#sb; silver what did you get up to today????

[greypetrel]

Ohoho we're gettin dramatic, ay? >:] How about "can you stay? just for a little while? it would help." or "i should have been here. this is my fault." for Raina (or sb else, if you wanna) ?

Why do you all insist that Trash Raina-ccoon is dramatic? Where did you all get the idea? She’s perfectly pulled together!

And indeed, today we’re doing something else and she won’t be the one to have the dramah! Ah!

No, I still have in mind that line of thought that she is a total disaster taking care of herself... Not so much in taking care of others. She's quite decent at that (as for everything, she just needs motivation). and played a little on that.

After that certain quest in Sundermount. And also, the last bruschetta is a terribly serious affair.

Tis the prompt list.

Silly little things.

"can you stay? just for a little while? it would help." or "i should have been here. this is my fault."

They returned from Sundermount and no one had said anything. Not a word, not even Varric thought to enlighten the mood. And what was there to say? All the clan had stopped to look at them walk out of the camp, when they climbed down, and Raina was sure that if she hadn’t circled Merrill’s shoulders and glared angrily around her, Isabela and Varric behind them with hands still on their weapons, they would have thrown rocks at her. Not even a stray dog deserved that fate, and what exactly can you say when it’s your family to look at you that way?

Raina tried to speak with Merrill on the way, but words failed her. Words failed her when they reached Kirkwall and the elf told them she would have stayed at her house for a while, she had to attend to some business. Bela had stopped her before she could speak, closing a hand over hers and squeezing, and it was her who replied.

“Take as long as you need, kitten. You know where to find us, and that the door is always open for you, don’t you?”

For a person who professed she didn’t want to meddle with feelings until a handful of months ago, she could be extremely motherly, when she wanted. With Merrill, it was most often than not. The elf just smiled and nodded, and Raina had spent enough time with her to know she was moments away from crying. Her heart clenched painfully, every single instinct yelling at her to go to her, talk, say something, make it better. But she had still Bela’s hand closed on her, keeping her in place, and she could only look at the other part of her heart thanking her -for what?- and walking back, muttering a stupid “We’re here for you.”. What was in Merrill that just drowned all her wit and silvertongue, she could never know. She loved her for it.

She stayed at the Hanged Man with Bela, that night, cuddling up in a bed that was almost too small for two, laughters and voices and songs coming muffled through the wooden door.

“It is my fault.” She told Bela, whispering between her shoulderblades.

It was late and they both were  tired, Raina was sure she was just expressing thoughts to herself. And yet…

“It is not.” Bela sighed, heavily. “I know it’s something hard to get in that hard head of yours… But not everything that happens in this city has its cause nor its solution in you.”

She turned around on the bed, forcing Raina to shift a little as the mattress moved and protested beside them. They fixed more comfortably, facing the other, forehead against forehead as Raina scuttled closer and Isabela slipped a leg over hers.

“I could have insisted for her to get back, talk to the Keeper. I should have been there, Bela. It’s also my fault. And now she’s-”

“Oh, hush.”

And just like that, the piratess hugged her, holding her close and tucking her head under her chin, hand caressing her short cropped hair.

“You couldn’t have made her change her mind, and you know that.”

“I could have tried.”

“Honey, you’re a good lay, but you’re not that good.”

“Oh? Wasn’t my renowned silver-tongue what finally tied down the infamous Captain Isabela, notorious sea wolf and heart-breaker?” There it was, before she could start to chuckle, the humour she’d been missing all day. And that it earned a swat on her upper arm, in retaliation, very playful.

“It was how you sometimes look exactly like a wet, miserable raccoon. I’m apparently weak to fluffy animals, what can I say.”

There was a laughter, muffled by the both of them being so close together. It was something, and after the last couple of days up to the Mountain and dealing with demons, it felt like years. It felt, to Raina, like they shouldn’t be laughing. Her mother would surely have told her to stop immediately. It felt cathartic, tho, and she didn’t stop.

“Should we really leave her alone, tho?”

Bela sighed, returning to caress her hair, absentmindedly.

“Give her a couple of days.”

---

A couple of days later, there Raina was, hopping down the stairs of the alienage with a basket full of food. An apple pie, Merrill’s favourite, with extra cinnamon she asked Orana to put in it. Some baked potatoes with a lot of butter that she had made herself (one of the few things she could cook decently), some loose groceries (because she knew well Merrill tended to forget when she was stressed) so she could eat if she needed more time, and a bottle of wine she has snatched from Fenris, ignoring all his protests (he should have thought better before stealing the last bruschetta from her the other evening, after all).

Truth to be told, she had no idea what she could tell Merrill precisely. What she wanted to tell her. Isabela was true in saying it wasn’t her fault, it would have just sounded as meddling and not trusting her abilities. It wouldn’t have been true and it would just have helped in losing her trust. Raina could lose keys, she could lose her house and her position, she oftentimes lost her head, and her patience was most often lost than found. Merrill’s trust was one the one things she really wanted to keep. So, she restored to what she did best: do things. Groceries in the pantry, maybe cleaning a little, checking she was fine. Words were for Isabela, she took care of the rest.

She nodded to some elves she knew, by then stopping by when an old lady greeted her and helping her up a chair and back to her own house as she carefully explained everything about how good and talented her grandchildren were, both working for a respectable Lady in her big Manor in Hightown Raina couldn’t possibly have even dreamt of, it was too big and magnificent for her, even if she was very kind.

Raina shook her head, not even bothering anymore of replying with irony: old Rosha always, always told her the same things, and couldn’t remember she already did. She was sweet, in her own way.

Five minutes later, she was in front of Merrill’s door, staring at the familiar indentations in the wood. She ran wat thugs and bandits, demons, slavers, she faced a whole city full of angry Qunari with less concerns than now.

But that was very silly. She was the Champion of Kirkwall -it still made her laugh-, she could bring lunch to her grieving girlfriend. So, she huffed loudly from her nose and knocked on the door.

No answer.

It would be unsurprising, and very typical, if Raina chose the exact moment Merrill had decided to go up to her Manor and was now knocking at her door too.

So, she turned and asked the first person around, who informed her that yes, Merrill was in, nobody saw her coming out of the little house in days. Weird.

She probed the door, and it was, indeed, open. As per usual, no matter how many times both her and Varric, and everyone in their group -even Fenris- insisted that she should mind to always, always lock the door: she kept forgetting. Heart beating painfully in her throat, Raina entered the house quickly, hoping that if there was anyone inside, they’ll be surprised enough to give the elf a chance to skitter away, defend herself somehow.

“What’s cooking, good looking?”

She exclaimed, with a cheerfulness she wasn’t really feeling but she forced out, loud enough to be heard. But one step in the house revealed that no, there was no one. No signs of commotion, everything in it’s usual place, the fire was dwindling low in the hearth but again, nothing out of the ordinary. Listening attentively, tho, she could hear nothing but some somber sobs from the bedroom. Not a scratch on the pavement, not a whisper, nothing.

Her heart broke a little, but she closed the door behind her -with the lock, this time- and peeked in the archway that lead to the other room. Merrill was, indeed, on her own, sitting on the bed and crying with her face in her head, muttering somberly between herself. She looked so small and fragile, and she didn’t react to her presence. So, what Raina did was leaving her basket on the table, and unbuckled the harness that kept her daggers on, which she left on the floor as she sat on the bed and, without saying anything, circled Merrill with her arms and dragged her against her, pressing her cheek on the top of her head and just held her through her tears.

“It’s not your fault, Mer. It’s not, you hear me?”

“I-I know it’s not… They wouldn’t listen… They wouldn’t trust me. And now-”

She sobbed louder, hunching more on herself. Raina followed the movement, still not letting her go but clutching her a little closer.

“Would talking help?” She asked, after a minute.

“I… I don’t know. Don’t think so. I-I-I’m sorry, I just-”

Merrill moved to stand up, and that was when Raina forced her a little to stay where she was, hushing her and keeping her there. There was little resistance, before the elf mumbled something and fell back on the bed and against her bust, heavily.

“Don’t be. It’s ok. I just came to check you ate. I brought you some food, Orana baked an apple pie, and I bought you groceries on the way. I maaaaay have baked some potatoes that aren’t totally burned, you see. And, I also got wine.” She explained, to fill the silence as the other cried, upkeep even if she felt everything but so, caressing her arm under her hands, absent-mindedly. “And no, not the wine of the Hanged Man, Fenris did the courtesy of giving one of his bottles.”

Silence, Merrill kept on sobbing, so Raina got on.

“Oh, he did! He grumbled a little, actually, but it was just for show. He owed me one, tho, yesterday evening he had the guts of eating my bruschetta. It’s known that Orana always makes one extra and that’s mine! And he just… Snatched it and bit it before I could say anything. I was of course outraged, the AUDACITY!” She snorted, emphatically. “Garrett almost fell from the chair laughing as we bantered back and forth and no one to launch some cutting remarks to stop Fenris. Mother would have been terribly disappointed, but you would have laughed. But worry not, we’re ready to repeat whenever you want.”

She kept on with her tale, telling her of little things and anecdotes she could remember and that she thought would have made her happy, remembering nice moments they spent together in the last years, not letting Merrill go and holding her as she cried. When she stopped and started to hiccup, finally, Raina squeezed her hard, swinging them both from side to side before bending down and pressing a kiss on her cheek, minding to make it as noisy as she could, dragging it out a little just for show.

“Y-you didn’t have to… I can feed myself, you know.” Merrill protested, but it was weak and half-hearted, and Raina could see her mouth bending up in a smile.

“I know. But it’s been two days since I last reminded you that I love you, and I can’t sleep without it. Since I was this way, I brought you some treats because I love you.” She planted another noisy kiss on her temple. “Have I told you that I love you, yet?”

Merrill giggled, waterily. She didn’t reply and it wasn’t making things better, exactly, but Raina wouldn’t have forced out words she wasn’t ready to share, and all she knew to do was caring for people. Fixing things. And reminding her that she cared. Another kiss, on her ear this time, which annoyed her for the noise, and she rose, patting her shoulder.

“Now, let me fetch you some water and put the food in its place. If you’re so against it, I may snatch a tater for myself. Not to brag but I really outdid myself this time.” She bragged, nonetheless, stepping into the living room and doing just that.

They were in confidence enough, and Raina had spent enough time there, in the years, trying to forget she was totally crushing over the elf, to know where she kept her stuff and what was her favourite mug -the green one with painted daisies Varric had gifted her. She put to work, without waiting for permission, and taking it a little more than necessary, slowing down as she hummed a sea shanty as she opened cupboards, fetched the mug, slipped the leeks, chard, cabbage and the one squash she got in the basked she kept veggies. Simple, direct work, nothing fancy but that could, potentially, saved her some annoying task. She stoke the fire back to life too, adding some chopped wood and waiting until it caught.

She left the cake in the centre of the table, still covered in a cloth, and got back to the bedroom with the mug full of water and the paper bag she put the taters in, leaving everything on her bedside table and, true to her word, snatching one tuber for herself. Her fingers got immediately greasy with butter, but she cared little.

“There you go, all set.”

“Th-thank you, Raina…”

“Don’t mention it.”

And in spite of the thanks, Merrill kept looking down, at her hands resting, palms up, on her thighs. Not that Raina ever thought that some veggies and chores out of her shoulders would have ever been enough, but still it burnt her to see her so dismissive. She was kind and gentle and delicate, never dismissive. She always stood up to the worst comments she got from Fenris and Anders. Seeing her like this…

With a sigh, Raina kneeled in front of her, crossing her arms over Merrill’s knees and peeking upward to look at her face. Eyes red and puffy, a deep crease between her eyebrows, and lips twitching as she tried not to cry again.

“Have I told you that I love you?”

“Y-you did.”

“Well. I love you. You silly, lovely, insanely competent person. I’ll be good and listen to Bela and leave you be if you need space. But, you know you’re not alone, right?”

Merrill, on the contrary, frowned, chin slipping down so she didn’t have to look at the woman in her lap.

“I am. The Dalish would kill me if I got back I’m… I’m all alone.”

“Tch.” Raina huffed. “Nonsense. You have Bela, you could become a pirate. Or you could open a school, teach other mages as you taught Garrett, and he would be so glad to help you. Beowoof always complains because I don’t scratch his belly the way you do and he loves. If you’d like to change field, you could help Varric with his books, you know so many stories and he’s so fond of you, I’m sure you’d write the best novel ever, with dreadwolves and knights with long swishy hair. I think Aveline could find you a job, maybe you could become a private investigator for the City Guard? Or fight slavers with Fenris, he’s rough and gruff but he warmed up to you, he stopped complaining when I told him the bottle was for you.” She stopped her speech, noticing Merrill started crying again, fat tears rolling down to the tip of her nose and falling on her legs.

“What I meant is. You are covered, we’re all there for you, you see. And if you want me, I’ll never leave your side.” She stopped, glomping down before continuing. Oh she wasn’t the best at expressing her own, most delicate feelings. But right now, she forced words up and she did. “Please want me, because I don’t want to ever leave your side.”

No answer, but just more crying. Raina sighed, convinced that her time there was really at an end. She pressed on the knees she was propped upon and rose up, to plant a last kiss, more delicate and loving, to the tip of her nose. It tasted like salt and she hated the flavour.

“I’ll leave you be. Sorry if I imposed. Bela and me will be at the Hanged Man, if you want or need. No pressure.”

And with that, she rose up, with a last caress on boney knees before going. She retrieved her daggers, not bothering to slip the harness back on as she munched on her snack. She put allegedly too much butter, it trickled down her chin at every bite. But was here such a thing as “too much butter”? Raina was sure that no.

Her hand was on the doorknob, tho, when Merrill stepped out of the bedroom, sniffling and rubbing tears away from her eyes with the back of her hand.

“Raina…”

She stopped at once, turning.

“Yes?”

“C-can you…” She shook her head, unsure of how to continue.

“Go on, please. What can I do for you?”

It took her a full minute to finish her request. It didn’t matter. Contrary to everyone’s belief, Raina Hawke could wait. For the important things. With the right reason for it. This was reason.

“C-can you stay?” A sob. “J-just for a little while. It would help…”

It was softly, barely whispered, as if Merrill was asking for a big ass favour. Raina left the harness with the daggers where she was, for once not caring of having one weapon always at hand -well, she had a smaller dagger in her left boot, actually, and another in the back of her trousers, but those didn’t really count. She filled the distance in three long strides, and got back to hug her girlfriend, as thight as she could without hurting her, lifting off the ground -she wasn’t so heavy.

She stayed, for more than a little while. Merrill told her everything.

[llonelywater]

hi everyone, thank you so much for coming down today. I thought it would be nice to just give a round of thanks to everyone, even though I think I have written almost everything I wanted to say in each individual letter, sorry my handwriting is quite atrocious so feel free to ask me if you can't understand what I have written.

first i must really thank waye, martha, and weiyun for planning this wedding dinner gathering event. they really took the wheel and handled every single thing for me with the sole task left for me to do being to just turn up for my wedding, preferably not in scrubs. I was really so out of touch that up til 1 month before this I was telling people the wrong date of the gathering and that I was getting married at some fancy restaurant I think it starts with a C. yet this happened and it was only made possible by this amazing group of friends who willingly, through no coercion at all, stepped up and planned this day for us. thank you so much for the love and generosity of your time and effort. thank you for being a hundred times more vested in my own wedding that I ever was. you all are really fricking amazing.

moving onto each friend group. martha, thanks for showering me so indulgently with your love, kindness, and empathy throughout the years. weiyun, thank you for your fourteen years of your steadfast presence and a friendship rooted in memories from back when we were wearing pinafores and writing godawful fan fiction about Korean boy bands. sorry this dedication is very short because I have written practically everything I wanted to say on your letters, and every time we try to say nice things aloud to each other we invariably end up traumatised and in tears.

waye, you are easily one of the most thoughtful and generous people that I know and I am very lucky to have been blessed by this generosity. when I think about those dark days roaming in the dungeons of SGH GS, I think about all the times you saved my ass, bought me food, did my changes for me and got scolded on my behalf when we were coHOs. beyond that, I'm glad that after all these tumultuous years that we shall not speak of, we are standing here today, in this joyous occasion, that was made possible because of you.

jingles, thank you for your quiet and understated presence. when we first crossed paths briefly in JC I thought you were this really cool and mysterious and stoic person. but I think over the years, as CG mates, and then as friends, I have noticed all the times you have let down your defences and realised that you're actually a very nice and squishy person inside. thank you for your friendship. and your dogs.

SB, I still think fondly about the times when we were nineteen and I was sleeping over at your place every other weekend and we would creep into the kitchen at 2am and eat ice cream out of the tub and stay up talking til 5am and then feel like death the next day. our friendship has evolved so much since then and so many things have happened. but fundamentally there are things that have remained the same. thank you for ten years of kindness, softness, and quiet strength.

zich, my long suffering friend in the absolute shithole that is residency. thank you for being the silver lining to some of the most painful and traumatising experiences such as SGH DMO and CGH IM, for a friendship forged through camaraderie, pain, suffering, and a strong desire to go on strike against MOHH. thanks for wanting to stand up for me when I didn't even want to do it myself. I look forward to many more years of shared suffering with you.

to the rest of leon's friends - members of the three musketeers, pehyu and melvin - thank you for being such an integral part of leon's life through his poly years and then before that. they always say that you are the company that you keep and Im really grateful that Leon has had the opportunity to meet friends like you. thanks for trying to include me during your gatherings despite our hectic schedules and I look forward to more outings and holidays together in the future.

to leon's batch mates, thank you for being such a large and important part of leon's work life and then also being so much more beyond that. whenever Leon mentions that he's meeting his batch mates, he always sounds so joyful and excited that I feel happy on his behalf. special mention to leon's work wife Clinton for bringing Leon out before this event to give him a proper haircut and pick dress shoes with him, because otherwise Leon would literally have turned up in sneakers today. while I might have taken over your job as his official wife, I am more than happy for you to remain his work concubine and continue to fuss over him during the times that I can't.

lastly to leon. in the five years we have been together, you have showered me an amount of love and care that I can only describe as surreal. I can say with confidence that nobody has ever taken care of me, like you have taken care of me. I spent a large part of my life being independent and self sufficient, and after we got together, I remember wondering to myself at the start of my relationship, 'this is so much love, way too much for me to handle. what do I do with this much love?' but as time went by I have learned to accept and understand and grow into this love. as we become husband and wife, I promise to hold onto this love, cherish it, and grow it together with you. you are easily my favourite person and butt, and I love you so, so, so much.

[silverystormwing]

Hey y'all! Got once in a while adopt set. Had the itch to do some rendering work, and... well, rendering work I did. WIPs & misc. progress shots are gonna go up on my Patreon later today if you'd like to take a look at the plain lines & various progress stages! I was originally gonna do flatsales for all of them, but... I might've gotten a little attached to a few... and my wrists would like something for the pain I put them through. Numbering goes left -> right & then down by row, if you can't read my (illegible)handwriting. (Adopt names don't need to be carried over, they're simply to add some flavor instead of just numbers!) Now onto the details...

Comments link to the DA page, if you don’t have a DA & are interested, please contact me & I can mark them down for you/proxy bid!  Payment via PayPal or Venmo. Alternate methods of payment(Such as Core membership/Steam gift cards) can be discussed, but USD is heavily preffered. If you mean to pay in an alternate method, please let me know in advance! If payment is not received within 64 hours of agreement on price & payment method and I don't hear anything from the buyer, I will re-list the design as available. Buyer will receive: - Full resolution transparent/gradient background .PNG of the purchased design with minimal watermark. - Ownership of the design. - If requested, a color swatch for the design. See my recent ref sheets for an example of what that would look like. - A 10% discount on the first commission involving the design. Ref sheet/general/ect. Buyer will not receive: - The .psd file/transparent .png of the lines. Do's & Don'ts: - Please don't resell the design for more than you purchased it for w/o adding additional art to it! - Don't be rude. - Don't harass someone who's purchased a design in an attempt to get it from them. - Please let me know if the design changes hands! - You can upload the design onto TH with crediting me as the artist & creator. Now, since this batch has both flat sales & auctions, the rules for both... Flatsales (#1, 2, 3) - Design will remain available at the listed price until purchased. Auctions (#4, 5, 6) - Bidding will be open for two weeks(until Sep. 12th) & then will close 24hrs after the last bid. - Please reply to the latest bid comment with your offer. - See each section for the individual SB/MI/ABs. - Flatsales - 1. Spinning Silver - OPEN Reply here to purchase! Price: $45 2. Orb Weaver - OPEN Reply here to purchase! Price: $45 3. Rose Gold - OPEN Reply here to purchase! Price: $45 - Auctions - 4. Chainmail - OPEN Reply here to bid! SB: $60 MI: $5 AB: $200 5. Ore Vein - OPEN Reply here to bid! SB: $50 MI: $5 AB: $200 6. Pyrite - OPEN Reply here to bid! SB: $60 MI: $5 AB: $200

[msgrumpygills]

I'm sorry, didn't Jensen say Chaos Machine was working on something SPN related with SPN alum in their virtual pannel? It's not like JP was completely blindsided. He said he was doing it months ago, just didn't give details. Also, isn't JP working on Walker? Didn't he say he wanted to work close to home? Didn't he say that overworking himself lead to his breakdown? Doesn't he already have like 4 other side projects going on? Like, why would Jensen involve him if JP was already busy enough? Doesn't he have a family to worry about? J and D are working together on this so it makes sense that wherever the might have to go for it, the kids will be with them, but Gen would most likely not be involved, so why bother? Is he itching to get away from his family that bad?

And you are absolutely right. It's a little (a lot) hypocritical for JP to hijack the spnfamily and turn it in to the walkerfamily, use spn easter eggs and actors to promote his show and get views, claim that his show will last longer than the show that gave him a majority of his fame, then get butthurt when Jensen ( who was equally involved in said show) makes his own spn project. Do the people who are pissed honestly think JP consulted Jensen about all the SPN junk he used? Also,it's a prequel about John and Mary. Dean and Sam weren't even born yet. "Sam Winchester won't be involved whatsoever" yeah no sh*t sherlock. He didn't exist yet. Jensen said he wasn't going to talk about it (again in the virtual panel) until he got the ball rolling. The other cast members made jokes about being on the show because they knew their characters weren't even involved in the story at that point. No one was except, John and Mary.

Like, the two of them worked together for 16 years, they are allowed to do their own thing without involving the other.

And as for the people saying " Well I guess Soldier Boy isn't going to be such a big role after all if Jensen already has another project lined up"... uh yeah..no shit. For a group of people who were complaining about h*llers joining The Boys fandom for Jensen, y'all sure act like you don't know how that show works either. I've read the comics so I knew SB wasn't gonna last long ( it could change idk) but like, no one is safe on that show except for The Boys themselves and select members of the Seven. Literally everyone dies. Have they even watched the show? The killed a main supe a few episodes in. Did they join the fandom for Jensen? Were they projecting? The character they made a big deal about last season got torn to shreds in the season finale. Like, c'mon pay attention. The supes are the bad guys.

And how does JP know Jensen wasn't going to involve him later? He doesn't. Instead he created public dramathis fandom is absolutely ridiculous sometimes, I swear.

You win the award for best ask today because you have brought ALL the points!

I doubt Jared asked Jensen's permission or anything like that before using SPN for his show, using the "family" thing for his new projects, or using his face for views and interest for his own personal gain. I can see him being upset if it was about Sam and Dean because of course he'd need to be involved, but a prequel before the boys' time? Why would Sam or Dean be involved?

We don't know if Jensen tried to tell Jared behind the scenes, but knowing what we know about Jensen, I don't think he did this as a dick move. He probably figured he wouldn't need to warn Jared considering SAM AND DEAN AREN'T EVEN INVOLVED. Also, HE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT IT WITH JARED. So him acting like this is some big surprise is shitty and manipulative. Can't let the CW golden child be outshined, now can we?

Maybe he's just worried that this show (if it even gets picked up, I think it's just in the works right now, no?) will do better than Walker and will further prove that Jared can't seem to hold his own. You can't sit there and distance yourself from the show to try and make yourself a big star (except when it comes to using it for your own personal gain) and then get pissed off when someone else takes the opportunity you didn't want.

Jared could have done something with SPN, a prequel, a sequel, whatever. He chose to take the job that was handed to him on a silver platter instead and wanted to try and be the next big thing. Jensen decided to do something with the show and that's his right.

The stans trying to downplay Jensen's role on The Boys seems like they're just looking for things to use against him. I don't think Jensen was acting like this was going to be his next big break and that he was going to be on a 15 season arc (cough cough), so the only people who thought that were the stans. Jensen has talked about being behind the camera for years, no? So it's no surprise that he's going to try and do something behind the scenes, and why not have it be SPN related for that debut?

Also, it was easy for Jared to just piss off to his new life as long as the fans keep lining his pocket. Jensen seems to want to do something for the fans that have been there since the beginning. Just comparing their behaviors since SPN ended, Jensen seems to want to do something for the fans rather than seeing them as dollar signs.

Again, Jared knew exactly what he was doing with those tweets. He doesn't have a very good track record with handling things privately, and I'm just glad he didn't doxx the Ackles' for being mean to him like he does with customer service workers.

I don't want to make assumptions about Jensen talking to Jared or not until we hear from him because it seems out of character for him. If he really didn't reach out, then yeah that's kinda crappy, but Jared is also getting karma for his shit behavior lately so it's a catch 22.

All in all, this might be the thing that officially makes me anti Jared.

[byulsgrease]

What Are the Chances? [Part 2]

Looking up from your mind-blowingly delicious sandwich, there was no mistaking them – it’s that group of women from the other night. But what are the chances? (mamamoo x idol!reader)

part 2: the inkigayo sandwich (~1k words) (previous part here)

cw: food mention

Well, it was comeback promotions time at last. Fans loved the title track as you witnessed people tagging you incessantly on Instagram right after it came out at 6pm the night before. You tossed and turned in bed for almost all of last night, anxious about the upcoming live stages for all the music shows. Despite being a relatively “successful” professional, spending seemingly countless hours in the practice room both with and without your backup dancers, a sliver of performance anxiety always reared its ugly head in your mind during promotions. Oh well, sleep deprivation and funky schedules. Just part of the job, you figured.

Checking your phone to look at your schedule, you were filming for Inkigayo this morning and then the afternoon would be mostly taken up by a fansign event. A smile spread across your face while picturing a small venue filled with fans, getting to meet some of the faces behind all of the virtual love you were always shown online and on social media. But music show filming came first. Music shows were never your favorite, performing your title track to death in different outfits at the mercy of each show’s meticulous winning calculations. The only silver lining to music show filming was interacting with other artists, especially meeting ones you admired or ones you didn’t get to see often because of general busyness. Shit, I gotta get to the studio or I’m gonna be late. Tossing some essentials in a bag slung over your shoulder, you power-walked out the door to head to the train station.

Walking into the SBS building somehow felt calming. The anxiety that plagued you usually fell away by the time you arrived at performance venues, especially now that you had gone through this done this more than once. You made your way to your waiting room, passing by several rooms of other artists, hearing the general shuffle of preparation through the closed doors. Slowing down your pace while approaching your assigned room, a playfully loud “SOLAR-SSI!” came through the neighboring waiting room door. A smirk leapt your face, chuckling to yourself. Waiting room banter was prime behind-the-scenes content with the huge amount of downtime spent between filming, and fans always loved that stuff, whatever group that was.

The waiting room stay was chill, hair/makeup, styling, the whole shebang. Realizing there was time to kill between now and the actual filming time, you strolled over to the cafeteria. The Inkigayo sandwich was all the rage these days, but was the hype warranted? In what world could strawberry jam and egg salad be a good combination? Apparently this one. I guess I can’t knock it until I try it, though. You bought one and sat down at a table, the crinkly plastic making its typical ruckus against your ears while unwrapping the wacky sandwich from the plastic. Taking a bite into the plush white bread, your eyes instantly widened. Damn. It’s actually… really good. Smiling and shaking your head in disbelief, you continued munching on the sandwich while scanning the room to see who was promoting today. You recognized Baek Yerin and some miscellaneous EXO members with their backup dancers scattered around the cafeteria while continuing to look around.

Wait a moment. There was no mistaking them – it’s that group of women from the other night. But what are the chances?

Oh…my god. It’s Mamamoo. You made the connection with the sign you barely glanced at earlier, hung on the waiting room door neighboring yours. How the heck did your mind completely fail to recognize them the other night? You weren’t a huge fan or anything, but some of their chart-toppers were absolute bops. Their hard work and career arc begged deep, deep respect.

Do I get up and say something? But this is a work setting and I don’t actually know them… You felt intimidated and a bit star-struck, body heavy in your seat. Your interaction with them on that Friday night in Itaewon seemed far removed seeing them here and now.

You managed to get up and walk over to them with confidence, overtaken by a similar unidentifiable courage to the one you used to stand up to the Itaewon jerk a couple weeks prior.

“Uh… excuse me?” you said hesitantly while tapping the “mom” of the group on the shoulder. All the members turned, curious to see who talked to their leader. “I’m not sure if you remember me… I wasn’t dressed in all this,” gesturing to your stage outfit and face full of make-up. “But I think I ran into all of you in Itaewon a while ago?”

Recognition and shock flashed across all of their faces nearly simultaneously. Lots of hurried bowing and awkward chuckles ensued, finally formally introducing yourselves. Solar, Moonbyul, Wheein, and Hwasa were their names, as you learned through the exchange of KakaoTalk information.

“I honestly thought we’d never run into you again, I just figured a cool stranger decided to help us out,” said Hwasa, notably more friendly than she was back in Itaewon.

“But after you left I was like – ‘Damn, respect. Should’ve gotten your number’,” said Moonbyul, longingly. The rest of the members grimaced. You could tell this was just part of her charm, strangely attractive, as cringey as it was.

“And now we can all hang out and get to know you as a person and a musician!” exclaimed Wheein, with that same eager puppy energy.

Smiling and nodding in agreement, Solar added, “Good luck with your stage and your comeback promotions, I’m sure you’ve been working very hard.” A flush creeped into your cheeks, who was she to compliment your work ethic when you knew that Mamamoo were some of the most hardworking people in the industry?

“Backatyou,” you stammered, feeling your ears burn. Where’d that courage go? With all the composure you could muster, you asked them when they were free to hang out – obviously after promos were over. Everyone wanted fried chicken, of course. Setting up a tentative time and place to meet, you bid them goodbye to head back to your waiting room, your filming time fast-approaching.

Riding high from having introduced yourself to some industry legends who now knew you by name, you recorded the best live stage of your career thus far.

Again, what were the chances?

[howyoumakemeseemyself]

shelley + olivia; a fucking primer 

it’s a multi-faceted issue but the first thing has to come first; olivia’s abusive af to both shelley and roman (understatement) and i want it to be made clear that nothing i say hereafter is meant to excuse or condone anything she did. i also want to encourage anyone dissenting or wanting to debate any points to pls be courteous; i’m an abuse survivor and victim blaming in particular makes me really anxious bc of Circumstances(TM). i don’t know y’all’s stories but these are sensitive issues and we’re all in this together, thank you in advance. 

anyway, i think olivia’s outward treatment of shelley might be the easiest place to start. she’s incredibly controlling and manipulative, hiding her away in the attic and putting boundaries in place basically to keep her alone (and vulnerable.) i could list a million examples but i just rewatched that ep where shelley gets the earrings and olivia berates the fuck out of her until she cries :( it’s bad and shelley knows it’s really, really bad, which is part of the reason why she’s so grateful for roman in the first place. 

i have theories about the olivia’s motivations and why she takes the actions that she does, but honestly it’s a lot to unpack and i don’t want to derail too much here ahaha. hoooooooowever, if someone else like perhaps an olivia blog wants to tackle that, by all means go for it ♥ ( @motherolivia this seems like a good place to tag u ;) ) 

how shelley carries herself is a direct effect of how olivia treats her. it definitely also has to do with how she’s perceived by the world and the treatment of her classmates, but how olivia makes her feel only exacerbates it. even within the confines of the godfrey estate, in her own bedroom, she’s still slouched over as if she’s trying to make herself look smaller; she still wears the wig (and still wears the wig to purposely cover the right side of her face.) i can’t remember any point where we see her actually relaxed outside of maybe some interactions with roman (that scene in the car with peter and letha comes to mind) and that’s just. so sad to me ugh ugh. 

honestly one of the hardest things to hear is shelley talking about jenny snubbing her and being like ‘my first assumption, of course, is that it was my own fault.’ i think as hard as it probably is to separate trauma induced from olivia herself and trauma induced from people in school being fuckin horrible to her, olivia’s also complicit af in shelley’s self-image and insecurities bc she’s. y’know. shelley’s mother lmao. 

we see shelley pushing back against olivia during some encounters, but it’s obvious that she’s used to being bullied/manipulated into submission, and olivia is someone she’s come to fear. (honestly, olivia can be such a loose cannon and absolutely terrifying sometimes, i don’t blame anyone for being afraid of her.) it’s easier to just bow her head and let olivia have her way, lest things get miraculously worse.   

the thing is though, despite all of this, it’s be disingenuous to say that all shelley feels towards olivia is blind hatred. this is for a few reasons. i think that she’d hate olivia much more fully and completely if shelley knew of the extent to which olivia abused roman, but that conversation hasn’t happened yet so as of now shelley’s feelings are more complicated than that. 

olivia’s manipulated shelley into making her think that she needs olivia to continue existence especially in the beginning. this is common for gaslighters (ie; ‘you’re nothing without me’), and a very hard train of thought to break out of, especially if the gaslighter is someone you depend on for safety or financially. shelley may or may not be conscious of this but feels that from a logical standpoint, without olivia (or roman at least), she wouldn’t be safe in the grove which keeps her close. as time passes, especially through s2, she comes to realize that she can survive on her own, which makes returning to her harder (and this is where i insert the disclaimer that i’m not even done with 2 yet so bare with me >>)

if shelley is aware of said manipulation and despite all of the awful treatment, it’s hard for her to say that she doesn’t love olivia. love is kind of a complicated feeling on its own, but once you add in all of the godfrey madness that just....makes it so much worse lmao. there’s definitely a bit of obligation involved (ie; i love you because you’re my mother and i should) but it goes deeper than that. 

shelley knows that something like love isn’t easy for her mother in general--she straight up says this to her face in yet another fucking gut-wrenching scene in s2, telling her; “you loved me the best way you could.” i think she was being genuine about that, and i think that she holds less against olivia than maybe she should tbh. see; the first part of that heartbreaking quote; “it must have been hard for you to have me as a daughter. i understand why you kept me hidden away.” 

like ok first of all, ow. 

secondly, i was so grateful for this entire moment because when shelley and olivia are together they’re never acknowledging the elephant in the room and the layers going on within their dynamic. all of this stuff that was just implied for a season and a half finally comes to light, and it’s only when shelley’s about to die that something’s actually said. i think that she means this too; i think she’s more resentful than she lets on, but she gets that their situation and her condition specifically wasn’t ideal, olivia just didn’t know how to love shelley the way that she needed to be loved, and that this really was what was best in olivia’s mind. 

there’s also a part of her (that she’s working hard to keep quiet) that’s grateful for everything olivia has done for her, olivia brought her into this world, saved her, kept her and let her live in the house, even though she was doing it in a sometimes extraordinarily shitty way. as said though, she doesn’t forgive olivia for the years of endured abuse--she tells pryce that she wants olivia to think that she’s dead right before dropping the previously-quoted love bomb on her (the duality of which made it one of my favorite shelley moments i was like yessssssss) and that’s completely fair and valid lmao, i think that you can understand why something’s happening and i think that you can even love someone but that doesn’t mean it’s a good place to be, or that their bad treatment of you is excused. not forgiving her does feel counterintuitive to everything she knows though, so she frequently catches herself especially when thinking about the past. she knows that there are unforgivable things, and she’s working hard to like not feed into guilt that olivia herself essentially planted within her. 

anyway, this is way too long already and i haven’t finished hg yet so i’m just gonna chill ♥ tl;dr, “my love and my hate for you are infinite” was like the most fitting tag for olivia for a reason, okay bless. 

[jennibeultimate]

Personal recap 4CC 2019 - Ladies FS

Congrats to Rika Kihira for winning 4CC! 🥇🎉🎉🎉

One 3A was enough to lead with a huge margin over the rest of the field! Bravo Rika! 👏👏👏 ❤️❤️❤️

Ahhh...my poor Kaori gave it away with singling her Axel😢😢😢

She was still wonderful, but I am so sorry for her. 😭 4th place, only 1 point to 2nd place! I hope she isn't too hard on herself at least she gets home with a new SB in the SP and a small Bronze medal.

Mai congrats for winning Bronze🥉! So beautiful! 😍

I love her FS. She brought tears to my eyes. She is wonderful and finally received decent scoring!

4CC featured all 3 of my favorit FS this season from Mai, Kaori and Rika! ❤️❤️❤️

Elisabet Tursynbayeva showed us the first quad attempt in senior ladies! Wow!

In all she seems much more stable this season than before, so seems like her move back to Russia was the right decision for her. I am not a fan of her program and her legs in the jumps still don't look nice, but that's personal preference. Congrats for Silver! 🥈

Bradie Tennell improved much this season compared to last season. I even like the program. She could not quite repeat what she did in the SP.

Well Mariah Bell back to old behaviour. Sadly. 😢 The program is beautiful, but she just let go of her performance.

Eunsoo Lim is just having too much trouble with her jumps. She surely has smooth nice skating and a charming smile. And if everything would work, she could be brilliant l, just not today. But she was the youngest competitor and for the first time it wasn't bad.

Yelim Kim is a fairy on ice.❤️❤️❤️ She needs to improve her connection to the audience, but her movements and skating is so beautiful.

I feel very sorry for Ting Cui. Such a performance in the home country is nothing you wish for anyone. Next time Ting!

An enjoyable FS with some ups and downs! Well done Ladies! 👏👏👏

Edit: When was the last time all 3 ladies who podiumed in the SP, toppled to off-podium? Can't remember...

[lizacstuff]

Anons 7x06

Lots of anons in my inbox, a few under the cut. The tone of most asks is not complimentary towards the season or episode, you have been warned. 

Anonymous said:Seems like there must not be a lot of Regina fans out there, despite the ER making a lot of noise. Demos held steady. 

I wouldn’t count those numbers before they’re hatched.  Sound like the show was preempted in certain markets (Boston, a huge DMA, for one) so the numbers should be adjusted for that when the nationals come out on Monday. Right now OUAT is getting credit for whatever replacement programming the affiliate put in it’s place. 

Anonymous said:I'm seeing that for some areas the episode got pushed back till early Saturday morning. Do they take into account when figuring out the ratings? I'm already seeing ERs complaining about it and saying if the ratings are bad that's the only reason why. 😒

See above. The overnights (today's ratings) include viewership for whatever aired in OUAT’s place.  Monday they should adjust to reflect more accurately how many people watched the actual episode. They are right, though, in it negatively impacting the live numbers. However, it shouldn't really impact the L+3 or L+7 numbers. 

Anonymous said:Is it bad that I laughed outloud when I saw that Regina gave everything Ivy she needed to cast her curse? Just like the time Regina pushed Lily too far and she turned into a dragon and endanger the town? Or the time she told Zelena to go after Hades and change him and refused to listen to anyone's concerns and everyone almost ended up trapped in Hell? I'm surprised the writer's still don't see the pattern like fans do.

Even without malicious intentions, she’s a disaster who ruins everyone’s lives. It’s bizarre that the writers continually follow the pattern, but never have Regina question her own judgement when she’s doing it. Whatever else happens, Regina makes emotional, unilateral decisions that usually end up biting other people in the ass. 

Anonymous said:Why would Regina stop henry for having a tlk with jacinda to break the curse? they don't have chemistry but they have been written as tl, at least make them kiss to destroy this stupid season one for all

Because Ivy did something, that Regina remembers, that will put the people that Regina “loves” in jeopardy if the curse is broken.  We don’t know who is in jeopardy or how. 

Anonymous said:So the reboot it's all Regina's fault? Why am I not surprised? Having Henry all for her and without snowing and captain swan, obviously a villain like her was behind this

Regina isn’t being purposefully villainous, but her stupid choices have landed them in this position.

Anonymous said:So regina thought she never adopted a child and its now forced to live with him not knowing her and can't break the curse?? Also her soulmate still dead and she is away from sb and her "family"&"friends"? Hahahahahaha karma is a beautiful thing!!! So she is alone and miserable and childless? Jefferson, snowing of the early seasons and the whole ef1 is laughing and partying

I suppose she is getting a little bit of karmic retribution, but I wouldn’t consider her knowing Henry is her adult son, and still being close to him even though he doesn't know, as quite the same thing as orphaning Emma and Snowing missing out on raising her or knowing her for 28 years.  

Anonymous said:Its weird since I thought Shoe Believer had an okay start in the beginning. It wasn't anywhere near CS or Snowing but they were still okay. With every episode they just feel more and more dull and forced.

I always thought it was forced, particularly in the pilot, but I thought it might grow as the season progressed. I’m not feeling it.  They are telling us it’s true love, not showing us.  Unlike CS, Snowing or RB where we saw those relationships develop over time, this feels completely unearned, and a TLK would be like  Zades or Red Warrior where it feels like complete out-of-nowhere nonsense.  CS had to go through multiple seasons of trials and tribulations, both proving they would go to the end of the world or time for one another, before the show would even whisper True Love at them.  The writers have lost their mojo when it comes to writing a love story.

Anonymous said:After this weeks episode I'm more thankful than ever that Regina is far away from Captain Swan and everyone in storybrooke. They don't need to suffer the consequences of someone who has failed as a queen and a mayor.

Honestly, it being canon that Regina and Rumple are out of Storybrooke, is the silver lining to S7.  

Anonymous said:I’m kind of confused , since 7x02 I’ve been trying to keep up with show . But I haven’t been paying that much attention ( I usually just put it on the tv while I’m on my computer or something, so it’s really just background noise ) but I do have a question, who is that hag in lady tremaine’s basement thing ? And also ..... can you list the people who are aware that there was a curse / who’s now awake . Cuz I can’t keep up

That’s the witch.  Right now I think the only characters awake are Ivy, Regina, and sometimes Alice when she isn’t on medication.  I could be wrong though, because my ability to stay focused during this show has not been great. 

Anonymous said:I stopped watching s7 after 7x02 but as someone who still watches it/keeps tabs on it do you know if the timeline is explained like now that Lucy is born and is 10 years old does that mean captain swan's child is around that age or is Emma still pregnant cause time moves differently?

They haven’t really answered that question yet as far as I know. My gut is that very little time has passed in Storybrooke and as we speak Captain Swan is preparing for their baby. But that’s my gut, not fact. 

Anonymous said:I'm so mad - this was the last drop for me with this show. I have been watching S7 for Colin (I'm a Nielsen family and my viewing does count for the ratings) but what they had Henry say last night was the last straw. Swan Believer and their amazing dynamic in season 1 was what kept me watching the show (until CS came along ) and to have to see the writers IGNORE what was once the backbone of the original show (Emma/Henry) to prop an abusive mother/son relationship is absolute bullshit.

cont - previous ask about Swan Believer. I feel sorry for Colin and for the cast and crew, but from now on I will not be watching the show anymore. Nothing about it excites me/makes me happy. It feels like a chore. And these writers do NOT deserve to get renewed nor to get anymore chances to ruin their own canon of what was once a beautiful show.

Describing it as a chore is pretty spot on. I understand you wanting to watch for Colin (especially as a Nielsen household) but you gotta do what’s right for you.  That line seemed completely unnecessary. There were a lot of ways they could have had a nice mother/son moment without going there. 

Anonymous said:I just saw a gifset of Regina waking up from the curse. So that's really the reaction she chose to go with? She really hasn't seemed to grasp the subtleties of acting, has she?

No, she has not. However, I have to say that Lana’s acting as Roni in Hyperion Heights this episode was the least of the episode’s problems. 

Anonymous said:Did you see any of Lana's answers to her fans on Twitter? Besides laughing at the idea of her wanting to do a remake of Silence of the Lambs and play Clarice, when she was asked what she's learned from Bex she said that red heads have more fun than blondes. I imagine in this situation you answer these questions quickly and don't contemplate on your answers, but wow did that seem like a dig. And if you look through the comments all of her rabid fans seemed to think so too and were loving it.

I thought a more accurate tweet would have been  “Red heads kiss my ass better than blondes."  ‘Cause Bex has had her lips permanently affixed to her ass for years now, just the way Lana likes it. 

Anonymous said:I'm indifferent about Wish Hook, and I wouldn't mind if his daughter was Alice and they got a storyline together, but they got nowhere in this episode? And going by the promo, the mess of the wish realm strikes again as Wish Hook was realm-traveling apparently. How did a non-wish Rapunzel from a separate realm come across someone who didn't exist until present-day 6x10? This is unexplainable.

Do we know that Rapunzel is from a separate realm and not from the Wish Realm?  It would be unbelievable to think that WishHook left the WISHAU before it was created with EQ’s “wish” in 6x10.  I think looking for any sort of logic or even in-universe fairy tale logic to make sense of anything to do with the WishRealm, including WishHook, is an exercise in futility.

It simply doesn’t make sense, and each episodes they change the rules to accommodate anything they want to do.  Of course I think it’s nonsense, but I’d still rather this and have CS safely tucked away from this ridiculous season, than have them using the real Hook this season.  Because honestly I don’t care about the integrity of the storytelling in S7, I only care about CS. (though that doesn’t stop me from poking fun at it.)

Anonymous said:I honestly was not one bit surprised when Colin said he was still under contract this season, but at the same time I do believe he enjoys playing this character and I'm sure he feels loyal to the show, it has been his big break. But I have to believe with the storylines and the material he's given, if not already, then by the end of filming he'll probably be in the same mind frame as Bobby. 100% only there for a paycheck. I just hope his agent is actively seeking better opportunities for him.

We really don’t know what he’s thinking or feeling, but low ratings have got to affect things on set in some way, so it sucks if he’s in any kind of stressful environment.  Even if it’s just them getting pressured to send out scripted PR tweets for each episode. On the upside, other than 7x02, he’s been in these eps so rarely, that I’d guess he’s not working more than 1-2 days per episode, which probably means a lot of time that he can be home with his family and newborn.  It might be a blessing for them right now. As I said we can’t know, but I just wish the best for him and his future career.

Anonymous said:Was there something wrong with the Rogers' scenes? I thought they were pretty decent, especially his interactions with Alice.

To all my anons wanting to know about Rogers scenes, you’ll have to come off anon if you want to chat about it. 

[247krp]

— Rejoice, little lambs! We have recovered our own Kwon Iseul, spotted prancing about in the Southwest Side. I remember seeing her with The Plastic Committee back in high school, but I’m not here to spill yesterday’s tea. So straight to the rundown: can you say charismatic and cunning? Apparently now she spends time as a news broadcaster for SBS, and keeps skeletons buried at Geumsang Apartment Complex, A102. But those won’t stay hidden for long, if you and I have any say on it. Welcome back, Silver Tongue; we missed you so.

In case you don’t remember the devil’s name, here’s to refresh your memory:

When one thinks of Kwon Iseul, their first thought is usually something along the lines of how she was every bit as plastic as the name of her clique made her out to be. She wore different personalities like masks, removing one and replacing it with another with ease in order to get what she wanted, which in most cases, involved uncovering the truth. There was perhaps one person who could say they knew every facet of Iseul’s true self, while everyone else only saw bits and pieces of what she allowed them to see. The girl was the epitome of hypocrisy, to put it simply. But as the head of the school newspaper, there was not anything she wouldn’t do to put out a good issue.

Nevermind the memory lane though, the present is always the ripest fruit:

There is not much different that could be said about Iseul today, except for the fact that she uses a more direct approach when attempting to get what she wants, relying on her own innate charisma to get her places. Still, there are instances where she has to revert to old tactics ( the world of broadcast journalism was very cut-throat indeed, more so than it was in Cheongnam High ). Either way, she was known for her ambition and willingness to do whatever it took to succeed and excel, thus ultimately landing herself a position as a news anchor at sbs. In regards to her personal life, however, she was just as secretive as she was before, if not even more. She keeps people at arms length always, keeping people thinking that they know all there is to know about her when really they know nothing. After all, if her secret was to get out, the scandal would most likely cause the downfall of her career before it would even have a chance to fully begin.

But we are nothing if not open books – my job is to ensure you get to the best pages:

She is the first of two children, born to a steadily rising politician and a loving housewife. Despite being somewhat disappointed that their firstborn was a daughter instead of a son, they raised her well, grooming her to be the perfect picture of beauty, innocence, and respect. After many failed attempts at a second child, the two parents almost give up– until one final and successful try gives them what they had originally wanted: a son. It doesn’t take long until all their attention focuses to him, leaving a 6 at the time Iseul to her own devices. Not that she wasn’t cared for, but rather they simply were too busy already getting started in grooming the newborn to follow in their father’s footsteps. They would have been happy with Iseul becoming a housewife in the future, just like her mother was. But the young girl had other plans.

She would spend her time doing anything and everything in attempts to impress her parents and to make them proud, from keeping nearly stellar grades her entire academic career to engaging in many extra curricular activities and racking up volunteer hours with many charity organizations. The social skills she had spent learning when growing up assist her the older she gets, and by the time she gets into Cheongnam High, she fits right in and ultimately rises to the top of the social ladder of the school, taking up a position with the clique known as the plastic committee. Upon beginning to work for the school’s paper, the young woman finally discovers what it is she wants to do with her life, and for the first time she finds herself glad that she was not under the watchful eye of her parents, as they were sure to disapprove. Journalism.They hated the media, her father especially. But for once, she didn’t care what they thought, as they hadn’t the majority of her life. The more time she spends with the newspaper club, the happier she finds herself being. Life was good, if she looked passed another major part of herself she was ignoring and pushing down even further, which was her attraction towards women. It’s loosely tied into what makes her decide to betray her so-called best friend, though she would never admit that even now, and especially not back then. By this point, Cheongnam High is just a stepping stone on a long path to her career. In her mind, it was very unlikely that any of the relationships she had there would carry over into her professional life, so she didn’t care about the bridges she was burning on her way out.

Her attitude towards school however, did not change her behavior. Iseul still would do whatever it took to get where she wanted and rise higher and higher, until finally she ended up with a position as a news broadcaster with SBS.

[junker-town]

Thank You, California

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

This is a bittersweet note of thanks to our California independent contractors. In 2019, SB Nation contractors who live in California or contribute to California’s team sites did some truly amazing work: They ran 25 different communities, with all of the sites’ managers pulling together their own unique recipe for smart coverage. Contractors ran social media through the nerve-racking ups and downs of gametime and moderated our sprawling communities. Together, over 200 people on California sites wrote thousands of blog posts in 2019 – pieces so diverse in their conception that it’s impossible to describe them en masse except to say, they were written for a community of fellow fans. This is how things have run for our California blogs since 2003, when Tyler Bleszinski launched Athletics Nation.

Now comes the bittersweet part: In 2020, we will move California’s team blogs from our established system with hundreds of contractors to a new one run by a team of new SB Nation employees. In the early weeks and months of 2020, we will end our contracts with most contractors at California brands. This shift is part of a business and staffing strategy that we have been exploring over the past two years, but one that is also necessary in light of California’s new independent contractor law, which goes into effect January 1, 2020. That new law makes it impossible for us to continue with our current California team site structure because it restricts contractors from producing more than 35 written content “submissions” per year. To comply with this new law, we will not be replacing California contractors with contractors from other states. Rather, we’re encouraging any contractors interested in one of our newly-created full-time or part-time employee positions to apply (you can find them here). We know many of our California contractors already have other full-time jobs and may not have the bandwidth to apply, but we hope to see many of them join us as employees.

We are committed to three things during this transition.

First, continuing to invest more in strengthening our communities in 2020. We know this model works: Two years ago, SB Nation invested in our team sites so that we could support more writing, resource new initiatives like podcasting, and create full-time positions at our biggest communities. In California, we’re doubling down on that last part of the strategy. SB Nation employees are already running our two fastest-growing California communities, Silver Screen & Roll and Niners Nation in the role of site producer.

Second, we’re committed to continuing our relationship with team site contractors in California today. For some of them, that will mean full or part-time employment at SB Nation, but for others it will mean offering a platform: They’ve built a following among our communities and after their contracts end, they’ll have the option (but no obligation) to continue blogging on those communities whenever (and only when) they like. They will be the first of our new Community Insiders – with a special lane to write on the site and a special place on the masthead. Community Insiders’ participation in events, blogging and any other community activities will always be 100 percent voluntary with no obligations to SB Nation at all. But to the extent these incredibly talented people want to remain involved in the communities that they helped build, create and foster, they will be – with special access to the features of the best sports conversation platform on the web.

Third, we are committed to doing right by these individuals who have been honorable and respected business partners. The network Tyler built has long relied upon us giving contractors the keys to publishing what they felt their communities wanted (and needed), and these contractors consistently lived up to the spirit and the letter of their agreements with us. We’ve offered each of them paid notice that recognizes their contributions and gives them time to decide what’s next for them.

I, my team, SB Nation and Vox Media are immensely proud to have worked with California contractors past and present. To those pursuing their careers in sports media: We’re looking forward to talking about our open roles. To fans in California: Get excited for our coverage next year. To each and every contractor in California: Thank you.

[ebola-chan-love]

NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: COVID-19 Has Absolutely Impacted And Changed The Entire World, It Is A Biblical Pestilence From Matthew 24?

The headlines today are screaming at us, telling us to wake up and look around, to open our King James Bibles and connect the dots of what is truly happening. COVID-19 is not a pestilence like AIDS, Ebola, SARS, MERS chicken pox, scarlet fever or anything else, it is the Pestilence that has changed the world.

As I write this we are approximately 38 days here in America into the nation-wide COVID-19 shut down of the US economy, and a suspension of our freedoms and liberties the likes of which has heretofore never been seen since our founding in 1776. Globally, every major nation on earth is undergoing similar measures. There can be no question that the world is being shaken to its core, the only question is why, and why now?

“For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts.” Haggai 2:6-8 (KJB)

On this episode of the NTEB Prophecy News Podcast, we are looking into the ‘beginning of sorrows’ in Matthew 24, with some of the only verses in the entire chapter that can be rightly divided and applied to the Church Age, and examine the COVID-19 phenomenon in light of the prophesied ‘pestilences’ that Jesus said would precede the time of Jacob’s trouble. Our time, in the days before the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church.

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THIS LIVE END TIMES PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST WHEN IT STARTS TODAY AT NOON EST

CLICK TO LISTEN TO THIS LIVE END TIMES PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST WHEN IT STARTS TODAY AT NOON EST

The headlines today are screaming at us, telling us to wake up and look around, to open our King James Bibles and connect the dots of what is truly happening. COVID-19 is not a pestilence like AIDS, Ebola, SARS, MERS chicken pox, scarlet fever or anything else, it is the Pestilence that has changed the world. And that change has only just begun. On today’s NTEB Prophecy News Podcast, we will connect those dots and the wise shall understand.

ARTICLES REFERENCED IN THE PODCAST:

MASSIVE EARTHQUAKE IN UTAH IS THE LATEST EVENT IN A SERIES OF EVENTS THAT BEGAN ON JANUARY 1ST AND IS STARTING TO LOOK LIKE MATTHEW 24 BIRTH PANGS

DARK AND SINISTER OPENING CEREMONY OF THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS USED PREDICTIVE PROGRAMMING TO SHOW US THE COMING COVID-19 PLANNEDEMIC

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE ID2020 COVID-19 ‘IMMUNITY PASSPORT’ THAT COMBINES DIGITAL IDENTITY WITH VACCINATIONS, BLOCKCHAIN AND NANOTECHNOLOGY

1981 DEAN KOONTZ THRILLER ‘THE EYES OF DARKNESS’ ACCURATELY PREDICTED CHINESE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK EVEN NAMED A LAB IN WUHAN AS STARTING POINT

SATANIST MADONNA ANNOUNCES SHE IS JOINING THE GATES FOUNDATION COVID-19 THERAPEUTICS ACCELERATOR PROGRAM TO VACCINATE EVERY HUMAN BEING ON EARTH

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“The sole purpose of this email to you is to let you know how much we have been blessed by your amazing ministry/website. ‘We’ is my wife and I, in our early forties, 3 kids, professing, churchgoing, bible believing Christians in The Netherlands.  Since two months, I listen to your bible studies on Sunday evening, and since this week also to your prophecy podcast. I listen to them in the archives, because of the 6 hour time difference. The shofar and the blessing at 0:30 into the study never fails to make tears in my eyes. We are praying for you, we are praying for your voice, that it lasts in these incredible busy times for you. Listening to your podcasts, you seem to do it effortlessly, talking, scanning the chatbox for questions, diving into the texts, from Genesis to Revelation and everything in between, I love it when you realize after 1:30h into the study, actually a lot more subjects need to be addressed! Thank you for all your work and effort, you are doing an amazing job. Although it all seems effortlessly, I know it is not…Our faith is strengthened by your work and we are able to testify in a better way to the people around us!” Wouter D. van der Wiel

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        The post NTEB PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: COVID-19 Has Absolutely Impacted And Changed The Entire World, It Is A Biblical Pestilence From Matthew 24? appeared first on Now The End Begins.

Now The End Begins https://www.nowtheendbegins.com/nteb-prophecy-news-podcast-covid-19-has-absolutely-impacted-changed-the-entire-world-biblical-pestilence-from-matthew-24/

[adelaidecity]

Passing the gates into filmmaking success harder than ever

Posted July 20, 2018 11:26:57

Photo: Gail Kovatseff says all four Screen Makers Conferences since 2015 have sold out. (ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton) The shot at an "intimate setting" with Australian movie industry gatekeepers has attracted a sell-out crowd for next week's annual Screen Makers Conference in Adelaide. Aspiring screenwriters, directors and producers get one-on-one pitching sessions with people from all the broadcasters at the event organised by the Media Resources Centre to help new talent get noticed. MRC director Gail Kovatseff said it was increasingly difficult for fledgling filmmakers or web series creators to attract strong market attention to launch their work beyond film festivals to larger audiences. "Even if you can commit the resources, volunteer your time and have an organisation like MRC assist you with equipment and mentoring, there's still this other thing of how do I get it distributed, or how do I get an audience to pay attention to it?" she said. Film offerings 'narrowing' to mainstream Conference speaker and KOJO Production and Development head Kate Croser, whose producer titles include The Infinite Man, Boys In The Trees and the TV series Danger 5, said the Australian film landscape had seen "huge" changes in the past decade. She said a varied and diverse film landscape that was targeting differing audiences as recently as the mid-2000s was today "narrowing incredibly fast".

Photo: Kate Croser believes streaming platforms will soon engage more proactively with Australian creatives. (ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton) Instead it was favouring mainstream films with big casts and well-known directors, all of which reduced opportunities for new voices and resulted in works that were typically less bold than those of the past. "Just to even get a film financed with a distributor attached, to get exhibitors excited about putting the film on, it pretty much has to play to that silver dollar crowd," Ms Croser said. "You might have an amazing film that would play really well to a 30 to 45-year-old audience, but either that audience is not going to the cinema, or when they do they are seeing foreign films. "If you look even younger, 18 to 35, they're probably going to the Marvel films, or the big studio tent pole films, or Amy Schumer films, so trying to get a look-in there is just harder and harder." She said surveyed audiences still had an appetite for Australian films and would watch them on TV, DVD or streaming platforms, but because few people chose to see them at the cinema, theatres had stopped programming them in a "self-fulfilling prophecy". "A film like The Babadook, which was made for $2.5 million with a first-time director and was much more bold and edgy in its subject matter and handling, that film did not cut through to the Australian market," she said. "Australian audiences did not go to see that film, but when it went international it found a huge audience and has been really successful and embraced in the US, the UK and many other markets. "If you look at what's working in terms of Australian-made films branded with Australian accents [for the local market], generally speaking the audience for that is those over 55 or families." Films falling through the cracks for streamers Large players in US and UK are trending away from financing mid-budget films, a category that is instead finding a growing market through streaming services like Netflix and Amazon. But despite providing an opportunity for niche Australian films that might once have been given theatrical releases, Ms Croser warned that many were "falling through the cracks" because streamers were not proactively commissioning from Australia. "There's been a handful, but most of the time they've tended to be acquisitions that have been picked up by the market, like Cargo recently, a SA movie that was picked up at a market by Netflix," she said. "If you have a script and are packaging it up to take it out to finance, you might take it to Netflix, but most of the time they're just going to say, 'We'll wait to see what it looks like when it's finished and then we might acquire it', because it's so much safer then. "There's so much competition and people vying to be picked up by them that they can afford to wait, but it doesn't actually help you raise the money to make the film." Despite this, Ms Croser said distributors were still looking for great Australian films to sell. She said if creatives could be clever by looking at what was working in the market and present their stories to "resonate in the same space", they would improve their chances. "The other positive is I really feel we are at a transition point right now, with that gap between theatrical and streaming platforms, in terms of buyers in the Australian market. "I think it's going to become a lot more clear in coming years and Netflix and Amazon and other streaming platform buyers will be a lot more engaged in a proactive way in the Australian market." Runs on the board attracts distributors The Screen Makers Conference, which benefits from a State Government grant, runs from July 27 to 28 at the MRC and features Shine director Scott Hicks, casting agent Kirsty McGregor and actress Natasha Wanganeen. It also brings together a stream of producers and market representatives from such organisation as the ABC, SBS, Ten Network, Nine Network, Matchbox Pictures, XYZ Films, Madman Entertainment, Bonsai Films, Projector Films and Matthewswood. Ms Kovatseff said the event had sold out every year since it began in 2015, but warned it was important that content makers could demonstrate a track record when pitching for major investment. "They [distributors] might like your idea and like you, but they're not necessarily convinced you can pull it off, so there's all these other things that need to be in place, directors, attachments, or going to work on somebody else's production and slowly building that reputation," she said. Adelaide filmmaker to premiere The Flip Side One such filmmaker is Marion Pilowsky who, after making six short films, is about to premiere her first feature film. She wrote, produced and directed The Flip Side, which will be distributed Australia-wide by 20th Century Fox on August 30.

Photo: Marion Pilowsky says the pool of filmmakers has increased along with the range of opportunities. (ABC Radio Adelaide: Malcolm Sutton) Ms Pilowsky said it was very hard for a filmmaker to get financial support for any feature, "that's just the bottom line of it", because "it's a very competitive market". "I was kind of lucky in that Fox saw a clear pathway to my audience, which was woman 35-plus," she said. "The market has to believe what you're making has an audience that wants to see it and Fox believed that." She said the MRC was an "incredible organisation that created a grown-up door for emerging filmmakers and content makers", which she considered critical as a pathway. "On one level it's harder today because it used to be a much smaller pool, but now every state and place around the world has film schools and diplomas and degrees, and it's about cutting through and punching through and having your own voice," Ms Pilowsky said. "On the flip side of that, excuse the pun, is there are many more platforms for those voices. "If you don't want to slug it out and make it a labour-of-love feature, you can do a web series, or an iview series, or you can make something for TV. "There's just so many more doors to knock on." External Link:Official trailer The Flip Side Topics:arts-and-entertainment,film-movies,internet-culture,director,human-interest,people,adelaide-5000,sa http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-20/screen-makers-conference-to-kick-off-in-adelaide/10015264

[junker-town]

Who won Hall of Fame Game week in the NFL?

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Michael Thomas got a massive contract. Vic Fangio got a kidney stone. Tough call, tough call.

Winning in the NFL doesn’t just happen on the field. Victories large and small come in many different forms, ranging from nine-figure contract extensions to a few kind words said by an important figure.

While we’ve got a whole table to determine division-by-division standings and playoff odds, we often lose track of the more subtle victors each week. Rather than just running down a list of the Dolphins’ weekly opponents this fall, I decided to take a deeper look at the winners who transcend the box scores and spill glorious into the greater world as a whole.

Which is good, because this week’s, uh, limited slate of games didn’t tell the world much about the 2019 season other than which team, the Broncos or the Falcons, had the weaker fourth-string lineup. So who “won” the first, single-game week of this summer’s preseason?

First let’s start with who didn’t.

Not considered: the actual football at the Hall of Fame Game

Due to an internet outage, I missed the first two minutes of gameplay in Canton. Somehow this equated to TWO ENTIRE POSSESSIONS.

Through their first three drives, the Falcons had twice as many penalties (two) as net yards (one). Ten of the game’s first 12 drives ended in punts. Three of those punts were muffed. It took rookie quarterback Drew Lock four passes to get within three yards of his intended target downfield. Denver challenged a pass interference call seemingly just to be the answer to an obscure trivia question for years to come.

But hey, if you liked six-yard passes on third-and-9, THIS was the game for you.

the 2019 Hall of Fame Game's longest plays: 3. DEN RB Khalfani Muhammad, 31 yard run 2. ATL DE John Cominsky, 33 yard muffed punt recovery 1. DEN CB Linden Stephens, 43 yard pass interference penalty

— Christian D'Andrea (@TrainIsland) August 2, 2019

Kurt Benkert was the shining star of this wind-up car demolition derby, and he still threw for 5.4 yards per pass and left the game in the fourth quarter with a foot injury. He and Matt Schaub are currently dueling for the chance to start Atlanta’s meaningless Week 17 game after half the roster has been shunted to the injured list by conquest, pestilence, war, and death. Falcons fans will shake their heads and mournfully tell the world they “knew it would end this way.”

While we’re on the topic of premonitions Falcons fans can feel in their bones, Atlanta lost thanks to a tipped-ball touchdown on fourth down with under two minutes to play. This was the only vaguely exciting moment in football’s 2019 preseason debut.

Now, on to the winners ...

5. Resplendent old guys at the Hall of Fame Game

Tony Gonzalez is gonna look like this until he’s 80:

Tell me he wouldn’t still put up 60 catches if the Patriots or Cowboys called tomorrow.

Ed Reed would probably do all right too. He looks like he’s spent the past five seasons gearing up to fly a fighter jet against an alien invasion that will ultimately be foiled because their spaceships run on binary code.

@TwentyER pic.twitter.com/9Bd1jZ0Jqw

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) August 2, 2019

Former WCW superstar Kevin Greene (and part-time pass rusher, I guess) also made the most of his camera time.

The guy’s 57 years old and still rocking an absolute Hercules mane. Bonus points for wearing a watch apparently made from the tie-down straps of a military cargo plane.

4. Nathan Peterman, whom everyone* likes

Everyone loves an underdog. As far as NFL quarterbacks go, there’s no bigger underdog than Peterman, the man who once threw five interceptions in a 14-pass stretch to kick off his first NFL start. Getting chased out of Buffalo for ineffectiveness is typically the kind of offense that precludes a player’s journey to a budding and ultimately fruitless spring football league.

Not the Peter Man.

No, the quarterback whose bedraggled play in western New York made us all fall in love and spawned the least-hype hype video ever made is getting a second chance in Oakland. And, like the guy he beat out for a roster spot last year, Jon Gruden has a preseason crush on him for some reason.

“I like these guys. This Nate Peterman is growing on me,” Gruden told reporters at training camp. “He’s athletic. I know he’s had some nightmare performances in the NFL, but when you watch the film you can see why. It’s not all his fault, but he’s got some talent, he’s got some athleticism, he’s got some experience. Here’s an opening day starter for the Buffalo Bills last year. I take that very serious. And he’s smart. He’s done a good job, he’s been consistent and I think he’s starting to get his confidence back and we all need that.”

Naturally, this news was well received by Raiders fans. From SB Nation’s Silver and Black Pride:

No, coach, no. This is the sort of thing that Mark Davis should roll up a newspaper and smack Jon Gruden on the nose for saying. I get that Peterman played for literally the Bills and that he looks the part, like how a successful quarterback should look, in shorts. But Peterman also has a record of 1-3 as a starter and a QB/INT ratio of 3/12. He was aggressively ‘meh’ in college at Pitt, where he was essentially a more boring version of Tyler Palko, and when he got to the pro ranks based entirely on his genetics and through no achievements of his own, he proved how overmatched he was and how his decision-making ability rivals that of the kid who climbed in the gorilla pen with Harambe. Nate Peterman is the sort of musclebound stiff Vince McMahon would try and fail to make a big star in the 1980s.

But the joke’s on you, Peterman haters. Gruden’s not the only guy who likes this scrappy young upstart.

Find yourself a teammate who supports you like @derekcarrqb supports Nathan Peterman. #HardKnocksNow pic.twitter.com/WaElOAE0fA

— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) July 31, 2019

Peterman’s just out here trying to do his best, man. Listen to Derek Carr and give him his shoe deal. Preferably something from Member’s Mark.

*citation needed

3. Derek Carr, who is not threatened in the least

He gets to be friends with Peterman! He’s gonna be neighbors with Gruden!

It’s true. As David Carr said, Derek Carr has bought a home in Las Vegas. When it’s complete and he finally moves in, his neighbor will be ... Jon Gruden. #Raiders

— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) August 1, 2019

I hope he likes cookouts where the only food option is Hooters takeout.

2. Jordan Lasley, who proved himself worthy of the Raiders (while a Raven)

If you get released for punching teammates and celebrating too hard, you get to be on Hard Knocks. Sorry, that’s how the league works now.

Here, you can kind of see the ball Jordan Lasley threw into the nearby pond shortly after his fight with the DBs. pic.twitter.com/AQyrDw8509

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) July 29, 2019

The Raiders claimed Lasley — a 2018 fifth-round pick with zero career NFL receptions — days after Baltimore released him for fighting cornerback Cyrus Jones and turning his fists on safety Bennett Jackson for having the audacity to prevent him from breaking his hands on Jones’ helmet.

First fight of Ravens camp: WR Jordan Lasley takes exception to CB Cyrus Jones going high in press coverage and the two exchange blows. S Bennett Jackson tries to break it up and Lasley swings at him. Jackson then tackles Lasley to ground.

— Jamison Hensley (@jamisonhensley) July 29, 2019

Now Gruden has two quarterbacks who are best friends and an entire roster that wants nothing more than to fight anything and everything in its path.

Oakland’s final day of camp should just be a 30-man over the top rope battle royale. Last five men standing get roster spots. Winner takes on Vontaze Burfict at Halloween Havoc.

1. Michael Thomas, who now has an opinion on the capital gains tax

Is Thomas the best wide receiver in the league? It’s debatable, but you can make a strong argument for it. The fourth-year wideout has excelled in New Orleans, catching 229 passes the past two years for 2,650 yards. More impressively, he did so despite drawing constant double-teams from opposing secondaries who saw fellow wideouts like Tommylee Lewis, Willie Snead, Tre’Quan Smith, and a hobbled 33-year-old Ted Ginn and giggled to themselves, “heh, no.”

Is Thomas the highest-paid wide receiver in the league? He is now. Rather than run even the slightest risk of losing Drew Brees’ favorite target to either a preseason holdout or 2020 free agency, the Saints made him the first pass catcher to garner a $100 million contract, inking him for five years with $61 million in guarantees. He’ll now be counted on to present a field-stretching menace who not only gives Brees the latitude to make video game throws downfield, but also creates a little extra space for Alvin Kamara to create havoc.

Most importantly for New Orleans, Thomas was the balm that soothed Brees’ late-season blisters. The veteran quarterback appeared worn out while falling off an early MVP run; after recording a 126.9 passer rating in his first 10 games, that number dropped to 91.5 in his final five. Thomas’ numbers fell off in that home stretch too, but he still averaged eight catches and 65 yards per game. If the combination of extra defensive pressure and a reduced Brees aren’t enough to drop him to sub-Pro Bowl levels, what will?

Thomas got a record-setting contract and more ammunition in his battle to be crowned the league’s best receiver. And he didn’t have to play in the Hall of Fame Game. He wins this week.

Special mention: NOT Vic Fangio’s urethra

Fangio’s first game (kinda) as an NFL head coach after breaking into the pro coaching ranks 35 years ago almost didn’t happen.

Broncos’ HC Vic Fangio, scheduled to make his HC debut tonight vs Atlanta in Hall-Of-Fane game, spent a good part of the day in a Cleveland hospital with a kidney stone, per source. Fangio has not passed it yet, but he is doing better and he will try to coach tonight.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 1, 2019

That every Broncos sideline shot Thursday night wasn’t just a window into the depths of human suffering was the Hall of Fame Game’s biggest upset. Every second he stood upright was a victory over the mutiny taking place inside his own body. With pirate ships circling his kidneys, Fangio stood atop his deck, surveyed the landscape, and asked his first mate to bring him his red pants.

Not that the pain wasn’t evident at times, despite a stoic front.

Fangio, for the record, wore this expression for four straight hours. Did he do all this just to become the first NFL coach to challenge a pass interference call? Probably!

[junker-town]

All the NBA rumors and trades you need to know before the deadline

A lot of deals happened on Wednesday night. Will any more happen on Thursday?

The 2019 NBA Trade Deadline is rapidly approaching, and if you’ve been following the madness these past few weeks, you know things are about to get hectic. Heck, they already did the night before.

Here are all the trade rumors you’ve missed before Thursday’s 3 p.m. deadline, from Anthony Davis all the way on down.

Anthony Davis to the Lakers? Not so fast.

Anthony Davis has asked to be traded, but the Pelicans won’t give him away for just anything. They want the motherload. Will a deal happen?

The latest

The Pelicans still have not “engaged” the Lakers on any Davis trade, and the Lakers are losing hope. [Silver Screen and Roll]

The Lakers have “pulled out” of trade discussions, which seems like a negotiating tactic. [SB Nation]

Davis sought to make his injury return on Monday vs. Indiana, but was denied by Pelicans management. [Yahoo!]

Pelicans want to “bleed the Lakers dry,” including four first-round picks and second-round picks. [SB Nation]

Pelicans decline Lakers offer of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Michael Beasley, Lance Stephenson, Rajon Rondo, plus two first-round picks [L.A. Times]

Anthony Davis will re-sign with only four teams: Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, and Knicks [The Athletic]

Anthony Davis Sr. says he would never want his son to play for Boston, cites Isaiah Thomas trade as reason why [ESPN]

Anthony Davis will not accept five years, $239 million supermax offer from Pelicans has requested a trade. [SB Nation]

Justin Ford-USA TODAY Sports

Are the Grizzlies finally going to rebuild?

The Grit ‘N Grind Grizzlies are done. Memphis met with Mike Conley and Marc Gasol, and trading both seems likely. But will they get enough value to pull the trigger?

The latest

Indiana, Utah still interested in Conley. Toronto and Indy say Memphis’ asking price is too high [The Athletic]

Grizzlies decline Raptors offer: Jonas Valanciunas and Kyle Lowry for Conley and Gasol [Sports Illustrated]

Pistons offer Reggie Jackson and a first-round pick for Conley [Salt Lake Tribune]

Jazz offer Ricky Rubio and a first-round pick for Conley [Salt Lake Tribune]

Marc Gasol trade to Hornets was imminent enough to pull Gasol out of a game, but didn’t get completed. [Grizzly Bear Blues]

Grizzlies crowd gives Gasol a standing ovation, Conley reflects on “knowing what’s possible” and the era ending. [The Athletic]

Marc Gasol is hoping for a trade; Grizzlies aren’t interested in Andre Drummond [ESPN]

Grizzlies will listen to offers on Mike Conley and Marc Gasol. [ESPN]

Gasol, Conley meet with Grizzlies owner Robert Pera. [The Athletic]

Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports

Other rumors you need to know

Kevin Durant lashes out at media for speculating about a future with the Knicks. [SB Nation]

LaVar Ball wants Lonzo to be traded to the Suns, not New Orleans. [Silver Screen and Roll]

The Pelicans have made Nikola Mirotic, Julius Randle, and E’Twaun Moore available for trade [ESPN]

The Knicks are listening to trade offers for Wesley Matthews, but may buy his contract out [The N.Y. Times]

Otto Porter Jr. has drawn interest from Portland, Utah, Dallas, and some others. [ESPN]

Wizards have no plans to trade off any veterans, despite John Wall’s injury getting worse. [Bullets Forever]

The Hawks have made Taurean Prince available for trade, but are asking for a young player and a draft pick [ESPN]

The Trail Blazers have made their first-round pick available for trade [ESPN]

The key trades that already happened

Feb. 6: The Clippers and 76ers combined on a stunning move. L.A. traded Tobias Harris, Mike Scott, and Boban Marjanovic to the 76ers in exchange for Wilson Chandler, Mike Muscala, Landry Shamet, Philly’s 2020 protected first-round pick, Miami’s 2021 unprotected first-round pick, and two future second-rounders.

Feb. 6: The Wizards traded Otto Porter to the Bulls for Bobby Portis, Jabari Parker, and a future second-round pick.

Feb. 6: They then sent Markieff Morris to the Pelicans for Wesley Johnson, thereby getting under the luxury tax.

Feb. 6: The Kings picked up Harrison Barnes from the Mavericks for Justin Jackson and Zach Randolph.

Feb. 6: That came just after they traded Iman Shumpert to the Rockets in a three-team deal involving Cleveland. The Kings received Alec Burks and a second-round pick; Cleveland got Brandon Knight, Marquese Chriss, and Houston’s 2019 first-rounder; Houston also picked up Wade Baldwin and Nik Stauskas.

Feb. 6: The Heat traded Tyler Johnson and Wayne Ellington to the Suns for Ryan Anderson. Phoenix will buy Ellington out.

Feb. 6: The Raptors gave the 76ers a 2022 second-round pick and the rights to Emir Prelzdic as incentive to take on Malachi Richardson’s contract.

Feb. 6: The Pistons traded Stanley Johnson to the Bucks for Thon Maker.

Feb. 5: The Pistons also traded Reggie Bullock to the Lakers for Svi Mykhailiuk and a future second-round pick.

Feb. 3: The Cavaliers traded Rodney Hood to the Trail Blazers for Nik Stauskas, Wade Baldwin IV, and a pair of second-round picks.

Feb. 1: The Thunder traded Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and cash to the Bulls for a future second-round pick.

Jan. 31: Blockbuster alert! The Knicks traded Kristaps Porzingis, Courtney Lee, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke to the Mavericks for Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews, DeAndre Jordan and first-round picks in 2021 and 2023.

Jan. 21: The Rockets traded Carmelo Anthony and cash to the Bulls. That’s it. Chicago later waived Anthony.

Jan. 7: The Rockets salary-dumped Michael Carter-William to the Bulls while tossing in cash.

Jan. 3: The Bulls traded Justin Holiday to the Grizzlies for Wayne Selden, MarShon Brooks, and two second-round picks.

Dec. 15: The Wizards traded Kelly Oubre and Austin Rivers to Phoenix for Trevor Ariza. The Wizards had originally agreed to a three-team trade that landed them Ariza, but that deal was killed because Memphis confused MarShon and Dillon Brooks.

Dec. 7: The Cavaliers traded George Hill to the Bucks in a three-team trade with the Wizards. Milwaukee also got Jason Smith from Washington while giving up Matthew Dellavedova, John Henson, and unprotected 2021 first- and second-round picks. Washington also received Sam Dekker from Cleveland in exchange for a second-round pick swap.

Nov. 28: The Cavaliers traded Kyle Korver to the Jazz for Alec Burks and two future second-round picks.

Nov. 10: Early blockbuster! The Timberwolves traded Jimmy Butler to the 76ers for Robert Covington, Dario Saric,Jerryd Bayless, and a 2022 second-round pick.