#the game is still pretty new for us global players and i just LOVE. TALKING ABOUT THINGS

[vasito-de-leche]

;R1999 "COVER" section analysis (1)

Analysis and theories on how to interpret the characters' profiles in the Cover section of the game, such as their exhibition year, ages, their medium, afflatus etc. A full dissection of the profiles.

I started seeing a lot of people argue about whether a character's first exhibition date correlates or not to their birth year, if their ages are correct and all the little inconsistencies that make it difficult to understand, so obviously I wanna talk about it lolol

disclaimer that I do not play or follow CN updates, I only play the global version! but I invite everyone with more insight (hehe....insight) to discuss in reblogs, replies or tags! (<- loves discussing viddygames)

I'm ALSO gonna be VERY pedantic and explain some stuff that might seem super obvious or go on really long tangents because this game is relatively new, so I don't wanna assume everyone is on the same page and alienate some ppl from discussing the lore and cool stuff of the game!

First of all, I would like to point out something that most people know by now about the character profiles, just in case someone hasn't seen it yet: the "Cover", "Item" and third unlockable story for every character are all written by Pandora Wilson for the UTTU magazine.

When you go to a character's cover page, there's an extra menu that can be found by tapping on the UTTU logo on the top right corner, as pictured here.

Which leads you to the following page, a Reader's Guide for UTTU's magazine.

The contents of the Reader's Guide are a little scattered and confusing, sometimes their own text format breaks as well, such as points 5, 6 and 8 being in the same paragraph as opposed to a proper numbered list. Or point 11 having a weird line break mid-sentence.

There are three items pictured on the guide, which have letters spelling out different words. The first one spells "ARCANUM", the second one "MAGAZINE" with "SELF-UPDATING" upside down, and the last one spells "ENJOY reading". Not pictured above is the full proper end of the guide:

But overall, this guide is important because it explains the formatting of the profiles and why they're worded a certain way. The implication is that the character profiles are interviews of all arcanists that Pandora Wilson and UTTU encounter, archiving and exhibiting their information like works of art.

There are some people who offered the idea of the profiles being written by Vertin, since the voicelines imply all characters are talking to her - but this cannot be, since the voicelines are just an archive of the lines said during other situations, such as being in the main menu (her suitcase) or battles (guided by her). In this case, it is extradiegetic within the context of the magazine (though the Guide does allude to the magazine being able to emit scents and have moving pictures within).

There is also another theory which replaces Vertin with the Foundation instead, given the events of the main story. For those who don't know, in the main story there is a very heated political debate within the Foundation regarding Vertin and all the arcanists she's gathered, on whether they deserve to be an independent group led by her or go through their usual regulation system. This theory implies that the information given in the profiles are reports made by the Foundation.

But given UTTU's Reader Guide and every 03 Story, we can all safely confirm that they're all written by them and Pandora Wilson. The items' description are also written from Pandora's perspective. This might be a lot just to establish a single thing, but I wanna be thorough!

As for why UTTU magazine specifically chose to portray all arcanists as pieces of art, using words like exhibit and measuring them the same way one would a statue, I don't have a very clear answer!

The game overall has a lot of themes regarding art, like Vertin's tuning abilities "First Melody" and "Grand Orchestra" being so obviously music themed. She's portrayed as a conductor for the arcanists she leads. The art theme also lines up pretty well again with the main story and how Vertin, as a Timekeeper, is meant to record time and events for the Foundation but she also keeps track of the people she meets and their endeavors, not for the Foundation but herself. It makes sense to me that the arcanists she takes in are seen as "artwork" by UTTU, they're stuck in time and represent an era that is no longer possible to reach or that has long passed. It makes sense that they're archived and represented as such to me, at least!

With that, we can finally go into the actual cover page for the characters. I'll be using the characters that I personally own and I'm most familiar with as examples. So everyone say hello to Pavia again.

Right away, we're hit with an unknown term - "mixed".

In the "Atlas" menu, there's three sections - "Story Review" which allows you to see the full story of the game as you unlock it, with some of the trails you can unlock (this is irrelevant to the post, I just wanna say it here in case anyone can help me out - but some of the trails don't seem to be recorded in this menu and there is no way to find them again?), then there's "Role Atlas", which I'll get to in a second, and "Psychube", a collection of all Psychubes.

The Role Atlas is, once again, written by UTTU. You can see their logo in all the magazines and there is the UTTU Bound Volume of all characters in one menu. The text on the covers varies, but I cannot read most of them clearly, the text inside does not change. All five of them in order are:

The Beyond

The Awakened

Arcanists

The Mixed

The Infected

All character's profiles begin by stating which of these categories they fit in. The VAST majority of the characters fall within the "Arcanists" group, so it's very easy to assume that all human characters will fall within this section, while others such as Door or Mr. Apple would fall in categories like "Awakened" by virtue of being objects.

And this is where it gets tricky, because as far as I know, there is no official description for any of these categories nor what they fully entail! But bear with me, there's a thought process somewhere in here.

The "Beyond" seems to be self-explanatory - it encapsulates any living creature that comes from space and isn't native to Earth, such as Voyager and aliEn T.

The "Awakened" seem to be inanimate objects native to Earth that gained consciousness and self-awareness, such as Mr. APPLe, Sputnik and Ms. Radio. But that is immediately put into question when seeing characters like Darley Clatter, Door and TTT being categorized as "Arcanists" instead.

There are only two "Mixed" characters - Pavia and Satsuki. The word alone could easily imply that they're either "half-arcanists", and thus less respected due to their lesser Arcanum abilities, or that their Afflatus is mixed, but Afflatus and the way they're assigned onto characters is still very vague, because they don't seem to align with their actual use of magic.

And then, we have the "Infected". There are no characters labelled as such so far, so there's nothing to speculate here.

With all of this in mind, I would like to point out the wording of the profiles. I will add a few examples here in order of category (Beyond, Awakened, Arcanist, and then Mixed).

Notice how Mr. APPLe, Darley Clatter and Pavia's description are notably different than aliEn T's? Compare "A supernatural work" to "A mixed's work".

I don't own Voyager, but her profile listed in the wikifandom site follows the same pattern as aliEn T. It is very distinct to me that neither aliEn T nor Voyager, the only two characters who come from actual space, aren't described as "A supernatural's work".

The point I'm trying to make here is that the first phrase of the profiles alludes to the character's parents or creator, rather than themselves.

After all, the character is the artwork, it makes sense that they allude to their origins/heritage - in this case, crediting the "artist" that brought them to life. With the examples given, it makes sense to me that the Beyond cannot be anyone's work, by virtue of being aliens. Human concepts such as family and such don't necessarily have to apply to aliens. Their origins can easily be much too complex to understand by our standards.

One might argue that this theory falls apart when examining the Awakened - after all, they're described as "An Awakened's work". But I have to insist that the Awakened are confirmed to be inanimate objects that became sentient on their own, and thus they are given credit for their own "existence" so to speak. I'd like to point out the introductions posted on the official global twitter for these three characters. Mr. APPLe's does not allude to the moment he became sentient, but Ms. Radio's and Sputnik's do.

And speaking of sentience, I chose Darley Clatter as the example for the "Arcanist" category because it perfectly illustrates the point I'm trying to make. Darley Clatter is not a human in any way whatsoever, it's a toy horse. But the difference that sets Darley Clatter apart from the "Awakened" is the fact that he was MADE by an arcanist rather than gaining sentience himself. He exists and is able to move and talk thanks to an arcanist - this is explained in his 01 Story

If you don't feel like reading it, here's a short summary - it tells us about a young girl named Lilian who wants a horse and how her father, who spoils her way too much, approaches an unnamed arcanist to make her dreams come true. The arcanist then gets the ingredients needed and prepares a speech for Lilian's father, insisting that the foal they created will be better than any other real horse. Thus, making Darley Clatter an arcanist's work.

But then it leads me to characters like La Source, Pickles or Door. La Source is easy to explain, as she's a magical creature. Nature itself and some animals aside from critters are presented as inherently magical in some ways, so that could also explain Pickles. I'm pretty sure one of the tips displayed in loading screens says something similar to "sentience has nothing to do with arcanum ability", which supports the previous statement. As for Door? I have no idea!

And there's also the more vague characters, who were implied or hinted to have been humans and are now supernatural entities such as TTT, Rabies, Poltergeist or Click. I'd argue that the supernatural aspect of it lines up with nature as an inherently magical thing, but that could be a reach.

Another point against the theory I offer is the fact that it implies most of the characters come from arcane bloodlines, and arcanists are said to be a minority. But how can they be a minority if everyone and their dog (hehe, Pickles....get it...) comes from arcane bloodlines?

During Constantine and Madame Z's divorce arc the last two chapters, one of the main points of tension within the Foundation is the fact that there are more arcanists than there used to be in the past (hinted to be a result of the "Storm"). And that these arcanists no longer feel comfortable having so many restrictions within society now that they're no longer a minority that's easy to ignore. While this information could work as an argument to support my theory, I think it's easier to remember that all the characters in-game are people that Vertin takes along to brave the storm with her - as seen with Regulus, they're special. The fact that there's so many of them isn't an issue. The ones not relevant to the main story are summoned with the spinning wheel from their respective times, it is not indicative of a high amount of Arcanists overall because they don't share the same space or time.

Characters like Druvis III, Mesmer Jr, Matilda and Sotheby are stated to come from prestigious or important arcanist families, but for other characters its either a subtle implication or their families are not addressed in the slightest.

And this finally brings us to the "Mixed" - where do they fit? Does this term allude to something different, just like the "Beyond"? Are they Mixed because their Afflatus is different? Or because they come from a family that includes both Arcanists and non-magical humans? Or because they're not full Arcanists? For this, we have to examine both Satsuki and Pavia. Both of them share a very particular detail that is important to their respective backstories: neither of them know their parents.

Satsuki is an orphan, which led her to start a life of crime out of necessity. The defining trait of her character is that she's trying to put her past behind her. This excerpt is from her 01 Story.

On this hopeless land, the orphan girl could only make a living by theft, which had earned her the title "Little Thief Using Arcane Skill" from the local government.

As for Pavia, he was sent to live with his aunt after his mother's death. The information on Pavia's parents is mentioned in his 02 Story and one of his voicelines.

His aunt did not like him. The child's face resembled that of her beautiful, sorrowful sister who had abandoned her, gone to the city, then died a few years later.

Mio padre (my father) was missing, Mia madre (my mother) was in the asylum. I can't remember her face, but I vaguely remember the rhyme she sang me... She's in Rome, probably in her middle age. I've never visited her.

On Pavia's specifically, there is a little confusion from my part since his 02 Story says that his mother died a few years after she left for the city, but then Pavia's voiceline implies she's still alive. I go into detail about that in this other post here, so I won't do it again either cause this post is already long as shit.

Either way, the main thing to keep in mind is that neither of these characters knew their parents, which could explain why "Mixed" is a category for Arcanists whose families and bloodlines couldn't be properly traced on account of not knowing them.

But also, "Mixed" encompasses arcanists who aren't purebloods, as implied by this document on Manus Vindictae from chapter 3:

"Holding a grudge against humans and contempt for the mixed, these extreme racists only recognize the bodies ruled by arcanist's blood as 'mankind'."

"In that case, humans, arcanists on the human side, and the mixed who tolerate the pollution of arcanist's blood [...]"

The wording used to described the Mixed speaks for itself. There's a discussion to be had about the parallels between the stigma against Arcanists and real life racism, or rather, how it replaces racism as we know it within the universe of the game. But that's an entire different debate. Overall, it's safe to assume that "Mixed" is a term for those without traceable and/or fully arcane families.

As for the "Infected", I have nothing to say because there's no one in that list! From what I can gather trying to look up information on them, Schenider was put on that list in the CN version for the demo, but was later taken out. I'll leave it at that for this part.

The next part of the profile states when they were exhibited and for how long. The first thing that comes to people's minds is to assume the year/era stated is when the character was born and that the age listed is their current age.

But upon closer inspection, that year of birth theory falls apart rather quickly because of characters like Regulus, who has been "exhibited" in two different centuries. Satsuki as well has two different ages listed. Or the fact that characters who should know their exact birth year instead have an approximation of it, like Matilda. Sonetto, despite being on the same age range as both Vertin and Matilda, is listed to have been exhibited in the 20th century too instead of the 1990's like Matilda's profile. Lilya, who was also in the Foundation at the same time as those three, is said to have been exhibited in the second half of the 20th century. They're within the same period, but imply very different things in the end. It's little details and wordings that simply don't add up.

But the biggest thing that ruins this assumption is the fact that characters born in the 90's simply wouldn't have any time to be the age they're listed as, because time began to go backwards on the year 1999.

This might be something explained in future CN chapters or events, I recall seeing people talking about how there are hints and clues about how time might've advanced up to 2006, that Vertin has been lied to in that regard, that the Foundation knows more than it lets on. And that could definitely affect my current analysis, but again, I'm a global player </3.

So assuming time DID stop in 1999 AND that the years listed are their birth years... Let's talk about Matilda and Pavia, characters stated to have been exhibited in the 1990's. Pavia is stated to have been exhibited for 25 years, while Matilda has been exhibited for 14 years - there are 11 years of difference between them, already impossible for characters who were both born in the 1990's. If Pavia was born in 1990, Matilda would've had to have been born in 2001 for their ages to line up. This isn't even taking into consideration the fact that they would've also have to live BEYOND 1999.

One could argue that they could've continued aging as expected with the reversal of time, but Matilda is the only one who could've done so by virtue of being a student within the Foundation - who are not affected by the "Storm". Pavia wouldn't have been able to, because only those special Arcanists can brave the storm if they're WITHIN Vertin's suitcase. The other option to survive a storm would be to work with the Foundation or Manus Vindictae. I can also safely say that Vertin wouldn't have been able to save Pavia on time, on account of being a child and the fact that Regulus was the first Arcanist she ever saved - something that took place in 1966.

Which begs the question: what does the year a character was first exhibited mean?

I've been told that one of the most popular theories within the CN fandom is that the year dictates the moment the character developed their Arcanum. For a magazine that focuses on Arcanists' and the truth about them, it makes sense to focus on when they first began to develop their unique Arcane skills. It does help with some age inconsistencies, but it leads me to think again about the previous examples.

Pavia first developed his skills as a child - it's the same argument as before. The timeframe is much too narrow for things to line up with his current age. And again, there's characters with more than one exhibition date.

I think it's pretty simple and that we might be reading too much into it: an exhibition is just a public display of art. The exhibition date is just the eras in which the characters were seen. The era they're from.

I don't have Regulus, but I remember her global Cover profile lists two different ages. The wikifandom states this for her profile: "Exhibited in the mid-20th century for 15 years." The era listed, mid-20th century, is equivalent to the period between 1930s and 1960s - this lines up with the main story, as Regulus braves the "Storm" from her era in 1966 (note she was already 15) to 1929.

For characters that aren't relevant to the main story (or that simply aren't affiliated with the Foundation or Manus Vindictae) the era they were exhibited in could apply to the moment they were taken from by Vertin's spinning wheel - the abilities of the item and the way characters are summoned seems to transcend time and space, leaving it all vague, magical and mysterious enough to make it work without too much scrutiny.

Next! The date the characters' were "completed" is simply their birthday. This is easy to check, since we can check all birthdays of the month when looking at the Sign-In menu and tapping on the birthday cake on the top right.

Right now, as of writing this, it's December. Rabies' birthday is on the 14th, which aligns with the information on his Cover profile.

Next, their place of birth and different places of exhibit. Pretty self-explanatory too! This is where they were born and all the relevant places the character might've traveled to throughout their life.

This post got very long, so I'll be talking about the remaining sections in a different one! If you've read this far, thank you! And if you have more insight, thoughts or would like to discuss details I might've missed, overlooked or that you feel are relevant, I'm all ears! I love talking lore and theories with others <3

[i-rate-horse-games]

rating Star Stable Online

Star Stable Online is a MMORPG! its plot seems to get pretty wild!

upon discovering that Fish was an option in the drop down name creators, i cackled with joy. this is Rusty Fishfish and Futurefish

our goal in this world was to become Fish. one glorious leap into the ocean showed us that it would be harder than anticipated, due to having taken a ‘dangerous’ fall. luckily it doesn’t seem like horses can be injured, even though the screen flashes red if you trip while jumping. 

i joined right after the new character models became available. i think they’re pretty neat! some of the body types looked androgynous to me, but the game calls you a girl regardless. but you can still buy facial hair in the shop!

the world is a nice size! it’s scaled small enough that you feel like you’re going places even when your horse is physically moving a little slow, and the world is big enough that there’s plenty to explore while still being small enough that you see other players going about their lives pretty frequently. 

speaking of other players! shout out to @ro-sso for warning me to never open the global chat. i did! i asked how to get hay after very rapidly forgetting what i had just learned. three people told me it grew on a farm. i said Ok. when i did find the hay (in a shop) i told the chat i had been betrayed and bamboozled and they said “BAHAHAHAHAHA”. later i used the Say chat to ask for help finding a championship that was starting soon, and everyone nearby was very helpful. you win some you lose some

quests seem to be the biggest part of the game! they’re how you get player and horse exp and level up and get better stats for competing. a lot of the quests i did felt very tedious. lots of riding back and forth and delivering messages and so forth. the worst ones involved herding horses that kept splitting into smaller groups and running around a mall doing errands for a sketchy guy. my favorite quests were the ones where i got to open my backpack and drag a tool onto something, which felt like playing Nancy Drew. there was also one where we got to follow the visible smell of pumpkin pie on a trail to a little cottage, and it was nighttime so there were cricket sounds as well!

there’s so much love and soul packed into this world! there’s a pony who was elected mayor! there’s a pirate themed race that has music just similar enough to the Pirates of the Carribean music to remind you of it while also remaining distinct! there’s a riding club that “wears pink and not only on wednesdays.”! there’s a girl with a pet owl named Toby who says “Even though he blathers about it, Toby loves bugs.” there’s vague sounds of people talking in areas with lots of NPCs! there’s a kid with a hot air balloon who takes you up to the cloud kingdom! he has a pet frog who can ride on your head! there’s an emo electric violinist who was really funny! you can get a kitten for your saddlebag! the music is pretty decent!

the clothes very strongly remind me of being 12. something about the slightly awkward way the clothes fit is nostalgic. there were also lots of flower crowns for the summer solstice!

a huge point for this game is that it has its own pride festival!

there’s just something about going to a new place and seeing rainbow flags everywhere, especially after the horrors of horse isle 3. i hear this game also has canon lesbian characters! this does make it even funnier that all players are assigned Cowgirl at login

the one thing that really surprised me is that if you play without a membership, you are apparently trapped in a demo version, and the rest of the game is locked behind a paywall. this sprang up on me after i started running out of quests. the game told me to level up to unlock more main quests, but the only way to get player exp was to do quests, and i pretty much ran out. this concept is really foreign to me, since every game like this that i’ve played before, the membership made your life much easier and more posh, but free players could still get a lot out of the game. games like club penguin, pixie hollow, animal jam, etc. it’s only about $5 a month, though, with a permanent membership option for over 50 dollars. i have not purchased it, but if I ever do, i will update my rating. :)

while googling the above problem to figure out what was going on, i learned that there's no level cap and there's seasonal events that give EXP, so even if you've finished the whole game, there can still be players more powerful than you with better stats dominating the competition. that seems ! a little rough! they also said that after you beat the game, there's not much left to do. hopefully the fun part is the journey and not the destination!

all in all, though, we did it. we became Fish.

and that makes it all worth it.

i’m rating Star Stable Online 4.5 out of 5 stars!

★★★★✬

please feel free to submit horse games or ask me to reevaluate! next up is Alicia Online!

[redwineconversation]

Sonia Bompastor OLPlay Night Systems Interview (April 11, 2023)

Me looking at the list of everything I have to translate/transcribe: what is love if not self-loathing at this point?

'Blah blah usual stuff applies. Also Jule asks the best questions so I flag what is asked by him because I do have my favorites. I'm not going to name certain mouthpieces for other clubs but it turns out you can be part of their media / comms team and still hold the club and its representatives accountable. A novel concept for some, I know.

Finally, I will ask again that if you post this outside Tumblr - and I really am fine if you do that - to please just link to the post rather than a mass copy/paste. xx

SONIA BOMPASTOR OL NIGHT SYSTEMS INTERVIEW

[Jule gives synopsis of upcoming topics]

Journalist: Thank you, Jule, for that summary. How are you doing?

Jule: I'm good, thanks for asking. Hello to everyone. It's a good Tuesday with a good program ahead of us.

Journalist: I see that you have a big smile, even more than usual. I feel like you're happy to be doing this show.

Jule: I'm always happy to do it. But you're spoiling me, the day before my birthday, you're spoiling me.

Journalist: You're just like the players. They're always like "yeah, yeah, I'm super motivated for the next game". But we all know there are some games that motivate them more than others. You're the same.

Jule: Yeah, it's go time. It's what you aim for in Europe. I'm here for it, I showed up, I put on my best shirt for the occasion.

Journalist: Didn't button it up though. Let's not ahead of ourselves.

Jule: Well usually I'm in sweatpants. This is new to me.

Journalist: And if you're so happy about things, it's because tonight's guest is Sonia Bompastor. Hi, Sonia.

Bompastor: Good evening everybody.

Journalist: All good?

Bompastor: All good, yes. It's perfect.

Journalist: We're welcoming you in such good spirits.

Bompastor: Yes, everyone is in a great mood. But you're putting a lot of pressure on me. I know it's my job and that I'm used to it [pressure], but I thought it would be a bit more lighthearted.

Journalist: Well, Sonia, we're going to look back on the beginning of the season, the season overall, obviously, the month of March which was intense, the rest of the season since there is the French league to go win, the Coupe de France to go win. We're also talk about the French National Team, we'll talk about next season. There's a lot to cover and a lot of questions we want to ask you. But first of all. This international break, it must be good for you. The month of March was pretty intense. Here I can imagine that these 15 days off will allow you to breathe a little bit.

Bompastor: Yeah, it's true. It's true that the month of March was was intense. It was packed, we played games where there was a lot at stake. So the international break is actually something where we can work a little differently, with less players but more detailed, more focused. But we're still working. The days are a little shorter than usual but there's still a lot of work. The end of the season is coming up and we have to be ready for that.

Journalist: How did you experience this month of March overall? There were two rounds of the Coupe de France, three league games - I'm counting the Reims [Coupe de France] game even though it was on April 2 or April 3, for me it qualifies as being before - and then obviously the two Champions League games against Chelsea. How did you experience it overall?

Bompastor: Globally, there were some satisfying parts even if the frustration from the elimination of the Champions League is still predominant. We need to push it aside but that will take some time. But we're still in the race for the league title and the Coupe de France. We need to keep that in mind heading into the end of the season. There are still two objectives. We need to be focused on that.

Journalist: And we'll talk about it throughout the show, all the points you raised. But before we do that, Sonia, we want to focus a little bit on the men's team in that it concerns the role of a coach. You'll see why. It's because Jule and I decided to focus on non-changes from Laurent Blanc in the Reims game.

Jule: It's something that surprised us. Lauren Blanc didn't use any substitutes in the match against Reims. It was the first time he had done that, so it was pretty rare. We listened to both the head coach and assistant coach. Before we go into it, I suggest we listen to [the clip of] Lauren Blanc who justifies his decision not to use substitutes.

[Segment featuring the postgame interview with men's head coach Laurent Blanc]

Blanc: I kept the players as is because I was satisfied with what I was seeing in the second half, even if some of players were tired. We learned to our detriment that when you bring players on [during a game] there is a period of adaptation, so yeah. We've just played three games. I preferred not to make any changes. I don't know if I was right, but what I saw on the field really gave me a lot of satisfaction. And I think they deserved to see it through.

[Back to studio]

Journalist: So no substitutions, the explanations from Laurent Blanc are pretty clear. First of all because, and we talked about this yesterday, he was satisfied with his starting 11. And then, Jule, it's also because we've seen what the substitutes have brought onto the field. Or rather what they haven't brought.

Jule: There was a rather damning sentence in Laurent Blanc's explanation: "we learned to our detriment there can be a period of adaptation." Let's look at the numbers.

[Discussion about the men's statistics when it comes to substitutes]

Journalist: Sonia, I'm glad you're on the show since we're talking about this subject. I'm not going to bombard you with questions about substitutes. But I will ask, have you ever had a situation where you didn't make any substitutions, or, taking it a step further, make substitutions based on previous games or is it based on how the players perform in previous games or how they performed during the week in training? Are you punishing the players or rewarding them?

Bompastor: No. It's true that it's really rare these days to have head coaches who don't use any substitutions during a game. Why is it rare since we are allowed 5 substitutions, 5 possibilities to use a substitute. And it's true that when you're playing a lot of games in a season, it's also a form of load management when the score has been achieved. That was the case of the men's game last Sunday agains Rennes. Sometimes within the context and scoreline in the game, you can manage the load of the players. And that allows you to reward certain players. So that's an obvious thing. Now I think that if Laurent [Blanc] did not make any substitutions, it's also because he isn't satisfied with what he saw in the previous game, where it seems that he just wasn't satisfied with the performances of certain players. Now you do know that as head coach there is a context, and sometimes you do things with the aim of achieving a specific result. It doesn't always work out the way you want. Obviously we hope it will work out the way we want as much as possible, but sometimes it doesn't. And then you also have the context of the game itself, and you try to do what it best for the team in any case.

Journalist: And we know that amongst the players, men and women, there are some who perform better when they are starters, there are some who can perform really well when they come on as substitutes, and there are some who really struggle when they come on as substitutes. Is that something we take into consideration when choosing the starting 11?

Bompastor: Yes, yes of course. It comes down to how well we know our players. It's so important to know your players in order to make the best decisions. Now obviously I have some players who perform better as starters than if they come on as a substitute. And the reverse. I have players, sometimes the youngsters, who when they come on during the game, play better than when they are starters. But those are things we should know and what you take into consideration when deciding which starting 11 is best for the game,

Journalist: And what precisely do you do to convince a player that they will be a super sub? Because we know how competitive things are with OL Feminin, we know they all want to play, they all want to be starters. Is it easy to say "okay, you'll be on for 15-20 minutes because that's when you're most efficient which I know will get under your skin because you won't be a starter"?

Bompastor: But that's actually a positive thing, that they don't accept just sitting on the bench. That's great. It's better that they are like that rather than -

Journalist: [imitating a player] No it's cool, I don't care if I don't play.

Jule: [also imitating a player] Not a starter? I'll take 20 minutes, totally fine.

Bompastor: - so it's better to have to deal with those sorts of problems. But for me it's obvious that you need to focus on being objective [Malard????]. Often being objective is showing via film how the player is performing, it's statistics for some of them, saying "okay, when you start a match, these are your statistics, when you come in as a substitute, the statistics are different and are more in your favor." It can be in a speech, with film. It's always interesting for the players to have video as a form of reference, to be able to correlate the suggestions with the performances. It's always more pertinent and it helps them understand things better.

Journalist: You talk about film. During this international break, we know there are a lot of international players at Lyon, so there are very few players at practice. Do you use film during the international break or are there too few players and it's not worth it?

Bompastor: We use it less, because during training sessions we're more focused on individual aspects. There's also a lot of young [academy] players present. So less during the international break, but it's also a period where we take the time to talk things through with certain players. Film is something we use a lot when we're playing matches but also in certain training sessions when we're working on tactics. So now [in this international break] it's a bit more complicated when you have four or five players in training, working on the team or on tactics is more difficult.

Journalist: About that, what do you mean you say focused on the individual? At the moment there are only five players, five professional players at least.

Bompastor: The idea is - well, in the morning's training session, the idea was to focus on duels from a defensive approach as well as offensive. And on the strength side of it, the athletic side. And that really allows us to focus on the individual aspect with each player based on what aspects they still need to improve on. But during the international break we also use the boys from the academy, the U-15, U-16s. That allows us to inflate the numbers and maintain the intensity during the training sessions. For instance tomorrow, we will be able to play a little 7 v 7, with the group. That's also important because it allows us to work with a greater number of players, to have bigger plays. And also allows us to evaluate the academy players.

Journalist: And that allows us to say that it's going well in R1 [regional] and they are very close to being promoted to this Third Division. That's important to note.

Bompastor: Exactly.

Journalist: And also during the international break, we saw you make some excursions to OL Valley. As such we get the impression that since there are so few players, it's not quite like a camp, but it's the opportunity to break away from the daily routine, to have less pressure and just get away from things.

Bompastor: Yeah, exactly. First of all it allows for the players to get out of the Lyon bubble and have a change of scenery. That's always good for them, they come back refreshed. But it also allows for the players who stay behind to have a different work schedule. So we try to focus a bit more on the mental aspect, but in a ludic manner, all the while maintaining the expectations and demands we have to work. But I mean last Friday we did a 5 v 5, staff versus players.

Jule: Who won?

Bompastor: I'm not going to tell you. I can't say it. But there you have it, those are nice moments, it allows us to work on our relationship with the players that we might not get to do otherwise when we're on our normal daily routine and have games every three days.

Journalist: There's a lot of international games this evening, we'll get back to that. But for now we're going to focus on Sunday's game, the game against Paris FC. There are only five games left, Sonia. We're going to look at the calendar for the rest of the season. And it's easy to deduce we're at a really important part of the season. It's the final sprint.

Bompastor: Yeah, indeed. We're in the home stretch. There are five games left: the final of the Coupe de France and four league games. We're in the home stretch and have to perform. Now it's true that for the league, we have a one-point lead and we want to keep it. We hold our fate in our hands. And we'd really, really like to end with those two trophies which remain.

Journalist: When you look at the calendar, we see that Dijon and Reims are theoretically - and I do say theoretically because last season Lyon dropped points against ASSE, this season we dropped points against Guincamp. PSG also dropped points against Fleury and other teams, Le Havre. But in theory Paris FC and PSG are, on paper, two of the more formidable opponents than Dijon and Reims. So the game on Sunday against Paris FC is especially important. So let me phrase it like this, Sonia. Do you think that to win the title, you have to be ahead of PSG when you play the second to last league game [which is against PSG]? Mentally, will that change things or that we can go there and win even if we're behind on points, it's not at the end of the world?

Bompastor: I want to say both. But in the current situation what is important is to keep that one-goal lead, take it one game at a time with the goal each time of getting those three points. To be in a more comfortable position when we play the return game against Paris [Saint-Germain]. But we saw it in the home leg, where we were in front of Paris [Saint-Germain] before the home game in December, we played them here at home, and when they beat us they went ahead of us in the table. So it's more comfortable. But we have to win the last four games anyway in order to be champions.

Jule: And staying with what he is saying, do you think that the Coupe de France game which will be played a week before the league game, do you think it will have an impact on the league game or is two separate competitions with a completely different context and so won't matter?

Bompastor: Two separate competitions, that's obvious. However you will need to have the same state of mind. Final of the Coupe de France, final for the league. So the mental aspect will be really important. And for me whichever team wins the Coupe de France will have the mental edge going into the league game. But once again both teams have the qualities to turn the situation around no matter what happens in the first game.

Journalist: We're going to have a look at that goal which allowed Paris Saint-Germain to take the lead in December at the Groupama Stadium. At that moment you're right, they went ahead of you in the table, but in the way you played - and I will give you the chance to correct me - you were better than Paris Saint-Germain that night.

Bompastor: Within the context of the game, it's true that we have a lot of regrets over the final score. We feel like we dominated this Paris [Saint-Germain] team. But the top level - I say this all the time - you have be efficient at the top level. Today it's only the results that matter. If you had told me "Sonia, you will be dominated for 85 minutes, but at the end it's you who will get the three points" I would have taken that deal before the game. So we have to capable in the context of the game to perform well, to put away our chances by being efficient and scoring goals.

Journalist: Obviously by being efficient. But the context of the game - if they tell you, "For the next game against Paris Saint-Germain, you will have the same control in the game overall, you will put them in difficulty the same way" but also being efficient and scoring. Overall, would that work for you?

Bompastor: Yeah, but the point you brought up is the most important one. You have to capitalize on your chances. We performed really well from a defensive aspect. In terms of possession, we were able to control of the ball. But that's not enough. To be more of a perfectionist, to be in line with my expectations, you have to be more efficient. And this control, it needs to be complemented by playing well in the final third, where you're able to get into the box, to hurt the opponent -

Journalist: Like you did during the Trophee des Championnes.

Bompastor: Exactly. We were more efficient. We had Delphine [Cascarino] with the overlapping run, she took a shot at the goalkeeper, and we have people in the box who had followed up behind. We have the qualities to do that. We have to remain confident. So over these two games, we have the quality and talent to win, but we will have to take it very seriously because Paris [Saint-Germain] remains a really tough opponent.

Jule: There is something missing for the context though for the game in December. Lyon outshot Paris Saint-Germain 20-6, but the final shots on goal were 4-3. So when you're only putting one shot out of five on goal, it's more complicated. However for the game in the Trophee des Championnes, there was the ICC right before, it went really well, Lyon was in control of the game. PSG was able to create a couple of chances but they weren't threatening. We never got the feeling that PSG was going to turn it around.

Bompastor: Yeah. And at the beginning of the season we had a completely different dynamic. As you said, we had just finished preseason in the US, we won the tournament over there, we also had Ada Hegerberg on the field, who obviously helps us be more efficient.

Journalist: But she's coming back.

Bompastor: Yes. And that's really good news. And it's true that Paris was starting their season with a new coach, their roster had been shaken up, they were putting their project in place. They have more certainties on their side nowadays.

Journalist: And they did two good games against Wolfsburg. They came pretty close to knocking out Wolfsburg. That will give them - well I imagine you watched the games. You use it a lot to prepare for the upcoming games. Do you rely more on what they [PSG] did against Wolfsburg since it was so recent, just a few weeks ago, or do you rely more on the league game and the Trophee des Championnes game that we played against them in December and August respectively?

Bompastor: Our job is to use everything. We have to analyze all the games. It's nice that we have an experienced staff who is able to gather information as the games take place. But it's true that what happened against Wolfsburg reflects this Parisian team's form more accurately.

Jule: It's a question we asked Lyon's video analyst a couple of weeks ago.

Journalist: The final of the Coupe de France will be on May 13 between Lyon and PSG. But before that happens, there is the game on Sunday against Paris FC. A team that caused you a bit of difficulties in the first leg.

Bompastor: Yes. It's true that when we played them in the first leg it was in the same context as last season, meaning that we had just played a UWCL game that Thursday night, and then played Paris away. So a lot of tiredness from our part. It's true that Paris FC is a good league opponent with some really talented players, notably Mathilde Bourdieu, Clara Mateo, Gaëtane Thiney in terms of attack. So we know it will be a really difficult game, we will have to be very good defensively. And once again when we have the ball we need to be able to score.

Journalist: And you showed a lot of character in that game, because it was really complicated, as you said. There was a Champions League game a few days before, you had fallen behind 2-1 against the run of play - and there was an offside which wasn't called by the referee.

Bompastor: A really bad non-call. And that's actually where the mental strength of my team is so important. We see [on the images] that they're really tough competitors. They didn't accept the situation. Even with that error from the referee, the players didn't let it get to them, you see there with Wendie [Renard] they took it upon themselves to turn the situation around. They showed enormous strength of character to go get that win. And we got lucky with some defensive errors on their part, it must be said.

Journalist: But that defensive error [which led to Lyon's third goal] was provoked.

Bompastor: Delphine [Cascarino] believed in it until the end. So she definitely pushes the defender to have that miscommunication with the goalkeeper. All the better for us. It's true that you have to believe in it until the end. It's good. We have that mentality and it's important.

Journalist: And you will play in the Groupama Stadium. It's starting to be quite a few games played there. Jule, you ran the numbers. It will be the eighth game played at the Groupama Stadium. Before we do a recap, the fact that you play there so often, if I can say that, because eight games so far this season is a lot, what are your feelings about that?

Bompastor: Well first of all you have to understand that it's obviously different for the players. Playing at the Groupama Stadium, it's a big stadium, and there's a [love] story there between that stadium and the players. It goes together. So each time we've played there it's been pretty positive [I mean I wouldn't describe losing 5-1 as positive but whatever]. And in terms of performance, you feel that the players, playing there provides them with a superior motivation. So that's good. I think if you look back at the games we've played, and I'm thinking particularly of the game against Fleury, it's more imposing for the opponent as well. They have less experience and aren't in the habit of playing in big stadiums. And I know that for the game against Fleury the outcome of the game was pretty favorable for that reason.

Journalist: When you play against teams who aren't as used to it, like Fleury, like Rodez, it was the case against Rodez as well. It'll be the case against Paris FC as well. They aren't as used to playing in the big stadiums. This season however, Jule, it's pretty evenly split in terms of results.

Jule: Mitigated results for sure, especially because of the Champions League. Three wins, one draw, three defeats. The wins were against Rodez, Zurich in the Champions League, and Fleury in the Coupe de France where as you said, Sonia, Lyon largely dominated for the first 15 minutes before the men's game. It was a double feature. The draw was against Juventus in the final game of the group stages.

Journalist: it was a draw that was worth a win since it was the qualification. A positive draw.

Bompastor: You can't say that. A positive draw.

Journalist: I heard you say earlier the most important thing is the result. After that 0-0 draw, we were qualified for the quarterfinals.

Bompastor: But the result, 0-0 against Juventus... We owed it to ourselves to win that.

Journalist: I'll be honest, I didn't stand up very often during that game. I'll give you that. But I did stand up at the 95th minute when the referee blew the final whistle and that's the most important thing.

Bompastor: With the winter break right after, it's true that the qualification did a lot of good. But I would have preferred if we were much more efficient in the game.

Jule: And there is also the three defeats, against Arsenal in the group stages, against PSG in the league and against Chelsea in the first leg of the quarterfinal of the Champions League. It's also because the big games are played at the Groupama Stadium, so it makes more sense that you would get the defeats as well. But that does impact the review at the end of the season.

Journalist: Do you prepare a game differently when it's played at the Groupama Stadium, Sonia?

Bompastor: In terms of motivation you don't have to insist as much on the context of the game. The players have a fair bit of experience now in that stadium. We know it gets them going, as I said earlier. So the context becomes a bit more abstract. We know the atmosphere is going to be more in our favor so we concentrate a little bit more on the tactics.

Journalist: We hope there will be a lot of fans at the game on Sunday against Paris FC. There's a lot of deals going on for tickets. I'm sure Sonia, you have something to say about it.

Bompastor: I think the players have made their feelings known about it. The stadium is important for them, the public as well. We suffered a lot because of COVID, and that has affected fan attendance. So it's the opportunity to spend a nice Sunday afternoon at a nice stadium watching pretty football. The team plays pretty football. Come watch, everyone will be happy.

Journalist: And it will offset the last game the players played at that stadium, the quarterfinal against Chelsea. We're going to take the opportunity to talk about that elimination in the Champions League. I imagine you're still finding it difficult to swallow. You'll probably need to win the Coupe de France and the league to open up your throat. How would you analyze the quarterfinal overall? You lost 1-0 here at home, you were winning 1-0 over there in regular time, then it was 2-1, and then the penalty shootout which happened after you conceded a penalty in the final seconds.

Bompastor: Yeah, for sure. The predominant feeling is obviously disappointment and frustration. We didn't accomplish our objective. There are regrets in the first leg here at home where I don't think we were up to par and we should have been able to put this Chelsea team under in difficulty. You can see that we started the game off really well, there was that big chance with Eugenie [Le Sommer], that shot from Sara Dabritz. It just lacked finishing. There was also that chance for Lindsey Horan, who mishit Perle [Morroni]'s cross. So for sure there are regrets on the first leg. Chelsea in the first half took three shots, two of them on goal and one led to a goal. So they were really realistic in their opportunities. Well one goal and they hit the post as well, sorry. So regrets in the first leg and a lot of frustration in the second. Because I think we did the necessary to overturn the situation and accomplish our objective.

Journalist: You played a really great game in the second leg.

Bompastor: Yeah. And there was Signe [Bruun]'s chance there, we could have scored earlier in the game. In the first five minutes, there was Bruun, there was Delphine [Cascarino], both were creating chances. That would allowed us to have taken the lead really early in the game. Despite all that we still were able to score the two goals we needed, away, against a good Chelsea team. And the scenario that happened, I think it's the cruelest one possible. You concede that penalty at the 122nd minute. Now, penalty or not -

Journalist: Have you seen the replays?

Bompastor: I saw the replays when everything was still raw, right after the game. For me, I continue to believe it was a make-believe penalty. I'm not denying there was a tiny bit of contact between Vicki [Becho] and [Lauren] James. But the only thing she [James] was waiting for at that moment of the game was for someone to graze her so she could throw herself to the ground. In that situation, when you know the top level and women's football, you know it's not something that should be called. What's frustrating is that the referee doesn't signal [that there was a foul]. VAR intervenes and overrules the referee.

Journalist: And for VAR to overrule, it was to be an obvious error [from the referee].

Bompastor: Exactly.

Jule: And considering she had to watch the replays eight times, it wasn't an obvious error.

Bompastor: We're not going to hide behind any excuses. At the end of the day we were eliminated from the Champions League. Obviously it's a huge disappointment. Now it's a really cruel scenario because it happened at the 122nd minute, this penalty is still controversial, there's the VAR which overrules the referee for that penalty but I would have liked it if the VAR did its job until the end, and that means during the penalty shootout, it could have signaled to the referee that Chelsea's goalkeeper was moving forward by a meter each time. So yeah. Things could have been done better. But my role is digest what happened as quickly as possible. And it was something that had to be done because we had an important league game against Le Havre. So we had to quickly get our heads back in the game. I'll be honest. It took everyone about a day to process what happened. There was a lot of frustration. And then we had to turn our focus onto the two remaining objectives. It's my job, as I was saying, to mobilize everyone for the two objectives. You said it really well. I think that winning the league and the Coupe de France, it's the minimum for us, especially with the quality of the team and the potential we have on hand. We should be able to win those two titles.

Jule: I was just going to ask you how was the after. We're going to look at the highlights of the game against Le Havre. You steamrolled over them. Le Havre was able to draw against Paris Saint-Germain. There it was a big week. April 2, a 7-0 victory. We always say that a win does a lot of good. But it felt different here. it felt like the players were letting out all the rage, the disappointment, the frustration and Le Havre was on the receiving end.

Bompastor: Yes, it's true. The advantage of the situation, like when there was that disillusion after what happened against Chelsea, is that we had the opportunity to play again three days later.

Jule: It's good that it happened right before the international break?

Bompastor: Yes, yes. Because for the players, quickly having to play again was a form of having to process what happened and move on. It also gave the opportunity for some of the players to regain some confidence. We made the choice to use some of the more fresh players. So some players who unfortunately hadn't gotten a lot of playing time in previous games were able to play, score some goals. I think for the group overall those are the types of wins they deserve as a team, with the individual talents of each player coming together for the team. But I think it's important to get your head back in the game, and we did it with that win and in that manner, because I think it proves both within the context of the game and the number of goals scored that we had mobilized, and we really want to go get those last trophies.

Jule: It could have been more. There were a lot of chances, there was the post, there were a lot of things. And six changes -

Journalist: Taking into consideration there were seven goals scored, you can excuse certain misses.

Jule: I want more. I was telling Sonia after the game, seven is nice, but I wanted eight, nine, ten. I wanted records to be broken.

Bompastor: It was possible in any case.

Jule: It could have been done. But there were changes. There were six changes to the starting lineup between the return leg of the Champions League and the game against Le Havre. We saw Janice Cayman score, Ines Benyahia as well. You are able to rotate because you have a large group. And you need a large group in order to win the D1 Arkema [French league] and the Coupe de France. The latter is something you haven't won.

Bompastor: Exactly. And it's something we talk about often with the Board of Directors. Today, when you're Olympique Lyonnais, you need first of all a talented roster. But also a stacked roster. That allows us to play across all competitions. When you start the season with the club, there are four titles to win: Trophee des Championnes, the Champions League, the league, and the Coupe de France. And then you have all the international games the players have to play. So at a certain point, when you're playing 5 games in 15 days, you need to have a large group of players you can count on.

Journalist: I'm going to go back to the two games against Chelsea and especially, because you just brought it up, the number of players, because you made some choices for the first leg, and then completely different choices for the return leg. And I find it interesting that we can get your analysis on it and understand why you chose the 4-4-2 diamond - we can see the starting 11 for the first leg. You chose to play in a 4-4-2 diamond with a team that I want to say is your standard starting 11 in 2023, because since the beginning of 2023, you have played nine games, there were eight wins and a qualification against Reims - well it was a draw but there was the qualification in the end - so you had a good dynamic. Why then did you choose to go for a 4-4-2 diamond for the first leg?

Bompastor: Well for starters the 4-4-2 diamond, you look at our midfield. It allows us to use four midfielders, all of whom are international players and are extremely talented. So for me it's also a way to play in different formations and create doubts for the opponents [it also creates suicidal tendencies for the Lyon fans but I guess that's a separate conversation]. We need to play well whether it's in a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3. That's a system we perfected last season so the players are already used to it. You were correct in saying it, there was a dynamic which had fallen into place since January. A winning dynamic but also a satisfying dynamic in terms of what we saw in the games. You look at a midfield player like Marozsan, over the course of January, February, March, it's our best player, at least in terms of efficiency. She's the one who is providing the assists, she's the one scoring goals. And it's difficult for a head coach to come up to a streak of games where for 2 1/2 months you had a team who was performing really well, who provided results, who had a good dynamic, and say to yourself, "well, I'm just going to shake things up." Because obviously with your team, when you make certain decisions, they ask questions. And as such if I had just shaken everything up when the dynamics were working, they would have asked why. So the idea was to trust this team which had performed well for 2 1/2 months, with certain players who had performed well as well.

Journalist: And was it natural for you or did you ask yourself if you should perhaps change formations and players with regarding to that starting 11?

Bompastor: I always question myself. My role is to know which team I am putting forward before each game. That means which players and which formation will allow us to perform at our best first of all for ourselves but second in terms of the system of play we want to put into place. We also have to take into account our opponent's weaknesses and how we want to exploit them. It seemed more natural for me to stay with the 4-4-2. I thought that in that formation we had the opportunities to punish Chelsea, or at least hurt them. I think we failed to do that in the first leg. And after, in the role of management for a coach, what is important is as of the moment the strategy put in place for the first leg isn't working, you're practically forced to change something. Because for your players, actually what they associate is that the result isn't there, and obviously there was a strategy put in place by the staff which didn't work. So what are they going to do for the return leg to turn the situation around? And the formation or the starting lineup can be one of the elements which can be modified. Not just, but part of the decision-making I had to take into account.

Journalist: And we're going to look at the return leg. You changed both the formation by switching to a 4-3-3 and the starting lineup, because there are four different players: Selma Bacha replaced Perle Morroni, Danielle van de Donk replaced Sara Dabritz, Amel Majri replaced Dzenifer Marozsan even if it wasn't exactly in the same position considering the switch in formation, and Signe Bruun replaced Eugenie Le Sommer. Was it also important to switch things up in terms of individuals almost for - actually, was it because they were more used to a 4-3-3 or because was it because you just have to make some changes because you can't put the same starting 11 when changing formations wasn't enough? Mentally, did you have to try something else?

Bompastor: Yeah, I can go into detail about the four players you brought up, why there was those changes between the first leg and the second leg. If I use Danielle van de Donk as an example, for us the idea in the midfield was to have more intensity, to be able when we have the ball to really take advantages of the quality she has, and defensively really go after Chelsea's block, with high intensity, be able to repeat sprints in terms of volume during the whole game. And Danielle is a player who played until the end of the first half of extra time. It must be known she covered almost 15km, which is an enormous amount for one player. She has the quality to do that, but not every player on the team is able to run for 15kms in 115 minutes.

Journalist: And sometimes, it's the 117th minute, a player loses the ball and you're like [imitates a fan] "what are you doing??", and they've just had to run 15 kms.

Bompastor: Yeah, for sure it comes down to individual choices but also in terms of the team, and it's elements we take into consideration during the week in training, what we want to put in place on the field. Danielle is just one example. There are explanations for each player.

Journalist: And today, for the last five games of the season, are you set on a formation or, as we know by now, there are two formations which can be used and ... Does it depend?

Bompastor: No, it's a bit of both. Both can work. In any case, as I was saying earlier for the 4-4-2, we were able for the course of nine games to perform well in it. Each formation has its advantages and disadvantages. You have to take into consideration what it will do for us, what we're able to put in place with each formation. You also have to take into consideration the dynamics between the players, how they complement each other in a 4-4-2 versus a 4-3-3, how in form the players are in that moment. They're back from international break, will we have all the players at our disposal? And then in terms of our opponents, if there are certain aspects of the game, certain elements or spaces that we can exploit, one formation might be better suited than the other.

Jule: She answered the question I was going to ask her. You see everything before the others do.

Bompastor: Not always.

Journalist: We're going to talk about the French National Team in a few minutes. We're also going to discuss next season, the team as well. Because we know, Sonia, there are a lot of players whose contracts are expiring - that's the schedule of the international play. I guess our producers really want us to talk about it now.

Jule: The French National Team is going to play against Canada, Vanessa Gilles' team, a clash between Lyon players. Selma Bacha, Delphine Cascarino, Eugenie Le Sommer, Amel Majri, Melvine Malard, Wendie Renard, those are the list of players for France. And then there is the last game for Dzsenifer Marozsan for the German National Team. Ada Hegerberg's Norwegian National Team will play against Sweden. We'll talk about it a little bit more, but she already scored against Spain. Danielle van de Donk along with Damaris Egurrola will play against Poland. Janice Cayman, who scored against Le Havre, will play against Slovenia. And Ellie Carpenter will play against England with Australia. So a lot of good games coming up.

Journalist: How do you watch the games? Are you on the apps being like "please get my player off the pitch as quickly as possible, please don't let her get injured"? How do you experience it? I'm sure you don't watch the games as a fan. You're obviously thinking of the club games. I'm sure you want some players to get playing time and others not too much. Do you have discussions with the various head coaches for the national teams?

Bompastor: Overall I want them to have a positive result so that increases their confidence both in terms of the team but also individually. When you look at the [France] game against Columbia, I was really happy that Eugenie [Le Sommer] scored a brace. Because that's beneficial for us, she'll come back refreshed, full of want and especially full of confidence. So yeah. Then afterwards obviously in the back of your mind you're crossing your fingers there aren't any knocks even if it's part of the sport.

Jule: You've had enough of those.

Bompastor: Yeah, that's it. There's obviously some trauma related to that. So you keep an eye on the players, make sure they've holding themselves well, but also that there aren't any injuries. Now there's also trying to work with the national teams as much as we can to not take any risks on the health of the players. I know that the coaches, Herve Renard in particular, will pay attention to that. He knows the players have big games coming up. It's also two friendlies, so he doesn't yet have his final list [for the World Cup] and needs to see the players in action. But the best way to not get injured is to stay focused on the sporting objective and not think too much about it [injuries].

Journalist: You brought up Herve Renard. We know there was a lot of talk surrounding his appointment. We saw you in the stands at Clermont, you were there for the French win - I was going to say the Lyon win since there are so many Lyon players, so it might as well be - against Colombia, 5-2. How did you feel about Herve Renard being appointed as head coach of the French National Team?

Bompastor: Well, I think it's good, a good thing at least to have a head coach who has experience, who is charismatic. He is obviously going to bring something new. So yeah. It's good. Now we have to let him do his job, there was a lot of attention. It's normal, he's new. I think that the French National Team has the quality when it comes to the players, and Herve [Renard] and his staff have the quality to manage this project. So yeah. It's good. It's a new dynamic, a new experience, you have to look forward.

Journalist: Have you been able to have talks with him? As we know, six Lyon players were called up. Amandine Henry is injured, she might be a seventh. We'll see. There are links between Lyon and the French National Team. Have you been able to have talks?

Bompastor: Yes, we've had talks. We also saw each other at Clermont. I was really happy the game was at Clermont actually, I was able to go see it in person. Often I have to watch them on television because they're too far away from Lyon. It's harder to travel to them. But yeah we've had talks. The idea is that the new coach launches a new dynamic, a new dynamic for certain players as well. We talked about Eugenie Le Sommer but there's also Amandine Henry. So it's good, it'll be really positive for us as well.

[Keep in mind the below question was asked before Henry refused to play for Lyon for the remainder of the season]

Journalist: Do you feel - well at the moment Amandine Henry is injured, but there is a real chance, and I feel comfortable saying this, that she might play for France again - for Eugenie Le Sommer, it's done. She was called up, she played, she was a starter, she scored two goals. For you, did you feel for your players, for some of them like Eugenie Le Sommer or Wendie [Renard], that something shifted, it changed something for them?

Bompastor: You can't really say that just yet, because they left really quickly after the game against Le Havre. We'll see how things went with them when they come back tomorrow. But for sure in each context where we start a story over from the beginning again, there is freshness, there is enthusiasm. A new dynamic is created. So the deck [of cards] are reshuffled. A page is turned. Every new story has a dynamic which benefits everybody.

Journalist: We said this morning on social media that you would be the guest on OL Night Systems. Out of all the questions we received, there was one - I can't remember who asked it exactly - but the question is relevant.

Jule: it was me, that was my burner account.

Journalist: Is being the head coach for the French National Team something you would be interested in one day? One day being the emphasis since Herve Renard just got the job. is that something you would be interested in in the future?

Bompastor: Yeah, obviously. Now as you said the timing isn't right for the moment. But it's true that to have the opportunity one day to coach the French National Team, why not? Now I did extend my contract with Olympique Lyonnais for two more seasons. I have often said it's a club I really feel good with. It's a club I love deeply [Club de Coeur]. I like to see things through and do my job well. So we'll see what the future holds. But I don't really have fixed career goals. An experience abroad could be really fulfilling both on a professional and personal level. So we'll see.

Journalist: Here at OLPlay we'd like to keep you. You win titles, you regularly come on the show, you're always available for postgame interviews.

Bompastor: We have to continue to win though. That's the most important part of the job.

Journalist: Amongst other questions, there was one about the future of the roster. That's because there are a lot of players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the season. How does that work, Sonia? Because there are simultaneous the very short term, because there are four games left to win the league and then there is the Coupe de France, and I can imagine you also have to look towards next season and start preparing for it?

Bompastor: Yes. Yeah, as you said, it's something that is ongoing. We've been working on it for a number of months. The idea is to take advantages of certain times in the season, such as international breaks, to regularly touch base and move things along. The very short term is indeed the two remaining titles that we need to win. And then over the international break we have meetings with the Board of Directors, and we talk about certain files [on potential recruits]. Some are progressing well, some are taking a bit more time, others have been closed. That's part of life at the club. It's part of the game, and having a team. What is important is that Olympique Lyonnais stays an ambitious club and will build a team that will accomplish the ambitions of the club.

Jule: Speaking of files and contract extensions, there was basically a new player, that's Ada Hegerberg who came back from injury, who scored against Guincamp. She scored while on international duty with Norway. Ada is someone we feel is as important for the players, because when you have Ada Hegerberg on the bench, it gives you a little something. It's intimidating for the opposing team. You feel that there's a shift, a different level with Ada Hegerberg.

Bompastor: No, all the players are important, that's obvious. However, when we're talking about Ada, we're talking about a world class player. These days, and you summed it up, she's a player who was out for numerous weeks [months!!!], and for her return, first touch on the ball, she scores. Now it could be a coincidence.

Journalist: It felt like a Hollywood scenario.

Bompastor: Yeah. But to be honest, concerning Ada, it's not a coincidence. And as such, as you said, she has this scoring ability, and she has such a competitive mentality. She's a real leader in the locker room, on the field, for the club. And as such she brings a lot of confidence to the locker room, and she's really intimidating for the opponents. So yeah. It's an advantage for us to have her, and I hope that she will help us through the rest of the season to win those two trophies.

Journalist: You said a player like Ada Hegerberg who was almost like a new recruit. There has already been another one for next season, Sonia. That's Melchie Dumornay. We saw the game, she made things difficult for us in the Coupe de France. Thankfully it wasn't to the point of eliminating us. But we really feel it's a player who can bring a lot to the team. She's really impressive, Melchie Dumornay. A huge recruit for Lyon.

Bompastor: Yeah. In any case it's the official recruit for the moment. And it's true it's good news.

Journalist: If there are others you can tell us. We'll take it.

Bompastor: It's not official yet. I have two names for you but I'm not going to say it live. Anyway, Melchie [Dumornay] is a player we have been following for several seasons now. She's performed really well in the Youth Competitions, the World Cup with Haiti, and she just qualified for the World Cup this summer with Haiti. So a young player with enormous potential. She's able to do everything, her vision of the game, her technical abilities, her shooting abilities, her goalscoring abilities. She's able to play in different positions. She's really an important recruit for us and confirms the club's ambitions.

Journalist: Would you say there will be a lot of turnover with this Lyon team, a bit of turnover, or is it too soon to say at the moment and we don't really know?

Bompastor: It's going to be shaken up a bit, maybe even quite a bit. There's a lot of players whose contracts are expiring at the end of the season.

Journalist: And it's important sometimes to have players who haven't won anything yet. They come in with a real desire to win titles. Or do you focus more on players who have also won in other clubs to bring that to the club?

Bompastor: In reality it's a question of balance. You need to find the right balance between experienced players who have this Lyon DNA and have won a lot, players who perhaps have won elsewhere but will bring a complementary mentality with what we already have, and players who haven't won anything yet but have this real desire to, and the academy players as well. We have the chance of having a good academy, they develop good players with a lot of potential. So there will be a few academy players who will integrate the pro group.

Journalist: That was my question, will there be any academy players. Because we've seen the results from the academy. I know that you as well as the head coach of the pro team but also as former director of the youth academy, you play close attention to the youth academy and the progress of the players. Do you think it's going in the right direction? Do you think one day we might see half of the Lyon team coming from the academy? Is that an objective you have?

Bompastor: An objective, well I guess it's part of an objective. But once again the priority is to have a team that performs well who allows you to accomplish your goals.

Journalist: Today it's too soon.

Bompastor: Yeah, you have to find the right balance. Because youth is good, it brings a desire to win and there is talent, but you also need, especially if you want to win the Champions League, experienced players who have already proven themselves at the highest level. So it's a question of balance. Now there are some talented academy players and we owe it to ourselves to integrate them into the pro team, and as they mature and get playing time will allow us to accomplish our objectives. But it's important. I'm satisfied with the results the academy is producing, and the manner in which they are working. And it's true that as soon as next season we could see some of the academy players proving themselves to the first team.

Jule: As such, isn't the best solution for the academy to send them out on loan like we did for Vicki Becho, Kysha Sylla? That allowed Vicki Becho to really get settled. Now she isn't a regular starter here but she has played. Isn't that the best solution then since the competition here is so tough?

Bompastor: There's two things. There will be an evolution as soon as next season where the reserve team will be able to compete in the third division. So in terms sporting interest, it will be more interesting for the players to play in the third division than as it is currently in the regional division. And then the solution of a loan, it's a useful solution. We had Vicki Becho, Kysha Sylla this season. Melvine Malard also was loaned to Fleury. And we feel that those loans allow them to gain in maturity [Malard is mature now?], to have playing time, to develop so that when they return to us they can progress a little faster in their careers. That's beneficial.

Journalist: Sonia, to finish this program we just have a simple and precise question. Will this season only have been successful if the league and the Coupe de France are both won, or would the league by itself be enough?

Bompastor: No, for me it has to be the league and the Coupe de France. As I said earlier, when you take into account the quality of the team, the ambitions of the club and the means we have at our disposal, we absolutely have to win the double [league and Coupe de France].

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are Weird: World of Warcraft

Alien: so you can pick any species you want and you still pick to be a human? Human: What’s wrong with being human? Alien: We don’t have enough time or emotional stability to break down that question. --------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: So this game has beings from other worlds… Human: Yup. Alien: and beings from different realities…. Human: Yup. Alien AND beings from different points of time all coming together? Human: Pretty much. Alien: how the hell do you make sense of it all? Human: Just follow the objective icon. Alien: Seriously? ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Which faction should I be? Human: Depends on how much you like winning. Alien: I do like winning, I guess. Human: Then go Alliance. Alien: Do they win a lot? Human: They haven’t lost in an expansion yet. Alien: That doesn’t sound fair. Human: It’s alright; we in the horde have all the interesting characters. -----------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: I don’t want a class that’s too difficult. Human: Go warrior then. Alien: Is it complicated? Human: You hit things with a sword until they die. Human: Pretty straight forward to me. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Why does this game have such impact in the real world? Human: I mean it did predict a global pandemic. Alien: You’re joking. Human: The CDC contacted them and asked for all the information and statistics they had for their own research. Alien: Wow….. ---------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: I just love my night elf character! Human: They do look impressive. Alien: And I love our starting area! Alien: I can’t wait to spend more time here. Human: Yeah, I’ve got some bad news for ya…… ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: What was this lich king’s plan again? Human: To kill everyone on the planet, raise them as undead, and fight the burning legion. Alien: Okay….but then what? Human: No one really knows. Alien: Because the players killed him before he could explain? Human: Because the writers never planned that far ahead. Alien: That seems like an oversight in storytelling. Human: You’ll get used to it. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Did this “garrosh” truly do nothing wrong? Human: I mean he did technically nuke a city. Alien: That seems pretty fraking wrong to me!!! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: This jailer man says that no one escapes the maw. Alien: but I was able to escape maybe twenty minutes after he said that. Alien: Did I miss something? Human: No, but the designers did when they made their new main villain seem incompetent right from the get go. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: I was told that if I wanted to role play I should go to goldshire first. Human: That depends entirely on how much gold you have and how much mental scaring you can endure. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Why does everyone keep calling this thrall character “green jesus”? Human: Because he can do no wrong. Alien: Didn’t he cheat in a duel and use his magic powers? Human: Correction; the writers “say” he can do no wrong. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: OMG! I found a chest! Human: That’s- wait are you in classic wow? Alien: Yeah, why? Human: Just wait and watch the chest. *Both watch as another player approaches the chest and is ganked by three players* Alien: How did you know? Human: You must believe that every good fortune you come across is a trap; because chances are it is. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Is this Greymane a good leader? Human: He did save his people from the undead by summoning an army of worgen. Alien: So he is a good leader. Human: The plan back fired and as a result a large portion of his kingdom became infected with the worgen curse. Alien: Soooo….. Human: No, no he is not a good leader. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Sylvanas is amazing! Alien: She’s such a hero! Human: You know she poisoned and murder a huge amount of people right? Human: Like, she was a lich king in all but name for years. Alien: You just don’t like female characters. Human: She literally is siding with the equivalent of the devil in this expansion and is the main reason for the global war in the last expansion. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Should I capture these flags? Human: It would be nice if someone would. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Can I be an undead paladin? Human: Why would you want to? Human: Any time you’d use your abilities you’d be damaging yourself. Alien: I’m a gluten for punishment. Human: oh. Just go into the crypts below stormwind then for that sorta thing. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: How does my gear look? Human: *Inspects* Pretty shitty actually. Alien: Nonsense! Alien: They’re all legendary items! Human: First off, they’re all common; second off, you’re color blind. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Why does this pig not drop a liver? Alien: Do not all pigs have livers? Human: You can’t expect every mob to have the same item drop. Alien: We are not talking about items, we are talking about internal organs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Alien: Why is no one freaking out that I am walking around with a demon dog with no face? Human: You should see what some people transmog in. Human: Compared to that a faceless dog is normal. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[haikyu-boys-am-i-right]

Hateful comments

Aged up Haikyuu (set after high school so the characters are pro volleyball players)

Character: Oikawa

Warnings: fans saying hateful things about yn

Summary: yn receives hate online because she is dating Tooru Oikawa and he speaks about it in an interview.

Requested: no

Word count: 1,668

Reblogs, likes, and comments are appreciated but please don’t repost my works.

Disclaimer: I do not own haikyuu or any of the characters.

———————————————————————

Yn sighed contentedly as she sat down on the couch in the living room of her home. She smiled thoughtfully as she thought of her husband who would be home from work pretty soon judging by the time on the wall clock but she never went by that thing anyway seeing as his hours always were all over the place when it came to volleyball season being in session.

About half an hour later yn hears the front doorbell ring. She grins as she goes to see if it actually was her husband at the door. She opens the door and smiles brightly as she is met with the face of her loving husband. “Welcome home tooru”! “Hello my darling yn-chan, how was your day?'' he says as he goes to hug her and his head rests on top of hers. Yn sighs and snuggles up close to him. “Work at the sports medicine clinic was long, but now I’m glad that I am at home and I get to spend some time with you”. “I agree wholeheartedly my dear”, Oikawa says, pulling out of the hug but keeping his hands gently placed on her waist while her arms are around his neck. “So what do you want to eat for dinner my love”, he asks as he peppers kisses across her cheeks before he actually kisses her lips. “Well sweetie, I was thinking about ordering some take out food and that way we don’t have to waste time on cooking and we can watch a movie together, how does that sound”? “That sounds great”, Tooru says as yn moves out of the way so he can come inside.

Oikawa sits down on the couch and yn sits beside him with her head on his shoulder. They are still newlyweds seeing as they had only been married for about five months, and even though they had been dating for a while they still found themselves to be in the honeymoon phase of their relationship.

They place the order for the take out food and Yn pulls out her phone and she goes to her social media while they wait to see what the news of the day is. “Is there anything interesting trending today yn-chan”?, Oikawa asks as he kisses the top of her head. She shrugs. “Not really…oh wait it says that the black jackals won their game, oh good for Hinata-san”. “Yeah shorty is doing pretty well in the pros”, Oikawa says.

Suddenly the doorbell rings. “Oh that must be the food” Oikawa says kissing yn’s cheek one last time as gets up from the couch. “Don’t worry about getting up love, I'll get the food while you pick the movie that we will watch alright”? “Alright ru sounds good”, says smiling as she turns on the tv.

Out of the corner of her eye, yn notices that she has a notification on her phone on her social media. Curiously Yn picks up the phone and her eyes widen as she reads the message from an anonymous user.

The message contains a link to a topic and chat board online and when yn clicks on it her heart sinks. The entire chat log is dedicated to people talking about how awful yn is for oikawa, how someone from his fan club should have been the one to marry him, and so many hateful comments about yn in general. Yn bites her lip as she tries not to cry, sure she had been through similar situations in high school with Oikawa’s original fan club but this was on a global scale and she was afraid that these hateful words would get the best of her.

“Yn-Chan what’s wrong you have an upset look on your face is something the matter”, Oikawa asks placing the food down on the coffee table before sitting beside yn. Yn sniffles and rubs at her eyes. “It’s your global fan club they hate me,'' she says as she bites her lip. “What that can’t be true you and I have met so many wonderful fans who have always been so polite to you,'' Oikawa says as he sits down and pulls her close to him. “Just read these awful things that people are saying about me”, she says with a sob as she hands him her phone. Oikawa frowns and his frown soon turns to a look of anger as he scrolls down through the countless posts that seem to be trashing yn but what hurts him the most is how affected yn is about this, he knows that she is kind, gentle, and loving and she rarely ever speaks a bad word about anyone and it breaks his heart to see his wife so upset over what random people have said online.

Oikawa sighs as he turns off the phone and he puts it down on the couch. He puts his hand on yn’s knee and rubs it gently trying to comfort her. “I have an interview that I have to go to tomorrow. do you want to come with me, yn-chan”? Yn shrugs her shoulders sadly as she nuzzles up to him. Oikawa kisses her cheek gently. “I’ll make a public statement about how much I love you alright”? “Tooru that may upset your fans”, she says sadly, not removing her head from his shoulder. “Well I don’t care I love you with all of my heart and you deserve to be told that and no one on th internet should be able to make you doubt my love for you alright”? Yn smiles as she sits back up and she kisses oikawa’s cheek. “Thank you ru” she whispers. Tooru smiles softly as he ruffles her hair. “You’re welcome my dear”, he says before turning to the food on the coffee table. “Now let’s eat before it all gets cold alright”? “Alright” she says with a small smile as she leans forward to get her food. They end up watching a random nature documentary but they don't really pay attention to it seeing as they end up cuddling and falling asleep together pretty early on in the documentary.

The next day

Oikawa and yn arrive at the studio where the interview will be held. Yn sighs and takes a deep breath as she looks up the building. “Are you okay?'' Oikawa asks her looking a bit worried. “I’m just nervous about what is going to happen during this interview tooru”. “Hey it’s okay yn-chan” Oikawa says as he takes her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I will be with you the entire time alright”? Yn smiles and she kisses his cheek. “Okay” she says. Oikawa holds her hand the entire time that they have to walk through the building to get where they need to go.

As Oikawa is called to come on air he pulls yn out with him. “Oh this is your wife right Oikawa-San”, the interviewer asks as Oikawa and yn sit down in the two chairs provided for oikawa and one guest. Oikawa grins. “Yes this is the light of my life my darling yn-chan”. “Aww” many people in th crowd say. “How has married life alongside being an famous athlete been like for yn”, the interviewer asks. “We have had to make adjustments but yn here has been a shining star through it all”. “How have been dealing with the fame, Oikawa-san”? the interviewer asks turning to yn. Yn blinks nervously. “Oh I’m not a huge fan of the limelight so I mostly keep to myself but I know how proud tooru gets when he wins a game and the crowd is cheering for him so I don’t mind”. “How have your fans reacted to your marriage” the interviewer asks. Tooru and yn’s faces fall at that question. Tooru frowns as he crosses his arms. “It seems that sadly many of my fans do not approve of my marriage to yn even though we have been dating for six years since we met in high school and I love her more than anyone in the world”. “They always leave hate posts online” yn says. “I’m just trying to be the best wife to Tooru that I can be and they are all mad that they aren’t the ones married to him” she says trying to blink back tears. “It hurts me to see my darling yn-chan cry,'' Tooru says. “It also hurts me to see that so many people post nasty things about her, it honestly makes me want to quit volleyball sometimes so she isn’t getting hurt”. Yn gasps in shock as she had never heard Oikawa say that before.

“As long as she makes him happy that’s all that should matter, am I right folks”?, the interviewer asks as he turns to face the audience. “Yes”, they all say. “You do have fans that support your relationship”, someone in the crowd says. “Thank you that means a lot”, yn says as the interviewer wraps up the questions. “Thank you two for coming”, he says as he goes to shake their hands. “No thank you for having us on here”, Oikawa says with a grin before he and yn walk off the stage.

“Did that interview make you feel any better”? Oikawa asks as they leave the building holding hands once more. Yn nods. “Yes”, she says and she stops and turns around to face Oikawa with a serious look on her face. Oikawa looks puzzled. “What is it, Is something the matter”? “Never say that you would quit volleyball over me”, she says trying to blink back tears. “I never want you to give up on your dreams okay ru”? Oikawa gives her a wide smile. “Okay if that is my lady’s wish I shall keep to that promise”. Yn rolls her eyes and smiles as she wraps her arms around her husband’s neck. “Kiss me” she whispers. “Of course”, he whispers back as he closes the gap between their lips.

[spine-buster]

The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Epilogue 3: A Love So Tender

A/N:  Well, here it is, folks...the last epilogue of The President Wears Prada series.  It’s been a blast.  Like with Alone, Together and The Storm Before the Calm, we’ve created a little community on this blog, except this time we joined together during quarantine and a global pandemic!  I posted the prologue to this April 27th (so right in the thick of it lol) and I’ve been so happy giving you guys something to look forward to every Monday these past eight months!  Keep asking your Willberdeen canon questions forever and ever!

Be on the lookout for the post date of my Brock Boeser mini-series “Peaceful Easy Feeling” -- I’ll announce it and put it on my Masterlist.  Then, I’ll start my next big series!

As always, happy reading :)

March 2034

“Mooooommmmmyyyyyy!  Mommy look!” six-year-old Saoirse Nylander ran through the house to the kitchen where she knew her mom was ready with breakfast.  “Look!  Daddy let me do my own hair!”

Aberdeen looked down at her daughter to see her blonde hair fixed in to a half ponytail…well, a six-year-old’s version of a half ponytail.  Aberdeen smiled down at her daughter.  “Looks good!” she smiled.  “Can I fix it a little bit before we go to Andy and Maia’s house?”

“Can I eat first?” Saoirse asked as Aberdeen heard more footsteps coming down the stairs.

“Of course!  Your oatmeal is right over there,” she nodded her head towards the bowl already set up for her daughter.  As Saoirse moved and climbed into the counter stool to eat, Aberdeen looked to her left to see William enter the room, holding their three-year-old son in his arms.  “My two Williams,” she smiled.

“Mowning mama,” William Jr. said as Willy placed him down in his own stool, his own bowl of oatmeal also ready to go.  

William walked around the island and gave Aberdeen a kiss on the cheek before placing his hand on her stomach tenderly.  “Morning, minskatt,” he said before pouring himself some coffee.  He looked back at his kids, eating their oatmeal.  “Are you excited to see Maia, Saoirse?”

“Mhm,” she smiled.  “Can I bring my colouring book so Maia and I can colour?”

“Of course you can!” William smiled.  “You know how much Maia loves to colour with you.”

“When you and mommy get home, I’m gonna have a beeeeeeautiful picture,” Saoirse exclaimed before spooning some more oatmeal into her mouth.

Both Aberdeen and William looked at their fridge, adorned with ripped out pages from colouring books that Saoirse and William Jr. did for them.  “We can’t wait,” Aberdeen smiled.

***

“Mr. and Mrs. Nylander, I know that we’ve confirmed your pregnancy,” Dr. Collinson spoke to the happy couple.  

“We needed the tie-breaker,” William joked.

“Indeed,” he chuckled.  “But I must ask you both…have you gone through any fertility treatments that I’m not aware of?  IVF, artificial insemination?”

William and Aberdeen looked at each other before looking back at their doctor – the same doctor who had been there and helped birth Saoirse and William Jr.  “No…” William shook his head.  “We figured we were okay…I mean, with Saoirse’s and William’s pregnancies being pretty easy with no major complications, and the fact that we didn’t have to try for very long before Aberdeen got pregnant…” he trailed off.

Dr. Collinson nodded his head.  “That’s good to know.  Because I do have some further news for you.”

“What’s that?” Aberdeen asked.

“You’re having twins.”

The words hung in the air for an excruciatingly long period of time.  “Excuse me?” Aberdeen asked.

“Twins.  You’re having twins, Mrs. Nylander.”

Aberdeen looked over at William.  “I’m going to cut your penis off.”

***

“TWINS!!!!!” Bee exclaimed, jumping up and down as she hugged Aberdeen.  “Twins, Aberdeen!  Oh my goodness!”

“More Nylanders?” Morgan piped in.  “Christ almighty.”

***

“TWINS?!” Aleida was shocked when Aberdeen told her the news over the phone.  “Twins!”

“Who’s having twins?” Aberdeen could hear Fred’s voice in the background.

“Aberdeen and Will!”

There was a pause.  “More Nylanders?  Good God.”

***

“Twins, William?  You knocked her up with twins?” Jason deadpanned into the phone.

“We’ll have four, just like you,” William said.

“More Nylanders…Jesus Christ.”

***

“Oh!  What fantastic news!” Svea beamed over the FaceTime call.  Elias was smiling beside her.  “You must be so excited, guys.”

“We are.  We joked that we were only supposed to have one tie-breaker though,” Aberdeen said, looking at William beside her briefly.  “Now we’re getting two.”

“Do you know the sexes?”

“Not yet.  In a few weeks they’ll tell us if they’re identical or fraternal, and I think that will be very informational,” William said.

“More Nylanders…” Elias shook his head.  “God help us all.”

***

“This is fantastic news, Aberdeen.  You’re such a great mom already,” Brendan said from across the table, his smile stretching from ear to ear.  “Saoirse and Will Jr – I mean they’re just delights.”

“Thank you, Brendan.  There will be two more to add to the MLSE family room during games.  Not to mention more Nylanders occupying the city of Toronto.”

“More Nylanders…wow.”

***

September 2034

The Toronto Maple Leafs and the entire MLSE organization would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to William Nylander and his wife Aberdeen Bloom on the birth of their twins, Jonas Alexander and Astrid Elina.  Jonas and Astrid join big siblings Saoirse and William Jr.  

***

November 2035

BREAKING: Aberdeen Bloom, the youngest person ever to win the Booker Prize for Fiction, has just won the prize for a second time for her latest novel, A Love So Fond.  Bloom becomes the third woman (after Hilary Mantel and Margaret Atwood) to win the Booker Prize twice, but the first woman under forty to accomplish the feat.  

***

The First Monday in May, 2036

William looked at Aberdeen lovingly as she touched up her lipstick in the mirror of their hotel room.  She was wearing a beautiful dress, styled to perfection.  He was wearing a suit, tailored to equal perfection.  “You look beautiful, minskatt,” he said, hoping it would calm her down a bit.  He knew she was nervous.

She looked over at him as she clicked shut the lipstick tube.  “We’re going to the Met Gala, Willy,” she said as if it was the first time he’d heard the news.  He’d heard.  He’d heard for months now.  Anna Wintour invited them to the event.  Aberdeen screamed bloody murder when she got the invite.  “We’re going to the Met Gala.”

He giggled slightly.  “I know.  Who would have thought all those years ago two kids who hooked up the night of a graduation would make their way to the Met Gala.”

Aberdeen smiled.  “Who would have thought an aspiring writer and a hockey player would accomplish so much that we’d even get invited to the Met Gala.”

“I had nothing to do with this,” William shook his head, smiling.  “You did all of this.  I’m just in the background, remember?”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but smile.  The man in front of her supported her dreams without question.  There was nothing she thought of that William didn’t think she’d be able to accomplish.  Her two Booker Prizes were evidence of that.  Her Governor General’s Awards and Giller Prizes were evidence of that.  Her numerous other awards were evidence of that.  “You’re not in the background, Willy,” she told him once more.  It was something she told him time and time again, even though she knew he was joking.  To think he still used a joke he made when she was twenty-two years old…she couldn’t help but laugh.  “You’re the reason I’m able to do this.”

Their conversation was cut short by Aberdeen’s phone ringing.  When she dug it out of her purse, she saw Orla requesting a FaceTime call.  “It’s the kids again,” she said, holding up the phone and turning around so that when she answered it, whoever was calling would see both their parents.  When she accepted, she saw Saoirse’s face first.  “Hi baby,” Aberdeen cooed.  “Did you forget to tell us something?”

“Maia wants to know if she can come over this weekend to play.  Is that okay?” she asked.

“Of course,” William answered.  “I’ll talk to Uncle Morgan about it when we get home tomorrow night.”

“Let me see!” William Jr.’s voice was heard off camera.  Soon, Saoirse had turned the camera around so he could see his parents.  “Hi mom and dad.”

“Hi baby,” Aberdeen cooed again.  “Do you have a question too?”

“No,” he said.  “You look pretty, mama.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but swoon.  “Thank you, baby.  Are you having a good time at grandma and grandpa’s house?”

He nodded his head enthusiastically.  “Grandma just made popcorn!”

“Wooooo!  Movie night!” William exclaimed from behind her.  “Be good!  Go to bed on time.”

“I will,” William Junior nodded his head.  “Bye daddy.  Bye minskatt.”

Aberdeen furrowed her brows but couldn’t help but laugh at her son.  She could hear William chuckle from behind her too.  “William!  Why’d you call me that?!”

Williiam Junior didn’t know what the big deal was.  He knew he was named after his dad; it was only fitting that he test his limits and call his mom by her first name too.  “Daddy’s name is William, and my name is William, and your name is minskatt!  Daddy always calls you that!  Hi minskatt, bye minskatt, I love you minskatt.  Minskatt is your name!” he argued like it was the most obvious thing in the world.  

William thought back to so, so many years ago.  To Aberdeen asking him why he called her minskatt and him telling her why.  A tear escaped his eye and he brought his hand up quickly to cover it.  Aberdeen noticed.  She looked back at William Jr.  “Okay William.  We’ll talk more when we get home, okay?  You better be good for grandma and grandpa.”

Aberdeen ended the call with a couple of more air kisses.  When she was finished, she placed her phone down and saw that William kept wiping his cheeks with his thumb.  “Hey…hey come here,” she said gently, walking over to him because she knew he wouldn’t move.  “Was it Junior?” she asked.

William nodded his head.  “You remember what I told you, like, fifteen years ago?  About why I call you minskatt?”

Aberdeen nodded her head automatically.  She’d never forgotten.  “Of course,” she said softly, bringing her hands up to wipe some of his tears away with her own thumbs.  “It was always your dream, wasn’t it?”

William nodded.  He leaned down slightly to kiss her, even though he knew he’d get lipstick on him and that Aberdeen would have to reapply it for the fourth time before they even left the hotel.  “I know you’ve accomplished so much with your writing and I’ve accomplished so much with hockey but my best accomplishment is you.  Us.  Our family.  The love I have for you.”

Aberdeen nodded her head.  She understood.  She knew.  “Mine too.”

“It’s been fifteen years.  Fifteen years and four kids, Aberdeen.  And still.  Still.  I think about you when I’m not even thinking.”

Aberdeen smiled.  She kissed him once more.  “Jag tänker på dig när jag inte ens tanker.”

[woah-were-halfway-there]

Leafs in 5

A/N: I was inspired after game 4 against Columbus, what can I say

Word Count: 4.1k

Going into the NHL’s alternate version of the postseason playoffs that 2020 decided to sprinkle in on top of everything else going on in the world, you knew it was bound to be interesting. There was a plan set in motion to keep all the players and staff safe and strict rules that needed to be followed for everything to work the way it was supposed to. Both of these resulted in your boyfriend, Auston, having to stay in a bubble at the Royal York while you stayed alone in your shared condo in Toronto that was just a few blocks away, for who knew how long. 

You were lucky that when the NHL season ended back in March, you were able to travel to Scottsdale with Auston and not be separated. At the beginning of the lockdown, your workplace closed down and moved to a work from home setting until further notice. After clarifying that it’d be at least a month until you could go back, you figured it wasn’t the worst idea to go along with your boyfriend back to Arizona after asking if you’d go with him. Little did you know the two of you would be there for almost four months. 

Although it was a relaxing time, it was also weird. All you really did was hang out with Auston, his family and Freddie while waiting to hear literally anything about things going back to normal, but that never happened. Your work decided that going back wouldn’t be an option even as Toronto entered its reopening phases as a safety precaution. Therefore you’d be working from home for the foreseeable future. 

It sucked a lot. You liked your job, your co-workers, and having your own way to be independent in a professional setting, but a global pandemic makes things a bit pretty difficult at times, and sometimes sacrifices need to be made. Lucky for you, though, it could have been a lot worse. And Auston played a massive part in you being able to adapt as well as you have. 

The time the two of you spent in Arizona together was great. Obviously, during it, you worked, spent time with the boys and the Matthews family, but a lot of new things happened too. You and Auston welcomed Felix, a Bernedoodle puppy home to be part of the fam, and dealt with life as living in a pandemic continued. 

Then the NHL announced its return to play action plan, and things got wild all over again. 

Auston began skating and practicing intently again. Plans were being made to get back to Toronto for training before having to go to whatever hub city was chosen for the Eastern Conference teams. With all the talk of possible locations for the playoffs to take place, you weren’t expecting Toronto to be one of the cities in deep consideration, let alone for one of the so-called bubbles actually to be there. But, that was exactly how things played out, so you and Auston prepared accordingly. 

After some deep consideration and conversations with your boyfriend, you decided that when the time came, you would go back to Toronto when Auston needed to go. However, there was a period where Auston was sick, and that changed things up a bit even more, but eventually, the two of you and Felix were all set and ready to head back to the 6ix without any further delays. 

The two of you settled to being back in Ontario without difficulty. You followed the rules of self-isolating for two weeks upon arriving back to the country, and so did Auston. If he wasn’t at the condo with you, he was at the rink practicing alone, since it wasn’t safe for him to be around his teammates, or the public until those 14 days were up. That was fine though, you both just chilled with Felix, watched the entirety of Sons of Anarchy and Schitt’s Creek, and prepared for how things were bound to change again once the playoffs finally started. 

“I feel bad,” Auston said loudly from the bedroom as you walked down the hallway towards it with the basket full of clothes you’d just taken out of the dryer. 

“Why is that?” You asked once you entered the room, tossing the clothes on the chair, and got ready to fold them. It was his last night in the condo before having to relocate down the street at the Fairmont for the entire Maple Leafs playoff run. He was busy packing, and you were busy making sure everything was organized and ready for this transition. Even Felix was taking part by laying on the bed and demanding attention from both you and Auston every once in a while. 

“You know why,” he deadpanned while looking at you pointedly. 

At that, you sighed.

“Aus, we talked about this.”

“I know we did, but now that it’s actually time for me to leave, I’m dreading it even more.”

As much as you tried not to let the situation bug you, it still did. Throughout your entire relationship, there were many times when you and Auston would spend time away from each other, so that part was nothing new. However, you’d never been in the same city without being able to see one another or know when you’d be able to talk face-to-face and not through a screen again would be. And although the whole bubble situation was something you and Auston had talked about a lot over the last month or so, what it entailed still hadn’t quite set in until that moment. 

“Me too,” you responded quietly and stared down at the pile of clean clothes, knowing that if you looked at your boyfriend, the tears you felt pricking your eyes would undoubtedly spillover. “But it has to happen, Auston. There isn’t much else we can do, unfortunately.”

“But-.”

“No buts,” you cut him off and snapped your teary gaze to him. “This is your career. And the playoffs! Those are no small things. Regardless of how crappy this entire process is, I’m still going to be here, cheering you on as much as possible. It just sucks so bad that things aren’t normal. That I can’t go down to SBA and watch you be the amazing hockey player that you are with our friends and family, or hug you as soon as you’re done your postgame interview and tell you how proud I am. I’m just so over everything right now, and I’m sorry to be taking this out on you, this is the last thing you should have to deal with before going into the bubble. I just-.”

The way your voice cracked at the end of your spiel had your boyfriend next to you and pulling you into his embrace in a second. 

You were on an emotional rant, and Auston knew that. He knew that you had been holding in how you really felt about the NHL’s plan to go ahead with the playoffs, and it was time to let it all out. Although you never expressed your frustrations, you did have quite a few, and Auston was determined to get you to talk about them, especially before he had to leave.  

“I’m sorry I’m a mess,” you mumbled while wrapping your arms around his waist and leaned against his chest. 

“You’re allowed to be a mess,” he replied and squeezed you. “This isn’t an ideal way for the playoffs to happen, believe me, I know, and I’m still not sure how it’s all going to play out. But know I’m sorry you’re feeling the way that you are because of something I have to do.”

“That’s the thing though, Aus, there is literally nowhere else I’d rather be than here for you... but I’m worried. What if you, or another player, or staff get sick? What will the league do then? I get that they’re strict on how things in the bubble will work and everything, but we’re still in a freaking pandemic. I just don’t think it’s necessary. But regardless of what I think about the NHL’s decision to resume, it doesn’t matter. I’m the one who agreed to come back with you, and I’m going to be here still even if you and the team end up in Edmonton for the finals, and I won’t see you until October. Wow, it sucks, even more, talking about it.”

“God, I know,” he responded before pulling away slightly to look down at you. “I’ll never be able to explain how much I appreciate you coming back and being here with me for all of this. I hate that I’m going to be so closeby and not be able to come home to you and Felix and that you’re going to be here alone, but thank you for being willing to do this for me.”

“Of course, I want to kiss your stupid face again as soon as I can after this,” you pouted. “Even if I have to fly to Alberta in order to do so.”

“Wouldn’t exactly be opposed to that idea,” he told you before leaning down and catching your lips in a soft, sweet kiss. It didn’t take long for you to deepen the kiss by wrapping your arms around the back of his neck and pulling him closer. He smiled against your lips, letting his hands linger on your waist a bit as he waited for you to make the next move. But then, you unexpectedly broke the kiss and turned away from him. 

“Well, I guess we better get back to packing, yeah?”

You had the goofiest grin on your face as you reached down to grab one of your t-shirts from the laundry pile, but then Auston let out a dramatic groan from where he stood, and you had to cover your mouth so that you wouldn’t burst out laughing.

“Now you’re just being cruel,” he said as he walked up behind you and leaned his head on your shoulder. You bit down hard on your bottom lip to keep yourself from smiling any wider than you already were as he wrapped his arms around your waist, before eventually turning around to look at him again.

“How so?”

“Seriously?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I think I hear Felix getting into something,” you lied as you tried to worm out of his hold, wanting to mess with him a bit more. But he was on to you, which is also why you didn’t put up a fight when he didn’t let go. 

“Babe,” Auston whined. “You’re killing me.”

“Well we can’t have that, you have to go into the bubble tomorrow-.”

Before anything else could be said, Auston pressed his lips against yours again, and you let him. You chuckled slightly before reaching up to tangle your hands into the curls forming due to him not getting a haircut. But you didn’t mind, loved it even, and used it as a way to keep him close. 

“You’re full of jokes tonight, huh?” He mumbled against your lips as he slowly guided you towards the bed, all while tugging at the bottom of the hoodie you wore. 

“Just for you,” you replied before pecking his lips and moving away just enough to pull the sweater off and toss it on the ground before quickly kissing him again. You then came in contact with the mattress and let Auston lay you back on it. It wasn’t long before he was leaning over you and letting his lips roam to that sweet spot along your collarbone that he knew would have you seeing stars. “I thought you needed to pack.”

“I’ll do it in the morning.”

“You’re going to regret that decision once you realize you’ll have to get up early to get ready,” you challenged.

“No, what I’ll regret is not finishing what we’re starting before I have to leave tomorrow,” he quipped and continued brushing his lips against your skin. 

“Alright, fair,” you responded, figuring you’d given him a hard enough time and guided his lips back to yours; the night soon fading around you as melted into each other’s touch. 

The next morning, you woke up alone in bed. The blinds were still drawn, Felix was asleep on the rug, and the AC was cranked for some reason. The cold air made goosebumps rise on your exposed skin, causing you to shiver as you pulled the bedsheet up higher to cover more of your body. Just as you started wondering where Auston had gone off to, you heard the shower turn on from the ensuite and suddenly knew where he was. Part of you wanted to just lay in bed for the whole day, but the other more logical part knew there was still a lot to be done before Auston’s departure and that you should probably get up.

You grabbed your housecoat from its place in the closet and put it on before sneaking into the washroom to brush your teeth. Auston didn’t know you were in there with him, but that changed as soon as you finished rinsing off your toothbrush and decided to join him in the shower.

Once the two of you were done in there, you eventually did get dressed and ready to start the day.

Leading up to his last day at the condo, you made sure any running around for him was done so that there would be no added stress, and that’s precisely what happened. The two of you shared a chill morning consisting of a homemade breakfast, packing, taking Felix for a walk, and simply enjoying the other’s presence before Auston had to leave.

And that time came up way too fast.

“I’m going to miss you,” Auston said in the parking lot of the Ford Performance Centre before pulling you in for a hug. You were dropping him off for his last team practice before going into the bubble, but you both knew it’d be the last time the two of you would see each other for a while.

“I’m going to miss you too, so much,” you replied and squeezed him a little tighter. “Even though you’ll be only a few blocks away.”

“It sure won’t feel like it.”

“I know.”

Gradually, some of Auston’s teammates started walking by, and you knew one of you would have to pull away sooner or later. Reluctantly, you were the first to do it.

“You’re gonna be late, Matts,” Mitchy stated as he walked by juggling his suitcase and bags he planned on taking into the bubble. “Hey, Y/N.”

“Hey, Mitch,” you smiled as you leaned back against your car, Auston’s hands still on your waist. “Is Steph still here?”

“She’s just about to leave, I think. Are you two still hanging out this week?”

“Yeah, I’ll probably take Felix over to your house to hang out with Zeus while we watch the game and drink some wine.”

“Sounds like a typical night for you two,” he chuckled and adjusted one of the straps of his bags. “Anyways, I gotta get in there. Actually, we both do.”

He gave Auston a pointed look, and your boyfriend just rolled his eyes.

“Get off my back. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Yeah, ok,” Mitch responded and started walking again. “See ya, Y/N!”

“Bye, Mitch, good luck!” You called after him before looking back to Auston and smiling at him sadly. “You really do need to get going.”

“I know,” he sighed and began picking up his bags so he could start heading towards the building. “I’ll call you tonight once I’m settled in?”

“Yes, please do,” you replied as he looked to you and nodded. “Just give me a heads up when. I’m supposed to Facetime your sisters tonight to give them a Felix update and catch up.”

“Fair enough,” he smiled, to which you returned before pulling him in for one last kiss. 

“You’re going to do great, Auston. I love you.”

“And I love you,” he pecked your lips again. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Sounds good,” you said as he began walking away. “Good luck, babe.”

At that, he smiled to you over his shoulder before continuing on his way. You stood there for a moment after he disappeared out of sight, clutching onto the little 34 necklace he had gifted you for Christmas two years prior, before sighing and climbing into your car so you could head back home. 

~*~

After Auston entered the bubble, the two of you FaceTimed every day, it wasn’t always planned, sometimes just in the spur of the moment when you were both bored and missing each other, and it really did make the whole transition a lot easier. 

The first night, Auston gave you a virtual tour of the Leafs floor at the Fairmont. Then, he told you all about the practice and how the guys chirped him for bringing so many clothes. You couldn’t help but laugh, seeing as you knew it was true, before asking you about your day. Your day was much less eventful, so the topic of conversation shifted rather quickly. You somehow ended up playing Mario Kart on the switch from your living room against Tyson, Kerf and Freddie, all while still on FaceTime with Auston. After a few rounds of that, you were more than ready to call it a night. 

Once you had said goodbye to Auston, you curled up in bed with Felix and soon passed out. 

That quickly became a routine almost every night the Leafs didn’t have a game. You and Auston would catch up about the day’s events before getting into some friendly competition with the guys over something that would sometimes involve other wives or girlfriends trying to keep their men at bay as well. 

On the nights the Leafs did play, you always watched the game in some way. You watched their exhibition game against Montreal with Steph at her house, FaceTimed Auston’s family while watching the first game against Columbus from the condo, and so on.  

You witnessed Auston’s goal against the Blue Jackets in Game 2 and couldn’t wait to express how proud you were of him once the two of you were able to talk again that night. You also got to see the 3-0 lead the Leafs lost in Game 3 and listened to your boyfriend vent about it, but still made sure to tell him that you were insanely proud, because you were. 

And then Game 4 happened. 

Going into that game, you didn’t know what to expect, think, or feel. Obviously, you wanted the Leafs to win. You didn’t want their (sort of) playoff run to be over so soon, but also, the selfish part of you couldn’t help but think about how there was a chance Auston might be home that night. The conflict you felt made you anxious for the actual game, which is why you opted to watch it at home alone with Felix. 

You sat on the couch, clutching onto a cushion for the entire game. Before the game started, you decided that although you would have loved for Auston to be home, you wanted the Leafs to push a Game 5. You knew they were capable of going much further than just the qualifying round and were rooting hard for them to win. Still, you gradually became a little less hopeful leading into the last four minutes of the game when Columbus was up 3-0. 

But then Willy scored. Less than a minute later so did John, and then Zach managed to tie up the game with just 22 seconds left on the clock. To say you were on the edge of your seat would’ve been an understatement because it was so much more intense than that. You didn’t think what was happening was real, but the flood of texts you received from friends and family about what happened proved you wrong. 

During the commercial break, you called Ema, Auston’s mom, who was absolutely losing her mind. You stayed on the phone with her, talking with Auston’s family as your heart pounded in your chest while for overtime to begin. 

Then Auston scored the game-winning goal, and you literally screamed. You stood up, staring at the TV in complete awe while his teammates engulfed your boyfriend, and all the Columbus players skated off the ice. Felix looked at you oddly, and you wasted no time in picking him up and pointing to the screen, telling him what his dad just did. 

After the reality of what just happened settled in, you said your goodbyes to Auston’s family before texting Steph and some other friends, still losing your mind. You watched the postgame interviews, chuckling at how it was undeniable that even Auston still hadn’t entirely accepted what happened and couldn’t wait until you received the call from him you knew was coming. 

About half an hour later, your phone rang, and sure enough, it was Auston.

“I am so proud of you,” you stated as soon as the FaceTime call connected. Auston was walking down the hallway of their hotel floor, smiling widely, and you could see some of his teammates in the background on the phone with loved ones as well. “All of you. Holy fuck, you guys did that!”

“It still doesn’t seem real,” Auston responded. “Like this is real, right? I didn’t dream it?”

“It’s real, babe, you’re going to Game 5!”

“Holy shit.”

You could tell he was in his room by that point with the way he flopped on a bed and couldn’t stop smiling. 

“How’s the adrenaline?” You asked and patted the space beside you so that Felix would lay beside you and be in the camera frame.

“Hi buddy,” Auston breathed out, before chuckling. “And oh, it’s pumping. I think I’m going to be up for a while after this.”

“Then what are you doing in your room? Go celebrate with the guys.”

“I know, I will. But I wanted to say goodnight to you first.”

You smiled at how soft he was even after such a significant game, and couldn’t help the blush that burned across your cheeks. 

“You’re too sweet,” you said while shaking your head.

“Only for you,” he replied and sat up as someone knocked on his door. 

“I think you’re being summoned,” you laughed as he rolled his eyes.

“It’s Mitchy telling me to get out of my room.”

“I think you better listen before they barge in.”

“True,” he responded. “I guess I will go. I’ll call you tomorrow? We’re off for the day.”

“I’ll be here,” you answered him softly. “Now, go be with your team, and don’t forget to call your mom.”

“Oh, yes, right, I’ll do that right now. I love you. Thank you for always supporting me.”

“And I love you, babe, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Ok, bye,” he replied and blew you a quick kiss just before the call ended. 

You stared at your screen for a minute until it went dark and shook your head. Your heart was bursting with how proud you were and how much you loved your boyfriend, that even you weren’t sure if you’d be able to fall asleep right away. After scrolling through social media for a bit and liking every Maple Leafs post that showed up in your timeline, you eventually called it a night and set your phone down.

Just as you did that, though, your phone buzzed with a goodnight text from Auston.

Auston

Sleep tight. I love you.x 

You laid there, smiling at the device for a moment before texting back.

Y/N 

I love you more. Goodnight Auston.x

Auston 

Not possible

Your heart swelled as you read over his last message multiple times before deciding what to text back.

Y/N

Bet. 

Now go, babe. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. I love you.

Auston

Love you too <3

After shutting your phone off again, you finally let yourself relax even while being overcome by an emotional wave of just how much you loved your boyfriend. You knew that whether or not Auston came home after Game 5, the two of you would be ok. The distance hadn’t affected anything, and you knew it wouldn’t even if the Leafs did make it to the finals, and you and Auston were separated for a long time. It’d all be worth it in the end, and you couldn’t wait to see how the rest of the Leafs playoff run was bound to play out.

Hello friends! Somehow I managed to write this in a day, anyways, I’d love to hear what you think! And Go Leafs!

[sciralta]

Rising Tides: (Probably) A Surface Level Understanding

I was gonna start this off by saying considering it’s only the first few chapters, I’m going to give Pixelberry the benefit of doubt when it comes to speculation on what this book’s going to be like. Having said that, knowing that apparently one of the MTFL writers was a part of this and the fact that this is Pixelberry, I am absolutely not going to give them that benefit.

I have the sneaking suspicion that Rising Tides is going to do that thing that companies love where you continually act like it’s the average joe’s fault for climate change because he drives to work, instead of addressing the global pressure made by the fossil fuels industry to have total reliance on them. Or like how a lot of politicians like Australia’s PM, Scott Morrison, pretty much refuses to invest in renewable energy because he’s basically bought and paid for by fossil fuels and acknowledging that his party’s donors are killing our planet might make their dying businesses sad :(. Remember, it’s those least responsible for climate change that are the most affected by it.

Pictured above; Australia’s coal-fondler-in-chief

But that’s just me ranting about my dipshit Prime Minister; let’s talk about writing!

So Rising Tides was part of a game jam and was written in like, a month, and baby does it show! This is the most clunky, forced writing I have ever seen in a Choices story—and fucken hell is that an achievement. Generally in other stories from PB if the story is bad the actual writing is more or less ‘fine’. Such is not the case with RT. This story reads less like a smooth ski down a snowy mountain and more like you fell off the top of that mountain and crashed against every boulder on the whole way down. We are immediately faced with this:

...which feels less like an organic thing a character would say and more like the writers spent 10 minutes googling vehicle emission data and were damn sure they were gonna make you know that they did. If you follow the advice of this post, you will actually die of liver failure. Happy drinking.

Our inciting incident is an ecological disaster—a mass die-off of marine life in the waters surrounding the town. Mass fish die-offs are usually caused by oxygen depletion in the water. The hypoxic event can be caused by things like drought, algal blooms, high temperatures and thermal pollution. We haven’t heard anything about drought or high temperatures, and it doesn’t appear to be an algal bloom; so everyone should immediately start looking at any factories in the area. Oh, what do you know! We’ve got a national corporation that started right here in the town by the name of Monteverde! Their CEO or whatever talks at the meeting a lot about how resilient the town is, and how proud his company would be to help the people through this disaster. Forget the die-off, Monteverde is officially the fishiest thing in this town!

Just before the town meeting, we are introduced to the caricature of villainy that is Principal Strickler—a name which demonstrates about as much nuance as you can expect from Pixelberry at this point, and probably the rest of this book. You see, he hates us because.... reasons? idk Pixelberry just needed an antagonistic force in the story just go with it. It honestly feels like a lot of the dialogue so far in this book was put in as a placeholder and the writers said “we’ll clean it up once we start editing, just move on!” and they just... never did.

We also meet Mel, a character who seems to be taking on the role of that one delicious daddy from Big Sky Country of being way too into conspiracy theories. Don’t touch her zucchinis. We’ve seen her sprite many a time before this series, but I still maintain that her sprite needs more chunky jewellery like in that one Adam Ellis comic.

In other news:

Both of our parents are alive and we’re not adopted, which is a shock because it is as dangerous to be a birth parent to a Choices MC as it is to be a birth parent to a D&D player character.

Hot Person #1 comes to our rescue from Strickler, because we really need to prove just how great of a person they are.

Town hall happens and no one will listen to our sister.

We have a best friend! Unfortunately they work for Monteverde; so unless they’re cool with exposing company crimes, they’re probably not gonna be our friend for much longer.

The clean up is pretty shoddily organised, and it’s clear that Monteverde is really in it for publicity (wow never saw that coming)

We almost drown but then we’re saved by Hot Person #2; and that’s pretty much anything of note.

To PB’s credit, the book does appear to look at the way young activists are totally disregarded by adults, but the writing is just so yikes that you can’t help but roll your eyes. They seem to maybe be featuring the climate grief that is rapidly growing amongst younger people, but we’ll have to wait and see if Pixelberry will actually explicitly show this.

Anyway, my guess is we’ll probably later find out that the ecological disaster in RT was caused directly by Monteverde—to the shock of absolutely no one—and that’s why they’re doing the whole publicity run with the fish clean up. If you spent a shit ton of diamonds there’ll probably be an opportunity to make the company see justice, but if you didn’t? Tough luck sweatie, because even in a scenario that could literally be about corporate greed PB would never drop their pay-to-win attitude.

So there’s my thoughts, thots. Look, I wasn’t expecting this to be a modern classic, but come on bro, was there even a first draft when you wrote the book? Very interested to see if the writers of Rising Tides will show a deeper understanding of the cause and effects behind climate change and the ecological impacts of human activity, or if it’s all surface-level.

(I wouldn’t hold my breath.)

[forever-animated]

TDP Season 4 Preliminary Predictions, Part One (1-12)

So with S4 in production, no trailer in sight, and a TBA release date, it looks like there’s still a wait before we get any news on the upcoming season.

That being said, we do have some information to go on regarding what might be in store for our favorite characters. (Previous SDCC interviews, the recent Instagram Live and Reddit AMA with the creators, Callum’s Spellbook, and of course, Through the Moon.)

So I decided to put together some preliminary predictions based on the info we have so far. My desire is to create a TDP S4 bingo board just before the season airs, so that gives me 24 guesses/predictions to come up with (not including the free space). I’ll probably tweak most of these once we get our trailer, since I’m sure it’ll provide more insight as to the direction of the show.

So without further ado, here are my first 12 TDP S4 preliminary predictions...

1. Spring 2021 Release

During the Reddit AMA at the beginning of October, the creators gave the following update:

Since it’s been over a month, we can safely assume they’re in production now.

From what I understand, pre-production is mostly writing and storyboarding, possibly voice recording as well. If they’re in the production phase, that means animation has begun.

Let’s consider the turnaround time for past seasons. S1′s airdate was September 14, 2018; S2′s was February 15, 2019; and S3′s was November 22, 2019. This means that there was only a five month gap between S1 and S2, and a nine month gap between S2 & S3. 

The gap between S3 & S4 has been longer than both of those. But considering that we’ve had a global pandemic and that we’ve been waiting on Netflix to greenlight more seasons, this is to be expected. We only heard about the renewal back in July. Assuming the team started work around that time, they’ve already been working for about four months. 

If we estimate that it’ll be another five months before we see S4, (nine months in total, same as the wait between S2 and S3), that means it will air around April 2021. Of course, it could air before or after - depending on how long production takes. But I believe it’s safe to say that we could be seeing TDP S4 air in spring 2021. 

2. Timeskip < 6 Months

We know from interviews that there will be a timeskip between S3 & S4. If you’ve read Through the Moon, you know that there’s a few weeks in between the end of S3 and the beginning of the graphic novel, and that the events of the story happen in the span of about two weeks. So we can estimate that it’s been about a month between the end of S3 and the end of TTM.

We also know there will be a bit of a timeskip between TTM and the start of S4, per the Reddit AMA, but we’re not sure how long that will be.

My guess? The timeskip between S3 & S4 will be six months or less. 

I was initially going to play it safe and say “less than three years,” because anything more than that would require a recast to account for teenage Ezran. (And given how much the creators and fans LOVE Sasha, I doubt a recast will ever happen in the show.) 

But realistically, I don’t think the timeskip will be more than a half a year. The events of TTM imply that the story is very much moving forward, and anything too far in the future would give the audience too much to be caught up on. So it’ll likely be only a few months of a gap between seasons, and definitely less than six.

3. New Clothing & Hair for Characters

Many of the characters in ATLA received either new hairstyles or clothing between the seasons. So following that logic, and given that Ehasz is behind both shows, it stand to reason the same will hold true for TDP.

The creators have confirmed that Callum will be going “sun’s out, gun’s out” for S4. (Their words, not mine.) This makes sense since he now knows how to cast mage wings, and he wants them to be readily accessible at a moment’s notice.

We also see that Rayla’s sporting a new cloak when she leaves at the end of TTM, so she’ll likely have this for S4 as well. 

Ezran may get new garb as well, as he settles into his new role as king.

I also think it’s possible that their hair could change as well. Rayla’s on her own now, so her hair will probably just get longer. Maybe she’ll braid it or wrap it up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. If Callum returns to Katolis, he might get a haircut in-between seasons. But if he goes straight out to search for Rayla, his hair might be even longer.

Either way, new hair and clothes seems like a given.

4. Older Zym

The creators have assured us in prior interviews that Zym is still very much a part of this story. It is called The Dragon Prince after all.

That being said, I think it’s possible we’ll see a slightly older Zym next season, especially due to the timeskip. I doubt he’ll get much bigger. He’ll probably go from being the size of a puppy to the size of a full-grown dog. And I don’t think he’ll talk yet. That seems like it won’t be for many years in the future.

Still, I think we can reasonably look forward to seeing an older Zym.

5. Mid Season Rayllum Reunion

I already have a post highlighting the reasons why I think Callum and Rayla will definitely reunite in S4, as I know many fans are wondering if they’ll spend the whole season apart. 

But I think this reunion may happen sooner rather than later. By that, I’m guessing it’ll happen at the midway point - either episodes 4 or 5.

This gives us the chance to have three or four whole episodes with them apart, which seems like a reasonable amount. Then we get their reunion, which’ll likely be it’s own episode. Then we get four or five whole episodes with them together again, dealing with the fallout of Rayla’s decision, working together, and hopefully reconciling by the season’s end. This seems like it could be a nice, tidy arc for them to have for the season, so that’s what I’m going to guess will happen.

Plus, it’ll have us feeling all the feels.

6. Janai’s Brother Wants the Throne

It’s been confirmed that Janai and Khessa have a younger, unnamed brother. We know nothing about him, and the creators decided not to comment when asked about him during the AMA. This means that he’ll likely be an important player for S4.

One of the writers (I believe it was Devon) also confirmed via Twitter that Janai is next in line for the throne after her sister’s death, calling her Queen Janai. 

This raises a very interesting potential plotline for S4. What if Janai decides to ally with the humans that helped during the battle at the Storm Spire? What if her brother is not happy about this? Letting a human into Lux Area was the reason Khessa died, after all.

What if Janai’s brother decided to make a play for the throne - either by contesting Janai’s rule, threatening civil war, or by trying to usurp the thone?

The creator’s have mentioned that despite the Zym being returned to Xadia, there is still a long road to peace between the elves and humans. They alluded to an “event” that makes Ezran aware of this.

Unrest / war between the Sunfire elves could very easily be what they’re talking about. And Janai’s brother wanting the throne could very easily be the catalyst for that.

7. Aaravos in the Shadows

Many fans are speculating that our main characters may now finally become aware of Aaravos’s existence in the series. As for me? I’m not so sure.

Keep in mind, outside of Viren, Claudia, and perhaps a handful of Sunfire elves, no one else in the show knows of Aaravos’s existence. He’s been keeping to the shadows, pretty clearly using Viren as his puppet. 

With the end of S3, he’s in the cocoon, leaving Viren and Claudia on their own. We don’t know how long it’ll take for him to emerge, or even what form he’ll take when that happens. But we do know that he’ll be back for S4, per Erik Todd Dellums. (And apparently, he’ll have an even sexier voice.)

I imagine he and the dark mage fam will have their own arc in S4, which may eventually intersect with whatever the main cast is up to, but not for awhile yet. As for Aaravos himself, I think he’s playing the long game. And I think part of that means staying in the shadows as much as he possible can, while he consolidates power. The goal it seems is to make his form stronger and stronger, and eventually finding a way to leave the mirror realm entirely. Why would he want to play his cards too early?

So with Viren and Aaravos out of the way for much of S4, who does this leave as the main antagonist?

8. Sol Regem, Main Antagonist

Enter Sol Regem. It’s been confirmed that we’ll see him again, after all. And we know just how much hatred he has for humans. He was hellbent on frying Callum to a crisp, even after he had agreed to return the human kingdoms.

It was revealed that Sol Regem was once revered by the Sunfire elves, before he became a symbol of rage and bitterness. Still, this reverence is an important part of Sunfire history.

This is something Janai’s brother could leverage if he’s looking to usurp the throne and pit the human-hating Sunfire elves against those that are loyal to Janai. With the literal Sun King on his side, he becomes a formidable foe.

This could be the event that leads Ezran to act. Will the humans who fought at the Storm Spire come to the aid of Janai and her people? Will the Dragon Queen weigh in on this matter? Will they need to gather the other elemental dragons together in hopes of defeating Sol Regem? (If so, this is a way we could bring Rex Igneous into the story.)

This might be a bit of a stretch, of course. But it does lead for an interesting direction for S4, and S5 as well, and would be a way to introduce more dragons and keep Zym and his mother in the story. 

And, as I stated in my Rayllum S4 reunion post, this gives Rayla incentive to stop hunting Viren and shift gears to focus on the more emergent threat. Which in turn could reunite Team Zym once again.

9. Rex Igneous Eats a Jelly Tart

It’s pretty much a given that we will meet Rex Igneous (the Earth dragon) in this season. You can see a sneak peak of him in Callum’s Sketchbook, which has the following caption:

It was also revealed by the creators that some “very important figures” would be eating jelly tarts in upcoming seasons.

Given this information, it doesn’t seem farfetched to imagine that Rex Igneous will be one of those figures.

10. Soren & Ezran Adventure / Bonding

Soren used to share his screen time with Claudia, but now that she’s out on her own with her dad, he’ll need a new buddy to share screen time with.

I nominate Ezran, mostly because S3 dealt a lot with their relationship, and it just makes sense to continue to develop this in S4. Plus, Ezran’s the king and Soren’s the guard. Where he goes, Soren follows.

So it makes sense that they’ll have an adventure together in S4.

11. Dramatic Claudia Reveal / Confrontation

I had this on my list for awhile, but Ehasz tweeted this and nearly confirmed it:

I think we’re going to get either a really dramatic reveal or confrontation between Claudia and another character. Either Viren, Soren, or possibly Callum. (I don’t think it’ll be Rayla, since she has no real connection to Claudia.) Or perhaps it’ll simply be a dramatic reveal for us, the audience.

Either way, stuff’s going down.

12. Callum Learns Moon Arcanum

The creators have mentioned that Callum will be learning more of the primal sources in future seasons. I think it stands to reason that moon will be next for him.

S3 already showed him starting to grasp a lot of the fundamentals of the source - both in their evasion of Sol Regem and in casting the spell to see Rayla’s parents. Through the Moon builds on this even more, with him using moon opals to cast more moon magic, and learning even more from Lujanne regarding the nature of the primal.

Being separated from Rayla might be the push he needs to finally unlock the arcanum once in for all. Perhaps it’ll be key to tracking her down, if he goes after her.

If not, perhaps understanding Rayla’s past and the decision that she made, and their reconciliation is what will trigger it.

Hard to say for sure, but I feel like this will relate to Rayla in some way. And it will definitely happen in S4.

Okay, that’s it for now. I’ll do a part 2 eventually and go through my last 12 predictions.

[violetsystems]

#personal

It was a pretty quiet September 11th around the city for a change. I took the train downtown for coffee near the river. I was all over the place yesterday. On foot, on skateboard, on train. On the platform, a woman who had been seated with her son approached me. She asked me softly what book I was reading. It was William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition." I had been carrying it mostly because I saw a woman holding a bag a few days prior with the words "always carry a book." You get clues from society sometimes of how not to be a douchebag. You learn to read the court. Know when to fake. Know when to pass the ball. Know when to dunk on a motherfucker. This was one time where I had a chance to follow through on that wager. I told her it was science fiction but written too long ago so that it just seems like reality. The least complex way I could explain it was science fiction meets advertising. I could hear her son groaning presumably in the background. Probably at me. But it was a thoughtful conversation. We both agreed that carrying a book was about as neutral as it gets. If someone wanted to talk to you they'd have to reference the literature you were holding. It beat doom scrolling through the news which we both agreed is always different but never changes. We also agreed books put us to sleep. I said that was probably why I liked to read them in transit so I could tune out the world. The train approached as she wished me a good day and I continued my journey of minding my own business. Chicago lately feels a little less intimidated by culture as it happens. Particularly in communities of color where I spend most of my time and foot traffic in. I don't really feel all that comfortable or at ease around white people for the most part. They're all too scared to be real and talk about anything unless they're drunk. One of my favorite white basketball players was inducted into the hall of fame. He's a cracker for sure but a Croatian American which is one third of my nationality. He was called "the waiter" in which he was famous for waiting to pass the ball at the right time. He won a game for the bulls with five seconds remaining. He could dunk from the foul line and so on. And he played on a team of athletes where he was the minority and got his due. He did well enough to get inducted in the Hall of Fame when all was said and done. But he achieved that through team work not through domination. I have all these situations where it might seem from a certain vantage point that I alone saved the day. That I'm some superhero. And my only power is getting along in the environment I'm in. An environment that people constantly report is unsafe, in flux and horribly toxic. It is when you don't do anything about it to change it And then again people are smart enough and connected enough to figure out ways to cope. That is if they talk to each other. It's not like New York or Hong Kong where everyone is so used to living side by side. Chicago loves to have space and defaults to awkwardness. It's gasping for air sometimes in that respect. You need to wear your heart on your sleeve at all times. What better than a good book?

It seems like I write one every week. There's so much to reference and yet it all seems like chaos to organize. I can get lost in my head for any number of reasons. The people I care about most are far away in some ways and not so much in others. But it is still all so very vague. Small interactions at least keep me from feeling attacked and isolated. I think we're all looking for a balance to be able to express what we feel out in the open normally. Everybody is so focused on crystalizing it online one sentence at a time. They react to a feed that's been frankensteined together for an ulterior agenda. You read it on the news and it must be true. And year after year it is never about you. They've since taken the model of activism and made it a fucking reality show with Usher. The prize culminates at the G20 where you face the secret tribunal and receive funding for your cause through some bizarre sectarian ritual. I'm sure this is not the truth of it. But activism like reading should be a passively active goal. It should be your compass on the high seas of adventure in a city like this. The reward should be the conversations you unlock. The things you can reflect on and write about. How I don't really feel self conscious talking to people on the spot anymore. If a member of the opposite sex came up to you and asked what you were reading what impression would they leave you with? I'm already changing the world around me. And there's things that I've done in the past that are great trivia but don't speak for the real me. I was invited to see some people dj down in Chinatown last night. It was by the river in a park. I had just gotten back from Little Italy to get Hong Kong style Indian food at a restaurant called Siri. All of this is within walking distance if you don't mind shin splints. Everybody can tweet away how they're afraid to visit Chicago for fear of getting shot by the gangs. I am on foot ninety percent of the time. There's crime and then there's crime. And then there's what five media conglomerates owned by five billionaires have to say about it. This is why I listen to publicly funded radio. I hurried back, burnt my mouth on dal makini and jumped back on the bus to the park. Everybody was there that I knew from footwork and magic the gathering. An impossible mix of people who nonchalantly know you as violet systems moreso than Tim. I hung out for an hour and left around eight thirty. I took another long walk home over an empty bridge overlooking the city. I did this all alone. Aside from the people I run into from the neighborhood on the block. I was free to do so. And Chicago is still that place no matter how mad I get at it. And it isn't going anywhere.

Seemingly neither am I. For all the bullshit I write about how frustrated I am with things, people do eventually get the message. Would you rather have them understand it organically or force your perspective? You can repeat the same thing over and over again and it becomes tired. About how you are so progressive that nobody in your city has actually heard of you. About how you are doing all these things to fix the future but aren't living life in the present. All it really takes is letting the world know you are stable. Getting your own chaos in order and operating from there. Maybe you inspire someone along the way. Maybe you start a conversation that has nothing to do with you. But it all starts with communication. Knowing when you've said enough. Knowing that simply showing people another side of you may change the dialogue. Living by example and not just talking about it. Maybe understanding that it isn't constructive to be fighting with the universe all the time. Maybe the peace we seek to achieve on the global level starts with the conversations within ourselves and not the society trying to galvanize public opinion. If we could just help people feel normal again maybe we would all deserve normalcy. September 11th was a horrible thing caused by an outdated mindset across the board. It is twenty years later and we still cower in fear. Mostly of our own country's shadow if we are Americans. We have since thought of our freedom as something to be shaken out of other people. To rattle and provoke each other to show our true selves like a bull in a glass house. We don't start small. We get egged on and thrown in such a paranoid mind state that we think everyone is out there just to roast us. We constantly feel we have to prove our patriotism to a peanut gallery of billionaire funded social networks. We chase money in the present instead of investing in better futures. We don't know when it's our time to pass the ball. Working as a team, you fear you will be forgotten. That somehow you won't get your slice of the bloated pizza pie and unevenly distributed future of the American dream. But we all live here oblivious to the freedom we have to build it back better ourselves. The billionaires aren't walking on these streets. They're blind to how it really works. Maybe it just starts with a book and an honest question. What am I reading these days? I'm reading into all the signals and they're coming back clear. Whatever I've written in the past is just context for whatever I write about in the future. And the future holds less terror because I am less fearful of being misunderstood. I still wear that bright pink heart on my sleeve. It's the team I represent. I'm just waiting for the right time to dunk from the foul line. For now I pass it back to you all until next week. <3 Tim

[ziracona]

Benedict head canons? How does he mingle with the rest of the gang

Benedict is an incredibly odd mix of “Polite and socially adept by nature” and “the world’s most awkward man due to the fact he’s stuck almost 200 years after he lived.” He’s fairly adaptable, and learned a lot from other survivors as the cycled in and out of the realm, and worked hard to be able to keep up to date, but he’s also been punched on many occasions in the realm for saying or doing something he had no idea was going to get that kind of reaction. This is left him uhhhhhhhh extremely cautious saying things, and it’s not unusual for him to pause mid sentence and check facial expressions with sudden concern, afraid he’s fucked up again, but it’s super funny the kinds of things that lead him to do this. For example: was afraid that he might be suckerpunched for saying “Things really have changed a lot. I would have thought four unwed adults of different sexes sharing an apartment to attend college together would be looked on as a little scandalous, since no one could know the situation.” (About Claudette, Quentin, Nancy, and Philip all sharing an apartment to go to college) and was also deeply afraid after he said it that saying “Wow! The idea of standard middle class transportation has changed so drastically. To think an automobile like this is considered average,” might be some kind of class-offensive statement, and stopped right after both with a horrified look on his face waiting to see what the damage was. Which, in both cases, was none, but a lot of amusement from the person he was talking to. He does have a tendency in past of accidentally putting his foot in his mouth, but honestly, he’s gotten pretty good at adapting to the times and was never that bad. Alex Lin really just liked putting him in a world of hurt for everything he ever did because she thought it was hilarious, and Benedict could never tell which things were partially jokes and which were sincere, coming from her. Got beat up the first time he met her, because he told her to stay behind a rock and let him run a distraction for her since she was a lady and it was his duty to protect her if he could. She broke his nose with one hit and told him she’d break his fingers with her platform boots if he ever called her a “lady” again, and to stick the sanctimonious crap up his ass, she could take care of herself better than he could, and he instantly fell in love. Has Alex to thank for his paranoia, but probably also for how little he actually does put his foot in his mouth anymore.

Benedict is very proper, and still kind of dresses like he’s from the wrong century. He thinks tech is fascinating, but he’s also kind of a grandpa at learning it. Kate and Jane both give him lessons on tech and just society and things that have changed, and it helps a lot. He is super intimidated by the American highway system and taking a tin can hurdling around at 80 miles an hour while other drivers shoot past you, and afraid of driving, but Kate gives him slow lessons until while still afraid to drive on highways, he’s okay with taking residential roads and driving a bit, despite the way American drivers can get in big cities even just on their way to the drugstore. Kate knew him a little in-realm, so she’s one of the ones closest to him, and enjoys him a lot. She thinks it’s kind of sweet how gentlemanly and polite he is, and how he’s so fascinated by like, cigarette lighters in cars and automatic supermarket doors, and her ancient handheld tennis ball sized electronic 20 questions game. Jane likes him too, and they’re research buddies a lot. He can focus for hours and hours over the dustiest old times, and actually, he can read a lot of the ancient handwriting on old historical documents before common spellings developed, and it’s kind of a godsend. She also greatly enjoys how casually (and often) he drifts into ethical discussions while he does even the most mundane shit like washing dishes.

While no one but Kate met Benedict in-realm, and he spends the most time with her, and with Jane, who he lives and works with, all of them feel like they know him or like he’s a living legend or both, since they’ve been reading and hanging on his writing for years in-realm. He’s accepted immediately, and has so many common experiences—even if not of the exact same trials—that he kinda just fits like a glove, and is extremely welcomed and a natural addition to the group. Philip and Sally are especially close to him, and it kind of helps bridge the intial, slightly awkward gap. After icebreakers, he drifts from house to house like everyone else, and is like, the weird great uncle to most of the younger survivors. Min loves absolutely bombarding him with tech stuff to watch his eyes glaze over while he drowns trying to keep up with her discussions of bitrate and solid state drives, becuase she’s a little cruel, but she does also help him figure out his first decent phone, so she can be your devil or your only slightly sadistic angel. Claudette loves discussing realm stuff with him, and helping each other on research. Also the only one with any experience with falconing, so he kind of helped Jake get some of his initial setup and gear for Alex the crow figured out.

Benedict collects things from the 21st century, especially simple electronics, and everyone thinks that’s kind of endearing, and start picking out simple gifts to get him when they know they’re gonna see him soon. Singing birthday cards, an old gameboy SP, boom boxes, a record player, laser pointers, magic 8 ball (this actually freaked him out, but he didn’t tell anyone because he was afraid of being made fun of), a Bop It, and all kinds of little lights and decorations that make sound or light or move. He has an ever expanding self of these gifts he calls his “Little Marvels” stand, and he really enjoys it. Has tried taking them apart to understand them better, but is usually overwhelmed. Jake took pity on him and helped him get the extreme basic gist of a circuit board once though, and since then, he has been fascinated. Jane soemtimes comes to the table for breakfast to find Benedict with one of those Kid Science kits on the table and potatoes hooked into wires powering a mini fan going, “Jane! Would you look at this. Isn’t that fascinating? Who knew the PH could have this kind of ability?” She finds this endearing and also weirdly relaxing to wake up to.

Benedict takes notes all the time. On literally everything. Is extremely poetic and writes poetry occasionally when he is overcome by the beauty of something like his first time seeing a park lit up with Christmas lights in fancy sculpture arrays on a crisp December night. Gets book recommendations from Adam and Jane and loves talking shop with them. Is constantly horrified by the news. He’s not used to global news being so all at once or so much. He has a really really hard time adjusting and not being thrown into wild bouts of depression. Jane talks him into giving himself more healthy doses of time away from news so he doesn’t kill his 1860s adjusted brain, and he finally takes the advice and is very grateful for the improved quality of his life.

Loves dogs so much. Not a fan of small dogs though. Not like he hates them, just thinks they’re kind of depressing and bug-eyed usually and feels bad for them. Wants a hound. Ends up getting a Yorkshire Terrier mutt instead because it’s the whimpering thing that follows him down a New Jersey street in a rainstorm after a long day of research with Jane. Doesn’t mean to get a pet period but it’s so pathetic and its foot has been injured by something, maybe a car, so he picks it up and takes it home to warm up and give food to before dropping off at a shelter or vet. It’s so wildly affectionate and has so much love in its disproportionately big eyes he keeps being like “...It can stay a little longer,” until he was wrong and it just lives there now. Names it Missy and gave her a little hairbow. Calls her his research assistant. Jane loves this dog. Benedict was already well accepted and friends with the other survivors, but bringing a pet to a party makes people like you more in this family.

Mostly, Benedict is kind of an old man of a professor. He enjoys chatting, but is hard to drag into the more physical activities, except hikes, which he quite enjoys. He mingled quite a bit more than he expected though, and is deeply happy about how accepted he’s become, and how much he cares about these people and they seem to truly care about him.

[gamingbugs542]

What is a non gaming license

50 Ideal Gaming Web-sites To Stop by In 2017

It really is time to recognize the best gaming blogs of the year. EDIT:I made use of to watch the Feedback video more than at G4 just about every week, but it really is gone down hill the final couple of instances I watched it and now that Adam Sessler isn't on it and they have that girl from IGN that everybody hates in each and every episode I just can't be bothered to watch it any more. Still worth going back and watching some of the older ones although. Klepic employed to be on that show and back then in the early days was when it was the greatest. Back when they basically talked about gaming news with some semblance of intellect instead of just gushing about whatever game they are told is cool this week.

The close to future promises a bunch of new possibilities for Pc and mobile games. It means we will appreciate high high quality gaming content material no matter what device is made use of. Hey guys! I am looking for indie gaming blogs out there that are truly good. There is an endless supply of gaming resources on-line if you know where to look or who to speak to.

I got into action games late but when I did it entirely changed how I viewed gaming forever. The game which brought me round was Viewtiful Joe. Right here was a game with a deep and open-ended combat technique which seemed to be constructed as a implies for the player to express creativity. This system is then pitted against opponents and obstacles which had been designed from the ground up to interact meaningfully with the core system. The course was fixed, but the technique for dealing with that course was fully down to the ingenuity, talent and inspiration of the player. You play like you have a huge audience watching and the game consistently entices you to strengthen the concentrate is not simply on having the player from A to B, the focus is on getting the player to play Viewtifully”.

Nowadays is the day! I will be steadily releasing the names of the major ten gaming blogs of 2014. Looking over this list, I am positively blown away. So a lot of great posts this year! If you were disappointed by the Ennies… if you assume that the real deep thinkers in gaming commentary do not get the interest they deserve… nicely, people, we are going to fix that.

Live in the planet of games on this site that is devoted to providing out magazine style overview contents on the hottest games, characteristics on the gaming community and multiplayer user interface for its readers. How to download games on computer system. Buy games & game keys with Green Man Gaming backwolf.online Mobile gaming blog - get the most effective costs, amazing bundles & exclusive game deals each day! Visit to discover Green Man Gaming.

Never Just Remain There! Start GAMING

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[virtchandmoir]

Tessa Virtue says goodbye to Canada with final cross-country tour

October 9, 2019

Tessa Virtue may have just announced her ice dancing retirement, but that’s not the end for her just yet — not even close.

Over the next two months, Canadian cities big and small are being treated to a farewell tour for Virtue and her ice dancing partner, Scott Moir. The beloved dancing duo are pairing up again for the cross-country figure skating show Rock the Rink.

While skating and non-skating fans alike are eager to see the duo — who captured hearts with their gold-medal-winning Moulin Rouge performance last year — one more time, the Olympic skaters will be joined by other young athletes on the ice at Rock the Rink.

Virtue and Moir will take to the ice alongside 27 Special Olympics Canada athletes, including 16-year-old Emma Bittorf, an avid golfer, ice dancer and huge fan of Virtue and Moir.

“I’m excited to see Tessa and Scott. This is the first time I get to meet them,” Bittorf said. “I look up to [them]. They do a really good job on the ice.”

Bittorf, decked in blue and sparkles, is set to open the Medicine Hat, Alta., tour stop on Oct. 19, but Rock the Rink isn’t where her career begins: the teenager took home silver in golf at the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi this year and is set to return in 2021 for skating.

Rock the Rink kicked off in Abbotsford, B.C., and will travel across the country, holding its final show in St. John’s, N.L., on Nov. 23.

Until then, Virtue is soaking up the magic of working with her former ice dancing partner and an incredible cast of young, inspirational athletes before taking a load off for the holiday season.

Global News caught up with Virtue, 30, over the phone while the decorated athlete was in Abbotsford preparing for her epic cross-country goodbye.

Global News: How does it feel to be heading out on your last Canadian tour?

Tessa Virtue: It was a really thrilling process putting together this particular tour for so many reasons. It’s layered by the fact that we have an incredible international cast of many people that we’ve grown up skating with, skaters we admire who have accomplished significant things on the world stage but who are also so creatively inspired and eager to collaborate, with this being our last tour.

How do you prepare for such a long tour?

It requires something athletically unlike anything else we’ve really known. It’s a straight 90- to 100-minute set of skating, and there are only nine cast members. In order to make it an entertaining and captivating show, we really need to exert a lot of energy. We’ve been rehearsing here in Abbotsford as a group for already three weeks, working 10-hour days on the ice to ensure that everything is in tight formations and we’re all ready to perform. Ultimately, we’re taking skating fans — and hopefully non-skating fans, too — on a journey where they feel something.

Working with Special Olympics Canada, which you and Scott Moir have done for a while, must feel pretty special, too.

Scott and I have been working with Special Olympics Canada for quite some time, and it’s obviously something that is just so close to our hearts. I think what we’re most excited about is just to share the ice with these incredible athletes and to showcase [them] all the way across Canada, to spread that message of inclusion, to showcase how the impact truly transforms lives of children, youth and adults with intellectual disability. We’re just honoured to come together and share that across Canada.

In a lot of things you’ve done off the rink, inclusion and empowerment have seemed very important to you.

It’s important for so many reasons. It’s necessary, it’s meaningful and so relevant in today’s world. These things need to be talked about, [and] a lot of the narratives need to change. It’s always been important for me to use this platform that I’ve been [given], and I’m grateful for it but I also take it seriously and I just think I’ve been so privileged to have been able to chase my dreams in a very unique way, and that’s because I received a lot of support from people around me. I would love for everyone else to get that opportunity as well.

You’re quite a role model for a lot of young people, like Emma Bittorf. How does that feel?

It’s something that we don’t take lightly. It’s an important part … of having some kind of platform. But you know, when you see what Emma’s accomplished, there’s a mutual admiration going on here, and that’s not just in skating. She’s also an avid golfer, a basketball player. It’s truly impressive. I just love seeing how Special Olympics has played a part in her life.

Canadians have been following your career for many years, but your Olympic gold medal win with Scott really captured the world.

Canadians always rally behind their athletes. We’ve always felt like we [were] just the luckiest kids to be able to represent our country on the world stage, and the outpouring of love and support we’ve received, whether that was our first time at the Games bringing home silvers after Sochi or announcing our retirement, it never wavered and continues to surprise us. Canadians never cease to amaze me, and they continue to support us. In all honesty, that’s made this touring preparation process that much more special because we know we’ve got to cross the country and get to say a final farewell to the people who have really been with us for the last two decades.

Was making the decision to retire tough for you, or did it feel like the right time?

Tough in that it’s always hard to step away from something you’ve known and loved for such a long time, but it feels right. Like most major decisions in our career, Scott and I just came to it very organically together. It’s a feeling thing. How lucky that we get to step away at this point in our career when we can do it on our own terms and [from] a place where we still have such passion for the sport. We’re excited for what’s to come. I mean, we get 28 times [to say goodbye], all the way across the country [to] some of our favourite cities, to celebrate the career we’ve had.

Are there any cities you’re particularly excited to return to?

There are so many cities that have played just critical parts in our story. Of course, a lot of the hometown stuff in the London, [Ont.], area is one. Vancouver, we have fond memories. It will be really fun to return to cities that don’t often get skating shows. [Last year], we were so surprised by the engagement of the audience and being able to share in that energy. It ignited something in us again as performers, and we were so used to striving for perfection, but instead, it’s really just about making people feel something and connecting with an audience in a very genuine way. For us, I can’t think of a better way to go.

Do you have any plans after the tour wraps up?

It will be important to take some time to reflect. The nice thing is we have the next two months to really let … it percolate, and then there’ll just be an inherent crash that happens after the tour, much like every other project. So it’ll be good to just sit back, and then, of course, we’re near the holiday season so finally getting some time with our families will also be really special.

I’m finishing my psychology degree right now, and my plan is to start my MBA at Queen’s in the fall. Just from an entrepreneurial standpoint, a lot of new business things. I’m really excited for some new projects, some new collaborations, and it would be nice to sink my teeth into something off the ice as well.

—Global News

[hmel78]

In conversation with Ray Thomas ...

Ray Thomas (29.12.1941 - 04.01.2018)

RAY THOMAS – Founding member of The Moody Blues, admits that success happened quickly for “a bunch of lads from the Midlands who could play a bit”. For Ray himself that musical journey began as a boy –  “I always sang, being a Welshman” laughs Thomas “ in school choirs, and the Birmingham youth choir”.   Progressing to a one string bass in a skiffle group in the 1950s, Thomas eventually bumped into fellow ‘Moodies’ founding member, Mike Pinder. The two headed to Germany where Ray admits that they were “ripped off”, and returned to Birmingham aged 21, determined to carry on as musicians.  

Thomas recalls that what they found on their return to Birmingham, amongst the 250 or so bands on the circuit, was “complete disillusionment! – ‘Brum beat’ wasn’t taking off as the next ‘Mersey beat’ like people had anticipated, and bands were breaking up left right and centre”. Having heard Blues bands touring the circuits in Europe, and in the midst of the scene in Birmingham falling apart, Thomas and Pinder decided that Blues was the way forward.  The only other Blues artist in Birmingham at that time was Spencer Davis.   Together, Thomas and Pinder approached Denny Laine, who was living with Graeme Edge and his parents;  landing Graeme the drum stool on Denny’s recommendation.   Disappointingly for the band, John Lodge was not in a position to turn professional musician at the time, and in his place they recruited Clint Warwick. “We Bascially formed a Birmingham supergroup!” exclaims Thomas, “I don’t really think any of us expected the speed at which things took off for us after that”.   And it’s true – after only a short spell playing in Clubs around Birmingham, ‘The Moody Blues’ were picked up by a management company, and moved down to London.   With the current re-release, marking the 50th Anniversary, of their first album “The Magnificent Moodies” [Cherry Red Records] -  I caught up with Ray Thomas for a chat about the beginnings of a Birmingham Blues band,  who went on to be considered as global pioneers of progressive and orchestral rock ...

HR :  “The Magnificent Moodies” is a very fitting title for a first album, considering the success you went on to have!  

RT : We felt, at the time, that it was a bit pretentious to call it that, but management thought it was a good idea!

HR : Do you have any particular memories of recording the album?

RT : It’s been 50 years, and you tend to forget certain things, you know? But I do remember finding “Go Now” ...

We were a working band at the time, just moved down to London, and we’d play anywhere.   One night “Manfred Man” pulled out of a show at The Marquee Club, and we stepped in for them, which lead to us being offered our own regular night there. It was a major breakthrough for us in London. The Marquee Club was the place to be seen, and people would queue around the block to see us perform heavy blues. We had talked about putting together an album of songs that we performed live, but Studio time was like gold dust in London at the time and we just couldn’t get in anywhere to start and lay anything down. A friend of the managers from America used to send over boxes of singles and acetates, and one day we came across “Go Now” by Bessie Banks and her brother. It hadn’t been released, but she had laid it down as a demo which was very much lighter and slower than our version, but we loved the song.

At the same time, the Marquee were building a studio at the back of the club.   We asked if we could go into the studio and record it.   However, the studio was still pretty much a building site, apart from the control room which was almost finished.   So we went in there and set up amongst ladders and bags of cement, and recorded “Go Now”. We were the first band to record in Marquee Studios -  we were lucky with that.   We ended up doing about half the album there – and the other half was recorded at Olympic Studios.

HR : When “The Magnificant Moodies” was released, did you ever imagine what followed?

RT : It was a bit of a shock, because from forming the band to having a number one with “Go Now”, it was a relatively short space of time.  

We were all elated , but didn’t realise what a big hit it would be. We were a bit naive really ... It was a massive hit across Europe, especially France.   We spent a lot of time touring France, with a lot of the big blues artists. And proof of how naive we were :- We used to stay in Paris  – on the West Bank, in the ‘artists’ area. We rented a studio there and recorded a song that Denny wrote called “Boulevard de la Madeline” – he’d seen the signpost on the street and romanticised about it to the point of writing the song, but the Parisian’s ended up in arms about it. When we played it on stage we would silence the audience! What we didn’t realise is that “Boulevard de la Madeline”, was bang in the middle of the red light district! We didn’t know!

We had success in a LOT of countries, incredibly. America loved us, but oddly enough - “Go Now” wasn’t a hit in the states. They released “Tuesday Afternoon” instead, and that did OK.

HR : “The Magnificent Moodies” was the only album that you recorded as that first 1964-66 line-up wasn’t it? Would you have been happy to carry on and record more music in that genre, or were you ready for a change? Did you embrace what came after Denny and Clint left?

RT : The thing was, Clint was married with a couple of kids, and his wife wasn’t happy about the time he was spending on the road , so he went back to Birmingham to run the family business.

Denny left more or less at the same time, to go solo – he fancied trying out songs with a string quartet, which he did, and had a certain amount of success.

I felt like The Moodies were worth the perseverance, despite things having slowed down a bit for us, and had no real issues about carrying on with a change of band members. I’d worked with John Lodge in a band called “Elright and the Rebels” – I was Elright of course – a right a bloody prat! John was actually our first choice of bass player when we formed ‘The Moody Blues’, but his dad wouldn’t let him do it until he’d finished his apprenticeship. Same as my Dad, but I was a year older than John. We all came from working class backgrounds where our parents knew that music was a dodgy game, and wanted us to have a trade to fall back on. In that 12 months whilst John finished his apprenticeship, we’d had a number 1 hit with “Go Now” – so when I called him up, he was down to London like a shot!

I found Justin quite by accident really.   I was sitting in a club called the “The Scotch & St James”, which was the meeting place for bands back then, having a drink with Eric Burdon [The Animals] and he was in the throes of putting a new Animals together. I mentioned that I was looking for a new guitarist / singer.   Eric had put an anonymous advert in the NME, “Top recording band needs guitarist”, and found who he wanted - so he gave me all of the applications he hadn’t yet gone through, and fate handed me Justin.

And that was the new Moodies.

HR : When you enlisted John and Justin, the band took a different direction musically ... RT : Musically we were moving towards using strings and stuff anyway -  If you could have listened to what Mike and Denny were writing towards the end of that time, you could hear that influence creeping in.   Justin aided that because he had a much softer voice ...

HR :  “Days Of Future Passed” was the first album released with the new line-up; the rhythm and heavy blues, suddenly having been replaced by the orchestral opening of ‘The Day Begins’, and a very different vocal sound ... How was that received?  

RT : To tell you the truth, it went down like a cup of cold sick with the record company! [laughs] Before we recorded it – Decca, who we were signed to, had installed this new ‘Deramic’ sound system – best described as Wall to Wall stereo, instead of that old ping pong stereo sound.   They wanted us to do a demonstration disc for this sound system, to send out with their reps, and asked us if we would go in and play a couple of standard Rock and Roll numbers; to compliment that, they wanted Peter Knight (composer) to record a couple of classical numbers, and these would become the demo ... but it was going to be rubbish!

So, Tony Clarke  - one of Deccas top producers - and Peter Knight put their necks on the line for us at that point.   Again - We couldn’t get into the studio to record ‘Days Of Future Passed’, so we approached Tony and Peter with the idea. They liked it, and helped us to record the whole thing in about 8 days  -  we recorded “Legend Of The Mind” in the same session.

We never actually recorded with the Orchestra ourselves. The roadie would take over what we’d worked on each night, to Peter, and he would then write the bridge for the song. At the very end Peter recorded the orchestra, and then stitched it all together.

We were absolutely bowled over by it. We had achieved exactly what we wanted.

Every Tuesday, Decca would get all of their producers together with what they’d recorded during the week, and the powers that be would sit and listen and decide what they were going to do with it.

Tony played them “Days Of Future Passed” and they said “What the bloody Hell is that?” They didn’t know how to market it because it didn’t fit into any of their pigeon holes.   Fortunately for us that afternoon, a chap called Walt Maguire who was over from America -  the head of London Records [American Decca] - said “Christ! If you’re not going to release that here, give it to me, I’ll release it in America. It’s fantastic!”

So they decided to give it to him and agreed he could do that, and also decided to release it here. Nobody got into trouble, on our account, and that was the beginning of the new ‘Moodies’, with “Days Of Future Passed”!

We had ‘The Beatles’ come around to our house that night and played it to them ... and they loved it.   We were good friends with them, especially George and John.   They used to bring stuff for us to listen to too, because they trusted our judgements on it.   There was none of that back biting in those days. Everyone was just busy being creative.

We supported them on their last English tour – with Denny and Clint.  That was a hoot! I don’t think I dare say too much about what we used to get up to ... But you could see they [The Beatles] weren’t going to do anymore. They were writing some beautiful songs, but you couldn’t hear them. All you could hear was “Ladies and Gentlemen, The B ..” and then there’d just be screaming. The truth is, that they got totally cheesed off with it. They wanted people to listen to what they were doing. The fans were their own worst enemies really ...

HR : Talking of your connection to The Beatles - You were managed by Brian Epstein for a while. Surely that couldn’t have gone better could it?

RT : Well that’s debatable actually. Brian Epstein, was in love with a Bull Fighter in Spain and used to go over there a lot. He had a big organisation by the time he was managing us, but when he wasn’t there, nobody was making any decisions in his absence.   We were reliant on all of these people to get us the work, and look after our affairs. They were our agent as well, and things had been quiet for us for a while when a promoter in France contacted Epstein’s team wanting us to tour over there again. So we agreed to it. We touched down at the airport in Paris to crowds of press folks, and screaming fans!   We didn’t know that the record company had released “Bye Bye Bird”, and it had been a massive hit there. In short - This promoter had literally paid us peanuts for this tour, and we were a bit pissed off about it all. We went down to see Brian at his house as soon as we got back. There was a bit of a heated debate and I actually said to him “You’re the head of a crap organisation” – so he had a dramatic tantrum, threw us out of his house, and told us to meet him at the office in the morning. When we arrived there,  he’d got together all his heads of department and in front of us asked them all about what had happened. He just got blank responses. At which point he stood up and said “You’re right, I am the head of a crap organisation”.   Then he asked us what we wanted, and we asked for the contract back. So he sent his legal guy to get the contract, ripped it up into pieces in front of us; told us we were free, wished us luck, and we left the office ...

HR : Well his luck must have rubbed off on you, given the continued success you went on to have.   You’ve got a fairly impressive discography there, as proof!   RT : Yes I suppose I have really! I’ve lead one hell of a life!! [laughs] I was with ‘The Moody Blues’ for over 40 years, until my health prevented me from carrying on in 2003. It wasn’t a falling out or anything like that, I just had to pack it in. On Doctors orders! I’ve no regrets though. I was approaching 61 years old, had played everywhere I’d ever wanted to - except Sydney Opera house which I would have love to play!

Do you know? We were the first band to play Madison Square Gardens, in New York, twice in the same day, and the City Council put a block on that ever happening again because it brought the traffic in Manhattan to a standstill with everyone trying to get in and out!   [laughs]. I went for a walk between shows that day, with our publicist, and thankfully nobody recognised me. We used to get mobbed wherever we went as a group, and to be honest that day I just fancied bit of fresh air and some roasted chestnuts from the street vendor! As we’re standing there, some folks walked up to us asking if we had any tickets – they thought we were ticket touts! It annoyed me even back then, people asking $400 dollars per ticket! So I walked up to one of these touts and asked him how much he wanted for two tickets, and he actually only wanted $200, so I handed it over, and carried on eating my bag of nuts! Next thing, a young couple came up asking for tickets and I said, “I have got some actually” – and gave them to them for free.   Our publicist looked at my like I was crazy and said “What the bloody hell did you do that for?” and I said “because I’m going to get one hell of a kick out of knowing that when I walk out on stage later, that that young couple will look up and realise that I’m the bloke who gave them their tickets!”

HR : Do you have a favourite album amongst the 14 that you recorded with the ‘Moodies’?

RT : Well I don’t know really because I always say that they’re all our children. I have different memories of different albums and they all mean something. I love them all. You know, when you start with absolutely nothing and end up with something like “To Our Children’s Children’s Children” – it’s very rewarding.   We had a lot of fun playing around with sounds over the years.  They were happy days.

HR : And what are you up to these days, post ‘Moody Blues’?

RT : I’m still doing a lot of recording –  I’ve never stopped recording really. Solo albums, collaborations and all of that.

Just before Christmas (2014) I was working with John Lodge again. His solo album comes out soon. It was just like old times ...

I’m hoping to record a new solo album this year too – gives me something to do amongst fishing trips! I like to keep busy ...

I’ve just recorded with an Italian ‘Prog’ band, who paid me in Pasta! [laughs] I’m not kidding ... about a month later this huge box of pasta turned up on the doorstep from Naples!

And then I went out to record with a Russian band -  the son of a billionaire oil baron, who thought that I was God!

HR : Well You are regarded as a pioneer of progressive and orchestral rock – that’s verging on God-like!

[laughs] At the end of the day -  I’m just a guy from Birmingham, with a bit of talent, who got lucky ...

[rubisaurus98]

You do Brave Frontier! :)

Favorite character:

My two favorite BF1 Summoner characters are between Karl and Reda, so I flipped a coin, and the coin said Karl first.

Why do I like Karl? Mainly because I think he’s one of the most supportive NPCs without overdoing it, which is something I see Tilith doing. And probably also due to Alim spotlighting his backstory for sizable parts of Arcs 1 and 2, and therefore we just know/find out more about him than the others.

....Also having the Dragon Aesthetic, which I am an absolute sucker for. Seriously, I you were to ask me which Demon Lord I liked best design-wise, I think you’d already know the answer. As for my favorite personality, that’d be Amu Yunos.

Second favorite character:

Reda’s turn.

I like Reda for her more down-to-business attitude while not going full hardass, and for having one of the BF1 NPCs’ few full brain cells. I also really like her aesthetic/color pallet, which is kinda weird considering it’s pretty similar to Seria’s. I think it’s the hair and eyes.

Least favorite character:

Lucius and Karna Masta, because just about every problem in the story can be traced back to them wanting to exterminate humanity for, as far as I see it, some hubristic reasons. As if gods also aren’t able of being as “selfish” and “chaotic” as they assume all humans are. With all the damn plotting they did for all that, they ought to look in the mirror to find those behaviors they so condemn.

Also, Lucius taking in Tilith at a very young age with the express purpose of keeping Gate power under his control like Mother Gothel with Rapunzel and her life magic and honestly just using Tilith and us and keeping Tilith in the dark about all his plans.

Also Bran-flakes the Unit, for canonically being a bigot, and thus has earned every ounce of my ire.

The character I’m most like:

Personally, I like to think I’m a mix of Paris and Reda. Mostly book-smart but a bit more subdued unless we’re talking about something I’m really passionate about.

Favorite pairing

For a pairing within the bounds of canon characters, as I love all y’all’s OC Pairings too much, I have a fondness for the direction Seria and Tilith’s relationship went in canon. Once they started getting to know each other, there was Seria getting flustered over Tilith praising her so freely, and just how strongly devoted Seria was to freeing Tilith from the Gate during Arc 2 more than the others seemed to be. Plus some other events and outside-story things, I think you could read many of Seria and Tilith’s interactions as having homo-romantic undertones.

Least favorite pairing

Anything like LuciusxTilith is low-hanging fruit, so...

I wouldn’t call this ship my “least favorite”, but it’s one that I think about sometimes. I’ve seen some nice art, and I’ve seen online folk say they ship them because of some similar personalities, but there’s something that doesn’t sit right with me regarding LuginaxSeria. Yes, similar personalities/temperaments, but would their specific ones really produce an actually healthy relationship, especially with how they’ve behaved towards each other over the course of the story, even with character development? I understand that couples don’t have to agree on everything 100% of the time in order to remain functional, but hooking up with someone who almost always constantly insults you and seems to think so little of you without having a solid resolution of feelings really doesn’t sit right to me. I’m actually kinda glad they didn’t in BF2.  

Favorite moment

I do really like the part in Menon where the other main NPCs all team up against Karna Masta while you’re recovering from a severe injury.

Rating out of 10

Story-wise, I think both Brave Frontier and its sequel still could’ve been better executed and its characters better developed. Could’ve had little things where stuff in the Storybook makes appearances. Even though they’re mobile games with an indeterminate shelf life, after playing other gatchas with their own story campaigns, I believe that it is possible to have gatcha games with a decent story and more developed characters.

And personally, I am in No Way fond of games where the NPCs treat the player character like they’re dumber than a bag of rocks for a majority of the story. I think the BF2 character’s treatment by the rest of the cast as a greenhorn knight thrust into a whole new world is very much an improvement.

Mechanics-wise....Yeah, I’m not touching Global’s hot mess with a 39.5 foot pole. JP-wise, I think those have improved between 1 and 2 as well, until 2′s powercreep went 1 to 100 real quick. I think it would’ve been better if that game was released later than it was just to better hammer out kinks like that and ensure the game would have a shelf life that’s longer than a year.

5 Luginas getting stuck in places out of 10, for just the raw games.

10 OCs getting put through hell among other things out of 10 for the creativity and community that brought our group together.

[thesevenseraphs]

Bungie Weekly Update - 11/21/19

This week at Bungie, we’re investing in solar energy. We wrapped up Festival of the Lost this week, but cleaning up the decorations wasn’t the only thing that changed in the Tower. Ikora finished her construction project, closed out all the permits, and Guardians launched an attack on the Undying Mind.

The attack is ongoing and all Season Pass holders can join in on Vex Offensive and transmat the finished portal from the Tower to summon and defeat Undying Minds from different timelines. 

The impact of your victory has not been made clear just yet, but in time, you will learn more about how this will further evolve the world as we transition into the next Season. 

SOLAR SHIFTS

Next Season, we are shaking up the Solar subclasses. We are reworking several ability trees and the Destiny Dev Team has the details on what to expect when you praise the Sun next season.

Destiny Dev Team: Hey Guardians, it’s the Combat Systems team here, back again to talk about some updates we’re making to the abilities sandbox in the next Season. Previously we spent a Season focusing on subclasses of one specific element type such as Arc and Void. Up next, the Combat Systems team is tackling Solar subclasses as our focus for gameplay updates.

As we’ve mentioned in past TWABs, our goal with these subclass updates is to “revisit some older subclass paths and freshen them up a bit.” In execution, this means that older subclass paths will feel like viable choices in many of our activities and that players can find a home in any of them. When we started working on sandbox updates to follow Season of the Undying, our team looked at the whole catalog of Solar subclasses by cross referencing data, feedback, and conversation to figure out which subclasses needed help, which are performing fine, and which ones were a bit too potent. During our investigations, it was pretty clear that three specific subclasses were underperforming and needed to be taken back into the shop for a rework.

It’s worth noting here that a rework doesn’t mean it’s a completely new subclass. It means that we took the root of the gameplay fantasies for those subclasses and either expanded on what was already there or shifted some of the existing attributes closer to their fantasy. In some cases, entire perks were changed to help further the gameplay role and fantasy of those subclasses.

Those three Solar subclasses are:

GUNSLINGER: WAY OF THE SHARPSHOOTER (BOTTOM PATH)

Traditionally, Way of the Sharpshooter has mostly been used in specific PvE activities and almost exclusively paired with the Celestial Nighthawk helm. We wanted to move Way of the Sharpshooter to be something players want to choose more often and for a wider range of activities. To do that we needed to differentiate both Golden Gun paths and make Sharpshooter more versatile and interesting to use in PvE. In order to differentiate the 3-shot and 6-shot Golden Gun and better play into their fantasies, we've made the following changes:

For 3-shot we increased the auto-aim distance and reliability when aiming down sights, as it fulfills the role of long range accuracy. For 6-shot, we shortened the damage falloff range to emphasize the short range gunfighter role with a lot of kill potential. While it can still perform at longer ranges, it may take an extra shot to get the job done. We've made other changes to Way of the Outlaw to help keep its potency like adding a new Explosive Prox Knife that can stick to surfaces and detonate when enemies pass nearby. 

All up - we want Way of the Sharpshooter to feel more active and rewarding for players who can fulfill the role of the sharpshooter by taking down enemies with accuracy and precision.

NEW Weighted Knife: High-damage knife throw with a long wind up. Travels at high speeds, bounces once, and does extra damage to the head. Precision shot final blows recharge the melee completely. One-hit precision final blow in PvP.

Practice Makes Perfect: (QoL):  Lasts longer but gives a bit less energy per second. Precision hits grant two stacks.

NEW Knock 'em Down: Precision final blows increase weapon stability and ADS speed. Timer starts at 10 seconds but any additional final blow/assists can increase it up to 25 seconds. Casting your Super with this buff above 20 seconds consumes the buff and grants extra damage. (Does not stack with Celestial Nighthawk).

Line 'em Up: (QoL): Old perks from Crowd Pleaser are now part of this perk. (Golden Gun can cause precision damage and precision shots generate orbs of light).

SUNBREAKER: CODE OF THE DEVASTATOR (MIDDLE PATH)

Titans who adhere to the Code of the Devastator want nothing more than to crush their foes with smoldering hammers, and we want to see them live their dreams. When our data indicated that this subclass was underperforming in PvP, we decided to make a few changes that should enable it to be more competitive. The Roaring Flame perk has received a significant buff to its bonus damage, and the buff now lasts 25% longer, making it easier to build and retain stacks between encounters. The base damage of Throwing Hammer melee ability has increased—it's now very lethal in PvP while you have Roaring Flames active. In addition, once you've thrown the hammer and it’s lying on the ground, you don't have to get quite as close to it to pick it back up. Finally, we tuned the Super in a number of ways. 

For starters, Burning Maul now lasts longer, giving you more time to use it strategically instead of simply spamming the slam button. (Titans. All we want to do is smash, right?) We also increased the height of the heavy-slam explosion, so this Super should feel much more potent against airborne enemies. That's the gist of it, but here are more details:

Throwing Hammer: Increased impact damage from 100 to 120 and increased hammer pick-up radius from 2m to 3.5m. Adjusted hammer throw animations to fit a more damaging attack.

Roaring Flames: Increased damage bonus from 10% per stack to 25% per stack in PvP, and increased duration from 15 seconds to 20 seconds.

Burning Maul: Increased duration from 21.2 seconds to 28.5 seconds

Light Attack: Reduced light attack energy cost from 5% to 3%. Adjusted the animation so that it flows seamlessly into chained light attacks without stopping.

Heavy Attack: Ground Slam attack now detonates when it detects enemies above it. Detonation radius was increased to make landing attacks more consistent. Increased energy cost from 6% to 8%

DAWNBLADE: ATTUNEMENT OF SKY (TOP PATH)

With Attunement of Sky we wanted to push its air superiority gameplay further. When we initially released this path, its movement capabilities were tuned around the original Destiny 2 gameplay experience, which was much slower and more deliberate about positioning. However, over time, this movement needed to adapt to the new sandbox. We want to give you the gameplay experience that the fantasy begs for: A flying angel who can maneuver with grace and destroy its foes below. 

Now before we get started I wanted to touch on one thing: To accomplish our goals of reworking the air superiority role, we needed to differentiate the two Daybreak paths from one another. As such, we reduced the speed at which Burst Glide accelerates players in Daybreak. We know this is a controversial change but we wanted to reserve the air superiority gameplay with Attunement of Sky and the Burst Glide speed was blurring the lines between both Daybreak paths.

Icarus Dashes while in Daybreak have increased speed and thrust to recapture the burst glide gameplay for those running the air superiority path. We hope that, while this change is different, you still feel as fast as before—but with maybe a bit more expression behind that speed. The rest of the changes are below:

NEW Celestial Fire (Melee): Send a spiral of three explosive Solar projectiles. Heat Rises: (Rework) Consume your grenade to extend Glide time and dramatically reduce the in-air accuracy penalties for weapons.

Winged Sun (Rework): Fire weapons, use Celestial Fire, and throw grenade while gliding. Airborne final blows grant melee energy and extend the duration of Heat Rises.

Icarus Dash (Rework): Tap (Crouch) twice to dodge in midair. Dodging in Daybreak accelerates players farther and costs less Super energy while under the effects of Heat Rises.Added note: Due to the nature of these reworks, Wings of Sacred Dawn received a buff where it gains 15% damage resistance while Tome of Dawn is active.

There are a whole swath of changes we’re working on that extend beyond these three subclasses. Most Solar subclasses had some tuning and some non-Solar subclasses got a bit QoL love too. We hope that with these changes, you’ll feel energized playing any Solar subclass—regardless of activity. Thanks for having us!

FINAL HOWL

Next week, Lord Saladin will return to the Tower for the final time during Season of Undying. This will be your final shot at earning pinnacle rewards from Iron Banner until next Season. If you haven’t finished up your Season Pursuit, make sure to do it before the end of the event on December 3.

Iron Banner Control

Starts: 9:00 a.m. PT on November 26

Ends: 9:00 a.m. PT on December 3

We’ll be featuring a reprised armor set next season, so if you still want to get some pieces from this set, grab them quick! Saladin is also offering enhanced mods and other items in exchange for Iron Banner tokens you may have collected. You can turn them in now or bank them for when Iron Banner returns next Season.

GAMING AND GIVING

We’re completely blown away by the generosity you all showed throughout the Game2Give fundraising campaign in support of the Bungie Foundation’s iPads for Kids Program and of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

In just three weeks, you all raised $1,673,857.62! We reached this incredible amount of funding because of the 40,000+ donors and 5,500 streamers who supported the campaign across 104 countries. To say this was a true global Guardian initiative is an understatement!

For the Bungie Foundation, this will give us the capacity to expand into up to five new hospitals in 2020 and help over 250,000 more patients than we ever have before! We are so excited to continue our work of replacing fear with joy, boredom with entertainment, and uncertainty with a sense of normalcy for so many more kiddos.And check out how this funding will help the work that Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals does every day.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for showing us once again how truly special the Bungie Community is through caring about each other and those in need.

WANNA COOK?

For those looking to add more Destiny books to their collection, we are very happy to announce

Destiny: The Official Cookbook and Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three

are coming in 2020.

Destiny: The Official Cookbook In collaboration with Insight Editions and author Victoria Rosenthal, Destiny’s first official cookbook is filled with recipes inspired by the characters and locations seen throughout its expansive universe.

Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three

Destiny Grimoire Anthology Vol. Three is coming in late 2020 as the next edition of the popular Grimoire series.

These titles will be available at the Bungie Store and other booksellers. Stay tuned for more details. Be sure to visit the Bungie Store product pages linked above and click “Email When Available” to be among the first to know when the books are open for pre-order.

TIP OF THE SPEAR

Stay up to date on the latest from the Player Support team.  

This is their report.

DESTINY 2 ON STADIAThis week, Destiny 2: The Collection launched on Google Stadia. Players who are looking to get set up with Stadia for the very first time should make sure they visit our Stadia Guide.

Furthermore, existing Destiny 2 players who wish to bring their characters over from other platforms can do so right now through our Cross Save page. As a refresher; Cross Save allows players to access their preferred set of Guardians, gear, and Season Passes on all (Stadia details below) platforms. New players who are starting their Destiny 2 journey with Stadia can also enable Cross Save, so the Guardians they build and gear they earn travels with them to other platforms. However, players should know that Season Pass access granted on Stadia through Destiny 2: The Collection does not transfer to other platforms using Cross Save.

Destiny 2: The Collection on Stadia includes a Season Pass access at no additional charge. Players who have Cross Save enabled with their Stadia account who would like to access Seasonal content on other platforms (PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam) will need to purchase those Season Passes directly on one of those platforms.

As a final reminder, expansion licenses (Forsaken, Shadowkeep) do not transfer between platforms with Cross Save. Players who wish to access activities which rely on these expansion licenses will need to purchase them for every desired platform.

PC MIGRATION AND FORSAKEN LICENSES

Since Destiny 2 launched on Steam last month, we’ve monitored posts from players who have provided feedback and reported issues regarding the PC Migration experience.

After thorough investigation, we believe that we have resolved an issue which was preventing a subset of PC players from transferring their Forsaken licenses from their Battle.net accounts to Steam. Players who previously encountered this issue should re-initiate migration at our PC Move page.

Destiny 2 Known Issues

Listed below are emergent issues being investigated in Destiny 2.

The MIDA Multi-Tool catalyst will not drop for players who win a competitive Crucible match at the Legend rank if they are playing with clan mates and the "Catalyst Seeker" clan rank bonus is active. To mitigate this, we recommend that players seeking the catalyst play solo or team up with friends who are not in the same clan.

Black Armory Keys cannot be used or deleted if the Mysterious Box quest has already been completed.

Some players may experience an issue where blank items from Festival of the Lost are taking up slots at their Postmaster.

For the latest list of emergent issues, players should visit our Known Issues thread. Players who observe other issues should report them to the #Help forum.