#yes I’m so down bad for this game that I’m listening to podcasts about it now

[disco-tic-wonderland]

Listening to a 2021 interview with Justin Keenan, one of the writers. He said they got into a heated debate about what cologne Kim wears. 😂

The question was how do they establish who Harry is, whether there was a Lore Document. I cut some filler words (like/um/yeah), but this is a decent transcription:

“We have some pretty extensive lore documents or world building documents for various parts of the setting. But I don’t think there’s one for Harry. I think it’s just—I think you just know, man. You spend enough time with him, you start to gather…(laughs) It’s actually that way with a couple major characters. There’s no—I don’t think there’s any document with all of Kim’s information in it.

Part of the magic of the studio is that everyone who’s in it is like SO deep in it that we can all talk casually about what Kim or Harry are like or what they would or wouldn’t do or say? There’s some disagreement around the edges, sometimes, like—while writing The Final Cut, we had a kinda intense argument in writer’s chat about what kind of cologne Kim would wear, if he wears cologne at all. But for the most part, it’s just these characters are like so vivid and so well-drawn, that you just say right off the bat that sounds like Kim or Harry.”

[darkficsyouneveraskedfor]

Backburner 2

Warnings: this fic will include elements, some dark, such noncon/dubcon, and other untagged triggers. Please take this into account before proceeding. It is up to curate your online consumption safely.

Summary: your boss is easy going until he’s not. 

Characters: Sam Wilson, this reader is known as Dizzie.

Author’s Note: Please feel free to leave some feedback, reblog, and jump into my asks. I’m always happy to discuss with you and riff on idea. As always, you are cherished and adored! Stay safe, be kind, and treat yourself💜

💼Part of the Bad Bosses AU💼

“Diz,” Sam strolls up to your desk, startling you so your chair tilts dangerous, “what are you doing tonight?” 

Your lips open and you blink, turning your dumb expression into a weird smile. You sputter, surprised by the question. You take a breath and fix your posture. 

“Drinks,” you blurt out. 

“You asking me out?” He tweaks a brow and smirks. 

“Oh, no, me and the girls. It’s cocktail night!” You can’t help but clap your hands. 

“Cocktails? Get an appletini on me,” he says. 

“I’m more into mimosas,” you say sheepishly, “is there--” your smile twitches, “is there something tonight? For work? Did I forget--” 

“No, I was curious. Was gonna offer you some tickets to this hockey game. I’m not much into it but a vendor sent them.” 

“Mm, no, I’m not very sporty. I did play badminton in high school but I don’t really know about hockey or whatever,” you shrug, “sorry.” 

“That’s fine, I’ll ask Marty. I think he’s a Habs fan. Go figure.” 

You nod and wait until he strides away to go back to your work. Well, you were playing solitaire when he walked up but it’s been a very dull day. You sigh and check your phone. You’re still on for tonight. The girls all seem jazzed for it. Except for Izzie but she’s living her life up in some confidential location. 

You piddle away the day. Sam can’t seem to sit still as he comes in and out of his office several times to chat or just to ask you the same questions over and over. Admittedly, it’s a slow day. When at last you’re free, you’re eager to get home and get into something cuter. 

Your commute goes quickly as you listen to a podcast about animal facts. You get off at your stop and hurry to your building. That feathered sweater is going to look so cute with your mini skirt. You put on the loud red top over the primary blue sheath and pick out your platform loafers. You’re a bit topsy turvy and a few mimosas won’t help that but you’re ready for fun. 

You get to Retro’s at the same time as Rosie and jump her with a surprise hug from behind. You giggle as you enter and give your reservation to the hostess. She remembers you from all the other times and gets you seated. The 80s hits bop from the speakers as you wiggle in your seat. 

“I love Whitney,” you vibe along. 

“You’re silly,” Rosie chides. 

“Come on, get funky,” you clasp your fingers through each other and do the wormy thing with your arms. 

““Hey, guys,” Missie appears in a cluster of polka dots and frills, “how’s it going?”  

“Miss Missie,” you greet her with a giggle, “waiting to get the party started.”  

“Ah, yes,” she sighs and rubs her shoulders, “after today, I need a double! My boss... well, let’s leave work at work.”  

“Izzie’s not coming,” Rosie says.  

“Yeah, too bad. I can’t remember the last time I saw her,” Missie tuts. “Excuse me, I gotta hit the bathroom.”  

Missie walks off and you and Rosie chatter about the new knitting pattern she found on pinterest. She shows you on your phone as the din fades into the back of your mind. You’re a bit too talented at blocking out the world.  

“I feel better,” Missie proclaims as she sits down, “been holding my bladder since work.”  

“The others on their way?” Elfie asks as she appears behind the other girl. You flinch in surprise, ripped back into reality.  

“Georgie’s running behind,” Rosie says, “she just messaged. And Billie’s been quiet today.”  

Elfie sits and you all reach for your phones in unison. You open up Izzie’s video message and show the table her recording of a parachute jump. Wow! You wouldn’t mind trying that one day.  

Billie shows up shortly after as the chatter around the table continues. You sit with Rosie and Georgie joins you soon after, looking defeated as she explains she’s going away tomorrow. It all sounds so exciting. Izzie’s jumping out of planes, Georgie’s going to Barbados, and Billie got a new position. Your job is so boring. As fun as Sam is, he’s predictable. 

You get into the music again, swaying and bouncing, as Billie gives you the side-eye. The waitress approaches with a full tray but you don’t remember ordering. Elfie crinkles her nose, “I don’t think that’s for us.” 

You eye the bright green drinks in stemmed glasses. 

“Some gentlemen sent them,” the server nods over her shoulder. 

You sit forward to see through the crowd and a hand waves over the heads. You stand slightly as a few other girls raise themselves up. The waitress hands out the appletinis and Billie mutters about her tequila. 

“Who is that?” Rosie asks. 

“That’s my boss,” you exclaim and wave back at Sam. 

“What the hell is he...” Billie starts then quickly turns around and hides. “Shit, he’s with my boss!” 

“Your boss?” Elfie wonders. 

“One of them,” Billie growls. 

“And... is that... Mr. Rogers?” Rosie utters. “What are the odds?” 

You purse your lips and look down at the glass. Well, you did tell him you’d be there so you’re not so sure of the coincidence. You’re not going to tell them though, Billie looks ready to fight. 

“It’s so nice of them to send some drinks though,” you say. 

“Yeah,” Rosie agrees. 

“But why?” Elfie wonders. 

“I won’t deny a free drink,” Missie slurps and her cheeks pinch, “oo, sour.” 

Georgie drinks silently and checks her phone. She quickly tucks it away and takes another deep gulp. Elfie doesn’t taste hers, staring at it in disappointment. Well, you’ll enjoy yours. It’s about time you switched it up. 

“Should we buy them some drinks?” Missie suggests, “it only seems nice.” 

“No, it’s girls’ night,” Billie insists, “that’s just an invitation and I think we can all agree, we’re done with bosses tonight.” 

“Here here,” Elfie raises her glass for a cheers, “fuck work.” 

[greta--gill]

I have to say that I’m honestly just in disbelief that people are still NOT talking about Emily Sonnett on their post-game coverage and what she did for the team. I get it. We lost, so it’s not like that’s the first thing they’re going to say. But it’s sad to me.

oh lord, dear anon. you’ve just opened the can of worms i’ve been trying to keep shut lmao. i have a lot of feelings about this, but i’m just going to let them fly because i have to let them go.

i couldn’t agree with you more. it’s a damn shame that there’s, in some cases, a real lack of zooming out on these shows/podcasts/interviews/whatever. yes, we lost, but i think that the emphasis ive appreciated in some of the ones i’ve listened to/watched so far is that this team is going towards the future. and i think sonnett 100% deserves to be a part of that conversation. she had the absolute game of her life yesterday in terms of her national team career, and while it’ll be a difficult moment to look back on i’m sure, nobody can take that away from her. her leadership on the field - i will bang my drum talking about how you could hear her screaming on the field forever, not because of the act but because of what it means that she was calling for what needed to go down - and her ability to read that game and what had to get done deserves more praise, even though i hope to god that none of the players are on socials right now and will never hear the fresh noise, good or bad.

in my opinion, sonnett was the best centerback in the league in 2021. for the national team, she’s played almost every version of a position on the back line. she’d barely played midfield for the team before yesterday. she’s subbed in during crazy moments, good moments, terrible moments. she started in one of the biggest games for the history of the uswnt yesterday, and she did the damn thing. her career has not been easy (if you haven’t, take a look at the sam and sonnett swatch watch story, it gave me great insight into the ideas of hard work and dedication but also a really poignant (though brief) overview of what makes sonnett great, and her and sam’s friendship), nor has she gotten her flowers, nor was she set up to succeed, but like tobin said, she fucking did anyway. i hope with time things will change. i firmly believe that from what we’ve seen she’ll go down as one of the best teammates the wnt has ever seen. that list is likely neither ranked nor exclusive by any means and it’s definitely not short. but it’s still true. and honestly, i think that if julie really is retiring, sonnett may have just carved out a home for herself in the six. if we’re lucky, we may even see her and sunny in a continued double pivot role at times, depending on what a game calls for. i can only hope.

thanks for this ask, anon. i needed to get some thoughts out and i really appreciate you coming to my lil inbox to chat lmao

[spiders-hth-is-an-outlier]

This is a post absolutely nobody asked for because 0 of you follow me for Takes on music, but one of the pop music podcasts I listen to has been all in on Pop Girl Spring, and they played a little game the other week where they did a draft for the top 10 songs from all the albums they’ve been covering – so that’s the new releases by Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Maggie Rogers, Gracie Abrams, Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX, Ariana Grande, and Kacey Musgraves, plus the currently charting album-less singles by Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.  And while I don’t have the fun structure of a competitive draft to play with, it did make me sit down and hash out my own Top 10, and I have literally nowhere to put the fruits of all that effort except Tumblr, so here’s way, way more words than anyone asked for about POP GIRL SPRING.

Listed in not-exactly no particular order, but also not in This Specific Order, like, this is not a countdown, I’m not ranking them with great specificity or anything.  The 10 songs I need on my imaginary Pop League Team.

Good Luck, Babe! (Chappell Roan): Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess is a great album and I think Roan has a great career ahead of her (knock on wood), but this is the first song she’s released that feels like a Timeless Hit to me, like the kind of thing that’s going to show up in Buzzfeed quizzes in the 2040s about picking the best songs from this decade.  On god, this could be one of the best pop choruses ever written – starting with that fucking high note is such a flex! – and it’s such a poster child for how great, earwormy pop music can tell a fairly specific story and make it feel deeply universal.  Legendary.  No notes.

Espresso (Sabrina Carpenter): SONG OF THE SUMMER.  Is it a better pop song than Good Luck, Babe?  No.  Is it the Song of the Summer anyway?  Yes, because those aren’t supposed to be Timeless, they’re supposed to make you forever remember *this specific summer* in your life.  It’s a great song with an unbeatable hook, and I dig the fact that it makes just slightly less sense than it probably should – caffeine is the metaphor for…how you’re going to stay up nights thinking about Sabrina Carpenter?  Okay.  Whatever you say.  It’s not a song about anything, which sometimes is bad but in this case is amazing, and there’s something marvelously audacious about committing to lines like “walked in and dream-came-true’d it for ya.”  Bonkers.  Delightful.  Carpenter has put out like 4 albums which does not seem possible for someone I up until now only vaguely remembered as “was on that nostalgia-bait Boy Meets World sequel series,” but man, she came to play with this one.

BILLIE GETS TWO

BIRDS OF A FEATHER: Hit Me Hard and Soft is a fantastic album, managing to edge further into straight-up pop territory without compromising the distinctive voice that’s made Eilish the Snobby Music Critic’s Pop Princess.  I have no idea how long she’s going to be able to (or want to) keep splitting the difference between these two identities, but she’s doing it right now, probably doing it better than anyone since Little-Earthquakes-era Tori Amos.  I chose this song because I think it does the best job of fusing those elements: it’s a right-down-the-middle love song in the classic pop vein of “i know my baby is a life-ruining trainwreck but honestly i do not care,” and it’s got good mid-tempo ballad structure with that little bit of haunted-ness that is Eilish’s signature sound, and I just think it’s probably the most solid song on the album.

CHIHIRO: This one is my *favorite* song on the album, which is why it’s here.  I don’t know what it’s about.  It’s not particularly “radio-friendly” (is that a thing anymore? What do we say instead of that? Digestible?)  It’s slinky and vaguely threatening and it just feels like a song that nobody else could do. It’s the one that’s been most consistently stuck in my head since I first listened to the album.  I feel like it’s flying under the radar a little, but I’m super here for it.

The Kill (Maggie Rogers): I feel like people sleep on Maggie Rogers because her marketing aesthetic seems kind of like, navel-gazing folky singer-songwriter, which is not all that Of the Moment right now.  But the thing is, that’s really not accurate at all!  Her music is just straight down-the-middle, strongly crafted pop, WHY is she not more famous?  She’s so good!  Don’t Forget Me is just so, so solid as a pop album, crammed full of songs that are massive hits in some alternate universe. “It Was Coming All Along” is my personal favorite, but for this list I’m sticking with The Kill, just because it seems to be the closest thing to a breakout hit off the album and I want to hype it up.  It’s a bouncy, incredibly sing-along-able song about a mutually destructive relationship, what is not to love.  Pop music was invented for this.

BEYONCE ALSO GETS TWO

BODYGUARD:  Look, I’m going to level with you, I wanted to like Cowboy Carter a lot more than I did. For me, the album has exactly the same flaw as Renaissance did, which is that it fundamentally feels like Beyonce has done a *ton* of research for her music history degree, stuffed every bit of it into the album, and by god you are going to listen to her senior thesis on the Black roots of popular music.  Both albums are like – so smart and so sincere and they just feel – a little bogged down to me.  I don’t know.  This may be entirely because I am just not on Beyonce’s level here, but there’s something about Cowboy Carter that makes it hard for me to really love as an album, rather than as a project.  That said, there were several tracks I really liked, and this one’s probably my favorite, maybe because it sounds the most authentically like a Beyonce track to me.  Whatever you think of Jay-Z or of the Carters’ marriage, it’s undeniable that a huge part of her as an artist and a human is tied up in this idea of being one half of their partnership, and when she does these “it’s me and my baby versus all the rest of you bitches” songs, she always strikes what to my ear is her most authentic, heartfelt notes.  BODYGUARD has a cool, California-road-trip kind of vibe that puts me in mind a little of “03 Bonnie & Clyde,” but appropriately, more grown-up now.

YA YA: After complaining that a lot of her recent music feels a little too overstuffed with References, I have to say that this is one of the worst offenders – but it fuckin works.  This feels deeply retro but not at all in a corny way, a great update of a certain kind of mid-century honky-tonk music that makes it feel vital and current.  I don’t think Beyonce has truly hit the same high in terms of weaving her politics and her music together since Lemonade, but to me this song stands up well alongside that album (which for the record, I think was a generational achievement, a truly transcendent work of art).  Also, as appropriate for a song whose theme is “shake your ass in defiance of a world that does not care about you,” the ass-shaking game is on point!  I honestly wish this song had received all the success that went to TEXAS HOLD ‘EM, which is a song I truthfully feel is hokey and try-hard.  This one covers the same ground but infinitely better.

Von Dutch (Charli XCX): I am a naysayer to Brat Summer, I’m sorry to say; I think Charli is a fairly decent pop musician and Brat is a fairly decent pop album, but I do Not get the hype.  It’s got some worthwhile tracks, and I do appreciate that she’s allowed some space to excavate less-common themes in pop music – songs about wondering if now is when she should be having kids, about wrestling with the way that other women bring out her personal insecurities – rather than just the genre staples of Love and Partying and Being Awesome.  That said.  I think the best song on the album is just a regular-degular banger about partying and being awesome.  If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

YES, TAYLOR ALSO GETS TWO (man, it’s a 31-track double album! Get off my back!)

Down Bad: One of the things I don’t think Swift gets credit for, due to being overshadowed by the Harrowing Constant Drama of her personal life, is that she legitimately has a dry, off-kilter sense of humor that brings much-needed levity to the Harrowing Constant Drama of her body of work.  TTPD is, among other things, a *funny,* self-aware album about how knowing full well that your emotions are absolutely unhinged vis-a-vis actual reality doesn’t actually do jack shit to keep you from drowning in those emotions.  A lot of the hate for this album has really come from people who Do Not get the joke, who are cherry-picking verses and single lines from deeply self-aware songs without providing the context of that self-awareness.  I love this song.  I love the chorus: crying at the gym is a detail that’s perfectly, wryly relatable in its absurdity, and “everything comes out teenage petulance / fuck it, if I can’t have him I might just die” in that swingy, chipper groove is exactly why no one does it like she does, packing all that ambiguity and frustration and self-loathing of your own irrationality into a great hook.  I love the fuckin alien abduction framing device to talk about a relationship whose impact inside your own head and heart is wildly out of proportion to its impact on the materiality of your daily life – a relationship that *might as well have* happened on an entirely different planet than the one everyone else lives on.  It’s great.  This is a great song.

The Albatross: So I wanted for the second TTPD track to pick something from the other side of Swift, the one that *is* deeply, irretrievably, uncomfortably emotionally sincere.  There were definitely some strong contenders, but I kept coming back to this song, which I actually have heard very little chatter about, but has snuck up on me as an album favorite.  I try not to get too lost in the labyrinth of Swift’s endless Easter eggs and self-mythologizing, but this is a song that I do think benefits from understanding its place in her personal biography; specifically I think it gains a lot from seeing it as a companion piece to “The Archer,” a softly agonized song from the beginning of a relationship about the duality of predator and prey, about wanting to go all-in but dreading the part of you that you know is capable of sabotaging this.  The Albatross is – a softly agonized song from the ending of that same relationship about the duality of destruction and salvation, about wanting so much to protect someone you used to love from the havoc *that same love* has ultimately inflicted on their life.  There’s a whole novel lying in the space between these two songs, and both of them feel raw and intimate in the way they expose the pain and vulnerability and shame that shadow the act of allowing yourself to love someone.  TTPD was, in my opinion, rushed out too quickly, an experiment in presenting Swift’s emotions in a more unprocessed, uncrafted way to make a statement about art as a survival mechanism during emotional times, but an experiment that doesn’t entirely work; it truly could have benefited from another six to twelve months of cooking and a strong editorial pass.  To me, this song is a glimpse of what TTPD could have been if instead of being rushed to press in the middle of her ginormous tour for the sake of her own catharsis, it had been given the space and attention that Folklore/Evermore were given.  The Albatross is truly (like The Archer before it) an optimal wedding of Swift as a chronicler of her own interiority and Swift as a generationally gifted musical craftsman.

(I had a couple of also-rans, so shout out to Dua Lipa’s “Happy For You,” a song I really loved off an album I thought was kinda phoned-in overall, and Gracie Abrams’s “Tough Love,” through which I learned that there could potentially be something interesting about Gracie Abrams, someday.)

[enbycrip]

Everything is just such a LOT rn.

Doing literally anything makes me just *too fucking tired*.

I increasingly feel I’m honestly just being unrealistic in ever expecting to larp again; I’ve played one larp and run one larp this year, and they were awesome, but they both left me absolutely too exhausted to do anything afterwards for about six weeks, and, from the feedback, it feels like some of the adaptations we made on the fly to accommodate the fact that I collapsed on the Saturday late afternoon negatively impacted the game for some players. Which is a thing; ofc; you make adaptations on the fly, you don’t know how a plot will land, you’ll bear this in mind for the next time, yadda yadda yadda. But it makes me feel even more intensely unreliable than I already do.

I had two more larps I was meant to go to, and I ended up cancelling them both; yes, one was covid, which could have happened to a healthy person, but the entire idea of going to larp just increasingly feels like something it’s unrealistic to expect when, frankly, *living* feels *too much*. I barely see anyone because doing *anything* knocks me out for days and being out of the house is *scary* because I never know when I’m suddenly going to have overdone it and will collapse. Every bit of “pushing through” I do when I’m starting to collapse puts hours and sometimes days onto the recovery time. And I don’t really get anything from lying down for an hour. When I’ve started to crash, that’s me for the *day* at the very least.

And then this fucking PIP consultation thing is *really* getting to me. I’m about a third of the way into doing the consultation and it’s honestly more than I can manage, really, and I don’t know how much of that is that it’s genuinely ridiculously over-complex and how much is fucking trauma, which *massively* impacts my spoon expenditure not only on the thing itself, but on everything else.

It’s just…I’m *barely* afloat. I’ve managed to do this entirely remote Masters, which I fucking *pray* I’ve managed to pass, and it’s broken me, tbh. This continual fucking theatre of cruelty that governments put disabled people through where we performatively have to jump through more and more hoops to get the absolute basics for survival, and those of us who fall along the way are dismissed as “faking” is *too fucking much*.

I’ve already abandoned trying to chase up medical aid that *might* help me because that’s what the NHS is like and I honestly can’t take the cumulative impact of that on my mental health. Every appointment I come away from having been dismissed and belittled and not helped impacts me for months, even on top of the physical and financial impact of travel and whatever else it has cost me, and I made the decision that I would rather risk not getting the increasingly tiny prospect of actual aid than have to keep dealing with that. And I *know* some people will decide that I’m “faking” or “it can’t be that bad” because of that, and I simply have to deal with that fact.

My life has dwindled to so very little. I spend probably an average of 20 hours of my day, every day, lying flat listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Some days it’s 24 hours; on *very good* days it’s 18 or 19. Sometimes I manage some writing or embroidery or playing games in that. And I’m *always* in pain. The painkillers *help*; they don’t get *rid* of it.

Is that a life *anyone* would envy? And yet it’s just not enough; if there’s *any* chance I might not be *miserable* enough in it, I need to be put through *more* performative misery in the name of “economic inactivity”?

And this is *before* we get to gender stuff. If they don’t want me dead because I’m disabled they want me dead because I’m trans.

And I don’t have the spoons to chase up referral to a gender clinic because of aforesaid medical trauma and I don’t have the spoons to explain nonbinary gender stuff and how it impacts how much I just want rid of these fucking tits and how shitty they make me feel, and deal with being gaslighted about am I *really* trans *enough* if I’m not a man either?

[sarahsmi13s]

Coach Grant in Action -- HC

(found on pinterest)

pairing: jake ‘hangman’ seresin x sarah grant (fem!oc)

characters: jake seresin, fem!oc (sarah), the dagger squad, the bradshaws, penny, amelia, high school basketball team

word count: ~ 2.3k (o.O)

warnings: minimal language, sports talk, brief mentions of pregnancy, injuries and blood (split eyebrow), i think that’s it but please let me know if i missed any

a/n: this is a hc about the dagger squad and more go to basketball homecoming to celebrate amelia being eighth grade maid and to witness sarah’s coaching style

this is the next part in this oc series, which is inspired by @roosterscockpit​​​ ‘s ( @milesdickpic​​ ) story ‘His Little Girl’ and yes the oc is based on me (but is mainly fantasy me lol)

also, i’m sure you guys know about the generally termanology and the jist of basketball but i listen to this really cool podcast called: GO! My Favorite Sports Team and they did an episode on basketball so if you want to learn more you can listen here

***********

About two weeks after the cookout/pregnancy announcement, basketball homecoming was happening.

Sarah and Jake were sitting at the table in the kitchen; Sarah grading tests and Jake going over paperwork.

“Did I ever tell you that Amelia got eighth grade maid for basketball homecoming?” Sarah asked casually as she circled the grade of the test in front of her.

Jake looked up, “No, actually you failed to mention that. Isn’t homecoming Friday?” She nodded, “Sure is.”

“Wait, is that why Penny was making a whole bunch of calls last week?”

Sarah nodded, “Yeah, she was scheduling Amelia’s appointments for this week.” 

“Okay, I guess that means the squad is coming to the game on Friday.”

And that they did.

When Friday rolled around everyone wore ‘Team Amelia’ shirts, because they all love their honorary little sister.

After the ceremony, the boys team played first and then it was the squads turn to see Sarah in action.

When she stood up to go down to the court, Jake stood with her and made sure she didn’t fall in the crowded stands as she made her way to the stairs.

“Good luck, Sugar,” he kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Sweetheart.”

She went down the stairs and to the locker room.

Amelia leaned toward the group of pilots, “You guys are gonna love this.” “Can you give us a hint?” Fanboy asked, clasping his hand together and batting his lashes. Amelia shook her head, “No can do Mickey-boy.”

Maverick gripped Jake’s shoulders, “You’ve been to her games before, what’s in store for us?” Jake shrugged, “Just her normal coaching stuff, I guess. She’s very passionate; so if she gets a warning from the ref, don’t worry it won’t phase her.”

Soon the game was in motion and the squad was really into it. They were cheering and hollering, booing when the ref’s made a bad call.

“Come on blue! Really?” Jake shouted at one point.

Sarah turned, raising a brow at him, “Watch it.” Jake slouched back, “Yes ma’am.”

The Dagger Squad laughed.

Alyssa patted Jake’s shoulder, “That girl has you whipped, Hangman.” “She doesn’t want me to get thrown out, again.” 

Phoenix snorted, glancing at him briefly before turning back to watching the game, “‘Again’, Bagman, what did you do?” Jake rubbed the back of his neck, “I don’t wanna talk about it.”

Sarah crossed her arms over her chest, “Move without the ball ladies! Come on! Get open!”

One of the girls was open and took the shot, resetting the ‘shot clock’.

“Rebound!” “Block out!” “Get the ball!” Were all shouted from both the stands and the bench.

One of the girls from the other team got the ball and broke down the court.

One of Sarah’s girls ran down after, catching up to knock the basketball away and letting her momentum carry her out of bounds.

The ref blew his whistle, “Out on white, green’s ball.”

But Sarah noticed something.

Lauren, the girl that had knocked the ball out of bounds, was squatting, holding her head in her hands.

“Time out! Time out!” She called, waving her hands as she walked over to Lauren. “Half or full Coach?”

Sarah didn’t speak, just held her arms out parallel to the ground. Her assistant turned to the official, “Full, blue.”

Jake stood up, looking down at the floor to see what happened.

He watched Sarah squat down and talk to Lauren.

“Hey, Ren, what’s wrong?” She noticed Lauren’s nose crinkle before she shook her head.

Sarah looked her over as best she could and noticed the blood on the side of her player's face.

Jake watched her turn, speaking to the team manager that was giving water to the others. He recognized the worried look in her eyes and made his way to the floor.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Sarah looked up at him, “Will you go get some ice?” Jake didn’t question it and went right to the concession stand.

The squad shared a look as they watched Hangman run out the double doors. 

Leia tapped Rooster on the hand,  “Daddy, what’s going on?” “I don’t know, Princess.” “Is someone hurt?” Rooster nodded, “It’s possible, honey.” She frowned a little bit and looked back out toward the court. “If they are, they’ll be okay. Sarah’s with them.” 

Sarah got the towel from the manager, “Thank you Jamie.” She gently set her hand on Lauren’s wrist, “Lauren, I need to look at your head.”

The girl finally looked up, showing her coach the split in her brow. “Oh my- Ren what happened?” “When number 40 came down with the ball, she hit me with her elbow. I don’t think it was on purpose though.” 

Sarah sighed and pressed the towel to the girl’s forehead, “You’re done for the half.” “Coach, I’m-” “I’m not gonna fight with you about this Lauren.” 

Sarah glanced up at the clock, “There’s only about two minutes anyway. You may feel fine, but the team doc is gonna look you over and see if glue will do the trick. But for right now, you’re done.”

Lauren sighed but complied and let Sarah lead her to the locker room, Jake catching up and giving them the ice. 

‘What happened?’ He mouthed. ‘Elbow to the face,’ she mouthed back, taking the ice with a thank you.

Sarah stayed with Lauren during the rest of the first half.

But when the team came out to warm up after half-time, Jake noticed she was relaxed - not as worried as she was before.

He made his way down the steps, taking two at a time to get down to her.

“Lauren gonna be okay?” He asked once he got to her. She nodded, “Yeah, but she had to change her number ‘cause she can’t go in with blood on her jersey.” Jake nodded, “That’s good.”

Coyote walked by, “Hey, you two need anything?” “Strawberry-” “Blue Raspberry-” “Sour Punch Straws,” the couple said in unison. 

Coyote blinked for a second, chuckling and pointing at Hangman, “Okay, J, you want strawberry?” Jake nodded. He pointed at Sarah, “And mama wants Blue Raspberry?” “And water? If it isn’t too much to ask?” Javy shook his head, “Not too much at all. I’ll be back.” 

Sarah remembered something as he walked away, “Oh! ‘Yote!” Coyote turned around, “Yup?” “If you just say it’s for Coach Grant, it’ll be free!” “Does that work for everyone else’s stuff?” “It’s Whitely so yeah, as long as it’s not a whole lot.” Javy threw her a thumbs up and left.

Jake hummed, grinning like an idiot, “I love that you can get free food.” “Is that the only reason you love my job?” “No, I get free passes too.” “You’re military, Jake. You get that anyway.” “Okay, then I guess it’s just the free food.” Sarah rolled her eyes, “You’re ridiculous.”

Coyote reappeared with his arms loaded with snacks and drinks.

“Here you go mama, Blue Raspberry and water.” “Thank you, Cy.” 

Sarah immediately opened her candy, doing a little dance as she ate the sour food.

“You want a strawberry one before you go?” Jake offered, shaking the straw a little.

She nodded and held her hand out, “Yes please.” Jake smiled and placed the candy in her hand. “Thank you, Love.” 

Then the buzzer sounded and Sarah was back in coach mode, “Take the rest of these and keep them safe. I want them when this is all over.” Jake nodded, “Yes ma’am.”

Sarah got right to work and the squad got back into the game.

“She’s a really good coach, she’s a natural at this,” Phoenix commented, tossing a Sour Skittle into her mouth. 

The squad nodded in agreement.

“Hey, what happened earlier? When Sarah called time-out,” Bob asked. Jake turned a little to face him. “She didn’t give me the details, but what I think happened is that when the girl got the rebound, her elbow came down and hit Lauren in the face. Split her eyebrow open, but she’s good to go now.”

They nodded again and turned back to the game.

Around the beginning of the fourth quarter, the other team started to put pressure on Sarah’s team.

“HANGMAN ONE! HANGMAN ONE!” 

Jake sat up straight at the sound of his fiancé's voice shouting his call sign.

But when he looked at her, she was focused on her press-offense getting set up.

“I told you it was gonna be interesting,” Amelia said, a mischievous grin on her face.

Four of the five lined up, shoulder-to-shoulder, on the freethrow line.

The ref gave the ball to the girl standing out of bound and blew their whistle and started the five second count.

The four girls in play moved to get open, until at about 2 seconds, one girl broke off and ran down the court alone.

She was wide open and the ball was thrown down-court to her. She caught the pass and made a layup.

The squad was dying of laughter at Jake’s face, which was one of confusion and slight betrayal. “Did-” Rooster laughed, “Did she- did she name a play after you? That’s fantastic! Oh my gosh, the look on your face!”

Jake gave Bradley an unamused look.

“She even designed it on how you fly, that’s impressive,” Cyclone said, snatching popcorn from Maverick. “Hey!”

Jake rolled his eyes and continued to watch the game.

Toward the end, Sarah’s team had an eight point lead.

The girls were on offense and had about 40 seconds to go in the game and 35 seconds on the shot-clock. 

Any other time they would attack the basket, but would kick the ball out and start over outside the 3-point line.

But Sarah had something else in mind.

“ROOSTER! ROOSTER! ROOSTER!”

Bradley nearly dropped his phone and looked up, sitting straight in his seat.

On the floor, the girls calmed down and just passed the ball around.

“Well, would you look at the Bradshaw, she named one after you too,” Alyssa teased, nudging Bradley’s shoulder.

With 10 seconds left on the shot-clock, the girls started looking for an open shot.

It got to a girl in the corner and she took the shoot, making the basket.

Jake hummed, “Yeah, and she even designed it after the way you fly.” He got really close to Rooster’s face. Bradley shoved him away, “Oh, shut up.”

After a talk in the locker room, Sarah went to her office and saw Jake in her chair.

She walked over and he stood up. “My feet hurt,” she said, her forehead hitting the middle of his chest.

“Well let’s sit you down,” he kissed the top of her head and held her hands as she sat down.

“The squad is waiting at the Hard Deck for when we’re done if you want to go. I know you’re probably tired and ready to go home.” He handed her the Sour Punch Straws she didn’t get to finish earlier.

Sarah put a straw in her mouth and covered it with her hand as she spoke, “We can swing by and say hi. Penny told me they were gonna do somethin’ for Amelia, I told her we’d try.”

Jake nodded, “Okay, yeah, we can swing by.”

She held up a straw, “You want some?” He shrugged, “Sure.”

Sarah put one end of the straw in her mouth and winked. Jake rolled his eyes and sat down in the extra chair by her desk.

She held his end up and he took it between his teeth.

They ate the straw from both ends until their lips met. Jake held the side of her neck, deepening the kiss for a moment.

They pulled away giggling and licking the malic acid of their lips. “We need to do that more often.”

They sat in her office for about 15 more minutes before they checked everything and locked up.

Jake held Sarah’s hand as they went to the Hard Deck.

When the couple walked in the Dagger Squad greeted them immediately.

Penny had closed the Hard Deck that day to help Amelia get to her appointments. So it would just be the squad.

“Hey, that was one hell of a game Sarah,” Payback said, pulling her into a side hug. “Thank you. Those girls really put in a lot of effort. They work hard.”

Pete rubbed her arm, “It’s because they have someone that they know believes in them and that they want to work hard for.”

“Yeah, when I played football in high school, my coach was dick,” Cyclone said. “I didn’t want to work hard for him because he wouldn’t have appreciated it. So, having a team that works hard for you says a lot about what kind of coach you are.”

Sarah smiled at him, “Thank you, Beau. I appreciate that.”

They stayed and chatted for about an hour before Sarah was practically falling asleep on Jake’s shoulder.

He sat in water down and kissed the top of her head, “Hey, you gettin’ tired?” She lifted her head, “Hmm? No, I’m alright.”

But Jake could tell by the accent coming through that she was sleepy. “Come on, let’s go,” he stood up and grabbed her hands to pull her up. “No, Jake, you’re havin’ fun. We can stay until you’re ready.”

He sighed, “Sweetheart, you’re tired. You’ve been up all day and you’ve been on your feet all day, you need to go to bed.”

Tears filled her eyes and Jake frowned. She was a lot sleepier than he realized.

“Oh, Sugar, come on. Let’s go. I’ve had my fill of fun for the day. I wanna go home and cuddle my babies.” He spread his palm of her baby bump and kissed her forehead.

He grabbed her hands. “Are you sure, J?” “I’m sure.” 

He pulled her to her feet and they bid their goodbyes before going home and straight to bed.

***********

i hope you enjoyed this filler head cannon! 

the squad finally got to see sarah in action and even got a few laughs out of it XD

next up is a valentine’s day fic which i’m VERY excited to get started on

thank you for being here!

I do have a pinterest board set up for this, just to help me get into the vibe (one is to help with future parts, one is only for the current parts)

SO

if you want to check it out and get more of a feel for the dynamic going on---- you can click right --->   here

like mentioned in the last one, feedback is greatly appreciated!

and my asks are open, feel free to request what you would like to see next while i’m working on the next part!

tags <3: @milesdickpic​ @luckyladycreator2​ @hotch-meeeeeuppppp​

thank you my lovelies <33​

[aaronsrpgs]

ON ANONYMOUS INTERNET CRITICISM

This is a vent post, a sort of internet etiquette thing, so apologies ahead of time. Our podcast hosting service automatically added a Q&A to our most recent episode, and here's the only comment. In my opinion, it's bad form to say stuff like this to creators, especially when you're getting their stuff for free.

First, to respond to the comment: yes, our criticisms of similar games will be similar, especially since this is an unplanned, conversational medium. I'm not gonna stop the podcast to say, "These opinions are similar to ones we expressed in another episode, so let's not say them." We’re not doing planned, intricate essays; we’re having an ongoing, iterative engagement with a larger medium.

And I mostly agree that our episodes on trad games are less pleasant! But some (Warhammer, Gamma World) have been really fun. And since we schedule pretty far ahead, it would wreck our process to say, "This one isn't as fun, let's skip it."

Also, since this is a collaborative podcast, Max and I and our guests make compromises. Episodes on books I haven't liked have been really popular, books I like get criticized in ways I don't agree with, etc. And that's part of the journey! That's a good thing. If I just wanted to do my own thing, I’d do my own thing. But I love what emerges from talking with people I respect.

But I want to get away from the specifics and talk about this general approach to “engaging with content.” I got the email alert about this Q&A this morning while I was making coffee. “Hm, didn’t realize this was enabled,” I thought. And as I sat down to do my morning correspondences, I read this. And it was a bummer. It won’t change how we approach the show (due to the aforementioned reasons), and it also made my day a little worse.

And we don’t want to drag down your day. For real. Our time on earth is limited, so don’t listen to a podcast that isn’t doing it for you. If you don’t like an episode, turn it off. Go listen to System Matters, Appendix N Book Club, The Vintage RPG Podcast, and so on. We’ll be back with another episode later, and maybe it’ll be more your style.

But if you really want us to change what we do, here are my suggestions—lead with the carrot. Compliment the episodes you did like. Tell us why you liked them. Recommend a book you want us to cover. Throw us some money if you really want us to pay attention.

But in the end, telling us to change our podcast is like telling a roommate to cook different food.

We’re not getting paid for this.

We’re mostly doing this for ourselves, but you get free leftovers.

We’re learning as we go.

Sometimes we want to consume garbage.

And, uh, it all ends up in the toilet anyway.

(Metaphor got away from me.)

[theperiodpod]

✰ EPISODE 001, SEASON 001. ⌇ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐃. ও

﹆𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: DREYA HAMPTON AND SHANELLE “NELLI” WHITE. ━━ ◎ 2024. ◎ TALK & INTERVIEW. ◎ PODCAST SERIES.

in this special episode of new series 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐃 𝐏𝐎𝐃, co-hosts nelli and dreya, open up about their personal lives. then the two debate whether or not a city girl can be tied down, should people have sex on a first date, and so much more! tune in to this episode to find out if either of them could date a bisexual man! don’t forget to send in your questions via curious cat or tumblr askbox for dreya and nelli to answer in future episodes.

TOPIC ━━ OPENING REMARKS + PERSONAL UPDATES.

[ NELLI ] : wassup, everyone! welcome to the first episode of period pod. my name is nelli, *looks at dreya with cards in hand.*

[ DREYA ] : and it’s your girl dreya, the doll, *throws the camera a wink* and i’m excited to get into some things on our very first episode of Period Pod with my girl nelli!

[ NELLI ] : yes, sis! i’m so excited, i feel like it’s been a long time coming. before we get into these topics, what you been up to, suh?

[ DREYA ] : oh, y’know, i been on the road, suh! tour life’s got me feeling all kinds of inspired, soaking up vibes from city to city. i also been cooking in the studio, too, but you know i like to keep that under wraps for now. but enough about me, spill the tea, ms. nelli! what’s the word on your end? i feel like i’ve barely been seeing you.

[ NELLI ] : you know i’ve been seeing you on the socials with wassaname, but you know we won’t even get into that this soon! i love that for you though, friend. music been your thing since forever, so i’m excited to start hearing what you have coming for the gworls. me personally, i definitely been laying low but for good reason, girl. i’ve been moving my things to new york for a change of scenery. i feel like since we’ll be working in miami, i don’t wanna mix business and pleasure so i decided to step outside of my comfort zone and finally leave the 305. you know all the roads we take will lead us back here, but shit. i’m tryna be in the cityyyy!

[ DREYA ] : okay, period. ‘cause girrlll, i’ve been telling you to make that move to new york for the longest time! the vibes here are on a whole other level—the food, the cultures, the fashion, the parties, everything! we’re gonna take over the city, mark my words! but for real, i’m excited you’re making the move! now, you got any plans you wanna share with the gworls? like what can we expect now that nelli is in the city?

[ NELLI ] : i just feel like it’ll bring in more clientele because for those who don’t know, mother does hair! she’s a hair stylist, m’kay. i want to expand my business and really buckle down and focus on growing in that way. so, for the gworls who are living in the city, book with your favorite bitch, mwuah! now you ready to get into these topics sis?

[ DREYA ] : oh-kay! y’all better listen ‘cause nelli ain’t just talkin’, she’s the QUEEN of slaying a lace! i’ve seen her work, and let me tell you, she’s got the magic touch. like for real. and not just that, she’s the goat when it comes to keeping your natural hair flourishing under those wigs. all shade, ‘cause you know some gworls be looking like they lost a battle with they own wigs. so, if you want to keep your edges intact and your wig game tight, you better book with the best, and that’s my baby nelli, hands down! muah! but, yes let’s dive into these topics. what we got first?

TOPIC ━━ F*CKING ON THE FIRST NIGHT.

[ NELLI ] : wait, i wasn’t expecting all of this praise sis! you better chill because you know i have a praise kink- oh, my bad. in all seriousness though, i appreciate that, dre. you know it’s hard out here for us black business owners, so the love and support is always appreciated! but the first topic we have, i really wanted to talk about fucking on the first night because i just feel like it’s so fucking childish to put a time limit on when you want to fuck on someone. what do you feel about this topic, sis?

[ DREYA ] : well, you better get used to the praise, sis! i’m always gonna support you and give you your well-deserved flowers while you’re here. now, about this praise kink of yours, we’ll save that for another day. but on a real note, i feel you on this topic. i mean, be fucking real, putting a date on when you wanna fuck? that’s just playing games, and we too motherfuckin’ grown. now, don’t get me wrong, i get wanting to be careful with who you let near your body, but if you know you want to, why play games? what’s your take, boo?

[ NELLI ] : i feel you, for sure. i think the whole thought is so damn childish, literally. this is something the pick me’s look down on because they feel like if you wait to have sex it’ll keep the nigga around when in reality a nigga will wait a year to fuck and still leave you once you give it up. these mothafuckas don’t give a damn, you hear me? i think not wanting to fuck on the first night to be safe is understandable, but what i’m saying is holding out on sex to uphold an image is so wack to me. like you’re a loser if you think like that! do what you want with your body, i don’t give a fuck!

TOPIC ━━ DO YOU HAVE TO F*CK BECAUSE A DUDE IS TRICKING?

[ DREYA ] : oh, heavy on losers, sis! i couldn’t agree more. some bitches out here really playing themselves. i say, get you a little sample, see what you’re potentially getting yourself into, but don’t be stupid with it. like, imagine waiting to fuck a nigga and the shit is trash? just save yourself the time before you too far gone. now, this leads me into our next topic—does a nigga tricking on you mean you need to fuck? i don’t know, sis, this might be controversial, but what’s your take on it?

[ NELLI ] : you stole the words out my mouth because i definitely need to see what the D is hittin’ fa’ before he ever think he finna tie me down. as far as tricking goes, we some real miami bitches ‘cause we love us some tricks. my answer is no and it’s as simple as that. tricks need to learn they place, period! i hate when niggas splurge on me and think i’m handing the cookie over in return- uh uh, boy please. same thing with the last topic, i’m fucking if i wanna fuck and if i don’t want to, i won’t. i also just feel like tricks usually don’t care about fucking, they just like their egos stroked when they take us shopping. what you think, sis?

[ DREYA ] : bitches about to think we share the same brain, but all facts. just ‘cause a nigga’s spoiling you, taking you shopping, don’t mean you gotta fuck. trust, a lot of tricks don’t even be wanting that for real, like you’d be surprised. but, i can’t lie….a nigga spending on me do something for me, but every nigga that threw some change my way can’t say they fucked me, and that’s a fendi fuckin’ fact. to each it’s own though, i’m not knocking bitches. i mean, i don’t mind doing that because some bitches need it, but…

TOPIC ━━ DATING A BISEXUAL MAN.

[ NELLI ] : i think we just some real, raw ass bitches who always understand the assignment! like, shit we be saying be common sense most of the time. like we both said, tricks don’t always wanna fuck; but a nigga spending money will always make my pussy tingle i won’t even lie, dre! let’s be so fuckin’ for real, any bitch would fuck in our shoes. we just don’t have to and that’s the real gag, but hey! that’s neither here nor there. let’s get into this last topic before we have the shade room comments in shambles, chile. how do you feel about dating a bisexual man as a woman? what’s your thoughts, gworl? i have something to fuckin’ say!

[ DREYA ] : oh, we’re the CEOs of understanding the motherfuckin’ assignment, sis! yo ass is a whole ass ki’, chile. the tingling is real when that money’s flowing. and, girlllll. i’m crying. but, dating a bisexual man as a woman? i mean, if you’re making me happy, treating me good, and the sex is great? no shade, i don’t see what the problem is. i’ve done it before. but, i’m also big on, anything before me don’t matter too much; we focusing on right now. it’s interesting how folks don’t think like that, even some bisexual women themselves. but spill it, boo, what’s your take?

[ NELLI ] : hello! i know that’s right, like you really my good sis. i have to agree, i was just finna say you know i’m a big ass freak — like before the megan song even came out, chile. i feel like bisexual people in general are so much fun and bring a lot of excitement into the bedroom. you never really know where they’re going to take you and that’s the fun around being with a spontaneous ass bisexual man. i’ve never dated one before, but you know i’ve dabbled in a few different ponds and it’s definitely A+; highly recommend!

TOPIC ━━ CAN YOU TIE DOWN A CITY GIRL?

[ DREYA ] : a big ass freak is crazy, i’m crying. but, girl, but real talk, it’s not as common as people might think. i’ve heard some bisexual women say they couldn’t be with a bisexual man, which i find weird and a very backward. now, let’s dive into tying down a city girl. for those who might not know, a city girl, in my definition, is a bad bitch, who don’t give a fuck 'bout a nigga nor a bitch, and is in her bag but still knows how to have fun. i won't lie, i thought it was impossible, but it can be done—with the right person. what’s your take on taming a city girl, sis? and, what do you think are the requirements?

[ NELLI ] : i definitely think a city girl can be tied down, just not this one! i don’t fuck around, i don’t play. i want my chanel, i want some good ass sex, and i want you to get the fuck! however i do feel like it’s possible if the girl is put up and set for life. i just don’t think it would be enough for ME personally! how you feeling, lover girl dre?

[ DREYA ] : really? you don’t think anybody can tie you down, even the right person? lover girl dre is crazy, boo! be fair. it definitely takes a special kind of nigga to tie down a city girl. they can’t be insecure, they have to have something going on for themselves, and they have to be able to keep up. i’d say where i’m at right now, those things are being checked off. i wouldn’t say i’ve given up on the lifestyle, though. like, i’m very much a city girl, and the person i’m with now respects that, and i respect them, so it works.

TOPIC ━━ CLOSING REMARKS.

[ NELLI ] : i feel like i’m so in the city girl lifestyle that i can’t be handled right now, like i’m too hot, sis. i come with a lot in itself but i won’t completely cancel it out. i love the life i have right now and the city girl aesthetic is very much our thing, i thrive in that pocket and that’s just where i want to stay right now. maybe eventually it’ll change, but not now. but thank you for tuning in, take us out, dre!

[ DREYA ] : oh-kayyy, i heard that! now that i think about it, i can’t even imagine you be put up. we’re really in our prime for real. but, yes! ugh, thank you to everyone who’s tuning in and has been supporting us on this journey. today is finally here, and our baby is out to the world. expect more of the city girls in different spaces, not just the podcast world. also, leave your topics and questions for us on our curious cat page and here on our tumblr page. city girls out—MWUAH!

[erin-bo-berin]

Parts in the podcast I thought were funny and priced he was in a silly goofy mood:

With his Stranger Things money, he Spent 3k on a car from craigslist and it broke down on a road trip with his dad

He has an old ass phone with terrible service and can’t even use his gps

When he travels he says they’re on a budget and they live on a bus the whole time 😂

Joe gave great relatable advice about how unrealistic social media is

He plays No heavy ego games, just inner light.

Oh man I forgot about the car! Lol I was like boy…you played yourself buying a car on Craigslist, but hey it makes for a funny story now 💀

When he said his phone was a brick all I could picture was the iPhone 3 lol those came out when I was a senior in high school and I know they’re ancient now. But I’m like what iPhone is yours if it’s that old Joe 👀

Yes! Him basically saying they were dogging it for the entire djo mini tours they’ve had lol I wasn’t paying attention for a second, I’d zoned out because I was listening to it early in the morning and I heard him say dogging it and was like WAIT WHAT ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT 😳 I need to get my mind out of the gutter lol

He’s so incredibly relatable and real. Especially when he was talking about social media. I know it’s gotta be hard for anyone to compare themselves to others on Instagram, but like he somewhat mentioned, you’re only seeing a piece of that person’s life, just a snapshot. Most of the time, people only post the good things too so you don’t know what else they’re facing, plus it’s so common to see people using filters, more flattering lighting etc. to make them look absolutely perfect.

I also liked how he was literally talking about doom scrolling on Instagram cause I have such a bad habit doing that! Like he was saying he wastes so much fucking time on there I was like oof calling me out boy. I’m still laughing though when he was like “look at all these ways to cook an egg!”

It was such a great podcast, I’d love to hear him on more. Just hearing him talk about things he loves, enjoys and especially lately when he seems so much happier and free-er is just so great.

[fitnesspizzainmydiet]

Are you being completely honest with yourself?

Seriously, are you being completely honest with yourself? When you track your meals, are you counting that slice of cheese you took a bite of when you were packing your lunch this morning? Or that cookie you snagged from the break room on your way back from the bathroom. What about the McDonalds you scarfed down on your way home from the bar last Friday night?

Not that any of those things are bad, but if you’re not tracking these things, and you’re not seeing progress week after week…maybe it’s time to reevaluate.

I’ve struggled with this in the past, especially for the last six months of 2022. After I lost the first 40 pounds between 2020-2022, I got really comfortable with the idea of flexible dieting and then slowly fell back into my old ways and ended up gaining 10 pounds back.

The problem?

I wasn’t being completely honest with myself.

I was drinking alcohol excessively which led to poor decision making with my nutrition. I was going through a bottle of Tito’s Vodka every weekend and then ordering “munchies” on UberEats, eating 20 piece chicken nuggets and an Oreo McFlurry at 3 a.m.

Because of the fact that I knew I was over my calories, I thought it was pointless to track them, so I just “skipped” the weekends and got back on my game on Monday morning. This cycle repeated itself every weekend until one day, I was listening to a podcast from Eric Roberts Fitness, and he said something that changed everything for me:

THE WEEKENDS ACCOUNT FOR 40% OF THE MONTH

40%!!!!

After I realized that these little “two or three days” were what was stopping me from reaching my goals, I started progressing in the right direction again.

On January 3rd, I decided I wasn’t going to drink anymore. I can’t say I ever had a problem with drinking, so it was fairly easy for me to just cut it out of my life.

But oh man, I am so glad I did.

Your situation may be a bit different than mine. Maybe you’re not throwing back a bottle of Tito’s every weekend and then eating yourself into a coma. But are you saying “Yes” to that chocolate chip muffin on Saturday morning at Dunkin Donuts when you grab yourself a coffee and not tracking it because “it’s the weekend” and you “deserve” a treat?

Are you skipping your workouts on Sunday because you just want to sleep in on your day off?

Are you sitting on the couch mindlessly eating a bag of Doritos instead of weighing out a serving size?

Are you sneaking bites of your kids McNuggets and not tracking it because “it’s just a bite!”

These little bites here and there add up, and the next thing you know, you just consumed an extra 300 to 500 calories today.

I still enjoy an occasional vodka and Redbull at a concert or a glass of wine on Sunday evening when I’m meal prepping. But because I stopped consuming over a thousand calories of vodka every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night; and because I stopped consuming 3,000 calories of McDonalds, White Castle, and whatever else is open at 3A.M., I’ve been able to get back on track and have lost over 20 pounds in just under 12 weeks!

All because I decided to get brutally honest with myself and what I’m doing every weekend.

As cliché as it sounds, you are in control of your journey. No one can do this for you.

Treat the weekend the same way you treat your Mondays.

Practice self-discipline, stay motivated.

[splishsplashyouropinionistrash]

An incomplete list of my favorite AFTG fics

All of these are on AO3, and yes I’m only writing this because I’m procrastinating working on TMHYHM. So, in no particular order, my favorite AFTG fics.

The Multi-Part Fics (Complete)

All of these have ended and taken a bit of my heart with them.

1. August by gus_47 (2/2)

If you know anything about me you know that I’m obsessed I enjoy anything and everything written by gus_47. I am their biggest fan; I would read their grocery lists if they let me. So obviously, I was obsessed with this story as soon as it was published. It’s Kevaaron and just- ugh. Heartbreaking. AND !! There’s going to be a second part. So technically it’s finished, but never fear because we’re not done with my boys yet.

2. 12 Ways To Woo A Minyard by NikNak22 (14/14)

This is a non-exy college Andriel fic with background Kevaaron and Jerjean. Basically, Neil is friends with the Foxes and has a huge crush on Andrew. The Foxes try and help Neil confess, lots of fun fluffy antics ensue. Plus, it’s a “Kevaaron is obviously happening but Neil’s too busy pining to notice” fic, so... yeah

3. Flavors of Fall by NikNak22 (20/20)

Don’t even get me started on this one. It’s Andreil, Andrew’s POV, small-town romance. Andrew’s a photographer and lives in a cottage!! in the woods!! and the Foxes have small-town spooky season fun!! It’s just so fluffy and fun and god the yearning. One of my favorite fluff fics, stg it’s so amazing.

4. Bad Habits by mitigates (2/2)

Okay so listen... I won’t lie, there’s a lot of smut. HOWEVER!!! There’s also fuckin soft Jeremy Knox running a childrens home!! and I need that in my life so badly. Anyway, it’s Andriel, Kevaaron, and Jerjean. Also Neil and Kev hooked up once, and it’s a big joke?? Honest to god, it comes up at least four times-

5. Red Rabbits by bloodydamnit, Jeni182, SeaBear13, and windeavesdrops (25/25)

It’s Andriel with background Renee/Allison, not a fluff fic at all so be warned. Andrew is a journalist who starts a podcast trying to hunt down Mary and Nathaniel Wesninksi. Neil, obviously, doesn’t want to be found. It was an interactive story, there’s a Tumblr page, it’s just so good? Really, go read it. I have no other words.

6. quicksand by likearecord (9/9)

This bad boy is Andriel with fuckboy Aaron and Neil is Kev’s little brother. The sheer amount of gay panic in this story, I simply cannot express to you how much fun this is. I cackled so loudly in the middle of the fucking night. Also like- Andrew gets to have friends?? and family who loves him?? And Neil is a being of utter chaos. It’s beautiful.

7. The Odds Are Never In Our Favor by MalikShah (29/29)

It’s not my normal style, but it was so good? It’s AFTG + The Hunger Games. Andriel, a few character deaths, and just a lot of tears. They’re so gay and so sad and it’s so fun. 

8. Thorns by Mostly_Maudlin (2/2)

Andreil during Neil’s fifth year. Lots of healthy communication after some not-so-healthy communication. Just a sweet little fic of Andreil learning how to live when they aren’t right next to eachother. (there is smut tho, just so you’re prepared).

9. a switchblade is my preferred weapon by badacts (48/48)

LOCKED FIC, YOU NEED AN AO3 ACCT TO READ !! 

Anyways, this is AFTG if Neil was in the Nest and left with Kevin. It’s Andriel and very good. The slowest of slowburns. You aren’t ready. You may think you’re ready, but you aren’t.

10. Am I Screaming To An Empty Sky? by phan_taloon (4/4)

guys... this one is just heartbreaking. It’s Andriel, hurt with very little comfort, and honestly super triggering so be sure to read the tags before you read. Basically, the Foxes lose the finals and Neil ends up in the Nest. I think I sobbed the whole time I was reading, honestly.

11. never fallen (from quite this high) by crystalcrow (43/43)

It’s AFTG from Andrew’s POV. Deffo a must-read, that’s all I have to say. Also, the first AFTG fic I read so... good memories, ig?

12. Back To The Start by fuzzballsheltiepants (11/11)

Andriel during Neil’s fifth year. Andrew gets injured and loses his memory. It’s just as heartbreaking as it sounds, but also so painfully sweet. gives major “I don’t know you, but I know that I love you” vibes. So good.

The Multi-Part Fics (Incomplete)

Some of these are abandoned, some are not, all of them are worth reading.

1. I left you alone in a house, not a home by ohhhhmygod (4/?)

Andreil after canon where Neil has a little brother. It’s not a super fluffy fic so far, but it’s so good !!

2. Blame It On My Youth by youreyestheyglow (115/?)

Andriel 10 years post-canon. They’re foster dads!! Nat and Paige are what I never knew I needed, I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with this story. The quintessential AFTG fic.

3. Hoax by gus_47 (31/40)

C’mon guys, it’s gus_47 ofc I love it. Jerejean after the Ravens. Absolutely, completely obsessed. It’s so fucking good y’all. Just read it.

4. Redemption by accioice (30/?)

So, Neil goes to the Nest as a kid, but instead of Riko abusing them, the Perfect Court becomes family (plus Ichirou). Eventually they go to Palmetto and there’s Andriel!! Kev is a bi disaster, we get some neurodivergent rep, and really really good found family. They just love each other so much. Honestly, it’s a good “what if..?” fic. Like, what if Riko broke the cycle of abuse? It’s just really good and you need to read it.

5. Andrew Minyard v. The Spear Family by preciousfoxes (10/?)

Andrew takes legal action against the Spears and Neil is a “feral dumpster raccoon lawyer”. Really, it’s just Andrew having gay thoughts for 10 chapters straight. And can you blame him? Neil with a man bun. Neil with piercings and tattoos. Neil in a suit. 

6. I Beg You, Whisper My Name Like A Prayer by Louie__TheLonely (4/?)

Picture this. Highschool AU. Neil and Andrew are best friends. They are horribly gay for each other. And horribly oblivious. I AM OBSESSED.

7. Neil Fights The Foxes by This_Witch_Writes (10/12)

Neil picking fights when the Foxes treat Andrew badly? Yes, please. I am a whore for protective Neil. Be warned, there’s some triggering stuff in later chapters. Check tags and stay safe <3

8. Let’s make things interesting by Nico4undead (16/?)

Enter the Minyard-Josten rivalry. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.

9. Innominate by Major_816 (18/74)

Neil gets sold to the Moriyamas, but ends up with Ichirou instead of Riko. Now he’s a badass crime lord working undercover at Palmetto. Get ready for heartwrenching angst and heartwarming found family. I cannot express how obsessed I am.

10. In Which Neil Josten Is A PR Nightmare by CoverYourEyes (16/?)

Eve has the (mis)fortune of working as Neil Josten’s PR manager during the Minyard-Josten rivalry. Otherwise known as: Neil is ungovernable.

11. Tell Me How You Hate Me by Killingmeslowly_24 (that’s me !!) (3/18)

I can’t make a fic list without including my child. So, it’s TKM from Andrew’s POV. Andrew is absolutely feral for Neil, and he’s seriously in denial. It’s so much fun to write. Also!! we get the Nicky content we deserve!! Nicky as an adoring cousin!! (and is that Renee/Allison I see on the horizon? It is? 0.0)

The Oneshot Fics

They’re short, they might be sweet, and rest assured: they’re amazing.

1. Just Because I Can by NikNak22

Am I obsessed with this writer? maybe. Bro it’s 5+1, Neil pranking the Foxes and the Foxes pranking Neil back. Amazing, hilarious, I love it.

2. A Yellow Made Out Of Gray by thelessiknow

5 times Neil sees his friends feel loved + 1 time Neil feels loved. That’s it. That’s the fic. It’s just as fluffy and perfect as it sounds.

3. stay (you don’t have to go) by Major_816

Ohhhh boy. This one. It breaks me. Andriel highschool AU, they meet on a suicide prevention forum. So... major TW. It destroyed me, I’m not going to lie.

4. One day we’ll reveal the truth by allyasavedtheday

LOCKED FIC, YOU NEED AN AO3 ACCT TO READ !!

Aaron doesn’t trust Neil’s intentions, so Andrew tells him to watch how they interact. Cue the fluff.

5. Scribbles and Sticky Notes by Fortheloveofexy

I am so sorry in advance. Post-canon, Neil starts leaving sticky notes out for Andrew. Sweet things or reminders, whatever. Andrew saves them all. AND THEN YOU CRY !!

6 (and 7). goodbye, family. and don’t say goodbye by queenDay05

Neil knows his countdown is ending, so he records a video. The Foxes can’t find Neil, but they do find his goodbye. Absolutely soul crushing.

8. just a footnote by Anonymous

Kevaaron, they’re friends with benefits. Aaron is in love and not handling it well. Fluff and smut, so much mutual pining. One of my favorite oneshots ever.

Well! That was a wonderful little distraction, uhhhh.... expect an update by the end of the week? Life’s been... shit, honestly and I haven’t had the energy to write. 

Take care of yourselves, my loves <3

[littlespoonevan]

Was listening to a podcast about bad dating stories and one of them NEEDS to be a buddie fic. imagine eddie new to la, newly divorced and newly out and he’s decided to dip his toe in the dating game again. except dating apps are confusing and he has no idea what the etiquette is so when some guy asks him out he agrees because he has to try, right? Only all the guys photos are group photos so he doesn’t actually know which one of the people in the picture he’s meant to be going on a date with and it feels way too embarrassing to ask.

So he shows up at the coffee shop and is looking around for someone that looks even vaguely familiar and who shows up in the line behind him? Well buck, of course, and he kind of looks like a hotter version of one of the guys in the photo so eddie assumes this must be his date and starts talking to him and offers to buy his coffee, asks where he wants to sit etc. and buck - confused, oblivious, friendly buck - has no fucking idea who this guy is but he’s handsome and cute and clearly coming onto him so it’s not like he’s gonna say no.

So they’re sitting down and they’re talking and eddie’s confused bc so many of the details in their conversation are wrong. Like his date is supposed to be an architect but this guy says he’s a firefighter and his date had mentioned not being able to swim in his bio but buck talks about a surfing trip he was on last weekend and eventually eddie’s just like, “uh what’s my name?” And buck just shrugs, nonplussed, and is like, “I don’t think you told me but I can guess if you want? My name’s buck by the way.”

And eddie is just. So Embarrassed. because he just thought this stranger was his date!!!!!!! He’s made a complete fool of himself!!!!!! Only buck sees him internally panicking and says, “you can totally hold out for the other guy if you want but uh I’m having fun talking to you. So…want another coffee?” And eddie looks at his hopeful smile and his heart does something funny in his chest so he says yes and then they fall in Love 🥰

[ashdumpsterpile]

ASH’S TMA HURT/COMFORT/FLUFF REC LIST 

For the gays. (And @damcrows who’s been dead for the past 24 hours. Rest in peace babe. Read some gay fic. Deny the inevitability of canon. <3)

___

the end, but the start (of all things that are left to do)  by @ajkal2

Jon wakes up.

aka. mag200 tore out my heart

(Very smol, very short, very spoiler. Def recommend for anyone who just finished the podcast.)

remind me how to smile by @tamerofdarkstars

Jon is probably fine, just hiding out somewhere while the whole murder thing blows over and that's... fine. Martin is fine with that explanation. Really. He's got plenty to distract himself - like listening through the entire What the Ghost episode library, for example. Or watching Georgie Barker's Instagram livestreams.

(Yea this was in the last rec list, but you don’t understand THE ADMIRAL GIVES CUDDLES)

Chamomile by Dribbledscribbles

Whatever the ex-tea was, if it really had ever been that last bag of chamomile Martin claimed he’d found tucked in the back of the cupboard, it was fast now.

Martin had tried catching it, chasing it, blocking its way with shoebox lids and plates and an upended footstool, but the thing was just too quick. Jon knew as well as Knew that he might have left off the attempts completely if not for the creature’s preferred game.

The game was, See How Many Times I Can Push Martin Towards Cardiac Arrest Before He Comes at Me with The Broom.

(Scottish Honeymoon Era. Adorable and weird. A vampire gets harassed.)

hey stranger by @ennuijpg

It’s a late night Tesco run, how eventful could it be? It’s not like Martin is going to run into his boss who’s wearing something absurdly different from usual and get the most acute form of whiplash possible from seeing him, right?

(Martin runs into Jon at the grocery store and has an existential crisis.)

roses roses, roses. by @judesstfrancis

Rose scented laundry detergent. Running into Jon in the breakroom. Running into Jon on his way back to his desk. Rose scented detergent. Running into Jon. Roses. Jon. Roses, roses, roses. 

(Canon enemies to friends to lovers au-ish. Martin POV. Very pining much sweet.)

go softly by doomcountry

And there is nothing else besides this. 

(More hurt/comfort than fluff. Scottish Honeymoon Era. Mild eye mutilation.)

Not Alone by @backofthebookshelf

After the coffin, Daisy and Jon are both fragile. They hold each other up. 

(Post-buried Jon&Daisy starter pack. Very hurt/comfort.)

trust my love by antlsepticeye

“you… you’re real, aren’t you?” jon whispers, the fog slowly dissipating from his mind. “it is not a trick?”

“i’m here,” martin says softly, reaching up to grab jon’s hand that was resting on his cheek, intertwining his fingers with jon’s and squeezing. he moves jon’s hand to martin’s chest, resting it over his heart. “you’re alright. i’m alright. take your time, love. let’s just take some deep breaths, okay?”

(TOUCHSTARVED JON HAS ENTERED THE CHAT.)

reaching out by Athina_Blaine

By the time things settled, when Martin had finally managed to crack through his cold shell, feel some of his old self returning to him in bits and pieces, they had found their little routine.

One that had the two of them sleeping in the same bed, making breakfast, going to the mart. Where Jon reached for his wrist while they slept, and Martin luxuriated in the gentle warmth of his fingers.  

But not one where Martin reached back. One that had Martin kissing Jon awake or taking his hand over the breakfast table, because ... Martin never had the courage to try. And then it never became a part of the routine.

And Martin desperately wanted it to be.

-

Martin and Jon have an important conversation.

(More Scottish Honeymoon Era for the soul. Hurt/comfort/fluff.)

Belabor by @janekfan​

Jon's given the position of Archivist and is falling apart at the seams. Tim and Sasha are upset and playing games. Elias is overbearing and manipulative.

And poor Martin is stuck cleaning up the mess.

(THEE first fic I ever read for tma. Season 1, hurt/comfort/fluff, and hints of Jmartin. janekfan is the absolute master of seasons 1-3 hurt/comfort. This is my favorite, but pls check out the rest of their fics.)

tea, blankets, and a damnable stubborn attitude by ivelostmyspectacles

“Are you really gonna stay here and pester Jon all evening?”

“I’m not pestering him,” Martin retorted, sounding vehement if not busy going through the cupboards. “I’m heating up soup.”

“Oh, you might as well make him another cup of tea while you’re at it.”

“Oh, good idea.”

Jon shot Tim a withering look.

(The one where Jon is ill, Martin makes tea and they watch doctor who together. Fluff 1000%.)

A Kind Hand by @voiceless-terror

Jonathan Sims was adjusting just fine, thank you very much.

In which a minor workplace spill causes Jon to realize that he might have friends.

(Ah yes, the other master of seasons 1-3 fic aka voiceless-terror being my other fav author in the fandom. This one is also season 1 hurt/comfort/fluff.)

A Weather In The Flesh by @cuttoothed

"There is a span of years where Jon doesn’t touch anyone other than the occasional hand shake. It’s not so bad. He’s never been someone who’s needed physical affection."

*

Jon has never been any good at making people want to stick around.

(More touched starved Jon! Much hurt/comfort!)

Something Old, Something New by @cirrus-grey

Months have passed, and everyone is doing better than they were. Daisy and Basira are getting married, Melanie is feeling her old self, Georgie is as much herself as she has ever been, and even Jon has stabilized on his wild fall away from humanity. Everyone is doing better.

Well. Almost everyone.

(Daisy/Barsira wedding! Melanie is a bitch and we love her! Jmartin dance! Post-canon (almost) everyone lives!)

The Weight of Love by @voiceless-terror

Jon is a restless sleeper. Martin attempts to adjust. 

(The fic where Jon is literally me and Martin attempts to sleep for 1k words.)

The Art of Conversation by @voiceless-terror

"Do you ever stop talking?"

Jon has a complicated relationship with words. Difficulties come and go.

(Jon has adhd and Martin is in love.)

Novelty by @backofthebookshelf

Jon experiences A Sexual Attraction; Martin has A Concern. They figure it out.

(Any fic that explores the ace spectrum is a 10/10. We stan all ace interpretations of jon on this blog.)

Half a Hug by Dathen

I know you weren’t going to hurt me, I trust you, he said again and again. And then a different kind of fear shone through, hollow and echoing: “Please don’t stop touching me."

-

Or: Life is hard when you're touch-starved but have trauma related to your closest friend.  Spoilers through TMA 132.

(Honestly bless every author who saw jon&daisy and was like. They’re siblings. No I will not elaborate.)

the loneliness never left me (but i can put it down in the pleasure of your company) by Athina_Blaine

It was about Martin making Jon feel safe, treasured, and loved. And it had been so, so long since anyone made him feel that way.

And, in the face of it all, Jon was starting to flounder.

(At this point I just need to make separate rec list for Scottish Honeymoon Era.)

you can watch me corrode by scarletfish

"So, how long have you been pulling this shit then?"

"I… excuse me?" Jon’s indignant, certain she can’t mean what he thinks she means.

"When was the last time you ate?"

(Georgie decides Jon and Melanie need a normal day off. Jon learns that he and Melanie have more in common than he thought.)

(Look, Melanie isn’t my favorite person in tma, but she and Jon are like THE SAME PERSON and I adore fics that elaborate on their relationship.)

Out of the Wind, In From the Cold by @ostentenacity

There are two bedrooms in the safehouse, and two beds.

For a moment, Jon considers asking to share, but decides against it with a wince. “I really loved you,” Martin had told him. Loved. Past tense. And Martin doesn’t exactly have a lot of choices right now in terms of company; it would be cruel to demand he play at feelings he no longer has just to make Jon happy.

(For a moment, Martin considers asking to share. But he dismisses the idea with a shake of his head. Jon has already done so much for him. Martin isn’t about to ask for more, especially not when it’s something he doesn’t really need. He has his right mind back, and he has Jon’s friendship. That should be enough for him. It’ll have to be.)

---

Jon thinks that Martin doesn’t love him. Martin thinks that Jon doesn’t love him. They do not, of course, discuss this. Unrequited love is already awkward enough, right? No need to dwell on it.

(THEE SCOTTISH HONEYMOON ERA FIC. IT’S ABOUT THE PINING, BEING MUTUALLY OBLIVIOUS AND FALLING IN LOVE. 10000/10.) 

I Do by @voiceless-terror

“I, um- this was supposed to be a lot more romantic, I swear.” Martin looks down at the dirty bar floor. “I had it all planned out, I-I was going to take you somewhere nice, and then we’d go for a walk in the square- I’ll still do it!” He hurries to explain, as if that’s the most pressing part of this situation. “It’ll be really nice, I’ve already hired a photographer-”

In a fit of protectiveness, Martin proposes to Jon.

(Everyone lives, Martin accidentally proposes and Jon is crying in public.) 

________

[eponymous-rose]

A Critical Role Campaign 2 Mechanics Primer

Got a request from a new Critical Role viewer for some clarification re: rules and characters, and dang, yes, there’s so much stuff to deal with as a new viewer at the moment. So here’s an attempt at clarifying some stuff!

How does D&D work?

Fundamentally, one person (the DM) sets the scene and the players riff off that scene by acting out what their characters would do in response. Whenever a player’s actions would lead to an uncertain result, the DM can call for them to roll a die and try to hit a predetermined target number to see if they succeed. The players’ individual characters have abilities that boost certain categories of rolls and penalize others; a very strong character is more likely than a scrawny one to be able to open a jammed door, but they could still have an unlucky roll. It’s the DM’s job to incorporate the sometimes-absurd results of those die rolls into a coherent story.

Combat is the most “gamey” D&D gets, where everyone has a turn set aside to act (with an order determined by the “initiative” roll that starts combat). This is where character classes come in handy: magic-users cast spells, fighters jump in with their weapons of choice, and so forth. Each character has a set of hit points, and once those reach zero, the character is unconscious and possibly dying. But combat ain’t just hack-and-slash: there can be conversation, strategy, manipulation, collaboration, and all sorts of weird subtleties going on. Fundamentally, players’ actions are limited only by their imaginations.

It can be super weird getting into a D&D show even if you have played a bit because everyone plays the game a bit differently. Critical Role’s gameplay leans hard into roleplaying and character beats (there are episodes with basically no dice rolls) but also leans hard enough into the rules that a random bad or good roll can completely derail the story; rolls aren’t fudged or handwaved for the sake of a predetermined narrative, which means nobody playing (including the DM) knows how things are going to end up. This makes for a viewing experience that is a cross between dramedy improv and live sports; the cast plays out long scenes of conversation, but their characters could also permanently die at any time, adding to the high stakes. It’s also totally unedited, which accounts for the absurdly long runtime. 

If any of that isn’t for you, there are a lot of great D&D podcasts out there (often labeled “actual play”) that run the gamut from silly with minimal rules to mechanically involved but edited down. It’s a cool time to get into D&D!

Okay, so how exactly do these characters do their thing?

One of the more confusing aspects for new viewers of the second campaign of Critical Role is that they’re using a fair amount of content that’s not in the baseline ruleset - some character races and classes are coming from expansion content, and some are from Matt Mercer (the DM’s) homebrew. Here’s a quick summary of what each character has going on at the start of the campaign, moving from left to right in the first episode’s seating arrangement.

Fjord (played by Travis Willingham)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Travis is the big guy who looks like he could throw a football real far. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice has a Texas twang.

Fjord is a half-orc warlock. A half-orc typically has green skin and tusks but otherwise looks fairly close to a garden-variety human. Warlocks are magic-users who gained their abilities from a bargain with a mysterious (generally somewhat malevolent) being of great power. Mechanically, they rely a lot on what are called cantrips (spells that can be cast an unlimited number of times a day) since the number of more powerful spells at their disposal is very limited. However, unlike most other casters that have to get a full night’s sleep to regain their stronger spells, warlocks just have to rest for an hour or so and they’re good to go. More specifically, Fjord is a hexblade warlock. Hexblades are warlocks who have a particularly strong bond with their weapon of choice and can summon it from nothing.

Beauregard (played by Marisha Ray)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Marisha is the woman who often perches on her chair like she’s about to take flight. If you’re listening to the podcast, her character voice is a bit gruff with a sarcastic drawl.

Beau is a human monk. Both humans in this campaign use a variant version of human that allows them to pick a feat at the start of the campaign: Beau has some extra expertise in investigative and athletic abilities. Monks are preternaturally powerful martial artists; what some classes do with magic, they do with unarmed combat. Mechanically, they rely on an ability called ki points, which are a stockpile of points that can be used for extra-powerful abilities such as being able to hit extra times on an attack or being able to stun an enemy. More specifically, Beau is a Way of the Cobalt Soul monk, which is a homebrew from Matt and means she’s essentially a warrior-monk-librarian whose key abilities center around rooting out useful information.

Caleb (played by Liam O’Brien)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Liam is the guy who perpetually looks like he’s about to launch into a Shakespearean monologue. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice is soft with a German accent.

Caleb is a human wizard. His variant human feat gives him an eidetic memory and the ability to always know what time it is. Wizards are magic-users who got to where they are with careful study; Caleb has to keep track of his spells by transcribing them into a spellbook. He also has a familiar in the form of the cat Frumpkin, although Frumpkin can also change forms. Mechanically, wizards can pick up spells from a lot of different sources to learn them, but again, the cost in time and materials of transcribing them into a spellbook can be substantial. More specifically, Caleb is a transmutation wizard, which means his wizardry focuses around the act of transforming one thing into another.

Nott (played by Sam Riegel)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Sam is the guy with an alarmingly big smile and a comically oversized flask. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice is high-pitched with varying levels of Cockney accent.

Nott is a goblin rogue. Goblins are small and quick, and may or may not be well-received depending on the location. Rogues are sneaky individuals who do best when striking from the shadows or scouting ahead to investigate potential traps and unlock doors. Mechanically, they get a huge bonus in combat if they attack when unseen or when an opponent is distracted by an ally. They’re also very good at avoiding attacks and at hiding from view. More specifically, Nott is an arcane trickster rogue, which means she also dabbles in magic related to illusions and enchantment.

Jester (played by Laura Bailey)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Laura is the one who may or may not be instigating every round of giggles at accidental innuendo. If you’re listening to the podcast, her character voice is bubbly with an Eastern European accent.

Jester is a tiefling cleric. Tieflings essentially look like brightly-colored humans (Jester has blue skin) with horns and a tail; they’re the result of infernal ancestry and also may or may not be well-received. Clerics are magic-users who derive their power from the blessing of a deity or other extremely powerful entity. Jester’s divine patron is the Traveler, a mysterious trickster with an affinity for phallic graffiti. Mechanically, clerics have a massive stable of spells from which they can choose a subset every morning; their abilities range from healing wounds to causing devastating harm. More specifically, Jester is a trickery domain cleric, which means her spells have a strong focus on illusions and pranks.

Mollymauk (played by Taliesin Jaffe)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Taliesin is the one who looks like he may be some sort of ancient fey creature who’s come to our realm to play D&D. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice has an Irish accent of varying intensity.

Molly is a tiefling blood hunter with purple skin. Blood hunters are a custom class Matt created that can use their own blood (in a process called hemocraft) to augment their combat abilities. Mechanically, blood hunters are high-risk high-reward; they can perform devastatingly brutal attacks, but often only at the cost of shedding some of their own blood to do so. More specifically, Molly is an Order of the Ghostslayer blood hunter, which means he’s got an affinity for things relating to the moment of death.

Yasha (played by Ashley Johnson)

If you’re watching the show in video form, Ashley is the one who isn’t around for a little bit (she was splitting her time with a TV show on the opposite coast) and then SHE’S BACK AND I’M STILL SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT. If you’re listening to the podcast, her character voice is soft with a faint Scandinavian accent.

Yasha is an aasimar barbarian. Aasimar are the semi-divine counterpart to tieflings, although Yasha is a fallen aasimar with a fairly different aesthetic. Barbarians use their rage to enhance their already fierce battle prowess. Mechanically, barbarians in a rage take less damage and deal more damage, and also embrace a high-risk high-reward playstyle as tanks in the middle of the fray. More specifically, Yasha is a Path of the Zealot barbarian, which means her battle rages are fueled by the influence of a divine being.

Interested in watching from the start of campaign 2? The show has a YouTube channel with each episode posted in its entirety, and all episodes are also available in podcast form (they did jump channels partway through, but you can usually find a playlist that has them all). If you want to delve into campaign 1, I highly recommend it, but be aware that they’re still figuring out tech stuff and you’re also jumping in partway through the game they started years earlier at home. Campaign 2 starts 20 years after campaign 1 on a different continent of the same world, and is intended to be an appropriate jumping-on point for new viewers.

Interested in catching up faster so you can watch live with friends? Search Critical Recap for a series of recap videos on YouTube, which then becomes a series of written summaries on the CritRole website after episode 88. There are also great summaries on the Wiki, and many people have put together catch-up guides for new viewers. 

There’s A LOT of content out there. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for skimming the early stuff if you want to get in on the new episodes sooner. <3

Episodes air at 7 PM Pacific every Thursday on Critical Role’s Twitch and YouTube channels; the VOD goes up for free on YouTube the Monday after. In the last few months, the cast has been distanced at the studio (all on separate cameras) and episodes have been pre-recorded several weeks in advance; normally, the show is streamed live and everyone is around the same table.

Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know. This is a fun show to get into, and a great all-consuming massive body of entertainment if you have the time for it.

[whatgaviiformes]

Fic: Fixated Part  5/?

here. for Part 1 |  here. for Part 2 | here for Part 3 | Here for Part 4

Who’s grand idea was it to write four brothers at once? My limit is three on screen, hmmm... 1K words) 

*****

He’s not sure how anyone can get anything done here on Earth. Even with conversation stalled, there’s still so much noise. The rhythm of it all is so very different from the song that is the hum of his beloved Five. Between Virgil sighing, and Gordon stomping his foot impatiently, and Alan’s clacking against his hand-held game…

“Can you all just… stop?” John groans.  “For just one moment.”

Three sets of eyes stare at him through the computers on the work desk where he’s working. But the nervous habits stop, and it’s the couple seconds he needs to decide on the exact wording that would be deemed most appropriate to politely tell someone that the CEO of the company does not need to be copied on the below, and to please kindly remove him for future correspondence in this matter.

“But we didn’t do anything!” Alan squeaks.

John breathes calmly and intentionally and sets an email rule to automatically file those reports in case the sender does not listen.

“Jooohn.” Gordon whines. “None of you are paying attention.  Focus. I need ideas, people.” He’s standing in front of a projected idea board, his fingers fiddling with the digi-pen. The screen is already marked up with Gordon’s loopy scrawl – honestly who rounds their capital Es like that?

Energetic people, that’s who.

John raises an eyebrow at what his fish of a younger brother titled their current Family Project: OPERATION: FIND SCOTT A HOBBY

“I’m sorry. I’ll stop fixing Scott’s email,” John deadpans, crossing his arms and leaning back on the seat. “By all means. Where were we?”

“Scott. Hobbies. What did he do when he was younger? John? Virgil?”

“Hmm?” Virgil jumped, his gaze slowly locking on Gordon’s as he shifted it temporarily away from the monitors on the pad in his hands. “What? Oh, Comics. Model planes.” He frowned at a spike in one of the numbers, drawing his attention back down to the device in his hands.

“Comics? When was Scott ever cool?” Alan quipped, the pew pew resounding from his game.

“No on the planes,” John advised. “That was something he did with Dad.”

Gordon writes both on their idea board anyway, shrugging. “He might want to try it again.” He bounces on his feet now that he’s got their attention. “What else can we suggest?”

“He runs,” John mused.

“No exercise.” Virgil verbally stamps his foot down on that idea. “Normally and for anyone who isn’t Scott, it’s a grand idea. But he’s going to be too wiped when he gets out of there. His numbers are all over the place,” he holds up the tablet he’s been staring down with those details, “and he needs to rest.”

“Okay,” Gordon says, drawling out the word as he writes running down. No idea is a bad idea at this point, considering they only have three so far. “What about… I could teach him knitting?”

“You knit?” Alan’s eyes are wide over top the game, his voice squeaking the more he drawls out his disbelief. “No way.”

“Yes. I knit. What did you think I did all that time cooped up in the hospital?”

“I don’t know. Play video games and binge Buddy & Ellie?”

“Well, yeah, depending on the day,” Gordon smirks at him. “On a good day, I knit little beanies for the NICU while listening to science podcasts.” He flashes John a grateful nod.

“How did you learn?” Oh, skepticism thy name is Alan.

“Web videos,” he says. At the same time Virgil slowly raises his hand, and Gordon amends, “And Virgil.”

“Before you ask,” Virgil rolls his eyes, but glances back down at the readings, “Mom taught me.”

“I feel like,” John winces, thinking of the right way to phrase his comment to not offend his brothers. “I’m afraid yarn crafts might not be quite Scott’s speed?”

“Why not?” Virgil argues. “It kept Gordon entertained. It’s practical, and once you know the stitches fairly mindless, and there’s a physical thing you can touch and feel when you complete a project. What’s not to like?”

“It’s the mindlessness that worries me. And you have to get him to sit still long enough to learn, and then stick with it long enough to have a finished piece.” John shakes his head, thinking. “He was a bit of a perfectionist when it came to the model planes too, now that I think about it. Might not be the ‘relaxing’ we are going for.”

“What about gaming?” Alan adds. “I feel like Scott’s a resource management and economics kind of guy? Maybe I could teach him Starport?” He’s looking towards John and Gordon, the two of his brothers who actually know video games as he’s speaking. “Maybe Moonvale Acres? He could be into his own digital farmland.”

Gordon writes it on their growing list.

“No.”

Alan is crestfallen to hear the denial comes from John.

“Sorry, Alan,” he says. “It’s a good idea and you should approach him about it when he’s feeling better. I think he’d enjoy playing something casual like that with you.” John’s eyes turn to fireballs. “I want him as far away from a computer as possible. Too tempting.”

“Photography, cooking, dancing, coloring.” Virgil lists. “Journal writing, gardening, puzzles, music.”

“You’re just reading from a web list now, aren’t you?” Gordon quickly writes them all down on the board, abbreviating the words to keep up with Virgil’s scrolling.

“You bet I am. And they are good suggestions. Here’s one for you Gords –maintain an aquarium.”

“Oooh, maybe a terrarium! I’ve always wanted to try that. What about reading?”

John nods. “Definitely reading.”

“You want him to stop working. Isn’t reading… oh I don’t know. Work?”  Alan is unprepared for the trio of eyes looking at him incredulously. “What?”

“Ignoring Alan’s obvious disregard for the written word,” John huffs, “have we got anything we think is actually feasible?”

The four of them look over the list – the silence speaks volumes.

“I think we have to run them by Scott,” Virgil says truthfully. “But only once he’s ready.”

[comfyswitcherblanketfort]

please please a part 2 of that gamer!geralt au, them doing something like Q&A

Nonie, I hope you know what you signed up for. This got out of hand lmao. like 2.4k of Q&A kind of out of hand. 

Warnings: swearing, talk of drinking to excess, kinda spicy questions, lil kisses, idk how but I meant for this to be goofy and horny and it got kinda soft? what’s new?

____________

“Holy shit,” Geralt sat staring at his phone as he mindlessly stirred pasta.

“I swear to god, if you found a way to burn noodles-” Jaskier turned away from the blender to wave a wooden spoon covered in pesto puree.

Geralt shook his head and held his phone up to him, scrolling through the replies to a tweet as he did, going on for ages as Jaskier’s jaw slowly got closer to the floor.

“What are those for?!”

“I put up a poll for a boyfriend Q&A or a game review and not a single person has voted for the game review.” Geralt was still scrolling through questions people wanted answered as he watched Jaskier’s face go from shock to confusion to a smug grin. 

“They love me,” he sang, kicking his heel up as he turned back to the pasta sauce.

Geralt rolled his eyes and started screenshotting some of the less invasive questions, shaking his head and muttering, “Course they do.”

-

Geralt pressed record, waited a moment, and heaved a dramatic, long-suffering sigh, “You guys literally didn’t even give me a choice on this one,” he reached off frame and scruffed Jaskier, plopping him down on the couch with him. 

Jaskier didn’t stay where he was put for even a moment, using his momentum to bounce up onto Geralt’s lap with a shit-eating grin, “Oh? Are we rolling?”

Geralt dropped his forehead to Jaskier’s shoulder, stifling a laugh, “This is gonna be a long one.”

“Yeah, it is,” Jask agreed, then turned to the camera, stroking Geralt’s hair, “My fans want more!”

“OH-kay,” Geralt manhandled Jaskier to sit next to him which earned him a pout and a leg draped over his lap as he continued his intro, “I’ve got a bunch of questions from twitter. I didn’t even have to confirm which video we would do, you guys just went straight for the kill. I picked a few, Jask picked a few, neither of us knows which ones the other picked.” he turned to see Jaskier wiggle his eyebrows at the camera, “Why am I thinking you picked the raunchy ones?”

The brunet pretended to be offended before he smirked, “Only a few.”

Geralt rolled his eyes. “Of course,” he nudged Jask with his shoulder and opened up his phone to his screenshots, “Okay! First up is AdamSandlersBitch, nice name. They asked what Jaskier’s favorite gaming console and game to play is.” he turned to Jaksier with raised eyebrows.

His boyfriend cringed, “My.. my phone? I don’t know? I play a lot of Candy Crush while I listen to podcasts?”

Geralt smiled sweetly, “Wait what about Stardew Valley? I thought you started that?”

“I did!” Jaskier brightened up for a moment before he deflated again, “But I got confused and then the ADHD made me bake cookies.”

“Those were good cookies. I’ll play with you if you want?” Geralt’s normal ‘streamer dude’ persona melted away while he played with the rips on Jaskier’s jeans. 

Jask leaned forward and kissed his temple, “I’d love that.” 

Geralt blushed, even after years, Jaskier’s affection still caught him off guard. 

“Mkay! My turn!” Jaskier flashed his devilish grin and read, in his most obnoxious voice, “Dwn2Clwn said ‘do you two live together? Have you said ‘i love you’? And who tops?’”

Geralt’s mouth twisted into an upside-down U as he stared at Jaskier in muted surprise, “Honestly, not as bad as I expected.”

Jaskier looped his arm around Geralt’s, “I’m starting off easy.”

Geralt let his mock-disapproving gaze linger just a bit before he answered, “The living together is kind of new-like a few months. This one said ‘I love you’ on, what? The fourth date? Fifth?”

“Fourth.”

“No, it was the fifth, Eskel locked himself out on the fourth. Remember?”

“Shit you’re right,” Jaskier gave the camera a stern look, “In my defense, we’d been friends for a good four years before this. I wasn’t just confessing my love to a tinder date - though I have done that before.”

Geralt nodded, “That was very amusing.”

Jaskier tapped his nose, “Don’t avoid the last part, darling.”

Geralt huffed and stared down the camera, and, in the most matter of fact tone possible, said, “We switch. Compromise, folks. Can’t have one person doing all the work all the time.”

Jaskier nodded sagely, patting Geralt's chest, “We got a pow-”

Geralt clamped his hand over Jaskier’s mouth, 100% sure he was going to say ‘power bottom pillow princess’, “Nope. I’ll get demonetized for that.”

“But not who tops?” Jaskier asked through Geralt’s fingers.

He just shrugged, “I don’t make the rules.”

Jaskier tapped his phone and raised his eyebrows, telling him to move to the next question. 

“Mis- Mischanication? Shit I hope I said that right, Mischanication asked, ‘would you ever get a pet together?’ We did! Her name is Roach and she’s a little shit! I told Jaskier not to feed her, but he did, now we have the snuggliest, crankiest cat I’ve ever met!” 

Jaskier had gotten up to pluck Roach from her perch on the windowsill when Geralt had read the question and plopped down with her as Geralt finished his proud speech, “She’s not a little shit! She’s just delicate! Isn’t that right, darling?”

Geralt scratched under her chin and cooed, “You are a nasty little dragon baby, aren't you?! Just a little garbage child! Yes, you are. We love the tiny demon beast.”

“Geralt!”

He snickered and kissed Jaskier’s hair, “Next question, love.”

Jaskier grumbled something about positive reinforcement as Roach scampered back to her cat tree and he unlocked his phone for his next tweet, “This darling wants to remain anonymous,” Geralt gave him some serious side-eye at that, “they said ‘I think I’m in love with the flower twink, where can I find one of my own?’”

Geralt frowned at the camera and pulled Jaskier onto his lap, holding him close and snuggling into his chest, almost growling, “Hands off.”

Jaskier giggled, brushing Geralt’s hair out of his face as he talked to the camera, “You heard the man. Unfortunately, I was not mass-produced and I’ve been spoken for.”

Geralt looked up at him with what could only be called suspicious puppy eyes, “You picked that one just to sit in my lap didn’t you?”

“Yes. And because I want to change my socials to ‘flower twink’.” 

“Do it,” Geralt kept Jaskier on his lap as he swiped to his next question, “Eggsfuckingsuck - heh, my dad hates eggs- Eggsfuckingsuck says, ‘what is the most embarrassing thing you’ve caught each other doing/saying?’ Oh boy, do I have a story for you!”

"Oh I couldn't say the thing but you can tell this story!?" 

"...you have a point... Check my insta stories. I'll put it there after I post this." 

Jaskier nodded, ever so pleased, and turned to the camera, "Our dear Yennefer of sorceryglammour once beat Geralt at trivia night when the theme was 'video games'." 

“We did shots before we went to the bar and she goaded me and Lambert into a chugging competition before the round started. I’m telling you, she planned this. Yen is ruthless.” Geralt desperately tried to justify his defeat but Jaskier was having none of it. 

“She’s mostly harmless, plus I have video evidence from that night. You weren’t that far gone.”

“Pull it up! Let’s settle it.”

Jaskier patted Geralt’s head like one would a toddler, “I’d have to get my old laptop out. Later, darling.”

Geralt had a smug look on his face, “That means he doesn’t have it anymore.”

“Next question!” Jaskier squeaked, not at all changing the subject. 

Geralt shrugged, “If you admit I won that one.”

“It’s not a competition!” Jaskier laughed, looking down at him with that stupidly smitten look on his face.

“Hmmm…” Geralt tilted his chin up defiantly, “if you say so.”

Jaskier kissed him, lingering a little bit more than could be considered chaste, “I do.” 

Geralt looked up at him, batting his eyelashes, “Fine then, next question.”

Jaskier handed him his phone and he read it off leaning his head on Jaskier’s shoulder, “CountryBumpkin42 asked if we play any instruments. I play the recorder very poorly, but Jask plays everything.”

“Not everything, but yes, I could cover a Trans Siberian Orchestra song if I had a pedalboard with enough loop settings.” Jaskier preened. 

“And more,” Geralt added, counting on his fingers as he spoke, “In this house alone he has two pianos, three different types of guitars, a drumset, a violin and fiddle, a flute and piccilo, an oboe, a mandolin, a lute, bongos, saxophone, clarinet, tambourine, trumpet, and xylophone. Did I get them all?”

Jaskier glanced from side to side with a guilty look, “Ah… no, I bought a bass sax that showed up last night.”

“Oh, did Thursday at 3 decide they wanted to switch after all?”

“Yeah! She got the third chair as a freshman on a loaner instrument! I’m very proud!”

Geralt seemed to remember they were recording and turned back to the camera, “J teaches music at the university and does private lessons.” 

“It’s how I can afford such a pretty trophy boyfriend,” Jaskier teased, ruffling Geralt’s hair and earning a little chuckle.

“Mkay, what do you have next?”

Jaskier smoothed Gearalt’s hair back down as he read the next question, “3R4108F6!J asks if we have any cute nicknames for each other.”

Geralt’s eyebrows nearly flew past his hairline, “J has a new one for me almost every day.”

“Its true,” Jaskier nodded, “I am a slut for cute nicknames. This morning was Ger Bear, one of my faves. I called him Thumbs for a bit, I lovingly call him Dumb Fuck rather often.”

“And he is Dip Shit, it’s balanced. I usually just shorten names? Jask or J is usually it, right?” Geralt asked, shifting so Jaskier was sitting on the couch between his legs and they were both turned out toward the camera but very much still cuddling. 

“And when I’m being childish I get Alfie. But Geralt is much more deliberate and specific with his nicknames. It’s a bit of a friendship level up when he uses nicknames.”

Geralt frowned at him, “I do that?”

Jaskier giggled, “You never noticed?”

He tilted his head, giving Jaskier a quizzical look, “Not at all.”

Jaskier cupped Geralt’s cheek, “You’re so cute.”

Geralt blushed again, leaning into the touch just a tad, “Who’s turn is it?”

“Yours,” Jaskier hummed, pressing a soft kiss to his forehead. 

“Okay,” Geralt blushed even more, “I had this one as an alternate, but uh, Yen asked what we’d name our first kid?” 

Jaskier leaned into Geralt’s shoulder and hummed as he thought for a moment, “I always like Blake or Spencer, but I seem to remember you saying something about old world traditional names?”

Geralt nodded, absentmindedly running his fingers up and down Jaskier’s arm, “My grandma was hoping each of us boys would be a girl and wanted mum to name us Cirilla every time. I quite like it, but I’m rather open as long as I don’t know someone with the name. I really like Eric?” 

“Oo, I like Eric.”

“But you like the neutral names.”

“I do, but it’s your hypothetical kiddo too.”

Geralt gave him a little squeeze, “There’s time for that later. What’s your next one?”

Jaskier snorted when he looked at his phone, “What are your guys’ love languages?”

Geralt just looked down at Jask, completely entangled in his arms, then up to the camera, “I’m gonna hazard a guess at physical touch.” 

“Yeah, I think that’s a safe bet,” Jaskier giggled, “I haven’t taken the quiz in years, but I was that and gifts.”

“Oh, yeah. Physical touch and words of affirmation. I got like a 0 on acts of service and gifts, but I really like giving gifts.” 

“Mhm, yes you do,” Jaksier wiggled his eyebrows, then turned to the camera, “I also had no idea you could have different giving and receiving languages till I met this one.”

Geralt nodded then turned to him with a slight frown, “you know I really thought your questions were going to be more graphic.”

“Oh, honey I saved the best for last,” Jaskier winked. 

“Fuck me,” Geralt grumbled before reading off his last question, “Cali852 asked what we did for Pride.”

Jaskier’s eyes lit up, “Oh Pride was fun. We watched the parade, of course, then Yen did our makeup and… and where did we go after that?”

Geralt looked like he’d been waiting for this, “We went to a club, where you ordered three kamakazis, knocked them all back, danced for twenty minutes, then I took you home.”

“N-no… we went to the beach, didn’t we?”

“That was the year before. We were going to go to the drag show at our regular bar too, but someone had just finished grading finals and went a little too hard.” 

Jaskier grinned, “Speaking of finals, time for the last question. I had a different one in mind but if the thing I cant say from earlier would get this demonetized then that defintitelyi would. So we’re going with ‘what is the wackest placy y’all banged?’”

Geralt snorted, “Shit who knows anymore?”

“Well there was the boat?”

“Or the train?”

“Nah, too standard. What about the cabin?”

“Heh, no I think your o-”

“I don’t have tenure darling,” It was Jaskier’s turn to slap his hands over Geralt’s mouth, “The answer is a dilapidated structure my parents still try to call a cabin out in the foothills.”

Geralt laughed and pulled his hand away, “Okay, that can be the answer.”

“Is that it? Now we just say bye?” Jaskier looked between Geralt and the camera.

Geralt shrugged, “Yeah. You wanna say the thing?”

Jaskier wiggled with a little pride and excitement, “Don’t forget to like and subscribe! Bye Fuckers!”

They both waved for a couple seconds before Geralt got up and turned the camera off. He popped out the memory card and was going to immediately start loading it onto his computer but Jask hooked his finger through a belt loop as he walked past and tugged him back down. 

“I’m tired. Snuggle with me.” 

Geralt hummed, “We just snuggled that whole time.”

Jaskier heaved a dramatic sigh, “I know and this is exhausting. I don’t know how you talk to a camera all day.”

Geralt stretched to set the chip on top of his laptop before collapsing back on top of Jaskier who had stretched the length of the couch, “Are you making fun of me?” he teased. 

Jaskier cupped his face between his hands and pulled him up for a deep kiss, “Oh never.”