#and stroke. In fact

[prokopetz]

I think people sometimes misunderstand why we come up with such elaborate justifications for shipping two characters together. I don't justify my ships because I feel that I need to; I justify my ships because squinting at the published canon with furrowed brow and asking myself "okay, how exactly would this work?" is my idea of a good time.

[hinamie]

i'm on an itafushi kick and i am making it everyone else's problem

[meamiki]

silly comic based on a time i struggled to read live on stream :thumbsup:

context clip compilation below ASDASDFASA

(cw for brief mention of hospitals/strokes)

[xxplastic-cubexx]

Marvel Meow (2021), Nao Fuji | Professor X and Magneto

Bonus:

[strawbebe-dk]

Be more careful!

Extra tidbits:

[slayerchick303]

Brennan can not help himself with the bird facts.

[vaguely-concerned]

lucanis reading romance novels out loud to spite in the seventh attempt to explain to him what sex is and spite bemusedly being like 'wow you people really get up to that shit I thought that was just a bit mortals did or something'

[anetherealpoetess]

okay. so here's the plan. if ferrari are not winning anything this year, what if we just make the cars so illegal they are not even cars anymore, but rocketships. we win a race out of nowhere. everyone melts. papaya and red bull and merc heads explode.

and then, of course, we are disqualified. everyone praying for our downfall breathes a sigh of relief like, 'okay. ha ha. you got us good with your fake arse illegal ferraris.' but then--and this is the nefarious part--we do it again. the exact same thing the next week. and the week after. and the week after. just to see the chaos. just to see the panic. don't say it's a good plan. i never said it was.

[should-know-better]

Alex Turner, aged 19, said:

“Even the songs that are more personal are done in that observational way because it's not as close to the bone," he explains. "People can't get at me and say, 'Who's that about then?' It's a bit like you're hiding behind something. Sometimes when you write summat and you come to sing it first time in practice, instead of 'I' you put 'he', without even thinking about it. I dunno, it's hard to explain but it's easy to do."

Interesting for a couple of reasons:

a) if it’s easy for him to sing “he” instead of “I,” then it’s reasonable to conclude that it’s easy to sing, “she / her,” instead of “he / him.”

b) He’s been hiding things from the start.

Source: x. The Guardian 29.9.05

[mochiri]

sousuke and makoto are emotionally interdependent on each other

i noticed that in the final stroke movies makoto and sousuke watch some of rin and haru's competitions together... alone? Which was interesting because it would show in scenes that their friends were also watching.

but then I realized that for both makoto and sousuke, watching rin and haru race is such a high intensity, emotional moment for both of them... They're both anxious about their best friends' performances and watching them live out their dream... They both agreed that watching them swim made them nervous...

But it seems like they actually start choosing to watch these competitions alone because they know how the other is feeling. Sousuke even watches this haru race with makoto even when rin isn't swimming and reassures him that everyone's feeling the same. To me, it shows that they're relying on each other for support in times of high anxiety.

EDIT: I had to add this. Sousuke sees Haru's overworking himself and tiring himself out. Sousuke also sees people like ikuya and Asahi working hard to help Haru out, cheering him on. Then sousuke goes to say the following:

Although Sousuke is talking about a bunch of their friends, Sousuke already knows Makoto is the most consistently devoted person in Haru's life. he way he frames it—telling Haru to "at least take notice"—suggests that Sousuke has noticed how much Makoto constantly looks out for and thinks about Haru. Sousuke telling haru to pay attention to his friends more (but mostly makoto...) sousuke noticing that in the first place, Sousuke relating to both haru and makoto at the same time... as the friend who didn't take care of himself and the overlooked one maybe that's why they mix the blues and greens for him for some of his outfits.

Another instance Makoto puts a lot of trust in sousuke's care and friendship is after Haru's freestyle race with kaede and he practically passes out after. Makoto knows that Haru needs medical attention (or rest at least). So he runs out to find Haru after the race is finished.

except he doesn't go straight to haru. He actually calls sousuke first. The tachibana makoto who always puts the burden on himself to take care of haru goes out and finds sousuke and relies on his strength and care while being emotionally vulnerable in front of him…..

/the/ makoto who's fiercely protective of haru trusts sousuke enough to carry haru to the clinic... mind you the guy just went thru REHAB..... either makoto trusted sousuke more in carrying him or sousuke offered which in both ways shows their mutual reliability and care for each other.

i also think it shows Makoto who often shoulders responsibility alone (especially when it comes to haru) shows that he's learning to rely on others and sees sousuke as someone who can support him and someone he has a genuine trust and relationship with. While also solidifying sousuke's role among their group of friends/family.

I think it's beautiful the two characters in free! who have emotionally, mentally, and physically sacrificed themselves due to their fierce loyalty and protectiveness of their friend(s) finds solstice in each other despite often times hiding their emotions from those who care about them… By becoming emotional, mental, and physical strengths for each other instead?? (watching high anxiety competitions together, sousuke helping makoto with haru, makoto helping sousuke through rehab).

I'm happy the two have someone they can share their burdens with and someone who matches their own thoughtfulness.

bonus: makoto welcoming sousuke back to the swimming competition world ("Sousuke, okaeri."). he's so proud of how hard sousuke worked especially as the coach who helped him train ;;;

[add1ctedt0you]

Three times someone touched Zidian (insp)

Bonus:

[joycrispy]

I love when people who aren't familiar with Sonic as a franchise first truly encounter the Lore of Shadow the Hedgehog because invariably they come in like Oh is he Sonic's evil brother? Evil clone? And girl. He's not even a hedgehog.

[dontheckinswear]

I found this sketch from a year ago in my old procreate files so I cleaned it up just enough to not be embarrassing and added lighting :)

This is a drawing of the photo Wei Wuxian sends of himself to Lan Wangji in the fic: how to fall in love with a catfish: a guide by wei wuxian (disaster rat) by bwyn and Yuisaki !! It has a special place in my heart, not just for being one of the first mdzs fics I ever read, but also because I actually lived in a freshman dorm during the same year it takes place in, which means Wei Wuxian could have hypothetically been my RA 🥺

Anyways, it’s a really cute online relationship/university AU, and you should definitely read it if you haven’t already!

[grif-hawaiian-rolls]

RVB OC WEEK : DAY 5 CHORUS!!!!!!!!!!!

I mightve over done it the past few days and ran out of steam for a bigger piece like i wanted to do, but that's okay because Chorus just means the Clovers get to be themselves!! So, doodle page of just some of the mischief that happens in the Federal Army of Chorus there is so much mischief to be had, with these unlucky (or lucky?) bastards including but not limited to:

Neko jail (deserved), Anton can't catch a break and Ivia has the only braincell of the bunch... until a pretty girl is involved

On their breaks, or when they get a chance while out on patrol, they like to try and find wildlife-- Ivia knows where to look, Anton does field sketches, and Neko has picked up a handful of calls to help coax some shyer critters out of hiding! In short? They're a bunch of nerds who thrive when left alone to wander

-

fun facts: - Anton's favorite fountain pen was a gift from General Doyle, before he was general. It's not something Anton would brag about, but he's very fond of that pen. It's got a pretty gold plated body and has the best drag over his journal pages - Ivia had signed up for a xenobiology class with Dr Grey in Armonia before everything went to hell in a hand basket, and the humor of them both being medics in the FAC is not lost on Ivia-- she's brought the good doctor coffee before while they were in the same base, but didn't have the courage to bring up the class... maybe next time! - Neko is good at finding sniper perches. Like really good. Unfortunately good. Seriously, if he would just learn to use the damn rifle, he could be a force to be reckoned with, he just...won't use a damn sniper rifle

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 45

PREV

Renee Walker stands next to two of her best friends in the entire world holding up a hand drawn sign. There's an, admittedly crudely drawn, Fox on the sign that Allison had made up.

Renee had seen it and smiled from across the airport as she made her way over to where Dan and Allison were standing waiting for everyone to come. The team had managed to coordinate their flights to land all within about two hours of one another and Allison had exactly zero desire to go back and forth from the airport so her driver was waiting out at a nearby cellphone lot to come and get them once everyone was there.

"Is it nice having a driver again?" Dan asks Allison.

"I sometimes miss driving around in my car but it's a lot easier to do my makeup with him driving." she says with a shrug as they continue to catch up. Renee is holding up the sign since Allison had complained that she had lost so much of the muscle she had previously had.

"Yeah, New York City seems like a major pain in the ass to drive in too." Dan agrees as her phone buzzes. She pulls out her phone and looks at it before a huge smile fills her face, one that means she's talking to Matt, "Oh! They just landed!" Dan says confirming Renee's suspicions.

Allison looks at her watch, "Wow, 20 minutes early. They must have gotten through boarding quickly." she comments.

"Or some good tailwind." Renee offers.

"When are Neil and Andrew due up?" Dan asks looking at Renee who smiles back at her friend.

"Andrew said they're going to take a break halfway here so they'll be here tomorrow morning." Renee says.

"Get it Neil." Allison nods and it had been a wonderful thing last year to watch Andrew and Allison make peace with one another. Their mutual desire to dress Neil up a bridge towards....maybe not friendship but camaraderie.

It warms Renee's heart to see her friends get along.

"The plane got tailwind, Neil's getting tail." Dan jokes.

"I'm looking forward to meeting the new kid that I've heard about." Renee says gently moving the topic on from their friends getting together. It didn't bother her at all, but she knew that Andrew would prefer no one talk about what he and Neil got up to.

"Oh! Yeah, uh..." Dan visibly buffers.

"Dan, you're the only one of us that's met the kid. His name's Smith." Allison says with eyebrows raised in judgement.

"Look, when Coach and I went to recruit the kid my brain was like 90% on the fact that I needed to go to my interview." Dan defends herself.

"So he wasn't that memorable for you?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I'm surprised that he's getting along so well with the guys." Dan says. "Getting stabbed over Thanksgiving feels more like a Neil move than the quiet kid Coach and I met." she adds.

That had been an interesting phone call from Andrew. Renee hadn't even realized that she had become Natalie describing the best way to get rid of the body until Andrew had clarified that it'd been an accident and Smith was alive. Renee had been a little ashamed.

She was excited to meet the kid who Andrew had spoken to her about. Glad that their strange found family was growing just a little bit bigger.

They wait around continuing to talk about plans for the break together. Allison wants to go shopping and she wants to do it once Neil and Andrew are back. Dan wants to skate at the Rockefeller center. Renee would love it if they could do Christmas Eve Mass.

They're sure that Kevin is going to want to check out an Exy game. They're mostly sure that Matt will want to check out the LEGO store in downtown manhattan and that Aaron will be as excited for that as Matt is but pretending not to be. Nicky wants to catch a drag show and has made it clear that he will be going regardless of what anyone else wants to do. Andrew and Neil will probably just want to be alone when they have the chance though Neil had expressed some prior interest in the EXITES superstore and Andrew will more than likely enjoy the day Allison has planned to go shopping since she wants to update Neil's wardrobe.

The new kid, Smith, will be a mystery, but they're more than willing to be flexible.

Eventually they hear the tell-tale sign of most of the boy's arrival. "Babe!" comes from across the airport and Dan's head shoots up and spots the sight of Matt Boyd approaching his arms out wide almost clotheslining four different families on his way to Dan.

Dan is not much better as she rushes to him arms as wide.

They embrace like they always do whenever they have to spend time apart from one another and Renee knows that part of the reason that Dan took her job as assistant coach where she did is that the Washington State Congress Team had been looking at Matt the year prior to scout him.

She looks beyond the passionate reunion and sees Kevin, Aaron, and Nicky. She frowns brows furrowing...

Weren't they going to bring-

Nicky throws his arm out and it wraps around a kid she hadn't even realized was there. She blinks startled by his sudden appearance and blank expression as Nicky was pointing them out. He points to her and he can see her name on his lips she gives a wave and a smile.

Smith nods back in greeting.

He seems quite nice.

***

Renee is at the end of her proverbial rope.

This kid is a threat and she doesn't understand how she's the only person who can see it.

Being a threat isn't really an issue when you're a Fox. It's almost a given that there's some part of you that can be dangerous when backed into a corner but no one seems to be treating him like a threat.

She watches as Nicky and Matt throw their arms around him. As Kevin pushes smoothie after smoothie into his hands as he blankly sips. As Andrew and Neil sit with him quietly. As Dan pinches his cheeks. As Aaron ribs him for being bad at MarioKart.

She can't feel anything from him, no joy, no anger, nothing.

She can't even track him.

Renee has always prided herself on her ability to keep track of those around her. Spacial awareness was incredibly important when you're in a fight and it had always been one of her strongest points. She always knew where she was in relation to everyone else.

Except Smith.

The kid had given her no shortage of heart attacks as he appeared and disappeared seemingly at random.

She had finally gotten Andrew alone to ask, "Smith's quiet, non-intrusive." Andrew says with a shrug.

There's just something about him that makes the hair on the back of Renee's neck stand on edge and she hates feeling like she's the only one. She hates it even more that there's no real evidence that there's something amiss with this newest Fox.

So she settles in to watch.

They're out shopping and Allison is doing her best to get Neil a proper wardrobe with Andrew's considerable help, AKA nodding in approval when Neil comes out. She's not skimping on any of them but Neil is her main focus.

"Smith, what's a color you like?" Allison asks as she's looking at hoodies.

"I like purple." Smith answers and Renee barely manges to stop herself from flinching as his voice comes from right next to her.

"Pass." Andrew says as Neil comes out in a charmingly orange sweatshirt.

"I like it!" Neil argues.

"You have 10 sweatshirts that are that exact shade of orange." Andrew dismisses. "Try the blue one." he says pushing Neil back into the dressing room.

"Which one?" Neil asks.

Andrew sighs dramatically in a way that lets Renee know that he's doing exactly what he wants to be doing, "I'll show you." he says going into the dressing room with Neil.

"I still don't know how it took Baltimore for me to realize they were together." Nicky says as he's holding up two different purple sweatshirts to Smith's body. "You look good in a more purpley purple." Nicky says putting the more indigo colored sweatshirt back on the rack.

"Pants are coming up next, I'll get a lay of the land. I know everyone else's but Smith what's your height?" Allison asks.

"Five feet, nine inches." Smith answers as Nicky pushes him towards the dressing room. "Nicky it's a sweatshirt, I can put it on out here." Smith says.

"I know but I need an excuse to go back there and make sure Neil and Andrew aren't defiling a dressing room." Nicky says with a grin that implies he'd be more happy if they were.

"Gross." Aaron says as he takes a picture of himself to send to Katelyn to approve of the new outfit that Allison was pushing for him to get. "Wait," he pauses turning to where Allison was looking through various men's pants, "you know our heights? Like you've memorized them?" he asks.

"Yeah." Allison says looking at a pair of black slacks. "Everyone's measurements." she says nodding to herself.

"Even bust sizes?" he asks, voice not as quiet as he likely thinks it is.

"You're such a boy." Allison laughs not even looking up from the very different rack.

"How much longer are we going to be here?" Kevin asks with a sigh.

"Well, at least the time that it took you to ask that longer. We'll be done when we're done Kevin." Dan says long having given up on stopping Allison when the woman is on a spree.

"She knows that EXITES closes at 5 PM right?" Kevin asks.

"More importantly," Matt leans in, "that the LEGO store closes at 8 PM right?" Matt asks.

"How is that more important? The LEGO store is open later?" Kevin asks.

"Because we're not going to EXITES today, but we are going to the LEGO store." Matt says.

"If we don't spend the whole day here we can do both-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Dan says with a sigh.

"But-"

"We're not going to EXITES today Kevin." Renee says with an apologetic smile.

"But-"

"Kevin, we're not going to EXITES today. Just sit down and let me find pants that'll make your pin-up days look tame in comparison." Allison says.

"That's not what those posters were!" Kevin argues with a blush on his face.

"Sure." Allison dismisses

***

Renee is quite happy with the sundresses she found even if they won't do her any good here in New York City during the Christmas break. Their next stop on their shopping day is over to the LEGO store where Matt makes no attempt to hide his enthusiasm as Aaron very valiantly does try to pretend like he's not utterly entranced by the sets and builds.

Renee thinks it's all very charming.

"We could have gone to EXITES." Kevin says with a frown as he looks at a build of an Exy racquet. "Can you take my picture with this?" he asks but he's not quite looking at Renee.

"Sure." Smith says from beside her, where he had apparently been.

"Thanks Smiths." Kevin says and stands next to the Exy racquet of LEGOs and crosses his arms and leans back.

"Kevin, stop posing like this will be for the cover of a Forbes Magazine." Andrew says with a sigh as he comes to stand on Renee's other side.

"Shut up, it's a picture for me!" Kevin says and continues to stand with his arms crossed.

"Oh, can you get a picture of me next Smith?" Neil asks coming up eyes shining in excitement as he looks at the racquet.

"Sure. As an apology for letting Nicky-"

"Don't talk about it." Neil and Andrew say at the same time.

Kevin gets his picture and then Andrew hands his phone to Smith for Neil's since Neil had broken the lens on his camera ages ago.

They wander around and Kevin finds a set to build the National Court that he grabs without a second thought. Neil and Andrew find a little LEGO man of Kevin that they buy as their 'preferred Kevin'. Kevin of course threatens to buy their LEGO figures once they have them and refer to them as his 'preferred Andrew and Neil'. A threat that neither of them comment on but Renee does buy the little Jean Moreau she finds. She'll paint it Trojan colors and send it over to him as a little gift.

As she continues to browse with her purchase in hand she hears Nicky, "Smithy, if you like it you should get it!" Nicky insists.

"Is it the price?" Allison asks.

"Yeah, I don't want to spend that much." Smith says with a nod expression still worryingly blank.

"When's your birthday? It can just be an early or a late present from me." Allison asks.

"March 1st, but really I'm fine not getting it." Smith shakes his head. "It's not that I'd like it just my little brother liked trains." he says and Renee watches Nicky's face turn from joyful teasing to intense determination.

"We're getting this set." Nicky says grabbing it and marching over to the counter even as Smith followed after him.

Interesting.

***

They finish off their day with some ice skating.

Matt, Aaron, Andrew, and Kevin all fall into the 'challenged' category.

They get on the ice and all four immediately fall. Renee stifles her laughter as Andrew and Aaron scowl. "Are you okay?" Smith asks and Renee almost loses her balance as he skates by her.

"Why the fuck are you good at skating?" Aaron asks scowling even as he takes Smith hand. Renee skates over and offers a hand to Kevin as Matt and Andrew are being helped up by their respective partners.

"Oh," Allison says skating by, "have you been up to Canada or something often?" she asks.

"I've been to Canada a few times. It's more that there was a rink I would go to every once in a while." Smith answers before turning back to Aaron, "I can help you keep balanced." he says offering his other hand.

"Smith, I don't want to hold your hand. That's kind of gay." Aaron huffs letting go of Smith's hand only to immediately beef it again when he tried to move forward.

***

Skating was fun even if Aaron kept blushing as Smith helped him skate since he never really got his 'ice legs'. The rest of them all more or less skated on their own by the end or, in the case of Andrew and Matt, seemed fine to keep skating while holding on.

Renee was warming herself by the fireplace in Allison's home enjoying some hot chocolate as Allison took a seat next to her. There was a lot of commotion in the kitchen as the team was working to make dinner together. Renee had excused herself after Smith had startled her while she had a knife in hand and she'd almost stabbed him on instinct.

She's just relieved that no one seemed to notice the near murder.

"You okay? You seemed tense in there." Allison asks.

Well, almost no one.

"Yes, I'm fine." she smiles and hopes that Allison will believe it.

Allison looks at her and Renee does have the benefit that Allison is slightly drunk since she was told firmly not to help with the cooking since she'd paid for the majority of the day.

"I'm glad I got you alone, there's something I want to hear your opinion on." Allison says deciding, apparently, to let it go for now.

Renee relaxes smiling at her friend, "What's that?" she asks wondering what purchase or thing unpurchased Allison was regretting.

Allison looks at Renee, expression utterly serious. "Don't you think there's something...weird about this kid?" she asks.

Renee straightens up glad that Allison had also felt like something was off with the kid that her friends had brought along. "What do you mean?" she asks wanting to hear what Allison thought.

"Look, he seems really nice. I mean a little too nice to be a Fox to be honest but I mean I guess you're a Fox as well so..." Allison rambles slightly taking another sip of her wine.

"Yes, go on." Renee nods.

"Yeah, he seems nice and Matt said he's got his own stuff even if he didn't wanna go into what that stuff was." Allison continues and it's a good thing Allison is drinking white wine considering the white carpet and her gesticulations. "But...it's just.. okay you can't make fun of me. Even though this is about to sound crazy." Allison says.

"I would never do something like that." Renee swears.

"Promise me." Allison says expression grave as she lifts up a pinky.

Renee smiles despite herself and hooks her pinky with Allison's, "I promise to not make fun of you." she swears other hand over her cross.

"I think he's Justin Bieber."

MASTERPOST FOR ALL PARTS OF FLUENT FRESHMAN AU

[inquisimail]

just randomly realized in an unrelated conversation with my wife that there are no horses in veilguard. which should not come as a surprise because i'm pretty sure there weren;t any horses in dao or da2 either and that it was just an inquisition thing but for some reason it still perplexed me