#for our favorite backliner

[changingtidesandtimesss]

The Exy championship stadium audience going wild

cheering happily for Jean at a game he helped win.

[yoitsjay]

Mom?

Pairings: platonic 501st x older! Reader

Summary: your the 501st's chief doctor, and mother figure.

Warnings: fluff fluff

Word count: 767

You were senior Chief medical practitioner, which meant you were in charge of all the battalions.

However you couldn't manage your life with such a huge responsibility, so you demoted yourself to chief medical practitioner, and started working for the 501st. Having clones so ready to help you with whatever you needed was nice, and eventually you had built up a separate squad, entirely based on medicine and war injuries.

You were so soft and caring towards the clones, acting like a mother to a lot of them, which they didn’t really have. You were a tad bit older than Obi-wan being thirty seven, but you were very athletic for your age and never slowed anyone down. Though you stuck to the backlines because you didn’t want to get hurt, and obviously the 501st didn’t want you hurt since you were the kindest and gentlest doctor they’ve had.

Tup called you mom once when you had bandaged up his bruised knuckles, he got them from punching a droid, obviously, and you scolded him as you wrapped his end. Though he was smiling and laughing you were dead serious. But the look on your face when he got up and said. “Thanks mom!” With no hesitation before leaving?

Yeah you kind of cried, a lot. Like so much that Rex heard you wailing from the mess hall so he came to check on you. When you told him Tup kind of called you mom he laughed a bit, and wiped your tears before helping you sit down.

After that you noticed a lot more clones slipping up and calling you mom or momma, every time you teared up a bit but carried on with your work. Anakin Skywalker had been in the mess hall when you had surprised a clone batch with a cake for their “Birthday” after praying to see what day they were created, and then celebrated that respective day.

None of the clones had ever experienced birthdays, but you wanted to inspire them, inspire them to fight harder, be more meticulous so that they could survive to the next birthday. A lot of them did, and throughout the long years of the clone wars, you helped many clones celebrate their “creation day”.

Anakin was grateful for all you were doing, despite it being somewhat questionable to the kaminoans and the republic. You didn’t really give a rats ass to what they thought though. You had your boys, and that was enough.

You never got married, or had kids, nor did you want to, because of a lot of these men. You had even taken Anakin under your wing, you understood that he had lost his mother, yet despite that you made sure he was loved and cared for just as much as he would have been with his mother. He was grateful for you too. The mom of the 501st.

So when your fortieth birthday came around, and you were feeling old and slow, Fives, Echo, Rex, Jesse and Kix all took you out to 79’s, and then to a shooting range where they taught you some things. Then they had taken you out for a really nice dinner downtown, courtesy of Anakin and his credits.

By the end of the night you were crying into their group hug, kissing every one of their cheeks before you pulled away.

“Oh my beautiful boys. Thank you.” You spoke up softly, seeing them all grinning down at you. “Anytime momma.” Fives beamed, laughing as you pinched his cheek. They brought you back to your apartment on Coruscant, which was a beautiful penthouse you got to live in for free, and they all said good night to you.

Somehow, you found Anakin in your apartment with a bottle of your favorite wine, and some desert, which also happened to be your favorite and native to your home planet. “Anakin! you didn’t need to do anything like this!” You exclaimed, walking to him as he embraced you tightly.

“I wanted to, you’ve cared for me, for everyone in the 501st, so much. You’ve become our- well- our mom.” He said honestly, albeit a little bashful. You smiled at him, cupping his cheek gently. “Oh Anakin, your mother would be so proud of you, I hope you know that.” You whispered, and he nodded, closing his eyes for a moment before he pulled away and poured the wine, and then cut up the desert.

It was the best birthday you’ve ever had. and who knows, maybe you just prevented Anakin becoming darth vader, maybe you’ve saved billions of lives.

Maybe.

➺

Tag list:

Rex:

Fives:

Jesse:

Tcw:

All:

@moomoog017

[luvrsux]

a/n: take this until i’m done writing requests and other fics luvs ♡

ONE PIECE HEADCANONS #2

Overwatch Mains!

❝ giving each strawhat + more an overwatch hero they'd play. comment on suggestions i should do! :3 ❞

MONKEY D. LUFFY - Tracer

╰┈➤ I feel like Luffy is so simple enough to play the icon of Overwatch. Luffy was so baffled to see that she was able to teleport and immediately fell in love with the kit. Considering Tracer is also a flanking character, he'd be in the middle of the enemy team causing havoc. Will NOT touch support

Luffy: WOAH SHE CAN TELEPORT???? THATS SO COOL

Other Choices: Reinhardt as Tank, Junkrat as second Damage

RORONOA ZORO - Genji

╰┈➤ This is such an obvious choice, there's no need to explain. He rocks the Sentai skin on Genji or just his regular no-skin outfit just for the green. He's the only hero he has with gold weapons and the highest ranked. He insta-locks this man whenever he's playing.

Sanji: Do you play anyone else Mosshead???

Zoro: Just shut up and heal me if you want to win, cook

Other Choices: Doomfist as Tank

VINSMOKE SANJI - Cole Cassidy

╰┈➤ I feel like Sanji connects with Cassidy's charm and smoking habits so he plays him often. He knows Cassidy is the lover boy of the Overwatch community and everyone obsesses over him so he took that as an opportunity to main him. Sanji's second-best class is support but only really pays attention to Nami's health. Won't heal anyone else (especially Zoro) unless they're shouting at him.

Zoro: SWIRLY BROWS, CAN YOU HEAL ME? IM AT 20 IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT

Sanji: WELL MAYBE IF YOU STOPPED JUMPING SO MUCH ID HEAL YOU. LET ME HEAL MY SWEET NAMI FIRST

Zoro: I DIED ANYWAYS I HOPE THEY KILL YOU

Other Choices: Mercy and Ana as Support

GOD USOPP - Widowmaker

╰┈➤ This choice is so obvious. Widow is a sniping character, and so is Usopp. He is a menace to Widow and doesn't even know it. He likes how Widow isn't meant to be on the actual battlefield but more on the sidelines picking off the enemy teams. He screams like a bitch when someone flanks behind him though.

Usopp: Okay, I killed their supports we should be good- *A Tracer comes up from behind* LUFFYYYYYYYY THERES SOMEONE ON MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Luffy: Oh sorry Im in spawn :p

Other Choices: Lucio as Support, Hanzo as second Damage

NAMI - Kiriko

╰┈➤ Nami definitely loves Kiriko for her more angsty personality that no one likes. She'd rather help in the backlines than deal with fighting up front, but she puts the kunais to WORK. Sanji is always on her tail and targets anyone who tries to or manages to kill her.

Nami: Dang it, I died. Try to hold out a little longer guys-

Sanji: WHO DID IT NAMI????? ILL KILL THEM FOR YOU MY SWEET

Other Choices: Brigette as second Support, Ashe as Damage, D.va as Tank

TONY TONY CHOPPER - Mercy

╰┈➤ Chopper will mainly play any support but Mercy is his top choice. He tries to revive anyone he can even in the tightest of situations. He is the best healer you can get, but he can also be a great tank. But our lil baby gets stressed...

Chopper: IM COMING LUFFY DONT WORRY

Zoro: Chopper, can you damage boost me?

Chopper: YEAH IN A SEC-

Sanji: Chopper revive! That Zenyatta is so low!

Chopper: IM TRYINGGGGGGGG

Other Choices: Orisa and Wrecking Ball as Tank

NICO ROBIN - Moira

╰┈➤ There is no possible way Nico doesn't play Moira. I feel like she's more DPS Moira than anything but still upholds good support for her team.

Other Choices: Sombra as Damage, Lifeweaver as Support

FRANKY - Reinhardt

╰┈➤ Franky is 100% the crew's Tank main. He knows every tank playstyle from top to the very bottom but his favorite is of course the loudest one there. Franky is the most reliable tank you can get. He insta-locks Rein and adores him to the very end.

Sanji: I think you should switch, Franky they have a few counters-

Franky: Ill still kick their asses, I dont care Im playing Reinhardt

Other Choices: Bastion as Damage

SOUL KING BROOK - Junkrat

╰┈➤ Brook finds ruining people's day by playing the most annoying character on the roster the funniest thing ever. He laughs when Junkrat laughs manically. It's such a fitting choice for his personality

Other Choices: Reaper as second Damage

PORTGAS D. ACE - Solider: 76

╰┈➤ He is such a straightforward person enough to play Solider but be dope good at it. Ace would be the type of person to get ahead of themselves and over-extend though.

Sabo: ACE ACE YOURE OVER EXTENDING I CANT HEAL YOU-

Ace: Huh? *dies* Oh my bad

Sabo: Ill get off right now.

Luffy: BAHSKAKAHAIAHA WHY HE DIE LIKE THATAHSAA-

Other Choices: Torbjorn for second Damage

SABO - Baptiste

╰┈➤ Sabo is definitely a good damage support hero. He loves Bap for his sweet personality yet dark backstory similar to his own. He can't stand playing with 2 reckless damages every time though (Luffy and Ace)

Luffy: Saboooooo why didn't you heal meeeeeee :(

Sabo: YOURE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MAP IM SORRY???

Other Choices: Zenyatta as second Support, Echo as Damage

TRAFALGAR D. WATER LAW - Ramattra

╰┈➤ I see Law playing the most complex Tank in the game but Law can play almost anyone on the roster if he feels like it. He barely gives out any callouts unless he is raging like crazy

Luffy: Imma go in and kill everyone

Law: ...

Zoro: I need help over here not gonna lie

Law: ...

Sanji: I think Im gonna switch-

Law: CAN THIS SYMMETRA STOP PLACING TURRETS ON OUR SPAWN OH MY FUCKING-

Other Choices: Reaper as Damage, Mercy as Support

EUSTASS KIDD - Roadhog

╰┈➤ Kidd is definitely a one-trick and only for the most annoying tank in the game. Killer is definitely his pocket healer and will yell at anyone who comes after his skills in the slightest

Law: Kid please pick another tank, you're doing terrible

Kid: WHAT??? FUCK YOU SAY

Luffy: YOU SUCK

Kid: I COULD BEAT BOTH OF YOU IN A 1V1 RIGHT NOW-

thats all! i hoped you enjoyed the little dialogues hehe

[rexsketches]

"Our backline is in love with our other backline!"

Overall a practice doodle that I ended up liking.

The sketch in the corner you can see below. Rider’s expression was my favorite to doodle up.

[popgirlyartist]

Unhinged Character

I have made a character for the past year and haven't posted since I was out online, and here's our characters I haven't posted.

Charlotte Silver Doomary

She's a grumpy little teenager who doesn't even care about anything, and she loves to see people suffer and pain. She was a sweet girl back then when she was four or five, but now she was a grumpy insulted teenager before her childhood trauma. She is a troublemaker at that point, She likes to cause trouble everywhere she starts, She sometimes gets so cruel at this moment.

Trait

She was an only child.

She mostly gets grumpy.

has cigarette burns on both her legs (by her uncle).

She has pupaphobia and acrophobia (have that fear since childhood).

Sometimes, she talks about the worst thing that could happen to their life.

When someone insults her, she insults them back.

She does not give a shit to everyone or everything.

her favorite vegetable is beetroot.

She hates the color pink.

Two parts of the pigtails have been dyed black.

She's half albino and a Caucasian.

She hates people who just disrespect her boundaries.

Emotionally Cold.

Clothing

Nightgown | Two causal clothes | Summer outfit | Pretty Dress

Items

Butterfly knife

Notebook.

Pencil.

Jar.

Phone.

Backpack.

—

Jenny Clarkson Sweetpuff

Jenny was an agitated girl who had anger issues and had no chill of her habit. She even physically and verbally assaults people when she gets angry. She always complains about her family life. She gets ignored and tormented for too long, She'll get revenge on them for what they did to her.

Trait

She gets extremely jealous sometimes.

She has six brothers.

She has family issues ( including her father ).

Does not like people interrupting her boundaries.

She's extremely emotional.

She gets so mad easily when someone agitates her or picks on her.

Emotionally sociopathic.

Have Existential Crisis.

Has peanut allergies.

She is afraid of organic worms (because she is uncomfortable with worms, but not the one that is gummy)

She's a sneaky girl.

She has a badass singing voice.

Have amazing dance moves.

Mostly, sometimes she gets so cruel.

She violently screamed like a manic the second time.

Clothing

| Causal Clothes | Winters Clothes | PJ | Summer Outfit | Popstar Uniform |

Extra:

She wears a black sweater when she depressed.

Items

Mood ring

Bag

Notebook

Pencil

Brass knuckles (reason why: She beat the crap out of the old man in rage and then loot him)

Phone

—

Jina Backlin

Jina with a J has good tactics. She floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee. She has a journey for Justice and Wisdom, She practiced days and days to become a one and only brave person in the world. She likes to talk facts about things she knows because she studied by reading a book of history and/or seeing Wikipedia. She likes to fight with her lives and protecting she cares.

Trait

She has complex PTSD

She does tai chi.

She has a birthmark and two scars on her back.

Is an outsider.

She loves listening to Lofi's music, It makes her feel chill.

She is a fast cook.

She has a spiritual ego on her.

She has entered stealth mode when she's trying to stay quiet.

She respects everything if everything goes wrong.

Experts in problem-solving.

Clothing

Her ninja / karate outfit

Her casual outfit.

Items

Ninja stuff.

Smoke bombs.

Phone.

Journal.

—

What do they have in common

Both of them have a terrible lifestyle, and both of them had childhood trauma when they were young

Both Jina and Jenny have amazing talent.

Charlotte and Jenny are cruel girls

I haven't posted for years. I will post it another time.

PS. Sorry for the long post.

[taminoarticles]

— Tamino for Milk.xyz, 2019 (x) (x)

Exploring Intentionality With Tamino

For this Belgian-born musician, every word counts.

10.1.2019 By Ella Jayes Photos by Dana Boulos

Tamino’s first New York show is sold out, and the crowd is enraptured. Throughout the performance, the audience seeks to establish a connection with the towering 22-year-old dressed in black. At every bout of silence, they ask questions, they request songs. “Play ‘Crocodile’!” one fan screams, and though he’s about to start another piece, Tamino switches chords and bends to our will. “I didn’t know that worked,” a surprised fan replies.

When he’s not touring with Radiohead’s Colin Greenwood, playing with the Nagham Zirkayat Orchestra or being personally requested to perform with Lana Del Rey, it’s just Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad and his instruments.

When asked which guitar is his favorite, he answers like a proud father, “I can’t pick,” as he slings a black electric over his shoulder and secretly whispers “this one,” before heading into another song. Skipping octaves, his voice is like velvet, passing through Arabic vocal and tonal inflections.

Music is in the blood for the Belgian-born artist; with a name inspired by the prince of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” and a revered Egyptian grandfather nicknamed “The Sound of the Nile,” Tamino was born into music.

Before his show at National Sawdust and as he gears up to release the deluxe version of his debut album Amir [out October 18th via Arts & Crafts], we met Tamino at his hotel in Brooklyn. Just a day before the passing of Daniel Johnston, we spoke about the importance of authenticity in songwriting. We explored Tamino’s lyrical journey and the meaning behind his newest singles. It’s striking how thoughtful and specific he is with his words – in both his work and his spoken language.

So you have your show in New York tomorrow, you’ll be touring in the US and Canada, then you go into the Middle East, North Africa, and then the EU — you were also on tour at the beginning of the year as well. How are you faring with being on the road so much?

I’m very lucky because I have an amazing crew: my sound guy, my tour manager, if we’re with the band, we have a slightly bigger crew, we have two musicians and a backliner, and light guy [sic]. They’re all good guys; without them, I wouldn’t be able to bear it, I think.

I like being home; I like to be alone, and I like to write and work on music. So being away from that is sometimes hard. The good thing, and also, the kind of weird thing about playing shows is that you’re kind of dedicating your life to that: being on the road. You travel the whole day and then in the evening, you have your show. It all comes down to that. You have to make it work because otherwise it’s been for nothing, you know? You kind of push all of your energy into that, and you receive a lot of energy back from the crowd, which is what keeps you going, I guess; that interaction, the energy.

How do you recalibrate before getting on stage? How do you get in the correct mindset?

I do like to warm up my voice. I think that’s something that’s important. It’s good to get into the right mindset, and also to just get my body ready. Apart from that, I think am [sic] somebody who does well with routine, but right now I don’t really have one. When we tour, it’s not like we have the same production each evening. It’s like, “Oh, now we’re playing for 200 people...Oh, now we’re playing for thousands of people.” It’s always different from each other. Also backstage, it’s always different, so it’s difficult to maintain a routine. But I think maybe in the future, meditation would be nice, or just something to get me in the moment.

I must say I’m doing better and better on stage, in terms of being there, and not being stuck in thought. I did have trouble with that in the beginning; sometimes I was just thinking about stuff.

Like what?

Stupid stuff like tasks I had to do; nothing that has anything to do with the show. Hesitations like, “I wonder if the crowd is liking this or..” just stuff you shouldn’t be thinking about while you’re performing.

Lately, when I’m on the stage, I really feel like it’s not that much of a problem anymore. I can just let go. Those are the most beautiful moments, when you are really led by your own music; you just feel that the crowd is reacting to that, and I really like that; it’s something I’m always after. It’s kind of a transcendence feeling. If it works, it’s better than meditation, for me. My whole evening is different after that.

It makes sense, you’re fully in the present.

One of the main aspects of music is connecting with other people. Is there a specific crowd that really resonated with you? Or a specific fan, or show? I’m sure that they’re all great, but if there’s, one that comes to mind…

They’re all great, yeah, that’s the diplomatic answer. It depends, probably some cultures are more keen to show emotion.

What differences have you noticed between the crowds?

In Italy, they are very enthusiastic, but they are very respectful at the same time. It’s very special, they will be quiet for the whole song, and then they will want to shout, and they will throw roses at you, or whatever. It’s very romantic, the French are like that as well. In America, I feel actually very welcomed. It’s very inviting here, I don’t know how else to put it. I have the feeling, maybe I’m wrong about that, but as a European, it is like the new world, you know? And so many people move here. Of course, it was all a very long time ago, but people are still moving here. There are so many cultures coming together, and that’s why the crowd is very receiving. They’re open for other cultures; let’s say, it’s not an island.

I haven’t had many bad experiences, to be honest. I think I’ve been very lucky so far. Maybe it’s because I’ve never had a worldwide hit song or something like that. I think that’s the moment where you get crowds that are only there for that one song. And so far, I think I’ve always had crowds who have really invested in music. They’re there with a purpose, they want to experience something. Until I have this hit song, I don’t know if I’ll ever have one...I don’t know if I ever want one, to be honest, because of that reason...but until that time comes, I think I will always have good experiences.

What’s the first thing that you want to do when you’re done touring in December?

I’m moving to a new house. I feel like I just want to decorate the place. It’s the first time I will be really designing what it looks like. It’s in this very multicultural area, a lot of Arabic families live there, but lately, a lot of other Belgian families have been moving there. It’s kind of becoming this nice clash of cultures, and I like that. It feels like it’s a vibrant place.

Antwerp is very, very small. You can cross one corner, and then you are in a totally different area. It’s this very small area of a lot of cultures coming together and I really like that. I would say some parts are too gentrified, which wouldn’t have been a good place to go and live for me. It doesn’t really inspire, it’s not a vibrant place. It kind of feels boring.

In Belgium, lately, because it’s such a small country, it’s not difficult to become known, so they recognize me, or whatever. It’s not like they bother me, but I prefer to…

Just go about your day.

Yeah.

What are your inspirations for your new place? What do you like?

So many things, I know this designer he’s called Jan Jan Van Essche. He is really, really cool Of course his clothes, I love; I wear a lot of what he does. But the way he decorated his shop, and his office where he works and where he draws, it’s so beautiful. It’s a mix of, say a lot of different ethnical inspirations coming together with kind of a roughness, a bit more industrial. But very humble. It’s a very humble appearance. It’s not too over the top.

You have two new songs, “Crocodile” and “Every Pore,” but only the former is out at the moment...do you want to talk about them?

The second one’s out next month. They’re both quite old songs. So when I chose to record for my album, I had a lot of songs, and I chose these possible candidates for the record. Those two made it to the last 15-16 songs I would say. But then, in the end, they fell out. When I listened to them again, and sometimes I played them live, I always had a good reaction on the songs.

I really like them, I just think they’re true B-Sides; they are kind of odd songs in comparison to the other ones. I really felt like I wanted to release them anyway, so with the deluxe version, I felt that was a really good opportunity. With the song we just released, “Crocodile,” for me it was very weird listening back to the song. I wrote it so many years ago, and it kind of perfectly talks about the situation I’m in right now, not literally. You have this crocodile, and he looks at the songbird and offers the metaphor. Crocodile could be the person that has yet to be awakened, and the songbird is what he could be.

I guess any artist goes through that; you see a version of yourself, you want to strive forward, but you also know everything that comes with that because of history, because of stories you’ve heard so many times. And you know that there is a truth in those stories because they happen over, and over, and over, and it can happen to you as well.

I read in another interview that you said “Someone can play three chords or maybe even one chord and move me. It’s because of the person that plays it, and how they play it.” When’s the last time that happened to you?

Let me check my Spotify because I always forget whatever I’ve been listening to lately.

Okay, my daily mixes are the singer- songwriters from America, the new ones, the ones who are still alive. Then, the ones who are a bit older, or dead. And then Arabic music. The more Alternative stuff, some Hip-Hop, all kinds of stuff.

Do you know The Disintegration Loops by William Basinski? It’s crazy. So he has tapes of existing music, and he manipulates them. But this one was broken, and it just kept on looping, and every time it looped, it got more broken. During this session, 9/11 happened. So he was looking, out and the album cover is a photo from where he was working.

It’s the same thing over and over, but it moves me like crazy. Do you know Daniel Johnston? I think what’s so cool is that he’s not a virtuoso, but he moves me more than 99% of all virtuosos.

He’s authentic.

Yeah, he’s authentic...how do you say it? We say, he has (literally translated) “saying power,” power in what he says... His songs are beautiful, the lyrics are heartbreaking…

What are you reading right now?

I just started A Brave New World which is cool. I think he was really young when he wrote it, it’s just insane to realize he wrote it then. It’s so accurate. If there were people who wanted to create this Utopian society where everything is perfect, it would be like that. I haven’t read 1984 though which is similar I think.

Your writing is very rooted in emotion. I’m assuming it could be cathartic to perform, but I’m wondering if there’s ever been a moment where it felt like too much.

I’m not sure. I don’t think so, actually. Maybe like once or twice, it’s usually when you just finished writing a song, and you perform it for the first time, that’s usually a very special moment. I don’t really feel like it’s ever too much though, that I can’t play it.

I feel like there is also a certain sense of letting go once you’ve performed it. Once you’re ready to release it to the world, you’ve almost come to terms with whatever you were writing about.

Absolutely, that’s true. You realize it’s not yours anymore. Have you listened to Mount Eerie’s record, A Crow Looked at Me? He had a child with his wife, and then his wife died. It’s really, really terrible. That record is really beautiful. I’ve never seen a concert of his, but he did this concert in the Netherlands once in a church, and that was so emotional for everyone there, apparently. If I listen to that record, I’m always wondering, “Whoa, how does he do it?”

You’ve previously discussed the idea of letting go of performing the exact recording of your work, and moving more towards letting the music evolve through playing it. Has there ever been a time when you’ve wanted to change a lyric or something?

Of course, I mean, it’s actually funny because in the foreword of Brave New World, Aldous Huxley is talking about looking back at old work, and you, of course, want to change stuff, but that it’s also beautiful in a way, that you cannot.

And it’s this moment in time, where you were that person back then, and you were that kind of artist back then. I think some of the lyrics on my first record are very naive and very bold, in a way. Naive is kind of the more negative way of looking at it, and bold is the more positive way of looking at them.

Probably, I’m less naive in my songwriting right now, but I’m also less bold. That’s something that I feel right now, the older you get, the more you think; you have more in your archive, you overthink. But, I have no trouble performing those older songs. Even if I’m not very proud of certain lyrics, I still feel totally behind them. I’m still comfortable representing those songs. I stand behind them.

Because your words are so intentional, when you’re actually writing them, is there a revision process or do you just kind of get tapped into something and write?

I hope to just write, and then stuff happens. The lyrics, I go over and over it, until they are just right. So far I’ve written more out of music. So the music came first, and then the lyrics. I’ve done it the other way around as well, but I feel like those initial melodies and structures, they’re always the best when they just come out of this flow.

It’s like a gift, you just have to be open to receive it. I went to see Nick Cave, and he said such a beautiful thing. He said there’s no such thing as writer’s block; too many people think that there’s something inside of them that they need to get out, but it’s actually something that’s out there that needs to go through them.

If you are open for that, so if you try each day, then eventually those things will flow through you. Or maybe you’re in a certain moment in your life, where it’s not really going through you.

Last question – if music did not exist what would you do?

I wouldn’t know. I did acting and theatre when I was a kid. I really liked that, it was my first passion. I like writing as well. As long as I have a creative outlet, then it’s fine.

CREDITS

PHOTOGRAPHER: Dana Boulos

PRODUCER + EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Ella Jayes

HAIR + MAKEUP: Heather Rose Harris PHOTO ASSISTANT: Henry Fey

Special Thanks to Studio Blackheart, Nicole Prokes, + Chris Swainston.

[parasite-core]

Last night in Pathfinder we fought the (former) Demon Lord Kostchtchi. And saw the ascension of two new local gods in Ioberia, along with the rise of their first warpriest.

@scarlet-the-girl

We started with a flashback. In the timeline we stopped, where Kostchtchi kicked off the demonic incursion early, Ratibor and Jadrenka had fought against him in the Abyss using hit and run tactics. Eventually, the two of them had a child, and Jadrenka did a miniature version of the ritual she’d preformed once before to open a rift in time so Ratibor could deliver their son to Zorka while the party was convincing Baba Yaga to not make Jadrenka the Warden of Artrosa in the distant past. Zorka used a Scroll of Teleport to take the baby somewhere safe to be raised while everyone was distracted—and we never knew, considering our entire focus was on our first in-person meeting with Baba Yaga at the time.

The baby grew up, and eventually travelled to Kyonin, where he fell in love with an elven woman and had a family. And his descendants went on through the ages, until finally in the present day Wuso was here in Artrosa.

Before Wuso could say anything about the vision she just had, Ratibor heard the roar of Kostchtchi as he came through the portal our party was staring down. There was no time for talking right now.

Back with our party, we were in fact staring down the (former) Demon Lord Kostchtchi, who had smashed the Crone Queen who summoned him and pulled himself through the portal into the Abyss along with his decrepit herald, an emaciated white dragon, and a horde of centaurs, giants, anti-paladins, and svathurims.

Roscoe swooped in first, shooting the nearest anti-paladin the moment Kostchtchi quit spewing threats. Only to immediately get charged by a frost giant and nearly be destroyed.

Above the battlefield the statues of Artrosa were moving and reforming with the newly awakened powers of Jadrenka and Ratibor, as their latent mythic powers awoke once more and they began to ascend to godhood. Kostchtchie tried to stop the statue from attacking him, forming a shield over the battlefield with the Symbol of Misogyny—which gave him and his allies more power against the women on our party, due to Kostchtchie’s infernal levels of hatred for them.

At that same moment, a few members of our party saw that the goddess Calistria was also watching the fight from afar, flying upon her herald, the giant wasp Menotherian.

Kostchtchie told his other ally to do what he’d promised. Said other ally was Keisuke, go figure. The nine-tailed kitsune breathed something in and then began chanting a spell. His eyes were glowing yellow, and there was a yellow mist coming from his mouth. Both Jadrenka and Ratibor were shunted underground by an Imprisonment spell. Afterwards Keisuke, in a very perturbed voice, said there, he’d done as he’d promised.

As the enemies began to move into position to charge our party, Calio decided to render as many enemies useless as possible. He cast Overwhelming Presence, and caused 5 of the enemies—including 2 of the 3 svathurims—to worship him as their god, falling to their knees and forgetting about the battle around them. Except for 1, which had already been paralyzed by Edeya casting Hold Monster on him, so he was stuck frozen in place AND mentally worshipping Calio, somehow stacking the helpless condition.

One of the centaurs charged in, to skewer Roscoe—and missed, sparing Calio from having to lose his favorite undead yet again.

Edeya had sent Illivor out in her human form, and she immediately began Power Word Kill-ing people—much to Edeya’s horror and Calio’s glee.

The ground rumbled, and the party saw that three clerics in the backlines were casting Earthquake on the giant statue of Artrosa—which unguarded could do nothing but take any damage thrown at it from massive spells like that.

Aenland shot all of his arrows into the nearest anti-paladin, leaving the bulky fucker just barely standing. Nestian went after the other anti-paladin, while one of the Rune-giants loomed just above them. He managed to take down the former Demon Lord’s worshipper.

Roscoe managed to retreat with Nestian’s help to defend him, allowing him to get to his master’s side to be healed with that good good negative energy. He also shot the guy who tried to re-dead him.

Kostchtchie was lumbering forward, his eyes locked on where Wuso was, saying something about how she had his blood and he wanted it back. He tried throwing rocks at the party in the meantime, but everyone managed to dodge them.

Keisuke made his retreat. In the most Keisuke way possible. He cast Time Stop. Dropped some explosive seeds around the clerics who had been casting Earthquake (and who had been insulting him for wanting to leave the battle, insinuating that he was a woman and a coward), and he slipped two scrolls into the pocket of Calio’s robes.

When time started again, the flame seeds exploded, and Calio took notice of the scrolls that had appeared on his person. They were two scrolls of Freedom—the only spell that could undo Imprisonment.

Calio quickened Read Magic and used the first Freedom scroll to free Jadrenka. She appeared atop Artrosa, and began firing beams of ‘make you age to death’ down on the battlefield, which was the only thing that could permanently kill any of Kostchtchie’s men at the moment as each round they had a chance of reviving if Indrid didn’t kill all 4 of the Frost Giants emerging from the rift into the Abyss, whose lifeforce would be used to revive fallen foes.

As the clerics in the back row once again aimed their Earthquakes at Artrosa and it became clear it wouldn’t be able to take too many more hits like that, Nevra dimension doored across the battlefield, appearing behind the clerics so that Aenland could begin picking them off. He managed to take one out and badly injured another.

Unfortunately this made him and Nevra a target for the Wings of Malice—the white dragon—who flew up and tried to snap his jaws around Nevra, but just barely missed as the smaller Dragonkin flapped out of the way.

Fortunately, with Aenland and Nevra right there it became difficult for the two clerics to cast their spells, and the continual assault of Earthquakes on Artrosa died down.

Cesseer went toe-to-toe with one of the enormous Rune Giants, but ended up needing to teleport over to Calio’s side to heal up after taking a number of hits from the giant, boosted by Kostchtchie’s symbol. Edeya and Illivor were having similar problems—especially when Kostchtchie himself declared to Wuso he was saving her for last, and then he used his own Time Stop and he appeared right in front of Edeya.

Edeya stepped just out of his reach and pulled off Nestian’s charm from the Bracelet of Friends, teleporting him between her and the former Demon Lord.

Aenland and Nevra swooped away from the Wings of Malice, taking out one other cleric on their way out—leaving only one left to cause any problems.

Above the battlefield, away from the rest of the fighting, Aenland aimed an arrow at the sky. He looked towards where he’d seen Calistria, and prayed that she would help him to destroy Kostchtchie’s Symbol of Misogyny. Because it would really make Kostchtchie mad to be bested by a Goddess.

Calistria smirked and tilted her head in acknowledgement.

The dragon did not follow, instead taking off from his perch and diving down to loom over Calio, taking a swipe at the necromancer.

Talsune returned the favor with a number of slices from his blade, before stepping back so Calio could cast Freedom on Ratibor. Ratibor turned one of the svathurims to dust when it broke free from worshipping Calio and tried to strike Wuso. Ratibor told us he’d do what he could to help us, but that protecting his family was going to be his top priority, which we accepted with no argument.

Besides his sorta-girlfriend-turned-goddess was already nuking people with the raw power of time every turn.

Nestian attacked Kostchtchie with everything he had—doing a HEFTY amount of damage. Then Kostchtchie laid into Nestian—leaving Nestian badly damaged but still on his feet. And as Nestian’s player pointed out—Nestian did more damage to him than he did to Nestian.

Aenland let his Dispelling Shot arrow fly. Or he intended to. The arrow never left the bow string—instead what he saw fly through the sky was a swarm of hornets, which gathered over the Symbol of Misogyny, suppressing it.

Then he and Nevra dove at Kostchtchie, attacking him from behind. Now that he and Nestian were close to him, they both began to see the horror of what had become of him since he’d lost his status as a Demon Lord. He was permanently burnt from the final stand Jadrenka had made in her timeline. But also there was something—many small somethings—moving and buzzing under his flesh. The punishment a more powerful Demon Lord had visited upon him when he went to their alliance promising knowledge, then realized he no longer knew the information he’d come to give. He was cursed with this painful infestation and banished from the Abyss, his title and some of his power stripped from him.

But even though he was enraged, desperate, and still had a good chunk of his power, we were driving him back.

The Wings of Malice was on his last legs and was aged to death by Jadrenka, until nothing but dust remained.

Roscoe laid into Kostchtchie after Calio healed him a little, followed by Nestian finishing the former Demon Lord off by nearly decapitating him—leaving his head just barely attached.

That wasn’t the end of it, however. He still had incredibly powerful regeneration that could only be stopped by a Deific source. Something none of us had.

So a few of us kept his body damaged enough that he wasn’t going to pop back up, while the rest of us began clearing out the remaining enemy fighters—including the last three who had spent the entire fight worshipping the ground Calio walked on. One—the final svathurim, finally snapped out of it right before being killed, and he attacked Calio. Calio expressed how much less this would have hurt if he’d just kept playing nice for a few more seconds. Then he used a Slay Living modified by the Pocket Watch to be nine times more powerful on a successful save—making it more dangerous for a foe who’s hardy, like say, a giant Sleipnir looking centaur.

Once the battlefield was clear of any enemies whose lifeforce might be used to heal Kostchtchie, we began to relax.

A moment too soon.

As in a final moment of desperation Kostchtchie pulled himself back together and leapt for Wuso, determined to ‘take back his blood’. Ratibor stepped in to protect her, but then he was knocked away by Kostchtchie. As he loomed over Wuso, she determined that she was going to fight, too. Her whip returned to its divinely glowing form as her Warpriest powers returned to her, but it was shining with a different sort of light than it had when she’d been a warpriest of Calistria. Her powers were from a different deity—or set of deities—now. She wrapped the whip around Kostshtshie’s neck, and the empowered weapon cut through the already damaged flesh and sinew. Wuso raised the former Demon Lord’s head above her triumphantly—the first victory of a follower (and descendant) of the Dual Gods of Artrosa.

Afterwards Jadrenka apologized for lying and keeping her plan close to her chest, but a secret couldn’t get out if only one person knew about it. And now we had free access to the Eon Pit and the knowledge and boons it could grant (although it was no longer able to provide items dropped from other points in time). We also had access to a special room in Artrosa called the Mobius Chamber, in which time was compressed—a week in the chamber was only an hour outside. Which meant it could provide us time to read ability boosting tomes or do some crafting.

Calio also gave Jadrenka the note from Baba Yaga that was her ‘2 weeks PTO’, which would allow Jadrenka to assist us until we’d finished cleaning up this mess with Elvanna. Jadrenka could occasionally be called upon to do that same time energy blast she’d done during our battle with Kostchtchie, while Ratibor could be called in to help in battle with some of his own latent abilities.

We arrived back in the Eon Pit chamber. Aenland and Nestian both expressed the desire to go into the pit, each with their own reasons. Edeya was still scared of the pit and was going to remain safely up top, while Calio had already gotten everything he wanted that he felt the pit could grant him.

So the party answered ‘the hardest riddle ever conceived’ (the same riddle the riddle tree had asked us four times already and which at this point is just a running joke) to prove their worth, and then Nestian and Aenland entered the pit. While they did, those remaining up top went to see about fixing the Nonagon’s door.

Calio, Edeya, Jadrenka, and Illivor used their combined knowledge of the arcane and the Nonagon to figure out what was wrong with the door and fix the misplaced rune in its frame. The arcane energy raging around the door calmed, and was sucked into the Nonagon, as if through a keyhole. The threat of time tearing apart (and of time dragons crawling out into Whitethrone through the holes in space-time) had been nullified.

Within the Eon Pit, Nestian resisted the winds of time that tried to strip away years of his life. Instead, he asked the Eon Pit to give him back time. He wanted to be 20 years younger—so he could have more time with Edeya, and he wouldn’t die so many years earlier than her because of their current age difference. He felt the weight of the years practically fall away, and he turned to leave and meet Aenland at the exit.

Aenland had brought Tashana’s journal with him. After we’d defeated Kostchtchie the temporal stasis on the pages had vanished, as they’d been like that due to the timeline being in flux, uncertain if the creature Tashana would encounter in this timeline would have been the proper Demon Lord Kostchtchie or the banished former Demon Lord Kostshtshie. The pages now read about how Tashana had meet the former Demon Lord, and how she somewhat pitied him.

But these pages did not hold the answer Aenland was looking for—before, they’d mentioned something about the final defense of all the Queens of Irrisen. Something we desperately needed more information on, if it was something Elvanna could leverage against us.

So after withstanding the winds of time in the Eon Pit, Aenland held out the journal and tried to will it to show him the pages from the other timeline.

He saw a vision. He was in a room, and a woman was writing in a journal. She spoke aloud as she did, but so many different possible sentences came out that they were jumbled together. The woman did not turn to look at Aenland, but she spoke—very clearly *to* him, saying that if he wanted to hear, he was going to have to come closer. Aenland stepped forward, but when he got within ten feet of the woman he hit a sort of barrier. As he pressed against it, he recognized that this barrier was created by Baba Yaga, not by the change in time or someone trying to hide the information. It was something about the woman, not the information, that was being hidden.

The woman turned into Elvanna, now reading the journal, and clearly not aware of Aenland unlike the woman who’d been writing before. She read that the final defense of the queens of Irrisen was that they could not be killed so long as at least one person in Irrisen believed they could only be killed by Baba Yaga. It only took one.

One faithful follower. One fearful countryman. One innocent child. Just one denizen in the entire country had to sincerely believe the queen was immortal, and she would be.

And she’d had a century of propaganda, not to mention many centuries of her sisters’ rule and propaganda of their own, to create that story. That the queens could only die by Baba Yaga’s hand.

Aenland and Nestian returned to the top of the Eon Pit. We were in a celebratory mood, despite the setback of what we’d learned from Aenland. Nestian turned into his human form and we had some fun ribbing him about his baby face—or informing him he was now officially sexy—or both. Aenland refused to acknowledge that his friends were absolutely going to come help him defeat Treerazor when this was all over, and this was an excellent test run for killing a Nascent Demon Lord.

As the party got ready to teleport back to the Clocktower, Calio got a Sending from Keisuke. The Nonagon was back to normal. He’d warned Calio they’d be on opposing sides, but he hoped Calio liked the little trick he pulled there at the end. And he thanked Calio, referring to him as his friend. Calio replied that it was all about what he’d expected, and he was just glad it all worked out. Keisuke agreed, and then warned Calio to ‘never try the yellow stuff’, as it made him feel like shit afterwards. Calio agreed he had no intention to, as he’d never heard anything good ever coming from messing with it.

And so, the party teleported back to the Clocktower, and intend to have a nice relaxing bathhouse episode next weekend.

What could possibly go wrong?

[tigerathleticmissionexperience]

Hailey Maloy, a senior nursing major, provided the recap from Friday, July 21 of the ETBU Women’s Soccer TAME trip to New Zealand.

“Today we woke up with the beautiful New Zealand sunshine peaking over the clouds and saying hello. The beautiful oranges and yellows filled the sky as we made our way down to team yoga. Once breakfast was finished our ISF team put a local clinic together for the community of Auckland. The best part about getting to immerse ourselves in a new community is having the joy of stepping out of our comfort zone. When in a foreign country and being with new people, it can be easy to stay in your shell. However, the best thing this mission trip has taught me is that by trusting God and believing in His will, He gives us the best opportunities.

We went to introduce ourselves to the young children, and a shy girl approached me. Her cute freckles and bangs were paired with a soft smile when she said ‘Hi, I’m Tiffany.’ Instantly we were best friends. We talked about her future with soccer, and where she wants to go. She asked me many questions about university and how I got where I am. It was a joy to see how our common love of soccer was what was able to bring us together.

Later in the day we got to see the USA vs. Vietnam game. As we approached the game, the energy was electrifying. Pure joy is the simplest way to put it. We found our seats that were 40 yards from the goal in the corner. We watched as these strong 11, and supporting bench players made our country proud. The beautiful smiles that beamed on our girls' faces is something that I’ll never forget. From Coach Kiersten Ehler getting to see her favorite player Rose Lavelle, to Addi Funk (‘23 goalkeeper), cheering on Alyssa Naeher until her voice was hoarse, it proved no matter what age you are, the USA team makes a difference for all of us. As we watched the game progress, the ball was played through the Vietnam backline, finding Sophia Smith’s feet. She took a touch forward and placed it in the back of the net. Everyone jumped to their feet and 41,000 cheers roared through the stadium, leaving goosebumps on every fan’s arms. I thank God for allowing our team to experience USA’s first goal in the World Cup. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for the rest of our trip, and who we get to encounter.”

[jayasikpo]

Backline to Music In My Ears 1 : Mr Leo Sayer

This is a special tribute to a living legend and my very first favorite artiste Leo Sayer.

It is a great pleasure to introduce a sub-series to Music In My Ears called The Backline to Music In My Ears or Backline in a short form. This will take care of personal musical experiences that may not be of Nigerian origin, but however were instrumental or contributed to shaping what we are doing today. So, don’t be surprised if we write on the first person point of view on this series. Our…

[kickerofelves]

Deaner had been keeping the story of using Carlos Santana’s guitar and gear to himself for over a decade, yet finally felt it was time to share the incredible tale. Check out what the guitarist wrote:

I think enough time has passed where I can finally tell my favorite Ween story of all-time. The businesses and the people involved have long since closed their doors and moved on for good and hopefully the people involved (and Carlos himself, if it comes to that) will have a good sense of humor about this story.

In 2003 Ween released our album Quebec on Sanctuary Records. We worked on the album for two years in our beach house in Holgate, NJ, a rented house in the Pocono Mountains of PA, the garage behind Aaron’s house in Pt. Pleasant, PA, my upstairs guest room, and finally Andrew Weiss’s living room in NJ. We also worked at Water Music in Hoboken, NJ and Graphic Sound Studios in Ringoes, NJ. It was not a great period in our personal lives, Aaron was going through a divorce and I was partying way too hard myself — it was some dark shit. The record is one of my favorites, but it is a depressing album lyrically. It was not an easy record to make either, as evidenced by the amount of places we worked, trying to find the right environment. There are demos available online that I posted where you can hear the process at work, we racked up our normal batch of like 6 dozen songs or more before whittling it down to what was finally released, 15 tunes.

I am a huge fan of Carlos Santana. He is one of my favorite guitarists of all-time. He is playing better these days than ever before in my opinion. His music is more radio friendly, for sure, but as a guitarist he has aged like a fine wine. Only Neil Young, Prince, and a small handful of others can make that claim as they become members of the AARP.

We were working in Andrew’s living room on the song “Transdermal Celebration,” our drummer Claude Coleman had just gotten into a horrific car crash and left us without a drummer for the recording and ensuing tour. Eventually it worked itself out where the record took so long to complete that Claude made enough of a recovery to do the world tour with us supporting Quebec. In the meantime though, even though Claude had played on some of the demos, drumming on the album was left up to me, Josh Freese, and Sim Cain.

“Transdermal Celebration” had been recorded three times by this point, with a drum machine, with Claude playing drums, and the final take on the album which features Josh Freese. It was the eventual single from the album. So, we’re in the middle of this session and I get a phone call from my roadie (nameless) who also worked for a backline company (nameless) that supplied amps, drums, lights, etc. to bands touring in the Northeast. My roadie told me that Carlos Santana’s equipment (including his guitars) had arrived via a trucking company that night at their depot. Carlos was recording an appearance on “Good Morning America” the next morning and his equipment was to be delivered to the set in NYC in a few hours.

What needed to be done was immediately clear to me, I had an opportunity to play the solo on “Transdermal Celebration” through Carlos Santana’s amplifier and guitar. I had one shot at it, it meant taking a hard disk recorder to a storage space where all of Carlos’ stuff was sitting in transit. I arrived at 2 a.m. We (very carefully) unpacked his equipment and set up his stage gear and in one take I recorded the guitar solo for “Transdermal Celebration” (the one that appears on the album, playing through Carlos Santana’s guitar, pedalboard and amplifier. The whole thing took 10 minutes and we were terrified we were going to get caught. A lot of people would have lost their jobs. We got the fuck outta there really fast after that. So the solo on “Transdermal Celebration” was played through all of Santana’s shit in what resembled an early morning bank heist or something…

Of course a story like this requires visual proof, so here it is. Don’t tell anyone about these please.

-Dean Ween 6/14 [link]

[jeremy-knoxs-on-wood]

People Watching but make it Jeremy's Pov

That wasn't funny but she laughed so hard, she almost cried.

It took him months to open Moreau enough to get the other to trust him, much less get a smile from him. He could hear from the other room as he sat in the living room, a laugh. He recognized it by now and he couldn't help but feel a pang in his chest.

They're counting months they've been together, almost 49.

The same laugh echoed through the night since Moreau arrived in California. He had met Renee before and could not blame the other man for falling for her. For calling her everyday to talk. He reminded himself that it was none of his buisness, to not eavesdrop and figure out how she got the other to talk- to smile.

He's making fun of how she acted 'round the holidays.

To joke. God, to hear Moreau's jokes and his witty banter. The only way he could hear it was on the court or in the locker room, under mumbled breath in their dorm. He seemed to be the only one Moreau did not wish to be around, and it stung.

She wears a ring but they tell people that they're not engaged.

He found out from Dylan, a striker on his team, that Renee was getting married. He didn'tbother finding out to whom, guessing himself. He felt that pang in his chest and glanced to door across the room that hid the backliner. He fiddled with the phone in his hand until he eventually dropped it.

They met in class for metaphysical philosophy.

Renee had helped Moreau after all, so why did it hurt so much? Why did he have longing, no one as happy as him should be wanting something till it pained him.

He tells his friends, "I like her 'cause she's so much smarter than me".

He's heard the way Moreau talks about Renee to the others, the way his face softens as he stops mid-sentence to look at his phone. Quickly texting and then shoving the device away. He's seen it. He's hearing it now, that laughter again and he goes to stand.

They're having talks about their futures until 4:00 a.m.

He's been there for Moreau when nightmares plague his sleep, when he needs a silent guardian through the night. He's found that he loves hot chocolate instead of tea after a panic attack. That despite his french roots, he loves Wall-E more than Beauty and the Beast. He knows his favorite color is forest green, that he likes to be held sometimes. Sometimes. There's so many things, and yet he knows Renee will always have him instead.

And I'm happy for them.

And he's happy for them.

But I wanna feel all that love and emotion.

He slowly heads to the door this time. Emotions flowing through his head as he had to get something off his chest. He wanted to be the one Jean trusted fully. The one he laughed with, the one he smiled at. He's seen those eyes light up only a few times on his own fault, wanting more. More.

Be that attached to the person I'm holding.

He wanted to be more than someone who holds his hand through a nightmare, wanting that hand in his all the time. To wake up and see the other sleeping peacefully for once, head on a pillow next to his in the future. To have something with him. To be with him as he heals every single 𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗻 day. To be the one to tell him he's proud when he manages to live his life.

Someday, I'll be falling without caution.

He knocks. Hears Jean's response to come in and opens the door. He inhales sharply as he looks at the other and can't help the cracking of the collected face he was trying to keep up. God help him.

But for now, I'm only people watching.

"All I wish for you, in this world of ours, is that you are happy. I'm glad you've found someone who can give you that."

[codename-adler]

Hey! Hi, so I have seen that you ship Kevin and Aaron very much. Now, I read your 9th part of the foxes + onesies series and well now I'm craving more Kevaaron. I love them so much, but I have the hardest time finding good fics for them. So could you recommend me some of your favorite Kevaaron fics? (you can give however many you want, but no more than 10, cause I know you are going to give good recs and if I start reading one, I won't be able to stop until I finish all of them.)

Well hi!!!

I read (and publish) all my fics on ao3, so I hope this won’t be a problem! Also, most of these Kevaaron fics, if I remember well without the tags, are rated Mature or Explicit, so I’ll try to diverse my recs a bit but if these are too much for you (or any of you) please don’t hesitate to ask again for more sfw/G-rated fics, and I shall answer your call! And, I’ll only suggest completed fics, because I’d hate to leave you hanging.

The only fic I will recommend that is not on ao3 is the first one. 

Kevaaron Fic Recs

Twilight & Daytime - @ukamushu_the_bibliophile on Instagram

This. This fic. I have followed the chapters since day one. It is now complete. What was even better than this fic is the friendship I’ve been blessed to form with its writer, Kammy. She is an amazing woman and a wonderful writer who gave each character of our beloved series a new and unique twist, and much more depth. Kevin and Aaron are lucky to have her writing them, and we are lucky to have her for reading her sweet, heartfelt and honest story. This fic is an emotional journey, but a welcomed one. I urge you all to read her story and encourage her and show her some love!

(44 parts, completed, TW at the beginning of each posted chapter)

* Summary to be added once I get it from Kammy *

coming loose - dhedy on ao3 

I mean... I think we all started there... 

(13 chapters, 26,300 words, completed, G)

“  “What are you doing?” Aaron heard the door shut and closed his eyes. Even his eyelids were sticky. “It’s hot,” he said, the effort of peeling the words from his lips lingering in the form of sweat dripping down his face. “I was asking Andrew.” From somewhere near his feet, Andrew said, “It’s extremely hot.” - it's hot, and the twins are disgruntled, and aaron can't stop hoping for things he can't have. “ 

twin high maintenance machines - thisnightsrevels on ao3

This is slowburn af but god is it good.

(1 chapter, 17,500 words, completed, G)

“ Healing was never going to be easy, but maybe together they could find a way

Kevin and Aaron have grown sick of living under Andrews thumb, and slowly they're coming to realise that there are better things to live for beyond the bottle he shoves in their hand. “

The Thing About Andrew - aristotlethecat on ao3

This shit gets heavy but... so worth it.

(11 chapters, 10,300 words, completed, M + TW + Explicit)

“  Kevin is ignoring Andrew after canon events because of the choking thing and he finds solace in late night talks with the more sane of the two twins who has also suffered at his brother's hands. “

all of the things (that i’m not) - vertigo on ao3

Oh boy, this? This is a heartwrenching AU, slowburn-y and angsty and. ugh.

(5 chapters, 47,500 words, completed, M + TW + Explicit)

“  It took three swats of his racquet (heavy, short in length, shallow net depth, one parallel red mark on the middle of the body) to break Kevin's hand and spirit. “

or; Kevin never really heals from his hand injury, never goes to PSU, moves to Cleveland to co-coach its Exy team that just happens to have Aaron as one of its backliner...

Honey, You’re Familiar - OfficialStarsandGutters on ao3 

I don’t have words for this. A comfort fic of mine for sure.

(1 chapter, 18,300 words, completed, M + TW + Explicit)

“ Kevin is so warm, and solid, and bright. He is Enjolras, Achilles; the blazing hero, self righteous and certain, and Aaron is just a lost companion stumbling in his wake, grateful to be in his presence.

When the fuck did he become a Kevin Day fanboy? Because fuck that. “

I Wanna Make You Move - sheerpoetry on ao3

It’s NOT just smut, okay? It’s not. There are feelings.

(6 chapters, 9,600 words, completed, M + TW + Explicit)

“ Kevin is drunk. Aaron is drunk. Andrew is oblivious.

(Kevin hits the dance floor after hitting the bottle. He finds Aaron, who actually doesn't mind his company.)

[Then neither of them wants to let it go and it's a journey for everyone.] “

Only Fools - Moth2Flame on ao3

Oh this is dark. But it gets better. Promise.

(1 chapter, 12,400 words, completed, M + TW + Explicit)

“ Aaron was just going along, minding his own business, content in his life and then... feelings.

Unwanted ones. Bad ones. Ones he shouldn't be having and ones he definitely shouldn't be having about Kevin fucking Day.

The thing is, Aaron's not particulary good when it comes to feelings.

In fact, he could almost give Andrew a run for his money when it comes to being self-destructive in his stubborn determination to deny them

Set post-canon, and AKA: Aaron is an angry prickly cactus and Kevin just wants to hug him (but with angst) “

(don’t matter what) people say - psychOmidget (cominupforair) on ao3

We all need therapy, especially Kevin and Aaron. 

( 1 chapter, 8,000 words, completed, M + TW)

“ Aaron knew he was bi.

He had long come to terms with it, but he believed that he could pretend he was straight as long as he kept dating girls.

But then Kevin happened. That’s where Aaron’s carefully constructed world really started crumbling. With him and Kevin kissing on his bed, legs tangled and hands roaming each other’s bodies. “

And so I’ll stop there, even if I got more suggestions... You know where to find me if your life lacks some Kevaaron again!

[uswnt5]

Ok here’s our WWC23 winners in no particular order 😊

Forwards:

1.Mal Pugh/Trinity (if they both “opt out” due to being covidiots then I’m taking Lynn or Hatch)

2. Midge Purce (it’s the versatility for me. She’s a real threat up top and can also help build out the back or cover for obs that are building out back)

3. Sophia Smith (game really grew since 1st few caps, seems to be better on left rn, needs to work on finishing, passing and o/d positioning but I know some vets ahem tc could help her with that)

4. Christen Press (irreplaceable tbh meaning you can insert another player it will never be like for like or a better option 🤷🏾)

5. Alex Morgan (great backup 9 option. experience and tested against the best in major tournaments)

6. Hatch/Lynn (depends on Lynn form or If hatch does as well when tested against top teams)

7. Tobin Heath (super sub tobs! also irreplaceable imo but ugh please stay healthy bby 🤞🏾🥺)

Midfielders:

1. Lindsey Horan (when she has good chemistry with teammates her connecting is some of the best on the team)

2. Jaelin Howell/Ashley Sanchez (Ash potential Terrorizer of thee defenders /Jae has grit/play style that reminds me of JJ. Need to see more from both to take my pick) if neither are ready then give us a full circle moment and bring back Tobin’s midfielder era lol.

3. Rose Lavelle (Terrorizing defenders is her middle name and we all know her game and what she can do against the best.)

4. Andi Sullivan (hasn’t quite impressed or found her rhythm at this level yet but we Need a DM especially with the uncertainty around JJ)

5. JJ (irreplaceable please come back to us Queen we need you 🙏🏾)

6. CAT (works much better in midfield imo. looking like she will be our starting false nine but would love to see more and be tested against top teams before going into WC)

Defenders:

1. Alana Cook (Tree partnership on the backline lol but really impressed so far)

2. Tierna Davidson (they’ve been preparing her to takeover the “Becky role” and I think she is ready)

3. Emily Fox (really love what I’ve seen from her so far. Still need to be tested against the top)

4. Becky (Captain but more of a good backup option for Tierna, at this point in career)

5. Sofia Huerta (can help build up offense out the back like he want obs to do but need to see more from her on D)

6. Kelley O’Hara (we need a bitch lol but hopefully on the bench this time please!)

7. Crystal (not sure what her form will be after having a baby but I wouldn’t bet against it and at the very least she’ll still be elite enough to be a backup for Fox)

Honorable mentions:

1. Pinoe (I got a strong feeling she will leave us with just the big three and r word like Sue this year 😢 if not then she take the hatch/Lynn spot lol)

2. Abby (tested against the top, if she finds her form she could be a great backup option but who would she replace 🤔)

Goalkeepers:

1. Casey Murphy (needs to be tested more but really great potential. can definitely make a case to be a #1 and she’s young!)

2. Alyssa Naeher (irreplaceable there’s truly nobody more ready to start in this position at a major tournament).

3. ???? Maybe Bella, AD, or just anybody Nadine Angerer is developing or has developed lol

Sorry this is long and annoying. please feel free to ignore. You’re my favorite football blog!! and I just needed to do something with my time to take my mind off what’s going on right now 😔.

I like it! I think that's a great guess at who the core will be in a year and a half! Thanks for being so kind! And yes, any distractions are good distractions today. :(

[gaming]

Indie Game Spotlight: Wintermoor Tactics Club (@wintermoortc​)

Get ready to roll a D20 in this week’s Indie Game Spotlight. Wintermoor Tactics Club is a narrative-driven tactics RPG set in a private boarding school in the 1980s, inspired by classic tactics RPGs and visual novels. It’s about a misfit tabletop games club trying to survive high school as they’re forced to fight in a mysterious high-stakes snowball tournament. The game is earnest and light-hearted in tone, with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor (they like to use the term “hygge,” if people are familiar with that).

We spoke with Kyla Fury, who works on the narrative, and Ryan Anderson, who created the combat design, about gameplay, characters, and more!

How does Wintermoor Tactics Club balance tactical combat and visual novel gameplay?

Kyla: We wanted to make sure the two types of gameplay would both support each other. You alternate between playing tabletop tactics games in your clubroom and exploring the campus, talking to other students, and helping them with their problems. Getting to know students is how you get new upgrades for your tactics team, and playing the tactics game is how you recruit new team members to progress with the story. We’re hoping there’s something for everyone: if you love story and characters, you can spend time exploring every nook and cranny on the campus. On the other hand, if you’re more about the tactics gameplay, then there are extra-challenging battles where you can really put your tactical skills to the test.

Who are some of the characters we can expect to meet? 

Ryan: We tried to design each character’s abilities around something that reflects the kind of C&C character they would be most excited to play. For instance, Jacob’s character is all about repositioning enemies and allies to set up clever and unexpected plays. Alicia, on the other hand,  plays a character that supports teammates from the backline while she waits for the perfect opportunity to call down a massive chain lightning attack.  

Are there any specific influences that inspired the game?

Kyla: We were initially inspired by the snowball fight tutorial in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Our combat, however, is a little less like traditional long-form tactics games, and more similar to something like Into the Breach, where each turn can be predicted and puzzled out, so you never get taken out by an unexpected lucky dice roll. We wanted to make sure that this game would work as someone’s first tactics game if they’re not familiar with the genre, so we’ve tried not to be punishing in the way some of the more classic tactics games can be. 

We were also hugely inspired by more narrative-heavy games, like Persona 4. We cared a lot about the idea of your abilities improving as you spend time with people and get to know them, and characters that really reveal their true colors over time. 

Ryan: Into the Breach’s incredible combat was a great inspiration for how we approached things. Each turn presents an immediate set of choices, battles are short but decisive, and your mistakes are clear so you can try a different approach next time. In addition, the Mega Man series heavily influenced our approach to progression throughout the game. Their boss battles frequently feature abilities that you unlock by defeating them, turning the challenge itself into an exciting future reward.

Finally, as a kid I was a massive fan of Final Fantasy Tactics on Playstation. Easily my favorite part was that I could use creative combinations of abilities and characters to create unique approaches to battles. The upgrade system in Wintermoor is much more focused on giving you more options rather than directly increasing your power level, allowing you to tweak your favorite characters into new roles to fit how you want to play.

What are some of the themes in the game, and what inspired you to make a game about those themes?

Kyla: We wanted to make a game relevant to today, so we decided to make it about the internet. That may sound silly—especially for a game set in the early 80’s—but there’s a lot to say about how we communicate with each other in today’s digital world. We wanted to make a game about the sort of isolation that people can feel when they’re treated as an outsider (like being one of the only Black girls at a private boarding school, for instance), and the type of fanaticism that results from basing your entire identity on one thing. It’s really a game about trying to reach out to people. Internet culture promotes a very intense sort of tribalism that has a tendency to force everyone into viewing the world as a flawless “us” and an irredeemable “them.” We often forget that real people are more complicated than that; sometimes, we even forget that about ourselves. So the metaphor of school clubs forced to battle each other for domination felt like it resonated really well with many modern problems. We hope our players will feel that resonance with their own experiences as they go through the game.

Wintermoor Tactics Club is available for PC on Steam! The game will be releasing on Switch, Xbox, and PS4 later this year, or you can follow them here for more updates.

[i-like-yoongi-a-latte]

I know you mentioned 'Finnish baseball' (I've heard of it, but I'll be damned if I can think of the proper name for it!) in the tags of one of your posts. From what you understand about baseball, what's the differences between the two?

Oh do you have any idea what you've just started? Just kidding, but I like to ramble a lot and this is one of the most important things to me so I got excited! So thank you for asking! 😁

Okay so I don't understand a lot about baseball, I've gotten help from discord (shoutout to everyone on BTD you rock!). I might not get the terms correct but I'll try! Feel free to ask if it's somehow not understandable because I love to talk about it 😊

So, let’s start with an easy one: Finnish baseball is commonly known as pesäpallo, also called pesis.

First of all the field is different, baseball has the diamond but we (I say we, meaning in pesäpallo) have like a zigzag layout of bases. The pitcher is at home base instead of being in the middle, so they pitch upwards, not towards the batter. The batter has three strikes, but you have to notice the bad pitches (I think it's the same in baseball? Correct me if I'm wrong!). If there are no players on the bases, one noticed bad pitch (not hit) and you can advance to base 1, if there are players on the bases, two bads and the first runner can advance from their base to the next one.

Our strike zone is the plate, the ball must be in the zone of the plate to be a strike. If it looks like the ball won’t hit the plate after the pitch, it’s a bad pitch which can be noted by the batter/team. If it’s not noted and the batter tries to hit, it’s a strike. This is where the pitcher’s spin skill comes in, and the pitcher can make a bad pitch intentionally too. A pitch is bad also if it’s too low. Side note 1: I adore pitchers a lot. The game-reading abilities that position needs are something I admire. My favorite player is a pitcher and also the reason I fell in love with pesäpallo again ��

Pesäpallo doesn't have the out of the park thing, if the first bounce of the ball is outside the backline, it's out. I'm not familiar with the exact rules on how to advance bases in baseball, like can you advance from base 1 to 2 if the ball is caught from the air, without touching the ground. In pesäpallo if you start advancing and the ball is caught from the air you have to run to the base you were going to before the ball reaches it or you're out. If you manage to get there, then it's a caught (literally it is called 'haava' in Finnish, which translates to ‘wound/ed’, short history lesson: 'out' was called 'kill' before, so it was like the persons who were out were 'dead', and so the ones who weren't 'dead' were ‘wounded’) and you have to return to the home base.

Sometimes the players drop the ball after catching it from air so that the players stay on the bases they ran to and it's not a wound, it's a tactic. Because sometimes the players hit the ball high and try to make it a caught so that they don't need to run, and the other team drops intentionally so that they will be able to out the player next turn. Side note 2: I love the tactics and now that I’ve learned even more about pesäpallo, I enjoy it even more!

The game is divided into two periods, that each have four innings. and if you win the part you get a point - this may need demonstration: let's say team A and team B play against each other, and A wins the first period 3-1. Then the scoreboard says 1-0, and if A wins the second half, the game will end 2-0. If B wins the other period, the game is 1-1 and it can't end in a tie. So that is where the Super-inning comes in (it's called that as the league is called Superpesis), so it’s an additional one inning. If the game is still tied, they will have a special scoring contest. It's like a shootout in hockey, sort of. Five pairs from each team, other player is on the third base and other hits, trying to get the player home and get a point. If it's still tie after those pairs, then the teams choose three pairs and it’s played like that until a decision is reached. Side note 3: the team with less runs can win the game! For example, if B wins and the periods go like 4-1, 1-2 and 0-1. Previously the winner was the one with most runs, but then they decided to change it to this one.

During the defensive half, we have 9 players on the field (including the pitcher; this is the same in baseball, right?), and during offensive half we have the 9 as batters and then there are three jokers, who are additional batters.

These are the main ones that come to mind right now, there might be more too. The rules are complicated and I’m still learning too, even though I’ve been following the sport for a while. I’m not sure if I listed about the differences or if I just listed things about the game, oops. I translated most of this from my head so the text is what it is. Also these are in a very random order, but hopefully this can help! It’s been fun for me to ramble about the sport I love ❤

A CNN tweet about pesäpallo which features some info here!

Here is a website that tells about pesäpallo in English if you want to read more. There’s info about the game itself and the rules. There are also videos!!

[virusdotsneeze]

A Sickly Hunt (Snz Fic/Sick Fic)

So like, about 2 years ago, I wrote this story that I never got around to posting. It's a Blood//borne sick fic with one of my favorite female characters in a video game, Lady M//aria. If you're interested, look up her boss fight, it's great (especially the OST!).

Anyway, I didn't post it because I kinda thought it was a bit lacking when it came to snz content.

It's a fairly short story, and the sneezing is just kind of sprinkled in here and there, but I figured there'd be no harm in posting it.

Just a quick reminder that I'm not a writer, so this might be kinda crappy. But uh. Yeah. Here it is.

Also Idk if there's anyone here that cares about lore consistency or anything like that (I highly doubt it), but uh... Idk if I'd consider this lore friendly. I tried making it lore friendly, but I just don't know how accurate this depicts hunts.

The night of the hunt, a night where the line between man and beast is blurred, and the blood of beasts and hunters alike flood the streets of Yharnam. Multiple groups of hunters gather together in packs to fend off against the beastly scourge. Bullets wiz through disfigured muscle, cleavers clank and cleave, transforming as hunters duck, dodge, and weave their way through beast attacks as they counter to land killing blows.

A group of hunters led by Gehrman, the first hunter, is settling down for a quick break somewhere in the heart of central Yharnam. The group consists of about thirty hunters, five of which—the crow hunters-- take the backlines looking after all other twenty five hunters to see if they are showing any signs of turning into a beast.

The group settles down, they stay on the sidelines of the walls, sit on the steps of stairs, some drinking water, others injecting themselves with healing blood to keep them going. No fire needs to be started, as parts around them already glow in a bright yellow flame. Gehrman goes around the group to gather any information he can. He speaks with them to plan out their next route through the city.

Towards the end of the group, a silver-haired woman, roughly around the age of eighteen years is sitting on the ground, her legs raised in front of her, her weapon, the Rakuyo, is placed against the wall. The woman massages her temples with her fingers. She begins to cough into her hand. No blood, thankfully, however she can already feel the scratchiness of her throat. She rubs her throat, trying to ease the irritating feeling. She begins to sniffle, feeling the mucus begin to drip from her nostrils as she feels a tickle in her nose.

“Heh-xxcht!” She sneezes into her glove.

She pulls her hand away form her face, able to see a few thin strings of mucus dangling from her nose to her hand. She groans, wiping the rest of the remaining mucus from her nose with her hand. With no handkerchief on her, she wipes whatever is on her hand onto a tail of her coat. It’s not like it matters, she is already coated with various bodily fluids that aren't hers.

“Hih—ih-tchu! It-tchu!” She sneezes again, not into her glove this time. Her nose looks to be a faint pink at the tip, clashing with her pale skin. She can see small strings of mucus dripping off her lips and onto her ascot, also stained with other bodily fluids. As she is about to start wiping off the mucus from her hand, a familiar voice stops her.

“Getting a cold, are we, Maria?”

Surprised, a tall, older man showing signs of aging is standing in front of her, stained in bodily fluids much like her. He’s holding out a cloth handkerchief to the woman, Maria, giving a hint of a smile.

“Gehrman, thank you. Yes, I believe it to be a cold.” She replies to him, taking the handkerchief and blowing her nose into it. A muffled gurgle emanates from her nose as she does what she can to get all the congestion out. No matter how much she blows, though, she remains sniffly with a lingering tickle.

“Thinking about heading back to the workshop, eh?” Gehrman chuckles, fixing his hat.

“Of course not. A measly cold will not stop m-mie—EH’CHU!” Sneezes Maria into the sodden handkerchief, letting out another wet blow.

“Better a cold than be a beast, Maria. I don’t think any of us would want that. Especially with you.” Gehrman places his hand under her chin and lifts her head to look him in the eyes. He smiles warmly. Maria turns her head away with a small smirk and slight chuckle.

“Well, my business with you isn’t over yet. I just came to check in with what you’re supplied with. How many blood vials do you have? Do you have enough silver bullets?” Gehrman asks crossing his arms.

Coughing, Maria reaches into her coat pocket, but before she could pull anything out, a loud bang goes off in the distance. A gunshot. The two hunters as well as all the others turn around to see a body collapse to the floor with a Hunter dressed in black feathery garb standing in front of it, holding out a pistol.

A young man, one of the hunters, walks up to the Crow Hunter, panicked.

“What the bloody hell are ya doin’!? He wouldn’t hurt a human, he was jus’ mindin’ his own!”

The Crow Hunter steps up to the young man, grabbing the collar of his garb as they put their beaked mask to his face.

“Bend down, son. Do those eyes look like the eyes of a hunter?” speaks the Crow Hunter, a heavy accent coming from the mask.

Doing as he was told, the young hunter bends down to look at his dead friend in the eyes. The pupils are dilated and grey. “Look at his canines,” ordered the Crow Hunter. The young hunter pulled on the lips of the dead man. His canines are elongated and sharp. The young hunter steps back, panicked.

The Crow Hunter sighs and begins to walk away.

“I know he was yer friend. But this is just how huntin’ goes.”

“Eileen. What happened?” asks Gehrman as the feathered figure walks towards him.

“He turned, Gehrman. His friend is a lil’ shook. That’s the first hunter to turn tonight. An’ we still have many more hours to go.” Replied the Crow Hunter, Eileen, to Gehrman.

“Ah… Such a shame, he was a young man. Well, we best start getting a move, then. Maria, status?” Gehrman motions to Maria.

“Ahem. Ah, I have most of my blood vials. I’m rather low on my silver bull-et’chxxt!” sneezed Maria into the handkerchief mid-sentence.

Eileen makes her way towards Maria and bends over to take a closer look at her eyes. A bit startled, Maria’s eyes widen, sitting further back a bit, her head against the wall. Her eyes are a pale blue, almost grey color, but very human. Seeing this, Eileen stands up.

“Gesundheit. Forgive me, Lady Maria.”

“Oh Eileen, a simple cold doesn’t relate to a beast.” Gehrman chuckled, patting Eileen on the back.

Eileen groans.

“Be’er safe than sorry, Gehrman. Ya could never know when one is to turn. I will head to the backlines, now.” Eileen walks away from the two.

“That woman is going to be one of the best Crow Hunters someday, eh? She’s about your age, too.” Gehrman looks back at Maria, as he places his blade into the wooden mechanism on his back, unfolding into a massive scythe.

“We best make our move now. The hunt is not over yet.”