#ive yet to have a single match thats not terrible

[bapzap]

i love tickets because they let me know exactly how many matches ive played waiting for even a single one to be remotely enjoyable

[xo2dee]

ᴊᴜᴊᴜᴛꜱᴜ ᴋᴀɪꜱᴇɴ ᴍᴀꜱᴛᴇʀʟɪꜱᴛ

ꜱᴡᴇᴇᴛ ᴛᴏᴏᴛʜ

✶ ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: Choso x Reader

✶ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: None

✶ ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 1,003

✶ ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: As sweet as he was, your boyfriend really couldn't cook to save his life.

✶ ᴀ/ɴ: never written for choso but i wanted to start with something little and hopefully something thats not ass as ive planned a choso longfic for the future and wanted to practice a bit. also i like to hc that he'd be a terrible cook ngl lmao. hope you enjoy!

✶ twitter - ao3

“Um…”

Not your most eloquent response, but you supposed it could match the… delicacy of the situation.

By your side you felt him move, his shoulder bumping against your own as he shifted on his feet at your mumble and ducked his head lower to put his ear closer to your mouth. You could almost feel the sweat lining your forehead, his dark eyes boring into the side of your face as you fought to keep a straight face and stared pointedly at the… ‘food’ in front of you. It was hard not to laugh, your lips quivering and stomach knotting in a ball from holding your breath for so long, but the last thing you wanted to do was hurt your fairly new boyfriend’s feelings.

Even if he couldn’t cook a damn thing to save his life.

(No way Yuji lived with him like that… Either he cooked, or he was eating out every night.)

In your peripherals you eyed Choso for his body language. It was clear he was eager for your answer; perhaps a little praise here and there for his ‘astounding’ cooking expertise, but you weren’t oblivious to the anxious undertones he was permitting as well. It was almost like he knew he fucked up, but he wanted you to give it to him easy, so he didn’t have to come to terms that you and Yuji possible grinned and bared it every time he made something for the either of you two (and you didn’t even want to think about Eso and Kechizu. God they probably scarfed the shit down while Yuji’s stomach fought for its life).

Though looking at the dessert he made…

Choso’s finger dug into your side, effectively cutting off any more mental insults you could throw at the food, and he poked you twice in the hip while latching onto your belt loop, “You’re just standing there staring at it.”

Well, what could you say? “I’m just in awe how you cooked something that looks so good.” Something along the lines of that would butter him up.

Choso sighed, “You’re the worst liar I’ve ever met.” Or not.

You dared a glance at him, sucking in your lips at the dejected pout and longing gaze at the hockey pucks he created out of cookie dough, before relaxing your shoulder and leaning into him, “I mean it. Just a tad overdone –” he shot you a withering look, making you laugh sheepishly – “we can just throw it in the microwave to soften them up a bit.” You really didn’t want to lose any teeth, and Choso had such pretty ones you didn’t want him to lose those either.

The side-eye you were receiving was uncalled for in your opinion, and he was gazing at your face for a rather long time to gauge the expression (and see through your lies) on your face before he scowled and looked back at the mess. Part of you wanted to reassure him, knowing he really did try his hardest, but other part of you didn’t want to lie straight to his face and save yourselves both a future mess on your hands for lying. Honestly, it wasn’t a huge deal, but Choso also looked so sad… like a little baby panda sad…

You went to reassure him (truthfully that time), yet at that moment your boyfriend uncurled his fingers from your belt loop, took one of the hockey – cookies and promptly banged it against the counter in a sound so deafening it promptly stopped the words on your tongue as you both stared.

“…”

“…”

You both stood in silence for a moment, and then – “Wow, it’s so hard not a single crumb fell off.”

Choso sighed – again – and grumbled something under his breath while scratching the back of his head, “You hate it.”

Your eyebrows rose, fingers curling around his wrist to throw his arm over your shoulder as you fought off another laugh from his behavior, “I don’t hate it. It’s just… you burnt them.” Leaning further into him whenever Choso finally relaxed, you began to pull on his cheek and relish in the tint turning a charming shade of red, “Plus I think it’s sweet you wanted to make me cookies.”

He hummed, eyelashes fluttering and lips twitching as he avoided your eyes to showcase his embarrassment, “It’s been three months since we started dating.”

Your heart and stomach flipped timeously, still not used to Choso’s blunt attitude when it came to expressing parts of his feelings for you. He was still rather reserved in some instances, but more often did he leave you speechless when he decided to openly show his affection for you in ways that didn’t involve any physical intimacy. You couldn’t blame him for trying, but you did want to get away from the burnt cookie smell…

“So sentimental,” you teased, giving his cheek one more pinch before guiding him back to the couch where popcorn and a movie you had planned awaited, “Let’s just stick to this tonight. Maybe one day we can make cookies together… so they don’t burn.”

He answered you through a squeeze with his hand, following you dutifully and at ease from your suggestion. Though as you flicked through possible movies to watch, you couldn’t help but tease him a little more.

“How did you forget they were in oven?”

“I don’t think I set the timer.”

“I mean it happens to all of us.”

“…They could be edible –”

“No.”

“No, I mean – I think Eso and Kechizu might eat them.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right. Though it’s a wonder how they’re still alive if you were cooking for them the entire time.”

“I can cook some things, even Yuji says so.”

“Yes, the Yuji who eats takeout almost every night. Imagine what’d he say if he saw –"

Choso’s fingers found your lips, pinching them together and effectively shutting you up as he decided on a movie himself and not having to hear your mouth.

[prettybutter-flyy]

so I'm in what i am calling my cacoon era.

The fact is i have a terrible habit of saying im going to do things to my friends and family and then just not doing it. A couple months ago i realized im only really letting myself down, bc they dont even expect me to do what i say anymore. In fact, i dont even think my loved ones really respect me, but thats a story for another time.

I was just getting so frustrated that my loved ones didnt really take me seriously and wouldnt come through for me but then i realized, i dont even do that shit for myself!

And this is not to say that i dont DESERVE my lov3d ones to show they care or prioritize me or whatever, i absolutely do. If you are someones irl moot, you should show you care about them and prioritize them sometimes.

My point is How can i be mad when others dont come through for me or make me a priority when i dont even prioritize myself?

I am not physically healthy, i eat like shit, im fat, o feel sluggish and weighed down and i dont like it. Dont get me wrong, im cute but i *feel* like shit.

I don't stand up for myself and i invalidate my feelings and thoughts constantly, always looking to others and social media for opinions.

I am not where i want to be financially. But thats just bc I got myself into like 8k debt when i was without a job a couple months ago.

Socially, i feel like im at the bottom of my friend group if I'm being 100% honest. They dont treat me poorly, but i can tell they think im stupid. Maybe we just have too much history, we have been friends since high school, so... and then it doesnt help that im the only single friend, and I'm happy for them genuinely, but the dynamics just change when friends get into relationships. I have 4 hs friends I see semi regularly, 2 of them are married and 2 have serious bfs. They hang out as couples and give me relationship advice and the married ones are getting ready to buy a house and maybe have kids. They're just in different stages of life man, and it peer pressures me into wanting that but im honestly not even sure if i do.

And professionally... idk im doing okay professionally. Im working at a news station as a show producer and my passion has always been film, writing and creating stuff. Its not an exact match but its okay for now and its sustainable and if I can play my networking hands right, i could move to where i want to be (a film firector). My issue here is i have the whole day to do this stuff (write, film, create, practice my art) and i just dont. Idk the mental blocks holding me back, is it my laziness or learned helplessness or what, but i just dont do things that i am passionate about.

All around, i am not where i want to be.

But I moved into my apartment in july, and thats a crazy story in itself but i am an hour away from my closest family (30-40 if i tale tolls). I didnt want to move so far away but recently, ive been getting signs that this was a good move for me. I need to isolate myself to make these changes: no going out to save money; instead workout, get my body how i want; practice making new friends, new SINGLE friends.

Ive slightly failed bc ive been talking to this guy for the last couple weeks but nothing is official and theres no reason it needs to be just yet. I want to get with at least one girl before i settle down with anyone.

My point is, i want to take the rest of my lease in this apartment as a chance to radically repair my life. To sprout my wings and become the butterfly that i feel like on the inside, and let that show on the outside. I deserve so much more than what ive given myself. If i were in a relationship w myself, i would have broken up with that bum ass bitch years ago.

So in my Cacoon era, im isolating myself, trying to make the changes internally and virtually alone, bc I will not have support from family and friends because i have said i was going to get my shit together so many times (and not done it) at this point, i imagine no one believes me. Im chrysalizing myself from a beautiful catipillar to emerge a beautiful butterfly - and I have to do the internal work as well, bc I could lose the weight and still be in a bad financial situation (how will i go on dates!) Or start hating myself and develop an ed (i don't now but i have addictive tendencies) or make shitty new friends who treat me worse than my hs friends (who i want to reiterate, havent really harmed me, just dont respect me). I cant just fix one aspect, they all tie in together, they're all a part of me and what makes me happy and if one of those things is off, i will still be as miserable as i am now.

My cacoon is meant to be protection from the outside, and an incubator for a new me.

So these are the things i want to change, im on a new platform where no one knows me and i have a lil freedom to explore and vent and whatever i want because this is my blog and i deserve it.

I deserve to do the things that i like. I deserve to look how i feel, i deserve friends that take me seriously, I deserve relationships that serve me and to be with someone im crazy about when the time is right. And you do too.

Please join me on this journey. Im begging, one thing i really need right now is a(n anonymous) community of ppl wanting to better themselves just like me, encouragement and maybe tips. An external force to be held accountable to.

Typically, i would ask what your thoughts are, but I don't really care, just follow my journey and tell me abt yours :)

[happytsukki]

common sense

k. tsukishima

you were a fool. but only for tsukishima. (f! reader)

a/n: ive been reading the manga and chapters 370+ literally have me bawling, im so emotionally attached. also fun fact you cant get your drivers license in japan till you graduate high school,,big rip for (y/n) and her food.

someone with common sense would’ve ran home to avoid the predicted forecast. they would’ve enjoyed safely arriving home without getting a single drop of rain on their uniform. but you lacked common sense.

the steady beat of raindrops hitting the ground accompanied by a strong gust of wind greeted you as you exited the school. you stood waiting, a bright green umbrella painted with purple triceratops in one hand while you rocked back and forth on your heels.

“what are you still doing here?” a voice suddenly asked, snapping you out of your trance. looking up you locked eyes with tsukishima causing a champagne pink hue to creep onto your cheeks.

“oh, i-uh, knew you didn’t have an umbrella, so i figured i would wait for you and we could walk together,” you beamed. tsukishima rolled his eyes and adjusted his glasses, but you swore you could see the corners of his lips curl up.

you knew tsukishima. you knew he hated the rain and deep down, he appreciated your kind gesture even if he didn’t say it.

he grabbed the umbrella in your hand and opened it outside the safety of the building. he took two steps into the rain before turning around to realize you were still frozen on the steps of karasuno high. there you were, an idiot shivering from head to toe in the cold weather, yet you still had a smile painted across your face.

“are you gonna just stand there or are you actually coming?” he muttered, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion.

“coming!!” you cooed before running down the steps and practicing colliding with him as you pressed closer to him under the tiny umbrella. maybe you should’ve packed a bigger umbrella, but you definitely weren’t complaining.

you walked in unison, small drops falling onto your sweater as you could barely fit under the umbrella with the beanpole. you took notice of one hand tucked away in the warmth of his jacket and the other clutching the umbrella for the two of you. and with your warm gloves, you placed a hand over his.

“sorry, your hand seemed a little cold” you blurted out, slightly afraid he would take his hand away in disgust. but he didn’t, he let you hold his hand. you could finally release the breath you were holding and smiled. rainy days never felt good. the sky may have been dark and gloomy, but being with him felt as if it was another spring day, the sun beaming brightly and the birds chirping.

your walk consisted of asking tsukishima about his volleyball club season and him asking about your classes. you wanted to amuse him, to hear his laugh just once, so you told him the story of how you went to school thinking you math test only to find it was actually an english test, receiving a grade no higher than your age.

and miraculously, he laughed. it was subtle and quiet, but it took away your breath and made your heart race.

tsukishima halted, finally arriving at his home. he glanced up at the sky before catching it slowly transform from a color to a baby blue.

“it stopped raining—“ you cut him off midsentence, grabbing the sides of his face and pulling him closer before you placed a quick peck on his lips.

“bye!” you shouted as you ran away. leaving poor tsukishima standing there, dumbfounded as to why his heart was beating so fast and why his knees turned into complete jelly.

you liked tsukishima. and luckily, he liked you too.

someone with common sense would’ve finished their homework and took advantage of a night free of worry. they would’ve enjoyed a full eight hours of sleep while dreams danced through their mind. but you lacked common sense.

the kitchen clock read 2:18, you were growing impatient waiting for cookies in the oven. before your crazy attempt to make lunches and treats for the entire karasuno team, you studied for your history test and finished a 10-page essay due the next day.

with your apron stained with all sorts of condiments and food, you glanced at the pile of bento boxes placed on your dining table. each decorated with a name of every player on karasuno’s mens volleyball club, of course including the cutest managers and best coaches.

the lunch box on top, reading my tsukki, my moon made with extra love and care for you boyfriend.

tomorrow was the miyagi prefectural qualifiers and as much as you wanted to be there, you had school. you longed to be in the crowds, screaming for tsukki and karasuno at the top of your lungs. so of course, you felt guilty for not being able to give your support. an alternative? food.

beep beep. the timer of the oven finally went off and you breathed a sigh of relief. you weren’t sure how long you could keep your eyelids open. your tiredness must’ve gotten to your head because without a second thought you opened the oven and reached for the scorching pan.

you spewed a variety of curses quietly in an attempt to not wake your parents, but the pain was intolerable. after taking the cookies out with the opposite hand, throwing them in a container and trying to type out ‘how to deal with burns’ with your pinky while one hand held ice (not a good idea) to the burn— you fell asleep on the couch.

not even 3 hours later, you woke up. oh the things i do for this boy. you shook your head, a smile creeping onto your face just thinking about him. you quickly throw on a hoodie and carefully place the food into a basket attached to your bike.

the sun had barely come up, just peeking from the horizon. it was way too early. riding your bike to karasuno while you rubbed your eyes constantly and yawned nonstop was a challenge. you almost tipped over several times. but once you arrived you were greeted by a horde of “hey it’s y/n!!” but the only thing you could really hear was “y/n what are you doing here?”

“well, good morning to you too, tsukki,” you chirped, taking the food out of your basket and carefully distributing it to everyone.

“wow y/n, you really didn’t have to do this.” daichi said. “but this does look amazing.” sugawara butt in, admiring the cute design. “y/n you’re the best, seriously!!” praised hinata, already shoving a small bite into his mouth for a quick ‘taste.’

when you handed tsukki his, confusion and worry came across his face. “but— look at you y/n. you look terrible.” he spat, reaching over to inspect your face. he titled your chin up and pulled your eyes wide.

“is that what you tell your girlfriend after she spent all night to make you lunch?” you pouted, slightly hurt from how he reacted.

“i think y/n looks pretty, like always.” yamaguchi gushed from afar.

“shut up yamaguchi.” “sorry tsukki!!”

“but you know thats not what i meant. i’m just worried about, you look like you haven’t sleep at all.” he shook his head.

“hey! technically i slept for 3 hours.” you argued, earning a signature tsukishima eye roll from the man himself.

“you’re an idiot, y/n. but thank you.” he muttered and placed a kiss on your forehead. suddenly, coach ukai cut in and yelled for everyone to get in the van. groaning, tsukki squeezed you into a hug.

“sorry i can’t be there, but win for me and i’ll be there next match. i promise” you pouted, adding an extra boost of encouragement for tsukishima. these days, you’d noticed how passionate he’d become about the sport and no words could describe your happiness over this.

after waving bye to the team and wishing them the best of luck, you stood alone in the parking lot. happy and excited for what was to come for the karasuno boys volleyball club. but stupid for thinking you could make it through the rest of your day on the mere 3 hours of sleep.

you were an idiot— a fool, perhaps.

someone might as well hand you a jester hat and shoes, bells included, of course. because you were a fool, for tsukishima kei only.

someone with common sense would’ve followed the sign saying “only players allowed on court.” they would’ve yelled praises of encouragement from the stands and just sent a text. but you lacked common sense.

as soon as you saw red liquid ooze from tsukishima’s hand, you hoped out of your seat and grabbed your belongings without hesitation. oh no. your heart sunk and before yachi could even try to calm you down you were already running.

past the crowds and down the stairs leading to the court. you sprinted towards the karasuno team, completely ignoring the officials yelling at you.

you gently pushed through tsukishima’s teammates and an angry expression reached your face once you met eyes with the boy.

“tsukishima kei, are you stupid?” you cursued at him. his face turns a slight pink as his teammates snicker at your typical girlfriend antics. meanwhile, several tournament officials walked over to check on tsukishima’s condition and kick you off the court since you weren’t a player. but you didn’t care. you took his hurt hand into yours, putting your face closer to examine the extent of his injury.

he winced in pain causing your anger to melt away. “you almost gave me a heart attack, you have no idea how worried i was up th-“ you blab on before tsukishima reassures you.

“y/n i’m still breathing, right? you care about me that much huh?” tsukishima smirked as he tried to hide the pain he felt in his right hand.

“okay lovebirds, why don’t you go to the medical office together and get it checked out? we’re going to need you back on the court, tsukishima.” coach ukai quickly sends the two of you away in hopes of him returning by the fifth set.

akiteru and yachi anxiously follow as you and tsukishima rush to the medical office. they wait outside and the doctor tells you two that only his pinky is discolated and the rest of his fingers are fine, so he can still return but he has to wait for the bleeding to stop. the doctor excuses himself to get more bandages, leaving the two of you alone.

you stand up from your seat to stand in front of tsukishima. his face is serious, clearly still fixated on the game still going on at the moment. you wanted to give him peace but you couldn’t hold in how proud you were.

you go on to explain how amazed you were. “and when you jumped up to block, i knew ushijima had no chance— then BOOM! his spike goes straight down into the floor. i think i broke yachi’s eardums with my screaming. not to mention how hot you looked out there like what the hell??” you gushed, making tsukishima smile amidst his pain.

he pulled you in closer and wrapped his long arms around your torso, tucking his face into the comfort of your neck. like muscle memory, your hand finds its way to his back and began to rub circles.

“you’re really sweaty, tsukki. its kinda gross.” you whisper into his hear making him click his tongue in response. but despite the perspiration dripping down his back, you honestly didn’t mind.

tsukishima pulls away, his eyes wander around your face. his breath hitching at your every feature, especially at how your eyes possessed a unique twinkle that didn’t just resemble stars but the entire galaxy. then he remembers the day he fell in love with you, that day you walked home together in the rain.

“god y/n, you’re crazy you know that, right? but i love you.” he chuckles. “i know.” you proudly state while you try to hide the fact that your heart was physically hurting from how fast it was beating. “and i-“ you sprinkle a dozen kisses all over tsukishima’s face. one for eveything you loved about him.” love you too, kei” you say before pressing your swollen lips against his.

“now go out there and beat shiratorizawa’s ass!”

and that’s exactly what he does.

[weraceasone]

Hi Elle

Im quite new to F1, but I've been watching a lot (since im on year end break), and ive come to adore the whole grid, all 19 of them. Ive noticed Max loves to run his mouth, not sure why he thinks thats a good idea in a sport full of politicking, but it frustrates me to no end. Because I adore him at times, and I hate him at times and I can't help but feel like he's just killing his own career through ruining his relationship with other teams. He wont be in red bull forever, and with the way he runs his mouth, i doubt any team is very excited to give him a seat if his talent comes with a side of his attitude. Its so frustrating because i know he's a good driver, i always want him to do well but this mentality of his that he can just get away with things is so annoying. I hope his actions of today won't come back to bite him in the ass because i think he's champion material. I also feel reluctant to support red bull at times but I adore Checo, and i wont wish a bad car or season upon anyone, because the team of engineers and mechanics that works hard doesn't deserve it, don't deserve to have people wish them terrible results when they work so hard, just because their leaders are some assholes. I just wanted to vent my frustration because anywhere else, especially f1twt is so brutal for some noob like me haha. I hope you're having a wonderful day, Elle!

[i also wonder if you dislike max? a lot of people do, i cant blame them, but i just wanted to know :)))))]

hey Anon!

(first of all, I wanted to say that you saying F1twt is a bit brutal for new fans made me a bit sad. I just want to say that you shouldn’t ever feel bad about not knowing something, and you also shouldn’t be made to feel bad for not knowing something. what an unkind response from people to drag down another person for not knowing every single thing. always feel free to ask me anything🧡)

do I like Max? hmmm, not really. but I don’t hate him either. when you’re young and you look at the villain in a movie, there’s always this sort of moment in the movie when you realize ‘oh, they have a good side too’. I think something that I’ve realized this past year, is that as much as I wish for them to be, most people aren’t completely, from head to toe, bad. when it comes to a person, there’s no such thing as black and white. I think that’s kind of how I view Max. he can be funny. I like him with Lando and Daniel and I think the comments he sometimes makes are funny. I like how he talks about his mother and sister and I thought it was really sweet how he was reminding his team to drink during races. yet, I don’t like Max. I don’t like the way he talks about people in a negative way, I don’t like how he doesn’t kneel, and I don’t like how he never apologizes when he did something wrong. I can’t bring myself to hate him, though. I was raised in a hard way, it was nothing compared to the way Max was raised, but I was never taught to be kind; I was taught that kindness was synonymous with weakness. I had to learn how to be kind all by myself. I know how hard it is to go from a clenched fist to an open palm, and I know that you have to take your own responsibility in life and look beyond the way you were raised. I know how hard it is to see your own red flags when you were raised by bulls (I swear, no pun intended). the difference between Max and I is that I never started working in an environment that told me, from day one, I needed to be harsh, emotionless and cruel in order to survive. I was never told I couldn’t show emotion, I was never told that if words weren’t enough, my fists would also do. do I think Max should have learned from his past actions; do I think he should have learned from the way he was raised and be the exact opposite? yes, I do. am I angry with Max for not doing that? no, not necessarily. there’s this desire from people to look at another person and want them to be perfect, even to the point where we even start to believe they are perfect. we look at these drivers and so desperately project all of our ideals onto them, and when they say or do something that doesn’t fit into the image we’ve created in our heads, it feels as if our world is breaking down piece by piece. and you know… it’s not feasible. it’s such a fragile idea to believe another person is perfect. these people aren’t our perception of them, just like our friends aren’t, just like our parents aren’t. we just have an idea in our heads based on the parts they chose to show us. it’s not a real thing. they are just as much human as we are, and they have the right to disappoint us. and just like they have a right to disappoint me, I also have a right to be disappointed in them. but at the end of the day, I have a perception of him in my head that probably doesn’t completely match with reality and that awareness shouldn’t get lost somewhere in between. 

(this got super, super long. I’m sorry about that, Anon. I hope you’re having a good day! 🧡)

[kyberjolt]

my first round of thoughts on tros ( spit bubbles of thought as i cling to 3 hours of sleep to write this before i head into work )

film wise: the opening scenes really rocked my shit; probably some of my favorite shots throughout the entire film just because of how attention grabbing they were. kylo ren at Peak Power just popping off ( his piloting abilities...... we’ll talk more about that later ) & poe dameron expertly lightspeed jumping with the falcon? an entertaining beginning! i was blessed with being able to see it in imax & i found the entire work visually beautiful for sure, many scenes leaving me wanting to see more of each new world. the cgi for carrie was better than i expected ( both young & elderly ), & i felt honored her well. lots of lovely shots of her daughter too.

throughout the rest movie, i found the pacing shifted into FAST MODE, the story feeling a bit rushed; kinda like they tried to fit two movies worth of content into a couple action packed hours. the ending wrapped up so quickly i feel like i didn’t exactly get an opportunity to say goodbye to all of these characters that i’ve loved so much so that felt like a bit of a bummer. the soundtrack was beautiful but i’m not ready to listen to it yet.....

the content: ......i’m so devastated over ben not making it, this character i’ve loved for several years, BUT i did call it back when tfa came out that the only way he could be brought peace would have to be through death. star wars is about sacrifice and honor and redemption and i always had a feeling it was going to happen, but it doesn’t hurt any less knowing that i was right.

kylo ren barely hanging on by a thread after killing his father, but being unable to stand it & nearly loses the war & his life over the feeling of his mother passing? kylo ren wanting to go home & never feeling like he could? the memory of han in kylo’s mind helping free ben? ben solo sacrificing himself like his father....and mother.....and uncle....and grandfather? what a family. i’ve always been very soft for the organa-solos.... i wish ben could have seen leia one last time :((((

“dad....” “i know.” ( like mother.... like father.... like son.... )

hux being the spy was like something someone pulled out of ao3 and slapped a trademark sticker on it just for the sake of convenience for our heroes. there’s already enough ‘is it right or is it wrong’ about redeeming ben solo in the first place after all of his monstrosities, but i’d like to think there’s enough evidence to concur that there’s more meat to ben’s backstory that was fueled by manipulation by the emperor...... hux let their most valuable hostages leave the ship because he’s in a dick measuring match with kylo? something he knew would potentially get him killed, & did? idk seemed quick with no prompting prior to think he would ever aid the resistance in any way, shape or form. his death was terribly executed ( pun intended ).

the knights of ren deserved more screen time than what they got, & as someone who loves all my kor ocs, i’m here to hold you close & never let you go. i loved every single shot i got to see of them, among the few. i felt very let down by their lack of..... doing anything except existing i guess. running errands for kylo..... standing behind him as a lil creature fixes his mask..... not saying or doing anything & then going belly up when ben gets his hands on a saber........ i’m sorry but very underwhelming for something so hyped up for so long! i hope that the star wars creative department releases more comics of them or something, & until then, i’m collecting knights.

rose tico got scrubbed out & left behind. finn had little to no development & thats truly one of the most unforgivable parts. it felt like they opened several doors for exploring these character & ended up forgetting to close them. i loved jannah with my whole heart but she ALSO DESERVED MORE SCREENTIME.

haha jj abrams gay ally puts two hot girls kissing in his movie for .5 seconds & prayed that would patch up the lack of representation everywhere else..... haha jj abrams gay ally makes a female character in a tight suit with NO FACE just for poe dameron to continually hit on to remind everyone he’s straight for a weird segment of the movie with no context to who she is or their past or nothing. just ;) they had sex once & he’d do it again aha ;) 

thats all im going to say about that.

now..... on the topic of shipping: as someone who does ship reylo ( my soulbond uwus ), but really wanted finnrey to happen ( my softest uwus ), and if that couldn’t i was like “that cool they’ll just make finnpoe canon” ( god fucking damn it jj.... ), i feel like ive taken the fattest L. 

but enough bitching! i have to go to work & i still have so much more to say but i’ll end this with: kylo in the tie silencer headed to exegol in the first scene made my mom smack me bc i gasped out loud. i just love to see him flying, & with such precision & brute force! such a contrast to how we see poe & rey pilot their respective ships throughout the rest of the movie. 

also the choreography for each saber sequence was exhilarating & fun to watch. i love that they stayed true to how each character reacts & fights in battle.

p.s. ben planned on taking the emperor on with..... a blaster after he fucking YEETS his best weapon into the ocean, for the drama of it? that’s the most solo/skywalker thing i’ve ever seen in his arc yet & i lost my shit in a quiet, teary eyed theater.

[kumkaniudaku]

Our Thing

Happy Valentine’s Day, guys. Here’s one of the two things I plan on writing. I consider all of you my Valentine’s since I never have one, so here’s something before the clock strikes 12. 

Work Count: 2k

Warnings: Not yet proofread

“I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“What? Of course, it’s a good idea! I’m the king of good ideas!”

Voices bounced off of the walls of the Brooklyn apartment building as Chad and CoCo walked side by side to the apartment at the end of the hallway.

The snow lining the sidewalks outside were typical of mid-February, giving Tasha more of a reason to stay inside on the cold Friday. But her friend insisted she leave the dark cocoon she had created for herself in her apartment just across the water in New Jersey.

Valentine’s Day was the designated time of the year to celebrate love. Chadwick had a reason to celebrate, but CoCo could no longer say the same. After months of turmoil and emotional abuse, she was a single woman again and dreading the mere thought of loving someone else. So, she planned to avoid all mentions of love and relationships for the foreseeable future. Even if that meant neglecting tradition.

“Look, Chad, we can celebrate on the 15th! This feels so...weird.”

“We celebrate Valentine’s Day together every year. We can’t skip out this year.”

“I feel like having a girlfriend is the perfect reason to miss a year,” CoCo deadpanned as they reached their intended destination. She could practically feel the excitement buzzing from the other side of the door in the form of Toni Braxton’s greatest hits so far, and started to feel bad for the woman she’d come face to face with for the first time.

“Why miss a year when we can celebrate together? And you get to meet my lady for the first time. It’ll be fun.”

“Fun my ass,” Tasha mumbled into the thick scarf around her neck, earning a look from Chadwick.

“Wanna share that with the class, Miss Greene?”

“Knock on the damn door!”

A muffled feminine voice announced that she was gearing up to answer the door adding to the uneasiness in the pit of CoCo’s belly. She knew that if she was on the other side of this encounter, seeing a woman with her boyfriend on date night would insight a riot.

When the door opened to reveal the woman she only knew as Jay, she was more than shocked at what met her. Jay was beautiful. Her slim figure came with a few curves to compliment her height. She was graceful beyond compare and impeccably dressed, making Tasha feel incredibly bland in comparison.

“Hi, baby,” Jay sang as she wrapped her arms around Chadwick and went in for a kiss. If Tasha had rolled her eyes any harder, they would’ve fallen from her skull and rolled all the way back to New Jersey to beat her home. Catching wind of another presence, Jay offered a courteous smile.

“Oh, hi! Did he forget to give you a tip downstairs?”

“A tip,” CoCo asked, obviously offended and a bit confused.

“A tip for the cab ride. I know it was hell driving in this snow. Just let me grab my purse.”

Chadwick could see Tasha’s struggle to maintain her composure, her mouth opening and closing with words she couldn’t produce.

“You know what? I’m going home. Call me to let me know you got back to your place safely.”

“No, wait,” he exclaimed before grabbing Tasha’s elbow and pulling her back to her original spot despite her struggle to pull away. Noticing the commotion, Jay turned back to Chadwick and Tasha with her brows quirked in confusion.

“Am I missing something.”

“Nope. I’ll just take my tip and be on my w-”

“Jay, this is my best friend Tasha that I’ve been telling you about. Co, this is Jayme Dubois, my girlfriend.”

A brief and unpleasant stare off preceded a chipper energy shift as Jayme went in for a hug. “CoCo, how are you! I have heard so much about you.”

“Yeah well, don’t believe any of it,” CoCo forced out between fake laughter while she made faces at Chadwick over Jayme’s shoulder.

“I’ll keep that in mind. So, what brings you over? Do you have a date in this complex? I always knew white boy Rick liked Black women.”

“Actually, Muffin, I was thinking she could spend Valentine’s Day with us. It’s been tradition for us to spend the holiday together and we don’t wanna break it.”

“So you want Tasia -”

“It’s Tasha,” CoCo interrupted in the most obnoxious tone she could muster.

“Right...Tasha. You want Tasha to spend Valentine’s Day with us? Tonight? Even though this is a couple’s holiday? Couple as in two, mind you.”

“Yes, Jay. It would really mean a lot to me.”

Jayme looked between a visibly annoyed Tasha and the pleading eyes of her boyfriend before letting go of a long sigh and stepping aside to usher her companions for the night inside.

Tasha took in her surroundings and quietly marveled. Though small because what seemed to be standard in New York, Jayme’s dwelling was equal parts colorful and classic. Had she not started the interaction on such a bad note, Tasha would’ve complimented her on the statement couch that matched her ornate rug, but she kept it to herself out of spite.

“So since we have one more, what are our plans for the night, honey bear?”

Chadwick caught the slight scrunch in CoCo’s face and ignored it to refrain from explaining the embarrassing nickname. “Well, we can still go see Definitely, Maybe like you wanted, but instead of dinner in the park, Tasha got us a reservation at this really nice Italian spot in the city.”

“I called in a favor from work. It was no big deal.”

Jayme disregarded CoCo’s smile as she took a sip from her water bottle and sat on the arm of the chair Chadwick occupied. Her hands rubbed patronizing circles around his shoulders and back, forcing Tasha to look away to save the awkward moment.

“Well, it seems like you too already have this figured out, so I’ll just grab my coat. Do you have any more suggestions, CoCo?”

“Nooope.” Tasha sang the word through gritted teeth forced into a smile. Chadwick gave her a sympathetic look before helping Jayme into her coat and ushering each woman safely out of the building.

Tasha remained the front wheel of the tricycle, preferring to stay in front of the couple to refrain from looking like the unwanted third party. With every audible kiss and nauseatingly affectionate gesture, CoCo felt her heart tighten. It wasn’t seeing Chadwick with another woman that had her fighting back tears in the theatre. She needed the sight to push her feelings for him to the furthest corner of her mind. It was the pain of knowing that she had just detached from one of the worst situations in her life, yet wanted to be with him to cure the loneliness she felt.

If she had it her way, she’d cry it out until the work week resumed on Monday in the comfort of her own home, but continued to engage in the conversation when the moment presented itself to appease Chadwick.

In a restaurant full of couples, Jayme, Chadwick, and Tasha were the only threesome in the center of the establishment. Nervous energy characterized the silence left behind when Chadwick excused himself to the restroom, leaving the women in his life to avoid eye contact.

Relief came in the form of a stout waiter visiting the table to collect dinner orders. Without realizing that the order would be incomplete without the third member of the group, the women ordered traditional dishes and wine for the table.

“And the young man? What will he have?”

“Oh! Ummm, I’m not sure,” Jayme responded as she fumbled through the menu. “Maybe you could come back in a few minutes?”

“He’ll have the Parmigiana w/ Pasta, but please be light on the sauce. He gets heartburn from all the tomatoes.”

The waiter took heed of Tasha’s warning before walking away, leaving Jayme to burn a hole in the top of Tasha’s head while she sorted through emails on her cell phone.

“How long did you say you and Chadwick have been friends?”

“Since Fall 1996. So coming up on 13 years,” Tasha answered, looking up to find an indecipherable look on Jayme’s face. “What’s wrong?”

“I just - you know him so well. His favorite candy, where he likes to sit in the theatre, what he eats at certain restaurants. I don’t know if I can keep up.”

The process of finding the right words to assure Jayme, Chadwick returned to the table and unknowingly ended the conversation before it could truly begin.

“Never in my life did I think I’d have to stand in line to use the men’s restroom. I applaud y’all for doing that,” he complained as he took his seat. “Has the waiter come back for orders yet?”

“He did actually. Tasha got you Parmigiana w/ Pasta.” Jayme secretly hoped that Chadwick would reject the choice and ask for a second go at the ordering process. She was met with the complete opposite.

“Hell yeah!” His fist met Tasha’s across the table in his childlike excitement. “I love that shit.”

“Language, honey bear.”

“Sorry, Muffin.”

“Wow,” Tasha whispered to herself, unaware that the others around the table could hear her.

“Did you want to say something, Tasha?”

“Noooope.”

The table fell silent to give way to the idle chatter in the area around them. Chadwick looked between his girlfriend and best friend trying to find a way to get them to interact with each other cordially.

“So, Co, Jayme has been trying to get into basketball lately.”

“Oh really.” Tasha was clearly uninterested as she continued to read emails on her phone from weeks ago. A subtle kick underneath her table made her look up and noticed Chadwick’s non-verbal urging for her to at least pretend to care. “Which team are you interested in, Jayme?”

“I really like the Nets! Trenton Hassell to be exact.”

“Do you? Because he averages less than two points a game. There’s not much to like.”

“Trenton is your friend’s boyfriend right, Jay?”

“Does it matter now? Tasha basically called him a bad player.”

“Not bad, per se. He’s terrible. That’s a better adjective.”

“Oh-kay,” Chadwick interjected to end the escalating conversation. “Jay, how’s work at the fashion house going?”

“Ugh, it is amazing! We got some new pieces last night and they are beautiful. Maybe you could come browse one day, Tasha. Style can always use an update.”

“I consider myself more Maxine than Regine. Thanks though. I’m sure the pieces are nice.”

Tasha successfully contained her laughter at Jayme’s expression, feeling her first surge of happiness for the day.

Chadwick felt helpless as the night continued and each attempt at joining two of his favorite women ended in a snarky comment or shady look. Dinner provided a welcome activity that didn’t require group conversation, giving him the opportunity to cater to each woman. The longer they sat and contemplated grabbing cheesecake inside the restaurant or settling for ice cream on the way home, the more he could feel Jayme disconnecting.

“Muffin, do you want the strawberry cheesecake for here or to go,” he asked as she slid her coat from the back of her chair and collected her purse.

“Actually, I don’t feel so well, honey bear. I’m gonna head home.”

“What? So soon? We didn’t even get to dessert.”

Tasha watched Jayme put on her best “sick” face and gagged internally at Chadwick falling for the charade. Jayme was far from physically sick. If she was feeling anything, it was annoyance at the fact that her boyfriend’s best friend had spent the most romantic night of the year taking the attention from her.

“Well, let me walk you outside and wait for the cab to come.”

“Thank you, honey bear.” Jayme accepted Chadwick’s help into her coat, purposely ignoring Tasha until the last second. “Good night, Tasha. Maybe we’ll see each other for another occasion. Hopefully in a less...crowded environment.”

Tasha released a short chuckle before plastering on a fake smile, “Right. I’ll pencil you into my calendar.”

Jayme offered another fake smile and nod before leading the way out of the restaurant into the Brooklyn streets.

“I’ll pencil you in and the erase that shit. Fuck her.”

Time started to drag as she sat at the table alone, looking more foolish with three plates crowding her space than playing seat warmer for the world’s cutest couple. A glance out of the window gave her access to the tail end of Jayme’s departure. Her inability to peel her eyes away from the private moment showed her two things: Chadwick was far more interested in Jayme than she was in him, and she was clearly upset despite the kiss and hug she provided before disappearing into the backseat of her taxi.

Moments later, Chadwick took the seat directly across from Tasha and sighed.

“Go ahead. Tell me that you told me so.”

“I’m not gonna say that friend,” Tasha smiled. “All I’ll say is you’re gonna need one of these cheesecakes to go because mama is PISSED.”

“You think so?”

“Oh, I know so. But, I’m here to help with gift ideas to make up for this dumbass idea. And I ordered us dessert.”

Chadwick’s ear perked at the sound of a sugar rush to end a night full of terrible decisions. “Did you get the cookie thing with the-”

“The vanilla bean ice cream on top? C’mon now! You know me!” Without hesitation, the pair completed their signature handshake before sitting back in their seats.  “Sorry for ruining your date, Aaron. I’ll pay the tab as a peace offering.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’ll make it up to her. You know there’s a reason she calls me honey bear.”

“Gross. Please, don’t finish that sentence. And what the fuck is Muffin? Are you a white TV dad now?”

Chadwick’s deep belly laugh at CoCo’s expense continued until their shared dessert was placed between them. Instructing Tasha to pick up her spoon, Chadwick began a pseudo-toast.

“To another Valentine’s Day spend together and many more to come!”

Their spoons clinked together in solidarity before the argument of who would get which portion of the cookie began, ending the most romantic day of the year the only way they knew how: together.

                                  _______________

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[cow5secondchance]

Episode 2 - Why Did People Flip - Xavier

Format: Sequester

Eliminated: Wyatt (9-3-1-1-1) || Daisy (Battle Match)

BLAKE

so! week 2 and my plan honestly is to just really still focus on my social relationships. so far, i feel very confident in my ability to connect with people on a 1 to 1 level, and at least hopefully skate through these first few weeks. consistently my problem in the game is missing out on a key group or alliance that is running more than I know. without being too chaotic and paranoid, i would really really like to try to sit here and just scope out the relationships. as for my groups! i really want to work with jennet. she's like iconic? her art is so cute and i do feel like i made a genuine connection with her early on, and i think pointing out we're some of the only award winners in the cast could bring us closer together ! plus 4th place legends... beyond jennet, i have a group with isaac and nicole, and honestly, im feeling suprisingly good about both. i think these first 6 people i mention are the ones im going to focus on most, and focus on really forming game connection wheras the rest im just socially going to really force myself into their LIVES and hope they like me! Daisy and Jarod... loves them and swifties who ive played with in the past both in a way that i feel we were unfinished. jarod got taken out in the doubles round just as we kinda connected on a game level, and then daisy and i were working together in bb netflix before it got canceled. this is really the group i want to strategize with and im really putting myself on a limb being loyal to them because i know they have options, but its a risk im willing to take because if i can be the number 1, their connections can just offer more safety and information for myself. and the final people who i kinda want to work with is captain and wiliam xavier s up there, we just havent spoken tons dont really have much of an opinion on the others? if i had to nominate right now it might be mario just because we havent spoken yet.

XAVIER

It's annoying to be nominated, especially by Jennet. Literally two minutes before we were talking and I was explaining how this round is played. And then Jennet nominates me. I feel betrayed. Getting my G4ce together (Greenhouse 4) so we can vote as a team. And well, well, well, I just found out that the Sequester 4 are also voting together. It is weird that they are all nominated during the Sequester round. They are targeting either Wyatt or Kaleigh. Knowing they are a team, I want one of them out, if I can swing it quietly.

NICOLE

HI I’m back and already went through a ton! Last round a misunderstanding / Lanie throwing me under the bus just because I said I hadn’t spoken to Nyx and Captain really set me up in a weird spot so I had to get rid of Lanie and then she said we all suck (imagine being almost 30 and telling someone who is your students age that they suck! I get it really is terrible to be blindsided but it was her fault, she played too fast! Like yell at me for not communicating properly or whatever she believed I did at that point but don’t take it out on everyone especially like the youngest player in the game!) Anyway, this round is sequester so we are all back together! I finally get to play with Daisy! I love her so much so I’m super glad we got to play, I’m very glad I get to reunite with Lindsay, I’m glad William isn’t mad at me for the whole Lanie situation and now I’m safe for the first vote! It is a very good feeling but I also feel like I should be learning from Lanie’s mistake and playing not fast so I’m trying to take a step back from talking in the house chat. I’m just so excited to see everyone but I will try to contain myself so I don’t annoy anyone. Check back in later in the round!!!

BLAKE

I forget the questions omg but I had a call with Jarod where he kinda threw out wyatts name as an option to go, and honestly I’m completely fine with that because even though they seem super sweet, I feel like I’m juggling enough balls and I don’t need to add them into my mix, whereas I feel a lot better about every other nominee other than Kaleigh, who I don’t think anybody would do this early My strategy is to just campaign for myself to stay to everybody and avoid throwing out names. I’m hoping that comes from Jarod or one of the safe people because they literally have the safety to get away with it 

XAVIER

I like video confessionals. The only alliance of 4 should be Greenhouse

CAPTAIN

hello dr.. so i'm glad i got saved by jarod :pleading_face: he rlly said i'm gonna make captain safe no matter what happens. and thats exactly what he did :100: for ppl who are vulnerable, i want autumn, jarod and xavier to be safe the most like idc i just want 3 of them to be safe. xavier might be in a bit of trouble tho since the totem pole ppl are voting together for sure hmmm so i need to try to talk to them to sway them from voting xavier. for the plans to avoid battle match? idk i just want them to feel safe around me no matter what. so that if i end up voting them, they're not gonna be bitter at me that much. and i lowkey saved myself with wyatt since wyatt said they wanted to work with me so prays.

__________

also, i secured an alliance with jarod, autumn and jennet. and a greenhouse alliance with mario, nyx and xavier. the latter hasn't been in the talk like with every greenhouse yet but xavier brought it up to me and i think that it should be great. so fingers crossed!

WILLIAM

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO, going into Round 2 im having a really big struggle..... im seeing  THAT I DONT DISLIKE A SINGLE PERSON ON THIS CAST, USUALLY THERE IS AT LEAST ONE BUT NOPE    Also we are moving into a Sequester sorta semi safety chain with half vulnerable and half safe cast and lucky me I think Lanie either hated me the most or the least from our Survivor team and decided to give me the Karma twist which gave me safety for the round but made me have to pick the first unsafe out of the whole cast. I think my strategy was to pick someone who didn't talk to me yet (so i had a reason) as well as someone who was sorta loved by most if not all and wasn't a target for it, because I'm thinking if I just fade into the background this round no one would have a need or want to pick me for the Battlematch, i think its safe to assume whoever goes home will pick the person who made them unsafe plus like one other person, so i just have to avoid being that other 1/13 people. As for the vote i have no clue at all, I think maybe Isaac cause i haven't said much to him at all, or maybe Jarod cause i know he is hella busy and prob wont pick me to go into battle..... just not Wyatt or Blake or Kaleigh rn.  So like yeah, just gonna pray, not talk around too too much, let people come to me so it doesnt seem like im pushing anyones name and hopefully vote someone i dont love out. yeah so much fun xoxo William F

NYX

So, this round is pretty confusing and difficult to navigate cause not only do we have to vote someone out we have to vote someone out and hope they don't drag us into the battleback. I'm very happy to be safe for the vote since at least then i'll have a chance to battleback in a comp. So, for this vote I can't vote Autumn since she gave me safety, I can't vote Jarod since he took one for the team, I can't vote Xavier cause of the gh alliance, I can't vote Blake due to our bonding on tau ceti, so my only real options for this vote are Isaac, Wyatt, and Kaleigh. If I had my way i'd just pile the votes on wyatt and get them out now but it's not that easy because i haven't talked as much and they could see that as incentive to drag me in. Of course all the people I just mentioned I don't wanna vote for I wanna save because that means they'll be willing to work with me to some capacity. To avoid the battle match is the hardest part cause people can be very impulsive with their decisions and heat of the moment always catches people off guard. My best bet is just not to make too many promises and to just tell the truth and hopefully that'll be enough to gain their respect. 

CAPTAIN

besties.. i don't know what i'm doing. its between wyatt and kaleigh methinks but wyatt keeps dropping my name everywhere and i don't really like it. idk if they get eliminated, if they would put me in the battle or not. but like if they're this messy, i'm voting them for sure. also sobs kaleigh is so cute.

__________

prays for me DR! sign: captain.

LINDSAY

bro no one wants to throw out a name because of the battle drag twist so it's three hours to tribal and i dont know who the fuck to vote my gut is telling me jarod but i am absolutely not letting jarod drag that shit back to me definitely not autumn i dont know like. i'm working the tightest with william, daisy and wyatt weirdly enough and none of us have heard anything so i just. ?????

MARIO

I AM SAFE!!! I AM NOT SECOND BOOT AGAIN

AUTUMN

IT WONT LET ME PUT AUDIO FILES IN!!! But when Monty puts them all together later this season I hope yall enjoy haha

XAVIER

Ok this vote is messy. It started out with Jarod and the Sequester group wanting to vote Kaleigh. They got people on board, and it looked good. Until Wyatt made that alliance chat. And of course the vote shifted to Isaac. But the Sequester group won't vote Isaac. Mario voted Autumn. Captain voted Wyatt. I am voting Kaleigh because I haven't spoken to her much. But I want the vote to go Isaac's way - it breaks up Sequester, and he won't think it was me, so safe from the battle. So it may be 5 on Kaleigh, unless the other people in that Alliance chat are not being honest as well. Ha ha. As long as it's not me, right?!

LINDSAY

wyatt made a voting block?? and didn't include me?? the person with no connection to isaac who they kept safe and would have probably voted with them???? wh ok i guess my vote is on wyatt tonight tf 

NYX

So, this round is a clusterfuck of scrambling cause no one wants to get pulled into the battleback and potentially lose there. I just don't wanna go home even earlier than last time because my game has just been so much better and to lose it this way would be fucking devastating. i just want to win so badly so im just hoping i can maneuver this right

LINDSAY

"you know that this is anonymous right" DAISY HELP NO I DIDNT FUCK OK I DONT KNOW WHAT IM DOING WHAT IS HAPPENING WHERE AM I

XAVIER

WHAT JUST HAPPENED. I know Captain voted for Wyatt. Maybe Captain is more influential than I thought? Why did people flip? Because of the alliance chat? It was too much? And why wasn't I included in the flip vote? Agh. Time to make my own rules here.

__________

I am still shookt 

DAISY

[tumblunni]

Seriously “he’s got enough strength of will to be able to take xemnas’s place if he only got the chance” and “he has a nerdy loser type feel to him and this was an intentional thing we consider to be a positive character trait” are like THE BIGGEST AND BEST ODD COMPLIMENTS TO GIVE ICE DAD Its always such a nice feel to have the creator of some game you like actually mention your underappreciated fave for once and practically say “we have a soft spot for him too”

This is like how i felt when i got that one Charon trading card thats his only piece of merchandise ever and its this unexpected kinda cute not-so-evil looking thing of him being cute with a tiny pokemon friend. Plus out of all the admins he was the only one who even got a full artwork card! PLUS the whole fact that this card if depicting an event from his super fuckin rare ridiculous wifi rotom event and its the closest we’ve ever got to confirming that the Cute As Fuck Sympathetic Backstory Diary was meant to be him and not cyrus. Tho I mean I thought it was plenty obvious when the dude signed his name on it, its written in his distinctive speech pattern, and both of these things were translated correctly to match how they were changed in the english dub. Also like seriously the dude fuckin has an entire secret basement lab full of rotom machines all painted in rotom colours and the rotom is in an OLD house with an OLD journal and rowan talks about an OLD coworker in an OLD conference telling an OLD story about a rotom and charon is OLD and cyrus is NOT OLD and also has been stated that his childhood home is in sunyshore not eterna. Also the second rotom room in HGSS chronologically earlier in the timeline which looks identical and implies that Charon worked for team rocket before team galactic so even if you go with the theory that “oh the signature is just saying the ROOM belongs to charon but he actually stole someone else’s rotom journal and just went looking for rotom to steal it too” then i dont think it could be cyrus then if he had it before team galactic was formed and he ever met cyrus? Also how and why would he be able to have all this completed research on rotom and all these functioning rotom machines that are painted showing he knows exactly what rotom looks like? If he only just found this journal and hasnt captured a rotom yet? Also you’d think that the player would find the one rotom capture spot in the entire game inside this particular lab and find it locked in a cage or something, instead of .. yknow... NICE AND CUTE ROOM FULL OF DECORATED MACHINES AND NO SCARY CAGES and also the rotom is in the OLD house of an OLD guy which is just down the fuckin road from this secret lab. like if he was looking for rotom he’s a dumbass to miss it being five metres away the entire time, and also a fuckin psychic to even have his own door key have a plastic figurine of the pokemon he hasn’t ever caught. 100% EVIL DUDES DO NOT MAKE CUTE FIGURINES OF THE MON THEY ONLY WANT FOR WORLD DOMINATION

*pout*

tfw ur fave is never confirmed for sympathetic OR unsympathetic and you just get caught on the tiny evidences that seem very convincing but might be completely false and you just read too much into it and the specter of Finally Someday New Content For This Man That Will Answer All The Questions is hovering around on an indeterminate relase date and you dont even know if he’ll make an appearance in it at all

vexen and charon really do have a lot in common lol

So yeah i’m excited for kh3 to expand more upon Vexen’s role and give us some damn answers as to whether the ‘he is actually good and also a dad’ headcanon is remotely possible. even if im still gonna make fanart of it even if it ends up being non canon, i’ll just know to label it as a “this would have been better i think” au, yknow? And maaaan i really hope we get sinnoh remakes someday and charon gets a chance of having his hanging questions get answered too. I can’t believe its really been 11 years now! It’d be ironic if it ends up being exactly the same length as the wait for kh3, lol

Anyway thats why even “he was intentionally meant to be a funny underdog that you felt sorry for” is a real big revelation for characters like this, when you’ve put up with literally over a decade of being told He’s Bad And Creepy And You’re SUpposed To Hate Him Thus You’re A Terrible Person For Being His Fan. Like yo its funny how bigger villains who do bigger evil things like i dunno maybe ALL THE CANONICAL MURDER THAT AXEL COMITTED BEFORE GETTING REDEEMED can get easier forgiveness for it just cos theyre pretty and not pathetic. I love axel as much as everyone else but ive gotta agree that it sucks that vexen is more hated just for being mildly shrill than this dude is for burning him alive while he begged for mercy >_> And charon is more hated for wanting to be rich and not succeeding at completing even one single evil plan, than cyrus is for wanting to destroy the entire world and succeeding in very many bad things before you manage to stop him. Again, i fuckin love cyrus and i absolutely agree that he has sympathetic motives and is possible to redeem, i just get frustrated that because he’s more.. i gues.. mainstream likeable? that he gets more easily forgiven for bigger stuff. and the same people turn around and say charon is a terrible character who shouldnt have been there and he’s somehow more evil for committing less crimes but in a less serious way. JUSTICE FOR THE COMIC RELIEF GRAMPSES!!!! THE COMIC RELIEF GRAMPSES THAT KINDA ALMOST RHYME!!!

why am i like this. what are even the odds id find two of them. why do i have the most specific type in the world

[therealestatesparkblog]

The Tech Employee's Ultimate Guide to Getting Started in Real Estate Investing

While most real estate investing advice is geared to those who wish to escape their current jobs, not much has been written for those of us who love our jobs and dont intend to quit them. Personally, if I quit my job, I know I would be bored out of my mind. I enjoy my career and have no intentions to quit, but I wanted to build a real estate portfolio that would supplement my income to achieve my financial goals and my goals to give back to the community. The following is my real estate investing philosophy that I use to guide my decision-making. By no means will my philosophy be perfect for you, but Ive found the following advice to ring true to those of us who want to get started in real estate without wanting to end a promising career. Getting Started I was blessed to start my real estate investing career with my father (which I talked about in BiggerPockets Podcast episode 74). When I started investing in 2013,the market was a much different place. We were just coming out of the trough of the recession so it didnt take a rocket scientist to do well in real estate because most of the money made in real estate happens when theres a significant distress in the market. Without distress in the market, its hard to buy properties at prices that will provide you enough return for the time involved. Now that we are approaching the late stages of the cycle, this is where the risk/reward equation is skewed more towards risk and its very easy to lose a buck. Construction costs are increasing. New units of housing are coming online, rents are softening, and interest rates are rising. Now is a great time to study real estate and build your real estate investing network. This isnt a time to rush into the market to purchase something youll later regret. Financial Housekeeping Before we get started with real estate, you have to make sure youre covering the basics. Assuming your company matches your 401(k) contributions, you should max out those accounts and invest in a target retirement index fund. An employee match is pretty much a risk-free rate of return that you wont be able to beat anywhere else. Then you should set up a Roth IRA, assuming you qualify. Next comes savings. As cliche as the advice sounds, its imperative that you live beneath your means by maxing out your savings. Adequate savings provide you the financial security to walk away from any situation or real estate deal if you feel youre not being treated fairly. Without being able to walk away from bad situations, your life will be filled with constant stress. At the minimum, you need to save months worth of living expenses in the bank so that if you lose your job you can stay afloat during these tough times. You also need enough insurance to provide your loved ones with support in case something tragic happens to you. We all think were invincible, but theres always that risk something terrible can happen to you. Your company should provide you with the option to enroll in various accidental death, short and long-term disability, and long-term healthcare coverages. Make sure you pay for your disability coverage because if your employer pays for the coverage, you will face a large tax bill. If you havent applied for these insurances, please consider doing so. Then you need to get your estate in order. Ive seen many families suffer from a lack of proper estate planning. You need to set up a trust so that its made clear what your directives are when you unable to act on your own behalf. If youre incapacitated, who will make healthcare decisions on your behalf? Who should be responsible for maintaining your assets? In the tragic event of your passing, where should your assets go? All of these questions need to be answered now, and you should speak to a trusted attorney. Finally, you need to prevent yourself from getting caught in conspicuous consumption trap of buying things you dont need in order to impress others. Its very easy in Silicon Valley to fall into this trap because so many people are doing amazing things such as traveling the world or buying luxury cars and huge homes. You need to focus on your long-term goals and not get sucked into other peoples dreams. If you follow these guidelines, you will be on part of the way there to a healthy retirement. High Net Worth But No or Low Cash Flow The reason why I said part of the way there is because Ive come across many tech employees that have stock portfolios worth millions of dollars, but they dont have a single asset thats producing cash flow. They are net worth rich, yet cash flow poor. The only way for them to benefit from these assets is to sell them, but once they are cashed out and spent, its gone forever. I met hundreds of paper millionaires during the Valleys first tech crash, and unfortunately, they never diversified their holdings to other forms of assets to take advantage of their new-found wealth. Related: 4 Toxic Habits That Sabotage Even the Most Promising New Investors So How Do You Build Cash Flow? Of course, you can buy stocks that pay dividends, but based on what happened with the GE and Budweiser, dividends arent guaranteed. Dividend payouts depend upon more variables than real estate, which increases the odds of companies not paying them out. For stock dividends, you have to hope the companys business model allows them to earn large returns on capital to pay a dividend, hope the companys products stay relevant in the future, hope a competitor doesnt steal market share, and hope the management team is competent. For real estate, you need to buy a good property located in a desirable location for a decent price in order to attract the right tenants for the property to cash flow. This has fewer variables, which decreases your risk exposure, but of course doesnt guarantee cash flow. The Benefits of Working in Tech Being that you work in tech, you likely have a steady paycheck, a generous 401(k) program, and resources to easily qualify for a mortgage. This is an advantage that most investors lack, and you must use this to the best of your ability. While full-time real estate professionals need to buy and sell properties in a frothy market to pay their bills, you have a good job that allows you to wait until a frothy market cools off and then swoop in when the real estate cycle hits a trough. While real estate is currently in vogue, many people are feeling the pressure to deploy capital as if money is going out of style. Control that impulse! The real estate cycle has shifted from a buyers market (roughly 2009 to 201) to a sellers market (2016 or so onwards). In this market, the returns arent as high as they used to be, and Im seeing people do silly things in the market such as taking out home lines of equity or loans on their stock portfolio to buy low yielding real estate investments. Im seeing syndication pro formas with assumptions that the economy will grow forever, which isnt how the business cycle works. At this point in the market, money is cheap, and deals are being bought at a premium, which is a bad sign for investors because the risk/reward equation is now skewed towards more risk for each marginal unit of reward. When the cycle slows down, then you will see money becoming harder to obtain and home values retreating, which makes it easier to find sound investments. At that point, you are in the drivers seat and you will have an opportunity to buy real estate at discounted price. How Do You Know When the Market is Cooling Off? When you can find a property that meets your strict criteria. Each person has their own criteria that fits their return goals, and you need to create your own. But as a baseline, after all expenses (mortgage, taxes, insurance, operating costs, long-term capital improvement reserves, etc.), you should at the least hit a cap rate of 6% based on historical returns and assuming the propertys price is in line with comparable properties. Im not saying thats a cap rate I aim for, but if youre shooting for anything lower, you are exposing yourself to overpaying for an asset. Every Investor Hates Sitting on CashUntil They Need it I regularly take calls from investors who feel anxious for having large amounts of capital sitting on the sidelines. These investors are already fully invested in the stock market and might have a few real estate investments. When I hear these stories, I think of the lessons I learned from Warren Buffets annual shareholder letters. I want to highlight two excerpts from his annual shareholders letter. Our aversion to leverage has dampened our returns over the years. But Charlie and I sleep well. Both of us believe it is insane to risk what you have and need in order to obtain what you dont need. Despite our recent drought of acquisitions, Charlie and I believe that from time to time Berkshire will have opportunities to make very large purchases. In the meantime, we will stick with our simple guideline: The less the prudence with which others conduct their affairs, the greater the prudence with which we must conduct our own. Preach! When markets are booming, we hold on to cash while feeling great shame. So we must get rid of it as soon as possible because everyone else is making so much money. Yes, losing a small percentage of purchasing power due to inflation hurts, but being knocked out of the game by losing all of your money is even worse. The name of the game is to stay in the game long enough so you can purchase assets that fit your criteria. No one can forecast when the corrections will happen, but you need to be in a position to act when they appear. Look at your cash as an oxygen canister needed for climbing Everest. At the base of the mountain, everyone has oxygen canisters, and some people carry less because its a burden to lug those heavy things along. Some expect everything to go smoothly due to excellent forecasts and expertise of their guides, so they decide to carry just enough to get them up and down the mountain within 60 days. Others know things can get rough, so they will bear the burden of carrying an extra oxygen canister in case things dont go as planned (source: life). But when in youre in the mountains death zone at 26,000 feet, things change. The weather forecasts are off, and now youre suffering from a freak blizzard that extends your trip by another 10 days. You can barely breath due to the high altitude. Previously, that extra oxygen tank was looked at as a burden, but now its worth its weight in gold. Youll thank your lucky stars you have an extra one. Am I saying hold all cash? No, but when youre already heavily invested and new opportunities dont meet your investment criteria, think twice before dropping your extra oxygen tank. Preparing Your Emotions Currently, everyone I speak to wants to invest in real estate. Some people think if they dont buy something now, they will never ever be able to do so in the future. That sentiment concerns me and causes me to be even more conservative than others. Related: What Newbies Should Know About Financing Investment Properties (Versus Homes) During the financial crisis, when stocks were falling to all-time lows, my father had a very clear sense that it was a great time to invest in general. He deployed an immense amount of capital picking up stocks and pushed me towards investing in real estate. He kept telling me that in order to make a great return, you need to have confidence in the long-term future of the market so you can think clearly while other people are losing their heads. What you need to do now is reflect on the last market crash and how you handled yourself. Did you lose your cool? Did you sell off? Did hide your money under a mattress? Or did you start deploying the excess capital you had to pick up assets at a discount? If you did lose your cool, what will you do now to prevent yourself from missing out on a great opportunity? Staying in the Game Many of you are super eager to get started, and thats great! But you have to understand real estate is a multi-decade endeavornot a one-year sprint. The real gains from real estate appear when years of rent increases, appreciation, and currency inflation, which allows us to use weaker future dollars to pay down debt that was denominated in current more expensive dollars, combine. As time goes on your properties loan-to-value ratio will decrease allowing you to pay off your loans completely and free up more cash flow or roll them into larger properties. But in order to be successful, you have to develop staying power to ride out of the ebbs and flows of the market. Many investors have been shaken out of real estate investing due to not expecting the market to go down and paying too high of a price for real estate. Some have short time horizons of five years or less, which increases the volatility of returns and increases the odds of you selling your property in the midst of a downturn. The truth is that if most investors were able to hold on to their cash-flowing properties purchased before the 2006 peak until the present, they would be back to break even. But unfortunately, most investors didnt buy cash-flowing properties with enough margin of safety or had holding periods that were too short. Understanding Conflicting Incentives Real estate agents, syndicators, wholesalers, and other real estate professionals who make money off of transactions have short-term incentives that can go against your long-term goals. This isnt a ding against these real estate professionals. I know many of these professionals, and the ones I associate with do their best to balance their interests and their fiduciaries interest. I dont begrudge them for trying to make a living, but you have to understand they only get paid when money changes hands, so they have the incentive to pressure you into an investment that doesnt make sense. You will also find other investors trying to sell their poorly performing properties at the peak of the cycle to offload their duds to newbie investors. Just because an investor owned a property doesnt mean its the right property for you. Make sure to do your due diligence. A Note on Due Diligence Real estate is a cutthroat business, and you will come across many unscrupulous actors. If you get a referral, whether from BiggerPockets or outside of BiggerPockets, dont assume its a good referral. Do your homework.Always ask people who are trying to steer you into an investment or working with a particular person, Are you receiving a commission from this deal? And if so, are you a licensed real estate professional? If they answer yes to the former, they should be a licensed real estate agent. If they arent, back away because if the deal goes south, you dont have the benefit of the department of real estate backing you up. Winning the Battle and Losing the War Think of the times outside of sports where you have competed for something and were happy with the results. Maybe you fought hard for a promotion by isolating your peers. Perhaps you lowered your commissions in order to beat another real estate agent to a deal. Or maybe you overpaid for a piece of property in order to close the deal. All of these scenarios result in a win in the short-term at the expense of losing the long-term battle. This is known as a Pyrrhic victory. The most important thing in real estate is buying a property at a profitable price. If you screw this up, the rest doesnt really matter. Competing for bad deals lowers your return on real estate, causes undue stress, and leads to poor decisions. Its as if you are fighting for the lowest return on your time and money. If you dont remember anything else I said here, remember this: There will always be another deal. Having the ability to walk away from a deal (or anything else in life) is the most important power to have in real estate. Most investors cant do this, and they will suffer the consequences. Because you have a job, you have the power to walk away from deals when the real estate market gets out of hand. The Difference Between Linear Growth and Exponential GrowthImage via: Tor Bair When newbies get started, its easy for them to get discouraged because real estate is not as easy as purchasing stock. They look at real estate as a linear game, meaning for each unit of time input, they should receive an equal amount of cash output. WRONG! Real estate is more of an exponential game. When you first start off, you will see little or no return in your efforts. It took me about a year of research and hard work before I made my first investment, and that was when the market was buyer friendly. In this market, it could take much longer. That being said, since Ive made my investments in real estate, there are months when Im not doing much work in real estate, yet the returns from my initial input of time are exponentially increasing in the forms of output of cash flow, appreciation, and new opportunities to set up partnerships with other investors. While others are living off the cash flow from their properties, we have jobs that pay our bills so we can reinvest our cash flow into other properties to take advantage of the power of compounding interest. So dont get frustrated, take it slow, and consistently spend time studying real estate. Dont focus on the output. Focus on what youre learning and how youre growing personally. Comparing Yourself to Others Will Only Hurt You Never compare your real estate success to others because we all have unique life circumstances. Hearing the first BiggerPockets Podcast episodes about people buying houses in the depths of the recession for a pack of smokes or a jug of moonshine definitely can be disheartening when current prices are in the stratosphere. Dont freak out. Real estate goes through cycles. You need to focus on your own immediate goalsand dont compare yourself to others. Comparing your real estate endeavors to others is a great way to make poor financial decisions. Be wary of hindsight bias. You really would have to try hard not make money in real estate between 2010 and 2013. Some people take absolute credit for their success and are willing to sell bootcamp tickets to cash in on their luck. But due to survivorship bias, we arent hearing the stories from the people who used the same strategies before the financial crisis. The reason why we dont hear from them is bankrupt people dont like to share their stories of failure. They sort of disappear and are ignored. People would much rather chase the gurus who spin their stories of success and wisdom. So when you see someone who did well during this last period of time, realize that a certain aspect of it could be sheer luck, and if so, dont be so eager to attribute it to their sage wisdom. Related: The New Investors Simplified Guide to Landing a First Investment Property What Does This Mean for You? This is a great time for you to build your real estate investing network, learn about real estate investing, and save your money. This is also a time to be cautious when it pertains to deploying capital in real estate. Sure, you might be able to find an opportunity here and there, but you have to take it slow. What Types of Real Estate Investing Should You NOT Do?Fix & Flip or Any Major Rehab Project This strategy is out due to the major time requirement, the knowhow involved in managing such a project, and the increasing cost of construction labor due to a shortage in contractors. Not to mention, if you miss appraisal or your expenses balloon, youre going to have a bad time. Right now, BRRRR is in fashion, but once properties start missing their appraisals, you will see why that method can be so risky and was part of the reason people failed catastrophically in 2006. Tax Liens and Note Investing These investments are doable, but you miss out on rent growth and appreciation. Im assuming youre aiming for rent growth and appreciation. In some cases, the borrower is unable to pay back the loan and you might be able to scoop up the property, but the foreclosure process can take forever and there are no guarantees other parties wont try to bid up the house price via a shill. Most importantly, you have a full-time job and you dont have the time to head over to the courthouse and bid on failing properties. Also, we never count on appreciation when building our financial models, but if we dont have appreciation, it hurts our ability to raise rents down the road because appreciation is a quantitative measure of the desirability of an area and a persons willingness to pay premium prices to live there. Development Projects No. Development projects have a million ways to implode for first-time investors and you really need to know someone you trust can walk you through all the intricacies of development. My family did make money off of our own projects, but that was after years of experience in investing in real estate, building experience in construction, and developing relationships with the city. We had great success, but we also had our butts handed to us on a deal. For newbies, I suggest staying away until you truly understand development. 3 Types of Real Estate Investing You Should Consider Being that you have an awesome career to focus on and family responsibilities, you need to use an investment strategy that fits within those time constraints. I recommended tech employees start with the following are three strategies when they begin investing in real estate. Buy & Hold Within an Hour-to-Two-Hour Drive From Your Residence This is hard for most of us to do in the Bay Area, but in an ideal world, you would be able to easily drive to your property to check on it and make sure your property manager is doing their job. If you decide to pull the trigger on an investment, buy something conservative. It should be a single family house or a small 2-unit duplex. If you dont have experience managing tenants, you shouldnt set yourself up for failure by making your first investment a property that has 3+ units. Ease yourself into it by starting with a duplex. Most importantly, invest in a neighborhood thats no lower than a B-class area, which means low crime, with blue and white-collar workers, within the path of economic development. Out-of-State Buy & Hold With a Property Manager Many employeesare doing this right now. They are buying properties out-of-state and using a property manager to manage them. I suggest you find one primary market to invest in and then do your market research on the state to learn about demographic trends, job trends, government climate for business, earning potential of residents, etc. Then pick a city and neighborhood to research crime rates, schools, location relative to job centers, and the citys general plan for development in the area. For the love of all that is good and science, when youre starting, dont invest in a neighborhood lower than a B. The lower you go, the more crime and the more landlord hassles you will have to deal with (more on that for another post). And most importantly, get yourself on a plane to see the area in person. Nothing beats visiting an area before investing there. Syndication Basically, youre a silent partner in a deal for a large apartment complex or commercial building thats already constructed. For these deals, you need to be an accredited investor or a sophisticated investor. Syndication is similar to buying a stock without having the benefits of liquidity. When you buy a stock, hopefully you read the 10-K to understand the companys business model, opportunities, management, and risks involved in buying the property. Once youve read it, then you make a decision to invest or not. From there, youre basically a silent partner, and hopefully the company does well so you receive a gain on equity or a dividend. For a syndication, instead of reading a 10-K you receive an Offering Memorandum, which is essentially a 10-K but for investing in a large multifamily property, retail building, storage facility, or development deal (development is the riskiest). After reading the terms, if you like the deal, you can write a check to the syndicator for an equity or debt position in the deal. If the deal goes well, you receive regular rent distributions, and once the holding period is over, you receive your principal and appreciation. You can find syndication deals via RealtyShares, Fundrise, and Realty Mogul. Wait, Why Didnt You Mention REITs? Yes, REITs are freely traded on markets and you can get in and out whenever you want, but they have an added level of volatility so they arent for the faint of heart, and when you see those daily price fluctuations, it can compel you to cash out too soon. The problem I have with REITs is its hard to get specific exposure to a desired area, and its hard to see the specific assets and returns in the fund. For instance, Im exposed to Sacramento for my buy and hold, but lets say I want direct exposure to Texas, specifically South Austin near a recent development. Its hard to find an REIT that is micro-targeted. Also, you dont have that much control over the actions of management or exposure to them, so you better hope the team knows what they are doing. That being said, REITs can be great investments; its just up to you if you want to go that route. Spreading Yourself Too Thin Ive known quite a few investors who have scattered their buy and hold rental portfolios over numerous states in the hopes of higher return. While they have the energy and time to do this, they forget that even returns have a law of diminishing returns. Scattering your portfolio creates an added level of complexity for your investments, which can lead to poor decision making. As you grow older, keeping track of the economies, policies, and tax regimes of multiple states can be more trouble than its worth. Assuming this is your buy and hold real estate, I recommend investors go deep in one market before spreading themselves too thin between multiple markets. As you begin to develop a better understanding of your primary market, you can spot opportunities and deploy capital faster than rookie investors. Eventually youll develop rich networks you can tap into to provide your business with the strength it needs to succeed. A Blended Approach to Real Estate Investing You should own buy and hold real estate indefinitely because you have a much longer holding period than standard partnerships or syndications. But you should have exposure to syndications, REITS, and other real estate partnerships to broaden your exposure. Using the latter forms of real estate investing, you receive the benefit from exposure to other markets, while leaning on professional management to protect you from the potential pitfalls of entering markets youre unfamiliar with. Of course, you need to do your due diligence! The only problem with partnerships and syndications is that eventually they end, and youll have a chunk of cash youll need to reinvest. But by having a healthy buy and hold portfolio, youll still have exposure to the market while youre looking for a place to reinvest your capital. Well thats it for now. Let me know what you think. Next time I will go into a deep dive on how to analyze real estate markets. https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/ultimate-guide-tech-employees-starting-real-estate/

[ase-trollplays]

-- liberatedRaptor [LR] began pestering tapeFace [TF] --

-- liberatedRaptor [LR] began pestering tapeFace [TF] --

LR: why tape tho

TF: Because my voice hurts people. :c

TF: Taping my mouth stops me from hurting people by accident :D

LR: oh thats actually kinda sad

TF: It's not that bad once you get used to it. :) I never liked the sound of my voice anyways.

TF: So! Why don't we introduce ourselves! :D

TF: My name's Cacoph

LR: im Wynter

TF: :O Nice!

TF: It's good to meet you, Wynter :D

TF: So, how's your night going? :)

LR: ah all things considered id say its pretty good

LR: ive been walking since i got up tho which was hours ago

LR: im a little tired :v

TF: Yeah, I bet. D: I hope you're close to where ever it is you're walking to.

LR: still a few nights off but HEY i wont make progress if i dont work hard so

LR: i just keep looking forward to seeing my friends again

TF: Good luck! I'm sure they're all looking forward to seeing you again, too!

TF: I hope whatever separated you from them wasn't anything too awful or serious. :c

LR: eh

LR: so question

LR: if you cant speak because of your voice being dangerous

LR: do you sign? :O

TF: Yes I do! Though most of the time I end up using a white board.

TF: Not many people bother to learn sign language. :/

TF: I'm assuming you have, though :O

LR: i know sign!! :O ugh yeah i hate it, no one knows it so im always like "wtf"

TF: Oh, I know! DX I wish learning to sign was included in basic schoolfeeding like learning Alternian.

TF: Out of curiosity, what made you decide to learn sign language?

LR: uhhh its a long story that basically ends in "im mute"

TF: Wow, I've never come across a fellow mutie :o

TF: This calls for (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ～『✧~*SPECIAL EMOTES*~✧』

TF: Granted, I would have started using those eventually anyways. (◕ω◕✿)

TF: I lost track of the website I copy them from for a bit. (●︿●;;)

LR: thats cute wtf

LR: im lazy and never use things like that even though theyre adorable

TF: Thank you! (◠ω◠✿) I'm always worried they make me seem obnoxious or something, but they're just so much more fun and expressive! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

LR: im a firm believer that if someone finds you obnoxious then theyre just missing out

LR: be yaself

TF: Exactly! (ﾉ◠ヮ◠)ﾉ Who has time for that kind of negativity? Not this mime!

LR: YOURE A MIME

LR: oh my god

TF: Is that a good "oh my god" or a bad "oh my god"? (●﹏●✿)

LR: a good one lol

TF: (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ Great! I was worried for a second.

TF: Not many people enjoy mimes. (″･ิ_･ิ) I guess I remind them too much of the clowns.

LR: i mean i guess i could understand that

LR: but mimes are usually harmless so like

TF: It really sucks. ┐(‘～`；)┌ But what can you do other than keep on keeping on, right? (´･ω･`)

LR: yeah! thats a good way to look at it

LR: like

LR: fuck them

LR: lol

LR: you seem pretty cool either way

TF: ∩(◕//ω//◕)∩ Thanks!

TF: You seem pretty cool, too (✿◠ヮ◠)

LR: cool? im ice cold B)

LR: YEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

-- tapeFace [TF] plays a sick ass guitar riff B3 --

TF: Also, can I just say I love your text color? (⊙△⊙✿) I'm a sucker for super bright pastels!

LR: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA thanks ^^ its really beautiful huh? it sounds like im trying to toot my own horn or something but just

LR: i could fuckin stare at it all night

LR: so like do you for reals stand outside all night and just mime at people

LR: what u do

TF: I actually work as a janitor at a library. (◕︿◕✿) It's not very fun, but miming on street corners doesn't keep me fed and sheltered.

TF: But on my nights off, you can find me in the park being a miming dork to my heart's content (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

LR: being a janitor sounds terrible RIP

TF: It is, but sometimes I get to have a little fun. ԅ(≖ω≖ԅ)

TF: The library I work at has a real problem with people doing the frick frack behind the bookshelves or under tables.

LR: Oh what the hell,

TF: My boss pays me extra to expose anyone I find.

TF: As mean as it is, I get a laugh out of ruining the mood for some people. (n゜ω゜n)

TF: Their expression are priceless when they realize they've been caught

TF: Though some of them get very angry and try to kill me. (⊙︿⊙✿)

LR: not surprised in the least

LR: but like...... why a library

LR: why would they fuck in a library

LR: BOOKS GET ME SO HOT

TF: Libraries have to be one of the unsexiest places, yet at least twice a month

TF: THERE THEY GO, HUMPING IN THE GEOGRAPHY SECTION

LR: JUST SLAM A BOOK CLOSED ON MY DICK JUST FUCKING DO IT

TF: The only thing worse than breaking up couples is people who bring in food and hide their food trash because then we get ANTS. (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻

TF: I CAN'T TYPE LOUD ENOUGH ABOUT HOW MUCH I HATE ANTS.

TF: Just looking at one makes my skin crawl! {{p´Д｀q}}

LR: ugh ants are such a gross hassle

LR: especially trying to figure out where they come from??

LR: how the fuck did they get in

TF: I don't know but they need to STOP ( ≧Д≦)

TF: They're the absolute worst and I hate having to get rid of them! They're so little and they get everywhere, and they have the nerve to bite!

TF: And it's hard to be sure you got all of them because they're so small and they completely disappear on carpet (┳Д┳)

LR: plus the leave that gross chemical trail for other ants to follow

LR: eugh

TF: ((brb))

TF: UUUUuuuugh, literally everything about them is awful (╬ Ò﹏Ó)

LR: id say i hate spiders more tbh

TF: I honestly don't mind them too much (´｡• ᵕ •｡`) the small ones are adorable

TF: Jumping spiders give me a fright, though (●︿●✿) I don't mess with those.

LR: all spiders terrify me

LR: its dumb

LR: even the harmless ones

LR: they just got too many legs.................

TF: Eugh, I can understand that. (●﹏●✿) Centipedes creep me out for the same reason.

LR: fffffffffffffffUCK those things

LR: fuck all things with more than four legs

TF: Some things with more than four legs are so cute though! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ Like ladybugs and butterflies and praying mantises

LR: one of those things is not like the other

TF: One of those things just doesn't belong? /(●△●✿)\

TF: I think praying mantises have an underappreciated cuteness to them. (´◡ω◡`) And it's so funny watching them chop at things (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

LR: i watched a video of one give birth to a terrible parasite that drove it to seek out water and drown itself

TF: (⊙︿⊙) ...

TF: (´＿｀。) They can't always be cute

LR: its a darn shame too

TF: That poor thing. （；￣д￣） Who would even film that? It sounds awful

LR: apparently its common

LR: hairworms?

TF: Yikes. (◕﹏◕)

TF: That kind of make me think of those flies that infect bees.

TF: I hope those never adapt to infect grubs or something. (⊙﹏⊙)

LR: THAT

LR: IS TERRIFYING

TF: I KNOW RIGHT??

TF: I MEAN WE'RE BASICALLY SUPER EVOLVED BUGS

LR: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

TF: (⊙∩⊙✿) I immediately regret this line of thought. I made a terrible mistake

LR: i regret your line of thought too

LR: i am

LR: scarred for life

TF: THEN HOW ABOUT A NICE UNSCARRING SUBJECT? (ﾉ⊙ヮ⊙)ﾉ

TF: Do you have any quadrants you're looking forward to seeing?

LR: YAS

LR: i miss my mate and my moirail

LR: and some fucker who is sorta my kismesis but like

LR: its complicated?

LR: noncommittal "eh?" sound

TF: (◕△◕)Oh wow, you have so much going on.

TF: What's your sorta-but-not-really kismesis like?

LR: hes a dick but also i guess hes attractive? i think? im not actually sure

LR: i dont really feel that way about people so its hard to tell

LR: i guess he looks good

LR: BUT YEAH were just

LR: dicks to each other all the time

TF: Sounds like fun (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

TF: What about your matesprit and your moirail?

LR: oh my god so my matesprit is literally the coolest person in the fucking universe (no offense to you Cacoph cuz youre up there) and shes cute and she bakes a lot and shes good at it and she has her OWN BAKERY (which i work at) and she memes on me all the time and we just have so much in common

LR: she makes my heart do the backflip things

TF: (ㄒoㄒ) Oh my god, that's so sweet! You sound like the cutest couple

LR: yeah except i never told her i was going anywhere and its been two weeks i think so shes probably angry as fuck

LR: shes gonna rip my face off when i come back

TF: WELP

TF: It was nice knowing you

TF: Your memory will live on forever in this chatlog

LR: here lies Wynter: their mate fucking murdered them with a glare

TF: Killed before their time, they will be missed. (◡︿◡,✿)

TF: Did you at least tell your moirail?

LR: yeah

TF: Good, so you won't be double dead once they see you again. (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ

TF: I really hope you can smooth things over with your matesprit once you see her again. (◕︿◕) It's really gonna suck if you lose her.

LR: YEAH IM PRETTY SURE ID JUST

LR: DIE

LR: ON THE SPOT

TF: PLEASE DON'T DIE ヽ(´□｀。)ﾉ WE ONLY JUST MET

LR: RIP,,,,

LR: two weeks is the longest ive gone without video games

LR: im dying

TF: What kind of video games do you play? (◕△◕✿)

LR: anything i can get my soulless little hands on

TF: That's a lot of games probably (✿◕△◕)~★

TF: I mostly just play casual things like Stardew Valley, Minecraft, and Lusus Crossing

LR: i do all of those things

LR: an also COD and Halo and Overwatch

TF: I tried playing COD, but the online players were so rude and negative. (≖︿≖✿) I doubt a single one of them was older than six.

TF: I haven't tried the other games you mentioned, though

LR: you should try :O Overwatch is super fun

TF: Really (◕△◕✿) What's it like? I see memes and fanart all the time on bubblr, but does it really live up to the hype?

LR: its grossly addictive

LR: and you get matched with people of similar skill so when you first start out you probably wont run into the gross types that play COD because theyre just starting out as well

TF: That sounds great (◕ω◕✿) It'll be nice not to have wrigglers screaming at me to git gud just because I haven't poured my entire existence into the game

TF: Does it run better on hisktop, or should I get it for the game system? (◕△◕✿)

LR: i play it on console but i believe theres a bigger playbase on husktop

LR: i would suggest only getting it on husktop if you have an external mouse

TF: Alright then, husktop it is. (◕‿◕✿)

TF: Eugh, that emote didn't come out well (◕﹏◕✿)

LR: o vo

TF: ⊙v⊙

LR: oh god

TF: ಠ_ಠ I'm suddenly very bad at emotes.

TF: why this

LR: cant always be good at it

LR: what about you, you got any quads youre gogo for?

TF: No, sadly not. (◡︿◡✿) I've had crushes, but they never amounted to anything

TF: On a whim, I signed up for a matchmaking thing just for curiosity's sake, and I got matched with a highblood. ヽ(*・ω・)ﾉ

LR: oh shit highbloods dawg

TF: I'm actually pretty nervous. Looking over his profile, he seems really grumpy and serious. (●﹏●✿)

LR: oh shit x2

LR: good luck

TF: Thanks, I'm gonna need it. ヽ(°ロ°)ﾉ

TF: I had a lot of fun chatting with you! (◕ω◕✿) Unfortunately, I need to get going.

LR: oh sure

LR: lemme know how ya date goes!

TF: Will do, friendo! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ Good luck making it back to your friends and quadmates!

-- tapeFace [TF] ceased pestering liberatedRaptor [LR] --

[viralhottopics]

As coaches take a step back in ‘Counter-Strike,’ team leaders rise to the challenge

Astralis celebrates after winning the ELeague Major in Atlanta, Jan. 29, 2017.

Image: matt kline/mashable

Astralis and Virtus.pro were tied 14-14 when Virtus.pro used their last remaining timeout to figure out exactly how to turn the tide to take the next two rounds.

A tactical timeout gave teams 30 seconds to convene and was the only time coaches are allowed to speak outside of warm-ups and halftime.

Seconds ticked away. The crowd of thousands grew louder at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.

“Let’s go Astralis!”

“Let’s go VP!”

The fans’ dueling chants filled the historic theatre as the two teams deliberated.

The coaches, breaking their silence, had half a minute to dish out everything they’d kept pent up.

Virtus.pro’s Wiktor “Taz” Wojtas likened his coach’s timeout speeches to a beatless rap that Jakub “Kuben” Gurczynski dished out as he paced back and forth behind the five Polish players.

Astralis put its faith in its in-game leader, Gla1ve, and it paid off.

On the other side of the stage, Astralis coach Danny “Zonic” Srensen talked strategy with his Danish team, but letting the players do most of the talking.

Once the 30 seconds were up, it all came down to the players and the designated in-game leader. For Virtus.pro, it was Filip “Neo” Kubski, a 29-year-old Polish veteran who has been rolling with the same lineup since 2013. For Astralis, it was Lukas “Gla1ve” Rossander, a 21-year-old Danish star who only just joined the squad three month ago in October.

The round started. Virtus.pro ran in to set up a defense with a weakened economy. Astralis moved toward bomb site A, reversing the last round’s rush on B.

Gla1ve was sure that VP didn’t have enough money for an AWP sniper rifle, and he knew that VP’s designated AWPer Janusz “Snax” Pogorzelski would probably be posted up behind the bomb site on A, so he told teammate Nicolai “Dev1ce” Reedtz to line up the shot. He hit Snax in the leg, hurting him badly but not killing him.

That was enough information, though, to encourage Gla1ve to tell the whole team to rush in. With a flurry of bullets and grenades, the five Astralis players overwhelmed the three VP players defending A, quickly putting Astralis at a 4-2 man advantage and forcing Virtus.pro’s two remaining players to hide in hopes of saving their weapons for the next round.

Astralis found them anyway and took them out, debilitating VP before match point and securing a thrilling 16-14 victory.

A major moment . . . #ELEAGUEMajor http://pic.twitter.com/H31nwo0DbD

Astralis (@astralisgg) January 30, 2017

Astralis put its faith in its in-game leader, Gla1ve, and it paid off.

Since making the top eight of every single Major since the first event in 2013, the Astralis squad took home its first Major championship, the first Major championship since Valve banned coaches from speaking during CS:GO games in August 2016.

The coach ban

Valve’s ban on coach communication came without warning and applied to all Valve-sponsored CS:GO events, which includes Majors the most prestigious and important tournaments in CS:GO. Third party tournament organizers adopted the rule quickly, with ESL One New York in early October being the first premier tournament to institute the new rule.

Valve explained in its announcement that it wanted CS:GO competitions to be about the players in the server.

“Since the goal of our events is to identify the best five-player CS teams that exhibit the best combination of all CS skills, the current participation of coaches in the game is not compatible with that goal,” Valve said.

Coach-reliant teams were forced to adjust. Coaches were forced to adjust.

Before the ban, several top-tier teams had coaches standing behind players during matches acting as in-game leaders. With a sixth person focusing on opponents’ movements, the game’s economy and team positioning, players were freed of that responsibility and allowed to focus primarily on their own movement and crosshair placement.

Teams like Ninjas in Pyjamas, Team Liquid and Na’Vi relied on their coaches to provide this up-to-the-second game analysis, and Valve’s new limitations prompted outrage across the board. Players, analysts and coaches voiced their opposition online, even those on teams who had a player in-game leader like SK Gaming’s Gabriel “Fallen” Toledo.

Tomorrow we will discuss between players about many subjects. I see progress happening between ourselves. Important for everyone involved

Gabriel Toledo (@FalleNCS) August 17, 2016

Valve wasn’t going to budge.

On the organization side of things, Team Liquid’s general manager Steve “Joka” Perino was equally unhappy with the rule.

“My mindset was, ‘What is Valve doing?'” he said. “[Having a coach] was great for us because we had all this firepower and when we could just have this guy be the conductor it made perfect sense. So when [the ban] happened it was quite the blow.”

Coach-reliant teams were forced to adjust. Coaches were forced to adjust.

Five months after the coach restrictions were announced, the first Major of 2017 was kicking off in Atlanta. By that points, teams had enough time to adjust, CS:GO commentator James Bardolph said.

“I think that the biggest issue that teams had was [that] when Valve first came out with that ruling, a lot of organizations had a knee-jerk reaction,” he said. “They gave the teams no warning, no transition time. They said, ‘You gotta follow this rule immediately, this is the rule now,’ which is not an intelligent way to do things, and not really fair for the teams, so we saw some struggle with that. But, again, theyve had time to adjust now.”

Coaching outside of games

Despite the tempered role of coaches, every team at the top level has kept a coach on the team because of the value they bring to organizations. CS:GO analyst and ELeague host Richard Lewis said he thinks coaches are absolutely necessary in pro-level Counter-Strike.

“The coaches are still there, just not [standing] behind [their players],” he said. “Theyre still there to talk in between rounds, talk in time outs, talk backstage before the games, after the games. They can still travel with teams. I think any organization worth its salt should have a coach.”

Astralis’s coach Danny “Zonic” Srensen has been with the team since 2015 and has successfully survived the new ruling.

“We pretty much adapted to the change instantly when Valve put it through,” Zonic said after the team’s quarterfinals win against Na’Vi. “Obviously right now it works.”

“Its more clear what my actual job inside and outside the game is.” – North’s coach Casper “Ruggah” Due

That doesn’t mean it isn’t difficult though.

“It can be really tough standing behind the team and sometimes I see stuff that I want to communicate to the team,” he said.

On the other side of the coin, Zonic’s job is also a bit easier, in a way.

“You have to also remember that it can be really stressful to have six guys talking in teamspeak,” he said. “And this kind of crowd, as well it can get [noisy] in the communication so Ive been helping them and being with them in every practice weve had at home, trying to fix communication and fix small mistakes that we make so that they can pretty much play themselves and dont rely on a coach.”

North’s coach Casper “Ruggah” Due echoed that sentiment a day before the team’s quarterfinals match against Virtus.pro.

“Im very limited in what I can do but I think its also helping out my role because before I could be wearing 10 different hats for things I needed to do during and before games,” Ruggah said. “Now its more clear what my actual job inside and outside the game is.”

North’s coach Casper “Ruggah” Due at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, Jan. 26, 2017.

Image: Dave vagts/mashable

Coaches are more like analysts now, watching what players and opponents are doing and giving feedback after the action happens instead of controlling every move at every moment possible.

“Of course, it would be easier for me to help out during the round if I have a good read on what [opponents] are doing, but thats also why I need to be more on point during my preparations and during the time outs,” Ruggah said.

Players have to do their own reading, which usually falls on the shoulders of the in-game leader.

The rise of the in-game leader

Even before the coach restrictions, SK Gaming’s Fallen acted as the in-game leader to the Brazilian team, leading them to win two back-to-back Majors in 2016. The coach ban didn’t have a huge impact on SK Gaming.

“I think there are coaches that act as in-game leaders for their teams for example [Sergey “Starix” Ischuk of Na’Vi] and [Wilton “Zews” Prado of Team Liquid] but for us, I have always been in-game leader so we dont suffer too much for that,” he said.

In-game leaders have a unique job. Fallen keeps the players motivated during games and makes calls on where they should move to and what areas to cover while SK’s coach, Ricardo “Dead” Sinigaglia, focuses on helping the team with their own individual strengths and struggles rather than analyzing what the other team is doing.

The coach ban dialed back the role of coaches who acted as in-game leaders, but it also put smart, yet oftentimes underperforming players back on the map.

“When you make that decision, you cap the level that Counter-Strike can get to because its not being coordinated,” Lewis said about the coach ban. “But, equally, it adds this fascinating little mini drama because players like [Godsent’s Markus “Pronax” Wallsten] and [North’s Mathias “MSL” Lauridsen] are statistically terrible. Pronax especially…is one of the lowest level performing pros if we just go on kills. But hes a great in-game leader, hes a great tactician, he knows how to activate players and [how to] use them. So, suddenly, this rule has effectively prolonged his career and players like him.”

The coach ban dialed back the role of coaches who acted as in-game leaders, but it also put smart, yet oftentimes underperforming players back on the map.

You won’t see many of these players who have in-game leader roles at the top of stats charts, but they’ve become vital to their teams over the past few months regardless.

“If we dont have the coaching rule, why would you keep Pronax?” Lewis said. “‘I dont need him, I dont need his skillset.’ So you effectively kill a generation of in-game leaders. MSL wouldnt be on a team, Pronax wouldnt be on a team. What would they do? Who would pick them up? I think CS would lose something if we marginalized guys with those skill sets.”

This points back to Valve’s original reasoning behind the coach ruling. The competition at these events is about the five players in the server, and part of what’s needed of those players is a deep understanding of the game, something that takes years of practice and studying to develop.

That in-game leadership is what led Astralis to hold up the ELeague Major trophy in January. Gla1ve read his opponents and made a call, and the team trusted him and went for it, solidifying the Danish team’s lead and leading to its victory.

The Astralis players pulled off something crazy and Virtus.pro’s coach stood behind his team with clenched fists.

The Major came down to the players.

BONUS: Astralis crowned ‘Counter-Strike’ champions at the ELEAGUE Major

Read more: http://on.mash.to/2l91ms4

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