#and good luck on whatever event they drop with Kyle!

[oswaldsirius]

Collection Events

It was requested so here it is! Collection event info bomb coming your way!

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These events run differently than Story Events, the big difference being they use main story routes instead of their own, separate stories. There’s a few areas to focus on here, but the main one is on Lucky Times.

First thing’s first. Collection events are all about just that, collecting. The item here is ‘hearts’ and what you do is trade them, 10 at a time, for a variety of things in the event. It will give you 10 right off the bat to give you a basic idea of how it works and to get you that first item. They’ll range from stories, to in game items, to Avatar attire. There will be a list of all of them that you can check right away as soon as the event starts. As for getting hearts, there’s four ways to earn them during the event; login, reading a main story, duels, and buying them. Here’s a quick break down of how many they give and how you get them.

Login will give you 2, basically once in the morning and again in the evening. Provided you, you know, login. Main story parts will get you 5 hearts when you read all five chapters of one part. You only get them for finishing parts, so being halfway through one won’t do anything for you.

Story Checks (Intimacy and Avatar) will add another 3 hearts when you complete them. For Avatar checks, it doesn’t matter if you choose the premium or normal attire; it’s 3 hearts no matter what.

Route completions will get you 15 hearts. If you can’t tell, reading the story is where you really earn hearts in this event.

Duels will earn you 2 for every five duels you do, win or draw. I’m pretty sure it keeps track below where your stamina bar is on the duel screen how many more you have to do before you get hearts. So again, do them before bed because at some point they’ll make another five and there’s two more hearts for you!

There’s two ways to buy them from the item shop, with 90 crystals or 2000 Lin. You’re limited to 10 a day if you’re buying with Lin, but the ones bought with crystals are unlimited. But if you’re trying to play for free or are a new player without a lot of Lin, these are more for situations where you need a little boost to get whatever you’re aiming for.

Just like Story Events, you want to look at Lucky Times and bonuses here, but the catch here is as soon as a Collection Event starts, we’re all in it. There’s no choosing to enter because it’s not a separate story, it’s using what you play daily with to earn those hearts.

Lucky Times

There’s three types in these events, Story, Duels, and both together at once, and you earn double hearts in all of them.

Story Lucky Times. These are the Big Deal in these events. You already earn more hearts just reading the story; you earn even more when it’s Lucky Time. All of them are doubled, so now you’re looking at 10 for finishing a part, 6 for clearing a check, and a whopping 30 if you finish a route.

You want to push through your Intimacy Checks on these Lucky Times. The best practice here is to just not do them if they happen the day before a Lucky Time. Let’s say the first Lucky Time is on Monday, but your Check is on Sunday. Read the story part like normal, but when you get to the end, just don’t go through the check. Tap the home button to get out of it and just wait for the next day. Your daily tickets will refill to play the next part but first it’ll ask you to get through the check. Bam. 16 hearts because it’ll count not only the check, but also finishing that part as being done during Lucky Time! You’ll usually see this with the first Intimacy Check on a collection event and new route. They’ll line up pretty much like what I just described so you just have to wait until Lucky Time starts in your time zone to finish that check and then keep reading for another 10 hearts. So a little bit of patience with your checks and you’ve got 26 hearts in one sitting.

Another thing about routes and Intimacy Checks. If you aren’t going to have time to get a route near an ending, get it to an Intimacy Check and stop. You can bounce into the route on Lucky Time and earn 16 hearts for that day. Yes, you won’t advance in whatever new story has dropped if you don’t have extra tickets, but you’ll get the extra hearts. You have to choose for yourself which one you’d rather have.

This is also where you want to use any chapter tickets you’ve been sitting on. And you should be sitting on them. There’s not much point in using them outside of collection events/new routes because they don’t really get you anything beyond getting an end faster. Saving them for Collection Event Lucky Times is the best thing to do. The event itself will give them as rewards as you turn in hearts, but not very many so be careful with this. If you don’t have 5 to use, keep them for the next time. It’s that whole being half way through a part not getting you anything. If you play it smart and play for a while, you can chain these together to get a lot of points in one go but again, it takes patience and hoarding of items.

Duel Lucky Times. These ones aren’t bad but you’re only looking at an increase from 2 to 4 hearts earned. It’s tempting to use Tea and Cake sets here, but it’s not worth it in the long run. Those tea sets are of much greater use in Story Events so just hang onto them for now and do your duels like normal.

Both Story and Duel Lucky Times are exactly what it says on the tin. Double hearts for however you earn them! This doesn’t happen very often and usually near the end of the event for that little last push you might need to get some extra ones.

Bonuses

So there’s three different ways to earn items in this event, Early Clears, Ranking, and the actual item chain itself.

Early Clears are the timed ones. Certain amount of hearts in a certain amount of time. Usually the first Lucky Time will fall before the first Early Clear is up so they do give you a chance to get it easily enough if you’re playing smart. There’s usually two or three, with the first being a card and a story to go with it. The other two could be attire or a background. Depends on the event but all three are achievable without dropping a lot of money if you plan out your Lucky Times.

Ranking bonuses are a little tighter on this one. I’m pretty sure Collection Events see a top 200 for the first tier instead of 300 like Story Events. It makes it a little more competitive and harder to get into. If you’re just starting out and playing free, I wouldn’t aim for here just yet. You’re not going to be completely set up to get here unless you drop a lot of money. Which I’m seeing more and more people do instead of just playing the way the event is designed. But to each their own.

The item chain is the list of things you get for turning in your hearts. Stories, attire, items, Lin and crystals all show up here! You aren’t competing with anyone for these items and just earn them on your own as you play. It’s a good habit to look through and see who’s stories they’re giving, because it’s usually only 5-7 guys included in the event, and where they sit. Ray and Sirius will almost always be the last two stories because they’re the most popular characters in Japan so they make players work for them. Unreleased guys cycle through on whether they get a story or not and they’re usually the first stories you get. The other released guys are peppered through the list in various places. You will see a lot of repeat of some characters because of their popularity in Japan which I know a lot of English players don’t like because the popularity here doesn’t exactly echo what it is there but we can’t do anything about it since all the stories are already made and just being translated.

Items

Chapter Tickets. I can’t stress it enough, these are like pure gold for this event. You want to use them on Lucky Times to boost and get you as many hearts as you can get. They are a little harder to come by since the game doesn’t give them to you on the login cycle, but you can still get them. Like I mentioned before, you get 5 for finishing a route. The Secret Tea Party will also give you 1. The event itself will give you 1 or 2 as you turn in hearts. Or you can buy them from the item shop for 100 crystals. Consider doing this if you have say, 4 because it’ll be a good way to round you out and get you through another part.

Hearts in the shop are also a good thing in a pinch. Say you’re only one or two away from getting that next 10 to turn in. If you’ve got the Lin, use it to buy them and get over that line. But just make sure you’ll have enough Lin to get through an Avatar check if you’re only getting the normal attire. It would suck to get stuck on a check because you spent too much Lin on hearts in the shop. The ones you earn through reading the story are worth so much more because you don’t have to pay to get them and you get more for your money. So use these as a last resort.

Unless you have a lot of Lin. If you have more than enough, or are playing a route you already have the attire items for, spend the Lin, get 10 hearts a day. But this is really more for people who’ve been playing for a while and have amassed a lot of Lin that just sits there normally.

Types of Collection Events

So far we’ve seen two, one where it’s the normal one like what I’ve described up above and another called a Touch Event.

This one runs essentially the same but this time when you turn in hearts, you get to tap a guy of your choice and you get different lines from them with every heart you tap! Two of them will be voiced lines and the rest are just text on the screen.

There’s three stages for each guy, meaning you have to turn in 30 hearts in order to ‘complete’ him. In the Touch Event we had before, after you finish all three stages, you got a chibi of that guy. Once you complete all three stages, you pick another guy and get new lines and a new chibi!

Fun fact, they don’t restrict how many chibis you can get of one guy. So if you want more than one of your best boy, just go back to him and complete another three stages. They’ll keep giving them if you have the hearts to trade.

When they did this one, however, there were extra bonuses for touching all of the guys and for getting all of the guys to all three stages of completion. Since we’ve only seen this event once, I don’t know if they’re all like that but it’s something to keep in mind. Just make sure you read all the notes about an event and the bonuses so you know what you need to do to get them!

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I think that about sums up everything I have to say about how to get through Collection Events. So far we’ve only really seen these events paired with route drops, but there will come a time when they aren’t paired up. There’s a lot of them in the Japanese version of the app and there’s only so many routes. At some point, it’ll get harder to earn hearts unless you’re still playing routes even if you’ve done them before.

When Kyle’s route drops, if there’s more questions feel free to shoot them my way or even before then. I’m happy to share what the last year has taught me. Collection events are a little easier to save money on because all you have to do is play the game like you have been, but just a little smarter!

#ikemen revolution #ikerev #collection events #hope this helps anyone that needs it! #and good luck on whatever event they drop with Kyle! #fixed the formatting! #tips and tricks

[ashesandhalefire]

i know, you know

alex, michael, and a lonely hearts club gone slightly awry.

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inspired by @malex-cupid day one and three themes: wooing my way into your heart and valentine’s day.

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“Okay, here’s a nightmare scenario,” Michael says as he eases back down onto the couch with another slice of pizza in his hand. He crosses his ankles on the coffee table and bites the tip off. Alex raises an eyebrow expectantly, drawing a sip from his beer, and Michael nods. After a rough swallow, he wipes the corner of his mouth with his thumb. “I once hooked up with a girl on February thirteenth. Totally lost track of the date.”

Alex rolls his eyes. “That’s not a nightmare scenario for someone like you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Michael takes another bite of his pizza and tries to talk around a mouthful of cheese, face twisted with playful indignation. “Someone like me?”

Alex leans his head against the back of the couch and says, “Charming people never end up in nightmare scenarios because they can, by default, charm their way out of anything.”

Brow furrowing, Michael wrinkles his nose. “I don’t think I’ve ever been called charming in my life. A few other choice words, sure, but not charming.”

“Well, I guess my perspective is a little different from the sheriff’s department. In my experience, you have a tendency to be very good at saying the right thing.” Alex wiggles his left foot where it sits, tucked beneath the center cushion on the couch, and rubs distractedly at his right knee. The knot in his sweatpants jostles close to Michael’s hip.

Entirely by accident, he’s significantly more dressed-down than Michael is in his slim jeans and crisply colored flannel. Neither piece of Michael’s outfit has the well-worn softness of his usual wardrobe, none of the torn seams or threadbare elbows, but the top two buttons of his shirt are undone like always and the collar hangs wide against his clavicle. Alex tries not to let his eyes linger.

As he chews through another bite, Michael stares back at him, and the gaze feels heavy enough that Alex turns away. “And, please, you’re sitting on my couch, watching my television, drinking my beer, and eating my pizza. If that’s not the direct result of charm, what is it?” 

“Dumb luck,” Michael says. Amusement glints in his eyes as he licks his lips. “Besides, this whole lonely hearts club thing was your idea.” 

“Yeah, but it was originally a party of one.”

Alex had quickly opted out, making his answer a polite but firm no, when Kyle mentioned the flier on the Crashdown’s front door that advertised the latest Wild Pony cash-grab attempt, but that hadn’t prevented him from running face-first into Isobel’s advertising efforts all over town for the next week and a half. General buzz at the post office and hospital implied that her reputation for event planning had drummed up some genuine interest from the locals, and that in and of itself cemented his plan for the weekend as pizza, beer, and whatever cable had to offer. His plan had, at no point, included running into Michael in the candy aisle at RiteAid at three o’clock in the afternoon on Valentine’s Day.

With an armful of personal care items marked with discount stickers, Michael had taken one look at the prescription envelope in Alex’s right hand and the box of chocolates in his left and said, “Got a hot date?”

“No,” Alex had said, wishing he’d chosen to put on something neater than his faded sweatpants. Michael rarely looked presentable by general standards, but he always looked good. “Just chronic pain and a sweet tooth.”

“You should come back tomorrow,” Michael had suggested. “Better sales after the holiday.”

“True, but then I won’t have anything to eat tonight.”

Michael had visibly perked, even though his face stayed neutral. “You’re not going to the singles night thing at the Pony? I thought Valenti would have roped you in for sure.”

“No.” Fleetingly, Alex had considered the idea of wandering through the crowded bar, equally decorated in distasteful neon and garish party store hearts, and trying to pick which of the Pony’s regular stock might like to have his drink bought by an openly gay veteran with one leg while his friends watch from the sidelines of their depressingly stable relationships. “There’s not enough booze in the world.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Michael had laughed. He hadn’t quite met Alex’s eye as they both carefully side-stepped the rest of the conversation. Alex had stopped paying attention, so he wasn’t sure if Michael had retaken to running up a tab yet. “Is is completely pissed at me, but I told her there was no way in hell.”

Alex had swallowed. “Got a hot date?”

“Totally,” Michael had said. He held up his hand and wiggled his fingers. “I think you’ve met him.” 

In retrospect, Alex blames the rest of the conversation on the fact that he’s been unshakably in love with Michael since he was seventeen. For the better part of a month, he’s been trying to work up the courage to throw out a line. But they exist in a strange no-man’s-land of casual acquaintanceship that borders on friendship and romance simultaneously, and Alex hasn’t quite found the right way out yet. 

“If you don’t have plans tonight, you could swing by.” Michael, already at the end of the aisle when Alex called after him, had looked mildly startled when he turned around. “We can get pizza. Or something. Whatever goes with beer.”

“Everything goes with beer in my world.”

“It’ll be a lonely hearts club type of thing,” Alex had said, primarily for the deniability. 

Michael had cocked his head. His eyes drifted lower and lower until they paused and climbed back up Alex’s body at a crawl. “Are you lonely?”

“I had a nose ring, remember?” Alex had clutched the prescription bag in his fist with a crunch and forced himself to laugh, even as bashful panic squeezed at his throat. “You don’t end up with a nose ring and Danger posters on your walls at seventeen unless you’re deeply lonely.”

A slow smile had stretched across Michael’s face, and he ducked his head like it was too private to share with the open aisle. When he looked up again, he wrinkled his nose to help steady his armful of bottles with a nudge of his telekinesis. “I’ll see you at six, then. Pizza and beer.”

Now, Michael breaks a wayward string of cheese away from his last bite and asks, “You want me to go home? Leave you to your pity party?” 

“No. I’m enjoying the company. I think it’s because you’re so charming.”

Michael laughs. “You’re so full of shit.”

“Fine, don’t believe me. But hooking up with a girl who was looking for a hookup on the day before Valentine’s Day is not a nightmare scenario.”

“Alright,” Michael says, nudging Alex’s bent knee, “so give me a better example.”

“Uh, pizza and beer with a guy that never learned how to chew with his mouth closed?”

Michael tears into the crust of his slice and says, muffled by food, “I’ll leave anytime. Just say the word.”

Alex pulls his foot out from under the couch cushion and rolls his heel into the side of Michael’s thigh. “Don’t be disgusting!”

Mashing his teeth, Michael chews with his mouth open for another two bites and then relents. He drops a hot palm into the exposed skin of Alex’s ankle, holding it in place, and Alex manages not to react until Michael strokes his thumb into the hollow beside his Achilles tendon. 

“I need a refill. Do you want another beer?” he asks, pulling his leg away and turning to plant his foot on the floor. He bends down to grope beneath the couch for his crutch. 

“Yeah, I’ll take another one.” Michael stands, taking his empty bottle in hand, and says, “I’ll get it. I know my way around the fridge.”

As he shuffles between the couch and the coffee table, he drops a hand onto Alex’s left shoulder and squeezes. The touch is gone almost as soon as it starts, but Alex still lets out an audible squeak on his next exhale. 

Being touch-starved is hardly new, but it makes him feel like an especially pathetic rescue cat when his body shivers at the barest graze. Twice it happened when Kyle leaned over to look at his laptop and put a hand on his back while they worked on the salvaged hard drives together, and Alex had barely been able to hide the heated flush in his cheeks. It’s more humiliating with Michael, somehow, because Michael has always been exactly the same. He’s always turned into Alex’s touch with eagerness, always looked for the most contact he could find. Something about touch between them turning casual and unaffecting on his end while Alex is gasping like an Austen heroine is especially unsettling.

He takes three deep breaths, holding the air in his chest and releasing through pursed lips, and then Michael squeezes between the end table and the chair with two beers. He twists the tops off with a twitch of his nose, and Alex watches the bent metal land on the coffee table with a ding. 

“Show off,” he says as Michael hands him a bottle. Their fingers brush against the glass. “You’ve never fought with a jar of pasta sauce in your life.”

Michael eases back down onto the couch, snagging the last garlic knot from the crimped tinfoil on the coffee table on the way, and says, “Rubber band trick works wonders. Not that I’ve ever needed it.” 

“Smug bastard.”

Alex watches the bob of Michael's throat as he takes a long draw from his beer. 

“Oh, here. Almost forgot.” Michael pops the rest of the garlic knot into his mouth and lifts his hips off the couch to give himself room to root around his pocket. After a moment of tugging, he tosses something across the couch. It lands on Alex’s thigh. “For your sweet tooth.”

Alex stares down at the packet of SweeTARTS heart candies, emblazoned with the same sentimental phrases as classic conversation hearts. “These are sour.”

“Well, yeah, but aren’t those the ones you like?”

Fingers toying with the crimped edges of the paper wrapping, Alex nods. 

“Then Happy Valentine’s Day.” Michael sucks a spot of oil and garlic from his thumb. “I had to go to, like, four different CVS stores to find them.”

“Thank you,” Alex says. “You didn’t— I didn’t get you anything.”

Michael shrugs. “You paid for dinner. Least I could do was pick up some candy.” 

-

-

Darkness creeps up on them while they trade sarcastic commentary about the fake detective comedy marathon they found on a higher cable channel. The lone bulb still on over the sink casts a warm yellow glow across the kitchen and dining room, and the living room flickers between dark and light as the scenes change on the television. 

Alex glances down at Michael, who has made himself comfortable with one leg dangling off the edge of the couch and the other curled up against the arm. His head rests on a pillow that he laid atop Alex’s right leg, and he has Alex’s left leg stretched out in front of his chest to keep it from blocking his view.

The shift was gradual: he slumped sideways and curled his legs up; he leaned on his elbow and tried to stretch out; he whined about his neck and grabbed the pillow off the floor, checking that it wouldn’t bother Alex’s knee if he put pressure on it; and he grabbed Alex’s left leg by the ankle to straighten it out while complaining that he couldn’t see. And now Alex’s shin is pinned beneath Michael’s palm, feeling the rise and fall of Michael’s chest whenever he chuckles at one of the jokes. 

They’ve spent hours together, rolling around in Michael’s cot and the back of his truck and motel beds, but Alex isn’t sure they’ve ever been more intimate. Quiet stillness has always been difficult for them to come by, and he can barely remember the last time they spent an afternoon together without some sense of doom hanging over their heads. They’ve certainly never laid on a couch together for four hours. 

Michael shifts, rolling onto his side, and his hand drifts down towards the top of Alex’s foot. The calluses on his palm catch against the weave of his sock, and Alex listens to the faint scratch of material without breathing. After a moment, Michael’s fingers slip beneath the elastic at the bottom of his sweatpants, and he strokes absently at the ball of Alex’s ankle. 

The fears and the doubts are as present as they’ve been for the last few weeks. All of their baggage is exactly the same.��

Alex winds one of Michael’s curls around his finger, and he feels the stutter in his breathing. 

With empirical evidence like that, he has to be brave. 

He mutes the television and says, “I don’t have to work tomorrow.”

“Okay.” Michael glances up. “Is this…new information? Should we be celebrating?”

“No, I mean—” Alex swallows. “I don’t have to go out tomorrow, so if you stay over afterwards, we can talk.”

Michael stares at him. “After what?”

Alex shrugs, but his eyes linger pointedly on Michael’s mouth. 

“Oh,” Michael says. He turns onto his stomach slowly, like he thinks moving too quickly will turn Alex skittish, and then he eases up onto his knees between Alex's legs. Carefully, he pushes the pillow on Alex’s lap out of the way and onto the floor. “Yeah. Yeah, I could stay over. Afterwards.”

Light from the silent television flickers against the side of his face, and Alex reaches for the loose collars of his shirt. Michael bends pliantly, anchoring his hands beside Alex’s shoulders on the arm of the couch, and lowers himself until their noses brush. Then, he hesitates. He nuzzles against Alex’s cheek, rolls their foreheads together, and sighs out a laugh. 

Alex giggles back, a nervous sound he has no control over, and asks, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing. I just— I don’t wanna screw up. This has been a no-fly zone for weeks.”

“It really hasn’t.”

“It really has. I have the bruised ego to prove it.”

A missing piece slots into place in Alex’s chest, loosening every ounce of tension left in his body, and he sags down against the couch cushions. He takes a moment to look up at Michael, at the vulnerable pinch of anxiety that crinkles the corners of his eyes, and then he reaches up to smooth his thumb over the crest of Michael’s cheeks. The wrinkles worsen, so he tows Michael in by his hips and shakes his head. “No. No, you’re— you’re cleared to land.”

“That’s not— ” Michael blinks, and then says, affectionately, “Oh, fuck you.”

He laughs, deep in his chest, and finally presses his mouth to Alex’s. Alex surges into the kiss, letting it linger until the smile splitting across his lips forces Michael to pull back. He tries again, but Alex can’t relax his grin, so, for a moment, they just breathe, silhouetted in the dark. 

Then, Michael says, “No regretting it tomorrow?” 

Alex shakes his head. “No.”

“No nightmare scenario? No backslide with my ex?”

“No.”

“No… I scratched my itch, now get out of my house?”

“No!”

“Okay, good. Good. Because I’m playing for keeps this time.” He settles his weight between Alex’s thighs, and Alex is struck suddenly with the realization of how easy it is to be happy, how earned it feels after all this time.

They kiss, lazy and unhurried, until the cable box starts to idle in the background and leaves them in a nearly pitch black room. The last three buttons of Michael’s shirt come undone under Alex’s fingertips, and Michael’s unshaved jaw scrapes his mouth almost raw.

“Next year,” he mumbles against Alex’s cheek in a moment of reprieve, “I’m gonna fill this house with roses.”

Distractedly, Alex hooks his heel around the back of Michael’s calf and says, “If you somehow have a quarter of a million dollars to waste on that many flowers next year, we will not still be living in this house.”

Michael’s whole body jolts.

“We?” he teases gleefully, and he digs his fingertips into the soft back of Alex’s knee. “Did you just forget we don’t have a joint bank account? Oh, fuck, you really do like me.”

A hot flush rises in Alex’s cheeks as he squirms. “I like your fake money.”

“I think you mean our fake money.”

Alex laughs. “I fucking hate you.” He turns away, and Michael bends down to kiss the exposed line of his neck. 

“You don’t,” he says between nips. “You really don’t.”

“No,” Alex agrees. “I really don’t.”

#michael x alex #malex #malex fic #malexcupid21 #roswell new mexico #alright it's DONE it's out of me so now i can read all the other ones lol #it's been a long while since i posted fic but!!! i kind of need them back together ASAP #my fic

[pennamesmith]

Skeletor Takes a Holiday

Catra thinks on the past. Adora gives out presents. Glimmer looks to the future. Entrapta drives a tank. Hordak and Bow do their best. A She-Ra Day Special. 

More “Skeletor” stories here! 

*

“Blast you, you miserable cat! Let me go!” Skeletor squawked. 

“Reel it in, bonehead,” Catra replied coolly. She was leading Entrapta’s rebellious reprogrammed robot by what amounted to an ear, his arms full of stolen sugar plums. 

“Please, let me explain!” Skeletor protested. “I must save the children!”

“Tell it to the queen,” Catra shrugged back. “If you really wanted to get away with it, you wouldn’t have let me catch you. And anyway, Wrong Hordak says we need more help at the snack tables.”

“You overgrown fur coat,” Skeletor grumbled. “How dare you embarrass me in front of everyone?”

They were walking down a hallway of Bright Moon palace, making their way toward one of the large common rooms. On most weeks, Wrong Hordak used the space to hold a support group for clones and other former members of the Horde, who met to talk about their lives and their feelings. Together, they healed, held on, and let go. And, with great bravery and reluctance, they tried new ways to be themselves. 

Today, they were hosting a wellness afternoon. 

Catra pushed open a pair of double doors and was greeted by the sight of a warm, bustling room. The therapy group regulars were there, but so were various palace staff and citizens of Bright Moon, as well as former Horde soldiers cautiously following the flyers distributed by an enthusiastic flock of clones. Mixed together, they mingled, tentatively. 

Stations were set up in this and the adjoining rooms, each providing sample servings of various simple self-care options. In one area, Netossa and Spinnerella taught comics and cartooning to a circle of curious clones. In another, Swift Wind pranced at the head of an aerobics group. Glimmer had set up a portable kitchen by the window and was showing some palace guards how to make vegetable dumplings. Just about everyone looked like they were having a good time. 

Catra waded through all of this and found Wrong Hordak teaching an improv comedy workshop — alongside the regular support group’s newest member, who was currently hanging off the cheerful clone’s shoulder like a feathered boa constrictor. 

“Yes, and?” Double Trouble prompted the group, raising an emphatic hand. “Tell me what comes next! Show me passion! Show me imagination!”

“Start the performance! I demand to be amused!” interrupted Skeletor. 

Everyone fell silent and turned to look at Catra. “I got Skeletor back,” she said simply, showing off her perturbed prisoner.

“Wonderful work!” Wrong Hordak exclaimed. He pulled a small instruction manual bearing the seal of Dryl out of his pocket and flipped through the handwritten pages. “Skeletor, please perform…” He squinted at the messy longhand. “...Relationship-building subroutine eighteen. Ah, I think I see what the problem was.”

Skeletor abruptly saluted, dropping most of his plums in the process. “I hate to leave this touching scene, but I see my plan has failed! I’ll be back another time, my friend,” he said, marching off to greet new arrivals and attend to the snack tables. 

Catra turned to go, but found her way blocked when Double Trouble materialized in front of her. 

“It’s good to see you back, kitten,” the lizard smirked. “We almost thought you’d abandoned us! And speaking of, look who I found while you were away.” They pointed. “Some old friends of yours!”

Following the gesture, Catra looked around and felt her insides do a flip-flop as she recognized Kyle, Lonnie, and Rogelio among the group. Double Trouble seemed about to say more, but was instantly distracted when Wrong Hordak winked and called them over for help with an armload of props and costumes. 

...Which left Catra alone to face her three erstwhile friends. Who had already made eye contact and started walking towards her. The former force captain wished furiously for an alien abduction, or to be struck down by lightning, but she had no such luck. 

“Hi Catra!” Kyle squeaked. Rogelio rumbled something in a friendly tone. 

“Catra,” Lonnie greeted simply, wearing an unreadable expression. 

“Oh wow,” Catra stammered. “It’s, uh, it’s been a while guys. Haven’t seen you since…” 

“Since you went off the deep end and we deserted the Horde?” Lonnie finished for her. 

Catra shrank a little. “Yeah. Since that. I’m… really sorry about all that, by the way. Have you all been okay?” 

“We stick together. We have a good life. And we heard that you and Adora got married, so now I guess I owe Rogelio money.” Lonnie laughed. “No invitations for us, huh?” 

“It was really small,” Catra muttered, feeling worse by the second. She touched her ring. “Just a few guests in the park. Nothing major.” 

Lonnie held up her hands. “Hey, it’s cool, none taken. I just hope you treat her better now than you did when we were in the Horde.” 

Catra felt her hackles rise and did everything she could to squash them back down again. “We’re fine,” she managed, eventually. “You haven’t seen her around anywhere, have you?” 

“Yeah. Over by the board games with the science princess and, you know...” Lonnie mimed a tall, fanged figure with a squinting scowl. “Though I still don’t know how I feel about those two.” 

Kyle and Rogelio looked at each other.

“Thanks,” Catra muttered, and slunk away. 

Catra found herself stuck in her own thoughts as she wandered in the direction Lonnie had pointed, barely able to muster a friendly wave as she passed Scorpia in Perfuma’s yoga group or Bow at the jigsaw puzzle table. She kept replaying the conversation in her head, thinking about things she could or would or should have said. 

In the pit of her chest, she could feel the faint fear of a voice that said she hadn’t changed at all. Unbidden, the image of her own hand on the portal lever came to her. Stupid, stupid, she thought at herself, until the self-loathing drove away the shame. 

Catra sighed. She was working on it. 

Fortunately, she didn’t have long to perseverate. Sure enough, Adora was in the board games area, seated around a table with Entrapta, Hordak, Emily, and Imp. All five of them were thoroughly engrossed in a heated round of Betrayal at Horror Hall. 

“I’ve rolled a three,” Hordak declared as Catra approached. “Is that good?” 

“No, it means you’re still trapped in the Dark Dimension,” Entrapta explained evenly. “My turn! I move into the throne room and attack the ghost!” 

“Attack! Attack!” Imp echoed in her voice. 

Emily beeped. 

“Hey Adora,” Catra sighed with relief as she joined them. “How’s it going?” 

“Emily betrayed us all, the Dark One has escaped, and I’m dead!” Adora wailed. “In the game, I mean,” she clarified, gesturing to her battle figurine, which was tipped on its side. Catra smiled and settled in, already feeling more assured of herself. 

“Oh, and you have got to try Hordak’s new coffee,” Adora continued, proffering a steaming paper cup. “He called it a… peppered mint mo-cah?” She looked at Catra with immeasurable eyes and giggled. “I think I can hear space.”

Catra had a thought. She glanced at Entrapta. 

“That reminds me,” Catra started cautiously. “You know that charity stunt or whatever you goons have planned for the night before Adora’s birthday?”

“You mean She-Ra Day Eve?” Adora asked, a huge grin plastered on her face.

“Yeah, that one. I changed my mind about staying home. I want in.” 

“Oh, yay!” Adora nearly fell out of her seat leaning over to hug her wife. “We’re gonna have so much fun!”

“It will be a significant benefit to have extra helpers,” Hordak added with approval as he looked up from the game board. “Entrapta has engineered quite an undertaking for this event.” 

“She has? Uh, how elaborate are we talking, exactly?” Catra asked, already beginning to regret her decision. 

Entrapta leaned across the table. “Oh, it’s gonna be big,” she boasted, grinning. Then she sat back in her hair and laughed madly, swinging her feet with delight. 

Catra gulped. Somewhere, she could hear a bell ring. 

*

They were standing outside in the starry night. 

It did not snow in Bright Moon, but the air was chilly, and everyone assembled was wearing heavy winter coats. Catra, sinking into hers like a turtle, leaned against Adora’s arm and groaned. 

“I’m gonna be so bad at this,” she complained. 

“You’re gonna do fine,” Adora cajoled. “You’ll get to throw stuff at people! You love doing that.”

“It wouldn’t be the same without the whole Best Friends Squad anyway!” Bow added, as Glimmer nodded beside him. 

“It’s better with you here,” the queen said, smiling. 

Catra felt her stomach twist and looked away. But that only faced her toward the group’s tallest member, looming lazily on her other side. 

“You seem stressed, Catra.”

Catra glared back up at Hordak. “Easy for you to say! Your wife’s birthday isn’t a national holiday!”

Hordak huffed. “Perhaps not where you come from.”

“I can’t take much more of this,” moaned Skeletor. 

Catra threw up her hands. “Okay, and why is Skeletor here?” she asked helplessly. 

“Silence, you furry fool!” Skeletor retorted. “You ought to know me better than that by now!” He crossed his arms and sulked. 

“We require a full crew for this endeavor,” Hordak explained, more calmly. “Entrapta insisted upon using one of the larger models.” 

“Models of what?” Catra demanded. 

As if on cue, a loud rumbling sound filled the air. The ground began to shake, and an enormous Horde tank rounded the corner, trundled down the road, and came to a juddering halt in front of the gathered friends. It was covered in tinsel and had been repainted with jolly, festive colors. 

“Speak of the gremlin,” Catra mumbled, staring. 

The tank’s front hatch popped open and Entrapta emerged astride Emily, hefting a huge burlap bag. Imp was sitting on her shoulder, wearing a new pair of booties with curled and pointed toes. 

“Merry She-Ra, one and all!” Entrapta crowed. “Welcome aboard the Wrapper Tank!” As they filed past her up the ramp, she rummaged in her bag and passed out what appeared to be accessorized figurines resembling each member of the group. 

Skeletor stared long and hard at his. “Only one is really me! Which one is it?” he mused. 

Glimmer was delighted with hers and immediately set about making it hold hands with Bow’s. Catra held hers uncertainly while Adora toyed with the miniature She-Ra’s sword arm action. 

“Look, it’s a tiny Hordak!” Entrapta squealed with glee as she presented her partner with his own likeness. “Isn’t he cute?”

Hordak smiled as he accepted the gift. “Your craftsmanship is remarkable, as always.” 

Inside the tank was a command bridge the size of a throne room. Several more bags stuffed with small toy princesses rested in the center of the floor. On every surrounding wall there were blinking control panels and swiveling gunners’ chairs. Skeletor sat down in one and spun giddily. 

“I made tiny versions of all the heroes of Etheria!” Entrapta exclaimed, sweeping her hands over everything. “Bow helped with the designs. And then I used my fabrication lab to mass-produce them!” She held her sides and cackled wildly. 

“We’re going to give them out to all the homes in Bright Moon,” Adora added, settling into another chair. “Something for the kids, you know?” Catra, already brightening at the sight of weaponry, grinned and joined her. 

Entrapta tossed herself back into the pilot’s seat. “If this experiment goes well, we’ll be able to expand the operation to other kingdoms next year! Maybe even the whole planet!” 

“Okay, but how are we going to be able to deliver presents to every house if we only have one night?” Bow asked. 

“That’s easy!” Entrapta bragged. “Behold, the power of the Wrapper Tank!” 

With a flourish, she dropped one of the trinkets into a large funnel near the control panel. In seconds, automated arms had bound it in wrapping paper and a purple bow, and fired it out the front cannon at high velocity. 

“This baby can do thirty of these things a minute!” Entrapta shouted proudly as she continued shoveling toys into the machine. 

“Is everyone comfortable?” Skeletor asked. He didn’t wait for an answer before pushing as many buttons as his bony arms could reach. 

With a roar, the engines came to life, and then they were rolling down the road, strafing the kingdom with presents that mostly landed where they were supposed to go. The inside of the tank became a bustle of activity as the crewmates passed gifts to one another and sent them shooting off into the night. Distantly, they could hear people cheering, as well as the occasional sound of something breaking. 

“Is this what we’re doing all night?” Catra asked. She flipped a switch and raised her eyebrows as a Frosta doll hurtled through someone’s window. “You were right, it is kinda fun.” 

“This is the main event, yeah,” Adora replied, launching a volley of Sea Hawks down the block. “We’ve got a few more personal stops to make on the way, though. The first one’s in the Whispering Woods!” 

Catra froze for a moment, imagining the ghosts that were waiting for her in those dark and shifting trees. She shook her head and ignored the thought. 

“What idiot started this whole thing anyway?” Skeletor griped. 

*

The tank made its first stop at a tiny cottage, so small and low that it would have been easy to mistake for nothing at all. 

“Madame Razz?” Adora called as she ducked through the doorway. The others followed behind her in a curious huddle. 

“I brought you some cookies and sweets and stuff,” Adora said, setting the goodies on the table. Bow and Glimmer gazed with interest at the many mystical odds and ends decorating the walls. Entrapta struck up a conversation with the broom. Hordak, who was taller than the ceiling, crouched in as dignified a manner as he could manage.

“Who knows what evil lurks behind these doors?” Skeletor hissed in a hushed whisper.

At the far side of the cottage, Razz sat in a rocking chair and tipped slowly back and forth, staring at nothing. Catra felt her hair stand on end. 

Adora looked worried. “Razz? You there?” 

Madame Razz blinked and snapped out of her trance. “Yes, yes, deary! Come in! I remembered this was going to happen.” Leaping to her feet, she held out a stuffed doll with pointed ears, blue hair, and soulless eyes. “Look here! I have a gift for you also.” 

Adora took it gingerly. “How… nice. What is it?” She turned the doll over in her hands. It wore a rainbow jumper and a plastic smirk. 

“It’s a Loo-Kee on a Ledge!” Razz explained cheerfully. “You put it in your home. Move it every night. Tell the children it can see them. Makes the young ones more obedient!” 

“Thanks, that’s terrifying.” Adora passed the doll to Catra, who seemed far more interested in its potential applications. “I bet it’ll make a nice game.”

“Game?” Razz turned and stared through her glasses in confusion. “We are not here for games, we are here for fruit cake!” 

Before Adora could stop her, the old woman had rushed to her little cottage oven. She made a show of reaching inside with protective mitts and extracted a cold stone brick, which had been placed in a pan with some wild nuts sprinkled on top. 

“You want a slice now?” 

“Oh, absolutely!” Entrapta pushed her way to the front of the group, producing a small buzz saw and a sample jar. “I’ve been reading up on geological gastronomy!” 

”Uh, hey, Entrapta!” Adora intervened. “Did I ever tell you that Madame Razz knew some of the First Ones? Like, personally?” 

“What? Really?” Entrapta turned toward Adora in surprise, and then back to the old woman with renewed interest. She peered through a pair of multi-lensed goggles and raised her eyebrows. “Though that would explain all the tachyons in here. Quick, how many temporal causalities am I holding up?” 

“Ah! You’re a sharp one, deary!” Razz laughed. 

Entrapta shook her hands and pulled a recorder from her pocket. “Aah! You — you’re a walking quantum event! Tell me everything!” 

And in her own way, Razz did. As they chattered back and forth, Adora looked between the old witch and the scientist and wondered why she hadn’t introduced the two of them sooner. 

“That’s a handsome, strapping lad you’ve got there!” Razz whispered conspiratorially to Entrapta. “Does he have a brother?” 

Entrapta smirked. 

“You have a brain that could warm my heart,” Skeletor said. “If I had a heart!” 

*

Much to Catra’s consternation, their next stop did not take them out of the Whispering Woods. While Entrapta and Skeletor tuned up the tank, George and Lance cheerfully embarrassed their youngest son in front of his friends. 

“We’re delighted by your presents!” George punned as his husband passed out mugs of hot cocoa. Hordak took two and carefully decanted the extra into several tiny thermoses. 

Bow handed his fathers a huge stack of neatly handwritten pages. “We brought these for you — Adora’s been helping me translate some of the First Ones records you found at the ruins!” 

“It’s… not very exciting,” Adora admitted. “There’s a lot of complaining about this one guy who just sold really terrible etherium.” 

Despite this, George and Lance seized upon the pages and flipped through them eagerly, talking over each other in excitement. While they sat and chatted energetically with Adora about what the writings contained, Glimmer dragged Catra away to show off her increasing knowledge of the expansive library. 

This left Bow standing alone with Hordak for the first time in the night. The archer and the ex-lord looked at one another, the former desperately searching for something to say while the latter gently nursed his cocoa. They both seemed to sense that some sort of social interaction would be appropriate, but were entirely unsure of what that ought to be.

“Excuses, excuses! I’m tired of all your excuses!” Skeletor yelled from outside. “Fix the problem and go!”

Hordak cleared his throat. “Entrapta tells me you are the one who gave my brother his rather... derivative name,” he tried after a moment. 

Bow made a noise. 

“He thanks you for it,” Hordak said sincerely. 

“I’m sorry! I mean, what?” Bow cautiously opened his eyes. 

“He considers it an essential part of his journey to freedom from Prime’s grasp.” Hordak studied his claws with a careful expression. “Many have encouraged him to take on a more singular moniker. I am among them. Perhaps someday he will. But for now, it is as beloved to him as that theatrical lizard seems to be.” 

“You’re… welcome?” Bow ventured. 

“You are a highly competent engineer,” Hordak stated. “I once mistook your work for Entrapta’s. When we were still enemies, that is.” He hesitated. “I… am pleased that we are not enemies any longer.” 

“Thank you?”

Hordak bowed.

Skeletor popped his head around the door.

“Get a move on, you slugs!” he called. “Hurry! Faster, faster!”

*

Eventually, the Wrapper Tank rolled to a stop at the front gates of Bright Moon palace, precisely where it had begun. There was only one visit left to make. 

“Micah! It’s so good to see you!” Entrapta chirped. “How have things been since we both lived at the mercy of techno-organic island monstrosities?” 

“Quieter,” Micah remarked. “And my food doesn’t get stolen nearly as often.” He smiled. “It’s good to see you, too.”

“I made you She-Ra Day crackers!” Entrapta exulted, holding out a pile of shiny paper cylinders. “They’re an old Dryl tradition, ever since last year. When you pull the ends, tiny snacks come out! And I’ve improved these ones with twenty percent more explosives!” 

“It should be quite a blast!” Skeletor chuckled. “Enjoy the fireworks!”

Gingerly taking the armload of gifts and setting them down as carefully as she possibly could, Castaspella welcomed everyone into a warm and cozy den. She and Micah had lit a roaring fire in the fireplace and were decorating a fir tree with glowing light-charms. A small table held a large platter of cookies, which Adora immediately set about devouring. 

Skeletor paused at the door. “Tell me a riddle!” he demanded. 

Castaspella looked confused. “Excuse me?” 

“He thinks it’s what sorceresses do,” Entrapta told her. “You gotta humor him!” 

“Oh.” Castaspella tapped her chin. “Well, in that case, um… why did the twigget cross the road?” 

Skeletor considered this for a great deal of time before surrendering. “Oh, I’m horrible at riddles,” he groused. “Who’s good at riddles here?”

However, everyone else had already settled in around the fire, tired from a long night of bauble bombardment.

“What do you think of our She-Ra Day decorations?” Castaspella asked proddingly. “Micah wanted a fake tree, but I set him straight on that. Honestly, I don’t know how my brother survived on Beast Island without me.”

“You certainly would have helped scare the monsters away,” said Micah. 

“Y’know, I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a sibling,” Adora thought out loud. “Could you imagine me with, like, a long-lost First Ones twin? We’d kick so much butt!”

Hordak, Bow, Micah, and Castaspella all shared a look that spoke to something universal. 

“It’s a mixed bag. Casta used to trick me into stealing food for her,” Micah complained. “Pretended it was a game and I got more points if our parents didn’t see me sneak into the kitchen.”

“He hit me with a tree branch once, you know,” Castaspella responded.

“I did no such thing!” Micah argued. “All I did was lead your horse under a tree. It’s not my fault it had remarkably low hanging branches. Or that you didn’t duck in time.”

“Anyway,” Bow cut in, “I think what Micah and Castaspella are trying to say is that despite their differences they get along now and they’re glad to still have each other after all this time.” He glanced at Hordak. “...Even if they used to be enemies.” 

Micah nodded sagely. “That is precisely what I meant,” he lied. 

While they continued with their conversation, Glimmer noticed that Catra was standing alone at the far side of the room, her back to the others, staring at a small portrait of Angella hung above the door. 

“Fascinating,” Skeletor said. “That little insect is feeling sorry for itself!”

Glimmer whispered something to her father and stood up to approach the fretting feline. “Hey, everything okay?” she asked. “You’ve seemed off a lot tonight. You didn’t even laugh when I showed you that book of dirty First Ones jokes in George and Lance’s library.” 

“Huh?” Catra looked up, surprised to have company. “I guess so. Maybe. I don’t know. I mean… are you really sure I should be here?” 

“Well, it’s all Adora has been talking about for the past week, so yeah, pretty sure.” 

Catra shook her head. “No, I mean here at all. Being happy, instead of rotting in a dungeon somewhere.” She scowled. “I know we’ve talked about it, but I just… I did so much bad stuff, back in the Horde. I hurt people. I was awful to Adora. I’m even the reason your mom…”

Catra trailed off. A deep gulf of silence stretched between her and Glimmer. The queen appeared pensive. 

“I’ve done some really bad things too,” Glimmer said eventually. “So I guess maybe I’m the wrong person to ask?” She gave a lopsided smile. 

“But what do you do when people hate you? And you deserve it?”

Glimmer looked concerned. “I don’t think anyone here hates you. Not currently, anyway. Where’s all this coming from?”

“I’d hate me if I were you,” Catra quietly admitted. 

“Maybe. But I’m not you, and you’re not me.” Glimmer turned away and hugged herself. “I’m always going to miss my mom. And it’s always going to hurt. But… I don’t think it’s much use to make that hurt worse by hating you.” She looked back up. “I think anyone can make up for a mistake, as long as they really know it was a mistake. I hope so, anyway.”

Catra scratched her head. “So, what, feeling bad means that I’m good?” 

“Something like that,” Glimmer giggled. “Seriously though, there’s responsibility in this. We never stop working on it.”

“Was that a royal ‘we’?” Catra quipped. 

“No, it goes for both of us. All of us. I mean it.” Glimmer gazed around the room. “Mistakes… never really get completely fixed, you know. It took me a long time to get that. But we can grow something better and stronger with the lessons we learn from them.”

The queen smiled again. “Besides, I’m happier being friends. Look at us all!” 

Catra did. 

Everyone, in one form or another, was relaxing around the glow of the fireplace. Entrapta and Imp knelt by the hearth, doing something with chestnuts and an acetylene torch. Hordak and Micah sat on the couch, swapping horror stories about Shadow Weaver. Bow watched closely as Castaspella instructed him in a new knitting pattern. And Adora appeared to be trading pleasantries with Skeletor as though they were age-old friends. 

“Here, She-Ra! A gift!” Skeletor said. He held out a freshly-baked doomberry pie.

Catra laughed. Suddenly feeling lighter, she went to join them. Glimmer followed. And the great world spun on. 

*

Entrapta clapped her hair. “Thanks for coming, Catra! This was loads of fun!” 

It was early morning and they were all going their separate ways again. Glimmer had already dragged a dozing Bow back to the palace, while Catra and Adora disembarked in front of the small home they shared together. 

“The mission was a great success,” Hordak agreed as Entrapta leaned into his side. “You showed exemplary courage in the field.” 

“Thank you,” Catra said, and meant it. 

Adora, gazing at the sky in contemplation next to her, suddenly realized that the stars weren’t the only things twinkling. 

“Entrapta?” she asked. “You know the space tree?” 

“The large plant growth that overtook Horde Prime’s flagship when She-Ra defeated him and which remains in low Etheria orbit as a constant reminder of the power of love and healing? Yes, I’m familiar with it.”

“Did you put lights on it?”

Entrapta beamed. “Yeah, little blinky ones! Or at least they look little from here. They actually have a diameter of about one Darla each. Alternating current, naturally. Aren’t they great?” 

“You know,” Adora smiled, “I really think they are.” Catra concurred.

They turned and went home together, which left Entrapta and Hordak to return to the Wrapper Tank hand in hand, relaxing into each other’s arms as they sat and shared a tiny thermos of hot cocoa. Under Emily’s supervision, Skeletor and Imp drove the tank back to Entrapta’s Bright Moon lab, and only argued over the steering wheel once along the way. 

As soon as they returned, Hordak sought out their bed and fell gratefully into the soft sheets. Entrapta made to follow him, but before she did so she pulled Skeletor aside with one ponytail, hands hiding something behind her back. 

“And what do you think you’re doing?” Skeletor questioned. 

“Skeletor, you’ve been a big help over the past year,” Entrapta said to the spindly robot. “And I wanted to say thank you. So, I made you another present. You deserve to have a helper too!” 

She pulled her hands from behind her back and revealed a lop-eared robot puppy with wide and innocent eyes. It sat up in her arms and fixed Skeletor with a curious gaze. 

“His name is Relay! What do you think?”

Skeletor gasped in surprise, reaching out to take the robotic canine. “Even Hordak doesn’t have anything like this!” he gushed in a joyous tone. 

The puppy wagged its tail and let out a tiny synthesized bark. It licked Skeletor’s face. 

Skeletor hummed happily. “This is perfect!”

Above them, the stars and the lights shone brightly. And even Skeletor, despite his better instincts, was merry. The world was at peace. 

“A season of love? Caring? Joy? Ugh! Very clever, you muscle-bound moron,” Skeletor conceded. He patted Relay on the head. “Another time, She-Ra! Another time!”

#She-Ra #fan fiction #skeletor #catra #adora #entrapta #hordak #glimmer #bow #madame razz #bow's dads #micah #castaspella #entrapdak #catradora

[andymull]

WWE NXT Takeover: Portland 2020 – Preview & Predictions

Adam Cole (c) vs Tommaso Ciampa: NXT Championship Match

Finally, Ciampa gets the chance to take back Goldie after never being pinned for it due to injury previously, just that standing in his way is Adam Cole who has been on such a great run as a champion since winning the title.

I swear every time Ciampa is in-ring doing something he always seems to get a knock, he was limping the other week I just hope nothings lingering for him and has to keep working through knocks again which could build up.

Cole has been great both in matches as well as bringing the aura of a proper champion to his reign, not a knock on others but him interacting with the Raw and Smackdown rosters around Survivor Series made him seem an equal and not someone on the newer third brand.

Not sure about the outcome here to be honest, my biggest instinct is that Cole wins and goes to feud with Gargano if he beats Balor. The story of Ciampa’s return from injury is a big one that they may go with for the raw emotion of him getting the gold back, but I feel they stay with Cole as champion clinging to his reign as the other members of Undisputed Era drop their belts – COLE

 Rhea Ripley (c) vs Bianca Belair: NXT Championship Match

Bianca gets another chance at the title after winning a battle royal, to begin with this came across as a massive stop gap for whatever plans they had for Rhea and the title at Wrestlemania but thankfully they’ve developed the feud to incorporate Charlotte and add some layers to this whole situation.

The build to a potential Rhea/Charlotte match began WAAAAYYYYYY too early and really didn’t need to, especially as the Smackdown crew haven’t really started their Mania feuds properly building yet I get the need to with Charlotte having won the Rumble but still be creative to wait till next week maybe?

At first I was 100% sure that Ripley would retain and move on but now after they’ve been given mic time and focus im starting to possibly see a Belair title win and this all evolve to a Wrestlemania three way match with Charlotte (I don’t need her in another one, but as long as it helps the other girls than im all for it). If Rhea keeps the belt tonight then forget it as Bianca wont have the smoke needed to be injected into it, plus I think it’s the big surprise they may need for tonight's show with it featuring two women’s matches and both wanting to impress more than the other (more on that later).

Im going to go with Belair to get her first title win in the company, one of my favourite people to see on tv will be ecstatic to get the victory, THEN we can push on with Charlotte coming down to the ring to square off with the new champion while Rhea gets included as her rematch – BELAIR

 The Undisputed Era (c) vs Matt Riddle & Pete Dunne, The BROserweights: NXT Tag Team Championship Match

The winners of this years Dusty Classic take their trophy as well as their championship opportunity tonight and what a fun match this will be.

The current champions have held their titles since August and continue to have great matches with whoever they are in the ring with and this will surely be another classic, but the big question will be can the new team conquer the established duo? For me the comedy segments Dunne and Riddle have done since winning the classic have been great and a welcome change to some of NXT’s usual broadcast, a real fresh feel to them with Riddle’s laid back character and Dunne’s shrugs the perfect combination to get more out of Pete’s character while giving Matt the chance to shine. While the UE have remained a constant highlight with Kyle wayyyy up there for one of my favourites in the whole company (If only him and Strong were a foot or two taller they’d be main eventing PPVs sigh).

For me I think we are about to see a down swing in the UE’s momentum and that sadly entails them dropping the titles to give their group more room to develop which ultimately will be great for them. I don’t think Riddle and Dunne are a long term team but will have tons of fun in whatever length of time they are kept together. But remember, they WILL split when Riddle leaps into the ring one night and accidently kicks his sliders into the back of Dunne’s head on accident, only for Dunne to turn and destroy Riddle for doing so setting up some very tough brawls down the road – RIDDLE/DUNNE

Keith Lee (c) vs Dominik Dijakovic:  NXT North American Championship Match

The rivalry continues!!!

There really isn’t much to say here, we’ve seen them fight in epic battles before and this time on a Takeover they HAVE to raise the bar further, good luck boys – LEE

Tegan Nox vs Dakota Kai: Street Fight

A street fight between two former best friends is what brings us our second women’s match of the evening, and the stipulation is what was required after their brawl recently on NXT tv.

These two are going to go as far as they can with this stipulation and then go a step or two further, expect some worried looking referees around them as well as possible Regal appearing to calm them down after being around Dakota’s turn. Both of the women here know how important this match is not just for this feud but that its both of their times to shine in probably their biggest matches in the company so far, and hopefully they’ve been working each other for years as friends just ready for this occasion.

Predictions wise I can only see Dakota winning after Tegan got the win on tv with Candice’s help, ill predict that Candice appears again but this time Nox declines her help only for someone else to interfere and get Dakota the victory. The word going around is that Raquel Gonzalez is ready for tv and her push after a slight name change so her debuting as Kai’s muscle would be the perfect starting point for her run as well as continuing this feud further – KAI

 Johnny Gargano vs Finn Balor

This is really the most interesting match on the card for me in terms on who gets the win, both massive in terms of development for this brand over the years but as I mentioned earlier I give the slight advantage to Gargano with the idea of him moving to the title scene after.

Now, saying that I don’t think this feud is near from being over and is one that will be placed on the side and hopefully show Balors clever side over the next few weeks. If he loses allow him to maybe even help Gargano win the title eventually from Cole then instantly destroy Johnny again to move into the title picture his-self. Even in defeat Finn knows the game too well and uses others to gain the steps he needs to get back to where he knows. – GARGANO

 As is the norm with Takeovers this will be awesome with great matches and some intriguing angles I predict to keep the tv killing it too.

There may also be another match or two added to the show but possibly just on the kick off show.

Also, I’m VERY happy to see that Jorge Bolly got his NXT debut this weekend on the loop, I cant wait to see how much fun he has rising through the NXT ranks and beyond, trust me

Credit to WWE.com for the images and sadly I dont know who put together the group shot picture but I loved it so thank you.

Bye for now

Andy

#WWE #WWE NXT #takeover #portland #raw #smackdown #Triple H #adam cole #Tommaso Ciampa #the undisputed era #rhea ripley #Bianca BelAir #kyle o'reilly #Bobby Fish #Matt Riddle #Pete Dunne #keith lee #Dominik Dijakovic #Tegan Nox #dakota kai #johnny gargano #finn balor #poppy #velveteen dream #roderick strong #charlotte

[hazkiwislutt]

chapter 5: building up, the first fight, and reassurance

{ hey friends!! here’s chapter five, and i’m not going to lie, this was a whole mess, but the next chapter will be better hehe! i hope you enjoy! }

There comes a time in every relationship that leads up to the First Fight: the first one of many (if the couple makes it through) that’s filled with hurtful words and intense emotions, a buildup of pain, sadness, annoyance, jealousy, and any other ugly feeling you could conjure. It’s the first fight that makes you realize the person you’re with is real, and tangible, and three-dimensional. It makes you realize the person you’re with has more sides to them than the one you see in the honeymoon phase. It makes you realize they’re human, and they’ve got some sharp bits to them, but if all goes well, you realize you don’t really mind that they do.

Y/N certainly doesn’t mind that Harry has some sharp bits. She figured she should find all of them and prick her fingers if she wanted to keep Harry around for a long time, which she so desperately wanted to do.

But things had been hard, lately, and Y/N couldn’t help but be frustrated with Harry, her lovely, caring, sweet boyfriend Harry, who she’d been dating in secret for nearly five months.

Living as a celebrity wasn’t easy and living as a celebrity dating another celebrity was even harder. They had been meticulous and careful about not letting their relationship reach anybody else’s ears except for Niall, Andrew, Hannah, and Laura.

It made the near five months they’d been together so far a joyride. Both of them were on downtime since they were still both working on their prospective future albums, which meant there was a lot of time in the studio by day, and a lot of cute dates and cuddles by night. Y/N couldn’t believe she was able to come home everyday to someone so amazing, but she thanked whatever universal force for letting Harry be her person.

Except, it was hard to see your person in public, and have them pretend to not know you.

They were attending a fundraiser event that was raising money for LGBT kids in need of aid that was put on by a mutual friend in the fashion industry. Y/N and Harry had gotten ready in a flurry at his house after an impromptu lovemaking session (“Bloody hell, we’re going t’be late, love… How… How did yeh panties get stuck on the fan?”) but had left and arrived at different times.

He’d arrived twenty minutes before Y/N, wooing the crowd and making everyone in the room swoon with his charisma, but as soon as he felt her presence, he’d screeched to a halt mid-conversation and was baffled by her beauty, as if it were the first time he were seeing her all over again. She wasn’t wearing anything terribly fancy; it was an elegant maroon turtleneck paired with black leather pants and high heels, but Harry didn’t care.

His attention was turned back to his conversation as the person he was talking to cleared his throat (Dave? Ben? Or was it Jeremy?), and he stumbled to finish his response. Y/N had caught him gaping at her, and lightly giggled as she flicked her hair and shot him a small smile before disappearing into the crowd of guests.

…

Y/N hadn’t seen Harry since she’d arrived. She’d greeted the hostess and went to go stack her plate with food (Harry had tired her out) before engaging in conversation with a few models that had been in her music video a year ago. After situating herself with a drink, she decided she’d go find him and see what he was up to.

Y/N padded around the hall, glancing around the room but not having any luck in spotting him. She decided to finish her drink and check her appearance in the bathroom, but upon turning the corner into the small alcove that led to the bathroom, she was motionless as she took in the sight of a pretty red-haired woman, who she could’ve sworn was a model, draped over Harry.

Her head was on his shoulder and she had an arm wrapped around him, clinging to him like saran wrap. Her lips were dangerously close to his pulse, and she was giggling a little too hard at something Harry presumably said. His lips were set in a straight grimace, his eyes looking up to the ceiling, and he stood rigid, but she took no notice. He stiffened even more as his eyes landed on Y/N’s, which were wide as saucers.

“Hi!” Harry breathed, forcing a smile as he gently shrugged off the girl’s arm. He knew better than to rashly lunge for her and hold her, telling her it was alright and that she was the only girl that mattered, which was more than a hundred percent true. The girl–Marissa– was just someone he’d hooked up with a year or two ago, but only because he was sad, and lonely, and drunk.

“Hey,” Y/N said weakly, lifting up a hand as a wave. “Sorry to interrupt, I was just looking for a friend.”

“Yeh weren’t interrupting anythin’, love.” He said it casually enough, but he hoped she got the message, especially with her name attached to the ending. Y/N nodded, before excusing herself.

Harry felt nauseous as Marissa kept her face buried in his neck; it was all sorts of wrong, since Y/N was the only girl allowed to do that.

“Know her?” She purred, probably trying to sound appealing, but to Harry, it just sounded sickening.

“No,” he whispered, “But ‘ve gotta go.”

…

“Love,” Harry started, crawling onto his bed slowly, as if any sudden movement would cause Y/N to run away. She was simply laying in his bed, reading a novel. She hadn’t said anything about the fiasco when he’d come home. She’d left before him, and he’d found her just getting out of the shower, greeting him with a cheerful, “Harry!” He didn’t like it one bit, because he knew what she saw rubbed her the wrong way a little bit. He knew it would do the same to him.

“Hm?” She hummed in response, brow furrowed as she chewed on her lip, immersed in thought.

“About earlier,” he continued, but was stopped by Y/N rolling over and pressing a finger to his lips. She shook her head adamantly.

“Don’t. It’s fine. It’s what we agreed on, baby.”

She rolled back over and continued reading her book, sighing contentedly as Harry slipped under the covers and spooned her.

…

It wouldn’t have been terrible if something along those lines had only happened once, but it happened again, and again. Several times, between that first time and tonight, which had gone so terribly wrong. She’d meant what she said that first time; they had agreed on keeping it so tightly under wraps, but after so many recurrences, she began to feel frustrated. She didn’t dare say anything to him, though. She didn’t want Harry to think she was being difficult.

It was another party, celebrating Niall’s charity hitting a fundraising milestone. Y/N had arrived before Harry, with Andrew and Hannah in tow, because they’d insisted on a day out and Niall had jumped at the chance for them to join in the celebration.

“Does this shirt make me look funny? I love Koda to death already, but he’s really doing a number on my body.” Hannah pursed her lips and huffed, smoothing her hands over her bump that was in full bloom. She was a week late, and when wasn’t in the studio or moping over Harry’s negligence of her feelings, she was driving between her house and Hannah’s, always wanting to make sure that she was okay.

“You look fine. You’ve got pregnancy glow. I just look like I rolled out of bed.” Andrew retorted, grimacing as he caught a glimpse of himself in the car window next to her.

“You’ve just got the perpetual college student look,” Y/N laughed, pinching his cheek as she shut her door and locked her car.

“Hey! Hannah’s in college, too,” Andrew griped, yanking himself away from her grip and patting his cheek.

“The pregnancy glow cancels it out,” Hannah stuck her tongue out playfully, before looping her arm through both of theirs and beginning to walk up to Niall’s front door.

…

“Andrew, mate, we’ve gotta get a beer in yeh or summat, yeh look like shit.” Niall had bellowed happily when he answered the door, bringing them all in for a big hug and patting Hannah’s bump affectionately. He had an arm heavily slung around Andrew’s shoulders, guiding him to the kitchen before he could protest, and waving farewell to the women.

“I feel like Andie works himself too hard,” Y/N mused thoughtfully, watching as Andrew’s tall, lanky frame seemed to droop under the weight of Niall’s arm.

“I try to tell him, but he doesn’t listen to me. He wants to be an engineer so bad, but I just want him to take a breather,” Hannah tutted in dismay.

“We can talk to him about it. Maybe double-team him. How about you? Your professors treating you okay?”

Hannah had refused to drop out of university when she found out she was pregnant. Kyle was older than her by a few years, and had already graduated. They’d always wanted kids early, but Koda had come along unexpectedly. Hannah was only a few months older than Y/N, after all. But, she refused to drop out, and continued her studies, even with her pregnancy looming above all of it, and Y/N quite admired her best friend’s drive to plow forward.

“Oh, yeah. They’re all fine, and they were going to give me an extension on some projects, but I just turned them all in early. Just ‘cause this baby’s on the way doesn’t mean everything else stops.”

Y/N had to hand it to Hannah; there was no one else she knew with as much grit as her.

Just as she was about to respond, a collective greeting arose from the crowd, and Y/N turned toward the front door, where Harry was coming in. He was wearing his floppy newsboy cap, plaid slacks, black loafers, a white shirt, and a coat to shield him from the winter air. People clapped him on the back, and shook his hand, and he was more than graceful in receiving and returning all of what he was given.

Hannah reached down for Y/N’s hand, prompting her to look back toward her.

“Why don’t we get a drink, hm? Koda wants water… Oh, and whatever that gal over there is eating. He says it smells good.”

Y/N rolled her eyes, before following her toward the kitchen.

…

It was sometime later during the evening when Y/N and Harry found themselves in the same circle of people. Y/N had been talking to a friend who decided they wanted to catch up with another friend, who happened to be talking to Harry.

“Eileen, I haven’t seen you in a quick minute!” Y/N’s friend, Loren, squealed, before dragging Y/N across the room to greet Eileen. Y/N didn’t know her well, but she knew that she was also a singer.

“I know, it’s been a busy few months. This is Harry!” That’s when Y/N registered the fact that Harry’s wrist was clutched tightly in Eileen’s well-manicured hand, and as she looked at his face, he gave a drunken smile with glazed over eyes that crinkled merrily.

“Lovely to meet you, this is Y/N! I don’t know if you all know each other?” Eileen shook Y/N’s hand with her free one, before stepping back and leaning against Harry.

“S’nice to meet yeh, Y/N.” Harry’s voice was a little slurred, and Y/N knew he’d drunk a little more than he needed to.

“Likewise,” she replied tightly.

“So… What’s going on here?” Loren wiggled her eyebrows mockingly before gesturing to Eileen’s hold on Harry.

“Oh, just a bit of fun, you know,” Eileen giggled, shooting a coy glance at Harry that Y/N was surprised to see returned by him. Eileen turned her face into his shoulder to stifle another giggle, which Harry mimicked.

“Right, s’nothing serious,” Harry agreed. What the hell was going on?

“I, uh, I just remembered I needed to check on my friend, she’s like… she… she’s pregnant,” Y/N stuttered, walking backwards and hurriedly waving at the group.

She felt her frustration tug on her heartstrings, but the way Harry didn’t seem to care about her departure absolutely severed them.

…

“You about ready to leave? I’m tired.” Y/N had found Hannah in the smaller living room, who had somehow managed to convince Andrew to give her a foot massage.

“Sure,” Hannah replied, stretching leisurely and playfully shoving her foot in Andrew’s face, which caused him to grunt in disgust and surprise, “Just let me use the bathroom first, yeah?”

Y/N nodded, helping her up to her feet. “I’ll go with you. Andie, you mind driving back? My head hurts.”

“Anything for my girl,” he said, standing up from where he kneeled on the rug and ruffling Y/N’s hair. He went to find Niall to say his goodbyes before he went out to start up the car.  

“You’re… sad,” Hannah noted, as her and Y/N walked through people to get to the bathroom hall.

“Just… It’s hard to see your person in public and have them act like they don’t know you at all.”

“I know, girlie, but it’s for the best, isn’t it?”

“I know, I know… But there’s always another person on him, and it’s like just because I told him it was okay, and that we signed up for this, he does it without thinking of me. Wouldn’t he at least set boundaries?”

They’d reached the main bathroom, only to find that it was occupied.

“My bladder is about to burst. You think Niall would mind if we went to the upstairs one?” Y/N shook her head no, before backtracking down the hallway and starting with Hannah up the stairs. She held Hannah’s back, helping her ascend.

“You can’t just let him push you over like that, then. I know you hate confrontation, but with a relationship as complicated as this, you have to talk to each other otherwise it’ll never work.”

“I know, it’s just… I don’t want him to think it’s childish of me to lay down rules because I can’t handle things. Does that make sense?”

“Makes dollars.”

Y/N and Hannah had made it to the end of the hall at the top of the stairs leading to Niall’s master bedroom and bathroom. Y/N pushed the door open, leading Hannah in, before halting abruptly.

“Oh! Y/N! Sorry, we were just talking.” Eileen chirped, smoothing her hair and giving a small wave. Her and Harry were sitting atop Niall’s bed, a reasonable amount of space between them. His eyes were glazed  over and his cheeks rosier than they had been earlier, so Y/N knew he continued to drink. Y/N also knew Harry wouldn’t do anything more than allow people to be cuddly with him, but suddenly, Eileen just being cuddly with him seemed like the end of the world.

Why would he allow himself to be isolated with a girl that was so obviously trying to make a move, when his own girlfriend was at this event too?

“Hey, Eileen. It’s alright,” Y/N said weakly in greeting.

“You guys mind? Pregnant lady with a peanut bladder coming through.” Hannah’s face was set in a scowl as she looked at the two on the bed, and her glare seemed to sober Harry up.

“Uh, sorry, love.” Harry apologized, staggering to his feet, pinning Y/N with his gaze, before sliding past them and out of the room.

“He’s a proper cutie, but he kept going on and on about how he was unavailable. Wouldn’t tell me who, though. I’ve been trying to crack him all night.” Eileen huffed out, standing up as well, before bidding them goodbye.

…

When Harry woke up the next morning, he was in his bed, but something felt wrong. Maybe it was the fact that he had a bit of a headache from last night’s festivities, or the fact that Y/N wasn’t next to him. He’d guess it was the latter.

He got up and stretched his joints creakily, trying to piece back the events of last night. He figured his driver probably took him home, and he had a fuzzy recollection of stumbling into his house, and Y/N helping him into bed.

He dragged himself out of bed and began to walk down the stairs, wondering if she was still here. She seemed angry last night, and Harry knew why, but it was for secrecy’s sake, wasn’t it? Having girls at parties cling to him playfully meant nothing; he only had eyes for Y/N, but he couldn’t let anyone have even a glimmer of a thought that Y/N and him were linked. It was for their own good.

He reached the kitchen, where he found his love sitting on one of the barstool’s at his counter. She was rigid, and Harry felt a bead of guilt in the pit of his stomach.

“Yeh’re still here,” Harry said, his morning voice gravelly and catching in his throat. He cleared it before padding over to situate himself next to her. Normally, he’d nuzzle into her side and give her a kiss, but this morning felt different. It felt wrong.

“I’m… I’m frustrated, H,” Y/N replied softly, fidgeting with her fingers.

“With wha’, love?” Wrong answer, he thought in his head. Of course he knew why.

“You… you’re hurting me a little bit,” she sniffed, tears dotting her waterline as she tried to blink them away rapidly.

“You keep letting people get so close to you, which is fine, but I’m yours and you’re mine and I’m the one that can’t be close to you.”

“We agreed on it, love. Yeh said it yourself.” Harry didn’t want to hurt her, but he valued his privacy. He always valued his privacy.

“I said it, but I never agreed that I’d let my boyfriend prance around with other girls in front of me with no regard for how I feel!” Y/N snapped her neck to face him, eyes ablaze.

“Well, yeh gonna have to agree to tha’ because no one can know about us!” Harry’s voice began to escalate.

“How does that make it okay for you to let other girls get so close to you? It wasn’t just one time! It’s been a handful of times. Am I not enough? I don’t understand why this is so hard!”

“It doesn’t have to be hard f’yeh just calm down.”

“I won’t just let this blow over, Harry. I’ve let it blow over for long enough!”

“I can’t lose yeh,” Harry erupted. He let his head hang, and for a moment the only thing he could hear was Y/N’s sniffles and his shallow breathing.

“I know yeh hurt. I would be too, if I saw other blokes doing the same thing to yeh. But I can’t let anyone have even a fleeting thought tha’ I could be linked to yeh because then I will lose yeh. We don’t live lives tha’ will make this easier. We’ve only been together five months, an’ it’s only going to get harder from here, an’ I’ve never felt like this for anyone, but bloody hell, I really think I love yeh, an’ I don’t want to lose yeh, but if anyone finds out… People will tear us apart, an’ we won’t stand a chance. S’the worst part about living this life. Nothing is yeh own. I want yeh to be mine, an’ only mine, just like I’m all yours.”

Harry was breathing hard now, and Y/N had begun to cry, but for a different reason, because Harry had just told her he loved her.

“I love you,” she whispered, reaching out to grab his hand. He squeezed her hand in his.

“I’m sorry I hurt yeh, love,” he said, “I’ll be better. I’ll be the best for you.”

#Harry Styles #harry styles blog #harry styles imagine #harry styles story #harry styles writing #harry styles fanfiction #harry styles preferences #ot5 #one direction #1d #louis tomlinson #liam payne #Niall Horan #zayn malik #chasing love #chasing love series #athena writes #writing #fanfiction #chaptered fanfiction #chaptered fic #chaptered series #one direction fanfiction #fanfic writer

[lostinthe-pines-blog]

Family Time pt. 4

PREFACE: This is a fluff piece about MC and Chris on a family visit to Chris’s home in Maine for AJ’s birthday. Some story-lines from the App have been altered. These events are placed between The Junior and what I can only hope will be The Senior. NOTE: This is a fictional story based on Pixelberry’s Choices App. *Books The Freshman, The Sophomore, The Junior. I am not affiliated with Pixelberry nor do I own the rights to their characters.

The night goes on and the tense feelings from the hours before are brushed aside. AJ has fallen asleep on the couch her head on her mother's lap. Lilly strokes her daughters soft blonde curls.  while a movie plays. Kyle sits on the floor leaning against the couch and Chris and MC are cuddled on the loveseat crossed the room. There are lingering glances between them all no one sure what to say or when to say it. The whole night had been refocused on AJ after the fight and now that she’d fallen asleep the rest of them had no idea where to start. Chris tightened his grip on MC’s hand hiding under the blanket as he spoke up.

“Are you excited for school to start?” he asked his brother, immediately regretting his choice of question.

“I am actually” he responds to Chris’s surprise “I just got my class assignments. Science is gonna suck this year.”

The brothers look at each other and a pure moment of siblingship erupts as they speak at the same time. “Mrs. Marcovich!” after realizing they’ve said the same thing their laughter plays in sync.

“She’s the worst” Chris spits “Remember when she lost all my homework assignments for the term and then blamed it on me! I’m surprised she still works there after she went after mom. Saying my ‘non traditional single parent upbringing’ may not have taught me to hold on to things and assignments.”

“Yes! She’s so crazy, Chris I haven’t even had her as a teacher and she already takes hits at me. Last week of school right and I’m walking down the hall and she stops me. ‘Mr. Powell’” Kyle says mocking the science teachers flat and toneless voice “‘I heard your brother left here on a football scholarship, which mundane sport have you chosen?’” he continues. “I’m not kidding Chris! I don’t know what she has against our family”

“I do” Lilly speaks up “She grew up with your father” MC squeezes Chris’s hand in return knowing the conversation to come might be hard on him.  “They were childhood best friends and were on the same boating teams in High School. They went to prom together senior year and when your father brought me home after his first semester in college she cut him off. I’m pretty sure she thought she’d be his forever girl.” Lilly trails off as she feels the younger more dramatic version of her coming back to life. “Though come to think of it, besides loosing you kids I probably would have been better off if she’d stayed with the bastard anyways.” everyone in the room laughs awkwardly at Lilly’s remark. “She hates you boys because you’re the spitting image of your father. Oh and don’t worry Kyle I’ll be telling Principal Shaw to remove you from her class as soon as possible.”

“How’s English?” MC speaks up asking Kyle quickly and changing the subject of the room. She instantly feels tension remove its self from her boyfriends body.

“It’s great, I’m almost done with my English credits for the next two years but I’ve filled some of my electives with English related subjects like Latin and Creative Writing. I’m enrolled through my high school with the local college and will be taking online courses with them. With any luck I’ll graduate with my high school diploma and an associates degree.”

MC sits up and smiles, this conversation putting new light in her eyes. Could it really be possible that Kyle was more like her than he was like his own brother. “Kyle, that is amazing. I know you’re only going into your junior year but is English something you want to pursue?”

“I’m still deciding which facets of it I like most but yeah, I think it is.” He responds shyly. Due to his brothers heavy sport related upbringing Kyle always appeared ashamed of his love for academics.

“So these Ivy Leagues… where are you thinking?” MC pressures

“Georgetown, or University of Pennsylvania” Kyle speaks quick but quietly without even thinking for a moment. It’s clear he’s already thought about this but hasn’t had anyone around besides Lilly who cares enough to ask. MC untangles herself from Chris’s arms and moves to sit on the ground next to Kyle. Chris and Lilly take this as a cue to leave as well. Chris picks up AJ who is clearly too big to be carried to bed but he makes the exception anyways. He gives MC a loving glance before leaving.

After dropping AJ off in her bed Chris returns to the kitchen where he sees his mother eavesdropping on MC and Kyle.

“Mom” Chris laughs “knock it off!”

“They’re laughing!” she insists on listening but Chris pulls her attention away

“You’ve gotta just let her have her time with him. She’ll probably get more out of him than either of us could. She’s obnoxiously good at getting people to open up to her.” he sighs

“Okay but what do you think they’re talking about?” Lilly prys

“MC had Ivy League dreams but they fell short because of family and financial issues. She doesn’t talk about it much but she was accepted to Columbia. She knows what it takes to get there I hope she’s giving him advice. She’s also a published author so I can only assume their conversation will be lengthy” Chris explains. He loves how much his mother cares to listen or to ask. He’s never taken for granted the love and attention she’s instilled in him.

Lilly pulls her attention from the conversation on the other side of the wall and places it on her eldest son. “So. How are you then Christopher? How’s school, I know it’s been difficult.”

“Football is my dream Mom but I can’t live every day praying that I’ll get offers. I’m working on my political science major too. I guess I’m ready for whatever happens this year. I just feel like I’m constantly holding my breath.” before meeting MC, Chris had only ever opened up to his mother no matter how hard it was. He told her everything and she listened.

“So maybe school isn’t the greatest part of your life right now… what is?” Lilly smiles as Chris sits up on the counter as he had over and over throughout his life. This was not the first talk they’d had like this in the kitchen.

“She is” Chris blushes. “On my worst days when I feel like everything is going wrong I come home and she’s there on the bed reading a book, mind you it’s never the same book she goes through them so fast. She’s always there even when we’re fighting she comes back she owns up she’s the most stable thing in my life out there.”

It wasn’t a secret that Lilly wasn’t the fondest of his son moving in with MC before even getting engaged. She knew she had an opinion that was so far in the past, and she never once fought Chris on it but he knew it bothered her. But on the other hand she could see in his eyes that he was truly happy. She’d always worried that the events of his past could leave him scared of love but it could not have been more opposite. Her son loved openly and honestly and he loved everyone but most of all he loved this one girl.

“You know my next question Chris.” Lilly responds flatly.

“We aren’t ready” he rolls his eyes “I’ll marry her, I dont doubt that for a moment but right now we’re good, we’re happy but we are also focused on our own careers and futures. If we take the step to make that bond, we lose the ability to fully focus on ourselves if we need to. We both agree that after this year we will seriously consider it.” Chris watches at Lilly’s eyes light up.

“Don’t let her get away Christopher, I haven’t seen you so strong and so weak in your entire life. And that’s good. Let her be there for the weak.” she puts her hand over her sons “I know I’ve been single for 10 years and my advice might not be the most reliable but I have some that I’d like to give to you. Let her be there for you in all the same ways that I know you are there for her, push and pull. Don’t hide your vulnerability from her, ever.” Lilly tears up to Chris’s surprise and he pulls his and from underneath hers.

“Mom don’t get soft about this” he laughs playfully and pulls her into a hug. “Thank you for the advice, I promise I’ll never let her go.”

Lilly smiles at her son and they continue to talk for another hour about life, school, work, past and future. Their conversation is interrupted when MC and Kyle re enter the room laughing, completely opposite from they way they had spoke to each other earlier in the evening.

“I’m going to bed.” Kyle says clearly through a huge smile, one not even his mother had seen in a while. “Thank you again MC, I appreciate it.” Kyle nods at his family and heads up the stairs to his room.

“What did you do to my son?” Lilly asks shocked.

“Nothing, truly.” MC laughs. “I think he just needed to talk to someone who wasn’t his mom, or a school counselor. He’s got a lot of aggression and anger but he’s also quite brilliant. You’ve raised him well and he respects you so much.” MC smiles to Lilly “If I can ask you for one thing, if that boy gets into one of his dream schools… please let him go. No matter what it takes let him soar.” Lilly nods in response and excuses herself for the evening.  

Chris looks at MC through tired eyes “My mom asked again.”

“About a wedding?” she responded quietly

“Yeah..” Chris trails off

“You know I’m not ready” she sighs, she knows that he’s ready and that she’s holding him back. She hates letting him down she hates being a burden to him and most of all she hates making him doubt how much she loves him.

“Lets go to bed” he says ignoring the conversation he never should have started.

#choices #play choices #chris powell #mc x chris #chris x mc #the freshman fan fiction #choices fan fiction #famtimechoicesmcc

[phoenixagent003]

The Castle Campaign Diary 01

I have long, long thought that buried in the new X-COM games is the recipe for a great D&D campaign. Something about that core loop of base-building and going on missions feeding into each other, coupled with the ability to customize soldiers, is just so captivating, and the turn based, class based combat gave me the same kind of warm fuzzies D&D usually does. Except, you know, it was guns instead of swords, and aliens instead of monsters. And I actually really missed the swords and monsters after a few dozen playthroughs of X-COM.

So, a while ago, I started crafting some fairly simple systems centered around researching and crafting magic items, and some base building mechanics largely cribbed from the Artisan Followers section of Strongholds and Followers, and eventually I had enough of it built that I was ready to put it in front of the my longtime and long suffering friends and players. The result is a campaign I’m calling the Castle, which, with any luck, will be the campaign I run for my friends for a long time to come.

I started off the way I always do, floating the basic pitch of the campaign to my friends, and when they seemed receptive enough to the concept (Though, I think they just really wanted to play D&D and were willing to accept my weirdness as the price of admission) for me to float them a few documents to get them started with character creation, laying down the basic state of the world, starting level, and what races were most common to the world. And also clarifying that this was a standard fantasy setting, something we have to do in my group because we have played D&D with just about every kind of coat of paint you can image.

When I was first coming up with the campaign, I was more focused on the structure than story or setting, so I didn’t actually put too much thought into the broader world, but I did eventually decide that the campaign takes place in the distant past of the same world I created for my Glintchasers novels and shorts. I think that decision was mostly motivated by laziness, but the side effect is a nice bit of synchronicity in any future worldbuilding tidbits I come up with for the campaign. I’ve already used the game as an excuse to figure out the original names and origins of the gods. And it already came up in game! That shit was literally never going to come up in the books.

So, speaking of the game, how did it go?

Well, to be honest, it got off to a slightly rocky start. I began the campaign with the players traveling through the wilderness in search of the ruined castle that was going to become their home base, and that I think was a good decision. It was a very evocative starting point. But then I ruined it by trying to force the characters to roleplay too early. As part of the journey through the woods, I had each player roll on a Travel Events chart I crafted for the game, which is basically just a roleplay prompt chart, but the players were not yet super comfortable with their characters, and the prompts of the chart were a little too vague, so they kind of floundered a bit and it was a little awkward. Towards the end though, they did start getting into it. One of the players got the result of seeing a shooting star in the night, and he really hammed up how his character interpreted it as a sign from the gods that they were on the right path.

So maybe it wasn’t the players, maybe some of the prompts were just crap. I think I’ll get a better handle on that as we start using it more.

Eventually, the players arrived at the castle. The secondary characters, who would be like the extra soldiers or B-Team if this were an X-COM game, scouted out the grounds of the castle while the A-Team, everybody’s main characters, went inside the castle itself. And of course, after a bit of searching around where they found some rooms and tools that would become their downtime facilities, they found some bandits it in the process of ransacking this ruin for whatever its worth.

Given the premise of the world being that its basically post-apocalyptic, I wanted to be careful to not make these guys too sympathetic. This was supposed to be the first combat where the players try out their characters. And I was worried since the world has been set up to be a very scrappy, survival of the fittest place, that the players might feel bad cutting down people trying to look for resources. So I played the bandits up as assholes, who immediately mark the players as walking loot drops, and they refuse the players offers of peace and immediately charge in. Later on in the campaign, I’d be more than happy to introduce a greater degree of moral complexity to some of the encounters, but for now, it’s the tutorial fight, and the games about fighting monsters, I didn’t see the need to overcomplicate things.

And that was really all the excuse everybody needed to go ham. The poor bandits actually really didn’t stand a chance. The “main” party’s roster is

Tina Cox, Aasimar Paladin

Selena Caslana, Dragonborn-descended Sorcerer

Camden Wayne, Artificer

Bartholomew Knightengale, Human Paladin

Dominik Leoguard, Human Fighter

So yeah, with three high armor class, heavy hitting characters, the bandits didn’t really do much more than scratch a couple of the PCs. But they had a blast, and everyone actually did a really great job of roleplaying their character during combat, which is not something you always see in combats but on reflection, I actually think my group is pretty great at doing consistently. Dominik and Bartholomew’s players especially really enjoyed the fight, since they were playing comically proud, crusading knights and effortlessly deflecting the blows of these bandits really played into the fantasy of their characters.

Dominik really shined towards the end when the last few enemies were on elevated balconies, and he, a high strength polearm user, actually had just enough reach to stab at them with a running high jump. And because he took the Charger feat, he did a lot of damage (I know Charger is actually bad, and honestly the only reason Dominik’s player took it was because he’s new and doesn’t know its bad, but hey, he managed to get some good use out of it this combat).

The last bandit actually managed to survive like three attacks on him from everybody rolling consecutive super low rolls, which just added to the hilarity that was that fight. After a few rounds of just obliterating these bandits, it took like three people to finish off one guy.

After the fight was over, I announced that the characters officially had the run of the castle, and gave them the rest of the handouts they would need to keep track of the campaign’s metagame, and gave them handouts for “Mission Leads” which are the short, episodic little quests they’ll be embarking on from the castle. And actually the first couple of them take place on the castle grounds. They needed to clear out the surrounding land, and they needed to clear out the lower levels.

But this was the point where I had to remind the players that this campaign was using the Gritty Realism resting rules, which if you don’t know, are variant rules in the 5th Edition Dungeon Master’s Guide that say a short rest is eight hours, and a long rest is week. And immediately the two paladins and sorcerer, who had burned literally all their spells were like “Oh God! We’re useless for a week?!”

And, you know, the thing about 5th Edition D&D is it’s supposedly balanced and designed around the party having like 6-8 medium-difficulty encounters between each long rest, but the way I run things (and this is a problem a lot of people seem to run into), it’s often atypical for the party to get into more than one or two fights a day, so when I decided to structure a campaign after X-COM, a game where if you soldier gets hit they can be out of commission for a good chunk of time, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to bust those rules out and see what the game looks like when the party has to pace themselves a little bit more.

I haven’t really seen much of that yet—so far the group’s standard operating procedure is still to long rest after a single encounter’s worth of fights, but that’s partly because they’re still at a stage where they can get away with that. There isn’t currently a ticking clock forcing them to consider their time wisely, but there will be soon. And for now, just the realization of the players that they needed to be more conservative with their resources or cop a week on the bench was enough sign to me that I think these rules are a move in the right direction.

And one thing the rules did immediately facilitate was the B-Team! The players realized “Hey, there’s all this stuff we have left to do to clear out the castle grounds, but we’re tapped for the day—let’s send our secondary characters to take care of this.” And just—yes! I could not have scripted it better. The players immediately latched on to the secondary characters as a strategic option to use when they were out of commission with zero prompting from me.

So, the players sent a B-Team out to clear the castle grounds while the A-Team recharged their batteries, and this encounter led to my favorite part of the whole session. For reference, the B-Team sent out was:

Emily Thomas, Tabaxi-descended rogue (Tina’s player)

Kyle Reiner, Human Fighter (Selena’s player)

Issac Scout, Human Ranger (Camden’s player)

Kale Vulpix (Bartholomew’s player)

While the B-Team was clearing the castle grounds, they ran into some bandits and some undead. And the undead killed the bandits, the B-Team killed some of the undead, grabbed the treasure the bandits had on them, and then retreated. Which was technically mission success, but then—again, with no prompting from me—Tina’s player did a write-up of Emily giving a mission report to Tina about what happened. And since the B-Team didn’t clear all the undead, Tina told Emily “If those undead aren’t cleared out by the end of my long rest, you are going to scrub the floors of this castle until you can eat off them.”

I loved that. That was basically everything I was hoping to get out of this campaign’s structure in one hit. There was a player reflecting on how the mission went, thinking about the consequences, roleplaying her downtime, and taking the initiative to essentially create her own quest. I immediately awarded inspiration for that, and then I gave inspiration to all the character who went with Emily to go clear out the undead, which ended up being Kyle and Issac again.

And them clearing out the undead was the end of the session. And overall, I thought things went really well, excepting of course the slightly awkward start. Immediately after things were over, all the players pretty much immediately told me that they liked the campaign’s whole shtick and were looking forward to more, which was music to my ears and I think a pretty good sign things are working as intended. Event the first bandit fight, which was kind of a cakewalk, was still fun, and it served as a proof of concept for a little extra ability I’d given them.

Thanks for checking out the campaign diary! I’ve been running D&D since 2015, and I’ve wanted to share my experiences with it for a while, but this campaign was sort of the first time I ever actually knuckled down and started writing about it while the experience was still fresh in my mind.

Huge thanks to my players for being as amazing as they are, and I’ll see you all in the next write up.

[wavemaker9]

Good shit i remembered or newly thought of for orig/reverse spn au:

- kyle on his own when ivan goes to purgatory and also kyle when he first meets doug and ends up so thankful for this asshole's help

- i still like orig au gil in the what is and what should never be shit, i still like that. 

- either au but kyle with teh famine shit. kyle ready to off himself in a moment if he thinks it'll get himself praise but then also afterwards feeling angry and embarrassed and guilty about all that, about how close he did almost come to that and in front of his brother/friend as well, but not wanting to talk about it with said brother/friend.

- reverse au, ivan making it clear for kyle to stay by his side so kyle doesn't wander in ahead of time, but like. famine knows what each of them hunger for yeah? if that wasn't straight out confirmed, at least wiht him knowing why dean doesn't hunger for anything if not by something else, it at least being implied. and even if for some reason not, doesn't take a genius to see kyle's eagerness to follow orders when ivan tells him to do something, how he otherwise hesitates to do /anything/ because what if that's not what ___ would want him to do. so famine just like after a moment telling kyle to come over to him and kyle without a second thought, yeah okay, about it and jogs on over to his side, yes, hello, what did you need me to do? and ivan ??? kyle! don't go over there! and kyle starts to head back but a demon moving in to grab him. famine even waving that off, 'that's unnecessary. kyle's going to stand there no matter what if he wants to make us all proud, isn't he?' and kyle kind of hesitatingly glancing at ivan because ivan said not to but like. he can make one friend like him slightly more or he can make a lot of potential friends like him maybe a lot more? so sorry, i hope you're not too mad, ivo, tell me if you're too mad, please don't be too mad.

- ivan watching vetala kyle stab himself in the heart yet still hold onto teh blade in case he’s asked to take the final step even while in pain. honestly like. kyle would have hesitated, asked to confirm, but if assured this was what was wanted, like, yeah, he woulda done that and that. ivan would /know/ that and see him so close to that and god that’d have to be terrifying

- but also like gil seeing kyle with a knife to his throat knowing if kyle cuts, gil wouldn’t be able to get across the room in time to stop him before the cut would be lethal and after all teh shit today, also /knowing/ that if famine asks kyle to and makes it clear how important it is like. at that point he loses his brother, that’s just it for kyle he cannot save him at that point and him just on edge, trying desperately to resolve this without pushing famine into pushing kyle too far. 

- the moment all that’s taken care of and all the demons are gone and everything, either ivan or gil rushing over to hug kyle because like that was the most terrifying thing. yeah sure, monsters trying to kill kyle, whatever, he’s survived a lot of surprising attacks on him through sheer will and luck, but trying to survive himself, it not being guaranteed he can be so lucky.

- djinn gil fucking hating the very idea of purgatory once he gets out. i like to picture him having a very rough period of transitioning back to the living world, but he does eventually make it. it's. there's still a /lot/ of trauma in his brain from his time there, but the day to day is getting a lot easier. that also being part of what does eventually help bond him to kyle and ludwig and ivan, that that's something he forgot how nice it was to have. friends, allies. as a djinn in his first life, he wasn't exactly a social creature, if i remember correctly the type he is tends to be territorial? maybe not, i don’t feel like opening the wiki to find out.  then in purgatory it was solo hell for a long time. learning to work with liz was good and helpful but some time after making it back to teh living world, them splitting or her dying. and then he was alone again, dealing with whatever left over damage there was from his previous life if any. a lot of his life is alone until kyle shows up on his metaphorical or maybe literal door step asking for help. and he thinks he's comfortable being alone and also hey you're asking about that place that fucking. hey not to interrupt but gil absolutely having nightmares from that place constantly. even after joining the team, there's probably more than a couple times where he wakes up in an instinctive move to strike out at someone and has to realize he's about to attack ludwig or kyle or ivan and they have to kind of soothe him and assure him like hey you're okay now you're alright you're not there anymore you're safe now. actually, ivan prolly having that as well. maybe less so because he spent less time there but like any time would be traumatic as shit. actually that being something they bond over! ivan waking up from a nightmare about the place to a gil who can't sleep tonight for the same reason, and them kind of talking about it. this nice quiet moment at like 2 in the morning while kyle's asleep of them not exactly getting along but having this thing they can both agree on and bond over and find some common ground between them.  but anyway. kyle shows up talking about this place that gives gil fucking nightmares and was the worst part of his fucking life and he wasn't even alive during it. and he is ready to fucking kick this kid out but kyle seems desperate and won't take no for an answer. he's spouting some weird story about an angel telling him how to find gil and that gil can help him get his friend back. and gil wants out but eventually finds himself in. and when they're travelling together, it's weird and awkward at first as they get used to each other. gil does a lot of things different from how ivan did them that kyle has to adjust to, and gil just has to adjust to kyle doing things different from not having to largely accommodate anyone in his life. but it gets easier after time progresses and they start to get along. and then he doesn't like the group growing either but it slowly getting easier and easier until he's kind of content with this company he's gotten for himself. 

- doug actually having like a more manipulative reason for helping doug out. not just answering kyle’s prayers because wow you’re sounding pathetic kid. there’s some fucking like later on plot shit involving either the angels as a whole or some angel thing doug’s mainly involved in that requires at least ivan being back and/or all of them being together for this event. doug answering kyle’s prayers to help him on this as a ‘hey you sound like you /really/ need help’ thing now but later on it being revealed ‘okay maybe i actually didn’t give a fuck about helping /you/ so what?’

- hey hey. um. i know we use the 'monster is a monster' hunter trope for a lot of 'simple bad guy' shit but can we say that's how liz left the picture. a part of me says like. liz just normal person who somehow got swept up in paranormal shit that sent her to purgatory, but also liz being a hunter and that's why she got swept up in it. liz and gil getting along begrudgingly because again, gil was killed by a hunter, he knows what they're about, but their time together in purgatory easing that up a bit. okay okay there is one (1) good hunter in the world. them staying close once they make it back, but when miam hunter (and prolly not the same as the one the group runs into later) finds out, them working to put a stop to the two. the miam hunter going after both of them and liz maybe dying or having something else happen to her that split them up. maybe if she doesn't die, she almost did and gil just decides that if being connected to him might put her in further danger from that asshole, then he'll break that connection. alternatively, liz being the one to break that connection for whatever reason, either her own safety or, more likely, maybe a threat against someone else she feels she needs to protect, likely other humans. (this can also be not liz if someone would fit better for that idk but i think i still like liz best for this) so that kind of souring his whole idea on hunters from then on. hunters kill monsters and that's fucked, they don't kill non-vegetarians for eating cows, it's fucked up. but like also? hunters will try to kill their own fucking kind for befriending monsters, and (depending on if this is the way the story rolls) hunters will turn on their monster friends because saving humans is more important. that being why gil is so distrusting of ivan even if kyle says and ivan shows that he's cool with monster friends. like yeah sure, you hunters fucking say that shit, but that means nothing. hell, why gil is so furious at kyle because it feels like another betrayal, not only do hunters corrupt their own kind, they corrupt other monsters when left with them long enough. only puts up with it because. well he /is/ comfortable with the company and ivan /doesn't/ try to kill him once he knows gil's not going to try killing him either. and him being on guard and ready to leave and be on his own again at the drop of a hat, but that hat never drops. him learning to trust ivan more when it is clear like, because ivan is ivan, yeah, he will absolutely put his friends over pretty much everything else, even if his friends are monsters. 

-- OH OH HEY! the miam hunter basically like. like the ultimatum given to liz basically as like a win win for them, either gil gives his location up at liz's request upon finding out about the ultimatum and they can kill gil (maybe they don't let liz know that's the full plan, maybe fake some other reason but plan to kill him once he shows up), or it's proven that gil is a Bad Bad monster by not sacrificing himself so they think that will turn liz over to their thinking (it won't). i figure gil's probably pretty selfless in that regard and, maybe kinda like benny, like. it's rough living here, getting used to living at all again, people are giving him shit, fuck it. if it'll help liz and these other people/this other person she cares about out, sure, he'll give himself up even knowing it probably won't end well for him. but when everything goes down and liz realizes what the actual plan for this was and miam hunter goes to actually kill gil, liz trying to fight the guy off but being killed in the process. ugh no nevermind actually, i don't. i want a reason for gil to be on his own that's good for like character justification of why he's so >( no hunters about everything for so long but i also just hate killing liz or making her turn on him for it, that's so not good. maybe they actually do fight the miam hunter off, either killing them or the other hunter barely getting away with their life. but both of them kind of recognizing, whether that hunter's still alive or not, that won't be the last time someone throws a shit fit over this and goes after them about it. maybe kind of liz seeing it as a protect gilbert kind of thing that they not be in contact any more, but gil doesn't realize that and thinks it's just like a self protection thing or whatever, idk. basically whatever the exact reasoning, him having felt they could handle it together, but reluctantly agreeing to kind of protect her too, and them not being in contact again. i might like that. that's the least rough on liz ending i can think of. and i really don't wanna be rough on liz just for gil pain

- french mistake for reverse. gil faced with scene with liz. or maybe his actor is married to her and that's awkward for memories and also if ludwig comes over too like. well not thrilled about rom interest if not boyfriend seeing him having to pretend to be married to this woman he used to be very close to. also unrelated to the above but maybe ivan having to watch a scene filmed related to how his parents died from his actions. oh but also ivan seeing a scene filmed and kyle having to act through it of when ivan was missing in purgatory and kyle was all alone and not handling it well. alternatively, ivan having to act through it and kyle seeing when ivan was missing in purgatory and going through that nightmare alone. ALTERNATIVELY, it's a parallel thing between ivan being in purgatory and flashbacks to when gil was in purgatory as backstory for his character so both of them having to act through these fucking very traumatic parts of their lives, cool cool

- when they do meet their own miam hunter, like. gilbert with absolutely no mercy. hey i know i say fuck hunters but seriously? seriously? fuck this hunter, i say we kill them. maybe even if teh group isn't specifically for that, him planning to do it anyway on his own. fuck you guys, someone like this doesn't get to keep living, bye. the others kind of just think it's his standard 'fuck hunters' mentality but extra because miam mentality is extra. one of them, likely ludwig, kind of learning a bit more on that at the end. a part of me wants to say ivan instead of ludwig because that explaining to ivan a bit the reasoning, but i also like that having to be something ivan finds out later like through the french mistake bit or just never learns about gil

#ignore this #the thief kid #amusing muse musings #hey you au #au supernatural edition #au supernatural reverse edition

[tellerford13]

MO ASTOR- CHAPTER 30

We don’t own the bikes, brothers, or any “related” Sons of Anarchy, trust us, if we did we wouldn’t have the time to write. No money is being made from our stories. So, please don’t sue. It’d be a fruitless endeavor indeed. That being said, Harley, Journee, and any other newbies are ours, and we don’t share. :Whispers in creepy voice: “My precious.” The universe This reality is a mix of cannon, and our own ideas. We strive to keep the boys cannon, but since we will be shifting around some of the events, that will reflect in our writing and their personalities as well. It’s our goal to provide you with quality fiction, and solid, fleshed out OFC. We appreciate constructive criticism and love LOVE reviews, they are a writers life blood and definitely help encourage us and inspire us. We will be posting on our Tumblr where we’ll have fun pictures from time to time as well. http://tellerford13.tumblr.com We’ll also be taking requests for one shots, preferences or imagines for all things Sons at our other Tumblr, so check it out and send your thoughts!http://tellerford13oneshots.tumblr.com/ And just for fun, we’ve decided to start a Pinterest for the story! So if you want a glimpse at our girls and see into our world, check it out! https://www.pinterest.com/tellerford/

                                                 A/n: A reward for your patience and continued interest. #Surprisepost #roundrobin

                                           Mo Astor 30

Journee

“Scottie treating you alright?”

I glance over at Lee and toss her a look that screams really?

I sigh. “He’s not a Star Trek character Daddy. You know his name the same as I do. It’s too late to get cold feet now with your blessing.” I tap the chest tattoo, and he scowls.

“Being married is making you lippy. Now answer the question baby girl.”

“Chibs is awesome, like always.”

He narrows his gaze, and I look him in the eyes. He’s always been paranoid. It comes with the territory of being an S.A, but he’s also been in this life long enough to know how quickly things can go south for old ladies.

“If that ever changes...”

“I’ll let you know after I split his fucking head open myself,” I say determined to never be in the same position I was with Kyle again.

“That’s my baby girl. Now about baby Teller,” he says turning his intense gaze onto Lee.

“Wait. What? I’m not the married one.” “Doesn’t matter. You entered into a high-profile relationship. We all know what he’s capable of when it comes to women, but I’m assuming he's not stupid enough to break your heart.”

“Yeah Lee. How’s that coming along?” I ask batting my lashes as I take a healthy bite of the pork ribs cooked to falling off the bone perfection on the grill. It’s a Saturday, and the GB’s are having a family get together. Which looks a lot different from Charming because most of the men are bachelors.  The boys are going to try to join us later, but I’m not holding my breath. Club comes first, and they’re off doing one thing or another.

“It’s going well. We’re good. I mean it’s Jax. You’ve known him all his life.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem,” Dad mumbles.

I snicker. “Dad. Would I let my sister get played? No. I would’ve told her to pump the breaks before they even got started. They’re solid.”

“Lee?”

“We’re good.”

“Hmmm.” He sits back in his chair, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. My Dad is not my Mom. He’ll pop me in the mouth quicker than I can say boo. He doesn’t take disrespect lightly, and I know better than to give any his way. It might seem harsh to some, but GB runs a tight ship. They’re smaller, so they have to. There aren’t too many predominately black M.C.’s who have as much sway as we do, or who’ve been around as long. We constantly have eyes on us. Which means maintaining our image is a must. It’s one of the things I hate most about this life. Women are accessories and ornaments. We have to look, talk, and behave a certain way depending on the set of people we’re around. Why people think biker chicks are dumb, I’ll never know. We have to be everything. The homemaker, caretaker, alibi giver, and a million other things all in one.

“I’m glad to see you two settle down. I was starting to think no man would ever tie either of you down.”

I take another bite of my food to keep my sharp tongue busy.

“We were just waiting for the right man,” Lee says.

“Someone mention me?” Kick asks appearing with a wide grin. I notice immediately he’s rocking our charter patch instead of a Nomad.

Oh, shit.  “You back with us now, K?”  I ask the question so Lee doesn’t have to.

“Yeah, Me and the road parted ways amicably. How you doing, Lee?”

“I’m good Kick,” Lee says softly.

“She’s dating Jackson Teller now,” Dad says. His eyes are sparkling as he watches Kick wince and the tension rushes in and settles over the picnic bench.

I cough to hide my laugh.  I don’t feel bad for the fucker. He did my girl dirty. I want him to realize how much he’s shit out of luck right now. You don’t decide to turn Nomad without so much as a warning and think your girlfriend is going to be okay with it.

“That right? You an Old Lady?” he asks.

Lee shakes her head no.

“Not yet anyways.” I add.

She elbows my side, and I give her a grease riddled kiss on the cheek.

“Gross.” She wipes it away, and we laugh.

“I’ll be seeing you,” Kick says giving her a lingering glance as he heads off.

“Never a dull day round here huh? When did that happen?” I ask gesturing toward Kick’s departing back.

“He got voted back in this morning. We need more bodies. Recruiting is slow going.”

“Because you’re so scary and picky,” I say.

He shrugs. “Takes a lot to wear the black and orange.” His chest swells with pride, and I can’t help the pride that wells up inside me. This is my family, and it’s good to hold court. Charming is a second home, but this will always be where my roots were first planted. I know Mom is giving us space so he can give us the third degree. They always did the good cop bad cop routine, unless I pissed my mom off. Then she could be every bit as terrifying as my father.

“Did we miss anything else major?”

“Nah. If you came around more, you’d know these things.”

“Touché old man, but I got a business to run, and she has one to keep afloat.”

“It’s true,” Lee says in a sing-song voice.

He grins, and I roll me eyes. I never knew a man so proud of his daughter doing tattoos.

“I know. We got an area set up for you in the clubhouse. You’re going to go home with a nice chunk of change.”

“I’ll never say no to the green. I guess I best fortify myself with lunch.”

“I’ll play Girl Friday and keep you stocked up,” Lee says.

“Thanks, wifey,” I say with a wink.

“Here comes your mother.”

Oh, imagine that. She must know you’re doing asking us a million questions and giving us the glare of doom. My mom is an undercover hoverer. I imagine I’ll be the same way with Filip. You don’t want to make them look weak, but you worry, and you watch and wait always prepared to ruffle feathers. As my mother would say, some things need a women’s touch. I bet they have some sort of tell, so she knows when it’s cool to come over. I should talk to Filip about that.

“There are my girls.” My mom envelopes me, hugging me against her ample bosom. The scent of her perfume reaches me, and I relish it. I don’t see them as often as I used to. I need to remedy that. They won’t be around forever, and life expectancy and freedom can be fleeting in our life. I’ll never forget the four years she spent behind bars. With my father’s job, there was no way I could be left alone at thirteen to fend for myself. His family had written them off, and my mother’s family continuously tried to get her out of the life. Sending me to live with them would only lead to disaster. Thank God, Gemma stepped up and took me.

It was a good business move, but it was also a huge show of trust. My father respected the hell of JT. He could never predict everything that would follow. The thought of his death still makes my stomach ache.  I watch as Mom moves on to her bonus baby. She’d taken up the mantle of caring and guiding her along with Gemma as her Gram aged. It made us more than just best friends, perhaps that’s why we turned to each other sexually. What started off as experimenting turned into something else entirely.

I shift in my seat as desire pools in my belly, and thoughts of her creamy breasts and clean shaven pussy slip into my head. It's been too long since we had some girl time. I’d have to remedy that tonight. Can’t let my wifey fell neglected.

Mom moves to sit beside Dad, and we play catch up as we continue to eat. I enjoy the sun and conversation. I’m also secretly enjoying the kick in the pants Kick will give big brother. As soon as I get a chance, I’ll be texting him. I know the business he has is a gun run. It’s not hard to figure out. Barring a problem, they should be free, and this will be sure to get him here.

Half an hour later, I’m set up and watching a line form as I declare my makeshift tattoo station ready. It’s going to be a long afternoon.

***

My hands and back are screaming as I wipe the back tattoo of the GB grim reaper.

“Alright, Mack. You’re all done.”

We’d been working on this bad boy in two to three-hour sessions, and it’s finally complete. I roll back and grin.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, brother, Go look at it.”

I nod toward the full-length mirror we’ve leaned against the wall. I roll my shoulders and crack my neck before I take in my surroundings. I spot Lee at the bar looking disinterested in whatever Kick is saying to her.

“This is amazing,” Mack says.

I admire the Reaper with it’s flickering flame eyes, and it’s skeletal fist raised with the GB emblem worked into the robe.

“Thanks, man.”

He walks over, and my jaw drops when he gives me a thousand even.”

“That’s too much.”

“Nah, you earned every penny of that tip, baby girl.”

I beam. “Thanks.” I quickly shut down shop, and move to rescue Lee.

I walk up behind her, plaster my body to hers and wrap an arm around her waist. I lean over her shoulder and smirk.  “She’s not interested, and I’m not willing to share my bestie any longer. So shoo.”

He scowls.

“Bye, Kick,” Lee says. I kiss the corner of her mouth, and his eyebrows raise.

“Shit’s changed,” I say lowering my voice an octave and curl my upper lip. I know Lee has no feelings for him, but just the same, I’m not about to let him get any ideas. My brother has enough to worry about.

He raises his hands in the universal sign of surrender. “Aight, I know when I’m not wanted.”

Lee tilts her head back and bats her eyelashes. “My hero.”

“How long was he here bothering you?”

“About fifteen minutes. I made it clear I wasn’t interested, but he kept rattling on and spitting weak game. I was going to shut him down painfully after I finished my beer.”

“You’re so tempting. I can see why he couldn’t help but try.”

“Is that possession I see?” she whispers.

“Only people you belong to have names that start with J.” I fight the urge to nip her bottom lip. “We should go to our room and unwind.

We have our own room complete with a dresser with spare clothes, and two queen-sized beds in the clubhouse left over from the teen years when I was shuttled to and fro for visits and later living between to clubs.

“Unwind? Is that what we’re calling it?”

“I want to show you what Daddy’s taught me,” I whisper. The thought of dominating her has me wet and ready to play.

Her eyes darken, and her breath hitches. “Has baby girl grown up?”

“Why don’t you come find out?”

She drains her beer, and I laugh as she stands, and we head to our room.

Once we’re inside, I press her against the door and lock it. Her pulse jumps into her throat, and her eyes are half-lidded.

“Someone’s excited.”

“I’m eager to sample these lesson’s Chibs has been giving you first-hand.”

I bury my fingers in the dark silk of her hair. “Remember you asked for this,” I whisper against her lips.

She moans, and I fist her hair and yank slightly and guide her over to the bed.  “Bend over, and lift that skirt. I want to see the one thing Kick will never have again.”

I give her enough slack to wiggle up the skirt and reveal the lacy black underwear.

“Look at that ass.” I trail my nails over her silk covered apple bottom. I release my hold on her hair and deliver a slap. She gasps. I bend down, grip the material with my teeth, and move them to her ankles. I leave them on, liking the restricted movement. “I wanted to do this in the bar,” I whisper as I ease her legs apart. “Eat this pretty pussy out in front of him.”

“Oh, God.”

“Would you have liked that?”

“Yes.”

“Naughty.” I grip her thighs and lean into sample her slick center. I moan as her creamy sweetness coats my tongue. I lose myself in the smooth flesh and flavor as I explore everything but the quivering needy clit protruding. I ignore the pretty pink pearl, sucking her lips into my mouth. She wiggles and I smirk against her skin. She’s used to ordering me. The tension in her body gets me high. The weariness from work is forgotten.  I pull back.

“No.”

I slap her pussy, and she jerks and cries out.

“You’re not in control right now, pretty girl.” I palm her warmth, and she grinds against me. “Be still.” She grunts but complies. “Good girl,” I purr. I remove my hand and thrust two fingers deep.

“Oh, shit.” I smile as I give it to her fast and deep, angling, so I hit her sweet spot. She loves to stretch things out, but I’m in control, and I want to see her come undone.

“Journee,” She cries.

“Love it when you call my name, baby.” I bend and bite the area between her neck and her shoulder. Her slick walls clench around me as she yields trembling as she comes.

“No one can make you come faster. I think I need to give my brother some pointers. Would you like that?”

Her entire body shudders, and I grin. Tonight might be more interesting than I thought.  

#sons of anarchy #sons of anarchy fanfiction #Jax Teller #chibs telford #Mo Astor

[yahoo-from-the-marbles-blog]

NASCAR Power Rankings: Kyle Busch sweeps his way to No. 1

Welcome to Power Rankings. As always, Power Rankings are far from a scientific formula. In fact, it’s the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. Direct all your complaints to us at [email protected] and we’ll try to have some fun.

1. Kyle Busch (LW: 3): What do you give the guy who has won everything at Bristol? The top spot in Power Rankings. Because let’s be real, Kyle Busch can easily afford whatever gift we would give him if we were in the business of giving gifts to NASCAR drivers.

Busch’s wins in the Camping World Truck Series, Xfinity Series and Cup Series over the wekeend gave him 20 total wins at Bristol across the three series. Busch has won 180 career races across those series, meaning Bristol has accounted for a ninth of his overall win total. That’s pretty insane, don’t you think?

What makes Busch’s Bristol success even more impressive is that he’s been good at the track in any of its configurations. He’s won at the “old” Bristol, won on the progressive banking installed in 2007, won after the top groove was ground down to make the track more like “old” Bristol and has won with the track featuring the sticky stuff in the corners to make the lower groove more appealing.

The 2015 champion is perhaps the most adaptable driver in NASCAR. And one of its best too. He said he was pushing as hard as he could to hold off Erik Jones after he passed Jones with 55 laps to go.

“Tonight I’ve never driven so hard in my life the last 60 laps,” Busch said after Saturday night’s win. “Literally I got out of the car and felt like I didn’t want to. It was really, really hard to maintain that pace up top and to feel everything you’re feeling and to trust yourself that I’m feeling the car loose getting into the corner sliding the rear tires, but I’m tight in the center. Got to go up on the rear track bar, keep the thing free rolling. Any little moment, any little slip, you can be right in the fence, especially running that high that fast, knowing that Erik Jones was catching me. I couldn’t just sit there and pace myself.”

2. Martin Truex Jr. (LW: 1): Truex’s race was ruined when he had to come back down pit road because of a tire problem as the race was restarting. Truex lost two laps and ended up getting one of them back before he finished 21st.

Before the pit stop, Truex had a top five car, though he wasn’t in the same stratosphere as his rookie teammate. He only drops a spot in Power Rankings because he still has a 100+ point lead over Busch in the points standings and can clinch the regular season title at Darlington.

3. Kyle Larson (LW: 2): Before qualifying on Friday, Larson said he wasn’t a very good qualifier at Bristol and joked that he’d qualify 25th. He ended up starting Saturday night’s race in second and led 70 laps, the most of anyone not named Kyle Busch or Erik Jones.

He didn’t finish third, however. He finished ninth because of a pit stop problem on his final stop of the race.

4. Denny Hamlin (LW: 4): This is the guy who finished third. Hamlin kept slowing on pit road to get the preferred outside line on restarts. It didn’t work out for him, though it did raise the possibility that NASCAR will “look” at giving drivers the option of choosing lanes on restarts at tracks where one groove has a decided advantage.

The easiest way to prevent gamesmanship on pit road among drivers playing for a preferred groove is to go back to single-file restarts. That’s not happening. So could a choose cone be next?

5. Matt Kenseth (LW: 6): Kenseth finished fourth. It’s a good result for him as he stays afloat in the playoffs as one of the three drivers provisionally in the field without a win.

But perhaps better for Kenseth was the fact that Erik Jones didn’t win. A Jones win would have dropped the number of available playoff spots via points to two. While Jamie McMurray would be outside the playoffs if Jones would have won, Kenseth is just three points ahead of McMurray.

6. Kevin Harvick (LW: 5): Harvick is fourth in the points standings thanks to an ability to avoid poor finishes in 2017. He moved through the field Saturday night, finishing eighth after starting 29th.

But he hasn’t had the outright speed he’s shown previously. That’s to be expected; transitioning manufacturers isn’t always a smooth transition. But it’s still stark. He’s on pace for 818 laps led this season. He led nearly 1,400 a year ago.

7. Erik Jones (LW: 10): Jones’ car was fantastic on the bottom lane throughout the entire race. But as Busch caught him over the last part of the race, Jones moved up to try to hold him off. It didn’t work.

Despite falling short of his first career win, Jones said Saturday night was the most fun he’s had in a race car. And his explanation for why is pretty damn good.

“It’s just the most‑‑ these cars are so hard to drive on mile‑and‑a‑half’s and two‑mile tracks that it’s hard to race,” Jones said. “It’s hard to race side‑by‑side, it’s hard to race front‑to‑back, it’s really hard to run side‑by‑side. You don’t really see the action like you see here with people, you know, right nose‑to‑tail, throwing slide jobs, everything like that.

“Yeah, I mean, it takes you back to, you know, late model racing really more than anything. You’re just on the gas. You’re not saving tires. You’re just hammer down and getting everything you can, which is a lot of fun. It’s hard on you as a driver, it wears you out, but you definitely have a lot of fun. If I had to rank it, this is probably the most fun I’ve had in a Cup race, for sure.”

8. Jamie McMurray (LW: 9): McMurray finished 12th. Through 24 races he has two top-five finishes and 12 top 10s in 2017. He’s also finished in the top 20 in 20 of 24 races. That’s why he’s ninth in the points standings and could be a surprise driver in the third round of the playoffs.

9. Brad Keselowski (LW: 6): Bright side: Keselowski is getting his bad luck out of the way before the playoffs begin and will be a force to be reckoned with over the final 10 races of the season

Dark side: Keselowski’s summer struggles are a sign of things to come and he’ll be a surprise early elimination from the playoffs.

Keselowski’s race was ruined a handful of laps into the event with a cut tire. He finished 29th, seven laps down. He had nine top-10 finishes (and two wins) in the first 12 races of the season. In the next 12 he’s had five top-10 finishes and has finished outside the top 25 four times.

10. Chase Elliott (LW: 8): Elliott rebounded nicely from his lap 397 crash and finished 18th. He’s getting precipitously close to being on the playoff bubble, however. If he can finish in the top 15 at both Darlington and Richmond he should be OK.

11. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 11): Johnson won the spring race at Bristol and finished 11th on Saturday night. There are just two more races until Johnson leads half the laps at Chicago to no one’s surprise.

12. Kurt Busch (LW: NR): Busch finished fifth on Saturday night and had a few interesting tweets on Tuesday. He seems to be enjoying his off week.

Lucky Dog: Trevor Bayne hit the wall because of a flat tire and still ended up finishing seventh.

The DNF: Austin Dillon finished 39th after a crash with Jeffrey Earnhardt.

Dropped out: Kasey Kahne

– – – – – – –

Nick Bromberg is the editor of Dr. Saturday and From the Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!

Follow @NickBromberg

#nascar #_lmsid:a077000000CFoGyAAL #_uuid:edc0682d-9215-3ad3-b77c-397b7de08469 #_author:Nick Bromberg #_revsp:de666450-3434-45fa-ac3d-ea6088f81691

[wrestlingisfake]

Wrestle Kingdom 11 preview

This is the 26th annual wrestling show on January 4th in the Tokyo Dome, and the 11th to be called Wrestle Kingdom.  The show airs Wednesday evening at 5pm Japan time, so Americans get to pull an all-nighter Tuesday night and Europe will have to skip work Wednesday morning.  Or you could just watch it on demand on njpwworld.com, whatever.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega - Okada is defending the IWGP heavyweight title, which is essentially the world championship of New Japan Pro Wrestling.  To qualify for this match, Omega won the G1 Climax tournament, becoming the first non-Japanese man to ever do so.

It’s been a big year for Omega, who stepped out of the junior heavyweight division to help fill the void left when AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows went to WWE.  In short order, Omega turfed out Styles, took over Bullet Club, and then beat Hiroshi Tanahashi for the vacant intercontinental title.  He dropped the belt in a ladder match that really put over Michael Elgin, and then delivered a top-notch performance in the G1.  Omega can’t replace any of the four guys who jumped to WWE, but he has unquestionably filled the role of “main event foreigner” left behind by Styles.  He’s on the rise, and it’s probably time to pull the trigger.

Okada spent most of 2012-2015 under Tanahashi’s shadow, but this year there’s been a clear effort to establish him as THE guy while de-emphasizing Tana.  It’s tough to say that has worked.  There’s still a feeling that Okada is overpushed, especially when you look at how he dropped the title to Tetsuya Naito earlier this year and then quickly regained it in spite of Naito’s obvious popularity.  With that in mind, it’s hard to say whether Okada will go over here, but it’s also hard to say if that’s because putting him over is such a great idea.

Since they’d been in separate weight classes, Omega and Okada hadn’t really crossed paths until this year, and they haven’t wrestled much beyond some tag matches here and there.  So I’m hoping this match will feel fresh and innovative, and that it can hold my attention after five hours of the rest of the card.

It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if Okada retains, but it would be the most boring thing they can do here.  It would be a pretty big moment if Omega climbs all the way to the top of the mountain and captures the title at this, the biggest show in Japan.  I don’t know what Omega as champion would mean, but I’ve seen plenty of Okada as champion and I know that doesn’t turn my crank.  So even though Kenny is bound to be doing annoying “I am a smark nerd heel so I will heel on you now” stuff, I’ll be pulling for him.

Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi - Tanahashi is challenging for the IWGP intercontinental championship.  He was supposed to feud with Omega for this title back in the summer, but an injury sidelined him and Michael Elgin took his place.  Elgin won the belt and eventually lost it to Naito, and now Elgin’s the one who’s hurt.  So I don’t know if this match is about Tana filling in for a planned Naito/Elgin match, or if it’s about finally getting back to that IC title shot he missed a few months ago.

This is far and away the clearest good guy vs. bad guy match on the card.  Tanahashi a beloved hero to all, like WWE wishes John Cena was; Naito is a total jerkwad, the leader of the sinister Los Ingobernables de Japon.  New Japan fans have started to like Naito as a “cool heel,” but I don’t know if that goes as far as turning against Tanahashi.  This could end up having a Cena vs. CM Punk vibe to it.

The best move, I think, would be for Omega and Naito to both go over at this show, and spend 2017 building to a big showdown between them and their respective stables.  (I guess one has to turn face, but I don’t care which.)  I think most American promotions would jump at the chance to do that, but NJPW strikes me as being more conservative with their booking, and more protective of their franchise players.  It would make a big statement to job Tanahashi and Okada on a January 4 show, but it’s not the kind of statement I’d expect.  And since I’m expecting Omega to go over, I’ll predict they play it safe with Tanahashi here.

Katsuyori Shibata vs. Hirooki Goto - Shibata is the defending NEVER openweight champion.  These two seem to always seem to be just a step below the real top guys, so you can think of this as the Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz of New Japan.  They’re always fighting, except sometimes they’re on the same side, and neither of them ever gets ahead long enough to do anything more important.  The main thing these guys have over Dolph and Miz is that they seem like genuine ass-kickers who will beat the fuck out of you, rather than two extras from an 80s movie about challenging the preppies in a sports thing.

I keep thinking they’re about to push Goto any day now, but they always seem to stop short of actually doing it.  So, ennh, Shibata wins.

KUSHIDA vs. Hiromu Takahashi - Kushida had just recaptured the IWGP junior heavyweight title when Takahashi made his high-profile return to New Japan and…uh, licked the belt, so now they gotta fight over it.  Kushida’s a good dude but it’s pretty obvious he’s gotta lose here.  New guy wins.

Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa vs. Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma vs. Toru Yano & Tomohiro Ishii - The Guerillas of Destiny (Tonga & Roa) are defending the IWGP heavyweight tag team championship.  GBH (Makabe/Honma) earned this title shot by winning the 2016 World Tag League tournament.  Yano just sort of wandered back from Pro Wrestling NOAH to add himself to the match, naming Ishii as his partner.

I’m not sure I’ve ever even seen New Japan do a three-way match, so I don’t know if this is like WWE’s triple threat rules (anything goes, first to score a fall wins it all) or if it’s elimination style or gauntlet style or whatever.   I have absolutely no idea why they’d add Yano/Ishii to this match except to book some wacky swerve, but that isn’t really New Japan’s style.  Then again, it’s totally Yano’s style, so maybe.  Certainly if Yano steals a win it sets up months of programs with the other two teams chasing them.  So, uh, sure, Yano and Ishii win the titles.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Adam Cole - O’Reilly just won the Ring of Honor world title from Cole at Final Battle, so this is the rematch.  I haven’t been keeping up with ROH but I like that this is the continuation of a major program from ROH storylines, rather than just throwing two random guys out there for a midcard match.  Like, the only things I even know about O’Reilly are a) he’s best friends with that hipster guy with the mouthpiece and b) he and Adam Cole want to murder each other.  The last O’Reilly/Cole title match involved thumbtacks, I believe, so hopefully this will be similarly intense.  I always root for the ROH title to change hands at the Tokyo Dome, but I don’t think they put the title on O’Reilly just to move it back after like a month.  O’Reilly wins.

Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Baretta - This is for the IWGP junior heavyweight tag team championship.  Roppongi Vice (Romero & Baretta) issued the challenge for this match right after winning the Junior Tag League tournament, and the Young Bucks (Nick & Matt) accepted.  I think this is about the 47th time these teams have faced each other for these titles, but I can’t remember the last time it was two-on-two.  Usually junior tag title matches end up being clusterfucks with reDragon and Ricochet/Sydal in the mix.

I like RPG Vice because Rocky is a cool dude and Baretta is like his goofball friend that eats McGriddles from Japanese McDonald’s super-early in the morning.  The Bucks are like that guy you know who thinks a joke stops being funny if you keep repeating it but then it turns around and becomes even funnier if you repeat it even more.  I’ve seen enough Bucks matches to know how this one is gonna go.  I’d like for Baretta and Romero to win, but the Bucks have become (for better or worse) a cornerstone of counter-WWE major league wrestling, so it’s like hoping Harlem Heat or the Steiners will beat Hall & Nash.  The title stays with Bullet Club.

Satoshi Kojima & Ricochet & David Finlay vs. EVIL & SANADA & BUSHI vs. Bad Luck Fale & Hangman Page & Yuriko Takahashi vs. YOSHI-HASHI & Will Ospreay & Jado - Kojima’s team is defending the NEVER openweight six-man tag team championship.  The other trios represent the three major stables in New Japan–Evil’s team is from Los Ingobernables de Japon, Fale’s team is from Bullet Club, and Yoshi’s team is from Chaos.  (Jado is replacing Tomohiro Ishii, who was booked for this before being moved to the IWGP tag title match.)

This is a gauntlet match similar to WWE’s “tag team turmoil.”  Two teams have a match, and whichever team wins advances to another match with the third team; whoever wins the second match goes on to a final match against the fourth team.  The winners of the last match will get/keep the championship.  The order of entry in this match hasn’t been announced, except that reportedly the defending champions will enter last, giving them an enormous advantage.

This trios title is kind of a hot potato in New Japan–I get the feeling they don’t like to hot-shot the IWGP championships, but with this one they feel more free to book some crowd-pleasing title changes.  Kojima and Ricochet won the belts back in July with Matt Sydal, but when Sydal was busted for pot they had to vacate and re-capture the championship with David Finlay.  In the process, Finlay got to suddenly step up from a curtain jerker “young boy” to a genuine undercard guy, so that’s kinda neat.  But it’s been about six months with more or less the same team on top, so it’s probably time for a change.

Assuming we get a title change, the outcome may help indicate which stable will be dominant in 2017.   I think there are big things coming for Yoshi and Ospreay, but if Chaos were slated to win I don’t think they’d have swapped Ishii for Jado.  A Bullet Club win could reinforce the idea that Omega is rebuilding the faction, after a couple of years where everyone thought they had run their course.  On the other hand, LIJ is in a position to possibly have all five members holding gold by the end of the night, which would indicate that they’re still the hot new thing and Bullet Club will have to fight to not be yesterday’s news.  I’m liking that last scenario best, so I’ll go with LIJ.

Cody Rhodes vs. Juice Robinson - Cody recently left WWE to begin a whirlwind tour of many wrestling promotions.  As of this show, he’ll be the first man to appear at WWE’s Wrestlemania, PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles, TNA’s Bound for Glory, ROH’s Final Battle, and Wrestle Kingdom in a single year.  Juice, better known to NXT fans as CJ Parker, left WWE a couple of years ago and has been working his way up the card in New Japan.  But he’s still little better than a prelim guy, and that makes him the kind of guy they’d feed to a debuting star.

Both guys have a lot to prove, so this should be interesting.  For one thing, I’m curious to see if Juice’s act holds up when he’s in there with another white guy his size that’s a bigger name than he is.  He stands out among New Japan midcarders, but against Cody he may look more like WWE dark match material.  Cody, meanwhile, is just starting to turn heel as a member of Bullet Club, and it’s not clear what his “American Nightmare” character is going to be, or how it’ll stack up with gimmicks like Dashing Cody, Masked Cody, Mustache Cody, and Stardust.

It’s pretty obvious Cody wins here, but I’m more concerned with both guys showing something on this big of a stage.  Can’t I just bet that all the horses have a good time?

New Japan Rumble - This is part of the pre-show.  It’s a gauntlet match where wrestlers enter at one-minute intervals, similar to WWE’s Royal Rumble except that eliminations occur by pinfall or submission.  This mainly exists to ensure everybody on the roster that isn’t otherwise booked (like Hiroyoshi Tenzan or Yoshitatsu) gets to be on the show, and usually there are some old-timers brought in for surprise appearances.  One time Haku showed up.

One possible wrinkle that could make this interesting is the working relationship between New Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH.  There are a bunch of New Japan names (like the entire Suzukigun stable) that have been supplementing the NOAH roster for years, but with NOAH recently being sold it’s possible they’re all about to come back.  Also, a lot of the usual NJPW/ROH names (reDragon, the Briscoes, Michael Elgin) are notably absent from the card, so they might pop in here.  In any event, the outcome of the match probably won’t matter beyond whatever comedy spot they think of to blow it off.

Tiger Mask W vs. Tiger the Dark - Another pre-show match, to promote the new Tiger Mask W cartoon.  New Japan has a guy wrestling as Tiger Mask IV in prelim matches, but W is a new iteration of the gimmick.  Similarly, Dark is a modern take on Tiger Mask’s archenemy Black Tiger.  Dave Meltzer believes Kota Ibushi will be playing W (he has before) and Ring of Honor’s ACH will be playing Tiger the Dark, but I assume NJPW isn’t terribly picky who they stick under the masks.

The last time I saw Ibushi wrestling in the Tiger Mask W gimmick, he had a much more realistic mask than previous Tiger Masks, which didn’t look easy to breathe through.  That could affect match quality, but then again they might have tweaked the design a little for this show.  I assume W has to win because he’s a superhero and stuff, but Dark looks pretty tough so ya never know.

#njpw #wrestle kingdom 11 #kazuchika okada #kenny omega