#baseball on the brain

[sorrellegiance]

i have just googled what bay to breakers is and now i'm wondering about outfits for brandon belt and kevin gausman! (oops i only really know giants players who were subsequently jays players lmao)

ah yes our jiants!! bbelt sources an entire authentic boat captain's uniform but at the last minute goes hey...don't i have this old onesie thing...and ends up putting it all together as a boat captain giraffe :DD

gaus goes as the canadian flag! he's the stripes and his kids are maple leaves :))

[wellfine]

I mowed him sorry (← guy who thinks buzzed heads are handsome)

[cryptcoop]

Happy New Year ‼️🎉

[zillychu]

the 12am urge for Rindo in a crop top

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

Were starving for Barnaby x Howdy father...were starving for it/hj

here is some food child.... you're safe now....

[welcometogrouchland]

It's mostly the fault of poor editorial practices that B&R is so heavily misaligned continuity-wise w/ the main batman book. But walk with me for a minute:

You are Damian Wayne. You are 14 years old and have had one of the worst years of your life last year. Which is saying a lot.

Your brother, one of the people you were closest to, got shot in the head and forgot who you were. Your best friend went to space for a week and came back 3/4 years older than you, taking away your previously established dynamic and leaving you to have to bond all over again w/ a new one. You may or may not have gone wayyy too far with your new superhero team, who now all hate you, because you fucked up big time*

And worst of all, when you do try to do the right thing, you end up forced to watch Alfred, a father figure to you, the only one at your birthday that year, the person who has been so patient, loving and trusting with you, even when you probably didnt deserve it...die. you watch him die, and feel it's all your fault.

And your dad never corrects you on that last point. So you run away.

First to your mom who can tell something's up with you, she knows you don't give up that easy, you decide not to stay with her because you remembered how actually, neither of your parents are good at communicating with you despite their best efforts, so now you're 14 and flying solo.

And you do fly solo. For a while. Make new friends, new enemies. You think you're better off for it. You've got your best friend and your brother back. They're not around as much. It's fine.

And eventually your dad tells you that it's not your fault that Alfred died. Bit late but it's appreciated. Really. There's a bit of a hiccup where you get possessed by a demon and wage war against your father but after that, all in all, you two are...together again.

You start to think maybe you want to give him another chance, for the two of you to be father and son.

And in a change of pace, it works out! It's going good, mostly. He insists you go to highschool, you resist, feel like he wants you to be something that you're not (wants you to be normal), but eventually you acquiesce for your own reasons. He cheers you on at soccer and nosies around at your fundraising events with the other parents and gives you a stern talking to about your choice of girlfriend. Because he cares.

Except all the while this is going on, your dad is currently having his brain slowly taken over by an evil version of himself that he created and every time you look away he's slowly tearing your family apart (your brothers are just barely keeping it together. The ones who didn't get lobotmized that is Jesus Christ). You keep taking his side in these conflicts, for whatever reason. Maybe because he promised it would be different this time, and it isn't** and you're going to stick with him until he keeps his word for once.

But at the end of the day?

It's like your brother says. You're not the one who saves him. Broadly speaking, you've made things worse and needed others to come save you. And what else is Robin really for? You thought it was about redemption and teamwork but guess you're wrong. It's about saving your self destructive, apparently two-faced and erratic father. And you can't even do that right.

* TT (2016) by Adam Glass is a racist ooc mess, but unfortunately it's still canon so I'm referencing here, though like a lot of works authors clearly wish weren't canon but are, it's been subsequently glossed over. Win? Maybe? Or not?

** again Zdarky's characterization of Damian is so outdated as to be ooc, and considering the way he constantly and explicitly uses it to illustrate Tim's strengths as robin, I'd argue there's. Also implications there. But the batshit insanity of the main batbook compared to B&R rn is crucial for this post, so I'm attempting to justify it. This time..

[spoofyleaf]

MK!

We are pretending they’re not slowly starting to teal code him, nope not at all!!

[thecloudstan]

excuse me, sir, who gave you that tea? and who gave you that cigarette, sir???

[tomatoart]

team fortress three

[walkingstackofbooks]

"Are you happier? Now that the war is over?"

It had been meant as a serious question, but from the look on Kira's face, she hadn't caught onto that. "What sort of question is that, 'am I happier'?" she asked, laughing a little as she spoke. "Of course I am! Who isn't?"

Shrugging, Julian forced himself to smile back at her. "No, of course," he agreed. "Silly question."

His smile clearly hadn't been convincing: Kira's own smile had faded as she looked at him more closely, her eyebrows creasing into a frown.

"Have I done something to make you think I'm not?" she asked sharply. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"No-- no, nothing like that," Julian said hurriedly. "I mean, obviously Odo's gone now, and Keiko and the Chief, and Worf, and... and the Captain... But that-- That's different, isn't it, I guess. You can be sad and happy at the same time, right?"

He cringed, knowing that he hadn't quite managed to make sense there: years of practice had made him very good at recognising Kira's 'baffled' expression.

"All these years," said Kira, slowly shaking here head, "and I still don't understand you, sometimes. Of course I miss Odo, and the others -- and while we're at it, of course I'm still angry and-- and upset about the things that happened during the war..." She made a face, banging her fist lightly against the table. "Damn you, you know I'm no good with feelings, that's... there's a lot more there, besides," she added. "And I'm sure as hell not going into that right now...

"But if you're asking whether I'd rather be here, now, living without the threat of the Dominion or the Cardassians, knowing my friends are alive and safe -- and if they're not, at least being able to mourn them in peace, not having to make decisions that could get us all killed if it goes even slightly wrong... or if I'd rather be back there, in the war -- well. It's no contest, is it?"

"In theory, no, of course--"

"In theory?" Kira asked incredulously. "Julian, are you saying you were happier in the war?"

"No!" he exclaimed: that hadn't been what he'd meant at all. "The war was-- it was... Well, you couldn't be happy during the war, could you? Everything was too awful, it was impossible."

"A lot of the time, yeah," Kira said softly. "And that's gonna stick with us for a long time -- but they're only memories, now. We made it."

"We did," Julian said quietly, his eyes fixed on the table. "I just... I thought I'd be happier, I guess. Now that it's all over."

Kira reached forward, brushing her hand over his. "That's what this is all about?" she asked. "You aren't happy?"

"I never said I'm not," Julian objected hotly, looking back up at her -- but a sigh slipped out of him as he realised he didn't actually have an argument, and he shook his head, slumping back into his chair. Kira watched him, not saying anything.

"No, you're right," he admitted, pulling his arms across himself, almost too tight. "I know I'm supposed to be-- I know, after everything, it's so stupid... But, Nerys, I don't-- I don't think I am?"

Stopping to swallow the lump that had risen in his throat, he noticed he eyes had grown wet, which for some reason made him chuckle. "Isn't that silly?" he asked, leaning forward again. "We won the war, but I'm still not happy."

"No, Julian," Kira replied slowly. "I don't think that's silly at all. It's just... It's just very, very sad." She took a breath, reaching out to hold both his hands this time. "I'm sorry," she continued. "I didn't know."

"It's not your fault," he said, squeezing her hands tightly. "For a while, I just thought everyone else was pretending, too, so I just went along with it... And then I started to realise that no, you were all actually at least a little bit okay, and so I had to keep pretending, because happiness is so fragile and I didn't, you know, want to make anyone else feel bad just because I..."

He trailed off, shrugging a little. "I don't know, Nerys. I guess I just wanted to check that it wasn't just me, but it is just me, and now I've told you, and I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel bad--"

"Julian, no," Kira interrupted. "Thank you for sharing this with me -- I'm glad you told me, okay?"

Ears growing hot, Julian ducked his head, not quite sure to do with the wave of emotion spilling over him. Now that he'd told her some of it, he kind of wanted to let everything out. Distractedly, he started tracing patterns on her hands, pushing into them with increasing intensity.

"It's just-- I'm just..." He stumbled over his words, struggling to give voice to the one thought that he'd been trying to ignore for months. "What if this is it for me? What if I'm like this forever? It's been years, Nerys--"

To his horror, his voice cracked, and he covered his mouth, trying to hold back the sobs that were threatening to burst out. Hoping that no-one else had noticed, he looked around the replimat; thankfully the other diners seemed more interested in their own conversations than in him and Kira.

"Would you like to go somewhere less public?" Kira asked. Not quite trusting himself to speak, he nodded, and together they left the replimat.

As they walked down the promenade and up to the habitat ring, Kira steered clear of their previous conversation, chatting about the station, her week, her latest grievance with Quark, and Julian was grateful for the respite. But as soon as they were sat down in her quarters, she turned to him with a most serious expression.

"It isn't right, you feeling like that, you know," she said. "I don't have the answers, I don't know how it gets better -- but we both know someone who would. You haven't tried telling Ezri any of this, have you?"

Julian's stomach tightened: Ezri was the last person he wanted to have this particular conversation with. "Oh, yes, because that would go so well," he retorted sarcastically. "Hi Ezri, I love you, but you don't make me happy. Don't worry, it's not you, I'm just unhappy most of the time. Most of the time? Yeah, it gets better when I'm around you, because then I just kind of feel... nothing. What an improvement!"

"Julian..." whispered Kira, but it was all coming out now and Julian couldn't make it stop. He rose from the sofa, starting to pace as he spoke.

"Did you ever make me happy? Maybe, sweetheart, but I'm not even certain of that. I might have been so desperate for anything even resembling happiness that I just deluded myself into thinking I was in love... Do I even love you? Who the fuck knows, Ezri. Is love even real, or did it die in the war along with every-fucking-thing else?"

His voice had risen louder than he'd intended, condemning him with every word it pushed forcefully into the air. He'd made Kira cry, he thought, but he couldn't quite be sure, his vision being clouded by his own mess of tears.

"How could I possibly tell her that?" he asked, sitting back down heavily, his voice dropping to a hollow whisper. "Kira, how the hell do I tell her that?"

"Come here," she said in way of a response, pulling him against her and holding him tightly, so that he could feel her lips move against his hair as she answered him. "I don't know," she was saying, "but you have to, Julian. I can be there with you if you want but, Prophets, Julian, you have to. How could you not?"

How could he not?

Julian closed his eyes and let himself fall apart against his friend, not even bothering to try to answer her. It was terrifying, after all this time, to finally allow someone to see how broken he really was, but he was far, far too tired to keep it in any longer.

[buckevantommy]

smiley guyyyy 😁 

[sorrellegiance]

Sean Manaea, the Rogers' twins, Wilmer Flores, and Buster Posey's Bay to Breakers outfits please 🤲

kasper! thank you i have been rolling these pearls in my head all day while packing up my apartment and i'm ready:

ok first of all SEAN MANAEA STILL HAS ALL OF HIS BIG BEAUTIFUL HAIR so jot that down

second of all he can never let a good bit go so he's all wrapped up in a bedsheet toga as neptune and he got the a's club manager to drive the trident over the bridge for him too. not only that but he has a whole entourage of sea animals; john brebbia is an excessively bearded clownfish!

the twins are the front and back ends of a horse. which twin is which half you ask? well you'll have to look into that gift horse's mouth yourself...

wilmer shows up head-to-toe in gucci-branded running gear. somehow, SOMEHOW, his hair is perfect the entire way from the bay to the breakers 😎

buster digs out his old milkmaid dress and wig and orders a breastplate to fill that old thing out; he ALSO crops the skirt a lot (well, he does the cutting and kristen fixes the hem) so that he can run without getting tangled up.

[roitaminnah]

it has been one hundred million years,,,, happy pride gay people in my phone

[bemywingman]

went to a yankees game last weekend and then saw challengers yesterday and now i keep imagining pro sports icemav. and i can't even pick a sport to focus on. like i want to see them in every sports universe to explore how their vibes and dynamics would change depending on what they're playing and how they compete. here's one that's been in my head (and pls let me know if you'd want more of these!):

pro baseball icemav who play for rival teams. mav as a rookie pitcher who's taking over the league with his fastball and cocky attitude. sure he's not perfect, but he's been regularly throwing 100mph, and he's had some really impressive pickoffs recently, and his strikeout count only goes up with each game, so people have started to take notice.

the crowd is especially tuned in when ice steps up to the plate against mav for the first time. ice is no rookie. in fact, he's flirting with a .390 batting average this season - a fact that cements his place as the best batter in the league. his form is technically perfect, he always keeps his eye on the ball, and fuck, can he put some force behind the bat.

as soon as ice's walk-out song starts playing, mav chuckles (he can admit the opening bars of separate worlds are a pretty fucking good choice, even if the whole thing feels a little dramatic), but he can feel his heart rate rising as ice gets comfortable at the plate. once he's settled, ice glances up, and mav feels a flip in his stomach as they make eye contact. the rest of the stadium disappears as they stare each other down. the spell is only broken when a particularly loud fan cheers his name from the stands, but mav can feel heat rise in his cheeks when he sees ice's knowing smirk.

in the end, mav should've known he never stood a chance. he gives it his all, throwing the ball as fast as he can down the line, but he can only watch as ice makes direct contact and the ball glides smoothly out of the park. he stands there, completely captivated, as ice jogs around the bases and waves to a screaming crowd. normally he'd be horrified by what that hit just did to his ERA, but for some reason he can't think of anything other than ice and his ass in those pants as he rounds third base. when he gets back to home the crowd is louder than ever, and it's in that moment that ice turns back to mav and honest to god winks at him.

mav knows instantly that the home run was ice's way of teaching him a lesson, of reminding him exactly where they both stand in the sport. the whole interaction drips with arrogance and condescension, and mav leaves with two key takeaways: god, does he want to strikeout tom kazansky, and god, does he want to get his mouth around his cock.

[gleybrr]

summer of 99

[ivanttakethis]

no no unsha just isn't AWARE (also in denial)

At this point, Ivan’s only hope is these two: