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ratatatastic · 2 months

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(Top photo of Niko Mikkola: Joe Puetz / Getty Images)

Now that Niko Mikkola is in the NHL, his older sister, Nina Linnainmaa, laughs hysterically when she remembers the story.

As it goes, 20 years ago, the now-24-year-old St. Louis Blues rookie was in daycare in Finland and was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“Ice hockey was always his thing, so he said that he will be an NHL player,” Linnainmaa recalls, bursting between words. “But he had a backup plan, and that was to be the driver for the trash car. You know, those cars that pick the trash from people’s houses? Garbage truck! That seemed like a compelling option. NHL player or drive the garbage truck.”

When Mikkola is told over the phone that Linnainmaa has shared that with a stranger, you can almost hear the 6-foot-4, 185-pound defenseman’s shoulders slumping.

He sighs and can only surmise that the big truck had him in awe.

“Yeah, probably that’s why,” he says, shifting the conversation back to hockey. “But I think it was NHL player. I always like all kind of sports, so probably that’s my career option.”

It has turned into a wise choice for Mikkola, who scored his first NHL goal in San Jose on Monday night. Just 21 games into his NHL career, the fifth-round pick from 2015 has many in awe of his veteran-like ability. In an era in which young defensemen are coming into the league looking like forwards and wanting to make their marks in the offensive zone, he seems to enjoy coverage responsibility and physicality.

“Yeah, he has a different element in today’s game,” Blues general manager Doug Armstrong says. “He’s a defender, and there’s not a lot of defenders out there anymore.”

It’s as if he chose the more thankless of his two career aspirations.

To learn more about how that make-up evolved, The Athletic spoke to those who have known Mikkola since his garbage-truck-loving days, those who were there for his path through Finnish hockey, and those who identified him as a player who could make an impact at the NHL level.

A young Niko Mikkola skates at an outdoor rink in Finland. (Photo: Nina Linnainmaa.)

Sports were always part of life for Timo and Pirjo Mikkola’s two children: Nina, who is three years older, and Niko.

Timo played ice hockey and was a coach, so that was the family’s main sport in Kiiminki, a municipality that is now part of the larger city of Oulu. Both kids played, and Pirjo would volunteer at the rink.

Mikkola played for his dad from ages 4 to 10, and as he grew older, he was always on the ice.

“He would spend a lot of hours on ice hockey,” Kinnainmaa says. “Even after the official trainings, he always wanted to go to the public rink to skate with his friends.”

Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola rollerblades with his sister, Nina. (Photo: Nina Linnainmaa.)

And if it wasn’t hockey, it was some other competition: soccer, baseball, skiing or orienteering, which combines hiking and navigational skills.

“We used to compete a lot. And it didn’t matter where, we competed,” Linnainmaa says. “Our parents would sometimes play a trick on us and say, ‘Run around the yard, and we will take time.’ They didn’t take time. They were just telling us, ‘OK that was a bit faster than last time. Please try again.’ That was their way (to get rid of us).”

Asked who won those races, Mikkola doesn’t hesitate in responding. “Me.”

Linnainmaa jokes, however, that her younger brother has never won a fight between the siblings. She let that slip in an interview with a Finnish gossip newspaper a few years ago.

“That became like a headline, like shocking news: ‘Niko has not won against his sister on a fight,’” she says. “He was embarrassed.”

Mikkola didn’t find out what his sister had said until he read it in the article.

“I was laughing first, and then I call her,” he says. “I say, ‘Don’t say that again.’ She was laughing.”

So is it true?

“I don’t know,” Mikkola says.

“Yes,” Linnainmaa says. “I was three years older, and Niko moved away when he was 15, so …”

In 2012, Mikkola left Kiiminki to play for the U18 team of the Finnish Elite League’s KalPa, which is located in Kuopio, about 3 1/2 hours away from his home. He would be living on his own, which he admitted was “a little bit scary.” But his parents would visit and bring him food, and Linnainmaa wasn’t worried. Her brother had always been independent. When he was little, he would pack his own hockey bag, making sure he had his helmet, skates, etc.

“It’s not just something he learned,” she says. “It’s something he’s always been.”

Mikkola played just 12 games in his first season for KalPa but suited up in 46 his second year and finished with four goals and 17 points.

“It was kind of like a fresh start,” he says. “I did get more ice time on that team, so I feel like that was good for me for sure.”

Meanwhile, the defenseman was sprouting. His dad is 6-foot-1 and both his mom and sister are 5-9, but Mikkola was well on his way to towering over all. In 2014, the year before he would be eligible for the NHL Draft the first time, he grew three inches.

“Niko was in Kuopio, and I was busy with my university studies, so living in different cities, I didn’t see him often,” Linnainmaa says. “It was like an instant that he became so tall.”

But despite his game developing and his frame extending, Mikkola, not unsurprisingly, went undrafted.

Timo Koskela, a former Blues area scout in Finland, was in his first year with the team when he spotted Mikkola.

“He caught our eye the year he went through the draft, but in the second year, his game really improved,” Koskela says. “But he was a late bloomer, a little bit, over here. He was a lanky kid, but every time when I saw him, the two things that caught my eye: He really wanted to make a difference and his ability to skate as a big man.”

In Mikkola’s third season with KalPa, 2014-15, he had nine goals and 23 points in 37 games on the U20 team and also made his first appearance in the Finnish Elite League. But still, when Central Scouting released its mid-term rankings of European skaters in January, he was not among the 210 on the list, and when the final rankings came out in early April, he was No. 111.

The Blues thought at the time they might be able to get Mikkola in the sixth or seventh round of the 2015 draft. But that changed when Koskela watched him at an international tournament in April, two months before the draft.

“He played really well at the end of the season, and I was nervous because there was a lot of scouts (at the tournament),” Koskela says. “I kind of thought that he wasn’t (a secret) anymore.”

Two years earlier, the Blues had made a trade with New Jersey, sending forward Matt D’Agostini to the Devils for a conditional 2015 seventh-round pick. The condition was if D’Agostini was not re-signed by New Jersey, the selection would become a fifth-rounder.

D’Agostini was not re-signed, therefore the Blues got pick No. 127 from the Devils.

“I remember we were discussing closely, like, ‘What would be the right time to take him?’” Koskela says. “We had a pick early in the fifth round, and we thought that’s the place where we can get this guy.”

Then Koskela had an idea. A day or two before flying to the U.S. for the draft, which was held in Sunrise, Fla., that year, he would drive to Kuopio to meet Mikkola in person.

“I wanted to get an idea of how many teams interviewed him,” Koskela says. “I waited a long time to be the last one who could interview him before the draft, so that’s why I drove and tried to get all the possible information. But you know, Niko was smart. He said he had some interviews.”

Mikkola says he wasn’t fibbing when he told Koskela that he had spoken with 10 to 15 NHL clubs.

Either way, the Blues knew if they wanted him, they had to grab him sooner than later.

“He was late on to our list,” says Bill Armstrong, the club’s ex-director of amateur scouting, who drafted Mikkola. “Timo kept talking about the kid, and then he played well in the late tournament. We went to go see him at the end of the year, and everybody just came away excited about him. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the area scout for really going to town on him and getting him on the board.”

That year, the Blues took Vince Dunn in the second round, followed by forwards Adam Musil and Glenn Gawdin in the fourth.

“As the head scout, at that point, you’re looking for something of a quality,” Bill Armstrong says. “I’ll give you an example: So, OK, a guy has 110 points in junior, but he has no size and he’s just playing with somebody good, so his game is not going to translate. … He might be a great junior player, a great college player, a great European player, but you want to see NHL qualities so you can sink your teeth in and say, ‘This is why we’re taking this guy.’ With Mikkola, we could sink our teeth into the quality of his size, his compete and his ability on the defensive side of the puck.”

So after Carolina made its pick at No. 126, the Blues took him. Mikkola actually thought the fifth round is about where he’d go, and because typically only players who are projected to go in the first few rounds attend the draft, he was not in Florida.

“No, no, no. He was in the sauna somewhere in Finland,” Bill Armstrong says.

Actually, with Rounds 2-7 taking place in the afternoon, Mikkola was out for dinner with some friends when his agent called to tell him the news.

“I think I was like one step closer,” he says.

Before he became the Blues’ GM, Doug Armstrong worked in Dallas under Bob Gainey, and one of the many lessons he learned from the Hall of Famer applied in the decision to keep Mikkola playing in Finland after he was drafted.

“The feeling was: Until you can play in the World Championships, there’s enough you can develop over there,” Armstrong says. “A lot of organizations see it totally different. They want to get them over to North America as quickly as possible. I personally have no problem leaving a European there until (age) 22-23 and let them just develop in a very comfortable environment.”

Mikkola agreed with the decision.

“I wasn’t ready for the NHL back then, but I was growing up as a player,” he says. “There’s no rush to get there if you’re not ready. So I stayed for a couple of years. I think that was good for me, growing up as a player. … I found more of my game, like my style.”

Growing up, Mikkola had watched skilled Finnish defensemen Teppo Numminen and Kimmo Timonen, along with the likes of Janne Niinimaa and Joni Pitkanen. But he modeled his game more as a sturdy blueliner who liked to defend.

“He has a big frame, and since I’ve known him and played against him, he’s always been willing to go in and battle and lay the body on people,” says Jani Hakanpaa, a Ducks defenseman who played with and against Mikkola in Finland and trains with him in the offseason. “He knows how good he is, and that’s one thing that keeps him going. He always wants to challenge himself and be in your grill out there. He always wants to win and be the best guy out there.”

Koskela remembers a story that demonstrates Mikkola’s competitiveness. It was Mikkola’s second full season playing in the Elite League, and he was eyeing a more prominent role on the team.

“The coach (Pekka Virta) told me that he interviewed Niko and he asked, ‘What’s your goal for the upcoming season?’ and Niko told him, ‘To play in the top six,’” Koskela says. “They had a really good D that year, and the coach told him, ‘OK, this is the list. Who is the guy that you are going to push out from the lineup?’ Niko’s answer was, ‘That’s your problem, but I’m going to be one of those six who’s going to play.’ And he did it.”

“Just be confident and trust myself,” Mikkola says. “I knew I’m going to take that spot on the team. Yeah, I took that top-six spot.”

Niko Mikkola participates in a Blues’ camp in 2017. (Photo: Scott Rovak / St. Louis Blues.)

The Blues would get glimpses of Mikkola’s ability when he visited St. Louis for development camps, rookie tournaments and one training camp.

“The first thing you notice is his size,” Doug Armstrong says. “He’s got great reach, good size. And then you watch him play, and he’s competitive. He was raw at that time, but he is a very competitive person. You either have that or you don’t have that, and he had that right from the get-go.”

For the first time, Mikkola was measuring himself against future NHL players.

“I felt pretty good at that time,” he says. “I just knew that it was my goal to get here someday.”

After one final season in Finland, Mikkola came to North America in 2018-19, making the transition to a new country, new language and smaller rink in San Antonio, Texas, where the Blues’ AHL affiliate played at the time.

Everything translated.

In 70 games, Mikkola had just two goals and nine points, but his defensive play was impressive.

“You don’t have that much time on the puck, so that was the thing maybe took a little time, to move the puck quicker than back in Finland,” he says. “The Blues said that, and I felt that myself. But it was getting better.”

Doug Armstrong remembers the minor-league reports on Mikkola.

“It just re-enforced what you saw his first time: that high level of competitiveness — sort of a North American stature to his game,” he says. “He was willing to play on the edge. He fought. He did the things that aren’t common in European hockey. Then the rougher edges started to get smoothed out. His passing became accurate, quicker, harder. His reading the first play was becoming natural to him and just keeping the game in front of him.”

The World Championship was in Slovakia the next season, and when Jere Lehtinen, a former NHL player who is Finland’s national team GM, reached out to Armstrong. The two were in Dallas together.

“Jere said, ‘We don’t really have him on our radar screen,’ and I just said, ‘Well, he’s played really good in the American League this year,’” Armstrong recalls. “So they brought him in, but he had to go there not knowing if he was going to make the team.”

Jukka Jalonen, the coach of the national team that year, already knew Mikkola, having coached him in 2015 at a U20 international tournament.

“He made an impression for me, but back then, he didn’t have great puck skills,” Jalonen says. “He wasn’t that major, to be honest with you, because he was a younger guy. (But) we hadn’t seen him so much lately because he had played for AHL team. I thought we will need size on our roster in the World Championships. (Lehtinen) was also very positive watching him play on TV from videos.

“When he came in, right away we noticed that he will make the team.”

The configuration of the World Championship lineup is a little bit different because teams play as many as 10 games in 17 days, so they dress eight defensemen. Mikkola was in the second pair, logging about 14 to 16 minutes per game, which included time on the penalty kill.

In that tournament, which features many NHL players whose clubs aren’t in the playoffs, Finland ran into some serious offensive talent. Sweden, whom the Finns edged 5-4 in overtime in the quarterfinals, had Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson and Toronto’s William Nylander.

“I remember that first faceoff in overtime,” Mikkola says. “It was like Nylander, Pettersson and like (Oliver) Ekman-Larsson. Yeah, I was like, ‘Oh fuck. I have to skate hard.’ But it went pretty well.”

Finland advanced to play Russia, which had Washington’s Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin, in the semifinals, and blanked them, 1-0.

“Just looking back at the last minutes of the game, (Mikkola) did a good job of handling them,” says Hakanpaa, who was also on the team. “He doesn’t care who’s coming at him, if it’s Ovechkin or Malkin.”

Niko Mikkola defends fellow NHL rookie Kirill Kaprizov at the World Championship in 2019. (Photo: Robert Hradil / Getty Images.)

Finland won the gold-medal game 3-1 over Canada, which was led by Vegas’ Mark Stone and Philadelphia’s Sean Couturier.

Mikkola finished the tournament with two goals and five points in 10 games and was a plus-3.

“He did exactly what we wanted or imagined,” Jalonen says. “He didn’t play the power play, but still he had five points, which was very good. … I remember him defending against very good NHL players. He’s a little bit like a horse. He’s in very good physical condition, and he battled all night long.”

“I played pretty good,” Mikkola says. “It was kind of a breakout, for sure.”

Back in San Antonio in December 2019, Mikkola was anticipating a visit from Linnainmaa and her boyfriend (now husband), spending a few days together for Christmas. But with the couple’s flight laying over in Chicago, Mikkola was called up by the Blues. So they rented a car and made the five-hour drive to St. Louis.

“We wanted to make sure that when we were in the United States, we will get to see Niko at whatever costs,” Linnainmaa says.

Unfortunately, Mikkola didn’t play that night, but he did skate in the warmups.

“We made these really big placards, saying, ‘Niko’ and ‘Mikkola,’” Linnainmaa says. “There were like three times that the security personnel were stopping us saying, ‘Why do you have those kind of fan posters?’ They were OK because they were only ‘Niko Mikkola.’ So we went to really near the ice hockey rink, hanging our cards there. I think that I got noticed by the team.”

Nina Linnainmaa and her boyfriend show support for Linnainmaa’s younger brother, Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola. (Photo: Nina Linnainmaa)

Mikkola, who beforehand begged them not to embarrass him, doesn’t believe any players saw it.

“But our equipment guy noticed and asked me if I had family here,” he says. “I was like, ‘Yeah, my sister and her boyfriend.”

Shortly after, Mikkola was re-assigned to San Antonio, and they got their holiday time.

His sister had returned to Finland by the time he was recalled again and made his NHL debut against the Sharks on Jan. 6, 2020.

“The first game, we had to watch. That was huge!” Linnainmaa says. “Niko texted us that he will play on that night. So, yeah, we spent 30 Euros ($35) to get to see the game. I think he was excited, but sometimes it’s hard to tell because he doesn’t like scream or anything. He just says, ‘OK, I will play tonight in my first NHL game.’ You know he’s excited, but he’s really casual.”

“I know it’s a big deal, and those are big moments,” Mikkola says. “For sure I was a little bit nervous, but that was a very exciting day.”

He remained on the Blues’ roster for five games, averaging 14:22 of ice time. He was impressive enough that two weeks later the team signed him to a two-year, $1.6 million contract. It’s a one-way deal, meaning he’ll be paid an NHL salary even if he’s assigned to the minors.

“I give him credit. We’ve obviously given him a one-way contract because we think he can play in the league,” Doug Armstrong says. “When he’s in there, he’s proven he can play in the league. It’s just a matter of a consistent opportunity.”

In 16 games this season, Mikkola is averaging 13:17 of ice time, and that elusive first goal came Monday.

“He’s done a great job of kind of doing what’s been asked of him,” Blues defenseman Justin Faulk says. “He’s open to everything. He listens. He works hard. And as a young guy, if you continue to do that, it generally makes your job a bit easier. You start to settle in and get more comfortable. He hasn’t played a ton of games, but he’s going to have an opportunity here to kind of cement his spot in the lineup and show what he can do. We all think he’s capable of kind of taking the reins and stepping up.”

In addition to now being a regular in the NHL, Jalonen says, “I’m sure he’ll be fighting for a spot on the national team for the (2021) Olympics. He has a chance to be involved, for sure.”

Linnainmaa can’t fathom the opportunities her brother is creating for himself.

“It’s hard to believe because there are so many people that dream of it,” she says. “But on the other hand, he has always been really hardworking and diligent and responsible person. So, in a way, he had the qualities to make it.”

“Niko has done the work,” Koskela says. “I was the first guy who saw him play, but keep the credit for Niko.”

Don’t talk about credit with Mikkola, though.

“I don’t think about it like ‘I made it,’” he says. “I’m still on the way, and there’s still things I want to do to be better.”

And whenever his hockey career ends, there will always be an opportunity to drive the garbage truck.

“Yeah, usually you don’t play ice hockey when you’re 60, so you still have some good years after the career,” Linnainmaa says.

“He can do that when he’s retired from the first part,” Doug Armstrong adds.

“That’s true,” Mikkola says.

The Athletic | 3.10.21 (x)

#niko mikkola #florida panthers #its a phenomenal athletic article go read it 👍#you get a lot of embarrassing mikksy stories and a good semblance of this goofs personality if you arent already familiar #very charming it made me cry tears of hysterics #and also cute baby mikksy pictures!#it was written in 2021 so its been 3 years but its still very revelant #mikksy lore is so important #i think the idea that for 4 yr old mikksy the career path being either hockey or garbage truck driver is something so special #also mikksy apparently being in denial about his sister embarrassing him for umpteenth time is so #this is just mikksys older sister tortures him for multiple paragraphs: the article #also him going against willy petey and oel in the ihwc in '19 and going “fuck i need to skate hard” KILLS ME EVERYTIME LIKE MIKKSY 😭😭😭#EVERYONE not letting mikksy live down his garbageman dreams and going when you retire you can always drive the garbage truck #and him going thats true #hes so fucking funny

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battleslippers · 3 months

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okay look. I have clear favoritism to outsiders ff to anime ff for several (albeit possibly nonsensical, purely sentimental) reasons, but I will say this one jjk fic absolutely captivated me and I think if I wanted to I could fill pages with notes and tears. head in my hands absolutely life changing. I didn't even forget the title after months

I feel like I'm gushing incredibly hard over this but I truly do feel it's a wonderful look into toji's and megumi's characters and the events preceding the former's death. It undeniably solidified him as my favorite character

in short I desperately needed fushiguro content a few months ago and immediately got my heart and mind torn to shreds by this and NEVER forgot. 10/10 highly recommend!

#i need to reread this so badly when im not sleep deprived. i need to take notes. theres symbolism in there but i could never place it #i was too tired to disect this and it's a damn shame #fuck... if it werent for the fact a few of the world aspects would be confusing and some points would be missed i would recommend this #indiscrimantly. fuckkk if you dont mind that go ahead #i remember emile mosseri's Love Theme started playing during a particular hospital scene and i was so dumbfounded i couldnt even cry #i did a paragraph or two later #carrying this piece for the rest of my life. i need a physical copy some day #slipperlations #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #toji fushiguro #megumi fushiguro #toji fushiguro they could never make me form a definitive opinion on you #maybe i could never hate you but i could never love you either dude #it's not like. an underground fic by any means (i dont think?) but good lord id be damned if i never made a post about it #jjk fanfic #jujutsu kaisen fanfic

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that-was-anticlimactic · 2 years

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there’s something so sacred about sharing what you love with others: whether it be a song or food or clothes, a show or a movie or pictures. it's just... such a deep and personal thing, you know? having someone carve out a little part of their heart and gift it to you with an abundance of joy and excitement and passion... yeah.

#i lowkey had an awful day today lol #and it was my first day taking over as teacher so that's a great way to start it #there are people in seventh period who literally despise me and maybe that's an exaggeration but i looked over their creative writing for #the day and one of those kids literally wrote about how he was having a good day but then it turned into a bad day when i started the #creative writing with them so that was great and other stuff happened idk and one of my tics was really... uh... present today and i was so #aware of it and i feel like everyone was laughing at me because of it even tho ik that was just me being self-conscious but God i wanted to #cry and i shared a piece of my heart with them today for the creative writing exercise and so many of them just. told me how awful it was #like someone straight up started with 'this song is terrible' and then proceeded to write a paragraph about how bad it was #idk. it made me feel like a young kid again - sitting by myself on the playground and reading books. like i was in middle school and #everyone was telling me that the things that i loved were stupid. like i was a kid getting teased just lowkey enough that the teachers #couldn't tell because it wasn't necessarily outright bullying but they were making fun of what i loved which Hurts and then i was in high #school having to defend what i love and then in college hearing 'you ruined this for me because you liked it too much' and it just. idk.#it hurts. i find sharing passions and what i love with others so sacred and important and it Hurts when they just tear it and you down and #ik they're juniors and ik there will always be people like that but it was constant and idk. i'm just sad lol #so anyways even if someone shares something with you that you don't like there is literally No reason to be rude about it. you're allowed #to say you dislike it but it's not okay to just tell them straight up it's stupid or awful or you'd rather get hit by a car than hear the #song again. hm. ig i have some unresolved trauma lol #sorry for the rant y'all i just. needed to rant ig idk

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area51-escapee · 1 year

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While at work today I accidentally envisioned a nightmare scenario where my oc’s escape containment and one of my beloathed get’s babygirl’d too close to the sun and not only do people start coddling him too much but they start demonizing every character who doesn’t coddle him despite having very good reason to hate his guts and it was terrible I wanted to leap out of my body and grab myself by the shoulders and shake myself violently while yelling WAKE UP BITCH WAKE UP-

#I was receiving images of paragraphs long rants calling a female character a bitch for hating him despite not knowing him well #and I just about needed somebody to slap me and knock me out of the horrible tunnel of thoughts I found myself in #me @ me: it’s okay it’s not real you made it up stop crying

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rosicheeks · 2 years

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You are possibly the softest, most gentle angel on this app 🥺 All your tags, how overwhelmed with romance you get, it’s so utterly delightful and makes my heart burst 🥺 Even through a screen, you give the immense feeling of being home, even to an anon like me 💜

If this is what it feels like to know you from a distance, I can’t even begin to imagine the unfathomable euphoria of knowing you up close Rosie 🥺 You are exquisite, in every sense of the word 🥺🥺🥺

#I’m NOT OKAY OMG #jdnsksnkxnfksnsmdndks I just?????? this is so fucking sweet I can’t handle it 😭😭😭😭😭😭#with everything that’s been going on lately I definitely needed this 🥺 thank you so fucking much #^^ this is me ((sobbing and petting my bursting heart 🥺🥰))#first of all…. you think I’m an angel 🥺🥺🥺#broooooo I’m happy you like how overwhelmed (obsessed) I am with romance cause to me?!? I would like my heart to calm the fuck down #I didn’t ASK to be a hopeless romantic!! whoever made me accidentally spilled too much in and now I’m stuck like this 😂😂😂😂#I think the part that actually made me start crying was the ‘home’ bit….. like that is so intimate and sweet 😭#my goal is to find someone who makes me feel like home and I can make them feel like home…. no matter where we are or what’s going on -#all that matters is that we have each other…. I’ve been rewatching once upon a time while I paint and boy oh BOY that does things to me #I want to find my Prince Charming 😭😭😭#but seriously I’m going to be thinking about that compliment for years!! ‘give the immense feeling of being home’ hold on while I SOB #I still think about an anon who said I reminded them of autumn cause that hit a soft spot inside me and this home shit DEFINITELY DID #just…. thank you 🥺🥺🥺#honestly that last paragraph? I can’t believe someone could feel that way towards ME #like are you sure you have the right person?????? and then I read rosie and I’m like 👀 that’s me tho #I think exquisite is such an underrated word #I don’t even know what to say anymore dude… I think I said it all but then I read the ask again and I’m like 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺#and I feel like my tags aren’t good enough but I’m wayyyyyy too lazy to redo them so hopefully they’re good enough #I just don’t think you understand how much these asks mean to me #lately I’ve been in a little bit of a hole (and I haven’t been good at replying so I’m so sorry to anyone who has tried to snap/message me)#idk if hole is the right word maybe funk???#but either way these asks never fail to put a smile on my face and remind myself that there is still good in the world #there are still amazing people I have yet to meet and wonderful places I have yet to see idk these asks help me get out of my depression #and I seriously can’t thank you enough I feel like I’ve said it a billion times but thank you thank you thank you #I’m not positive but I’m pretty sure words of affirmation is one of my highest love languages #words mean so much to me (obviously actions speak louder than words and blah blah blah) but I’ll be thinking about sweet words for YEARS #ok I’m probably running out of space so I should shut up….. but I’m going to end it on this -#thank you so much for sending me this 💖 thank you for taking the time out of your day to send me such sweet words #ask

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weirdly-specific-but-ok · 4 months

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for whom good omens is being written

Hey maggots and the rest of the fandom, it's the Good Omens Mascot here. Today I read a post about this tweet:

The accompanying video genuinely made me cry. And I've been thinking about this for a long while, as far back as February, when I saw a lot of conflicting opinions on what people wanted from the third season. It really is true that no matter what you do, some people will be dissatisfied. But what matters is that Neil is writing this for Terry.

And I was reminded of some paragraphs from the Good Omens TV Companion, which I'd read in Amazon's sample excerpt of the book. I know this is a long post, but I really truly do think you all need to read these, I've done my best to select only the most important parts. Here you go:

'His Alzheimer's started progressing harder and faster than either of us had expected,' says Neil, referring to a period in which Terry recognized that despite everything he could no longer write. 'We had been friends for over thirty years, and during that time he had never asked me for anything. Then, out of the blue, I received an email from him with a special request. It read: “Listen, I know how busy you are. I know you don't have time to do this, but I want you to write the script for Good Omens. You are the only human being on this planet who has the passion, love and understanding for the old girl that I do. You have to do this for me so that I can see it." And I thought, “OK, if you put it like that then I'll do it."

'I had adapted my own work in the past, writing scripts for Death: The High Cost of Living and Sandman, but not a lot else was seen. I'd also written two episodes of Doctor Who, and so I felt like I knew what I was doing. Usually, having written something once I'd rather start something new, but having a very sick co-author saying I had to do this?' Neil spreads his hands as if the answer is clear to see. 'I had to step up to the plate.' A pause, then: 'All this took place in autumn 2014, around the time that the BBC radio adaptation of Good Omens was happening,' he continues, referring to the production scripted and co-directed by Dirk Maggs and starring Peter Serafinowicz and Mark Heap. ‘Terry had talked me into writing the TV adaptation, and I thought OK, I have a few years. Only I didn't have a few years,' he says. 'Terry was unconscious by December and dead by March.'

He pauses again. 'His passing took all of us by surprise,' Neil remembers. 'About a week later, I started writing, and it was very sad. The moments Terry felt closest to me were the moments I would get stuck during the writing process. In the old days, when we wrote the novel, I would send him what I'd done or phone him up. And he would say, "Aahh, the problem, Grasshopper, is in the way you phrase the question," and I would reply, "Just tell me what to do!" which somehow always started a conversation. 'In writing the script, there were times I'd really want to talk to Terry, and also places where I'd figure something out and do something really clever, and I would want to share it with him. So, instead, I would text Terry's former personal assistant, Rob Wilkins, now his representative on Earth. It was the nearest thing I had.'

(...) As Neil himself recognizes, this is an adaptation built upon the confidence that comes from three decades of writing for page and screen. But for all the wisdom of experience, he found that above all one factor guided him throughout the process. 'Terry isn't here, which leaves me as the guardian of the soul of the story,' he explains. 'It's funny because sometimes I found myself defending Terry's bits harder or more passionately than I would defend my own bits. Take Agnes Nutter,' he says, referring to what has become a key scene in the adaptation in which the seventeenth-century author of the book of prophecies foretelling the coming of the Antichrist is burned at the stake. ‘It was a huge, complicated and incredibly expensive shoot, with bonfires built and primed to explode as well as huge crowds in costume. It had to feel just like an English village in the 1640s, and of course everyone asked if there was a cheap way of doing it. 'One suggestion was that we could tell the story using old-fashioned woodcuts and have the narrator take us through what happened, but I just thought, “No”. Because I had brought aspects of the story like Crowley and the baby swap along to the mix, and Terry created Agnes Nutter. So, if I had cut out Agnes then I wouldn't be doing right by the person who gave me this job. Terry would've rolled over in his grave.'

And, finally, this paragraph:

"Once again, Neil cites the absence of his co-writer as his drive to ensure that Good Omens translated to the screen and remained true to the original vision. 'Terry's last request to me was to make this something he would be proud of. And so that has been my job.'"

I think that's so heartwrenchingly beautiful, and so I wanted you all to read this, too, just in case you (like me) don't have the Good Omens TV Companion. It adds another layer of depth and emotion to this already complex and amazing story that we all know and love.

Share this post, if you can, please, so that more people can read these excerpts :")

Tagging @neil-gaiman, @fuckyeahgoodomens and @orpiknight, even if you've definitely read these before :)

#good omens #neil gaiman #sir terry pratchett #good omens show #good omens fandom #good omens mascot #weirdly specific but ok #asmi

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veritasangel · 2 months

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⋆ ｡⋆ any pov ୨୧˚ warning: nsfw content in one paragraph {mdni} ↣ {wc: 520}

↣ i can't not write soft simon, i am sorry, okay but he is soft to me !!

Simon doesn't say 'I love you', but... he does give you three squeezes whenever he’s near.

Simon doesn't say 'I love you', but... he knows you like the back of his hand, inside and out. He knows your favourite things, how you like your tea, the temperature of your showers, what makes you laugh, or what makes you cry. He just knows everything there is to know about you.

Simon doesn't say 'I love you', but... he smiles like an idiot whenever you look his way. He could be having the worst day known to man, exhausted and fed up but the moment his eyes meet yours, he melts. Sometimes it’s hard to believe he’s a hardass soldier when he turns to mush around you.

Simon doesn't say 'I love you', but... he talks about you whenever he can. He speaks fondly of you when he’s away on missions with the guys and he gushes about you to his Mum. It doesn’t matter what the topic of conversation is because he can always find a way to link it back to you, you’re always on his mind. Absolutely loves when his Mum asks how you’re doing, because then he can just talk till the cows come home.

Simon doesn't say 'I love you', but... he does hold you with so much love and care. Every kiss conveys so much emotion, every touch is sweet as he clings to you like you’re his lifeline. Loves the way you feel when you take his cock, like you were made for him. He craves the feeling of your nails across his skin, your kisses along his marred skin, your lips as they wrap around his cock. But he adores it most when you look at him so sweetly as he washes your hair. Smooth hands and unspoken words through each other’s eyes as you hold each other under the warm water.

Simon doesn't say 'I love you', but... he worships you like you’re his own personal religion. You’re the only semblance of divinity that he thinks he’ll ever come close to, what with the blood on his hands. One of those hands, the one that his wedding ring sits on. The ring that he kisses every time he’s about to do something dangerous, praying that he’ll return to his sweet angel that waits for him at home, his home.

Simon doesn't say 'I love you' because he doesn’t need to. He’s a firm believer that actions speak louder than words and he sure as hell shows you every day how much he loves you.

“Don’t need stupid words to tell me how I’m supposed to be feeling.” he mumbles against your chest as the two of you lay intertwined. “They’d never compete with the feeling in my chest- in my heart. The love I have for you takes over every fibre of my being, it’s consuming.” he continues as he brings your hand to his heartbeat.

“I love you, but those three words will always be so minor compared to the overwhelming devotion that my heart has for you.”

༄ m.list

#simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #cod #call of duty #cod mw2 #cod drabble #cod fluff #simon riley drabble #simon riley fluff #ghost fluff #ghost x reader #simon riley x you #cod x reader #simon riley #simon riley smut #cod headcanons #simon riley headcanons

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lilgynt · 11 months

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YAYYYYYYYYYYYY IM OFFICALLY GONEEEE MY LAST DAY IS THE 7th!!!! YAYYYYYYY

#personal #and this is my last monday bc i’m a calling OUT next monday #he was mentioing oh if you call out like five days in a row we’ll count that as a resignation but ur good lol #and i mentioned i have a stomach bug so if i end up calling out between here and the 7th it’s not that it’s just a normal call out #but yay!!! 4 more shifts not including the rest of this one!!! which is like 2 hours #so like. 42 more hours 20 hours are the weekend shift and the last day is a tuesday so ❤️#god the nightmare is almost over #had the meeting with my boss and he was upset im leaving but understood #so funny he was like oh so it wasn’t like. anything within the company that made you leave right?#sir go back 3 paragraphs in our last dms im talking about needing five to cry off the clock bc of an issue within the company cmon now #but i described the issues and he understood and i was like #i got a call mid this i have no idea what i was like #oh and he said he’d hire me in a heart beat if i ever want to come back and did try to make me stay just a bit #but yayyyyyyyyy

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mekatrio · 1 year

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this is so fucked up.. i had been looking for this quote abt cicadas not making it past the summer, i thought it was from hibiya in novel 3.. but no, it was from seto..... seto, who loves all kinds of animals, who spends his free time listening to them, is talking about how even he cant stand the sounds of cicadas. he talks about how painful their cries are, cries that go on and on despite not having a future beyond the summer, and how unbearable it is to see their dead bodies at the summer's end.

and then several chapters later, he talks about how his friend's voices had been becoming one with the cicadas to him;

and how, just like with the cicadas, god hadnt given his friends a future beyond the summer either....

he hates the cries of the cicadas bc he knows they wont continue beyond the summer, and because the cries of the cicadas are overlapping with the voices of his friends.... it means the voices of his friends wont be heard after the summer either..... and thats why he cant bear the cries of the cicadas.....

#but yeah i had been looking for these paragraphs for so long and it was in novel 8 this whole time jfskdlfjlks #CUZ I DONT REREAD NOVEL 8!!! BC IT MAKES ME CRY!! I AM CRYING RIGHT NOW!!! FJJUSDHFSKA #have i made this same post like 2 times before. yes. but this is the perfect edition bc it has this passage that i couldnt find earlier #so nice you see it thrice 👍<- i am crying #kgprambling #seto tag

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fingertipsmp3 · 1 year

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This thing I've just coded for my assignment is genuinely dogshit but I think I kind of have to just submit it 🫠

#okay it's not like.. Bad it's just everyone else (bar maybe the person who apparently hadn't encountered html before class) will have made #something way better #plus i had a vision for how i wanted this page to look but i just can't seem to reenact it #div classes were refusing to cooperate and so were section tags so i was just like 'fuck this'#and i just styled everything by type (so making all the headers the same colour & font and then doing the same with the paragraphs and list #which i know is not the most efficient way to do it and the finished product is nowhere close to my vision #plus i know i'm probably going to get negative feedback for not using divs or semantics when we just learned about them in the last class #but they wouldn't work for me and it was going to end up being my thirteenth reason #i so badly wanted to show off but honestly like.... i can change this any time i want #plus it doesn't actually say in the assignment to include divs? just says 'include whatever sections you want'#well i want one big section okay #i have a header and a footer (which they wanted) and basic styling (ditto) and i got down all the basic information they wanted #plus i added lists and links which i think honestly shows Some level of skill #i think i'm just going to submit it. fuck it. i can always improve upon it later in the course #i would come back to it later this afternoon and see if i can get literally Anything on there to cooperate but 1) i don't want to look at i #anymore. i hate it and 2) i don't know if there's a deadline?? i assumed we had to have it in before the next class. which is monday #but idk. i could literally have already missed the deadline. i hope not #look i'm just going to send it in. if anyone asks why it's so bad i will just cry #crying is free and makes people feel bad. it is the way #personal

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kingkaizen · 5 months

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𝓯𝓸𝓬𝓾𝓼

∘ desc: studying is always best when you're getting your pussy played with <3

∘ ft: nanami

∘ a/n: for all of my loves approaching finals week, hope this helps <3

∘ includes: fingering, pussy slaps, choking, overstimulation

“Focus for me, sweetheart.”

Nanami’s calloused fingertips hovering just slightly over your soaked cunt was the only thing your clouded brain could focus on. Sitting with your back against his chest, legs spread and notebook in hand, he wasn’t referring to you to focus on him. No, he wants you to try your hardest to absorb as much information from that notebook as you could. With your finals coming up, it’s incredibly important to make sure you’re effectively studying in order to get the best grade possible. Nanami thinks that your education is important, and he will do everything he can to make sure that you pass all of your classes.

“You’re always so wet for me.” Nanami mutters to himself, always in awe by how beautiful you look all spread out for him. “Go ahead, read the next paragraph honey.” Your eyes search on the white page for what you read last, finding your place before reading out loud.

“This n-next section illustrates -fuck- the essentials for…” You trail off, brain fogged over at the feeling of him finally making contact with your throbbing clit. He circles around it slowly before applying just the right amount of pleasure, causing you to throw your head back onto his chest. His fingers leave your body just as fast as they got there, making you groan in frustration.

“Kento, I can’t do this anymore. Please just touch me already.” You’re growing increasingly frustrated at this point. Fuck your exam, you just want him inside of you. Nanami has other plans, however, shaking his head no at your request.

“You know I can’t do that, love. This test is more important than whatever this pretty little pussy of yours wants.” Nanami gives your cunt two quick slaps, making you jump in surprise at the sudden contact. “Finish reading this page and I’ll reward you, come on.” You could feel Nanami’s warm breath tickling your ear as his fingers made their way back, teasing you so much that it’s driving you insane. You’re growing more and more desperate by the second, hands shaking in anticipation as you continue reading. The further you get down the page, the more Nanami is willing to give you.

“...and with that, c-concludes the end of this chapter.” As soon as you get that last sentence out, Nanami plunges two thick fingers into you, curving them ever so slightly to hit that gummy spot that causes you to cry out in delight. You’re gripping his biceps with so much force, trying anything to keep you grounded as he shows you no mercy. He’s putting his forearm to work, tiring his wrist out to push in and out of you as his other hand grips your neck to push your head back against his chest. The eye contact is so intense, hand wrapping around your throat making you clench around his fingers.

“So greedy.” Nanami chuckles, watching the way your eyes flutter closed in your pathetic attempts to keep them open. “Gonna cum all over my fingers? C’mon baby, let it all out for me.” Nanami’s words made your heart pound even harder, legs shaking as that feeling deep in your tummy starts to overwhelm you. Your eyes roll to the back of your head, thighs closing around his hand as you gush all over him. He groans at the sight, fingers slowing down inside of you as he works you through your high. He kisses all over the side of your face and neck, each touch of his lips feeling like sparks of electricity over your skin. Sensing that you’re finally coming back down, his fingers make slow movements inside once more. You whimper at the feeling, pleasure coursing through your veins once more.

“Too much, Kento!” You cry out, hands gripping his wrist in a weak attempt to pry his large hand away from your warmth. He doesn’t move an inch, instead adjusting the hand on his neck to slowly move down over your collarbones, fingers twisting over one of your nipples.

“I’m sure you could take it. You’ve been such a good girl for me, let me give you a treat for all of your hard work.”

#jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen smut #jjk x reader #jjk smut #jjk x reader smut #nanami x reader #nanami smut #nanami x reader smut #nanami kento

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