#but if they had gotten the final jeopardy correct on the last game they would have won

[gender-void-partially-stars]

nonbinary person almost won jeopardy masters, they were soooo closeee

[ynscrazylife]

Hey?? I Recently found you and I most say that I adore your page, I saw that you write for Lena do you think that your write a request for her?. My idea is that Reader and Lena are in a relationship, but Lena has feeling for Kara so Reader decided to leave her, you decided if they go back together or not.

I Wasn’t Enough | l.l angst fic

Summary: Y/N and Lena are in love. However, when Y/N recognizes that Lena has feelings for Kara, their relationship gets put in jeopardy.

Authors Note: Thank you for requesting! I never understand the want for angst

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PSA: Do NOT copy, steal, translate, plagiarize, republish, etc any of my works on Tumblr or any other platform. Also, do NOT claim any of my works as your own. All of these works are either requests I’ve gotten that people have wanted me to write or original ideas I’ve had for works. If you happen to take inspiration from anything I’ve written and want to write something inspired by that, please a) ask me first and b) IF I say yes, credit me as inspo in your post by tagging me and link whatever work of mine that inspired you. Thanks.

header c @/ikromanoff

Y/N hadn’t been able to contain her excitement when she was approved to work on an article on L-Corp and the woman behind it, Lena Luthor. She had found the woman’s story fascinating and wanted to shine some light on the shift from Luthor Corp to L-Corp, and this was her time to do so. 

The moment she set foot in Lena’s office, though, she knew she was screwed. 

She had seen the woman in pictures and watched her press conferences on T.V, but seeing the magnicant lady in person was a surreal experience, mostly because of how gorgeous she was. Y/N found herself instantly distracted, unable to keep from feeling dazed as she saw the brunette so graciously finish up typing whatever she was typing on her computer, stand up, and offer her the biggest, most charming smile Y/N had ever seen. 

“Hello! My friend, Kara Danvers, told me you were coming. I’m Lena Luthor, nice to meet you,” Lena’s voice which almost made Y/N swoon pulled her from her thoughts and she blinked, suddenly remembering what she was here for. 

(She couldn’t help but be in awe, though, because of how down to earth Lena was. She still introduced herself like a normal human even though of course, Y/N knew who she was!) 

“I’m, uh, Y/N Y/L/N! It’s nice to meet you, too, Ms Luthor - I, uh, apologize, I’m not usually this nervous,” she forced herself to say, lightly chuckling off the awkwardness. Crap, what was she doing?!

She shook Lena’s hand (and nearly fainted right then and there). “Oh, don’t apologize! No need to be nervous, darling - oh and you can just call me Lena,” Lena said, smiling and waving off Y/N’s concerns as she sat back at her desk.

Y/N had no clue what was going on. Lena seemed to have put a spell on her because the moment she said that, Y/N felt better about the interview, having been reassured, but then a whole new worry racked her body: Lena Luthor had just called her “darling”!!! The up and down of emotions was making her stomach do somersaults. 

The reporter took a couple deep breaths and cleared her throat so she wouldn’t vomit from being overwhelmed before sitting down in the chair across from Lena, beginning the interview. 

The rest was history and, seeing as they were both good friends of Kara’s, it wasn't long before she spilled the beans on her secret identity as Supergirl and the couple became unofficial members of the unofficial group, the Superfriends.

They were having their weekly game night, Lena sitting in an armchair with Y/N on her lap, Kara, James, and Alex on the couch, Winn on the floor, and J’onn in another armchair. Laugher and skies filled the room, accompanied with the faint smell of wine and the lipstick stains on the discarded glasses. 

“Damn, Luthor, you’re sneaky,” Kara grumbled as she fished in her pile of Monopoly money to get the correct amount she needed to pay Lena for landing on her property. 

Lena chuckled as Y/N took the fake money from Kara and handed it to her. “All apart of business, baby,” she commented. 

Everyone laughed it off, but Y/N tensed up. Was Lena flirting with Kara? She looked over her shoulder at her girlfriend and Lena furrowed her eyebrows before a look of realization washed over her face. She quickly shook her head, indicating that the nickname was harmless, and kissed Y/N’s cheek.

Y/N brushed it aside. It was just a meaningless comment. She slumped her tense shoulders, forcing her mind not to wander to the many “What If’s” that could possibly happen. What if it wasn't just a comment? What if-?

“Your turn, Y/N!” 

Y/N blinked, taking a second to realize what Alex said, and jumped up to grab the dice (she would have fallen off Lena’s lap had the brunette not wrapped her arms around her, and Y/N relaxed at her touch. 

She rolled it around in her hands before dropping it and moving her piece to her own property which she had landed on. As the game continued on, everything was normal. However, it was impossible for Y/N to miss the small talk Lena would occasionally make with Kara and how her comments were just on the line between cautious and flirtatious. She also noticed every time Lena would practically be giving the blonde heart eyes, but just tried to ignore it, telling herself that she’d talk to Lena later and everything would turn out fine. 

. . .  . . .  . . .   

“Lena, can I talk to you?” Y/N asked as they sat down for breakfast, both drinking coffee on the late Saturday morning. 

Lena glanced up from the newspaper she was reading and hummed an enthusiastic nod before taking a sip from her mug. 

Y/N nodded, eyes falling onto the table as she thought for a moment to sort out her thoughts. Taking a couple steady breaths, she asked, “Please don't take this the wrong way . . . Are you attracted to Kara?” 

Lena blinked, staring at her for a second before realizing she was serious. The CEO shook her head, forcing out a chuckle. “What? No. What makes you think that?” She said. 

Y/N couldn’t decide whether or not to be relived. She sighed. “Just some things you were saying and looks you were giving her last night,” she muttered. 

Lena scoffed, biting her lip before shaking her head more decidedly. “Do you really not trust me?” She spat out in a hiss, making Y/N recoil from the sudden harshness.

“What?” Was the only thing Y/N could say as she was dumbfounded.

Lena nodded slowly. “Why did I actually think that you’d be any different from everyone else in my life? You don’t trust me! You think I like Kara!” She said, on the verge of anger overtaking her. She pushed her chair back and stood up.

Y/N shook her head, needing a minute to process what was happening. “I didn’t mean it like that-” she began to say.

“Uh-huh,” Lena retorted mockingly. “I wasn’t planning on going into L-Corp today but I need to cool off.”

Before Y/N had even gotten out of the kitchen to follow her, she was met with the slam of the door bouncing off her walls. She stood, stunned.

What the hell had happened?

She spent the rest of the day in distress, replaying the argument over and over again in her head and each time it got worse. Each time in her mind Lena glared a little harder, was even more ruthless in her tone, or the door slamming was louder. Lena also let her phone calls go to voicemail, leaving Y/N in her thoughts. Was Lena right? Did she not trust her girlfriend? Or did she catch something that Lena didn’t even know about herself?

Did Lena like Kara?

She couldn’t decide.

When the keys were finally jingling in the door, Y/N jumped up from their bed and ran out to meet her girlfriend, her cheeks stained with tear streaks.

Lena didn’t look to happy, either. Her eyes were a little red and puffy and she was frowning.

“I did a lot of thinking today . . . And I talked to Kara,” Lena said, cutting immediately to the point. Her words, combined with her low and defeated tone, gave Y/N a sinking feeling in her stomach. “I’ve suppressed these feelings for a while, I realized, but . . . You were right. I like Kara. And . . . She likes me, too.”

Y/N felt like she was just hit with a truck. “What are you saying?” She asked, voice cracking from emotion as she sniffed and could feel big tears bubbling. “Are you planning to leave me for her?”

Lena didn’t look at her. She kept her gaze on the floor and opened her mouth to say something, which gave Y/N the slightest amount of hope, before it was ripped away from her when Lena stifled a sigh and shut her mouth.

There were a couple moments of silence that just pounded against Y/N’s head. “I should have know that I wasn’t enough for the CEO of L-Corp. That you’d want Supergirl,” she finally settled on saying. It was just filled with disappointment, sadness, and anger, lacking in bitterness or pity, as she realized that the fear she had ignored that Lena would fall for Kara was now painfully coming to life.

“I guess I’ll go pack my things,” Y/N continued, feeling lost and without any hope at all when Lena didn’t say anything, didn’t even try and tell her she was wrong. She sniffed and stomped her foot when her girlfriend was just content for her to walk away. “It’s good I didn’t sell my apartment yet. We’re done.”

With a glare, she turned around and angrily threw all her belongings into suitcases while Lena stood in the same exact spot, looking at the floor.

[honeypirate]

He’s my soulmate

Kuroo x f!Reader soulmate AU

There is no importance with Jeopardy, it’s just something that popped in my head so I went with it. 

You can communicate telepathically with your soulmate, sending thoughts and feelings to them. it’s a skill that develops through time after you hit 17.  it takes a few months for the connection to grow so for the first little while not a lot comes through. So far you have similar songs getting stuck in your head and thoughts will come through quietly. You tried once to send specific messages but you never had any responses to them so you tried to just go about your day, excited with any thought or songs that come through.

(Touch is what strengthens the connection)

♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡♡´･ᴗ･`♡

“God y/n I don’t know why you like to watch Jeopardy so much” your best friend, Michimiya, says from her spot in your bed, textbooks surrounding her and notes spread out, across from your matching space that has a small circle where you were sitting. You had gotten up to stretch your legs from sitting so long studying, Jeopardy reruns running on your tv in the corner, “I feel like watching it makes me smarter and I need all the help I can get” you say with a laugh and she rolls her eyes. “You’re doing a lot better. I almost don’t worry about you” she says with a sigh and you laugh more.

The signature Jeopardy song that plays during the final round starts and you can’t help but do one of the tiktok dances that you were trying to learn, usually set to that love shack mix but now set to this slower pace, you hit all the correct moves after days of practice and when the segment ends on the tv you bust into giggles with Michimiya, falling to your knees by the bed and wiping the tears from your eyes from laughing so hard at your stupidity. “Your crackhead energy is why we’re friends” she says as she catches her breath, holding her stomach. 

His game was flawless, his receives were perfect, but his team couldn’t help but be so damn annoyed with him. “Oh my GOD if YOU DON'T stop humming that damn song I’m gonna PUNCH YOU”  Yamamoto shouts from across the gym “calm down” Kenma says and Yamamoto turns back to him “HE'S BEEN HUMMING THE JEOPARDY SONG FOR DAYS NOW! I CAN'T TAKE IT.“

“Take a lap Yamamoto and relax!” Kuroo says with a laugh as he bounces a volleyball on his forearms “and I’ll stop humming the song… for now” he laughs again as Yamamoto groans but nonetheless follows orders

You were handed your exams but you’re too afraid to look, if you fail this one you’ll have to stay here and won't be able to help with the training camp. You shove it in your notebook, you couldn’t bring yourself to look at the score. you’ll just wait, you’ll ask someone else to look first. Once your class ends you hurry out to the gym as fast as you could, hopping the last few steps of the stairs and holding your backpack down as you run. 

“Y/N! Did you pass?!” Tanaka shouts as you run through the door, leaving your street shoes by the door you run over to him, your feet sliding across the wood floor in your tights, “Tanaka please, I haven’t looked, you gotta tell me” you say in a rush, holding out your notebook. He laughs and takes your notebook from your hands, his eyebrows furrow as he opens it, looking over your test inside the flap, he sighs “oh I’m so sorry Y/n..” your heart drops “..no” you say and he starts to giggle “i’m so sorry that you’ll have to deal with us for two days at camp!! YOU PASSED!” you gasp and then laugh, punching his shoulder “Tanaka you ass!” you take your notebook back and look at the score, pride filling your heart, you did it. You feel amazing. “Kiyoko! Yachi! Our girl’s coming to camp with us!” Tanaka says with tears in his eyes walking toward Kiyoko with his arms out for a hug, Kiyoko walks under Tanaka’s arm, ignoring him and walking over to you “we knew you���d do it” she says with a smile patting your arm, Tanaka getting comforted by Noya in the background.

That night as you packed your bags you closed your eyes, thinking hard about your soulmate. “I don't know if you can hear me, but I passed my exams. I am so happy and I hope you are having a good day as well” 

Kuroo stopped in the middle of his sentence, his phone call with Kenma forgotten about for the time being, as your voice drifted into his thoughts, it’s been a week since he last heard anything from you other than Jeopardy or vines you have on repeat in your head. He hasn’t even seen the vine that goes ‘a potato flew around my room’ but he knew that song was stuck in your head for four days. Your voice fades from his mind and he registers Kenma saying his name repeatedly in his ear “sorry what was i saying?” Kenma sighs “we’re talking about camp tomorrow” 

“So this is Nekoma High” you say as you exit the bus with the team, two players standing waiting for you as you arrive, one tall, handsome, albeit cocky looking, with dark hair that reminded you of a rooster, the other gave you the impression he was like Tanaka, who was currently was pointing out a nearby tower with Noya and getting excited thinking it was Tokyo tower. “Woah is that?” Noya exclaims “i think it is!!” Tanaka answers him, when they spoke at the same time “the sky tree!” they were so excited you knew right then and there they shared the same one singular brain cell. 

 “those poor idiots” you think to yourself as you look at them. “No that's just a regular old steel tower” says one of the boys, you turn your head seeing the tall one holding his stomach in laughter.

You make your way around to stand by the other girls to see if they knew who these two were ``hey who is the tall one?” you whisper at Kiyoko she leans in close to your ear and whispers “Kuroo. Their captain. The other being Yamamoto ” you look over at him “Kuroo…He is really cute” you think with a smirk and then blush as he makes eye contact with you, his eyebrows raised as he first sees you, almost like he heard you say his name. 

Really cute…” the last bit of your thought echoes quietly in his mind in a voice he is semi familiar with, from your voice singing songs in his head, your laugh that comes through sometimes. Of course he didn’t know it was you yet, he looks up and notices you staring at him, “who is she?” he thinks to himself, barely catching Yamamoto talking about how jealous he was that Karasuno has three girls! One sexy, one cute, and one beautiful. “Take a look, Tiger Head. behold the glory of going to Karasuno high!” Tanaka says jumping in front of you and the girls.  You were so beautiful, he would be blind to think otherwise, but he quickly pushes the thought away, focusing on the rivalry and not the pull he feels to go to you, continuing his conversation with Daichi. “Lets go” Kiyoko says and you all just ignore Tanka and the Tiger head, walking around them and going on ahead.

After getting settled in the room you were sharing with Kiyoko and Yachi, you three made your way back to the gym, your thoughts stayed fixed on the captain. You maintain the water bottles and chat with the other managers as your team warms up. 

Your body was acutely aware of where Kuroo was at all times. You could look up to where he was at any given moment, like a small vibration is your body pulling you in his direction, you tried your hardest to push that feeling away. You had a soulmate, you knew his inner voice and got some of his thoughts from time to time. He loved alternative music and hated this one commercial that comes on the radio for cat food. The jingle getting stuck in his head always came with a feeling of annoyance every time it came into your head. just because the connection wasn’t strong yet didn’t mean you could like someone else! 

You felt semi guilty about feeling this way, feeling like you would like nothing more than to talk to someone who isn’t your soulmate. You tried to forget about it. To just get through this camp.

 You watch as your boys do their penalty lap, you zone out, the Jeopardy theme song going through your head and you chuckle to yourself at how dumb it is. “I swear to GOD Kuroo if you don't STOP with the Jeopardy song already I’m going to quit volleyball and I mean this” your eyes flash over to where the Nekoma team is playing, your eyes immediately landing on Kuroo who is laughing at Yamamoto. “Wait,” you think to yourself,  His eyes flash to you and he cocks his head at you with a smile. You mouthed the word “Jeopardy?” and raised your eyebrows in a questioning manner. 

His cheeks flush, your questioning eyes on him made him feel slightly embarrassed for some reason, he just scratches the back of his neck and shrugs with a smile at you. You smile and shake your head slightly, it couldn’t be him, it’s just a coincidence.. it had to be. You break eye contact with him when Kiyoko gets your attention, needing help with something. He watches as you follow Kiyoko out of the gym, smiling back at you when you turn back to look at him with a smile before you exit the gym.

 He stays looking at the door, a smile on his lips, until Yamamoto hits him in the side of the head with a volleyball “you’re being creepy” Yamamoto says and Kuroo scowls “ I am not being creepy! I’m just being nice” “yeah whatever” Kenma says, not really caring about whatever was happening “just toss the ball” 

You cheer for your boys while keeping an eye out on the rest of the teams you could see, making little notes in your notebook about moves you see that your team could implement and do better. Writing down things you wanted to talk with Kiyoko about later. Your notes were very organized and split into sections on your paper. You rejoiced in your heart when Kageyama and Hinata made it on time for the last game, cheering outwardly when they won. “Nice one guys!” you yell and begin to discuss plays with Kiyoko. 

When your voice rang through the gym his body erupted in goosebumps.  What a weird reaction he thinks, he shakes his head and gets back to his own team. 

You stay behind for a few moments, watching the Nekoma game, watching Kuroo especially. You couldn't drag your eyes from him, he was beautiful and he played beautiful, if anyone noticed, and by god Kiyoko and Kenma both had, you had stars in your eyes for that captain. 

“Y/n let's go” Kiyoko says and you nod “of course” you respond and follow her and the rest of the team out of the gym, Kuroo catches the sight of you disappearing out the door, frowning at the reaction he had in his chest, a longing he didn’t understand. 

You ended up getting to shower later at night, you got distracted talking to some of the other managers and when you went back to your room you found the other girls already back from the showers ``sorry guys, i’ll be quick and come in quiet if you go to sleep” “don’t worry about it y/n. I'm sure Saeko will be back late since she went out.” Kiyoko says and you nod with a bow before hurrying out of the room and down the hall to the women's locker room. 

Okay, running down the hallway in the dark was probably a bad idea, but in your defense you assumed everyone was in bed already. You did not expect to jog face first into someone.

 Your face hits someone's chest, you know it is a man because of how he smells. Like clean clothes and mint. You hit your butt with an “oof” quickly picking your clothes up from the ground and shouting “I'm sorry!” the man chuckles and crouches down, picking up your shirt handing it to you, “hey don’t worry about it” his voice is soft, sending tingles down your spine and you look up into his face “Kuroo!” you say in shock and he chuckles some more, taking your hand and helping you up. Now that your eyes have adjusted to the dark hallway you can see him now, wet hair slicked back and a towel around his neck, a small nervous smile on his face lit up from the outside light through the window, “I don’t think we've met yet but yes, I am Tetsuro Kuroo” he holds out his hand to you. 

Your belly fills with butterflies when you take his hand, giving it a firm shake, “Y/f/n Y/l/n. It's nice to meet you” you smile up at him and his chest tightens, you are so beautiful he hardly knows what to say. “Are you okay?” his voice was soft, nervous, he tries to hide it by clearing his throat “yeah i'm okay. How's your chest?” you feel bad for hitting him so hard and before you realize what you’re doing your hand is already on his chest, softly smoothing down his shirt and feeling his muscles through the thin fabric. He chuckles softly and your hand stops above his heart and you feel your cheeks flush with heat at your actions ``my chest is fine. Don’t worry about me.” you hesitantly look back up into his eyes “uh.. Sorry” you say quietly and go to drop your hand but he places his over yours quickly “it’s okay” his lips never moved, his mouth in a small smile as he looks down at you, you didn’t notice that his voice came into your thoughts. 

You stayed like that, standing in the dark, smiling at each other with your hands together on his chest. You could feel his heartbeat strong under your palm, your heart racing as hard as his, you felt like the world stopped for you two. 

The sound of footsteps pulled you both from your bubble, you dropped your hand and you both chuckled softly, when Kenma appeared in the dark you took it as the perfect moment to slip away, quietly running down in the opposite direction to shower and pretend like that moment never happened. 

The next morning you were watching the team warm up, “How do you think we will do with their new player, Lev?” Kiyoko asks you and Yachi as you sit on the sidelines together, “I don’t know, Hinata’s quick attack works great but I feel like it’s nearing the end, these teams are getting better at combating it since Hinata doesn't aim at all with his eyes closed and Lev is t a l l”  you watch them warm up with your hand on your chin, chewing your lip. “their attack is really amazing though” Yachi says, sending heart eyes towards Hinata. You chuckle at the sweet girl’s obvious crush.

At first he thinks the laugh is in his head, a familiar sound he has heard many times. He’s almost convinced it’s in his head but then his gaze is drawn to your sweet smile as you laughed at the girl beside you. “Her laughter is so sweet” Yamamoto says with a sigh a smile, Kuroo slaps the back of his head “focus on the game” he just got mad at him for paying attention to you but he can't seem to stop looking at you himself. It’s just a coincidence your laughs are similar.

“y/n it seems Kuroo can’t stop looking at you” Kiyoko says and you chuckle again, your face flushing as you remember the night prior, you try to inconspicuously look at him but fail when you make eye contact with him. You raise your hand in a small wave and he blushes with a chuckle before he raises his hand, waving with his fingers. The butterflies in your chest will remain for the rest of the day. 

You look at your notes, a thought coming through so easily, stronger than before, “She's so beautiful. But I don't want to think about that. I have my soulmate, she’s here, in my thoughts. why can’t I get this girl out of my mind though? Just focus on the game” your body floods with tingles. That was the clearest thought you’ve ever got. “if I can hear you can you hear me?” you think back, not noticing Kuroo across the gym practice serving the ball and missing it at thelast second, the same second your voice entered his head. 

“You’re here?” His voice enters your head, its so strong instead of it seeming far away or weak like usual. Kuroo’s laugh fills the gym followed by remarks from several members of his team but all of that seemed so far away compared to your soulmate connection. “How did the connection suddenly become so strong?” you think back and immediately get a response “I don't know but I am not complaining”  his excited laughter and joy fills your thoughts, and you feel his energy flood into you as well “me either” you say back and then the volleyball game begins “talk more later?” you ask him in your thoughts and he sends back “definitely”  why did his voice sound so familiar? 

The game ends, Karasuno taking another penalty lap as you go to refill water bottles. “You still there?” his voice makes you smile “of course” you send back “Now that the connection is open I don't know what to say” his chuckle in your mind makes you feel deja vu, where had you heard it before. “Should we tell each other our names?” you ask and put the filled bottles back in the holder,  walking back to the bench with a smile on your face.  “Yeah that makes sense, my name is Tetsuro” you freeze, your eyes flicking over towards Kuroo who was talking to Kenma about something, his cheeks were flushed but that could have been from the game. Is that why his voice in your head sounds familiar now? Is that why you feel so drawn to him?

Your thought was gentle back to him “Tetsuro...Kuroo?” you watch him, watch the shock that went through his expression, heard him laugh nervously as his voice came into your head “do you know me?” it sounded nervous, you watched him with a smile, “i know of you. Mr. Captain of Nekoma’s volleyball team, tall, incredibly handsome, has rooster hair.” you watch his expression, his smile on his lips, his blushing cheeks, he was gorgeous, now that you knew who he was it made sense why you connected with him from the start. “Are you going to tell me who you are?” you look away from  him when you see him turn towards you “I will. After your camp is over. Don’t want to mess you up or anything” 

You glance back at Kuroo who is about to start another game and you find him looking right at you, Kiyoko did tell you that he is a highly observant person.  He raises his eyebrows and you hear his voice in your head “and do you happen to be at this camp too?” he asks and you can’t help but grin at him, you felt like you couldn’t hide anything from him, your previous plan of teasing him is now out the window as you bury your face in your hands, your cheeks feeling warm against your fingers, a smile on your lips. “Focus on your game Tetsu” you say back to him “you are so unbelievably adorable” you look back up at him through your fingertips and he laughs out loud before waving at you. You drop your hands and smile shyly, waving back at him. “What will you give me when we win this game? A kiss?” you scoff “you’ll have to win to see” he laughs and winks at you before turning his attention back to his practice game. “Are you paying attention?” Kiyoko says and you turn back to your game “sorry! I am now!” 

The moment his game ends you can feel his eyes on you, after everyone’s had some water “would you mind..” his voice comes through softly, you can feel how excited he is, how antsy he is, your feelings mirrored back at you “where?” you glance over at him, standing next to the wall with his teammates cooling down, he pushes off the wall, saying something to his team before he is headed in your direction, never taking his eye off you “meet me in the hallway” you nod and then turn to Kiyoko “excuse me for a second” she nods and you stand, walking out to the hallway, Kuroo right behind you. 

The moment you’re alone he takes your hand and pulls you to his chest, taking a deep breath with his face buried in your hair “hey” you say softly into his chest, your hands wrapping around his middle and holding him close despite how sweaty he was, his sweat actually smelled... nice? You couldn't explain it. It just felt right. “My girl” he says and pulls back just enough to look into your eyes “so what is my prize for winning the game?” he asks and you laugh “am I not enough” he laughs with you “you are a thousand times more than enough and probably too good for me too. But I can't lie, I’m dying to kiss you” your cheeks flush “then do it” you whisper and move your hands to his neck, standing on your tiptoes to get closer to him. His hands move to cup your cheeks and he blushes as he leans down slow, closing the distance between you both. 

“Is she tongue kissing the enemy?!” Tanaka shouts behind you, causing you and Kuroo to separate quickly, looking over at your team who just came out into the hallway. You blush and go to explain but before you do Daichi is herding the team the other direction. “Mind your business Tanaka. y/n we are leaving in ten minutes” you laugh embarrassedly “okay i'll be there in a minute”

Kuroo takes your hand and pulls you into an empty room “I don't want you to go” he says with a laugh and you  nod, wrapping your arms around his neck “me either” you whisper and look into his eyes as you close the distance, pressing your body against his and he holds you tight to his chest, a blush rising on his neck and cheeks as his eyes flick down to your lips for a moment “but I’m sure we will figure it out, plus i’ll be back with the team for the summer camp as well” he nods “you’re right” his voice, you realized, was in your head again, your eyes flutter closed as his lips finally connect to yours, you can feel him smile against you and your body feels electric as tingles run from your head to your toes, you felt as though you were weightless. A soft sigh exiting your lips has him licking your top lip, taking your chuckle as a good sign to rub his tongue gently against yours, you moan quietly and his heart races, his stomach knotted with butterflies and electric sparks running down his spine. 

You bite his bottom lip and pull back a little before kissing his chin and the pepper kisses down across his jaw, pulling yourself tight against him as you kiss his neck “I have to go, they might leave me” you whisper and he groans, half in protest against you leaving half because you started to suck a small part of his skin on the side of his neck. 

When you were satisfied with your handiwork you pulled back, kissing the hickey softly before finally pulling away from him “something to remember me by” you say with a cheeky grin and turn to go, he laughs and grabs your hand, pulling you back to him to give you one last kiss. “Be safe, send me” he taps your temple “your phone number, tell me when you get home” you nod and smile, your heart bursting at the seams with happiness “I will Tetsu. Don’t worry” you kiss his lips once more, looking into his eyes for a few seconds, before forcing yourself to open the door and run down the hallway towards the exit and the bus that is taking you back to Karasuno. 

The whole team looks at you with raised eyebrows and silence as you walk on the bus, running your hand through your hair, panting from running all the way there, “what?” you say with a laugh, your cheeks flushing with slight embarrassment as you make your way to an open seat seat by Yachi, “he’s my soulmate”

If you like soulmate AUs check out my Tendou one here and be sure to reblog if you like it ♥️

[entergamingxp]

The Last of Us Part 2 Makes a Surprise Appearance on Jeopardy

April 16, 2020 9:51 AM EST

A Jeopardy contestant hit a home run when she correctly answered a ‘Last of Us’ question with ease.

It looks as though Video Game trivia knowledge can land you a nice sum of money according to one contestant on the hit American TV show, Jeopardy. Xiaoke Ying,  a sophomore majoring in business of cinematic arts, piped up with the correct answer to presenter Alex Trebek’s question regarding the much loved, apocalyptic series The Last of Us netting herself third in her quarterfinal match, but her final score of $12,800 qualified her as a wild card into the semifinals.

All of the contestants, which included Ying and two other students from Yale University and the University of Texas at Austin, were given a clue by Trebek which read “The long-awaited, upcoming sequel to this PlayStation game revisits Ellie and Joel after a cross country trek filled with zombies.” Along with the clue, some scenes of Ellie and Joel were shown on a big screen in the background from the trailer of The Last of Us Part 2 shown from the preview event in Los Angeles last year. It didn’t take Ying long at all to confidently declare the answer by replying “What is The Last of Us”. Most of us who have some knowledge on The Last of Us will also have seen a mistake in the question. Trebek called the infected in the game zombies, but I guess you can’t have everything – even though it’s slightly annoying.

@Neil_Druckmann this made me jump out of my seat! The Last of Us was an answer on College Jeopardy semi-finals tonight pic.twitter.com/Nbi6urhWoT

— Filice (@lucas_98RS) April 16, 2020

In an interview with the Daily Trojan, Ying told reporter Maria Eberhart that even though she didn’t partake in many video games, she did watch a lot of “Let’s Play”s so she felt pretty certain that this was one question she could definitely answer with confidence. She stated that the Video Game category really helped her level up in the quiz having previously also gotten a correct answer on the classic arcade game ‘Q*bert’. It just goes to show that your video game knowledge will always come in handy and could even bag you some cold, hard cash in the process.

We noticed some familiar faces on tonight’s episode of @Jeopardy…

Well done, Xiaoke!

Thanks so much for featuring The Last of Us as a clue in the semi-finals! pic.twitter.com/BAd4kZbSZe

— Naughty Dog (@Naughty_Dog) April 16, 2020

For fans of The Last of Us, you will be happy to learn that you can pre-order The Art of The Last of Us Part 2 hardcover and Kindle editions that will include 200-pages, except the former is physical and costs $35.99 at present, and the latter is digital and costs $19.99. The book comes in three editions: a deluxe edition, a hardcover edition, and a Kindle edition and is slated for release on June 16, 2020, by Dark Horse Books. Hopefully, by this stage, we will get to hear more about a release date for the actual game of The Last of Us Part 2 after it was pushed back due to the worldwide effects of the Coronavirus.

Last month we witnessed some previously seen gameplay from The Last of Us Part 2 from Naughty Dog but this time it came under fire from people complaining the snow deformation lacked the quality they expected. Seen in the video is Ellie and as she jumps down onto the snow, it flakes and crumbles in a strange way making gamers skeptical at the level of thought that has gone into the animation. Given that the clip from the game would be fairly old by now, I’m confident that Naughty Dog has fixed any strange anomalies now since they have had the time since to freshen things up.

If you love yourself some The Last of Us Clicker fan art action, make sure to visit this amazing project created entirely in Media Molecule’s Dreams on the PlayStation 4.

The Last of Us 2 was originally set to release late in May but as of now, no release date has been rescheduled. As always, when any The Last of Us Part 2 news drops in, you can be sure that DualShockers will have it covered. Who knows when The Last of Us Part 2 will end up releasing now – we’re hopeful it’ll only be a couple of months behind – but in the meanwhile, we did recently get some new screenshots from the game to hold us over. If you don’t want to be spoiled at all for the impending launch of The Last of Us Part 2 (whenever that will be) then you’re better off not watching the latest leaked game footage showing Ellie playing the guitar and running around a theater. Although the video has since been removed from YouTube but not before obtaining 50,000 views and a mass of people downloading it.

April 16, 2020 9:51 AM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/04/the-last-of-us-part-2-makes-a-surprise-appearance-on-jeopardy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-last-of-us-part-2-makes-a-surprise-appearance-on-jeopardy

[myeffeddreams]

6/26

Had a really abstract dream that will be hard to describe, but it was about a war zone, like it started out in space and then at the end it became about ISIS. But there was a ton of shit going on at once and constantly shifting.  Each war side had squadrons and teams. each team had different members: fighters of different types, assassins, double-agents that would infiltrate the other side, get in good with them, and then double cross them to benefit our side, and future-seers who periodically and randomly acquired visions of the future of the war that were not set in stone, but they could use that info to aid our side.  We had two squads; on one, their future seer was Teen Titan’s See-more (good guy in the dream), and on the other was Pearl from SU, which eventually turned into Deedee Magno-Hall, her voice actress.  The double-agent found himself in a situation where he had to kill his teammates for the opposing side because they got caught and he was a high-ranking commander for the other side.  So to give them a break for it, he made a hard call and decided to shoot himself in the head (something I saw in Fear the Walking Dead last night), which shocked the opposing side enough for his team to get away.  This was a vision that came to one of the future-seers.  She didn’t have time to warn anyone yet, not until they were already being captured.  She grabbed his shoulders, shook him, and screamed “You know what you have to do! You have to do the right thing at the right time! Do it or we’ll all lose our lives! You must sacrifice yourself! You know what I’m talking about!”  He looked confused as she was being dragged away, and he contemplated what she meant.  It was implied that the future was changed because of this event, but I didn’t see the rest of that timeline.

For some reason in this warzone world, the dream would reset itself if too many people died on our side, like a video game, but none of the characters knew except for the future-seers.  They had to explain everything over again at the reset (in one of the timelines, Pearl was Bulma from Dragon Ball).  I asked the 2 future-seers (seer being a term from Homestuck) if it was hard knowing about all of the resets (a concept I once heard about Sans from Undertale). They said yes and became emotional since they’ve seen many of their friends change and die many times over (I have been obsessed with Madoka Magica lately).  At one point the dream shifted into a grocery store where Deedee Magno and See-more (who was changed at this part of the dream?) ran into eachother in passing and casually said hi, but went on their ways.  then a bomb went off outside and when they ran out there to check it out, Deedee’s car had been hit and her pet rabbit who was in the car was found dying.  She started crying super hard and she said that even though this happens every time in the time loops, it’s still the hardest thing she has to deal with.  See-more and I (eye, heh) were crying lightly and it was a very emotional scene (seen, I need to stop these puns.

There was this story about one of the team members, who in every single timeline was destined to become corrupted and put the team in jeopardy because of his harsh, rogue attitude. So the future-seers had to warn the squads of that every time.  (That might have also come from Fear the Walking Dead based on a character named Troy).

The dream shifted and suddenly my whole war effort was stationed inside an abandoned university as a secret base; it was kind of apocalyptic.  I’m a little stressed about my housing for next semester lately, so in the dream, I was stressing about finding my correct room.  I was wandering through the university, seeing many familiar faces in an old arcade where everyone was partying, playing games, and having a blast at this carnival; there were arcade games, carnival games, video games, and tournaments.  I saw some old friends from high school and new friends from college.  One of my boyfriend’s roommates was one of the double agents set to kill me in a future timeline, so I didn’t feel like sharing my snacks with him (lol).  I didn’t know who to interact with, they were so different and I wasn’t friends with most of my old group anymore anyway, but I missed them. I put my stuff down somewhere near my old friends and when I left, an attack hit and everybody scrambled to their stations.

Professors/squad leaders were running through the university making sure students/civilians/crew members were all safely hidden or in their battle positions to push buttons and defend or attack.  

The dream temporarily shifted since I was waking up.  I was wet in a bathing suit, outside at night, in some dead grass with patches of dirt, at a bachelor party, looking for some things I put on the ground and lost - wallet, keys, cell phones from my group at the party.  People were behind me (my boyfriend and his roommates, and my brother-in-law) also looking for this stuff, all arguing over whose fault it was that lost them, but it was no one’s fault, we all scrambled.

Suddenly I was back in the action, running through tunnels in the school to get to my assigned place.  I found a place and settled down and looked out a big window to the outside where we could see some old, warn-down buildings, tall, dried grass, and a town in the distance.  That’s when we saw a bomb fly over us in slow motion.  I looked around at my peers and we all started hugging, crying, holding hands, saying goodbyes and last words. I grabbed the hand of one of my new friends from school and told her I loved her (meaning I’m glad to have gotten to know her), and we watched the bomb drop and the mushroom cloud form, and the smoke slowly rush toward us, knowing we were about to die.  We closed our eyes and held our breath from the noxious gas... and then I woke up. 

And then I went back to sleep

Everyone was okay!  (I am not a writer, I can’t write suspense xD).  The smoke cleared as we wondered what happened, why we were still alive. So I pulled a little magic, round, glass bottle with a cork out of my pocket and began sucking the smoke into the bottle to purify the air and save the people around me. When the bottle filled up, I would cork it and keep pulling bottles out to suck up the smoke.  I flew around the school, sucking up all the smoke I could, and when another bomb was dropped, I straight up sucked that bomb into the bottle too! I was saving people left and right.  But people were getting annoyed because I was getting into their way and basking in the glory.

The dream shifted for the last time, as I was now Hamtaro!!  Now I was to steal a big-rig truck (my dad’s a truck driver) full of ammo and information from the opposing side so they couldn’t attack us anymore.  I had my team of My Little Pony toys smaller than me (I was already smaller than the real Hamtaro, and also a pillow at the same time?) to fly around and help me out, although they weren’t much help since we were all toys and I was actually being controlled by myself like I used to play with toys when I was little.  All the mlps were just erasers and I had to push handfuls of them around behind the Hamtaro doll. As Hamtaro, I had to drive this huge truck to my base from the outskirts.  It was really hard and stressful to maneuver (I’m practicing for my driving test next month, I’m 22 and still don’t have my license).

And then the dream sort of... slowly went away, and I finally woke up @.@

[ciathyzareposts]

Eric the Unready – Secret of the Snooze

Written by TBD

Eric the Unready Journal Entry #3: My nightmares are filled with turtles – small turtles, tall turtles, elderly turtles, teenage turtles, ninja turtles. Hopefully Lorealle can stay safe while I collect a seemingly random collection of objects…

Day 4: Blicester Castle – It’s Only a Model

While the previous mission spent a lot of time referencing Zork, this mission was full of references to one of my favourite comedy movies, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I start the day on a road next to a tavern. As always, I can’t go back where I came from because the way back has been blocked, this time from a barricade.

Did you get the number of that donkey cart?

I enter the tavern, which is run by a man named Howard Johnston. This is likely a reference to the Howard Johnson brand, which I’d never heard of until reading the comments on the previous post, but is an almost defunct restaurant/hotel chain.

On the counter is a newspaper, which I dutifully read.

After selling the lantern, “You” was promptly eaten by a Grue.

The tavern has a few occupants: Howard, the key merchant; Bruce, the waiter who keeps being distracted when I ask for service; and customers, who also ignore me if I try to talk to them.

A little searching tells me that this is a play on the catchphrase of Miller Light commercials. That brand isn’t popular here so I haven’t seen the commercials.

I talk to Howard Johnston the keyseller, who’s convinced that eventually there’ll be a Howard Johnston’s on every turnpike on Torus, and that he’s started serving drinks as a sideline until the core business takes off. As the real-world Howard Johnson noticed his soda fountain made more money than the main pharmacy business he’d opened and turned his company into a restaurant/motel, this is a clear reference to his business in case the name didn’t give it away.

As I can’t get a drink menu from the easily distracted Bruce, I try offering him the coupon from my inventory. He loves the free bard lessons I gave him and gives me a menu to hold while he reads my gift. Bruce is very much into the arts in a very 1980s stereotypical way.

Now that I have a menu, I can order lots of different drinks.

One grog, please!

I order the grog, and in true Scumm Bar fashion, the mug dissolves before I can drink it. When I try to order a few other drinks I just drink the beverage immediately – I had been hoping to have some mead in my inventory but it seems it was not to be. I do get a little tipsy if I order a few drinks so keep that in mind in case I wish to get drunk later.

Leaving the tavern, I go in the only other direction available and arrive at Blicester Castle with it’s fake French accented guards and a Trojan Rabbit outside.

I have no idea how effective this game would be if you weren’t familiar with the pop culture it was referencing.

When I try to pick up the battering ram the game tells me that I’d have to drop everything I was carrying to even THINK about lifting it. So I drop everything I have and lift the ram.

I should have also tried ‘ram ram’ here, but didn’t think of it.

The bush outside the castle is a roddenberry bush. I thought it might be a Star Trek reference, but according to a newspaper classified from a previous day, roddenberries help improve your sense of direction. I can get some berries, and if I taste them I feel my sense of direction improve. I can also try to hide in the rabbit. That doesn’t go well.

I can also get in the catapult, which results in me slamming into the castle wall at a hundred miles an hour. Like Wile E Coyote, I scrape myself off the wall unharmed. I also try climbing the rungs below the pot of flaming pitch. This also goes as well as expected, with some guards pushing the pot over – again, I survive, but the burning of the bush reveals a new hidden exit to the northeast.

Going northease, I’ve avoided the castle’s defenders and am now in the castle keep because the castle is only a three-walled facade.

As I said last time, in this game the fourth wall never existed in the first place.

The killer attack turtles slowly but menacingly march towards me while I look at the items on the screen. There’s a proclamation with a wax seal and a key secured with a chain.

The key is held too tightly. I know what to do with that.

I’m starting the think the tort-ease will have no use in the game but will keep going back into my inventory at the start of each new mission.

Now, those who’ve either played the game or are more intuitive than me will see that I made a mistake here, but let’s ignore that for now and move on, shall we.

As I don’t seem to be able to loosen the key from its chain, I go east and visit the stables, where the oaf who nearly ran me over at the start of the mission is sitting in his cart of branches. I talk to him, and he gives me a few jokes about his two heads, but nothing he says helps me get into the tower.

Does he sit on his cart all day, even when parked?

I try taking the actionable branch from his cart, but the oaf won’t let me, even after I poke him with my pitchfork.

When I go back to the keep door the turtles have regrouped near the door, even though when I last left them they’d gotten closer to me – so no danger there. I climb some stairs and end up at the pot of boiling pitch. I’d be a fool to see pitch without attempting to use my pitchfork, so I have at it.

You fail at pitchforking, Pitchfork of Damocles.

I go back to the turtles to see if they can ever get to me if I wait there long enough or if the text just keeps telling me they’re getting closer but they never arrive.

I don’t know – I can imagine quite a bit.

And, at this point I was stuck. I tried lots of things – nothing helped, but some were amusing.

Not what I had hoped for, but it still made me happy.

Out of ideas, I went to the old tactic of going to every screen and trying other things.

This is such an old joke I’m amazed I hadn’t expected it.

At one point I had the great idea of dropping all my items, then putting the battering ram in my magic backpack so I can take it to places I couldn’t earlier. It worked, and I tried dropping my battering ram on everything (I’m still upset the game didn’t let me crush the turtles), I tried burning everything with the pitch – I also tried ordering every single item from the menu at the tavern.

Mead Lite must have a different bottle cap than all the other meads – I suppose there is a hint to this in that a customer randomly orders Mead Lite and chews off the top of the bottle, and that’s the only time anybody orders any drink but that clue was a bit too subtle for me.

Anyway, now that I had a bottle, I try catapulting it at the castle, hoping it would put out the burning pitch (or make it burn brighter, as it’s alcohol) but it just bounced off the castle wall and fell to the ground.

I can’t remove the cap from my mead, or melt it with the pitch, but I can give it to the two-headed oaf.

The oaf heads argue with each other over whether Mead Lite is good because it has less taste or more filling, which allows me to take the branch from his cart. I take my branch up to the pitch and turn it into a torch.

Using my new torch, I melt the wax seal on the proclamation, then make an impression of the door key with my new blob of hot wax.

I’m sorry, I don’t do impressions. My training is in psychiatry.

Pleased with myself, I get Howard the tavern owner to make me a key based on my wax impression and go back to the door. But I’m disappointed when I still can’t get to the door because of the damn turtles. I try to burn them, but apparently turtles don’t burn. Having not tried to use everything on everything else since I got a torch I walk around and try to burn everything I see. With Eric’s history, this should be easy, but it’s harder than I thought.

Singe-a-Turtle?

Upsetting the narrator so much that the player has to slap him to calm him down – only in Eric the Unready, ladies and gentlemen.

I was totally stuck here. And unlike last time, going everywhere and doing everything with everything didn’t seem to solve my problem.

Continuing to try things, I found a new death – probably by just failing to complete the mission quickly enough.

At least it’s something different, I guess.

If you’re curious, it seemed my death happens after 1119 turns, or 537 turns in the current mission.

Now, I stopped playing for a while as I was totally out of ideas. It was a day later that I suddenly had a new idea. It was the situation I’m sure all of us adventure game players have had. You aren’t even thinking about the game you’re playing, doing something different and suddenly an idea hits your brain. In this case, my subconscious had an obvious idea that I had missed. When I got back to my computer and started the game, I reloaded to near the start of the section, when I still had my tort-ease, and used it on the turtles.

Would I have thought of this sooner if the animals were called tortoises instead of turtles?

Doesn’t the game know that turtles and tortoises are totally different animals? How could I be expected to solve this puzzle when they’re incorrectly classifying creatures!

Tortoises are a reptile species and are part of the Turtle family

Shut up Wikipedia. Nobody asked you!

Having finally found the solution I’d been missing for days, I stepped over the sleeping eased tortoises, and used my wax-made key in the door. I ended up…

… on a game show set.

One of the possible prizes for winning Wheel of Torture is the Crescent Wrench of Armageddon. Are these items I’m collecting going to be used randomly like the items I collected in Leather Goddesses of Phobos? Or are they going to be used for their expected purpose as tools? I guess I’ll find out once I’ve collected them all. Now let’s go about winning this game show.

Looks more Jeopardy than Wheel of Fortune to me.

The way to win is to answer in the way that the developers thought was funniest.

Each question does have a correct answer, and, like the game of memory in the Enchanted Forest the person I’m playing against is pretty good but not perfect. Usually all possible answers are valid and funny and there is at least one category that actually has real factual answers rather than jokes (More Weapons Beginning with “B”)

It takes me a few goes, and, as many of the questions are the same and I seem to have infinite chances of competing, the more I play the more I can remember some of the right and wrong answers from before.

Aw, I thought 2 was the funniest option. As the scoreboard suggests, I didn’t win the game on this occasion.

When I lose, I get tortured for five minutes, which isn’t described by the game so is not at all interesting, then I’m sent back to the sleeping turtles to try again. After a few attempts, I win!

Because the game hasn’t referenced Monty Python and the Holy Grail for almost five minutes.

After the explosion of the world’s largest barrel of gunpowder (another potential prize), which is really all Don’s fault this time, I fly through the air to my next quest location. My fall is broken by the trampoline-like tent of a fairground that I’m guessing is somewhere near the Stygian Dragon and the Raw Steak of Eternity which I’ll face next time.

And of course, we get our next end of mission cutscene. In this cutscene, the evil witch introduces Princess Lorealle to her future husband.

Help! I’m being forced to marry the bad guy from my least favourite Spider-Man movie!

That stance really can’t be good for your posture.

With Loralle’s desperate plea for me to hurry, I’ll need to be quick – though I’ve only gotten 2 of the 5 required items so she’ll have to wait at least 3 more cutscenes for my heroic rescue.

Interesting that I’d been thinking about how easy this game has been and then got stuck for a decent amount of time on this one – I don’t think it’s that the game’s gotten much harder – I think my brainpower was just not quite up to it this time. I’m still enjoying the jokes and wasn’t stuck in a way that was frustrating, so good work game.

Session time:2:20 Total time:5:15 Score: 290 out of 1000, in 648 turns Inventory: backpack, Crescent Wrench of Armageddon, Pitchfork of Damocles, berries, book, bungee cord, no tort-ease

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/eric-the-unready-secret-of-the-snooze/

[shirlleycoyle]

Breaking Brad: Why Brad Rutter Is Losing Jeopardy’s GOAT Tournament

After three episodes of Jeopardy’s Greatest of All Time (GOAT) tournament, the question on everyone’s mind is: Why is Brad Rutter losing?

It has to do with Daily Doubles, the clues that let you wager your entire score—or up to $1,000 in the first round or $2,000 in the second round, whichever is higher.

Rutter, the person who has won the most money in all of American game-show history, has managed to snag 50 percent of the 18 Daily Doubles across six games in the first three matchups. However, he’s answered correctly just one-third of the time. In the GOAT tournament, Rutter has lost games of Jeopardy to human opponents for the first time in his career. (He has $4,788,436 in earnings from five regular-season episodes, five tournament wins, a third-place to IBM’s Watson, and $100,000 from other game-show appearances.)

Update: Ken Jennings has won the entire tournament.

Of his opponents, Ken Jennings (the biggest regular season winner with the longest run of shows) has grabbed four DDs and been right on each. The third grandmaster, James Holzhauer (just shy of Jennings’s winnings and at over twice the earning pace), has picked up five DDs and was correct on four of those five.

We need to be kind to Rutter, as my family is when we watch at home—this is Jeopardy at its highest level, and with immense pressure. While he’s beaten Jennings several times, he’s never played against the equivalent of two Kens at once.

What is out of my depth, Alex?

I played Jeopardy in 2012 and won twice—and let me add, by the skin of my teeth. I was happy to go home with over $30,000 and a picture of me and Alex Trebek.

I learned before and during my games that Jeopardy is not just about trivia. Contestants are selected in part for knowledge, and usually two or three of the players know a given answer. At the GOAT level, outside of Daily Double and Final Jeopardy stumpers, all three champions likely know the answer.

This is where betting and odds knowledge come in as a critical additional aspect. With control of the board, all three players are hunting for those DDs, as only the player with the ability to select can answer a Daily Double.

The producers typically place DDs as the third or higher of the five clues for each category (the $600 position in the Jeopardy round and $1,200 in Double Jeopardy). As clues disappear, the GOAT players are balancing their knowledge of a category with the potential to block a competitor by grabbing a DD and even betting on the low side if they aren’t confident, or to obtain the advantage by betting high and winning. (Arthur Chu gained a lot of enmity for aggressively playing across the board and hunting DDs, because some viewers decided it wasn’t a “fair” way to play, though given white players had chosen that route starting in 1985 and employed it since without much controversy, it seemed a lot more about race.)

In normal play, contestants may be hesitant when the Daily Double razzmatazz sound plays, one of the few sound effects Jeopardy employs. When you’re behind, it’s easy to fear a wrong answer would cost you the game; while ahead, wagering conservatively could advance your lead if correct while not knocking you out if in error.

Holzhauer went for broke nearly every time in his regular-season games. He bet most or all of the amount he had on the board, a strategy employed most aggressively previously by Roger Craig, an all-time champ who beat Jennings’ one-day score of $75,000 by racking up $77,000. Holzhauer across his weeks of play took the one-day title, too—he now holds the top 16 positions with his highest being $131,127.

That’s required Jennings and Rutter, never shy in the past from all-in bets, to hit hard when they capture a Daily Double question. It’s like watching a set of sharks hunting a small school of tuna: the first one in gobbles them all, leaving the others hungry.

The questions so far have been GOAT-worthy, especially Rutter's Daily Doubles. Watching the first game of the first day’s match, I was gobsmacked by how few clues I could answer in the form of questions, even as contestants whipped out answers faster than I could read them.

In the first game on that first day, Rutter had the clue in the “Dancing with the Czars” category: “‘We understood each other…& let the others prattle,’ said Catherine the Great of this longtime adviser & less longtime lover.” Rutter struggled for an answer and came up with Vronsky, a fictional character from Anna Karennina. The correct response was, “Who is Grigory Potemkin?”

In the second game, Rutter reasonably choked in Double Jeopardy on Daily Doubles for “Born in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong performed songs named for these 2 local “B” streets” (Bourbon and Basin; he said Bourbon and Beale, as I did, though I knew Beale Street was in Memphis) and “This double-first-name philosopher born in 1842 said that the value of a concept is in its practical consequences” (William James). These two incorrect responses reset his score to zero—twice! Even still, he clawed his way back to 10,000 points by Final Jeopardy, within striking distance of the other two players.

Because Rutter had cleared out so many DDs, Jennings and Holzhauer are engaged in a fight to grab toeholds in a rock face they’re climbing instead of taking an elevator to the top. And when they have gotten DDs, both Jennings and Holzhauer have capitalized in a way Rutter hasn't.

Just as important as finding and correctly answering Daily Doubles is finding them at the right time. Rutter has only been correct on Daily Double wagers at times when he had little to bet, often not even the 1,000- or 2,000-point alternate bet for each round.

Buzzer Timing

Rutter has seemingly demonstrated an additional disadvantage, one not seen in his previous gameplay. In addition to getting Daily Doubles wrong, Jeopardy is a game of millisecond-level reflex response. Press the button on the signal device before a producer has decided Alex has finished reading the clue and unlocked the “buzzers” (signal devices, really) and you’re briefly locked out. Click a millisecond too late in the GOAT gathering, and another of your razor-sharp competitors has won the race and gives the answer.

When the producer presses their button, lights illuminate to the left and right of the stage game board out of view the television audience’s frame. Jennings and many other champions say they rely on Trebek’s cadence to buzz in; I followed that advice, notably from the book Prisoner of Trebekistan, by another multi-tournament champion, Bob Harris. Holzhauer followed a previous champion’s advice and looks for the lights.

In the six games played so far in this tournament, Rutter has won the buzzer toss-up by far the least. With 57 questions up for grabs in each game—30 plus 30 less three Daily Doubles—Rutter has answered 10 to 12 questions for five of the six games. Jennings and Holzhauer have on average divided the rest with a slight advantage in each direction, depending on the game.

That brings us to the last overlooked element of Jeopardy play: ringing in without being sure you had the correct answer. With a Daily Double, you can bet as little as $5 if you hate the category, but few people do, and none of the GOAT contestants can afford to. (I won my first game of Jeopardy because the returning champion spoiled her run-away win by betting too much on a late-game DD—she should have wagered $5.)

With other clues, you have a moment while Trebek reads the text to figure out if you should ring in. If you answer with the wrong question, you lose that dollar amount, which can put you into the negative. Rutter’s has been wrong on 11.4 percent of his regular-question responses, while Holzhauer is at 8.1 percent and Jennings at 6.8 percent. That slight difference, coupled with Jennings's 100 percent correct responses for the Daily Doubles he’s hit tells the story of how the competition is going, though not why.

I stood at the podium three times, winning two games and a meager $31,000 or so by grandmaster standards, and I can tell you that each game is a fresh challenge and a fresh terror. I guessed my first Final Jeopardy correctly—ironically, “Who is Karl Marx?”—by elimination of other choices. I had the wrong answer but enough cash remaining to prevail in the second Final Jeopardy, vexing the only one of us three who was correct. I sealed my doom in my third game when I misspoke in a Daily Double and said “Who was George Sands?” rather than “George Sand.” (Trebek: “Ooo, sooorey.”)

I flailed in my third game, because I’d simply run out of steam. Jeopardy typically tapes five games a day, two days in a row. I had won games four and five of my first day in Culver City, and then lost game one of the second. My brain’s answering chemistry felt depleted. I saw a picture of a hibiscus, recognized it as that flower, and bizarrely said, “What is an orchid?” My sympathetic wife, who has a degree in horticulture, was supportive.

It’s an endurance contest in the best of times, and starting off on a bad pace can keep you down. We don’t know how rapidly they taped episodes for this tournament. In a typical tournament, even the final three players compete in no more than three games a day. With the two-game-per-match structure, it’s likely they taped two episodes a day or four games, to avoid the mental exhaustion of a fifth and sixth game in a row at this calibre.

They already got their GOATs

Without any advance knowledge, what’s happened so far makes it likely Jennings will win. With a slight edge in accuracy and maintaining a vigorous balance with Holzhauer on signaling, he only needs to win either one of the next two if Holzhauer prevails again, or in a dramatic showdown, Jennings can win any game up to the seventh match if Holzhauer wins just one more and Rutter picks up two.

My family is “#teamken,” because Jennings is local to us and I’ve met him a couple of times. He graciously gave me his insight in person before my first game, as did another local top winner, writer and bookstore owner Tom Nissley. But I always love the underdog, and would love to see Rutter fight back to his obvious potential.

If Jennings wins this tournament, he would also take the title of all-time American game-show cash winner from Rutter with $5,223,414 to Rutter’s $5,138,436, as Jennings has won bundles on other programs.

Nonetheless, Rutter, Jennings, and Holzhauer should each keep the GOAT mantle after this competition. The next runner-up in each of their scoreboard categories at Jeopardy are far behind, as great as that tranche of players are.

Regardless of who wins, Jeopardy GOAT has been a lot of wholesome fun. Trebek revealed he was in treatment for pancreatic cancer in early 2019, and that he had to resume treatment later in the year, making this tournament and all we Jeopardy contestants’ experiences all the more tinged with worry and nostalgia. His last games are approaching or maybe already quietly taped, too.

Producers guessed viewers wanted to know who was the ultimate winner, but I think getting to see the pinnacle of modern quiz-show performance provides just as corny and lovable an answer as the tradition of Jeopardy itself: It’s us, the viewers. We’re the winners.

Glenn Fleishman is a two-time Jeopardy champion and a veteran technology reporter who contributes to the Economist, Fast Company, Macworld, and many others. He’s also a type historian, currently assembling a set of one hundred tiny type museums, sets of historical and modern printing artifacts. He can be found at @glennf on Twitter and glog.glennf.com on the web.

Breaking Brad: Why Brad Rutter Is Losing Jeopardy’s GOAT Tournament syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[westernmanews]

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- All good things must come to an end, and on Thursday night, the run of "'Jeopardy!' James" as he's lovingly called was over.  James Holzhauer captivated jeopardy watchers with his big bets and Vegas Strong remembrances, but during his last episode of the trivia game show, he met his match. 

Alex Trebek, 'Jeopardy!' host: "His wager?  (James shows wager) A modest one for the first time. Let's go over to Emma.  Did you come up with the correct response?  (Emma shows answer) You did.  Your wager? (Emma shows wager) Oh gosh.  20,000.  What a payday!" 

The odds are, it was a finish that millions of 'Jeopardy!' viewers didn't bet on for James Holzhauer who was in the hunt for setting the all-time record winnings in the least amount of games for one of American's favorite game show. 

"I did expect to do pretty well when I was on the show, but I thought maybe I could win maybe six, seven episodes; certainly not 32, and certainly not this level of money," Holzhauer said. "Gosh, it was really mind-blowing.  If I had to go out, I wanted to go out against a top player who beat me in a straight up contest."

Thirty-two games of mind-blowing risky bets and right answers racked up a final second place grand total of $2.4f64,000. He has become a Jeopardy phenomenon.

"I think the amount of attention its gotten has surprised me," Holzhauer said. "I will say once the introductions started getting into the millions of dollars you can see my honest reactions of things like this are (motions that his head explodes) as they read off the money."

So what was his secret ace in the hole? 

"I'd say the biggest preparation was the buzzer, but just kind of keeping it in my head that this is game, money, it's gambling; just like you do at work," Holzhauer said.

Holzhauer says his signature moves weren't always by the 'Jeopardy!' rule book either.

"I liked it as an opportunity to let my personality shine up there," he said. 

And viewers loved it. The more Holzhauer won, the bigger the following the show and James gained. 

When he was asked about not being able to break Ken Jennings' record for the all-time number one spot at just over $2.5 million, Holzhauer said, "You know, I'm no less proud of myself than if I had made it there. I know Ken's achievements are incredible and it would have been no less incredible if I had won a couple of extra games."

The one thing James didn't know was that Thursday was his big 'Jeopardy!' payday. 8 News NOW's Sherry Swensk had the honor of showing him the money. 

Sherry Swensk: "I can't tell you how privileged I am to have this honor after watching you for 33 games, James. But on behalf of Jeopardy, it is the honor of 8 News NOW in Las Vegas to hand you your check for over two million dollars and to say congratulations!  You have more than earned that check, and we are so proud of you.  Holzhauer: "Thank you, Sherry."

Sherry had one "final 'Jeopardy!'" question for James. It was a two-part question: Has he changed the game of 'Jeopardy!' forever? And will he always be known as "'Jeopardy!' James?"

"I think among the people who know me best I'll go back to being James or Uncle Jamie to my nephews and nieces, but I think there will always be a segment of the population who doesn't forget about this," he said.  "I don't think I've changed the game of Jeopardy forever, but I'll have to watch future episodes to see if everyone is playing this style now."

Before the interview wrapped up, Holzhauer had one last message for the community that has supported him.

"Las Vegas, thank you for the support. It's been a great ride. Go Knights, Go!"

[doomonfilm]

Favorites : Sexy Beast (2000)

Back in the early 2000s, I worked at Sundance Records in San Marcos, Texas, and I can safely say that it was the period of time that I was most tapped in to what was happening in terms of ‘cool’ culture.  The conversations I had in that store about music, art, books and film were conversations that left infinitely lasting impressions.  When it came to film, the recommendations came faster than I could take them in, but there was one name that cut like glass and stood out at the time : Sexy Beast.  When I finally got around to seeing it, I made the Jonathan Glazer connection (this was his debut film after a highly successful music video career), but was not prepared for how blown away I would be after literally every time I watch this masterpiece.

Gal (Ray Winstone), a former criminal in the London underground, has retreated to Spain with his wife DeeDee (Amanda Redman), along with best friends Aitch (Cavan Kendall) and Jackie (Julianne White), in hopes of leaving his criminal life behind him for good.  After nearly being killed by a boulder that destroys his signature pool, Gal doubles down on his efforts to celebrate his new life.  These efforts are brought to a screeching halt, however, when former fellow criminal Don Logan (Ben Kingsley) pays Gal a visit with a job offer.  Gal attempts to turn the offer down, but Logan tightens the screws and refuses to take no for an answer.  With his life on the line and the safety of his friends in jeopardy, Gal must do whatever it takes to restore order in his world.

The way that Glazer weaves what could be three complete films together into one amazing film is a stroke of directorial debut genius.  Emotionally, the film is a hostage movie, with Don Logan holding Gal and crew against their will with a terror and stubborn nature of nearly cartoonish proportion, but real enough to terrify viewers, even upon repeat watches.  Narratively, we get a heist movie, with a game of chess between two supposed powerful men using their skill sets (wealth versus criminal prowess) with the lives of others used as pawns.  Stylistically, the film is a love story about unconditional love despite the past one has lived, and doing whatever it takes to keep that love alive and protected.  The entire affair is as gut-wrenching as it is beautiful to look at.

The clever and intriguing symbolism used throughout is integrated perfectly into the film, sometimes so subtly that it is instantly accepted even when the context is still being built.  The boulder and the use of haire coarsing are both symbols of impending danger, only to be bolstered by a dream sequence featuring a beast symbolizing a character we have yet to meet.  The touches of Gal in his speedo and robe set against Don Logan with his tucked shirt give the impression of heroes and villains, despite both men being criminals.  With all of this symbolism tonally setting a sense of danger, it is wonderful that the characters deliver on that sense once present, specifically Don Logan’s intensity and Teddy Bass’ ability to unsettle with his imposing nature.

Glazer handles the idea of perspectives perfectly... technically, shots like the boulder shot, car door shot and rotating setups put us deeply into the correct mindsets, while narratively, the entire affair is about Gal’s firm attempt to keep his perspective forward in terms of his past.  The movie is able to bounce between being wonderfully funny, sweet and tender, and downright scary (sometimes within the course of a scene) without coming off as disjointed.  On the production design side of things, the choice of juxtaposing Spanish locations with London ones serves to amplify the love story aspect tastefully. 

Ray Winstone goes all in on his role as the reluctant protagonist, making us both adore and pity him equally, then deeply fear for him and his safety, all due to the charm he oozes when he is allowed to live his dream life.  By contrast, Ben Kingsley built a new career for himself as a human house-on-fire that is allergic to the word ‘no’, oblivious to social norms, and relentlessly unable to be swayed from course once his mind is set.  Ian McShane is allowed to play badass and intimidator to the highest degree, oozing cool, mystery and danger in equal degrees (as he has gotten more and more famous, I finally realized this was my introduction to him).  Amanda Redman plays her character wonderfully frustrated by how much she loves her husband versus how powerless he acts to take control of the situation.  Cavan Kendall and Julianne White play wonderful fuel to the stewing fire, helping to create the situation that eventual propels everyone forward.  Brief but memorable appearances by James Fox and Darkie Smith, as well as the audience connection role that Alvaro Monje played, round out a powerful ensemble.  

I am often quite surprised that more people are not familiar with this film, as I consider it a modern-day love story classic.  Sexy Beast definitely deserves more attention, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it found a revival at some point in the future.