#Louis doesn’t like publicly being bad at things. I’m guessing he wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think he could pull it off so my hopes of that

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Fri 11 June ‘21

LT band news! Guitarist Isaac posted a pic of himself with the other guitarist and bassist, plus LTHQ team member Jessie! Things are happening…idk what things, but THINGS! We know tour shows aren’t for a long while now so what might they be rehearsing or meeting for? Hopes are up that it could be to do promo for a single!! But really whatever it is would be exciting as hell. The shopping list for the recipe Louis will be following for his video is out and it does not look like it’ll be challenging- it’s a fish finger sandwich! I’m a little confused by the addition of waffles (not to mention sugar) in the ingredient list but overall how hard can it be right? I guess we’ll find out. And a fan who met Louis the other day says she had him write HOME for a tattoo and “told him that the song is extremely important for the whole lgbtq+ community” and that he “smiled and said thank you and bless you darling,” and we got more video from yesterday of him out by the studio; he was wearing the skull/ laurel/ rose/ triangle ‘new era’ cap again, nice, and how appropriate for the exciting LT2 era things he is cooking up (not the fish fingers, the other stuff.)

The much hyped Our Song behind the scenes video is finally here! We see the part where Niall pretends to be afraid of the dog that was hired to bark at him, but as we were told, the dog does not bark and was therefore fired; maybe the poor dog was just starstruck, leave her alone! Plus Niall and Anne are cute and look to be having fun, of course. And last night Niall was papped in Hollywood, looking good in all black with gucci loafers, oh lala.

Behind the scenes videos hype continues, with one for Lima’s NFT as well- it opens with a voiceover saying “stop being scared of who you are, you’re not negative you’re vulnerable” and other uplifting soundbites, then shows Liam drawing and walking in a beautiful forested glade, but mostly in his house he recently moved out of- Winston the dog has a sleeping-in-the-background cameo- and he and the other collaborators (musician Zedd and animator Gabe Damast) talk about how they worked out the concepts over zoom and tell us about Liam’s concept for the piece. They also talk about (and show one of) the physical objects and fancy packaging for it that they’ve made to sell along with the NFT, presumably because simply buying bragging rights of ownership of an intangible digital item isn’t actually terribly satisfying, so they need to provide some actual thing. Besides the dinner in Vegas that the buyers will be invited to join them at that is; we also learn more about that and oh my GOD wtf… uh I mean what they said is that it will take place in a literal glass box in the middle of the resort I honestly didn’t know they could make it sound MORE UNPLEASANT to me holy crap, not even to hug Liam would I do that. Liam also did a live where he tells us some stuff we already knew about Louis and Harry; about Louis he said that he’s working on music right now and “god he’s got long hair now doesn’t he”, I KNOW RIGHT, and about Harry that “he looks great in his policeman uniform,” Liam you WOULD like that, and “name a man who can pull off every look.”

Harry followed musician Pauli the PSM on insta. And as he’s often used his follows to tell us about people he is working with/ preparing something with one always wonders… For example as his scheduled shows for this year draw ever nearer with no rescheduling announcement yet, we’re all becoming impatient to know if he’s planning to play any of them this year. And if so, I know I wouldn’t be at all surprised if brand new mom Sarah Jones chose to sit a few out, so today’s follow of a British drummer… well, <eyeballs emoji>, right?! Honestly though it could be for any reason, that’s just wild speculation.

#louis tomlinson #liam payne #niall horan #harry styles #I know we all want the entertainment value of watching louis flail like hell on the cooking segment but the fact is #Louis doesn’t like publicly being bad at things. I’m guessing he wouldn’t do it if he didn’t think he could pull it off so my hopes of that #happening are not high #I feel like Harry has been making a point of using his platform to hype up black performers specifically over the last year #and I for one appreciate that #11 jun 21 #isaac anderson #matt dinnage #michael blackwell #jessie.... have I just forgotten her last name? we must know it right? #jessie martin #GOT IT #pauli lovejoy

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Scuffed Souls

Pairing: Midge Maisel/Lenny Bruce Rating: M Word Count: 2769

Summary: Despite her declared intention to go get herself a taxi, Midge can't seem to leave Lenny's hotel. Parts of it aren't so bad—the ocean view, the pool, Lenny. She could be persuaded into a little recklessness.

It’s the way he says it—“before I’m dead”—that has her twisting on the soles of her new shoes to turn back towards him with an equally twisted smile that can’t fully perk up to the uncomplicated amusement she usually feels when Lenny cracks a joke. It just didn’t sound like one.

And now she’s probably scuffed the black soles on the wretched, fine-pebbled stone of these slabs surrounding the pool of what’s otherwise a really rather sad hotel. He knows it, she knows it, and she can’t blame him for wanting her to come into his room, if only to liven it up for a few minutes. She wonders if anybody’s ever died here. Wait, she thinks, of course they have. It’s a gracelessly aging Floridian hotel. The count for patrons who’ve left unscathed is probably lower.

“Is that a long list?” Midge calls back to him.

Like the melancholy, reluctant romantic he is, Lenny’s still leaning in his doorway, watching her depart. Until a moment ago. Now he’s watching her stand here in kind of a weird realm: the post-date, non-overnight stay who issued a spoken plan to find herself a taxi like a big girl. She’s loitering. Then again, unlike at home in New York, you can do that here. Loiter your heart out. Cross that heart and hope not to die before you’ve slept with the woman whose martial status changes from minute to minute. Roll the dice! No, that’s Vegas.

Even from this distance, she can see Lenny cock his head in that way he has—playfully subservient as a child and publicly tactful as a monied, middled-aged woman. Some days, he could mirror her mother. What a gag that would be.

“Things you wanna do before you’re dead,” Midge explains with a tight gesture of her arm. Just the elbow down. God, is she nervous? She seems to be suddenly doing an imitation of Susie meeting Lenny for the first time.

“Not really. I think of somethin’ good from time to time and, of course, when I do, I can’t find the paper I started the list on and I have to get a new one… so it never really gets that long.”

“I just wondered. You know, how much time I have.”

“The length of the list determines my distance from death? This I did not know. Powerful,” Lenny notes emphatically, producing the same noncommittal smile from Midge. “I guess I better look harder for the next one I lose. Handy thing to refer to.”

“There’s that,” she agrees, “but also…” She takes a step back in the direction of his open doorway. The pool shimmers at her side. He’s right about the pool. Somehow, a pool at night looks glamorous no matter the courtyard. She hopes she looks half as good. “I wonder if there’s sort of an implication in there that—” Midge rolls a modest hand over the crassness she’d have no trouble blurting out on stage, no matter which of her relatives were in the audience. “—the quality of it would extend your life.”

He’s smiling wickedly at her. She’s gotten away with nothing and has no option remaining but to clutch primly at the handle of her purse with both hands.

“If anybody else told me that,” Lenny warns, “I wouldn’t believe them, but you I know to have been engaged to a doctor, and so I assume that any medical information you may have to offer vis-à-vis sex—” Spoken in a harsh stage whisper that nearly makes her (her) blush. “—comes certified by some type of professional board.”

“I didn’t say it was the truth, I said I wondered whether it were what you were implying.”

“Me? Well, you can’t trust that guy. Still, worth chancing, wouldn’t you say?”

Midge’s scuffed soles have brought her many steps nearer to Lenny than she remembers being in lucid command of. She’s slow-tongued as she stares at his impish expression. Flat-out flustered when he tips his head back with a smile to rest it on the doorframe.

“In there?” she asks with eyebrows arching like the next stop on this tour is St. Louis. She points sideways, where his bedside lamp glows. “On one hand, eternal life—on the other, whatever diseases are living in those sheets.”

“Oh, they’re very well mannered,” Lenny assures her with a casual brushing aside motion. “We split the rent fifty-fifty.”

“Hmm, then I’m not sure there’s room for me in that scenario.”

“The shower’s not bad,” he counters.

“Water pressure?”

“No, cleanliness. Haven’t you ever—” He employs the hand roll she should patent if it looks like that when she does it. Elegant. Prudent. Half what she wants to be and the other half what she has no hope of becoming. “—in a shower?”

Because Lenny’s looking at her like she’ll either sidestep (metaphorically—the shoes have suffered enough these past few minutes without risking anything more than a regular forward walk) or say no, she takes very great pleasure in smiling devilishly back at him.

“A shower sounds luxurious. Never done it in a bathroom with a shower before. You look scandalized,” Midge notes. “Do the diners in your neighbourhood have showers in their ladies’ rooms?”

“You had sex in a diner bathroom? I’m impressed,” he allows.

“Thank you. I needed that. I carry every compliment about the encounter back to my closet and console my wedding dress with it. Poor thing never did look the same after rubbing up against those walls.”

“Is this in your act?” Lenny demands, leaning towards her earnestly. “Why haven’t I heard this?”

“Put it in my act? Lenny, please. I’m a lady.”

“Hence the ladies’ room, I suppose.”

She giggles lightly with her lips pressed together. He earned that last line. Set her face on fire to get there, so she’ll let him have it. Speaking of letting him have it. Midge finds herself dropping her eyes so they don’t get into their second intense staring contest of the night. Can’t look straight ahead, can’t look to the right because that’s where his room is and the bed is highly prominent. Almost too eager. The bed is the bump in the front of a virgin’s pants on prom night when his date’s skirt brushes a little too close as they dance. Those crazy kids. Oh, to be young.

Midge looks left.

“The ocean,” she observes, and says, like an idiot. She even does another fucking gesture towards it, like he’d miss it somehow. “It’s… big.” Clever. Real sharp.

“Bigger than in New York? I think so too. Alligators though.”

“It’s ok, you’re talking to a fellow New Yorker. You can use the real term. Pre-handbags,” she prompts when Lenny gives her an inquisitive look.

He lets her have the wrap joke this time, but he’s more persistent about trying to catch her eye. She gets it. She is still standing here making alligator jokes when she was supposed to be in a car on her way back to the type of hotel it would be kinder not to tell this hotel exists. A hotel containing her parents, Shy Baldwin and his entourage, the boxer shorts Susie sleeps in and forgot to pack when she went to save Sophie’s ass. Hopefully Susie doesn’t need to cover that famous, demanding ass because she left the best equipment behind.

Lenny tosses his coat into his room and pulls the door shut, startling Midge.

“How ‘bout the pool?” he asks as he steps around her, arm extended to point. She swivels (damn, damn, damn, her shoes) and chases him. “You ever done it in a pool?”

“Actually, no.”

“I heard the pause and, trust me, I’m enthralled that you even had to think about it.”

“Did I mention I hit my head doing it in the bathroom? Pretty hard. All my memories before that day are hazy, so it’s really anybody’s guess.”

He gifts her an indulgent little smile and stops at the side of the pool. As she looks on, he removes his shoes and socks. Midge hears herself make the noise she makes when she denies Ethan a cookie only to see Zelda handing one over when she returns to the kitchen. The noise says, Is that wise? when her adult mommy brain knows for damn sure that it’s not. Lenny wets his foot and flicks water at her. The mommy noise had no effect on him at all.

“It’s nice,” he says, clasping his hands behind his back. “Warm.”

“Of course it’s warm. The air’s warm. Everything here is warm.”

“I hadn’t noticed.” When Lenny frowns, it’s tragic. The most tragic thing you’ve ever witnessed. “You see, I’ve been so cold since the end of our dance. I really may die if I can’t hold you against me.”

Midge tilts her head back and laughs.

“You’re worse than the guy I tried to scare off at the bar by mentioning dick jokes. And you’ll die? Really? All of a sudden, I’m the cause of your death rather than the agent of its postponement?”

Though he smiles, his eyes remain soulful. There really is something tricky about trying to be funny when he’s looking at her a certain way. She’s probably returning the look.

“Take a dip with me.”

“Why?” she asks, smiling.

“Because I want to admire you with that rose in your hair without the rest of it to distract me.” He nods down at her dress.

“My outfit is distracting? Terrific. Now I know I wore a distracting outfit on Brye Adler.”

Self-deprecating thoughts trickle away, accompanied by the gentle slosh of the ocean behind them. A rambling, improvised bit about what she’s wearing won’t change the fact that Lenny said what he said and she heard it.

“Are you going to call me a taxi if I keep standing here?” Midge asks.

“I had no intention of reminding you of that plan.” He rests a thoughtful forefinger against his upper lip. “But you do seem to be stuck. You won’t brave the room, but you also haven’t left.”

As though demonstrating how to do it, Lenny crouches and trails his fingers through the water of the pool.

“Still warm.”

He gazes up at her with needful brown eyes. The need feels equal to hers. She’s tired of being the only one needing.

“You have neighbours.” It’s between a question and a statement.

“Ah, they’re all either young and stoned or old and asleep.”

Midge makes a decision.

“Gimme your key. I’m going to change in your room.”

“Change into what? Do you have a bikini in your purse?”

She leans close to snatch the key he’s withdrawn from his pocket for the second time tonight and grins.

“Into nothing.”

Lenny takes a visibly shaky breath, not trying to hide it from her.

“Well, I’ll be here performing the role of guinea pig by stripping for any neighbours who may be watching. Should you hear wolf-whistles…”

“I’ll run right back out and join the audience,” Midge promises.

They smile at each other until Lenny tests the tension by loosening his tie. Her eyes drop to watch and she realizes she’d better go do what she said before he’s naked enough to make her lose her nerve. She hurries, high heels clapping on the stone.

His room isn’t quite as bad as anything she and Susie experienced on their first road tour, but it definitely isn’t anything to write home about. Not that he’d need to, seeing as this is his home ‘til Friday and likely beyond. Standing beside Lenny’s bed, Midge unfastens her dress. For the first time since Joel, she does it quickly. For the first time since splitting up with Benjamin, she does it alone. Beneath the dress, she’s cinched in pretty damn tight and she rubs at the red lines in her skin as she takes deep breaths that she lies to herself about—telling herself it’s the relief of being free of her undergarments. She lays her dress on his coral bedding. She positions her purse on his nightstand. Adjusting the rose in her hair, she slips her feet back into her shoes and dons Lenny’s carelessly-discarded suit jacket. Though it’s no beach coverup, it hides enough to get from here to the pool.

She spots the pile of his clothes before she sees him, head bobbing up through the surface as he slicks his wet hair back and swipes water from his eyes.

“Don’t worry,” Midge teases to his stunned expression as he locks onto her approaching figure. “The shoes are coming off momentarily. I know they’re distracting.”

As if he’s even aware that she’s wearing shoes; his eyes are fixed on her legs as though she’s an exotic species of butterfly and his gaze is a mounting pin.

“That’s all I see when I look at you,” Lenny says, arms thrusting to propel himself backwards across the width of the pool. He halts at the far side and rests his arms on the stones, chest above the line of the water. “One big pair of shoes.”

Midge shoots him a coy smile as she steps out of them, wary to avoid treading on his watch. That’s what gets her: his watch. She stares down at it, resting there, the glass face catching the light, second hand ticking away. Before they’re dead.

“Aren’t you going to close your eyes or something?” she asks, standing in bare feet, Lenny’s jacket, and a rose. “Or are you only a gentleman when it comes to sharing a cigarette?”

“For you, I will go through the charade.”

He places a hand over his eyes. His mouth smiles below it.

Watching him, she swiftly sits on the side, dangling her legs in the water. With tentative fingers, she undoes the first button on the jacket. His hand doesn’t move. She undoes the second. Nothing from Lenny. Jacket open, Midge shrugs it from her shoulders. As she pushes off the wall, dropping into the pool, he lowers his hand.

“Hey!” she complains, spluttering on water, but he raises both hands helplessly, then goes back to holding himself up at the opposite side of the pool. ���That was a dirty trick.”

“I would repent if I could find it in my heart to do so, but I just don’t regret it.”

Midge laughs, shaking her head and treading water.

“By the way,” Lenny adds. “The rose looks wonderful.”

She managed to keep all but the very bottom of her hair dry and can feel the flower still tucked between the strands. Fleetingly, she thinks of where she’s supposed to be tonight. What would Carole have to say about a situation like this? Maybe Midge can be the one who knows how a situation goes for once, without warnings or tips. Just… living it. That’s how she gets the material for her act, which what’s happening tonight could never be part of. ‘So,’ she imagines telling a crowd, ‘I finally fucked Lenny Bruce. Plenty of people already thought I had, so I doubt anybody’s still betting on it, but if you had money on it happening in a swimming pool in Florida, happy days!’

“Can you see it from way over there?” she asks coquettishly.

“A little.”

“Seeing a rose ‘a little’ won’t do. Do you think Shakespeare only bothered to see a rose ‘a little’ before writing that line about how sweet it smells?”

Lenny shoves away from the side and swims lazily in her direction.

“What does yours smell like?”

“Pool chemicals, probably.”

“An underrated scent.”

Midge’s heart surges and her throat seizes up, tongue awkward in her mouth as he draws nearer. With the glow and distortive properties of the water, his body’s nothing but a blur below the surface, as she’s sure hers is as well.

“It’s like a forcefield,” he notes. “I get close enough to you and, it’s not that the world stops being funny, it’s…”

“It’s that it becomes somebody else’s job to make the joke.”

“That’s it,” Lenny agrees softly as they begin to slowly circle each other.

Gradually, they work their way over to where it’s shallow. Midge’s toes skim the bottom when she begins to uncurl her legs. Her body gets used to the weightless feeling of the water, muscles relaxing, but her heart beats harder and harder. Finally, she cuts across their circle and wraps her arm behind Lenny’s neck as she presses her mouth to his. His hand cups her cheek, then shifts, knocking the rose from her hair.

#my writing #The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel #tmmm #Midge Maisel #Lenny Bruce #Midge x Lenny #the ongoing dick-measuring contest between me and the Palladinos #so what if they aren't aware of it? does that matter? #as a writer I'm really just here to fix the unsatisfying plot points of the Palladinoverse

[james-stark-the-writer-wips]

A Year At The Opera - An Excerpt

WC: 2500 words.

This is still mostly a first draft and I might add more stuff to it later as I need to but this is a pretty complete piece :)

Chapter 14, Part 1: Thea

Thea arrived home around 4pm. Like every day before, she unlocked the doors, stepped in and headed straight for the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed the triple chocolate ice cream cake sitting right in front.

She’d eaten half of it last night and she intended to finish the rest today. She opened one of the drawers, grabbed a spoon and took a bite.

As it slowly dissolved in her mouth, she wandered into the living room and waltzed over to the thermostat. She lowered the temperature to 50F and took a seat on the couch. She stretched out her feet on the center table and let herself drown in the cold comfort of the couch as she took another bite of the cake.

As Theadora continued to reminisce on her day today, the door opened and her mother stepped in.

Ah, Haley Rockwell, retired actress now turned real estate agent, married her co-star Nicolas Belfry about ten years ago and had since then been the bane of Thea’s existence. Haley Rockwell had everything Thea hated in a person: her holier-than-thou attitude, her complete lack of self awareness, her perfect figure, her ‘love’ for Thea’s dad. Most of all, Thea hated that her dad seemed to love Haley more.

Thea swore Haley had just married her father for the money but Nicolas refused to hear it.

“Eating again, are we?” Haley remarked coldly as she slipped out of her trench coat and gently placed her St. Louis purse on the couch.

Haley loved that purse more than her own life. On occasion Thea had considered burning it or trashing it as payback for ruining her life but had stayed her hand for the appropriate time. She didn’t want to waste the opportunity if she could avoid it.

“What do you care, anyway?” Thea replied just as coldly, barely bothering to turn her attention away from the plate of cake in her hand.

She took another bite and faked a moan. She held the cake out to Haley. “Want some?” Thea asked, putting on her best baby voice and puppy dog eyes.

Haley scowled, walked over and slapped Thea. Thea barely flinched. This was nothing new. No, in fact this was practically routine.

Haley turned around and grabbed her phone from her coat.

“Guess that’s a no, then.” Thea smiled cheekily.

She knew Haley couldn’t have the cake anyway. Poor little lactose intolerant Haley.

“I’ve had an incredibly stressful day, I do not need your fucking sass, Thea.”

“Oh, why don’t you ask dad to buy you something then?” Thea replied.

Another slap. This one hit harder. Blood pooled under Thea’s cheeks and her skin felt warm.

“Well, at least you’re getting better at something in life.” Thea said, taking another bite of her cake.

Haley groaned angrily. “Is this the fucking antartic? Why is it freezing in here?” She walked over to the thermostat.

“It’s hot out.” Thea replied.

“Do you want me to get frostbite?”

“It’s 50 fahrenheit. You literally can’t get frostbite.”

“Oh, you’re so smart, aren’t you?” Haley grit her teeth.

“I like to think so, yes.” Thea remarked.

Haley exhaled sharply, shook her head in frustration, turned the corner and fucked off to her room.

Thea smiled contentedly, taking another bite of her cake. She grabbed the remote and flipped the TV on, finding a boring reality show to distract her. No matter how bad life got, she could at least remind herself she wasn’t like the pathetic bitches of rando city.

All the whining and bitching and crying. Thea almost felt bad for them. They’d never learned what true power felt like, locked in their terrible marriage in their stupid town.

Thea was determined to be better. She was determined to be smarter. She’d sworn to never let a man affect her and yet, last summer, she’d slipped. Thea was not the kind of person to get angry. No, she just got even.

But last summer, as the news dropped, Thea distinctly remembered feeling rage inside her and letting just a little bit out. Thankfully no one had seen her or figured out that the messed up classroom and the shattered green-board was her doing. Her reputation was still intact, even after last summer’s events. And she planned on getting revenge.

As the TV droned on in the background and the hours passed by, Thea spent her time planning out how things would go when she would finally get her revenge. There had to be some weak link in their relationship she could exploit.

Her interactions today with Mason practically spelled it out for her: they were having relationship issues. What she couldn’t figure out though was the best way to do it. She could make them turn on each other or turn the class against them (she figured that would be the easiest given how everyone pretty much already considered them freaks) or perhaps the situation would need a gentler, subtler approach. She couldn’t let anyone figure out she played a part in it or they would just get back together again. No, whatever needed to happen needed to be public and damning. She wanted to make Ingram the outcast. So much so even the losers wouldn’t associate with him.

She played all the scenarios over in her head, wondering which one would do the most damage. She imagined herself standing in the cafeteria, watching Ingram and Mason confront each other about something and then breaking out into a fight. Embarrass themselves publicly, certainly at least as humiliating and public as it was for her.

It was so vivid in her head it was practically a movie. The people would surround them, like they had on the first day of the semester, during the fight. They would publicly breakup and in his lowest moment, separated from everyone who even thought of loving him, Ingram would crawl his way back – wait that didn’t sound right. What she meant was: he’d feel completely and utterly destroyed and feel just like she did. Hurt and angry… Thea’s eyes widened as if she’d had an epiphany. It was not the first time she had thought about Ingram hurting like she had but it was the first time the thought had struck her in a different way. Why had a man made her feel weak, hurt? Almost jealous?

It reminded her of how she felt around her father: ignored, betrayed. Perhaps it was precisely why she was so angry. What Ingram did to her was what her father had done to–

“Are you gonna lay there all day?” Haley’s voice yanked Thea out of her stream of consciousness and back to reality.

Haley stood in the hallway, arms crossed, glaring Thea down. “What do you want?”

“Theadora, get off the damn couch and go do your homework or something.” Haley chided. “Your father doesn’t need to worry about you anymore than he already does, you waste of skin.” Haley spat from her crimson lips.

Thea groaned as she stood up. Her ass felt numb and she hadn’t even realized how long it had been. Probably over six hours, as the TV had switched off. She stretched her arms and let out a yawn. “I’m just gonna go sleep.”

Haley turned around and sauntered back to her room.

Thea sulked her way up the stairs and into her room. She pulled back her chair and opened her laptop.

She’d closed the laptop last night while shopping for the Halloween dance party next month. She’d had her eyes set on a gorgeous lavender silk dress with an intricate see-through lace front, although the price tag had made her hesitate. She loved Halloween and she wanted to be the best dressed but, even for a hand sewn dress, thirty thousand dollars was a lot of money. Which meant she would have to ask her dad.

Thea immediately rolled her eyes at the thought. She rarely found him alone; all the time that he was actually home and not at work or out golfing with some client he spent by Haley’s side. Thea couldn’t even remember the last time she had seen him crack a smile. Even on his birthday last February, he’d come home an hour early from work, downed half a bottle of whiskey and gone straight to bed. Not a single word to anyone. He was always the stoic, quiet man for as long as she could remember. And the thought of asking him to buy something for her, especially something that expensive, in front of Haley was a lecture Thea didn’t need.

Haley would play the naïve fool whenever Nicolas was around. Thea would point the slightest bit of criticism at Haley and Nicolas’s mood would automatically sour.

And so, putting aside the thought of buying the dress, Thea scrolled through the website, looking for more stuff she could actually get.

And as she scrolled through the countless dresses, Thea found her thought’s wandering…

It was suddenly last March – the day of the final exam and Thea had just handed in her exam. She grabbed her stuff and placed her hand on the door handle.

Just outside, the cacophony of inescapable and unintelligible chattering filled the entire sound space. Thea turned the door handle and stepped out. A sudden wave of dread passed over her. She could feel the wind change, as it were.

But she didn’t know why she was suddenly feeling like that. It couldn’t have been the exam; she’d done excellently and she was pretty much guaranteed an A+. As she took a few more steps, turning to walk to her locker, she noticed people’s subtle glances. She was used to being looked at in awe, in pure deification even – but these were very different glances. Just quick looks here and there, thinking she wouldn’t notice. These were curious glances. These were almost malevolent glances. She even thought she heard a few people whispering about her as she passed by.

No, it had to be her imagination. These low-lifes would never dare talk about her, certainly not like this.

Thea turned the corner and disappeared into the crowd as she walked to her locker. She opened her locker and grabbed her phone from inside. She reached to unlock it.

“Stop!” Thea heard a familiar voice and turned around.

The lean figure of Chrissy sprinted over and caught her breath. “Stop.” She bent down and caught her thighs.

“What is it?” Thea asked.

“Don’t open your phone.” She said.

“Why not?”

“You deserve better.”

Thea scrunched her face. “Better what, exactly?”

“Look, let’s just go somewhere a little private and I’ll tell you everything.”

“Tell me what, Chrissy? You’re scaring me, you know?”

“Just put your phone down and come with me. Please.” She pleaded.

“Fine.” Thea groaned.

“Come on, over here.” She grabbed Thea’s hand and gently led her away.

As they continued to drift past people, Thea noticed even more people staring at her.

“What are you all looking at?” Thea shouted and everyone turned away.

“What the fuck is going on, Chrissy?”

“There’s a big problem.” She stopped outside an empty classroom. “In here.”

She opened the door and led Thea in.

“Will you just tell me already?” Thea asked, annoyed.

She closed the door. “Okay, I want you to try not to freak out but Sarah Schulman–” She gulped.

“Spit it out already!” Thea yelled.

“Sarah Schulman saw Ingram making out with a guy in the bathroom!” She covered her mouth like she wanted to stop speaking.

Thea’s jaw dropped. She could feel the blood rushing out of her brain and into her balled fists. “She what?!”

“She told everyone.” She said calmly.

Thea couldn’t even process the thought. Thea felt lightheaded and stumbled backwards. Chrissy outstretched her hand to grab Thea but Thea brushed her away and leaned against the table. “Leave me alone.” Thea whispered through gritted teeth.

Chrissy’s legs shook uncontrollably as she nodded and sprinted out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Thea looked up at the ceiling, trying to get the thought through her brain.

Ingram Shaw. Kissing a boy. And everyone at school knew. Before she did. Maybe if he’d told her himself, she could’ve broken up with him, saved herself… but now all she could think was to break something.

She grabbed one of the chairs in front of her and threw it at the green-board – it shattered like a mirror and the chair clattered to the floor. Thea put her arm up to her mouth and let out a scream.

All she felt was betrayed and hurt and angry and all she could think about was what everyone would say about her. She would have to control the situation before it spread anymore. A tear streaked down her cheek and she wiped it off. She couldn’t afford to lose her head right now. She had to fix this.

She took out her phone and walked out of the classroom.

Thea shook her head and just like that she was back in her room, scrolling through dresses again. She scrolled for a while more, found some she liked and closed her laptop. She quickly finished up some schoolwork, answered some texts from Kitty about going out shopping and then climbed into bed. Tomorrow could not come soon enough, and Thea couldn’t wait to get to scheming.

-

It was September the 12th and a warm noon on a Wednesday, aka the next day, when Thea finally found an opportunity to get more information. There she was, grabbing her stuff from her locker at the end of school when everyone was shuffling out and Mason Carmichael was standing outside the gym.

She cleared her throat, checked her breath and quickly caught up to him.

“Mason!” She placed a hand on his shoulder and he jumped.

“Oh, Thea. It’s you.” Mason said, taking a deep breath. “I thought you were someone else.”

“Why so jumpy?” She asked.

“Nah, just nervous.” He leaned forward and looked down the hallway. “You know, first real session of the year.”

“Come on. now. What’s there to be nervous about? You’re like our Kobe.” Thea took a step back. Even with her heels, Thea had to look up to talk to Mason.

“It’s nothing.” Mason said, leaning against the wall.

“Well, you know if it is something, you can talk to me, right?” She said innocently.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Mason took out his phone.

“Well, good luck, then. With the game.” Thea said, turning around.

Well that was fucking useless. She would just have to try again later.

*

AYATO taglist: @inexorableblob @hell-yeah-fantasy @lilac-written @aurumni-writes @vviciously @the-real-rg @three-seas-writes @cawolters @emilymustwrite @westviews @ashestoashesdusttodust @berryspaceship @mariahwritesstuff @rcvolutions @noxcomic @death-over-coffee @ohlooksheswriting @your-art-is-gay @grimmwrites @leo-november @vhum @mendeled @adventurebeneaththewords @shamelesslypoetic @bettsican

#writeblr #writblr #original writing #creative writing #wip #writing #excerpt #excerpts from my writing #ayato #a year at the opera

[bakagamieru]

I don't think people are mad because of harry still being sad about zayn or whatever it is between them. Public image or offical narrative you name it but for some reason it's ALWAYS zayn who gets talked shit about and people at their "enough!" point me inclueded. 90% of theblogs I follow here are always critical about what's going on but after 5 years you want somethings to left behind. And at this point I can't help but ask would this mess still going on after all this time if it was not zayn?

General

There is every reason to believe that Zayn leaving is a stunt and that none of the boys ever had a problem with each other.  I’ve explained that in many previous posts, and the explanation takes up a lot of space, so I’m not doing it again here.  You can check out those posts in my Zayn Stunt Summary here: https://bakagamieru.tumblr.com/post/120840259353/zayn-stunt-summary

I think it helps to visualize this situation as a siege.  The human psyche is rather suggestible.  Even for strong, confident, self-assured personalities, it can be difficult to hold up against constantly being told the same lie from every quarter.  Sooner or later, people who are repeatedly told lies start to believe them, unless they’re very lucky, very aware, and very careful.  That’s the whole concept of gaslighting.  This has also been shown in psychological experiments where people have eventually been convinced they’ve broken bones that they never have just because they keep being told they have over and over.  

That’s why it’s important with this situation to keep reminding ourselves of the hard facts and work through every new development logically.  That’s how we survive the siege and stop ourselves from getting hypnotized into believing negative things about the boys just because we’re told negative things over and over again.

Direct Answer

I think the current badmouthing is about a sick and twisted promo strategy that all of their teams seem to share.

I suspect there would be a lot more negativity from Zayn’s side if he had proper promo.  No promo, no appearances, no performances, no interviews = no opportunity for badmouthing.  

Also, keep in mind that there are 4 people that can potentially badmouth Zayn, while Zayn is only 1 person to badmouth the other boys.  That’s obviously going to lead to more vitriol directed at Zayn than at the other boys.

Those two things (lack of promo, 4 v. 1 scenario) are probably part of the reason everything seems so unbalanced.

There’s also the fact that Zayn was cast as the villain from the beginning.  In the post I linked, you can find a post I made about why there were multiple reasons for that and why Zayn was actually the only person among the boys that could have been put in that role during this stunt.  Is there probably some racism involved in that?  Yes.  Is part of the reason that people are so willing to believe the worst about Zayn linked to unconscious racism?  Quite possibly, yes.

I know it sucks to see other people buying the negativity and feel like there’s nothing you can do about it.  The only thing I can say is that if you’re surrounded by negativity, it’s very difficult to see anything but the negative side of a situation.  

I prefer to think that most of the fans have been taken in by a targeted psychological strategy that relies more on repetitive misdirection than that most of the fans are blatantly racist.  And I really do believe that’s true.  I believe a lot of this type of racism is unconscious bias and that one day, hopefully a lot of people with these unconscious biases will at least become aware they have them and work towards trying to fix them.  

But no, in general I don’t think this negativity is still going on only because it’s Zayn.  I think it’s still going on because old 1DHQ still want it to be going on and keeps stirring the pot to make sure it does.  I think this is still going on because old 1DHQ still has some sort of hold on 1D’s public images, because the “feud” drama is being used for promo, and because the situation can’t really be fully resolved until the hiatus ends (and I predicted that before the hiatus began).  I had hoped that we might at least get friendly Zayn and 1D even before a reunion, but apparently that’s too much to ask for from the evil 1D overlords.

I, too, feel like shit every time this unnecessary negativity rears its ugly head. However, you have to either find a way to accept and move past it (which I do through reminding myself of the truth via logic) or you might need to remove yourself from the negativity.  If it’s dragging you down constantly, consider unfollowing blogs that post the news that upsets you or blocking the most common tags on the posts that upset you.  I know being told to ignore a bad situation isn’t the best, but for your mental health, it’s either that or finding a way to fight back that makes you feel better.

Showy = Putting on a Show

To me, the drama of this “feud” is just another reason to believe that nothing IS actually going on between Harry and Zayn.  Nothing bad anyway.  

When something is constantly being pushed in your face, it’s generally because someone wants you to see it.  More often than not, the things that are really scandalous are hidden in the entertainment industry and it’s the huge dramatic “feuds” that are constantly in the news that end up being all an act.

Character

Maybe I wear rose-colored glasses, but I’d like to think I’m a decent judge of character.  None of the boys are rude or spiteful enough to keep taking potshots, especially to gang up on one particular person, for years and years after a fight.

It takes a certain maturity to survive with as much grace as the boys have managed in the entertainment industry, and that sort of maturity should also lend itself towards mending a relationship after an argument / learning how to move on from an argument that can’t be fixed.

Former Friend vs. Foe 

Yes, there have been a few public scuffles with other celebs in the past, such as the Wanted, but that situation is different simply because no 1D boys were ever close to any of the Wanted.  A fight with a near-stranger is very different from a fight with someone you’ve called your brother on multiple occasions. 

The closer the people who are fighting are, the more emotional it is and the more hurt people get.  Being more emotional means being more likely to be very angry, but being more hurt means that you aren’t as likely to want to broadcast that very vulnerable, private feeling.  You’re more likely to want to shun the topic with strangers than vent about it, if you’re any sort of a private person.

If we know nothing else, we at least know for sure that Zayn and the other boys were very, very good friends.  You can’t fake the way they were together for the amount of time they were together.

It Was a Single Fight Supposedly

The story is that none of the boys are really in contact with Zayn, so according to that narrative, it’s not like there are ongoing clashes that keep any of the boys feeling like they need to keep commenting negatively about Zayn.  If you’re continually butting heads, it might make sense to keep complaining about the situation, but that’s not what we’re being told is happening.  We’ve essentially been told that there was 1 fight years ago and that’s been it aside from a small amount of supposed back and forth, almost entirely in print interviews initially.

Time and Common Decency

It’s been almost 5 YEARS.  What person with any sense of decency keeps bringing up a fight at every public appearance that happened 5 YEARS ago?  

That would be like getting in a fight with your good friend and then badmouthing them publicly at every gathering of your mutual friends for years.  No matter who was in the right originally, you’re just a jackass at that point.

Talking about something in private and complaining is one thing, but doing it in public?  That’s entirely different.  And the more time that passes, the more ridiculous it is.

Relevancy

Zayn isn’t even really relevant to any of the boys’ solo careers, so it doesn’t particularly make sense for him to be brought up over and over.  

This might be because the interviewers can’t seem to move on from 5 years ago, asking constantly about when the band is getting back together, if they’re getting back together, how is it different having a solo career, etc.  It’s been 5 YEARS.  Those questions have been asked and answered ad nauseam and it’s not like those answers have changed over time.  

Sorry, got a bit off track complaining about interviewers… Anyway, it might just be the interviewers being unoriginal, but their team clearly hasn’t blacklisted the topic which would be a more sensible and classy way to handle things given the situation and the amount of time that’s passed.  There’s no need to talk about Zayn at all really, and yet it keeps coming up.  It just makes all of them look bad, which shouldn’t be the image their teams want for them, and yet…apparently something is more important.

The Promo Connection

More than that, it specifically always seems to come up during promo, for better or worse.  Sometimes the mentions are more positive, but most of the time the narrative takes a sharp turn to the aggressively negative overnight. 

After ranging from positive to neutral when talking about Zayn for years, suddenly during Liam’s first round of promo, things turned quite negative (e.g., wouldn’t save Zayn if he were drowning) and again during this current round of promo (e.g., guess I can talk about this honestly now, etc.).  

After supposedly reconciling about 3 different times (while apparently having no contact positive or negative at all during these years?), Louis’ feelings on Zayn are apparently very negative (e.g. we’re too immature to ever make up) during this current round of promo.  

After not talking about Zayn at all, Harry was suddenly negative during his first round of promo (I think it was the Rolling Stone print interview, but I’m not sure) and brought it up negatively again, unprompted, during this round of promo on SNL.  

It’s not like Zayn ever HAS promo anymore, but when he does have interviews, there’s generally some sort of dig at One Direction somehow (pretty much all print interviews, of course).  

The only one to escape the pattern is Niall, but Teflon Niall is a real thing, enough said. 

It’s ALWAYS during promo for a single or album that things get nasty again.   My best guess is that their teams think that the “feud” = drama = attention = sales.  To me, it seems dumb, repetitive, unrealistic, etc., but I guess a casual fan or the general public wouldn’t follow everything they do, so it’s not as repetitive to that type of consumer.

Conclusion

I am 100% aware of how exhausting, frustrating, and infuriating this whole situation is.  There’s no need for the negativity, it makes no sense, it paints all of the boys in a bad light, it basically requires someone to assume the worst of Zayn in order to believe any of it, and yet there are tons of people who still do believe all of it without any critical thought.

This is why I still write posts like these over and over again.  I have to get those negative emotions out somehow, and the best way for me to feel better is by countering the official narrative by using logic.  It reassures me that even though I’m made to feel like crap about the situation, my initial and continuing judgments about the situation haven’t been wrong.  If you remind yourself of the actual proven characters of the people involved and work things out logically, it’s not dire like all the negativity makes it feel.

When things are loud, they tend to be for show.  That’s what this all is.  This negativity is for show, which means it’s not real.

TLDR;

The fact that there’s still so much public negativity between the boys and Zayn is unrealistic, and therefore suspicious, because:

the boys are too good to be acting like this

this supposed fight would be too intimate and painful to bandy about publicly like this

supposedly the boys haven’t been in contact and so all of this is over a single fight that happened 5 years ago

the boys are too smart to not know that acting like this makes them look bad

their teams have to be in favor of the badmouthing because otherwise they could easily have just not talked about it at all

there’s generally a sharp increase in negativity when one of the boys has single or album promo

there’s more badmouthing of Zayn because it’s framed as 4 v. 1 and also Zayn never has any promo

My conclusion from these points (and also from previous facts and experience) is that the badmouthing isn’t because 1D and Zayn want to be badmouthing each other.  Rather, the drama of the “feud” is being used for promo and possibly other purposes.  I firmly believe that if there were a real falling out, the 1D boys would have handled it far more gracefully than this, given the chance.  

I suppose it’s possible that there was a real fight and that the boys were forced to handle it ungracefully by their team, but I would point to Occam’s Razor.  The simplest explanation that fits ALL the facts related to this situation (from the time of Zayn leaving through now) is that Zayn was forced out of 1D as a stunt and that there was never an actual feud between Zayn and the rest of the boys.

So yes, this situation sucks, but no, I don’t blame either side for it because there are NO sides when there is no actual fight.  I blame old 1DHQ and I blame society in general and I blame the ignorance of the general public.  But I’m not here for them, I’m here for 1D, so I keep my head down and keep waiting for things to get good again.

#one direction #zayn leaving #zayn v. 1d feud #speculation #bakagamieru #masterpost #I wrote a massive post again #sob #why do I always do this? #when will I ever learn? #I also can't stay on topic for the life of me #Anonymous

[hitchfender]

Im sorry but i really dont understand why are you guys so obsessed with proving to louis' lgbt fans that hes homophobic and hates them just bc he not pick up the flags thrown at him. There r loads of celebs who support lgbt people but dont wave pride flags. Taylor swift hasnt ever waved any pride flag thrown at her(n i assure u ppl do throw em)but she still shows enormous support to lgbt ppl. yall arent proving anything at all just hurting lgbt ppl for stanning someone you dont like n its shitty

Yeah n during hs1 harrys target audience was straight white old dudes too yet none of his current fanbase abandoned him lol. Louis hasnt ever shown that he hates his female fanbase or wants more old White men as his fans n is still proud of his 1d days which isnt the best selling point to old straight white men. Louis interacts more warmly n is more lovely to his female fanbase than harry ever has been to his fans for the past 5 years lol. Louis liking oasis doesn't mean he wants oasis fans

i’m going to begin this (lengthy, sorry) response by addressing some things you’ve said that i disagree with.

i (sarah) believe that louis is homophobic and hates his lgbt fans

dude i don’t know shit about louis tomlinson. in the post you’re responding to, i didn’t mention or even imply that he hates his fans - just that i find it odd that so many young queer women rally around his music, when artists like kasabian and the pigeon detectives are reaching such a different demographic. i have no evidence that he’s a homophobe, and wouldn’t throw that claim around lightly. nothing personal there.

louis, like taylor swift, does not wave pride flags, but still supports his lgbt fans in a manner comparable to the way taylor does

you’re wrong about that, and i’m a swiftie so i have proof! in 2019 alone taylor donated $113,000 to a project advocating for the rights of lgbt people in her home state of tennessee, she performed at stonewall, and she released a whole single about how being homophobic is silly and bad. even five years ago her lyrics marked explicit acceptance of her queer fans (“boys and boys and girls and girls”). whether you feel that those forms of support are meaningful or merely performative, they’re undeniable and quite bold.

you know more about louis’ allyship than i do, because i’m not a fan of his, but i just googled “louis tomlinson lgbt support” and this headline - from 2014 - was the top result:

frankly that is embarrassing. feel free to explain.

“during hs1 harry’s target audience was straight white old dudes” / “louis interacts more warmly n is more lovely to his female fanbase than harry ever has been to his fans for the past 5 years”

i mean, most of that’s provably false.

again, because i don’t follow louis, i can’t compare him with harry, and i welcome any evidence you have to offer. gotta say this google search doesn’t bode well

here’s what you’re right about: louis still talking about and being proud of his days in one direction isn’t going to endear him to many straight male fans, and his liking oasis doesn't mean he wants his fans to love them too. fair enough. my tag post, as i’ve said, was just pointing out the disparity between his fanbase and that of artists who are making similar music, and wondering aloud how he feels about it. as a fan, you’d have more insight there than i would, but i don’t think we disagree.

anon, i’m not trying to start a fight or publicly humiliate you, and if you’d like to come back into my inbox to discuss this further i’d be happy to talk. forgive me for the assumption, but i’m guessing you’re not straight - and in that case you and i are on the same side! we’re just two gay music fans trying to find artists we can see ourselves in! representation is important, and when you find a musician you love it’s natural to believe they care about you personally, but it’s just not always the case. as fans we have to decide for ourselves if we’re willing to overlook an artist’s potential shortcomings in favour of their art, or if it’s more worthwhile to seek out musicians who can provide that sort of distanced - but rewarding - emotional support. i know which one i’ve chosen.

#thanks for scrolling through all of this ❤️ #not gonna lie the 'female fans' google search made me laugh #and i welcome any further discussion

[junker-town]

Just how badly would the most diehard NFL fans react if their team moved?

Relocating sports teams causes sadness. A lot of fans don’t ever have to consider the possibility, but if they did, they probably would NOT HANDLE IT WELL.

The NFL has undergone some pretty drastic changes over the past couple years and will continue to do so as yet another team — the Raiders, if you missed the news — moves cities. Fans of more dug-in franchise, like the Patriots, might overlook the sheer heartbreak felt by diehards of teams that have packed up and left. And that is simply because a Patriots fan doesn’t ever have to worry about losing their team.

It’s important to remember where the word “fan” comes from — fanatics. The entire premise is that you care deeply enough to be somewhat beyond reason. It’s not supposed to make sense that a team can play poorly and change the entire course of a fan’s day as a result, but that’s the reality. (The 49ers and Sharks have ruined so, so many of my days.)

Losing a team is that feeling, but with a ton of confusion and unanswered questions added in. There are still fans of the St. Louis Rams who can’t bring themselves to follow the team in Los Angeles. The six San Diego Chargers superfans are having a rough go of it and their team didn’t even move that far. Oakland is a city that is often the butt of jokes from those who don’t actually live there, but its fans are some of the most passionate you’ll come across. Many are still wondering how they’ll feel when the Raiders kick off in Las Vegas for the first time.

That got me thinking about what would happen if teams that would never relocate actually did. What if the Patriots up and moved out of New England? Or if the Packers left Green Bay? How would those fervent fanbases react? Let’s run through some of the scenarios.

New England Patriots fans would suffer a collective meltdown

Of course, the Patriots nearly did relocate, back in the early 90s. Then-owner James Orthwein was set on getting a team to St. Louis and he planned to turn the Patriots into the St. Louis Stallions. Robert Kraft eventually got ownership of team and that never happened, and since then the Patriots have established the most dominant dynasty in football history.

Yeah, they’re not going anywhere.

But if they did, there would be two types of Boston sports fan in this scenario: the fans who bleed Boston sports and who will never root for a team outside of the area, and the fans who are so spoiled by success that bad news just falls off of them.

It’s the first group I’m most concerned about, honestly. I’m picturing that scene from Community when the glee club gets reported for IP infringement and they are not equipped to process the news, suffering a collective meltdown in which one of the members stabs himself in the hand with a fork.

Needless to say, I don’t think they would handle it well.

Green Bay Packers fans would implode into nothingness

As one of the two oldest franchises in the NFL and the only one publicly owned, the Packers are not going anywhere. If they did, things wouldn’t be so bad — for a portion of their fans.

Here’s how I see the Packers: they have a small local market, but a very large and spread out fanbase, due to people latching onto the team in the late 90s when the NFL was making big gains in popularity.

Because they have so many supporters who aren’t from Green Bay, I feel like, of the four teams I’m talking about, Packers fans would probably deal with a move better than the others.

Even then, that’s not particularly well.

And it most certainly does not apply to the most diehard and the ones who are native to Green Bay.

No, fans in Green Bay would be much, much worse for wear. Each and every one of them would fold into themselves until nothing but an entire city full of discarded cheesehead hats remain.

Chicago Bears fans would cause deep dish pizza to be outlawed

The Bears are a team that has already relocated once, back in 1921. They went from being the Decatur Staleys to the Chicago Staleys, and then the Chicago Bears. And surprisingly, the Bears have threatened to move in recent history, in 2002 when Soldier Field was desperately in need of renovation. Soldier Field isn’t exactly an amazing stadium these days, so the Bears will probably need a new one in the near future.

But even with the massive hurdle of getting a new stadium built, I just cannot imagine Chicago without the Bears. So many Saturday Night Live sketches would be absolutely ruined!

What would happen if the team ever did the Super Bowl Shuffle all the way to a new city? My guess is that waves and waves of overlapping depression would hit Chicago.

Then Bears fans would turn to the only other thing they have: deep dish pizza and hot dogs (without ketchup on them, of course). The city would do nothing but eat those two things, and drink whatever drink is super popular in Chicago (like, a nice dark stout, perhaps?) until they are so unhealthy and so defeated that the entire city falls into chaos.

Worst of all, the FDA would outlaw hot dogs and deep dish pizza. We would all feel the repercussions. The Bears moving would indeed be the darkest timeline.

Dallas Cowboys fans would pretend to boycott the NFL

America’s Team, yessir. Despite the fact that this nickname has angered me for all of my 29 years, the Cowboys don’t belong anywhere else but Dallas (and yes, before you write that comment, I’m aware the Cowboys and other teams often have their stadiums just outside the city they represent).

Also, trying to predict how their fans would handle it is difficult. I almost feel like they would have to move VERY far for Cowboys fans to stick with the team, just on the basis of Texas rivalries. Would a Dallas Cowboys fan continue to support the team if they became the San Antonio Cowboys? Would they root for the Houston Texans instead?

Or would they simply cease to exist due to a clear abuse of the laws of probability?

As a 49ers fan [pause for boos], even though I was conditioned to hate the Cowboys, now it’s mostly just the nickname I don’t like. But I’d be lying if I said the Cowboys aren’t the team I’d be most curious to see in this situation. I’m thinking dozens of protests, marches, far too many American flags, a lot of Bud Light, and a stated full-on boycott of the NFL which nearly none of them actually honor.

What team do you think would cause the biggest shockwaves through its fanbase if it moved? What team would cause the least? These are the dumb things I think about, so now you have to.

[flauntpage]

Flyers Roster Predictions: Offense

Last week, I gave you my prediction on defense. Here now, is the prediction for the final forward spots, which is a lot harder of a read (no pun intendend) if you ask me:

  Forwards

 To me, this is the more intriguing battle.

I mean, we know with the defensemen that ultimately all three are going to be long-term players for the Flyers and nice building blocks as the franchise tries to return to prominence under Ron Hextall’s architectural plan.

But these forward positions are really about the here and now.

Here’s what we know:

Top line: Claude Giroux-Sean Couturier-Jake Voracek

I didn’t think that this would be a regular thing, but rather something Hakstol could turn to at some point down the road when offense was needed. I was wrong. This is the plan.

It started slowly, but over the course of three games got a lot better and much more so on Thursday night. I mean real good. Voracek had a goal and an assist. So did Couturier. Giroux had a pair of helpers. Yeah, that’s good – even for preseason. Not sure right now whose brainchild this was, but we’ll give Hakstol credit until told otherwise. This could turn out to be the most outside-the-box decision in the NHL this season, and perhaps one of the more successful.

  Second line: Jordan Weal-Nolan Patrick-Wayne Simmonds

Look, there was never a doubt Patrick was making the team. There was a lot of coach-speak or GM-speak about him potentially going back to juniors, blah, blah, blah. It was a line they had to feed publicly to make Patrick earn it in camp.

But the fact is, the kid is really talented and was going to be here. Playing him with Simmonds will protect him as Simmonds will take care of the 19-year-old rookie. And Weal is a guy who has been a fan darling for a little more than a year now. It’s a line that can provide instant offense. The one worry is it’s not the best defensive-minded combination, so it has to be deployed wisely by Hakstol. I think if there’s a line that could get some tweaking early in the season, it’s this one. But if they’re putting the puck in the net, maybe not.

  Third line: Dale Weise-Valtteri Filppula-Travis Konecny

I’m not in love with Weise here. He’s a serviceable bottom six guy, but I think Konecny is a talent and could use a little more gifted offense around him. Ultimately, as the season goes along, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Patrick and Konecny end up together on a line while Filppula plays with Simmonds and Weal. At that point, Weise makes more sense as the defensively responsible player with a couple of young, talented forwards – but I get why you wouldn’t want to start the season that way as they want to ease Patrick into the NHL a little bit.

  Fourth line: Michael Raffl-Scott Laughton-??????

This is where it gets interesting. Laughton and Raffl have had excellent camps. They have become close. Their lockers are right next to each other. There are a lot of good, lengthy conversations between the two in the locker room. They’re both solid, reliable two-way players. Laughton has bought into his role. Raffl is a jack-of-all-trades. As a matter of fact, regardless of who their linemate is, unlike a lot of other fourth lines, I’m betting this trio will see a lot of action against the top lines of the opposition, really making them more like another third line option for Hakstol.

So who gets to play with them?

The remaining candidates are a pair of veterans and a pair of young players.

First is the usual suspect – Matt Read.

Read is now 31 and entering his seventh NHL season. It seems like yesterday that he burst onto the scene as an undrafted free agent who scored 24 goals, 23 assists and 47 points as a rookie in 2011-12. Turns out, those were all career highs.

But now, in the final year of his contract, Read is being pushed for a job.

Coming into camp, it looked like he might be the odd guy out – and he still might be. But, that doesn’t mean he hasn’t worked hard to keep his job.

He’s had a very good camp. He’s healthy. He feels good. He’s skating well. Last night he played a lot of minutes against Boston’s top lines and was excellent. He had a takeaway. He killed penalties with good aggressiveness. He looked like a guy who had a job to win.

Does he think he won it?

“I feel like I should be on the team,” he said. “I’m just worried about getting ready for the season. I don’t worry about [competition]. I don’t even think about it. I worry about myself and take care of myself first. I know how I can play and what I can do out there, I just have to make sure my mind and my body are in a good place every game and good things will come.”

It’s interesting, because Read probably should be on the team. His offense has waned, but he’s a veteran player who can play responsibly against top players on the opposition. He has always been a good penalty killer. He has a lot of value in a bottom-six role.

But, like MacDonald on the defensive side, he too has a bad contract and if the Flyers waive him and he clears waivers (which is likely as only one player in the league has been claimed on waivers so far) then they can send him to the Phantoms and save a little more than $1 million in cap dollars.

But, is that really worth it? Wouldn’t he be better suited to be in the lineup or at least the 13th forward? I mean, you are paying him anyway, is the $1 million in cap savings worth not having a versatile guy like Read around?

I guess that depends on how much you like the prospects:

Taylor Leier, 23, was drafted by the Flyers in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. He played in 10 games in the NHL last year and six the season before. He can skate, he’s smart and he’s got a bit of a scorer’s touch as well.

Oh, and did I mention, he’s had a great camp?

We’ve been hearing about Leier as a future NHLer for some time now and although the bloom has started to come off the rose a little bit in terms of what the team thinks he can be offensively, he still has the qualities every coach and GM are looking for. OK, so maybe he’s not going to be a scoring dynamo, but he does a lot of little things well and will be a bulldog of a worker if the team needs it.

Oskar Lindblom, 21, was drafted by the Flyers in the fifth round of the 2014 draft, and a lot of people are starting to consider him a steal being drafted there. He’s opened some eyes in hockey circles and has been talked about for months now as a guy who could crack this Flyers lineup.

They’ve given him every opportunity, and the fact that he’s still in camp tells you how highly the Flyers think of him.

Here’s the difference between Leier and Lindblom, though – age and experience. Leier is ready to give the NHL a go. He has already proven he can play in the AHL and sending him down to the Phantoms doesn’t make sense. He also would be exposed to waivers, and although we’ve already determined that waivers isn’t as much a gamble as it used to be – it still is a gamble. So, why risk losing a younger player you like instead of a veteran – like Read – who is going to be a free agent at season’s end and is highly unlikely to be claimed off waivers because of his contract/cap hit?

As for Lindblom, he can be sent back down to the Phantoms without being exposed to waivers. He’s still 21 and has a bright future ahead, but letting him play top line minutes with the Phantoms will be good for him rather than fourth line minutes for the Flyers. Not to mention, he’s not a fourth-line kind of player. He’s more of a scoring line winger. The Flyers have time to continue developing Lindblom. He hasn’t had a bad camp, but, he’s only been in the lineup for one of the last three games. He had a chance playing with Giroux in one of the games and didn’t stand out. To me it makes sense to send him down and bring him back later in the year.

The final contender is Jori Lehtera. The 29-year-old center came here as part of the Brayden Schenn trade with St. Louis on draft day. Lehtera had three seasons in St. Louis that got progressively less productive. He roared on the scene with 44 points as a rookie. That dropped to 34 points two seasons ago and down to 22 points last season. The other issue with Lehtera is he’s a natural center and the Flyers are asking him to play on the wing, which Hakstol insists he can do while his former coach in St. Louis, now a coach in Dallas, says he can’t. I guess we’re bound to see who is right.

Lehtera had a pretty good defensive game Thursday against Boston playing with Read and Laughton, but otherwise has hardly been noticeable in camp after scoring two goals in the first preseason game against a mostly AHL lineup for the New York Islanders. He just seems like the square peg in the round hole here – at least at wing.

I’m sure Hextall had to agree to take him and his terrible contract ($4.7 million for this year and next) in order to get the draft picks he wanted from St. Louis, but it really doesn’t make sense with the rest of what is being built here.

Why take on a placeholder with a prohibitive salary for two seasons when you have one already whose contract expires after this season? Morgan Frost, the guy they drafted with the first round pick they got from St. Louis, better turn out to be a winner, otherwise this could prove to be a bad deal.

My Prediction: So, this comes down to whether the Flyers are willing to expose Leier to waivers or not. He’s done enough to earn a spot on the team, but if they think they can sneak him through waivers back down to the Phantoms, then they can carry both Read and Lehtera with one being in the lineup (Read’s the better role player) and the other as the 13th forward while Leier and Lindblom get plenty of playing time with the Phantoms and are a phone call away if needed.

However, if they don’t want to risk losing Leier, he makes it and one of the vets has to go. Neither would be claimed off waivers, so sending either down to the Phantoms would be easy. But who do you keep?

Common sense says Read, but the fact that Lehtera is signed for two seasons, tells you the decision may be a financial one, which I understand. Sometimes, when it’s that close of a race, money has to be the determining factor.

So what would I do? I’d try and send Leier back to the Phantoms for now and keep the two veterans and see what other circumstances might arise that could get Leier back here quickly (an injury, for example).

But will the Flyers do that? I don’t think so. I think Leier wins a job on the fourth line with Laughton and Raffl and the Flyers keep Lehtera over Read based on the extra year (and frankly more money being paid).

Read either gets shipped to the Phantoms, or Hextall tries to find a trading partner and maybe eats a portion of Read’s salary.

But, as I have proven before, I can be wrong.

Flyers Roster Predictions: Offense published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv