#but the other teams despite not taking it serious serious did VERY well and probably better than us

[watch-out-it-bites]

[cheriladycl01]

The Big Mercedes Debate - George Russell x JapaneseOlympicCross-CountrySkiing! Reader

Plot: Ski-Trip with George, Toto, Suzie and Jack where your all discussing the future of Mercedes, and how an Olympic Cross- Country Skiier can help.

"She's really good" Suzie complements as she watches you zoom ahead on your guy's ski run. You were all cross country skiing through the mountains.

You were set to try out snowboarding tomorrow as despite having an affinity for snow related sports, you'd never tried it. But as of right now you were doing what you did best, skiing.

You slowed down a few times to let the others catch up and you helped Jack become more steady of his ski's, holding his hand as you slowly went down some little slopes as he giggled overtime he got something right and you congratulated him on it.

George couldn't help but admire the way you acted with Jack, and it was one of those pivotal moments in a relationship where you knew that your partner was in fact 'the one'. He was grinning from ear to ear, not that anyone could see that behind his balaclava and mask.

After a morning of skiing, Jack started to get hungry and was tugging at the sleeve of your jacket, begging to go on your back and ski to the lodge really really quickly just so he could get his filling.

"Ah, not we have to wait for mummy, daddy and George so we can all go together. But I promise you if you can hold out while we all ski back I'll make you a hot chocolate tonight?"

"Extra cream and marshmallows?" he asks with a grin and you nod your head before you all continue down to where you can all grab something to eat.

"So Toto, how's finding George's team-mate going?" you ask after taking a bite of your sandwich and wiping your mouth clean of the crumbs and any sauce that remained.

"Y/N!" George scolds shaking his head as if you'd just brought up something really taboo.

"George, leave her alone it's fine!" his boss laughs, looking between the two of you.

"We've got options, and that's led to rumors as you've probably already seen!" he laughs taking a sip of his coffee.

"Mmmm, the Max one made me laugh!" you smile taking another bite before everyone went silent.

"Wait ... are you being fucking serious?" you say covering Jack's ears up so he doesn't hear the swears, making him giggle and swat your hands away.

"Well, Max and I have had conversations... I wont deny that" he smirks and looks at you.

"Shut up, tell me everything!" You squeal looking between Toto and Suzie.

"Well, Max has been in a championship car for the last few years and it's been rumored for a while that Adrian was leaving Red Bull and I you know, every option is possible. I don't think he would take my offer, but there's loads of other options, Carlos, Alex, Kimi ... we are looking at Frederick, Mick etc" he smiles, knowing there was options it was just tough choosing.

"Yeah, you've got a lot of good options... I think Kimi needs to be given a change in the feeder series though, let him at least have a full season in F2 before committing anything!" you admit nonchalantly.

"Damn, hoping i was going to go for Max Verstappen 2.0!" Toto laughs, smiling and wrapping his arms around Jack who had climbed into his lap.

"Mmmm he's a special case. Don't think anyone can recreate what he's done ..." you smile.

"Well, I think Alex would be really good as my team-mate!" George admits putting his own input in.

"Mmmmm, now are you saying that because he's a good driver ... or because he's your best mate. Because I would not mind having Lily around more often!" you grin, having been close to Alex's girlfriend for a while.

"Alex hasn't shown much this season, him and Logan ... have kind of been on par!" Toto offers, preferring the stability of someone like Carlos.

"Yeah, but the Williams this year is trash. You can't expect much from the pair of them when they are in an unstable tractor! He's gone from a Red Bull to Williams, very very different" you joke knowing the Williams just wasn't as developed this year.

"Mmmm that's also true... say Y/N how does a Olympic Cross Country Skier from Japan have such an opinion on an F1 team" Suzie interjects.

"Well, I've got an amazing boyfriend who teaches me a lot!" you smile pulling George in for a kiss.

y/user

Liked by georgerussell63 and suziewolff

y/user: Family holiday while i look like P4 helping debate the future of Mercedes...

Tagged 3 people.

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georgerussell63: It's been a blast! I love you lots darling!

georgerussell63: you are so beautiful baby!

fan1: It's so funny that they are all on holiday as one big family while debating who will take that second Mercedes seat...

-> fan2: it's funny she has been included in the discussions lol, she's a cross country skier!

suziewolff: leave it to the girls to fix things eh?

-> fan3: MOTHERS!

-> fan4: is this confirming the future of Mercedes has been set?

fan5: Y/N to Merc 2025 confirmed

Instagram Story Caption

Georgie said I looked coquette 🎀🩰🌸🐰

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[lemotmo]

Can we take a minute to talk about how today’s bts clip is the perfect example of how much…for lack of a better word, damage, Lou’s cameos really caused?

Because the show, the writers, the directors, Oliver, the promo teams etc have all been showing and telling us a very specific story. With very specific moments. And very specific scenes with specific beats hit or missed. And it paints us the picture of what the storyline is about. Buck. Buck figuring out this new piece of information about himself. Buck figuring this new piece about himself out and finding his footing with it. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Then we have Lou and the small section of his following who are very loud. They showing a very different story. Lou has used cameo to spread head canon after head canon after head canon about his character, his relationship with Buck, his relationship with other characters. And it’s warped the actual story to the point where it very much goes against what the actual canon events are showing and telling the viewers. The loud BT fans truly believe Buck and Tommy are this match made in heaven, stars aligned, madly in love about to move in together and start planning a wedding, couple. And the loud BT fans think that because the head canons they were told in these cameos, and because they paid for them, they think they hold more meaning than the free episodes that are aired.

But then as we see by the clip released today, and despite all the other issues people have with the scene and how we can interpret the actions not matching what we’ve seen especially compared to how their first date played out, the actual words they have Tommy telling hen and Karen and by extension the audience is “we’re taking it very slow. Bucks setting the pace”

That doesn’t sound like a deeply in love about to move in and get married couple being portrayed in cameo videos to me. It’s the actual canon reality of the show and the BT relationship though. Snail paced speed. Not that deeply developed or defined. Entry level to allow Buck to get his footing in this new reality he’s discovered.

It also gave yet another moment of is this man actual that serious about Buck? Because instead of taking the opportunity presented to him to reassure Hen and Karen, two important members of Bucks family, Tommy once again instead deflected and made jokes at an inappropriate moment that again didn’t land well, based on Henrens faces. Which again, doesn’t sound like the “everyone loves and respects Tommy and is to thrilled he’s dating Buck, he’s got all these connections with the 118” narrative that has been given through cameo videos.

We will probably never know the actual full reason why Lou suddenly cut his cameos off. But I do think this released bts video is a perfect example of at least one of the reasons he did. Because the content and context of them was getting so far off base from the actual canon of the show and story.

YES! All of this Nonny!

Lou's cameos were such a bad idea. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he was told to stop making them either.

He filled these fans' heads with headcanons and wild fairytales about Tommy's completely made up childhood and how he feels about Buck. All while the writers were clearly telling us a very different story. His narrative about Tommy doesn't match the show's narrative. But for some reason a lot of the BT fans don't want to see the canon evidence that BT is not that big love story they want it to be.

On the contrary, the show has been pretty consistent in telling us Buck and Eddie's story and their connection. THAT is canon. All the rest that Lou made up? Definitely fanon!

[narutocharacterpolls]

FINAL ROUND

HATAKE KAKASHI vs SENJU TSUNADE

Reasons for submission under the cut

Kakashi

relatable as an adult

he is just an overworked guy who was told to watch some kids w LOTS of issues

needs therapy

good presence and guidance in Narutos life

interesting

cares about and is dedicated to his students very much

he is just cool

he is trying his best despite what he has been through in the past

is up for having fun but still knows when to be serious

was a narcissistic shit but grew out of it

has good intentions

sexy

wonderfully complex and well developed character

incredibly resilient and supportive

a sad and deeply broken man

always willing to give his life to protect them and his other precious people

just wanted everything to be ok for once in his life

hated Danzo

his friendship with Gai is adorable

the way he teases Tenzo is fun

he’s known as cool and aloof but in reality he’s a huge dork

Gai would want him to win

Tsunade

milf….

was the best hokage

the regulation she created to include medics on every team saved so many lives

she's funny and a complex and interesting character

is a bad bitch

probably THE most competently written female character in the entire series

she has a very rich history that plays into her character's actions and motivations

wanting to be the best medic-nin possible in order to save more lives because she lost her love Dan, and also change the way ninja squads operated to always have a medic to save more lives did so much for the better during the war to reduce casualties

after being broken down by so many people she cares about dying, she dips and leaves behind ninja society, which has taken everything from her (including wiping out her clan)

because Tsunade is also one of the most legendary/strongest ninja alive, no one could really stop her or chain her down. It takes the conviction of a child who wants her to save the village and heal his friends to get her back to Konoha, despite the all the trauma she's endured

she's a medic with a fear of blood that overcomes that to fight her own teammate and beat his ass so Orochimaru stops killing and maiming people

she steps up to be a leader because it's what the new generation need and someone has to fix all the stuff broken by her selfish teammates and old teacher

the strongest female character both in physical strength and the strength of her writing. It's like she was written first as a character versus most of the other female characters being written first as Girl and Love Interest

Tsunade is vain and a chronic gambler and drunk, she is really brash and abrasive, she is traumatized. But she's also deeply caring, an incredibly accomplished woman, one of the smartest people/medics in the world, and a great leader

she's multi-layered. She is a woman, but her entire character isn't just Woman

finally finished the job on Jiraiya on previous poll

strong arms

she is strong and smart and quick as a whip but still soft and caring when it comes to her loved ones. Characters with rough exteriors who are mushy inside are very good

[yuurei20]

Jade and Floyd Info Compilation part 43: Each Other (pt1)

Floyd says that, every year, he and Jade are always the first to wish one another happy birthday.

During the Stitch event Floyd explains that he doesn’t really regret that Jade isn’t there with them, as it’s more fun for them to do separate things and then tell each other about it later on.

He also says that they would probably not get along as well as they do if they were always together, and they used to argue and get into physical fights all the time. Floyd says they don’t get into fights as often anymore as they know there is a chance that they might kill each other if they get serious.

During Beanfest Floyd explains that “siblings don’t constantly hang out with each other just ‘cause they’re related” and “I’m not gonna hang out with Jade when it’d bore me to tears.”

This is an interesting contrast to how both twins have lines about how they wish they were in the same class, with Jade saying that Floyd will visit him sometimes and “he’s more tender than he seems.”

Floyd also visits Jade during Port Fest, and during the Playfulland event we see him slide off the screen in order to stand next to Jade.

Jade says, “If Azul and I specialize in gentlemanly man-to-man combat, you specialize in…guerrilla warfare,” assuring Floyd that he means it as a compliment.

Floyd says he cannot believe how Jade memorizes Azul’s contracts and there is no way he could be that indirect.

Floyd is wholly uninterested in participating in Beanfest despite Jade saying how happy he is that they are on the same team and how he had hoped they could play tag together like they did as children.

Privately Floyd reflects that it just isn’t fun when there’s no challenge, since he and Jade “could squeeze most people in the game” with the no-magic rule in place if they teamed up.

Later on, however, Floyd recommends that his group go out of its way to try and take down Lilia, as he knows that Jade is working to get the harp and he doesn’t want anyone standing in Jade’s way. Silver comments that he is a very caring brother and Floyd explains, “Jade’s got his way of havin’ fun, and I’ve got mine. I don’t want either of us gettin’ our fun ruined. It’s that simple.”

Jade says he would like to try getting a magic beanstalk, as “Floyd would love it.”

[so-so-woso]

i wanna be the one | part 2

Summary: First game as part of the team, first big night out as part of the team, more flirting. Honestly, it's mostly just flirting.

Also as a general note, the timeline, games, and team composition are all kind of all over the place because while I might be crazy I’m not going to do actual research for this lmao also please don't expect any sort of consistent word count with these, I'm not good at being consistent with anything. Part 3 will be time-jumpy and will probably be up sooner rather than later, fingers crossed.

Word Count: 2,457

The next few days were awkward, for you anyway. No one else seemed to notice, and Leah was as indifferent as usual. You had tried to approach her and apologize once, but she grabbed Beth and hurried out of the locker room as soon as you stood up. You tried to convince yourself it was a coincidence, but you knew it wasn’t. You didn’t think anything was all that bad and really just wanted to clear the air about it and move on, but it didn’t feel like Leah was going to let you do that. So, you guessed, the next best thing to do was just forget that it happened, which you both really did and really didn’t want to do. It helped you had a game to look forward to, despite not playing in it. Still, it was exciting, your first game as part of the team, and against Tottenham. The Spurs managed to score on a late penalty, but you still won 2-1. The atmosphere was truly wild, and more than you had expected – more than you could’ve hoped for – in the best possible way. Er, mostly, anyway.

You always had a hard time accepting when good things happened to you, or when you did well at something. You could talk yourself up in a joking way, playing every bit the cocky athlete, like the opposite of self-deprecating – but it was always as a joke. Being serious about your achievements had always been near impossible. You knew why it was hard for you, but it wasn’t something you liked explaining to other people, so you mostly just pretended everything was fine and that you were as chill and haughty as you so often pretended to be. That didn’t mean you weren’t terrified all the time, though, and it definitely didn’t mean that Doubt wasn’t constantly hovering just out of reach, waiting to swoop down and take you into its talons the instant you felt comfortable. It just meant that you were used to it.

It hit you pretty early, in the 20th minute or so. You were just sitting on the sideline, watching the game, listening to the roar of the crowd – and then all of a sudden you couldn’t hear the cheering anymore, just the rushing of your own blood in your ears. You had shifted in your seat and tried to hide the fact that you weren’t looking at the field anymore. You had wanted to close your eyes, but that would be obvious – not to mention rude – so instead you tried to shift focus on to the back of the seat in front of you. If it was already starting with you riding the bench, you really didn’t want to think about what would happen if you ever managed to get any minutes. You handled it okay, though, and managed until half time when you could go into the locker room and splash water on your face. That helped, as did the distractions of being around the rest of the team and Jonas’ half time speech. The last 45 minutes passed pretty quickly, at least for you, and before you knew it you were back in the locker room, celebrating the win.

Since you hadn’t played, you didn’t have much to do in terms of getting ready to leave after the game. You thought you’d be able to sneak out pretty quick, but several of the girls had very quickly agreed on another night out and you were invited. You could’ve said no, and on one hand you wanted to – but on the other hand, you were still new enough it didn’t feel like a great move to turn down any chances at bonding with the team, so you agreed to meet them later. Part of you knew it would be a good idea, too, because even though as soon as you got home you would want to just go to sleep, but if you told someone you were going to do something then you were going to do it, and agreeing to hang out would keep you from spending the evening wallowing. Your primal urge to be seen as dependable often greatly outweighed any anxiety or despair you felt and had frequently kept you afloat in the past, seemingly set to do so again now.

Planning to head home and change before you met back up with the girls, you pulled out your phone to order an Uber as you exited the locker room. Your head was down as you turned out of the door, a classic bad move that you paid for very quickly as you bumped into a person heading back inside. You immediately apologized, but cut yourself off when you realized it was Leah. She stopped short as well, staring up at you for a long moment. You wanted to apologize again, but found it suddenly hard to form the words you wanted, so you stuttered a bit before she spoke first.

“I’m sorry.”

You shook your head. “No, no, I wasn’t paying attention, it was totally my fault.”

“Not that. The other night. I…made it weird. I do that sometimes. I’m sorry.”

“Oh! No, that was total—”

“I don’t date teammates.”

“—ly my fault—sorry, what?”

She sighed and rubbed at her chin, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was around.

“I don’t date teammates,” she repeated. You paused and drew in a slow breath, making sure you heard her correctly.

“Oh…kay. I don’t…remember asking you out, but—”

“No, I know, but you were flirting. And I just didn’t want to, like—”

She was interrupted by a pair of your teammates exiting the room behind you. They acknowledged both you and Leah, but didn’t seem to notice or at least didn’t ask about the confused look that was surely on your face. Leah, taking the interruption for the distraction that it was, mumbled a ‘yeah’ and tried to slip past you back into the locker room, but you managed to catch her by the elbow. She sighed at being caught and stepped back from the doorway.

“You end a lot of conversations by just walking away, don’t you?”

She rolled her eyes at your observation, but you continued before she could retort.

“It’s okay. The dating thing, not the walking away thing – that you should definitely work on. But as far as who you date, that’s like…your business. I mean, it like really sucks for me, I guess, but—”

“Hm, assuming I’d be interested in you.”

You barely bit back a snort at her interruption.

“Wow, okay, didn’t have to come at me like that,” you said, putting on a faux exasperated voice and gesturing with the phone in your hand. She exhaled a soft laugh and gave a small shrug, “sorry.”

“No, for real, that’s…I mean…I just hope I didn’t make you uncomfortable? With the flirting?”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Okay. Well, if you want me to stop, then…just let me know.”

“…okay.”

“Cool,” you nodded, fingers fiddling with the cross-strap of your bag as you felt a couple more of your teammates exit from the door behind you. They too acknowledged both you and Leah as they passed, and you both said bye to them, with you now deciding to take the opportunity to follow them out.

“Well, good talk, Williamson, definitely not awkward at all,” you said over your shoulder as spun around and moved quickly to catch up with Kim and Lia – but you didn’t move quite quickly enough to miss another soft laugh escaping from the blonde behind you, nor the warm flutter that bubbled up in your chest at hearing it.

Yeah, this wasn’t going to be awkward at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You spent most of the evening dancing and drinking with your new teammates, and some randos from the club you were at. You had the next week off, so Kim’s ‘two drinks max’ rule had been thrown so far out the window it probably hit a bird. It didn’t take very long at all to find out why she had the rule, either. Most of the instigation seemed to be stemming from McCabe. You kind of hated that it was such a stereotype, but damned if it didn’t seem to be true. She kept trying to hand you shots and make you dance with Foord, which you thought was weird because you were under the impression they were together, but maybe they weren’t, or maybe this was part of their whole thing, you really had no idea, so you just went with it. Of course you danced with Steph, too, and Alessia, and pretty much everyone else who seemed to want to.

There was one girl from the club who kept coming back to you, and the shots Katie kept handing you pretty much meant you were going to keep dancing with her. She was pretty, you thought, but drunk. But you guessed you were pretty and drunk too, so maybe it was okay. She was really touchy, though, which you didn’t love, and once she asked you to meet her in the bathroom you excused yourself pretty quickly. That was not the vibe you were aiming for tonight.

You left her on the dance floor and made your way to the bar to get a water, which you were quietly sipping when Leah slid up next to you. “You move on quick,” she said with a smirk, tossing a glance in the direction of the dance floor, before turning back to the bar and waving at the bartender. You followed her glance back towards the girl you’d been dancing with while she ordered another drink for herself. You opened your mouth to riposte, but instead just shook your head and took another gulp of water.

“Jesus,” you finally said, “I should’ve stuck with Kim’s rule.”

Leah laughed. “Yeah, you gotta learn not to let McCabe play you so easily.”

“What?”

“She does this to all the newbies. I mean she can handle it, and everybody else knows better, but you newbies – easy prey.”

“Ugh, god.”

“Yeah, I know.”

She laughed again, and you heaved a sigh as you took another long drink, turning to the side and looking back across the club at the rest of your teammates. Your eyes landed on Katie McCabe, who was finally dancing with Foord herself now, and you made a mental note that you were definitely going to get her back somehow. You watched them for a second before turning back towards Leah, who was sipping at her own drink now. This was the first time you really looked at her tonight, and what she was wearing. It wasn’t really terribly revealing or anything, but she was wearing a skirt, which was incredibly rude of her to do.

You weren’t sure how long you were staring at her thighs, but it was definitely way longer than was appropriate. When you finally looked up again, she was smirking at you, and you couldn’t even pretend to hide the giant grin that spread across your face, or the redness that was surely growing across your cheeks.

“Sorry,” you laughed, rubbing at your own face. “That was like incredibly obvious, huh.”

“Yeah, a little bit,” she laughed back.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, you’re drunk. And I know you like my legs.”

“And still you use them against me like that. You and McCabe, man – I gotta get out of here before one of you kills me.”

You downed the rest of your water and signaled for the bartender to settle up. Leah stayed quietly next to you the whole time, and while she had turned her body away to look back into the crowd, there were definitely a few times you felt her eyes back on you.

“You wanna go?” The words left your mouth unbidden as you slid your wallet back into your pocket. Your head was swimming, but you felt like it was more the blonde’s doing than the alcohol’s – although, if anyone asked, you were definitely blaming the alcohol. When you looked back at her, her head was cocked to the side and she was giving you a look that said we talked about this.

“I don’t mean like—I’m just trying to get to know you. I don’t really know you. I mean, Youtube does keep recommending videos of you to me but they’re all from like seven years ago—”

“Oh god, don’t watch any of those. Wait, if it’s recommending them, that means you’ve watched videos of me on Youtube.”

“Hmm? No. No, definitely not – I don’t think that’s how that works at all, actually.”

“Oh, okay, yeah, my mistake then.”

She laughed at you again, and you maybe fell just a little bit in love as you started stumbling backwards. You bumped into someone, so you turned and apologized, but they just moved away, so you turned back towards Leah.

“And you’re like super sure you don’t want to go on a date with me?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Just checking. I can wait.”

“You can wait?”

“Yeah, 'cause I’m warning you, Williamson, one of these days—" You wagged a finger at her, as you took another step backwards, but thought better than to end that sentence so instead you just turned and walked away, the alcohol and conversation both threatening you far too much to stay any longer.

You took an Uber back to your flat and practically threw yourself into the shower. You needed to calm down, in several ways, so you made sure the water was as cool as you could really stand and then just sort of stood there for several minutes, letting it rain over you.

You honestly started trying to think about ways you could mess with Katie, but you would be a complete idiot if you really believed anyone but Leah could keep hold of your thoughts for more than about fifteen seconds. But you really did try to think about something else. Well, you guessed, you didn’t really try very hard.

She didn’t date teammates, and that was fine. Boundaries are good to have, and you didn’t want to overstep. But she also didn’t tell you to stop flirting with her. She also didn’t seem to mind you flirting with her, and also seemed to flirt back with you. That was confusing. But you liked it. Like a lot. Like you wanted to do it all the time. Which, honestly, you kind of were doing all the time, any time you talked to her . And you liked it, and she seemed to like it, but she wasn’t going to date you. Which was fine. Really. It was. Totally fine.

Totally.

[the-lonelyshepherd]

what’s your opinion on the travlottienat s2 sex scene

hi! um category five autism event and i got way too serious about this. however its not my problem.

oookay SO first off obligatory i am a minor BUT we are analyzing this from a narrative/plot perspective and not in a sexual way. theres naked people in art its fine. I think this scene is fascinating from like. not a shipping perspective but a character based one. it shows a lot about travis and it also shows a lot about lottienat (mostly talking abt the character combo and less the ship) and also jackie. yeah, jackie.

Madonna della Pietà, Michaelangelo

To start - even w how it looks, this is a Lottienat scene. Not even from a shipping perspective but because this scene SHOWCASES their "rivalry", the contrast in their characters and how they are perceived to the rest of the team (w Travis as a stand in for the team). It shows how they're both very present figures in the whole yellow jackets situation (shown through travis but can apply to all of them imo). Nat is there with travis. shes physical, shes providing. But lottie is also there spiritually, and against the norm, leading whats going on.

Nat as the physical

lottie as the spiritual.

so despite the fact that natalie is physically there, travis cant (probably physically cant as hallucinations are NOT voluntary) take his mind off lottie. because she can give him something, in his mind, that nat cant. Shes almost an escape - nat is the harsh reality hes living while lottie is the voice that brings him hope that his brother is alive. lottie is someone who can lead in a way that he wants to make sense. and its an idealized version of her in his mind, probably stemming from his issues w authority figures like his dad and the built up version of masculinity in his mind.

And this scene also emphasizes Nat’s role in the Javi situation. Because of this:

The wound on her leg where she faked Javi’s death so that Travis would stop his self-destructive search for his brother, who by all means should have been dead. Why? Because who is Nat but a realist? She’s gotten everything from life thrown at her and came out of it with that attitude, and who can blame her?

But this scene is right after she brings Travis forged proof that his brother is dead. Her guilt is present through this scene, and showing the wound is to emphasize that. layers!!! but travis has a lot of guilt throughout this scene as well - not only because of the supposed death of his younger brother that he as the older sibling feels at fault for but also… the jackie situation.

The Jacke of it all:

yeah this is a jackie scene. not only is it right before when they FUCKING EAT HER but like in spirit as well. Okay so the thing is that jackie is the character who puts the most emphasis on virginity, we all know this, but in the end it's travis that gets the "first time" that she puts so much emphasis on. Yes, jackie and travis lose their virginities to each other, but in this scene travis checks off doing it with his actual girlfriend. That, and he does almost the same thing jackie did with jeff. She looks to shauna's photo, travis thinks of lottie. They have to be outside of their bodies to perform because both of them have hangups (for one reason or another).

It's not that Travis doesn't want to have sex like jackie with jeff, he clearly tries, but he can't do it while thinking very clearly. First by being drugged, then by imagining himself doing something unrelated. And they would've been happier if they hadn't done it - jackie is immediately shunned for it. If you think about it, she literally dies for it. Travis feels like he cheated and did something wrong despite being drugged out of his mind and having no real control over the situation (something jackie didnt know). and then IMMEDIETLY after this scene, there’s the Jackie feast. Not only is she everywhere symbliocally, shes also physically in them now. THE JACKIE OF IT ALLLLL

The Pietà

The Pietà is a reference to the 6th sorrow of mary. for all you guys who arent christian/catholic →

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are seven significant moments in her life:

Simeon's prophecy of joy and sorrow.

The flight to Egypt to escape King Herod.

Finding Jesus in the temple after being lost.

Mary meeting Jesus on his way to crucifixion.

Witnessing Jesus' crucifixion and death.

Holding Jesus' body after his crucifixion.

Jesus' burial, which Mary mourns.

To clear things up here - lottie as mary in this context is not a “maternal” as in motherly way - imo its supposed to be peace and hope, guidance/authority. travis, despite being famous for his daddy issues, is hinted at having mommy issues as well (see: him not getting hugged goodbye by his mom in the pilot while his dad and javi both do)

also, he clearly struggles a lot w masculinity - having a woman in authority doesnt come naturally to him, but in this moment it is his only comfort.

so in the wilderness, there’s a complete power shift from the outside world. in this isolated environment there’s a female majority - specifically, the team, who already (roughly….. it gets messy but ykwim) trust and know each other. they already have a, albeit shifting, power dynamic established. in the normal, precrash, world, it would be isolated to them. but post crash, they are now the majority and the three guys left standing are now forced to assimilate into that instead.

Ben had power - he was one of their coaches and an adult - but with the death of coach martinez, he loses a lot of power 1) because he’s only an assistant 2) hes outnumbered 3) he doesnt want to be in charge of these insane girls anymore. he just wants gay daydreams. let him live.

Then there’s Javi - he’s younger, and none of the girls really know him, but they’re generally nice to him. he cant contribute much though - and eventually he has to contribute all he has - his literal flesh.

Finally travis - arguably the most involved as he is the same age as the team. this puts him on their field as “involved”. He originally has this very built up view of masculinity that you can tell stems from a place of self consciousness/ self loathing as well as a buildup of society’s expectations on him as a teenage boy in the 90’s. He’s supposed to be tough, hes supposed to be in charge, hes supposed to be better. And when hes thrown into this female dominated space it completely falls apart. He’s not the best shooter, he doesn’t have authority or leadership. The only other older male figures are dead or have tried their best to remove themselves from the situation. He has to completely reevaluate everything he knows - Travis has come to learn that there is power in being near and simply being an approximation of femininity.

Travis has come to learn that there is power in being near and simply being an approximation of femininity. Travis has gone from the top (he was never really there, but the built up idea of masculinity put him there in his mind, though even then he had doubts and it came from a negative place) and to bottom of the totem pole - and now he’s rising back up to somewhere in the middle by connecting with femininity, by recognizing women in authority, and also trying to have that hope and spiritual belief that is brought about by these female figures. The middle is where travis can reconcile with the weirder things (ive been in discussions about how travis actually parodies a lot of classic feminine tropes) that clash with what travis should be.

overall this scene is fucking insane. its lottienat its travnat its mommy issues its daddy issues its deadass jackie its an older brothers guilt its religious its a sin its deconstructing the very nature of yourself and those around you. all through the power of weird sex hallucination. and eating someone right after.

if youre still here i love you. please send me yellowjackets discussion asks i love them so much <3 feel free to ask questions and shit, also if none of this makes sense im sorry lmao.

ALSO. special thanks to @periwinklekryptonite who like carried this discussion and came up with like half of tjis. ask him about trans travis or travis in general or maybe pike. shoooo go send him travis questions.

[tobiasdrake]

One of my favorite bits of Dragonball trivia is that Yajirobe canonically sounds exactly like Krillin (because Toriyama wanted to make sure Krillin's VA still had a steady job while he was dead). so in honor of that, what are your thoughts on Yajirobe?

I support the commander and general of Yajirobe's Special Forces.

...okay, that probably needs some explaining. A bit the anime liked to do for their filler was to have news cameras and reporters swarm the action to report on everything that's happening. This became very awkward later in the series when it was a plot point that nobody remembered Goku more than ten years after Piccolo's defeat.

One of these bits has reporters interviewing Yajirobe while the Saiyan battle was going on. Yajirobe claims that his elite team are out there engaging the Saiyans. So this became a running joke on another site I was on. Dragon Team? Z Warriors? Nah. Yajirobe's Special Forces.

But in seriousness, let's talk Yajirobe.

As noted, this is a character who only exists because, for a brief period, Krillin didn't. Toriyama killed off Krillin but didn't want his V.A. to go without work, so he purposely and explicitly notes in the manga that Yajirobe conveniently sounds just like Krillin.

"Oh wow, you sound just like someone who would be played by Mayumi Tanaka in the anime adaptation of my adventures!" ~Goku

Yajirobe is pretty unique in Dragon Ball for being a weapon-based fighter. The only other character who relies on a sword is Trunks, and he loses his sword pretty early in the Android arc.

Due to his function as a surrogate character for Krillin, Yajirobe is pretty underdeveloped. He's a wandering ronin wildman Goku happens to run into who's tough enough to hang with 22nd Tenkaichi Budokai top contenders.

Somewhere, Tenshinhan doesn't know why but he's incredibly offended right now.

Though when he does get a chance to attend the tournament, it doesn't go well. Then again, he's pit against God in the qualifiers so that's bad luck.

Don't worry, Yajirobe. Yamcha feels your pain.

God came to defeat Piccolo but he figures, as long as he's here, he might as well humiliate martial artists for lulz. This whole drunken boxing-esque "Whoopsy did I win?" shtick must be so demoralizing to lose to.

As a fighter, Yajirobe leans on his katana. This is what makes him so distinctive, compared to other martial artists. He does fight hand-to-hand when he isn't taking things seriously.

But for Yajirobe, getting serious means going for his sword. He practices iaijutsu, a form of kenjutsu revolving around rapid drawing, striking, and sheathing of one's blade. 90's anime fans may recognize iaijutsu or its older name battojutsu as the basis for Kenshin Himura's style in the samurai anime Rurouni Kenshin.

This kill was brought to you by iaijutsu, a popular art for anime swordsmanship because it's fucking cool. Vegeta would later fall victim to Yajirobe's iaijutsu as well.

Imagine being the second-most powerful being the universe literally on the cusp of annihilating the last line of defense that this pitiful world has to offer, with the only truly dangerous opponent broken in your hand....

And then suddenly you lose everything to Krillin's stunt double. This is worse. This is definitely worse than having God Whoopsy Doodle Headbutt you in the balls. 100%, this is worse.

This was both the first and last time Yajirobe had any meaningful impact on a fight. I don't count killing Cymbal up there because Goku would have done it if he hadn't. That was an establishing moment to show off Yajirobe's abilities.

Rather, despite his abilities and standoffish demeanor, Yajirobe is primarily the party healer. It's super weird. Right from the start, his first contribution is a fish Goku swipes from him to get his strength back.

Goku had no idea that this was stealing. He thought fish just... happen like that sometimes.

Goku's bad at life.

But then everything changes for him, after. Uh. Piccolo kills Goku and then Goku... inexplicably springs back to life for no clear reason at all.

Yeah, this beat-for-beat copy/paste of the Taopaipai fight has some jank to it. But that means Yajirobe's next order of business is to serve as a mode of transportation to bring Goku to healz.

And then he moved in. Now he just. Lives there. Obnoxious college roommate to the God of Martial Arts, running errands in the world below. Karin's personal gofer.

Hey, God wants to see us all for fight practice and also your weird island house is dumb and obnoxious.

Here are your Senzu; Bean Daddy out.

The best thing about Yajirobe is the total lack of fucks he gives about whatever this is. Any time he's onscreen, you can feel his resentment over having to earn his rent by continuing to be a character in this manga.

(And the second best thing is that somehow, Wildman With Sword is the party healer.)

[beestriker015]

Raven x sweet and bubbly male s/o

(This is an AU that takes place during Team STRQ’s time at Beacon.)

Most people know Raven Branwen as a cold and serious person, but much to their shock, there’s one person that she has a soft spot for.

That person….is a fellow Beacon student named s/o.

When she met s/o at initiation, Raven was at first constantly annoyed by his cheerful and upbeat personality, which is very similar to that of her team leader Summer.

“Ugh, as if Summer wasn’t bad enough, now I have too overly joyful nuisances in my life.”

Raven thinks to herself while silently staring at s/o with an annoyed gaze.

Despite being shunned and spoken to rudely on several occasions by Raven, s/o was persistent on befriending her.

“Please Raven! Our teams are going to Vale to hang out and I would really love for you to come too.”

He says to her while the stoic girl exits her dorm room.

“For the last time, I don’t want to waste my time being around you s/o. Now leave me alone.”

She says while rolling her eyes and walking away.

Overtime however, Raven began to respect s/o’s determination and even started to…like him.

“Hey Raven! I probably already know your answer, but would you like to hang out with me?”

Much to his surprise, the black haired girl agrees.

“Sure, I have nothing else to do anyway.”

“Really?! Awesome!”

He smiles widely, which Raven can’t help but find a little…cute?

After that, Raven and s/o slowly began getting close, causing a bit of a personality change that her teammates started to notice.

“Raven’s been acting different lately.”

Summer tells her other two teammates Tai and Qrow, the latter of whom is also Raven’s brother.

“Yeah, she’s a lot nicer.”

“I guess spending time with s/o has been a good influence on my sister.”

Qrow says before taking a drink out of his flask.

“Yeah, I’m beginning to think she might like him more than just a friend.”

“I think so too! I ship it sooo hard!”

“Of course you do Summer.”

Tai deadpans as the three continue talking about Raven and s/o.

Although she has yet to realize it, Raven’s teammates are right about her developing feelings for s/o.

Raven doesn’t catch on to how she feels about her friend until the rest of Team STRQ point out the obvious signs, much to her denial.

“No, s/o is a friend and nothing more. I don’t want to fall in love and I’m not interested in dating.”

She tries convincing herself, though ultimately comes to terms with her feelings thanks to her team.

“Fine, I like s/o a lot, but he probably doesn’t see me that way.”

Luckily, matchmaker Summer Rose is on the case.

After doing some prying, Team STRQ’s leader finds out s/o likes Raven too and proceeds to tell her.

“Raven! Raven! Guess what?! S/o does return your feelings!”

She tells her with barely contained excitement as Raven simply nods.

“Really? That makes things easy for me then.”

The confession s/o got from Raven was short and straight to the point, but he was ecstatic nonetheless.

“I love you too Raven! I’ll be the best boyfriend you’ll ever have!”

He pulls her into a hug, causing an ever so slight smile to make its way onto her face.

As a couple, Raven and s/o have a rather unconventional relationship.

Most if not all affection comes from s/o, not that he minds all that much, but Raven does hold his hand in public, which is something I suppose.

Jealousy is nonexistent because s/o is too positive minded and Raven sees being jealous as completely pointless due to her personality.

(Besides, no girl would dare try making a move on s/o because they’re all afraid of what his girlfriend would do if they did.)

Due to s/o’s overly kind and somewhat gullible nature, several people have tried taking advantage of this to get what they want.

“Hey s/o, I really don’t have time to write that essay. Can you please do it for me, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

“Umm, w-well…”

Luckily, he has his girlfriend to help him deal with these kind of people.

“No. S/o is not going to do your work for you. Don’t bother him again and go write that essay your own damn self.”

Raven glares at the student as he hurriedly leaves.

“Thanks for that Raven.”

“You need to learn not to be someone else’s doormat s/o. Be assertive and say no.”

“I understand, and I promise to try.”

“Good, because you’d be weak if you didn’t. Remember what I said about being weak s/o?”

“The weak die and the strong survive?”

“Exactly. You are strong aren’t you?”

“Of course I’m strong!”

Raven smiles in satisfaction.

“Good answer.”

True to his word, s/o is surprisingly a very skilled fighter, so he and Raven train together quite often, which she may or may not take too seriously.

“You lost s/o. That’s 10 wins for me and 7 for you.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you kept count.”

He says while getting up off the ground and dusting himself off.

“I never forget when it comes to combat.

“You’re so cool Raven.”

S/o tells her with stars in his eyes, not caring at all that she beat him.

The thought of Raven Branwen blushing sounds like pure fantasy, but s/o somehow manages to make that a reality.

“How’s my pretty bird doing today?”

S/o’s nickname for her makes Raven flustered every time, but only when he calls her that.

(Tai tried once, needless to say his nose is healing up nicely.)

Well into their relationship, Raven starts becoming more affectionate with s/o, but will snap at anyone who points it out.

“I love you pretty bird.

“I love you too s/o.”

She smiles sweetly at her boyfriend as Qrow snickers.

“Never thought I’d see the day when you’d become such a big softie sis.”

“Softie?! I’ll make you regret those words Qrow!”

“Raven no!”

Qrow runs for his life as his livid sister chases after him with her sword that she named Omen, s/o desperately trying to calm her down the entire time.

If s/o ever got serious hurt, Oum help whoever or whatever is responsible, for they will face the hellish fury of a pissed off Raven.

“For hurting my s/o, you deserve nothing but death.”

She says calmly with a terrifying glare before brutally killing the Grimm who attacked her boyfriend.

“Raven, you saved me!”

He hugs her tightly, which she returns.

“We will do some more training one we’re back at Beacon so this doesn’t happen again. I won’t let my boyfriend become weak.

She tells him all tsundere like, but is secretly very concerned about s/o’s safety.

“Ok! I love you pretty bird.”

Raven smiles softly to herself before breaking from the hug.

“I love you too s/o.”

Despite initially being known as uncaring and cold hearted, Raven can’t help but drop this persona from time to time due to strong love she feels for her sweet boyfriend with all her, whom she will always protect no matter what.

[pleasantglitterflower]

Power Couple (Joe Burrow x Simone Biles)

Joe was very excited to land in Paris, after all he was going to surprise his girlfriend, who is simply Simone Biles. Simone didn't know, but I was already going to surprise her and was going to watch her performance in the final of the artistic gymnastics vaults at the Olympics.

  Joe was very sorry about not being able to accompany Simone in person at the Paris Olympics, as the training camp period before the NFL preseason would be taking place at the same time, and this season will be decisive for Joe, after months of treating a serious hand injury.

Simone was super understanding and understood the fact that Joe couldn't be in Paris, as he also needed to focus on his preparation to return to playing at a high level. The gymnast was like a compass for Joe's recovery, for the quarterback, if it weren't for Simone supporting and encouraging him, his recovery wouldn't have been so successful.

Joe did not give up and spoke with the Bengals board and coaching staff to get permission to travel to Paris, in return he would do extra training when he returned. Simone had no idea that her boyfriend was going to surprise her, Joe already had everything planned with the US artistic gymnastics team and Jade Carey, one of the American gymnasts competing in the Olympic Games, wished one day to have a boyfriend like Joe.

Bercy Arena - August 3,2024

The day of the competition finally arrived and Joe was very nervous. Although he was not very religious, he kept praying silently, asking the gods of gymnastics that Simone would perform her lifts very well and that no adversity would befall her.

First came the men's artistic gymnastics performance, and with each movement, he found it fascinating how those men executed their jumps with perfection. Despite knowing his whole life that he wanted to play football, he had always admired the entire concept of artistic gymnastics, so much so that whenever he had a break from a game, during his time at LSU, he would always go and watch the performances of the college's women's gymnastics team, led by Olivia Dunne. He laughed, thinking that if it were him trying to do one of those jumps, he would probably have broken all his bones. If you're going to get hurt, you might as well do it at the intensity of football.

The men's performance ended and finally the women's vault solo performance arrived. The main favorites for the gold medal were Simone and Rebeca Andrade, who are the two main references in artistic gymnastics today. Simone was the fourth gymnast to perform and her performance left no doubt that the gold medal was hers. She landed the vault that bears her name, the Biles II, and despite taking a 0.1 penalty for stepping off the jump, she received a spectacular 15.700 - 6.400 for the start score, 9.400 for the execution and -0.100 penalty.

Burrow couldn't contain himself and celebrated a lot when she performed Biles II, he was very happy and excited. On her second vault, Biles went for a very well-executed Cheng, which earned her a score of 14.900 - 5.600 for difficulty and 9.300 for execution. With that, she had an average of 15.300. Joe screamed so much, he probably wasn't as happy with the Bengals' victories as he was with Biles's jumps.

The other performances took place and then they waited for the results, and finally it became official: Simone Biles was the vault solo champion and broke another record. Joe couldn't control his emotions and cried with joy, he saw how hard Simone was on herself and how intensely she trained, it's always special when hard work is rewarded. He celebrated happily with other American fans, who fortunately, when they saw that Joe was very focused on watching the performance, didn't ask him for photos and autographs, because for those present there, he was a fan like any other.

Simone, Rebeca Andrade and Jade Carey took their places on the podium, respectively, and Joe was smiling very proud of his beloved. After all the formal celebrations, Simone began to interact with some fans, until she had an unexpected surprise, with Joe going to her and hugging her tightly. —Joe, I can't believe you actually came - Biles says shocked to see her man face to face with her

-I wouldn't miss the chance to see you win eye to eye my love, in person it's much better, the same way when you go see my games - Joe speaks, giving her a little kiss afterwards.

-I'm so happy you came my love, but what about training and the team?

-Honey, they really understood how important the Olympics are and allowed me to be here, but let's not talk about that, today is all about you and we have to celebrate, especially because the whole team is watching the competitions right now.

-I love you so much Joe, thank you so much for always being with me and supporting me in everything - she kisses the quarterback

-I am lucky enough to have a woman like you in my life Simone, you are so important in my life that if it weren't for you, I would be very lost, I love you forever - they give a movie kiss to the delight of everyone present in that gym, just proving that the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are already in history as one of the most iconic Olympics of all time.

[alexbkrieger13]

Magdalena Eriksson on taboo in the sports world: "Working for many"

It is 2023 and we are still working to remove the stigma and taboo around talking about periods, Magdalena Eriksson tells a group of 15-year-olds one afternoon.

A stigma she herself did not wish existed when she grew up as a young soccer player.

It is during a training session in the middle of June that Sickla IF's 15-year-old girls are visited by Magdalena Eriksson. The Swedish national team player, who plays for Bayern Munich every day, grew up in a time where periods were somewhat embarrassing and therefore not discussed. Something she wants today's young girls not to have to go through.

- We must dare to talk about this. We must educate girls and coaches in how the menstrual cycle can affect girls' sports performance, says the 29-year-old.

The subject has been on the table for a few years, but despite that, Eriksson believes that we are "far from finished".

- Clubs and associations must start taking responsibility. You have to understand as an association that you have a big responsibility in training your coaches.

The Sickla team's coach Olle Linder, who is surprised that there is not much talk about the subject, felt that the training initially had a "closed atmosphere".

- Even if a famous woman comes here and says the word period, the girls still think it's shitty. It just shows that it is important to dare to talk more about it, says Linder.

Magdalena Eriksson's experiences of talking about periods changed when she came to Chelsea. The English team has been at the forefront by adapting training to the players' menstrual cycle for a few years now. 

This is thanks to the team's coach Emma Hayes.

- I was 24 years old when Hayes made me understand how all these things are connected. When we started talking about Chelsea, we were very unique. We were probably among the first to start talking about periods and sports performance.

The national team star believes that the topic is still taboo, even though you can see that more and more national team players have raised the issue and more teams have embraced the topic.

- It's probably old habits and customs that live on in our culture. Menstruation is also taboo in many cultures.

Research shows: Many people stop playing sports

By collaborating with Libresse's initiative Befriend your body, the national team star wants to participate in the fight for increased self-esteem as well as breaking taboos and normalizing menstruation for young girls in the sports world.

Through several different surveys, the initiators of the project have been able to see that many girls stop playing sports when they are around 15 years old. 

- It is important to become friends with your body, accept it and hopefully love it so that you can continue playing sports, says Oda Mustorp, brand manager at Libresse and one of the initiators of the project.

The goal, according to Oda Mustorp, is to be "the big sister who guides how to get to know your body and can maximize training during the four phases of the menstrual cycle".

More and more club teams and national teams have also chosen to replace their white shorts with other colors, so that the players don't have to worry about bleeding through. It is something that 29-year-old Magdalena Eriksson sees as the simplest solution of all.

- Changing from white shorts should not be a problem. Many have thought it was difficult but did not dare to say anything, and now they have finally done it.

Something else that more and more club teams and elite athletes have begun to understand is how injuries are connected to the menstrual cycle. 

- We have had serious injuries in women's football that can even be linked to the menstrual cycle. We need more research so we know how to both train and treat women, says the national team star and continues:

- We need to make society better for girls to live in. 

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

sent the first one and realized I might be feeling needy or greedy; so if you're yet feeling deedy and heedy:

🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊🌊

DAMN! 90 sentences. Let's go. Might just finish this nearly.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

---

Buck tries to bite back a smile. 

“This means I’m considering it,” he says sternly. “Under certain terms and conditions.”

Eddie nods sagely, accepting this punishment.

“And what would those be? If I might ask?” 

“Well,” Buck begins. “I think I heard something about manual labor with bar repairs?”

“Bar, house, hell, a community garden if you need.” Eddie agrees. 

“Oh, a community garden.” Buck muses. “Nice idea.”

Eddie tries to keep a serious expression. “What else?”

Buck’s lips quirk. “Well, I might also need somewhere to crash temporarily. Considering the hurricane.”

“Hotel Diaz has vacancies,” Eddie assures him.  

“One last thing,” Buck says.

“Name it.” 

“Forgive me for losing it in the bar a little there? And for ignoring your calls and texts? Not my most mature moment.”

Eddie smiles at him. 

“Only if you can forgive me for the way I reacted.”

Buck nods. “I can.” 

“Then where’s the dotted line for me to sign?” Eddie asks. 

Buck leans forward in his chair so suddenly it tips a little. Eddie scooches forward to meet him. Their hands find each other’s faces, gentle but urgent. Eddie kisses him a little desperately. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I missed you. It says. And he thinks he can tell that Buck missed him, too. 

“So parallel universes,” Buck says as he pulls away. 

“Yeah, that kind of fucks up my whole life outlook, just a little.” Eddie admits. 

“Yeah, wild.” Buck agrees. “Sorry, probably not the best topic of conversation at this point in our very new reconciliation, but there is no one else to talk to about this.”

“It’s okay,” Eddie says. “I’m okay about it now. Confused, but okay.”

“I did research about it,” Buck continues. “And there are theories.” 

“Theories?” Eddie inquires. 

“Yeah, you know. About how it all works,” Buck clarifies.

Eddie feels a warm smile spread over his face, despite the storm outside. 

“Yeah? Tell me about them.”

So Buck does. And Eddie rides out the worst of the hurricane, listening to random facts about Ancient Greeks, Occam’s Razor, and many world interpretations. He’s not sure he understands any of it really. But he enjoys listening nonetheless. 

🌊🌊🌊

They’re lucky. The damage from the hurricane isn’t as bad as it might have been. As soon as they can be, Eddie and his team are back out on the streets, helping people. 

Maddie and Buck volunteer to help hand out water, food, and provide basic first aid to people who arrive at the station. Maddie, a former ER nurse, flies right into action. Eddie can tell she’s in her element. 

Eddie checks in with Chris and Shannon, who are fine. 

“The Wi-Fi was out for so long,” is his son’s very privileged complaint. Eddie feels grateful that’s all he’s had to put up with. 

Eddie’s house is also fine. Shingles on the roof might’ve taken a beating, but that seems to be the worst of it. They get Maddie and Genevieve settled in there once they can all leave the station, then Buck and Eddie take Eddie’s truck to check on his place and the bar. 

The bar is in fine condition. The outer walls took a bit of damage, but it’s mostly superficial. Buck seems to think it’ll take him a weekend and a case of beer to ‘fix her up.’ Eddie’s not sure where the confidence comes from, but he’ll happily be along for the ride.

The beach house is a different story. There’s a lot of water damage. The stairs leading down to the beach and parts of the deck have collapsed. 

“Fuck,” Buck says when he sees it. “This is going to take a while.”

“You’ve got somewhere to stay,” Eddie reminds him. 

“Are you sure? Eddie, this could be months.”

“I agreed to the terms and conditions,” Eddie reminds him, squeezing his hand. “No returns.” 

Buck leans against him for emotional support. He sighs as he figures out how to move forward. All Eddie can do is have his back. 

Maddie is less stressed about it when they tell her.

[paullovescomics]

Star Trek The Next Generation Gulliver's Fugitives

Spoilers. Not a very serious review. This is the 11th TNG novel, published in 1990.

The Enterprise investigates the disappearance of another Starfleet vessel, the Huxley, whose last known location was within a nebula. These dang nebulas, y'all. Ships always getting lost in them. Turns out there is a pre-Federation human colony on a planet in that nebula, and it has devolved into a fascist state that outlaws all forms of fiction. Not gonna lie, i skimmed a lot of this because that's not the kind of world i want to read about right now.

When contact is made, a few representatives of this planet are beamed aboard. That's fine, but the colonists also manage to get some of their floating robot enforcers onboard, and these things are pretty much invulnerable. They can read humans' minds, so they know when you're about to shoot them. They shoot radiation that kinda boils your brain. Picard is kidnapped and taken to the surface. Ultimately, the assholes on this planet want to destroy the Enterprise so they don't spread any "fictions" about interstellar travel, aliens, or other ways of life being okay.

You might think the crew of the Enterprise could deal with the robots fairly quickly, but no, it takes them most of the novel to figure out a solution. They can't read Data's mind, or Worf's (because they've only had exposure to humans til now), so maybe send the non-human security officers, or whip up some drones with guns in the replicators? Which makes me ask a question I often ask while watching or reading Trek: why don't these people use robots or drones or droids like, hardly ever? You could save a few ships from getting lost in crazy nebulas, for one thing. Oh well. Trek universe just doesn't like robots.

There is s resistance on the colony planet, and the too small and under-armed away team gets mixed up with them. Well, Troi does. Riker and Data get captured. Some of these folks are cool. They take on identities of fictional (mostly mythical) characters.

This book introduces a couple of new characters that are given pretty full backstories, enough so that I had to double check the Memory Alpha and Beta websites to make sure they weren't from TV episodes I'd just forgotten. (I've seen all of TNG, but those early episodes don't stick in my mind very well.) But no, they are new. The author just went the extra mile to flesh them out a bit. Makes you wonder if he planned to bring these characters back in later novels, but apparently that did not happen.

Anyway, things eventually work out, and we get the sense that big changes are about to happen on this planet, and nobody from the Enterprise had to violate the Prime Directive to accomplish that. Picard and the away team are really put through the ringer, with mind-wipes and coming within seconds of being executed. Those kind of stakes always feel weird in tie-in fiction, because on one level you feel the threat, but on another level, you know tie-in fiction isn't allowed to change the main characters. So do you play along with it, or do you question it? Creates an odd tension in the old brain.

If you really like early TNG and you dig tie-in novels, you'll probably have fun with this one. These books are still in a lot of used book stores, and still in decent shape despite being thirty freaking years old.

Live long and prosper, folks.

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3166: Hoopa-GX (Team Up)

Hoopa-GX was a generally hard-hitting Darkness-type, even if one that couldn't attack multiple turns in a row. Its main thing over other Pokemon was that it had a GX attack that could deal some serious damage to Benched Pokemon-GX, which was going to be useful rather often in a format filled with those. There was a lot of competition for the GX attack in decks it would be used in, with the strong but limited normal attack needing to be enough to carry it in spots where something else wanted to use theirs instead.

190 HP was solid for a Basic Pokemon-GX. It was actually high enough to force Pikachu & Zekrom-GX to use a second Electropower to get a clean KO here, meaning that surviving a hit would happen reasonably often. The Fighting Weakness was rarely going to matter at this point in the game, and it wasn't until the very late TEU-On inclusion of Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX that it became a big deal again. Hoopa-GX wasn't nearly as useful in that format anyway. The Psychic Resistance could occasionally change a number against a Mewtwo & Mew-GX deck, though the impact was generally limited. The Retreat Cost here was 3, meaning that switching cards of some sort were basically required here. Hoopa-GX was not something that could attack every turn.

Rogue Ring needed a Darkness Energy and let you search your deck for up to 2 cards to put into your hand. This could help early with setting up. The problem was that this did no damage, and using a Pokemon-GX to just help set up while also being Active was quite the risk. Any hand disruption messed it up too. If you did avoid the negatives, it could also be a big help, so despite not being ideal you were probably going to want to keep the existence of this in mind if you were using Hoopa-GX.

Dark Strike was strong, at 160 damage for 3 Darkness Energy. This was similar to some of the bigger attacks at the time, but with one catch: Hoopa-GX couldn't use Dark Strike again during your next turn. This provided solid damage as long as you could switch to something else to take over the hitting right afterward. This was more useful if you had Weavile-GX to move Energy around to whatever you picked.

Devilish Hands GX also needed 3 Darkness Energy. The Darkness decks you'd use Hoopa-GX in also had other GX attacks, so you had to be sure this one was worth it before using. The effect was quite impressive here: You got to choose a Pokemon-EX or Pokemon-GX in play 6 times, and could choose the same one more than once. Each choice did 30 damage to that Pokemon, and Weakness and Resistance were ignored. You could spread a lot of damage or target a Benched Pokemon easily in this way. That Dedenne-GX on the Bench was just a target for this, and anything that gave up multiple Prizes and was weakened would not be safe. This could be a game-changing sort of attack if timed well.

Hoopa-GX did need Energy support to work, as any deck it was used in needed to power it up but also another attacker as well. This tended to limit the card to being used as a piece in Weavile-GX decks, which could move Darkness Energy around efficiently. Hoopa-GX even had a nice GX attack to work with, with the big downside being that you couldn't use the ones from the likes of Greninja & Zoroark-GX, Umbreon & Darkrai-GX, or Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX. This was something to consider for those Dark toolboxes, but was hard to fit in elsewhere.

[shenzaibird-art]

Sooo I watched all four days of Crufts this past weekend and was possessed by the urge to draw various dog breeds. Child me would be so proud. (I still have the book of dog breeds I was obsessed with as a kid, and I still have an old little paper inside it with a list of dog breeds I wanted to draw... and pretty much all of these were there) Info about all of these people under the cut thingy:

Brelyn: A Grand Augur of necromagic. Probably will replace Morrok as Sellatrix's master and head of their team because I like her. Gentle and easygoing, likes to see innovative projects, hence her being okay with taking Verloren into her team. A powerful mage, much more deadly than she looks. Might be a witch as well or at least respect witchcraft. (Rip Morrok the owl, didn't even get a chance to exist and was already replaced, I might reuse the concept for another char or smth) Silverstrand: Was supposed to be a Grand Augur of necromagic but he has SUCH a geomage vibe that I'm not sure anymore. Either way, he's very serious and strict, and prefers things done "the right way" rather than experimental weird stuff. Basically the opposite of Brelyn a bit. If I make him a Grand Augur of geomagic, then he might be head of Lazuli's team. One of the king's most trusted Grand Augurs, warned him that exiling Verloren was a terrible idea (but got ignored anyway). King Harlin Devandell III of Houndsdagger: Proud and stubborn, likes to show off his power and skills. Grew up hearing that his mother the Queen never did enough, so he tries to do too much. Doesn't know much about magic and severely underestimates it. Ended up killed when Verloren didn't take being exiled very well. Wasn't too old, probably just a bit older than Verloren, so not even 50 yet when he died. Pommie: Finella's personal maid since she was a teenager. Very kind and caring, often felt more like a mom to Finella than her real mother. She's a household-wizard (someone who helps with trivial magic tasks, such as preparing baths with warming crystals and fancy fur potions or lighting up light orbs around the house) and taught Finella some basic magic when she asked her. The only one of this batch that I actually already had a full concept of for a while, even the breed, I just hadn't drawn her yet. Nivenyr: One of Sellatrix's witch friends. He's from the village and not related to the castle or any noble business. He works as a mage, making spells and stuff that he sells in his little shop. Somewhat cryptic. Possibly younger than he looks, I have no idea what's his age yet really. Might be more fit for my other setting that's about edgy emo witches (I mean he has emo hair even on his hands) but I'll try to keep him in this setting because Sella can't be the only witch around. Lazuli: A geomagic augur, friends with Finella. Calm and collected, she doesn't say much but judges everyone silently. Kinda tired of everyone's crap but tries to be non-violent, despite sometimes wishing she could kill some people. Her parents were jewelers and when she learned she could do magic with crystals and gemstones, she became a geomage and also learned to make art with magic crystals. Cyrus: A phytomagic augur. Extremely average guy. Obnoxious with his hate of necromagic. Was married to Finella at one point and he constantly tried to prove her how phyto is so much better than necro (Finella is a necromage, she just tried to ignore him when he went on a rant). When Verloren took over, Cyrus was among the phytomagic augurs who tried to ambush him and take him down, and was defeated and killed like all the others. Finella had mixed feelings about the incident. There were more people I wanted to make, like a pumi guy that I couldn't settle on a design for, and a girl that'll be either a papillon or a spaniel of some kind. But yeah I love dogs.

[spacegoathours]

alright this has been sitting in my wips for weeks and it was gonna be a ref sheet but I sort of already did one so /shrug

since I did a buncha your OCs today now you get to hear ‘bout mine here goes

some stuff that will probably contradict itself bc I’m bad at writing AND!! bad at continuity. but here’s A LOT of story/personality stuff.

while on Irk in the “early years” whatever you wanna call her smeethood until whenever she gets banished, Callie gets away with small things that other Irkens wouldn’t get away with simply bc she’s Tallest Miyuki’s…idk…protege? she’s expected to be as powerful and successful as she is.. especially after Miyuki dies in the vort station 9 accident

by small things I mean wearing an outfit that doesn’t fit normal Irken-in-training or Irken Elite standards (she’s elite right before being forced away from Irk). and stepping out of line when talking with her peers and ESPECIALLY when talking with those taller than her. and befriending Vortians while observing the research teams. she gets away with all of this bc if someone were to speak up they’d get in trooooubleeee

Callie can be very cheeky sometimes but doesn’t necessarily take advantage of her unwanted “status” while on Irk. things like hanging out with the Vortian scientists and dressing slightly differently than her Irken peers are very normal, to her at least. it’s fucked up Irken society that doesn’t allow anyone else to converse with those filthy Vorts or wear whatever they want.

Despite thinking differently - and of course knowing early on that this means she’s defective - Callie feels a ton of regret and anxiety when she’s banished for going against the new Tallests’ plans for her. she knows deep down that it’s fine to be your own person and make your own way, but again, ✨Irken society baybeeeeeee✨ and she carries that anxiety, well, forever after that.

(I basically always skip the Earth portion of Callie’s story bc I wrote it when I was 14 and it was bad and stupid. All you need to know is that Callie REALLY LOVES EARTH. yes this doesn’t match the vibe of the show at all but who cares: she learns that being herself and engaging in her true interests and goals is ALLOWED and even ENCOURAGED on earth and her anxiety ebbs away while she lives there. then she dies. oh well. as to who’s fault that is, it used to be Zim’s fault in my old story but I just HAVE NOT visited this enough to work out why/how that would even happen.)

Her human disguise was a design I used to draw ALL THE TIME in 2005 and even a bit in 2019. good times! she dressed very grunge/emo which is how I dressed in high school bc of course!!! of course she is more of a self-insert than I WANT her to be and always was!!! AUGRHHRGGH

After Callie is revived by the Resisty - attaching her dormant PAK to Nyx’s dying body - she looks like the bottom left pic. wears a beat up hospital gown all the time, still has a good amount of Nyx’s attributes, and is HIGHLY irritable and actually, really fucking dangerous. she’s aware that she’s Callie, but is experiencing some serious trauma: this isn’t her fucking body, she’s in severe pain and has to eat and sleep while her PAK tries to heal her, and she’s been ripped away from Earth where she finally felt safe and happy away from her old, demanding life.

She nearly kills Lard Nar at least once, trying to convince him to bring her back to Earth. the rest of the crew thinks their captain has completely lost it allowing a mentally unstable Irken on board. or really an Irken at all for that matter considering uhhh the whole reason the Resisty exists in the first place. Lard Nar tries to get his crew to understand that Callie is not a threat (knows this bc they knew each other on vort research station 9) and would be a great asset to the resistance once she recovers

but yknow it’s not going well. Callie is NOT NICE to anyone on the ship, least of all Laksa, the nurse trying to help her recover, and a lot of this has to do with the fact that Nyx’s attributes are still present. Callie’s defective PAK, while mostly functional, is taking ages compared to a healthy PAK to make this new body completely “her” again. I mean, side note, Nyx was a model Irken: so uh, ASSHOLE. and did her job well, nearly getting the Resisty killed. so having all of THAT basically still present…..hmmm, bad.

Luckily Laksa has endless patience and Callie does start to recover, and her eyes start working their way back to just blue as opposed to the one blue and one teal when she first woke up. looks like the bottom center pic. she starts to calm down and fly off the handle way less. Starts appreciating Laksa for all the work she’s tirelessly put in to make sure Callie is okay. she’s still really far from ok and processing all the trauma from her past and present.

that’s where all the angst happens that I’ve been writing oops we won’t get into THAT (something something callie and lard nar eventually end up as a couple bc I need to live my life sorry guys. I’ll talk about that uhhhhh ANOTHER TIME…or never.)

and finally after all THAT that we won’t talk about for the moment she’s much better, lost her right antennae and is essentially deaf on that side but is otherwise back to her old self but BETTER!! last pic on the right. someone made her a new uniform or something idk but she does want to dress the way she used to in the end. (does she or does her creator just really like drawing it so she has to? we may never know)

so like. Now you know where she is in the timeline based on how I draw her???? No one cares about this but me???????? Why does my dumb brain tell me I need to explain anything I slap down on this tallest forsaken website fuck it all