#pr-c

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

Happy Lunar New Year! I felt that I ought to begin the Year of the Snake with the most regal of the snake-like pokémon: serperior! Unfortunately, this elegant pokémon won’t be the best fit for many pet owners, but their status in a line of first-partner pokémon necessitates a close look at the nitty gritty.

For starters (pun intended), serperiors are pretty huge. Like with other serpentine pokémon, we will assume that their height statistics refer to their length. At nearly eleven feet long, serperiors are longer than your average pet snake, but comes in at around the same length as some boas and pythons. If we assume that serperiors are as expert at finding cozy places to sleep as these gentle giants, then space may not be an extreme issue, despite this Pokémon’s size. Just make sure that your serperior has some space where they can take in natural light: like many Grass-Type pokémon, they absorb energy from the sun (Y). Their weight, however, may present more problems: at 138 pounds, carrying a serperior around is no easy feat. Unless you are a pro at handling large pokémon, I would steer clear of this species, as you might have a hard time getting them to the vet and on other important excursions. Of course, you could always have the vet do a home visit instead, so this isn’t necessarily a complete dealbreaker.

So, like I said earlier, serperiors have the distinguished reputation of being the end of an evolution line that serves as popular starting one for trainers in the Unova region. This means that Unova parents seem to trust this pokémon around children, and that they are easy enough to train. This is a huge character witnessing for serperiors’ safety rating, but the pokédex does bring up some reason for concern. In the wild, serperiors are known to “stop opponents’ movements with just a glare” (Black). A close reading of the pokédex seems to indicate that this isn’t some supernatural ability, but rather flat intimidation from a ten-feet serpent (Violet). That’s good news! But, there’s some bad news along with it.

While serperiors are known to only really attack something if they see them as a threat, or a “powerful opponent”, their bar for determining this is based on whether or not said thing is fazed by their glare (White, Black2/White2). This creates a tricky predicament. If you want to avoid any aggression from your serperior, you’ll need to freeze whenever they give you their signature glare. If you don’t, well, you run the risk of them seeing you as a powerful opponent. And trust me, you don’t want to get in a fight with this pokémon, with powerful nutrient draining moves like Giga Drain and slashing abilities like Leaf Blade or Leaf Storm. Caring for a serperior is all about making sure they feel, well, superior. This may be somewhat negated if you have raised your serperior since they were a snivy, but we can’t assume that on this blog.

Overall, however, it seems like avoiding a serperior attack against you is pretty straightforward. Against strangers…. I wouldn’t suggest risking it. Unless your serperior has been carefully trained from a young age, their peculiar behavior is going to make them too much of a handful for many owners. If you do plan to own one, I would start by adopting a snivy and raising them up, rather than adopting a serperior directly. You can find the link to my boat about the A-tier snivy below!

Snivy Link: https://www.tumblr.com/would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend/734364923431370752/would-the-snivy-line-make-good-pets-from-a?source=share

[cinnamon-phrog]

Selfship community I'm doing this to you <3 [unless you're a proshitter/adjacent/a r.adfem/t.erf bc ew]

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 80

 So Dan knows that there’s heroes that have gone back in time, he’s aware of that fact. But he doesn’t exactly care and has more important things to worry about. Like the fact that Danny and Ellie are now three years old, right when he’s moving, though maybe that’s a blessing in disguise seeing as the GIW are searching for them in Amity. 

  But still, he has more important things to worry about than the speedster vibrating five feet away from him. Like making sure Ellie and Danny are alright to visit (ugh) Peepaw Clocky while he goes to work. 

  Ms. Mercy is not messing around, which he appreciates in a workspace, but he has to wait for another opening in the daycare before he can bring his, as far as everyone else is aware, siblings who he got emergency custody of. 

  What with how Jazz is interning in Gotham, they figured Metropolis would be safer. Now if the speedster would stop following him, he would really appreciate it. He’s literally just an intern under Ms Mercy as an assistant, not even one of the scientists, and it’s not like his timeline of the end of the world exists anymore! 

[motherismotheringggg]

nicholas x cottage core 🧺🍯🪴

[scudelia55]

“Together or nothing, we come as a package”

“If he’s happy, I’m happy”

“We make a really good couple(romantically)”

“Kiss kiss? (while suggestively tapping on his own cheek)”

ok carlos

[pia55tri]

wide awake for carcar teammates au... oscar finds that he doesn't actually mind carlos as a teammate. maybe in a different world, where they'd be in different colours, they would be strangers. but in this one, they're...good. it's hard to dislike someone who takes their job very seriously, and also always goes out of his way to bully a smile onto oscar's face. it's hard to dislike someone who was dnf'd because of a bad collision but still comes over to celebrate his teammate's podium with a sincere congratulations and a warm hug. if only he didn't like to hold oscar around the waist so often... or tug gently on his hair... or call him my love like it should mean something...

[the-shifting-long]

Parts of the Pristine Cut that feel targeted towards players who interpreted the game a certain way and says with a cheeky little finger wave "no no, see, it is a love story, she loves you, you have to love the princess, and your voices aren't always helpful, and the narrator's perfect world is bad, and you were wrong!" blocking fans on social media who had issues with the pristine cut and HEA in particular and now that little comment that's like "everyone's entitled to their opinion even if it's wrong!" you made a piece of art that is purposely open to interpretation and is in fact ABOUT perception + interpretation and how it impacts something and the value of player choice and you clearly can't fucking cope with people actually exercising said player choice and disliking parts of it. why even give us, the player, endings like New and Unending Dawn and Your New World if you have to insist IN THE GAME ITSELF that even the most powerful, demeaning, and arrogant princess still values you and actually was never that strong in the first place <- apotheosis literally being empty bluster and apologizing. and strip away all ambiguity from the Narrator's actions <- HEA depicting Narrator's ideal world as an unambiguously bad thing and even having him experience regret.

like what's the fucking point in saying you value player choice/opinion and making a game based on that only to make an expansion that undercuts a number of specific, legitimate interpretations, implicitly pushing a "correct" one on the player, and then going on social media to bitch about Wrong Opinions under the guise of "haters gonna hate!" rather than acknowledging legitimate criticism will Always exist even for the most "perfect" piece of art and welcoming it as part of Slay the Princess' inherently subjective nature (again when YOU yourself made it subjective with no real objective answers.)

[shuteyelenz]

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Noel ☆ He/Him ☆ Young adult ☆ 🇲🇽🇺🇲 ☆ ND ☆ Ficto

Personal/art. Furry. Mixed media , trad, & Digital artist.

Local Christmascore reindeer stuck in 1974.

♡Billy Lenz' beloved (since 2017. Married 12.23.21💍)♡

P.s. If u recognize me I USED to have another blog on here but had to move. If we where moots before don't feel scared to interact!

!! READ MY STRAWPAGE BEFORE INTERACTING !!

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Like this post so I know you read this before following.

!! Pfp by slashack! Not my art !!

[jofiel]

I originally started Flourished Peony because I kept seeing people say they couldn't quite understand the 2ML (and because I missed watching a show at the same time as other people) and while I'm still catching up I'd like to say that I find him to be an incredibly easy character to understand (as well as an incredibly easy character to hate).

“Enlightenment is ego's ultimate disappointment.” - Chögyam Trungpa

Liu Chang is a deeply egotistical man who needs a certain level of suffering to excuse his own mediocrity. However his self confidence is so fragile this suffering needs to be self inflicted. The moment it's pushed onto him by another party he becomes unstable. His graceful demeanor drops and he'll adopt any extreme method to show his anger - as long as it's within the lines of what's socially acceptable. He won't step outside of those lines because he's deeply concerned about his image. Although he justifies this chasm by telling himself, and everyone who'll listen, that he's really an outstanding scholar who sticks to his morals.

You can see this in the beginning when he first married He Wei Fang. In his mind he was better than her because of their class difference. Ironically he didn't feel the Princess was better than him because of their class difference. He's always the main character and always the victim, so back then him falling for a princess just made his story more tragic and intriguing. He's an underdog among beasts. He also thought He Wei Fang was using him (when he's the only one who should be able to use people) so he refused to sleep with her not only because it'd cause the people in the household to look down on her (and potentially lead to people gossiping about her if the servants told others about it) but because she wouldn't be able to get pregnant and be permanently tied to him. If they had a son together her position in the household would rise. She'd potentially be more important than him because she has a son and money.

Instead he chose to suffer by falling in love with a princess (when he was arrogant enough to believe that his work would quickly lead him to become renowned and worthy of her father's permission before her father would marry her off to someone else) and he chose to maintain this suffering by hanging her portrait up after she was married off and vowing to never fall in love again.

He slowly begins to change his mind on He Wei Fang when he sees her working hard in the garden. She didn't order the servants to do the work for her. She didn't complain. She did it herself and in his delusional mind he thinks that's what he's doing. Every time he rejects an offer to skip ahead of the line and become an official, he's imagining himself with a scythe in one hand and the fruits of his labor in another.

The real reason why he fell out of love with the princess is because he realized that marriage with her would still leave him powerless. Before, if he became a famous scholar and powerful official they'd be on equal ground. But marriage with her now would mean that he's forced to give in to her every desire. Why suffocate himself when he already has a wife at home who he now believes is similar to him? It'd also be a complete murder of his ego. If his initial plan were successful then that's something to brag about. But now he'd simply be known as the husband of a princess.

There's a scene where He Wei Fang is talking to one (or potentially both I can't quite remember) of his parents and she accuses them of manipulation. It's like a light bulb goes off in Liu Chang's brain because he himself said nearly the same exact thing to his parents. Now there's another prisoner in his cell and they're suffering nearly as much as he is. (Nearly because, of course, nobody can suffer as much as poor Liu Chang)

"Ego implies unawareness. Awareness and ego cannot coexist." - Eckhart Tolle

"Doesn't he get that she doesn't want him? Isn't it crazy for him to act like they can still be together? Why won't he let her go? Why doesn't he listen to what she's saying???"

Because! He's! Arrogant! His arrogance is overshadowed by his soft voice, timid personality and modest values. But above all else he's arrogant and while you can be confident and knowledgeable, arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand. He doesn't understand her desires because they're not his and they don't align with what's desirable in the society they live in. He thinks he's a great man. He belittled her for a year and attempted to assault her when she tried to leave because these are all things within the lines of what's socially and legally acceptable for men at the time. He promises her that nobody would bully her anymore and when she hurt her head he offered to help her - and to him this is what makes him a good man. He acts according to the norms but also shows a level of what he considers to be benevolence.

His problem is that he genuinely believes he's like He Wei Fang. An outsider glancing at the four main characters (He Wei Fang, Liu Chang, Jiang Chang Yang and Princess You Zhen) would pair him with her and the princess with the Floral Envoy. But he's a sandcastle and she's an entire empire. While her soft spoken demeanor might seem like it's compatible with his, her attitude is much more comparable with the Floral Envoy's. Because while the princess and the ex husband might act like they're willing to be seen as unconventional, He Wei Fang and Jiang Chang Yang are actually willing to do the work and be unconventional.

If Liu Chang were truly willing to go against the grain he'd listen to what He Wei Fang has to say. That's radical. Instead he brushes her off because she's a woman, and he's a great man, and what woman would prefer to be alone instead of with a great man? Even when he's told that her mother died because of his family it almost feels like it goes completely over his head because he proceeds to carry on with the same beat, tone and excuses.

He's partially obsessed with her because he hates the fact that this is another situation where he's not calling the shots but I think he's also dead set on having her because without her he'd truly be alone in his house again. If he's with the princess he's getting pushed around by everyone: the princess, his mom, his dad, her dad, state officials, businessmen she does dealings with, social rules, etc. If he has He Wei Fang then there's someone else who's suffering with him. This time around, if she gives him children, it's a good thing precisely because he believes it means he'll always have her. And yes I'm purposefully saying "has her, have her" and not "be with her".

This also plays into him repeatedly saying, "I won't let you be wronged." Because she exists as a reflection of him and if she's been wronged, he's been wronged. If he can prevent her from being wronged, he's preventing himself from being wronged or maybe even correcting the ways he's been wronged in the past. If he could do that then he still has power over his own life. But it's an unnatural and impossible task - just like the promise he made to the princess when they were both young. Just like the pledge he made to the princess's father.

You can really see the difference between Liu Chang and Jiang Chang Yang in their treatment of Yu Lu. Liu Chang doesn't even really acknowledge her death, he shrugs it off as "just" a maid dying, and he only moves to put his cape on He Wei Fang because there's a crowd and she's not really following etiquette (although he'd characterize the moment as him being a thoughtful gentlemen who's preventing her from getting sick). Chang Yang immediately softens after learning that the jade pendant belonged to Yu Lu and he refused to profit off of her. He goes along with He Wei Fang's revenge when he didn't have to. Surface level actions mean nothing to He Wei Fang. These moments of dependability mean everything. (See also: One begs to get her back while the other helps her leave)

It'll be interesting to see Liu Chang's development as a character - if he develops at all in the drama. With his personality he could easily devolve into someone much worse.

[rawrl1ns]

"Charles, come over here."

🤍 💙

[fauna-and-floraa]

Fav skz moments // Do you know what else is big?

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

Would Snorunt make a good pet? /°⌓°\

If you don’t mind keeping your home nice and cold, year-round, and are looking to adopt a few of them at once, snorunts might make a good pet for you. Understandably, this won’t include a lot of owners, hence the score, but the most dedicated snorunt fans out there could certainly find success with one.

As far as their size goes, we’re in the clear. Snorunts are just little guys at two feet tall. You shouldn’t have any issue with space with a snorunt, but temperature may be a deal-breaker for you. In the wild, these pokémon live exclusively in cold regions, usually those with heavy snowfall (Ruby, Moon). Not having snow in your home all the time isn’t a dealbreaker—wild snorunts spend the dry season in caves (Ruby)—but keeping the temperature cool is a must. Having snow on-hand would be a big plus too, though, as these pokémon are known to subside on snow and ice (Sapphire). This makes their care pretty straightforward, if a little chilly.

Another very important thing to keep in mind is that snorunts are intensely social creatures. In the wild, these pokémon live in social groups of around five (Emerald, Platinum). While they are also known to get along well with humans, especially children (Sapphire, Ultra Moon), there is a possibility that they will only be happy alongside a handful of other snorunts. If you have looked into adopting a snorunt before, I have no doubt the shelters you have considered have observed deep bonds between snorunts that need to be adopted together. So, while these pokémon are pretty easy to care for, you’ll likely be looking at adopting more than one at once, which certainly increases how much money you will need to spend to care for them.

While these pokémon are known to be exceptionally friendly, they are certainly no push-overs when it comes to their destructive capabilities. Moves like Icy Wind, Frost Breath, Ice Fang, and Blizzard are all moves that raise alarm-bells, especially if you are already living in a cold environment. Caring for a snorunt would require a keen awareness of their moods and body language in order to mitigate risk, though that risk will always be present. That being said, as I’ve said already, snorunts have a pretty calm, friendly disposition, thankfully.

Overall, while a snorunt may look like a good candidate on the surface, there are several very important factors that brings down their score: their perculiar-yet-straightforward environmental needs, intense social dependency, and threatening power all make them an ill-fit for a lot of owners. A dedicated fan of this species, however, could certainly make it work with the right resources, training, and expectations.

[cinnamon-phrog]

Being a protector to your f/o's though.

Risking death for them. Living life for them. Doing anything in your power to ensure their safety and happiness. Keeping them safe. Fighting for them. Patching up their wounds. Unbridled devotion to your f/o's that pushes you forward. A determination and desire to make them happy and take away their pain so powerful it takes over you completely. Beating the shit out of their abusers if possible, if they have any.

[fitzrove]

It's genuinely frustrating how during the past few years, society and celebrity culture seem to have gone right back to 00s-style idealization of thinness 💀

For a prominent example: see Marina's music videos for Primadonna (2012) and Cuntissimo (2025). She's skinny in both of them, but in the first, the emphasis is on things she is doing and on the artistry of different cuts, impressions/characters and fashion styles, and they don't shy away from outfits that are looser or bunchier around the waist. Whereas the latter video constantly uncomfortably lingers on her corseted waist and has her pose with her arms up and in contorted angles that emphasise it 😭 that's legit like half of the runtime of the video

There's also a whole thing about how in the queer community, stuff like "slaying" or "serving looks", especially when it comes to popstars and other celebrities, is often said because of the person in the image in question having prominent angular bone structure and/or a cinched waist 🥲 i don't hear it said about people with other kinds of bodies, except in a vaguely patronizing way

also what's more insidious is that you often can't criticise this trend, because people will now weaponise the language of body positivity against you. "She's just naturally like that, why are you bullying her 🥺🥺" "maybe she has a health condition, don't pressure her to talk about it! She said she's healthier than she's ever been!" girl stfu 💀

[batsplat]

about 2007 motegi, i’ve really thought a lot… when valentino congratulated casey on his title, he specifically mentioned his championship t-shirt. from my observation there wasn’t anything particularly special about it, it might just be valentino’s joke

but casey really cared about valentino’s actions… he not only wanted valentino’s verbal congratulations but also asked just like why didn’t you come shake my hand!!! i should get the same treatment as nicky!!!😠

(vaguely following on from this and this post) oh I remember the shirt, it's actually one of my favourite bits of niche valentino/casey lore!! valentino isn't JUST being a facetious dickhead here, his name is literally on casey's 2007 championship shirt as one of casey's heroes:

isn't this crazy?? I've never been able to find a great source for the actual list of names, so god knows how exclusive this club was... apparently casey also had the names of his ducati crew on there, which is a nice touch tbh. but he had valentino's name on that shirt!! given how by this point he was already mad at valentino for switching up towards him, it's such a funny choice to make. literally nobody would have questioned his exclusion! you're competing against the guy! idk, I love it when casey does something just a little unexpected like that, really makes you want to poke at the guy to figure out what his deal is. and pleasingly, we do also have an actual clip of valentino commenting on the shirt:

Yes, like I say before, it's a great pleasure that one of my fans wins the world championship - so I think half is also mine!

look at his smirk. insufferable. just a fantastic dynamic they've got going on, isn't it

but I did NOT know about casey complaining about not getting a cooldown lap handshake. and. lol?? casey?? come on. some dignity, please. I can't believe they actually got valentino to respond to that. reminds me of a similar-ish 'controversy' from 2010 about how jorge was accused of deliberately ignoring future teammate ben spies coming to congratulate him on the cooldown lap, as like... a form of sophisticated mind games ig. at least there it wasn't actually spies complaining. you can tell that even casey upon reflection probably decided this wasn't a legitimate grievance by how he's not brought it up again since... valentino did have a pretty nightmarish motegi race for annoying tyre-related reasons, so was understandably not in a great mood, and he was not in fact the defending champion... so like. I checked the footage and reckon valentino probably could have worked a little harder to get over to casey, but also this is obviously an extremely petty thing to complain about

and while we're talking petty, the ghostwriter of casey's autobiography thinks that casey was also pissed at valentino at the next race in phillip island for *checks notes* having a special helmet design at casey's home race? incredible scenes

literally started off the infamous phillip island streak with a spite win. your regular reminder that casey says in his autobiography that he doesn't use his rivals to motivate himself

estoril, the race before motegi, was also the race where they had their little table football date [ed.: originally thought it was at motegi itself rip. nope, table football was at the first matchpoint race]

so late 2007 is when casey really starts going in on how valentino had cooled off towards him AND talking about not liking valentino's tone in the press, that valentino wasn't as complimentary of him as he'd been at the start of the season... which might be true, but casey wasn't exactly a shrinking violet either when answering questions about valentino. as an example, this is how he's talking about valentino in july of 2007:

"This rule is not good and we need more tyres," Rossi said earlier in the week, "The problem is for the show because, at the end, it is the tyre that decides the race." "At the beginning of the season, Valentino and the others were all for the new tyre rules," Stoner points out, "but, as soon as they don't win, the rule is crap. I've had my bad races this year, especially in Germany, and I'm not complaining about the tyre rule. "They can moan and whinge about it as much as they want, but it shows that [Michelin] has had such an advantage in the past. This season, they cannot bring a tyre in just for the race [and] it's a matter of relying on the company that supports you to do a good job."

"moan and whinge" steady on casey

valentino over the years has talked about this rivalry far less than casey has... which includes not being all that interested in diagnosing when things soured interpersonally between the two of them - beyond saying a couple times in 2010-12 during the pettiest phase of the feud that casey hadn't gotten over laguna. mostly this isn't that big a problem because valentino's side of the rivalry is so much more straightforward, but it's still obviously not ideal. it's that relative scarcity which makes the following interview answer from 2009 one of my other favourite tidbits:

"He bases his sentences on the results. Even at the beginning of 2007 he was giving me a lot of compliments, then, after winning the World Championship, he started with heavy criticism."

isn't it lovely that casey thinks valentino switched up his tone towards him because casey started winning, and valentino thinks casey switched up his tone towards valentino because casey started winning... just nicely mirror each other, don't they. such good foils

so taking all these pieces of evidence together... you get a really nice sense of how casey by end of 2007 was all over the place wrt valentino. he misses valentino being as friendly to him as in years past!! he liked valentino congratulating him by rubbing his head in qatar 2007 :) enough to mention that parc fermé interaction THREE TIMES in his autobiography!! doesn't appreciate not getting his hand held after sealing the title :( is increasingly surly that whole year about how nobody is giving him enough credit for his successes :/ is building on a reputation already established in 2006 for being rather an outspoken character when it comes to complaining about everyone in complaining range... but also has an issue with valentino being rude about him in the press :| but still puts valentino on his championship shirt on his list of heroes <3 like... buddy. what is going on here

part of what's going on ofc is that casey takes offence incredibly easily and valentino can be a pretty offensive character. now, again, I really don't think valentino was doing that much in 2007, but obviously my standard for 'valentino being reasonably respectful to rivals' is probably rather different to 2007!casey's standards. it's the malice casey reads into valentino's actions that I reckon is mostly misplaced... like yeah sure valentino distances himself from championship rivals, but. y'know. that's pretty normal behaviour. the fun thing about 2007 is that knowing valentino's entire feud history, you're sort of primed to read it as valentino being the aggressor... but if anything, casey is generally openly ruder towards valentino than vice versa. now obviously, valentino at this stage is a lot better at the subtler, under the radar nastiness that must be infuriating to be subjected to... but y'know, at the end of the day valentino still isn't openly attacking casey. and when discussing this rivalry, it's crucial to acknowledge what an extremely prickly character casey is - that's what makes it so enjoyable!! even better, he's an extremely prickly character who is very ready to make enemies but is ALSO kind of weird about valentino rossi specifically

and yes, having a valentino rossi complex is basically part of the job description if you're a motogp rider of a certain age. still, always important to acknowledge that all of valentino's feuds with younger riders involved guys who were already A Bit Weird about valentino going into the rivalry, which inevitably affected how those respective rivalries ended up laying out. what's so fun about it is that all three of them express it in completely different ways - from jorge's somewhat deranged level of dedication to analysing valentino's every breath, to marc's overenthusiastic commitment towards imitating valentino and beating him and also throwing himself at him at every opportunity, to casey's rather more repressed approach where he's simultaneously extremely sensitive to any possible offence on valentino's part while also kind of wishing they could be friends...? or something? I don't even know what casey's after! doesn't help that he's subsequently retconned this period where he like... kinda looked up to valentino, sure, and respected him and all that - but certainly no mention of putting valentino on championship celebration shirts. so we still have quite a limited amount of evidence at our disposal, but I would gently suggest that casey's cool, composed 'didn't even care who I was beating' rhetoric doesn't quite match up to reality. and casey thinks that valentino got more critical of casey because he was losing and valentino thinks casey got more critical of valentino because he was winning... and the thing is, they're both going to be somewhat right!! attacking rivals from a position of strength is actually kinda part of both of their preferred MO's - it's a similarity between them that plays into how casey at times gets to play the valentino role in this rivalry. so yeah, casey will have almost certainly gotten even mouthier once he could get away with it. but equally, even though valentino wasn't escalating hostilities by his standards, even just his natural process of distancing himself a little from his direct title rivals and getting a tad snarky about them in the press wasn't exactly being well received by casey. and thus they can both say with some justification that the other rider was a lot friendlier towards them at start of the year, and both will have reacted to this in a way that helped further gradually ramp up the level of hostility. lovely stuff

still, you do have to come back to how imbalanced this rivalry was wrt how emotionally invested the pair of them were. having a firm grasp of their dynamic in 2007 is key to understanding how the whole thing subsequently played out, in part casey was less guarded and just a little more likely to let a few things slip... valentino wants to beat this challenging new rival, but I reckon he's mostly being sincere in that his main frustration in 2007 is feeling like he's not even able to fight casey at all for bike/tyre reasons. it's a rivalry he generally enjoyed when they were actually going at it! a comfort zone rivalry that really isn't all that emotionally messy from his side. even if he'll maybe still imply casey's compliments of him were never sincere, seeing how they dried up over the course of 2007... or perhaps joke about casey putting his name on his championship winning shirt, how at least he's losing to a fan... something fun about how valentino is always aware of that idolisation dynamic and is capable of playing with it, just a little. even with casey

whereas for casey, this isn't a game. casey really enjoyed valentino being nice to him and is ever so sensitive towards valentino pulling back. casey thinks valentino isn't giving him the credit he is owed and escalates his rhetoric in response. casey puts valentino's name on his championship winning shirt and then complains valentino didn't hold his hand. poor casey... it'd all be easier if he just didn't care, but that's the one thing he could never quite manage

[scudelia55]

Y’all can say whatever you want, but I freaking miss this era of them