a series that perhaps needed some life breathed back into it... and so did valentino. all three men on the podium have good reason to be delighted, and show it. valentino truly had not known if he could be competitive again after the dark ducati days, and he looks happier here than he has in ages

*assen 2013: his first victory in the post-ducati days and a track at which he had always been strong. partly helped out by jorge's collarbone injury (though assen had always been a bit of a bogey track for jorge), valentino overtook stefan bradl, marc and dani for the win. it's not the most thrilling of races, but is still perfectly enjoyable - and you can tell by valentino's reaction how much it meant to him

qatar 2014: bar a few high points, valentino's 2013 season had been troubled and frustrating as he found himself unable to match the top three in the championship. he decides to make one more big move - this time not by switching teams, but instead by firing his long-time crew chief jb. the start of 2014 is all about seeing if he can become competitive once again... and if he cannot then he will retire. qatar is a promising start, coming back from a poor qualifying to engage in a tightly fought duel with marc that lasts until the penultimate lap

misano 2014: valentino clearly stepped up his game this season, making him decide to continue on racing in motogp in a year in which marc was dominating the competition. race wins, however, remained elusive - but there is nowhere valentino would have rather emerged victorious than his own backyard. the opening stages are a proper fun three-way tussle between valentino, marc and jorge. valentino gets to the front and marc pursues him, so doggedly determined to get the better of valentino that he ends up crashing. the rest of the race isn't all that exciting, but it's notable as the first race in which valentino directly outperformed both marc and jorge when they were fully fit. the ranch visit happens after this race

phillip island 2014: never the most gifted of qualifiers, valentino would continually struggle to get to grips with the new qualifying format introduced in 2013 - and his grid position of eighth was typical of the time. but you can't fault him for his ability to pick his way through the field as he does here, which culminates in his enjoyable duel with jorge for what was then p2. he got lucky with marc's crash out of a sizeable lead, but it was still a good ride to ensure he would be the one to take advantage

***qatar 2015: it takes one corner for the 2015 championship to be blown wide open, when two time defending champion marc marquez goes off and drops to the back of the field. for much of the race, it looks like jorge will be the primary benefactor, battling it out with two revitalised ducatis. valentino starts badly and drops to tenth, but he works his way through the field - and eventually it is he who fights the ducatis for the win. this is actually a really nice marc comeback ride too, even if he never comes into victory contention. it is also a statement victory from valentino. game on

^valentino started the season on a high, daring to hope that the elusive tenth title might finally be his. the optimism would last roughly until they got to europe and jorge hit his stride, after which it was a gruelling defensive campaign to try and cling onto his points lead

**argentina 2015: the thing is, right, qualifying poorly isn't great. starting poorly also isn't great. but if you want to be fighting for titles, you should maybe pick a struggle and stop doing both. valentino's championship bid that year has all these charming races where he's still at the fuck end of nowhere after the first lap before heroically picking his way through the field, which feels needlessly exhausting but there we are. it is, however, exciting to watch how he creeps closer and closer to marc - and he eventually catches up on the penultimate lap. the resulting duel is short but memorable

****assen 2015: a duel that will always be remembered for the controversy surrounding the final chicane, but the whole race is a fantastic watch. valentino needed a result after jorge had won four races on the trot and had led 103 consecutive laps - and he played the weekend perfectly to achieve it. his only pole of the season and, excitingly, actually a good start too... but marc quickly slots in to sit on his rear tyre and it's a fight that continues the entire race. did valentino know what marc had been intending to do at the final chicane, given marc had admitted to repeatedly executing the move during that weekend's practise sessions? or was it just quick thinking that allowed him to read marc's move and realise he only had one counter available? we'll never know for certain - though marc was suspicious of valentino's motives and eagerly made his thoughts on the matter known in the post-race press conference. the beginning of the end

**silverstone 2015: after brno, valentino had surrendered the championship lead for the first time that season on countback and it was obvious he was in serious trouble. silverstone had proven a fairly happy hunting ground for jorge over the years and it looked like he would continue doing his thing that weekend... but then the rain came to the rescue. valentino spends most of the race with fellow wet weather expert marc stalking his every move, until marc goes down and valentino is left managing the gap to a late-charging petrucci. one of the finest wet weather performances of his career - and in several ways jorge got lucky to limit the points damage

^valentino's shadow, until marc pushed it too far and crashed. was marc more determined to beat valentino here than he would have been anyone else? valentino sure seems to think so - he later references both this race and misano as ones where marc aroused his suspicions. who knows, he might be right, but there's still a sizeable difference between competitive fervour and conspiracy

****phillip island 2015: one of the classic multi-rider fights. what valentino lacked in outright pace, he made up for in wheel-to-wheel skill and fighting spirit... except in the end, he couldn't completely make up for the deficit. all year, valentino had been fighting against the odds to keep his championship dreams alive - but at last, they were truly slipping, slipping, slipping away

**sepang 2015: one last roll of the dice, classic rossi-style... but this time it all goes horribly wrong. when the duel between marc and valentino arrives, it has an air of inevitability about it - as, perhaps, does the final outcome. but the fight itself is captivating to watch, in a raw brutality that befits the tragedy we are watching unfold. the penalty that valentino receives after the race is what truly dooms any remaining title hopes

valencia 2015: another doomed title decider, though valentino's race itself cannot really be faulted. he picks his way through the field from the very back and makes it to fourth, but he could never have hoped to catch up to the top three. quite a boring race afterwards bar some late marc/dani scrapping

jerez 2016: it is admittedly hard to vouch for the quality of this race precisely because it is such an extremely non-valentino way to win. clear and complete domination of the race - in a way he had otherwise been incapable of doing post-2009. while the title fight ended up being a bit of a dud for various reasons, early 2016 held promise that this year valentino would be able to match his two enemies on raw pace

***catalunya 2016: after the dramatic closing stages of the 2015 season, everyone was of course waiting for the first proper on-track duel between valentino and marc. it took a while to get going at catalunya, with valentino getting a typically poor start and having to ruthlessly work his way through to even get to the marc fight. but it's worth it once he gets there - like all their on-track encounters, it's a fierce battle of wills nicely complemented by the contrast in styles, and you can tell how ferociously determined they are to get the better of each other. the race that prompts the slight rapprochement between the pair of them

silverstone 2016: maverick vinales ran off in the front to claim his first premier class win, though the fight behind him is well worth watching - and warranted a mention on the marc list too. the first part is good, but the final laps are what it's all about, as the multi-rider scrap distills into another vicious little encounter between valentino and marc. as ever, with these two it's personal, and they're hardly shy in their ferocity fighting each other. but valentino makes clear afterwards he has no complaints... even if marc always reserves a "special treatment" for him

cota 2017: a lovely whiff of controversy to one of the better races cota has produced. valentino is involved in a feisty clash with the rookie johann zarco, who was well on his way to acquiring a certain kind of reputation within the premier class. it's fair to say valentino was not a fan, and he's certainly not a fan of zarco's attempted overtake that valentino argued forced him off-track to avoid taking them both down. he's slapped with a three tenths penalty his team decided against informing him of - which he's still unaware of when closing up on dani with a few laps to go

^not quite the hand-holding of yesteryear, but it was something. the pair of them disagreed in the post-race presser about zarco's aggressive riding - and, perhaps, valentino's off-track excursion that supposedly granted him an unfair advantage reminded marc of a certain other previous incident. riding standards remained a major talking point for all of that season, most notably in assen and phillip island (though valentino himself ended up coming under some criticism, in particular by pedrosa after aragon). the two rivals agreed more often than not, even if valentino still had his reservations. after phillip island: "all riders are very aggressive, so you have to be more stupid than them"

**assen 2017: his last grand prix victory and it's as true to him as brno 1996. a rough, bruising tussle between riders who aren't afraid to exchange paint, with plenty of high quality racing on offer. some rain adds to the excitement - and valentino still faced a sturdy challenge on the very last lap. he remains the only rider in history to have recorded a grand prix win over twenty years after his first. he said afterwards that "sincerely I race with motorcycle for what you feel the five, six hours after the victory". in many ways, it feels like a scarcely believable amount of commitment for so fleeting a reward

****phillip island 2017: multi! rider! scrap! in! australia! valentino's strongest result after a broken leg in a motocross accident took him definitively out of the title hunt (the second serious motocross-related injury that year for him). anyhow, they're at it again and it's a brutal battle between several protagonists who are happy to get their elbows well, well out. valentino's leathers were marked by rather a lot of rubber by the end of the race - but the most important thing is that everyone had fun!

sachsenring 2018: valentino's 2018 performances were generally stronger than the results would suggest, with yamaha increasingly out at sea in a new era hurried along by the return of the michelin tyres. still, he put together a strong first half of the season and was marc's main challenger points-wise. even this late in his career, he demonstrated his willingness to continue to learn and improve by studying satellite yamaha rider jonas folger's performance fighting marc the year before at the circuit, joking after the race that nobody had ever told folger the yamaha wasn't supposed to be good around there. while in the end valentino couldn't really pose a significant challenge to marc, he gives it a good go and gets involved in a fun fight with jorge along the way

****assen 2018: one of the classic multi-rider dogfights, and valentino contributes very nicely to the drama of the race - not least as a result of his deep love for the final chicane. while the winner always had something extra in his back pocket, a rather unfortunate late coming together ends up (probably) depriving valentino of what would have been a deserved podium place

argentina 2019: marc disappears the moment the lights go out, but the battle behind him provides plenty of excitement. there's a bunch of riders fighting for the remaining podium places, elbows nicely out, but eventually valentino and dovi have it out in an entertaining contest that goes down right to the very last lap

^winning a last lap duel against andrea dovizioso... what, like it's hard? a year on from an eventful argentina grand prix, marc memorably likens his handshake with valentino to kissing a girl. the last podium the two of them share

andalusia 2020: some silly good defending against his teammate throughout the race that mainly had the effect of allowing fabio to escape. valentino's result was quite the heroic feat given the gruelling physical conditions: 36 degrees celsius with horrendous track temperatures, with only 13 of 21 riders making it to the end. the blistering heat also hardly helped with the tyre preservation that plagued this portion of valentino's career; managing these tyres was one development too far for his ever-evolving riding style to adjust to. two academy riders could have denied valentino's final career podium, but both their bikes had the decency to break down

^three yamaha's stood on the podium that day for the first time since 2014 phillip island, and presumably for the last time until around 2064. valentino celebrated enthusiastically to the empty jerez grandstands, 21 years after his infamous visit to the portaloo at the same circuit. valentino's decision to retire was complicated by the pandemic, his past ability to bounce back from rough patches and - most of all - his inexhaustible passion for racing, but eventually he called it a day after the 2021 season

[sentfromwolves]

✧—CARVE THE STARS ⌈ a wip re-intro & march challenge intro ⌋

✧ GENRE: sci-fi fantasy ◈ STATUS: redrafting from scratch ♫ PLAYLIST: here!

Two hundred years ago, humanity expanded to the stars only to find a cosmos filled with graves. But then their children began displaying the strange ability to commune with the alien ruins scattered across the planets, waking ancient, extrasolar mecha from their sleep, and turned the struggling colonies of first generation space explorers into the fledgling galactic nation of Sol Galatea. 

Now, anyone with Resonance—the ability to interface with the alien mecha known as Relics—is conscripted by the government to pilot the near-impervious alien tech, and if the psionic overload doesn’t kill them first, the burgeoning rebellions at the edge of Sol Galatea’s controlled space will. Wren Akane knows this well—he’s been on the run from conscription ever since he was old enough to walk. 

His luck runs out when he accidentally awakens an ancient Relic in the desert of his planet, only to be embedded with the memories of its last pilot and the revelation that the war that littered the cosmos with graves is far from over. But no one believes Wren when he tells them that continuing to wake the Relics will bring the hostile alien empire that destroyed them back to Sol Galatea’s doorstep. Not his estranged father, who forces him into conscription to avoid the government executing him instead, nor Wren’s ex-childhood friends, who both have Relics of their own.

Only Wren’s rival pilot, Marek Khalid, seems to listen to a word Wren has to say. But Marek isn’t interested in saving Sol Galatea. He has big plans for what to do when the aliens arrive, a rebellion to lead, and if Wren isn’t on his side, he’s in his way. With time running out, Wren must soon decide how far he’s willing to go to save the people that never tried to save him—or if Marek is right, and he should let the stars burn instead.

🌃 SETTING ―

Two hundred years ago, the star system now known as Sol Galatea was a graveyard filled with alien ruins, ancient, crumbling structures, and millenia-old secrets abandoned to the dust.

Now, Sol Galatea thrives. Humanity has moved in, and after the first generation of children born to the star system began showing signs of Resonance—the mysterious ability to commune with and control the ancient alien relics littered across the star system—technological advancement surged, turning the scattered colonies of first generation space explorers into a powerful, isolated nation among the stars.

A number of planets, thriving stellar stations, and moon colonies compose Sol Galatea's controlled space. Territories are composed of rings that spread outward from the heart and capital of Sol Galatea, Tower Meridian. The Hecate Fracture, which encompasses the fringe planets of the system and the furthest reaching colonies, are desolate and often neglected by the interior, despite being mined aggressively for resources, as well as Relic-tech. Tensions have been rising recently between the Tower and the Fracture, and rumors of rebellion are stirring.

But with the Relic pilots on the side of the Tower, the only chance of success for a rebellion would have to come with help from within the capital. Or beyond the stars that humanity now calls home.

💥 THE CAST ―

⌈ WREN AKANE ⌋ ◈ — relic pilot & desert cryptid . trans he/they . twenty-two

Brazen, hungry for adventure, and allergic to commitment, Wren Akane is the son of explorers and a child of the desert. Born and raised in the Hecate Fringe on the backwater planet of Terra-9, Wren's Resonance scores are off the charts—and if they had ever been discovered by the Tower, Wren would have been under their control since the day he learned how to walk. After waking an ancient Relic in the desert with intimate links to Sol Galatea's forgotten past, Wren must contend with whether or not he's willing to save a galaxy that never tried to save him, or let the stars burn.

⌈ MAREK KHALID ⌋ ◈ — relic pilot & rebellion leader . cis he/him . twenty-four

Charismatic, power-hungry, and disgusted by the system that brutalized him from childhood, Marek Khalid wants nothing more than to set Sol Galatea on fire and watch the whole galaxy burn. His Relic is ancient and powerful, and while it has granted him secrets of the past, Marek has kept them close to his chest. The arrival of a wildcard Relic pilot threatens to throw his plans into disarray, particularly when Marek discovers that their Relic might have deeper connections to his than anyone had thought possible. But Wren is devilish, addictive, and a bad fucking idea...unless Marek can convince him that burning Sol Galatea back to ash is better than letting it continue to crush them both beneath the heel of its boot.

⌈ YEONGBI SEO ⌋ ◈ — relic pilot & botanist . cis he/him . twenty-five

Originally an aspiring botanist from the dusty planet of Terra-9, Yeongbi Seo was taken into custody by the Tower shortly after his sixteenth birthday when his Resonance abilities began manifesting after an accident out in the desert. Though he still works in the hydroponics labs on-base at Heartforge as a botanist, more often he is relegated to work as a Relic pilot after unearthing a behemoth mecha from the jungles of Ceridian-12. His on-again-off-again relationship with the infamous pilot, Marek Khalid, is thrown catastrophically into mayhem when his childhood ex-friend arrives at the base in chains with a Relic in tow. After all, Yeongbi might care for Marek, but he has always loved Wren more deeply than anything or anyone else in all the universe, and despite all the bad blood between them, that has not, and will never change.

⌈ KB KAVINSKY ⌋ ◈ — relic pilot & engineer . trans she/her . twenty-two

An explosive, fiery Relic pilot that hits like a battering ram and pulls no punches, KB Kavinsky is one of the most well-liked Relic pilots in active rotation. Infamously known as one of the only people able to take Marek on in close combat and have a chance at winning, KB is loyal to a fault and when she's not training on the mats, she's working in the mech shops with other engineers. After an accident on Terra-9 led to both her and her childhood friend, Yeongbi Seo, being conscripted by the Tower, KB never expects to see the one person that got away that night walk back into her life. But Wren is just as addictive and dangerous as KB remembers. And despite all the anger she still has toward him, she'd still set the world on fire just to protect him from harm.

⌈ MARSDEN NAVARRO-ORTEGA ⌋ ◈ — relic pilot & hacker . cis she/her . nineteen

One of the two Navarro-Ortega siblings, and often the bigger menace between the two, Marsden is one of the youngest Relic pilots in active rotation, and not because she wants to be. Angry at the system and angrier that she's trapped at the Heartforge while her brother is missing somewhere beyond the fringe spaces of the Hecate Fracture, Marsden wants out, and will crush anyone in her way to get it. Too bad she hates Marek Khalid, one of the only other pilots that seems to want to break the system as badly as she does. But the two despise each other after a fraught childhood spent together, and while Marsden is all for dismantling the system, she's not a homicidal maniac like her brother's ex-boyfriend. Wren Akane might just be the help she's been looking for all along to put her plans into action...but a wildcard is never trustworthy, even if Marsden needs Wren's help to finish the job.

☄️AUTHOR'S NOTE / WORDS INTO POTIONS PROMO —

Hey all! Some of you might recognize CARVE THE STARS from a long time ago. It's finally getting a rebrand from how I'd initially envisioned it when I'd first started working on the draft back in 2017. Though the core cast is the same, much of the world is shifting to hold the vision I have for this heart project, and I'm excited to work on a revitalized first draft for this remake. I have no set deadline right now for D1, but I'm aiming for summer 2024! For the month of March, I'll be participating in @moon-and-seraph's Words Into Potions event! Thanks so much for creating such a fun writing event to help motivate everyone set goals and work together to complete them this March, friend! My march goal will be 25K on D1 for CTS, while also revising HIS BODY A BROKEN LAW for first round beta ideally in the April-May time frame. If you're interested in beta reading HBABL, feel free to DM me here or on discord. I'll also be making a beta call post for it soon! I'm remaking CTS's taglist from scratch, so if you're interested in being on it, let me know. Excited to fill this writeblr with the WIP that really started it all and got me into this cool community. And if you're also participating in the march challenge, or just wanna yell, feel free to come talk to me about your wips! >:33 let's GOOO!

[foreveralwaysanauthor]

I'm baaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!

My sister, Honey, brought me home last night so I could surprise everyone at her early birthday party (today is her birthday). I was going to be coming home anyway, but I'm glad I didn't have to rely on the buses to get me home since none of them go directly from Northfield to Ware. The party was great, I didn't get home until almost eleven, and I didn't get to sleep til after midnight, but I have been writing for a while to get some of my ideas out. It's good to be home, but I'm not really looking forward to heading back to work in about ten minutes. I can just tell it's going to be so much fun (she says sarcastically).

Now, putting that whole mess aside and moving onto something absolutely amazing, I saw your graduation post on Insta! Congratulations, El! All of the hard work you've put in over the last five years has finally paid off and I am so over-the-moon happy for you. You deserve a looong break after all of that. I'm hoping to finish making a little something as a congratulations, but the only hint I'm giving you is that it has something to do with a particular Chicago-musical-based trend on TikTok.

Now, I wanted to get everything that happened at camp - good, bad, and weird - out of my head, since a lot happened. I realize I never said it before, but I arrived at camp on the 5th of July - a day earlier than everyone else - because, as the pseudo-niece of the camp's director (he was my aunt's ex and has been a friend of the family since long before I was born), I wanted to be there to help get everything ready for the staff weekend. I've worked the summer there before and been a camper since I was maybe eight or nine, so I know the place inside and out. A majority of Camp Wanamaker's layout is similar to Camp Northfield's, and if the name sounds familiar, it's the camp name I used way back during the winter prompts of 2022 - Making an Effort, I believe it was.

Camp Northfield is different in the way the cabins are laid out - boys on the west side of the grounds, girls on the east side, and co-ed lodging (usually for workers and families) in the middle. The swimming pool, sports fields, campfire pit, and medical areas are similar, if not the same, but the music hall, dance studio, ropes course, and playhouse are something I based off of an all-girls camp I went to for a couple summers that was, thankfully, paid for by my friend's family as I definitely would not have been able to afford the $9,275 price tag - Camp Wicosuta.

To be honest, it's been years since I was a camper there, but now that I've given the Camp Wico map a glance, I can see how most of Camp Wanamaker's layout is the same. I'll put up a picture of Camp Wico's map, but you'll definitely see I moved some stuff around to fit my mental layout better. Like, for example, the changing rooms by the lake would be on the right side instead, as it's currently where I see the Lakeside Lodge being; the Main House and Bungalow are where I picture the Library and Art Barn; the Art Barn on the map just doesn't exist in my head as I've just expanded the playground area (that's where Royce and Miles had that water balloon fight with some kids); the dining hall and main office are closer together in my head; and, well, I'll let you imagine the rest as you've read Camp Wanamaker and have your own vision for it, I'm sure.

I don't know if you can see the resemblance here, but I know I can. It kind of makes me wish that I'd taken the summer to work there as it feels very much like what I picture Camp Wanamaker. Well, apart from the fact that it's an all-girls camp, that is lmao.

Now, onto what's happened so far!

There was a huge thunderstorm that lasted all day and into the night. Because of high winds, a wire from a telephone pole landed on the front porch of a nearby house, and it burned the front porch of that house but didn't damage the rest of it; a tree fell on a car in the parking lot - yay for insurance - and the power went out for almost four hours, which meant no air conditioning, no fans, no showers for the sweaty abominations we called campers, and no popcorn for movie night. It was a catastrophe.

Baby’s first sunburn. That's right - ya girl is naturally tan due to my dad's family being a blend of Mediterranean and Native American, and despite the mix of Irish and French on my mom's side of the family, I have never gotten a sunburn before in my life. However, I got my very first sunburn after falling asleep on a floating unicorn in the lake while listening to an audiobook I saved to my phone. Naturally, I was in a bit of pain, but it turned into a tan after a day or so, so it wasn't nearly as horrible as my pasty-white older sisters always make it out to be.

Nacho night! We spread tin foil over the tables in the mess hall and had a nacho dump night. It wasn't nearly as messy as we thought it would be, and I really enjoyed it. I wish I had taken pictures of it, but I leave my phone in my cabin for meals, so my Mount Kilimanjaro of nachos will have to remain in my brain. Just know, they were incredible.

Made a librarian friend, Susan. Susan is a 73yo librarian who, frankly, doesn't give a damn anymore. I adore her and her no-bullshit attitude, and I wish she worked at the library down the street from my house. Susan gave me a stack of extra books they were going to toss out soon, including some old copies of S.E. Hinton's books and some books that they mistakenly bought 2-3 extra copies of. She said I could visit her anytime, and I plan to. I love Susan. She’s a real one.

A group of Amish people visited to help fix the horse stables. We had multiple children try to “help”. The Amish didn’t mind and let them. They are cool and enjoyed the snow cones we made them before they left.

Multiple days of sun showers. Danced in the rain a lot this summer. Felt very reminiscent of Can I Have This Dance from HSM3. 10/10, very fun.

Apparently, someone shot Trump at a rally. We didn’t know anything about it until the newspaper came for one of the office ladies. Seriously... what is this country coming to? I'm contemplating moving abroad once I have the money to do so. It's getting ridiculous out here.

On a better note, we had a visiting camp join us one weekend. Camp Nero. They are a medieval/renaissance camp where everyone runs around in full costume. I "jousted" very beautiful, very sweet Lady Gilmoira Embers of Willowdale (or, as I later discovered, Kenzie of Salem). She was epic. I lost. A group of us played a DND one-shot that night. I ended up just barely making my second death-saving throw against a 50s biker-esque tiefling warlock whose gang chased us on possessed motorcycles. Twas epic. Would absolutely join them again.

I managed a puppet show. We had a talking lion. I feel like whoever wrote the script must have smoked something before working on it. It was hilarious. I'm waiting for my CIT to send me the video she recorded of one of our rehearsals, but if I get it, I'll post it.

Last week, staff members had the chance to do fun presentations on their favorite things that we would present after the campers left on Saturday. Three completely separate people did presentations on sleep. Two girls did a shared one on the Romanovs; it was very informative and well-researched. 10/10. I did one about the Titanic (big shock, I know), and two of my friends recreated the Jack and Rose thing with one of those dolly push-cart things while singing Celine Dion. It was not planned, but they did great.

A literal eight-year-old called me “Mom” on accident because I’m the same age as his mom… Yeah, I had to do some mental math and suffer through a bit of an existential crisis with that one, but he was sweet and really well-mannered. I gave him extra marshmallows at campfire time. 

Two teen morons dumped vodka into the orange juice during adventure week. Both got sent home after drunkenly confessing to their crimes. Thankfully, the staff caught it before the children could be affected. I’m grateful I prefer tomato juice.

To keep this list relatively short, I befriended our camp babies - Smores, Elvira, and Mochi. Smores is a mouthy cat (as you can see) who wandered onto camp property years ago. Some campers lured her in with bits of graham crackers, and she never left. She now resides in her own little area of the main lodge where campers go to spoil her with treats before going upstairs for lunch in the mess hall. Elvira is an all-black cat who Chief Byron and his wife brought to camp as an emotional support cat. She doesn't take this job seriously anymore and will automatically climb onto people's shoulders just to lay across them like a scarf. She loves to cuddle and makes excellent biscuits when she wants to be snuggled or get belly rubs. Mochi is the camp's two-year-old husky. She's taken over for Elvira as the camp's emotional support animal, and loves all the attention she gets every day. She's very spoiled, but I had to put Mochi in jail (her crate) because she ate a kid's unattended mochi ice cream, and cannibalism is frowned upon at our camp. Her eyes were killing me internally, but she had to remain there until dessert was over.

Also, I got the chance to work on some old drawings I had started drawing on my phone waaaay back. I mean, like, 2019-2021. I think the only one I completed is one I started back in 2022, right after you posted the first part of the prologue for TMM, which feels insane now that I think about it, but these are the lengths I went to in order to keep myself from boredom between archery groups. Some of the pictures are faceless, as I can't draw faces realistically all that well, but the one I did for TMM is one of the last "cartoon-ish" pieces I've done, so that one has faces. It just felt wrong to not give them faces when I feel fairly confident drawing in that art style. I was originally going to draw everyone in outfits I've seen in my mom's yearbook and my family photo albums from that decade, but I ended up with only Bentley and Kona before I got home. Before I go into detail on the other pictures I finished, here's the one for TMM as well as the more saturated version of it (on the right) that my C.I.T (counselor-in-training) Lily, said looks cooler:

Personally, I like the og, but that's just because I'm used to looking at it. I was going to go back in and add more details as the story progresses, but I kept it simple in the end. I might add more characters if I feel up to it, but for now, it is what it is. Kona's little friendship bracelet, her Kool-Aid dyed hair, Bentley's perpetual injuries, and his watch, despite him never being on time for anything in his life (including his own birth, lmao) are the only hints to anything that I ended up keeping. I was also going to do their DnD characters once I figured out what they would be, but maybe that'll wait until later on. After all, now that I'm playing DnD myself, I want to make it as accurate as possible.

My gang's characters are chaotic at best and are definitely not a great example to work off of, but DnD art is so much fun. In our little group of six, we've got a 500lb Tortle Bard named Nik who flirts with everything that so much as looks his way; a Dragonborn Fighter named Oybek who is all brawn, and absolutely no brains, but eats the flesh of his enemies after he kills them to absorb some of their abilities; a variant human Warlock-Sorcerer named Denji who has chainsaws for arms and has some kind of deal with the mafia; a Half-Elf Gunslinger Rogue named Jordeau who wears only red and has this weird obsession with dragons; and my character Irynia, a High Elf Twilight Cleric of Apollo whose only mission is to restore light to the Underdark, but she gets tied up with this group because they're a bunch of absolute morons who think with their fists more than their brains. Yeah... we're an odd bunch, that's for sure.

Anyway, my unfinished, (mostly) faceless drawings include a very shakily finger-drawn, unpolished picture of Vivien playing drums, an old, semi-finished drawing of what I originally thought Mick and Butchy would look like together on a beach date, a very clearly unfinished partial sketch of something that will eventually become Jade playing guitar (ignore the fact that her skin is super pale, I have yet to add any shading), a half-assed attempt at drawing Miles sleeping that will, presumably, take forever to get further than its current state as the coloring for the background has become my undoing, and a somewhat blurry picture of a few OCs in the Five Nights At Freddy's: Security Breach universe (Juliet as a Mazercise instructor, Mick as a Kid's Cove snack stand worker, Carrie as a Roxy Raceway race starter, Vivien as a nail artist in the GlamRock salon, and Kona as a photographer for the photo ops in Rockstar Row). The last one is super blurry, but I think that's because I layered each image onto one canvas instead of editing it properly later on, so that's entirely my bad. I don't have the originals of each, so this is all I have to work with. I am going to go back and edit everything now that I can actually use my tablet to draw instead of my phone, but that'll take a while.

I could nitpick these pictures all day since they're not finished, but some of these were my first actual attempts at doing something realistic, so I'm giving myself a bit of a pass on them and allowing myself to feel alright with how they look. It'll all improve with time and effort, I'm sure. All the same, I had fun with them.

So, yeah, have fun with those. They are just rough drafts right now - especially the faceless ones - but I enjoyed working on them a bit this last month, so I wanted to share them before I finish them off. I might go back to my old style in some ways - like I did with the Miles one - as it's super hard to draw realistic features, but I'm pleased with them for the most part.

Now, hopefully, I'll be able to sit down and read through everything you've posted lately because, tbh, I feel like I've missed a lot while I was gone, lmao. I am super excited to read through your post about Starlight Express since it's just not possible for me to see it over here. If you have a slime tutorial 👀 hook your girl up! I can't find one for The Outsiders, sadly. I have the script, so I've been reading that and riding that emotional rollercoaster (or train, I suppose, since that's a huge theme in the background of everything), but I would love to watch Starlight Express if you have that.

Anyway, I promise I'll be back to writing STDP and CW2 soon as I need to adjust to my old schedule again, but for now, here's a sneak peek of the first five-ish pages of the first chapter of Camp Wanamaker 2 (still calling it Electric Boogaloo, ngl, but yeah)!

Warm summer air filtered through the open window, rustling the curtains that danced along the sill. Air conditioners had yet to be put into the upstairs windows of the Birch family cabin as their arrival the night before had been more of a drop-your-belongings-by-the-door-and-crash kind of arrival than a calm, well-planned one. The air conditioners stored in the basement would be taken out sooner or later, but in the meantime, the slightly overheated log cabin was cooled by open windows that allowed the sixty-degree air to clear out the dust that had settled since their last visit to New Hampshire and a handful of oscillating floor fans that send waves of chilled air circulating throughout the rooms.

The group’s mid-afternoon departure from the California airport had been a rush of overstuffed backpacks and hastily checked baggage, making their late-night arrival at the Logan International Airport in Boston even more chaotic. The almost two-hour drive from the airport to the log cabin had been… entertaining, to say the least. The Birches had rented a fifteen-passenger van ahead of time, allowing everyone a seat as well as providing extra room for their belongings in the trunk and on the roof rack. Miles had sandwiched his girlfriend between himself and one of their additional guests - a certain blonde Texan who seemed oblivious to her best friend’s raging red cheeks. Ignoring the conversations around them, Royce had watched from the far seat as Bentley’s face smushed against the window within the first few minutes of the long drive, his steady breaths fogging up the glass, but it wasn’t until Kona’s head landed on his shoulder that Royce had felt the pull of exhaustion himself. 

It had been Vivien’s idea to invite Kona. The two had become rather close during Vivien’s initial stay with them - something Vivien chalked up to having a sister the same age as the younger blonde - and after spending another spring break with them to celebrate her early graduation, Vivien decided to invite Kona along for the summer. Kona had initially brushed off the invitation, claiming she wouldn’t want to intrude on the girl’s summer of fun, but after some pushing from Bentley and Vivien, telling her about all of the fun activities she could do without her parents even knowing she had left their small town, Kona relented.

Royce remembered how excited Vivien was after that, spouting off about all the things they could do and how fun it would be, all while Kona just smiled and nodded. Vivien had tried to convince Juliet to join them as well that day, but the blonde Texan needed a bit more convincing. Camping just wasn’t her thing. She hated bugs with a passion, hiking had never been her forte, and the last time she went fishing, she had ended up driving her dad to the emergency room after her hook had embedded itself into his arm. It wasn’t until after Vivien began showing her pictures of the camp - the log cabins Vivien made sure to mention had plumbing and air conditioning, the playhouse all decked out from their performance of Hairspray the year before, and, most importantly, the dance studio - that Juliet admitted to being tempted to join them.

Carrie had settled the matter entirely, only slightly joking when she mentioned to Juliet that, if she stayed at the camp, she would get to spend not only time with Vivien and herself but also with a certain auburn-haired boy they knew all too well. Juliet had initially argued that she and Riven had nothing between them - something neither Carrie nor Vivien entirely believed - but after much talking and more than one drink, Juliet had been convinced to join them “for the sake of the dance studio.”

Vivien had gone back home not long after getting Juliet roped into her scheming plans for the summer, but that wasn’t the end of the list of people joining them at the summer camp that year. After telling their friends about her planned trip north to visit the future, Kona had managed to rope August and Zack into the group, using her knowledge of August’s people-pleasing tendencies and the ease with which Zack argued with her to her advantage. After practically begging August so that she "wouldn't have to go alone" and taunting Zack about him not wanting to go because he was too much of a wuss to climb the ropes course, it wasn't long before Kona sealed the deal, adding two more members to their ever-growing party.

What she had forgotten, however, was to tell the people in charge of bringing them that she had invited extra guests. 

It was quite the sight. They had shown up on their bicycles with their backpacks filled to the brim with clothes, ready to leave at a moment’s notice, only to find out that nobody other than Kona had any idea that they were joining them. Upon questioning, Bentley insisted he hadn’t known, something corroborated by August and Zack as they had simply been asking questions about what the camp was like, not if they could join. Faced with the reality that she had been too excited about the trip to think about asking anyone to let them join the already large group, Kona asked if it was alright, something Mick encouraged Butchy to agree to as the kids were already there and ready for the trip.

After arriving at the cabin, everyone had pretty much gone to their respective rooms and crashed, but with the five extra people under their roof, it wasn’t as simple as assigning rooms and hoping for the best. The upstairs rooms were filled easily by the usual suspects - Royce and Bentley took up their usual room while August and Zack shared an air mattress they pressed up against the dresser for the time being; Mick and Butchy had Mick’s old bedroom that still had a handful of glow-in-the-dark stars that no longer glowed plastered on the ceiling that was too high for anyone to get down without a ladder; then, Miles and Carrie had the room Miles’ had been given years prior - the scent of his cologne and, now, her perfume clinging to the walls. The only difference, really, was that Lela’s usual room was shared with Juliet and Kona - Kona using the plush, oversized chaise as a base of operations while the older girls decided to share the queen-sized bed for the next night or so until camp started.

Nobody really complained about their sleeping arrangements, not that anyone felt inclined to argue at all as the clock ticked over to two in the morning just as they walked in the door. Normally, Royce would have to bite his tongue to keep himself from complaining about the snoring that filled the room he now shared with not only his brother, but also Bentley’s friends. However, once his headphones were on and an ASMR video was playing just loud enough to block out the noise, he found himself drifting off in the hopes that he would wake up in a matter of minutes, wanting nothing more than to see his Vivien. When he woke up almost five hours later, the sun glaring through his bedside window, he had to force himself to go about his normal routine of writing something about the previous day in his journal as he realized Vivien wouldn’t be home from her final skating practice of the summer for at least half an hour.

Royce’s pen wiggled between his fingers, the nib tapping the pages of his open notebook with each downswing. He had been contemplating what to write for the greater part of a half hour already, yet nothing had come to mind apart from the only thought that consistently came to mind whenever he opened his eyes - Vivien. Was she on the ice already? Was she having a good day? Did she make herself another picture-worthy coffee with a foam heart in it? Would she show it to him later, even if it wasn’t? For what must have been the hundredth time since he woke up that morning, Royce turned toward the open window beside his bed and imagined her climbing in through it the way she almost always did while they were there.

Granted, Vivien didn’t know they were there. They weren’t supposed to arrive in Sanbornton for another day. Still, the idea of her setting the ladder against the house and climbing up to crawl into his bedroom window made Royce smile. Now that he had admitted it to not only himself but also to Vivien, he couldn’t wait to see her, wrap her in the tightest hug he could muster, and tell her how much he loved her. Two months was simply too long a time to go without her. Even though, technically, it had only been two weeks in his world since he had seen her, it had been almost two whole months for her. He had gone back with her to her graduation that took place just after April vacation, but had returned home after her family’s celebration with the excuse that he had to go back to school. He had missed her since the moment the Birch's van left her family’s driveway, but she had left his world on the first of June - his two-week wait a lot shorter than the month and a half she had to spend waiting for him.

His two weeks without contact with Vivien had felt like torture; he could only imagine how it must have felt for her to spend nearly two months without being able to contact him.

He knew he had to see her before all the workers began arriving at camp the next morning. He wasn’t going to be able to sit around, waiting for another day, knowing she was within walking distance from the house. Glancing around at his slumbering roommates, Royce took in a deep breath and scribbled out a note for his brother and friends on a spare piece of paper before slowly tearing it out of his journal so as to not make much noise. Making sure they were all still asleep, he quietly closed his journal and tucked it away under his pillow before slipping out of his bed, grabbing his phone, placing the note on his blanket, and making his way out of the room, grabbing a hoodie on his way out. Pulling the hoodie on over a t-shirt he was sure he had gotten from Butchy at some point, Royce rounded the banister and headed downstairs, avoiding the creaky steps to the best of his ability before padding over to the mudroom to slip on a pair of sneakers he had abandoned over winter break.

Sneaking into the garage and softly closing the door behind him, Royce jogged over to the bicycles he and Bentley had gotten dirt cheap at a garage sale, swiping away cobwebs and dust as he pulled his bike into the early morning sunlight that poured in from the still-open garage door. Forgoing his helmet for the short trip, Royce ensured his tires were full enough before swinging a leg over the bike and gliding down the small hill the Birch’s cabin was perched on. The air was crisp and clear as he pedaled down the street, morning dew still lingering on the grass and leaves as wind whipped through his hair, but Royce didn’t care about the way his cheeks burned or the way the rubber of the well-loved handlebars flaked onto his palms. He was going to see his girlfriend, and, frankly, that was all that mattered.

Smirking to himself as the O’Brian family’s winery came into view, the event barn on the edge of the property appeared first as he pushed himself to stand and push through the rest of the ride. The home’s large veranda was typically vacant; however, that morning, a head of honey-brown, nearly blonde hair swung limply from the porch swing as it creaked back and forth. Dismounting his bike as it rolled to a stop, Royce grinned and stepped up to the edge of the porch, reaching up to tug a strand of the person’s hair. Whipping her head back over the edge of the swing, Abigail’s olive green eyes widened as she realized just who had pulled her hair.

Nearly colliding with the wooden planks that made up the deck, Abby scrambled off the swing as Royce jogged up the stairs, her arms flinging around Royce’s middle as she laughed, “What the hell, man!”

Awkwardly patting Abby on the back, Royce chuckled, “Good to see you too, Abby.”

Releasing her sister’s boyfriend, Abby took a step back and glanced back at the house as she rested her hands on her hips, “Did you two keep this a secret or something, ‘cause that’s so not cool.”

Royce shook his head, tucking his hands into the pockets of his pajama pants, “Actually, she doesn’t even know I’m here yet.”

A smirk took over Abby’s face as her eyes practically glittered. She loved surprises, especially if she was one of the people working behind the scenes to make someone else happy. Being able to surprise her older sister - the same sister who prided herself on being some all-knowing, unsurprisable being - brought an almost maniacal laugh rippling through her. “Sissy’s gonna be pissed I saw you first. I hope you know that.”

With a soft laugh, Royce gestured to the front door and asked, “Is she upstairs?”

As she ascended the front steps once more, Abby shook her head, a sigh falling from her lips as she picked her Kindle up from where it had tumbled to the creaky veranda floorboards. “She’s out with Riven still. From what Riven told Dad on the phone, though, practice didn’t go well.”

As Abby sat back down on the swing, toeing her fluffy socks against the creaky boards to push herself back and forth slightly, Royce took in a deep breath and leaned against the railing, sighing out his question, “That Lexi girl didn’t stop in again, did she?”

Abby was quick to shake her head. “Thankfully, no. She’s fucked back off to Maine and is probably back to harassing the people up there.”

Relieved to know that Vivien’s ex-girlfriend was no longer trying to weasel her way into Vivien’s head, Royce crossed his arms over his chest and asked, “Any idea what happened, then?”

“I didn’t get the whole gist of the conversation,” Abby sighed, her shoulder just barely tugging into a shrug as she glanced out at the driveway, “but Dad said it would be a miracle if she made it home without working herself into a panic attack. Something about her dance teacher, I’m sure.”

Umber eyes rolled as Royce fought the urge to cuss out the elderly ballet teacher. He had met the woman twice in his nearly two-year-long relationship with Vivien, and neither time had been pleasant. Her constant remarks about Vivien’s “obvious lack of feminine grace” made Royce’s blood boil the longer he was subjected to her snarky, nasally voice, but it was her remark about his girlfriend’s “almost manly build and borderline morbid weight” that resulted in him having to be carried away by Riven. With the ease of someone who had been subjected to the old bitty’s torturous bullying, Vivien handled the woman with a blank face and calm tone, but Royce had a hard time refraining from lunging into the classroom and pushing the woman out the nearest window. He knew all too well how deeply the woman’s words hurt Vivien internally, especially as most of the things the woman took issue with were things Vivien couldn’t change about herself, but she always kept a stoic expression in front of the woman just to keep herself from scrambling to find a new teacher.

Glancing at the front door, Royce met Abby’s olive eyes and asked, “Think I should talk to your dad about it before she gets here?”

“Probably,” Abby nodded, shifting to lift her legs onto the swing, folding them, and resting her elbows on her thighs as she scanned Royce’s eyes. “Riven called Dad, so something has to be wrong, but since they’re not rushing to the hospital, I’d say there's a good chance it’s something psychological rather than something physical." The blonde thought for a moment and sighed, tipping her head to the side in a sort of shrug before tacking on, "Although, given how much Vivien hates hospitals, I guess we can't be sure. My advice: brace for the worst, but hope for the best.”

Nodding to himself as he sucked in a deep breath, Royce pushed off of the railing and headed for the door, turning back to offer Abby a small smile as he said, “Thanks, Abby.”

Brushing off his gratitude with a shrug, Abby grinned, “Anything to keep my favorite ship afloat.” Unlocking her Kindle and turning her attention to the novel on the screen as Royce pushed open the door, she called out, “I won’t tell her you’re here. She needs a happy surprise after this week.”

Poking his head back outside, Royce observed the middle O’Brian child for a moment, waiting until she slowly lifted her gaze from the device in her hands before saying, “Seriously, Abby, thank you.”

Although she had always gotten along well with Royce - even before her sister began dating him - Abby suddenly found herself grateful her sister had better taste in men than she did women. All things considered, Royce was a total upgrade from the psycho stalker Vivien was previously with. Nodding minutely at her fellow middle child, Abby allowed herself to smile as she said, “You’re welcome. Dad should be in his office, by the way. He’s avoiding Mom like the plague-” she paused to glance back at the event barn where she knew her mom was lurking, making sure the woman wasn’t outside before turning back to Royce and stage-whispering, “-and, TBH, I can’t blame him.”

Nodding in understanding, Royce lowered his voice and muttered, “Thanks for the heads up.”

Giving the nearly eighteen-year-old a mock salute, Abby turned back to her sticker-covered Kindle and said, “Godspeed, soldier.”

[triaelf9]

sobbing, crying, I love them all, how will I choose between literally any of the ladies they are all perfect already, HARDING ALL YOUR FRECKLES SOB SOB

I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE A NEW TEAM OF BESTIES (also, dwagon fwend pwease??) GRIFFON YESSSS I need to go re-read all the comics and stories AHHHH

[egophiliac]

IT'S BUNNY TIME EVERYBODY

(feat. Dilla)

(bugle accompaniment by Yuu)

[svtskneecaps]

not to qsmp purgatory post in the month of our lord december 2023, but genuine question for soulfire mains:

i've seen a lot of fanposting about soulfire being connected to ice symbolically the way bolas was to gas, how much of that symbolism was directly pushed or reinforced by the ccs?

as a bolas main, i can think of blue's spawn being a frozen hellscape, bad wearing the freeze armor 24/7, and bad finding green's base with the ice from a blizzard event!

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia

Your previous post regarding burnout really resonates with me as I'm currently struggling through a mountain's worth of uni assignments.

I hopeyou're being compassionate to yourself where you can. I know you rely on your writing for income but ould cutting down to working on only 2 or 3 fics instead be a viable solution?

Because longterm I don't think that even your insanely impressive skills can hold up to that kind of pressure.

Maybe if you cut back a little you'll be able to enjoy your hobbies again and rest a little more.

I know that I'm not the only reader that wants you to take care of yourself x

Hi anon,

Firstly, good luck with all those assignments! I do not miss the grind of uni when all the assignments suddenly seem due at the same time and it's like 'oh fuck' and it just...is truly exhausting. Remember to take a break after if you can!

I am trying to be compassionate where I can. Working on expanding my capacity / juice left in the tank is actually a big priority with both therapists this year, and it's something I'm actively chipping away at.

Unfortunately cutting down fics is not really something I can do because it would personally stress me out more to put a lot of things on hiatus like that. Underline the Red is already on hiatus, and The Nascent Diplomat on my end is finished, and I'll take a few months off after that before starting the next installment.

Ideally I will be finishing out some fics that will clear my calendar a bit more over time. For example, A Stain that Won't Dissolve won't last forever, and isn't going to be replaced by anything new (Palmarosa will likely slot into that space and I'll be able to work on it more). Underline the Black will be replaced by Underline the Red, and Blue and Gold will be replaced by Underline the Silver.

Eventually, ideally, I'll be working on a smaller and smaller load until I'm at about 2-4 projects (which is how I used to work). Also quite a few of my projects only update once a month or every few months, and that helps a lot. It's just that I have too many fics where I'm on a more regular schedule (Stain, Palm, Black) and normally I only have one or two fics that are on a more regular schedule, so yeah, I am looking forward to that slowing down!

But putting something on hiatus just makes me feel more burdened and overwhelmed than knowing I'm getting closer and closer to wrapping something up. It's just how my brain works! I am a finisher, and while that's really good for not abandoning projects (which is extremely rare for me and tends to only be very short projects or PWPs which I will turn away from), it's less good when I have too many projects lmao. I've gotten better at holding back (there's three fics I'm dying to write right now, which is an Efnisien/Kadek fic that I've already started but not posted anything of, Silver, and Red).

So yeah, I will be cutting back. I've already started. The Nascent Diplomat is no longer on my schedule, which means for the next 3 months while it's still posting, I don't have to write anything for it. That's lovely because I can still share in that world with no extra labour (it's edited and everything). Likewise, Stain and Black are both in their last act/s now. That's still a lot of chapters for both, but it feels good for me to know that both will likely be finished out this year.

But we are getting there! So yeah the view is to cut down on projects, but organically (by finishing out stories and not replacing every single one with new titles, only some of them) rather than forcefully via hiatuses. I mean obviously if I get too sick I will have to go on hiatus and I've done that before, but so far it's looking like I've written enough chapters ahead (most of May is written) that I can take about 2 weeks off from writing in April, and that will help a great deal as well. :)

Anyway, take care with your assignments too! I do not miss that part of uni at all

[telomirage]

in order from left to right: the face of someone who is unaware they're about to rawdog their first day back to work, the sky, the sky, the sky, the sky

[thatringboy]

hey you know that aventurine animation of him holding a gun to himself to goad ratio into shooting him because toxic yaoi but what if in the future boothill's on his knees jamming the barrel of his 9 millimeter into his forehead begging kakavasha to shoot him because oswaldo schneider died too quickly for him to get proper revenge but now that his prey is dead the powers of The Hunt are leaving him and his body's gonna shut down anyways but that was the original plan when he designed the body because he was supposed to die in this giant final showdown with schneider and now he's been robbed of both a satisfying vengeance and death and aventurine eventually pulls the trigger but nothing happens because his good luck kicks in and the gun is now jammed so they just keep staring at each other in total agony as the gun keeps click click click clicking with every squeeze of aventurine's finger as he tries to bring peace to the both of them but it isn't working and now both have to keep living past their expiration dates again and another hour goes by without them being able to move on with their loved ones and the horror of being forced to live longer and longer without them with no purpose or Path settles around them.

[queerplatonicdiaries]

squish ramble

this probably isn't gonna make much sense bc I'm kinda sleepy but I just. I love them so fucking much. we just called for like an hour an a half and for those moments everything else disappeared. all the stress, all the worries, it all seems so much lighter just because I know I have them in my life and we can talk about anything. that feeling of complete ease and comfort when we're together, even if it's over a patchy phone signal, there's nothing else in the world that could replace it. the feeling of being seen and heard and understood entirely, the knowledge that we have each other and we're going to be okay. I know we're still young, but I hope we have this for the rest of our lives. I think as long as I have them, everything else will be alright. I love them and I love loving them, it's the best feeling in the world <3