#and expecting way too much even if we got a 2nd season...

[doudouneverte]

2nd choice, but 1st place

a/n: okay I was very inspired for that I don't know why. And it should be my last last football (soccer) fic at leat until the world cup

*not my GIF*

Pairing: VfL Wolfsburg (frauen) x Putellas!Reader; Alexia Putellas x sister!Reader; (hint of Lena Oberdorf x Reader)

Summary: You need to prove that you're notjust La Reina's little sister.

Type: Fluff

Warning: nothing

word count: 5433 (i was inspired sorry)

note:

(///////) means change POV to TV pov (I tried something very new)

----------

Dreams are made to come true, they say. Yours just started when you signed your first professional contract for Barcelona. You were nervous, but you were not alone; there was your sister, the great Alexia Putellas, and the one who will become your best friend, Ona Batlle. But your debut was not really like you expected; according to your previous coach, you were too much like your big sister, and the club decided to send you on loan to Levante.

You should be angry by their decision, but you got more play time there, and you were with Ona, at least until she joined the WSL. The defender tried to convince you to go with her and maybe play with her in Manchester, but you declined. You were really happy with your new club, and they even decided to keep you after the left back left.

But fortunately or unfortunately for you, Barcelona wanted you back after their Champions League final win against Chelsea. At first, you thought that they finally found an interest in you, but you learned late that it was more of a way for them to be sure you didn’t sign with the rival, Real Madrid.

At the end of the 2022 season, you received some calls from a lot of clubs who were ready to sign you next summer. Honestly, you didn’t know how they could recruit a bench player, but two clubs caught your attention: Manchester United and VfL Wolfsburg. When you talk about it with your sister, it’s unnecessary to say she wasn’t really happy with it.

You were with the team celebrating the three trophies won this season. You talked a little with Ingrid and Fridolina; you three grew up close because they joined the club with you. After they gave you some advice, you decided to pull your sister away from the girls to announce your decision.

"But why?" Alexia asked, and you rolled your eyes.

"Do you really need to ask?" You were not really shocked by the fact that she seemed oblivious to your situation; every time you played together, she looked as happy as when you were both children and you were trying to reach her level. But there is the problem: you were not that little kid anymore, and you definitely didn’t want to reach her level like you did in the past. "Listen, I already talked with the coach and everyone. Ingrid and Frido said that Wolfsburg is a great team to improve myself so I think I can try."

"But why? Is it because we lost in the Champions League? I’m angry too, but don’t worry; we will do it next year, I promise." She said, and you sighed.

"No, it’s not—" you groaned. "I mean, yes, I’m angry that we lost, but it’s not because of that."

"So what is it? I thought you wanted to win the Champions League together. I thought you wanted to show the world how incredible the Putellas sisters are." She said, and gave you a nudge.

"I want; I really want, but look at us. You won the freaking Ballon d'Or; you're the captain of the team and the national team. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really proud of you; nobody deserved it more than you. But look at me; I struggle to make my way on this team. Until I’m still in your shadow, I could never reach your level; it’s not your fault, but it’s just that no team needs two of the same players." You explained, and your sister stayed there, processing everything you said.

"I didn’t know," she said. You wrapped your arm around her shoulders and gave her a weak smile. "I’m sorry," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Hey, it’s okay; it’s not your fault; it’s just that you started to create your own legend here, and it’s a good thing, but if I want to improve my skill, I need to leave." You said, and she hugged you.

======

The final whistle echoed in the stadium; it's over; Spain lost against England and was out of the Euro 2022. It took you a moment to realize what that meant. The coach called you just before the first match to let you know you'd replace your sister because she got injured just before the competition, and now you were angry and disappointed because you didn't qualify your team for the next round.

You were sitting on the pitch with your head in your hands when you felt a hand on your shoulder. You turned your head to meet Ona's eyes. She was trying to restrain her tears, but you knew her better than anyone else. You didn't say anything; you just stood up and pulled her into a tight hug before your teammates came a few seconds later.

After a little while, you went to congratulate the winners with a sad smile, and you could see some English players were truly sorry for you. Leah came and hugged you while you tried not to fall apart on her shoulder. "I'm sure she's proud of you." She whispered to you, and you nodded. When you broke the hug and looked at the crowd, you saw her. Alexia was there, visibly sad, but she gave you a smile to reassure you and let you know that she's proud of your match even if Spain didn't win.

Later that night, you were with Ona, packing your things, when Alexia knocked on the door. The defender took a moment to analyze and make sure you were okay before she left you two alone.

"You did great." Alexia said, and you hummed, not really looking at her to avoid a possible deception on her face. She grabbed your hand, and you finally looked at her "I'm serious, you were the best player today."

"Yeah, but that was not enough to win." You replied, and she sighed. She knew why you were acting like that, why this defeat seemed more important to you than anyone else, and secretly she couldn't help but blame herself for something she couldn't change.

"This shot in the second half was extremely precise, and if their captain didn't touch the ball, I'm sure you would score." She added and rubbed your cheeks with her hand. You lowered your head to look at her leg and the clutches she carried with her everywhere.

"How is your knee?" You changed the subject; you were definitely not ready to talk about it right now.

"It will be hard, but I should be back before the end of the next season." She said, and sat on the bed where your suitcase was while you continued to fulfill it. There was silence until your sister spoke again. "You know, we'll miss you." She said it with a sad smile.

"I know, but it's not like I'll change continents or anything. We will stay in the same time zone, and if you're good without me, we will face each other in the Champion's League." You joked, and she gently pushed you.

You spent the rest of your summer with your family before being called to Germany. In the airport, your mom and Alexia were making sure you hadn't forgotten anything, while Alba and you just rolled your eyes at them. When they called your flight, you gave them a last group hug, cautiously avoiding touching your sister's knee.

To your surprise, everything fit perfectly; your new teammates were really happy to have a new face, and the coach seemed to really trust you. Due to your position on the field, you didn't start every match, but it was definitely enough to grow some ties with your teammates and one in particular, Lena Oberdorf.

You were used to playing behind your sister in Barcelona, so of course you didn't mind playing defensive midfielder beside her, and it was definitely a game changer to have both of you on the pitch. The Bundesliga seemed too small for you two; rare were the strikers who were able to pass you and the German.

You definitely shined during the group stage of the Champions League, when everyone was prepared to stop Poppy or Pajor; they didn't know you were able to play as N°10, and every goalkeeper was shocked to see you so close to their penalty areas.

Because of your perfect performance on the group stage, Lena started to call you Prinzessin, or princess in German, because of Alexia's nickname. You found it funny and started to call her your knight because she always cleaned up after you every time you lost a dual.

Everything couldn't be better; you were one of the best scorers in the Bundesliga and definitely the one with more assists. While you were eliminating the PSG, your best friend was becoming the best left back in the WSL, and your sister started to work out to prepare for her comeback.

======

At the press conference before your first leg at home against Arsenal, a journalist asked something funny to Tommy Stroot: "What can you say about the transformation of Y/n?"

"What?" Your coach asked back.

"I mean, it's not the end of the season, and she already beat her record from the two past seasons. She was involved in four goals in the semifinal of the DFB-Pokal against Bayern. So, I'm asking if you know something about her transformation on the pitch."

There was a little silence; the response seemed so obvious that the coach couldn't even believe he asked him that. "I don't know if it's really a transformation; when she trained with us for the first time, she beat my expectations. I don't think we did something to her; maybe she just needed some confidence and play time. She's a young player, and it's the most important thing."

"Talking about play time, she got injured in the last match; do you think she'll get back in time for the match tomorrow?" Another journalist asked.

No, definitely not, but she works hard on her side to be available for the match in London, so I'm not worried." After a few rounds of questions, the conference ended.

To your surprise, the first leg ended in a draw. You were frustrated not only because you couldn't play but also because you knew you had to win the next match. In London, things were a little different; the Gunners were favorites, of course, but the atmosphere was almost suffocating, and things didn't go better when Stina scored the first goal. You were on the bench for this match; you were ready to play, but your coach wanted to use you as a super sub, and this man rarely gets it wrong.

At the end of full time, the score was 4-4 in aggregate, so that meant overtime, and overtime meant super sub. You just need 15 minutes to install fear in your opponent's mind. You barely lost a ball, and even when it happened, Lena always had your back. And in the next fifteen minutes, you did what you did best this season: assisted Bremer eight minutes before the end and qualified Wolfsburg for another final in their history, and more than that, because it will be against Barcelona.

Until then, you win the dfb-Pokal without surprise, and you place yourself as the second-best scorer of the season in the Bundesliga. At the end of the season, everyone's eyes were locked on one thing.

The day before the final, you were in your hotel room in Eindhoven talking with some teammates who had invited themselves into your room when you received a text from Ona.

======

Ona: good luck for tomorrow, Princesa. I come with Leila and Laia

You: you come to see me or the girls? 🤔

Ona: everyone 

You: okay but I need to tell you that we will win tomorrow, so prepare the girls to comfort them

Ona: I don't come here to see my best friend lose

You: don't worry, you'll not

You: I need to go. the girls need me to annoy the older. see you tomorrow. I'll let you touch the trophy 😜 

Ona: yeah sure 🙄

On D-Day, the pressure was at its highest level; the fans were expecting a victory, and you, the players, would do anything for that. In the changing rooms, everyone was tense after the lecture from your coach. You started your little routine before any big games to focus until you saw Lena beside you, totally nervous.

"Hey Lee, are you okay?" You asked after you gently paused your hand on her tight. She looked at your hand before locking her gaze on yours.

"I don't know. I mean, it's a big game, like, THE big game of the season." She said, and you chuckled. You found her very cute when she was stressed, but she didn't need to know that, at least not yet.

"Yes, but you played a big finale last summer, remember?" You asked.

"And I lost." She replied.

"Okay, that's not what I was expecting." You admitted; you sighed and gently cupped her face with your hands, forcing her to look at you. "Listen, I know it's a big game. I know how terrifying it is to face a team like that, but you're not alone. There's all the team to help you in the first half, and I'll be there in the second, whatever happens." You said quietly, and she chuckled, leaving you confused.

"I was more stressed about making your ex-teammates cry because we would crush them, but I think your little speech helped me too." She joked, and you rolled your eyes, even if that made you laugh too.

"Okay now, enter that pitch and show them what my knight in shining armor can do." You said, and all the girls cheered you up.

///////

"Good afternoon, everyone, I'm Dave, and I'll be your commentator for this final of the Champions League. I'm not alone; I'm with Selena, our consultant for this match. Good afternoon, how are you?"

"Pretty good, thanks, Dave. And yeah, we're here today for THE most important match of the season, one of the most equilibrated matches of this Champions League journey, at least on paper."

"Yes, on paper, the match would be beautiful to see, but we need to remind ourselves that FC Barcelona start this match with a little advantage. They were declared champions a few weeks before the end of the season, so they could rotate their squad and rest their players for this final."

"Of course, it will be a great advantage, but we saw how Wolfsburg can be really dangerous when we're not ready. I don't think Alexia and her teammates will take it easy; I think the defeat of the last year is still in everyone's memories."

"Talking about Alexia and her teammates, the players should enter the pitch in an instant now." The players started to walk out of the tunnel, and everyone was focused on one thing: the victory. You were on the bench watching your first team against your provisory team.

The anthem of the Champions League was playing on the speaker of the Phillips Stadion; the supporters started to be impatient, and you were more nervous.

"I will never get used to this tension just before the kickoff."

"I totally understand you; it never misses to give me goosebumps. I was watching the composition of the two teams, and I'm a little shocked to not see Y/n in the starting eleven. What do you think about it?"

"It's a surprise, but not as big as anyone thinks. We know that Tommy Stroot likes to use her as a super sub, and it's technically those types of matches where anything could happen that you need someone like her."

"Her big sister doesn't start either, but it's not really a surprise, so I think I'm talking for everyone when I say that we are really excited to see the both of them on the pitch. And now the kickoff."

—------------

Surprisingly, after the kickoff, the advantage was clearly for the German team.

"The Spanish seem to struggle to keep the ball out of their side of the pitch."

"Yes, but we know they can reverse this; we just need to—"

"Oh no, big mistake from Bronze. Pajor can shoot, and- she didn't miss! Wolfsburg take the lead with a missile from their Polish striker."

"I was saying that they can reverse, but this didn't go well, haha."

"It's not your fault; nobody can predict that Lucy Bronze would leave a little place for Pajor to shoot. But only after fifteen minutes, the teammates of Alexandra Popp can dream to lift the prestigious trophy."

—------

"—she's doing one of her best performances today, but– but right now the Catalans recuperate the ball! Graham Hansen is alone by her side. Oh, what a great move to push the ball in front of the goals; she can shoot—no, she passes, why she—"

After only fifteen minutes, everything needed to be redone.

"It's Patri!! After only fifteen minutes, ladies and gentlemen, Patri scored the equalizer!"

"That was the best way to finish this action, Dave. What a great goal and great performance from the Spaniard since the Germans took the lead! The solution didn't come from the strikers, so she just decided to take it into her own hands. 1-1, the real game starts now."

"You said it, Selena; she had the lucidity to stay away from any defender, and the finish is just amazing."

You and the girls were gutted; you didn't plan to win this game with a big goal difference, so any goal against you is barely a synonym of defeat. The real nightmare started only five minutes before halftime.

"A corner kick for Barcelona. It's shot very well, and—it's Rolfö! The Swedish give the advantage to the Spaniard only five minutes before halftime! What a goal!"

"Like you said, Dave, what a goal from Fridolina Rolfö. She used to score beautiful headers, and that's why corner kicks are one of the most dangerous weapons on this team. She just freed her from any defender and easily put it in the back of the net."

"You can see the joy erupting from Barcelona's bench; the supporters are uncontrollable, and it's totally understandable. The Swedish player may have just secured the victory with this goal."

In the next five minutes, your teammates pushed but failed to score against a visibly blessed Paños.

"And the referee blew the whistle; it's halftime, ladies and gentlemen. We will remind you of the score for the one who just joined. There is a 2-1 lead for Barcelona. Pajor scored the first goal of the game, but only fifteen minutes later, Patri equalized, and Rolfö gave them the advantage a few minutes ago."

///////

Back in the changing room at halftime, your teammates looked defeated, and after another lecture from your coach, the room was pretty quiet. The girls seemed to be trying to focus on the second half. Lena rested her head on your shoulder, and you intertwined your fingers with hers.

"Okay girls, you heard me out." Alexandra started to speak and gained everyone's attention. She gave a pretty encouraging speech. During this time, you were rubbing your thumb on the back of Lena's hand.

After the speech, when it was time to go, you unconsciously kissed the defender's hand and made her blush, but you were totally oblivious. "I believe in you; I know you'll be better in this half." You whispered to her, and she squeezed your hand.

/////// 

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. We're here for the second half of this final of the Champions League, opposing Barcelona to Wolfsburg, and the Spaniard took the lead just before halftime." The two teams were going back on the pitch with a little change in the Spaniard's side.

"We were just talking about her before during the halftime, and Jonatan seemed to have heard you." You were one of the last ones to come out of the tunnel, and you were a little surprised to hear the Barcelona fan chanting your sister’s name, but you were more surprised to see her ready to start the end of the match. "No, you’re not dreaming Alexia Putellas will play her first minutes in this campaign! Now the question is how Wolfsburg will react to this."

It was not surprising that the Spaniard took the advantage at the start of the second half, and things went worse when what everyone expected happened.

"Bonmati for a cross in the box, the defense struggles to kick the ball out. Alexia recuperates the ball; she places herself and aims, and—it's a goal! Barcelona is now leading by two goals!"

The joy erupted from the benches of the previous finalists. All the Spanish supporters were screaming; it was almost done. Almost because it was only the fiftieth minute, they had to conceive the score for forty minutes, and your coach was about to make his biggest move.

Your teammates were about to start the end of the game until the referee blew the whistle for a sub.

"Things are going to be more exciting now. The coach of Wolfsburg just made his super sub, Roord, let her place to Y/n." As a reminder of the start of this second half, all the German fans were chanting your name when you entered the field. You found your position beside your defensive midfielder, and the match started again.

"I have an interesting statistic for you, Dave. Wolfsburg only lost three games this season when they aligned their duo Lena-Y/n. And what is most incredible is that Y/n is a former offensive midfielder, but she didn't struggle to play a little lower on the pitch. She's very versatile."

Yeah, it's very incredible, but you know what is very unbelievable?" 

"No what?" 

Is it that since they became pro, the Putellas sisters have played more against each other than with each other."

"Wait what?"

"Yeah, Y/n played for Levante until the last season, but she played only four games with her big sister on the pitch in Barcelona."

"It's quite funny because when we saw them playing together, it was almost like they had done it all their lives."

"Yeah, but I see almost the same result this season between Lena and Y/n, like now."

You recovered the ball, dribbled Aitana, and passed to Lena before being stopped by Keira. The German gave it back to you just perfectly in front of the penalty, and that led to you shooting and hitting the crossbar.

"She was so close to scoring only after five minutes of her appearance in this match."

"I think Tommy Stroot made a great choice to sub her on now; like we said earlier, even if she played alongside Oberdorf, she's a former offensive midfielder, which means that she can contribute to the offensive task. But she also gives hope to the team and their supporters; I think it's important too."

A few minutes later, Lena recovered the ball pretty high on the pitch and gave it to Sveindis, who made an incredible run, followed by Rolfö, but managed to cross it in the box, where you pushed it into the net with a big header.

"Ooh, what a goal! Y/n just scored a beautiful header, reducing the gap between the two teams."

"I wanted to say that the defense was too chill, but her placement was just perfect. She was quicker than anyone on this action, and I think it's not too bad to say she's quicker than anyone since she's here. She scored a striker's goal."

After thanking the Icelander and hugging some teammates, you were ready for the rest of the game. The game was more tense. The Barcelona players pushed really hard, but you were almost suffocating all their actions with Lena. Talking about action, your team just got one after a great save from Frohms, who kicked the ball far away. You controlled it and looked around to find yourself almost alone on the right side of the pitch, which means if you want to find a way to be in a good position to shoot, you have to use your left foot.

Alexia knew that; she was the one who praised you when you became more skilled than her, and what helped you was your ability to use both feet almost perfectly. Patri otherwise seemed to forget that because she was surprised when she got nutmegged; Rolfö just behind her tried to surprise you, but she got crocheted. You were running to the box, and when Mapi came to stop you, you noticed Popp alone was not offside yet, so you just lobbed the defender, and your captain controlled it perfectly. And she didn't miss her 1v1 with Paños.

"And Alexandra Popp for the equalizer!"

"What beautiful action from Y/n. She totally danced with her ex-teammates; she reached another level in this final."

You wanted to apologize to Patri, but you were stopped by the tall body of your captain, who pulled you into a tight hug. You laughed when she let you go, but not before she messed up with your hair like she had loved to do since the start of the season.

"I think we can say that Y/n is literally the definition of a supersub. She's implied in the two goals that helped Wolfsburg come back in this match. And from her expression, we can think it's not finished yet."

The German fans were chanting your name like you had been in this club for a few seasons now. That made you blush, and you made a heart with your hand to show them your love before the next and hopefully last quarter of the match.

Your sister and her teammates were more nervous and reckless in the last minutes, maybe because of the stress that led to some ugly tackles, which almost made you feel nostalgic about your matches against Georgia Stanway.

"The fourth referee announced 5 minutes of extra time. If Wolfsburg continue like that, maybe they could win in overtime like against Arsenal."

Only five minutes of extra time, despite all the fouls, was a miracle. Barcelona's players were more aware of you, and sometimes you were almost never marked by only one player. But you found a little breach where you forced your passage, and you found yourself trying to keep the ball from your sister and Ingrid. You wanted to pass, but they blocked every angle, so you took some steps back and decided to do it quickly.

You easily erased your sister with a dribble on her wrong side, and the Norwegian received your fourth nutmeg of the match. You wanted to pass to Pajor when you felt something collide against your foot, and you fell to the ground.

"Ouch, it's a pretty bad tackle from Mapi Leon."

///////

You were on the ground with your ankle between your hands, trying to ease the pain, when you heard multiple voices arguing.

"Hey, are you crazy?" You recognized Poppi’s voice.

"I didn’t do that on purpose, okay?" Mapi replied.

Lena quickly came to you and tried to distract you while your sister tried not to let your captain hurt her best friend. "Hey, do you hear me?" she asked, and you nodded. "Okay, good. The medics should come in a few seconds. Do you think you can continue the match?"

"Yes, of course." You spoke through the pain, and she nodded. Like she said, the medics came a little after; it was not serious, but it was not a good move from your national teammate. After the approval of the medic, you prepare yourself for the free kick.

A foul in front of the box, not so far, a little on the right side. Svenja took the ball, placed it, and looked at the players in the penalty area. You were still beside her, lightly testing your foot.

///////

"It seems that Y/n and Svenja Huth are talking about who’ll shoot this free kick. It can be the last action of the match. Who should shoot it for you, Selena?"

"Oh, it’s a tough question. We know Svenja can find a teammate in this situation; she took all the free kicks like always, and she was good like always. But, even if the last time she took a free kick was in her time at Levante, Y/n have pretty good statistics on this exercise."

///////

You took two steps back and a step to the left, took a deep breath, and focused on the goal. The referee blew the whistle. Alexia met your gaze; she knew. Svenja raised her left hand to indicate the near post. She started to run but stopped herself in front of the ball. She just took a step to the right, and you made your way to shoot.

Your feet hit the ball, and you saw it fly toward the goal in the opposite upper corner.

///////

"Y/n took the free kick and—she scored! In the last minute of this final, Y/n gave the victory against her former club! It’s totally unbelievable!"

"You say it, Dave! I thought Svenja would shoot it, but she let the young Spaniard, and for her first free kick with the wolves, Y/n just scored a beautiful one! She perfectly hit the opposite corner; Sandra Paños didn’t see it coming. This final is incredible, and this player is incredible. And the referee just blew the end of the match."

"They did it! Wolfsburg are Champions again for the third time in their history!"

///////

All the bench ran to you; you couldn’t process what was happening until you felt yourself being tackled on the ground by Lena, quickly followed by the rest of the team. You did it; you won your first Champions League. The tears started to run down your cheeks, and you wrapped your arms around the defensive midfielder.

"We did it," she said to you, and you nodded. She brushed away your tears and discreetly kissed your cheek.

You wanted to celebrate more, but you noticed your national teammates’ faces. You went to console a lot of them when you spotted Fridolina and Ingrid with Mapi and Alexia. The ex-Wolfsburg players noticed you first and were the first to hug you and congratulate you.

"We told you it'd be a good team for you." The Swedish said, and some tears started to fill your eyes.

"Hey, don't cry. It's okay." The Norwegian said this time, and you just gave her a sob as a response. They broke the little group hug when Mapi came closer to you.

The defender was the next to catch you between her arms. "I'm sorry for earlier." She and you shook your head to let her know that you weren't angry about that. Congratulations, hermanita." she continued.

"Thank you," you replied shyly. The girls patted your shoulders and left to see the rest of the team. It was just you and your sister now. She was crying, of course, and that made you cry too. When she noticed your tears, she just opened her arms wide, and you filled the space.

"You did it," your sister said, and you nodded against her shoulder. "I'm proud of you." She pulled away to look at you. "I meant it; you were the best player today."

"I'm sorry." You said while you were crying, but the captain immediately shushed you and pulled you into another hug.

Hey, no, don't be sorry. It's okay; we lost, and it's frustrating, but you deserve it. Listen," she pulled away from the hug and pointing to the supporters around you. Even some of Barca’s fans were chanting your name. "You proved everyone that you’re more than my little sister; you start to create your own history." You wanted to say something, but you were required to do an interview.

After that, the final ceremony started. You were a little surprised to be the player of the match, but Lena kept saying that it couldn't be anyone except you. While you were talking with the midfielder, Alexandra was talking with your sister. Their conversation was a little interrupted when they saw you chase the German with a big smile.

"Do you think I need to say something?" the Spanish captain asked.

"Not yet," the tall captain replied, and your sister nodded.

This third June, despite what everyone thought before this final, you led the Germans to number one in Europe. Your dreams came true.

[theoddest1]

with how the fans and even viv being VERY excited with the “visuals” of poison it’s was very clear that the intended purpose of having those scenes was for porn. Why else would viv be excited for SA scenes and make a cum joke? Not dismissing any SA survivors that felt seen or represented through Angel. I think the bar scene where Angel has a breakdown is good I just hate how they kinda swept everything he said under the rug for a musical, with the episode ending on a happy note and were told not shown that he gets better.

That’s why people kept bringing up moral Orel, silent hill 2 and tuca and Bertie as good SA rep because the abuse is NEVER shown were told or it’s heavily implied it was the aftermath that was shown, nurse bendy is hyper sexual in public but she secretly hates, is lonely and regresses into a little girl playing family with stuffed animals when she’s in her safe space. Angela is depressed/suicidal her only hope is to find her mother so things can get better but she never finds her mom and it’s implied Angela dies, Tuca and struggled with her sexuality and sexual trauma even feels ashamed about having intrusive fantasies of her abuser and thinks that after being SA’d but she is complete control of those situations and it’s her way o healing and even if she wasn’t SA’d she’d still be into those fantasies. It’s too early to say anything about Angel character it might change in season 2 and actually talk more about his trauma especially since the vees are gonna be more prominent (which I call bs because they said the exact same thing about Adam and he didn’t do shit, he only showed up in 3 episodes and he was so underwhelming plus he was the 2nd most powerful being in the show, idk what vox and Val are gonna bring to the table expect be stupid wannabe “mean girls”, plus lute is still around and she is by more powerful and interesing villain) but we have to wait and see, right now I’m indifferent to Angel he’s not a bad character but he’s not the best, sir pentious and nifty outshined him and everybody else, they were the best characters, and they were just joke characters

Viv is very, very obvious with what she seeks involving Angel Dust's character arc. She sees it as an opportunity to recreate a similar situation to Raph's animatic, a 3rd person view surrounding Angel's dilemma rather than Vox's. It's paraded around as though it's a tragic "Love Song" but there is no proper or meaningful way to convey the tragedy surrounding it all. It's an elaborate kink video for those who indulge those sorts of subjects. As you've mentioned, some other known media have handled the topic with much care and didn'tshow it, but this time around, this could have been a great time to make useful imagery to show just how awful the entire situation is. But we don't get that. All of it is glamorized in a pop song with neon lights and no subversion of one's expectations. The only time we are shown any blunt and saddening imagery is when Angel is passed around in bindage gear. The colors change and turn red, and we are faced with a strikingly blunt reality of the situation, but we then see Angel dancing in front of his situation, whiplash of the seriousness pertaining to it all. And while the pacing is better in this episode than most, it's still FAST.

So on top of everything we have a rushed pop song that's supposed to engage the audience in a mindset regarding SA to further think and discuss but it only aided in fueling kink culture and no one has had any strong meaningful discussions when it is about that entire sequence but the kinks sure are THRIVING! Imo, the fact that this side of the community got more outta this than those who love to discuss stories reflects on how unserious and sexual Viv saw it to be, and THAT is what makes Viv's shit representation bad. The remix only solidifies what I had assumed this entire song to sound like. It fails to be commentary, only fuel for a kink someone has, and NEARLY EVERYONE in the community is letting it slide cause of that.

[silentreigns]

Dutch GP 2023 Reflection

I don't know who Mercedes's strategists were for this race but they need to reevaluate EVERYTHING. I knew they were on some bs when the race started Lewis was on mediums and 19 other drivers were on softs? Like don't piss off!

The only reason why Mercedes were able to finish with some points is because of Lewis's skill. Going from 13th to 6th is something is commendable. But we know Lewis rarely complains and I doubt that he's going to say anything about the team that could be seen as negative

I don't think anybody predicted that Pierre would get a podium since he started 12th. But Alpine got the strategy right. Considering everything Alpine has gone through, they definitely needed this podium. Pierre celebrations are always great.

I feel bad for Zhou because he was 2nd at the beginning of the race. Was in the points for a long time. Then he DNF'ed because they didn't bring out the red flag sooner so he aqua-planed. If he for real loses his seat after this season imma be salty. Someone should lose their seat in that team and it ain't him 🤥

Ferrari just keeps making Charles look dumb. Charles called for Inters at the best time. The pit wall wanted him to stay out (idiots). Charles goes into the pits anyway, and the Inters weren't ready. If Ferrari pit him at the right time, he definitely would have been in the top 5 for a while. Then they kept rubbing salt on our wounds having him stay out when he was being overtaken by everyone. When I saw George on hards overtake him I knew it was a wrap

Speaking of George, what the FUCK was Mercedes doing putting him on hards? Hards aren't suited for this track, and he was like the only driver on the grid who went on them. He also had a snap with his car and was driving on the grass for like 2 seconds. Don't know how he survived that at all. And that moment also made me nervous because Lewis was directly behind him on that turn. Then he DNF'ed on like the last couple of laps in a points scoring position. What a disaster 😭

Yuki started p17 due to impeding Lewis in quali. So i wasn't expecting much. But then he ran P5-P8 for a significant part of the race. He managed to keep Lando behind all those laps. But then AlphaTauri didn't pit him sooner, and he was on old softs for a long time. But when he was aggressively defending I was very proud. But then he got a 5 second penalty for (???) and finished last. Yuki and Charles are the most unluckiest drivers on the grid

Lando went from P2 to P7. It really doesn't matter what happens in a race, he finds a way to finish P7. I don't know whether to laugh or cry for him.

I'm so happy Alex finished in the points. That makes Williams P7 in the constructors which is HUGE. I feel like Williams can cook at Monza too so I am excited to see how the next race goes

Sad for Logan, he got lapped after 8 laps then crashed into a wall. You made us Americans proud though like compared to where he started in the beginning he has grown a lot. Even though on paper it doesn't look that way🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅

Lance had 7 pitstops and somehow ended exactly where he started in P11. I am not a conspiracy theorist but why is Lance always on a drastically different strategy than Fernando? I don't get it all, and I don't think the team is deliberately sabotaging him either.

Alonso is back to looking like how he was at the beginning of the season. But I need Aston Martin to make bigger gains because he looks like the only person who has a chance at stopping RedBull this season

Overall, this is like my second favorite race this season. Silverstone is still my favorite, and I don't see that race getting dethroned this season

[s-creations]

Snapshot #2 (Yellow, Purple, Red, Green Short Stories Series)

Small moments collected together to share more of their story.

(Short stories involving all the characters that are just here to add more to the series.)

Fandom: Super Mario & Related Fandoms Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Relationships: Luigi & Mario (Nintendo), Waluigi & Wario (Nintendo) Warnings/Additional Tags: Short stories involving more day to day lives, trying not to make anything to serious, if you have ideas you can message me!

((Author's Note:

First Off: THE BIGGEST HEADACHE OF MY CAREER HAS ENDED FOR THIS YEAR! I'm officially on a break and I'm going to enjoy myself! I can't even begin to tell you how much this past work year has been so draining.

Second: There are a few prompts for this chapter that were given to me by some wonderful fans…and I don't remember who they are. So! If you recognize a prompt from below and you know you sent that into me, message me on here or on my Tumblr! I'll update as I get names.

Third: Beyond this chapter, there are two more long one shots before the end of the 2nd Season. After that, I'm giving myself some time to work on Season 3 and (hopefully) be better prepared to post more regularly for that new season. But we'll see how it goes.

Fourth: This chapter was supposed to be up yesterday. But work got in the way. Sorry.

Anyway, enjoy!))

1. E. Gadd

Mario faltered when, upon opening the front door, found a large, heavy looking box before him. Just barely able to make out Wario’s feet sticking out from the other side. 

“Um, good morning?” Mario called out.

“Are you going to move or do I need to just hand this over.”

“Oh, ah, right, sorry.”

The hero shuffled to the side, allowing Wario to rather uncomfortably waddle his way in. Both wincing at how heavy said item sounded as it was dropped onto the floor. 

“What in Grambi’s name did you buy?” Wario panted out as he wiped his brow. 

“Nothing! Where did you even find it?”

“On your front step.”

“Well…does it have a name on it?”

There were a few moments spent on searching the box over. Wario letting out a cry of triumph. “Got it! It’s for…Luigi. With your name kind of scribbled on here kind of last minute feel. You know? Like, you were an extreme afterthought.”

“Sure. Does it say who it’s from?”

“Nope, nothing that I’m seeing.” 

Mario frowned in confusion. “We weren’t expecting anything…” 

They both looked up upon hearing footsteps on the stairs. Finding Luigi walking down with his own look of confusion on his face, eyes focused on the box. 

“What did we get?”

 “Don’t know. But it’s technically for you.” Wario answered.

“Me?”

“Well, Mario’s name is on here too. But I think it’s mainly for you.”

Making his way further down, Luigi looked the box over before opening it slowly. Just in case there was something dangerous waiting inside. But removing the lid revealed it to be nothing more than a large and very strange looking screen. One that had numerous wires and tubes of multiple strange looking liquids contained inside. All connected together in a rather convoluted set up that made all present absolutely confused. 

“Why does it smell like oil and…coffee beans?” Wario cautiously commented as he sniffed the air.

“Can we get it out of there?” Luigi asked. 

“Yeah, hold on. Let me take care of this.”

Mario and Luigi moved back slightly as Wario reached into the box. Both watched on as the contraption was shifted over to the kitchen table. A quiet sigh of relief sounded as the table took the weight of it all easily. 

As Wario caught his breath once more, Mario plucked off a folded piece of paper that had been taped to the bottom of the screen. Opening it to read, “Dear brothers (specifically Luigi).”

Wario let out a weak chuckle at that.

Ignoring the sound, Mario continued on, “Considering what you’ve experienced, I figured it would be best to stay connected. And, as letters would take far too long to spread information, I’ve taken it upon myself to build this wonderful contraption! When you’re able to, hit the large red button on the side.”

All three nervously eyed said button.

“I-Is it signed?” Luigi asked.

“No, and that’s all we have for instructions.”

“Don’t suppose your Bean boyfriend made this?” Wario suggested.

“No,” Luigi shook his head, “we exchange letters only.”

All so wound up, the three jumped when Polterpup happily phased through the ceiling. Practically dancing around the contraption in joy. Looking back towards Luigi expectedly after a few moments.

“W-Well, Polterpup s-seems to think it’s o-okay.”

“They’re also a ghost,” Wario frowned, “I don’t think explosions will harm them like it’ll harm us if this thing explodes.”

“Still…” Cautiously, Luigi reached past the spectral pup to push said button.

The contraption let out the most horrendous noise. All living beings scrambling away, even back into the living room, hands over their ears while Polterpup remained sitting on the chair. As the noise grew and the ground even began to shake, Wario collected the twins close to shield them with his body as best he could. 

It was unclear how long they waited. But as the horrible sound reached its peak, there was a small ‘ding!’ and it fell quiet once more.

They didn’t move.

Polterpup began to bark happily.

It was still tensely quiet. 

“Wait, wait, wait- ah! Stupid tubes… Polterpup! Wonderful to see you again!”

“Wait a minute.” Wario grumbled. 

“Is that…” Mario raised a brow.

Luigi wiggled out of Wario’s hold to run back into the kitchen. On the screen was Professor Elvin Gadd. Strange glasses turned away from the eager Polterpup to Luigi, who was standing in the doorway with a smile on his face.

“Professor!” Luigi beamed as he claimed the seat in front of the screen once Polterpup moved.

“Luigi, my boy! Wonderful to see you again. How are you?”

“I’m…I’m good. Did you make this?”

“Yes! One of my better inventions. A one way visual communicator so that we can check in better. I call it the ‘Social Networking Ecto-System.”

“Could you put your name on your invention next time.” Wario said as he and Mario walked in.

“I did! My logo is on the front. Right on top of the screen.”

All eyes went up to where E. Gadd was pointing. Sure enough, embossed on the screen frame, was a very abstract image of the professor. Only recognizable by the wide swirling glasses and the swirl of hair. 

“I said ‘name’, not logo. How were we supposed to know that was you? It barely looks like you!” Wario argued back.

“But I did put my brand on it.”

As Wario groaned, Mario pulled another chair over to sit in front of the screen as well. “Uh, hey professor. We weren’t expecting to hear from you so soon. Especially like this. Is everything okay?”

“Fine! Everything is fine. I just realized that I had no easy way to contact you all. And with that whole Boo situation, a quick way to connect would be best for all parties.”

“So you made some sort of combination of garbage?” Wario asked. Shooting Mario a challenging glare when the hero turned to stare him down. 

“Well, one works with what one has. Innovation is the mother of necessity and what not.”

“Maybe we should tell everyone about cell phones.” Luigi whispered to Mario, who nodded.

“Either way, I would suggest setting this up somewhere that won’t disrupt your normal state of being.”

“I’m…sure we’ll figure something out.” Luigi replied while peering around the area he could see from his seat.

“Hey, professor, could we ask you something?” Mario quickly voiced. 

“Of course!”

“You’re…human, correct?”

Gadd still before letting out a hearty laugh. “Yes, yes I am! Apology for the delay there, I really had to think about it for a moment. You spend enough years here you tend to forget what you are.”

“And spend that entire time alone.” Wario stated in a low tone.

“So, you came from Earth as well.” said Mario after casually hitting the larger brother in the stomach.

“Indeed I did.”

“Do you remember how you got here?”

“Oh, it probably wasn’t much different from your experience. I was a younger ghost hunter. Trying my hand at unique, untouched potential. A few years into my work I found a building in a rather interesting place.”

“Interesting how?” Luigi asked. 

“Well, first off, it was deep underground. I found an altar of some kind with that familiar green pipe in the center of it all. I’d never seen a set up as such before. With how thick the surrounding walls were, it was pretty clear the area was supposed to be sealed away forever.”

The twins shared a look, but didn’t interrupt. 

“My equipment pulled me towards said pipe. There was a huge surge of energy coming from it. In hindsight, I should have been a bit more careful.” 

“You fell in.” Mario started weakly.

“Fell, pushed, pulled, overall it doesn’t matter. All I truly remember was standing in the ruins for one moment and the next second I was this world. And I’ve been here ever since.”

“Has anyone else known that you’re here?” Wario asked. 

“Oh, plenty of people! While I may enjoy my solitude and working with ghosts, I do need to interact with others. This is just the only time people of significance were aware of me. Met a few big personalities in my time. Oh the adventures I’ve had.”

It fell quiet as E. Gadd happily reminisced on his past outings. The other three thinking over what they’d just been told. 

“Well, anyway, I’ve eaten up enough of your time!” E. Gadd said with a smile, “Make sure you put this up somewhere you can easily get to it but it’s out of the way. Hopefully I can meet that other brother, seem to be missing him constantly. Call me if you need anything!”

“Of course.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Don’t do anything crazy out there.”

The screen went blank and the three remained still for a few moments.

Wario eventually clapped his hands, “Welp, you two have fun figuring out where to put that monstrosity.”

“You aren’t going to help?”

“Sorry, Mini-Me. This is a you two issue.”

“Wario-”

“Have fun!”

“Wait, why did you even come over! Why are you here!?”

+_+_+_+_+_+

2. Sick Day

“Just let me die.” Waluigi grumbled out, staring up at the ceiling without actually looking at it. His face was flushed, hair matted to his head from sweat. He barely flinched as a hand half-heartedly landed on his shoulder. 

“Shut up,” Wario said, voice cracking, “It’s not that bad.”

The eldest brother sounded horrible, broken and sore. The normal deep bags under his eyes now a darker color. Said eyes unfocused as he stared at basically nothing. 

Waluigi gave a weak growl, “Get your hand offa me…”

“No…”

“You’re making me hot…”

“Deal with it.”

“You absolute-” Waluigi flinched when Wario’s hand now landed on his face.

“Don’t curse.”

“You-”

“Don’t do it.”

Letting out a small sigh, Peach placed the tray down to step between the brothers. “Enough you two. At least you have energy to fight each other.”

All she received in return were muted and stuffed moans. Both retreat back to their bed, hiding under the thick blanket covering them. With them now just glaring at different parts of the medical wing. Again, not fully taking in what they were looking at. 

At least they were going to be quiet for a while.

Picking the tray back up, Peach made her way to the last occupied bed. Mario was snoring softly, cheeks a deep red, his limbs sprawled out and hanging off the bed. The blanket was bunched up at the foot.

Pulling up a chair, Peach placed the tray on the bedside table. She focused on the small pile of half-frozen cloths stacked there. Picking one up and placing it on Mario’s heated skin. Almost instantly, the ice melted away and chilled water poured out. Mario let out a small whine as his eyes slowly opened.

“I didn’t mean to wake you.” Peach whispered gently as she placed another cloth on his chest. 

“It’s fine…” Mario muttered weakly, eyes trying to focus on the princess. 

“Have you been sleeping okay?”

“...Yeah?”

Peach laughed softly, “You sure about that?”

“I mean… I think I’ve been sleeping…”

“I’ll see if we have anything that could help you.”

Weakly shaking his head, Mario replied back with, “It all just burns up…”

“Oh dear, well, we’ll still try and figure something out. How about we schedule another ice bath for you?” Peach smiled softly, gently replacing the towels with one of the frozen ones. 

“...How’s Luigi?”

“He’s fine. A little worried about all of you. But he’s fine.”

“...You’d tell me if he wasn’t, right?”

“Of course I would. I’d never lie about something like that. But I need you to relax, okay? You’re all in safe hands.” 

That seemed to ease whatever worry that was gripping Mario. His shoulders relaxed as he sank back into the bed. Aware that was all she would be gettin out of the ill hero, Peach replaced the towels one final time in silence. This time, the ice didn’t melt away instantly. A sign Peach took that the fever had been calmed for the time being.

After passing a few requests to the medical Toads, Peach departed from the room. She was not surprised to find Luigi sitting on the bench outside. 

The princess was struck with an uncomfortable feeling of deja vu at the scene. 

“Hello, Luigi.” Peach said softly as to not startle the other. 

The younger twin looked up upon hearing his name. Place the green cap back onto his head as he stands. “H-How are they?”

“Just fine. Wario and Waluigi even had a strange little fight.”

“That’s good…”

Moving slowly to allow the other a chance to pull away, Peach hooked her arm around one of Luigi’s. Offering a warm smile to the other. “I’m feeling a little peckish. Would you care to join me for lunch? We’ll check on everyone afterwards. What do you say?”

“Oh, s-sure, that sounds wonderful,” Luigi smiled back, “Thank you.”

“Of course, you know I enjoy your company.”

Still arm in arm, they made their way towards the dining hall. Peach happily listens to Luigi’s latest additions to the brother’s house. 

+_+_+_+_+_+

3. Puppy Eyes

Waluigi frowned as he allowed Luigi’s words to settle into his brain. Even then, he couldn’t really seem to gasp what had been asked of him.

Maneuvering out of his rather strange position around his latest contraption, Waluigi casted a pointed look at Luigi. Who was looking back hopeful.

“I’m sorry… You want me to what?” 

“Teach me what you know about machines…and what not. I know a little. I mean, enough to impress E. Gadd. And I’ve tried to lean on my own. But I learn better, especially something like this, when I can work with my hands.” As if to emphasize his point, Luigi flapped said appendages. 

“Okay…and?”

“Well, you’re the only one I know who works with machines all day.”

“Not all day.”

“Either way, I figured I could ask you to teach me all you know?”

Waluigi let out a heavy sigh, crossing his arms. “Look, I’m not just dinking around in here. It’s not repairing someones’ toaster kind of thing. These are heavy pieces of machinery and my creations that I’m working with. Even Wario doesn’t get the pleasure of working on these beauties…usually.”

“The point is, I can’t work on my own stuff while teaching and worrying about keeping you safe. Learn how I did. Take small things apart, put them back together, and pray that they work again.”

The smug smirk he’d planned on sending Luigi’s way instantly fell through. Because Waluigi was not prepared to be met with wide eyes staring back at him. A weird feeling falling over the taller of the two as the air changed to one of…pity?

“What…are you doing?”

The pressure seemed to grow heavier as Luigi stepped forward. Was Waluigi feeling…bad for saying ‘no’? 

“Stop it. I told you I wouldn’t and that’s not going to change.”

Panic grew as the younger tilted his head ever so slightly because it felt as if Waluigi was losing. Losing what? What was he losing? Why did he feel bad? What was happening!?

“I don’t know what this is, but I don’t like it! Would you just stop! What are you doing!?”

Grambi above, were Luigi’s eyes sparkling!?

“Fuck, fine, alright! Just- stop it! I’ll show you! Just stop! Stop with whatever this is!”

Immediately, the moment those words were said, Luigi’s face dropped. Returning to the regular smile that Waluigi was used to. Which just threw the other into a giant loop of confusion.

“Thank you,” Luigi beamed, “Shall we get started?”

“Not until you explain to me what the hell that was all about!”

“What do you mean?”

“That…That weird look you were giving me!”

“Are you feeling okay Waluigi?”

“I- What- You- Just-” Waluigi let out a sharp huff to center himself before continuing again. “What was with the face.”

“What face?”

“You-” Another huff, “Big eyes, head tilted, the heavy air of pleading want that crawled into my soul and made me feel horrible…”

Luigi gave nothing away. Merely looking concerned as he slowly reached out to pick up a wrench. “So…are we going to-”

Waluigi yanked the wrench out of the younger’s hand and pointed it at him. “Fine, keep your secrets. I’ll worm it out of you soon enough.”

“I just wanted to know what you know.”

“...Stand over there and don’t touch anything.”

As the hours passed, Luigi eventually made it over to stand next to Waluigi. To being able to ask questions. To being able to work with the tools and equipment under Waluigi's supervision. 

He will never admit it…but Waluigi did enjoy his time. It was fun to share what he knew with someone else.

_____________________________

The hero’s front door opened with Luigi peering out. Beaming when he realizes it was Wario standing on the other side. 

“Hey Wario! What can I help you with?”

“I’m actually here to see Mario.”

“He’s at the castle right now. But you can wait here until he gets back if you want.”

“You sure?”

“Absolutely! You actually have good timing. I was about to play some games.”

“Games…by yourself?” Wario looked at Luigi with a look of confusion as he walked in.

“Yeah! Come on, I’ll show you.”

Entering the living room, Wario found a strange contraption hooked up to the television. The screen showing some rather pixelated racing cars moving across it. 

“What is this?” Wario asked as Luigi plopped down onto the ground in front of the couch. 

“Video games.”

“What kind of games? Not board games?”

“Nope, video games! They're really fun. You can either play by yourself or…with a friend?” Luigi held up a second controller out towards the other with a small smile.

Wario frowned softly, looking a little wary. “Where did you even find this?”

“E. Gadd found it on one of his exploits. The shop owner said they’d found it in a trash heap and the professor was able to fix it. It’s from Earth, if that makes you feel better.”

“Your Earth?”

“I…would think so. E. Gadd is looking into it, saying if it’s more than the Green Pipe can transfer things over here. Anyway, he shipped it over as soon as he could. So…do you wanna play?”

“Mmm…I don’t know.”

“Please? I’m really bored playing by myself.”

“Well… You’ve been playing longer than I have and-”

Wario tensed when looking back to Luigi. To find wide eyes staring back at him. An uncomfortable feeling settling into his stomach. As if he’d done something so wrong. Even though he hadn’t even straight said no!

“I mean, I’m sure Mario would…be…”

Luigi slouched down, somehow making himself seem so small. That wrong feeling grew stronger as Wario was practically stared down with shining eyes. 

“Okay, maybe one game?” The older brother quickly said. Unable to hold back the sigh of relief when Luigi’s face, rather quickly, dropped to his normal smile.

“You’ll have fun, promise!” said Luigi, holding the controller back up. 

“Is…your face… What was that?”

“What was what?”

“You! Your eyes got really big and shiny and I felt terrible and…am I going insane?”

“Maybe it was your guilt of not spending time with me.”

Wario gave Luigi a look of shock as the younger just smirked back. It was the only note that showed Luigi knew what he’d done. Before Wairo could question further, Luigi shook the controller with a raised brow. To which Wario huffed and grabbed it. Plopping down next to Luigi and focusing on the screen. 

“Only one game.”

“If you say so.”

They played until Mario arrived back home a few hours later. Who found Wario huddled on the ground in defeat with Luigi beaming as the screen showed his player holding the #1 trophy. 

“...Luigi never loses games.” Mario stated calmly as he headed for the kitchen.

“Well I know that now!” Wario sharply shot back.

_____________________________

“No.”

“But Mario-”

“Absolutely not.”

“It’s not that expensive.”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s a treat.”

“And you’ve already had enough sugar for the day! I’m not getting you more.”

“This is better than any tennis match.” Wario whispered to Waluigi as they watched with fascination as the twin’s argued. 

Waluigi chuckled before replying with, “It’s nice to see them squabble like brothers, to be honest.”

Their attention was promptly pulled back to the twins as Luigi let out a dramatic groan. Interest going further when said twin pulled out the unfortunately familiar face. Wide eyes and tilted head that had broken them down so easily before. The pair watched inraptured as they waited for Mario’s response. Surely he wouldn’t last that long. Mario practically gave everything to his little brother already, so this would end so much faster. 

To their surprise, Mario landed a direct poke to Luigi’s forehead. The younger almost falling out of his chair in response. Quickly balancing himself before he actually did, going back to glare at Mario once more. Who had just gone back to his drink.

Luigi let out a huff of annoyance before he walked away into the crowd.

“So dramatic.” Mario mumbled with a small smile. His calm demeanor was broken when Wario and Waluigi leaned over the table. Both looking a little frantic as they stared the older twin down. “What-”

“How did you do that?” Wario hissed out.

“Do what!? Jeez, back up a little bit, will you?”

“How did you resist that stupid face?” Waluigi asked this time.

“Stupid face- You mean the ‘Puppy Dog Eyes’? What are you two- Oooh…” Mario’s confusion turned to a wide, knowing smirk. Easily leaning back into his chair while the other two tensely watched him. “You two were hit by it?”

“Don’t act superior” Wario frowned, “What did you do to avoid being unaffected by it?” 

Mario slowly sipped his drink, prolonging the quiet suffering before he answered with, “Luigi’s my brother. I’ve lived with him for 26 years. You don’t think I haven’t built up an immunity to it? It doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Waluigi leaned forward, uncaring as he pushed Wario’s cap over his eyes. “How do we do that? How do we get to the point of being able to ignore it?”

The smirk grew on Mario’s face.

“You don’t. Enjoy your suffering.”

+_+_+_+_+_+

4. Love Letters

The front door was forcefully kicked open. Followed by Wario calling out an eager, “Food time!”

“I swear if you break our door again!” Mario called out from the kitchen. Unable to pull away from the sink as he was pouring the pasta water out.

“I’ll just get you a new one. You worry too much.” Was the more than casual reply as Wario claimed a seat by the kitchen table. Only to let out a pained gruff of noise when Waluigi smacked the back of his head.

“Stop being an idiot,” Waluigi sniped out before asking Mario, “Where’s the sprout?”

“Upstairs, can you get him?” Mario requested as he poured the now water free pasta with homemade red sauce. 

“Yeah,” Wario unhelpfully added, “go make yourself useful.”

He let out a yelp as his chair was rather easily pushed over. Wario crashed to the ground as Waluigi made his way over to the stairs. Ignoring the out cries from both brothers remaining in the kitchen as he walked up. Heading for the room at the end of the hallway. The door was already open, Waluigi fully planning on casually strolling his way in with a loud call of Luigi’s name.

Only to pause when he entered the door frame. 

Luigi was sitting at his desk, which was half hidden by tools and pieces of numerous projects. But he wasn’t paying attention to those. Instead, blue eyes were slowly scrolling over the words on the paper he was holding. A small smile on his face with a dust of blush on his cheeks. Clearly caught in his own little world.

Stepping back around the door and leaning against the hallway wall, Waluigi gently knocked on the door frame. There was a familiar squeak of surprise followed by something being slammed and another heavy object landing on the floor.

“You okay up there?” Mario called out.

“Luigi’s just freaking out, we’re okay.” Waluigi shouted back and covered up Luigi’s quiet ‘Yeah!’ reply. The tallest brother casually strolled back in to find Luigi leaning over a small wooden box. The flushed now a deeper red from embarrassment. Part of his project laying on the floor now. 

“I’m here to bring you down for dinner.”

“Um, thanks.” Luigi whispered back. Slowly moving to sit up with the box now pressed to his chest. 

“Am I allowed to be an inquiring br- …and ask what that is?”

“You’ll laugh.”

“Doubtful.”

Letting out a slightly annoyed huff, Luigi placed the box back down onto the table. Opening it to reveal it was filled with letters. All curled at the top and bottom. The ‘outside’ edges holding the torn seal of the Royal BeanBean Kingdom. Waluigi ignored the main writing and he instead flickered down to the bottom to find a very cursive signature of ‘Peasley’.

“That…is a lot of letters. You two have only been together for about, what, a month?”

“Close, we’re a few days away.”

Waluigi stalked further into the room to sit at the edge of the bed. “Still, this is so…charming.”

“You can say cute.”

“Thank Grambi, because this absolutely is cute. Adorable even,” Waluigi smiled hearing the other laugh, “So…weird question. You don’t have to answer but…you and Mario kind of suggested that you haven’t been successful in relationship endeavors in the past.”

Luigi didn’t reply right away. Instead reaching into the box to grab the top most letter. Running his thumbs over the crisp parchment. 

“I mean, that’s not an incorrect statement,” he stared slowly, “Even with how…different this place is, it’s far more accepting. I can show interest in anything and no one cares. That’s not how it’s like on Earth. There are a lot of questions and comments that are given, even more so when it’s not asked for. Since I wasn’t one who was the ‘normal’ or ‘typical’ male, there were labels on me. A lot of labels.” 

“I’ll be honest, and I’m not sure if you’re aware, but I’m a bit naive. Worse so when I was younger. I was the dating joke for a lot of people. I mean, I was a joke in general. But it became a ‘game’ to who could drag me along the longest. It’s…hard to trust people. Mario had to rescue me off the side of the road too many times. Now, I have a connection with a charming guy? A guy who’s a prince? Peasley is sweet and king and he’s so genuine. Everything he does so far is so…perfect. And it’s hard to believe he really likes me sometimes.”

“I’m just waiting for the rug to be pulled out from underneath my feet again. Then, I feel bad for assuming that Peasley would do anything like this.”

Waluigi sighed softly, reaching out to gently grip Luigi’s shoulder. “How do you feel about him?”

Luigi answered almost immediately, “I like him, I really do…”

“Then you do what you feel comfortable with. And, for what it’s worth, I’m pretty sure Peasley likes you. I’m not going to say it’s all going to be roses. You know better than anyone here how hurtful it can be when you’re lied to. But you shouldn’t focus on the possible future. Just focus on the now and enjoy it.”

“Yeah, okay… Thanks Waluigi.” Luigi smiled back.

“Whatever. Just know that if Peasley does have the actual audacity to hurt you, you have a whole ass kingdom behind you. With someone who’s knowledgeable with hiding things.” Waluigi’s face was impassive as Luigi stared him down.

“...You scare me sometimes.”

“That sounds like a you issue. Come on, let’s go eat.”

[annieqattheperipheral]

Kyle. Hi. Wow. Ok. I'm sad. Wow gonna miss u hard.

Ok so the Brendan Shanahan media availability just ended. Wow, he revealed a fair bit and didn't hide that letting Kyle go was his decision and revealed when he changed his mind from fully working on extending his contract, to ok thank you but bye.

The timeline:

Off-season 2022: shanny tells dubas they're going to wait and see how the 22-23 season goes and then decide on whether or not to extend him. Kyle all cool beans super profesh

Season: goes well normal ups n downs. Owners & board & shanny are happy

Trade deadline 2023: shanny is very pleased and now there's not much else for GMs to do rn so tells dubas we want to extend you. Kyle all cool beans i want that too here's my agent's deets y'all figure it out keep me out of it while i focus on the end of season & playoffs

Friday May 12: Leafs nation crashes and burns out of the playoffs in round 2

Saturday day off

Sunday they all come in for team pictures and shanny & dubas chat and he tells dubas you did well this doesn't change anything we still want to extend you. also everyone will be talking to media tmr you don't have to i won't be. Kyle all cool beans but I'm gonna bc the players & coach have to and i should support them

Monday May 15 - Kyle Dubas speaks to media -> he did not confirm yes/no on whether he wanted to stay as GM, answers with this season was v hard on my family and i have to speak w them before i answer in any way at all

Shanny's brain goes all WTF. Yes we've talked extensively at every conversation about how hard this season has been on your family. But like did not expect that response to the media. So then shanny's all driving home that night thinking ok i have to think about the possibility of next season having a different GM

Tuesday - they don't chat

Wednesday - shanny goes to see dubas. They talk about his Monday media availability cuz shanny got questions cuz like wtf. They talk about pressure on family in this industry both as player and management. Kyle says his agent will contact him tmr and shanny all uhh ok but I'm like still so confused girl

Thursday - dubas agent sends shanny a new contract w different financial package expectations. Kyle emails shanny that night i wanna be ur GM boo🫶 but shanny already got the ick factor going and is so not into it anymore

Friday May 19/today - shanny drove to dubas office at ford performance centre and told him we will not be extending ur contract 😭😭😭

Brendan Shanahan speaks to media

If you've got the urge and u really love kyle highly encourage you watch/listen to both of their press conferences. Shanahan speaks highly of Dubas keeps it profesh there is none of the bad blood we heard about

Kyle is so awesome, open, emotional and possibly its the last time we'll hear from him for awhile since he's no longer with MLSE nor any other org. He said in his media that if he were to not be GM with leafs, in no way would we be seeing him signing with another team like next week. His answer didn't have anything to do w having other job offers.

My overall conclusion:

shanny no longer saw the 100% passion and want for the job anymore from dubas during his Monday press conference. And it's ok if that is how kyle is feeling bc he clearly needs to focus on family for a bit now after just a rollicking season & stressful as shit playoffs. Yes Kyle was in a vulnerable state so soon after playoffs elimination and probably shouldn't have been judged for his contract extension based off of that. But workplaces and jobs are like relationships where if the want to work isn't fully there anymore it is going to turn off your coworkers and boss, and his lack of confirmation of wanting to be GM to the press really drove home that he was still on the fence and iffy about going all in on the job despite the horrible 2nd round loss.

Wherever you go kyle, I'm following you, even if you go to one of my hated teams bc i know you'll fix the org & locker room culture like you did at the leafs💙💙💙

[miasanmuller]

So @acrazybayernfan came up with this absolutely incredible tag game and I'm 100% here for it so let's go:

What is your top 10 most memorable Bayern’s matches?

In no particular order:

Well needless to say: 8-2. I mean... it's just too iconic to not mention lol.

I also can't not mention Robert Lewandowski loses his motherfucking mind scores 5 times in 9 minutes against Wolfsburg in 2015. I mean, it's historic.

2015 UCL, the second leg against Porto during quarter-finals. That was the time I learned the valuable lesson of never giving up and to keep believing in the team and in this club. That game was insane and we ended up winning 6-1 and securing our place in Semi-finals when we died a horrible horrible death but anyway. I remember watching that game and feeling so much pride and joy of being a Bayern fan, I get emotional just to remember it lol

Now this one is really special to me for an unusual reason, I guess: home game against Bremen during the 2014-15 Bundesliga. We won 6-0, it was the second highest score we got that season I think (if I remember correctly we went on to win against H*mburg 8-0, or was it before? whatever). I remember this game bc Fips scored a brace and it was just LEGENDARY bc you wouldn't expect him to score let alone score twice in a single match. I remember screaming like crazy when he scored the first and then just dying when he did it again lmao it was fun

Another one from the 2014-15 season (this was my first season around so I remember a lot of stuff): away game against Mainz, we won 2-1. I'm not exactly sure if it was Basti's first game since he came back from injury (after the WC) or if it was one of the first games... in any case, he scored an insane goal (which to this day is one of my favorite Bayern goals ever) and I screamed like crazy and I was watching it back in my parent's house and my dad walked in while I was screaming lmao

2015-16 UCL, 2nd leg against Juve in Round of 16. We desperately needed to win and we begun losing and no one really expected us to make it through. I remember this one bc I actually didn't watch it: I don't remember exactly if I couldn't find a stream or what, but the best I could do was read live updates on a website and pray. It was one of the most stressful experiences of my life and I remember abandoning my phone at one point bc I was sure we wouldn't win. And we did. Lmao.

2019-20 Bundesliga. Away game in Frankfurt, the infamous 5-1. This one was during a time where I drifted away from Bayern due to depression and stuff and I didn't feel as connected to the team as I used to and then I remember seeing the scoreline and just... dying inside. Feeling like something was very, very wrong with the world. I can't remember the match exaclty, but I have never let go of it since then and to this day I loathe Frankfurt for this specific match.

This year's Pokal match against Freiburg in April. That was one of the most frustrating experiences of my life as a Bayern fan. It was our second game with Tuchel and I was already feeling that I would want that man's head on a silver plate (and I still do).

Another one (last one) from the 2014-15 season bc this one is really really special: our friendly against MLS All-Stars before the start of the season. Which we lost. It's special bc it was the first Bayern match I actually watched!!! I remember feeling very happy when I found a channel that was showing it and I was very excited even though the WC guys wouldn't play (I think they ended up being subbed in in the 2nd half? I don't remember exactly). Everybody was talking about Lewandowski and I was all ?????!!!! bc I had no concept of anything. It was an awful match but a very fun experience lmao

And last but not least: our UCL win against PSG in 2020. It wasn't the way we all wanted it to be, but since I was just coming back from my "fan retirement" I remember exploding from joy after that game and throwing myself on the floor and rolling around and idk it was priceless. Making P$G fail and Neymar cry has got to be some of the best things we do every now and then lmao thanks for that Bayern

I know a lot of you have already been tagged (I didn't check if any of you already did it lmao) but I'll tag anyway bc I'm just like that. I tag @thomas-mvller @thomats @probayern @miss-i-ship-it @fabioquartararhoe @smolnerdz @smilesleepandspeak and @leongolretzka (but please don't feel pressured to do it ^^)

[mrultra100]

Ultra's Ramblings- PHP 3 Speculation

Now, it should be no secret that I frankly adore Prehistoric Planet for what it is. I’ve already done a whole article going over what a possible 2nd season would be like, and now that it’s been months since the release of the actual Season 2, I’ve come to accept how it returned to the Maasrichtian of the Late Cretaceous.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for PHP to showcase animals and habitats from other time periods as much as the next guy, as I think a season based on the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic would be great. However, with that said, I’m content with the show staying within the Maasrichtian for a good few reasons. The obvious being that we could be seeing an entire trilogy of seasons set within the same geological stage, but another being how this particular part in time still has plenty of creatures that could be neat to see onscreen, especially with not only how the Maasrichtian has plenty to work with, but how plenty of animals still have yet to appear in the show. This is essentially gonna be the same general idea as my hypothetical season 2 ideas article from a few months back, just with plenty more Maasrichtian goodness involved.

Another change included is the themes of the episodes. Given that we might not have that many comparable biomes from Planet Earth left for future episodes, I say we go with out-of-the-box ideas for these episodes, especially if they can showcase the more strange creatures, behaviors, and scenarios that people have come to expect and love from the series as a whole. This will make sense as we go into these episode ideas. Finally, special thanks to Zain Ahmed, Cryodrakon, pondicherryyy, Dinosaurus, and the other members of the Paleo Media Central Discord server for helping me with this project. Their ideas certainly helped with putting all of this together. With all of that cleared out, let’s get started with what I’d imagine a possible third (and possible last) season of Prehistoric Planet looking like.

Oddities

The theme of this first episode is about the more bizarre and weird animals that lived during the Maasrichtian. The main element driving everything home for this episode is the appearances of these animals in particular, but a few weird behaviors and traits are added in to keep things nice n’ diverse.

The episode (and by extension, the season, begins within the seas of the Ouled Abdoun Basin in North Africa. The main animal of the segment would be Ocepechleon, a rather large protostegid sea turtle that not only had a pipette-like snout, just like the beaked whales of modern times, but also likely fed in the same way as the latter. The main plot of this segment shows a male Ocepechleon trying to catch fish with his tube-like snout, as he’s found himself within a baitball chased by various other large marine predators. The other animals in this segment would include Zarafasaura, Squalicorax, a returning face (or beak?) in the form of Alcione, and even a lone Prognathodon. Similar to the Hesperonis segment from “Oceans”, the presence of a baitball would drive the central plot of this segment, allowing the show to showcase the weird feeding habits of Ocepechleon in action.

We then move away from the seas of Morocco, and into the swamps of Mongolia, where the animal of the next segment is the first major returnee from the previous two seasons; Deinocheirus. The segment shows a male Deinocheirus looking after 3 chicks. The male is shown as a caring and protective father, not only plucking out soft water plants and holding them with his beak to his young, he would also let them ride on the hump on his back when wandering through slightly deeper water. The male could even use his giant arms as a sort of threat display to scare off other animals that got too close, no matter if they were a carnivore or herbivore. The male would even hiss like an overgrown goose. For the sake of that last example, the animal in particular that could be spooked off by the father Deinocheirus would be a wandering Tarbosaurus that stumbled into the wrong area at the wrong time. The behavior of the Deinocheirus and his chicks would be inspired by cassowaries, giant anteaters, geese, and even a little bit by the Jacana, a species of bird with massive feet that it uses to traverse through wetlands. 

The next segment involves an animal that I’ve actually mentioned back during my previous Season 2 ideas article; Armadillosuchus. For those not aware, this was a cousin of Simosuchus that lived in Brazil, and had armored osteoderm on its back that looked a bit like the bands of an armadillo, hence how it got its name (Armadillosuchus literally means “armadillo crocodile”). The segment involves a female Armadillosuchus wandering through her desert home, looking for a good place to dig a burrow. While it’s not as plot-heavy as the previous segments, it serves as a nice way to show off the creature in question.

The next segment then cuts to the swamps of Hell Creek, the home of a giant, 1.5 meter long amphibian; Habrosaurus. The segment sees these creatures engaging in the unique methods of mating that many salamanders have. Instead of internal sex, a male lays packets of sperm that females suck up with their cloacas. Just like how modern sirens do the same thing today, the segment shows Habrosaurus males doing this bizarre, yet effective way of reproduction.

The episode then cuts to what would become modern-day Chile, with the animal of this next segment being Stegouros, a small type of ankylosaur with a tail like a macuahuitl. The plot of this segment follows a male trying to court a female by showing off and displaying his tail club, only for a megaraptorian theropod (Based on yet to be named megaraptorian fossils found in the same formation as Stegouros) to show up and interrupt the courtship. It 's then where the second purpose of Stegouros’ tail comes into action. Thanks to the last few osteoderms on the animal’s tail being rigid and fused, the tail club of this dinosaur was more blade-like, which makes the male a formidable threat to deal with. After barely dodging the herbivore’s tail, the megaraptorian decides that it’s not worth the trouble, and leaves. The two Stegouros get back to their courtship, and soon mate.

The last segment of the episode shows a bunch of Bonnerichthys, huge, filter-feeding fish, feeding on a plankton bloom. While they’re different creatures respectively, the Bonnerichtys would be a bit similar to whale sharks, both being massive planktivorous fish that gather in huge numbers in response to rapid plankton growth. In keeping up with the episode’s theme, the weirdness comes from not only the Bonnerrichthys’ lifestyle, their huge maws also get some attention. The episode then ends from there.

Environments

The general theme of this episode revolves around the various environments and ecosystems present during the Maasrichtian, and how dinosaurs and other animals lived in said environments. While the other episodes are dedicated to showing off certain niches and features, this one would be reminiscent of the previous two seasons in how they themed their episodes.

The episode starts off with a segment about the polar winters that took place within the North Pole and Alaska, mainly the Prince Creek Formation. While this was mentioned in passing back in “Ice Worlds”, it would be the main theme of this segment. During this time, the northern parts of North America would experience long summers, where the sun wouldn't set. On the other end of the spectrum, the winters that followed would have the land go through months of total darkness, not a bit of warmth in sight. The segment generally shows how the dinosaurs that lived in this part of the world lived in such conditions. Not only would returnees like Pachyrhinosaurus, Nanuqsaurus, Edmontosaurus, and Cimolodon show up, so does Alaskacephale, which was a species of Alaskan pachycephalosaur. It would be a bit like the Nemegt watering hole scene from Season 1, only with much more snow and ice.

We then cut to a segment all about Hateg Island, showing how islands like it can change the fauna that live on it over countless generations. In this case, insular dwarfism, a phenomenon where animals living on islands grow smaller than their mainland relatives, is the main theme of the segment, with a herd of Paludititan (Which might be the identity of the dwarf sauropods seen at the end of “Forests” from Season 1) moving through their feeding grounds in search of fresh plant growth. Given how Hateg Island is the main location for this segment, we also see the return of Zalmoxes, Telmatosaurus, and Hatzegopteryx (With the latter being a lone male drinking from a lake and grooming himself after a long day of hunting for prey), alongside the introductions of Bradycneme (an island-dwelling relative of Mononykus), Struthiosaurus (A small nodosaur), and Eurazhdarcho (A much smaller cousin of Hatzegopteryx). Like many of the other segments in this episode, this serves as a general snapshot of both Hateg Island, and the creatures that call it home.

The episode then cuts to Antarctica for a segment focusing on flowering plants of the time, and how they’re pollinated by bees and butterflies. Morrosaurus, Antarctopelta, and the Antarctic hadrosaur all return as cameo appearances, feeding on and around some of the flowers and fruits of the trees. Loosely adapted from an idea by pondicherry (credit to him).

The next segment then cuts to the Nemegt Formation, where the focus is on a mixed-species nesting site of both Oksoko and Conchoraptor, both different species of oviraptorid theropod dinosaurs. While both species are different (Conchoraptor having frankly long arms and no crest, and Oksoko having large crests and freaky-looking hands with two fingers), they share the same group together. The segment in general serves as a way to show how oviraptorids can be different from each other in terms of species.

The episode then cuts to the deep seas of the Caribbean, where the focus of the segment is about reefs formed by shelled mollusks, of all things. Specifically rudist clams like Bournonia, who provide home to wide variety of other creatures that live amongst them, including sharks like Serratolamna and Scapanorhynchus, whole schools of lantern fish, deep-sea ammonites like Baculites,  and even a bed of the fellow mollusk, Inoceramus. This ethereal, undersea wonderland would have an equally ethereal theme to it, similar to the ammonite scene from Season 2. Very similar to how deep sea clams gather around and near brine pools, the rudist reef would be near a huge methane seep, where not only schools of Baculites hang around them, the Inoceramus would be in clustered beds around the seeps, just like with mussels in similar environments

The final segment of the episode has an Ankylosaurus wander through a swamp in Hell Creek in search of water plants, very similar to how hippos move in water. As the am tired herbivore makes his way through the swamps of Hell Creek, with other, smaller creatures making appearances; Paleoswania, Didelphodon, Axestemys, Lonchidion, Habrosaurus, and even Acheroraptor all show up. To match the fierce nature of hippos, the Ankylosaurus would even spook off a passing Tyrannosaurus , who was just minding her own business.

Predators

An episode showcasing many predatory animals around the world of the Maasrichtian, and how they hunted and interacted with their prey. Think of this episode like if PHP And The Hunt had a baby.

The episode starts off with an animal that was originally planned for Season 2, but was ultimately cut; Mahajangasuchus. This large crocodyliform was believed to be a powerful predator, strong enough to even survive a dry spell. The segment shows a lone Mahajangasuchus lying still at a pool of water, the only source of water for miles around during the dry season. He would be seen trying to snack on multiple animals that got close to the water’s edge, some being a bit more successful than others, before it all culminates with him catching a juvenile Majungasaurus. The segment would also make note that the reason while the Mahajangasuchus’ watering hole is the only one for miles is because he dug out a portion of the river when it was still mud, so he wouldn't be forced to leave his own territory. This behavior is inspired by alligator holes, which are holes that American alligators make by digging into the limestone and mud of the Everglades, and fill with water. The gators do this as a way to survive the dry season. Species like Falcatakely, Sahonachelys, and Masiakasaurus would also make quick cameo appearances as well.

The second segment cuts to India, where the predator in question is Sanajeh, a relative of Madtsoia from nearby Madagascar. The segment serves to show how this creature hunted in the same way as modern-day boas and pythons, as a female Sanajeh ambushes and devours a lone Bharattherium. This entire process takes time, as the Sanajeh not only has to crush her prey to death, but also swallow her catch whole. It would also be noted that the Bharattherium is the first meal that the Sanajeh had in a while, as snakes of that nature tend to go a good while without having to hunt for prey.

An Avisaurus engages in its own hunt in the next segment. Taking alot of inspiration from birds of prey like falcons and hawks, a female Avisaurus goes on the hunt, looking for, and swooping down on an Alphadon. The best animal to compare the Avisaurus to would be a red-tailed hawk, with the Alphadon essentially being the vole in this situation. To further drive home the connection, the Avisaurus would have a plumage pattern very similar to not only red-tailed hawks, but also a peregrine falcon.

We then cut away to the seas of North America, where a lone Cretalamna wanders the open sea in search of food. In a very similar way to modern great white sharks, Cretalamna are warm-blooded animals, meaning they can raise their own internal body temperature above the temperature of the water that they’re swimming in. That, along with how they’re fast swimmers like the shortfin mako of day (Fittingly enough, both otodontids and the group of sharks that include the mako are part of the same family), helps the Cretalmna chase down a rather large Enchodus. The whole chase would have a similar feel to how shortfin mako sharks chase down prey, especially with the explosive speed.

A Phosphatodraco goes hunting for small animals during the night, only to run into an even bigger relative of it; the towering Arambourgiania. As the former comes across a bunch of baby Ocepechelon scrambling towards the ocean, he starts to gorge himself on as many babies as he can from nest to nest. However, this doesn’t last long, chasing one it bumps into the much larger Arambourgiania as it slumbers at the base of a sand dune. As much as the Phosphatodraco is an intimidating and powerful hunter, who’s used to being the biggest pterosaur on the block, he’s eventually chased in turn by his much larger rival, who isn’t going to deal with his aggressive nature.

A Carnotaurus stalking a herd of Secernosaurus serves as the final segment of the episode. While the latter wasn’t found in the same exact place as the former, they were both around at the same time and general area, so it works. The segment shows that the Secernosaurus herd has calves with them, with the Carnotaurus stalking them as they move from place to place. The predator tries to get closer to his prey by first hiding in a grove of trees, then chasing out a lone calf from the herd. After the first couple of tries end in failure, the Carnotaurus manages to catch a calf by surprise, and separates him from the rest of the herd by chasing him out onto open ground. The Carnotaurus, using his superior speed and agility, closes the deal by striking down onto the calf when he gets close enough, killing him in the process. It took him a few tries, but the Carnotaurus finally not only gets himself a hard-earned meal, but also a long deserved victory. The guy certainly earned it. The episode then ends from there.

Giants

An episode about some of the largest creatures of Maastrichtian Earth, and how they deal with day-to-day life. The main theme here is that the main species of each segment are the biggest of their kind at this time, along with how certain giant species start off small.

The episode starts with a segment about Gargantuavis, which was the largest bird of the Mesozoic. While it’s not as big as most of the other species that get a focus in this episode, it's the largest of its kind during the Maasrichtian. The segment follows a pair of these huge, ground-dwelling birds, as they look after their eggs. Similar to how ostriches do the same thing, the pair both have respective times for laying on their clutch; The female looks after the eggs during the day, while the male takes over during the night. For a nice bit of comedic edge, the pair are very protective of their eggs, with one part showing the female getting aggressive when an Ampelosaurus wanders a bit too close for comfort while trying to find his herd. The incubation lasts for 42 days, just like ostriches, and by the end of the segment, the chicks start to hatch out. Admittingly, some of the ideas in this segment were taken from my original Gargantuavis segment idea, back during my article about my guesses for what Season 2 was gonna be. A good portion of that article’s ideas still work, and some of them even predicted aspects of the real Season 2 itself (The inclusion of Imperobator, Austroraptor, Globidens, and Diplomoceras, along with the mere idea of an episode being based on an entire continent coming true with “North America”).

The next segment takes place in Madagascar, where the giant frog Beelzebufo returns to the series yet again. This time, the story is set in two parts. The first part has a male Beelzebufo go up against a rival male, fighting on the flooded plains for his spot to attract a mate. After winning and securing a female, the segment cuts to a while later, while the male Beelzebufo is guarding after his young. First, they finally hatch, and after some time growing, they start to grow too big for the small pool of water that they were nursed in. This, in turn, leads to the male Beelzebufo having to dig out the pool for the tadpoles, which leads to a larger pond for them to grow and develop in. Sahonachelys, which was a suction-feeding turtle, also shows up in the segment, feeding on any strangling Beelzebufo tadpoles that stray away from their father. As a sort of way to evolve from the species’ last appearance back in Season 2, the scene adds in elements of African bullfrogs, both with rival males fighting for mates, and the males having to raise their young.

The next segment has the episode stay in Madagascar a bit more to focus on Vintana, a rather big mammal for its time. While Adalatherium from Season 2 (which was also a big Madagascarian mammal that was present at the same time) was big, this species was a bit bigger, making it the largest mammal of the Maasrichtian. The focus is on a female resting within her burrow. Outside, a large Rapetosaurus lies outside the burrow in the same spot that the animal died on, attaching scavengers. Some time later, during the night, the female Vintana comes out her burrow to find the carcass, with most of the meat having been gone. However, the mammal is after something else, and after some digging around, the scene shows the Vintata gnawing on one of the dead sauropod’s bones. This is based on how various mammals, rodents included, tend to gnaw on bone to acquire calcium.

The episode then cuts to the seas of Europe, where a female Mosasaurus serves as the focus. The female travels to a secluded bay in order to give birth, where she and her babies will be safe from predators.  As the Mosasaurus and her young stay in the shallows a bit before the latter leaves, the segment shows how she, despite being a huge marine predator, is a caring mother, looking after and protecting her young. Eventually, the Mosasaurus had to leave the shallows, leaving the young behind to fend for themselves with no problem. As hard as it might sound, modern-day monitor lizards (The mosasaurs’ closest living relatives) are very intelligent and social animals, with some species living in groups. The idea of mosasaurs being caring towards their kin is a very good possibility.

From one predatory returnee to another, the next segment focuses on a female Hatzegopteryx looking after her eggs. While she takes great care to protect them from predators, she eventually leaves them behind just before they hatch. With their mother gone, the Hatzegopteryx flaplings are left to their own devices, and they start by hunting for themselves, while avoiding predators like Allodaposuchus and Eurazhdarcho. The theme of this segment is to show how many giant predators not only start out small, but have to deal with predation from other animals.

The last segment of the episode revolves around Dreadnoughtus, as the focus is on an old male on his last legs. A group of Orkoraptor waits as the herd steps into their territory. The predators stalk the herd, waiting for the right time for the old bull’s condition to worsen without having to deal with the threat of being crushed by the other titanosaurs in the herd due to how aggressive they can be. Eventually, due to a mix of old age, heat exhaustion, and his body failing him, the old Dreadnougthus lays down on the Patagonian ground for the last time, and the herd moves on. This is the opportunity that the Orkoraptor pack has been waiting for. With the titanosaurs gone, the predators step in to feast on the dead Dreadnoughtus, with other scavengers like Aerotitan and Niebla joining in. The whole scene is essentially a mix between the old Alamosaurus peacefully passing away in “North America”, and the speed lapse footage of the Mapusaurus feasting on an Argentinosaurus carcass from Planet Dinosaur, with the scene being a sort of homage to the latter. As the final segment of the episode, the general idea is how plenty of giant animals, even in death, can still have an important impact on an ecosystem. In this case, it’s providing plenty of food to other species.

Legacies

In this final, double length episode (Not just for the season, but probably the Maasrichtian trilogy and maybe even the whole series), the show shows how various animals raised their young, passing on the legacies of each species.

The first segment of the episode revolves around Maip macrothorax, a recently discovered megaraptorian theropod from South America. Specifically, two males that form a mated pair and raise chicks together, and are introduced by driving off a juvenile Nullotitan, who nearly crushes their chicks. This is an example of a monogamous pair, albeit not the usual male/female pair that’s more common, before comforting them and .  As weird as it sounds for (most) humans to not be the only creatures to do this, there have been reports of many animals alive today being in same-sex couples, most prominently penguins and other birds included; given birds are dinosaurs, it’s unsurprising that non-avian dinosaurs would likely do so too.

The episode then cuts away to the second segment of the episode, which focuses on an age-segregated flock of Gallimimus. Thanks to fossil evidence of this exact behavior seen in Sinornithomimus (A closely related species), it’s entirely possible that these theropods shared the same behavior, with the segment showing a young flock of Gallimimus wandering the deserts of Mongolia, all trying to survive and find an adult group to rejoin before predators can catch up to them. An Alioramus makes a quick cameo appearance to highlight the dangers that the flock has to face.

The next segment then cuts to India, where the animal in question is the returning Bharattherium. Underneath the feet of the dinosaurs, mammals were still making a living at the time, with the female feeding on grass alongside some Isisaurus. After gorging herself on grass, the female then returns to her burrow, where her mate and young are waiting. After nuzzling up to her mate, the female Bharattherium then lays down and lets her young feed on her milk. While it’s a bit slower and calmer than the other scenes, this segment works to show how mammals raise their young during the time of the dinosaurs.

The next segment features the return of Mononykus, as the species, similar to Beelzebufo in the last episode, gets two new sides shown to it. The first half shows male Mononykus trying to win a mate. Their way of "fighting" (if you call it that) is trying to sit on each other. As strange as that sounds, anteaters have been known to do the same thing to fight over the right to mate. After the lead male wins the chance to court a mate, the segment then cuts to some time later, where the pair have constructed a nest together. This is where the second side comes in, as a lone Kuru kulla comes snooping around for an easy meal. The Mononykus pair then step in, with the female doing a sort of distraction display to the Kuru in order to lure her away from the nest, similar to how many birds do the same thing today. The goal for the female is to make herself look like an easier meal than her eggs in order to keep the predator away from the nest. Just as the female Mononykus gets the Kuru a far enough distance away from the nest, she then bolts out of there, leaving the raptor to eat her dust. After returning, the two Mononykus reunite, and resume their nesting duties.

The next segment then cuts to the waters of South America to focus on the rare occurrence of interspecies adoption, where a mother Aristonectes raises a baby Morturneria among her own pod. Despite the two being from different species, the two share a strong maternal bond that lasts for a few years. Sadly, by the time the calf is older, the maternal instincts of the mother Aristonectes wear off, and no longer recognizes the Morturneria as her own, forcing him to leave the pod. Despite how this is a somber moment for the marine reptile, the end shows that he’s capable of surviving on his own, and he leaves to find a pod of his own. Keeping up with the elasmosaurs of this show having behaviors seen in whales, the Aristonectes adopting the young Morturneria is based on various species of whales and dolphins adopting members from different species, like a group of sperm whales in Australia adopting a disabled bottlenose dolphin, an adult southern right whale being seen alongside a humpback whale calf, an orca adopting a pilot whale calf, and more.

The episode cuts to the open seas of North America where multiple Protosphyraena gather to reproduce. While these large, marlin-like fish aren’t related to true billfish, they not only hunt and look in a similar way, they also have a similar way of mating. The segment shows one of many females releasing her eggs out into the water, with multiple males all swarming to fertilize as many as possible. The segment also takes time to show off the speed and bills of these predatory fish, as they not only have a similar niche to modern day sailfish and marlins, but also have the same way of reproduction. This way of mating is referred to as “broadcast spawning”, where female marine animals release their eggs out into the open water, and the males take turns releasing sperm to fertilize them. The fertilized eggs then drift out into the current, acting like plankton. While a good portion of them are eaten on screen by a passing Bonnerichthys, the surviving eggs eventually hatch into minute versions of their parents, and they venture out to grow and develop into high-speed predators.

The final normal segment not only of the episode, but also the season, the possible Maasrichtian trilogy, and maybe even the series in general, takes place in Hell Creek, where not only various animals are seen living their lives, the main focus is on a mixed herd of both Edmontosaurus and Thescelosaurus. These two ornithopods have radically different lifestyles (One’s a migratory species, while the other is a sedentary burrower), but the scene shows that both use each other as protection and defense, and by extension, protect each other’s clutches. Even nearly being accidentally stepped on by the Edmontosaurus helps to teach the baby Thescelosaurus to avoid big animals, regardless of diet. All the while, as the herd moves through the coastal floodplains underneath a setting sky, many other residents of Hell Creek make cameo appearances as a sort of last hurrah; A herd of Triceratops, an Ankylosaurus lying near a large swampy pond while a pair of Didelphodon play with each like a couple of otters, a mated pair of Pectinodon and their chicks, a Quetzalcoatlus flying overhead below the full moon before landing down to preen himself on a rock, a group of Pachycephalosaurus feeding near a rotten log, and of course, Tyrannosaurus. As the mixed herd moves on, the scene, in a callback to the very beginning of the series, ends with a father T. Rex and his chicks standing near a large river leading to the beach, looking up at the stars. Just like at the start of Season 1, the T. Rex and his brood are peaceful animals, just minding their own business. The scene ends with a shot of the T. Rex and his chicks looking on at the night sky.

After the last normal segment ends, the camera cuts back to Sir David Attenborough walking around the Oxford University Museum of Natural History on a slow fade-in shot, until coming up on the skeleton of the T. Rex from the Season 1 intro. He then goes on about how the dinosaurs, along with the animals that shared their world, were some of the greatest creatures to have ever lived. David then brings up how this great era came to a somber era, with the KT extinction, and while it may seem tragic at first, David then explains that they've left behind their most incredible legacy. Not only things like fossils, but also their closest-living relatives; birds. This legacy can even be expanded to how the dinosaurs and their story have inspired people.  As David walks around, the scenes with the animals are projected onto the walls next to their skeletons. While this plays in the background, holograms-like ghosts of the dinosaurs and other animals seen throughout the series phase in at the museum at first, before David looks through one of the museum windows to see that more of them are roaming the modern world; Herds of Dreadnoughtus and Edmontosaurus roaming on city roads, a Mononykus slinking and sneaking through trash bins, two Simosuchus frolicing on the streets, a Pachyrhinosaurus getting confused after bumping into some random car, a Hatzegopteryx flying overhead, a Mosasaurus breaching out of a city channel, while schools of ammonites swim below the giant, a male Barbaridactylus on the roof of a building trying to court what he thinks is a female (but is actually another male pretending to be a female), and more, all as a way to show that while the creatures of the past are forever gone, their memories still roam our imaginations. David then brings up a warning of the current extinction, and if mankind does everything they can to prevent the animals of today to go the way of the dinosaurs, perhaps someday, we might experience the greatest show in nature since the era of our Prehistoric Planet.  As David walks past the skeleton of an ancient whale, in which the camera lingers on for a bit (Maybe to tease a possible future set of seasons based within the Cenozoic), he  meets up with the ghost of the T. Rex from the very beginning of the series. (I.E. Hank). Hank calmly looks at David at the entrance of the museum for a bit, before deciding to walk out. As Hank exits the museum, he then scatters into a flock of birds that fly off into the distance, showing how the dinosaurs still live on as birds. The season then ends on a cut to black. 

Overall, this final segment has plenty of inspiration from other forms of paleomedia; The ghost of Big Al wandering a museum at the start of The Ballad of Big Al, The Acrocanthosaurus leaving the museum that it was kept in back in Monsters Resurrected, the holograms of the animals in the live-action parts of Dinosaur Revolution, the entire feel and vibe of “The Last Tyrant” from David James Armsby’s Dinosauria, and even a dash of David Attenboruguh’s Natural History Museum Alive (Another paleontology-based project that he worked on). Not only does this finale serve as the ultimate send-off to the wonders of the Maasrichtian era, it’s also a huge love letter towards paleontology as a whole.

And that, dear readers, is how I imagine a possible third season of PHP. As much as I hope this series gets more and more seasons covering other periods throughout Earth’s history, it would make sense if it stayed in the Maastrichtian yet again. Due to not only the amount of well-known taxa are known to live at this time, along with how people know alot about it, it’d make sense to stay in the Maastrichtian. And if this became the final season of the show, at least making enough seasons to make an incredible trilogy would work well for people. Would I want more seasons after this? Yeah, I would. But if one more season came out of this series and set it in the same time and place for a whole Maasrichtian trilogy, I’d be cool with it. All without directly showing off the K-T extinction. As much as that's been an important part of this time in Earth's history, many people are tired of it appearing in every dinosaur documentary. And I have a feeling Darren Niash and his team are in the same boat.

This project was not only one of the biggest that I’ve made so far as an artist/writer, it was also one of the most fun that I ever had. This took me months to get done, and it’s so satisfying to finally have it finished. I wanna give a good shout-out to the folks from the Paleo Media Central Discord server that I spoke to and worked with on this project. Their ideas helped with getting this whole thing complete. And while I can understand that there are other ideas/suggestions for what people think a possible PHP season 3 could be like, we’ll just have to wait and see if it’ll come. As for now, thanks for reading!

[she-karev]

Deaf (Jolex and Luna Angst with a Happy Ending Imagine)

Age Rating: 12+

Chapters: Two of Three

Fandom: Grey’s Anatomy

Ship: Alex Karev and Jo Wilson/ Jo Karev

Canon Episode: Season 19 Episode 16

AN: I will forever be angry at Shonda Rhimes for breaking up such a beautiful and loving couple in such an awful way that destroyed over 10 years of Alex’s character development. But I can correct that mistake even if it’s head canon here on Tumblr. I want to show our appreciation for the dads out there that put our wellbeing above their own and guide us through the roughest times.

Summary: Alex and Jo get a diagnosis from Jackson Avery who came at their request with April and is the only one outside the family who knows about Luna’s prognosis and supports them through this.

Words: 2298

February 2nd, 2023

Alex paces the attendings lounge back and forth anxiously waiting for his special visitor to walk through that door.

The door opens and Alex is relieved to see the person he was expecting. Jackson Avery is in a business suit, looking more like a board member than a surgeon. He grins at the sight of his good friend outside in his casual clothes and steps out to greet him.

“Hey man.” Jackson keeps his tone neutral knowing his friend needs him more as his daughter’s doctor than as a fun friend. They shake hands, “It’s good to see you, I wish it was under better circumstances.”

“You and me both.” Alex shares tensely, “Jo and Luna are already in an exam room.”

“Good I called ahead, and I got a nurse to set up an audiometer and don’t worry outside of my mom and Richard nobody knows I’m here and as far as they are concerned, I’m here for medical pitches.” Jackson says to Alex’s relief, “I figured this private visit should stay private until we get a diagnosis.”

“Thank you for that. I wouldn’t normally ask that of you but Jo is…” Alex sighs rubbing his tired eyes, “She’s going to worst case scenario after worst case scenario and I’m trying to be supportive. And as someone who’s been at my field for 10 years, I know too well how much a diagnosis can ruin a child and their family.”

“Okay I’m gonna be a doctor right now, not your friend and tell you to relax so that we take this one step at a time.” Alex exhales to relax, “First step is to have Luna take a BAER test and if hearing loss is indicated then we run more tests to confirm if it’s progressive hearing loss or an underlying condition that’s causing hearing loss.”

“Yeah, I know all of that it’s just…it’s hard being on the other side of this.”

“Believe me I understand that more than you think.” Jackson sympathizes before motioning to the door, “Shall we?”

Later

Jo bounces Luna against her hip as she walks around the tiny exam room trying to keep her mind from exploding. So far she is failing as her worry for her child grows with every second. It’s not Luna is going deaf it’s what could have caused it. Jo knows that it could be a malignant acoustic neuroma and the thought of her baby having cancer fills her with dread. Luna is the one person she loves more than Alex and she can’t bear to see her in pain.

The door opens and she pauses to see Jackson entering the room with Alex who goes to them with a smile at Luna. He strokes her fine blonde hair causing Jo to grin slightly before turning to Jackson who is clad in a business suit.

“Hi Jo.”

“Hi.” Jo gives a slight grin to Jackson grateful to have him here as Luna’s doctor, “I’m sorry if were pulling you away from foundation stuff but we wanted someone who’s a skilled ENT and make sure all of the bases are covered.”

Jackson shakes his head, “You don’t have to apologize, I’m more than happy to do this for Luna. But I have to warn you I’m gonna use my doctor voice instead of my good friend voice. So, Alex says there have been signs of hearing loss at daycare, have either of you noticed any at home recently?”

Alex steps in first, “I call out her name but she doesn’t respond. I have to wave my hand to get her attention. And she hasn’t said her first words yet.”

“Could this hearing loss be caused by an underlying condition like encephalitis or CMV?” Jo asks worriedly.

“Well, she hasn’t been vomiting or had a fever, has she?”

“No.” Alex confirms.

“Then it’s neither but we’ll run labs just to be sure. Until then we have to first confirm that she has hearing loss.” Jo inhales at this as Jackson continues, “We’ll do a BAER test that’s the-”

“Brainstem Auditory Evoked Response we know.” Alex informs him worried as well.

Jackson nods seeing that it’s best to do this quick and get the results fast, “Okay you two can be in the room to hold Luna while I do the test. I’ll get the equipment out now.”

Jo swallows before turning to Alex who rubs her back in comfort as they wait for Jackson to set up so they can get a diagnosis that could change their lives forever.

An Hour Later

Jackson looks at the BAER results on his tablet in agony as the results confirm that Luna Karev does indeed have progressive hearing loss. He paces the Imaging Room trying to figure out a way to give this devastating news to Alex and Jo and he can’t come up with one idea that ends good. But then again there’s no way to spin your only child going deaf. The door opens stopping his thoughts as he sees his wife, April Kepner, come in.

“Hey.” April greets him with a grin before closing the door, “Your mom took Harriet and Mark to Marios after her meeting. I swear those kids have a better wardrobe than me.”

Jackson grins at hearing how their daughter and baby son are spending their day with their grandma. He would take that over holding his good friend’s baby’s diagnosis in his hands right now. He sits in a chair while April looks at him inquisitively.

“Are you okay?” April stands in front of him with kind eyes that always make him feel safe to share his turmoil, “What’s wrong?”

Jackson sighs before handing her the tablet, “I just got Luna Karev’s BAER results.”

April’s face falls as she reads the chart, “Oh no, do they know?”

“Not yet I’m just…” Jackson pinches the bridge of his nose, “I’m trying to figure out how to tell them this piece of news. I swear this is so much easier when I don’t know the parents.”

April looks at Jackson in pity squeezing his shoulder, “I know.”

Jackson shakes his head at this, “I knew what I came here for but a part of me, a huge part of me was hoping that it was nothing that there was nothing to tell. But there is and now I have to give them the worst news of their lives.”

“Kids like Luna can be deaf and live their best lives.” April points out, “I mean that CODA movie we saw won three freaking Oscars and Tony Kotsur is actually deaf and he gave his winning speech in ASL. If it wasn’t for Will Smith slapping Chris that would have made the awards memorable.”

Jackson chuckles lightly at that couple’s night of theirs remembering how shocked they were and how funny they found that memeable moment.

“Thanks, I needed a laugh.”

April strokes Jackson’s cheek, “There’s not gonna be a nice way to tell them, you just tell them the way you normally would with a patients family and guide them to resources so they can learn how to live with this along with their child. It’s horrible but knowing Alex and Jo they will be fine as long as they know their daughter is alive and healthy.”

Jackson looks at his wife in awe before nodding, “Your right.”

“I usually am.” April smugly grins causing her husband to chuckle and kiss her before leaving the room. He walks down the hall as slowly as he can while he recites his diagnosis in his head, so he doesn’t fumble and mess up. He stands outside the exam room for a good five seconds before going in seeing Alex and Jo with Luna sitting on the exam table playing with her stuffed unicorn.

He closes the door behind him before standing in front of them with a stoic face as the couple look at him anxious for the diagnosis, “The BAER test confirms that Luna has progressive hearing loss, I’m sorry guys.”

Alex and Jo look at each other in worry before Jo turns to Jackson with heartbroken eyes, “…What’s next?”

“We need to do an OAE to get a more accurate auditory read. She’ll be asleep for that and you two will be with her while I run the test it’s noninvasive and she won’t feel any pain.”

Alex clears his throat to get the lump in his throat out as he processes this news, “What about an MRI? To rule out underlying conditions and tumors?”

“And a genetic test, she’s adopted we don’t know what’s in her blood, it could be a genetic cause.” Jo adds causing Alex to nod in agreement.

“I will do both after the OAE. Now we can do the test today but the scan and bloodwork is gonna have to wait until tomorrow.” Jackson tells the Karev’s, “I will get someone to put a rush on the results but the latest we can get the full results back is tomorrow night. I’m sorry but this is the best I can do right now.”

Jo sniffles with her tears glistening her eyes, “Could this be…could it be something fatal?”

Jackson looks at the couple in pity before answering, “We don’t know, we won’t know anything until we go over all of our tests.”

Alex nods understanding, “You’ll cover all the bases, right?”

“I always do. Now I’m gonna give Luna a light sedation before we get started. You two can hold her while I give her the oral administration. We should start now so we can get the results much faster, are you ready Luna?” Jo and Alex nod before holding Luna still as Jackson fills a mouth syringe with the medicine for their baby.

Later That Night

Alex looks over the brochure he got from the auditory floor while walking out of the hospital with Jo who is pushing Luna forward in her stroller. The test Avery ran for Luna revealed a lack of OAE in both of her ears that further confirms isolated hearing loss.

Now they are looking to go home and try to sleep before Luna has her MRI and genetic tests tomorrow that will tell them if this is a result of an underlying condition or not. Alex can see the worry forming in Jo’s eyes and tries to comfort her once again.

“Avery is the best ENT we could ask for; he goes to the bat for all of his patients not just the ones related to his friends.” Jo nods but still has a frown, “Most of these cases it’s just progressive hearing loss with no genetic conditions or tumors. And technology has come a long way, hearing aids are state of the art or we can use a cochlear implant.”

Jo sighs, “Can you…can you just not?”

Alex can see he’s upsetting Jo and wants to mend his mistake, “I’m just trying to let you know that this isn’t as scary as it seems.”

“Yes it is Alex.” Jo stops to face him with a frustrated face and tears in her eyes, “It’s extremely scary!”

Alex is taken back by this and looks at Luna who is sleeping in her stroller absent of the yelling. He stands back up and inhales and exhales to keep his mind at ease over this recent diagnosis. He thought that Jo needed reassurance, but he can see now that all she wants is someone who understands her pain, and he is the only other person who can. So he decides to make it known instead of shoving it down for his family’s sake.

“Your right.” Jo sniffles at Alex’s confirmation wiping a tear away, “It is scary, this scares me as much as it scares you. I’m scared of what this diagnosis could be a result of and even if it’s just progressive hearing loss I’m scared of what will happen after. I’m scared of Luna becoming an outcast and not having the advantages we had growing up. I’m scared of screwing up sign language and being one of those parents that doesn’t communicate with their child. I’m…I’m scared that I won’t be able to help Luna through this transition in her life.”

Jo has another tear down her cheek and she moves to hug Alex who hugs her back so they can comfort each other. For a moment they stand there in the hospital entryway holding each other with their baby sleeping inside her stroller. They share the pain that is coming from this scary diagnosis from their child who they love more than anything. Jo pulls back and wipes her wet cheeks as Alex grips her upper arms to keep her from breaking down completely.

“But just because we’re scared of that happening doesn’t mean it’s going to happen.” Alex states positively knowing it’s what Jo needs to hear as well, “Is it gonna be hard? Yes. Are we gonna know everything we need to do from now on? No. Even if it is just progressive hearing loss it’s gonna be hard for all of us. I know that but I also know that we can get through this and come out stronger than ever. We did it when you got out of treatment and we did it with Luna after she was born. If we can do that then we can do this, I know we can you have to know that too.”

Jo sniffles looking at Alex with awe and love before kissing his cheek, “I do know that.”

Alex nods before putting his arm around his wife, “Let’s go home.” Jo pushes Luna forward in her stroller with Alex by her side as they leave to go home as a family.

[skayafair]

The brainworms be brainworming

Note: I want to chat about junoverse! Hit me up if you do too!

It's funny how I expected to ship the hell out of the main pairing just to end up utterly inenterested :D

It's amusing and gives Juno a good character developement, but mostly it's just corroding. Also by all accounts Nureyev should have been the type of character who is usually interesting to me, but mostly I couldn't care less and was slightly annoyed in s5 (made sense tho, so not complaining). And I don't understand why he kept showing up in Juno's life and even offered to run away together just to do his worst to try and disappear for good when things started looking up and settling for them, the whole Dark Matters ordeal notwithstanding. Did he try to shake Juno off because he became scared that his feelings got too real for comfort and he couldn't just "file them away" anymore? Would he have abandoned Juno on some faraway planet if Juno didn't change his mind and actually went with him?

Maybe my attitude was partly why I was so delighted by the ending, except for the fact that it simply made the most sense and the stories rarely go this route in order not to upset the fanbase. Personally I'd have said Nureyev to get lost after the 2nd disappearance but luckily for Peter Juno has a different approach. And their relationship might have not gotten through to me, but I really liked how it was developed: I'm on aroace spectrum and "love from the first sight" sounds ridiculous to me. Attraction, I can believe in, love - nah, this thing's built over time and looots of effort. And that's what they've been doing over the seasons - building it. Juno's resolution - "if you can do this, we'll be together, someday in future, if you can't - I guess we just aren't compatible", his acceptance of the fact made me very glad to hear had to undergo a similar realization in the past. Do I need to say that to me the person behind that door in the last seconds of the episode was NOT Nureyev. Too early.

On a different note, what I wasn't satisfied with was Sasha's plotline. It feels unfinished. I kept expecting it to get its resolution as well, to make me sympathize with her (not justify her actions tho), and I guess Nightmare was supposed to be it, but she just confused me instead. I still don't understand what exactly this whole case meant. Why did she look exactly like young Sasha to Juno but like Juno - to Mick?

I mean... the way Sasha was erasing herself from existance just for Agent W to be the only one left, and with how often neometh was mentioned - and the super-drug they pumped Jet with? - I thought Slip would come into the picture too somehow. It seemed like there was a joint overarching plot for these two lines, but they ended up completely unrelated. And Juno said he needed to reflect on Sasha and understand her even after they shook the DM off of their tail, but I don't think this was developed? Idk. And what with all the hints of "you don't know what I've been through" from Sasha? Did I miss the elaboration? It just feels like her plot line was planned but scrapped at some point.

I've started to listen again since ep 1 and realized I don't enjoy the podcast as much as the 1st time until the Aurinkos come into the picture. All the previous episodes were good, don't get me wrong, - just not as interesting to me personally. So after a few episodes I skipped right to the middle of season 2 and wow. I didn't realize Jet to be THIS hilarious the first time! Now the actual fun begins <3

And since I've already started - Juno was very funny and sooo coherent back in the desert. "Leave me be! I'll die but at least I'll do this by my own will!.. oh shit this guy looks scary and like he'll kill me if I don't shut up right now, ok fine". Aw <3

I think this is the first time when I can actually remember how unreliable and overdramatic our narrator is, take his descriptions of any situations with a grain of salt and not even be annoyed at this :D

[murfeelee]

Witcher Season 3 (AKA The "Final" Season 🤣😂)

Alright y'all, back at it again with my 3rd Witcher tv show "review" or whatever. S1 | S2

Disclosure: I already told y'all that I've made peace with this being the Yennefer Show, and that I'll keep watching when Liam Hensworth plays Geralt in S4, because this show ain't been about Geralt or witchers anyway--it's about the mages, obviously. Like, I don't blame Cavill for leaving, cuz if I had to play second fiddle to Yenn when I'M the titular MC, but I don't have ANY scenes, ZERO speaking lines, and NOTHING to do in my own show, then yeah I'd quit too! So I'm not gonna complain about what I WISH this show was--it will NEVER be the books or the games (definitely not Game of Thrones). Missed opportunity.

All that being said, unpopular opinion, but IMO Season 3 kinda slapped? The 2nd "volume"/part was the best BY FAR, but I genuinely liked the vast majority of the episodes. I give S3 a 9.5/10, because I actually have very few complaints about this season overall, I'm shocked. (EDIT: I have DEEProoted suspicions about a lot of naysayers/hatewatchers who say the show's "unwatchable," just because it's got a multicultural cast/"agenda"--sounds like racism to me.)

THE GOOD

The MAIN PLOT actually went somewhere!!!! A wild Vilgefortz appears! ^0^ He beat the DOG SNOT outta Geralt, YIKES! XD

One of my biggest gripes about S1 was that the show didn't focus nearly enough on THE BIG BAD, Vilgefortz. Cahir got SO MUCH screentime doing literally NOTHING for 2 whole seasons, meanwhile the rest of Geralt's Hanse was NOWHERE to be seen, and Vilgefortz was just sitting in the cut looking pretty, like wtf?

And Season 2 was barely any better!

But yeah, S3 FINALLY gave us Vilgefortz's dastardly behavior I'd been waiting for. He effed everybody up at Thanned, as I expected--that's my special evil boy! <3 (Now that Ciri jacked half his face up I'm very sad--that man is absolutely splendid to look at. A moment of silence for the eye candy, it will be missed. U_U)

THANNED. ^0^ Hoooooooly god this was great, even better than Sodden in S1. Episode 6 is the best episode in S3--such a great battle; people were dying left and right. And MAMA TISS!!!!! She went OFF! O_O

It was so sad, but ofc this was all gonna happen--they had Tissaia allllll the way up Vilgefortz's butt, so OF COURSE she was going to be crushed when he INEVITABLY betrayed her. (I don't blame you though, girl, cuz he's SO DANG PRETTY! I'd be crushed, too!) But at least Mama Tissaia got that body count up during the battle--SLAY! The way Filavandrel was just.... 🤯

Speaking of the elves, Francesca and Fringilla were put on the backburner (after dang near dominating S2); but I like the way their arcs ended, even though I felt bad for them. Very good scenes; the mages & their arcs are the very best parts of the show, as usual.

LODGE OF SORCERESSES RISE! ^0^ Dijikstra & Philippa. 😍

These freaks--I LOVE them, your honor! 😅 I was so hyped to see Geralt break Djikstra's leg, but Philippa had me ROLLING when she was like "well, it's a good thing you like pain"--I DIED! XD These kinky mofos! They're hands down one of the best parts of the whole show--I LOVE how sinister Philippa is (her bird feathers are such a great touch--whoever was in charge of her costumes & HAIR 👌), and what a simp Dijkstra is for her. It makes me so sad to know how things go for them in the video game--I sided with Dijikstra to kill Radovid, and was so hurt when he went after Thaler & Roche. But....yeah, I did pick the option to break his other leg, so....oops? XD

So yes, I'm excited to see where this show goes with Philippa and Vilgefortz; how their schemes line up (or not) with Emhyr and the Fake Ciri; and how that effects the REAL Ciri and how she eventually ends up under Avallach (I hope we get to see him on the show!).

Speaking of Ciri, we FIIIIINALLY got to see some domestic Geralt, Yenn & Ciri--even if they are on the run from assassins; and Geralt's iced Yenn out cuz she tried to sacrifice Ciri to Voleth Mier back in S2. A lot of the fandom HATED that they made S2 Yenn betray them, but I think S3 did an alright job of not retconning her, per se, but patching things up. Cuz it's NOT a good look to have your (REAL) main character (LOL) hated by the fandom for betraying her own "daughter." So was the domesticity hamfisted? YES. But was it necessary? GOD yes, otherwise what's the point of showing The Last Wish? They're supposed to be a FAMILY, so for god's sake start giving them scenes to actually SHOW us that--stfu about "destiny"!

Probably another unpopular opinion, but I liked Episode 7 with the unicorn. These are the kinds of adventures Ciri NEEDED in S1, running around some stupid empty forests doing NOTHING is different from learning how to survive on her own in a strange wilderness, encountering strange creatures, and tapping into the good AND bad sides of her magic.

And oooooh my god, the GOAT has returned.

A lot of...hrm...interesting conversations were had as Ciri was hallucinating in the desert, with love of my life Grandmama Calanthe, as well as Pavetta & Falka. It's a shame that Ciri didn't get this kind of development MUCH earlier in the series. Too little too late? We'll have to see where Ciri's plot goes with the Rats in S4 to find out if her new whole Chaos/Fire magic arc is worth it.

AT LONG EFFING LAST, we're getting some HANSE ACTION!!!

I've been SO EFFING SICK of Cahir. I'm glad Ciri finally got closure with him from SEASON ONE, and that he's FINALLY in the Hanse now--took y'all long enough, ffs! And Milva's interesting so far, so I'm glad to see her around, giving Geralt & Dandelion grief. So in S4 all we need now is Angie, and YA BOI!!! ^0^

THE BAD

I wish Mistle and the Rats were better established--the whole Wyvern thing wasn't done very well or made much sense, and Mistle & Ciri should've had WAY more scenes. I wasn't feeling any chemistry between them, which is annoying, since Ciri's a lesbian in my TW3 game--is the show gonna go with hetero Ciri instead? Or is her love of Mistle gonna be what pulls Ciri out of the Fire/Chaos dark arc they're teasing for S4? 👀

What's annoying is that we already had a Dark!Ciri arc in S2 though, and EVERYONE hated it. We see Yenn reconcile betraying Ciri, but where's Ciri reconciliation for slaughtering all those witchers at Kaer Morhen? 😡 First she's possessed by Voleth Mier, now she's possessed by Falka? This show's great at focusing on Yenn & the mages, but leaves Ciri in the same ditch over & over--it's irritating.

Ep5 was a LAME way to end the first half/"volume," I hated that episode. The whole ball just bored me, with the dancing and singing--I get it--"all is not *clap clap* as it seems," stfu already. I didn't care. It was OBVIOUS Stregebor was being framed; WTF was that mop on Istredd's head; WHY was Triss the only one with a braincell who cared that students were going missing when apparently the school's SO strict; why don't these mages start TELEPORTING for once, and stop running around SLOW AF; how the HECK did y'all let HUMAN Dijkstra jump a WHOLE SCHOOL OF MAGES--this is an utter embarrassment. Usually the mages are the only thing this show gets RIGHT, so to see them all faceplant like this was just baffling & frustrating.

And again with the monoliths--how do y'all NOT KNOW these things are here!? Same with the one hidden in Kaer Morhen, like REALLY? NO ONE's medallion is going off? Omg. Istredd! You STUDY these things! Start TEACHING these drunk AF mages a thing or two--this is why Vilgefortz and Dijikstra wiped the floor with y'all on your own turf! 🤦

THE UGLY

The pacing was SLOW AF. Episodes 3-5 particularly dragged.

Everything with Cahir I wish was in S2 instead. That elf was GORGEOUS and I hated to see him go, but what was the point of all that again? I almost expected him & Cahir to start banging! (My perv brain; I need help, y'all. U_U)

Speaking of!

ALLLLLLL this mess about Dandelion & Radovid.

What "ripple effects"? XD It was UNNECESSARY. We all know Radovid's a disgusting genocidal racist psychopath and Dandelion's a womanizing old man--I'm not interested in seeing Radovid going through all this effort to seduce Dandelion, just to DOUBLE CROSS him to get to Ciri, like wtF? TBH, I feel like we were queerbaited, yeah I said it. 😤

And it's SO unfair how we have alllll these sex scenes with naked women's vajayjays & boobs all over the place--even Philippa got in on the action, hey hey hey! ;) --but we never get to see man-on-man action!? Wow, they kissed, SO WHAT!? Men never get full frontal nudity and it ticks me off, cuz naked women are just all over TV, meanwhile the dudes don't show SQUAT, and it's happened AGAIN.

Anyways, those are my only real complaints; otherwise I liked S3, it was much better than S2 IMO. Just don't expect too much--turn your brain off, and accept that this show doesn't gaf about Geralt (or even Ciri really) whatsoever. I'm here for Yennefer, Vilgefortz, and to see the Lodge of Sorceresses make themselves an absolute menace under Philippa so that Radovid literally flips his wig (that horrible weave MUST go in S4) and effs everything up for mages & non-humans.

[spider-xan]

I found it interesting from the first Insomniac artbook how the Sable troopers had more grounded and realistic armor/tech designs compared to the final game's more sci-fi look. I also found interesting the concept art of Peter in normal clothes confronting Sable troopers in the FEAST shelter, and what looked like Martin Li having kidnapped and filming Norman in a warehouse. For the 2nd book, all that stood out was how Venom was way smaller.

Yeah, I'm still going through the art book for the first game, which apparently also got a script book, and there is so much interesting content in the way of concept art and commentary that really shows the creative thought process behind how they designed the characters and scenes, even minor characters who just exist for Spider-Man to beat up as low-level villains - and there isn't really that level of detail and enthusiasm in the art book for the second game, even though I'm sure the creative team loved what they did and obviously put a lot of thought and creativity into the game, so I'm not sure why so little of it made it into the book? Like, on the art side of things, there was the art blast on Art Station last year, but that understandably didn't come with much commentary by the writers and narrative directors.

I really do think corporate saw the financial success of the first game and interfered more than they should have while being motivated by immediate profits bc we know the game itself was rushed by corporate pushing the developers to get the game out by the holiday season, and even though this art book got delayed from April to June, it feels rushed and lacking too, even if it's still very nice overall.

But yeah, like, while I didn't expect detailed commentary about characters who already appeared in the first game, I was disappointed there was so little about the new characters, who already didn't get characters bios in the game bc Insomniac dropped that feature for some reason, and at this point, I don't think they are going to add them in a future update, despite the demand for them.

Like, I love the two page spread of clothing designs for Harry, but I was disappointed there was very little text about his characterization and writing choices beyond a brief note about making him relatable with casual clothes like Peter, but higher quality to show his wealth - that's interesting, I love reading about how fashion reflects and reveals characterization, but there's so much more that could be included like the first art book and wasn't; same with Felicia, like, there's nothing there about her characterization and it's just a few notes about adding fur to her costume in the sequel game, and obviously, I love this version of Curt, but the Lizard aside, as Curt, he gets like, one page of designs and one short paragraph and a footnote about why he basically looks like a regular guy, which, again, gives some insight into his characterization, but on a superficial level.

And it's wild bc all three of these characters are more complex and integrated into the story (if you include the first game's DLCs for Felicia bc yeah, she was mostly an extended cameo in the sequel) than, say, Electro and the Rhino, who are great characters, but not especially complex and just show up for boss battles, but they got short essays about the writing and creative process behind their characterizations while Harry, Curt, and Felicia just get a few sentences about their clothes and maybe a note or two about their writing choices.

[thesherrinfordfacility]

I would not be surprised at all if this turned out to be The Fanservice Season of all time and mostly fluff, because Gaiman said that a season THREE would be an adaptation of the planned sequel novel. This is more like,,, an intermediate setup for the sequel. And I also heard that some stuff got cut out because of COVID complications. So on one hand I'm kind of, worriedly, expecting a dip in quality with S2; but it makes me wonder if we're going to get any real answers at all until the very last minute.

hey anon, evening!!!✨ not sure if you necessarily asked for it, but here's my take on what you've shared💓

i hear you re: concerns, and i think that is a risk with any sequel; that it won't carry the same panache, or quality, or heart and soul of what the original source material was or meant to be. this fandom is incredibly fervent and enthusiastic and every single one of us wants it to succeed, so it's only natural that the fandom might carry these doubts to varying degrees. the concern is usually only meant out of the sheer hope that it will be a fitting continuation of this hugely loved and magnificent book and series, rather than out-and-out pessimism that by nature of being a sequel, it was always doomed to failure.

the concern isn't unfounded... on paper. COVID had the potential to be fatal to elements of the tv/film industry, and certainly the way it works has since changed dramatically... some of it for worse, some of it for better. as you say, neil has been really candid that it affected the budget of s2 and therefore posed certain limitations, but i truly don't think it's going to be to s2's detriment. there is also the fact that there is no novel from which s2 will be adapted. however, that novel started in neil and terry's minds, the same genesis as s2/s3, and regardless of terry sadly having since passed away, it will always be the story they want or wanted to tell.

frankly, i think neil is naturally the no.1 fan of the story they built and were planning to build together (would be alarming if he weren't!) and obviously cares very deeply about not only it and its characters, but also the legacy that it embodies. if neil states that he's happy with, and proud of, how s2 turned out, im more than inclined to trust and believe him. he has the highest stake out of anyone else involved; cast, crew, studio, or fan.

exposition in books (from the uneducated, inexperienced view of this reader) is arguably easier to navigate than translating the same to screen. you have a literal narration in books as opposed to it being optional in tv (eg god in s1), whether that be 1st/2nd/3rd person, a central character or side character, whoever. so, elements like thought processes have to be acted out through an experience or as dialogue, rather than an inner-monologue recollection. a memory has to be actualised, rather than just remembered, because we don't have a written narrative to help us. for example, in the hypothetical book sequel, aziraphale could remember the job incident with probably a one page summary, and that would get the point across - but to adapt that the screen, that's going to require a more literal depiction so that the audience is up to speed, and there's no ambiguity.

so my thought process would be that s3, yes, would have been the hypothetical second book, but for tv's sake, s2 is made from elements of the first and second book combined. as you say, it's made to build a bridge to s3 where, i imagine, the proverbial will hit the fan. all of that set up, the exposition, background narrative, needs to be laid out somewhere, and im inferring that it would be altogether too much to put into a s3. hence s2 will exist. it would be a big story to tell, and easier to do in two books than in two series.

my gut feeling is, and i totally realise a) others may not agree, and b) this may end up being wrong, but some of that set-up in s2 is going to be a major tone shift. there usually is in any show/film or book series; in the middle of the overall story, the characters are put against conflict usually not only working against them collectively, but conflict also amongst each other. i don't think it will be any different for s2; that there will be something that occurs in this series that will carry the driving emotion into s3.

i truly and honestly hope that i am surprised by the boys not having any conflict between each other (as well as conflict with Other Entities) by the end of s2, and i would love for the opening of s3 to be rooted in solidarity and togetherness between them both, but i just somehow don't feel like it will... but that's my expectation, not a certainty. in any case, regardless of the S2 Angst Debate, this season is again set up for s3, so yes - i think it's guaranteed that all of the threads from s2 will weave together in perhaps the last ten or so minutes, and the final Problem will be revealed as the "dun-dun-dun" moment to propel us into s3.

as for fanservice? id respectfully disagree, and say i don't think it will be fanservice at all. fanservice looks different for different people, and honestly nowhere more than in GO. some people will want certain romantic moments, or certain hurt/comfort moments, angst moments, intimate moments, conflict moments, historical narrative moments... you catch my drift. neil has been pretty adamant that the story and canon is where he takes it, and is pretty upfront that he takes measures to avoid fans' headcanons and fic wherever possible. so actually, if someone's headcanon happens on screen, doesn't that just mean that that someone had the same thought for where these characters were going as neil did when he wrote it? that's not fanservice in my eyes, that's just being on the same wavelength as the author, and that - in my opinion - would be pretty cool.✨

[mbrainspaz]

okay I just finished the new live action Avatar season 1 and

y'all are being too mean about it.

All I've seen is posts about how horrible and not-like-the-cartoon it is—and it definitely does deviate quite a bit—but it's still an enjoyable show. I even thought it was good. Not perfect, but definitely fun.

My two favorite things about it are 1: It stayed true to the emotional narrative of the original. While it's a bit 'darker' with how it doesn't shy away from showing some of the more horrific war stuff they obviously couldn't show in the cartoon, the focus stays on the main cast and the growth of their friendships, and still takes time for their individual growth. I did think it was funny how much more emphasis Zuko's storyline is getting so far, but that leads us to the 2nd thing I really liked:

This version, at it's best moments, expanded on the character stories presented in the original in intriguing ways. The added depth of the backstories really drew me in to an adaptation that otherwise could've been a stale repeat. The extra attention given to Iroh in particular was so cool. They couldn't keep every character or story, but the ones they could, they mostly did a satisfying job with.

Am I bummed that they had to cut so much of the story for the compressed runtime? Absolutely. But that's what they had to work with, I guess. I was kind of impressed with how they chose to weave some of the plots together, especially in the Blue Spirit episode. You can tell that the writers had tremendous respect for the original show and genuinely cared about paying tribute to it.

The graphics, as many have complained about, are not spectacular all the time. There are some really cool money shots but other times it's like—aaaand, that whole scene was done in Blender, yikes. Some of the child acting was bad and a lot of the line deliveries felt really stiff and scripted, but there were a lot of good moments too. Zuko and Iroh were the highlight, and Xao was very punchable. Ozai had perfect bad evil father energy, which was great (I'm an expert on this). King Boomie was probably the low for me. So was his whole episode.

I've always been in the 'why do we need live action remakes of perfectly good animation anyway' camp, but since they did it—SURE WHY NOT. IT WAS FUN! Seeing everybody jumping out of their seats to scream and cry about how bad it was.... yes there are valid criticisms to be made but I'd like to see more people talking about all the stuff they did right.

Nobody was expecting this to be a dramatic masterpiece, especially after the og creators split ways during production. I'm still impressed with what we got. If all you wanted was an identical copy of the cartoon with real people and CGI, it's just never gonna happen. That's not how media adaptation works.

Granted, I wouldn't complain if they did another version that leaned more into the silly goofiness of the cartoon. The loss of the frozen frogs scene cuts deep, and Aang wasn't 100% Aang without his sillier side.

[fishshapedbun]

about Romantic Killer (BIG SPOILERS)

ok i just finished watching Romantic Killer and it's so good wtf????????? the plot developed so much better than i was expecting at first?????? Anzu is such a good character and such a good friend????? so i need to ramble about it bare with me for a moment

the show is hilarious and i love how exaggerated the funny expressions are, but it also has some rly serious part damn im legit impressed (Anzu and Kazuki's first hug kinda got me tearing up ngl)

each of the characters is slowly developed so well. like damn. Kazuki's story is specially detailed and it caught me by surprise when they showed the flashbacks of the first episodes after we found out why he became so distant and conscious of people and everything made so much sense. and he felt so realistic in the way he reacted, his struggle to open up and every single time he started feeling anxious and panicking in public was so well done (and i wanted to take him away from the crowd and pat his head every time ugh T_T). i was just slightly dissapointed that right on the last episode he admited that he started crushing on Anzu bc after the entire season of them just being an amazing duo of friends i was so hopeful we would finally get a 'love interest' turned only best friend (bc lets admit its not like she doesnt already have enough ppl interested in her without Kazuki being one of them too). bc i was enjoying headcanoning him as aroace as i was watching :') oh well. maybe if it ends up not having a s2 i can pretend he realized he wasnt in love and he just loves her platonically a lot! if they dont give me the aroace boy i will rip it from their cold dead hands! :D

and i loved the plot twist on how Junta was actually her true childhood friend all along and she took so long to realize... his feelings were totally real awwwww and he is really a sweetheart, i like the childhood friend trope! buuuut i gotta admit im just living for the huge crush Makoto clearly has on Junta. boyo isn't hiding it very well. that scene when Makoto holds Saki's hand and takes her away from the triggering situation? that was gay x lesbian solidarity right there !

and Saki OH MY GOD SAKI. the episode focused on showing how the two of them became friends and how important Anzu is to her and the way she has always defended her and what Saki went through oh god... her story was so realistic and seeing her reaction seeing that stupid ass ex was such a realistic depiction of a kind of trauma like that. she's such a good character im so happy they developed her so well and didnt make her just an irrelevant school friend character!!! (also she's a lesbian i am not taking criticism- /hj)

i need to mention how Anzu is absolutely bisexual btw. her reaction to meeting Kazuki's sister? she literally straight up said "i'll fall for her" c'mon

and Riri!!! omg!!!! little genderfluid chaos gremlin!!!!!!!! i was so so happy that not only Anzu girbossed her way to getting them out of their punishment but she got them to permanently live on the human world AND officially made them one of the love interests??? ULTIMATE GIRLBOSS MOVE Anzu i love you so much dear. so ngl i lowkey would like seeing Anzu end up with Riri/Rio the most ksjefhskdjf badass girl x genderfluid gremlin??? so much potential cmon they literally were punished for breaking magic rules bc they care too much about Anzu that's so fucking cute skjfhsdf

and Hijiri!!!!! from a little annoying rich bastard to a little just slightly annoying tsundere rich baby!!! i really like that he's interested in her and all but ultimately he's just there working and helping her out a lot like he becomes genuinely a great friend??

so yeah. as one can tell from the immense number of written words here i have liked this anime quite a lot. binged it in a day, all at once, no regrets. i'll be happy if there's a 2nd season if it is as good as this 1st one, bc this was amazing! so glad i decided to give it a chance <3 there's even more things i could talk about here but i dont wanna write a novel chapter of a post so i'll stop here LMAO

but really, if you're into comedy, romance and some nice character development, you won't regret giving Romantic Killer a chance :)

[jennibeultimate]

Personal recap Skate America 2022 - Men SP

GP series is back! And I am back to personal recaps! I emphasize the word "personal" as in it's not something anyone has to agree on...I just catched up on the Men SP much later...

Kao Miura was amazing! He is a force to be reckoned! His jumps are tremendous, he obviously needs some work on expression and spins but the speed and energy of his program is really fun to watch. 🔥 🔥 🔥 Kao in first place at the end of the day, who would have guessed?

Junhwan Cha, my love ❤️ This Michael Jackson program has everything you want from a skater. It's fun, it's has brilliant choreography and it's very difficult with the connections between elements (except for that 3A setup that is still much too long for my liking) and on top he excels in execution. He had some minor jump issues, that's why I think 2nd place is completely fine. (Last season Jun really turned me into a huge fan of him, I hope he makes the GPF!)

Btw happy birthday! 🎉🎂🥳

Daniel Grassl...anyone who read my previous personal recaps is aware of my dislike for Grassl's skating...but I think he improved drastically in the performance department and skating skills department and the choreography by Jason Brown suits him quite well. I will probably never be a huge Grassl fan but he did well. Bravo.

Ilia Malinin...where to start? I really thought that this SP could go two ways, clean or failure simply because of the huge pressure he is under. Still I was kinda surprised that he was left with place 4, which should not be surprising judging the performance. Ofc he can still win with his arsenal of quad jumps but I am pleasantly surprised at the judges not giving him higher PCS than Roman Sadovsky or Junhwan or anyone...I still think he would deserve less, but contrary to what I was expecting (judging him on top of everyone) I take that as a good sign. Don't get me wrong, Ilia is not a bad skater but he lacks the connection to the music in most parts of the program and you can clearly see the jump focus. Also if he does difficult steps like in his step sequence he is pretty slow and reminds me of Alexander Majorow who also always got Level 4 on his step sequence but was just really slow to hit all the right edges. The strategy is not per se wrong, but for me it just lacks the flow and connection to the program as this seems more of a check off of requirements. Ilia is young and he can learn, I just hope that his PCS scores give him a reason to improve. (We all know that with high TES the PCS are quite whack especially coming from a political powerhouse country, but atm I am ok with how it turned out, it's not good but better than expected and this is the mindset I have for judging atm 🙈...my standards are very low by now 😅)

Ilia is without a doubt one skater with a possibility to be the leader in this cycle with his technical content, but I think the pressure is too much and I fear that he may not live up to the expectations that are set on him. No other US man has the capability to get medals at world stages and I can see it go two ways...he can live up to that in the competitions leading to Worlds or he crumbles...I just think it's not fair to have a 17 year old with that burden, no matter if you personally agree on his attitude or not. I personally don't like his attitude but I guess much of it is for show and because of his age and the hyping of his persona as a "quadgod". (Btw I am also sceptical he will maintain that easiness on his quads because he is far from done with growing and puberty I fear with the way he is build, let's hope I am wrong though)

Roman Sadovsky is a great skater and this program is so good. I saw his clean performance at Nebelhorn Trophy live and can tell you Roman has everything you want in a skater, BUT he so seldomly gets it together. 😩😩😩He always makes stupid mistakes. It's not even the quads that aren't working, but the rest is bound to be mistake ridden as well, which is such a shame. I really love Roman's skating but his huge talent is overshadowed by stupid mistakes. *sigh* Still managing 5th place is a small consolation prize.

Sena Miyake has a nice program and I liked the movement of his costume. Pretty skater. He definitely needs a bit more consistency but you can say that about almost everyone. 😊

Mikhail Selevko is a great jumper. Shame about the mistake on the Axel. I think on the European level, he can get very far. Still needs polish on his performance and skating abilities, but he is young and I am sure he can learn that.

Liam Kapeikis played safe. At Nebelhorn he went for a quad in the SP,but he fell. I think this strategy works better for him. He skates lovely but isn't one that I will remember much. The US men except for Ilia don't look as if they could make a name for themselves in the season... Liam definitely has more capability than Dinh Tran but still this isn't the level the US men used to show in the past years with Nathan, Vincent and Jason. And ofc they are all still young and can improve but I just feel like it makes the pressure on Ilia to leave off were Nathan left even more difficult. (I mean I love Camden Pulkinen's skating but he isn't reliable either and also lacks the difficulty for winning medals, same goes for Jimmy Ma...)

Wesley Chiu has lovely lines and good skating skills and nice interpretation of music, but he definitely lacks the quads and consistency. Still knowing how bad his skates in the most part of the year were, I think this one was one of the better ones for him.

Donovan Carillo is just fun to watch. I always have a smile on my face watching Donovan. ❤️ He came so far in the last years. You cannot help but wish him well.

Koshiro Shimada...he still sold that program well, but last place is really yikes especially in a field like this. As much as I like Koshiro he is very lucky that so many skaters left the field (intentionally or unintentionally) that he can compete at the GPs. And I fear with performances like this he will have a hard time to get selected for anything at all...Koshiro is very charismatic and also fun to watch, but all of that won't help if you can't deliver and I really don't know why he still went for two quads? You could say he has nothing to lose because he is not considered a favorite anyway, but I do think he loses reputation inside Team Japan to get selected for big events and also on scoring. Not sure how his practices are, but this doesn't seem to work...I really hope he can redeem himself a bit in the free...🙏

Good luck for the free skate to all skaters! 🙏🍀

This was a very typical men SP, many mistakes and some good performances...it can only get better...

Actually I wouldn't mind if the SP results would be the final results tomorrow...sorry Ilia...

[nerdyenby]

Orange time :D I’m watching Phil

Pre-game

Phil lasting less than 15 seconds without swearing, my man

Phil saying he wants to add to the Techno memorial <3

What is the hall of fame lore????

Phil manifesting being able to not swear this event sounds like a straight up prayer

The way I only JUST realized the team mascot above the hot bar, that’s adorable

Joel’s first words being “hey daddy, how’s it going?” and making Phil lose his mind

Im so excited, I don’t know RyGuy but I love all these other guys and am so excited for the absolute chaos that’s about to occur

“We may be team daddies, but I’m the father” IMPULSE

WHY ARE SOT HATERS?? Joel I expected better if you

Parkour Tag

Love Phil’s confidence here

I know it was probably just a slip of the tongue but impulse calling phil “Philz” is my new favorite thing

Foolish’s jukes we’re insane, my goodness

Phil’s wheeze when Tubbo just starts running in circles

Surprisingly unsurprised that Joel swore before Phil lol

I know people use they/them for literally everyone in parkour tag but they specifically say “Ranboo’s hunting” and the whole team uses they/them for the rest of the round :))

They’re all doing so well!!

Joel is an absolute champ, disconnecting mid-game twice without losing morale?? Absolute king

Rocket Spleef

Phil is insane, goodness

Phil 1st individual :D Joel hyping him up too :))

My little trendsetters <333

Sands of Time

2nd best game time :)))

Joel and Phil’s reaction to the baby zombie lol

They played it safe and it went quickly but it was the right call, it was a tough sot round

Love how genuinely surprised they all are that they got 3rd

I zoned out for 30 seconds and now they’re doing impressions lol

Joel is having an absolute time, rip

Joel roasting Tubbo’s skin my beloved

Sky Battle

Kristin popping her head in like “are you winning son Phil?”

Phil popping Scott like a balloon lol

This team has such good comms, I love them <333

I knew it was chaotic but them all shouting and laughing as everyone explodes is so funny

Phil hiding and then dropping down on Ponk was so good

How did I miss Joel popping off???

THEY SHALL NOT PASSS

Skybattle is such a good game

“The carry, dude!! “Thanks Joel” “Not really a Philza rsr carry, but we’ll take it” they have such good vibes I love them

Phil saying that if it comes down to them vs ran “I may throw so they can get a coin. I don’t know if I should because that is bum to my teammates but consider this:… a coin for Ranboo” <333

Saying he’d become the first person to intentionally throw dodgebolt so ranboo can win :((

As someone who uses he/they myself, hearing people use both sets for ran can be so personal <33

Ace Race

I love the new game icons so much

Y’all got notes?? What nerds

Phil being consistently top 5 the entire first lap???? King moves

Was Phil not muted?? They were all just that silent???

Phil first individual after game 5!!! That’s my Minecraft man!!!

Battle Box

That was a great first round, this team is so solid

Wooling blue was so funny “Simmers move over, the daddies are here” JOEL

I haven’t seen a battle box strat this effective in a very long time, it’s so nice

Joel bullying Jimmy and everyone absolutely cackling my beloved :D

Impulse charging into a losing battle yelling “IM GOING IN” goodnesssssssss

Joel and Phil’s banter is everything to me

Impulse clarifying that he has “three kids, not you three” lol

Grid Runners

Phil tridenting into a hole just as Impulse stretches to cheese it

Grid runners is probably the best game to watch even when your pov isn’t doing great, pvp and parkour are miserable if you team isn’t good at it, but grid runners is never not a blast

The piston puzzle looks so painful but it’s such a well designed room, I love it

Joel calling out H’s pattern of winning the first event of every season while on aqua lol

That final decision dome was one of the most intense ever

TGTTOSAWAF

Phil just wants to go swoopy swoop, it’s all he wants

He’s just so happy :))

Phil and Joel both top 5 in terra swoop :D

“Just punched George off, don’t even feel bad” Joel based lol

1 coin from 3rd!!!! That’s my boys!!!!

Phil’s face when he finished top 10 😭 he was like “I’m not asking questions”

Dodgebolt

Phil walking away and screaming when Ran gets out first is so valid of him

Joel immediately saying any and all lies he can think of when Impulse disconnects is so funny

Phil making it this far without swearing is an achievement lol, and he covered it up well enough that I don’t think anyone heard it

“Orionsound my favorite anime protagonist” YOU HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE CORRECT PHILZA MINECRAFT

Phil out here representing all the boobers who had medical episodes during Ran’s dodgebolt (me too man)

Common H dub, breaking the Krtzy curse, False supremacy, and Cub lol

Phil saying to impulse “was that our first official interaction? My goodness, you’re a gentleman” lol

Impulse wanting to synchonize a Phil swear with his bleeper <33

Phil being salty on Ran’s behalf and talking about how proud of them he is <3333