ten-thousand-aromantic-bees

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

grinning right now as i type this fdksdslkjsk aww thanks kyo <3

hmm... kyo and sockatoo were both already tagged, so. honorary tags for you two. :)

and hmm i am just now realizing that those are the only mutuals i have on this sideblog, so:

@ashclouds366 - my beloved and excellent and wonderful friend <3 friend of all time <3 her ocs are so cool and her art style is delightful and also she's a lovely fantastic individual and everyone should appreciate her always <3

there. :D

favirote moots?

(People you tag have to reblog and say their favorite moots)

Okay wait

@ibrokeurheartbcuzubrokemine @foliverfalls @allyeilishh @addisonraesbaby @emiliesblohsh @bilsslut @noodleswashere @bilsbabyy @bitchesbrokenpromises @billsdollie

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

Miraculous, simply the best~!

Up to the test when things go wrong~!

Meet the heroes of Peaks Valley!!

Scarabeast and Nightwalker

Which are, obviously, Yuwen and Laurie in disguise.

Lore rambling:

All the kids are in high school now!! No twelve year old kid is going to be fighting a fully grown Butterfly holder.

Following that, the villain of the story is James!! He's not EVIL though. More like...you know how in mlb the Peacock Miraculous is "broken"?? Well, now the broken Miraculous is the Butterfly!! James is very much suffering several brain damage at any given time by his Miraculous. He's being corrupted slowly, and can't really think straight. So. Unwilling villain James :D

Following up again, the Guardian of the Miraculous in this au is Francis!! Because. I think it's funny. Silly gay man who knows all the secrets of the universe + chooses his holders based on how much romantic tension they've got.

Which leads me to the love square!!

Laurie's tiny crush on Yuwen tripled when the boy started being less of a jerk. Now in high school she's fully head over heels for him but she Is Not going to act on her feelings. Because. It's Yuwen. And it's her.

Yuwen by his side has a crush on Nightwalker, his partner in crime (-fighting). Masked confidence hit Laurie Hard, which allows her to be bold and witty with Scarabeast in the middle of battles. It's this confidence (and the kindness she shows him despite him being a jerk) that Yuwen falls for.

Yuwen thinks Laurie is overall a nice person, but they're awkard around each other so they don't hang out often. Yuwen is awkward because of how he lowkey bullied Laurie back in middle school (he believes he was the reason Laurie dropped off the team). As for why Laurie Does Not like Scarabeast, it's because she thinks he's an arrogant jerk who's more focused on the glory of being a hero than fighting to keep their city safe. It's like Yuwen all over again, just without the Maturing part.

You know how Yuwen has that thing with making videos?? Well, he actually kinda blew up!!! He's not THAT famous, but pretty much all the kids in Peaks Valley know who he is. It's actually a Whole Thing for his arc.

Keeping up with that, Yuwen's grown a lot and allows himself to be vulnerable with his friends more. But when facing a camera, he goes back to old habits, and makes up a persona. This kicks him in the ass when he becomes Scarabeast. He's in the public eye constantly, and he knows how the media tears into people. So he makes Scarabeast up to be this unflapabble, witty hero, and the media loves it. His partner?? Not so much, but he Literally Can't let the mask come off now. Scarabeast and Yuwen are two different people in his mind, and while Yuwen can be vulnerable with his closed ones, Scarabeast Can't. Which. It's a Whole Thing for his arc.

Following with Yuwen's attention to the media, his suit is much more detailed and made Specifically to appeal to the masses. Laurie's, on the other hand, is much more simplistic, for as the Black Cat her role is to aid the Ladybug from the shadows (plus she's scared shitless of the media). Adding to that, Laurie's very creeped out with the whole "Destruction Incarnate" deal of her powers, so her suit is more playful in an attempt to be less scary. Her green side color, too, is changed to a soft pink for the same reason. Her powers are still green, though. Plagg can't change that much.

Also!! The transformations don't just give the kids their suits and powers, they actually DO transform the kids into other forms!! As superheroes, the duo is a decent inches taller and more muscled than their civilian selves, and their hairstyles change. Yuwen's hair grows fluffier plus a Slightly more vibrant violet shade, and Laurie's hair grows neater and in the typical hairstyle she used to wear in middle school. Plus the red highlights in Yuwen's hair and the pink details in Laurie's (and how Yuwen's eyes gain a reddish shade and Laurie's eyes turn pink and feline), no one recognizes them.

Uhhh couple of random, miscellanous details:

Yuwen has two shades of red in his suit, which are barely distinguishable nut I Need You to know. One is slightly brighter and the other is slightly darker.

It would make more sense for Laurie ti be the Ladybug and Yuwen tye Black Cat. But. It was so hilarious to me if Yuwen, one of the most destructive, impulsive kids in Peaks Valley, gained the power of Creation. So. Ladybug Yuwen and Black Cat Laurie :D

Taylor and Martin are Kagami and Luka. I will Not elaborate.

Yuwen gets akumatized at one point. Again I will Not elaborate.

Kai has a fun dynamic with her dad thanks to the whole Brain Decaying Muraculous. It is indeed a very fun situation for her.

The Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous have a couple extra powers. Because what's the point of being the most powerful of the Miracle Box if you have no extra power-ups?? Just for example, Laurie can purify Akumas too. Because why would that be a Ladybug only deal.

Also there's a Reason Francis picked young holders. He Wouldn't Have put kids in danger, but the older you are when you gain a Miraculous the harder it is to adapt to it. Like, magically. Adult people who use Miraculous without having trained with them in their youth get Severely Hurt and Damaged. Which is another reason James gets so fucked up by using the Butterfly, regardless of the Miraculous being broken.

Francis is the holder of the Fox Miraculous. He has had it since his youth, so he's safe from dying or suffering internal bleeding or something. I'm thinking of if Odo is a holder too. If he was, i'd probably give him the Snake or the Rabbit.

The love square gets inverted at one point. And it's fun because the reason Yuwen falls for Laurie is the same reason he fell for Nightwalker (her confidence and kindness) and the reason Laurie falls for Scarabeast is the same reason she fell for Yuwen (she can see his personal growth and how his persona is an act to protect himself). Which. Drives me mad and I'm the one who wrote that. So. They make me ill <3

And uhhhh I think that's all??? Yeah that's all!!

Feel free to ask questions :]

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

I really enjoyed win or lose, and I love Laurie and Kai’s relationship, and the parallels in their anxiety. Also apparently their ship name is Goldilocks which I think is adorable! Anyway I decided to draw them as young adults!

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

Kai and Yuwen are soo t4t best friends. If anyone even cares btw

🥎🥒

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

She's a cutie patootie

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

Mystery Peaks, aka win or lose x gravity falls. hehehe i had a LOT of fun with this.... (cough cough yes its the caesar cipher)

should i make you guess which symbol is which. or should i just. slap the list under the cut. hmmm.

...making people guess would be more fun but ehh i'll explain it all under the cut anyway. i'm not THAT mean.

- Daniel, the bomb.

- Laurie, the star.

- Paula, the ram.

- Rochelle, the sword. (a protector. assertive. she leads. she fights. thanks to bee for the idea of rochelle's weapon metaphor being a sword because. haha. Fun.)

- Benjamin, the crown. (rochelle's father. he is unfortunately painfully relevant both in her life and in the plot.... everyone hates him. booo ben)

- Mia, the candle. (kai's mom. she gets lost in the multiverse like ford (it's ben's fault), but everyone thinks she's dead-- that's why kai moved to peaks valley. her and james thought she was dead, so they moved for a change of scenery. more on that later.)

- Frank, the shield.

- Tom, the cloud.

- Hannah, the skull.

- Luciana, the lips.

- Lenny, the waffle. (oc created entirely for comedic purposes. first there was the idea that there should be a diner all the kids eat at when they need to meet up and discuss paranormal stuff. then we decided it should be named Lenny's (legally distinct ripoff of Denny's). when i was like "what f there's a guy that works there named lenny but he's not the manager-- he's seventeen and kind of stupid and didn't realize him (leonardo "lenny" lastname) working at Lenny's would result in confusion. "hi, wecome to lenny's, no i am not the manager, how can i help you today?")

- Kai, the trophy.

- Yuwen, the fireball.

- Taylor, the cotton candy.

- Ira, the meteor.

- Rinna, the sheep.

i shall also present you a few ideas:

bill possesses. laurie. this is an entire week-long arc in the plot. it is. So Angsty. and there's tons of hurt/comfort in the aftermath... hehe. also, luciana is a pacifica equivalent, ira is the one that causes weirdmageddon, and laurie and rochelle are already dating in this au because i said so. i'll yap way more later (discord friends know i've word vomited So Damn Much about this au)

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

Woe

Black Cat Laurie.

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

have i mentioned laurie is the one that bill possesses in the gravity falls au. have i mentioned that yet. because. that whole arc is BIG and we'd be here for hours if i explained why they're in a hospital but-- yeah-- uhh-- here's a post-possession hurt/comfort thingamabob--

every time i colorpick laurie's skin i am flabbergasted at how Pale she is. like oh my gosh get this poor girl some vitamin d....

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

So, uh. Laurwen mlb au anyone??

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

by popular demand (delighted comments on my headcanon post) i present to you: more thoughts about high school aged laurie-kai-yuwen queerplatonic trio.

for context: my original post about this headcanon. - the dynamics here are basically: platonic kai & yuwen, romantic yuwen/laurie, and a dynamic that's romantic on laurie's side and platonic on kai's. - aroace kai headcanon is so so important to me. <3 her exact boundaries surrounding the gray area of romance kinda vary day to day. sometimes she likes kissing laurie because A. it's an obvious way of communicating affection to laurie and laurie likes it, and B. laurie gives her overwhelming cuteness aggression sometimes and kissing her is a good enough solution. sometimes the idea of kissing anyone is just. an absolute no for her. too much of a romance connotation. so they have to communicate about whether she's currently comfortable with that or not. and they do a pretty good job with that overall. however. sometimes laurie gives her overwhelming cuteness aggression on a day when she's not comfortable with kissing her. solution? she elbows yuwen and tells him he has to kiss laurie Right Now, someone's gotta do it and it's not gonna be kai because kissing is a Definite No right now. yuwen. yuwen kiss your girlfriend right now. if you don't kiss that girl within the next five seconds- and laurie's just kinda flustered but giggling uncontrollably, and yuwen is complaining that kai elbowed him too hard, but he's also not going to miss an opportunity to kiss laurie, so he's already leaning towards her with this stupidly soft grin that he gets literally Every Time laurie's laughing like that. and then yuwen kisses laurie and kai's like. good. thank you. and it's just. so silly. the sillies ever. <3 - all three of them have anxiety; it shows up differently in each of them, and they each respond differently to it - which i made another headcanon post about - but there is some degree of understanding there because of that. - when they're figuring out the whole qpr thing, kai realizes that she doesn't really want to call laurie her girlfriend because the romance connotation just. doesn't really feel comfortable. but she does really really want to be laurie's girlfriend. like. just thinking it makes her feel all giddy. but she's like. kinda hesitant about all that, because- she kinda feels like she's being unreasonable and too specific. but. she ends up saying it, trying really hard not to sound as uncertain as she feels. and laurie's just. immediately agreeing. and by the end of the conversation, she's so unbelievably delighted that she actually just got a girlfriend. and a boyfriend. and it's kai and it's yuwen and they?? both?? like her?? like it's in different ways and they're all gonna keep talking about that in a minute but?? they like her?? laurie is just absolutely beaming with delight. but anyways, kai keeps kind of having an internal struggle when it comes to stuff like that for a bit, because- she keeps thinking about how maybe laurie really wants more of a straightforward romantic relationship, and- she can't give that, but- maybe she should be trying to get as close to that as possible? to kind of compensate for the fact that she doesn't experience the romantic feelings? but kai lets that worry slip out at some point and then it's comfort and reassurance and fluff. and that really eases that internal conflict. and they all kind of figure things out as they go, and start settling more into the patterns that work. - so, the descriptions they usually go with are: yuwen is laurie's boyfriend, laurie is yuwen's girlfriend and kai's partner, kai is laurie's girlfriend, and- yuwen and kai just say literally whatever first comes to mind about each other. a list of examples:

"she's my girlfriend's girlfriend so maybe that makes us like. in-laws once removed? wait no-" "we're like. a package deal that can't be separated. two for one deal. we literally teamed up to ask out laurie-" "she's one of my favorite people alive on this earth but if you ask me one more time if we're dating i'm going to physically attack you-" "he's the only reason i'm banned from that pet store by the school and i'm never forgiving him for that." "i mean, maybe i'd marry her but literally only for tax benefits. that's the only reason i'd ever do that. " "yeah, he's my best friend." "uh...partners, i guess? but not in a romantic way, we're just. a team-partner-duo-thing. you know?" "i'm actually just stuck with him for life at this point and i'm cool with that."

and so on and so forth.

- yuwen, kai, and laurie = adhd-adhd-autism trio. in that order. beloved headcanon. <3 - they all tend to ramble when they're really excited or they get going on a topic they really like. (bonus headcanon: listening to people rambling like that is really reassuring for rochelle specifically. gives her something to focus on when she's stressed. so it works out great for everyone. <3) - on that note: laurie was a warrior cats kid, but refused to read past The Last Hope because hollyleaf's arc devastated her on a fundamental and personal level. similarly, yuwen was a wings of fire kid, but refused to read past Darkness of Dragons because winter's arc devastated him on a fundamental and personal level. they both feel deeply betrayed by those specific books and they will monopolize an entire lunch period conversation with those feelings. however they also know All The Lore for their respective series. and kai, who hasn't read either series, is SO invested in the lore and drama. she's absorbed all of yuwen and laurie's opinions on the books. she's listening to them explain the Lore, and she's completely enraptured by it, occasionally asking questions, hanging onto every word. laurie is delightedly reciting all the most gruesome moments of warrior cats, and yuwen, not to be outdone, starts telling them exactly what happened to prince arctic from wings of fire, and kai is reacting to all of this with the utmost enthusiasm.

- all three of them have the most persistent habits of grinding their teeth. laurie's the only one who's actually able to stop herself from doing it, but Only if she has something like sunflower seeds to chew on instead. if she's stressed without something to chew on, she literally can't stop herself from grinding her teeth. yuwen and kai have both just given up on breaking the teeth grinding habits at this point. yuwen does it so aggressively and often that his teeth are actually kinda messed up from it; his mom has tried for so long to get him to stop doing it, but unfortunately that takes A Lot of effort to stop doing, and his jaw feels weird when he's trying not to grind his teeth, so. he keeps doing it. and kai mostly does it without realizing when she's focusing really intently on something. - for both laurie and yuwen, physical contact with lots of pressure is the most comforting thing ever. like- someone needs to just. flop onto them like a weighted blanket. they like the pressure. this works out great, because kai loves flopping onto people like a weighted blanket. she's leaning on laurie's shoulder with her legs kicked over yuwen's and it's just. the immediate comfort effect and the sense of feeling grounded and secure. - look. sincerity is Hard. yuwen's working on it, but- yeah. it's hard. so. solution: he'll sometimes just. say really sweet and encouraging things, but: loud enough and with the right kind of energy to make people think he's just messing around and kind of like. just being loud for fun. everyone who's close with him has picked up on the fact that he's actually being Fully Sincere when he does this. no one points it out, though. laurie grins, half-flustered and hopelessly bright. kai scoffs warmly, and shoots him a look that's equal parts exasperated and affectionate. - laurie eventually comes to the realization that when kai or yuwen are upset/anxious/stressed, gently squeezing their hands really helps them both. but the thing is. those two are not the Best at admitting when they're not doing great. and laurie doesn't want to just confront them with the fact that she's picking up on how Not Great they're doing right now. so sometimes she'll just act like she's not noticing anything, she just wants to hold hands because she loves them and she likes affection, no ulterior motives about calming them down from a slight spiral whatsoever :) she's a devious little sweetheart who loves her partners. <3

and those are all the thoughts i have for tonight. :) anyways. kai-laurie-yuwen future qpr headcanon. my beloved headcanon ever. <3

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

characters who are self-sacrificing because they don't value their own life enough, who don't fear death as much as they fear living without their loved ones is a fun trope, lots of potential there, but- you know what else is really fun?

self-sacrificing characters who are absolutely terrified of dying. characters who desperately want to live, who have to fight every single screaming instinct in their body as they throw themselves into danger. they don't want to do this, don't want to be here. they're dragging themselves along behind their loved ones, frantically trying to get the fear to subside long enough to be useful in these situations.

but- well. if your hands are shaking too badly to hold a weapon, you're no help. if your mind is racing too rapidly to think of a good plan, you're no help.

you know what doesn't need a steady hand? throwing yourself directly into the line of fire. you know what doesn't need a sharp thought process? using yourself as the bait.

and. well. they have to help the others somehow, right? and - this? reckless self-endangerment, taking the hits and distracting the threats and taking every single risk that the others don't need to take because they all have other ways of contributing? this is all they can do. they're convinced that is is all they can do for their loved ones, so- they may be on the verge of a breakdown every single time, they may be sick with anxiety at the thought of not making it back this time-

but. if this is the one thing they can do, the one way they can help? they're going to do it. of course they are.

so they just. keep. doing it.

bonus points if they can't quite shake the worry that they're being selfish by wanting to be safe, wanting to stop doing this, wanting to live.

bonus bonus points if their friends/teammates would literally fall to pieces without them, but not for any practical reason, just- that's a person who's absolutely inextricable from the lives of everyone around them. losing them would be one of the most devastating things imaginable for these people. no one here wants them pulling self-sacrificial stunts, no one here wants them taking those risks.

something about characters who've always wanted to live; their arc is realizing that they're allowed to. the gradual process by which the truth finally sinks in: they don't need to do this. their worth does not hinge on what they offer. accept the hand extended to you. step down from the sacrificial altar. your unsteady return to the ground was never going to be met with a condemnation. you have always had a place here.

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

win or lose PJO AU + a few character abilities:

laurie - daughter of hermes. lie-detecting ability. uses a spear as her main weapon.

rochelle - daughter of athena. has a divine gift of several owls who love her, attack her enemies, and are very in sync with her emotions. she's also good at textile crafts because of the whole "goddess of textile crafts" thing. also she can hear at higher frequencies than usual. uses a sword as her main weapon.

kai - daughter of zeus. flight and lightning powers. got so used to hitting monsters with a softball bat that when she got to camp and they told her she needed an actual weapon, she just got the hephaestus kids to stick celestial bronze onto her bat. so that's her main weapon.

yuwen - son of apollo. his senses sometimes get sharper when hearing music, depending on the type of music. divine blessing in both archery and aiming projectiles in general. switches between a bow and arrows and throwing knives as his main weapons, but sometimes for fun, i let him have grenades.

luciana - daughter of apollo. divine blessing in singing. mice are drawn to her and love her. when she's stressed, she can essentially turn objects she's touching into illness-inducing weapons. good at archery, uses a bow and arrows as her main weapon.

taylor - daughter of aphrodite. charmspeak power. uses a celestial bronze mace as her main weapon.

borna - satyr. has a celestial bronze knife, but rarely needs to use it.

hannah - oracle of delphi. prophecies and stuff. has a flock of crows following them around most of the time, but those are just normal crows they befriended through normal means, not magic or anything. doesn't really carry a weapon due to there not being as much need.

tom - son of demeter. plant manipulation ability, plants respond to his emotions. he's also just really good with plants. demeter gave him a few magic ones when he was a kid. uses a whip embedded with celestial bronze as his main weapon.

(for context: my previous post about this AU.)

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

okay so. i've been working on a win or lose PJO AU for a while with friends on discord, so! i'm going to try and organize most of the lore and such into some posts. and then i'll eventually make a masterpost.

this....is gonna be long.

basic concept + very brief versions of character backstories, here we go. :)

basic concept: win or lose characters in the percy jackson universe. not the percy jackson plot, though; the win or lose characters get their own plot, and the vast majority of the actual percy jackson characters and plot aren't canon to the AU.

so. some of the gods, worldbuilding, etc. might be inconsistent to the PJO canon characterization, just because. i'm focusing on the win or lose cast and i like giving them demigod angst. <3 (also it's been a while since i read the books, so i'm just having fun at this point.)

character backstories (short versions):

(note that the majority of these don't touch on most of what happens After they're at camp. that's for a separate post. for now, just- early backstories, briefly summarized. <3)

borna - satyr. his mom's a dryad, he grew up hanging around the camp.

frank - son of ares. survived to adulthood, left camp because he fell in love with a mortal woman and was good at avoiding monsters. it didn't work out, but he was used to the freedom of the mortal world by then, so he didn't go back. he's convinced he's done with the demigod world. he gets a job teaching elementary school. rochelle ends up in his class, and- he knows exactly what's going on with this kid. knows she's a demigod in danger. knows he has to help.

vanessa - mortal. had a really complicated relationship with some girl in college. turns out that was the goddesss of wisdom in disguise, and athena has now thought a baby into existence. and it's hers. somehow? look, vanessa's not completely sure what's going on here. but. she has a daughter now.

rochelle - daughter of athena. frank helped vanessa get her to camp fairly early on in elementary school, when it started becoming clear that she was in danger.

tom - son of demeter. he actually has So Much lore in the AU. the very shortened backstory summary: his dad was already married with a kid when he had an affair with demeter. lots of family tension. was mostly close with his mortal older brother. demeter kept an eye on him and helped him get to camp when his powers started developing. he got there shortly after rochelle did.

hannah - clearsighted mortal, oracle of delphi. went through a lot of foster homes as a kid for various reasons. borna's first demigod retrieval mission got them instead, which was a situation that the two of them managed to salvage by mentioning that, hey, hannah had prophetic abilities, and the camp needs an oracle, right? and people were understandably reluctant to put all that responsibility on a kid, but- well. hannah made it clear that they really weren't interested in going back to the mortal world, didn't have anything there worth sticking around for, and. well. they did need an oracle.

luciana - daughter of apollo. her relationship with her mom got really bad around the same time the monsters started tracking her down, around age 10 or 11. shortly after the thing with hannah, borna was sent to get luciana to safety. they made it to camp, but just barely. there were so many close calls, they both almost died so many times- borna decides almost immediately after that he is Not doing the demigod retrieval thing anymore. the Mist ended up basically faking luciana's death, and she ended up not contacting her mom after getting to camp, so. she knows her mom almost definitely thinks she's dead. she's not particularly interested in correcting that assumption.

kai - daughter of zeus. her mom was clearsighted, but died trying to protect kai from a monster attack, leaving kai and james both grieving and terrified for kai's safety. another monster attack while she's at school is the last straw; she knows these things are after her, she doesn't know where they're coming from, but. she knows she can't stay here. she writes her dad a note apologizing and explaining, and runs away from home.

james - mortal. not kai's biological father in the AU, but kai's mom was already pregnant with her when she met james, so he's been there for her whole life.

yuwen - son of apollo. his mom eventually starts piecing together the demigod thing and who yuwen's father actually was. hoping to keep yuwen safely undetected, she puts him in boarding school. this backfires when monsters eventually track him down, and he runs away without having his phone with him, and having no real idea where he is. he runs into kai, and they team up to survive until a satyr finds them and brings them to camp.

dan - mortal. he and carole adopted laurie as a baby, with no idea about the demigod thing.

laurie - daughter of hermes. her dad had been in contact with frank about the camp for years by the time she's in middle school. when the monster attacks start getting too dangerous, dan brings her to camp.

taylor - daughter of aphrodite. the last of the main kids to get to camp. ends up being found in middle school by kai, yuwen, and laurie, who bring her back to camp. (those three were Not Actually supposed to be out of camp by the way. they snuck out. it's a whole thing.)

ira - clearsighted mortal. taylor's half-brother on their mortal dad's side. he and taylor figured out that they were the only ones who could see the monsters, and eventually figured out that taylor was the only one they were after, but. the seriousness of that doesn't really sink in for a while. felt pretty hurt when taylor decided to go with these random kids who showed up during a monster attack. they got into a small argument, which wouldn't have been a big deal if it wasn't followed by them not being able to actually see each other for months after that due to The Plot.

the AU also features junn, terrence, rinna, brian, kevin, and martin, with varying degrees of backstory for each. but this post is already long, so i'll maybe go into their backstories in a different post.

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

:)

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

<3

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

win or lose episode 1 expertly summarized

[ten-thousand-aromantic-bees]

it actually didn't occur to me until my third rewatch, but. you guys. is the implication here that laurie purposefully got hit by the ball in order to win the base? like. all the details point towards it being an intentional decision on her part.

maybe everyone else already thought of that, idk. but i feel like there's a lot of post-finale fic potential there. laurie just casually mentioning "yeah haha that was some pretty quick thinking right? i mean, it was a kinda risky strategy but you know, it worked! :)" and everyone else just. stops. because it hadn't occurred to any of them that laurie did that on purpose. and no one's really sure how to feel about that, because? it did work? but also that girl willingly took a softball to the face so they would have a shot at winning the championship?

(cue kai trying to explain to laurie that self-sacrifice isn't really a great way to go about things, but she's interrupted every five seconds by yuwen and rochelle going "cough hypocrite cough" and glancing pointedly at her injured ankle)