#landslide deserves all the hype | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

basilone · 3 years

Note

EVA!!!! :D hello and congrats on another follower milestone coming up! you completely deserve every single one more than anything, and i’m so grateful for you in general and just to be able to talk to you about life, writing, all that fun stuff haha!!! i’m truly so grateful and i love our conversations so much!!!

so...i have come with a bit of an idea i guess if we want to start there? and of course you do not have to even do this because i know you have an absolutely FANTASTIC project coming up that i’m extremely hype for!! but — i adore the Form&Void verse and was wondering if in that AU, you could do some writing?

idk how it works but i’ve seen you dabble with it before, so maybe if you wanted to attempt to insert my OC, Natia in somehow and play around with her?! i feel itd be super cool to see someone else’s take and see it in your AU! but truly if it’s too much don’t feel at all that you have to do it!! :) just an idea if you wanted to test it out!!!

thank you for everything you do, eva!!!! <333

Shannon, hi!! Thank you so much for the big love and the gratitude -- it flows right back at you, my friend. 💙 Your enthusiasm is a gift and I really appreciate it!

I had to take a moment to really sit with your idea and to of course skim a bit of Landslide to see where my AU could land, but finally had the time today to write something that I hope you're going to enjoy!! I picked the scenes in my country right where Tab and Trigger make their appearances and I think you'll be able to tell where I landed it. (Natia's quite the character, so I hope the scraps of her here don't come off as too different from your own take on her!)

love looks not with the eyes

She is wound tight as a coil, like a snake about to lunge for the nearest unsuspecting prey, and the newfound bruise and cut stand out starkly on her face. He’s heard the accompanying story already – she took a punch to the face from the enemy, then took him out with a well-placed bullet – and it doesn’t seem like the type that needs telling twice. He falls into step with her right as she leaves Doc’s space regardless as he plays the uneasy truce they’d struck this morning over in his mind.

Agent Fidel’s not an easy one to know, though George Luz would probably try and make a guy believe otherwise. Tab's certainly not made the effort for himself before – a foreign agent is a thing for Nixon and Winters to worry about, not for him to examine – but she’s more frayed at the edges than he’d considered upon first meeting. More adrift, too, if her tendency to distance herself is anything to go by, and he knows combat well enough by now to know that alone is a synonym for dead.

“Swung by CP,” he says carefully, noting the way she stops in her tracks to stare at him. The distrust in her eyes flares unease inside his belly. “Winters said he’d sent you to Doc. Wish I could get you some ice for that” – he nods at her cheek – “but apparently that’s not on the list of essential items to take with you during a war. Guess they don’t know how to deal with it melting.”

“Would be easier in snow,” she offers in turn. Makes the effort to not shut him out, which he thinks has more to do with the dog that winds around both their legs than with anything to do with him. “Or if you had someone chosen by god of snow.”

“Not sure that’s a thing,” he laughs as her attention is soaked up by scratching the dog behind its ear. “Got a lot of chosen in Easy, but nothing of that sort. Maybe should ask Lieb about the possibility – water-chosen like him would know, yeah? – but I think it’s gonna be a bust.”

“Do..” She shakes her head a moment. Glances up at him, then inhales sharply. “Do they..”

“What?”

“The gods. Do they.. appear? I think I saw, in CP–”

“That’s Wisdom,” he confirms, quick as anything, because he’d seen a head of golden curls land on Nixon’s shoulder when he looked in on them earlier. “She pops up sometimes, mostly when Winters and Nixon are arguing a bit and they can’t meet common ground or something. They’re both hers, you know. Just go about it different.” He peers at her now that he sees surprise flicker in her eyes. “Why, haven’t you seen a god before?”

“Not much. Saw them sometimes, but.. not like that.” Her jaw sets. Her shoulders draw into a firm line. “Nobody agrees on what they look like, anyway. And I saw Death, too, no matter what George says about it. I’m not.. anyone’s. Not chosen, I think. But I saw Death.”

His hand finds Trigger’s fur as the dog leans against his leg again. “Had a great-granddad who swore he could see Death, too,” he shrugs, quick and unbothered. “I never knew him, but folk back home still tell stories about the way he was during the Civil War. Heard sightings like that happen, sometimes, even though Death won’t choose anybody.” He scratches Trigger’s head absently a moment, then pats the dog’s head. “Guess it’s something to do with war, or famine, or something bad like that. I don’t really think about that.”

He spots the retort – don’t think about much, do you? – in her eyes even when she doesn’t speak it out loud. He smiles at the appearance of that same animosity she’s carried with her with all the weight of a ton of bricks throughout this time she’s spent with them. Thinks he might’ve been like that, too, if he’d been raised here instead of down in Kokomo. If war’d come for him sooner and he hadn’t had a choice like the one he made. He still isn’t sure if she’s really not chosen, or if she’s just spent so long fighting against everything that she’s come to fight against whoever her god may be too.

“George doesn’t tell me anything you tell him, by the way.” He needs her to know that much. Needs to make her understand that there is not much of an enemy to her to be found among their ranks. “We talk a lot about stuff, but some things.. Nobody talks about everything. We just know enough about people to be able to trust they won’t shoot us in the face.”

“Even him?”

He turns when her narrowed eyes and sharp nod indicate something behind his back. Scoffs out an almost-surprised laugh when he lays eyes on Dog Company’s lieutenant, all stiff and straight-backed, about whom there have been stories swarming around since the moment he set foot in Toccoa. Speirs would be the type to invite speculation, perhaps even outright distrust, and he still hasn’t been able to tell if it’s because of the god that’s currently pressed against the man’s shoulder or just because of the man himself.

“Speirs has got a code. At least, I think he does.” He rakes his hand through his hair. Glances at Agent Fidel now that she’s come to stand beside him. “Saved our asses more than once. He’s crazy, but he’s our crazy.” He shrugs at the slight disbelief that makes an appearance in the mild scoff beside him. “I won’t pretend I like him or his god, but..”

“She’s hideous.”

He blinks at the rather venomous hiss. “Describe her to me,” he says, and his voice laces through with the lure he’s learned mastery of by now. “What is there?”

“She.. It’s teeth, and claws, and darkness.” Fidel’s eyes glitter in the light as she observes the couple, speakingwith one another in the distance, and there’s a storm in her countenance as he murmurs a keep going in encouragement. He’s aware of footsteps behind them, even when she is not, and he knows that tread well enough to know there’s something of teaching in the next moment. “There’s blood all over her and she.. she just carries it like that, naked as anything. And her laugh” – she chokes out, now that War’s head tips back and her laughter streams out into the sunlight – “like nails on a chalkboard.”

“Used to see her like that, once. Before we jumped into Normandy.”

Fidel’s back straightens even further at the sound of the new voice. “Sergeant Grant,” she offers coolly in greeting. “What is it?”

“Can’t a fella walk up for some friendly conversation?” Chuck’s laugh comes easy even in the face of Agent Fidel’s cold indifference. His gaze softens as Trigger nudges his nose against his hand. “Honestly, I’m just here for the dog.”

“Fidel,” says Tab, eyes never leaving Speirs and his god, “want to know why nobody agrees on what gods look like?” He chances a glance at Chuck, who’s preoccupied with the dog but still has his head tilted to indicate interest in the conversation. “Or why this dumbass over here doesn’t see War like that now?”

“Your explanations won’t mean anything,” she warns.

“Yes,” he says, undaunted, “they will.”

He reaches for her arm and strips the sleeve back from her wrist rather unceremoniously. Her sharp protest is cut off abruptly when his hand wraps around her bare skin moments later and he pushes warmth into his touch so suddenly that she goes utterly still beneath his grasp. He inhales a breath as his fingers find the jump of her pulse, the quickened spike at being touched so assuredly, and tries to ignore how fragile her wrist feels beneath his hand.

“Don’t look at me,” he instructs. “Look at them again.”

The gasp of breath and widening of her eyes right as she catches sight of them again tells him all he really needs to know. She nearly stumbles backward, cursing and catching herself at the last second before she does, but his hand remains a vice around her wrist all the same. Chuck, beside them, scratches the dog’s head one more time before straightening up and shooting them a smile.

“When I first saw her, it was the day before we jumped. I recoiled when she walked past,” says Chuck, by way of finding words for something that defies most explanations. “I thought she was the ugliest thing – scary, too, with the way she seemed to loom so big in that open space. Couldn’t understand why anyone’d follow that. Why anybody would dare, even when Speirs was known as batshit crazy long before we dropped into war.” There’s a fond laugh in his voice as he, too, contemplates them a moment. “Saw her again in Normandy when she came to pick Speirs up off the floor after he’d gotten wounded. Never seen a wounded man rise to his feet that fast. She.. She looked different, after. Beautiful.”

“How.. She’s pretty, now, too. Laugh like honey, thick and sweet,” says Fidel, eyes almost closing at the clear memory of its taste on her tongue. She shakes her head as if to clear the thoughtsaway. A clear frown mars her features. “She seems soft with the lieutenant. Different, but there’s still a shadow.”

“Love does that.” Tab offers her a small smile as she glances back up at him. “She chose him and he her. He sees her the way you see her now, beautiful and dangerous at the same time, just like Chuck sees her like that now because he’s seen her at work. Among other things.”

He isn’t surprised when Speirs’s head turns toward them at the next words of his god. Isn’t shocked to find her dark eyes scrutinizing him a moment, to see her gaze flick over where he’s still holding Fidel’s wrist between his hand, and to find her countenance then brightening at the sight of Chuck. He might not be chosen by War, but he thinks he knows a thing or two about her all the same. Knows enough, even when his amusement earns him a sharp elbow to the ribs more often than not.

The beckoning gesture, so clearly aimed at Chuck, almost makes him laugh out loud even when the man shoots him a mild glare. Yes, he knows a thing or two about War – and about meeting her approval, clear as day for all the world to see, even when her chosen and the object of approval seem content to ignore the gleam in her eyes.

“That’s my cue, then,” remarks Chuck. “Don’t wait up. Think they’re gonna ask about the river again, as if Hammond's answer has changed any since last time they wanted to know.”

He bites back the remark of that might not be all they ask of you because he quite fancies his face and hair to remain untouched by violence just a little while longer. Smirks as Chuck saunters up to the couple and exchanges a few words with War before his attention is soaked up by Speirs’s nudge and rather feverish spill of words. The slow smile on the god’s face as she glances up at the men really is story enough.

Fidel’s gasp makes him break the contact with her skin abruptly.

“You weren’t meant to see that bit,” he says, warning clear in his voice. Tell Chuck you saw it too and he’ll chew me out for revealing secrets that ain’t mine to share. “Trust you know how to keep quiet, Fidel, but you’ve stayed alive long enough for me to think you do.” The compliment’s rather back-handed, but she nods once just the same in acknowledgment. “Was that explanation enough for you?”

“What was that line between Grant and the lieutenant? The glowing one? The one that made the lieutenant’s brow..?”

“Connection. I can see the lines. So can Nixon. Think we’re the only ones until Hammond gets his head outta his ass and gives in to his god – have you met Hammond yet?" He smiles when she shakes her head. “Good, stay away from him, guy’s got eyes that’ll bore straight into your skull and make you wanna spill all your secrets. Anyway, think of the lines like radio signals or something. They make us see who’s linked together. Who protects which people. Things like that.”

“And his brow?”

“There’s a story there.” He smiles. Pats Trigger’s head. “Long time ago, folk thought the soul was seated in the head. They say that because they see people’s eyes spark throughout life and then dim at death. What they don’t know is.. Head’s often the first place where you’re visibly loved. It’s usually the first part of you that enters the world and, well, most people’ve got their mama kissing their head after birth. It’s a welcome of sorts. First sign that you’re loved and all.” He shifts on his feet as he takes Trigger’s leash. “When somebody loves someone, that’s the first part where I see it. Wherever they were kissed in love first. Speirs's place is on his brow. Yours is on your cheek, by the way.”

“You see mine?”

“You have people you love, right? People who love you?”

She nods once. Guarded. Careful. She yanks her sleeve back down over her wrist.

“Just ’cause they ain’t here, doesn’t mean you ain’t loved. Doesn’t mean you don’t think about them, either. Love doesn’t stop at a country border.”

He shrugs. Turns away from her and thinks he might’ve said more than he was going to. Her voice still argues, sharp and assured, and he laughs at her words that are designed to sting.

“You’re in the wrong place, sergeant Talbert.”

“Am I?” He turns back a moment as heat flares to life in his belly, warmth wraps around his body, and the spark of love descends into him once more. Allows her to see he isn’t powerless, just for a few seconds, before he finally walks away. He makes sure his voice carries back to where she stands rooted to the spot all the same. “Don’t you worry about me, Agent Fidel. I’m exactly where my god and I agreed I should be.”

#floyd talbert #natia filipska #and a small cast of others #formvoidseries #landslide crossover #basilonefic #writing20202021

9 notes · View notes

residentraccoon · 3 years

Text

Fave 2021 national finals songs

Since I don't have anything better to do with my life at the moment I decided to ramble about stuff. Okay, here are my thoughts about my fave songs from the national finals of 2021, in no particular order!

Norsk Melodi Grand Prix

• Monument was my absolute favourite and I still can't believe to this day that it didn't win :( Keiino are fking fantastic and they killed the stage (though I kind of preffered the black outfits from the 1st heat over the final ones, they suited the song's athmosphere better). I cried real tears when I saw they lost, for real. Heartbreak 💔

• Hero was such a nice throwback to 80s music style, the staging was also really neat. Would love to see Raylee come back next year in the selection, she has a cool stage presence

• Okay but Vi er Norge was a banger and I'm still listening to this one, a real shame it didn't even qualify nor win the 2nd chance round. As you already knew before, I have a weakness for violins because yes. The performance was so energetic and fun, should have def qualified. Underrated.

• Ut av mørket/Fallen angel was really good too. I wanted it to be kept in norwegian for esc but oh well. The stage show was just a tad messy but memorable.

• I can't escape was something I'd hear from Roxen ngl, the style matches her perfectly, even her cursive singing, everything. Either way I loved this one too, this song feels like a hug.

• Pages was so magical, I'm glad we got another joik song, sadly this didn't qualify 😥

• World on fire was kind of generic but puts me in a good mood everytime I listen to it, it's really catchy.

• Let loose is so g r o o v y and cool, it was my fave from the 1st heat when I got to listen to the songs. I'm lowkey happy it advanced to the final instead of Elevate, I'm sorry but I saw everyone praising that one in youtube comments, I never saw the hype, it was too regular and plain for me.

• Own yourself was so cute and funky, loved how it showed her ethnic background a lil with that disco sound.

• Witch woods...ehhh...While it's funny and unique, I think it's suited more for a witch Disney musical than Eurovision. But I like it anyway.

• Faith Bloody Faith oh yes I needed a rock song in this nf. Relieved it won the 2nd chance. Oh and I just realized, the superfinalists in mgp were literally the ones from the 1st heat. Crazy huh?

• Nordlyset is something I'd listen to near a fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate in hands watching the snow fall in my cottage located in a forest far away from civillization. So soothing and beautiful <3

• Eyes wide open was epic just like his 2020 viking schlager song (i prefer his 2020 song over this one but that's another story)

Melodifestivalen

• Little tot was amazing but def not as good as Bulletproof. It's still catchy asf and one of my favs from this selection.

• Dandi Dansa aka a banger, again another catchy song.

• Every minute sounds like a summer hit, it's awesome. It's also the spawner of all those haha eric on a kitchen tile memes I've seen around during that time.

• The world and especially Sweden wasn't ready for the masterpiece called Rena Rama Ding Dong. They should tone down their preference for safe pop songs and choose meme worthy songs like this one in the future tbh. They didn't even qualify, Sweden = coward.

• One Touch is a fun club track, I can see this as a summer hit as well. But her stage show...go girl give us nothing

• In the middle, once again The Mamas delivered.

• And finally Voices, which its nf staging was superior to the esc one. We are so sorry Tusse 😔

Festivali i Këngës

• Zjarri Im a total banger, it wasn't even in the top 5 ffs Era Rusi queen.

• Njësoj has such a nice party vibe, should have qualified.

• Haven't paid any attention to Karma until it won, then I said hey this isn't so bad, it's traditional and ethnic, I can actually see Albania in the final with this.

Dora

• Rijeka was the only one I thought it will win by a landslide and I was surprised it didn't. The staging was a bit too over the top, though

• Tick Tock grew on me after it won and quickly became one of my faves of this year's esc. I'm still sad it didn't qualify 😔

• She's like a dream is super uplifting and also sounds like an 80s song.

• Colors is something I heard a million times before but for some reason I'm jamming to this? Also I heard she's blind, is it true?

Eesti Laul

• Took me a while to have a fave from this nf but after some listens Magus Melanhoolia stole my heart 🧡 it's so different from the others and the staging looked so proffesional.

• Lost in a dance had me d a n c i n, I noticed we had a lot of 80s throwbacks in this nf season, this included. The live was so dissapointing though 😔

• Not so keen on 6 at first but now I absolutely love it, she has such a nice style and the song's athmosphere is so magical.

• Time was amazing, surprised it came 2nd!

• I actually liked The lucky one lmao, I found it much better than his previous entry.

• Heaven's not that far tonight was the party 80s bop we didn't knew we needed

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix

• Probably my biggest letdown of this nf season but I actually managed to like Står lige her, digging the electro 80s (again) sound

• I also liked Øve os på hinanden as well, this one really feels like a legit 80s track rather than a throwback.

• Silver Bullet was interesting as well, it was the early frontrunner when the songs first came out from what I remember.

Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu

• I love you is so wacky and catchy, and in finnish! I'd hear this as a soundtrack in an old video game.

• Dark Side was the definite winner ever since I heard it, and they even got a top 10 finish for Finland for the first time in years! Couldn't be more proud 😭

• Hurt was also one of my favs, Aksel needs to come back to esc, maybe in 2022 methinks 🤔

• Wait what is Laura Põldvere, an estonian singer tm doing in finnish nf? While I liked Play, I knew it wasn't strong enough to win, and she even came last. Do you get any flashbacks from another estonian entry with the same name that came last? 👀

C'est vous qui decidez

• Voila was the clear winner and that's about it, she deserved the win, it's just too beautiful for this world 😭

• Alleluia was an interesting sound of afrobeat, too bad their chances were killed because of messy staging :(

• Amour fou was so catchy and I loved the horse head thing lmao

Pabandom iš naujo

• Discoteque all day any day. The Roop world domination 💛

• Where'd you wanna go is so calming. I listen to this when I'm stressed and it works wonders, this was really beautiful.

• Open is so unique and soothing, a total contrast from her 2014 entry.

• Never fall for you again is a total earworm, even now as I'm writing this...even if I haven't listened to it since February.

Sanremo

• Zitti e Buoni was my instant fave, it simply stood out from the others by a lot.

Festival da Canção

• Por um triz is a beautiful ballad, was my fave.

• Saudade was the early favourite, reminds me of Telemoveis with its weird but artsy style.

Israel NF

• ...I really only liked Set me free tbh.

• La la love had a good potential but I can't not cringe at the corona reference like...ugh. Such a fun party song killed by one lyric, such a shame.

Russia's NF

• Just Russian Woman was the only one who deserved to win.

Spain's NF

• Yeah, they were both good but I liked Voy a Quedarme more.

#txt #oh my god oKAY this is a long post af #eurovision

3 notes · View notes

wexhappyxfew · 4 years

Note

SUNFLOWER SISTER!! I absolutely love spreading the WIP love so I thought I’d stop by!

I love that moodboard! The color balance looks super cool between the red and the earthier tones, and I love the overall vibe!

In return, I present you with this moodboard for my lovely lady Georgia Fenley!

Thank you so much Shannon, and have a lovely day! 🌻🌻

HI JJ!!! sorry i just got to this agh :( school and life sucked me up for the past week so i had to put these away for a little while before turning to them but i’m hype to get back to them this afternoon!!! :D

SPREADING THE WIP LOVE!!! it needs to be spread more :) and i’m so glad you enjoy it too bc everyone’s wip deserves some aha!!! SO THANK YOU FOR STOPPING ON BY!

THANK YOU!!!! THAT MEANS SO MUCH! definitely one of my favorite moodboards i’ve done for landslide — the reddish/earthy tones yes!!! this is in heavy relation to a correlation to a very intense and vivid dream natia starts experiencing during her time in bastogne where her mental health (and battle with depression) takes a heavy dip. and ive researched dreaming with mental health (+depression) and really focused in on representation in that sense and i know some people do experience extremely vivid dreams and dreaming and recollection of them. and i really tried to play into that with natia and exploring that side has been super fun and interesting to all bring together. sorry this turned in a fun fact mention LMAO! 🤣 SO THANK YOU!

OMG THE MOODBOARD AH OK — i love the sculpture of the figure in the middle, especially in the green tone, showing evident weathering it took, to show how long it stood and the fact it looks like tears, yet the figure remains strong despite it! I REALLY LOVE THAT!!! and all of the symbolic quotes along the sides relating to georgia and specifically her character LIKE AGH YES I LOVE IT ALL!!! that determination and determining factor and willingness to fight i see all over your moodboard AND THE GREEN TONES! green is such a pretty color genuinely, especially this shade of green and the vibes let me tell you u i absolutely love them more than ANYTHING!!!! I LOVE THIS JJ!!

thank you for stopping by and continuing to spread that wip love with a moodboard!!! it means sm and i absolutely love the layout of you moodboard + picture + quotes!!! 💛 thanks jj!!

#spreading that wip love sunday! :)#wip love #jj’s wip!!#band of brothers

4 notes · View notes

queen-chengfei · 4 years

Text

AA Performances of the Decade—as voted by the gymternet

Ok some of you might remember I put together a vote for the best routines of the decade as a run-up to the Olympics, and then I TOTALLY forgot to post the final one in the series, which was favorite all-around performances. Since Tokyo 2020 isn’t happening, I thought I should go back and finish off writing out this one. For your quarantine viewing pleasure, here are your favorite all-around performances of the decade, as voted by the tumblr gymternet.

I found individual links to routines for every gymnast on the list, and full replays for all the AA competitions featured:

2010 Worlds 2010 YOG 2011 Worlds 2012 Olympics 2014 Worlds 2016 Olympics 2017 Worlds 2018 Worlds 2019 Euros 2019 Worlds

1. Aliya Mustafina (RUS)—2010 Worlds (40 votes) VT / UB / BB / FX The winner by a LANDSLIDE. Proud of all of you—time could not erase the euphoria of witnessing the coronation of Queen Aliya. And because I know we all live for this shit, here’s Aliya+Russian anthem

2. Simone Biles (USA)—2016 Olympics (19 votes) VT / UB / BB / FX The GOAT. One of the most dominant AA showings in history.

2. Morgan Hurd (USA)—2017 Worlds (19 votes) VT / UB / BB / FX She is the only gymnast who has won a World all-around title since the Simone era began, though her 2017 program deserves more than just comparison. As a first year senior, facing immense pressure and Montreal’s horrible lighting, she produced a clean and consistent day, topped off by a well-executed and difficult floor routine with beautifully interpreted choreography.

4. Larisa Iordache (ROU)—2014 Worlds (15 votes) all routines Romania’s best AAer in recent years, Larisa gave Simone a run for the gold, missing out by only a few tenths. Only #TrueLegends take an extra long choreo break in the corner to decide if they should upgrade their last pass to a piked full-in, and then actually go for it in a final bid for the gold.

5. Shang Chunsong (CHN)—2016 Olympics (10 votes) VT/ UB/ BB/ FX I AM ETERNALLY SAD ABOUT THIS. She finished at a heartbreaking 4th place, just 0.116 away from bronze, reigniting complaints from 2015 about underscoring and generating the #SongsongWasRobbed movement.

6. Mai Murakami (JPN)—2018 Worlds (8 votes) VT / UB / BB / FX One of the best Japanese female gymnasts ever, Mai has been a force on the international stage since her senior debut in 2012. In 2017, she had a golden opportunity to win AA gold over Hurd, but fell off the beam and the medal podium. In 2018, she took her opportunity and won silver, showing her chops as a floor champion with a routine featuring a double double and double layout. She became Japan’s first ever (edit:)silver AA medalist (sorry i forgot u Koko), and jumped tearfully into the stands to hug her equally tearful mother.

7. Gabby Douglas and Viktoria Komova (USA)—2012 Olympics (7 votes each) Gabby VT / UB / BB / FX Vika VT / UB / BB / FX

I PROMISE I DIDN’T RIG THIS, but it’s maybe fitting one of the biggest AA controversies of the last decade ended up tying each other, head to head. Gabby, a dark horse prior to the competition, made history and became the first black Olympic AA champion. With high difficulty and clean execution highlighted by a stand-out bars routine with soaring flight elements and difficult floor routine, Gabby edged out Viktoria Komova to become Olympic champion.

And Vika. Oh Vika. Ever since her rocket to fame at 2010 YOG, she was hyped to become the next great Russian star. With amazing toepoint, gorgeous lines and huge difficulty, she seemed set to fulfill her destiny when she came first in qualifications. However, despite a strong performance including a near-perfect floor routine, she fell short of gold by just a few tenths. Curses to those extra steps she took on her vault!!

9. Aly Raisman (USA)—2016 Olympics (6 votes) all routines YES I CRY WHEN I WATCH HER FLOOR, WHAT OF IT.

10. Tang Xijing (CHN)—2019 Worlds (2 votes) all routines After spectacularly choking in qualifying and getting 2 per’d out of the AA final, Tang Xijing got a second chance when she was substituted for her teammate Liu Tingting, and took full advantage by becoming the first Chinese AA medalist since Yao Jinnan in 2011, and matching the highest result achieved by Jiang Yuyuan in 2010.

The following received one vote apiece

Angelina Melnikova (RUS)—2019 Worlds VT / UB / BB / FX

Viktoria Komova (RUS) 2010 YOG all routines 2011 Worlds VT / UB / BB / FX

Melanie De Jesus Dos Santos (FRA)—2019 Euros VT / UB / BB / FX

Ellie Black (CAN)—2017 Worlds all routines

#PHEW #gymternet #gymnastics #simone biles #aliya mustafina #morgan hurd #larisa iordache #angelina melnikova #viktoria komova #mai murakami #shang chunsong #hopefully none of the links are wrong......

64 notes · View notes

snkpolls · 5 years

Text

SnK Chapter 127 Poll Results

The chapter 127 poll closed with 1,993 responses. This month’s poll results were compiled by /u/alooulla, Crunchwrap, Giovata, @momtaku, @shifter-lines and /u/staraves.

Thank you, as always, for your support!

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,888 responses

It’s time to get back on the hype train, y’all! Chapter 127 was a vast improvement over last month’s reception with close to 90% of respondents viewing it favorably. By way of comparison, with chapter 126, that number was only 55%.

Fixed everything I didn't like about 126

This chapter was top quality. Jean and Yelena were great this chapter. Loved Reiner and Annie helping each other. But please Isayama stop torturing Reiner :(

Amazing and I agree with Hange completely

Wow, such an awesome chapter! It's been a while since a chapter like this has made me put my thinking cap to analyze the scenes in more detail and come up with theories regarding what's coming next!

Are there any words sweeter than "Save the world"?

Calm before the Storm in the SNK fashion

Finally Kiyomi! And some talk between the parts. Seeing the dead SC veterans made me cry a lot. I still care about them so much

I still don't like that the SC are just up and going forces with the Warriors, who are nothing more than unforgivable monsters, BUT I can admit the execution this month was much better.

Pretty damn tasty this month, not gonna lie. Hope to see more of that Floch in next month's dish, chef Isayama is a genius.

Guess you could say Gabi haters got a "kick" out of this month

Hahaha

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT? 1,938 responses

Hello JeanMarco fandom? Are you there? This is the fandom of 2020 telling you it’s time to come back to the series if only for a month.

It’s been 84 years but Jean finally learning the dark truth of Marco’s death topped our list of favorite moments with over one-third of the fandom selecting it (35.7%). “Yelena the shit stirrer” was second with 20.6%.This Jean-focused chapter netted Jean the third and fourth favorite spot as well. “Jean and Magath’s argument” and “Jean’s idealistic daydream” tied for third with 7.9% each.

"Erwin being implied to not support the rumbling" I wanted to choose this as one of my favorite scenes along with Hange's "I don't support genocide" <3

The biggest highlight of the chapter definitely has to be Jean punching Reiner upon learning that the latter was responsible for Marco's death. Ever since the truth about Marco's death was revealed a while back, I was awaiting the scene of Jean learning the truth about Marco's death and how he would react towards Reiner regarding it

Why is nobody talking about Yelena and Pieck pleaseeeee

I didn’t think it was possible to love Jean more than I already did but this chapter proved me wrong. I was so glad he finally learned what happened to Marco and at least got that closure.

Loved Yelena messing with everyone's emotions and calling out the truths that nobody wanted to recognize

Jean punching Reiner was my favorite moment of the chapter. Finally that evil fuck is getting what he deserves for what he's done.

The only people Yelena didn’t drag were Pieck and Falco. She has good taste.

Hange acknowledging their failure to stop Eren from getting to this point is 👌👌👌

Jean's and Magath's debate gave the vibes of 'what's older, the chicken or the egg' and I'm living for it lol

I actually found Jean’s dream sequence to be a little unsettling, maybe because of Isayama’s style of not drawing certain facial features clearly, like the eyes. It was almost more foreboding to me than sweet, peaceful, or nice to see.

My favorite moment was the reaction shot where Mikasa was going to charge Annie and everyone is freaking out but the last panel is Levi just sleeping.

I seriously want to see Mikasa vs Annie XD

Jean complementing Hanjis stew is the best moment in the manga

WHO WAS THIS CHAPTER’S MVP? 1,938 responses

With Jean receiving the bulk of the focus and development it’s not a huge surprise that Jean (66.2%) was the landslide winner for chapter MVP, with Yelena (9.9%) as a distant, and we mean distant, second. What is a surprise is that Hange’s culinary creation (9.7%) beat out Hange themself (8.9%) for the number 3 spot.

STAN JEAN KIRSTEIN

yelena best girl 😔💕

I already knew that Hange was a queen, but I'm genuinely surprised with Annie too. While the first made a big part of the fandom shut up (genocide is never justifiable) the second one admitted her crimes and understood Mikasa better than anyone.

I love the chapter. It was satisfying to see Jean find out the truth to Marcos death.

I loved how Jean got focus and how he called everyone out on their bullshit.

Mikasa being a badass again. My girl<3

Hange’s stew!!!!

I love the chapter. It was satisfying to see Jean find out the truth to Marcos death.

I loved how Jean got focus and how he called everyone out on their bullshit.

Awesome, go Hanji ! And Levi ! Though he didn't do anything.

I just want some of Hanji's stew

DO YOU THINK THE GIRL IN JEAN’S DAYDREAM WAS MIKASA? 1,943 responses

Was it Mikasa? Was it a girl with exactly the same hairstyle and scar who just happens to look like an older version of her? Most fans seem to think it was very clearly intended to be Mikasa with solid numbers. Or at the very least, considering the eyes were hidden (a common manga trope to confuse identities), proof that Jean has a definite type.

That woman in Jean's fantasy is very clearly Mikasa, you can even see the scar in one of the panels lol

I can't believe there are people denying it was Mikasa in jean's dream. What the actual fuck?

I think it isn't exactly Mikasa, but Jean *does* have a type and Mikasa heavily influenced it by being his big crush back when all his hormones were firing at 200%.

WHICH STATEMENT DO YOU MOST AGREE WITH REGARDING HANGE’S ANSWER TO JEAN ABOUT GENOCIDE BEING INHERENTLY WRONG? 1,939 responses

Nearly half of respondents (45.1%) agree with Hange that genocide is non-negotiably wrong. However, those that said in certain circumstances it is perhaps unavoidable if one’s enemies are intent upon it (16.6%) or it truly is the last resort (29.9%), responded in numbers too large to be dismissed. Those that claimed it was unabashedly a good thing, lag behind (8.5%). The results of this question would seem to indicate that even the fans that support Eren’s actions are doing so, for the most part, reluctantly; because that's the only way they see Paradis surviving.

Hanji’s rejection of genocide in no uncertain terms—I’ve been waiting for that! I want to frame that panel on my wall!

Finally people are arguing against Eren's crazy ideas. Expected more from Hange's and Jean's points tho, they have the capacity to be more eloquent

Jean is so close to noticing that the rumbling is best for him…

Kinda disappointing to see the group take such a simplistic take on the Rumbling.

Hange wants paradis to die on the moral high ground

Hating on Hange puzzles me, I understand people who support the rumbling, but saying she is bad for wanting to stop the killing of billions is just frustrating to me.

I'm tired of negativity flowing from fanbase. Everyone would like to see genocide; blood and rotten bodies of innocent people, but even Eren doesn't want that!

Genocide is morally and ethically wrong as hanje said which I agree with. What I don't agree with is her acceptance that once eren dies the eldians on paradis are gonna genocide within a few years. That fact that she hadn't thought of anyway to get around this is disappointing.

If it was Isayama’s Intention to make me feel bad for the rest of the world, he should have focused on it for a larger portion of the story cause honestly, they all can burn in hell for all I care. Innocent or not.

HANGE’S CLAIM THAT NONE OF THE DEAD SURVEY CORPS MEMBERS WOULD SUPPORT A RUMBLING WAS FOCUSED ON ERWIN. WHAT DO YOU THINK? 1,938 responses

This poll team member, staring at the camera like Jim from The Office. While Hange has been proven to be a trustworthy character, one with 11/10 intelligence and someone who knew and worked with Erwin on the daily for years and years, and certainly knew him better than anyone aside from Levi, only a third of respondents (36.7%) trust Hange’s judgement on this.

Hanji is right y'all are just dumb

I love how when Isayama wants us to agree with a character he pulls out the Erwin card

I love that years later, Erwin has still not been forgotten.

Erwin would never support a full rumbling to genocide the entire world, and it saddens me that anyone would think otherwise.

We aren’t bad people for supporting Eren. Don’t let the Erwin stans throw hate at us. Erwin would have protected his home too.

WHICH DEAD CHARACTERS DO YOU THINK WOULD SUPPORT THE RUMBLING? 1,783 responses

Kruger (58.3%), Kenny (57.4%) and Zackly (43.9%) top the list of characters we think would support the rumbling. Despite Hange’s confident declaration that no one in the Survey Corps would be so small minded, many disagreed choosing Ymir (31.3%) and Erwin (31%) as characters they think would support the Rumbling.

WHO WON THE DEBATE BETWEEN JEAN AND MAGATH? 1,930 responses

This was definitely a Jean chapter, am I right? At 48.8 percent, Jean definitely won the debate according to most fans. In fact, poor Magath didn’t even get a result worth mentioning; ‘neither’ or ‘Hange’ both got reasonable responses, but this was unarguably a slapdown for Jeanbo!

Jean slapped Magath. Bonus points for including that they were totally ignorant even after the walls were attacked.

Magath's replies to Jean are weak. I believe I can do better than him on countering Jean's points.

Idk when they'll get that it doesn't matter how much they hate each other or who started it.

Magath sucks. "Your people did shitty things to us" stops being an excuse when you do things that are just as bad if not worse than what happened before.

This chapter just showed how fake magath is man wow

The argument felt a little? biased towards the paradis folk? i wasn't too bothered by it, but hey, if jean was going to get to punch reiner then reiner deserved to punch someone for bert too.

The argument of "Who is the real bad guy" was a circular "You're the bad guys!" "No u!" "NO U!" -- but by the end of the chapter, all of the arguing characters put aside their differences as they ~left the forest~

Everyone: *kids fighting*

Hange: *bass boosted* WOULD ANYONE LIKE SOME STEW

ANNIE QUESTIONS WHETHER OR NOT MIKASA COULD KILL EREN. DO YOU THINK MIKASA COULD EVER BRING HERSELF TO KILL EREN? 1,935 responses

Early in the chapter, Mikasa surprises Hange and Jean by stating without hesitation that she will help stop Eren, but when Annie forces her to confront how far she is willing to go, she is clearly reluctant to take extreme measures. Almost half of the respondents (49.1%) believe that this is something Mikasa will never be able to do, with a decently close remainder of respondents saying either yes, she could bring herself to do it (29.1%), or opting not to decide (21.8%).

I don't see Mikasa killing Eren but i ALSO also don't see her doing nothing about it. It's complicated

If she met Eren in her present state, she wouldn't be able to kill him. Perhaps if something else happens between now and then to really strengthen her stance, she could.

I literally have no idea but i have a feeling she will confront him either way

I think she will struggle first, but after she will gain the conviction to do it.

I think she'd be willing to kill him if he showed to be willing to kill the scouts.

Lol at Mikasa learning how to think independently of Eren

She probably won't be able to do it regardless of her conviction because of the Ackerbond, unless Eren allows her to.

Killing eren is kind of extreme isn't it?

She will join Eren!

IF MIKASA CONFRONTS EREN, WHAT OUTCOME DO YOU EXPECT? 1,907 responses

This one was all over the place! Proof if proof were needed of how impossible this particular subject is to predict right now; Mikasa’s strong feelings for Eren haven’t faded even though she has consistently demonstrated an opposition to his goals, and the poor girl is being torn to pieces. However, those that think Mikasa will ultimately be unable to bring herself to stop him if it means killing him are in the majority here. It’s still anyone’s bet though.

I dont think they can talk him out of it, but im not sure if killing him even stops the rumbling, hence i am not sure what to expect from this.

If Annie would turn out to be right with her suspection that Mikasa could turn her back to the alliance?

Mikasa is going to k-word Eren, isn't she? All the focus on her plus the uncomfortable question. Oh dear. Please no Isayama.

I feel like if Mikasa did end up killing Eren, she'd be even more hated than Gabi for killing Sasha.

Eren will accept his death . And itll be a suicide by forcing Mikasa and armin to kill him.

Eren will die because of the immense power his titan needs, Mikasa will be there to say "Farewell, Eren"

Armin will be the one who will finally take Eren down.

Armin and Mikasa try to talk, Armin die, Mikasa have no choice but try to kill Eren. Don't know if she succeed.

Armin is going to die with Eren while they look at the sunrise over the ocean

I don't think he will need to be killed. I believe that Eren will take all his squad to the paths and then they will talk. Eren will finally tell them everything. If he is going to destroy the world, Mikasa most likely will finish him off.

Eren won't be stopped

He'll confide in her and somehow convince her that he's in the right

Her and/or Armin's death(s) would be the only thing to stop Eren

If Mikasa comes into contact with Eren, she will confess her love for him because that's what she was last seen thinking about. If she couldn't do it before, better late than never.

It will be a group effort to finish him off

Mikasa will be killed (likely accidentally by Eren) in the process of trying to talk him around. Ironically, it will be this which finally causes him to question his current course of action.

Maybe she will kill Eren but it will destroy her

She'll let someone else do it. Maybe Jean?

She's probably just gonna scream "Ereh" all over again

Mikasa and Armin will confront Eren, no one will win but no one will die

No one will kill Eren because he's killing himself

IF ANNIE AND MIKASA WERE TO FIGHT NOW, WHO WOULD WIN? 1,932 responses

In this writer's opinion, I always bet on Annie winning their original first fight even though I was (and am) a massive Mikasa fan. Now though, I definitely agree with the majority of those who answered this question. That first fight might be debatable but this second one wouldn’t even be a contest. Mikasa has just had years more of training and growth, and we don’t even know if being in the crystal for so long has left Annie weakened in any way. 63% of respondents think this is Mikasa’s fight to win.

Hope mikasa mikasa fight annie it will be sweet

MAGATH WAS NOT SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT KIYOMI WAS WORKING BEHIND MARLEY’S BACK. WHO DO YOU THINK KIYOMI IS TRULY WORKING FOR? 1,917 responses

Close to 74% of those who took the poll this month are still not convinced of Kiyomi being particularly loyal to anybody but herself. Is this a case of reading a book by its cover too soon? Or is she genuinely as snakelike as she appears to be? Just remember that people can still have the capacity to do good whilst putting their own interests first. Unfortunately the opposite is equally true.

She's double agenting everyone, like an arms dealer in a war. She sells to both sides and loses nothing in return

Her nation. She's putting her nations interests first.

She is loyal to Mikasa primarily for selfish reasons, but the rumbling threatens her home too, so she'll probably support Hange and co now.

Plot twist: the Yeagerists have been Kiyomi's pawns, in the next chapter Kiyomi will throw Floch and the Yeagerists under the bus AND pretends she is indeed a hostage.

Kiyomi is working for herself even not for Hizuru and she will double cross everyone

Kiyomi/Kruger/Willy 4D chess conspiracy ftw

I have no idea who's side she's on at this point.

Not conspiring with the Jaegerists but with Zeke and the euthenasia plan.

I have thin hopes she might be working with Eren and Historia who convinced her to join their side.

She lusts for the blue rock

THE PLANE’S FUEL CAPACITY IS MENTIONED AS A LIMITING FACTOR IN FINDING EREN. WHERE DO YOU THINK EREN IS? 1,912 responses

Eren didn’t enable infinite fuel in the PATHS console, and now everyone else has to deal with it. 40.3% of you think Eren has already left for the continent, 36.3% think he’s still on Paradis in his Founding Titan, 16.8% think he’s hiding somewhere in human form, and that leaves 6.6% who think he’s already reached the continent. Does anyone know the MPG on iceburst stone?

I'm going to be honest, I genuinely thought the plane was an aborted arc.

I find it funny that everyone is very concerned with catching up with Eren, even though they have no idea where he is, and have completely forgotten about Zeke. How do they know he's not lying in some rubble somewhere?

I just thought the plane idea was kinda....lame? I don’t know it just felt weird to me.

I can't stop picturing all the Wall Titans holding onto Eren's ribs for dear life as he crosses the ocean because they underestimated how deep it was.

YELENA MENTIONS THE APPEAL OF “SAVING THE WORLD” AS A MOTIVATION. DO YOU THINK SHE JOINED ZEKE PRIMARILY FOR HIS VISION OR WAS THERE ANOTHER FACTOR? 1,910 responses

Nearly a quarter of you said that Yelena served Zeke to further his cause, 20.2% of you said that she did it because she was just really thirsty for Zeke, and 13.2% of you said that it has nothing to do with Zeke, and that she was just looking for fun and fame—in other words, SASUGA, PIECK! The fairly overbearing majority of you though, at 42.1%, said that it was some combination of all of the above answers.

I think Yelena's motivations for following Zeke are partly spiritual. She mentions his titan being godlike, and follows Zeke around like a disciple.

I was quite shocked to learn that Yelena was an average Marleyan herself who just made everything up about her coming from an annexed Marleyan nation and being saved by Zeke in some way.

YELENA BRINGS UP THE MORE RECENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE WARRIORS AND THE 104TH. IS THERE AN EQUIVALENCE OR IS ONE SIDE MORE AT FAULT? 1,901 responses

This question had an interesting response, because it was expectedly divided, but not in the way one might have guessed. 34.9% of you said it’s irrelevant whose crimes are greater, 34.1% said that it’s about equal, 30.2% said that the Warriors are most at fault, and only 0.8% of respondents said that the 104th were most at fault. When we see talk of blame, or right and wrong, we normally see a very even split—especially when it comes to Eren, so this is an interesting outcome!

It’s so brilliant on the way it shows war’s true face ... don’t have winners, don’t have losers, it doesn’t matter who started or who finished it, we are fighting each other and for whom? for those who died 2000 years ago? people are just sickening. this chapter showed a lot of that with Yelena’s speech

Fuck Marley, but the sc doesn't have the higher moral ground on the warriors.

They should stop choosing between evils and start forgiving, never forgetting, but forgiving so they all can live together when it all ends one way or the other.

ZOOK YOOGER APPROVES!

JEAN THANKS YELENA FOR HELPING THEM GET ALONG. WAS THAT HER INTENTION? 1,889 responses

A clean 31% of you think that Yelena was “just taking the piss”, by bringing up everybody’s past, and I had to google what that British (Australian?) nonsense means, but hey, you learn something new every day. Following just behind that at 30.7%, you guys said that she wanted to create more conflict for an unspecified reason. 27.6% of you said that she was just venting frustrations, while only 10.7% thought she actually wanted to help Zeke, and bring everyone together to stop Eren.

Looking forward to seeing Yelena roasting everyone in season 4.

Someone should beat magath for being an ass and yelena for being so edgy

WAS JEAN JUSTIFIED IN ATTACKING REINER LIKE THAT? 1,894 responses

Almost three quarters of people thought Jean was justified in giving Reiner a walloping, largely for killing Marco (36.7%), but also to knock sense into Reiner (21.6%). 15.6% thought it was justified but that Jean took it too far, and a fraction fewer (15.2%) thought both guys have been justified in their actions. Just 6% thought the beating wasn’t justified at all, as we readers are well aware of Reiner’s feelings of guilt already. If you expected the sufferboi saga to end any time soon, don’t hold your breath…

I wouldn't say Reiner deserved it, but Jean is definitely justified for it. I don't blame Jean since the guy who killed his "best" friend was sitting right in front of him.

Uuuh YES? Is that even a question? Imagine someone killing your best friend and then calmly talking about it like telling a story.

His feelings are justified, his actions aren't.

Nobody fucking reacts over Yelena stating "Armin stole Bert's power", and instead we're just getting wank over a plot device from 2013: I named Marco.

Yes, but Annie deserved a beating too.

It makes no difference, they both are wrong and bad guys right now

We the audience know Reiner's entire backstory but Jean does not, hence why we feel more sympathy for Reiner than Jean does to him.

No reaction to Bert being eaten by Armin and Porco's already forgotten when he literally died the day before, but more Marco angst? Alright then.

I'd say neither is truly 'justified', but it was an emotional purging they both needed. Jean for his anger over what and who Reiner's taken from him, and Reiner getting what he feels he must receive for what he's done.

He should've killed him

Leave Reiner alone already. He suffered enough. He understands his mistakes. He doesn't need to be punched anymore.

Reiner deserved it, but by now its been too long so it feels out of place.

It's understandable. Jean's hit his breaking point. Reiner I love you but please stop trying to provoke people into causing you bodily harm.

Jean should've hit him harder. And Reiner wanted to be hit cause he knows it himself that he deserves it. Give the boy what he wants 💅

Reiner needs a damn hug goddamnit.

Yes. Revenge is always justifiable

Pretty sure reiner liked it either way

Honestly, when Jean hit Reiner, I felt good. I think that Reiner and Jean will have a better friendship and I'm looking forward to that.

I really don't know.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT MAGATH STOPPING HIMSELF FROM EXTENDING A HAND TO GABI? 1,886 responses

Magath is a complicated fellow isn’t he? He seems to treat Eldians better than most but has trouble getting over his own prejudices regarding them. Most of you seem to think it was character progression (56%) that he reached out to help Gabi in that moment as a man, instead of as her commanding officer. We shall have to see if Magath’s attitude continues to soften, and if so, could it potentially be a microcosm of the world’s attitude to Eldians in general?

Magath begins to have a real compassion for warriors, especially towards Gabi (already in one of the previous chapters, he had given her a hug).

Foreshadowing, he'll die for her. 100% sure.

Gabi apologized to the Devils, she asked them for help. Magath realized that Gabi is not a brainwashed fanatical degenerate anymore, even she is not on his side.

Good question. It seemed like he only know started to realize that Eldians are people with feelings, fears and hopes too, but didn't know how to interact or if he was even allowed to show that concern after all that time.

He doesn't know how to react to this because Hange's words from earlier struck him deeply.

He fill asham that she act more like an adult than him

He finally starts understanding he was being an ass. Better late than never!

He is not sure how to comfort her. The situation is a tough one.

He realises now that he needs to provide the better future for these young Eldians thus being the guy that will free the Eldians from the discrimination.

He realized that he cares about Eldians a lot and he doesn't see difference between them and other people.

He realizes that he’s one of the reasons why a kid like gabi is suffering and feels like he doesnt have the right to comfort her

He wants to help the warriors but feels guilt about all the pain he caused them

He's a bitch realizing it's kinda his fault

He's only shown to care for Gabi tbh. We've seen him humiliate all the kids over and over even when they were trying to help and give suggestions, so I don't accept it as development and much less as "caring for Eldians".

I really dont know wtf was happening in these panels

When not arguing with Jean, Magath was flabbergasted all the time about Eldians being more human instead of devils he thought them to be, so idk, this reaction kind of goes hand in hand with all that. He's kind of realising they're human as well and he's afraid of feeling compassion for them.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT JEAN'S TREATMENT OF GABI AFTER THE ACCIDENTAL KICK? 1,905 responses

66.6% agreed that Jean’s softer treatment of Gabi was the cutest shit they’d ever seen, or close to it. 23.5% were neutral on the matter, and a small proportion (4.6%) didn’t really care for it. Then there’s that little bump in 1 voters (5.4%), from those who didn’t like to see any kind of positive treatment of Gabi. My goodness, would Sasha hold a grudge this long?

Bless Jean and his kindness toward Gabi

Gabi is garbage

Gabi sucks

She shouldn't be the one to endure the kick of a seething horseface and explain why the warriors did what they did. Worse even, hiding her own pain to beg her aggressors for help. When her arc is all about leaving the forest, that's disgusting.

Haven't we had enough of Gabi Sue hogging the limelight? And the way she begs the SC to side with her after what she did to Sasha? Disgusting!

It kinda annoyed me that Gabi is apologizing to the 104 when they're the ones who destroyed her home and don't seem to feel guilty about it

idk but i love gabi

Gave the kick moment a 3. +4 because Jean is amazing, but -1 because Gabi should have gotten worse.

It really shows what a great character Gabi is because she can continue for vengeance but she is being a bigger person and choosing a more moral path.

MUCH OF THE CONVERSATION AROUND THE CAMPFIRE WAS REMINISCENT OF WHAT WE DISCUSS IN THE FANDOM. WHICH IDEA WERE YOU MOST HAPPY TO SEE? 1,893 responses

Does Isayama read our posts? You might be forgiven for thinking so, considering the campfire discussions focused on so many different angles; the complexity of the situation was nailed, and the winner was Jean knowing Eren’s actions are best for the island but still morally wrong (35.1%), but Yelena’s little dialogue was appreciated enough to come a close second (31%). This was the moment where all of us felt like our view was taken on board however, and it was brilliantly done.

I wonder if Isayama actively collected all fandom ideas, because he NAILED it. Well, he did his part, right? In showing the complexity of the situation. He can't change the fandom's minds, but he can put his message out there.

Annie confronting Mikasa only to immediately back off, what she pointed out made sense, and yet they didn't even discuss what to do if Eren couldnt be persuaded to stop genocide.

This chapter was a beautiful reflection of the community's arguments.

The panel when they are eating around the campfire looks like 'The Last Supper' of Jesus and his 12 apostles.

+1 for Annie for calling the 104 out on their inability to kill Eren if need be, and for Hange for having some fucking common sense

I liked it more when they were all enemies tbh

WHICH OF THE MORE LIGHT-HEARTED MOMENTS FROM THIS CHAPTER WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,898 responses

To me, Hange cheerfully knocking on the window to interrupt Jean’s idyllic daydream was pure comedy; what’s wrong with you people, am I the only one to find that funny? Sigh… Levi waking up to complain about the noise was alright though. I guess. And 50 percent of you seemed to like that one best. Comedy is wasted on you lot.

Sleepy Levi made me laugh out loud!

Levi was wholesome for once

Why would you think of Annie's asking if she's forgiven as a light-hearted moment?

I felt sad and grieved while reading this.

Loved Yelena with Titan Pieck, feel like she won't make it out of this alive and that's a shame since she's pretty interesting

I didn’t like the foodstuff. Isayama can’t make food jokes funny.

Isayama noticed Annie's favorable treatment so often he even slipped a joke about how nobody cares enough about the severity of her crimes to care... Haha...

Wouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestewwouldanyonelikesomestew

LEVI JOINS THE LIST OF CHARACTERS WITH GLORIOUS BEDHEAD. WHICH HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE SO FAR? 1,898 responses

Mikasa’s gravity-defying locks assert dominance with 53.1% of the vote. Mankind’s strongest soldier makes an impressive debut in second place with his moment of dishevelment (21.2%), and Annie’s shaggy mane from all the way back in the Female Titan arc made it to third place (15.1%). We then have Gabi (4.6%) and Eren (4.1%) closely matched, and an honorable mention for Jean’s mild fluff from the days of Uprising (1.9%). Levi’s bedhead this chapter may well be the last in the series!

Levi taking his beauty sleep and being cranky after waking up by all the noise was the cutest thing on the entire manga. And talk about that bed hair... Can I tousle it, please?

[Levi’s] hair jkjkksksks KAWAII

DEATH FLAGS ARE ONCE AGAIN FLYING! WHO DO YOU THINK WON’T MAKE IT OUT OF THIS ARC ALIVE? 1,844 responses

Break out your bingo cards! Love him or hate him, most people agree that Floch has by far the highest chance of meeting his demise at a hardy 67.7% of responses. Just over 50% have voted that Yelena will die; perhaps she’s too much of a wildcard to stick around for the long-term. It’s not looking good for the old guard as many people think Hange and Magath have a good chance of dying, 48.7% and 45.2% respectively. A lot of people have also interpreted Jean’s development this month as an ominous sign (37.9%); it would certainly be one way to follow in his commanders’ footsteps! On the other end of the scale we have the fewest votes for Gabi (8%), Mikasa (8.2%), Falco (9.5%), and Armin (9.8%). Those expecting all four to meet their end are imagining a very grim finale indeed.

Hanji please don't die!

They're gonna kill Floch :(

Can Floch just die? Please?

I feel like hange will come up with a plan to save paradis without genociding.... and then immediately die without telling anyone the plan :)

Fuck annie. just fuck her. i want her to die so fucking badly.

If Hange dies I’ll cry

If Jean fucking die I’ll RIOT !!

Isadistyama knows only too well how much we hate Floch, which obviously means he isn't going to fkn die.

Gabi must die

Someone need to die soon.

Reiner's will to die will keep him alive to the end of the series…

I hope Levi doesn't die.

Really hoping Hange's death wasn't just foreshadowed in this chapter.

Jean will definitely die. Too much protagonism around him in this chapter.

My guess about Mikasa's life chances are now 50/50. 50% dying chances if she would protect Eren by fighting against the alliance and the other 50% having a chance to live a normal life with turning back to her old self

Just not Levi, at least not yet, c'mon we barely got him back :(

Maybe this whole manga is one man's journey trying to die in vain, until he ultimately finds the will to live... Then dies.

Hope they all die

THE PREVIOUS CHAPTER WAS NOT RECEIVED VERY WELL. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT CHAPTER 126 NOW AFTER HAVING READ THE FOLLOW-UP? 1,891 responses

With the worst rating in recent memory, chapter 126 was a disappointment to many readers, and we even saw some people losing faith in Isayama (the heresy!). So we asked the fandom about their feelings of the previous chapter in retrospect and knowing the continuation.

Surprisingly, the majority of respondents (48.9%) said their opinion of the previous chapter had not changed, but they felt positively about it, with 23% saying their unchanged feelings were negative. A remainder of 28.1% said their opinion of the previous chapter had in fact changed, with 26.1% expressing more positive feelings and 2% feeling more negatively.

A real improvement compared to Chapter 126.

Amazing, picked up on everything I thought 126 needed.

Definitely an improvement upon the last chapter

This chapter remedied most of my issues/concerns from the previous chapter

Chapter 127 was so awesome it made 126 even worse in comparison.

I prefer personally chapter 126, but this chapter had much better pacing

Everybody complaining about 126 were too impatient and short-sighted. This was always what was going to happen and both chapters did exactly what they were supposedly to do.

It really made me feel better about 126

Way better than 126 but still kinda cringe tbh

Much better chapter that made 126 redeemable

AFTER THIS CHAPTER, HOW HAS YOUR OPINION CHANGED ON THE FOLLOWING CHARACTERS?

Due to this chapter being dialogue-centric with character interaction galore, naturally it was bound to have an impact on the characters’ likeability. The significant focus on Jean’s inner turmoil evidently made him skyrocket in the eyes of the fans, with 80.6% of responses to him being on the favorable side, correlating with him being the fandom’s choice of MVP.

Jean's development is top tier.

I am so proud of how far and mature Jean has become! ;-;

Jean continues to show why he's the best character in the series

JEAN CHADSTEIN

JEAN JEAN JEAN JEAN

Other characters receiving a boost in favorability were Yelena, Hange and even Gabi (although in her case by only a smidge).

Yelena was my personal MVP this chapter

Mama Hange is the best

Gabi behaved like an adult and preferred to ask for forgiveness and help (she was adorable).

While many were relieved by Hange’s strong stance, it should be noted that Hange also received significant backlash this chapter, with ¼ of respondents viewing Hange less favorable.

Fuck hange

Hange is just making idiotic shitty points, and she has become one of my most hated character after this chapter. Jean's argument is one of the best, and almost everything he says this chapter made me love him even more.

People saying hange is acting based off emotion .. when literally all eren has done is act based off emotion. of course hange doesnt have a plan yet, eren is literally gonna annihilate the world

Though no characters had an overall less favorable response, Magath’s comments about the Paradis Eldians certainly almost landed him there.

Magath can suck a nut

Fuck off Magath

Magath really annoyed the hell out of me this chapter

ONCE AGAIN ISAYAMA APPEARS TO BE PLAYING WITH OUR EXPECTATIONS OF THE FINAL PANEL. WHICH OUTCOME DO YOU BELIEVE IS MOST LIKELY? 1,824 responses

Dreamt up fantasy or not, this chapter gave us yet another plausible scenario for the long-haired man holding a baby, confirming that Isayama knew what he was doing when he released that final panel, and he will milk the speculation for all it’s worth. With over 50 custom write-in responses of people saying they have no idea, it’s clear we’re all just on Isayama’s wild ride.

The most popular option chosen was that it depicts Eren holding Historia’s child (38.9%), followed by Grisha holding Eren (29.1%), Jean holding Mikasa’s child (14.7%), and Farmer-kun holding Historia’s child (8%). We also found many trends in the write-in answers:

Eren holding his baby with Mikasa (11)

Jean holding Historia's child (9)

Grisha holding Zeke (4)

Eren holding ymir fritz (reborn) (4)

Zeke holding Eren’s child. (3)

Falco holding Gabi's child (2)

Armin holding Historia's child (2)

As well as multiple answers that it’s Isayama injecting himself into the manga. You’re all hilarious.

Eren holding Isayama

plot twist: its isayama's dad holding him. he is free of the manga now

Isayama holding baby Onsen

Some of you had some creative ideas that I enjoyed reading:

Eren holding historia’s dead baby. saying it’s free from this world’s cruelty

Eren holding the Crawling Titan's human form (the one they encountered when heading to the ocean).

The next inheritor of the Founding Titan is holding Historia’s child, Eren sees this as a future memory.

Two marleyans free of eldian rule

Zeke holding Yelena's child

How did that last one get - actually, screw it, I’m on board. #Zelena4Life

We also had some voicing of concern regarding the lack of warning for final panel spoilers. To anyone who was spoiled by the final panel as a result of our actions, we apologise, and we will make sure any future polls that include discussion of external material will be appropriately tagged. This was Crunch’s fault, so please direct all of next month’s hatemail at him. He’s very sorry though.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE OUTCOME OF THIS UPCOMING BATTLE WILL BE? 1,865 responses

Before they can reach Eren, the Alliance needs to first get past the Jaegerist. Only 12% of respondents expect this to be easy. The vast majority (63.8%) are anticipating an Alliance win but at the cost of major character deaths. On the other end of the spectrum, close to 20% expect the Alliance to be defeated but think they will reach Eren another way. The tiniest percent (4.1%) think that the Jaegerists will win this battle and Eren will be successful.

I hope isayama wont nerf the alliance so hard in the upcoming battle. and pls no stupid death. make it glorious.

5 titan shifters versus a group of Jaegerist, I'm putting all my money on those well rested shifters to deal with a majority of the Jaegerist on the outside while the non-titans sneak in and rescue Kiyomi. And hopefully one of them can kill Floch while they are at it.

Super excited for next chapter! It was good exposition and a good setup for an epic fight! I also kind of hope that now that they've figured out the trick to stop fighting and finding diplomatic ways that they don't directly resort to violence but at least try to find a way to talk with the Jaegerists. If they don't try to talk and find a way around then the lessons learned won't have meant a thing. I'm super happy with the direction of the story

Even if you hate Floch you still have to give him credit for what he as done with taking over Paradis and mobilizing the Yeagerists in anticipation for the alliances next move

I swear if Armin doesn’t either turn into a titan now or in the final battle I’m gonna be saltier than the Dead Sea.

YES, WE ARE GOING THERE... HOW BADASS DID FLOCH LOOK IN THAT FINAL PANEL? 1,888 responses

God help us all... The bird’s nest hair is gone so there is nothing left to distract us from that rockin’ bod and fierce expression. Please know that I am physically in pain that only ¼ of the fandom selected the “Ewwwwww no” option. The rest of us are apparently weak for thicc thighs bound by tight leather straps.

My hat is off to the 9.2% who selected “How ‘bout dat Kiyomi.” You have my respect for maintaining your dignity and opting out of this question entirely.

Floch based

Floch is a CHAD

Floch is a hottie

FLOCH MARRY ME PLEASE I LOVE YOUU

Floch NEEDS to die!!!

FLOCH SHALL REIGN SUPREME!!!

FLOCH THE CHAD

I hate floch but damn is he lookin fine af

AT THIS POINT, AROUND WHICH CHAPTER DO YOU EXPECT THE MANGA WILL CONCLUDE? 1,876 responses

After another set up chapter amidst the scenery of the apocalypse, the chances of this arc wrapping up quickly are slimmer than ever, with only 2.2% of respondents believing the series to be in its final volume and ending at chapter 130. The 138-gang has officially taken over as the majority, with 43.9% of respondents expecting the story to wrap up in ten more chapters, beating out the 37.3% who think we will only get to chapter 134, and the 16.6% who think the story will go even further, to 142 chapters or beyond (for those counting at home, that’s at least midway into 2021).

I find it hard to believe that the story is getting wrapped up so soon… There’s so much that I feel like needs to happen before the story ends

I hope [Isayama] finishes the series without any rush.

I'm unsure if the manga will be able to end in 2020

I thought we were supposed to be approaching the end but now we go on a sidequest to free princess Kiyomi from a miniboss, huh?

The end is near and I already feel sad.

Whatever happens, it's been a wild ride up to this moment. I thank Isayama for everything.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPING TO SEE NEXT CHAPTER? 1,892 responses

Eren’s POV (37.3%), a continuation of the present storyline (21.9%), and the return of Historia (19.1%) are our top hopes and dreams for the upcoming chapter. A major death (6.8%), Reiner finding the will to live (6.0%), news about our boy Zeke (5.6%) and the Rumbling (3.4%) round out the entries.

EREN POV AND HISTORIA POV ALREADY JESUS CHRIST

I'm kinda hoping we get a zeke pov I wonder how he feels abt eren betraying him.

Historia was named because she is history from the story YAMS I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU WHERE IS QUEEN BAE

HISTORIA WHENNNNNNNN???!!!!!!!!

I just miss eren and historia and zeke a lot, they're my favorite characters :(

I just want annie to see her father smh

I have faith in isayama's cruelty and I honestly hope to see someone die

Please get Eren or Historia on the screen for the love of god

Reiner's too tired to die now. Wondering at which time yam will give him a new motivation to live and fight.

I’m still hoping Mikasa and Armin will man up and realize that Eren may not be worth fighting for. Maybe next time!

Hype for that Floch death next chapter, cmon Yams

Watch it burn!

WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES? 1,797 responses

The percentage of people who primarily discuss the series on Reddit is up from last month, while Tumblr and Discord’s percentage is down. People who don’t discuss the series, but participate in the poll are up 4.1% (of the whole, 73% relative to itself). The top 5 ranking order is: Reddit, I don’t, Facebook, Tumblr, and Discord. I’m surprised by the lack of Discord responses. If you voted Discord, but don’t see many people in your Discord communities aware of the poll, let them (or us!) know!

On that note, I have to give the Snapchat voters a hard time. Snapchat got 6 votes this time. Six. That’s the same as it was last month, but let me put this into perspective for you. Steam got three votes. There are twice as many people who voted Snapchat as there were people who voted Steam. Two. Times. Until I receive evidence to the contrary, I’m electing to believe that this is a Marleyan psyop, and I’m not falling for it.

Regardless of where you discuss the series though, we appreciate your contribution to the poll, and the SnK community as a whole! We literally could not do this without you guys, so thank you!

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS ON THE CHAPTER? 406 responses

Nice prelude before the final confrontation(s)

Fantastic chapter with great development for Jean and Reiner.

Overall, this is exactly what I wanted after last chapter's fiasco.

Where is Zeke lmao

Needs more Historia. THEY ARE ALL THERE WHY IS THERE NO ONE TALKING ABOUT THE QUEEN OF PARADIS. ISAYAMA PLZ

Kinda bummed there wasn't more Levi, but I'm always bummed when there's not a lot of Levi.

I don't like where this is going

I can't believe I'll be legit sad if Floch goes.

Erwin would have come up with another way to protect Paradis. He would have blackmailed and sweet-talked all the other diplomats lol. If Erwin was in charge he would have come up with a decisive plan and Eren wouldn't even have had to consider the rumbling, unlike Hange who is all talk but no plan and I guess that's why Erwin had to be nuked out of the story.

F U L L B O C C O

I live for character drama and Jean’s my favourite character so you know I loved this one.

I loved the Pieck x Yelena moment...and I Am Once Again Asking for Historia Comeback.

Mikasa. That’s it, that’s my thoughts,

Meh this arc has really a lot of problems with the characters, basically i dont care for anyone at all except eren and reiner, and that's a major flaw.

[Yelena] pointed everyones hypocrisy out that they aren't just victims who did nothing wrong. Everyone, except of Falco, has cover they hands with blood. It's not just ""muh Marley, muh Eldia or muh Yelena"". Everyone have started sins and are to blame for something. It was a really necessary wake up call, not only for the characters, but for this fandom as well. No matter if this was her intention to create more drama in the group or make them realize that they and not different from each other. GREAT MOMENT and Yelena absolutely slaying 👑

Please just make mikasa ended up with eren in the future. I dont really care bout anything

THE.CHAPTER.THAT.WE.NEEDED.

There really just aren't any good solutions, are there?

Isayama stop messin with my heart

Also I've seen people mad at Magath, but the only two charas I really hated here were Yelena and Floch. Both kinds of people are terrible in real life (usually minus the killing but eh)

Eren is gonna win and kill everyone

Can we stop the SUFFERING XD jokes with Reiner? The torture porn is seriously getting old and unnecessary. Can't believe I had to lower my opinion of him as well.

Every major character during this arc had moments of extreme fragility and desperation. mikasa, connie, armin, hanji, reiner and now jean. i love this because it would be extremely weird for a group of people who constantly put their sanity to test to remain the same (strong and capable of fighting and leading in every situation)

Bless Jean! He is such a good friend. I hope he can heal. That reveal with how Marco really died was very traumatizing. I hope all of the characters can heal.

BTW Isayama..It will be so pathetic if the Manga ended by Mikasa kill Eren..The worst and most unsuccessful end

Better than the previous one for sure. I love dialouges! Still expected Annie to interact with Armin and Levi not just sleeping through all of this like the sleeping beauty.

Annies back, back again. Annie's back, tell a friend.

Another banger

AoT is like good wine, it gets better with time.

AOT makes my life tolerable enough to live, thank you isayama

Boring chapter i wanna see eren ffs

Bitches really do be supporting genocide

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

10/10 as usual

127 was a totally piece of shit

I think jean and pieck will become a thing. if it doesnt, ill be sad lol

I'M AT SOUP

I'm confused.

I'm glad the situation of Marco's death and his importance to Jean was addressed. I just hope this won't be the last we see of it. Jean needs to heal and Reiner needs to do better.

I'm just happy that there will most likely not be a Cringevengers-like ending that seemed not too far-fetched after 126.

I want Eren to live

I want the recipe for that stew

I want to see Mikasa's POV

It feels as if Isayama has read our discussions and merged them into the story. Also I think Jean is the one who understands Eren's motivations the best at this point. Not Armin, not Mikasa.

It seems now that all the pieces are in place. I believe from now until the end will be a constant and crazy ride

It was a great chapter, but where's Eren? Even the "Avengers Team" are wondering.

It was a great chapter, Isayama covered most of the topics that were hanging loose on the last chapter

Real Housewives of Eldia

It was a masterpiece

It was alright.

Some will die, Eren will do some bad shit, but he will fail somehow

MOAR JEANKASA

Monthly dose of Reiner suffering

More Mikasa

More Reiner

None, just AOT

Nostalgic. Especially when Jean learns of Marco's demise.

Not enough action

Not enough suffering for Reiner.

Pie

Pieck Is hekkin cute

Pretty much what I expected after the events of last chapter, in a good way.

Reiner and Gabi both should have gotten so much worse from Jean, they have too much blood on their hands to be even remotely forgivable.

So long as the Jeagerists are resolved this volume, or something wilder - no more build-up. JUST FUCK EVERYTHING UP, ISAYAMAAA (not like GoT fuck it up, but the good kind)

Somebody, please let Reiner sleep and wake up properly

Shit gonna hit the fan so hard

Shit is happening and I'm not ready. Wonder if the anime will make the chapters flow better like in Season 3 Part 1+2?

There going to set something big up soon and everyone will be hype for it but then it will show Marley perspective of the rumbling or something

Eren will succeed! All hail Eren!

This chapter was everything I wanted, thx Yams ily

Lets just say I have new ships

This chapter was intense and I love the debates around the fire.

Too long chatting

Chapter was good but the fandom is at its absolute lowest state at the moment, between the aggressive Eren cultists, warriors and 104 fans attacking one another, and crazy shippers. Stop this clownery

Crazy chapter, looking forward to the next one.

Fuck the Jaegerists, death to all empires. Everybody needs to be a republic already, this is getting old.

Great breath of fresh air chapter. Needed that after the quickly paced 126.

Very good. i don't like the fandom,they are just children. i have always hated them.

Was a fantastic chapter overall and I hope for more of the same next chapter

We really missed Annie

Hype's alive again

I shit you not, He actually turned himself into a pickle. A pickle! He called himself pickle Rick. Now that's the funniest shit I have ever seen.

I liked that yams showed conflict in the gathering of the warriors and the 104th and that they weren’t going to forget each other’s crimes

I loved the arguing and tension in the alliance. I like how most of the chapter was around the campfire.

I prefer this chapter to have been the other half split of the previous one. And this one advanced to slowly, with unnecessary things

I'm still waiting for a crazy plot twist

When will the Ackertalk finally come

Where did mikasa go at then end!!!

YELENA!!!

Yelene spitting facts

Annie turned to alcohol

Im fine if this ends with the alliance stopping Eren but I'll find it dumb if Paradis isnt destroyed by the world afterwards. (which I highly doubt will happen)

It was pretty dope

It was really good but we all know I cannot wait another month for the next chapter release. And yes, I am extremely upset that we won't be getting another Levi x Zeke fight.

Honestly Erwins flashback looked forced, that space could've been used to yelena revealing Eren's location, or confirming who that guy from the building was(shadis?)

Love this shit.

Loved it! It's tied with 121 as my favourite chapter from this arc.

Loved it. Not much to say about this one, since it wasn't nearly as controversial as the last one :P

Hoping the deaths I picked are going to happen and I hope 🤞 that ema talk 2 will happen

I'VE BEEN WAITING TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE FOR THIS. I DON'T EVEN CARE IF I GET CORONAVIRUS I CAN DIE HAPPY.

I’ll die of the corona if eren dies

Jeans pretty cool ngl

pointless volume incoming with pointless battle vs floch. Waste of time

Pretty much what I expected after the events of last chapter, in a good way.

I don't forgive Annie

Thank you Yelena

Jeanstans: Attaboy Jean! Reinerstans: HOW DARE HE?! Reiner: Too bad that didn't kill me.

Loved this chapter but it was mostly playing catchup with the rest of the characters, still needed. Really shows how far ahead eren is.

Genocide supporter fans are just bunch of edgy teenagers. Let's see how they support Genocide when they get massacred irl.

More useless drama for a character who is progressively getting more annoying by the minute (hi Jean)

Since the end of the second world war, japan was reconstructed almost entirely by young people, so probably this story will end showing that with some analogy. making that previous statement, i think it won’t be eren, or any of the older characters, since they lived and did the horrors they did and must somehow pay for it(and specially the PTSD most would have, so they’ll be probably incapacitated in some way), i think it will be Gabi, or maybe Falco or someone else, because they are just lost, Gabi changed her mind and personality so well(progress, developed it), so that’s why i think it would or maybe even should be her. am i expecting too much from Isayama?

I believe in the Time-Loop still. But ya, hope Final Battle is with Levi and Eren teaming up. (Also Mikasa a bit before...)

Honestly wished the first few pages were real. I would love it for Jean and Mikasa to actually get together.

Annie clearly has no big role to play, & I think she’s going to go home & find her father dying. On a more positive note, we finally got some character interaction!!

That soup tho

Why should Mikasa be the one who confronts Eren? lmao According to the final exhibition would Armin be the one who will confront Eren, but I'm sure "talk-no-jutsu" will fail as an outcome. It doesn't worked in chapter 112, why should it be different?.

The award goes to Isayama for being the first person writing a story in which I have absolutely 0 clue about what will happen next. Like I never ever was at such a loss of theories. Never.This is both awsome and frightening. At least for that, props to Isayama

Top-tier

Unfair

I love the cart titan

#snk 127 #snk chapter 127 #snk poll results #snk poll #snk polls.

64 notes · View notes

temmaha1996 · 5 years

Text

Golden Globe 2020 Predictions

Best Motion Picture - Drama Should Win: Marriage Story

This would be the ideal pick for me. There isn’t a film more perfect in this entire list than Marriage Story. A film that seems simple at first glance but as you peel off more layers, it gets better and better.

Will Win: The Irishman

This would be the safe bet. It’s long, epic and a Martin Scorsese movie.

.Best Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical

Should Win: Knives Out

Knives Out is easily the best out of the bunch. It’s witty, entertaining and very well written. If we’re talking about comedy, it’s the funniest as well.

Will Win: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood

Despite not being a fan of this film, I really believe the HFP will go with this choice.

.Best Motion Picture - Animated

Should Win: Toy Story 4

Will Win: Toy Story 4

If anything else wins, it’ll be considered unworthy and a travesty.

.Best Motion Picture - Foreign Language

Should Win: Parasite

Will Win: Parasite

There’s not a doubt in my mind. Parasite utterly and truly deserves this.

Best Actor, Drama Should Win: Adam Driver

Will Win: Adam Driver

I am going out on a limb with my prediction here. Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker was more popular, and whilst he did a fantastic job as Joker, Adam Driver’s performance in Marriage Story was something else. I hope the HFP recognise that.

Best Actress, Drama

Should Win: Scarlett Johansson

Will Win: Renee Zellweger

I haven’t seen Judy yet, but Renee’s Judy ticks all the boxes of an Awards Season Landslide; playing a troubled late star in a biography. As much as I would love Scarlett to win, I know she won’t.

.Best Actor, Comedy or Musical

Should Win: Taron Egerton

Will Win: Taron Egerton

Egerton’s career best performance came from Rocketman, and I genuinely believe he outperformed Leo who was also good. This should be straight forward.

.Best Actress, Comedy or Musical

Should Win: Awkwafina

Will Win: Awkwafina

As much as Ana De Armas was fantastic in Knives Out, Awkwafina was something else completely in The Farewell. Either one of them is fine for me.

. Best Supporting Actor

Should Win: Al Pacino

Will Win: Al Pacino

What is this Brad Pitt hype I’m hearing? Did no one watch Pacino in The Irishman? He was back to his brilliant best and he needs to win this.

Best Supporting Actress

Should Win: Laura Dern

Will Win: Jennifer Lopez

As much as Laura Dern was great in Marriage Story, Hollywood wouldn’t be able to resist themselves giving this award to a well-known star like J-Lo, and that’s exactly what they’ll do.

. Best Director

Should Win: Bong Joon Ho

Will Win: Bong Joon Ho

There’ll be shouts for Scorsese and small cries for Phillips, but there is no doubt in my mind Bong deserves and needs this award. Korean cinema has been knocking at the door for years, time to knock it down.

Best Screenplay Should Win: Marriage Story

Will Win: Marriage Story

If any other script wins, this award show is a disgrace. Baumbach’s script was masterful.

Best Original Song

Should Win: Rocketman

Will Win: Rocketman.

Best Original Score

Should Win: Joker

Will Win: Joker

The score was as unsettling as the movie, and when it does it’s job, then it’s pretty obvious it deserves to win.

57 notes · View notes

namegoesup · 5 years

Note

I agree about Jeffree's metallics!! I thought I was the only one who couldn't them to look good, I haven't even tried the new palette but I have all of his others and the metallics are disappointing

i wish he'd made an all matte palette w a bunch of rich colors.,,doesn't even have to be all "neutrals" but more wearable shades that aren't bright/pastel.,,his matte formula deserves the hype but even his matte formula can't make brights and pastels perform well and i hate that he ruins all of his palettes w them alfjakfkd. and his metallic formula is absolutely not worth anywhere near his price, colourpop powder metallics have his beat by a landslide

#his mattes are better but cp's metallics both powder and super shock are 10x better #jeffree star #makeup #conspiracy palette #answered #anonymous

2 notes · View notes

cyb-by-lang · 6 years

Text

Shell Game (21/?)

Kei has some important conversations while the Sports Festival goes on in the background.

Kayama-sensei ordered everyone who’d made it through the cavalry battle qualifier to gather in the middle of the stadium, forming a fair-sized crowd of UA gym uniforms in front of her podium. Forty-two kids all gathered together, all looking up at the big digital screen. Behind them, the imported American cheerleaders were trying their best to get the crowd hyped for the next event. All around, the students who hadn’t made it past the obstacle race were helping event staff roll out game equipment for the “recreational” events.

“Come closer and draw lots to see who you’re up against,” Kayama-sensei said brightly, holding a box braced against one hip. “Then enjoy the pleasure of the recreational games before we start. The sixteen finalists have the option of participating in these activities or sitting out to prepare for battle.”

Kei already knew what she was going to do. She needed time to meditate, not perform like a trained seal.

She shifted her weight slightly, making sure Monoma was within eyesight. It might’ve been a bit judgmental, but being caught unawares by his Quirk just once was enough. Giving Isobu an actual excuse for direct violence would be one of the last mistakes of somebody’s life.

“I’ll start with the first place team,” Kayama-sensei went on.

One by one, the kids picked up their numbers.

The brackets shook out like this:

First up, Midoriya and Shōda. Both of them went sickly pale when they realized they made up the first match, and Kei couldn’t blame them. She leaned toward rooting for Midoriya on the whole, if only because a kid whose fighting style drew so heavily from the Black Knight probably needed to get a pro’s attention and train himself up differently. She’d wave a foam finger for Shōda anyway, though. If she had one.

The second match: Todoroki versus Sero. While Kei thought the tape-using kid seemed nice enough, Todoroki could punch nearly in Kei’s weight class with his ridiculous ice Quirk. If it wasn’t a one-shot fight, she’d be surprised. Few people could overmatch Kei’s Water ninjutsu so easily, at least since she’d properly practiced and learned to work together with Isobu.

The third fight would be between Kaminari and Ojiro, and Kei already knew who she was rooting for there. And it wasn’t the human stun-gun, despite the power output he’d showed earlier. Hopefully, Ojiro would manage to close the distance before getting lit up like a Tesla coil. Outlasting Kaminari seemed easy, as long as the first attack wasn’t a total knockout.

Fourth: Iida and Hatsume, whom Kei had finally identified as a member of the Support Course. She’d been under the impression that the pink-haired Hatsume could be another strange Quirk user from General Studies, because after seeing engine exhaust pipes growing out of Iida’s legs anything seemed possible. Apparently she was just a less successful Tony Stark, but with binocular zoom built into her eyes.

Kei’s half of the brackets started with the fifth match: Shinsō versus Ashido. She seemed friendly enough, so Shinsō’s Quirk ought to be effective. If not, well, he’d get some use out of what self-defense tricks Kei’d managed to instill. While hopefully not getting melted horribly, because some people’s appearances and their Quirks were hardly on speaking terms.

After that, Tokoyami was up against Yaoyorozu. Having seen neither of their actual fighting styles but plenty of their Quirks, Kei didn’t really know what to think. She couldn’t stop looking at Dark Shadow and seeing a shape Isobu might like to take someday.

Kei’s own match would be second to last, facing off against 1-A’s Kirishima in what’d have to be either the longest brawl ever or a very straightforward use of her “Quirk.” Worse, she wouldn’t be able to throw the match convincingly to the kid whose deal was turning his body into a rock. Her friends back home would absolutely give her shit for losing to Kirishima even on purpose.

The very last match of the first round? Uraraka versus Bakugō. Once again, Kei knew fuck-all about one of the Quirks in that fight and plenty about the other. While she suspected explosions would turn out to be pretty hard for Uraraka to fight, Uraraka deserved to win as far as Kei was concerned.

Midoriya made a noise like a mouse being stepped on, his eyes darting back and forth between his and Uraraka’s matchups.

“This’ll be fun,” Shinsō said, rubbing the back of his neck as he scanned the crowd for Ashido.

Kei nodded distractedly. Isobu’s temper thrummed in her chest like a second heartbeat, keeping her on edge. By the time the recreational games began, Kei was forced to bid Shinsō a brief goodbye to “prepare for the tournament.”

He accepted that excuse, and probably went off to practice zingers suited for Ashido.

Retreating to the prep room instead of sticking around to watch the “fun” felt a little like she was trying to become a hermit, but Kei did it anyway. Even if she didn’t need a few minutes to calm Isobu, she definitely wanted a chance to recover some of the massive amounts of chakra she’d expended inside of an hour. Throwing around that many Water Dragon Bullets, one Water Wall, two Hidden Mists, and one Great Waterfall on top of her other general enhancements was the kind of drain that would’ve been incredibly wasteful from the perspective from any ordinary shinobi. Especially because not one of those ninjutsu had killed anyone. The pride of many a dead Kiri-nin howled for blood.

Kei only really cared about the turtle monster doing the same in her head.

This prep room’s only occupant was Midoriya, with Shōda nowhere in sight. Maybe it was for the best—she’d known Midoriya a little longer, and the kid had a tendency to get caught up in his thoughts worse than a fish in a net. She could keep to herself here and be left alone.

Midoriya raised his head when she entered, waving weakly, before going back to his muttering once she acknowledged his presence with a nod. Probably going over what he knew of the other boy’s Quirk and trying to think around it. By the time Kei pulled up a chair and slumped over the far table with her head pillowed on her arms, he was mumbling about needing his fingers.

She left him to it. Midoriya didn’t need her help. Isobu did. Therefore, Kei set an alarm on her phone and closed her eyes to drop into her and Isobu’s shared mindscape.

The formerly-tranquil cliffside beach was a wreck of disturbed coral, rock, and uprooted palm trees strewn all across white sand, and the cause of it all sat in the middle of a brand new inlet with his forelegs folded to the sides. When Kei’s mental avatar floated down to his face, he turned it as far away as he could and closed his good eye.

“I am not sorry,” said Isobu, at once in her head and to her face. “I will never be sorry for defending us.”

“I wasn’t gonna ask you to be,” Kei told him, drifting closer until she sat on one of the spikes jutting forward from his head. His entire body shifted so he sat lower in the water before she could entirely settle, sending waves so high they nearly touched Kei’s toes. “You wanna help me clean this place up?”

“No demands to change my behavior?” Isobu asked, though he dragged himself farther onto the beach. His huge digits dug into the gray-white sand and started shifting debris.

“No demands, no,” Kei said, swinging down from his spikes one-handed. Her feet crunched onto the beach sand, strangely warm under her toes. It was all an illusion, but it was still comforting. “I remember what we agreed on, and I remember the thing with Inosuke. And Madara, and Kakashi, and with the butterflies, and like…I get it. Scolding you won’t change anything.”

“It will not.” Isobu shifted a bit, allowing Kei to stoop and pick up coral fragments from under the side of his shell. As she started gathering fish-shaped mental projections and hucking them back into the water underhand, he said, “Of all the ways we could be attacked…”

“I know,” Kei said, brushing her fingers against his shell. As he rumbled, she went on, “It’s awful. I don’t—if I didn’t know it was all just kids messing around during a school event, I’d…probably have reacted a lot like you.”

“How much experience do either of us have with such a situation?” Isobu wrenched a flattened palm tree out of the sand and hurled it out to sea. “Even the most childish of the ‘games’ you have recently lived through could end in dismemberment or death for all participants. And if it was the case, you could have died without knowing what killed you.”

Kei nodded, even as she flung another fish into the surf. “I know.”

“And?”

“And he’s a kid. Messing with powers because it’s what he does,” Kei told Isobu. She sighed and leaned back, staring up at the artificial sun far above their heads. “I am and was angry, and I get why I was angry even before I get to how you influence my mood, but that was dangerous. If me being unable to keep my head is going to mean you’re about to start killing people, we need to talk about this.”

Isobu’s rumble became less contented and more threatening, like an impending landslide. He clearly wasn’t in the mood for a heart-to-heart. Only one of them had a literal heart, but Kei would argue that Isobu’s emotions ran, if anything, more intensely in him than a lot of people.

“I know what Shinsō’s Quirk is like,” Kei said, “even if I don’t remember being under it. Next time, maybe instead of trying to pop into V2 cloak and losing our collective shit, you could try just like…” Kei paused, then held up an arm so Isobu could see. In here, Kei wore her jōnin uniform instead of either of the UA sets, and Isobu’s gold-on-red eye laser-focused on her. “Punch me in the face. Just grab my arm through our chakra coils and sock me right in the jaw.”

“…I could also just do that when I want to,” Isobu said, instead of acknowledging the practicality of Kei’s plan. For him, it must’ve been easier to just tease her.

“If it works to get us out of a genjutsu…” Kei trailed off. She hadn’t been truly caught by a genjutsu for a while now, and many of the stronger ones hardly allowed movement. Some couldn’t be broken by pain, either. Still, it was something approaching a plan. “Same principle.”

Isobu made a noise like “hmph,” but scaled up tenfold. He abandoned his attempts to clear the beach, but the false debris was already starting to fade into dream-stuff. Before he disappeared into the waves, he told her, I will think about it.

Kei waved to his retreating tails, and all three of them waved back.

Then her phone alarm beeped.

Kei checked whether she’d drooled onto the table before she sat up. Once she’d determined everything was still more or less as she’d left it, minus one Midoriya through a still-swinging door, Kei got to her feet and decided to head for the stands. She checked her phone, of course—Obito had a knack for spamming the hell out of a groupchat that was difficult to tear her eyes from.

GreenThumb: now we have brackets

GreenThumb: i saw youre up against rock kid

GreenThumb: dont lose to him

GreenThumb: im sure youre thinking about it

GreenThumb: a whole afternoon of not doin anything

GreenThumb: but splodey kid is RIGHT THERE

GreenThumb: and purple kid versus pink kid too

GreenThumb: i dunno how thats gonna go but

GreenThumb: tell shinsō hed better not lose

GreenThumb: i spent too much time gettin used as a trainin dummy

GreenThumb: so

GreenThumb: COME ON AND WIN THIS ヾ（＾ヮ\\)ﾉ

Defib: Or throw the match and save yourself the further attention of a rabid media-focused world. You don’t need to be in the finals to accomplish your goals. Or on television.

Defib: Aren’t you supposed to be more subtle than this?

TMNT-TNT: Probably.

GreenThumb: excuse me

GreenThumb: but this is team awesomeness only

GreenThumb: no killjoys allowed

Defib: Better a killjoy than dead.

GreenThumb: +ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+凸(◕‿\\✿)+ﾟ*｡:ﾟ+

TMNT-TNT: Aren’t you two literally right next to each other? Within punching distance?

Obito didn’t send any more messages after that. Neither did Kakashi.

Kei tucked her phone away and headed up toward the stands.

The student sections of the audience were divided by class, though as far as she could tell there was no actual ban on visiting the other groups. 1-A had one smattering of benches, while 1-B was next to them, and so on. It was pretty similar to their arrangement within UA’s halls, only there weren’t any massive sliding doors. Walls between the sections were high, though, and few people were already in their seats. Kei stuck her head in two of the doorways just to make sure the Hero course students were where she expected them to be, then wandered to 1-C’s spot.

“Gekkō-san, hello!” said Homura, her hair and eyebrows blazing away with excitement.

“Um.”

Kei stood there, a little stunned, as Homura took both her hands in hers and said, “Congratulations on getting as far as you have. I mean, I know you were always a strong student, but right now you’re representing our whole class. You and Shinsō-kun!”

“Thank you?” Kei managed, still blinking in surprise. Dang it, now she felt bad for thinking of throwing her match in the tournament. She still would, but it’d be less funny.

And she hadn’t even been particularly nice to any of these kids.

“It’s nice to know I have your support,” Kei said, not entirely sincere because she wasn’t fully certain of Homura’s motives. Some of the other 1-C students weren’t looking her in the eye, and that was certainly not a new development. “Make sure you tell Shinsō-san the same, okay?”

“As soon as I see him, you can count on that!” Homura promised. She let go of Kei’s hands and peered behind her, as though expecting to see Shinsō following her. “Nobody’s seen him for a while, though. I asked Shingetsu-kun already.”

Shingetsu’s head spun around at the sound of his name, though his torso kept pointing in the direction of the pointy-eared kid he was lecturing. “Sorry, did someone say something?”

Homura’s fiery eyebrows dimmed somewhat. “Have you seen Shinsō-kun?”

“Not since the last time you asked.” And then Shingetsu was back to telling the other students why throwing popcorn was bad manners. Or something like that.

“I haven’t seen him either.” Kei scratched the base of her scar. “Mind if I go look?”

“The matches will be starting soon, though,” Homura said, though she wasn’t actually telling Kei not to do what she would.

“Be right back, then,” Kei said, and darted back into the building. It was as much to find Shinsō as to get away from her classmates. As she left, she heard Shingetsu tell Homura something along the lines of “you scared her off,” but didn’t stop to ask.

Weird they were choosing now to put aside their fear of her and make nice.

With the first match so close to starting, Kei wasn’t surprised to find the hallways nearly empty of spectators, students, and everyone else. Not for the first time, she took a second to curse the total lack of chakra available to sense in the general area, which would have made finding people a snap. She ended up effectively circling the stadium twice through the halls and stairways, finding only Midoriya and Shōda up and about (and still quite nervous, despite each getting a quick pat on the back from her), before deciding to search outside the building. She could afford to miss the first match.

The stadium was set at the end of a long cement pathway, but there was a forested park jammed up against the back of it. While trotting along in search of Shinsō, she passed Todoroki leaning against the building and remembered just in time what a terrible mood looked like, so she gave him a wide berth. Tokoyami was up in a tree, his animate shadow keeping an eye out and waving down at her as she passed. It took a little longer, until she was almost on the far side of the trees, before she spotted Shinsō sitting on a root with his back against the tree trunk.

“There you are,” Kei said, relieved. She came to a stop next to him.

“What’s with that look on your face?” Shinsō asked, sitting up. One purple eyebrow went up. “You look spooked.”

What went unspoken was probably along the lines of, “And I’ve seen you literally being held hostage before, so what the fuck?”

“Our classmates were trying to be nice.” Kei shook her head slowly. “To me. Not in general. But also in general.”

Shinsō stared at her.

“Or at least Homura-san was,” Kei added, somewhat defensively. “It was weird.”

Shinsō sighed. He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “Took them long enough.”

“…What?”

“To get over themselves,” Shinsō said, a bitter look crossing his face. As she sat down in the grass across from him, he rested his chin in his hand. “You’re standoffish, like a cat, so everyone’s been tiptoeing around you trying to figure out what to do. Only now you’re doing well without them and it’s giving them ideas.”

Kei thought this was all rather cynical, but, as a cynic, waited patiently for the next part of the explanation. It was only polite.

“When people weren’t wondering when I’d turn into a villain or avoiding me, they’d act like my Quirk was super special. Like they were my friends.” Shinsō rolled his eyes. “But the second they found out I wasn’t going to use it to manipulate anyone because they were ‘so nice to me’ and asked me to, they went right back to spreading rumors.”

“I’m not,” Kei said, once he’d finished.

“Not what?”

“Not using you to get ahead,” Kei told him. She leaned back, bracing her hands against the grass to keep her balance. While a muscle in Shinsō’s jaw jumped and he fought not to interrupt, she went on, “I fully admit to not being a super nice person. I don’t know how people like Midoriya-san do it, to be honest. But…as awkward as that was, I think Homura-san was trying.”

Not particularly effectively, but there was effort behind it.

“I don’t tend to give people much of a chance.” She found herself scratching the lower end of her scar and stopped once she noticed. “I ignored almost everyone at the beginning of the year. But Homura-san seemed like she meant well. It’s not her fault if the rest of the class isn’t gonna follow her lead.”

Shinsō didn’t immediately respond. Instead, he pried at a scrap of loose bark and peeled it off, a pensive look on his face.

“So, what’re you doing this far from the stadium?” Kei asked.

“Meditating. About the only thing I can do now.” Shinsō started tying the strip of bark into a knot. “It’s not really working. I’m still nervous.”

“I think that’s normal,” Kei told him. “But like you said, you’ve made the top sixteen. The parts that wiped out basically everyone else are over.”

“That’s one way of looking at it.” Shinsō sighed again, tossing the bark into the manicured lawn. “How’d you keep calm? During that match your brother talked about?”

Kei paused. Visions of losing her temper as badly as she’d ever done before Isobu, and then having to frantically apologize for ruining Gai’s apology, flashed through her mind. Not her finest moment. “Um, you probably don’t want to know.”

Kei knew the instant Shinsō’s brain caught up with his mouth. He paled a little further, likely recalling the scraps of information Hayate had let slip. “…You know, I think you’re right.” He got to his feet. “Might as well stop putting it off.”

“And maybe our classmates will surprise you,” Kei added, as they headed back to the stadium.

“Maybe.” It wasn’t a no, at least.

#Shell Game #Keisuke Gekko #shinsou hitoshi #Obito Uchiha #Kakashi Hatake #Isobu #kayama nemuri

69 notes · View notes

ifightformyfriends · 7 years

Text

Raw vs Smackdown faves, post Shuffle

Parsing out my thoughts on the Shuffled rosters. Not at all a list of everyone I like, just where my faves are at.

Raw Dudes: Apollo Dean Finn Kalisto The Miz Roman Seth Rollins Raw Ladies: Bayley Dana Emma Mickie James Nia Jax Sasha Banks Raw Teams: Enzo and Cass Sheasaro Heath and Rhyno Hardy Boyz Smackdown Dudes: Mojo Rusev Sami Shinsuke Tye Smackdown Ladies: Becky Charlotte Naomi Smackdown Teams: New Day Breezango American Alpha Usos (Hype Bros) Dudes: More even than I expected, actually, but only one of my faves from SDL (Discounting Cena since he’s gonna be out for a while) is a remaining competitor, two were taken from Raw and two are call ups. Would love to see Mojo feud with Rusev, or Rusev to turn Face. Raw’s got a nice mix of old and Shuffled, and some of my absolute top faves. Hopefully Apollo and Kalisto can do more than get beat up by heels a few times on Raw, they both deserve more spotlight. Ladies: Raw wins by a landslide as far as faves go, especially with Emma returning. Charlotte switching was unexpected, but the new balance makes Sasha’s expected Heel turn less likely. Lot of potential in the SDL roster, though. I miss enjoying watching Carmella, Lana seems to be getting ready to spend more time in the ring, and Tamina is an unknown for me. So in practice could be a lot more even once things get heated up again. Teams: Pretty even, solid teams on both sides. REALLY wanted The Club to go to SDL and reunite with AJ, but they’re staying on Raw where their Anti-Fun character angle is not only shallow but redundant with The Revival? Hopefully this pushes them into being better utilized. Would still love to see more Breezango where they last more than like ten seconds in the ring.

1 note · View note

moonbelt · 7 years

Text

»whiplash (m) | 03

↳ fake dating au | college au

⇢ pairing: park chanyeol | reader

⇢ genre: angst + fluff + smut

⇢ word count: 9.630

⇢ description: as an aspiring big-shot photographer in a slump, you’re looking for something that inspires you and unfortunately — or maybe not — it comes in the form of a guy named Chanyeol.

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

The sky is dark and the rain unrelenting against your skin when you finally get out of your last class for the day. It's also ridiculously colder than you expect, and you curse yourself silently for wearing your favorite sleeveless shirt from a previous season. But you guess there could be worse things happening in the world.

You can't see the rain as it falls, mainly because it's too dark to do so, but you feel it. You feel as it patters on your head before falling to the pavement. It soaks through you and your body shivers because of it. The act seems to be the only thing physically able to drag your thoughts away from Chanyeol. Chanyeol who promised to be here — you check your watch — eight minutes ago. You're not particularly mad at him though, you did arrive late to your first pretend-date... it's only fair, you think.

Sighing to yourself, you wish you'd brought a jacket or at least worn something warmer. Your ass is ten minutes away from freezing to death and your teeth keep making that chattering noise every few seconds. Some of the other fellow unlucky ART students that are stuck in the same boat as you, give you nods of understanding. Sometimes the weather is just absolute shit.

Now, you wish you had listened to Sehun and even Chanyeol when they had (separately) told you it was bound to rain today. But earlier in the day the sun had been out and the breeze had been cool but not daunting, so you'd thought that there was no possible way for the weather to change so drastically. You were wrong, Sehun was right. As per usual.

Chanyeol, as you found out, is rarely — if ever — right. You can't count the number of times his directionally-challenged ass put you in situations you could've easily avoided. Not that you're any good with directions either... but still better than him by a landslide.

You raise an arm above your head as you tap your foot incessantly. The Fine Arts Building is closed and locked up for the evening so you can't go back inside. You think you must look like a wet dog in this weather but so does everybody else. You guess that's fair. And even though you don't really want to think it, you think of your mother. The day your mother left, unfortunately, or maybe not, had been a good day.

A good day to have gone to the beach and watch the waves crash on the shore. A good day to have gone to Karate practice — you'd faked out that day, telling your parents that your stomach wasn't feeling too good — a lie. A good day to have taken your camera — the one your dad had got you the birthday before — to anywhere you wanted to take pictures of anything that interested you. A good day to have done anything but stay at home and watch her pack her bags.

Anyway, the point of the matter is that the day had been a good day and in ways, you truly cannot understand, today feels like that day.

You were glad that in the few days since the party Chanyeol hadn't tried to get you and his friends to hang out. Not that you didn't get along with them, because you did, but you were wary of Mai. She was Yixing's best friend and through the grapevine — Baekhyun — you heard all five of them used to be really close until runaway hormones and lack of common sense threw everything out of the loop.

You highly doubt that if you come in contact with Mai you would be able to keep your fists calmly at your side. Normally, you don't consider yourself a violent person. Passionate but never violent. However, it seems that you're learning new things about yourself the more you stay with Chanyeol.

When he wasn't off writing impromptu lyrics in his black notebook or trying really hard to find a pun to impress you, he was a pretty decent company to have around. Okay, scratch that. He was very nice company to have around.

You'd been getting progressively stressed because your professor hadn't given you positive feedback over some photos and he must have sensed that you were on edge about something and being the type of guy he is, he tried to keep your mind off it. Sadly, schoolwork wasn't the only thing weighing on your shoulders. You couldn't stop thinking about your mother. You hadn't spared her memory the light of day in years but now, you can't stop thinking about her.

Of course, you know why this sudden influx of memories of her are consuming you. Automatically you link cheating with her and because of that night at the party, you've been thrown back to your thirteen-year-old self. And now that he isn't able to drag your attention away to a new TV show or new campus gossip, you are quite literally soaked in your thoughts.

You'd always known how starkly different your personality contrasted with Chanyeol's but it had never crossed your mind that maybe some of his mannerisms were comforting to you. Chanyeol, who was usually the one eager to shoot you a text when something interesting happened, had suddenly become a constant. And these days you find yourself anticipating them more often than not.

You sigh to yourself again as you flip your mobile phone in your free hand, wondering for the nth time that day if he'll reply to the text message you'd sent him earlier. Chanyeol is a sucker for punctuality so it's slightly worrying that he hasn't arrived yet.

The sound of a car approaching where you stand, pulling up on the curb of the building with the driver having a smug smirk dancing across his lips, is enough to break you out of your reverie.

The car comes to a halt and even before the window slides down, you know there's going to be a cocky grin gracing his face. Chanyeol knows he's won this pseudo-battle; you said it wouldn't rain, he said it would. Guess who has to come and pick you up thirty minutes away from his apartment? Yes. Chanyeol. Your fake boyfriend that is slowly becoming more of a friend that just happens to be a boy.

He opens his car doors and you rush inside, thankful that he had offered to come pick you up after your last class.

"You're so wet," he says in faux disgust but with a playful glint in his eyes when you slam the door shut.

"You just had to slip in an innuendo, didn't you?"

"Better than a pun?" You roll your eyes at his question as an answer but the smug smile doesn't slip off his face as he puts the car in drive. "Told you it was going to rain. When would you start listening to me? I can tell these things Y/N. Like the back of my palm."

So, he says but you know it's all balancing on his, recently, crazy good luck. He really can't predict the weather; the universe is just eating out of his palms for the time being. Ignoring him, you focus on trying to dissect your shirt from clinging to your skin and haphazardly peeling your hair away from your face and eyes.

Chanyeol doesn't notice your lack of answers or maybe he just doesn't care. He seems to be in a good mood if you take his fingers drumming against the steering wheel as a sign.

"How was the class?" He asks once he pulls out of the street. "What did your professor say about the pictures?"

Ah, the photos of Chanyeol that you'd taken over the past week or so. Your professor had asked to see a few of them, so you'd taken your camera over to her office and showed them to her. You're not going to lie; the pictures were amazing. More than amazing. They were breathtaking and every time you looked at them, you felt a hearty chunk of your chest cleave away from him.

You told yourself that this was simply you speaking from an artistic point of view and it had nothing to do with anything romantic. You do realize that you're somewhat sexually attracted to him but that has nothing to do with conventional romance. At least, you don't think.

You turn your head to face Chanyeol but his eyes are focused on the road. "She actually gave me pretty good feedback. She thinks you're a great model— very expressive."

"As expected your pictures are the best," he shoots you a wink and a more genuine smile. "Guess our fake dating is producing good results?"

You make an uncommitted sound as your response. Chanyeol has a knack for praising your work more than it actually deserves. You can show him a photo of dog poop and he'll call it magical based solely on the fact that you took it. And it's not like you don't spending time with Chanyeol — because you do. But as the days add up and Easter Sunday comes closer, you wonder if you can really fool his whole family. You've never been good with mothers.

In fact, you're pretty sure your ex's mom banned him from bringing you home after the first meeting. Maybe you shouldn't have been honest about how awful her turkey had tasted? But your dad had always been gung-ho about honesty. And even though you don't carry the same fervor for it, you can't really tell a lie to someone you don't particularly like.

But you guess he is right. The fake dating is producing results. On both ends. You and Chanyeol hopefully convinced his friends that the two of you are a package deal. And your portfolio was coming together really nice —

"What? Did I say something wrong?" He takes your non-reply as a problem.

"No, no!" Your eyes fly open. "You're good. I just don't see why you're always hyping up my work when you haven't even seen it."

Chanyeol seems relieved by the statement but still shoots you a concerned look from the corner of his eye. Even though you take pride in what you do, you get oddly embarrassed when showing him your work. Therefore, you rarely do. Not since that first that day when you thought if you didn't show it to him, he would've walked away.

"One; because I know your work is freaking amazing. Two; because you're my friend and that's what friends do."

A friend, he says and somewhere in your heart, you feel at peace that it's not just you thinking that way. But then there's this pressure in your mind. Like your deluding yourself. You think back to the night of the party; with Chanyeol pressing tightly against your skin and his lips singing sweet-praises into your neck. Friends don't do that. Not the friends you have anyway.

"You're so cheesy," you say rolling your eyes, and in a bid to distract yourself, turn your gaze out the window.

He laughs at that. The kind of laugh that shakes his whole body and makes him slap the steering wheel with both of his hands. You're not exactly sure why he's laughing so hard at your statement but you guess something good must have happened earlier.

You take several not-so-sneaky glances his way before you finally end up asking him if anything particularly good happened today. He shrugged, tapping a set of his fingers on his lap.

"Not really, I was just remembering that one time I called you "friend," and you said that wasn't true. We were 'business partners.'"

There's nothing like a hard dose of cold embarrassment to make your face start growing hot. Christ, a week and a few days ago, you'd never accept that you and Chanyeol had broken that barrier to becoming friends. Now, your heart was practically palpitating at the idea. You need to get a hold of yourself. All this back and forth is giving you whiplash.

"Well, it's not like I was lying—" you attempt to brush it off but Chanyeol stops you.

"What changed?" He halts the car because of the stop light and turns his attention all on you.

To be very honest, you don't know. You don't know how the dynamics of the relationship changed. One day you were viewing him as a model, nothing more nothing less, just someone that inspired you. But as you hung out with him, the conversations kept adding up to so much more. The smallest of things that he remembers about you, the things you feel make you insignificant, he brings them out to life.

Calling or texting Sehun when something had either gone inexplicably wrong or surprisingly right had never been an issue. Sehun was — is — your best friend. But doing the same to Chanyeol? That had been a shocker, but it had also been something you never thought about.

It was just one of those things that happened. Like the kiss that happened all those days at the party but neither of you has bothered to discuss— it's just one of those things that happen. With or without you knowing.

"You know," you mutter lamely. "How we look after each other."

But there's so much more you want to add. Like the way the two of you seem to spend any free time together, even when you don't need to take shots of him. Getting into petty arguments like which ice cream flavor is better. Everyone knows vanilla is the greatest, Chanyeol, however, thinks otherwise.

The way Chanyeol texts you the lyrics he's working on that he thinks you'd appreciate. The way the two of you talk fleetingly about the future and solemnly you wonder if he'd be in your future. If after this three-week fake relationship position goes dry, you and him will revert back to strangers? Frankly, you don't want that.

Replaying his question in your mind, you realized the two of you were something more than fake partners. More than just casual friends too. Good friends? Really close friends? You shouldn't want to kiss your best friend though, in fact, you shouldn't want to do anything romantically inclined with them... your eyes trail over his face and the emotions building in your chest. Definitely not. You should definitely not want to kiss a friend of that caliber.

You shrug your shoulders as you sigh into your chest, deciding your best bet is to allow the conversation to die. You focus your attention on the lights whizzing past your window as Chanyeol puts the car back on drive. The silence isn't awkward but it's heavy. The two of you, you realize need to work this relationship out because the more time you spend in your thoughts and with him, you feel as if you're straying farther away from what a fake relationship should be.

Chanyeol is quiet and you are quieter. You fiddle with your fingers a little, to distract your thoughts, but you still find yourself not being able to say anything. You almost sigh in relief when you finally see the nearing of your apartment complex.

You try, really hard, to keep an air of indifference but end up jumping out of the car once it comes to a complete stop and rush up the steps to your apartment door. For the first time since moving in a year and a half ago, you feel thankful that your room is on the first floor and not the eighth.

Fumbling around in your pocket, you search for the familiar metal of your keys but unceremoniously draw blanks. You could've sworn you had it though. Pulling your backpack off your shoulders, you ransack it. Without looking up, you hear Chanyeol come up behind you.

"Something wrong?"

"I can't find my keys," you say with a tint of desperation in your voice. You scatter the contents of your bag unto the floor but despite that, you can't seem to find the stupid singular key. Sehun had always said you'd lose it soon because you didn't have a keychain, he probably jinxed your, already horrible, luck.

Chanyeol runs a hand through his hair, fluffing it up a bit. "Don't you have a spare? Roommate?"

You sigh deep into your chest. Your spare is probably lying comfortably somewhere in your room, you had no idea where exactly it would be but you were sure it was there. Roommate? You push your books and pens back into your bag solemnly.

"Sehun doesn't come back until later. Around maybe eleven? Twelve? What day is today?"

It takes a moment or two before he responds. "Wednesday."

Shit. You —

"Ah, he's not coming home today."

"Your roommate?"

You nod. "Sehun stays over at his girlfriend's place every Wednesday for ‘movie night,’ he turns off his phone and basically won't be able to come over and open this damned door," a gust of chilling wind breezes past and your teeth clatter.

Chanyeol looks down at you, not condescendingly, he's just really tall and that's one of his perks. He bites his lips, deep in thought, like he's weighing his options. You shuffle on your feet, not exactly sure what you're going to do when he clears his throat. Your head whips up from staring at your shoes to staring at him.

"You could stay at my place. There's only one bedroom but I'll take the couch or something. It doesn't matter, I'll figure it out."

"Really? I don't want to impose on you or anything—"

A small smile perks up on his face. "It's fine, Y/N. Don't worry about it. Plus, I can't exactly leave you to freeze to your death out here."

Another gust of wind sweeps by and not only do your teeth clang together, your body literally spasms. There's no way you could stay out here tonight. You could call your friend WooJin and ask to stay over but he lives in one of the campus dorms and is a stickler for the rules and regulations.

"Okay."

You hike your school bag up your arm and will yourself to stop shaking. You look like you're having a nervous breakdown and you know you're going to wake up tomorrow with a stupid cold because of the stupid weather.

Chanyeol pauses when he sees you grip the backpack straps so hard your knuckles turn a lighter color. "Are you cold? Do you want to borrow my jacket?"

You scoff, mainly to yourself. "I'm not." You have no idea why you're so hellbent on putting up with this farce. You're clearly dying.

Without a word, he pulls his arms out of his ridiculously huge jacket and drapes it across your shoulders, leaving him in a somewhat tight fitting black turtleneck sweater. "Yeah, I must have forgotten that people generally shiver for no reason at all."

You're tempted to kick his shin but refrain because the warmth of his jacket seeps into your skin. Christ, you don't want to sound like you've been deprived or something but he smells amazing. You pull open the passenger door and slide in, all the while wondering if you can find a reason to hold onto his jacket longer.

The drive to his apartment is a whole lot better than the drive to yours. For starters, neither of you talk about anything serious. He tells you about his day, skitters around recounting the most interesting things that happened.

Apparently, Baekhyun has been "requesting" that you hang out with them again sometime. Says he "misses you." You laugh hard at that because you've only known him for a week and you can totally see him saying that. You and Chanyeol banter back and forth like that until he pulls up to the curb of his apartment.

You've only been here once before and that was because you wanted to take a few shots of him in a familiar setting. The photos came out incredible and there was one particular one that you wanted to be framed and hanged somewhere where everyone could see. You'd shown the picture to Sehun and although he'd agreed that it was an amazing angle, he'd also said:

"I look way better, you know. Like I could steal your heart if I didn't already love Yumi."

Yeah, like you would've ever fallen for him anyway. You'll admit, Sehun is strikingly good looking but there wasn't that spark! You know the kind that tethers through your entire body setting everything on fire? But despite that, you can't pull away from the flame. Unconsciously your look over to Chanyeol as he puts the car in park and turns his eyes from the road to you.

"What?" He whispers out like he's terrified of breaking your trance.

You shake your head. "It's nothing. Thanks for allowing me to stay over," you give him a smile to try and clear the confusion brewing in his eyes.

"It's not a problem," he returns your smile as the two of you get out of his car. He waits for you to walk over to his side before he begins leading you the way inside the apartments elevators.

Although the elevator is pretty darn spacious, you find yourself huddled closer to Chanyeol. Fingers almost touching but not quite. You think to yourself that maybe the cold is affecting you in more ways than one. You can't jeopardize whatever this is because of your sexual attraction towards him. You'd promised yourself getting into this relationship you wouldn't stir up unnecessary feelings for him.

You bite your lip and attempt to take deep breaths. But with Chanyeol's jacket wrapped soulfully around you, the more you inhale, the more it becomes harder to focus your mind on the "right" thing. Your eyes flicker to his lips. Damn, maybe you just need to get laid. Yes, all these feelings of neediness are sprouting because you haven't done anything with anyone in months. Yes, blame your libido and not your heart.

The elevator pings as it comes to a stop and you run out of there as if someone is burning your ass. Chanyeol watches you in amusement as you lead the way to his apartment door. He slots his key inside and props open the door with his foot and waits for you to clamber inside. His apartment is roomy and resembles him to the core. With guitars arranged against one corner, walls painted a light shade of brown and lots of windows.

"I'm so sorry,” his eyes widen. “I would have cleaned up better if I knew you'd be coming over," he looks sheepishly at the stray pair of Adidas track pants lying on the floor and rushes to grab it.

You wave his concerns away. "My apartment is worse. Neither me or Sehun clean as much as we should."

"Still," Chanyeol shakes his head at the track pants disappointingly. "Oh, you should take a shower. It must be uncomfortable staying in those wet clothes, right?"

You nod. "Yeah. You have a washing machine, right? Can I borrow it?"

He uses a finger to point at a closet to his right before he places his phone and keys on the counter in his kitchen. Then peers at you with embarrassment painting his eyes. "I don't think they'll wash and dry on time. Plus, it would be really uncomfortable to sleep in jeans... I could lend you some clothes to sleep in."

Watching him nervously tap the back of his neck influences your decision. Better to think that. Even though you know that none of his clothes would ever fit you. Unless he lends you clothes that someone else had left here. Shit, now you can't help your mind drifting to Mai. Mai bent in this apartment, Mai and Chanyeol having a completely different conversation that has nothing to do with clothes but the lack of.

Ah, this is bad. You can't — shouldn't — feel jealous. Whatever happened between Mai and Chanyeol was months ago, in the past and most importantly this was all fake. Yeah, you resign to yourself. This is all fake.

"Thank you," you say when you realize that you've been staring at him. You clear your throat to relieve the lump that has taken place there.

Quietly, Chanyeol leads you through his bedroom to the adjoining bathroom. He leaves you for a minute to go get a purple hoodie that seems too big for you but you don't complain. He also hands you a pair of shorts that, surprisingly, look like they'll fit. True to character, you ask him the question before you can stop yourself.

"This is yours?" You try to keep the incredulity out of your voice but fail, miserably.

A deep blush breaks out on his cheeks. "Baek and Yixing thought it'd be funny to get me booty shorts for my last birthday," he mumbles so low that you wonder how you even heard it.

"Obviously," you laugh way too hard but it feels good as relieving.

Chanyeol all but shuts the bathroom door so fast and you can already visualize the redness of his cheeks spreading to his ears. He doesn't get embarrassed often but you've found out that when he does, he stutters and fumbles. It's cute, you think to yourself.

You don't take too much time with peeling your clothes off your body and slipping into the shower. The warm, leaning more on hot, water does something good to clear your thoughts. You decide to compartmentalize what you think you know.

First off, you like Chanyeol. There's no way around that. Whether it should be acted on... that's different. Second, it's not certain that Chanyeol likes you back in the way you like him. He's nice to everyone, looks out for everyone, would rather get hurt than allow someone else to through that the pain.

So, what if he remembers your favorite coffee order or your favorite pizza? Those are trivial things, you reason with yourself. Anyone can remember those things, you tell yourself even though you barely remember your father's favorite ice cream flavor... Back to the point; it's not easy telling if Chanyeol sees you in any way other than a fake girlfriend.

"Ugh." You place your head gingerly on the shower stalls wall, the water cascading down your back. Nothing is going according to plan.

You really don't want to get your hopes (and heart) broken but for some reason, you’re thinking that you want to explore this feeling or connection with Chanyeol. You'd seen a few people with good relationships. Sehun and Yumi being one. But you also knew firsthand how badly a heart could be broken. And all those years ago, you'd promised yourself that you wouldn't be like your father, crying for months after your mom had left.

You didn't want to bear that type of pain but then again why did you agree to this sham in the first place? It's ridiculous really, how caught up you are in this.

You were the one literally begging him not to fall for you and now look at you. On the verge of wishing that this was real because maybe then you wouldn't feel bad about the butterflies carving home in your stomach. You didn't want to open your heart to that type of pain but it seems like something is forcefully prying your chest open.

You finish your shower as fast as possible, suddenly the water stings. Or maybe it's just the feeling in your pit expanding? You've never been the most excellent liar, and now you're wondering how you're going to prevent Chanyeol from discovering that something is different and it has nothing to do with him. You're liking him all on your own and it should be your problem on how to deal with it.

The shirt sizes too big for you but it feels comfortable and it smells overpoweringly like him. You're supposed to be dealing with your feelings and sorting them out but damn. He smells really good. The shorts are more or less your size but it's practically nonexistent under the hoodie.

After what seems like hours of you contemplating if it's really okay for you to walk out with all your legs on show, you grab your wet clothes and march out of the bathroom. You dump your them at the foot of his bed, not sure what else to do with it. And after a while of contemplating you head out to the kitchen to search for Chanyeol. Only for you to halt in your steps with your eyes wide as fucking saucers and your jaw almost lined with the floor.

Now, you'd seen your fair share of naked, shirtless bodies. You do live with a guy that pranced around without a shirt almost every second he was around. But holy shit, you'd never been this attracted to it. You shut your eyes on impulse but after three seconds you pry them open again.

"Fuck."

Chanyeol perks up at your voice. "Want a sandwich?" Chanyeol's head is deep in the fridge, looking for something, but when you don't answer he peeks his head out. "I make the meanest cheese sandwiches."

"..."

Your mind is gone. Lost within a thousand upon thousand fantasies. You had no idea where these fantasies came from but oh boy, they are tearing your imagination apart.

Chanyeol looks as confused as he is amused. "Okay... You don't want sandwiches." He moves closer; you move away. "What's wrong? Your ears are red. Like, red, red." His expression turns serious as he hurries towards you.

You clear your throat furiously, scraping your mind for words. "I-I'm fine. Can you just, stay over there?"

You push your arms in front of you in an attempt to stop him from coming any closer. He isn't even completely naked; basketball shorts are sitting dangerously low on his hips but still—

Shit, you shouldn't have looked down there.

He stops, his eyes scanning your face that is rapidly heating up. "Are you blushing?"

When you don't answer, Chanyeol squints his eyes as he cocks his head to this side as he inspects your face. "I think you are. Here I was worried you were having a skin reaction or something, and it's just you blushing because... I'm shirtless?"

He moves closer again and you all but slam into the wall behind you. "Okay. So, you do not want a sandwich." He says, his eyes unwavering as they stare at you. "Then what do you want?"

Your lungs falter. Your heart, that you're supposed to be protecting, leaps. Your mind, that's still having a field day in fantasies, gets the memo last.

"You." The word falls from your lips. "I want you."

Shitfucknofuckshit—

"You want what?" All signs of amusement come to a screeching halt on his face and a deep crease etches into his forehead.

Don't say it again, Y/N. You warn yourself. Hold onto your dignity, please.

"Forget it." You say as his chest presses into your hand.

"Forget it?" He shakes his head twice. Well, isn't this the ideal situation. Your arm is literally the only thing keeping him away from you. "I can't do that."

"Chanyeol," you try to duck around him but he braces one arm beside your head. The other he places on the wall on your other side. You move your body lower to try and bend under his arm but he moves it to block your path. Groaning, you stand back to your full height and glare at him only you find something else to fixate on.

His lips. You're staring at it. And now that you are you're thinking about what it would feel like moving with yours again. Your face flushes with heat, a sign giving away your thoughts. "What's wrong? Are you turned on?"

You have no idea where this sense of bravado is coming from but some really minuscule part of you loves it. The other part of you, the one highly embarrassed by these turn of events, hates it.

"What are you talking about? My face is always like this after a shower." Even you don't believe yourself.

"You are so turned on right now," he states it as a fact.

What was it you were thinking in the shower? Oh, yes. How you didn't want to open your heart to him if he wasn't feeling the same way? Well now, you think, you want to open something entirely different and—

Your gaze drops once more to his low-riding shorts.

Damn, fuck, shit.

You could see the bulge in his pants and your mind short circuits. He's hard. And your mind is begging you to forget that stupid promise you'd made to yourself minutes ago and go for it. Your gaze skits back to his face. There's a cocky tint in his eyes and now you wonder where embarrassed Chanyeol has gone. You're not sure if you can handle cocky Chanyeol.

He was — is — big. Bigger than you were expecting.

It must be hard, you think, to hide something like that. Stop thinking the word hard, Y/N! Stop thinking the word hard and big in the same sentence! You reprimand yourself but there it was again. The big bad H word. Since you're clearly incapable of not thinking properly, you take one meek step back, to disrupt your train of thoughts but it does nothing.

"You're one to talk," Your eyes look up from his dick to his face in an obvious manner. "Bet that doesn't feel too good."

He shrugs. "Here's the thing," he starts, ignoring your jab. "The two of us are reasonable adults."

"Yeah," you agree slowly.

"You want me? In the way, I'm thinking you mean?" he says, moving closer to you but keeping a distance so he doesn't get too close. You wonder what even classifies as too close in this situation.

You nod your head, your breath lurching in your throat. God, why did he have to say that in the most sensual voice? You're already getting unbelievably turned on and that is the icing on the cake.

"Probably?"

"For how long?" he asks, his expression giving nothing away. He could either feel the same way about you, or he couldn't. There's no way of telling when his face is that blank.

Shrugging, you turn your head down, embarrassed. "I don't know? A week? We haven't known each other very long." It feels longer though. Like it has been years.

"Why didn't you say anything?" His brown eyes light up with curiosity as he presses you for more.

Your face lifts up meeting his eyes with yours. "Because it's... I didn't even want to tell you tonight. Or ever."

Chanyeol leans in closer. "Why?"

You'd already done the worst, so what did it matter now? "Because we're friends, Chanyeol. You treat me like we're friends and... I really like you as a person. I don't want to fuck this up. We're not even dating for real and I already know I'll fuck something up."

"You're not going to fuck anything up, Y/N. If anything, you are incredibly honest with your feelings and that's not fucking things up. It's communication." He pauses, considering his words. "What's wrong with friends?"

Sighing, you bite your lower lip in apprehension. "Nothing is wrong with that."

"Being friends comes with respect, picking you up whenever you need something. Having your back. What's wrong with that?" Your body language must have told him something because he continued on. "You just don't want me looking at you and only thinking you’re a friend—is that what you're saying? How do you want me to look at you then?"

The answer is simple to give especially since you've been plagued by the topic for days, but you aren't sure on know how to say it without sounding like some weirdo that catches feelings for someone in less than two weeks. "Like I'm ..."

Ah, shit. You can't say it. You can't say that you want this fake relationship to become real, who does that? That's like breaking a hundred laws out there. There is an order to these kinds of things and you can't just jump through them—

"Like you're someone I'm honestly dating?"

Against your own will, you nod. "But I know it's stupid, and I know it's going to be all awkward now and ..." You're panicking. "I know we promised to not fall for each other and—" your lips drag shut when you realize Chanyeol is still standing there, arms caged around your body frame, eyes unflinching, you slouch against the wall. "What?"

"It's just you were the one that promised not to fall in love, I never said anything about it."

"What?"

It takes some effort for you to recall that day; your first date. He's right, you remember, he said you knew so little about love and you had laughed in his face. Told him you could never fall in love with someone in two weeks... you're not in love though. You just like being around him, talking to him, holding him, occasionally want to reach up and kiss him—

His mouth twitches. "Never falling in love with someone must be so boring."

"Shut up," you resist the urge to groan.

His chest rose and fell against yours with each breath, sending a fleet of sensations rampant inside your body. And suddenly, you think, screw it all.

You'd like to blame your next actions on a whole lot of things really but honestly, it's all on you. You're pushing closer to him faster than you realize but you don't care. All you can think about is him and you. Him on you. It doesn't matter in what form, you just want him. But before your lips can collide with his, Chanyeol stops you.

His voice comes out in hot breaths. "I need you to say it."

"What?" Your voice shook as his hands moved from the wall to the sides of my neck.

"Say it. What you want."

"I want you," your breathing matches his and you reach up and curl your fingers in his hair. "I really want you."

There's a small smile on Chanyeol's lips as he reaches down to your neck and presses a feather-like kiss on it.

"What are you doing?"

Chanyeol looks releases your skin from his teeth and looks down at you and you know this is it. "Answering your question," he pulls your body towards him and you can't help the eager feeling in your chest when your lips connect in a kiss that feels different to the last one you'd shared.

That one had started with so much coiled up tension and drunken fantasies that it felt like he had been eating you alive. But this time it isn't building tension that sparks your desperation. Instead, it's the falling into the indescribable attraction that's been brewing between the two of you and screwing whatever that has been holding you back.

This is the kind of kiss that makes you feel like you've never really been kissed before. He tangles a hand through your hair and you're not exactly sure if it's to get a better angle or to give himself more advantage. It doesn't matter though, not with his tongue making the pit of your stomach feel deep magical things.

He pulls away from your lips and you have to consciously stop a whine from leaving your mouth. "Did I ever tell you, you're a really good kisser, sweetheart?"

Sweetheart. You laugh. Count on him to bring out the big guns now. "Who knows? I can't really think all that straight right now."

He chuckles softly and presses his body deeper into you. Suddenly, the only thing keeping you upright is the wall and Christ, you shouldn't be thinking about this but you wonder why the two of you hadn't done this earlier. But then you remember that minutes ago you were convincing yourself to drop your feelings for him. Abruptly, you reach up and slam your lips back into his.

Fuck it, this has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with attraction.

As your kiss intensifies, your throat keeps releasing moans and breathy pants and after a while, your fingers press harder into his hair. Chanyeol groans into your mouth. "Y/N, slow down."

To be honest, you didn't want to slow down. At least not now. If everything was going according to your plans, you would have finished what you started right on the wall, no questions asked. But Chanyeol thinks of something else, lifting you up from the wall and giving you time to wrap your legs around his torso before he strides over to his bed lowers you down.

"You look way too good in my hoodie. Better than I ever have." His words come out muffled as he buries his face in your cleavage. One of his hands pulling at your (his) shirt, and then releasing a frustrated growl when the neckline doesn't lower enough to give him access to what he wants.

You roll your eyes, smiling way too wide to be deemed appropriate and reach between your bodies to yank the hoodie off. Almost immediately his mouth latches on to your nipple. The laugh at his eagerness, that you're about to set off, dies in your throat as his palm closes around one bare breast. On impulse, you arch into his deft fingers. As Chanyeol's mouth gets busy sucking on one puckered nipple, his fingers pinch and tease the other one. Wow, he's good at this.

You don't know why you thought he wouldn't be but shit, he knows what he's doing. And he's taking his sweet time with it too, despite the rod in his pants, he acts like he could do this nipple-sucking act for eternity. You push your lower body up over his erection, asking for anything and getting increasingly frustrated with the supposed-to-be booty shorts preventing you from getting any closer to him.

He breaks apart from you and uses a hand to press your body back to the bed, shaking his head lightly as he does so like he can't believe you're the same person. You can't believe he's the same either, you'd always thought he would shy away from sex and its counterparts... guess you both were learning new things about each other.

His voice was lower now, deeper. "So eager," but he made no indication of hating it.

His hands moved down and made quick work of discarding the booty shorts, exposing yourself to him. Chanyeol didn't waste time in nudging your knees open as he placed light gentle kisses on the inside of your thighs. God, that felt good. By the time his lips had made their way to your core, you were a quivering mess. Before anything else, he peers up at you from that angle as if he's asking for your permission. You didn't even realize it, but you let out a moan in response and just like that he dives straight in.

Your body arches off the bed at such a high speed it would have been shocking if you had been in the right state of mind. You'd thought maybe he would've gone slow, taken his time, maybe gently bring you to an orgasm but as he flattens his tongue over your core you think you might have been naive. He slides one finger into you, face still buried between your legs and he's going at like he's been a dead man starving.

Air strains out between your teeth as you inhale sharply. "Chanyeol," your voice shakes as anticipation builds up in your lower stomach.

"Do you like that?" he murmurs.

"It's good," you breathe out but then immediately he withdraws, you tilt your head and watch him in a state of confusion.

He runs his tongue across his lips as uses his now wet fingers to lightly circle your clit. Your entire body locks in on itself, screaming and clenching for more. Your breath comes out in deep pants.

"Just good, huh?" there's an undulating taunt in his tone. Fuck, that's hot.

You close your eyes, shuddering. "It's great. Amazing."

"I know." He responds by easing two fingers inside, his thumb taking place the hood of your clit and your back arches as a wave of excitement crashes over you. He pumps in and out a few times and holy shit, you can feel it — him — everywhere. Even down to your toes.

"Oh God," you stare at him open-mouthed, and he grins back, white teeth against his smooth skin and his dark tousled hair, fully aware that he's blowing your mind.

"You're so tight," Chanyeol groans, dragging the pads of his fingers along your sensitive nerve endings as he pulls them out again before pushing them back in.

The desire in his strained voice makes his words sound sexy as hell, and it throws you over the already so close edge. Your orgasm crashing into you hard, pulling you under wave after wave that seemed to stretch on forever. Chanyeol's fingers don't stop working as he attempts to drag everything out of your body.

After several more moments with you becoming a withering mess to his ministrations, his hand finally rises and the wetness shines on his fingers even in the dark of his room only illuminated by the mediocre lamplight in the corner. You're not prepared at all for the jolt of arousal that hits you when he sucks them off clean.

Crap. You never thought you'd be into this but like you've said, tonight seems to be all about discovering things.

Chanyeol moves up the bed and lies down, beckoning you to come over with his eyes but there's hesitation within you. This isn't what you thought you were signing up for. You thought it'd be a quick fuck, but Chanyeol is hellbent on dragging this out as long as physically possible.

He adjusts himself more comfortably and tries again. "C'mere."

That was all it took for you to crawl forward. It's like he's cast a spell on you and you couldn't help but go through with it, helpless to disobey him. You place your thighs above him and stare as his tongue swipes against his lips again. Christ, you have it bad for his lips. They always look so flushed and full and feel amazingly soft.

"You should probably brace yourself," he suggests, "because I'm going to make you come again."

"I had no idea you were so cocky."

He shrugs, a smile on his lips. "What can I say? You bring out the best in me."

You're sure it's not really you but more of your body but those are technicalities you can't be bothered with right now. His hot breath warms your thighs skin as you lower yourself over his face, effectively cutting his next sentence off. You take a deep breath to calm your nerves but that does nothing. He uses one hand to clamp around your hip while the other he uses to part you with two fingers and holds you open while his tongue stabs hard inside you.

Shit. You have to brace yourself with your hands on the headboard because you're gone way over your head. He licks you in long, sweeping strokes until you're muffling sobs against your shoulder. You can barely breathe with the way he's nipping and biting and sucking on your clit. You swear you see stars brighten the back of your eyelids and you'd be lying if you say your legs didn't spasm a little.

"Fuck," you wheeze out in-between breaths. "I'm gonna come."

There's a low chuckle and it reverberates all around your hypersensitive core and before you know it, you're shuddering into yourself as another orgasm falls over you. God, this feels too good. You push yourself off him and lie on your back.

"You good?" Chanyeol asks, moving up from the bed and hooking his fingers into the waistband of his shorts.

"Mm," you manage, doing your best to calm the racing of your heart.

When he was done discarding his last piece of clothing, your eyes nearly pop out. You didn't think he'd be that thick, Jeez, is he even going to fit? And Holy shit, he was hard with a capital H. You wonder what amount of self-control he has to have gone through all of you without coming undone in his pants. He reaches to his bedside table for a condom and using his fingers, he tears the foil. He sheathes himself in one swift motion and throws the wrapper somewhere behind him before climbing over you, hovering above with his weight on his forearms on either side of you.

"Ready?" he asks, positioning himself at your opening.

You're not sure if you nod or whimper, but whatever sound that comes out of your mouth must sound like a go-ahead because ever so slowly pushes inside until he's seated to the hilt.

"Fuck, you're so tight," he hisses through gritted teeth.

"And you're fucking big," you wheeze, wriggling around under him.

Since you don’t stop squirming, he grabs your hips to hold you still and gradually pumps into you. "Don't move," ah, crap. You thought you'd estimated how big he was but feeling it stretch you as his hips rocked back and forth, easing inside, had you realizing you miscalculated.

You don't listen. The friction feels too good. His fingers and tongue were magic, his dick, you realize, is spiritual. You can feel him everywhere. It's mind-blowing.

“Jesus Christ,” he groans, low and feral. “I’m trying to go slow.”

Your hands push into his hair as he thrusts into you deeper and God, you swear you see heaven or at least something akin to it.

His gaze doesn't fall from you and with each thrust, you found yourself resisting the urge to hide inside yourself. Instead, you looked right back at him. And holy, watching the little moans fall from his lips feels so sexy that you revel in it. Chanyeol moves in and out of you, each hip movement making him go in deeper until he seated himself fully. The way he was looking into your eyes made you feel like he could see right through you. It terrified you to feel so vulnerable, but at the same time, it made you realize that no matter how this night ended, the two of you were sharing way more than just your bodies.

His thrusts start to grow faster and then his fingers find your clit, stroking and teasing it until you light off like you're on fire, shaking so hard you have to cling onto his back to stay sane. He drives into you, over and over again, until suddenly he’s the shaky, mindless mess who has a hard time maintaining any control. You watch as his jaw tenses while he gasps closer to his own release. And then he collapses forward unto the bed, taking you along with him.

When he eventually pulls out, he kisses you softly on the forehead before getting up to dispose the condom and grab a towel to clean you up. Once he's done, you find the discarded hoodie on the floor and pull it over your head, Chanyeol wears his basketball shorts, you can't find the booty shorts so you say fuck it, and climb back on the bed.

Returning to bed, he lays on his back, pulling you to his chest and wrapping two arms around you to hold on tight. But your head is ringing because it’s just sex and you shouldn't feel this attached. But you're not so sure anymore. He didn't exactly say that he liked you back. In fact, he didn't say anything, all he'd done was make you admit your inner feelings...

You stay silent for a moment, face pressed into Chanyeol's chest. You don't know why you feel like you have to say it, but you do.

“I want to fall in love. Not just feelings that come and go. I want to prove that I can love, you know.”

Not even a beat passes by. “Of course, you can love. You don’t need to date someone to prove that. You just need to find The One."

“You believe that? That there’s only one perfect person for each of us?”

It's a wonderful idea. One you wish you believed in—but you'd never once witnessed it. Relationships, at least the romantic kind, always seem to balanced more on the negative side. Your mother's leaving, your heart being toyed around by that one irrelevant, yet not, high school boy — your firsthand experience didn't exactly make you the most open of people.

"Yeah, kinda." He runs his hands through your hair. “I want to love someone like they're the only one made me. Like I’d search forever — wait forever — until I got to be with them.”

You nod your head but the lump in your throat grows. "Yeah, that's really cool."

His lips touch your forehead and everything else touch something deeper inside you. Oddly, it feels very comforting and safe. You sigh and allow yourself to pulled under. Right now, you feel amazing and hell, you might as well enjoy it because you know tomorrow morning comes with rationalization and thoughts you don't want to think of right now.

So, instead, you just sleep.

By the time you wake up, the lump in your throat has grown into the size of a freaking elephant.

You try not to wake up Chanyeol because he looks so at peace in his sleep but his arms are wrapped like wires around you and have no idea how you're going to get out of his clutches. Last night was great, better than you thought it could be but last night was also fake.

That's the only way you see it. Yeah, sure, you and Chanyeol had really good sex and you told him about your not-so-subtle feelings but a relationship between the two of you wouldn't work out. You need to leave, you decide, you have no idea what possessed you to go through with it last night. You promised yourself to curb your feelings for him before they got too strong. There's no way you love him. For Christ' sake, this is only stupid infatuation and it's only going to get you burned. You know this, so why do you keep wishing for more?

After several attempts, you finally manage to lift Chanyeol's arm off your body and slip out of his bed. You search around for your clothing from yesterday and find it washed and dried and folded on a wardrobe.

Your eyes flicker up to Chanyeol. He's too good. It's not that you think you don't deserve him, it's just that he's too good a person. You feel like anyone could replace you right now and it wouldn't even matter. He would click with anyone, have chemistry with anyone. The person standing next to him doesn't have to be you. And besides all these emotions your feeling for him sprouted from a fake relationship, so therefore, by association, doesn't that make everything you feel fake?

Quickly, you throw on your shirt and pull on your jeans, subsequently, though, you jam your knee on the edge of the wardrobe and double over in pain.

"Shit, ow," you cradle your knee in your hands and will the pain to stop.

There's movement on the bed and then Chanyeol's voice, all groggy and throaty, calls out and for a second your heart falters.

"Y/N, what are you doing?"

You rise up, the pain is long forgotten. You exhale through your nose and watch as his eyes scan over your body. He looks confused and... wounded? His hair is sticking out on all ends but he doesn't notice.

He sits up on the bed, his sheets tangling up around his waist. You want nothing more than to crawl back in bed with him and let him hold you but that can't happen. You don’t want halfsies with Chanyeol, being in a fake relationship... that's a halfsie. Even though you're not in denial about how you feel anymore, you still can't go through with it. Can't go through with him. He's too—

"Are you," he clears his throat. "Leaving?"

Through his eyes, you can see that he's asking more questions than one. Are you leaving me? The elephant in your throat is stomping around, tired of being ignored. You can't do this. This fleeting thing. You don't want to be Chanyeol's replacement until he finds the one he'll search the universe for. Last night maybe you would've considered it but now? You hate the idea. If you spend any more time with him, you doubt you'd be able to cut loose. You'll get hurt, you'll love him more than he could ever love and all for what? Until he meets someone else?

Quit while your ahead.

Don't get too attached.

Think about love and how it screwed your dad over. Think about how it will screw you over if you stay with Chanyeol in this farce and he finds the one he's looking for. Don't think about other people and for once think about yourself, think about how bad heartbreaks feel. You're not that invested, you can get over him. It's only been a week and a half. You're not in that deep.

You take a calming breath that does nothing but rattle your nerves and release the elephant into the room.

"Let's break up."

⇢ masterlist

1K notes · View notes

fullspectrum-cbd-oil · 5 years

Text

GOP Lawmakers Jump to Trump’s Defense Against House Democrats Impeachment ‘Obsession’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) went to the next step as she officially made an impeachment inquiry into the president — and Republican lawmakers are not happy about it one bit.

After refusing to side one way or the other on impeachment, the House speaker announced on Tuesday that she is formally launching an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, as IJR reported.

The House launching the investigation comes after a controversial phone call Trump had with the Ukrainian president, seeking dirt on political rival Joe Biden (D) — in which the president agreed to release the transcripts to Congress, following a whistleblower complaint. Additionally, a senior official in the Trump administration exclusively told Fox News that the intelligence community watchdog said the complaint had “political bias.”

“The president must be held accountable,” Pelosi said, adding, “No one is above the law.”

Check out Pelosi’s comments below:

The times have found us. The actions taken to date by the President have seriously violated the Constitution. It is for this reason that the House of Representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. pic.twitter.com/cHq7zgKJ1g

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) September 24, 2019

The president, however, fired a shot back at Pelosi and congressional Democrats, as he blasted them for trying to “ruin and demean” his work at the United Nations in launching the “Witch Hunt garbage.”

“They never even saw the transcript of the call,” he added in another tweet. “A total Witch Hunt!”

Trump declared: “PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!”

Republican lawmakers are coming to the president’s defense, as they slammed the inquiry as “all about politics” and “not about facts,” as House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) tweeted.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote in a statement that Democrats “cannot help themselves.”

“Instead of working together across party lines on legislation to help American families and strengthen our nation, they will descend even deeper into their obsession with relitigating 2016,” McConnell wrote, later adding, “It simply confirms that House Democrats’ priority is not making life better for the American people but their nearly three-year-old fixation on impeachment.”

Check out the reactions from Republican lawmakers:

Here are the facts: 1. Speaker Pelosi can't decide on impeachment unilaterally. It requires a full vote of the House of Representatives. 2. The House has voted three times on articles of impeachment. Each vote failed. 3. For Dems, this is all about politics. Not about facts.

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) September 24, 2019

Facts be damned. Democrats are insisting this is their moment to impeach President Trump.

Speaker Pelosi’s decree changes nothing.https://t.co/xiNp1WXYoy

— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) September 24, 2019

My statement on Speaker Nancy Pelosi's impeachment inquiry announcement:https://t.co/6dtEHGTEMV pic.twitter.com/8zYrYD3Bhn

— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 24, 2019

Speaker Pelosi’s decree changes absolutely nothing. As I have been telling Chairman Nadler for weeks, merely claiming the House is conducting an impeachment inquiry doesn’t make it so. Until the full House votes to authorize an inquiry, nobody is conducting a formal inquiry.

— Rep. Doug Collins (@RepDougCollins) September 24, 2019

Democrats have been trying to impeach the President since the beginning of this Congress.

-Michael Cohen’s testimony was a bust -John Dean’s testimony was a waste of time -The Mueller report did not live up to the hype

(1/3)

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 24, 2019

This was never about Russian collusion or Ukrainian prosecutions.

It is all about undoing the 2016 election and the will of the American people. (3/3)

— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) September 24, 2019

It’s the result of a political party blinded by their dream of taking down the President.

We don’t impeach someone based on conjecture and hypotheticals. We don't assume the worst case scenario before hearing the facts. Let’s talk after the transcripts are released.

— Rep. Dan Crenshaw (@RepDanCrenshaw) September 24, 2019

Speaker Pelosi is reckless and wrong to call for the impeachment of @realDonaldTrump based on unconfirmed, secondhand accusations. The American people deserve better than this pathetic and disgraceful witch hunt.

My full statement ↓ pic.twitter.com/6zMgLM2pSq

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) September 24, 2019

At least they’re honest: Don’t let “facts” or “evidence” stand in the way of our lynch mob…. https://t.co/o01uk1yooM

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 25, 2019

Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign doesn’t seem too worried about the impeachment inquiry, as they expressed that they were prepared if the House were going to do so, as IJR reported. Trump’s campaign also raised a quarter of a million in the 15 minutes following Pelosi’s announcement.

“We had a lot of things prepared just in case the Democrats were, in fact, that stupid. And in fact, they were,” Trump’s reelection campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said.

He added, “So we’re probably going to have a tremendous fundraising surge. We think that this gets the president just that much closer to a landslide victory.”

“[Democrats] attacks on the President and his agenda are not only partisan and pathetic, they are in dereliction of their Constitutional duty,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham wrote in a statement, adding, “The Trump Administration will continue to be vigorous in laying out the facts and standing up for the many forgotten men and women who elected him.”

from IJR https://ift.tt/2lw7eAQ via IFTTT

#IFTTT #IJR

0 notes

thrashermaxey · 7 years

Text

Early Norris Contenders (2017-18)

Sure, it’s a bit early to be thinking about who will take home the hardware at season’s end with so many games to go. Especially regarding the Norris Trophy for the league’s top defender which Erik Karlsson is always one hot streak from running away with in a landslide victory. Alas, he’s yet not in the running and the contention pool for the Norris is larger than just him and Brent Burns (who’s also not deserving at this time). In fact, of the following names only one listed has won the award before. As we’ve seen in some recent years the trophy has seemingly gone to the defender who scores the most points, but such should not be the case in my opinion. Nonetheless the following are deserving of a nod either because of great two-way play or because of elite offensive contributions from the back end.

Drew Doughty

The muse for my proudest fantasy squad name, “Doughty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”, Doughty is compiling an absolutely stupendous season thus far on a resurgent Los Angeles Kings squad. Arguably the most valuable fantasy defender in the game today, he is murdering it across the board for owners. To start he is on pace for an absurd plus-42 by the end of the year; wow. Couple that with the projected 11 goals, 46 assists, 223 shots, 134 hits, 109 blocks, 48 PIM, and we indeed have the uncontested most valuable defender on our hands. Did I mention he averages 27:03 minutes per game? A startling realization regarding his 57-point pace is that he only starts his shifts in the offensive zone 48.7% of the time. For any player, let alone a defenseman, to be able to put up that type of offense when you are primarily deployed to protect your own end speaks to why Doughty went second overall in 2008. If a guy named Steven Stamkos wasn’t in his draft class, he would’ve went first overall no question.

Doughty is currently holding down the highest PDO of his career at 1020 with a healthy 52.83 CF%. In a nutshell, things are more than likely going his and the Kings’ way when he is on the ice, which is quite often. He is a candidate for a bump in goal scoring production as his overall shooting percentage is only 4.9%, 0.6% lower than the average over the past five seasons including this one. Although it is not a tremendous variance it’s one that could translate potentially to 15 goals by the end of the campaign if statistical correction ensues. Not to beat a dead horse but you really cannot find anything in Doughty’s stat line that comes up as a red flag. If he continues to be the defensive stalwart we’ve all been accustomed to and posts a 50-point season he should be unanimously voted to take home the hardware at the awards ceremony.

Alex Pietrangelo

Does everyone still want to hype up Colton Parayko or are all finally on board the correct defenseman train? Pietrangelo has crossed the 45-point threshold three times in the four seasons prior to 2017-18 and I still feel he is grossly undervalued. The overhype on the uber young was never more apparent than the past couple of seasons when Parayko was being talked up beyond belief after Kevin Shattenkirk’s departure from St. Louis. To the point where Pietrangelo almost seemed like an outcast, he must’ve been insulted as he went on to open the season with four goals and eight assists in the first ten games played. There is no question in the Mike Yeo era that this is Pietrangelo’s blueline. Currently on pace for a 16-goal, 56-point season, he’s bringing real value to fantasy owners and has put his name in the hat for Norris contention.

If you are not able to watch the Blues often you probably are not aware of just how much this guy does for his team at both ends of the ice. Not once has his CF% dropped below 50% in his career speaking to his ability to help drive play when he is on the ice and one aspect to take notice of under Yeo is that his offensive zone starting percentage has bumped up by eight percent from 2016-17. Though he’ll never attain Karlsson level offense because of all he is entrusted with defensively, Pietrangelo is a basic lock for 45-points every season while in his prime. Those of you who invested in him in drafts sure are wise and can just set and forget him each and every night he is in play. Although his offense and the team’s in general has dried up as of late, when it comes to Norris talk he must be in the mix because of the complete package he brings to the table.

Tyson Barrie

Tyson Barrie serves as the ultimate example of a player to target in a draft following a down year. Like many players I have covered in recent weeks it would seem that one lowly season is enough to discount a player so far down the board that it's arguably criminal. Though his chances at claiming a Norris trophy are essentially null and void at this point due to his broken hand I am still giving him his due as this article is based off performances to this point in time and Barrie was an absolute force prior to going down. On pace for 64 points in 80 games played prior to this unfortunate injury leading the league in offensive production from the blue line, nobody was talking about him seemingly at all. A lot of people might look at the minus four he currently holds but that’s a plus-30 improvement from the minus-34 he finished last season at. Let the record show that by no means is Barrie a defensive stalworth but at day’s end what you have is an elite puck mover, elite point producer, and an average defender. All in all that is quite the package that no coach would ever gripe about.

What’s most impressive about his production is the fact he does not line up with any fantasy relevant defenders on his own squad that you could claim he ciphers points off of. Despite the lack of elite talent at his side he still manages to manifest a pts/60 rate of 2.2 from the blue line! That would be highly impressive even for a forward in the game today. No question Barrie is an offensively oriented player starting 57.87% of his shifts in the offensive zone and even though his CF% leaves something to be desired at 47.82, he was boasting a healthy PDO of 1021 which is in line with 2014-15 when he had a 53-point season. His even strength shooting percentage is a tad high for him at 10.94% but overall shooting is only at 4.8%, meaning he could’ve stood to see an increase in goal scoring with some statistical regression towards the mean. Prior to 2016-17’s disaster, Barrie was routinely potting 12 or 13 goals per season, so this would’ve been highly plausible. Because of the duration of time he will be out with injury compiling 60 points is unforeseeable but if he can reclaim his scoring touch immediately upon return he may still cross the 45-point threshold. Someone so vital to his team generating offense was more than deserving of consideration for the Norris being that he was scoring at the rate he was as a defender.

John Klingberg

Although I am in the school of thought that the Norris should be handed to the defender who brings the best two-way approach to the game, as I stated earlier there is no hiding the fact that the voting process in recent years seems to favor the defender who generates offense like a top-six forward. Much like Barrie who nobody is going to confuse for a shutdown defender, Klingberg is producing offensively at a profound rate for the Dallas Stars. Not to say Klingberg is horrendous defensively but if you saw Dmitry Orlov savagely embarrass his life the other week you know he is not the pinnacle of shutdown capability. Only but once so far this season has Klingberg gone three games without scoring a point, four times without scoring in two games. That is some solid consistency if you ask me and speaks to him being a key cog in the offense.

Nonetheless, Klingberg has established himself as an assist factory with 178 total going back to 2014-15 including the current campaign. Sure, the fact he is setting up the likes of Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn have certainly helped him achieve this gaudy assist total, but the man can put it in their wheelhouse no question. Despite him being assist heavy for points his overall shooting percentage this season is six percent lower than 2016-17 which means he could very likely see a goal scoring surge here in the coming weeks to further bolster his value. Thanks to his defensive minded partner Esa Lindell, Klingberg can always be rest assured to play his game which is offense so you as the fantasy owner most likely need not worry about serious point scoring droughts. Being on pace for a near 70-point season makes him a must for Norris consideration.

John Carlson

It only took until a contract year for 2014-15 John Carlson to reemerge but alas he’s back and better than ever. Carlson’s importance to this blue line is unquestionable for if you remove his name from the equation this is a pretty meager defensive corps nowadays in the District of Columbia. Currently on pace for a six goal, 58-point campaign, he is certainly a benefactor of feeding Alexander Ovechkin in his wheelhouse time and time again. Although goals are few and far between for Carlson with three on the season so far, it’s not because he has been afraid to shoot with 107 put on net. That translates to a 228-shot pace by the end of the campaign and with a 2.8% overall shooting percentage one has to expect that statistical regression towards the mean should occur providing him with a goal scoring bump in due time.

Carlson is averaging nearly four minutes a game on the powerplay which helps to offset the fact that he only starts shifts in the offensive zone 48.07% of the time.His pts/60 at this point is right in line with his career best 2014-15 season and he’s averaging almost four more minutes a game this year than the season prior. With the Capitals youth injection on the blue in Christian Djoos and Madison Bowey, Carlson is relied upon to lead the way. As the uncontested top option on their blue line with his primary man advantage deployment, barring injury he should have no issue crossing the 50-point barrier for the second time in his career. There’s no arguing this blue line is devoid of high end talent beyond him and Dmitry Orlov. As Brooks Orpik fades ever faster out of his prime, Carlson has to carry the load big time especially since Djoos and Bowey are just getting their feet wet in their initial campaigns. Should he go down to injury the Capitals would have a serious problem on their hands replacing his contributions all around. His ability to produce all the while shouldering immense pressure in a fading contention window warrants him receiving Norris consideration.

from All About Sports http://www.dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/frozen-pool-forensics/early-norris-contenders-2017-18/

0 notes