#Ahhh I have a couple of those games in my drafts

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

Word Find Tag

I was tagged by @nanashi23 :D

My words: Clear, Dark, water, salt, and ash

Your words: Spite, Denial, Mood and Dignity

Aaand I’m tagging @winterandwords @verkja @starlit-hopes-and-dreams

So I am currently trying to beat the glued together Undeserved into shape, which makes it my WIP of the day week.

Clear “Hel—”     The hand squeezed, cutting off his scream for help, turning it into a pitiful wheeze. Riordan blinked, trying to clear his gaze, to focus it on the shadow in front of him. A face, painfully familiar and yet so different. Looking so much younger than Damien, with a fury in his eyes Riordan had never seen on his friend’s face. The instinctive panic of the sudden attack made room for a more conscious one.     It was Damien’s brother, and he looked like he was about to fucking kill him.

Dark “But if they’d ask me, I’d suggest stringing you up on the next tree and be done with it.”     Damien couldn’t stop himself from wincing at those words. A dark laugh told him that it hadn’t gone unnoticed, and he cursed himself.     “Don’t like that idea, do you?” Now the man crouched down, keeping one hand on top of the cage to steady him. “It’s almost funny. Tell me, Nightmare,” he said, drawing out the name, “how many did you make believe they’d die? How often?”

Water “I brought you some water.”     The words made Damien lift his head again. There was a hand in front of him, holding a worn waterskin. Offering it. For a moment, Damien wanted to believe, wanted to trust his brother’s kindness. He couldn’t. He didn’t deserve it.     “Did you piss in that, too?” he asked while snatching the waterskin. It was more of a weak, desperate grab, really, but indignant snatching sounded better in his head.

Salt Merridy found her own shoes, grabbing a blanket off the bed and the room key off the table before leading him to the door. He let her guide him, hold him, anchor him in this reality. It was dark in the hallway, but after so many months, they both knew every corner, every step. Side by side they walked down the stairs and into the backyard, illuminated by pale moonlight.     It was late; or early. Not quite morning yet, but the night was already fading, the faintest hint of light at the horizon. The air smelled a bit of fish and a bit of salt, and it was nowhere close to the stench of his dungeon cell. The city wasn’t yet awake, not here. Their footsteps were the loudest noise, a quiet clattering on the cobblestone, then an even quieter crunching noise when they left the city behind and reached the beach.

Ash (Yea, totally cheating on this one) “Fuck this glass. Fuck everything,” he snapped, making Damien flinch.     “Fuck everything and then what? What will you do with your life?”     “I don’t know. There’s a whole world out there. There’s more than…” Valadan trailed off, stepping away from the door. He walked to the shelves lining the shop window towards the street. Damien watched him trail his fingers across some of the things laid out there, resting on a colorful lantern made from dozens of glass shards. “This old-fashioned bullshit made by an old-fashioned asshole.”     “I made that.”

#salad-tag #Ahhh I have a couple of those games in my drafts

[kingkunigami]

I'm not sure if this counts as a thirst but I'm obsessed with fighting and making up as a trope, especially with characters that might have trouble apologizing—I think Barou + Raichi immediately come to mind?

I love thinking about other characters in that trope as well [like how Bachira (my fave) or Shidou might react differently], but I'm currently mulling over Barou and Raichi specifically.

imo, Barou would be more stubborn with thinking that he's right, whereas Raichi would have a faster period of extreme reactivity that immediately melts into guilt or regret once you two part ways post-argument.

It would take a little more to push either of them to reach out and apologize first (though I think if you were the first to reestablish communication, they'd both try to show that they were sorry through actions). Maybe having you go radio silent for a couple more hours might do it.

I think Barou would struggle with words, so he might default to "acts of service" type behavior, perhaps trying to fuss over you the next time he sees you.

I can imagine that Raichi would eventually attempt to apologize verbally, he would just be shit at it—but you can feel the sincerity behind his jumbled words, and that's what really matters.

Disclaimer, I think I have a problem where I project a level of idiocy onto every character I like... lol. They're always slightly more moronic or pathetic in my head than I think they are in canon.

That said, I think Raichi might cry a little if you stay mad at him even after he tries to apologize. Just a couple angry tears, and he begins to try and write a draft for a better apology so that you'll be happy with him again.

Ahhh I definitely agree with you! (And I love my men pathetic just for you too!)

Barou — I think pride gets in the way a lot when it comes to apologising, so a lot of the time Barou is stubborn enough to stay silent until you extend the olive branch. I think deep down he knows it too, knows he doesn’t have to worry because even if he’s really pissed you off, you’ll be back in his arms soon enough. That isn’t to say he doesn’t have his way of apologising— he holds you a little tighter, presses a kiss to your temple as you cuddle together. No words need to be exchanged but you can feel the warmth radiating from him and the tension slowly leaving his body that tells you he’s happy to have you back on side. Gives those long, lingering, sloppy kisses after like you haven’t kissed in months.

Raichi — I feel like at first Raichi is combative and stubborn. He can easily go a couple of days without talking to you, he’ll just surround himself with football. But that’s not to say he isn’t reading over your old texts each night and looking at selfies you have together. It’s what prompts him to make contact— he’s got absolutely no shame in going up to you or texting you “are you gonna apologise/are you gonna talk to me?” And it seems rude and distasteful, but it really is his way of saying I miss you. If you tell him no or ignore the texts he just becomes more agitated, enough to swallow his pride as he decides to apologise in a mumbled tone that’s full of sincerity. Like you can just feel how sorry he is through his eyes, and the way his head hangs low, a hand on the back of his neck. You can see the sniffle threatening to break through as he fights to hold back tears— Just accept it and give the poor boy a kiss, he misses you.

Bachira — breaks easy. He doesn’t do those psychological warfare games, and he’ll quickly beat himself up about the argument especially if you’re ignoring him. The poor boy doesn’t want to be alone, so even if the fight was his fault he’s doing the “are you mad at me?🥺” thing, and of course you are. But he’s quick to apologise and it’s always sincere. He hates being without you for too long, and would rather extend the olive branch to have you back on side because his worst fear is losing you. You’re instantly scooped into his arms as he clings to you like his life depended on it, smothering you in kisses.

Shidou — And you mentioned Shidou! I feel like he would deliberately try to wind you up even more, a coy smirk on his face as he makes whatever the argument was about worse, just because he likes how pretty you look when you’re angry. “Aw, come on, babe. You know I was just jokin’—” but it’s his tone that has you seething as you contemplate blocking his number. But he’s quick to reign you back in when he can sense you growing cold, weaving his forearm around your neck as he pulls you against his chest, pressing a kiss to your forehead as he cages you in with his arms. Even if you try to struggle he’s like “Sorry, baby. You know I am, right?” And you hate it, because he makes it so hard to be mad at him when he looks down at you with his pretty eyes and gives a smile reserved just for you.

#blue lock x reader #bllk x reader #blue lock headcanons #bllk headcanons #⚽️—bachira #⚽️—raichi #⚽️—Barou #⚽️—shidou

[ohtobeleah]

Hi Leah, just wanted to tell you that I completely missed the newest installment of the Kas/Jake series and I am screaming because of how realistic and in-character Jake is 😭

I do have something I wanted to ask for your thoughts on. Have you ever heard of an Angel Shot? (look it up if you haven't, it's a way of asking for help from bartenders)

My question is it really a question or a thought idk anymore is that how do you think would the TGM boys would react to hearing their teammate/someone they're close with ask for it?

I love all of your work but 🥺 Chaos and Rooster have a special place in my heart

Ahhh thank-you so much! You’re so kind!

I went to a adults putt putt golf course that did angel shots when we went to Brisbane in November. They had the flyers on the backs of the doors in the women’s bathroom.

To answer your question. This is how I think they’d react. And to save time we’re gonna go with the same scenario for all the guys. (I’m just gonna do Hangman, Rooster and Bob because those are my three home bois.)

Let’s say you’ve gone on a blind date. A tinder match perhaps 🤔 You’d decided that having your date at the Hard Deck was probably your best bet at making sure this guy wasn’t going to get a chance to cut you up into a million pieces—you know, just incase he turned out to be a serial killer.

But he’s giving you bad vibes, really creepy vibes and there’s warning signals blaring and red flags waving right in front of your face. So after you finish dinner, you’re planning your escape.

“Look, this has been really fun and all but I think I’m gonna get out here.” You’re smiling the fakest fake smile you can muster up from across the table. “I’m just gonna fix up my tan real quick.”

“How about, we get outta here instead?” Your dates meeting you as you stand, towering over you and suddenly you don’t feel safe at all. It’s fight or flight. Looking around—everyone’s occupied, so you’ve got one choice. Keep calm and play it smart. “You wanna get a cab back to my place?” His hand is running from its place on your hip to your ass. A wicked smirk spears across his face and in the blink of an eye you know this is genuinely getting to a point where things could go horribly wrong if you don’t act fact.

“Sure, but I gotta fix my tab up first, and while I’m at it how about we get a few shots to finish up?” You beam, playing into his game. Heading over towards the bar, you see an empty chair beside Rooster. He’s sipping a draft from a schooner talking to Penny while it’s a little quiet. A lull in the rush of regulars who need there alcoholic fix.

“Hey Judge, how’s the date going?” Roosters swivelling on his chair to face you a little more. Taking a sip of his beer as he reads your expression as something less than great.

“Great Bradshaw, it’s been great.” It’s the hand on your shoulder that has Rooster frowning, your date was standing right behind you. “Just wanna fix up my tab before I head out if you’ve got a sec Pen.” You smiled quickly before it faded back into your less than ideal expression.

“Judge—“ Bradley coos. You’d got your call sign because of the Bachelors degree in pre-law you had before you decided to enlist in the Navy.

“Can I get a couple of angel shots to before I close out?” That immediately had Rooster on his feet pushing your date away from you. Penny was ushering for you to get behind the bar with her. You did—with haste.

“Out, now.” Roosters hissing as he causes a scene—the rest of the squad are at his beck and call when they see him squaring up the dick who tried it on with you.

“What’s wrong man? Take it easy!?” Your date is shoving back.

“You try anything with her ever again and I swear you’ll be dead before you hit the ground you got it?”

***~***~***~***~***~

Heading over towards the bar, you see an empty chair beside Hangman. He’s sipping a draft from a schooner talking to Penny while it’s a little quiet. A lull in the rush of regulars who need there alcoholic fix.

“You still here Judge?” He’s taunting with a thousand watt smile. “Thought you would’ve left a few hours ago at the promise of a roll in the hay.”

“Bite me Seresin—“ Its the way to comes out that has Jake eyeing you off with curious eyes. Your tone was off, your eyes told him something was wrong. “Just wanna fix up my tab before I head out if you’ve got a sec Pen.” You smiled quickly before it faded back into your less than ideal expression.

“Hey—“ Jakes shaking off the teasing for a few moments to break through to a more serious conversation. “You good Judge?” His eyes are trailing up and down your face looking for any sign of injury while a hand sneaks up onto your shoulder, gripping your a little harsh.

“Can I get a couple of angel shots to before I close out?” That immediately had Hangman on his feet pushing your date away from you. Penny was ushering for you to get behind the bar with her. You did—with haste.

“The fucks your problem man!?” Your dates hissing as Jake shoves hit towards the door.

“You messing with my girl huh?” Jakes seeing red, he’s ready to rock and roll, any excuse and he’ll swing. “You ever fuck with her again I’ll make sure you end up breathing through a fucking tube.”

***~***~***~***~***~

Heading over towards the bar, you see an empty chair beside Bob. He’s sipping a lemonade from a glass talking to Penny while it’s a little quiet. A lull in the rush of regulars who need there alcoholic fix.

“Hey Judge, you heading out?” Bob’s asking as you slip in beside him. “How was your date?”

“Peachy Bob, just peachy.” You pressed your lips together and the second your date touched your shoulder you froze up in a way Bob had never seen before. “Just wanna fix up my tab before I head out if you’ve got a sec Pen.” You smiled quickly before it faded back into your less than ideal expression.

“Hey you okay Judge? You seem a little off?” Bob’s pressing while he eyes your date off. Bobs off the clock and out of uniform.

“Can I get a couple of angel shots to before I close out?” That immediately had Bob on his feet pushing your date away from you. Penny was ushering for you to get behind the bar with her. You did—with haste.

“Oh you are not gonna try it on with me—“ You date growls as Bobs shoving him towards the door. Usually good with his words, Bob can’t muster up a proper sentence at the mere thought of this guy messing with you.

So he doesn’t answer—he simply throws the first punch he’s ever swung. It connects with a fierce crack and your date is on the ground.

“You don’t get to get away with being scum in here.” Bobs hissing before the rest of the group are pulling him away. “Get outta here before I break your nose!”

#top gun hangman #bob top gun #top gun rooster #top gun bradley bradshaw #top gun jake seresin #top gun robert floyd

[just-a-honey-badger]

for the writing commentary ask game:

They look young, not much older than 20. They are sitting on an old yellow couch someone has thrown out.

"Hey, kid," Hades calls. The person looks up. "Are you okay? Do you need help?"

"Uh, not really. Why?"

"No to being okay, or needing help?" Hades counters suspiciously, running his hand through his black hair.

"Well, I- I guess both," they call back. "I’m in an abandoned alley. I’m smoking. I’m all by myself. Why are you asking?" This kid, whoever they are, is wearing an oversized, yellowy-beige hiking jacket over a worn Nirvana t-shirt, grey sweatpants and are- are those Crocs? Yeah, they need help.

"I dunno. You seem sad." Hades shrugs. He gestures for them to join him, though not expecting them to actually come over. They do, however.

"Okay. What now?"

ahhh tyty

i've edited this a couple times, so you get ~all the commentary~ (also as i'm writing this i realize the inconsistency of all this. sorry lol)

i had this bit—specifically the couch—very vividly in my head. it's a mustard yellow, covered in duct tape and lint.

i was trying to figure out how old rock should be. they're around eleanor and lionel's age, i think. eleanor and lionel could be in high school, working a summer job or whatever. i mention rock being 23, though this is a plot hole and i don't know if they've gone to uni or not. we'll see, i guess.

my first draft for hades involved him seeming a bit untrustworthy, according to my friend who read this part. i tried to make him a bit more down to earth, but i don't fully know where he's going.

i also picture rock's outfit rather vividly. i think i meant puffer jacket instead of hiking, here, but i don't know that it matters much. it makes a sound when you rub it that i can only describe as shiny. they're wearing green crocs like the ones i used to have, and they keep them with the strap backward, always rubbing against their ankles. the sweatpants have grey strings with frayed ends and the knots have been untied and re-tied several times because rocky fidgets with them when they're bored. their t-shirt, as far as i'm concerned, might not even exist, because it's got the wobbly smiley face in black on a grey, oversized jersey shirt that feels just like the one i love wearing so much.

also, hades is a people pleaser and never wants to disappoint anyone, so he forces himself to either have no opinion or just go with what's popular. he just makes neutral noises when asked for his opinion and shrugs when asked a question. he's unsure of himself because he's forced himself so far down this rabbit hole of thinking that his opinions aren't worth of being shared. seph has been helping him through this and rocky does have a positive impact on him in the future.

anyways ty for asking! sorry for the brain dump

#asks #writer asks #writer ask game #ask bel #shippy <3

[sleeping-lilies]

robin era jason, dick, and babs headcanons because there’s too much comedic potential to ignore

- dick and babs were the ultimate gossip buddies. whenever dick was with the titans for long periods of time, babs always filled him in on everything

babs: dick you’ll never believe what hal said to bruce last night, i even have videos. dick, the look on his face please—

dick, immediately locking doors so his teammates don’t hear the mad shit about to be dropped on main: tell me everything

- vice versa too, dick filled babs in on everything going on with the titans and all they can say is thank god those lines are bat secured with no villains being able to listen in, imagine deathstroke hearing through bat gossip that joey’s dating who?!?! 😳

- batkids have been and always will be the holder of superhero gossip. it’s a business, you see, but we’re getting off topic 😡

- lmfao anyways this is literally how dick finds out about jason

babs: anyways, jason—

dick: who the fuck is jason

babs: ....

dick: barbara?!?!

babs: ok promise you won’t freak out

- babs and dick’s first reaction upon meeting jason being “why is he so small i wasnt that small” “dick you were literally nine when you were robin—“ “he’s tiny” it’s like those two share the same braincell

- i’m making it so that dick gave jason his number earlier because i feel like it 😡😡😡 (not that it changes much other than the fact that i want more gossip dropped in dm’s)

- when dick gave jason his number, he went to babs like “give me jason’s number” “didn’t you literally just give him your’s?” “ya but i’m gonna make sure he texts me” “ya ok that’s fair”

- whenever jason didn’t want to be in the manor (fight with bruce, boredom, etc) he went to wherever the fuck babs lived and they would facetime dick and talk mad shit. it was a thing.

- despite them all being able to drive, babs was the only one during this time with an actual, legitimate, legal license (jason was too young to have a license and dick is too lazy/busy/whatever-excuse-he-wants-to-use to take the permit and driving test) so babs drove them around everywhere and it was a mess™ consisting of a bunch of backseat drivers

- “dick omg look at this video i found from the batcave” “omg he said robin gives him magic” “robin gives him magic” they both cry about it for years to come

- babs sometimes kidnapped jason after school after telling the head of wayne manor (alfred) and took him to get ice cream, then to the library while she worked. jason was the greatest kid in the library, he even had his own throne special chair just for him whenever he came provided by library staff who adored this absolute angel.

- jason 🤝 babs 🤝 dick -> i believe in annoying yet endearing nicknames supremacy

- nicknames include (some used by some more than others or just one, or by both equally because they’re annoying pick and choose my good people)

little wing (iconic, we all know this one fellas and who uses it)

red (used for babs, absolutely fantastic, but in the future it gets confusing because some people with their goddamn hero names 😡)

boy wonder (classic, babs calls them both that)

barbie (for babs, jason uses this one and he’s the only one able to get away with it)

dickie (jason just really gets away with everything huh)

dickhead (jason’s lucky he’s cute)

baba black sheep (jeez i’m on a roll with babs’ nicknames she’s so nickname-able and that’s very cool and sexy of her)

jay z

jay allen

jay jay jay (shut up, dickhead—)

big bird

and a bunch more i’m too tired to look for them in canon or make new ones up, but you get the idea

- dick can totally bake, and babs and jason keep bugging him when he’s baking and add more chocolate chips while pretending to not notice that he can see them 😡😡😡

- headcanon that jason had hero worship for babs and dick because they’re so cool in and out of costume and it never really went away when he got older listen his older brother and pseudo sister are so cool and that’s not his fault but he’ll never admit it

- barbie movie marathons because barbie is an iconic legend and they all recognize it. they have the fucking “she’s the queen of the WA-A-A-AVES” song memorized along with all other barbie movie songs, they sing it on patrol.

- dick and jason’s sibling dynamic was and is basically “ur a little shit and i hate you but i will literally kill for you”

- dick had tension with bruce while jason was just a little shit who would totally cause drama for the sake of it, and people never take advantage of this absolute power duo for destroying bruce

- dick sending cryptid texts to jason through a burner phone because he’s dramatic jason totally knew it was him about things that drive bruce mad, like leaving the shower turned to the coldest setting before bruce got there, leaving the lights in the batcave on, etc. jason, a wise little child, totally took advantage of this. bruce came to accept his fate

- the gc names, guys the group chat names

- jason crashing into titans tower whenever he wants and dick doesn’t bat (hAH) an eye, occasionally he very sweetly asks babs to come with him and she agrees but only sometimes because some people have jobs, jason—wait dick is being flirted with by who?!?! i’ll leave it up to your imagination ;) and they totally crashed titans missions too

- one time bruce was busy with the league while alfred was on vacation and bruce absolutely could not dip (i’m imagining bruce getting a call from the headmaster during an honest to god fight and bruce just picking up while punching the daylights out of some asshole) (“mr wayne, what is that noise in the background?” “sorry, headmaster, the cat is having a seizure”), so when jason got into a “fight” (read: some jackass picking on jason before he snapped and yelled at him and the bitchass kid tried to punch him and jason’s no quitter) bruce called dick who was an adult and legally family (yes dick is adopted sometime after jason was, stay mad) like “son... son please” and dick was like “oh no need to plead with me, this is too good” but of course this bitchass doesn’t have an actual lisence yet and he was hanging out with babs anyways so he and babs rolled up to gotham academy and the kids stared at them like “holy shit they’re so cool” ya dick and babs are those power couple, whether romantic or not, that turn heads, they’re just that powerful strolled into the office, bailed jason out while intimidating the headmaster because the altercation was the result of school staff negligence of actual bullying like those cliche tropes, said “ayyy you got that brat good” and get him chili dogs or whatever the fandom made robin jason’s favorite food. omg i just made an entire fanfic in rough draft form someone please steal it and write it in full form and send me the link

- jason is very very tiny, you see. babs and dick pick him up and move him for any reason, whether because they want to sit on that chair or to just throw him out of harm’s way and take the bullet for themselves.

- jason and dick both get adorable blushes on their faces it’s genetic yes that’s how genetics work shut up meanwhile babs’ ears turn red when she’s embarrassed and all three of them clown each other for it

- i yelled about this to my mutual (cough cough @littlespaceboii) who also added to this absolute dogshit headcanon and then in the discord full of mutuals, but the basement of wayne manor is haunted. dick found it when he was a little gremlin (i stand by that dick was the original demon child) (“you see damian, before there was you there was me” the real reason he was good with damian lmfao) and was like “omg this is so cool” @littlespaceboii came up with that it was just alfred fucking with bruce and so when jason first came and dick was comfy around him he was like “so have you been in the basement” and jason was like “im literally robin i’ve been in the batcave?!?!” and dick goes “no the basement, the haunted one” and jason’s like “hAUNTED?!?!” cuz jason has at least some self preservations and knows not to fuck with the spookies until he too became a spooky and bruce was like “there’s no ghost it’s not haunted” because he’s a skeptic and a party pooper and babs is like “no go on let him finish” even though she knows full well there are no ghosts or does she? and uhhhh basically they becomes ghostbusters 2.0 but cooler and funnier

- this trio is basically baby pan/bisexual jason and two resident expert pan/bisexuals solidarity but that’s literally canon. they go to pride every year that jason’s alive what who said that?

- they all tease each other for their crushes like all siblings/family friends do, i don’t need to say it but it’s important that’s emphasized for my well being

- yelled about this in the discord to the mutuals who added onto this absolute train wreck too, but jason used to play baseball during his robin days, and dick never showed up to those games with being busy as an excuse, but babs always showed up with bruce and alfred and took pictures for dick so dick could be like “mlb players are jobless now that little wing is on the scene” babs (and sometimes bruce) always shouted loudest for jason whether he was in the field or in the dugout and jason would get this extremely adorable blush on his face (jason finds out in the future why dick never showed up (cough cough ptsd from two face’s massive baseball bat which led to everything that came after including being fired and veangance academy and nearly killing two face and omg that’s a ride) and is like oh my god my childhood is even more ruined—)

- remember when i said dick got adopted after jason did in this new absolutely fabulous canon i just created? bruce did that because “ahhh fuck that’s my kid and i want him to know i love him through every means possible since i have the ability to do so” i believe in good dad bruce supremacy and made a whole thing where he invited dick to dinner for like a week to work up the courage and bonding to ask him and show him the adoption papers and then everyone cried :) bruce decided to finally adopt dick after jason referred to dick as his brother and bruce was like “...oh” and alfred was like 👀

- dick, as the first child hero and one of the first heroes period like at least a year or two before babs, holds the “back in my day” card over literally everyone in the hero community in general and pulls it out to annoy babs and jason even tho babs literally joined the scene only a year or two after dick

jason, shaking in his panties: it’s so fucking cold

dick, standing strong in his tits out outfit, who had to wear the panties on his own decision: oh, you’re cold? back in my day—

babs, throwing her boot at his face: god shut the fuck up—

and then dick doesn’t give back her boot and it becomes a whole thing with lots of tackling and play fighting and someone nearly gets thrown off they rooftop for funsies but anyways

also on a side note, babs would take off her cape and wrap it around jason whenever she noticed his discomfort with the weather, or use the weather as an excuse whenever she saw him uneasy for whatever reason and they never mention it to each other

- yelled about this in the discord to the mutuals at some point too holy shit i have friends, but those three are team rocket. they went out as team rocket for halloween one year after bullying bruce to let jason out only jason because he can’t tell dick and babs what to do and jason is under his care and when they do convince him, dick and babs bully jason into being meowth. manifesting jason in a meowth onesie ARTISTS PLEASE—

- dick finally took his license seriously and took his driver’s test after babs became paralyzed.

- those were a rough few months for those three. and then another rough few months for those two

- yikes, sorry to throw angst at you (sorry (unfeeling)) anyways, in the future alfred finds those old photos and shows the rest of the fam, so dick and babs bully jason, 6’2 jason that towers way above both of them, and once again bullies him into being meowth “for tradition, little wing!” “shut up, dickhead” the rest of the batkids lose their shit over this, naturally. bruce and alfred stand in the back teary eyed reminiscing the old days when things were a little more simple.

- discowing walked so terrifying handsome squidward red hood helmet could run (even tho the ugly helmet tripped and fell and missed the mark because discowing wasn’t ugly and will always remain superior, i feel i have committed a terrible crime comparing the two)

dick: jason what the fuck is that

jason: it’s fashion

dick: it’s terrifying

jason: i’m only following in my older brother’s footsteps 😔

dick: listen here, you little shit strangles him haha just kidding that illegal wait theyre vigilantes they don’t follow the law—

- these three and cass refer to the rest of the batkids as “the kids” (if she’s older than jason, sometimes she is and sometimes she isn’t and i’m really confused but whatever)

- babs and dick’s relationship with jason pre death literally shaped how jason treats his siblings post pit madness like he literally goes “what would red and big bird do?!??” when he needs to go into big brother mode over the “little ones” (“little” because tim and steph are adults and duke is nearly an adult himself oh my god he’ll graduate from high school soon and jason never got to do that himself he’s totally going to the ceremony legally dead or not) 🥺

- holy trinity continue hanging out with each other, whether lunch or games or whatever, and just enjoy each other’s company after long, rough years

#i believe in meowth jason supremacy #license is spelled differently every time i type it is it license or lisence #oh whatever i’m failing anyways #good dad bruce because and reconciled bruce and dick father son dynamic because good dad bruce and extremely bitter son dick cannot exist #in the same realm #like it literally ruins dick’s whole character and makes him look like a brat when that’s literally not what happened #I MADE A FUCKING TYPO NOOO #OK ANYWAYS #dick grayson #jason todd #barbara gordon #oracle #batgirl #red hood #robin #nightwing #bruce wayne #batman #alfred pennyworth #headcanons #batfam #batfam headcanons #dc comics #3am blue strikes again #long post #mine

[mourningbirds1]

Fic writer ask game

I was tagged by @redcrvette and @astroboots. Thank you for tagging me, darlings! I love these games 💜

What you'd consider your first fic

The first thing I wrote was the first chapter and a half of my Javi multi-chap Don't Look And It Won't Hurt. But the first thing I posted was my Javi x Steve one shot The Crossroads I'm Standing At.

Your softest fic

I seem to be incapable of writing anything which is not soft, but I guess my softest is Don't Look. This was me unashamedly giving myself the softest, gentlest, kindest Javier Peña that I could possibly write, and then pairing him with a female character who is desperately in need of those things so he could really do his thing...

Fic you're most proud of

This is a tough one. I'm proud of Don't Look because the plotting and character development have been really challenging. I'm proud that I created an original world for the characters to inhabit (it is not set in the Narcos universe). And the audience I have for this fic is incredibly special to me. It feels like a little family. You know who you are... You are all so patient and kind. I think of you when I am writing and your affection for this story really keeps me going.

But I am also proud of my Javi x Reader one shot One Three Four. I wrote that after a long period of writer's block, and I hadn't written any sex in even longer because I just hated everything I tried to write, but something just clicked when I started that fic. I wrote it over a couple of days (which is very fast for me), and it was such an exciting and satisfying writing experience. I felt like I had finally found my voice when it came to smut. When it was finished literally jumped up and down and pumped my fist lol. I felt so good about almost every line in it and I hope I can recapture that feeling one day. I must thank @frannyzooey here - it was her suggestion that I write something about a Pedro boy masturbating and I would never have written this otherwise because I had basically given up on my ability to write smut. Thank you for enabling me, my love!!

Fic that shows your progress

Is it a cop-out to say all of them? By that I only mean I've been learning writing by doing it.. so any progress, such as it is, is all on display! There are a couple of fics that I am less keen on but I don't wanna say what they are because I know some people like them!!

Your favourite wip

Uh idk, my wip situation is a bit sad at the moment. I only really have chapter 5 of Don't Look, and then I have a couple of paragraphs of a younger man/older woman story, which might end up being original fiction. Oh I do also have the complete first draft of Into The Water, which is a Javi x Steve shower sex one shot I wrote about a million years ago but am not happy with. I really need to do something with that... Other than that, it is just a load of empty docs with titles or a few notes about ideas.

No pressure tagging... ahhh I can't remember who has already done this. I am tagging @itssmashedavo @alwaysbethewest and @girlwithanewplan and absolutely anyone else who would like to do this... I love reading these things so please do it if you want and tag me so I can read your answers.

#tag #fic writer ask game

[gaydiekane]

THIS IS MY FIRST TIME DOING A CUT SO IF IT DOESNT WORK IM SO SORRY IM CLOGGING UR FEED ANYWAYS-

before we start~~

greyson- ahhh yeah they/them pronouns but originally greyson used he/him so if you see any stray he/hims that i forgot to change please lmk (comment with the sentence or smth it'd be greatly appreciated)

link to chapter 1

i do not own any of the characters or settings from the riordanverse, all rights go to richard russell riordan. i also don't own perry the platypus, that goes to dan povenmire

finally, this is only my current draft, so when this whole thing is done and completed this chapter could be entirely different. i'm also a cHiLd so my writing isn't that good please bear w me 💀 i also suck at titles if u have any other ideas lmk 💀💀

anywaysssss..

The Currently Unnamed Fic

Chapter 2 - i think this is now named An Intro to New Life but im not 100% sure?

The boy led me down the hill and to the Kansas house. There was a man and a few other people playing a card game. I mean, I thought they were people, but they looked like goat boys. Something was nagging at me in the back of my mind, like something about this was familiar, but I couldn't figure it out.

"Mr. D," the kid said, "we have a new camper. And- hold up," he turned to me, "what are your pronouns?"

"She/her."

He turned back to Mr. D. "She's fifteen!"

Mr. D placed his cards face down on the table. "Fifteen? Whoever your parent is is awfully stupid."

Some useful information, I suppose. And, parent? My mom said she was bad at math in school, and my dad. . .

"My mom mentioned something about my dad when she dropped me off here," I said.

"Well, you're not one of mine," Mr. D said, and averted his attention back to the game. "Owen-"

"Oliver."

"-would you mind showing her around?"

"Oh, I would love to, but," the kid, Oliver, flashed the book he was reading, "I've got some reading to do. And I'm also redirecting mortals, so. . . . Catch ya later," he said walking away.

"He could've just said he didn't want to," Mr. D said under his breath (but still loud enough for everyone to hear). "Uh, Garrett Smith! Can you show around the new kid?" he asked to the nearest kid in the strawberry field.

The kid looked around my age, maybe a bit older. They had curly strawberry blond hair and tan skin like they spent almost all of their time outside. "Sure thing, just let me put this-"

"Nonsense, Sandra over there will take care of whatever it is." Mr. D interrupted. "I've got a card game to finish, so if you would please, George Salazar, show around, er, what's your name?" He turned to me.

"Elizabeth Herman," I answered. "I go by Ellie, though."

"Yes, show Lizzy Henderson around."

"On it Mr. D," the kid said. I didn't trust that their name was Garrett Smith or George Salazar.

I left the table and met the kid at the bottom of the stairs. They greeted me with a bright smile. "Hey, I'm Greyson Summit," they said. "I wish I were George Salazar. Oh, to be on Broadway, instead picking strawberries for the god of wine," they said dreamily.

I returned a smile. "I'm Ellie. Nice to meet you."

"Oh, and don't worry," Greyson added, "you don't have to bow down to Mr. D. He doesn't do much."

I nodded my head. Like Perry the Platypus, I thought. "Why would I need to bow down to him?" I asked.

"Oh, right, I should explain," Greyson said. "That's Dionysus, the god of wine and all that. You said your mom said something about your dad, right? I'm assuming she meant he's a god too."

I felt like I had been hit by a brick. I probably was at some point if I didn't remember basic stuff from sixth grade English, but that's not the point.

"Wait, I think I've read about this place," I said.

Greyson got a confused look on their face. "Like, in The Lightning Thief?" I nodded my head. "Woah." They laughed. "Not to be dramatic, but you should probably be dead. Let's head to the east."

Greyson began walking off towards what I assumed was the east, leaving me the opposite of "no thoughts, head empty."

I ran to catch up with them.

"By the time we're done it should be time for lunch, then I'll show you the other side after," they were saying.

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

We made our way along the creek towards the east woods. Greyson wasn't the best tour guide. We would pass by something and they'd randomly point out what it was. At least it wasn't a safari. I nearly giggled at the thought.

"Volleyball court. Art's and crafts. Hermes kids doing. . . something. Oh no, there's fire again."

I watched as a couple kids tried to stomp out a small flame in the grass.

"Again?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Greyson. "Come on."

They tried to strike up small talk. Unfortunately, both of us were quite bad at making conversation. Maybe it was best we weren't as good at striking things up as those Hermes kids.

I tried thinking of some icebreakers and introduction questions while we walked around.

"What are your pronouns?" I asked.

"They/them," Greyson said. "I'm genderfluid, but it's easier to use they/them pronouns than correcting people all the time. But if it really bothers me sometime I'll correct you, just a heads up."

"Cool. Thanks for letting me know."

More silence.

"Your pronouns are she/her, right?" they asked.

I nodded.

"So. . . where are you from?" Greyson asked after a bit more silence.

"Arizona," I answered.

"Oh, cool," they responded.

More silence.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"Kansas."

Out of all the new and crazy info I'd gotten that day, that one won first place by far. "But I thought Kansas didn't exist?"

"What?"

I shrugged.

We made it to the rock wall. The heat emitting from it reminded me of Arizona summers. A girl dropped down nearby where we were standing.

"Beat ya!" she shouted up. She looked over at us. "Oh, hey Greyson. Who's this?"

The girl was short. Well, maybe short to me, I'm 5'8". She was maybe 5'4"? (Is that short?) She had dark brown skin and vitiligo. She also had brown eyes and dark brown coily hair.

"This is Ellie," Greyson said. "Do you think Kansas exists?"

She blinked. "What?"

"Do you think Kansas exists?" Greyson repeated.

"Yes, of course," the girl answered.

"Even before you met me?" they asked.

She paused, before answering, "Well, I hadn't given it much thought before."

"Damn, alright," Greyson said. "Ellie, this is Leila."

"Nice to meet you," I said.

Another girl dropped down from the wall. She had black hair with a split dye that was hot pink. Her hair was steaming, and her tan skin looked blistered in a couple spots. "You cheated!" She pointed at Leila accusingly.

"How do you cheat at a rock wall?" I asked.

"How can you think Kansas doesn't exist?!" Greyson asked me.

"Hold up, you didn't think Kansas existed?" the new girl asked me. "Wait, who are you?"

"I'm Ellie," I answered.

"Cool, I'm Chleo," she said. "Anyways, you thought Kansas didn't exist?"

"I thought it was made up for the plot of the Wizard of Oz!" I said. They all just looked at me. "How many people have you met that are from Kansas? What has ever happened in Kansas? What exists there?" I asked.

"Well, I know Greyson. . . ." Chleo said.

"The National World War I Museum is in Kansas City!" Greyson claimed. We all just stared at them. They put their hands up defensively.

"So. . . how do you cheat at rock wall climbing?" I asked again, hoping to drop the subject of Kansas.

"Oh I'm a daughter of Hecate," Leila said. She snapped her fingers and her and Chleo had switched places as Chleo went to rest her arm on Leila's shoulder. "The mist is easy to manipulate for me." She shrugged, ignoring Chleo on the ground.

"You bitch!" Chleo exclaimed from the floor. "Which also means, she cheated," Chleo said, getting up.

"No, I just used my resources!" said Leila. "They tell us to do that."

A horn sounded in the distance. "Come on Ellie, we have to line up for lunch," Greyson said. "We can go with the Hermes cabin, since they're here." He glanced above my head before walking towards a forming line of kids with mischievous looks on their faces, like I was told I had.

"Who's your godly parent?" I asked Greyson.

"My dad's Apollo," they said quietly. "We're not really supposed to talk in lines but lots of people do anyways."

We walked in silence to the dining pavilion. We went over the creek, passed by a huge arena, an archery range, the cabins. I knew there wouldn't be much left for Greyson to show me after lunch, but I knew continuing to let them show me around was better than to be friendless.

I was handed a plate of food and sat on the end of table eleven next to a kid with curly light brown hair and hazel eyes. He looked older than me.

"Oh, hey newbie!" he said. "I'm Austin."

"I'm Ellie," I said. "Nice to meet you Austin."

"Nice to meet you too Ellie," he said. "I'm the head of cabin eleven and one of the camp counselors this year. It doesn't matter too much, but I suppose it's good to know. Come on newbie, it's our turn at the fire." We all got up and walked over to the big bronze brazier in the middle of the pavilion.

I watched as Austin pushed a portion of his plate into the fire. "Hermes," he said.

I pushed a portion of brisket into the flames. "Hermes?" I said, though it came out as more of a question. Austin laughed and shook his head, and we went back to table eleven.

Back at the table I talked a bit more with Austin. He told me he has a twin sister, Kaite, and how he's from Michigan and moved to New Jersey a few years ago. He's turning nineteen this October and is really into crafting because he grew up doing it with his mother as a kid.

"What did you mean it didn't matter that you're head of cabin eleven?" I asked.

"Not that part, the part about being camp counselor," he said. "Camp counselors and cabin counselors are different. We call cabin counselors cabin heads to avoid confusion, but you'll hear both. Cabin heads just make sure none of their siblings are being absolutely stupid and lead them to their activities. Prep for inspection, all that. Camp counselors are more of like, the older sibling to everyone, they're all cabin heads, they do inspection, stuff like that. Kinda take charge. They're the people you go to if you need something. Some cabins have more than one counselor, by the way."

"What about Chiron?" I asked.

"Well, you'd go to him for super important stuff, like emergencies. A serious injury, an attack. Mr. D, well, just, never go D with an emergency. He'll most likely do nothing. Actually, he's good to go to if you have any questions regarding sexuality or gender identity." He paused for a moment, before continuing, "Camp leadership! Right!

"So once Percy and Annabeth -- you know who they are? -- Coolio, once they left everyone realized they forgot how to run the camp because they did everything and wars and all that jazz. Instead of trying to remember, they made new over-complicated systems to run the place. They work though. Until the older heroes came back. A couple summers ago the older campers came back to teach here." He pointed to the director's table. Along with Mr. D, I saw a few other adults chatting and eating. "Ever since they came back, us camp counselors have been kinda demoted. No one comes to us much anymore. Granted, they do know more, but it kinda sucks being demoted. Some of the cabin heads get replaced by the adults too, if they have an adult sibling here. But since they teach they're not around much for their cabin. It doesn't make too much sense." He shook his head.

"Maybe it's just that awkward telling a twenty year old what to do," I suggested. "Who are all the camp councelors?"

"There's me, Emma from the Aphrodite cabin, Ricky from the Apollo cabin, and Asia from the Iris cabin," Austin answered.

"You see? I just came to you for a question, you're not useless!" My words of encouragement didn't seem to make him all too much better. Though, I was never too good at encouraging others.

"I guess," he said. "That reminds me, after lunch is over I need to get you a copy of the Camp Half-Blood Confidential. And a shirt."

"The what now?"

"Years ago, after the last war, they were talking about what they would change about camp and all that, and Nico said the orientation video, which only he had seen. Everyone ended up watching it and they decided, 'Woah, this is terrible!' So they wrote a book."

They did what now? "That's stupid," I said. Who would write an important informational book for kids with dyslexia to read?

Austin looked at me questioningly. "What do-" He was cut off by a loud voice from elsewhere in the pavilion.

"Alright everyone," Mr. D stood up for announcements, "we have a new camper. Everyone say hi to Lizzy Henderson." There was a bit of hesitant applause before someone else from the director's table stood up.

"Maybe we should let her introduce herself," she said, giving a quick glare to Mr. D. He muttered something about how he did a fine job before the woman continued. Her gray eyes scanned the tables for the new face. "If you want to stand up so we can all see you..."

The blonde lady began to reminded me of a middle school English teacher. And I don't know how she didn't notice me, I was the only one not in bright orange. I should've stuck out like a sore thumb.

I stood and her eyes fell on me. Her smile wavered and she said something I couldn't make out to the man next to her, whose back was still facing me. She looked up again and continued, her smile returned. "How about you tell us your name, your age, and where you're from?" she asked.

Most eyes were on me, which bugged me because now I didn't know where to look. I decided to try keeping my eyes on the woman. "I'm Ellie Herman, I'm from Arizona, and I'm fifteen," I said.

I heard a few people start whispering around me. The lady furrowed her brows and looked back down at the man next to her, who then turned around to look at me. I noticed the man's black hair and sea green eyes, along with a nasty scar under his right eye, the same way I had imagined Luke's while reading the books. Then it hit me. The woman talking to me was Annabeth Chase, like, the Annabeth Chase.

"Do you know who your godly parent is yet?" Annabeth asked, sounding almost hopeful.

I shook my head. "No."

After a moment her smile returned. "Well, we're glad to have you here, Ellie." Annabeth turned to the rest of the campers. "Everyone welcome Ellie Herman, undetermined."

#s.chap.2

[johaerys-writes]

2019 Writer’s Roundup

I was tagged by @serial-chillr ​ , @pikapeppa ​, @darlingrutherford ​,  @dafan7711 ​, @faerieavalon ​ and @solas-disapproves ​  for a year end review! Thank you so much, friends, it was such a joy to see what you’ve all achieved this year!!

Word Count

This is just a rough estimation based on the word count of my published fics on AO3 and the works that I’ve written this year that I haven’t published.

Total: approximately 300k, about half of it published! This is such an achievement for me, considering that I had never written anything beyond random flashfiction and short stories before Dec 2018. I had just finished playing DAI and I fell in love with Dragon Age and Dorian’s romance in particular, and that inspired me to start writing more consistently. I also tried my hand at writing for a couple different fandoms, so here’s a list of my favourite things I’ve written this year:

Dragon Age

A World With You: 128,110 words, plus approximately 50,000 words from the first draft that ended up getting scrapped. My longest fic to date! 

The Most Troublesome Man In Thedas (4,702): A fun and fluffy one shot of Tristan and Dorian exploring the Hinterlands. 

As It Was (1,401): A one shot inspired by @solas-disapproves‘s The Guardian, featuring her OC Maori and Solas. 

 The One She Runs To (4,740): A one shot inspired by @pikapeppa  and @schoute‘s Where the Winds of Fortune Take Me, featuring Pika’s Rynne Hawke and Fenris, and a cameo from Schoute’s Piper Lavellan!

Castlevania (seriously, if any of you are into Castlevania, please reach out!! I love the TV series so much and I'm slowly getting into the lore of the games, so I would love to nerd out about it with you!) 

Nothing But Himself (3,641): Trevor x Sypha 

Loyal to the End (2,517) and The Wound That Never Heals ( 2,448): Hector x Carmilla

Unpublished (as of yet, at least!) 

A Witcher and Wheel of Time crossover fic, that I doubt will ever see the light of day but I had so much fun writing:  ~65k 

A Cole fic that I’ve been working on for AGES and hopefully will get around to posting this year! It’s currently in the editing stage, so if you like Cole as much as I do… Keep an eye out 😉 ~ 35k

Number of Smut Scenes: 

6 and counting!

New things I tried this year: 

Honestly, everything has been a first for me this year. Writing almost every day, outlining, editing, reading other people’s awesome work, writing smut, trying my hand at writing my lovely friends’ amazing OCs… It has been such an exciting year, and I can’t wait to see what 2020 brings!

Favourite thing I wrote this year: 

My Pavelyan Inquisition fic featuring my OC Tristan Trevelyan and Dorian Pavus, A World With You. Never before have I put so much effort, time and love into any piece of writing. I adore it to tiny little pieces!

Favourite fic I read this year: 

Ohh, I’ve read so many amazing fics this year, and not near as much as I would like! But I will single out a few highlights:

The Guardian by @solas-disapproves. This is hands down one of the best fics I’ve ever read. I am constantly blown away by the amazing prose, the gripping story, the character development, the unique exploration of DA’s lore… THE LIST GOES ON. I’ll never get over what an amazing writer my friend is, and I honestly never want this story to end!

Where the Winds of Fortune Take Me by my beloved @pikapeppa and @schoute. I was gripped by the concept of this fic from the very start, and I love it to bits! It has made me laugh and cry on so many occasions (and when I say cry I mean LITERALLY BAWL MY EYES OUT), and I’m constantly amazed by @pikapeppa’s writing and her understanding of the characters’ psychology. Plus, Schoute’s art is to die for, as well as her ideas and Piper’s backstory which I still haven’t recovered from!!

Borderland Sorrows by @serial-chillr  (it has been so much fun brainstorming with Serial, thank you for sharing your ideas with me bb), and The Long Game by my beloved friendo @badpriestessofbuttsburgh! I love both these stories so much, and I can’t wait to read more!!

Writing goals for 2020:

Finish A World With You (although just the thought makes me sad! I hate saying goodbye)

Write the Surfer AU @solas-disapproves and I have been working on!

Read more fics! There are so many talented writers out there and I want to read everythinggggg ahhh

Hopefully start writing my DAO and DA2 OCs, now that I’m close to finishing both games!

Lastly, and most importantly, to be kinder to myself, both in regards to writing and in general 🙂

Words of Thanks 

Writing my fic and starting this blog has led me to meeting so many amazing people, and I honestly couldn’t be more honoured to be part of this space. Your comments, tags, reblogs and kind words mean so much to me. Also, a huge thank you to those of you that keep tagging me in things even though it’s been taking me a while to get to them lately!! I love y’all so much and I always love seeing what you have been working on, so keep those tags coming ❤️ 😄

A special shoutout to my beloved potate in crime and partner to my salty soul @solas-disapproves. She is a constant inspiration for me and I’m thankful every day for having met her. I love you so much bb, ewe

I know most people have done this tag already, but I’m still going to tag a few more writers whose friendship, comments, tags, likes and reblogs have made my life so bright: @tessa1972, @welcome-to-gaydas, @tevivinter, @midnightprelude, @dickeybbqpit, @thejeeperswife as well as a few people whose works are on my to-read list and I’d love to get to know them better! @in-arlathan ​ @cornfedcryptid ​ , @allisondraste ​, @kittimau ​, @schattengerissen ​, @fandomn00blr ​, @dharma-writes ​, @andrasste ​ (and lots of other that I’m sure I’m forgetting now!)

Finally, I want to thank each and every person who has given my stories a chance! I know my Dorian/Tristan is kind of a niche pairing, so it truly warms my heart to know that there are people out there that enjoy my writing.

Alright, that’s it from me, folks! 2019 has been an exciting year with lots of highs and lows for me, and I’m looking forward to another year of writing, sharing and screeching my love for fictional characters with you! ❤️

#2019 review #pavelyan #dorian x trevelyan #tristan trevelyan #dragon age fanfic #dragon age inquisition #dorian pavus #castlevania #hector castlevania #trevor castlevania #trevor belmont #sypha belnades #trypha #a world with you #johaerys writes

[bigmoodword]

11/11/11 Tag Game

tagged by: @confunderewrites ! ahhh! these are great questions! thank you, thank you, thank you.

Rules: Answer 11 questions, ask 11 questions, and tag 11 people to answer them

1. How many abandoned WIPs do you have, if any?  Which one would you most likely pick up again if you had to?

several, including a goosebumps-inspired horror story and a very julie of the wolves tale told from the wolf pack’s perspective. that said, most of these come from my pre-college days, so i’m not terribly inclined to resurrect them.

butbutbut! the one wip i’m trying to salvage has been mentioned previously as the crazy complex story i’ve cut in half, leading to [ stray ] and hopefully an urban fantasy wip down the line. once upon a time, this wip was on fictionpress, but ah, i deleted it wholesale when i decided it was dumb. i really, really regret that (don’t ever do it, friends!), and the only reason it’s still on my radar today is because i recycled a few ideas/characters for a roleplay.

2. Do you have an OC that floats in and out of different stories?  i.e. your guinea pig for alternate universes.  Do they have their own story?

my immortal. haha this party-hardy character has a tendency to pop up as a supporting character in different wips. it’s very... “always the bridesmaid but never the bride,” you know? they could have their own story. maybe. we’ll see.

3. If your WIP was being made into a movie, would you want to be hands-on or hands-off?  As in, what level of creative power would you want?

for stray, i’d have a couple firm ground rules, but so long as the core message is in tact? nah. i’d actually look forward to the differences, because seeing someone else’s creative take on the same idea sounds delightful.

4. What’s a trope that everyone loves but you can’t stand?

this is tough. i don’t think there’s a trope i can’t stand whatsoever. well-done tropes are well-done tropes, and even if i might not fawn over one quite as much as others, i can respect why it’s popular. 

so changing the question a bit: what’s a well-loved iteration of a trope i can’t stand? the tuxedo and martini agents in the first kingsman movie. tonally, that movie is a mess, and i didn’t like how the first half built up the kingsmen as emblematic of an ideal/positive masculinity only to become... well, the exact same james bond power fantasy i’ve seen a thousand times before. no lie. it was kind of a bummer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5. For your characters, do you have specific face-claims in mind or do you leave it up to reader interpretation? (within reason of course)

i have some vague face claims in mind, but those face claims are still only approximations. ideally, i’d be a good enough artist to draw the characters myself, but alas! my own sketches are just approximations as well. 

i’m actually happy to trust a lot of a character’s appearance to reader interpretation. so long as the broad strokes are there, i love the unique details people come up with on their own.

6. What is your oldest WIP?

ahahaha. so again, the og wip i’m currently trying to partition out is the oldest wip still standing in some form, but! to actually shed a little more light on it... it was an urban fantasy story that featured eight major characters and rotating perspectives. so you know. kinda crazy in scope. 

in short, a demon, an immortal, a werewolf, an average human, a fairy princess, two seraphim, and death himself all want to stop the apocalypse, but they can’t see the forest for the trees. they’re all so consumed by their own issues and so convinced of their own righteousness or another’s evil that actually working together is nigh impossible. 

i think of it like a stageplay with a single set. like. the point isn’t the apocalypse itself. it’s how all these wildly different personalities clash and create a puzzle of unreliable narrators. in theory, the goal is to try and uncover the real “truth” everyone’s talking around, but by the end, we’ve turned the very concept of an objective truth on its head.

suuuuuper lofty. /coughcough;

7. Is there anything your characters have done while you were writing that just came out of nowhere?

love. my characters falling in love (and i mean real love, not just a crush) almost always comes out of nowhere. i never plan on it, and one day i’ll write an exchange, note a little bit of chemistry, then step back and just. oh. yeah, i guess they’re a thing now.

8. Is there a writing decision you were surprised you made?  (ex: killing off a character, taking the story down a different path, etc.)

i usually have things super plotted out, but sometimes certain themes kind of creep in. for example, i have a tendency to flirt with christian motifs, then one day all those threads finally came together and i realized i’d written something honestly kind of blasphemous? :X 

i liked the low-key commentary on trends in u.s. christianity, but not being religious myself, it also felt kind of mean. it was also pretty preachy, so. ;P

9. Do you bounce ideas off people when writing?  Or do you tend to wait until the first draft is completed?

so in a lot of ways i’m addicted to the relief of someone else saying “yeah, this is a good idea.” i want it. it inspires me to keep running with whatever i’m doing. but on the other hand, if i get a vote of confidence, i’m terrified of losing it. i want to keep checking in. i want to keep asking about new ideas. it’s no bueno, so while i like bouncing ideas off other people, it’s generally better for me to keep most things under wraps. at least until i’ve finished a first draft.

10. What is your favourite place to write?

at home. curled up on the couch with a blanket. surrounded by the soft peeps of my birds and the millennial elevator music known as chillmix.

11. Two of your protags from two different WIPs just switched places.  How do they react?

in stray, an unnamed character well-equipped to handle the criminal underground breaks out the guns (both arms and firearms), then turns to lily and tells her point-blank that he admires everything she’s trying to do. lily.exe is broken.

meanwhile, in unnamed character’s world, carter’s unconscious, foaming at the mouth, and probably bleeding. he was just told all those things that go bump in the night are real, and realizing he’s a fragile human, he fainted. on the way down, he hit his head on a nice man’s expensive coffee table. that nice man is attempting cpr.

Tagging: [ @illthdar ][ @multifacetedscorpio ][ @quartzses ][ @shaping-infinity ][ @honiewrites ][ @penzag ][ @scribble-dee-vee ][ @theswordofpens ][ @thelittlestspider ][ @bookenders ][ @waterfallwritings ]

Your questions are:

1. using one sentence summaries, can you tell me about your wips?

2. what inspired them?

3. which of your ocs do you most identify with?

4. if you’ve ever cried while reading, which book cued the waterworks?

5. how do you conduct research for your wips and what’s the most interesting thing you’ve discovered in said research?

6. thus far, which scene has been the most difficult to write?

7. which of your ocs do you like the least?

8. which pov and tense do you prefer to write in?

9. do you write poetry?

10. who is your writing role model?

11. if you could give your younger writer self some advice, what would it be?

#writeblr #tag game #11/11/11 tag

[quilloftheclouds]

Get to Know Me Tag Game

How. How? Many people tagged me in this? @amaranthine-inscriptions​, @zburatorii​, @rainy-rose​, @elisabethrosewrites​, @abalonetea​, @shaping-infinity, @ink-flavored, @imaghostwriter, @snickertoodles. A lot! Wow! (Thank you folks for the tag~)

What genre(s) you write?

Fantasy (a range of types) and Science Fiction! I especially enjoy combining those two genres in ways that make it difficult to determine which genre the book actually is, but at the current moment I’m writing a historical fantasy wip and in the planning stages of a sci-fi!

What’s on your reading wish list?

Uhhhhh, soo manyyy. In Other Lands is the current one I want to read, The Fever King looks to be another good one, The Fifth Season. Really it’s just a mishmash of different things people have recommended to me that I want to read when I get the time!

AND THEN OF COURSE THERE ARE ALL OF THE BRILLIANT WIPS AND BOOKS ON WRITEBLR

Your favorite character from your current WIP?

Favourites. My favourites tend to shift depending on who I’m developing/writing at that moment! But... I’d have to say I’ve always loved Captain Xuân, so much. She appears at the very end of book one for ~spoiler reasons~, but she mainly pops up book two. I think my reasoning for her being my favourite pertains to her backstory and her very, uh... interesting quirks.

I mean it could also be that the previous oc she’s based off of was the main character of a couple comics I drew. Pre-character dev.

Some writing tropes you like?

AH TROPES. I am. So uneducated when it comes to tropes. I really like... found family. When the antagonist/villain becomes the weird aunt/uncle/pibling figure. So... family ones are fun? Also I really like the humorous ones like the trope: character spends the entire evening removing a whole pile of weapons from their different locations on their person. Very fun.

The story behind your WIP’s name?

One Siren’s Soul! Originally it was just named because sirens play a major part in it, and there’s one particular really important siren in it. But then in its early stages the Siren’s Soul came to be an object, and a very important one at that. So it has a double meaning!

Are you a pantser or plotter?

Plotter to the extent of having a full, basic outline, but panster for the details!

Do you post your work somewhere?

Ahhh no. Kind of here? Snippets. I’m not sure yet if I’m looking to publish or not, but maybe when I get in the later drafts, I’d consider posting it somewhere?

Do you also read/write fanfic? If yes, for the same genres as what you write?

HA. HAHAHA. FUNNY STORY ABOUT THAT. I write very uh. Unconventional fanfiction? When I was younger I wrote Warriors fanfiction. That’s normal enough.

But then, you know, I wrote a whole new universe that technically was a fanfiction for Steven Universe. And uh. Guess where all the main characters of One Siren’s Soul come from? (Actually now I’m really tempted to post up something about all the gems they were based on. Yep. It’s happening. Expect that shortly.)

So I guess the same genres? Fantasy, fiction, kinda sci-fi?

Your favorite dessert. Because why not.

Desserts! I really, really love apple pie or apple crumble, especially when it’s still warm and you eat it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream~ Wild blueberry pie is also fantastical the same way! Nanaimo bars are also my absolute favourite.

I’m not going to tag anyone because I’ve seen most of my friends already do this one, but feel free to do it if you see this and say I tagged you!

#tag games #writeblr games #writeblr community #writing games #my wip #oss #one siren's soul #long post #get to know me #yes i am a gem nerd #yes i got tired of the canon universe #and made my own

[jayflrt]

yeah, 60 credits!! i think i'll have around 50, so... close enough, but not enough for me to do a 13th year of school

i didn't have a phone until middle school so i could text my parents that i was on the bus safely (or i wouldn't've had one at all until high school), but both my parents are teachers and were up by 5:30/6 for work, and my dad drove me everyday, so i got to school at like. 6:45 and sat in a before school program, played games, etc. until 9:15 every school day from 1-6th grade

now that i only have one class a day, i am as heavy a sleeper as you can get LMAOOO like. i am a rock.

i spent... like $150 on the game? couple bp, couple welkins, and $100 genesis crystals to get my ganyu (and all the extra primos went into my kazuha fund since ganyu was guaranteed)

i didn't even have sucrose until recently, so i had no anemo battery and i have self-sufficient xiao. i've soloed all but like... 4 bosses w/ him? and i did half of them no dmg if i remember correctly

and omg yeah building takes so long, i say stick w/ ur main team and his current build until you have time and resin for him.

HELP YEAH IT WAS!! it was like,, book knowledge, literacy and grammar, and also just generally how nice you were. i think we had like a 50-100 person literate group and it felt like it was actually hogwarts because it was so active 😭😭😭

i started posting on quotev at 11. wattpad always scared me, so i stuck to quotev and ao3, but i've always been a good writer, and i think i still have like... drafts of my first AWFUL original pieces in my drive somewhere

maybe i will make a gc, idk LMAO i'm very bad at keeping in touch and i'd feel bad nkjdfsjdf

yeah i need sfw yong </3 honestly all of 127 in crazy underrepresented on tumblr (excluding hyuck and mark bc they're included in dream works) when it comes to sfw fics or reactions or anything.

i of course am Adding to the dreamzen supremacy w my mainly dream reactions and dream series on my sideblog 😭😭😭but i've written a 10k yong fic for a collab i was in which was so fun!!

AHHH TAEIL ANOTHER MEMBER I BARELY SEE FICS FOR ☹️💗 but that’s so cute !! son of apollo definitely suits him <33 and i get what you mean !! i did smthn similar for my nct series — mc for jaemin’s installment was jaehyun’s younger sister, and that was alluded to in other installments as well + many of the members appear in each other’s fics (ex. mark being in jaehyun and johnny’s installments as well as getting his own) 🤧

yeah, i like having ur series connected yk? like it feels so nice to write in that little nod that only the people who have read the other fics will get as like an easter egg! and it makes it feel more real <3 which is so fun and interactive

taeil not loved enough for being our vocal slayer. like those high notes y'all love? appreciate this man bc he's not gonna be slaying for us much longer he gotta go to the military😭😭

it is!!!! i appreciate any attention i get, especially if it's on my shitposts and stuff LMAOOO like it's nice that people care? and thinking abt the fact i have a following and stuff is so crazy. it's really nice to have people support your work!!!

i just wish there was like. a cheat code? to make longer fics more popular again bc they used to be POPPING when i joined kpop tumblr 2 years ago and now the attention span is gone 😭😭😭and long fics take so much more effort than reactions so getting a diminished response can be disheartening

omg you’re so close !!! 💖💖 i’m not sure how many units are allocated for each class where you are but that sounds like about 2-3 classes you need :o for me the units are distributed differently tho so it might be different for you !! but good luck, that must be so exciting 🥰 

HAHAHA YEAH SAME except it was for me walking to school and i had a flip phone 🤧 i enjoyed it a lot tho HAHAH i played my lil game of tetris over and over again and took pictures with my 144p camera <3 i started walking to school when i was in middle school bc i lived so close so that's why i got my phone :') and then we upgraded to a galaxy s1 and then an iphone for high school WOOOO (but man it's so weird to think i owned a galaxy s1 HAHAH beginning of an era??) 

omg you have one class a day?? that's so nice :o my monday classes are like that !! it's very relaxing but annoying that i have to go all the way to campus just for one class 🤧 i don't have a car either so i get in my daily cardio at least LMAOAO

omg i have not used the $100 for the top up crystals yet BUT it is very tempting especially with the bonus :'') i just wish the top up shop reset the bonus thing every banner or two ,, i feel like mihoyo would make so much more money doing so right ??? i just hope i get kazuha 🥰 

omg sucrose is sooo good and her ult is so pretty omg :'o i got c2 jean now so i feel like i should build her HAHHA but also i have her at lvl 80 and wanna focus on getting childe and raiden to 90 🤧 plus i wanna level up all of yanfei's talents :'') but yeah im focusing on my main team rn bc resin is so scarce 🏃‍♂️ 

that sounds so fun tho !! 💗 i can see how that transferred over to writing fics HAHAH but omfg i cringe looking at my old writing LOL like at least i tried ,, i can pat myself on the back for that :') but it's so funny looking back at how awkward my dialogue used to be and how 2d my characters felt. i also moved onto ao3 from wattpad but i feel like ao3 is kinda losing it's charm now ?? idk like before i felt like i could find so many gems and all the writing was top tier but now im seeing so much toxic romanticization and people writing smut for minors :// 

omg yeah i agree i think nctblr is geared toward the dreamies D; i mean i ult dream and also fall victim for writing more for the dreamies (mostly jaemin) HAHAH but i think 127 and wayv are neglected sometimes <//3 save for jaehyun and sometimes johnny, but i agree the other members (esp taeil!!!) deserve more fics 

yesyes i agree !! 💕 it's like a little special easter egg or cookie for the readers and i love seeing readers connecting the dots 🥰 plus i get emotionally attached to my characters so i wind up wanting to write more of them :] i love the little storyverses they're so cute <33

and omg yes :((( i remember long fics were a lot more popular around 2020 to early 2021??? idk what happened after that but ppl started shifting to shorter pieces like reactions/headcanons and smaus 🤧 i understand that it's easier to read but i personally think it's more rewarding to write your heart out for a long fic and receive love about it 💘 i think nctblr still appreciates a good longfic tho !! tbh they're more prominent in the fandoms that aren't enhablr LMAOAO 

#💌 : love notes #seoulbinz

[aharris00britney]

ASKS 06

Ummmm stuff I’ve ignored and let build up ;-; MM hairlines, a pic of me, default replacement hairs, donation stuff, using my hair conversion meshes, a male hair wip, recolor requests, and other stuff UwU

Anonymous said: face reveal?        

lmao this is from October but I never take pics of myself besides snapchat so UwU

@wildfire607​ said: I love your content for the game! I have my notifications on for you. Much love from Texas. ♥️

omggg thank you!!!! literally I don’t feel like people would have notifications on for me ;n; again, thank you so much <3

@standardheld said: Hey there! I know you don’t take requests so take it as an idea. Maybe you’ll like it. Otherwise, please don’t feel forced to do anything! So here’s the idea: I haven’t fount an adult’s version of you YeoJin hairs with big pigtails. Remember Cassandra Goth from The Sims 2? It think it would look beautiful and I know you’ve got the necessary talent. If you like the idea, please let me know :)        

Hello!!! Lmao I am kinda swamped rn to start ‘new’ things BUTBUTBUT I don’t mind if somebody uses my conversion meshes like YeoJin Hair since all it is is a conversion. So if u wanna do it or wanna ask some other people, feel free!! <3   

@pxelsquid​ said: The WIP hair in your play list post is so beautiful! I can’t wait for it!

Thanks! Planning to get it out in the next week or so

Anonymous said: What do you use donations for?

(answer in bold) lmao I actually don’t get many, at least not enough for them to go towards anything. But I do get a few dollars every couple of months (and that still makes me super happy to see ty to anyone who has donated ever UwU) lmao so I don’t really know what the donations go towards though I guess packs?? which rn I prob wouldn’t buy a pack w/donation money bc irl stufffff but I would think donations on a sims account should go to more sims stuff if you don’t need to money for personal life situations :)

Anonymous said: Hello! Would you ever consider some of your hairs for male sims?

You should be able to disable to masculine filter and see them?? If not go in S4S and edit the tags to let it be seen

Anonymous said: about your last hair: NOPE. 

all night all night all niiiiiiiight ✨

Anonymous said: I’m so happy you made the Jennie Hair without headband! I really like it so far. Good job!

Yay!! I’m glad you like it. Thank you so much <3

Anonymous said: When will you be releasing the braids on your post /post/168877609911/ ?

Yeah!! They’ve been done a while, hopefully they should get posted soon. Here is a link if u want early accessssssssssssss UwU

Anonymous said: why did u and yoshi break up?

Richard ( @cas-fulleditmode ) shares the same fetish as me (M*** P**f) lmao im kiddingggggg UwU me and @ayoshi​ are married in Korea still

Anonymous said: BOOOOOI! HAVE YOU HEARD “BLACK DRESS” BY CLC? IT. IS. LIT

i dont think u get…. my k-pop obsession ;-; lmao I literally keep up with like every girl group and watch the album teasers/everything UwU I still prefer Where Are You? to Black Dress though.

Anonymous said: Are you friends with grimcookies?

to an extend I think so, yes. We have only messaged a few times in the past week or so bc of memessssss

Anonymous said: Can you please post some eyes or tell me where I can download cc eyes? I hate the eyelashes that sims has.

My resource page has the eyes I use and the no EA eyelashes mod link :)

@saurussims​ said: Pass the happy! 💛 When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications!

My birthday is this month so I’m happy about that lmao

Loona

my pug UwU

my friendssss

getting new clothing

Anonymous said: aghhhh your sim style is so nice! Have a nice day!

Thank you so much!!

Anonymous said: Hello! ^_^ I just dropped by to tell you how much I appreciate your hard work in making hairs. I don’t know how much time it takes you to make such wonderful creations, but they definitely made my sims better-looking for your CCs are amazing and they are of matching lengths and styles that really made planning my sims’ hairstyles easier <3 Sorry I’m too broke to donate, and all I can do is THANK YOU :( But please know that you deserve all the praises you get. More power to you and your blog! <3

omggg this is so sweet ;-; thank you!!! I really really really appreciate stuff like this. <3

Anonymous said: Would you consider making more hairs (preferably a long, casual style and maybe a ponytail?) with the Candie/Maja bangs? They’re soooo cute!

I have made another hair with those bangs. Hopefully it gets posted soon :)

Anonymous said: Can you please make the laundry day hairstyles base game compatible?

I actually didn’t buy laundry stuff lmao college/senior payments are taking all my money rn so I prob won’t get any packs anytime soon :P

Anonymous said: all i want in life is curly maxis match boy hairs ahhh :((((((((

aweeee I am really bad at male hairs or I would try :( this is a male hair I did the other day and it is super super basic but like I’m surprised it wasn’t super fucked up ;-;

@jacazul​ said: ✨💛 This is the Amazing Person Award! Once you are given this award you are supposed to paste it in the ask of eight different people, who, in your opinion, deserve it. If you break the chain nothing will happen, but it is sweet to know someone thinks you’re amazing inside and out 💛✨ <3333

Thank you!!! <3

Anonymous said: how do you get all your sims to look so cute??? every time i think i’ve made a super cute sim i see one of your sims on my dash and i’m like WHOA NEVERMIND THEN. seriously tho what are your secrets

ummmm I use all my sims and then just do ‘make twin/sibling’ and then I get a clone to mold like clay wedgfhv

Anonymous said: which recolor palettes do you recommend for hairs? I like the EA colors but I would like to try some others.. especially after seeing the hair color you put on your sim with the jennie hair in your latest post

Obvi I like the anathema palette bc I put my hairs in that, but the saccharine (?) is really really good and there are tons of hairs in that. and the WMS palette is so so so good there are just too many swatches for me to do that palette tbh

Anonymous said: Are you going to make more hairs that are ombre accessory compatible?

Maybe! I am not sure tbh, it depends on the mesh I use and abunch of other factors :)

Anonymous said: Question, I love your Jisoo hair, it’s well done, but the ombre part, what’s the file name and how do you download it? I’m a noob when it comes to this. Sorry to bother you.

file name -> JisooHairOmbreNaturals[AH00B].package

just put it in your mods folder like you would normal CC. It is in accessories :)

Anonymous said: I’m legit falling in love with you and all these cc’s ❤❤❤

<3333 Thanksssssss UwU

Anonymous said: not to rush you but are any male sims coming out soon :0

My male sim has been in my drafts with all the CC links and everything the past MONTH but I haven’t had the motivation to export his download file omggg. He is on my gallery @ spotharris if u really really want him right now

@bob10112006

​ said:

I love you and thank you for your cc and can you make not so berry cc?thanks!

People have made recolors of my cc in not so berry colors :) check my sideblog @aharris00britneyrecolors​

Anonymous said: Hi! Are you planning to make the Go Won hairs into a bob? the same hair and all but shorter. I just think it will look really nice as a bob.

Maybe?? no plans as of right now though

Anonymous said: please upload your red-ish haired sim! :) x

Already did, check my sim download page

Anonymous said: damn, those new hair really sucks. sorry… but. yeah.

well maybe if you stanned LOONA then you would like them UwU

Anonymous said: I checked out your sim page, they’re so gorgeous! I remember at some point last year you mentioned maybe sharing Briella after you stopped using her, and I haven’t seen her in a while in your posts. Have you considered sharing her or is she just officially retired? She was a very cute sim and is iconic!

Briella wasn’t actually my sim! Her original download post is here

@ayoshi​ said: Are you gonna tell your followers why you didn’t give me a valentine gift or…???

Me and @cas-fulleditmode​ were too busy to take a stop in korea sorry UwU

Anonymous said: heey :) could you maybe put the hairlines your were talking about in the latest post for download? i use hairlines myself and i really like your hairs in tge palette you are using and i can’t find any hairlines in it soo? could you do that? :)            

the hairlines I made are actually in the saccharine palette bc so many clayified hairs come in that palette lmao. They are kinda messy rn but if I eve use them on a sim download ill link them there :)

Anonymous said: Could you please recolour some of wild-pixel’s hairs in the palette?

Anonymous said: can we give you recolor requests?

Idk if I will do recolors that often but when I do I kinda just do what hairs I find myself using at that time :P

Anonymous said: Will u ever upload girl from “tell me why, why i’m so lonely” post?? Please consider it, she is soooo cute 😍😍😍

I didnt save her :(

@investedwheat40 said: Would you ever consider uploading your joy hair as a default replacement for that one hair Zoe Patel wears?

Prob not since it uses different textures/shadows and stuff, it would be the same size and stuff as the normal Joy hair

Anonymous said: Is there any way to download you models? Because I live how they looks and really want to use them.

I got this before I made my sim download page, but lmao here is a link to my sim download page :P

#asks

[lightsandlostbells]

SkamFr 2.7 reaction

Emma exposed as RPF shipper

Episode 7 

Clip 1 - Lucalex

Ahhh, a relaxing afternoon hanging out with friends, being on your separate phones. That seems like an OH YOUTHS complaint, but I’m saying it in recognition.

“They seem really close … imagine if they’re together?” If they were a couple they’d be pretty brave about posting pictures of them together on IG at this stage, even non-coupley pics, and even if you assume they are out and not closeted.

Emma is so into this concept of Lucas and Alex together. She was biting her lip in excitement over two dudes getting into a car together.

She also is quick to come up with that ship portmanteau (Lucalex) so you know she’s on Tumblr.

Manon, you sounds very reasonable about this Lucas-Alex situation, but you also brought up the car incident to your friend who is clearly ready to start drafting her Lucalex 100k slow-burn masterpiece. You can’t expect to dangle such a tasty morsel in front of a salivating person and hope to take it back.

But at least Manon isn’t like, wow what a fun game this is after her conversation with Lucas last episode.

“This guy is gay, I slept with him two days ago” - Mickael always taking everything Eskild said or did just a few steps more scandalous.

Mickael and Lucas are hair twins.

Clip 2 - Ate a dick

Their kissing is passionate so I give them props for that. On a scene by scene basis, just evaluating them in this moment, they’re fine. I don’t know how big Noorhelm fans feel about this actor, but Charles, whatever his character faults, has more intensity than William and I read more affection in his expressions. I found the comment about his boner far less awkward than in the original.

I still love Manon’s lamby cardigan!

Bless Daphne but the “ate a dick” comment and the subsequent reaction were about 10 times more unintentionally awkward than the original.

I mean, Manon is right. What obligations do these girls have to these dudes at all?

Julien is a little effeminate ... Daphne sure won’t let that concept of lesbian Manon go, huh. I guess if Emma is writing Lucalex fanfic, Daphne is all about those f/f epics. 

Also mentioning how beautiful Manon is … Daphne … girl….

(Daphne’s fic is all Manon/Female Reader amirite)

Clip 3 - Bedroom makeouts

Uhhh … in the previous clip, released on Tuesday, Charles says he has to study later on Tuesday. Then he says “Tomorrow? We could go to your place.” Manon agrees. Yet this clip was also released on Tuesday. They’re wearing the same clothes in both clips. Like … what? Am I hallucinating this glitch? Sloppy.

I don’t even know how they made this mistake considering it can’t be a post-production error, or that someone just uploaded it by accident on Tuesday, since they’re wearing the same outfits. This is a writing/filming mistake. Did they have a text where they changed the meeting time or something? They should have just changed the timestamp and released it on Wednesday, even though it’d be noticeable with the clothes, or edited out the bit with where Charles suggests tomorrow. Do some awkward ADR.

The whole joke about her waiting for marriage to have sex has never sat right with me because of how he didn’t accept no as an answer when they got together. It’s one thing if they got together in a healthier way, you could give it the benefit of the doubt and take it in a lighter way, but because they didn’t, moments like this are kinda tainted for me. (Plus the classic line in the final clip of the season ... but we’ll see if they keep that line.)

Heh, Mickael’s comment about if it were his room, the guy would be naked, and Charles laughing at that, was good. 

As well Mickael talking about announcing people are straight. “It’s not a stigma!”

So far Mickael seems more of a blatant comic relief character than Eskild - he’s just more, if that makes sense, and we haven’t seen some of the more nurturing, affectionate moments between he and Manon - in fact I’d say Manon has seemed more annoyed with him than Noora did with Eskild.  However, we haven’t yet gotten to the more serious scenes with his character, so I hope that we get to see Mickael pull off the heavier material.

Charles takes this whole incident well and laughs and smiles a lot, so that’s nice. 

I applaud them for leaving out that annoying line about William’s pals being excited to party with a Muslim girl. Charles’ crew definitely has the same idea in mind, as seen later, but I mean ... I don’t need that Our Hero being so casual about the ideas of his buddies fetishizing a Muslim girl. Because that’s what it was. 

Clip 4 - Call me

Manon just sank Emma’s ship. For a moment, anyway. 

Emma’s like, either I get to hook up with Alex or my OTP is canon, win-win!

“Maybe he made a move and Lucas turned him down.” I think Mickael is the kind of person who would assume if he got turned down, the guy must not be into dudes at all. Because how could you resist Mickael otherwise?

More setting up S3/Lucas’ story. That’s fine, it’s fair to lay that foundation, and Emma obviously knows heavy stuff is up with him. It’s nice that they show some concern over what he’s going through.

Manon’s joke about Emma’s strong body odor and Emma’s resulting sadface was very cute.

Clip 5 - That escalated quickly

Daphne said they were the only girls Charles invited but there are clearly other girls on that bus? I guess the emphasis is that they’re the only ones Charles invited, and that the other Raptors invited the other girls. Just pointing this out because the squad were the only girls at the Riot Club party.

That is some champion hair-flipping from Daphne, what a queen.

Well he can’t be French Julien Dahl if he has a face and is not just some mystery man shrouded in smoke.

I want to knee those dudes Imane is speaking to in the nuts. She is showing a ton of grace and patience here. And like, they’re not being OTT bad. They’re being just casually ignorant and annoying enough.

Ha, I know you don’t want to be set up but this is like the easiest small talk in the world, Manon. It’s Madrid.

Daphne talking to Charles, oh my God. Give it up already. This is agonizing.

Manon has been looking extremely pretty with her lovey-dovey face lately. Although the cuts from her looking gorgeous to Charles - who is not an ugly guy, to be clear - with that somewhat unnerving look on his face was kind of jarring.

“Promise me not to move from here.” OK I’m cracking up because they easily could have seen this fight from inside the bus. From a perspective of ensuring her safety? Sure, stay on the bus, good advice. From the additional POV of Manon, you’re not supposed to see me like this? Lmao, you guys are fighting like 10 feet away.

THIS FIGHT, MAN. 

I was laughing during part of it? I know it’s not supposed to be a well-choreographed fight scene or anything, it’s just a bunch of teenage idiots roughhousing but they just looked so ridiculous.

And then the dude just shoved Charles and it IMMEDIATELY ESCALATED into him smashing the bottle over the guy’s head!

What

AND THEN HE FUCKING KICKED HIM IN THE RIBS WHEN THE DUDE LANDED ON THE GROUND

WHAT

AND CHARLES PUT THE GUY IN A HEADLOCK AND STARTED PUNCHING HIM IN THE FACE

WHAT

I mean,  if they wanted to make Charles seem more like a real ~bad boy~, this worked? It was so OTT, my dudes. 

And all the girls look horrified and concerned except Emma, who is too drunk to give a single shit. Bless.

General comments:

For what it’s worth, in terms of charisma level, my personal ranking is Edoardo > Charles > William > Alexander. Don’t know anything about Daniel yet to determine his ranking.

Ummm why are these dummies posting pics of their matching Starbucks cups on Instagram? Do Manon and Charles not think that Daphne is going to stalk every fucking thing that Charles posts on social media and realize that Charles and Manon were at Starbucks at the same day … or that the other cup in Charles’ pic is labeled “Ma-” and has the exact same lipstick print as the cup in Manon’s pic ... Save it for when your relationship is no longer a secret, you twits.

Not to be harsh because I’m sure that would be cute later in the season, but come on.

I don’t speak French so if I missed the context of something, feel free to correct me.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

#skamfr reactions

[franeridart]

Happy 1000th post to one off my absolute favorite artists on Tumblr!

This is it!!! The 1k post on this blog!!! It’s me finally getting my ass into gear and answering the asks in my inbox!!! As good charm in hope of not waiting so long from now on hahaha thank you so so much, by the way!!!! :D

Anon said:LITERALLY YOUR TODOROKI IS THE BEST THING IN THIS CRUEL WORLD I LIVE THE WAY U DRAW HIM IM EMOTIONAL HHECK ALSO ALL THE REST OF UR ART IS GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD ITS SO NICE UR CHARACTERS ARE LIKE VERY LONG NOODLES THEYRE GOOD™

THANK YOU FOR EVERY KIND WORD AND ESPECIALLY ABOUT THE TODOROKI ONES HOLY SMOKES!!! I don’t draw him much sadly but he’s super fun and comfortable to draw for me, it’s nice to know he also comes out well!!!

Anon said:So like,,, I really miss your bokuroo ;^; Will you ever post with them again???

I haven’t taken a vow that forces me to never draw them again, so, possibly! At the moment posting for the haikyuu fandom is giving me more sad feelings than anything else though, so I can’t promise that’s gonna be any time soon, I’m sorry 

Anon said:bruhh i listened to that chiodos song under ur halo, and that one by memphis may fire that was w that bakugo art that was called not enough and uhhhhh ur music taste is dope care to share some more songs?

SURE I’m glad you liked those! Everything by Memphis is A+ and I love it so if you haven’t you should check out more stuff by them ( No Ordinary Love is super nice, That’s Just Life is very dear to me and so is Divinity, Speechless is… my otp song for every otp ever tbh) -  Bring Me The Horizon is my fav post-hardcore band and both MMF and Chiodos are that genre so if you don’t know them give them a try! (Blasphemy, Run and Doomed are between my faves out of the latest album, and since you liked Under Your Halo you’re probably gonna like Follow You too) the album right before is amazing too if you’re okay with less melodic stuff, but the further back you go with BMtH the harder to listen to they get, just a heads up - Sleeping With Sirens are on the softer side of post-hardcore lately, Fly, Left Alone, Trouble, Fire and Empire To Ashes are some great ones, between the many, and, uhhhh, at this point I might have recced Nothing More a hundred times but let’s make it a hundred and one, try Funny Little Creatures, Do You Really Want It and Go To War out of the newest album! If you’re into punk and female voices you should check out Tonight Alive too, Jenna has one of my two fav female voices in rock right now (Crack My Heart and Temple are the latest two songs out!) and since I always rec stuff but I never rec anything by my favorite band ever, you ever heard of Alter Bridge? They’re more towards hard-rock/alternative metal, but check out Blackbird, Fortress, I Know It Hurts, Cradle To The Grave and Broken Wings just to make it one for every album I really, really adore this band and everything they ever made

Anon said:I adore all of your art, especially your bnha art!!! I had so many of your drawings saved to my drafts before I read the manga and was really looking forward to catching up so I could look at them all!! They’re all fantastic

AHHH THANK YOU!!! This made me smile lots, I’m so glad you like them!!!

Anon said:What’s coming up? Fluffy, dorky or angsty? (I’m talking about your next work XD just to be sure) Have a great day my friend!

LMAO this was about this one right? I’m sort of a fool honestly cause as I drew it it… didn’t feel actually all that angsty to me? I mean, obviously it doesn’t come after anything happy, but they’re working things out! Making an effort! Loving each other enough to try and understand each other better!! I drew it as something positive but in hindsight I should have expected the reactions lmao so I honestly dunno, I feel like telling you it’s most probably gonna be something happy but as it seems I angst without even realizing, lately #rip

@not-enough-kaneki​ said:Pass the happy! 💛 When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and send this to the last 10 people in your notifications! 😊

!!!!! my cats!!!! tea and coffee!!! Bakugou and Kirishima and Bakugou-and-Kirishima and the squad!!!! not having an headache!!!!!! the sound of ocean waves and the sun on winter days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! new music I like!!!!!! nice asks and lovely tags under my art!!!! that’s more than five things but a lot of stuff makes me happy tbh !!!

Anon said:one of my favorite parts (i love every bit of it) of the holiday pic you drew of the squad, is they each have their own personal mug. 10/10

I didn’t think you’d be able to notice Mina’s!!! I’m glad it was visible, I thought I had made it disappear into the background hahaha thank you!!!

Anon said:i just went through your entire kiribaku tag and, honestly, gay (also ur art is soooo good and pure and thank u so much for all the content u make for bnha 💖💖)

It is very gay, isn’t it? The other day I was going through my old stuff and I think I might have slowly turned them mushier oh my hahaha I’m glad you like my stuff, by the way!! Thank you so so so so much!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Thank you for sharing the beautiful Bakusquad Christmas! It’s very colorful and warm & it gives me such a comforting feeling! I love looking at all the details! Kami & Sero’s ribbons, everyone’s mugs, the decorations, all so cute! Especially Mina’s bulletin board with the photos, charms of the boys, & the little alien dude (?) Each time I look at it, I see other cute details!! Sorry to bother you, but thanks again for sharing your art with us! I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!!!!

It’s not a bother at all!!! Thank you so so much for looking at it long enough to notice all those details!!!!

Anon said:You are so good at giving advice omg

I wouldn’t say I’m especially good at it, I just say what was useful to me lol but thank you! It’s a nice thing to be told

Anon said:Dude, your bakusquad drawings are awesome! Keep up the great work!

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!! I’m super glad you like them!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:The new chapter made me think about Bakugou dealing with his squad as babies all over again. Toddlers would probably be worse.

Depends?? Actually??? Like, at least toddlers aren’t gonna steal his gauntlets and tell him he’s lame and punch him just for the hell of it and be a bunch of smartasses and assholes like. Compared to this bunch of baby-Bakugous he has to deal with in the new arc maybe the squad as toddlers would actually be refreshing lol

Anon said:Um I have a very real crush on ila? Can we please know more about her??

I’m ??? so happy you like her!!!!! I don’t wanna say too much about her cause until I draw her in comics I won’t be too sure about who she really is, but she’s!! a pianist, very tall and sorta insecure about her physical appearance, very soft spoken, incredibly gay, scared of sensory deprivation of any kind. Her full name is Ilaria! Dav calls her Aria, which means air in Italian~ they’re pretty good friends, I have a comic about that I’ve been meaning to draw…

Anon said:So, you like KiriBaku with songs, so what do you think of You Had Me At Hello by A Day to Remember? Particularly the lines, “What have I gotten into this time around, I know that I had sworn I’d never trust anyone again, but I didn’t have to. You had me at hello. I’ve never seen a smile that can light a room like yours, it’s simply radiant, I feel more with every day that goes by.”

s o f t…………. ;; also incredibly fitting considering Bakugou decided Kirishima was his new favorite hero the second time he spoke to him, like, god bless I love those two s o m u ch this one I’m listening to it right now and having feelings (is it Baku to Kiri? Kiri to Baku? why not both for double the feels)

Anon said:Hey Fran!! Have you been keeping up with haikyuu? If so what do you think about the Miya twins? (Personally I think they’re pretty okay, they’re funny when they interact with each other. My favorite of the two is Osamu haha)

I don’t mind them! My fav out of Inari is Kita tho, have to admit - that said I have… sort of been ready for this game to be over for months, now………………

Anon said:Okay but imagine….. Kirishima with freckles

I’ve drawn that, now and again!!! the latest one was this one, and another one I remember is this one :D I’ve been liking the idea of him with freckles even more since it’s become official his hair isn’t naturally red? So now and again I add them in, even though they’re usually not much noticeable haha I do so with Bakugou too from time to time, actually… and the rest of the squad… I just… love freckles a lot… haha

Anon said:Love the squad, love the squad kisses.

HECK YES the goal is to draw at least one smooch for every couple sooner or later !!!

Anon said:I hadn’t even realize that I stuck around for a whole year OwO, anyways, congratulations! Your art style has improved much more than you think, especially since you’ve gotten more into coloring ^o^ I noticed that you’ve also been doing more complicated poses too, so, it’s the little stuff that counts ♥️👍 Hope to see more spontaneous art next year, love you Fran!

THANK YOU SO MUCH I love you lots too??? honestly??? This ask means the whole world to me, I really can’t see much improvement after all but knowing you can DOES help a whole damn lot

Anon said:So I came across this fanfic where Uraraka and Todoroki were a thing. I’m personally not a fan of this rare pair, but the whole scenario was the cutest thing ever. Todoroki basically asks Uraraka to help him confess to Midoriya, but in the process falls in love with her instead.

Awwww that sounds cute! Can’t say I have any particular feelings about the ship, but I am up for Todoroki with nearly anyone so why not!

Anon said:Bro bro bro I’m sorry if this is the wrong channel to go through or something but holy shit I just spent hours going through your entire tumblr and your. Art. And. Concepts. I… can’t??? DUDE YOU’RE AMAZING AND YOUR TATTOO AU!! I?? Just thank you so much for all the awesome work you do honestly made my entire fuckin week with your blog, you are WICKED GOOD AND FUNNY AF. That’s all I got go on with your day you talented ass fiend

I’M CRYING!!! OH MY GOD THANK YOU!!!!!!! I’m gonna pick this ask and frame it right on top of my desk!! The heck!!!!!!

Anon said:Why is Bakugou such a fuckin meme

The real question is why is everyone in class 1A a meme. How do they even keep up. How much of the shit they say on a day to day basis is actually just catchphrases from other 1A kids repeated over and over again. How much of the deadpan ridiculous shit Todoroki says has become an inside-joke. How many 1A kids move and talk like Iida just for the hell of it. How often do they yell DIE at inanimate stuff when it pisses them off. How much stuff is defined as manly even though it has nothing to do with manliness. Do they say “going wheey” instead of “frying one’s brain”. Can anyone outside of 1A even understand them when they speak at this point.

Anon said:You are amazing human bean and I love you 💖 Keep being great ✨👏

Thank you??? ;O; I’ll do my best!!!

Anon said:Just annonly passing by to tell you I F'ing love your take on Ashido And the Kids XD … Way to much fluff And laugh for my heart

THANK YOU!!! I’m happy I can make you laugh!!!! :D :D :D

Anon said:I love you god bless you and your art! THANK YOU!

NAH THANK YOU FOR BEING THIS NICE!!!

Anon said:Hi! I absolutely /adore/ your BakuKiriKami art! I was wondering if you had any headcanons about them/what inspires you to draw them?

More than headcanons for them I have an incredible amount of scenarios I’d like to see them in! And when they’re compact, complete things I usually draw them, which is what inspires me really haha that, and seeing them interact in the manga! Lately I’ve been really drawn to Bakugou and Kaminari’s friendship, actually, so the romantic stuff has fallen in the background while my mind is preoccupied with thinking about them as platonic good pals ahhhhhhh as soon as I’ll work through it I’ll probably get back to drawing them as romantics, that’s just how my mind works lol

Anon said:I love the casual clothes you design for MHA characters! And I really enjoy reading your headcanons-always creative and fun! Is there anything you’d add to anyone’s hero costumes in class 1-A (something that might prove useful/practical for them, or something you’d add just for the heck of it)? Sorry if this is a stupid question or if you’ve answered a similar question before. Thanks for your time!

It’s not a stupid question, don’t worry!! But I generally like to leave myself in Horikoshi’s hands for this sort of stuff, since I both enjoy the costumes as they are AND don’t want to be disappointed in case what I hope for doesn’t actually happen - that said, I’ve mentioned before that I’d really like Aoyama to get redirectors for his laser on his palms and for Kaminari to get a close combat weapon, since with the quirk he has anything metal would actually work wonders for him! He mentioned a sword, but I rest my case that tonfas would be cool, I really want him to use tonfas. A “costume” I don’t understand is Hagakure’s, by the way - would be nice if she got an actual costume and also I don’t really get why she’d wear gloves at all?? Mirio’s costume was made using his hair, I really want her to get something similar! That’s about it tho, I haven’t really thought much about anyone else in that sense~ 

Anon said:Hello! A few weeks ago I asked about the bracelets you drew for Baku & Kiri. (That art is so beautiful!!) I was wondering if there’s a story behind them; such as, did one of them buy the pair, or did they pick them out together? I’m sorry if it’s a dumb question and if I’m bothering you.

THIS ASK I had lost it, thank you so much for sending it my way again! Actually, Kirishima bought it for himself and Bakugou - I mean to draw a small thing for it, be patient with me while I try to get my ass into gear for it ;O;

Anon said:It’s been a while since you’ve done any BakuKiriKami, do you still like that ship?

I do - as I said a few answers above this one, I’m just finding myself weirdly invested in a platonic relationship between Bakugou and Kaminari at the moment, and also Bakushima stole my focus and soul, but I do still like the ship a whole damn lot, definitely still my fav ot3 in the manga~

Anon said:I love your drawings so much, they always make my day seeing them. But I gotta say that kiri with his hair down is my weakness. He just looks so pure, the cuteness factor goes through the roof.

Thank you???? The Kiri thing is true for canon Kiri too, I’m glad I can bring it in my art!!! Mostly cause when I draw him with his hair down I’m never really sure what the hell I’m doing, I’ll be honest with you lmao

Anon said:hello, holy fUCKin shit how are you this damn good at drawing? like, fuck? thank you, bless you, have a nice day

THANK YOU! And all I do is draw, really lmao I wouldn’t say I’m all that good, definitely not anywhere near the artists I admire, but since all I can do is draw as long as I keep doing that I guess I’ll get there, sooner or later hahaha

#fran answers #im gonna use the holidays as my excuse for how long it took me to answer all of these #....yeah #yeah im gonna do that #oc asks #anonymous

[dnowit41]

'They couldn't stop him': The oral history of Dirk's 1998 Nike Hoop Summit

Tim MacMahon ESPN Staff Writer

Before stepping foot on American soil, 19-year-old Dirk Nowitzki played on a second-division team in his German hometown of Wurzburg that occasionally canceled practices to work on a farm owned by a teammate.

Sure, Nowitzki had managed to play his way onto the radar of some NBA teams and college programs. But he was far from a phenom.

That all changed during the 1998 Nike Hoop Summit in San Antonio's Alamo Stadium, when the lanky kid, who was so unheralded that his surname was misspelled "Nowitzski" repeatedly on the ESPN broadcast, blew up for 33 points and 14 rebounds to lead the World team to an upset over the U.S. in a matchup against future NBA stars.

More than two decades later, with Nowitzki likely in his final days of a legendary NBA career, we take a look back through the eyes of those who witnessed the big German's introduction to America and world-class basketball.

'Ahh, we'll just sneak out.'

Never mind facing world-class competition for the first time. Just getting out of Germany was a challenge for Nowitzki due to unfortunate timing. The Wurzburg X-Rays were in the middle of the playoffs with a chance to be promoted to the first division for the first time, putting Nowitzki in the uncomfortable dilemma of having to decide between loyalty to his hometown team and chasing his personal dream.

Dirk Nowitzki: I was invited [to the Hoop Summit] I think the year before, maybe even two years before. It's always a bad time, because at that time [the Wurzburg X-Rays] were in relegation to get moved up. Our dream was with the home team to go to the first division, get promoted, and we fell short every year. That year, again, we were in the promotion zone and we had big games.

Holger Geschwindner, Nowitzki's longtime mentor and then X-Rays assistant coach: We played really a risky game [leaving Germany]. We had been a second-division team and Dirk was a top guy.

Nowitzki: So Holger came out to me and said, "Hey, I think that's a really, really good opportunity to measure yourself against some of the best in the world at your age." I was like, "Are you crazy? This is what we dreamed for, what we played for the last couple of years."

Geschwindner: I knew one thing for sure: The Hoop Summit was the only chance to perform on the international high level because we had no idea how [good] he really was.

Nowitzki: So we had to ask permission from the Army, because I was still in the Army, and I don't think you can travel out of the country unless you ask and it's for a big tournament or something. We had permission to go. Then we kind of had to ask the team. But Holger was kind of like, "Ahhh, we'll just sneak out." So I played the game Sunday night, and I think Monday morning we flew out of Frankfurt without really telling anyone. Holger might have talked to a manager or something, but I didn't say anything. So we snuck out.

Geschwindner: [Nowitzki's] dad did not know. I talked to the mom, and she said, "You have to tell his dad." The next morning I came in and said, "Did you tell him?" [Nowitzki] said, "I will tell him now." I said, "Listen, we have to drive two hours from Wurzburg to [the airport in] Frankfurt. We do not go onto the plane if he does not know."

Donnie Nelson, then Mavericks and World team assistant coach, now president of basketball ops: They were looking haggard when they finally got to Dallas. What was supposed to be a two-leg journey had turned into something like four legs. I was an assistant coach, so my job was to fetch coffee and get Germans when they arrived. I met them in the lobby of [Reunion Tower], and Holger was wearing the same jeans he's had since 1973 and still wears today. And, of course, the flannel shirt and leather jacket I'm sure he still has.

'My concern was that he was too nice of a kid to be a killer'

The World team had already practiced a couple of times in Dallas by the time Nowitzki arrived. It did not take the German long to make a strong impression.

Donnie Nelson: I had only seen [Nowitzki] on bad, grainy tape. A lot of international players tended to shrink six inches on the flight over. I looked at him and said, "Wow. He didn't shrink."

Geschwindner: On Wednesday afternoon, [the World team] had a scrimmage game where they decided who of those guys would go to the San Antonio game. We had to really get serious. The key thing was to get him in the first five.

Nowitzki: In [Don Nelson's] office you could peek through the blinds [and see the practice court]. I guess he did that, which I didn't know at the time. Apparently, they really liked what they saw.

Don Nelson, former Mavericks head coach and GM: Actually, Donnie got the team to work out the week before they went down to San Antonio at the YMCA in Dallas, the one downtown. It was closed, of course, to anybody except Donnie and I.

Donnie Nelson: You could tell [Dirk had] good footwork, handwork, could shoot it. We went through just intrasquad stuff.

Don Nelson: He was one of the most gifted young players I'd ever seen, and besides all that, the guy was 7 feet tall. I mean, he was just an incredible basketball player!

George Raveling, former Nike director of international basketball: I knew more about Dirk than most people because of my relationship with Holger, so he had already painted the picture for me mentally. Then when I saw the picture hanging up in the Louvre, I was like, "Wow!" All this stuff that Holger was telling me started to manifest in Dirk's play.

Donnie Nelson: My concern was that he was too nice of a kid to be a killer. He's such a kind, big-hearted guy. Most of the guys that go into those forums are guys that would just as soon rip your heart out and show it to you. He didn't strike me as that kind of human being, so my concern was, "Is he tough enough?" He certainly had the work ethic -- you could tell.

Nowitzki: At the time, I was kind of a less swag guy. I'm a little nervous and not sure if this is going to work and how good the kids are going to be. So I wasn't sure what to expect.

Don Nelson: We made a commitment after a few practices that we would hide him the best way we could from anybody seeing him. We committed to drafting him with whatever pick we had. We couldn't convince him not to play in that game.

Donnie Nelson: I think we saw the true tiger come out in San Antonio.

'They're going to blow them out. This isn't even going to be a game.'

The U.S. team was considered heavy favorites entering the game on March 29, 1998. The Americans jumped out to an early nine-point lead, overwhelming the international players with their quickness and athleticism -- they tallied a record 20 steals for the game -- and causing concern that the game wouldn't be competitive.

Geschwindner: The game in those days was on the Saturday between the Final Four.

Dan Shulman, ESPN play-by-play announcer: I remember knowing more about the American kids than the World team, and I remember thinking, "Boy, this team's stacked." I remember some size on it. Stromile Swift was on the team. Rashard Lewis was on the team. Al Harrington was on the team. And these were serious big-name guys coming out of high school.

Geschwindner: The only thing we talked with Dirk over was, "They cannot get the courage out of you. If you get the ball, drive to the basket. Try to dunk it. If they smash you down, keep going."

Nowitzki: I knew all of these guys are obviously some of the best that we have in the world at this age, so there was a respect level, but in Germany I'd never heard of any of their names.

Donnie Nelson: The first half of the game, the U.S. came out and put on this killer full-court press, and let's just say that our frontcourt was a lot better than our backcourt. And I think maybe in the entire first half, my recollection is we got the ball over half court a total of 10 times. We were in trouble!

Shulman: The U.S. got off to a hot start. I remember us thinking, "They're going to blow them out. This isn't even going to be a game."

Nowitzki: I figured they were going to be super-athletic. I figured they were going to press us the whole game and we were going to turn the ball over 100 times.

Raveling: Alessandro Gamba was coaching the team, and he was a legendary international coach from Italy. They're probably about 10 minutes into the game and there's a timeout. I'm sitting right by their bench at the scorer's table, and he comes over and he whispers in my ear, "George, who in the eff is that guy sitting behind the bench telling me how to coach my team?" I knew he was talking about Holger. He said, "I need you to get his ass out from behind my bench and stop trying to coach my team." So Dirk had two head coaches, and the most familiar voice was Holger's.

Donnie Nelson: Of course, going into halftime, we looked like we were going to get drilled by 100, and Dirk made his own adjustment going into the third quarter.

Shulman: Then the skinny kid from Germany started fouling everybody out of the game. About six U.S. guys fouled out of the game.

Donnie Nelson: After the first couple of possessions were like the first half, Dirk was in when they put the press back on by the top of the key, so then he starts going up over half court and tall as an oak tree. The poor guy taking the ball out was 5-10, just trying to get the ball in, and then he sees a German oak. And he's like, "Oh, thank goodness," and just throws it up there.

Nowitzki: We actually held up OK.

'We didn't know how to guard him. We had never seen him before.'

Nowitzki dominated the second half, scoring 19 points after the break. He finished with 33 points and 14 rebounds in the World team's 104-99 win, setting Hoop Summit records that would stand for more than a decade.

Shulman: The World made a comeback, and Dirk was the reason, because they couldn't stop him, whether he was shooting from the outside or shot fake and driving.

Donnie Nelson: Dirk does nothing less than the very thing that Holger taught him for years. That is, catch the ball, coast-to-coast like a guard, shoot 3s.

Darius Songaila, World team forward who played eight NBA seasons: It was like that game was created for him to show off to the whole world what he was capable of.

Al Harrington, U.S. team forward who played 16 NBA seasons: He was just impressive. Seeing a tall, lanky white kid that you never heard of coming out there with all that skill was just amazing. He just surprised us.

Raveling: I think he mesmerized the players on the other team, because he was doing things that they'd never seen a big guy do. They didn't think he could shoot that far out, and Dirk was active handling the ball. This was his coming-out, so-called party.

Donnie Nelson: A 6-11 guy taking the ball, throwing it left and right, shooting 3s, and we ended up making a game out of it. That's when you really saw the true Dirk coming out.

Don Nelson: Oh, the skills. I couldn't call him a great passer because the game was so easy to score for him. He just dominated. The game was so easy for him, and he was so fluid.

Songaila: Obviously he ended up with ridiculous numbers, so after the game there was a lot of hype that the guy was going to be a really good player. I don't think anybody thought that he was going to be that good.

Harrington: What really pissed me off about that day was that they won the game. I don't know how we lost that game.

Nowitzki: We hung in there and ended up stealing the game at the end. It was the first time the World team had won. We were hyped! We were hyped in the locker room! That was good times.

Harrington: We didn't know how to guard him. We had never seen him before. I hadn't heard of him until during the game. I had never heard of him, but I knew about him after the game. That's what's up.

Shulman: At the end of the night, all we were talking about was Nowitzki, who I think I called "No-WIT-ski" then because we didn't even know [the proper pronunciation]. He was an unknown at the beginning of the game, and he was the main attraction by the end.

'I knew everybody was going to want to have him'

Nowitzki's Hoop Summit performance established his status as a rising star in NBA circles -- he became the No. 9 overall pick two and a half months later -- but he didn't quite return home to Germany as a conquering hero.

Donnie Nelson: That was really the first unveiling, when Dirk did it against world-class talent and athleticism in that age group on a big stage. There was every team in spades that was there that saw all the same stuff that we did. That was when it was, "Holy cow, this can be a pretty good player."

Geschwindner: After the game, we had to fly immediately home. I thought I would be smart, and I got the newspaper from San Antonio in the airport. "International team beats U.S. boys" or whatever. I thought it would be more or less an excuse coming home.

Nowitzki: The team was kind of pissed. But they ended up winning the game that I missed. Then I was able to play the following game, and we won that. And that year we actually got promoted.

Geschwindner: They killed us [in Germany]. They killed us badly. Dirk was not at the [Wurzburg X-Rays] game. The boys won it anyway, but it doesn't matter. They were really mad. I was the guy that misleads youngsters. They really killed us. The press killed us in Germany.

Nowitzki: I think the most pissed was one of our foreign players, because he had a promotion bonus in his contract. It was a nice sum of money, I think, at the time for us playing over there. So he's basically saying, "You're playing with my money."

Donnie Nelson: That [Hoop Summit] was really, in a lot of respects, Dirk's "American Idol," the basketball version, where he crushed it. After that game, Dirk's life got a lot more complicated in a good way.

Raveling: The guy who really foresaw all of this was Donnie Nelson. He was more certain than anybody that Dirk was going to be a superstar, so he went to work doing his due diligence to make sure the Mavericks got him.

Don Nelson: I knew everybody was going to want to have him work out and do the circuit [before the draft]. That's when Donnie and I figured out a way to kind of have him disappear in Donnie's basement. [Laughs.] It just so happened Donnie had a little cot down there.

Nowitzki: Through Holger and hearing from international agents, I was the talk of NBA circles and scouts. That came out of nowhere to me. I guess I didn't realize how big that game was and what it meant until I came back home and all these agents came up to me and were like, "Hey, you're projected in the lottery now." I was like, "What?! That's insane."

Don Nelson: I knew then he'd be an All-Star for many, many years. I knew he had the skills to be one of the best. He fulfilled all those dreams and many, many more.

[flauntpage]

Blue Jays Mailbag: Pillar Leading Off, Biagini's Role, and 6-Man Rotations

This article originally appeared on VICE Sports Canada.

Andrew Stoeten answers your questions in our Blue Jays Mailbag, which runs weekly at VICE Sports. You can send him questions at [email protected], and follow him on Twitter.

The Blue Jays salvaged one of three against the White Sox over the weekend, but spent a good 90 percent of the series looking mostly awful. Does this mean it's time to panic? To crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?

In a word: yes. In five more words: if you're a garbage clown.

Ahhh, we have fun, don't we? But seriously, the Jays are spinning their wheels, fans are starting to get restless, and this is the backdrop for... well... for at least a couple questions in this week's Blue Jays mailbag. So let's do it to it!

If you have a Blue Jays question you'd like me to tackle for next week, be sure to send it to [email protected]. As always, I have not read any of Griff's answers.

Hey Stoeten, Do you think the Jays will consider using a 6-man rotation again when Sanchez returns, perhaps skipping the odd Biagini start to keep him fresh? Matt

I absolutely don't!

I know that the team went to six starters last year, but those were pretty severe circumstances. Aaron Sanchez needed his innings rolled back, the Jays needed to see what they had in Francisco Liriano, and Marco Estrada's back was giving him problems and it seemed he could use the extra rest. Because of that, and because there was no obvious odd man out, the Jays went with it, but Marco Estrada seemed to be particularly out of sync in shifting to five days of rest between starts, instead of the usual four, and the experiment as a whole was hardly a shining example of why teams need to go to a six-man rotation more regularly.

Not only are pitchers thrown off by the disruption to their routine, but there are obvious structural problems with the whole concept. Roster numbers are finite, so to go to a six-man rotation means a club needs to take either an arm out of its bullpen or a bat off its bench. There is also the simple math of it, with respect to the number of starts that go to each pitcher: 162 games divided by five starters is 32.4 starts each, and divided between six is 27 starts each. Do you really want to take away five or six starts each from your top two starters just so you can have a sixth in the rotation? With all the other problems that come with the idea? (Hint: you don't!)

Of course, you're not talking about the Jays doing this for a full season, and their rotation's strength is that there really isn't one guy who stands out ahead of the others, so I suppose it could make more sense for them than most, but then the big question becomes, why???

What is the point of keeping Joe Biagini in the rotation once everybody else is healthy?

Biagini has shown that he's a viable rotation option for this club—despite his most recent start, which was awful—and that's great for them going forward. But, for me, if he's the sixth guy he's the sixth guy, and he goes straight back to the bullpen once Aaron Sanchez is ready. He still has a lot of value there, and while I've encountered the odd six-man-rotation stan who pretends it would somehow be reckless or impossible to have to ramp Biagini's innings back up a second time this season, were they to shift him back to the bullpen now and then need him in the rotation later, uh… no.

Photo by Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Biagini worked as a starter all spring, then went to the bullpen, then easily made the transition back into the rotation. I don't think it's ideal to keep doing this to a guy, but not because of any worries about arm health. It's just probably not putting him in the best position to succeed.

But Biagini's here for the long haul. He's due to hit arbitration for the first time after next season, and the Jays will hold his rights for three more years after that. And, by the looks of it, next year he'll likely be a full-fledged member of the rotation—a cheap and halfway decent replacement for the losses of Marco Estrada and Francisco Liriano to free agency (though we all hope they re-sign Estrada, I'm sure, even though he's been awful lately, too). He'll be fine. He will, in fact, probably be even better in the bullpen, where he was unexpectedly a weapon for the club last year, and continued to thrive through the start of this season.

Why are we aiming to take starts away from better starters, and to remove a reliever or a bench bat from the roster, just to keep him starting games, exactly? It doesn't make a lot of sense. And the thing about six-man rotation schemes, which come up literally every single season, they almost never make sense.

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Hey Stoeten Loving the new mailbag, although I do miss the contrast between your answers and Griffins.

My question today is why does the MLB draft suck so hard. War times notwithstanding the MLB draft is the suckiest draft that ever did suck. I can recite 7 of the top 10 projected picks for the upcoming NBA draft from memory, I've already read 3 NFL mock drafts and yet I can't remember who the Twins took with the first overall pick on Monday and I'm way more into baseball than those other two sports. Why doesn't MLB have the draft in November and allow teams to trade picks and market this thing like the other major sports.

Cheers Chris Mc

I'm all for making drastic changes to the draft—abolishing it would be a good start!—but… uh… I don't really see how holding it after the season or allowing teams to trade picks (which is definitely a major change I'd be on board for) is going to change the fact that nobody knows who the fuck these guys getting picked are.

It's easy to say this here in Canada, but NCAA baseball is pretty faceless, and niche enough in its own right, and yet the top three picks in this year's MLB draft were from high school—not a whole lot of exposure there, unless you're someone like a Bryce Harper. Add to the exposure problem the fact that baseball greatness takes time to reveal itself—there is no equivalent of a McDonald's All-American Game or a World Junior Hockey Championships (though a mini tournament of California, versus Texas, versus Florida, versus everybody else might be interesting!), where the best of the best can impress upon the world just how much physically better they are than their peers.

And not only is the problem that draftees are unknown now, it's that they're going to remain unknown for years. Four of the top six players taken in the 2016 NHL draft were regulars for their teams as rookies. The number in the NBA is even higher than that (only four first rounders didn't suit up in the NBA—three of whom stayed in Europe, the other being injured top pick Ben Simmons). None of MLB's 2016 first-round picks reached the big leagues in their draft year, only five of the players picked in the first round of 2015 draft have made it to the majors (Swanson, Bregman, Benintendi, Fulmer, and Happ), and only 13 of the first 41 picks from 2014 have done so. Even fewer have established themselves as regulars.

Many won't ever establish themselves as regulars, and that's a problem, too. At least in terms of making the draft exciting. I mean, the Blue Jays are hardly atypical, and yet look at the wasteland that makes up most of their first round (and supplemental round) picks since 2010: T.J. Zeuch, Jon Harris, Jeff Hoffman, Max Pentecost, Phil Bickford, D.J. Davis, Marcus Stroman, Matt Smoral, Mitch Nay, Tyler Gonzales, Tyler Beede, Jacob Anderson, Joe Musgrove, Dwight Smith, Kevin Comer. Obviously in the supplemental round of 2010 they did extremely well (Sanchez, Syndergaard, and to a much, much lesser extent, Wojciechowski), but before that they took Deck McGuire! Take out the big three from that draft, as well as Marcus Stroman, and you get a total of 44 games of big league experience from the rest of that list!

Makes for some real scintillating stuff on draft night, eh?

So, I guess what I would say is that the draft is what it is. The league does a pretty good job of trying to make it as much of an event as it can be, and the rest of the world does the sensible thing and collectively shrugs its shoulders. It's just different, is all.

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How long do you run Kevin Pillar in the leadoff spot? Is there a better option? Numbers since May 1st are not good. BaseballBats

is there anyone else who could conceivably leadoff ahead of pillar? Steve

Why does Bats still bat third for the Jays?? Blake

I don't know that Kevin Pillar would have ever been my leadoff hitter, to be honest. I think it's best not to get too hung up on the silly traditional ideas of what a leadoff guy is supposed to be (or, honestly, to worry about lineup order much, if at all), so I'm entirely fine with having someone like Jose Bautista at the top of the Jays' lineup right now. Or, at least, I would be if his numbers weren't in the shitter at the moment, too.

Photo by John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

But the thing about Bautista—good lord, never "Bats"—is that at least he still takes walks. The ZiPS projection system has Pillar with a .307 OBP for the rest of the season, because despite the encouraging signs we saw at the start of the season, it's most likely that's who Pillar is. Bautista, despite being at just .337 now—a number powered by the terrific May that is bookended by miserable months in April and June (so far)—is projected for .360 the rest of the way. Projections aren't everything, but I still think Bautista gives the Jays their best chance to have someone on base for Josh Donaldson, which is obviously the position that they want to be in.

I don't particularly like the idea of a home run hitter (which Bautista still sort of is) being guaranteed one plate appearance per game with nobody on ahead of him, not to mention hitting behind the dregs of the lineup, but without Devon Travis and Ezequiel Carrera, there really isn't anybody who looks a whole lot better there. And I think it's fair to be thinking about moving him out of the third spot in the order, even though it's a bit of an eye-roll-worthy reaction to the team scuffling a bit lately. (There are good hitters here, it's OK to relax a bit).

But another dimension of me not really caring too much about this stuff is that I'd totally be fine if they rode the hot hands of Dwight Smith and Steve Pearce, and had Smith leadoff against right-handers and Pearce against lefties. WHY NOT?

The other thing is that we shouldn't be too careless about where we mark the beginning of Pillar's decline. For me, he was entirely fine through the start of May, and it was really the 0-for-4 in Atlanta, and the accompanying suspension for using a homophobic slur, that seems to be the point where things went south for him. Since "that game" he's slashed a pitiful .168/.226/.271 (29 wRC+), but that was only just May 17.

Asking a hitter "what have you done for me lately?" is almost always a mistake, in my view, because no hitter is his last 10 or 20 or 30 or even 60 games. That's not to excuse guys for being shitty, it's to say that just because a guy has been shitty for a while doesn't mean that he is shitty.

It hasn't been a great couple of weeks, and that's especially frustrating because the Blue Jays' opponents seemed ripe for the picking, but it's funny how quickly Blue Jays fans, even after watching two straight ALCS seasons, are ready to throw up their hands and declare the team awful sometimes. Speaking of...

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Do the Jays have an overabundance of dumb Twitter fans? Or are they just what I am exposed to, sure seems like a lot of pissbabies online Dave

Did this team change it's goal from making the playoffs to causing fans to vomit uncontrollably? TJ

Morales and a prospect for Eddie E. It makes precious little sense but fuck it I'm mad online DMChristop

I included that last one because I just… I don't even know where to begin with a thing like that. What I do know is that, no, the Jays don't have an overabundance of dumb Twitter fans. Quite the opposite, I find—or, at least, I've found after several years of muting and blocking the truly ridiculous ones. Like... go look at how other fan bases interact online, or just people in general. We're living in the age of trash, my man. And Twitter has replaced comments sections as the place where self-awareness and humility are put on hold so people can just vent whatever dumb, negative garbage comes into their heads and try to pass it off as wit. (Not that I'd know anything about all that *COUGH*).

This isn't to slag TJ or DMChristop, who obviously had their tongues firmly in cheek when they sent these questions this way, it's more to say: yes, Twitter is exasperating, and no, it's not just your experience with it, it's everybody's.

Here's another thing I know, though: a team that loses 45 percent of its games wins 89 of 162 and makes the playoffs. We all can relax a little with the "they've been bad for two weeks so they're bad!" or "this guy's been bad for a month so he's bad!" stuff. Twitter is great for amplifying people who see things that are bad and can identify them as bad and think that doing so is providing some kind of a service. "Gotta hit the cut-off man there!" "Shouldn't have sent that runner home!" "He's gotta make that catch!" "This lineup isn't hitting!" Yeah, thanks Connie fucking Mack.

Sometimes it's best to just put the phone down and walk away and try to enjoy the game for itself. At least 45 percent of the time, by my reckoning.

Blue Jays Mailbag: Pillar Leading Off, Biagini's Role, and 6-Man Rotations published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv