#He is simply my first SB OC

[sunnydbeam]

Glitch has returned to my pfp. I missed my boi

[shiroganeryo]

So… I made another lovechild, this time for Chuuaki 💦 The ideas kept coming, and I really liked what I came up with for his ability, so I decided to go ahead with it.

Since I wasn't able to find information on any of Yosano-sensei's children (all 13! of them!), my go-to source of inspiration was Nakahara-sensei's first child, Fumiya Nakahara. His ability is called Singing Cicadas.

Please check under the "Read More" if you're interested in knowing more about the hcs and literary insp I put into this OC, but please be warned that there will be ⚠️ spoilers for the Stormbringer novel at some point & some knowledge about SB is also required to understand what I wrote!

Breaking the news Given they're from rival organizations, Chuuya and Yosano had a somewhat "detached" romantic relationship going on - loyal (and undeniably in love despite trying to shrug it off), but not officially tied to each other. They stayed this way for some years, in this state of "lovers but not really". Both were careful regarding contraceptive methods but it seems Lady Fate had other plans and decided disregard that and land them a lucky roll. Being a doctor, Yosano was quick to catch on to the symptoms but didn't tell Chuuya until she was able to wrap her head around the situation they had just gotten themselves into.

Naturally, Chuuya was surprised, if not a little shocked, to hear the news; he then asked her what she wanted to do, and when Yosano told him she planned to carry the pregnancy to term, he couldn't help but happily sweep her away her feet.

Neither had ever planned to, nor had thought about becoming parents, but it didn't sound so bad… And if it's them, they were sure they could make it work.

Yosano hadn't expected anything but support from Chuuya, but seeing such a positive reaction brought her much relief; she then went on to remark that it was too early to even feel anything, and Chuuya, with both hands on her lower stomach, simply said that 'doesn't matter, it's already in there, right?'

How that affected their relationship There weren't any changes in how they acted toward each other as lovers, but the emotional distance between them grew shorter. In a way, the news strenghtened their already stable bond and the two started seeing each other more often, sometimes calling whenever meeting wasn't possible, albeit always keeping professional and personal matters from mixing up.

On their days off, you could either find them relaxing by spending some quiet time together at Chuuya's apartment, or outside, either doing shopping or on a fun date. They would also attend the antenatal classes together whenever possible.

Chuuya had some concerns regarding his identity as Arahabaki, unsure if that could somehow affect their child and, consequently, Yosano. Thankfully, her pregnancy was not only healthy but also well assisted by a doctor competent in the area of ability-related studies.

Yosano gave birth to a boy in late October, during the Autumn.

Personality Fumiya was a surprisingly calm and easy-to-soothe baby. In contrast to his parents' confident and assertive personalities, he's always been on the quieter, more shy end. Loved being held, as that made him feel safer, and would fall asleep pretty quickly if pressed against either Yosano's or Chuuya's chest, lulled by the sound of heartbeats.

Fumiya is a little spoiled due to overprotection but, as first-time parents, Yosano and Chuuya are both doing their best to raise him in a loving and proper environment. When it comes to looking after their son, their routine also works in their favor, since the Agency is open during the day and the Mafia's busiest hours are during nighttime.

Despite everything, Yosano hasn't (yet?) permanently moved in with Chuuya so there are times she and Fumiya stay at her place instead, whenever he's absent due to being busy with work. They're not your usual traditional family but they're happy and closely knit, and Fumiya cherishes both his parents very much.

As a child, he's started coming out of his shell little by little, encouraged by his parents as well as thanks to the few friends he made at school.

Ability Initially suspected not to even have an ability, it revealed itself when Fumiya was 7 years old.

One day, a bird that had fallen from its nest caught the boy's attention, causing him to call out to his parents for advice on what to do. The two adults shared a hesitant glance, having quickly realized the fall had killed the young, now unresponsive bird.

Before they could even do anything, a nearby cicada cry was heard, having more and more join in as if a chorus. The illusion of several iridescent cicadas rose in front of their eyes, taking flight and fluttering about around their source - Fumiya - before dissipating into thin air. The next thing they knew, there was a chirping bird nested in their son's hands.

Completely clueless that he had just brought back to life a formerly dead being, Fumiya seemed happy to see the bird become responsive again; he then passed out right afterwards, giving his parents the fright of their lives.

"Nothing Will Happen When Spring Comes" Fumiya's ability was dubbed Singing Cicadas (鳴いてゐる蝉, Naite iru Semi), discovered to be an extremely rare revival ability - the remains of Chuuya's original, unnamed enhancing ability (before merging with Arahabaki to create For The Tainted Sorrow) had fused with Thou Shalt Not Die, thus enhancing its healing capabilities to a higher level; Fumiya is able to bring back the dead, but in exchange of some of his own life force.

Such conditions sparked a discussion between the couple regarding what they should do to next; that was a burden too great for such a young child to carry, and as his parents, they were obviously worried about his wellbeing.

Chuuya's intuition was pointing him to the key that could settle the matter, however; if the genetic data Fumiya had inherited from him had played a major role in the origin of his ability, it was also highly probable that there were strings of code present inside of Fumiya as well.

Much to his dismay, that's where they would require Dazai's assistance. Regardless if that theory held up or not, he was the best person (as much Chuuya wouldn't admit it) to come up with something based on that possibility alone.

Be it out of respect for Yosano as his senior or if because he simply felt sympathy towards them because he's also a father, Dazai listened closely. He agreed that the odds were high even if uncertain, and if proven true, the presence of code strings meant that Singing Cicadas was able to be contained within a seal that kept it dormant until its willing activation, just like Corruption was.

He then made a suggestion: have the boy join the Agency. He mentioned it was just a wild guess of his, but with the knowledge he had on Chuuya's ability and former Project Arahabaki, putting Fumiya's ability under the effect of the President's was worth a try.

Chuuya sighed, gaze fixating on Yosano's; he had never gotten into too much detail about his past with her, but he knew from the way she looked at him that it did not bother her - their son was the priority, and that was the only thing mattered to both of them in that moment.

Fumiya was then subjected to a test and passed, turning him into an honorary Agency member.

Literary Background Abusing such a taxing ability could result in Fumiya's precocious death, which is a nod to Nakahara-sensei's son having died very young. The name "Singing Cicadas" is a reference to the poem "Cicadas", a poem he wrote after the passing of his brother and that mentions the Nakahara family's gravesite.

蝉が鳴いてゐる、蝉が鳴いてゐる The cicadas are singing, the cicadas are singing

In the story, the ability was named taking into account the report given by Chuuya and Yosano after witnessing its first activation; a reference to the second line of the poem:

蝉が鳴いてゐるほかになんにもない！ Other than cicadas singing, there’s nothing else!

Fumiya does have strings of code inside of him that he inherited from Chuuya so, at a later time, it was observed that Singing Cicadas had indeed been "sealed", and there were alterations present in said code strings. Reverse-deciphering these revealed the incantation necessary to release the ability, which they kept a secret until Fumiya was old enough.

The incantation itself is a line from Nakahara-sensei's poem "Spring Will Come Again", which he wrote after the death of his first son, Fumiya:

春が来たって何になろ　あの子が返って来るじゃない Nothing will happen when spring comes That child will not come back

Cicadas are often associated with being a symbol of resurrection, and I thought such imagery would be a perfect paralell to the imagery Yosano's butterflies have as well as the two of them having healing abilities.

Trivia

He takes after Chuuya a lot, so he naturally also inherited his father's tiny person genes. Fumiya won't grow past 163cm tall even after puberty hits.

Fumiya has met Adam Frankenstein when he was 4 years old, when his father and the detective stumbled upon each other by chance during one of the latter's work-related trips to Japan. Running a facial structure analysis scan, Adam amusedly took note of the way the boy's eyes were shaped just like Chuuya's, but the nose and chin resembled his mother's more. "The mix and match characteristics of human offspring are certainly intriguing."

Fumiya did laugh at Adam's signature joke "Look, I'm a pigeon", much to Chuuya's surprise.

Usually calm and gentle, but if provoked, his surprisingly sharp tongue reminds everyone whose son he is. Notoriously hard-working in anything he does. His favorite saying is "my parents didn't raise a quitter".

He's very close to Osamu Dazai's daughter, Yūko, and while Yosano finds it amusing, Chuuya laments how often this requires him to be in Dazai's vicinity.

He has always admired Yosano's kindness and strength as a doctor very much. Her being someone who helps others inspired him and would ultimately lead him to pursue a medical career in the future, as a veterinarian.

Just like Verlaine was able to peer inside Chuuya to fumble with his code strings, Chuuya did the same practice on Fumiya to figure out the release incantation for his ability, albeit in a much gentler way; Fumiya described the sensation as "the warm feeling of holding hands".

Despite being so shy, he has wondrous acting skills and is part of the drama club in school during his junior years.

Has an unexplainable distaste for Japanese Folk Music (it dampens his mood).

As a teenager, he has braces to fix large front teeth.

One of his favorite activities when young was making paper crafts such as origami and collages together with Yosano; Chuuya was invited to join them once and produced a pair of disgruntled papercraft birds. He then stubbornly practiced as he read a How To book until he could master at least 15 different papercraft shapes.

…Yosano and Fumiya put the disgruntled birds Chuuya made on display in the kitchen instead of the newer, perfect ones regardless.

In case you read until here, thank you so much! I wish you a wonderful day, please know that I love you and am sending good things & vibes your way 🫶

[satans-cake]

talking about my fnaf security breach au!!!!

under the cut…

so, my fnaf sb au is kinda just me rewriting sb because the actual story is… messy and has so many loose threads, not to mention the fact burntrap and the blob exists at all (henry’s speech was too good for peepaw to still be alive)

characters won’t change too much, save for me adding a few of my headcanons here and there. i will also make vanny more relevant to the story as well!

the story will still be gregory sneaking in and freddy helping him out (debating having gregory’s parent/parents being present and stuff, still working on that idea)

obviously i’d want to make some of my oc’s canon in my au, but if i do they’ll probably have minor roles at most (at least in the main story that follows gregory, some of them might have larger roles in lore aspects, depends really)

in my au, vanessa is vanny (i know this is a debated topic). in my au vanny doesn’t actually live at the pizzaplex, but is responsible for infecting almost all the animatronics with the peepaw virus thing (the most important animatronics that were infected being chica, roxy, monty and moon).

in my au, the virus thing makes the “worst” part about them worse (chica liking food but now eating garbage, roxy being confident but now she self-loathing but hides it by being mean etc you get the picture) and if it weren’t for the virus, they would NOT attack gregory. still working on how the virus would be removed (which i think i want to be the ending)

some character specific ideas (at least those i have for now)

freddy: the only reason freddy isn’t infected yet is simply because vanny hasn’t had the time and freddy is by far the hardest animatronic to access alone! and he would also draw the most suspicions if he were to change

bonnie/monty: yeah monty isn’t the reason bonnie got decommissioned, but perhaps he was blamed for it since the last place bonnie was seen was monty golf. it was probably vanny’s doing. in my au, bonnie and monty were friends! maybe monty even blames himself for what happened to bonnie since it was in monty golf?

sun/moon: both sun and moon were really good at their jobs before the virus! talking specifically about moon here, he wasn’t aggressive! was he a bit strict about naptime? yes, but never mean or aggressive, but he is because of the virus. he was rather gentle before, strict but gentle and would do anything to help a kid sleep. after moon got infected, something happened (that something is an injury, still working on it) that caused sun to be terrified of letting him out + management making a very strict rule on not letting moon out (only reason management made that a rule was for damage control + the daycare assistant, my oc lmao, insisted on it!)

vanessa/vanny: i haven’t worked TOO much on her yet, but i’ve decided vanessa is vanny! i’m working on multiple possibilities here. if vanessa got recommended by management without any relevant experience, management/an influential higher up might be collaborating with glitchtrap, but that brings so many questions. why would they? especially when it would risk the company’s reputation more? how would they know of glitchtrap in the first place? so it’s very heavy in development

okay that’s it for now lmao

[auralina33]

Or have a heart so wet and cold it starts rusting? (Villain!Vanessa one-shot)

I’ve been writing fanfic for a hot minute but this is the first one I’m posting here on Tumblr.

It’s for my FNAF SB AU, Memento Mori. Vanny and Vanessa are different people here, but they’re partners in crime. They’re not blood related also, this isn’t twin theory it’s more like the pre-release interpretations.

Also my animatronic OC is mentioned for like a few lines but he doesn’t feature majorly. Same with some staff characters.

Warning for some implied internalized ableism

They were throwing one of their stupid, stupid parties today.

Vanessa knew what the occasion was. They’d only said it over the intercom and in the emails about a dozen times; We’re approaching the 6 years anniversary of the Freddy Fazbear’s Mega PizzaPlex’s opening! To celebrate, we will be holding a party at the location after hours, there will be food and drinks, be ready to see the animatronics, make sure to dress appropriately…

Of course, there were things they’d kept as hush quiet as possible, likely to avoid someone showing it somewhere and getting them in legal trouble, such as the fact that they were charging people to attend, and yet that attendance was required if you were a fan of keeping your job.

The first several, many times they had pulled things like this, she had been enraged. By now, she no longer cared, and just scoffed to herself as she looked in at her reflection in the bathroom.

She’d decided to have fun with it, at least. The suit she was wearing– How she loved it, it was sharp and tidy and made her look far more polished than any dress ever did– had been cleaned and ironed thoroughly, and she was glad to see it still fit her perfectly, as it had since her prom. It’d made attending the event worth it back then, and she hoped would make this stupid party a little more bearable.

Her makeup seemed fine, too. There was no hiding her freckles, but she at least could appreciate how black lipsticks and eyeshadows looked against her porcelain skin, how they made her features stand out better.

It gave her an ominous, dark look that she was sure kept some people from talking to her, like those raven-women one would see in movies and series. That was good. She wasn’t interested in their shallow conversations, in their attempts to get to know her as, at best, an empty urge to be polite.

She looked just how she wanted to.

Now, she just needed to stop checking this.

There’s no point in it anyways. I don’t know why I bother.

Giving a dismissive shrug to the woman in the mirror, she turned and walked out.

Not even three steps out of the bathroom, she was met by neon lights, music blasting, and people walking to and fro as they talked, sang, and complained. She could hear soft steps, the louder tap of some formal shoes, and the quiet, annoying humming and whirring of the animatronics’ systems.

Glancing around as she dodged people and ignored whoever it was that had just said her name, she could see why.

Glamrock Freddy, Glamrock Chica, and Glamrock Bonnie were greeting the general public, talking about something that was quickly disregarded by her ears, probably the establishment’s history or simply stupid tales about their lives. They reminded her of people that way, going on and on about nothing, demanding attention and sharing far too many details that made her want them to shut up.

Melody was somewhere across the room– closer to where she was than she liked, which she quickly aimed to correct– hanging on to Roxanne’s arm, and they were with a pair of humans.

The first human with them had dust brown skin and curly hair, and was carefully watching Melody with that pitiful, pitiful look they always held on their face. It could almost make her laugh, to see someone who was always looking so tired and even sad. One could wonder why, but in her eyes? Wondering wasn’t worth the time.

The other human was a tall man, who had actually come to bother her with Luis a few times. What was his name again? Something with M, with a foreign pronunciation… right. Manuel. His laugh was deep and grating, she could hear it from here, and his makeup was much like Roxanne’s, not that it flattered either of them.

Roxanne had her scratch-on-chalkboard voice, and all those attempts to make herself look cool, straighten her back, whip her hair and pretend her confidence wouldn’t be destroyed if any of the people she was with were to criticize her.

And Melody?

Oh, how insufferable he was. Even as she stepped back, she could see every single idiotic quirk that grinded her nerves about him. His foot tapped incessantly, the volume of his voice was painfully quiet to the point she couldn’t even hear him from here, he kept shifting his weight around, side to side, he was looking elsewhere rather than at the people he was with, and- was he wearing headphones? Of course he was. Of course he damn was. No way the little princess would just sit here and handle the music like everyone else, was there? He’d probably made a sad face until one of the humans he was with surrendered their own.

She must have been staring harder than she’d thought, because after a long moment, the animatronic turned in her direction, seemingly having noticed her eyes on him. And there must have been something in her eye, because his smile quickly faded, his position changed into something nervous and off-put, and he quickly moved to hide behind Roxanne.

Deciding she was done fixating on this, she walked away right as the people with him noticed her. It wasn’t worth getting into an argument over.

So, polished black shoes clicked through checkered tile, lit by the colorful, glaring neon lights. She kicked some confetti away, and kept her attention on that, only paying enough mind to her surroundings to ensure she wouldn’t stumble into anyone. The song that played right now was pounding on her ears, but she tried to ignore that.

No one would talk to someone so clearly closed off, so clearly unpleasant. She’d stopped trying to pretend now. She was one of those stone-faced women in the movies now, except not in a glamorous, sexy way, but in a way that made people feel disgusted. That had been her for years now.

And she’d grown old enough to be fine with that.

No one would talk to her, except for maybe the marketing boy that couldn’t seem to take a hint. She needed to put a special effort into avoiding him, she remembered.

Her head lifted in alarm, and she looked around, searching for any possible threat of discomfort. Nothing, she could see nothing, they were judging her, not pitying her, it was fine-

“NESSIE!”

She paused, and looked around in disconcert, finally processing the familiar nickname said by the wrong voice.

There were two rapid taps to her shoulder, and she whipped around, damn near ready to swing a punch at whoever had the guts to touch her.

Only to then stare at a familiar animatronic, staring at her with an amused, questioning look on their face.

“...Heya.” There was a half-laugh, and that face, painted two shades of blue and framed by long white hair, craned up slightly to look at her, “Earth calling to Nessie! Everything okay over here?”

“...Ivie?”

“Well, duh,” The animatronic talked just like her dearest one, but in that low, raspy voice, and lifted a hand, tapping ‘his’ own head, “Of course. We’d have bigger problems if it weren’t me.”

“Are you unhinged?” Incredulous didn’t quite cut how Vanessa felt right now, “What in the world are you doing? Why isn’t Sunnydrop in control? Why in the world would you approach me?”

“Sunny is sleeping, because they stayed up until the crack of dawn yesterday. And what’s wrong with me being with my favorite girl? I thought you’d be happier to see me.”

The affectionate words, said in that voice, made something painful and acidic rise up her throat. She swallowed it down, and decided to reprimand.

“You’re going to blow our entire cover. Everyone knows the Daycare Attendant, especially the Moon version, doesn’t like me.”

There was a small ‘pfft’, and an eye roll, “Do you really think anyone cares? C’mon, Nessie. No one’s watching. No one gives a hell about what Moony does. We’re fine.”

“I… I guess. Fine.”

“You don’t sound happy about that.”

She couldn’t help it. She just made an uncertain face, and tried to push down that strange, sickly feeling in her stomach.

The animatronic, no one else would guess otherwise, seemed to think for a moment, “...Is it the voice?”

“What?”

“Do you not like me talking in his voice? I can’t do anything about the face. But would it be better if I talked in my own voice?”

Vanessa shook her head, “It’s fine. That’d be completely ridiculous. You’re already risking it just by being with me.”

“We can go somewhere else. Bet you no one’s going to come looking.”

Whether she liked to admit it or not, this sounded very, very tempting. And clearly, Ivie knew this, with the way her- remote control toy leaned forward and gave her a little grin. She glared back, which only got her a soft head tilt in response.

“You’re ridiculous,” She sighed.

“Is that a yes or a no?”

Without another word, Vanessa took the liberty to grab the animatronic’s arm, and start leading them away from the crowd and the voices, to which Ivie soon had them follow, with a small skip to their step, swinging Vanessa’s hand slightly as they walked together.

Eventually, they came to a darker, quieter spot, where most people didn’t hang around or even glance towards, probably because there were no snacks, and the music was muffled. The latter wasn’t a downside for her, however. It was nice to get a break.

She stuck a chip she’d snatched off one of the tables into her mouth, and glanced back at the… morbid… thing.

Ivie was acting as she usually would, adding to the dissonance. She moved her puppet in front of her, hopped back a step, then held out its hands, “Okay! Watch this.”

With this, the animatronic’s hand came to knock at his own chest, and he made a noise which Vanessa could assume was Ivanna trying to have him clear his throat. It sounded the most like he was glitching, and if it weren’t because nothing else seemed wrong, she really would have wondered if Ivie just broke him.

“Hellooo!” A new voice called out of that mouth, familiar and comforting, with its light, angelically high sound.

The horrible feelings fading the slightest bit, as long as she didn’t look at the animatronic directly, Vanessa couldn’t help but find herself starting to feel curious, “...How… are you even doing that? I don’t see any reason why these machines should be able to play external audio through their voice boxes.”

They stared at her for a moment, then went limp and looked down, then simply shrugged. When she continued, it was still in that voice, like that of a joyful spirit.

“I don’t know, honestly! I just started poking around the parts of the system I have access to. I opened a thing here, I followed a little rabbit hole from there, a pop-up showed up and I accepted it, then another one and I accepted that too, and then I talked and heard my voice through the screen. Neat, right?”

Vanessa stared back.

On one side, she could certainly facepalm at how easily Ivie could have ruined everything doing whatever she did. On the other side, it was clear she’d just been finding any way to entertain herself, and that smile was almost adorable.

“I can’t believe you.” She finally responded.

“Well, you’d better believe me!” The animatronic gestured to itself.

“I can’t leave you unwatched for even 1 day. Incredible. This is going on the ‘Ivie being insane’ list. I’m going to have to reorganize it and all.”

Vanessa put in a specific effort to make her tone and expression completely deadpan, and felt the slightest bit rewarded when this earned her Ivie’s laugh. It was slightly rough and hearty, and filled her heart to the brim.

Ivie’s laughter cut into some small giggles, before the puppet shrugged, “You can always count on me to give you an interesting day!”

Then, however, it slowly dropped, and Vanessa had a softly concerned look directed at her.

“...And to get you out of places where you’re not comfortable. I want to ask, are you okay? You were covering your ears pretty hard back there.”

She very, very hurriedly shook her head, “Of course I am. It’s not that bad. I’ve had worse.”

“Alriiight… We can go farther from the speakers if you need, do remember that.”

“I don’t need that- But-” She sighed, “Thank you. I do guess I like it better here. So now, let me ask…”

“Yes?” Ivie’s voice came, slightly confused, but willing to listen and answer, paired with a head tilt.

“Why did you come approach me? You know it’s risky.”

The puppet looked away, and shifted its weight slightly, crossing its arms, “...Well, it gets lonely where I’m staying, you know? I can read, I can watch stuff, I can plan things, but I don’t really have anyone to be with.”

In hindsight, it should have been obvious. But Vanessa still found herself making to say something, before letting Ivie continue speaking instead.

“I just wanted to be with you. And I figured this would be a half-decent way to do it. I… promise I’m trying to be careful. I know it’s a bit dumb, but-”

“It’s not dumb.” Vanessa shook her head, “I don’t know how I didn’t realize. It should have been obvious.”

“It’s okay! I know there’s not a lot we can do about it.”

“Maybe. But… I’ll go see you once everyone’s gone. Would that be of help?”

“...Yes.” It gave her a gentle smile, much like Ivie’s, always like Ivie’s, “Yes, it would.”

Ivie noticed her stare, it seemed, and walked up until she was right in front of her. And so, they stared at each other for a long moment. She couldn’t quite stay in place, and her foot moved on the floor, resisting the urge to tap. Ivie probably was moving where she was, but in front of her, stayed still.

After a good several seconds, any leftover uncomfortable feelings Vanessa held started to fade to pure questioning.

Then, Ivie giggled, poked her, and backed up again, making her raise her eyebrow.

“What was that?” Vanessa didn’t get it.

“You’re cute when you’re confused.”

This got her to feel almost insulted, though she knew, deep inside, she didn’t really mind. Especially not seeing the look on Ivie’s face as she continued to examine her expression.

After a moment, she scoffed, “Dork.”

“Dorker.”

“That’s not a real word.”

“You’re no fun.” Ivie gave her an icy mock-glare, which she wasn’t impressed by, then dropped it and grinned, “Anyways, what were you doing until now? Because it seemed like you’ve been just trying to glare people to death for the past hour.”

“For how long were you following me?”

“I was trying to catch your attention!”

She rolled her eyes, “...I wasn’t doing anything interesting. I was just trying to avoid people. You know how I feel about them all.”

“I could tell. You gave Melody a good scare.”

“He deserved that much. He’s fucking annoying.”

Now Ivie’s mouth opened into a lightly confused look, “Really? I’ve always thought he was really cute.”

“I don’t know what it is about him. I just can’t stand him. I can’t wait for when we get to him, maybe then I’ll be able to tell him to bother me as little as possible.”

“Well, I-”

Ivie suddenly paused, and stared ahead. Her expression shifted slightly, but Vanessa couldn’t tell what was up. At least, not until Ivie spoke, mumbling as quietly as she could to herself, softly placing a hand on her chest.

“Oh, Moony- Shhh, shhh, no… I can’t say much, but I can say Melody’s going to be okay for a while. We’re not going after him any time soon. Don’t freak out on me, okay?”

Vanessa stared at her- No, no, at her puppet- Suddenly having those horrid feelings weigh back on her. She hated these moments. They made her want to crawl out of her skin.

“Do they- Does it… talk to you?” She tried asking, putting a mental distance.

“...I don’t think you’ll like the answer to that, Nessie.”

She looked down at the ground, and messed with the decorative buttons on her suit. Her throat felt dry, yet like something wanted to rise. Her face felt hot, in a bad way. Her expression wasn’t much different from usual, but her hands were unsteady.

Ivie noticed this, and the moon-puppet-thing looked at her in concern. It made a pose as if thinking, then Ivie had it snap its fingers, and it spoke up again, “Hey… How about you go get yourself some more snacks? Maybe a drink? And save some chips for when you come see me, pretty please?”

“Sure- Sure.” Vanessa nodded, hurriedly, as she adjusted her suit and started to walk past her and away, “I can do that.”

“Great! See you in a minute, then.”

“...Yeah. I’ll be back. See you.”

[vanana-r0tat3]

ah mi amor 🤤 ouh this dude is so fun to draw it was hell but i had a lot of fun designing their jacket was inspired by @/rosiieesstuff's jacket she gave her sb oc!* QUICK EDIT- her jacket was actually designed by @/elkius so credit to her as well ALSO im a lazy shit so im just making gregory celia's kid JEJDHDJSJ

a bit of lore my jf wrote below the cut :)!!

Gregory's skipping school to go out to Freddy's, ala pizza simulator, because Celia working the night shift has been too exhausted to simply take Greg in the day themselves. Because, y'know, you aren't gonna want to go the place you're at 50% of the time that you know is a safety hazard and runs up your money until you're dry. Plus a lot of the disappearances are kids in Gregory's own class so Celia is really just like "We can go to chucky Cheese" and Greg is pissed because that place fucking sucks.

So maybe one day a classmate is going there for a birthday field trip kinda thing but could only afford enough to get Freddy for one last show. This tying into the show where Freddy conks out after seeing greg for the first time.

It's at least 10 bucks per kid to get in and Greg asks Celia but they say no so instead Greg sneaks out as Celia is sleeping before her shift to join his friend's party, keeping his head down and being able to slip by but as a consequence having to stick with a buddy because he didn't get a pass because he didn't have any money.

The party goes on for so long that Celia is on their shift and to avoid getting in trouble Greg sneaks into Freddy. Celia thinks they see him but cant be too sure since a lot of kids wear Greg's type of clothing

Celia doesn't notice Greg is gone before they leave out to work because he places a bunch of conveniently shaped pillows and turned off his lights so Celia is like "oh cool hes taking a nap for once" and goes to work why threy didnt get a babysitter to take care of gregory while they went to work i do not know

= now some extra stuff

- Gregory will call Celia “Mamá” when generally referring to them, but will call them “Nody” directly - Lore reasons for why Gregory's white, blame his mom HRJRFDHJGFJ - Celia is fine working with kids but actually hates them. Gregory is the exception, hes a brat but hes THEIR brat (they would say this with love) - Celia is 27-28, had Gregory a bit young but he was a happy accident - They are literally both bastard shitheads and probably bump heads a lot, but Celia does love the little guy tons - Celia is also Chilean (south american/latino) - They didnt teach Gregory much spanish, mostly just small words and phrases. though they themself can speak it fluently

[kaioken16]

We Need to Talk (Mallek Week Day 4)

Day 4: Mallek working through his feelings for someone (in any quadrant) or write how Mallek dies.

I tried to think about how to write this one, the idea was in my head but difficult to put into words, but I got there eventually. Choosing the first prompt I wrote this piece about Mallek trying to figure his feelings for Zack (My OC) after learning the other has feelings for him. I’ve also attached a google doc link with the pesterlog section in color and text. Please enjoy the read!!!

Word count: 2036 Rating: for everyone Characters: Mallek Adalov, OC

Mallek was sitting on his couch, he was just staring at his palmhusk. Tightly holding some device with both hands. A look of stress was spread across the troll’s face. On the screen he was staring at his trollian app, grumbling his frustration he just tossed the device aside. Grabbing a pillow, he then loudly groaned into it. Why was this so hard? Why couldn’t he just talk to Zack. Why was this difficult to express? Thinking about the human, his cute adorable face. Those golden eyes, his smile… See. It was SO easy to think about and let the thoughts run around in his mind, but write or physically speaking to him.

His feelings had been compromised, and complicated now after learning how the other felt about him. It was worse since it was eavesdropping, technically. After a party, he was halfway between consciousness and sleep, and Zack was talking with Diemen about Mallek thinking he was passed out, and during this conversation, the human shared with Diemen his romantic feelings for Mallek, and he that was in love with him. Of course, Mallek was shocked and had to remain silent while they were speaking. That was a few days ago, and since then he had been awkward around Zack, and he had been trying to message Mallek, but the cerulean had been avoiding his messages.

Of course, this wasn’t the right course to go about this… Zack might take it the wrong way or think he had done something wrong to offend Mallek. But Zack could never do that to him, and he didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings by ignoring him. Zack had told Diemen that even though he had feelings for Mallek he didn’t want to jeopardize their friendship or make things awkward. Too late for that. But again, he heard something that wasn’t supposed to. Mallek was confused about how to approach this, and couldn’t keep dodging Zack forever since the other could just as easily come straight to his hive. The silence was broken by the notification noise from his palmhusk, he knew they were from Zack. Sighing, he grabbed his device. Preparing himself, he began typing a response to the other.

--previous messages-- --sent last night at 23:25-- GL: Mallek are you okay! GL: Has something happened, you haven’t responded to me. GL: Have I done something? Have I upset you or are you seriously lost in your coding?? XD GL: If that’s that case, then I just wait until you’re done. Reply when you can. --sent 5 hours ago-- GL: Okay this is really weird… What’s going on? Have I done something? --sent 2 hours ago-- GL: Please answer me, I’m getting really worried about now. GL: Dude. I will come over to your hive. --sent 5 minutes ago— GL: MALLEK!

--snakeBytes [SB] began trolling GallantLuminescent [GL]-- SB: hey zack; GL: Hey? Hey? What the fuck has been going on?! Why have you been ignoring me, what did I do?! What’s wrong with you, are you hurt? Did you lose your palmhusk? You don’t respond for days and then just reply with “hey zack;”!!! SB: sorry; i apologise; i didn’t mean to hurt you by ignoring you; SB: sorry for making you worry about me; it wasn’t just you bro, i’ve been off the grid from everyone for a bit; i just needed some space from everything; SB: i should’ve given you a heads up; forgive me?; GL: Alright… GL: I can understand you needing some space, and yeah, a heads up would be nice. I thought something had happened to you. Sorry if my messages were starting to annoy you. SB: ah it’s all good; you could never annoy me; it’s cute that you worry about me; GL: Oh, good you’re back to normal (-_-) SB: :P; SB: hey; have you got time to come over for a bit?; SB: there’s something i kinda wanna need to talk to you about; but like face to face; SB: it’s important; so you can understand why i’ve been distant; GL: Yeah, I was gonna come over when you weren’t replying, I can be there within the next twenty minutes or so. GL Is everything okay? SB: yeah; yeah; don’t panic it’s nothing life-threatening; but; we need to talk; GL: Alright. I’ll see you in a few. SB: yeah; see you soon; --snakeBytes [SB] ceased trolling GallantLuminescent [GL]--

Mallek felt better, finally replying to the other relieved a little of the tension. But when Zack arrives, it’s gonna be even more awkward with him standing there in front of him. What was he gonna talk about? Was he gonna tell the other that he heard about his conversation and he knew about his feelings. He was gonna tell him how he felt… How did he feel? Thinking about it, the cerulean honestly had never considered if his feelings would develop for Zack.

But after spending all this time with the other, becoming closer, a strong friendship. Sure, Zack was one of the few people he was flirty with, he felt comfortable to lower his guard around the human, and vice versa, Zack, in the beginning, had been reserved, guards raised up, always looking over his shoulder. Now he was at a point where he could just fall asleep beside Mallek and not be on high alert. Zack felt safe with him…

And he felt safe with the other, thinking back to more of their tender moments, the pair weren’t always subtle about their mutual attraction, joking, flirting, and Mallek teasing the other. Cutting out the bullshit, right down to it Mallek did have feelings for Zack. He liked him. But it was just difficult to express it into words. He needed more time. He couldn’t keep Zack hanging on by threads and he wanted to give a proper answer.

He likes Zack but was he ready to be in a relationship with him? Is Mallek boyfriend material? feelings aside would a red relationship between him and Zack actually work. Shaking his head to the sides, he was thinking too far ahead about this. At that time, hearing his door knocking, jumping out of his seat, quickly approaching his door. Taking a deep breath, Mallek opened the door to Zack, dressed in his varsity jacket zipped up, jeans and boots.

When their eyes met, Mallek gave the other a half-hearted smile. “Hey, Zack.” He simply said.

“Hi…” Zack returned with an awkward smile, the troll then gestured for the human to come on in which he did, stepping inside with Mallek closing his door.

“I would say sorry about the mess, but you’re used to I-” His attempt to make small talk was cut short when Zack without warning threw his arms around Mallek, hugging him from behind.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” Zack had buried his face into the back of Mallek’s shirt, his voice was muffled a little, but the cerulean blood could make it out. Just his cheeks were blue, blushing from the other’s embrace.

“I really had ya worried for me huh?” Mallek looking back at the other, he couldn’t help but smile at him. Just then Zack let go of the other, he felt a tad flustered, rubbing the back of his head.

“S-Sorry about that… So, what was it that you needed to talk about?” Curious to know what Mallek wanted to talk about, the other then gestured for Zack to sit down with him.

“This is kinda hard for me to express, but… You need a clear answer from me.” Looking down into his hands, occasionally looking at Zack.

“So, I kinda, sort of… Overheard your conversation with Diemen. Back at the party, when you guys thought I passed out… I wasn’t.” Mallek’s words were awkward, hesitating with each sentence. Zack at that moment had to process what the other was referring to, and upon realising it, his face went dark with blush.

“Y-You… You were eavesdropping on us?” This surprised him as Mallek wasn’t the type to do that. The troll started waving his hands frantically in a defensive manner.

“No, no, no! Not intentionally. I was about to pass but then I heard my name, and then I felt awkward, so then I just kept still and waited until you were done.” Mallek explaining to the other. “I didn’t mean to listen, but I couldn’t help it…”

“Wow this is really uncomfortable. So how much did you hear?” Zack nervously asked, Mallek was able to look the other the eye, awkwardly chuckling.

“Haha… I wasn’t listening to every detail, just what you said about me… That I make your heart beat faster.” Zack put his face into his hands, hiding his blushing face.

“Oh god.” His voice muffled in his hands, this wasn’t happening. He wanted to die right there.

“I was avoiding you, but it was because I felt awkward knowing about this… But also, I needed to think about where my own feelings are on this.” Mallek gently placed his hand on Zack’s shoulder, smiling.

“I wanted to explain to you how I feel about it, and you… But I was struggling with how to go about it, and I kept hitting a wall. Again, I should’ve messaged earlier, so my bad.” The awkwardness in his voice was gone, reassuring the other.

“I like you Zack.” Mallek simply told him, making Zack look up at him. “You’re a really good guy.”

“It’s a lot of fun being around you, and I learned so much from you. Stuff about the sessions, my powers, and the world, and life beyond Alternia.” The cerulean turned to face the other.  

“I really love how kind you are too… You’re so strong, even though you have your own demons. You keep moving forward, carrying others.” Listing all the things he liked about Zack was making the human’s face blush even more.

“You make me smile, I feel comfortable around you. I don’t have to put a façade around you, we are at a point where I can share things with you.” Mallek reaching out slowly, his hand resting over Zack’s.

“I don’t wanna string you along, or give mixed signals… I like you too, but I’m ready to initiate a relationship/quadrant with you.” Zack’s expression changed for a second, disappointment, confusion, but he understood.

“Yet.” Mallek added. “With everything hanging over us, my life, your mission, and the game. It isn’t the best of times, the extra-long distance too since you're often off-planet.”

“So, after we're at a more stable point with our lives… We can go on a date and go from there.” Mallek said, smiling at him. Hearing that made Zack light up.

“Is that okay?” Mallek asked the other who just shook his head. “That’s absolutely fine.” Zack answered chuckling nervously with Mallek laughing with him.

“I’m willing to try this. I… I want to.” Mallek squeezed Zack’s hand, the other holding his hand tightly too.

Later on, the two were playing one of Mallek’s games, mashing buttons on their controls, with the troll deliberately trying to knock Zack’s arm to throw him off his game. Both of them laughing and just having a good time, back to normal. Mallek was also looking at Zack from the corner of his eyes, the other focused on the game. His cheeks dusted a faint blue shade of blush, smiling warmly at him.

Zack could understand where Mallek was coming from. He wasn’t expecting them to just start a loving relationship there and then. But his answer still surprised him. They needed time, it took time for them to build a friendship and to trust each other as partners in the game. So, a romantic relationship would take as much time, love takes time, and it takes effort.

With their individual lives, with Zack trying to pilot the ARK, always at the different point of the universe, Mallek’s plan with the drones, learning about his session. And he didn’t want to confess to Mallek and possibly damage their friendship, but the other had the same feelings for him. Just to a different degree to Zack, and that was okay.

[quiviktories]

               ( demigirl ) haven’t seen QUINN-VIKTORIA “QUIVI” NIKOLAYEVNA around in a while. the ADELINE RUDOLPH lookalike has been known to be (+) DILIGENT & (+) GENTLE, but SHE can also be (-) INTIMIDATING & (-) STONE-FACED. The 23 year old is a JUNIOR majoring in AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE. I believe they’re living in FIDELIS but I popped by earlier and no one answered the door. 

                         okie dokes y’all I’m rly sad my muse for Link n Eden just lightning mcdied but as an apology ( to myself ) I’m bringing perhaps my OLDEST OC to Lockwood !! ( I’ve had Cyrus for three years , Quivi’s existed for five. ) But she’s actually a more fantasy-oriented OC so it was fun modernizing her up for Lockwood !! So more abt my battle princess under the cut. // like to plot after reading the intro

              TWs: Violence, death, emotional abuse, mentions of mental illness ( ocd ), ptsd

BASICS / HISTORY

Most important facts abt Quivi are she’s 6′3, has a six-pack, and can drive. Also bi bc I can’t write straight OCs with my bisexual ass.

OKAY OKAY ALSO RLY IMPORTANT FACT : She’s selectively mute , so Quivi will either be communicating through written words or sign 90% of the time. There’s two reasons for this :

Quivi’s first language is not English ; if you can’t tell already , she’s Russian , and she’s still learning English. She’s more of a visual than auditory person so writing English is easier for her than speaking , and she’s honestly very insecure about it , so she chooses not to speak partially because of that. She learned sign very easily and is more comfortable with it than speaking.

The other reason . . . is bc of her past but I’ll b getting to that. 

So she was adopted. Quivi doesn’t know where her biological parents are from , but as a baby , she was taken in by a Russian businessman named Nikolay Andreyevich and . . . she had the same birthday as his biological child , Lukas. Exactly. Birthday was April 8th 1996 ( tech as of rn Quivi’s 22 but I just put 23 bc it’s easy ) , so even though Quivi and her brother weren’t blood , they were always referred to as twins.

Now their father was a bit of an asshole , to say the least. You know how sometimes parents often pit children against each other ?? Well , you might expect me to say he did that to the kids to try and see who could run the company.

He didn’t !!

No instead he decided which one was going to lead ahead of time and treated the other one like dirt 

So yeah Quivi was the one who was treated like dirt

This was because Lukas was going to be the heir, and Quivi was going to be his bodyguard. So Lukas was spoiled rotten and Quivi was trained extensively and given brutal criticism so she’d come out tough as nails and only focus on being the perfect soldier / bodyguard.

She was taught to keep her emotions inside , never to express herself , and to always be silent. And she’d be verbally berated and chastised if she failed to comply with either - she had to be a stealthy , emotionless machine. And . . . yeah. That’s the second reason for her selective mutism. 

So yeah , that was her life up until she turned eighteen. Because at that age, their father died, and now it was just her and Lukas.

And he treated her exactly like their father did. He was a spoiled brat and believed Quivi was there to simply act as his bodyguard. And yeah , she obeyed him. But Lukas didn’t have his heart set on being a businessman , no - he wanted to be famous. And he ended up climbing his way to become an Instagram influencer and even bought his way into getting a record deal so he could put out bad Youtuber music.

...Quivi hates his stuff. To this day

Quivi was eventually cast to the side to the point where her brother wouldn’t even acknowledge her as his bodyguard. He acted like she wasn’t even there. And Quivi hated the way he treated other people - when they turned twenty , he got a woman pregnant and never bothered to see her again. And Quivi ended up finding her and helping her take care of the child when she was born.

And that was around the point Quivi decided her brother was a fucking dickhead and stood up to him , cutting him out of her life. And she focused on making a life for herself , and used what she got of their father’s inheritance ( because their mother insisted both twins get something ) and paid to go to Lockwood. 

PERSONALITY / CHARACTER

Quivi is the epitome of someone who looks rly scary and intimidating but oh my god is she not. She’s very gentle , very polite - always uses formalities and puts others before herself. Holds the door for twelve people before going inside herself.

But also , she can fucking fight like there’s no tomorrow. She was trained for years , and she probably knows a few ways to kill a man. Was trained with a few weapons just in case , and definitely is a master of self-defense.

She has OCD and as well PTSD from her childhood. I will very rarely mention this in threads , but it’s important to note. ( I have both , as well. )

She never really had nice / fun things as a kid , so she has a lot of catching up to do. The little things make her so happy , like McFlurries , bad pop music , the cliche Shakespeare stories everyone reads , etc. 

But , again - she was never encouraged to show emotion. So she comes off as very neutral because of this reason - but trust me she feels a whole lot and when she does smile it’s a sight from Heaven.

She’s a sporty person !! She’s into fencing , but that sport’s not offered at Lockwood , so she’s also on the gymastics team. Even has a varsity jacket for it.

Also in Theatre ( the club ) !! Not as an actress , however. She’s on the set crew. But she wants to be an actress in it someday , or even do some sign translations for the audience.

Tatiana was a stranger to her. But the stranger you know everything and nothing about , because you hear about her all the time from everyone else. So yes , in a curious manner did Quivi pick her name - but you know that feeling you get when you wonder if you were the deciding vote in that shit ?? Quivi wonders that ( obviously , she wasn’t , but she gets that feeling every time someone brings up Tatiana and the Watershed )

God I love her she’s my gentle giant bby and again I’ve had her for . . . five years n tbh like Cyrus a good portion of her character was originally made to Vent my own stuff out so. She means a lot 2 me.

Hope y’all love her.

WANTED PLOTS / CONNECTIONS

sb in Theatre who wants to get Quivi onto the stage tbh that was the First thing I thought of 

sb who Quivi can teach Russian or ASL !! Also others who know ASL would b great bc that’s Quivi’s preferred method of communication

Someone who Quivi can trust with actually talking to ?? They’d have to be really close , though , because Quivi only speaks to the people that she trusts

A nerd who Quivi befriends and just. Listens to them talk about the stuff they’re interested in. Bc honestly learning and listening is what she likes to do - not like Ami who fuckin CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP with the studying but. Quivi’s literally been deprived of so much. She likes to learn what she doesn’t know.

Sb who sorta thinks Quivi is all SUPER FUCKIN SCARY AND PROBABLY A BITCH bc of the RBF but when they actually meet her,,, they think she’s so sweet

Lowkey a fuckboi or sb who could flirt w/ her n she just. Turns em down. Stone-faced. Might kick them and make ‘em fall or smth idk Quivi’s that person who tells u to go chop a guy’s dick off when he says one rude thing 2 u

Literally okay in my personal headworld / lores it’s a part of Quivi’s culture to settle things like minor disagreements with a duel to the death and it was a running gag on earth that Quivi would see ppl get in2 like. Twitter fights. N comment “challenge them to a duel to the death” n everyone else was like QUIVI NO

she’s... kinda like Diana. like, Wonder Woman Diana.

I call her Wonder Woman a lot

Bt this is Watershed so it’s very different from that!! Lowkey tho I’m proud of the world I created for her like I literally made a whole language + alphabet for her world 

[thesilverdragoon]

REALLY LONG CHARACTER SURVEY.

I’m not subjecting anyone to this horror. Stolen from @crimsonfluidessence​

BASICS.

FULL NAME: Vesevont Nevelaux

NICKNAME: Ves, “Cap”

AGE: 49

BIRTHDAY: 15th Sun of the Second Astral Moon (March 15)

ETHNIC GROUP: Ishgardian Elezen

NATIONALITY: Ishgardian

LANGUAGE(S): Common Eorzean

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Bisexual

ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: Biromantic

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: Single

CLASS: Dragoon (OOC only, IC a mere knight)

HOMETOWN / AREA: Coerthas

CURRENT HOME: The Mist

PROFESSION: Ex-knight of Ishgard's House Durendaire. Currently: none

PHYSICAL.

HAIR: Blond

EYES: Amber

NOSE: He has one(1) nose.

FACE: Scarred, eye bags, wrinkly, crow’s feet, a little gaunt, aged

LIPS: Probably dry to be fair.

COMPLEXION: Light or, probably just pale

BLEMISHES: We all have ‘em

SCARS: One over the right eye, one across the left cheek and nose. And others.

TATTOOS: None

HEIGHT: 6′6″

WEIGHT: Average for his height

BUILD: Lean, fit

FEATURES: He’s got pretty big ears?

ALLERGIES: Bananas.

USUAL HAIRSTYLE: Short, blond, shaved on the sides.

USUAL FACE LOOK: Resting bitch face

USUAL CLOTHING: Old knight-attire with green cloak, or his blue outfit later in SB

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR(S): Abandonment, his kids or friends getting hurt, Carbuncles, Voidsent

ASPIRATION(S): Being able to settle down with someone

POSITIVE TRAITS: Tenacious, Loyal, Polite, Caring, Merciful

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Reckless, Stubborn, Confrontational, Harsh, Impulsive

ZODIAC: Ironically a Pisces (Thaliak on the Eorzean calender)

TEMPERAMENT: Guarded but usually optimistic

SOUL TYPE(S): He has a soul or he wouldn’t be alive.

ANIMALS: He’d want to be a shark

VICE HABIT(S): Stress-eating, boredom eating, eating

FAITH: Unknown

GHOSTS?: Reluctantly yes

AFTERLIFE?: He hopes so

REINCARNATION?: Maybe

ALIENS?: "Who?”

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT: Probably really liberal

ECONOMIC PREFERENCE: Don’t ask him things like this he doesn’t know.

SOCIO POLITICAL POSITION: Refer to the above

EDUCATION LEVEL: Life experience. (He was a knight. Cannon fodder.)

FAMILY.

FATHER: Yes; Dead

MOTHER: Yes; Dead

SIBLINGS: No

EXTENDED FAMILY: Probably

NAME MEANING(S): Vesevont is the made up version to his OC actual name, Vsevolod, which hilariously means ‘lord of everything/everybody’. It’s also a name that hasn’t been used in centuries so anyone with that name is looked at very weirdly irl.

HISTORICAL CONNECTION?: No.

FAVORITES.

BOOK: Particular towards fiction, because he likes happy endings.

MOVIE: If there were movies, rom-coms.

5 SONGS: He doesn’t really listen to music anymore

DEITY: Not currently

HOLIDAY: Maybe Starlight

MONTH: Doesn’t matter

SEASON: Spring

PLACE: The Ruby Sea

WEATHER: Warm and sunny

SOUND: The ocean, the breaking-the-sound-barrier sound Sihl makes when flying

SCENT(S): Fresh cut flowers

TASTE(S): Savory, spicy, chocolatey

FEEL(S): Warm hands on his icicle hands.

ANIMAL(S): Again, sharks

NUMBER: 13. A baker’s dozen

COLORS: Yellow

EXTRA.

TALENTS: Destroying property, taste-testing, withstanding harsh environments

BAD AT: Acting normal and well integrated into society, social anything

TURN ONS: Intelligence, Kindness, Snappy Wits and Sarcasm, Prim and Proper

TURN OFFS: Cruelty, Unforgiving..ness, All Out Bad

HOBBIES: Flying with Sihl and exploring, sometimes people-watching

TROPES: Anime-Reactions, Dopey Dad, Seems to Survive Everything

AESTHETIC TAGS: Birds, the sky, flying, the sun, dragons happy, uplifting and airy

GPOY  QUOTES: "Uh oh.”

FC INFO. (I dont know what ANY of this means.)

MAIN FC(S): 

ALT FC(S): 

OLDER FC(S):

YOUNGER FC(S): 

VOICE CLAIM(S): WS!Cap definitely was lip-syncing Ronan Harris’ voice due to the sheer multitude of VNV songs that were part of his character. But Ves specifically?? I imagine something probably deeper and more rough but I haven’t heard anything I liked in particular yet.

GENDERBENT FC(S): 

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1: IF YOU COULD WRITE YOUR CHARACTER YOUR WAY IN THEIR OWN MOVIE, WHAT WOULD IT BE CALLED, WHAT STYLE WOULD IT BE FILMED IN, AND WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?:

If it were up to me, the movie would be emulating a war movie in style, with muted and often cold colors and much darker themes and tones. Occasionally there’d be bursts of color or uplifting scenes to remind everyone that people are still human and contrast all the darker stuff, so a balance between the two. 

That’d be the most important part of it for me personally. Many references to all sorts of symbolism, though not too heavy-handed with it, allegories, metaphors, etc. To explore the spectrum of the ...for lack of better term, human condition.

Q2: WHAT WOULD THEIR SOUNDTRACK / SCORE SOUND LIKE?:

Completely orchestrated, done in a romantic style so that, in case someone weren’t watching the movie itself, they could simply listen to the music and imagine their own scene to it as the composition of said songs would ...in a perfect world, be very specifically tailored to fit certain sequences of emotion and whatnot.

And of course some violin/piano duet pieces sprinkled here and there.

Q3: WHY DID YOU START WRITING THIS CHARACTER?:

Ves is just one version of an old OC I’ve had for a long, long time. Maybe eight or so years. Give or take. He’s got several different iterations thus far.

Q4: WHAT FIRST ATTRACTED YOU TO THIS CHARACTER?:

My love for war movies and such to be honest. Along with my insane fascination and interest in historical narratives and European warfare and the like. Typically, Ves’ character is usually pulling all sorts of things from WW1 from fashion to mannerisms, and his whole world is constructed to emulate that as well (though, not set on Earth.) Not the FFXIV version of course because Ishgard is there, but other versions of him such as WS and his original counterpart.

Q5: DESCRIBE THE BIGGEST THING YOU DISLIKE ABOUT YOUR MUSE:

If I had to pick the largest thing I have against him (and I mean this character in general, not specifically FFXIV,) it’s the need for historical accuracy in most cases. I’m a die-hard for things like that and spend a lot of time doing research (usually just for fun but I get carried away easily.) Considering reference material isn’t always the easiest to find for really specific things from a time period that old, it becomes frustrating VERY quickly when I don’t feel I’m portraying him ‘authentically’ enough.

Elsewise, as far as his personality goes, he’s just like any dad. The need to always be right drives me absolutely insane. The good thing about him though is that he’s fictional and I can make him change and grow and learn. >:) Now that’s what I call sexy.

Q6: WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON WITH YOUR MUSE?:

We both love to eat and eat way too much too often and yet are like twigs. And we’re too particular about certain things.

I dunno, your characters technically are just facets of you.

Q7: HOW DOES YOUR MUSE FEEL ABOUT YOU?:

He’d be extremely annoyed but I don’t think he’d do anything about it. I am but a CHILDE.

Q8: WHAT CHARACTERS DOES YOUR MUSE HAVE INTERESTING INTERACTIONS WITH?

Thus far? There’s Lowrey who won’t leave him alone and is always trying to wrangle Ves in like a bucking horse, and they’re VERY entertaining to watch with their weird and aggressive banter (on Ves’ part anyway, he can’t stand the guy. Lowrey just rolls with the punches with a big grin and keeps on pushing. Ves is gonna clobber him one of these days for real this time. For REAL this time.)

And then there’s Ves and Caudecus’ very polarizing and almost jarring but still extremely funny interactions with one another. They’re roommates right now so, typical roommate shenanigans, laugh track plays here. There’s something sinister hidden underneath it all and I think Caud may just get a laugh out of stabbing Ves verbally, which is also something I enjoy laying witness to.

And of course, Mei and Ves. He has NO idea who she is, he just kind of met her out there in the wilderness I suspect and thought she was weird, but she’s very fun and loves to go exploring and flying too and that’s something he can relate to. Plus Mei displays a very clear sense of justice and that is something he appreciates VERY much. She’s just whacky and weird and a mystery but he likes it and doesn’t know why. It’s probably all the pink.

Q9: WHAT GIVES YOU INSPIRATION TO WRITE YOUR MUSE?:

Anime stuff probably, war stuff. I dunno, depends on my mood for the day. I don’t need inspiration, my characters are just on a roulette wheel. Which one do I feel like using today.

Q10: HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE YOU TO COMPLETE?:

About an hour, but I had to constantly rephrase things that didn’t make sense.

[mochiinet]

[NEW SERIES] “The Trio” (character introductions)

Featuring: SF9 Rowoon, NCT’s Jaehyun, OC (Ryu Hyejin), & other guest idols

Summary: Jin-Ji-Do’s era has ended and a new one has begun, and SBS is in need of new MCs for Inkigayo.  This year, (you), Rowoon from SF9, and Jaehyun from NCT are chosen as the newest MCs for the program.  Everyone is extremely excited for the new trio and can’t wait to see their chemistry!  But little did they know, it was the beginning of the newest secret love triangle... 

(GIF SLIGHTLY IRRELEVANT BUT STILL REALLY RELEVANT)

Ryu Hyejin

After trending on NAVER because of the first broadcasting of the new drama she was co-staring in, this rookie actress got booked with love calls for all sorts of programs.  Her looks were average to put it simply, but she had a uniqueness to her that got people interested with just one picture.  And her acting was no joke, despite being a rookie, she executed her role and added a whole new dimension to the character.  With her newfound, and hopefully lasting, fame she gets an offer from SBS to be one of the new MCs for Inkigayo.  Of course, without a doubt she accepted, as one of the best ways for an actor/actress to gain popularity was to be a host for one of the big three shows.  Gaining the support of k-pop fans from around the world was definitely a perk that came with the job, and she wasn’t going to pass up such an amazing opportunity.  

Kim Rowoon 

SBS has had their eyes on this boy for a while, let me tell you that.  With his rising popularity through Lipstick Prince, his acting career, and his latest appearance on Law of the Jungle, he’s proven himself to be quite desirable.  Standing at a whooping 189 cm, this toll giant is not only witty, but uses his charms and says or does just the right things to capture the listeners ears and eyes.  Also with hopes that he would become the “male Seolhyun” FNC was eager to get him more gigs.  So when the opportunity came, and SBS swooped in and sent FNC the offer, there was no way he was going to pass up such an opportunity.  Especially with SF9′s comeback right around the corner, he was determined to introduce his group to the world.  

Jung Jaehyun

He was the last addition to the new lineup of MCs.  With the rising popularity of NCT, and after showing his hosting talents through vLive and his and Johnny’s radio show, NCT’s Night Night, this idol has been gaining interest due to his charming and unique personality.  During his audition, he totally went overboard with the practice script, but the PD’s loved it and moved him to the top of the list of possible MCs.  He also had previous music show hosting experience with Doyoung on MCountdown during the SMROOKIES era.  With Doyoung as his Inkigayo predecessor, Mark hosting on Music Core, NCT’s comebacks, etc.  It is NCT’s year to take over the charts, and with that there are high expectations.  Most of the other possible MCs that were on the list didn’t have the unique shy-but-rude-at-the-same-time charms that he had, so without much debate, he became the last new MC!

HELLO everyone, I’ve been gone for like a week, I still have midterms and I’m dying with all of this work since I’m getting ready to move soon *hints at possible hiatus in the near future, but hopefully that won’t be the case......*  BUT ANYWAYS.  Since the new round of MCs were announced a couple weeks ago or something, I got the idea, and I couldn’t stop myself from writing this.  We’ll see how far this actually goes, it could be like a two shot or like a thirty shot, we won’t know until it happens LOL.... But I hope that y’all will look forward to it!  I don’t know if y’all can tell, but Rowoon and Jaehyun are two of my top baises and it’s a problem because slowly but surely all of my scenarios in my drafts section are turning in to their scenarios.... :’(  But yeah!  Please look forward to this new mini-maybe-not-mini series!! 

[junker-town]

Why were we all so wrong about the Browns?

Baker Mayfield and the Browns have had a rough 2019 season.

Most of us had high expectations for Cleveland in 2019. Most of us were fools.

One look at the Cleveland Browns, and it’s easy to see why they’re not winning. The offense isn’t working at all as they try and move away from being a power running team to one that feeds Odell Beckham Jr. and forces Baker Mayfield to win games with his arm.

There are some real problems on defense, too. The Browns are allowing 25.6 points per game, 141.3 rushing yards per game, and have only managed to force nine turnovers — all of which rank in the bottom third of the league.

And while they’re a mess on the field, there are concerns off the field as well. Mayfield has been getting into it with reporters. Beckham keeps getting fined, and safety Jermaine Whitehead was released after some controversial tweets. Individually, these incidents may not create a narrative. Together, it suggests first-time head coach Freddie Kitchens is in over his head managing all of this.

This type of dysfunction is nothing new from the Browns. They’ve been an NFL punching bag for most of their existence, especially since the franchise returned in 1999. In the two decades since, they’ve made it to the playoffs just once: in 2002, which ended in a wild card exit.

Yet many of us thought this year would be different. They opened the season tied for the eighth-best odds to win the Super Bowl (alongside the Packers and Cowboys!) and NFL fans were clearly buying into the hype.

Why did we fool ourselves into believing in another reality for the 2019 Browns? Why were we so hasty to ignore the warning signs? Let’s dive into it.

It was easy to overlook Kitchens’ inexperience

Cleveland has had so much instability over the years — the team is currently on its seventh head coach this decade. That made it easier to believe it was a good idea to retain Kitchens, an interim offensive coordinator without a full season of coordinating or any head coaching experience under his belt. The players liked him, which counted for a lot, especially in the wake of the Hue Jackson era.

Before the season, SB Nation’s Geoff Schwartz warned us about the unrealistic expectations being placed on Kitchens, and he was right on the money.

Kitchens might be well equipped to handle every situation, or just some of them. He’s going to be learning on the fly. But, unlike other first-year head coaches, if Kitchens makes a mistake that leads to a loss, or if there’s too much drama, or if the Browns don’t make the playoffs, this season will be a failure. That’s a big weight for a first-time head coach!

Unfortunately, things haven’t been good under Kitchens. The Browns might mostly be defined by their lack of discipline. They have had 17 giveaways, third-worst in the league, and have a turnover differential of minus-8. They have been called for 75 penalties in 2019, the most in the league.

If that wasn’t enough, Kitchens has drawn the fans’ ire for several mistakes in game management and playcalling. You can point to most Browns games this season and find a pretty glaring error he’s made, and most of the time, Cleveland was still in the game when it happened.

In a Week 3 loss to the Rams, the Browns saw multiple red zone opportunities evaporate as they tried to force passes to Beckham and Jarvis Landry, despite strong play from the offensive line and Nick Chubb. They scored once in four red zone trips, a crucial failure in a game they only lost by a score of 20-13. Kitchens admitted after that game that he was still learning how to call plays, even though he had done it (successfully) in the second part of 2018.

Three weeks later, a near-touchdown to Landry in the fourth quarter against the Seahawks showed Kitchens’ inexperience. Kitchens eventually challenged the call, but first, the ball was snapped and Chubb ran it on fourth-and-goal. The play didn’t count, and Kitchens lost his challenge. So what did Kitchens do? He called the exact same run to Chubb that he had just shown the Seahawks. It didn’t work, and the Browns lost 32-28.

Then in a surprisingly competitive Week 8 game against the Patriots (at least initially), Kitchens made his most egregious mistake yet:

So false start in 4th & 11, with punt unit, Freddie pulls them puts offense out for 4th & 16. Baker sacked. Nathan Zegura just reported, #Browns deliberately false started so the offense could return to the field because Kitchens didn't want to burn final timeout. Clown show.

— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) October 27, 2019

So the Browns went for it from their own 19-yard line, on a fourth-and-16 attempt, which apparently was his plan all along. They failed, as expected.

In hindsight, it was unreasonable to expect Kitchens to be able to turn things around so quickly, though I think at this point, he’s doing worse than even the doubters expected. The Browns, at 2-6 on the season, are no better off in the standings than when they fired Jackson at 2-5-1 last year.

While Kitchens has emphasized that the Browns simply need to execute better, it falls on the coach to put his team in position to do that. So far, he hasn’t.

The talent was — and is — there on paper

When the Browns made the move to acquire Beckham, it was clear they wanted to win now. That’s an aggressiveness we hadn’t seen from them in a long time. Looking at their roster heading into the season, there was a lot of talent to get excited about.

Let’s start with the quarterback. Mayfield threw eight touchdowns before Jackson and OC Todd Haley were fired last season. But in the final eight games of 2018, he threw for another 19 for a total of 27 touchdowns, setting and NFL rookie record and surpassing the likes of Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson.

He threw fewer interceptions than he did in the first half of the season and seemed to flourish with Kitchens running the offense. Once Jackson was gone, Mayfield began to thrive in a way that had the No. 1 pick looking like a franchise quarterback.

And he had the offensive pieces to excel in his second year.

Landry made the Pro Bowl with Mayfield throwing passes, but what he really needed was another receiver to take some of the load off him. Beckham, aside from making circus catches that dominate the highlight reel, is a production machine whose addition was expected to boost for Landry.

Then there’s the running game, led by an emerging Chubb. As a rookie alongside Mayfield, Chubb rushed for 996 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s been even better this season, too.

Instead of all of those offensive pieces coming together, though, Mayfield has regressed. That’s not all on Kitchens. Mayfield is clearly forcing passes and he’s been extremely predictable outside the pocket, always rolling out to his right and focusing in on a single receiver — notably, on a fourth-and-4 play against the Broncos with the game on the line:

Baker went across the middle to Landry with two defenders instead. Ouch. pic.twitter.com/bB0zlW3tgV

— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) November 4, 2019

He’s thrown just seven touchdowns against 12 interceptions, and his passer rating has dropped from 93.7 as a rookie to 71.3 this season. He’s also become a meme.

Combining his sophomore slump with Kitchens’ playcalling errors, the coach-quarterback combination has floundered.

Defensively, the Browns have a deep, young core that should be far better than it is. Pass rusher Myles Garrett, another first overall draft pick, is the star of the unit. Garrett is one of the more complete defensive ends in the league, and has 30.5 sacks in 35 career games.

This offseason, the Browns added veterans Sheldon Richardson and Olivier Vernon to the defensive line. Vernon had seven sacks in 11 games with the Giants in 2018, and pairing him with Garrett was expected to result in fireworks. That hasn’t gone as planned, either.

While Garrett has amassed 10 sacks, he is one of the most-penalized players in the league. Vernon has only registered three sacks so far. Richardson has also struggled against the run, and the defensive line hasn’t made big plays when it needs to. Instead, Cleveland has allowed the five-most explosive running plays in the league, per Sharp Football.

Two highly drafted cornerbacks, Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams, lead the secondary. Despite being banged up there, it’s one area where the Browns haven’t disappointed too much, allowing just 216.3 passing yards per game, sixth-best in the league. However, they’re merely average when it comes to explosive pass plays allowed.

This team is loaded with playmakers. The fact that they aren’t executing — and in the case of Mayfield, regressing — is another black mark on Kitchens’ record.

We like rooting for the underdogs

Let’s get this out of the way: schadenfreude is a favorite pastime of sports fans, to a fault.

I don’t like people getting fired or hurt, but when the team owner tries to overhaul the way NFL front offices work while dealing with multiple criminal investigations, well ... maybe it’s OK to laugh when the on-field product resembles a dumpster fire made out of turds?

Pretty much everybody interested in the NFL, including Browns fans, has enjoyed a joke at the team’s expense over the years. I’ve certainly had my share. But I, like many, was fully on board with the concept of the Browns being good again. The humor can only last so long before the situation just becomes sad.

It’s also our natural tendency to root for the underdogs. The Browns being good again would have been endearing, in the exact same way that the Patriots missing the Super Bowl would be cathartic. Things have been soul-crushingly bad for the Browns for so long, that seeing them succeed would do a lot for my cynical and frosted-over heart.

The Browns having a reason to cheer for the first time in literal decades would be a strike against the status quo. The shittiness of the Browns represents the shittiness of the world, and it’s nice to be able to forget about the latter by rooting for something positive happening to Cleveland.

But when the Browns suck and the Patriots are still stupidly good, it feels like nothing ever changes.

Sadly, the Browns are getting in their own way the same they have for a long time. I still feel for Browns fans, but at this point, there are no easy fixes. The team will either have to stick with Kitchens, who doesn’t inspire confidence, or move on and face more uncertainty in another offseason filled with change.

[ecoorganic]

Mailbag: Future Changes to NFL's TV Packages, Impact of Canceled College Games

Plus, the impact a canceled college season has on the NFL, what to expect from Gardner Minshew in Year 2, whether this season will be seen as legitimate and more.

It’s a sad day in the football world. Blue-blood programs that are 41 (Michigan), 33 (Penn State), 32 (USC) and 30 (Ohio State and Nebraska) years older than the NFL itself won’t be playing this fall. And no matter who you blame, it’s a shame that

we’re here.

The slow death march college football seems to be on will absolute reverberate in the NFL world. We’re going to get to that, and a whole lot more, in this week’s mailbag. …

From Brock Ascher (@BrockAscher): What happens to NFL TV rights in the near future? Will I ever be able to get rid of DirecTV? Will I ever be able to buy a one-team out of market package?

Brock, my guess is the over-the-air packages will probably remain the same. I think Thursday night is the one variable in all this, with the potential Disney snaps it up so it can put either MNF or TNF on ABC, with the other staying on ESPN, ideal for them for cable-fee reasons. (My guess is Fox is finished with TNF.) The biggest difference you’d notice could come in structure. I was told by two execs that the NFL has discussed jettisoning the divvying up of Sunday afternoons by conference (the cross-flex would be a precursor to that).

It’d give the NFL more flexibility and, in this scenario, you could have Fox and CBS simply split up the games, via some sort of “draft.”

After that, we can dive into how streaming (where the younger audience lives) plays into all of this, and how the Sunday Ticket package you’re referencing factors into that. AT&T now owns DirecTV, which has the Ticket through 2022. The Ticket is vital to DirecTV's survival. How much does AT&T care about that? We’ll see, because the NFL has discussed the idea of moving the Ticket to a streaming service, where a younger audience lives.

You can imagine what the Ticket would be worth to ESPN-Plus, Peacock, HBO Max, DAZN or Amazon Prime. How many people would jump on those services if the Ticket was there? Based on DirecTV’s numbers, the answer is a lot. And part of the NFL’s concern about production quality in doing something like this may have been alleviated with how smoothly Amazon Prime’s venture into creating such a product for the Premier League over in the UK went.

As for the a la carte end of this, we’ll see. I think that’s coming, but it might be further down the line, and whoever were to win the Ticket rights would be involved in all of that. The bottom line here: Media’s changing fast, and the NFL is preparing for that.

From Jonathan Barakat (@jonathanbarakat): How do you think Gardner Minshew will play this year? Will he exceed expectations? Also what do you think of D.J. Chark coming into his third year?

Jonathan, I’ll give you what I like and what I don’t like about Gardner Minshew’s situation.

What I like: Minshew gets to play for Jay Gruden, who’s immediately made a big difference for young quarterbacks in both his previous NFL homes (Kirk Cousins in D.C. and Andy Dalton in Cincinnati), and in one of those cases actually did it with a rookie coming off the lockout, which is somewhat analogous to this situation. Also, D.J. Chark gives Minshew a strong No. 1 target, and Doug Marrone will use the run game to support him.

What I don’t like: It’s pretty clear where Jacksonville stands on Cam Robinson, and having an issue at left tackle isn’t great—particularly in a year when it’s going to be tough to work out offensive line issues on the fly. Also, the viability of the run game rides largely on Leonard Fournette, who hasn’t been the most reliable guy over his first three NFL seasons. And beyond Chark, there are question marks at receiver and tight end.

So all in all, it’s not a complete mess, but not really setup for Minshew to have a breakthrough sophomore campaign.

From Roberta Wears A Mask You Should Too (@AceandJasper): How will the teams take care of season ticket holders who won't get to sit in their front row seats even for a game or two?

Most teams are rolling payments over or refunding—and I can’t imagine any haven’t already given their season-ticket holders the choice to opt out and hold on to the rights to their seats in 2021. I think, at this point, we know that the season isn’t going to start with full stadiums anywhere. How will it end? That’s four months from now. And I think the last four months should be enough to keep anyone from making predictions that far ahead.

From Erik Ghirarduzzi (@eghirarduzzi): Given the circumstance around this season, currently known and ones yet to come, how legit would a SB winner be? There are teams at a competitive disadvantage, through no fault of their own, already and the season hasn't started.

Erik, this is a great question—I do believe this year will be remembered, if it’s completed, like the strike years of 1982 and ’87. In ’82, teams played nine games, the divisions were temporarily abolished, and a 16-team playoff was staged. In ’87, just six quarterbacks broke 3,000 yards passing, and just two backs reached 1,000 yards rushing. In both years, interestingly enough, Joe Gibbs led Washington to a championship.

Now, I don’t think the season necessarily will be cut to nine games (as ’82 was), nor will you have the oddity of replacement players en masse (like ’87 had). But I do think there’ll be aspects of the season that will go sideways, and the NFL, to its credit, knows it and is preparing for that.

So how are ’82 and ’87 remembered? I think most people who didn’t live it (I was way too young, 2, to remember the former, and have faint memories of the latter) probably wouldn’t look at championships or accolades from that year (John Elway was MVP and Reggie White DPOY in ’87) much differently. But it doesn’t take much Google acumen to discover how weird all the numbers from those seasons look.

To me, that feels like the likely result of this year.

From Dan Heiserman (@HeisermanDan): Has any player in history ever been on more teams than Josh McCown?

Speaking of Google, Dan, I didn’t know the answer to this and was legitimately interested, so I looked and found that legend-of-the-aughts J.T. O’Sullivan was on 11 (!) different NFL teams (Saints, Packers, Bears, Vikings, Patriots, Panthers, Lions, Niners, Bengals, Chargers, Raiders), which unbelievably matches McCown’s number (Cardinals, Lions, Raiders, Dolphins, Panthers, Niners, Bears, Bucs, Browns, Jets, Eagles).

A little more bumping around the internet showed that kicker Bill Cundiff was, at one point or another, with 13 different NFL teams (Cowboys, Bucs, Packers, Saints, Falcons, Chiefs, Lions, Browns, Ravens, Washington, Niners, Jets, Bills). And I’m sure there are other backup quarterbacks and kickers—playing positions where careers are longer, which facilitates this sort of movement—out there like these guys.

All of them must have pretty cool jersey displays in their basements.

From SUPER BOWL SUPER BROWNS HELL YEAH!!! (@WAH3rd): Should I still go back to the party barn and start drinking at 7 a.m. and yell at people on Saturdays this fall like I used to?

This is a very specific message just for me and a lot of other people who were in legit mourning on Tuesday night—and this will be absolutely be one of the Lane Avenue casualties (right there with the Varsity Club) of the depressing news we all got. It’s hard to describe the Party Barn if you don’t know what it is already, so I won’t try.

And the answer is yes.

From Skeeter6265 (@skeeter6265): Do you think Ohio will beat Michigan?

I was very excited for Michigan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its last win in Columbus—that was in the fall of my junior year—this November. Maybe that team can have a Zoom reunion to commemorate it now.

From FootballFan64 (@FFan64): With college coaches out of the running for NFL openings since their season is moving to the spring, which NFL coordinators do you expect to be coveted for any newly vacated HC positions? Who is this year’s Matt Rhule?

Well, Football Fan, I’m not sure that colleges playing in the spring (if that even happens) would prevent NFL teams from making runs at coaches at that level. If, and again it’s a big if, college football goes in the spring semester, my guess would be the season would start in February (you can’t just start the season the minute kids get back to campus). The NFL coaching carousel is spinning at the beginning of January. So there’d be time.

The NFL coordinator names you’ll hear most are some of the usual suspects from the last couple cycles—Patriots OC Josh McDaniels, Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, Ravens coordinators Greg Roman and Wink Martindale, 49ers DC Robert Saleh and Saints DC Dennis Allen would be on that list. I’d also just keep an eye on Falcons DC Raheem Morris, Chiefs pass-game coordinator Mike Kafka and Titans OC Arthur Smith as names that could pop up.

As for the next Matt Rhule, the NFL will continue to have interest in Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day is beginning to be held in that sort of regard among those in the pros. But both those guys have jobs that are very well-paying and, in reality, better than the majority of jobs they’d find in the NFL. Stanford’s David Shaw and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald have long been on the radar of the league, but haven’t shown much appetite for leaving their alma maters. And Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck is a fun name to keep an eye on.

From Shawn Tangen (@SMTangen): How is Kevin Warren viewed within NFL circles?

Shawn, I’d say it’s pretty mixed. And I got some pretty strong reaction from certain corners of the NFL about the Big Ten commissioner (and former Vikings executive) after the conference canceled its season on Tuesday.

Warren was a polarizing figure inside the Minnesota locker room during the Adrian Peterson scandal of 2014—Peterson felt like Warren betrayed him to the point where Warren’s promotion to COO was a sticking point in the star’s contract negotiation. That was a situation that coach Mike Zimmer had to manage, and ultimately defuse, on the ground with the players, and it’s just one example in his NFL past where he’s rankled co-workers.

On top of that, many NFL people felt like Warren’s move to the Big 10 was with designs on eventually making a run at becoming NFL commissioner down the line. In that regard, the final result of his management of the last week (a result we won’t have for a while) will probably go a long way in determining whether those aspirations are realistic or not. I’d just hope his decisions here weren’t made with that in mind.

From Brycen Papp (@BrycenPapp): Do you think this season will be a massive shift in the way the draft process works? Will the NFL lower the requirements for college players to be draft eligible to two years instead of three?

Brycen, I think there will be a shift to the draft process to a degree, and we’re going to get into that in the GamePlan on Thursday. But I do want to get into your question on the NFL’s age requirement, because it’s a fascinating one—and something we covered extensively on the podcast this week.

I believe many of the best players in the Big 10 and Pac-12, from places like Ohio State, Oregon, USC, Penn State and Michigan, will sign with agents now, and go into draft prep. Because of that, and how the Big 10/Pac-12 shutdown devalues this college season, I think we’ll also see some attrition from the other conferences. That could lead to some players who only played two years of college football and skipped the required third year out of high school, going high in next April’s draft.

That, in turn, could open the door in the future for players with two good years on their resume skipping their junior year to protect themselves and prepare for the draft—in the same way Christian McCaffrey skipping his bowl game in 2016 gave others cover to do the same. At that point, the idea that players need three years of development to be NFL-ready gets broken down, and now you have guys taking a “gap year” instead.

Which isn’t good for the players, for college football or for the NFL.

It’s important to remember here too that it’s not college football keeping guys in school for three years. It’s pro football. The three-year rule is an NFL rule. And when Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams sued to become eligible for the draft in 2004, it wasn’t a school, a conference or the NCAA they sued. It was the NFL. So the ball would be in the NFL’s court on this one, if the situation comes to a head.

From Sam Perrone (@samjp33): Do you think the NFL would be willing to move the draft if the college football season bleeds into the spring?

I think, Sam, the NFL will do whatever it needs to in order to support the golden goose that is college football. Why? College football is very good for the NFL. And primarily for three reasons.

1) It’s a free minor league. The NFL, unlike the other sports, doesn’t have to fund a complex minor-league system to develop college-aged players. The expense of doing so in a sport like football would be astronomical and the opportunity to monetize it, as we’ve seen with other start-up leagues in the past, would be pretty limited.

2) It’s a marketing monster for star players coming in. Say what you will about Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel—they were legit sports-world celebrities before they lifted a single dumbbell in preparation for the draft. Everyone knows who Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovialoa and Chase Young are. Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley were household names as collegians. And all of that is great for the NFL on so many different levels.

3) College football is the foundation for the NFL’s tentpole offseason event. The draft is The Draft because of college football. We’ve been watching most of the top players for years. It marries two wildly popular entertainment entities. The draft itself wouldn’t be nearly the event it is without college football.

So, in order to protect the sanctity of a spring college football season (as much of a sham as it might be) would the NFL be willing to move the draft back a few weeks? Well, of course it would be.

• Question or comment? Email us.

from Blogger https://ift.tt/3fO2YCN

[ecoorganic]

Mailbag: Future Changes to NFL's TV Packages, Impact of Canceled College Games

Plus, the impact a canceled college season has on the NFL, what to expect from Gardner Minshew in Year 2, whether this season will be seen as legitimate and more.

It’s a sad day in the football world. Blue-blood programs that are 41 (Michigan), 33 (Penn State), 32 (USC) and 30 (Ohio State and Nebraska) years older than the NFL itself won’t be playing this fall. And no matter who you blame, it’s a shame that

we’re here.

The slow death march college football seems to be on will absolute reverberate in the NFL world. We’re going to get to that, and a whole lot more, in this week’s mailbag. …

From Brock Ascher (@BrockAscher): What happens to NFL TV rights in the near future? Will I ever be able to get rid of DirecTV? Will I ever be able to buy a one-team out of market package?

Brock, my guess is the over-the-air packages will probably remain the same. I think Thursday night is the one variable in all this, with the potential Disney snaps it up so it can put either MNF or TNF on ABC, with the other staying on ESPN, ideal for them for cable-fee reasons. (My guess is Fox is finished with TNF.) The biggest difference you’d notice could come in structure. I was told by two execs that the NFL has discussed jettisoning the divvying up of Sunday afternoons by conference (the cross-flex would be a precursor to that).

It’d give the NFL more flexibility and, in this scenario, you could have Fox and CBS simply split up the games, via some sort of “draft.”

After that, we can dive into how streaming (where the younger audience lives) plays into all of this, and how the Sunday Ticket package you’re referencing factors into that. AT&T now owns DirecTV, which has the Ticket through 2022. The Ticket is vital to DirecTV's survival. How much does AT&T care about that? We’ll see, because the NFL has discussed the idea of moving the Ticket to a streaming service, where a younger audience lives.

You can imagine what the Ticket would be worth to ESPN-Plus, Peacock, HBO Max, DAZN or Amazon Prime. How many people would jump on those services if the Ticket was there? Based on DirecTV’s numbers, the answer is a lot. And part of the NFL’s concern about production quality in doing something like this may have been alleviated with how smoothly Amazon Prime’s venture into creating such a product for the Premier League over in the UK went.

As for the a la carte end of this, we’ll see. I think that’s coming, but it might be further down the line, and whoever were to win the Ticket rights would be involved in all of that. The bottom line here: Media’s changing fast, and the NFL is preparing for that.

From Jonathan Barakat (@jonathanbarakat): How do you think Gardner Minshew will play this year? Will he exceed expectations? Also what do you think of D.J. Chark coming into his third year?

Jonathan, I’ll give you what I like and what I don’t like about Gardner Minshew’s situation.

What I like: Minshew gets to play for Jay Gruden, who’s immediately made a big difference for young quarterbacks in both his previous NFL homes (Kirk Cousins in D.C. and Andy Dalton in Cincinnati), and in one of those cases actually did it with a rookie coming off the lockout, which is somewhat analogous to this situation. Also, D.J. Chark gives Minshew a strong No. 1 target, and Doug Marrone will use the run game to support him.

What I don’t like: It’s pretty clear where Jacksonville stands on Cam Robinson, and having an issue at left tackle isn’t great—particularly in a year when it’s going to be tough to work out offensive line issues on the fly. Also, the viability of the run game rides largely on Leonard Fournette, who hasn’t been the most reliable guy over his first three NFL seasons. And beyond Chark, there are question marks at receiver and tight end.

So all in all, it’s not a complete mess, but not really setup for Minshew to have a breakthrough sophomore campaign.

From Roberta Wears A Mask You Should Too (@AceandJasper): How will the teams take care of season ticket holders who won't get to sit in their front row seats even for a game or two?

Most teams are rolling payments over or refunding—and I can’t imagine any haven’t already given their season-ticket holders the choice to opt out and hold on to the rights to their seats in 2021. I think, at this point, we know that the season isn’t going to start with full stadiums anywhere. How will it end? That’s four months from now. And I think the last four months should be enough to keep anyone from making predictions that far ahead.

From Erik Ghirarduzzi (@eghirarduzzi): Given the circumstance around this season, currently known and ones yet to come, how legit would a SB winner be? There are teams at a competitive disadvantage, through no fault of their own, already and the season hasn't started.

Erik, this is a great question—I do believe this year will be remembered, if it’s completed, like the strike years of 1982 and ’87. In ’82, teams played nine games, the divisions were temporarily abolished, and a 16-team playoff was staged. In ’87, just six quarterbacks broke 3,000 yards passing, and just two backs reached 1,000 yards rushing. In both years, interestingly enough, Joe Gibbs led Washington to a championship.

Now, I don’t think the season necessarily will be cut to nine games (as ’82 was), nor will you have the oddity of replacement players en masse (like ’87 had). But I do think there’ll be aspects of the season that will go sideways, and the NFL, to its credit, knows it and is preparing for that.

So how are ’82 and ’87 remembered? I think most people who didn’t live it (I was way too young, 2, to remember the former, and have faint memories of the latter) probably wouldn’t look at championships or accolades from that year (John Elway was MVP and Reggie White DPOY in ’87) much differently. But it doesn’t take much Google acumen to discover how weird all the numbers from those seasons look.

To me, that feels like the likely result of this year.

From Dan Heiserman (@HeisermanDan): Has any player in history ever been on more teams than Josh McCown?

Speaking of Google, Dan, I didn’t know the answer to this and was legitimately interested, so I looked and found that legend-of-the-aughts J.T. O’Sullivan was on 11 (!) different NFL teams (Saints, Packers, Bears, Vikings, Patriots, Panthers, Lions, Niners, Bengals, Chargers, Raiders), which unbelievably matches McCown’s number (Cardinals, Lions, Raiders, Dolphins, Panthers, Niners, Bears, Bucs, Browns, Jets, Eagles).

A little more bumping around the internet showed that kicker Bill Cundiff was, at one point or another, with 13 different NFL teams (Cowboys, Bucs, Packers, Saints, Falcons, Chiefs, Lions, Browns, Ravens, Washington, Niners, Jets, Bills). And I’m sure there are other backup quarterbacks and kickers—playing positions where careers are longer, which facilitates this sort of movement—out there like these guys.

All of them must have pretty cool jersey displays in their basements.

From SUPER BOWL SUPER BROWNS HELL YEAH!!! (@WAH3rd): Should I still go back to the party barn and start drinking at 7 a.m. and yell at people on Saturdays this fall like I used to?

This is a very specific message just for me and a lot of other people who were in legit mourning on Tuesday night—and this will be absolutely be one of the Lane Avenue casualties (right there with the Varsity Club) of the depressing news we all got. It’s hard to describe the Party Barn if you don’t know what it is already, so I won’t try.

And the answer is yes.

From Skeeter6265 (@skeeter6265): Do you think Ohio will beat Michigan?

I was very excited for Michigan to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its last win in Columbus—that was in the fall of my junior year—this November. Maybe that team can have a Zoom reunion to commemorate it now.

From FootballFan64 (@FFan64): With college coaches out of the running for NFL openings since their season is moving to the spring, which NFL coordinators do you expect to be coveted for any newly vacated HC positions? Who is this year’s Matt Rhule?

Well, Football Fan, I’m not sure that colleges playing in the spring (if that even happens) would prevent NFL teams from making runs at coaches at that level. If, and again it’s a big if, college football goes in the spring semester, my guess would be the season would start in February (you can’t just start the season the minute kids get back to campus). The NFL coaching carousel is spinning at the beginning of January. So there’d be time.

The NFL coordinator names you’ll hear most are some of the usual suspects from the last couple cycles—Patriots OC Josh McDaniels, Chiefs OC Eric Bieniemy, Ravens coordinators Greg Roman and Wink Martindale, 49ers DC Robert Saleh and Saints DC Dennis Allen would be on that list. I’d also just keep an eye on Falcons DC Raheem Morris, Chiefs pass-game coordinator Mike Kafka and Titans OC Arthur Smith as names that could pop up.

As for the next Matt Rhule, the NFL will continue to have interest in Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley, and Ohio State’s Ryan Day is beginning to be held in that sort of regard among those in the pros. But both those guys have jobs that are very well-paying and, in reality, better than the majority of jobs they’d find in the NFL. Stanford’s David Shaw and Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald have long been on the radar of the league, but haven’t shown much appetite for leaving their alma maters. And Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck is a fun name to keep an eye on.

From Shawn Tangen (@SMTangen): How is Kevin Warren viewed within NFL circles?

Shawn, I’d say it’s pretty mixed. And I got some pretty strong reaction from certain corners of the NFL about the Big Ten commissioner (and former Vikings executive) after the conference canceled its season on Tuesday.

Warren was a polarizing figure inside the Minnesota locker room during the Adrian Peterson scandal of 2014—Peterson felt like Warren betrayed him to the point where Warren’s promotion to COO was a sticking point in the star’s contract negotiation. That was a situation that coach Mike Zimmer had to manage, and ultimately defuse, on the ground with the players, and it’s just one example in his NFL past where he’s rankled co-workers.

On top of that, many NFL people felt like Warren’s move to the Big 10 was with designs on eventually making a run at becoming NFL commissioner down the line. In that regard, the final result of his management of the last week (a result we won’t have for a while) will probably go a long way in determining whether those aspirations are realistic or not. I’d just hope his decisions here weren’t made with that in mind.

From Brycen Papp (@BrycenPapp): Do you think this season will be a massive shift in the way the draft process works? Will the NFL lower the requirements for college players to be draft eligible to two years instead of three?

Brycen, I think there will be a shift to the draft process to a degree, and we’re going to get into that in the GamePlan on Thursday. But I do want to get into your question on the NFL’s age requirement, because it’s a fascinating one—and something we covered extensively on the podcast this week.

I believe many of the best players in the Big 10 and Pac-12, from places like Ohio State, Oregon, USC, Penn State and Michigan, will sign with agents now, and go into draft prep. Because of that, and how the Big 10/Pac-12 shutdown devalues this college season, I think we’ll also see some attrition from the other conferences. That could lead to some players who only played two years of college football and skipped the required third year out of high school, going high in next April’s draft.

That, in turn, could open the door in the future for players with two good years on their resume skipping their junior year to protect themselves and prepare for the draft—in the same way Christian McCaffrey skipping his bowl game in 2016 gave others cover to do the same. At that point, the idea that players need three years of development to be NFL-ready gets broken down, and now you have guys taking a “gap year” instead.

Which isn’t good for the players, for college football or for the NFL.

It’s important to remember here too that it’s not college football keeping guys in school for three years. It’s pro football. The three-year rule is an NFL rule. And when Maurice Clarett and Mike Williams sued to become eligible for the draft in 2004, it wasn’t a school, a conference or the NCAA they sued. It was the NFL. So the ball would be in the NFL’s court on this one, if the situation comes to a head.

From Sam Perrone (@samjp33): Do you think the NFL would be willing to move the draft if the college football season bleeds into the spring?

I think, Sam, the NFL will do whatever it needs to in order to support the golden goose that is college football. Why? College football is very good for the NFL. And primarily for three reasons.

1) It’s a free minor league. The NFL, unlike the other sports, doesn’t have to fund a complex minor-league system to develop college-aged players. The expense of doing so in a sport like football would be astronomical and the opportunity to monetize it, as we’ve seen with other start-up leagues in the past, would be pretty limited.

2) It’s a marketing monster for star players coming in. Say what you will about Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel—they were legit sports-world celebrities before they lifted a single dumbbell in preparation for the draft. Everyone knows who Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovialoa and Chase Young are. Ezekiel Elliott and Saquon Barkley were household names as collegians. And all of that is great for the NFL on so many different levels.

3) College football is the foundation for the NFL’s tentpole offseason event. The draft is The Draft because of college football. We’ve been watching most of the top players for years. It marries two wildly popular entertainment entities. The draft itself wouldn’t be nearly the event it is without college football.

So, in order to protect the sanctity of a spring college football season (as much of a sham as it might be) would the NFL be willing to move the draft back a few weeks? Well, of course it would be.

• Question or comment? Email us.

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[junker-town]

Paul Johnson gave the perfect response to Bronco Mendenhall’s ‘passion’ for defending the option

The two have faced each other a number of times before.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are taking on the Virginia Cavaliers this Saturday, and the two head coaches, Paul Johnson and Bronco Mendenhall, have exchanged some pleasantries ahead of kickoff. Earlier in the week, the UVA head coach said he has a passion for defending teams that run the option, which Georgia Tech runs. Johnson’s response to that comment was fantastic, to say the least.

“My passion is playing against 3-4 teams, I dunno.” — Paul Johnson with a wry laugh. Never change, Paul. Never.

— Brad Franklin (@Cavs_Corner) November 1, 2017

Now to be clear here, Johnson’s talking about the 3-4 defensive alignment that Mendenhall’s defenses run. Mendenhall has talked about defending option teams in the past.

“I love playing option football teams,” he said via The Virginian-Pilot ahead of last year’s matchup. “It’s a great challenge.”

Johnson’s teams have had mixed results against Bronco’s defenses in the past.

Last year, the Yellow Jackets ran for 6.4 yards per carry against UVA in a 31-17 victory. In 2013, when Mendenhall’s BYU team beat Tech 38-20, Johnson’s offense had 4.6 yards per carry. The year before when the two teams met in Atlanta, Bronco’s defense held the Yellow Jackets to just 3.3 yards per carry, and his offense got 7.9 yards per carry on the ground against Tech’s defense, winning 41-17.

Defending option teams is obviously no easy task, but as Johnson’s protégé and current Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo pointed out to SB Nation in July, there’s no cookie-cutter way to do it:

"[OC] Ivin [Jasper] and I have learned from the best, and we've seen everything. There's nothing you can throw at us that we haven't seen."

And if there's not a lot of film of you defending the option, Niumatalolo and Jasper take well-educated guesses.

"We've seen some guys who line up and try to keep it simple, and we see some who try to change the defense on every play. Which is fine. It's not a very complicated offense, but there are so many intricacies that we've been doing for so long. We've got certain things for slanting defenses, for even-front teams, for pressure. The last resort of the defense is to start firing people from the secondary, which we have answers for, too."

"There are so many times where we're preparing for an off front, and it's totally different. So we simply adjust, after the first snap, not at halftime. I stay parallel to the line and see all the calls, and we're all funneling information to Coach Jasper.

"I can't tell you how many games where we have had to junk our game plan. But we've been doing this for so long. Nobody panics."

Last week during the Yellow Jackets’ loss to Clemson, their offense was held to its second-lowest yards per carry of the season average of 4.6. We’ll see who gets the best of which defense on the ground on Saturday. Georgia Tech is currently an 8.5-point favorite.